Oracion's POV

"54...55" I whisper under my breath, leaning to the side to avoid the spilled blood of these Shadows.

"62...65" How hard is it to slice their buttery flesh? A resistance that's comparable to stone, that's what I'm told.

"88...93" I've been doing this...for too long...with far too little questioning.

"95...99" I barely get praised, nonetheless thanked for even being out here. Fighting these unpredictable creatures that spawn from behind the curtain lining the sky. Fighting with my life on the line each and every single time that I leave my home, my friends, my lover, all of it behind me.

I watch as one tries to straggle away with its half its body removed, "I want to know" I murmur. Stabbing it's skull and driving my sword into the stone. "And I want this to stop." I continue, twisting it to ensure it's dead.

"Oracion!" A voice belts through my ears, feeling like a pole to the head as I slightly lose my balance from the sudden volume.

"Hmm..." I try to answer, turning to face where I last placed Indura, only to see him beside Requis.

"What happened?" She asks with clear worry in her voice.

"I tried...I really did." I pull my sword from the ground, about to sheath it but I notice one more walking beside me as if trying to blend in with me. "Bu-" I slash its arms off, surprisingly interrupted by Indura.

"He protected me, it was my fault she grabbed me." He explains.

Requis' eyes widen in surprisal as she realises what he's implying, "A Shadow? She? Was it that defined in terms of detail?"

"I've never seen one like it, but it managed to carry him through the Veil." I continue, causing her to hold him tighter. "Once again, I'm sorry." I finish killing the final Shadow, forcing it to drop with one last croak from its voice box as its body begins to disintegrate into the sky along with the rest.

Her face softens up, "Don't be, if it was anyone els-"

"What!?" Akira shouts from behind her, followed by the rest of my group.

"I-" Letha attempts to speak but yet another interrupts her, followed by another...and another. All beginning to separate as they walk across my zone full of broken stone pits and broken down bodies.

"Why are there so many?" A man called Leo, asks me.

His question piles onto my own, something I can't answer so I quite frankly just ignore him.

"You killed all of these?" Akira questions, poking some with his sheathed sword.

"Indura helped." I explain, quickly gesturing to the boy before dropping my hand from the lack of energy.

"I-killed two...ever since she grabbed me, you kept me behind you. You barely let a single one even cross the Veil before killing it." He honestly admits.

"You still helped, you gave me a reason to fight this time, so thanks." I rub his head before moving behind Requis in order to leave the decimated area. "Talk to Ira about later tonight, I've already informed Freya and she said she's in."

"Already done, he jumped to it immediately." She quickly responds. Lingering her eyes as she expects Indura to ask about joining I presume. But the boy remains silent, practically glued to her side.

I briefly look amongst us, noticing some injuries or fatigued filled individuals as they lean on each other for support, "We're leaving, move" I don't bother to shout to the others, knowing they're definitely listening to me. With the way they're all staring at me, I'd be surprised if they'd even let me breathe without kicking off of the ground in a fright.

-

The way home was quiet, the air filled with nothing more than the sounds of our feet connecting to the ground. None of their usual sly remarks or jokes targeted at me, for once...it felt like we were actually a group.

"How many was it on your side this time?" I ask Requis.

Unlike the rest, she jumps to the question with actual energy. "More than last time, but still...not nearly as many as yours."

"I see" I quickly comment, unbothered by the consistent trials I'm forced to face unlike the rest.

Upon our entrance to the village, the gates open to welcome us, following the faces of those that previously said goodbye. Mothers, daughters, fathers and sons, running past me to greet those who came back in order to tend the possible wounds on them.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I continue walking, unable to have anyone to greet me as Freya's probably busy with her own. "I'll meet you guys later around here, check in on Ira and make sure we're all up to the task." I inform Requis with a faint smile.

"I-" She tries to reach out but pauses as if not knowing what to say next when I turn my back to her.

"Thank you!" Indura shouts through the crowd of people swallowing the two.

The words were so simple, and yet the meaning felt sincere enough for me to preserve it for eternity. A couple of words that my ears often don't get to hear, an appreciation. I didn't turn to respond to him, the people surrounding them would just drown out my voice. But I hope he knows that I indeed heard it.

We leave during the day, fighting till dusk and sleep within the night. Or at least that's what I'm supposed to be doing, and yet...here I am, making my way towards Xandier's home to ask a few more questions. I look down at my flesh, lining it with my hand as I try to feel my own face from the blistering cold air.

'I've protected what I promised, I've protected the place I call home and the people that acknowledge me. I've done more than one man should be able to.' I begin to think to myself, gradually zoning out as I walk down this path. 'So why...do I not even feel the slightest bit tired?' I ask knowing my body most certainly shouldn't be feeling such liberation.

A sudden thud brings me back as I look up a little bit to see Xandier looking down at me, "You were coming to me I presume?" He asks while readjusting his long-sleeved shirt.

"I was." I simply answer.

"This way then?" He gestures for me to enter his home just ahead of him.

I push the door open, noticing it's already creaked open from him probably coming out and causing me to bump into him. I look around the expansive house, shelves decked with literature and drawings he's collected or made himself throughout life. I stand in the middle of the room, waiting for him to enter and as he does, he locks the door behind him.

"So?" He places the key on the holder along the wall.

"Why am I being sent to an area with such a high amount of Shadows, alone?" I immediately jump to the issue on my mind.

He walks down a hall, leaning against his desk as I follow him in. "Because I trust you." He responds, answering but not satisfying my question.

"So what do you want me to do? Kill everything that takes a waltz through that Veil?"

"If that's what needs to be done." He again, quickly responds, quite frankly annoying me.

"Why...do you trust me. Why not Aeron? The older, stronger sibling of the two?" I ask to confirm.

"Because it has to be you, you're stronger." He smirks, not understanding the boiling blood that's gushing within me.

"XANDIER!" I shout while placing a foot closer to him, forcing him to take some kind of reaction as he unfolds his arms. "What would of happened if I didn't protect Indura in time!?"

"Are you actually Oracion?" He randomly throws in.

"What does that even mean!? Why do you have so much faith in me!?"

He looks away, no longer able to meet my own eyes.

I take a breath, "Letha." I simply state.

"What about her?" He jumps to the name.

"When I left the Veil briefly, she forgot about me...entirely. What is this thing Xandier!?" I stand just two feet away from him, feeling a vein in my neck about to burst.

He scoffs, getting up and just grazing my shoulder before handing me a bright red book from under his desk. "Memories are a fickle thing, Oracion." He places the thick paged object onto the wooden surface, slapping my hand away as I try to reach for it.

"Not yet, I'll let you read it once you come back from the Ruins tonight." He explains.

"And why not now?"

"I have some private stuff in there, I need to emotionally prepare for someone to just enter my old thoughts, sorry if that's too much to ask for." He sits down, folding his legs on the table beside the book.

We both wait in silence for a moment before a thought buzzes to my head, "I told Indura the story you once told me" I sit across from him in the free chair.

"Which? I've lived through a lot." He smiles at the mention of himself.

"The monster made up of stars?" I quote.

"Hmmm" He hums a bit, swaying on the chair before responding. "No, I don't recall that one ever being true." He states with confidence, placing his legs back onto the floor and folding his arms on the table.

"Are you sure?" I want to confirm.

His face drops a little bit, resting on something rather...sad. "If I'm being honest." He slaps his hand onto the book, "I tried reading this back...or rather I continue to read this back-even adding to it with new entries. But no matter how many times I re-read the stories, experiences or even glance at the images I drew within, I don't remember them. Much less does it even look like they were mine to begin with."

"What?" I lean closer to the book with an unexplained interest.

"The faces of the people within the book, they've been scratched out by someone...something...possibly even by myself, some fresh enough to be hours old. But that begs the question, Oracion." He looks towards me with a stern gaze. "What is it that I'm trying to forget? What is it that I'm so scared about? Why is my own body forcing me to look the other way from something that's right in front of me?"

He fires questions back to me, each filled with a dense hollow that subsides the previous rage I held.

"What about the tre-"

"Oracion?" Freya walks into Xandier's office, seemingly undetected by us two.

Xandier squints his eyes to examine her body, "How'd...you broke my door, didn't you, Freya?" Finding the door knob within her hand.

"No it fell off, here." She calmly walks up to him, placing it in his open palm as he sighs. "Aeron could probably help you to fix it" She advises, tugging on my arm as if to encourage me to stand up.

We make our way through his home, hearing him speed off his chair in order to catch up with us. His front door wide open with a breeze that reaches deep within the warm corners of heat, one look at Xandier's face confirms the same thought that we refuse to speak into reality. 'She broke it intentionally' The mental facepalm written over his face as the door lays along the wall, off the hinges and a gap where the door knob should be.

"Freya..." I sigh.

"Ya?" She yips

"How did you even do this without us hearing?" I point to the door.

"It almost fell on me so I caught it and placed it there, must of been old." She explains, leaning to pretend to examine it.

"Freya...the door opens inward to the home, how would it of fallen on you from the outside." Xandier points out.

"I know right!? Crazy!" She acts shocked, cupping my hands and taking me out of his home. Leaving Xandier to face his door with a disappointed look.

"Good luck down there." He comments without looking at me directly.

"Thanks." I respond just before cutting eye contact with him.

We'll take a little break...then to the ruins it is.