Ellie was disoriented. More disoriented than she had even been in perhaps her entire life.

Her body felt hot. Her shoulder was hurting and she could feel Idris coughing violently as he held her in his arms while they lay there on the ground.

She could feel him coughing. Feel, not hear. Fear immediately washed over her as the full realisation of what it meant to be ripped away from the system and all that it offered really meant.

Just as she had been almost a year ago now, she was once again deaf. Ellie found it surprising that the very first thing she wanted to do was cry.

'I can't. I need to be stronger here. For Dad, for Mom and for Sarah...' she thought to power through this alien and frightening situation.

She could sense the changes in her body immediately. No longer was she a powerful and versatile Telekinetic Witch, but instead, a normal measly human.

A moment passed and the immediate dust in the area scattered, giving her a chance to fully witness her surroundings and their current situation.

A chunk of glass had lodged itself into her left shoulder, which explained the abnormal heat given the fact it was bleeding profusely.

Idris seemed fine beyond a few scratches on his face though he was trying to say something to her with panic clear in his expression.

'Fuck. It's been so long since I've needed to read lips... Uh... Something something okay? Am I okay, maybe?' She wasn't sure but she nodded her head regardless.

Her injury was serious but it wouldn't kill her immediately and it could be healed with ease once they got out of here... if they got out of here.

Bodies and debris littered the streets and a few robed individuals were walking down the road towards them and Sandy.

She acted quickly, picking herself up and pointing at a seemingly unconscious Sandy. He'd been hit on the head by a loose brick and his injury didn't seem light in the slightest given that he was out cold.

Idris, thankfully, picked up on her intent immediately and scrambled to grab the old man. He wasn't nearly as strong as only a few minutes ago but he was still a very athletic young man, so while it was a bit of a struggle he managed to hoist Sandy up into a princess carry.

Ellie and Idris then ran to a nearby alleyway in the hopes of avoiding detection. High King Daz had stated publicly that the Church of Truth were capable of ripping the system away from people while being able to use it themselves.

They could also turn things into ash at a range of 50-metres but only if they maintained line-of-sight for a few seconds. Moving was the only choice they had.

Ellie knew they stood no reasonable chance in a fight. All they could do was flee and hope to escape while waiting for the people that could combat these religious fanatics to arrive and save them.

'Didn't the info packet Rose sent me say their ability to cancel out the system only extended to 50-metres as well?' Ellie thought.

She saw Idris by her side turn his head to look behind them only to curse under his breath before leading her down a new alleyway.

'They're chasing us? Shit!' she said internally. 'We only need to get 50-metres out of their range then I can move us all away with my telekinetic powers!'

It wasn't a bad plan in her mind but she was quickly coming to realise how out of shape she was without her stats.

Needless to mention her massive injury, but her natural stamina wasn't very good too since before the apocalypse she spent most of her time at home studying or drawing.

Idris and Ellie came to a rapid stop when they saw several robed Truthians at the exit of the alleyway they were sprinting down.

Thinking fast, while still holding Sandy, Idris leapt shoulder first into a wooden door. The whole thing popped off its hinges and gave way as he flew into the building it was safeguarding.

Ellie followed after him immediately but just as she was passing over the wreckage of the wooden door, she felt a sharp pain in her leg.

Glancing down she saw blood dripping out of a small puncture wound on her left thigh. 'They're using guns? What the fuck?!'

She was more surprised that she hadn't heard the gunshots more so than she was at her being shot, honestly. Not being able to hear anything was just... uncomfortably familiar and alien all at once.

Her mental question made complete sense to her but she wasn't willing to acknowledge that right now. Why wouldn't they use firearms when they could turn people back into... well, ordinary people? Why waste energy on something a simple bullet could accomplish?

Ellie followed Idris up a flight of stairs and they took refuge in an abandoned room that was likely an office space of some sort.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Idris carefully put Sandy down before he grimaced and held his abdomen. Worried, Ellie approached her boyfriend and took a look at his side.

'They got him too? Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! That's a serious injury!' She was feeling light-headed from her own blood loss but that didn't stop her caring about him more than herself.

Idris tried to smile it off and Ellie assumed he said something along the lines of 'I'm fine. We should hide here for as long as we can. High King Daz must know of the attacks by now and is likely working to stop them.' At least, that's what she could infer from her lip-reading.

Ellie slumped down to the ground and ripped off the midriff part of her blouse, using it to bandage her leg and shoulder injuries, not even trying to remove the chunk of glass nor the bullet. Idris did something similar for his own wound and for Sandy's head.

Closing her eyes, Ellie could feel people moving through the building via the vibrations that ran from the floor through her body, minute as they were. The people were likely a mix of survivors and Truthians.

She considered what to do as her hands rested on her dad's old revolver and her sister's now completely ordinary grimoire. 'Sarah... what would you do here?'

She glanced over at Idris and the way his warm and hopeful smile radiated off of him gave her the answer she was looking for. 'He's going to bleed out. Hell, so am I. Sandy might be as good as dead if he doesn't get his stats back as soon as possible. I need to let someone with an Ember know we're here so they can save us or just kill all of the nearby priests... Fuck... I should have kept fighting... Maybe I would have gained an Ember if I did?'

She slowly wobbled up to her feet even if doing so pained her greatly. Idris saw this and motioned for her to stop as he likely spoke words of discouragement, not wanting her to move too much.

Ellie smiled sadly at him. "I can't lose any more family."

She drew her father's gun and said, "Stay here. If anyone comes in and they're wearing a robe, kill them. Hide behind a corner and smack them hard on the head with something. They can't turn you to ash without a line of sight and a few seconds of build-up. I... I'm going to go get help."

She turned her head around and didn't read Idris's lips, scared he'd say something that would make her hesitate.

She did feel him trying to get up only to fail though. This just solidified the idea in her mind that he was in a worse condition than she was. While she may have been shot in the leg, at least she still had the strength with which to move.

Ellie cautiously left the office and began making her way to the building's roof. 'This place has, what, 10 or so floors?'

She kind of wanted to cry. 'If I make it through this, I'm gonna find a way to suppress my stats myself then I'm never gonna skip leg day.'

----------------------------------------

"How do you think Brother Sidney's flock is doing?" a man in Truthian robes asked his partner as the two of them walked up a flight of stairs a bit too casually.

The other priest shrugged. "Well? I mean, they can't really resist. It's the same old story as every other place we've been sent to cleanse. What's got you so curious?"

"I dunno. The way that skinny woman and the black guy reacted to seeing us seemed more... hmm... prepared? They knew to run immediately and even made us lose them by entering such a large building," the first man replied.

"Well, this is New Earth. It's a league up from all of the other places we've been sent to, isn't it?" the second man asked rhetorically. "It makes sense the common sheep wouldn't be as blissfully ignorant as usua-"

Two gunshots sounded out through the stairwell in rapid succession and then two corpses with holes in their foreheads slumped to the ground lifelessly.

Ellie had a hardened expression on her face as she looked down at her victims. 'That was close. They almost saw me... It's taking so long to hobble my way up these fucking stairs...'

She immediately wondered if her usage of her father's revolver would alert other Truthians in the building or if perhaps they'd think it was their fellow fanatics that had used their own firearms instead.

Regardless, the bodies weren't going anywhere and Ellie was working with limited time as it was already since Idris and Sandy were stationary.

With that in mind, she proceeded ahead as quickly as she could, hoping to not run into anymore Truthians as she made her way to the rooftop.

Her goal was simple; reach the roof then scream as loudly as she could. Either she died trying to signal for help or someone with an Ember would come and save her, and, by proxy, Idris and Sandy. It was a risky play but she felt she had little choice.

Sandy had suffered an injury to the head and she and Idris risked bleeding out despite their bandaging attempts.

Ellie had no idea how large the scale of the attack was but considering it hadn't been stopped instantly, clearly, it was no small group of Truthians assaulting them. It was all or nothing.

Thankfully, she ran into no more of the cultists as she rushed up the remaining flights of stairs. The roof was also empty from the looks of things.

'Some Champion of the Goddess of Luck I am... If I'm so lucky, then why can't I use my stupid God-ranked skill? It's meant to give me what I need when I need it...' Ellie sighed mentally as she barred the door to the open rooftop of the building.

When that was done, she hobbled about 10-metres away from the door, She then turned around and practically collapsed on the floor before pointed her father's revolved right at the door.

She felt faint and weak. Her arms were shaking and nothing but worry for Idris and Sandy filled her mind as she sat there.

Taking a few deep breaths, she resolved herself then screamed at the top of her lungs for help.

Ellie wondered how her voice sounded. Was it scratchy and dry? Was it quivering like the rest of her body? Was she even being heard?

She didn't know. She didn't know but she continued to yell her lungs out since her and her loved one's lives likely depended on it.

Seconds turned into minutes and before long Ellie couldn't make any more noise. It physically hurt her to even try screaming anymore. She was alone.

Tears streamed down her face. 'Today was just meant to be like any other day... A nice date with Idris and nothing more... I don't want to lose more people I care about...'

Suddenly, she saw through blurred eyes the barred door to the stairwell shaking a bit. 'They're here...'

Considering that her system powers hadn't returned it was easy enough to conclude that the people on the other side of that door likely weren't friends.

'... They're dead, aren't they?' Her expression crumpled in an instant when that realisation hit her. 'There's no way they weren't found... This... This was never supposed to happen...'

She glanced down at her father's gun which was still pointing towards the now crumbling door. It was being turned into ash. That was certainly one way to open it, Ellie thought.

"I'm sorry, Dad, Mom, Sarah, Idris... Sandy too... I'll be with you soon," she muttered words unheard by her own ears.

With slow but practised movements, she placed the barrel of her father's gun at her chin and closed her eyes before weeping out one final 'I'm sorry'.