Prophecy of End

[Ixidor92]

A dull groan exited Cross's lips as he blinked his eyes half-open. His head was bumping up and down slightly as the cart moved along. His eyes traveled over slowly, piecing together his surroundings. This wasn't his room. The last thing he remembered was--


Immediately Cross bolted upright in the cart . . . and regretted having done so. Every inch of his body screamed at the sudden movement, as all the impacts from the other night came back with a vengeance. A much louder groan escaped him this time as he leaned back against the cart. The last time he had hurt this bad was when he had fallen out of a tree years ago. But more than the physical pain, there was still the ache in his heart as the scene of the burning cottage from last night surfaced back into his conscience.


"This can't be real . . ."


His voice was cracked and soft, as if he was tired from shouting and the inhaled smoke. The blanket was pulled over his head


"Yeah . . . this is just a bad dream. I'll wake up in the morning and everything will be normal. Mom will have breakfast cooking, and I had to go hunting with old man Gigi . . ."

 

[Ricia]

The female just about jumped out of her skin when Cross bolted up. "What...?" She asked quietly.


"You're awake!" She practically yelled. She sat forward to Cross immediately and the man leaning on her fell off her shoulder.


Thunk.


The girl looked behind her at the man who had just hit his head on the floor of the cart. He seem to open his eyes slowly and look at Cross, though he made no move to get up off the floor. He had the same colored eyes as the girl, a forest green color. "Sorry." She said before turning to look at Cross.


"Hey now.... you're ok. I promise you're safe here with us. Everything will be ok." She tried to sooth Cross with soft words, but she was not sure how much help a strangers words would be, or if it was even safe to give the poor scared boy a hug.

 

[Ixidor92]

The lump of cloth sitting in front of the young woman slowly shook its head back and forth, before a muffled voice came out from underneath.


"No . . . You're not real . . . this is all a bad dream . . ."


Cross could feel moisture starting to well up at the base of his eyes, but he kept speaking, as if he could force them away with words.


"I'm going to run downstairs and hug mom--she'll know right away I had a bad dream, and she'll say 'don't worry, it was only a nightmare'--"


By this point soft sobs and gasps could be heard in between Cross's words. The more his mind tried to push away the reality of his situation, the less it was able to do so.


"--Then old man Gigi will laugh, saying I'm still just a kid, and ask whether he should check the mattress. Then I'll call him an old man, we'll all laugh, and the two of us will go out hunting like he said."


Cross was openly weeping right now beneath the blanket. Even as his words seemed to reassure himself that everything was fine, it was clear his mind was sane enough to know this was not the case


"Because I'm still asleep in my home . . . and I'll wake up any minute now . . ."

 

[Ricia]

The girl took a chance and wrapped her arms around the blanket blob and gave him a tight hug, "Hey... calm down... None of that was a dream... but we chased the bad guys away... and we'll take care of you now." She told him.


"Don't push him too much..." The man mumbled, still laying on the floor of the cart.

 

[Ixidor92]

"It has to be a dream . . . they can't be dead . . . not like this . . ."


Cross felt the warmth press up against him, warmth like his mother. The top of the blanket fell from his head, revealing a face with ears pressed flat against his hair, and eyes that were red from crying. At the sight of the orange-haired woman in front of him, Cross finally broke down completely. His head fell into her shoulder and the young man cried more than he had ever thought was possible. His entire body was shuddering as his mind ran over the images from the other night, as well as the constant sobs that wracked his frame. The young man had thought he was strong . . . but now he just felt like a defenseless child

 

[Ricia]

The women held him softly and let him cry. She pulled something from her belt a moment later, "Here... I picked this up from the ground before we left." It was the silver dagger. She kind of thought it was ugly... but it was the kids weapon so she didn't deny him it. She didn't want him to feel unsafe by keeping him unarmed.

 

[Ixidor92]

Cross sniffed a couple more times before he finally pulled his head up from the woman's shoulder. One of his hands reached out from underneath the blanket and shakily gripped the dagger. This was all he had from that house now. One last gift from the old man.


"Thank you . . ."


If his voice had been corse before, now it sounded like he was on the verge of losing his voice. He slowly flipped the dagger around between his hands, feeling its weight like he had yesterday


"Who--who are you?"

 

[Ricia]

" My name is Chemi, this is my brother Chengo. You can call me Chi, and him Che if our names are too long for you! We are so glad we got to you in time! We almost didn't make it! But that doesn't mater now, you are safe... with us!" She answer in a quick and upbeat way. She smiled with a rather wide smile. It was an almost quick and strange turn around from the way she was acting just a few seconds ago. Chengo just looked tried and like he wanted to go back to sleep, still laying on the floor.

 

[Ixidor92]

Cross's left hand slowly moved to his right arm beneath the blanket. His mother had always told him to hide that birthmark from anyone besides the two of them . . . though now that seemed to mean that he would have to keep it a secret from everyone. A few more tears fell from his eyes at the thought, which he quickly wiped away


"Did you know--they were coming?"

 

[Ricia]

Chemi looked a bit uncomfortable, she suddenly started talking with her hands waving them around as if to help her point, "We didn't have a slightest clue where you were... you've been missing for 17 years. Fredrick-- the guy with the spider dude--"


"Drider." Her brother corrected her, "Drider and Vampire... Garth and Fredrick." His voice was deep and almost half asleep he sat up off the floor finally.


"Yeah, well... anyway it's been a giant race... we've had a lot of encounters with them. It would seem we always clashed... well he recently got a lead before us.. and he killed the person who had given it to them... so we just followed him, and just hoped to get there before he killed you if it did turn out right, which worked! I'm sorry we were so late." She told him softly, the last part did have a note of sadness.

 

[Ixidor92]

" . . . and why were you looking for me?"


Something died in Cross's voice before he spoke the sentence. Almost like something had drained out all the innocence that had been present in his previous statements. His hands clenched the dagger beneath the cloak

 

[Ricia]

"You're the child of prophecy... don't you know? That tattoo on your arm..." Chemi said, pointing to his arm under the blanket, or where she thought the arm should be.


"Chi... I don't think he knows..." Chengo said a few moments later.

 

[Ixidor92]

The birthmark. This was the second person Cross had never seen before in his life who was looking for it. Why? What the hell was this prophecy? And why . . . why did it bring so much death?


"If you're referring to this--"


Cross stuck his right arm out from underneath the blanket, revealing the flame-like mark


"It's done nothing for me my whole life. Except now apparently everyone is looking for it without care for who or what it's attached to."

 

[Ricia]

Chemi and Chengo witched glances before Chi rolled back to the front of the cart and hit the wall, "Pull over... It's about lunch time anyway." She shouted.


There was a sudden jerk and the horses stopped, the cart jerking as well a bit. "You hungry... ummm what is your name?" Chi asked him.

 

[Ixidor92]

Cross pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. His left hand was still clutching the dagger with an iron death grip.


"Cross."


So that was it then. They hadn't come to save him or his family. They'd come because of some prophecy that he didn't even know about. No one probably even cared that his mother and the old man were dead in the cabin, presumably cremated thanks to that damn spider-man. He ignored the question about food. His stomach felt like it was tied in several knots upon itself. Whatever he put down probably wouldn't stay down.

 

[Ricia]

A few moments later and the door to the cart opened. Standing there was a brown haired man, it was in a small pony tail that went to his shoulder. His eyes were a strange gold color and had a deep scar running from his left cheek down the side of his neck. "Hey... you're awake." He greeted.


"His name is cross." Chemi said rummaging through a lot of stuff.


"I see. My name is Hiro. I'm the leader of this small group. It is just the three of us. If you need anything just ask.. but you are proububly better off to just ask Chemi." He told Cross, he took a step up into the cart. "Its a bit cold outside.."

 

[Ixidor92]

If Cross heard the man, he gave no indication of it


"Where are you taking me?"


His voice was bitter now. He'd cried, and let out his grief, all that was left now was anger. Anger at those who had killed his family, anger at the people who had only saved his life, anger at the gods for giving him that damn birthmark, and anger at himself for being so powerless to do anything

 

[Ricia]

"To the only kingdom you will be safe in.... even then it won't be that safe." Hiro told him. "Come on, lets eat." Hiro said getting into the back of the cart as well, he started to pull out a few things.


The sun was setting and it was safe to say they had slept a good portion of the day. Hiro had gotten out a piece of bread and started to cut it while Chengo did the same with a block of cheese. Chemi started to rummage around for some drinking water, finding some wine stashed somewhere deep in the caravan, "Guys look at this!" Chemi said with a bright smile, flashing a bottle of wine to her group.


"Chi, put that away! Where did you even get that?!" Hiro asked completely astonished.


Chemi made a sly face and wiggled her eye brows at the man, "The Clave must have packed it in here. Besides I think this is a perfect time to use it. To drown out sorrows and celebrate our lives!" Chemi seemed to hum the whole sentence.


"Chi really... put it back." Hiro said reaching for it, Chemi only rolled out of the cart and her bare feet touched the snow, making the tigress slip and land on her back, still holding the bottle in her hands. "Ow..." She mumbled, her head throbbed lightly now.


"Chi..." Chengo peaked his head over side of the cart to look at her, his voice rang with worry.


"So you deserved that." Hiro pointed out before putting down four large thick slices of bread with cheese spread around the length. "Cross, was it? Here is some food. Seriously Chi, put that up."

 

[Ixidor92]

Cross let his forehead fall against his knees, hiding the world from his eyes.


"I'm not hungry."


He just wanted to close off the world right now. Every joyful word out of the cat-woman's mouth felt like a personal insult. How could she be happy right now? How dare she sound so happy when so much was wrong right now.

 

[Ricia]

Chemi got out a cup and pored out some of the bottles contents, "Here, drink this. It'll make ya feel better." Chemi told him.


Hiro sighed, he gave up. Chemi was hard to handle most of the time.

 

[Ixidor92]

Cross's nose twitched at the smell coming from the glass. When he finally spoke again, some of the bitterness seemed to melt away, if only a little.


"Old man Gigi tried to offer me something that smelled like that once. My mother said I couldn't until I was older."


He didn't move his head from its resting position. His stomach made a weird noise at the smell, less a gurgle and more of a squelch in recognition, if not necessarily agitation.

 

[Ricia]

"After what you've been through, you are defiantly older now." Hiro said with a soft sigh, at this point... we just wasn't even going to try anymore.


Chemi smiled and put the cup to him closer, "Just try it. It'll really make you feel better."


"You... should proububly eat something with it as well...." Chengo said after a moment.

 

[Ixidor92]

Cross's flattened ears twitched slightly as he pulled his head up a little. His chin was now resting on his arms as he looked at the orange-haired woman. It was a few minutes before his arms finally pried themselves off of his legs and he took the cup with both hands. Whatever was inside halve-soothed and half-burned his dry and parched throat, but more than that it felt like it was warming him up from the inside. After taking one huge gulp that drained half the glass, he coughed a few times at the unfamiliar substance--right before a loud growling sound echoed through the cart. It took a moment to realize that it had been Cross's stomach

 

[Ricia]

Chemi smiled and pushed the bead to Cross again. "Eat up." She told him.


Hiro sighed and looked up and out of the cart. They were already pretty far from the mountains. Hiro couldn't believe that he had been hidden up on the mountains this whole time. "We owe you a lot of explanation.." Hiro said softly looking to Cross. He wondered if it was best to tell him the whole truth.

 

[Ixidor92]

Cross held the bread in his hands for a few seconds before taking an extremely small bite. His stomach took a minute to recognize food was actually being put in it before he wolfed down what was there. His black ears twitched at the mention of explanation, and he looked to the older gentlemen


"Yes . . . please continue."