Rubble

Below the rubble, Veronica regained her consciousness. She wasn't sure where she was for a few seconds.

Her head was in deep pain, and she felt blood trickle down her forehead. Other parts of her body hurt as well, but nothing seemed to be broken, at least. The rainbow blade was still lodged in her side, and with each slight movement, more blood flowed from the open wound.

As the first of her memories returned from the moment of the explosion, she began to look around frantically.

She was in a small pocket below large stone boulders and wood scraps. Her last memory was her hugging Michael, then getting blown away by the gigantic explosion.

Her eyes saw through the darkness, but it wasn't enough, so she summoned a tiny blue moon, which lit up the small space instantly.

"Michael!" she shouted, then began to cough without stopping. The space was full of dust and had no airflow.

It took her a few moments to calm down and try again with a shout, but no answer came.

Her emotions were all over the place. Eyes flowed down her cheeks, washing away all the dirt and blood.

Veronica let herself have a small one minute breakdown. She wailed and trembled from adrenaline, fear, loss, sadness, and other emotions she couldn't even identify.

After the one minute, she took a deep sorrowful breath, and tried to make a way out of the rubble.

She wasn't moving slowly or carefully, which was an awful choice, but her mind wasn't straight.

Using all her power, she punched upward right into a large slab of stone, which was once the church's wall. It created a large crack, and after another punch, the stone exploded.

With quick moves she dodge most of the pieces, and protected her head from the others.

A trickle of light shined in from the outside, and after a bit more digging and punching, she saw the gray sky above.

She wasted no time and climbed out of the hole with ease. After getting back to her feet, she looked the place over. The sight made her sick.

Veronica stood at the place that was once the church's courtyard, but now it was the corpse of the once beautiful structure.

There was rubble everywhere. Even the surrounding houses got destroyed by the rain of debris.

For a moment, she didn't know what to do. She just stood on the pile of stone, with no idea where to go first. She wanted to find Michael more than anything, but where should she even begin to look?

"Michael!" she called out again, but no answer.

It took all her power to keep her composure, but even then, her mind jumped to the worst conclusion. Her breathing became faster and faster as she panicked.

"Calm down Veronica," said the steady voice in her mind... Her brother's voice. "Take a deep breath in... And out... In... Out..."

He repeated this same exercise for a few minutes until Veronica calmed down enough.

"Can you find Michael? Is he still alive?" Even saying these words felt horrible and terrifying. She both wanted to know the truth, but also wanted to keep her hope.

"He is alive, but he isn't conscious, so I can't use his senses to locate him. But don't panic, turn on Mind's Eye, it will help you look."

The passive feature of the Mind's Eye stopped working after getting nearly Corrupted, which was strange, but also understandable. Whatever that roar was, it was stronger than anything she had ever felt.

She still wasn't sure what the cultists were planning, or what would've happened if Ted hadn't stopped the darkness, but currently she didn't care.

Without questioning her brother, she turned on Mind's Eye. The world became much more colorful, and with its help, she began to look for Michael.

The rubble's gray color was very distinct, making the search easier and faster. First she looked around the area where she fell, since they were close to each other when the explosion happened.

There was nothing, so she widened her search area. Veronica's mind was in full focus, not letting any depressing thought take hold of her.

Even after ten minutes, she didn't find him, and the panic was slowly creeping in when her brother spoke again.

"He's regaining consciousness. Try calling out, so I can hear how far away you are."

"MICHAEL!" she screamed from the top of her lungs. Her voice echoed in the field of rubble, reaching every nook and cranny. It also reached Michael's ears pretty fast.

"You are close. Go a dozen meters to your right and he should be there somewhere. I can see light shining into his eyes, so you should be able to find him with ease."

Veronica didn't even process her brother's words. With a tear-stained face, she ran to the exact place he spoke about, and she began tossing away large pieces of stone.

After a few seconds, she heard coughing coming from below her feet, and she redoubled her efforts.

Her hands were bleeding from all the scrapes and she felt multiple missing fingernails, but ignoring the pain, she pushed herself further.

The last large slab could've been a ton, but with a lot of strain, she lifted it in the air and threw it a few meters away.

Michael laid under the rubble. Veronica watched his crumpled form over a hundred times. The Mind's Eye was still turned on, so she saw each of his wounds clearly.

His whole body was a mess of cuts. His right arm seemed to be broken in a few places while his left shoulder was dislocated. The worst was his left thigh, where she saw the bone poking through his skin.

Seeing her lover like this was more painful than anything she had ever felt during the day.

None of his wounds were life threatening, but he clearly won't be walking away anytime soon.

With a trembling hand, Veronica reached inside her dress's small pocket, that somehow stayed intact.

Weeks ago, after encountering a few near-death experiences, Michael had gifted her a few healing potions. She only kept one vial on herself, since there wasn't space for more.

They also had a bit of talk and realized how dumb it was to keep them in fragile glass vials.

From her pocket, Veronica brought out a small metallic vial, which held the potion.

Michael was still only at the edge of consciousness. His eyes were open, but they couldn't seem to focus on anything.

She sat down near his head and lifted it on her lap. With slow and gentle movements, Veronica traced the line of his soot stained jaw, and opened his mouth.

While her left hand, played with his hair, she poured the potion with the other, then closed his mouth as he coughed.

Veronica took a deep breath while hugging her fiancé's head. She gave a few kisses on his forehead, cheeks, and lips.

His small wounds healed fast, but she needed to set his bone straight in order to heal.

She tried to be as gentle as possible, but each time Michael gasped or groaned in pain, she sobbed. She also set his shoulder back into place, then waited for the healing to take effect.

Instead of waking up, Michael went back to sleep. His breathing was even, and he already looked much better than when she found him.

As the shock of the past hour passed, Veronica's heart weighed heavy. So many people, who she knew and considered great friends, died.

From here she saw the place where the altar stood. There was only a small crater in its place.

Father Martin, the first real friend she had made after her last death, died there. He died right in front of her. She still heard his screams echo.

She didn't see exactly what happened with Cory and Gerald, but she didn't hold high hopes for their survival.

But the worst was Ted by far. The sacrifice he had made was so selfless. He was always like that. He never had time for himself and always worked to help others.

She had given his letter to Michael, which he put away in his suit's pocket. She checked on it and it was still intact, but she wouldn't break the seal until she and Michael were far away from this place.

On her face, silent tears moved, and landed on her bloodstained dress. Only now did she look down on herself.

The once bright white and yellow dress was covered in blood, soot, ash, and dust. It was tattered in most places. Her skirt was missing below her knees. The right arm has also disappeared at some point, and a few threads held the left on.

She also finally noticed the blade peaking out of her side, and with a quick move she pulled it out. Veronica yelped in pain, and the wound started to bleed again.

While examining the rainbow blade, she felt that its Ethereal Property was still intact, but it was splintered. The roar turned the item back to its natural form. Now it was just a 6th Order Characteristic.

She placed it into Michael's coat as well, then she began to hum while playing with her lover's hair.

The tune was quite bad, since her throat was still scratchy from all the inhaled dust.

She hummed the music that the Theater always played when she was sad. It had a comforting effect on her emotions.

Michael's wounds were healing well when the air around the ruins changed. It became warmer and nauseating. It smelled and felt like a wet sewer.

The smell was also familiar, but at that moment she didn't remember why. Only when the creature appeared a few meters away did she realize...