One of the great fundamentals of magic has always, and will always be, a channeller's concentration.
Even before uttering a spell or pulling on an element the mind must first align with the body; without concentration one lacks control, and without that, the power of one individual's actions can be of grave consequence to the lives of many.
Sky knows that better than anyone...at least, she thought she did.
After all, her Sirenix abilities, passed from mother to daughter upon the previous owner's death, were only able to be awakened when something similar happened several years ago in Sirenia.
Demon attack. Severe infrastructural damage. Multiple casualties...
Thinking about it now makes her skin crawl and serves as the pinnacle reason why she resents her blood channelling abilities.
However, with the streets of the city currently sizzling with anarchy as little fires ravage the area, and more and more Initials are being bitten and possessed by the Demons, she is forced to use it again for not only her protection but the survival of her friends.
"Guys tighten it up! Everyone stay together!" she yells, dry heaving on the smell of burning rubber and smoke that's being carried by the wind, making it harder to breathe, let alone think long enough to come up with a plan of survival.
Sky, Casey, and Neith run into her uncle but the overwhelming wave of nausea at the sight of blood dripping down his forehead from a shallow cut throws her off her game.
You would think after a person with a blood trait, and lineage like hers, she would be used to the sour smell. But it never gets any easier. Not with blood.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." he replies, wiping his right eyelid with the back of his hand so that he can see. "You, where's your brother?"
Casey shakes his head, his face feeling hot after fighting his way through the screaming stampede. "I don't...I don't know."
"What?"
"I said I don't know!" he yells, tugging at his hair as he tries to keep it together.
"He'll be fine," Sky voices. "We'll find him. You hear me, we'll find him!"
"But what if we don't?" he replies, sweating from his eyes as explosions go off behind him, not even flinching when chunks of rubble ricochet around him.
"Alright, this is what's going to happen. Greyson, Greyson are you listening?" Gallo inquires, snapping his fingers to get his attention. "I'll find your brother but your number one priority is these two. You hear me?"
"Yeah, yes, I hear you sir."
"Good. Protect them with your life."
"We'll protect each other." Neith interjects, stepping in front of Casey to block him from Gallo's intense glare.
"Uncle, my dad-"
"-he already left " he replies before she can finish her question, locking eyes with her. "I'm sorry."
There's an ache, her chest tightens, and she wonders if he can see it on her face but she's confident that her expression remains neutral. "Be safe."
"I always am. Now go!" Gallo orders, the wind picking up as he channels through the water sitting inside a barrel of apples, grounding a squad of Initials salivating at the mouth like rabid hounds after being possessed.
Her memory of her uncle will forever be tainted as she watches him let out a bloodthirsty howl before leaping through the air and taking down two enemies by grabbing their heads and dragging them to the floor with him.
"He'll be fine." she remarks, unsure if she's only saying that to reassure her friends or to calm her own nerves.
In Sky's experience, there are always three types of people that emerge in an emergency: the people who are smart enough to run, the people that are brave enough to fight and the last group, the ones who freeze.
There was a time, long ago, in a world far from this place where she was one of those people. She froze, others died, and she was left wondering why. Why her? Why not her mother or the guards sent to protect them?
Now that she's thinking about it, how did she survive back then?
Neith accidentally runs into Sammy's arms, her heart skipping a beat until she realises that she isn't being attacked. "Oh you scared the hell out of me! I almost killed you!"
"We have to turn back around." Sammy announces, holding onto Neith whilst casting her gaze over her shoulder. "Like right now. Right, right, now!"
Justin swings the splintered plank of wood he picked up, smashing it against the head of the guy coming up behind him who tries to take a bite out of his arm. "The shadows. I see them spreading."
"We don't need whatever messed up power you have to figure that out." Neith grunts, kicking out the leg of a stool so that it crashes down on two more, trapping them as they snap like turtles.
It doesn't take long for the trio to discover what Sammy and Justin are fleeing from once the source of the chaos heads in their direction.
They watch Geoffrey pounce upon a girl that looks about their age, pinning her to the ground and opening his mouth, unleashing a mixture of dark mist and ooze that crawls it's way out of him and slivers its way into her through her nose and mouth.
She convulses beneath him, her eyes rolling to the back of her head before her muffled screams end sharply after drowning on the stuff.
They turn to leave but by now the possessed outnumber the survivors, leaving them with no option but to fight their way out.
A neon glow begins to emanate from the girl underneath Geoffrey, her veins now glowing like his as her eyes snap back open.
Sky notices how she opens her mouth to make a sound but doesn't let out any sound, as if having lost her ability to speak, releasing nothing but a scratchy cough.
She crawls out from Geoffrey and attacks Sky, trying to spread whatever dark being has taken over her body, swiping furiously at her like a wild animal.
Sky uses non-lethal attacks at first, heavily relying on using quick spells to send out jets of water. It only knocks them back and barely gives her enough time to check on the others who seem to be struggling at varying degrees.
Casey and Sammy are able to do the heavy lifting since their powers allow them to avoid direct contact.
Neith and Justin on the other hand are having no such luck and are barely fending off the ever growing number of possessed Initials, using anything they can get their hands on to whack them away.
Sky knowingly pulls back on the power of her quick spells, more than aware that it is not the fault of her attackers. Once this is all over these people could perhaps be cured of their possession given enough study and observation by their brightest.
The barrage of attacks continues to quicken in pace as the possession takes hold over these Initials and eventually the girl from earlier gets close enough to scratch Sky's face, her nails feeling like knives slicing into her cheek.
Sky's hand instantly flies for her face, the immediate contact only making the wound sting even worse than before.
Her hand shakes when she sees the sticky substance coating her chipped fingernails.
She starts to panic, imagining the tight casket they'll probably bury her in if she dies here now. She thinks back to Freya trapping her in the morgue and remembers why she hates tight spaces in the first place.
She remembers the helpless little girl trembling on the scuffed ground of her father's courtroom, the world ablaze with a demon the size of a building marching away from a shattered tower of bodies crushed beneath the debris.
She was trapped under her mother for three days, blood that did not belong to her clumpy and clinging to her arms, unable to see her eyes but easy to imagine the fire that danced in them that night.
Even in death her mother protected her, the stench of death masking her scent when lesser creatures made their return to the mass burial sight.
Her eyes dart around her immediate surroundings, struggling to figure out where to look with enemies on all sides. No clear way out. Friends in danger.
Trapped!
Sky releases the pressure gathering on her chest, letting out a piercing screech as the stress becomes too much for her to contain.
It feels like only for a split second her concentration slips but once it's all over it feels like a weight has been lifted off her chest. The first breath is euphoric and the second intoxicating. That is until she feels something hot and sticky raining down on her face, gradually fluttering her eyelashes open at the realisation that it is a hail of blood.
She counts seven bodies laying on the ground with their heads, and in some cases limbs, missing.
Unfortunately, Geoffrey's corpse is nowhere to be seen amongst the deceased. However, her attention is swiftly drawn towards Neith whose left leg is twisted in a way that for sure means it is broken.
Somehow the others made it out unscathed but the guilt of crippling a friend in such brutal fashion, even if an accident, fills her with a deep regret, actively replacing the fuzzy feeling of her powers surging through her like never before.
Spirit bombs.
That's why they're used as a last resort.
Sky's body feels numb as the after effect of dispersing her mana so rapidly catches up to her, her words getting mushed in her mouth whilst her head bobs from trying to keep her eyes open. "Nyah..."
She curls up into the foetus position, tucking her knees under her chin, her fingertips aching as if frostbitten as the heat flees from her body. She feels her body shutting down but in the corner of her eye a flickering light draws her attention.
She crawls towards it, her arms quivering as she drags her legs along the ground, a spark of hope lighting inside of her once Cloud's warmth envelopes her.
Sky feels her weight swept from the earth, losing awareness of her surroundings, gripping his shirt for dear life, catching every other phrase or sentence of the following conversation.
"Can you carry her?"
"Stay behind me. These guys don't like my flames much."
Just feeling the vibrations of his voice refocus her mind, reminding her of how she survived all those years ago.
It was at night, the flames had long died down, and her rescuers arrived with beacons of light that she could only see through slit eyes as she could barely open them more than a fraction.
"In here."
Sky regains enough of her strength to open her eyes, discovering that they've taken refuge inside a dimly lit cathedral with a display of amber candles mounted on top of lamposts and gorgeous oil paintings depicting the true forms of a six-winged Celestium known as a Seraphim.
"Put me down, I can stand." she utters, noting how he hobbles forward with each step after carrying her for so long.
Even after placing her down, letting her step on her own two feet, Cloud offers Sky his arm for support which she gracefully accepts once she realises she can in fact not stand by herself just yet.
Meanwhile Justin removes his hands from Neith's leg after attempting to heal the wound. "This is the best I can do. I'm sorry."
"No, it's fine." Neith replies, hopping on her right leg, choosing to avoid applying any pressure to her left. "We still don't know exactly what it is you do, so we can't assume you can heal everything."
"Yeah." Justin murmurs, turning away so that the others dont see the pained disappointment in his face.
"It's crazy out there." Cloud remarks, moving so that Sky can take a set on the edge of the nearest solid oak pew.
"Before we die I just want to apologise to anyone I've ever offended, to every animal I've eaten, and every insect I've ever killed bar the spiders because they deserved it." Casey blurts out, pacing back and forth whilst trying to clean his red stained hands on his bloody T-shirt, rubbing them against his chest whilst failing to see how ineffective it is. "The biggest lie I ever told was that I like sushi. I'm a virgin and I repent to every god that is out there for not believing-"
"-Casey."
"I'll start now just please don't send me to the Dark Realm when I die. I'm too hot to go there, they'll eat me alive...for real probably. I mean look at me," he yelps. "If I was a snack I'd be a cinnabon."
"Dude, I know it's tough but keep it together alright? We're going to be fine, no one is going to die."
Cloud couldn't have chosen a worse moment to say those words as a silhouette emerges in the oval window above their heads, casting a large winged shadow across the floo when suddenly a voice from behind starles the gang to their feet.
"On the contrary. A lot of people are going to die tonight, Cloud Jefferson."
They turn together to face off against Cillian Black, Dinah Pope, and a squadron of Red Cloaks who are all armed with automatic weapons, huddling together as they move in on them until all obvious exit routes are blocked.
"I give you my word."