LUCEM
XCII Chapter

Wh-wh-what for? I reckon...

Why do they only look at us when we're about to die? Why bother taking over our plane and landing us here, safely, just to see us fall from the sky?

Do they find this entertaining?

Time feels weird. Unlimited and nothing. The wind was blowing hard at my feet, and all I could see was the ground, coming towards us too quickly, but I could not stop thinking about how, in all my nightmares, I had been living, I never thought I'd die like this.

I never thought I would die from gravity. I didn't think that this was the way I was destined to get out of the world, and it seemed wrong, and it didn't seem fair, and I thought about how quickly we failed, how we never had a chance— when I heard a sudden explosion.

Flashes of fire, discordant screams, the sound of Venus screaming in the distance, and then I no longer fell, no longer visible.

It all happened so fast I felt dizzy.

Moonflower's arm hugged me and she pulled me up, struggled a little, and then Magenta appeared beside me, helping to prop me up. His sharp voice and familiar presence were the only proof of his existence.

“Good shot,” Moonflower said, her panting words sounding loudly in my ears. "How long do you think we've got?"

"Ten seconds before it occurred to them to start shooting at us blindly" Magenta exclaimed. “We have to get out of range. Now." Now."

"On it," Moonflower shouted back.

We narrowly avoided a shot as the three of us fell, diagonally sharp, to the ground. We were so close to the ground that it didn't take long for us to land in the middle of the field, far enough from danger to be able to breathe a moment's relief, but it is too far from the palace complex to get lasting relief.

I bent over, hands on knees, with hunting breaths, trying to calm myself down. “What are you doing? What just happened?”

“Magenta throws an attack,” clear Moonflower. Then, to Magenta, "You look forward to the times to be able to do that, don't you?"

“That, and a few other useful things are worth trying in defending lives. We have to move into the protector.”

I heard the sound of his footsteps drifting away, his boots grinding the grass and I rushed to follow him. But then he stopped.

“They will regroup quickly,” said Magenta, “so we only have a minute to make new plans. I think we should split up and make a proper formation.”

“No,” said Moonflower and I together.

"There is no time" said Magenta. “They know we are here, and they obviously have plenty of opportunities to prepare for our arrival.

Unfortunately, the old king and the commanders are not fools, they know we are here to save the army. Our presence almost certainly inspires them to start a transfer if they have not done so. We are inefficient together. Easy target.”

“But one of us has to stay with you,” Moonflower said. "You need us at close range if you're gonna sneak around to find a clue."

"I'll take my chance."

“Not possible,” says Moonflower flat.

“Listen, I know this complex, so I'll be fine by myself. But Mars and most of the troops don't know this place well enough. This huge field we are fielding is about one hundred and twenty acres of land, which means you can easily get lost if you don't know where to look.

The two of you and Jiso's army stay together. Mars will lend you his power if you need it, and you can be his guide to find our group in the protective chamber. I'll go alone and once we get what we need then I'll be back to get together.”

"What?" i said, panic. “No, no way—”

"We together, as a group, can really be an easier target. There are too many variables. Besides, I have something I have to do, and the sooner I can use communication magic, the smoother it will be for all of us. Maybe it's better if I handle it myself.

"Wait, what?"

"What are you planning?" ask Moonflower.

"I'm going to trick the system into thinking that our troops and our troops they're holding hostage are connected" he told Moonflower.

“There is a protocol for this kind of thing that is already in the palace rule records, so if I can create the necessary profile and authorization, the guards will recognize us as members of the royal family. We will be given easy access to most high-security rooms throughout the complex. But it wasn't easy.

These guards are the command of the security magician, they can do a self-scan for anomalies and it is done every hour. If they find out about my bullshit, we'll all be arrested and reported. But until then, you will be able to more easily find the location of the troops held in the rooms.”

“Magenta,” Moonflower said, sounding very impressed. “It. . . Nice."

"Better than great" I added. "That's amazing."

"Thank you," he said. “But I have to go. The sooner I start moving, the sooner I can get started, which hopefully means that when you guys reach base, I'll make something happen.

"But what if you get caught?" I asked. “What if you can't do it? How will we find you?”

"I wouldn't do with that possibility."

“Tapi— Magenta—”

“We are at war, Mars,” he said, with a slight smile in his voice.

"We don't have time to be sentimental."

"That's not funny. I hate that joke. I hate him so much.”

"Magenta will be fine" Moonflower said. "You obviously don't know him very well if you think he's easy to catch."

“But didn't he really just wake up! After shot! He almost died! I pointed at Magenta.

"That's a coincidence" Magenta and Moonflower said at the same time.

I immediately scanned the woman, and yes... He looks almost unharmed.

"Oh, no! What about my sister, Marbella is she hurt?" I said, panic attacks and difficulty adjusting to the situation.

"Marbella's fine, you can go over there and see for yourself. There's not much time left, I have to leave and we'll be reunited soon" Magenta said.

The woman sped away without waiting for our approval again.

Jiso was seen giving some instructions to the troops and Moonflower again asked us to prepare for a short flight to the protective room. All gathered in a short line and held each other. Within seconds we were in front of my brother.

Marbella, her gaze was cold forward. Dozens of troops lined up with directed weapons on our protectors.