2 Chapter 2: Don’t play games with me

Dior's hand rests over her agape mouth as she stares at what just happened. I'm covered in ghouls blood, glowing yellow and dripping from head to toe.

My eyes were closed during the whole dive, I was trembling with fear, but now that I opened my eyes to see the dead corpse of the ghoul behind me, my heart fills with excitement.

I actually did it. Jumping through it worked. I look for Diors approval as I celebrate in my head but her eyes don't meet mine.

She isn't looking at me with her surprised expression, she isn't even looking at the ghoul. There's something behind me. My heart skips a beat as I slowly turn around.

A diver in sleek black armor towers over me. There is runes of gods blood etched throughout the armor, pulsing a subtle purple hue.

It stands four meters tall, its helmet and breastplate resembling an ancient knight, but nothing about this super soldier is ancient.

These trained humans from the peaks have turned themselves into lethal weapons, fusing machine and godsblood enchantments to aid them in battle.

The visor of their helmet emanates a sinister glare and a sense of dread washes over me.

I don't waste any time and yell at Dior to run. I hop on my board and do the same. 

Although my enhanced body could allow me to run at faster speeds than the hoverboard, I can't risk traversing the abyss without the cover that the clouds provide.

At least we know the skies, what's down below is unknown and the mysteries each city holds are far too dangerous.

Dior is several paces ahead of me as we both top out our boards to the max speeds it can handle.

I can hear the wind whistling in my ears as we weave in and out of the clouds for better cover. The diver's jetts can be heard directly behind me.

Their suits are armored with enchanted plates and adorned with weapons of destruction that rival ghouls.

The jett packs that they use to traverse the abyss are most likely three times faster than our boards.

We're counting on our knowledge of the terrain and the cover that the clouds give us to save us.

I'm trying to avoid the orphanage and it looks like Dior is sensible enough to do the same.

I'm not sure how long we can keep this up. The diver pulls up beside me and my face goes pale. 

"Stop running and I'll spare you," It says in a feminine voice.

I hesitate to weigh my options. If we keep running, she'll eventually kill us. If we stop, I doubt she'll let us live either.

There is only one potential way for this to work in our favor. I need to slow her down to give Dior a chance to escape.

Much like before, I know that my life won't be in danger. Even a diver does not pose a threat to my enhanced attributes. I hop off of my board and latch onto the divers suit.

She panics and fires off her weapons at me, forgetting that we are in close proximity. Parts of her armor blow apart and one of her two jetts ignites into flames.

We start plummeting to the abyss and I can hear her frantic cries for backup through the mask.

I squeeze my hands on her visor and rip the entire helmet off. Killing her is not my intention, I only want to prevent her from bringing more divers to this location.

Although divers disregard the lives of those who live on the outskirts, I am not going to stoop to their level and become a murderer. My mother did not raise me that way.

I look below us to see where we will land. A river is nearby and I use her remaining jett to aim us towards it. She keeps striking at me with all her might but it is futile. I brace for impact.

The water is refreshing. It's cold touch injects adrenaline into my bloodstream, and I emerge from the stream of water, clean of all the ghouls blood I was covered in earlier. 

I look around me for the diver. The suit has shattered and been scattered all around the area we landed. I should be looking for a human in diver uniform crawling out of the water somewhere. The thought occurs to me that I don't need to look for her.

By my super speed standards, I'm only a few minutes away from the orphanage, I could run and leave this diver in the dust. That's what I decide to do.

I turn to leave but hear her body lands on the river bank with a thud. She is unconscious. I can hear her heart beating but her breath is silent.

Damn. She's going to die if I leave her, but If I stay to help her, I risk attracting other divers or even ghouls. I can hear Dior's voice calling for me way off in the distance. She is worried. Probably still digesting the idea of my powers.

I sigh and turn to look at the diver. She is a bit taller than Dior with more of a healthier build.

Pretty much everybody is taller than me though. Due to my enhancements I am stalky and have a decent muscular frame; but my powers are capped at those aesthetics, leaving me still as short as ever.

She has pretty features. A small nose with a cute diamond piercing on the right corner, long dark curly hair, rosy cheeks (although I bet they are just flustered from all the thrashing), thin pink lips, a round face, clear pale skin, and long white eyelashes. Her chest does not rise and fall, still breathless, lungs full of water.

The longer I stare, the guiltier I feel. I can't just leave her to die. I rush over and kneel beside her. Carefully, I cup my hands around her nose and mouth, parting her jaw to open her airways. I take a shallow breath and gently breathe into her, being cautious of blowing her lungs apart from my overpowered lung capacity. 

Her body tenses and she shoots upright, coughing up water out of her lungs. I pat her gently on the back to assist in getting the water out. A pair of ashy grey eyes meet mine as she finishes and gathers her senses. She frantically looks around for a weapon but I stop her by grabbing her wrists.

"I saved you, be a little grateful will ya? We're going to go our separate ways, don't play games with me."

I let go of her and turn to leave. The sky is growing dim, the sun is about to set and the abyss will be invaded by the dark fog, bringing with it a sea of monsters. If I sprint I should make it out okay. I feel a trembling hand grasp mine.

"Wait, without my suit I'm helpless against ghouls. I'm as good as dead If you leave me here."

Shit. She's right. I did my part though. I need to leave her. I can't bring her into the orphanage, if her friends find her they will surely loot and pillage the place. My enhanced eyes pick up a figure along the skyline in the distance.

Oh no. I know that figure. Dior would have made it safely to the orphanage if she hadn't turned back for me. Now I need to find a way to keep them both safe with time running out.

I am no leader, I'm scared shitless even for myself. If it wasn't for my powers, Dior would be the one leading us to safety. What should I do?

"Hey diver, you mind explaining why you're clutching Tity's hand?"