Under the bright lights on stage, Chantel could see the silhouettes of the audience sitting in the Millennium Concert Hall's house. When the performance began, she followed along with the band, performing one of their greatest hits. Chantel felt something different about this performance. Maybe because this will be her last one with the band.
The only question is: What is next for her after this? Besides trying to get away from the Rise of Light and mastering her abilities, what should Chantel do next?
These thoughts ran through her head, but she needed to concentrate until the end of this gig. Chantel continued playing her fingers on the keyboard keys, keeping the beat until she saw a purple mist in the air shot at Jesse, which he narrowly avoided. The keyboardist almost stopped playing, her eyes darting around to find where the mist was coming from. Chantel hoped this was not another attack to ruin the band’s performance. The mist fired again but, this time, she was not the only one that saw it; Nicola did too!
Chantel noticed that Nicola almost stopped playing as well. The two of them could not stop in the middle of the performance, only hoping that this would stop. Unfortunately, it got worse when the purple mist did the same attack at Jesse again, which prompted Nicola to stop playing and remove her wristband. She waved her hand and used her powers to levitate the guitarist away before the mist could hit him. A lavender cloud lifted Jesse away, then pushed him to the other side of the stage with the shot missing him.
Everyone stopped playing at once, while the audience were gasping in shock at the scene. The stage went quiet among The NorthEasters. Chantel saw Jesse, getting up slowly, then she ran up to help him. Everything around the band and the venue just stopped until she heard someone cackling through the speakers.
“Hey, is this a part of the show?” Someone yelled in the audience.
Chantel saw Trenton headed towards Jesse and her, in order to check on him as well. She watched Nicola kept on guard for another attack. Judging by the pissed expression on the girl’s face, she was standing in a fighting stance, waiting for another attack. Linda did not even know what to do, but stayed in place. A familiar voice blared through the speakers, filling Chantel’s ears.
“Outsiders, your days are numbered! While all of you were living in ignorance to our existence, we have been building up an army. YOU WILL NOT IGNORE US ANY LONGER! It looks like I missed hitting one of them. Let me see if we can get another one,” The ominous voice shouted.
Another mist appeared, this time aiming at the audience, instead of the band. The purple mist landed a direct hit with Chantel overhearing horrific screams coming from a woman and crying. Soon, the audience figured out that this was clearly not a part of the show. Hysteria began among the audience members as they ran to the exits in doves.
Not wanting to stand around any longer, Nicola grabbed Chantel’s hand and whispered in her ear, “All of us need to get out of here. I think whoever is behind this is trying to kill everyone. We need to get the hell off this stage now!”
“You don’t even need to tell me that part twice…” Chantel said to Nicola, covering her ears to prevent herself from hearing more screams.
First, she worried about Darren and Sung-Hyun, but first Chantel needed to get out of the rest of the band. So, Nicola and Chantel headed to the backstage, where Linda also ran back to. Trenton, Jesse, and Linda found them, then they found a crowd of artists, fleeing for their lives. The other artists are scrambling to the exit door as Chantel observed the terrified looks on their faces. There is nothing that the five of them could do, but push their way to the exit.
Fighting through the crowd to make their way out, the group is not out of the woods yet. They saw people in dark maroon cloaks, marching to those, who escaped the building. Chantel stood, frozen in fear of what was going to happen next. It was clear those mysterious people attacked the crowd in the most brutal manner. From the look of this group, they were supernaturals as well, judging by the sound of them yelling out spells and using their powers to hurt people.
Chantel saw Nicola stand up, then hold her hands out, a glow of lavender cloud around a tree, near the building. Then, the tree pulled from the ground and floated in the air. It looks like Nicola did not really care anymore about hiding her powers. She had the tree put in front of the NorthEasters, warning the people in the maroon cloaks to stay away from them. Nicola’s eyes glowed lavender, which meant she was using her telekinesis powers as a last-ditch attempt to save the band.
“Ya’ll need to go! I’ll take care of these nutcases!” Nicola yelled at the NorthEasters to run for their lives.
“But what about you?!” Jesse shouted back to her.
“Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself! Now, go!” Nicola answered back as she started swinging the tree at the criminals.
Not wanting to argue with her, the band ran without her to safety. The further they went out of the area, the safer it became. They stopped running when Chantel held her hand out for them to stop. The NorthEasters saw a young woman in a maroon, hooded cloak, holding a white piece of paper in her hand. Her hood was down for Chantel to gaze at the woman’s badly blonde-dyed hair, recognizing that it was Olive, Darren’s sister.
“Oh, here you Outsiders are trapped like mice,” Olive walked towards to The NorthEasters.
“Olive, move out of the way!” Chantel shouted at the witch.
Olive threw the paper down, near the band and said, “Last chance, Chantel. Join us. Dump your shitty band. Be a part of our winning team.”
She barked in response, “I’ll never join with a bunch of murderers like you!”
Olive bowed her head in reply to Chantel’s answer, then chanted a spell in an unfamiliar language. The paper on the ground glowed red, then a fire appeared and spread closer to The NorthEasters’s feet. She saw the woman point her wand at Jesse, then Chantel quickly jumped in front of him. Chantel wanted to block him from any spell Olive could put on Jesse. When a green light shot out of Olive’s wand, Chantel closed her eyes to brace herself for impact.
Nothing happened. Chantel opened her eyes to see Darren was standing right in front of them, blocking Olive’s attack using his light magic to create a shield around the two of them. She saw the sense of determination in his eyes as he tried to deflect Olive’s spell attacks. Chantel could admit that his magic skills improved slightly over the last months. Darren kept on shooting light mist spells at his sister while she kept on avoiding his attacks. He did all this just by using his unbroken arm!
Finally, Chantel saw as Darren got a slight upper hand in the duel. He hit Olive in the eyes by using one of his spells. The woman shrieked in pain, this gave Darren a window of opportunity to direct the group to safety.
“Now is our chance! We need to run, now!” Darren shouted to The NorthEasters.
“Run while you still can! We will still get you!” Olive shouted.
Following Darren, the group ran as far as they could, away from the chaos. The band could stop to rest for a moment, when they felt they were not being followed. Chantel tried to absorb all the chaos that they just witnessed. It is no longer safe for her to stay in the Outsider world, as long as the Rise of Light exists. While the group were resting, it grew colder, and the bushes rustled, which made the group jump. Darren pointed his wand out to prepare for the worse.
“Put your wand down, boy!” Marieum’s voice barked at them.
Darren put his wand down in his pants side and said, “I have a name. What are you doing here, Mariuem?”
“Wait, you know this vampire?” Linda said, glaring at the vampire in suspicion.
“Darren, Chantel, you come with me,” Marieum ignored Linda’s comment, only talking to only Darren and Chantel.
“Wait, why do we need to come with you?!” Chantel exclaimed, until she heard Sung-Hyun’s voice nearby.
“I saw the monster run this way! Get him!” Sung-Hyun’s voice rang in Chantel’s ears.
“That’s why! He is referring to Darren…” Marieum warned until she had to hide again in the bushes.
Chantel turned around to see Sung-Hyun leading a small police force to the band. At first, she felt relieved to see Sung-Hyun, but there was something about the rage on his face that got her concerned. He pointed at Darren, then went over to grab the boy by the collar. Sung-Hyun’s actions surprised Chantel with her eyes going wide and her mouth open.
“Darren isn’t the bad guy. What the hell, Sung-Hyun?!” She thought to herself.
“There he is. That is the monster! He is a part of the group that attacked everyone!!” He accused, directing the police to the mage.
“Sung-Hyun, Darren did nothing! He saved us!” Chantel shouted, walking up to Sung-Hyun, feeling rage boil up in her.
“That’s what he wants you to think. I know his kind and they are tricksters. Don’t be a fool! Chantel, give Darren to the authorities,” Sung-Hyun stepped forward, then she blocked him from giving Darren to the police force.
“No! I won’t let you give away my friend! What’s wrong with you?! Darren is your friend too! You know damn well he wouldn’t do something like this!” Chantel protested, getting up to his face.
“Yeah, Sung-Hyun, if you want Darren, you need to go through me too!” Jesse ran up next to her, standing up for their friend too.
The three of them went back and forward with both Chantel and Jesse protecting Darren. Trenton eventually joined in to defend Darren as well. The argument became two against one to three against one. Linda stood behind to watch this scene play out, not saying a word. Soon, the police officer had to step in and stop the fighting, but not before Chantel slapped Sung-Hyun in the face!
He screamed in pain, falling to the ground and looking at Chantel in fear. Looking at her hand, she realized that she used her powers to burn Sung-Hyun’s face without meaning to! Her Aura suppression wristband did not prevent her from holding back her powers well enough.
“Sung-Hyun, I…” Chantel said, until a police officer interrupted her.
“The girl is one of them too! Arrest both the witch boy and her!” The police officer ordered his team.
The police force surrounded both Darren and her. This is it: They were criminals, and it was the end of the line for them!
Chantel closed her eyes and prepared one police officer to arrest Darren and her. However, just when she thought that this may be the end, she saw a cloud of mist, blinding everyone's sight. The entire group was in confusion.
Chantel was being pulled by an unknown person away from the commotion.
“Hey, let go!” She wanted to get away from whoever it was.
“Girl, shut up!” The unknown person scolding her was Marieum. The vampire was pulling her away from the group and directing her further into the woods. “Follow me and you will be safe.”
Marieum ordered Chantel to do what she said, the girl had no choice but to follow her, hoping that the vampire knew what she was doing. While following her, she heard footsteps behind them, then someone grabbed her hand, making her jump.
“J-ia, relax, it’s me,” The person behind her was Darren.
Chantel took a breath of relief. She calmed down, holding his hand, tight and continuing to follow Marieum. The two of them fled away from the group as she knew, from this point on, Darren and she became wanted criminals of the law.
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