Present day
Lyan
I couldn't do it. I couldn't stay or I was sure I was going to murder her. I got up as quickly as I could and ran away while everyone still clapped Abamma.
" Are you okay?" Orus asked me, following me.
" I'm going to go drink some coffee" I took his hands off of me and ran away, leaving them all confused in the middle of the hall, but I didn't care. I just wanted out of there.
Nobody stopped me as I exited the academy, everyone was too busy fawning over the killer, and I got to the town fairly easily.
" The usual" I told Jinn once I was seated on my favourite spot.
" Sure, but are you sure you're okay?" Jinn asked me in a sweet voice.
" I'm fine" I said, wiping the tears that were starting to form in my eyes.
" If you need anything I'm over there" She said pointing to the bar.
I nodded and she left. The moment she was gone I felt hollow again. Having my family's killer right in front of me and not being able to do anything was killing me. I should've sent it all to hell and attacked her. I should've killed her. I should've....
I started crying again, sobbing silently into my hands. She was going to pay.
" Here you go" Jinn appeared with my coffee and set it in front of me just as she hugged me from behind.
" Everything will be alright" She whispered into my ear as she petted my head, trying to calm me down.
" Thanks" I threw a weak smile her way and she smiled back.
" Wait a second" Jinn disappeared from my view and appeared a few minutes later with hot cocoa in her hands, no longer wearing her uniform.
She sat beside me and started sipping her cocoa.
" Did you know that I once feel through a hole in a mountain when I was little?" I knew perfectly well what she was trying to do. She was trying to distract me so that I didn't focus on the bad stuff, and honestly? It was working.
" Really?"
" Really. I was walking through the forest when I suddenly fell through a hole in the middle of an invisible mountain"
" Invisible?" I raised an eyebrow.
" Yes. I'm sure it was some mage shit" She took another sip of her cocoa." Wanna go with me to check it out?"
" Don't you have to work?"
" I told my boss I was taking my rest early. I have about two hours, so wanna discover some secrets or not?"
" Sure, why not?" I had nothing better to do, and honestly? I was beginning to feel interested. I wanted to know if there really was an illusion spell in the middle of the forest.
"That's great. Let's go!" Jinn got up and drank her cocoa in one gulp. I did the same and a few seconds later we were out of the door.
It didn't take us long to reach the forest and once we were inside we walked for a while following Jinn's memory, which wasn't very good.
" Are you sure we're on the right path?" I asked for the hundredth time.
" Yes. I told you already"
" I'm sure we've already passed through that tree twice already"
" Okay. I may be a little bit lost"
" A little?" I lightly shoved her in the back.
" Yes, a little " She shoved me back so hard that I fell into the mud. She was going to pay for throwing me into the mud.
I picked a handful of mud with my hands and threw it into her face.
" Do you want my help or not?" Jinn crossed her arms, pretending to be pissed, while the mud trickled down her face, but I could see the smile that she was fighting back.
" Okay. I'll listen to our great leader" I said as I got up and tried to dust off my pants.
" That's better" Jinn smiled while taking the remaining mud off of her face. " This way!" She shouted and began walking in the direction we had come from.
I followed her with a sigh. If there even was a secret mountain we'd never find it, but I had to admit that the adventure had taken my mind off of things and I was grateful for it. I was no longer thinking about my parents or Grandma. I no longer saw their corpses, so I went along with her, even though it was obvious the mountain thing was a clearly made up story.
Jinn was walking right in front of me and suddenly she wasn't. She was nowhere to be seen even though just a few seconds ago she was just in front of me.
" Jinn!!!?" I screamed. I began panicking. I didn't want to lose Jinn. I liked her. She was kind to me and we'd become friends after I'd gone to the coffee shop almost every weekend. She was my favorite waitress and a friend. I didn't want to lose her.
" Over here!" Jinn screamed right in front of me, but there was nothing there.
I carefully approached the area were the scream had come from and suddenly Jinn and a gigantic mountain were visible.
" What the fuck?" I almost fell backwards from the shock. Jinn hadn't made it up.
" I told you it was real" Jinn was smiling smugly from my left.
" You were right" I whispered. This was my chance. There was a hidden mountain right in front of me and the journal I found at the passages said that the gem was hidden inside a mine, and mines were inside mountains. I was closer than ever to finding the gem. I could feel the victory in my fingers and almost taste it. I was going to bring them all back.
" Where is the hole that you fell into?" I asked in a tone that I hoped wasn't too desperate.
" Over here" Jinn said, already walking to an opening on the mountain I hadn't seen.
The fact that the whole mountain was hidden was astounding. The amount of magic needed for that must've been brutal. I could only imagine how many mages it took to hide a whole mountain from everyone for over a thousand years.
" It's here!" Jinn screamed from the opening.
I stopped dissociating and ran to where Jinn was standing, pointing to a cave.
" Do you want to go inside?" I asked Jinn, knowing full well that her answer wouldn't change my mind. I was going in regardless of what she said.
" Sure. We're on an adventure after all" She smiled at me brightly and entered the cave without fear.
We were doing it. We were going to find the gem. Excitement was running through my veins. My heart was pounding so hard that I was sure Jinn could hear it from where she was walking just right ahead of me.
The cave we'd entered led into a dark passage, only illuminated by the light in Jinn's phone. We kept walking for a while and finally reached an opening.
The tunnel led into a big cave, illuminated by torches on the walls and filled with bones on the ground, and in the left wall was the gem. It was just as it was described, blue and shining. I could feel the power from feet away. It was calling to me, begging to be held.
I was so entranced by the gem that I didn't notice Jinn falling to the ground until the sound of her fall reverberated on the walls.
I spun around to see what had caused the noise and noticed Jinn was on the floor, not breathing. Her eyes were watching, but not seeing and her skull was wide open, her brain scattered all over the ground. I wanted to puke. I wanted to cry. Jinn was gone now, but if I got the gem her sacrifice wouldn't have been in vain.
" There's blood all over my clothes!" The man who had killed Jinn stood near her with a devilish smile on his lips and a disgusted expression looking down at his clothes covered with Jinn's blood.
I gathered my shadows and threw them at him, attacking him, but they never reached him. Fuck. He also had an amulet.
" Your turn will come soon. No need to rush" The man said in a sweet voice.
" Who do you work for?" I asked him, stalling to get time to cast a spell to knock him out.
" You don't know?" The man laughed. " I thought you two were friends, but you shouldn't have stuck your nose in his business" He said as he walked pass Jinn's corpse.
" How do you know me?" I kept stalling, walking away from him and closer to the gem little by little.
" We go to the same class. Do you not remember me?" He pouted.
Now that he said it I did remember having a classmate just like him, with red hair and blue skin, but since I didn't like the other students I hardly remembered their faces, much less their names. His red eyes shone with a malicious gleam as he got closer to me.
" What's in it for you?"
" Simple. I'll be a general when my boss takes power and he also promised to grant me a wish" His smile was downright maniac now.
" I'll do the same" I pleaded, trying to get him to trust me so that I could get out of here with the gem.
" Too late" He smiled as he attacked me, green aether going for my legs. Luckily I already had a counter measure prepared and launched my spell, sending aether near him and making the ground under his feet explode.
I ran to the gem, but before I could reach it the man got back up, bloodied and missing an arm, but still standing and threw an artifact to the middle of he room.
"Let's make this fair" He smiled.
I tried to cast a spell, but my magic didn't come to me. The artifact must've been one that stopped all magic. The man thought he'd have an advantage that way, but what he didn't realize was that I shared a dorm with an unhinged psycho that cared about my well-being enough to gift me a gun.
I took out my gun from my pocket and shot the man in the leg, making him fall to the ground clutching his right leg.
" You should've left me alone" I muttered as I kept pointing at him with my gun while I moved towards the gem on the wall.
Once I was close enough I used my free hand to grab it and pull it out of the rock, but instead of been pulled out the wall shocked me and I was sent forward, flying through the cave and crashing into the ground.
" What the fuck?" I looked at the gem, which still shone like new. What had happened?
" Hahaha" The injured man was laughing mere inches away from me. The moment I saw him I recoiled, moving away from him and pointing at him with my gun.
" Why are you laughing!!?" I screamed, pissed.
" Did you really think you could pull it out? If it was that easy we'd have had the gem for years. It's not that easy, not even my boss can pull it out, but you, little punny thing, thought you could pull it out? It's fucking amusing!" The man laughed histericaly, blood flowing out of his wounds.
"You don't know how to get it out?" I whispered, but the man just laughed harder.
Fuck. How could I get it out?
I was walking back to the gem when I heard footsteps approaching from behind. I looked at the man, ready to shoot him again on the other leg.
" What'd you do!!?" I whispered angrily.
" It's called backup, you pussy"
" Aaahhh" I shouted silently in frustration. I needed to get out of there and I needed it fast.
I looked at my hand and for the first time I wished I still had the seal and that the guys hadn't taken it off for the holidays and then forgotten to put it back on. If I still had it I could've touched the red seal and teleport back to my room, but things never went my way.
Instead of despairing I pointed my gun at the artifact and broke it. Then I pointed it at the man. I could hear the footsteps approaching us fast. I needed to get out of here and fast.
" Teleport us out of here"
" Or what?" The man still seemed smug despite being pointed at with a gun.
" Or I'll kill you " I was totally bluffing, but he didn't know that.
" Do it then. I'm not afraid" The man looked me at the eyes and I saw he was telling the truth. He wasn't afraid of dying, but I knew what he wanted. He had told me himself after all.
" If you die you won't get your wish"
The man's face changed, but I didn't have any more time. The footsteps were now very close to us.
" Hurry. Choose now" I left my finger roam the trigger, but didn't press it.
" Okay" The man whispered.
A blue portal formed right in front of me and I ran to it, still pointing at the man with my gun. Once I passed the portal I dropped to my knees, only to find myself in the middle of the forest, but that wasn't a problem. I was out of there and now I knew that someone I considered a friend had betrayed me, but who?
I couldn't see any of my guys doing any of that and I didn't have any other friends. Who could the man have been talking about? Could he have lied to me? I didn't think so. His words had been too specific to have been a lie, and the way he looked at me, as if I was stupid, just made me think that he really was telling the truth.
I pushed those thoughts aside and got up. Just as I was going to go away I saw men and women, all armed with guns, daggers and artifacts coming out of the open portal. Fuck that man. He had stabbed me in the back. He had kept the portal open. I could see him smiling at me from the back rows.
I raised my gun and aimed at them just as a bullet grazed my arm. Fucking great. Now I'd have to fight them. I just hoped my guys would come on time.
" Don't expect anyone to rescue you" The man from the cave said while I shot and tried to dodge bullets " We've already made it so that no one will be able to leave the academy"
My heart beat even faster and I could feel my panic raising. I was all alone.
" This'll be your grave" The man laughed just as the other ones activated their artifacts and my whole body became one big mass of unrelenting pain.