I ran down the path and out of the door. The mountain shook immensely and I almost lost my balance. I quickly regained my footing and continued down the ramp. I heard a loud POP! And the door to the mountain flew out into the ocean beneath me, with colors of all sorts spewing from the hole. I made it to the forest and continued straight. It wasn't long before I caught up to the rest of the group. Soon we started slowing down to a halt. I ran up to the front of the group.
As I was making my way up the ground shook furiously, and I nearly fell. Then a huge blast sounded through the air blowing leaves and dirt all around us. Everyone ducked down and covered their eyes. I did the same.
After a few seconds the wind died down, and I continued towards the front of the group. I came up and sat down in front of Tessara who was holding Yuma in her lap. Her clothes were covered in blood.
"Why did you stop? We need to get back to the city now," I said, persistently. Tessara just looked away, her face was red with tears. It was clear to me that we were too late. After a blow like that, even with magic it would've been nearly impossible to save her.
I looked at Yuma, her eyes were closed. Besides the bloody cloth on her neck, she looked peaceful. Still that's two people now that I couldn't save. I didn't know her that much — it had only been a day, but it was enough for her death to still hurt. I felt a small burning sensation in my chest.
I need to focus. Someone needed to keep a level head, and it clearly wasn't going to be Tessara.
I stood up.
"We need to keep going and get these people back to the city." As I said that, several ships and carriers flew overhead, but they were heading away from the city. I turned to Tessara, she was standing up still holding Yuma.
"Alright, let's go." she said.
I nodded and raised my hand, then waved it forward, signaling the group to follow. While traveling back to the city, we picked up my bike. I asked Tessara if she wanted to put Yuma on it, but she refused. I understood — I wouldn't have wanted to let go of her, either.
As we got closer to the city, the number of carriers flying overhead slowly increased. We even saw the buildings being flown off. It seems we really messed up their operation and quite possibly scared them out of their minds.
We walked back into the city and all of the soldiers disappeared. The streets were quiet and empty. Suddenly, people started coming out from all over. They all ran to the people we saved and started hugging each other. Sounds of laughter and joy filled the air.
As I looked around at the people, I could see the tension in their faces from when we first arrived had disappeared.
"Hey, you!" said a familiar voice. "What took you so long? And what was with that huge boom? I thought another war was starting!"
"Yeah, well let's just say they don't have much of an operation anymore." said Tessara with what I could tell was a forced smile.
"Wait who's that? Is that the girl that went with you guys?" he said, walking closer. His expression dropped when he saw the gash in her neck.
"Oh, I see. I'm sorry."
"No, it's ok."
"We will make sure to give her a proper burial."
"That would be nice, thank you." Said Tessara, on the verge of tears again,
"Hey, you two!" said a voice behind us. "I just wanted to, thank yo-", his voice trailed off and he was staring at Tessara. He was a bit of an older man, but he didn't look too old. He had shorter brown hair, with a few grays here and there and had a little bit of scruff on his face. His eyes were dark blue, and he stood about two or three inches above me. He wasn't ripped, but he definitely wasn't skinny either. He continued to stare at Tessara, and then a few tears started to appear on the corners of his eyes. Then he slowly walked towards Tessara.
"Oh no, my poor Yuma, what happened to you?", he said. Tears starting to stream down his face.
Tessara leaned down and set her on the ground so he could hold her.
"How did this happen to you? How am I such a terrible father, to not be there to protect you when you needed me most?"
"Please sir, don't blame yourself. You did nothing…" said Tessara, "It's my fault, I was the one that let her come with me," She said slowly.
"Tessara no, it's not your fault." I said.
"No, you're right," he said, standing up. Anger rose to his face. "It's not my fault, it's your fault!" "Why would you let her come with you, huh!?"
"I uh-"
"She's just a child, and you brought her into a heavily armed private military site."
"No it's not like that." Tessara tried to say, but the man started talking over her, almost yelling. The street slowly became silent.
"Why didn't you help her?!"
"I tried." Tessara pleaded on the verge of crying again.
"Why couldn't you save her! WHY?" He said, with tears rolling down his face.
"Hey take it easy, it's not her fault, if you want to blame someone, blame me. I was the one who let her come, and I saw it happen...and did nothing to stop it." My voice trailed off on the last part as I began to stare at the floor.
It was true, though. I watched as Anasu ran straight at her. I just stood there while she slashed straight through Yumi's neck. I'm the one to blame, not anyone else. This is my mistake, and I'm going to make sure I'm the only one who takes the blame for it.
"You?" he said walking towards me. Normally I would have drawn my sword and defended myself, but I didn't have the energy or resolve. He got right up in front of me and stood there. I looked up at him.
"Hey now, hasn't this city had enough issues lately? Let's not cause any more," said Oro, placing his hand on both of our chests.
"Who are you? Don't tell me what is or isn't an issue."
"That's not what I said."
"It's my daughter, she's all I had left. Now I have nothing." He collapsed to the ground and began crying.
"Leave, both of you. We can handle the rest," said Oro.
"Ok." I said, slowly turning around towards my bike. I wasn't going to argue. I've fought enough today. Right now, all I wanted to do was sleep and forget everything that had been happening. I was exhausted — exhausted from both fighting and the guilt of what happened to Garry, to Yuma, and the girl I didn't know still existed.
"Come on Tessara, let's go," I said, biting my lip. The taste of blood filled my mouth and the thoughts disappeared from my mind.
"Wait, Vera—"
"I said let's go. They don't want us here anyways." I hopped on my bike and Tessara climbed on behind me. I started it and we drove down the silent street, past everyone and out of the city.
"We still have one place left to check out. If we want to stop Seran, we should know what to expect."
"Ok, where to now?"
"That research center — that should have the information to tell us exactly what is being made."