Cosmic

Chapter 6: The Sound of Steel

[Mia]

Screeeeeeeech

The sound reverberated off of the surrounding walls and into my ears, causing me to quiver in discomfort. It was a terrible noise, akin to the sound of fingernails scraping a whiteboard, kicking my body's sense of danger into overdrive. 

As the sound continued to make me extremely annoyed, the voice from before cried out once again. 

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??? RUN!!!" 

Now that the two mysterious figures were closer, my eyes were finally able to discern what they were doing to a reasonable degree. 

The person on the left was limping slowly, their left arm wrapped loosely around the other person's shoulders in a true display of comradeship. Meanwhile, the person on the right was taller than their injured companion and was in a light jog, stopping every now and then to wait for their friend to catch up. However, this meant that the two were moving at an extremely slow pace and that in less than no time, whatever was chasing them would catch up. 

My legs began almost moving by themselves as I broke into a hurried sprint, charging straight into the direction the two had told me to go away from. All of the fatigue I had felt from before had vanished in an instant as I made up my mind, a clear goal in sight.

With an injured person directly in front of me, I felt a compulsion to immediately run to their aid and save them from their suffering. Not only was it my duty as a Healer, but I also just couldn't stand the sight of somebody in pain. Unlike the other Gazers who chased after things like strength, freedom, eradication of evil and other idealistic images of world peace, the only thing I chased after; no, the only thing I wanted as a Healer was to save everyone. 

To simply end all fighting wasn't good enough, the current state of the world being the perfect example. Even though there hadn't been a single crime committed, let alone a war since the creation of the Gazers, millions of people were still suffering silently, going unnoticed as their lives spiralled into chaos. 

That suffering was something that I knew all too well—something that was more familiar to me than it should ever have been. So, even if the number is small, even if I didn't know them, even if I'm barging straight into Hell, I wanted to save people; starting with that one person right in front of me. 

SCREEEEEEEEEECH

This time, the sound was significantly louder, causing me to scrunch up my face and plug my fingers into my ears as I came to a grinding halt. 

SHUT UP!!! I screamed inside my head. IF THAT GUY DOESN'T STOP MAKING THAT DAMNED NOISE, I WILL MARCH RIGHT OVER AND CAST THEIR SOUL INTO THE ABYSS WITH MY BARE HANDS!!!

Shaken from the ear-piercing screech, I was about to continue running until I came to the realisation that the two were already right in front of me. 

In a voice of utter bewilderment, the left-most person began, "Are you insane? Do you have a death wish?" 

Ignoring the questions, I looked around his body for any signs of injury, only to see that there wasn't even so much as a scratch on his pants. 

"Where's the wound?" I asked, baffled by the lack of any visible wound. 

"Right leg."

Upon closer inspection, I discovered a thin line where the light brown fabric parted near the shin of the said leg. I grabbed the two edges and pulled them apart in one swift action, exposing the wound to the cool air and tearing the pant leg to shreds.