One of the attackers threw a straight punch at Navia while she had her eyes down. The man stopped moving as his fist was locked in Navia’s hand. From a sitting position, she jumped and wrapped her legs around the man’s arm, pinning him down to the ground. She pulled his arm until it got dislocated from his shoulder.

  As the other attacker approached her, she kicked away his leg, making him fall to the ground. Before he could stand back up, she kicked him in the chin to knock him down.

  With a quick glance, she found out where Sive was hiding and dashed forward. With a wide swing, he pointed his open hand toward running Navia, and five other people jumped to block her path.

  “You coward! Fight with your own hands!” Navia sidestepped each person that blocked her path and with a quick move, she hit each one of them in the back of the head. As she was standing in front of Sive all five people behind her fell down to the ground.

  Sive picked up his guard to fight and stood strong, but his eyes said something different. He was terrified of her. To hide it, he threw himself first with a straight punch, but it was aimed randomly and moved very slowly. With a single step to the side, she avoided the attack and spun around to do a half-kick into his back.

  He quickly recovered and threw himself again, this time bending forward with one hand close to his head and the other ready for a punch. Navia didn’t avoid Sive’s attack, she dashed forward with a knee in front, hitting him square in the jaw.

  As Sive growled on the ground, grabbing his injured jaw, Navia slowly walked toward him. “Most of the people would be knocked down with that kind of attack. The gods gave you power, but you have no skill to back it up.”

  “I… I’m not a brute like you!” Shouted Sive, drops of blood spurting between his saliva. “I have a different role… In this war… I am a commander!” Sive clenched his hand into a fist, and five people began running toward Navia. She was ready to fight back, looking for the first person to strike, but they didn’t. They only ran forward, passing by her and continuing their run.

  Turning around to finish the Drowned Puppeteer with a fist ready to pummel his face like the actor who played Death, Navia noticed that Sive was missing. Looking around for him, she tossed the standing people to the side, focused on one thing. Finding him and killing him.

  “Hey! What are you doing!” Shouted a man who Navia pushed to the side. His shout woke everyone from their daze; people began looking around, confused, chattering about what had just happened.

  Then cries came from behind Navia. People were mourning the dead, and children looked for their parents in the crowd, shouting “Mama! Papa!” as they cried.

  Navia wanted to push forward to look for Sive, but people blocked her way. When she tried to toss them to the side, another person grabbed her by the shoulder. She spun around and hit the man with the side of her hand, making him realize her. The people gasped with mixed emotions, some surprise, some fear.

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  Those different emotions of a hundred people woke Navia up from her focus. The people were no longer controlled by Sive. “Did he free them from the grasp of his power? Or did he run away and lose the grip on those people?” Thought Navia as she still looked for Sive, but the people began blocking her sight as all of them surrounded her.

  “How could you?! Killer! Murderer!” Shouted the crowd, making Navia feel much smaller, like an ant in the middle of the street.

  “I am not a monster… I… I tried to save you. I came here to help!” Shouted Navia, trying to sound reassuring. “I’m from The Order Of Tomorrow! That man controlled you and imprisoned you in here! But he ran away! You’re all safe!” Reassured Navia, but her confidence disappeared once the people's faces didn’t change. There was anger in their eyes.

  “Since when does Order Of Tomorrow recruit monsters?! You’re a liar!” The crowd continued to shout, their anger increasing once they noticed that Navia felt overwhelmed by them, looking like a harmless child.

  “He was the monster who controlled all of you. Used for those sick theaters. I am a human, just like you…” Answered Navia, losing the vigor she had a moment ago as she saw those discordant eyes of the people.

  “Not a single human being bleeds black…” Said the old woman with tears in her eyes as she stepped in front of the crowd. Navia looked down at the pool of black blood under her, more liquid coming from her wounds. “You were the one who killed my son…”

  “I… I tried to save-” Navia tried to argue with the crowd but they had already made their judgment.

  “You killed them!” Another man shouted as he joined the old woman, taking a step in front of her to protect her.

  A soldier wearing a black and gold uniform stepped out of the crowd with a rope in his hands. “By Beronian law, I must arrest you and… let the high judge decide your fate.” Said the soldier as he moved toward Navia with a stretched rope to tie her hands.

  She took a step back but felt the crowd getting closer to her. “We should be the ones to judge! We can’t wait months for the process! She needs to be punished!” The people shouted as they got closer to Navia, the fear they once had turned into hatred that they wanted to satisfy by punishing the woman in front of them.

  “I had to… They were attacking me… I had to defend myself!” Shouted Navia, but the people ignored her arguments. Like Sive said, “You might need more for them to trust you than just the look of a warrior.”

  Navia fell to her knees, hiding her head between her arms as people began to reach their hands to grab her. “Stop!”

  Looking up, Navia saw the back of a child with spread arms as if she was trying to cover her from the danger, a young girl in a grey dress that used to be white, a jeans jacket that was for someone much bigger than her, sleeves hanging down from her hands. Ragged leather shoes with a hole in the left heel. Auburn hair cut short enough to show her neck, uneven in some places.

  “Mirabell! Get away from that monster!” Shouted the old woman with a similar nose shape to the young girl.

  “She is not a monster!” Shouted the young girl, firmly stomping her foot out of anger, her face pouted as she looked around the people. Confusion slipped into their minds at the sight of a young girl defending Navia.

  “She killed your brother!” The grandmother shouted even louder as she pointed her finger behind her, stepping a bit to the side. The people on the path where she was pointing did the same, revealing the dead body of a young worker with a caved-in chest.

  “And the evil man killed Sam! He used us to kill each other! Tried to make us kill her! That’s not fair to punish her! That’s not fair! THAT’S NOT FAIR!” Mirabell shouted louder and louder to get to the people who tried to ignore her.