Jael’s POV

Beds. Hospital beds were all over the place. Majority of the beds had its cotton coils violently ripped off and strewn on the ground. The IV drip stands were toppled on the ground, the water bags leaked, causing a mess in the Hall. At the sides, nearly all the glass windows were shattered, fragments of glass cracked audibly as I staggered into the Hall, jaw hanging from my mouth and fear coursed through my veins.

The mutated people were going hysterical.

Soldiers including Kai were trying to inject anesthetic into them to calm them down but they retaliate by throwing balls of flames to them. The mutated people were screaming in pure rage, attacking anyone that they do not recognized in their head – which are the real Estrovians. A spinning scalpel suddenly flung towards me and I barely managed to dodge, missing the shy of my ear.

A mutated person is coming to my way, his green eyes glowed with fury and a ball of red flame lit up from his hands. I forced my body to move, to get out of the way and dodge that ball of incoming flames. But I couldn’t.

Maybe it was the wound on my chest or something but I can’t seem to move. Until I heard Kai shouted something like ‘MOVE!’ then I snapped but to reality. A heavy weight crashed on me, bringing the both of us down onto the ground. An acute pain shot through my chest, shuddering my thudding head. I moaned in pain, clutching against my shirt.

“You idiot! I told you not to come here!” Kai shielded me from the attacks, body covering mine. “Are you hurt?” he hastily checked me but I stopped him from doing so.

“Give me the miracle pill. Heal me before I pass out again.” I whispered, voice softening. Beneath my shirt, I felt my wound opening up again. Warm blood oozed out of the wound but I clamped my mouth shut, refusing to let Kai know or else he’ll worry.

Kai raked his hair angrily, deciding whether to give it to me. “You know I can’t risk - ”

“I can survive, Kai. You know I can. I can help out after I’m healed. I need it now, please.”  I might’ve sounded like a drug addict but hell; I think I am one. This whatever ‘miracle pill’ has healed Kai when he was dying. It should heal me and not destroy me. I don’t believe that I can’t consume it more than once. It’s bull.

Kai exhaled a long breath before digging into his pocket and passed me a red and white pill. “Here, swallow it and activate your Aether Core. It should heal you in a matter of seconds.”

I took it nimbly and dunk it down my throat. Then, he set me straight up while I closed my eyes and brought out my Aether Core, changing too. Slowly, I felt my wound closing up. My senses heightened, my strength returned and when I opened my eyes, I finally felt good. “Amazing.”

Kai let out a snort. “Come on, don’t be too happy and help out now.” Kai his heel and was about to go back to the battlefield but I pulled him, gripping over his wrist.

“Wait, what indeed happened? Aren’t they supposed to wake up and be all right? What’s up with their green and eerie eyes?” I asked, shooting questions at him. This doesn’t make sense. Have I missed out something big while I was asleep?

“Long story, Jael. For now you have to know that they are computed to kill us: Pure Bloods Estrovians. They won’t stop until they accomplished that. And…” he touched my hand, patting it softly while he sighed. “For days I’d tried finding some…something to stop this from happening. But I fear we might have to kill them all before it gets worst.” Dread filled his eyes.

Kai doesn’t – no, he never wanted to kill his best friend, Kyungsoo. And I will never do that to Daehyun. “No. I will make sure that will never happen. Pass me the needle, we’ll make sure they sleep and we’ll come out with something first.”

He handed me his needle and I took it firmly. “Just inject it into them. It very strong so they’ll sleep immediately. Don’t have to give them too much.” Kai instructed. I nodded my head and prepared myself.

“Stay alert, Jael. They are quite strong.” Kai warned one last time. “May this shall be the last battle we’ll ever fight, Jael.” My heart warmed up at his words. How can a guy be so… cold at one time and then super warm at the next? Yep, only Kai.

“Yes, I know. You, too stay safe.” I said and his lips curled before leaving first, jabbing the mutated with his other spare needle, clearing the path away for me. I scanned my surroundings; it was chaotic but at least one third of the mutated were sleeping deeply on the floor. I walked over to one of the soldiers.

“Hey, can you gather more soldiers and bring all these sleeping mutated to another room? Lock them up but don’t let them die. Let the doctors heal them if they’d suffered any casualties.” The soldier bowed stiffly and hurried out of the Hall. In the meantime, I dragged a couple of mutated out of the way so that the soldiers fighting against them would not step on them accidentally.

“AHHHH DIE YOU ESTROVIANS!!!!!!” A mutated screamed and charged towards me at top speed. I dropped the sleeping one and stood up straight, commanding the wind and flicked my wrist at his direction. The mutated doubled back, stumbling and fell on is bum.

“Please just sleep. We’ll find a way to return you back to normal.” I said as I injected the anesthetic into his system. He stopped struggling against me and fell into sleep. I dragged his body to the side of the Hall along with other mutated who were asleep too. 

“Watch out!” somebody shouted from the opposite side where I’m standing. A mutated is on rampage and the soldiers around him were knocked down. I squinted my eyes and blinked several times to make sure that I wasn’t seeing wrongly. Kyung…Soo?

He was stronger than the rest and since he’s already a pure blood, which makes his power double as a mutated. He blasted a black flame to the two soldiers who tried to stop him from advancing towards Kai who was defending Daehyun.

“Dammit,” I muttered under my breath and sprinted to where Kai is. My eyes widened in horror as Kyungsoo pulled his arm back, the black flames swirled dangerously along his arms, the ball growing bigger when he was about to throw it. Kai was still trying to jab his needle into Daehyun who was struggling violently.

There was not much time left. It’s either I block Kyungsoo with my own body or I throw my own power against him. Before he flicked his wrist, I chose the latter. Gathering my own flames, I managed to throw it and hit Kyungsoo square on his body. He flew out of harm’s way and crash-landed on the ground. I placed my hands on my knees, glad that Kyungsoo didn’t injure Kai with that scary looking ball of black thing.

Kai finally turned around, accessing the situation. His eyes flickered between Kyungsoo and me and from his shocked expression his face slowly morphed into something distant – telling me that I should’ve never done that. He rushed to Kyungsoo’s side, checking whether he’s safe and fine. I went up beside him.

“He nearly burnt you,” I said. It might have sounded like an excuse but it was the truth.

“Well you burnt him.” Kai snarled at me but he was avoiding my gaze. He waved for a soldier to come. “Take him to a private room and treat him. He’s suffered burns but is stable.”

“Yes, lord Kai.”

Most of the mutated were already sleeping and the soldiers were transporting them away. Kai didn’t even bother looking at me when he left. He’s back to being cold again and heck – it’s worst this time.