Chapter Five

Akira

I call for the power within me and it answers gladly. The lightning crackles in my veins as I let it loose on the metal door of our prison, with a wicked smile on my face as the power of the lightning rushes through me. The metal hinges turn white-hot and melt right off the door. The door falls backward and the two hunters who were standing guard just look at the fallen door with mirrored faces of shock and slight fear. Before they can break their trance, I send two lightning bolts towards each of them. I can feel as my lightning travels through their bodies, playing with their nerves, making them squirm. I relish the feeling. But I pull back, forcing the powerful kitsune inside of me to leave the hunters alive. We do not kill! I scold her and can practically hear her scoff. I roll my eyes and the hunters fall to the ground in spasms. I turn back to my friends all of which stand with their mouths wide open, all except Aiden. Roan raises his hand.

"Um, if you could do that the whole time, why did you wait so long?" He asks. I shrug and nod to Aiden. Everyone turns to him.

"Because," Aiden answers. "I asked her to. The truth is that you, Wilder, and Elia were all too weak to stage a breakout. And I was kinda interested in why Cain took us prisoner and didn't kill us where we stood as is protocol." Everyone stares at him with jaws scraping the ground.

"Ok, so now that you have your answer and we have now gotten handed a huge responsibility, can we go now?" Roan whines and Aiden responds with a nod. Within seconds, we are all standing outside of our cell in a dark corridor with stone walls and virtually no light except for the wall sconces placed every ten meters. Lucky enough, we are at a dead-end, meaning that there is only one way to go.

"Come on!" Aiden says and starts running down the corridor. We follow him, staying tight together. Aiden turns right as soon as he can and we end up in a large cavern. The cavern is so big that it has multiple floors, each with a balcony running along the side of the cavern, with corridors leading off in different directions. The weird part, it's empty. There are no guards or hunters standing anywhere. We look around, staying dead silent. After a few seconds of looking, I turn to Roan and Wilder.

"Can you hear anything?" I whisper and they both close their eyes. After yet another few seconds, they open their eyes and look at each other.

"There aren't any guards around here," Roan says.

"But there is a large gathering of people below us." Wilder finishes. "I can't tell if they are supernaturals or humans but judging by the number of heartbeats, there are a lot."

"Let me try." Elia kneels on the ground and places her pale hands on the floor. Her pink magic flows down her arms and surrounds her hands. Within seconds she stands up and looks at Aiden. "They're supernaturals. A lot of them. Vampires, Werewolves, Sirens, Kitsunes, Phoenixes, and Witches. But they are weak." Aiden looks at each of us.

"Well, shall we start fulfilling the prophecy?" He asks, an eyebrow raised.

"Heck yeah!" Roan exclaims. We chuckle and voice our agreement in slightly different ways than Roan.

"Well then, lead the way, future rulers." Aiden bows dramatically. I roll my eyes and take the lead, the others following me quickly, all of the joking mood gone in an instant. We walk out of the cavern, taking a different path from the one we took on the way in. After a few seconds, it branches off into four separate paths. I look over my shoulder and motion Elia forward. She holds Wilder's hand and he joins us at the front. Elia closes her eyes, only to open them when they are no longer white with pink irises, but fully pink. It's unsettling. Compared to her sweet nature, the power she packs is terrifying. She looks down the different paths and finally points to the path to our right.

"I can feel them down there." She says. Wilder looks down it and listens.

"Anything?" Aiden asks, coming up behind me. He places his warm hands on my waist and the comfort they bring is beyond words. Wilder shakes his head.

"The path is clear, I can't hear any guards." Aiden nods.

"Wilder, you and Elia take the lead. Feel for the supernaturals and listen for any hunters." He says and they both nod and start walking down the path. "Roan, I need you at the back to keep an ear out for an attack from behind." He nods and stands aside as I fall in line with Aiden and Meera. Roan follows us, bringing up the back, and uses his vampire hearing to listen for any following hunters. We walk in silence, letting Wilder and Roan listen for hunters. Elia walks first, pink magic trailing from her. On our seventh turn, we can see a light at the end of the tunnel. We huddle together just around the corner. Preparing to plan our attack. Elia's eyes flicker back to normal and she slumps against Wilder, exhausted. I look her over, worry in my eyes. She just shakes her head and rights herself.

"They are in there." She says quietly.

"Alright," Aiden says. "We go in together, quietly. Can you sense any hunters in there?" He asks Elia, who responds with a shake of her head. "Everyone, draw your weapons. I hope that we won't have to use them, but be ready." We nod and do as he says. Aiden, Wilder, and I draw our swords and Roan draws his daggers. Meera and Elia draw on their power, letting it pool in their hands. With a last look at the group of people who have taken up permanent residence in my heart as my family, I take a deep breath and put on my game face. In complete silence, we round the corner and burst into the chamber at the end of the tunnel, about to risk our lives to rescue these innocent supernatural beings from the hunters.