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"WIIIIISE!!!"
My scream was drowned out by the deafening explosion, a crackling and ever expanding noise that consumed all and seemed to have no end in sight. Wise and the other Rabbits were somewhere in the middle of all of that. The blast sprayed debris of metal and rock in all directions, some scraping my arms as I held them up to shield my face. Their escape attempt had gone wrong; a Rrist had probably figured it all out and caused the explosion. How many of them—if any—could have possibly survived that? Even after the detonation died down, the ringing in my ears went on, a cacophony of bells in my skull. I was too late. The smoke started to clear, climbing out of the rocky valley we were in. As I ran towards the centre of the blast and took care so as to not trip on the rough road, I glanced back at Naiad who, barely over the initial shock of the soul travel, was deathly pale at the sight of what had just happened. Her water bottles were still scattered around her.
"Disgusting." I whipped my head towards the voice, rough as the rocks around us, like sandpaper scraping against bone. It came from the other side of the rising wall of smoke and was walking towards the cage that had just been blown sky high. I sprinted even harder with the determination to get to the wreckage before he did.
"To have this much power for a kid and still live the life you live." The footsteps stopped and there was scraping sound as more of the area became clear. "Disgusting."
I stopped short. The Rrist was a short and burly young man with bulging eyes, a sharp chin, a fuzzy head of deep purple hair, and an even deeper scowl on his face. Judging from his scorched short sleeved jacket and long grey trousers, also scorched, it seemed he had been caught in his explosion as well. He held Wise up by the neck as he stood in the middle of the crater that the explosion made.
The Rrist leaned in. "Do it again!" He spat. When Wise didn't move, he chuckled. A harsh, raspy sound. "Only have one in you, is that it? Or maybe you can't because of my Crux?"
"Leave him alone!"
He looked at me a sidelong glance, a nasty smile stretching slowly across his greasy face. "Oh really now? And if I don't?"
I took a step back. That aura was completely unlike Silver's, without remorse, ruthless. This man would kill me if he got the chance. He'd probably already killed the others with that explosion. It was a miracle that Wise's body was still whole. What anyone possibly do against that kind of power? Even if I tried to use that side of my Crux, one blast from him and it would be over in a second.
He laughed at my indecision. "Smart kid aren't you? To fear me is the beginning of knowledge so you can't be blamed. Although I'm a bit disgusted that more than this one survived that. " He glanced past me, noticing Naiad who had shakily begun picking up her bottles. Why did she bring those anyway? "Just how many of you survived that?"
"M-Minerva?" Although his voice was weak, the fact that Wise was still conscious came as a big relief.
"Ah so you're still able to speak?" He asked, gripping tighter on Wise's neck, causing a violent fit of coughs. The Rrist smiled at Wise, enjoying every second of it.
"Stop it! Let him go!"
"Again I ask: or what?" This time he kept his eyes on Wise, a sadistic look in his eyes.
"M-Minerva." Rasped Wise, after the coughing had stopped enough for him to talk. "Forget about him. Run. Get away, quickly!"
The desperation in his voice made me consider it; that it was probably the smart thing to do. And yet my gut twisted at the thought of leaving Wise behind after coming all the way, fleeing after all my talk of doing something. What was I supposed to do now? If I ran away, Wise would likely end up dead but if—
The Rrist was hit by a sudden splash of water, right in his eyes. He dropped Wise with a curse and reached up to clean his face.
"Tch. I guess I still need to work on that if that's all I can manage." Naiad walked up and stood next to me, an open half empty bottle of water in her left hand, a bunch of others in her right. "Seems like Wise is still alive. I'm hoping he managed to get Amber out." Her voice was so calm. Where was the panic I had just seen? "If not, the least we can do is try and save him, don't you think?" She raised an eyebrow in my direction.
"I-I thought your Crux was purifying water?"
She shrugged. "You don't wanna tell me everything about yours, I don't have to tell you everything about mine." She paused and nodded back at Wise, lying next to the frustrated Rrist wiping furiously at his eyes with his jacket front. "Let's call a truce. Just this once, for his sake."
I nodded. "So how are we going to get him out?"
Naiad looked thoughtful for a moment before sighing. "My sister's the smart one but ever hear the saying about catching two rabbits?"
There was an angry roar from in front of us and we looked up just in time to see the Rrist charge at Naiad.
"You're dead! I'm gonna—"
"Check if Wise is fine then double back here and gimme a hand!" Yelled Naiad as she ran off to the side. The Rrist veered to his right, leaving me enough of an opportunity to run to where Wise was currently lying.
"Wise!" I bent down and began checking for any wounds, burns or bruises from the explosion.
"M-Minerva." He coughed out. "I-I'm fine. You two need to—"
"Enough of that already! We both know the 'save yourself' thing is getting really cheesy at this point." His arms were scratched but otherwise unharmed. Chest wound? But I didn't see any blood.
Wise chuckled weakly and attempted a shrug. "True but I felt this was the perfect chance to say it. Wouldn't want it to go to waste. Besides, I'm fine. I just can't move any part of my body below my neck. Probably that guy's Crux."
His legs were unhurt too. He really was fine. "B-but how?" How did he come out of that explosion without a single injury. Just how lucky could someone be? And what did he mean that the Rrist's Crux stopped him from moving? If that was true, then where had the explosion come from?
A troubled look passed over Wise's face, but just as he was about to speak, Naiad called."A little help here! Two rabbits remember?!"
When I saw what Naiad was doing, my brows raised in surprise. She would wait for the Rrist to get close, before running her hand over the open bottle, drawing up some of its contents before whipping it towards the charging man's face at the last second, blinding him enough for her to get out of his way. The most surprising part was the way the water moved, like it had a mind of its own, flowing upwards out of the bottle each time Naiad commanded it.
Wise chuckled again. "Looks like everyone has something they're hiding. Talk about an ace up her sleeve." He turned his head back to me. "I think it might be time to use yours."
He wanted me to use that? But—
"I know what you're thinking. You're a healer. That's the only way you can be helpful or whatever. But look at that guy." Wise grinned. He was paralyzed, facing a dangerous terrorist that might have more than one Crux and yet he was grinning. "Does that guy look like the type to appreciate any sort of healing? I mean that purple hair should be enough to tell you—"
"Now's not the time for jokes."
"It's always time for jokes." Wise sighed.
"Point is, Naiad needs your help. What's that thing you always say about trying?"
Why was everyone using my own words against me today? They were right. It didn't matter whether we failed succeeded, the important thing was that we made an attempt. I nodded and looked around for anything that could be used as a distraction against the Rrist.
"Over there." Wise nodded his head to the side where a few of the metal spheres that Benedict made were still lying. As I rushed over and picked them up, Wise called. "You just need to keep him distracted long enough for Jay to find a safe enough place for the others then a few of em will come back. Enough of us should be able to cripple him enough from chasing us."
Jay and the others? That meant that they'd managed to escape before the explosion. I nodded and ran toward where Naiad continued her perilous dance with the Rrist. There was still hope.
When she looked up and she saw me, she muttered, "About time." Then threw a splash of water at the Rrist with a duck to the side. When I was in range I began throwing the spheres. The first missed, but the second throw hit him in the middle of his back. The spheres were small but dense and so when it hit, it hurt. The Rrist yelled and turned to my direction.
"And here I was thinking that you were the smart one?" He charged at me with his left hand outstretched. "Disgusting."
Splash! A sudden jet of water curved around the Rrist and hit him in the face, distracting him enough for me to duck out of the way. He turned his attention back to Naiad as she dropped an empty bottle and opened another one, her brows furrowed in concentration.
After taking a few moments to aim, I threw a couple more of the metal spheres at the Rrist. Three missed but one hit him on the back of his head with a thump, sending him staggering to a stop.
And that's how it went on for the next couple of minutes. Whenever I was about to be attacked, Naiad would spray him with water, allowing me to duck out of the way. The Rrist would then turn his attention to her with an annoyed snarl. As he neared Naiad, I would throw things at him to draw his attention, using rocks when I ran out of steel spheres. How long would it take for Jay and the others to come? I wasn't sure how long we could keep this up.
There was a clonk as Naiad dropped another bottle—her last one. The Rrist muttered viciously. "Guess you're all out huh?" He turned his full attention to her, no amount of rocks I threw took his sights off of her. "One at a time now! You'll all get a turn."
Naiad tried to dodge him but without the distractions, she didn't make it very far. The purple haired Rrist sprinted to the side with a burst of speed, cutting off her escape with a grab of her arm. He pulled her close with a sharp tug and held her by the neck of her shirt.
"The two of you have really pissed me off. But it's not too late for me to enjoy this." With a quick movement, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a slender knife, curved sharp edge gleamed as the light hit it.
"N-No! Stop!"
"Well, back to begging, are you?" The terrible smile on his face, the light in his bulging eyes, the look of superiority all over his oily face. "Disgusting. Don't worry, I'll deal with her then take care of the rest of you. The kid over there has like ten- maybe fifteen or twenty- minutes until his wears off. Plenty of time. After that, I'll go find those others. The kid isn't heartless enough to take out his own friends so they must be around somewhere, right? It'd be great if that healer survived."
Healer? That's right! They were initially after me; all of this was my fault.
"I'm the one you're looking for!" Maybe if he knew that, he would let the others go. That was the least I could do after all, healing wasn't the only way to save others.
A rough, triumphant laugh came from the Rrist, a cackle of pure joy. "For real? Or are you trying to buy time for this one?" He asked with a nod at Naiad whose body was stiff, a grimace on her face. She couldn't move anymore? Wise was right about his Crux being a paralysing touch but there was no way to know when the Rrist would use that explosion again.
"M-Minerva. D-don't." Warned Naiad through gritted teeth. What else was there to do? If I didn't admit it, he would kill them all in his attempt at finding me.
"I'm the one with the healing Crux so please let the others go."
"Oh yeah?" Exclaimed the Rrist happily as he brought the knife closer to Naiad's neck. "Now I know who to get rid of. Perfect."
"W-Wait! What if I kill myself! Then you'd get in trouble!"
"Minerva!" I closed my eyes, trying my best to ignore Wise.
The Rrist turned his head to me, his eyebrows raised sarcastically. "Think you can threaten me with that? Not as disgusting as it is pathetic. Kid, there's no possible way for you to kill yourself here even if you had the guts to go through with it." He put the tip of the blade to his chin then gestured towards Wise. "Well, unless you had that friend of yours do it for you."
"I-I'll do—"
"Absolutely nothing? That's the thing about rats like you." He said, flipping the knife in his free hand, the other still holding up a paralyzed Naiad. "You value life way too much. Yours, hers, his, others, animals, humans, slaves, masters. You think everything with life deserves to keep it. Heck, I'm sure despite everything, you think I deserve to keep mine. That's why you think you can help her but that's a lie. Besides," he added with a shrug. "Even if you do find a way to end up dead, the others would understand that accidents happen and we'll just look for another one. Nyx might get mad if that happens but that's not my problem."
I picked up an armful of rocks as fast as I could. "Let her go!"
"You really think a little girl like you can do anything?" He asked as he set the knife back against Naiad's neck. "After all, I'm getting real tired of this conversation."
What could you possibly do? That same, stupid question.
"Let!" Why was I always left helpless, left to watch as bad things happened? "Her!" First the fire, then the earthquake, the kidnapping, the explosion, and now this. "Go!" I launched a volley of rocks at the Rrist with as much force as my arms could muster. What could you possibly do?
The rocks pelted the Rrist, hitting him on the back, legs, and head with one or two hitting Naiad, much to my despair. Helpless.
"Would you quit that?" It was working; the rocks were distracting him. Maybe I could keep it up long enough for the paralysis on Wise to wear off. I bent down to pick up some more with my left hand as my right threw the rest I had at him. If I timed it right then maybe—
"I said quit it!" He yelled with an annoyed slash of his arm, cutting Naiad's throat. No. The rocks in my hand clattered as they hit the ground. The Rrist let go of Naiad as he turned to me, a trail of blood spewing from her neck as she fell.
"Nathlyn!" Wise called, still on the ground paralysed and almost as powerless as I was.
No. No. No.
"You know what just happened right?" He began walking towards me, tossing and catching the knife. Naiad lay on the the ground, her eyes wide and staring straight at me. All your fault, they yelled. This is all your fault. "Hey are you listening? What happened was I wanted to take my time but you pissed me off way too much and now to hell with it all. I'm killing everyone here."
"Why?"
"Why? Weren't you listening?" Even though he was getting closer, I couldn't stop looking at Naiad. My nemesis.
"Leave her alone! Come and finish me off instead!" Wise called at the Rrist.
"Are you seriously trying to bargain while on the floor like some ragdoll? Ragdoll man ragdoll man ragdoll man. Huh guess that doesn't work for you."
"Come on! Come on! Just let her go!"
"Why does everyone keep telling me what to do? Sorry kid but I'm in it for all of you now."
"Why?" I asked.
"Minerva! Run!" How could I? How could I live with myself knowing that I had caused this?
"Wow you really are annoying, aren't you? First time seeing a slit throat? Well, don't worry. You're next." He drew a vertical line in the air over his heart with the knife. "Reap what Nyx says and drag it to hell I'm sure your body would be good enough for them, dead or alive."
Why? Why did it have to be this way? Why did people like this have to exist? The vision of my family's house on fire, their screams, the smile on the red haired Rrist's face, turned my bottomless misery into a deep pool of anger, bumbling and brimming with hatred. Why? The Rrist in front of me was still talking, probably taunting me some more, but I didn't hear any of it as I looked into Naiad's eyes. We were blessed with magical souls and yet this is what our world became? I finally tore my eyes away from Naiad and levelled them on the approaching Rrist who stopped at the look in them.
"Damn kid, have you seen yourself? That's some look you've got there."
"The world..."
He took another step forward. "What's that you're saying? Actually it doesn't matter because its gonna take more than a look to—"
"The world would be much better without people like you!"
"Minerva!"
"So?" The Rrist stood in front of me now, barely a head taller than me and yet he looked down with such smugness. "Even if it was there's nothing to be done about that."
He honestly didn't care. He'd just killed Naiad, planned on killing Wise and I, and he didn't care. He swung his knife in an arc towards me, aiming to stab me in my arm while his other hand made to grab my neck. I reached up without breaking eye contact and grabbed the knife by the blade, barely inches away from my hand. As I clutched it, the metal began crumbling away, turning into rust as it did. The Rrists's other hand stopped a hair's breath away from my neck before he hurriedly jumped out of the way.
"What the heck was that?" He asked, staring incredulously at the hilt in his hand. Almost all of the blade had withered away, powdered rust scattered around my feet. The Rrist threw the hilt to the side and chuckled. "So you lied about your Crux kid? Thought you were the healer? If you had this type of magic, why didn't you just use it from the get go? Maybe if you did, your friend would still be—"
I didn't let the Rrist finish his sentence as I charged at him, tackling him to the ground and pinning his bare arms down with my hands.
"What are you doing?" He tried to struggle his way out of my clutches but his arms had already started decomposing, a dark green rot spreading in all directions from where I held him.
"You killed her!" I yelled.
"And would I do it again? Yes! And again! And again!"
"Mom and dad and Nia and now her! How many have to die because of you Rrists?"
"A lot more." The Rrist answered with a vicious grin. That infuriating smile, that cocky demeanour, the way they didn't care about anyone's lives, the way they seemed to enjoy killing others. They were so similar that it made me sick. When I met Silver, I thought maybe there where different kinds of Rrists, some worse than others but now I knew that Silver was a rarity while those like this man, along with the one all those years ago, were the majority.
His arms had almost completely decayed, the rot spreading to his chest. There was no way he would be of any harm now. Somehow, I knew with a grim certainty that the rot would finish him off. This was different from the other times; it would continue spreading even after I let go until there was nothing left. I let go of what little remained of his arms and got up, turning my attention to where Naiad lay still on the ground.
The short purple haired beast looked down at himself and laughed then called back as I began walking away. "Do you wanna know something?" He choked out. "With a power like yours, you're just another Rrist. Disgusting."
Was I? Maybe that's why my parents always made sure that I only ever used my Crux to heal things. Maybe they believed that too. I shook my head and ran to Naiad's side. This wasn't the time to start thinking about any of that.
Although the rest of her body was still, Naiad's head moved in small jerks and there was still a light in her open stare. Her lips opened and closed as she tried to say something. She was still alive! Maybe just barely but she wasn't completely gone yet. I knelt down beside her, my knees making a squelching sound in the puddle of red, and reached for her wound but my hands stopped short. What if I turned her to rot? What if I killed her?
"Do...it..."
"But what if I hurt you too?" Tears were dropping on Naiad as I looked over her. I should have told her to refrain from talking, but the words wouldn't come out of my mouth. My worry for what I had just done and what I could do prevented that.
"Just...try...hate...you but...but...trust too...everyone...even me."
I took a deep breath, calming myself as I put my hands on her bloody neck. My hands staunched the bleeding as my eyes surveyed the wound, my parents' training and the experience from years of healing kids kicking in. The kind of damage here wasn't as complicated as I feared. The wound was a bit shallow, the knife just nicking her artery. In his annoyance, the Rrist hadn't slashed with enough precision for it to be fatal. Still, if I rushed through this, I could end up making it worse. The neck was one of the most important parts of the body and since it housed passages for air, nerves, food, and blood all in one place, a single mis-healed muscle could be lethal. Calm down Minerva, you can do this. I shut my eyes, focusing everything on the inner part of my chest where I imagined my soul to be. Focusing on something so your attention doesn't waver makes it easier to use your magic. Surprisingly, that had been Nia's advice and I'd kept it with me ever since, focusing on my own soul, as it turned into a stream of healing and travelled down my arms leaving a warm sensation in its wake as it washed over whoever I was using it on. The process wasn't immediate and for a delicate wound like this, I'd have to take my time. Come on! Find a way to stop the bleeding so blood loss doesn't do her in. There was a weak sound of footsteps behind me and I turned to see Wise slowly walking up to where the Rrist had been. Focus. I looked back at Naiad. Now wasn't the time to distract myself. Wise was okay, and it was up to me to make sure Naiad recovered too. Questions would come later.
"You actually did it." I barely heard his muttered words. "You realize what you've just done?"
What was he going on about? Naiad's wound was closing and her breathing steadied as the blood on my hands dried. The first time I'd seen blood, I almost passed out from fright. Funny now, seeing as I was soaked in it and had never been calmer. When you have something to fight for, you can't afford to panic. Dad's words.
"Rrists are like a hierarchy. If one of them has been taken down, the others are going to want to take down what did it." He paused. "To prove that they're better. Stronger."
"When I'm done I'm going to need your help to carry her out of here." The wound was closing well and so I risked a glance at Wise, maybe it would help me understand what he was talking about."Can you manage that or should we wait for the others?"
Wise shrugged, the familiar gesture seemed out of place with the way he held himself now, the look of resigned hopelessness on his face as he stared at where the spot where the Rrist had rotted away. "First what I did and now this. They're definitely coming."
Did he mean the other Rabbits or was he talking about someone else?
"Wise what do you mean?"
He sighed slowly, almost as if he was bracing himself for something. "Rrists died today. First with my explosion earlier and now with what you've done to this guy." Wait? Wise's explosion? He turned his focus to me and smiled sadly, a knowing look in his eyes. "I killed Rrists. You killed a Rrist. To us, it was self defense. But we have to prepare ourselves because to the Rrists," he added with another sad, lifeless shrug. Not an 'I don't know' or a 'it doesn't bother me' but this was a helpless 'there's nothing that can be done about this' kind of shrug. "This means war."