*Tsuki Shizukana*
It was a usual night for a mission.
Every 2 days, Commander Reus would order us to scout out Central Superio. His favoritism towards his daughter blinded his judgement, making him not see Melina's flaws.
Melina was and liked ordering around those, who had no Salan ability. Melina was the leader of the scouts, her orders were not thought through and miscommunication happened between us and her. She was simply not fit to be responsible for the lifes of he scouts.
Tonight, my Salan ability was using up more Mana than ever, depleting half of it in only 4 hours. It would normally use up half of my Mana in 12 hours. This meant, that my ability was working 3 times as fast as it normally did. 'I wonder what is different tonight.'
***
My Salan ability led me to a suburban neighborhood. Every house in this neighborhood had collapsed from the earthquake, that was caused by the asteroid hitting earth. I walked down the neighborhood's main-road.
Suddenly my Salan ability screamed at me to stop and look at the house on my right. The house wasn't different from the others as they all had the same exterior design. I was confused and curious as to why my intuition told me to watch this house.
I hid on top of another house's rubble, giving me a clear view. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the Mana in the environment. I noticed something strange not long after I started concentrating.
"I had only seen this happen once... Someone is building their own Mana-Core. And they're buried under the rubble?" I exclaimed, shocked by being able to witness such an event. My intuition told me, whatever was going to happen, I wouldn't be in danger.
"What is this person doing under the rubble? He surely didn't spent almost 3 months trapped under there right? I don't think anyone could survive that." I questioned.
*Hmmm*
A violent vibration traveled across the air, reaching me and shaking my body. It not only made me shake, even the trees and the ground were affected by it..
"AAhhh!" A scream resounded from under the rubble.
The rubble started to fly in all directions until a figure appeared from the dust. It was a young man and he looked like a skeleton. His cheeks were sunken in and his arms were thinner than mine.
Mana started to engulf his body, blinding me as a result. After the Mana subsided, the skeleton-like man was gone, only a much healthier and more muscular man was standing there now.
He was around 185 centimeters tall and had defined muscles, after the Mana restored him to his peak condition. He had long black hair that was dirty and full of stones and dust. His jaw was sharp like a sword. The outer edges of his eyes pointed at his his temples and combined with his furrowed and thick black brows, he looked very cold and calculative, almost mean.
He started to laugh for several minutes, and when he had stopped laughing, he made the rubble vibrate again, only this time, I didn't feel the vibration. He lifted up the heavy rubble and retrieved 2 human corpses. He carried them into his garden, where he placed the corpses in a crack in the ground.
The ground near him vibrated and suddenly closed. 'He's a Bearer...' I thought in shock 'A powerful one at that.'
And without checking his surroundings, he laid down on the lawn and began to sleep.
I took this chance to report back to Melina, but my intuition told me to go to him. I thought that my Salan ability wasn't working properly, for it wanted me to go to him, a stranger who just awakened as a Bearer but was already sronger than everyone in my squad.
***
It took me a few hours to gather the whole squad.
I led them to the suburban neighborhood and we started to watch him from different positions.
Melina was the only one alone and nearest to him. 'So stupid...' I thought.
The young man stood up, after we watched him for a few minutes. He didn't seem to have noticed us so he casually went back to the collapsed house and made the house vibrate again. He lifted every piece of rubble until he took out some clothes and a wooden box that had swords inside it.
He started to take off his clothes, I blushed as I scanned his upper body. I then looked away and after I was told that he finished changing, I felt Mana being used, so I looked over at Melina who was running for her life.
When our group caught up to Melina who as being chased by the man, Melina gave us an order. "Kll him!" She yelled.
I wondered. 'Does she not realize that she will die immediately after giving an order like that? She has a knife held at her throat, she will die.'
When we surrounded the young man, Melina was already choking on her own blood, her throat was cut and it was too late to save her.
I froze as my intuition only said, "Help himmm...." I couldn't understand as to why my intuition would want me to face death. That never happened before.
***
When I regained my senses, I saw the young man knocked out on the ground.
We had 2 casualties and 1 injured. Melina died, so our only option was to cross the European Union bridge and go back to the hospital.
***
We carried the corpses of our fallen comrades and the young man back to our headquarters.
We arrived at sunrise.
I led the squad back, and the guards in front of the hospital opened the doors to let us go in. Nobody spoke, they couldn't, the suspense was eating them from the inside.
"Bring the dead back to the morgue and wait for orders regarding the young man. I'll let Commander Reus know." I said.
'I hope Melina's Mana didn't reach him...'
I walked to the 5th floor, where the doctors' offices were before the hospital changed.
*Knock*Knock*
I knocked on a door. The masked Gustav opened the door and let me in.
"I'm here to report, Sir!" I said and saluted.
"Why is Melina not here to report?" Commander Reus asked.
"We met a newly advanced Bearer and when we attacked him, he killed Melina. I'm sorry Sir, she gave her life to save us." I said and lied about Melina's heroic sacrifice.
Commander Reus looked me in the eyes and didn't say anything. I expected him to shout in anger and demand our squad to get disciplined but he didn't do any of that. His eyes sank to the floor as he said, "Did you bring my girl back in one piece?"
"Yes, Sir. She is in the morgue now. We also managed to capture the culprit." I revealed.
The fire in his eyes lit up at my words. 'He'll definitely torture him to death...'
"Gustav, you know what to do." Commander Reus said to Gustav, who only nodded and left the room.
"You're dismissed."
I nodded and left.
I decided to to go to sleep, as I had been awake for almost 30 hours now.
***
"You have to help him! It's your destiny!" A voice in my head yelled at me.
"Huaaa!" I was woken up from my dream, my body covered in sweat and tears rolling down my eyes. I grabbed my head that felt like it would split open at any moment. I tried to calm my nerves. I wanted to use my Mana to help me deal with my mental strength but even more and intense pain spread across my body.
My Salan ability was active and used every bit of Mana in my core to strengthen it's effect. It was such a strong feeling of regret that came from it, that it made me realize, just how badly I had mistrusted my ability.
Several minutes later, only the physical pain subsided, leaving the feeling of regret. I concentrated on my Salan ability.
"I have to help him!" I decided, finally trusting my intuition.