Chapter 10 Part 1 || Storms and Purple Blood

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- Kai's POV -

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Mr Laywood stood up, eyes struck with deep concern. "All of you, line up orderly," he directed, but the panicked students hardly payed any notice. Half of them were already out of the door, racing down the hall and across the yard to reach Block Seven.

The old teacher gave up pretty quickly. "Everyone go, and I'll do a role call once we get there. Hurry up!"

June was scrambling to collect loose pieces of paper and stuff them into her backpack. Grabbing her wrist, I pulled her away from the desk. "Let's go!" I said, trying to keep my voice urgent but not scared. "We don't have time." Sirens still rang.

She looked down, then back at me, and nodded quickly. Together we pushed out of the door, Mr Laywood following behind us, the classroom left empty. The hall was flooded, but everyone was moving fast towards the open yard, where Block Seven, the biggest and most heavily built structure in the school lay, crammed with kids and teachers who waited inside whist the authorities moved in to supply defence. We'd done plenty of drills, all cautious and calm, but not serious or taken seriously; never had we thought it would actually come into play.

Once June and I got outside, rain pelting atop our heads, I spotted Flora struggling to help Isaac cross the grass, trying desperately to support his weight. He must've ditched his crutches in an effort to move quicker. "Run," I told June, and she did, sprinting along with the tide. Our school definitely wasn't small.

I reached Isaac and Flora and aided lifting the strain of his weight off her shoulders. "Never thought this would actually happen," I said through teeth gritted with effort.

Flora glanced up at me, green eyes darkened. "I couldn't see - what was it, exactly? What are we running from?"

I saw no reason to not tell the truth. "Endermen," I said. "Dozens of them."

Her expression turned distraught. "Oh, Notch."

We reached the steps of Block Seven with the last lot of kids, and Isaac thanked us heavily, before more teachers came to help him inside. Flora and I tailed his tracks to get under the shelter, the blasting echo of rain and thunder creating a deafening haze. The hall was crowded, and as were the classrooms inside the building itself, teachers screaming out across the panic for names, making sure everyone was there.

Turning to Flora, I admitted the worry that had pestered me the whole time we'd been running. "I can't see them anywhere."

She sagged. "I can't either."

"We'll both look." I pushed through student after student, and she followed, steps quickened with fear.

Suddenly, she froze, eyes alight with horror. "The P.E classes," she said.

I had to rise my voice into a yell to be heard. "What?"

"They don't have a siren."

I drew in a sharp breath. The pool and gym were across the otherside of campus, separated from everything else with a wide stretch of grass. It had no windows; it was thick-walled and soundproof, with a tall entrance, and Flora was right; it didn't have a siren. Whenever they scheduled drills, they made sure there were no classes in the gym.

They wouldn't know about anything.

Glancing around, I noticed two things: one, the teachers were too busy and panicked to focus on anything but their own class, and two, that Iris wasn't here. Her blue hair stood out anywhere.

I ran, telling Flora over my shoulder to be careful. I ignored the voices that called out to me.

The rain was full of dread and made everything murky, pounding so hard that I could hardly open my eyes. I tripped twice, completely isolated except the attackers on the hill. I didn't look to my left, where I knew a cloud of black descended, probably very close now. I couldn't look; I could only run.

Bursting through the doors of the gym and then the ones to the pool, I was met with two dozen confused stares. Iris's was one of them.

"Kai Dare?" Mrs Kesley questioned. "What are you doing here?"

Surprisingly, the class were sitting on the benches rather than mucking around in the water. They all seemed dry. Good, that would make things easier.

"The sirens rang," I said, raising my voice even though I was almost completely out of breath, wheezing. "Emergency. Got to leave."

Iris and Phoenix, the only two students not in swimwear and still in their clothes, got up immediately. The others quickly followed, and Mrs Kesley had to speak loudly over the sudden frightened chatter that had broken out. "Let's keep this orderly," she said. "Line up. Anthony, you take the -"

A loud crash sounded through the brick building. Low, malevolent whistles came from outside; slowly, blocks were broken away to reveal black faces with eyes as cold and empty as death. A purple death.

Lysa Andrews was the first to scream. Iris kept silent, but I could see in her eyes that she was not calm; nor was she in fear. They glinted with a sharp light, so dark that they made me nervous. She was glaring at the faces. "We'll go together!" Mrs Kelsey ordered. "Everyone, grab swords!"

Wooden training swords littered the gym, around seven in total. We hardly got to use them in school; but I supposed that now, they came into use, even as little damage as they did. Every strike would count. I glanced around for a bow and found one, and old one of decent quality, with two arrows beside it. I seized the bow and the arrows alike. Iris strode forwards and picked up a sword, spinning it in her hands as the Endermen continued picking away at the walls. Phoenix did the same, and somehow looked more powerful even in stance with a blade in his hand. His eyes flashed as an Endermen started breaking the wall beside where he stood.

I could only be thankful for one thing; a few years ago, a potions master had created a charm that prevented Endermen from teleporting into and within buildings treated with it. It was a standard across practically all public structures now.

But that wasn't to mean they would be stopped.

Mrs Kelsey took up another sword, a teachers' one of iron, and as did a few other students. She grouped us and then gave us instructions. "Run to Block Seven," she directed. "You run, and watch each other. I'll take up rear. Ice, you're the best fighter here: take the lead. Do not stop running."

The last of the wall broke, and in stepped an Enderman, purple eyes blazing and face filled with a soundless scream.

"Go, now!" Mrs Kesley yelled, and we ran, Iris running the fastest. I notched an arrow as I sprinted. She raised her blade, her eyes cold and focussed and rawly determined - for a second, it frightened me more than the Endermen did. She'd better not do something stupid, I thought fiercely. I would personally feed her to a zombie.

We burst out of the doors, tall dark demons on our feet and in our way.

Iris cut through the first one with a single, powerful lunge, knocking it aside. It wasn't dead, but it screamed loudly. Helix swiped at another with his own blade, cutting it so deeply it shrieked. Levia did the same, and the group ran on fast feet, the unarmed protected in the centre. Iris was brutal in her destruction, but it had the chance to show for the first half of our sprint, because the majority of the Endermen weren't on us at all: they were attacking the now-empty Block Seven.

I saw Iris's resolve falter. The students were moving backwards, we could see, away from the mobs, into the library. Far along the horizon, I could see horses crossing roads in authoritative clamour, making their way to the school. I hoped they would make it.

Iris turned us towards the library block with scarcely a moments hesitation. Battle made her more vicious and fiercer than usual; it hardened her courage and focussed her mind onto a single task. A focussed Ice was a scary thing.

Eight Endermen had fallen, but no students. Mrs Kelsey still called out encouragement from the back of the pack, iron blade in her adept hands as she fought off the End spawn as they came. They were impossible to outrun, what with their abilities, but very possible to wound and kill. We had to depend on our own defence.

After we got halfway to the library, Mrs Kelsey stopped calling out to us. Lysa Andrews, now at the back, stumbled, and although David turned back for her she screamed for the last time. The sound made my arms shiver as I took aim against an oncoming attacker.

I shot the arrow, and when the Endermen moved away, I cursed. Dammit, you can't shoot Endermen. How could I forget that? I'm an idiot, and absolute idiot!

I dropped the bow with haste and fell to the back behind David, whose face was shadowed with grief. The grip he had on his sword was deathly tight. "Go faster!" I yelled, replacing Mrs Kelsey's commanding voice. "We're almost there!"

We were only a few dozen blocks away from the entrance when Johanna fell to the ground, low on hearts from blows she'd received. Endermen approached her, and in a fit of heroic stupidity I stood over her as everyone else kept moving. I was barehanded and out of breath and scared, dark mobs towering over me, purple eyes filled with nothing but rage, but I stood tall. Johanna dropped her sword in overworked defeat, and I reached down to pick it up from her, swinging it clumsily at an Enderman's body. It cut across him and with a scream, he teleported away.

At least five more were around me, though, and I had no talent with swords. Johanna attempted to hit one's feet meagrely, and then collapsed when it struck her back. I swung around and killed it, watching it shrivel into a pile of purple dust.

Notch protect everyone, I thought as more arrived to defend their fellow fallen End spawn. Especially Iris.

And then things changed.

It all happened so fast I could barely register my own perception; Phoenix arrived in a speed that was impossible and struck an Enderman with a brutally hard lunge, his violet gaze alight with the fire of battle. Then he disappeared, and an Enderman screeched behind me, then he was in front of me again, slaying another one with a outstretched stab to the head.

A few moments later, only dust remained of the Endermen that had just been threatening my life.

Phoenix turned to me, violet, glowing blood from the slain splattered across his left cheekbone and the grass at his feet. He himself seemed unscathed.

"Are you alright?" he asked, scanning over me for injuries. "You're bleeding."

I shook my head and instead hoisted Johanna from the ground. "It doesn't matter. I can't feel it. Let's just get back to the library fast."

Phoenix helped me carry her, and we finally reached the library's stone steps, where Mr Hayes took Johanna from us. "She's not dead," he said, though he was lying. "She'll wake up."

Inside, the students were a lot more quiet than they had been in Block Seven. Some were softly chatting, some were crying, and some were utterly silent. When I glanced out the window and onto the yard, I saw bodies littering the purple-and-red stained landscape. Oh my Notch. It was worse than I imagined - so, so much worse.

People in uniform arrived and started to fight the Endermen back; a few of them came to the library. When they got closer, I saw the logos on their shirts; they were part of the Defencement. I could hear their voices as they spoke with the teachers. Turning away from the window, I went to find my friends.

I spotted Xavier in the centre of one of the classrooms, settled around with a crowd of kids amongst desks and seats. Before I could go and join him, though, a force knocked me aside with a gasp.

"Kai!" It was Iris, her arms wrapped around my neck. I hugged her back, tangling my hands into her hair. "You idiot," she whispered. "I thought you were dead."

I tried for a mood-lightener. "Well, that was an unreasonable fear," I said. "I mean, this is Kai Dare we're talking about."

Iris drew back, unimpressed. She flicked my head. "Just don't do it again," she said.

I replied with the only smile I could manage. "I'll keep that order in mind." I glanced around, looking for blond hair and purple eyes, but found none. "Have you seen Phoenix about?" I asked her.

Her gaze turned mildly suspecting. "No. Why?"

"He saved me," I whispered. Her blue hair had streaks of purple blood in it. "They were going to kill me, but he killed them."

Iris fell into silence. "That was nice of him," she finally said, a weak grin playing on her lips. "I'm sorry, but I haven't seen him."

I bit my lip. "That's okay, I'll look."

Nodding, Iris went back to sit with Xavier - I could see Flora and Zoe with him, too. I supposed that Eve and Scott were around; Xavier was joking, trying to get others to smile, and even he wouldn't have been acting happy if something that bad had've happened.

Wandering around the hall and classrooms, I eventually found Phoenix; he was sitting against a wall beside his brother and Kylie, who was leaning her head on Ember's shoulder. Kylie had a cut on her face, but she was the only one who looked injured.

They looked up at me as I approached. "Thank you," I said, gazing at Phoenix. He had wiped the blood from his cheek. My voice choked a little. "I would have died without you there."

"You're welcome," he answered, tone uncharacteristically heavy despite what he tried to do to cover it. He shuffled around a little, then winced. Worry flared up in my stomach. "Are you hurt?" I asked, dropping down to sit beside him. Ember glared at me, but said nothing.

"I'm fine," he said, but the pain-filled smile betrayed him. "Just a scratch."

"Are you sure?" He didn't look fine. "I can call the nurse for you, if you'd like."

His eyes flashed. "I'm fine, Kai. Really."

I backed away a little bit, and then tried to plead with Ember. "Tell him he's gotta go see someone," I begged. "C'mon."

Ember sighed. "I know it looks bad, Kai, but trust us, he'll be alright. We can't see the nurse."

This is stupid! "Why?" I asked incredulously. "He needs medical attention."

Ember and Phoenix glanced at each other; I saw a thousand exchanged words pass between them. Then they looked back at me, symmetrical violet gaze sending shivers up my spine. They're like an Enderman's, I thought.

"He can't," Ember repeated. Kylie lifted her head, eyes aqua and wide. "Honestly," she added, "he doesn't need to."

The fishiness of their reaction puzzled me, and pushed me further. "Let me see the wound, then," I protested. "I'm no medic, but I do know a little."

Phoenix's eyes hardened in a way I'd never seen before. "No, Kai."

"Why can't I see?"

"You just can't."

The strain of speaking caused him to flinch in agony, groaning softly. I deliberately glared at Ember as Phoenix clutched his drawn-in leg.

"The nurse," I repeated; but this time, it was an order. "Or me."

Ember and Kylie were unresponsive for a few moments, but then Phoenix groaned again. I saw his brother's resolve shatter. "Just ... Please, Kai, don't tell anyone."

Tell anyone what? "Huh?"

"Promise me. Promise me you'll keep it a secret." Ember's face was willowed in desperate need, his voice pleading. "Please."

I didn't know was I was agreeing to, but I agreed nonetheless if it meant Phoenix could be treated. "Okay," I said.

Phoenix, skin pale with pain, stretched out his leg, where blue denim was torn at the knee.

I tried not to openly stare in bewilderment.

I struggled to only focus on the cut, attempted to force myself to remember how to fix it without a potion, but it was hard, it was so hard because all I could see, all I could notice was a single detail:

His blood. Or, more specifically, the colour of it.

I fumbled for words and then chose not to speak. The wound was deep, cutting through muscle, blood covering Phoenix's knee and dripping down his shin. I heard Ember's low gasp. "I thought he would heal," he was saying, "Heal fast. But he didn't and I don't - I didn't know -"

"Shush," I said. "Let me think."

If I was going to help him with something this bad, I needed a potion. Until then, a tight bandage would have to suffice; had it have been smaller, food would have been enough, or maybe some water. Looking down upon this ripped wound I found it hard to recall my basic training.

And then, more questions raced through my mind; Why is his blood purple?

"Give me your shirt," I told Ember. He did, and I started to wrap it around the cut. Why are his eyes purple? "Stay still," I ordered Phoenix as he began to shuffle, clenching his teeth. How could he move so fast? "Deep breaths," I said as he began to shiver in pain. Why did he risk his life to save me?

I tied off the make-shift bandage and looked at Kylie. "There should be glasses of water in the classroom storage," I said. "Find some for him. It won't do much, but it might help a little with the pain."

She nodded, and rushed off. "There's not a lot you can do for something like this without a potion of healing," I said, trying to sound professional and confident. "But this should be enough to stabilise his state."

Ember looked me straight in the eye. "Healing potions will not heal us."

My breath caught in my throat. "Um, okay." What a 'professional' reply. "A ..." I stumbled around in my own memory, feeling useless and clumsy. "A - a potion of poison? Would that work?"

Glancing down, Ember mumbled "Yes."

Silence followed as I gathered my thoughts and wits - They're Endermen. Purple eyes, purple blood, purple hearts. Phoenix and Ember and Kylie, they're all Endermen.

My eyes widened in realisation. That's why they confused their Dargons! The high-fives, the slightly off language; things began to make terrible sense.

But Endermen were cold, heartless, murderous mobs; they destroyed all they could. Yet my life had been saved by one, the same one who was bleeding in front of me, the one whose brother protected him fiercely, the one who was trembling in agony because he fought his own kind.

And that I did not understand.

"Kai," Phoenix whispered harshly, nails digging into his own palms, "Please don't tell anyone. Promise me, now. Tell everyone my blood ran red."

I stared at him. An Enderman. "I promise," I said.

Despite all, he smiled at me, and it was warm. "Thank you," he said.

Kylie came back, water in hand. "We aren't hurt by water," Ember answered my mind's question. "It will help him, right?"

"It should," I replied, but I didn't really know. I hoped.

I looked over Phoenix and Ember and Kylie again; the two brothers' face seemed so sculpted, symmetrical and perfect, their hair fine and thick, eyes full of life and wonderfully human - fake, I knew, but still bright. Kylie was pretty, but she wasn't flawless as her friends were; she had a few freckles and a small scar near her lips; her eyes were aqua, hair and lips thin, not the same as Phoenix's and Ember's. I wondered if it was red that pulsed through her veins, or violet.

She seemed to know what I was thinking. "I'm no Enderman," she said, sitting back down next to Ember. "But I am their sister."

I sat down, too, facing all three of them. She continued when no one else spoke, voice low as to not invite other listeners. "When they first took human form, they needed help. I taught them to live properly, and in exchange, they took me away with them."

Human form? "Does that mean you can change forms?" I asked, eyes wide.

Ember nodded.

"So, like, theoretically, you could turn into an Enderman right now."

Ember rolled his eyes. "Yes."

Wow. "Well, why did you decide to change into human forms?"

Phoenix answered this time. The water seemed to have helped a bit. "We had to leave," he said. "We didn't agree with what we had been ordered to do."

I bit my lip, hoping I wasn't about to cross the line. "What was your order?"

Phoenix's eyes fell on me, and their depth did not lie. "To kill you," he said.

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- Iris's POV -

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Xavier was telling a story about talking chickens to the group around him when panic started to rip through everyone again at the sound of the Defencement's screaming orders from outside; Retreat! Fall back!

They were losing, and that wasn't possible. The Defencement never lose.

I got up and went to the front of the hall, where teachers gathered and spoke almost silently amongst themselves. They would be planning what to do, how to get everyone out, I knew, but they had no idea how they could do it. There was nothing behind us except forest, and then more houses.

I snuck past them and look through the front window beside the entrance. The Defencement were in fact losing; they were being forced backwards, sounds of battle echoing across the stained yard. Notch protect us all, I thought. Especially Kai.

It made me nervous to leave him with Phoenix. I knew what he was, but I had to hope that for whatever reason Phoenix has kept his true self hidden will prevent him from endangering Kai's life. After all, he had his chance already. Kai was still standing.

Suddenly, I noticed something out of place on the field; a figure of a girl. I tried to peer closer, through the pounding rain.

She had silver hair and was wearing black, but I could pinpoint no more. Then, she raised an arm and with a bright burst of people, three officers fell. Even from my distance I could hear her cruel laughter as Endermen pushed forwards.

The laughed matched the voice I'd heard too many times in my nightmares.

It was the Child.

Images passed through my mind; my parents' bodies, bloody and torn, their black funeral; I heard their screams as I did that night. They rang in my ears and heated my blood, heated my head, heated my heart.

I seized a sword, as sharp and deadly as my vengeance.

And, without sparing a thought for my goddamn safety, ran to kill that murderous beast with the wicked laugh.

I could hear people yelling after me but their words didn't register, nor did I care to try and listen to them. None of them understood; they didn't know of the pain, of the loneliness, of the terror, of the hatred and rage that boiled within me.

I didn't care whether or not they understood. All I care for is the Child's death, and I would bring it to her with the sharpness of an iron blade.

Thunder and lightning clapped overhead, the scenes around me flashing with every bolt, lighting up the turmoil. Bodies lay everywhere. A small fire started where lightning struck the ground, but the rain quickly put it out.

I lingered for a moment on the spot, blade gripped tight in my hand. For a moment, I felt . . . Odd. I looked up at the sky, dark with clouds. I saw them unfold to release a mighty strike.

The lightning lit me up like fireworks, exploding sound booming around me, but I wasn't feeling pain; I was feeling power. Power so strong it burned, but it filled me with energy that granted me a life brighter than lightning. Energy that made my thoughts explode and crackle.

I opened my palm and saw it flicker with silver light.

I let the electricity fly.

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Long chapter. Oops, went overboard. Hope you guys are enjoying the more frequent updates, though!!

Yaaaas, Iris got her Wielder powers . . . but trust me, lightning won't be all >:)

QOTC: Between 1 and 10, how would you rate school?

(aotc: 0.)

Remember to vote, guys!! See you soon!

- Jazz

Bonus: Thank you all so much for the 1000+ followers!! I'd never thought I'd ever get this far ^u^