MONICA
Its midnight when I step out of the bar, a slight buzz is all that remains of my drunken endeavors, I'm laughing at the words of a girl beside me when an entire building a couple meters away is suddenly destroyed, as fire rains down on it.
A man rises from the rubble, bloodied, his hair a mane of liquid fire, he flies back into the sky too fast for my eyes too follow, and an entire wave of fire is suddenly unleashed on the area around him.
people scream and run around me, wounded and bleeding, I run towards a woman half buried under the rubble of the destroyed building. I drag the woman out with my telekinesis, and its just in time as the very next moment the man is knocked back down into what's left of the destroyed building, forming a shallow crater underneath him
I watch as a massive hammer, glowing with purple light slam into the fallen man, before being suddenly converted to vine like ropes as thick as my thighs.
Fallen debris litter the area, while I use my talent to move people to safety, dragging them from underneath fallen stones or wood. I couldn't raise much at my tier, so I focus on manipulating the minds of those around me.
The fight goes on as I run around, moving fallen debris from hitting people, I see a group of people moving others to safety, but there are still broken bodies everywhere.
I look up to see a massive pool of fire descending directly on top of me, I scream as I pull every ounce of will within me, directing all of the fallen stones I can gather to protect me, I feel myself tier up but I know it'll not be enough to save me.
The stone fly around me, tens of them stacking up to protect me from the river of fire, I feel the heat first before the pain, I scream as the fire engulfs me, but it only lasts for a second as in the next minute, the fire is gone, leaving my smoking body on the golden pavement as darkness engulfs me.
* * *
Visions of blood and broken bodies assault my dreams, pain and fear, overwhelming me in their intensity as I struggle to save the people around me, but I don't reach them in time and I watch as the fire descends and—
I wake up drenched in sweat, the memory of the blood and death lingers and I wipe the tears from my eyes. I touch my skin, looking for wounds but I don't find any.
I sigh in relief at the lack of scars, I don't need any reminder of the pain and horror, I'm in a sort of hospital gown and I realize that I must have been cleaned and washed already.
It takes me a moment to realize what it means for me, fear rises in me at the thought of someone seeing my traveler mark, I'm not ready for the empire to find out yet.
Frantic, I climb out of bed and walk to the door, I see Nateo first, and he's before me in a second after he notices me
"I'm glad you're alright"
I want to scream at how the empire was an actual deathtrap, but there's bigger problems at the moment.
"I need to find the healer who washed me" I say, "Do you know who it is?"
He nods at my question, confused.
"I need you to find them immediately" I say to him, I have no idea why the healer would have kept this secret but I don't care enough to want otherwise, I would prefer that my traveler status remains a secret till I'm strong enough to handle it.
Nateo frowns at me for a moment before he disappears, I wait for a couple minutes before he arrives, a frightened healer arrives a second later, she screams when she sees me, but I don't give her a chance to say anything, I force myself into her mind, searching through her memories, I view each one until I see my mark, I erase the memory and every other tied to it.
I stumble upon a memory that gives me pause, it's a memory of a letter, urging the healer to relocate her family from the capital in a week, to avoid an attack from RAGNAROK, and the realization of what I've stumbled upon hits me.
I pull out of her mind a second later, and I'm met with hostile stares from the hospital workers, Nateo is particularly furious and he grabs the woman as she collapses.
"What did you do? You have no right!" one of the healer shouts at me, but her word barely register as I realize the horror that might have befallen the capital if I hadn't found this out.
Deep in thought, the voices of the people don't reach me until Nateo calls out.
"You will explain this, now!"
I point to the rest of the people in my room and wave them out, they don't leave until Nateo speaks with them, promising to get to the bottom of this, I don't mind, the thoughts of the people cloud my mind, shouting out obscenities.
When they finally leave, I point to the unconscious woman "She's a spy for RAGNAROK'
Nateo is shocked at my words, he asks if I was sure and I tell him about the memory I saw, in moments he's gone with the woman and I sigh in relief, I wonder what would have happened had I not found the memory of the letter.
I step out of the hospital a few minutes later, where I find Nateo speaking with one of the hospital healers, they both glance at me as I walk by them to sit in the reception.
Nateo walks back a few minutes later, and I ask him to please take me home, he nods and the next moment I'm in my apartment, I collapse into one of the chairs immediately, drained.
Nateo is staring at me, and I know he's waiting for some kind of explanation, but I ignore him, closing my eyes and trying not to think of how close I'd come to becoming empire property, and although, being a traveler wasn't a crime, it would put a target on my back that I wasn't ready for yet.
"I know you're hiding something, when you came out of the room, you were terrified" he pauses, gathering his thoughts, "you didn't go into the healers mind to protect the empire"
"It doesn't matter why I went into her mind, what matters is the many people I might have just saved, frankly the empire owes me"
Nateo is silent at that, but I'd all but admitted that I went into the healer's mind for an entirely different reason, but hopefully it'll help me keep my freedom for a while.