Chapter 12: Uncertainty

"Huff… huff… huff…"

Riley's face reddened more and more as she got closer to the battle- she could tell because the clashes had evolved from small metallic noises in the distance to large booms that exploded in her eardrums.

She knew it was risky. She knew that she was plunging headfirst into a battle in which she could easily be killed. Byut she also knew that she had to talk to Alex-

A bright flash of yellow flew her way. Her eyes widened, quickly throwing herself on the floor as the spell made heavy contact with the wall. Chunks of white plaster branched off from the wall and landed on the patterned carpet.

With a shaky demeanor, Riley stood up. It felt like her heart had decided to occupy her ears. That had been close…

"Riley?!"

She looked to the left to see Nick, who had been maneuvering through spells, stop and face her from a distance. "What are you doing?! GET OUT OF HERE!"

"Like I'll be of much use over in the lobby!" Riley retorted.

Nick opened his mouth to reply, but she never found out what he was going to say. He yelped and fell to the ground as the talons of an ice wyvern scraped his back.

"Nick!" Alyssa yelled. She rushed to his side, aiming another Storm spell in the process. She shook his body a few times, but no dice. All she got out of it were a few moans and some more blood seeping out of his back.

Riley gulped. Oh no… now because she had talked to Nick, therefore distracting him, he was wounded.

The diviner etched a Life symbol in the air- in turn a small green fairy popped out. An aura of green light rose out of his wound, and quickly enough both the aura and the fairy dissipated.

She stared at Alyssa, lowering herself to one knee as a spell came her way. "I thought the Life school was extinct?"

"Everyone's taught the Pixie spell," Alyssa admitted. "But it's nowhere near enough to bring back the Life School." Then she shook her head rapidly, as if remembering she was in battle. "Anyways- even though the blood's been stopped and everything, it's gonna be a while before he wakes up. You're gonna have to take over Nick's job and retrieve Vald- the traitor's target, do you understand?" The last three words slipped out of her mouth at a rapid pace.

Riley nodded. "Got it." She lifted herself up and began to run as fast as she could.

She wove a bunch of rapidly coming spells, keeping her eyes trained on the aisle ahead. Once she was out of the crossfire, she could see that she had to come to a long strip of a hall, with rows of fat metal doors on either wall, the red paint barely surviving amongst the sea of metal.

She eyed all the vaults as she ran. Let's see… which one would they want…

Suddenly she felt an incredible amount of pressure amount on her back like a pile of bricks. What if she should have stayed put at the lobby? What if they had gotten it already? What if she couldn't tell which vault the object was in and it was her fault if they failed the mission? Even if she did find it, what if she couldn't properly break into the vault? What if the item was so dangerous that she wouldn't be able to handle it?

A million other possibilities surged through her head, and eventually she mentally bit them off. No. She couldn't afford to distract herself- she had to stay focused, she had to stay focused, she had to stay focused-

But soon enough she skidded to a halt as she saw one of the vaults opened.

Yup, this was the one.

How could she tell?

Because Alex was right there.

A boy, who appeared fifteen, came to a halt once he was a good distance away from the bank.

A smile curled his lips, the wind nudging the strands of his long, raven-colored hair. Abnormal eyes scanned his surroundings- the police cars blazing red and blue, a crowd gathering around the building, and lush green grass and oak trees to needlessly brighten the place up.

He wondered how Valdus, Sestiva and their new recruit were doing…

He inserted his hands in the pockets of a pair of faded jeans and began almost mindlessly walking toward the bank. The police didn't notice him until he was almost at the door.

"Excuse me, you can't-"

The policeman never got to finish. Tarlac Shadowsong's eyes flashed, then the policeman dropped down dead.

"Pitiful humans," he muttered before throwing open the door.