Galina wasn’t worried about the rubble she had caught just before it fell onto her head. Her eyes instead gravitated toward her staff. Her sigh of relief upon seeing it still in one piece was quickly cut off by a flash of pain in her sides. She had focused all her power on keeping the rubble from crushing her; in the process, she unconsciously deactivated her [Link] skill.

She flung the shattered remains of the theater wall to the side. She looked up expecting to see the hole in the wall she created, but instead found herself in an area identical to the theater’s lobby, except there were no paintings on the walls.

“Where did you take me?”

Galina spun around; she saw that Xavier had teleported in behind her.

“Sorry I don’t think we’ve met before,” Galina said.

Xavier casually paced around Galina, brushing off dust from his jacket. “Not formally, but you were definitely spying on my caravan.”

“I don't know what you’re talking about.”

Xavier walked around the pile of debris on the ground. “Sure.” He hopped onto the front of the bar table and sat down. “How old are you?”

“First you fling me through a wall. Then you ask a lady her age. Did anyone teach you any manners?” Galina asked.

“Just answer the damn question.”

“I don’t know how old I am. Roughly 25, give or take a year or two.”

“Do you know your parents?”

With her [Link] skill shattered, Galina couldn't contact the other Hangmen, so she figured it would be best to avoid conflict and just answer Xavier’s questions. “I know my parents. If you mean my biological parents, then no.”

Xavier pointed to Galina’s staff. “How did you get that orb?”

“I don’t remember.”

Xavier clicked his tongue. “So you would’ve been around 8 at the time,” he murmured to himself. “That’s disappointing. Sorry about sending you flying into the wall. I seem to have mistaken you for somebody else.”

“No worries. I’ll be going now.”

Galina started to walk away, but Xavier held out his hand. “Wait a sec. I’m going to need that orb on your staff. If you can just give me that, then we’ll be all good to go.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Oh, I wasn’t asking. You’re going to give it to me, or I’ll take it.” Xavier grabbed his gloves, but let go without removing them. “No, that won’t be necessary.”

Galina gripped her staff. “Are you trying to go easy on me?”

“I just simply don’t need to push myself that hard. You don’t hunt deer with a cannon. In fact, I won’t even need a single chant or cross to take down a cheap copy like you.”

“Cheap copy? What do you mean?” Galina asked.

Xavier chuckled. “You’re more naive than I thought.”

“Says the one who thinks they’re getting my orb,” Galina said.

“Alright.” Xavier lifted his hand. The debris levitated off the ground. “Let’s dance.”

Xavier thrust his hand forward sending the pile of rubble flying toward Galina. In retaliation, Galina raised her hand and stopped the rubble in the middle of the air. The rubble ebbed back and forth as Xavier and Galina vied for dominance.

“Not bad.” Xavier flicked his fingers. “[Push].”

Xavier focused his essence on a singular piece of the rubble jettisoning it out of the pile. Galina knew if she tried to stop the chunk of rubble, Xavier would wrestle control over the rest of it, so she made the split-second decision to place as little effort into deflecting it, rather than catching it.

Galina ducked down, and with a flick of her wrist, altered the rubble’s trajectory sending it flying over her head, simultaneously fighting for control over the rest of the rubble against Xavier.

“Cheap trick,” Galina said.

“Fine then. Let’s have a contest of skill.” Xavier squeezed his open hand into a fist. “[Crush].”

The rubble cracked, then shattered into tiny rocks, slightly bigger than grains of sand. Galina’s focus went from being split between a few massive chunks to hundreds of tiny bits. Her mind raced trying to comprehend the exponential increase in objects, but she couldn’t keep up.

Xavier ripped the grains of rubble away from Galina pulling them free from her telekinetic grasp.

“Your control is lacking,” Xavier said. “[Push].”

The bits of rubble tore through the air like a hailstorm of bullets.

Galina waved her hand in front of her. “[Barrier].”

The air in front of Galina blurred like a heat haze. The grains of debris slowed rapidly the moment they got close to Galina.

Xavier’s eyes shifted from Galina to the piece of debris she had deflected. “[Pull].”

The rubble slammed into the back of Galina’s head, shattering her focus on her [Barrier]. Fortunately, when Xavier used [Pull] on the rubble, he shifted his essence to it, so the bits of rubble Galina had stopped just collapsed to the ground when her [Barrier] fell.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Galina’s head rocked forward and faced the ground. The back of her head felt warm. She saw as blood dripped down from the back of her head onto the floor.

Xavier crossed her legs. “What’s the matter? Drop something?”

Galina put on a frustrated smile. She looked up at Xavier sitting on the bar, then past him at the shelf full of alcohol. “[Pull].”

Xavier heard the shelf rattle and bottles clink as Galina telekinetically sent them flying toward him.

Xavier snapped his fingers. “[Crush].”

The bottles of alcohol shattered into shards of glass. Galina felt her control over them weaken as it was split across the several shards.

Xavier twirled his finger. A tempest of glass shards enveloped Xavier. “You can’t control this many, right?” Xavier pointed his finger at Galina. “[Push].”

A spear of shattered glass lanced at Galina.

Galina slammed her staff into the ground. “Freeze in your tracks, [Barrier].”

A grin crept onto Xavier’s face. “[Pull].” The shards pulled back before they got close to Galina’s [Barrier].

Galina’s confusion shifted into surprise as the shards split apart. Xavier manipulated them around the room into a massive sphere of glass that surrounded Galina. The shards of glass shined as they spun. Their edge pointed straight toward Galina, then raced toward her from all directions.

“Surround me, freeze in your tracks, [Barrier].”

Galina looked around at an omnidirectional assault of razor-sharp glass frozen to a halt just inches before they eviscerated her.

Xavier hopped down from the bar and started walking toward Galina. “Let’s see how long you can keep that up. [Push].”

The glass inched toward Galina.

“[Push].”

The glass came close enough for Galina to see her fractured reflection.

“[Push].”

Blood trickled down Galina’s nose.

“There's the gap. [Push].”

A single shard of glass in Galina’s blind spot pierced through her defense. Xavier focused all his essence on that single shard, slashing Galina’s wrist before she could react. The flash of pain in Galina’s wrist caused her grip on her staff to loosen. The staff clattered to the ground as Galina’s [Barrier] fell, and a shower of glass shards collapsed around her.

Galina and Xavier both reached out to the staff. “[Pull]!”

Xavier was a split second faster. The staff flew across the room, then became suspended in mid-air equidistant from both Xavier and Galina.

Xavier’s fingers curled. The ashen wood off the staff began to crack and crumble to dust.

“[Crush].” The staff fragmented into pieces; chunks of ash broke off as it collapsed to the ground.

Galina collapsed to her knees. She hopelessly covered her ears as the thoughts of everyone in the theater rushed into her mind.

Get out of my way!

Move!

Where’s the exit?

Where am I?

Don’t push me!

Hurry, go faster!

Galina started to hyperventilate. “Go away. Go away. Go away,” she whispered to herself.

Xavier kneeled next to the orb. “Feels like a weight off my shoulder.” He reached for the orb. The moment his fingers touched the orb he felt all his strength drained; his telekinetic abilities faded.

“GO AWAY!” Galina screamed.

A massive telekinetic blast shook the theater, sending Xavier flying backward. All the air was forced out of his lungs as his back slammed into the bar. The pain in his spine shot through his entire body and forced him to his knees.

“What?!” Xavier shouted. “How?! Why?! If you’re not an imitation, if you’re really like me, then why would you have that cursed thing?! Why would you carry the very thing that killed our families?!”

Xavier’s voice didn’t reach Galina. His words were swallowed by the chaotic torrent of thoughts swirling in Galina’s mind. Galina crawled toward the orb. Her heart wanted to scream, but her brain was too burdened to command her body to do so.

Xavier grasped the bar and pulled himself to his feet. “Answer me!”

Suddenly, a thunderous crack echoed through the lobby. Galina’s eyes remained glued on the orb as the crack was lost in the sound of all the voices in her mind.

“Who the hell are you?!” Xavier exclaimed.

The sound of a metal splitting open tore through the space.

“Ah! Let go of me.”

Galina could vaguely make out the sound of Xavier struggling.

“In you go!”

Galina reached her hand out to the orb, but she was too far away. She watched as a pale hand picked it up from the ground. The same hand shifted over to Galina’s crumbled staff.

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, be undone, [Regenerate].”

Galina watched as her shattered staff pulled itself together; the orb was fitted back at the apex.

A sudden wave of relief blasted over Galina as all the voices were silenced in an instant. She pushed herself to her feet. Galina looked at her staff, now perfectly reformed, in Vivyan’s hand.

“I believe this is yours,” Vivyan said.

Galina snatched it from her hands. “Why are you here?”

“Red eyes told me to save you, so I could get my arm back,” Vivyan said, tugging on her empty sleeve. “So I ripped one of the doors in the hallway off its hinges and chucked that fuck into one of them. With how unstable this plane is, he could’ve been sent anywhere.”

“Ok,” Galina said. “I’ll be going then.”

“Perfect. The paintings are that way.” Vivyan dove over the bar. “I’m going to check if any of the bottles are intact.”

Galina rushed out of the lobby. “No matter where we are, The Hangmen remain connected, [Link].”

Hello? Ace? Galina said.

Galina! Where are you?

I’m heading to the lobby. Where are you? Galina asked.

I’m heading over to Riven. I think she’s in trouble. She might not be conscious.

How is everyone else?

We’re good! Cili said.

We? Ace asked.

Cili and I are heading to the lobby right now, Halvor said. We can head over to help you with Riven.

I don’t think I can guide you to where Riven is. Just focus on getting to the lobby. I’ll be fine, Ace said.

That leaves only two unaccounted for. Draxl, Kai, where are you two? Galina asked.