W-where?
A shiver ran through my body as i heard the woman's whisper. Her voice was a poisonous mix of amusement and malice. I could feel the razor-sharp edge of her blade resting against my throat, its icy touch caused my heart to beat faster and faster with each second. My chest ached from the impact of the Azul Fire blast, despite the immense pain that was coursing through my body and my limbs refusing to move, I forced myself to lift my head. Not for myself, but for Ava.
I could hear her screaming and struggling.
"Let me go! Let go of me, you bastards! Please..." Ava's voice contained immense desperation. I turned my head as much as I possibly could be due to the officer's grip restraining me, my silver eyes locking onto my sister and the monsters that surrounded her. The tall, blue-eyed officer, which was the one who had launched me across the room, had her by the arm, his powerful grip was keeping her restrained, despite her relentless thrashing. The lanky, emotionless man stood beside him with his arms lazily arms crossed, seemingly not caring about the situation at all.
The woman with her sword to my throat turned to the two other officers and said "Can you please shut her up and get her out of here. We are already late."
"Tilo!" Ava's eyes met mine. "You have to get out of here! Now Tilo! They... ahh!" The officer holding her yanked her close, cutting off her words as he whispered something in her ear. Whatever he said made her freeze, her face twisting in fear and anger.
"Ava!" I screamed with all my might. "Please someone! Anyone! HELP US!" barely managing to find my voice.
Her gaze turned back to me, her lips were trembling, yet the look in her eyes did not reflect fear or sadness. It was determination, drive, anger. "I swear, I'll find a way back to you" she whispered, as she was being dragged past me.
Suddenly, Ava used all the strength she had left, reached for the knife that had been dropped next to me after the Azul Flame attack, and picked it up. Knife in hand, she flung her entire bruised left arm, attempting to use all the momentum she could possibly gather, in order to land a hit on the officer dragging her.
Catching the officer completely off guard, the tip of the knife came an inch away from the back of the officer's head. However, her efforts proved to be futile as the officer, without turning around to face the weapon, grabbed the blade with his free hand and snapped it with his bare fingers.
The sound of the broken knife hit the floor, and the moonlight reflected off the blade into my eyes.
"Can you calm down please." The lanky officer said while finally uncrossing his arms and grabbing her other arm to stop her from resisting further. He spoke again, his voice was devoid of interest. "It's almost a shame we need her alive."
"You bastards!" I shouted. I forced my arms to move, trying to push myself up despite the immense pain in my ribs. My fingers scraped against the broken floorboards, weak but determined.
The female officer crouching beside me chuckled mockingly. "Oh, you're a persistent little rat, aren't you?" She grabbed a fistful of my raven black hair and forced my head back. My throat was even more exposed, the blade pressed deeper and deeper into my throat, drawing a thin line of blood that trickled down onto my burnt torso.
"W-where. Where are you taking her?" I asked while trying not to push the woman's blade further into my skin by speaking.
"Listen up, brat," she whispered, her golden eyes shining with a sadistic delight. "Your sister? She's coming with us. She's very important to the COE. More important than you can possibly imagine. But you? Hahahahaha. You're nothing. Just another stray human scurrying around the filth of this city."
"NO! Get the f*ck of her!" I screamed, trying to wrench myself free. My vision blurred due to the helpless rage coursing through me. However, my body was failing me. My breathing was shallow and uneven. And all I could do was watch helplessly as Ava was dragged further and further away. I felt pathetic.
"Tilo!" Ava fought and resisted harder, her nails were clawing at the officer's arm, but it was useless. It didn't even leave a single scratch. "TILO!"
I roared and with all my might, attempted to break free from the woman's grip.
With a swift motion, she lifted me slightly by my hair and then ruthlessly slammed my face into the blood-stained wooden floorboards.
A sudden and intense pain exploded across my skull. My vision flickered, my ears rang, and the overwhelming taste of blood filled my mouth. Despite my rage and desire to save my sister, my body gave in to the pain.
On the brink of being unconscious, I heard the metal apartment door creak open. I was slipping into the darkness and the last thing I heard was my sister screaming, at the top of her lungs.
"TILO!"
And then, the door slammed shut.
Darkness swallowed me.
-----------------
Somewhere in the upper atmosphere, a small elderly man with a pitch-black battle axe attached to the back of a clean white robe with a light blue insignia of a sword and shield on the left arm was fly in the sky. There was a number 7 imprinted underneath the insignia. Next to the elderly man, a nervous looking man in his 40s flew next to him. He was wearing the same robe as the other man, however his looked brand new and the number 15 was imprinted underneath the insignia.
"Sir. Where are we going? I'm not detecting anything around here. I thought you were taking me somewhere important." The younger man said to the older man.
"Jin." The old man said with a weak and horse voice. "You have only just joined The Council. Even though you were high up in the COE, there is still so much you don't know about the human domain."
As the older member of The Council said this he abruptly stopped flying and started floating in the air. There was practically no oxygen but these two were immensely powerful and did not need it to survive.
The old man spoke again and said "We are here. Open the gate."
The younger man glanced up in the direction of the elderly gaze and said, "Sir Ymir, open what gate?"
Suddenly, a floating metal structure materialised into existence. Jin almost gasped as the massive floating structure revealed itself before his eyes. He realised something... It hadn't been invisible, instead, it had existed in a state beyond his perception, hidden by layers of spatial distortion that not even his high-level perception could detect. The realisation sent a shiver down his spine.
It was a fortress that was unlike anything he had ever seen. Gigantic metallic walls hovered in space, strange, glowing runes were lined around its entire surface, pulsing with an energy that was both ancient and powerful. And standing along the perimeter of the structure, hundreds of COE vanguards stood guard in pristine white armor, their weapons crackling with untamed power.
Jin swallowed hard, he was feeling very uneasy. "This is…?"
"Dark Hold." The old man, Ymir said simply, his voice was filled with a great weight. "It is the highest-security prison in the human domain. Only council members and the people who work here know of its existence."
Jin turned to the older man with a confused look in his eyes. "A prison? Up here? Why?"
Ymir let out a deep sigh, his gaze was still on the floating prison. "Because there are beings that exist in this world that cannot be contained anywhere else. Beings that we cannot kill."
Jin hesitated. He had known of classified detainment facilities, of prisons buried deep beneath the earth, locked away from the general populace. But this? This was something entirely different. The atmosphere the prison gave off was on a different level to the other prisons he had visited in his time is the COE.
"Why did you bring me here?" he asked. "I may be new to The Council, but this definitely is not just a social visit."
Ymir turned his head and looked towards Jin; his eyes were sharp despite the wrinkles framing them due to his old age. "Because you need to understand what we protect. And what we fear."