Woven

Sira: Chapter 18

Why did everything they ended up doing have to be running? Sira felt like she had lost more weight in these past few days than she cared about. But considering it wasn't her real body, it might've just been her imagining things. Regardless of whether or not she had lost weight, Sira and her friends were now running from the Reaper, which had just absorbed Anima.

"Sorry!" Aly apologized.

"For what, exactly?" Sira asked.

"I foreshadowed this. Dom told me not to."

She rolled her eyes, "Don't worry, I'm sure it couldn't have been avoided, foreshadowing or not."

The younger girl simply nodded and continued to sprint. Sira turned away from the conversation as well and, as she was running, began to think. After the Reaper had absorbed Animus, it had been able to fly. Since it had now absorbed Anima, what might happen--

A massive gray dome popped into existence twenty feet ahead of them. Oh, that's what. Sira ground to a halt, her heels scattering dust into the air. Through the cloud behind her, she could see the original gray dome, smaller than before. Glancing back and forth, she saw that the domes were of the same size. Great, so the Reaper now had the ability to perform mitosis.

Kyo, she noticed, wasn't busy comparing sizes, but was instead summoning his own pearly white sphere from his heart, which expanded to encompass the seven of them. As soon as it was formed, he resumed running, taking the barrier with him. The Reaper in front of them literally screeched to a halt, hissing against Kyo's barrier and letting off steam. Sira decided it was best to follow closely.

They had to head around it, which led them through a maze of dilapidated buildings that crumbled under their feet. Sira did her best to run ahead with Therin to break down any obstructive walls. Several times, they blasted through weakened bricks, Therin perforating them from a distance with her spear and Sira ramming them with her bladed armor.

As a result, they were able to make steady progress around the new Reaper dome, which was continuously being pushed back by Kyo's barrier. Sira's shoes crunched on new terrain and she looked down to see flattened, brittle grass. They were outside what used to be the city now, and the grass here, contrary to the usually vibrant red, was blackened and crumbled loudly beneath each hurried step.

Sira looked back up and continued running, since that was all they could ever do. They began to come around the widest part of Reaper number two when Sira was encouraged by how easy the escape was going to be, compared to the last couple ones.

She spoke too soon. Immediately after the thought crossed her mind, two more domes apparated around them, blocking their escape further. Sira stopped dead in her tracks and the rest of them did, too. Therin, however, kept running, seemingly unaware of the change in the situation. Sira glanced around and saw that one of the domes was closing in on the point that Therin would exit the safe zone. Desperately, in order to prevent the girl from reaching the border that was so close now, Sira yelled, "Therin, stop!"

First her wolf ears swiveled to pick up the sound, then she turned, sliding across the weak grass as she tried to halt. The border seemed to close the distance on its own, with looking as if she were standing still, since the landscape was so unchanging. Gradually, the grass stopped her. But one hand slipped out of the barrier, breaching the wall of protective light. At the same time, the oncoming dome became tangent at exactly the point where Therin's hand breached the unsheltered air.

Her scream was horrifying, layers of pain rang out from her vocal cords, tearing at them and the air. Kyo's mental scream was equally loud, Therin!

Between the two, both Sira's ears and brain hurt, causing her to shut out her vision. It didn't help much. When she opened her eyes again, she saw that the boundary hadn't moved, but Kyo was tearing Therin away from the Reaper and Ryan was sprinting to help. Sira, despite her migraine, ran as fast as she could to them, as well.