My feet pitter patter on the floor as I come running
I open the creaky old door of Mom and Dad's room, taking a deep breath of air
"MOOOM! DAD IS LEAVING!" I yell at the top of my lungs into the room
Mom is laying wrapped in bed sheets in the dark room, practically falling off the pretty big bed. Her head hanging off the side, her long brown hair falling into a pile on the wooden floor of our house
She snorts as she lifts her head awkwardly, blinking, still half asleep
"Quiet you, momma is sleeping" Mom says With a yawn
She twists awkwardly around to face away from the light of the door
"DAD! MOM IS STILL IN BED!" I yell towards my dad, standing in front of the door with his fishing pole and tackle box
He gives me a slight nod
I come running into the bed room, and jump into Mom knees first
She gives a loud 'oof!'
"You little!" Mom says with a laugh
She twists around and begins playfully wrestling with me
"Ray! I'm leaving" dad finally calls out
I grab her arm, and right when I am about to pin it, she scoops me up and carries me out of the room, and quickly walks towards dad
Her steps echoing in the halls as she walks
I can see the top of dad's hat! Mom is pretty tall, and has humongous muscles. I hope I can grow as big and strong as her! the view is great! Mom must be able to help so many people
"Ray, you better not stay in bed, lazing around all day again"
"Wha are you bossing me around for?" She yawns " I'm resting, I've earned this!" Mom says loudly. Dad seems unfazed
"And if I come home again and your still like this again, I won't be feeding you any dinner tonight, you're on you're own"
"How dare you" Mom's face making a frown
"No dad! She's gonna make that Burnt poison again if she does that!" I gasp, shocked
Mom lets out a 'Pffsh'
"See you tonight Rider" Dad says, stroking my head "I'll make sure to bring you plenty of tasty fish when I get back. You make sure mommy gets out today, okay?"
"Ok Dad, see you later!" I say waving to him
"Oh, and one more thing" dad turns back around
"What?" Mom snaps
"Put on some clothes, please. I don't want to hear the complaints from the neighbors again"
"Pff, it's only the wives that complain"
Dad crosses his arms
"yes, and I" Dad looks Mom up and down "Can completely understand where they're coming from.Then how about this, I'l go sleep by the lake tonight too if you don't"
Mom seems taken aback
She leans down, grabbing Dad by his shirt, and pulls him in forcefully for a kiss
"Ew" I say. It's their weird, long kiss
after letting dad go from her grip
"Hmph, fine" She says, finally letting Dad go "only because I don't want to baby you if you get sick again, Dear"
Dad begins to leave
"Oh! And also!" Mom spits out, "How dare you keep that tone with me!" She says a little late, stammering a little "Do you know who I am?"
Without turning around "Your mine" Dad answers
Mom lets out an angry 'Hmph' again
Dad finally smiles "Man, I'm getting better at this every day"
Dad begins to walk towards lake Cyris
"You're a damned idiot! You know that!?" Mom yells out to him before shutting the door
"He always keeps doing that, that bastard" Mom grumbles
"Momma, you're red, are you sure you're not the one that's sick?"
"shut it" Mom sets me down. Then walks back into the bedroom and closes the door behind her
"MOOOMM!"
"WHAT?!" I hear mom yell from behind the door
"Are you sleeping again?"
"… NO?! Maybe. I'll get up later"
I walk over to my sword in the corner, starting to secure the harness and sheathe "When are we going to do training! I want to swing my sword some more!"
It's a big sword, I have to use both my hands to lift it up
When I turned, I think seven; Mom took me to see Ms. Listhrax, the bug lady, though Mom tells me that's rude to say. Mom told me to tell her what kind of sword I wanted, It's some kind of tradition from where ever Mom is form
I was so happy to see Ms. Listhrax's hands move while making it, it was so fast and cool!
Though I got it a while ago, Mom has only just now let me hold it.
"We're not, we're taking a break today" Mom yells out
"Hey mom, can I train with Jace in the arena still? He seemed a little sad yesterday, maybe that will cheer him up!"
"He might not be up to it, he apparently passed out in front of the clinic carrying an Anti-Mag girl, both beaten with a couple of brocken ribs or something"
I freeze, a chill running up my back
"He should still be there" Mom opens up the door "I wonder if the the Skoh's have questioned him yet"
Mom's face softens "He's doing well, he's awake, don't worry. Lady Reinhart is there, and she said he's doing much better than when she carried them in… Hey! Rider?! Where are you going!?"
I run out the door, as fast as I can, faster than I have ever before
Was it Marry? Why she get hurt?
Why did she leave? Did she even leave?
What about the Others? Jael and Kienan, are they hurt?
Is Ms. Eve okay?
My head and chest feel funny
I thought I made sure that when me and Jace brought them food and stuff that we weren't followed
Did the people Ms. Eve tells me about find them?
She always told me they were being hunted by some bad men. But everyone in town is so nice! They wouldn't hurt them, never! Right?
—————————————————————
I burst through the vines to see Ms. Eve and the other two are sitting huddled up by the fire
"Oh! Rider it's you" Ms. Eve says, squinting at em worriedly "Is there something wrong?"
Without stopping, I run up to her and grab her by the shoulders, and frantically look around
Ms. Eve gasps "Rider, dear, what is it? Is it Marry, did something happen to her? Did you find her? Is she ok!?"
"Your ok" I mutter "did the bad man find you?"
"What?" Ms. Eve cradles my face with her hands. They're very cold "No, no, nobody came for us, we're still safe. You feel hot, are you ok? What happened Rider?"
She looks at me in the eyes, bringing me down to kneel next to her
"Jace got hurt, Mom said he was carrying an Anti-mag girl. Are the bad men here? I thought you were safe, right? Right?!"
"Is it Mary?" Kienan asks, standing up hastily
"Sh, sh. It's ok, right? They're safe? They're being taken care of?" Ms. Eve says, wiping my eyes with her sleeve "Where are they?"
"They're at the clinic" I stand up, grabbing Ms. Eve's hand as I do "We have to go see them"
I try to drag her to stand up
"Wait Rider wait! I can't go out there! They can be anywhere!"
I stop in my tracks
"What do you mean? I thought you said they weren't here!"
Ms. Eve seems visibly worried now "Not that I know of! But they are hunters, their traps can be set out anywhere! We can't take the risk"
I can feel my shirt stick to me, my chest feel sweaty
I let go of Ms. Eve, I have to get to Jace
"Then who will protect Mary? She's all alone right now, right? That's more than a good enough reason for you to come with me, we need to go now! Like you said, they can be anywhere" I yell at her
I can see Ms. Eve's nostrils flare "Are you not listening to me! That's the exact reason we can't leave! It's Mary's fault that she got caught or something for leaving! They must be watching her now!"
Ms. Eve looks like her whole body is shaking now
My tongue feels dry, like all my spit has evaporated from my mouth
"I'll go with you" Kienan says, now standing next to me, though I can see his hands, firmly in a fist, shake
I don't say anything
I run back out into town with Kienan
It takes a while
I get lost multiple times leading us to the clinic. Now that I think about it, I've never been there before
Then I see it
I can her loud pops and hums in the distance, large multi-colored explosions in the distance
Is that them?
Did they find them already?
Kienan must of read my mind "Hey, that looks like that alley is a short cut"
We cut through the buildings, and I see it, they wooden cross of medicine, I think that's what mom said it was, this must be the place
I hear a very loud sound as like shattering glass, then a high pitched girls scream
I tightly grip he hilt of my sword, and come charging into the building
I crash the door open with a loud bang
Mr. Loyd comes rushing form another room "Hey, who?.. Oh, hey Rider? What's with the… Bwhu!"
I spot a door in the back leading behind the shop, that's where the sounds was coming from, right?
I push him out of the way and shoulder the door open
Where was Kienan? Where'd he go? Did they snatch him from right out from under me?
Gods, he was supposed to be under my watch, are the villains gonna wi- WHah!
As I burst through the door, I am suddenly tripped and i fall to my feet
I am pinned to the ground with surprising strength
Lady Reinhart's cutting red stare tears into me, a feint purple mist clouding the corners of her eyes
"What in the Hell's are you doing boy? What are you doing rushing into a clinic like that!"
"But, Jace, Mary" I stammer
"Huh? Rider? What are you-"
Who said that?
"Whoa, It's mister hero, big brother's friend!"
Lady Reinhart releases me and pulls me up
I scramble back to my feet, my hand still tightly gripping the hilt of my sword
"Calm down boy, let go of your blade, unless you want me to take it from you" Lady Reinhart orders "What? Did you run here from Korinth, your drenched in sweat"
"I… Um"
I look around
I can see Jace sitting in a rickety chair, and a little girls voice cutting through, skipping around him
"More, More!" She chants "I want to see more"
Jace has a bandage wrapped around his chest, he is completely covered in sparkly ice and ash
His dark, golden-brown hair shimmers in the sunlight, his arms a little red. His green eyes look at my confused
"You okay?" He asks
He was always pretty skinny, but he seems even thiner right now than yesterday
"Your okay" I mutter
"Huh?"
"Hey! We got another one joining the party!" I can hear Mr. Loyd say from behind me
The door opens and through comes Kienan, head down staring at the ground, his hands desperately fiddling with the other
"It's Kay!" Mary calls, rushing over to him and dragging him out by his hand
"Look what big brother can do!" She looks at Jace pleadingly "Again!"
"Alright, but this is the last time"
He leans over the side of the chair, almost tipping over, and grabs a handful of dirt
He sounds very uncertain "Uh… Ancient earth, that which sprouts life, that turns rocks to gold: Create ashen black sand and butter white stone: Transmutation!"
He lumps the now black and white dirt into a ball
Taking his other hand he wordlessly forms a thin ball of crystal ice
"Whoa! Both at the same time!" Mary gasps excitedly, running a bit away from Jace
He places both balls onto the ground "Ready"
Mary comes running and does an exaggerated stomp into the ground
The balls go whistling into the air with a burst of wind
Jace extends a fist with one arm, his pointer and thumb extended. He uses his other arm to brace it
It looks like he's aiming his arm as he tilts his head and squints
Two small beads of water forms on the point of his finger, crackling with lightning bouncing between the two
He fires both at the same time, his arm pretending to recoil
They wiz into the air
The ball of ice shatters with a sound like broken glass, raining us in white snow
Mary dances around and giggles, trying to catch as much of it as she can
The black and white ball continues to fly in the air, until I can barely see it anymore
Then a loud crack
Popping noises and a large explosion shakes the sky, and down comes a rain of crackling sparks
"Are you okay man?"
Jace is next to me, I'm on my knees on the ground. Marry clinging onto him behind him
"I… Uh. I didn't know, is this all my fault?"
"What? Me getting hurt? Pff, I just hade mana exhaustion, barely a scratch. Why would it be your fault?" Jace asks me, his hand firmly on my should er
Then why do you have a bandage wrapped around your chest?
"Your like, really hot, are YOU ok?"
I stand back up, and begin to walk away
But Lady Reinhart grabs my arm, stopping me
"What is it boy, your paler than snow, spit it out, what do you know" it sounds like an order
"Nothing, I just got reminded of a story Ms. Eve told me"
"Who?"
I shrug off her grip
And I begin to walk away
I don't know where I should go, but I don't want to go home