"Get out of my way, or else."
Lennie warned, as she gestured with her head toward the shattered, groaning bodies scattered across the stone plaza.
The pirate boss threw his head back and let out a boisterous, rumbling laugh.
"Oh? You think I care even a single bit for those useless, pathetic piles of waste? They're replaceable you know?."
"Aren't you awfully cold?"
Lennie said, her crimson eyes narrowing into slits.
"Right back at ya!"
"I'm looking forward to feeding those exact words right back down your throat."
Lennie retorted, her hands remaining tightly balled into fists.
In response, the boss's expression darkened.
"I'd prefer it if we didn't fight, I really don't want to kill a woman."
"That's because your men struck first."
She replied, her voice smooth but lethal.
The space between them seemed to shrink.
They stood eye-to-eye amidst the ruins of the town square.
Without another word, she dropped into a low, coiled stance.
Seeing her shift, the man's smug grin widened as he mirrored her, tensing his muscles like a spring.
"So be it."
"In three..."
Lennie spoke, her voice a whisper in the wind.
"Two..."
The man countered, his eyes locked onto hers.
"One."
They vanished.
The ground beneath their feet cracked as they launched forward with unconceivable speed.
-Thud!
The air detonated between them.
Their shins collided in mid-air with bone-shattering force.
The sheer impact creating a shockwave that blew the surrounding dust outward.
For a frozen second, they both hung suspended in the air.
Legs locked in a vicious stalemate.
The boss squinted through the rushing wind.
His eyes widening slightly as he studied her features.
"Now that I take a good look at your pretty face... you look familiar."
"Ha!"
With a grunt, the boss used the leverage of her leg to push off.
Leaping backward through the air.
He flipped cleanly, his boots skidding across the dirt as he landed.
Raising his fists back into a guard, he grinned.
The Lennie woman dropped back to the cobblestones.
Her fists raised to shield her face, completely unfazed.
"Funny."
She said, her eyes locked onto his.
"I was about to say the same to you."
Suddenly a realisation hit him like a thunderbolt.
"Wait… I know who exactly who you are."
The boss said.
"You were there alongside that bitch…!"
Lennie was taken aback for a moment by the man's accusations.
"Yes.. now I remember we're I've seen you before. You were on the ship that day when your captain murdered the captain…"
Lennie frowned at the realisation.
"You mean my master…? Wait… you're…"
Suddenly they both felt it.
Instinctively they both looked upward.
High above the shattered rooftops, the sky was fracturing.
A ripple of translucent, shimmering light cascaded outward in a perfect, sweeping arc.
Like liquid glass pouring over an invisible frame.
A colossal dome began to materialise.
Rapidly expanding until it sealed the entire town square beneath its towering, transparent canopy.
Shutting them both out from the rest of the world.
"Thinking about breaking your promise already Aizek?"
*How annoying.*
The boss thought.
A slender, elegant figure stepped gracefully out from the dark alleyway.
He was dressed in immaculate formal attire.
Wearing a sharp black overcoat that reached all the way down to his kneecaps and a pair of highly polished black leather shoes that clicked softly against the stone.
His silky black hair was perfectly combed back, not a single strand out of place despite the chaos. It was Caster.
Lennie's gaze shifted from the giant pirate straight to the newcomer.
The air around her turning toxic with pure, unadulterated hatred.
"I should have known you were the one behind all of this... Caster!"
She hissed.
The three stood in a stand off.
Meters apart from each other.
***
The resulting collision was so violent that the surrounding air completely blew away.
Sending a concussive shockwave of dust and fire billowing into the night.
Meanwhile, Taylor's lungs were burning as he sprinted through the dark alleyways.
When he finally burst into the square where the tavern stood, my heart completely dropped.
The tavern was a complete, mess.
The thick scent of smoke choked the air.
Punctuated by the continuous, desperate screaming of fleeing citizens.
*Not again! the thought screamed in my head. Please, not again!*
This wasn't the first time he had watched his world burn.
His heart beat frantically against his ribs.
Suffocatingly fast, and his breathing turned shallow and ragged.
The air felt thick, heavy, and impossible to inhale.
His consciousness spiraled, vividly replaying the nightmare of the fire from my old life... down to the agonizing echo of Lalia's final, desperate words:
*'Go… Taylor, leave me.'*
-Thwack!
He violently slapped my own face with both hands.
The sharp pain shocking my system just enough to regain a fragile sense of control.
*Focus, Tayl. Focus!*
Taylor sprinted through the front entrance of the burning tavern and scrambled up the creaking wooden stairs.
The main floor was completely abandoned—Lennie was nowhere to be found.
He burst into our quarters, his eyes scanning the smoke filled room until they landed on the floorboards.
I lunged forward and grabbed the Book.
"Found it!"
He choked out, coughing through the rising smoke.
The wooden supports of the tavern were already beginning to creak and give way as the fire spread.
Clutching the heavy book tightly against his chest.
He quickly grabbed the custom slingshot he had purchased using a few of the money from the book he had sold.
Weapon in hand, he scrambled back down the crumbling staircase and busted through the front door just as the framing groaned.
Collapsing onto the cobblestones outside.
"Haaa… haaa…"
Panting for air, and watched in stunned silence as the tavern completely collapsed into rubble.
Lennie was out there fighting somewhere in the smoke, and I was entirely on my own.
*First, I need to find Lennie.*
He thought, my knuckles whitening around the frame of my slingshot.
A deafening shockwave rattled my teeth, instantly followed by another rhythmic series of localised earthquakes that made the street buckle.
*Wait a dome? Yeah, never mind she's definitely there.*
*What about Gloria is she okay? From the direction she had walked off to earlier, she was likely heading toward the Golden Anchor district.*
He knew he couldn't dwell further.
He just had to trust she was safe.
Turning on his heel, he sprinted directly toward the source of the tremors.
I popped open my antique pocket watch, the glowing dial reading [20:11pm]
Hours had bled away.
"Haaa... haaa... haaa..."
My breath hitched, the cold air burning my throat as I forced my legs to move faster.
"Okay, let's go and see what's happening."
The slime wiggled in his pocket.
***
The three powerhouse figures stood a few meters apart, forming a tense triangle in the center of the ruined square.
"Well, a very good day to you, Lennie."
Caster broke the silence, his tone entirely smooth and conversational.
"You look as beautiful as ever, I see. Especially those gorgeous eyes of yours... though where exactly did your usual black irises go?"
Lennie let out a heavy, irritated sigh.
"Still haven't given up on me, huh? I guess you're not here for a polite conversation this time."
Caster let out a soft, elegant smile, lightly tapping his silver-headed cane against the stone.
"The job offer is still completely open, if you ever decide to take it."
Lennie let out a sharp, mocking scoff.
"Well, I guess... you can take that little offer and shove it directly up your ass, cause I'm not going anywhere with you."
She shifted her weight, dropping back into her stance.
"Persistent much?"
Caster murmured, his violet eyes narrowing slightly.
"I guess you're not planning on giving up and coming with us willingly, I suppose?"
"Not a single chance,"
Lennie answered instantly.
"There's been a change of plans."
The boss said.
"I'll be taking this woman with me.
"As expected, I knew I couldn't trust a low iq retard."
Lennie seized the moment.
She exploded forward.
-Crack!
The ground beneath her detonated lunching her forward like a bullet.
Keeping her centre of gravity incredibly low.
Skimming inches above the dirt to bypass his line of sight.
The boss's eyes widened as he sensed the sudden shift in wind pressure, his instincts screaming at him to guard.
But he was already too late.
Closing the distance in a breath.
She transitioned her forward momentum into a devastating, fluid sequence.
She planted her right foot, spun on her heel, and let the sheer torque of her rotation carry into her right arm.
She drove her left heel straight to the boss's chest.
-Thwack!
The air behind him imploded.
The force of the impact sending him flying and rattled hid very jaw.
Realising a concussive blast of white pressure that blew the surrounding into a halo behind him.
-Crunch!
His feet left the ground instantly.
His eyes rolled back as the wind was driven from his lungs.
He became a human missile, hurtling backward through at a breakneck speed.
Smashing through brick house.
"I'm not your property."
Lennie remarked before facing Caster.
"One more asshole left…"