Imager: The Awakening

Chapter Four

Leo------

I drive onyx into my enemy's chest. The turned is too slow to stop it from piercing his heart. I wince as his body falls to the ground but move on to the next opponent. The smell of blood, dirt and sweat fill my nose. It only takes a quick glance at the pile of bodies for feelings of guilt and remorse to flood my thoughts. None of them deserve to die like this but I don't have a choice. I have to defend myself.

Another turned immortal is running full speed ready to strike when my vision blurs, throwing me off balance. The crisp winter air has been filled with a murky gray substance like the silver mercury in a broken thermometer.

A short man and petite woman appear before me. She is lying unconscious in his arms A cut covers her forehead and a long gash adorns her leg. Her arm is sitting at a weird angle and she is barely breathing. I can feel his despair and admiration for the beauty beneath him as if his emotions are somehow my own. Her brown skin is captivating and the curve of her lips leave me wanting to kiss them even in this moment of frustration.

Admiration fades as my back slams into the ground. The force is enough to knock the air from my lungs but I grit through it. Punches rain down on my face. I hold my arms up to absorb majority of the blows until my vision returns. With all my strength, I flip my opponent beneath me and plunge onyx into his chest. His body stiffens in pain but stills right after from death.

The others gather around me breathlessly. At least twenty turned immortals lay scattered throughout the small clearing in the woods.

"That battle was insane!" Riley shouts with too much excitement.

Adam looks at him with disdain. "It was too insane. Why are there so many of them now?"

"That's the third group of turned that we've fought this week. What the hell is going on?" Reed adds while touching the gash over his eye. He winces in pain.

I have more than a few cuts and bruises but I'll take that over death, which was almost my fate with the temporary blindness. I'll keep this to myself until I can figure out what is going on.

I nod in agreeance with Reed and Adam. "I don't know man but we are no closer to figuring out what's happening then the courts are. I thought taking that turned from the school that day would get us somewhere but it completely backfired."

We put the turned immortal into the secret containment room under the house. As soon as he woke we started laying out the questions such as who are you? Who did this to you? How many more are like you? Who do you work for? He opened his mouth to answer but started gagging on his own blood. His eyes bulged as blood ran past his lips, then he passed out. I checked his pulse and there wasn't one. He was dead.

"It's like they've been juiced up with super strength and only have one agenda. To take us out." Adam adds.

"Well something has to give before we lose more innocent people." Riley says while nudging one of the corpses with his foot, as if to assure she's dead. The body barely moves.

"That's a mystery for another day. For now, we do what we are told which is take them out on sight." Reed states. "We can't leave this mess here so let's get to work."

I start with the turned who tried to kill me when I briefly lost my sight. I grab his ankles, his feet bare and dirty, and pull him to an open spot in the wooded area. His skin is no longer filled with color but gray and wrinkled like the others. He looks to be in his early twenties but his washed out skin and sunken in eyes would suggest he's an old man.

We pull the shriveled bodies into a large pile and cover them in lighter fluid. They are ablaze in seconds. I can never get used to the smell of burning flesh so I let my mind drift elsewhere. I think of the girl that I saw. The beautiful girl that almost got me killed.

Adam drives the black four door pick up into the driveway of our three-story house. We've occupied this same house for over 100 years. We climb out of the car, each of us looking worn and bruised in his own way.

My shirt, well, what is left of it, is barely hanging on. My pants are the only thing still in one piece even though they are covered in blood and dirt. Everyone looks worn out and I feel even worse than they look.

The past few missions have revolved around fighting off turned immortals and it's starting to take a toll on me. Killing innocent people who were turned into shriveled versions of their former selves has proven to be difficult.

I know this is something that was forced on them but by orders of the court we are supposed to kill them. On top of that, I must add weird visions to the list. I rub my hands down my face in frustration and climb the stairs to my room. I want to sleep but not before I wash away today's guilt.

The steaming water hits my short curly hair and runs down my back stinging as it washes away the dried blood from a few open wounds. My muscles ache and plead with me as I reach for my wash cloth. As the soap flows down the drain I hang my head and let my shoulders relax. It feels good to relax since it doesn't happen very often in The Order. There is always a mission or emergency to deal with.

My body tenses as the light leaves the room. The girl appears again in the same scene as before. She is so beautiful it makes my heart ache. It's something about the purity of her as she lies there in his arms. My attention shifts to the slow rising and falling of her chest and I can tell that she is dying.

The vision ends quickly and unexpectedly as it started. Granted, the girl is beautiful but that doesn't make the visions any less haunting. Hell, she is dying and there is nothing I can do to save her. The more important question is why am I seeing her? Or an even better question would be who is she?

The water is starting to get cold by the time my sight returns. I find a towel to dry with and drag myself towards the bed. I plop face down and drift off to sleep within minutes. After a few hours, my dreams turn to nightmares of the brown skinned girl repeatedly dying and there is nothing I can do to save her.

I wake up covered in sweat. The clock blinks 2:30 a.m. It's as if time is taunting me because I haven't slept more than three hours. It takes every ounce of energy I have to pull myself into the upright position. My body cries in protest with each movement but I can't go back to sleep. I can't bear to watch her die again so I head to the training room.

I flip the light switch on the wall before walking down the stairs to the basement. The floor is covered wall to wall in thick black plastic mats that serve as practice cushions. The wall to the far-right houses weapons of every kind. An old punching bag hangs in the corner adjacent to the weapons wall. Though it might be more duct tape than bag at this point.

The radio is off but I need it to drown out the visions, nightmares and most importantly my thoughts. I connect my phone to the sound system and heavy base blares out of the speakers. I pound the punching bag until my arms and legs are sore. Sweat drips down my face hitting the floor but I keep going. I grab onyx and practice all my attack moves in the middle of the floor.

I check my phone after disconnecting it from the speakers. The bright white numbers read 6:12 a.m. My stomach growls, compelling me to head upstairs for breakfast. Adam is at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal when I arrive.

He talks between bites. "I figured I was the only one up this early."

"Nah, man, I've been up for a while now. I was downstairs but my stomach is growling so loud it could wake the dead. I couldn't put off breakfast any longer." I grab a bowl and join Adam. "What's on the agenda for today?"

"The hell if I know. Reed has been gone since five a.m. I figured he must have gotten an urgent call from eternal courts."

I let out an exasperated sigh, hoping that Reed's visit to the Eternal courts is just that, a visit. I am spent from my workout and the cold sweat on my shirt is beginning to get uncomfortable. All I can think about it taking a hot shower and sleeping the rest of the day.

"I hope it's just routine business. I need a break."

"Well, if it is a mission, it better not be as bad as the last time." Adam gulps. "We almost lost Riley that night."

Flashbacks of Riley battered and bruised flood my mind. If it wasn't for my healing abilities, he would have died.

Riley stands in the doorway with a confused look on his face. "Almost lost me when?"

Adam and I stared at him in silence.

"Oh, that night..." He sighs in realization. "Well, I'm here now, right?"

Reed rushes into the kitchen, frustration apparent on his face. "Good, you're all awake. We need to talk."

He holds a manila folder marked CONFIDENTIAL in bold red lettering. He dumps the contents onto the table. Inside are multiple pictures of mutilated bodies, a few pictures of the turned, and some of the damage that they left behind.

"What's this about?" I ask. "We've already seen the damage left by the turned."

"I just got word that Obsidian has resurfaced." Reed answers even though the look on his face is grim.

I mull over in my mind what I know about Obsidian. It is rumored that he possesses a dark magic that allows him to siphon powers from others to use as his own. Siphoning is a painful process and most don't live to tell about. Except one. The lone survivor told everything that he could remember. By the time the courts discovered Obsidian's hideout, he was long gone. He hasn't been seen or heard from for the past 300 years. Until now.

After a long pause, Riley is the first to speak. "I thought he was just a myth? Something that they tell you at the Academy to scare you into submission."

"No, he is real. He wrecked so much havoc when he was around and now he has resurfaced. The courts are worried." Reed responds. "That's where we come in."

"Let me guess, we now have to find Obsidian?" I question. "Did Mayes give us this mission?"

"Yes, Mayes put us on this mission because she trusts us. We are the only ones qualified to even take on this bastard. You knew what you were signing up for when you joined and there's no going back now. We have to find him and take him out."

With a sigh, I look around the table, before scratching the back of my head. I have never been a fan of Mayes. It's like the old bat has a vendetta against us. She always seems to give us the missions that no one else will bother with. I bite my tongue about Mayes, this time. There's no need to start an argument when we have bigger issues at hand.

"Mayes has informed me that Obsidian is the one creating the turned." Reed sighs. "We need to find out why and a way to stop him."

"Well, so much for rest and relaxation." I add.