21's Legacy

Chapter 10

In slow motion, I watched the icy sky fall on us. As soon as I realize that it will crush us to death, I see Erin's body float. She's being pulled westward by an invisible force.
By TK.
By Mom's TK.
I understand the logic behind it. Behind me being left to die.
In our situation, Erin is more capable of fighting. And I? I am as good as dead.
I'm expendable from the very start. It's the same reason I'm assigned on the front line. I am the most useless of them all. And I'm certain that in this battle we will not be able to sustain each and everyone's life.
We're battling against powerful Gardes, so we should expect casualties. Should there be any casualty among us, he or she should be the most unfit.
And I, having no Legacies (not even TK), am the weakest link.
Plus, now I'm paralyzed from neck to foot. I'm as useless as I could ever be.
I don't know for sure if this is just temporary or permanent but what I do know is we cannot risk everyone's lives for uncertainties. I'd die anyway, any time soon. Maybe by the flames of Torch or by the tremors of Meleek. So who cares if the paralysis is permanent or not?
"Mother knows best" I thought.
I closed my eyes. And wait. I wait for the debris to fall down on me and take my life. Take my breath. Take my emotions. My thoughts. My love. Take even myself away from me. Take everything away from me.
I expect a debris to fall on me anytime now, and it certainly did fell. A skull sized debris fell first on my chest.
Pain (I think I broke a couple of my ribs)
Agony.
Adrenaline.
I can't believe it!
There's still a chance!
The pain rekindled my senses! It mobilized me! I can now try to save my life and be useful again!
But sooner than I thought, one large debris fell twenty five yards away from me. Its parts fly like a thousand deadly pieces of broken glass pincers.
I had no time to dodge them, I just wait to welcome them in my flesh.
As they approached me, an invisible force made them to stop just inches away from me. They fell to the ground lifeless, as they are.
I turn around to see who used the TK. I see Mom putting ice on Erin's leg, Erin screams in the process. Both of them seemed to have forgotten about me, so neither of them did it.
When I look above them, Threin has returned wrestling with Torch. And he's loosing their fight. Receiving fatal blows all over his body. So most definitely it wasn't him.
None of my allies seemed to care about me anymore. And it does not surprise me.
But if it wasn't them, who is it then? Who would do such thing?
I had no time to decipher who saved me when I saw a larger boulder of ice falling just above me. There is no way I'd be able to escape it by running towards any direction. So my plan is to use my sword to chip a cleft on it so that when it hits the floor I'd be able slip into the cleft and maybe end up unharmed.
It seemed impossible but that's the only thing I could think of as of the moment and that's my only chance of survival.
As soon as I grabbed my katana, the same TK that saved me from the shattered pieces of ice, drew me into a direction with enough speed for me to escape my upcoming doom, more easily than the way I planned to do.
After being brought into safety, I skimmed the area to look for the mysterious owner of that TK when my left wrist felt a heat. Almost as if a hand had gripped it. As soon as it touched me, my hand disappeared!
No! My whole body disappeared! No! My whole body turned invisible!
Then a voice confirmed my thoughts. "We have to get out of here."
A familiar voice. "Fast!"
A voice of someone who I used to trust. "Johann, listen to me!"
Someone WE used to trust. "We have to run for our lives!"
Someone I used to LOVE, but now I DETEST.
And that someone is Mang Tony. "Now!"

Jacobbus struggles for his life. His groans confirmed his excruciating pain. The spears of ice that pierced his body has a firm grip on him and aside from that he also struggles with the pain inflicted by too much cold.
I took the time to seal Erin's open wound. She screams as I do so, but her screaming was erased by the loud sound when the ice boulders land and hit the earth completely.
The whole place rumbles with both the impact and the sound it created. And as I watch and listen to it, I see and hear grief.
Mourning over a fallen son. Jacobbus has somehow caused me pain through his attack. He was somehow right to hurt me with grief.
But I know Johann died a great death. A glorious death. A death of a warrior, willing to give up his life for the sake of Lorien even if Lorien will never recognize his Heroic act.
Yet, I will have to mourn for him later. To grieve for him later. I have to ensure that we too will not be a source of grief.
One death is enough.
Dozah has now regrouped with Meelek, meaning, our first plan has failed.
We didn't expect that extra Legacy of him. Although it seems like he's the only one who's extra Legacy hasn't expired yet.
Just the same, it caught us by surprise.
Threin lands near us full of sweat.
I know Threin is a Garde prodigy, but he is still not as experienced as Xerxes.
Yet when I saw Xerxes falling down from the sky loosing his ember, I took pride about Threins strength. His training had bear fruit after all.
Xerxes stood and rekindled his flames and raced at us.
When I turned to Threin I know exhaustion is creeping through his veins. He knelt to find strength on the soil, and when he couldn't find any I lay Erin down for a moment and aimed my bow to Xerxes.
"Am I seeing this right?" Meleek shouts, "Thy team is a one-man band Chiara!" He adds.
I didn't bother to answer him and equipped my bow with ice arrows using my TK. I shoot in such a speed that each arrow is two inches away from each other's tail.
I know that arrows made ice will never touch his skin. But I remember my plan a whole ago, and I know I'm doing the right thing.
"You're gonna kill me with that stupid toy?" He shouted with his teeth gritted as he close our gap.
I use my right hand to let the vapor caused by melted ice to follow him until it produces a very thick fog.
"Are you trying to blind me with that?" He inquires.
"No." I smile wickedly and twisted my right hand to shape the fog around him. "I'm going to SNUFF your fire out of you."
I clenched my fist the same way I did to Jacobbus' lightning storm and felt the cold feeling connects from my fist upto the great fog.
I trust my Legacy to do the job.
Xerxes is puzzled by what has been happening around him until I enclosed him with an ice sphere. He tries to engulf himself with more powerful fire. But the ice is so thick that even his flames will have to take a long time to melt it. Maybe a two weeks of time to melt all that ice.
I haven't done this for a very long time.
But I did it. Once again I did it.
Crystal-hard ice.
He fired up his flames again in an attempt to melt his cage. But he only faced failure whenever he tries.
I told Threin to connect my message to his thoughts through telepathy. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." I knocked on the wall beside his face, "You have a very limited amount of oxygen in there." I smile wickedly so he can feel his defeat, "The more you try to blaze up your flames, the more it eats up your chances of breathing air for yourself." He has three minutes max before suffocation.
Meelek's smile turned upside down as he gaze upon two of his Gardes on the brink of their deaths.
"Three down." I say to him in mockery. "Two left."