Alitia: Welcome to Millenia

XXIV: Confrontation

Carys managed to pry herself out of the rubble slowly despite the energy slowly leaving her body. She grunted as she hoisted a rock away from her torso to fully allow her to escape. The sudden collapse had taken a lot out of her, and wiggling her way under the splinters of the storeroom was sapping whatever power she had left. She groaned once she had fully pulled herself out before stretching out her heavily bruised legs.

At the same time, the hooded man pulled himself from the debris. Carys reached out with one arm and created ice to trap him in place. It worked enough to keep him from moving. Carys let out a sigh as he stopped moving. She began yanking the rocks away from the stack of concrete underneath her. There were seven other people trapped in there, six of them her allies, that she had to save. She couldn't be distracted so soon.

Sylvia was the next one to surface all on her own. She was holding tight to a limp arm Carys couldn't see the owner of. She managed to travel over the rubble to help Sylvia escape. The latter was panicking immensely as she tried to yank the person she was holding onto out of the concrete.

Carys managed to blast away some of the rubble with her ice magic, allowing Sylvia to drag the torso of her companion out of the debris. Carys gasped upon realizing who the person was. The blue hair was unmistakeable. 

Sylvia began to dab gently at the back of Luce's head. A large cut had formed, and blood was gushing from it wildly. Carys gasped in shock and began trying to throw the rocks around a bit more. Luce hadn't been looking too good before the collapse, and she didn't know how the others had fared.

The hooded woman appeared after transforming into a small bug to make her way through the debris. She transformed back to normal and let an energy sphere fly at Carys.

The ice mage held up one arm and created a shield of icicles to block the blow. The magic sputtered out of existence, giving the woman a chance to press energy up against the ice where the man was trapped. The ice exploded, sending shards of it every which way. A few pieces hit Carys' raised arm as the man gasped for breath in the suddenly warm air.

The woman grabbed the man's wrist before looking to Sylvia with an intense glare. "This isn't over! We'll be back for you, little sister! You will submit to your one true master!!" the woman cried out. She kicked off the concrete and flew upwards before disappearing from view a few moments later. 

Carys looked over to Sylvia, frowning to herself. "You..." she managed to whisper.

Sylvia ignored Carys' inquisitive stare and focused once again on Luce. "I-I need your help!" she exclaimed instead. "You're a good healer, right?!"

Carys recognized this was a more pressing matter and sighed. "I know how to, yes. Who do you take me for?" she asked.

"Then stop the bleeding!" Sylvia instructed.

Carys was about to snap at her for her rudeness against the one and only Etrunan prodigy, but she ignored it for a moment and began to concentrate on Luce. She let energy flow from her fingers into Luce's injury, and a few moments later, the cut had healed itself up. There was still an outline of a scar present, but blood wasn't gushing from the wound as it had before. It was a positive, albeit a small one.

The rocks on the far edge began to stir as Helena broke through the debris. Her Isolis outfit was covered in pieces of concrete while her arms and legs were littered with cuts. Her wings were droopy but altogether fine. She fluttered them a few times before letting out a sigh. "Where did they go?" she asked, noticing the hooded figures had vanished.

"They ran off like a couple of little chickens," Carys scoffed. "Luce is hurt and our friends are still buried under the building's remains. We've got a lot of work to do even if they're gone."