The Great Flood

Concrete rained from the ceiling. Dirt spilled in waves as more of Thien’s water poured down on us like hammers.

“Aila, Rin! I need water! Thien’s isn't infused with energy!” Lilly screamed.

“River water?” I cursed under my breath. “Nothing. Both of us were told not to bring any!”

“And you listened?” Lilly shouted. “Of course you fucking did. Don’t panic.”

With those words, she grasped Aila by the shoulders. “I’m going to kiss you, trust me.”

“Okay? What do–” Aila’s voice was cut off as Lilly’s lips met hers.

Their kiss seemed to last an eternity. When Lilly pulled away Aila was left gasping for breath, her cheeks more flushed than I’d ever seen them before and her ears perked straight up.

“I–”

“Not the time, Rin,” Lilly cut me off as smog became too poor from her wrists. “Do you want to survive this or not?”

“Lead the way,” I let my white smoke begin to form. It turned out that stocking up on magic beforehand was a good idea.

In the ruckus of the waves, Thien had disappeared down the hall, leaving us down here all alone to die. Water rapidly rose. First to our ankles, then our chests, and it wasn't slowing down anytime soon.

“Can you swim, Aila?”

“Y-yeah,” Aila said, still dazed from the kiss.

“Good,” And with that, Lilly grabbed both our hands and shoved us into the water.

We swam through the musty brown water, desperately clinging to Lilly’s hands. Smoke burst from her body and propelled us forward.

I focused on the light from my fists. Our powers didn’t feel that different, surely, if I tried to copy Lilly I could help. It took every bit of focus I had, but with one last bit of effort my feet began to shine. I burst forth, catching up to Lilly as she raised an eyebrow.

We burst out of the water like dolphins, reaching the dim torchlit stairs leading to the surface.

“Keep moving!” Lilly shouted.

I glanced back, still on my feet. We may have escaped the bottom, but the water was still rapidly rising below us.

Our footsteps pounded on the crumbling stone. I could feel my heart beat, the muscles in my legs complain loudly—yet I couldn’t stop. Every second felt like the water was rising faster and faster. I couldn’t breathe, couldn't stop for a second, or we’d be caught up in the wave.

“How are you two?” Lilly said. I could tell she was pacing herself for us.

“Worry about Rin,” Aila panted out. “I’m a river runner.”

“Rin?” Her voice was sharp, but I could feel the concern.

“Never been better,” I barely was able to get the words out, yet I kept on. I could tell from the lack of dirt that we were getting closer by the second. Not long now. With a single punch Lilly smashed through the pile of rocks blocking the exit. The guards scattered as we flew out and landed on the soft grass below.

Both Aila and Lilly gently landed on their feet, though I wasn’t so lucky.

I rubbed the dirt out of my eyes and got to my feet. The familiar yellow and blue rays of the two suns felt like a warm breeze on my skin, letting all the pain in my limbs fade a bit.

Yet I didn’t have time to rest. The two guards recovered, pointing their spears at us. “Halt, by royal decree–”

“Oh, will you shut up?” Lilly sent tendrils of smoke toward the two men, lifting them by their throats. “Don’t expect mercy.”

I stared, helpless as the tendrils wrapped around the guard’s necks. A minute passed before she released them, the life gone from both their eyes.”

It was stupid, so stupid. Death wasn’t anything special in this world–I’d seen more corpses in the last month than the rest of my life combined–but the ease with which Lilly killed the two men sent a shiver down my spine.

“You didn’t have to kill them!” Aila spoke up, fear plastered on her face.

“They sure were planning to kill us,” Lilly shrugged. “We don’t have time to bicker, come on!”

She dashed off before I could respond, letting her shadows carry her along.

“Two can play that game,” I muttered. From the little I’d seen of our powers, they didn’t seem that different. If she could boost herself, why couldn’t I?

I let the light ignite near my shoes just as I had done underwater and took off. The crimson grass turned black as we powered on, entering the dawn covered city of Gallai.

The three of us shoved through the early morning crowds. Lilly clearly didn’t care if we caused a scene, so who was I to argue?

“Stop them!” The sound of soldiers marching after us echoed in my ears. The mix of furious shouts and clanking metal seemed to get closer with every step. I made the mistake of glancing back. Hundreds, if not a thousand guards, were pounding through the streets towards us, with Richard leading the charge.

I could only look apologetic as we turned the corner. He shouted something lost to the wind, yet I kept running.

“Where the hell are we going?” I shouted.

“Edge of the city,” Lilly said, still having not broken a sweat. “I know a spot.”

“A spot?” I gritted my teeth. This new Lilly felt different in every way imaginable—I’d just have to hope her reliability had survived the change.

“Freeze!” We turned the corner. An army of soldiers stood between us, holding their spears steady. These were seasoned soldiers, not the sleepy guards that guarded Lilly’s cell.

Yet to her there wasn’t a difference. She snapped her fingers, a dark cloud forming at her feet. “Take my hand!”

She launched us into the air in an arch. Spears shot through the air next to our faces, one nearly scratching our cheeks, but those too were taken care of with a simple nod of her head.

With every move she took I could only follow five steps behind. What the hell had happened in these two years for her to fight like this? The whole army seemed to be fighting against her and she clearly had the upper hand.

We reached the city gates without much fuss. At this point, we couldn't see a single member of the guard, and the few people around us barely gave us a look.

Lilly dusted off her orange jumper. “It’s just beyond here.”

“Wait!” Aila jumped in. “You just tried to kill Rin yesterday! Now you expect both of us to just follow you? At least explain yourself!”

“Later,” she said, brushing Aila aside. “Do you want to get caught by Thien?”

“But–”

I placed my hand on Aila’s shoulder. “Later. I trust her.”

“She just tried to kill you, Rin!” Aila sighed as she realized there was no point in arguing.

“That doesn’t mean you won't have to answer any questions, Lilly,” I put a bit of steel into my voice. “I have quite a few of my own.”

“Shh!” She spun toward the forest and placed a hand on her dagger. “Who’s there?”

A man emerged from the forest. The first thing that stood out was his height, with grey eyes that seemed to stare into my soul. “Francis.”

“I’m normally a big fan of hot women pointing sharp objects toward me, but I’ll have to ask that you put the dagger away, Lilly,” he said, casually spinning a dagger of his own across his fingers. “Don’t worry, you two, I’m not an enemy.”

“You know Francis?” I asked Lilly.

“Sadly,” she sighed, placing her hands on her sides. “If he’s here there's not a thing on this planet that can hurt us.”

“That’s the spirit,” he said, spinning around. “Come on, we've got a few things to discuss.”