Chapter 12 Damien

Damien sat up in the dark of his team's shared bedroom. He could hear Brutus snoring, but that wasn't what woke him up.

The noise that woke him was the sound of footsteps. Maybe it was just the sound of a passing guard or soldier going to use the bathroom.

He looked at each of his teammates sleeping in their beds. Last but not least he needs to check on Kacy, who slept underneath of his bed.

His heart skipped a beat in panic, Kacy wasn't there. All he saw was covers thrown in a messy pile on top of the bed, half hanging off touching the floor.

As quietly as he could, Damien places on hand on the wooden bar that is to keep him from rolling off in the night. He was careful to bend his head so that it would hit the hard ceiling above him.

He arched his body to maneuver his body over the wooden bar. He held himself up using the muscle in his arms till his foot found the wooden frame of Kacy's bed.

He dropped off from the beds, landing softly on the floor. He made his way out the doorway. There was no door, none of the rooms had doors.

The dimly lit hallways burn his eyes. He squinted till his eyes adjusted to the light.

Now which way to go?

He could go right, towards the bathroom, the most likely place Kacy would be. But no, his instincts were telling him to go left. To go up the stairs that leads to the main floor of the castle.

Damien went left, his instincts never lied to him. Damien's mind raced. His stomach filled with worry. Kacy was known for sleep walking, but he always went to Damien in his safe, as if he was attracted to him.

Damien knew he made Kacy feel safe, he's been protecting them since they were little. They had always been together. They shared the same dream. They were even chosen for the same project. Even the same team!

He ran up the stairs, he needed to hurry. Once he reached the top of the stone stairs, Damien's head whipped back and forth searching for any clues on which way to go now.

Once Damien stopped and caught his breath, he could hear the sound of dainty footsteps coming from his right.

He raced down the hallway, turned the corner, following the footsteps. He heard the click of a door opening as he approached the corner.

He turned the corner. There. He saw the handle turn back to its normal position, ready for the next person to use it.

He raced to the glass door, moonlight spilled on the tiled floor under his feet. Slowly, dreamlike. He saw Kacy smiling up at the giant, glowing, moon. Giving off a soft pale blue light.

Kacy always loved the night sky. He loved the stars. He loved the darkness lit only by their bright moon.

Damien reached for the handle of the door. But it felt like he was moving in the thickest glue. He couldn't move fast. All he could do was watch.

A figure appeared behind Kacy. A knife in his hand. Damien screamed out to Kacy. Hearing his screams, Kacy turned towards him. He turned towards him, his back towards his to be attacker.

Kacy's smile grew wider when his eyes landed on Damien. Damien watched as the smile stayed on his face even as his eyes grew wide in pain. The smile stayed as the knife was plunged into him over and over again.

Kacy was pushed forward with each stab, bringing him closer and closer towards Damien. Soon blood was being splashed and smeared on the glass of the door.

Kacy's eyes never left his. His smile never fade, even as the life drained out of him and he slid to the bottom of the door. He layer there in a motionless pill of limbs.

Damien finally pulled his eyes from the body to look at the figure. There standing on the other side of the bloodied glass was a man the same height as him.

Damien watched as the figure lifted his hand, the hand holding the knife. The blade started to wiggle in his hand. Then it melted down to the handle and reformed, this times with holes that formed letters.

The man turned the knife to the side so he could read the words he put in the knife.

YOU DID THIS

"No..."

Damien's head spun. He wanted to run but he couldn't. He could only stare as the man reached to his hood. He pulled the hood back at the slowest pace. The hood finally dropped and the moonlight washed away the shadows that covered his face.

Damien stares through the glass, his own eyes stared back at him. It was him. But no. Something was off. His mouth. It was sewed shut. The lips held together with little strands of string.

The other Damien mouth started to form a smile, the stitches pulled tight, cutting through skin. Blood was now dripping down his mouth. Black smoke was blown against the glass in front of him, blocking his view of his reflected self.

Soon the smoke blocked Damien's entire view, and he was falling. He was falling through the darkness of the sky. There was no moon. There was no stars. He was alone in this darkness.

Then everything felt wet. He was soaked. Was he in water not darkness? Then he heard Kacy's voice in his head.

"Damien... why? Why did you do this to me?"

"Damien..." he called

"Damien."

"DAMIEN!"

Damien jerked awake. He sat up fast as he went back to reality. His head also went straight to the stone above him. Pain went through this entire body. He howled, the sound was soon followed by laughter.

Kacy smiles up at him, trying to hold back his laughter. "It's not like you to sleep through the wake up call."

Kacy... he was there, right in front of him, smiling at him so happily. He was alive. He was alive!

Damien looked around at his fellow teammates. Brutus was taking most of the space as he shakes with his giggles.

Tera and Jenna were sitting on their bottom bunk, while they was laughing. Jenna was fell onto the bed behind her and was kicking her feet in the air. Tera was laughing but she covered her mouth in an act to hide it.

Bursty was behind Brutus, still in bed. He was definitely not a morning person. His back faced them and he had a pillow over his head, as if trying to block out the sound. Then he gave up. He sat up straight and threw the pillow at Jenna's kicking legs that were across from him.

"Shut up! I'm trying to sleep here!" He yelled at them.

That shut them all up, everyone turned and started at him. His hair was a mess and it was literally going all over the place. Everyone turned at the sound of Jenna trying not to laugh but obviously not trying very hard.

"Your hair! Oh my god! Ahaha!" She blurted between laughs.

Damien couldn't help but smile. Everything was normal. Everyone was fine. Kacy was fine and happy.

Embarrassed flashed a crossed Bursty's face. He jumped out of bed and went into the small offset room next to Kacy's and Damien's bed. Inside was a mirror and one hook. That was just a changing room. It was mostly used by Tera and Kacy, Jenna didn't care that we seen her naked, but Tera was shy about it and so was Kacy.

When he came out, his hair was the way it usually was. Bursty used the air to fix his hair to stay in place. It was kinda smart actually. If Damien could grind up metal and put it in his hair when he wakes up, could he do the same?

Damien noticed he was now the only one not dress, so while everyone discussed what they hoped for breakfast, Damien climbed down from his bed and took his uniform off the hook from the bed frame.

As he started to get dress, Kacy walked over.

"Is everything ok?" He asked. "You were moving around a lot, and you were sweating. And...and...Tera told me you screamed my name-"

"I did? How strange..." Damien cut him off. He didn't want to scare Kacy with his dream. "I don't even remember it."

Once everyone was ready, they made their way towards the cafeteria for breakfast. Breakfast was toast and bacon. Not much but one of the only breakfasts soldiers hope for every morning.

First thing they had plan after breakfast was training. They broke up into groups of two and practiced their abilities on one another. The first round was Jenna and Tera, Brutus and Bursty, and Damien and Kacy.

Jenna used a bow but she made her arrows out of ice. She had the ability to change the temperature of the water. Everyone watched and gathered data as Jenna created a smoke screen of water vapor around Tera.

In response Tera prepared herself. She looked everywhere throughout the fog for any signs of movement. By the time the vapor had cover both of them, Damien knew Jenna already had an arrow ready, so she must be at the step where she was searching for the area where Tera was standing.

It was taking to long, Damien thought. Usually it's over by now, but it wasn't. Did Tera know how to counter it?

A frustrating cry ripped through the crowd. It was Jenna. The point of this experience was to help them prepare to fight others that have powers like theirs. To win the battle one must get a killing chance without actually killing, so they must have absolute control of their powers so they do not kill each other.

The vapor suddenly disappeared, revealing the two girls. Tera had pinned Jenna on the ground, her dagger to the other girl's throat.

Tera has a smile on her face as she got up and ran to meet with the rest of us.

"I did it!" Tera yelled with glee. She reminded Damien of a child, she wasn't far from being a child she was not even in her twenties yet. She was the youngest of them. Though all of them weren't in there twenties yet.

"Good job!" Brutus encouraged. "How'd you do it?"

"Mmm that's my secret!" She smiled.

Jenna came up behind her. "Brutus, Bursty, you're turn! Let's see who gets their ass kicked!"