The Strength of Ten

Explanations and Problems

John extinguished his flames and rushed to Sam’s side. Sam gave him a wan smile, and muttered, “I should’ve guessed it was you...” Then he blacked out. “Marina!” John shouted frantically. Seven raced over, placing her hands on Sam’s numerous wounds. One by one, they started healing. But not quick enough. John looked over at his best friend’s unconscious form. With just one look, he knew immediately that not even Marina could heal his injuries fast enough to save him from dying from blood loss. Seven came to the same conclusion. “John! Help me heal him! He’s gonna die of blood loss at the rate I’m doing it!” “What? Why would you ask John to help you heal Sam? He doesn’t have the Legacy of Healing.” Six questioned, eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. Four raised his head and placed his hands tentatively on Sam’s wounds. Immediately, he felt a tingle travel down his spine and an iciness spread throughout his body, escaping through his hands. “What? But...But John can’t heal injuries! He doesn’t have the power!” Six stuttered. Sam’s form convulsed as the healing continued. Suddenly, Sam’s eyes flew open, his wounds, even the extremely serious ones, completely healed. “Marina?” John questioned, trailing off. Seven shook her head slowly, processing what she just saw. “That wasn’t me. I can’t heal injuries that fast. And I can’t heal them all at once. I...it had to be you.” John blinked uncomprehendingly. “H...How?” “I’m not completely sure, but your Legacies seem to be linked more to your emotions rather than the situation. They seem to evolve to fit your needs and feelings.” Marina replied. “That makes sense.” John admitted.

Sam sat up, rubbing his temples. “John? Six? Nine? Oh, hi Sarah. Wait. Back up. Sarah? What’re you doing here? And John, who’re these people?” Sam asked woozily. “First off, you’ve missed out on a lot of things. Me and Nine didn’t know where to meet Six since the address was on you. But we managed to locate them with the white tablet we found. We managed to get it up and running with a cable Nine found. So anyways, here we are. This is Number Seven, also known as Marina.” Four replied, gesturing to the demure looking girl beside him. “This is Number Ten, also known as Ella. We didn’t know about her until I had a vision of her as a baby being loaded onto a second ship that took off after us.” He continued, pointing to the young twelve year old girl with auburn hair crouching behind Marina. “And this is Number Eight. His Cepân originally named him Joseph, but he prefers Eight.” John said, referring to the boy with dark, curly hair standing next to Nine. “As to why Sarah’s here, we found her in a cell and rescued her, obviously. But enough catching up. We’ve gotta get outta here before the Mogs send reinforcements.” Sam nodded and tried to stand up, only to collapse again. He wasn’t fully recovered, like everyone initially thought.

“Whoa. Watch it.” Four said, rushing forwards to help Sam up from the ground. Four draped Sam’s arm around his neck and pulled him off the ground, supporting him. Once again, the small procession trooped off through the dark passageways, with Marina in the lead. Thankfully, they didn’t meet any more enemies on the way. With two humans, one severely injured and their best fighter and leader impeded helping him, as well as being injured himself. Even their second-best fighter was injured, though admittedly not as badly as the former. they could fight, but not very strongly. They successfully made their way out of Dulce, only to realize that their only mode of transport, Nine’s Ford Contour, had been destroyed in the earlier fight.