"Wait, we mean no harm." Aeron, Corsair, and Hector raised their hands.
"Even kids." Snide didn't drop his aim but looked at the little ones standing in front of the girls.
He walked toward them, hanging his trident on his shoulder. As he approached, his sharp dark green eyes scanned the group, pausing briefly on the carriage. His black brows furrowed.
"What's in the carriage?" He jerked his chin toward it.
"One of ours," Aeron replied calmly. "He was injured in a battle between two factions. We've been moving him since then."
Snide didn't respond right away. He moved toward the carriage, his footsteps measured and deliberate. Luna tensed, her hand instinctively pressing to her chest as her breath quickened.
"And that's all?" Snide's gaze flicked back to Aeron.
Aeron hesitated for a beat. "There are… tools." He gestured toward the carriage.
"Tools?" Snide narrowed his eyes. "What kind of tools?"
Without warning, Snide reached into the carriage, his hand disappearing inside. Aeron took a step forward, alarmed.
"Wait! Don't—"
Snide pulled out a weapon from the carriage—Aeron's custom-crafted yari. The black steel glinted in the dim light, a chain hooked from its tail. Snide turned it over in his hands, inspecting every detail before locking eyes with Aeron.
"Explain this."
Aeron's expression darkened. His brows knitted together, casting shadows over his eyes. The tension in the air was palpable. The children watched wide-eyed, while the girls gasped. Hector and Corsair watched carefully, their own brows furrowed.
Aeron's voice was steady and gritty. "We've had to defend ourselves from the threats in this world."
Snide's gaze lingered on Aeron for a moment before he turned his attention back to the yari. He couldn't argue with the logic, but his suspicion remained.
The uneasy silence was shattered when something flew through the air toward them. Snide's reflexes kicked in. He dropped the yari, swinging his trident with precision.
BOOM!
The deterix detonated upon impact, unleashing an invisible shockwave and a wall of smoke. The blast hurled them backward, splintering the carriage and sending it lurching forward.
It was a deterix.
Snide was the first to recover, planting his trident in the ground to steady himself. His eyes darted through the dense smoke.
Aeron and the others scrambled to their feet, disoriented. The children's cries pierced the air, uncontrollable and heartbreaking.
"Take the kids and go deeper into the hall!" Luna read Aeron's lips as her ears rang violently and painfully. Blood ran down the side of her head. She had hit it on the ground during the explosion.
As she got up on unsteady legs, her vision doubled, creating mirages in her sight. Still, she helped Melanie up, and together, they jogged out of the smoke screen with the crying kids. It wasn't long before they heard battle cries and the clanking of metal.
Before they knew it, more smoke bombs were thrown ahead and away from them like fireworks.
PTFFFFFFFF!
Smoke rushed out aggressively from the small gadgets, turning the partially misty environment into a white screen in seconds. The group continued their way into the smoke screen.
"Where do you think you're going?!" A hostile voice came from their left side. Someone was rushing toward Melany at full speed, his deep blue jacket akin to the members of Starfall Reach.
Before he could touch her, Hector tackled him, bringing him to the ground as they entered the smoke screen.
"Continue on! I'll be fine!" he yelled, pinning the Starfall Reach member.
"Hector!" Melany screamed at the top of her voice, unable to turn her teary eyes away from the one who had just saved her, until the smoke swallowed him completely.
Increasing their pace, they made it out of the smoke ahead of them, only to be met with a thick fog and a cold breeze that blew vigorously, pushing their hair and clothes backward.
PHEW!
A metal arrow sliced through the air.
A ringed blade intercepted it with a sharp hiss, splitting the arrow clean in two. The blade flew into the smoke, and distant screams followed.
They ran on, breathless, desperate.
Then, out of the fog, a figure emerged—a fellow in a loose beach-style outfit with tight-fitted sleeves underneath, a black headband across his forehead. His eyes were closed, his hand stretched to the side as if waiting for something.
Without stopping, the group ran past him, deeper into the mist.
Suddenly—
GRIP!
Aeron felt something suddenly glue to his back, and before he could react, he was yanked backward.
"Aeron!" The girls yelled as they looked back.
"Keep running! He'll be fine!" Corsair commanded at the top of his voice, his gray eyes reddened like his face.
A few seconds later, amidst the thick fog, they ran past the swordsman. In slow motion, Luna turned her head and saw his face. His upturned monolid eyes were just like hers. In addition to that, he was carrying a katana. He ran in the direction they had come from, disappearing into the fog.
Seeing the swordsman, Luna slowed until she completely stopped running, her white eyes wide open like she was staring into the abyss. She couldn't look away. She didn't even see the others ahead of her disappear into the fog.
"Hanko…" she muttered, exhaling frost heavily.
Seconds later, two fellows ran past her left and right, snapping her back to reality. One had a bionic arm with blond hair that fell over his brows; the other had bandages wrapped around his hands. They vanished in a blink, heading toward the explosion.
Blinking multiple times, she searched around for a clue as to where she was before something clicked.
She gasped. "Emrys."
Spotting the carriage far to her left, she sprinted toward it at full speed. Behind her, the sounds of battle intensified—the screams of pain, minor explosions, metal clanking, and the hiss of the ringed blade slicing through the air.
Just as she was about to reach the carriage, a large deterix spun toward her, hitting the ground with a bounce.
BOOM!
…
"Luna, Luna, wake up, what's going on? Where are we?"
Luna slowly opened her eyes to a blindfolded Emrys tapping her cheeks. The explosion had woken him up. Behind him, smoke and flames rose, the fog had completely disappeared, and the heat from the flames had removed the cold atmosphere.
To her right was the carriage, a part of it shattered. Attempting to sit up, she felt a sharp pain in her diaphragm. When she looked down, she was struck with shock.
A large piece of wood from the carriage had pierced deep into her diaphragm. Blood pooled around it. If not for the wood blocking the hole, she would have bled out completely. Her white fluffy coat was stained red. On top of that, she had suffered a concussion from the explosion.
"Ah!" Her voice was sharp with pain.
"What? Are you injured? Are you in pain?" Emrys' voice was laced with worry and anxiety.
"N-No, it's nothing, I'm fine. Help me up." She shook her head as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Emrys placed her arm over his shoulder and helped her to her feet. The movement sent a wave of unbearable pain through her diaphragm. She gritted her teeth hard, her mouth filled with blood, staining her lips and teeth.
After what felt like forever, she finally stood. Holding the black rectangular box in her free hand, she directed Emrys where to go.
After a slow ten-minute walk, they reached a grassy plain with trees in the distance. The battle sounds had dulled, fading into the background.
"Okay, just keep going. Up ahead is a perfect resting spot." Her voice shook slightly.
"Okay. But are you really fine? You sound cold…" Emrys noticed.
"Don't worry, I'm just a bit cold. You know? It's that time of year." Luna giggled forcefully, masking her pain.
After five minutes, they reached the trees and collapsed against them. Luna slid her hand into Emrys' warm palm.
"Thank you for catching me that night," she whispered.
Emrys held her hand firmly. "I'd do it over and over if the goddesses rewound time."
Hearing this warmed Luna's heart. She giggled, looking up at the hazy sky.
"Beautiful," Luna said, letting out frost from her mouth.
"What's that?" Emrys asked.
"The stars. I wish you could see them right now," Luna responded.
"Ah… damn it." Emrys clicked his tongue in frustration.
Luna laughed softly, but the motion aggravated her injury. Pain shot through her diaphragm, making her wince as more blood seeped from the wound. Her energy was draining fast.
"What's really going on, Luna? You know I can't see." Emrys' voice carried fear and anxiety. His face was tight with frustration, as though he wanted to cry.
Using the last of her strength, Luna turned to him and gently cupped his cheek with her cold hand. Feeling her icy touch, Emrys instinctively covered her hand with his own.
"You're really cold," he murmured.
With a warm and peaceful smile, Luna leaned her head against his shoulder, heaving a sigh of relief.
"I miss you so much," she whispered, rubbing her face against him.
"Luna, are you really alright? You're really cold. I know the weather adds to it, but—" Emrys' voice was filled with growing panic as she pressed his warm hands to her cheek.
She inhaled deeply, exhaling with a trembling breath as tears streamed from her eyes, wetting his palm.
"I haven't told you my name," she struggled to say.
Emrys could feel her life force slipping away, and the sensation was indescribable.
"My… real name is…" She coughed up blood, her body shuddering.
"Hikari. Hikari Gekkou."
As soon as the words left her lips, Emrys felt the last trace of her life fade from her body.
"Luna… Luna?"
No response.
He shook her gently. Still nothing.
A sickening dread spread through his chest. He rested her carefully against the tree and reached for the bandage covering his eyes, his fingers trembling.
With desperation clawing at him, he tore the bandage off, gasping as he struggled to force his unfocused sight to adjust. His breathing was ragged, his pulse erratic.
He closed his eyes for ten seconds, willing himself to see.
When he opened them again, his vision was clear—crystal clear, as though he had been granted a new pair of eyes.
But what he saw before him…
The sight would forever be engraved in his memory.
Luna's pale, lifeless body. The fatal wound in her diaphragm. The blood staining her once-fluffy white coat.
A strangled, broken sound tore from Emrys' throat. His face twisted in horror, grief, and disbelief.
"No… please, no."
His voice cracked as he slowly pulled her into his arms, cradling her head against his chest.
Tears poured down his face as he buried himself in her hair, shaking with unrestrained sobs.
"Please don't leave me," he whispered, his words lost in the night.
Far away, concealed behind a tree, a black-haired teenage girl listened. Her gloomy purple eyes remained downcast, as if she had seen this scene a thousand times before.
She was none other than Aether Drakoria.
End of Act 2