Winter (Erityian Tribes Novella, #4)

01 : Into the Black Division

"Winter? Winter!"

My head was aching and it felt like thousands of needles were piercing through my skull. I stood up, trying to remember what had happened before I passed out.

Krystal . . .

I went outside our hideout to search for food when two men confronted me, and I knew they weren't normal. Their eyes gleamed in purple as they looked at me as if I was a prey.

"Is this one a humdrum?" the guy on the left asked.

"She saw us. We need to kill her whether she is or not," the other guy said.

Humdrum? What was that?

They grabbed both of my arms and it felt like my insides were burning. I was scared as hell, but my sister's face came into my mind. I had to protect her.

"No!"

I tried getting away from them by removing my jacket and I ended up toppling over the ruins. The impact almost made me lose consciousness but I willed myself to remain awake.

"Krystal . . ." I mumbled as I tried to get out of the debris but my body wasn't cooperating. "S-shit . . ."

The next thing I knew, I was already falling back to the ground as darkness consumed everything.

***

The explosions around the place woke me up and I winced as I moved my right leg. There was a long gash on it, blood trickling down my skin. But I didn't mind the pain. I had to see my sister.

Gritting my teeth, I ran toward our hiding place and opened the trapdoor. But there was nothing there. Krystal wasn't there.

"Krystal!" I called, my heart racing, afraid that something had happened to her.

I searched the whole place, hoping that she was just roaming around, but I knew deep in my mind that those guys might have found her.

"No, please no," I muttered between my sobs. "Krystal . . ."

My heart felt like it was being ripped apart. I never cried when I was with her. I wanted to show her that I could protect her . . . that I was strong. But today, everything that I wanted to keep, that I wanted to protect, was taken away from me.

I even talked back to Dad and accused him of prioritizing his position over his family. Yet they saved us. I didn't even apologize. All we could do was run away from his murderer.

The pain and agony that I was trying to bury deep in my heart started to arise. Tears fell silently on my face as fire engulfed the place we once called our home.

"Mom . . . Dad . . . Krystal . . ."

I was alone.

I was hopeless.

I was weak.

"Winter, remember. Ice has been the strongest element in this place for hundreds of years. The ice will never melt. As long as we are here, this place will always be as white as snow."

Mom was right. And now that they were gone, the ice that could never melt ceased to exist. The whole place was burning.

I could feel the scorching heat against my skin but I continued walking. All I could feel was rage. I wanted to kill everyone who ruined the peace I was holding onto.

"Vanish."

Everything in my path turned to ice. I didn't know how. Maybe I was just hallucinating. Maybe I had lost my sanity. But memories of my parents flashed in my mind. I could see ice crystals on their hands and their weapons. Maybe I wasn't imagining things back then.