‹ Prequel: The Fifth World

The Fifth World 2

The Ugliest Creature

Bo: I awake the next morning with a smile on my face. A small smile. It soon fades... it fades because the reality of what lies ahead for me today sinks in.

Cynrics shirt covers my body, keeping my bits and pieces away so nobody else can see... not that anyone really could since the forest is a thick sheet of green. It is rather private here. A perfect setting. Cynrics arm is wrapped around me, keeping my body to him and giving me that protected kind of feeling. I sit up slowly, quietly and am careful not to move around too much to wake him. When I am safely away from him and out of arms reach I cover myself with my shirt that I find to be covered in dirt and twigs. I find my pants quite easily. I put them on too. When clothed I look back at Cynric and watch him as he rests. I even sit down beside him, listen to him breathe in and out, and I very gently touch his cheek and then his golden hair. He sighs deeply and I wonder what he is dreaming of. I wonder what lies in that deep and strong mind of his. So many secrets. So much knowledge. Many would think that Cynric's power is a gift but I am sure that he believes different. Yes, knowledge is power but it can also be a burden.

I hear sounds in the forest, clicking, ticking, twigs snapping. The animals are up. I stand up and before taking one last look at Cynric I leave him. I leave him in the forest with no intention on ever coming back. Within seconds I am walking amongst the white tents. It is silent. Everyone sleeps. I remain as quiet as I possibly can. It would be unwise of me to believe I could get away from here and everyone else unnoticed. Someone will hear me. I quicken pace and once I have cleared the tents and walked to the top of the hill I turn back and look over my home. My people. A pond of white tents. All of these people with nothing but their whole lives ahead of them yet they live in fear. A tent is not a home. Seabrooke is. They deserve an end to this war. I can end it. My eyes linger towards the forest that still is a thick sheet of green. Somewhere in there my love is sleeping and he is completely unaware of what I am doing.

I start to walk. I really don't know exactly where I am going. All I know is that I must head for the mountains. The mountains; where evil lies. I have been there before, I only hope I find it. It is strange. Not long ago I was escaping from the mountains and now I know that it is truly the only place for me. After a while I look back behind me to see if I can spot the pond of white tents. It is merely a smudge across a green before the horizon. I know it could seem selfish - what I am doing. Because all of these people have risked their lives for me but now it is my turn. It is my turn to do what is right, what is essential. It is the only way to end all of this.

All senses suddenly perk up. My ears listen so carefully. My fingers tingle and my eyes sharpen. I breathe out a careful breath. Something, I don't even know what has given me the idea, no, not the idea... the knowledge - I am not alone right now.

I spin my body around just in time to see a blur sprinting towards me. I am knocked off my feet and my entire body hits the ground so hard that I let out a little grunt. They are on top of me, their entire body weight pressing down on me. Hands are at my collar and my head is being lifted to meet theirs.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" I hear Felicity scream at me.

"What needs to be done!" I spit at her.

"Turning yourself in? You are giving up?"

I disappear from beneath her and jump so I appear behind her. I am on both feet and no longer between her fingers. I flatten my clothing out and I stare at her with anger. She turns to me with disgust on her face.

"I am not going to put everyone I care about in danger anymore. It is over. It is done. The Thornes will get what they want. Me."

"Oh sure," Felicity hisses and throws her hands in the air, "It is really that simple, isn't it? The Thornes will get Bo Abshire - the hybrid - and the world will be just as it always should. Peaceful? Yeah? God, being in the Average Human World for so long must have really made you daft."

"Leave me be, Felicity. You cannot stop me."

She smiles, "I can try."

"I can jump there and you would have no way of finding me."

She scoffs, "Don't even bother lying to me, Bo. I know what happened when you were there. I know the shackles they made you wear. There is no way your body could imprint that location because of those shackles. Those shackles took your powers away. They made you nothing but the Average Human."

"Ah," I breathe out and then I jump and I appear on top of her just as she was on top of me moments ago, my fingers are at her collar, I stare down at her, see the surprise on her face, "but they took them off."

I disappear.

Cynric: I feel the morning breeze brush over my bare skin and somewhere in the distance I can hear an almost silent chatter. I roll over on the soft grass as visions of last night seep into my mind. I can feel Bo's skin on mine, smell her. I also recall the images I saw when she touched me; the heartbreak she saw in Jonathan's eyes...

"Wake up," I hear a familiar and deep voice, something hits my foot, "Get up, Cynric, for pity's sake."

My eyes open slowly and the trees above line the sky, between the leaves minor light seeps in. A shadow lingers above me. His long and dark hair makes me understand who it is almost straight away. I hold myself back from throwing him a patronizing insult as I know that Bo is nearby. My hand searches for her. Nothing. I sit up instantly and look around like a lost child. When I realise that Caine and I are definitely alone I cover my naked body up immediately.

"I didn't know you slept naked," Caine observes slyly.

I know he is not trying to make a sexual joke, he is merely teasing... he knows better than that.

"I was not aware I was sleeping alone either," I mutter, "What do you want?"

"Wendell wants us to keep moving but there's a minor problem... or two minor problems."

I rub my eyes, I cannot even begin to explain how uninterested I am in this discussion, "And what would be so important that you had to come all the way over here after I am sure you searched high and low for me, and then upon finding me wake me up whilst I am stark naked?"

Caine does not smile which is surprising... but honestly, I couldn't care less if he were to smile or not... his happiness is not something that particularly concerns me anymore - his honesty, however, does.

"Felicity and Bo are missing."

Bo: I stare up at the mountains and take in a deep breath as I analyse how enormous they are, how breathtakingly beautiful they are. There is a little bit of snow left just on the peaks. I imagine how terrible it will be having to travel up there. What will I come across? Who will I come across? Thank god it will not be as cold as it was last time... last time the weather was absolutely dreadful.

I am not sure where exactly it is I must go to find the Thornes... but I am sure they will find me first. I just need to get their attention... but how? How in the world do I do that? I scoff. I am Bo Abshire, the hybrid, a highly sought target for anyone wanting some kind of power, I think I can figure out one or two ways on getting their attention.

I turn around and almost begin my trek through the fading forest and up the mountain but I stop before I even begin my path. I take in a sharp breath and stare at the figure that is staring directly back at me with the same expression of shock on their face. The Thorne is dressed in black combat boots, a dark grey pair of army pants and a very thin tee-shirt. He is young and breathtakingly beautiful. I am taken aback. Never did I expect to grasp the attention of a Thorne so soon, especially one this beautiful. He is lean, obviously athletic, his skin is a lovely golden colour, his eyes dark and mysterious and his hair reaching just passed his ears, it is an almost black colour.

"Impossible," he says. His voice is like velvet, like a purring. Everything about him pulls me in.

"Hello," I whisper, pathetically. Is that all I have to say to an enemy?

He takes a step closer and I instinctively take one back, he smiles softly, slyly, "Do you have any idea what everyone has been doing to get you here?"

He has a french accent. Jesus.

"I have come on my own. I want to end all of this."

"Just like that?" he asks me, I know he is doubtful, "For years and years we have waited for a hybrid... especially one with your gifts, Bo Abshire. And now you are simply handing yourself in? How can I be certain this is not a trick?"

"I don't know," I say quietly, nervously, "Scan the area. I am alone. Go back to my people - see the hysteria now that they know I am gone."

"You have no idea who I am, do you?" he says quietly and I notice how something about him changes.

He no longer looks at me but more so at his left hand. It has curled into a fist. I see the veins in his neck sticking out. He takes in a very long and deep breath. I take another step back.

"I'm sorry, I do not," I whisper to him.

"She never told you about me, did she?" he says to me, this time looking behind himself and up at the mountain as if he is scoping the area out to see if anybody else is around.

"There is- was only one thing in this world more important to me than any kind of power or longing for a life outside of these mountains... her name was Jasmine."

"Jasmine?" I ask, "I knew her."

"Well," he breathes, "of course you did. You were one of the last people to see her alive."

Oh, lord. I turn my head around quickly, uselessly... I try to see if there is anyone else around. Don't be silly, Bo. Nobody is here. You are alone.

"I promised myself the day she died that I would avenge her death if I ever met with her killer." His eyes finally meet mine and they are even blacker than when I first laid eyes on him.

I consider jumping from here, going back to meet Felicity or Cynric... but I don't. Maybe this way I can make things better. Maybe death is better than joining the Thornes - that way they don't get exactly what they want... maybe my place is no longer in this world but in another...

The man comes towards me at a pace so quick I barely see him. I close my eyes and I feel the breath knocked out of me, my body flies through the air, the wind pushes my hair back, the cold kisses my flesh and after what seems like forever my body meets the ground, crashing. A sharp pain aches in my back and then I feel him just above me. My face begins to scream... or maybe it is me. I feel like my body is being pulled in all directions. A sudden warmth spills over me, I can feel it on my stomach. I open my eyes just to see whatever it is. It is red, it is pretty... it is frightening. My own blood pours from a giant gash across my abdomen. I try to scream but his hands are at my throat. I stare up at him as he stares down at me, his teeth clenching together, his throat sending out a sound so vicious you would think he were an animal. His eyes are so sharp, his face is pulled in what looks like a very intense scowl. At that very moment, I realise, he is the ugliest creature I have ever seen.