I watched Isa go over to the man she had just shot and dig around his pockets for a second before pulling out what looked to be some sort of pink crystal slate. She then stood up and stepped past me and over the two corpses of the men on the floor. Isa bent over, picked up the assault rifle, and inspected it. The entire time, my eyes went unblinking as my vision flicked toward the doctor she had shot so abruptly. His dying face slightly sagged, yet he still displayed shock and horror.
Shock. Why am I shocked now? Earlier, I was toasting them left and right, yet now... now I was shaking. My hands are shaking; I can hardly breathe. Is it because I can see their faces? Is it the blood or the gore?
"Luna," Isa said, snapping me back to the present. I shook my head and looked at her. She was holding her pistol back out to me by the barrel. "Take this. I'll use Rusivites."
I nodded and gulped as I reached out and took the pistol. Isa placed the Rusivite's handgun into her holster; the weapon resembled the broom handle she had just handed me, though it was bulkier and barely fit in the holster. She then went back to examining the rifle. She pulled the charging handle back before sliding it back into place, grabbing the large magazine box, and tugging on it. A confused look crossed her face before she smirked and reached up to press the release switch, unlocked the magazine from the gun, and slid it out.
"Insteresting weapon," she said with a purr. "Wonder how it shoots so fast. No bolt or lever; it just fires like the other autoguns."
"It's semi-auto," I muttered softly, taking a deep breath to regain my composure.
"Semi-auto?" Isa asked softly as she got onto her knees and began to loot the dead soldier for what could be useful.
"Yeah, you have to keep pulling the trigger. The gun cycles itself," I explained shakily as I turned away from her, not wanting to see the eyeless boy. "I-I, uh, observed it…" I somewhat lied; I wouldn't call myself an expert on firearms, but back in my old life, it was a passing hobby I occasionally explored online but nothing more. I at least knew the difference between a clip, a magazine, and the like.
Isa slid the magazine back into the rifle and turned to me. "We need to get moving; we don't have much time."
"W-won't more guards be out there?" I asked as Isa approached the door cautiously.
"Probably," she said as the entire building rumbled from an outside explosion. "Though they are most likely distracted by what's out there, judging no one has come by yet." She motioned for me to come up behind her. "Stay close, Luna; keep that gun ready."
I gulped and nodded as I gripped the pistol tightly. "Alright, let me bubble us first." Isa nodded as I held one hand up and concentrated on the bubble shield, after a faint shimmer of magic formed around us Isa opened the door, and we quickly rushed out.
I'll be honest. I was mimicking what I've seen in movies; breaching and clearing rooms was something other than what I was formally taught, but I think I was doing well. Isa rushed out and aimed her gun to the right down the long hall while I looked to the left, my little pistol shaking as I kept an eye out for any invaders.
Yet we saw none. Instead, the voice of the commissar echoed across the loudspeakers I could see strung up along the halls. Like the room we had just left, the walls were a stark, almost blinding white, and the floor a contrasting grey.
"If the bastard didn't lie, we'll need to head this way and make a left," Isa said as she began to move, her gun raised high and her finger on the trigger. I made sure to stick close to her, practically hugging her rear as I kept glancing over my shoulder.
Aside from the screaming commissar, I could hear voices coming from every direction, along with sounds like screams. I shuddered as I could make out one man in particular screaming in Maurich, "Pull me! Pull me!"
What the fuck is happening?
"Don't let go! I got you; just don't let go!"
Just as we reached a T junction, Isa held up a hand to stop me, right as a loud bellowing screech of machinery sent a tremor throughout the facility. A couple of murmuring voices came from around the corner of the junction on our left, and Isa held two fingers up to me, which I knew right away.
The voices of the invaders were getting louder as the sounds of their heavy boots thumped against the metallic floor as they walked towards us. Isa then held up three fingers; at first, I was confused, but then when she started folding one of them down at a time, I knew she was counting.
When her fingers closed into a fist, my heart lurched as she swung around the corner, hoisted her gun, and, in rapid succession, fired three heavy bullets into the men. Just as I dipped around the corner with her pistol raised, I saw the soldiers already crumpling to the floor with gaping wounds in their chests. One of which was twitching and gurgling.
He tried to say something, though Isa quickly rushed over, drew her knife, slashed the man, and crossed his throat. My stomach churned as the man gasped as blood spurted from his throat. Behind us, we heard shouts coming from the other end as Isa gestured for me to get moving. I was filled with the sound of my heart beating as the corridor was filled with the sound of gunfire. I turned around just in time to see three energy bolts slam against my bubble shield, and I winced as the torrent of energy channeled directly back into my well as the outer shell cracked.
"Keep moving, Luna; we just need to get around the corner and make a right!" Isa shouted as she fired a few rounds back at our attackers.
Nervously, I held the pistol up and fired a few shots of my own blindly in hopes of suppressing them as we rushed forward towards another corner.
Over the gunfire, I could hear the voice of the commissar screaming a phrase I didn't need to know to understand. "Alarm!" The voice boomed as a blaring klaxon alarm nearly deafened me.
"Well, they know we're here now!" Isa screamed as she and I dove around the corner. The corridor extended probably another hundred feet or so, and on the far end, I could see what looked to be a large blast door that was beginning to open.
"Isa!" I shouted as she fired a few more rounds at the encroaching soldiers. "We're being flanked!" I yelled as the door opened fully and four more soldiers in heavy black armor rushed out.
Taking out my wand, I aimed it down the hall and shouted, "Gust!" I channeled my energy into it and hurled a torrent of raging wind down the hall. The Rusivites let off a shriek as the hurricane force slammed into them, and like ragdolls, they flew back into the room they just came in, their weapons and bodies scattering across the floor.
That should buy us a couple of seconds!
"Excellent, Luna, now move!" Isa shouted as she and I both quickly began to run down the hall towards the blast door. The door groaned as the gears within loudly churned as it began to slowly shut.
I pumped my legs as Isa rushed ahead. The sensation of bullets ramming into my shield caused me to yell as I channeled my magic back to repair the damage. The soldiers shouted and screamed as more of them piled into the corridor behind us and opened fire. More and more damage was being done to the shield; I wouldn't be able to keep it up much longer as Isa and I raced towards the closing door.
It was nearly half-closed when Isa dove beneath it, and I followed behind shortly after. Like a baseball player sliding into home, I threw myself at the smooth, metal floor and slid beneath the door, only to have my skirt get caught in the gap in the floor. I screamed as the door was only about a foot above me, and I feared I was about to be crushed, yet Isa grabbed my leg and yanked me out from under the door just as it slammed shut.
My heart raced, and my emotions were on edge. Fuck, that would've been a stupid way to go! I whimpered, though I quickly snapped back to my senses as the four men I blew into the room were getting to their feet.
I hesitated to raise my weapon as one of the soldiers, who had no mask, looked at me with surprise. Only to have her face blown open a second later by Isa, who then spun around and fired two more shots at the others getting up. The fourth and last one raised his hands and shouted just as Isa aimed at him and pulled the trigger, yet the weapon clicked.
The masked Rusivite let off a scowl and laughed, but then dove. Just as Isa threw the rifle at him, he jumped toward one of the rifles on the ground, and I flicked my wand toward it. "Gust!" I shouted once more and blew the weapon out of his grasp. Just as Isa kicked him right in the face, the man rolled over and cried as he clutched his mask. A cry that wouldn't last long as Isa drew her sidearm and shot him in the back of the head, ending him.
Finally, the gunfire stopped. In its place, I could hear the screams of those captured much more clearly. Men and women are crying audibly for help. We stood in a room with an entryway that led up to a short set of stairs toward another corridor. Beside the stairs was a control panel, most likely used to open the door we just come through. Unlike the hall outside, this place lived up to how it sounded. Dark walls, a deep shade of gray, with dimly lit lights.
It sounds and looks like we went to hell. I gulped as I glanced down at the corpses. What the fuck are they doing to the people here? I shook my head and glanced at Isa, who was picking up a new rifle from one of the corpses and checking its ammo before also grabbing some spare magazines.
"As you can hear, we're nearing the people," Isa said as she straightened up and turned to me "Most likely there are more guards up ahead, and they'll know we're coming."
I nodded and took a deep breath. "Right."
"Stick close to me; we'll be following the signs." She gestured to a plaque on the wall with text I couldn't understand. The language consisted of what looked to be a variety of geometric shapes, which honestly reminded me of hieroglyphics.
Isa climbed up the stairs, and I followed suit. Along the way, we surprisingly encountered no resistance as we traversed down the corridor, which was rounded and snaked constantly. This feels like the tower, I thought to myself; it's almost like nothing is making sense now. The path dipped downward, and the cries were getting louder.
Finally, we arrived at a doorway. A single, metallic door with a strange-looking keypad beside it and a thin slot beneath. Isa reached into her pouch, pulled out the pink, crystal slate from earlier, and slid it into the door, only to have the two of us startled by the loud, blaring horn that rejected the key.
Isa cursed. "Fuck. Of course we're stopped by a fucking door," she said as she shook her head. "Luna, do you think you can break this with your magic?"
I glanced at the heavy black iron door and sighed. "Maybe, but... well, actually." I holstered the pistol and thought for a second. "I might be able to melt through it; I haven't done this before, so it might be dangerous."
Behind us, we heard a metallic screech, and the ground shook slightly. The blast door was opening. Isa cursed looked at me and said, "We don't have much time. Do what you think is right."
Hearing that made me tense up a little. I don't know if this is right! That's the problem. I took a deep breath. Now isn't the time to be indecisive; let's just try it.
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Taking out my wand, I held it up to the door and began to mutter to myself the incarnation for the spark spell. Yet, unlike the vast, explosive nature or the little spark I used for campfires, I began to imagine just an intense, burning ball of fire on the tip. As I cleared my mind and began to focus all my energy, I began to channel my magic into the tip and focus on keeping it right there. Gradually, the wand began to glow brighter and brighter as the heat began to emit from it. The once dimly lit room began to glow with the bright red light as I continued to focus on keeping the small, arcane sun on the tip of my wand.
Carefully, I reached out with the wand and pressed it against the black metal of the door, and immediately I saw the results I desired. The metal, within seconds, began to shine with a bright, cherry-red light and melt inward on itself.
Back where we came, distant shouts of reinforcing men could be heard, and Isa cursed and positioned herself towards one of the winding corners. "How much longer?" She asked me.
I didn't reply; I needed to focus on the task. If I accidentally release this ball of flaming death, we'll both die. I nervously reminded myself as I focused on gradually melting a path down the door. Blue light shone through the opening I was forming as I carved the line down its hull.
"Luna, I need you to go faster!" Isa pressured me, and I bit my lip as I reached the bottom of the door and angled my little arcane plasma cutter to cut along the edge. Suddenly, I jolted when the sound of gunfire erupted behind me, and I nearly lost concentration.
"Fuck! They're here!" Isa shouted back to me as she began to send bullets down range.
My heart began to race as my flaming torch grew brighter with nerves, and I began to try and go faster. I was halfway finished with cutting a large hole in the door; I just needed a bit more!
A massive explosion erupted behind me, and I jolted and glanced over my shoulder. Thankfully, Isa was still standing, yet smoke and debris were blowing around the corner. I could hear shocked and pained screams from the invaders as Isa held one hand. A stone that she raked a piece of flint across, creating sparks of magical energy, caused the stone to glow an intense red, which she then threw around the corner. A second passed, and a second explosion shook the entire corridor!
I shifted my attention back to cutting through the door and quickly began to try to speed up the process. I was three-quarters of the way through when I heard more invaders charging down the corridor.
"Hoo-rah! Hoo-rah! Hoo-rah!" They unleashed their battle cry as I heard dozens of boots charging down the corridor, only to be turned into death cries when yet another explosion met them.
"I'm out of fire rocks!" Isa shouted back to me. "How much time?!"
"I'm done!" I screamed back at her just as my torch reached the edge of my starter line, and I shoved the massive metal plate out of the way of the window I created, shining the hallway with blue light. The edges of the window were still lined with molten metal, so I used the gust spell to quickly cool the edges as Isa rushed over to me.
"Go, go!" She urged me as I dove into the next room, and Isa quickly scrambled in behind me.
The two of us fell onto the cold, metallic floor. Our eyes were burning with the intense blue light that filled the room. We could hardly hear the sounds of screaming people. People who I saw when standing up.
The room was vast. The edges of the walls were lined with consoles and strange devices similar to old computers from the 1960s. From them, though, were pipes and cabling that lined the walls and ceilings, all of which led to a massive glass prison cell, a cell filled with dozens of people. From where I stood, I saw two staircases going along each side of the cell, leading up to some sort of overseer's room towards the back of the room, overlooking everything. However, in front of me, a few feet away, was a small set of stairs leading towards the cell and what looked to be a door.
My mind went blank, and I quickly rushed towards it. Rushing down the steps, I ran towards the glass, where men, women, and children of all races and classes saw me pressed against the glass. All of them called out to me in one voice to open the door.
"We're going to get you out!" I yelled to them. "We're going to get you out, but you need to back away!"
"Luna, there is going to be someone coming through the door in a minute!" Isa warned me. "We don't have much time—"
A suddenly droning horn deafened all of us, followed by the hissing of steam and servos whirring. A chorus of screams echoed from within the cell as I looked above, and to my horror, I saw a hatch in the ceiling open up—an unnatural tendril elegantly snaked down from the ceiling, its head fitted with menacing claws. The people inside howled with fear as they pushed and shoved each other along the edges, trying to get away.
"Papa! Papa!" A boy screamed.
A boy I was all too familiar with.
"Varis!" I cried as the tendril shot down and clamped its claws around my brother. Another chorus of screams echoed as two of Hein's guardsmen rushed out to grab my brother. Among them, I saw my father, ragged and beaten. He lunged out and clasped his hands around my brother's arms, and the soldiers grabbed onto my father's waist.
A woman screamed and rushed in to help my mother. Her body was beaten and bruised, and one of her arms was in a sling. Weakened she grabbed onto the men as dozens of others joined in.
"Hold me! Hold me!" I heard my father yell—the same yell I heard earlier.
The machine bellowed once more, as if in outrage at the resistance it was receiving. Steam and other unknowable gases were pumped into the chamber.
"Don't let go! Don't let go!" My father screamed desperately. "I won't let you take my fucking boy!" He shouted over the horrific roar of the mechanical monstrosity.
A scrawny man with pale yellow skin who was close to the glass slammed on it to get my attention. "The machine! Shut off the machine!" He yelled in an accented voice. "Shut it off!" He pointed towards the observation deck. "Shut it off now!"
Gunfire erupted from the entrance, and I was jolted to see Isa firing through the hole in the door at the invaders outside. "Luna!" She shouted. "We need to turn it off!"
"I-I know!" I screamed back at her. "I-It's got Varis! It has him!" I whimpered.
Fuck, fuck, don't panic! Now's not the time to panic! I screamed internally.
"We can figure out something," Isa responded. "For now, I'll cover the entrance. Just figure something out!"
"Pull! We need to pull!" I heard my father screaming as more and more people joined in on the massive life-and-death game of tug of war. I ran back up the steps and towards the large stairway alongside the cell.
Once again, the machine seemingly roared with anger as the tendril began to jerk and sway as if trying to shake the people off. All the while, Varis continued to scream and sob as our father clung to his arms.
I reached the top of the stairway and, once again, was met by a metal door just like the other. I cursed loudly. I jumped up to grab the handle, and to my surprise, it was unlocked. The heavy metal latch tugged down, and I pushed the door open as I ran into the room. I was met with two shots of intense pain.
The first bullet shattered across my shield; the ring of protection shone brightly when it flashed, signaling it had been shattered, and I was knocked back. The second bullet struck me in the left shoulder, merely grazing me and thankfully missing any bone. I screamed and stumbled back outside.
I clutched the grazed wound on my shoulder and cried out as the sound of laughter could be heard. In heavily accented Maurich, a woman's voice caught my ear: "A child? Are you infidels truly that desparate now?"
I gritted my teeth, looked back through the entrance, and saw a woman in a black and gray, form-fitting uniform with a heavy black coat and dark glasses. "To think that my personal guard was so easily taken out by you and that pussycat." She snorted as she took a step toward me and holstered her pistol. "From my reports, I thought someone else was coming up here—"
"Gust!" I roared as I thursted my hand outwards and blasted the woman in the chest, sending her flying across the room.
Yet in mid-air, she twisted her body, shouted something in her native tongue, and blasted her stream of air at the wall behind her, slowing herself and landing safely on her feet.
Another fucking spellcaster, great… I snarled as rage took over.
The woman smirked. "Well, that answers my question on how you got—"
I took out my wand, popped open my canteen, and lashed out at her with my water whip. In a surprising show of dexterity, she turned her body out of the direction of my first lash, and as I angled the sharp stream to come down at her, she backflipped out of the way.
"How rude of you!" The woman said it mockingly.
"Shut the fuck up!" I hissed. "Turn off the machine or I'll fucking kill you!"
Standing up straight, she brushed off her uniform before wagging a finger at me. "Nothing can be done, Little One."
I growled and reached for my pistol just as the woman drew hers, having expected to throw up a shield around myself and deflect the first flurry of bullets. Surprised by this, she immediately took cover behind one of the strange computer-like machines, just as I fired two bullets in her direction.
"Impressive!" The woman laughed. "Magically sound and can shoot. Though I see you're better at one over the other." She snickered.
"I said shut up!" Once again, I took control of my water and lashed out at her, and she dove forward and rolled before suddenly being caught by my torrent of wind and slammed into the wall. She gasped and froze as I continued to force her against the wall with more wind. Approaching her, I growled, "How do I turn it off?"
The woman smirked at me. "You can't; the refinement process has already begun. You cannot stop it midway."
"Refinement?" I blinked but then shook my head. "What do you mean? There's no emergency abort?"
The woman scoffed and laughed. "Even if there was, I would not tell you infidel. Doing so would stop them from becoming pure and useful to the cause."
I gritted my teeth. She's no better than the machines.
"Then I have no use for you," I said, dismissing my spell and allowing her to drop to her feet. Yet before she could do anything, I called upon the air from above to come crashing down. The force of the gust sent her upper body slamming into the metal floor with a fleshy thwack, and she stopped moving.
Not dead, but unconscious from what I could see.
"You can dodge everything else, but you can't dodge oxygen, bitch." I snarled and whined as I gripped the wound on my shoulder and ran to the console. I couldn't read anything on the displays or nobs. Through the glass down below, I could see Varis being lifted higher and higher into the air with my father and others as it continued to shake more and more of them off.
"Fuck, what does it do?" I asked myself. "Shit…. shit!"
Then it hit me.
Just fucking break it. Like everything else.
Sometimes brute force is the option.
Taking out my canteen, I checked how much water I had left. Not a lot; only enough for a few more lashes. Muttering the words to water lash, I channeled the water out of the canteen and looked at the glass in front of me. The glass beyond the pane leads directly into the cell if I could remove the glass. I could use the water to sever the tendril lifting my brother.
The fall would possibly hurt the others, but I could heal them if it came to that.
With the plan set, I lashed out with the water and sliced through the pane of glass, left, right, down, left again, and so forth. I sliced a nearly perfect square before blasting the glass pane out.
"Look out below!" I screamed as those within the cell dove out of the way of the falling glass, which shattered across the ground as they screamed in pain and shock.
Summoning the last remaining water from my canteen, I focused on the almost fleshy and metal tendril yanking my brother into the air and lashing outwards.
The water slicked through it like butter. Sparks and some sort of mechanical liquid sprayed outward as the claws came loose and the machine howled with what seemed like agony. The severed tendril contorted and spasmed as blackish-brown fluid sprayed from the stump, showering those below as everyone holding Varis screamed and fell back to earth.
Those who had seen what I'd done cheered and howled with joy and relief. Though it wasn't over yet, more gunshots came from the entrance as Isa continued to send hellfire out the open gap.
"Luna! I'm running out of ammo!" I could hear her scream.
"I'm almost done!" I yelled as I turned back, just as a heavy force rammed me right in the chest.
Suddenly, I was weightless; someone had their hands around me. I was confused at first until I realized.
The bitch woke up.
We were falling into the cell—a twenty-foot drop—a drop that would severely injure me or, at worst, kill me, depending on how I landed.
This is why I hate heights!
I panicked and tried to elbow the much larger woman, who I saw had a crazed look on her face as we fell head first towards glass-covered ground. Not wanting to die, I wiggled in her grasp, held out a free hand, and screamed, "Gus—" She tried to cover my mouth to stop my shortened incantation, but it was too late for her. The blast of air hit the ground, knocking those below out of the way but propelling us upwards towards a crowd of people.
Which we barreled right into.
A soft landing it was, though not for whoever I ran into. The Rusivite woman and I crashed into the large group who had helped save Varis, and immediately, like a swarm of zombies, they were on us. Or, well, her, not me.
Someone grabbed my dazed self and dragged me from the dog pile as the crowd began to beat and wail upon the woman. "Do not kill her!" One of the soldiers shouted. "Keep her alive! We need her alive!"
The Rusivite woman laughed psychotically and yelled with pain as she was beaten and dragged away, and I shook my head and regained my composure. I glanced up to see who yanked me out, and what my eyes fell upon were the sapphire-blue orbs of my mother.
"Hello again, Momma," I said with a dopey smile I couldn't contain.