I woke up on an empty plain. My legs felt like lead and my head was a jumbled mess. My lungs groaned as I sucked in a breath of frighteningly cold air. I coughed out the frigid air but my next breath was just as cold.

It took a while to get used to the air. As the Goddess of Fire, I wasn’t accustomed to feeling cold but something was different this time.

Where was I? What happened?

My sore muscles complained, sending jolts of pain through my body as I pulled myself upright. A particularly sharp pain arose when I put pressure on my right shoulder. Dislocated, most probably. I grit my teeth and popped it back in.

Blinding pain seared through my mind and I nearly blanked out. Hanging on to consciousness by a thread, I panicked and gasped for air, flooding my lungs with mouthfuls of frigid air.

However, the cold distracted me from the pain. The pain subsided, leaving me alone with the cold. Somehow, I’d ended up on my back again. I lay there for a while, watching my frosty breath dissolve into the darkness.

The moon had travelled far across the sky since I last saw it. It was nearing the end of its path through the stars and the first, golden rays of sunlight would break through the darkness any minute now.

But I didn’t want the moon to go. Not yet.

Not yet.

I wanted to sail through the stars for a little longer.

Just a little longer.

We still had to jump from the Big Dipper onto Orion’s belt. Then we’d swing across to Ursa Minor and go to another galaxy.

And then we’d dance around the North Star.

Or laugh at the bickering Gemini.

But most importantly, we’d share another night under the stars.

In retrospect, it was inevitable that our group would collapse. All we needed was a spark, and everything would go up in flames.

And I could still smell the smoke.

You knew it couldn’t last, I told myself. And you know what to do know. You’ve planned for this.

I closed my eyes.

Yeah, I need to get my act together. Solaron told me to guide the Hero, that should be my priority for now. Besides, Lily and Zoe are the weakest of the bunch. I need to find them!

I forced myself up. Sunrise broke over the horizon, splashing the sky with hues of red. I checked my Status and my heart skipped a beat.

My health was in the red. I’d never been this injured in my life! For the first time, I tried to recall what had happened. Why was I in the middle of nowhere? All I remembered was Lunaris’ laugh and… the smoke.

I shuddered. Why was that thing listening to Lunaris? It didn’t seem like it could be tamed.

But what came after the smoke surrounded us? Someone must have done something or we’d be dead by now. But who…

Of course, I knew the answer to that. There was only one person who could’ve turned a situation like that around. However, now there was another question that demanded my attention.

Why is he here?

A cold breeze cut through the air and sent Kai’s cloak fluttering behind him. His face was pale and the bags under his eyes were deeper than I’d ever seen them but it was unmistakably him. No one could fake that smile.

“Morning,” he said.

“Morning,” I replied.

We stood there awkwardly, neither knowing quite what to say.

“You alright?” I asked, breaking the silence.

“Been better,” he said. “Nothing a little breakfast won’t fix.”

He whipped out a frying pan and magic-powered stove, and began frying some eggs.

“So, where are we?” I asked, sitting down next to him.

“Don’t know,” he replied as he put the fried eggs on plates and passed one to me.

I accepted it but didn’t start eating.

“Where are the others?”

“Who knows?”

“Probably you. You found me, didn’t you?”

He finished his mouthful and motioned for me to start eating too. I complied.

“I found you because you still had the ring,” he said.

The ring?

I raised my hand and inspected the rings adorning my fingers. I hadn’t noticed it before, but one of them was glowing with a gentle purple light. I gazed at Kai’s hand and sure enough, his ring was glowing with a soft, red glow.

“It’s color coordinated,” he said. “Neat, right?”

“Kai,” I said.

“Hmm?” he replied with a stuffed mouth.

“No more games please.” I met his eyes and held onto them. “Where is Lily.”

He stopped chewing and swallowed. He snapped and all the cooking utensils and plates vanished.

“Is she the only one you care about?”

“No, but –”

“It’s all right. I’ll take you to her anyways, so just admit it. The others never mattered to you, right?”

I met his gaze. Taking a deep breath, I said:

“No.”

He nodded and turned immediately. He walked down across the sun-kissed plains. The air was warm and fresh. Birds were chirping. Little animals scurried around.

It was a beautiful day outside.

But I was cold inside.

–

I soon realized where we were. Rocks piled up on either side and the ground grew loose and gravely. Mountains appeared around us, confirming that we were in the Earth Kingdom. Dark caves decorated the heights, with the occasional abandoned mine visible in the distance.

Kai and I hadn’t spoken a word all day. I followed him quietly, with only the sound of the gravel under my feet to fill the silence. Giant rocks jutted out of the ground sometimes while boulders lay by the roadside, gathering moss.

The ring on my finger was glowing brighter by the minute. It was a pale, white glow but it was getting stronger. At least we were going in the right direction.

Then the silence was broken by a scream, an angry voice, and a loud rumble. As we turned the corner, we saw a tall, robed man whipping a shirtless boy pulling a minecart. Scores of scars snaked around the shirtless boy’s back, while drops of blood oozed out of angry red gashes and cuts. The cart he was pulling was piled high with dull rocks that could be low quality ore, at best.

My first instinct was to help him but I hesitated. Did I want to get involved again? Whenever I’d helped someone in the past, I’d ended up getting hurt in the end. And it wasn’t like I’d helped them much in the end. In fact, they may have been better off without me.

Crack.

The boy grunted as he was whipped again. Kai walked past them as if he hadn’t noticed them at all. I followed him without glancing back.

Crack.

We continued traveling wordlessly and the sound of the whip grew further and further away. Yet, even when we were miles away, I could still hear the cold leather lashing against skin. Or maybe it was the sound of my guilt punishing me, inside.

Crack.

It was louder this time. I looked up, shaken from my self-chastisement. There they were again; the man with the whip and the boy with the cart. How’d they get in front of us? I looked at Kai’s back but he didn’t stop as we approached them again.

He walked past them without hesitation but… I couldn’t. The man raised his whip again and brought it down but there was no crack. Confused, he stared at the boy before looking at his empty hands. He turned just in time to meet my fist.

I gave the wide-eyed boy a healing potion and followed Kai, stepping over the unconscious slave-master without a word.

This time we didn’t go in a circle and reached a ruined village. Empty houses made of baked clay and broken fences greeted us as we walked down the road. Not a word nor a whisper, only silence met us. But the stoves inside were warm, the food still fresh and wisps of smoke still floated out of the chimneys.

“That boy was probably taken from this village,” said Kai. “The primary export from the Earth Kingdom are ores and slaves. Zoe’s parents were probably abducted from a village like this one.”

The sky was getting darker as the day grew older. The abandoned buildings cast shadows everywhere, but we weren’t staying here for the night. In fact, we kept walking through the night; never stopping for a moment. We came across some more empty villages – some freshly sacked and others crumbling into ruins – but we passed them by without hesitation.

Eventually we reached the mountains; dark silhouettes set against the starry sky. I could hear the fierce winds at the summit from where we stood but I didn’t pay it any heed. I was a Goddess, what could a little wind do to me?

We went up as far as the trail allowed and then we began to climb.

I reached up, grabbed a rock and pulled myself up.

Reach up, grab, pull up.

Reach, grab, pull.

Reach, grab, pull.

Climb.

We climbed slowly under the bright moonlight. It was strange, climbing when we could have flown over mountains twice this size. Stranger still were the winds crashing against my sides. My Health dropped under the constant barrage of snow and ice but I barely felt any pain.

Wait, why is my Health dropping?

A Goddess getting hurt by wind? I’d faced stronger winds while flying but I’d never lost a single health point before.

Reach, grab, pull.

Reach, grab, pull.

Kai was getting buffeted by the wind too but I didn’t know if he was getting hurt. I’d never been able to see his Status after all.

That was strange too. A level 999 Goddess couldn’t see his Status. He’d said he was hiding it with his Ability, and judging by how his rings hid Lily and Runir’s Status from me as well, I could believe he was capable of it.

But… I could tell he was strong. Incredibly strong. His Stats had to be mind-numbingly high too; perhaps they were higher than mine. No, they had to be higher than mine. But level 999 was the highest you could get.

Just how high had he gone? Just how high was he going to…

Climb.

My fingers were numb. The cold seethed into my bones. I don’t know how I managed to keep climbing. I don’t even remember the last few feet because it was all a blur.

“Grab on,” shouted Kai from far away.

No, not far away. He was right in front of me; his hand dangling over the precipice. We’d reached the summit.

I reached shakily for his hand with mine and he grasped it, firmly. He pulled me up and I fell on top of him. Warm, he was warm. His breath was warm too. I could tell because it brushed past my neck, driving away the biting cold.

“Hey, you all right?” he asked.

“Fine,” I whispered through chattering teeth. “I’m fine, just a little cold.”

“Well, better bundle up for now then.” He draped a large blanket over me.

We were on a rocky outcrop at the summit of the mountain. The wind howled around us and the sleet hid the moon from our sight.

“Still cold?” he asked.

I shook my head but my teeth were still chattering and my Health was dangerously low. The wind was too strong for us to light a fire and I couldn’t muster the energy to cast any fire magic.

“It’s all right,” said Kai, as he hugged me. “Just need to get through the night.”

He was close. Incredibly close. I could feel his chest rise and fall, his muscles twitch, and his jaw move as he spoke.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Don’t mention it,” he said. “In fact, I should be thanking you.”

“For what?”

“For giving me hope.”

“And how did I do that?”

“You went back for that kid.”

“What kid?” I asked.

“The slave. The one being whipped.”

“But I ignored him the first time. I was too afraid. Too afraid that I’d be hurt again.”

“And yet you helped him,” he said, putting his hand under my chin.

I lifted my head and found his eyes staring at me.

“And you’ve done that before too. You chose to help Lily when you obviously didn’t want to, and you helped Zoe even though it would complicate our already delicate party even further. I’ve seen a lot of things in this world but Amy, you’re the only one who’s filled me with hope.”

He was close. Our frosty breath met, swirling around between us.

Do I deserve all that praise? I haven’t done anything, really. I’m a failure. I failed Jeffi and Yunni. I failed Lily and Zoe. And I didn’t even choose to help them! I saved Jeffi and Yunni because they summoned me by mistake. I helped Lily because Solaron told me to, and Lily was the one who wanted to help Zoe the most.

And worst of all… I…

“Amy,” he whispered. “You don’t know how much you mean to me. If I hadn’t seen you doing your best all the time; if I hadn’t seen the love and compassion you felt for everyone and everything, I don’t think I could have done what was necessary. Please…”

He brought his face even closer.

“I love you. Please, tell me you love me too,” he said.

I didn’t know what to say. A part of me wanted to cry out about how I wasn’t the kind of person he thought me to be. How I wasn’t a kind, loving person who cared for the weak and powerless. I wasn’t worth loving. I didn’t even know what love was.

I’d been emotionless for centuries and all my experiences with emotions had been depressing so far. I couldn’t love him. I couldn’t love anyone.

But it was the other part of me that won out in the end. The part that stared into his eyes, drowned in his scent, and melted into his arms.

On top of a mountain somewhere in the Earth Kingdom; among howling winds and swirling snow, I forgot all my worries.

I threw all my anxieties away.

I ignored the guilt that had been building up inside me.

For one night, I wasn’t a Goddess with a mission. I wasn’t a guide, a teacher, a warrior or a wanderer.

Under the stars and the blankets, I was free.

< Back | TOC | Next >

You built a castle…

“Why is the Hero traveling with the Demon Lord?”

Piece…

My mind went blank.

By piece…

Lily staggered back. “What do you mean…”

“He hasn’t told you, has he? No wait, he said it in front of you just a few moments ago,” said the Goddess, thinking with a hand under her chin. “Ah, I get it. Did he tell you he was only pretending to be the Demon Lord?”

She chuckled. “Silly girl…”

Now watch it…

“No, don’t listen to her Lily!” I shouted frantically. “She’s lying. I –”

“Was only pretending to be your friend. Isn’t that right?” she interjected. “Let me see, now why didn’t you kill her as soon as you met her?”

crumble…

“Damn it, shut up!” I cried, both at her and the voice in my head. I fired a Diamond Cannon at her in frustration.

“Oh,” she said, deflecting my attack effortlessly. “He’s been using different kinds of magic too. Didn’t you know only the Demon Lord and the Hero can use more than one kind of magic? Barring some very rare cases of course.”

With the sand…

Lily wasn’t looking at me but her body was trembling.

“Anyways, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. If he didn’t kill you immediately, he was probably going to use you at some point. Oh right, you came looking for me didn’t you?”

Beware the raging seas…

“No, don’t listen to her bullshit,” I pleaded, to her and the voice.

“You wanted her to get strong enough to do something for you, right? Maybe help you take back your kingdom?” She chuckled. “Fattening you up like a little pig before leading you to the slaughterhouse.”

That will consume…

“Damn it, shut up!”

“Oh but it’s true isn’t it. All of it.” The Goddess smiled smugly in the air.

All your hopes and dreams…

“No! No it isn’t!” I shouted, desperately. “Lily, listen to me.” I turned to her and grabbed her shoulders. Her hair fell over her face, hiding it from view.

“I’m your friend, Lily. It’s me, Runir. You know I wouldn’t lie to you.” I shook her, trying to get a reaction. “Come on Lily. Don’t believe that bullshit. Trust me, please!”

I glanced at the others, all of whom were standing still. Why weren’t they helping? Everything was falling apart and all they could do was stare like idiots? Amy was biting her lips, Kai had closed his eyes and Zoe was holding her breath. Saar had already stepped back silently.

“Look, she’s trying to trick us. The only reason this is working is because you believe her. All you need to do is trust me,” I said, calmly. “Think! If I was the Demon Lord, why wouldn’t I attack you right away and get rid of you immediately? Wouldn’t I feel the same way you’re feeling right now? Instead, here I am putting myself in arm’s reach trying to get through to you through that thick skull of yours!”

“But you are the Demon Lord,” chimed the Goddess innocently. “I’ve already told you how he managed to do it, little girl. He fought his instincts by convincing himself that you were a pawn. A piece he could use to achieve his goals and then discard you as soon as he could.” She sneered. “He was going to throw you away as soon as he used you to clean up his shit.”

“Lies! Lily, think of everything we’ve been through! We’ve fought Gods and dragons. We’ve crossed entire continents together. Don’t tell me none of that matters to you? All the nights we’ve spent under the stars? Kai’s stories? Playing with Zoe? Watching Amy embarrass herself? Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about all of it. Don’t tell me our friendship doesn’t matter to you.”

I stared at Lily, who was standing limply.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. She shouldn’t have found out. Not yet. Not… not ever. I had it all planned out. After we had enough blessings we would beat Azoth and then… and then…

“Lily,” I whispered. “Please.”

“You’re a bastard. You know that, right?” she said, quietly. She chuckled.

I breathed a sigh of relief. She lifted her head and I saw her face. She was smiling with her eyes closed – it was a sincere smile.

But my heart sank because I knew that it was over. A trail of tears ran down her cheeks. She muttered something but I couldn’t hear her. Instead, a pain blossomed in my chest as I was blasted back. I crashed into the ground, a loud bang resounding in my ears.

I barely managed to roll out of the way as a sharp spike rose out of the ground. Picking myself up, I jumped out of the way of a ball of fire before sidestepping a blinding beam of light. My instincts kicked in and I instinctively began preparing a Void Beam but forced myself to stop.

“No,” I muttered through gritted teeth. “I won’t do it.”

I was thrown back as a ball of fire caught me off guard. The pain shocked me out of my self-control and a ball of darkness materialized in my hand. I couldn’t resist the urge to shoot it at the Hero – my fated nemesis – but I managed to make it as weak as possible.

“Lily, stop!” I gasped, as the wind was knocked out of me when I fell to the ground.

The ball of darkness whizzed towards Lily but she shot through it with a Laser. She was still crying and she was probably trying to resist her urges just as I was. That didn’t stop her from firing another Laser at me, though.

“You can resist it,” I shouted, dodging her attack with a Void Step. “Just believe in me. Believe that I wouldn’t hurt you. That’s all you need to do!”

She hesitated for just a moment, but it was enough. I could still get through to her. The plan probably wasn’t feasible anymore but I could work out a new one if I could just keep all the pieces in my hand.

“Stop thinking about me, think about us.”

“I am,” she whispered.

“Good. Now focus on our relationship. We’ve been through a lot together,” I said, soothingly. I had this under control at last. “We’re friends aren’t we?”

Lily’s head drooped down.

“Idiot.”

I barely managed to avoid the Laser that cut through the air next to me. I smelled ozone and the hair on my skin was standing on edge. That attack was different. There was a clear killing intent behind it.

Lily was still crying but there was anger in her eyes now. Bright light surrounded her as an armor of light appeared over her clothes. Balls of energy floated around her and flashed as she fired several Lasers at once.

I used Voidstep to avoid them, appearing between her and the rest of our now-defunct party. There was no coming back from this. The “Hero’s” party was no more.

Lily charged me with a lance made of light, but I parried it with a sword made of darkness.  We parted, pushed back by the force of the collision. Lily fired another set of Lasers but I countered with a Vanta Cannon. The beam of light and the swirling mass of darkness collided. My higher leveled attack easily crushed hers but she managed to avoid it.

Wait, that was too close for comfort. What if she’d gotten hit? I better rein in my attacks. I just need to leave and regroup for now. I can still salvage this. I can fix it. I know I can!

But when Lily fired another Laser, I met it with another Vanta Cannon even larger than the previous one. I’d wanted to rein myself in but I couldn’t. I couldn’t control myself. Even though I kept telling myself I could still work with her. That I didn’t need to kill her. That we could work something out.

In reality I knew.

I knew things could never be the same again. We’d passed the point of no return and now…

…we were enemies.

“Aww, this won’t be fun like this.”

I turned to the Goddess. “I really wanna beat the shit out of you.”

“Now that wasn’t a very nice to thing was it?” she said, floating in the air with a new teacup in her hand. She was sipping tea again.

So goddamn annoying…

Lily was glaring at her too.

“Don’t look at me like that, sweetie. I just saved your life! You were being duped by your mortal enemy and I broke his nasty little plot for you. You should be thanking me!”

“Hey Lily, I’ll let you hit me if you help me smack this bitch’s face,” I said, sidestepping a Ball of Light.

“I’ll consider it,” she said, firing another attack.

“Oh, so we can agree on something after all?” I chuckled.

The Goddess grinned and the teacup vanished. “Since this isn’t fun anymore, let’s level the playing field a bit.”

She waved her hand and a dark glow surrounded Lily. I grit my teeth in anger.

This bitch…she blessed her!

Lily’s stats skyrocketed, although I couldn’t see them. Kai’s rings were hiding our stats, even from each other. However, I knew that she must have been strong enough to see my stats now. As the glow subsided, Lily’s expression stiffened.

I jumped at her and slashed with my sword. She couldn’t get away in time and my blade caught her on the shoulder. Her armor took most of the blow but it couldn’t stop my attack completely. Blood splattered the ground and a deep gash appeared along Lily’s arm.

I trembled, shocked by my own actions. I didn’t even have the time to realize what I was doing. I couldn’t control myself. I couldn’t resist it.

Lily’s eyes lit up in shock but her other hand released a beam of light at me in point-blank range. I used void step but it still singed my sides.

I appeared behind her and slashed again.

It cut through her armor and left a bloody cut on her back.

A wave of light flew out of her and pushed me away.

The Goddess was laughing maniacally.

Amy was crying. Zoe was shouting at us to stop. Saar had her head down.

And Kai was looking up at the moon. It was a full moon tonight and it bathed the forest in a gentle, silver light. I didn’t notice how late it had gotten.

Lily and I exchanged some more blows. We hit each other with magic and crossed blades several times. Lily was obviously at a disadvantage because of her slightly lower level and the cut on her arm. However, she fought with a crazy sort of anger that I couldn’t match.

Why?

Because I couldn’t feel anger. At least not towards her. I was furious at the Goddess, of course, but I couldn’t blame Lily for her actions. In fact, I felt guilty. Guilty for putting her in this position. For tricking her and using her to achieve my own goals.

When I first met her, I never thought I’d care for her. I’d never cared about anyone my entire life. But after everything we’d been through, I couldn’t help but feel attached to her. She was the first person who replied to my snarky comments with her own. More importantly, I trusted her more than anyone else.

She was caring and kind. She was honest and I knew how she operated. I knew how she thought and felt. It wasn’t like I could read her or anything. No, it was more like I just knew what she would do.

I didn’t know enough about Amy and Kai, and Zoe was just a kid. Lily was the one I trusted the most. Unlike everyone else in our party, she didn’t have any hidden agenda. She wasn’t trying to trick us or hide anything.

I could also tell that she was just like me. She didn’t want to go back home. She hadn’t fit in back there. She didn’t yearn for her home. She was lost but she wasn’t trying to find her way back. Finding a way to Earth just gave her a purpose. A reason to travel with us.

Because that’s what she really cared about. I could tell by the tears streaming down her face. I could tell by the anger she felt at the Goddess and me. She cared about us.

Which is why my betrayal must have stung her so badly.

We exchanged a few Lasers and Void Rays. We danced between Light Balls and Dark Balls. She countered my Purgatory with Exorcism. I broke her Celestial Pillar with Pandora. A Vanta Cannon collided with a Photon Cannon. Light and Darkness tangled with each other in a savage dance.

She opened a blinding white gate with Divine Descent, and I opened a pitch black one with Hell’s Gate.

The only sounds were those of magic and the Goddess’ gleeful cackling, in the background. Lily and I were both the kind to rile up our opponents. We teased them into making a mistake and goaded them into doing something stupid. But there was no banter now. No witticisms. No taunting.

We weren’t doing something stupid like talking with our fists. No, we weren’t trying to do anything. We were just fighting.

Pointlessly.

We were fighting pointlessly.

We weren’t venting our emotions because this didn’t make either of us feel better. We weren’t really trying to kill the other person, because we didn’t want to do that.

We were fighting because we couldn’t help it. Despite everything we’d been through. Despite all the fun we’d had together. All the memories we’d shared and the difficulties we’d overcome together.

Despite all of that, we couldn’t help but fight…pointlessly.

I took in a ragged breath. She was barely hanging on but so was I. We approached each other. At some point, my leg had been broken. At some point, her cheeks had been singed. At some point, we’d both become a mess; barely hanging on.

I tackled her. We grappled on the ground. She got a punch in. I scratched her face. She tried to choke me so I punched her in the stomach. I coughed out the bile that had risen up my throat. She tried to poke my eye but I presented my forehead instead, breaking her finger.

And yet we didn’t say a word. We grunted. We heaved. We snarled.

But we never said anything.

I had the upper hand. I’d always had it. But… I’d resisted as much as I could. I’d tried to hurt her as little as I could. Had she tried to do the same? Did she try to fight her impulses as hard as I had? If I hadn’t held myself back as frantically as I had, she would have died long ago.

Did she look at me and feel sad? Did she hate herself every time she hit me, the way I hated myself when I hit her? Did she look at my eyes and realize that we’d been friends once? That maybe…we could have been something more?

She fell to the ground and I fell on one knee. She coughed and I wheezed.

It was over. I’d won.

Or had I lost?

I stumbled over her to prone body. I couldn’t control myself. I didn’t want to do it. I frantically resisted the urge to do it. But I couldn’t stop myself. I couldn’t fight it.

A blade materialized in my trembling hands. I pointed it at her neck. She was battered, bloody and bruised. She was breathing in ragged gasps and the wound on her arm was festering. Her beautiful face was covered in cuts and her hair was riddled with stones, dirt and blood.

It was so quiet. So, so quiet. There was no wind. No rustling leaves and no snapping twigs. Even that accursed Goddess finally shut up.

There was only the sound of our ragged breathing.

Lily looked at me and despite everything that had happened… she smiled.

My vision blurred and something trickled down my cheeks. I was crying. Me.

I never cried. I just didn’t. There had never been anything to cry about before.

But my sadness turned to anger soon enough. Whose fault was it that I was standing over Lily with a sword to her throat?

Should I blame Amy and the others for not helping?

Should I blame the Goddess for setting us on each other?

Or should I blame myself for lying to Lily in the first place?

There was another possibility too. There was another actor I could blame. Thinking about it, everything led back to it in the end. It was always its fault.

Fate. If it wasn’t for Fate, we wouldn’t be fighting each other. We wouldn’t feel the irresistible urge to kill each other. We wouldn’t have been summoned from our world in the first place.

Fate… it was all Fate’s fault.

I looked at the Goddess.

“You,” I said, my voice hoarse. “How did you beat Fate?”

The Goddess’ smile shrank and for once, I didn’t feel like punching her face.

“I didn’t. I’m just really good at cheating.”

I didn’t know what to say to that.

I raised the blade into the air. Lily close her eyes. Zoe cried out.

All my plans, all my ambitions and desires. All of them had long since crashed to the ground. Everything I cared about had been ruined.

My castle… had fallen.

The blade shone in the silver moonlight as it flew towards my best friend’s throat.

But of course, the blade froze in the air as a shadow fell over us, blocking the moonlight.

“Took you long enough,” I grunted.

Kai held the edge of my blade in his hand.

“Sorry,” he said, quietly.

He flicked the blade up and I fell on my back. All the strength in my body disappeared. I was exhausted. I forced my head to turn towards the Goddess and sure enough, she wasn’t surprised.

“You let them beat each other up for a long time,” said the Goddess with a frivolous smile on her lips. However, her eyes had a serious glint in them.

“Lover’s quarrel,” said Kai. “They needed to get it out of their system.”

“You know they can’t stay near each other anymore. They’ll be at each other’s throats until one of them dies.”

“You don’t need to worry about any of that. Now if you’ll excuse us, we have to get going.”

He waved his hand and Lily and I began floating in the air. He turned around and began to walk off, signaling to the others to follow.

“I can’t just let you leave like that.”

We were surrounded by walls of darkness.

“I figured as much.”

He waved his hand and the darkness dissipated.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Goddess bite her lips in anger but then her lips contorted into a smile.

“Guess that’s that…” said Kai.

Confused, I looked around and my heart skipped a beat. The forest was seething with dense, grey smoke. The smoke lay in an unnatural layer above the underbrush, floating about like a sentient being. I heard Amy catch a scream in her mouth. Even she must’ve been terrified. There was something incredibly frightening about that smoke. I could feel the fear down to my bones.

It was coming out of the Goddess’ mouth too. Soon, she was shrouded in a haze of grey smoke. The smoke rose like a giant beast and slammed into the ground in front of us.

Kai waved his hand again and we lurched backwards, narrowly avoiding the smoke. As the ground cleared, I noticed some of the rocks and stones vanish before appearing again. Almost as if they’d flickered out of existence.

The Goddess roared, her voice unnaturally deep and menacing. The smoke rose in tandem with her voice, growling like a beast. It rumbled and surrounded us. It rose into the sky, slowly encircling the moon and plunging us into darkness.

“You should have accepted your deaths graciously,” roared the Goddess. “Now disappear.”

The smoke pounced on us. Zoe was screaming. Saar was trying to fade into the darkness but couldn’t. Amy was staring at Lunaris with unmasked fury, and at the smoke with utter terror.

As the smoke blotted out the sunlight completely, I caught Lily staring back at me. Maybe it was because I was convinced we’d both die here, but I didn’t feel the urge to fight her. Instead, I weakly raised my hand and brought it towards her.

I clutched her hand in mine and smiled.

“Goodbye idiot.”

“Shut up asshole.”

Everyone huddled around us. Surprisingly, despite being a citizen of the Alliance, Zoe went up to Lily and hugged her side. Lily hugged her back with her other hand. The smoke fell on us. I could feel the chaotic energy bubbling inside it.

It wanted to destroy us. Rip us to shreds.

It wanted to tear us into pieces.

Pieces…

Pieces…

Pieces…

Everything was crumbling.

We were crumbling.

Into pieces.

The game was over. I’d lost. This was check and…

“You know what you’re supposed to do when you lose the game right?” said someone, breaking my thoughts.

“You flip the board…”

I felt a tug on my stomach. Lily’s hand slipped out of mine. The smoke vanished and all around me was a sea of stars. My vision blurred as the wind whipped past my face and the bright moonlight flooded my eyes.

“…and you try again.”

I flew into the distance, the clouds of smoke vanishing beyond the horizon.

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He’d been getting on my nerves lately. He wouldn’t come to the cafeteria, stayed late after class, and always forgot about our plans for the day. So I decided to go to class after all to find out what was wrong and that’s when I saw her.

Black hair. Piercing blue eyes. Shallow cheeks and thin lips. She was tall, had a perfect smile and an hourglass figure.

When he talked to her, he smiled for real. Not the fake grins and smirks he gave me. No, this girl was special. She got through to him in a way that I had never managed to. I walked out of the room immediately; the sight of those two gushing over each other in the back seats was too much for me to endure.

It was confusing not because I didn’t know why I felt this way but because I knew exactly why. I wasn’t an idiot. I could tell that I was jealous. I could tell that I’d fallen for him. I’d fallen for the idiot stalker with a creepy smile and annoying attitude. Ironically, seeing him with that Saar bitch was what made it hit home.

So now I stood by, watching that blue eyed bitch take on the Dark Goddess and get her ass handed to her. A part of me – a small part – wanted to help her. But there was a bigger part of me that wanted to see her gone. Besides, she was from the Dusk Alliance so it was easy to ignore her. All I had to do was let the Goddess take care of her.

But I was aware of two things. First, if she died here, I would feel guilty. After all, I could stop it easily. All I had to do was consider her a part of my party and the Goddess wouldn’t be able to touch her without my permission. So if she did end up dying, I’d have to live with the knowledge that I could have saved her with a thought but hadn’t.

I could probably live with that.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple. I wasn’t the only one here. And more importantly, that idiot obviously couldn’t stay out of it for long. Further proof that he liked her, I suppose. Sure enough, he jumped out like some sort of knight in shining armor, ready to save his precious princess.

Almost made me hurl.

Which in turn made me miss what they were saying.

“…Falling for an assassin from the Circle. Now isn’t that lovely?”

What?

Everyone froze.

Realization dawned on Runir’s face as he turned to look at Saar. She looked back at him in confusion. Lunaris’ smile grew wider.

“That can’t be… they told me he’d be at the back of the class,” muttered Saar. “You were there. You were the only one there. You have to be him. You have to…”

“Look, I have no idea what’s going on but maybe we can clear this up if we all take a step back,” said Runir, raising his arms a little.

“No,” said the Goddess. “This little assassin’s going to get what she deserves. And well… I can’t just let you leave after everything you heard.”

She prepared a revolving sphere of darkness, constantly collapsing in on itself and sucking in the air around it. The walls were creaking from the pressure and even I felt myself slipping on the ground.

Crap, guess I’ll have to get involved after all.

As much as I hated the girl, I couldn’t let her get ripped to shreds. At least, not until I did that myself, of course.

I sighed inwardly, forced myself to resist the urge to let her die and changed my plans to include her. Needless to say, I was planning on beating her up but that should have been enough to prevent the Goddess from being able to hurt her.

But nothing happened. The walls kept creaking and my foot kept slipping. The Goddess hurled her attack at them and it whizzed across the room. Runir pulled Saar close and jumped out of the way.

Why didn’t she stop? Is it because she didn’t know? Maybe the attack would have fizzled out as soon as it reached Runir.

Maybe.

A sense of unease crept up my chest. I decided to try again. This time, I forced myself to think that even trying to attack either of them would be interference.

The Goddess’ expression didn’t change as a dozen black holes appeared around her. She swept her hand and they rained down on Runir and Saar.

I panicked.

“Stop!” I shouted. “Don’t interfere.”

The spheres stopped rotating and froze in midair, the pressure ceased and the air settled down. Lunaris turned her head to look at me and chuckled.

“You’re…” she began. “Strange, why didn’t I notice before…” she muttered.

Saar’s eyes widened in surprise, making me smirk. See, I can stop a Goddess with words, bitch.

“Yes,” I replied. “Now let them go and come with me.”

I turned around, expecting her to follow me.

“No.”

Huh?

“Come on, don’t interfere,” I said, without turning around, my heart beating louder in my chest.

This was wrong. This world had rules. The Goddesses couldn’t interfere with the Hero’s plans. That was Fate’s decree! She knew who I was but she wasn’t listening. Maybe she couldn’t interfere but wasn’t obliged to do as I said?

“Fine, stay where you are. I’ll come back later.”

I took Runir by the hand and tried to pull him along. He dragged a confused assassin with him but I decided to ignore her for now. We almost reached the door when black tentacles shot out of the shadows from either side.

Runir pushed me out of the way and barely managed to dodge the tentacle that pierced the air above my head. Saar swung around with a dart in her hand. She flung it at the Goddess who knocked it out of the air with a condescending smile.

“Annoying,” growled Runir.

“Agreed,” said Lunaris. “Hurry up and die, my tea’s getting cold.”

The Black Holes frozen in the air suddenly started revolving again and whizzed towards us. There was no time to react, they were too close to dodge!

But this didn’t make any sense. She was a Goddess and I was the Hero. She couldn’t attack me. This’ll fizzle out. It won’t hit me. It won’t.

Time seemed to slow down. Runir’s mouth opened but I couldn’t hear him because of the roaring in my head. Saar hadn’t even registered that we were about to be hit.

Damn it, why the fuck were you trying to kill the Goddess when you can’t even react to her when she’s serious? Damn it Runir, why did you have to fall for an idiot?

All I could manage to do was close my eyes. If I was right and she couldn’t hurt me, then I could walk right out of there. But if I was wrong…

I felt my stomach lurch. A force hit me on my stomach as I braced for the worst.

“Are you all right?”

I blinked my eyes open. Amy stared at me with a concerned look. Zoe looked on while hanging on her shoulders. Kai stood in front of us, facing the Goddess expressionlessly. I’d almost forgotten that they were here too.

Runir breathed a sigh of relief before slumping onto the ground. He muttered something about dramatic rescues. Saar stood frozen in the center of our group, her eyes flitting from side to side. But the most surprised of all, was the Goddess.

Her hand was still in the air, stuck in the motion of ordering our deaths. She looked shocked but there was something strange too. I couldn’t quite tell what it was.

“Oh, great Goddess,” said Kai sarcastically. “We are terribly sorry for interrupting your tea party. Please don’t mind us and continue.”

The Goddess recovered from her shock but she was still wary. Then, she noticed something in the corner of her eye and looked towards me. Her eyes widened even further.

“You too? What the hell is up with this group…” she muttered in disbelief.

“Well then, if you’ll excuse us,” said Kai, grabbing Runir’s hand and ushering us all towards the exit.

“Stop!” shouted the Goddess, enraged.

Tendrils of darkness shot out of the floor, small Black Holes whirled towards us, and blades of dark energy slashed at us from every direction. Amy was the first to react, creating a wall of fire in front of us to hold off the Black Holes. Surprisingly, the wall managed to endure the crushing pressure of the Goddess’ attack.

Runir took out his sword to parry the Void Blades that tried to pierce through us. I collected myself quickly and used Earth magic to block the Dark Tendrils beneath us. Kai stood there, shielding Zoe. Saar just stood there with her mouth agape, which, despite the situation, made me feel a twang of pleasure.

The Goddess launched another set of Black Holes, which managed to break through Amy’s wall of fire. This time Runir and I launched a set of Diamond Cannons that collided with the Goddess’ weakened attacks and managed to disperse them into clouds of smoke.

“So you were with Circle after all?” asked Saar, turning to Runir.

He frowned. “No. And once we get through this, we’re going to have a long discussion about joining evil organizations.”

“Evil?” said Saar, chuckling. “To think that I’d be so bad at reading people. First I mistake you for a comrade and now it seems I mistook you for someone with a decent moral compass.”

“Look, we don’t have the time to discuss this right now,” urged Runir, as the Goddess prepared another round of attacks.

“Runir,” I said, cutting through their useless conversation. “Why can she attack us? What about Fate?”

Realization dawned on Saar’s face as she stared at me.

“You’re the – ”

“Yes, I’m the Demon Lord,” interjected Runir.

I briefly felt the desire to attack Runir but ignored it. He’d obviously said that to protect me and stick to the roles we had taken up in front of Zoe. Citizens of the Alliance would attack me immediately if they found out that I was the Hero, after all.

Saar stared at him quizzically. “But the Demon Lord is dead?”

“Can we have this conversation later?” urged Runir as he parried another Void Blade that had tried to creep up behind us.

“Right,” said Saar, taking out a dart. “But if you’re the Demon Lord, why can she attack you? I know for a fact that she wants you dead but there was a reason she used Azroth to do her dirty work for her. She can’t interfere with the Hero or the Demon Lord, or their parties right?”

“Yeah well, someone needs to tell her that,” said Runir.

“We need to get out of here and regroup,” I said, watching Amy blast a ball of darkness out of the sky with several smaller balls of fire. It was impressive that she could go toe-to-toe with the Goddess but it probably couldn’t last.

“Enough!” shouted the Goddess, obviously annoyed that she hadn’t finished us off yet. “Wrath of Cresilin!”

Her eyes filled with an inky darkness as her aura changed completely. The walls shook violently as the Goddess unleashed her full power. She arched her neck and looked down at us from above. She waved her hands and Black Holes rained down at us.

“Three Diamond Cannons to the right, A wall of fire to the left,” shouted Runir.

I immediately cast the Earth magic and three giant balls of diamond crashed towards the onslaught of Black Holes. Amy cast a Fire wall to our left and Runir cast an Earth wall to our right.

This would be so much easier if I could use Light magic.

As the attacks collided, Runir shouted another round of instructions. Not for the first time, I found myself impressed by his Ability. But as we fought the Goddess I noticed two things.

First, Saar was looking at me with a strange expression, the dart in her hand quivering as if she was considering throwing it at me.

Second, even though Zoe was magic as well, Kai was standing in the center of our group, doing nothing. He wasn’t fighting, but he looked tired. He wasn’t hurt, but he seemed to be in pain. I only managed to notice this for a second before my attention was needed elsewhere but I still managed to cry out:

“Kai, why the fuck aren’t you doing anything?”

I parried another Void Blade. It was getting harder to fight off everything the Goddess was throwing at us. We were forced to run around now, dodging Black Holes trying to suck us in or blades trying to slice us in two.

I heard someone take a long, deep breath and managed to see Kai with his eyes closed and his face towards the ceiling. He breathed out, gave me a weak smile and said: “All right.”

He waved his hand and muttered something. Runir stopped parrying the Void Blades. I stopped dodging the Dark Tendrils around me. Saar’s dart fell on the empty ground. Amy’s flame wall subsided.

It was gone. It had all disappeared instantly. All of the magic in the chamber just plain disappeared.

No one said anything. Probably because no one knew what to say. Slowly, I turned to Kai. Runir and Amy were looking at him too. Zoe was looking around frantically, confused why everyone had stopped fighting. Saar blinked.

And the Goddess froze.

“So…can I have a cup of tea? I could really use one right about now,” said Kai, with a weak chuckle.

“What is this…” said the Goddess as she cast an elementary Shadow Ball in the air.

Kai muttered something and it fizzled out. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He turned and began ushering us to the exit. “Anyways, it seems we’ve overstayed our welcome. We’ll drop by for tea some other day. Bye!”

The Goddess didn’t give up. Dark Tendrils, Void Blades, Black Holes, Purgatory, Vanta Cannons. Everything in the Dark magic arsenal, she tried to use them all. But they fizzled out before they could come anywhere near us.

We reached the exit and left the chamber. I still don’t quite remember how we got up the stairs but there we were; in the clearing outside the cabin. Kai brought up the rear so he was the last to step out of the door.

“Kai…” said Runir.

“Shush, we better get out of here first. I’ll explain everything as soon as –”

“No, you are going to explain everything right now!” demanded Runir. “That was a Goddess. A Fucking Divine Goddess. And you reduced her to a little girl with a tea-set. With VanDrake you said it was a one-off thing and you freaking collapsed – or pretended to collapse, more likely – but now you’re perfectly fine after all of that?”

“Oh, so you’re wondering why there wasn’t any backlash?” asked Kai. “Some sort of sacrifice that I have to pay to use my Ability.”

“For starters, yes. We can get into the details later.”

“And what about the rest of you?” asked Kai, turning to us. “Do you want to ask this question too?”

I found myself nodding without even thinking about it.

“I see,” said Kai. “But you’re wrong. I did pay a price. A big one, at that.”

“I don’t see you flopping on the ground,” said Runir.

“But you do see me getting heckled by my so called friends,” said Kai. “I gave up a lot of things to get us out of there.”

“Like what?”

“Like the ability to travel with you.”

“And why wouldn’t you be able to do that now?” I asked.

“Because –”

“No! Don’t go, Kai!” wailed Zoe.

Kai looked at her sadly. “Don’t worry, it’ll be all right.”

“Kai.”

He turned to face the speaker.

“Who are you?”

“Does it really matter who I am, Amy?”

“Yes, it does.”

“Fine,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I’m Kai.”

“Don’t try to joke your way out of this!” I cried.

“Look, I’d be happy to discuss this but we have a guest with us, don’t we?” He gestured towards Saar. “Don’t want her to feel excluded.”

Saar stared at him. “How did you –”

“Okay, fine, I’ll tell you everything but can we please leave this place before – ”

The cabin’s roof exploded into a cloud of dust, splinters and shadow.

“…before that happens.”

“You!” The voice of the Dark Goddess thundered across the clearing. Her eyes seethed with fury but there was a hint of caution in them. Her hair flew about wildly, and her clothes fluttered in the wind. She floated in the air like the divine being she was, a mass of darkness roiling around her at all times.

“Are you upset that we left your tea party so suddenly?” said Kai. “Sorry but I’m more of a coffee person.”

The Goddess glared at us for a while but then the wind around her settled and the darkness dissipated.

“All right then,” she said.

“Oh so you’re letting us go? Thank you very much, come on everyone,” said Kai as he tried to drag us out of the clearing.

“Sure, you can leave but first, why don’t you introduce yourselves properly? I don’t even know your names,” said the Goddess, with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

I had a bad feeling about this.

“Sure,” said Runir. “I’m Rurin, this is Kai. That’s Joey and Amia, and the idiot over there is Rose. Oh and the assassin’s Saar. I think.”

Did you really need to call me an idiot?

“No, I meant who are you really,” said the Goddess, innocently.

“What do you mean, you know who we are. You’re a Goddess, you can see our names,” I said. “Aren’t those the names you see above us?”

“Yes I can see them, more or less,” she said, her eyes flickering towards Kai’s head for a second. “But I know who you are and that is not the name you should have. Your strength doesn’t match your status values either.”

Shit, what’s she trying to pull? If she reveals that I’m the Hero, Zoe and Saar will …

“You know who we are, so please don’t interfere.” Runir stressed on that last word through gritted teeth.

Did he know? He’d probably guessed it already of course. This Goddess didn’t play by the rules of Fate. If she could interfere enough to attack us, then she could probably out me too.

The Goddess grinned, this time sincerely.

“No, Lunaris, don’t!” I heard someone cry.

“Don’t worry, I can keep secrets,” began the Goddess. “I don’t mind not saying your name but I would appreciate it if you answered a question for me. It’s a simple one, don’t worry.”

My stomach churned. A sense of great foreboding arose in me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Amy’s mouth open and Kai’s eyes close.

“Why is the Hero traveling with the Demon Lord?”

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