Transparent Color's
Chapter 21

My hand is released and I fall to the ground made of dirt. I feel my middle finger being pinched and a small blue device falls out. It is gone in the dirt. I look up in complete astonishment. It’s another City, but much more decrepit. The buildings are much smaller and extremely old; they are falling apart, with cracks going up and down the sides. There are fire lanterns going down the dirt streets, to give lighting. I see some people lying on the street with flies swarming their motionless bodies. Others are up against the light post or buildings, trying to stay up.

I bring my hands to my mouth, gasping at the sight. Then bring my jacket to my nose from the grotesque smell of rotting flesh. I turn quickly to the glass but just bang into it. I can’t get out! I start to scream and bang on the glass hoping someone on the other side would hear me.

“Hush down girl, no one can hear you.” I hear behind me. I turn around shaking and I see an old woman sitting on a barrel.

“Are you the one that pulled me in?” my voice shakes.

“Pulled you in? Little girl, no one pulled you in, you fell in on your own. I sat here and watched you.” The woman laughed.

“No! I felt someone’s hand in mine. I was pulled!” my voice increases with anger, but still shakes with fear.

The old woman stops laughing and looks cautiously at me. She squints her eyes like she is trying to figure something out then moves off the barrel and starts moving towards me. When she gets too close for comfort, I back away a little and hit into the glass again. In the dim light I can see sores on her face, her lips are cracked and arms thin to the bone. She talks with deep breathes. Sᴇaʀch Thᴇ FɪndNøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Looks like someone’s playing with the dark to mess with ya. Are you scared girl?” her mouth morphs into a grin.

I try to ease the shake in my voice. I lift my head up and say, “No. What do you mean by ‘someone’s playing with the dark to mess with me’?”

The woman gives a little chuckle then starts to cough uncontrollably. She places her left hand on the glass to keep her balance. When finished she clears her throat and looks back at me.

“Dark magic. Only a few know how to use it; only one wants to. But why on you?” she squints her eyes again at me, waiting for my response.

I start thinking about the journey and how I was the only one who got attacked, and how I am the only one who sees awful things. Why me? I’m not sure myself.

My eyes become glossy and I say out of frustration, “I don’t know why! I don’t know why I was helped to escape, I don’t know why I was taunted through the journey here, I don’t know why I have feelings for a man who was once a statue, I don’t know why I fell through this glass and now here, and I don’t know why his eyes changed blue!”

I bring my hands to my head and fall to the ground, with my back against the glass and my head now on my knees. I start to take deep breathes in and release, I need to control my emotions. When I feel more eased I bring my head up and rest it on the glass. I see the old woman is now back sitting on the barrel looking at me. Then I notice straight ahead a guard staring at me as well.

“Ms. Collins I need you to stand to your feet and follow me.” The guard commands. So I stand up and brush the dirt off my pants and hands.

I begin to follow, as I pass the old woman, she whispers, “The color didn’t change, you saw into his soul.” She starts to cough uncontrollable again and turns away from me. I hear the guard yelling for me to move quicker, so I do.

I bring one arm across my body and the other arm holds the jacket over my nose. My heart is pounding and my body shaking as I walk down this street of horrors. The guard in front of me walks in a fast swift movement. He has on black army looking boots, with black pants and a dark gray trench coat. Attached to the coat is a hood that covers his head. His face is practically all covered as well; with tinted goggles over his eyes to shield the dust from the dirt streets and some kind of cloth over his nose and mouth. I don’t see any weapons though, but they could be in the coat. I must not count out any weapons.

We reach the largest building I’ve seen yet in this City. As we walk up the stairs, there are more guards standing in front with guns in their hands. When we reach the door another guard opens it up for us to move in. More guards are inside and some start to follow behind me. I am surrounded now by guns. We walk through a door and go a long way down some winding stairs. When we reach the ground level, I start to panic inside; it looks like an old prison. We walk down a dimly lighted stone hall. Drips of water are landing on the floor as I pass. At the end of the hall I can see a guard standing in front of a large metal bar door, and I know that must be for me.

We stop in front of the door and the guard opens it. Only the first guard and I enter the cell, and the door closes behind me. The guard tells me to sit, so I sit on a stone bed. He sits on another stone bed across from me. After he does so, he removes the hood, goggles, and cloth around his nose and mouth. It is the Majestic! What is he doing here?

“Hello Magolin. You’re probably wondering what this place is.” He says with a slight smile.

“Yes and confused on why I am here?” I say back, trying to control my shakes.

He gives me a grin and then gives a deep sigh, “Well this City was made to punish law breakers and extremists. And for why you are here, well you did intrude into this City without permission, normally those who disregard the laws end up in here.”

He puts his arms up like showing me the cell. He goes on to say, “Now for myself, I am here because of you. So I guess you can gather that it’s not a coincidence that we are both here. I wanted you here. I sent you that message to meet Maliki, because I knew you would.”

“But you said to go to the factory. How did you know I would come here?”

“Yes, and you know that expression curiosity kills the cat? Well you are a cat my dear. Plus I’ve been tracking you.” He points to my mother’s pin.

I take the pin out of my hair and place it on the stone. “Why?”

“To get you away from Toby.” He says coldly with a grin still on his face.

My body starts to tense up and I want to scream, but I say calmly, “Why do you want me away from Toby?”

I look coldly at him as he stares back at me. He starts to stretch his back, arms, and neck, like he is getting comfortable before telling a long story. After he is done, he gives a sarcastic smile and says, “I guess it’s safe now to tell you the truth on what is really going on.”

He pauses for a minute for me to react but I don’t, so he continues, “Let’s start from the beginning. You already know the history behind this City and my ancestors and the Great War; the fight between good and evil…blah, blah, blah; well what you don’t know is the history of your own family and the dark power.” He kneels into his legs as he goes on.

“Good did triumph over evil, but the source of evil was not destroyed. It was found by your Uncle Ping’s great grandfather, and from his finding, he was gifted its power. The power took over him and he created havoc all over the City and the other Cities as well; almost having complete control over every human being alive. Until one day many people rose up and defeated the darkness that controlled him, and some of its followers. The darkness was casted out of the Cities and onto the land beyond. Of course not without leaving some corruption behind in the Cities itself, which I’m sure you have experience some of that now haven’t you?” he gives me a grin; I just keep silent. He goes on.

“Many of its followers have searched for that dark power to return it to its glory. My ancestors being a few of those followers, I’m sure you have figured that out already. Anyway, generations have gone by, and seven years ago I went out to search for the power, I found it in two years and have been the ruler here in this Grand City for five.”

He gives a little laugh, and then goes on, “But to my dismay I am limited. Apparently only the first finder and his offspring’s can have complete dominance. So naturally I searched for the offsprings and found they have all died. Then a little birdie tells me that the great grandchildren are still alive; you, your Uncle Ping, and his son Toby. I have no use for an old man; he is already set in his ways, I find you are too stubborn, so Toby will be my pod.”

I try not to show any emotion, but my whole body is boiling up and my hands are white from squeezing them into tight fists. He just sits there grinning and staring at me like he wants me to erupt. But I refuse to let him have that joy, so I calmly state,

“Toby won’t succumb to you.”

The Majestic starts to laugh, “God I love your spunk! But… I’m going to have to disagree with you, I’m pretty convincing. And I don’t believe I will have to do that much, since he is already fond of me. Besides the dose I have injected him with, you know at the clinic, his mind is already starting to ease.”

I sit quiet, he leans back against the wall and smiles, then says, “Nothing to say, well then how about I go on with my story and tell you how I got you both here, sounds good?” he looks at me, I say nothing. He then brings his arms to his legs again.

“We, in power of our Cities, have what you call mutual respect for each other. I would not go barging into one of their Cities, and they would not dare to come to mine. Your, Mister Minds is indeed a ruthless man, which I admire, but have no need for. When I asked upon the boy, he would not give the child to me, for he wanted the power as well. I informed him he could have you, for you can hold the power as well. He dumbly agreed, like I was really going to give him part of the darkness.” He laughs, “Anyway, so I sent out troops to retrieve the boy. Little did I know rebels were formed within these walls, on a mission of their own. They sneak their way into my group. Little by little terrors of that land vanquished them. As you know only one survived, your Maliki. Foolishly he says he is there for the girl, you, for he thinks he is just rescuing an ordinary girl from a City. Mister Minds thinks otherwise and is enraged. So Mister Minds freezes him, sets him as a direct insult to me. Naturally a new plan had to be formed.” He lifts his pointing finger up and amusement crosses his face, “and this is where my great convincing skills come in to play.”

He puts his hand down, “Well with the help of a few messenger birds. I pretended to be Trevor and sent out messages to your Uncle Ping pleading for his help to save his son and niece from Mister Minds. I told him he has found the power and wants to use it on the two of you. I told him, he had to set up an escape plan. The fool. Well everything was going as planned, but the only problem was you and your stubbornness. So your Uncle devised a plan to make you hate him and at the perfect time drive you into rage and have you committed, along with Toby. I honestly wanted them to kill you, but realized your obsession with the statue and knew you would be the only one to bring him back to life. Your obsession, my dear, gave you both a guide right to me.” He goes silent and just sits back and stares me down.

“You’re quite beautiful, you know. When you both arrived and I saw you for the first time, I thought maybe I can have you both. Use the boy for the power and make you mine. But I see your actions say otherwise. So now I have no use for you. Toby will be sad, but don’t worry he will get over it. He already is.” He says emotionless.

He then approaches and squats down in front of me. His dark blue eyes are somewhat blackened now. I want to move but I feel stuck in place. His hand moves to a piece of my hair that is going down my face, and moves it behind my ears. His hand then gently touches my cheek, and his body draws in closer to where our noses touch. He gives me a kiss, then moves his lips just inches away and says, “Such a waste.” He moves his body away, stands up and leaves the cold cell. The door slams and locks behind him.

I let out my held in breath and start to cry. I lay down on the stone bed curled up to where my knees are close to my chest. I lay quivering. I cannot stop thinking about Toby and what awful things could happen to him. I think of Clara and her friend being fooled and losing their lives because of it. I think of my Aunt and Uncle being hanged; about how naive I was to act out the Majestic’s plan, how I don’t know if Maliki is dead or alive, how his poisonous lips has touched mine, and finally my mother’s pin.

Why did he have to use my mother’s pin?

What should I do? Nothing, I think to myself. Absolutely nothing; I’ll just make things worse. It’s better off if I’m just gone, I can’t do anything now anyways. I sob some more, until eventually I’m numb. I lay here for days in deliria. I eat and drink what is left in my bag, but unable to fully digest it.

I finally fall asleep.

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