Daughter of the Damned

Mira's POV.

A sneak peek into the future...

It was such a dark night that even the moonlight felt heavy over my shoulders.

I was in my new school uniform. Blood dripped from various pores, staining the white and maroon dress. I quickly pulled out the black cloak from my bag and flipped it over my head and school bag.

The street was as empty as my soul, and it seemed like it would be a struggle for me to get a ride.

I pulled out my phone from my pocket.

I tried pressing on the cracked and shattered screen repeatedly, but as expected, without success. It hadn't blacked out but was useless. It was a miracle I still had it in my pocket in that form and had not completely lost it after what I had been through that night.

Just then, I saw a taxi coming right in my direction. Possibly the luckiest event in my history The driver jerked to a stop as I came right in front of it.

"Damn it, girl... If you are suicidal, go somewhere else to die."

I gave him a look that I knew he would never forget.

"Nah! I'm not willing to die yet. I just need a ride."

I flung myself in the back seat and closed the door tightly.

"Where to? I mean the address?" he asked. I guess I should have given him a head start. That might have been a mistake.

"Straight to the eastern cemetery."

He didn't look back at me for the rest of the ride. And the moment we reached the cemetery, he could barely wait to see me leave. He didn't even wait to take the money for the ride. He just left. Quite perplexed, to my amusement.

The guard was fast asleep when I jumped over the wall of the cemetery.

They should be waiting.

The Three Musketeers in my life — It didn't matter if I loved them or hated them, it seemed like we were stuck together for eternity. Such was our destiny.

As I walked, I could feel the charge in the air, which could only mean that the boys were just getting started with their prey.

Braze, Kian, and Xen. Every girl's desire, every boy's envy.

"Mira, you are late," Braze said with a voice that was grumpy, and he didn't even look at me. His eyes were fixed on the silhouette that he had pinned to thin air.

"Did you have to visit Chemora again? It was Kian who asked, but he didn't wait to hear my answer. He had to fling himself forward to restrain the silhouette, which was now taking on a gigantic shape.

"Let her breathe, you guys. Can't you see she looks exhausted already? Let's wrap this one up by ourselves tonight. Mira, you can stand aside and guide us if we cannot do it right. "

With that, Xen jumped into the action.

The silhouette was obviously too powerful for them. It was dragging the three of them along all at once.

The silhouette was actually the distorted soul of a dark mage. A shifter mage, to be precise. They escape into our planet Earth from their own world, called Chemora.

When they take human form, the darkness in them amplifies and manifests itself. It takes complete control over their souls. These dark mages are engaged in spreading corruption across our planet. Though I am not sure if we can really call it 'our earth, You see, all four of us were born in Chemora.

So, let's get back to the topic of the dark mages. The problem with their intensified darkness was that, even after getting killed, their souls lingered behind and formed a shell, like a ghost. As if forming its own entity. And these forms wreaked havoc on the common folks. It threatened to expose the secret of the world where we came from.

But that is another story.

Before going into that narration, let me try telling you about the dynamics that I shared with the boys only a couple of years ago.

Phew! My life was so different.

Hold on; before we go back to the present, where my life was nothing less than normal, let me take you where it all began.

***In the other world***

Somewhere in the past...

He was running with a blade hidden under his cloak.

He was running as his feet left footsteps behind, inked by the blood that dripped from that blade.

His purple eyes were looking everywhere. He was looking for an exit. He was looking for a door to get the hell out of that hell.

His handsome forehead was sweating profusely. The wound on his head was still fresh, and blood was trickling down from the back of his ears.

He closed his eyes as his ears trembled with the piercing scream of his wife.

She was being murdered. I beg your pardon; murder would be a very civilized word to describe what she was facing. She was being butchered.

But he did not go back to her.

He had something wrapped under his cloak that he was holding with his other hand. He was holding that warm bundle very tight. And as the screams of his wife finally started fading, he held that bundle even tighter with all his might.

He somehow managed to break into a gallop despite his legs trembling.

When he was almost at a dead end, he heard footsteps drawing very close to where they were.

He touched the solid stone walls with his hands and tapped them as if expecting a magical door to open and get him out of there, but nothing was happening.

The footsteps kept getting closer and closer. And his heart seemed like it would jump out of his chest.

Just then, the little bundle in his hand moved. His eyes shot out in panic.

"Shhhhh." He tried rocking it back to sleep, afraid that its cries would be the death knell for him.

But the baby was unable to understand what the situation demanded. It let out a shrieking yell for its mother, probably because it was hungry.

He tried to silence the baby with his other hand as the blade fell to the ground. He pressed hard so that he could muffle the sound of its cries and ducked under the piles of wooden tables that lay in the corner.

But he could see that there was no denying the inevitable. He gagged the baby with a piece of cloth that he tore from his cloak.

He placed it on the solid, cold floor. Then, after sparing it one last glance, he ran toward the footsteps.

"Stop running here and there. What you are looking for is right here. Come and get me if you can, cowards... "

And with that, he ran.

He ran in the opposite direction, far away from where he had left the helpless child.

At first, the baby was moving its hands and feet desperately. At least it was trying to, but the swaddle was too tight. It couldn't even kick properly. Its eyes shot open. They grew wider and wider as the child tried to gasp for air. But there was no relief. Its efforts only made it more and more scared.

After a few more minutes, its hands and legs dropped. Its breathing gradually slowed down to a point where it could no longer be heard.

The clouds in the sky outside darkened. So dark, one might assume that there was an eclipse. Even the winds blowing outside changed their course.

The clouds started gathering at one particular point. Thunder clouds rumbled and grumbled as they hovered over the stone house.

It started raining as the smell of wet soil filled the air, along with the coppery scent of blood everywhere.

At that very moment, a bright flash of dazzling white light fell on the same spot where the baby was.

The man stopped in his tracks as the deafening clap of thunder followed the lighting on that spot.

He watched as the stones caught fire.

He watched as others shook with the mere intensity of the incident.

He, however, stood there, unhinged, with his hands over his hips.

His purple iris turned orange and yellow as the flames slowly leaped out. The entire place was starting to get consumed. The air was rapidly filling with smoke.

He watched the tongues of the fire dance up towards the heavens with his mouth wide open, and then suddenly he began to laugh.

He began to guffaw as he held his stomach like a lunatic as he sat down on the spot.

He howled in laughter as he saw his pursuers run hither and thither. His cackles got louder as he reclined in his spot to get a better view of the destruction.

He laughed as if he were watching a play that was being performed.

"We did it. We did it."

He looked too amused as he clapped with his hands up in the air, pointing towards heaven. His hair slowly got covered with the flying ashes as he laughed his heart out like a madman.

Mira's POV.

***In the present world***

"You mean nothing to me! Nothing!"

That was exactly what Braze told me. In the middle of a room full of people.

As if that was not embarrassing enough, it was supposed to be the day he was officially going to announce our relationship.

Ah! Stupid me. I had even done my nails for the occasion. Guess I would just have to work an extra shift to get over that expense.

Hanging around with boys, looking for their attention, were the last things on my already over-saturated mind. I had a dog and two cats to feed, work as many shifts as I could, part-time, to collect my future college fees. I had a mother to take care of who still thought she could climb Mount Everest with severe spondylitis. I am leaving out the part where I had to study and also try to fit in my new environment. It was over a year ago that I changed schools, yet the students never saw me as one of them. Probably because I was a scholarship student and my family did not have a 'respectable' background.

To be honest, all they actually respected was money and honestly, we did lack in that aspect.

Braze was the only one who understood me.

Look after me. Protected me from their taunting. That was until that night.

To have him as my best friend was privileged enough. I had never thought he would ever become my boyfriend.

But he did. I had no idea for what reason, back then.

I had known Braze from our art expeditions. Painting was something I really enjoyed. It took me places. And quite influential places to be precise because me and Brake, first met in one such event. From there started our journey. Our friendship.

We played together in the park, made graffiti on the walls together. We participated in many competitions, together as a team and also won a lot of prizes.

I lost touch with him when he left for the ' better' opportunities overseas.

I was back inside my own shell, painting and studying.

It was one of those paintings that got me into my present school.

A prestigious one in the country. And my mother was on top of the moon.

Cunningham High. A school for the elites amongst elites.

But as usual, the moment I entered the campus, bullies started taunting me, starting with my hair and going to my bag, shoes and even my inner wear brand.

Braze came as a Messiah in the middle of all that.

I didn't know at that time, but he was the son of the school principal. His parents had got a divorce, so he was back with his mother. And boy, I honestly was so happy at that news.

It was too good to be true, almost like a dream. He came with his shining armor, saving me from the bullies.

I clung onto him henceforth, like butter and a knife. I was the butter everybody wanted to melt, he was the knife that they dreaded.

The year went by with him like a fairytale but like all stories and all dreams, it too had to come to an end.

But I never expected it to be like this. So abrupt.

He had been my boyfriend for nine whole months. And it had been me who had insisted on keeping it a secret , away from all prying eyes.

He was reluctant but he obliged.

"Mira, I can't do this any more. I want to let everybody know. I want to show my girlfriend off. Come one Mira! At the ball, I want to introduce you to my family. I mean they already know and adore you, but I want to make things official. Please babe! "

He looked at me with his ocean blue eyes, melting my insides as I gradually nodded my head.

The rest of it was as follows-

I began counting my savings. Broke my piggy bank. Asked my mother for some money. Borrowed a little from my employers.

Then I went straight shopping. I got the best gown they had in my budget. Got a new pair of shoes. Then headed towards the salon. There I did my hair, my make up and also did my nails , even after going over budget. It was lucky I knew the hairdresser. She agreed to grant me that credit.

And I already mentioned how things went downhill from there.

I had no idea why Braze was being like that. He was a completely changed person. Like, someone I did not know or recognise at all.

I was not even worried about my tears as they were dropping at an alarming rate.

The laughter from the corners of the hall echoed in my head.

It was ringing like a loud alarm bell so I had to close my ears.

Braze did not even stop to look at me after he pushed me away.

No, not just with his words, he literally pushed me off the stairs.

I was just trying to follow him upstairs to sort out if there was any miscommunication.

He cut me off like a knife cuts butter.

Smooth and clear.

So ultimately, that was our relationship. Butter and knife.

His betrayal pierced me like a dagger at the heart.

I stood up, all by myself and started walking again.

I got rid of those newly bought heels. Not because I was angry but because they were uncomfortable. I needed to walk out of there with speed, yet my feet were hardly dragging the weight of my body.

It could not be worse that it was raining when I came out.

Perhaps it was a good thing.

Nobody saw the tears staining my cheeks so made-up with make up.

Nobody saw me because I was the only one walking down that road with my shoes in my hand, lifting a fancy gown, bare feet.

Only a few cars zoomed past me. I didn't even spare a glance.

Until one bright light came right at me and I screamed out loud.