“Ceri, get down!” shouts Leor. He digs the balls of his feet into the dirt and darts towards her. He moves fast, leaving his shadow in the dust. To others, it looks like a black figure is flying through the air, but Leor himself does not realize how fast he’s actually moving. Only one thought races in his mind: I need to save her. With every step, the sounds of impending light rip through the atmosphere, layer by layer.

Leor tackles Ceri to the ground and spreads his body like a blanket to make sure she is covered completely. He chuckles. “Well, this seems familiar.”

“L-Leor?” mutters Ceri as she raises her hand to caress his cheek, but a sudden jolt of his body freezes her hand. The piercing light showers Leor, stabbing his body again and again until the entire backside of his coat is painted white; his grunts ricochet off his sealed lips to the bottom of his throat. His shoulders sink lower as the weight of each impact forces Leor’s body to dip closer to Ceri until they are nose to nose.

“Leor, are you okay!?”

“No time for that...” grunts Leor as he rises to his feet. “Come on, we need to find cover before he spots us.”

Leor grabs Ceri’s hand and stumbles into another abandoned house on the second-most outer ring. Ceri stops her feet, causing Leor to whip back into place.

“Leor, come on, let’s just head back to the church! Lady Maria said it’s safe there!”

He releases her hand and peers through the window to observe the sky. “No, you go back. I need to stop him.”

“Why!?” Ceri tugs on his sleeve. “You don’t need to do this! We can go back to the church and wait it out! We could even come up with a plan and - “

“No!” He bangs his fist against the window sill, rattling the glass. “No… I can’t run. I-I won’t… I won’t let these people die at the hands of the Gods, not again.”

Warmth floods Ceri’s chest as if flowers were blooming in an open meadow during the first day of spring, but when she peers into his eyes, an icy rift splits the earth and separates them. From under the warm embrace of spring, Ceri watches Leor standing alone on a cold, dark, icy desert. She’s not quite sure what to make of the void in his eyes, but one thing is clear to her. She refuses to leave him there.

“Then I’m staying too!” stomps Ceri.

“What? You’d only get it my way.”

Ceri fidgets with her fingers. “I’m sure you’ll come up with something I can do…besides we’re a team!”

BOOM!

The house shakes as the outer ring of houses crumbles from the falling light.

“Shit… Alright, alright. Give me a second to think, we don’t have much time.” Leor searches every corner of his brain for a solution, but the sounds of crashing houses hinder his thinking. He looks at Ceri up and down.

// Her stature is small… what can she even do? //

His gaze shifts to her hands.

// And her hands are tiny… hands… hand… wait a second. //

His attention snaps to his own empty hand, and he slaps his forehead with it. “I got it! Okay, I just need you to distract him for a little, only once I’ve given you the signal. Wrap around the fallen buildings and don’t let Alfred see you.” He grabs Ceri by the shoulders and locks eyes with her. “If you are in any danger or if I get caught before then, just run back to the church, okay? Promise me.”

“...okay… but, what’s the signal?”

The tremors grow stronger, rearranging the tables and chairs from their original position. Glass bottles fall from the shelves and shatter.

“I haven’t thought of it yet, but I’ll make it obvious, okay? Just exit through the back. I’ll distract him and give you the signal when I see you’re in a good spot. Now, Go!”

As Leor disappears through the front door, Ceri interlocks her fingers and whispers “May Lord Ludwig protect us”. She rushes out the back door and peeks through a small gap between fallen wooden planks. Alfred stands near the base of the clocktower with his hand still raised to the sky; the color of his eyes looks bloodshot and crazed. It looks like foam is about to froth from his mouth.

“Hey, Alfred! Is that all your ‘Heaven’s Might’ does!? Paint my coat a different color?” scoffs Leor who’s standing at the first destroyed outer ring with his thumb pointing to his backside. “Ha, I expected more from the Gods’ lap dog.”

Ceri’s ears twitch up and her hands ball into a fist. She exhales deeply and she tells herself that she’ll give Leor an earful about that remark later.

As soon as Alfred inches his hand, Leor speeds around the enclosed area causing Alfred to begin firing wild bolts of light at the black afterimage. Seizing the opportunity, Ceri crawls from cover to cover, watching their battle unfold each time she pauses. But it’s useless, she can’t tell what’s happening. To her, it looks like Alfred is simply looking around and holding his hand up. All she can see are the explosions that follow almost immediately after Alfred’s hand recoils.

Halfway to her guesstimate position, a thought shoots out from the back of her mind: How am I going to distract Alfred?

Every explosion rattles the space around them and shakes Ceri’s core. The power of an Awakened is more terrifying than what she’s been told. As she draws closer, her thoughts become emptier and her legs turn to stone.

A tiny pebble falls from a nearby explosion and bounces in front of her. It reminds her of the little boy who put himself in harm’s way to protect his father. A fire rages in her stomach; she can’t believe she hesitated when a child did what he needed to do to protect his loved one. Leor’s face flashes in her mind; She knows that she cannot falter now.

Once she sees Alfred’s back turned, Ceri dashes to the rubble pile closest to her target. About thirty-five feet away. As she sits there and waits for the supposed “obvious” signal, her heart beats out of her chest, sweat fills her palms and her throat is void of any saliva, but her legs no longer anchor her. In fact, her heightened scenes thrill her, but she still doesn’t know what the signal will be or how to distract Alfred. Then, a faint glow and a rhythmic clanking of metal jab at her eardrums.

In between Alfred and Ceri, Leor’s wakizashi wiggles around, making the metallic sound that caught her attention. Once her eyes are drawn, the blade stops dead and twirls around until its tip aims at Alfred, pointing at him like an arrow.

Ceri looks back and forth from the living weapon and Alfred; a spark flies through her mind. She nods her head and creates a bowl out of her clothes and fills it with fist-sized rocks. Then, she loads her hand and draws her arm back, squinting one eye as she takes aim. Sweat drips down her face and her hands tremble. She knows she can’t miss, but the voice in her head whispers all the negative outcomes that could happen.

//You’ll die if you miss. You only get one shot. Don’t lose the one chance to be useful. //

These words repeat themselves in her mind, dragging her hand down.

However, instead of turning tail, Ceri marches forward until she is two Ceri’s away. The dark pressure radiating from Alfred, her trembling hands, and the voice in her head telling her to turn around, no longer chain her to reason. She angles herself out of the sword’s path, ten feet to the left, draws the rock over her head, and hurls it at Alfred. The force behind her throw pulls her forward, almost making her lose balance. The rock connects with his head, shattering on impact, blood gushes from his skull. He flips around and stares daggers at Ceri.

“You — WENCH!” snaps Alfred. He aims his glowing hand at Ceri. The density of the light pulls her in.

Leor’s sword glows and flies at Alfred, cutting his arm as it soars to the sky. Alfred snarls in pain; his eyes follow the projectile blade.

“ALFRED, OVER HERE!” screams Leor. His voice booms behind the sun.

Alfred’s eyes burn from the harsh glare; He tries to shade himself, but it’s too late. The damage is done and he shoots a beam blindly towards the sun.

The beam misses. Leor nosedives and catches his sword, rides its momentum to rotate his body like a black, bladed typhoon and whips Alfred with all his strength until every muscle fiber in his body cries for release. The force of the blow ripples from the handles to his hands, then the rest of his body. Alfred crashes through the base of the clocktower, which collapses in on itself as it crumbles. A giant cloud of dust erupts as giant chunks of stone hit the ground.

“Ceri… “ huffs Leor. He lifts a shaky thumb. “Good job.”

A black spear darts through the smoke and impales Leor in the lower abdomen. Blood pours out from the corner of his lips as he looks down at the darkened bolt of light punctured through his white-painted cloak. Blistering heat from every cell in his body rushes to the hole in his stomach. Dark clouds devour the blue sky, flocks of birds take wing and Leor drops to his knees.