Twelve (1)

---

Taivan

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Wings.
Hundreds and hundreds of wings.
Voices. The songs of the sinners and of the saved. Nothing I could have said or done would have made a difference.1

I was damned.2

Pavement scraped against my bare skin as I fell to the ground before Him, shielding my eyes from the light. His face, and the others around him were blurred. I could understand this. I had never believed, never accepted, and I knew that he would never given me the privilege of seeing. The light grew brighter and I could hear the shrieks of the non-believers as they realized they would not be admitted into the Eternal Paradise. Screams of rejection.3

Another scream filled my ears, filled my mind. My sanity. A scream that would be forever ingrained into my being, my very existence. For a long moment I stared at the light, my retinas scorched. Then I realized that I was the one screaming.4

Screaming.5

Blinded and alone, I wandered through the world, aching to banish the abnormal hunger that plagued me.
My eyes. Gone forever because of Him. I could have begged, pleaded that he should at least leave sight once the creatures of darkness were unleashed upon the realm. But pride had gotten the better of me.6

I would never beg.7

The angel Ragel had spoken to me moments after my world had gone black and the Ruler of Paradise departed.8

Ragel. The Betrayer of Kings. Whispering in and out of space and time itself. I should have known he would miss this for nothing.9

"Seek the Shy Kin," he whispered, tracing him long nailed fingers down my jaw and to my collar bone, his breath warm on my neck.
Turning my head, he cradled me against him. My eyes ceased to ache, but my heart did not. I would have given my sight, voice, mind and soul to stay with him. 10

Then he was gone.

---

Merrick

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Two years had passed since Twelve, the Day of Death, the Final Rejection, Apocalypse, whatever you wish to call it. Two years, yet everything seemed the same to me. I had not suffered through that day; I welcomed it. Though I could not say the same for the others.11

I could have left the Hospital, like so many others had, but this place seemed more like Home than anywhere else I had ever been. I had nothing to fear any longer. What I had feared then had become a reality. 12

I dared not step outside.13

Pulling my shirt sleeves down did not help. I always knew they were there, would always be there. I remembered the cold metal. The slicing of skin. The taste of blood. The stitches, the staples, the pain. Then the warm, fuzzy feeling of knowing, though I did not accomplish what I had my heart set on doing, I had hurt others. I had confused them. Made them think. I delighted in these thoughts. I danced among them, weaving in and out of my own insanity.14

"Insanity?" I laughed as I studied myself in the giant mirrored observation room, wondering who -or what- was watching me on the other side. I stood out, a dark figure against the white-washed walls and bright lights. I straightened my white button-up shirt and black trousers, staring and snarling at myself. I had let my black hair go unkempt for too long, and it was now hanging lazily a bit past my shoulders. Too shaggy for me. My skin. It was getting paler every day, and dark circles formed around my blue eyes.15

I grinned at myself. My teeth. Every day, they got sharper.16

I was starving...17

"What is insanity?" I asked myself, cocking my head to the side as I examined a faint blue vein traveling up my neck.18

At once my smile faded. Grabbing the nearest thing next to me (a metal chair), I hurled it toward the glass.19

"NO!" I shrieked as the glass shattered in a shower of sparks and stars. I caught a glimpse of what exactly was behind the mirror.20

I went cold.21

There had been someone behind the glass, but their souls were long gone. Withered, transparent skin covered in white jackets hung over dried bones, delicate as tissue paper. Eyes, shriveled like raisins sat in hollow sockets. Skulls, with bits of hair attached, grinned at each other in sinister, silent mockery.22

I shrank back, eyes wide and desperate. Rage filled me.23

"Who let Death into my home?" I yelled, my eyes darting over the skeletons. Fear was a thing I hadn't tasted in years, not it enveloped me in a desolate, sticky web.24

"Merrick," a voice whispered, sounding as if it were coming and going with the wind.25

"Who are you?" I asked, all too quickly, eyes still fixed on the skeletons.26

"I go by many names, Merrick. The voice was clearer, closer. Behind me.27

Before I could react, arms wrapped around me, pulling me back to rest against a body. I felt warm breath on my neck as the hands traced down my arms.28

My head fell back to rest on a shoulder. The hands moved down to my wrists, pulling my sleeves up to my elbows. Stop... I said in my mind, for I could not find the strength to speak...to breathe...only feel. Fear ebbed and vanished the moment fingers touched the scars down my arms. A slight twinge of pain made me hiss through my teeth. Warm lips against my throat.29

One by one, the rusty staples were removed from my arms and dropped to the floor.30

"I release you from here, Merrick..." the voice whispered, slipping his fingers under the wrist bands and pulling upward.31

"No!" I cried out, and all my senses returning to me. I turned around, releasing myself from this horrible illusion. "You can't take this away from me!" The figure stood before me. At first, I knew it was a trick. In one instant when he held me, all the pain and confusion I buried into myself had come to the surface and departed. One instant. No one could do that. NO ONE. "You can't take this from me!"32

"Merrick," he said sadly. 33

"NO!" I fell to my knees, tears streaming down my cheeks. No one, no one would ever understand what this was. No one could understand. "Please, angel, not now. Please..."34

"Merrick..." This time the voice was only a whisper. Fading fast.
Then he was gone.

---

Remle

---

Darkness.
Why was everything dark?
No sound. Only the rapid beating of my heart, and my steady breathing. I was blind, but the rest of my senses weren't dulled. There was no sound, but a lingering scent of decay. Not strong, but far away, like a dream. The cold cement wall I had been leaning against for, God knows how long, had seemed into my skin, leaving my flesh clammy. Cold. Everything was cold now. But why? I hadn't been able to understand any of this. I had no memory of anything, no hints, no clues.35

But nothing could prepare me for what came next.
A bright flash of light, but only for half a second, illuminated the area. There was no time to seep in my surroundings. Only I saw I was in a small gray cement room. The floor was painted white, and bits of newspapers were scattered around like dead leaves. About eight feet in front of me was a narrow door with a small window high enough for someone to look in. Then darkness again, but I kept my eyes focused on where I saw the window, my heart pounding in my throat.36

Thirty seconds later, there was another flash. I felt as if someone had stuck a knife in me chest, twisting it forcefully when I saw the face in the window. It was chalk-white and dark shadows where it's eyes were supposed to be. Darkness.37

Flash.38

Alabaster statues in various positions stood unorganized around me.
The dagger twisted again and blood rose to my brain, making me dizzy with fear.39

Darkness.40

I still heard nothing. And I realized that I had heard nothing. No sound of a door creaking open to let these strange, twisted creatures in.41

Flash.42

The statues were closer now, but their bodies had twisted and molded to fit the beings I had only seen in my nightmares. Nightmares. That was it, I was in a nightmare! 43

Darkness.44

"Wake up, Remle!" I said, panicked. I pushed my back against the wall as far as I could go, paying no attention to the freezing cold against my back and legs.45

Flash.46

They were getting closer. I could see their faces. The dense smell of rotting something was closer as well.47

Darkness.48

Their eyes... oh God, their eyes...49

Flash50

I tried to back away further, but every flash brought them closer to me. I closed my eyes as I felt a cold hand around my ankle.
I screamed as they pulled me to the floor, their hands moving all over my body, raking over my skin. I screamed as nails scraped my scalp, ripping my hair. I screamed as another flash brought a face only inches from my own. I stared at the two deep, black holes where eyes once were, or never were. A gaping black hole for a mouth lowered itself upon mine. I screamed as I felt my life drain into the abyss.51

Another flash, but this time, the light stayed on.
I was breathing quick and shallow breaths. My heart was faint, and I could feel something new running through my veins.

---

te'Valin

---

I stared out the broken window to the wasteland outside. A breeze, neither warm nor cold, blew across the ground, picking up leaves and dust, forcing them to join the dance in a dizzy wave of splendor. I stretched my wings, sighing and closing my eyes as the wind entered the window, caressing each feather lightly, lovingly. Sunlight filtered through clouds and spilled in patches onto the dusty floor of the room, but te'Valin stayed clear, edging around the light as he carefully took a step toward me. Ah, his sweet paranoia.52

"Ragel," the raspy child-like voice asked me. Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and turned to him. His appearance always brought a macabre sense of respect and sadness. A child stared back at me through thick strands of black hair that covered his face. This child, no more than ten years old, had spent two years wasting away. He was now a mere shadow of who he was when I had first sought him. Dark skin, as black as midnight matched his hair, in the dark, you could hardly see him. But his eyes...53

The Shy Kin were the were the tormented, abused, neglected and rejected children of Twelve. They were the unbaptized children of Man. Yet they knew more than anyone. 54

"Did you send for them?" the Shy Kin asked, never blinking his silver eyes. 55

"I did as you asked, te'Valin," I said, my voice calm. I pulled my wings closer to me. te'Valin. The only being in the universe that had ever intimidated me. A mind so powerful, so free, that it rivaled my own. "Though there were those that did not understand." te'Valin turned his head to the side. Though he was the Prince of the Shy Kin, he was still a child. "The woman," I went on, "Remle, shut me out completely." I took in a slow breath and looked at the floor, my side leaning against the crumbling window pane. "She was so lost, te'Valin," I whispered. "So lost..." I looked up at him, letting the pain that was tearing me apart show on my face. "She couldn't stop screaming. She was acting as though I were attacking her. When I tried to comfort her, she began to seizure." When te'Valin said nothing, I said, "I had to leave her, te'Valin."56

"She is more unstable than I predicted," te'Valin said, shaking his head. There was uneasiness in his voice; something I had never heard before. He looked up at me. "It has been only three days since you've been out, Ragel. It was a wonder you found them at all. There is still more time for those we still need to retrieve. At least this was not a total loss." He threw a glance at the scarred door to his right. "We now have Taivan." He grinned. 57

"Two years..." I said, unbelievably. Taivan was in the next room. "Damn well took his time getting here!" I said loudly, hoping that the blind man would hear me through the door.58

"ce'Tor is taking care of him." te'Valin smiled weakly. "That he made it here is a miracle in itself." There was a moment of knowing between te'Valin and myself. "Is the other fragile as well?" he said, changing the subject.59

"He acknowledged me, in the least. Though he refused to be released. I believe he prefers the Hospital to freedom."60

te'Valin nodded. "That he does. Merrick is a danger to himself, and to everyone around him. His mind is poison. And we need him desperately."
I nodded.
"Rest here tonight, then start the search back up tomorrow." 61

"How do I bring Remle and Merrick back to reality?" I asked, taking the last few steps between us. I hated when te'Valin never gave me all the answers.62

"You begin with Remle. If her mind shatters, there will be no way to save her. Hope will be lost forever." He looked up at me, his hair falling away from his sooty-black face. The silver in his eyes swirled, blending with black and white, hypnotizing. I knew this look. 63

te'Valin was torn.

---

Taivan

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"Hold still," the feminine voice said, so quietly I could barely hear it. Her voice was the only sanity in my reality. Like a harbor in a sea of agony. I couldn't tell you where I was, but it felt right. My body ached with fatigue and hunger. I was so tired, yet I couldn't sleep. But I was safe. Even just laying on the soft mattress, I had nearly fallen asleep for the first time in months. For two years I stumbled through the world with nothing but a hope that I feared was false. But to my relief, I had found the Shy Kin.64

More pain came as the girl touched the wound on the side of my face, causing pangs of needles lancing through my nerves, and I hissed through my teeth. "Stop," I groaned, grabbing her wrist. It was small, like a child's. I felt her heart beat slow and steady.65

"Infection is everywhere these days," the voice said dreamily, yet sternly. She made no movement to shake off my hand. "It is surprising that you haven't already begun to rot." Though her voice was serious, I could only help but chuckle to myself and let her go.66

"What is your name?" I asked the girl as she began to scrub my wounds once more. She tilted my head so she could better reach the slice on my collar bone. 67

"They call me ce'Tor," the girl replied. She was so close I could smell her scent. Ashes. She smelled of ashes and charred wood.68

"ce'Tor, eh?" I said, my voice no higher than a whisper. I was lost in her. I began to imagine all the places that she had seen, everything that she had ever experienced, what she looked like... "How did you come to be here?"69

I hissed again as she vigorously scrubbed my neck until it felt I was near decapitation. I gritted my teeth and took the pain. I could feel her energy begin to move towards hostility. "I don't remember," she said quickly. "What do they call you?"70

"Me? I have no name of my own," I lied. "Call me whatever you wish."71

Her scrubbing slowed and eventually stopped. "You're clean," the girl said, her voice much softer now. "We just need to bandage them, and you can rest."72

I inhaled deeply, my mind fluttering into sleep. "Thank you..." I managed to say before sleep overwhelmed me.