Twelve

Hibis looked around as she floated about midair, a figure drifting past wax after wax, checking for weapons or anything that seemed out of place.

Nothing. She made her way through the area, dodging the tall palm trees and high, structured pillars, shining her torch at the dark ground to find anything that could harm them.

The silence in the mall sent shivers down her spine. The eerie darkness wasn’t much help, and neither were the black wax sculptures. The girl turned around a corner and jumped at the sight of people below, almost yelping, only to discover that they were children fixed on a game of soccer. Hibis sighed to herself, patting her chest to slow her heartbeat down from where it was pounding rapidly, the sound ringing in her ears. Calm down…

She settled herself down on a roof, and her eyes roamed the exhibition, landing a gaze on Kaden and Ace from afar. The older of the two repeatedly stared into houses, the imminent glow from his eyes signalling the fact that he was, indeed, scrutinising the interior. He then pointed out to Ace that there might be something in the houses themselves. Ace stepped forward, peering in, and upon making sure there was no sign of danger, he entered while Kaden waited or trailed in too.

Hibis wasn’t sure what to do. She had already surveyed the whole perimeter and saw nothing that might have been used against them. Then again, she wasn’t Kaden, who could use his x-ray. The girl pondered to herself. Perhaps she should check the interior of the place.

Deciding to take the risk, Hibis searched about as well, hoping to locate any sort of weaponry. She soared through the exhibition yet again, then stopped short as she crashed into a wall while looking down. Hibis backed away, rubbing her stinging cheek and arm as she gazed upwards from the ground at what was in front of her.

A stilted house, towering above the others and out of Ace and Kaden’s reach. Its majestic build displayed intricate patterns and designs etched on the stilts and roof. On the right side of its apex stood a single, largely slotted window. Its gleaming panes were outstretched into a motherly hug with gentle whispers fleeing its mouth, beckoning a single soul to leap into its sweet embrace.

Without a thought, Hibis made her way to it, fitting through the window easily and sliding into the house without much noise. "Woah…" Hibis exhaled again as she took in the scene before her.

It appeared to be an area where the royalty in such an urban area stayed. The insides weren’t particularly furnished, but Hibis could make out the silhouettes of a dining table and throne. Torches clung against the walls, and upon her entrance, they suddenly burst into flames, illuminating the symbols and illustrations on the walls. Hibis jumped. It was definitely a sign that she was close by.

Hibis's awe upon entering the house had made her trail of thoughts positive. To her, the sign was not that something was foreboding her, but that she was close. Close to whatever weaponry might save Ace and reveal the antagonist’s drastic plans. It was articulate. The girl contemplated yelling out to Ace or reporting it to him through her pod, but thought against it. Someone else could hear her and stop her from getting the weapons. She had to be careful.

Hibis crept about, examining the little details, hoping, with all her might, that she might find something, anything, that had to do with the weaponry. Now that her amazement had dissolved and she had grown sombre again, Hibis felt her unease rise. Suddenly, something didn’t feel right. The heavy gaze of something prodded the back of her head, but whenever she turned, she couldn’t see anything staring at her. The footsteps echoing across the cold, waxed floor were the only sound against the quietness and desolation of her location. So high above, and with no other chance of communicating with others without the opponent noticing. She wanted to be done with her business and make a run for it.

The girl began inspecting the area, looking around and searching for something that looked like a weapon. She knew it was around there somewhere, hidden, concealed, or just in plain sight.

Nothing.

Hibis huffed, frustrated. She could feel deep down in her gut that it was really, really somewhere near her. An instinct she could trust, that’s for sure. The girl’s fingers stroked every inch and corner of the shapes and patterns, letting them graze past symbol after symbol. Perhaps she needed to press something to reveal it. Like a secret library. Maybe.

Hibis paused as she came eye to eye with a weird squiggled symbol. It looked like a semi-circle to her, with several knots on top of it. An odd symbol, something that didn’t blend in with the lines telling the ancient history of the wax exhibition. She let a finger run through the carving. Its smooth lines were quite the opposite of the rough patterns on the others. "Freshly carved," muttered Hibis to herself.

Without hesitation, her palm reached forward to rest heavily against it.

Click.

Hibis whirled around to see golden rays seeping out from the waxed dining table and sprinted there, watching with gaping eyes and mouths as the weaponry slowly revealed itself. The girl waited for the big moment to come, but the shock further instilled itself in her when she realised what the weaponry—or weapon— was, right after the light dulled to a stop.

It looked like something that could be placed on one’s head, a form of mechanic that seemed to say:

I can brainwash anyone.

Hibis may have expected something magical from it, but she thought this form of weapon would make do. Something that would most certainly help them out.

A hissing sound alerted Hibis from her examination, and she glanced around swiftly, trying to identify the source from which the sound came. Her ears perked up as she lowered herself towards the noise, shining a torch light underneath the table as she listened to the noise grow louder. Her pupils widened as her brain slowly processed what her eyes had seen.

A fuse connected to several powder-fluid materials. A match was held directly underneath a sensor, which must have alerted the system. As if in slow motion, the girl watched the powders burst into luminous yellow-orange flames and spread across the wax, melting it. The inferno spread rapidly, licking every corner of the room, from the table to the walls. Hibis gasped in horror as the wax dripped down post-haste from the immense heat. Instinctively, the girl cradled the weaponry in her arms and raced towards the exit, only to find the amber lushes reaching it first.

Hibis desperately watched as the blaze crept towards her, the flames turning into bizarre waves of rage as they climbed higher. Fearing her end, the girl could only do one thing anyone would have done as the fire approached closer: shoot out her hands as a form of protection as she crumpled to her knees, squeezing her eyes shut at the doom she was going to partake in.

Hibis felt the heat against her face, but the crumbling feeling of getting burned alive wasn’t there. The girl inched her eyes open, only to see a stream of water spurting out from her palms. Water. Lily’s element is water. The fact dawned on her and accelerated hope as Hibis started using the liquid to extinguish the fiery flames surrounding her, pushing her way forward towards the exit.

Raven’s water bottles had saved her.

Not entirely, though. Soon, the gush of water started to trickle and taper with each step she took to get out of the house. Hibis’ hand reached for her pod nestled in her ear, and knowing she had no choice, she pressed it and exclaimed, "Emergency and Ace team, this is Hibis calling from backup at said location, over!" as she dodged a plank of wax that had collapsed from the ceiling. After briefly waiting for a reply, silence was the only thing that called back. "Hello?" She tried again, panic replacing the water in her gut as fire reinvigorated itself back onto its feet behind her.

Silence again. Her pod had no form of communication; she was trapped.

The fire swirled rapidly around her faster than she could put it out, and as Hibis hopelessly ran towards the exit once again, she knew she wasn’t going to make it out.

A bunch of wax hindered her, and Hibis flitted over it, barely missing the burning solid that could have seared her. Twisting through the melting window, she escaped out of the house, only to gasp out into the horizon.

The whole wax exhibition was catching fire, the combustion spreading down the stilts of the lit house towards ground level, where it continued to grow. Hibis flew into the air in a reckless flight as she multitasked between putting out the flames dangerously close to her and navigating herself away from the lighted architectural sculptures. She could only fly so high, with the dome ceiling closing against her back and fire curling up from below.

As a curve from the dome bashed Hibis’ head, the girl’s sense of direction was muffled by her cry of shock and numbness, making her tumble down into the flames. As the red and orange greedily made their way to lick her moist skin, she briefly regained control of her flight. Yet... the bash from before blurred Hibis’ consciousness, making the girl leap clumsily through the air. Exhaustion had started trickling in with despair, and the control of her balance was abysmal. As Hibis braced herself forward, her lack of understanding of the surroundings made her senses break down. Thus, as a palm tree toppled towards her, Hibis’s mind was elsewhere, calling for help.

The heat and weight of the artificial tree pulled Hibis out of her attempt to escape, hindering her from still being alive.

Crushed between the stiflingly warm wax coating and the fire edging closer to the poor girl, Hibis made one last cry in a desperate attempt to live. "Ace?"

"HELP!”

"Help...help...hel..." Hibis' once-booming bawls quietened down into a raspy plea as the conflagration descended upon her. Dehydrated and worn out, Hibis' simply acquiesced to her fate and quietly sank into a mental abyss, drifting freely as she did into slumber.