Amidst the chaos of the park, Lloyd entered and desperately searched the area. His eyes scanned the surroundings hoping to find the source of the energy. As he looked, his eyes arrived at a little girl no older than 10, standing in the middle of the crowd.
At first Lloyd dismissed her as any other child , but for some reason he felt something was different. Looking more closely, he noticed the girl to be wearing a rather old and worn out blue dress, with holes found all over it. The tattered clothing hung loosely against her emaciated frame as it slowly revealed cuts and bruises along her body.
Her brown and uncombed hair had strands sticking out from them, while the butterfly pin on her head was hanging loosely. Her face looked deathly pale and her eyes looked...afraid.
Lloyd's eyes squinted at the sight, unlike the others around her, she looked to be badly taken care of. Lloyd tried to sense if she was the source but something was blocking his magic, a barrier maybe.
Seeing no other way, Lloyd blended in with the crowd. The girl was oddly suspicious as she looked to be surveying the area, while her body remained firm at her position, as if frozen in place.
Getting closer to her, Lloyd sat down by a bench, where he could watch her while not looking suspicious himself. Lloyd continued to glance at the girl, seeing her looking unease Lloyd began to look around as well.
'who is she looking for?'
Lloyd examined the park, his eyes arriving at various trees and colorful plants, children playing, and even the stalls selling food. Lloyd could feel his stomach grumble at the sight of those otherworldly foods, but he had something else to do.
Shaking away those thoughts, he continued to look around, occasionally side-eyeing the girl, who just like before still looked restless. Minutes passed and Lloyd was now getting bored, he came here to have a fun time and now he was spying on a little kid.
Sighing, he decided to walk up to her when all of a sudden the girl tensed up. Her eyes widened and continued to stare at a particular direction. Lloyd saw this and immediately stopped, he returned to his seat and followed the girls eyes.
All Lloyd could see were groups of people walking around, there was nothing wrong. However the girl had other plans, she turned around readied herself to run. Lloyd raised his brow as he saw the girl about to escape when a hand grabbed her from behind.
'where did that come from!'
Lloyd gasped at the sight, a man was now holding the girl by the arm. Lloyd was still shocked, he had no idea where they came from, he didn't even sense them!
The girl struggled against the man, but it was no use, he was to strong. The girl opened her mouth to let out a scream but the only thing that escaped were gasps of air. Tears were now streaming from her eyes as she desperately tried to shout.
The man holding her only chuckled at the girl's futile attempt and proceeded to drag her away. She resisted and dropped onto the ground, but even then the man didn't stop.
Lloyd watched in horror as the man casually dragged the girl on the ground while she was struggling. The girl looked with pleading eyes but the crowd around them proceeded to walk away, as if not noticing anything. The man saw this and only laughed harder.
"Oh come on sweet Lyra, you know these people will never hear you!" he mocked "Your tears are all for nothing, no one will save you! your mine now..." the man said as he eyed the girl's body.
That line sent a chill down Lloyd's back as the girl continued to cry, her struggling frame starting lose energy. The girl cried as her body grew tired, and her throat ached at the futile attempts of screaming. She looked one more time at the crowd, her chances of escaping now gone.
Her eyes soon arrived at a man who was staring at her. The girl widened her eyes in shock, the man was looking at them with eyes filled with anger. The man stood up and waves of white light started releasing from his body.
Lloyd's once horror filled eyes were now replaced with a glaring red as the energy around his body surged violently. He lowered his body as the girl was staring at him in shock.
Soon the sounds around him grew silent as the breeze and swaying of the trees stopped. The people stopped moving as the ticking of the clocks were the only thing he could hear.
Tick...
Tick...
Tick...
....
The sound was now completely gone, everything around him was frozen along with the man smiling victoriously and the girl staring at him in shock.
'Let's see who has the last laugh...' Lloyd thought to himself as he proceeded to walk calmly towards them, every step he took causing cracks to appear on the road.
He stared at the guy in front of him and raised his fingers. The moment he touched his skin, a surge of red sparks erupted from the contact, leaving a burn mark on Lloyd's fingers.
"Well that's something..." Lloyd muttered as he stared at his finger. The energy around his body gathered around his burn mark and proceeded to heal it back to normal.
"But still needs improvement" Lloyd smirked as he got closer to the man's ear, his skin almost touching his. Opening his mouth, he whispered something to him, and then a spark of red electricity just like before appeared around his body. Lloyd smiled, the electricity continued to spark as blood slowly dripped out of his ear.
Turning around,he looked towards the girl and his red glaring eyes dimmed, transforming into a more warm white. He grabbed the man's hands as the electricity zapped burning the man instead of Lloyd. Carefully grabbing the girl, Lloyd took her and ran away, time slowly reverted back to normal.
The entire park was now in an uproar as a man fell to the ground clutching his bleeding ears. His screams only coming out as gasps of air, as if he was having an asthma attack.
______________________________________________
The girl groaned, as pain surged throughout her body. She opened her eyes and stood up, massaging her temple. As she leaned back against the wall a voice called out her.
"Your finally awake..."
The girl jumped, opening her eyes to find herself in some kind of alleyway. She was lying on grass, covering the dusty cement floor.
"Sorry I had to put you hear, you were shaking violently, I had to do something"
The girl turned around and saw the man from before, the one who was staring at them.
"You...you save me" The girl managed to say, her voice sounding raspy and weak. Lloyd on the other hand smiled and only nodded. This action caused the girl to widen her eyes, her tired face now replaced with curiosity.
"Are you just like me?" This question caused Lloyd to stare at the girl, looks like she is the source of that energy. But still he can't sense anything, it sort of like listening to the radio but instead of coming from the radio, the sound is coming from somewhere outside.
It's really annoying.
"Yes" Lloyd answered "I'm Lloyd, what's your name?" The girl looked down, she hesitated a bit but decided to trust Lloyd.
"I'm Lyra, Lyra Madison"
"How old are you?"
"9..."
Lloyd's face darken, the thought of a child this young having to suffer was unbearable but it still happened, just like back home.
"What happened to you Lyra, how did that man get you?" Lyra looked at Lloyd and decided to tell him everything.
It was a long time ago when she first turned 9, her parents planned a trip for her in the city. They were having fun, enjoying the sights and eating delicious foods. When they arrived at the park, Lyra ran around until arriving at the old lamp-post at back of the park.
Lyra thought it would be fun to hide there, thinking her dad would never find her. But when she looked behind the lamp-post a snake started to crawl out. Lyra yelled as she saw the snake slithering towards her.
Lyra screamed and cried, but no one heard her. The snake soon made its way to Lyra, she was frozen in fear as the snake arrived at her feat. Seeing the snake stood up and crawl on her feet caused Lyra to scream even louder when all of a sudden something happened.
Her eyes started glowing and the lamp-post radiated a powerful aura, the snake soon slithered away as Lyra started to calm down.
Seeing the snake leave, Lyra ran back to the park to see her parents running around trying to find her.
After all of that, Lyra and her parents decided to finally go home. While driving down the road her father noticed a car following them, seeing this he started moving faster causing her mother to worry.
As the car following them also got faster, Lyra's father immediately pushed on the accelerator only to crash on an invisible surface. The car flipped over and crashed on the side of the road killing both of her parents.
Lyra being the only survivor got out of the car only to collapse on the middle of the road. She awoke to find herself in a white room with a huge glass mirror on the wall and a door on the side of it.
Remembering what had just happened before, Lyra started crying and soon her body began glowing as purple energy radiated off of her skin. The tiled wall started to shake and things flew across the room, breaking into millions of pieces.
As the shaking grew stronger, gas started to poor out of the walls and soon Lyra found herself collapsing onto her bed.
Waking up again she found herself now chained to the walls, as a man in white walked through the door. He looked at Lyra with disgust in his eyes as he scrutinized her.
"Look at me child" The man said to her "You have created a great sin, and you must be punished..."
The man signaled towards the mirror and soon two people entered the room, both carrying a machine. The man smiled at its arrival and took out a sharp needle like stick from its interior.
"Now girl, it's time we fix you"
Lyra screamed and soon her body started to glow, but before anything could happen the man jabbed the metal needle into the girl's hands, causing the purple glow to dissipate. Lyra let out a yell, as a painful substance started to course through her body.
The man looked at her in awe, marvelling at the sight in front of him. He then took the needle and proceeded to move it across her arm, leaving a large open wound.
Lyra cried as she remembered those moments, the pain of losing her parents and being tortured finally getting to her.
Lloyd watched in utter silence his eyes showed horror but behind them was rage. From what he gathered they seem to be against magic, but why? Could they be connected to those watchers, the ones Mari face?
Lloyd was taken out of his thoughts when Lyra screamed. Lloyd stood up and examined her body, she was clutching her arm in a fetal position.
Lloyd tried to touch her when she moved away "No, don't touch me, it hurts!"
"What's happening Lyra?" Lloyd asked, starting to panic "I don't know...." Lyra answered him but her voice sounded defeated and miserable.
Lyra continued to scream, tears falling down her eyes as she started to flail her legs around. Lloyd stood back and raised his hands as white dust was released from his fingers and fell to Lyra.
The girl stopped flailing around but was still clutching her arms. Running towards her, Lloyd moved her other arm and looked at the one she was clutching.
He visibly gasped at the sight of them, black vein-like streaks seeped out from her wound. Lloyd shook his head, he had to be dreaming, it can't be.
'That doesn't exist here, it only appeared in my world'
Calming himself down he grabbed Lyra and put her to sleep. He carried her gently as strong winds started to blow violently, covering his feet and back.
The strong winds circled around him until Lloyd started to feel weightless. Lloyd was now hovering off the ground, his face filled with fear. Heaving no time to loose, he hold onto her tight and flew into the sky.