FBTW- chapter 1

 From Black to White- Chapter 1

Tied to a wall with vines, the young girl slept on for close to fifty years. The girl’s past was still unknown, and the reason as to why she was tied there was forgotten. The vines was wrapped around her, pining her to the wall. The government made it forbidden for anyone to go into that building. The rumors said that there was a curse set on that building and whoever that approaches it, would die of a horrible death.

“Hello?” A young boy, no older than sixteen called. He was on a mission to look for the object that was said to curse this entire building. He went in, ignoring the ‘no entry’ sign located outside. The young boy looked around. It is nothing more than a haunted mansion, the boy thought shaking his head in annoyance.

He went room to room, surprised when he saw that majority of the rooms were still in perfect condition. In each room was a couch and a work table. There was only one room that seemed different from the rest. That room was located at the far corner away from the last door that he had seen in the last five minutes.

When he tried to pull at the door knob, it refused to open. Annoyed, he took a step back from the door. He gave it a look over and found that there was something green sticking out of the keyhole. He took a closer look and found that it was part of a plant. Planning on getting into the room since he was already there, he ran at the door, putting his full body’s momentum against the locked door.

The door which was pressured by his momentum buckled underneath him and split into two. Stumbling into the room, the scene that greeted his sight was shocking. His eyes widened at the sight of a pretty girl with waist long black hair. The girl was rendered motionless by the vines that bond her to the wall.

The girl looked like she was sleeping, her chest however was not moving. The boy took careful steps towards her. He reached for her and the girl’s eyelids fluttered. The vines fell away from her. Left without the vine’s bind, she fell forwards into his arms. Stunned, he held her at arm’s length.

Her eyes opened to reveal raven black eyes. Glaring at the boy, she snapped at him in self-defense.

“Don’t touch me!” She shoved him away only to have her legs turn to jelly. He grabbed hold of her once again but this time, he held her up in bridal style as he brought her to one of the rooms he went into previously.

Throughout the short distance between rooms, she kept struggling and refused to be still in his arms. He dumped her on the couch, feeling indignant about the way he was being treated by this mysterious girl.

“What is your name?” He asked as he squatted next to her, putting them at each other’s face level.

She looked at him in suspicion, wondering if she should trust him or not. She kept quiet for a moment thinking before she opened her mouth. From it came out were words, she didn’t mean to use. But habit made her unable to pretend otherwise.

“That is rude. Before asking for my name, you are supposed to introduce yourself first.”She said, her raven eyes flared.

“My name is Athen. Athen Meck.” The boy sighed.

“My name is Edlyn of Castern. Nice to meet you, Athen of Mack” She said haughtily.

“What were you doing in that room of vines?” He asked.

“You do not speak unless I speak to you. Royals would not take pleasure in such indelicacy. ” Edlyn spoke, looking at him as if he was stupid, “And what is that hideous thing you are wearing/” My brother would never wear such disgusting thing, she thought.

“There aren’t any royals to talk about anymore.” Athen groaned giving up on trying to talk to the crazy girl, “I am leaving.” He left then giving her a fleeting look before leaving, much to her dismay and annoyance. She didn’t wish to call him back, her pride would never allow it.

Athen stormed out of the mansion. His best friend was waiting outside for him in impatience.

“You are late.” The gray-eyed teen waiting said.

“Something distracted me from the time Gray. It isn’t as if I wanted to.”

“I am starving. Let’s get out of here.” Gray said in a weak tone.

“Hey, you know anything about the Cashern family?” Athen asked. Even though Gray was not much older than the other, the vastness of his knowledge was impressive.

“It is Castern not Cashern. They were a noble family that existed close to a century ago, but they died out 50

years ago due to an unreported incident.” Gray’s eyes lit up in excitement.

The Castern family was one of the families linked to royalty. The first Castern, Mallock Castern was a wise leader and his wide was one of the ladies whom everyone looked up upon. The couple’s children were Jason, the next duke of houndsworth, Millant, the leader of the special army and Eve.

Jason married a noble woman from a lesser family while his brother married up the noble line. Eve died as a young maiden under the hands of  an assassin. In memory of his sister, Jason named his daughter after her and his son, Drake. Millant had two daughters. The girls married off to the other families of nobility, leaving

Drake Castern the sole  successor to the entire Castern household when he was twenty.

Drake’s young wife gave birth to twins, a girl named Edlyn and a boy named Edward. It was recorded in the archives that the whole family was wiped out, and the body of the twins were never found.

“That Edlyn Castern that you mentioned… What is her background?” Athen asked, cutting his best friend halfway through his explanation of the Castern’s family tree.

“Were you even listening?” Gray exclaimed annoyed at his best friend.

Edlyn Castern had good reflexes and more often than not, people found themselves in awe of the young girl. Always with her brother, she was elegant and their luck was good. The other nobles were jealous at her undoubted beauty. For all her suitors never took a second look at their daughters at balls and parties. The Castern family ran out of luck after that when they fell under their rivals hands.

“That girl…” Athen muttered under his breath.

“You said something?” Gray asked and Athens shook his head.

--

Edlyn’s stomach growled hungrily and she reached for the bell at the far corner to call for the butler. When he did not come running through the door, she impatiently rang it again. Unable to take it anymore, she took a deep breath and hollered for him.

“Butler! Butler, come here this instant!” But there was no one answering her call.     

She prattled down the hall to the kitchen and never once did she see a single soul. Her heart stopped for a moment as she remembered what happened before she met Athen.

“Murderer, the children of the Castern family are all murders!” The crowds outside the mansion chanted.

Fearfully, Edlyn hid behind Edward, her older brother by ten minutes.

Her job as well as her brother’s was to clear out all those who were bad for the society. That meant keeping the streets clear of hooligans and gangsters. For the main branch of royalty, their jobs were undercover assassins even though it was hard to tell with their usual demeanor. Edlyn pretended to be a spoilt princess who couldn’t do a single thing on her own. While Edward was the most reliable out of the two.

Edward told her to stay put  in the shadows near the wall and she did as she was told. People rushed in and the butler fell before her eyes. One by one, the maids fell after him with shrill cries of agony. Her eyes puffy with tears, she remained as still as she could. No matter how strong she was, there was no way she could be stronger than a group of people alone. Edward was nowhere to be seen and then suddenly as if they couldn’t see her, they went away grumbling in displeasure.

From the ground, twines rose from the ground and slowly engulfed her in its’ midst. The last thing she saw was her brother looking straight at her with his gray eyes giving her a silent wave in farewell. ‘He betrayed me…’ She thought painfully, ‘and now I am going to die’.

Her breath hitched in her throat and she sank onto the floor. She was all alone now. It made no sense that she was still alive. She didn’t feel any older than before and that boy… for some reason he felt different.

Watching as her vision in front of her blurred, she kneeled over in hunger and stopped moving.

--

Feeling uneasy, Athen decided to go find her once again. Entering the mansion through the front door, he was surprised that it was left the way he left it the day before. Athen walked through the corridors and watched as the light from his torch cast shadows around the dark house. ‘What a lack of windows’ Athen thought when his light shone upon a light blue cloth.

He tilted the torch higher and her face was ashen white and she was mumbling something like “Eddie”. He brought her back to the room and laid her on the couch before digging in his pocket hastily for something.

“Thank you Gray!” Athen exclaimed appreciatively when he found the tiny food packets that Gray always stressed to bring in case of emergency. Tearing it open in a hurry, he placed a piece on her tongue and watched it melt. Silently, he prayed that she was not too far gone to notice that the food was there.

The sweetness of the unknown substance in her mouth made Edlyn realize that she was being offered food. Her body could no longer stand without having anything to work on. Swallowing desperately, she felt the melted lot slip down her throat.

When she swallowed, Athen looked at her in relief. From the way she was lying on the floor when he found her, he thought that she was dead. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment and met the sight of green eyes staring back at her. When the person leaned back, she realized that she had seen it before and that it was Athen.

“Thank you…” She muttered weakly. Even though he heard it, he pretended not to as the girl leaned back and started snoring softly. ‘She must have been tired’ He thought . Without saying anything more he left. He felt something coming from her, a pulsing energy but he wasn’t sure what it was.

--

“Athen. Athen, you listening?” Gray demanded impatiently.

“Huh? What?” Athen looked at Gray for the first time they met.

“I said, we have a  job.” Excitedly, Gray said.

“A job?” Athen repeated stupidly.

“You heard me.” Gray handed a piece of paper to him. “I got this note this morning. It was pinned to my front door. The coincidental thing is… The person wants to get rid of some spirit called Edlyn Castern. Even though they were long wiped out!”

‘But she is still around’ Athen thought to himself  in horror, ‘What did she do?’

Dear investigators- undertakers,

There is a girl named Edlyn Castern who has been going on a rampage in several stalls in Houndsworth. If you could, may you investigate this issue, this is important.

“This isn’t signed. How can we trust it?” Athen asked.

“Well, this is new. Normally, you don’t care.”Gray replied surprised.

“It is the name used that I find suspicious.” Athen pointed at the name, “ Didn’t you say their family died out already? Then there is no reason for us to look for someone no longer in this world.”

“Ath. You know that no one would ask for us undertakers if they were in this world. They normally get the police to do so. We are undertakers for a reason.” Undertakers are people who concern themselves over the preparations of funerals. But these two teenagers were not normal undertakers.

“Fine… but before that I have something to show you.”

--

Edlyn felt more at ease when her stomach was filled with the red things left on the table. It was unusual, but it tasted perfectly fine. She woke up a few moments ago, wondering if the Athen she saw yesterday was just a dream. When she heard a pair of voices, she immediately leapt up when the door opened with a bang.

When gray eyes met black ones, the owner of the black eyes widened. She ran towards Gray as if she knew him but did something completely unexpected in the end. Gray was stunned speechless when the girl flung herself at him, calling him “Edward” in a soft, sweet tone. Sitting on his chest, she wrapped her hands around his neck and pressed down. Her eyes were starting to fill up with tears.

Athen, stared at the two of them for a moment, shocked by her boldness to just suddenly do something to someone she has never met. Gray was slowly turning red, he clawed at the hands around his neck. He needed oxygen and he needed it quick for he would be in eternal slumber. Athen pulled her off his partner. She fought against him, but Athen did everything he could do to prevent her from doing it again. Gray grabbed at his throat coughing violently.

“Let me go! Let me go! He is a traitor! A betrayer! Let me choke him and kill him with my bare hands!” Edlyn screamed,  refusing to remain still or silent. The boy in front of her looked so much like Edwards that there should not be any reason not to kill him.

“Edlyn… Edlyn calm down!” Athen called to no avail for the girl refused to listen to what he had to say.

“Edlyn? You mean this feisty girl is the much awed over Edlyn Castern?” Gray gasped questionably.

“You! You even have the cheek to forget about me? After ratting me out to them after telling me to stay put there? You left me to die bounded by those vines… you… you bastard!” She shrieked at Gray who did not understand a single word she was screaming.

“Me?” Gray pointed to himself, making the girl scream even louder.

“Gray… This girl was bounded to vines when I first found her. There was no way she could have destroyed any shops because I found her lying on the floor. She was too weak to even move, let alone destroy things.”

“She is freakishly strong for someone who was too weak to move.” Gray pointed out as he rubbed at his neck. 

“I gave her the food packs you keep making me bring along.” Athen sheepishly replied.

“You idiot, those were for you.”

“Yeah, well. She was going to die.” Unrepentant, Athen said.

“Let me go! Let me kill…”Edlyn continued, her rage taking over,  “Gentleman you are Athen!”

“Is she always like this?” Gray asked, eying her warily.

“She was when I first met her.” Athen laughed awkwardly.

“Edward you bastard!” She screamed, this time clawing Athen.

It wasn’t the first time he heard that word, but he flinched anyway. Such vulgar words coming from a noble made it really hard to ignore. Gray sighed. ‘Mistaken as someone else again’ he thought.

“Listen, Edlyn Castern or whoever you are. I do not really care about who you mistake me for but my name is Gray Signa and I believe that I have done nothing wrong to offend you in anyway,” Gray said strongly as the girl stopped struggling against Athen for the first time to listen to him, “Besides, I am absolutely sure that my name does not have Edward or Castern in it. I beg you to remember that.”

“You… are really not him?” Edlyn asked weakly as she sank onto the floor.  Athen felt the girl slip out of his arms and he simply watched. Her light blue gown spread around her, she stared blankly at Gray.

"No." Gray said firmly.

“I am sorry…” She muttered, looking down. After observing him for that moment, she realized that there was no way this person could be her brother. Edward had platinum blond hair, while the boy standing before her had a shade slightly darker, though it looked the same at first glance.

Gray sighed as he thought, ‘finally we can get something.’ He watched the girl. It is surprising her actions, was it that all noble females at that time was like her? If that was so then they were nothing to be admired about then.

“Say, do you know anything about Houndsworth?” Gray asked, even thought the girl on the floor looked as if she was distressed, but he did not believe that it was anything of his concern.

“Of course I do, “She replied wistfully, “My grandfather is the duke of Houndsworth!”

“Then when is the last time you went there?”

“Oh, that would be… the day before yesterday.  28^th November 1990, I think it was.” Edlyn added thoughtfully.

“That isn’t the day before yesterday! That was the day before yesterday fifty years ago…” Athen exclaimed, before realizing that the girl most likely did not know that fifty years had passed her by since then.

"Strange, I don't feel any older than sixteen." She muttered as she looked at her small hands.

"There should be more to that note..." Gray mumbled to himself and Athen smiled, since his best friend finally understood his doubts towards the note.

"Let us investigate." Athen's face was set with intent.