Rafael announced self-study and sat down on his chair to read a novel. From the rim of his book, he looked at Lucielle seated in the last row. He easily picked up the hostility toward the girl and how she was an outcast.
" Is she faking being blind?" Rafael thought as his period ended
He found it odd how she was able to prepare everything so perfectly and even knew which textbook to take. It was more suspicious since the kids had tried to hide her materials from her.
"Or she's just used to those kids' childish bullying. Since it appears to be a common occurrence." Rafael thought
Alexander placed him and oddly Rafael turned back. He saw Lucielle come out to meet him and the man felt an odd energy coming off them. The kids walked away and Rafael followed silently behind for some reason.
From the corner, he noticed he was being followed too. Rafael naturally turned into the men's toilet and took out a mirror from his jacket.
"Does he know something?" the unknown woman asked her companion in a hushed voice
Rafael identified the other person as the principal of the school. He wiped the sweat from his brow and sighed, "No. It seems, he was just going to the bathroom."
"Don't tell me you believe that?" the woman snorted " Whatever...I will kill that blind brat."
Rafael's eyes widened seeing eyeballs appearing and looked at the duo angrily. The man quickly retracted his mirror as the eyeballs turned.
"Someone's watching us." Rafael thought going to the sink
The eyeballs entered the toilet, Rafael pretended not to see them and washed his hands slowly. He walked out of the bathroom and felt a chill down his spine as he entered the teachers' lounge.
"You feel it too, right." another teacher whispered
"What?" Rafael lied
The teacher smiled, "They're watching."
At the time, Lucielle covers Alexander's mouth. Black entities were crawling everywhere and they were oddly calm even as one brought a dead body. The blood made an awkward line and a scream echoed.
Although they were surprised as a human walked in towards the black entities. The children sucked in their breath as a gun shone from his belt.
"Come out." a gruff voice echoed
A sharp shriek of a girl echoed from down the hall, the man pulled out his gun and gunned the girl down. He turned his gun towards where Lucielle and Alexander were hiding. The children's eyes glowed green and they passed through the wall as the man fired a dozen bullets.
"The scream came from here." the man heard voices saying
Footsteps were coming in his direction and he walked down the hall. Rafael looked at the two corpses and frowned inwardly.
"Sylvia, are there people who can control ghosts and stuff?" Rafael asked
Sylvia nodded and looked at the scene silently with a troubled look. Alexander and Lucielle found themselves in the forest.
"You're like me?" Lucielle went
Alexander smiled, "I guess. What are we?"
"MONARCHS-" Voices echoed all around them
"Was that man earlier, a monarch?" Lucielle asked
"NO---- !!" the voice yelled
Voices echoed everywhere and some weren't audible to the children. Confusion enveloped their minds and suddenly it became quiet. A woman hugged Alexander from behind and he turned to her with widened eyes.
"Mother?" Alexander exclaimed
A sharp pain hit Alexander's head as his vision became blurry. Cold sweat ran down his face and his breathing became heavy. He felt as though his heart was about to burst as he stared at his mother, unable to move or speak. A man appeared in a suit, pulled Alexander's mother's ghost aside, and held the boy.
He held Alexander's head gently and a green light came out. A memory came into Alexander's mind and he saw his mother being pushed by someone to the balcony. With a gentle touch, he could feel the power of the memory coursing through Alexander's body, and knew this was an important moment. The boy looked weakly at the two people beside him.
"What happened." Lucielle panicked with tears "Alexander? Are you okay?!"
"I...I think something is wrong." Alexander panted "My father said my mother died from a disease."
" Firstly, I am Callum Shadow." the man smiled "If I may. It would appear someone has removed the memory related to your mother."
"Same as me. I just know they're dead." Lucielle frowned "But, they were healthy. I'm sure about that."
"Why don't we get to the bottom of this." Alexander smiled "This was my mum's hometown but she left. They said it was like she was running away from something."
*rustle*
The armed man from before walked up to them with an angry face. His gun was pointed at them and Callum smiled.
"This forest is your domain." Callum smiled "Especially, here. No one can beat you."
Lucielle's eyes glowed brightly, "I'm sorry."
Red tears ran down her cheeks and blades appeared around the small girl.
"I'm so sorry. I don't want to die....so, please die. Don't hate me, okay?" Lucielle said dryly
She advanced and cut the man's right ear off and stabbed into his thigh.
"You were a user...damn my luck." the man cursed and started to disappear
NO!" Alexander yelled and jumped at the man
Alexander pulled at something as the man disappeared. Lucielle, Callum, and Lucielle looked at what he pulled.
"A photo?" Callum smiled so Lucielle knew what it was
Alexander replied, "If we go to the school album. We'll know which year it's from and that's will be the beginning."
"Although he called us users. But we're monarchs, right?" Lucielle said, "I'll ask the wandering spirits about it, we might get a lead as well."
Callum walked with Lucielle and Alexander to the girl's home.
"I'll come to pick you up tomorrow. We need to be early, to check the school albums." Alexander smiled
"Do you want to ask me something?" Callum smiled with a broad grin
Alexander answered, "How do I use my abilities as a Monarch?"
"Are you sure? You most likely become less human." Callum informed
The boy's eyes glowed strongly, " You live to serve?"
"Indeed, forgive my insolence." Callum beamed "I just need to follow your orders."
A book appeared in front of Alexander and Callum bowed down towards his ear.
"Monarch...someone has been following us since we left the forest," Callum whispered
Alexander smiled like he normally does, "Leave them be. They'll make a mistake and...who knows."
Callum watched the boy walk away to his house as if nothing happened. Rafael was analyzing the bullet that hit the second victim with the unwanted company. The teacher who had said ' they're watching.'
"They weren't killed by the same person." the teacher, Mike announced, " I'm sure of it."
"This may be a more complicated case than I hoped." Rafael thought to himself with a sigh