Black Rose

The moonlight was especially bright tonight, we ran through the forest weaving around trees, left and right. The three new additions to our party were keeping pace with us, they were having a hard time keeping up. I noticed Lucy was using some kind of physical enhancer, she was week physically yet way stronger than ordinary humans.

" Hey, Lucy, how do you boost yourself like that," I gazed at her out the corner of my pinkish eye.

" Oh, I'm using a simple spell. Even if your not a caster like me you should be able to learn it. However, since you have the affinity varies between each class or ability, It'll be less effective. Take James for example, he enhances himself from the inside to fight, so it would be impracticable since they cast ability would cancel his inner enhancements which are far stronger. His affinity for casting is very week almost none," Lucy said with an enthusiastic smile on her face, " Oh, I didn't say this, but we call casted abilities, spells, in many fantasy novels spells are widely known so it's easier for newbies such as yourself to understand."

" I could take you anytime, Lucy. Remember that!" James said with his brows creased giving him a haughty look.

" Now, James, remember last time we dueled, you had to get healed by Clarence after half your face got burned off," Lucy had her eyes closed with a smile, she reminded me of a nun greeting, passersby.

Lucy's frightening, I'm never going to anger her, uh-huh. James probably deserved what he got, his personality is less than impressive. Meanwhile, Nick watched along in disinterest, he looked bored with his unemotional face.

The rest of the journey went by without any hick-ups, There were more of us along so Lumin gave Raelith to Nick when we left from our resting point. Lucy is nice and the best choice, but her physical abilities plus her enhancements can barely let her keep up with the rest of us, the others aren't much better than her though. I don't trust James at all, he reminds me of the type who just do bad things because he can. Nick seemed bored and handled Raelith with care, nobody knew what he was thinking but it didn't matter.

When we arrived at the base of the mountain there was a helicopter with a man a few people. There were a few people who carried weapons such as spears, axes, and bows. Guns are strong but when the enemy can dodge the bullet easily, they become worthless. Whereas, weapons that use your energy and bodies to deal damage are much more practical. A man in a white lab coat waved at us, I think the man is Clarence, the healer Lucy mentioned earlier.

" You guys took your time, didn't you," the man in the lab coat had a bright smile on his face.

" Clarence, it's hard to think your mad at us with that grin all over your face," Lumin walked over to Clarence embracing him.

"Oh, so that's the girl, huh. You brought some extra luggage along as well," Clarence scrutinized me up and down before glancing the unconscious people who were being carried, you would think that he was unhappy unless you saw the smile accompanied by the sparkle in his eyes.

" Nice to meet you, my name is Sera," I introduced myself with a light smile of my lips.

Some nurses who I hadn't seen before came and took the girls away on stretchers. I didn't try to refuse, I already decided to trust these people, my new comrades. I wouldn't blindly trust them of course, but to form a decent relationship between us, a certain amount of trust is required from both sides.

" The ride will be pretty long, so I recommend you get some sleep," Lumin said as he boarded the helicopter.

Everyone else got on while I stood there with fatigue washing through my body, I went through so much in the past few hours. I imagine I'll have even more hardships to follow in the future, there is no use in complaining now. I've already decided on my journey, whoever gets in my way will perish.

I got awoken from my trance by a man who carried a lance double the size of his body, " You coming or what?"

I looked up to see everyone else in the helicopter that was designed to carry cargo I was embarrassed as I walked onto the platform, I found a place to sit next to Lauren. I felt restless inside if Lauren wasn't beside me, she is my most important person in the whole world, after all.

When I Laid down with my head beside Lauren's I felt at peace, sleeping in the company of total strangers is anything but smart, however, with all the stress and fatigue that has built up over time, my body succumbed to beautiful sleep.

In my dream, I was a woman, not a child anymore. If I had to take a stab at my age I'd say twenty, my body was curvy without an ounce of fat. My chest was large, but not enough to get in the way of daily activities. I walked through a field, bathing in the warm sunlight. Lauren was in the distance walking in my direction. Her stomach was large, at first I thought she was fat, but when I looked closer she was pregnant. What?!?! Lauren looked into me as if she was examining my soul itself.

"I love you, dear," her eyes glistened as she wrapped me in a hug, " our baby is going to be beautiful."

I embraced her equally being as gentle as I could, I caressed her cheek before kissing her lightly on her pink, tiny lips.

...

Michael was inside a hotel room dialing the phone number of his boss, Sera's grandfather. He had deep wounds all over his body, the swordsman was easy to handle by himself, however, with the other two casting spells and firing a myriad of different types of arrows left wounds on his body. Every time he tried to go in for the attack he would be pinned down by the others. He could only defend, but to be able to conjure such a feat they were expending a lot of their Life Essence.

When he thought they were about out of steam, that dumb bitch who was casting spells Launched an attack that he never thought was possible from the likes of lowly B's. He wracked his brain and came to two conclusions, either she used an item that had stored energy inside of it or she used up some of their lifespan. The former was the most likely thing she did, storing Life Essence in special crystals that form when ability holders die and their carcasses crystallize after years of being left alone, the process could be sped up if the body was placed in a sealed location that would not let any Life Essence escape the room and then injecting Life Essence from other 'Mages' into the area. If a user has an ability plus their training, greater than C+ rank their bodies would not rot they would crystallize and grow smaller until they were the size of a pebble. This process could take ten years or a hundred years, it all depends on the strength of the individual; the stronger they are the longer it takes.

But, if she used her lifespan, the spell would shave around fifteen years off of her life, considering it was above her capabilities.

He barely survived the final blast, if he were not a body ability holder who specialized in the sharpness of his mind and the strength of his muscles he would have mercilessly died. Of course, he wouldn't die immediately, a spell cast by someone of a lower level even with the crystals will never be as strong as the real deal, mainly due to practice and lack of control. How can you practice an ability that is out of your league and takes special crystals that need to be recharged after every use of the spell?

After waiting ten seconds for his boss to pick up, he finally answered, " What is the news from your mission. Must be success or failure if you're calling me," the decrepit voice said from the other end of the line.

"Failure. She seems to have gained the power to strengthen her body. She was faster than me and I couldn't take her back, at least without mortally wounding her," Michael said with his face drooping and eyes staring out into the blank wall.

" This is interesting, indeed. Too bad she wasn't captured successfully. Hmm... there is only one way known to us that could be plausible," he said his voice was distant as if he was in thought, " Anything else to report?"

" Sorry, sir. And, yes, the Black Roses have taken her in. We have no idea where their base of operations is located, so until we find their base or she comes out of hiding, we have no way of finding her," Michael said in a professional, business-like tone.

" Hmm... we have quite the problem on our hands, yes we do," the old man on the other line said without any worry or anxiety in his voice, " Come back to headquarters. We'll find them, no one can hide from us."

" I'll come back immediately."

I have no idea where his confidence comes from, but he isn't leading the entire clan by himself for nothing. I wonder what his plan is?

Hanging up the phone, Michael put his head in his hands. He let out a deep sigh before heading to the bathroom to change clothes and also clean his wounds. The healing speed is extreme, but it doesn't stop poisons or infection so you still have to treat wounds with care.

" I wonder how this games going to play out?" Michael said as he strolled into the bathroom.

...

I woke up in a small room with walls painted a sandy-yellow color, my lips curved into a smile. The dream I just experienced left me feeling warm inside my chest. Once the first dream came true, there is no way I'll disregard any of my dreams as fake anymore.

" How were we able to have children two women?" a confused look was on my face as I stared at the white ceiling.

Looking around I could see no one else in the room with me. I could tell it was past noon because of the sunlight that shined through the curtains in the window. Getting out of bed I noticed that I wasn't wearing any clothes except underwear and a t-shirt, seeing myself like this wasn't what tripped me up. What made me feel uncomfortable was that my underwear was also changed. That means someone looked at me naked, I felt gross inside imagining some perv touching me in my sleep.

At the end of the bed, I saw a pair of clothes, pants, a t-shirt, and a new bra. There was also the running shoes that I was wearing the night before. When I was finished getting dressed I walked out of the room and into a room that seemed to be a living room with a couch and a flat-screen tv, there were some stands as well.

Mom and Raelith were on the couch, Moms eyes were swelled from crying too much, and Raelith was in her arms asleep, in worse shape than mother. I planned on asking a question about my clothes but thought it would be more important to comfort them. Mom gave me a small smile, the smile was stiff and couldn't come to high. I held, her in my arms as she sobbed for what I felt to be over half an hour, even when she stopped crying she hugged me and didn't want to let go.

" Thank you," She said after squeezing and letting me go, " I know that all of this happened because of something that involves you. But, please don't blame yourself, I'll never blame you. The man named Lumin is waiting for you in the commanding building, he said to have you come to find him when you are awake."

I could tell that she wasn't okay, she didn't want me feeling guilty over Peter's death. It was already too late, I will bear the guilt inside of me for the rest of my days. Never forgetting.

I head toward the corner where I thought the that leads outside would be, around the corner Lauren was there. I don't know how long she waited right here for my mother could calm down and we could comfort one another.

Without saying anything she grabbed my hand and dragged me along with her.