LUCEM
LXXIII Chapter

"He's really looking forward to you" said Magenta, looking at my wrist.

"What's he like?" Tanyaku.

Magenta stopped, looking me in the eye from under my chin. "Beautiful" he answered.

"She'll be as pretty as someone you want" Magenta continued, pulling my hand down and staring fixedly at me.

I swallowed my saliva slowly.

"He'll look like anyone or anything you want or care about, Mars" she said.

Magenta stepped back, I followed him with a look hoping to find something from his eyes.

"He will want you but he may also hurt you or your people beyond your expectations" Magenta's voice rose.

The air suddenly moved quickly, spinning. A very hard slap on my cheek. Two slaps, three, four... I felt pain in both my cheeks.

Marbella in front of me, a slanted smile on her face. As arrogant as my brother. Once again he raised his hand to smash towards me, I caught his hand. And a kick lodged in my stomach mercilessly, followed by a few punches that I could not foresee. Fresh blood dripped from the corner of my broken lips. As he prepared to hit me in the face again with his fist, I raised my hand... Marbella's face paled, her neck held high. That's when I saw a tear falling from the corner of his eye. I'm woken.

"Sorry, Marbi," I gasped. I tried to catch her body as she landed, but in a surprise, her body was shed with the wind. Lost with the fog. Away into the sound of roaring.

That disembodied howl grew into a booming kresendo, blowing up my eardrum. A burst of force struck me with the effect of a swinging wrecking ball. But then, suddenly like a bolt of lightning, there was nothing but silence. The wind and pressure disappeared, as if the ocean around me stopped frothing, and even though I felt blood dripping from my ears, I smiled. My eardrum will heal soon, and thinking about what I'm going through doesn't really involve Marbella, makes that little pain feel sweet

My body slowly shimmered, warmed up and delivered a wave of light with force to the source of the sound. Screeches in the air. I fell on my knee. The fog stopped and faded, the sunlight coming back on me and my shadow on the ground. Marbella walked with a smile towards me.

As I thought everything was fine, another madness came, and I shouted a warning as a piece of debris flew towards him. I jumped quickly to pull Marbella's body into my arms, and a punch to my spine, a pain so amazing that I saw the stars. My back, I'm sure it's hurt, and I can estimate at least a severe bruise there now. But when Marbella locked eyes with me in a sudden panic and fright, I nodded, letting her know I was fine. I got him.

Inch by inch painful, we moved back towards the bottom of the big tree. Magenta gestured, he shouted like a slow silent film.

It felt like centuries had passed before we could reach the bottom of the tree that had been sheltered, everything felt slow.

I don't know what's going on anymore.

But now, now,

Marbella suddenly turned around and shouted. "Come down, Mars!"

I immediately looked down deeply, looking back to find out what had happened. Waves of black smoke enveloped Marbella, she spun around and struck blows in various directions. Marbella doesn't do melee attacks, she's not an expert at it. I try to rise with the rest of my strength. But I can't move. I grabbed and pulled Marbella's hand away, but as I stepped my foot didn't move as fast as I expected, I sure as hell couldn't outrun the incoming wave of fire. I don't know how either of us will survive. A second later a wave of air and light swept past me. Magenta comes and pulls back my body and Marbella.

And I don't really understand everything that happens next.

Owanna was everywhere, they were suddenly in front of us, suddenly between us. Magenta pulled Marbella into his arms, and began yelling at Venus to pull my body to run into her protector.

Magenta banishes the incoming fireball, while Marbella begins to chant something that causes a wave of water to jump out of nowhere and though her attempts at extinguishing the fire are not entirely successful, she is unable to do so, it was enough to give us the edge we needed to escape. Venus and I dragged ourselves back under the protective tree and as soon as we came close to entering the sheltered area, I met a sea of panicked faces. Countless figures surged forward, their shouts and cries and hysterical commotion fused into one unbroken storm of sound. My logic is fading, I don't understand why people are here, worried, crying, and where are they all coming from? Venus continued to pull my body which became as heavy as a huge rock. He screamed to get me back, but I flinched. Quiescent.

Marbella seemed to realize something, she read my mind.

He chanted words that flowed sharply, orders into the crowd in my view, nameless bodies began to disappear. Venus no longer screams, but walks fast, penetrating the fading remains of the bodies, the ones that block our path. The sound of my breath in my ears. People are disappearing, people with grim faces. The fight ended quickly after we reached the protector.

Here, the sky is back.

Weather, sedentary. The soil seems to have been sewn back together. The wall of fire that tried to chase us all the way back down the big tree was now nothing but fading smoke. The trees were in an upright position, the storm was nothing more than a fine mist. The afternoon looks almost beautiful. And for a moment I heard birds chirping.

I collapsed in the middle of the worn-out road leading back to Magenta's house, my face hitting the wet grass. The smell of fresh, moist soil filled my head and I inhaled it, everything. It's a therapeutic scent. A prodigy. Maybe, I think. Maybe we'll be okay. Maybe I can close my eyes. Take a moment.

Marbella walked past my prone body, her movements so intense that I was shocked, into a sitting position. He shrugged my shoulders.

"Marsi... Mars," Marbella's voice sounded like a wave.

I looked at his feet, he wasn't even wearing shoes. His sleeves were torn, I looked back at his feet, barefooted, barefooted. The brown pants are muddy. I noticed for the first time that she had a big cut on the upper chest. Some wounds on his arm. A nasty scratch on his neck. Blood dripped slowly down her body, and Marbella seemed to be unaware of it. As she turned to speak to Venus, I saw wounds all over her back, blood splattering on the front and back of her body. He looks crazy. But he's still moving, his eyes are hot with anger and something else— Something that scares me.

I fell back down. Lost all the rest of the story.