‘I’m sick of running.’

  ‘Running from the cultists, from Maya, from the guards, from this “Nihil”, from… Nethraea.’

  I continued to run.

  I ran and ran to my house as I had done countless times before. I ran through the rain, between houses and shops and crowds of panicked people, and down the last street and through my front door and…

  Nothing.

  No-one was there. Only silent and unmoving furniture, displaced and knocked over where there was clearly a struggle. Maya’s drawings stared at me from the walls. I could hear them judging. They were telling me I could have done better.

  With the incoming invasion, it was highly likely that the entire population was evacuating towards the river to escape to the south and towards Fyorn.

  I turned around as a flash of lightning lit up the room through the door.

  I hated thinking about what Callian might have wanted to do with her. Perhaps he was looking to sell her to some far off town. Maybe he planned to keep her as a pawn or a slave. Or maybe…

  No. There was no point in thinking about that. All that mattered was getting her back before either Callian escaped or the Nihil got to them first.

  I came up with a hasty plan to try to find Callian. I would go to the place this all started: the place I first stole his insignia. I assumed it was his base of operations, or something of the sort.

  First, though, I needed to get myself out of the rope that the guards had tied me up with. I walked over to the kitchen and scanned the room for anything sharp. I eyed a kitchen knife and walked over to the counter. I couldn’t quite reach it (thanks to the binding) so I opted to kick it off the counter. Once it had landed on the floor I crouched next to it to pick it up, then cut myself free.

  My walk back out the exit had started off confident, but part of my weak bravado disappeared when I saw the pale flashing lights light up the mist and rain past the buildings in the distance. In spite of my wavering confidence though, I marched through the storm.

  I could hear chaos and shouting from the west, the clattering of metal, magic flying through the air, the screams of those falling victim to the Nihil.

  I needed to be quick if I wanted to get there in time.

  After a small amount of walking I came across a few people hurrying to the east towards the river, but this small bunch of people quickly evolved into a torrent of panicked and scared evacuees. I pushed through them, grazing shoulders, tossing and turning every which way, until I bumped head first into a familiar face.

  “Elise?” she looked at me in disbelief.

  “Eva?”

  “Elise, what is happening?” her gaze darted between my own and the people rushing past.

  “Some kind of invasion. Eva I need your he—”

  “Invasion!?” she cut me off.

  “Yeah, Nihil broke through the west gate. Listen, Eva,” I placed my hands on her shoulders, “I need your help. Maya’s been taken.”

  The main crowd of people had rushed past at this point, only a few stragglers continued to run past.

  “Shit… w-wait did you say Nihil?” her attention was split. Two different things, both equally shocking, were fighting for priority in her mind.

  “Yeah. Maya was taken by a man named Callian, and I think I know where he’s taken her.”

  “If there are Nihil here, then…”

  “Eva.”

  “Hm?”

  “Maya.”

  “Right, right. Sorry, lead the way.”

  While I knew it would be dangerous to travel in the direction people were running from, we needed to continue that way to reach Callian.

  Eva followed me through the flow of people, then we turned down a side street that was clear of anyone. As we walked Eva started to unload her questions, and understandably so.

  “Is this related to your visit to my shop earlier?”

  “In a way. It’s a long story”

  “Good, more details to work with.”

  I then explained the situation up until I visited her shop.

  “I needed those stones for when I got back to the death shrine, but… other stuff happened before I needed to use them.”

  “Two questions.” she said before listing them. “First, what did I say about using my stones like that? They’re for alchemy, not blinding people.”

  I didn’t respond verbally, I simply lowered my eyes to the floor.

  “Second, what is this ‘other stuff’ that happened?”

  We turned out of the side street and into a wider street that led past the market.

  “I-I…” I stuttered. How could I answer that? I couldn’t just casually say ‘Oh, well, the goddess of death showed up and killed them before I could do anything.’.

  “Well?”

  “You won’t believe me.”

  “I’ve heard every story this town has to offer. Try me.”

  She asked.

  “Well…” I hesitated. “My plans were slightly perturbed when Lady Nethraea, the goddess of death, showed up and crashed the party.”

  Eva stopped walking for a moment and stood speechless.

  “I said you wouldn’t believe me.”

  “N-no, no it’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just… You’ve heard of stories like the one from the far south, in Azerine, right? The story of the boy forced out of town after claiming he saw the harvest god. Well… A lot of sources point to that story being true. What happened when she showed up?”

  “Keep walking and I’ll tell.”

  “Ah sorry.” she apologised before catching up with me.

  “She killed all the cultists, then spoke to me.”

  “Spoke!?”

  “Yeah. Told me I had ‘the seed of altered fates’. Any idea what that could mean?”

  “No idea…”

  We moved on in silence for a while, moving through more streets, each with varying amounts of people running through.

  As we were walking, I also briefly explained the events that happened after—about Callian and the guards, and the breaching of the gate.

  “Wow. So what are we gonna do?” Eva asked.

  “Save her.”

  “Well, yeah but… how?”

  “Well… I’ll figure it out.”

  “Elise, we can’t just go in there without a—” Eva cut herself off as she saw it. We both saw it.

  It came from around the corner without warning, stabbing a sharpened blade of an arm into the shoulder of someone running towards us, before plunging another through their chest, then throwing them to the side.

  It stood at the height of a human, but its body stretched back twice the length. Using six limbs, all ending with blood-stained rose-gold blades, this thing ran from person to person. Its mercury-like tendons and fibres convulsed and twisted as it bounced along the ground and thrust one of its arms into another terrified man.

  It had no obvious head, but it seemed to turn its attention towards us. It looked like it was about to charge. Before we could move, it dashed, striking its blades into the ground with each step. I squeezed my eyes shut. I thought it was all over already, until…

  Clash

  The sound of metal hitting metal. I opened my eyes immediately. It was like it was in slow motion. Clad in full armour, one of the town guards had deflected the creature's strike. They swung a bastard sword up into the air to push its arm the opposite way.

  Without wasting a moment, I grabbed Eva’s hand and ran with the crowd. The creature roared—or at least made a noise that sounded like roaring—as the guard struck it with a downwards swing. It reeled back in pain, before pulling back further to take a final swing at the guard.

  Before I could see any more, we turned into a tight alley, out of sight.

  We emerged on the other side in a small square of sorts, a clock tower marking the north side. Numerous people were running in different directions across the area.

  “This is it!” a familiar voice shouted from near the clock tower.

  An oscillating whistle flew through the air above us, a spinning flash of light accompanying it.

  “Which way now?” Eva shouted over the crowd.

  “That way.” I pointed towards the end of a street near the clock tower.

  The crowd continued to scatter as Eva and I moved through it. Another bolt of light flew through the air, striking the clock tower and sending some debris flying across the square.

  “This is the beginning!” the familiar voice shouted again.

  ‘Who is that?’ I thought.

  Enough of a gap was created in the crowd to see the old man that had given her a key previously.

  “The third judgement is rearing its head over our walls,”

  In the middle of his sentence, a final, much bigger bolt of light pierced the air and went straight through the front of the clock tower. The tower started to destabilise and tip. It was about to collapse.

  “And giving us a taste of the beginning…” he paused. “…of the end!”

  The top of the tower tipped far enough for the clock at the top to come loose, plummeting to the ground at an astounding speed, before it crushed the old man. Loose bricks followed the clock's path before the entire tower collapsed in on itself.

  A cloud of dust quickly filled the square, blinding us both. I coughed and wheezed and waved my arms until I could feel Eva, grabbed her hand again and tried to navigate through the field of smog.

  We both bumped into a few people and waved blindly through the dust, until I hit a wall. Solid brick. I walked to the side while keeping my hand gliding against the wall, following it round a corner, until my sight slowly returned. It wasn’t the street I wanted to be on, but I could turn a corner a few steps away to get there, then we would be close. We did as such, and it was onto the final stretch.

  The place where I stole Callian’s insignia was ahead. The building stood on the corner at the end of the street. The whole street was in darkness due to the storm, but I knew where I was going all the same.

  “How do you know he’s on his own?” Eva asked.

  “His group is small, and full of very selfish and narrow-minded individuals. When they heard the alarm bells sounding, they likely all disappeared while Callian was out to escape.”

  “Okay, and… what do you plan to do about Callian himself?”

  I took a moment to ponder, my emotions welling up inside me at the thought of him taking Maya.

  “I’ll kill that son of a bitch myself if I have to.”

  - - -

  We stood in front of the door. I was still for a while, just letting the events of the last half-day settle in my mind. I remained still, staring at the door as I was stuck inside my mind.

  “Elise?” Eva could clearly see that I was lost in my own head.

  I took a deep breath in, reached towards the door knob, and twisted it.

  It was locked.

  My patience had run out. I took a brief step back, dug my heel into the ground, and kicked the spot next to the lock, leaning in with all my strength. The door gave way and swung open, hitting the wall to its side.

  “Wow. Weak door or strong kick?” Eva asked.

  “Both.”

  Before I took in any of my surroundings inside, I heard a muffled shout vibrate through the ceiling. Upstairs.

  ‘Upstairs.’

  Callian was upstairs. Maya was upstairs.

  I walked through the damp room, towards the stairwell, and Eva followed. Water was dripping from the ceiling and fell into little puddles on the floor. The room stretched across the entire ground floor, and was filled with old discarded furniture, tarnished by the damp, along with rows of wooden pillars that held the leaking ceiling up.

  “I knew I couldn’t trust them! One sign of danger and they go running off like that. Pathetic!” Callian shouted from upstairs.

  It looked like my hunch was correct.

  We reached the stairs. I started to climb each step, one by one, keeping the creaking of the boards to a minimum. Eva followed behind.

  The stairwell was the type that turned one-hundred-and-eighty degrees halfway up. It led up to a single, oddly intimidating wooden door. I walked up the remaining steps, took a breath and opened it slowly.

  Rain poured in through the roof.

  Half of the roof and part of the wall were missing, likely a result of the fight against the Nihil.

  First I saw Callian, pacing back and forth near the broken wall. Then I saw Maya, tied up in rope and kneeling against the opposite wall. Then I saw…

  ‘Shit.’

  One member of his group had stayed behind. This man, standing near to the door and donning a white overcoat, was the first to spot me with his frail eyes.

  “Callian!” the man said.

  Shit.

  Callian stopped pacing and snapped his eyes right on to me. I tensed up in the doorway. My body was telling me to run, but my heart was forcing me to stay—for Maya.

  “Elise!” Maya screamed.

  “Oh, brilliant. Of course you show up as well.” Callian spat.

  I didn’t want to hesitate for even a second. I rushed forward, straight towards Callian. I could hear Eva’s footsteps behind me, presumably aiming for the man in the white coat.

  I sprinted preparing to punch him square in the face. My breath was quick, my heart was pumping, full of adrenaline. I got close, pulled back my fist, and…

  Callian reacted too quickly. He was much taller than me, so his reach was far greater. He reached out and gripped me by the throat.

  I couldn’t feel the ground any more as he squeezed my throat for a short moment, before he threw me to the ground.

  “No!” Maya shouted.

  I saw Eva for a moment being grabbed by the white-coated man, her hands held behind her back.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Before I could do anything else Callian was on top of me, straddling me so I couldn't move. He lifted his fist and brought it down onto my face. Pain shot through my skull. He punched again. And again. I could feel the blood pooling in my nose.

  He hadn’t restrained my arms so, once he had stopped punching and he looked over to Maya, I reached for my pocket and grabbed a veikja stone from my pocket, waited for him to turn back to me, and shoved it in his mouth, before forcing his jaw shut. Then…

  I was unable to use wild magic. I had never been able to since birth—though I hadn’t tried since I was young—so I had to rely on calls to the gods, borrowing magic from the divine rather than gathering it from nature. I had done this earlier to ignite the smoke bomb, but I needed to speak that request aloud to the gods.

  I needed to be quick here. While silent calls for the gods’ energy were difficult, they weren’t impossible. But they required an immense amount of concentration and willpower

  With every part of myself working on the prayer, I called upon the flame goddess once more and, in an instant, ignited the veikja stone.

  Callian immediately stood up and recoiled backwards, flailing his head to and fro as flames flew from his mouth. He cried out in pain, his voice turned from the confident man he was a moment ago, to a shrill screech. He coughed out smoke, kneeling down to catch his breath.

  Before Callian could do anything, I got up onto my feet. I was still dazed from the knocks I took, but I quickly regained my bearings. I looked over to the now scared old man, and ran towards him. He tried to use Eva as cover, but I kicked his knee, knocking him to the ground and giving a swift heel to the back of the head. He was knocked out cold.

  I turned around to face Callian again, but he had recovered quicker than I had hoped. My heart sank when I saw him stood, hunched over with heavy breaths, holding a crossbow. He was aiming at Maya.

  “I’ll say,” Callian began, “that was a good little trick. Shame I’m a little tougher than you expected.”

  I looked towards Maya—tears were streaming down her face.

  “Now…” he pointed the crossbow at me and Eva momentarily, “what should I do with you two? I could just kill you and get on with the job, or…”

  He looked over to Maya, then back at me.

  “No, never mind. It seems your little sister here is the one who inherited the good looks,” he said with a truly vile grin on his face.

  “You—!” I took a step forward, seething with anger.

  “Nuh-uh.” Callian stopped my advance simply by once again aiming the crossbow towards Maya.

  I didn’t know what to do. Plans of action raced through my mind, none of them guaranteeing Maya’s safety.

  Lightning flashed through the wrecked roof followed quickly by the deafening thunder.

  The plan I came up with was a rushed one, and there was no guarantee of success, but I needed to do something quickly before one of us was shot.

  “Callian, please,” I said.

  “Please what?”

  “Just… look at her. She’s my sister, and she’s scared, and no doubt is very confused about everything going on right now.”

  Callian looked over to Maya.

  “Whatever you have planned for her,” I slipped my hand into my pocket while he wasn’t looking and took out the erdstone, concealing it in my closed fist, “she doesn’t deserve it.”

  He looked back over to me.

  “Please. If you’re going to shoot anyone, shoot me. But, just let her go.”

  Just as I wanted, he turned his crossbow over towards me.

  “Why?” he responded, his smile no longer present.

  I looked over to Eva, then to Maya, then finally to Callian.

  “Because…”

  I didn’t end up finishing my reason. Instead, I paused, before whispering the call to the divine.

  I call upon the goddess of flames…

  As soon as I made the call, a huge cloud of black smoke erupted from my hand and immediately filled the entire room. In sync with the eruption, I ducked and sprinted towards Callian.

  I heard his crossbow fire, along with the bolt cutting through the air as it just barely flew by my head.

  I lunged towards him and tackled him to the ground. I heard him drop his crossbow as it slid across the floor behind him, and he hit the ground.

  The smoke was clearing quickly due to the wind and rain, but now the roles had been switched—I was the one pinning him down. I pulled out the knife that had already taken a life that day and held it to his throat.

  “Eva, untie her. Please.”

  And she did as instructed, slowly loosening the knots that kept Maya constrained.

  “Fair play,” Callian chuckled dryly, his throat still clearly sore from the package I gave him.

  My mind was racing, thinking of what to do next. I was never even sure if this plan would work.

  ‘I know what I said before about killing him but, can I really just take his life like that? I know that this same knife already killed one person but, that wasn’t on purpose… it wasn’t my fault. What really happens when you kill someone? When they die…’

  “She’s free.” Eva ripped me out of my spiral of existential thoughts.

  “Thank you. Grab his crossbow and load it. And grab some arrows for the road too.”

  “Alright.”

  She did so, picking up the crossbow, before she walked over to the pile of arrows that lay on a table and took four arrows and stored them in her belt, then finally loaded the weapon with a fifth.

  “Why bother with that? You’re practically already there with that tool in your hand there,” Callian provoked.

  “Shut up,” I spat out in anger.

  Callian simply let out a single wheezy chuckle.

  The click of the crossbow being set rang out.

  “Aim it at him, Eva.”

  Lightning struck again.

  Crackle

  I slowly retracted the knife from his throat and slid it back into my pocket. The soaking floorboards squelched under my feet as I walked over to the discarded rope and picked it up.

  “Oh. I see,” Callian sighed.

  “Keep that crossbow aimed at him,” I called.

  “Mhm,” Eva nodded.

  I approached him, dragged him backwards, and leaned him against the pillar that had previously kept Maya in place, before tying his hands around it.

  I backed away slowly towards the door that Maya and Eva were standing in.

  Before I closed the door on him, I had one more request for the man that had kidnapped my sister…

  “Rot.”

  - - -

  “Maya…” As soon as the door was closed I turned to Maya, tears in my eyes as I crouched down on the stairs and wrapped her in my arms. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Elise, I don’t know what’s happening,” she said, reciprocating my embrace and wrapping her arms around me. I could feel her shaking slightly, from both the cold and nerves.

  “I know, I know…” I said in a poor attempt at reassuring her. “Eva, we’re near the north gate right?”

  “I think so.”

  “We should head there then. Hopefully that area is clear.” I stood and motioned my hand to Maya for her to take hold of it. “Are you okay to walk?”

  “Mhm…” she nodded.

  “Okay. I’ll explain things as we move,” I promised as we got moving down the soggy stairs.

  The bitter cold travelled straight through me, and no doubt the other two as well. I held a firm grip on Maya’s hand as we marched through the storm.

  The sounds of chaos were closer now. Smoke could be seen in the air in flashes as magic flew. Steel on “steel” collisions, buildings crumbling, people screaming in agony. Raine didn’t have a chance; this town was, in effect, already lost.

  “Maya…”

  She looked up at me expectantly from my side.

  “You see… we’re going to need to leave town, and we probably won’t be coming back.”

  Maya didn’t say anything in response, but her head tilted slightly in confusion, inviting more information from me.

  “There are some… bad things, very dangerous things, that are coming through this town. Nihil, they’re called. They’re killing people and destroying everything, so we need to get out of Raine as soon as possible.”

  Maya once again didn’t respond, but turned her head down, as if processing the information.

  “I know it’s very sudden but I need you to stick with me. Okay?”

  She meekly nodded.

  I decided to leave her with that for now until she asked any questions she might have had.

  The dark street left us concealed in shadow, but that also meant that our surroundings were as well.

  The north wall was in sight now, and we were heading down a street with a little bit of light thanks to a few windows of now empty buildings that allowed torchlight to shine through from the inside. Eva was ahead, keeping a steady pace, with me and Maya following shortly behind.

  Eva turned her head round to me, looking at me in the eyes, about to speak. But…

  It happened so quickly, yet it was as if it was in slow motion. A brilliant, shining pole flew from a dark window on the opposite side of the street we were on. A brilliant, shining, rose-gold pole.

  Not a single word escaped Eva’s mouth before that pole—that spear—effortlessly cut the air and pierced her skull. Before I could even recognise what had happened, the spear impacted and stuck into the wall, dragging Eva’s already lifeless head with it, her body following behind like a marionette’s. She hung still, held up by the skull that now wrapped around the glistening pole as blood started to flow out.

  A gut-wrenching scream—Maya’s. Her hand squeezed mine hard enough to usually hurt, but the adrenaline already pumping through me allowed me to ignore it very easily.

  Although it was only for a moment, it felt like I was standing still in shock for minutes as I took everything in. My eyes darted to the side the pole came from. It was dark, I couldn’t see anything. Then my eyes darted to Eva—her body—and clocked the crossbow laying on the ground. Finally I glanced to my side, at Maya, who was as pale as paper, her eyes wider than I had ever seen them before.

  Snapping me out of my stupor, the sound of shuffling furniture sounded from through the window the spear had come from. I stupidly let go of Maya and reached for the crossbow, before aiming towards the window. I hesitated to shoot yet because I still couldn’t see what it was that threw the pole or where it was through the window.

  ‘What if it throws another from the darkness?’ was the thought on the forefront of my mind, but I stood my ground.

  And I was right to do so.

  Slowly but surely, with slow but precise movements, the creature emerged from the window.

  Its torso consisted of two separate sections, with the top section seemingly holding the other in mid-air. Its arms were separated into many small pieces that loosely connected together, but remained apart in the same fashion as the torso. Its head shaped a little like a conch shell, leaning slightly to its right and sporting one horrifyingly piercing eye. Its whole body was constructed of chitinous plates on the top, with the same mercury-like tendons squirming underneath its carapace.

  In one swift motion, the creature stepped through the window and into the dark street to face me. It stood notably taller than me.

  A new rose-gold pole began to form out of its many arm pieces, like the carapace of each pace was melting and casting a new spear. It casually and precisely flipped this newly formed weapon that now sat perfectly in its hand.

  As soon as it turned its beady eye towards Maya, I didn’t hesitate before firing the crossbow. The arrow flew through the air and whistled for a short moment before it hit a spot in the tendons between the plates on its arm. It recoiled slightly, but didn’t show any signs of strong pain. If I wanted to do any real damage I needed to aim somewhere more vital.

  For now though, I needed to guarantee Maya’s safety. I rushed to collect the four spare arrows from Eva’s body. I felt my skin crawl as I did so, but what happened had already happened, I needed to focus on making sure the same fate didn’t come to Maya.

  I thankfully caught the creature’s quick movements as it pulled back its arm in retaliation and threw the spear at the same speed it had previously. I somehow managed to move my head just enough for the pole to barely miss it, grazing my hair instead before it stuck into the wall behind me. While I would have liked to thank my reflexes for this move, the creature's aim was likely just disturbed by the arrow I had plunged in its arm.

  I hurried and, after snatching the arrows in a flash and storing both them and the crossbow under my arm, I used my free arm to hoist Maya up and carry her so that she was over my shoulder.

  I sprinted as fast as I could towards the wall. With both Maya and the crossbow weighing me down, it was difficult, but I still mustered all the strength I could.

  I could hear the creature preparing another projectile to throw and, somehow, I pushed my body to go even further.

  I was so close to turning the last corner to get to the north gate. I heard a whistle approaching fast from behind—a spear.

  ‘No, that’s too quick!’

  I couldn’t reach the corner in time. With no other hope, I did the first thing that came to mind.

  I thrust myself downwards, diving forward as low as I could while Maya was on top of me. I landed harshly on my back as the pole flew at incredible speed overhead and lodged itself into the north wall.

  I scrambled back onto my feet as quickly as I could, allowing Maya to stand on her own before I took her hand and rounded the corner.

  We got close to the gate, this was it. We could finally get out and would be safe. We ran past the tower that supported that gate and…

  ‘What…?’

  This wasn’t right. This wasn’t fair.

  ‘Why isn’t it open?’

  In the wide open area that surrounded the north gate, we were completely and utterly alone. The gate had not been opened, nor was anyone in the towers either side of the gate who could open it.

  I was panicked and scared, and so was Maya.

  I frantically looked around, at Maya, at the gate, at the street we had come from, at the dark open area that surrounded us, and now…

  A back door flew off its hinges and into the dark, open area, before the same creature that so quickly took Eva’s life walked out, tilting its head towards us with its solitary eye almost shimmering in the dim light.

  The eye… I needed to hit its eye!

  I gathered myself as quickly yet carefully as I could as I took an arrow and placed it into its spot atop the crossbow before laboriously pulling back the bolt until it clicked and settled into place.

  I aimed the crossbow at the creature—this Nihil—and held my breath to steady my aim, though my hands were still shaky all the same.

  The creature started to quickly form another spear and lifted it above its head, but before it could proceed any further…

  The arrow flew through the air, right on target. In the blink of an eye, the bolt closed the distance and hit its mark. A clear shot to the eye.

  The creature stumbled back and swayed in place for a moment, before it fell backwards and collapsed onto the floor, unmoving.

  I let out a small sigh of relief, but I could not relax yet. I handed the crossbow and arrows to Maya.

  “Keep hold of these for a second, and load it with another arrow.”

  Maya simply nodded her head in response and waited patiently, though still petrified.

  The rain was suddenly dying down, and the winds were calming, but the sky above remained sinister, with flashes of lightning still frequent.

  I scanned the ground and its debris, before walking over to the house the creature had emerged from. I peered inside, then spotted what I was looking for. Mounted upon the wall was an ornamental—but still very real—steel claymore. I unhooked it and brought it outside in a hurry.

  The rain had stopped.

  I ran over to the split in the two sides of the gate and jammed the claymore between them. I struggled, prying as hard as I could without breaking the huge sword.

  “Come on!” I shouted, my breath was shaky and desperate. “Please!” I pleaded with the inanimate, unmoving and unfeeling slabs of stone with tears now streaming down my face.

  “Elise…” Maya also started to cry again now.

  “COME ON!” I screamed out in anger at the immovable object. I was determined to be the unstoppable force here.

  I heard movement behind me and my whole body tense up and struggled harder against the gates. I turned to look behind me. The creature stumbled up from its temporary setback. The arrow was still embedded in its eye as it used its arms and legs to move and get up.

  Quickly turning around and putting more pressure on the claymore, my heart sank when…

  Shatter.

  I felt my sword give way as half of it moved with my momentum, and the other half stayed lodged between the gates.

  I immediately turned around to face the creature. It seemed blinded and staggered by the arrow, but it could still clearly hear. It could hear the laboured breaths of the two girls standing before it. And with the rain now gone, there was nothing to mask the noise.

  I was frozen. Frozen in fear. And so was Maya.

  The creature reeled its arm back, shaking and wobbly from its lack of sight…

  And threw.

  Through my stomach, straight through to the gate behind me. Just missing my spine, the spear stuck into the useless wall of stone and pinned me there.

  Maya’s face could only be described as mortified. Seeing her in so much mental anguish was perhaps more painful than the spear currently impaling me.

  “C-crossbow…” I coughed out, reaching my hand towards Maya.

  Bless her, she didn’t waste a moment before passing the crossbow to me. I pointed it at the creature once again. I was nauseous from the feeling of the spear in me, but I aimed it, and I aimed it well.

  I needed the biggest stroke of luck in my life to pull this off. It just so happened that this was my lucky moment.

  An arrow once more flew from the crossbow and straight into the eye of the creature again. Since that specific spot was already weakened from the previous arrow, this one went straight through with almost no resistance.

  It collapsed, this time differently from before. This time was clearly its final moment. Even in my sickened state I could still tell that.

  “Maya…”

  “No… No, no! NO!” Maya didn’t know what to do.

  I gave the softest smile I could muster. And reached out to touch her cheek.

  “Maya… Go to the east gate…”

  “N-no!”

  “Please. I need you to be safe. I-I…” I coughed. “I would rather my journey end here so long as yours continues…”

  “I-I can’t just—”

  I gave her a stern look that cut her off. “East gate… Go now, or I’ll haunt you.” I tried to give a small laugh but only ended up coughing more, each involuntary muscle movement shooting pain up my torso. “Please… for your big sis…”

  The next minute or so was spent with her trying to build up the strength to leave me. She finally ended up departing with a ‘See you soon.’. Better than a final goodbye I thought.

  I spent the next few minutes in agony, unsure of what to do.

  Did I just end it with my knife?’ Just speed up the process?

  Exactly what I didn’t want to happen, however, happened.

  I saw its silhouette across the empty space ahead of me. A hulking mass of the too-familiar mercurial tendons. It walked towards me, eventually stopping in front of me. It waited a moment, watching me writhe in pain as I looked back up at it with blurry vision.

  Suddenly, it gripped me with one huge hand by my shoulder and pulled. It pulled me from the spear as I felt every bump travel through my body in excruciating pain, before it held me up in the air.

  It shook me around a little with no effort, before it used its other arm to grab mine.

  Was this thing just trying to make my end as painful as possible?

  I was, sadly, correct.

  It pulled as hard as it could on my arm. It wasn’t long until I could feel the joints breaking and pulling apart, the flesh, sinew and tendons beneath my skin ripping apart, before…

  I couldn’t feel most of my body at this point. I just wanted it to be over.

  The creature appeared to throw me into the side of a building where I heard a crack that didn’t come from the thing I had hit. My spine had taken the hit. All feeling was gone along with my sight.

  The last thing I sensed was the sound of the creature's footsteps approaching, and then…

  Nothing.

  - - -

  Still nothing. It felt like forever. A forever spent in nothingness. No sight, feeling, hearing, only the emotions I had felt just before I had stopped being. That feeling of utter agony of the mind, lasting for an eternity. And yet, in an instant…

  Wet.

  It felt wet. And cold. I was laying down in a shallow pool, under a sky of pure nothing. The ground underneath the water was textureless, it was like there was no floor at all. But if that was the case, then what was I laying on?

  None of my questions mattered at that point except one.

  How?

  I had just presumably died. So then how was I here? Wherever here was. Was this the afterlife? Had I been sent to Ucryk? So many questions flew through my head, yet none went answered.

  I lay still, motionless, for what seemed like a while, but could have been any amount of time. I finally decided to move.

  I begin with turning my head. Nothing but darkness either side. Then I tensed my whole body as I turned onto my front to stand up. I was aching and my sense of direction was shot, but considering what I had just been through, they were welcome feelings.

  Suddenly I had to snap my eyes shut as a blinding light enveloped the infinite pool of water I found myself in.

  “ELISE.”

  ‘I recognise that voice. That spine-chilling voice.’

  That voice I had quickly come to loathe. Of course the goddess of death was the reason for my continued living.

  I raised my arm to shield myself from the glaring light that had now presented herself as I slowly opened my eyes.

  “ELISE.” she said once again. “YOU HAVE THE SEED. THE SEED OF ALTER—”

  “Yes.” I interrupted the goddess. “I am aware of whatever you gave me.” I was in no mood to deal with anything cryptic at the moment. Too many unexplainable things had happened already, and I was exhausted. “So what is it? Why am I still alive?”

  “THE SEED WILL SWAP YOUR INEVITABLE FATE WITH WHOMEVER IS DEEMED CLOSEST TO YOU. UPON LEAVING HERE, YOU WILL BE REBORN ONCE AGAIN, AT A COST.”

  “What do you mean ‘at a cost’?”

  “AS SAID: THE SEED WILL SWAP YOUR INEVITABLE FATE WITH WHOMEVER IS DEEMED CLOSEST TO YOU.”

  “Yes I know that… I—”

  My heart practically stopped when I figured it out.

  “Closest to me!?” I screamed. “Who!?”

  “YOUR SISTER. SHE WAS THE CLOSEST TO YOU, AND AS SUCH, YOUR FATES WERE SWAPPED.”

  I had no words. I marched forwards in pure seething rage, but my feet stopped working. I was paralysed.

  “THE SEED IS A BLESSING.”

  “Bullshit!” I spat. “How is this a blessing!? You’re saying she would’ve survived if you hadn't stepped in! Why would you do this to me!?”

  The goddess took a moment to answer.

  “BECAUSE YOU AND I BOTH DESIRE THE SAME OUTCOME. YOU, HOWEVER, ARE STILL YET TO DISCOVER THAT DESIRE.”

  I didn’t have time to answer back. Everything went dark. I felt nothing again. Endless nothing.

  Then…

  Sleep.