Marlowlia listened as the footsteps crept further and further away from her. There would be no salvation, and there would be no one there to preserve this city.
She clutched her chest, feeling like her heart would explode. It was over, she thought; there was nothing more she could do. At that moment, she didn't blame Vivshi for not helping the city, nor did she blame anyone else except herself.
Fiviana crawled over towards her sister and let her arms rest around her sister's head.
Her younger sister didn't know what to say to comfort so all she did was stay by her side.
Lifting her head revealed the light blue mark of destruction on her cheek. Fiviana rubbed her sister's cheek, trying to calm her down, but all Marlowlia could say to her sister was:
"I'm sorry."
Fiviana shook her head lightly before just pressing her head against Marlowlia's forehead.
"I'm so sorry…" Marlowlia tried to grab onto Fiviana but could barely grasp her sister because of her shaky hands.
Fiviana's hand slithered up from Marlowlia's wrist and lined itself against her palm before closing down to hold her hand. The youngest sister's hand felt pain as her sister clamped down hard.
After some time had passed. Marlowlia had regained some composure and managed to stand up. Her legs felt shaky and unsteady as she tried to take a few steps. Her sister let her put her weight on her as she helped Marlowlia over to a building to rest.
Even though she knew the answer to the question she was about to ask, she decided to ask it anyway.
"Fivi, has the city of Nautilus really fallen?"
Fiviana looked half despondently out into the city with a somber look and gave a slight nod without answering the question.
As they were finally calming down, a group of soldiers rushed towards them. They were the daughter of Fivindius after all. As long as they stayed in the city, they would be hunted like a prized animal.
Marlowlia's adrenaline had finally stopped, and she felt the aching kicking in. The gunshot wounds she had received earlier started to throb as she felt her flesh pulse around the bullet hole.
Her eyes squinted in pain as her sister grabbed her arm and pulled her up. The soldiers lined up in formation. It was a firing squad just for the daughters who stood for democracy. Fiviana and Marlowlia sprinted for their lives, and then they heard the order from the firing squad.
"FIRE!"
They heard multiple explosions as the gunpowder ignited and let loose tens of bullets at them.
Marlowlia reacted quickly and shielded her sister from the gunfire. The entire left side of her body was covered in holes. Fiviana's shaking hand smeared the blood on her face. She pulled them back, seeing her sister's blood covering her fingers.
Marlowlia fell limp onto Fiviana's arm as blood poured out of her body. The firing squad, seeing that Fiviana was still standing, started to reload. Seeing this, Fiviana hurriedly with her weak body dragged Marlowlia inch by inch away from the city. Luckily, the effective range for muskets was really bad, and when they released the next barrage, all of them missed.
Fiviana collapsed from exhaustion in her legs. The soldiers were running up towards her and were pointing their guns at her and her sister.
She tried to get back up, but her legs refused. Just held onto Marlowlia as she prepared to hear the loud sound of gunpowder igniting.
But that's when she heard the shout of a woman. She saw her mom rush the soldiers with a knife in her hand. Her younger brother, who had been watching everything unfold, picked up a gun that had been dropped and shot one of the soldiers without hesitation.
Her brother had this stone-cold look of a killer in his eyes. He released shot after shot, hitting the soldiers in the head. Her mom stabbed one of the soldiers to death, but then the reinforcements came. This one was a larger group composed of over 40 armed men. Her mom stood between them, her brother was prepared to point a gun at them as well, but as he was told off by their mom, he lowered his weapon and helped Fiviana pick up Marlowlia. Both of them managed to escape Nautilus, but as they ran for their lives, Fiviana decided to look back one more time. She saw how her mom had both her arms stretched out, and then as her mom's body was filled with holes. She saw how her body was torn into bits.
Fiviana looked over to her brother, who had a stoic face but was still shedding one small tear.