Powerless

---Aaron---

Lord Victor stalked closer, his steps even and measured. "You must feel so powerless right now, Aaron. You can't save your beloved Indigo; you can't save your best friend Lucian; you can't even stop Katherine's pain. How are you ever going to save the world?"

I shielded Katherine protectively with my body, noticing out of the corner of my eyes that soldiers were beginning to emerge from inside the mountain. I didn't try to take a sword and fight. I never would've stood a chance.

"The Elders lied to you. Sending seven kids on a suicide mission was the dumbest plan anyone can come up with. They made you think you had powers and that you were destined to save the world. But in reality? You're nothing. Just a frightened child who cowers before the power of the mighty lord." Lord Victor bent down and stared into my eyes. I felt Katherine stiffen, and I wrapped my arms around her tighter. Lord Victor noticed.

"Ah, the emotions of mortals. Once upon a time, I would have sympathized with you. But I gave that up a long time ago. Your emotional ties are the very things that make you weak. Now Kath, if only you chose quicker and sooner, maybe you could've avoided this fate. Maybe your friends could've avoided their fates."

"My lord, we found something down in the forest. We thought you'd like it." A soldier scurried up to Lord Victor, holding something in his hand. I followed Lord Victor's gaze to the charred stick in the soldier's palm. Gingerly, Lord Victor picked it up with his thumb and index finger and examined it.

"What an interesting piece of wood," he mused. "Charred, but not burnt. Fragile, yet strong. Interesting…"

"That's Ashley's wand," Katherine's hoarse voice sounded for the first time. I looked down at her in surprise. "I can recognize it anywhere. It's Ashley's wand."

"Proof that the bomb worked, and everyone exterminated, my lord," the soldier bowed low. "Everything went accordingly."

Lord Victor waved his hand and dismissed the soldier. He glanced at Katherine and snapped the scorched wand in half. Katherine choked back a sob.

"Bring them back to their cell. Make sure they're under lock and key, and have extra guards posted. They may be defeated, but they're still dangerous." Lord Victor ordered. The soldiers standing in the background snapped to attention and bowed, acknowledging the order. Two hands grabbed my arms and hoisted me to my feet, while others tried to pry Katherine away. I growled and lifted Katherine into my arms, glaring daggers at all who dared to touch her. We only had each other now. I won't let anyone hurt her again.

As the soldiers hustled us away, I heard Lord Victor say, calmly, "Aaron, you only have Katherine left. You can save her, and yourself, by joining me. That way, you can make sure no one ever hurts her again."

I stopped walking. Lord Victor's voice slithered to me on the wind. "Think about my offer, Aaron. Think carefully."

Katherine balled the front of my shirt into her first. "Don't," she whispered hoarsely, her eyes pleading up at me. "Don't leave me."

"I won't," I promised her. I could feel Lord Victor's eyes on my back as I followed the soldiers back to our prison.

* * * * *

We needed to get out of here. I felt the cool metal of the keys that Ashley had given Katherine, who gave to me as soon as we were shoved back into our cold prison cell. She didn't look like she would ever be okay again. She passed out in my arms, and had been sleeping ever since, only to wake up for a couple hours at a time.

Two days had passed since we witnessed the deaths of our friends. Every time I closed my eyes, I see the bright orange flames and feel the explosion. My nightmares consist of seeing Indigo, Lucian, Ashley, and Rachel turn into charred corpses or blown up to pieces in front of me, while I was frozen in place and could only scream my throat hoarse. The grief in me turned to anger, and then to determination. Looking down at Katherine's sleeping form that was curled against me, I vowed to get us both safely out of here and then extract revenge. I will kill Lord Victor even if it costs me my life.

Surprisingly, Lord Victor didn't involve us in more of his evil plans. He seemed to forget about Katherine and me, rotting away in the cells. But I knew this peace wouldn't last long. We needed to escape as soon as possible.

And then what? Lord Victor was here, which meant that we should fight him here. But Ashley told us to continue north to the Northern Mountains because that's where Lord Victor's power lies. She risked her life to tell us that; it must be important. But how were two teenagers going to defeat a powerful evil lord and his army in his own stronghold?

I told Katherine my thoughts when she awoke again. She looked slightly better, but still grimaced if she moved around too much. "We go to the Northern Mountains and find Lord Victor's crystal ball or whatever it is." Katherine decided. "We destroy that and Lord Victor dies."

"Kath, there's only two of us. I hate to be pessimistic, but we can't possibly defeat an entire army."

"We can send a message to the Academy and tell them to send backup. Or we can recruit our own army on our way. We're already halfway there; doubling back would take too long. Besides," added Katherine, looking down. "I don't want to have to face our friends' families and tell them that…that their children died. I don't want to bear the guilt that I survived while they didn't."

I had to swallow the lump in my throat before I could reply. "Yeah, you're right. I can't face their families either. At least, not now."

I thought about how seven families were waiting back home for their children to return, and how five would wear black for mourning and raise funeral pyres. I felt especially sad for Ashley's parents, because Ashley was an only child. Her parents had her in their late middle-ages, and now they had no one to take care of them when they got old. I can't face them. I can't face Lucian's younger brothers asking me when their older brother was coming home. I can't face Jason's parents' grief when the news reaches them that their child was dead. I can't face any of them.

"I don't want to tell them about the deaths yet. Let's just say we got separated because Lord Victor captured us and everyone else escaped. I want to spare them the grief for just a while longer." Katherine said. I nodded.

"Are you strong enough for travel? We really need to get going before Lord Victor decides to kill us too."

Katherine moved her upper body a bit and tried to hide a painful grimace. "I'm okay, don't worry about me. Let's escape as soon as possible."