Midnight. A full-mooned midnight. Then I felt it.
Extreme pain, that is. My legs started to feel like they're ripping up every muscle, every tendon, every cell I've got in it. I screamed in agony and bewilderment as the pain forced me to the ground, bending my back. Not that later, my teeth seemed to burst out and rattle. The feeling is unexplainable after that, I ought losing yourself is entirely here I was, as I said, naked in some playground I knew was far, far away from where I came from with a bloody animal before me.
With all my energy drained, it was hard enough to even stay seated. I suddenly felt myself collapsing on the hard ground, doubting there would be someone to see nor hear me. Dried leaves crumpled beneath my body, crushing like little bones. All was silent then that I was even able hear my pulse radiated all over my body...
But there came the realization that I'm not alone.
Having the Sun up and the wind cooling the place, the Institute is the best place for someone to unwind. To relax. To be home..
I stumbled my way from my room to the library. I've always been fond of the place. It contains such energy that no other place in the world can ever achieve, even in battle where I often find myself with extreme excitement. The books, lined with gold and preciously ornamented, are like pulsating some kind of radiant energy all over the place. Yes, that must be the reason.
As I see myself by the door of the room, I saw a figure I would always remember. Iza, I muffled, my parabatai. This room had been a silent witness to our friendship. In here we rest after a long day of practicing of becoming a Shadowhunter. In here we discovered we're truly made to become the other's parabatai.
She must've heard me muffle her name under my breath, for she turned and smiled at me. She set down the book she'd been reading and stood up, walking from her place to mine. I was about to touch her when she slowly stepped back, the expression of her face changing. Then came a rush of memories.. The battle.. The pack.. The damned. I tried to move myself from my place to hers but my feet wouldn't move. Instead, I brought myself to explain myself to her but as I move my eyes, I saw her getting her gun. The same gun she used that night, the one with silver bullets. I panicked. I fought hard to bring my feet to motion but whatever effort I exert, it wouldn't move. Then the sound of shot echoed all over the room and I saw myself, not bloody, but combusting. It feels like being literally burned, like a bacteria set to a pool of alcohol. I never had the time to think of another simile to describe the situation I'm in to for the moment I set my mind on the first one, the body is slowly vanishing. Then I heard something that made everything stop.
Elena. . .
Someone's voice said, like a lullaby, making the things go in slow motion.. Iza's image slowly vanished.. the Institute.. my home..
Elena. . . Elena Ravenscar.
Again, it said. And with a tap, I was back to reality.
"A heavy sleeper, are you not? I always belived Shadowhunters are in light sleep so that they're extremely attentive. Turns out not all are," the same voice a while ago remarked, with not quite like the lullaby-ish sound it produced. "Sit up, I know you're awake."
Reluctance in my mind whether to sit as I was told or stay heaved in the bed, I opened my eyes and before me was a man of jet black hair and good stature, probably in his 20's. Sitting in the bunk of the bed, he wore a sinister smile while facing me.
"Enjoying your stay, I take it?" he said, "I'm the clan leader, Kito. You're welcome."
I sat up and stared at him for a while but then he said, "Are you not going to check if we raped, harassed or harmed you or your body? Several of our kind did that." I felt a shiver in my back as he said the word 'our'. Our. Us. Damned.
"Why should I? I wouldn't be laid here talking if you did." I answered with a croaked voice, taking away my eyes out of him.
"Very well. We've lain some clothes there if you desire to get dressed. That is if you only desire to, we will all be. . ah, pleasured to see some wonder if you don't. Move now, a hunt is set tonight." he finally answered as he stood and walked out of the room, with hands in his pockets.
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