Lilith's mind seemed to blank out as she looked at the unmoving body of her grandmother. Her eyes were open, shock and disbelief forever written on her face as it rapidly looses color. Under her, the cracks widened, the speed of them spreading increasing.
Aurora yelled in alarm as the floor beneath them started to collapse, tipping their balance. Lilith, who was subconsciously trying to reach for Annette, had almost dived face-first in a gaping trench that appeared between her and the body on the floor if not for Aurora quickly reaching for her. Stone slabs protruded from the ground, forcing the pair to back up towards the exit.
By the room where the main entrance was, the quarreling people stopped as they felt the rumble under them. Aula's eyes widened in panic, "What's going on?"
They all shout in alarm as the wooden beams creaked and the ceilings cracked, dust falling over their heads. "Oh, for f-- what the hell are you all waiting for? Run!" Sol shouted and pulled his mother with him towards the exit. The others quickly followed and they all rushed past the gates.
The commotion caught the attention of everyone in town and they all rushed out of their homes towards the Casa Solerna. Every soul present had their breath stuck on their throat as they watched the house--a symbol worth of generations' history, rumbled and groaned before completely collapsing on the ground.
Dust scattered about in the air as no sound travelled between the people. Looks of horror was etched on every face as they looked at the direction of the ruined house.
A couple of hurried steps came from some of the bushes at the side, then the twins suddenly emerged, their clothes dusted from the devastation.
"Lilith!" Sol, and Luna which surprised him, ran to where their cousins were to help. Both girls were coughing, but they looked to be generally unharmed. "Glad you guys managed to get out," he commented, relief visible in his tone His eyes landed on Aurora and gave her a cheeky wink. The girl looked at him in surprise, but she seemed to relax after that.
"What happened?!"
Whispers were starting to go around the crowd as they look at the destroyed house and to the family members.
Aurora shrank at the tone of voice, the the two people that came close to them stood solidly beside her and Lilith. She thought she could somehow recognize them, once, their faces rounder and smaller.
"Where's Grandmother?" Luna asked. "Weren't the two of you with her?"
It was Lilith's turn to shrink to herself, her shoulders shaking and her grip on Aurora's hand tightening. She couldn't share her pain as she had never been close to the older woman, but she knew that she was someone Lilith and the rest of these people cared about. She moved closer to the girl, this time moving a step ahead so her shoulder hid the other's face.
It didn't take a genius to realize the silent implication. Luna gasped and clamped her hands to her mouth while Sol's face paled.
"My magic. . ." Silona gasped. "The blessing, it's gone!"
It caused an uproar from all people present as they all shouted their own exclamation.
"No magic?! How can that be!"
"Oh heavens, is this a sign of another calamity falling unto us?!"
"It's done for. We have nothing to protect us now!"
"Oh what should we do? What should we do!"
"Maybe it's better this way," Sol commented with a shrug, looking the least bothered out of them.
"Best?!" his mother exclaimed. "Do you have any idea the severity of all this?! Our ancestral home! Our blessings! The magic that has been protecting us for years! Do you honestly think that it'll be easy to just move on and--"
"Hey, why not?" he cut her off. "After all, didn't Lilith managed to do that from the beginning? Why can't we?" That earned him a look of disbelief from almost everyone around them. He shrugged again.
Lilith felt something tug on her arm. "Does. . . does this mean that my magic. . . that it's gone now?"
Lilith looked at her twin for a moment and replied with a nod and a small smile. Yes, all their family blessings are gone now, with Aurora's ability to see tragic futures, as well. But it had took their grandmother, accidentally it may be, to happen. She wasn't sure what to feel with that fact.
"Are you going to be alright?" Aurora asked. When she was given a questioning look, she elaborated, "That the magic is now gone. She said that you want to have magic of your own, didn't she?"
Yes. She had always wanted to have one like the rest of her family. To not be the odd one out and contribute to their family duties. But. . .
"Not like that," she repeated what she said to her grandmother earlier. "Not by some sort of bloody sacrifice. And definitely not by sacrificing you." She wouldn't be able to live with that kind of blood in her hands.
Up front, the townspeople continue their terrified exclamations at the loss of magic, while Sol was using all his cultivated tricks to irritate and led his mother in a verbal argument, all the when without losing his cool. Luna looked a little daze as she looked down her hands, but Lilith couldn't detect any sign that she's troubled with it all. If anything, she looked like she had just taken a deep relieved breath for the first time.
"What's going to happen now?"
Lilith shook her head. She didn't know what will happen now either. They would still need to grieve her grandmother, but the adults seemed to be at a lost on what to do. Then there's also the issue of their house falling down.
"Well," she said with an exhale. "At least now, I don't have to sneak you out whenever I want you to go with me to town, at least." Aurora blinked hard at that before smiling and nodding.
______________________________________________
Author's Note: another chap done! If all goes to plan, this should be the second to the last chapter for this story.
Don't forget to give your thoughts for this!