Radioactive: Chapter One

Radioactive

Chapter One

~Haunted Houses and Monsters~

Part One

A scream echoed throughout the rock fortress. Electric sparks flickered as a man overlooked from a balcony. He wore a lab coat and black gloves. Thick black goggles covered his eyes as he smiled widely at the screaming withering creature below. He was tall. The man was at least six feet or so. He tapped his black booted foot on the ground as if waiting patiently for something to happen. One of the assistants below looked up at him with a question in his eyes. The man nodded and the assistant went back to work. The creature screamed in pain.

“Just hold on one more minute. It will all be over soon,” the man smiled.

He bit his lip to contain himself. To him, the creature below was a work of art and it was only moments from completion.

“We have completed the last procedure, Doctor,” one of the assistants said.

The Doctor walked down some steps and walked over to slab where the creature lay breathing heavily. Scaled arms were chained to the slab. The Doctor brushed his hand on the creature’s scaled face. He hushed the animal on the slab.

“Shh, shh,” the Doctor smiled, “It’s all over now. The pain is all over.”

The creatures green reptilian eyes looked at the Doctor with some affection even after the torturous procedure. It tried to speak but the Doctor placed a finger over its mouth.

“You’re beautiful,” the Doctor whispered, “You’ll be free soon. Free to cause all the havoc you want.”

A fanged smile spread across the creatures face. A forked tongue, long and snakelike, slithered out of its mouth.

“Yes, Doctor,” came a hoarse whisper.

~§~

Kaiba pulled the car over across the street from a large house. He eyed the home carefully with his perceptive brown eyes. With one hand he brushed a few strands of his brown hair out of his eyes.

The house was old and weather worn; just like the ones horror stories were made from. The front porch had a swing that swayed in the wind giving off a horrible sound every so often when you least expected it. The house creaked and groaned from old age. No one had lived in it for years but was now the center of several disappearances as of late.

Kaiba looked at the house a moment longer before stepping out of the car. His black appearance was normal: black shirt and pants. Instead of his usual black coat he wore a white and grey one. He closed the car door behind him. The passenger door on the other side opened and closed right after his.

The android Kiri, his loyal companion, stepped around the car carrying a silver briefcase. She stood by Kaiba’s side; the wind blew some of her short black hair into her purple eyes. Her sleeveless purple kimono top looked new and unwrinkled and her black heels clicked on the ground with confidence as she walked. Kaiba barely gave her a second glance. She was like his shadow. He was used to her following him where ever he went.

Kiri looked down the way they came, down the hill they had just driven up. There was no one in site. Not a surprise, considering that there were a string of missing people spanning the last couple of weeks. The disappearances were unnatural and alerted the Tower computers of a possible threat. The missing people didn’t even have anything in common be it age, gender or places; it all appeared random. Even the computers weren’t sure exactly what was going on only that it couldn’t all be coincidence. Because of the mysterious nature of the mission Kaiba’s father, Sirius Galaxy, sent his son personally to see what was going on.

Both Kaiba and Kiri were part of an elite team of Fixers. Their job description was simple enough: Fix whatever the Tower needed fixing, including assassinations to media control. Fortunately, assassinations were a rare extreme. Usually they worked alone or with a partner. Only in rare cases does one see more than two Fixers on a case. This was a usual mission, no need for more support.

“Are we in the right place?” Kaiba asked, “The center of the disappearances?”

Kiri nodded, “3434 Sycamore Lane.”

“Hmm,” Kaiba looked around, “what a dump. Surprised the police didn’t check here first.”

“Rumors of a murderous ghost,” Kiri provided background information.

“Ghosts aren’t logical, therefore they don’t exist,” Kaiba shrugged off the superstitious idea.

Kiri turned to look at him, “What makes you say that?”

“Think of the world we live in. If there is a better place after death, why stick around here?” he left the question in the air and walked toward the house.

Kiri herself didn’t believe in ghosts but acknowledged Kaiba had made a good point. She looked at the house. Even though she didn’t believe in ghosts she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone or something was watching her.

“Are you going to stand there daydreaming all day?” Kaiba called over his shoulder.

Kiri noticed he was already across the street. She hurried to join him, carrying the briefcase. Together they climbed the two steps onto the large porch and stood at the door. Kaiba reached for the doorknob. The door opened easily and he walked in.

The inside of the house was in total disarray. They walked into a wide open room. A staircase ahead of them was half decayed and destroyed. Any furniture that was in the main room was covered in white sheets or was knocked over and broken. The sheets had holes in them from years of hungry moths. Sunlight peaked through the holes in the ceiling. Birds looked down at them as they hopped from support beam to support beam.

“Report,” Kaiba stated as he glanced at a watch on his wrist.

“Complete scan incomplete,” Kiri answered, “First and second floor clear of any dangers.”

Kaiba sighed, “I guess it will be faster to look on foot.”

He started walking through the house. Kiri rolled her eyes before following him. She changed her setting from normal to investigative. Her vision changed to a clear green, highlighting red anything that appeared out of place or curious.

Kaiba brought out a computerized notebook from his inner coat pocket and wrote something in the glass pages. He put it back and looked at Kiri.

“You check this floor and the upstairs. I’ll take a look at the basement,” Kaiba commanded.

“Sure,” Kiri nodded, “I’ll monitor you movements.”

“Not necessary,” Kaiba muttered, “By the way this house is falling apart, no one’s been in here for years. This honestly feels like a waste of my time. Make the sweep quick. The sooner we’re done here, the sooner I can get some real work done.”

“Whatever you say,” Kiri said

Kaiba left for the basement leaving Kiri in the main hall. She waited until she couldn’t visually see Kaiba anymore before she walked around the first floor. Kiri set down the briefcase and began walking around the floor. With one long candle like finger, Kiri touched an old desk. The dust was thick, making the surface of the desk almost white. She brought her finger closer to her face as she analyzed the contents of the dust. It was the usual; trace amounts of human skin and hair, pollen, mold, fungi, particles of wool, and of course rat feces.

She looked up at the ceiling. There was a hole in the ceiling that was larger than some of the others. Something on the screen glowed red near the opening. Kiri started walking up the stairs but stopped suddenly. After a quick scan, it revealed that the staircase wasn’t the most reliable route.

Kiri transferred some of her power to her legs. She crouched and jumped in the air. With a loud thud, she landed on the upper balcony, the staircase behind her. She waited a moment before moving as the house settled once again. Kiri stood up and walked under the ray of light caused by the whole in the ceiling. A small piece of cloth hung from a sharp piece of wood. The cloth was stained with blood. Looking on the floor was a smeared blood puddle heading off away from where Kiri stood. She knelt down. A compartment in her upper right arm opened with a hissing sound. She pulled out a sterile cotton swab and took a sample of blood, placed the swab in a container and placed the container back in her arm. The compartment closed leaving no trace that it was ever there. It would take a while for the DNA results to come back. She then stood up and followed the trail.

In the stairway down to the basement, Kaiba felt the impact of Kiri’s jump. Dust and small pieces of debris fell on and around him. He coughed and covered his mouth with his coat. For a moment, he looked up at the ceiling as if Kiri could see his annoyed expression. Slowly, he made his way down the stairs. When the dust finally settled again he muttered something under his breath and reached into his coat. He pulled out a small flashlight and looked around.

The basement looked like the rest of the house: in need of attention. It was cold and dark. Mold grew on the walls and on the furniture that was left. Kaiba kept his mouth and nose covered. He aimed his flashlight to a wall. Kaiba took a step back. A claw mark stretched from one side of the wall to the other. Kaiba walked closer to get a better look. Something shimmered in one of the long scratch marks. It was like a scale in nature, round and shiny. Kaiba brought out a pair of tweezers and placed the small object in a glass vial and ceiled it.

He had just placed it in an inner coat pocket when he turned his flashlight to the shadows suddenly. A previously shadowed area of the basement was now illuminated. Kaiba’s eyes scanned the area carefully. He knew he had felt something watching him from that corner but whatever it had been was faster than he was. Suspiciously, Kaiba continued on with his exploration.

He walked down a small hallway. As he reached the end, here was a dark blood trail going from one room to another across the hall. Kaiba directed his flashlight into the first room then the second. He flashed behind him once more. He though he saw something move suddenly at the last minute. Kaiba stood there a moment looking, waiting, and watching. Convinced that it was his mind playing tricks on him he entered the first room.

This room was more lit than the rest of the basement because of a large crack in the basement ceiling. Blood was all over the floor. Kaiba even saw a hand print or two in the gruesome mix. He slapped on a pair of latex gloves and reached in his pocket for his tweezers and several vials that he might need. He picked out a painted nail from the mess and put it away. Kaiba also found a hair follicle and put it away for further analysis later. He also took several blood samples from different areas of the blood pool. After storing the blood samples in a small case attached to his belt and storing the others in his coat, he looked up at the gaping hole. From what he could tell, it was one of the off lying rooms from the main room. He shrugged, deciding to let Kiri handle the first and second floor.

Kaiba started to head over to the other room. His flashlight illuminated the door for a moment as if to frighten anything that might or might not be there. In the hallway, he looked one last time down the hallway. There was nothing there, not even a glimpse. Felling relatively confident, Kaiba entered the other room. The blood trail ended up leading to another hole. On the other side of the room was a gap in the concrete and soil.

“Wonderful. This house was built over an air pocket. Only a matter of time before the whole place gets swallowed up by the earth,” his spoke to himself.

He was somewhat surprised he was talking allowed to himself. Even more surprised that it seemed to calm some nerves that he was having. He looked over the edge and into the hole. It was pitch black. Not even the light of his flashlight could show him what was in store. He breathed heavily through his mouth. One last time he looked behind. There was just no shaking that someone or thing, was watching him closely. There was nothing there of course. Satisfied he stepped into the hole and fell to the unknown level below.

Iridescent: Chapter Eighteen

Iridescent

Chapter Eighteen

~Reality – Part 1~

After the Fall

Vicky walked along side Amber as she rode on the back of the wolf. The young girl was sitting up now but looked horrible like she was just starting to recover from something like the flu. Chaud walked ahead, his weapons close at hand. Vicky kept a hand on one of her throwing axes while looking cautiously over her shoulder. Though they had traveled a few days, their constant threat were the hunters pursuing them.

Kew seemed to be carrying a conversation with the wolf from the protection of Vicky’s shoulder. He kewed and mewed while the wolf said nothing in return. After a while he gave up and curled against Vicky’s neck and took a nap.

It was around noon when the sun was somewhat overhead. Chaud didn’t stop for lunch and insisted that his sister be fed first. Vicky helped herself and Amber to some of her jerky. Amber thanked her for the food and ate silently.

“Chaud, there’s plenty left,” Vicky said, “Have some water too, we’ve been walking all day.”

She threw him a wrapped piece. Chaud caught the food and ate it, “Thanks. I have my own water.”

They were on a ledge against the side of a mountain. On their left was a shear drop. Chaud knew the danger of their situation and how vulnerable they were. He wanted them far away and out of the mountains as they could by the end of the day. Then he looked back at his sister and saw how tired and weak she was. The vials were meant to be used for adults. Even he wasn’t supposed to use them yet.

A bullet ricochet off the wall just ahead of him. He looked quickly and ducked down. Vicky looked out across the large gap and looked for where the attack came from.

“Run!” Chaud called before running forward.

Vicky followed as quickly as she’d dare.

“You missed!” Zathura slapped Sanya at the back of the head.

Sanya rubbed her head and looked at Dante, “I really want to know our objective. I’m still under the impression that we’re trying to capture them. Am I wrong?”

Dante shook his head, “Kill the brother and we’ll nab the girl. That boy really hit a nerve and besides, we only need one of them to bring out the rest of the family.”

Sanya nodded, “Got it boss!”

She brought up her sniper rifle and got Chaud in her sights, “What about the other girl he’s with?”

Dante shrugged, “Kill her too, I guess. Don’t know where she came from.”

Sanya shot again but some sixth sense caused Chaud to duck just in time. She swore at her failure and aimed again. Chaud looked in the direction of the shots fired. He raised his gun and fired back. Sanya ducked as the rock she was behind was riddled with bullets.

Chaud motioned for Vicky to go up another pass that cut through the mountain. Vicky ran between two mountains guiding the wolf on where to go. Amber’s eyes were wide with fear. Vicky tried to smile to comfort her. She didn’t look back but she knew Chaud followed close behind her.

Dante motioned to Yin, “You think you can get us over there.”

Yin squared her shoulders and pulled out a vial, “That shouldn’t be a problem.”

She levitated her team in the air and floated them over to the other side. They ran up the narrow pass after their prey. Dante looked back at Sanya.

“I need you to keep them grounded alright,” he smiled.

Sanya saluted, “Gotcha, boss!”

“Everyone else,” Dante grabbed a vial, “Just do your thing!”

Zathura whopped as she jumped into the air.

Chaud and Vicky ran into a type of crater. They stopped suddenly as they saw that were several exits. They stood back to back in a defensive position while they tried to figure things out.

“What way?” Vicky asked.

Chaud looked around, “I’m still figuring that out.”

“Great,” Vicky sighed, “Looks like we need to defend until we figure it out.”

Vicky pulled a vial out of her bag. She looked at it a moment before closing her eyes and pressing the button. Chaud pulled one out of his pocket. Amber saw what they were doing and lunged at her brother’s arm.

“No!” Amber screamed, “Don’t do it! Please!”

Chaud looked at her, “Amber, let go! What are you doing!?”

Amber started crying, “It almost killed you last time! You can’t! I can’t lose you!”

Chaud said nothing for a moment. He looked at his sister and saw the fear in her eyes. He had no memory of what exactly happened when they crash landed in the mountains but it obviously frightened her. Chaud wrapped a hand around his sister.

“I have to if we’re going to get out of here,” Chaud said to her.

A fire ball hurled its way toward them. Vicky saw it and shot out her hand. her eyes were a milky white outlined with black. A ball of wind sped its way toward the ball of fire. The wind barreled through the fire and dispersed the flames.

Chaud looked at the coming threat, “Stay down!”

He pushed his sister to her knees so as not to be a large target for the hunters. Chaud pulled his arm out of her grasp and used the vial. Thunder rumbled through the air and his eyes turned gold. Dante walked out into the crater. The rest of his crew spread out on either side of him.

Dante propped his claymore sword on his shoulder, “Well, here we are again.”

Ai stood by her brother. She watched Chaud and Vicky closely with unfeeling eyes. Ai felt a rise in the electrical energy. She knew Chaud was their biggest threat.

“We all need to focus out attacks on him. Given enough pressure, he’ll break eventually,” Ai said quietly so only Dante could hear her.

He nodded slightly showing that he understood. Ai always had the most analytical mind. She could thing several steps ahead of her opponent given enough information. Their last encounter gave Ai enough to figure Chaud out.

“You aren’t going to get a chance to fly away this time,” Dante smiled.

Chaud looked at him, “We’ll see about that.”

Zathura laughed, “That’s right! Make this interesting! Dead or alive I get paid either way!”

Her shadow climbed up a mountain wall. The shadow stepped out of the wall and stood beside Zathura. Now there were two Zathura’s, the original and the blank copy. Zathura wielded her large battle axe and charged forward her shadow following suit.

Chaud dove to one side as the axe sailed at him horizontally. He rolled to his feet only to see the shadow’s follow up attack. It was about to deliver a vertical attack with the axe she wielded. His wings grew from his back and he jumped back using the strong flap of his wings to carry him back further. The axe broke the rock where he had been.

With Chaud distracted Yin ran in from the other end of the crater. She pointed the tip of her glaive at Chaud’s back and ran forward. Yin smiled when she thought she had him. Suddenly her glaive was struck aside. Vicky stood between her and her target. She took several steps back as Vicky struck her glaive as she used it for defense.

“Get out of my way!” Yin shouted.

Vicky shifted her grip on her throwing axes, “Not a chance.”

Chaud looked over his shoulder before taking to the sky’s. Lightning shot down on where Dante and Ai stood watching. Ai put her hands up and crated a force field around her and her brother. The lighting struck the dome and traveled to the ground before returning to the sky. When Ai dropped the force field Dante blew a string of fire at Chaud. Chaud dodged easily in the air.

A force pulled him to the ground unexpectedly and Chaud fell out of the sky. He brought up his gun in time to block a bullet. Sanya smiled at him and reloaded her sniper rifle. Chaud tried to move but it was like gravity itself was against him. He was pulled to his knees as he struggled against the force.

Sanya raised her weapon and smiled, “Sorry. Gravity’s got you down?”

There was a savage growl as the wolf lunged at Santa. Her concentration broken, Chaud was released from her grasp. She stepped back and the wolf bit down on the gun. The she-wolf pulled the gun away and Sanya pulled a hand gun from her belt.

“No!” Amber lunged at Sanya before she could think.

She had seen her brother’s melee each other several of times. All she had to do was access a clear memory and copy it. Amber closed her eyes for a moment as she ran as she tried to picture what her brothers did. She spun on one leg and kicked the gin out of Sanya’s hand. Surprised, Sanya didn’t know how to react.

Amber kicked her in the stomach but Sanya used her arm to block the attack. Sanya grabbed Amber by the shoulder but all she grabbed was air. Amber ducked down and kicked Sanya’s legs out from under her. Sanya fell to the ground. Amber looked for the hand gun and grabbed it. When she tried to lift the gun off the ground it felt like it weighted several pounds.

Sanya jumped to her feet. She walked over to Amber and grabbed at her hair. Amber screamed and fought against her captor. Her screams instantly drew Chaud’s attention.

“Are we boring you!?” Zathura called.

Chaud turned only slightly before he was struck with the hammer end of Zathura’s battle axe. He was blown back and lay on the ground dazed. Zathura’s shadow counterpart rushed forward and raised its axe, blade end down, in a deadly vertical attack.

“Chaud!” Vicky looked over her shoulder.

Vicky threw her hand out at Yin and blew her back with a gust of wind. She then threw one of her axes at the shadow. Already knowing that would hit her target; she turned around to deal with Yin. Instead of Yin, someone ran at her from her right. Vicky raised her shuriken shield. The ringing of blades striking rang through the air.

Ren looked at her with his uncovered eye and smiled, “You know, you’re pretty cute. Shame I have to fight you though.”

Vicky felt herself turn a shade of red, “That isn’t going to work you know! I’m still going to fight you!”

Ren looked confused, “I was just stating a fact not trying to trick you. Either way—”

Ren pulled away at slashed at her again with one of his symitars. Vicky parried with her shield and upon impact she blew at him. A gust of wind picked up and blew Ren back. He quickly recovered and ran at her. Vicky readied herself for his attack but was caught off guard when instead of attacking her directly he jumped over her. He landed on his feet behind her and attacked at her side. Vicky turned to one side quickly the blade only cutting at her clothes and only a scratch on her skin.

Yin returned and tried to attack while Vicky was occupied. Vicky dodged the attack to her left shoulder and leaned to her right side. She used her powers to use the wind to lift herself into the air. Vicky floated toward Amber and Sanya but felt gravity pull her back to the ground.

“Go!” Vicky called.

Kew jumped off her shoulder and ran toward Sanya. He ran up to Sanya and bit her leg. Sanya cried out in pain releasing Vicky from the gravity bind just in time as both Ren and Yin ran at her. She pulled her ice axe out and blocked an attack from Yin’s glaive. Vicky turned and attacked Ren with her throwing axe.

To be Continued…

Iridescent: Chapter One

Iridescent

Chapter One

~Waking Up~

After the Fall

Takes place after New Way of Life - Chapter Forty of The Turn

Zara looked out the window thought there was nothing much to see. The sun looked hazy through the dirt and ash that hung in the air. On the street there wasn’t a soul. There were only broken devastated buildings for miles around. The Tower, destroyed, loomed in the distance. She sighed.

It had been about a month since the say the New Order leveled the Island. The Inhibitors were scattered everywhere preventing the Others that lived on the Island from using their powers. That meant that even Zara couldn’t do as much as light a candle.

Zara looked back into her temporary room. The room was mostly empty, looted by someone after the Tower fell. There was a tattered backpack that Zara managed to find in the rubble. Beside the bag were her two katana. What was noticeably absent from the room were her friends. She was separated by her team and had no idea where they were or any idea of where whey might be.

A gunshot rang through the streets that startled Zara. She ducked down and waited. There were no more shots or sounds and she slowly looked over the window sill. She didn’t see anyone and thought it a good idea to get going.

Zara walked to her bag and checked it’s contends. She pulled out a gun and strapped it to her belt. After rustling around in her back pack she pulled out five jet injector vials. Two of the vials were filled with a blue liquid and the other three were empty. The liquid in the vials was called Blue Gold. It allowed an Other’s powers to activate, a vital asset in the current state the Island was in with the Inhibitors dotting the landscape.

She put the two vials in her pant pocket that was deep enough to conceal them. With one last look in the bag, she threw on the back pack and grabbed her katana. She walked to the window and climbed out. Zara shimmied against the wall, finding foot holds where she could. She found her way back to the ground and pressed on.

Her boots were heavy boots were caked with dirt and mud. In fact, everything she had and wore was busty with ash. After the Tower fell, ash fell from the sky like snow for days afterward. She walked through the streets and alleyways keeping to the shadows as best she could. It was the only way not to get any unnecessary attention.

She came across a stretch of road cleared of debris. Zara looked around for another route but they all were blocked off by mountains of rubble. She sighed and pressed onward, staying to the shadowy side of the street. Zara moved slowly hoping that no one would spot her. When she passed a broken shop window, something darted past. She stopped, looked and waited. When nothing moved she carried on a few more feet. A knife fell just in front of her. Zara jumped back and looked up.

“Aww! I missed her!” a voice groaned from above.

“How could you miss that!? She was right there!” another voice shouted.

A deeper voice stepped in, “Pay up, you two.”

“Alright, alright,” the first voice said.

“Man,” groaned the second.

Zara saw clearly now. There were three figures sitting on the ledge of a busted out window. One of them, the African American, was the stronger looking of the three. There was a noise behind her and Zara turned. More men crawled out of the building behind her. The three men and more jumped down from the building.

“We’ll hello there missy,” one of the men smiled, “You lost or something?”

Zara broke into a run. She ran down the street. More men cut off the end of the street. Determined she kept running. She felt someone grab onto her backpack. Zara turned violently and threw a punch. The stronger black man caught her punch. Zara reached back and grabbed the handle of one of her katana. She slashed in front of her. That brought childish ‘ooo’s from the crowd of boys.

The man was quick as well as strong. He let go of her and staggered back without getting scratched. Zara glared at him, the katana in her left hand. She held a fighting stance as the ring of men around her tightened. Angered, Zara turned and slashed out at the crowd.

“That’s no butter knife,” someone said.

One of the men laughed, “Looks like we’ve got a fighter here!”

“You were right, Boss!” another shouted, “She’s a tough one!”

The black man nodded, “Of course I’m right. You can just tell at times.”

Zara looked back at the man. She charged at him as she tried to cut him. The man dodged easily any attack she was able to throw at him. He didn’t once attack her, driving Zara’s anger even further. She felt like he was taunting her.

“Now, now, calm down,” he said, “We ain’t goin’ a hurt chya.”

Zara looked around at the other men in the circle. She looked back at him, “Yeah, right. You think I’m stupid or something?”

“This fighting isn’t going to end well you know,” he said.

“You’re right,” Zara stated, “I’d hate to kill you.”

Zara charged at him again. She attacked with a lung of her katana. The man caught her hand and threw her to the ground. Zara rolled to her feet. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a vial of Blue Gold. The crowd grew quiet. The man turned at the sudden silence and saw what Zara had in her hand.

“Where’d you get that pretty little thing, girl?” he asked.

“It isn’t going to matter when I’m finished with you,” Zara stated.

The man turned to the crowd, “Hit me!”

One of the others threw a blue vial at him. He caught it and struck his forearm. The jet injector hissed as the liquid was injected into the man’s system. He closed his eyes and cracked his neck. The crowd ran to hide in the protection of the buildings. The man opened his eyes they were a vivid light brown.

“Bring it, Baby,” the man motioned to her. The dirt around him started to stir.

“I plan to,” Zara stated.

Sand rose from the ground and flew towards her. Zara dove to one side. She rolled to her knees and used the vial into her leg. The Blue Gold rushed through her system. It was a dizzying high as every Other cell in her body was activated to its fullest potential, breaking even the overhanging influence of the Inhibitors and their Silver Void.

Her eyes started to glow a dark blue. She saw the sand create spikes from the ground. Zara darted around them. The tip of her katana touched the ground. Zara scrapped the ground with the katana in the similar motion of a golf club. An arrow of blue fire broke through the ground toward the man. The fire struck him and he slid back.

Zara ran at him and jumped into the air. She brought down her katana where the man was supposed to be. Suddenly he disappeared, his being dissolving into sand. The katana struck the ground with a kling. Zara didn’t look back but responded. She took her katana and spun around. In a downward arch she sliced at the man as he appeared behind her.

When he noticed her quick reaction he had only second to react. He dissolved in to grains of sand and jumped back where he reconstructed himself. A warm liquid dripped down the side of his face. He touched it with one hand. It was blood. He looked at the girl again as she ran at him. Angered he shouted. The sand rose from the ground and shot toward her in the form of a fist.

Unable to avoid the attack, Zara was struck with its full force. She was blown back into the solid wall of a building. Zara dropped her one katana and covered her face. The attack didn’t cease and she felt the wall behind her crack and start to give way. She screamed as the wall behind her caved in. The man below smiled as the wall caved from the pressure.

Zara flew into the back wall. Almost instantly she was assailed by several men. She could feel them grabbing at her clothes and hair.

“Get off me!” Zara screamed.

Her whole being burst into blue flame. The men grabbing at her recoiled and screamed in agony as they suffered from severe burns. The intense flames around her subsided as Zara got to her feet. The blue fire remained around her hands and wrists. Zara walked to the hole in the wall and jumped down. She dropped down to her knees before standing up straight again. Zara looked at the leader with fiery determination. She grabbed the second katana. The fire from her hand transferred to the blade bathing the katana in a fiery blue flame.

The man brought his elbows back and cracked his shoulder joints, “You just don’t know when to quit, do you?”

Zara brought up her katana, “I just hate to lose.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” the man punched the air in front of him.

His arm turned into waves of sand hurling their way toward Zara. The fire around Zara intensified as she ran at the sandy doom. She raised her katana and sliced through the blast of sand. At first nothing happened. She continued her charge but the blade slid through the sand. Zara then engulfed herself in intense blue flame. The sand slowly turned to glass until it reached where the sand and the man flesh met.

The man cried out in pain as essentially his entire arm had been turned to glass. He looked up at Zara through the pain. Zara’s katana was trapped in the glass and she held on to the grip of the sword.

“Told you, I hate losing,” Zara stated.

She grabbed the katana with both hands and forced the blade upwards. The glass shattered. The noise was earsplitting in combination of the man’s own screaming. The man crawled backwards and held his stub of an arm. He cried out in pain.

Zara walked over to her second katana and picked it up. She walked down the street without any resistance and left. It was a few blocks away that the adverse effects of the Blue Gold take effect.

Zara suddenly felt short of breath and fell against a building. She cried in pain as every part in her body fell like it was on fire. Zara made her way into a building where she waited for what was next to come. She fell to the floor, writhing in pain as she tried not to cry out. Soon the pain passed and left her gasping for air. She couldn’t move and her breathing was more and more labored. After a few more minutes she fell into a deep exhausted sleep.