Twenty minutes earlier, just before Claire and Chroma’s argument, Vin is currently sparing with Chroma when he was shot by an arrow from Chroma making him shout in pain.
Vin’s eyes were filled with fear and confusion, as Chroma stood in front of him, with a battalion of hand drawn, arrows ready to fire.
“Get ready Vin, If you don’t move, I might just kill you, if you don’t move,” said Chroma with a grin on her face.
Chroma’s words sent shivers down his spine, “W-wait! Timeout, timeout!” Vin cried,
Chroma chuckles and shakes her head, raising her arm, towards the sky, triggering the arrows to fly upwards, she then raised her pointer finger and points at Vin. An arrow lands in between Vin’s neck and shoulder, Vin screamed in pain once again, blood dripped down from his shoulder onto his hand, his legs trembled, unable to move, he feels like he is about to pass out from fear, however, something prevented him. Vin’s ears then perked up, hearing a whistling sound coming from above, he didn’t look up as he already knew what the sound was, he clenched his fist, forcing himself to move, he leaned in the one direction, hoping that his legs would follow, and it did, his legs moved sluggishly still trembling heavily, as soon as one of his foot left the ground, an arrow landed, inches away from him, his pace slowly quickening. As he continued, arrows soon followed his trail, and onto him, some missed him by an inch, some grazed him, and some landed on his body, causing his body to be riddled with arrows. He coughed blood, he screamed in pain, his body telling him to give up yet he refused to
Chroma was clearly displeased, and irritated by what she’s seeing, she sighed, as she opened her hand before closing it in an aggressive manner. Soon the surroundings were filled with whistles, the arrows in the sky descended rapidly, aiming toward Vin.
Vin was struck with fear once again, he tried to remember the time when he used his artifact, however, he wasn’t able to recall any of it, he then felt his hand twitch rapidly, affecting his body, his mind quickly becoming blank, his body moved on its own as if it was being controlled by an unknown instinct. His body raced towards Chroma as he dodged the arrows.
Chroma grinned and stepped back keeping her distance from Vin as she continued to direct the arrows at him, Vin chased after her, effortlessly dodging the rain of arrows that followed him. As he continued his chase, red, blue, pink, and black neon lines distorted Vin’s body, covering him completely as if it were eating him. Chroma’s eyes widened, and her grin widened, as she felt a chill run down her spine, seeing it again was so surreal and undeniably horrifying, she couldn’t help but feel the thrill of the sight. Her pace quickened, trying her best to maintain a distance from Vin, she flipped through the pages of her notebook once again, her gaze shifting back and forth between Vin and the notebook, once, twice, and by the third time, she glanced at Vin, he was already in front of her, she let out a small gasp, her eyes meeting with his. Vin’s face was expressionless, the color of his eyes had disappeared, leaving only his white sclera. He grabbed Chroma’s neck, preventing her from moving away, his body was then consumed by the neon lines, disappearing into thin air, leaving behind a small, white, shining dot, similar to how a television would turn off.
As Vin disappeared, the arrows that followed him were now directed at her, approaching her at great speed, Chroma chuckles, seemingly entertained, she stood still and snapped her fingers, the arrows slowly disintegrated, turning into nothing but graphite shavings as they fell into the grass. She took a deep breath and looked around trying to find Vin’s whereabouts, at the corner of her eye, she saw him standing still, not too far away from her, she turned to face him, waiting for his next move. Vin clenched his fist and punched the air in one quick motion, Chroma’s brows furrowed, confused by his actions, she shrugged and sighed, she looked down at the notebook in her hands, opened it, and began tearing the pages out of the notebook, making sure that the drawings on the paper itself weren’t torn, she then releases the pages letting the wind blow it away, the ground soon became littered with papers.
Chroma glanced at Vin, who was still punching the air. She then snapped her fingers and pointed at Vin, the papers trembled, and specks of black dust surrounded the papers, covering them completely, hand-drawn figures rapidly emerged from the papers, and each page surfaced a different drawing, a giant tentacle that towered over the garden, an army of roman soldiers armed with spears and crossbows, eyeballs with a pair of feathered wings that open up revealing a mouth, creatures from different fantasy shows. All of the drawings were highly detailed, so much so that it felt surreal. The drawings then rushed towards Vin, the giant tentacle ready to slam the ground and crush him, the soldiers formed a phalanx as they raced toward him. Vin didn’t react to the approaching enemies, he took a deep breath and threw another punch in the air, which seemed stronger than the previous punches.
The drawings then halted, Vin glanced at Chroma, her hands trembled, as she clenched her stomach, a drop of blood trickled down the corner of her lip, her stomach flattened, as her chest inflated, her lips parted, vomiting out blood, her body convulsed, as she continued to vomit. Chroma then fell to her knees, her arms catching her fall as she gripped into the soil, her hands clenching tighter, digging into the soil, she was in deep pain, not knowing the cause. Chroma could feel her consciousness fading, her eyesight losing clarity by the second, she fell to the ground, staining her clothes in soil mixed with her own blood, her eyelids slowly covering her eyes, she felt a presence in front of her, feeling someone’s hands grabbing her shoulders before completely passing out.
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Chroma's eyes fluttered open, her sight slowly returning clarity, her ears twitched at a beeping sound, followed by the sound of scurried footsteps, the smell of disinfectant fills her nose irritating it and making her sneeze. She finds herself lying on a bed, with multiple machines hooked up on her body. A silhouette of a man appears in her sight, blocking the blinding light that shined on her eyes.
“Apollo?” she asked
“Yep, it's me… and you are really lucky,” he replied
Chroma groaned, she tried to stand up lifting her body as she anchored her hand on the edge of the bed, however, Apollo grabbed her shoulder, gently pushing her down.
“Don't try getting up, just lay down and take a rest,” Apollo sighs, he takes a chair and sits beside her bed, “So… what do you want to hear first, the good news or the bad news?”
Chroma sighed, she turned her head to Apollo and asked, “You told me to rest, and now you're dropping a bombshell on me?”
Apollo shrugs, “I mean, it's kind of urgent so…”
Chroma rolls her eyes, “Fine, tell me the bad news first,”
Apollo nods, “Alright… so the bad news is that… your stomach is bruised, like really bruised, and probably the worst part of it is that you don't have any visible bruises on your body, just your stomach… and also can't heal you, my Artifact won't work on you for some reason,”
“How? And why?” Chroma asked
“I'm not sure… It's like your body is refusing treatment, from my Artifact, I even had to do surgery just to save you” Apollo explained,
“What about the bruises?” She asked
Apollo shrugs, “I'm not a hundred percent sure, but it's like as if someone punched you repeatedly from the inside,”
Chroma furrowed her eyebrows, her head tilting in confusion “From the inside?”
Chroma thinks about her fight with Vin, remembering him punching the air, she then shakes her head, disregarding the thought.
“So… what's the good news?” she asked
“Right… the good news is that it's only temporary… I think,” answered Apollo, “Clay's Artifact was starting to return to its original state, she was even able to lift it, but that's all, she still can't retract it nor deactivate it, but it's progress… so I think it'll be the same for you,”
“That's great… I guess… is that all?” asked Chroma
Apollo responded with a nod, he sighed and looked at Chroma's body, not meeting her eyes.
“What's wrong?” she asked
“I'm worried about you… you've always been really reckless, I know you're stronger than what you let out, and I know that you get off from fighting… but I'm still worried, remember when you fought with Clay when she first joined?” asked Apollo
Chroma shuddered, as Apollo reminded her, she exhaled audibly, and shakes her head, “Let's not… talk about that,”
Apollo chuckles, “Alright, I won't, just remember to be careful next time, just in case I'm not there to heal you,”
Chroma nodded, “Oh by the way, what happened after the fight?” she asked, turning her head towards the ceiling, her eyes never leaving Apollo’s
“After you fainted, Vin returned to normal, but he can’t recall any of what happened,” answered Apollo, with a slight sigh, his brows then furrowed, “I also had to heal the two girls who were trapped in the gazebo, because of a certain someone,” he added, looking directly at Chroma
Chroma avoided his gaze, looking up at the ceiling
“So… where are they now?” she asked
“Clay is in her room, doing… whatever, Vin and Claire went to school,” Apollo answered
“School huh? Do they even know the way?... wait isn’t it Sunday today?” asked Chroma
Apollo shakes his head, “Nope, it’s currently Monday… you’ve been asleep for an entire day,”
Chroma sighs loudly, “I hate this…” she said under her breath
Apollo stands up and nudges her shoulder, “I’ll be leaving now, get some rest so you can recover quickly,” he smiles, he then points at the small table beside her bed, “If you need anything you’re phone is over there, call me anytime,”
Chroma nods and smiles, “Thanks… I appreciate it, really…”
Apollo smiles back, he walks towards the door and opens it, he stops for a moment and looks at Chroma, “By the way, starting tomorrow, we’ll have a new member,”
Chroma’s eyes widened, “is it Vin?”
Apollo nods, “Yep… but, his friend, Claire, it seemed like she has no plans on joining,” Apollo pauses for a moment and shrugs, “Well whatever, at least we have a new member…”
Apollo waved goodbye and exited the room, closing the door behind him.
Chroma lay in silence, she looked at the small table beside her, she reached out and grabbed her phone, and upon opening it, her brows furrowed. There was an unknown notification on her phone, she tapped on it, revealing a timer that was set one week from now, she tried dismissing it, but she couldn’t. Chroma’s confusion grew, she tried to find the origins of the notification, but it wasn’t from an application, she frowned and decided to ignore it.
She opened an app and began scrolling through, trying to pass the time, when she saw an article about the mysterious notification, she hesitated for a moment before tapping on the article, and to her shock, it wasn’t just her. Phones from all over the city had the same notification and the same timer that can’t be dismissed. She looks at the notification again, feeling something ominous from the timer. What could the timer be about? What will happen if the timer reaches zero? What’s the cause of this?