A dark abyss filled with screams of agony, as a raging fire burns out,

Some would call that hell,

But for the ones within that abyss

They call it home.

Slash!

A dagger grazes my shoulder, I just barely manage to avoid being hit,

Whack!

My bow hits squarely on the attacker’s head, they stumble backward as blood starts spilling out,

Whack!

I hit them again

Whack!

Whack!

Thump!

Thump!

The foe slumps to the ground, blood gushing from their head, barely breathing.

…..?

Lyra looks queryingly at me

“I ran out of arrows.”

…..

“I think that was all of them.”

We both look at our surroundings,

Bodies, lay still and bloodied,

Some unconscious,

Some dead.

“Unbelievable,” Lyra mutters

“How could this have happened?

The queen assured us that the only ones who can enter and leave here at will is us, who has the key.”

“Something doesn’t feel right about this,” I say looking at a plume of smoke off in distance.

“I’ve been thinking about that priest said, back up there, about his objective being complete

This was planned-”

BOOM!

A loud explosion reverberates through the void, catching our attention,

“Karina went that way,” Lyra points out, immediately sprinting in that direction,

I follow behind trying to match her pace,

“I was under the assumption that you didn’t like Karina?”

…. She mumbles something under her breath

“What?”

“JustbecauseIdon’tlikeherdoesn’tmeanIdon’tcare” She rambles quickly continuing on,

(This girl)

Looking behind us I watch the bodies one more time, people who lived down here killed from the ones above,

And them,

Killed by Lyra

Killed by me,

A girl who thinks she can’t feel and another who feels everything at once, both fight now for people who by all means we should not care about,

Even as I hear the traumatizing screams echoing from all directions, I’m unaware of how I should feel about it,

These are people dying after all.

……

A tower of fire burns at the end of a trail, scorched corpses line the path as the fire slowly consumes every house nearby,

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“I feel the heat from here,” Lyra pants

We stand at beginning of a familiar trail,

Club Hedon.

Once a building illuminated by colors filled with ‘happiness’ in contrast to the dark houses before it,

Now illuminated by blazing flames, that share its light with the other houses,

Only this light does not share happiness,

Only death.

As we contemplate approaching a slim figure slowly stumbles away from the site,

Lyra hurries towards them at once,

Karina.

At the front of the partially destroyed club Hedon two parties argue,

“We are the disciples of the holy city” a man dressed in knights armor states

“We mean no harm to you only to purge this place once and for all, we have come,”

“How dare you lunatics” attack us Tori steps forward,

“Our boss may not be here, but we are still the ‘sewer rats’

A name you gave us mind you!” Tori arms her whip, lightning cackling form it,

The other members gather behind her facing the group of ‘disciples’

Stab!

A spear penetrates one member directly through his skull in an instant,

“Zack!” Someone wails

“We mean no harm,” the knight repeats himself

“Dedicate yourself to us, and all will be forgiven, there is still time,”

Fire ball barrage!

The sewer rats, adamantly refusing his offer let out an onslaught of magic attacks in response,

The two sides clash,

One by one members from each side drop down …

“Dedicate yourarghhh!” The knight tries speaking but someone silently comes up from behind piercing a dagger into the back of his throat,

“Leader!” Tori exclaims at the sight of Karina, “are you o-”

boof!

A small explosion blasts Karina backwards,

The main brunt of the explosion hits the rest of the ‘disciples’ killing them,

“Shit!” A voice frets,

“I missed!”

“Leader are you ok?” Tori rushes towards her, the other members stay in front the club on guard for the mysterious attacker

Karina nods,

“The blast mostly missed me; what kind of psycho kills his own people?”

“Kakakakkaka!” the voice cackles, its location still unclear,

“That was only a waring blast,

There is still time to joins us after all,

You woman with the whip,

I know all you seek is validation, from someone of power,

Dedicated yourself to us and the highest being of existence will validate you!

There is still time,”

“You think I would betray my people!

For your pathetic lies!” Tori growls

“No, I’m offering you a chance to truly be happy, I have told no lies,

Ask you so-called leader, she’s seen our God, and fought him even.”

“Boss?”

“Don’t listen to him Tori, or any of you, he offers nothing but death!”

Tori looks at Karina skeptically,

We have followed you from day one without ever knowing how you looked, or who you were, there is nothing anyone could tell, or show us that would change our loyalties.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that~” the voice sings,

BOOM!

Before anyone could react, a massive explosion engulfs the area

Bloodcurdling screams echo from within flames,

Everyone burns, except for one,

Karina watches on as the fires conveniently burn around her

“Tori!” Karina yells

“She’s going to meet God now,” the voice whispers directly into her ear,

Karina quickly turns around only to face a wall of flames,

Aghh! she pulls back, the flame slightly scorches her face and hair,

“I’ll be seeing you around, or maybe not,” the voice laughs drifting away in the flames,

Karina stands silent surrounded by the fire, a woman not driven by things such as morality or empathy, she does nothing but watch the flames,

She could end it all right now, jump into the blaze, but her convictions are simple,

‘Do what I desire’

What is desirable about death?

She stands still watching the fire, listening to the agonizing screams of her own people,

The heat of the flames drying her tears.

****

“I’m fine,” Karina shrugs away Lyra who’d grabbed her hand,

Her silky black hair now ashy and burnt on the ends, face tear stained,

“Karina,” I query, “what-”

“They’re all dead,” Karina blurts,

“Tori and the others,

I didn’t even see the cowards face who did it!”

…….

I remain quiet not knowing what to tell the girl,

“We’ll find the bastard and kill him!” Lyra tries to console

“No,” Karina refuses, “I’ll find him myself,

You meet back up with Apollo and the others, escape here, or hide.”

“This isn’t the time for you to push me away Karina!

I’m not going anywhere,

Your-”

Smack!

Karina slaps Lyra squarely across the cheek,

“I’m not pushing you away!

I’m protecting you,

That’s all I’ve ever tried to do,

We’re not children anymore!

Those things I said to you back then, I didn’t mean it,

I was just looking for someone to blame,

I don’t want you to die Lyra!”

Karina slumps to her knees, her emotions giving in

Lyra holds her cheek, taken aback at usually calm girl’s outburst,

I touch Karina’s shoulder, which she immediately brushes off,

(What can I do in a situation like this,

What should I be feeling right now?)

“I don’t want you to die either” Lyra mumbles,

“I still dislike you,

But I don’t hate you,

I’m helping you, and because I want to,

Despite everything,

Get yourself together, and let’s go find the others together,”

Lyra storms off into the distance, partly because she was surprised at Karina’s outburst

And partly because she was ashamed, the person she disliked, who she thought hated her……

……..

With Lyra out of earshot Karina lets her tears flow once more,

Her mask now truly falls,

The stoic, desire driven girl now gone, left with a sensitive, emotional girl who cries silently.

(Addiction is supposed to take away the pain we feel, or at least that’s what she believed, but as I see her now, it’s clear that it only suppresses it,

The feelings, fears, pain, it only grows, and as you lose yourself more and more into pleasure, the dam of unexpressed emotion builds until it eventually will burst.)

I sit next to the sullen girl,

(There is only one thing I can do right now,)

I embrace her

She doesn’t try to push me away, her tears flow even more,

She sinks her head into my chest

I continue to embrace her.

The flames behind us slowly dissipates, everything Karina built, now ashes,

I continue to embrace her,

The bodies of everyone who believed in her vision, now burnt corpses

I continue to embrace her,

The fire she felt, though as hot as it maybe

Could not compare to the warmth of an embrace.