Chapter 5: Echoes of the Past

 

Aria spent the rest of her day going between the laboratory and inventory. She didn't eat or take a break and her uncle who usually nagged her about it was on a trip. Adrian let her bury herself in work, knowing she was in too much pain to have free time that would allow her to think of other things, like where her sister was.

Aria focused on developing her father's inventions further. Most of them needed precision and lots of practice. Aria wanted to make the use easier so more soldiers could use it. She had already developed an easier use of the clamp. The fire had been the most dangerous aspect of fighting the werewolfs and that was why the clamp was crucial in the fight against them.

Now she was focusing on how to develop the terrorizer for a greater and more precise aim. If she succeeded then her development would also be useful for the graviton and the clamp.

"It is late now, Aria. You should go to sleep." Adrian said. "Maybe eat before that."

"I am not done yet." She said keeping her eyes on the project.

"I don't think you will be done anytime soon, so you might as well get some sleep."

She made a sound of frustration as she put everything aside. When she stood up, she groaned in pain. Her back and bottom were sore from sitting for so many hours.

"Alright. Good night then." She said and went back to her room.

"My Lady," her handmaiden Elda seemed to have been waiting for her. "You haven't eaten and have been working all day." She said worriedly. "I shall go bring you something to eat."

"No. I just want to sleep." Raveena Told her. She was tired and thinking of food made her nauseous. Thinking of anything besides work made her nauseous.

Elda looked concerned. "Is this because of what the queen tells you all the time?"

"Elda, have you ever seen me care about what other people think? The old lady is bored and has nothing better to do." Aria scoffed as she began to take off her dress. Elda came to help her.

"I know you don't care about her. You should still look after yourself."

"I will be alright. I have no intention of dying yet, so don't worry." Aria assured.

Once she was in her nightgown, she went to bed. Elda bid her goodnight and blew the candles on her way out. Now that Aria was left alone with nothing else to occupy her mind, her thoughts became filled with her sister.

Corinna. Her twin. Her other half. They were inseparable until they became separated. Until she lost her. She was supposed to be the one to look after her, being the older one. Or perhaps it didn't have to do with that. It was just the way her family was built. Aria was tough and calculative like their father. Corinna was always sweet and kind like their mother, therefore Aria felt protective of her.

She closed her eyes, trying to escape her own thoughts that tortured her, but she knew sleep wouldn't bring her peace. Her nightmares always returned stronger whenever a werewolf was brought here and this one made her have the worst of them. The one nightmare she hated the most. Her parent's death.

Aria dreamed of how the real terror began when a large shadow was cast on them. A werewolf flying right above, ready to burn them to ashes. Aria had covered her sister as if that would help and waited to feel the fire burn her skin when her father came to their rescue.

"Take your sister, Aria. Run!"

Aria did as her father told her while he distracted the werewolf away from them. Her heart was pumping hard as she ran away as fast as she could, dragging her sister by the arm. But she could not just leave her father behind and in a moment of worry, she slowed down and looked behind. The soldiers were dead and the werewolf had his tail snaked around her father. Aria watched with horror as put her father into his mouth.

"No!" Aria tried to run back to her father but was suddenly stopped by a few of her father's trusted men. "No! let go! Father!" She tried to free herself but it was too late. She witnessed how the beast sank his sharp teeth into her father, crushing him, chewing him before spitting him out.

The sharp pain in her chest woke her up. She opened her eyes, heart pounding and with a heavy breath. She stared into the dark emptiness trying to calm down but a few tears wet her face.

Aria ignored them and tried to go back to sleep again, but as soon as closed her eyes her mind went down the lane of dark memories. Of what happened after her father was killed, and how her mother also died in front of her eyes. How, just like the beast promised he would do to her, his kind had burned her mother to ashes, leaving almost nothing behind to bury.

Aria turned in bed, her chest heavy, the pain making it difficult to breathe. She had stopped herself from crying so many times. Promised she wouldn't cry until she had avenged her parents and made sure her father's inventions and efforts didn't go to waste. Until she made sure her people would not live in fear anymore.

The werewolfs had retreated but they still made an attempt now and then to take over again. They killed thousands during that one attempt. People still feared the day their village would be the one to burn down.

Aria wanted her father's invention to be easily accessible and used so people could protect themselves. Her father had freed them but they were still all prisoners.

"Freedom is not free, Aria." He had told her.

He was right. He and many others paid with their lives and one day, she would pay with hers. Her father was dedicated. He had shown her that with patience and wisdom the enemy could be defeated.

If only she had the same patience and courage as her father but she was nothing like him. He was a kind man, but she could not be kind. She had grown to be cold and cruel. To defeat the monsters, she had to become a bigger monster.

Then why? Why was she crying? A monster wasn't supposed to feel sad? She had trained herself hard to remain cold. Why?! She even let herself be provoked. Why?

She buried her face in her pillow. It must be her sister doing this to her. God, she missed her. Aria really needed her to be alive because she was the one who needed saving. The one who needed to be spared this vicious existence.

She sobbed into the pillow to stifle the sound of her cry but now that she started, she couldn't stop. It only got worse. Her head and eyes began to hurt and then she wasn't sure when she fell asleep.

The morning came earlier than she hoped for. She had worked all day yEsterday and today she just wanted to sleep.

"My Lady. You must eat." Elda told her, when she kept sleeping until lunchtime.

Aria ignored her and only rose from her bed when she was ready to take on the day. She went downstairs to the dining table, where she was served something between lunch and dinner. She ate quickly and hurried to the laboratory, ready to finish her project.

The room was lit but Adrian was nowhere to be seen. She went to the table and found his notebook open. Aria picked it up. From the date on top, she knew he took these notes yEldaday. She saw the prisoner's under the date.

He was of the Azar clan? That was why Adrian paused when he found out about his name. He recognized him.

Marcus. He came from the barbarian clan. The ones who caused terror and ruled by oppression. The ones who caused the most suffering. It was the clan her father wanted to defeat first.

Now she understood why her uncle was keeping him despite the danger. Over the years he had caught more and more powerful werewolves and now he finally caught one of the most dangerous. This she didn't like. She felt like he could have ulterior motives and let himself get caught on purpose. But why would he do that? He must know that attacking the castle was a death mission.

The castle was rebuilt to withstand heat and was equipped for defense. No werewolf who tried to attack the castle succeeded. There were soldiers on guard from the highest towers around the clock, looking out for any threat. If anything was detected in the atmosphere, then they were ready to attack.

Aria put back the notebook as it was. She then went and picked up her own notebook before going to find the prisoner.

The guards at the front of the tunnel stopped her.

"Your Highness, we are not allowed to let anyone in."

"Is there a risk of danger? Is he not well secured?"

"Then do not worry." She faked a smile. She wasn't one to smile. It had been a long time since she smiled genuinely. "Here." She gave them a pouch of coins and they let her in.

Aria walked through the dark tunnel with her notebook that she didn't intend to use. In it, she had a dagger hidden. It wouldn't be of much use. She wasn't going to let herself get provoked this time.

When she arrived at the cave where he was chained, she found him seated near the graviton.

He turned his head at her arrival. She knew they had heightened senses.

his rough words echoed in her mind.

Well, let's see if he could smell her fear today.