Book of Curses (The Renning Chronicles) (30 page)

His direction changed quickly, pointing next
to
him as fast as he could, frowning at Fang. "That's Fang, Half-demon, and Dark Region, generally has a bad attitude so you'll want to watch yourself with him. I'm Dolphus, I'm a werewolf and I'm of the Earth Region, and what you see is what you get. That's Nickel, he's a demon, he's from the dark region and he's completely and totally off the market." Dolphus announced, winking at Nickel as he said it.

"This is Kailen, or as I like to call him Kai. He is a Fey of the Ice Region, quick to help usually, but at the same time tends to keep to himself about most things. That's Trent, he's from the Air Region, he's of course a Nephilim, and he's one of the palace guards, he loves to help protect." Taking in a deep breath he looked back at me smiling a little bit,
and then
started naming off names again.

He pointed over at the silver haired boy from earlier, and introduced him to me. "This is Ryu, he's from the Fire Region, and he's a Dragon shifter. He was raised to protect his
friends
and family, and it's what he does and does well."

"
Kerli
is Trent's younger sister she is an Angel as well, just a different type - wingless. She has magic and fighting skills instead. Hayley is a Human, of the Light Region, she is one of the strongest there and willing to do her part in all this to protect anyone she
deems
worthy."

"
Keifer
is a Shifter, he is from the Earth Region but more or less spent his time in the Ice Region, he is a Panther shifter by the way. Nel is a Witch from the Light Region, one of their strongest witches at that, she's evil and sinister in more ways than one and doesn't really give a fuck what someone says." Dolphus took in several more deep
breaths
and shook his head slowly.  "Last but not least, is Skye. She's a Fey of the Ice region, though she grew up in the Air Region, she's strong, quick and lethal... and all around nice if you're nice to her."

I stared around at the group of twelve people who stood near me. Taking in each one and trying to match faces with names, though it was already hard enough to keep the faces straight, let alone set names with each of them. That was nearly impossible to do, so far anyway. But I'd learn, I always did, and this was no different it'd just take me a little longer than usual.

"Hey..." I had managed to get out,
and then
realized how stupid it sounded. Especially coming from someone they were going to have to trust to try and save humanity? Smart move Raine. "Glad to have all of you aboard." I smiled at each of them.

"We're glad to be aboard, though when this all goes down you probably won't see most of us for a long time." Nel said to me, smiling sadly. Her red hair flowed down her
back;
some of it was hanging over her face covering her emerald green eyes somewhat. She was so pretty she almost didn't fit here at all. "We'll get separated once we hit your world, you'll be lucky to find two of us at first really..."

"So you mean this right now." I moved my hands around as if to motion to everyone who stood around me. "Is just get me to know your faces ahead of time?"

"Pretty much." Kerli said to me calmly. She had a smile on her face as she stepped forward into my view better. She had long blonde hair that wisped around her face, and a lithe frame when she moved. Her long leg's stretched out from under her dress when she moved, and made her look even taller than she was. "You'll remember, even if you don't try, it'll be alright dear Raine."

"Right... That's easier said." I mumbled, looking down after she said it to me.

"She's probably tired; Dolphus
and I
will take her to her chambers." Kailen spoke, staring from me to Dolphus then lightly grasped my arm steering me out of the room with him, I heard an extra set of feet behind me and knew it was Dolphus.

I followed him in utter silence, my body almost drifting along with his graceful footsteps. I watched as the hall changed from open windows into a more solid area that soon turned darker and darker as we went, until I finally became confused. Dolphus was on my other side, walking along with us as Kailen kept moving. I didn't think chambers were this far down, but then again what did I know. Kailen stopped at a door after a few moments and opened it for me.

"Fey area, I figured you might need some time from them, you looked sickly..." Kailen muttered to me before he started to usher me inside.

I didn't argue with him, instead I walked inside and kept silent. Moving over towards a couch and within a second I curled up on it. My legs were pulled to my chest and I shuddered a few times, watching Dolphus walk in followed by Kailen who turned around to do something.

I watched him wave his hand after he muttered a few words and to my surprised watched as the door literally disappeared. It was like it was never there to begin with. It really was a Fey area, and not just somewhere to sleep. I wasn't going to complain, I was grateful for this kind of isolation even for a few moments at this point.

"You alright?" Dolphus asked me, he was frowning deeply as he reached a hand out to move some of my hair away from my face.

"Me? Yeah... I'm fine." I told him, forcing a smile onto my
face. “Promise
."

"She's not fine, obviously." Kailen spoke to Dolphus as he moved in closer to the two of us. His eyes met mine and he only shook his head at me. "She's worried about people dying, the pressure she's under, the lives at stake, the world itself. The fact that even if she does not want to, she has to fight, that she has to learn, to give her life up. Am I right?"

I could only nod my head as I listened to him,
and then
stared at the ground below my feet. He was
right;
I was worried sick about people dying. I didn't want lives to be lost, or this world to be destroyed. I didn't want Nixon to lose his family, or any of the others for that matter.

"How can you expect her to be alright after all that?"

Dolphus looked at me sadly, placing his hand on my knee and giving it a light squeeze. "Oh sweetie, I'm sorry." He started to tell me then let out a sigh, his own eyes dropped and he was staring at the ground now as well. "If there was a way to stop all this without the bloodshed, I think we'd all take it. You've got to cherish what you have now; don't worry about what's to come."

"Believe me; I do cherish what I have now, more than anything. But, I still feel a little worried at times, because I know even if I try to ignore it, that people will die." I said to the both of them. Frowning as the words left my mouth, my eyes slowly shifted and I stared at them both for a long time.

"Then, you can train and make yourself stronger so you can protect more people." Kai said to me, smiling. Even though the smile really looked more like a grimace to me. "You want to have more living? Then you make it a possibility, not a wish."

I stared at him, listening intently to every word as he took in a breath and shook his head slowly getting ready to speak once more. "You have some experience correct?" I nodded a yes to his answer, just waiting to hear what he'd say to me next. "Can you use a sword?"

I nodded once more to him, biting down on my lip for a small moment as I watched him. "Then we'll get everyone together and work on it, train you physically till you can no longer walk, and when you can't walk we'll train your mind. Give you everything we know about each god, give you weaknesses and strengths. Teach you how to make plan's to attack at a split moment's time."

Slowly I let my eyes divert from his, and move towards Dolphus, then I nodded my head. My fists were balled up at my sides, and I let my eyes move back to Kai. Staring him straight on, even smiling as I did. "Let's do it. I don't want to say I couldn't do it because I was too weak, get everyone together and we'll start now."

With that, Kai smiled. Really smiled, it was bright, and just like everything else when it came to him, it was beautiful. Then he bowed and started to speak once more to me. "Very well, I'll gather them. Dolphus can lead you down to the arena, trust me you
won’t
be able to miss it." He told Dolphus then made the door re-appear with the motion of his hand. Slipping out it and leaving me and a shocked Dolphus behind in the room, I was eager to get going and couldn't help but smile a little to myself.

"Sure about this Raine?" Dolphus asked, looking over at me with wide eyes.

"More sure about this, than I am anything here." I looked up at him, offering him a big smile before I countered with my own question. "Are
you
sure you can handle me?"

That brought a chuckle from him, and he started to shake his head slowly as he looked down at me. "Not sure, you were getting tougher there." He motioned me ahead of him as he kept speaking, I curtsied at him jokingly. "Shall we Miss. Chosen."

"Why, I think we shall, Mr. Guardian."

He huffed at me, rolling his eyes before he started to walk out of the room like a total drama-queen, or is that King?

I gave him a completely confused look, rolled my own eyes and started out after him. We made our way down the winding halls as fast as we could, joking the whole time we walked about anything that came to mind.

**
**
*

We didn't take too long to find the Arena. Just like Kai had said to us, it was huge and hard to miss. It was maybe twice the size of the rooms in the vampire
regions
, and much emptier. It was so wide I could hear echo's when we walked in.

Dolphus let out a breath that soon turned into a slight whistle. He then tilted his head and looked at me sideways, grinning
deviously. “There’s
a whole wall of weapon's Rainey, I think this might be fun." He spoke to me, wagging one of his fingers back and
forth
.

"I think so." I said, walking further into the room. I didn't get too far before I heard the ruckus of people coming in behind us. I spun on my heels as fast as I could and turned to look at everyone. There really were more people than I remembered
there;
maybe I just never took into account Tom's side of the group.

"So, what is the reason for this?" Talon asked me almost instantly, venom practically seeped from his tone, and his eyes were the brightest shade of red I'd seen. I was a little intimidated, but I knew he wouldn't hurt me, he couldn't or he'd get his ass kicked for it by everyone in the room.

"To practice, train, and strengthen ourselves." I told him directly, arching one of my eyebrows as I put my hands on my hips. "Problem?"

His red eyes met my own, and he smiled a slow smile at me. I saw his fangs
peeking
out from his bottom lip, before he walked off to the side of the room away from everyone there. I knew that tone, and that smile… The whole attitude by now actually. He wasn't really mad or angry, he just wanted to sound as authoritative as possible, and mean
,
so that no one wanted to mess with him.

Tom slowly strode in, hands in his pockets as he made his way toward me. He had his left eyebrow arched in question as he glanced over at me for a moment, then he pursed his lips. "Explain."