The Resistance (Discontinued for now)

Chapter Three - The Hard Way

WC : 860

Trust nobody, that's the one unspoken rule in Mincrea. Everyone could be a spy, a snitch, ready to hand you in to fetch a reward. That's why you couldn't just pick someone up off the streets, Grian knew this, Gem had learned it the hard way.

...

Gemini walked along the empty streets, the full moon shone brightly against the night sky. It was quiet, not even a mouse in sight. Nighttime was her favorite time to go on walks, just her and the stars. Rounding the corner she saw a man running down the street, guards following closely behind.

"Halt!" The guards called after the man. "In the name of the king we command you to stop!"

The man looked over his shoulder, tripping over a crack in the street as he did so. "Shit," he cursed to himself, Gem had ducked into an alleyway after she saw the chase scene, watching the man panic as the guards got closer.

"Hey," she whispered through the dark. "This way." She beckoned the man towards her as he got up from the ground. "Trust me."

The man looked unsure but shrugged after realizing that listening couldn't hurt him more than the guards would.

Gem grabbed the man towards her, hiding behind a stack of boxes. "Occulta apparentia," she cast a quick spell, hiding the two of them behind it.

"Where'd he go?" The first guard demanded as he turned into the alley. "Fan out, he couldn't have gone far." The first guard stayed in the alley while the other three searched the streets. Meanwhile Gem slowly crept past the remaining guard, holding the mysterious man close. Her magic was strong, but cloaking spells typically took up a lot of mana and they would need to get out of the open soon.

"There's a rebel base not far from here, I can take you there or I can take you home," she explained.

"Take me to your hideout, they're likely heading to my house right now," his voice was unnaturally smooth, mesmerizing even. She had heard about human beings - sirens - who had tongues of silver but had never met one before. Now she understood why they were considered dangerous, this man could probably get any human with a weak enough mind to do anything he wanted.

...

Weeks passed and Gem had been getting closer and closer to her new friend; she had learned shortly after getting back to base that his name was Pixel. He had started joining her during her night walks, his company was nice. She didn't know what he did while she was at her wizardry lessons but when they were together they got into plenty of mischief. That night she had been on a walk alone, he had been sick the whole day and needed his sleep to get better. He had insisted that she should still go on her walk even though she had offered to stay with him. Around forty minutes into her walk she started smelling smoke in the air, looking around she saw an orange glow coming from the base. Fearing the worst she broke into a run, sprinting across the empty streets towards the fire. The closer she got the stronger the smell, and she heard screams in the distance. The glow of the fire lit her face as she turned the block and saw fifty soldiers gathered outside, several familiar faces beaten and kneeling in the street.

"Gem, you shouldn't have come back," a familiarly smooth voice whispered from behind her. "I tried to get you away from this, tried to save you."

"Pix?" Her voice quivered, tears slipped down her face. "What is this?"

"I made a deal, my life for the location of your base."

"How could you?"

"It's every man for themselves, don't take it personally."

"But, I thought we were friends," Gem was sobbing at this point, her home was being burned down, all of her friends would likely be killed.

"We are friends, that's why I tried to get you away."

"No we aren't, I hate you!" She spat.

"Mr. Pixel, is everything alright over there?" A voice called from the crowd of soldiers.

"Everything's good!" He called back, "You need to leave, head to another one of your hideouts for all I care, but get out of here."

"Like I would ever listen to you," She stood her ground, she wasn't going to go anywhere. She was going to rescue her friends, she had learned a spell earlier that day that would be perfect for fighting these guards and how cared if she died in the process.

"I'm not going to ask twice," He replied, cursing when she wouldn't move. "You want to leave, you want to go to another base and never come back to this place." His eyes glowed silver and Gem could feel her mind clouding, forming thoughts became impossible. Stiffly she got up, walking slowly away from the inferno. She tried to fight it, she truly did. But it was like her body wasn't her own anymore, like she was a marionette played by a person she thought was her friend.

Dear Reader,

Apologies for the inconsistent updates, school is really kicking my ass and testing week passed recently for both SATs and midterms. I hope the extra long chapter can make up for it.

With warm regards,

Star (She/They)