~ Yumeiseki Empire ~

Chapter 16: It's not over yet?

...What were we preparing for? 

I kept staring at the sky, eyes widened in disbelief. I felt like everything was tuned out of my ears; the fireworks and people beginning to worry and panic weren't registering. I just sort of stared and stared. And, when everything registered again, I was about to ask what happened-

I heard something catch on fire. And a scream. And another. And then a sob.

I snapped my head toward the sound- one of the (empty) boxes of fireworks had caught on fire. Before I could act, yet another box had caught on fire. It was spreading. Someone was setting things on fire; but why? Revenge? Fun? Some act to show rebellion? What did this festival do? What did anyone do to deserve this? 

"'Tio! Move, move!"


I heard Susie's voice call out. Eiectio"- he wasn't moving, he looked completely frozen in place. While people were running, screaming and sobbing, he stood out like a sore thumb. He was visibly shaking like he was about to break down, but he was completely silent. Not only that, yet another fire started, and I could've sworn I saw someone's silhouette near it. I... didn't know what to do.

Should I have gone to help the people? It was the morally right thing to do. But Eiectio looked terrified. My mind was racing, thoughts jumbling together and even mushing. I couldn't think of anything coherent. But thank Medina, because Susie was a bossy person.


Eva was dragging Eiectio away from the fire along with Susie's help. The young girl seemed to be oddly capable of helping her father, even without Susie's help. Susie seemed to recognize this, too, because she gave Eva a nod while she turned to help other people.

"Move, move! Leave the food n' stuff!" 

"Who put you in charge?!"

"I don't have to be in charge to be right! Now MOVE!"

I didn't think Susie would be this good at leading others. I mean, I thought she couldn't do much since she lived in the forest all her life and didn't get to know the outside world... maybe she isn't as 'dumb' as she makes herself out to be. Well, now knowing I could trust her, I silently chose to go after the culprit. It would be easier to prevent these situations from happening again.

Before going, I looked at Susie- and she looked at me. We both gave each other a determined nod before I began to sprint. The culprit couldn't have gone far in such a short period unless their species was a quicker one.

I noticed the silhouette and realized I saw them. They threw something- matchsticks- away and sprinted, too, trying to disappear into the forest. I'm not going to let them.


"You should turn back before I make you!" 


I called, although unsurprisingly, the person didn't stop running. It was dark, but I could make out a few details. They seemed to be muscular yet short to be any species that fit that description.. perhaps a smaller ogre? Or a muscular dwarf? I wasn't sure. The species didn't matter, anyway. They'll be brought to justice for possibly harming my people.

When I snapped out of my thoughts, I looked around for a moment and blinked. I turned left. And I turned right. I looked behind, too. The silhouette was gone, just like that. They were so close for a second, and yet, they were suddenly so... far. Why is this all happening? We already had Socket almost poisoned by that siren woman, Alexander's changed, and now the festival caught on fire. Was it even a good choice to leave Susie in charge of all that stress? Was it a good idea to leave the other empire at all? Was it-


"You should go home, hijo,"

...

Huh?

I looked around for a moment. Hijo was a Spanish word, right? Who was telling me to 'go home'? No one was around. I looked up.

The voice was coming from a woman above.

There wasn't one woman, there were two, both of different species. One appeared to be a halfling, a human with eagle attributes. She didn't have all of her legs, only her thighs were left, and it looked like that was caused by some kind of battle. A scar sat near the corners of her lips, causing her teeth to be visible because of the ripped skin. Her dreads were shorter in length since the other woman's hair was longer.

The other woman was a siren. She looked similar to Sumi in appearance, they looked like they'd be siblings, even. Her eyes weren't pure black, she didn't have the markings near her mouth, she was more well-built and she covered up most of her skin, but I had no doubt in mind that she and Sumi were related. The woman was holding herself in the air by the halfling's hips, the grip tight so she wouldn't fall, but the other woman seemed used to it. They must have done this many times before; even I couldn't notice when the siren was picked up into the sky.

Before I could speak, the siren's legs merged and became a tail, a dim and purple light coming from the newly made tail. She must have been some kind of witch or mage, considering only people with experience could reshape their limbs or other body parts into something else. It took a lot of energy. I assumed that the siren couldn't run for long, so the halfling picked her up.

"We recognize your pain," said the halfling, "Go home. We will make sure everything is safe again, hijo."

"What... in Medina's name are you talking about?"

"We work for freedom and peace. There is no reason to be afraid."

"You burned down the festival!" I had begun to yell. "Of course the people are afraid! I can't think of any situation where you'd need to commit crimes for-"

"Because you don't get it," she interrupted me. "You've taken a soul, and we take revenge. You don't even know who we're talking about, do you?"

"I haven't taken any lives!"

The woman sighed. She muttered something under her breath in Spanish, so I couldn't make out anything she was saying. I was going to speak again, but, she suddenly began to speak again;

"En el nombre de Mendax,"

And she opened her mouth to screech. 

An inhuman, high-pitched sound. I yelped and took a few steps back. I was fumbling and barely keeping myself standing. The floor swept under my feet, and I fell back, unable to keep my balance. I coughed heavily, a loud ringing sound in my ears beginning to form. I couldn't hear anything either. Eventually, it wasn't long before I lost consciousness, too. Everything went pitch black.

...

What... just happened?

(This book is continued and rewritten at 'I Call To No One' on my account)