"Seriously, what a bunch of trash this year! A handful of novice elementalists and one telepath. Worthless! 'Course, what would you expect? Nobody with a useful skill would waste it in the army!"
Kazumi sat quietly across from Jagna, letting the Bruina play out his rage. When at last his rant lulled, she spoke up in a calm voice filled with ice.
"The pyrokinetic boy has potential; his abilities are already better than what you had when you joined Mannguum. If his family had the same fortune you feed on, he would join the Academy and upstage you in four... no, three years."
The small man turned his glare on Kazumi, only degrees away from having flames shooting from his head.
"You think you're so special 'cause you're the only 'Ghost' the Academy has, Hoshino?! Your stupid parlor trick is worthless!"
The Koek'enin kept her eyes closed, taking a small sip from her canteen before replying.
"Is that why you're too afraid to challenge it?"
"Guys, guys! Not right now!" Tirion, a kind-hearted Inali, interjected. He was the peacekeeper in the group and without a doubt the only reason Kazumi hadn't broken some of Jagna's limbs. The Bruina's violent temper had set him at odds with most of the group already, so if he were to challenge her she wouldn't hold back at all. But she couldn't be the one to open hostilities; that wouldn't be 'Right'.
Jagna shifted his glare to Tirion, ready to scream at him next. He saw the looks the rest of the group was giving him, though--they were one wrong word away from throwing him out of the house. He had to back off for now.
"Hmph. I'm going to my room!" The Bruina stomped off to the back of the house they were using for their stay in Bastion.
With the center of dispute gone, Kazumi stood and walked to the door, her white robes swaying with her movements. She opened it to let some fresh air into the house; Jagna's outburst had made the atmosphere stale. Closing her eyes, Kazumi took a deep breath. Something fell against her cheek. Opening her eyes again, the Koek'enin looked up as the last of the abnormal precipitation fell.
"Black... snow?" she asked aloud, reaching one hand out to catch a piece.
"Hmm?" Tirion joined Kazumi at the door, soon followed by Freia--a small, blonde, Bruina woman easily mistaken for a child even in her twentieth year.
"Black snow? Could this be an heir of Sesm?"
"Don't be stupid, stupid!" Freia snapped at him.
"How can you compare this soot to Sesm's beautiful Flaming Hail!"
"But it's like ash-snow. Perhaps it is an unrefined version, the Syncer lacking in experience."
"Impossible," Kazumi answered.
"Look. It's spread all down the street, probably even further. Not even Sesm at his peak could cover such an area. This isn't Sync."
"Then pollution?" Tirion suggested next.
"That's even more stupid! The snow itself is black; it's not just a covering!"
Kazumi's hand swiftly chopped down on the small Bruina's head. She let out a short cry and covered her head with both hands.
"Stop saying stupid, Freia!" The Koek'enin looked out again, noticing neither the small tremors shaking Freia's body nor the warm coloring in her cheeks.
"I don't think it's natural."
"But you just said it wasn't Sync," Tirion pointed out.
"It isn't. It can't be. But it's not natural, either."
"Well, what's that leave? Some strange new invention?"
"It could be... GHOSTS!" Freia exclaimed, grabbing onto the loose back of Kazumi's robe and throwing it up. She was swiftly given another chop, this one a little harder than the last. The blonde girl let out another small cry, her knees visibly quaking and a happy smile splitting across her face.
Kazumi looked down at the Bruina.
"Wipe that perverted smile off your face. Whatever it is, it's stopped for now. We should report to-"
"AAAAAAAAAGGGHH!!!"
The sharp scream sliced through the still room. Kazumi had retrieved her staff before even thinking about it, brandishing it in the direction of the bedrooms. Freia had pulled out her knives and was watching the hallway in fright. Tirion had begun stepping toward it, his sword drawn and ready. Ryouji and Ten both had weapons drawn as well.
"Jagna?" Tirion called hesitantly into the back. No reply was forthcoming, so he raised his voice for a second try.
"Jagna! Report!" There still was no answer.
"I don't like this." Kazumi muttered.
"I'm scared~!" Freia cried.
Tirion remained silent for a moment.
"I'm going to check," he declared at last.
"Freia, support me." He started into the hall, moving carefully toward Jagna's room. Freia followed a dozen steps behind, ready to throw a dagger at the first sign of trouble.
"Jagna..." Tirion tried once more as he eased the door open.
A horrible creature burst out, leaping for Tirion's chest. By trained reflex, Tirion engaged his Sync, 'Stone Skin'. The Inali was pushed over backward by the thing's charge, but he quickly brought his sword across to slash at the monster. His hand hesitated, though, when his eyes realized what he was seeing: it was a person... almost. Freia noted the same, so she diverted her throw to somewhere non-lethal. Tirion pressed his blade against the thing's throat and Freia's dagger sunk into its left shoulder.
"What are you...?" Tirion began as he looked up at the abomination. It screamed right into his face, that same horrible scream that had broken their quiet a minute earlier. Tirion's face distorted, but he couldn't break eye contact. By the time Kazumi realized something was wrong, Tirion's body fell limp. There wasn't enough space in the narrow hall to swing, so she instead lunged with her staff, driving the disfigured horror off of her friend. She kept pushing, all the way until it's back hit the wall, and still she pushed. The impact and her anger-driven thrust were enough to drive the staff's tip through its chest.
The body hung pinned to the wall, convulsing in its last moments. As Kazumi watched, a small smile pulled up the corner of her lips. Readjusting her grip, she gave the staff a small turn. The movement forced a few more convulsions as fresh pain wracked the creature. She gave it another twist, then one more before the thing finally fell still. She withdrew her staff from the wall, planting a foot on the thing's chest to pull her weapon free. Turning back to the others, her breathing was heavy. Not from exertion, though; no, this was the panting of arousal. She could feel her body heating up.
The sight of Tirion laying dead on the ground turned that feeling cold. Freia was already crouching over him, cradling the Inali's head in her lap. Tears fell freely from her eyes.
"I don't... get it! I don't even know what happened!" the Bruina screamed. Kazumi didn't know, either, but there was another thought that required attention. The Koek'enin pushed Jagna's door open with her staff, ready to catch any leaping monstrosity on its tip. Nothing came, so she looked into the small space. The window hung ajar and Jagna's body lay still on his bed, just like Tirion behind her. She would readily admit that she didn't like the tempermental jerk, but the fact that he was dead still hurt.
Except that he moved.
"Jagna?" Kazumi asked when she saw his legs shifting. The Bruina started to sit upright.
"Jagna! You're alri-!" Kazumi's cry of joy was abruptly cut short when her comrade's face came up to meet hers. It was as disfigured as the creature that had just killed Tirion. Backing out the door again, Kazumi readied her staff.
"Jagna..." she tried one more time, though she didn't have any hope.
The beast screamed its challenge. Kazumi accepted.
"Get away from Tirion!" Kazumi braced one end of her staff against the floor and raised the other to meet Jagna's charge. He caught the tip with one hand and spun around it, reaching out for Kazumi with his other. She spun to the other side of her staff and kicked it up between them, then wrenched hard to bring her weapon free. He hung on with frightening strength; instead of releasing the staff, Jagna was thrown with it until he smashed against the wall. With a sharp twist and tug, Kazumi retrieved her weapon and readied it for the next bout. Her eyes flickered over to her companions in the brief moment she had.
Freia had immediately done as instructed, though it was evident that she didn't understand why. The other two were still close to him, though. Ryouji had dropped to his knees when he saw Tirion's hand move, calling out to him in misplaced joy.
"DON'T-!" Kazumi almost turned to stop what was about to happen, but Jagna charged again. This time she let him out into the hall so the others could see; the Koek'enin sidestepped and let his charge carry him into the wall, then brought her staff across with a sharp jerk into the back of his head.
Tirion screamed, Freia screamed, Ten and Ryouji screamed, even Kazumi screamed. Bringing her staff back, she sent it across again, continuing to smash it into the back of Jagna's head with short strokes. The confined hallway didn't allow her space to build momentum, but she didn't stop the assault until finally the thing's skull shattered and its lifeless body slumped to the floor. Without hesitating a moment, Kazumi turned to face Tirion and Ryouji. And Ten, she found--Tirion had quickly left Ryouji's body for his next victim.
"Kill him, Freia! All of them!" Kazumi cried as she rushed to do the same. Freia was terrified like never before, but Kazumi's words forced her into action. Her second dagger shot forward and embedded itself in Tirion's throat. Kazumi thrust her staff into Ryouji's, having to forcefully stop herself from adding any extra twists. Freia ran past Kazumi to retrieve her first dagger as the Koek'enin insured Ten wouldn't rise again, then doubled back to watch Tirion's second death.
It was a pitiful scene, their proud and noble friend deformed by whatever it was that had killed him weakly grasping at the dagger in his throat. Watching it, Kazumi's emotions were too conflicted to make sense of any of them. She raised her staff overhead, then brought it crashing down on Tirion's skull. He fell still, unconscious until he would die from his slashed throat. Kazumi rigidly walked past him and to the open door. Freia retrieved her dagger, tears streaming down her face as she looked at those who had been their friends.
"What... is this...?" the Bruina asked weakly. Kazumi wished she had a specific answer, but there was only one she could think of.
"It's the end of the world."
-----
Screams rang out from every direction, but the air inside the house was frighteningly still. Finally Freia stopped crying long enough to speak.
"What do we... do now?"
"We leave. One of those things became five and killed Sync users. There's no doubt the rest of the city is collapsing." Kazumi's voice was cold and logical.
"Parliament has probably become a stronghold; so have other key points. The soldiers aren't enough to win an aggressive war against these things, so they'll have to remain defensive or die."
Freia admired how she could stay so calm in this situation; while the Bruina just wanted to cry, her senior had already thought through their situation. Looking at Kazumi's back, the blonde couldn't imagine it any other way. She couldn't see that Kazumi was trembling slightly, that the only reason she hadn't collapsed in a hysteric heap was her vice-like grip on her weapon and the need to be strong for Freia. But Kazumi wasn't afraid, nor was she heartbroken. That very lack of sorrow was what terrified her so much right now--she'd just killed four friends, and the only sign she had felt anything was a small, damp spot underneath her robes. Kazumi wasn't even sure that she was a person in that moment; maybe she was a monster just like those things.
Two small arms suddenly wrapping around her from behind roused Kazumi from her thoughts. Kazumi looked down at Freia, surprised her junior had embraced her so suddenly. The Bruina was looking up at Kazumi with a hardened expression, trying her very best to stop the tears.
"Kazumi, promise you won't die. Don't leave me alone."
She was astonished, unable to reply for several long moments. Finally a soft smile spread over her face.
"Yeah. I promise. We'll be fine." Those words gave Kazumi strength. She wasn't a monster in this girl's eyes; that was enough to end her self-pity. Kazumi needed to protect Freia right now.
"Alright. Then let's go kill these crappy monsters." Freia released Kazumi and stepped to her side at the door. Kazumi nodded in agreement and out they went.