The Dream Shifter

Chapter 174

By reflex she jumped back roughly still not balanced on her feet. A wooden and stone shelf collapsed where she used to stand. Among the wreckage laid broken pottery and crates. She lifted her head up to see a young man in the black military uniform she saw before at the barrier. Her eyes widened in surprise to find herself standing so close to the enemy.

Yori finally caught up to his sister finding the soldier staring down at her. "Yumi! Run away!"

The soldier gave the two teenagers a perplexed look not understanding them. He turned back toward his comrade that joined him. Yori's translator gave a clear view into their conversation. "Hey Kalliope, I think we've found the intruders! But they're just kids. You recognize their language? It's not English or European like most of those we find!"

The woman stepped out around him looking down at the siblings trying to pick out their words and features. Her hand rested on the hilt of her sword as though always prepared for trouble. She looked over at Philon. "They sort of look like those from the Asia countries, don't they?"

Philon leaned over staring down at them trying to confirm the guess. He remained unsure, but pulled back to address Kalliope. "I don't know. I've never seen one before. Aren't most of their people by the north gate?"

"This'll make communication impossible unless you know the language."

"You kidding? I have enough trouble with English. Such a pain learning foreigner's words just to use them so infrequently."

"Well either way children or not we need to take them back to the Captain."

He nodded back to her and started to reach for something behind him. Yori looked over at his sister realizing that she knew nothing of what happened. 'I've got to get her out of here. She's not ready for this!'  He pulled on his sister to get her to move. "Come on, Yumi! They're going to capture us if we don't move!"

Yumi's eyes appeared empty with her voice just repeating the fragmented thoughts from her mind. "I-I…thought…Yuki…" She did not know what to do anymore. Her mind ran blank in the face of real danger.

The two soldiers started to make their approach for the scared teens. Yori tried to put himself between them and his sister, but they surrounded them quickly. It seemed that they had no choice, but capture. '…sister…I need to do something!' Suddenly from behind him a burning ball flew past Yori and scattered the soldiers leaping out of the way.

When the flame hit the ground it blew out in a shockwave dirt and debris from the ruined houses. Out of the shadows stepped Fumiko lowering her hand back down. "That was just a warning shot. If you don't want any more of this I'd suggest you retreat!"

When the flame hit the ground it blew out in a shockwave of dirt and debris from the ruined houses. Out of the shadows stepped Fumiko lowering her hand back down. "That was just a warning shot. If you don't want any more of this I'd suggest you retreat!" Fumiko rushed over to Yori and Yumi with the distance that she gave them. "Can you two stand?"

The blast of fire from Fumiko set the two soldiers on edge. Both drew their swords ready to defend themselves from the attacker with strange powers. Philon glanced over at Kalliope hoping to find an answer from her. Unfortunately, she seemed as confused by what they just experienced. "Another intruder, just how many of them are there!?"

"Looks like the Captain was right about there being more to these intruders. But I never expected a MP user to be amongst them." Kalliope tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword thinking about the trouble they got into with their foe. "Explains how they got in though. We have an unmarked traitor!"

Skepticism still weighed on Philon. "A Meso Prosecho…" The tall girl made even them as adults appear short, making him a little uneasy. However, height played little towards his uncertainty about the foreigner. "She looks like the rest of them. MP users can only be Atlantean."

"But they can use their powers to change their appearance. She's probably got some pretty big crimes on her shoulders if she needs to hide her identity."

"We aren't equipped to deal with a MP user though! It's normally the duty of the Ministry of Military Crimes Omega Branch to deal with these matters!"

"Stop complaining about our situation, Philon. Our honor as soldiers of the South Gate is on the line here!"

The mood became unbalanced for Fumiko. Like Yori, she kept the translator earring from Yuki with her (more out of forgetfulness than intention). She heard everything the two soldiers said between them and knew that she might have rattled them a little briefly. Yet it only seemed to make them more determined to capture. 'They think I'm like Yuki?! I can use that against them, but if they have ways for dealing with people like Yuki what sort of affect will it have on me?'

Fumiko looked over at Yori and Yumi still working on standing. 'I've got to get them out of here. They won't be any match for trained soldiers, even with ancient world weaponry.' She knew what she had to do. She stood up and stepped forward putting herself closer to the two soldiers. "Can you get your sister out of here?"

Distracted with Yumi, Yori did not immediately notice what Fumiko had done for them. Some coaxing and force by him managed to finally get Yumi moving to her feet. He saw Fumiko in front of them finally taking in his surroundings. The flanking soldiers closing in with Fumiko alerted him to the situation. "What are you doing?!"

"Can you get her out of here?" she asked again barely turning her head.

"But what about you? I can't just leave you alone with them!"

Fumiko smiled a little to herself for unknown reasons to even her. "Could you fight without knowing she was safe?"

Her question silenced Yori sharply with a wall before him. He glanced at his sister thinking about what she said. The thought that she probably was right pained him. Abandoning someone for personal feelings seemed wrong. 'But I can't leave Yumi here… There were only four in the village and if Hayashi is keeping the others busy…' Weighed uncertainty calculated through his mind staring at Yumi. Yori suddenly took a firm grasp on her as a decision came to him. "I'll be back soon!"

The distant footsteps faded away in a hurried panic. A sign to her, they had finally left them alone, her and the soldiers. While the balance in numbers had changed Fumiko did not feel anymore cornered than she had before. 'This is the first time I've actively used my magic against someone. Can I do this?' Fumiko weighed out the tension in her body trying to loosen up. Pressured to act made her feel uncertain about her powers.

Kalliope restrained herself from reacting to two of their prey escaping out from their grasp. Neither of the kids seemed to be of much threat to them before the tall foreigner that they faced. A power of fire meant that the entire village stood threatened by the girl. She had to protect the village from harm. The Xiphos, short sword, in her hand sang in the air focusing her determination into the blade. Her eyes stared down with Fumiko taking cautious steps.

Opposite to her, Philon had other ideas. He shifted his legs and weight trying to be careful about tipping off Fumiko. A quick glance of his eyes to Kalliope checked on her positioning. "Think you can handle her while I go after the two others?"

"They can wait. We need to deal with the MP user first."

"We'll have to start our search all over again if we lose sight of those two. Plus our net around the village leaves too much to be broken through."

He had a point in what he said that Kalliope did not want to openly admit. Her own insecurities about dealing with Fumiko held her back. However, she saw him making more overt motions to giving chase. 'He's right that we have too few for a proper search. We're spread too thin. They've thrown everything into chaos…'

Keeping outwardly clueless, Fumiko waited for them to make a move. She tried to play up her obliviousness on the field. They already thought her to be one of them. She needed to keep them confused and uncertain. 'I can't let him leave for Yori and Yumi. I've got to do everything I can to hold them both back…' Concentrating on her magic, time painfully lingered for them with both sides holding cautious of the other.

No further discussion between Philon and Kalliope occurred when he sprinted for the opening left by Fumiko. Ready with a spell already, ribbons of magic and lines of drawn energy rapidly gathered out from Fumiko's shoulder into her right hand. Everything happened so fast it appeared that her entire arm ignited in fire before the blast of flames exploded in front of Philon's feet knocking him backwards.

Fumiko stepped back ensuring that she stayed between the two of them and the rest of the street behind her. The night wind blew back the blast cloud over the street in front of the two soldiers creating a dramatic line in the sand. 'I can do this!'

Philon coughed from the dirt road still holding on to shock. Through the breaking smoke he saw the girl staring them down insistent on not letting them leave. He caught sight of the seared ground where he might have been if he misstep. Once he regained his composure, Philon stood up locking tightly on to his short sword. "Not going to let me go, huh?"

The woman tightened in on Fumiko trying to keep an eye on her hand for signs of fire. "You hurt?"

"No, she missed me. I don't know if it was intentional or not."

"Still the speed of her reaction is high. You're not going to be able to escape very easily."

"You've got a plan for dealing with her? She hasn't used any field techniques yet. You really think it's a MP user?"

"I know…" She actually had let that fact slip past her. As Philon had pointed out to her earlier, their job did not cover dealing with rogue MPs. They had no field experience applying it. The delaying made her impatience. 'We won't know the full extent of her powers without testing her. I'll just have to make a move myself!' Kalliope shifted her left foot around as she stood near a villagers house filled with their hobbies and life smashed out on the ground. Her foot locked around small pot lifting it up enough to cast it at Fumiko.

Fumiko back stepped to avoid the pottery losing her focus for just a moment. In the wake of the shattering clay Kalliope swooped in taking a testing swing at Fumiko to judge her physical reflexes. Often MPs relied too much on their powers leaving their physical strength and body severely lacking. Good ones became highly refined masters of both physical and mental arts. Their greatest weakness lied in the fact that they held a normal human body despite all of the fantastical powers they possessed. She had to know where Fumiko stood.

Mentally Fumiko had prepared herself from such a trick, but mentally prepared meant nothing in actual combat. The sword's blade sliced through her tunic Ayumi gave her only nicking the skin, despite it feeling much worse to Fumiko. She stumbled back a few more steps trying to recover herself. The two soldiers closed in pressing their advantage on her causing her to hastily attempt another spell. Lines of magic barely made it down her shoulder before it evaporated on her. 'What?! It's not working?!' Fumiko had no time to worry about her magic as the woman swung more focused at her. Only her already back stepping saved Fumiko from the blade. A follow-up to the swing came in as the woman's extended leg spun around to crashing into her waist. She fell off her feet directed with the woman's leg into the nearby home breaking through the wooden door.

A cough came up from Fumiko's lips as she laid on her back staring blurry eyed up at the plaster ceiling of the home she invaded. Fights had only ever been something that she read about in her fantasy books. She pictured them vividly in her mind to play out dramatically with the hero eventually win in spite challenges. Even though she lived in them, the real thing turned out to be nowhere as romanticized as her dreams.

Still dazed by the impact, Fumiko heard a loud ringing in her head. 'So loud…did I get hit that hard? I'm really not a fighter…' Soon the cloud in her mind began to clear turning the ringing into screaming. Sluggishly tilting her head, she saw a villager petrified beyond control by her sudden arrival. 'Am I so frightening?' Fumiko began to push herself back up and caught a flash of Philon running off, no doubt in search of Yumi and Yori. Seeing that she had let one of them through she tried to rise sharply, but found herself dropping down to one knee. 'Damn… I'm so useless…'