A Parallel Dream

Chapter 9: A Breach at Home

I awoke to my door being slammed into the wall.

"Eli! Eli! Get up!" Suri ran into my room, a grim expression across her face.

"What's wrong? Is everything alright Suri?"

"They... they are killing everyone."

It was then that I noticed the crimson liquid dripping from her face.

"What?! What happened to your face Suri?" I reached up to touch her face but she pulled away abruptly.

"I'm fine! I need your help. Please use your power! It's the only way to stop them!" The fear in Suri's eyes were not something I had seen in a girl who, a few days ago, was so prideful about her strength.

I attempted to focus my power like they had told me earlier. I focused... focused... and focused. Nothing happened. I tried again... focusing... focusing... focusing. Nothing happened.

"Suri, it's not working. I'm not sure what to do." At this point, I still didn't know anything about my power. I didn't know how it activated or how to use it when it did activate.

"Let's go meet the others. We need to get out of here before it's too late."

We made our way out of the small bedroom and down a narrow hallway strewn with the bodies of Suri's fallen people. She grimaced as she passed each body, and the smell had begun to overtake the area.

"I was sent to get you from your room. While we were resting, the Athenian army breached the entrance to our city. They overwhelmed us quickly. Many of the Athenian soldiers did not fear death. My father took the Empress and Felicia to his safe room near the bottom. Hurry, we need to keep moving."

Suri and I continued our descent into the lower levels of the city. Many soldiers from the Athenian Empire were making their way to and from certain areas and cleaning up any survivors that they had missed previously.

"Woah! Wait a second." Suri stopped me at the corner to the next hallway.

"What's wrong?"

"There are three guards up ahead. They seem to have five or six civilians there."

I peeked around Suri to see what looked like four adults and two children. The soldiers had lined the six up against a wall and surrounded them. All of the soldiers were suited with full plate metal armor and were quite intimidating, especially for civilians.

"Please! Just leave us be! We have children here!" One of the women in the group attempted to plead with the soldiers.

"Shut your mouth!" One of the large guards smacked the woman across the face sending a bloody paste shoot onto a nearby wall.

I jumped forward behind Suri. She slammed her hand into the middle of my chest.

"What the hell are you doing!? You can't run out there! Especially because your power is essentially useless."

"We can't just stand here! I'm going!"

I pushed Suri aside and ran towards the huddled group.

"And who the hell are you?!" One of the guards turned towards me with a fierce expression. I may have underestimated how large these guys actually were.

"I... ugh... well..." As I was attempting to stammer out a statement, a loud thwack echoed from the back of his helmet. Suri was standing behind the guard. Her tail had left an indentation in the back of the guard's helmet. The other guards pushed their way towards her. Suri quickly swung her tail toward one of the guard's feet. He attempted to squirm away, but Suri had already grabbed his leg and slammed him, face-first, into the ground. Teeth splattered on the floor. The remaining guard pulled his sword and swung it in the direction of Suri. Suri dodged the swing and finished the fight by quickly plunging the end of her tail into the guard's stomach. I was surprised of how easily it pierced the metal plate armor.