Glass Soldier REWRITTEN

Chapter 25

         The sounds of birds and branches moving with the wind filled my ears as I stared at the blue sky, clouds dusting it as they pleased. The soft ruffling of Averin putting the saddle back on his horse invaded the peaceful forest. Turning my head, the brisk air leaving goosebumps on my sticky skin, I stared at his broad back. The night had been very quiet, silence having drug even after he woke.

         "I can't get up," I finally broke it, the words true. My legs would only tremble upon a command and my arms were barely enough to push myself into a sitting position. One I had no desire to be in. As such, I had remained laying on the fallen leaves and loose plants beneath me. His shoulders stilled as he looked over his shoulder at me.

        "... He didn't say anything about your magic," He cause wisely while I hummed, my eyes shifting back to the sky. "All he said was run, you can force your body into action with magic." It wasn't a question. A statement. One that left a smile on my lips.

         "I guess you did stay up practically all night," I laughed lightly. The conclusion one I was supposed to be hiding. Oh, Latro... My sensitive and overly emotional magic. A creature made purely from a form of condensed mana. A creature that drained my mana at every move, every motion.

           "... I'll keep my mouth shut." Glancing at him at the unexpected promise I raised a brow while he just met my gaze head-on. "They wouldn't believe me even if I told them,"

          "Oh, I don't know about that," I hummed pushing myself to sit up, "At this point, Edward may believe anything he was told, apparently I'm good at achieving the impossible," I smiled innocently at him while he finally broke his stare. Mounting his horse with a frown.

        "All you're doing is proving them possible, now get up, we've taken long enough." Staring at him for a long moment, he stared back, expectingly. So, with a sigh, magic climbed my limb legs, my legs growing longer, my feet turning to claws, the scorching obsidian rolling up my body, consuming every inch of me, until I was met with an abyss only lit with soft hues and a burning red flame.

           "Better run," The words just barely passed my lips before the hot magic blocked my airway. The burning flame didn't heed my warning as a new voice let out a loud and pained screech. "Hurts! It hurts! What did we do wrong?! We helped! We saved!" It cried, obsidian rippling down our faces as we clawed at the earth before stumbling to our feet. "You... Unwelcome and cruel... Hurt... Hurt us! You hurt us!"

          Just like that, we were leaping at the burning mana that gave a quick command to his horse, racing away without a word. Our claws dug into the ground as we raced after, tail flinching behind us. Crashing into fallen dead trees and stumbling on hard rocks, we didn't stop for a minute. The only thing we didn't stumble into or fall over were living, yet, soon we were rushing after the lingering mana in the same path it choose. Gaining ground against a soon-cursing mage.

         Stretching a long arm, our three claws desperate to grab the man that had hurt us time and time again, before a harsh kick came from the beast he was riding. With a cry, we rolled against our own momentum, a warmth to our claws as he cried out, the flames separating from the dull hue that whined. "Shit! Fuck! For the love of- ugh," He moaned from the ground, the words hardly finding my ears as we turned to look at him while on all fours.

          "Lilith Windsor!" A voice struck as we leap at him uncaring.

          "It's fine!" Averin shouted with a grunt, the pulsing flame pushing to sit up but not moving. Skidding to a stop, hardly a few inches from him, we stared at the unmoving man, crouched and tail flicking.

          "You gave up," I called with a smile, obsidian pulled from my face as I blinked against the light, finding an unamused Averin.

          "Hardly, now get out of that thing before I rip it off," He warned with a flat face With a hum, I did as told the obsidian melting off as I found myself on the ground, my legs folded beneath me with my hands neatly placed between my knees. Staring at one another for a moment longer he broke my gaze by pushing himself onto his feet, brushing himself off, and walking towards the waiting elites he had probably informed of just how close we were. Following him with my eyes, I didn't move, my legs completely useless.

          "What is the meaning of this?" Edward asked him sharply, motioning towards me while I pushed myself back, falling to my butt, and dragging my legs in a loose crisscross.

         "Call it a race," He humored rolling his shoulder with a grimace. Edward looked to his bleeding horse as it limped, a large gorish slash to its hindquarters, before looking at me, who had my Latro in my hand, a little black snake curling around my wrist and hissing at him while I couldn't help the smile on my lips.

         "A race?" He asked, more like pressed, while Miss H began hesitate steps towards me, breaking away from the silent group looking at me as if I was trying to kill him or something.

         "It's fun with higher stakes, isn't it?" I chirped, holding the snake in my palm before crushing Latro into a dust, their core gone as I blew the fine powder in their direction.

         "Lilith," Averin shot, and much to everyones surprise, I offered a hum, backing off the attitude. I may hate him but, well, he's been at least treating me like a person since my oh-so-amazing feet. We'll see if he can keep it up for more than a day. "It was a race, and..." He waved his hand half-heartedly, looking for a word to excuse a mild amount of hostility.

        "Self-control?" I offered for him. Earning a snap of the fingers and a side glance.

         "Self-control training, we all know of her little armor trick, but the magics got a mean personality, we were practicing," He was so bold as to pat Edward on his shoulder with a slanted grin. A few gazes shifted from me to Averin multiple times. A sense of dread set in as the three elites started to realize we were at least getting along.

         Edwards looked from his shoulder, which still had Averin's hand on it, to his face. A slow and simple push had removed the hand that left Averin to whistle. Miss H finally offered me a helping hand I took. "... I did not allow the use of magic in your punishment,"

        With my arm around a struggling Miss H, I raised a brow at the man so quick to throw a fit. "You said I had to run, I ran," I clarified with a slanted grin and wobbling legs, my finger hardly pointed in his direction as Miss H barely kept us from falling over.

         "... Alright," Saris carefully cut between are glares, in turn, gaining his. "She is clearly beyond exhausted Edward, you had her run here from the capital-"

           "It was a fitting punishment," He didn't hesitate to interrupt what wasn't even a question to his authority.

           "I'm sorry, I only saved hundreds of lives," I scoffed, throwing my hands out, the grip on my wrist faltering as a squeal came from the landline keeping me upright. The words had quickly brought the bitter attention back to me. Just like that, I was being yelled at again.