Lightbreeze is a Lie

Chapter 4

Happy Birthday, @DanielAnarc!!! Here ya go-

By the time Cole had burst into the doorway, Lydia was already standing. She had sensed a change in the air. Her wind aura had twitched uncomfortably all of a sudden, and when she'd heard the thump of Cole's feet racing back up the stairs, her suspicions had been confirmed.

"What's wrong?!" she prompted.

Cole's voice was coming out in sharp breaths, which alarmed her. "There's a guy!" he cried. "Downstairs! Behind t-the plant! Unconscious!" He looked absolutely terrified out of his mind.

"Not conscious?" Lloyd yelled, jumping to attention. Then, he repeated, "Downstairs?!"

"In our Bounty?" Zane asked.

"Who is it?" Jay cried.

Cole shook his head. "I have no idea! Never seen him before!" He turned on his heels and went back in the direction he came.

By now, everyone was on their feet. Lydia's heart pounded in her chest as she ran out of the room, following Cole down the steps to the room he was speaking of. Intuition told her that Lloyd was directly at her heels, equally worried, and she heard the shocked murmurs of Jay and Kai from behind him. She wondered frantically who the individual Cole spotted could be. Would it be someone I've met before?

Cole threw open the door- literally, causing it to break free from one of its hinges- and moved a tall shrub out of the way. Dropped papers littered the ground, looking like they'd been suddenly thrown aside. "There!" he pointed. Lydia looked at what Cole was gesturing to, and her mouth fell open. He's-

"Hey, out of the way!" Jay cried, jostling everyone. "I can't see!"

Nya frowned from next to him. "Why are you so intent on seeing a guy who's passed out in our- our..." she trailed off, her voice sounding suddenly subdued as she received a view of the man.

Kai did Jay a favor by suddenly backing away from the small crowd and jumping with AirJitzu to fly onto a ceiling beam. "There, Jay" he said gravely. "Take a look."

Jay let out a hoarse gasp, going silent, and Lydia couldn't blame him. She couldn't stop staring at the man in front of her. He was... dark. Everything about him was either black or purple, besides his ghastly pale skin. Black hair that gradually faded to a galaxy purple perfectly matched his black cape and gloves. His robe was a shade of purple that Lydia was sure she would've praised if not for the situation at hand. With panic, she realized that ropes were also coiled around his waist, arms, and legs.

"Someone free him!" Lloyd ordered. "He shouldn't be tied up like that!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea? We don't know him." Kai called warily from above.

Lydia felt Lloyd's gaze on him. His eyes asked a simple question- what should I do? She understood the risk; this man did seem fairly suspicious of being some sort of criminal with his rather dark attire. And yet... he seemed thin, almost too thin. Like he'd been starved. Who could be doing this to him? Was there a reason he was tied up? Reaching out her hand, she felt the rope around his left arm... but when she tried to lift it, she found that it wasn't attached to his body.

With a sigh of relief, Lydia declared, "The ropes aren't hurting him. I'm pretty sure they're a part of his outfit- they're not tight."

Everyone seemed glad to hear that, but the answer didn't satisfy Jay. He frowned. "Am I the only one wondering why this guy looks like some sort of... space pirate?" he questioned. No one bothered to respond. If she was being honest, though, Lydia knew his description wasn't actually far from the truth.