Luz

Mortals have no idea of how much of their brainpower is ruled by mere emotional urges.

Protecting someone you love, fearing for your life, worrying about consequences... those were all things that did not have a place in a land ruled by reason.

Luz's mind was for once clear. She could assess the real entity of her wounds without worrying they would kill her. She had neglected her body greatly and physical pain was still not enjoyable.

The mist surrounding her dissolved.

"Child, bring us the mortal and we will help you to turn into real magic for the last time" said her father.

Luz burned a small fire on her hands and the magic sparked something in her chest. It wasn't quite an emotion, but she felt drawn to it, like a moth to a flame. That was true power. The attractivness of it was significant.

The mortals around her were immobile, her friends in a state of shock. She could tell that Mathias felt hope in his heart, but couldn't tell why. The mist people were offering a true bargain. They were her parents. She would be a fool not to take it, it was illogical.

She felt a little pull of the thread connecting their heart and she remembered.

Luz had had a plan.

In her stupidly irrational form, the girl had known that the mist people would take away her emotions, just like her father had done with the woman many centuries before. She had believed it was possible for her to gain their trust and make them get closer before she could shoot them with the iron pulveriser.

Luz absently passed her hand over her waist to check it was still there.

She knew she could do it and yet ... why would she? It was so much easier to just follow along. The reward so much higher.

Luz looked at her friends again but moved her sight fast to the mortals.

It was Jane's hurt gaze that troubled her the most. Jane who always stole her clothes, Jane who had destroyed their apartment when she thought she was gone, Jane who, no matter what, was her sister in crime.

Luz couldn't feel guilt in betraying them, but something cracked.

-You are manipulative beings. - she stared at the mist. -Prove to me you will not betray me and I will bring the mortal to you. Show yourselves. -

"Very well"

The mist thickened, the temperature in the room dropped of a few degrees. It was the middle of the afternoon, and yet long shadows crippled into the windows, sneaking through the wood and copper. Her friends took instinctively a step back, protecting the mortals. The mortals themselves did not seem to be aware of the growing magic in the room, but shivered closer to each other.

Luz did not falter. It was ironic, really, that her parents were going through so much trouble to scare her knowing that she could not feel emotions anymore. Clearly, being made of mist for so long could melt your own brains.

The columns of mist solidified in front of her, shaping into two humanoids forms. The mist swirled with each movement of the shapes, allowing them to move like clouds in the sky.

That was her moment. She knew she had to act fast.

The magic mist pulsed with power. She could be like them, forever content with power. But as she looked through their empty heads, Luz felt the eagerness in their desires. The mist people might not have been able to feel true emotions, but just like the rest of the immortals over the years, they had fragments of them. Memories of what it felt to be human. Their search for power would not end with their new bodies, or with the ruling of the mortal world. Ambition would keep driving their every moves, turning their eagerness into bitterness and bitterness into rage. They would never stop looking for more.

The luminous threads swirled around them in a wild dance. Some were bright yellow, others green, others blue. She had never seen paths like those.

Luz bit her lips as she realised she had been looking through her parents future. Her eyes travelled down her body, seeing her hands slowly turning to shadows.

Magic that powerful always asked for a price. This time, the price was her humanity.

"Do not begin the process now daughter! We need the mortal!" Warned the female voice, a tint of rage in the emotions.

Her hand went to her belt and grabbed the iron pulveriser. She had to attempt the movement three times before she could manage enough strength. She willed her hands to burst into flames and the magic bent under her will. The pulveriser turned white with heat as the thermometer registered the temperature raising. The humming sound of the iron being melted and dissolved by the negative pressure made her ears pop.

She didn't know whether the mist people could read her mind or simply see their own futures, but fear sparked in their clouds.

"Children of the mist! Stop her!" They screamed in unison, their combined voices making her knees tremble.

Just as she had hoped, their fear prevented them from dissolving into pure magic. They swirled back and forward, stuck in a limbo of mist and particles.

The immortal soldiers answered to their cry, even though undecided on the course of action. One think was following gods, another was being ordered around by a fart looking cloud.

Daniel held a walkie-talkie in his hands, but said nothing.

Isaac and Jane limpered to their attack positions and readied themselves to protect her with their lives. Something burned in her chest, as fiercely as the fire in her hands.

Mathias took a step towards her, his face covered in sweat from the heat of the iron pulveriser.

-Luz, you can't release that much iron in their direction! You will be hit too! - he shouted gesturing towards her feet.

If Luz had been able to feel as strongly as she had before, she would have cried in fear. Her limbs were slowly melting in a puddle of shadows and mist, her heating flames increasing in intensity, magic wrapping her like a warm blanket. The thermometer signed 354 C degrees, the exact temperature she needed to pulverise the iron.

Mathias closed his eyes and pulled the thread of their connection. She felt a little more solid and was able to take a deep breath.

Luz closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.