Noble felt her ears ringing. The world around her was going to pieces, and her skin stung from the stone and earth being thrown in every direction.
Squinting against the flaming inferno, Noble tried to make sense of her surroundings. She instinctively summoned her armor, her blade, and the [Fire Insurance].
When the ringing stopped, Noble could hear the screams filling the air. People were buried under the debris of the collapsed building.
The good news was that if they were screaming, they were alive. The bad news was that if someone didn't help, they wouldn't be living for much longer.
Without a thought, Noble dove into the flames to search for survivors.
"Help!" A child's voice caught Noble's attention over any of the others.
The floating Saint shut her eyes, relying on her second sight to guide her through the inferno.
"I'm coming!" Noble called, trying not to cough. "Hold on!"
"Over here!" The little girl called, her voice sounding frantic. "The fire. It's too big! I can't move!"
Locating the girl, Noble opened her eyes to understand what she was sensing. As she feared, the girl's leg was pinned under a beam of the house.
"Hold still. I will get it."
Sliding her fingers under the beam, Noble lifted it while lightening it at the same time. The beam became like a feather, freeing the girl from the rubble but not the inferno.
The beam floated from Noble's hands, and the Saint reached down and scooped up the child. The girl clung to her, a soft whimper escaping her lips as the Fire Insurance charm alleviated some of the heat.
With a dash, Noble broke free of the flames and set the girl gently on the lawn. The smouldering beam floated idly behind them, coming to rest in a safe place not far from the home.
"Are you alright?"
"Mom's in there and Daddy too. Help them!" The girl tried to stand to head back into the blaze.
The adrenaline did not even allow her to register the blood running down her injured leg. Noble floated her from the ground and brought her farther from the flames. She placed her in an alcove where she wouldn't easily be seen.
Noble fished out her communicator from below her armor, relieved to see it was somehow still intact. She passed it to the girl.
"What's your name?"
"Rhode." The girl took the device with a dazed expression.
"Rhode. Such a pretty name. I need you to do a most important job for me. Stay here and call for help. I'll go and look for your parents. I don't know how safe it is, so stay hidden for now, alright?" Noble waited for the girl to respond.
She pushed back her dark braids from her face, allowing the blue undertone to catch a bit of sunlight. Tears welled up in Rhode's indigo eyes, but she managed a nod. That would have to be good enough.
"I'll be back!"
Noble hated to leave the girl, but she hated to leave people inside a burning building also. Mentally wishing the child well, Noble summoned Helios to protect her and then plunged back into the heat of the fire.
There were surprisingly more people alive than Noble would have expected. Her Transcendent body could withstand a lot of damage, and even it had been rattled by the initial shockwave. Mundane people should have been concussed or killed by that blast and the debris that had torn apart the quiet neighborhood.
Yet Noble could sense the emotional signatures of many survivors. They had to have been shielded from the blast somehow.
'Maybe a safe room?'
It was a reasonable guess. Even her former home had an armored room that held her Dreamscape pod.
Whatever the reason that the people had survived the attack, Noble wanted to help them.
Smoke and flames enveloped her once more as she aimed for the next victim. Realizing the flame had unnaturally magical properties, Noble was careful not to expose her skin directly to the blaze.
Three individuals were picking their way through the flames. One had a protective cape wrapped around the other two.
"Are you Rhode's parents?" Noble called out to them.
"No," the man who had one arm hanging limply at his side answered.
"Dawn was beside me!" The woman in a singed blue dress coughed and pointed.
Noble lifted the trio from the fire and sent them over the conflagration to a separate spot on the lawn. While she believed that the trio likely wouldn't hurt Rhode, Noble wasn't sure how Helios would react to their approach.
The floating Saint headed in the direction indicated. There was one person still hidden in the debris where the woman had pointed, but she wasn't moving. Noble didn't waste any time. Using her levitation, she threw aside a piece of the wall and found a cavity underneath.
A stunning woman with dark, braided hair and deep amber complexion lay unconscious on a patch of bare concrete. She was barely breathing.
Noble gently lifted her, careful to disturb her unnatural slumber as little as possible.
Together they left the fire and joined the others in the courtyard in front.
"Dawn! You found her! Oh!" The lady in blue came running as Noble lowered herself and the unconscious woman to the ground.
Noble noted that there were more people on the lawn than just the ones she had helped. They were covered in ash and burns, in various states of shock.
Behind them, a spray of rock went in every direction, causing Noble to duck.
A figure covered in ash held two children in his arms. He set them down, allowing them to run to their parents.
His mahogany skin glistened with water and blood from the mystical burns covering him, but he didn't seem to notice. His eyes fell on the unconscious woman, and he rushed toward her.
"My love!"
"She's alive, Naeve," the woman kneeling beside Dawn assured him.
He stopped. "And Rhode?"
"Daddy!" A girl riding on the back of a golden creature came out of her hiding place.
Naeve went from worried to perplexed. "How did you…"
"She saved me!" Rhode pointed at the floating woman in gold and black armor.
Naeve noticed her for the first time. "Master Noble?"
Noble gave an apologetic shrug. "I know this is a terrible time for visitors, but I'm here to help."
The other Saint didn't question her further and simply nodded. "Who is still missing?"
"I count eleven still in the flames." Noble held out her hand to stop Naeve from returning to the home.
Floating slightly higher than the ground, Noble allowed her eyes to swirl.
She lifted all the people that she felt into the air, careful not to tug if she felt any resistance. Nine came into the air without issue and were able to be rescued from the chaos.
The last two were together.
A thin woman hurried over to them, her voice shrill.
"Saint Aether. He went after my boy!"
Noble knew that one of the two who had not received her help had been Aether. He had fought, holding fast to the smouldering rock. Likely, he had assumed that her help was actually an attack while he was looking for survivors.
Noble pursed her lips. If Aether wasn't willing to come out, then there was only one option.
She would go in after him.