1 Earth Fissure

Thunder trembled the soil as the rain poured down. Lighting flicked around in the evening atmosphere, causing the girl to shriek.

The rain surged the dark roads causing her white stockings and sneakers to become saturated, but she didn't adjust them. Her tie-dyed shirt and denim shorts we're already soaked. They were sticking to her pale skin, causing her to look hazardous and thinner.

An aggressive explosion of wind rattled the palm trees over her head as she ran through the shopping plaza and her ash blonde hair was slapping her in the face.

She couldn't discern her direction with all the derby drifting through the air. Her hazel eyes stung with tears.

They found her Card.

They assassinated her dad for it.

It appeared years ago, but it occurred probably only five minutes before she sat in her dad's ruddy pickup truck, on their way to the mall. They were going to go buy a present for her mom.

Her mom died last year from coronary artery disease, due to damage in her heart's major blood vessels.

Today was her birthday.

They were silent for most of the way, having a small talk here and there. Until her dad turned on the radio and Soundgarden was playing. Mom's favorite band.

The dad smiled, his eyes glassy as he glanced at his daughter, full of affection and sorrow.

The girl hummed, believing that her song was one way of understanding that her mom was somehow still with them; in her heart, at least.

Lighting stuck. The girl leaped, causing her dad a chuckle, his humor exposed in his gray-brown eyes.

She grinned at her dad, realizing that he had lost his spouse, her mother.

This was the usual. They would sing rock ballads in the truck on the road to somewhere. The only difference was that her mom wasn't there to warn her dad not to play Howie & The Blowfish anymore.

The dad pulled into the plaza. It was around six o'clock at dusk, and the sky was full of dark, angry clouds.

The dad's brows rose as he lowered the music and slowed down.

The girl couldn't see what her dad saw as she stared through the front windshield. The windshield wipers were moving at a rapid stride, moving the rain out of the way, as it trickled down the window.

Lighting shone the parking lot up ahead. It was only for a split second, but she saw men in ebony troop uniforms and jet cars swarming around them.

They knew.

Her dad swore and came to a halt, and she gulped.

They were going to seize her from her dad, the only person she had left. Who knew what they were going to do with her now that they recognized the power she possessed.

A jet-black car pulled into the plaza right behind the truck.

The girl was shaking with panic. Her breath short and shallow. She clenched her hands closed to prevent them from trembling.

The automobiles before them turned on their high beams, to indicate the number of men, rigged to the teeth with weapons. All dressed in black, like reapers.

Her dad twisted his head to peek back at her in the backseat. "It's gonna be okay, Aurora, " he said in a weak, gentle voice. He sounded confident but his staring displayed his suspicion.

The girl wasn't convinced about that. "Are you sure?" she begged, her lip quivering.

Her dad paused. "Yes," he mumbled. "It will. I'll make sure of it."

They heard the vehicle door behind them open and three men walking towards them. The first man was in a black industry suit and wearing dark sunglasses. He approached them with authority and Aurora immediately knew that he was in charge. He stepped past her door and Aurora was now fighting back the tears.

The two other men were wearing the ebony corps uniforms like the other men.

One possessed a tattoo of the skull of a serpent poking out from his neck. On the forearm fraction of his clothing, was a green armband.

He looked through the window to gaze at her. Aurora glared right back. His black hair flowed through the storm and his forest-green eyes narrowed. He had a firm chin that went along with his overpowering persona. He would have been very handsome had it not been that his eyes were so raw and haunting.

Once the men were gathered with the others, the man with the tattoo was given a megaphone.

He cleared his throat and announced in a wide yet soft voice: "Step out of the vehicle and put your hands in the air."

Aurora's dad gasped at her, his manner grave. "Do what the man says."

He didn't wait for her to reply as he unlocked the driver's door and stepped out.

The man with the tattoo groaned and rolled his eyes at the girl's hesitation. "Come on girl, step out of the car and put your hands up."

Her dad glanced at her, hands over his head, pleading for her to obey with his eyes. She was tempted to nod her head no, but she determined in her heart to trust her father.

Aurora slipped off her seatbelt and cracked open the door. She very cautiously trudged out of the truck and stared. The rain was frigid as it touched her skin.

"I don't have time for heroics. Put your hands where I can watch them." the tattooed man muttered.

Aurora put forward her hands slowly.

"You two walk forward. Now."

Her dad rotated his head to glare at his daughter. He gestured his head, his dark brown hair now soaked, to tell her to move.

Aurora walked forward, her dad right by her side, as they marched together towards the man in charge.

The soldiers raised their pistols as she moved. They looked trigger happy, waiting for the command to shoot her down to the murky ground.

She halted, startled. She was breathing heavily and felt that she was about to blackout.

"They're not going to shoot unless you try to escape." The tattooed man eyed down his men. Not yet. he appeared to be saying. "Stand down."

They lowered their pistols gradually.

Aurora and her father began walking again until they were standing right in front of the man with the sunglasses.

Aurora didn't get a good look at him before. He was taller than her dad but slimmer. He was toned and his shoulders were broad. His wet blonde hair flowed perfectly through the gust and rain. His lips were small, edgy and they cracked into a smile. His teeth were perfectly aligned and so white that they seemed evil yet gorgeous. He looked down at her but she couldn't see his eyes.

She felt the urge to snatch the glasses off so she could read his true expression.

He smiled brighter as if reading her thoughts. He glanced at one of the men and slid off his sunglasses and gave them to the man. The man grabbed them and scrambled away.

His face . . . was handsome yet devilish. Gorgeous even. No, unreal. He was the most handsome man Aurora had ever seen. He looked too perfect to be real.

He had piercing dark eyes that cut into her soul.

Aurora blushed. She barely blinked and stared. What could she accomplish really?

Her dad noticed the trancelike-look in his daughter's eyes. "Stop picking on my daughter, Luca," he said sternly at the man.

Aurora, however, gawked, fascinated by his elegance. No one that stunning should exist.

The man named Luca smirked at her. Aurora felt her legs tremble.

Luca glanced at her dad. "C' mon Beck. This is the only fun I have with women."

That voice. Every word flowed freely from his lips. Each phrase sounded like a symphony. Civil but yet fatal. A threat.

Beck just muttered as his response.

Luca shrugged. "Sorry about your wife, by the way. It must be difficult to raise a child without a mama."

Aurora's dad simply stared at him with hatred.

"You were such an outstanding soldier. My fighter. I educated you to become my second in command, which is as I remember, the finest position for a combatant in my battalion. But you tossed it all away as if it was trash. You blew everything I taught you and equipped you with. I confided in you. I shared secrets with you that not even my legion knows of. That role was for you, not for Alistair over here."

He pointed to the man with the tattoo, who straightened at his name. He held on to his revolver tighter.

"It was meant to be yours, Beck. You. And how did you repay me? You murdered my troopers, deleted prospective plans from my hard drive, enabled the aberrations to escape the jails. And so much more. You rode away from your fate of leadership with me. You ran away, you got married, and she gave birth to one of them. You made an aberration, Beck, and after I instructed you to eradicate these parasites."

Each message carried more anger as Luca referred to Aurora.

"Take back those terms. Take them back," Beck shouted out with determination. "She is not at all what you say she is. How dare you call her an aberration. A parasite. And who knows what other definitions you're thinking in your mind."

Luca looked back at Aurora, whose knees were giving out, and grinned.

With a refined smile, Aurora wished she looked appealing to him.

Luca reached out his enormous hand. Aurora thought that he was about to slap her and she turned her head with a yelp.

"Dear child, I won't hurt you," Luca whispered.

"Aurora, don't listen to him. Reach for me," Beck uttered, reaching his hand out.

Aurora pivoted to confront her dad. He was scared, frantic even. "Please come here."

Before Aurora could take a step, she felt a comforting hand over her head and coughed. She shivered.

She looked up to see Luca stroking her hair. "You're exactly true, Beck. Your daughter is a pretty parasite."

Aurora stared into his stern eyes, full of mysteries, full of magnificence. But also death.

She felt the immediate desire to do whatever he commanded her to and believe whatever he told her. She needed to obey him.

Raindrops from Luca's hair and fingers dropped down on her skin. The droplets were now warm, not harshly cold.

"Take your hands off my daughter now!" Beck yelled at him.

He was shifting towards Luca, promptly. But the soldiers were quicker.

They snatched his arms and yanked them tightly behind his back. Two of the soldiers tripped him, shoving his legs out from under him. Two others pointed firearms at his head. One soldier jabbed him in the face with the back of his rifle, causing him to feel dazed. Beck, didn't make a sound.

Luca snorted through his nose. Aurora, however, glared at him, not flinching at the notion of her father's harm.

Luca stopped stroking her head, and he kneeled down, close to her ear. She could feel every breath he took as he said: "You realize what you are Aurora? You are an infection. A danger. A nuisance. A thorn in my flesh. No one likes or wants you. You're the reason why your dad is about to disappear. You should die in his place. If you die, then you remedy everything. Your dad will be given another chance to live. The earth will be a better place. Believe me."

"You hush! I'm going to kill you!" Beck cried out. His complexion was red with rage, and blood.

A combatant walked up to him and whacked Beck in the head with the stub of the firearm. Beck snorted in discomfort this time.

Aurora was speechless. He was right about everything. If she were to vanish, then her dad wouldn't need to worry about her anymore. He would be free of her pain. He would discover someone else to love, a foreign woman. Not mom.

"Aurora stop thinking, he can read minds," Beck explained in a tense, drained voice. "His fibbing don't listen-"

The soldier struck him with the stub of the firearm again. This time, in his stomach. Beck was now grunting in misery.

Luca smirked. He laid his hand on Aurora's cheek.

"Look at your dad, girl," he whispered. "Look at him. Vulnerable on his knees."

He grabbed her chin with a firm grip and forced her to twist her head to face her dad. Pain shot through her neck at the fast movement.

And there, her father stooped, on his knees, hands held behind his back, guns pointed at him, and his head bleeding. The bones from his cheekbone were probably shattered.

She caused this.

"Yes child, you did," Luca whispered.

She glanced at her dad. For once in her life, she saw him small and meek.

"Aurora, ple-" he gasped as the firearm came down.

"You can fix-"

The firearm hit his brim. "Shut up you fool." the guard hissed.

Beck snarled at the man.

"You can fix this. Please believe me."

The firearm smashed his face, and he dangled his head, defeated, defenseless.

Beck spat out blood on the dirty street. Some teeth came out as well.

"Look at me, child."

Aurora peeked back at Luca. At the wonderful, lethal face.

"You are mine now," he sneered with his blinding teeth. "And now, dear one, you will depart."

She peered back at her dad. He stared at her, hardly able to maintain his head up.

"Please. . ." he couldn't steady a murmur, he was so exhausted.

"I notice, you're losing your influence." Luca snickered at her dad. "What good did all that working outdo, huh?"

She snapped.

She stared at the troopers encircling them. She attained something fierce from inside her core.

She was shaky the minute she caressed it. She persisted and pulled it out, along with her gasps.

Luca watched, brows hoisted as if fascinated. He glanced at the men with her dad and nodded. They started to whip Beck and he sobbed from the beating.

She was at the edge of bringing out her strength completely. It was the most painful thing she had ever done. She saw stars.

Aurora focused on her dad, now looking like he was going to die any second.

Luca cackled with thrill.

Aurora heaved harder and shrieked.

It pierced her ears at the sound and she knew that the others didn't appreciate the screech of the cry because they were hurrying away, covering their ears. All except Luca, whose eyes were hungry.

The glass on the car windows shattered and fell to the mud. Soldiers were careful not to step on the sharp glass and frowned at Aurora.

Luca scoffed. "Is that the best you can possibly do?" He was about to grab her when the cracking began.

Luca whirled his attention to his fighters.

They were desperate, looking for where the horrific sound came from.

One trooper gasped. They all looked at him and saw that right under him the ground was splitting.

The break continued rapidly and each crack caused a greater sound. Aurora stared in disbelief at the tremendous destruction. Soldiers scrambled away in fear while others stood frozen.

"No one move!" Alistair shouted.

Luca glanced at Aurora and growled as an intense, rabid dog.

She collected her courage and blew air towards the tear and it spread rapidly.

The cement cracked even more and you could now see the enormous pit of darkness Aurora created. Rocks fell deeper down as the crack opened wider, along with patches of dirt that weren't wet from the rain. The roots of dead plants uncoiled and broke from each other, like two people's arms being released.

The troopers screamed as the break became larger, broader and the ground swallowed them, along with the vehicles. They fell into the dark abyss. Their howls echoed.

Aurora tugged back with a yelp of distress.

The rocks and dirt that fell into the pit floated back up to where their original spot was before. The roots reached out to one another, and when they found each other by touch, the coiled back together and pulled the earth. The break in the ground began to shrink and the ground seemed to sew itself back together. The roots weaved together in perfect rhythm, as the cement then connected and silence remained.

The ground was perfect. Not a single scratch was found.

It was almost as if nothing happened at all.

She wasn't breathing right and her torso hurt. She had never utilized her ability before.

She recognized it was always there, but never manifested it before.

Aurora stared around her, at what she had committed.

The ones left standing were Luca, Alistair, her dad, and the guards surrounding him.

Her dad stared at her, eyes large.

"Run!" he shouted.

And she did.

She was frightened and tired and riveted with pain. She fumbled, but somehow, she willed herself to keep going. Aurora knew that somebody was following her and they surely would kill her.

That's when the gunshot was heard.

They shot Beck.

They shot her dad.

Dead.

She came to a halt and fell on the pavement. She sobbed and felt her arms and legs were bleeding.

She heard a growl, Luca's growl, and launched in desperate running again. She was drenched to the bone and was shivering from the frigid air. She hid behind a palm tree that was near the entrance of the mall.

She had to keep going. For her dad's sake.

Something clasped her arm.

Her other arm.

Her legs.

She wailed as she was being pulled off, drifting through the air.

She looked down and saw opaque, black smoke around her wrists and ankles.

She was scared and shaking like a leaf.

She bucked up and saw Luca's left hand was reaching out and saw that the shadow was coming from his palm.

"What a waste." he hissed.

His right hand transformed into an ebony dagger and curved it at her neck.

The last thing Aurora saw was Luca's handsome yet viscous face launching towards her.