CHAPTER SEVEN

Mysteries and lies. They make up what I am.

Shrugging off the disgusting Exillium uniform, Corey fumed at the unfairness of her situation. It was bratty of her, but she was in a foul enough mood to not care. It wasn't just the fact that life at Exillium was as terrible as ever, it was the fact that Ayagi failed to tell her that two new people would be moving into Huldlot.

Corey lived at Huldlot for a good eight years, visited for even longer, but apparently she wasn't part of the family enough for Ayagi to trust her with even something as inconsequential as this.

Maybe Ayagi simply forgot, but it still stung.

This is for Mum and Dad. This is for them.

Repeating her ever-ready mantra in her head, she held the uniform a good ten inches away, narrowing her eyes at the way it hung soggily from her fingers. Bleugh. It still retained that smell of unicorn crap, even though she washed it. Twice. With her own freaking ability!

Speaking about the Black Swan…

Corey tried to recall to the moment when she returned from the Neverseen hideout.

"Aya, please, it's urgent! Aya!"

Corey was begging Ayagi, the news that she bore making her desperate. But she was refused. With good reason, of course. Well, the last time Aya let Corey talk to Mr Forkle through Corey's imparter, things… have not gone well. No one ever dared to speak of that incident. Thank goodness for Sevadís. Another reason why Corey MUST get them together. Sev lets her do just about almost anything. Well, anything that isn't life threatening, that is.

When Corey finally managed to contact Mr Forkle, she was so tense that instead of offering a proper greeting, she immediately blurted, "I've just returned. They've initiated him. A Pyrokinetic." A brief shake of her head completed her report.

As she tried to catch her breath, she heard Ayagi and Sevadís gasp in horror. But she ignored them, too preoccupied to care about their reactions.

It was the second time Corey had seen Mr Forkle show any kind of emotion similar to the look he was currently wearing. His eyebrows were furrowed, with a look of intense concentration in his face. It made Mr Forkle… seem like a normal elf, instead of the enigmatic head researcher of Project Moonlark.

The first time she'd seen this exact expression on his face was when she first requested to join the Black Swan, back when she was only nine.

"Thank you, Dolja," was his eventual bland reply. Mr. Forkle always addressed her with her Black Swan codename. "I'll make sure we will be prepared for a third strike anytime. In the meantime, has Verbouge informed you about the latest incident yet?"

Huh? Has Ayagi informed her about what? Her confusion must've shown on her face, as he shook his head and said, "Recently, two of our Black Swan members, Himitsu and Espair have been exiled, due to Himitsu's loss of control over her newly acquired powers. Verbouge has already arranged them to live in Emissary Laraynna's estate. They will be under the protection of Dölja, who would be tasked with preventing them from being ejected from Exillium." Corey received the message loud and clear. On top of her spying mission, she had to keep two more kids in line. Great.

She highly doubted she would be able to handle them. She can't do kids. They're just not her thing.(The last time Aya had friends with kids under the age of eleven, things did not go down so well. Corey was relatively sure that that poor kid was traumatized.)

He continued talking. "Further information has already been sent to you via Imparter. Make sure they're kept safe. They are a very valuable asset to the organization, the girl in particular. You are also required to report tomorrow for a more detailed briefing on your next actions. That's all for now. Good luck and goodbye."

That was just yesterday.

Holding the mask in her hands, she traced its outline, the only thing that she thought was okay about the uniform. Oh no… As another bout of panic washed over her, Corey heaved a huge sigh, reached into her pocket, and took out her Imparter, rereading the information on the two exiled elves for the third time today.

SORA HEKS

Name: Sora Heks

Age: 17

Ability/Abilities: Terrakinetic, Polyglot

Background Info: Attacked by an rampaging unicorn at the age of eight. Resulted in mutated mind. Inspiration for Project Moonlark. Attended Foxfire Academy as messenger for the Black Swan before manifesting as a Terrakinetic. Caused a massive earthquake, destroyed her house, and killed her parents due to loss of control. Deemed as Unworthy and banished from the Lost Cities to become a Wayward at Exillium.

Things to Take Note of: Interact with caution. Highly volatile and unstable. Feels more at ease with brother. Highly unsociable and quiet.

Triggers: Complete families; sisters; twins; gold; tight spaces (claustrophobia)

SOREAS HEKS

Name: Soreas Heks

Age: 19

Ability/Abilities: Guster, Polyglot

Background Info: Was close to his younger sister Jin before she left the Black Swan. Was caught in an ogre attack in the Neutral Territories when under the care of the Black Swan a few months after. Chose to be banished along with sister Sora Heks (refer to previous attachment).

Things to Take Note of: A good debater, likes to talk his way out of situations. Do not engage in verbal conflict. Immensely powerful. Does not realise limits of his own power. Do not let him know until further orders. Do not engage in battle.

Triggers: Complete families; sisters; gold; ogres

General Precautions: Cordelia Malum must not know of their identities.

So they're the ones who got exiled, huh… Thinking to herself, Corey turned around, looked into the mirror, and started tucking her hair under her hood. But at least they're around my age, and not a bunch of ten-year-olds. Thinking and thinking about age, she couldn't help but repress a shiver that suddenly ran down her spine.

She wondered, just how was a 17 year old girl still able to manifest such a powerful ability?

Hearing a knock on her door frame, she turned around, only to see a giant black bear standing at her door.

"So, I presume you heard about my latest mission?" she asked the bear cheerfully, turning the Imparter screen off and putting it back into her pocket carefully.

She only received a low growl in reply. A flash of light, and Sevdaís stood leaning against the doorway instead of the black bear, concern flashing in his eyes.

"Be careful," he warned. "From what I heard… the girl hasn't received any proper training over her abilities. And she holds great potential, if the fact that she accidentally destroyed her home and killed her parents is any indication. And the boy… he's equally powerful, and he was a very high ranked Foxfire prodigy, which means he uses his head. He's also very protective of his sister, and both of them together make a dangerous pair. We wouldn't want you to get hurt now, would we?"

Feeling a lump rise up in the back of her throat, she choked out, "Thanks, Sev. But relax— aren't they on the same side as us?" Members of the Black Swan, Mr. Forkle had called the two siblings. Assets of the Organisation.

Hearing that, Corey noticed Sevadaís' bright blue eyes cloud over, shadows casting them into a deep shade of indigo. "Yes, they are, but… you never know. Besides, the girl… she lost control once already, who knows what will happen if she loses control again at Exillium?"

"Well, then she has yours truly to keep her in line, isn't that's what I'm here for?" Replying with a smart ass comment normally didn't help with the situation, but Sev seemed to relax a little, cracking a smile.

"Yeah, I know that, stay safe, okay kiddo? I gotta go, so… see ya!" With that, he held his pathfinder against light streaming from the window, and vanished.

Once he was gone, Corey was instantly hit with a wave of gratitude. Sevadís had completely willingly taken up the role of her father, so that she would grow up relatively normal. She was, after all, his best friend's daughter. Bits and pieces of her past came rushing back to her.

"Daddy!"

A little girl, no more than eight, rushing across a sea of grass. She was immediately swept up in her waiting father's arms, swinging the girl around. "Hey kiddo, how was Aunt Aya's?"

Her father, Stark Malum. He was a five-foot-seven, broad-shouldered Charger. He once worked in the Sanctuary, bringing information about their creatures to the Black Swan. A valuable asset, and was rumored to hold valuable information about a secret project that the Black Swan was working on.

A tinkling laugh sounded from the girl's right. The man set the girl down and turned around, revealing a beautiful woman with glittering icy eyes.

Her mother, Chari Malum. Lithe, graceful, strong. An extremely powerful Froster who graduated from Foxfire as one of the highest ranking elites in her year. While everyone thought of her as just a normal housewife, her amazing control over her abilities made her a very valued and feared member of the Black Swan.

"Of course she had. It's Ayagi, and Sevdaís is around. She loves them."

Unbeknownst to others, her mother was a very kind person deep inside, always working for the sake of the ones she loved.

"Even though," she added, "I have no idea why."

… Most of the time, that was. But they were the best parents she could ever had, and she wouldn't trade them for all in Eternalia. When their light faded from existence, never had she, in her nine-and-a-half years of living, felt so much sorrow and pain. She had begged Mr Forkle to Wash away her memories a few years later, on a particularly painful anniversary, but he had refused. She was heartbroken. How could he? It… it was her fault, after all. If she hadn't insisted on going out, then maybe, just maybe, they would still be alive…

Shuddering, she pulled herself from her memories, finding herself breathing heavily. This always happens, whenever she thinks of her parents. But it was her fault. She knew that Mr. Forkle knew that elves weren't equipped to handle guilt, so why in the fucking world did he refuse? All he did was to leave her with a confusing parting sentence: "Keep that guilt, that anger in you, and hold that ball of emotions in. When the time is right… let it all out."

What the hell did that mean?

Although she knew it was unbecoming of her to question Mr Forkle's words, but damn, was she curious. But every single time she brought the subject up, he either changed the subject, or glared at her so badly she trembled in her black knee-high, lace-up boots that Kael had given her for her fifteenth birthday.

Lesson learnt. Never try to insult or question Mr. Errol Loki Forkle. Unless you were one of his 'kids'. Ahem.

But that wasn't all. It wasn't just her parents that died, she found out, but someone else as well. Someone not even properly introduced to this world yet.

Her unborn baby brother.

Thinking of him only made the guilt, the humiliation, the anger, increase in tenfold. He was only five months old, and she single-handedly assisted in killing him.

Maybe that was why she was so bad with little kids— because they reminded her of him. God, she remembered how she always begged her parents for a younger sibling, but now? She couldn't even look at a kid under the age of eleven in the eye without being reminded of that incident. That was how old he would be…

If he had survived.

Oh no, what was she doing, being reminded of this incident? What's done is done, there's no other choice but to move forward now. She tried to force her emotions down, but to no avail. Inside her, something snapped. Beneath her feet, something else did too. Oh shit… she's gonna yell in 3… 2… 1…

"CORDELIA!" Ayagi's yell, mixed with the howling of very pissed off dog, resonated through the whole house. Oh, whoops. Not again.

Rushing downstairs, she found herself with one very wet and pissed guardian and one wet and pissed puppy. Uh oh. This was not going to turn out well…

"Oh… hey guys…" Waving her hands around, she gathered all the excess water on the floor and sent it out of the window. Yeah… well, she'd better call one of the dwarves to help fix the water pipes… again.

Once the floor was clean and dry, a golden ball of fluff launched itself at her, fangs bared. She barely managed to dodge the ball of doom by a hair's length and rushed back up to her room, which in itself, was a good thing.

She had found Lluvia in the human world, shivering and cold in the rain, trying to hid from the water under a pile of cardboard boxes. Growing up in an eccentric household like theirs, the dog had become a complete brat, which naturally led to Lluvia "spilling" (more like purposely pouring) random potions in her hair. As a result, crispy hair. Hardee Har Har.

Looking at the time, she sucked in a chilling breath in horror. Oh damn, she was going to be so late!

Like a bolt from the blue, she grabbed her ever-ready-Black-Swan-only purse from the false bottom of her chest-of-drawers, checked her reflection in the mirror, and rushed to the window. All within 30 seconds. Must have been a new record.

Corey gripped onto the edge of the windowsill, took a deep breath, and leaped out of the window. Just before the ground could get the chance to welcome her with its open arms, she pulled out her pathfinder from her jeans pocket, held it up to the light, and yelled, "Samag!" In a flash of light, she was gone.

In a matter of seconds, she rematerialized several thousand meters away from home, the middle of a sandy desert with the wind whipping in her face, along with it, sand. Nothing was seen for miles around her, except for a lone, solitary boulder. Landing solidly on her feet, she smiled to herself. Bingo. As she focused her mental energy on that solitary boulder, she gave her brain a little push. The boulder shifted, just a little, the minute grains flowing into the gap that was once hidden by the massive boulder. Now grinning in confidence, she gave the boulder a shove. The boulder rolled away, revealing a massive hole only slightly smaller than the boulder.

Pulling another black hooded cloak from her bag, one drastically different from her Neverseen disguise, Corey shrugged it on, its weight falling heavily over her shoulders.

Once feeling that the cloak was in place, she clicked a button hidden in the collar of the cloak, feeling the cloak stiffen around her. Thank goodness for technology. Well, that and elixirs. Holding her breath, she jumped into the wide, gaping mouth in the floor.

She entered with a splash.

Corey was sinking, going all the way to the bottom of the cavern pool. A bit like that book she read on a recent jaunt to the Forbidden Cities. What was it called again? Oh yes, it was, um... Alice in the Wonderland! Ah, good memories.

She remembered the time that she snuck off to the Forbidden Cities, only to crack open a book that read: "The rabbit hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemed to be a very deep well. Either the well was very deep or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as as she went down to look about her, and to wonder what was going to happen next.

A very curious book indeed. Talking rabbits and mock turtles and card soldiers. Humans certainly had a very… unique imagination.

She remembered another book that she opened. A middle school science textbook. Humans needed air to breathe, a unique combination of nitrogen and oxygen, which can be viewed as a waste product of photosynthesis. So did elves. But there's no time to dwell on her jaunts to the Forbidden Cities now. First priority - air.

Summoning what's left of her remaining strength, she raised a wave of water, and slapped it against the water surface. Bubbles came streaming down the water. Precious, precious air. At least she can control (sort of) the air in the water. She controlled the water surrounding the air bubbles, straining to control the hundreds— no, thousands of bubbles, holding them stock still in the water.

Physically groaning in the water, she pushed the tiny bubbles together, creating a large bubble of air, and she set it on her head.

Three cheers for oxygen!

Although being in the water did give her an edge over a normal elf….

After she had sunk deep enough, she spotted a dark hole, black as pitch, gaping from the side of the pool. Drawing another breath of air from the gradually shrinking bubble of water, she propelled herself towards the hole immersing herself in pitch-black darkness.

A complete lack of light forced her to rely on her other senses, and she forced her heartbeat to slow. The darkness reminded her of the time when…no.

As she gently trailed a hand against the rough stone wall of the tunnel, she gently propelled herself forward. This is not the time for a casual swim. Focus, Corey. She used the presence of the water to her advantage, sensing where the water thinned out and steering away from it.

Less than ten minutes, she resurfaced, the water still surrounding her, only to find herself in a glittering, sparkling crystal cavern. Standing at the edge of the pool was the Boss himself, in all his wrinkled glory. Checking the silver timekeeper in his hands while she busied herself with surrounding herself with a thick mist, he recorded, "Nine minutes and forty-nine seconds. Good. You passed."

A rush of anger suddenly coursed through her veins, and she couldn't help but sneer, "So. That's it? I passed? In case you've forgotten, the last time you told me that I 'passed', I was removed from duty for 2 months until you deemed me 'physically fit'." She was seething, and the uncomfortable cloak didn't help to improve her temper.

He did not seem the least perturbed, and only continued, "I had expected nothing less from you, being our youngest co-op member. It is necessary that you be highly trained in all aspects of stealth, adaptation, observation, social interaction, and independence, among others. Being the youngest, it was— still is— necessary too that you be more strictly trained than your fellow spies, as you are required to undergo more covert operations, reason being that the rest are recognizable adult members of society and you are not. Therefore, you, pose a greater risk of being caught by the enemy—"

He was suddenly cut off by Corey rudely rolling her eyes and scoffing, "And risk revealing our position, of course. Contrary to popular belief, I do know the importance of my position, and incredibly well too. Unfortunately due to a certain someone..."

Mr Forkle could only lift an eyebrow in response. "So, Dölja, the reason why I asked you to come," he continued, skillfully ignoring her scoffing, and continuing, "is that our enemy, may have made Mr. and Miss Heks their next targets. Out of all our members, they are in some of the greatest danger that could happen to them. They have a twin sister working for the enemy. More specifically, Miss Heks has a twin sister— Jin Heks. They look identical, save for their eye colour."

"Wait. So. You're saying that the sister is in cahoots with the enemy," Corey suddenly interrupted, while frantically going through her head to remember why her name sounded familiar. Suddenly, she realised, with growing horror, who that was.

Jin Heks. With dark, dangerous aquamarine eyes and a toned but lithe figure, the Telepath had the reputation of being the best female fighter in the formidable enemy organisation.

Corey had never personally approached her before— she wasn't supposed too, and even though she would deny it to her grave, she didn't dare to.

She was always seen standing next to the leaders, and it was clear that they treated Jin as somebody who was actually worth their undivided attention. They clearly had plans to involve her in their big operation, and that alone already spoke volumes about her position in the organisation's hierarchy.

Corey hadn't had any particularly huge qualms about Jin, and she didn't really understand why the leaders were so focused on her— after all, anyone could learn fighting, and her Telepathic ability might be strong— stronger than hers— but it was a well-known fact that there were stronger Telepaths out there. But now that she knew Jin was an almost exact copy of a member of the Black Swan, Corey knew how dire the circumstances really were.

Ah, quiznak.

She, a member of the enemy, could sneak into the territory of the Black Swan, acting as her twin, the Black Swan member, to dig out everything she needed to know about the inside workings of the Black Swan. She would be a perfect spy. In fact, Corey would be surprised if the leaders hadn't put her up to that.

Or… Jin had already been a spy for a long time already. An undetected, and a very careful spy.

It was at that very moment, Corey knew she and the Black Swan had officially fucked up.

If the Heks are related to her, then…

Her head shot up to meet the gaze of Mr. Forkle, her face paling in horror and her mouth hanging open. Gulping nervously, she started, "You do realise that it isn't the best idea to send the siblings of an enemy spy over? Not only would it pose the risk of leakage of information, leading to catastrophic consequences, it would also result in the destruction of the organization from the inside— did I mention catastrophic consequences? Yeah sure, send the spy's doppelganger over to one of the most top secrret, information-heavy locations in the world, in which may result in the downfall of the Black Swan if the information found inside is spread to the wrong hands. What could possibly go wrong? "

Mr. Forkle, on the other hand, looked completely unfazed. "We have, of course, taken that into consideration, but it would only lead to more complications. The Collective has decided that the safest route of action would be for the Heks to temporarily stay at Verbouge's place of dwelling until it is safe enough for us to transfer them to a more protected area. And during the weekends, they will be staying at Alluveterre, as Miss Heks needs a Terrakinesis Mentor."

Translation: when everyone has forgotten all about this little 'incident', which could take… years. Decades. Maybe even centuries.

Corey half-wanted to read his mind right there and then to find out what exactly was this 'more protected area' of his that she didn't know the slightest thing about, but refrained from doing so. After all, he was a much more talented Telepath than she was, and he would immediately be able to feel her poking around in his mind.

And sometimes, she really didn't want to know what was going on in his head. Ignorance was bliss, they said— and she knew that too well.

One such case was the reasons behind the poor quality of education in Exillium. It wasn't because they wanted to torture them. It was due to a mere lack of funding. Long ago, Exillium was a lovely school, aimed in aiding elves back on the straight and narrow. Although there were several successful cases, such cases were few, with most of their attempts ending in vain. Thus, most donors cut off funding, believing that those elves were hopeless, and that their money could be used for greater purposes than raising future criminals, leaving with only the Council funding them. But that money alone was not enough. Admittance rates in Exillium were rising, but the amount of funding did not. Perhaps it was enough a century ago, but the elven population spike, which in turn triggered the human population boom, only at an immensely larger scale, left Exillium cash-strapped. And that was only the beginning.

She wished immensely to help improve their dire situation if only for the sake of herself, but she couldn't, lest her cover be blown. Her hands were tied.

Seeing the look that Mr. Forkle was giving her, she had no choice but to groan loudly and bitterly mutter: "Fine! I shall keep an eye on them, and to befriend them. But I have no guarantees. I highly doubt that a Black Swan member would open up to a random civilian but…I will try."

"And? I called you here with the impression you had something to tell me." Cue the response, with the raised eyebrow.

"And… ah, the new guy?" Sheesh, she knows that Mr. Forkle loved to be secretive and all, but sometimes, she really wished that Mr. Forkle would just say things out loud, not just imply them.

She transmitted the memories gathered from her short trip to Mr. Forkle, an easy task compared to her previous one, and stepped back to watch the show.

The dread was rising from her gut, bubbling up in her throat. This cannot be good.

Without a single reaction on his face, it only meant one thing: this guy was probably unregistered elf; a new elf who managed to stay under the Council's radar even after manifesting as a Pyrokinetic, and since there were no missing posters about this dude, either his whole family's dead or his family really hates him.

She was willing to bet that it was the former. The enemy organisation had a lot of messed up people like that. Hey, with a cruel psychopath as its leader, what did you expect? All sunshine and pink fluffy unicorns?

Sighing heavily, she remarked, "You don't recognise him either, do you? His face was a little blurry, since I only saw his face for a few seconds, but he doesn't seem familiar to me." Pity a photographic memory wasn't one of her many gifts, or else she would've captured that face down in her head in excruciating detail, ready to track him down whenever opportunity striked.

"Well, thank you for your contribution, Dölja. We will be sure to keep an eye out for him." He interrupted Corey's incessant rambling, before turning back to face her. "It is advisable for you to lay low for these few days at the enemy.I highly doubt they would take kindly to one of their members slapping their newest, and most potentially dangerous, recruit. Chalking it up to hormonal changes would be apt…"

She felt the blood rushing to her face, the heat radiating from it like a furnace. Hormonal changes?! This guy was practically old enough to be her great-great-great grandad! Having The TalkTM with Ayagi was embarrassing enough. But this? This brought things to a whole new level of awkwardness. Damn… what did she do to end up in this situation?

She caught the glint of light flashing in his eyes, with the tiny flashing light, nearly completely hidden by the jagged stone walls. Ah. Another test. One testing her on her reaction to unforeseen situations. Very sneaky, Mr. Forkle. Very sneaky. Well, she hoped that her performance would be up to par.

Dipping her head, she tried to hide a grin as she replied, "Very well, I shall do as you ordered." Straightening herself, she turned to leave, stepping back into the water, at the same time, slipping into her 'Dölja' personality, her head held high.

She had taken only a few steps back into the water when she whipped around, seemingly remembering something. "Mr. Forkle," she began coolly, "I would advise you to not suggest that excuse to many. Others, aren't as open-minded as I am, and they might be insulted. 'Tis is a flimsy excuse. After all, 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.' A woman's anger knows no limits." She dipped her head slightly, a gleaming smirk half-hidden in the shadow of her hood. Good day."

Her piece already said, she turned back around, and sank into the water, becoming one with it, allowing the currents to bring her back to the entrance.

Rising out of the water like a nymph, she slowly guided the water to drop her at the edge of the cavern entrance, all the more musing over what she had learnt.

She doubted that Mr Forkle had told her everything, but that was just what he was like: never putting all his eggs in one basket. She counted herself lucky for knowing so much. Well, enough was enough. The sun was rising high in the sky, and she'd better get home soon. This was so not what she signed up for, but what could she do? It's a hive mentality in Black Swan. One for all, all for one. If she doesn't do her job properly, she may be ejected from the Black Swan, her memories wiped. And that wouldn't do. Corey needed the support of the Black Swan if she wanted to take the enemy down.

Sighing for the millionth time, she pulled out her pathfinder, and muttered, "Huldlot."

Bitter thoughts swept into her mind, numbing her as the light whisked her back home.

It's going to be a long day.

Author's Note:

Hey guys, it's Yvonne here. So...school's starting again tomorrow, and we may or may not have an update planned. A little motivation may help...but does anyone wants to learn necromancy?

By the way, this story is set ten years before the events of Keeper of the Lost Cities, so Sophie's currently five in this storyline. Yes. She's five.

It's been seven chapters, yet we've haven't seen any interaction between our girls. What do you think will come up next?