Six

Downtown, Chicago

Terra, Gaea Solar system

Neutral Free Zone

January 14th 2019

The pain was what woke her up. There was a ringing sound in Emily's left ear, a sign that her eardrum had probably busted. It would take some time for it to heal. Dust swirled around the room, obscuring her view from most of the destruction in the room. she tried to move, but a searing pain shot through her body. Emily looked at her stomach, where an iron pole had ripped through it. Not only that, but some of the ceilings had fallen right on her lower side. She tried to pull the pole, but the pain was too much. A pool of blood ran out from under her, spreading across the floor. Emily was losing too much blood. She was too weak from the blood loss to remove the pole, and she couldn't even move her arms if she wanted to. It was still numb and shocked from the electric attack. But she needed to remove the pole if she wanted her wound to heal, or she would die. Not immediately, but losing too much blood was enough to even kill someone like her. She was in a conundrum. She should have trusted her instincts which had been yelling at her to kill her attacker right there. No hesitation, just fuck her brain over. But she wanted answers from her. Answers for Leon. Dammit it. Now death was approaching her instead. Dammit. She needed to get rid of the pole. Shit. Where was Leon when she needed him? Had her assailant been a member of the Fallen Star? If only she had... Emily threw up blood from her mouth as a coughing fit ripped her lungs apart. The pain felt weird and unfamiliar. It had been a long time since she felt pain...shit...shit... the wards within her consciousness-the one that prevented her body from feeling any kind of pain had busted open. How did she lose control? The pain came again, and she thought of Leon. If She could just reach him...just get him to her... before she bled to death. Emily wasn't afraid of dying. Well, Paladins were trained not to be afraid of death. But for her...it was different. She believed in it. She believed in Irkalla, but she wasn't ready for it yet. Emily stared at the pendant hanging from her neck. The touch of death was coming for her, and yet it wasn't her time. Although even in this dire situation, Emily Legens maintained her facade of calmness and indifference as she swore and cursed the enemy who had left her in this situation. Fuck...Leon! Leon! Help me.

-Leon-

When Leon was younger, his Mother would bring him to visit Planet Terra. She had been born here as a Terran and human. She would bring him to her hometown, mostly during the summer, when the sun was blazing hot and the weather was really nice. She had wanted him to see what the human society of Terran was like compared to the other human civilizations within the Neutral Zone. There was a whole lot of difference. On other planets, in the Federation and the Neutral free zone, humanity was not cut off from the Odyllic like the Terrans were. Humans were highly aware of the supernatural aspect of the universe. Leon had grown up knowing that. So to visit Terra had been a whiplash to his young mind. But that didn't mean that Leon didn't enjoy his time there. She would take him to the part called downtown, where they would go to see the Broadway theaters or visit the museums to see some art. After their day of fun, they would then go to the park to relax and have some of that dessert called Ice cream. Leon remembered loving those moments because it was just him and his mother. There were other families having a good time, taking pictures and video recordings. As a kid, Leon would watch these families as they had a good time. And there would be this hot-soaring feeling in the pit of his stomach from watching them. Leon didn't know what those feelings were at first but as he grew up, he learned that it was a combination of his anger and envy at watching them. Only the thought of his mother could wash them away from him when he got those feelings. She would smile at him, and like that, it was gone. Leon didn't know why or how it was possible. Maybe it was the sadness that he saw in her eyes. A pain that she tried her best to hide from him. He hated knowing that his Mother was in pain and there was nothing he could do about it. But back then, he had just been a little brat. There was nothing he could do about it. But nevertheless, it pained him to see it. After his acceptance into Helix Academy, Leon stopped going on vacation to Terra. He focused on his training and studies. Focused on becoming the best of the best among the Paladins. And he did become the best of the best. He was on track to becoming the greatest. And now, here he was, back in Chicago and in one of its parks. The mental calling he had gotten from Emily told him that she needed his help. Somehow she had left some kind of imprint within his mind about her location. Leon bought out his Zodiak and unfolded it. The location pointed towards some masonry field house. He had hacked into the human network to see if there was any information about the building, but he couldn't find anything. Leon tried his best to figure out what Emily was doing here. As he got closer to the building that the coordination in his mind led to, Leon picked up on Emily's Odic signature. It was slowly getting weak, which meant...

"Emily," He swore. Leon rushed into the building without thinking. Something felt weird. Though he was surrounded by the smell of death in the air, and the physical signs that there had been some kind of attack, he couldn't find any bodies within the building. Only dried blood and a rotting stench. It was something that he would have focused on more, but...the only thought that he had in mind was following the dimming presence that he could sense. He had never thought of it before... losing Emily. He couldn't even entertain the thought. He got to a room where the smell of blood hung heavy in the air. The room had been blasted with some kind of attack. Leon could feel an electric current running through the entire room. The ceiling had come crashing down. Ash swirled around the room. In the middle of all this destruction was Emily. Her lower body was trapped by some of the debris. But it was the pole that went through her guts that made him freeze. The bluish current ran through the pole into Emily's body, shocking it. Some of the blood that had poured out was reversing back inside her body. But not most of it. She didn't have the strength to take back all the blood that she had lost. Blood werk was not an easy magic to control or use. Even on her best day, it took a lot of concentration to take control of one's blood. But Emily...Emily...

"Emily, what in Irkalla's name is going on here," Leon swore. He rushed over to her body. She tried to speak, but only blood came out of her mouth. "Don't talk." Leon grabbed hold of the pole, ignoring the shock, and tried to move it. She squirmed in pain at it. She glared at him as Leon stopped. He knew what that look was. She wanted him to pull it out. No matter how painful it was. He held the pole, and in one surge, the pole came out. More blood gushed out, so he applied pressure to the wound with his hand.

"How did you find me.." She grunted as she tried to stop the bleeding.

"You called for me, remember," Leon said. He summoned a wave of golden lights within the hand that was applying pressure to the wound and cauterized it. Emily bit down on her lips, but no sound came from her. As usual, her expression was unreadable. The only way that Leon could tell that she was in pain was from the way her body shook. After he was done cauterizing the wound, she sighed and laid back on the floor. Leon got rid of most of the debris that had fallen on her. Her wound had stopped bleeding and had begun the process of healing. But she had lost lots of blood, and her Odic force was awfully weak. It would take a long time for her to heal that wound completely. Unless he took her to the medic bay back in the Academy in Luna. She would heal faster there. She opened her eyes like she had heard his thoughts about taking her back to Luna.

"I never called for you." She said, " I don't have my Zodiak."

"The call came from your mind, not your Zodiak," Leon said. Was she okay? Leon was worried for her. She raised her eyebrows at him. There was only confusion on her face. Which meant that she wasn't aware of how she had made contact with him through her mind. She had unknowingly used her power due to the fear of death. Had she been that close to it... What the fuck happened, and what the fuck was she doing here. "So I take it this was the information you got from the Erlking that you kept from me." Leon looked around the room before looking back at Emily. She was having a hard time standing up, so he grabbed her arms and pulled her up.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lied to you." She said.

"Are you, though," He said. Leon could tell that she was indeed genuinely sorry, but he wanted more of her apology. Yeah, he was a bastard, alright.

"Yes, I am. I know I screwed up, but I wanted to make sure that the information was right before-"

"Before I got involved, right," Leon said. He thought back to the mission that had landed them in exile. It was his fault that Emily was here and not back in Agartha. She had his back, and he knew she would always have it. Leon couldn't blame her for the lie. He guessed Vuelo's information was right after all. Damn that old hag. "What happened to you? To this building. What the hell happened." She explained to him how the information she had gotten from the Erlking led her to the building and everything that had happened from there.

"Another Abomination" Leon said. He couldn't believe it. It was one thing for Dark Sidhes of the Hidden World to go against the Accord, but to have an Abomination here on Terra. "That shouldn't be possible"

"I...I don't know if it was an Abomination. I couldn't sense any Miasma on it" Emily said. Abominations were creatures tainted by the Miasma- the Night air of the Infernal world- and were known as Depraved beings who feed on only one form of sustenance: the soul. As Paladins of the Holy Order of Starlight, it was their duty to hunt and exterminate all forms of Abominations. But the thing Emily had slayed didn't fit the bill.

"I don't see how Abominations could end up here in Terra," Leon said. "Terrans have low Spiritual power, and this galaxy sector isn't known for spawning Abominations."

"True...but then again, there's no denying there has to be some connection between this place and the Erlking," Emily said. "The only problem is how are they connected....and why does some Beastman from the Hidden World have some kind of connection with Starlight." And what does her assailant have to do with this place? After Emily was done healing and regaining a little bit of her strength, She brought Leon to a room that was filled with containment pods. They were all broken.

"I had Ginny hack into the mainframe system and transfer as much data as she could. Right now, she is trying to break through the security placed on it." She pulled out a rock from her belt pocket and gave it to him. Leon took the rock from her. "Cold as Irkalla, right."

"Yeah," Leon said. She took it back from him. "I still can't fathom why a Starlight base would be here."

 "I don't know. If this facility belonged to the Order, it would make sense for the Fallen Stars to attack it." Emily said. 

"I...I don't know if the Fallen Stars are the ones behind this," Leon said. Didn't he not long ago, came to the conclusion that if the Fallen Stars were here, they would be underground in order to not draw attention. Why would they attack a base belonging to Starlight.

"Come. There's more to see," Emily said. She took Leon to the lower floor of the facility, where she had discovered the Monolith. This time, Leon projected a ball of golden light as they walked down the spiral stairs. When they got to the lower floor, the Monolith was gone. Emily stood in shock at the missing rock that was supposed to be there. 

"There was a monolith with the same symbol from the sewer right here," Emily said. Leon looked around the room, his light peeling away every single strand of darkness.

"Looks like it's gone," Leon said. "Your attacker must have taken it,"

Leon turned around to see Emily, who was concentrating on the spot where the monolith was supposed to be. In the dent of the floor, a shard of crystal was jammed within the crack that formed on the floor. The crystal was white, and in the center was a pulsating color that seemed to be drawing in Ambient Od towards it.

"We need to get out of here. Now." Emily said. On the crystal were celestial runes, which were counting down. The runic number was just about to count down to zero. The world came to a frightening freeze, Leon's body felt detached from the flow of time as he grabbed Emily and activated his Flash movement technique. A burst of golden light wrapped around them, and they shot out of the building like a cannon blast. They broke out of the building as the entire place was engulfed in an explosion. Fire spat out in all directions. Rushing out like a stream of water, the flames tried so hard to keep up with them. But Leon was faster. Faster than the speed of sound. He made sure to hold Emily tightly as they landed outside of the building, and then he used his body to shield hers from the impact. Her body was still too weak from the blood loss. They rolled around on the grass, getting as far away from the burning building as possible. They lay on the grass, their bodies sewn together, breathing hard and loud.

"That was fucking close," Leon said, smiling at Emily as the building burnt up. "I think I just broke my top speed."

"You don't say." Emily pushed him off her as she tried to stand. "My attacker must have left that behind."

"You think they were cleaning up the mess or trying to kill us," Leon said.

"I don't know," Emily said. "Whatever the case, we need Ginny to hack into that data as quickly as possible."