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Xmas is approaching, I hope everyone who celebrates is excited~

I'm not. But you can all expect a holiday's update in your virtual stockings regardless!

As for everyone that doesn't do Xmas, I still hope your having a good week.

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          This was it.

          Every hair on the back of Káel's neck stood on end as the Queen's bellowing roar rattled his ribs.

          His heartbeat doubled, desperately trying to break from his chest and flee his planted fear.

          He was going to die here. 

          Trampled and stabbed to death for some stupid magical dust.

          Puff couldn't fly with him on his back, and it was likely that the dragon would stick with him to the bitter end. With a panicked breath Káel readied to unleash every spell he knew on the beast, a nest of twigs slowly snapping behind him as the bloodthirsty bucks closed in. 

          He was really going to die.

          His heart reached a peak of terror, the silver dots returning to swim across his vision and lighten his heavy thoughts to nauseating dizziness. The sickening sensation almost distracted him entirely from noticing the blue ball of flames that shot out to barely miss the Queen's face, colliding with a small pack of unicorns in the distance as they shrieked in terror at the surprise.

          "Pick on someone your own size you trashy white ponies."  

          Káel recognised the voice, the usual dread he attached to it lifted to pure elation as he twisted on his heel to stare wide eyed at Ray, the elite lingering a few meters back with his goggles tugged down and the same mechanical bracer he'd attacked the chirops with clipped to his wrist.

          Káel's smile withered a little when he remembered how that rescue mission went.

          Hopefully he'd charged it this time.

          Káel could feel Ray's stare as he shifted his attention from the queen, his intent hidden by his goggles, yet torn between urgency and irritation as he fiddled with the bracer. "Back up."  

          Without a word of protest Káel stepped out of the line of fire, thankful that the Queen had lost its interest in playing with him, it's grating snarls seized entirely by Ray's sudden appearance. With a barking roar it raked its hoof into the dirt, foaming blobs of saliva falling from it's bared teeth as it drooled in anticipation to sink its horn into the cocky blond.

          Ray kept his ground at the intimidation tactic, slipping out a familiar baton that snapped and crackled with an electric bite as he smacked the first unicorn that tried him upside the head, sending it running back into the shadows with a sharp whimper.

          Before the pack could converge on him all at once he did something with the bracer, the device pulsing with blinding energy as it unleashed a steady stream of blue fire, allowing him to draw half a circle to cover his back with a wall of undying flames. 

          Káel could still hear Ray's voice loud and clear over the thrashing flames, a menacing boom that chilled him more than the sound of the Queen.

          "We're going back to Cobalt peacefully, or I'm going through you."

          The Queen roared at the threat, her answer clear as she charged horn first at the elite, seeming to expect him to dodge the strike as she kicked out her leg to try and clip his shoulder. Ray barely slipped by the strike, swinging his baton at the beast's neck with ill effects. The electricity was barely enough to seize up the Queen for a mere blink, and the strike was hard, but hardly enough to send the behemoth packing. From the way it howled and and charged again, the attack seemed to just piss it off more than anything.

          Káel took a step, hesitating on if interfering with the fight would help at all. Everyone was on the other side of the flames, the other unicorns keeping their distance from the scuffle while Káel was close enough to feel the heat kissing his face as Puff still wrapped around him defensively. He could feel his necklace still burning at his chest, but a newer sensation was starting to tingle and bite at his toes and finger tips, slowly spreading through his veins like a writhing swarm of prickly ants.

          He watched as Ray maneuvered around the Queen, seeming to be on top of the unicorn's erratic attacks until a lucky kick planted itself in his shoulder. The tides were quick to turn as Ray hit the ground, the Queen's random stabs and kicks pulling together with one precise attack.

          Káel couldn't bear to watch as the Queen thrust its horn down at Ray.

          Dodging that attack was impossible.

          He could feel the sensation reaching his wrists and ankles, his lungs strangely constricting with every breath he heaved in. Ray's cry of pain only quickened his dreadful heartbeat, morbid curousity pulling his gaze into its horrible clutches as he stared at the scene in paled fear.

          The Queen hadn't hit Ray's heart like it had intended, stopped in the nick of time by Ray's arm that he had thrown up as a last line of defense. But the Queen knew it was close to ending the nuisance all together, pressing its weight into the strike as Ray's arms began to shake from the pressure, and the tips of its horn poking through his arm inched closer to his chest.

          Káel could feel the sizzling bite of his necklace, every second in the presence of the Queen heating it's surface until the air buzzed and a cloud of steam danced with the cold air around it. "Stop it!" Káel ordered, the air buzzing with even more energy as the Queen ignored his calls. With a growl of frustration he ripped his necklace off, tossing the tooth away to burn the grass at his feet, the buzz in the air now humming with energy.

          As if something was reading his mind, the blue flames peppering their small arena withered under a gust of wind, their vibrant glow blackening as the mass lifted from the ground to swirl at his fingertips. The heat was still there, licking black flames tightening into a nearly invisible ball that lashed out and slammed into the Queen's face, easily throwing the beast into the bushes with a cry of surprise and pain.

          Káel watched in bewilderment as the Queen weakly picked itself back up, the grass and shrubs around it withering to ash wherever the black flames licked. 

          But something was missing now.

          Beaten and terrified, the Queen bowed its head in submission, a clean slate of charcoal washed white resting on its forehead where a sword sized horn once stood. Just like that its powers had been stripped, shame weighing its walk as it left into the woods, its pack fleeing in the opposite direction.

          "Káel?"

          Káel turned his attention to Phantom, words incapable of escaping his throat that had swelled with a fiery pain, the tingle biting into his shoulders as the swarm moved towards taking his body completely. He wanted to help Ray, even check if he was alright after the attack, but he couldn't move anymore let alone breath without laboured gasps. 

          Drowned in the pain and the suffocating squeeze of death, Káel could only watch Ray rip the horn out of his arm himself, not even clutching the wound as he scrambled to reach Káel before his knees gave out. 

          The silver expanded to black, any colours piercing the twisting veil of his vision blurred and indecipherable as he felt Ray's grip on his shoulders. The spearing pricks had swarmed all the way to his heart, a few pounding beats pushing out a wave of numbing ice that flooded his veins with rigid relief.

          "Káel! Stay with me, what happened?!"

          Ray's voice was close, but the nauseous blur had a firm grip of Káel's senses, his lungs stiffened and cracking with a dried strain as he could only manage slow and shallow breaths. The pain that overwhelmed his body wasn't gone. He couldn't feel what was holding him up, nor the ground at his knees or the clothing on his back. The ice was not relief, it was a sensation that filled a void of numbness and nothing more.

          "Káel!"

          This was it.

          Cold and powerless was how all things perished. 

          He tried to push a sound out of his throat, a bit of focus returning to his eyes with the bright red that he assumed he'd coughed up instead of talking. He could see the ripped fabric of Ray's sleeve where the Queen had driven her horn right through his arm, expecting some of the red to colour the spot even a little, but the gash was only wet with watery liquid, and stranger still to his fading sight, it wasn't a gory gash.

          It was sparking.

 —————

          Ray looked around the scorched battlefield, night barely hindering his ability to see every tiny detail in the shadows. Evidence that gave away what had happened to Káel.

          He wiped the speckles of blood that had dribbled down Káel's chin, his gaze immediately drawn to the glittery dusting coating his bangs.

          Pixie dust.

          "Shit," Ray muttered, twisting around to pull Káel onto his back. "Just keep breathing until we get to Cobalt." He sighed as Káel whimpered out a response, tugging down his goggles to colour their path with the heat of their surroundings.

          He frowned at the view. Heat vision had only been useful for finding Káel, a daylight filter would do the trick a lot better in getting back.

          He quickly flicked through the settings, nighttime becoming day through the lens of his goggles, and the giant red blob that was once Puff's heat signature still painted red by a figure looming a couple feet in front of him.

          Ray tensed at the unexpected guest. Káel was currently racing against a clock called death, and if he had to stop and fight another creature, his fate would be sealed for the worst. But the way this masked man stood oblivious to his clear attention was strange, as if the familiar sight didn't even know Ray was staring directly at him.

          He focused on the man's pale mask, the dots connecting to a shockingly horrifying conclusion.

          Truvius was right.

          Ray slowly lifted his goggles, answering the question clawing the back of his mind when the man completely vanished. 

          Only the lifeless lenses of the goggles could see him.

          He could hear Káel's heartbeat slowing, his tensed body weakening to a dead weight on his back. His right arm was cramping up, but the damage wasn't enough to cut its strength completely. As soon as the horn tore into his flesh, he had turned off every receptor within an inch of the incision. There was no use in crippling himself with pain right now, just like there was no use in stopping to stare at the living specter from Truvius' library books. 

          The only use, his only use, was saving Káel.

          And that was all it would ever be.

 —————

          Ray tried to keep his pace as quick as possible, but Ragdoll was only a small distraction to Tia's wisps, darting through the blackened halls of Cobalt to create the smallest openings for him to slip through. He had to tip toe without a sound, and was thanking whatever gods this planet had that the floor was stone and carpet. 

          Káel's struggled breaths were enough to give him away.

          Ray sighed with relief when he made it to the Green House door, clicking it open with his black card and quietly walking in. Without Tia to bug him he rocketed through the halls, finally stopping in front of a polished brown door with a seven on it to unabatingly wrap his knuckles across it.

          After what seemed like the twentieth set of knocks, it clicked open and Kestrel popped her head out, looking up at Ray with a soured squint. "It is the middle of the ni-" Her gaze shifted to Káel when she clicked in to the struggled breaths, eyes widened with speechless shock as she took a couple steps back. "What's wrong with him?"

          "Pixies," Ray replied, ignoring the green house leader's paled silence. She was never good with wounded people, but she also wasn't the reason he'd assaulted her door in the middle of the night. 

          "What's this commotion?" another voice sighed, Mariel peeking past the frame with an exhausted yawn. But the blur of waking up was vanquished, her emerald eyes falling on Káel as she immediately checked his pulse and wiped away the specks of blood collecting on his lips. "He's barely breathing..."

          "Get in here before someone catches me breaking my own house rules," Kestrel snapped, pulling Ray in and slamming the door. Puff jumped in before it closed, lacking the strange jar Ray had seen him with in the forest.

          Ray gently placed Káel on the closest couch, his heart clenching as he finally saw the state his friend was really in. Káel was still slightly conscious, covered in a cold sweat as his chest convulsed to draw in even the smallest breath of air. Judging by the purple hue in his cheeks, the air wasn't reaching him anymore, a small trickle of tears trekking his cheeks from a mix of fear and pain.

          "You can save him... right?" Ray said, his voice faltering at the delayed smile Mariel answered with. "Right? He's going to be okay?"

          Mariel finished her spell, pushing a green orb right into Káel's chest as he gagged out a couple clumping globs of red, his airways seeming to free up a bit as he took a few steady breaths. "Kestrel, keep this enchantment going."

          Mariel flicked her calculating gaze about the room, ripping a stuffed leather bag out of her closet and splaying its medicinal contents on the floor. She picked a handful of dried herbs, running her hands through the clinking mound of glass vials.  

          "How long has it been since he fainted?"

          If Ray didn't feel Mariel's gaze on him he wouldn't have even registered the question, eyes still drawn to stare at Káel's as he barely moved his lips. "Fifteen, twenty minutes?" Ray bit his lip in, shrinking with fear in a room where he couldn't help. "I warned Tia... how did he slip past her?"

          "Just calm down," Mariel replied, scooping up all her selected ingredients into a bowl and running back to the couch. "It's not your fault he went sniffing pixies."

          Ray watched Mariel mash the herbs together in a bowl, his gaze always drawing right back to Káel with sinking hopes. He was breathing now, but his eyes were closed and his skin a waxy white. 

          He looked like a corpse.

          Ray took a step closer to the couch, fearing that Káel would pass if he even blinked.

          Not again.

           "Please don't let him die."

          "That's the goal," Mariel retorted, dripping a clear liquid into the bowl to watch its contents sizzle and melt into a dark brown sludge. She held her hand over the bowl, muttering in concentration as it bubbled and morphed into a light green liquid that she immediately poured into Káel's mouth. 

          Ray watched her empty the bowl's contents, anxiously squeezing his fists as nothing about Káel changed. 

          Was it working?

          "That should stop it," Mariel sighed, working on another healing spell as she hovered her hands over Káel's throat. With a grim frown she gave Ray one stabbing side eye. "We need to report this."

          "He's my mess, I'll do the reporting," Ray replied.

          "You're telling a high ranking Breaker and a House Leader not to report this?" Kestrel scoffed. "Do you have any idea how many rules he just broke?"

          "All the more reason not to drag yourselves into this," Ray said, welcoming himself to kneel by Káel's side, his arm brushing something in Káel's coat pocket and toppling it onto the floor. 

          Kestral grabbed the flat brown rock with a grimace. "Blood on the couch, muddy footprints everywhere... Pixie dust. I'm going to have to clean this room again after all the crap you just dragged in here." She scrunched her nose as Ray silently grabbed the rock to stare at it. "What's a first year doing trying to collect Pixie Dust anyways?"

          What Káel was doing wasn't the question.

          Ray pulled down his goggles, dread pitting in his stomach as he caught the red figure in his corner vision.

          It was what that thing was making him do.

          He pulled his goggles back up to stare at the rock. It had fallen from Káel's pocket before, at the very start of his school year. Káel had it with him on a number of occasions for reasons he didn't quite understand. 

          But now he got it. 

         If he was going to seal something so it'd never be found, he'd choose a rock too.

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Quality Quip #42:

'Dying is a wild night and a new road.'

~Emily Dickinson