"Eh, are you serious?"
Holding my groceries close to my chest, I backed up slightly. The woman was getting too close for comfort, and my anxiety was kicking in pretty bad.
"Who are you?"
She stomped on the ground, causing me to straighten my back.
"I gave you an order!"
"Ah!"
Her booming voice reminded me of Maxwell. I found myself falling in line with her order.
"F-Feodora Cicer, and I'm currently in between jobs."
The Radiant approached me slowly.
"You are a creature of the night. One who is in love with the darkness. Your body resonates with the dark spectrum, am I right?"
She approached closer causing me to back up again.
"Listen, if this is about that barklight, she started it."
"My name is Jade Opal, a Radiant knight from the Radiant Kingdom, and I'm taking you in for questioning."
I looked her up and down suspiciously.
"You look nothing like a knight. Not in that getup."
I remarked, looking at her wild clothing choice.
"Do you dare question my authority based on what I'm wearing?
"Ah… yeah, that's just what I'm doing."
She looked pissed off, and that caused my shoulders to drop. Everything in me was telling me to make a break for it. But I've heard the stories of the Radiants from tales spun over time with Maxwell.
They are dangerous. Their command is deemed law, so it would be a pain to deal with if I disobey.
"Listen, Jade, I just came to town to buy some stuff. Can I stop by later and make a statement or something?"
Her eyes lowered as she put her free hand on her blade.
"I asked nicely the first time. Now I want to cut you down and drag you in."
She approached as I put my hand on my katana, ready for another fight.
"Huh?"
The world was shaken as a bright light lit up the sky. An explosion in the distance caused my body to shake as I fell to the ground. I sat right on my groceries, crushing the remaining tomatoes.
"The hell was that?"
The beauty Jade scorned as she looked into the distance. Fire erupted from a distance away. It was my chance to leave so I took to my feet.
"Stay!"
Her hand shined bright a bright light formed on my wrist. A holy spectrum tightened around both my wrists, binding me to them.
"What the heck?!"
I tried to dispel it, but it was strong. This Radiant was strong in the holy element.
"Stay where you are. I'll be back to deal with you later. And if you dare try to leave, I will kill you."
"Eh?! Hey! Get these off me!"
I yelled.
But it was useless, she raced off into the distance toward the explosion. Crowds of people rushed away from the scene. I took to my feet and attempted to break her spectrum once more.
"Tsk, this isn't a weak spell. She must be strong and holy to put something like this on me."
I turned towards the gates and attempted to run away, but my body was pulled by the light on my wrist. I crashed to the ground like a dog with a leash.
"Are you kidding me?"
I tried again and again, but the result was the same. I even attempted to shadow-walk outside the gates, but the spectrum would pull me out from the shadows and slam me back into town.
There was no doubt about it…
"I'm stuck here until she gets rid of this spectrum on me. She's the only one who can get these off me."
Annoyed, I took to my feet. I closed my eyes and focused on the holy bindings on my wrist. What I saw was a link of chains. As I followed it, I noticed that the chain followed where the Radiant Jade ran off too.
"Maybe..."
I stepped forward to see if I can follow the link without being punished. I understood the holy spell more. I was only bound if I attempted to pull on the chains. But going towards them was fine.
"So, I'm bound to her, and if I try to pull away... I get punished."
I understood the problem. So, I took a deep breath and concluded what to do.
"Alright."
I raced off towards the chains. It allowed me to follow where she was going and gave me a clear insight into where she went.
As I traveled towards the blast, the wooden stores were lit on fire, and the number of fires increased over time. People were evacuated, making it all the harder to get through the crowd moving against me.
Bodies pushed upon me as I made my way through the crowd. With my arms tied together, this was harder than it should have been.
"Everyone, make your way to the west gates. Keep it orderly, people!"
From the distance, a dark blue-haired woman with a blue dress and bright eyes directed the evacuating people. In her hair was a blue flower that mirrored her hair.
We shared a glance as I was making my way in the opposite direction of everyone else. But she didn't say anything as I passed. She just gave me a creepy smirk and continued directing the fleeing town members.
When I finally made it through the rush what laid before me was devastation. Users of the water spectrum were trying to extinguish the flames caused by the blast.
"Where is she?"
The chains came to a stop, and below me was built-up slack from the binds. I looked around, trying my best to find that strange beauty, when a slightly higher-pitched voice melted into my ear from behind.
"And who might you be?"
I turned around, only to be drowned in the bright blue eyes of that woman from before. She looked like she was in her twenties. With that wild smile, she searched me up and down.
"Oh, you have holy handcuffs on?"
She yanked them, pulling me closer to her.
"What are you doing here? Why do you have these on, red head?"
She was forceful and it caused me to lunge back.
"Ah, a Knight named Jade Opal put them on me. I couldn't take them off. So, I came looking for her."
"Ahahaha! That's interesting!"
She laughed manically. A mist of water formed around her hand, and a large gun appeared. It seemed she was a water spectrum user. The strange woman waved the barrel near my face.
"Oh, are you a suspect? Is that why she tied you up?!"
She pushed me to the ground and pointed her gun at my face. I wasn't sure what was happening as I watched her play with it like a toy. The gun's large black barrel aimed at my forehead.
"As you can see, everyone is busy with this mess. That gives me time to have fun…"
The gunslinger turned to the side and kicked a wooden crate left during the chaos. The wood scattered across the street.
"Calm down already! Can't you see I'm working!"
She yelled at seemingly no one. Clearly, this girl was off her rocker. She walked about the fire zone as she giggled to herself.
"First question, what's your name, redhead?"
Before I could open my mouth, she shot off her gun. A bright blue ray hit the ground near me, causing water to splash up. It was sharp, like a knife's edge, as the water cut the side of my cheek.
"You're insane!"
I bit my teeth.
"No, I'm efficient. Now give me your name!"
She put the gun to my head and pushed it into my forehead.
"Feodora Cicer."
I complied.
"How long have you been in this city?"
"Today was my first day coming. I needed groceries and now I'm regretting it."
She pushed the gun off my forehead and walked about for a bit. She found a pot lying on the ground and kicked it, effectively shattering it across the street, too.
"Good so far. Now, what kind of spectrum vessel are you?"
I hated every minute and didn't want to reveal my hand to this psychopath.
As my eyes moved about, I saw a pink-haired girl. She was dressed in a white and green uniform of some kind, but I couldn't make out much with this psychopath walking about. She was watching from a distance. Likely scared by the scene, the girl raced into the crowd of people running off.
"Hey, pay attention!"
She attempted to kick me, but I was over her game. I flipped up and melted into a nearby shadow.
"Oh, that's a neat trick!"
Her bright eyes shined brighter than a gemstone as she looked my way.
"I see why Jade kept you. I guess you are kind of screwed as long as she has those on you, aren't you?"
With my hand tied in front of me, I approached her cautiously.
"So, you're working for Jade?"
The woman cackled.
"Maybe! Either way, I had fun with you. I wouldn't want to break that Radiant's new toy."
Bubbles formed around us as a water spell was channeled from below. I attempted to move but my chains were pulled down. I fell into the wave under my feet.
"Nnnggg…"
Jade likely pulled them down, forcing me into this spell. My eye lids felt heavy as my consciousness was beginning to drift.
"Y--, -e go- her -------------------."