Crack!
Seraphina, impassive, tore off her scorched arm and cast the severed limb into the encroaching blood-tinged flames. She then turned her gaze skyward.
"Where is she?" the girl inquired of Ravenna, hovering above.
"It seems she received orders from Ansel."
Ravenna replied from her perch on a makeshift airship—a rudimentary floating platform with railings, fashioned from modified hover guns. The vessel carried the final group of rescued fugitives.
Seraphina's intuition and perception had proven invaluable, leading them to a large group of elderly, infirm, and disabled individuals abandoned during the exodus. Without Seraphina and Ravenna's timely intervention, they would have perished in the inferno.
Upon hearing Ravenna's response, Seraphina's momentary elation gave way to suspicion.
"Orders from… Ansel?" Seraphina gazed incredulously at Ravenna. "Are you sure? Why would Ansel seek her help instead of ours?"