CAUGHT IN CROSSFIRE

Hoover and Ellie were lucky enough to not get crushed under the rubble and were now running for their lives. They were separated from their friend Aurelius in the whole destruction. Both were running for their lives as they saw many wounded people and dead bodies. All they could do for now was to run. There was no place to hide in all the commotion. Ellie saw many missiles falling on the place where they separated from Aurelius and was in shock but, she did not stop running. Hoover on the other hand, who was running alongside Ellie was in the front. 

"Ellie! Do not grieve! we do not have time for mourning." 

"I know! Shit!!! Why is this happening? 

While running Hoover looked up to the sky and saw almost hundreds of missiles again. When he looked back at the ground, he saw dozens of people coming from their opposite direction but, before he could do anything, Ellie took his hand and dragged him away to hide in a very narrow street. If they haven't done that, they might have been dead getting crushed by the ferocious crowd that was running for its life. 

It was at this moment that their luck ran out. Ellie saw almost four missiles coming in their direction. Two missiles went straight into the crowd, tore limbs flew into the sky and intestines and other body organs spread on the street. The destruction did not stop at that as the shockwaves went into the narrow street destroying everything in its way. Hoover and Ellie who had already run pretty far into street could not dodge this bullet and was hit by the shockwaves. 

Their bodies jumped into the air few feet above the ground and blood came out from the mouth of Hoover who tried to shield Ellie from the shock waves but, it was of no use as they both fell hard on the ground and the pieces of rubble which travelled all the way here due to shockwaves fell on them. 

"Shit!!! Shit!!!! I am losing consciousness!" Hoover cried. 

"Wait! W-We might be able to, dammit!!" Ellie who was trying to find a way out also gave up. 

Hoover and Ellie, both were lying near each. Their sense of vision stopped working as both of their eyes were getting burnt by the heat of fire. 

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After her eyes were closed Ellie felt strange because even though she should have lost her consciousness she was still conscious, Hoover also was in the same situation. 

Ellie opened her eyes and saw a two meters tall lady standing in front of her. The lady was wearing a mermaid dress of black and white color. The lady had black eyes with white hairs that dropped down to her knees. She was looking at Ellie with a bright smile on her face. Ellie was not sure what was going on as she tried to smile awkwardly. 

Ellie was sitting on a puddle of water that was reflecting the dark sky above her. The only light source in that space was the glittering hair and illuminating dress of the lady in front of her, so all that light made it difficult for Ellie to look at the lady. 

She was feeling a lot sad thinking about her parents. She was not sure of what was about to happen. When she was in the stream of her thoughts, she saw the lady in front of her slowly opening her red lips to say something. 

"Hello! It's nice to meet you Ellie Smith, I am Chloeir!! The controller of paths and one of the apostles of world." The lady said that with a bright smile on her face. 

"W-what is going on? Controller of paths, what do you mean by that?" Ellie asked a question in her nervousness. 

"Oh, poor soul!!! You must have been terrified by the whole incident that happened. It's not your fault." She tried to comfort her and continued saying, 

"Due to some unlucky events of future, the past of the world was affected and lives of millions were lost in mere 10 minutes even though, we tried our best to prevent it from happening!" She then explained what happened and what was about to happen to Ellie. 

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Hoover slowly opened his eyes and saw a tall lady standing in front of her. He couldn't guess her exact height and was frightened by her massive size. The lady in front of him had long red hairs with light shade of black in it. She was wearing a dark red colored frock like dress. He didn't know exactly what was that dress called so he gave up pretty quickly on thinking about that. 

He looked at her with ridiculously wide eyes as if he saw some weird thing. Feeling strange about the way Hoover was looking at her the lady opened her mouth to say something. 

"Hell-" 

"Who are you?" Before she could say anything, Hoover inquired about her identity. 

"You dare to interrupt me? Well, it is fine, not that I care. Do you want to know about the incident that just occurred or not? I hope you don't want to know about the incident." As she said that sparks of different colors appeared all around her body and her non caring expression changed to a terrified one. 

"I know...I know that!!! Gosh, you think I would neglect my duty? You really think I am like that!!" She said that while rubbing her temples. 

"Well, since we don't have time of all the world, I will be telling you about everything so open your ears well!!!" 

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"So that's what happened!!" Do you get it? 

"Kind of. But I have a lot of questions." Hoover put his thumb and index finger to his chin and was prepared to ask some question. 

"You don't have the time to ask me anything. All your questions will be answered when you will again open your eyes." Eyes of Chloeir were shutting slowly as she was trying her hardest to open them. 

"I am sorry but, I still have a lot of questions, and I want all of them to be answered." Hoover shouted. 

"Ooh! I just told you, you can't!!" Chloeir looked up at the sky. Sky was getting brighter and brighter and soon Hoover closed his eyes before he even knew it. 

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 After Closing her eyes because of the brightness Ellie again opened them when she sensed that light around her now was not that much intense. She found herself wrapped in bandages and was in a big ward. From the appearance it looked like a big hall that was used for treating the injured. The hall was filled with screams of wounded people. She tried to say something when all she could say for now were little murmurs. She was rotating her head in all directions trying to look for someone, she might know. 

She suddenly got up from the bed gasping for her breath as she saw a familiar face sitting on a bed. She was about to say something when the guy lying between her and the boy who was sitting on his bed shouted. 

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Hoover was confused about the whole situation as he closed his eyes due to intense light. It was as if sun was getting closer to them. He rolled his eyeballs under his closed eyelids many times. When he thought that now it was alright to open his eyes again, he opened them. 

"Ah!!!! Fuck!! This is really bright!" He shouted as he was wrong about the light getting less bright. He closed his eyes for good and did not open them even when heard many voices and agonizing screams. 

The light almost blinded his eyes just now and he was not about to risk it all. 

As he heard someone saying the name Seth Locke, he gradually started to open his eyes still worried about the light. He suddenly saw the face of the man sitting on the bed. 

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"Auri!!!!" I saw the face of the boy and immediately recognized the blue eyes of him. 

"Hoover!!!!" This time it was the girl who was sweating buckets. I recognized her black hairs with light purple shade. 

"Ellie!!!!" Hoover lying on the bed shouted. 

I was really confused about all of this. I thought only I was sent into the future, man, who would've thought that my friends would also come with me. 

"Did you guys die too?" Hoover asked with sweat on his face. 

"Oh! No, no you guys are not dead I was able to save you." The doctor standing beside me said that while shaking her head. 

I guess she is right. For her we are not dead but, she just called me Seth Locke. It means that I am going to live the life of someone else with my appearance. 

"Yeah! She is right! How can you be this stupid? Don't you see us living and saying things." Ellie signaled Hoover to not say anything with her eyes which was the only visible part of her face right now. It was for the best. 

Hoover understood that and closed his mouth. 

"Miss, you don't need to worry! Your face will be healed soon. We applied ointment of dragon tears on your face so it will not have any burning scars." The lady doctor reassured Ellie that beauty of her face will not be spoiled. 

Wait a minute! Did she just say that dragon's tears? There are dragons in the future. Was that tall lady sure that she sent me to the future not into another world of magic? 

I had many questions, but I decided to keep my mouth shut, and soon I sensed gazes of Hoover and Ellie filled with confusion, set on me.