A Circuit of Time: Book Two of Spark (A MPHFPC Fanfiction)

Chapter Six

"You—" she was interrupted by a fist to the face.

Using the distraction the explosion provided, Sharon seized one of the soldiers' guns and gunned them both down.

The crowd started fighting the soldiers as well, with their peculiarities, weapons, or just bare fist.

Sharon pointed the gun at Isabelle.

"Fire it." Isabelle said calmly. "Fire it if you want, but you are not winning."

Soldiers fired at the crowd, gunning down any fighters, soldiers, or just civilians, even children on their way.

"You think you are standing up for something?" Isabelle demanded, "Look at them." She pointed at the resistance that had already been put down, "They don't stand a chance. Kill me, and they will be executed in the most painful way possible. Surrender, and we will make it quick. There are children among you, you really want them to suffer?"

"You are murdering children and I'm the one that make them suffer?" Sharon pulled the trigger.

*

They all heard the shot.

Sharon pulled himself up.

The gun lied on the ground, just out of reach.

Isabelle still stood.

This time she had a hollowgast by her side.

Sharon made a run for the gun, but the hollow shot out one of its tongues and knocked him backward. The gun flew into Isabelle's hands.

Sharon risked a look around. The square was surrounded by hollowgasts. If there had been any hope for escape, there wasn't now.

Then he arrived.

A man dressed in matte black armor, face covered under a black mask, followed by two more hollowgasts.

The mouth of Caul.

The Soulbender.

He pulled out a blade and came forward.

Sharon struggled to stand up, but he was too weak to fight.

The ymbrynes' chanting became louder. Accompanied with the sound of water churning, Sharon could tell they were at the spirit pool.

The Soulbender stopped in front of Sharon and took off his mask with his free hand.

It was a face Sharon remembered.

"You? Why?" Sharon asked in shock.

Without giving an answer, Soulbender slit his throat.

Then he put on his mask again. "They had an ymbryne with them, find her."

*

They didn't find the ymbryne in the public cemetery, but six corpses lying around a coffin that had yet been buried.

"They froze to death." A soldier said after examined the bodies. "The enemy must have an ice elementalist."

"They showed no sign of defrost yet, whoever did this may still be around." Another soldier said nervously.

Commander Marcus ignored them. He noticed something about the coffin.

It was too clean for something that had been gathering dust since the 50s, even by loop standards.

He gave it a little push, but it didn't move. It didn't feel heavy, more like it was fixed to the ground.

He pried the coffin open and there was no body in it. Inside the wooden box was a rusty ladder going all the way down an endless dark tunnel.