The Garden of What Once Was

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

11:55...11:56...11:57...11:58...11–...All at once, the High-tiers' thoughts silenced themselves. In only a minute's time, they would be running straight into what was most likely a trap set by the Kage Rogues. There was no telling what was in store for them. The Kages could have guns loaded with lamiacida, silver knives, or a weapon with a combition of both deadly substances. It didn't matter what they had though. Regardless of what weaponry or how much planning the Kages did, the High-tiers wouldn't be losing this battle tonight, especially not when the human they all loved so dearly was invovled. No, they wouldn't stop until the Kages were nothing but a pile of unmoving bodies. The only thing was, the Kages were just as determined to destroy them.

Such powerful forces were both vying for the other's demise. Now, the only pressing question was: who would survive and who would die? No one knew of the answer just yet, but, in due time, the names of the living and dead would be known. 12:00 AM. At precisely an hour and one minute from then, three hearts would be still and two would be fighting with every beat. In the meantime, those five hearts were still alive and well, all beating with adrenaline in anticipation for the fight to come.

"Let's fucking do this," Jared said as he ripped the hood from off his head.

"Remember–..."

Casper began to say but was abruptly cut off by Jared, "Yeah, yeah, I know. Landon and I will beat the crap out of the rogues while you and Reed find Shortstack. I'm not dumb enough to forget such a shitty plan."

"Actually, Casper said we had to 'distract the rogues until Ember is safe, then rip them apart'," Landon perfectly echoed Casper's words from earlier.

"At least one of the two listens," Reed commented, half-heartedly smiling.

"Everyone, get off my ass. Without me, this precious little plan would go to hell," Jared huffed while storming off toward the confinement building with Landon closely following behind him.

Believe it or not, this was not Jared's ego talking. He was, in fact, the back bone to their plan. His main job was to take the lead and use his power to aid the group in finding traps and locating Ember. When he finally touched the handle of the rusted door, he instantly activated his power. Ghosts of the Kages entered and exited through the doors. The door handle bent under the strength of Jared's hand when he saw Ember being dragged into the building by the bastardly shape-shifting pussy, as Jared referred to him. Too angry to remember that he had to also check for traps, he flung open the door, rushing inside. Immediately upon entering, the ghosts of Ember and Tom faded away into nothingness. Red seeped into his irises as he tried to activate his power, only to discover that something was blocking it.

"Fucking hell," Jared seethed under his breath, suddenly whirling around and almost bumping straight into Landon. Shoving Landon to the side, he walked up to Reed. "Use your power."

Reed furrowed his eyebrows, slightly confused as to why they were wasting time testing out their abilities. Instead of voicing his confusions, he decided to just do as Jared requested of him. He tried to find Ember's heart beat, but he could only pick up on his own and three others. An unsettling feeling crawled it's way into his chest. There was only one explanation for their malfunctioning abilities.

Casper instantly caught on. "They chose a confinement facility for a reason. Every facility has to have ability suppressors built into the walls," He explained. "I told you they had this planned down to the finest detail."

"And I told you to shut your trap," Jared snapped, turning his back on Casper to survey his surroundings.

The interior of the building was straight out of those horror movies with its sparsely lit, never-ending hallways and cobweb-filled ceilings. All it was lacking was the necessary blood splatter painting the walls and floor. Of course, Jared and the others was more than willing to make sure the walls were painted red once they found the rogues.