The Splintered

What a Shitty Circle Life Is

"Everybody down!"

I screamed barely in time, as the five oval alien gunships started raining hellfire of the virus laser missiles. Dissolving people into dust or engulfed tents in flames quickly. Killian, came into my eye line first as I yelled.

"Get the civilians out of here, arm them!"

"Aye commander!"

He yelled back leading as many civilians as possible out of the line of fire, speaking of I was starting to recognize the firing pattern. Soon I was able to start slicing missiles in half with my katana two at a time. I moved farther inward than expected from doing that, rolling to dodge two ships firing at my torso.

"Sir!"

Stitch called out to me, as we found some cover to slide under. Wasn't much more than a cart but that'd let us talk.

"Is the armory gone?!"

I asked and she replied.

"No! Some of it is salvageable!"

"Okay, take what you can arm whoever is left and get the warriors out of here!"

A missile flew inches away from my nose as Stitch and I barely scurried from under the cart before it collapsed in on itself.

"We're not leaving you, Mason! We will stand and fight-"

"This is bigger than me! You are the fire that will save the earth, go!"

I pushed Stitch into a run, as all five alien ships surrounded me. Giving them the middle finger, I used my speed to pull them towards the woods. Using the trees I was able to cut down two ships, but I didn't know how large the blast radius was sending me rolling into the dirt. Just as I got to my feet, a laser went through my right side and left shoulder. Pained exploded through my nerves causing me to scream, and I was getting dizzy fast.

Give up worthless human, you could be the better future of this planet as a corpse-

"Sorry, what was that? Didn't quite hear you over the massive bullshit."

I replied as the leader of the main alien ship grumbled in anger, all three of them starting rapid gunfire making me use my speed to the fullest. I reached a cliffside barely skidding to a stop, right when I turned around I had to create a sonic boom. This would be the first time it was held in place to catch all of the missiles. All three ships thankfully were only shooting from one side oh I just had to open my big mouth-

Once we kill you, we'll eliminate the rest of your warriors and finally put an end to your kind-

"I don't think your boss would like that. So I'm going to have to raincheck."

I declared. Holding one ship's missiles back with my right hand, and the other two with my left was draining my energy fast. If anyone could take a picture it was like I was using the force, letting out a final yell I was able to push the missiles back into them. The force of the explosion sent me off the cliffside, there was water at the bottom but I was highly doubting I could survive it. My wounds were eating into my insides, I didn't need to look to know. As you can expect time had slowed down for me, hence why I have yet to hit the water yet. The fact it happened all over again, losing the people closest to me, or being too weak to stop anything is a pretty shitty fact that I apparently can't escape. Honestly...

What's the point if I don't amount to anything?

***

Itsuki POV

"Hey, he's got a pulse!"

I yelled as Ezra ran over to me, helping pull Mason out of the water or should I say, Anthony? Dex told me his original name once but I thought it best not to call him that.

"W-What do we do?"

Ezra asked frantically as I snapped his gaze back to me, he told me his story and I'm sure he's freaking out right now. But with time and patience, we can bring Mason back, I replied.

"First, take a deep breath. Second, I'm going to need you to breathe for Mason until the water comes out of his lungs understand?"

"Yes."

I started chest compressions on Mason, and on my count, Ezra would send a gust of his air down Mason's throat. He did it three times before I asked him to stop. I paused on the chest compressions as well.

"Come on Mason."

After a heart-wrenching minute, Mason coughed up water as I told Ezra.

"Turn him on his side, quick!"

As Ezra did so, I paid attention to Mason's condition. Some of the water was diluted with black, not to mention his eyes weren't entirely open. They were rolled back to the point that when his eyelids fluttered you only say white.

"He didn't just drown did he?"

"Unfortunately not, but I know how to save him."

I replied gripping Ezra's shoulder as we nodded together, then said.

"Help me carry him, were too exposed."

Pulling Mason up and onto our shoulders, we took my horse and rode as far away as we could. Reaching a cave, I went in first with my katana ready to find a few abomination bats. But they weren't interested in me and flew off, once I was sure it was clear I led Ezra in. After setting up a makeshift wooden bed, and making a torch with tree sap, we placed Mason down on the bed. He twitched and shifted violently then puked blood with increments of black at our feet.

"He's getting worse, you said you know how to save him?"

Ezra asked as I nodded, I told Ezra how while craving into the root of the tree to try and pry some more sap.

"I do, not too far from here are mutated butterflies. Ironically they are the one thing on this planet that isn't trying to kill you. Their wings have medicinal properties."

Once I got about a handful of sap, I transferred to a cup then looked directly into Ezra's eyes and said.

"Listen to me very carefully, there is alcohol in my pouch use it to clean out his wounds, the use this sap to clot the wound. If push comes to shove use the torch. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Ezra POV

"Okay, be careful, I can't thank you enough."

Itsuki chuckled a bit then said.

"He's your lover, but he's my best friend. I can't let him die, not like this."