"Let's see just how strong you have gotten," Crystal said.
One of the twin's feet came flying at her face. Crystal grabbed the foot, catching the guy off guard and proceeded to knock him off his feet. Adjusting to a crouching position, she met Duko's blade with my sword. Duko was thrown back from the collision. Now rising, Crystal strode over to the other twin and, with a small hit to the head with my sword, he was out like a lightbulb. She then approached Duko, who was the only one left. Before he could do anything, a giant boulder of ice crashed down onto his head. Finally subdued, Crystal left the compound and walked out into the chaos.
It was a warzone. Blood spilled out from corpses and shouts, screams, and the clanging of weapons filled the air. The dull atmosphere did not help the scene. It made it look like it was the apocalypse. I saw our ship with Theo at the wheel shooting troops down and Astrid and Gram desperately trying to defend a group of prisoners. One of our carrier ships had arrived and had already loaded the prisoners Luka had freed. Although, his situation didn't look much better than ours.
Crystal made her way over to Astrid and Gram leisurely. If a soldier stood in her way, she cut them down with a simple flick of my sword. Upon reaching Astrid and Gram, my clothes were now stained in blood that was not my own. Astrid seemed especially startled since I must have had white hair and turquoise eyes.
"Amara! Are you alright?"
The voice that came out of my body was not mine, but rather Crystal's. It was unlike anything I had ever heard. It carried such authority and power that I felt shivers run down my spine. And yet, it was pleasant and pleasing to the ear.
"Yes, she is alright. She only had a minor abrasion on her shoulder."
Minor abrasion?! It was a huge gash!
"Ah, glad to hear that, um, she is alright," Astrid said awkwardly.
She turned and ignited a soldier before returning to the conversation. But, she was interrupted by Gram.
"Luka needs help! He is trying to help a group of prisoners get out and he said that the building is starting to collapse!"
Astrid gasped in bewilderment. "I will go over to help him," Crystal said.
Then she spun on her heel and ran in the direction of Luka. As Crystal neared the entrance to the east wing, I noticed that there was a huge swarm of soldiers. They must be trying to get to Luka and the prisoners.
Crystal, noticing that it would be impossible to enter through the door, decided to forge her own path. Accelerating to her top speed, she jumped and pushed off one of the soldier's heads. With a graceful leap, she made it onto the roof of the compound. She quickly used her ice as giant hands and ripped the ceiling open, right above where Luka and the prisoners were.
Crystal jumped down into the hall. Luka seemed mildly surprised by her entrance.
"Where is Gram?" Luka asked.
"He is busy with something else," Crystal answered smoothly. Luka must have noticed the change in my voice because he didn't ask anymore questions. Not waiting for Luka, Crystal turned and created ice pillars as steps up to the whole in the roof. A shadow passed over the whole. Everyone looked up. A huge carrier was hovering above. A ladder dropped down and Wren's head popped out from a hatch above.
"Quickly!" She called.
Crystal immediately started to help the prisoners up and they climbed up as quickly as they could. The building started to shake.
"Amara, the building is going to collapse!" Luka shouted.
"I got it, just go!" Crystal cried. I felt myself getting nervous. If Crystal couldn't get out in time, what would happen to me?
"Crystal, we need to get out of here!" I said.
"I know, I am working on it!"
She helped the last prisoner and Luka up. The rumbling grew more violent and the sound of crashing could be heard. Crystal started to climb up the stairs, jumping quickly up the ice pillars. Luka stretched out his hand to me. Crystal grabbed it and Luka pulled her up. Suddenly, a great force hit my body and we were falling back to the ground. I was slammed back into reality as I felt Crystal coughing in my mind. I could feel her pain and my body's pain at the same time. I could barely move because of the onslaught of pain. The hall that I was lying in started to collapse, the walls crumbling and the roof crashing down onto the stone floor.
In those moments, the deafening roar of the carrier and falling of the building was blocked out by a ringing in my ear. Everything started to slow down as I saw Luka and Wren's pained faces from the airship, and I heard Astrid screaming my name.
Then a pretty face popped into my line of vision. She was beautiful, like a flower. She was delicate and it seemed like a harsh gust would sweep her away in the wind. She had white hair like me, but her eyes were a lavender color. Those eyes carried a heavy sadness and tears threatened to spill from them. She had soft pink lips that curved into a smile when she saw me. Her lips moved and I could barely make out her words.
"It's nice to see you again. Unfortunately, I can't stay long, but I will help you out."
She lifted me up and jumped out of the compound. She carried me a good distance away from the crumbling compound before gently setting me on the ground. She gave me a sad smile and a tear slid down her cheek.
"It was nice seeing you, cousin," The girl said. Then she backed away and disappeared from my line of vision. I started to lose consciousness just as Astrid came running up to me.
"I told you, Astrid. I said that I would make sure everyone was safe."
She was crying and laughing at the same time. "You idiot."
I smiled before plunging into the darkness of my mind.