Through Emanuel’s Eyes
The fire spreading on the ship gave both Crane and Crimson a hellish glow. More so, Crimson looks like a demon in the surrounding the flames, welcoming a sinner to the underworld. Crane looks like something far more dangerous He looks human and pissed off.
The blast flies toward me, but Cid reacts in time and blocks the hit with his shield.
“You’re fast slime,” Crane says.
“You really took an escape pod here? You are a living mess.” I spit at him.
“At least I’m alive, a surviving member of the Flores family,” Crane says with a wicked smile.
“Cid, I’m tired of talking. Can we just kick them off our ship?”
“I’ll focus on Crimson, but I’ll still cover you if needed.” He says while standing up straight.
I pull out my batons as Fiends quils raise. Cid rushes forward with our shield up. Crane rains down blaster fire, but Cid twists and rams the shield with every blast. Crimson wants this as he goes to attack. Cid moves the shield, revealing me. I have two twin blasters, one aimed at Crimson, the other at a far more important target.
I fired both blasts. The first one is Crimson doges. Right into Cid’s crystal fist. The second blast hits the blaster in Crane’s hand. He flinches in pain as it knocks out his fingers. I switch one of my blasters for a baton as I rush forward. Fiend runs to the end of my button, and I fling him up in the air.
Crane pulls out a short sword from behind his cloak. A circular shield made of energy appears over his arm. I recognize it as a simple shield spell I saw from one of the books Cid stole for me. Crane holds the shield up and blocks the hit from Fiend. Sparks of magical energy surge from the impact. I take advantage and swing my baton, but he blocks it with his sword. I raise my blaster, but he kicks me in the chest. With a quick swing, he knocks the blaster out of my hand, but I recover as I hit him in the ribs.
When I first ran to him with the knife, he out-maneuvered me with ease. I was a little kid fueled with rage, craving to see his blood on the streets. My parent's death replayed in my head, over and over, with every sloppy slash with the knife. He kept avoiding the blade and kicking me like a frail animal, trying to snap at him. He never once needed his weapon or magic. I was small. I was untrained. I was a scared kid.
Now, I examine his movements. I have all the endless training under Cid fueling my movements and backup. Fiend jumps down from the shield and swings his tail at Crane’s face. He stepped back, avoiding the crystal barb's full impact, but his cheek is cut. He’s off balance. I need to keep pushing. I swing with my baton, hoping he would block it with his sword as Fiend jumps off my shoulder and goes for another swing, but the shield takes the impact. Perfect, I pull the other blaster out of its holster. Since it's on the opposite side of my arm, I won’t have enough time to aim it up at him, so a low shot to the foot will work.
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I see the blast hit a thin barrier around him. He has the same spell on as I do. Still, I see the top of his shoe singed, and I break the skin. I didn’t notice his sword coming right for me, but before it could hit, our family shield blocked it. I see Cid’s extended arm holding the shield up. It is filled with thin cuts of hardened slime. The arm stretches back as Cid avoids a blow from Crimson.
I need to finish up here to help Cid. I look at Fiend, “Like the Grul.” I say as I gesture with my head to Crane’s injured foot. Friend nods as he scurries around my body to my back.
I fire two shots, forcing Crane to raise his shield. I rush in, swinging with my baton, and he blocks it with his sword. Crane is out of breath, and his eyes shake. He is out of practice. We’re not. Fiend jumps off my back and slams his tail right in the injured foot. The barrier weakens.
Crane yells in pain, but I swing the button in his face before he can counter. I hear Crane’s teeth crack while Fiend runs up my body. I put my blaster down and fire five shots into his foot until he could no longer stand. I knock the sword out of his hand as I watch the shield disappear. He is out of gas.
I hold the blaster aimed at his head.
“Why did you kill my family?” I shout. “We were never in your way. We could have made all of Resur, the whole planet even great together if we pulled our resources together.”
“Wait, you're still stuck on the why?” Crane asks, shocked. “Your family was growing too big. They had influence and power. My power. I run this rock. Your family could have taken it all away. I made sure they couldn’t.”
“You killed them to feel like you're on top?” I asked, trying to wrap my head around his logic.
“Don’t overthink it, kid. It's that simple. I’m in charge, no one else. If I say you can’t enter my docks, you can’t. If I say you can’t get medicine, you can’t. You wouldn’t get what that means as that was your whole life.”
“I was a kid.”
“And I don’t care. We both know you aren’t going to pull that trigger, so stop messing around and stop this shi-”
BAM!
I pull the trigger. The flop of his body hitting the floorboards echoes in my ears. In the grand moment, I shut my eyes. I didn’t see his last face or his body tilt over. I didn’t want to. I open them to see Crane lying on the floor, dead.
I turn over and vomit. The world is silent, but the sound of him falling over echoes in my head.
Then I hear a voice.
“I’m sorry you had to do that,” Cid says to me through the hardened slime bracelet.
“If I didn’t, he would have made everyone's life a living nightmare on the colony.” I turn to Cid, who is still fighting Crimson, as Fiend runs up my back to my shoulder.
This is the moment Crane deserves. My family shined bright, so they died in a pyre of flames kindled by the home they built. The town mourned for them. I couldn’t stop crying.
Crane dies by a kid in the middle of space, and no one cares. No one to see his final moments, not even the one who did him in.
All that’s left is to make sure Cid, Fiend, and I make it out alive. That only happens when we join the fight against Crimson.
