The flames slowly subsided from Pheo, he saw that a shell of Beam was all that was left. He had hoped that Beam had died a quick death, he felt familiarity with him. They were both victims of fate, the cruel twists of life.
He looked at the golden flames that covered his body, had he awakened? If so, why hasn't he gone berserk? There were many questions about what he was experiencing, but before he could try and process them he saw that someone was approaching.
"Hey!" Anora shouted out, she was running towards him. Pheo saw that she was completely fine, the fatal injuries she had now gone without a trace as if they never happened.
I need to hide
He felt like he had been caught doing something wrong, his instincts forced him to run. The flames grew bright as he quickly sped off in another direction, going out of her vision in seconds.
"Wait!" She shouted out, but by the time she finished her words the figure had already left. Anora was sure she was going to die, especially when she was suddenly surrounded by fire. It had enough force to blow all the debris away, even the rock that kept her stuck.
But she hadn't felt lie she was being burned alive, rather, she felt warm. As the fire wrapped around her, the wounds began to heal. She felt invigorated, being able to move as soon as the boulder flew off.
Anora went to where she saw the person, noticing Beam's empty shell. She went inside it to inspect the corpse, looking at the massive opening there was going inside. It wasn't blown open from any of the attacks they did before.
The steel skin was peeled back, warped like it was taffy. She followed along the metal to find indentations. Anora crouched down, they were deep, symmetrical, and unmistakable.
She looked at her hand, then tried grabbing the metal at where the indentations were. It was a match, at least if she had smaller hands. The thought that somewhere in the area she was in existed a person who could easily take down a creature of this caliber made her fearful.
What the hell happened?
Anora backed off and started to run back to the staircase. The operation was already looking grim, but this revelation made it clear that they needed more people for this.
She went back up alone, passing by the gruesome scene once again. The staircase was difficult to go through, with barely any parts still intact. It felt more like trekking in a slim mountain path than a staircase.
After finally reaching the top, she went out to see that the shack was gone, its remnants scattered all across the sand. "Looks like you survived" Ikra went up to her, his wounds also gone.
Wing noticed that she was out, he quickly went up to her. "What happened down there?" He asked, "Did you know what caused that fire?" He looked curious, and she knew that if they started talking now they would go on for hours.
"I think we need to come back" Anora told them, "There's something down there, something that took down Beam in minutes. Maybe seconds" She told them before heading off. Passing by, she saw that Warhound and Don were both in a temporary jail, being guarded by multiple soldiers.
She saw that there was a kid clinging to Warhound. There were some soldiers who tried to convince her to get away from him, but she refused and continued to cling onto him. Anora wanted to help, but what happened today made her reconsider.
I've had enough with kids for today
Wing was about to go follow her and continue to ask more questions but he got stopped by Ikra. "I think it's best if we leave her first" He suggested, "She was at death's doorstep down there, remember?"
Wing had forgotten, he had been away from the battlefield for so long after all. Everyone handles near death experiences differently. "What she said, about Beam dying, do you think its true?" He asked him.
"I think our mission ends for today" Ikra said before heading off. He heard someone else coming out from the hole before going away however. They both saw Arm shoot off to the sky riding the palm of a hand.
"You were there too?" Ikra asked him, "Those hands could've been useful restricting the massive beast we fought"
"I was busy dealing with someone else" Arm told him as another hand came out of the hole, dropping Parquatz' dead corpse. "He ended up dying from the explosion"
Ikra could clearly see that the wounds he had weren't from an explosion, but from Arm. He sighed, "Well, at least we have the other two"
Arm was one of the strongest, if not, the strongest. He always acted by himself, but never failed to achieve satisfactory results. "Did you find anything about Timothy?"
Arm got down from the hand, making them return back from where they came from. "This man confirms his death" He kicked the corpse, "He wasn't the killer however"
He looked around, "Did any survivors come out?" Ikra pointed towards the temporary cell, "Only our two targets and a single kid. I did pass by some more while I was fighting, but they didn't seem to survive the way out"
Arm looked at him confused, but quickly dismissed it. Ikra stretched his arms, "Anyways, I'm going to go warm up" He went off somewhere else. Arm went towards a group of soldiers, "Make sure to watch that hole, expect someone to come out"
"Aye aye, sir" Narfius told him jokingly. The unprofessionalism threw Arm off, they had to hire some mercenaries in order to have enough manpower for the operation.
As long as they can do the bare minimum
Something that happened down there bothered Arm. When the burst of fire came out, he left the corpses out there while keeping himself safe from the flames. When he unraveled his arms however, the kid's body was gone.
It makes no sense