I can’t even fathom what I am watching right now. That woman basically just died and was revived right in front of my eyes. How powerful can these cards be? Do they really have the ability to stop death or even bring people back from the dead?

  “What the fuck is going on?” Avis screams as he continues to dodge her swift attacks. She continues to use a knife though because the axe is still lodged in the stone street.

  Before I can get too lost in thought, Dardania tackles me to the ground just in time to miss a chain to the head. The Death Touched took his opportunity to attack us in the back line while Apate kept Madison busy.

  “Thanks.” I moan to her as she climbs off of top of me.

  “Don’t mention it, but he’s exposed now.”

  Dardania keeps her body low as she eyes the Death Touch waiting for the perfect moment.

  “Slash.” She whispers, her voice echoing on the wind. “Got him.”

  Just as she is about to celebrate, Apate is pulled back by the shackles on her wrist and the entire front of her body gets slashed up. As she starts to bleed profusely from the deep cuts on her torso, her body falls limp but she doesn’t fall. Instead the chains continue to hold her up. The Death Touch then begins to move her body like a marionette puppet to continue fighting Madison.

  “What have I done?” Dardania covers her mouth as her eyes widen in disbelief at the body flopping around in front of her. Apate tries to raise her head to eye the people in front of her but she doesn’t have the strength to do so.

  “You monster!” Madison screams as she tries to dodge the attacks and does everything in her power to not strike back.

  She spins her staff before striking it into the ground, cracking the stone as it makes contact. Apate’s body begins thrashing at an invisible wall in front of Madison. Madison tightly closes her eyes attempting to not face the sight in front of her.

  I turn my head, trying not to watch as Apate slowly dies but is being used as a cudgel against Madison. The vile smile of her blood is radiating through the town center, causing my stomach to churn. The sight that I faced in Maia doesn’t even begin to compare to this. This goes far behind a nightmare and is just a true monstrosity. How can these people follow someone they call a saint and act like this? To do such horrible things and for what? What is the point of all this?

  “Help me.” Apate cries out, her voice shaky and barely audible.

  “Stop it! Stop it!” Dardania screams across the square, but the Touched continues to ignore her.

  With Dardania distracted, the Light Touched was finally able to pull her axe out of the stone.

  Avis grunts as he slowly dives and rolls to the side to dodge an overhead swing. The axe smashes through the stone as it makes contact. It will only take one hit and Avis’s entire body would be shattered. I watch on helpless as he narrowly avoids her attacks. I inhale deeply and hold it in. If I exhale, I’m worry my heart might burst from anxiety.

  Madison continues to be pushed back as she refuses to continue fighting Apate who was now hanging completely limp from the shackles. At this point, I have no idea if she is still alive or not. She is covered in her own blood and remains unmoving except for what the Touched makes her do. She deserves better than this.

  Dardania dives past Apate, rolls, and as she comes up she reaches for the Death card in the Touched’s belt. Just as her fingers are about to grab it, he moves swiftly, kicking her square in the stomach, sending her flying into a wall across the street from them.

  Avis turns his attention towards his sister for just an instant, and it’s enough for him to be open to attack. The Light Touched swings her axe one last time at Avis’s head, which is turned towards Dardania.

  I watch as the axe inches closer to his head. As my heart rate increases, it feels like the world slows down in front of me as I’m about to watch him die. There is nothing I can do, all I can do is stand back and watch everyone in front of me die.

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  I haven’t known him for long, but I don’t want to lose him. I’ve lost too many people I care about already. Being with this group has given me a reason to keep going. A reason to care. A reason to get up in the morning. It has been wildly terrifying and feels like I could die on the daily, but it’s best I’ve felt since my father died. I don’t want to lose them. No one else.

  “No!” I scream as I jump to my feet. I’m not sure what I could do, but I couldn’t just stand by.

  As I scream, I feel an energy well up inside me. It feels like I can feel the vibrations from the earth beneath by feet. It slowly climbs up my body until it fills every fiber of my being. Once it becomes too much to contain, it erupts from my body in every direction.

  A shockwave of incredible force rips through the town square, sending everyone and everything flying. Avis slams into the ground and rolls until he smashes into his sister. Madison uses her force field to block the blow from hitting her, but everyone else goes flying.

  Walls crumble, buildings collapse, and debris flies in every direction. The only things that stands before me is rubble and a half collapsed town square. The Light Touched had been flung into a cabbage stall, her axe landing squarely in her chest. The Death Touched smashed through a building and lie motionless in the middle of a store. Apate, she wasn’t moving.

  “What did I do?” My voice trembles as the words leave my mouth. I slowly raise my hands to cover my gaping mouth. That was me, I did that. The collateral damage alone was outrageous, I can’t even fathom how much.

  Avis grabs a hold of my hand and starts pulling me away but I couldn’t move. My feet felt heavy, like heavy weights dragging me down. I wanted to move, I really did, but I didn’t know how in the moment. I may have killed them. I may have killed others. It’s not something I even considered I would do, and now I stand here frozen to the ground.

  As he continues to pull at me, The Light Touched moves in reverse until she is standing again. She grabs the axe and pulls it out of her chest and the wound instantly closes up. She sticks the axe on her back and slowly walks towards the store where the Death Touched is. She climbs over the rubble, grabs him by the wrist and drags him through a portal that appears in the back of the store.

  Madison rushes to Apate, but before she can reach her a portal opens beneath her and pulls her through it.

  “We need to get out of here.” Prisha pulls Dardania to her feet and helps usher her out of the town square.

  “James. James!” Avis continues screaming at me, but it just sounds like buzzing to me. I can’t feel the vibrations anymore, but I’m still in a daze. I can’t quite fathom what I just did, and seeing the destruction in front of me just makes it harder to comprehend. The Light Touched isn’t dead, but what about civilians. What about the citizens that live in and work in the town square? How many innocent people did I just hurt?

  “It’s okay.” Avis grabs my head and turns it towards him. Our faces are inches away from one another, our eyes locked. “It’s okay. We can talk about it later, but now we need to get out of here.”

  I nod and allow Avis to pull me away from the square and away from the catastrophe that I just caused.

  ****

  Avis helps me on to the couch and takes a seat next to me. Feeling his body next to mine helped for some reason. It gave the sensation of being hugged without the whole bodies touching. It just felt nice to not be alone right now.

  My mind was a lot clearer now, the walk back to Prisha’s house definitely helped. It’s quite shocking to create a shockwave and destroy the center of town. Especially when you’ve not really been able to do magic before and it only happens when your crush is about to die. I can’t tell him that though, he would make fun of me relentlessly. There is enough drama in this soap opera, the last thing I needed was the butt head giving me a hard time.

  “I’m glad you’re not dead.” I said deciding to just throw it out there. Perhaps he wouldn’t say something sarcastic. He smiles warmly, it’s feels genuine. Real. I think it’s one of the first times I’ve seen that. I’m not saying my heart may have skipped a beat, but it definitely missed one. But don’t tell him that.

  “Yeah I know you are, I’m pretty amazing that way.” Avis smirks. Of course, the butt head couldn’t just leave it at that could he?

  Breaking up our non romantic moment, Prisha slumps down into an armchair and then proceeds to down a glass of alcohol. She slams it down onto the table.

  “How the hell did they even know you were here?” Prisha asks exasperated.

  “I don’t know, no one followed us here. I made sure of it.” Madison says as she contemplates it.

  In the corner of the room, Devon fidgets with his hands. After a few moments, he begins messing around with the buttons on his shirt. Prisha shifts her gaze towards him. Slowly everyone else turns to look at Devon in the corner whose was holding his head low and staring at the floor.

  “Devon, what did you do?” Prisha asks as she stands up. “What did you do!?” She screams across the room at him.

  “I— I didn’t know they would try to kill them. I…” Devon trails off as the words get caught in his throat. “I just wanted to protect you.”

  “Protect me? Those monsters killed my mother. How would this help me?”

  “I thought if they were arrested that you—”

  “That I would what? Just quit? Just walk away? They have nothing to do with my decision to be in the Minor Arcana. Nothing! But— but they are my friends and for you to turn them in to be executed. I can never forgive that.”

  Prisha turns and walks out of the room.

  “Prisha.” Devon quickly rushes after her.

  The rest of us sat in silence unsure of what to say when a thought came to mind and I couldn’t hold it in. It just falls out of my mouth.

  “That fucker almost got us all killed.”