Kyan's hands shook as he tried to slip a healing potion down his sister's throat. Her hair was matted and darkened at the edges. The darkened veins were slowly fading but the impressions left were still unsettling. Kyan knew that Karsyn never used her abilities. They took too much energy and could kill her. She was much more proficient in hand-to-hand battle and those guards didn't seem like wielders. It made him uncomfortable to know that Karsyn took such extreme measures for such a slight situation. He slid out his Screen and checked her temperature. She had a raging fever but that was to be expected after all the power she used. Twyll limped over, her dress torn and bloody. Trystan behind her was no better with a bloody gash on his forehead and dagger to the thigh. It was a miracle they were still standing.
"We need to get out of here. Where's Cadence? Shalom and Bren are non-responsive and Karsyn is obviously out of commission."
Trystan let out a dry laugh. "You sound like one of those military shows from Earth broadcasting."
Kyan gave him a withering look and turned his attention back to Karsyn just as Shalom and Bren burst into the room.
"What happened? Is she..." Shalom's eyes were mad and panicked. The violet darkening to mulberry.
"She is stable. She has a fever but that should clear in a few hours. She just needs a lot of rest and liquids which we can provide once we get out of here." Kyan calmly replied as he wrapped Karsyn in cool blankets.
Bren looked away. Her eyes were red with burst blood vessels and her temples were streaked with blood and black dust. She looked haggard, as though she had fought through an age instead of a quarter of an hour. He wanted to ask but there was no time. Karsyn was bleeding now and they had to teleport as fast as possible.
The sweeping of strange winds caused everyone to look up from their thoughts.
All of them turned towards Bren. Her hands were outstretched. The right interlocked with the left, palm out. Blacklight emanating out in threads of living darkness. The threads bind together to form a ring of moving black.
The middle of the ring was a flashing montage of galaxies and stars, of monsters and darkness, glimpses of people in colourful clothes and palaces with marble domes.
"A portal," Twyll whispered in awe.
Portals were the most difficult form of wielding. Travelling through space from one area to another through a dimensional pocket required reserves of dark energy that no one would dare to wield. It was too dangerous and very Bren. He shouldn't be surprised that Bren had the ability and power to do this. She was an Immortal after all.
"You need to hurry, I can't keep control of it for long," Bren's voice broke through the awed silence.
This spurred them into action, just as guards burst into the hall with Cadence at the forefront running like he was being chased by a rabid dog that was trying to eat him.
He glanced at the portal and screeched to a halt, his jaw hanging open. The guards had similar reactions but mixed in with confusion.
"Kurva peklo!" Cadence swore.
The guards behind him were quiet, their hands raising a variety of weapons above their heads. The portal was crackling and screeching with a barely contained rain squall. Dark tendrils of energy permeated the air, reaching towards the guards but then suddenly retreating as if pulled back.
"Stop them, you idiots!" The Dictator yelled from the other side of the ballroom. This seemed to spur the guards into action as they ran towards the group. Shalom moved fast as he grabbed Karsyn from Kyan and jumped into the portal. Twyll grabbed both Trystan and Kyan's hands before pulling them into the portal and they vanished as well.
"CADENCE!" Bren yelled, "What the fuck are you waiting for!"
Cadence shot a feral grin at the racing guards before jumping into the rippling colours of the portal. Bren breathed out in relief before jumping in herself just as the guards reached the spot where the Portal was already closing.