After more than an hour of being away, Arjun finally makes it back home where upon entering, he sees Seri laying in front of the door way.

“Come on now. There’s no way you can be THIS hungry.”

He chuckles, as he says this in a nonchalant manner.

*PANT*

*PANT*

He hears pained breathing coming from Seri as she lays motionlessly on the cold floor. A chill overcomes his body, as he kneels over to inspect her closer. He notices Seri clenching her chest.

Arjun still doesn’t completely grasp the situation, but he knows he can’t just let her lay there.

‘Think! Think damn it!’

Suddenly an idea strikes him. In movies and television shows, situations like this usually call for CPR. Also known as—

‘Mouth to mouth…’

Arjun nervously licks his lips, as his thoughts are stalled on these three words. And rightfully so. Here stood quite possibly, the world's most inexperienced virgin. Yet in this moment, he finally has an opportunity to kiss a girl.

*SMACK*

*SMACK*

‘No, no, no. Get your head out of the gutter Arj, her life may depend on this.’

After a stern pep talk and well deserved slaps to his face, Arjun snaps out of his delusions.

He nervously gulps as he pulls back the thin tee shirt that Seri is wearing. Placing his hands on the center of her chest, he noticed that her skin felt cold and clammy to the touch, possibly due to the excessive sweating.

“...Gar...eth…”

After Seri whispers someone’s name under her breath, Arjun looks up to find her hazily gazing at him.

“You’re awake!”

He is relieved to see her conscious, albeit a bit disappointed for some reason.

She extends her right arm and cups the side of his face. She weakly pulls herself up and aligns her face with his, and kisses him.

Confounded, Arjun’s face slowly begins to warm. As the kiss continues, he feels an eerily familiar spark of energy surge throughout his body.

*AHEM*

The moment is suddenly interrupted by Nori’s obnoxious throat clearing, apparently meant to alert the two of her presence.

“If you two are done, I really should be getting to class now.” She speaks in a clearly irked tone.

Surprised, Arjun expeditiously pulls away from Seri, and tries to explain to Nori the circumstances.

“Ah! Th-This isn’t what you think!”

He unconfidently continues, as her arctic gaze beats down on him.

“I-I-I know! If you don’t mind waiting a bit, I was just about to make breakfast—”

Arjun utters while stumbling to his feet.

“No thanks. Move it!”

Nori forcefully pushes Arjun out of the way glaring at him as she passes by.

“Pervert…” she grumbles under her breath.

And just like that she exits the apartment.

*SIGH*

“...I’m sure she definitely has the wrong idea...”

Arjun peeps down at Seri, who now looks visibly healthier than she did moments ago. Still concerned he reaches his hand out to help her onto her feet.

“Feeling better?”

“Much!” She quips cutely, as a smile appears on her face.

After helping her up, Arjun leads her into the kitchen where he prepares breakfast with prodigious speed and flare, until his signature steak, egg, and hash brown omelet was complete. All the while Seri watched in amazement whilst drooling at the mouth.

The two sit next to each other at the dining table and begin to eat in silence, until Arjun addresses the elephant in the room.

“So, what exactly happened to you while I was away?”

“A form of separation anxiety, perhaps?”

She replies unsurely, while wolfing down her omelet.

After swiftly waxing off the remainder of her food, she continues.

“It’s exactly as I said. No?”

She looks at Arjun and pauses.

“... ‘If I leave your side now, you will surely die’...”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Seri cryptically quotes herself.

He definitely remembers those chilling words, however—

“You did say that but what exactly does that have to do with your attack just now?”

“Hmmm, maybe saying that was a bit too vague.”

Seri loses herself in thought as she formulates an appropriate response.

“The thing is, we are connected.”

She continues to speak while gently placing her hand onto Arjun’s chest.

“Think of it this way. If there is one soul shared between two vessels and either vessel is separated from the other, the shared soul will begin to weaken and flicker out.”

Judging by the gleeful look on her face, she clearly feels content with her explanation. However, Arjun is skeptical to believe such a farfetched story that sounds like it comes straight out of a cliché fantasy plot.

Nevertheless, he begins to think back on his walk to the store recalling his irregular heartbeat, that somehow seemed to steady the closer he got to home. Or is it the closer he got to Seri?

“S-Suppose I decide to believe this story, then what?”

“…. Hmmm, and then….”

After a long pause she continues.

“...What was it...again...?”

‘This girl is definitely clueless’.

Realizing this will get him nowhere, he decides to give up on this line of questioning.

“Well can you at least get going now? I’d really like to take a nap.”

Arjun, now outwardly displaying his disdain toward Seri, yawns lazily. However, looking over at her, he finds that she is happily sleeping after her meal.

*SIGH*

“She’s like a stray animal, huh.”

Arjun proceeds to pick up the peacefully sleeping Seri, and carries her to the couch in the living room. Draping her in covers, he then departs for his room to indulge in a little sleep of his own. For some reason or another he feels completely exhausted, ever since that kiss he shared with Seri.

◼️ ◼️ ◼️

“TRAITOR!”

This word is being chanted by a mob of angry spectators crowded in the streets. The smell of blood fills the air as Arjun is bound by unknown means, looking helplessly at the cobbled ground beneath him, as he slowly gains consciousness.

‘Where am I...’

To Arjun, this all feels so familiar, but almost like an out of body experience, or perhaps déja vu?

“******, you have been found guilty of treason, betraying your fellow knights for the hand of that of a witch. How do you plea?”

‘******? That name somehow sounds familiar.’

“You’ve heard the stories, you know the truth. I just beg that my execution be the end of this war.”

Arjun speaks these words verbatim responding to the juror. Although it doesn’t feel like he himself spoke these words.

“Very well then.”

The juror raises his hand, signaling the executioner to release the guillotine.

*SLAM*

◼️ ◼️ ◼️

*COUGH*

*COUGH*

*WHEEZE*

*WHEEZE*

Arjun snaps from his nightmare coughing and wheezing while grasping for his neck. His panic wakes Seri, who was asleep beside him apparently sneaking into his bed sometime throughout the day.

Still gasping for air, Arjun jolts out of bed towards the window opening it to let fresh air into the room.

As his coughing ceases, he takes in the crisp night air as his vision adjusts to the dark.

While peering out of the window, everything appears much darker than normal and he sees something staring back at him.

A large, deep-yellow, orb like object that is decorated with several swirling black—irises?

‘What the hell is this?’

Before he could properly analyze what he was seeing, Arjun is grabbed by large finger like appendages that are barbed with a thick layer of shell like skin.

The large limbs shred through his flesh as he is grabbed, and quickly flung out the window, violently landing him outside of his apartment complex upon impact.

*COUGH*

*KHAK*

Coughing up blood, he tries to gain his bearings. Once he does he looks up to the second story window that he was just thrown from, catching view of a lumbering creature crawling on the side of the building.

To Arjun the closest thing he could compare the creature to was one of those face hugging aliens from a certain sci-fi movie he currently can’t recall although, covered in a barbed black exoskeleton.

While he is looks on in horror, the creature’s large yellow eye plunges through its exoskeleton relocating itself onto its back, now looking right at Arjun.

Terrified, he tries to make a run for it, before feeling an overwhelming pain, hammering throughout his arm. He looks down at his right arm, only to realize it has been completely severed, with a copious amount of blood streaming from the open wound.

“GYAAAHHHHHH!”

He drops to his knees screaming in agony, before a small flash of light briefly surrounds his injured arm.

“Red Magic: Healing Factor.”

The blood spewing from his arm suddenly stops as the pain also subsides.

“I knew it would be worthwhile to follow you.”

Arjun turns around to face the source of the voice, only to find it belongs to the harsh angel voiced woman he ran into earlier.

“Y-you?”

Too faint to say anything due to the amount of blood he’s lost, Arjun watches as the woman walks towards him.

“Red Magic: Gravity Up.”

The creature is suddenly struck by a blinding fast attack that sends it slamming to the ground beneath. Forming a large dust cloud and scattering debris throughout the area.

After the clouds settle the monster creakily gets back up in an eerie fashion.

“You’re a tough bastard, huh.”

She fixes her attention to Arjun.

“We have to find an open area, otherwise I can’t go all out without bringing down a house or two.”

He thinks of nearby places to go with the fewest people at this hour and concludes—

“There’s a park a couple blocks from here.”

“That’ll do.”

She reaches out her hand signaling Arjun to grab it.

He stares at her hand and realizes. Even at this age he’s never held a girl’s hand, but why does it have to be now of all times. It’s almost like he’s the damsel in distress.

“Fine then die here, see if I care.”

She pulls her hand back.

“Wait a minute, I get it!”

He snatches her hand firmly in his as she smirks deviously.

“Hold on tight!”

After grabbing her hand he feels a slight jerking movement and in the blink of an eye his vision is filled with a very familiar view of the park that he mentioned earlier.

An old swing set, a slide that twists, and not to mention that old decrepit jungle gym. This is definitely the park he just mentioned, but how. It should’ve taken at least two minutes even if we ran.

“Hey, now's not the time to get lost in thought. You could seriously get eaten by that thing you know.”

“EATEN!”

A strange roaring sound can be heard fluttering somewhere in the sky.

*BOOM*

The monster comes crashing to the ground, landing right in front of the myster woman.

*WHISTLE*

“It seems pissed off, if you don’t want to die I suggest you hide somewhere.”

‘Hide somewhere? Easier said than done!’

Scanning the area Arjun realizes that the only place that would provide any form of shelter is the decrepit jungle gym.

As he safely makes it to the jungle gym, the woman pulls out her jet black pearl earrings and throws them to the ground.

In a large flash, a black winged dragon like beast appears where her earrings once were.

‘What the hell is that thing?’

“Boston.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

‘It can talk!’

“Support me from above.”

“As you wish, ma’am.”

The black creature mimics a bow to its master and takes flight, where suddenly a bombardment of precise explosions rattles the giant creature.

The creature is clearly being over powered by the insane team work between the woman and her winged partner.

‘Maybe I just might make it out of this alive thanks to her.’

No sooner than Arjun hopes of survival go up, the creature avoids one of the woman’s attacks and comes sprinting right at him.

*CHE*

“Damn it, I told you to hide!”

Now standing in front of the jungle gym the monster swats the frail structure away, like it were made of cardboard. Suddenly it’s yellow core splits in half to expose a gnarly mouth with dozens of rows of razor sharp teeth and a long purple tongue.

Arjun stands paralyzed in fear.

“This can’t be real.”

Sensing these are possibly his final moments Arjun closes his eyes to accept his fate.