The last bell rang, a screeching signal of freedom.
Ravyn and Luna remained seated on the bench in the school library, emptying around them until only the rustle of their uniforms remained.
"Oh, yeah. About the Game..." Ravyn began. "How is it that both you and your brother are Candidates? Did you guys plan on getting in?"
Luna's eyes hardened, unsettling sadness settling beneath the flames. She spoke slowly, watching the empty courtyard. "Our family… comes from a line of participants of this Game. Our wealth was built on the Desideria Tria wish."
She paused, taking a shaky breath. "And years ago, our mother joined the Game. She went in and never got out, after that the family tore itself apart."
Luna clenched her fist. "I want that wish, Ravyn. I want to bring her back, she was the only thing holding us together."
A cold bitterness entered her voice. "As for Damien? I know he joined out of greed. He just wants more power to fill the hole she left."
Ravyn watched her, understanding nod settling on his face. "I know how it is to be in a broken family."
He looked down, pulling his hands tighter into his pockets. "Growing up, I never saw my mom, happy after my dad died. She was always drowning in the grief."
His voice dropped to a confessional whisper. "She would even beat me when she was drunk all because looked like my grandfather. I didn't get it until I was old enough to realize she was hurting. My mom grew up without both her parents. A month after she was born, her mother died, no one knows what happened and her body was never even found. But the rumors started that my grandpa had something to do with it. As the allegations grew, he just… disappeared."
Ravyn ran a hand through his hair. "She hates him for the allegations and for leaving her alone. So I think when she met my dad, he filled the hole in her heart but when he died, the hole came back again. And I became her stress reliever."
He lifted his head, a complex emotion warring in his eyes. "I learned martial arts from a young age but I never fought back. I was young but I thought to myself that maybe she needed to let it all out. And the anger? I bottled it all inside me, though sometimes it tends on slipping out on people but her."
He looked at Luna with a faint. "I know what you're thinking but no, I don't hate her. Not even a bit. I would even slaughter everyone for her." he said, smiling but his eyes were tearing up.
Then just as quickly, he stood up as if nothing profound had just been revealed.
"The sun is almost down." he noted.
Luna glanced past him at the windows. The light outside was indeed fading. "Damn, we have to go."
They quickly gathered their minimal things and left the library, walking down the quiet, empty upper-floor hallway.
Flicker.
Luna's eyes, snapped to the end of the hall. "Move!" she screamed.
She shoved Ravyn hard just as a bolt of pure solidified light, impacted the wall they had just been standing against.
The air detonated in a concussive boom, destroying the hallway behind them and blasting them forward. They tumbled and rolled, Ravyn absorbing the worst of the secondary impact.
They scrambled to their feet and sprinted, the sound of more light-projectiles tearing into the school echoing behind them.
"They're destroying the school!" Ravyn shouted, glancing back.
Another solid spear of light screamed toward them. Ravyn skidded to a stop.
A vibrant deep red aura, flared from both his hands. He thrust his arms forward and caught the spear.
The force was immense, ripping a crater in the floor around him. He roared in defiance, his muscles straining against the endless pressure of the solid light.
With a final, desperate scream he tightened his grib force on the spear, shattering the light-weapon like glass.
Another spear followed instantly. Ravyn, too exhausted to catch, crossed his arms in a desperate shield.
The impact was deafening.
Shing! Boom!
And he crashed backward through the wall, tumbling down until he slammed into the first-floor.
"Ravyn!" Luna rushed down, finding him sprawled amid rubble.
He didn't have time to process the pain. She yanked him up, her grip tight.
"What were you thinking, trying to hold those things?!" she hissed.
He smiled faintly. "I did hold the first one, didn't I?"
"And you did a great job protecting the school, sir." Luna said.
They bolted for the main exit. As they burst out onto the school lawn, a figure stood ahead of them, smiling with sickening innocence.
She looked young, wearing a bright white dress.
"Hi!" she chirped.
They skidded to a halt.
"Would you like to join my team?" the girl asked, her voice cheerful.
"That is never happening." Luna stated flatly, already raising her guard.
"What the hell? We need someone like her!" Ravyn whispered, leaning toward Luna.
"No, we don't! She just tried to kill us!" Luna hissed back.
"You tried to kill me too, but I forgave you! Let's give her a chance!"
The girl's smile vanished, dissolving into confusion, then anger.
"You're whispering..." she said, her voice wobbling. "I don't like whispering. People that whisper are bad. They're bad, they're bad, they're bad!"
"I think you just made her mad." Ravyn muttered.
The girl screamed and a torrent of light-spears erupted beside her.
Luna and Ravyn instantly went separate ways, the attacks following each of them like heat-seeking missiles.
Luna spun, summoning fire spheres to intercept but the light-spears sliced straight through the flames.
Ravyn instinctively considered grabbing them again, then aborted the suicidal thought. One attack grazed him near his waist, sweeping him off his feet.
Luna regrouped next to where he fell. "Hey! Didn't you say you wanted us to join you?" she yelled at the girl, buy some time. "We'll be of no use if we're corpses!"
The girl stopped her attack, her face crumbling now. "I'm sorry!" she cried, bursting into tears.
Ravyn slowly stood, blood soaking the outside of his pants near his waist. "She's out of her mind." he muttered.
Luna's eyes were already calculating. "I want you to take all her focus, make more of her attacks aim for you. Then I can close the distance."
"I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that idea." Ravyn said.
"This is not a great time to share opinions! Go!" Luna snapped, then ran off in a different direction.
Ravyn watched her go, then looked at the sobbing, violently unstable girl. "Damn."
He whispered, desperation coloring his voice, "Come on, weird power... give me something."
His hands flared with the red aura field. "Let's do this!"
He Flash-stepped toward the girl. And she saw him coming and fired a dense barrage of spears.
Ravyn dodged some but as a tight cluster approached, a bad idea flashed in his mind. He stopped running and thought he should punch them.
He punched the first few spears, at the same impossible speed that they came at him.
They shattered, creating a confusing mess of light and noise but one spear pieced his thigh.
He didn't stop.
Just then, Luna's legs ignited with her flames, increasing her speed to a blaze.
The girl saw her coming and manifested a shimmering light sword, swinging it down. Luna flipped over the blade, then kicked the air behind her, accelerating herself.
Her flaming heel caught the girl on the head, slamming her violently onto the ground.
Luna leaped back immediately, the flames on her legs dissipating. And Ravyn staggered over, bleeding from two distinct places.
"Are you good?" Luna asked, breathless.
"Yeah." He nodded, then looked at the girl lying motionless. "So, what do we do now? We just… kshhh?"
"I don't know, but... yes, we have to." Luna whispered.
"Wait, how is it you were hesitant to kill her but you were so ready to kill me?" Ravyn asked.
Luna scowled, avoiding his gaze. "You're a boy and everyone hates boys."
"That's... really sad." Ravyn concluded.
The faint wail of sirens cut through the quiet night.
"We should go." they both said in unison.
"But we can't leave her here." Ravyn added.
Working together, they balanced the unconscious girl between them and carried her into the narrow gap between two abandoned buildings, placing her carefully behind a dumpster.
As they turned to leave, Ravyn lost his balance, his legs giving out from the blood loss.
"Damn it, Ravyn!" Luna snapped, rushing to support him.
"I'm okay." Ravyn said quickly.
She took his arm, wrapping it around her neck. "We're going to my place."
The next thing Ravyn knew, he was lying on a soft surface. A figure dressing his wounds. The pain faded and Ravyn's eyes drifted closed, exhaustion finally claiming him.