As soon as the moon took its place in the care of the sky, casting silver threads across the landscape, we all departed towards our targets. My squad left last, so I got to see everyone leave. Everyone left with such determination burning in their eyes, especially Icarus, who seemed so hopeful as he took off, his gaze catching the moonlight like polished metal.
KAL: Bella, we're ready to leave. Snap out of it.
BEL: Ah! Sorry Kael!
KAL: Don't mind it.
Kael patted my head before turning his back and crouching down onto the ground, his fingers already weaving through the shadows at his feet. I watched him with awe, despite having seen his abilities countless times before. It seemed odd to me how magnificent a human seemed to me, a monster, a humanoid bee with translucent wings and compound eyes that reflected the world in fragments. All the humans looked at me with disgust and fear before, until he showed up and asked why I was sitting alone in the corner of a park, wilted flowers scattered around my hunched form. Now that I remember it...
KAL: What's a lady doing all alone in the corner of the park?
BEL: startled Uhh..! Ummmm...
KAL: Oh, sorry but I don't speak your language!
BEL: I'm not talking! You just scared me!
KAL: I apologize ma'am!
BEL: I'm not even that old....
He sat down with me and we watched the flowers together, the petals dancing in the gentle breeze. Time flew as our conversations just kept going and going, his voice warm and accepting, and for the first time in my life, I didn't feel like the weirdo everyone said I was. Getting snapped back to the present, Kael signals everyone to follow him as he falls backwards into the shadows of the night, the darkness swallowing him whole, and everyone following suit. As fast as you could blink, we found ourselves on a hilltop overlooking one of the seven camps, the enemy's torches flickering like dying stars below.
KAL: On my command.
ALL: Yes sir!
Every one of us looked up to him, our leader who saw
beyond appearances and judged only by heart.
KAL: Let's take these disappointments down.
We stormed the camp, overpowering the guards with swift precision. Kael moved like liquid shadow through the ruckus, using his manipulation of darkness to sneakily and quickly take down opponents, his blade finding its mark without a sound. It all went smoothly and we started taking the rescued back, their grateful faces illuminated by the dying campfires.
BEL: That went better than expected.
KAL: Yeah, too good.
BEL: Almost like there was no resistance at all.
KAL: Alright, everyone head back through my shadows, since I have to be the last one to enter for them to close properly.
Everyone started to drop through the shadows, disappearing into the void one by one, until only me and him were left standing in the eerily quiet camp.
BEL: Y'know Kael, I've always wanted to ask you something.
KAL: What is it, Bella?
My cheeks turned red, my antennas twitching nervously.
BEL: Could we go out sometime?
He was visibly flustered, a rare crack in his usually composed demeanor.
KAL: For sure! I'd lo... cough
My eyes widened as I stared him down, watching in horror as crimson blood began dripping from his mouth like fallen rose petals. From looking into my eyes, his gaze averts towards his stomach, where a dark blade had been lunged through it, before being pulled back with a sickening squelch. Kael shrieked in pain and I couldn't hold my fear in, my wings trembling uncontrollably. A dark figure loomed over Kael's slumped body, her presence sucking the warmth from the air.
JAD: Don't look so scared, little bee.
BEL: W-Who... are you?!
The figure smirked as she licked the blood off her blade, her tongue running along the metal with disturbing satisfaction.
JAD: I'm what you run from in the darkness.
I understood it loud and clear, death was coming for me, and she
wore the face of a beautifully terrifying nightmare.