Capítulo 53: Chapter 41: Despair
((Written from my phone, lost power. Reread multiple times, hopefully despite the lack of grammar/sentence structure fixing it still came out well / good flow))
//Orion PoV//
It was like lightning shooting through him- everything unfolding in slow motion as Powder darted out.
'She's too early-' Orion froze for a second, the shock of realization hitting like a cold flash, his breath catching in his throat.
Without thinking he grabbed Vi and twisted her around, away from the wall, crouching protectively to shield her. He heard the faint giggling of a happy child in the background- like the call of death.
'Ugh' Orion grunted as her elbows and knees slammed into him. His control wavered, channeling his limits of the archaic protective, light-blue mana into a shield around them rather than fortifying his body.
"Hey, what are you-" Vi's words were cut off through the deafening explosion.
The shield he created around them flashed wildly with brilliant colors upon the first explosion. It felt like a heavy weight pressing down on him from behind, threatening to shatter the shield and kill them both.
A split-second in, the distinct sounds of two more explosions detonated, changing everything.
Orion's shield changed colors as the intense and unstable wild magic impacted it. Corruption blossomed from the core, spreading out like roots through his shields. It was surreal how he could feel it happen.
Weakened by the corruption, debris and splinters broke through at various points. Rather than simply breaking through and impaling Orion however, the arcane magic bent itself at the three points of impact- piercing through him. There were more breakages, but they didn't impact Orion and expanded the jagged lighting and crystalized shards' appearance.
Orion's vision faded to black for a moment. Blood poured out from the wounds, and he coughed mouthfuls up, spraying it across Vi.
His vision faded in and out, unable to focus beyond the pain and his fading grasp on the corrupted magic.
"Orion?"
The whisper cut through his struggle like a knife, slowly reviving him back to consciousness.
"What...what is this?" Her terrified whisper echoed in his head. His eyes finally rolled upward to her.
Orion couldn't help but feel sad, her traumatized expression with tear-struck eyes, trembling hands and body. 'That look...I feel like the villain...' Orion weakly thought, his vision shaking.
"You're alive... Vi..." Orion hoarsely whispered. Blood dripped from his mouth onto her forehead when he spoke.
——————-
//Vi's POV//
"Alive?" Vi's voice shook, her gaze shifting to their surroundings.
Charred walls, large splinters of wood and glass sprayed out, and concrete chunks laying at the base of Orion's feet with blue archaic lightning streaking out from the stone.
She shivered, her head whipping around. "Powder?!" She fearfully whispered.
Powder and the gang groaned, struggling back to their feet- everyone was fine, just rattled. Everyone except Orion.
"Hold on, Orion!" Vi wiggled out more, slipping in the blood. "You're bleeding everywhere!"
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry!" She cried between sobs. Her hands trembled, hovering above the arcane shards piercing him. "We- we'll get you out!"
"Don't," Orion drew in a ragged breath, halting her fingertips just before touching the shards, and croaked, "It will fade…"
Vi leaned back, her fingers retracting with a scared squeak. The shards vibrated angrily, the deep blue shifting into reddish-black before dissipating with a hiss along with the shield.
Debris and wood chunks fell with noisy wet splats. Vi caught Orion as it let go of him, hiccupping and crying openly as shocked gasps rang out behind her.
"Jayce? Jayce!" A feminine voice cried out from the door with frantic footsteps.
Orion's gurgled voice rasped out next to Vi's ear. "Powder…nightlight…remember?" A momentary pause and a raspy breath. "Claggor, grab Vi… Run!"
Vi felt small hands tugging at her arm as she held tightly onto him. She glanced back, seeing Powder's previously delighted face now tear-stained with snot dribbling out between sobs.
Powder had her hesitancy, tugging at Vi's arm with uncertain glances at Orion and crying. "Will you…get better?"
Vi felt him nod, believing it to be obvious fake reassurance, tears blinding her completely through renewed cries.
A loud rumbling was heard as a section of the balcony began to collapse.
"Orion, I'm sor- wait NO! GET OFF ME!" Vi shrieked as Claggor came up and ripped her away.
Orion's weak body fell flat with a wet splotch into the blood and a pained groan.
Shouts and screams echoed out from the streets below.
She couldn't recall what she was shouting in the moment when Claggor forcibly pulled her head up to his, locking gazes.
"Do you want to lose Powder too?! We need to run!" Claggor shouted in her face. His eyes were tear-stained and horrified too, but determined as well.
Vi hiccupped. She knew it was Orion's last will, nodding slowly and reluctantly.
The traumatized gang retreated to the roof, each giving one last horrified and remorseful glance back except for Powder.
Powder's eyes carried hope. Vi saw her eyes widen further- relief? Vi felt she saw wrong, shaking her head through shaky breaths and tears as the escape chase began.
——————-
//Orion's POV//
It was rare to see Mylo at a loss for words- shell shocked and horrified disbelief etched into his expression as he stared at Orion.
Likewise, he had never seen such determination in Claggor up until that point.
Claggor's grit and Powder's belief in him were the only reason they managed to pull Vi away.
Even through the pain, Orion felt his heart ripped apart with guilt as he was forced to watch Vi's heartbreaking attempt to claw back to him.
In front of them all, a faint green light already started to glow over his wounds to reduce the severity. He knew with all the exertion to get there, shielding them from the explosion, and the intense magical rebound, that was all he could do.
Only Powder recognized it, her eyes lighting up with hope as Orion weakly smiled back to reassure her before she left.
His mana drizzled away, his wounds still open but not as severe.
Orion rolled slowly onto his back, unable to move beyond that. His vision was a blur, slowly darkening as everything faded.
Just before he fell unconscious, he heard a familiar feminine voice from the doorway.
"Orion?"
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder