REJECTION PART 2: THE CURSED ONES

2

The air is stiff and dry. It was dark...

With the only light seeping through a dirty window in the ceiling. The scent of silver reeks amongst the dirt and iron.

That place... That room was empty. Except for a faint sound...

breathing...

Every now and then a 'cling-clang' fills the silence. Then, a gasp as something burns: silver through iron, no, blood. Silver wraps on flesh.

A breath.

Something. Someone is chained to the wall. It's alive, breathing at the very least. But alive.

Arms.

Legs.

Body.

Bound to the silver chains.

It is burning. Yet it breathes.

Chapped lips move in the dark, as if saying something.

Repeatedly.

Through burning skin.

Repeatedly.

What was it?

It keeps on saying something.

"L---"

It was
.
.
.

.
.
.
*Gasp*

"Good morning, sleepy one."

Chains. Silver. My mind still in haze.

"Nightmare, huh?" I turned to her, eyes still adjusting from my... 'sleep'.

"You're Dela." It appears that I dozed off again while sitting. I have been sleepy but I couldn't take a full night sleep.

"First of all, only those who are close to me calls me Dela. It is Lady Adelaide, sure is mouthful. So, I'll let you call me Dela."

"I am Aiden Orpheus."

"I know. Aiden." She went to the cupboard. "Water?" She glanced at me but continued to pour a glass. "Is this an official business?" She placed the glass in front of me and sat at the other end of the table.

"Nobody visits me these days." Her smile does not falter. Her appearance changed. It seems that she... aged like at an age of a wolf who can shift for the first time.

"Curious 'bout how I look like a somewhat adult now?" As the King described her, she is supposed to look like a child. As far as I know, guardians don't age. "There are things a child is not supposed or able to do. If someone saw me travelling with my little self, it will be suspicious, eh?" She clicked her tongue. "So, why are you here?"

"You're a guardian. Dela of the fairies."

She hummed picking up the glass of water and it turned orange. A strange smile drew on her lips as she drank it.

"Guardians are pretty obsolete, don't you think? Well, you kind'a know that, don't you? Still," She set down her glass. "Dela is still a guardian and so are you. I heard what happened. Well, she was expiring. Good for her to make it a show."

Expiring? Does she know about what will happen before it did?

"Oh, it was quite an event, especially you. Didn't know that she can transfer her role just like that." She snapped her fingers.

"Didn't the former guardian pass it to you, too?"

She chuckled.

"Didn't the Duke told you anything?"

"No." He did not even want to see me.

"Right. So, you came looking for me?"

"I'm looking for the others too, but you are the only one I can track down."

"Of course, I can be easily found." I can sense sarcasm in her tone. "Listen, young one. I am barely a guardian and so was your... predecessor. And don't believe everything you heard about us, we are but old stories."

"You don't understand." I have to find answers.

"I, very well understand what you want. Why you are a guardian? That is your question. Why we are? Right? We are guardians, that's it."

"But..."

Her hand slammed on the table.

"All I know is that we lost something and we're cursed for it. Whoever put us here, has a knack of picking up the greatest curs--" She heaved a sigh. "We are cursed. Me, Duke, Laine," the mention of her name flashed all her memories. "and now you."

A curse. That is something I have to know.

"Cursed with what?"

"That guy did not really took a second to explain anything, huh? Listen. Before all of this, we are something. Laine..." I am going haywire just listening to her name. "She was a human. Duke was... a werewolf, your kind, before he was a guardian. And I... was just... Look, there is a past where all the pain started."

"Do... do you know what happened to her?"

Her smile turns bitter. "Yes. I suppose I have the burden of telling you this time. It was a very long time ago. She was a human living in a village of a mountain. Life was indeed simple and it was a life of contentment. But her people was attacked by werewolves, yes, the kind which she was cursed to protect. She refused a proposal of their Alpha. and let's just say, things turned out bad from there. And when we lose something, we wanted to take revenge. We pray." her eyes glazed turning somewhere. "we beg... to whoever can hear. Because we're powerless, and there's only madness, hatred. And then, we commit to killing those who wronged us." She paused, her smile has gone.

"After taking revenge, we hope that there is nothing. But the pain, madness, they don't go away. And we prayed and begged... and then the next thing we know, we became a guardian of those we hated. Tell me," She turned to me, "did you hate your kind?"

"I..." I hate what happened, that I know. But most of all, I hate what happened with her. Why was she made to protect us? How did I end up ruining her? "Guardians. I want to know why did she bacame one?"

"If there is an answer, will you still seek for it even though it will only caused you more pain? I doubt she want that."

She... her last words echoed in my mind. 'A curse to free' Should I still ask?

"Even so, this is how you feel. Whether it is your purpose or your curse, you will live with it. And I will not stop you." She stood up. "You are a guardian afterall."