Chapter Three: Chosen

“Waiting for the end to come,

Wishing I had strength to stand.

This is not what I had planned.

It's out of my control.”

~Waiting For the End, Linkin Park

Twenty-nine casualties from her village alone. Andromeda blinked for a second, unable to believe it. Vampires were incredibly tough to kill, but twenty-nine of her kin died last night. She shook her head. She couldn't believe it. She refused to believe it. She heard from a messenger that the Arcane Archers lost two-fifths of their clan last night, and all she could think today was, I helped did this?

“Andromeda, you're just sitting there with a blank expression on your face,” Alexandros said, looking up from his new work of art �" apparently, another double-edged sword �" and punching her on the shoulder hard. “What's the matter with you? You've been acting insane all morning.”

“I've been acting just fine, Alexandros.” she muttered through gritted teeth. She continued to sharpen her twin throwing knives �" a little “gift” from her mum a couple of months before she passed away. They were Cassiopeia's favorite weapons.

“Actually, no, you haven't,” Helios, Raze's brother said. “You haven't been sleeping well lately. Circles under your eyes? Can't you explain that, hm? And Raze is going insane worrying about your sleeping habits. You've gotten thinner too. Don't think that nobody ever notices.” he grinned, his dark brown eyes shining.

“Can you stop reading everyone's minds for at least a second?” she groaned, almost blushing when he said that Raze was worrying about her. She disliked that thing about Helios the most, but, in her opinion, it was actually the most important ability he had, and she was jealous at him for it. He was telepathic. Some vampires are born with that gift �" except it's very weak and takes years of practice �" and he mastered it.

“Mmm, so Raze does like you.” Melaina smirked and winked at her best friend, grabbing silver sharp ninja stars from her belt, sleeves, or wherever the hell she got her ninja stars from and throwing them across the room, where they hit a bulls-eye perfectly. A boomerang soared across her head, and would've made a bald spot on top of her head if she hadn't ducked quickly. She turned to Alexandrine. “Hey!”

“What the hell, guys!” Andromeda shouted, throwing a silver dagger across the room, where it hit one of the bulls-eyes that Melaina was aiming for perfectly. Helios smirked at her. “Raze doesn't like me, and I don't like him. End of story.”

“Mhm,” Alexandros said. “That's totally so not the case when you go on the quest together.”

“What quest?” Andromeda, Melaina, Helios, and Alexandrine asked at the same time, although Andromeda mostly demanded. They all stopped whatever they were all doing and focused their attention on Alexandros as if he had something to say. Well, in this case, he actually did. And needless to say, that quest that he was talking about? It was about to change Andromeda's life forever.

“You know how my dad's close friends with Zarra?” Alexandros asked. His twin sister was about to open her mouth to say, 'You mean our dad?' when he covered a hand over her mouth. “He told me something about the fact that we need to wipe out the Arcane Archers. Our food and water supply's gone low, and they can't tell the entire village without mass panicking.”

“That's insanity, Rossie,” Melaina scoffed, rolling her eyes. “You are fibbing again, aren't you? First of all, we can't be out of food and water supply. This hasn't happened in centuries and the last time it did �"”

“No,” Andromeda said, standing up to pace back and forth, deep in thought. “Alexandros is right. I overheard my dad talking about something. I think it was about … global warming? I guess that the humans have um, polluted this planet. It's … insanity. I know.”

“Humans are scum,” Helios said between gritted teeth. “I think we should've expected something like this to happen. We live in a magical part of the Black Forest, where no mortal can see between the barriers. But outside the vampires boundaries…” he trailed off and shook his head.

“So what do we do?” Melaina snapped. “We can't do anything about it. We're just kids, guys. Come on. Let's be logical now. What are we supposed to do? Save the environment? It's a little too late for that now.”

Alexandrine gasped. “This happened centuries ago too, remember? When the Fire Orb went missing. You know how we need the elemental orbs to create a spark and �"”

Her twin brother interrupted her, saying, “Hold up, Lex. The elemental orbs are just a myth! They aren't real.”

But among the vampires in the room, they all knew that deep down, the elemental orbs were not just myths. The elemental orbs have existed for eons and eons. They were the very magical orbs that protected the vampire world. The hiding places of the artifacts were unknown. If one was stolen and taken from its hiding place, the barriers of the vampire world, and every natural thing in it, would slowly disappear.

Others thought that was why they all had the gems that are literally their souls. The gems came in different colors and sizes, but they all had one thing similar to each other. The gems held the souls of the vampires. Most wear it as jewelry, most keep it hidden. Andromeda's was a smooth shiny blue stone, clear as crystal, that she wore around her neck. Nobody knew what the color of it was, nobody knew she kept it around her neck except for her parents. And Raze.

The gems and the elemental orbs were all tied together for unknown reasons. Only the chosen ones could touch the elemental orbs. And not every vampire was a chosen one. How would you know if you were a chosen one, you ask? If an elemental orb goes missing, three gems containing the souls of vampires will light up and heat up and simply glow, and if you possess that gem, you are one of the three chosen ones to find the elemental orb. And Andromeda could already feel the pendant tied around her neck burning.

“Guys,” Helios said suddenly after a moment of silence. “Raze's gem was lighting up this morning. I didn't understand why, but now...” Everyone looked at each other warily, and Andromeda just wanted to sink through the floor and die.

“Alexandros, does that mean that the Skeletral already know about this? They're already talking about the chosen ones? The people who are going to have to find the fire orb?” his twin sister asked.

“Lex, unfortunately, yes.” he said, looking outside the window, and he pointed to the flickering transparent barrier. The boundaries between the human world and the vampire world were switching colors ever so often, as if it was a mood ring. “And this is only the beginning. There are rumors flying around that the Arcane Archers have human recruits. If they can penetrate the walls...”

“The Agrona village will fall, and the Arcane Archers will have their revenge.” Helios said, and Andromeda's stomach sunk. “We have to tell the others.”

Author's Note

Thanks for reading - I don't exactly get much readers, so if you're sticking with me, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU. I don't get much reviews either, so ... review? :D
Waiting for the End (c) Linkin Park
This (c) Me