Enemies of Peace II

Part 1

Molten pieces of window scattered across the stone ground of the library, Franklin got up and drew his sword, ready to fight Alard.

“You’ve spent all these days, only to bring me the gravity spirit in person?” The Lord asks, an unchanging tone in his voice.

“I just came here as retribution to what you did to my family.” Franklin replies.

“Listen kid, why don’t we solve this whole situation like civilized folk?” Alard proposed, “you give me the gravity spirit and i’ll let you go, if you want to, i can cover all of this up and you and your friend can go back to your normal lifes.”

“Why are you assuming i have the gravity spirit?” Franklin asked.

“Don’t you? Why else would you come here directly?”

“My father will be executed in two days.”

“Then where’s the spirit?”

“Why would i tell you that? Even if i knew it.”

Alard walked toward the long table, “well,” putting his hand on it, “if you don’t have what i want, i have no use for you then.”

“Are you deaf? I told you already, this is not a negotiation.” Franklin takes a step forward.

“Why don’t you grovel and beg for my forgiveness?” Alard said.

Franklin felt the sudden increase in the gravity, he lowered his body, one knee on the ground, sword in front of him for additional support.

“Beg that i forgive you.” Alard said, getting closer to Franklin, “you broke my window, for that i will personally lash you until i can see your bones protruding from your skin.”

The lord began to pace around Franklin, circling him.

“Your little show made it so that my reavers broke the courtyard, for that i will remove your fingers one by one.” Alard continued.

“But most important,” Alard concluded, getting close to Franklin and holding him by the chin, lifting his face so that they could stare into each other’s eyes, “you wasted my time, for that will kill you in the most brutal and painful way possible, but not before i skin you alive, death will not come unexpected and quickly. No, you will beg for it, dreaming every night of a visit from the kind lady herself, but she will not come, she’ll be barred on the other side of the door, for i am the one who will decide when’s the time for you to leave this world.”

Gods, he sure likes to talk, what is this thing about the kind lady? Isn’t the god of death a man? Franklin said to himself in his mind, paying little attention to what the Lord was saying.

“You forgot one thing.” Franklin said.

“What was it?” Alard asked, annoyed by the loss in momentum of his grand speech.

“What’s my punishment for trying to kill you?”

“Fool, you didn’t eve--”

The lord felt a stab of pain in the lower part of his abdomen, he released the grip on Franklin’s chin and looked down to see a curved sword piercing his body.

***

The whole building shakes after the thunderous sound of an explosion that came from above.

“Franklin’s arrived, quite the entrance if you ask me.” The bird on Dix’s shoulder said to her, “Just don’t tell him that i said that.”

One of the wispshapers soulsteps to Dix, she lowers her body, dodging a horizontal slash, drawing her dagger to scratch the attacker. The wispshaper dodges using another soulstep.

“They are prepared for you this time,” the bird says to her, “how did you dodge that in the first place i couldn’t even se-- the visions, right.”

The other two close in, a woman and a man, they attack Dix simultaneously, she manages to narrowly dodge the attacks.

“Hey, hey, hey, this is too much, i can’t follow what’s happening.” Orim screams through the bird.

Dix threw Drakethorn to the chair behind her, giving the mental command, it hooked itself on the chair and with a spinning jump backwards, Dix added centrifugal force while sending the mental comand for the Drakethorn to return to her.

The chair flew in the man’s direction, completely breaking once it made contact with his body, he shielded his eyes from the splinter, Dix capitalized on the opening. She pulled out one of the defective jawdusters and aimed it for the man’s face, but she was one step too late, the improvised movement gave the target plenty of time to react.

A sound like that of lightning striking inside the enclosed space resounded across the canton, the jawduster turning into small pieces on the ground, the sword exploding into two dozens shards that were flung across the room, pushing the wispshaper a few meters away.

The three wispshapers, Dix, and Cyne watching from a distance, all reached to their ears that rang with the screaming echoes of the clash, she could even hear Orim complaining from the bird.

Part 2

Lord Alard thrusted his hand forward, the stones on the floor detached themselves, hitting Franklin and pushing him back, but he still managed to hold on to the sword. Blood gushed out of the wound Alard felt his strength rush out of his body, carried by the flood.

See, i said it would work; Franklin said in his mind.

I never said it wouldn’t work young master, i simply stated that it was a risky plan; came a second voice inside Franklin’s head.

But now we have an actual chance of winning, he concluded.

“I should commend you for managing to do that. Unfortunately for you now.” The blood stops flowing out of Alard’s body, “once i’m done, death will merely be a distant dream, until you either die of old age or i find a way to make us both immortal.”

Ardyn, how did he do that?

He might be micromanaging the gravity to manually direct his blood flow;

He can do that? Franklin asks;

He had more than twenty years worth of practice, maybe he can;

Alard swipes his hand from right to left, the stones fly in Franklin’s direction, speeding up the further they went. The wispshaper side steps the first, moves his head out of the way of the second, jumps over the third and imbues his sword with lightning, he cuts the last one in half.

The now two stones, despite being cut, keep their forward momentum, dragging Franklin along with them.

“Nothing but pain awaits you in the future, boy.”

A pile of stones rises in the air above Alard’s head, ready to crush Franklin at any moment.

***

The Drakethorn attaches itself to the ground, with a mental comand, Dix pulls herself back to avoid a fire stream created by the weaponless wispshaper. The other two soulstep to close the gap, and attack in unison, Dix’s mind shows multiple conflicting visions and she is forced to use the Drakethorn to gain distance.

“They are attacking at the simultaneously to counter you specifically, damn, this wispshapers are good,” the bird says, “wait, don’t tell Franklin i said this too.”

“Orim! Shut up!”

Dix rolled backwards on the ground to avoid a vertical slash, moved her head out of the way of the second attack then moved to slash with her dagger. Her visions warned her in time to change direction and avoid a fire stream, she felt the heat on her cheek as it passed where her head previously was, She used the Drakethorn to once again create space between herself and her opponents.

“What’s Cyne doing?” Orim asked.

“Nothing.”

Dix dodges once again another flurry of slashes and fire.

“Nothing?” Orim asks.

She gains more space once again.

“I’m not in a position to pay much attention, he is just watching from a distance and looking at a small tak glass.”

Dix reaches for her tranquilizer needles.

“It’s getting hot in here, must be the reavers doing,” Cyne says, “it probably dried off Dix.”

A sword descends upon her, she leaves the needle and reaches for one of the jawdusters instead, Dix punches the sword with fifty charges, making her and the wispshaper stumble backwards.

“I mean,” Cyne says once again, “it’s really getting hot in here, i’m drenched in sweat. Dix, remind me, what was the exploding temperature for white powder?”

“What is he rambling about?”

But differently from Orim, Dix knew what Cyne was trying to say, she quickly retrieved the other two jawdusters and threw the rest of the pouches toward the woman wispshaper. She hit it with the flat of her sword to swat it away, but the heat had already done it’s job and the white powder inside the pouches exploded, sending the woman flying away to hit the wall.

***

Purple continued to fight back the bloodlust inside, urging him to rip the other reavers in front of him to shreds. Then he would go inside and do the same with humans inside, he could see them, all gathered in the main hall, watching the battle with horrified expressions while trapped inside due to the hellscape that the courtyard had turned. The heat was distorting the air around him, each step Purple took left behind a molten footprint on the ground, the pinkish purple flames swirled around him.

The tree roots were reduced to cinders as soon as they left the ground, Ice’s and Blue’s powers were completely nullified by the heat, as were Green’s. Red dashed in, to resume the fight, her face red from the heat and exhaustion, even her natural resistance to high temperatures plus her resistance granted by the fire magic were barely able to keep her from turning into a pile of ashes.

The golden haired girl fired off a lightning blast, accompanied by the silver haired man that blew a gust of wind to attack, Purple jumped back as the two attacks collided and destroyed the ground. Red flew out of the dust cloud with a flying kick, Purple thrusted his hand to the side, he wouldn't block, he would instead turn her into the pile of cinders that she desired to become all these years, why else would she say and act that way towards Purple, NO!, his consciousness screamed and took back control. The kick landed square on Purple’s face, sending him crashing.

Part 3

A hailstorm of stones fell on Franklin, he did his best to avoid all of them, but they were moving much faster than regular stones would fall.

He isn’t just redirecting them;

Yes, he is also increasing their gravity;

Franklin slashed a stone he was unable to avoid, but the downward momentum did not stop, and the two halves hit him.

Don’t just slash them, you’ll have to use the lightning to pulverize the stones;

I have to find a way to get close, but he took precautions against soulsteping;

Franklin looked toward Alard, surrounded by hundreds of pebbles that were all orbiting him. The boots Orim gave him were coming in handy while avoiding the rock storm.

“You are certainly good, but i do believe your reputation is quite a bit overblown.”

The lord says, pulling a pebble from the ground and shooting it while Franklin is busy dodging the others. The small piece of stone soars through the room catching fire as it goes, hitting Franklin on the body like a shooting star, air leaves Franklin’s lungs and he feels the broken ribs once he rolls on the ground after landing, sending stabs of pain along his spine.

Why not soulstep close to him and shoot a lightning blast to vaporize the shield?

Soulsteping will strain the bond with the lightning wisp, and although he wasn’t trained as a wispshaper he has the spiritual awareness to react to my movements in the soul realm;

“Why don’t you give me that gravity spirit that you are using right now?”

“If you keep talking like that you might get me to kill myself.” Franklin said in between gasps for air while trying to adjust to the pain on his ribs.

“Let us see how long you will be able to maintain that attitude of yours.”

Using his legs strengthened by the Wind’s Swiftness, Franklin dodges the second coming of the stone storm.

Ardyn let us try to use your power to counter his;

It’s too risky, the pseudo bond will allow you to resist the direct effects he could have on you, if we went for a regular bond without your soul being used to a spirit bond, you could kill yourself;

You already explained that, still, i’m not seeing any other possibilities right now;

***

Dix used the opportunity to close in on the isolated wispshaper, while the woman recovered from the blast, she dodged the fire thrown by the unarmed one in the back, and jumped when the closest one attempted a slash.

Balancing herself on his shoulders, she threw Drakethorn in the direction of the unarmed one and pulled herself. Dix's specialty lay in her ability to counter attack using her visions as a basis for predicting the opponents next move, therefore, she had little experience in actually going on the offensive.

She slashed and stabbed a few times with her dagger, but ultimately, was forced out of range by her opponent.

“The taks are ticking towards the time to trigger my trap.” Cyne said in a rhythm, “you’ve seen what i did? I just came up with it.”

“What is he talking about Dix?”

“I don’t know.”

Her visions warned of the surprise attack coming from the wispshaper woman, who soulsteped to Dix, followed by the man that still had the weapon. She dodged a fire attack and a sword slash, but became unable to dodge the second, she punched slightly, spending the rest of the jawduster on her hand to deflect the attack.

***

Three slashes imbued with lightning vaporized the stones that fell diagonally in Franklin’s direction, he dodged the rest and kept running, in the corner of his eye, he could see three stones get removed from the floor.

This will never end, i have to find a way to get in;

Why not give my idea a try?

Fine;

Franklin stopped and turned to face Alard, he entered the soul realm, feeling the soul of everything surrounding him, he felt only his body, the air, the rest was pure void, he was surrounded by stone, the tiny pebbles were numerous enough to keep him from getting too close to Alard, but he moved as close as he could.

Once he reentered the physical realm, right in front of the Lord, half a dozen stones detached themselves from the ground, hitting him straight on, pushing him backwards. They carried him, more stones joined as he rolled on the ground, one at a time to create a petrified coffing.

The pressure increased, straining the bones on Franklin’s body, he’s trying to break me, He thought. Power surged inside, he released a lightning blast to all directions, pulverizing the stones surrounding him.

But the pressure did not stop, the dust and fragments created still pressed down on Franklin as more stones began to join.

He tried to move, but the weight on his body was too great, even though he wasn’t affected, the lord had found a way to bypass his resistance. The dust pebbles and stones collectively felt as heavy as the entire canton, even so, Franklin struggled.

“Why do you fight with such determination? You could’ve run away, maybe live for years in hiding until we found you, maybe even live your entire life, why?” Alard asked, the question barely reaching Franklin’s ears.

Power swelled inside Franklin, why do i fight? He moved his feet, rooting it on the ground, i’ll tell you. The second feet planted itself, the ground was starting to give in from the weight, i’ll… The pressure increased, Franklin fell to one knee.

He reached for the lightning wisp that was bonded with him, he pulled out every drop of power he could muster and released in an omnidirectional wave. A thunderclap boomed inside the library, carrying out to the whole room that the canton occupied, shaking the ground as the six tonnes of stone were destroyed to such an extent, that not even smoke was left behind.

Franklin took a moment to breathe, and a shooting star pebble hit him in the center of his chest, sending him flying across the room.

“Impressive,” Alard said, pulling another pebble from the ground, “how many more of those can you dish out?”

Ardyn;

What is it, young master?

I think that’s as far as we can go;

***

Dix’s second jawduster was already exhausted when she received the first cut, a long gash across her left thigh that flared with pain, more from the visions than the actual cut itself. The three wispshapers were attacking in perfect harmony with one another, no stamina left to fight properly, the three must have been getting tired too, their movements were getting slower as the taks fell on the glass.

“Three… two… one...” Cyne counted down, “now!”

He pointed a finger toward Dix and the others that were fighting, immediately, the wispshapers dropped unconscious. Cyne put a proud smile on his face and began to make his way down the stairs towards Dix.

“What did you do?” Dix asked, breathing heavily.

“I drugged them during lunch, i did not want them getting in the way of my business. Lucky for me, you attacked even before the drug started working.” He answered, approaching her.

“What business did you have here?”

“That doesn’t concern you.”

Once he gets close enough, Dix attacks using her last jawduster, unleashing all of it in a single punch, Cyne stops walking just in time to still remain out of reach for her. Dix’s fist strikes empty air, the weight shift on her injured leg made it lose strength and she fell on the ground.

“Why?” Orim’s voice came from the bird, “why did you kill Lipa and Sige? Why did you try to kill me?”

“It wasn’t me.” Cyne replied calmly.

“Bullshit!” Dix accused with such speed that even Cyne seemed impressed.

“Indeed,” he conceded, “but don’t think too much into it, killing them was all part of the act. I had to get rid of loose threads so that Lord Alard would trust me, don’t worry, you two are not endangered anymore, at least not on my part, Wysin might have a small score to settle.”

Dix got up, and tried to stab Cyne with her dagger, he effortlessly dodged and sat on a table while Dix fell again. Without getting up, she threw Drakethorn, only for her former companion to drop back, falling to the other side of the table to avoid Dix’s attack.

She got up and ran to where Cyne should be, but found only empty air.

“Where is he?” Orim asked.

“Up here.” Cyne called from where he stood during the fight, “i have a parting gift for the four of you, come here so you can claim it.” He entered the door behind him.

“How did he get up there?” Orim questions.

“Dunno.”

Dix followed, as she opened the door, noticing that the lock had been picked, to find a small study room with ‘IT’S IN HERE’ written on the wall. She spots a drawer half open with documents inside.

“Maybe that’s what we are looking for?” Orim says to Dix.

She rushes to it, failing to spot Cyne hiding behind the door, he sneaks out while she is distracted by the documents.

***

Purple got a hold of Red, grabbing her by the throat, the ground was starting to melt in spots on the courtyard. He was remembering all the moments in his life where he was abused and mistreated, over and over, he would get his revenge for it all. Red would be the first, and he would end it with killing Alard for what he did with his father.

“Please...” Red muttered with effort.

Please… Purple heard these words before, when was it? That’s right, all the humans he killed pleaded for their lives, his father said that word when he bargained with Lord Alard for Purple’s life, he remembered mothers saying that word too, but whose mothers?

Purple let go of Red, managing to restrain his bloodlust, which was the only thing that kept his body going, as he lost all strength once it vanished, leaving him sitting exhausted on the ground.

***

Franklin narrowly dodges a shooting star pebble.

“You still have some rebelion stored, i see.” Alard says to Franklin, “i assure you, it won’t last long.” Another pebble gets pulled out of the ground, “first, i’ll break your legs, then, i’ll break your arms. But fret not, i won’t kill you, i’ll get me another soulless cage and extract the gravity spirit from you, that way i can continue to bring suffering to you for as long as i want.”

An idea sprang into Franklin’s mind.

Ardyn;

If we bound together now you’ll only kill yourself faster;

Not that, listen, i’ll put you inside the sword;

You what?

That’s how soulless cages work, maybe that way i can use your power;

Franklin directs the power of the gravity spirit towards the soulless object, with plenty of space to house a soul. A pebble flies in his direction, his legs reinforced by the Wind’s Swiftness that Orim made for him manage to get him out of the way of the attack.

“You are not getting away.”

Alard called, motioning his hand in a wide horizontal arc, the stones above him, all became shooting stars, piercing through the floor down to the courtyard, but Franklin paid them no mind and kept running as the power powred into the blade.

He avoided a second attempt at creating a stone coffing, dodging the pieces that flew in his direction, the space around the sword began to distort. An orange rain of fire and stone fell on Franklin, who focused all his efforts on dodging the volley and gaining time. A small pebble pierced straight through Franklin’s right forearm, cauterizing the wound at the same time, but he ignored the pain, as the preparations were finished.

The power inside the blade twisted the space and light around it and soon the sword did not resemble a weapon at all. Franklin stopped running and raised the sword, ready to strike, he slashed open air in front of him, releasing the power as the storm came down on him.

A black scar appeared inside the room, absorbing the light and distorting space, the stones and pebbles moved in weird trajectories and missed Franklin completely. When reality remembered how to properly function inside the room and the black scar closed itself, Franklin saw, lying on the ground, Lord Alard, with one of his legs missing, devoured by the attack, the sword turned to dust and Franklin heard the voice of Ardyn in his head.

It worked;

Told you it would;

Now what?

Well, that was our part of the plan, i guess we can try to help out Dix, she didn’t gave the signal yet;

“She told me...” Alard said in a pained voice, “she told me to gather the other spirits, that she would help me kill that thing on The Battlefield.”

Part 4

Red was on the ground, gasping for air and feeling the pains on her entire body, Purple was beside her, sitting on the molten ground.

***

“Who’s she?” Franklin asked.

“I did as she asked, then why did this happen?” Alard questioned himself.

He is ramblin;

Yeah, but it has to mean something right?

If you don’t deal with it, he will die of blood loss, what do you want to do?

Franklin walked towards Alard, his ramblin devolved into something unintelligible, i still need some answers from him. Blood was gushing out from the missing leg, Franklin looked around, searching for something that could be of use in stopping the blood loss, then reached for his coat.

Before he could rip off a piece of it, Alard’s ramblin became distorted, an inhuman voice coming from him, Franklin stopped, his attention drawn to the man rapidly bleeding to death on the ground, his eyes glued to the scene, his ears focussed on trying to make sense of what the man was saying.

Gravity gave a strong push, somewhat bypassing even Franklin’s resistance, the force spread beyond the room to the rest of the canton, damaging the entire structure.

***

“I found it!” Dix's voice reverberated in Orim’s mind.

But he barely paid any attention to it, he was focussed on what happened in front of him, he saw space distort just a moment ago, in a wave that covered a large portion of the Canton of Peace, the structure was severely damaged by it.

“Orim, i found it!” Dix’s voice brought Orim back to the moment.

“Dix, get out of there, now!”

***

A second push came, Franklin was sent flying across the room, once he got up, Alard was floating, head down, blood left the missing leg, but instead of falling on the ground it floated around the lord.

He can still fight?

This isn’t right, his presence is different;

Different?

Yes, it feels… familiar;

Lord Alard opened his eyes and mouth, a bright white and black light came out of them, he released a long otherworldly scream as he released a third push and the space around his body began to twist inward. The force splitted the stones and the Canton of Peace exploded in rubble.

***

“DIX!!” Orim screamed to the bird, as he watched the canton get destroyed.

***

Red got up, and approached Purple, she held by the neck, pressing him on the ground, his strength, now all but spent, failed him. He reached up, trying to get a hold of her, move her arms, to give his lungs a chance to reach the air outside. The other reavers watched in silence, as the canton exploded and then the rocks stopped in midair.

***

Franklin was standing in a lone piece of ground, he could even see the ceiling above, which now changed from an illusory sky to a golden light, black tendrils began to form and cover the light, little by little.

The spot where Alard was, now had a black spot, then the ruble began to slowly move in the direction of that spot.

He is trying to crush everyone here;

Franklin nodded in agreement, i have to do something, he looked in the direction of the far away building where Orim should be, they were still intact.

The gravity isn’t affecting us anymore;

Yes, maybe he isn’t focussing us anymore;

A scream reached Franklin, he saw a man floating in the direction of the black spot. He ran to the man, jumping from one piece of stone to the next, until he reached, then held firmly the man’s shirt, who continued to be pulled up, but was held in place by Franklin.

“Are you alright?” Franklin asked.

“What is happening?” The man shouted, even the wind was being pulled in.

Franklin ran on the floating ruble, the Wind’s Swiftness giving him strength to drag the man along with him, he made his way to the building where Orim was. A part of it was cracked and ready to be pulled, Franklin saw the steel mage crouched and screaming at one of his birds.

“Orim!” Franklin called, dropping down on the roof, the pull stopped affecting the man.

The steel mage stopped and turned around to look.

“Have you seen Dix?” He asked.

“No, she’s probably still in there,” Franklin replied, then turned to the other man, “how many people were inside the building?”

“Not many, thirty or forty i guess.”

Franklin noded and prepared to jump back inside the range of the pull.

“What’s happening?” The man asked.

“Your lord is trying to kill us all. Orim, i’ll bring the others here, move them to a safe place.”

Franklin jumped back inside, using the platforms to move, he focussed his attention to the sound of screams, then he noticed that the ground had molten spots on it. Stopping to look closer at it, he was able to distinguish Purple on the ground with a figure on top of him.

***

Large pieces of rock began to be pulled from the ground, the reavers that were watching Red choke Purple began to feel their feet leave the ground. Red noticed something approaching from above, a man in a navy blue coat, she released Purple and prepared to attack the man.

***

Franklin plunged to the ground, the red haired girl punched him, but she was a step too slow, he moved his head out of the way and retrieved the jawduster from his pocket. Once in between his fingers, he instinctively knew what to do, Franklin counter punched, releasing all the charges in a single attack.

The ground cracked with the force, knocking the red haired girl out, he landed on the molten ground, picked the unconscious Purple and the girl and approached the other reavers, who were slowly getting pulled towards the now much bigger black spot.

“Hold on to me, i’ll get you all out of here.”

The other six joined hands, the ones that had a hand free helded on to Franklin’s coat as he made his way back to Orim’s building.

***

Orim saw Franklin approach, carrying an unconscious Purple and a red haired girl while six others with unnatural hair colors, are those the reavers? he thought. Franklin dropped them on the roof of the building and turned to Orim.

“Do you have any idea where Dix is?” Franklin asked.

“She was in the archive room,” Orim pointed in the general direction, “my bird got destroyed, so i can’t check on her situation.”

Franklin nodded and jumped back.

***

The tendrils in the ceiling began to spread, dimming the light and making the pull stronger.

Ardyn;

What is it, master Franklin?

You are old enough to know what’s happening right?

Well, i didn’t wanted to give you extra worries;

Say it;

That light is basically an alarm created by the gods, to warn of the presence of powerful Outsiders, it’s probably holding back the power of that thing, we just have to hold on until some higher power comes;

Franklin continued to run in the direction Orim pointed to him, when he heard a call for help. Looking in the direction it came, he saw a woman, floating up, almost reaching the black spot at the top of the canton.

He ran up to her, grabbed, then heard another cry for help, another woman, but they were not as strong as a reaver, i can’t trust that they will hold on as i run, then he made his way back to Orim’s building. Franklin dropped the two women on the roof.

“Do these boots use my speed or the energy generated when running to increase my speed?” Franklin asked Orim.

“The energy, why?”

“Thanks!”

Franklin entered once again inside the range of the pull, let’s see if these boots are as amazing as Orim claims they are, he began to pour the power of the lightning wisp inside the Wind’s Swiftness.

***

Orim was observing the situation from inside the pull, with his birds that were dragged inside, yet he couldn’t follow what was happening, he saw a flash of blue lightning cross his vision and then come back, the next moment Franklin was beside him, holding two more people, the reavers and humans began to work together to help those that were rescued get farther away from the room Franklin was leaving them.

The steel mage just stood there, as he saw in the distance, a flash of lightning run all around the debris and back carrying two people at a time, yet Dix was never amongst them. Franklin brought two more.

“This should be everyone.” The first man that Franklin rescued said to him.

“There’s one more.”

Franklin dashed among the stones, his feet leaving molten footprints on them as he passed, eyes barely able to follow where his legs were taking him, he could only feel the fatigue begin to catch up to him. He went to the farthest section of the now ruined canton, stacks of books and documents were floating around. Among the paper chaos, he found a figure with grey hair and grey eyes, holding on to a piece of wall with her legs in the air, Franklin landed by her side.

“Since gravity is pulling everything equally, holding on to something has no effect?”

“It gives me psychological reassurance, that’s enough for me.”

“Hold tight.”

Franklin held her by the hand to prevent her from getting pulled.

“Wait, there are three wispshapers here also.”

***

Dix used the Drakethorn to tie all the wispshapers together, Franklin ran faster than she ever saw him run, the wind felt as if it would rip her skin out, even her visions were barely able to catch up, each time she felt a stone crush her, Franklin had already dodged it. Dix saw a building that was still intact as it rapidly approached.

***

The pull was strong enough that dragging Dix and the wispshapers was getting harder as each tak went by. He stepped on a stone and it broke, he had no footing left and the pull was too strong, but the building mere centimeters away from him, he spun to the right and threw Dix out of the range of the pull. The unconscious wispshapers began to get pulled more strongly, dragging Franklin with them.

Dix fell on the roof and immediately got up and ran to Franklin, she reached her hand to him holding it, but the pull was too strong, it lifted her feet from the ground, Orim joined, grabbing Dix’s hand. His feet also began to leave the ground.

Another hand held his, Purple used the rest of his strength and pulled with all he had, clenching his teeth to the point of cracking them, He screamed, the ground began to give away but still he held on to Orim’s arm, He began to release heat without even realizing it and the ground started to meld beneath him, i will not accept it, i’ve seen enough of it, i will not kill anymore, i’ll save instead.

Purple screamed internally and externally, he pulled Franklin, Dix, and Orim out of range, the floating rocks all gathered together around the black sphere, the black tendrils on the ceiling were dissipated as the golden light grew brighter and the black spot twisted inward, disappearing.

The wounds and fatigue catched up to Franklin and he lost consciousness.