It was the air raid sirens that marked the beginning.

The Rebellion army had managed to get the majority of its troops into the city under cover of darkness before they went off. Terra was outside talking with the rest of the crew--Roip, Podinal, Beiwot, Unter, and Dexai-- since they had arrived earlier that day and needed to be briefed about the attack plan when utter pandemonium struck.

The sirens came first but they were forgotten when the bombs began striking. A building beside Terra had exploded, throwing shrapnel and concrete in a thousand directions. Ears ringing, she picked herself up and ran to the aid of her comrades who were now strewn around on the ground. Terra watched in horror as the entire city around them seen to burst into flames.

“Move to the castle!” she heard the Captain yell from the distance. “They’re bombing the city, not the castle!”

When she made sure those around her were conscious and cared for by the army medics circulating the perimeter, she followed the wave of Rebellion fighters headed towards the fortress in the center of the city. The Captain was right; the main Capitol building was untouched despite the burning city. Would the queen really have sacrificed her city just to qualm the Rebellion? Terra tried to find the sense in it all but kept running around in circles in her mind so she stopped. The queen was her enemy and that’s all she needed to know.

The Rebellion burst through the doors with the help of the Captain sledgehammer and Dexai’s strength but were immediately met with a courtyard of finely trained Capitol soldiers. Terra recognized the general in the front; General Joersie, the one that had been upset with the queen in the throne room.

There was no time to stop and think as the army ahead of them unleashed a flurry of bullets. Terra watched as dozens of Rebels fell, inhibited by the bottleneck entrance to the castle courtyard.

“Destroy the walls!” She heard a general call out, and almost immediately the walls surrounding the front entrance were gone.

Despite the ability to send in more soldiers, the Rebels were clearly losing more people than the Capitol was, and Terra wondered if all the fighting was in vain. An explosion rocked the army ahead and Terra realized that she and the other Rebels had been bait; there was a larger group with more firepower coming in from behind the opposing group’s soldiers.

She charged forward in the hopes of cutting down General Joersie, fighting off any opponents that got in her way. She felt an eerie calmness enter her system as she continued swinging her sword; she was a machine and nothing could stop her. Nothing would stop her. A smile crept onto her face as she watched soldier after soldier fall before her and she hoped the fighting would never stop.

“You’re losing yourself again,” Alter said from above Terra.

Terra looked up and was surprised to see her twin floating above her.

“Save your strength for the Queen.”

“Kind of difficult to,” Terra grunted while blocking a swing from an opponent. “We’re at war here so I don’t really get to be picky about who I fight.”

“Well, since you’re the only one who can defeat her, I might just retreat a bit and let everyone else take care of the pawns. Or you could just charge forward and find those ducts you’re so fond of.”

Even though Terra didn’t want to admit it, it did make sense to land a surprise assault on the Queen if she got in through the ducts. The Queen wasn’t going to be making an appearance out on the battlefield, so Terra would have to go to her.

Seeing an opportunity, she sprinted forward towards the castle, jumping through the mess of legs and limbs and fallen bodies to get through. Luckily everyone was so absorbed in fighting the main battle that no one saw her pop open a grate and crawl inside the duct system.

Her heart hammered in her chest when she continued to hear the battle raging on outside while she was safely tucked away in the dark ducts. She winced whenever she heard an explosion but continued crawling forward, reminding herself that if she won against the Queen, then this whole war would be over. Terra paused.

Wait, would it? If the Queen fell, would the army simply surrender and hand over the right to rule to the Rebels? That didn’t seem plausible considering the Capitol’s history of ruling. Would it all really end that easily? And Terra didn’t really have a plan for fighting the Queen either. And the Queen had her retainers by her side too, did Terra have to fight them as well? And would she have to kill the Queen? Even though she had cut down a multitude of soldiers outside, Terra felt there would be more weight on her shoulders if she did kill the Queen. Maybe the Queen would just surrender peacefully and this whole thing would end? Terra mentally chastised herself for even giving herself that small glimmer of hope of a peaceful end.

What she needed to do was find out how to separate the Queen from her retainers so there would be a one-on-one fight, and even then Terra wasn’t certain would transpire. Since the Queen was a corrupt crystal, did that mean there would be a giant monster? Or maybe she could warp black crystals like Terra could?

Terra continued imagining the possibilities of the Queen’s abilities while wandering through the maze of ducts until she found the throne room. Her heart pumped faster as she neared the grate that would let her see what the Queen was doing. Peeking through the slats, she saw the Queen was leisurely lounging on her black throne without a care in the world.

Taken aback, Terra had no idea what to do. Her retainers were nowhere to be seen, leaving her completely vulnerable. If Terra fashioned her black crystal into multiple arrows, she could throw them at the Queen and then quickly recall them back, hopefully catching the Queen unaware. But if the arrows missed, and at this distance, they would, then Terra would be a sitting duck since moving through the ducts wasn’t a quick process. If she dropped down on the Queen with her weapon drawn, that would give her the element of surprise, but there would be the chance of the Queen having quick reflexes and killing Terra in one stroke.

Only black crystals can harm other black crystals, she remembered Alter telling her, so it was all down to Terra to make up her mind and attack. Before she could do anything, the throne room doors burst open and the Queen’s retainers barged in.

“You told me my friends would be unharmed!” Nighet screamed as he walked the length of the room. “That was our deal!”

“My family was still in the city! How dare you bomb them without evacuating first!” One of the other male retainers yelled.

“Citizens are in a panic and one of the power grids lost power. There was a hospital there!” The female retainer yelled, tears running down her face.

The last retainer was silent, but Terra could see him fuming, so angry that words just didn’t come to him.

The Queen simply glanced over in their direction, then leaned back even further into her chair with a malicious smile plastered on her face.

“Didn’t I tell you guys to follow the plan?”

Her retainers seemed to all explode in anger at the same time and charged towards their Queen. Hoped surged through Terra’s system when she saw the Queen’s trusted companions turning against the tyrant. Maybe she wouldn’t have to fight after all!

The instant before her retainers were within striking distance, the Queen rolled off her chair and jumped to the side, dodging everything that came her way. Terra’s eyes could barely keep up with the flurry of strikes from a sword, a mace, twin daggers, and a staff, and yet the Queen was swiftly avoiding them all. Terra’s hope sank when the Queen began her counter attack.

The Queen’s arms shifted shape, becoming oversized claws. Terra expected the rest of the Queen’s body to shift too, but only her arms had transformed. She had no time to think about why there was only a partial transformation because the retainers were fighting a losing battle and they knew it.

Nighet didn’t seem to be using his electricity for some reason, but Terra suspected it was because he was close-quarters with everyone else and didn’t want to harm his comrades. Not knowing anyone else’s powers, or if they had any, Terra watched as one of the Queen’s claws sliced through a sword, spilling blood where the male had attempted to block the blow. The female jumped to his aid, dragging him out of the way, stripping off her coat and using it to apply pressure to the wound. The two others seemed to fight more furiously to avenge their partner, but the Queen took them down with a single swipe of her claw, digging through metal and bone. Terra watched in horror as blood spilled from the two, and then in surprise when it completely stopped.

The female that had been aiding the first fallen male had her arms outstretched to the newest victims, her brow furrowed in concentration. The Queen let out a hearty laugh.

“Do you best Grace, but I don’t think you’ll be able to save them all. Even if you stop their time, you can only hold it for so long.”

“Just watch me,” Grace said, but her voice wavered and Terra knew she was struggling to keep time paused.

Terra made the snap decision to jump down to join the battle right then otherwise she knew the lives of those three would be on her conscience. She landed right in front of Grace and charged towards the Queen, sword drawn.

“I see we have a new player. About time you joined in. It’s never fun just watching a fight from high up above. We almost have all the pieces set.” The Queen calmly stated as she dodged one of Terra’s strikes.

The Queen was just playing with her, the hint of amusement never leaving those red eyes even when Terra managed to land a strike on one of the clawed arms. Terra’s sword had left a groove in the black crystal material of the arm, but that was all the damage that was dealt.

“You’re going to have to do better if you want to beat me. Here, I’ll even give you a hint; aim for the mask.”

What mask? Terra was getting irritated at the Queen/Red’s behavior; it was really starting to piss her off. About as much as Alter pissed her off, which was really saying a lot. Wait, was there some sort of correlation between Alter and Red? Alter did seem to have a vast amount of knowledge about crystals and the like, and Red was some sort of sentient crystal. What did it all mean?

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Momentarily distracted by her mental conspiracy web, Terra felt something hit her right side and she felt herself fly through the air, landing on the hard tiled floor twenty feet away. Something warm and sticky ran from the side of her arm down to her stomach and pain overwhelmed all of Terra’s senses.

She looked down and saw four long gashes; one ran down her bicep while the other three stretched along her ribs. Black blood flowed from the open wounds and Terra knew that she should try and stop the bleeding, but it hurt to simply exist much less do anything to help prevent her death. With a shaking hand, she tried to cover up the gashes on her ribs with her uninjured arm, but there was just too much damage and the blood simply kept pumping out of her. Her vision was already darkening. Was this the end?

The Queen wasn’t done with her yet it seemed, and she used her foot to push Terra’s chest cavity flat on the ground.

“What did I tell you? You’re no match for me.” The Queen spat at her, anger replacing the humor in her red eyes.

The throne doors blasted open and Terra could make out the Captain and General Shautine leading the Rebels through the door but couldn’t recognize anyone else.

“All the players are finally here it seems.” She could hear the Queen say, but everything was starting to fade away.

A barrage of gunshots rang out and Terra watched in shock as the Queen fell, landing on her back near Terra. Her red eyes seemed to stare at something far away in the distance and Terra noticed that a black pool of blood was forming under the Queen. Arms scooped Terra up and pulled her away from the dead body.

She saw the Captain’s worried face above hers and something in her eyes told Terra that there was no hope for her. A soldier joined her side and quickly wrapped a thick white cloth around her wounds. Terra was already so weak that she couldn’t comfort the Captain and tell her that she would be fine. In truth, Terra didn’t know if she would be.

“You sure like your pity parties don’t you?”

Terra shifted her eyes to her left since her head was too heavy and saw Alter sitting beside her.

“You get hurt once and you’re already at death’s door. The Queen still isn’t dead you know? If you die, literally everyone else will die too. Unless you don’t give a shit about Vazerio, Roip, Beiwot, Unter, Dexai, the Captain, and everyone else who fought in the battle. They already fought in a war, but now you want to kill them because you’re too tired to get up? I knew you were selfish, but this is taking it to the extreme.”

Terra felt so tired, but something about Alter just wanted to make her get up and punch the living daylights out of the smart-ass reflection. She tried lifting her arms, but she could only muster up the strength to cause her fingers to twitch a bit.

“Fine, fine, I’ll give you temporary hand. I guess you have lost a lot of blood.” Alter conceded. “After all, the Queen is about to wake up and she’s not going to be happy.”

Alter’s hand reached towards Terra’s wounds. Terra watched in amazement as the blood stopped and hardened black crystals closed the wounds, tearing through the rags that bound her together. She bolted up and grabbed her weapon.

Everyone around her was focused on the ten-year-old who had been at death’s door and was spontaneously alright, while Terra focused on the Queen. Nobody was watching the black blood oozing from her body, staining the tiles. No one even seemed to realize that the throne was deteriorating into a black puddle that was flowing towards the Queen’s dead body. No one saw the black blood rise up and consume the body lying on the floor. No one but Terra, who was fighting the hands that ushered her to lay down and receive medical treatment.

“Run!” she screamed at them, but they all stood frozen in their tracks, mouths gaping at the monster that rose before them.

Time seemed to stand still as limbs emerged from the black mess that had risen. And there, protruding from the top of the mass, was an elliptical mask with human-like features on it. A roar burst from the mouth that formed below its mask, finally breaking everyone out of their trances.

Terra sprinted forward and sliced at the creature’s leg, and it passed straight through its liquid interior, effectively drawing its attention to her. A claw struck out at her, hardening at the last moment before striking her. She blocked it with her weapon, but the sheer force from its blow drove her to her knees. Terra figured that if she could just distract it for a long enough time, everyone from inside the throne room could evacuate, including the fallen retainers.

The creature’s arm liquified and Terra could feel it showering over her, drenching her in cold black goo. A few seconds later, she felt herself being lifted into the air, wrapped in a cocoon of black liquid, her weapon dissolving in her hand. Wide-eyed, she struggled in the liquid to break free, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t seem to find open air. Lungs burning, she flailed around in the hopes of finding oxygen.

“Christ, again with the drama. Just breathe in.” Alter appeared in front of her.

Terra shook her head, there was no way she was going to breathe in black ooze! Alter rolled her eyes at her double’s stubbornness. Stubbornness doesn’t provide oxygen to starved lungs, so Terra did end up gasping for air submersed in the black liquid. She stared incredulously at Alter when she was absolutely fine. Alter held up her hand to silence the questions Terra was about to start spouting.

“Time is a bit of a factor here since, even though you can’t see the creature, it's creating a bit of havoc out in the real world. Long story short, you’re also a crystal gone sentient, I figured the black blood kind of gave it away, and you have to stop that rampaging thing out there. If you purge that mask, then the creature will disappear and whoop-dee-do you’re a hero. You are on a time limit since those first aid crystals don’t last forever.”

“I have no weapon!” Terra interrupted.

“Just look around you, you are literally surrounded by dead black crystals. Anything you imagine is possible now, time permitting.”

“Anything?”

Alter smiled as the glint in Terra’s eye returned.

“That’s better. You’ve been so caught up in your little bubble of despair and self-pity that you’ve forgotten how to have fun. Break out already.”

For the first time, Terra agreed with Alter. Maybe it was the fact she had just breathed in black crystals, but a joy welled up in her chest when she thought of all the different things she could make with the liquid around her. Should she stick with her sword? No, she was only using a sword because the black crystal she had access to was so small. A thought popped into her mind and she grinned.

Outside, soldiers struggled to find the will to keep fighting the monster that had emerged from the castle walls. What had once been a war between those at the Capitol and the Rebellion turned into a war against the strange creature that seemed immune to all attacks. Capitol and Rebel fought side-by-side for the first time in over twenty years, and yet it did little good against the demon that stood before them.

It ran rampant through the castle courtyard, clawing at anything that moved. When it roared, soldiers fell to their knees in pain, ears bleeding from burst eardrums. Medics couldn’t move fast enough to aid fallen soldiers and the distinction between the Capitol and Rebel blurred.

“All troops fall back!” General Joersie yelled out across the field.

“You heard him, fall back!” The Captain voiced.

All the soldiers scrambled to escape, streaming through the broken courtyard walls in a mass.

“Truce?” General Joersie said while wiping his longsword clean of Rebel blood.

“Only temporarily, until that gets solved.” The Captain stated, tilting her head towards the creature who was heading straight towards them. She lifted her sledgehammer over her shoulder and stood beside her sworn enemy.

At least they both understood what needed to be done in order protect their soldiers. A silent agreement passed between them and they both knew they were most likely not going to make it out of the courtyard alive.

As the creature bounded closer a small blur of black shot through their vision and slammed into the creature. To their dismay, the creature actually staggered back but it reflexively countered with its whip-like tail, hitting whatever had just attacked it. The blur flew towards the two commanders and they readied their weapons as it landed in the dirt ahead of them.

“Hey, Captain!” Terra’s smiling face appeared from the dust cloud that had risen.

“Wha--Wha--How--” The Captain was at a loss for words. Terra had been consumed by that black thing when the Captain had last seen her.

“I’ll explain later, but I need to get to that thing’s mask. When it attacks its body hardens, so strike then.” Terra told them, and before they could respond she ran off to distract the monster from the two leaders.

The General and Captain didn’t hesitate though, and they charged at the monster.

Terra watched proudly as the two officers baited the creature into attacking one of them as the other landed a blow. Their attacks did little to deter the creature’s strength, but it distracted it.

When she had left the bubble, she had formed a creature-like body around herself to mimic the monster’s. Her arms were coated in black crystals and her hands had changed into claws. She had encased the rest of her body in a thick layer of the mineral to protect against blows and a horned helmet grew from the crown of her head.

The creature howled and the two humans dropped to the ground, clutching their heads in pain. Well, it was now or never.

With the creature’s head reared up, Terra sprinted forward. She felt the crystals around her body shift liquify and transfer themselves to her hands. Forming the liquid into a bow, she fired an arrow with a chain attached to the creature’s mask. Although she had hit the creature’s neck instead, the arrow had plunged deep into the soft liquid of its body, staying merged with the chain.

The creature stopped its auditory assault and brought its claw down on the recovering humans still kneeling before it. Terra gripped the chain and tugged it towards her, just barely allowing the leaders time to dodge. The creature reared on its hind legs, lifting Terra with it.

Terra used the momentum from being abruptly lifted to form a sickle and chain and chucked it at the creature’s head, this time landing a few inches from the chain. She tugged herself forward in mid-air to get closer, but a claw caught her side. She could taste blood when she impacted the ground, but she never let go of her chains.

Dragging herself out of the dirt before another claw could put her out of commission, she pulled at the chains. The creature flung its head up in response to the tugging, making Terra fly through the air again, this time flying right above the creature; the mask was in her sights.

Pulling at the chains in the air, she flew towards the creature’s face, its red eyes lighting up her face. Its mouth opened wide as she dropped, her arm outstretched in the hopes of reaching the mask. She could feel the pressure of its teeth on her chest when she finally made contact.

Her side split open and she was skewered in two. Her blood crystallized and tore through her skin like paper while her tongue swelled and was shoved down her throat. Pressure built in her ears until her eardrums melted and leaked down the side of her face. Pain racked her body.

And Terra found herself laying on the dirt staring up at the sky. She turned her head and saw a clear mask in her hand. Smiling in triumph she turned back to look at the sky. Red smoke tinged the cloudless sky, but it only added to its beauty. Both suns wordlessly stared down at her, and for a moment Terra was at peace.

She thought of the new friends she had made back in Hayland City and hoped she would be able to see them again. Terra found that she enjoyed their company and wished she could spend more time with them rather than training in the simulator. What would all of them do now that the crisis was over? What was going to happen to the Capitol and the Rebels anyway? Terra hoped to check out the entirety of the Capitol and play around with the flying cars. There was such nifty stuff in this world! Now that the fighting was over, Terra was excited to go exploring again and find small joys in life rather than dwelling on the past.

Alter stood next to her, looking down at the lounging Terra.

“Your time is up.”

A sudden pain hit Terra on her side as the black crystals which had held her wound closed vanished. Her chest seized and wet coughs racked her chest, causing her to spit up blood. She could feel her heart struggling to keep up with the amount of blood draining from her body. As her vision darkened she could see two figures silhouetted against the suns and she could just barely feel hands press on her side to prevent the bleeding. If she really was dying, Terra was glad to have so many people in her life that cared for her.

As she shut her eyes for the final time, she wished she could be with the ones she loved. She wished she could go home.