My Shadow and His Flame

Ten-Run and Hide

Layden

Fire swarms us. The walls of flame protect us from any harm of the courts, except Hali. But Hali seems to have left safely as they were not apart of the attack. Rori stands at my side with her siblings staring. One of the twins is missing from their group though.

Her families guards take defensive stances as if they were to attack me. Rori turns to them and her eyes widen. She jumps right in front of me.

"Stop! Do not hurt him! He is protecting us. Stand down," Rori yells with her hands out in front of her. She would hurt their guards for me?

One of the guards speak, "Your highness, he could be of great risk to you and your family."

"Layden is my guard. He is only here to protect me. Now before we are engulfed in flames, can we please try to escape from these attackers?" Rori says. The guards look to each other and nod.

I part a way through the flames toward the exit. "Lets go!" I yell to them. Everyone runs past me except Rori. "Aurora, lets go," I push her in front of me and we run. 

Some bodies lay face first with a pool of blood around them. Now what's strange is that the blood is black. Black? Shouldn't it be red? I slow down a bit because of what I'm seeing. Rori turns around and sees me. She grabs my arm and says, "We have to run! I'll explain the blood later."

I snap back into it and keep running. Why is this arena so damn huge? To my right are the attackers. Most remain on top of the boxes and some court people are fighting back. I think I see a Velius or two trying to control them all, to stop them. In front of me I see the guards trying to protect the royals. Its difficult with a mimso being able to have any power they want currently. 

A Velius is struck causing some attackers to gain control of themselves again. More guards start flooding in, mostly Velius. The mimso seems unstoppable. Throwing blue bolts at Rori's twin but he deflects them effortlessly. Another bomb goes off in front of us shooting her sister and the younger brother back. Their guards grab them and carry them behind a stone beam to protect us. 

The boy seems okay, just some blood and a little out of it. The sister seems worse than him. Her left leg is the wrong way, lots of blood, and she is unconscious. "Lainey, Lainey? Lainey!" Rori shakes her sister trying to wake her. Okay, this is Lainey, got it. 

The guards aren't sure what to do since they aren't of Court Chiron. As the guards try to attend to Lainey, she goes to her brother. "Okay Bray, look at me," Bray looks at her, his eyes full of worry. "Stay still please," Rori grabs the end of her dress and rips pieces off. She wraps it around the bleeding spots and Bray winces some. 

Rori rips some more of the ends and ties it around Lainey's arm wounds. One of the guards speak, "We can't get her out of here without risking all of your lives." After they say that, Rori's twin stands up and looks to Rori. 

"Rori, we can get out of here. We just have to use the shadowing. No one will be able to see us, we can get Lainey and Bray help," her twins says. Rori looks down at Lainey again with tears in her eyes. Another bomb goes off but is much farther away. 

"Ve, I don't know if I can do it. They could see my shadow. You know I can barely cover myself, how am I supposed to cover all of us," tears start falling. Ve wraps his arms around her and speaks, "I'm going to help, Bray can too. The three of us can cover seven people. It'll just be a little harder with Lainey.." He trails off at the end. He doesn't know what to say about her condition. 

Rori wipes her face and says, "We can do it. Okay, just stay close to each other. Ve, make sure there are no shadows. Bray, make sure everyone stays close to us. We need to carry Lainey."

"I can carry her, Rori," I get down to her sister. I hold her careful of her leg, swing her legs over my arm and with the other keep her head propped up. "Ready?"

The three siblings look to each other and nod. "Ready," says Bray. The guards and I stand in the middle with the royals around us. Ve leads us out and suddenly, I can't see myself or Lainey or anyone else. I guess Bray sees our worried faces when he says, "Don't worry, we can see you guys. We'll make sure you don't step the wrong way."

We walk through slowly but develop a faster pace as we get closer. Ve whispers, "Rori, your shadow is showing. I can't get it."

"I'm trying Ve," she says. The shadow half disappears, but no one notices. At the exit, Rori collapses and I try to get to her but Ve cuts in front. The shield is gone and everyone can see us. 

"Take Lainey and go! I've got her," Ve says to me. I hesitate but go once I see he's gotten her up. Bray and his guard are farther up ahead of us. Ve's guard stay with him and Rori. Lainey's guard flanks me as I run with her in my arms. We rush to some door and are ushered in. The large doors are opened and I'm welcomed to a hospital area. Lots of Skonels tend to injured court people. 

Bray's guard yells for help and Skonels rush over to him. They take Bray and more come for Lainey. They tell me to place her on a bed and then we are pushed away. Ve and Rori are behind me, she's looking better. Her torn up dress doesn't help her look healthy so Skonels go to her and her twin. Ve sends them off from him to focus on her. They sit her down and say she is just exhausted from using so much of her ability that she isn't used to. 

Rori reaches toward me, "Layden." I get down to her and she says groggily, "Are you okay? Did they check you?" Her hand finds my head where apparently I'm bleeding from, red. She turns to own of her healers, "Please check on his head and check they other guards."

I'm completely fine but they still heal my head. Lainey was just knocked out from the explosion and the Skonels fix her leg. They tend to the siblings and they are all fixed in less than an hour. Lainey is said to be on bedrest for the weekend because of the toll he took on her. 

Rori's head lays on my shoulder as she rambles on about why would they do this or where is her family. Soon after her parents come into the room spotless. But also childless. Lainey's twin isn't there. 

Rori stands up, "Where's Eveline? I thought she was with you?" Her parents rush to her.

"What do you mean? We thought she was with you guys?" her mother says. As her parents worry fills the room, Eveline and a blond boy enter.

Rori and her family, except Lainey, run to them. "Why are you with Adrien?" Rori asks her.

"Uhm, I uh went the wrong way. The explosion pushed me away from you guys and he found me then brought me here after we got out," she tells them.

"I'm just glad you're okay," their mother says hugging her. "Thank you Adrien," she says to the blond boy. He nods to them.

"Where's Lainey?" Eveline asks. She doesn't know her twin was badly injured. Ve explains what happened and she goes to her.

"Why the hell was there an attack father?" Ve says to him.

The king looks to his wife and speaks, "We believe it was random court people in the attack. Mostly low courts but some parts of high courts joined in. Oblivion seemed to be the reason for the bombings."

"Okay but why?" Rori asks them.

"We were told they placed a target, a target on Veran," the King says. The twins look to each other, mouths dropped. 

YIKES. also another long chapter but heyyyy this is also a big turn of events ;) hope you're enjoying the story. remember to click the like button! Tell your friends or mutuals about this too!