Chapter 35

"Are you ready to give up?" Even to Kiari, that didn't sound convincing. Ivy stood outside of the store, not saying a word. Her eyes had a dark determination in them. 'I don't think I can do this.' He looked down at his hand, and his conviction wavered with every passing second. His breath quickened as he looked up at Ivy. He felt tears stain his dry cheeks as he watched her march towards him. "Please," he said, slightly louder than a murmur.

Ivy heard what he said, but didn't stop. The white veil continued to bubble around her.

"Please. Don't make me do this. Please!"

Her fists were clenched tightly around the brass knuckles.

He bared his teeth, "Really?" he cried, "Is some artifact really more important than your life?"

The same look returned to her eyes, "I want to see my mother. It's been a long time. I want to meet her. I think I will someday."

"I just want to save Addilynn. That's all I've ever wanted to do. She's totally innocent in all of this. I just—" He was cut off by Ivy, who charged forward, winding up a big swing aimed at his head.

Without thinking, Kiari's hand shot out, grabbing her arm and lifting her into the air. With his other hand, he hauled back, his fist firing into her stomach. A bright glow appeared in the hand that held her arm. The sound of the explosion was enormous. The light briefly blinded him. Her mouth opened as his hand pushed into her stomach, puking all over him.

When his eyes adjusted, Ivy was writhing on the ground, letting out screams of pain between dry heaves. Her right forearm was a charred stump. He couldn't take his eyes off it. Ivy was on her knees, clutching at her arm, just above the area.

"Say, you know what?"

Kiari heard that quite raspy voice; he looked up at her eyes, snapping out of his daze. No sign of fear.

"For the sake of Zoe's plan, none of this should've happened. I wasn't supposed to fight you for this long. I know that. But all of this is my plan!" She got to her feet, a slight smile on her face.

Kiari wiped his face, noting that the bile had an odd smell. 'Is that…' He sniffed the air again, his eyes wide when he realized what it was. "Gas," he said, his voice almost filled with awe. 'This kid is insane. She admitted to knowingly sacrificing her arm. This gasoline… she drank it, knowing that her body would force her to regurgitate it, and it was helped by my punch. I'm completely covered in it!'

The aura surrounding Ivy bubbled up higher. She picked up her now-only brass knuckle from the ground. She sent a flying kick, hitting Kiari in the sternum. He stumbled back and fell as she sent more kicks and punches at him, with most connecting.

'She's really not stopping! What is wrong with this kid? I'm gonna have to do it again!' He let a kick connect to the side of his head. His hand shot out, grabbing her leg. He closed his eyes as he heard the loud hiss, and even through his closed eyelids, he saw the bright white flash.

The sensation came quickly.

Kiari's eyes shot open. His whole body was ablaze. He tried to quickly pat out the flames, but it was no use. The Gasoline had seeped into his clothes and covered most of his exposed skin. In his panic, he couldn't take off his outfit; the plastic in his clothing melted on his skin. All he could do was roll around on the ground, the smoke and flames growing the more he struggled. His skin turned red and started to blister and boil. Eventually, all he could do was scream. His howls of pain being heard by everyone around them.

Ivy looked down at her left leg. It seared the flesh around her ankle, exposing the muscle and tendons to the air. Crackling and popping, the sound of pop rocks, as the white phosphorus still burned into her skin. She looked at the man slowly burning in front of her, her eyes vacant. Then a sensation she'd never felt—it was deep but warm...a steady pulsing. It was the first time she'd felt anything like it.

Marlin whirled around. The distant sound pierced through the forest. 'Is that Kiari? What happened to him?'

While Marlin was briefly distracted, Colson sprinted up behind him. He readied his bokken, about to swing down on him. As he attacked, Marlin ran forward, the wooden sword slicing through the air right where he was. Colson watched as he kept moving, disappearing into the treeline.

He conjured small blasts of water around his feet, propelling him forward, making him run just that much faster.

The forest was a blur as Colson sprinted after him. He followed the sound of snapping twigs and rustling bushes the best he could. The harder he pushed himself, the more pain shot up his leg.

Marlin charged through a bush, breaking from the forest treeline and ending up at the edge of Cassius' town. He stood there—briefly. His heart sank in his chest at the sight in front of him. The man was set ablaze. Fire seared through his skin, billowing around him. The sounds that came from him were inhuman.

'Why isn't she doing anything?' Marlin thought, his eyes moving upwards towards the girl who stood a few feet away, blankly staring at the man burning to death. 'She's done this!'

He lifted his hand, and water blasted from beneath Ivy, throwing her to the side. She landed in the front yard of a nearby house, falling onto a large fern the size of a car. With his other hand, he quickly did the same to Kiari, dousing him with as much cold water as possible.

Colson arrived moments later, seeing Marlin on his hands and knees, barely able to stand. He was leaning over Kiari, who'd seen better days. His skin was dry and red, with multiple burn scars covering his body.

Colson looked around; Ivy was nowhere to be seen. Anger was slowly bubbling up inside him as he gritted his teeth. He stomped over to Marlin and delivered a swift kick to his ribs. He collapsed to his side, looking up at Colson, who had the point of his bokken inches away from his face.

'I can't do anything here. I'm completely at this kid's mercy. It'll be too long of a wait to get enough energy back. I don't even have enough to activate it,' Marlin thought, staring into Colson's eyes. His light green energy confidently pulsed around his body.

"What happened to Idris and Jashin?"

There was a long pause. Marlin broke eye contact briefly, taking as long as he could before responding, taking the time to catch his breath. "I think you know what happened."

Colson looked down, muttering a curse under his breath. Before Marlin could stop him, Colson slammed the hilt of the bokken against the side of his temple. Knocking him out instantly.

Marlin's good eye fluttered open. He found he was lying face down on a patch of grass. He must've been out working, taken a break to sit in the sun to relax, and dozed off. Marlin tried wiping the drool from his cheek with his arm but couldn't move. He heard voices from a few yards away. He strained his neck to look in their direction, squinting his eye. The harder he tried to make sense of everything, the more the world spun around him. He felt as if his brain had been rattled; if he tried to open his eyes, a pounding headache would tear through his psyche.

"Oh, he's awake. Zoe, let's put the other guy next to him real quick," a male voice said.

He listened as two sets of footsteps placed something heavy in the grass next to him. He turned his head, squinting and seeing the silhouette of a person lying next to him. Two kids stood over him, a girl and a boy. As his vision slowly adjusted, the memories came flooding back.

Zoe looked down at Geier; he had been awake the whole time. He didn't say a single word as Colson and Zoe dragged him to Cassius' outskirts from the waterfall. The more she looked at him, the worse she felt. Her eyes glided to the side, looking to Kiari. His eyes were cracked open, looking up towards the sun. Most of his clothes had burned away; his flesh was charred, red, and blistered. Burn scars slowly forming.

'How did that even happen?' Zoe thought, unable to look away. 'Where is Ivy, anyway?' She glanced around, noticing Ivy sitting on a barrel, leaning against a wooden house with a cobblestone underpinning a few feet away. Colson had told her to sit in the shade and to wait. She looked exhausted, her head slowly shifting from side to side, her blinking slow. A big grin crossed her face when she saw Zoe. The sight of Zoe snapped her out of the daydream. Ivy skipped to her.

"Hey, it's Colson," Colson said, holding the walkie-talkie to his face. "Uh-huh, yeah. They're tied up right next to us," he said quickly and urgently, glancing back to Ivy. "Yeah, but listen. Bring as much healing stuff as you can carry. Something for severed limbs specifically."

Zoe smiled, looking at Ivy. "Hey, Iv-" she abruptly stopped talking; her eyes had swayed downwards and fixated on Ivy's arm, then lower to her ankle.

Zoe took a step backward, her eyes widening with shock. Her hand shot to her mouth. "Ivy…" she said, looking on.

Ivy's skin was pale. In the sunlight, she looked almost gaunt. A small trickle of blood dripped from her forearm. Zoe could see the muscle in Ivy's ankle flex and extend with every step.

"No, no, no," Zoe's eyes filled with tears.

Ivy glanced down at her arm and back at Zoe, her smile still on her face. "It doesn't hurt that much," she said, her voice rasped. "But we did it. We won!" A voice to her right caught her off-guard. It was Kiari's.

His voice was quiet, "How long has it been?"

"What'd you say?" Colson asked, annoyed.

"How long has it been since we went into the doorway?"

"About a week and a half."

"So then my Addilynn is most likely…" he trailed off, his eyes closing. "I let her die."