The Dream Shifter

Chapter 227

She could not believe that someone like that helped her and stood before her encouraging. She would have thought that they would back the King's decree. It made her hesitate. A new thought she did not consider surfaced for Stamatia. '…is it possible?'

Stamatia thought she found a glimmer of hope. She was too young to do anything about the system. Her only conclusion was to pass through with as little problem as possible. Yet he offered her a different answer. He provided her a comfort. He helped many of the younger MP users that suffered from the same prejudice.

And the King destroyed even that piece of hope.

"Paian! Paian!" screamed Stamatia.

"Stop, Stamatia! You can't go to him!"

"You'll only be caught!"

Two teens, a little older than her, held her arms to keep her from running into the presentation grounds. There was nothing any of them could do. The King found Paian guilty of conspiring and recruiting insurrectionists. His honor was stripped from him and they left him to die a symbol to the rest.

Stamatia collapsed in tears along with the others that Paian helped. They hid away from everyone on the second floor of one of the training halls. She did not understand it. "Why? We're the same as them!"

"Bastard! Damn King!"

"He's one of us, too! So why is he treating us like this?"

"All he cares about is keeping Atlantis from collapsing! He doesn't care what happens to us!"

"Did you hear that they passed more decrees against us MPs?"

"What? How much more until they're happy?"

"Do they want all of us to die?"

"No," replied Stamatia. She wiped away her tears and stood up. It all happened too fast for her, but she came to her answer. 'Paian…that wasn't the way…the only way is…' Stamatia took a few steps away from them with her back to them. "We exist and we'll keep existing. I'll take whatever they'll dish out. The only way is to survive and change them from within. I'll take it all until they're tired. So no one else must!"

Night returned to Stamatia, leaving her memories behind. They re-enforced her resolve and flowed into her strength. She charged forward growing her flame larger. As she reached the range she desired, the ball of wild fire compressed. Her mind forced it into a dense energy. The mental energy she spent made her sweat with fatigue. "This is my answer!"

Fumiko finished her casting at the time that Stamatia launched her attack. The casting forced her to stand still and accept the closer distance. She did not know what the clash would be at their distance. However, she knew she could not have any doubt. Her blue flame burned with ribbons of magic spinning around and through it in a multi-latticed pattern. Symbols and characters churned about the swarming mass. "This is my resolve!"

Both women threw their flames at the same the time. Not even a second had to pass before the two massive spheres of fire clashed in the middle. The two energies fought and sparked turning into angry flares that whipped out limbs. Each limb wrapped around scrapping through like dragons unwilling to give in.

Neither fighter relented in their struggle. Everything came down to their wills. Even with the fires blasting out shockwaves, they did not explode. Their masters kept feeding them to keep them alive. The fuel made them glow brighter and rage unrestrained. However, one had to give eventually.

The signal to the end came with a prelude in the form of a quake. Breaking up the earth underneath and cracking out from the epicenter, all those around knew the moment was about to come. A few cracks of light broke out from the collision. The beams seared everything they touched. Smoke rose up prior to the explosion that erupted. It blinded everything in the area while sending gale force winds outward.

Waves of torrents pulsed from the cooling core of fire. Fumiko barely held on against the forces that threatened to cast her aside. The heat baked her skin. She was not certain what results would come from their clash, but it exceeded all of her thoughts. 'Almost over…'

Fumiko read the blast correctly. It began to calm and the blinding light faded away. The battered, burnt and crushed environment around the crater of their attacks measured the destructive nature. Through the dispersing heat, Stamatia clutched to driven wood pole. Her hand extended for guiding support. "It's all over!"

Her reaction came too late. Fumiko did not even know what happened until it was already done. Error was the only thing that saved her life. A spinning sword of fire disappeared out of range of Stamatia's field. However, her face turned white in shock before blood sprayed across her face. The pain had not even reached her brain yet as she looked down to find her arm missing from the upper arm down. Her eyes widened and pupils shrank in horror-filled shock.

Her reaction came too late. Fumiko did not even know what happened until it was already done. Error was the only thing that saved her life. A spinning sword of fire disappeared out of range of Stamatia's field. However, her face turned white in shock before blood sprayed across her face. The pain had not even reached her brain yet as she looked down to find her arm missing from the upper arm down. Her eyes widened and pupils shrank in horror-filled shock.

Fumiko collapsed to her knees as the pain screamed through her body with such intensity that her voice could not even make a sound. It just turned her body pale and her mouth slightly agape. Nothing more processed through her brain for seconds. Pain locked up everything inside Fumiko.

Stamatia pulled herself up. Her body rang with bruises and her shoulder wound screamed at her once more. Blood renewed a drip down her body under her armor with her concentration thrown. The blast did more to her than she thought possible. It took her a while to focus completely again. She thanked that her head stayed together long enough for her follow up. Even clashing, she knew that she would not come out cleanly ahead. Something in her gut told her that she needed a backup plan. It took everything she had to hold together long enough after it to make her counterattack, but it still missed.

The wound she gave still was important. Their battle was over. She won with the last attack. The fight disappeared from the woman. All that remained was to capture her. 'So exhausting…' Stamatia stumbled a step, but recovered quickly. She had not run herself so close to the end in a very long time. '…my resolve is stronger… Nothing will stop me and I'll take any pain on to see it succeed…for them…'

She felt her strength returning to her. Her posture improved and her step turned solid again. Flames came to her call loosely spinning around her, further signs of her recovery. Stamatia stopped a few meters away from Fumiko. Still not responsive, she looked down at her knelt opponent. Flames rose around Fumiko acting like bars for a prison, surrounding her. "It's over for you. Face your fate with a little pride and surrender."

Directing men around the camp managed to establish a small semblance of order. However, the chaos in the distance worked against him. Simonides stood in the center of it all working hard to keep his stone face in front of all of his men. While he fore saw it in his plans that they would attack, the timing fell outside of what he predicted. Another mysterious occurrence troubled him.

He knew if they used their powers to immediately track them, they would have found them within a couple of hours. Since he expected an attack that soon, he had his men ready for it, however it never came. By the time night felt, he expected that they traveled on foot and would not arrive until at least the morning. The reason he sent out Vangelis was meant to delay them, as he knew their arrival to be an eventuality. He just need Vangelis to slow them down until he got the answers he need to mount a proper offensive, but their presence must have meant that Vangelis never found them in time.

The reason he let slide, as he had more immediate concerns. He needed to ensure the safety of his men while under siege from the enemy. 'It's fortunate that Stamatia, Galen and Nerine have engaged them. It'll buy the time for us to regroup and prepare a counterattack.' Once more, he found himself placing his men in an undesirable position. None of them had the proper briefing for handling their opponents. So they all went in blind. He trusted them, but a desperate enemy was far more dangerous than just one trying to survive. Anything could happen.

'It bothers me why the fire user did not act in the last battle. The power even from this range is clear…' Something about the situation did not sit well with him. His gut nagged at him. He had almost no information on the woman and could only connect her to the large flames reported in the Skoupa skirmish. 'What is this feeling? What is it that I don't know yet?'

It took Stamatia's words to snap Fumiko out of her paralysis. She blinked and twitched, as the pain reminded her that she still lived. Her eyes looked down at her arm, not remembering her condition. Everything from roughly the middle of her upper arm down was cut clean off. Loose drips of blood fell from the stump, as the flame sword did not fully cauterize her wound in the speed it ran through. She still felt as though she could move her fingers, even though her mind knew clearly that it was impossible. It all presented an odd disconnected feeling of understanding yet not fully grasping the situation.

"I see you're snapped to now. So what will your answer be? Surrender or death, traitor?" She intensified her flames around Fumiko to emphasis her point and bring her attention to the matter at hand.

Fumiko gritted her teeth between the pain and situation. She did not know what she could do with only one arm, but she did not feel like giving up. 'I have to find Chiharu. I can't be stopped here… I won't make any more regrets!' Bracing her flame hand to the ground, Fumiko pulled herself up a little. Her body still felt unwieldy. She guessed the blood lose started to affect her. Fumiko channeled all of her determination into her face. "It's hard to be a traitor of a country that was never yours."

"So you'd go so far as to deny your homeland! Atlantis is far better today than it was twenty even ten years ago in the laws against MP. How can you still be denying the progress we've made?"

"I don't care about what progress you've made. It's all meaningless to me. As I told you before I'm Japanese, so it's irrelevant."

"Still spouting that nonsense? You have the Meso Prosecho! That's proof enough that you have Atlantean blood!"

"Afraid you're wrong there too. It's not too surprising, since it was pretty recent, but things aren't the same outside of your world anymore."

"Lies! It's not possible!"

A choking laugh came from Fumiko. She finally had the strength to stand on her legs. The talking bought her all of the time that she needed. All she needed to do was prepare her mind for what she was about to do. It still scared her a bit. "Yeah, I can't really expect you to believe it. We didn't at first. But I guess since it was because of someone like you who did it, then I guess you could say your powers are the reason I have mine."

"You aren't making any sense. What sort of lies are you trying to use to con your way free?"

"It's a shame. It's all the truth, but that's all the time I have to talk." She lifted her up her flame arm to stare at it. Fumiko flipped her eyes back at Stamatia to meet gazes. "However, I don't need words to free myself," she smirked. Her hand tightened growing a new flame, smaller, but tightly controlled. It burned red rather than blue. 'I know it's a lot to ask, but Kimiko watch over me, please…' Fumiko prepared all she could.