The Powerless Series: Complete 5-Book Set

by Jason Letts

  In the next instant, Vern pulled Jeana away, allowing Mira to finally let go and sidle away from Gloria, who crawled along the ground. Aoi and Westley finally arrived, and Aoi immediately jumped on Gloria’s back to detain her while Westley deterred an unknown fighter.

  “Where’re the others?” Mira asked.

  “We must’ve lost Roselyn and Chucky,” Vern answered.

  The small group had surrounded Jeana, who breathed heavily but did not appear intimidated. She put her hand to the empty air next to her as a dense cloud whooshed in from around another cluster of brawlers. It brushed between Vern and Westley, disappearing to reveal Kevin Ipswich right by his wife’s side. His hair looked gray and pale, the same deplorable sneer on his face as the rest of the corrupted villagers.

  “Dad, I don’t want to hurt you!” Mira called.

  “It’s much too late for that,” he chided.

  Kevin and Jeana broke into a run at opposite ends of the circle. A puff of mist rolled right at Aoi and knocked her off of Gloria. Jeana ran at Mary, who couldn’t back up because a wall of mist formed behind her. She dove to the side at the last second, hurdling Gloria who climbed to her feet.

  Preparing for Kevin’s charge, Vern held his ground. Kevin drew back for a punch and snapped his hand forward, tiny wisps trailing behind his knuckles. Vern raised his hands to block, but they bumped against tiny clouds that left him completely exposed. Vern’s head rocked to the side from the blow’s impact, and he hobbled awkwardly in an attempt to stay on his feet.

  Westley restrained Kevin’s arm as he prepared another punch, but he was in Mary’s way and she had no choice but to dive between his legs. Before Jeana could set herself upon her new target, Mira nudged her in the direction of her father.

  “Mira, look out!” Aoi yelled, and Mira turned her head to see a thick globule flying toward her. Without enough time to react, she watched it curve toward Vern and then splatter against the dirt.

  Kevin swung an elbow at Westley while he made a wall to block out Vern. Westley doubled over in pain, and Aoi hopped on his back and used it as a springboard to land on Kevin. Instantly, Kevin sealed them inside a cloud.

  Vern pulled Gloria into the air to prevent her from grabbing hold of Westley. She spiraled, flinging goop all over and forcing the others to recoil until Vern dropped her. They circled around Kevin’s dense cloud. Some other fighters stampeded through the area, making Mira and Mary hide behind it for protection. While waiting for Gloria or Jeana’s next attack, they had no idea what went on inside.

  In the cloud, Kevin let loose a torrent of attacks on the much shorter girl. Fleeting wisps darted at Aoi and vanished, the flurry pummeling her entire body. To her credit, Aoi fought deftly, avoiding as many that landed, but couldn’t escape from the tiny enclosed space. So focused on every movement, it made her placid eyes appear vacant.

  Aoi managed a few counter shots, including a kick to Kevin’s leg that made it buckle, but she never tried to hurt him. As battered as she appeared, Kevin started to tire first. The cloud wall behind him disappeared, and Kevin slipped out before the rest would vanish and Aoi could escape.

  As the cloud faded into thin air, Gloria chased Vern with a murderous intent on her face. Mira caught the back of her uniform and yanked her off her feet. Westley and Mary preoccupied Jeana, who couldn’t go after one without being antagonized by the other. But things became much more complicated after Kevin reemerged. Numerous cloud formations appeared and swung at them. Aoi could just hop over one to prevent Gloria’s from grabbing Mira.

  Kevin reached his empty hand into the air and created a massive mallet that was just as tall as he was. He swung this weightless puff of mist right into Aoi’s side, sending her flying. The blow knocked her back at Westley, and she got caught in his orbit. Flipping in the air, Aoi revolved around Westley’s back and he launched her back at Kevin. They collided and collapsed together. Angered, Vern jumped forward to assault Kevin when Mira put her hand against his chest.

  “Please don’t hit him!” she said to Vern, who appeared exasperated.

  “You’ve gone soft, Mira,” Kevin griped. “Didn’t I teach you any better?”

  “You taught me there’s nothing more important than family!” Mira yelled.

  “That’s just what parents say to make you do what they want!” Kevin growled.

  He got to his feet, caught his breath, and eyed his competition warily. Heavy explosions and screams rippled through the air. Everyone waited to see what would happen next, waiting to see if it was over. Even Gloria appeared exhausted.

  Kevin jerked his hands forward and a blast of mist pushed Vern away. The mallet returned to his hand, and Mary watched him twist his torso to aim for Aoi. Unaware of the coming blow, Aoi had turned in dire agony to see what happened to Vern. Mary had a split second when she could’ve shouted or pushed Aoi out of the way.

  But she did neither, and, in that moment when she remained motionless, a pair of gritty hands slipped onto her cheeks from behind. The last thing she saw before her eyelids dropped was a mallet of mist drilling Aoi in the stomach.

  Mary’s unconscious body fell just as Aoi’s did. Aoi sputtered and coughed, still looking over at Vern, who had trouble getting up. Looking to finish her off, Kevin stood in front of her when Mira collapsed onto his chest.

  “Stop this! This isn’t you!” she cried.

  “It’s time I put you back in your cage,” Kevin said, unsympathetic eyes glaring at her. Although she was up against him, Mira could feel the thinnest sheet of mist slip between them, and wash over her field of vision completely. She tried to back up, but she bumped into another wet wall. Only then did she realize she’d been sealed in completely.

  “I’m trying to save you!” she shouted as she pushed her forearms against the wall.

  She felt the ceiling press on the top of her head, and she realized her tiny cage was shrinking. The heart-stopping terror overwhelmed her as she thought about how these walls of water would crush her as though she were at the bottom of the ocean. Hunching over, she reached into her pockets and pulled the rest of the matches out of her pocket.

  Swiping them against the side of her uniform, she watched the waving flames sprout and glow. When they reached their peak, Mira held the matches against the side of the wall in front of her, waiting for the first sign that the moisture had thinned to dive directly into them.

  After passing through the fire, the water felt like shattering glass. She erupted from the side of the wall, finishing her dive flush against the ground. Unsure of what happened while she had been trapped or what she would find on the outside, Mira frantically looked around. Instead of a continuing assault against her parents, she saw Vern, Aoi, and Westley, who carried Mary. Together they guarded their ground against other soldiers who ravaged the area.

  “Where are they?” Mira gasped.

  “Your parents flew off and Gloria ran away,” Vern said.

  Getting to her feet and brushing herself off, Mira looked around and tried to see which way they had gone. They didn’t leave a trace though, and the small group had no place to go within this massive expanse of unrestrained violence. Instead of wispy clouds, they noticed rising flames and billowing smoke further from Darmen but close to the river. They couldn’t see where the Warlord had gone or what these flames were about, but the sheer magnitude of it made them fear for Darmen’s defenses.

  Much closer to the spreading flames, Roselyn, Chucky, and Cybil struggled to keep themselves intact as wave after wave of thrashing adversaries bombarded them. Roselyn bellowed her notes at the top of her lungs, but for the scraping metal, the screams, and the crackling explosions she couldn’t make it into a single ear. Only her blonde curls rang like a beacon in this dreary scene, but they couldn’t do anything to help her.

  Chucky used his oily fists and Cybil employed sharp blasts of air. But no matter how many enemies they fought off, there were always more. Whether they had Sunfighter uniforms or plainclothes, every person that
surrounded them carried the same dire threat.

  The jostling foray brought them within sight of the flames, but it was not the sight that first alerted them to its presence. Someone was stoking a huge ring of fireballs that hung in the air. The bodies on the ground, the raging fire, and the black smoke signaled an ill turn for the battle.

  When Chucky repelled an enemy soldier, he felt Roselyn bumping against his back. She could do little to defend herself and had no room to retreat.

  Turning to help, he expected to find a brutish thug, but instead a girl almost their age attacked them. She had pigtails, shiny earrings, and a vicious snarl. Chucky paused as he recognized her from their hometown, remembering she had spoken to Mira during the Equinox Festival. The girl rushed at them, putting her hands to both Roselyn and himself. Without a fight, she vanished amongst the moshing throng.

  “We’ve got to get away from here!” Cybil screamed into their ears only a moment later.

  Looking back, the blaze had become radically more grotesque. The fireballs now circled high through the air in a continuous and unbroken chain. Something juggled them somehow. The dense smoke clogged the sky and the stench permeated every breath. Worst of all, it started to move toward Darmen, and the three of them were caught in between.

  Chucky had his legs tangled with Roselyn’s, and his first step sent them tumbling onto the ground. They tried to unhinge themselves, but discovered they couldn’t separate even after their legs were apart. Groaning, it became clear the girl had used her power to make them stick together.

  Tugging and yanking on their uniforms, they tried to get free, but they couldn’t make any progress. The burning wheel of death coming closer, Cybil bent down to assist them. Exerting herself, she tried to pull them apart but had just as little luck. She heaved and pulled at them, getting in close and trying until her face went red.

  Just then, a black uniform jumped onto Cybil from behind and started tearing her away. Nearby enemies scattered and fled before the wall of fire swept over them, but this one fought as if oblivious to it. He ripped Cybil away from Roselyn and Chucky and hurled her back against the dirt.

  Chucky twisted his neck to see that Cybil’s attacker was Will, who glowed triumphantly after rescuing them. He shouted to tell Will what he’d done to her. The tint of the blazing fire on Will’s face, he turned to view his fallen mentor, and his look of delight plummeted into an abyss of agony and sorrow.

  “It’s OK,” Cybil whispered, and in her last seconds she cut her arm in front of her body, creating a gust that pushed the three of them out of harm’s way. The wheel of flames, cycling into the air and sinking down as if by strings from above, immolated her entirely and continued along its course to the clay citadel of Darmen. Leaving countless friends and foes in its wake, it delivered a similar fate to a broad section of Darmen’s last reserve, sprawling into the city and disintegrating against its buildings. From this gaping breach in the city’s defenses, the Sunfighters and their mindless allies poured into the once impregnable city.

  Chapter 18: Attrition

  Now that the fighters of Darmen’s last reserve had been defeated and most of the invaders funneled into the city streets, the grasslands appeared vacant and ravaged after the massacre. Bodies and holes littered the ground, most of the grass had been burned away, and only a few lingering soldiers continued the fight in the distance. Through it all, the sun burned as brightly and happily as on a temperate summer day.

  Will rocked back and forth on the ground, twitching and shaking. His eyes, peeled wide open, conveyed his utter shock. Her arms around him, Roselyn held him and tried to comfort him. She felt Cybil’s loss too, but right now she had to focus on the broken shell in her arms or he would crack into a thousand pieces.

  “You have to hold on, Will. It’s not over yet. Remember when Mira said we have to let go? Cybil’s gone now, but it wasn’t you who caused it. It’s this war, and we should be happy she’s finally escaped it.” The words felt easy for Roselyn to say but much harder for her believe.

  Chucky was right beside her. He applied his oily sweat to the joined fabric and they slowly separated. He raised his hand and pointed to some approaching figures. Jerking her head, the emotion and the horror boiled so high that Roselyn’s eyes burn, but seeing Mira and the others make a safe return gave her reason yet to hope they might make it through this.

  “Look, Will, we’ve got company. If there’s one thing that can be said for her, Mira defies the odds. We’ll find a way, Will. I just know it,” Chucky said.

  Westley still carried Mary, who floated by his side. Beside them, Mira, Vern, and Aoi shuffled on. Aoi looked particularly worse for wear. Just as they got into speaking range, the first loud explosion echoed from the city. One of the taller multi-story buildings crumbled into a pile of dust. Debris clouds spread in all directions. Though Darmen was ten times bigger than Corey Outpost, in a matter of time they would both stand just as tall.

  “Will, I’m so glad you’re OK. Where’s Goober?” Mira asked from a distance.

  Taking another few steps closer, they noticed his shattered expression and that Cybil wasn’t with them. Mira put her fingertips to her lips as Will reeled.

  “He’s me! Not even he has the unholy pull on death that I do. Just everything I touch withers into a vacuous waste of life. It’s just so awful,” he cried.

  They couldn’t have known his act of heroism had caused her death, but the sting of his loss hit them just the same.

  “Will, I’m sorry. Whatever you need to do now, that’s fine,” Mira said.

  “What about the rest of us?” Chucky asked Mira, breaking through the silence.

  “I refuse to let the Warlord have the last word. It seems like things can’t possibly get any worse, and we have little or nothing to throw at him, but he must still be held accountable. So I’m going after him. The rest of you can do what you think is best,” she declared.

  Chucky patted Will on the shoulder before he stood up.

  “Let’s keep fighting. I’ve got to see this one through to the end,” he agreed.

  “I’m doing this for you,” Roselyn whispered to Will, squeezing him before letting go and joining Chucky. Will watched her go but couldn’t get himself off the ground.

  “I promised Corey I would make a difference,” Roselyn said to the group, “promised him from the bottom of my heart.”

  “I think what’s best for Mary here,” Westley said, clearing his throat and taking a step back, “is to head back to the cavern. I’ll come back once she’s safe,” he sighed.

  “That’s fine,” Mira consented. “Take good care of her. Maybe you can wake her up.”

  Vern and Westley shared a look before he left that seemed to speak volumes. The group turned their eyes to the shortest one among them, whose black hair curved around her face in a crescent.

  “Are you going to drop out too, Aoi?” Vern asked.

  “Not on your life,” she replied. “I’m just getting started.”

  They all turned back to Will, whose black uniform differed from their tan ones. They had to move on, but they didn’t know what to do about Will, who couldn’t come if he wanted to.

  “It’s OK,” Will quivered. “I’ll find my own way back into the fight.”

  Offering sympathetic nods, the group of five soldiers started across the field for the city. Westley and Mary moved east toward the cavern, but at least they would find a clear path. The enemy army had moved entirely into the city, and evidence of their looting and pillaging echoed far into the plain.

  The remainder of Darmen’s forces had dispersed into the city, which got smaller and shorter as each building crumbled. No matter how quickly it diminished, it still remained a huge area to search out one man. Scouring the outskirts for any kind of sign, Mira’s group happened to see Goober cartwheel his way over bodies on his way into the city.

  “The Warlord will leave a trail of death and destruction, and that’s the one trail Goober never fails to follow,” V
ern proclaimed.

  Taking their cue from his logic, they started for where they saw him, but he had already slipped behind an empty clay home. Buildings looked torn apart and ransacked, the sounds of fighting echoed on the streets, and blood in the sand threatened of incoming enemies. For a second, they thought they heard Goober’s delighted giggles, but crashing and crackling quickly drowned it out.

  The sound of a blast from behind shook them around. The large clay building had a clean slice across the middle, and the top half started to slide toward them. The building began to topple over right onto them, but the corner caught the ground at just the right angle and it teetered in the air for long enough to let them escape. The clay walls crumpled under the weight and crashed in two halves along the empty street and against the opposite building.

  Sighing, the five of them stepped over the rubble as they regrouped. Other buildings could go at any second, and more Sunfighters or corrupted townsfolk could descend on them. Darmen was just too big to go hunting through the streets without a lead.

  “This is stupid,” Chucky said, and everyone agreed.

  “OK, just wait a second,” Mira said, thinking with her hand against her head. “It’s only a matter of time until they head for the cavern where the rest of the townsfolk is hiding. There’s only one way in or out, so we’ll have to make our stand there.”

  “I wish we’d thought of that before we decided to venture in here,” Roselyn rued.

  “Come on, we don’t have much time to waste!” Mira urged, but Vern stopped her.

  “Do we? We have no idea how much time we have. How about I take to the rooftops while the rest of you hide by the riverbank. I’ll signal you when he’s coming and then we can ambush him,” he posed.

  “Wait, I have a problem with that. You have to take me with you,” Aoi said, and Vern looked to the others for an answer.

  “Go ahead, but keep yourselves out of danger,” Mira said. “You look cute together anyway. We’ll see you on the edge of the city from the bank.”