Book 4 | Agent 34 and the Last Gem

Chapter 33 | Backup Plan

"Now!" Grari exclaimed.

A chain shot out from the crowd and grabbed ahold of Paor's right arm. It pulled him away from Calvin and another chained extended from the Ar'guals and grabbed ahold of his left arm.

Both chains pulled simultaneously and Calvin looked at the other ends of them both. Arenia pulled at the right chain, while Marque pulled at the left.

Grari threw a chain at Paor's skull, grabbing ahold of his upper spine instead. Paor cried for help, struggling to get free as he was being pulled in every which way.

"I'll save you!" A voice called from the crowd. The gray human looked for the source and spotting Ben pushing his way through the Ar'guals, nearly stepping on them as he went.

"Ben, no!" Calvin cried back, but it was too late. Ben had made his way through and was running at Sir Paor with his blade raised above his head.

He jumped into the air and prepared to bring his blade down on the skeleton's skull. Paor looked at the kid and reached his leg up towards him and kicked him out of the air like it was nothing. Ben fell to the grass with a roll, blade clanking to the ground beside him.

Paor laughed as he pulled his right arm heavily towards his left. He grabbed ahold of the chain on his left arm and ripped it off like it was nothing. He did the same with his right one, leaving the one on his spine like it wasn't even there.

The skeleton ran at Calvin and grabbed him by the foot. He flew into the air, the gray human going with him. The chain that Grari held onto dangled from his back, Grari beginning to fly with them.

Marque and Arenia quickly ran to Lord Grari to help him pull Paor down out of the air. They pulled at the skeleton who desperately tried to fly away with their friend.

Ben looked up from the grass, a giant bruise forming on his chest from the kick. He spotted them trying to save Calvin and jumped up quickly to try to help them. He pulled on the chains with them, the chains. getting stiffer and stiffer.

Neither groups seemed to move any. Eventually, the chains snapped in half and Paor flew off into the air.

The Ar'guals that had witnessed the event still stood in their circle, horrified from the events that just happened. It seemed impossible to lose another vital member of the Zena. It seemed even more impossible that they had lost three of them in the same week.

"Why do the Gods hate us so much?" Grari eventually screamed, slamming his foot on the ground. He stomped away with a grim face, but he didn't let anyone see it.

Marque's grief thickened from the loss of Calvin. Although he knew Calvin wasn't dead, or at least wasn't dead yet, it still felt like he was. It was most likely the last time they would ever see that gray human ever again.

Arenia felt the waterworks coming but choked as she held them back. After losing most of her friends to the struggles of war, the true outcome of all of this had finally revealed itself to her. As her grief grew stronger each day, her hope seemed to die more and more.

Ben fell to the ground on his knees and didn't realize he did. He didn't say no when the tears started to come and he let them flow down his cheeks. Calvin had been his protector since his father had died and his mother went crazy. Calvin was one of the only friends who had stuck with him throughout this journey and was now gone.

"You okay?"

Ben looked behind him to see Cathy standing with Rose and Carter. She had tears sparkling in her eyes as well but didn't want to let to fall. Rose had visible streams of water coming from his green eyes and Carter didn't seem to understand what was going on.

The nurse plopped herself down beside Ben. "It'll be okay," she told him. "We will rescue him,"

"There's no point," Ben exclaimed. "When Agent 34 went to rescue some survivors from the mainland, what happened to him?"

Cathy didn't say anything.

"He died! And so did Ismara and Paöminar! This whole war is pointless! If we even step foot near Braunick's place we will be tortured with a pain beyond what anyone has ever experienced! There's nothing we can do anymore. We lost. The war's over,"

"There's one thing we can do," Cathy said, forcing a smile. "We can pray to Avalon that this will all end out good,"

"Who's Avalon?" Ben asked, drying his eyes.

"Avalon is the God of Good," she told him. "I used to study theology a bit before becoming a nurse. I know a lot about Avalon and Malio,"

Ben's brow thickened as he just looked ponderously up into the sky where he last saw Paor take Calvin away from them forever.