Finding Stardust

"If you fight back, then this child will die ...!" he exclaimed, scraping Therius' neck with his knife.

Emma's heart skipped a beat when she heard the man's threat. She cursed herself for being a mere level-3 telemancer. She could not control the minds of her attackers to yield because two of them were level-2 mages. She wasn't strong enough to control them.

If she were as powerful as Therius in the future, a threat like this was nothing to her. Therius would be able to easily face them without having to engage in any physical altercations.

Emma bit her lip until it bled. She was forced to yield. She had no choice.

No matter what ... she must not let them hurt Therius. She had to buy time.

'Help me. Xion .. where are you? Can you hear me? Help us ...'

Emma tried to call Xion with telemancy. She hoped Xion would not be too far away and could hear her distress call. If Xion was here, those thugs had no chance at all.

She slowly lowered her hands and nodded. "Very well ... I won't fight. But let the boy go! If you don't let him go, I have no guarantee that you won't kill him."

Emma knew that the thugs had no intention of letting Therius go because they had a grudge against his father. Whether she fought or not, they would kill Therius anyway.

Therefore, she had to make sure her sacrifice wasn't in vain. No matter what, Therius must not die. Even if they didn't let Therius go, she would buy time and find a way to release the boy, hoping someone would hear her and come to her aid.

"Heh ... you have no right to tell us what to do here, huh," said the thug who held Therius. "If you don't want to see this boy die now, don't fight back!"

'Prince Licht ... I'll release you. It will hurt a little, but I hope you can hold it. After you are free, you must run as fast as you can out of this warehouse.' Emma now remembered to call Therius by his real name. She didn't want to make the child confused by calling him Therius again.

Emma planned to burn the ropes that bound Little Therius and free him when the enemies lowered their guard down. That's why she had to let the boy know that he had to get ready to escape. The fire might hurt him a little.

Therius raised his head and stared at Emma with a look of astonishment. He didn't know how Emma would be able to free him. The girl was surrounded by three violent men who were ready to beat her up and they also held him as a hostage to force her not to fight back.

'I understand...' The boy answered doubtfully. He was touched because this girl, a stranger to him, was trying so hard to save him.

Slowly his heart, which was filled with sadness and despair, began to fill with warmth.

The second man raised his hand and punched Emma's injured shoulder with his balled fist. Emma reflexively raised her arms to block the attack. The man stepped back with his body felt pain. Emma's arms were powered with electromancy and gave him a painful shock.

"DON'T FIGHT BACK!" snapped the man who was holding Therius as he thrust the knife into Therius's neck. The blood dripping from the wound on the boy's neck made Emma almost unable to breathe.

She lowered her arms again. "Fine... I won't fight back."

'Xion .. help me. Where are you?' She had to keep trying to ask for help. She hoped Xion was not far and could hear her.

BAM! SLAP! PUNCH!

Now that Emma had completely yielded, the third man hit her chest, then followed by the fourth who attacked with a kick. They were furious because was Emma had humiliated them earlier when she still got the upper hand. Now, they wanted to beat her up for the shame they suffered after being defeated by a young woman.

"Aaahh ..." Emma dropped to the floor after the kick. She clutched her stomach and growled in pain.

"Big sister...!!! Don't mind me ...! Please go ... GO FROM HERE!!" screamed Therius many times in a hoarse voice.

Therius tried to resist and distract his captor's attention. He felt that it would be better for him to provoke the man's anger to kill him right there and then. If he died, then they wouldn't have any more hostage. Emma would be free and can easily beat them up.

"Shut up, you bastard! You want to die, don't you?" the man snapped. Therius paid no heed to the knife that grazed his neck, he suddenly dropped his body to the floor, with the chair he was bound to, to distract his captor.

His body and the chair slammed to the floor hard with a loud bang. Therius didn't feel any pain from the fall. All his mind was focused on that girl who was injured to save him. He dragged himself toward Emma, who curled up in pain on the floor.

'Big sister ... go .. hurry.. fast!' he tried to persuade the girl to flee. 'Thank you for your help. I owe you a debt of gratitude ... I ... I will not forget you .. Thank you for caring about me...'

Therius's topaz eyes were filled with tears. He finally let out his long-kept grief as he said goodbye to Emma. The boy was ready to die, so this girl could go.

"You bastard! You think you can run away from me?!!"

Therius's captor moved to get the boy. He was about to grab Therius' hair, but before his hand reached the boy, suddenly, his body slammed to the floor with a loud sound. Followed by the bodies of his friends.

Young Therius was dumbfounded. He didn't expect his attackers to fall down one by one. What really happened?

Since he was tied to the chair that fell to the floor, he could not see for sure what was happening behind him.

"Dammit ... !! What's this?" screamed the thugs in shocked voices.

Suddenly, several vines appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around their legs so tightly that they could not stand up properly. After staggering for a few seconds, they finally slammed to the floor.

The vines then wrapped all over their bodies until the four of them were completely immobile. They wriggled to break free, but the vines were too strong for them. The level-2 herbomancer among the enemies was still weak from Emma's attack earlier so he couldn't free his friends from the vines.

Emma got up slowly. Her chest was in a lot of pain, as well as her stomach. She had deliberately received the punches and kicks of those scummy thugs so she could pretend to fall and growl in pain.

After they let their guard down, she launched an attack with herbomancy. Therius' throwing himself to the floor helped her immensely because the thug who held him suddenly lost his hostage. Emma felt instantly relieved and could focus on her attack better. She no longer had to worry about the boy getting stabbed when his captor panicked.

"You ... are okay now.. Don't be scared," said Emma in a low voice as she walked over to Therius. She untied the boy quickly and then examined his wounds. When she saw the various beatings and tortures the boy received in the short time he was under their captive, Emma's heart felt so sad for him.

She hugged the boy and wept. "You will be fine .... You have to be strong. Your life will get better ... You will have a very good friend, and you will finally be happy."

The girl's actions stunned Therius. He did not understand why his heart, which was cold and empty, today was suddenly filled with warmth that felt so foreign to him.

This girl said that he would be fine, and he would be happy? Was it true?

Somehow, this stranger's words were able to make Therius feel hope in his seemingly bleak life. He finally nodded.

"Thank you ..." he said in a low voice.

Suddenly, they could hear the door opened and footsteps approached. Therius and Emma immediately raised their faces and turned their heads in the direction of the sound.

"It came from here. I'm sure of it." They could hear a woman talking in a frantic voice. "Prince Licht and someone ... they were fighting with some people. They sent a distress call for help with telemancy."

Emma immediately looked away. Her heart was pounding so hard when she realized who it was. Instantly she felt as if the air around her disappeared and she could not breathe.