The Katapies Experiment; Part 11

 Leuko 

   Isabelline was terrifying. Everything about her was sinister, and she honestly had the creepiest smile I’ve ever seen. Her hazel eyes were dark and dull and looked older than the world itself. She acted carefree and happy and giggled a little too much. 

   When she left the room, I was relieved and terrified at the same time. I don’t know how that’s possible, but it was possible. I was about to doze off when suddenly came the metallic sound of someone picking a lock.  

   A girl with long black hair burst through the door and slammed her fist on the wall, which caused the chains attached to the wall to glow and fall apart. She glanced at the hallway behind her, which had become loud with footsteps, and told us to hurry.  

   We all ran as fast as we could as the girl hustled us out of there, occasionally making remarks like “Wow, some of you really are young,” and “I hope you all can run.”  

   She sped ahead of us, skidding on the turns as her shoes squeaked along the cold stone floor. The hurried footsteps behind us grew louder and louder, until it seemed that people were following right behind us. I looked back for a second and saw that people were chasing us, but not attacking or anything. 

   It was kind of creepy until Hydran took a peek back and shrieked with joy. “DUNE? Wait, you’re here? Who’s the other person behind you?” He was so happy I think he wanted to stop running, but Clode pulled him along, so he kept going. 

   One of the figures who was wearing a hood took it off and smiled. He had curly black hair and pretty blue eyes, and looked a lot like Hydran. I figured they had to be related and kept running, following the girl with black hair.  

   We reached a light at the end of the hallway, and were about to burst into the sunlight when Isabelline landed in front of us, snickering.  

   “You really thought that was going to fool me? Fool me, the single person who no one can defeat? Believe me, people have tried. And failed.” She laughed, not giggly this time, but a growing deep laugh that sent a shiver down my spine.  

   Isabelline turned her gaze to the black-haired girl, Dune, and the last hooded figure. “You three. Augur, Dune, and Extos-” 

   “I’M NOT EXTOS!” The last person took off their hood and screamed at Isabelline furiously. They had gorgeous gray short hair, cropped at their shoulders. “I’m not Extos anymore! My name is Aurora! You’re an invincible pink-haired lady with unimaginable power and you can’t get my name right?” 

  Isabelline looked at Aurora with disgust and frowned. “I’ll kill you first, I guess. I can’t deal with you insufferable children.” 

   “You better be ready to deal with us insufferable children, because we’re not going down without a fight.” The girl named Augur smiled and twiddled with a strand of her hair. “I’ve been trained to kill since I was two. My parents are mind Mages as well. I know everything I can do with my abilities.” 

   Dune grinned and looked to the other girl, who was cracking her knuckles and reaching into a pocket. “You know the plan, right?” He kept one eye on Isabelline, who was looking at him with fury, masked with confusion. 

   “Of course. I’ve got the clock.” 

   “Alright. Let’s go.” 

   What happened next was too quick to process, but I managed to pick up some things. Dune created a dirt tower below Isabelline as Augur jumped up and grabbed on to one of her wings. Isabelline shrieked and started blasting everything with fire from her other hand, which burned off a chunk of Augur’s hair and incinerated Deccie, who screamed in horror.  

   The three grimaced and kept going. Augur muttered something that made Isabelline stop fighting and sink to the ground, and Aurora grabbed her arm and whispered an incantation while clutching a small pocket watch.  

   Isabelline slowed, not falling at all anymore, levitating in the air somehow. Everyone collectively let out a breath and was starting to walk past her into the forest when she started to get up again.  

   “Nice try. I’ve been hit with that trick five times already. Haven’t gotten a time Mage before, though. It would be nice to have one sometime. Come on, why don’t you stay for a while? I won’t call you Extos anymore.” 

   Aurora frowned and looked up at Isabelline, who was flying above us again. Deccie was shivering on the ground, clutching her face with both hands and backing away. Avia and Fuchsia, who were previously too shocked to do anything, started helping her up and trying to stop the swelling from her face. 

   “Hmm. Well, Isabelline, that certainly is a tempting offer, but since you ruthlessly burned a poor Summoner, I don’t think it’ll work out that way.” 

   “Fine, have it your way. Let’s play a game, then. How about it? If you get murdered- er, I mean, lose, I keep everyone’s soul, and if you win, you can leave freely with all of your friends. Are you okay with that?” Isabelline smiled modestly as Aurora cautiously pondered her decision. 

   “Alright. What’s the game?” 

   “Just answer a question I give you.” 

   Aurora looked at Isabelline skeptically for a moment before nodding and smiling. 

   “What color is my hair?” 

   “Well, I mean, obviously pink-” Suddenly, Isabelline jumped behind Aurora and brought out a knife, ready to stab her in the back, literally. Aurora shrieked as the knife got closer and closer, and time seemed to slow for that moment. 

   Wait. It actually slowed. Aurora smiled at Isabelline and walked slightly out of the way, then unfroze time. Isabelline fell forward, still clutching the knife, and stood back up, glowering at Aurora. 

   “You think that you’re so clever, stopping time just for that? Isn’t it exhausting for someone your age? Shouldn’t you be bowing down to me by now?”  

   “I don’t give up that easily. I’m not a coward, Isabelline.” 

   “Are you really going to fight alone for all of this? Where are your friends? Why aren’t they helping you?” 

   “Because they’re gone.” 

   Isabelline looked around at the empty clearing and forest (where we were all hiding) and screeched to the sky, chasing Extos with the knife and pulling out a hand to blast fire. “EXTOS GALE, I AM GOING TO SEND YOU TO THE DEPTHS OF HELL.” 

   “Not if I run fast enough. Also, it’s Aurora.” Aurora grinned and started bolting toward the forest, yelling at all of us to start moving. 

   I didn’t really catch up on what happened next. I just ran. Tempest turned into a sparrow with a bright red tail, so I followed that. I’m pretty sure we lost Isabelline, or she just gave up and headed back home.  

   As night fell over us, we started to set up camp in a random place in the forest. We were all disoriented and confused, and Deccie seemed to be getting even worse. Her face was swelling and really blistered, especially near her right cheek. She didn’t want anyone to touch it because of how bad it hurt and had to eventually lie down. 

   I tried Summoning a spirit to try and tell us where we were, and if there was anyone who could help. The only person who I could Summon was a kid who didn’t even know where they were or how they got there. I wonder how they died. 

   Soros tried Summoning bandages or medicine or something that could help but couldn’t find anything near enough to bring. The Shifters and Messengers panicked and tried to do something, but none of them had ever seen a burn before. The Mages were catching up with one another and, honestly, I was convinced Deccie wouldn’t make it by then. 

   Eventually, in the dead of night, everyone started dozing off. Before Augur fell asleep, she assigned me and Aurora to keep watch, since, in her eyes, we were the ones that looked the least tired.  

   “So. How did you manage to get us out of there?” To keep myself awake, I tried to strike up a conversation. 

   Aurora yawned and shrugged. “Do you want my whole life story or just tidbits?” 

   “I just wanted to know how you managed to get to Disarus. I heard only Augur and Dune were arrested.” 

   “Oh, that. Alright. So, after they left in that fancy carriage, I heard Nova and Elan talking about all the kids they were going to have to take care of and how they were so excited about it. Now, one of those toddlers in the audience was my sister, Rev, and she’s not exactly a joy to take care of. I asked Nova and Elan if they were okay with me going off to follow Augur and Dune, and they said I could. So, here I am.” 

   “Two questions. One, who are Nova and Elan? Two, why did you want to follow Augur and Dune and leave your baby sister behind?” 

   “Nova and Elan are two brilliant fourteen-year-olds; basically the stars of the show back at Divinios. I think Elan’s smarter than me. Lychnus is Nova’s brother. Ever since Lychnus stopped talking, which was a while ago, she became way too overprotected and let her grades and mind kind of... slip. She’s had that parental instinct in her ever since she was a baby. I figured they would do fine with the toddlers; they know where everything is and how to take care of babies. They’ll be perfectly fine.” 

   “Now, Augur and me go way back. Our parents have been friends forever, we’ve been friends forever, and she’s just a- a gorgeous person.” Even though we were facing different directions, I could hear Aurora’s flustered smile. “Dune’s nice too. Honestly, I can’t really answer your question that well. I just came on a whim. Like, sort of a well-planned whim, which took a lot of planning in my head. I wouldn’t have left Rev alone if Elan and Nova weren’t there.” 

   “Wow. Nice. I just wanted to ask one more thing. Why did Isabelline keep calling you Extos?” 

   Aurora was quiet for a couple moments, then took a deep breath. “I wasn’t born a girl. I didn’t want to be a boy at all. It just felt so unnatural. Extos was my name when I was a boy, and I hate it. Aurora fits me better. It took a lot of convincing and bargaining, but my parents finally let it go. They’re way more lenient than anyone else in Divinios, I swear. If someone like Novis did the same thing, I bet he would be kicked out before he even got to say a word.” Aurora sighed. 

   I wanted to change the subject, so I brought up the only thing that I thought Aurora would know about. “Do you think Isabelline’s still trying to find us?” 

   Aurora laughed. “Of course, you dummy. Why wouldn’t she? I spent the last couple weeks as her servant; she’s definitely furious right now. I’ll bet she’s going to come after us in the morning, probably with those Messenger guards of hers too. She always said she hated night. We should probably find somewhere safe to go after this. Our best bet is a kingdom or city; Necron is the safest, let’s try to get there.” 

   “I don’t know where we are, though. Unless somewhere lets us know where we are, we’re going to starve and die here, unless Isabelline gets here first.” 

   “Aw. I’ll try to figure out where we are in the morning. Then can we go to Necron? I heard it’s the best.” 

   “Do you just want to go to Necron for the scenery?” 

   “Of course. Well, that and the city walls. I heard they’re invincible. Wait, you lived in Necron, right? How’s it like?” 

   “Very... nice. It’s fancy and pretty and there’s a lot of cool buildings. The stadium is famous for how intricate it is.” I shuffled where I was sitting and pushed back the memories of Extos and Finis. 

   “Cool.” Aurora yawned. “I’m going to try and find some food, I’m starving. Do you think you could keep watch for a couple minutes? I just need to find, like, berries or something.” 

   “Alright. Bring some back for everyone so they can eat in the morning.” 

   “Sure. Goodnight.” 

   “Goodnight.” I looked up at the stars after Aurora left and frowned, then looked back at the ground, thinking of things I could do to ease my boredom. I settled on Summoning bird and animal spirits and Summoned a tiny squirrel spirit that sat on my arm and squeaked.  

   Suddenly, I heard a rustling behind me. I quickly waved away the squirrel and got up, stepping carefully toward the bushes. I moved a hand toward the hedge and pushed it away gently, revealing a dark figure that shrank back in anticipation. 

   The figure slowly stood up and took out a small knife that looked like it had been hand-carved. A familiar knife. I grabbed the person’s wrist and examined the knife more closely. There were initials engraved on the handle.  

   FC.  

   Finis Cruor. My brother. I frowned and looked at the figure, who was only a little taller than me. In other words, they were definitely not Finis. Besides, Finis was dead.  

   The figure had a hood on so I couldn’t see their face. I wrenched the knife out of their hand and held it up so the initials were illuminated perfectly in the dim moonlight. “Who are you? This is my brother’s knife. He’s dead. Did you break into our house? Did you steal this?” 

   “Wait, I can explain-” 

   “My brother is dead. No explanations needed. What prompted you to come and steal this? He carved this himself. He was so proud of it.” My voice started to tremble just a bit, so I stopped talking and swallowed the lump in my throat. 

   “Master Leuko, it’s me. Auris. Your servant back at Necron.” The figure pulled off their hood and revealed fluffy brown curls, just like I recognized. 

   “Wait, Auris? How did you- is Necron near here? Can you help us? Could you, uh... just come look at Deccie.” 

   Auris followed me silently, gasping slightly when he saw Deccie. “We need to get a medic. What on earth happened to her?” 

   “I’ll explain in the morning. You look awake, do you mind taking my night shift now? I haven’t slept for days.” 

   “Oh, okay. Necron’s only an hour away from here on foot. As soon as dawn breaks I’ll lead you all to safety. I think Deccie should be okay for another couple hours. Goodnight.” 

   “Goodnight.” I sat down on the grass and fell asleep instantly after the never-ending day, drifting off into more Exan-filled dreams.  

~~~

Author's note -- Okay, I know that this story is pretty long compared to what I usually write, so I hope that's okay. Hope you liked the story!