Through the alleyways and under the rusting gutters and decapitating bridges, Lyna followed the blue-haired boy all the way through the city. To her, everything seemed so dark and gloomy here. Where were their parks? Their cars? Did the sun ever burn away the dark clouds so that the sun could shine here? On occasion, they passed other Kindlers on the streets who paid no mind to them as they were walking, but Lyna couldn't help but glimpse at each and every one of them.
One lady not much older than her and had smudge marks on her face was breastfeeding her baby while sitting on a wooden barrel.
One old man was starving to death, and his open button shirt revealed his protruding ribs.
Two young kids were crouched to the ground and drawing circles in the dirt with their fingers.
Lyna couldn't bear to look anymore. A lump was growing in her stomach. She never thought anyone could ever be in so much despair. She hastened her steps and focused all of her attention back on the blue-haired boy who was trying to shake her off his trail.
"Hey! Why the hell are you still following me?" he asked angrily.
"Please, wait. I just want to know if you're the blue-haired boy that Dr. Smith talked about," she said.
"No way! Get lost."
"But I'm already lost."
"Not my problem. Go somewhere else."
"But I don't know where to go in this place."
"Don't care. Take a hike."
"But I just, well…Hey, stop! You're walking too fast."
"Ugh!"
This argument exchanged back and forth as the two youths walked casually yet carefully through the dirtied streetways of the Freederts. If someone else were watching them at this moment, they might think their argument was cute. But Lyna didn't think so because she needed answers.
Lyna followed closely behind the mysterious blue-haired boy, much to his annoyance. While a distance of several feet was kept between them, Lyna stubbornly made sure not to let him out of her sight. This only made him angrier, and he displayed it rather vigorously as he grumbled to himself and his shoulders trembled a bit as he was clenching his fists that were tucked into his pants pockets.
He turned his head back a few times to see if the pink-haired girl was still there, and every time he did he found her trying to close the gap and catching up to him. He wanted to speed up his pace or even run away from her, but he was already exhausted as it is. Even without his powers, he knew that he could easily beat up this naïve girl because she was really annoying him and he didn't like being told what to do, a simple reason for not wanting to be chosen by a Spur to be her Kindler. He could cut her throat and pretty face in the blink of an eye and let her bleed out. He wouldn't have cared. But he just did not have the physical energy to do so.
Thoughts were circling around in their heads. He wanted her to go away. She wanted to know why she found him so intriguing.
Suddenly, the blue-haired boy stopped walking and just stood there. Lyna copied, and she was waiting for him to do something. Anything.
"…Alright…" he finally said angrily and through gritted teeth, "…What…do you want…from me?!"
Lyna felt increasingly nervous, but she couldn't keep him waiting, so she started with, "…It's just…I, well, I feel as though you saved me back there. So, thank you very much for that!"
He didn't budge. So, Lyna continued.
"If…if it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't have made it…"
He didn't flinch. So she tried talking some more.
"I really am grateful. Anyway, I was, um, wondering, since you seem to know this place very well that…maybe you could, um…"
He still did not move from his spot. So Lyna began to reword what she was trying to say.
"Uh, anyway, I guess I should introduce myself properly. My name is Lyna Clifford and I—"
But she never got to finish her sentence because the blue-haired boy abruptly turned around to face her, walked up to her quickly and began shouting directly at her, their face were mere inches apart.
"I don't really care about that." he said, "What I want to know is how anyone can be so goddamn persistent as you are! I don't know what you want from me, but if you're looking to die, go have someone else kill you 'cause I'm freaking tired of you right now!"
Lyna covered her mouth with her hands, "How rude! I don't want to die here!"
He needed to show her he was not going to bend to her will, he thought, so he said, "Then leave me alone and get out of this place on your own! I'm not into helping little girls who don't know when to shut up!"
"But I…I don't have the kind of abilities that you have to handle any more guys like back there!"
"Then use that damn pistol you've got! You know how to, don't you?! It's Nexus, after all, right?!"
"Well, actually, I…"
"Well what? God, this is so sickening."
"Oh no! Are you feeling unwell?"
"Are you really that stupid?"
"Hey, that is not nice."
"Ugh, why can't you just take the hint?"
Thus their conversation continued like this all the way to the blue-haired boy's destination. He arrived at a decrepit brick building two floors tall, and with only a tattered light gray curtain hanging in the doorway to serve as a door. It wasn't nice, but it's the only home he's known, and Lyna followed after him.
Entering through the flimsy doorway, she was instantly greeted by the smell of dead rodents and raw sewage. She covered her mouth and nose with her hands and shut her eyes as they started to water up again. She thought she had gotten used to the stench, but it that wasn't true at all. It made her wonder how any human being could put up with this all day every day.
Regardless, she didn't want to point that out, and because she had been taught to be utterly respectful and courteous towards house hosts. She held back a gag and said, "Oh my, this is, um…quite the lovely dwelling you have."
"You're not welcome here," the boy said aloud once he saw that she was inside. "Get out now."
Lyna just stared at him with a shocked face and her lavender eyes wide open, not saying a word or complying to his demand. This was making him angrier, but he didn't have the energy to force her out, knowing that if he tried he'd probably pass out as a result. So he ended up letting her stay as he let an agitated "Tch!" escape his lips and turned away from her.
He went to the corner of the room where a flattened cardboard box was on the floor, and he laid on it like a bed. But he wasn't going to sleep. He just had to rest his tired aching body, and as he did, Lyna slowly and casually inspected the room like she was a new guest.
It was a dingy tiny space, most likely an eighth of the size of her own bedroom at home. Bad water was dripping from the low ceiling, and the walls were covered in mold that was chipping away at the foundation leaving behind some unsightly holes.
Two broken windows were letting in light from the outside. There was barely any furniture at all, only a small wooden table in the opposite corner and an even smaller white rocking chair adjacent to that. No framed pictures on the wall. No decorative flowers or plants. Definitely not what she was used to.
Her footsteps slowly but gradually got on the blue-haired boy's nerves as he was trying to relax. His eyebrow kept twitching. He was lying down on his side facing the wall, with one hand resting against his face and that elbow on the floor as if to keep his head from hitting the floor. Thinking that she would leave within a few minutes of looking around and this would be over soon, he tried taking a deep breath to calm himself.
But then he heard her voice again, "This place seems rather, um, cozy. Is it just you living in this room? Are all the other dwellings in the Freederts like this?"
He turned his head to look behind him. He didn't expect for her to be kneeling on the floor right there just next to the flattened cardboard box.
'What is wrong with this girl?' he thought. Then, without thinking about it, he answered, "How the hell should I know?"
"But you do reside here, right? Surely the Freederts have created this place with regularity in mind. And you must have family or friends who are—"
"First of all, I live alone," he began as he rolled over and sat up to face her again, "Second, the bastards who run this place have never once thought of us here as human beings, so what makes you think they'd make it comfortable for us?"
His surprisingly calm tone of voice proved that he was succumbing to the exhaustion he was feeling. Now the two of them were making eye contact, a deep and long one at that. Neither of them said a word.
'His eyes are such a light blue…' Lyna thought inside her mind, 'So these eyes are what's known as Cryptic Phenomenon.'
The Cryptic Phenomenon is circumstances in which scientists use to identify Kindlers and non-Kindlers upon birth. The easiest method is by looking into their eyes. A Kindler's eyes will have three black dots inside of the iris that surround the pupil. Of course, this limits the amount of light that reflects in the eye itself. Lyna found herself in a trance for a while.
However, the silence was broken when a loud and low growling noise suddenly came from the blue-haired boy's empty stomach. Reminding himself that he hadn't eaten anything in almost a whole week, he quickly looked away and blushed.
"Oh, are you hungry?" Lyna asked, "I think I can help with that!" she claimed happily as she started rummaging through her bag again.
This time she pulled out a clear white plastic container and rested it on her lap. When she pulled off the lid, the boy staring intently looked down into the contents and immediately was in awe. For there were five little neatly packed sandwiches inside, the very ones that Lyna's favored maid Riley had made and given her earlier that morning in preparation for her trip to the Freederts and the idea that she'd spend most of the day there.
Thick slabs of meat and crisp lettuce were wedged between the bread with a crunchy crust. They looked fresher and more delicious than anything he had ever seen before. Everything he had ever eaten before that came from the Freederts was either rotting, expired, or simply close to inedible. Usually he'd get pieces of fruit covered in bruises and rotted spots. If he got bread, he'd always find three or four mold blotches on the surface. And the meat here never had been good.
He gulped loudly, trying to hold back the drool forming at his lower lip. Lyna reached in and pulled out two of the sandwiches, one for herself in her right hand and the other for him in her left hand, which she extended to him to take.
For a moment, he didn't know if he should expect it or not. He had no one in this whole wide world to trust but himself. It made him feel quite skeptical to being offered food from this girl who is a complete stranger, but he was so hungry at this point that he figured he could eat first and think about the complicated stuff afterward.
With shaky hands, he reached out and took the sandwich from her, immediately bringing it to his mouth and taking a bite. He paused for a moment or so, frozen like a statue. Lyna looked at him wondering if he didn't like the taste of her favorite roast beef and cheddar sandwiches. But soon enough, he quickly devoured it, shoving the whole thing into his mouth, and even though it was too big a bite for him, he chewed and chewed and then swallowed it all.
Lyna chuckled a little bit before asking, "Is it good? Do you like it?"
"This is…it's so good…" he responded still licking his fingers in attempt to get the crumbs, "I didn't think food could get this good."
Lyna smiled bigly and took two bites on her sandwich. She felt quite content right now. She can't remember the last time she had a conversation with such an intriguing person. Even if she was still lost down here, the fact seemed to have escaped her mind. That's when she noticed he was glaring at her with a very serious, very angry look again.
"Are you sure you're really a Spur? Because you sure don't act like one," he sounded unconvinced.
"Of course I am," she assured, "I'm actually supposed to be choosing my first Kindler right now, but that's when I got lost in here and—hey!"
He snatched two fistfuls of sandwiches and scarfed them down in no more than five bites. Swallowing loudly, he then exhaled and leaned his back against the wall behind him. Watching as Lyna finished eating her sandwich, he realized something.
This has been the first time in a very, very long time that he felt some respite. He hadn't felt this way since his little sister was taken from him. A grin on his face almost creeped up on him, but he knew he had no reason to smile. His life was an absolute mess. All because he was born a Kindler.
However, strangely because of this girl, he still felt somewhat relieved.
But this slight and rare sense of relief for him was short-lived. For there was something wrong, and it was lingering extremely close by.
His eyes soon looked in the direction of the curtain in the doorway, and he immediately felt a menacing presence was right there. With a sudden burst of energy, despite his unhealthy physical condition, he stood up and darted to the doorway. His strange behavior was starting to confuse and scare Lyna, as he was just standing in front of the curtain with a piercing death glare.
"What's wrong?" she wanted to ask but was sharply cut off by his next words.
"Stay back now!" he shouted into the doorway.
That's when a large hand reached out and grabbed the blue-haired boy by the collar of his shirt. He was then pulled through the curtain to the outside of his room and thrown to the ground with enough force that may have cracked his ribs. Grimacing from the pain, he looked up and met the vicious gaze of the same man he was fighting earlier.
His dreadlocks now covered his wounded eye that looked like it was still bleeding. But of course, he could no longer see with it, and he fixated his one good eye with an intimidating serial killer's glare down at the boy. He was also joined by his posse who all stared down at the boy lying on the cold hard pavement as if he were an insect.
They must have followed him. How else could they have found out where he lives? It was stupid of him to not notice their presence sooner. He was far too preoccupied with the pink-haired girl's persistent nonsense.
"Damn it!" the words escaped from his lips just as he felt a huge boot stomp harshly on his back, pinning him down with the weight of an elephant.
Blood from the man's wounded eye dripped onto the boy's face as the man leaned in closer.
"I finally found you," he shouted, "And now I'm going to make you pay for what you did to my eye! I'll teach you a lesson for getting in my way on the road! Let's finish this once and for all!"
At this point, Lyna scurried to her feet and passed the curtain in the doorway to see all the commotion going on. She gasped at the sight.
"Oh no!" she shouted unintentionally.
This caught the attention of the men, aside from the one with dreadlocks who reached down and grabbed the blue-haired boy by the neck. With just one arm, he got lifted up off the ground and he began dangling by the grip on his throat. Trying to break free, he squirmed and flailed his legs around, but his attempts were futile as he was losing oxygen with each passing moment.
Lyna looked on in horror. She had to help him somehow. She still needs him to help her get out. But what can a girl of her stature do against five tall and robust men? In the end, she knew of only one thing in her possession that could give her the advantage, and she reluctantly decided to use it. She pulled out the pistol from her bag again but let her arms drop to her sides while holding the weapon in one hand.
"Hey, she's got her gun out again," one of the men took notice of her actions, "Should we try and stop her?"
"Even if she had the guts to fire at us, those Nexus Cells will definitely render our powers useless," another man spoke up, not worried that Lyna would shoot them.
'He has a point,' Lyna thought to herself, 'Do I really have the right to do this?'
It was a rhetorical question, but she was scared to accept that the answer was indeed "yes".
"Don't bother with her!" the man with dreadlocks suddenly yelled, "She's no threat to us! This kid is the real problem here!"
The man's knuckles were turning white as he gripped harder, and the boy choked desperately for air. His eyes were almost gauging out of his head, and his body went limp.
Lyna was hesitant to ask, but she had to know the answer, "Are you…going to kill him?"
"Of course! Who else can get rid of such a pest?!" the man spoke as if he wasn't human.
"Don't do it!" Lyna suddenly yelled out as she took aim at the man.
"Oh, what's this?!" the man asked, intrigued by her sudden motivation and guts, "Do you think you can shoot me now?!"
Lyna flinched a little. She should have known he'd ask that.
"Well, go on now! Shoot me already! I said shoot me!"
Her hands trembled. She was in a futile battle to hold back the tears building in her eyes that were blurring her vision. Gritting her teeth, she tried to squeeze the trigger, but her right index finger felt so weak, shaky and sweaty that Lyna couldn't even grip the trigger let alone pull it.
'Am I really going to take a life?'
This thought kept repeating itself inside her head, and it was preventing her from doing anything. She just stood there, shaking like a leaf. Her breathing was ecstatic, and the men found this to be hilarious.
"What's with you? You really can't fire your gun at us, can you?"
"For a Spur, she's such a wimp!"
They all laughed at her, and the man stilling holding the blue-haired boy by the throat gripped tighter to block his airways.
"Just…do it…"
Lyna looked over at the boy who was now talking to her, and she could tell he was pleading with her to save him.
"You have to…to shoot them…Now!"
Soon the tears began to roll down her cheeks. Lyna didn't like this. She was a wimp. She really couldn't shoot them.
But she had to save him. So with all the strength and courage she could muster, and while the men were distracted by their own laughter, she dashed towards the man and swung her arms up to hit him. Her hands still clutching her pistol, she managed to clock him in the back of the head with the barrel of her gun.
It should have hurt like hell. It should have worked, and he should have fallen to the ground, let go of the boy, and they could get away. But that was all in her head.
Just a moment after the gun bashed into his skull, the man turned his head back and gave Lyna an evil glare. Then he grabbed her by one shoulder with his free hand and pushed her out of his personal space. As she was stumbling backwards, he threw the blue-haired boy at her, and his body forced her back more and he landed on top of her on the hard concrete.
The boy was barely conscious at this point and still bleeding badly. Lyna had her eyes closed when they hit the ground together, and once she opened them, the shadow of the man was looming over her.
"So you can't fire a gun but instead use it as a clobbering weapon? How pathetic!" he said.
Then he lifted both arms above his head and in his hands started up a massive whirlwind that grew taller and larger with each passing second. His smile got wider and he was about to deliver the final blow.
'Oh no, this is it. I'm really going to die!'
That was all she could think before they were both engulfed in a white light. The light was emitting a humming noise, and it surrounded the spot where Lyna and the blue-haired boy remained on the ground. A crack in the ground began to grow until it formed a perfect circle with a seven-foot long radius and it enclosed around them. It created a barrier that forced the wind-user Kindler backward as he cursed aloud.
Soon there was a rumbling in the earth. It didn't take long for the cogs beneath the floor to turn, and the circle in the ground began to lift into the air. Lyna had never been more stunned or frightened as she and the boy ascended higher and higher with the cut-out concrete circle being their platform. Frantically darting her head around and trying to reposition herself from under the boy's unmoving body, she only finally looked up as a hidden door within the ceiling was opening.
Suddenly, a passing tornado shot by the back of Lyna's head. The Kindlers on the ground below were aiming at the continuously extending large pole pushing the platform ever upward, trying to break the machine before their prey got away.
It was in vain, however, for out of the ceiling appeared another smaller hidden opening, in which popped out a machine gun turret that started firing at the Kindlers. The bullets that were fired were already infused with Nexus Cells, so once they hit their marks, the Kindlers were rendered powerless as they clutched their bleeding shoulders.
Lyna saw that there was only darkness passed the opening she and the blue-haired boy were heading for, and then they disappeared together into the ceiling.