Tires screeched as the car swerved haphazardly among other cars while Ley and the others braced themselves in tense silence. Siri was breaking traffic rules left and right but no one even batted an eyelid. They would rather let her go even faster.
All traces of sleep were gone from Ley's face even though she was still in dreamland 10 minutes ago before she was frantically awakened by Siri because of an emergency. Ley made her hacked into the monitoring systems on Landon's base as a secondary precaution against Merda's vision so she immediately gathered everyone up the moment she saw signs of fighting on the base.
"The vision is happening really quick this time. It's only been a few hours," she muttered out loud to no one in particular with a frown.
"You've been sleeping like the dead, Ley. It has already been more than a day. We didn't wake you up because your body was trying to recover from the burn out of your magic," Merda replied.
No wonder her body felt so sluggish and creaky, turns out she slept for too long. It rarely happened to her but that is a coping mechanism of magicks to recover vast amounts of magic they lost at once and in her case, recovering from the blood loss too. The body just naturally shuts down. She didn't dwell on it for too long since her mind is occupied by the urgency to get to Landon's base.
They soon arrived in the vicinity of the base and Siri stopped the car near the border of the forest. Ley, followed by Tristan and Gale, swiftly got out of the car without a word and ran towards the forest since it would be faster to go through it on foot while Siri, Merda and Sera would find the nearest entry that they could use.
Ley sprinted like mad, barely aware of her surroundings. Her tattoos that can increase her physical abilities even further burned in a flash as the magic was consumed to accelerate her speed.
She was almost there when she heard roars that sounded uncannily familiar to her. The same quality during that night when Landon saw them sneaking out with the dead body of the taboo. She immediately ran towards that direction. On the way, torn bodies of shifters lay around like some beast mawled them to some kind of unrecognizable state. They didn't have time to look closer and just passed them by in their haste.
Her heart pounded deafeningly as she pushed herself to get there even faster than possible before her mind wandered to the unthinkable. They burst out of the trees and came on to a heated confrontation on the drilling grounds surrounded by the building. She came to a sudden stop due to the scene that welcomed her. She saw Landon transformed as a humongous tiger ripped another shifter with his unusually long fangs piercing the body. He shook his head brutally before he flung the body far away and unleashed a frightening roar in defiance. There were a few shifters behind him clearing out the stragglers left which she presumed were the enemies. Clearly, they didn't need rescue at all.
She turned around to talk to Gale and Tristan to discuss going back when she saw their eyes bulged out in surprise. The previous controlled scene was gone as if it didn't happen at all. They were surrounded in a blink of an eye by only a few, not even exceeding all her fingers when counted.
She froze in shock at what the new arrivals did next. She had them pinned as shifters due to some of their transformed body parts but then they released magic that incapacitated almost everyone except for Landon who managed to dodge in time by a hairsbreadth. He immediately gathered his fallen team near him and assumed a defensive position.
Her heart dropped in alarm. There was no denying their identities but she was confused and utterly unprepared for their arrival. She couldn't understand why so many taboos could've escaped their notice. They weren't even juveniles. They were trained and disciplined like a weapon judging by their behaviors. They were enemies.
Lightning fast, they forced Landon to act defensively not only due to their numbers but also because he was taken by surprise. He transformed back to his human form except for some parts. His face was undeniably still inhuman with his eyes still reflecting the ferocity of the beast, elongated fangs and razor sharp nails. He was surrounded but he radiated madness and tyranny instead.
Ley knew right then and there that he wouldn't run and leave his subordinates to their mercy. His personality wouldn't allow it. He might fall but he would do so with his head held high. That manic smile solidified her belief in his next move. He wouldn't survive but he would take as many as he can with him. She understood his predicament and knew deep inside that she would've done the same in his place.
In the blink of an eye, numerous elemental bursts created by the unfamiliar taboos took shape casting a fierce light to his lone self in the middle. He let out a bestial roar that drew an irrational fear to everyone on the clearing.
Ley, with an outsider's point of view, knew that in a few seconds the spells would hit but this idiot wouldn't evade and her body instinctively ran in his direction. She wondered who was more stupid between the two of them.
She reached his side in a flash and caused him to fall on his back due to her momentum. She smirked in response to his shocked expression and watched it morphed to incredulity. That's when a world of pain exploded deep inside her.
Ley blacked out for a moment but soon regained lucidity. She had trouble focusing for a moment but soon saw Landon's livid face who seemed to be shouting at her however she couldn't hear him due to the ceaseless ringing in her ears. She coughed up blood and his countenance turned even more grotesque. She dimly felt blood leaking from her wounds.
She couldn't waste the magic flowing out from her and understood that she only had a few moments before she fainted from blood loss. Her wounds were severe. It was her life slowly fading away but it was also magic that carried unimaginable power. At this moment, she was invincible like an untouchable spark.
Growing up, she had always treated the taboos as the minority. Repressed by the world, they were forced into hiding. They lived in the shadows to survive and escape those who want their lives. This belief was firmly etched in her heart frequently as the reason that helped her find the will and the strength to continue propping up the taboos on her side.
That's why she couldn't understand why taboos like her were attacking innocents. She spent her whole life trying to protect them, hoping that someday they can show the world that they were innocents. That they were different from their forebears.
The goal to live freely under the sun with the other races.
She could see it disintegrating right at this moment. Being destroyed by her very own kind that she had sworn to protect with her own life. She had to stop them. She wouldn't hesitate to kill them if that's what it would take.
Maybe this is the reason why they were called monsters.