9. "Run.."

TW: Character death, slightgore, disturbing content]

Calia's Pov:

I didn't feel like myself, that moment. My mother had just been stabbed, and I had no idea where my sister was. Fire coursed through my veins, my hair starting to float, as my eyes turned from brown to red.  My skin tingled and itched in a way it never has before, but all I could think about were the flames. The burning of flesh. Screams that echoed around my head and in my ears. The feeling of blood rushing down my face, onto me, soaking everything. Everything went silent and muffled for me, and I watched those murderers looking at me in horror as if they'd seen a ghost.

Everything was silent, until..

"you. stabbed. my mother."

The words seemed so far away, so unreal yet still coming out of my mouth. Like some sort of twisted dream. I stared at them for a few moments before turning to face him.

My eyes bled, my body ached horribly, but I couldn't think of anything. I felt my temperature rise unexpectedly, and I watched my feet dangling in the air.

I was floating.

Floating in midair with an intense heat flowing through me. That's how hot I felt, how hot it was going to be. My stomach churned and roiled and I was sure that I wasn't even going to make it back to reality, but that wasn't the priority.

Balls of fire formed behind me, making a wheel. My body was moving on it's own. Time seemed to slow down, I could hear every little noise, every whimper, every scream. It seemed like my senses were heightened.

The man who just stabbed my mom, advanced towards me in an unusually slow pace. I flicked my wrist and sizzling hot fire projected from my palm.  He jumped, narrowly avoiding the brunt of the explosion, which sent him flying backwards into his accomplice. They both flew through the air and collided with the wall.

The man looked up at me. His face was covered with bruises and burns, his arms held close to his chest. His arms, which were torn apart because of the explosion.

Two other started running towards me....no, they ran past me. They ran away.

At least they tried to.

They didn't get very far before my hands began to glow a bright blue. Blue flames erupted from my palms. I threw a ball of flame in front of each of them and watched their bodies explode into ash, which fell gently to the ground.

The other man whose arms were still clutched in his hands, was wailing in pain. His partner stuggled to walk, as he advanced to the gate.

"You have a lot of nerve", My voice echoed as I enunciated each word.

I joined my palms to make a blast of fire when I returned to my senses, and my heart ached horribly.

I gasped for air, and coughed blood, falling on the ground. I clutched my neck, trying to squeeze in the last bits of oxygen. I was so carried away that the fire filled the house with carbon, leaving a little oxygen to breath.

The man ran off, and I tried to stand up, failing  miserably.

"Help...", I choked out.

Nobody came. I felt something warm run down my leg. Blood trickled from my shoulder and pooled around me.

When I finally managed to pick myself up I saw the suroundings...and I saw Avicia.

In between all this, I completely forgot about my sister.

I crawled towards her and started closing the wound on her forehead, it took me all my energy to even stay conscious, my hands bled, my feet bled, maybe I broke some bones too. But neither of these  things mattered to me right now. All I wanted was to protect her. All I ever wanted was to keep people safe. I just wished I hadn't failed.

Tears forming in my eyes, I refused to cry. I had to protect her. "It's o-okay, I'm h-here, mom will save-"

"Mom."

"No..."

My pupils shrank and I whipped my head back, only to see her, lying in a pool of blood. My mind was torn, Avicia was still unconscious, and my mother was breathing. Her face was purple, her hands blue.

"No no no no no no" I panicked, stumbling towards her.

I dropped next to her, shaking. Why isn't she waking up? Is there even enough life left to breathe? Tears fell, and I hugged her close. She was limp against me.

My heart ached by seeing her, I started healing her chest. I could never heal big wounds but I had to try. I cursed under my breath, feeling ashamed. What good is a "gift" if you can't even use it properly?

This wasn't supposed to happen! It was my birthday, we were supposed to be having lunch by now...Why did this happen? Who were they? My brain was itching to ask questions but I couldn't dare to speak a word right then.

I continued healing my mum, and as I was doing, I heard a sound. A familiar noise. A soft voice.

"...alie"

My mom slowly opened her eyes, her breath shallow.  I froze, afraid to move. She smiled at me weakly, and tried pushing herself up.

"Come here, Cali."

Her voice sounded strained and hoarse, but her smile was the same. I slowly approached and wrapped my arms around her waist, letting tears fall from my face.

"It's okay, I'll heal you, you will live, you HAVE to live, just stay here, don't talk don't lo-"

"The locket"

"Huh?"

I watched her slowly pointing towards her neck, a shimmering locket came  into view. I took it off her neck and stared at her blankly.

"You are dying mom. Stop talking, let me heal you"

She smiled warmly, the same smile which comforted my every time since I was little, that smile which said "let it go, you are fine". I shook my head and focused on her chest, my breath becoming shallower and my head feeling dizzy, it was the overexhaustion .

I pushed more power into my hands and watched the blood flow out. My mom was healing, slowly. But her wounds needed to heal before she died. She had to be saved, somehow.

"Put it on..", she said, looking at that locket.

"We have enoigh time for necklaces mother, please. Just stay quiet" I insisted, not looking into her eyes.

"We both know it's too late Calia." She whispered, her voice getting weaker by the minute. I felt like a failure, a failure who couldn't save her mother despite having a goddamn power.

"Put it on please. And never..ever lose it." my mother insisted, and I did so.

My head couldn't comprehend things now...frustration, exhaustion, everything started  spinning. I couldn't concentrate anymore, I was struggling to hold her up.

"Calia."

Her hand reached over and gently brushed against my cheek, and that caused me to start sobbing hysterically. Her hand was cold...so cold.

"Sorry....I *cough* couldn't protect you *gasp* I love yo-.....Run...."

She laid there, still. The colour fading from her eyes,   and the faintest look of relief on her face.

Her grip loosened, but her eyes remained open. It scared me, it scared me so much, her eyes were dead, dead.

"No, please, stay with me, MOM please, please....you can't do this, it's my birthday....."

It took 1 hour, to ruin everything I had, it took everything from me...just in 1 hour.  The world around me became blurry, my vision blurred and it felt like everything I'd seen in the past week was being wiped out from my memory.  Everything was gone except one sentence.

As the darkness overtook me I thought for a moment I heard that again, like it was echoing in my ears...

"Let it go, you're fine".

My vision went black, as I fell unconscious.

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Third person pov:

The house was eerily silent, bloodshed everywhere. A pair of black boots came in view, with a shadow...a shadow of a tall figure.