When Stella released Rigel's hand, she grinned wide at him. "That's enough to make you believe in me? Damn, I should've blown up this place hours ago."
"More importantly, we should probably leave right now." Rigel said, rummaging through the pockets in his backpack until he took out a small necklace.
"Huh? Why?" Stella raised an eyebrow, but was soon struck with realization as the noise of heavy steps started approaching. "Oh... Crap. Let's run!"
"Wai-" Rigel couldn't finish his sentence as he got grabbed by the wrist by Stella, sprinting away from the building. He saw from behind her two armored men with the same face markings as Stella's, which he assumed were the guards that were supposed to be watching her.
"I'm telling you to wai-" He was cut off once again by Stella, who yelled without looking back.
"Sorry, can't do until we leave this place or we'll be surrounded in no time."
Their steps were soon halted due to the wall in front of her, which was 10 meters tall. She looked back at Rigel, telling him with a serious tone. "Hold onto my hand tightly."
She tightened her grip on him as she prepared to jump. Rigel, reciprocating her actions, paused for a second as he felt her hand's warmth plummet rapidly.
She soon jumped as hard as she could, releasing a burst of fire from out of her feet that lifted her and Rigel up. Using all of the heat she still had left, she only barely jumped across the wall, falling right next to it.
"Agh... I used too much heat to blow up the cell..." She broke a cold sweat, breathing heavily. Everytime she wanted to use her powers, it'd use up the heat accumulated in her body, until it reached a point she could no longer shoot out any fire.
She averted her eyes to Rigel, which looked rather calm as he held a necklace close to his chest.
"That didn't hurt?"
"Didn't you see me fall from who knows how high up?" He closed his eyes, bringing the necklace closer to him as he started muttering from under his breath.
"Hey, praying isn't going to help you now." She was about to make a sour expression until the necklace he held started to glow a light blue.
The necklace seemed to burst into light, leaving nothing but specks of blue dust that covered the two of them.
It made the shape of a small dome that barely covered them, glittering like stars.
"What did you do.." Stella asked, but her mouth was swiftly covered by Rigel's hands.
He whispered to her, "Shh. This'll conceal us, but they can still hear any sounds you make."
She nodded, watching as a few guards rushed past the two of them, talking to themselves.
"Damn... Just where did she go?"
"That's not what you should be asking. You saw that guy that was along with her, right? She's the only one reported missing from the cell, so who the hell is he?"
As they rushed out, their footsteps got quieter and quieter. Stella could barely hold back a laugh as she looked at him.
With a nod, the two of them exited the dome, running away from the prison.
"Are you also like me, Rigel? Do you also have unique powers?" She asked him once they reached an alleyway to hide in.
"I'm slightly different from you. Unlike you, who has a blessing from a god, I have a contract, so I can't bring out these powers as freely." He explained, taking out a deck of cards. "I need offerings that appease the god in order to use his powers. These cards, for example."
He took out the magician card, biting a small cut on his thumb and letting the blood drop onto the card. "Oh-, great magician of the sky, lend me your eyes, show me the truth that only you can see."
The magician's card shone brightly for a moment, then Rigel froze in place, with his eyes closed.
...
Looking around him, Rigel could see the mutilated corpses of several bugs and monsters, wailing and screeching in pain.
A deep layer of fog obscured most of his vision, but he could barely make out the silhouette of the titanic creature that destroyed all of them. It had too many legs to be counted, and every single one of them systematically moved at insane speeds, rushing forward and destroying everything in its path.
...
"Ah!" Rigel suddenly jolted upwards, with an astonished look. Looking over his body he could notice he was sweating and trembling.
"Did something happen?" Stella asked him, with a confused look on her face.
"Yes." He nodded, looking up. "We're in an awful situation."
"Huh?"
"I saw it coming." He continued. "The bug that made me fall all the way here. It's not something I can fight head-on by myself."
"Is it that strong?" She asked, confused.
"It's easier to understand if you see it yourself." He took out the magician card once again. "Where's the tallest building in this place?"
Stella stopped for a moment, before pointing to a tower. "Definitely there. The leader uses it to watch outside the city."
With a nod, Rigel held the card tightly as he started speaking again.
"Oh- great magician of the sky, lend me your feet, lead me to the place only you can reach."
He pointed the card to the tower, and its glow burst and scattered into specks of light that shaped itself into a staircase leading to it. He turned around to Stella before rushing, "Let's go."
Running up the illusory stairs, Stella stared at them intently. "I can do things like that too?"
Rigel ignored the question, reaching the rooftop of the tower. He looked around for a second, with his gaze narrowing as he pointed to where he looked. "There. It's probably coming after me, since I injured and enraged it."
Stella followed right behind him, turning her head to where he was pointing.
She could see it coming. A giant centipede that walked much faster than any human, releasing a greenish gas from its mouth as it quickly climbed down and approached the city. Anything in its direction would get stomped with no chance of resistance.
Her eyes had long since opened wide in disbelief. She turned to Rigel, with a rushed tone. "We need to warn the leader! Quick!
He's the only one who can deal with something like this!"
"Isn't it better to just run away? I doubt anyone can kill a beast of that size." Rigel asked her, putting his fingers on his chin.
She shook her head hurriedly, "It's killing everything around it. If we just leave, it might kill everyone in the city!"
"Then you should go. I'll try and lure it out until you can reach him." Rigel told her, taking out the tarot card of the Star.
When Stella heard that, she suddenly turned her head down. "I don't know where he is. If I just go searching around for him, it'll be too late..."
"..."
Rigel stared at her with a blank expression. He turned back to look at the giant centipede approaching. "I can take you there if you want, but I'll need your blood."
"Really? That's all it takes?" She looked up at him, with a hopeful expression.
Seeing him nod back at her, she quickly bit her thumb, flinching slightly from the pain before raising it at his direction.
"Here. If it's not enough blood, you can cut my thumb. Just let me talk to the leader, please."
"It's more than enough." He said, letting the blood fall onto the card. He put his own blood, too, inside the card. "What's the name of the person you want to meet?"
"It's Aston Antares."
"Keep holding the card." He said, as he pinched the bottom part of the card. "Oh-, the brightest star of Irys, lend me your wings. Take me to the leader of this city, Aston Antares."
The two of them were surrounded by bright light, vanishing from the tower a moment after.
...
Aston pinched his eyebrows, looking at the report in front of the table. "She broke out? You can't be serious."
"Mr. Aston, we saw an unknown person escaping along with her. We believe that person is the reason why she decided to escape."
Aston had always known that Stella could break out of her jail if she wanted to. But he also knew that she never tried, not once in all the dozens of times she was there. After all, it would only increase the surveillance around her.
"I guess I'll have to look for her myself." With a deep sigh, he stood up, pushing the guards aside as he pushed the door in front of him open.
"What the hell?"
Right in front of him was the girl he had so much trouble looking for. She was laying on the ground, as if she had just fallen clumsily. It didn't take long for her to stand back up, though.
"Aston! The city's in danger!" She yelled in a panic.
"The hell are you talking about?" He looked at her with a confused look, before shaking his head and staring at her coldly. "Just making excuses to escape your sentence, huh?"
"I'm telling the truth..." Stella was about to continue before getting grabbed by the wrist by Aston. "Ow..."
Before Aston could continue walking, he was soon met with the figure of a man holding a deck of cards. "Who are you? Where are you from?"
Looking at him closely, he noticed the man didn't have any markings on his face. He narrowed his gaze cautiously, slowly reaching for his blade.
'The only people with no markings on their face are from Jabbah, but his skin is far too light to be one...'
"Rigel Osmon. I fell down here from very high up." He pointed upwards as he continued. "She's telling the truth. A huge centipede knocked me down here, and it's coming to hunt me down. It's killing everything it sees, so your citizens are in danger, too."
"And why should I trust you?" Aston tightened his grip on his sword.
"Well..." Rigel approached him slowly, lifting up the card of the magician.
"Have you ever heard of Divinity?"