by Andre Pisco
There were several long benches scattered about the room; one on top of the other, some with the seats facing the ground and others on the diagonal. The wind blew into the room and made the papers flutter. Old leaflets, dating back to a time before the great separation, as one could make out for the fragility of the paper and the little-defined images. The walls, vulnerable to the wind, played soft music, flutists experienced in the art of appeasing the fears of those who traveled.
James had taken only a few steps, still incredulous that the space that had been preserved there. Luckily, he looked down before continuing. A whitish goo had fused to the brown of the ground. Round wraps were also on the side; broken and candle out. He stood still for a few seconds, staring at a curtain of red satin fabric that was on the stage. He decided to go closer and see the mystery behind it as the remaining young men and girl appeared behind him, asking him if the place was safe.
"Let’s go. I've seen it all. Any problem, I'll protect you," he said.
They sat on the benches. The silence lay with them, and so they stayed for a brief moment. They wiped the sweat off their faces and let the moisture on their clothes dry. They looked around, focusing on what was left of the walls ornamented by someone skilled in their work.
"Looks like someone left this place running," Lucy commented, picking up some of the papers on the floor and flipping through them to see if they contained any valuable information.
"Or they had to leave. These benches may be a fighting signal," Neil replied.
"Or desperation..." Max added, trying to create a theory about what had happened there.
They talked among themselves, trying to reach consensus when Lucian asked for silence. Neil was about to respond, but Alec grabbed his arm and nodded. The wind roared through the building, shaking its vulnerable structure and echoing through the flaws. Time seemed to be in slow-motion. James gave in at Lucian's request, twisting his nose, sniffing what was around him.
"You sense them too, don’t you?" Lucian asked quietly to Alec.
"Yes, at least one behind the curtain and another on the roof," he replied with his head down, struggling not to look at the places mentioned.
"There's another, but I'm not sure where. The smell is all over the place." Lucian said, catching James's attention as he approached them and listened with doubled attention, "Let's do it like this. James, seeing you’re the most impulsive one, attack who is behind the curtain. It's on the floor, it's perfect for you. Alec, you wait until the third to appear while I deal with whoever is above us. Lucy protect Neil and Max," he ordered.
Neil didn’t like Lucian’s plan. He knocked the floor and said he didn’t agree, and they told him that it was not the time to be a hero. They had to be quick, stealthy and take advantage of the element of surprise. He stiffened, placing himself at Max's side, who grabbed his backpack, propping it against his body to protect himself. Neil had his short knife close to his body in case he needed to put it to use.
"I'll count to 3 and then we'll do it," Lucian said, with the gem of the eye in the corner, controlling the movements of anyone on the roof, "One ..." breathlessness grew louder, cutting the stressful silence, "Two ..." hearts beat at an unhealthy pace as sweat dripped onto the floor.
James wasted no time and threw himself into the curtain. He was not yet fully healed, so he shifted by putting his injured shoulder in a non-visible spot as he ran diagonally across the room. The hand shone as never before, lighting the room, and dazzling the sight of the rest.
"Shit. Too soon." Lucian said, turning to the roof, his eyes half-closed, throwing a net made of ice.
He hit the suspect's leg, who was perched upside down, shortly before laughing triumphantly and using its energy from the earth. Thick branches, looking as if they had already succumbed from an old tree, wrapped the net around them and tossed it away like fine porcelain. He turned in the middle of the fall, landing normally within a few feet of them. Alec was focused, looking for signs of the appearance of a third guy, sounds and visual cues alike.
???
Class: Wizard
Specialization: Earth/Destruction
HP: 350/350
Attack: 250 + 30
Defense: 150 + 30
Agility: 150
Wisdom: 120
Items:
Witches’ forest ring: +30 attack; +30 attack
Meanwhile, James ripped the curtain and punched the wall "There is no one here!" He shouted, annoyed by the waste of energy.
"You should be more attentive." A female voice whispered in his ear.
As he turned, he had time to take two steps back before a knife ripped the skin of his arm upright. Blood rushed to the surface, running down his arm, burning and rendering it unusable. He let out an agonizing bellow, which echoed twice through the old walls of the place.
"James!" Max shouted as soon as Neil stopped him from going to the rescue of his cousin.
"I can’t let you go. He will survive, won’t you James?" Neil asked, doing his best to hold Max there. After all, he was the only healer they had, and he couldn’t be risked so early.
"Clear. I was just giving her a chance to make this equal," James replied, coughing as he laughed.
"Guys are boring," the girl said, juggling her two knives. They had freshly painted roses, although the metal was rusty.
???
Class: Ninja
Specialization: Illusion/Knives
HP: 400/400
Attack: 170 + 40
Defense: 120
Agility: 200
Wisdom: 135
Items:
Hot fire bath’s metal knives: +40 attack
The way she was dressed was a plus for her, offering her the chance to take advantage of her agility to the fullest. A black skirt that ended just above her knees and lace stockings of the same color contrasted with the short pink top, whose letters had been blackened by dust on the top. She had blond hair and a ponytail. What stuck out about her the most, however, was not the way she repeatedly hit her left heel on the floor, or the way she was constantly smearing her lips. James couldn’t stop staring into her right eye, where a healed wound left her skin torn and blood had dried. The eye was totally white, with no moving point, or anything that gave it a life of its own.
"It's strange, isn’t it? Boys like you, from Drexus, don’t know what it's like to live like this. We aren’t young adults, we are pain manifested and personified" she laughed, content with James's terrified look.
He swallowed but didn’t budge. The rest had trusted him, and he couldn’t let them down. Besides, he didn’t want to be accused of being the only one not able to win, he couldn’t let Alec and Lucian overtake him.
Across the room, ice flowed through Lucian's hands and shoulders. In front of him, stood a young man, between 25-26 years old, with a macabre smile that was missing some front teeth and the remaining were yellow. He scratched his face constantly, with sharp nails, and he laughed even more as the blood rose in his red cheek. It was not something new. It was possible to see marks on his face of doing so. He had only a semi-ripped white t-shirt, hiding part of his set abs and a symbol under his clavicle.
"Bzzzzz ... bzzzzz. Can we kill them?" He asked, his eyes black, almost as if someone had possessed him.
"YES." A deep voice said as he rose from the floor, a few feet ahead of them.
The group opened their mouths in contemplation. They had turned the place up, even trampled on the ground where he had appeared, but there was nothing to indicate the presence of anyone. He was different from the others; an older man with broad shoulders, already in his thirties and in a showy outfit. He had a vest, which gave him a defense bonus, and black skinny pants that fit the stretches he made. Their lack of concern frightened the young. They looked at each other and then at the building, looking for an exit, or anything that would allow them to leave without having to fight. They had never faced anyone who would not hesitate to kill them, someone whose humanity had long since ab
andoned them. The memory of the sorceress in Drexus still lingered in their memory, but only Lucian had been so close to someone who had threaten his life.
???
Class: Ninja
Specialization: Chameleon
HP: 500/500
Attack: 200
Defense: 200 + 40
Agility: 140 – 20
Wisdom: 210
Items:
Protego Mantle: +40 defense; -20 agility
"Kill them. Torture them. The usual. Decide what you want. You are free. No one else will have a hand in you," said the man, smoothing his beard outline with his fat fingers and dirt-nailed nails.
"Well, it's time to start then," said the boy, letting his arms wrap around thick branches. His hands had become an extension of a trunk, strong and made of wood, enough to break what had the audacity to stand before him.
The girl, in turn, rubbed her daggers at each other. The shrill sound overcame any other noise, echoing through the walls and echoing in their minds. Various types of expressions overtook the group; fear in Max's face, which clung more and more to his backpack, to the seriousness of Alec, Lucian, and James's face, to Lucy's eyes that moved from one side to the other, and Neil's fear, who didn’t know how to help, but struggled not to show that his feet were on the ground and his knees trembled.
"Get ready," Alec shouted, waking his friends from the numbness.
The first to attack was the older man. He pulled a sharp two-edged dagger from one of his trouser pockets and tugged it hard on Alec's forehead. He cut the sound and the wind, turning to Alec at breakneck speed, shortening the distance. Alec didn’t even have a reaction if it wasn’t for Lucy's energy. Branches held the knife a few inches from Alec's face, breathing in relief and gratitude.
"That annoyed me," the man said, pulling two more knives out of his pocket.
At the same time, James tried to hit the girl with his fists, but she just spun away, laughing and staying on the defensive. It was well known that she could have attacked, but she didn’t. From time to time, she glanced at the large man, as if waiting for an order from him.
"Faster," she said, making James's speed seem slow-motion.
His veins bulged in his forehead and neck. He forced his teeth against each other, breaking his boundaries and going beyond, striving to be seen as well as Alec or Lucian.
"I won’t be left behind," he shouted, as he finally hit the girl squarely on her right shoulder, making her lose 50 HP.
She took a few steps back and lowered her head. When she lifted it, her expression had changed. She was no longer the girl who accepted the pain, but someone who used it to strengthen herself. Her hair covered her face, but the psychotic smile spread around the room as her torn eye grew and occupied a third of the left part of her face. James took two steps back and put himself in a combat position, wrists on top and bent legs. He still had enough energy for a few golden fists.
"Well, it looks like it's our turn," said the boy in front of Lucian.” I want to have fun, too."
He leaped up at Lucian and stretched out his arm, giving him just enough time to create a thin wall of ice, which shattered into a thousand pieces as soon as the wooden fist touched him. Lucian was thrown to the floor with the force of the impact, rolling to the nearest wall and gasping for breath as he struck his back. The building shook, the walls creaked, and the air grew heavier due to the dust falling from the roof. The situation was not pleasant, and Neil and Max lost the hope that had accompanied them there. The other group appeared to be on a different level. They had survived in the middle of nowhere, probably attacking defenseless men. Lucian stood up and ran the sleeve of his t-shirt over his ripped lips.
"We’re just starting,” he said, accepting the battle almost as a challenge.
"He's right. We were just warming up.” Alec replied. Flames came out of the palm of his hand, heating the space, and heating it like a furnace.
"Don’t forget me. I'm going to finish her off before you are dispatched." James said, meddling in the conversation.
The other group was confused. They gazed at each other, wondering where their apparent willingness to fight and the confidence they had come up with had come from. It irritated them to be ignored, to be put on the sidelines as if they were nothing. They stopped laughing, wearing only a short lip-toothed smile. Nothing visible or flashy, but it still made an impression of terror. The moment had gained importance that deserved their full attention.
"Stop talking. They're really pissing me off," shouted the man, interrupting Alec and Lucy, who were talking quietly.
Alec turned to him, with a slight smile of one who has an infallible plan. He looked at Lucy and nodded. A few seconds later he let the fire spread all over his hand as he ran toward the man. The man gripped the dagger, and crossed his hands in front of his chest, preparing to defend himself against Alec's attack.
The remaining fighting pairs had stopped and watched the main fight unfolding without losing focus. As soon as Alec was in the man's footsteps, he slowed, surprising the man who was so intent on him that he had not even noticed that Lucy's lianas had snaked across the floor, and now they were pinning his feet. Alec gave him no chance of regaining his composure by striking him with a flaming fist in his chest that threw him onto the altar and against the embellished walls. The structure shook again, warning of the risk of collapse. Still, no one moved. The man's HP came down to 420, and in seconds his vision blurred.
"Dad, are you okay?" The girl asked, ignoring James's presence and running to the man, helping him to his feet.
"I told you not to call me dad when we're in the middle of a fight. How many times do I have to repeat myself?" He told her, followed by a sharp crack in her face that left the whitish mark of his fingers on her pink skin.
"Hey! Are you sure you want to hit a girl? That's not alright" Neil grunted, putting aside his fear and inability to fight.
"Shut up, boy. This does not concern you. Only the strong survive and she has to be one of them." The man said, "Don’t you agree?" He asked her.
"Yes, Fa ... Yes, it's true," she said, stumbling over her words.
The words were still in the air as the other boy decided to move toward Lucian, preparing for another powerful punch. However, Lucian was not a person to fall into the same mistake twice. The wood caused the boy to weigh more and be slower, allowing Lucian to predict his movements and find a quick solution to counterattack them. As he reached out, Lucian swerved to the right, escaping the punch. Impossible to stop, the boy eventually punched the wall with a brutality that caused some of the roof bricks to come off and fall. Once again, a heavy fog clouded everyone's vision. The boy was ready to strike again, but he found himself unable. Lucian had taken advantage of a window of mere seconds and had frozen the wall, holding the fist of the boy inside. Despair took hold of him as he shouted madly, struggling to regain his freedom. He put one foot on the wall and used it to gain balance, but it had no effect.
"I'll kill you. I'm going... AHHHH" he shouted, while his effort was nil.
Adrenaline took control of his body. He began to punch the wall with the remaining arm, not considering the fragility of the building. The roof was about to collapse and the walls would not hold out much longer.
"You're going to destroy the building," Lucian shouted.
"I want to get out of here," shouted the young man again, punching the wall more and more intensely. His eyes were corrupted by darkness. The agony in his voice, uncontrolled as if a nightmare had come true. Tears ran down his face and he gritted his teeth.
"We have to get out of here. Quick." Alec said, "Go first. I will protect you." He added to Lucy, who followed Neil and Max as they rushed to the door, "Infernus Endum!" He said, shaking his hands and letting the fire spread across the floor, using old paper and candles as a conductor and fuse.
The flames surrounded the man and the girl. Alec snapped his fingers and the flames became unstable, growing until they were about the same heigh
t as the man. James took advantage and ran for the door, followed by Lucian who had stayed behind to make sure the other boy didn’t escape. The roof began to crumble, brick behind brick fell on the floor, forcing Alec to close his eyes and cover his nose and mouth to avoid contact with the dust. He was already near the door when he looked back one last time. The man looked into his eyes. Death didn’t frighten him. The girl was on his back, hugging him, panting, swallowing hard not to cry. The heat burned their clothes, which became mere ashes on the floor. Alec hesitated for a moment but ended up canceling his energy, giving them a few seconds to save themselves.
The building collapsed. The dust rose above the trail of civilization that lay there.
"We should get out of here fast," Lucy said.
"Why?" James asked suspiciously.
"The noise of the building falling ... If there are any other groups nearby, I'm sure they've heard." She answered him, putting her hair in a ponytail for the first time.
"She's right. It's dangerous to stay here," Alec said, leaning back and staring at the wreckage.
Their throats were dry, their sentences crawled and their hair was full of dust, as were their clothes and skin. Each took a sip of what was left of the water. They were in an unfamiliar place, tired, thirsty and hungry, and still didn’t know where to go. Max put his backpack on and followed James, who had taken the lead.
Suddenly, a distended voice, clinging to what was left of his life, begged for help. A low tone, almost whispering but coming undoubtedly from beneath the debris. Through the pile of bricks and walls over them, a flayed hand appeared, folding his fingers slowly, struggling to keep himself alive. The young men didn’t move. There was a sense of doubt between them, consuming them. Their willingness to help was seconded by the fear of helping someone who was willing to kill them minutes ago.