Daeva: Black Diamond Chrysalis - Danielle Bolger (essential reading txt) 📗

neither girl heard it and the red-head who had the tip of an arrow pointed at her thought continued. "Still, I hoped I could stop it all if I could just stop you."

Ariel breathed in and out slowly as she weighed the gravity of the situation before finally responding. "You know you can't stop me, I am more powerful than you, but even so, just like you I can be hurt, my flesh weakened as you have done to me now." And I noticed it then, the red stains on Ariel's brand new school uniform. "But even if you could stop me, even if you killed me none of that would change our fates. You know what we are, you know our ultimate purpose. We are here for the world and everything else ceases to matter. You can either accept that fact or allow your emotions to consume you and send you into an early chrysalis. Either way, nothing changes, just the needless fighting that we have with each other. All it is, in the end, is blood spent on nothing."

The red-head was hunched on the ground, her whip still in her hand but hung limply across the grassy oval floor. She was still panting hurriedly and with alarm I realised this was because of all the scarlet staining her own jeans and tank top outfit. Then there was also the tip of the arrowhead perched right at her throat that illuminated her features so brightly that I even made out her hazel eyes.

"Do it, kill me. I'd prefer it." The beaten girl murmured.

"Yeah, I know but I can't do that." Ariel sighed as she lowered her bow and arrow. "I know you don't like it but what you like is of very little importance. I have already started school at Golden Heights High and I am on the path to recruiting new girls for our war..."

"No!" The red-head cried. "You can't! Please, no more girls!"

"I said keep out of it, Vanessa!" Ariel roared so loudly that it made me shiver from my hidden sidelines.

Then laughter again and this came from the bleeding mouth of the girl named Vanessa. "Yeah, I guess I knew you would say that. So then I guess I have to do what you know I must." Then the girl with exaggerated slowness rose to her feet.

"Don't, Vanessa." Ariel warned. "Don't make me kill you."

Vanessa's laughter was quiet, slow and exhausted but it was still there. "Well I guess you'll have to, since if you don't then I'll kill you instead!" Then she launched herself straight at Ariel with a bright long whip that coiled across before reaching straight back in towards the chest of my new classmates' chest.

"No..." I whimpered unheard from the sidelines.

Then Ariel raised her bow laterally out in front of her and using it as a shield blocked the venomous point. From one hand light shone and an arrow was produced and, with one hand bracing the bow, the other pulled the arrow against a faint string.

Vanessa's eyes widened as she realised both the unsuccessfulness of her attack and how open she was.

The next strike came from Ariel as her fingers released and point blank the arrow struck into her enemy.

Vanessa had turned away and managed to evade a direct connection, but despite her incredible speed the projectile sliced through the air far too quickly and connected into her side. The moment of impact was clearly defined by an intense high-pitched scream.

Vanessa had fallen back onto the oval, but despite her obvious pain managed to struggle to her feet. Her face was filled with fury as she watched Ariel walk forwards but with a pained frown she turned and fled.

Injured, grasping her shoulder, she vacated with alarming speed, feet flashing until they disappeared. In no time at all the red-head had escaped leaving behind no more than a pool of blood where she had fallen.

"Idiot." Ariel murmured as she walked past the crimson puddle and away from the athletics' oval herself.

-

It was just then that I remembered to bring my hands up to my eyes to hide the horrible details but after covering them for a minute to no effect I realised that I was too late - I had already witnessed the terrifying display.

"If only," I whimpered with such a quiet voice I doubted that even any nearby possums knew of my presence. "I had kept my eyes closed. Then maybe... I could... pretend that... none of it was real..."

Unfortunately though, I simply could not do that anymore so when my hands released my face the tears only had the forested floor to land on.

"Why? Why were they both doing that? How could anybody hurt another person?"

I felt as though I was swaying on the spot as gravity desperately tried to thrust me down, but a sense of compulsion kept me erect and provided the same source of energy that had me floating forwards onto the oval.

My feet changed from the crunch of underlying brush to the mute padding of grass and kept me on further still. The night-sky became visible overhead, the stars still obscured by clouds, but my way was illuminated by the moon shining fainting through.

Foot step forward, foot step forward, foot step forward, foot step forward.

That was all I could think, all I could do. I didn't even really know why I was doing it, just because I had to I supposed, until a sight finally stopped me. And there it was, the undeniable proof that I had been seeking since yesterday evening.

I collapsed there, falling hard onto my knees and barely braced my arms out in front to keep me from completely crashing to the ground.

"No, I didn't want to see this. Not this..." And as I hunched there, crouched onto all fours my tears fell from an unrestrained face and collided amongst a fresh puddle on the grass that was harshly crimson.

That made me think of all the red streaking Ariel's uniform and Vanessa's outfit, only, the latter girl had far more.

"It is real." I stated as I stared into the dark red puddle. "Only I didn't think it was this real. I just thought that, well, there were good people protecting others, protecting strangers because it was the right thing to do. But this... I don't know what this means..."

The crimson pool continued to be desecrated by round clear droplets.

I was stupid, I knew that seeing as all that had nothing to do with me and yet I couldn't help but feel the wounds of those girls. And it wasn't just the physical ones for I sensed within Vanessa's heart there was a lot pain that had gone unresolved there. So that made me wonder just how dark was this other world that these girls glistened so majestically from?

Chapter 6

 

Bethanie

 

"I heard from one of your teachers. They said you didn't go to school today." Michael, my eldest brother stood by my bedroom door. The one in which he opened despite the door-not-disturb sign I had hanging from a piece of twine on the doorhandle.

After he entered my room I had quickly changed tabs on my internet browser making it look like I was in the midst of delving into social media.

"Why, Bethanie? Why didn't you go to school?" Michael prodded.

As I clicked onto a new page I pretended to read one of my friend's news updates.

"You're doing it again, aren't you? Shutting yourself off, but this time there is no excuse. You will go to school, get good grades and graduate. I won't tolerate any more acting out from you."

I didn't turn to look at my brother, the only place my eyes shifted to was my computer mouse and then straight back up into the screen.

Michael sighed before anger followed into his words. "Damn it, Bethanie. Why do you do this? Can't you see I'm doing my best?!"

I shifted my eyes aside, into the dark carpet of my bedroom floor which was solely illuminated by the light streaming in from the doorway. I hadn't turned any of my bedroom lights on that evening, I didn't need to since I saw the world in a far brighter splendour. However, despite my heightened perception for light, the computer monitor did not glare at me. It remained just as bright as it would have in a well-lit room, where the words and photos, all looked very normal and that suddenly became blasé. I had this new sense to see energies that were once hidden to me, but artificial intelligence was already heightened to its fullest perspective as electricity served its purpose sublimely. So as I sat there I did so confortably, however to my brother it would have appeared that his sister was sitting in the darkness as a harsh virtual glow illuminated her grim features.

"Bethanie..." He murmured the tenseness breaking. "Just don't go down that path again. Please, for Mum."

Thankfully he left it at that and walked from my bedroom door and down the hall. Where he was heading was the master bedroom, the one my mother and he once occupied and the one which Michael assumed as his own. There I knew he would change from his Pet One uniform to an all-black outfit that designated the role of a hospitality worker. On the days that he worked both jobs he usually only had a couple of hours between the changeover and gratefully was usually too tired to interact with us, but today he made the extra effort because of me, because of a stupid school policy that would contact a student's next of kin when an absence without reason was observed.

Michael had received many of these in the past two years, but they had tapered off from their initial climax. Still, regardless of my lowering frequency with the rebellious acts, he always gave me some talking to and every time it was said with such weak authority.

I returned back to the tab that I had been viewing before Michael interrupted me. On it was a definition of the word daeva that described it as a being of shining light. I smiled at that, recalling the light from Ariel's bow and the light of the world I could now see, but when I read on that happiness faded. Apparently a daeva was the name for a supernatural being with disagreeable characteristics. Then words like ghost, demon, giant and monster were even thrown around. It also defined it as a false god.

Deciding that was obviously a stupid definition I gave up on that search and instead placed shade into the search engine and low and behold, it was the noun for a darkened area due to a body intercepting light. It was also the term given to a screen to block out this light. They were pretty obvious explanations, and fitting too I supposed, still it brought me no closer to any answers.

So then I searched for dark monsters and found many fan pages for demonic looking creatures shackled in chains, boasting horns, adorned with long serpentine tails and red eyes shining from their black skulls. Okay, so I supposed I expected that outcome too.

Then I tried one more, aura, and this one hit it right on