Near the End

“Enza, are you around?” Kristel asked while chasing down the injured Forest Jaws. She heard a bark which gave her much needed relief. The Princess wasn’t new to fighting on her own, but comparing a one-on-one battle with a fellow knight in training or a lone skirmish with bandits to a fight to the death with a pseudo-dragon the size of twenty to thirty houses made all that experience amount to nothing.

Katherine fought these things on a regular basis, she told herself before amending the fact that that was before she left Seeking.

“Wait.” Another thought came to mind. “Can you understand me, Enza?”

Another bark.

“Two barks.”

The invisible yuma barked twice.

The astonishment caught Kristel off-guard that she almost didn’t realize the Forest Jaws had taken a turn. Two things simultaneously went through her head. First, the Nightmare was going in circles, making sure it didn’t run too far away from the larger one or The Mist. Second, Enza could understand her.

Yumas understood the ideas, feelings, and intentions of their bonded partner, not necessarily their language. At least, not a few days after birth. In fact, Enza’s growth was an absolute mystery to Kristel. Was it because of Frein’s meiyal working on their bond?

Suddenly it clicked. Frein could understand meiyal-attuned creatures. Maybe their bond gave Enza that same ability.

While Kristel entertained the thought of further studying the connection between Frein and Enza, the Jaws Lurking in the Forest slowed down. It reached out on a tree and ripped it off its roots, throwing it at the Princess’s direction.

She flipped over the massive, improvised projectile and used its trunk as a jumping platform. She twirled mid-air and casually tossed a meiyal blade in front of her. Trained and practiced, this high-velocity move positioned the conjured blade at the apex of her spin. Kristel kicked it with emphasized Siffera.

The meiyal blade shot straight and true, piercing the Forest Jaws’ left eye.

The Nightmare reeled back from the pain, allowing the Princess to catch up. Kristel didn’t know Ferenfra and while this was the original form of Diferenfra, she didn’t have enough time to speculate on how to Draw it. Without thinking twice, she splurged her meiyal and Drew the Art she knew.

She conjured a conflagration from both hands, drowning the Forest Jaws in flames. The screams—a cacophony of high-pitched screeches—of the Nightmare assaulted her ears. It sounded like thousands of children burning at the same time. Guilt urged her to stop, but Kristel endured and maintained her Art, wishing for the screams to end right away.

They’re not real, they’re not real. It was getting increasingly difficult to convince herself.

A giant tail emerged from the flames and thrashed at her small frame. Kristel was too preoccupied with Diferenfra and fending off the guilty screams that she couldn’t emphasize her Siffera on time.

The impact instantly shattered her consciousness. Kristel slammed on tree after tree as the force sent her flying limp and uncontrolled. She flipped multiple times dangerously mid-air before crashing full-stop on a small hill. Air left her, and Siffera waned. A shot of pain sizzled around her left thigh, and she felt something wet drip from it and her head.

Kristel’s blurry vision slowly focused. She stabilized her Siffera and shot herself awake with the enhancement Meiyal Art. The pain didn’t subside. With considerable pain and effort, she looked down and saw horror.

Her left knee twisted the opposite way. It was a red, bloody mess and a part of her femur protruded out of her skin. She couldn’t move her left shoulder either. When she tried, it flared with pain. The signals were all over the place that she only noticed a sharp branch stabbing the right of her stomach when her right arm—a functioning, normal arm—grazed over it.

Art fatigue was close. Small trails of smoke had formed from the meiyal core of her chest and the marks trailing at her back.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

The worst of it all was the recovered eyes of the Jaws Lurking in the Forest glaring at her from a distance. It stood still and simply stared at her.

The sound of barks pierced through the ringing noise Kristel didn’t notice until now. Something invisible nudged at her, causing her to wince in pain. The invisible Enza started to whine.

“Get out of here,” Kristel said weakly.

When the yuma melded out of her Nature’s Favor and turned to face the Nightmare, the Princess knew she was as stubborn as her master.

“Leave, Enza. You have to warn Katherine.”

The yuma refused. She widened her stance and started to growl. The distant Forest Jaws remained unfazed. Acid started to drip from its sideways maw.

Kristel noticed something move on her side. It pained her to shift, but she fought through it and turned her neck. She could see a giant bone daintily lowering itself on the ground like a giant spider leg. Not long after, the upside-down body of Those That Fell Off a Cliff appeared in her periphery. The deformed form of a smiling dwarf stared at her with one missing eye. It slowly lowered itself to closely look at her.

Smiling. No, wrong. The lower half—now the top due to orientation—of its face was missing.

Kristel’s heart raced. She thought Katherine took care of all of them. She missed one?

The Fallen raised its jaw, wider than the Princess’s head. The stink of refuse and rot caused her stomach to lurch as it drew closer.

Kristel couldn’t move. It was taking her all to feed Siffera to stave off the onset of excruciating pain and keep herself conscious. The mere action dragged her closer to Art fatigue. All she could do was watch the Fallen grab her head into one mouthful of darkness.

The jaw slowly closed. She could feel the teeth pressing on the front and back of her neck. The slimy tongue lapped around her face, violating her skin and hair. It salivated profusely, dripping down her neck, to her shoulders, to her chest, her stomach.

Kristel couldn’t think of anything but her end. Her life, her decisions. A faint emptiness flashed as she recalled her memories. Something was missing. But there was no use exploring that now. One final snap and her head would fall into the bowels of this Nightmare.

Then it stopped.

Carefully, Those That Fell Off a Cliff propped her head back outside its maw, using its tongue to orient her neck properly forwards. Smiling—somehow, this time she was sure—it menacingly turned one eye from her to Enza.

The yuma was preoccupied staring down the Forest Jaws to notice the threat behind her.

The Nightmare turned back to Kristel once more, as if to telegraph its intentions, before stalking forward. Its gigantic ribcage legs daintily stepped.

Enza, run! Only then did the Princess realize she was paralyzed. She couldn’t even produce any sounds of struggle. It could’ve only been the saliva, but Kristel couldn’t care less. She struggled with all her might. Muscles flexed, meiyal surged, Siffera emphasized to its limits. She rode the waning adrenaline to ignore the flaring pain of broken, crushed bones.

Nothing. She could only stare and weep as the Fallen inched closer to the unaware yuma. Kristel wished it was her instead. She deserved it. Weak as she was, it was only right for her life to be taken away. She couldn’t bear to see someone else die in front of her.

“It’s like a nightmare.”

The voice leaked out. At this desperate moment, it chose to rub salt on her wounds.

“What do you want?” Kristel asked…finally.

“Your help.”

“Your life.”

“Your Destiny.”

“Screw destiny. If I tie my destiny with yours, more people will die.”

“It’s for the good—”

“No. Get lost.”

Silence.

Those That Fell Off a Cliff reared, raising three of its five skeletal limbs to pounce at the would-be victim. Enza finally noticed but she was too late.

The Fallen struck down. The Forest Jaws unleashed a stream of acid at the same time.

Kristel closed her eyes, accepting death. At least, like this, she wouldn’t die alone. She regretted the fact that Enza had to be involved, it was a shame to fail and disappoint all those that trusted her. She regretted not knowing who killed Liona, or even attending her Ritual of Peace.

At least disintegrating in acid was a mercy compared to living as a Nightmare.

At least…

She was still alive.

Kristel opened her eyes to see a figure clad in black smoke standing between her and an unconscious Enza. She saw the last vestiges of the Fallen as it was absorbed into the mysterious person.

There was no acid.

No Jaws Lurking in the Forest.

“Accept this as a gesture of thanks, Monarch Kristel Irista. If Frill and the rest failed to trust my letters, we probably would’ve never met. So, this one time, please allow me to help you. I’ve failed her once with Liona. I won’t do that again.”

Multiple voices shrouded this person’s true identity. The smoke was abundant enough to hide the posture, the stature, even the body structure.

The intruder produced a small vial. Its contents swirled in rainbow colors, not quite combining in a single solution. With masterful meiyal control, the stranger levitated it towards the Princess and opened it.

“I suggest you drink this, Monarch. You may not trust the voices, not now not ever, but you can trust me.”

“I don’t.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

Princess Kristel felt an intangible grip lift her head and force her mouth to open. Powerless, she was forced to drink the solution. The surge of immense power brought her consciousness to the brink of collapse.

“Mill and integrate the materials, Monarch. When you’re done, your injuries would’ve healed. Let Enza lead you back to Frein. He…might need your help.”

Kristel’s dark blue eyes rolled backwards and her consciousness was dragged haphazardly towards her Exhibit.

The meiyal-charged materials inside wreaked havoc.

Chapter 29...con't