I do not own Lorien Legacies or any of the characters.
Rescue
The door opens after roughly ten minutes. Light spills through, and five silhouettes run in, stopping just inside as the door closes again.
"Where's Six?" A blessedly familiar voice asks.
Marina! I think. Thank God she's alright, and obviously with Eight, if she's here. No offense to Hawkeye or Rookie, but they would never have made it all the way inhere alive. Even with other Lorics helping them.
Relief and joy spread through me with the knowledge that Marina is alright, and I just know that Six would be grinning knowingly at me, if we weren't made of stone. Or about to watch our friends fight Setrákus, who was disguised as Six.
Up here! Me and Six are up here! Get us down! Don't trust the other one! I plead silently for the others to notice us. After a moment, Ella does.
"You guys, there's something up on the ceiling!" Ella gasps. "I can hear something, but I can't tell what. It's like something's trying to speak to me."
A bright light shines up at me and Six from one of the other silhouettes. Did he bring a flashlight? The light hits Six first and I catch something about a statue. Then, it swings over to me. I hear several gasps. The way I'm hanging, my face is directly toward them. My eyes undoubtedly reflect the light.
Help me! I shout in my head. It's James! Get me down from here! Setrákus is disguised as Six! Save us!
After a moment of them staring at me, Marina says, "I looks like James."
"I think...I think that is James," Ella says. "I think...I think he's trying to shout at us, except, he can't talk, obviously."
"Can you make out his words?" A male voice asks.
"No," Ella says.
One of the figures starts to run up the wall, then across the ceiling toward us. Just as he draws near, Six's voice shouts for him to stop.
"Six!" Marina shouts, relieved. "Oh my God, it's you! You're alright!"
It's Setrákus Ra! I shout in my head. This time, I see Ella's head snap up toward me.
"It's over, Setrákus Ra is dead," Setrákus states. "the formation on the ceiling is a Mogadorian poison. Don't touch it."
That's not Six! That's Setrákus Ra!
Eight suddenly teleports to Setrákus, throwing his arms around him.
It's Setrákus! I shout in my head, suddenly feeling like my thoughts were louder than normal.
Ella spins toward Eight and Setrákus.
"Get away from her!" she shrieks.
Eight might have good reaction time, but the warning was too late. Setrákus drives a jagged blue sword into Eight less than a second before he disappears, taking the blade with him. Shock rockets through me as I watch him reappear beside Marina, collapsing, blood pooling below him. He's been stabbed through the heart. Marina stares at him, unbelieving, unable to comprehend what's happened. Setrákus begins to transform back into himself then raises a fist, blue electricity shooting out of his hand. A moment later, a fireball in the hand of one of the males I don't know vanishes and the one that had been running toward us falls.
"Johnny!" the falling guy shouts.
The one whose fireball was extinguished catches him and sets him on the ground. Then, they all move to stand over Eight, one of them reaching for the sword while the one who fell extends a glowing red staff.
Leave the sword in! I shout.
Ella relays the message, stopping the boy from pulling out the object obstructing Eight's bleeding. Not that it matters. The jagged room is allowing plenty of blood out anyway, and a moment later, the sword sails through the air back to Setrákus anyway. The one with the staff sprints at Setrákus as dozens of Mogadorians enter from the sides, armed with swords and blasters this time, rather than mostly swords.
As the one with the staff charges, the one with the fireball, Johnny, hands Marina a blaster and picks up Eight. Then, the two sprint for the door. Just as they arrive, a dozen or so Mogadorians charge at them. Marina begins to blast them while Johnny sets Eight down just outside the door and grabs a fallen sword, charging into the ranks of the Mogadorians. Together, he and Marina slaughter them easily enough. I look back to the one with the staff, who's battling Setrákus. Just as I do, Setrákus pulls out his whip, and hits the boy on the arm, the wound instantly turning black. A scream rings out and I look to the door, seeing a monster of some kind fighting Mogadorians, but its struggling. Then, a blast flies out of the darkness and hits Johnny in the chest, dropping him.
Marina, who's one again trying to heal Eight, shouts in surprise and dismay. Setrákus whips the Loric he's been fighting again, hitting his other hand and the side of his face. the Mogadorians that the monster is fighting manage to severely wound him and get ropes around his horns then drag him out of the corner he's been in. Johnny begins to fire at Setrákus Ra, trying to distract him so he doesn't kill the Loric who now has two stone arms and a half-stone face, but each blast stops then flies away from Setrákus. Suddenly, a new stream of cannon fire begins from the doorway and a human girl that looks like she's been tortured and imprisoned for weeks, steps through, firing at the Mogadorians. Ella is just behind her.
Suddenly, there's a cry of pain as the Loric fighting Setrákus is hit square in the chest by the whip. Setrákus pulls his arm back again but before he can finish off his target, Ella hurls something that looks like a glowing red blur. It streaks through the air and hits Setrákus in the arm. Setrákus freezes then roars in rage. A moment later, Johnny's hands are glowing again. Marina shouts in surprise and darts to Eight's side, beginning to heal him. As she does, Setrákus rips the object Ella threw at him out of his arm and snaps the whip at Ella and the human girl. Both are hit and drop. Marina finishes healing Eight and I sigh in relief. Then, she kisses him. My body somehow manages to go even more numb than it already was. I shouldn't be surprised. It's not like they hadn't kissed before. But still. I sense sympathy from Six, whose stone cocoon is swaying slightly, as though she's trying to break free. I look to the Loric who's fighting Setrákus and see that he's broken himself free of his own stone and is fighting Setrákus in a blur.
I try to move, but my body fails to respond. Whether from the stone or from the empty feeling in the pit of my stomach after seeing Marina and Eight kiss, I'm not sure. My eyes drift back to Marina, who's just finishing healing Johnny. Johnny sprints toward Ella and the human, slaughtering Mogadorians as he went, launching fireball after fireball. Then, just as he nears them, one Mogadorian who has a decent idea as far as strategy, turns and fires at Ella and the human. Rage boils inside me, but the Mogadorian is instantly killed by John. Then, he drops next to the two girls, grabbing their hands, and stays there, as though praying for them to wake up. Marina stands back for a moment before sprinting over and shouting something to Johnny, though I can't hear her over the battle. I try and focus on the girls and could swear I see the burns on their faces receding.
I hear a crack off to the side and look over just as Six breaks free, falling toward the ground. She slows as she approaches it then lies there a moment before an explosion rocks the room. My cocoon sways and I squeeze my eyes shut, waiting to plummet to my death. But I don't fall. I open my eyes to see Six running toward Johnny and the others. As she arrives, Ella and the human stand and Eight appears beside Eight. An alarm is screaming in my ear, probably because I've had the great luck to get stuck to the ceiling next to the speaker. The sounds of battle seem to have vanished, because everyone's looking around. I can see the Loric that was fighting Setrákus Ra lying on the ground. He doesn't look wounded, but it's hard to see through the ash and from this height. As the others reach him, my cocoon starts to crack.
Oh dear God, I think as the cracks spread.
Then, the rock shatters and I'm falling. Pain flares in my wounds before my entire body goes numb and cold. I'm falling. Blood is trailing me, a lot of it. I want to shout for the others but I can barely form a coherent thought. I can hear the ground rushing up to meet me. I hear someone shouting something but my vision is blurred and all sound sounds like I'm underwater. Suddenly, the cold filling my body intensifies and pain explodes through my body again. It's nowhere near what it was when I was first stabbed, but that's probably because I'm halfway comatose from blood loss.
The pain recedes after a moment and my vision begins to slowly return. I'm able to make out a face above me but can't tell who it is. I can hear something but I can't understand their words. My vision begins to darken. Looks like my curse won't be reaching Marina after all. Because it's about to end with me.
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