The Legend of Alteria
Chapter 2
(Part 2)
It was one
day before Lorane’s birthday and Mister Viler was not there. To the pleasure of
everyone his assistance was no longer needed and so they could continue their
lessons with their form teacher. Unfortunately Lorane could not share this with Jeremy because he was not at school this day. If he had got sick now, that
would have been inconvenient since he had said that he wanted to talk to her in
the evening. Lorane dismissed this for the time being. If he could not come,
Jeremy would give her notice, he was a reliable boy.
This should
be confirmed once again because although of his absence in school, it rang in
the late afternoon at Lorane’s house door.
“Jeremy’s
here!“ Lorane called into the living room where Markus and Jenny sat together
and already knew about it. “See you later!”
She took the
keys and went outside where Jeremy was waiting for her.
Wordless
both walked down the street until they reached the café. It was a small
restaurant, the two of them were the only guests which was probably more
comfortable. Lorane sat at a table while Jeremy ordered for them at the counter
and eventually came back with two hot chocolates. He did not immediately
address what he wanted to talk about which was why they both at first sat
silently opposite each other until Lorane spoke about Viler’s disappearance to
start the conversation. She was curious what Jeremy had to tell her but she did
not want push him.
The two of
them sat there for the first minutes and chatted, it seemed a bit like small
talk to Lorane. They still were the only two guests in the café, they did not
see much of the employees. Only when they had both emptied their cups, Lorane
observed a man with blond hair who started to pull down the blinds at
the windows.
“Are they
already closing?“ she asked slightly surprised.
“Seems like
it.“ Jeremy responded dryly.
The last
window was covered and Lorane asked hesitantly:
“Perhaps we
should better go to my place, if they are already closing now.”
Jeremy did
not answer anything and Lorane once again looked to the waiter who had now
turned from the window towards them.
It took away
her breath.
It was the
man from the day before who had laughed at her together with his companions. In
fright Lorane could not take her look of him because she had to see that she
had not got it wrong when she had got a short glance at him yesterday. The
man’s eyes were red and looked deep at her patronizingly.
“Jeremy!“ Lorane called and sprang from her chair. "That’s him! That’s the man from yesterday!“
She turned
around him when his hand directly hit her right cheek and she fell to the
ground.
“Jeremy! What the
hell- ?!“
Above her
stood Jeremy, her best friend who had just slapped her and now looked down to
her with a strange smile.
Lorane did
not know what was happening. This in front of her was not the boy she had met
two years ago and until now never could have hurt anyone. Next to him now stood
the man from the day before and looked at her with the same sneering
expression. In his thin face a pale scar ran under his left eye on which
Lorane’s look inevitably fell. She heard how somewhere a door was opened and
shortly after two other silhouettes joined them who, like before, had their
faces hid under hoods. Only Jeremy’s face was the only one familiar to Lorane
on which now was a spiteful grin and looked at her with a strange craving in
his eyes.
“Jeremy!“
Lorane called out desperately because she did not know what else to say. She
was too shocked as to come up with big words now.
As if the
aforementioned boy had just remembered something, Jeremy snapped his fingers.
Lorane could not believe what she saw there. He slightly moved his head and, as
if he wanted to shake it off, the deep black in his hair disappeared and was
replaced by a light blonde which was now falling over his shoulders. The face
became paler and subsided into a fifteen years older one which was now looking
at her with the same threatening red which was also in the eyes of the others.
“Already took long enough.” The man said with an acted sigh before he put on his hideous smile again. “
Not Jeremy, little one. – Velacio.“ He spoke with a peculiar casualness in his voice.
Lorane did
not know anymore what was happening. Jeremy had just changed into an adult man
with piercing red eyes right in front of her. Those seemed to sunk into her own
because as much as Lorane wanted she could not take her look off the men and
suddenly felt how this weakness slowly overcame her again. Suddenly she was
grabbed at the throat by Velacio. With easiness he lifted her off the ground
and held her right in front of him while he did not stop smiling for one
second.
“You didn’t
like Viler so I tried it with your little friend.“
He laughed
and threw Lorane back who was falling hard on the ground with a small shriek
and slid a few inches. Breathing heavily she managed it to move her head
upwards to say something:
“So you were
the one saving me from these men yesterday?”
“Well, you
had to trust me.“ Velacio responded casually. "So we nicely staged that yesterday and now
you’re here.“
“What do you
want from me?” Lorane asked while her heart seemed to race inside her chest.
“As if you
didn’t know that, Lorane!” the leader in the middle now hissed and stepped
threateningly closer.
Lorane was
mute again. How did they know her name? And why did they think she know what
all this was about?
“I really
don’t know why-“ she started to explain desperately when someone pushed the
door of the café open with all his might.
Jeremy was
breathing heavily and let his look quickly wander over the scenery in front of
him. He looked down at his best friend who was lying on the ground and obviously
fighting not to faint.
“Jeremy…?” she
said quietly and could not hide the disbelief in her voice.
The men
looked at Jeremy angrily and for a moment the amused grins had disappeared out
of their faces. The two men, who still had their hoods up, quickly looked back
down at Lorane who had tried to get up unnoticed but when the stares of the red
eyes hit her, the coldness again entered her chest and she noticed how
slowly but surely she could not keep her eyes open any longer.
“You rather
should have stayed in your comfy hideout, Jeremy.”
Now the leader of the group said, at which he sarcastically emphasized the
boy’s name.
He smiled
again but Jeremy looked at him seriously with a frozen expression. The man
snapped his finger towards his companions.
“Enough
played. – Get them, Alero.”
One of the
hooded men stepped forward and walked towards Lorane who by now was not able
anymore to follow the conversation.
“See you
around, little Paul.” Velacio now said theatrically at which he smiled with
relish.
One last
time Lorane pricked up her ears when she heard this strangely familiar name but
then Alero took her by the collar and Velacio was walking towards Jeremy. She
did not longer manage it to put up a fight, in front of her everything became
blurred as Alero lifted her with a tight grip.
But before
he had her fully lifted up and Velacio had reached Jeremy, he suddenly pulled
something round and shimmering out of his jacket pocked which let Lorane blink
once more from sudden lightness. She felt how she was dropped back to the
ground and the men shrunk back. Then she was not able to keep the
unconsciousness away any longer and closed her eyes.
v
A strange
sensation of weightlessness was surrounding Lorane until her eyes slowly
opened. She did not lie in her flat, she saw that right away, but when she rose she discovered that Jeremy was sitting on a chair next to her, reading. She
had been lying on a small sofa in the already sparsely furnished flat which
only seemed to consist of one room. When Lorane got up, Jeremy immediately
looked up curiously then he smiled gently.
“You woke up
just in time.” He said while he lay the book aside. He took a look at a clock
which was hanging on a wall. It were only a few minutes until
midnight.
Lorane at
first said nothing. She looked at him with a mix of mistrust, confusion and
disbelief, unsure what she should say first.
“You are…”
she eventually stammered. "Are you- I mean… You are Jeremy. Aren’t you?”
She felt
slightly silly to ask such an odd and yet simple question but after what she
had seen, she felt the necessity for it. The smile on the boy’s lips subsided
into a gentle expression and a reassuring nod.
“Yes, it’s
me. Don’t worry, we lost those men.”
He looked
again over at the clock of which its two hands would soon jump to twelve.
“Who were they?” Lorane eventually asked. "What did they want from me?”
Now Jeremy
looked up with a thoughtful expression, his smile had disappeared and he
hesitated at first a short moment before he found the right words.
“I can tell
you, but-“ He again looked at the clock. "Lorane, something is going to happen
with you in a minute.”
Jeremy
looked too serious as to give Lorane even a chance to ask if this was some kind
of joke.
“What do you
mean?” she asked instead and looked at him with a slight estimating look.
Jeremy shook his head. It was one of those rare moments when he did not know how to explain it. When
his gaze wandered to the clock the third time he suddenly increased his speed
and said hastily:
“Your
fifteenth birthday is going to be any second and this is just the time for
people like us. I’ll explain everything to you!”
He observed her with an almost innocent look but before Lorane could asked what he meant with
those words, the hands sprang to midnight.
A warm sensation
suddenly spread in Lorane’s chest, completely different than what she had felt
back in the café at the stares of the men. It seemed to flood her entire body,
up to her head so she had to blink without a reason because her eyes had started
to water. From her head the sensation wandered into her spine and seemed to
break out of her upper back because Lorane felt how something literally seemed
to put itself up behind her but kept holding on to her.
It had only
taken a couple of seconds, Lorane had not even noticed that she had risen and
now Jeremy in front of her came into vision again. The older boy looked at her
with shiny eyes and a slightly opened mouth but he did not look into her face.
He seemed to behold something behind her so Lorane turned her head.
Behind her sat
enthroned two majestic wings in black and deep red colour which had come out of
her body a few moments ago.
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