Chapter 1 - Shaving

Placing down the can, I used my other palm to clear the fog from the mirror. I switched on the fan and sighed. I ran my fingertips across the scruffiness on my chin. The room's heat made the sweat excrete from the pores I wasn't even aware of. Thus far, I hadn't even looked into the mirror. I didn't want to see my face. My dreadful face. My withered face. I knew where the lines would be: two across my forehead, two descending from the corners of my mouth, two cutting across my cheeks, and two under my eyes. I knew the places as if I knew my hand except that I knew my face a little more than my hand. I slid my tongue over my dry lips, wetting them. The corners of my mouth twitched with anxiety; with depression. I took my hand and pulled back the hair that had fallen into my face. The dampness of it glued it to my scalp, making sure not to fall into my face soon. I slowly placed my hands on the counter, looking into the drain of the sink. Turning on the faucet, I allowed the water to heat up, pulling the stopper up to let it fill up. I balanced the hot and cold knobs making sure not to scold myself. Then again, did I really care?

I tilted my head up, closing my eyes, as the sound of the water filled my head. Her face flashed before my lids and I opened them quickly. I took a deep breath before looking into the reflection that I was so well accustomed to making sure to avoid my face. The towel around my waste made me look more muscular than I really was. At any other time, I would have been proud of that, but not today. Not today. In fact, not ever again. I envisioned myself growing to be a slob sitting on the couch and letting my semi-muscular stomach become a huge belly while I used the remote to flip the channels, never finding anything to truly watch. I was pretty sure I was crazy, but I never thought too much on the topic. Instead, I thought about other things. Things that I found to be important. Things that I wish I would forget. Things that had brought me to this point.
The mirror fogged up and I wiped it down again. Losing my train of thought, the water brimmed over and began spilling onto the floor. I turned off the knobs before it became too much of a mess for me to care. I sighed again as I stared into the sink. The ripples drew my attention and I was amazed by how quickly I lost my train of thought. I began pondering how simple things could cause ripples. They always started out small. Always. But, much like the water's ripples, they grew into proportions that would only fade when there was nowhere else to go. A minute had passed and not a sound could be heard except for my sweat dripping into the sink. Such thoughts. Such thoughts made me want to be stupid. Made me want to harm myself and the body that I didn't care about anymore. I tried caring though. I tried for awhile, but could only muster up the strength to sigh and then give up. Today was such an occasion.
I heard the sink draining and realized that I was pushing down the stopper. I didn't even remember doing this. In fact, I didn't remember why I was doing it until the water on the floor touched my feet. The sink was too full and I needed to drain it. Why couldn't I remember thinking this though? How did my body automatically react without me so much as sending a single wavelength from my brain to my arm? Yet another thing I would never truly understand. But, again, did it really matter? I picked up the can and pushed the top button down. It secreted a white lather twisting to the top like whip cream does. Placing the can down, I began to put the lather on my face. I spread it over my cheeks, under my nose, on my chin, on my neck, and close to my ears. I placed my hand in the water to clean off the remainder that couldn't be used.
I finally looked up and gazed into my eyes. As pitiful as my face was, it was real eyes that told the real story. I hadn't gotten any real sleep in the past three weeks now. My eyelids drooped over the midsection of my eyes. I didn't even care enough to open my eyes all the way. It looked as if I was high, but this wasn't the case. My height had been dropped months ago. When I fell, the shock threw me back some and I couldn't quite clear my head since then. I was both surprised and disappointed that I had survived the fall. The surprise was that I had actually fallen. Two words. Two words was all it took and that cloud dissipated. The words echoed in my head, of course. I never wanted to repeat the words, but due to the lack of any educated thoughts, my brain was pretty much empty and the echoes went on and on and on incessantly. It was then that the disappointment sunk in. It wasn't a slow absorption either. Not like a sponge being used to clean up a mess, but more like a battle ship that was just hit with a torpedo. I was the captain who knew there was nothing I could do, so I just sat in my captain's chair as the water rose up to my ankles then to my knees, up my chest, around my neck and finally through my nostrils. I didn't remember much after that, but when I awoke, I cursed myself. I cursed myself for still being alive; for surviving the fall, the drowning. It was a sad thought, but then again, so were the two words. So were the unanswered phone calls and the lack of reply when I told her I loved her. So were the many promises that seemed to be broken. So were the scars that stained my heart blue instead of red. So were the many things that I saw after the facts. All of this was a sad sad thought. So was being alive.
I opened the top drawer on my right to grab my razor. Closing the drawer, I held up the blade in front of my face. It shined brightly as if asking to be used. Everything went silent again except for my heavy breathing. So many sad thoughts. So many. I took a deep breath. What was the best way to approach this? Without thinking, I started on my left side, covering the razor in the white lather. It touched my face with a cooling sensation as I drew it down to the bottom of my jaw line. I took it from my face, checking to see how close the shave was. It was close enough. I worked my way down the lather, shaving my left cheek and working my way underneath my jaw. I dipped the blade in the water every so often to clean it off.
She flashed into my mind again. Her face penetrating my reflection and engraving into my skull. My heart began to pound furiously. My eyes began to swell as she smiled at me. I looked into the sink, shaking my head and breaking the flow of my shaving ritual. I closed my eyes, regained my breathing, and sniffed the mucus from my nose away. Taking a deep breath, I looked back up and caught something I hadn't seen before. The fog covered up the mirror once again, missing a small area. The area read, "I love you" with the word "love" replaced with a heart. My heart pounded again. How could things have gone so wrong? How could I have screwed up so bad? How could I have let her go? How could I? The tears began falling into the sink rippling the water and interlocking within each other. I gripped the sink's edge.
"Alright..." I said after a moment. I looked up at the words written in the mirror. I sighed, took my hand, and wiped the fog off of the mirror. My partial shaven face stared back at me. "What the fuck?" I shrugged. I looked down at my razor as it dripped with shaving cream into the sink. It urged me to use it again, but this time not the way it was intended for. The million and one thoughts ran through my mind in a nanoseconds. It wouldn't make any difference, would it? No. No, it wouldn't. Just quickly and it would be over before it began. That's it. What would be the purpose though? What? My eyes found a glaze that can only be found in those who are lost. The kind of glaze from those who don't know where they are; who don't know what's going to happen next. It was the glaze of a dead man. "Here we go" I muttered.
I dipped the razor in the water, cleaning the blade fresh. Lifting it up, I placed the warm edge against my throat. My heart began pounding furiously as my breathing became faster and faster. I pressed the blade further piercing skin. Blood began rolling down. I already started and now I had to finish. I gripped the razor fiercely as the agony sunk in. My hands began shaking as I took the blade horizontally along my trachea. I tried to scream, but the rushing blood clogged it up only becoming a gurgling noise. I felt my face become instantly numb and cold from the loss of blood. The tissue tore easily and the cut was nice and clean excluding the pool of blood now. The blood rolled down my hands. I began to feel dizzy. My eyes rolled instantly to the back of my head as I finished the job, slicing through my Adam's apple and reaching the other side. The razor had shredded my skin looking much like some cheese that had been grated. The blood had left my hand causing instant rigor mortise making me give the razor a death grip. I fell backwards, hitting the door hard. Spasms surged through my body and my feet found the water left on the floor. I slipped, falling to the ground gurgling more blood and coughing up spurts of the red thick liquid. It splattered the door tingeing the white paint into a pink shade. My head hit the tile floor with a huge thud. I began convulsing, shaking uncontrollably as the last of the blood left my system. It slid down my neck pooling onto the floor in a huge puddle spreading across as if to conquer anything that was white.
My final thoughts were of her. I loved her very much and I never fully comprehended what happened or why it had happened. All I knew was that it had happened. I couldn't feel the pain anymore which I took as a good sign. The lack of pain was my final goal and I had achieved it with flying colors. I wanted to tell her that I loved her, but I knew I couldn't. "Did it really matter?" I found myself asking again. Her face flashed once more into my fading mind. She was smiling again and I found myself smile back at her as my eyelids slowly closed.

Chapter 2 - Immortal

"DAMMIT! Not again!!" said Dan. "Come on! How many times are you going to do this? I hope you're going to clean this mess up."
The muscles began stitching themselves together. The torn tendons circled around each other, slowly reattaching themselves into a solid piece. Each piece intertwined with each other forming a deformity that could only occur in a horror movie. As the threads knitted themselves, my eyes sprang wide suddenly. I tossed around, flopping over from side to side like a fish gasping for air. My eyes were still at the back of my head as I tossed around like some sort of exorcism. I grabbed at my throat in a failed attempt to bridge the gap in my neck to my throat. The lines of flesh finally emerged into one another and finally healed themselves. My neck was finally complete and it looked as if I hadn't just slit my own throat five minutes ago.
Dan knelt down beside me. "Again?"
"Yeah." I whispered.
"Dude, you need to get over this."
I looked long and hard at Dan. "How do you suppose I go about doing that?"
"I don't know, man, but you can't keep doing this. It can't be good for you."
My name is Ryter. It seems as if I was cursed with ability to quickly regenerate myself. Essentially, I can't die. Many people would probably kill in order to receive immortal life, but as a irony would have it, it's not something I wish to have. Not now at least. At one point in time, it was an honor to have this gift, but not now. There's a common misconception about being immortal: the flaw with this is that even though you can't really die, you can still feel the pain. You can feel everything from the tiniest scratch to the deepest scar. You can even feel your heart break.
I'm not a vampire and I'm certainly not a God; neither one of them would be able to feel this. Maybe being one of them would make things easier. I don't know how I got to be this way, but it seems as if I was either destined to feel this pain without an opportunity to escape it or I was destined to go out in some other way beyond my control. How I curse it. The funny thing about an immortal having their heart break is that not even that can be repaired. Not as easily at least. As mentioned before, occurrences can happen that can create such a ripple and the ripples go on and on, becoming an echo of themselves until they have no place to go...and then they just fade. Is that what I am? Just a ripple? An echo of something that happened? Another misconstrued idea about those who can't die is that people think that they have forever to fix their mistakes. Wrong. Oh, how terribly wrong those fools are. It doesn't matter that we can't die; the people that we would want to apologize to would eventually die. We're immortal, not perfect. We make mistakes just as much as the next person. We make those minuscule mistakes that can be tossed aside and forgiven and then there's those...those that can't be as ragged as the small ones.
"Dude, it's been what? Nearly a year? You got to let go."
I stared at Dan again. What does he know? He's never been in love. He can't understand how I feel. He can't comprehend the concept of wanting that one person, but for them to never want you again. He can't truly wrap his brain around never feeling the same for another person. I can't blame him though. Maybe if he was in my situation, he would. Maybe if he couldn't die, then he would try to off himself in a failed attempt to stop hurting or in an accomplished attempt to feel a different kind of pain other than the one you can't reach.
"Dan..." I started. "What is love to you?"
He gave me a puzzled look, trying to understand what I was getting at. "Well....um...let's see..."
"...because to me...love is this." Again, I received another puzzled look. "Love is feeling this pain. Do you have any idea what it would take to get rid of this...this aching, unbearable, intolerable, heart wrenching, feeling? Do you know how hard it is to wake up every morning and not look forward to a damn thing in the day because you know that if you don't even get to see her face then you can't be happy? Do you, Dan? Do you? Can you even understand loving someone with everything you have, literally every fabric of your being?"
"Well....if Sarah and I..." he started.
"You and Sarah!?" I scoffed. "You and Sarah? You and Sarah aren't even remotely close to what I feel. You and Sarah are a proximity infatuation. You've barely been with the girl for six months. Try multiplying that by ten. Try forgetting every single memory that you have with her knowing that for the rest of your days you will never forget that. Try going to sleep at night with the illusion that sleep would actually make you feel better, but knowing that whatever nightmares you have about not even being with her aren't even nightmares, but reality. Try not forgetting every important day that signifies everything for you. Try not listening to a song that reminds you of her. Try doing all of this Dan and then you can start to get a tiny idea of what I'm going through. Try....just try, Dan....try to be able to kill yourself, knowing that you can't, just to forget that she ever existed and wake up with the engraved image of her beautiful smile."
Dan just stood there speechless. After a couple of moments, he regained his composure. "So, go get her." The words themselves were so simple to say. The action contradicted its own intentions. Sure, I had thought about the whole "fairy tale" idea where I go running back to her, throwing myself into her arms, crying, and telling her how I couldn't live without her. Nonetheless, reality set in. The truth was...I was immortal. I could live without her. Hell, I could live without anyone. Even if this weren't the truth she didn't want me. She had made that known the last time we talked.
"I can't." I finally mustered up.
"Then stop your bitching! You claim that you're head over heels for this girl and yet you're not moving a damn finger to go after her. Dude, you can't die. What more motivation do you need? You can go back as many times as you need with knowledge that it's not the end of the fucking world. This emo shit is starting to piss me off, seriously. Seeing a carpenter in here every week because you're too weak to sustain your own bullshit and decide to stain the carpets with your own self pity is ridiculous. I tell you this out of love, bro. I really do. But, if you can't do anything about it, then move on." he said as he got up and walked away.
The response was quite a shock to me. I didn't know what to say. What could I say? He was right. Though he couldn't truly understand, he was, in fact, very right. Damn him.
I got up, grabbing a hold of the sink to ensure that I didn't slip in my own blood. I turned the water off and got a towel from the linen closet to start mopping up my mess. The towel had already been stained. I had used it before. "Fuck." I sighed. I began wiping up the gelatinous red goo. My frustration was building up, but what could I do? It was hard to tell if I was more angry with Dan for the spout-off that he just left me with or of my inability to accept that his spout-off was the truth. There was no way I could go back to her after the things that I had said and just assume that everything would be ok. No way I could think that everything would be forgiven at the drop of a dime. Despite my seemingly fictitious ability, life wasn't the same. It wasn't a fictitious fabrication of one's imagination where everything would work out in the end. I mean, hell, I just tried to commit suicide and that didn't leave a damn soul happy including myself. I finished wiping up the blood, my frustration boiling over. I ran into the living room desperate for answers.
"What the hell do you think I should do?" Dan was sitting on the couch with a remote in his hand flipping the channels looking for something to watch. "Well, Mr. I-Haven't-Been-Able-To-Keep-A-Relationship-Long-Enough-To-Even-Fall-In-Love? What do you suggest?"
"Hey, hey, now! Don't start your shit with me. Just because I was right and you're too stupid to see that doesn't mean that you have to start busting my balls over it. I don't have all the answers here. I just know that if I had your ability..."
"...curse." I interrupted.
"What?" he stopped.
"It's a curse, not an ability."
"Yeah....well....whatever. Curse, ability, special skill, power, gift, it's all the same."
"I don't think so."
"Anyways,...if I had what you had, I would be doing so much more with it. I would be fighting with all I had if I was as in love with someone as you are. I mean, I would be fighting all the demons and dragons and all that shit that would kill any normal person. I mean, why not? I couldn't die, and yeah, sure it would hurt like hell, but I could get back up and continue to fight until the thing, whatever it may be, was killed, right?" I didn't respond. I just stared down at the ground. Could I do such a thing? Could I truly show her that I loved her by going back to her through everything and possibly win her back. It certainly was a crazy notion, yet somehow I was inspired. Strangely enough, even though his speech wasn't all that motivational, I was inspired with an idea. "Am I right?" he said looking up at me waiting for an answer.
"I guess."
"Fuck, man. You are just as hopeless as I am." he chuckled. "What do you mean 'I guess'? What the hell does that mean? I mean, what in the world is truly stopping you from going out there and doing your thing? The fact that she doesn't want you back or that are you just too accustomed to doing your current thing: offing yourself every week just to repeat the same thing the next week?"
"No..." I started feeling myself get a bit pumped. "No, no, you're right. I need to go out there and do something. I need to do something productive and stop feeling this pity over myself. You're right, dude."
"That a boy" he smiled. "Now, go away so I can finish trying to find something to watch." He said turning back to the t.v. I was definitely excited now. I was ready for a battle. I began to turn away before Dan stopped me again. "Oh, dude, by the way, you're dripping." He pointed to the towel in my hand which was dripping onto the carpet.
"Dammit!" I yelled. I wasn't going to let my excitement dwindle. I threw the towel in the kitchen sink and walked towards the door. Dan watched me knowing what was about to happen. He just smiled, waiting.
I opened the door and looked out. A creature with two beady eyes looked up at me. His blue fur turned even brighter revealing that he was defensive. We stared at each other for a moment before he sprinted off on his two legs moving as fast as they could carry him. I watched as he flew past another creature that was hunkered over. The florescent green creature stood up slowly, growing up to eight feet in height. The tiny little blue creature tripped over his own little feet, hitting the ground, and rolling into a ball. The huge horned beast raised one of his fist in the air, dust flying as he brought it down upon the little cretin, but suddenly stopped when he saw the fur on the blue one grow thick and then became pointy. The spiked ball was an even brighter blue than before I saw it. The huge beast knew what harm it would have caused him if he tried to pummel the tinier one. The green creature looked up at me. He stared at me for two seconds, before turning around and running towards me. His feet slammed against the ground, shaking the land beneath him. As he began to pick up speed another horrendous creature came down picking up the green beast with his mouth. He tossed him up in the air, catching again, slamming his jaws down on the corpse and breaking it in half. He chewed up the remains with ease before thundering off. My heart quickened and I slammed the door shut.
"Did you forget that we don't live in a normal world anymore?" Dan said without looking up, his head propped on his fist as he turned the channel.
"Yeah." I said almost too stunned to say anything.
"You might want to grab some weapons first?" Dan said without an ounce of surprise in his voice.
"Yeah." I said, turning around to head to my room. "That would certainly be a good idea."

3

Contradiction

 

We sat in the luscious green forest that night. The newly forming dew made the leaves beam with a brightness. The waterfall behind us splashed continuously glowing with a brightness unbeknownst to the darkness of the forest. The fairies around us began their graceful dances around us, radiating off hues of florescent greens, pinks, blues, and purples. While the pixies dotted the forest in their illumination, the stars above decorated the skies. The midnight creatures reverberated the air around us with their coos, purrs, and various animalistic noises. The air around us filled with a sense of magic.
I looked around amazed at the spectacle that this land had performed. I tilted my head up, but could barely see the stars. Almost as if my mind was being read, the trees seemed to sway back, opening up the sky even more and allowing me to bask beneath the careful watch of the celestials. The night was full of magic. Not only that, it was full of something else I couldn't quite place my finger on. It was something that had not only brighten my mood, but had seemed to lighten up the forest with its own electricity.
I looked down at her as she held her dress to sit down. She wore a complex long sleeved dress filled with patterns and designs of the native sort. The weaves, loops, and shapes seemed to dance in their own sort of way, becoming partners with the fairies every time they passed over her. The colors matched perfectly: a royal blue to fill in the shapes and a gold tint to outline the borders. It was a one piece dress with a band around her waist to tie it off. The band reached around to her back and tied into an intricate bow that jutted from behind her. She had a matching band around her forehead to keep her bangs from her eyes. A misshaped letter was embroidered in the middle of the band with the same matching colors. The letter looked almost like an "H" but it curved on opposite ends with two dots on either side of the middle. Her auburn hair was tied meticulously behind her head with another matching bow almost just as large. Her blue eyes sparkled, giving more life to her wardrobe. She stared at me waiting for me to say something, but I was too stunned to even start a sentence, fearful that I might ruin the air and magic around us. She smiled that beautiful smile that I was so accustomed to.
I went to utter something, but she placed her fingers to my lips. She silently shushed me. I was glad of it. I didn't know what to say in the light of such a moment. The answer that I was looking for was love. Love was the object that had brighten the atmosphere with its own electricity. I was definitely in love. Many citizens had described this feeling as being afloat upon a precipitated cloud.
The term was properly named "Cloud nine." Why nine? I began to ponder on this subject not noticing that she was watching me. Nine was such an odd number to label as the feeling of being in love. Why not seven? Seven meant complete, so why not seven? Cloud seven had a nice ring to it. I would probably never find out the answer, but I was bemused at such a strange concept. Despite the ring that
cloud seven had to it, I wouldn't have described this moment as being buoyant upon a cloud. I was on the ground and I was aware of it.
Was it the environment around me that told me I was in love? Was it the gliding specks of light or the glistening leaves of the forest that reminded me of such trivial matters as being in love with the being before me? Was it the ceaselessly flowing waterfall behind us or the stars that smiled down upon us and our ritual? Or could it have been simply that my heart pounded at the sight of her; that despite the very confines of our own selves, we were breaking all the boundaries of what prohibited us from being in love? It was so difficult to tell and yet, it was the very understanding that I was in love that reassured me. I smiled at the notion.
I started to say something again and again she shushed me with her fingers. She extended her pointer and middle finger and her thumb from her palm in a shooter sort of manner. From the corner of my lips, she glided her fingers across their length, finishing off by removing them. A white line glowed from my lips to her fingers. She then commenced moving her fingers in a unknown pattern; circling them around, looping them through the air, and making zigzags. I followed, hypnotized by the light that followed it. The light transitioned from white to a bright pink, almost the color of several of the pixies. From there, it turned blue, teal, violet, a bright red, then yellow, and it ended with a sunrise orange. She
mumbled some words incoherently which seemed to echo through the air in whispers. The echoes faded and she was finished. A cool wind rushed through, blowing through my hair and riffling through my clothes. It filled me up with a tranquil sensation, warm and soothing.
I looked up at her and for a third time, I began to tell her something when everything changed. The sparkles of light started to fade and the waterfall's brightness disappeared. I looked around and even the trees closed up. The low murmurs of the animals died down and there was nothing left but the slow splashing of the water and silence. I looked up at her wondering if she knew what was happening. Her face told me she did. She looked down at the ground. Her countenance had completely changed.
"What's happening?" I asked her. She didn't answer, but just continued to stare at the ground as if there weren't any thoughts running through her head. I knew otherwise though. I knew that she had a million and one thoughts flowing through with the first one being how to tell me what was going on.
"I..." she started. My puzzled look must have evaporated the courage that she had built up during the silence because she stopped. She couldn't say anything else. I? I what? Why was she even sounding sad about the change of scenery? It wasn't her fault. At least, I assumed it wasn't. But, why the hesitation? Did she know or not? Did her maneuvers cause this? Had she casted
an incantation of some sort?
Both of my arms were grasped and I was jerked to my knees. I looked up and saw two beings of a huge built. Feathery wings protruded from their backs and they held golden staffs in the hands that weren't preoccupied. Their armor matched her dress: royal blue with gold borders all around. The helmets covered enough of their faces revealing white eyes through darkened faces. I was met with an eeriness that crept up my spine. They just held me tightly awaiting something. I turned my gaze to her and watched as a few tears strolled down her face. What was happening? Why was she crying and why were these....things....holding me as if I had committed some crime?
It was then that I was thrown another puzzle piece: she got up and pulled a dagger from behind her back bow. The blade of the dagger curved, splitting off at the tip in four different directions. The top of the hilt had a sapphire gem perched upon it. It glistened despite the lack of light around. The hilt itself looked to be masterfully crafted, showing emblems of some sort. I couldn't tell if it was made of wood or metal. I wouldn't have this question answered either.
"Wha....what is that for?" I asked, terror rising as of how the question would be answered.
She swiftly swung her arm forward and I felt the four tips pinch my skin. Before I could utter a gasp of shock, the rest of the blade slid its way into my abdomen cutting through my intestines. Blood spurted out, spraying her with the dark liquid. I understood why the tip split off now; it was meant to cause pain. Excruciating pain. It wasn't meant to slice through the organs, it was meant to
shred them. My eyes widened as I felt the dagger begin to ascend. It sliced through my left lung, taking the air from my throat. I gasped, but only in vain. The blade continued up through my sternum, piercing through my flesh, ripping it to shreds. I felt my sternum crack as blood ran down the hilt and onto her hands. The shock was too much to bear as a chill flushed through my entire body. The two guards held onto me tightly despite my apparent limpness. They weren't going to let me go. It seemed that they were there to ensure the job was finished. The final stroke broke through my collar bone, snapping it in half. I tried to scream out in pain, but couldn't. It came out as a wheezing gasp instead. My eyes swelled with tears from the pain. The guards let go of my body and I fell to the ground with a loud thud imprinting my body into the dirt. There was no resistance from my corpse. My face planted into the ground. I attempted to turn myself over but found the task thoroughly difficult. My arms laid limp at my side. Instead, I settled with lying on my side. I looked up at her as she knelt down.
"W...why?" I wheezed, sputtering blood onto her dress. I couldn't muster out anything else for lack of air. Tears trickled onto my face. Surprisingly, it was soothing. It felt cool. My body twitched and spasmed forcing my back to lock up with a knot. I winced, looking up at her waiting for her answer. Come to think of it, I shouldn't have asked for an answer.
She took the dagger and jabbed it into my right cheek. I gasped out in pain as my body jerked uncontrollably. I couldn't stop it despite my best efforts. Tears swelled up blurring her face. They rolled out the corner of my eyes, clearing up my vision a little. She dragged the blade down my cheek carving a line into it and breaking off a little of my cheek bone. Blood poured out covering my cheek in a red hue. I didn't fight it anymore. My body went completely limp and I just stared up at her with glazing eyes. She took the blade out and my breathing became a whistle through the hole in my cheek. She leaned down and softly kissed my lips. More tears feel onto my face. It was a pleasing way to go.
She leaned further down and whispered something in my ear. I couldn't tell if my lack of blood had blurred my hearing or if she really said what she said. At this point, I didn't care as my vision blurred and began to fade. So, this is what dying was like. I had thought about how I would have died numerous times, but I never thought my demise would be been so....brutal and not by her. She was the last one I had ever thought to be responsible for my death. I looked up at the sky and the stars looked down as if they were ashamed of me; as if they knew this was going to happen and that I should have too. My body convulsed a few more times before it settled down in the thicket of the forest wheezing its last few breaths. It finally laid still, left there to die in a pool of its own blood. Since then, I have concluded that she was my first love and that my first love became my first death. What a contradiction.

Chapter 3 - Contradiction

We sat in the luscious green forest that night. The newly forming dew made the leaves beam with a brightness. The waterfall behind us splashed continuously glowing with a brightness unbeknownst to the darkness of the forest. The fairies around us began their graceful dances around us, radiating off hues of florescent greens, pinks, blues, and purples. While the pixies dotted the forest in their illumination, the stars above decorated the skies. The midnight creatures reverberated the air around us with their coos, purrs, and various animalistic noises. The air around us filled with a sense of magic.
I looked around amazed at the spectacle that this land had performed. I tilted my head up, but could barely see the stars. Almost as if my mind was being read, the trees seemed to sway back, opening up the sky even more and allowing me to bask beneath the careful watch of the celestials. The night was full of magic. Not only that, it was full of something else I couldn't quite place my finger on. It was something that had not only brighten my mood, but had seemed to lighten up the forest with its own electricity.
I looked down at her as she held her dress to sit down. She wore a complex long sleeved dress filled with patterns and designs of the native sort. The weaves, loops, and shapes seemed to dance in their own sort of way, becoming partners with the fairies every time they passed over her. The colors matched perfectly: a royal blue to fill in the shapes and a gold tint to outline the borders. It was a one piece dress with a band around her waist to tie it off. The band reached around to her back and tied into an intricate bow that jutted from behind her. She had a matching band around her forehead to keep her bangs from her eyes. A misshaped letter was embroidered in the middle of the band with the same matching colors. The letter looked almost like an "H" but it curved on opposite ends with two dots on either side of the middle. Her auburn hair was tied meticulously behind her head with another matching bow almost just as large. Her blue eyes sparkled, giving more life to her wardrobe. She stared at me waiting for me to say something, but I was too stunned to even start a sentence, fearful that I might ruin the air and magic around us. She smiled that beautiful smile that I was so accustomed to.
I went to utter something, but she placed her fingers to my lips. She silently shushed me. I was glad of it. I didn't know what to say in the light of such a moment. The answer that I was looking for was love. Love was the object that had brighten the atmosphere with its own electricity. I was definitely in love. Many citizens had described this feeling as being afloat upon a precipitated cloud.
The term was properly named "Cloud nine." Why nine? I began to ponder on this subject not noticing that she was watching me. Nine was such an odd number to label as the feeling of being in love. Why not seven? Seven meant complete, so why not seven? Cloud seven had a nice ring to it. I would probably never find out the answer, but I was bemused at such a strange concept. Despite the ring that
cloud seven had to it, I wouldn't have described this moment as being buoyant upon a cloud. I was on the ground and I was aware of it.
Was it the environment around me that told me I was in love? Was it the gliding specks of light or the glistening leaves of the forest that reminded me of such trivial matters as being in love with the being before me? Was it the ceaselessly flowing waterfall behind us or the stars that smiled down upon us and our ritual? Or could it have been simply that my heart pounded at the sight of her; that despite the very confines of our own selves, we were breaking all the boundaries of what prohibited us from being in love? It was so difficult to tell and yet, it was the very understanding that I was in love that reassured me. I smiled at the notion.
I started to say something again and again she shushed me with her fingers. She extended her pointer and middle finger and her thumb from her palm in a shooter sort of manner. From the corner of my lips, she glided her fingers across their length, finishing off by removing them. A white line glowed from my lips to her fingers. She then commenced moving her fingers in a unknown pattern; circling them around, looping them through the air, and making zigzags. I followed, hypnotized by the light that followed it. The light transitioned from white to a bright pink, almost the color of several of the pixies. From there, it turned blue, teal, violet, a bright red, then yellow, and it ended with a sunrise orange. She
mumbled some words incoherently which seemed to echo through the air in whispers. The echoes faded and she was finished. A cool wind rushed through, blowing through my hair and riffling through my clothes. It filled me up with a tranquil sensation, warm and soothing.
I looked up at her and for a third time, I began to tell her something when everything changed. The sparkles of light started to fade and the waterfall's brightness disappeared. I looked around and even the trees closed up. The low murmurs of the animals died down and there was nothing left but the slow splashing of the water and silence. I looked up at her wondering if she knew what was happening. Her face told me she did. She looked down at the ground. Her countenance had completely changed.
"What's happening?" I asked her. She didn't answer, but just continued to stare at the ground as if there weren't any thoughts running through her head. I knew otherwise though. I knew that she had a million and one thoughts flowing through with the first one being how to tell me what was going on.
"I..." she started. My puzzled look must have evaporated the courage that she had built up during the silence because she stopped. She couldn't say anything else. I? I what? Why was she even sounding sad about the change of scenery? It wasn't her fault. At least, I assumed it wasn't. But, why the hesitation? Did she know or not? Did her maneuvers cause this? Had she casted
an incantation of some sort?
Both of my arms were grasped and I was jerked to my knees. I looked up and saw two beings of a huge built. Feathery wings protruded from their backs and they held golden staffs in the hands that weren't preoccupied. Their armor matched her dress: royal blue with gold borders all around. The helmets covered enough of their faces revealing white eyes through darkened faces. I was met with an eeriness that crept up my spine. They just held me tightly awaiting something. I turned my gaze to her and watched as a few tears strolled down her face. What was happening? Why was she crying and why were these....things....holding me as if I had committed some crime?
It was then that I was thrown another puzzle piece: she got up and pulled a dagger from behind her back bow. The blade of the dagger curved, splitting off at the tip in four different directions. The top of the hilt had a sapphire gem perched upon it. It glistened despite the lack of light around. The hilt itself looked to be masterfully crafted, showing emblems of some sort. I couldn't tell if it was made of wood or metal. I wouldn't have this question answered either.
"Wha....what is that for?" I asked, terror rising as of how the question would be answered.
She swiftly swung her arm forward and I felt the four tips pinch my skin. Before I could utter a gasp of shock, the rest of the blade slid its way into my abdomen cutting through my intestines. Blood spurted out, spraying her with the dark liquid. I understood why the tip split off now; it was meant to cause pain. Excruciating pain. It wasn't meant to slice through the organs, it was meant to
shred them. My eyes widened as I felt the dagger begin to ascend. It sliced through my left lung, taking the air from my throat. I gasped, but only in vain. The blade continued up through my sternum, piercing through my flesh, ripping it to shreds. I felt my sternum crack as blood ran down the hilt and onto her hands. The shock was too much to bear as a chill flushed through my entire body. The two guards held onto me tightly despite my apparent limpness. They weren't going to let me go. It seemed that they were there to ensure the job was finished. The final stroke broke through my collar bone, snapping it in half. I tried to scream out in pain, but couldn't. It came out as a wheezing gasp instead. My eyes swelled with tears from the pain. The guards let go of my body and I fell to the ground with a loud thud imprinting my body into the dirt. There was no resistance from my corpse. My face planted into the ground. I attempted to turn myself over but found the task thoroughly difficult. My arms laid limp at my side. Instead, I settled with lying on my side. I looked up at her as she knelt down.
"W...why?" I wheezed, sputtering blood onto her dress. I couldn't muster out anything else for lack of air. Tears trickled onto my face. Surprisingly, it was soothing. It felt cool. My body twitched and spasmed forcing my back to lock up with a knot. I winced, looking up at her waiting for her answer. Come to think of it, I shouldn't have asked for an answer.
She took the dagger and jabbed it into my right cheek. I gasped out in pain as my body jerked uncontrollably. I couldn't stop it despite my best efforts. Tears swelled up blurring her face. They rolled out the corner of my eyes, clearing up my vision a little. She dragged the blade down my cheek carving a line into it and breaking off a little of my cheek bone. Blood poured out covering my cheek in a red hue. I didn't fight it anymore. My body went completely limp and I just stared up at her with glazing eyes. She took the blade out and my breathing became a whistle through the hole in my cheek. She leaned down and softly kissed my lips. More tears feel onto my face. It was a pleasing way to go.
She leaned further down and whispered something in my ear. I couldn't tell if my lack of blood had blurred my hearing or if she really said what she said. At this point, I didn't care as my vision blurred and began to fade. So, this is what dying was like. I had thought about how I would have died numerous times, but I never thought my demise would be been so....brutal and not by her. She was the last one I had ever thought to be responsible for my death. I looked up at the sky and the stars looked down as if they were ashamed of me; as if they knew this was going to happen and that I should have too. My body convulsed a few more times before it settled down in the thicket of the forest wheezing its last few breaths. It finally laid still, left there to die in a pool of its own blood. Since then, I have concluded that she was my first love and that my first love became my first death. What a contradiction.

 

Chapter 4 - Paranoia

I had woken up suddenly, my body snapping up automatically. I winced as my back seemed to pop back into place. I rubbed my back, looking around at where I was. It appeared that I ended up in the bed of a small house. Weird. I looked around, searching for signs as to who had possibly placed me here. I looked to my left to find a little girl curled up in a chair sleeping, sucking her thumb. She must have been at least six or seven years old. Her light pink curly locks bounced with every little movement she made. Who was she? Did she bring me here? No, that wasn't possible. There was no way that she could have. She was too young.

"I see you have awaken." A young man said as he came through the door with a tray carrying a glass of water and some sort of food substance. "I'd have to say that it's about time." he chuckled. He placed the tray on the end of the bed and walked over to the little girl. "Azalia, sweetie. Wake up." the man lightly shook her. "Azalia, come on, sweetheart. It's time to get up."
She opened her eyes lightly, allowing them to gain focus. "Huh? Is it morning already?" She asked sleepily.
"Yes." the man smiled.
She looked behind the man to see me up. "MR. MAN!!! You're up! That is good to see! That is very good indeed!" Her excitement woke her up instantly. Her voice was high pitched, but not in an annoying manner.
"Now, honey, calm down. You don't want to scare the poor little fellow." I tried to speak, but found that my mouth tasted like cotton. It must have been dried after not using it for so long. I looked at the end of the bed and eyed the glass of water carefully. The young man looked at me and nodded. "It's for you, sir." I reached for the glass and began chugging away. It seemed like years since I had anything to drink. Within mere seconds I had emptied the glass out.
"Golly, you sure were thirsty, weren't you, Mr. Man?"
I licked my lips, wetting them so that I could speak. "How long have I been out?" I inquired in a raspy voice.
Azalia looked up at the young man. "Two months." He said lowly. "And we don't know how long before the time that we found you in the woods out there." He pointed in a general direction. "It's a wonder how you were even able to survive that long without any food or water. We couldn't get your mouth open. It was sealed shut. Every time we tried to open it, it would just clasp shut."
"You almost bit my fingers off too!" Azalia said, holding up her fingers to let me examine that there was some skin pealed off.
"I apologize about that." I replied as if I had any real power over what I did when I was unconscious. "Did I have anything with me?"
"Not that we could see. Although it did look as if you had gotten into a fight with an animal or something. Your clothes were in tatters, yet, there wasn't a scratch on you. Now, I don't get out too much, so you'll have to forgive when I say that it was the strangest thing I have ever seen." This certainly was strange. I wonder how long I had been out before they found me. It felt like too long to describe. Who were these two? Why were they helping me out? The questions came from a brain that hadn't been used in so long. The thoughts were jumbled up, blurred from a person with no perspective. They were more murky than lucid.
"So, stranger, what's your name?"
"I am...." I started. The question took me by surprise, not because he had asked it, but because I didn't know. Who was I? What had happened to me? I remembered....I remembered nothing. Everything was blank. I had been asking all the wrong questions about who they were and their purposes instead of asking about my own. How in the hell could I not remember who I was? "I...I...I don't know." I finally stammered. "I don't know who I am." Their glances of disbelief were equivalent to mine.
After a brief moment, Azalia began giggling. "Come on, Mr. Man. How could you not know who you are? He's just pulling our legs, isn't he?" She looked up at the young man. He looked at me skeptically. "He is, isn't he?" She repeated after he didn't answer.
"I don't know about that, sweetheart. He looks as if he is genuinely lost."
My head began to swirl, I felt dizzy. It wasn't as if I had memories flooding my head, I had nothing, emptiness, doing summersaults up there. I held my head in pain as a headache emerged. "What the hell is wrong with me?" I said out loud. I suddenly thought about what he had said and an image appeared in my head. Tattered clothes? Forest? Something had happened. Something awful. I saw the forest around me, the stars sparkling brightly above. Someone was there, wasn't there? I couldn't remember. The images dissipated as soon as they appeared. It was as if I had conjured up the images based off the little information that he had given me. Who was I?
"What was the last thing you remember?" He said interrupting my thoughts.
"I...I don't know. I remember waking up in this house."
"And nothing before that?"
"No." I was completely and utterly lost. My confusion brought fear in company. Paranoia seeped in instantly. I looked at both the young man and the little girl. What if they did know who I was? If they did, why wouldn't they tell me? I looked at the open doorway wondering if I should try to make run for it. The man started to say something, but I drowned him out with my own thoughts. Even if I did make a run for it, I had no idea where I would be going. I couldn't even recall what planet I was on. How could I not know anything? What if there was something in the water? They didn't start asking questions until after I drank it. It was too suspicious for me to find any comfort in it. I decided to make a run for it. Even if I didn't know where I was going, I figured it to be better than staying here for them to do what they wanted, if that was the case.
I flipped the covers over. They looked at me stunned. I fell flat on my face as I got out of the bed. It had been too long since I had used my legs. I struggled to get up, but fell again. Both Azalia and the man continued to stare at me, astonished at what they were witnessing. I was like newborn fawn taking its first steps. I finally got the hang of it and was out the door making a right down a hallway before they could utter a word.
"Hey! Mr. Man?! Where are you going?!" I heard Azalia holler from behind me. She repeated the question to the young man, but before I heard his answer, I was out the front door, the sun breaking through with tremendous brightness.
When my vision cleared, I saw the town. The town was a small town. Nothing fancy. A couple of residents looked up at me from the tasks they were doing; a barber paused in the middle of shaving a customer, a woodsman swung an ax down chopping a piece of wood in half and stopped, and a woman, who only briefly stopped to look at me, was rushing her daughter along telling her not to look at "the strange man." Who could blame them? I was only wearing a pair of pants. I had come out of a house huffing. I must have looked crazy to them. It seemed that the house I was staying in was part of a row of houses that looked almost identical. Across the dirt road were a couple of buildings that appeared to be stores. A sign hung above the top of one reading "Doctor's Office." Another right next to it read "City Hall." Where the hell was I? A little ways off, at the end of the buildings, I saw some crops. If I headed that way, I could at least hide for a little bit. I sprinted towards them as Azalia and the man came out.
A couple of people jumped out of my way, not wanting to be involved with whatever ordeal was occurring. I was about fifty feet away when I heard footsteps from behind me. I looked back and saw the man also sprinting. Scared, I picked up speed. Forty feet. The footsteps increased in numbers, letting me know that he was also running faster. Thirty feet. I could smell the crops from where I was. They smelt faintly of honey. Twenty feet. I was running out of breath. I hadn't ran in at least two months and my legs began to feel wobbly. My chest felt constricted and my throat was dry. Ten feet. I noticed a couple of farmers in the crops with scythes. I suddenly started to regret my decision. Scythes? Really? I was five feet away when my fear and exhaustion got the best of me.
One leg caught onto other and I fell in the dirt. Shit. I slid a little ways, scrapping up my face and chest a bit. I looked forward, coughing up dirt. The smell of honey invaded my nostrils. It was a good smell. I heard someone approach me. I turned over and the sun blarred into my eyes. The person appeared over me, blocking the sun. Their silhouette was almost mysterious. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He said frustrated. "We take you in, treat you while you're unconscious, and this is how you repay us? You freak out and go sprinting off to God knows where?" He wasn't out of breath. Apparently, he was used to running. I laid there, breathing heavily, trying to catch my breath. For an instant, this scene had seemed vaguely familiar. Me, lying on my back with someone above me. It was only for an instant though. "Well?" He started again. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
What could I tell him? "Oh, hey, I'm sorry. I thought that you were secretely going to dice me up and put me in a stew. You and your little girl. I must have been gravely mistaken. I take complete fault." Pfft. How lame. He knelt down, looking at with me with the same puzzled look. "You are certainly a strange one, aren't you?" He whispered after a moment of analyzing me.
By this time, Azalia had caught up to us. She was huffing more than I was. "What is the matter with you, Mr. Man?" She asked, holding her arms out.
"Now, sweetie. Let's be easy on him. He seems terrified. I mean, we did start asking him who he was before we told him who we were. How is that fair to someone who doesn't know who they are?"
"But he didn't know that he didn't know who he was." She proclaimed.
"You're right. So, let's do this properly." He got up and held out his hand to help me up. Hi, I'm Dan." He smiled.

Chapter 5 - Zephyrus

As it turned out, Dan wasn't secretly trying to cook me. In fact, he was too generous for even his own good. Dan Alfrim was his full name. He was 26 years old and a fine athlete. His hair carried a bright blond hue to it that matched his blue eyes. Slightly taller than I was, his build was that of a blacksmith. I found out that the town I was brought to was called Zephyrus. Azalia, despite the image that she gave, was not his daughter. In fact, she had no real relation to him. It appeared that her mother had past away from some horrific accident. The details weren't given, but I could tell that it hurt her to talk about it. She was five years old when it happened and simply because Dan was their neighbor, the town voted him to be her caretaker. The whereabouts of her father were unknown considering that he disappeared before her birth. Dan was happy for the opportunity. He told me later that even though he never saw himself as having kids till later, he was honored. After two years, he practically loved her like she was his own.
Azalia looked up to Dan. She followed him wherever he went and she helped him around the house when she could. I was right about her age; she was seven years old, but it seemed she was beyond her years in maturity. When I asked her, she told me that she was seven and three quarters. She went to the local elementary school, but was very standoffish with the other kids. It seemed that the lost of her mother had some affect towards this. Outside of school, she was the most bubbly little girl one could imagine. It was almost as if she had two completely different personalities. For the first year that she lived with Dan, she didn't say a single word. Dan thought she hated him; somehow thought that she accused him for her mother's demise. As it turned out she was observing Dan, watching carefully and absorbing what she saw.
One afternoon, Dan had left the house to go across the street for some groceries. When he returned, she was on a step ladder, doing the dishes. It was then that he understood why she was silent for a full year. Since then, Azalia was known for her photographic memory. She couldn't learn from simply listening, she had to see what she was doing. It was assumed that this also contributed to her alienation of the other kids and as a result, Dan took her out of school to teach her at home. Since then, Dan had meant everything to her and her to him. If it wasn't for her pink hair, one couldn't tell that they weren't related. They were as close as two separate beings who were seemingly thrown into the situation could be. There wasn't an ounce of animosity between the two and they worked out their daily routine flawlessly. While Dan was out working, running errands, or cooking meals for her, she would do the dishes, vacuum the floor, and generally pick the house up. After dinner and dishes were finished, Dan would give her school lessons. Overall, they lived a comfortable and peaceful life.
Zephyrus, I came to find out, was a town on the north eastern border of Erwat. It was situated on Prod Lake. About fifty miles east, one would be in Ekaz. The population was about five-hundred at the very least. While the town was the center for marketing and public housing, there were residents who lived outside the perimeter of Zephyrus. Because there were so few of them out there, about a ten minute walk, they were considered part of Zephyrus as well. They had a bar located on the left side, but it wasn't your usual pub. They served a honey type drink that almost gave the same sensation as alcohol: warm and intoxicating. I was told that even though the side effects were the same, the symptoms weren't. It was their solution to alcohol. As a result, one could drink as much as they wanted without the physical implications that alcohol brought. Because of this even children were allowed to drink. They called it Quintral.
It didn't hit me when I first saw it, due to the fact that I was panicking, but the town was set up for convenience; houses were on one side and the stores were on the other. It was a very efficient way to build a small town like this one. Due to the proximity of the Prod lake, their export was fish. I inquired as to how it was possible to bring in so much fish from a lake and was told that the fish produced every week. It seemed that the malson fish would grow unusually fast. If the fishermen didn't catch them in enough time, evolution would take its course and they would become land malsons. As a result of their growth abnormality, their reproduction systems would be mature within a single week. It took about two days from the time of conception for a malson to give birth. I had never seen anything like it and yet the practicality of it was amazing.
The doctor's office was a "one man show." There was one doctor for the entire town. He learned his trade in Shimatai, the capital of Karai. It seemed that that was where most doctors came from. The doctor's name was Zachary Avist. He trained under the infamous Dr. Troncien. He learned everything from orthopedics to gynecology. The rumor was that he was a healer, one who could use magic to do his bidding. Yet, that wasn't the truth. Dan informed me that anyone who came from Shimatai was the best there was. Although they did have healers, Dr. Avist wasn't one of them. He was a natural healer, made to use medicinal practices to heal. He had a secretary, also from Shimatai, who was just as capable in case of absence which happened more often than not for the ones that lived outside of Zephyrus. Her name was Mira Nvidian. With long brown hair to her hips and a body to fit, most of the single men in town were aimed at courting her. She turned every one of them down, stating that she was only here for "practical purposes of the physical and mental sort."
After a month of Dan and Azalia taking care of me, I decided to live with them. I mean, why not? As far as I knew, I didn't have a past worth remembering and they were the only ones willing to take any sort of interest in me. I had decided that no matter what my past was, my future was going to be living comfortably with them. It didn't take long before I was included in their routine. Azalia and I would take turns washing dishes, but I would also do them right after dinner so that she would have extra time for her school work.
Azalia's birthday was coming up within the next month. She would be turning eight. Dan was meeting up with the town to throw a huge party for her. They would make a festival of it. I stood at the sink, drying off some dishes and Azalia sat at the table doing her homework. It had been three months since they found me and ever since hearing the story, I wanted to know what had happened. Did I really want to know this? What if it made her too upset? Should I risk it just to find out? There wasn't a better opportunity to ask than now. Dan wouldn't be home for another hour or so. I peeked over my shoulder to see her back facing me.
"Hey....um....Azalia?" I hesitated.
"Yes, Mr. Man?" She turned around in her seat, her curls bouncing violently. Since meeting her she had learned my name, but somehow "Mr. Man" had stuck with her. I couldn't help but smile at her innocence.
"I was just wondering if....um....you knew what happened to your mother?"
She thought about it for a moment before answering. "I...think I do, yes." She said brightly, shaking her head up and down.
"Could you tell me?" How horrible must I have been to ask a little girl about her deceased mother. I hated myself for it, but the curious part of me won over my shame. I hadn't the slightest clue what had happened.
"I could, yes." She smiled.
I smiled back "Ok, 'will' you tell me what happened to her?"
"Sure! It's not a long story though. My mommy had me and when I was five something bad happened."
"What was that?"
"Well, I was told that someone took her to Doluc City in Ekaz."
"Doluc City?" I had never heard of it.
"Yeah, Doluc City. It's made up of just clouds. Everything is clouds from the chairs to the walls." She said excitedly.
"How is that a bad thing though?" I deepened my investigation on the unknowing suspect.
"Well, she said that she wasn't ready, but he took her anyways." I didn't understand. Who was this "he"? Why would someone do such a thing to such a sweet and innocent little girl? It must have been hard on her. Instead of interrogating her some more, I decided to change the subject. Before I could begin asking about how one could sit on cloud chairs, she continued with: "But, I hear it's an amazing place and that that's why my mommy hasn't come back yet. I can't really blame her because I'm told that once you go to the Doluc City you can't really come back because its just too nice there. I just wished that she had brought me." She frowned at this last statement. "But, hey," she perked up. "I guess if she's happy then I can be happy for her. I'm just glad that daddy was around to take care of me. I couldn't do it by myself."
"Daddy?" I asked quizzically. I thought she didn't know her dad. He had left before she was born.
She pointed behind me. I turned and there stood Dan, tears coming down his cheeks. "Yeah, daddy." she smiled and went back to her homework. Dan wiped his face before walking into the kitchen.
"Well now," he sniffled. "Did you get all of your homework done?"
"Not yet, but I'm working on it." She looked up.
"Good." He smiled, leaned down, and kiss her forehead. "Hurry up now, we're going to watch a movie tonight."
"Ooooh! Which one!?"
"I can't tell you that until you finish your homework."
"Aaaaww, maaaan." She slouched over in disappointment.

*****

Later that evening, I tucked Azalia into bed. I kissed her lightly on the head and told her goodnight.
She turned over as I was about to leave. "Mr. Man?" She said sleepily.
"Yes, Azalia?" I turned around to look at her.
"I might not have a mommy with me, but I at least know that I have a mommy. Do you know if you do?" Her question had caught me off guard. I mean, of course I had a mother. I wouldn't have been born without one, but the question was more of did I know her; who she was, what she liked, and if anything, did she love me?
"I don't know if I do." I said lowly.
"I tell you what..." She waved me to come closer. I leaned in to hear her whisper: "When I get older, I'll be your mommy."
A chill ran across my skin and my eyes began to swell up. "That's very kind of you." I smiled.
She lightly smiled, closed her eyes, and turned back over. "Mmmhmm. I know." She whispered to herself.
I walked out to see Dan leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He looked at me and smiled. "She's a gem, isn't she?" He asked, getting off the wall.
"Yeah. She sure is." I waited outside the door for Dan to come out. I had to talk to him about what happened earlier.
He told her goodnight and walked out the door, slowly closing it.
"She's asleep." He said. "Such a precious little thing." His tone began to change. "She hasn't done anything wrong to anyone and so much has happened to her already." My guilt ate away at me. I knew what he was referring to. I had gone behind his back to ask Azalia about her mother without even wondering if he would tell me. There was a certain air about Dan that I wasn't too comfortable with. For the most part, he was a typical carefree guy. Never easy to anger and always friendly with everyone, but there was something that didn't fit right with him, that made me seemingly scared of him.
"Listen, Dan....about earlier..." I started.
"I guess we need to have a talk now, don't we?" He didn't wait for me to answer. "Follow me."

 

Chapter 6 - Revival

I followed Dan into the thicket of the woods outside of town. He wore a tunic around his shoulders that hung down to the middle of his calves. A leather pouch tied around his waist jingled. It sounded like money; a hefty amount of it too. The darkness took some time to adjust to during which I found myself tripping over roots, running into cobwebs, and getting smacked by branches. Why was he taking me out here? Was he going to kill me so that I didn't complicate their comfortable lives anymore? "Don't be so paranoid." I told myself. There's a reasonable explanation for why we're out here, in the middle of the woods, at a quarter till midnight. We came to a clearing, a meadow with the moon shining brightly above it, blotching out any signs of stars. The grass was a bright green making the entire scene quite a sight. Dan stopped for a second, looking out beyond it. I could hear the wind blowing through the blades.
"We're close." He said when the wind died down. "Now before we get there, are you sure you want to know the answers to the questions that you seek?"
I thought about it for a moment. What were the questions that I wanted answered? What happened to Azalia's mother? Sure. Why he made up the city Doluc to try to hide her from the truth? Definitely. Would he ever tell her the truth, whatever it may be, or would she continue through life thinking that her mother went to a fabricated city? Most of all, I wanted to know why it was such a well kept secret. Even when I inquired around town for this answer, no one seemed to know what happened. They just acted as if no such person existed. As if Dan had always been with Azalia. It was certainly strange and therefore, at this point in time, there was nothing left to think about. "Yes." I replied.
He began to walk again and I followed obediently. We trekked across the meadow into another patch of woods. Another five minutes and we came to an encircled gap that opened up. There was a pile of rocks in the middle that I could only assume was a grave. Five logs were lined around in a circular manner. I heard a twig snap a little beyond it. The hairs on my arms raised and I suddenly became tense. From the shadows of the leaves, someone emerge. I looked closely and couldn't believe my eyes as the moon revealed their face.
It was Dr. Avist's secretary, Mira Nvidian. She wasn't in her usual outfit of a medium length skirt with a button up blouse. Instead, she was clad in a woodland type outfit. Her torso was covered in a t-shirt with no sleeves or shoulder straps at that. The cloth just clung around her midsection. It was torn at the bottom revealing a curvaceous stomach and at the top with plenty of cleavage. For the bottom, she wore a lengthy skirt that looked as it was also ripped towards the end. Her hair was tied back into a braided ponytail, that was loose enough for her bangs to hang over her forehead. It also revealed what her usually pulled down hair was hiding: ears that pointed on the end. She was an elf. She wore sandals instead of shoes and around her ankle clung a bracelet with an emerald jewel attached. Her entire apparel was toned in a forest green with a faded yellow seeping through at the bottom of both pieces of clothing. Her hands were covered in brown leather gloves with a green emblem of some sort on the back. In one hand she held a wooden staff that jutted back and forth at random areas up its length till it reached the top where it would then split off into about five or six tiny directions wrapping themselves around another green emerald and coming back together at the peak. Any thoughts that I had attempted to submerge into my subconscious were now out and about, floating around my head with unwarranted ease.
"Did you bring what I asked?" Her voice was completely changed. Where once there was a soft, gentle tone, there was now a more athletic one. Not the type that sounded too manly, but just enough to express assertiveness. Dan untied the bag from his waist and threw it to her. She opened it up and peered inside. She looked up briefly at Dan and then shut it. "Good." She looked over at me with a subtle sneer. "Why is he here?"
"Because it's important for him to know. That's why I'm asking for this. It's not enough coming from me though. He needs to hear it firsthand." Dan's tone was stern, unwavering in stutters.
"Can we trust him?" She asked sharply still glaring at me.
"Yes, Mira. Of course we can. Would I have brought him here if we couldn't?"
She sighed quickly. "Very well. You might want to take a step back." She smirked as she raised her staff into the air. I willingly obeyed as she slammed the end of her staff back into the ground. A rush of warm air exploded from the epicenter of the staff, pushing me back a bit, almost knocking me over. Leaves, dirt, and branches circulated through the air, slowly gliding down only to be hit with another blast. I raised my arms in front of me to defend myself from any oncoming debris. Dan's blacksmith build allowed him to sustain it; he didn't budge as the wind continued to hit us. The wind came out in spurts, first slowly, but gradually picking up speed. The rocks in the middle began to rattle a bit just as the wind was hitting us with a constant stream. I watched as the rocks slowly started to rise into the air. Over the sound of the wind, I could hear echoed hums coming from Mira. The boulders floated through the air with ease. I watched intensely as the blasts became harder and harder, hitting the rocks with strength. Cracks began to zigzag throughout the rocks, splitting off into varied directions until the stones exploded into tiny pebbles. The fragments began to circle around an area that opened up between them, picking up speed.
With my attention focused on the rocks, I didn't notice the boney corpse that they had hid underneath their bulk. My mouth dropped open as the wind lifted it up into the air. I looked over at Mira to see her eyes were completely white. The wind ruffled through her clothes and for a split second I thought it was going to rip them off. Just like Dan, she wasn't moving an inch either. I looked back over at the spectacle before me and wasn't too sure at what I was witnessing next. The bones flopped around midair as something red began to grow on them. The growth thickened in bulk around each bone. I squinted finally realizing what was happening. The muscles were growing back on the bones. I stared as the veins weaved in and out of them, pulsating as blood began to flow through them. The muscles appeared torn at first as they knitted together like the threads of a quilt in a checkered pattern. The more they repeated the motion, the more solid they became. In the middle, I saw the organs begin to form, at first appearing as a convoluted mess. They solidified to which I couldn't tell if that had made them less disgusting or not. The muscles circled around them, completely closing them off. I also observed the heart coagulate into a solid mass, beating as it did so. The corpse sucked in a huge amount of air, finally coming to life. The skin came in random tiny scraps, spreading over the muscles like a disease. The hair sprouted through the scalp like flowers in the spring, stretching out further and further until it reached the corpse's waste. The color was a dark teal.
The corpse was now in its final stages of its revival. Its chest bulged out, forming two humps underneath the hair that grew over it. The hair curtained it, concealing the nakedness that was sure to be there. I noticed eyes shaping into the skull right before skin for the eyelids covered them. Cartilage formed a bridge for the nose, boring holes into bottom for nostrils. Teeth plucked through the gums of the lipless mouth, grinning a devilish smile before two spots of skin bulged out to form full lips covering them up. Hair then grew above the eyes as eyelashes extended out. Fingernails elongated from underneath the skin of the fingers, stretching out a little ways and curving at the top. The same process was repeated with the toenails. Two small humps also emerged from its back, the humps molted drops of skin that transformed into feathers as they fell. The humps began to shape into two incomplete wings and the once stack of bones was now a breathing human being. The entire time, the rocks had continued their circling routes, their speed almost seemed blinding. After the ritual was complete, they stopped dead in their tracks, falling to the ground. The fully nude female slowly came down on her toes. She landed on the ground and stood there with her arms to her side, her chest heaving up and down taking in her first few breaths. Her skin glistened with the glow and sheen of a newly born. In a sense, she was just like one. She opened her eyes, looking around at the atmosphere taking in the sight. They were the same color as her hair, a greenish teal that was brightened with a splash of blue around the inside of the iris. The two colors transitioned seamlessly.
She finally focused her eyes on Dan, who just smirked as if he knew who she was. He looked over at me and smiled even wider. Her eyes followed his to me. My mouth still hung open, saliva beginning to drool down the corners. I slurped it up and looked over at him. He gave a throaty laugh and she giggled.
"Dan, it is very nice to see you again." Her first words came out fluently.
"You too, Lily." He walked up to her, taking off his tunic and wrapping it around her. "Sorry to wake you up so abruptly."
"Oh, it's alright. I've been asleep for way too long." She replied, yawning out the last words of this statement. He guided her to one of the logs and helped her sit down. She stumbled a little just like I had when I awoke from my coma.
I watched them, hypnotized by the fact that they were having a normal conversation as if she hadn't just risen from the dead. I looked around to search for Mira, but she had already disappeared taking whatever treasure was brought with her into the darkness of the woods. I walked towards Dan and Lily and stood in front of them. Dan looked up at me awaiting my first question. "How is this going to explain anything?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
He chuckled raising his hand towards me, "Lily, this is Tyson." He then lowered his hand to Lily. "Tyson, this is Lily, Azalia's mother." He smiled.

 

Chapter 7 - Lily

 Dan and Lily stared at me as I gaped at them. "A....Azalia's....?" I started as if I hadn't just heard the words that Dan spoke.
"Yes." He laughed.
"I take it this one has never seen a revival." Lily stated.
"I guess not. Of course, he may have, but we wouldn't really know, would we?" He looked up asking me. Lily looked puzzled, yet I couldn't understand why. She had just been a bag of bones three minutes ago and she looked at me like I was the strange one. How did Mira know how to perform such a ritual? Did the town know about her? I assumed not considering that she always wore her hair down. Where had she come from and why did she suddenly appear as attractive as she did? It was certainly confusing. I looked at Lily. She was attractive as well. Despite the color of her hair, it was apparent that Azalia belonged to her; her features were almost exact. As my thoughts wondered, I completely lost focus that I had a question to answer.
"He has some sort of amnesia." Dan replied for me.
"I see." Lily nodded. "Then how do you know his name is Tyson?"
"We don't. It's just a name that seemed to fit him."
A couple moments of awkward silence passed before Dan began. "Lily, I brought Tyson here to ask you some questions. I believe they are important for him to know, especially coming from you, because I'm afraid that the time will be soon."
She stood up in shock. "Already?"
"I believe so."
"How do you know?"
"She's almost eight."
The answer made her even more surprised. "I've been gone that long?!" She raised her voice.
"You know what would have happened if we brought you back beforehand." Dan said lowly, looking at the ground as if he was being yelled at by his own mother. She remained quiet, sitting back down.
"You're right." She said after a lengthy pause. "How much longer do we have?"
"About twenty days."
"Well, that doesn't give us much time does it?"
What the hell? Time? What time? She could have been brought back before tonight? Had she really died? There were too many questions circulating for me to focus on just one. Was something going to happen? Did this have to do with Azalia? They said that she was almost eight. It had to do with her. My heart quickened as the questions piled up thinking of how Azalia's safety was possibly in danger.
"Do you guys want to clue me in here? Or am I just going to have to let my head explode with all these unanswered questions? What does this have to do with Azalia?" I finally inquired.
"Do not fret, Tyson. Please, sit." She patted the space next to her. "All will be clear soon."
"I hope to all hell it will." I responded sitting down beside to her.
She turned towards me; her teal-ish blue eyes were soothing. "What do you know about the Angelic Sanctuary?" She finally asked.
"I've never even heard of anything like that. What is it?"
Before beginning, Lily held out her hand. Particles of water began shooting up from her hand, forming a fountain. The water sprouted from her hand, detaching from it and floated through the air. It began forming, molding its way into a circular shape. She cupped the orb in her hand and threw it out to the middle. The water splashed into mid-air, almost as if it hit an invisible wall. It spread across the open air into a transparent wall. The now vertical pool of water shimmered under the illumination of the moon. An image faded onto the surface, projecting a clear picture within seconds. I was transfixed as the glistening face revealed a pinkish cloud. The view went through the cloud and showed a city on top it. The buildings soared high above the cloud foundation in various heights. The architecture appeared to be that of a Greek gothic type. The columns held up the majority of the foundation. Spirals circled around them exploding into flowery shapes at the top. Arches curved over the top of each column. The tops of the buildings varied in structure, some of them resembling flat surfaces and others spiked up further into the sky. Stained glass told history lessons with each image that they showed. One showed some angels protecting a city from an onslaught of creatures; another showed someone raising up a cloud into the air as buildings, much like the city itself, rose out of the cloud reaching for the sky.
Lily took in a deep breath and began her story. The Angelic Sanctuary was where Angels were born, raised, and trained. It was a temple where many with magical capabilities went to become guardian angels. Located above the center of Ekaz, it was built after the Dark War to guard over the lands. When the Dark Lord, who had conquered eight of the nine lands of Talemenle was defeated, his blood stained the land between Ekaz and Thrae. It seemed logical to build it in Ekaz. Created by Master Dowin, it was meant to be a paradise of peace, tranquility, and overall, a refuge for those who wished to protect their loved ones. In time, those who came there were taught the ways of the guardian, learning the crafts of healing and defense. After a span of eight hundred and fifty years, one of the Elite Guardians, EGs for short, Rongst Ebezra, decided that it was time for a new ruler. After overthrowing Master Dowin, in what was to be known as the Heaven's Open Gates, Ebezra changed the rules to the qualifications for becoming a guardian.
Lily had come to the Angelic Sanctuary from, Arine, the capital of Erwat, searching for answers. Being a wielder of the water element, she was able to control it in whichever way she choose. With this ability, she was instantly granted admission into the Sanctuary. From there, she began her training under the careful teachings of Ezebra himself, unaware of his shady history. She learned the arts of healing, defense, and expanded upon her water control. Between the three powers, she was able to create combinations between them and because of her tenacity to learn the ways of the guardian, she went through the ranks quicker than any other student.
After two months of training, her wings had begun to grow. She was well on her way to becoming a guardian. During this time, she had become romantically involved with Ebezra, believing him to have loved her. After another two months, Lily became pregnant. There was only one person whose child it could have been: Ebezra. Upon telling Ebezra of the news, he told her that she needed to kill it. She didn't understand. It was a child of both of them and he wanted it dead? It was then that Lily was informed of the final requirement for becoming a guardian. Terrified and confused, Lily ran. Ebezra, chased her across the lands until she found safety in Zephyrus to live for the next five years. It was here that Ebezra and Lily had their last encounter three years ago.
As Lily told her story, the images flashed on the water wall giving life to her words. Ezebra didn't look too terrifying. With a medium built, it was hard to believe that he could overthrow someone as powerful looking as Master Dowin. Yet, it was not through power that he had done so; it was through sheer force that it was accomplished. What he had lacked in power, he made up through leadership, acquiring a big enough retaliation to achieve his goal. The images of the Angels, Dowin, Ezebra, and even Lily in her prime helped give me an understanding of the details. Something about the royal blue and gold armor of the angels triggered something in my mind, but only briefly. I quickly shook my head as I witnessed another image of Lily walking to her little house in Zephyrus. Azalia was trailing behind, holding her mother's hand. She was as cute as ever. Lily unlocked the door, walked through to the kitchen, and stopped suddenly.
Ezebra was sitting in a chair at the table, smirking evilly. His black hair fell along side his face, framing it perfectly. He pushed it back, placing it behind his ears. In between his legs laid his sword. It was a bronze sheen that transitioned in the light to a silver color as the view panned across. He looked up at Lily, her face astonished that he was even there. She let go of Azalia's hand bringing her arm forward to charge an energy ball in both her hands. Ezebra lifted his sword into the air, placing it on his shoulders. He placed his arm holding it on the table and relaxed a little, tossing his other arm over the back of the chair and leaned his body back.
"Mommy," Azalia started. "who is that?" Lily didn't say a word, but just concentrated on what she was doing.
"So, this is her, is it?" He finally said. His voice was lighter than I had anticipated. It almost sounded soothing, but his smirk gave off a different vibe.
"What the hell are you doing here!?" Lily demanded. "Get the fuck out of my house or I swear to the Gods I will kill you right here and now!" She yelled. Azalia looked up at her mother shocked as if she had never heard her mother curse before.
Ezebra laid his sword on the table, leaning forward. "Is that so?" He laughed. He took his gaze off of Lily and focused on Azalia. "You don't know who I am, do you, young lady?" His tone softened towards her.
Azalia shook her head back and forth. "Ezebra, I mean it!" Lily threatened again.
"Eh," He waved his hand in the air, leaning back into the chair again, "it's not important, I suppose."
"This is your last warning: Get out now or I swear I will....!"
"What? Kill me? Yeah, I heard you the first time, Lily." He paused, rubbing his chin. "Oh, Lily, did you really think that you could hide forever in this little shanty town? Did you really think you could hide from me? From us? We see all, don't you know that? You had to know that; you were one of us at one point in time. I have to admit though: whatever cloaking incantation you used, it sure was effective. Yet, you forget that no matter how little amount of energy you use to keep it up, it's still enough for us to see. I just came to see what was rightfully mine, that's all." He slowly got up. This action alone was enough for Lily to act.
A rush of water blasted out of the energy ball between her palms towards Ezebra. He smiled and held his hand up. The water collided into his right hand, splashing upwards. The stream then folded into itself like a mini tidal wave. For a split second, the water turned in over on itself circulating through the air. With his arm extended, Ezebra simply pushed it forward and the water came speeding back towards Lily. Lily quickly shot her arm downwards, palm facing her, and threw it up in a diagonal slant. A sheet of light came from the tips of her fingers and spread upward. The water hit the shield, losing its form and splashing down to the wooden floors. Before Lily could regain her focus, Ezebra had vanished. She looked around as his face appeared before hers. His sudden appearance surprised Azalia and she fell backwards. Lily lifted her hand into the air, bringing it down. Ezebra grabbed it before she could do anything else.
"Lily," His voice lowered. "We shouldn't do this in front of the child." His pretentious concern was enough to fuel her. She jerked her arm, but he held to it tightly. "I'll tell you what: I'm not here for her. I'm here for you. How about we resolve this little altercation elsewhere?" Lily's breathing was uneven. Her chest heaved and she looked exhausted. She hadn't used her power in so long. The realization that any further attempt would be fruitless hit her suddenly. She sighed, relaxed her arm, and he let it go. "I'll be waiting outside. Say your goodbyes." He turned around and began walking forward. Looking down, he saw Azalia. He knelt down and smiled brightly. "There's nothing to fear, little one." He patted her head. "Be a good little girl now, alright?"
Azalia was on the verge of tears. She sniffled and nodded her head. He got up and walked out the door. Lily ran to Azalia as she began crying. "It's ok, sweetheart. It's ok. Shhh." She tried to calm Azalia down. Her daughter's tears soaked her shoulder. Lily began rocking Azalia back and forth. "It's ok, darling. It'll be alright." She caressed the little girl's head. After ten minutes of Lily's soothing, Azalia finally let up, wiping her face. Lily grabbed her daughter's shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. "Now, dear, mommy needs to go."
Azalia's eyes began to swell again. "B...but where are you going?"
Lily didn't want to worry her daughter. What parent would? She had to think quickly. What could she tell her? Could she tell her that the man outside was her father who was here to kill her? Would a five year old be able to understand that? In fact, would a five year old even remember something like that? If she was lucky enough, Azalia would be too traumatized by the event to even remember it. Lily knew she wasn't going to be that fortunate though. She had to lie. In order to preserve her daughter's sanity, she had to lie.
"I have to go with that man out there."
"Where?" Azalia sniffled again.
"We have to go to Doluc City. It's a city a little ways from here."
"Ca...can't you talk to him here?" Azalia's lower lip began to quiver.
"Trust me, sweetie. If I could I would stay here. I don't want to go, but this is important. You believe me, don't you?"
Azalia looked at her mother long and hard before answering: "Uh huh. I believe you. Are....." She was afraid to ask this question. "....are....are you going to come back?" Tears slowly trickled down her little cheeks.
"I don't know, my little darling. I don't know. This is really important though. I'm going to try to come back, ok?" She tried to smile, but her own tears deceived her smile.
"O...ok." Lily pulled her daughter closer and hugged her. During their embrace, Azalia asked: "Who's going to take care of me though?" Her voice trembled with fear that her mother would not return. She was five, but she wasn't stupid. Her mother had never used that kind of language before. She didn't know why, but she knew this man was going to cause her mother harm. Why would two adults go out of town to talk about something?
"Before I leave, I'll find someone. I promise." She pulled Azalia away from her. "Now, I need you to promise me something."
Azalia looked at her, her eyes wide with fear. "Anything, mommy."
"Promise me that you will grow up and become a beautiful young lady. Promise me that you will do all your schoolwork, listen to whoever takes care of you, and that you will do all you can to live happily." Tears fell from her face onto the floor. There was a decent size pool now.
"You have to come back, mommy. You just have to."
"I can't promise you something like that, dear. I just can't."
"But...."
"No, buts, dammit! Promise me! I don't have very much time!"
"I promise!" Azalia screamed back too frightened to argue.
"One last thing..." Lily smiled a little.
"Of course." Azalia nodded.
Lily brought her little girl closer, hugging her tightly. She held her head closer to her chest and whispered lightly in her ear. "Don't come looking for me." She got up abruptly, loosening her daughter's hold. Azalia grabbed at her, but failed to grasp anything. She watched as her mother walked out the door. It was a sunny day and the rays pierced through the opening in the door, blinding Azalia. She got up quickly to follow her mother. When she reached outside, they were gone; vanished into nothing. Azalia looked all around the town for the missing, but didn't find a single sign of them. It was as if they didn't exist.
The end of the day was drawing near when Azalia returned home. The sun was setting as she opened the door and closed it behind her. She locked the door and walked to where she last held her mother. The puddle hadn't dried just yet. Azalia fell to her knees, placing her hands to her face, sobbing softly into them until she fell asleep on the hardwood floors. The sun stained the scene with its golden light.

Chapter 8 - Death

I looked down, wiping my eyes. How could I have been so inconsiderate towards Azalia? How could I even think that it was a good idea to ask her questions pertaining to something that had hurt her so much? For a moment I tried to convince myself that I didn't know, but it didn't matter. My guilt had finally boiled over to what it was suppose to be when I interrogated the little girl. I sighed, looking over at Lily. She looked at the screen watching her daughter cry herself to sleep. A few tears also trickled down her face. She made no attempt to wipe them. Despite my current guilt, the images went on. The story was to continue no matter how bad I felt about bringing up unwanted memories. The image on the screen now showed Dan's house. Lily knocked on it and the story continued.
Dan opened up the door rubbing his eyes and yawning. It had been a long day for him and he wasn't really in the mood for company, but for some reason, he decided to answer the rapping. Lily stood there, sniffling. It was evident from the smeared mascara that she had been crying. At the beginning of the walkway a dark haired man stood, looking out in the woods. He had never seen him before. He must have been new to town, he figured.
"Dan, I need a favor." Lily asked before he could even ask her what was wrong. Dan's expression was that of surprise. Lily had been Dan's neighbor for the past four and a half years. She had lived with her daughter and they had quite the daughter/mother relationship that had always seemed worth having kids for. Every time he and she talked, she was always smiling. Life had seemed wonderful for her. In other words, this was the first time he had seen her like this.
"Sure, what is it, Lily?" Dan sounded worried.
"Please don't ask any questions. Just know that it would mean the world to me if you did this, ok?"
He hesitated. "....ok, sure. What is it?"
"I need you to take care of Azalia." He certainly wasn't expecting that question as seen by the sudden change of his face.
"Take care of her? I'm not sure what you mean. For how long?"
"I don't know. Look, I told you no questions. Just please promise me that you can do this. I promised her I would find someone to take care of her. We've been neighbors for four years now and you're the only one I can really trust with her. She likes you and you two get along really well."
Dan blinked a couple of times. Take care of her? It was absurd. Yet, Lily was in trouble. She needed his help, but what could he do? He leaned in and whispered to her: "Lily, do you....?"
"Dan...please." As of yet, she hadn't looked up until now. Her eyes glistened. The sun behind her brought out a beauty that he was never really aware of. She was in trouble.
"Alright, fine. I will."
"Thanks, Dan. I am forever indebted to you." She turned around and began to walk off.
"Wait...Lily...." Dan reached for her, but saw the dark haired man glaring at him. He retracted his hand. What was going on? He watched as his neighbor and some unknown man walked off, heading towards the woods. He needed to do something, but what? He closed the door briefly, before opening it back up, emerging with his bow and some arrows.

Minutes later, Ezebra and Lily were walking silently in the forest. Ezebra's sword flashed in the descending sun giving off the bronze hue from earlier. Twigs snapped and leaves crunched beneath the sound of their footsteps. They came upon an opening that looked familiar. It was the same one that we were in, but it appeared to have a couple of different attributes. The most noticeable was the creek that ran through the middle of the clearing. I looked at our current setting and the creek was gone. The rocks were still there, forming a path that ran into the darkness of the forest, but beyond that, it was hard to tell that it had been a flowing stream at one point in time. Another feature was that the logs weren't there.
"Why are you doing this, Ezebra?" Lily had stopped in the middle of the stream soaking her shoes. "What do you want from me?"
Ezebra turned around, smiling; his sword was now silver again. "Ah. I see now why you picked this way to go." He said.
Lily opened up her palms next to her waist. Two curvy streams of water shot up from either side of her. She took the two oblong shapes and placed them together, making them longer. The now water pole looked as if the water was still flowing through it, swishing back and forth inside its own form. The pole then began morphing. The tip of it pointed outward, appearing to sharpen as it did so. In Lily's left hand, the portion above her hand sprouted out and curved up and split off slightly into two different directions. The water pole now appeared to be a sword. She moved the sword to her left hand and put her right back to her side. Again, five segments of water shot up through the stream, stopping right before hitting her palm. They weren't as long this time. Lily turned her palm upward as the pieces floated above it. She raised her forearm to the middle of her stomach as the slivers sharpened on both ends to become needle like. The needles rotated in air.
Ezebra slowly unsheathed his sword and pointed it towards Lily. It still shined a bright silver. It was then that I noticed the character of his sword. When there was any type of light, such as the sun, it gleamed bronze. When shadows were upon it, it was silver. It was an interesting concept and I wondered about how it was possible to create something like that. Come to think of it, I should have been surprised that Lily was controlling water, but then again, she just came back from the dead. Needless to say, I couldn’t be surprised any more.
“Tell me something.” Ezebra said. “Before we begin this, I must ask you: Do you know what happens three years from now?”
Lily raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you tell me so that we can get this over with.” She retorted, her stance unwavering.
“Well, for one, our daughter turns eight.” He smirked.
Lily’s eyes went wide. She knew what this meant. I had learned from the Angelic Sanctuary’s brief history earlier that eight was the age in which those born of angelic blood were to be taken and trained to become Angelic Guardians. Such an early age was enough time to for one to become the best AG there was. Yet, Lily had ran away from that life. She didn’t want to subject her daughter to that sort of life. She wanted Azalia far away from it. Now, it seemed that no matter what she did Azalia was going to be taken against her own will and put through that rigorous training to become something that she didn’t want her daughter to be. She knew what the last rule was too, but would her daughter, if trained at such a young age, be able to make the same decision her mother did? Would she find someone that she loved enough to be able to do that to? Her anger rose as she thought about the possibilities that such an organization, ran by the menacing being before her, would do to her sweet innocent Azalia. It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t.
“You understand now, don’t you?” Ezebra widened his grin. “That’s right. She will be ours and if you make a motion from that stance, you will surely die without a chance to even attempt to help her. Of course, I guess if you did move, then this moment would be your chance.” He laughed.
Lily tensed up and it seemed that the water particles sharpened a bit more. She would surely die here. She was no match for him. Her powers were already weak and there wasn’t enough water there to finish the job. The needles pointed in Ezebra’s direction, to which he raised his sword. It was now or never.
Two of the needles shot towards Ezebra which he deflected with ease. They bounced off his sword and stuck into a tree to the left of him. After a couple of seconds, they seemed to melt, running along the tree like sap. Lily sprinted at Ezebra, water splashing behind her footsteps as she raised her water sword up. It hit Ezebra’s sword, water exploding from the collision instead of sparks. She shifted her weight, flinging herself around in the air. It almost looked like her left arm holding the sword was going to break. As she came around, she flung another needle towards him. His movements were too fast for me to focus on. Before I knew it, he separated his sword from hers and the needle bounced off its silver surface again. Lily landed, but didn’t allow her feet to rest, launching herself again. She flung her arm forward over and over again. With each clash of their swords, Lily was pushed back and without landing, she would push herself forward again. The spectacle looked as if she was floating, thrashing her sword through the air.
Ezebra smiled the whole time, baring his teeth at her, mocking her incompetency to defeat him. With each thrust, Lily exhaled more and more, running out of breath. I focused everything I could on the battle before me to the point where my eyes were drying up. I blinked to wet them. When I opened them, Lily had fallen, holding her left arm. What had happened? It wasn’t possible for someone to move that fast, was it? Red trickled down her arm and she winced in pain. She stood up waving two fingers over her arm and whispering something. One of the remaining needles glided to her arm, gelatinized, and seeped through her wound. The gash closed up a little as the water was used as a glue. There was still a tiny scratch, but the blood stopped running.
“That’s a nice little trick there.” Ezebra stood there watching. “I can’t wait to teach it to her.”
“You won’t lay a fucking hand on her!” Lily screamed, once again running towards Ezebra. Their swords reverberated through the air with a semi splashing and metal clanging noise. The sun had finally set and it was difficult to watch the scene before me. Yet every time their weapons hit each other, a light that wasn’t quite a spark, lit up the area. It then became a stop motion animation, with each collision showing a different scene between the two combatants. I could hear the grunts, sighs, and groans of both enemies, Lily’s being more shallow than her nemesis. After five minutes of quick glimpses, a white flare lit up the entire forest. Ezebra had formed a ball of light in his palm. He held his sword with one hand blocking one of Lily’s attacks. They pushed towards each other to see who would tire out first. Ezebra’s wicked smiled deepened as the shadows played off his face. He was toying with her. He could have ended this brawl before it had begun.
Lily let go of her sword with one hand. Ezebra watched as a smile etched across her face. He looked down at her hand as she quickly flicked two of her fingers up. His face went pale and his smile disintegrated as he realized what she was up to. He tilted his head to the right, but was too late as the last water needle flew up. It barely missed his jaw, cutting a deep gash into his left cheek. Blood flowed out and didn’t look as if it was going to stop anytime soon. Lily took his surprise to her advantage and began wailing on him. His reflexes had slowed down a bit as he struggled to block her maneuvers. She slashed through his right arm and along his left side before she collapsed. She dug her weapon in the ground and used it to hold herself up. She panted vigorously, trying desperately to catch her breath.
Ezebra walked over to her, holding his side. Blood had covered his entire left cheek, the left side of his neck, and now his right hand that was holding his side. Although he was a mess, his victory was close at hand. I had hope against all reason that what was about to happen wasn’t going to. I prayed for it not to. Ezebra threw the illuminated orb into the air where it stayed. Lily looked up to his menacing face as his lips curled as far as they could go. It was the smile of the devil himself. He sheathed his sword and took his bloody hand away from his side. Grabbing her throat, he painted it a crimson red. He lifted her up in the air. Her breathing became a wheezing as he closed off her airway. She was too tired to even struggle as her feet left the ground. Her sword melted away, turning back into water and falling to the dirt in a puddle.
“I should have done this a long time ago.” He said, his tone lower than before. He wasn’t playing nice anymore. Light began to emerge from Lily’s openings: her eyes, mouth, nostrils, and even through her ears. She started to expand, getting bigger and bigger. Ezebra was transferring his energy into her body, filling her up with too much. She was going to explode if he kept going. The light continued to poor out of her, making her look like an x-ray. Having nothing to hold onto, I could see her intestines slump to the bottom of her stomach as it bulged out. I could see her heart beat furiously and her lungs were as flat as they could be. They were shaded, but I could tell what was happening. I couldn’t see her eyes due to light slicing through them, piercing the sky like spotlights searching for something. The hum of his particles being passed through her increased in sound. It was almost deafening. Her stomach was almost at its capacity. I covered my ears and shut my eyes, not being able to withstand seeing or hearing the gruesome scene before me. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that this was how Lily died.

Chapter 9 - Favor

From the left side of the screen I heard a whistling sound. Before I could blink, an arrow soared through, digging through his forearm, and shooting all the way through the other side. It hit a tree to the side of him with a thunk. Ezebra twitched in pain, releasing Lily instantly. The spearhead was flat, which allowed for easy slicing. Light exploded from the hole in Ezebra's arm from where he was transferring his energy to her. Lily's limp body landed on the ground, deflating instantly and coughing up a strange green film. She slowly came to her knees and it seemed as if she was skinnier than before. She looked over with a surprised look. There stood Dan drawing another arrow.
I couldn't believe it myself. My heart actually began to beat faster. It was like watching a movie and here was a twist. It was really unexpected. Yet, I had to wonder what could Dan do against Ezebra. Dan didn't have any powers. He wasn't gifted in anything except for amazing accuracy with a bow from what I could tell. But that was something that only practice could strengthen. Dan had to know that he was dead before his battle with Ezebra had even begun.
Ezebra looked over at Dan, fury washing over his face. "What the fuck is the matter with you?!" Ezebra screamed out. "Do you have any idea what you just did?!" Ezebra's face had slackened. His eyes looked hollowed out and underneath them he had sacks as if he hadn't been asleep in days. From what I could guess all of the energy that he had been putting into Lily had come from him, not some outside source. As a result, it weakened him.
Dan answered with another arrow. He released his hand and the arrow zoomed through the air with a velocity that seemed unnatural. A whirlwind followed it whistling and twisting through the air. The arrow pierced through Ezebra's wielding hand. He dropped his sword and grabbed his hand in agony. Dan was already prepared as he released another arrow. Ezebra dodged it. Dan began running towards Ezebra, shooting one arrow after another. Soon enough, Ezebra and Dan were running in circles through the woods, Dan attacking and Ezebra dodging. With each missed arrow, it would hit the trees behind Ezebra with a thunk. Dan was firing them so fast that it almost sounded like a woodpecker was with them. It also appeared that Dan's supply wasn't depleting until I noticed him run by one of the trees with an arrow in it. As he flew past it, the arrow disappeared and soon enough, Dan was drawing his bow within milliseconds. Dan was hitting the trees on purpose. Even his missed shots were perfectly planned. I couldn't believe my eyes. Dan was actually standing a chance against Ezebra.
Ezebra waved his fingers over the hole in his hand. It healed instantly. He used his two fingers of his freshly healed hand to wave over the wound in his arm and his stomach. Threads of skin and muscle shot through to the other side of the hole and it seemingly stitched itself back together. Though I wasn't really rooting for him, I found the ability amazing. The blood from Lily's wounds had dried up by now making him look fierce. Ezebra dodged one of Dan's arrows, rolled, and picked up his sword. As he continued to circle around the gap, he sliced his sword around the trunks of a few of the trees. Dan didn't notice. The second time around, Ezebra took his sword and sliced through a top portion of the same trees. Dan took notice this time. He stopped briefly, sliding in the grass, kicking dirt up in the air. He had six arrows left in his quiver. His breathing was a bit shallow. Ezebra had slowed down to a walk. Dan looked around at the trees that Ezebra had sliced trying to figure out what he was up to.
Ezebra held his hand out, palm open. Dan raised an eyebrow as Ezebra balled his hand up into a fist. As he did so, five portions that he sliced protruded from the trees. The top halves with the branches and leaves, fell over colliding with the ground and the bash echoed throughout the whole woods. Birds flew up in the air disturbed by the ruckus. The five pieces floated through the air, rotating slowly. Ezebra smiled again, his fury had completely disappeared.
"Shit." I heard Dan mumble on the screen. Lily was still hunched over in the middle of the area as the logs began to circle around Lily. The hulking masses of wood, disturbed the air around them, creating a whooshing sound as they circled faster and faster.
"My quarrel is not with you, young man." Ezebra announced over the drone of the logs. "Just exit as you arrived and you will be spared."
"I cannot do that." Dan screamed back.
"Very well. You have signed your own death certificate."
"As long as it was my signature and not someone else's." Dan replied back with a smirk. He looked down at Lily. "I'm sorry, Lily. I couldn't just stand by and watch you die." Lily was too weak to respond. All she could muster up was another cough of the sickening goo. She looked up at Dan with sympathetic eyes. They were saddening. It was as if she spoke to him through them telling him of what a fool he was. His eyes spoke back apologizing.
Their conversation was cut off as a log went flying towards Dan. Dan flipped through the air, somersaulting over it, and grabbing an arrow that was stuck in it. He placed it in with his arsenal. He landed on the other side hunkered over with his hand in front of him. He looked up in enough time to see another log fly towards him. He rolled to the left and started running towards Ezebra. Ezebra used the logs as obstacles for Dan moving his arms around in a mesmerizing way as he was performing some ritual, waving them back and forth. He dodged, flipped, slid underneath, and jumped off the logs as they careened towards him. While in the air, Dan pulled an arrow from his quiver, drawing it back, and firing it. A log slid in front of Ezebra and the arrow stuck into it. Ezebra pushed his arm in front of him, thrusting the log forward. Dan couldn’t maneuver in mid air. It smashed into him, launching him back with the log following. Dan hit a tree behind him and the follower crushed him between the two and he dropped his bow. The log came back and rushed towards him again. Again and again, Ezebra used the log to pulverize Dan into nothing. He contorted back and forth until it looked as if his spine had broken. I heard a crack over the sound of the slamming. Dan slid down the tree and the bulk stopped.
Ezebra couldn’t help but smile. He closed his fist again and the portions gathered back around Lily, spinning around her again. Ezebra walked up to Dan. He knelt down and grabbed him by the shirt. Dan was black and blue. Both of his eyes were swollen. His arms were limp by his side as Ezebra lifted him up into the air. Dan’s eyes went as wide as they could as a sword dug into him. The silver blade gleamed on the other side of him, red dripping off the tip. He coughed up blood, spitting it onto Ezebra’s blue armor. He let go of the sword allowing it to dangle in Dan as he pushed a strand of hair back behind his ears. He placed his hand back onto the sword and started rotating it. Dan hollered in pain. Ezebra ripped the sword out of Dan and let him drop to the ground.
“Well, it was a valiant effort.” Ezebra said as he flicked his sword, flinging the blood off it. It splattered onto Dan. He was in a state of complete shock, grabbing his stomach from the loss of blood. His eyelids closed halfway. Dan was losing consciousness. He looked over at Lily who was just as stunned. His eyes continued their conversation from before, apologizing to her again, this time for failing her. Her eyes spoke back. Don’t worry, they told him. Through his sudden drowsiness, his eyes looked confused.
Lily stood up in the middle of logs, hanging her head down. “Oh ye of little faith.” She whispered out loud. A blast of light emerged from Lily and the logs fell into their designated areas that were around us at the current time. Ezebra looked back, his smile had vanished again. Her eyes glowed with light, completely evaporating her pupils. A faded light floated around her entire body, giving her a strange aura.
“Th…this isn’t possible.” He said, backing up slowly. “Y…you….can’t be using it!”
“Oh, you best believe it is, dear.” She said. Lily’s appearance had completely changed. Where she had looked weak, she now beamed with strength. Her wounds had healed completely and she looked a bit healthier than before. Whatever was happening, it was enough to scare Ezebra now. What had happened? Where did this power come from? It suddenly hit me when I thought about what Ezebra had said. “Do you have any idea what you just did?” He had screamed at Dan. He was in fear now. Ezebra was hoping to fill Lily up with so much power that she would burst. Yet, he couldn’t finish. Instead, all the power that he had transferred was now hers.
“You can’t use my energy!” He screamed. “Energies can’t mix. It’s not possible!” Energies couldn’t mix? What did that mean? I didn’t understand it, but I jotted the question down in the back of my head to ask later.
“You’re right, they can’t. So, you best believe that in order to protect my daughter from your vile hands that I will do whatever it fucking takes to kill you including using your own power.” She replied, raising her hand in front of her.
“It’ll kill you though! You will surely die!”
“I know.” She said. She was willing to let go of her life to save her daughter. Was the Angelic Sanctuary this bad? What was the last rule that made Lily this determined to destroy Ezebra? Another question locked away for another time as I watched intently to the events that laid before me.
A burst of light shot out of Lily’s palm. Ezebra quickly put his hands together, pointing his pointer fingers up and tilting his head down towards them. His hair fell before his face as he spoke quickly and fluently. The flash hit him with a force that was blinding even from the viewer’s side. I watched as Ezebra’s figure became a mere shadow fading into the light. For a solid minute, Lily put everything she had into the blast. Dan shut his eyes and placed his arm over his face trying desperately to block the light. It wasn’t enough as he screamed out in frustration. Water streamed down his eyes from the pain. It sounded as if Lily was screaming, her shrill voice sounded victorious. The tree behind Ezebra was blasted into dust. The dirt around Ezebra unearthed itself and was also obliterated in the light. The light flickered for a brief moment and Lily fell to one knee. She grabbed her arm with her other hand and pushed for another solid minute.
This light was significant to everything Lily had fought for up to this point. It was the reason why she wanted to become an AG; the reason why she left Arine. It was the countless years she put into raising Azalia; the endless nights of not sleeping for fear that if she didn’t keep moving, Ezebra and the Angelic Sanctuary would catch up to her; it was the reason why she had to leave her daughter to grow up on her own; it was even the reason why Dan was here in the first place; it was the very reason for why she lived: to protect the ones she loved.
The light finally died down, fading in flickers. Lily huffed violently. She couldn’t catch her breath. Her lips were parched and her eyes were closed halfway. Dan opened his eyes slowly, blinking a couple of times. He looked up at Lily who was frozen in her current state: on one knee with one arm holding the other up, palm extended upward. Her hand was singed from the power that just exploded from it. It smoked and sizzled. Lily was too tired to even move from this position. She looked over at him, smiling. “That’ll teach him….” She said, falling over. Dan looked over at where Ezebra once stood. The smoke hadn’t cleared yet, but he was certain that Ezebra was dead. There was no way someone could have survived that. Dan looked closer though, squinting as the remnants of smoke showed a form. It couldn’t be. There was just no way in the world. I was leaning forward on my log in disbelief.
The smoke finally cleared away and there stood Ezebra. His hands were still together. A majority of his armor had been disintegrated; only small chunks clung to him. The tie that held his hair back had burnt off leaving his hair in a disarray. It ran down to his shoulders, his bangs in front of his face. His skin appeared to be charred; nearly third degree burns. Black wings slowly flapped from behind him. They appeared to be unscathed as they released a couple of feathers that glided down. Ezebra stopped his chanting and looked up with that smirk that I was so familiar with seeing now. I wanted to punch him myself. He dropped his hands to his side and the rest of his armor fell off; he was now completely naked. A light breeze picked up, gliding through his hair as he fell to his knee. The scene ran chills up my arm. How could someone be this powerful? How was it possible? Any images that I saw earlier of a weakling, were erased as I witnessed the power that he was truly capable of. Of course, he did have time to grow from the weakling who could only use strength to over throw someone like Master Dowin. I started contemplating how powerful Master Dowin must have been. It was too amazing.
“That was quite a trick there.” He taunted. “I would really like to know how you were able to use my energy.” Lily just lay there, too paralyzed to even be shocked. Dan was surprised enough for the both of them. “Your demise will come shortly though. It won’t be as grand as I had planned, but it will come. That energy is still in your body, slowly eating away at you. Three years, Lily. Three years and we will come for her; that you can be sure of.” His voice was very low, almost to a whisper. He had used all of his energy to block her attack and now had nothing going for him except words. He slumped over as his wings started to flap faster. They picked him up into the air, his body hanging there. “Give Master Dowin my regards.” He said as his wings took him off leaving nothing left but silence. The wind continued to blow through the leaves, leaving the two half dead corpses with an eerie feeling.
“That….son….of…a…bitch.” Lily coughed.
Dan slowly got up, holding his stomach and shutting his eyes in pain. He limped over to Lily, holding his back. He fell to his knees, picking Lily up and laying her head in his lap. “That was very stupid of you.” He said after a moment.
She looked up at him with watered eyes. “I won’t die.” Her voice was lower than Ezebra’s was.
“B…but…how? He just said…” Dan started.
“Dan, I’m not stupid. I know who you are.” She interrupted.
Dan looked shocked, but his face relaxed as if he understood. “How?”
“It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I need to die.”
“If you know, Lily, then you know that I can….”
“No, Dan….”
“Don’t be an idiot, Lily.”
“Dan….just….shut up.” Lily closed her eyes. “I know….I know….I know that you can, but you can’t.”
“Why the hell not?!” Dan was getting furious at her stubbornness.
“T….think…about it.” Her head fell to the side. Dan thought about it for a moment. What was she talking about? She knew who Dan was? What did that mean? Why were there so many questions and no answers to them? I hated this. I hated not knowing. What could Dan do for her? Could he help her? Did he know something that could have helped her? No, he couldn’t have. Lily was going to die. There was nothing that Dan could do, was there? Dan’s eyes softened as he finally realized.
“If I do, then he will know that you’re still alive.”
She licked her lips and nodded. “So….Dan?”
“Yes?”
“I need to ask you another favor.”
“Sure.”
“Kill…..me…”
Dan’s eyes started to swell. He knew he had to. If she didn’t die, then Ezebra was sure to detect her. He said that no matter how little the power that was used, he could still find her. He would know that she was alive. “I…I…I can’t, Lily. I just can’t.”
Lily grabbed his hand and placed a fallen arrow in it. “You….need….to.” She was slowly losing consciousness. “It….it’s…for….her….for….Azalia.” A couple of tears slowly went down Lily’s cheek.
“What about three years from now? What about when he comes back to take her? What the hell am I supposed to do then?” He shook Lily. “Lily! Stay with me! Tell me what to do!”
She woke up. “M…m….Mira.” She closed her eyes slowly again. “S…she’s a…rivi…rivivalist….”
“Mira? Mira Nvidian? She’s a secretary. How could she know anything?”
“J….just trust me, Dan. Mmmkay?” She struggled. “Do….it. Right….” She raised her hand up and tapped where her heart was. “….here.”
He tightened his grip around the arrow. He raised it above his head and held onto her tightly. “I will bring you back in three years. We will figure out what to do. I promise you, Lily. I will take care of Azalia and we will figure this out. I won’t be able to do this without you.”
“Mmmmkay.” She said. Dan brought his fist down, jabbing the arrow into her heart. She tensed up, her eyes opening quickly and then closing slowly. She tilted her head up and smiled. Blood oozed down her shoulder onto his hand holding her. “Th….thank you, Dan. Sssss….eeeee…..yyooooo…..lllllaaatttteeeerrr.” She wheezed. Her eyes stayed open and she stopped breathing. Tears fell upon her as Dan let go of the arrow. He couldn’t believe what he had just done. He had just killed the mother of the little girl he was going to take care of. It was suddenly understood why Dan had cried when Azalia called him “daddy.” She had no idea that he was responsible for her mother’s death; that he could have possibly saved her, but instead shoved an arrow through her heart. Would they tell her? My guess was that they probably wouldn’t. Azalia looked up to Dan. They couldn’t diminish that.
“See you later, Lily.” Dan sobbed, holding Lily to his chest. With this final scene, the image faded and the water splashed to the ground in a grand finale of orchestrated drops.

Chapter 10 - Plans

 The sun peeked over the horizon and the morning birds began their torrent of lively chirps. Morning was breaking through and I had been so enthralled with the show that I had forgotten what time it was. I looked down at my watch and noticed that it was ten till six. I stretched and yawned, rubbing my eyes. It was hard to believe that six hours had gone by that quickly. What was to happen next, I wondered. There was only twenty days left; technically nineteen now. The events that I just watched occurred three years ago. Ezebra was sure to be stronger and with Lily just being resurrected and Dan had probably not practiced in a long time, they were sure to be weaker than he was.
"So, what now?" I asked aloud. Both Dan and Lily didn't utter a word. Did they even know? Would Ezebra even come on his own or would he bring reinforcements? Considering that he thought Lily was dead, he only figured that he would have to face Dan. From what I knew about Ezebra, he would come alone. He would be cocky enough to think that he only had one foe to face. Even so, what kind of plan did they have? Dan had three years to think about this. He had to have something in mind. "Well? Anything?"
"Dan, did you bring your bow?" Lily said turning to him. What kind of question was that? Of course he didn't have it. In fact, I had never known Dan to have a bow. Did he sell it? Come to think of it, the last time I saw it was when it had fallen out of his hands during the battle.
"You should know better than that, Lily." He said smiling. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a small triangular contraption about the size of his palm. It was a dark silver color, almost black. It looked as if it folded in on itself numerous times and was held together by a latch in the middle. He flipped the latch up and the device began unfolding. It turned over about four or five times before reaching it's full length. It arched like a "d" and at the tips of it a string was attached. Along the arch, square pieces of metal hung out. Dan snapped each of the pieces and locked the bow in place. The process took mere seconds. Dan pulled the string to make sure the bow was sturdy enough. It seemed as if the string was going to break. What was he going to shoot? He didn't have any arrows with him. I had thought too soon when he pulled six metallic pieces from a pouch attached to the back of his waist. The pieces were opposite halves of a full arrow. The tips of them were made to screw into each other, which Dan began doing properly with a steady hand. The entire process, bow and arrows, took thirty seconds.
"Whoa. Wait a second." I held up a hand. "You guys are going to practice now?"
They both looked at each other, smiled, looked at me, and shrugged. "Yeah." They said in unison.
"It's six o'clock in the morning." I proclaimed incredulously.
"Tyson," Lily began. "I don't think you are understanding the urgency of the situation that we are in." I sunk back as she rose, the cloak falling off of her. She began walking towards me. "A man....no, no, scratch that. A vile being will be arriving in nineteen days. Nineteen days, Tyson! And do you know what he is going to do?" Without thinking, I was walking backwards as she continued to advance towards me. "He's going to take my daughter. He's going to take my Azalia and turn her into one of those things he calls Angels. He's going to twist her into something unfathomable, something horrendous, that you won't be able to recognize her when he's through. Oh, but that's the least of your worries, Tyson. Prior to all of this," She held her hands out to demonstrate the size of what she was talking about, "he's going to kill everyone in Zephyrus. He's going to kill Mira, he's going to kill Dr. Avist, and most importantly, he's going to kill you. He will not lay mercy upon one single soul except for the person he chooses to tell his tale. He's going to obliterate this city into nothing and do you know why? Do you know why, Tyson?! For no reason at all. No good damn reason except to make his mark in this world! To leave his signature. It doesn't matter that he's in control of a whole sactified fucking kingdom! He's going to do all of this and that's probably after he toys with everyone, rapes the women, slits the children's throats, burns the crops, and Gods knows what else!" Her voice kept getting louder and louder. She had backed me up against a tree now and was poking one of her long fingernails into my chest.
"Even all of this is the least of your worries. My daughter is talented, Tyson. She is fucking talented and brilliant. That's why he wants her. He wants her so that he can add to his ever growing army of fucking eight year olds that will grow up and be trained to be monsters! And let me tell you something, dear Tyson. He's not doing this just so he can have a little collection of dolls for him to play around with. Oh no! That's not the reason at all. Once he has a large enough capacity, he's going to destroy Talemenle. He's going to repeat the steps that he's going to take with Zephyrus, but magnify it a million fold. He's going to bring down this planet and burn everyone in it! Oh, sure, there will be those such as myself and Dan who will take a stand against him, but, honestly, I feel that we don't stand a chance. He will kill us. As for the others who will do the same, they will have much worse deaths than we will. We will only be the first casualties in this impending war that he will wage on this planet. In all honesty, that's the least of my worries. I wanted to become an Angel to defend those that I love, not destroy them and I will be fucking damned if I let that monstrosity of a human being lay a fucking finger on my Azalia. Nineteen days, Tyson! Nineteen! Nineteen and he will either be one step closer to achieving his goal or he will be a lifeless corpse. I may not be able to defeat him, but I have to try. I have to try so that my daughter can live an innocent life. I have to try so that she can grow up to be beautiful and happy. I have to try so that this...this..." She paused, looking for the words to say. Her eyes were beginning to swell, but she held her tears back. She cared about her daughter to the point that it was going to take her life. Before continuing she regained her composure. "So, that her father doesn't take his own child and mutilate her beyond all reason just for his own selfish pride. So, when you ask us if we're going to start practicing now at six o'clock in the morning, I say hell fucking yes we will because if we don't then we are signing a death warrant not only for us, but for entire world."
I was too stunned to say anything. What had the world come to? Growing up, the word "Angels" always meant protectors for us kids. Now, it was some nightmare that made even adults scared to sleep at night. The worst part about it was that the world didn't know. As far as they were concerned, they were as naive as Lily was when she first arrived at the Angelic Sanctuary. They believed that Angels were here to save us from harm, from the evil that lurked in the dark. What fools we all were; what terrible fools. Even knowing the truth, there was nothing I could do. I was powerless and even someone normal like Dan was willing to do something about it. What could I do though? The first thought that came to mind was to run and hide, but that was too cowardice of me. I sighed at the frailty of my situation in comparison to the one I was witnessing. Yet, something jarred my memory. Dan had brought me here for a reason. Dan told Lily that it was important for me to know, but why? Maybe there was something I could do, but what?
"I was brought here for a reason." I finally managed out. "What is it?"
"We need you to take care of Azalia when this whole ordeal falls out." Dan said, standing up and walking towards us.
"Me? B...but why? Why me? Surely there's someone better. I haven't even known the girl but a few months."
"You've noticed that she's not too friendly with the rest of the town, haven't you?" I nodded. "Yet, when we first found you she took some sort of interest in you and it's beyond me why she did."
"So, you guys are going on a suicide mission and you're going to leave me with an eight year old girl? What am I suppose to do with that?"
"Need I remind you that "that" is my daughter." Lily said raising an eyebrow.
I sunk down a little bit. "I'm sorry, but seriously, what am I supposed to do? I haven't gotten the slightest clue about what to do.”
“Yet, you have more experience than you think.” Dan replied. I thought about it for a moment before it dawned on me. I had been slowly taking over the responsibility of Azalia. When Dan was gone, I was cleaning the house, making sure she was fed; I was the one who was taking care of her. How could I have been so blind? How could I not see that? Dan had set me up for this. He did have some sort of plan no matter how frivolous it was. I didn’t have any more arguments. I had lost. I sighed, straightening myself up.
“Can you at least let me think about it?” I finally whispered.
After a brief pause, Dan said: “Sure. Sleep on it, ok? But, Tyson? We don’t have very many options here. Please keep that in mind.”
I nodded and began to walk off. I was walking down the pebble path where the stream once flowed when water hit my feet going towards where I had just left. I stepped out of the flow and watched it go by. What was happening now? I looked back and I was still far enough to make out what was happening. The water ran up Lily’s legs, along her thighs, and followed through up the rest of her body. Lily had a strange affect on me because before I knew it, I was walking towards the scene without thinking again. The water completely covered her naked body and flowed over her like a stream in constant motion. The liquid began thickening, darkening over her flesh. I blinked a few times to see if my eyes were deceiving me. Lines began running through the water, etching it with shapes and designs, handing it more life than the once solid form. Varied patterns started to change color, shimmering and glazing without a particular set in mind. I was finally at the edge of the gap when the water that came rushing towards her became an outfit. My mouth was agape as I struggled to understand how water had become a fabric, but my mind couldn’t wrap itself around the entirety of the idea. Something about molecules, but that was the extent of it.
Lily was now clothed in a blue wardrobe. Her top was a sleeveless shirt with a wavy pattern on it. The colors altered from a light blue to a dark blue. Below that hung a pair of dark blue slacks. They were cut short of her ankles and were baggy enough to allow her to move with ease and speed. Around her feet were a pair of what looked to be lightweight shoes. They didn’t carry any particular significance for them except that they would allow her to move with precision. The water from the stream continued on the other side of her, flowing into the forest once again. From what I could guess, the death of Lily had meant the death of the little creek. It was somehow connected to her in ways that I couldn’t even begin to imagine. I stood there for a moment as she checked herself out.
She looked up at me. “Can I help you?” She smirked.
I had zoned out, unaware that she was speaking to me. I looked up and started to blush. “Oh....sorry.” I said looking down at the ground.
She chuckled. “It’s alright. I’m somehow still amazed that I can do some of this stuff too.”
“Yeah. Um...” I hesitated. “Di...did you want to see your daughter before you started all this?” I waved my hands around illustrating “all of this.”
She looked up to look at the sky and placed her hands on her hips. A light breeze picked up, blowing her dark teal hair behind her. “No, no. That’s quite alright.” She breathed out. She didn’t want to see Azalia? It was confusing. She loved her so much that she was going to risk her life for her, but after three years of not seeing her, she didn’t want to?
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because she’ll know that I’m alive soon enough.” She said, tilting her head and winking at me.

Chapter 11 - Family

Note:  This chapter still needs additions.  It's not complete.               

 

I walked slowly through the woods thinking about what Lily had just said moments ago.  It wasn't what she said exactly that bothered me.  It was the way she said it and how she winked at me.  How was Azalia going to know that her mother was alive?  Was she going to go see her after her whatever she was going to do with Dan?  I wondered if they were lovers at one point in time.  It was hard to know for sure because they got along so well.  The more I thought about it though, the more I thought of them as comrades instead of lovers.  I envisioned them back to back, Dan with his bow drawn and Lily with her water circulating around her hands, as a horde of goblins surrounded them.  It was a cool image. 

               I reached the outside of the woods coming to the top of a hill that overlooked Zephyrus.  The sun shined behind it, silhouetting it.  Smoke reached for the skies emerging from the stacks from a couple of the buildings.  I heard the sounds of the town waking up to a new day; dishes clattered, people were making deals, and I could even hear the faint swish of scythes brushing across the tops of the crops.  Behind Zephyrus, a boat was rushing through the waters of lake Prod.  The ants aboard the boat threw a net out and brought fish back up.  A light scent of fresh baked goods wafted under my nose.  It filled me up with a good sensation; almost an "I'm glad to be alive" feeling.  It was comforting.  I knew nothing of my past and as of right now, I didn't care.  The future ahead seemed treacherous, but looking down at the town made me have hope that it would be alright; that somehow it was going to make it through.  What did I know though?  I walked down the hill towards the bustling town with a sigh in my lungs and a weight on my shoulders.

 

*****

 

               “Ah ha!”  A gruff voice boomed, startling me from my trance.  It was Eber Ewin, the barkeep.  He had a bright orange beard to match the hair on his head.  He wore a maroon vest around his torso that matched the baggy pants that hugged his waist.  If not for the flamed tattoos that climbed up his arms, I could have sworn that he had a magic carpet stored somewhere in the bar.  Given all that I had been learning about elements, I took a guess that Eber could wield fire.  “You look like a man who needs a drink!”  He finished, holding out his arms as though he had made some sort of new discovery.  I took a look around at the pristine bar that I wandered in to.  How did I get here?  Did my subconscious feel that the towering questions I had could be subsided with a hazy mind? 

               “Eh…I….um….”  I hesitated.  I hadn’t been much for drinking, at least from what I could remember.  I considered it to be one of the worse possible choices a person could make.  What was the point of hindering your perception of how things were?  Did people really choose to not accept the reality that was given to them to the point that they had to drown out their encumbering thoughts?  How in the world was that going to solve anything?  Some had argued that getting drunk didn’t actually numb them, but rather enhanced their feelings.  It was a sad thought that people were so naïve to need a substance that would boost something that I felt was already powerful enough. 

Feelings, in fact, were the only reason that people made the decisions that they did.  It was the all-encompassing factor for people’s behavior in their everyday lives.  When people were sad, their bodies involuntarily cried.  When a person was in love or happy, wouldn’t they lose control of their mouth and just smile?  Emotions were the sole reason for why a person would struggle between telling someone they had feelings for them or stopping themselves from the impending embarrassment at the possible chance that their feelings weren’t returned.  It was inconceivable to believe that there was something out there that could possibly ascend something that was already so powerful.  Yet, for all intents and purposes…..here I was.

“I…I don’t think so.”  I finally answer, scratching the back of my head with uneasiness. 

“Oh, come on!”  Eber persisted.  “I’ll tell you what.”  He waved me over and leaned in as though he was about to tell some big secret.  I followed suit.  “The first mug is on the house.”  He whispered.  “If, and this is a huge ‘if’,” He held up a finger to emphasize “if.”  ”….you don’t enjoy it, you can have your money back!”  He let out a huge laugh at his own joke that bellowed through the nearly empty bar and slapped me on the back that jerked me forward.  He took a mug from one of his stacks and began filling it up.  The bubbles rose from the bottom and nearly overflowed the brim, but I don’t think Eber would have let that happen.  He knew what he was doing.  “Now, tell old Eber what’s a bothering you.”  He handed over the glass that was still fizzing.

I looked down into the mug and was surprise to find that the color of the ale wasn’t a honey yellow as I had originally thought, but instead was deep blue.  Interesting, I thought.  I looked back at Eber who was waiting patiently for me to either answer him or to take a sip.  In either case, I felt like I didn’t want to disappoint this man.  His grin pierced through his vibrant red beard.  No one should have been this happy this early.  No one.  I took my finger and swirled it through the foam layer that had formed.  Bringing it up to my mouth, I paused. 

In all my memories that I had stored somewhere, was it possible that I had the occasional drink?  Was it even possible that I was an alcoholic?  What if partaking in this drink had been a violation of some rule that I had made with myself?  What if it didn’t?  Was I ever going to know?  Silly to be thinking of this now with the impending doom of the world lingering so closely.  The scent of it rose up into my nostrils, inviting me into the world of intoxication.  It definitely had a honey aroma to it, but there was something else hidden in there.  What was it?  Mint?

“Seems the boy needs a pep talk, eh?”  Eber thumbed in the general direction that no one was at.

“Mr. Ewin….”  I started, placing down the mug.

“Please, Eber!”  His eyes followed the mug with intensity.  Did he always talk this loud or was he always this excited about things?  “No need for the formalities.”  He waved his hand.  He continued to stare at the glass. 

               “Oh….Eber.”  Was there something wrong with the glass?  I lifted it up to take a look at it.  Maybe there was a smudge or something.  Something to grasp at his attention to detail.  I assumed that it was his attention to detail to explain the state of the establishment.  Nope.  Nothing there.  I set the container back down and continued.  “Eber….is there something…..”  I began trying desperately to word the question correctly before the words exited from my mouth.  “Are there things…..that…..you wish you didn’t know?”

               His eyes finally left the glass and he looked at me.  “Like?”

               “I don’t know….things like…..secrets?”  The words didn’t flow out as I wanted, but instead tripped over themselves and spilled out into a misshapen puddle.

               “Now listen here.”  Eber started.  He leaned in on his arm and looked around as though the two other patriots of the bar were in some sort of coherent state to interpret what we were talking about.  Eber then stared me straight in the eyes, licked his lips, and asked: “Did you kill someone?”

               “WHAT?!?!?  No!  I….I….no!”  I cocked my head slightly and looked at Eber.  Was he serious?  “Why…..why would you think.....”  I shook my head in confusion.  How did he get to that conclusion based on what I was saying?  “Let me start again.”  I held up my hands in defense.

               “No need.”  Eber straightened up and shrugged.  “You killed someone.  No biggie.  It happens.”

               “It happens?!”  I asked incredulously.  “Killing people happens?  In what world?  Like on purpose?  Like it’s a common thing?”

               “Sure.”  He replied calmly.  “That’s what you mean, right?  You want to know if I know about people killing others.”

               “NO!”  I shouted.  “N….no.  That isn’t where I was going at all!”

               “So, why the need to be so defensive?”  Eber questioned raising an eyebrow.

               The question took me by surprise.  Why was I being so defensive?  I knew I hadn’t killed anyone, so what was the big deal?  Was it that I was a new person in this town who was being viewed this way?  Here I was, a person Eber didn’t know, asking about secrets.  What was I thinking?

               “Alright…..clearly….”

               “Clearly you don’t know me!”  Eber interrupted with a laugh.  A heartfelt thunderous laugh.  The kind that gained momentum from the bottom of your stomach only to leave with such ferocity.  After a few minutes of this, he bent over and grabbed his stomach.  “Shit!  Oh, shit!  I…..I can’t….”  Tears streaked down his cheeks.  “I fucking can’t!”  He pointed at me.

               “What.  The.  Fuck!?”  I screamed.  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

               “Yeah.”  He shook his head with a glint of excitement in his eyes.  “Yeah, I am.  Whoo!”  He let out, finally dying down.  He took a deep breath.  “Shit.  I can’t believe that actually worked.” 

               “Fuck.”  I ran my hands through my hair.  I had a thin sheet of sweat on my forehead now.  “What the…..why?”  I asked.

               “Because you have yet to take a swig.”  He pointed at the untouched mug.

 

 

 

 

 

 

               I walked down the hill and went to the house.  I opened the door silently for fear that I would wake up Azalia.  Instead, I heard the clanging of dishes and peaked around to see Azalia on her step ladder.  She was wearing her little pink apron and humming to herself.  I snuck up behind her, wrapped my arms around her waist, and spun her around.  She squealed a high pitch scream before giggling.

               "Mr. Man!  Put me down!"  She kicked her legs back and forth.  I spun her around a couple more times before setting her down.  She tried to gain her balance as she stumbled around in circles.  I laughed watching her.  The world stopped spinning for her and she regained herself.  She looked up me with the cutest angry face, looking pouty at the same time.  She placed her hands on her hips.  "And just where have you been, young man?"  She said trying to sound authoritative. 

               I wanted to tell her about my evening; about how I met her mother.  Would she have believed me?  I mean, she didn't know that her mother had died.  She just thought that she went to Doluc city.  It had been three years.  She would have been ecstatic.  Yet, I knew her impatience would get the best of her and she would want to see her mother now.  She would be like an eight year old and most likely throw a tantrum until she got her way.  I couldn't tell her just yet.  Even if I did, I didn't know how long she would have to wait.  I didn't know how long Dan and Lily were going to practice.  It could be for another hour or possibly, heavens forbid, until sundown.  Until then it was my responsibility to keep Azalia entertained.  I had to keep her mind distracted.

               "I just went for a walk."  I finally said.

               She looked at me skeptically.  "Uh huh.  Suuuure you were.  Why didn't you wake me up?"  Her pseudo-anger melted and she softened up.

               "Oh, sweetie, I didn't want to wake you up.  You looked so peaceful sleeping, that's all."  She looked as if she was about to cry.  I knelt down in front of her.  "Tell you what, later after all the chores are done, we'll go take a walk together, ok?"

               Her face brightened up.  "Ok!"  She said excitedly.  "Daddy already went to work, didn't he?"  She asked, turning around and stepping back up on her step ladder.

               "Yes."  I lied.

               "Maybe while we're out, we can get something to make for him tonight."  She turned around to look at me.

               "Like what?"

               "Oh, I don't know."  She placed a soapy finger in her chin.  "He's always cooking for us, so I don't see why we couldn't cook for him tonight, right?"

               "You know what?"  I walked up to her right side to help her with the dishes.  "You are absolutely right."  I kissed her forehead and began drying the dishes.  "We have to think of something really good to eat though."

               She nodded "I know!"

               We also have to make enough for four, I thought. 

 

*****

 

               That afternoon, I took her out and we went shopping.  I had taken some of Dan's money hidden away so that we could pay for the items.  I figured he wouldn't mind if I told him that Azalia wanted to do something nice for him.  We had decided that we were going to make some spaghetti.  We went to the store and got all of the necessary ingredients during which we played around in the fruit aisle for a little bit.  It was strange, but I could see Azalia starting to come out of her shell.  She was actually talking to people.  Not for too long, but it was a start.  Each time she said a word or two to someone who greeted her, she would run to me, clinging to my leg.  It was cute.  After gathering all of our ingredients, we walked outside, and started strolling through the street. 

               "Now, there's something else we need."  I said looking down at her.  She was holding my hand and for a split second I felt like a parent.  How could I not take care of her?  As far as I could remember, her and Dan were all I knew.  I woke up and there she was sleeping in the morning sun with all intents and purposes to watch over me.  She didn't know who I was, but she cared for me.  I had to return the favor, right?  There was just no way that I couldn't.  Her parents were about to go to war with some psychopath and she was going to be left with nothing.  I was all she had.  It was right there that I made my decision.  I would take care of Azalia.  It was my obligation to.  I looked down at her as she thought about my comment.  No, it was going to be an honor to raise someone as sweet and innocent as her.  I wasn't too fond on the idea of being a parent, but I thought that this wasn't going to be too bad.  "Well?  Have you figured it out yet?"  I said as we stopped in front of the bakery.

               "I'm thinkin'."  She replied not noticing that we had stopped.  The aroma of the bread crawled underneath her nose and hit her suddenly with realization.  "BREAD!"  She nearly screamed out.

               "That's right."  I chuckled.  "We need garlic bread to go with our spaghetti." 

               "Ewww.  Can't we just have toast?"  She made a twisted face to show her dislike for garlic.

               "How about we half it?  Half of it will be your bread and the other half will be garlic bread."

               "Oh, alright.  I guess so."  I opened the door and she shuffled her way in partial disappointed.  It was too difficult to not find her adorable.

               We picked up the bread and headed home.  Placing the groceries on the table, we began cooking up the meal.  She watched the water boil for the noodles and I cooked up the meat for the spaghetti sauce.  We were quite a team.  She would add in the noodles slowly so as to not burn herself.  I had to snap the noodles in half for her, but she did the rest.  I caught her looking carefully into the pot as she placed the pasta in slowly standing on her toes on her step ladder.

               "What are you doing there?"

               "I was just wondering somethin’."  She continued to look down into the pot as she placed another small handful in the pot.

               "What's that?" 

               "Do you think noodles can feel this?"

               "What do you mean?"  I looked over her shoulder into the pot.

               "The heat.  Do you think they can feel the heat?  Do you think it hurts them?"  The question was certainly unusual for someone her age.

               "I...I don't know.  They're not alive, so I would suppose not."

               "Everything's alive though."

               "How do you figure that?"

               "Well,"  She finally looked up after dropping the last handful in.  "I think that everything in this world has energy.  Energy is a sign of life, right?"  She began gesturing with her hands flipping them over back and forth.  "If something doesn't have any energy, then it's dead.  Noodles have energy, right?" 

               "I don't think so."

               "Yeah, they do.  Noodles, no matter what they're made of, whether it's beans, or rice, or flour, or wheat, they were all part of the planet, right?  The land has energy and whatever was used to make the noodles had to grow somehow, right?  They couldn't grow without energy."  Her logic was surprisingly undeniable.  Lily was right: Her daughter was brilliant.  Yet, why did she suddenly start asking these questions?

               "Well, once they were taken from the land, shouldn't they have lost their energy?"

               "Yeah.  I guess that's true."  She said looking into the pot.  "That's good.  I'm glad they can't feel that."  It nearly sounded like she was reminiscing on the way she felt.

               "I think it's time to set the table."  I said after a moment to shake the morbid atmosphere. 

               "Yep!"  She woke up from her trance nodding her head energetically.

               We began setting the table and I had started to set up four places instead of three.  She looked at me quizzically.  "Why are you setting a fourth place?"  I just looked at her as if I had just been caught doing something that I shouldn't.  "Mr. Man?"  She stared at me.  Her eyes darted back and forth across my face as if she was trying to read what I was thinking.  Could I tell her?  Would her mother be coming home tonight?  It was a harder decision to make than whether I should take care of her or not.  I was going to assume that Dan would at least come back.  I opened my mouth to talk when her eyes widened and tears formed instantly at the base of them.

               "M....mo."  She stammered.  "Whe...where?"  Her lip began quivering.  What was wrong with her?

               "What?"

               "My mommy's back?"  She asked in a low voice.  Did she read my mind?  How could she have known that?  The only suggestion I had given was that I was setting up a fourth place, but that could have been anyone.

               "Why do you say that, Azalia?"

               "I saw her."

               "Where did you see her?"  We were still looking at each other from across the table, both of us had paused our current tasks.

               "In your head."

               I looked at her strangely.  "Ho...how did you see her in my head?"

               "You saw her!  Where is she?  Where's my mommy?"  The tears were released down her cheeks like a dam opening its gates. 

               "Azalia, just calm down.  I can tell you everything..."

               "There's no need for that."  Lily said, walking into the dining room.  What happened next had to be one of the most miraculous things I had seen yet.  Azalia turned around slowly, tears in constant stream.  She saw her mother and her eyes went wide.

               "M..mo....mommy?"  She questioned her own mind about whether she saw what she did.  "I..is that really you?"

               "Yes, my dear Azalia.  It's me."  Lily smiled.  She held her arms open.

               "MOMMY!!!"  Azalia screamed running towards.  Tears fell off her face and the wind, from her rushing, carried them to the ground.  Lily knelt down and Azalia fell into her arms.  The reunion was unbelievable.  Both parties cried in unison.  Lily and Dan had acquired dirt upon their bodies.  Their practicing must have went well.  Azalia and Lily continued to hug as Dan walked into the kitchen. 

               "You're about to burn something here."  He said, pointing down at the meat.  I ran to the stove and began turning the meat over and over again.  I looked over at Dan and he just smiled.  A single tear ran down his cheek.  Why was he crying?  A beautiful scene had just occurred and he was crying.  Was he happy about it?  He walked off, patting my back and wiping his face.  "Good man."  He said.  Good man?  What was he talking about?  It was hardly a feat to stir some hamburger meat.  I looked over at Lily and Azalia who were still holding each other.  I somehow knew that even this amount of time wasn't enough to amend the last three years.

               "Now,"  Lily started holding her daughter out like she did three years ago: at the shoulders.  "How is my little darling?"  She finished, sniffling.

               Azalia wiped her tears with her arms.  "I'm great now."

               "Have you been doing everything I told you?"  Mother looked down at daughter as if ready to scold her.

               "I promised you, didn't I?"

               Lily's surprised face showed that she hadn't expected that answer.  Her expression relaxed as she replied:  "Yes.  Yes, you did."  She smiled.  "Now, what do we have here?"  She clapped her hands getting up and walking into the kitchen.

               "Mr. Man and I were making daddy some dinner.  We're making sgetti."  Azalia answered.

               "Mr. Man?"  She asked looking at me.

               "Mmmhmm."  Azalia shook her head.  "We found him in the woods, but you already know that don't you?"  There it was again.  How could Azalia have known that?  It was just impossible.  Could she read minds?  It was too eerie for comfort.  "His name is Tyson, but I don't like that name, so I call him Mr. Man."

               "I see."  Lily nodded.  "But, dear, your water is about to boil over."  She pointed to the brimming pot.  Azalia rushed to the stove and turned the heat down.  She got up on her ladder and grabbed the utensil to stir it.  Lily laughed as she watched her daughter cook.  She came up behind her and helped her stir. 

               "Is there anything I need to do?"  Dan said from behind us.

               "Yes!"  Azalia looked back.  "Wash up and get ready for dinner!" 

               Dan couldn't help but laugh.  It was his turn to feel like the child being told what to do.  "Alright.  Alright.  No need to get snippy."

               "I didn't ask for backtalk."  She jokingly replied.

               I finished up the sauce and Lily helped Azalia drain the noodles.  We mixed them together and placed them in some stained glass bowls that Dan had.  We made the bread and just as promised, half of it was toast and the other half was garlic bread.  Dan came back from the bathroom refreshed.  He had taken a quick shower.  I could tell from his damp hair.  I assumed Lily just used her powers to clean herself off quickly because she had left for two minutes and came back just as clean as Dan.  Sitting down, we began diving into the food. 

               "Wait!"  Azalia screamed and we all paused mid action.  "I want to say the blessing today."  She announced.  I placed down the serving utensils.  Dan was reaching for some garlic bread and had barely lifted it up.  He placed it back down neatly.  "Come on."  She waved her hands forwards.  "Join hands."  She commanded.  We did so and she began.

               "Dear Gods, thank you."  She paused.  The silence was a nice touch to what was about to be said.  I looked up and both Lily and Dan were looking at Azalia.  They smiled in unison, looked at each other with the same smile, and bowed their heads again.  The thought of them being previous lovers crossed my mind again, but Azalia broke that idea as she continued.  "Thank you for bringing mommy back.  I have missed her so much and I can probably never thank you enough for bringing her back.  Gods, I would also like to thank you for allowing daddy to get to know me.  I'm glad he was there to take care of me when no one else was.  Thank you for letting mommy find him.  He sure has been good to me.  One last thing, Gods, thank you for Mr.  Man.  He has certainly been a pleasure to have and I would not have been able to get so much homework done if it weren't for him."  I smiled at this.  "Thank you for this food and thank you for finally bringing my family together as one.  Amen."  She concluded, looking up.  There was a hush of silence.  "Now, eat!"  She waved her arms towards us and we all resumed our positions, me reaching for the spaghetti utensils and Dan grabbing for the bread.  It was the first of many wonderful nights that we shared as, what Azalia had called us, a family.

Chapter 12 - Remember

Two weeks had passed since mother was reunited with her daughter.  Belonging to a family, as Azalia has so well put it, made me smile at the thought of it.  Without a word being mentioned, it just seem to come naturally that Dan and Lily were mom and dad while Azalia and I were their kids, brother and sister to one another.  After that first night of spaghetti, Azalia and I became the cooks, entrepreneurs of the kitchen.  It was a good sensation feeling as if I belonged to something.  Schooling was soon taken over by Lily and Dan was left to work what hours he could to bring home the money.  During the times that he wasn't working and she wasn't teaching, Dan and Lily would leave bright and early every morning to make sure that they got in as much training as they could.  I couldn't tell what Azalia thought of this.  Yet, the routines fell back into positions with an added member and it didn't seem as if anything was going to tear this family apart.  Not if Dan and Lily had anything to say about it at least.

               There were only five more days till Azalia's birthday.  Dan had suggested that I talk with a few of the citizens because he had already been planning for her birthday anyways.  Since he didn't have time now, due to his training with Lily, it was my responsibility to finish the arrangements.  I met up with Mira, Dr. Avist, Eber Ewin, the bartender, Mrs. Nyrang, the shop keeper and a few other individuals.  The plan was perfect; there was a field off the East of Prod Lake that was vibrant with a variety of colors.  I wouldn't be able to see it until the day of due to reasons that I wasn't aware of.  All I could base my imagination on was through hearsay.  In my head, the scene was beautiful.  I would guide Azalia to this field and we would all surprise her and have a barbeque or picnic of some sort.  It was up to Eber to supply the drinks and Dr. Avist would bring the food.  Any other commodities were to be delegated by Mira.  Something that I found very curious though was that every time I would come back from planning, in which I told Azalia I was running some errands, she would just simply smile as if she knew what was going on.

               It was two days away from Azalia's big day when I made a decision that to this day I regret even making.  Azalia and I were watching a movie.  Lily and Dan were later than usual and dinner was already made, getting cold.  Azalia was falling asleep in my arms.  She was smiling in her semi-catatonic state.  It was clear that she was dreaming of something pleasant.  I slowly removed my arm from behind her and got up to bring her a blanket.  I stopped when I heard her yawn.  I turned around and she was stretching.  She looked up at me rubbing one of her eyes gently.

               "Mr. Man?"  She yawned again.

               "Yeah?"

               "I can help you."  She simply said placing her hands down beside her.

               "Help me what?"  I asked confused.

               "Find out who you are."

               I looked at her unbelieving of what she just said.  "Is that so?"  I asked her as I started to smile.

               "Mmmmhmmm."  She nodded.  "I can."

               "How do you plan on doing this?"

               "Well, I can do this thing..."  She started.  This was it.  I was going to find out about how Azalia knew all the things she did.  About how she knew her mother was alive.  About how she knew that Lily knew they found me in the forest, about why she smiled every time I returned from my "errands."  She was finally going to tell me that she could read minds, that she was psychic.  It was the only explanation.  Yet, how could she use this to help me?  Could she read into the minds of those who couldn't remember?  These questions rushed through my head and I lost focus to what she was actually telling me.  Before I regained my focus she was finished.  "Ok?"  She asked.  All I could do was nod.  She sighed knowing that I didn't understand and began again.

               "I can pull things from a person's mind."

               "Excuse me?"  I asked, shock covering my face.

               "Yeah, I can.  I know that it's hard to believe, but I can take something from a person's mind and make it real."

               "Wait, so you're telling me that you can make the imagination real?"

               "In a way.  I haven't been able to work on that yet.  So far, I can only look into a person's memory and bring out what they saw."  It suddenly hit me.  It was too much of a coincidence that just when I was about to tell Azalia everything, Lily appeared there.  If Azalia could do what she said, did this mean that she pulled her mother from my memory?  How was that even possible?  Were there limitations to this?

               "Did you pull your mother from my head?"

               "Yeah...."  She sounded ashamed.  "But, I only did because I wanted to see her really really bad."

               "This still doesn't explain how you could help me though.  I can't remember anything."  I thought out loud. 

               "It's not just a mental thing."  I didn't understand.  Not just a mental thing?  Did this mean she could physically pull from someone's mind?  Could she possibly pull parts of the brain out from someone's head?

               "Can you do this to anyone?"

               "Almost.  At first I could, but then I met daddy and I can't seem to read his memories.  I can't with mommy either.  When we found you, I tried to use it to find out where you came from, but I couldn't and I didn't understand why.  That's why I liked you so much.  There wasn't anything that I knew that could harm me.  Anyways, I've been rummaging through your head...."

               "You've been going through my head?"  I interrupted.

               "Yes.  It's ok.  It doesn't hurt and you don't really know I'm in there unless you concentrate.  If you did that, it would hurt both of us."

               "Well....what did you find?"

               She hesitated as if she was afraid to tell me.  Silence consumed the air around us and I found myself disturbed by her wavering answer.  "...Mr.  Man...you have a blood clot in your brain."  I felt like a patient who was just told by the doctor that he was going to die. 

               I was going to reply, but I didn't know what to say.  "A....brain....?" was all I could muster out.

               "Clot."

               "So, this...this....brain...."  I waved my hands around each other trying to find the words.

               "Clot."  She finished.

               "Yeah.  Yeah.  So, this brain clot is keeping me from...."  I had a difficult time digesting the information.  "...remembering?"

               "Yes."  She sounded more calm than I did.  Not just a mental thing.  The words struck instantly.  It did mean that she could pull things from someone's mind physically.  She could possibly pull the clot from my brain.  The amazing capabilities of this power.  What one could do with it...I stopped mid-thought.  Did Ezebra know this?  Did he know how special her abilities were?  Lily knew.  She mentioned this to me in the woods.  She told me how her daughter was talented.  She meant that her ability was talented.  That's must have been why Lily wasn't surprised when she was pulled from my memory.  I envisioned what it must have been like for Dan and Lily to be fighting in the woods and suddenly appear in the living room.  Dan wasn't surprised either.  He must have known too.  This ability was too powerful to just remain idle in someone.  It was the reason why Ezebra was coming back, it had to be.  "Yet..."  Azalia continued.  "....do you want to remember?"  Tears started to swell up from eyes.  She lost her calm cool composure in mere seconds.

               "Why are you about to cry?"  I asked her.

               "I....I'm afraid that you won't want to be with me when you....when you....remember."  She busted out, crying into her hands.  The poor soul.  She was right though.  How was I going to know that I wouldn't go back to my old life?  I might have had unfinished business.  There could have been things I was in the middle of.  Was I married?  I could have possibly already had children.  Did this explain why I was so good with Azalia?  What if I was a killer of some sort?  Would I harm her if I remembered?  The questions stacked upon each other incessantly.  There was no way of knowing unless I remembered. 

               "Azalia....I...I...can't promise you anything, but....but I need to know what happened to me.  I need to know what I left behind, if anything.  I will try to stay as long as I can though."

               "Will...will you be here for my birthday?"  She asked, looking up with glistened eyes.  It was all I could do not to break down with her. 

               "Of course I will."  I smiled lightly. 

               She wiped her nose and nodded.  "Ok."  Azalia was willing to sacrifice losing me so that I could remember?  How...how selfless...Meanwhile, here I was being selfish.  Was I willing to break a little girl's heart over knowing what I didn't remember?  On one hand, I had decided that I was going to take care of her when her parents went to fight, but if I was gone to finish something that may or may not have already been resolved, how was I going to do this?  Could I take her with me?  Would she come with me?  Could we start anew somewhere else?  It was a risk that I had to take.  I had to know and if this was the only way, then so be it.  I didn't want to be selfish and come to think of it, whoever or whatever I did leave behind probably thought I was dead by now, but I still had to know.  It couldn't have hurt too much, right?  Azalia positioned herself on the edge of the couch.  "Kneel down right here."  She pointed in front of her.  I obeyed and found myself lower than her.  She sniffled and placed her fingertips around my temples.

               "Have you done this before?"  I asked nervously.

               "I've been practicing a little bit.  I haven't actually done it on anyone, but I have practiced."

               How would one be able to practice an ability like this?  I shook my head, not wanting to know the answer.  I took a deep breath.  I had to trust her.  It was important.  "Alright."  I breathed out.

               "This might hurt a little."  She announced closing her eyes and I followed as she pressed her fingers tighter around the temples.  There was a slight discomfort, but it wasn't too much.  I could hear her breathing become shallower.  She moved her tiny fingers through my hair almost as if she were looking for the clot with them.  I felt a sharp pain creep across my spine as she shifted them through the back of my skull.  She ran them up my head again and the pain subsided.  It wasn't too hard to figure out, but I could assume that the clot was in the back.  Once again, she ran her fingers towards the back.  As she did, the pain increased and was the worse at the very back of my head.  I winced and she apologized telling me that it was necessary for me to feel it.  She stopped at the back and began circulating her fingertips around the pain.  My head began to pound in agony.  It felt as if I was getting a migraine; a fast migraine.  She squeezed around the pain and I found myself on all fours.  Her breathing picked up as if she was running.  The throbbing shot through my entire body in a split second and my eyes began to water.  I clinched my teeth as the ache intensified even more.  How much longer was it going to take?  I didn't think I could handle much more. 

               My right hand closed into a fist as I felt a cold chill run through it.  The chill ran through my palm, up my arm, through my shoulder, up my neck, and into my head.  My brain felt like it had just eaten ice cream and the coldness had hit my head with a suddenness only this was much worse.  She was drawing my blood from my body and into my head.  I cried out, opening my eyes.  They felt as though they were going to fall out of my skull.  I looked up with watered eyes and she was sweating profusely.  Her hair had dampened leaving her bangs stuck to her forehead.  She was trying to steady her breathing, but it seemed to fail.  I winced again, closing my eyes and clinching at my heart as it picked up in speed.  It was going incredibly fast.  My right hand was now numb from the drained blood and I could sense that my arm was soon to follow.  Her fingertips dug into my cranium, tightening around the focused pain.  She pulled one hand up and the pain went with it.  I looked up to see a dark red piece of something in between her thumb and pointer finger.  It must have been the clot.  Azalia fell over, too exhausted to do anything else. 

               "Now...."  She coughed out.  "....remember."  She finished, closing her eyes fully and falling asleep.

               I waited for a moment, thinking that everything would just come back to me in an instant.  The only thing that did happen was that the pain went away instantly, leaving me with a constant chill.  I looked down at my hands as my vision blurred.  I closed my eyes and steadied my breathing.  I took in a deep breath, held it, and let it go.  My face tingled as the blood rushed through my body again.  I took in another deep breath and I was hit with a sudden flash behind my eyelids.  I blinked beneath them and another flash came.  I was hit again and again as the flash sped up.  It was like a picture show where the first couple of clips were white and kept repeating until an image came across.  My eye lids were the screen for this little show.  A woman appeared in my view.  I didn't recognize her.  She was wearing a blue and gold dress with a matching bow around her head and waist.  I looked at the environment and she was in a forest.  A variety of colors sparkled throughout the scene.  What was this?  Did I know this girl?  This was a memory of mine, right?  Azalia didn't mess up the process, did she?

               A white flash blinked and I suddenly saw her seated in front of me with a waterfall behind her shining with an unusual brightness.  This woman was certainly beautiful, but I still hadn't a clue as to who she was.  Another flash and I watched as two Angels held me down on my knees.  She was standing in front of me with a knife.  What was going on?  She suddenly stabbed me and I jerked in pain.  What the hell?  Why was she stabbing me?  The process repeated again and again, but quicker.  A flash would open up a scene and I would witness it for a little bit only to have it disturbed by another flash that continued the process.  Everything finally came flooding to me at once and I remembered.  I remembered everything.  I remembered my childhood.  I remembered my parents, my school, and meeting her.  I remembered being picked on during school for not formulating my powers at the same pace that my fellow classmates did.  I remembered my dad not being around.  Everything flooded into my head with powerful and painful speed.  My head began to ache again.  I didn't have enough time to witness everything as flashes disrupted them.  I had a hard time breathing, trying to fit all of the pieces together.  I was starting to lose focus as I came upon my memories of her.  I remembered my love for her and the pain that I endured as she stabbed me.  I even remembered the words she whispered to me right before slicing my cheek open.  The last thing that I remembered was that my name wasn't Tyson.  It was Ryter.

               I fell backwards onto the floor and passed out with Azalia.  My final thought was that through everything that came back to me, there was still one thing that I didn't know:  Why did she do it?

Chapter 13 - Birthday

The sun peeked through the shades as a new day approached.  I lightly opened my lids and was hit with its rays.  Dammit.  What day was it?  I really need to stop passing out, I told myself as I began to lift myself up.  At the height of my ascent, I was brought down abruptly by something large.

               "MR. MAN!  You're awake!"  Azalia bounced up and down on my back.  The maturity that I had witnessed two days ago had completely obliterated and what was left was her childishness.  Frankly, I was glad of it.  I figured that she would have some guilt for my passing out, but it seemed to have slipped her mind.

               The air rushed out of me from her surprising weight.  "Ok.  Ok.  Yeah, yeah.  I'm up!  I'm up!"  I hollered out.  She rolled off my back and onto the space next to me propping her head on her hands and looking at me.  I smiled.  "What?"

               "Guess what today is."  She whispered to me.

               I ran a hand through my hair and whispered back to her:  "What?"  I played along.  She saddened that I didn't know.  I played it cool, pretending that I didn't know.  In my defense, if I didn't remember, I had just woken up from a five day coma.  Still, her puppy dog face was enough to make me give in.  "Oh wait!"  I acted with sudden realization.  "That's right!  It's your birthday, isn't it?"  Her face brightened up suddenly and she nodded her head exuberantly.

               "Now, mommy and daddy have already gone out and..."  She jumped off the bed.

               "Wait a second."  I stopped her as I remembered her ability.  "You already know what's going to happen today.  You're not going to be surprised by anything at all."

               She turned around and held up a finger, "Actually, they never showed you where you were going to take me.  They only told you.  As for anything in your head, you will be just as surprised as I will be."  She was right.  Did the rest of the town know her ability too?  Is that why they didn't show me the place?  "You have a good imagination though."  She finished as she trotted off down the hall.

               "I guess so."  I scoffed as I scratched the back of my head.

               I told Azalia she could have the day off for chores.  It was the least I could do.  She waited patiently, humming to herself, as I did the dishes.  She was already dressed for the occasion:  She wore a violet dress that expanded out at the bottom into a bell shape.  All of the other accessories for the dress, her gloves, shoes, bonnet, and the little bow that tied around her were teal.  Despite the mismatch of colors, they worked well together.  I assumed that the teal represented her mother in some way.  Overall, she looked like a southern bell waiting for her gentleman to escort her to her party.  I washed up real quick and wore a suit that Dan had loaned to me for this event: A blue blazer with matching slacks.  Underneath I wore a white button up shirt.  I didn't have a tie, so I just kept the top button unclasped.  I checked myself in the mirror, putting my hands into the pockets; I didn't look half bad. 

               "Well, milady, shall we run along now?"  I asked holding out a hand.

               She grabbed it and hopped off the couch.  "We shall."

               We walked out the door holding each other's hand.  The town was completely empty.  Everyone was already at the meeting place.  We headed left from the pathway of the house towards Prod Lake.  We walked to the edge of the town and were both stunned at the sight before us.  Where the town had ended, a field of orange stalks swayed briskly in the wind.  How had I not seen this before?  The usual color of these crops was a khaki tan, but with the sun shining on them, they transformed into this vibrant, sun-setting color orange with a light red at the tips of them.  I looked down at Azalia and her eyes were wide. 

               "Cool!"  She shouted as she ran ahead of me.  As she ran through, the colors changed from the burnt orange to a crimson red.  I was puzzled.  I reached out with one hand and touched one of the tips.  It turned the same dark red.  That was cool.  Taking my hand away, it faded back into the orange.  This explained the red tips.  Even the wind was a type of feeling for these stalks.  When the wind blew, they turned a light red.  The more pressure put on the crops, the redder they became.  The stalks covered the entirety of Azalia's body and before I knew it, her purple disappeared.  I could follow her though as each stalk she touched darkened to the corresponding red.  Fall was arriving.  I heard her giggle somewhere in the distance.  I looked out beyond the field to see the west side of the forest that had surrounded Zephyrus.  The colors of the trees were an oddity from the usual colors that the changing seasons brought.  A light blue spotted the centers of the trees.  The spot spread out to the borders of the trees where they fringed with a dark green.  In between were layers that transitioned fluently from the light blue to the accustomed green.  Every color on this spectrum decorated the leaves with hues that weren't meant for trees and yet, it worked out perfectly.  It was nearly genius.  If this was just the start of what the town told me about, then I was certainly in for a treat.

               "Mr. Man!"  Azalia hollered out.  "Come find me!"

               I chuckled.  I hope Dan doesn't mind me getting his suit a little dirty, I thought.  "Alright!  Here I come!"  I yelled back at her.

               I ran through and notice something even more about the grain stalks.  The whole length didn't turn red when it was touched.  It was just the portion that contact was made with.  Definitely cool.  I tip-toed my way through the canvas waiting to hear some rustling from her end.  I called out her name.  No response.  Again.  Nothing.  I inched my way closer to where I last heard her shout.  I wasn't as short as Azalia, so they didn't cover me up completely.  Instead, they reached my shoulders.  Thus, I was a floating head among a crowd of bristles.  I looked among the crowd to see if I could see any red.  Nothing.  She must have been ducked down.  I leaned over so that my head couldn't be seen and sneaked closer to where I thought she was.  A little closer and I heard her scamper off, giggling.  I took chase, noticing her purple mixed in with the orange and red.  By the time I caught up with her, she was out of breath, too tired to go any further.

               "Gotcha."  I said, tapping her with my forefinger.

               "Yeah, yeah."  She said rolling her eyes.  Oh, so it was ok for her to hide from me, but when I caught her, it wasn't fun anymore?  Typical kids.  "Let's go."  She grabbed my hand and we went towards the teal-ish trees.

               Even the bark was a different hue.  It looked as if the green from the top of the tree continued all the way down to the root of the tree chasing the color into a yellow.  All the colors of the rainbow were there between the forest and the field.  It was an amazing sight.  Yet, even this had not prepared me for what came next.  As we trekked further into the forest, it appeared as if the colors became slightly brighter.  I couldn't tell if it was just from the sun or if my eyes were playing tricks on me.  We emerged out from the thicket of the woods to an open gap much like the one that Lily had been resurrected in over two weeks ago on the other side.

               In the center of the opening stood a single tree.  It glowed a bright pink.  As we walked closer, the tree rustled a little bit.  We both looked at each other with huge grins.  I felt like a little kid who was about to explore something magnificent beneath a breathing tree.  I'm sure Azalia felt the same.  We inched a bit closer and looked up.  To our disappointment, there was nothing there.  Our inner child's dreams of discovery had been crushed.  Azalia looked at the trunk of the tree and poked it.  The tree began to shake violently.  We backed up slowly as the quaking increased.  I looked up at the leaves and they exploded toward us.  I ducked, closing my eyes from any possibility of something hitting me.  I opened my eyes to see the leaves flying past us into the forest like birds.  There were so many of them.  As they went by the teal-ish forest, their wings grazed the leaves.  Colors burst from the tips and spread throughout the tree like water spreading across a wet towel.  The color of the foliage completely altered from its dark persona to a brighter, more vibrant facet.  Where once there bloomed dying leaves, life sprang from their roots and brightened the entire scene.  We looked around as each tree that touched each other spread the wealth of blissful hues.  Leaves tumbled down from the leafy-birds flight.  Azalia caught one in her hand just as it was changing.  She looked up at me with those bright eyes.  I was just as surprised as she was.

               We followed the wildfire of color of the surrounding area only to be met with grinning faces behind us.  "SURPRISE!!!"  They shouted out.  Azalia screamed out with excitement, running towards her mother and Dan.  During our distraction, the group had set up the whole area with a long table of food, presents, drinks, and all the accessories of a party.  I observed Mira with a clipboard, jotting down notes or something of the sort.  Dr. Avist began passing out plates and utensils as a line formed up for the distribution of food as I walked up to my family.  Azalia turned around and hugged my leg.

               "This was far greater than your imagination."  Azalia smiled wiping away some tears.

               "Yes.  Yes, it was."  I said hugging her back.

               The events that followed were miraculous to say the least.  The scenery didn't cease in amazing both Azalia and I.  We were but mere children in a woodland of discovery, witnessing the nature around Zephyrus for the first time.  Why hadn't we explored these areas before?  I noticed that some of the smaller creatures were emerging from within the thickets of the forest.  A small rabbit like creature walked up to Azalia.  Its ears were massively huge for a normal size rabbit.  If it had fallen from it could have used its ears as a parachute.  Nonetheless, it was still cute.  Its legs were far larger than the short stubbiness of a regular rabbit.  Its ears were behind its head when it approached Azalia.  When she reached down, they covered his entire body making him look like a fur ball.  Azalia poked it and it rolled a couple of inches before unraveling itself and pouncing on Azalia.  It matched Azalia: a violet color dyed its fur with a lighter toned streak down its back.  It licked her with a light green tongue and she giggled. 

               A little ways off, Cergroy Dofo, the shopkeeper, was displaying a magic trick of some sort.  He had a long straw, about a foot in length, and held it vertically between his hands.  He crushed the straw down and waited for the anticipation to build up from the kids that hovered over him.  When it was more than they could bear, he opened his palms and slivers of the straw floated out from them.  They glided around the children.  The kids laughed and when they went to touch the pieces, the red changed color. With every touch, poke, and swipe of their hands, the slivers would alter to random tones.  The little ones found great entertainment in chasing the gliding pieces around and changing their colors, batting aimlessly at them like cats playing with string. 

               "Um....Ry....Ryter?"  I heard a nervous voice from behind me.  Apparently word had spread somehow about my real name.  I wondered if it was Azalia that told everyone.  I turned around and there was Scarlett Yamor, daughter of Councilman Yamor, looking sheepishly embarrassed.  It was known that she had a crush on me, but everyone acted as if it was the drama of the town.  She was attractive; there were no doubts about that, but everyone knew that if they even tried to advance her, then Councilman Yamor would be up their asses like a panda stuck in a tree trunk.  She worked with Cergroy in the grocery store and she always had a hard time flirting with me.  I guess the talk about town was that she was going to finally talk to me genuinely because everyone was staring at us with intense eyes waiting for the scene to unfold.  "I...I...was wondering if...."  Yep.  Definitely embarrassed.  Probably not the best place to ask me to do something with all eyes on us.  "...if you would like to....um....go tree diving with me?"

               "Tree diving?"

               "Yes!"  She brightened up as the opportunity had finally been presented to her to talk to me as if I was the ignorant one.  "Come on!  I'll show you."  She grabbed my hand and I followed to wherever she yanked me.  The audience seemed pleased at the events and soon after, went along with their discussions, magic tricks, and games. 

               Scarlett took me to a huge tree.  I looked up its length and noticed that it was one of the highest trees there.  I squinted to see two individuals at the very top of the tree about a hundred feet up.  I watched helplessly as they grabbed a hold of one another and tilted over.  They fell over the huge branch that they were standing on.  They were going to die.  Their speed picked up and I found myself looking below them.  There was nothing there to catch them but a pile of light pink leaves about fifty feet in diameter.  A pile of leaves wasn't going to catch them.  I closed my eyes, terrified to witness their impending death.  What the hell kind of activity was this?  Scarlett took me here to commit suicide?  It was absurd, but then the sudden idea that nothing was what it appeared ran across my mind.  I opened my eyes just as they splashed into the leaves.  For a split second nothing happened.  I blinked and then the two individuals shot out of the leaves as if it were a trampoline.  They bounced high into the air, still grasping each other.  The girl was screaming her head off while the guy just laughed.  They bounced a few more times before their momentum slowed down enough for them to hop right off.  I was amazed.   Contrary to what I had known about leaves, these weren't soft and crunchy like your usual leaves.  I walked over to the leaves to see if there was something buried in them.  I dug around, scattering the leaves everywhere, but found nothing.

               "Hey!"  Someone from the top yelled.  I looked up to see another pair getting ready to jump.  "Do you mind moving?!"  They screamed out. 

               I quickly started to pile the leaves back up before they jumped when I noticed that the leaves were moving.  I stood back and the leaves literally raked themselves up back into a neat little pile.  I stared at it with a confused look as the second couple jumped off the tree.  I continued to watch the leaves as the couple bounced on them.  Leaves did, in fact, fly up into the air as they should when someone jumped into them, but as soon as they hit the ground, their edges became feet and they gingerly walked back over to the pile.  Simply amazing.  They had a mind of their own.  If only everyone had leaves like that.

               "Well, are you ready?"  Scarlett said.  I was too amazed to even respond back to her.  "Ryter?" 

               "Huh?"  I woke up from my daze looking around.

               "Are you ready?"  She repeated.

               "We're going to jump from there?"  I pointed up at the branch

               "Yup."  She said calmly.

               "Wha...what if we miss?"

               She giggled, obviously entertained that I was scared out of my mind.  "We won't.  Not a single person has missed since it's started except for Benjamin who went alone."

               "So, we need to go together?  And who's Benjamin?"

               "Yes.  The weight of the two individuals picks up enough speed and has enough weight to make the bounce high enough.  If you go alone, you won't have either and the leaves won't bounce you up.  They will just be plain leaves then.  We found that out through Benjamin's mistake."

               "The leaves know how much weight and speed there is between the two?"

               "Yep."

               "How?"

               "As far as we know, the tree tells them.  The tree weighs the two people and it sends a message to the leaves.  That's how they know to rake themselves up again."

               "That is....incredible."

               "So, are you ready?" She smiled.

               My heart quickened at the thought of plummeting from that far up in what appeared to be plain leaves.  The idea was insane.  I inhaled a deep breath and then released it, gulping.  "Ok."

               Scarlett grabbed my hand and we walked up to the tree.  It looked a lot like a weeping willow with its tentacle type foliage.  The leaves couldn't have belonged to this tree.  Scarlett held my hand and knocked on the tree.  I felt like I was waiting for an elevator.  "Hang on."  Scarlett said, gripping my hand tighter.

               "Hang onto whaaaaaa.....!"  I was interrupted as two of the tentacles wrapped around my waist.  I released Scarlett's hand as the flora lifted me up into the air.  I panicked looking for something to grab onto.  Nothing was around, of course.  Before I knew it, I was taken to the top of the tree where the huge branch protruded out.  Scarlett was there too, smiling gleefully.  She was definitely finding me very vulnerable which I could only assume made her like me more.  "O...ok."  I said, gaining my balance.  I looked over the edge.  The leaves seemed like a small dot from where we were.  "We're going to jump this!?"  I screamed out.

               "Yep."  She replied without an ounce of fear.  "It's ok.  I've done this before."

               "This is crazy!"

               "Ryter, that's the only way down now."

               My eyes shot open.  "Can't you just knock on the tree again?"

               "Nope.  The nerves are at the base of the tree."  She giggled.

               "Fuck me." 

               "Alright.  Just take my hand and I'll take you to where we need to be."

               I rubbed my hand on my pants to wipe the sweat that had accumulated on my palm before grabbing her hand.  With shaky legs, I stood up.  She guided me towards the center of the branch slowly; I was inching my way there gradually.  There was a big red "X" in the middle of the branch.  I assumed that was where we would jump from. 

               "Now what?" 

               "Now," she said bringing me closer to her.  "We hold each other like this."  The warmth of her body was surprising.  Her sexuality was the last thing on my mind until I felt her body pressed against mine.  I contained my thoughts to merely survival.  It was necessary.  "How do you want to jump?"  She whispered into my ear.  It sent chills down my back.

               "What do you mean?"  I tilted my head away so as to not breathe on her neck.

               "Well, we can twirl, spin, flip, and anything you want." 

               "We should just worry about jumping right now."  I said finding the need to get back on ground to be of extreme emergency for reasons that I shall not discuss right now. 

               "Alright then.  Let's jump on the count of three."

               I started taking deep breaths.  "Ok."

               "One."

               I closed my eyes trying hard not to imagine with the ground looked like.

               "Two."

               This countdown was taking way too long.

               "Three."  She announced and our feet left the branch.

               To say that I didn't scream like a woman being killed would have been lie.  To say that I didn't lose control of my bowels....that would, too, would be a lie.  I opened my eyes about halfway down and the wind took over quickly, watering my eyes instantly.  The wind rushed through my hair and flapped my cheeks back.  I squinted to look down to see the top of the leaves flatten out.  My heart raced quickly and I gripped Scarlett tightly.  Damn her.  Her and her deceptive "tree diving" as if it was no big deal.  She was enjoying this way too much.  I knew because I looked at her and she was laughing away.  The adrenaline rush was certainly nice though.  I couldn't deny that.  I looked down again just as we plunged into the leaves.  They wrapped around us, taking us further into them like a rubber band being stretched to its maximum.  At the peak of our descent, we were launched back up into the sky.  I released my constraint on Scarlett and enjoyed the freefall.  Wow.  This is actually....fun.  A laugh finally emerged from my throat and Scarlett and I were laughing hysterically at my stupidity displayed mere seconds ago.  Or at least I was.  We bounced a few more times before finally landing on the ground.  The way it worked was that when you were on your last jump, you would just jump from the leaves and onto the ground.  The whole experience was amazing.  Scarlett and I jumped a few more times, adding tricks to our routine.  Evening was drawing close as the sky darkened.

               I ran to Dan and Lily, like a little kid about to tell his parents something that he found cool.  They seemed indifferent to my excitement and I was disappointed until I looked over to see them lighting candles for Azalia's birthday cake.  I looked around for Azalia and she was playing with her large eared rabbit.  It was almost too dark to see.  Dan picked up the cake and the crowd took their cue.  We all started singing happy birthday to Azalia.  To be honest, we weren't all that bad.  We actually sounded like we were on key.  Azalia's eyes brightened to see her pink and white cake with eight little candles on top.  Dan placed the dessert on the table in front of her.  She smiled the biggest smile I had ever seen from her.  The choir concluded their song and Lily told Azalia to make a wish.  After thinking about her wish and blowing the candles out, the environment grew completely dark except for a few lightning bugs that hung around for the last bout of summer. 

               I heard murmurs around the area, waiting for someone to get a torch, flashlight, or some sort of illumination.  As I waited, a slow glow began to fade in.  I looked around to see that the pink and white trees were starting glow a light bright blue.  It illuminated the entire area.  The grass beneath our feet also shined with a neon purple.  It was the forest's nightlight.  The two colors mixed perfectly with one another and provided enough light for everyone.  The lightning bugs glowed with more intensity before, seemingly drawing the light from the trees.  Instead of the usual yellow iridescence that they were accustomed to, they shined with a vivacious red. The birthday party was a complete success now.

               For the next few hours everyone was at complete peace.  The emitted light from the trees somehow put everyone into a tranquil mood.  Tree diving at night was intensified.  The lights made everything seem to slow down as well.  We were going the same speed, but it seemed as if we were going longer.  The slivers of straw from Cergroy's little show earlier danced around with the lightning bugs and with each bump of the insects, the colors continued their changing phases.  Mira and Dr. Avist were dancing silently to some music that played lightly over a radio that someone brought.  They twirled, spun, and tangoed with one another in perfect unison.  The way Mira looked at her associate told me that they were more than coworkers.  It was around nine o'clock when we started packing up everything.  The day was coming to a close.

               Azalia walked up to me looking rather sleepy.  She yawned.  Her bunny rested on her shoulder slouched over it like a leopard in a tree.  It matched the environment perfectly.  "Mr. Man?"  She said softly, yawning again.

               "Yes, sweetheart?"  I knelt down to hear her.

               "Thank you."  She leaned in a kissed me on the cheek.  "Today has been wonderful."

               I smiled.  "You are quite welcome.  Happy Birthday."  I said quietly.

               She rubbed her eyes and went to her mother who picked her up.  Lily smiled at me as she cradled her daughter.  Dan came up to me and patted me on the back as he did before in the kitchen.

               "She's really fond of you."

               "I know."

               "You know...." Dan started.  A beam of orange light shot down from the top of the trees and struck Mrs. Nyrang in the chest.  She looked around aimlessly before exploding into pieces.  People began screaming, running around in a chaotic fashion.  Dan, Lily, and I looked up from where the beam came from.  All I could see was the glimmering silver sword and the black flapping wings as Ezebra descended down into the gap of the forest.  He landed with ease, kicking up dirt around him with his wings.  Once grounded, his wings tucked back behind him.  Azalia had woken up in her mother's arms and looked over at the man that she only knew as the one who took her mother away three years ago.  Ezebra stared back at her and smirked evilly.  He straightened up, running his tongue over his lips, and wetting them. 

               "Happy Birthday, Azalia.”  He said in a light tone.  He took in a deep breath and exhaled in a lower tone: "Now, tell me what you wished for."

Chapter 14 - Sides

               "Fuck."  Lily said placing Azalia down.  Had she really forgotten?  Was she so caught up with the day that she forgot what she had been training for the past three weeks?  Dan took out his bow and threw it up in the air.  The bow unlatched itself, springing open in less than a second.  Dan caught it and ran his hand down its length, snapping the latches in place.  He placed it over his shoulder and unclasped his pouch from his waist.  It turned out to be his quiver.  It folded in on itself when it was his pouch.  When it became his quiver, he shook it out and it expanded.  He quickly took out twenty four pieces of opposing sides.  He screwed them together and made 12 arrows in less than a minute.  He placed them in his quiver and slid it across his chest.  Dan was ready.  He had obviously practiced.  The first time I witnessed his bow and arrow put-together, he took thirty seconds for the bow and three arrows.  Now, he did the bow and tripled the arrows and finished within a minute.  It was amazing how quick he was.  Lily continued to stare at Ezebra.  The creature from Azalia's shoulder, which we were now calling a Cabbit, was on the ground arched and hissing at Ezebra.  Ezebra simply glared in its direction and the creature cowered behind Azalia, whimpering, and wrapping its ears around itself to form a ball.

               "Well, well, if my eyes do deceive me."  Ezebra announced sheathing his sword.  "Lily Rawte, back from the dead.  If I remember correctly, I left you for dead.  You were sure to die.  There was enough energy inside you to still light up your town.  How in the world did you survive it?"  He contemplated out loud.

               "That's a question for the ages, isn't it?"  Lily mocked, obviously proud that she surprised him.

               "Mmmm.  Yes, it certainly is."

               "Sorry to spoil your plans, but I just couldn't let go.  I still had a purpose and my soul just couldn't quite leave my body."  Lily smiled, taunting her ex lover.

               "And what purpose may this be?"

               "To bury you far enough into the ground that the maggots won't even be able to feed on your corpse."

               Ezebra's throaty laughed returned, bringing chills up my spine.  The show that I viewed weeks ago did not prepare me for the amount of fear that I was feeling now.  His stature, his voice, the way he presented himself, everything about him was more sinister than one could imagine.  My body felt weighted down with a strange force.  I couldn't shake it no matter how hard I tried.  The unseen aura pained my limbs with this weight.  I wanted to sit down to give them a rest, possibly sleep, but that wasn't a thing to think about at this moment. 

               "You're going to bury me?"  He questioned unconvincingly.

               "I sure as hell will try."  Lily didn't miss a beat.  I wondered if she had been practicing this speech while she was dead.  That thought led to another of where spirits or souls went after they left the body.  Did they stay in the body?  Did they float about aimlessly?  Was there a heaven?  Or was it possible that they went to the Angelic Sanctuary?  It was unfathomable of what they would have done with free souls.  I shook my head.  Now is not the time, Ryter. 

               "Need I remind you, Lily, that you were about to explode three years ago?  You would have too if it wasn't for your little tag along, which I see you have him in stow again."  Ezebra nodded towards Dan. 

               "No, I remember.  I remember it too clearly that even if I wanted to forget, I couldn't.  There's something about your annoyance that lingers in my brain."  Lily tapped her head to demonstrate.

               "I can fix that, mommy."  Azalia said looking up at her.

               "Not now, sweetie."  Lily replied.

               Ezebra looked down at his daughter.  "Lily, how rude of you.  You haven't introduced us."  Even though he was far enough away, Ezebra knelt down to Azalia's level.  "Hi.  I'm your father."

               Lily and Dan's eyes went wide.  Azalia seemed almost too stunned to say anything herself.  After a moment, she parted her lips and said:  "No you're not."

               "Oh really?  And who do you believe to be your father?"  Ezebra scoffed.

               "He is."  Azalia pointed at Dan.

               Ezebra seemed shocked.  "Him?  You believe he's your dad?  Lily?  You made your tag along her father?  What kind of example is that for our daughter?"

               "I'm not going to explain myself to you, Ezebra."

               "Azalia, I'm going to take you home with me."

               "You're not going to lay a fucking finger on her!"  Lily said, sliding her daughter behind her.

               "Lily, you know as well as I do, that we take care of all those who come to the Angelic Sanctuary.  You can rest assure that she will be in good hands."

               "Not while I'm alive."

               "We can easily change that."  Ezebra's tone deepened.

               "I don't want to."  Azalia said.

               "It's ok, little Azalia.  I'm going to take you home and teach you how to be a real woman."  Ezebra said.

               "No!"  Azalia yelled.  "I don't want to.  You took my mommy away and you're not going to take her again.  I just got her back.  Her and daddy are happy and we don't need you!"

               Ezebra waved a hand in the air.  "Eh, it doesn't matter."  He locked his fingers together and stretched them outwards, popping them.  He tilted his head to the left, popping his neck twice and then to the right another two times.  "Well, I guess we better get this started, right?  I do have a schedule to be keeping.  There's a town waiting to be tormented as we speak."

               "Ryter!"  Lily called out.  I took my gaze off Ezebra glad for the relief.  "Take Azalia away from here."

               "But, mommy!"  Azalia protested.

               "Azalia, now is not the time to be arguing with me.  Do as you’re told, darling."  Lily said kissing her daughter on the forehead. 

               "Ok, mommy.  But come back, ok?"

               "I will, sweetheart.  Ryter!  Now!"

               Ezebra finally looked over at me.  "Wait.  You're Ryter?"  He questioned as if he knew me. 

               I looked back at him.  Did he know me?  In all the memories that came back to me, none of them were of Ezebra.  I had never seen him prior to the history of him.  "I am.  Why?"  I said raising an eyebrow.

               Ezebra just clapped his hands and laughed.  "Oh my!  This night is just full of dead people, isn't it?" 

               "What do you mean?"  I asked.

               "Wait, you don't know?"

               "Know what?"

               Ezebra's eyes went wide with joy.  "Wow!  She is going to be just ecstatic about this!" 

               "What the fuck are you talking about?!  Tell me!"

               "Young man, I really feel that it's not my place to tell you that."

               I started towards Ezebra, nearly delirious for answers.  All fear of him had dissipated.  Did he know her?  He was wearing the matching armor that the guards were the night that she killed me.  He had to know her.  Was he responsible for my death?  Did he have some leverage over her that made her kill me?  What the hell was going on?  I wanted to grab him and beat him down until he told me everything.

               "Ryter!  Stop!"  Lily yelled.  "If you want to live long enough for the answers, this isn't the way to do it."  I stopped.  She was right.  He was sure to kill me if I tried.  I may have somehow miraculously survived her, but I was powerless against him.  I backed up a little.

               "All in due time."  Ezebra smiled.  "All in due time.  Now run along.  We'll be meeting up again shortly as soon as I'm done with these two."

               I took Azalia's hand.  "Come on, Azalia."  I said, still looking at Ezebra.  What kind of monster was he?  Lily had warned me right before she started her training, but it still wasn't enough to describe the affect that he had.  This....being was a terror.  A self assured, egotistical, psychopath.  It was beyond me how Lily and Dan had even intended to stop him.  He was too much for them.  As for what he knew about me, I was dying for answers, but that had to wait. 

               "By the way,"  Ezebra started as I reached the edge of the forest.  "I hope you don't mind, but I brought some friends along."  He made a short sharp whistle and snapped his fingers at the same time.  Five enormous, armored angels descended down and landed next to Ezebra.  They each carried a varied type of weapon.  Two of them held long blades, both designed differently.  One protruded out at the hilt into what looked like Angel wings.  The blade was the length of one of his legs.  Five diamond shapes were etched into the steel along the entire length.  The other blade was a flat black one; it didn't glisten in the glow of the nightlife.  Around the hilt, it extended upward in four directions, curving up looking like waves.  Along the length of these waves, they curved out here and there like flowery designs.  Another of the angels held a huge hammer obviously used for smashing.  Ironically, he was the smallest of the group.  The word "Ergo" was etched into the sides of it.  It was colored the same royal blue of their armor.  The fourth angel carried a gold staff like weapon.  At the edge of it was a small blade that curved into a sharp "D".  The back portion of the "D" gapped, pointing at both ends.  The top of the "D" sharpened to a point.  Royal blue gems were embedded along the staff portion of the weapon.  The last angel carried a chain weapon.  One end hung over his shoulder and wrapped behind his back where he swung the other end rapidly.  He spun it so fast that it looked like a helicopter blade cutting deeper and deeper into the dirt with each swift rotation.  The immobile end had a claw attached to it that looked to be used for grappling.  The other end, though moving quickly, looked like a short blade with a ring attached to the top of the hilt.  The chain was attached to the ring. 

               "They just wanted to be part of the fun."  Ezebra grinned.  That cheap son of a bitch, I thought.  He wasn't going to waste any time on this.  He was going to obliterate Lily and Dan to dust and nothing else.  I wanted to do something.  I wanted to run and join the fight, but I couldn't.  There was nothing I could do.  I didn't have any powers, any abilities.  I couldn't shoot a bow.  I couldn't wield a sword.  I couldn't do anything except make sure that the person this fight was about was safe.  What could I do when they came for me?  I was surely screwed when they were finished here.  Even if I ran, how far would I get?  Ultimately, what good was I if I couldn't protect Azalia?

               The white eyes under each of the helmets took on a red hue, obviously with the intention to cause a massacre here.  A staff's end slammed against the ground kicking up dust and everyone looked over at the individual.  Mira Nvidian stood there clad in her woodland outfit.  She brushed a few strands of hair from her face behind her ear.  The ears were revealed.  She had marked up her forehead with dark green symbols.  Two lines curved on each end and in the middle an "S" with dots on opposite sides.  It looked more like a yin yang symbol without the circle part.  Another figure jumped from the trees, flipping through the air.  It landed, hunched over with one arm in front for support.  The muscular figure stood up and Eber Ewin revealed himself.  His bright red hair glowed fluorescently beneath the illumination of the trees.  He balled his fist up and they sparked before igniting with flames.  The fire lit up the bottom portion of his face showing a grin that peaked into a dimple.  He wore red pants and a red vest. 

               "You guys are going to need medical and psychiatric help after this."  A third figure said coming from beneath the shade of the trees.  A white aura began glowing around Zachary Avist's silhouette, revealing his stance.  He had a frown upon his face.  "I guess it's a good thing that I'm qualified in both."  He finished, perking up into a joyful smile.  His brown hair frayed around his ears, for once showing his old age.  "This is not what I signed up for, by the way.  I did not go through years of training for this."  He added, smirking.

               Everyone smiled at his comment.  "You guys..."  Lily started.  "...you don't have to do this."

               "Yes, we do."  Mira said stoically.  "If he were to kill you guys, we would have to face him when he came to town anyways.  I guess now would be a better time than later."

               Eber pounded one fist into the other cracking his knuckles.  "It's been too long since I've had a good fight."  He said in a rough voice.  "Plus, I've had too much quintral over the years; it's given me a bit of a gut."  He patted his stomach showing off his abs.  His hands were still on fire, but they didn't seem to affect his body at all.

               Ezebra clapped his hands together applauding the little show.  "I guess the whole ragtag team is here."  He laughed mockingly.  He unsheathed his sword.  It glowed with its bronze hue in the light of the forest.  He lifted it up and pointed it at Lily.  "Shall we begin?"

Chapter 15 - Battles

               I watched intently as both parties stood there waiting for the other to move.  The air was tense with silence except for the whooshing of the chain weapon.  Ezebra continued to hold out his sword waiting for Lily to make the first attack.  In my head, I had named the Angels.  Chain was the one with the chain weapon; Ergo was the hammer angel; Wings became the angel with the Angel Wings sword; Staff, of course, was the one with the staff weapon; and Black was the one with the flat black sword.  In my head, the names were simple despite how stupid they sounded.  

               The battle wasn't balanced; it was going to be six against five.  It looked to be a weapon versus elemental battle, with the Angels wielding weapons and Lily's team being elemental.  Eber's element, obviously, was fire.  Mira, I had already known to control wood and Lily's was, of course, water.  From what I could tell and considering that I knew he was from Shimatai, Dr. Avist's was a wielder of light.  As far as I knew, Dan didn't really have an element, but he was sure to do some damage with his bow.  The urge to join the fight still lingered, but Azalia's tiny hand in mine reminded me of what I had to do. 

               I turned around to leave when I heard the chain jingle.  Chain launched his weapon towards Mira.  Dan, who already had his bow drawn, shot an arrow towards the projectile.  The knife and the arrow clanged in the air.  The arrow threw the knife's trajectory off and they bounced in varied directions.  The deflected knife looked as if it was going to hit the ground, but Chain simply tugged a portion of his weapon and the knife and chain slithered like a snake through the air back towards him.  He swung it around again waiting for his next opportunity.

               "Fuck it!" said Eber as he began charging Ergo, his flames blowing in the wind.  Ergo took his hammer off of his shoulder and reached it back behind him.  Eber drew his fist back as Ergo swung his hefty weapon at him.  Eber's fist and Ergo's hammer collided in the air.  Eber's flames brightened and his muscles bulged as his fist made contact.  The collision caused a shockwave that shook the ground beneath their feet.  A wave of air came rushing towards Azalia and me, nearly knocking us off our feet.  Everyone else just stood still.  Who were these people?  How was it possible for someone to be so powerful?  The rest of both groups suddenly moved and the battle was on its way.

               Mira twirled her staff around her as her opponent, Staff, did the same.  Their movements were so fast; it was hard to believe that it was just their fingers that were moving their weapons.  Before I could blink, both Mira and Staff launched their weapons forward.  The top of Mira's staff was blunt and Staff's weapon was sharp.  In this small exchange, blunt won.  Staff's weapon curved up and Mira was jumping through the air spinning around to give her weapon enough momentum.  She landed, spinning around one more time and swinging her wooden staff at his head.  The blunt end struck his helmet with a loud clang, knocking him off his feet, and sending him sailing through the air.

               Dr. Avist was the unfortunate one to get the remaining two Angels, Black and Wings.  Both Angels came from both sides of him, raising their weapons in the air.  Zachary tensed up, planting his feet into the ground.  He raised his arms up as the white aura from before circled around him again.  He hollered as both angels brought their weapons down, hitting Avist's arms.  I winced for him, closing my eyes of the possible outcome.  The weapons were sure to have broken bone and sliced through his arms.  I opened my eyes and both Angels were afloat in the air with their swords still on his arms.  It appeared they were struggling to bring their weapons any further.  Zachary's face was hidden beneath the shadows of his enemies, yet his aura brightened again and I could see a smirk etched across his face.  His arms flipped over, causing the blades to be below his arms instead of above.  He stood up as he grabbed the steel with his bare hands.  He began spinning around, taking both angels with him.  They gripped their weapons as the doctor began spinning faster and faster.  Before long he looked like a cyclone with two huge angels revolving around him.  The white light that outlined his body flared up the cyclone with such brightness.  The angels, not being able to handle the speed, released their weapons and were launched pass Ezebra and Lily, crashing into the thicket of the forest. 

               Ezebra still had his sword pointed at Lily.  She hadn't moved either.  Battles were going on around them and they weren't taking the precautions to dodge or defend themselves.  Water rose from the air and began circulating around Lily's hands.  She raised her hands and clinched her left into a fist.  A water sword instantly sprouted from it.  It was the exact same one she had used three years ago.  Her training was showing for it didn't take as long to create the sword this time.  Water continued to rotate around her other hand.  Ezebra smiled and they both ran towards each other.

               Chain threw his weapon at Dan who simply dodged it and it flew pass his face.  The wind blew his hair back.  Chain pulled at the chain and it came flying back towards Dan.  Dan ducked again, wrapping his bow around the chain.  It soon became a tug-o-war between the two.  Whoever was to win would have both weapons.  After a minute of struggling, Chain yanked hard enough for Dan to be pulled from his feet, releasing the bow.  Chain twirled the weapon in the air using it to grab the bow and bring it to him.  Dan got to his feet, wiping the dirt off of his knees and hands.  Chain grabbed the ring portion of the short knife allowing it to form a niche for him to place the string of the bow in.  He loaded the knife on the bow and drew back.  The bow was sure to give his weapon additional speed.  Was it possible for Dan to dodge it this time?  Dan smirked, pulling out two arrows from his quiver.  He flipped them between his fingers like daggers before grasping them.  Chain released and his weapon came soaring towards Dan.  Dan jumped in the air.  Chain pulled his weapon to make it follow Dan.  As Dan flipped through the air, he used the arrows to defend himself like swords as the knife came tearing towards him.  Chain jerked his weapon in every which way, completely controlling the direction of the knife.  With the excessive amount of chain, it was hard to believe that he had any control over it.  Dan was still in the air, with his back towards the ground when the chain came from behind him, slicing his back.  Dan screamed out in pain, tumbling around and landing on his freshly slashed back.  Chain pulled his weapon towards him and started circling it above his head as Dan struggled to his feet.

               Ergo swung his hammer at Eber again who jumped into the air and landed on it.  He bounced of its enormous weight and jumped over Ergo's shoulders.  Without missing a beat, Ergo swung behind him trying to catch Eber as he landed.  He landed with enough time to duck underneath the hammer.  He turned around quickly and swiftly kicked Ergo's feet from beneath him.  He landed on his back as Eber jumped into the air.  Eber landed on Ergo's chest, lifting his fist above his head.  They ignited brighter as he brought them down and began pounding Ergo's head.  Ergo took a few beatings before grabbing one of Eber's hands.  He flung Eber towards one of the brightly pinkish trees.  Eber flipped through the air sporadically before regaining his balance.  He bounced off the tree and came spearing towards Ergo again with his fist extended outwards.  Ergo looked up in enough time to see Eber's speeding form.  It was too late.  Eber's fists hit Ergo in the center of the chest, cracking his armor.  Pieces of the armor fell to the ground, burning up into ashes instantly.  It took a split second for Ergo to look down slowly before he was launched backwards, his hammer thrown into the air.  Eber somersaulted through the air after hitting his enemy and landed on the ground catching Ergo's hammer as it came down.  Ergo bounced against the ground like a rock that was skipped across water.  He flew in between Mira and Staff who paused their exchange to let the creature fly by.

               Mira and Staff looked over at Ergo caught up in his trajectory.  They looked over at each other, forgetful that they were fighting prior to the interruption.  Both realized at the same time and swung their weapons at each other.  Staff's sharp edge had the upper hand this time.  It caught up in one of the holes at the top of Mira's staff.  Staff retracted his weapon and pulled Mira's from her hands.  He grabbed Mira's staff and began twirling them around him with such dexterity.  She slowly backed up as the weapons came close to her.  Her back hit a tree and she was caught.  Staff swung Mira's own weapon at her and Mira was lifted from her feet.  She landed on the ground, blood sliding down her chin.  She wiped the blood with the back of her right hand, smiling, amused at the turn of the situation.  It was the first time I had ever seen her smile.  She got up quickly just in time to back flip as Staff brought the blunt staff down again where Mira was.  She flipped backwards a couple of more times, stopping and sliding back with one hand in front of her.  She took two of her fingers from her left hand and wiped off the blood from her right.  She then clapped her hands together looking as if she was praying.  On one knee, she began making gestures with her fingers altering them into different signals.  After the fifth signal, she slammed her palm on the ground. 

               From her palm, something came crawling towards Staff with exceeding speed.  He tensed up as the thing went between his legs.  He followed it past him preparing for something to come from the ground.  I was half expecting a creature that she had summoned.  Instead, a giant tree root lifted up from the ground.  It hit Staff right between the legs, lifting him up into the air.  He dropped both of the staffs and grabbed onto the root.  The root tossed around, trying to fling Staff off of it.  He held on with tenacity.  Mira got up and started running.  She slid to the staffs, picking them up.  She jabbed the pointed staff into the tree root and used it to fling herself on top of it.  She then began sprinting along the length of the root.  Even through the flailing of the root, Mira climbed up its length with ease.  She reached Staff who was still clinging to the object.  He saw her behind him and through his struggle, he let go of the root.  It tossed him backwards towards her and he crashed into her.  They fell to the ground, both struggling to be the first up.  The root continued to thrash around and knocked them both down again.  Staff's weapon was closer to Mira and the opposite for her opponent.  He picked up her weapon and came running towards her with the staff above his head.  She got up quickly, rolled just enough to pick up his weapon, and thrust it at him.  It stabbed into his neck.  With his added speed, it went further than she had intended, completely protruding through to the other end.  Staff slumped over, dropping Mira's staff.  The weight of his body made him continue to slide forward until his own weapon sliced his head off.  Blood sprayed out towards Mira.  She staggered back and watched as the blood flashed into a white light before evaporating.  His head rolled towards her, the eyes had faded and there was now nothing but black to represent his face.

               Ezebra and Lily's swords clashed numerous times.  Lily's style had changed from what I witnessed before.  Instead of trying to use brute force, she was more agile and precise in her movements.  She glided with a sense of grace.  She twirled with ease, but Ezebra was equally matched with her.  When she performed a low sweep of her sword, Ezebra jumped.  When she did a higher sweep, he ducked.  Neither one of them were giving up this time.  Water still clung to her right hand.  She was waiting to use it for something and my curiosity, which kept me watching the battle so far, wondered how she was going to possibly use it.  Not even five seconds passed before she used it.  In the midst of their bout, Lily flung her hand forward.  Water splashed in Ezebra's direction and he winced in fear that what she tossed at him was more harmful than just water.  She took his fear to her advantage and quickly swung her sword underneath his arms.  She thrust her weapon up, aiming for his face.  He tilted his head back, barely dodging the attack.  Lily grabbed the blade on the other side and pulled back.  The force of it pried Ezebra's sword from his hands.  He was defenseless.  Lily brought her water hand back.  As she balled up, it appeared to harden; turning to ice.  Ezebra backed up, but not far enough.  Lily brought her hand forward and punched him straight in the face.  I could have sworn I heard something crack.  As soon as Lily followed through, the ice turned back into water that still floated around her hand.  It was clear that she could freeze water, but only temporarily.  Ezebra stumbled sideways, grabbing his jaw.  He placed both hands on his cheeks and twisted his jaw.  It snapped back into place.  She had broken it.  He smiled and turned his head to spit out some blood.

                 Black and Wings came flying towards Avist from the forest from opposite angles again.  Apparently, they thought that he couldn't focus on both of them, but he had already proven them wrong.  He rotated the two blades to go beneath his arms instead of in front of him.  He then placed one arm in front of him and the other behind him.  He hunched over and prepared himself for their attacks.  If he had started spinning again, he would have been a bladed tornado this time; a force to be reckoned with.  Plus, the two angels were weaponless anyways.  Instead, the two angels began circulating around him.  Their speed gradually increased and soon they were kicking up a hurricane of dirt.  Avist just stood still, his eyes shifting back and forth waiting for one or both of them to launch out at him.  Just as he anticipated, one did.  Avist turned and sliced the black blade towards the attacker.  It was Black who used the arm portion of his armor to defend.  For a split second, they struggled before Black bounced back into the rotating cyclone.  Zachary stood in his stance again.  This time both angels shot out towards him.  Avist lifted up both swords and defended himself.  The force of the angels made him slide back.  Dirt accumulated behind his right foot as they pushed him further and further.  Suddenly, Wings bounced off his own sword, giving himself enough momentum to flip over Avist.  The doctor was too slow for the motion as Wings wrapped his arms underneath his opponents placing him into a shoulder lock.  With Avist arms above him, he couldn't swing the swords.  He was powerless.  Black reached back and brought a fist into Avist's stomach.  The punch was so hard that Zachary coughed out, nearly gagging.  Wings' hold on him was too strong that he couldn't bend over to grab his stomach even if he wanted to.  Black began a barrage of punches into the doctor's abdomen.  I felt sympathy pains in my own stomach.   Avist finally dropped the swords.  It was an unfair battle.  Black reared back one last time, his fist a bit higher now, and knocked Avist square in the face.  The jerk on him was too much that Wings couldn't hold him.  Avist tumbled down to the ground.  He appeared unconscious.

               From across the battlefield, Mira witnessed her lover getting pummeled.  "Nooooooooo!"  She screamed out as his two enemies picked up their fallen weapons.  She picked up both her staff and her newly obtained one and began running towards her fallen comrade.

               Ergo came rushing through the forest, breaking through a huge tree with his shoulder.  In between his arms, he carried a huge trunk from another broken tree.  Eber raised the hammer into the air with both hands.  He started concentrating intensely on his weapon.  It began turning red as if it were heating up.  Eber then turned sideways and beat the hammer against the ground as if getting ready to bat.  The hammer hissed against the ground and steam rose from its edges.  Eber retracted the weapon behind him and prepared himself as the hollering beast continued to run towards him.  Right before Ergo reached him, he drew back his tree.  Both opponents swung at the same time.  Eber's heated hammer burst through the tree, shattering like a mirror into millions of shards, some of them flying off in varied directions.  Another shockwave echoed through the forest, this time it's blast did take me off my feet.  Ergo staggered back from the force of the blow.  Eber didn't waste any time.  He slammed the top of the hammer against the ground so that the stick portion of it was in the air.  He grabbed onto the stick launching himself towards his enemy.  He was close enough to his opponent to run up his chest and back flip off of him.  As he soared through the air, he kicked Ergo underneath his chin, sending him up into the air, flipping and flailing through the air.  The kick looked more powerful than it was for Ergo went at least a hundred feet in the air.  Eber landed, lifting the hammer above his head.  Ergo crashed to the ground and cowered, trying to defend himself as Eber screamed, bringing the hammer down.  The hammer smashed Ergo into the ground.  Another shockwave was projected as the ground sunk in.  The heat of the hammer bore a hole into Ergo.  A puddle of blood instantly spread across the ground.  Ergo yelled out in agony as the Eber lifted the hammer up.  Blood dripped from it.  Ergo's torso had completely disintegrated from the heat of the hammer; all that remained was his head, shoulders, arms, legs, and fragments of what was once his intestines.  His legs were disconnected from the other ligaments.  Ergo looked up in shocked.  His red eyes were back to their original white.  Eber lifted the hammer up and placed it on his shoulder.  His turned himself at an angle so that his left side faced Ergo.  Eber extended his hand out.  Ergo looked up, his eyes turning red.  He let out a roar that sent chills up my spine as Eber's hand grew brighter.  A flame shot towards Ergo and then another.  Two more followed and the angel was on fire.  His roar had turned into a haunting howl.  Even if his eyes reverted back to their original state, I couldn't tell due to the fire.  The angel's blood ignited the flame even more as if were made of oil.  The top portion of the angel tossed around, completely helpless to do anything.  The surrounding glow from the trees faded as the fire was used to light up the area.  The body burned to ashes that floated into the air, brightened, and dissipated.

               "Well, that was easy."  Eber chuckled in his rough voice as he turned around with his new weapon to head towards whatever battles needed help.  The fire blared brightly behind him, partially silhouetting him.  If I didn't know any better, that stance and evil looking grin would have thrown me off to which side he was on.

               Two angels were dead, three were left, and it looked as if even Ezebra was having a difficult time.  I didn't have any doubts that they were actually going to pull off this victory.  I couldn't believe it.  Excitement surged through my body.  Yet, it was time to go.  If they had known that I was watching this whole time, I was sure to get my ass chewed out.

               "Come on, Azalia..."  I started, grasping for her hand.  "Let's..."  My hand clinched at the air.  I quickly looked down.  Fear instantly conquered the joy that was there.  My heart stopped and a chill ran through my entire body.  Azalia was gone.

Chapter 16 - Search

               I frantically began searching for Azalia.  Where the hell did she go?  Was it possible that her cabbit ran off and she went chasing after it when we got knocked off our feet?  Or did she get scared at the events unfolding before us?  It must have been hard for an eight year old to watch.  What was I thinking?  I only had one responsibility in the entire world and I couldn't even do that correctly.  If this had fallen through and Lily and Dan were to die, how in the world was I suppose to take care of an eight year old?  I couldn't even watch her for thirty minutes.  I contemplated whether or not I should tell Lily.  She was going to be pissed if I did.  At the same time, what could she do at this moment?  A freakin' kid!  How could I fail at something simple?  I had to tell her.

               "Um....Lily?"  I hesitated.

               She looked over at me in the middle of a clash with Ezebra.  "Ryter?"  She asked confused.

               "Yeah.  Look, I know you're kind of busy, but we have a slight problem..."  I said scratching the back of my head.

               "Dammit, Ryter!  Can't this wait?  I told you to take Azalia and get the hell out of here."  She slammed her sword against Ezebra's.

               "Yeah, well....um....you see....that's the slight problem."  I stuttered.

               She glared over at me.  "Are you fucking kidding me, Ryter?!"  She screamed.

               "I really wish I was."  I began turning my thumbs over each other.  "What should I do?"  I felt like a little kid staring at the ground and kicking up small piles of dirt.

               "What the fuck do mean what should I....?  Find her!"  Lily was getting angrier and angrier with each passing moment.  "Find her and get her the fuck out of here like I told you!  It's not that complicated, Ryter!"  She did a low sweep to which Ezebra jumped over.  She was losing her concentration and Gods only knew if worrying about her daughter was going to affect her or not.  I stood there for a moment.  Where should I begin looking?  There was a whole massive forest to cover and I had no idea how long she had been missing.  I was too intrigued with the battles.  Lily looked over at me.  "Ryter!  Now!  Don't wait for us to die to see if you have to run!  Get the hell out of here!  Gods almighty!"  She breathed out. 

               I turned around swiftly and began running.  Where, where, where?  I paused for a moment.  The clanging of weapons, grunts, and sounds from powers filled the air around me.  Let's see.  If I was a frightened eight year old, where would I go?  Would I go back to the house?  Fuck!  Why the hell was this so hard?  Out of nowhere, I got an idea.  I could almost see the light bulb above my head.  I ran as quickly as I could.  If I got there in enough time, I could possibly catch her before she disappeared completely.  I jolted through the forest, running faster and faster.  I couldn't believe how much speed I was gaining.  The forest flew by in a blur.  Before long, I was at my destination.  I didn't remember it being this far, but sure enough, the huge diving tree was before me.  Since the tree was higher than the rest, surely I would see Azalia running somewhere.  There was no problem getting up there; I just had to knock on the trunk.  It was the getting down that worried me.  Scarlett told me that there had to be two people jumping.  Would the tree even let me up if there was only one?  I couldn't repeat the mistake of Benjamin.  I took a deep breath and reached over to knock on the tree.

               "You can't do that."  A voice said from behind me.  My heart froze as I turned around.  Did Ezebra send one of his angels after me?  I hadn't seen any of them talk before, but I didn't know for sure.  This was a female's voice though.  A figure came from the shadow of the illuminated trees and revealed herself.  It was Scarlett. 

               "Holy shit!"  I breathed out, relieved that it wasn't someone here to kill me.  "What are you doing here?" 

               "I was hiding while everyone ran off.  My dad taught me that in the case of chaos, not to run.  The villains always go after the ones that run.  Their attention is more focused on their movements."  Strangely enough, this made sense.  "You weren't going to go up the tree alone, were you?"  She asked, tilting her head.

               "Um..."  I looked up the tree.  "Yeeeeaaaahhh...that was the plan."  I laughed out.

               "You can't do that."  She repeated.  "There would be no way the tree would pick you up.  There has to be two people.  Weren't you listening earlier?"

               "You know....I was, but I had to try.  I need to find Azalia.  She got away from me and I figured the tree would be high enough for me to spot anything."

               "I'll help you."  I looked over at her.  I hadn't noticed before, but she had bright green eyes.  They played perfectly with her blonde hair.  In the light of the nightly forest, they were brighter than before.  They glowed with a brilliance that made her even more captivating.  I shook my head.  I didn't have time to waste looking at her beauty.  If Azalia was to be found, I had to act quickly.

               "Alright."  I said, grabbing her hand.  I knocked on the tree trunk and seconds later, the foliage wrapped around us.  We were lifted into the air and placed on the trunk.  I walked to the red "X" with ease.  After a few times of jumping from it, the fear disappeared.  "Help me look."  I said after a moment of looking myself.  I looked over at the fights.  Dan was up from the ground, his shirt soaked in blood from his gash, fighting with Chain.  Eber had jumped through the air swinging his hammer around.  Chain fended off both opponents with ease.  Mira had finally reached Zachary, who was still unconscious, and was fighting both Black and Wings with her staffs.  From this distance, it looked as if the battle was dying down, but it was probably because I could barely hear any of the sounds.

               After five minutes of looking, I still couldn't find Azalia.  Where the hell was she?  "Anything?"  I asked Scarlett.

               "Nothing."  She replied.

               "Shit."  Another idea came to me.  She liked hiding in the grain stalks.  Was it possible that she went there?  It was worth a try.  "Alright, Scarlett.  I have one more idea.  We need to get down from here."

               "Alright."  She said walking up to me.  She brushed some fallen strands from my eyes.  "You know, Ryter...I've had this crush on you for the longest time.  I'd have to say ever since I saw you running through town after you woke up.  You were so frantic that I found you irresistibly cute.  After all these months, I finally got my chance to be with you and it was marvelous."  Was she really telling me all this?  This wasn't the time to do it. 

               "That's very flattering, Scarlett, but...."

               "Shhh."  She placed a finger on my lips.  "I just want to enjoy this moment before it ends."  She finished looking up at me with her bright green eyes.  She grabbed the back of my head and pulled me in for a kiss.  It was all I could do to resist.  Her red lips came closer.  When it came down to it, this was the perfect moment to share a kiss like this.  It would only take a moment.  I closed my eyes and went in for the kiss.

               An image flashed into my head.  It was her.  The one who betrayed me.  She smiled at me innocently.  Her hair flew in the wind that didn't exist.  Behind her a black backdrop surrounded her outline.  She glowed in the darkness.  Her brown eyes stared at me for a brief moment.  I blinked and Scarlett was there again.  I pulled back just before her lips touched mine pushing her back a little.

               "I...I'm....sorry...."  I stuttered, blinking a few times unable to comprehend what just happened.

               She looked confused and shocked all at the same time.  After the initial surprise, her face relaxed and then saddened.  "I understand."  She said lowly.

               "I don't think you do, Scarlett.  It's just that...."

               "There's no need to explain, Ryter."  She said, tears falling down her face.  "Let's just find Azalia, ok?"  She sniffled, wiped her eyes, and looked up at me with a half hearted smile.  She wrapped her arms around me and, before I was prepared, jumped.  We went sailing towards the ground and in minutes it was over.  We landed and she just stood there.

               "Scarlett, I promise that I will explain later, ok?"  I grabbed her hands.  "I just really need to find Azalia right now."

               "There's someone else, isn't there?"

               "Yes....er...I mean....no!  Oh, fuck, I don't know!  Just...just meet with me after this is all over, ok?"  I was in a hurry.  Who knew how long Azalia would stay where she was.

               "Ok."  She smiled.  "Best of luck."

               "Thanks!"  I screamed back.  I had already taken off.  What the hell just happened?  Why did she pop into my head of all times?  Since getting my memories back I hadn’t even pictured her and there she was at the most inopportune time.  Was this a sign?  Was I not meant to kiss Scarlett?  There were too many uncertainties right now.  I weaved through the trees like they were obstacles.  Pretty soon, I was picking up speed again.  It was incredible.  I never knew I was a runner.  I guess since my paranoia, I hadn't really had a chance to run.  Yet, here I was, running through a beautiful forest looking for an eight year old.  I looked ahead and saw the edge of the trees.  The stalks waved at me from their distance.  I slid sideways in the dirt as I reached the grains. 

               "Azalia!"  I called out.  "Azalia, sweetie, it's alright!  It's me, Ryter!  Come out, sweetheart!"  I waited for my echoes to fade and listened for something.  Nothing.  Not a sniffle, not a cry, not a holler back.  I began searching through the bristles calling out for Azalia.  Ten minutes had passed and nothing.  She wasn't here.

               "Fuck!"  I screamed, swinging my arm across some of the stalks.  I wanted to hit something.  I walked back through the forest, preparing myself to tell Lily that I had lost her daughter.  I began jogging, wanting to get this over with.  After fifteen minutes, I had finally reached the ruins of the battle.  No one had lost any members yet, but I could tell that it had been brutal.  Mira and Dan were hunched over, breathing heavily, getting ready for their next opponent's attack.  Dr. Avist was finally waking up, holding his head in pain.  Eber was nowhere to be seen and Mira and Ezebra were still duking it out, neither side willing to cave just yet. 

               "Lily....I...I can't find her."

               Lily's eyes went wide with fear.  "Did you check the house?"  The house?  Of course I didn't check the house!  I had thought about it, but I didn’t check the damn house.  What the hell was I thinking?  I wasn’t.  That was the answer:  I wasn’t thinking.

               “No...”  I said silently.

               “Well, go then!”  She demanded.

               “Alright, alright!  I’m going!”  I yelled back.

               Just as I was about to turn, I saw something shining on the other side of the gap.  I squinted to get a better view.  Was it Eber?  Had he been sent through the forest somehow and was coming back?  I waited to see if anything would come.  Nothing did for the longest time, but the glimmer continued.  After another minute, a tiny figure appeared.  It was Azalia!  My heart quickened with joy.  After all this time, she was near the battlefield the whole time!  I wanted to jump up and down with excitement. 

               “Azalia!”  I screamed out, waving my arms at her.  “Azalia!  Over here!”  Lily looked over and relief covered her face.  Her daughter was safe.  Lily looked back at me and was about to tell me to get her daughter to safety.  I held up my hand to save her the energy.  “I know, I know.  Get her the fuck out of here.”  I smiled.  I took a few steps towards Azalia and realized what it was that was shining before.

               In Azalia’s hands she held a knife.  It looked strangely familiar.  The hilt had some bizarre etchings on it with a blue stone perched at the top of it.  The blade curved up and something in my stomach turned when I noticed that the tip of the blade split off into four different directions.  Azalia was holding the very blade that was used to kill me.  I wanted to throw up.  Why did she have the blade and where did she get it?  Just as quickly as I asked the question, it dawned on me that Azalia could use her ability to take objects from a person’s mind.  Had she dug into my memories and brought out the most recent weapon I knew?  There was no other explanation for it.  She had taken the blade from my head.  Now, to answer the other question:  Why did she have it?

               Just as soon as I spoke, time seemed to slow down.  Azalia flipped the blade into the air.  It twisted around a couple times before she caught it in her hand with the blade running along her arm and the curve pointing away from her.  She opened her mouth, screaming out as she ran towards her mother and Ezebra.  Dirt kicked up behind her little feet.  She shifted her weight slightly, time returned back to normal, and she was picking up speed.  Rage flared through her as her scream became more high pitched.  Her eyes were set on Ezebra.  She intended to kill her father.  There was no way this was going to end well.

Chapter 17 - Advantage

               "Azalia!  Noooo!"  Lily screamed out as her daughter inched her way closer and closer at a remarkable speed for her age.  Ezebra turned around with enough time to back flip into the air as his daughter slid to the ground and tried to cut his legs.  Ezebra landed and Azalia flipped over to her stomach, still sliding, to prepare to launch herself forward.  She used the pile of dirt that collected from her feet as leverage to leap into the air.  At an angle she spun a few times, holding the knife out.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  How had she learned these moves?  Was it possible for her to grab it from Lily or Dan's mind?  It would be impossible to tell until after.  Azalia landed right in front of Ezebra, hunched over.  Her curls bounced in her face.  Ezebra backed up a few steps, swinging his sword low at his own daughter.  Without enough momentum, Azalia flipped over the sword and landed on Ezebra's hand, knocking the sword from it.  She stabbed his palm, shoving the knife all the way in, pinning it to the ground.

               "You little bitch!"  Ezebra screamed out, using his other hand to swing.  He missed as Azalia tilted her head sideways.  She grabbed her father's arm and looked up at him. 

               "I told you."  She said in a low voice.  "YOU!"  She used Ezebra's arm to slide herself under it.  "Are!"  She climbed on top of his arm and placed her feet on it.  "NOT!"  She bounced off of his arm and landed on his shoulders.  "TAKING!"  From my angle, it looked as if she reached into Ezebra's head.  His eyes shot wide open, turning bloodshot and veins traced his temples as he screamed out in agony.  Azalia had told me that if you concentrated on it, then it would hurt.  "MY!"  From Ezebra's head, Azalia pulled out a long sword.  It was longer than his sword.  The blade was narrow and the hilt spiked out into four different directions, two on each side.  On the blade, an inscription was written in some language that I didn't know.  "MOMMY!"  Azalia back flipped off Ezebra's shoulders and landed behind him.  He was still pinned to the ground and therefore couldn't turn around to defend himself.  "FROM!"  Azalia's screams were getting louder as she performed her tricks.  She thrusted the sword back, breathing heavily.  "ME!!!"  She screamed out bringing it forward and shoving the sword right through Ezebra's back.  It exited from his stomach, breaking through his armor and spewing blood everywhere.  A piece of his intestines hung from the tip of the sword. 

               I looked over at Lily and she stood there astonished at her daughter, her mouth agape.  The rest of the fighters around had stopped fighting each other and watched as an eight year old decimated Ezebra.  Blood trickled down from Ezebra's open mouth.  Did Azalia really just kill her own father?  Was this fight really over in thirty seconds?  After the dread of the last four years, it was Azalia who ended it.  It was no wonder why Ezebra wanted Azalia.  She was more powerful than I think even Lily had imagined.  Azalia's eyes softened and she slouched over looking around; the warrior in her faded away.  She looked down at her purple dress that was now had spots of red on it.  She looked back up at her mother and tears began strolling down her face.

               "Mommy!"  She ran to Lily, grabbing onto her leg.  Was she aware of what she had just done?  Lily comforted her, shushing her to calm down.  Azalia was sure amazing and it seemed that this fight was done with.

               "Heh."  I heard from Ezebra.  "Heh.  Heh."  His "hehs" were increasing in number as he began shaking.  With his head down, it was hard to tell what he was doing, until he tilted it up.  "Ha!  Hahahahahaha!"  Ezebra was laughing hysterically.  His eyes were wide and he looked like what we had all described him as: a psychopath.  The veins from the side of his head were back and he continued to laugh.  He held his gut from the pain.  The sword shook through his body as he quivered with more and more laughter.  Was he insane?  Delirious from the lost of blood?  He began coughing from a lack of air.  He grabbed the knife and pulled it from his hand.  He examined it and began laughing more.  Tears started coming from his eyes.  He slowed down in laughing and held up the knife.  "Look familiar, Ryter?"  He asked with the fading remnants of his laugh.  My stomach turned.  He knew.  He knew that I knew about the knife.  He stood up and wiped off his knees.  "Here you go."  He said, tossing the knife to me.  I backed up as it hit the ground and slid a couple of inches. 

               Ezebra looked behind him to see the other side of the sword.  "Well, this is interesting."  He said as if he didn't care.  He felt the back of his head and laughed when there was nothing there.  He grabbed the hilt from behind his back and started inching it out of him slowly.  Everyone watched as he winced and finally pulled the sword from out of him.  He held it up in front of him and turned it over a few times.  "Wow."  He looked over at Azalia.  "Just....wow."  The craziness still hadn't left his eyes.  "You know what this is, don't you, Lily?"  He said as he flicked the blood off the blade.  He didn't wait for an answer from her.  "This is Master Dowin's sword.  You remember him, don't you?  Oh, wait....never mind.  That was before your time."  Master Dowin was the master of Wind.  He was the creator of the Angelic Sanctuary and the one that Ezebra had killed in order to become the head of it.  "I haven't seen this sword in....oh...I'd say about five or six hundred years.  That bastard Dowin destroyed it before I could wrench it from his dead fingers.  I don't know how he did it, but at the same time, today has been full of so many surprises already.  And now, here I hold Master Dowin's sword."  He looked over at Lily.  "I see that you are unimpressed by this, but that's only because you don't know the potential of this sword."  He laughed again.  "This was the very sword that was used to create the Angelic Sanctuary.  The very one that conjured up the clouds and made the buildings float as they do now.  Don't get me wrong, that's not all it does, but then again, I'm not sure.  Some say that Dowin's very soul is in this sword."  He flicked the blade.  "Are you in there, you old fucker!?"  He asked the blade.  He was crazy.  He laughed it off, obviously amused at his own humor.

               "Allow me to demonstrate."  He pointed the blade at Chain.  Chain's eyes went wide as the blade began to glow.  He began swinging his weapon, preparing to be attacked.  The sword began humming low and began quaking in Ezebra's hands.  Chain became impatient.  If he was going to be attacked, why wait for it?  He launched his weapon forward.  The blade on the end of the chain stopped right before it hit the tip of the sword.  Chain tried to yank it away, but couldn't.  I watched closely as the steel began rusting.  The shining silver began falling in pieces, replaced with a rustic copper.  After the entire length of it was corroded, the blade began twisting with an incredible velocity.  With the chain attached to the knife, it began turning as well.  Before Chain realized what was happening, it was too late.  The speed was too fast.  The chain began scrunching up and started dragging Chain with it.  Chain pulled back, but failed to go anywhere as his feet dug into the ground.  The chain wrapped around Chain's arm tugging even harder at him.  A second later, the force tore Chain's arm off.  It made a horrible crunching sound as it was ripped from its socket.  Blood poured out in a constant stream, creating a puddle on the ground within seconds.  Strands of torn tissue dangled from his shoulder.  Chain screamed out just like Ergo had when Eber killed him.  His scream echoed through the forest and sent chills up my spine.  Ezebra simply grinned.  Was he really killing off one of his own?  He had no sympathy for anyone and nothing was going to stop him from his little demonstration.  The chain and arm continue to twirl.  As it continued to spin with speed, it looked as it began evaporating, turning into a mist of some kind.  The mist spun with in a circle before rising up into the air and sinking into the sword.  The sword had absorbed the weapon and the limb.

               Though there was nothing left to pull, the sword still vibrated with intensity.  Ezebra continued pointing it at Chain who had fallen to the ground in pain.  He looked up, prepared for what was to happen next.  The sword began humming again until it was high pitched.  It sounded like a laser charging up.  At the climax of the hum, it shot out a white beam.  The beam pierced right through Chain's head.  As it made contact, the white faded and what was left was Chain's own weapon.  The dagger shot right through Chain's skull, leaving him limp; almost as if the sword had a mind of its own, it began pulling at the chain, reeling Chain's body towards it.  It dragged across the ground as more blood poured out from his missing arm.  When the body was right below the sword, it began spinning as it had before.  With ease, the corpse started spinning as well.  Blood kicked up and splattered all around.  I flinched as some of it hit me in the face.  Everyone around was hit with at least a spot or two.  Lily blocked Azalia as much as she could.  As before, the object turned into a mist and once again, disappeared into the sword.  The sword's light dissipated and the show was over.

               "Cool!"  Ezebra laughed out after nearly a minute of silence.  "Dowin made a sword this powerful, but didn't use it to its full potential?  What a hack!  Hmm...I wonder."  He said.  He touched the tip of the blade to his abdomen.  It lit up again.  The light covered the whole in his stomach.  It brightened to nearly blinding intensity.  When it faded, Ezebra's stomach had been healed and his armor repaired.  "Well, would you look at that."  He said.  This was not good.  I looked over at Wings and Black.  They seemed frightened that they were next.  Would they lose their loyalty out of fear and join up with their enemies to destroy Ezebra?  Only time would tell.  If Ezebra had a weapon this strong and he was already powerful enough, what hope did any of us have?  Then, what would he do when he got a hold of Azalia?  Her abilities were even more amazing now.  With her power, she could recreate a whole entire world.  Hell, possibly a universe.

               I heard a scream from behind Ezebra as Eber came running out.  How did he get out there?  He must have been waiting for his opportunity.  Ezebra turned slightly as Eber swept his hammer underneath.  It dug into the ground, kicking up debris towards Ezebra.  Ezebra wasn't even startled.  He blinked as the hammer came up full speed.  Ezebra placed the sword right above the hammer and it stopped instantly with a little tink noise.  Eber yanked up, his muscles, bulging, but couldn't move it any further.  He let go of the hammer, jumped back.  Ezebra tapped the hammer again and it started floating through the air.  Ezebra swung the sword through the air and the hammer followed.  Ezebra was using the sword to control the hammer.  Ergo and Eber only had enough strength to swing the sword sparingly, yet Ezebra was thrashing around with ease.  He raised the hammer in the air and brought it down on Eber.  Eber jumped back and it missed, slamming into the ground.  Eber gained his balance as the hammer came down again.  He planted his feet in the ground and his hands lit up with flames.  His muscles inflated and he held his gloved hands up to catch the descending mass.  The hammer came down with such a force that it created a crater around Eber.  He grunted and struggled with the hammer, sweat starting to drip down his face.  After a minute of fighting, Eber hollered and pushed the hammer up with all he had.  The hammer went flying up into the air, but not high enough.  It came back down just as soon as it left Eber's hands.  Eber jumped back again as the hammer landed.  Eber landed and began charging towards Ezebra.  The hammer came swinging towards Eber who slid underneath it.  He got back up and continued his path. 

               In all honesty, I didn't see.  If I did, I would have warned him.  Eber was three feet away from Ezebra with his fist drawn back ready to punch the daylights out of him.  Ezebra took the sword, placing it horizontally to his right.  He guided the sword across him.  He didn't slash, he didn't block, nothing.  Just guided the sword as if it were a toy car and he was driving it across.  For a split second, Eber looked confused.  I watched as the hammer came from Eber's left.  With his arm extended out, it left his left side open.  The hammer smashed into him so hard that I felt like I could feel it as well.  I heard something crack as Eber slammed into a tree.  The force of Eber and the hammer broke the tree in half.  Ezebra took the hammer away and Eber stood up.  He grabbed his left side, but no matter how big his hand was, it wasn't enough to cover up his ribs that now jutted out of his side.  Blood trickled off the tip of one of them.  Eber grunted in pain, gritting his teeth.  He took in a deep breath and stretched backwards and a couple of his ribs popped back into place.  He cracked his neck and smiled.  His fist ignited once again and he was ready. 

               Eber must have been one tough son of a bitch before he came to Zephyrus.  I mean, who could get pummeled by a hammer bigger than their body, have some ribs break through their skin, get back up, pop those ribs back in place, and still smile?  He wasn't going down without a fight that was for sure.  In fact, he was enjoying this.  After his tussle with Ergo, he came out unscathed so it seemed it was due time for him to get the action he had been wanting. 

               The hammer came careening towards him and he ran to his left.  He held his hand out and shot off a couple of fireballs towards Ezebra.  Ezebra placed his sword vertically in front of him, chanted off some words, and by the time the flames hit, there was a shield around him.  He went back to using Dowin's sword to control the hammer, chasing Eber with it.  I looked around.  Why was everyone just watching as their comrade was possibly facing his death?  And with style, I might add.  The hammer was gaining on Eber as he was running around in circles.  The fireballs were doing nothing to Ezebra and Eber soon found that to be hopeless.  Just as the hammer was about to collide into him, he flipped over it and it went zooming underneath him.  He found his opportunity as he landed.  He placed his hands together, positioning them in six patterns much like Mira had done earlier, but in different variations.  He then placed one palm in front of the other and extended them out.  The flames around his hands grew in size.  Fire began spiraling up his arms.  They wrapped around his shoulder and through his torso.  They extended from both sides around his waist and separated again at his legs.  A wind picked up and blew his hair into disarray as the flames fully engulfed his body.  The grass around him smoldered into ash before the fire even touched it.  

               Ezebra had led the hammer to be above Eber.  He brought it down with a quickness that it was nearly impossible for Eber to stop it.  Yet, Eber caught it with his gloves again.  He hollered out as he set the hammer on fire.  He moved himself behind it, grabbing the handle.  He spun around, taking the hammer with him.  When he faced Ezebra, he let go of the handle and sent the hammer spinning towards Ezebra.  Ezebra tried to stop it, but couldn't.  He barely dodged it, stumbling backwards.  Eber didn't waste any time.  He flashed above Ezebra with his fist together above his head.  He brought them down, slamming them on top of Ezebra's head.  The shield flickered briefly before failing and Eber broke through, following through with an intensity that was sure to shatter Ezebra's skull.  A shockwave blasted from the hit and sent me flying back off my feet.  I landed, quickly getting up to see Ezebra smash into the ground, causing another crater in the once solid ground.  He was down for the count.  He had to be.  There was no way in the world he could have survived a hit that powerful.  The heat from Eber's flames had sealed his wound on his side and I could see the blood was burning away.  I was at least fifty feet away and I could feel the heat of the fire. 

               Eber got up, the flames fading away from his body.  He was exhausted.  His muscles deflated and he wiped the sweat off his nose with his thumb.  He turned around; sure that Ezebra was out cold.  He clapped his hands together, wiping off the dirt, dust, and blood that he had acquired.  "Master Dowin's Sword, my ass."  He smiled as everyone looked at him. 

               "What are you smiling about?"  Ezebra flashed behind Eber and was whispering in his ear.  His hair had fallen over one side of his face, but one eye was enough to show the sheer devil in him.  Eber's smile vanished and his eyes went wide.  How?  How could Ezebra have gotten up that quickly much less been alive to get up that fast?  It was nuts!  Flames began to sprout off of Eber's body as he prepared himself for an attack.  He turned around quickly and Ezebra moved his arm too fast for me to see.  A white line flashed through Eber.  Ezebra jerked his arm a couple more times, each time a white line appearing through Eber.  Some of them were horizontal, some diagonal, and the rest vertical.  The lines disappeared as quickly as they appeared.  Before Eber's flames could fully engulf him, they flickered and were extinguished.  Eber stood there for a moment waiting for something to happen.  He coughed and blood spewed out of his mouth.  He turned around slowly and we saw his body had been sliced all over.  Blood began drizzling down the cuts. 

               "Well..."  Eber tried to smile through the pain.  "I guess it's up to you guys now......Do me proud, ok?"  He fell to his knees.  The weight of his fall was too much for them.  They split into two pieces.  Eber tried to catch himself as he fell over, but the slashes through his hand broke it into many different pieces beginning with his fingertips, slowly following up the rest of his hand and up his arms.  It was like dominoes falling.  I was expecting him to just fall apart in a pool of blood, but the cuts had been so clean, fast, and sharp that the blood hadn't caught up to all the gaps yet.  Before he could fall completely over, Ezebra kicked at Eber's back.  Instead of falling over, Eber's torso burst into about ten pieces.  The blood finally caught up exploding everywhere like a fireworks show.  It splattered all over Ezebra who just smiled.  The pieces fell to the ground, some of them rolling a bit.

               "Well, that was easy."  Ezebra said stealing the line from Eber earlier.  He looked up through his drenched hair, as the blood ran down his face.  Droplets of the red liquid ran down his bangs.  "Who's next?"  He said in a low tone.

Chapter 18 - Twice

               "No....Eber..."  I dropped to my knees.  Eber was dead.  I couldn't believe the thought.  Eber was dead.  Azalia began sobbing.  Lily didn't even try to comfort her this time.  She just stood there astonished.  Dan gribbed his bow hard; his enemy was dead as well.  All in a brief moment, the competition had been cut down on both sides by one single person.  Black and Wings were literally shaking.  It wouldn't be long before they would turn.  If they wanted to survive, it was the only way. 

               "Don't everyone come rushing at once."  Ezebra chuckled. 

               "Mira!"  Lily called out.

               "Yes, Lily?"  Mira replied.

               "Get Zachary out of here."

               Dr. Avist got up.  "No, no.  I'm fine."  He winced and held his side.  I could only guess that it was from the blow from Black earlier.  Black and Wings made no motion to attack him, but instead looked at each other.  Wings nodded and it was understood that they would have to help their opponents.  Black walked up to Dr. Avist who just stared at him.  Black held out his hand and it start glowing.  He was going to heal Zachary.  "No thanks."  Dr. Avist held his hand to politely decline the offer.  "I can do this."  The doctor held his hand out a bit from him with his fingers extended up together.  It emitted off a light green light.  I had forgotten that he was from Shimatai.  The best doctors were from there.  He had learned the best tricks for healing that could be learned.  If it came down to it, he would have to stay back to heal everyone after this fight.  Lily looked back as Zachary placed his hand on his side.  He gritted his teeth as he began concentrating.  A minute later, he was standing up straight and stretching, turning his torso.  He took in a deep breath and let it go.

               "Alright, I'm ready."

               "Here.  Take this."  Mira said tossing Staff's weapon at Dr. Avist.  He caught it and began slowing turning it over his fingers to get a feel for it.  Dan walked a couple of feet to some trees and collected a few arrows.  He placed them in his quiver except for one.  He walked back to where Lily was and placed the arrow on the string.  He didn't draw it yet. 

               "Lily, can we do this?"  He said leaning over.

               Lily waited a couple of moments.  "There are six of us left against him and despite the odds, I really don't know."  She said.

               Everyone was ready now.  Azalia still hid behind her mother's leg and Dan stood next to her.  Behind them Mira, Zachary, Black, and Wings, stood there taking in deep breaths. 

               "Ryter!"  The call startled me.  I jumped, looking over at Lily.  "If I have to tell you one more time to get my daughter out here, I won't let Ezebra have the satisfaction of killing you because I will do it myself!"  That was my cue.  If it wasn't for Azalia's warrior instincts, or whatever happened earlier, she would have been dead and there was no way I could have forgiven myself for it.  I was certainly lucky so far.  I doubt that could have happened a second time.  I walked over to Lily to grab Azalia. 

               "Come on, sweetheart."  I smiled.  "Let's get you home."  She was still crying from something, but a number of things had just happened that I couldn't tell what it was. 

               "I can't allow that."  The whisper was right in my ear and made my skin crawl.  Lily jumped back with her daughter in stow leaving me completely vulnerable.  I turned around quickly and Ezebra stood there.  The blood was still dripping from his hair and he looked more menacing than ever up close.  "Let me ask you something, Ryter."  He said over my shoulder, keeping an eye on the others.  I was too terrified to move.  "How did you survive?" 

               A fear overcame me and if it wasn't for my curiosity as to where this was going, I would have lost control of my bowels.  "I....I...I don't know..."

               "Well, how do you think?  I'm really curious."  He continued.  He was sure to cut me at any moment just to test his sword out again or to somehow disprove whatever theory I had prepared for him.

               "I thought...maybe....that...s.s.s.she placed a charm on me."

               "Hmmm.  Nope.  That's not it.  We haven't taught her anything like that yet.  Try again."  His voice was like a snake: cold, dangerous, and haunting.

               "Um...."  I hesitated.  "P...perhaps...she didn't mean to kill me and she missed the important parts on purpose...."  Was this going to get her in trouble?  Was he going to kill her if this was the case? 

               "Nuh uh.  That's not it either."

               "How do you know?" 

               "Heh.  Trust me.  I know.  You were very much dead.  You had to die."

               "But...why?" 

               "You don't know anything about the Angelic Sanctuary, do you?"  He sounded amused.

               "Only a little."

               "Well, then,"  He backed up, gripping his sword.  "Looks like I have some things to discover when I get back home."

               "Wait...don't do this to me.  Don't leave me in the dark.  I need to know.  Why did she need to kill me?  I....I loved her.  I still do, but I have to know why she killed me."

               "Why is it so important to you?  What do you hope to accomplish?"

               "I..."  I didn't know how to answer.  Why did I need to know?  What was I going to do when I found out?  Would I go back to her?  He said that I had to die, so she had to think I was dead.  Yet, I wasn't.  He said that they hadn't taught her any incantations for immortality so what the hell?  How in the world had I survived then and what was it about the Angelic Sanctuary that I needed to know?  "I..don't know..."

               "You can't win her back.  She's gone and there's nothing you can do to get her back.  She's with us." 

               "What do you mean she's with you?  What does that mean?  Are you holding her captive?  Does she have a choice in all this?"  I was starting to get angry at all the unanswered questions piling up.

               "She did."

               "What the fuck does that mean!?  Stop talking in riddles, dammit!"

               "If you mean to ask me if we are holding her against her will, the answer is no.  Everything has been her choice including killing you."

               My heart sunk.  She chose to kill me?  She wasn't forced or tricked, but it was her decision?  Did she not love me anymore?  Did she want to get rid of me so that there was nothing to stop her from going to the Angelic Sanctuary?  Come to think of it, would I have even stopped her if I knew?  What was the reason?  I shook my head in denial.  No, it couldn't have been.  I thought about the last words I heard from her.  There was something more to all of this.  There had to be, but what was it?

               "But..."

               "That's it.  Tiiiime's up!  No more questions!"  Ezebra slashed his sword forward.  I tried to dodge it, but was too slow.  The tip it cut across my chest.  Blood oozed out of the gap, pouring down my chest.  I grabbed at it, but to no avail was I able to do anything.  I looked up horrified.  Ezebra smiled.  There was no sympathy in his eyes.  "It'll be alright.  You'll be dead soon and then I'm going to kill the rest of them here.  When you see Lily in the afterlife, you can ask her what all of this means.  She knows." 

               Lily?  What did she know?  I looked back at her, still grasping at my bleeding chest.  "Listen, Ryter....I...I was going to tell you everything...after all of....this."  Lily knew something?  I fell to my knees.  Why was everyone keeping secrets from me?  Who was I that they found the need to keep everything from me?  I was a nobody.  I grew up with a rather rough childhood; there was nothing special about me.  In school, I didn't have any powers.  I was normal.  Nothing unique at all.  Yet, why did everyone see the need to lie to me; to keep things from me?  Who the hell was I? 

               I felt something pierce through my right forearm.  I looked down and saw Dowin's steel sliding through my arm.  I looked up at Ezebra shocked.  Not an ounce of hesitation flashed in his eyes.  The sword slid through my arm and poked through the other side.  I screamed out, trying to tighten up my muscles thinking that it would soften the pain.  I was terribly wrong.  Ezebra didn't stop there.  He continued to push and I felt the tip poke into my side.  My heart quickened and I start breathing rapidly as the blade punctured through my skin.  I felt as it slid in between my ribs easily.  I was grateful for that much at least.  Almost as if Ezebra sensed my relief, he twisted the sword.  The blade's width was too big that it snapped the two ribs it was in between.  I screamed out in agony as he slowly continued to push through with ease.  He didn't display any sign of struggle.  I tried to grab the blade with my left hand, but it was too sharp.  It cut through my hands like a paper cut.

               "Stop!"  I begged.  "Stop it, please!"  Ezebra didn't abide by my wishes, but continued.  The blade cut through my organs, starting with the right lung.  I found myself in a flashback from the night she had cut through my lungs.  How I was still standing was beyond me.  The blade then cut through the bottom portion of my speedy heart.  I felt the blood exit the organ.  I looked at the blade and blood ran down its length.  It finally broke through the other two ribs on the other side and exited through my left side.  I moved my arm to prevent it from getting cut, as if that mattered.  Ezebra now had my right arm pinned to my body.  I could barely move as my heart failed to pump enough blood through the rest of my system.  I suddenly felt cold.  Not again.  Ezebra grabbed the hilt with his other hand and began lifting me up into the air.  My legs and left arm flailed around as if it were to help prevent me sliding down the sword.  I slid much quicker than anticipated and the rest of the blade speared my left arm to my body.  Both of my arms felt like I had just gotten a shot.  It ached from the very marrow of the bone.  I was now fully harpooned.  Ezebra lifted me high into the air and allowed my blood to drip down on him.  He looked over at Lily who has now just as horrified as I was.  He finally started to lower me behind him except with excellent speed.  He turned around fast enough to follow through with the fall.  I slammed against the ground hard.  My head dug into ground and I could instantly feel the blood rushing from my cracked skull.  Pain seeped through with extreme speed and I had a migraine from hell.

               Ezebra pulled the sword out of me and flicked the blood behind him.  My arms fell to the side and my body slumped over, unburying my head.  I looked at the scene upside down as Ezebra turned around and started running towards Lily and the group.  I began fading in and out between sleeping and being awake.  Lily jumped backwards and I closed my eyes.  When I opened them again Dan was holding Azalia as Lily continued to dodge Ezebra's attacks.  My brain lost focus again and everything went black.  When I opened them once again, everyone was surrounding Ezebra; Black and Wings were in a defensive stance on opposing sides.  Mira and Dr. Avist were also opposite each other with their staffs.  They all ran towards him and he jumped into the air as I shut my eyes again.  When I gained my focus, Mira and Black were on the ground, shuffling to get back up.  Dr. Avist and Wings were throwing their weapons against Ezebra who dodged and blocked at every turn.  Lily sailed through the air with her water sword above her head.  I looked over and saw Dan placing Azalia into the forest behind some trees.  He held his hand out as if to tell her to stay.  She was crying and Dan briefly tried to comfort her before he drew back his bow and went running into the fray.  The scene faded once again.

               In the darkness of my mind, I could hear the noises of the battle along with my shallow breathing.  I felt my heart beat weakly, trying desperately to get enough blood through, but failing miserably.  This death was far worse than my first.  There was nothing there to soothe me.  No fallen tears to warm my cold corpse, no words being gently whispered into my ear.  No sense of comforting except that this was my death. 

               A voice sang out my name.  My mind's eye looked around frantically for the source of it, but couldn't see anything.  She suddenly phased into view.  She appeared to be sitting on something, but nothing was there.  A white aura circled around her.  Her hair swayed again in the non-existent wind.  She sang out my name again, her voice was so melodious.  It filled me up with a strange warmth.  I called out to her, but it was as if she couldn't hear me.  She grabbed a lock of her hair and began running her fingertips through it.  I called out again and this time she heard something.  Her expression changed and she looked around for the noise she had heard.  I called out a third time and she finally looked at me.  She looked shocked at first.  Then her face softened and she smiled.  I melted inside. 

               "Why?"  The question echoed through the emptiness.  She looked up at me with a confused look.  "Why?"  I asked again.  "Why did you have to kill me?"  She opened her mouth and began talking, but it was muted.  I tried to listen a bit harder, but still couldn't hear anything.  She finished talking and smiled again.  Had she just told me why?  She looked down at the ground and tears began streaming down her face.  She did nothing to wipe them away.  They fell gently off her cheeks and into the darkness creating ripples around her entirety that shined through the black.  I wanted to go to her and wipe them away.  I wanted to stroke her cheek and tell her that I was alive.  Tell her that I was going to come for her.  Had she really seen me or was I witnessing her as she was right now?  If this were the case, why did she sing out my name?  Did someone come in and disturb her thoughts and that's who she was talking to?  She started humming again through her sadness.  The song sounded familiar.  Why could I hear her singing but I couldn't hear the conversation that she just had?  Matter of fact, where was I?  This appeared to be the same place she appeared at when I was about to kiss Scarlett.   I listened more intently to the song.  It was a song that I knew.  It was our song.  My stomach turned as she continued to hum it flawlessly.  She started stroking through her hair again.  My mind's eye began humming with her.  Could she hear me? 

               She ended the song and got up, walking to her right and out of the image.  My mind's eye looked around for some sign of her, but nothing.  I heard a loud pounding through the darkness.  It was a two beat sound and it resonated through the air like a drum.  Thump thump.  Thump thump.  The noise became too loud for me, but I couldn't close my ears.  As far as I knew, I didn't have any.  What was that?  The beating picked up into a rhythm.  It was as if someone was beating the drum faster and faster.  Suddenly, a cold chill of air streamed through what I thought was my nose.  Yet, there was no physicality in this world, so how was that possible?  A pain arced through what I thought was my back, but that wasn't possible either.  Noises came flooding all around me, echoing through the darkness and suddenly I opened my eyes.  In my head, it was my heart that was beating.  It was pumping blood vigorously through my body.  How was that possible?  I barely had any blood much less a full heart to pump it through.  What was going on?

               I opened my eyes and saw the battle was still going on.  Ezebra had his arm wrapped around Mira's neck and holding his sword towards the rest of the group.  Mira had lost her weapon somehow.  Wait a second.  How was I seeing this?  I had died.  I slowly crawled to my hands and knees.  My head ached endlessly.  I took in a deep breath and was able to breathe.  I looked down and saw my right arm covered in dry blood.  I licked my fingers and started wiping away at the blood.  This wasn't possible.  There was no way.  When I cleared away the blood, there was nothing there but skin.  A hole was supposed to be there, but it wasn't.  It was as if I hadn't been stabbed.  I felt my side and sure enough, it was healed as well.  I felt my other side and my other arm.  Nothing.  The realization suddenly hit me:  I was still alive.

Chapter 19 - Defeat

               I quickly crawled my way to the edge of the forest before anyone saw me.  Was this really possible?  I quickly patted my body to make sure I hadn't missed something.  Ezebra killing me wasn't my imagination, was it?  I had thought that maybe through my first death I had just somehow miraculously survived, but I was finding out that this wasn't the case.  I was immortal.  Ezebra had to know because he said that I did die for sure and if anyone was willing to kill me without messing up, it was sure to be Ezebra.  Yet, somehow, I was still breathing.  The sword did cut through me.  It did slice through my heart and lungs.  It did puncture through my sides and arms.  I was lifted from the ground and slammed and I did pass out.  Nonetheless, no matter how many times I ran the scenario through my head, the fact still remained that I was alive.  I looked out at the scene and no one had noticed my absence.

               Mira was struggling against Ezebra's hold as everyone else closed in on him.  She looked out beyond the group to see her staff.  It was too far away.  She then looked down at the ground.  Her hand reached down and she hiked up her skirt.  Beneath it a band wrapped around her leg.  The band connected to a holster that held a knife.  She grabbed it and tossed it into the air.  She caught it with the blade facing down.  She thrusted her arm backwards and shoved the knife into Ezebra's thigh.  I heard a crunching sound as it was buried into his leg.  It had to be bone that was just broken.  He screamed out and loosened his grip of her.  She pulled his arm away from her throat, ran a foot or two, turned around, and kicked at the hilt of the knife.  The kick forced the blade further into Ezebra's leg.  He screamed out again, grabbing for his leg.  When he bent over, Mira took her shot.  She jumped into the air with her left leg extended.  While in the air, she switched legs bringing her right one forward.  Her foot came straight up making contact with Ezebra's chin.  She landed on her left leg, with her right still at his chin.  She followed through and sent Ezebra staggering back.  He stumbled a few steps, but she didn't give him a chance to get his balance.  She switched legs, kicking him more and more.   She began with his face, kicking his left side and then his right.  She lowered the height of her leg and began kicking lower.  She hit him in the chest and then in the stomach.  The wind rushed out of Ezebra.  She then kicked for his wielding hand, but Ezebra grabbed her ankle.

               She stood there balancing on one leg.  Ezebra grinned and twisted her leg around to make her fall.  She went with the twist and jumped into the air.  Her body completely spun around and she landed on her left leg again.  Ezebra was a bit surprised by this.  She noticed his expression and smiled as she jumped into the air and kicked him in the face.  He released her other leg and she fell onto her back.  She quickly placed her hands on either side of her head and pushed herself up, jumping onto her legs.  She didn't waste any time as she went for Ezebra again.  She kicked him in the jugular and he found it hard to breathe.  He coughed a couple of times as she continued her attack.  Her feet moved almost as quickly as her staff when she was twirling it.  Each kick seem to give off a small shockwave around the area.  Before I could see where she had last kicked him, she had already kicked him two more times before my mind could process it.  It looked like he was being hit by nothing as the shockwaves appeared all over his body.  All the while, I hadn't noticed until now that in between kicks, she was slowly shoving the knife further and further into his leg.  All that was left was the very tip of the hilt.  The tip of the blade poked through on the other side, but hadn't broken through the skin just yet.  Surely it had cracked some bones and definitely tore some tissue by now.  She kicked one last time and the blade finally pierced through.  Ezebra stumbled to the ground grabbing his leg.  All of us knew better though.  This wasn't enough to get rid of him just yet.

               Mira knew as well.  She placed her palms together and as before, positioned them into four different ways.  She brought her right arm back and extended her left one out and up.  She hunched down a little bit, spreading her legs further apart to be adjacent with her arms.  Sweat poured from her head and she grit her teeth as she concentrated.  Her right arm began shaking uncontrollably.  She took in a deep breath as Ezebra stood up.  Falling over, the blade was pushed back through his leg, showing the hilt on the other side.  A little bit of blood was caked on it.  He grabbed it and tore it out, breathing heavily.  Splotches of blood were released from it and thrown into the air.  He threw the knife to the ground and waited for Mira's attack.  She thrust her right arm faster than any of her kicks or staff and shifted her shoulders.  In the middle of her hand, a vertical slit appeared.  The slash opened up and something came shooting towards Ezebra.  Not even Ezebra could dodge the speed of the object.  It wrapped around his throat and when it finally stopped, I saw that it was a vine.  Leaves sprouted out of it at random areas.  Smaller vines tangled themselves around the bigger one.  Was Mira made of wood?  Earlier I saw that she had controlled the wood element, but I didn't think it was possible to open up gateways in the body to extract wood particles.  The idea was crazy, yet she was doing it.  The vine gripped tighter around his throat and he tried to pry it away with his hands.

               "Doesn't feel too good, does it?"  Mira said referring to her position mere moments ago.  The vine gripped tighter around Ezebra's throat and he began choking.  He fell to his knees, still struggling.  One of his hands reached to the ground and began searching for something.  I looked and saw Dowin's sword a few inches away.  Mira saw it too and tugged at the vine.  It pulled Ezebra down to the ground and he turned over onto his back.  He still reached for the sword.  His eyes were becoming bloodshot and appeared to bulge out of his head.  It wouldn't be too long before they would just fall out of his head.  His sword was too far for him to reach that I found relief in it.  Would this be the end of him?  It was almost too good to be true.  My heart quickened at the thought.  Yet, his sword began wiggling.  It was slowly sliding to him.  He grabbed the sword and rolled over on his shoulders.  He flipped himself over and the vine came underneath him in between his legs.  He switched the sword from his left hand to his right and turned backwards, aiming the sword at Mira.  He began circulating his arm which wrapped the vine around the tip of his sword.  He continued turning it around and began pulling at Mira.  She pulled back, but started sliding in the dirt.  Ezebra was now twisting the vine around his arm.  It was piling up around his arm making it look like his arm was made of it.  After dragging Mira a few feet, he touched the tip of the sword to the vine.  Fire started spiraling up the vine.  Pretty soon it was a candy cane of wood and fire.

               Mira saw the fire and closed her palm which cut off the vine from it.  The slit closed up and she grabbed her arm.  Blue veins traced up her arm like tiny snakes slithering under her skin.  They pulsed with life, pumping blood vigorously.  She opened and closed her hand over and over again, trying to stretch off the pain.  The rest of the vine shriveled up from the heat, tracing back to Ezebra's arm.  He made no notion of pain as the fire turned the vine into ash around his arm.  When it died out, he shook his arm and the ash fell off in pieces, leaving remnants of soot around it. 

               "Alright," he said cracking his neck.  "Enough games."  He held his sword out and it began rattling as before.  The white aura returned from around it and it shot off a beam of light towards Mira.  She dodged to her right and Ezebra shot off another beam.  One after the other continued to follow and the sword was shooting off like a gun.  Mira flipped backwards performing a handspring one after the other to stay ahead of the beams.  Ezebra noticed and aimed ahead of her.  The beam shot through Mira's side and she fell down.  Ezebra vanished as Mira got up.  She looked around and he appeared behind her. 

               "Mira!  Behind you!"  Dr. Avist yelled out.  He was too late.  Ezebra wrapped his arm around Mira's throat again.  He tightened his grip and Mira struggled to breathe.  "Gods almighty!  Is this ever going to fucking end?"  Avist yelled out.  He was furious. 

               "As a matter of fact, it will."  Ezebra said.  He tightened his grip even more and Mira's eyelids began to droop.  She was passing out.  Her face started turning blue.  Ezebra took the time to sheath Dowin's blade.  "Now, watch this."  He smiled.  He pushed Mira forward enough to catch her by her shirt.  She leaned forward too disoriented to know what was happening.  Ezebra grabbed her arm and turned her around to face him.  He let go of her and allowed her to wobble for a little bit.  He placed both of his hands on her head, looked behind at Zachary, smiled, and twisted her neck.  Her neck snapped and her eyes rolled to the back of her head.  Bone crunched and muscle tore making a horrid noise.

               “NO!”  Dr. Avist screamed holding out his hand.  “MIRA!” 

               “Shhh.  You’re going to break my concentration here.”  Ezebra mocked.  He repositioned his hands around her head and began turning it even more.  There was no struggle on his part.  He turned her head all the way around to have it face the group.  Mira’s eyelids were still open and nothing showed but the white of her eyes.  Not even the red veins appeared.  It was a horrible scene.  Lily held up her hand to her mouth.  Her other hand went to her stomach.  She turned around and vomited.  Dan closed his eyes and looked to the ground.  The skin on Mira’s neck spiraled and twisted.  Mira became the second casualty of the group.  Ezebra kicked her over and she fell to the ground.  The impact of the fall bent her head backwards and her spine burst out. 

               I felt my stomach turn and I looked away.  The image continued to run through my head and I started gagging.  I coughed harder and harder until I threw up.  My stomach ached.  The image flashed yet again and I repeated the steps two more times, gagging then coughing, each emptying my stomach more than the last.  I wiped my mouth and looked back over. 

               “I told you guys.”  Ezebra said brushing off his hands.  “I’m done playing games.”  He unsheathed his sword.  “Let’s get this shit over with.”  He finished angrily.

               Dr. Avist was sobbing into his hands.  “He....he killed my Mira.  How...how...could...you?”  Zachary asked as he began glowing a bright white.  “How...h...how could you!?”  His tears fell and dried out before they hit the ground.  The light emitted an extreme heat that evaporated the tears before they fell.  A noise began humming with the intensity of the light.  The brighter it was, the louder the noise.

               “Zachary, you need to calm down.”  Dan said, holding up his hands.

               “HE!”

               “Zachary!  Getting angry isn’t going to help!”  Lily screamed out.  “He’s just going to kill you too.”

               “KILLED!”  The light grew brighter and brighter along with the hum.  I held my arm over my eyes.  The sound was nearly deafening.

               “Zachary!  Listen to us!”  Dan continued. 

               “MY!!!”

               Dr. Avist faded into the light.  Not even a silhouette existed now.  But, I could still hear him screaming.  “Fuck!  Dan!  We need to get out of here!  There’s no telling what’s he’s going to do!”  Dan nodded and they ran away from the diameter of the light.  Wings and Black followed. 

               “MIRA!!!”  Avist finished with a loud scream that echoed through the woods.  Birds flew up into the air startled by the sudden noise.  I was surprise that they hadn’t flown off prior to it.  The brightness covered the entire forest and you couldn’t tell that it was still night time.  The shadows of the trees danced wildly in the glow of the light almost as if they had a life of their own.  It was eerie looking.  I looked back out but couldn’t see anyone.  After a couple of minutes, the light sucked back in towards the doctor, closing with a loud hollowed out sound.  Zachary stood there.  His slick back hair was now a mess.  Bangs hung from his forehead and he was looking down.  His staff shook with ferocity.  He dropped it and looked back and the two angels.  Where once he had pupils, he now had white.  The white glowed and it almost looked as if he could shoot it from his eyes.  “Give me your swords.”  He said holding out his hand.  His voice was deeper than before.  It was much rougher than Eber’s had been.  They obeyed and walked up to him, handing their weapons over.  He kicked up his staff and tossed it to Black.  Mira’s staff wasn’t too far away.  He walked over to it, glaring at Ezebra the whole time.  Ezebra didn’t falter.  Obviously, he wasn’t frightened.  He just simply smiled as his eyes followed Avist.  Avist kicked up Mira’s sword into the air.  It floated for a brief second, giving him enough time to jump into the air and kick the bottom of it.  It went soaring towards Wings who caught it. 

               As soon as he landed, he launched himself towards Ezebra.  Ezebra held his sword up and the two clashed.  Metal sparked and Ezebra went flying back with Avist not far behind.  Ezebra’s released his black wings and flew up into the air.  The doctor landed, sliding a little.  He bent his knees and pushed himself up into the air.  He flew well beyond the height of the diving tree.  He slashed his swords at Ezebra who blocked each attack.  It was hard to see how he was deflecting both swords, but he was managing.  I looked over at Lily and Dan, who stared up into the sky.  There were only two of them though.  Black and Wings were missing.  I quickly looked up in enough time to see both of them flying up to the battle.  Ezebra slammed his sword down, knocking Avist back towards the ground.  He was zooming with such velocity.  Black caught him by the collar and threw him back up.  Zachary didn’t lose any momentum and continued his fight with Ezebra.  The two angels surrounded Ezebra on opposite sides, but didn’t attack just yet.  Again, the doctor was thrown to the ground.  Wings went after him this time, grabbing the front of his shirt and heaving him forward.  When he threw him, he put a spin on it.  Avist spiraled towards Ezebra, holding the swords out to his sides.  It looked like he was a spinning blade.  Ezebra moved to his side to avoid the impact, but as the doctor went by, he cut a slash across Ezebra’s armor.  The cut was deep, but not deep enough to do any bodily damage.

               Avist went flying past Ezebra, not able to stop himself.  Ezebra grabbed one of Avist’s ankle and starting spinning him around in a circle, faster and faster.  Zachary’s arms went above his head, holding out the weapons.  Black and Wings couldn’t help him for fear of being slashed.  Ezebra kept spinning faster until Avist couldn’t take any more and released the weapons.  The blades went flying off in different directions.  The velocity of both weapons made them bury into whatever they landed.  The black sword became stuck in a tree and the winged sword slammed into the ground and landed upright.  Ezebra started spinning his enemy towards Wings who backed up slowly.  He couldn’t attack.  Ezebra finally caught up with him and slammed Avist into the angel.  The angel went soaring to the ground.  He smashed into it and an explosion of dirt was thrown into the air.  It landed sounding like soft rain.  The dust settled and Wings was unconscious in a crater.  Black was next.  In the midst of the momentum, Black tried to see an opportunity to attack.  When he found it, he went for it.  Just as he reached his target, Ezebra stopped.  He didn’t slow down, he just stopped.  Black was taken by surprise.  How could he have done that?  There was too much speed to just stop.  He had to slow down at the very least.  But no, Ezebra just stopped.  He looked straight at Black, holding a dizzy doctor upside down by his ankle.  Ezebra didn’t appear to be by caught up in the rotating world.  Black was still too stunned to make a move.

               Ezebra grabbed Black by the throat.  Its red eyes went white and wide.  “How dare you turn against me!”  Ezebra screamed.  “How fucking dare you!”  Black raised his staff above his head and his eyes turned red.  Ezebra saw the movement and moved even quicker.  He shoved Dowin’s sword through Black’s raised elbow.  The sword didn’t exit anywhere, but instead went along his arm.  The angel roared out in pain as the blade came out of his palm.  He dropped the staff and tried to grab for his arm.  Ezebra didn’t hear a thing.  He lifted the sword up and it began splicing the angel’s arm.  When the motion was finished, the arm was in two complete pieces barely hanging on at the elbow.  Black would never be able to use that arm again.  Ezebra brought the angel closer to his face and whispered to him.  “How fucking dare you.”  He glared at his former comrade.  The red eyes had diminished to their white again.  Ezebra stared at him for a second before tossing him up into the air.  The angel flew up and came back down.  Ezebra positioned his sword behind him with both arms on the hilt.  He dropped Avist who fell to the ground.  He then slashed his weapon upward in a half circle so that the blade came before him with enough force.  The blade landed between the angel’s legs and began cutting him.  Ezebra followed through and took the blade all the way through the angel’s body.  Black roared out in agony as the blade reached its stomach.  Blood poured down in a red rain and intestines fell in hail storm of filth.  The blade finished its path, slicing the opponent in half.  The screams were cut short as it tore through the neck and completed its task with the head.  The two congruent pieces splattered to the ground in a mess of blood, guts, and torn skin.  Black was dead.

               “Any other contenders?”  Ezebra asked holding out his hands as he looked down at Lily and Dan.  Ezebra was taken by surprise as he was blasted from the back by a white ball.  Two more hit him before he looked over to see Avist on his feet with his body outlined in its white light again.  Avist charged up another ball in his hand and fired again and again, one after the other.  His hand had become a cannon, firing off its white cannonballs.  Ezebra bent his wings back and began descending towards Zachary who continued firing.  As Ezebra soared down, he began rolling from side to side to avoid the shots.  The scene looked like an airplane heading straight for a firing range.  Clouds of white burst around him, a few hitting him where it didn’t do too much damage.  Ezebra was a hundred feet away when he opened up his wings again and used them to slow himself down.  Avist starting running backwards as his nemesis got closer and closer.  He kept firing as he did.  Ezebra held the sword up vertically and placed his shield up.  He landed on the ground and his wings folded back.  The doctor held his hand out with a single ball of light floating in the middle of his palm.  “This cannot seriously be your last defense.”  Ezebra chuckled.  “You almost make me feel sorry enough that I won’t want to kill you.”

               “You killed my Mira.”  Avist said after a couple of heavy breaths.

               “Oh, you mean that woman?  She must have meant something to you for you to get all worked up like you did.  Was she your wife?  Your mistress, perhaps?”

               “S....she...was...my daughter, you asshole.”  Avist mustered out through tears.  What?  His daughter?  Mira was Avist’s daughter?  But they had different last names.  It couldn’t be....unless he didn’t want anyone to know.  My hypothesis of her being his lover was completely wrong.  They got along, but it was only because they were father and daughter.  It all started adding up.  Mira didn’t reject everyone in town because she wasn’t interested.  It must have been her father who didn’t want her around them.  It also made sense how she was just as capable with healing as she was and how she became his secretary.  How could I have been so blind? 

               “Oh, well, forgive me.”  Ezebra said holding a hand against his chest.  “If I had known that, I would have given her a proper death.  I would have fucked her beforehand.”

               The comment set Avist off.  Anger swelled throughout him and he started glowing again.  As he did, the ball in his hand grew bigger and bigger.  He screamed out in rage as the energy surrounded the ball.  Ezebra smiled slightly, prepared for the attack.  Suddenly, the ball sucked back into Avist’s hand.  Ezebra looked surprised long enough to be grabbed from behind.  Wings wrapped his arms tightly around Ezebra, immobilizing the use of his arms.  Avist ran towards Ezebra, but stopped in his tracks when he reached them.  He looked at Wings who just nodded.  “This....”  Zachary said nodding back and placing his hands on Ezebra’s shoulders.  “...is my last defense.”  Ezebra almost looked terrified.  He struggled, but got nowhere.  The angel wasn’t letting him go.  The doctor’s eyes burned brightly as he began glowing bright as before.  His brightness grew faster this time; the humming was close to shattering my eardrums.

               For a brief second, I couldn’t hear anything.  Wind blew, but I couldn’t hear what it was blowing through.  The trees swayed with the brightness, but again, nothing could be heard.  I couldn’t even hear my own breathing of the thoughts that ran through my head.  What was going on?  The silence lasted for a brief moment followed by a thunderous boom to bring back the noise.  An explosion spread from the center of the light where the three had been.  Fire stretched out away from them and towards the trees.  It singed a couple of their edges, bringing a black border to the light pink leaves.  The heat of the fire warmed my face which was almost soothing from all the chills I was experiencing.

               “Zachary!”  Lily hollered.  She started to run towards the flames, but Dan grabbed her shoulder.  He shook his head to tell her that Zachary was gone.  A plume of smoke rested when the flames died down.  I looked out at it, fearful of what was to happen next.  Surely Ezebra was dead now, but I had learned by now not to get my hopes up. 

               “What a rush!”  A voice yelled from the darkness of the smoke.  No.  No.  No, no, no.  There’s no way!  It’s not possible!  What was it going to take to kill him!?  Ezebra walked through the smoke slowly.  Streams of the smoke clung to his torso, legs, and arms.  His eyes watered from it.  He leaned over a coughed.  Something hung from his shoulder as he bent down.  Ezebra pried it from his shoulder and it was a hand.  The fingers clinched even after it was let loose from him.  “Well, let’s give him a hand!”  Ezebra laughed as he clapped the hand and one of his together.  He dropped the hand on the ground.  Ezebra began laughing.  It was a haunting, maniacal laugh.  The laugh echoed through the trees and brought a chill to my arms.  Lily and Dan didn’t stand a chance.  “And then there were two.”  He smirked.

Chapter 20 - Together

               "Dan..."  Lily looked over at him.  "....we need to work together on this one.  There's no way either of us will be able to defeat him by ourselves."

               "No joke."  Dan replied softly without a hint of sarcasm.  "Any ideas?"

               "Yeah.  I'll attack from the front and you take the back.  We need to stay as far away from him as we can."

               "Right."  Dan nodded.  He gripped his bow and pulled the arrow from earlier back partially.  "Ready?"

               "Ready as I'll ever be."  Lily breathed.

               Ezebra saw them preparing.  He held his right hand up with his palm up and his fingers extended up.  "Come on."  He said motioning them.

               Dan and Lily split off in different directions.  Ezebra followed both of them with his eyes, but made no movements to follow one or the other.  Dan and Lily were on opposite sides of him when they started running towards him.  Lily held up her sword and Dan drew his bow back, both of them screaming.  Ezebra began spinning around with Dowin's blade extended out.  Lily and Dan stopped themselves knowing that they couldn't get too close.  Dan stretched his string a bit more and waited.  Lily stood in her stance with her sword before her.  Ezebra, knowing that he had failed in catching them off guard, stopped spinning.  Dan released his arrow and it went whistling through the air towards Ezebra's head.  Ezebra lifted his sword up in enough time to deflect the arrow.  The arrow went flying off in another direction.  Dan was already pulling another arrow out when Lily ran towards her distracted enemy.  Ezebra noticed and swung his sword around.  Lily ducked as the sword sweeped across her head, cutting some of her hairs, and slid across the ground.  Ezebra jumped back as Lily brought her sword where his legs had been.  Dan released another arrow.  In mid-air, Ezebra performed a back flip and the arrow zoomed underneath him.  He landed as Lily got up and ran towards him again.  She placed both of her hands on her hilt and swung fiercely.  Ezebra brought his sword up again and blocked.  It soon became a power struggle between the two with Ezebra slowly winning.  Dan carefully drew another arrow, pulling back as far as he could.  The hand holding his bow shook with enough strength to not let it go and smack him in the face.  He closed one eye and aimed it at Ezebra.  Releasing it, I could tell that it was a relief for him because he exhaled a huge breath.  The arrow flew through with extreme velocity.  It was bound to hit Ezebra in the head and he had nothing to defend himself.

               The arrow was mere inches away when Ezebra took one hand off of his sword and held it up in front of his face and the arrow stopped.  A second later a whoosh of air passed it.  Dan had shot the arrow so fast that it was faster than the wind.  How was it possible to do that?  Matter of fact, how was it possible to stop an arrow going faster than the wind?  Everything was so mind boggling that I had a hard time wrapping my brain around it.  I still had so many questions to ask that I had stored in the back of my mind during the first time Lily was brought back.  Yet, I never got a chance to ask them.  One thing that came across was that Ezebra had said that energies couldn't mix.  What did that mean?  If Lily was able to use it before and was killed not by the energy itself, but by Dan's own hands, was it possible for her to still have some or did it leave her corpse once she was dead?  They better not die.  I had way too many questions to ask.  Another was how was it possible to shoot faster than the wind?  Ezebra brought his pointer finger underneath the tip of the arrow and pushed it up.  The arrow flipped around and was aiming at Dan.  Ezebra then curled his fingers up and flicked the arrow back towards its shooter. 

               Dan saw the motion and dove for the ground as it went whizzing by his head.  The arrow struck into a tree behind him and kept digging.  It bore a hole into the tree and stuck into the one behind it.  I couldn't believe what I had just seen.  Ezebra had shot an arrow with his fingers faster and with more power than Dan did with a bow.  Ezebra went back to his struggle with Lily that he was slowly losing by now because he was one hand short.  He placed his hand back on the hilt and drove forward, overpowering Lily.  Sweat mixed with the dirt on her face and caused black streaks to run down it.  Almost like smeared mascara.  Ezebra was tiring out though.  I could tell because he wasn't completely taking over yet.  He took the same hand off and drew it back.  Lily looked up as his hand came across and hit her in the face.  The slap took her by surprise and she stumbled backwards.  Ezebra took his sword and thrusted forward.  Lily had enough time to see the weapon and brought her sword up to block.  The water around Lily's hand circulated like a tornado.  She flipped her hand up and let the water float above it in a ball.  The ball floated a little bit higher before spiking out.  It did this for a brief moment before sucking back into itself like an implosion and then exploding into tiny droplets.  The particles began molding themselves to become pointed.  It was much like the needle trick that Lily had performed the first time around only smaller.  The particles sharpened and there must have been around fifty or more of the tiny dots.  Lily twirled backwards away from Ezebra.  When she faced him again, she launched her arm forward, throwing the particles at him.  He twisted his body enough to dodge a majority of them, spinning, flipping, and turning in every which way.  Most of them past him, but a few sliced across his arms, legs, and scratched the surface of his armor. 

               When they finally passed, Ezebra looked down at his arm.  A few of them pointed out and must of stung like a splinter.  He flexed his muscle and the needles melted, running down his arm.  He did the same thing with his legs.  Dan was back on his feet collecting a few more arrows.  He quickly placed them in his quiver and drew one back.  The arrow missed Ezebra who barely did anything to dodge it.  Too focused on the water rising from the ground to rotate around Lily's hand again, he didn't notice Dan had begun running towards him with two arrows in his hands.  He leaped into the air, twirling as he came down.  He landed directly behind Ezebra and shoved the two arrows into his side.  Ezebra hollered out in pain.  He had to be getting tired of this by now.  He couldn't struggle either way due to the pulling of the arrows.  Dan took his time, sliding beneath Ezebra's swinging sword.  He met up with Lily who grabbed his hand and swung him.  Dan grabbed another arrow from behind as he was pulled around.  With the force of the rotation, he quickly ran towards Ezebra who was still struggling to get the arrows out of his side.  Dan ran to Ezebra's side, shoving the arrow into his chest plate and running past him.  The arrow drove straight through penetrating his chest.  He staggered backwards, tripping over himself, as Dan slid on his legs.  Dan flung himself onto his back and put his feet into the air.  Ezebra landed on his feet and Dan pushed him back up.  Just as he did, Lily was right there waiting on one knee with her sword up, as he came forward.  Lily's sword drove through Ezebra's stomach.  This was now the second time he had been stabbed there.  His weight slid him even further onto the sword.  This must have been something that they had been practicing all these weeks.  Had they done it though?  Did all their practicing finally pay off?  Was Ezebra finally dead? 

               "Now do us all a favor and fucking die!"  Lily screamed out as she twisted the sword.  Ezebra's eyes went wide as the blade turned inside him.  Blood drooled down his chin and onto Lily's shoulder.  Lily used the weight of her knee to push him off of her.  Ezebra fell backwards to the ground.  He appeared to be pale.  It was too good to be true.  I waited for him to come back up, but after five minutes, he stayed down.  Dan and Lily also waited; Dan with his bow drawn and ready and Lily with her sword up.  After another few minutes, nothing happened.  They both collapsed to the ground, exhausted from the fight overall.  I couldn't believe it.  Out of eleven fighters, only two remained.  This would become a legend of its own: The tale of the downfall of Ezebra, the psychopathic angel.

               Dan was the first to get up.  He started walking towards Lily, slowly limping.  His back had started bleeding again from the slash of Chain earlier.  I guess falling on his back had reopened the wound.  Drops of blood trailed him as he held the back of his waist in pain. 

               "YEAH!"  I screamed out coming from the trees.  "That's what I'm talking about!"  I couldn't contain my excitement anymore.  I ran out from my hiding spot and towards him.  If anyone could pull off this victory it was Dan and Lily.  To me, I believed they had more to fight for than the rest.  It wasn't that I wasn't saddened by their deaths; I just thought Azalia was worth more. 

               "Ryter?"  Dan looked over confused.  "Ryter?  Is that really you?"

               "You better believe it, baby!"  I answered with too much joy surging through my body.

               "How in the world is that possible?  You fucking died, man?"

               "Honestly, if I knew, I would tell you, dude."

               As Dan walked by Ezebra's corpse, he looked down and then stopped.  His eyes slowly went wide.  My heart quickened at the sudden change of expression.  I stopped and looked down at what he was looking at.  Ezebra's eyes were wide open as before when he died.  What was different about him though was the huge grin spread across his face.  His eyes and teeth flashed a florescence from the night life.  Dry blood all over his face made the scene look even more disturbing.  Ezebra's eyes darted to his left and he looked at Dan.  His grin didn't fade.

               "Oh, shi...!!!"  Dan hollered out as Ezebra's legs came up and wrapped around his head.  Ezebra yanked down, slamming Dan's body against the ground.  He passed out from the impact.  I fell backwards, taken back by the sudden movement from someone who I thought was dead.  Ezebra was still fucking alive.  I scampered back a few feet terrified.  Lily looked up as Dan was slammed to the ground.  She started to get up, but was too slow.  Before anyone could blink, Ezebra was looking down upon her. 

               "You should have made sure I was dead, you stupid bitch!"  Ezebra jerked Lily up by her throat.  The jerk was so rough that she dropped her sword.  He picked her up until her feet dangled in the air.  Dan was still unconscious.  She was helpless.  He took Dowin's sword and shoved it through her shoulder.  She screamed out in pain.  He took it out and shoved it through her other shoulder.  Again, she couldn't contain her yells.  He was going to kill them.  Right before my eyes, I was going to be the sole person to witness everyone's death.  "You can't kill me that easily, Lily!"  Ezebra screamed in her face, saliva spouting from his mouth and onto her face.  "Did you not see what I just did to everyone else?  Are you that fucking dense to not know any better?"  He set her down on the ground.  Her shoulders were limp on her side.  She couldn't defend what was coming next.  Ezebra took his hand back and slapped Lily as hard as he could.  She fell to the ground, tears starting to fall from her eyes.  It was over.  Lily was going to die.  She tried to lift her arms up to push herself up, but the pain showed in her eyes.  She couldn't.  Ezebra had stuck the sword exactly where he needed to cut off the tendons to her arms.  No matter how much she wanted to send the signal to her arms to tell her to get up, they would not reach.  She began sobbing knowing as well as I did that this was going to be the end.  She flipped over onto her back to await her death.  Tears streamed down her cheeks and she looked up at Ezebra.  Fear no longer took control.  She glared at him with all the hatred her body could muster up.

               "You will get what you deserve one of these days."  She said lowly.

               "Oh?  Is that a fact?"

               "It is."  She smiled.  My heart quickened even more.  These were her final words.  She was waging revenge on him.  It was hopeless though.  No one around here was going to be able to avenge her death.  He was too powerful.  I certainly couldn't do anything.  Dan wouldn't.  What was the use of these words?  What could she honestly hope to accomplish with them?

               "Sure it is, toots."  He said raising his sword above his head pointing the blade down.  Tears swelled from my eyes and I closed them letting them fall.  "By the way, I'd like to thank you for helping me raise this wonderful family.  Without her first eight years of being alive, I wouldn't have the opportunity to corrupt her."  I opened my eyes long enough to see him smile and lift his sword higher.  "Now do me a favor and stay dead!"  He screamed out bringing his sword down.  I closed my eyes trying hard not to listen to the inevitable sound of the sword slicing through the ground on the other side of Lily.

               "NOOO!!!"  Lily screamed out.  I opened my eyes and looked over.  Ezebra removed his sword.  Instead of it coming up from one body, it came up from two.  "AZALIA!!!"  Azalia stood there with her arms held out as if she was trying to protect her mother.  Blood ran down from her chest.  At the angle that Ezebra had cut, the sword went through sideways, opening up Azalia's stomach.  Her intestines hung from her stomach and unraveled to the ground.  She turned around and looked down at her mother who was also bleeding severely.  Ezebra had stabbed through her heart.

               Azalia fell to her knees and blood trickled down the sides of her mouth.  "I....I protected you, mommy...."  She said as tears came down.  "Yo...you're....safe now...."  Her last words faded out as she fell over on top of her mother.  Her body heaved up and down to show that she was still breathing.

               Lily's heart wouldn't be able to hold out for too much longer.  It was bleeding out profusely.  She broke out into a loud wail.  "AZALIA!!!!  MY BABY!!!"  Tears poured down her face.  "AZALIA!!!"  She kept screaming out her daughter's name, each time getting weaker and weaker.  Her breathing became more and more shallow.  She struggled to raise her arms up with the last of her energy and wrap them around her dying daughter.  "Azalia....I love you...."  She breathed out one last time.  Her arms fell to the side and Lily was dead.

               Azalia sobbed between breaths.  "I...I....I love....you too, mommy.  I...love...you...too."  She finished closing her eyes.

Chapter 21 - Goodnight

               I gripped the dirt beneath my fingers.  "No..."  This wasn't possible.  Everything was a waste.  Reviving Lily was pointless; Dan and her practicing sessions were useless; I taking over the responsibilities of Azalia was for nothing.  I wiped my eyes.  It couldn't be.  Not even Ezebra was going to win in the end.  The whole reason for all of this was slowly dying.  Azalia was in the midst of taking her last breaths.  Eber, Mira, and Zachary's deaths were all in vain.  What was the point?  What the fuck was the point if everyone just died in the end?  Everyone except for the one person who needed to.  It wasn't fair. 

               Dan slowly woke up, propping himself on his knees and one hand as the other rubbed the back of his head.  He looked over at Lily and Azalia and shock completely conquered his face.  "LILY!  AZALIA!!"  He screamed out.  "What the fuck have you done?!"  He looked up at Ezebra, rage covering up the shock just as soon as it had arrived.  Ezebra just looked over at him and didn't say a word.  He wasn't smiling or grinning and his eyes seemed blank.  "Answer me, dammit!  What the fuck have you done!!??  You just killed your family, you sick fuck!"  Dan pointed at the corpses.  "You killed your lover!  You killed your own fucking daughter!  Do you not have a soul!?!?  What the fuck is wrong with you?!?!"  Ezebra still didn't say anything.  His wings emerged from his back and started flapping.  "Where the hell are you going?!!?"  Dan continued to scream out.

               Ezebra looked over at him.  "Dan, did she know what you were?"  Dan was surprised, but didn't say anything.  Instead, he just looked down.  Ezebra nodded.  "I thought so."  Ezebra's tone was calm and the fear that it had invoked earlier was gone.  He looked up at the sky.  He took in a deep breath and let it go.  "Well, I have a town to go destroy."  He breathed out.  Dan's eyes went wider.  Even though he didn't have what he came for, Ezebra was still going to finish the job.  He was going kill everyone in Zephyrus and then burn it down.  "By the way, Dan..."  He looked back over to him as his wings started lifting him into the air.  "She's my ex lover.  All of this was her choice and she signed over her own death when she couldn't follow the rules."  He was slowly ascending into the air. 

               I had to do something, but what?  I couldn't let him fly off and destroy what had become known as my home.  I looked around and there were a number of weapons around, but could I use any of them.  Dan looked up at me, tears strolling from his eyes as if begging for help.  I noticed he had two more arrows in his pouch and suddenly got an idea.  It was a crazy idea, but there was nothing else I could do.  I had to try.  Adrenaline surged through my body and my heart began pounding furiously.  Would this work?  There was only one way to find out.  My eyes met with his, I smiled and nodded to him.  I took my pointer finger and tapped my chest where my heart was.  He looked at me confused.  He didn't understand, but soon he would.  I got to my feet and began running towards Ezebra.  I leaped into the air and tried to grab his wing.  I missed and fell straight down.  I quickly got up and jumped even higher this time.  I barely grasped the tip of his wing, but it was enough.  His wing couldn't flap and he took notice looking back. 

               "Ah, Ryter.  I knew my ears weren't deceiving me." 

               "Yeah, yeah.  Save it for someone who cares."  I replied, slowly climbing up his wing and grabbing onto the other one.  The extra weight pulled him back and we fell to the ground.  I landed on my back and he landed on me, knocking the air out of me.  Yet, I didn't waste another second.  Ezebra started getting up as I came up behind him.  I wrapped my arms underneath his and locked my hands behind his head.  I tightened my arms as much as I could so that he couldn't slip through.  He tossed back and forth to try to fling me off, but I had already wrapped my legs around his. 

               "Get the hell off of me!"  Ezebra screamed.  "This is futile.  Surely you must know this!"  I used my weight to pull at him.  He lost his balance and we fell again with my back slamming against the ground.  He continued to struggle, but I found myself holding out.  He propped himself up enough for me to be able to look at Dan from over his shoulder.

               "Dan!  Now!"  I screamed.  "I can't hold this for much longer!"  Realization hit his face as he suddenly understood. 

               "It'll kill you!"  He yelled back. 

               "Trust me!  I will be fine!  Just fucking do it before we lose this chance!"

               Ezebra soon realized what I was up to as well.  There were only two things I could think of for killing Ezebra.  One was decapitating his head.  Neither Dan nor I had a sword and at the time, Ezebra was too high.  The other was if we were able to stop his heart from beating.  If I could hold Ezebra still enough, then Dan could take the shot.  From Ezebra's reaction I couldn't be too far off.  He began struggling with more vigor.  It was all I could do to hold on. 

               Dan took his bow off his shoulder and pulled an arrow from his quiver.  He loaded it onto the string and drew back.  Closing one eye, he aimed.  He released and the arrow went soaring towards us.  It broke through Ezebra's armor.  I felt the impact as it continued.  It punctured through him and kept digging until I felt it poke through his back and break through my sternum.

               "Fuck!"  I clinched my teeth and continued to hold on to Ezebra.  "Dan!  How about hitting him where I told you?!" 

               "Oh!  I'm sorry!  Is that what you wanted?  I thought you were just a masochist!"  He laughed as if this was all a joke.  I guess if you thought that this was your last chance and if you failed then you were going to die anyways, then the only thing left to do was laugh.

               "Ha ha.  Very fucking funny!  Do you want to kill this mother fucker or not!?" 

               "Yeah, yeah."  Dan replied taking his last arrow out.  He pulled it back and aimed again.  He released and I swear that if I wasn't preoccupied with something else, it seemed that the arrow took forever to go through.  It was a few feet away when I used the rest of my strength to hold Ezebra still.  He tried to struggle, but my grip was too tight.  The arrow pierced through, hitting him on the left side of his chest.  It drove straight through, breaking through his flesh and into mine.  The tip poked through my heart like a needle through a balloon.  Blood poured out and emptied into the rest of my body.  The chill hit my body instantly and I lost all strength.  I let go and hung to Ezebra, conjoined by the arrow.  Ezebra fell over.  The arrow had hit him where it needed to as well.  Time stood still and I could hear his low gasps.  I looked up at Dan and gave him a thumbs up.  He smirked.

               I was shaken suddenly as Ezebra's body began moving.  I rose into the air as the corpse was also lifted.  No.  Why?  Why couldn't he just die?  Had Dan missed?  No, that wasn't possible.  The arrow was through my heart and so it had to be through his unless his was positioned differently.  That would be just our luck though.  Well, fuck.  That was all I had. 

               "Whew.  That was a close one."  Ezebra exhaled out.  "Just barely, Dan.  Literally another millimeter and I would be seeping blood very...."  He started as my body fell backwards, taking the arrow with me.  The other end slipped through Ezebra's body and that millimeter was met.  Dan's arrows were completely metal.  This included the portion that was usually feathery and soft.  With my weight, the back end of the arrow sliced through.  The incision was tiny, but it was enough to do its damage.  Ezebra's heart was now pumping its own blood out in spurts.  He felt it and grasped at his chest.  "Well, I'll be damned...."  Ezebra reached for his mouth as he coughed out sporadically.  Blood covered his hand.  "Who...would have thought..."  He turned around and looked at me.  "I can see why she had to do it now."

               Would I find out why he said this?  Probably not.  Did another set of questions come to mind that I wanted to ask?  Of course.  Yet, I was finally learning that my questions didn't matter.  No one cared to answer my questions.  Anyone who could have was dead now.  Lily knew something, but I couldn't listen to her from the grave.  I wouldn't have put it pass Azalia to know something.  I mean, how was it possible for an eight year old to move as she did?  Who knows?  This is when I started telling myself something that I would continue telling myself:  Did it really matter?  No, of course it didn't.

               I grabbed the arrow in my heart and pulled it out.  I lifted my head up to see Ezebra slowly getting up.  Dammit.  I thought he was going to go to Dan, but he just slowly started flying up into the air.  Dan was out of arrows.  He couldn't shot at him.  I continued to watch and just now noticed that the night sky was starting to brighten.  The sun was coming up.  The night life was slowly fading.  Dan appeared in my view, saying something, but I was losing my hearing to.  I tried to read his lips, but could only read "You did it."  Did I really?  There was no sure way to tell until I was to wake up again.  Would I even wake up again?  What if I only had a limited amount of deaths?  What if I was like a cat and had only nine?  What a curse this was.  I would never know if I had a limit.  In fact, it was a scary thought knowing that I could close my eyes and possibly not be able to see again.  Yet, did it matter?  So many questions, no answers, and all I knew was that it was her choice.  She deliberately stabbed me.  She meant to kill me.  Knowing all of this, I wanted to be dead.  I didn't want to live with the pain of knowing that she intentionally caused me harm.  I didn't want to wake up and still not know why.  At least, I could die a hero, right?

               I knew my body was shaking, but I couldn't feel it.  I continued to watch with the last of my strength as Dan looked over.  Was Ezebra coming back?  Who knew?  It was my guess that he was going to try to go back to the Angelic Sanctuary and heal himself.  That fuck.  I closed my eyes and let myself go to sleep again.  Twice in one day.  Rather productive if I do say so myself. 

               If had known that every time I died that not even death would help me escape her, I would have been perfectly content staying alive and preoccupying my mind.  Many don't know that when you die, you can't control what you see.  Your dead, there is no brain function.  No blood to circulate through your membrane and keep you thinking.  As a result, whatever comes to you is stuck there.  It's not as if you can think about something else to not think about.  Plain and simple, you’re stuck in whatever world comes to you.  Unfortunately for me, she came to me.  She was always sad.  Knowing that she was sad, for whatever reasons, was worse than being alive with the pain that I felt.  Tears always streamed down her face and fall around her with a rippling effect.  Why was she crying?  Doesn't matter, I always told myself.  But....No.  It.  Doesn't.  Matter.

               This particular time, she was bare.  Nothing covered her body.  Water trickled down her hair and despite the sexuality that should be there, there was none.  Even while bathing she was crying.  The tears that feel were a different color.  They shined a bright yellow.  The ripples would quake and change colors each time they shook.  In my head, I sighed.  I started hearing the thumping again.  It beat loudly and I knew that I would be waking up soon.  I looked at her in all her beauty.  "I'll be seeing you again."  My mind's voice whispered.  Air sucked into my nostrils and I was suddenly awake again. 

               I shot straight up and began coughing.  How long had I been out this time?  I looked around and Ezebra was completely gone.  So, I hadn't imagined him flying off.  Was he still alive?  If so, it wouldn't be long before his heart would have nothing to pump.  I looked over and Dan had placed Azalia next to her mother.  He looked up at me.  I had never seen Dan so....emotional.  It was heart wrenching.  Three of his years had gone to waste.  He had lost a majority of his friends and what he considered his family in one night.  The girl who called him daddy and the woman who trusted him enough to take care of that little girl were now dead or dying.  He waved me over.  I looked at him confused.  He waved again.  I got up with shaky legs and walks to him.  He was on his knees in between the two girls.  As I walked over, I looked around.  The forest was in a chaotic mess now.  Bodies and body pieces were all around.  Weapons dug into the ground, trees, and everywhere else.  Craters decorated the ground and blood stained the green grass with a red hue.  I took a deep breath as I reached Dan.  He was looking at the ground and he waved me down again.  I knelt down and Dan sniffled.

               "She....she wanted to tell you...."  His bottom lip quivered.  "...wanted to tell you some...something..."  He took a deep breath and cleared his throat.  "...be...before...she...passed."  He gripped at his knees before looking over at Azalia.

               I followed his gaze and she was staring at me.  Life had been depleted from her pupils.  Was he hallucinating?  Azalia was dead.  Why would he tell me...?  My thoughts were stopped as a tiny hand waved me over.  She was alive?  Azalia was alive?  I got up quickly and jumped to the other side of her.  She turned her head and tried to smile.  Dried blood spotted her cheeks and completely ruined her dress.  Her insides were placed in a pile next to her.  She lightly coughed before speaking.

               "I...I...I'm sorry..."  She mustered out.  Sorry?  What could she be sorry for?  Azalia was only trying to protect her mother.  There was nothing to be sorry about.

               "Oh, sweetie..."  I felt the tears at the rims of my eyes.  "....there's nothing to be sorry about."

               She nodded slowly.  "Y...es...there is."

               "Sweetheart, you don't have to apologize about anything."

               "I...I...I'm sorry that I...I...cou...couldn't get oldeeeer....for you...an...and be...be...your mommy."  She said slowly.  The realization of what she was talking about was worse than getting stabbed.  She wasn't worried about her death; she was too worried about apologizing to me about something that I never really considered serious.  Yet, she was serious about it.  She was.  The tears broke from their edges and fell down.

               "Oh, Azalia..."  I smiled.  "...it's ok."  I sobbed.  Dan was breathing heavily in between tears.  He couldn't stand it anymore.  He was breaking down.

               "It's....not...ok.  You...needed....a...mommy...and now...you wo...won't have one."  Her little tears continued falling.  She turned her head over to Dan.  "Daddy?"  Dan sobbed a couple of times before looking over at her.

               "Yes, sweetheart?"

               She raised her hand up and placed it on his cheek.  "You...were...a...good...daddy.  Don't....let....anyone...t...tell....yooou...differently."

               "I know, darling.  I know."  Dan cried out.

               "Is....mommy...ok?"

               Dan didn't say anything.  Azalia didn't know.  She had really thought that she protected her mother from harm.  She didn't know that Ezebra's sword had gone through both of them and killed her mother.  Dan sobbed some more before answering.  "Yes....sweetie, she's fine.  She's just sleeping right now."

               "G...good.  Tell….her….that I llllove her when she wakes…up…mmmkay?"  Dan nodded through his sobs.  Azalia was pure innocence right now.  The warrior in her and the smart child that she was were gone.  The only thing left in her was the little girl: naive and ignorant, unaware of the things around her.  She finally looked up at the sky.  "I...wish...I was a...noodle."  She said.

               "A noodle?"  I asked.

               "Yeah...remember?  They....can't....feel...any....anything.  I...can...feel...cold."  She was referring to our talk about energy when she asked if the noodles could feel the heat of the boiling water.  Both Dan and I wept, not knowing how to help her.  There was nothing we could do.  "Daddy?"  She said again.

               "Yes?"

               "Goodnight...."

               Dan quivered, holding back his tears, before speaking.  "Goodnight...my dear...Azalia."  He leaned over and kissed her forehead.  "Sweet dreams."  Drops fell onto her face and she smiled.

               "I...I'll...see you....in...in the...morning."  She said, taking her last breath.  She stopped breathing and Dan knew it was over.  He was helpless to the concept of death.  He couldn't grab her and shake her awake.  He couldn't scream at her and tell her not to close her eyes.  When Lily went off with Ezebra three years ago, he couldn't just sit by and watch her die.  He did something.  Dan was always a helper.   He knew that if there was a will, then there was a way.  If there wasn't a way, Dan always found one.  Until today.  Today, Dan watched helplessly as his friends were mutilated.  He was unconscious as Azalia did what he couldn't: stand in the way to protect the one she loved.  On this day, Dan lost a part of him.  The part of him that fought.  The same part of him that believed hope was in the dimmest of lights.  It was today of all days that this part of him died along with the ones he loved.  Dan wouldn't be the same again.

Chapter 22 - Funeral

I looked in the mirror and took a deep breath.  I had borrowed another suit from Dan; one that wasn't bloody and torn to shreds.  I had promised him that I wouldn't let the same thing happen like the last time I borrowed clothes from him.  He lightly chuckled when I made the joke, but honestly, it wasn't a laughing matter.  Instead of the blazer and slacks being blue, they were black.  I also had a tie this time that clung around my neck.  If the occasion had been something else entirely, I would have checked myself out and noticed that wearing a suit was my sort of thing.  Yet, this wasn't the case.  It was going to be a long day.   I took a few more deep breaths to stop the tears from coming.

               "Well, let's get this started."  I said to myself.  I opened the door and walked out to see Dan sitting on the couch.  He stared blankly at the t.v. that wasn't on.  He was also dressed up in a suit.  We nearly matched.  He didn't look up in acknowledgement.  He just kept staring.  It was as if he didn't hear me come out.  I cleared my throat.  "Dan..."  I said to interrupt his thoughts.  "...it's time to go."  He looked up and his eyes were watery.  Whether this was from staring too much without blinking or from the day that he had ahead of himself, I couldn't be sure. 

               "Right."  He said, nodding his head.  He patted the couch briefly.  "We watched so many movies right here."  He sighed.  He took in a deep breath and stood up.  "I'm going to miss that."  He said placing his hands in his pocket.  He looked up at me as a single tear fell.  "Ok, let's go.  Everyone's waiting for us."  I had thought this was hard on me, but I would never be able to feel an ounce of what Dan was.  It had shown through his unshaven face.  Though it had only been two days, his face had grown quite a bit.  Dan had never let it get this far.  He shaved just about every day. 

               We walked outside and to our left.  We came to the end of the town and walked through the stalks of grain.  They were a lighter color today.  Clouds had covered the sun and they didn't shine with their brightness.  Of course there would be clouds today.  Why wouldn't there be?  No one had never known occasions like this to be bright and sunny, why would the Gods change that?  We headed to the last place that we knew they were happy.  Mrs. Gendra had cleaned the place up rather well.  She ensured to cover in all the craters, then planted some new grass, and finally removed any sign of what was once a battlefield including the removal of the fallen weapons and the stained blood.  In essence, she had tried her best to restore it back to how it was when that day started. 

               We walked through the trees and they seemed to match our current moods: sullen and melancholy.  I had noticed that the trees seemed to represent how the majority of the atmosphere was.  When Azalia and I first entered into it, they were dark to represent the mystery that we would soon uncover.  When the town surprised us, they transitioned into the bright colors that we saw.  Now, they were full of grey leaves.  Almost as if an ash storm came through and covered them with soot.  The trunks matched, looking charred.  The atmosphere was certainly represented well.  We walked to the little tree where the leaves went flying off.  It had blossomed again, but the colors were a faded pink.  It was like walking through a black and white film.  Color seemed to be drained from the scene and it was hard to believe that this was the same place that once held so much color.  

               I looked up at the tree.  "Are you guys going to fly out today?"  I talked to them as if they could hear me.  I remembered the look on Azalia's face when she touched the trunk and they went soaring through the sky.  Amazement and wonder filled her face.  The little girl in her took over and innocence became her.  It was hard not to smile at this.  Yet, sadness overcame that moment and I realized that I wouldn't be able to see that again.  I wouldn't be able to help her with the chores or hear her laughter when Dan and her played around.  I wouldn't be able to see her struggle with her homework, rubbing the eraser of her pencil against her temple.  Most importantly, I wouldn't be able to kiss her goodnight or read her bedtime stories or hear about how she wanted to be my mommy.  The leaves didn't respond.  Of course, they wouldn't.  Why would they fly out?  There was no joy here.

               Everyone was waiting a couple of feet off.  Cergroy Dofo, Mrs. Gendra, Mr. Yamor and Scarlett, and few of the boys who attempted to escort Mira, but failed; even some of the more secluded citizens from the outside houses were there.  Everyone had gathered around the six coffins of their fellow townsfolk.  Tem Racey had done an excellent job setting up the whole funeral.  He had help with the holes and carrying the coffins out, but everything else he did by himself.  It was a beautiful procession for such a monochromatic scene.  There were probably fifty people who attended.  I walked a few feet and turned to see Dan still staring at the tree.  He looked up its length as a few tears fell. 

               "Dan...we need to get started."  I said, once again breaking his concentration.

               He wiped his face with his sleeve.  "Yeah, I know.  I know."  He placed his hands back in his pocket and walked towards the coffins.  Each body was too brutal for the caskets to be open and I knew there was nothing in Avist's.  To prevent confusion without having to open the coffins, each one was aligned with a different colored bow.  Mrs. Nygran's was a dark gray color; Avist's had a white one; Eber's was red; Mira's bow was colored a dark green; Lily's bow was a teal color that matched her hair; and Azalia's was appropriately dyed pink.  Dan walked in between Lily and Azalia's boxes.  He took his hands out of his pockets and placed one on each coffin.  He stood there for a moment before bursting into tears.  He fell to his knees sobbing out loudly.  His hands fell from the wooden coffins and collapsed to his side.  He cupped them into his lap as I ran to him before anyone could placing my arm around him.

               "Shhh.  It'll be alright."  I said, grasping him into a hug.

               "They're gone!"  He wailed.  "They're gone and I couldn't do a damn thing about it!  I was helpless as he....as he killed them!  They're gone, Ryter!  They're gone!  They're gone!"  He said getting progressively louder.

               "I know, Dan.  I know."  I uttered, trying to calm him down.

               "We're never going to get them back, Ryter!  Never again!  I can't use Mira to revive them because she's fucking dead too!  I could have done something to stop him, but I didn't!"  What was he talking about?  There was nothing he could have done.  He was unconscious.  He was helpless.  Did the grief of his loss get to him and make him think that he could have done something?  He looked up at me with tears flooding his face.  That look seeped through me and I broke down as well.  We hugged each other fiercely like brothers who had just lost their sisters.  I still knew, though, that they were more than sisters to Dan; they were his life.  After a few minutes, Pastor Lirngoe stepped up to us.

               "Gentlemen...I really hate to intrude, but we need to proceed with the ceremony.  It's about to rain."  As soon as he said it, thunder rolled behind him.  Couldn't the Gods have changed the usual rituals just this once?  Was it that much to ask?  Then again, would it have made a difference if the sun was shining and the birds were chirping?  Probably not, I told myself.  The pain would still exist.  Nonetheless, we needed to do this.

               I nodded and got up with Dan.  "Alright.  We're sorry."  The Pastor held his hand up in understanding.  I helped Dan walk to the rest of the crowd and we sat down.  The Pastor stepped up to a podium that was situated behind the coffins.  He cleared his throat and looked up at the sky. 

               "The Gods," he began.  "they certainly do work in mysterious ways."  What a way to start this.  Wasn't he suppose to be understanding and sympathetic or at least offer some encouraging words besides 'The Gods work in mysterious ways'?  What kind of sermon was this?  "We are never aware of their methods when such a tragedy that has befallen our dearly beloved happens.  It is difficult to tell what purpose this could possibly hold for any of us, but let me assure you, there is.  Though the reasons are not obvious through the pain that may be felt right now, there is a reason.  Although I wish I could say that we are not here to mourn the passing of these individuals, but rather to celebrate the lives they led, I know that this is not the case.  Yet, I believe that it is imperative to remember the lives that they touched.  However, I am not equipped to reminisce about those that I have not known.  Thus, I must call on a few individuals to properly captivate what these few brave souls meant to their lives.  To begin, I request for Lahcoal Ewin to come up front."

               Everyone looked around for who he was talking about.  No one had even heard of a Lahcoal.  I heard a voice in the background behind some of the mourners pardon himself.  The voice was low and squeaky.  The crowd parted and a little boy of about six or seven came walking through.  He had a reddish brown hair, much like Eber's had.  It was then that I realized the last name that the Pastor called out: Ewin.  Was this Eber's son?  He had a son that no one knew about?  It was inconceivable to imagine Eber having a son.  The little boy walked up to the podium, but was too short to see over it.  Someone brought him a crate to stand on.  When he rose, it was apparent that he was certainly Eber's son.  The same hair, eyes, and even the bridge of his nose matched.  He was dressed according to the occasion, but his clothes seemed to be made of something more.  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.  He unfolded it and placed it down.  Before starting, he cleared his throat.

               "My Papa..." He began.  "...was a great man.  Though I rarely knew him as the man that you have all come to know, I was well aware of what he had done for me.  It is rather difficult to understand someone you don't know when they have been in and out of your life randomly, but I can tell you without a single doubt that he was an amazing man."  The boy was staying strong, making sure not to shed any tears.  "I know this because of the life that I have had.  My Papa never wanted anything more in life than to enjoy it.  Through his creation of quintral, he was able to share this enjoyment with others.  He wished more than anything for everyone find the same joy that he did in this life without enduring the consequences of living with such happiness.  Thus, he created quintral.  He never wanted anything more and it's shown through the life that he did lead.  My father did not use his riches gained from quintral to enhance his life.  In fact, it was very much the opposite.  Instead, he came to live here with you.  The fortune that was gained from his creation, he gave to me: his only son.  When I was little, I was put up for adoption and the family that took me in, earned my papa's fortune.  He felt that anyone willing to take care of his child was worthy enough to have his riches.  From time to time, I did get to see him."

               It was then that Lahcoal started tearing up.  "Yet...I will not be able to know him as the man that he became.  I will not be able to enjoy the life that my papa had planned for me.  I shall not have the opportunity to know my father as you fortunate people have come to know him as.  Nonetheless, even though I did not know the man known as Eber, I wish to be like him.  My papa was a strong man.  Despite the cover that he displayed, the actions he performed carried much more meaning.  My papa knew how to live.  He knew the destiny of his life and he embraced it at every turn.  I hope to grow up to be like him and carry on his legacy.  I cannot say whether his decision to give me up was an easy one, but I can assure you that it was a wise one.  I hope to live through his acts and I hope some of you can as well.  Many of you are considered to be alive because of his sacrifice.  My papa was a great man and I know that he would want each and every one of us to take the chance that he has given us to live out our lives magnificently.  Thank you."  The little boy ended.  He had gained his composure back and walked away without another tear.  He was going to be strong for everyone.  Yet, behind closed doors, it was obvious.  The boy never really knew his father.

               He walked by and Dan grabbed his sleeve.  Lahcoal looked down at him.  Dan wasn't sitting up straight, but rather hunched over in his chair.  "Young man..."  Dan straightened up and looked at him.  "...Eber was one of the bravest men I have ever known."  The boy teared up.

               "You knew him?"  He said after a pause.

               "Son, I fought alongside him in his final hour.  I only wish I could have done more for him."  Lahcoal was beginning to lose his strength that he held onto so tightly.  Tears began trickling down his face. 

               "Did he fight valiantly?"  The boy's lip began trembling.  For a six year old, his vocabulary was rather well.  It must have been from the higher teachings that his father's fortune had given him.

               "The most."  Dan said, starting to cry along with him.

               "Then..."  The kid took in a deep breath before continuing.  "...his death was not in vain."  He breathed out.

               Dan smiled a bit.  "You stay strong, son, ok?" 

               "Yes sir."

               The boy walked off trying hard to contain his tears, but was slowly failing.  He ran to a woman who I could only assume was his mother.  He wrapped his arms around her leg and began sobbing.  She soothed him as the Pastor walked back up to the podium.  He introduced the next person and the cycle continued with them exchanging some words, most of whom broke down.  Dan gave his condolensces, leaving them with more tears than before and they walked off.  Thirty minutes had passed since the ceremony had started.  The Pastor walked up one final time.  "And now, Dan Alfrim and Ryter....er...Ryter."  Dan and I stood up.  He was more of a mess than thirty minutes ago.  He kept running his hands through his hair every so often which placed it into a mess by now.  Dan stood back and allowed me to go first.  I cleared my throat before beginning.           

               "Many of you don't really know who I am.  In fact, it wasn't only until recently when I found out who I was.  When I first came to you, I was unconscious and I didn't know a single thing about myself.  Dan, here, and Azalia took me in without a single question being asked.  They took me in and cared for me.  They cared for me and made me a part of their family.  Why?  I don't really know, but, honestly, who could ask for more?  When I was unaware of who I was, they gave me a name, Tyson, which is what you all had come to know me as for the last six or seven months.  Azalia never took an interest in calling me what everyone else did though.  Instead she would always say 'Mr. Man!  Look at this!' or 'Mr. Man!  Come watch this movie with us.'  I guess it was a way to symbolize that she knew better than to designate a name to me.  She was the first person I saw when I woke up and if I had come to know that she would be one of the biggest parts of my life, I wouldn't have run away from a little girl who I thought was going to cut me up and put me in some stew."  A few people laughed at this while others were a bit confused. 

               "Azalia saw me as more than just Tyson.  She saw me more as just Mr. Man.  Most importantly, she saw me as more than just a person in a coma in the middle of the woods.  She saw me as an individual.  I could never thank her enough for giving my memories back.  How she did it, I will never know.  All I know is that I looked at Azalia as a sister.  Over the last couple of days, I not only saw her as a sister, but I saw her as a brave soul.  She performed miracles, she was braver than any eight year old I have known, and she was smarter than most adults.  For me, I looked up to Azalia as an example to follow.  She would have gone far in this world because she was so caring and understanding to what people wanted and how people should be treated.  And Dan..."  I looked back at him.  "You were one lucky man to spend the time that you did with her."  Dan smiled as tears swelled up in his eyes. 

               "Now, I didn't know Lily for too long and when I first met her, I thought to myself 'This is the mother of the sweet Azalia?'  Lily was a strong and intimidating woman.  I think Lily, more than anyone, understood what it meant to love someone.  She put her life on the line for her daughter and she did everything in her power to protect her.  How can any type of love outweigh the love of a mother for her daughter?  The answer is that it can't.  How Lily was able to do this without a single ounce of hesitation, I will never know.  All I know is that it took real guts for Lily to do what she did.  The first night that Lily came back, Dan, Lily, Azalia, and I all sat down for dinner.  Azalia said a prayer for us and she referred to us as a family.  It brings me great joy to know that a little girl who didn't have the slightest clue as to who I was could so openly refer to me as a part of her family."  Water began to trickle down from the sky.  I looked up and let a few drops come down on my face. It was refreshing.  Everyone else brought out their umbrellas and opened them up.

               "Wherever they are now..."  This sentence hit me with more meaning than I had intended.  Lily and Azalia weren't with us anymore.  They were...elsewhere...They weren't here anymore.  Where did the dead go?  Was it possible that they went to the Angelic Sanctuary?  Gods, I hope not.  When I was little I was taught about Veneah and Lehl.  They were the two places that souls went depending on the life that was led.  I never came to terms of whether I believed it or not, but no matter what, I hoped that they were in a better place.  If the Gods laid mercy upon the deceased, then I was almost sure that they were in a better place.  Yet, could I say something that I didn't believe in?  Could I tell the watching faces that I believed Lily and Azalia were in a better place when I wasn't sure about it myself?  Would I ever know for sure if I couldn't die?  "...I'm sure they are together now without someone trying to tear them apart and I'm sure that..."  Why did they have do die?  Why?  Why would the Gods allow something so terrible to happen?  What must they have done to deserve such a punishment as death?  The truth would never be known.  I sighed and let the words come to me.  I didn't want what I had to say next to be planned out.  Tears began to mix in with the rain.  I looked back at Dan and he just held his head low.  "Dan?"  He looked up at me.  "Come here."  He walked up next to me.  I pulled him closer and wrapped my arm around him.

               "This man did not deserve this."  I pat him on the shoulder.  "This funeral isn't just about the passing of the dead here, but I believe it's about the passing of the living as well.  Every one of us has lost a piece of ourselves through these deaths.  The night that Azalia prayed for her family, she talked to me about energy.  Energy!  Of all things for an eight year old to talk about, she conversed about energy.  She brought up some valid points about how something as simple as noodles had energy and that when they were removed from the planet, they lost that energy.  Well, I have something to add to this.  When the noodles were removed from the planet, the planet also lost a part of itself.  Even though some of you may not have gotten a chance to know these people well enough, Dan did.  Dan probably knew them more than anyone else here and let me tell you something....Dan is a good man and he...he did not deserve this."  Though it was raining, I could still tell he was in tears.  "I now hand over the rest to you, Dan."

               For the longest time only the falling rain could be heard among the sniffles here and there.  Dan took in a deep breath and began.  "Life..."  He placed his hands on the podium and tried to gain his composure, but from the very beginning of the day, he didn't have any.  His face contorted into an agonized expression.  He was trying so hard to fight back the tears.  "...Life...."  He started, only to stop himself again.

               "It's alright, buddy.  You can do this."  I attempted to cheer him on.

               He nodded and looked out at the audience.  Taking another deep breath, he began a third time.  "Life...will not be the same."  He took a moment for the words to sink in.  "We may go on with our lives after this.  Hell, many of you may even still have dinner tonight right after this."  Some seemed to feel guilty by this statement.  "Just because there are six bodies lying in coffins before you does not mean that you will stop living.  In solitude, you may mourn these lives, but how long will it take you until you stop crying?  A week?  A month?  A few months?  A year?  For some of you, I ask this, how long will it take you start crying?  I see some of you out here today who aren't shedding a tear and why is that?  Could it be because you are not affected as much as the rest of us are?  Could it be that you weren't touched by these individuals?  No.  You came out here today purely of sympathy.  But, you know, who can really blame you?  I certainly can't.  Lahcoal can't.  Zachary Avist, Eber Ewin, Mira Nvidian, Lily and Azalia Rawte can't either and why do you think that is?  Could it be because they're dead?  Perhaps.  Lahcoal is only six years old and he understands the sacrifices that were made here.  He knows that he is living and breathing because of his father.  Did any of you understand that before I mentioned it?  My guess is that you probably didn't.  Today, I do not mourn the death of these individuals."  Some looked up and were shocked by this.  Was Dan being insensitive?  "I do not mourn the death of them not because they don't deserve it, but because it should have been me.  These people before me..."  He held out his hand to the caskets.  "...they led incredible lives.  Incredible lives!  I should be thankful for being alive and well, but I can't help but feel dead.  Life will not be the same again because they are not here.  It should only be one coffin instead of six." 

               "Azalia was my daughter.  Maybe not of blood, but she was my daughter.  She did not deserve this.  She was only eight.  Imagine being an eight year old and watching your mother about to be stabbed.  What would you do?  What would any of you do?  Would you stand in the way?  Or would you coward away like so many do?  Not Azalia.  Azalia stood up for what she believed in.  She did what so many people wouldn't do.  If that isn't a sacrifice worth revering over, I don't know what is.  I pray that many of you walk away here with a different perspective than what you came with.  Even now, look at you.  Here you are, under the safety of your umbrellas, more worried about staying dry, then suffering through the idea of getting wet.  This rain is cleansing, people!  Don't you see that?  Now look at the coffins.  Not only did they believe in getting wet, they believed in getting soaked.  If they didn't get soaked, if they didn't shed blood, if they didn't believe in getting wet and dirty every now and then, none of you would be here.  None of you would be here because the bastard that killed them would have gone to every house and killed all of you!  And you come here and attempt to show some decency and sadness?  Fuck you!  Fuck all of you!" 

               The Pastor shuffled about in a stance of nervousness.  Dan was sitting here insulting everyone who came to pay their respects and they weren't taking kindly to it.  The sadness was wiped away and replaced with an increasing amount of anger.  Even Dan's anger was rising.  "How dare you try to show some sympathy!  You want to prove that you're sincere about all of this?  Then go out there and sacrifice yourselves for people you don't know.  Go out there and try to live a selfless life instead of coming here to desecrate this ceremony and these lives!"  A voice in the back was telling someone to come back.  The crowd split open and Lahcoal came walking forward.  His suit was progressively getting wetter and wetter.  His mother tried to call him back, but he didn't listen.

               He walked in front of Eber's coffin and knelt down.  He tilted his head down and began to pray.  Dan was right.  How could these people even attempt to show remorse when all they were worried about was keeping their suits and dresses dry?  Even the Pastor was guilty of this.  He wanted to hurry the ceremony along because it was about to rain.  After a few minutes, Lahcoal stood up and turned around, facing the crowd.  They all looked at him.  After another minute passed, the group of boys emerged from the crowd; the ones who spoke for Mira.  They knelt in front of her box and began praying.  Another person came out and knelt in front of Dr. Avist's coffin.  One after another came and knelt down in front of the coffins.  Pretty soon the whole audience came out from the safety of their umbrellas and were kneeling down praying.  Dan and I walked around the podium and knelt in front of Lily and Azalia's.  I guess it was a good thing that the sun wasn't shining.  The Gods knew what they were doing.

               The rest of the procession went well.  We all stood in the rain as the bodies were lowered into their resting places.  I looked over at Dan and lightly smiled.  It was the first time that I had seen him genuinely smile for the past two days.  He looked over at me and nodded.  We both took a shovel and began filling up the holes.  Each person or group also began doing the same.  In no time, the coffins were buried and the ceremony ended.  I began walking back home when I felt a hand on my shoulder.  I turned and it was Dan.

               "Ryter, I owe you my life.  Do you know that?"  His life?  I hadn't done anything.

               "Why?"

               "If it wasn't for your last minute thinking, Ezebra would have lived and I would be dead."

               "How do you figure?"

               "This town was a sanctuary for Lily.  She ran away from what she thought was a sanctuary to one that she made her own."

               "Ok?"

               "Ryter, I would have gone off to protect this town with whatever energy I had left and I would have died trying my damndest."  Chills ran across my arm as I realized he was telling the truth.  Dan was alive because of me.

               "So, I'm the reason why you hate yourself right now?

               "No, no.  Don't get me wrong.  I was supposed to be the one buried, not them because I could have done something sooner."

               "Like what?"  People were walking past us as if we didn't exist.  I placed my hands into my pockets.

               "I...can't really tell you that right now, but I assure you that one day you will know."

               "Awesome!"  I said sarcastically.  "More secrets!"

               "Ryter, I don't know exactly what Lily knew about you, but if you want to find the answers, know that I am with you all the way."

               "Thanks, Dan.  I really appreciate that."  I smiled as the slight amount of anger that I had faded away.  "What are you going to do now?"

               He looked down at the ground briefly.  "You're all I have now."

               I raised an eyebrow.  "What do you mean?"

               "Ryter, Zephyrus meant the world to Lily, but not me.  The only thing worth staying for was because of them and now they're gone.  I can't stay here.  It will hurt way too much and I know that's not healthy for me.  You became a part of this family and you are technically all I have."

               "Weren't you born here though?"

               "Not exactly, but it is my home.  I had planned on getting out.  That is, until Lily showed up with her daughter.  Then, I just couldn't leave.  In actuality, I fell in love with Lily the first moment I saw her.  Nonetheless, this town didn't mean much to me prior to them."

               "What are you suggesting, Dan?"

               "Let's get away from here.  Move somewhere else.  Start our lives anew."

               I thought about it for a second.  It wasn't a bad idea.  In all honesty, I didn't know if I could handle it either.  I felt that I was partially responsible for Azalia's death.  If I had just gotten her out of there when Lily had told me to, then perhaps Azalia's death could have been avoided.  Yet, I also knew that I couldn't blame myself completely because if Ezebra had succeeded in killing everyone off, I wouldn't have stood a chance against him.  Unintentionally, my disobedience of Lily was the very same reason why Dan was alive.  One life for another, but was it worth it?  Only time would tell. 

               "Alright.  Let's do it."  I said.  If I had known that saving Dan's life would become more helpful that I ever imagined, I would have taken more appreciation to it.  Yet, as we began our journey, I had no idea what was in store for me.

Impressum

Texte: All characters and events belong to Terry Kuder III
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 31.01.2011

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