A Shadow Of True and Heart

3rd POV.

"Just stop, please!" She snapped pretty hard at him; her blonde, box-braided hair was drenched on the influence of the mysterious rumbling clouds, striking down rains onto the creatures below.

"Don't fight this. Nothing can change now; he's my mate." Her voice broke like a splinter. Betraying him wasn't on her bucket list, but if it was the only way to protect him, she didn't regret it as much.

She was in a thwart moment. He shouldn't have come back for her.

"No, Roslyn."

"I don't love you. I... I despise you!" Her voice was saying literally the opposite of her mind. She wanted him away.

"You don't mean it. You don't mean any of this, right?" He asked brittlely. He knew she was lying. She must be blaming the bastard of a king who's put them in a dilemma, not him.

"The... I." She sniffs in-between her stutter, as tears threaten to roll down her cheek, but even as she fights her weakness, a sprinkle of tears can still be seen on the surface of her inviting blue eyes.

She knew she had betrayed him, but it wasn't her fault. She had reasons. "See." Her voice was just a whisper.

She pointed out, with her index finger, a radiating light in the cloudy sky, whose presence brightened up the dreadful night.

"The moon is resting on the sea already, and you know the consequences and the rules!" She was on the brink of frustration.

Darting her eyes around, she feared her anticipation of a presence.

"And which is a brutal punishment for leaving you with that bastard...?" He trails off, "or having to face the damn mate-vows punishment?" He asked persuasively, knowing no answers could justify his question. He was not going to back off, not now. He has always wanted her, but not for selfish reasons, unlike the one she's been forced to settle with.

"My love!" A nice-looking man called out as he walked towards them, earning an awful glance. His hair was fixed royally, perfectly bringing out the fair colour of his tanned skin.

"Follow Allen. He shall escort you to our chambers safely." He spoke masculinely. His voice was not the same in her ears as before. His voice was like daggers piercing through her already shattered heart as they separated her from her own chosen beloved.

Ever since he forced his way into becoming the ruler of their world, his way's changed. He became another being that brought an imbalance into their world. Frederick Harlow, a beast in human form.

The king's Lord came into view as he bowed.

"My King." He respectfully bowed for Frederick, navigating his hands to a path in a gesture for Roslyn.

"Frederick, I'm your mate now, and I belong to you. Please keep your promise. Don't hurt him." She spoke.

Her heart felt broken when those words escaped her mouth. She was right; her real mate, who was standing opposite them in confusion, must loathe her. She turned back to Allen, who took her along with him in a direction, likely leading to the chambers.

She couldn't dare look at her own beloved; she was too ashamed to look him in the eye.

Once she was next to Allen, he looked over to her, accessing her features to see that she was ready. He shoved his hands into the air, yielding a cracking sound that rumbled the ground, and the earth beneath them detached from the rest. He raised his hands, causing the fragmented rock they were on to float into the air, and with a sharp jab of his hands to the back, the rock slid in the path he bent.

"We meet again, Nicholas." Frederick smirked as he stepped forward. His mate, Roslyn, and Allen are now out of their sight.

"You monster..." Nicholas didn't finish his sentence before Frederick roared with authority.

"Take him!"

Two hefty men from nowhere appeared, eight more coming from the shadows.

In the distance, the ocean soared with heavy tides and waves, clashing against its own body, and the night whirled with quaking chills in the wind. The nature around here was unsettling, revealing the anger of the benders in it.

However, Nicholas was dauntless. He was prepared. He had already lost everything, including his own mate, to Frederick.

With swiftness, in the distance, a cart lifted into the air on Nicholas' order as an airbender before it was hurled at a barrel bomb across the alley behind the guards. The aftermath is a collosal explosion that splits the earth, causing the tower close by to crumble straight down to the poles on the guards.

"Neither you nor your men would stop me!" He boisterously spat, anger and hatred evident in his tone.

In a flash, he was in front of the bastard that caused all his troubles, and in a canter, his hands were tightened against Frederick's neck as he threatened.

"What have you done? Why did she mate you? Don't you respect His rules anymore? Do you ever realize what you've done to your own people? Everyone is dead, and you banished them away into another world. You went against everything that a Bender is created for. You went against nature's rules and killed everyone I ever loved. I shall make tonight the last you'll see."

Frederick grinned as he spoke, content with his demeanor.

"You still don't get it, do you? I'm not just a bender anymore. I am more!" He spoke with rage, his eyes glowing a twinkle of scarlet red light.

"I have grown the powers of a mage. I am more. And you have no idea what that means. There's more to the universe than your feeble brain can handle. I have dined with the gods and tasted from the source. You have no idea what I'm capable of."

Just as Frederick finishes, Nicholas' grip on him lessens, leaving him unable to control his own hands anymore.

"You're lucky that you're not destined to die by my hands, and since my wife doesn't want me to kill you as well, I'd banish you to the human world. There, they'd make you suffer till the day you rot."

"How do you mean?" Questioned Nicholas as he went on his knees, Frederick frame now towering over his.

"I am an immortal, weakling." Maliciously, Frederick's voice rages, rollicking through the wind. "Ares has won this world already, as will soon the other worlds out there. Every rule and everything is about to change."

Then he spread out his hands into the air.

A white spark of electricity flows through his veins, making his body resplendent in response, and his deep blue oceanic eye darkens more with tons of lightning passing through them. The sky roars, thundering lucidly with mumbles through the clouds. Every bender that's still in their world could feel the blazing rage of their king's anger.

"Invoco vos ares; expelle sordes."

Frederick's voice was not his; they held a pile of voices. A darkness overlaying, and they amplify with authority with each second passed.

"Darkness rules now, and you shall soon inherit its imbalance, Nicholas Alveston." With time, Nicholas, the once-king of air benders, would find out the truth about the great change.

It was written.

A twinkling white admiral with screeching sounds devoured the beloved as he wailed. His heart beat incredibly fast, not because of the unbearable pain he was passing through, but because of his lost love and mate. Even though they shared no mate vows, they were actual mates.

Hatred and rancor were all he felt as they pierced and shred his heart malevolently. Soon, all faded out.

Since the year 1700, benders have been in existence in the human world. They were known as violent creatures, venting out their angers on humans.

According to legends, Benders were banished by their own king, named Frederick Harlow; reasons unknown.

Their god created a passageway to earth, a way for them to learn and have a change of heart. They were called Exul, the Banished.

Yeah, they changed. They evolved to become ferocious beasts, whom humans dread.

Their species hurt humans for years, until research found a substance known as mercury. It was found in the cave that linked them to earth. A cave that couldn't be weakened or destroyed by any earthly weapons.

Mercury weakened these barbarians faster. They became workers for humans, but humans were not as cruel as they were. Rules guarded them, where you couldn't hurt or imprison any of these foreign creatures unless the bender was found guilty.

Nothing peaceful lasts forever, right?

In 1917, the shadows lurking in the darkness clouded the moon to cluster darkness onto the earth. Guess it takes more than mercury to weaken these beasts. A bastard and tyrant, Nicholas Alveston, led the war humans know as the Great Mass. A life-changing war.

A man powerful enough to overthrow our government, capable of instilling fears in humans, could inflict pain-mentally and physically-on us, humans. One whom mercury never affects, could heal other weak benders, and able to use our weapons against us. Our might was negligible compared to theirs.

Everyday, we were forced to watch the scenes. They installed the fear into every human. No one dares to fight back. Funnily enough, the ones who tried are dead and rotten.

He and his Lords crushed our government in a massacre and imprisoned all human rights.

Seven Lords of his for the seven continents, and all bowed, served, and feared him. Rumour clarified that in the year 1920, after conquering the world, he closed the cave, and no humans knew why. No one dared to ask him.

On my eighteenth birthday, I was sent as a gift to the Rex himself, whom no humans could look at in the eye, trembled at his presence and bowed to him on sight. I was meant to be his bleeder, but that fucked-up word called fate has its plans in stock.

The Great Mass

My name is Liliana Roslyn, born in 2035 and raised in a hidden foster home along with other kids of my age.

On my 5th birthday, we were ambushed by Lord Felix's men. They murdered our foster parents and some of the kids-the ones who were courageous to fight back or wanted to run away.

It was horror-my first horror in this hellscape of a world. They made us watch every incident, plastering it into the back of our minds. Since childhood, they have ingrained the fear of their existence to taunt us within. That's what they do.

They took us to a camp, or maybe a school. Whatever they call that goddamned place! A place where humans learn how to be submissive and become either bleeders, breeders, or feeders.

A bleeder is a slave who, as an expense to breathe and live, must pay a price with their blood. The humans are specifically trained in school and injected with mercury, which taints their blood. Once their blood is immersed in mercury, the benders extract their blood to drink.

A breeder is a livestock to Benders, a being for them to continue having more humans on earth. Their mission is to be assigned to an opposite sex who they are forced to have sex with until they carry a child.

Once given birth, they go again into the cycle of breeding yet another offspring. The baby, however, is given to a feeder, who gives the child parental care only until four years before they are taken to the academy, where they learn the cruelty of the world they are born into and where their suffering starts till the day they die.

The Commandment 101 principle states that a human is free to live, safe, and sound, not enslaved, when they age 50 years and onward.

Bullshit!

These bastards are fancy assholes. Ever since the Great Mass, no human has lived over 35 years. We have an expiration date now.

On some continents, like Australia, rumours declare that a human of 56 years old once lived there. I know there's a truth behind it, and the truth is that it's all a lie. Crazy, isn't it?

These foreign creatures have won and dominated the earth with their overwhelming and extreme powers. Weaklings, humans, we are doomed. In fact, no word could fit the miserable fate we are stuck in.

The seven Lords ruling the seven continents:

Australia ruled by Felix Alveston, an airbender Lord . He's known as a womanizer, and most girls swoon and praise his name. They would consider themselves lucky if they were transferred to his continent.

North America ruled by Cornelio Lorenzo, a fire bender Lord , known as an AB blood type lover. He believed it to be the best and responsible for making him the strong, ruthless king he's been recognized as.

Europe ruled by Lucas Andrew, a brother to Felix Alveston and the King. A callous and cold-hearted water bender Lord . No human wants to be on his continent since it's all full of anguish and torment.

Antarctica ruled by Atticus Chester, a human head lover. He kills without remorse when he's stressed and gains pleasure by seizing oxygen from them. A pernicious air bender Lord .

South America ruled by Chris Andy. A duteous water bender. He hurts humans physically, mentally, and sexually until they beg for death. Also called The Butcher.

Asia ruled by Oliver Jace. A luxurious, life-full man. Rancor frets over the malignant beast. He kills for fun. Rumoured to bathe in blood mixed with mercury, which he names Tainted. A water-bender Lord .

Africa ruled by Lucious Black. An earth-bending Lord . "... Know how to find Diamond. Africa's gate is widely open for your freedom... ". That's his motto. Lose tracks of diamond, and you're a slave to be drained till death.

***

My goals are simple, you know: go to school, piss a Bender off, and try to act dominant. I cannot be submissive. Never!

Well, punishment is my golden award, and I gain it every day, every time I piss one off.

I am sure my bruises must have made art on my body.

"Never give up; just one more day!" That's the motto I use to endure the pain. It helps. It keeps me going.

Girls in this goddamn school are dorks, an excuse for the faulty of the generation that humans are being born into. Most of them wish to become feeders, or rather, breeders, at worst. Our fate will be decided tomorrow, a dreadful day for us all except me, though.

I've been waiting for these all my life. I've craved it so that when I turn eighteen, I will finally be free. Finally!

I already know my fate through my reports from academia. My fate is death tomorrow, and no one can understand how much of a luxury it is to me! The day my worries were over, free from this bondage!

Birthday awaits, freedom awaits. Whoop...dee...doo.

Liliana Roslyn.

I snap my eyes open at the irritatingly high-pitched alarm. Squealing as I sit up, a bright smile dances on my lips.

"Yes!"

For the first time since forever, I'm actually excited to see the break of the day. My birthday is today and also my last day on this hellscape earth, wishfully.

Rolling out of bed, I yawn and stretch my arms with a bubbling feeling within me as I hum a tune on my way to the bathroom before I swiftly open my baggage parked beside my bed to take out a black-coloured satin top and a skimmery skirt.

Once laid on the bed, I go to peep into the bathroom just to find no one in yet. The confined-space bathroom that the generous bitches of a species that enslaved mine created for us. I bet no human would have been alive if not for the precious blood that they need from us.

Soon, the warm, soapy water is cascading, washing down my skin with a burn from all the bruises I've gathered. At first, I flinched until I heard the sounds of the girls, and I hurried, not wanting to battle my pants in this tight space.

I put on my dress in a flash, clinging as it brings out the shape of my frame, right after tapping off the shower and drying my hair while the scent of shea butter and natural honey fills my nostrils. There is no closet, so I have to dress up in the bathroom before I make my way to the dining hall.

I make my way to the food station and grab a hamburger and a cappuccino.

The sweet taste of the coffee sastifies my taste buds as I look for an empty seat to eat, but a bulky security bender stops me on track. He points his index finger at the coffee.

"All students are advised to drink juice because of today's event."

Don't fall for that prank! He's not caring about me. He just wants my blood to flow well, so whoever buys me is happy.

"I'd prefer cappuccino over other drinks. It's my birthday today, so I should spoil myself a bit." facetiously, I reply, licking off the foamy cream that has formed a moustache on my upper lip. A thin-lipped smile comes up on my face.

Mr. Alaric's mouth slightly parts like he wanted to say something, but a familiar, annoying, feminine voice arise from behind one of the pillars interrupting him and earning our attention.

"Let her be, Dominic. She's going to be marked as an bleeder anyway; perhaps Lord Lucas will choose her." And it's Miss Rogue. She and I are sworn enemies.

The school bell dings after a while, giving me a chance to escape those two good-looking monsters.

I'm finally eating my breakfast in serenity when a voice startles me as its owner crashes onto the seat next to me, and my heart skips a beat.

"Hey, babe. Morning!" Rita winks at me, then dives into her food.

"Get me a new coffee. Now!" My voice is ragged, and as I stare at the spilled coffee on the table, my right hand is still glued to my chest.

She scoffs, her lips moving aggressively. "That's surely no way to greet a friend."

"Well, obviously, not one who spilled away my coffee, spoiling the morning of my birthday already." I'm speaking with pain in my heart.

"Oh, now that reminds me," she shifts closer to me, more like bumping into me, and blinks, "happy birthday!" Her voice fills the entire space, grabbing attention from nearby seats, and I facepalm.

She pulls me into a tight hug, and I smile with radiance. "Thanks, love." Pulling away, I add, "we should head back to class before Miss Rogue eats our heads for lunch."

"Not you acting like a good girl just because of your wants." She says and I laugh.

Oh, she has no idea how much of a luxury I'm going to gain from death today.

The hallway is getting engulfed by students rushing to class. It's ingrain in our nature to get in before the instructor. Well, count me out and that's why I get punished each day.

We are all settled, and soon, our instructor, Mrs. Rogue, graces us with her presence, and without a warning, the class falls silent instantly-principle 25th.

"As you've all known, your 71st principle indicates that you're to walk to a room where you'd be examined before you're labeled and then transferred to the Mass mall where you'd be bought based on your labels, right?" she recites.

"Yes, Mrs. Rogue."

The students tremulously answered her all together. No one dares not, except me, of course! I'm the girl with two heads who can challenge her.

"This year's different, however. You won't be labeled first. Lord Lucas has taken it upon himself to label you all based on your school performance.". She explains, but her clarification was not enough for me.

This is bad. I'm to be labeled a bleeder and sold out immediately, but what if so-called Lord Lucas decides otherwise and makes me a breeder or a feeder?

"Why won't the Lord s meet us?" Asks a voice. Wait, was it mine?

The room instantly fills with gasps from students as their eyes fall on me.

I've fucked up big time. Stupid Ana. Mrs. Rogue may deliberately send me off to a cruel owner, or she may even buy me, and I swear that will be hell for me. A raging, blazing hell.

"Fuck! Ana, you should have kept silent." A pity voice rings in and out of my head.

Mrs. Rogue's lips curve into a devilish smile. Her shoe clicks with each step as she walks toward my desk with antipathy. She hates me, no doubt. "Of course, your leaders are busy and won't want to waste their time on sleazy creatures like you."

Her chuckling is perilous; she pats my cheek lightly, but I don't show any ounce of fear. One lesson I've failed to register: never look a Bender in the eye and never stand up to them!

They hate dominance from us.

A tad bit, I was convinced that she's done, when she stopped the patting and pulled back. Little do I know that she has tons of vengeance waiting to throb me to death.

My hands suddenly feel numb and my throat begins to burn, and that was the start of it. Involuntarily, my body begins to tremble before it lands on the floor with a thud. I'm wheezing and gasping for air that's now limited, and like a block of ice, it's choking me.

Freak, I can't breath. The pain is instantaneously killing me. I'm dying. Apparently no humans get a pleasant death anymore since the Great Mass, but at least mine shouldn't be this horrific.

Insentience's surmounting me abruptly, as life's slipping away from my grasp.

Like a reversal, serotonin instantly circulates throughout my veins. A relief from death that I never thought I had in me. Isn't this what I've always been longing for?

A whine escapes Mrs. Rogue's mouth; I guess she was halted from her goal of killing me painfully. "She wouldn't learn, so I decided to punish her, Master." The bitch defends herself from a presence that my eyes are too wet to catch sight of.

"You're to train them, break them, not kill them, especially not today. You shall be punished!" He roars into the wind gruffly.

My body has gotten more feeble. In a flash, darkness fades off my senses into obscurity.

My eyelids flicker open to a dark and warm room. There's a cozy feeling in this unfamiliar room that I wish to admire, but my blurry scenery hinders my desire. A throbbing pain strikes my head when I try to sit up, and my body slams back into the bed.

I'm unable to see any images for understanding, and my hearing ability is far from me. What happened to me that made me so weak?

After a short moment, the door creaks open and then gets slammed almost in a flash. A pleasant, fruity smell fills my nostrils before a familiar, intoxicating, masculine voice speaks with a flat tone. "You are awake already." His accent sounds Roman.

Something about his presence is unnerving. My human senses have never been this heightened because of a Bender before. "Now, I see why Mrs. Rogue wishes to get rid of you. You're strong for a human. I, for one, didn't expect you to wake till I arrived at my kingdom."

Now, who the fuck does he think he is?

Oh, wait, have I been bought?

"Helpless, yet a terrorist in her thoughts." Can he hear my thoughts? Only royals are the ones recorded to hear humans' thoughts. "And in case you're wondering, you've been asleep for three days now. I was beginning to think that you'd die from hunger." Feeling pressure next to me, I realize he is seated on the edge of the bed.

I'm annoyed that all I can do is listen. I'd have given his white ass some response.

He pats my cheek, and fright travels down my spine. The last time this cheek got patted, it all went horribly. Funnily enough, my memories are settling back in, and recognition of how doomed I am drills in more.

I wasn't supposed to last this long. Three days since my birthday now?

I'm supposed to have died and be free from this bondage. And in this environment, I don't think I'm still at the academy. Oh, stupid me, he mentioned his kingdom earlier.

Heck no! Is he one of the Lords?

The door slams open yet again, inviting a trembling voice from another presence.

"What the fuck do you want?!" Now the stranger sounds so pissed.

Whoever has disturbed us better has a good reason, or they might just not see the daylight.

"We've been ambushed, my Lord. The Harlows, they are here." A manly, croaky voice says with haste.

"That's impossible."

"It seems it isn't anymore. The bridge between the worlds must have been paved, Lord Lucas." His voice is trembling.

I wonder who the Harlows are. Out of the blue, my brain hisses back to his words. Lord Lucas? The cold-hearted, sinister Lord? The most feared after the king himself? The one rumoured to cause the suffering inflicted on us even though no one knows the story of how?

My body freezes as I wonder why he hasn't tainted my blood yet and drained me.

I hear the faint clicks of their shoes as they go farther away from the room I'm kept in.

But then, a feminine voice startles me sotto voce: "Lord Lucas has ordered me to watch over you."

She must be a human and a bleeder at that. Her voice is weak. I wish I could see her or talk to her.

Silence fills the room; her breathing is the only uneven sound in the space. I'm disturbed by how she looks like a bleeder surrounded by those benders. The pain she must be going through with the taint in her blood.

And in the distance is the sound of war chanting, explosions, and the rumbling of water waves. By the way, I've evaluated that I'm being transported by a ship rather than on ground.

A few minutes later, the door opens with a slam against the opposite wall. Lord Lucas is saying, "order all water benders to freeze every broken under spaces. Earth benders to mend the irons. I want the ship fixed as soon as possible. We must get out here."

"Yes, sire." I can hear some footsteps rushing in the opposite direction.

"And you can leave." His voice must be directed to the girl because she leaves the room afterward.

My nerves are spiking up. Something is wrong, and I'm kept in the damned darkness.

And why the fuck isn't this man killing me? Just stop my suffering for me.

"Liliana Roslyn," he begins as he sits back down. Now, he knows my name too? Oh, what does he not know?

"When you'd do your next period?" My instinctive voice teases.

"I'm gifting you to a friend. Sleep now?"

He can't mean what he said. He can't gift me out. Why has fate just had to fuck me in the ass? My train of thought is suddenly wheeled off track as I succumb to a deep slumber.