Confessions and Unexpected Allies

Read
Ezra could barely walk. He was taken to the wyvern’s heartquarters and was sitting on a comfy bed. The bullets had paralysed both his hands and legs. However, he had been far worse in the past, regarding physical condition. There was something else he was feeling right now. Something besides pain, hunger or tiredness from his lack of sleep due to his dreams night after night. It was indifference.. He did not care about the world being destroyed, or about Muhammad getting the stones. Adrien, Muhammad, Tanen, Sarah, Dane…it had all gotten too confusing. He did not know if there was someone he could trust. He did not even know if Sarah or even Dane were loyal to him anymore, although he kept that thought only to the back of his head, because it would be too painful to admit it to himself that he was even suspecting his best friend. What’s more, he did not want to risk any more lives for his sake. His teacher died protecting him. Her blood was on his hands, literally. The other two agents, Sam and Brendan, were on critical condition as well. He did not know if he could bear any more people dying for him any longer. He was the key to the story. Everyone said so. Then the key had to do its work. Meanwhile, Sarah was in a room two floors above Ezra’s. Despite knowing he was not at fault, she could barely stand being next to him at the moment. She could not believe that such a talented man was so…weak. He could not protect himself. If he had been stronger, then Marge would probably live. But she had no time to think about such things. Muhammad had received the second stone. She had to get Wyvern to the third one. She was trying to figure how to decipher her mother’s message through the necklace. Her dying gift. It was just a golden stone with a silver chain around it. If she looked closely at the stone, she could see a figure inside. Another creature of fantasy. It was part snake, part lion, part human, part horse…was it an echidna? Or was it a sphinx? She had to figure out fast. Muhammad was already making his moves, so was Adrien. Then she remembered. A young girl was standing in the middle of a demolished village. It was somewhere in Canada. Corpses could be seen everywhere and the shootings weren’t stopping. The girl was just standing there, crying, waiting for her mother. Then some agents appeared. They were pointing their gun at her. “Should I kill her too?” A masculine voice asked. “How could you say that?” a more feminine voice replied. “She is just a child…” Young Sarah could see the wyvern marks on the people’s clothes. “Are you my mother…?” Sarah said, still crying. The woman was gazing at the child pitifully. “We’re taking her with us. We cannot kill a child in cold blood. We are not Hydra.” She then turned to the child again. “If you need a mother, then so be it…I am your mother.” said Marge. At this point, Sarah had finally found herself a family at Wyvern. She then tried to not remember those painful memories. However, something worse happened; Adrien’s words echoed deep inside her head. “Come with me, Sarah…I’m sure that Ezra is not as different from us as you think…” Suddenly she heard a knock on the door and instinctively turned. It was Dane. That guy was amazing. Despite losing his own mother some days ago, he was strong. For her, for Ezra, for Wyvern.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you…” Dane said and entered the room. “How’s it going with the necklace? Any luck yet?” Sarah shook her head in disapproval. “Unfortunately, no…there is a figure, a mythical one…are you any good with myths? It has never been what I was best at.” Dane shrugged. He took the jewel and stared at it. “I didn’t know there was something you were not good at. Anyway…To me, it looks like a lion. Hey, maybe it has to do with another secret company! So far, we’ve had a Wyvern, which is us, and a Hydra, which is our enemies…there must be more, right?” Sarah nodded. Of course there were more. Many more. But most of them were insignificant opponents. “Why is this piece so important to decipher anyway?” Dane asked. “Well…it’s our only clue right now. All the other times, we had a certain plan. We knew what we should do, who our enemy was. Now it feels like everyone’s our enemies! And I can’t even…” Sarah thought she was about to burst into tears. She stopped talking so that she could control herself. “We’ll find our way, Sarah…we always do!” Dane said. He was always the positive one, the perfect one. He was so perfect that Sarah could barely believe he was real. The sadness in his eyes was evident and he was still not as strong as he used to be, but he was gradually regaining his might. “Besides…we have to do it, for the world!” Dane continued. He felt pretty stupid saying cliché stuff like this, but they were always pretty encouraging words! Sarah stopped him. “Don’t fool yourself…we do not do it for the world. Let’s stop hiding in our lies, Dane…we are not saints. Not even you. Right now, there is one thing that fuels us with power…it’s revenge. We both have to avenge our mothers. If not, more humans will suffer the way we do.” Dane had never seen Sarah like that. She was…different. But he was not one to talk; he had changed himself. He was not sure if he agreed with her words. The truth was, he certainly wanted to cause Adrien pain beyond imagination. There were times he thought of his mother and wanted to kill him, but some other times that he remembered how close friends they used to be. “Don’t sweat it…” Sarah said. “Come on. Let’s go see Ezra. He cannot come to us even if he wanted to!” Sarah said. She took the necklace from Dane’s hands, put in on her neck and, along with him, took the elevator to Ezra’s floor. For a moment, Dane thought he saw the good old Sarah again. They walked up to Ezra’s room, having fun with each other for the first time after a while. When they opened the door, they saw no one inside the room. Ezra was not there. They both understood what that meant. “Crap! That bastard Adrien must have tried to capture Ezra again!” Dane said. “We must find him! Sarah, contact the others, they may still be able to spot Ezra!” Suddenly they realized three figures standing on the window. They did not look like they were Hydra…but they were not Wyvern either. Their shadows posed threatening above them. “We already have…”the one man said. “Adrien did not take Ezra.” The other man said. “Ezra went to meet Muhammad himself. Adrien has nothing to do with this” A third figure finally completed the sentence. “What the hell are you doing here?!” Dane asked. Pete grinned. “It’s high time for the stars to make their entrance!” He was hit on the head by the other man. “Shut it, Pete. My boy’s in danger.” Said Ezra’s dad. The woman casually entered Ezra’s former room from the window, like she had done it a hundred times before in the past. “Will you two cuteheads stop arguing…travelling with men can be so tough!” it was Verette. “Kids, you needn’t afraid…we are your allies. From now on, we’ll join the game, since the condition has become pretty critical. You can rest assured.” And with that, Pete, Ezra’s father, Sarah, Verette and Dane headed to the exit, entering a black limo. Dane knew he had to ask them what they had to do with the artifact business, but first priority was getting his stupid friend back. But they did not know there was a tracking device on the back of the car. Adrien had once again thought ahead of them. “And with that, all the pieces of the chess are beginning to gather…” Adrien said, smiling, sitting on his chair. He was about to leave himself. They thought he was unimportant, just because he did not have the pieces…he would show them. He was mastermind. They were rookies. There is no way they are more significant than him. His destiny was to rule the whole planet, if Ezra’s was supposed to be to save it and Muhammad’s to destroy it. He was told so. He entered his own limo. “Follow that dot on the map….and call my men.” He said. Meanwhile… Ezra stood outside Muhammad’s hideout. It was an abandoned place in the middle of nowhere. If he could trust his dreams, then this is where he should be. He could barely walk, with the help of walking sticks. He took a gun out of his pocket. He would take the artifacts back himself. No more sacrifices.