Chapter Five
1371 Words
Chapter Five
Twins
THE TWO familiar figures emanate a profound sense of enigma and anamnesis. Their eyes with contrasting color of silver and black shone like hidden gems on a dark river.
One of them even sported an amused look which later evolved into a mischievous smirk, as if taunting me or mocking my repressed shock expression.
"We meet again, Azul..." he said. His silver eyes filled with amusement.
I feel weak all of a sudden. My throat felt so dry that I am unable to speak.
In this world full of funny things and balderdash, only two people call me that way.
His eyes tried to catch my line of vision as his mouth twisted in an irritating smirk again.
"Lumence..." I breathlessly uttered his name, every syllable dripping with unexplainable mixture of annoyance and shock.
"Nice. Looks like you're not suffering from dementia or the likes? Still the same sharp kid I know." He jested ineffectively.
The only expression I could manage is a creased eyebrows because I feel like all my neurotransmitters are still extremely flabbergasted. First, the crazy lightbulbs. Second, I almost got crushed by a driverless container truck and this s**t.
But even if I want to stay shock, I just cannot help but let it evaporate every time I see the shameless smirk plastered across Lumence's face. It's so aggravating that I just want to suddenly punch him even if they just saved my life.
His eyes briefly left mine as he turned to the person on his right, his twin brother. I could not almost see his whole face clearly because the truck's shadow created a translucent veil... softly covering his facial features. But even if I cannot see him lucidly, I know that his face is as blank as a paper... like always.
"Hey, brother! Won't you say hi to our former friend?" Lumence ask his twin with his voice overflowing with mock enthusiasm.
His brother then slowly turned to face me... his dark eyes looks cold but I feel like being burned by its intensity. Like a mysterious moon in the middle of a scorching day.
Gamence... still as mysterious as before.
His eyes glistened in the soft lights from the surrounding. Unlike Lumence who blabbers like a kindergartner, Gamence only stared at me with no plans of uttering any single word of greetings or formalities or perhaps explanation to their sudden entrance here.
Strands of his black hair, that is contrast to his twin brother's white hair, danced to the rhythm of the wind in this deserted road.
I gathered may rational mind and every drop of courage inside my body to masked my trembling insides. I did my best to look dauntless as I stared alternately at the twins.
"Why are you here?" I inquired, with a voice of mock superiority.
Instead of my expected answer, Lumence just opened his mouth to release a bark of laughter. It was brief but enough for me to resurge my annoyance towards him. I feel like laughter was full of undiluted insult for me.
I balled my fist in complete vexation.
"Isn't it obvious, Azul?" He finally answered with a tone insinuating that I am too dumb too not understand what was happening.
"Of course we are here to help you."
He slid his right hand inside his pocket as he openly welcome my death glare with a smirk still plastered on his face.
A part of me wants to curse, punch or kick him just to wipe that smirk out of his face but my rational mind just won't let me.
But the white-haired boy did not even seemed a bit fazed by my obvious irritation to him. He even walks towards me like he's just strolling in a freaking park! He is walking as if a wrecked and smoking truck is non-existent beside him. What the freaking hell.
Lumence is gradually closing our distance. Meanwhile, his twin Gamence remained standing as he quietly watch us like hawk waiting for his prey.
Lumence continues to walk towards me and just as he was a meter away from me, I raised my palm forward to stop him from walking any further.
"Stay right there," I command. My hand still gesturing him to stop.
He did not argue and just complied. Our distance is only a meter away.
"I'm not playing games with you. Tell me the truth, why the hell are you here?" And what's happening? I want to add but I didn't. My voice is rose a bit because of my growing impatience about the situation.
Lumenced laugh for the second time around. Each bark of laughter resonated on the lifeless street, destroying the supposedly silent atmosphere.
He even pretended to wipe a stray tears on his eyes while laughing wildly. When he finally ceased from his dramatic piece, his expression suddenly changed. From a sarcastic smirk turned into an almost expressionless face. I almost thought that it's Gamence I am staring at.
"I told you, we're here to help you; to protect you from being hunted." He said in his unusual monotonous voice.
"...and believe me when I say that games are not really our thing."
Oddly, I somehow felt the abrupt tension in the air. My heart is unusually beating faster than normal too. As if his simple words triggered the dormant fibers of my anxiety.
"W-what do you mean protect me from being hunted? Who's hunting who?" Ideas flooded my mind that generated multiple possibilities but I tried to brush them off.
I waited for him to answer my inquiry but he did something else. His eyes weirdly blinked a few times. My forehead creased at his bizarre reaction. But after a few blinks of his eyes, Lumence suddenly held his left hand in the air, palms slightly opened as if trying to get something out of thin air.
Wih his posture, I onow exactly what he is going to do.
He's using his skills.
I was right because after a few seconds, something floated in the air...cascading towards his opened palm until he firmly got a hold of it. The lights reflected the thing his is holding.
A piece of metal pipe, He summoned a piece of metal.
He threw on a certain direction without saying anything. I was a bit shocked with his unforseen actions that my eyes automatically traced where he threw it. Then there I saw... another figure hiding in the veil of darkness just a few inches from us.
Because if Lumence's drastic baseball-like throws, the figure unfashionably dodge the metal pipe, revealing his presence before our eyes. The street lamps flickered as the stranger jerked out of Lumence' line of target.
That's when I realized that the streetlamps are already in their normal shape since I started talking to these twins and it only blink like that when the strange figure tried to elude Lumence's sudden metal pipe attack.
So that's why...
That is why I feel something strange--other than these twins. I felt another presence aside from them but I was too preoccupied to pay attention. That must be the reason why the atmosphere is unusually thick, because someone was watching us from a far.
"Who are you?" I asked the stranger commandingly.
I can hardly see his appearance since he is still standing in a dim spot and the streetlamps are fading in and fading out again--which I am sure his own-doing. So he must also be the culprit behind what happened back at school earlier.
The stranger did not responded. When a small amount of light shone upon him from the blinking lights, I noticed him flicked his fingers ominously. And with that... all the lights from street lamps and my headlights are extinguished at once.
After awhile, I felt my motorcycle being lifted by an unexpected force. It gradually floated a few inches above the road.
"What the--" I was caught off guard when my motorcycle moved on his own... floating towards a certain direction. I firmly hold unto it to avoid myself from falling.
I almost blurted out another batch of curses when it finally halted and gradually shifted back on the ground.
I planed to jump out of it when two strong arms unanticipatedly held me back... slowly sliding down my waist in a protective stance.
I felt a different kind of chill when a familiar cold voice whispered on my ears.
"Stay still..." his voice as cold as his dark and dull eyes.
--
Pronunciations:
Arylle Zullein- A-ril Zu-leyn
Tangent- Tan Jent
Lumence- Lu-mens
Gamence- Ga-mens
-C.N. Haven-
- Writer
