Chapter 7: The Odd One Out

Her gaze feels harsh, but then she stands up. I watch as she walks over to me and honestly I forgot Alice is even still talking.

“You must be new. The odd one out if anything,” She says with a cold tone.

Alice steps closer as her words start to carry a bit more weight to them.

“This is Liam, he’ll be joining us here Tess. Don’t treat him any different than you would the others.” Alice speaks with a serious tone.

“Right.” She responds with little care in her voice.

Tess shifts her gaze back over to me after that.

“I’ll show you around, let’s go,” She says before putting her hands in her pockets.

I didn’t see a reason to speak yet so I just follow behind her as Alice stays back. The feeling in my arm is kind of gone for some reason.

It felt strange but I wasn’t going to complain about it. The courtyard was pretty big here though, a lot of people seem to be hanging about talking.

“What’s with your arm?” Tess asks, breaking the silence.

“I was attacked… I don’t really know what’s going on with it though.” I answer as my hands begin to shake.

The feeling of fear still lingers within my body from my encounter with those damn things. The Zierel is the name Alice called them so I’ll have to do my best to remember that.

I feel my hand slowly stop shaking as a warm feeling begins to take over in my hand. I look down to see her holding onto my hand.

“Zierel are quite terrifying to experience in person. I’m sorry you went through that, this thing on your arm probably doesn’t feel great,” Tess says with some sympathy in her voice.

“It feels weird, but nothing can be changed. I appreciate it.” I respond while letting go of her hand.

Eventually we made it to a small house on the other side of the courtyard or at least that’s what it looks like.

“Inside here is where most new people stay. You can stay with me for the time being,” Tess says while leading the way.

“I…I uh appreciate that.” I reply while following behind her.

As I enter the house with her I can see that a bunch of other people are kind of terrified as well. Almost like they are reliving the moments they experienced.

It honestly felt like I was entering some sort of psych ward with the way everyone here is.

Of course that wasn’t actually the case since everyone is forced to deal with these Zierel now. I could tell people weren’t handling it well at all… Soft screams were all I could hear as I slowly went upstairs with Tess.

“Won’t the Zierel hear us if we scream?” I ask with a bit of worry in my voice.

She looks back at me with a look as if I was stupid for asking that.

“No. We were lucky enough to be blessed with a barrier created by a light bearer. It just depends how much they try to get in, no one knows how strong the barriers really are.” Tess answers without any hesitation.

Barriers. I guess that makes some sort of sense to me after hearing Alice talk a bit about these light bearers or whatever. I’m still a bit worried about this whole place.

Also why didn’t she just ask this Light bearer to stay? Wouldn’t that make things a lot easier if she just had one on hand at all times.

Creeeeek.

Tess opens up a door in front of me that leads to a room with two beds across from each other. A small window in the middle of the room on the center wall.

It faces out towards the courtyard where you can see the other people out and about.

“You’ll be in the bed on the left there. I’ll be right across from you so don’t panic or anything,” Tess says as she points to the bed.

“Thanks,” I reply as I make my way over to the bed.

The moment I sat on the bed I could feel the difference like it is instant. It isn’t ever going to be the same as the bed I slept in all my life.

This isn’t like the house I lived in or the room I slept in. A feeling I’m not used to is slowly creeping up on me.

Maybe I am still asleep in my room. Nightmares aren’t that uncommon for people to have so maybe that’s all this is.

Wriggle. Wriggle.

The strange sensation in my arm reassured me that none of this was fake in the slightest. Like a worm wiggling underneath my skin.

It isn’t a great feeling that anyone would ever want to feel.

Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

I could feel my heart beginning to beat out my chest once again as everything starts to hit me.

The world I once knew is completely gone and I’ll never be able to return to what I once had. The people I love are gone forever, aren’t they?

“I really do wonder what your power is or what kind of magic you possess.” Tess speaks up while standing in front of me. A curious look on her face.

I felt my thoughts disappear for a moment as my attention shifts back to Tess.

“Honestly I have no clue what I can do. I’ve not noticed anything new.” I respond while looking down at my hands.

Special powers or magic? I didn’t really think about that much.

“I feel like you’d be more of a fire kind of guy. We haven’t had anyone with that kind of magic or power yet, it would be pretty helpful,” Tess says while scratching her head.

“Is there a way to figure that out?” I ask with some curiosity in my voice.

“Just try to focus. Most people have usually focused hard on a feeling deep within themselves.” Tess answers.

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