*Zeph*

"SIS!!!!! DON'T YOU DARE CLOSE YOUR EYES, SIS!!!! I PROMISED! I GOD DAMN PROMISED!!! ARIA!!!!!" I shouted with as much energy as I could muster, though there wasn't much left. As desperate as I was, I could do nothing for her.

"Damnit, damnit, DAMNIT!" I called out. "I can't lose you again." My voice was now trembling and tears started welling up in my eyes.

The guy stepped away from me, but he couldn't do that without giving me another kick in the side.

"Ugh!" I groaned. "Stop it! Get away from her, you asshole!" My voice was broken, my throat sore, and I was hardly audible.

*Stop it, you freak. Don't you touch my sister. I will KILL YOU!!!* My mind was a hurricane of emotions: sadness, desperation, hatred, disgust, … regret.

*Why didn't I pay more attention? Why didn't I focus? Why am I not stronger?* I started mentally tearing myself apart. *All of this could have been avoided if I was just better!*

The man knelt down at Zephyria's side and stroked her face. Again, my mind wanted to completely tear him apart. My body, however, did not reply.

The explosion had probably done more damage than I thought it did, my exhaustion not doing me any favors either.

I watched the man touching my sister; I saw his face almost yearning to take her with him. Just the thoughts of what could happen almost made me puke, were it not that my body had no energy left to even respond to that emotion.

"Y-you w-will pay f-for this," I said with a trembling voice.

The man had pulled my sister up a little and got a closer look at her when he heard my threat. He looked over and dropped Sis to the ground.

I winced again, and my body jerked a little in response. I felt the sharp pain of her landing on the ground, informing me that she wasn't dead yet. My thoughts were interrupted when the guy jerked me up by the collar of my shirt.

"You really don't understand it, do you." he came close to my face and started to smile. "Look, I know you want to protect your little sister over there, I get it, I really do. But there is one little problem with that." He let go of my shirt and pushed me hard onto the ground.

An audible 'crack' was heard when my back met the ground again. A piercing pain ran through me, as it felt like a rib just snapped. I opened my mouth to scream in pain. The only thing that came out was a grunt.

"You are going to die here," the guy continued. "You are not leaving here alive. You will never be found. I don't know how you will take revenge from the afterlife, but I wish you the best of luck over there." He let me go and stepped away looking around at his followers who were anticipating the final moments of my life. But more importantly, being able to take my sister and use her to their heart's content.

"Marko!" the guy called. "Do you want to do the honors? It was your idea to place the mines so you might as well give the finishing blow." he sniggered.

Marko stepped out of the crowd while the rest let out a disappointed sigh.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Hell yeah, I want to do that, boss," he said with a grin from ear to ear.

Reaching my limit, and seeing Marko step forward was the last thing I saw. My eyes closed and I could only still faintly hear cheers and chants.

In the ever-growing darkness in my mind, a female voice reached out.

"*Where I was unable to intervene before, I will not make that same mistake again.*"

*I recognize that voice,* I thought. *Where have I heard it before? Who are you?*

"*That is not important right now. You need to live. So let me help you.*"

I was too far gone to respond as something started lighting up the darkness in my mind.

The guy stepped away from me as he let Marko take his prize. As Marko stood ready with a knife in hand, small white lights started spreading around me and my sister's body.

A magic circle suddenly drew itself just above the floor with an intricate and unknown pattern. The circle grew as more lines appeared like someone, or something was drawing it. White Aetheric particles started erupting from the circle. The bandits moved back and some even ran back into the forest. But the leader stayed, shouting at his followers in discontent.

I opened my eyes again, even if just slightly, and let my head drop to my left, trying to get a last glimpse of my sister. She must have been one Zirak away from me, which was the equivalent of one meter.

I noticed the white sparkly lights everywhere but my eyes closed and all my senses shut down.

---

*Some distance away at the village of Birchbridge*

"Hey Max!" a guard shouted to his colleague. "Check that out, near Dew Gate!" he said as he pointed to the location where an ever-stronger growing white light was appearing.

"What in the name of the seven is that?" the guard looked concerned. "go get the captain. We need to report this. You-" he said while pointing at 5 other guards that lined the entrance to town. "Come with me!"

The guards stood to attention and followed Max while the other guard ran into town.

"Where are we headed? sir," one of the guards asked while running.

"Look, over at the direction of Dew Gate, something is happening there," Max responded sternly while keeping the pace up.

Meanwhile, the light grew much stronger, and a small tiny threat of light shot into the sky.

"Get ready people, something is coming!" Max shouted commanding.

Suddenly a pillar of light shot into the sky. The guards stopped dead in their tracks as they all locked up.

A pillar of light, probably 20 Zirak wide, burst into the sky. The sparsely scattered clouds blasted away as a shockwave erupted from the center of the column.

Max saw the clouds move and knew immediately what was coming.

"Hold on for dear life fella's!!! Drop it!" He yelled as all 6 men dropped to the ground.

The shockwave, even while prepared for it, hit like a brick wall as the explosive sound hit their ears.

"Everyone alright?" Max yelled as he stood up and looked at his fellow guardsmen.

All 6 guards stood up as they replied.

"Yes sir!"

"Then let us find out what that was." He started running in the direction of the now slowly fading column of light. The other guards, however, were not so sure but nodded and followed Max up the mountain slope.

A few minutes later, they reached the entrance to the forest and their faces could not contain their surprise. On the path that came from the forest, lay two Ignisarians, a girl and a boy. The boy was reaching out to the girl while the girl lay on her back in a pool of blood. The two weren't even the weirdest thing they saw. No, that was the large blackened circle around them.

"What happened here," one of the guards asked, completely blown away by the scene they arrived at.

The innermost part of the circle was completely unharmed, and the place where the two Ignisarians were lying on the ground. Around them was a massive circle of burned earth that seemed to have blasted everything away that most have stood there. The only signs of something having been there were some scattered accessories of the completely decimated people.

Max did a quick scan of the location, but quickly decided they should bring the two Ignisarians back to the hospital in the village. One of the guards brought forth two foldable beds; they always carried those just in case.

One was put down next to the boy. Max knelt down to pick him up when an almost inaudible voice came from the boy's mouth.

"Save m-my s-sis-ter," was the only thing he could muster before going limp.

"Okay, boys, let's be quick about it. These 2 might die any second and we can't let that happen." Max commanded.