Diosia, Part Three

{Caitlyn}

Caitlyn understood quite well that today was likely to be the day she died. Still, she had to try.

From her home, she could hear a crowd moving down the street outside. Shaking her head, she gritted her teeth.

[I need to get my timing right. Well, no, I need to get everything right.]

As she stood in her living room, making sure her tools were ready, she checked what she was carrying.

Three smoke bombs, a grappling hook, one knife, and a charm bomb. It had taken a lot of begging from a close friend to secure all this stuff. She hoped she would someday pay him back one day. The man probably gave it all to her without expecting anything in return, however.

Caitlyn was practically on a suicide mission, after all.

[... I have to save them,] she thought. [No matter what.]

And so, she packed everything up in a bag and exited her house.

The streets of Diosia were empty, due of course to the fact that most of the people here were attending the hangings she sought to stop.

[I've got... ten minutes.]

She ran forward, into an alley beyond a grey parked car.

[No cameras. Good.]

Once she was in the shadows, she stripped, taking all of her clothes off and putting them in the bag. Then, she threw her bag up into the air.

For someone with a Soul Rating of only 900, it was fairly difficult to get the thing up onto the roof, but Caitlyn had spent quite a bit of time practicing this toss.

As the bag floated up, about to fall back down, Caitlyn performed two hand signs, touching her pinkies together and then her index fingers.

"Frantera," she muttered, completing her Hymn. As soon as she did, she transformed into an eagle.

The woman soared up, picking the bag up with her beak and flying up to the rooftops. Once here, she transformed back, pulled her clothes out, and got dressed again.

Shape-shifting was something that, to Caitlyn's knowledge, drasen and humans were not capable of.

Mainly, because they lacked the same knowledge of Hymns that elves possessed. Perhaps that jealousy of the Great Mother's blessings was partly why this whole shit-show was happening today.

Caitlyn ran along the rooftops, looking to her right. Her raven hair flowed as her narrowed green eyes scanned the streets. The crowd was still marching towards the town's public square. Diosia was already a small place, one that felt even smaller as the crowd packed in the middle of the road.

As she moved, she spotted someone ahead. A police officer, roaming and whistling, patrolling from above.

She pulled out her knife from the bag and threw it in the air above him. The man didn't notice. Then, she used the same Hmn from before to transform back into an eagle, flying out of her clothes and straight to the knife.

In mid-air, she transformed back, grabbed the knife out of the air, and descended upon the officer with it in her hands.

She stabbed him in the neck and put a hand over his mouth, muffling his screams.

Casually, she looked back down at the street as the officer died under her hold.

[Now, where are the Inquisitors?]

The police didn't concern her. The Inquisitors were the real threat. An ancient order of supremely powerful knights working directly under the God-King. Caitlyn was confident she could fight her way past any regular police officer, but an Inquisitor would defeat her before she could even make the first step of a viable plan.

[... There.] She thought, spotting a shining suit of silver in the distance, behind the gallows. [And there.] She thought, seeing a second suit to the left of the street. At the gallows, she found her little sister, her father, and her brother, all about to be hung. She took a deep breath. Her green eyes remained fixed on them for a moment before she finally turned away.

[The plan...] She pulled out all of her tools. First, she needed the charm mine. It was the size of a pebble, but effective enough to work on everyone in the audience. She grabbed it, put it in her mouth, and used the same hymn as before to transform into a rat, her clothes collapsing around her.

Unfortunately, her proficiency with this form was lower than that of her eagle form, so she didn't have as much time to work with. She'd need to be fast.

The mine remained in her animalistic mouth as she climbed down a pipe and down to the center of the audience. Here, she snuck it into a man's shoe, hoping he wouldn't notice. It was remote-controlled, so this was good enough to work.

She ran into an alley, transformed into an eagle, and went back to the rooftop.

Then, she put her clothes back on as time went by ever so slowly.

Glancing down at the gallows, the elf found the Duchess of Diosia. The woman who had turned her back on her own kind. The woman who was about to get Caitlyn's family killed.

Caitlyn shook her head.

[Traitor.] She thought.

First, it was the drasen. Then, it was the elves.

[How could the new king be so cruel?]

She wouldn't be surprised if soon humans started turning on each other for the same petty reasons that made them seek to destroy the other races.

Not that she or any other elf knew what those reasons were. The so-called "Purity Act" which saw the exile and mass persecution of drasen, and now elves, had come into being seemingly overnight, not too long ago, without warning.

Setting that aside, however, with the smoke bombs in her hands, it was time to begin the plan.

[The smoke will remain for ten seconds. The charm effect lasts thirty seconds. That's ten seconds to round them up, then twenty to escape.] Caitlyn understood. [With most police officers here, it means the entrances to the town aren't well-defended. The southern entrance is easier to escape through since the northern entrance is right next to the Duchess's home, which is always heavily guarded.] She nodded to herself. [Time to get to work then.]

And so, Caitlyn simultaneously threw the smoke bombs into the gallows and pressed the button that activated the charm mine.

The audience was covered in a pink fog, one that made them responsive to the orders she gave out through her thoughts.

[Attack the officers and the Inquisitors, now!] She ordered in her mind and every member of the audience under the effects of the bomb responded, assaulting the police and the knights alike.

Chaos ensued. She strapped her grappling hook to her belt and jumped down, asking five citizens to break her fall. When she got onto the streets, she quickly looked for her family.

[Fuck, they know.] She thought as she saw an Inquisitor looking for her, ignoring the crazed citizens.

Caitlyn ran in anyway. She had no intention of fighting him, after all.

[Get between us, protect me!] She ordered members of the audience. An old lady threw her purse in the Inquisitor's face. Multiple men tackled him. The Inquisitor began outright stabbing some of the people Caitlyn was throwing his way, trying his hardest to clear a path.

Caitlyn didn't feel sorry for anyone who got hurt here, though. Would they feel sorry for her family had she allowed them to be murdered? Unlikely.

"Cait!?" Her little sister asked when she saw her.

Caitlyn cut off the ropes restraining them.

"What's the plan?" Her father asked quickly, as though he'd been expecting this. Caitlyn smiled.

[So, he did trust me to save him.]

"Here," she said, giving him the grappling hook. It had never been meant to be used by her today. "Head south."

"Got it."

He grabbed his son, Caitlyn's older brother, and shot up to the roof.

"Jess," Cait kneeled in front of her sister, "get on me."

Jess nodded and wrapped her tiny arms around Caitlyn's neck.

"Frantera."

Then, Caitlyn transformed into a wolf.

She was running out of time by now, she understood. The hardest part was about to come.

As she ran away with Jess on her back, she heard the Inquisitor behind her shout something. Then, as thunder cracked, she knew what was coming.

She dodged to her left, narrowly avoiding a blast of lightning that destroyed the cement where she'd been a moment ago.

It was the heresy of the Inquisitors. The mimicry of the elves' Hymns that they wielded with brutal intent.

Her father and brother were making good progress above. Caitlyn ran as fast through the streets below as she could.

Eventually, she reached the southern entrance to the town.

[Come on, come on.] She thought, breathing heavily as she neared salvation.

Then, she was shot.

A police officer to her right fired off a pistol and hit the right side of her abdomen. She hadn't seen it coming.

She fell forwards, Jess fell in front of her.

"Agh!" Jess cried out.

[NO!] Caitlyn watched her roll, almost unconcerned with her wound.

She located the officer, who was taking aim behind her, intent on going for a kill shot.

He fired off a few rounds but Caitlyn pushed through the pain, still in her wolf form. She hopped from side to side, narrowly avoiding each shot until, finally, Caitlyn pounced on him.

She pushed the man to the ground and then bit down on his throat, tearing it out.

As blood dripped from her chin and filled her mouth, she turned back around, looking at Jess.

She transformed back into an elf, wincing when she felt her wound expand slightly, and she picked Jess up.

"Come on, come on, come on."

"I've got her!" Her father landed beside her, grabbing Jess and running ahead.

"Thank you!" Caitlyn yelled.

They were good for now, but she was injured. Caitlyn couldn't move quite as quickly anymore.

[Shit... I'm not gonna make it, am I?]

She locked eyes with her father.

The man stared back at her as officers ran in their direction. Caitlyn made a choice then and there.

"Go, I'll distract them!"

Her father hesitated, but only for a second. One look at the officers running up to them let him know nothing else could be done.

"Thank you."

Relieved, Caitlyn smiled and then proceeded to run in the exact opposite direction.

She kept her hand on her wound, trying to put pressure on it as she made her escape. Her distraction worked. The guards followed closely behind, taking aim with their guns and firing to no avail as Caitlyn moved between trees.

Bullets whizzed by her head, sending shivers up Caitlyn's spine as she sprinted.

She ran, and ran, with more gunshots sounding off until eventually, they grew silent.

"Huh?"

Breathing heavily, Caitlyn risked slowing down for a moment to glance behind her.

There was no one there.

[Am I in the clear?]

Slowing down, Caitlyn looked down at her wound, suppressing a pained hiss. She looked down at her hand. It wasn't completely soaked in blood, which was good, but it was still serious.

"Crap."

As soon as she muttered that word, she heard a gunshot ring out.

She flinched, crouching instantly. The elf frantically looked behind her to see where the officer who just fired at her was.

She scanned the area, however, and found that she was wrong. Despite how loud the gunshot had been, it hadn't come from anyone close to her.

No, the distant shouting let her know that she had not been the target.

"Huh? What just…?"

The answer came to her quickly.

There was, probably, some elf who had run from Diosia in the same general direction that she had and had just been found and likely killed.

[But… How come they're still yelling?]

Caitlyn considered leaving. With her family having escaped, her top priority now was to ensure that she lived to see another day so she could meet up with them again.

With this wound she carried, she would need to go look for medicinal herbs to help her recover.

She wasn't sure she could help herself right now, it felt silly to think about helping whoever was on the receiving end of those firearms.

And yet, Caitlyn couldn't turn away.

Whether it was out of solidarity, some naïve savior complex, or anger toward humanity, Caitlyn couldn't simply sit by and do nothing.

So, she went back to at least check the situation out and see if perhaps she could distract the officers somehow.

[… I probably won't be able to find the kind of medicine I need before I bleed out anyway. Maybe I can make this my last try at…]

"Was that all of them?" Caitlyn heard a woman ask up ahead.

She peeked past the trees and her jaw dropped when she saw the scene in front of her.

There was a drasen woman and what looked like a human with slightly grey skin and strange, dark tendrils going up and down her body. Her ears were slightly pointed, though far less so than Caitlyn's own.

[Is she some sort of elf?]

Both of them stood over the same officers who had been chasing Caitlyn.

"It seems so," the drasen woman stated. "You are so strong!"

"I… it's nothing," the girl replied, somewhat embarrassed. "But… What were they even doing out here?"

As Caitlyn heard that grey-skinned girl posing that question, her legs gave out and she fell forward, landing on a bed of flowers.

"Huh?" The girl noticed her. Caitlyn couldn't do much to respond, however, as she was in the middle of passing out.

The last thing she heard was:

"Who-, is she an elf?"

Caitlyn smirked just a little.

[Was that not obv…?]

She couldn't even finish that thought before her consciousness slipped.