They Called Me FIVE

LANCE

Seven reached out to Magnus wrist. She closed her fingers around the gold bracelet and put her other hand, her palm to be precise on Magnus's wounds. Slowly, I can see it. She's drawing her power from the bracelet and channeling it to his wounds.

I don't know how the heck she does that. I only know its extra difficult for her to keep it up. The rim of her eyes are turning red. Her nose is dripping blood. She's turning deathly pale. Sam is eyeing her warily. But scared to meddle in. 

I am too. Among the three of us, I can attest Seven has the most powerful blessing. She can do the exact opposite of what I can do. That's how life works. So maybe she can restore the almost dead cell in Magnus's gut. 

Or kill the wounds that's eating away his flesh.

I tried the doorknob on. Immediately withdrew my hand. It's molten hot. My palm is steaming from the contact. My flesh… first degree burn..? No. I see the pink flesh spots so it must be second. 

"What happened?" Sam attempt to reach out but I stop him on time. 

"Don't. It's hot. I just got my skin burn." I showed him my palm. He wince. "That's painful man." 

"Yeah, so don't touch."  he gape at it. I quickly hid my hand on my pockets. Sam and Seven manage to let Magnus sit on a chair. He's forming his mouth into an o. Careful in inhaling and exhaling air. His shoulders are tense. The muscles in his abs are contracting. Seven is getting small progress in stitching his flesh and skin together. But its taking a toll on Magnus part too. His muscles are tight shut on his jaw. Preventing himself not to scream.

"So what should we doing now?" I asked. Magnus split his eyelids open. 

"Did you say it's hot?" 

"Uh huh." 

"Damn." Magnus cursed another inaudible word under his breath.

"Did the stiff Twylyth did this?" He shake his head. "No. not her. You see what she's doing earlier? She's calling for reinforcement. Since we killed the blood hog, she's taking claims on her servants, Childes and Fire hogs alike. That hot doorknob right there? It means they're here."

Seven looks at me, then at Sam, through her bloodshot eyes she opens her mouth to speak. But just before any words escape an explosion so close to our position cut through the night. 

Magnus is alert in an instant. He rush into the door, we followed. Our heads are pine together to get a better view. What I saw outside made me want to lose my delicious dinner.

The dudes we saw a few streets away are gathered together like a gang of thieves banded to steal the Twylyth inn's. Only their faces are marked with red tattoos. They shape like leaf sticking out in their cheeks and half bald heads. 

On their hands are large cannons I only see in movies. No. I did saw them once. Back at the Faery hole we're imprisoned in. It has underground factories. I once saw human tall figures marching the area. Following a dark figure in black cloak and a mask. 

That figure is much more different than the Dark Elf Magnus face. His aura too. It was as if he's drawing everything to him. 'Come to me' is what he seems to say. 

'And I'll break your bones bits by bits before you could utter the word 'Have mercy.' 

I remember cringing when I felt his aura, or 'mana' as how Magnus put it. Unearthly, nasty, and obviously hideous. The explosion bursts again. We saw it. The cannons the man in the center fires has a ball of white light that drills deep holes in the ground.

"Come out, come out little fiends!" he screeched. It was creepy. He has a build of a bouncer but his voice is as small and high tone like a girl.

All his other teammates, they were at least ten of them, fired their cannons in the ground. Creating holes all over the place.

"Whatever you do," Magnus wheeze. "Don't go near into those holes." 

"Why?"

It was Seven who answer. "Because we die. Fire hogs are known for their tenacity with their blast canons. They can't exactly produce fire even though their mana attributes are align to it. So they use weapons instead. It was swords at first. They massacred and burn houses of the Gifted People with it. When they explore Earth and studied advance technology, they get the idea of making their own cannons. You remember the factories back in the Faery hole? On the left side, where mechanics and human technicians work, that's where they produce cannons. Firing hot white balls that could mean instant death to any mortals when they got hit."

"I see. But why are they aiming it at the ground?" 

"It was their sick game. They love to hunt for their prey at night in the middle of the desert. They'll give us fifteen minutes to gather whatever we need in here. Before blasting this place up. When we came out alive, that's when the hunt party begun."

"Fifteen minutes?" But how do we -?"

"We lost our chances after fighting the Twyltyh and her servants. The food is the trap to take away our blessings. The black flying foxes and those goblins are distractions to waste the fifteen minutes." 

"Wait, wait, wait so you're telling us that –" 

"Guys?" Sam cuts in. "Sorry to interrupt but they were saying things I don't actually understand, can you hear it?" 

I strain my ears. And yes, I heard it. The sounds of different whispers of voices rushing harsh words using their own mouth. I can't discern it but I know it was a warning. 

A warning we should run if we don't want to be incinerated to bits. Without another word, I pick up the table from the side, smash it right into the door and it break.

The grinning faces of bouncer tattooed dudes came to greet us. They position their cannons like how soldiers planted rifles in the ground, letting it stand with their palms supporting it erect. 

I didn't pay any attention to them. Magnus and Seven's words keep ringing in my ears. That I shouldn't fell in one of the holes. I don't know what exactly is happening. But the ground is equally spacious with holes.

Like there's enough distance to sprint wherever we intend to go without looking back. But in Magnus situation it's proven to be difficult. Even if Seven was successful in stitching some of the cuts, the majority has embedded itself on his skin. 

I can see little worms dancing and feeding on his flesh. 

"Guys, leave me here." Magnus suddenly said. "I'm a baggage to all of you. Run. Find the others yourselves. Here take this Seven." He slowly wiggled his arm from Seven's grasp. Detached the bracelet and put in her wrist. 

"Magnus you can't – " I protests but he cut me off. 

"This is for the best. You don't know how fire hogs are. These guys are relentless. They enjoy purposely hitting their victims arms, shoulders, torso, legs, ears – almost any parts in your body except your feet and mouth. They want their prey to run faster. The more speed the better, that's where they find the hunt interesting. No matter where the prey go, and even if they are so close to killing them, they still give them a slight hope they'll survive somehow. They won't shoot the mouth. They love it when the prey screams. They won't shoot the ankles. They want them to run for hours. Until their bones break and they can't take another step." Magnus gulped.

"If the prey is no longer capable of running, they'll shoot his vital organs one by one. Especially the lungs or the big artery of the heart. And then wait until they die by pain themselves." 

He shove me aside and stagger. Clasping his bleeding stomach. 

"Leave me. I'll die here anyway. It's your job now Seven. Protect your comrades. Defeat the Faeries, end their reign in here. Save the souls you want to save. No one can stop you from growing your blessings even more. I know it might be gone for now. But blessings – once it chose you – won't leave you even after death. So go. Let me buy you some time."

My body is trembling with rage. He's clearly in pain. If what he said is true then these guys will toy with him. Make his wounds get even worse. Watch him take his final breath. I gritted my teeth too much blood is dripping out of my mouth. Vein is popping out of my temples.

I marched towards him, Determine to carry him if I have to. I'm leaving no one behind. If Seven and Sam chose to save themselves instead, I'm okay with it.. I'm not leaving behind the first friend I made in my fifteen years of living in this planet.