The shadow of a lone woman billowed within the dissonant winds. Covered in scars, she stared grimly at the rippling waves of wickedness that eclipsed the world. Dark tendrils spread across the atmosphere, dissolving, corrupting, choking the essence of lifeforce from the planet’s very core. Reaching further into the sky, they swallowed what remained of the light. This world, once vibrant and full of wonder, now stood as the final battlefield of the fated.

She drew a breath. Trillions of them known by many names, the fallen, devourer of worlds… it didn’t matter. This ending would be the last.

“Attack!!”

At that moment, the darkness fell upon them. Like a flock of birds, they dove and rapidly spread across the remnants of the fallen horizon. The planet trembled and nightmare-inducing screams haunted the innocence of night. Deafening roars of cannonfire fell, trails of smoke and flame scorching, screaming their desire for death.

She watched as shells torpedoed through the swathes, cutting through the darkness of terrors as if they were sheets of thin paper. Abyssal blood spilled into the skies, the acrid liquid coming down like mist, burning the darkened soil of the earth.

The woman waited for a signal, and a heavy, distinct sound shrieked into the air. The sound, all too familiar, sparked an electrifying reaction within her mind. The blade at her waist ignited and all that were of the sickening heavens held their breath.

Her form spiraled, silver blade condemning those to hell as the name of slaughter cried out. Blood splattered on her face, the acidic poison burning her flesh and lungs. Yet the pain only served its purpose as a spiteful fuel. Her speed exploded and a burst of energy rippled outwards of her being. All that was around her detonated within the blast, but the creatures surrounded her in an instant. Even when they were cut down, millions at a time, there was no end to their onslaught.

They didn’t have a sense of death.

As the battle raged, the woman’s bones started to feel the slightest bit of aching. Her blade had already grown dull, and her body was slick with the blood of both her allies and the enemy. Arrows, cannons, spells whistled through the air, but the noises were drowned out by the thrumming drums of her heartbeat. She glanced down at her hands, the blood of her allies darkened her already blackened soul. And once again, they had paid her price.

It was numbing.

Her gaze turned to the sky, and it was then that crimson painted her sights red. There was a cold feeling ripping through her abdomen, and her dimming blue eyes slowly dropped.

“No…”

Impaling through bone and flesh was a blade that had penetrated through her heart. The woman’s knees lost strength, and her body fell forward. She felt herself sliding off the coldness of the steel before pitifully slamming against the ocean of blood that had flooded the planet. Her vision blurred, swimming, and the cold started to spread like a vindictive venom.

A single, desperate and anguished cry tore through the fading silence. She was just barely able to see the owner of the voice appearing in a flash of light, slamming into her attacker—a being derived from void. She felt his surging rage emitting from his fists, every impact sending quakes rolling across the earth. Until finally, with a flash of red lightning the creature disintegrated into a miasmic ash.

The man’s face was akin to a demon’s as he crouched down next to her. Her lips moved, but no sound was emitted, only the faint breath of a broken promise hung with a bowed head. His cruel eyes softened, but they once again shriveled into murderous beads when they came upon her broken heart.

“...I’m sorry.”

The woman shuddered, her frail form shaking as her soul started to admit its final farewell. The man clenched his hands, the skin on his knuckles ripping apart from the pressure. He picked her up, and the world came to a blur around them. Several seconds passed before she was laid gently on the ground, far from the climax of the battle. He swept the hair out of her eyes, locking eyes with her blue orbs but for a moment.

And with that, he was gone. The woman gazed at his fading figure, bolting into the hellscape of war without so much as a single shred of hesitation. A trembling hand trailed after him before it too… fell.

***

“How long has it been?”

The tiniest of murmurs left her mouth.

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The blood covering her body had completely dried up, but she was surprised to feel that her torn heart was still beating. Her bones creaked as she lifted her head, raising her eyes to the skies. The sight could only be described as cruel. Yellow rays of warmth brushed against her cheeks as if to say ‘Well done.’ But the embering smoke rising into the air told otherwise.

“Is anyone there?”

She mumbled, but the only reply was the constant ringing of the notifications in her mind.

[Warning, Health is Critically Low.]

[Death is imminent]

It seemed that her regeneration had barely kept her from falling over the brink of death. Still, wouldn’t it be better to just lay down and die?

Her body felt weak, as if a single step would cause her to crumble. But nevertheless, she forced herself to her feet. As her muscles worked, blood rose from her stomach, welling into her throat and she coughed out a mouthful of darkened blood. Her arteries had ruptured, and the pain from simply standing caused a brutal nausea to flood her head.

‘Endure it!’

The woman bit into her lip, drawing blood as beads of sweat dripped from her pale face. Whatever the outcome was, she had to know the truth when she had been unconscious. Her blurred vision swept the battlefield, but the only sight was ashes, corpses and blood. The mountains that had once held up the horizon had all but collapsed, while the oceans had might as well dried up.

Not a single shred of life remained.

A pitiful chuckle left her lips. She wanted to lie down… anything to escape this twisted victory. The pain didn’t matter anymore, laughing only exemplified it, but at least that was better than bearing the thoughts of her tortured mind.

The woman took a step forward, almost collapsing as her legs threatened to give. She released a long drawn out breath and leaned against a nearby corpse.

“I’m just so tired…”

At this point, she wanted nothing more than to close her eyes, allowing nature to take its proper course of action. But there was something… something odd that tugged at her mind. Her eyes seemed to wander aimlessly before a feeling dragged her gaze towards a kneeling corpse not a little far away.

It was the man who had saved her. She didn’t know who it was, and she had never seen him before, but there was something that drew her towards him. Her body staggered forward and tears ebbed from her eyes, robbing her sight. She used her dullen blade as a crutch, and it wasn’t long before she made out his silhouette through the somber veil.

“Five more steps…”

Although, her consciousness started to fade. The strength left her limbs, while her soul desperately hung from a single thin strand of life. Her throat started to tighten, but she pressed on and collapsed to her knees before the man.

The state he was in was disgusting, almost to the point where she would be forced to avert her eyes. But she placed a hand on his shoulder just as her body started to fade away.

“Good job…”

Her whisper was so faint that it was barely there.

“I’m proud of you,” she touched his cheek. “Really.”

With those final words, her eyes squeezed shut, only to open with a gasp as an excruciating force clamped down on her wrist. The man’s eyes shot open, blood-shot and wild. He stared directly into her eyes, or rather, something that was beyond.

“Asriel!” He roared.

The woman stared at the man in confusion, but he didn’t seem to notice her at all. It was almost as if she was… invisible. Whatever capability that enabled her to think struggled to comprehend, but an eerie chill settled down her spine. Something was terribly wrong.

{It is impolite to keep the dead waiting.}

A massive presence emerged into existence behind her and an overwhelming dread obliterated her shattered mind. The pressure crashed down upon her shoulders, eliciting a soundless scream from her throat. But the only reason why she hadn’t vanished into nothingness, was the hand wrapped around her wrist.

The man released a mocking laugh as blood spurted from his orifices.

“Hah… so you are there,” he whispered. “Then that means you remember your promise.”

The woman tried to shy away from the man. Everything was wrong, she should’ve been dead. So why? The skin crumbled from the man’s face like a shedding insect. His tone changed, the aura exuding from his broken figure multiplying by the thousands.

“Again I ask. Your promise.”

The silence was deafening, but a gust of wind billowed.

{No matter what you do. You cannot escape fate.}

The voice sneered and the man’s face stiffened. The rage that had previously been instilled within him emerged once again.

“Fate!?” he snarled and spat out blood. “You sit atop your lofty stars and dare talk about fate. Asriel, when have you ever been so selfish.”

However, the presence’s tone darkened into a goading threat.

{Selfishness?}

The single word echoed in the woman’s mind, ripping her consciousness apart.

{A man like you should know better than to utter that word. Your folly has already doomed us all.}

The voice grew enraged and the ground quaked. The strength surrounding the man left him and his grip on the woman’s wrist softened.

{Seeking for meaningless emotions, you have condemned us all. You are nothing but a traitor.}

“...”

The woman looked at him as his head fell, a single tear leaked from his pupil and fell to the ground uselessly.

“I just wanted… I just…”

He stared directly into the woman’s eyes and a strained smile came to his lips. A somber sadness descended upon the atmosphere, and the pressure the unknown presence was emitting alleviated slightly.

{Enough. I hope that you will fulfill your side… else there will be no more.}

The presence stroked the woman’s back, but it was at that moment that the woman’s arm grew limp. Her body ceased to respond to its commands, falling backwards with the only support being the man’s hold. Her hearing went dull, unable to understand the movements of the man’s lips.

{It seems that it is time.}

A golden light began to shine within the man’s body, and a lone voice’s wish which spanned beyond imagination was finally heard.

{Heed well, old friend. The stars command the wheel. When the time comes, do not hesitate.}

The pulsating light slowly began to envelop the woman’s fading corpse. The faint hum grew monochrome as the cycles came and went.

{Maybe one day, this will all end…}

With a laugh, tears that would have fallen, ceased to shed.