Darksun - Volume 1: Neco'ma

Chapter 21: Revelations & Sacrifice

The Venice Hotel – 

 Around the same time, the police were about to start questioning Dubois and his group of security personnel. Meyra Ruto, fresh from an early surf was just about to get ready to open up the hotel tavern when she noticed black smoke surrounding the bar. Meyra opened the doors to get rid of the smoke, when suddenly, the smoke collected itself into a cloud big enough to fill the tavern.

 The smoke then subsided to reveal Wiccary, who was still holding the bug lamp. She was accompanied by Jake and Mi'ko who were holding Darksun up, as he was still blinded by Dubois' sword. Tiger and Ayesha followed, barely holding the gravely injured Phantom. It was seeing both Darksun and Phantom in their current state that shocked Meyra into action.

 'Oh my god, what the hell happened to them?!' Meyra asked as she rushed over to Phantom. 

 'It's a long story but the short version is that they both got injured by the same guy,' Jake told her.

 'Quickly get them to the rooms upstairs, it's a good thing we haven't had any reservations for over a week. Just take them to the room near the staircase while I go get the medical kit,' Meyra then told them.

 After reaching the room Meyra mentioned, Darksun and Phantom were both placed gently in separate beds. Meyra rushed in over with her medical kit and told the others, 'okay I need you guys to wait downstairs while I take care of my patients here, I'll let you know how they are when I'm done.'

 While everyone waited for answers, Tiger was clearly shaken by everything that had happened. Not to mention that having Phantom's blood on his hands clearly did not help the situation. 

 Ayesha caught a quick glimpse at Tiger's hand growing claws, she began to get concerned as he was even starting to growl towards the elusive Wiccary. Even after bringing them all to the hotel, Wiccary chose to stay in the tavern. But Tiger was not in a good mood, and sprinted straight towards the witch and grabbed her by the throat.

 'Why are you still here?! It's because of you that our friends are lying up there close to death!' he snarled at her.

 Jake and Ayesha responded quickly, grabbing Tiger away from Wiccary. As Ayesha tried to calm Tiger down from his potential bloodlust, Jake gave Wiccary time and space to catch her breath. 

 'Despite Tiger's tantrum, he did make a valid point, why did you save us and why did you stay?' Jake enquired.

 It was an honest question that Wiccary was unprepared for. She overcame her nerves and answered, 'I guess the reason I helped you all is because I couldn't stand by and watch two people I helped capture get slaughtered just for fun.'

 Jake then saw the scared girl hiding behind the facade of a powerful witch. He assured her, 'to be honest Wiccary you did the right thing. Just take comfort that you were able to see what the real mistake was and managed to fix it just in time.'

 'Thank you for being so understanding Officer O'Neil,' said Wiccary as she tilted her head to Jake.

 A few minutes later Meyra came downstairs covered in blood and sweat after treating the two injured Neco'ma.

 'Hey are they gonna be alright?' Jake asked her.

 As Meyra caught her breath, she explained to everyone, 'Darksun's eyes were severely burnt by extreme levels of ultraviolet rays. Phantom was able to tell me how that happened. He also told me that that type of injury takes a couple of weeks to heal from. As for Phantom, his injuries are a lot more severe, the same weapon burned his organs upon being impaled. I fear that chances of surviving for Phantom are very slim, so we'll have to wait and see if he can.'