“OH dear…” Marialite sighed.
The seeds surrounding the topazios plants were growing and successfully flowering. However, something wasn’t quite right.
At first glance, they looked like normal, bell-shaped, red flowers. However, when Marialite peered inside them, she saw that the very middle was lined with countless white teeth. That in itself wouldn’t worry her too much—but the flowers were eating each other.
She was glad to see the plants she’d grown thriving. However, at this rate, she would only be left with one. Racking her brains for a way to prevent this battle royale of the natural world, she jumped when she sensed someone standing next to her.
It was a young woman with long brown hair covering her face, clad in a mud-caked, white dress.
“Oh. I recognize you…” Marialite reflected, trying to remember where she’d met the woman before. She quickly lost her train of thought when the woman reached her hand out towards the cannibalistic flowers, and they simultaneously stopped moving.
“Wait, what?” Marialite said in shock, looking between the woman and the flowers.
“I have put them to sleep for a short while. Before they awaken, I advise that you give them some fertilizer with a richer nutritional value. With that, they should stop eating each other,” she explained.
“Wow, that’s great! Thank you so much!” Marialite beamed.
“What you just saw is a sort of symptom of what happens when plants go berserk. If you wish to quell that loss of control from the root cause, you must give them something other than raw power,” she enunciated in a detached tone.
Marialite couldn’t claim to understand what she was talking about, but she at least grasped that the woman was giving her a deep, meaningful explanation. She nodded in earnest, then opened her mouth as though she’d just remembered something.
“Oh, right! Sorry, I forgot to ask you your name,” Marialite prompted. She was certain they would meet again one day; in that case, she needed to know her name.
Responding to Marialite’s bright smile, the woman’s lips quirked upwards a little from beneath her long hair.
“I’m…”
✦ ✦ ✦
“…—lite… Marialite! Wake up!”
She could hear Raven desperately calling for her.
“Raven…?” Marialite groaned, confused.
“Oh, you’re awake!” he sighed with relief. “Are you hurt?!”
“No…” she shook her head. “Sorry. I guess I was taking a nap or something.”
“You weren’t napping! You passed out, Marialite!” he said in alarm.
“What? Really?” she asked, propping herself on her elbows and squinting in confusion. Why?
And that wasn’t the only thing she had to be confused about. For some reason, she found herself surrounded by debris and rubble. Raven wasn’t the only one there, either; a group of soldiers were trying to shift piles of rubble to save the employees trapped underneath it. Other employees were casting healing magic on those who were wounded.
However, amongst the confusion, Sirius was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Lord Sirius?” she asked, worried.
“…Over there,” Raven said, his gaze shifting over to a huge beam of light.
In the midst of the glow, the Phobos cat came into view, roaring with its hackles raised. A ring of soldiers and employees circled it, and among them, Marialite eventually spotted Sirius. He had his arms outstretched, as though he was using the light to keep the cat trapped.
“He’s trying to keep it inside that bubble of magic. If he didn’t, we’d all be dead right about now,” Raven explained with a grimace.
“What happened…? The last I remember, everything was under control,” she shook her head.
“Soooo… About that special power Phobos cats have? Looks like seeing Leonis again triggered it,” Raven said, clicking his tongue in frustration. “The more it gets hurt, the more magic it can absorb. Basically, it used the power it received from the two times Leonis attacked it to blow up the facility.”
“It stored that much power after only two attacks? That’s incredible,” she marveled.
“Well, we’re actually lucky that Lord Sirius put up a protective barrier around us so quickly,” he chuckled nervously. “But many of the soldiers cast offensive magic to try to save him, which only provided the cat with more power, and…now we’re in this situation.” Raven’s face went deathly pale; apparently, things weren’t looking good. The soldiers watching over Sirius had the same despairing, frightened eyes.
“We should get outta here,” Raven gulped. “We’ve called for backup, but who knows how long these guys can keep it up? If that cat runs riot, the fall of Celaeno would be a best-case scenario. We’re looking at the entire continent being destroyed, here—including the human nations.”
“You’re leaving Lord Sirius behind?” Marialite asked sorrowfully.
“…I’m under strict orders to protect you,” Raven admitted through gritted teeth. “Right now, that’s my priority.”
Marialite pursed her lips, looking towards Sirius and his soldiers as they tried to keep the Phobos cat under control. They were all clenching their teeth and grunting, with sweat running down their brows. She’d heard that using too much magic could cause someone to enter an extreme state of fatigue, and things weren’t looking good for any of them.
“Eugh…guh…!” one of the soldiers coughed violently, bringing up blood as he collapsed on the spot. The sheet of light covering the cat flickered for just a second.
“Mrowwwww!” the cat cried, breaking through the barrier and sending the surrounding debris flying.
The pieces of what remained then hovered, floating higher and higher into the air—until they suddenly came shooting down towards the group of people that had been keeping the cat restrained.
“Lord Sirius!” Marialite screamed, scrambling to her feet and sprinting towards him out of instinct.
“Stand back, Lady Marialite!” Sirius hollered, swinging his open palm in front of him. At the same time, the barrier was restored, keeping the cat under control once again.
Sirius was the only person left standing; the rest of them were on the floor after being hit with pieces of debris. Although Sirius was still standing, he was very obviously hurt. Blood was trickling down his head and arm.
“I’m sure my father will come up with something,” he grunted. “Until then…I’ll keep things under control…so please…run. Hurry…”
“We can’t leave you here,” Marialite insisted.
“Yes, you can. Don’t worry about me. Thanks to your holy powers, I still have plenty of magic energy left,” he countered, smiling despite his brow furrowing in pain. “Your powers grew the fruit I ate and fueled my magic without me even knowing. You’re the reason I’m still standing.”
“But—”
“No buts. I’m begging you—get out of here. If something happened to you…” he winced. “There would be no point in me risking my life here.”
“We gotta go, Marialite!” Raven said urgently, putting his arm around her and ushering her away.
Sirius watched on with a look of relief as their figures grew more and more distant, blowing a deep breath out. Then, he turned to face the Phobos cat.
“I genuinely feel sympathy for you,” he told it. “You’re a victim in this situation. This is nobody’s fault except my brother’s—and that’s exactly why I won’t let you kill anyone.”