"Midnight Chapter 4 Pt.1" by Victoria Lia Yu

News reached us that we have lost two Dawn today, both from our Third Temple. One from the eighth division and one from the fourth. Lord Gregory was yelling again in the pantheon. We could hear it all the way from the most neglected quarters of the Temple. The captains of the both fourth and eighth won’t get away from him today without a lashing.

It seems I was correct about the lashing. Both of them came looking for Eva thirty minutes later. We led her to them since getting to her little sanctuary would take some time, and those wounds need some serious patching. The fourth division captain, Gaeb, was distressed. He sat on my bed while Eva encircled his wound with a shield of light, rejecting the time and space that wounded his arm.

The good thing about Eva’s healing technique is that it warps time and space, bringing the injury back to the state from before the injury. Once Gaeb was done, she moved onto Jesvi, her thin, graceful arms, bringing up the little shield again. A few minutes later, they were both back in good shape. “Thank you, Eva. ” They thanked her simultaneously.

“No, it is what I do. Plus, our Lord is in a foul mood. ”

“True, he was at the edge of ripping out heads off. If Gaeb hadn’t told him that Agrabelle killed the Midnight accompanying the one that stole away our Dawn, he would have really murdered us. ” Jesvi showed a great relief in his hazel eyes. Gaeb’s green eyes were fixed on me for a second. I looked into his and for a moment, I thought he had something to say to me. Then, he turned his black plaits away from me and back to Jesvi.

“I believe it is time we go now, Jesvi. We mustn’t take up more of their time. ” He looked in my direction when he said those words.

“Ah, true. Again, I am thankful that we have such a great and convenient healer. Eva, you are a lifesaver. ” With those words, he touched his forehead, then her hand, which is the respect one of higher rank would pay to one below.

Eva’s hands were a bit shaky after that. “If I wasn’t a lifesaver, then I wouldn’t have been needed in the Temple. I could have been one of the various servants. ”

“Do not joke in such matters. It is important for the Third Temple to have you as you are our only healer. The Second Temple would never apply us with another. Quez is priceless to them, so is his apprentice, Lune. ” Jesvi said horrified at Eva’s answer to what he had said.

“Then off you go before your divisions think you dead. ” Sabir urged them off and Fraeya sat in a nervous pack. She mumbled under her breath the names of the dead in the past year. More and more dying, more and more are going missing. The Dawn have already lost many of its children. Ophelia and Eva were discussing of having Eva move back into the quarters. Winter is approaching quickly on us. The season of death is a time when the Dawn are lost easiest. Midnight prevailed in the winter as the Dawn prevailed in the summer. It was a never-ending cycle of death in the world of the sky.

The aura of the room disgusted me. I wanted to get out of there; everywhere was the sounds of death. Entering the hall was no better. Those of the fourth and eighth division were weeping for their lost comrades. The girls were howling and the guys were sending ripples of tension through the temple. In the center pantheon where Lord Gregory was, I could hear a servant angel being knocked over. Her squeal of fear was as loud as the howls. It seems in the Lord’s agitation, he was taking out his anger on the little ones. This is absolutely insane; the whole entire Third Temple has fallen into a state of pandemonium.

I ran from the temple all the way to Eva’s cabin. There, I was alone, or at least I thought so. The pond’s waters can be obtained to drink in the well, the Well of Eternity. They say that in your most dire times of need, it will show you what you need to do. One drink and all you need to know will be told to you. Should I? I feel so lost and out of place. As everyone is worrying for the two divisions in mourning and are discussing about the Midnight, no one paid attention to me suddenly disappearing. Not even Fraeya realized when she sticks to me like glue.

Just one drink and I’ll do down to the forests and find a place to sleep. In the morning, I’ll return. Just one drink….

I scooped up the purified water in the well and help it up to my mouth. It was cold and sharp under my lips. Somehow, I didn’t dare drink it anymore. I saw my reflection in it. My raven hair in its shades of blue and purple looked back at me. My pale and stark skin glowed faintly in the moon light and my grey eyes, those eyes like a storm in Fraeya’s words were frozen in sorrow. A voice called to me faintly, it was a whispery and silky voice.

Jenna…

I looked into the waters again and now, I see the mousy haired girl again. Her grey eyes fell into mine, those words on her lips, urging me involuntarily.

Drink, Jenna...the truth will be told…

My hands had started to tilt.

Drink…

I felt the liquid on my tongue. It was as cold as it felt in my hands, only the edge was sharper and even a slight bitter.

Consume it, yes…

I swallowed and it felt as if a gush of fiery fire went down my throat. It seared it and I think I fell over because my head was in great pain as my knees buckled. The little goblet fell out of my hands and my heart fell as if it was getting ripped out of my chest. The whispers soon became maniacal laughter. I could feel nothing but pain rippling through me, breaking me.

Come to me!

That whispery voice returned, urgent and forceful. My heart felt like it was being dragged from inside of me. My head went through a vortex of images again. A smile, a kiss, grey eyes, a blood red moon, fire, tears, and flowing blood all around me. Nothing made sense; in my body that felt like it was burning to ashes.

The truth is what lives within.

I jerked and squirmed, unconscious of everything else but pain. My eyes were streaming with tears and the salty taste fell into my screaming mouth. No one can help me. I’m too far from the temples to have any one hear me. Help, I’m dying. Help me please, help…

My mind swirled away into an abyss of darkness.

Wake up…Jenna!

Is someone calling me? Why do I feel so empty? Sudden warmth overcomes me. I feel so safe, like a child in a womb. My eyes open and before I fully realized where I am, the mousy haired girl with the grey eyes smiled at me. With the little strength I had, I mouthed out one word that I don’t recall saying in my whole life. “Mother…”

“Jenna! ”

My eyes flew open and I saw Kail in front of me. His copper curls seemed so out of place in the darkness. I was cradled in his arms, the goblet with the waters of the Well of Eternity spilt at my feet. He looked at me with an air of relief. “Thank heavens! I thought I lost you. Your heart stopped beating. ”

For a moment, I felt so relieved to myself to know that my heart is still beating and I’m not dead. In my sudden happiness, I threw myself into Kail’s embrace without a thought. It seems I caught him off guard, but he returned it with a warm squeeze around me. “Jenna, you’re as cold as ice. ” He took off his red-gold cloak which defined him as one of the upper class and wrapped it around my fishnet shirt and ripped skirt. Under that, he wore the thinnest of cotton shirts. I could see his hard muscles from under the thin fabric.

“Kail, aren’t you cold? ” I was going to wrap it around him instead when we heard a blood curdling scream from in the second temple. “What was that? ”

“I don’t know. Shall I carry you back or will you manage on your own? ” He changed his position awkwardly because I was still sprawled on his lap. Quickly, I stood up, embarrassed to have been like that. If Agrabelle saw, she would have torn my head off.

“I’ll fly on my own. ” Standing up, I handed back the cloak but he declined to have it back.

“Keep it for now. You’ll need it more than I do. ” He let out his flaming wings and took flight with me right behind him. We quickly sped to the second temple and what we saw was a horrid sight. Bodies lay sprawled among the pantheon of the second and it was later that we realized, a member from each of the second temple divisions. The scream had come from Lune, the healer apprentice whom was passing through to the third temple to give some herbs to ail the depression of the fourth and eighth divisions of the third temple. She saw the corpses and screamed. When we arrived, most of the second temple had gathered to see the spectacle. More wailing and mourning was in store for the night.

“It’s a sign. The Midnight are hitting us hard. Something must have happened to allow this. ” Lord Gregor and Madame Gabrielle entered the second pantheon solemnly and silently. Lord Gregor was dressed in a dreary black tunic over a black cape. Madame Gabrielle glided across in a black dress to the floor with black silk roses strung along the waist. Both of them were in black for the occasion.

“Madame! What shall we do? With ten missing members, our teams are too small. What will happen to them? ” One of the Dawns said in a panicked voice.

“Yes, what had brought this tragedy upon us? ”

.
“What shall we do? ”

The many angels were jabbering and accusing each other as the back stabbing fool. “SILENCE! ”

Lord Basil had entered the pantheon with two followers. A woman with hair like threads of golden silk, and a hooded man with every feature obscured. The woman with the hair of gold had it woven in and out into various knots and twists, all held up by a red ribbon that was plaited through it. Random strands cascaded at the side to her hips, level to the wooden staff with a tip of fluid liquid that kept circling her. She was the ultimate healer and priestess among us, Celestine.

Her fluid blue eyes fell on me and gave me a searching gaze. “The sign of dusk has come. The Midnight are here for the traitor, the unwanted half-blood. ”