¤ Victorious Escape into the Sunset

‘I don’t think we can stay here any longer!’ Jaysen yelled again.

‘Do you have a plan?’ Ida asked, wincing as another bolt of red lightning struck another part of their barricade.

Jaysen thought quickly. ‘Ida, Silver, you ladies cover me. I’ll get out there, get the pendant, then we’ll escape victorious into the sunset.’

‘Some plan.’ Silver muttered, staring apprehensively at the snarling faces of the five Lucidas. ‘You might as well stand up now and just get shot.’

‘Has my luminous gem of wisdom a better idea?’ Jaysen said hopefully.

Silver sighed. ‘Other than running now? No.’

‘Wait for my cue then.’ Jaysen crouched low at the side of the barricade, watching the black cats at the other side. They seemed a little less energetic in attacking the barricade now, as if tiring from their earlier efforts. In fact, one looked as if it had lost interest, and was starting to wander away. A glitter of gold flashed from the thick fur at its neck ruff. Darn. That’s the cat we need.

No better time than now, I guess. Catching the girls’ attention, Jaysen counted silently to three, then yelled, ‘Now!’

A pillar of blinding pink light bloomed around Ida as she cast a Blessing on the entire party. Silver stood up, and released an Arrow Bomb, which exploded spectacularly once it hit the ground at the Lucidas’ feet. A couple of the huge cats reeled, growling in confusion, batting at the thick smoke with their huge paws. The remaining stood there, stunned by the impact, allowing Ida to attack them with rapid blue slashes of her Magic Claw.

As Silver released another Arrow Bomb for good measure, Jaysen took the chance to dive after the cat that was wandering off. He snatched at the garnet necklace, tearing it away from the tangled fur at its neck. Yes! He grinned as he rolled to a stop on the ground, relieved to feel the hard gem of the necklace’s pendant in his hands.

However, he was forced to cut short his victory dance. Feeling something amiss, the Lucida mewed in rage, turning around and rearing up to swipe at Jaysen with its wickedly curved claws. Springing upright, he raised his Panlid shield quickly in defence, deflecting the blow. Swiftly, he slashed horizontally at the creature’s underbelly, following up with five more quick stabs.

Howling in rage, the Lucida unleashed a torrent of cackling red energy, straight at Jaysen.

With a shock, he felt the blessed shield that Ida had casted around him shattered under the barrage of energy. The snarling Lucida charged up to him again, then struck him with another energy charge. This time, he had little protection against the attack. Yelling in shock, Jaysen stumbled backwards, his whole body feeling like it was on fire. Good Heavens, that salesman really did con me on this armour.

‘Jaysen!’ Silver screamed as she saw him go down. With shaking hands, she let loose one last Arrow Bomb, which made the remaining Lucidas scatter in fright and confusion. Dashing out from behind the barricade, she let fly double shot after double shot, driving the Lucida away from the fallen Jaysen. Under Silver’s cover, Ida teleported over to Jaysen in a flash of bright blue.

In the fog of pain, Jaysen felt Ida’s cool fingers grasp him by the hand, and then a wave of icy relief washed over his scorched skin. In the next moment, he felt his ears pop, and then a familiar feeling of disorientation, as Ida teleported with him back to the cover of the barricade.

‘Silver! Get back here!’ He heard Ida shout. There was a roar of pain from the Lucida, then thudding footsteps. The last thing Jaysen saw before he blacked out was Silver’s pale worried face hovering over him, with her voice, hoarse from yelling, telling him to hang in there and not to die on her, or else, heavens help her, she would kill him herself…

¤ Karma

‘He just fainted, didn’t he?’ Silver asked, her voice tight with anxiety. ‘Will he be okay?’

‘I… don’t… know.’ Ida replied, exhausted. Healing Jaysen’s wounds had taken quite a lot of energy, and she felt spent. She took off her White Guiltian, leaning back against the wall of rubble, breathing hard.

‘I’ll bring him back to town.’ Silver said grimly. ‘Meet us at the Potions shop.’ Rummaging through her backpack, she took out two Nearest Town scrolls, passing one to Ida. Reading off the incantation on her scroll, she vanished together with the unconscious Jaysen.

Ida picked up the scroll, and opened it to reveal the incantation. However, she heard a whimper of pain. Peering cautiously over the barricade of rubble, she saw that it came the fallen Lucida. The huge cat was lying on the floor, bleeding profusely from the wound at its back legs, where Silver’s final arrows had torn through its muscles, crippling it.

Looking at the pitiful mount of quivering fur, Ida felt her heart wrench. I might as well accumulate some good karma, she thought wryly. Heavens know, I’ll need every last good deed I can do. She emerged slowly from behind the barricade, carefully keeping out of the cat’s attack range. Focusing the last of her energies, she cast a final healing spell. Sparks of green light ran along the creature’s wound, knitting them shut.

Slowly, sensing that this strange human with the green lights did not mean them harm, the other Lucidas crept forward from where they had been licking at their wounds, forming a loose circle around Ida. One limped out tentatively, its red webbed ears flicking in curiousity. Trying to stop her knees from shaking, Ida held out a hand glowing with green lights towards the Lucida…

It was an unusual sight in the Gardens of Darkness. A girl sat in the middle of a ring of black Lucidas, purple Moonlight robes spread demurely over her curled-up legs. Four of them lazed around the girl, licking the dried blood away from their fur where wounds once were, while one was sprawled over her lap.

The Lucida on Ida’s lap purred contentedly, vibrating like the engine of the Ossyria ship. It butted Ida gently, demanded a scratch which the girl gave. Feeling the surprisingly soft fur behind its webbed ears under her fingers, Ida spoke sadly to the cat, ‘They say you are evil, you know.’

The cat mewed, and pushed against the scratching fingers.

‘And you never even did anything to harm them on purpose. You were just… being you.’ Ida stopped scratching, and stared out into the ruins of the Garden. Tears welled at the back of her eyes. ‘So what does that make me?’

The giant creature only shifted slightly to stare up impassively at the girl. For a moment, Ida thought she saw sympathy in those red eyes. But that moment soon passed as the Lucida kneaded at her with its paw, ordering her to continue scratching, now.

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Wonderful day~! Indescane submitted a new chapter, AzeRiceFan submitted new chapters and all the nice new stuff to read.
And yeah, school sucks. Right after this, I’m dashing off for extra lessons on Chemistry. (I hate Chemistry, but I need all the help I can get. Such is life. *sighs* )

On Maplestory matters, Gastropoda joined a new guild! This one has all the promises of being nice and active, so I’m praying hard they don’t kick me out too soon. I do miss having purple words on the screen.

And, cookies, of course. *holds out jar*