Chapter 32 : Dream of Me

Rylan

He was fighting against a horde of rogue barbarians who were relentless in their taunts and insults against him. The harsh words were like constant blows, but he endured them. He had learned to control his anger and not respond to their taunts. But even though he tried not to care, the words tore at his heart.

"You useless and weak werewolf," a faceless voice said.

He was surrounded by rogues, but he couldn't tell who was speaking as the taunts and insults continued.

"You can't win because you're weak, unlike your father and brother."

"Sooner or later, your weakness will get you killed.

"Or your worthless loved ones will die first..." threatened another.

"You can't protect them."

"Shut up and fight me!" shouted Rylan angrily, trying to keep his concentration.

"They're going to die because you're not strong enough to protect them."

The taunts continued, no matter how many rogues he killed. He didn't know why their words hurt so much. Why did he care what these barbaric rogues thought?

Then it hit him.

He stumbled upon a realization. The werewolves he fought gave him no respect and no chance when he lost concentration. Those mocking voices were very familiar to him.

"Just like Carolina, right?" a young male voice taunted as Samuel came into view from behind the crowd of wolves. A strange grin was plastered on the man's face, turning him into something terrifying.

Rylan was too startled to make a sound. He stared at him in incomprehensible amazement.

"She died because of you, Rylan." His eyes then shifted to the woman standing to his left. It was Selene, holding and stroking Felix's head. Both people seemed to be staring at him. The same expression was on her face, similar to Samuel's.

"Just like your mother," Mike said, standing right behind Selene, his right hand on her shoulder, wearing the same expression. Their voices were cold and hateful.

"W-w-what are you guys doing?" asked Rylan in a low tone of confusion, then he demanded more forcefully, "What is going on?!"

Mike chuckled, his voice sounding mocking, while Selene's smirk grew wider. Samuel stepped forward and was the one to answer. He pointed with his index finger behind him. "Look, wolf."

In astonishment, he glanced slowly over his shoulder, trying to keep them out of the corner of his eye.

What he saw made him move quickly, ignoring his friends, his sword slipping from his clawed hands as he watched Nathan sneer cruelly, red eyes glittering, clutching the front of his black-clad body. His throat went dry, his eyes wide as he watched the blood stain Carolina's simple white dress with splashes of red. He couldn't see the wound, but it was her blood. The smell was overwhelming. His mind raced. How could it be blood?

He snapped out of his shock as Nathan dropped her in front of him, her body limp and unresponsive as she landed on her back in a coma. She was dead. Completely dead.

An overwhelming anger and pain washed over him as he screamed and growled, "Nathaniel! I'll kill you!"

His hands gripped his weapon once more, both hands clenching his fists as he prepared to leap into attack, but he stopped and stared in disbelief as he saw Carolina's body shift and transform into Karenina's. She lay motionless where she had been. She lay motionless in the same spot, dressed in a white crop top with a moss-green miniskirt that was covered in blood. Now the scent was hers. It was Karen's blood he smelled.

Nathan's form shifted and changed as well, but he was too engrossed to see Karenina's lifeless form. A sword appeared in his vision as it hovered over Karen's chest, dripping blood onto his already stained shirt. His gaze lifted to meet those cold, golden eyes that so closely resembled his own.

"Xavier," he hissed, not understanding. "Why..." Shocked and confused, he felt himself trapped in a terrible situation.

He could no longer hear the rogues behind him, who had been taunting him and his friends earlier, nor could he see them. In fact, he had completely forgotten about them as this drama unfolded before his dazed eyes.

"Are you really sure that you will be able to protect her?" asked Xavier in his calm and dispassionate voice.

His eyes looked down at the white and dead face of his friend and the girl he was currently in love with, unable to answer, his mind raced.

"Your weakness caused her death, Rylan," Xavier continued frankly.

"I-I don't... she couldn't have..." He stammered, then snarled angrily as he locked eyes with Xavier again, accusing, "You killed her!"

Xavier tilted his head, his eyes never wavering, and said in a cold, cynical tone. "You didn't save her."

He felt numb. His heart was almost dislodged as an unimaginable pain assaulted his chest.

"She was screaming for you," Xavier told him, "and you never came."

His lungs felt tight, too. He couldn't breathe. He choked on a sob as he tried not to cry, not in front of Xavier.

"Karen," he could barely whisper as he dropped his sword and placed it unceremoniously on the ground, then took a shaky step toward her. He didn't notice when Xavier disappeared, because at that moment her head turned towards him. Her eyes opened slowly, as if it was a struggle to do so. Her face was covered with her own blood.

She tried to speak but could not get the air out of her lungs. Tears pooled in her eyes and then trickled slowly and uncontrollably down her face before falling to the ground.

He knelt before her tears, the look of sorrow etched in her brown eyes, swimming in the salt water of her grief.

"Why didn't you save me, Rylan?" she whispered to him in a small voice that was filled with the betrayal that he saw reflected in her eyes.

"No! I didn't... I didn't know..." he tried to defend himself.

"You promised me that you would always be my protector," Karen cried in the same soft voice, her words growing stronger in their quiet utterance.

Rylan felt a tear roll down his cheek, then the other, as it became harder and harder to see Karenina's face with the water now flooding her eyes, crying with her, but for a very different reason.

"I... I... I... I'm sorry, Karen," he choked out, or tried to, his throat too tight to form the words.

He tried to blink the tears from his eyes, to see her face more clearly as he heard her gasp for air, saw her chest move in huge gusts of air before she collapsed motionless with a sigh.

He remained on his knees, frozen for an unfathomable amount of time, before calling out her name. But no one there heard the mournful cry.

Outside of his dream, Rylan was unaware of the salty tears he was crying as he fell into an even deeper sleep, no longer dreaming. As he slept, he was lost in deep darkness.