Spire of Light

"Some news? Like what? What's going on down there?" I asked them, rolling over to a corner in my chair, in a position I could still watch the cameras and pay attention to them.

"Well... they were riled up by something. We talked with Faith shortly before we came up here, but it was like somebody was planting the idea that we would be out of food by the time the fight was over and things went back to normal. People got the idea to go claim their food before anybody else got it, so we came up here... we're not really built for confrontation, but this is your city. Could you do it, or give us tips on how to fix what's broken?" Jeff asked me.

I was surprised by his formality. He didn't want to pass this problem onto me, I could tell, but he certainly didn't want to handle it on his own. I suppose that courage is worthy of praise, just as much as the fighters deserve.

"No... I'm feeling cramped up here, I'll handle things down there, you don't have to worry about it. They're my people, my problem, right? Here, since there are two of you, one of you should write notes, and the other should watch and tell him what's happening. I have a sheet there with all frequencies, and who to tell what information to. Can you handle that for me instead?" I asked both Griff and Jeff.

"Of course, we can do it," He shortly said, sitting in the chair I was in, and rolling over to the desk.

"Oh, I thought you two were good doctors... with Lia and Alexia fighting, and Lily gone, who is helping Hiyochi?" I asked the two of them.

"Do you remember the new assistant from The Scorched Isle, Jane? She said she would help. Also, we're not really that good... our level is primal, and just beginning to improve. We talked about it beforehand, but we figured Jane and Hiyochi would be enough in the worst-case scenario. Do you think one of us should go down and help her?" Griff asked, scanning sheets of paper for the information I'd been writing down.

"She can contact us easily, if she needs it, she'll call for help," I said, shortly before Jeff interrupted me.

"Hey, Miss Ruby, here it says that Sky exhibited a purple glow to his eyes... that doesn't sound like him," He told me.

"I watched it on the camera, a purple glow before everything began... what do you mean that doesn't sound like him?" I asked Jeff out of curiosity while opening the trap door.

"Well, on the Isle, when his life was in danger, his eyes were always glowing all sorts of colors I've never seen before... but purple isn't one I'm familiar with. It's probably nothing, I'll try and remember that detail," Jeff said, moving on.

"If it's not, you contact me and let me know what you find out. I'll go see what's going on down there," I told the two, sliding down the ladder.

From the ladder, it was only a few more rooms of technical stuff that filtered oxygen to the lower levels, water through pipes, and electricity through wires. I pushed through metal doors with valves on them to airlock each room and made it to the main room. Hiyochi was slowly performing surgery on a few people, and had even more of them patched up already. Out of around thirty bodies injured in the collapse, only one person was dead.

"Ruby-nee! Why are you out of comms? Everything is okay here, I'm just finishing up with the last patient," Hiyochi told me.

"I heard about an uprising... oh, I can hear it down there," I said, slowly starting to move toward a hallway leading to the food bunker.

I couldn't believe it was still going on.

As I turned the corner to enter the bunker, I saw a lot of people already leaving without anything in their hands, looking disappointed, and obviously pissed off.

I was confused, for a second, it sounded like everybody was at each other's throats... but something sent them away.

When the people cleared, Faith was standing in the middle of the room, watching everybody get out, until she caught a glimpse of my reddish hair, or that's what I assumed.

"Miss Ruby! Hey, I calmed down the uprising!" Faith shouted out.

In the mere fraction of a second she crossed the step from the food bunker to the hallway, a large, piercing beam of light came from the left side of the bunker... no... the entire mountain, it must've been.

A large hole, caked in blood, dead bodies, and suffering people emerged on the opposite end of the hallway, right behind Faith.

It is remarkably lucky that she made it into the hallway before that struck... because nothing was left.

People were left on the ground, crying out in pain after losing a large portion of their limbs, their heads, and even blood and organs.

"What the fuck... what the..." I held my ears, feeling them ring after the sound of the blast reached them.

Objects on shelves in the hallway were blown off, a loud gust of wind deafened me momentarily, and most importantly... all the people standing around me had chunks of shrapnel in their backs. Those who weren't lucky had chunks lodged in their heads and slowly slid down the wall, covered in blood, and dying almost immediately.

"Ruby...?" I heard Faith ask me.

I turned to her, after clearing my ears by decompressing my jaw, and saw a portion of her arm lying on the floor in front of me.

"Am I... dead...?" She asked me.

Faith fell face-first into the ground, with a large piece of shrapnel stuck in the back of her head.

"FAITH!" I screamed out.

I pushed past all of my own dead people, picking up the little girl in front of me, and jumping over their corpses while running over to Hiyochi.

"HIYOCHI! FAITH! HELP HER!" I screamed out.

But as the dust settled... the large room filled with beds had slightly caved in, blocking me off from Hiyochi.