Amiyah quickly gathers everyone. We all put our armor on, completely unsure of the situation and what's going on. Are they attacking early? But why? What happened to her pattern? We all quickly run outside. Smoke fills the air as civilians are running in our direction, away from the explosions going off. We head that way and are stunned when we come across a soldier with a Hazel uniform. He looks just as shocked to see us—me in particular. His eyes enlarge when he sets them on me but he quickly shifts his attention to the others. He goes to attack, flinging a bladed chain in David's direction. David puts a wall between our group and the soldier before it reaches him.
The soldier uses his seal next. Fire blazes from both sides of the wall as it blocks his attack.
"How's this possible?!" Amiyah yells to Adam.
"They should not be here, Elder. I apologize, our reports indicated they were headed for-"
"Every single one of you, scatter!" Amiyah cuts him off. "Spies, help evacuate any citizen you come across. If a Valentine soldier challenges you…do what you need to do!"
The group of spies pair off into twos and run off, leaving only Amiyah, David, Elijah, and myself.
"I'll go back for Benjamin!" David yells over the booming explosions. He leaves and the soldier is finally able to make the wall in front of us crumble.
"Where's Helen?" Amiyah asks the soldier.
"Red hair…leader of the witches? Along with the two Valentine? Specifically, the one who killed our king." He looks at me. "Orders are not to harm you. But, I don't know. I'm thinking I kill you right here and now."
Elijah points at the soldier, his fingertip glowing with white light. "Answer the question. Where is Helen?!"
The soldier grins as more Hazel soldiers come to back him up. He signals for them to attack us. Elijah lets off a blast that cuts down the soldier doing all the talking. The rest of them rush in, coating their chains in fire and swinging them at us. We're forced to dodge and back away. Amiyah summons two eagles. I'm caught off guard for a moment at the size of them. She takes the sword from her side and tosses it to the smaller eagle. It catches it with its talons and takes to the sky.
Another barrages of chains come our way, and the bigger eagle stands in the way, blocking it with its wings. I notice a thin shield-like barrier overtop of the wings as the chains bounce right off. She whistles and the eagle burrows right through the soldiers, knocking most of them on their backs. The rest of them come in and she whistles once more, this time in a higher pitch. Suddenly the sword she gave to the smaller eagle drops into the back of one of the soldiers running at us. For the rest of them, I create a wall of white flames that separate us.
"Helen will most likely be going after Brianna," Amiyah says.
"She'd be out of the mansion at this point," Elijah says. "She could be anywhere in the city."
"Do we leave David behind and go after her?" I ask.
"I think we should, David'll be fine. He can handle himself," Amiyah replies. "I'll clear a path for us. Summoning Enchantment: Ursidae!"
A large brown grizzly bear forms from white light in front of us. Elijah and I take a step back as it roars on its hind legs before falling on all fours.
"Don't be afraid," Amiyah chuckles. "This is Teddy. He's sweet." She pats his head.
"How many animals can you summon?!" Elijah asks.
"The three you see before you, and one more. My panther. I only summon her when needed. Let's get going."
We continue through the city, the spies are doing a great job of evacuating the citizens. There aren't many left wandering the streets while destruction is all around them. We come across more Hazel soldiers but Teddy takes care of them with ease, along with Amiyah's two eagles in the sky. We're close to the mansion when suddenly a group of people stands in our way. They're dressed like civilians, and assuming that they are, Elijah tries to tell them to get out of here. It isn't until one of them creates a wave of sand out of thin air that we understand whom we've just come across. Teddy losses his footing in the sand and so do we. Another member of the group floats above the sand and hurls balls of wind our way. I pan the air with my hand to create a barrier of white flames.
They consume the wind and create an opportunity for us to find a different route. Amiyah calls Teddy back to her, his body glows white before disappearing into the air. Everywhere we go, we're met by more multi-seals, or Hazel soldiers. I've never seen war, never believed it to be so hectic and overwhelming. The Valentine soldiers that are taking to the streets of Uboni are no match for what they're up against. At this point, I don't think we're making it to the mansion. More multi-seals surround us, joined by more Hazel soldiers. Suddenly, three people jump in as we're about to fight. Thomas, Lauriel, and Rose.
"What on Earth are you doing here, princess?!" Thomas yells.
There's no time for us to catch up though, the group surrounding us all attacks, and everyone has quickly split apart, forced to fight one on one. Including myself—and for the first time I'm pushed to use my fire offensively. I send out a burst of white flames that consume every person around me. Their screams echo in my mind—horrible screams. I'm shaken awake by Amiyah grabbing my hand and pulling me forward and out of the way of a Hazel soldier attacking with a sword. She snaps at me, telling me to pull it together.
"There's no time for sympathy right now," she says.
I agree—although I can't stop myself from tearing up. I focus on the fight once more, elements of all kind are going off around us, so much so that it's hard to keep up with what's going on. I'm beginning to get a little overwhelmed. I look to everyone in our group struggling to fight, trying their hardest to just stay alive. I slap both of my cheeks hard and pull myself together. And I apologize to everyone under my breath for what I"m about to do.
I yell for our group to duck down to the ground. They all look at me—hands full with their own fights. I command them once again—duck down. They finally get the picture and do as I say. I hold both palms out in front of me and put my all into creating a monstrous white flame. The eruption from my palms pushes me back but I quickly steady myself. I pan both of my arms over the surrounding area. I make sure that the flames are above where everyone is ducking. The screams once again make me want to chop my ears off. It makes it all too real, me realizing what I'm doing—I'm killing these people. People who only want to survive themselves. People who are fighting for a cause that believe is right in their mind much like us. I can't stop crying as I watch them all flail around.
Once the screams stop, I stop emitting the flames. I absorb what's left of them until everything around is black charred bodies and scorched earth. I fall down to my knees once I see the scope of what I've just done.
Amiyah runs over to me and throws her arms around, holding me tight. "You just saved all of us, Alyssa. Focus on that."
"Look at what you can do now," Rose says walking over. "You're a monster. My grandmother is dead because of you. You set Helen free and now look where we are."
"That's enough, Rose!" Lauriel shouts.
"I swear I'll stop her." I wipe my tears.
"This isn't your fault, Alyssa," Lauriel says. "'Stop being so hard on yourself.' Remember?"
I nod my head and stand to my feet. Thomas walks over and greets Amiyah, introducing himself. "Amiyah, is it? Under different circumstances, I'd say we'd be the ones trying to kill each other."
"No, that's all you. But I'm glad we can work together."
Suddenly a flame arrow strikes near us, hitting one of the charred bodies on the ground.
"Oh, my God!" A woman yells from the roof of one of the nearby homes, I recognize her voice before I even set eyes on her. Florence stands with a grin on her face, hands in her pocket as she peers out—observing the bodies all around us. "I gotta say, Alyssa. You've grown strong!"