▪︎ Energy can only be converted from one form to another ▪︎
Zita gasped for air, panting heavily.
'What happened?' She thought, rubbing her eyes. What was before her was a dirt house, and what she noticed next was that the sky wasn't blue. It's shades of grey, like colour doesn't exist at all.
All around them looked like dead trees, with mountains made of scapes. There doesn't seem to be any colour as far as the eye can see in this world. Everything was just shades of grey.
The house looked so familiar, but she couldn't recall where she saw it.
"Sis!!" She glanced towards the source of the voice, seeing a little boy running towards her. He had a huge grin on his face that caused her to unconsciously smile, too.
When he got closer, he tried catching his breath while speaking, "I .. saw a crack!"
"A crack?" She asked, realising her voice sounded more high-pitched.
"Yeah! You can finally get better!" He sounded so happy, it felt contagious as she nodded with a smile.
"Mm. But I'm happy being here." Those words came out of her mouth without her thinking, making her realise she couldn't control her movements.
"But.." The little boy pouted, slowly sitting down beside her, "What about our dream of bringing energy to this land?"
"They probably forgot about this land." Zita sighed, facing him she said, "Mom and dad died making this home, if we bring energy to this land.. who will die because of it?"
The little boy pondered on the question, and he finally replied with, "I rather die with a cause than without one."
"I would rather you not." She patted his head.
"If it was me who was sick, would you risk going over to the energy land?" He suddenly asked, causing her to look up at the grey sky.
"I will do anything to make sure you're safe, little bro." Her answer brought a smile to his face, his head dropped on her shoulder.
"So let's go to the energy land." He used this chance to try and convince her.
She didn't reply to him at first, thinking about his point of view.
"When did you learn to be so cunning?" She asked, pushing his head away.
He chuckled while trying to push his head against her hand, "Didn't dad always say, you either win or die in this land? I'm never going to lose any battle. That includes you."
He stopped pushing his head against her hand and stared at her.
"You win this time." She gently hit his head, causing him to giggle.
An unknown amount of time had passed, as the two went towards the crack where the little boy had found.
Zita stared at the crack, seeing bits of the energyland she had always heard about as a myth. She could see it's not just shades of grey. There was colour that she had never seen before.
"Why you think there's even a separation of lands?" The little boy asked, adjusting his bag strip.
"Maybe there's not enough energy to share." She made up an answer, unsure of the reason too.
The two made their way closer towards the small crack, before Zita stopped them with narrowed eyes.
"It's too easy, isn't it?" She asked, causing him to be on alert too.
His back hunched over with his arms by his side, "Mm." He scanned the surroundings, forcing his nails to sharpen.
Around the crack was mountains of scraps and dirt, and there doesn't seem to be anything unusual.
Cling.
Both of them quickly got into position, placing their backs against each other as the little boy glanced at where the sound was coming from.
"Idiot!" They heard a shout, followed by a figure climbing up a scrap hill, "Whatever! Attack!"
"Are they from the energy land?" The little boy asked, not recalling anyone being able to wear such fine clothing.
Zita gritted her teeth, knowing both of them would die if faced with the opponent quality weapons
She whispered to him, "Zack, let's run."
"What? Why?" Zack couldn't believe he heard that since they've never run away from a fight once.
"Either win or die. We win if they can't catch us." She said, preparing to throw her bag.
He bit his lips before replying, "Fine, let's not die."
Both of them spoke softly, but one of the members saw their lips moving and shouted, "What are you two yelping over there about?"
As he was saying that, another two members were already reaching them.
Zita and Zack pushed away from each other as Zita threw her bag towards one of the attackers, while Zack threw the dirt that he had in his pocket.
Both of them took the chance and quickly dashed for the crack.
Buzz
A laser beam shot towards them, hitting Zack's left arm.
"Zack!" Zita cried out, seeing his left arm drop on the ground.
"Sis, don't cry. I still have one arm." He forced a smile, facing her as a laser beam shot his head, causing his body to collapse.
"Zack!!" Tears started streaming down her face as she sprinted towards him.
Buzz
Her body suddenly automatically moved forward, but not enough as a beam shot gazed at her back, burning what little bit of cloth covering her body.
She knelt down and held Zack's body, holding it closely. She could feel his warm body slowly losing heat.
She was so close to the crack, but at that moment, she felt her emotions overflowing. She felt frozen, like something was holding her in place.
Buzz
She rolled along with Zack, but the beam hit her feet. But that little amount of pain was nothing to lose her last family member, her best friend. Her little brother.
Crackle
Before she knew it, she got swallowed up by the crack and travelled through it.
Her left arm reached out, wanting to grab Zack, but she was too far to reach him, and this time, her left arm slowly turned to smoke and dust.