"Can you lift us?"
"Thought you'd never ask," Melissa said, her voice laced with a thrill that bordered on mania.
**
Before Eydis could blink, Melissa's hands plunged into the ground, drawing power from the city's geothermal veins. With a grunt of exertion, she lifted them both skyward, a platform of earth and stone rising on a jetstream of geothermal power. Eydis watched in stunned silence as the city sprawled beneath them, the spiders' grotesque forms scuttling through the chaos. Despite her initial scepticism, she couldn't help but be slightly impressed.
"Cut the crap, I know you're floored," Melissa smirked, rolling her eyes.
"How long can you hold this?" Eydis arched an eyebrow, a flicker of concern battling with grudging admiration.
Melissa's cheeks flushed. "I-I mean, maybe, like, twenty minutes!"
"That's barely enough to boil an egg," Eydis grumbled, but her eyes scanned the horizon. Spotting a rocky outcrop perched high on a nearby mountain.
Guiding Melissa towards it, the brunette drew her sword. With a tap on the embedded Ethereum crystal, it shimmered and transformed into a sleek sniper rifle, its polished surface reflecting the gleaming sunlight.
Melissa watched, awestruck, as the blade dissolved into pure energy. "E-Ethereum? But it was..." she trailed off, her blue eyes wide.
Eydis tossed her a pair of binoculars. "Keep an eye out for danger. Let me know where to aim."
The Azura girl, eyes still wide with curiosity, gripped the binoculars unfamiliarly. But her focus sharpened quickly, scanning the city for any spark of fiery red that might betray Natalia's presence.
Meanwhile, Eydis, a whirlwind of focus and precision, loaded her rifle with specially designed bullets, a testament to Adam's ingenuity. These bullets, infused with traces of her Edyseum and Ethereum, allowed her to unleash its power without depleting her precious crystals. While not as potent as a direct crystal blast, the rifle's punch packed enough firepower to compensate.
A deafening CRACK echoed through the air as Eydis's first shot found its mark. A colossal spider, its hairy legs poised to crush a student, convulsed in agony, its form dissolving into a million shards of white energy. Melissa, witnessing the sheer power of the shot, swallowed hard, her gaze flickering between Eydis and the chaos unfolding below.
"Keep searching," Eydis commanded, her voice hardening with urgency. "Find Natalia. Find...Astra." She frowned, just what horrors had these creatures inflicted on Astra to draw such immense power from her?
A glint of silver caught Eydis's eye in the corner of her vision. Her heart hammered against her ribs as she trained her rifle on the source. It wasn't Astra, but Sir John, locked in a fierce duel with two of the monstrous spiders. Natalia, a fiery whirlwind at his side, wove threads of molten gold through the air, searing the spiders' vulnerable underbellies.
Relief washed over Eydis upon seeing her friend unharmed. Amber gaze then returned to John, whose movements were a blur of steel and grace, each sweep of his diamond blade severing a limb with lethal precision.
"Diamond?" Eydis breathed, a bewildered furrow etching her brow. How unusual. While it wasn't rare for a metal mage to conjure gems, diamond, with its intricate molecular structure, was notoriously difficult for even the most skilled mages to manipulate, let alone weaponize. Only a handful in the realm could wield it with such mastery - Astra, Duke Theomund, and now...Sir John?
Who was Sir John, with his diamond blade and his connection to Astra? And were they truly siblings, despite their starkly different appearances? A daring theory, bordering on impossible, began to take shape in the corners of Eydis's mind. But in this world, where colossal spiders emerged from the ground and diamonds danced in the hands of unlikely heroes, perhaps even the impossible held a spark of truth.
Before Eydis could fully process the scene, Melissa's hiss cut through the air. "There! Northeast corner of the Labyrinth!"
Eydis's gaze snapped in that direction, adrenaline flooding her veins like molten gold. The sight that greeted her ripped the breath from her lungs. Her monstrous doppelganger, a mockery of her features, sank its claws into Astra's abdomen.
Was she, Eydis,...the source of Astra's agony? Her weakness?
Rage pulsed through Eydis, igniting her eyes with fury. Drawing a bead on the creature's eye socket, she unleashed a shot with inhuman precision. The bullet tore through the doppelganger's skull, piercing its mana heart in a single, swift blow.
The creature dissolved into shards of brilliance, but the victory felt hollow. Eydis tried to rise, to reach Astra, her Astra, but Melissa's hand clamped on her arm, a desperate anchor in the maelstrom of emotions.
"You must destroy them, Eydis," Melissa whispered, her voice full of resolve. "All of them. For those they've harmed, for the city, and for her."
Eydis met Melissa's gaze, her amber eyes filled with a storm of emotions - grief, vengeance, and a fierce protectiveness over Astra. "Do your job, Blue," she rasped, her voice strained but unwavering.
And so, the battle continued. Eydis rained bullets upon the remaining creatures, each shot a fiery shard of her anger and determination. The afternoon sky of Eikholt became a canvas of dazzling white light, each exploding spider a testament to her unrelenting assault.
Melissa, amidst the chaos, couldn't tear her eyes away from Eydis. This commoner, the girl she'd once harboured petty jealousy towards, had transformed into a force of nature. The playful facade was gone, replaced by the steely gaze of a predator, an avenging angel cloaked in the afternoon's glow.
And for the first time, Melissa's carefully constructed world view trembled. This brutal display of power, wielded by someone deemed "lesser," challenged everything she thought she knew about hierarchy and strength. As Eydis unleashed another salvo of bullets, her eyes blazing with defiance, Melissa felt a seed of doubt sprout within her, questioning the very foundations of a society built on prejudice and privilege.
**
Eydis's heart plummeted as she watched Astra stumble, collapsing into Lord Grant's arms. Her fingers clenched around the rifle, white-knuckled and trembling. It was all his fault, this chaos, Astra's pain. The trigger pulsed beneath her finger, a tempting release for the rage boiling within.
Melissa's hand gripped Eydis's arm, her sapphire eyes wide with a fear that pierced through the haze of anger. "Eydis, please," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Don't do this. She needs us." The city, eerily silent after the final scream of the last nightmare, seemed to hold its breath, waiting for the next move.
Eydis's bloodshot eyes burned with an inferno of anger and despair. Her finger twitched on the trigger, but Melissa's words, laced with a flicker of fear, broke through the haze of rage. She met the sapphire gaze, the raw vulnerability beneath the fury chilling the air. The rifle, once a symbol of her resolve, dissolved into a pocket knife, swallowed by the darkness of her boot.
"Let's go," she muttered, her voice a hollow whisper. "To Astra."
Melissa, relieved at the shift, led them through the eerie silence of Eikholt, the aftermath of the battle hanging heavy in the air. Eydis's heart hammered against her ribs as she reached Astra's side. Her roommate's face was ashen, her breathing shallow, but the steady rise and fall of her chest was a beacon of hope in the chaos. With shaking hands, Eydis tore a strip of fabric from her own dress, her fingers brushing against Astra's cold skin as she pressed the makeshift bandage against the wound.
Lord Grant cleared his throat, his voice tentative. "Perhaps... a priest should be called-"
Eydis cut him off, her voice laced with ice. "No. The infirmary, now."
Surprised by her audacity, Grant, still burdened by guilt, acquiesced. "I'll take you there myself."
The infirmary was a hive of activity, the echoes of pain and fear a constant hum. But with Lord Grant's influence, they bypassed the waiting masses, reaching a small, sterile room where Astra lay. Eydis refused to leave her side, a silent vigil against the unknown.
The hours blurred into a frantic dance of rushing physicians and clinking instruments. Finally, a weary but relieved doctor announced that Astra was stabilised and asleep.
Moonlight bathed the room in a soft glow, casting long shadows on the walls. Eydis traced the pale line of Astra's jaw, her touch feather-light. Colour gradually returned to her face. Even in sleep, Astra's brow furrowed slightly, a hint of the nightmares that haunted her.
Eydis brought Astra's hand to her lips, a gentle kiss tracing the lines of her palm. "Sleep well, Astra," she whispered, exhaustion finally claiming her, wrapping her in a protective cocoon of darkness.