Un-Chain

"You know... the only reason we aren't dead right now is all thanks to our Drelden blood." Harkal drawled.

"I made this place, you know. A special space to produce endless Zero Blood. Zero Blood was created to drain people of their Psyche abilities, separating it from their useless bodies. It was meant to remove their magic so that I could relocate it and use it for more practical uses. Unfortunately, or perhaps I should say... fortunately the ones that I had wanted it to work on, namely the Drelden family are immune."

"Who would have thought that we were immune! Hahaha! In this place I can control it all! Endless magic at my fingertips!"

Harkal paused and looked down at Uti with wide, crazed pink eyes.

"I just need to remove the two of you and this space will be truly perfect."

Harkal's hands tightened over Uteu's throat. Uti, with great effort, scratched at Harkal's hands. Desperate to get him to let Uteu go.

Her scratches didn't even cause him to flinch.

"I love the look of fear on both of your faces." Harkal said with a crooked grin.

Uteu choked as Harkal exerted more force into his hold. Uteu glared into the other man's pink eyes.

Did they really have the time for this right now?

Was this man stupid? Could he not feel the resentment rapidly making their way over to them?

With one hand he did his best to gesture to the dark ominous red cloud rolling closer and closer to them. Uteu cursed Harkal inside of his mind. He just had to make it difficult for Uteu to speak.

Uti was quick to catch on, she took in a shuddering breath and then screamed at Harkal.

"Let go or we're all dead!"

Harkal frowned, not loosening his hold over Uteu's throat in the least, he turned the both of them so that he could see what the other two were referring to. He paled when he caught sight of the black crystal hands mere inches from his face.

The red cloud was already upon them. It swirled around the three of them at an uneven pace, attacking Harkal directly. As soon as it made contact with any part of him, black crystals would sprout.

Hands made of crystal formed. They gripped onto Harkal's legs, keeping him still. He immediately removed his hands from Uteu to deal with the more imminent danger.

Harkal grunted as he flicked his wrist, sending out a gale of wind at the crystals keeping him immobile. It bounced off, leaving miniscule fractures on their surface.

"No no no no! This, how is this here? What even is this? I never made this!"

Harkal growled in anger and a red tornado began to form by his feet, shattering a few of the arms holding him down.

"Get out of my perfect space!"

Seeing as how the cloud focused heavily onto Harkal, Uteu made sure that Uti's grip on his shoulders were secure. Using only his own strength, he pivoted away from Harkal and the many black crystals quickly surrounding the other man.

The red cloud brushed against his hip just before he could completely move away. A black crystal slowly formed over his hip into the shape of an arm. The hand dug into his left t.h.i.g.h, causing him to remember all of the wounds he had gotten from Harkal just minutes before being submerged into the crystal with him.

Uteu didn't let the black crystal stop him from pushing forward and away from the dark red cloud. A single arm he could still deal with.

Dashing forward, Uteu made it quite a fair distance away from the resentment cloud. It seemed to have lost interest in chasing after him and Uti, preferring instead to cause difficulties for Harkal.

Staring down at his own wounds, he couldn't help but notice that they seemed sealed over. They were still very tender and painful to the touch, but were no longer outright bleeding. Taking the tip of his finger to trace the wounds on his other leg, Uteu couldn't recognize the energy being used to keep them sealed.

The crystal hand dug in deeper, burning itself into his body. Immediately, Uteu faltered and had to steady himself and Uti. He was already at the brink of exhaustion and on top of that, he now had to fight off the attacks that were currently drilling into his mind.

Uti let out a concerned sound and her warm hands soothed over his hair, instantly easing the mental attacks. Her hands stayed warm when she returned them back to his shoulders. The crystal around his hip took on a lighter shade of grey and no longer attempted to plague his mind.

"Thank you, Uti. But don't overwork your abilities alright?" He said softly while he ruffled her red hair.

"I'm not! In here I don't have to use my own energy at all."

Uteu wrinkled his eyebrows in thought as he continued moving the two of them as far away as he could from the cloud.

In the first place, he had no idea as to what Uti's abilities even were. In the second place, he felt incredibly surprised that she could use this space freely.

"It's heavy in here, but I don't feel tired at all. It feels like I can do anything I want." Uti tried to explain when she noticed the look on Uteu's face.

When Uteu kept silent and continued onwards without replying, Uti bit her bottom lip. She looked down looking incredibly unsure of herself.

Noticing her crestfallen appearance, he gave her a pat on the head and gently told her, "You're something else, Uti. You've always been my brilliant little sister. I think it's amazing that you were able to figure this place out so quickly."

Uti's mood brightened with his words and suddenly all around the two of them, small butterflies blinked into existence.

They fluttered down towards the black crystal on Uteu's body, slowly chipping away at it.

Uti managed to chip it down to the shape of a star against his hip. Uteu touched the grey star at his hip. He was amazed to realize that the star no longer seemed to hold any resentment.

Uteu felt Uti let out a puff of air by his collar right before she burried her head against his shoulder. The energy around her dimmed and the butterflies dispersed into small beads of light.

"Uti?!" Uteu exclaimed in worry. He stopped in his tracks and checked her over, worried she had overdone it some how.

"Not tired but I... I feel really sad?"

Uti's words were muffled against his shoulder.

"I don't want to be here anymore." Uti then cried into his shoulder and Uteu hugged her tight. His c.h.e.s.t felt tight as he felt her small frame shake from her sobs.

"No more. We're going to get out. You won't have to be anywhere near this place ever again, alright Uti?"