Chapter 10. OCTAVIET

I was on Phil's back flying back home. Finally, I get to rest. I relaxed as the wind blew through my hair. My calm moment got ruined. Morpheus started rotating and glowing bright blue. Oh no, buddy. Not now. I felt my eyes close and instead of seeing nothing, I see myself on a hybrid island.

Screams sound from all directions. The cabins were all burning in flames. Blood formed puddles on the ground. Bodies lay dead in the blood puddles with lethal wounds on all of them. The site was horrifying. Who did this? I look around to see Leila. She was light-skinned with brunette hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a yellow long dress. In front of her was a woman in a midnight blue dress with a coat and leather boots of the same color, and a white feather scarf that had dried-up blood stains on it. She had mirror-like skin. Her eyes were the color of diamonds. Her raven black hair was held in a bun. Her black lips pasted a maniac smile.

She said, "We have got ourselves a survivor. Maybe she can join my images?" Leila spits and snarled, "Never. I'd never join a monster like you, Devastia." Devastia said, "Would I qualify to be a monster? A young girl whose family betrayed and used her. Then it left her for dead. Would you call that girl a monster?" Leila nodded. Devastia continues, "Luckily I was given a chance to be on the winning side. I want to do the same with you. Everyone deserves a chance." Leila hissed, "I'd never betray my friends." Devastia sneered, "I don't think they would do the same."

Before Leila could say a word, a shirtless teen boy comes into view. He was wearing blue jeans. His body was covered in silver with his hands elongated into claws, his eyes were pure red glowing like lava and his ribs were poking out his chest. Something shook me. Past the horrific features, I knew this face and so did Leila. Leila said, "Don't believe her, Sam. She is a liar and manipulator." Sam mused, "It is the only way of getting out here alive. Under her, we could be alive even at the end of this war. Then we could easily be together without any dumb war getting in our way." Leila asked, "How could you do this to us?" Sam replied, "I chose to survive and I think you should too. If you refuse, I will have to kill you, Leila. Don't force my hand." She said, "Then do it. I'd rather die than join you." Devastia said, "Girl, after this we will be coming for more islands. Make your sacrifice mean something not one among the many." Leila shook her head. Devastia nodded. Then he held out his hand that morphed into a blade. I watched in horror as the blade decapitated her. She fell to the ground headless.

Devastia suddenly turned and looked at my astral projection body. Can she see me? She said, "I will be coming for you, Octaviet. Sam has told me so much about you. I'd like to see it for myself." I returned to my body with a gasp. Mixed feelings churn in my mind. My chaos erupted in my veins. I held it at bay. For now, I had to stop us from going back.

I said, "Stop." Phil descended the sky. Ella asked, "First you faint and then you give orders to stop. What is going on?" I replied, "We are forced into a fork in the road. One path will put us at risk of death while the other leaves us alive." She said, "I see. You got a vision from Morpheus. Of course, the one that leaves us alive." I said, "At the sacrifice of others." She questioned, "What do you mean?" I said, "Paricius is going to be attacked. We either go back and warn everyone or stay back here and have a high chance of survival." She contemplated. She decided, "Everyone deserves a chance. We have to warn them even if it means we will have to risk it."

I froze. This wasn't the 1st time I have heard those words tonight. I said, "Then we should increase the pace." Phil increased his pace. In no time, we reached Paricius. We landed in the arena. By the looks of it, we had won. I got off and shouted, "WE ARE ALL IN DANGER." The crowd darted all their eyes at me. I continued, "Devastia is coming here and we all need to leave."

A guy in the audience mocked, "How do you know? Don't tell us you had a dream about it." I stammered, "Then why would I be here?" he replied, "Seeking attention. We all know your horrible rep." I said, "We are talking about a matter of life and death while you are busy being an elitist snob." The audience's panicked murmurs turned to deafening gossip. I said, "Okay back to the important subject." The guy scorned, "We are uninterested in your lies. Now shall we attend the feast?" The audience cheered as they left the arena.

Fools. All of them. A word to the wise is enough. I turned to Ella. She was tired. I helped her to balance as we headed to the cabin. She mocked, "Thanks, my chivalrous knight." I chuckled. I helped her to her room and left her with a blanket over her. I went straight to my room–not to cry but to pack. I wasn't sinking with that ship of people. I grabbed a satchel and placed all the small necessities I will need–a water bottle, a container, a cube, a phone, a lighter, an orb aka BT, and some durable food. I passed by a mirror. It made me notice Morpheus wound around my neck.

A gift from my mother before she left me and my dad. The reason why hybrids hate me. They feel jealousy and hatred because my mom wasn't just any enigma–she was a governor. Her love was a disgrace to all enigma. I was a reminder of that disgrace. It gave me powers and Morpheus which is supposed to be a sword–a hexed one at that. I felt hesitant to even try to use it. It was rumored to have made all its users insane. Wonder if I am going down that dark path.

Dad wasn't as lucky. He got punished. They infiltrated and corrupted his mind. He couldn't tell the difference between reality and fantasy. I watched as my dad had his sanity robbed from him. What did the enigma do? They took me from him. They didn't care about us. We were just pawns to their plan that is failing. Many can't see it but I can. The only reason I stay is to find a cure for his madness until then I will play along with their rules. I took a nap. My problems will still be waiting for me tomorrow.

I woke up in the morning. I quickly cleaned up and went to the dining hall. It was a big bungalow with red paint and blue roofing. Everyone was there. I walked over to the table for the Ganda group. Darius said, "Morning. Quite a warning you gave." The one that fell on deaf ears. I said, "Congrats on the win." He said, "We wouldn't have done it without Carter." I sympathized, "I guess the trials were tough. I guess it was worth it to enjoy the feast." Ella said, "I guess you're still sore about the other night." I said with a fake smile, "No. I am completely fine." She said, "You sure? I didn't see you at the feast.". I said, "I was tired." Ephiria said sarcastically, "So convincing." I asked, "So what did you get?" Carter replied, "3 beads. She said that they could be used to teleport once. Since I don't know how to do that yet, obviously I took one for myself." Ephiria said, "We took the rest since we're the ones who earned them." As if telling us we missed out.

Carter asked, "Why do we fight in this war in fact why does it even exist?" I explained, "It all began centuries ago–a time so far that events of it are forgotten. A time when order first appeared and hierarchy made humans live as slaves under order. Humans couldn't do anything about it since they were weaker. Then chaos also came after a scientist had metaled with alien parasites. A revolt for equality and freedom of humanity ensued. The war soon broke out. Stella concealed the war by placing a veil over humanity." He asked, "I thought Stella was the alien power." Ella confirmed, "Yeah but it was named after the woman who possessed most of its power. So we fight to prevent order from conquering the world and returning to that age."

Calisto suddenly made an overly flashy entrance. She announced, "We're under attack. Stop what you are doing and go to Achilles Subway now." Everyone looks shocked. She commanded, "I said now." People start going around in a panic. I grinned, "Told you." We stood up and started running with Darius leading the way to the subway. By the time we reach there, mostri are everywhere. They started setting our cabins on fire. Some hybrids tried to fight back but they are outnumbered. We continue running while evading any confrontations with the mostri.

We reached the subway and go into a train carriage. We closed the entrance immediately. The carriages were modified to each be able to move on their own. We pulled the lever and started moving. It dawned on us that there are 2 Carters in the carriage. One was an impostor and we barely knew him to ask him questions only he knew. I had to think fast. I armed myself with my cube which transformed into a double-edged steel sword with a bronze hilt. I read their thoughts. One was thinking of how bad the situation was while the other was wary of me.

I charged forward and impaled his gut. He winced and staggered backward. Drops of silver splattered on the ground. His skin turned silver. His hands turned to blades. I pounced on him. I grabbed his arm and put him in a joint lock. He fell to the ground. I read his mind and he was planning to melt and attack me from behind. He did so but I was ready. I kicked sending him back.

He shrieked. A blast hit him sending him back. Ephiria blasted the train carriage in two separating him from us. I could see a railroad switch up ahead. Anytime from now, the paths were going to split us apart. I smirked. He didn't like that. He shot out strings from his back. He used them to capture me and pull me to the other side. I was in midair when a hand reached out for me. It was Darius. The strings' grip increased. They pulled harder. Darius joined me in the air. Luckily, Carter held Darius by the foot but his efforts were futile. He just joined us and we were pulled in.

The carriage halves parted ways. Now to deal with our problem. I stabbed him again. Darius punched him. He winced. He tried to fight back but I pushed the sword in deeper. Darius said, "Okay, mostri let's get this over with. I am not a fan of painful deaths." Darius leaped forward and turned our attacker's neck – turning to ashes in front of us. Carter's jaw dropped He said, "Now what do we do?" I suggested, "We should wait and go to our destination. Close paths usually go to the same place but at different points. So we can try and regroup from there."

He nodded. We were heading straight for a wall. The tunnel was now pitch black. I had no remorse for that thing. It was one of the ones that had attacked Leila's island. Right before we hit the wall, a black mist engulfed us we were teleported to a desert. Sand spread out for miles with the sun burning our skin. I could see some buildings up ahead.

We headed there and found an abandoned village. The buildings were all made up of sandstone on one floor other than the ground floor. They all had flat roofs. They were like 3 buildings. Next to them was a forest of palm trees. In it, there were many giant sand-colored scorpions. They were the size of a car. Their 12 eyes were pale yellow. I read that scorpions have poor sight but great hearing. Why were there so many of them in one place?

We silently went into one of the buildings and made sure to leave the door shut. The house was empty with cobwebs almost everywhere. Darius whispered, "Search the place. If you find anything, just think about it. Octaviet is a telepath. He will sense it." We split up. I decided to search the basement. Darkness covered it. I could barely see lanterns along the walls. I used my lighter to light up the lanterns. The basement was empty apart from more cobwebs. The walls were very hollow so I took the chance to make a call to Ella. She didn't pick up. I ended the call and put my phone back in the satchel.

I was pulled into a vision. In it, I was pushing a brick in. A door opened in front of me. I returned. I look for the spot where I was standing in the vision. I find the brick and fulfill the vision. I t-alerted everyone. I could hear them come down. Darius whispered, "Wow. I guess we have found our mission." He headed through the door and went down the stairs.

I followed while lighting up the lanterns. The walls are covered with tapestries. Each depicted a part of a story. I examined them as we walked down the stairway. The story went a bit like this. A village was visited by some people who were drawn as dark figures. The visitors made a home here. A child is drawn as half human and half visitor. A picture depicts many similar children. As we went lower, the tapestry depicted the same picture but with a child missing per tapestry we pass by. Then the final one, a shadow of a giant scorpion is shown. Okay, that just turned dark. I guess the villagers left because of being scared of the giant scorpions.

We reached the end and find a big crypt with only lanterns lighting up a path to a man chained up on top of a pedestal. The rest of the crypt is pitch black. It had big pillars all around. We walked towards the man and stop at a good distance. Darius's eye twitched. He said, "He is a pure breed warrith." The man was wearing Egyptian armor. He was 8 feet tall. I could now see where hybrids get their height. He was thewy. He said, "I know that you are there so I'd prefer you show yourself." Darius asked, "Why are you in bids in the middle of nowhere." The man replied, "I, Sparta, am here because those stupid villagers gave me the blame for all their mostri problems. How do you produce a child with us and then be surprised that mostri caught up with their scent and killed them? Then my partners blame it all on me and dump me here." I mocked, "Nice sob story." He replied, "Indeed. Now get me out of here, hybrids."

I said, "You're twice as strong as us so you could easily kill us. Why would we ever trust you or even help you?" He said, "Then I can lend you some of my glow and some information. Freya has kept me informed of what is going on." Darius asked, "Then why not help us for free." He replied, "Then who do you think will free me." A pure breed warrith's glow itself was priceless. The power to enhance the strength of the environment. It would be stupid to miss out on the chance. Before we agreed I asked, "What information?" He replied, "The mostri are kidnapping teens just like you." That was normal. As much as I hate it, a hybrid being kidnapped by mostri was a day-to-day thing. I asked, "And what is so different from the normal?" He said, "Human or not." Carter inquired, "I thought mostri don't attack humans." I did too. Sparta said, "They are taking only people with green eyes." My gaze moved to Carter's left eye. That was strange. I said, "Okay, we will help you." He smirked, "Do I forget to tell you that these shackles can only be broken by the queen scorpion's ashes? Well, now you are informed." I asked, "Which que...?" A much bigger scorpion appeared from the shadows. She was the size of a submarine. She mocked, "I'd like to see you try."