The Aspiring Archivist

TAAron seemed to finally have calmed down. "I just drink it?"

He coughed. "Hit in midair by a speeding vehicle, directly after experiencing a rapid acceleration." "I don't know what that means. Wynn, I'm not going to hurt you. What is going on?"

"What is going on?" Lerac sighed. "I don't think there's very far to run on this balcony!" He started calming down slightly. "I don't know what happened. I just... don't know."

"Woah!" He let her go, looking at her warily. "Wynn, what happened?" He shook his head, still shaking. "I can't... Too much."

After getting about halfway, Antin broke into a run without warning, diving to grab the witch and hopefully dampen her power.

He did not respond. Instead, he began to shake. "Don't... I..."

"I'm not asking you to be anything." He slowly began approaching the witch to see what she did.

"She didn't do anything, just stood there." He shuddered. "That was really bad. I wanted to die." "Wynn? What's going on?" Lerac shook her again in an attempt to wake her up. I shouldn't have made her drive.

"You were dead. It was my fault. I wanted to be dead, too." He was obviously shell-shocked. "Please don't die, Haly."

TAAron looked up at her. "You were dead. It was my fault." "Just take him," Lerac said. He quickly went over to Wynn, and shook her. "Wynn, wake up."

"So, you'll kill us if we don't comply?" Antin asked.

"Hm." Antin stepped forward and placed a hand on the witch, depleting her magical energy significantly.

Lerac nodded. "Unfortunately, I'm out of healing, and TAAron is still pretty hurt. Is there an infirmary here somewhere?" TAAron himself was now on the floor, breathing heavily.

Lerac pulled TAAron onto the runner and healed him immediately. TAAron himself was dumbfounded. "Lerac... how?"

TAAron continues down, unable to think of a way to slow his fall. He prepared his duralumin and pewter. Even so, he knew he might just die on impact regardless of the increased strength. He couldn't be sure, but it seemed like his best chance. He gasped as they ran into his, burning his pewter to keep from passing out. "What the..."

Frantically, realizing his mistake, his shot several coins down into the ground and began Pushing. Somehow, he couldn't seem to make a difference in his falling speed, as though some external force was pushing him down. Desperately, he burned Duralumin, and the downward force broke. He was sent high into the sky, far above the balcony. And now, he didn't have any more steel. I hope Haly's got something in mind... TAAron saw them emerge beneath him, but he didn't have time to think about it. He just kept falling, trying to come up with a way to stop himself before hitting the ground.

"I don't think we have time to worry about that right now." He climbed onto the runner. "Ready when you are."

"Okay. Ready to go?" Suddenly, his eyes locked on to her again. He relaxed for a moment. Then, an invisible force threw him off the edge.

He pulled away in an instant. "Let me go! I need to go."

"So... what can we do here? Or are we just waiting to get away and find Haly and TAAron?"

He stumbled, and looked confused, but still showed no sign of hearing her. He ran to the edge, only stopping a moment before going over. His face was a mask of grief and pain, and tears ran down with no obstruction.

He did not appear to hear her, either. He simply stared over the edge of the balcony, leaning in.

"She's dead. I should die, too." TAAron stood up, looking dazed and grief-stricken. He walked to the edge of the balcony.

"My fault. I did this."

"No, this can't be happening. It can't..." His voice choked. "Haly? Can you hear me?"