The Witch of Jakarta

Chapter 10: Sea of Flames (Part 1)

    The amber sun sank lower into the horizon, the precious light of day melting away into the sharp and unforgiving concrete jungle. As the light gives away into the velvety sable sky, Ralph contemplated whether he should light up a smoke. He exhaled a deep breath, letting the subtle city wind play with the tips of his tangled soot hair.

    His eyes skimmed at the white flare of smoke coming from a far-shot building, faint enough to be mistaken as clouds. He smiled at the thought of Amo in the lab, filling the place back with long arrays of green and sweet smells of potions. He watched intently as the fumes danced in the sky, the normal humans near it completely oblivious to its presence and scent. It had been nearly three days since they had started their plan, with each second growing more and more agonizing. Though the view was enough to help him to feel the urge to leave his shoddy apartment someday, maybe get someplace where he could have a dog. He tapped his frantic fingers on the dry ashtray he had set aside by the balcony, his fragile will slowly melting away.

    ‘Why is it that you gave them a week?’ A voice asked, a dark foggy figure slithering into his side.

    Ralph chuckled at its presence, reminiscing. ‘I’m just giving the younger ones a chance to finish education before we plunge into…’

    ‘War,’ The voice finished.

    A slender hand snuck around him, wrapping itself to his right arm. The long untouched surface of his skin quickly building heat as a petite figure leaned into his side. He recognized it. He recognized her. The feeling of a borderless flow of serenity, in spite of the dangers lurking just under the surface.

    He kept himself quiet not out of fear nor lack of conversation, but something inside him that refuses to let go of the moment. He holds her tighter, fearing if he let go, he would sink as he did back then. He allows her silky inky hair flow just above his jaw, sending butterflies across his cheeks as her brilliant eyes stared into the last streak of amber by the horizon.

    ‘I know what you’re thinking,’ She suddenly said.

    ‘Then you know I’m scared.’

    ‘As am I.’

    He couldn’t help but scratch his scalp, truly not knowing what to say as of the moment. The light tingles from her long-pleated skirt quickly sent his legs quivering and meek, re-joining fragments of memories that were only alive once he had one too many drinks. Evocations of the same sky halted in his mind, stopping to remind him of the previous generation. Faces he recognized, faces he wished dearly to forget for the sake of his sleep. He wondered if the woman was thinking of the same scene.

    He couldn’t help but look up again, yearning to go to the rooftop that once had an open sky. As the woman beside him makes small conversations of the sky, a subtle yet firm banging echoed through the city. It had almost blended with the sound of the busy street below them; just faint enough to go unnoticed. The sound occurred once more, reminding him of the charm caster. Above the dark-blue sky spread gas resembling unearthly clouds, bigger than he saw before; a sign of progress and reformation. A newer reformation, in a war with bigger guns.

    Though his lips were quivering, he finally asked. ‘When did she realize?’

    ‘I’m sure it was as you said,’ She replied, though it took more thought, ‘she’s forgotten when she was you, and the memory resurfaced over time.’

    ‘Yet she refused to admit it.’

    ‘Like mother like daughter.’

    ‘I fear I’ll fail her as I did before.’

    ‘It wasn’t your fault her relic was destroyed,’ She interjected, her voice growing into a pleading hush. ‘You kept your promise, be grateful for what you did right.’

    ‘What if that was the reason that she’s sick?’ He snapped, pulling away from his arm from her embrace.

     His eyes darted towards her, a flood of quiet sorrow pouring from her petite figure. However, the woman merely stood, and waited. He straightened his stance, somehow finding the unease between the slight convergence between his shadow and hers. He had long felt the tension in his chest, ribs suffocating, and tearing into what oxygen he had left in his breath.

    He opened his mouth, realizing no sound was coming out of it. He was at that moment, a mere child—shaking, terrified, flinching at every car horn on the street below that was loud enough to disrupt his thoughts. However, the time comes where a man’s darkest convictions demanded a voice.

    ‘What if the separation was what left her unable to do magic without bleeding every other try!’

    ‘Ralph, you did all you could.’

    ‘Well it’s not enough!’

    ‘Ralph stop I-’

    Quickly the man slapped away the woman’s hand, stepping into the growing shadow on the balcony. His eyes flared with anger and regret, however, the sorrow that has invested him remained. Legs wobbling as if they’re holding on for dear life, stepping back every few inches every time the woman even so far as inches closer to him. He could feel Daiva’s piercing him, the striking question of ‘why’ banging at every surface of his skull. His eyes couldn’t help but look at the ever-pooling white clouds coming from a distant part of the city, begging the light to stay a bit longer. As if to stop an urge, he clamped his hands together, the burning sensation of her touch remaining as if it were blue powder.

    ‘Don’t you get it, Daiva?’ He heaved; corrupted lungs filled with remorse. ‘We’ve lost!’

    The woman stood silent and still.

    He quickly forced a laugh, his dominant hand already sinking inside the roots of his hair. ‘I can already see the ending!’

    ‘No, you haven’t,’ She blurted.

    ‘Oh, for f***s sake!’ He screamed. ‘Name one thing that’s different from before!’

    Her hand cracks across his face, snapping taught flesh with force as if it were a whip. Force stirring him back as his head reeled with a sickening angle. He had nearly slammed to the wall behind him if it weren’t for his space memory. He stumbled forward, black dots scattering his vision.

    ‘Why the hell did you think I came back here!?’

    ‘Oh, you f*****g know I do,’ He huffed, his voice unbalances from his forced laughter. ‘Why did you think I sent Inca after you?’

    ‘Oh, don’t you dare.’

    ‘Don’t act as if you aren’t as broken as I am,’ He continued, ‘All this time you’ve spent wallowing to have a second chance, trying oh so desperately to steer her back to you despite your destructive tendencies!’

    The last ray of light disappeared from the sky, and Ralph had marched towards the woman, leaving a mere hairline’s length between them. His finger pointed roughly at the top of her chest, pushing her as he yelled and swore. However, what he could no longer see in his fit of anger and sorrow, was the fact that the woman hadn’t moved an inch.

    ‘You wanted nothing more than I do,’ He continued, ‘You wanted to win what you’ve lost back there just like me!’

    The woman laughed, letting out a small frustrated chuckled before bursting as if she had been holding the laughter for years. Her eyes were kept on the man’s face, enough sign to show him the anger. She tilted her head, her laughter coming with a full stop as her fine hair drooped to her side. Her pale hands quickly shoved away his finger, pushing him further and further until he hit the end of the small balcony’s wall. Once his head hit the edge of the condenser unit, she stopped to hold him by the collar.

    ‘Winning?’ She cackled, ‘Is this what you think it's about?’

    She pushed him harder, fingers quickly turning into claws. Dark, pupil-less eyes stared hungrily at the man as her once fine hair quickly turned into a pool of smoke. Holding him tighter, twisting the collar of his dirty white shirt until it blocks his air. The man gasped under her, his emotions getting the better of him in spite of his flight response. The woman spat out an insult, stepping her foot between him for more leverage, she began to spoke, the corners of her aggravated lips branching into tiny veins under her pale skin.

    ‘That’s all you ever want!’ The man heaved, croaking his voice as he thrashed against her grip. ‘You wanted to proofed to yourself just like I do, that we’re not some sick f***s who just can’t accept losing the war!’

    The woman loosened her grip, just enough to let him breathe.

    ‘Winning won’t fix what I have with Inca,’ She snapped, the words escaping from gritted teeth, ‘and winning won’t erase the guilt, because God f*****g knows that I’m not doing this to blame it on someone else.’

    The man stepped back, eyes drifting away as fickle hands gripped the front of his scalp. She knew the look on him much too well. She closed the distance between them, though she made sure she would no longer harm him. Ralph’s hand slid away from his hair, leaving a messy cowlick from where it was nestled. Though the two of them were unmoving, much too scared to make the wrong move. Daiva spoke again, years of anger and bitterness reflected in her voice. However, in spite of those dangerous emotions, or perhaps because of it, something different had been reflected. Something the two of them had long forgotten existed within.

    ‘It’s true that she sent for me, but she is not who I’m doing this for,’ She said, ‘and I’m not here because I want to beat them either…Or because I hate them, or because for once I don’t want to blame myself every time their screams haunt my sleep.’

    She locked her eyes on him, watching him as he kept himself still as a statue, though his hands had stopped shaking. She held his hand, hesitantly. A beat goes by and she couldn’t help but smile, seeing he hadn’t shoved her away just yet.

    She continued ‘And we both know it isn’t fun…God knows it's not because it's easy or because it works because we’re both proof it hardly ever does!’

    ‘Then why!?’ He wept, shoving away her hand.

    ‘Because it’s right.’ She chuckled, years of unwept tears slowly trickling down her cheeks. ‘And though you might hate to admit it, it’s kind…simply kind.’

    ‘If we hide away again, more of us will die. If we stand and fight, maybe some of them will live.’

    The man scoffed, though his eyes grew dim as soon as the sound left his quivering lips.

    She exhaled a deep breath, hands instinctively reaching for his before recoiling back to her sides. ‘Maybe not everyone, maybe not even the powerful ones…But it’s the best we can do, so it's our job to do it.’

    ‘And we’re going to do this until we die just like they did,’ She continued, ‘Because we’re all going to die someday, and I’d like my centuries of life to end doing something worth dying for.’

    ‘How will you die, when you’re gone bleeding somewhere from a gunshot…O-or burnt in a metal barrel by an angry mob,’ She trailed off, no longer able to look at him, ‘how will you die, Ralph?’

    It was as if the world itself had turned still, offering them no warmth other than the burning sensation burrowing under their ribcage. The serpent looked towards him, not knowing how long she could keep staring into those eyes. She huffed a deep breath, irritated by the knot forming in her throat as the cold and dusty city air continued to press on her. It was a thick, suffocating blanket, wrapping and writhing above her as if to shake away what she was about to say next. In spite of it, her quivering lips spoke through its heavy and binding nature.

    ‘And who I am, is where I’ll rise,’ She finally said, words slowly trailing off, tears getting the best of her. ‘and where we rise today…’

    ‘…is where we’ll fall tomorrow,’ Ralph finished.

    ‘You said it,’ She giggled, whipping away the tears in her eyes, ‘you told me you never would.’

    He smiled a weak but genuine smile. ‘Tell me, love, what would be the point of running?’

    The two connected, holding each other as if it was the last day on earth. Until the time comes that Daiva let’s go of Ralph, stepping away as if she were a wounded deer. The black in her eyes quickly dissolved, returning into her brilliant clear iris. Though in spite of her efforts, the pooling dark clouds underneath her hair showed the worst of her emotions. The man stepped forward, hands reaching out only for her to step away.

    ‘I’m sorry if I’d hurt you,’ She whispered.

    ‘No, no you did the right thing.’

    ‘We need to help them.’

    Ralph inhaled a deep breath, the dread in his eyes mirroring the night sky behind the serpent. He nodded, not ready yet to say the word. In spite of it, the serpent’s dark clouds quickly cleared, matching the dark navy sky above them. Hands held together, and the two of them finally went back inside the apartment; not realizing the white smoke from the faraway had suddenly turned to a bright, unyielding flame.

    The white clouds flooded every inch of Amo’s lab, sweet scents of healing fumes escaping through a small creak of the ventilator. The charm caster hummed old tunes as long-missed sounds of clinking mortars, beakers, and flask echoed through the air. Diligent hands unpacked boxes of hundreds of vials sent from the serpent, unscrewing the top of each one before lining the insides with tasteless cooking oil. Her eyes skimmed through the room, making sure Sam and the two informants were doing their due diligence in helping her revive the place back to its green and glory.

    ‘You guys doing alright over there?’

    ‘I forgot how to fertilize the Iris flowers,’ The gatekeeper replied.

    She was surely about to answer, if not for the sudden sight playing in front of her by the enchanted Globe Amaranths. There it was Sarah and Holy, fighting to hide their frustrated voices. Frantic hands overlap each other aimlessly, trying to reverse the effects of a peculiar potion the two had spilled on the newly planted blooms the serpent had sent. The flowers cried more and more, the curious purple potion quickly soaking into their soil. It would seem that she was indeed the city’s finest.

    ‘Pour the green one on your left,’ She said, startling them.

    She quickly added, looking towards the gatekeeper, ‘Use that yellow dust on the mortar to your left.’

    The two young women quickly raced to grab the green potion, nearly dropping the vile as they poured the liquid on the flowers. The potion was gloopy in nature, some of it consequentially splattered across their hand. It merely sat o top of the flowers and leaves, dripping to the next thing under it while its looser excretions dripped under the stems. Though it did do its job, quickly making the flowers sleep; their fine blue eyes slowly drifting away into a long slumber.

    The gatekeeper had a bit more trouble with his plant’s fertilization, attempting his best attempt to quietly pour a grinded dust that refuses to flow downwards. Instinctively, his hands gingerly held up the mortar to prevent the dust from spreading out into the air. The dust quickly turned red, racing and crawling onto his forearm and under the sleeve of his plaid shirt. He rapidly shook his arms, fanning the front of his shirt to air out the clouds of dust rummaging inside him. But the clouds of dust only grew redder until its color were bright enough to pierce the thick fabric of his shirt.

    ‘Don’t move you’ll anger it,’ Amo quickly said, her eyes still fixed on her work. ‘It’s attracted to the flowers, let it go on its own will.’

    The man yelped in frustration, feeling the dust’s movement under his shirt. ‘But I poured it on to the flowers, why would it-’

    A loud yelp vibrated through the room, followed by a sigh of relief as Sam had managed to save the mortar he nearly knocked over. Amo couldn’t help but giggle at the sight, taking another sniff at the sweet scent cooking up behind her; it was just about done.

    With haste she turned off the stove, trained fingers dipping ever so slightly into the hot liquid. White fumes quickly dissipated from the air, the invisible roof above the revealing a clearer night sky. As her free hand quickly wafted away from the thick fume, the shimmering liquid dripped quickly across her index finger, turning translucent once spread. Her tongue quickly lapped at the deep jade liquid, savoring its sweet and umami flavors. Her eyes lit up, her clean hand quickly adding a pinch of grinded rose quartz from a nearby mortar into the pot before turning the heat once more.

      The enchanted rose quartz landed gracefully in the deep jade liquid, flushed pink powder dancing with the stray granules of brass and gold coating. She mixed the liquid just for a moment, letting the abrasive nature of the potion quickly dissolve the rose quartz. Pink rosy hues quickly toned the deep jade—creating a slightly lighter jade color as a new, tangy fragrance mixed into previously the overly sweet fragrance.

    Once the last fragments of rosy hues flushed into the liquid, steady hands quickly moved the pot away from the stove. As her right leg slid away from her chair, she placed the newly cooked healing potion onto her cooking counter. She smiled at her work, knowing the pot was able to sustain the entire district for at least a week if they run into trouble. She quickly whipped her hands on the old apron tied on her waist, eyes skimming back through the unlikely group strewn across her lab.

    ‘It's nearly seven, you guys can go home if you want,’ She announced.

    ‘Oh please, it can’t be that late,’ Sarah huffed, whipping the sweat off her forehead.

    Amo’s finger quickly pointed upwards, revealing the dark sky above them. The informant’s face quickly turned agape, as the white fumes of the potion quickly faded to reveal the night sky. Eyes quickly turned towards Amo, who was undoubtedly more tired than anyone in the room, yet much happier in the same sense.

    ‘It’s okay,’ She chuckled, ‘you still need to forge your documents tomorrow with Ms. Daiva, right?’

    ‘Will you be okay?’ Holy asked. ‘You still have finals tomorrow, so we can’t have you pushing yourself like this every night.’

    ‘I just need to make a few more batches, I’ll hold up,’ She replied, quickly shooing them away, ‘now go, I don’t want to take any more of your time.’

    ‘Can I at least watch the hideout while you finish up this batch?’ Sam quickly offered, hand still gripping the mortar he nearly dropped.

    Amo nodded, on the condition that Sam would eat something from the break room first. The two informants bid their goodbyes and apologies, quietly exiting the hideout through the nearest exit that led to a bus stop. With them gone, it was Sam bid his goodbye as well, insisting he should help her anytime she needs an extra pair of hands. Amo was quick but courteous with her decline, not wanting to upset that bear of a man’s heart.  

    Her eyes trailed back to her work, realizing she must move quickly before the liquid completely cools. As the last person closed her lab door, her hands rummaged through the cupboards under her counter; careful not to knock over any vials she had unpacked. She pulls out a food-grade funnel and a metal ladle. She sets down the funnel by her tiny desk, realizing she’d over-filled her counter; slowly, she tip-toed up to open a cupboard placed above the desk, grabbing sheets of sticky labels and a pen.

    ‘For f**k’s sake Pinot, where are you?’ She sighed, her voice echoing in the messy lab.

    ‘You called?’ A voice cooed.

    A smile quickly formed across her face as her doors open to reveal the man she’d been waiting for. Though the smile quickly turned to a soft giggle when the man’s face saw what they’d done to the lab and greenhouse. His hands frantically gestured towards the sleeping Iris flowers he’d just help unpack earlier today—their slumbering eyes slightly moving under their thinly stretched eyelids.

    ‘Must be quite a crowd,’ He remarked, clearing his throat.

    ‘It was fun,’ She remarked.

    She hurriedly gestured him towards the pot, pointing at the fine white fumes flowing up from the potion inside. The man had known what it was just by the scent and was quick to help her pour all the jade colored liquid into the vials. The two of them work in tandem, Amo giving him the go-to pour the mixture into the tiny vials as she placed the top and labels it with the name of the potion and the date of expiration.

    ‘This isn’t your regular stuff isn’t it?’ Pinot pointed out, quickly noticing the lighter color of the mixture.

    ‘I added some rose quartz,’ She replied, eyes unmoving from her vials. ‘I figured its temporary emotional healing properties would act as a sort of morphine to help with injury pain.’

    The man hummed, delighted with interest as he picked up his rhythm. One by one the vials were filled nearly to the brim, making sure there was enough room for any excess gas from the fumes. It nearly took them half an hour took to pack everything neatly into a box, though it was inhumanly quick compared to the time humans would’ve spent packing the entirety of the giant pot’s content. The silence left behind by the completed work was satisfactory in its own way, though they both know it was time for the harder step.

    Amo’s eyes trailed over the neatly boxed vials, the shadow of the hunched man lightly cast on its surface. She nodded, giving him permission. It had taken no time for the shadow to change, coagulating into a shapeless silhouette before slowly shrinking as if it were a deflated balloon.

    ‘You sure this will work?’ Pinot asked, his voice nearly resembling hers.

    She nodded once more. ‘You’re getting better at this.’

    ‘It’s the only spell I can do well,’ The man…No, the girl replied.

    Amo looked further away, focusing the rest of her mind on the slightly cracked tiles beneath the stove. Her instincts begged her to scoot away, though her sense of reward was quick to lock her body in place. In spite of it, she was quite certain Pinot had noticed the standing hairs in her arms—a pitiful symptom of irrational fear. A tap on her shoulder had nearly startled her out of her skin. Her eyes darted to the right, quickly meeting an identical pair of jet-black pupils staring back at her.

    ‘Am I scaring you?’ Pinot said, her voice a perfect parallel to Amo’s.

    ‘N-no it’s just-’

    Amo’s words disappeared for a moment, frantic eyes quickly looking away at the sight of the incomplete transformation. The last dark oozing hue quickly absorbed into the tips of Pinot’s skin, completing the transformation. Newly formed, frail, and bandaged hands slowly twisted left and right, familiarizing itself in its new skin.

    ‘-you look too much like it,’ She finished.

    ‘I know,’ Pinot answered. ‘I can’t change much.’

    The cobalt haired girl bit her tongue, old-worn sneakers jumping rapidly with anger and anxiety. ‘That f*****g…Thing.’

    The voice beside her chuckled, mirroring her futile ticks. ‘You know what it is, don’t you? The thing that killed Andrew.’

    ‘I know more than anyone,’ She replied, jaws clenching as teeth gritted with teeth.

    ‘You’re wondering how many they’ve corrupted.’

    She nods, no longer able to find her calm voice.

    ‘And you’re wondering if they would ever corrupt us,’ Pinot added, ‘how much time we have before every single mythos is corrupted.’

    She nods again, realizing she was gripping a bit to tight on her school uniform skirt. Finding the courage to look up from the tiles under her, she dragged her eyes to meet her copy.

    ‘Do we tell them?’

    ‘Not today, not with what Ralph must be going through.’

    ‘Is that really your call to make?’

    The room’s silence had suddenly grown to be deafening. Jet-black irises staring back at her, just like her but not quite. She had noticed that Pinot hadn’t grown too comfortable to her skin, unable to completely mimic her expression. Taught underfed skin stretched awkwardly from the anxious eyes, dry yet naturally full lips held slightly agape to show her slightly gapped central incisor teeth. Amo’s hands instinctively fixed the expression presented in front of her, slightly firm index fingers pulling on lips and the wide area of skin that connected the lower jaw to the cheeks.

    ‘I have no idea how I put up with you,’ She remarked.

    ‘Same way I put up with you.’ Pinot laughed. ‘we defect magic users really need to stick together.’

    Amo sat up from her chair, quickly gathering the things she’d collected for the cell. Pinot was quick to hold on to anything that might wobble out of the table, making sure not to waste any of their hard work. A small hum filled the room, newly bloomed flowers singing old tunes to signal the dawn of nighttime.

    ‘Better not waste your time,’ Pinot warned.

    ‘Same goes to you,’ She replied, making sure the gatekeeper didn’t spot them before she exited the lab.

    'You’re late,’ Mandy pointed out.

    Amo laughed, quickly stumbling backward from the girl’s hug. The two of them held each other from what seemed an eternity and more, only letting go once the heat from their chest grew too painful. Almost second nature, the cobalt haired girl quickly closed the metal door behind them, bringing in various bags of sweets and bread. The imprisoned girl quickly jumped onto the bed, pulling Amo to sit beside her as if they were five-year-olds at a sleepover.

    She’d never seen Mandy’s eyes lit up in such a way, though the new sight was more than welcome to come back again. Hungry, shaky hands quickly grabbed onto a chocolate bar; ready to clean it out of its wrappers. Though Amo’s hands were quick to stop her, handing the girl a small but hefty container filled with fried rice, fried chicken, and vegetables.

    ‘Eat this first, you need the energy,’ She said, handing the container.

     The girl chuckled, quickly taking the healthier food and opening it. Amo picked up a smaller bread, quietly opening it up from the plastic packaging as Mandy made herself comfortable to eat by the bed.

    'How have you been?’ Amo asked, filling in the silence as the two of them ate.

    ‘I don’t really know how to feel,’ The girl replied, mouth still filled with bites of chicken and rice.

    ‘You get to be free again, how is that confusing.’

    ‘Because you won’t be coming with me.’

    Amo hummed at the words, taking another bite of the small chocolate bread. Her mind flew back to what’d happen with their first conversation—the tears, the anger, the shouting, and shoving. They were terrified, one afraid of losing the other in spite of the knowledge of their own selfish reasons. One was afraid to let go as the other was to leave. The sound of a clanking spoon quickly snapped Amo out of her thoughts, indicating her friend had just finished eating.

    ‘Why can’t I just come with?’

    Amo giggled at the girl, nearly choking on what she was chewing. Though she was quick to stop, eyes fixated on the determined face in front of her. Soft hands grabbed her arm, squeezing just enough to send her the message. She coiled back, a burning sensation flaring from the touch.

    ‘If you get hurt-’

    'It won’t be on you,’ Mandy cut off.

    Amo’s eyes darted away from the girl, intent to focus on anything else. ‘Mandy, you know you might die, we’ve talked about this.’

    'I haven’t had any genuine friends until I had you, Amo,’ The girl said, ‘It would be nice if you didn’t leave so soon.’

    ‘You have a chance to live a normal life if you just escape!’

    ‘If that’s what it means to be happy then I refuse it.’

    The air went silent once more, two pairs of eyes looking away as if they’re opposing sides of a magnet. Amo quickly mumbled an apology, regretting she had shouted. The stillness between them scorched the room in cold flames, growing deeper until Amo could hear the two hearts beating against the dusty walls of the prison confines.

    ‘Do you remember when we first met?’ Mandy asked, her drooping head masked by the long dangling strands of her fine raven hair.

    ‘Highschool orientation, 2017,’ She replied.

    The girl chuckled, ‘We wore the wrong uniform on the first day and got punished by the seniors.’

    ‘It was the first time you talked to me.’

    ‘It was,’ The girl said. ‘I’m sure you’ve wondered what the world would look like if I hadn’t.’

    ‘We talked about flowers.’

    ‘The iris was your favorite.’

    ‘It’s called the blue magic,’ She replied, giggling at the memory. ‘You know if you grind those up and added a few things, you can see into another room.’

    ‘Oh damn, do you have to inhale it like cocaine or something?’

    ‘You’ve learned a lot,’ She snickered.

    Mandy grabbed the chocolate bar she’d been wanting from the pile of sweets, quickly unwrapping it. ‘You really don’t want me to come with, do you?’

    ‘I don’t want to lose you.’

    ‘I understand,’ The girl said, exhaling a deep breath. ‘Just don’t make me lose you.’

    'I won’t die.’

    ‘No, that’s the problem, you can die.’

    A frustrated sigh escaped Amo’s lips, the rest of the flooding emotions locked under her slightly too tight grip around her bandaged arms. Distracting herself, she picked up another thing from the pile of sweets. Tired hands picked up a pack of dark-chocolate almonds quickly cleared from its container.

    ‘I won’t die,’ She said again.

    ‘I pray to God you don’t.’

    The two of them smiled again, discovering solace in the security of the remaining days left for the war preparation. Amo quickly held up another surprise, giving her friend a new book that she’d borrowed from the high school library. They made themselves comfortable, nestling on each other as Mandy read the book aloud.

    ‘Her heartbeat as if it were fuelled by a thousand stars,’ The girl read.

    ‘Well, that’s just silly!’ Amo moaned, ‘She’d combust! A normal Mythos can only hold up one star!’

    The two of them laughed, unaware of the creeping smoke outside of their confines. Oblivious, they continued their talk of the world they live in. The difficult finals exam, the war preparations, anything the light touches in the past three days. Talks of progress, talks of conflicts, talks of fear, and the occasional curious questions from Mandy regarding the world of magic.

    Amo answered everything with zeal, blustering stories of the various potions they’d stockpiled. Plants that screamed as if they were new-borns, vines with hosting a soul so strong one could hear each leaf speak its own language, and fruits so poisonous one touch could make one bleed until their end. They speak as if there were no tomorrow until the rising temperature slowly grew unbearable. Amo looked around, attempting her best to listen to Mandy’s spiel as she tries to locate what could be causing the room to be so hot all so suddenly.

    ‘Hey no wait, stop!’ She cuts off.

    Mandy chuckled at her words. ‘Look I’m not saying I’m smarter than you, but if you still get bad grades after you cheated with magic-’

    ‘N-no no, not that,’ She answered, pointing at the door. ‘Look.’

    ‘Is that…Smoke?’

    Like brick on glass, Amo’s phone rang loudly in the room. A cold sensation rushed through her spine as her hand had nearly dropped the tiny box in an attempt to pick it up. She nodded a quick reassurance to Mandy, saying everything is surely fine. The caller id showed the man she’d just left in charge, which had only made her heart sink further.

    'Pinot?’

    A loud voice screamed from the other side. ‘Amo! Dear f*****g Christ where are you!?’

    ‘I’m with her, what’s going on?’ She asked, her voice growing frantic. ‘Did something happen at the lab?’

    ‘No, we-’

    Amo held her phone closer, reciting over and over that she could no longer hear his voice. The girl next to her could only stare, panic-stricken eyes fixated on the phone. Through ten agonizing seconds, there was nothing but muffled screams and white noise until the call ended from Pinot’s side. Amo handed the phone to Mandy, uttering soft reassurances that everything was going to be fine once she checked on the man.

    ‘What if he made something dangerous!?’

    ‘He’s not an i***t I’m sure it's fine,’ She replied, hands already on the door. ‘Just keep calling him.’

    Amo quickly pulled on the metal door before letting go of the handle, screaming in pain. Watering eyes darted towards her hands, petrified by the sickly red burn mark scorched into her palms. Painful tears trickling down her face, hitting the surface of the wound, her gold blood soaking into her bandages. The handle was the second thing she’d looked at, its metal surface still covered in white smoke and a familiar smell of burnt meat. She could feel herself swaying back and forth, the pain seared onto her nerves growing unbearable, though Mand was quick to carry her to the bed before her head slumped onto the metal door.

    ‘What happened!?’

    ‘Th…Tha…The d-door.’

    She could feel Mandy letting her body go, just for a moment before cold water splashed her face. Startled eyes darted up, suddenly finding the light above them blindingly bright. Mandy quickly sat her up, though her shaking hands were much too difficult for her to not notice.

    ‘Please…Please don’t sleep,’ The girl pleaded, tears dropping onto her fresh wound as if they were raindrops. ‘Please, I don’t know how to fix this.’

    ‘I’m awake,’ She croaked, cracking a smile she hoped was convincing enough to fool the girl holding her.

    ‘C-can you make something for this?’

    ‘I can treat my wounds but not here,’ She replied, hissing at the sudden jolt of pain. ‘It’s just…the door, it’s-’

    ‘Amo!’ A voice yelled, muffled by the pillow covering her phone.

    Quickly, Mandy grabbed it and maximized its volume. ‘Pinot, what’s happening?’

    ‘We’re under attack!’