Eyes shut, she waited to be sent to the next realm... but that moment didn't come. Instead, the hot breath she had been feeling on her neck stopped. The grip around her neck became limp. The arm that had been wrapped around her waist and arms, that had kept her from moving an inch, fell lax.

Lumina opened her eyes to the site of the Resulkan's head falling onto her shoulder. A hole between his two eyes was spilling blood. It rolled down his cheek and stained Lumina's yellow sport tank crimson.

Lumina quickly freed herself from the tangled mass of flesh, muscle and bone. She stumbled away, never turning her back to her now inanimate assaulter. Without anything to rest on, the body flumped onto the court like a limp noodle. Blood continued to dribble onto the blacktop and mix with the sand and gravel to form a brown goo.

Each breath Lumina drew in became more and more controlled as her eyes remained fixed on the blood. A rough hand lightly fell on her right shoulder and quickly brought her back to reality. She spun her head around, half-expecting to see another Resulkan.

"Are you all right Lumina?" Raydiun inquired with sincere concern in his eyes. Lumina could not yet force words out of her mouth. She simply nodded. Raydiun turned his eyes away from Lumina and onto the dead bodies they were surrounded by. "Lumina, I'm sorry. I almost got you killed with my hesitation. I was worried that if I shot I could end up hitting you instead of him."

"Okay," was the most intelligent thing Lumina could say. Her eyes were drawn past Raydiun and over to her two friends. They were both kneeling on the ground. Tidranna was bawling her eyes out and crying into Zephia's drenched shoulder. Occasionally, between sobs, she would would mutter, "It almost had me." Zephia had her hand on Tidranna's back and was stroking her blue hair in a motherly way and softly repeating, "It's over. It's okay. Get a grip. It's over."

As she watched her friends in front of her, Lumina's heart turned to the other two in the group. Where was Terren? Was Flare safe inside the Ardorset home. Voicing her concern she asked the group, "What about Terren and Flare?"

A flood of panic rushed over Fissure's face, "Oh s*** she's doing karate stuff in the park! If there are other Resulkans then they'll be looking for her, too!" Deciding to waste no time, Fissure tore off to prevent the green-haired girl from getting captured.

Raydiun yelled after Fissure, "WAIT! You moron! Wait for one of us... the idiot is gonna get himself killed if he goes all alone." Raydiun looked at the twins and ordered, "Gale, go and follow Fissure. We don't want the oaf getting himself into more trouble than he can handle."

Gale sighed then sprinted after Fissure. Raydiun further inquired, "So do we know where Flare is or not?"

Lumina quickly answered, "She's in the Ardorset house! She's been playing with chemicals all day. Is she safe?"

Raydiun nodded his head, "If she's been in the Ardorset house the entire time then yes, she's safe. Hera's Wall would have spared her any contact with the Resulkans."

Raydiun turned away from the group and watched as Gale disappeared into the network of streets of Bikacanus. Raydiun barked out more orders, "Guys... I want you to take Lumina, Zephia, and Tidranna to the Ardorset house and guard them and Flare. Hera's Wall will prevent any Resulkans from attacking you guys there. I'm going to go and help Fissure and Gale find Terren."

As Raydiun ran off Lumina's concern for Terren heightened. Terren was a fighter and would confront a Resulkan before asking for help. Terren's warrior pride would get her killed... or probably worse. Another thing bothering Lumina was the fact that she and Terren had not been on good terms lately. She abhorred the thought that her last words to Terren might have been harsh ones.

Lumina's legs set into motion. Adrenaline still pumping through her body from the attack moments earlier, she sprinted faster than she thought she could in her dainty body. Following the path of Raydiun, Lumina separated herself from the safety of the group.

As much as Lumina wanted to know that Terren was safe, there was one other thing motivating her rash action. While the Resulkans attacked, she had to be protected. She was completely useless in defense of herself. In a way she was doing this to prove to herself that somewhere underneath Lumina's cute frame Jay still existed.

Despite his cut eye, Tude took off after Lumina. He didn't know what got into her but he sure knew that he wasn't going to allow Lumina to do such a reckless thing. But in his exhausted state he struggled to keep pace with the fleet-footed female. When he finally caught up to Lumina, he grabbed her wrist and told her, "Lumina it's not safe out here. You heard Raydiun. Let's get to the Ardorset house quickly."

Lumina didn't feel like arguing. First she tried to rip her arm free of Tude but that proved futile due to his superior strength. So she did what she knew she should do... go for the weak point. Opening her palm, she swung her hand at Tude. She slapped him across his cut eye; he immediately let go of her wrist and threw both of his hands to his injured eye.

Lumina took off again. She really did feel sorry for slapping Tude's injured eye but she had to get to Terren. Any and all obstacles would be dealt with harshly...or as harshly as her cute frame could dish out.

Somehow, Lumina began to catch up to Raydiun; probably a combination of Raydiun's battle fatigue and Lumina's adrenaline rush. For a couple of minutes, Raydiun didn't notice her slowly but surely closing in on him; but after a while he heard the sound of her sneakers fumping on the cobblestones.

Expecting an attack, Raydiun deftly stopped and turned around in one skidding motion. His handsome face warped into a defiant scowl as he raised his finger with intent to discharge one of his deadly laser blasts. When he saw who his target was, his faced morphed from wroth determination to startled concern, "Lumina what are you doing here?! Why aren't you in the Ardorset house? It's not safe for you out here!"

Lumina didn't want to answer logical questions. What she was doing wasn't logical at all; all she knew was that her friend might be in trouble and she wasn't going to stand idly by and wait for Fissure, Gale, and Raydiun to save Terren.

Raydiun on the other hand didn't want to let Lumina anywhere close to where she could be in danger of being nabbed again. Messing with Resulkans was serious business that Lumina should not be dipping her toes in. When Lumina tried to pass him, Raydiun jumped in front of her and grabbed her by the shoulders, "Lumina, you're not going to put yourself in harm's way."

She struggled against Raydiun's strong hands, "One of my best friends is in danger! I won't just sit on my butt and wait for her to be saved!"

Thrashing about, Lumina tried to free herself from Raydiun's grip. Meanwhile Raydiun was trying to calm her down, "Lumina, listen! I will make sure Terren is safe. I promise it."

"You can't possibly make that promise! You have no idea if she'll be safe! She could already be gone!" Lumina then jerked her body free of Raydiun's hands.

She tried to run off but Raydiun reacted quickly; he wrapped his left hand around the section of her chest just below her breasts and pinned her left arm against her side. Lumina started swinging her right fist into Raydiun's hip and stomping on his toes.

Raydiun grimaced but did not let his grip falter. With reluctance in his voice, Raydiun sighed into Lumina's ear, "I'm sorry I have to do this."

Lumina first felt Raydiun's left hand press hard into her right armpit. It wasn't a sharp pain but it did hurt. Raydiun then followed it up by applying pressure under her right ear and in the back of her neck. When pressure had been applied to all three areas, Lumina fell unconscious and the world went black.

* * *

Lumina felt herself coming back into consciousness. ~What happened? What did Raydiun do to me? Where am I?~

Lumina groaned as she slowly opened her pretty blue eyes. When they were finally opened they were met by Zephia's own steel grays. Zephia smiled, "You're awake."

Lumina shot upright and realized she was in Flare's room. Her mind immediately turned to her endangered friend, "Where's Terren? Is she safe?"

A melodious voice to her left answered, "I'm right here and yes, I'm safe." Lumina's head turned to face her emerald-haired friend. First thing Lumina noticed was that Zephia was wearing the shirt Fissure had been wearing. It looked rather ridiculous on her considering that Fissure was a good eight inches taller and much thicker.

There were a few moments of awkward silence before with a defeated face Terren told Lumina, "Raydiun told me how you tried to come and find me to make sure I was okay... thanks." With that, the truce was official and the two friends were once again talking to each other.

Lumina then heard the voice of Raydiun in the room, "Lumina. I'm sorry I knocked you out--but you gave me no choice because you weren't gonna let me take you to the Ardorset."

Lumina faced him and rubbed the back of her neck, "Oh... um... sorry... but how did you do that? All you did was touch me."

Raydiun gave a sheepish grin, "It was a trick my father taught me to calm people down if they wouldn't cooperate when they needed medical treatment. I simply touched three specific nerves in your body and for some reason, when that is done the brain receives some kind of signal to shut down."

Lumina took a look around the room to see who all was there. The only girls in the room were Terren and Zephia. Leaning against the wall was Fissure, wearing only a workout shirt. With less cover, Lumina got an even better look at his muscular development. Then sitting in the corner, with his eye bandaged, was Tude.

As she glanced at Tude, she was reminded how she slapped his injured eye. She hoped she hadn't caused even more damage. Guilt could be heard in Lumina's voice as she apologized, "Uh, Tude. I'm sorry for... you know... hitting your eye earlier."

Tude smiled, "Quite all right, Lumina. You just wanted to make sure your friend was okay. All is forgiven." Lumina felt relieved to hear that Tude did not harbor any feelings of ill will towards her.

Lumina then asked nobody in general, "Where are Tidranna and Flare? Where are the other guys?"

Zephia answered, "Flare and Tidranna are downstairs helping Infra and Solmaren prepare dinner for everyone. Gale, Fuse, and Tsuno left to find the Patriarchs of each of the houses so they can activate some stone or machine or something called Zues's Fury. Gustin is going around and making sure there aren't any noble family members who are missing."

"Solmaren is here?"

Raydiun explained, "She came over here as soon as she heard this is where we were taking all you girls. We don't know how long we're gonna be here so she suggested dinner should be made for everyone."

Zephia then asked Raydiun, "What is that Zues's Fury thing again?"

Raydiun was about to answer when Fissure interrupted, "Zues's Fury is actually a stone that powers an ancient machine. It was a gift from the gods when our ancestors landed on Strano Ilha.. Zues's Fury builds up power over time through solar energy and using some kind of science we don't understand yet, the machine fires bolts of lightning at any outsider who comes near Bikacanus. Any outsider who is inside Bikacanus when it is turned on will be struck with the same lightning."

As if on cue, five thunder strikes were heard outside. All six of the teenagers raced to the window to see what happened. As they gazed out the window they saw four billows of smoke coming up from the ground from different spots around the city while another cloud of smoke appeared just outside the wall of Bikacanus.

Tude smirked, "They activated Zues's Fury. Looks like we missed four Resulkans in our fight. Another must have been hanging just outside the walls."

As she watched the smoke clouds ascend, Lumina queried, "Just who are the Resulkans and why are they after us?

The eyes of the three boys shifted from one to another uneasily. Terren finally complained in a disgusted voice, "They won't tell us either."

Raydiun attempted to defend himself, "Look, I still can't believe that my dad wouldn't have told you something about the Resulkans."

Zephia was also cross, "Then why don't you guys just tell us and we can put the whole mystery to rest?"

The guys scanned each other's eyes again. Raydiun finally stepped up to the plate, "Ok, I don't think we're supposed to but I'll tell you guys anywa..." Raydiun was cut off by a mournful wail downstairs.

Lumina quickly identified who the wail belonged to, "It's Solmaren."

All six quickly sprinted out of Flare's room and into the downstairs kitchen. When they entered they found Flare and Tidranna staring at each other in utter shock. Infra was in the corner with her hand covering her mouth.

What worried Lumina the most was the fact that Coronan had at some point walked into the kitchen and tears were streaming down his face. He was hugging Solmaren tightly as his wife just cried in his chest.

Raydiun was the first to speak, "Coronan... what's wrong?" His voice was shaking. He wasn't sure why his brother and sister-in-law were crying but he knew it couldn't be good.

Coronan slowly turned his head to Raydiun. Taking a large gulp, Coronan sobbed, "A group of thirty Resulkans attacked dad. He somehow fought most of them off... but..." Coronan broke into more sobs. Raydiun just stood there and shook his head, "no... no..."

Lumina gazed up into Raydiun's eyes. They were the eyes of a heavyhearted, lost boy. Finally Raydiun was able to choke out, "What... what happened to dad?"

Coronan squeezed Solmaren tighter and opened his pained eyes, "He's dead Raydiun. Dad's dead. The Resulkans killed him. Dad's dead."

Raydiun could have been knocked over by a butterfly flapping it's wing. Slowly, Raydiun began to break down and bury his face into his hands.

Everyone one of the girls was shocked. Flare and Tidranna walked over and stood with the dumbfounded Lumina, Zephia, and Terren. Flare leaned over and whispered into Lumina's ear, "Well, now the crap has really hit the fan. How we supposed to get our bodies back now?"

That's when it hit Lumina, ~Photus was the only guy working on restoring out bodies back to our male forms. If the Resulkans killed Photus then there is no way to get back to our old bodies. We're stuck. S*** we're stuck!~