'Run!'

Cross barely heard the order but his body responded faster than his mind and he quickly staggered back. Resisting the urge to stare at Avril as the light continued to pour from her writhing form, he did his best to limp away. As he retreated, he noted, with growing concern, that the snow beneath his feet was melting, and the grass and weeds hidden beneath had begun to wither away as well.

Avril screamed again and Cross picked up his pace before being pulled behind a large tree trunk. Not a moment too soon as Avril's scream suddenly died out and Cross felt the air pull towards her. Everything went eerily quiet before the air exploded back out. The force shook the ground beneath Cross's feet and he slowly slipped down the tree. Blackness abruptly ate away at his vision and he felt something warm dripping down his ears. Reaching up with his left arm he gingerly touched his ear and brought his hand up to his darkening eyes.

Fresh blood stained his fingertips.

Cross blinked, then he blinked again, as he became acutely aware that he could no longer hear any sound. He also noticed, as he slipped down further against the tree trunk, that he could no longer feel any pain. As his vision began to waver, he saw a figure materialize in front of him, her arm outstretched. He wanted to reach out to her, but she seemed to very far away.

His head lulled forward and his eyes closed.

'You're not going to die in such a boring way, are you?'

Cross opened his eyes. The overwhelming blackness of the Void met him, the only illumination coming from the tiny pinpricks of faraway light that dotted the landscape like stars.

"Kosu?"

"Really now, I was hoping to see something more entertaining than you dying underneath a tree."

Cross turned his head to look at Kosu. She floated lazily through the air, her long hair hanging beneath her and tickling against his face. Cross brushed it away.

"What happened?"

"Well, your eardrums burst when the explosion went off and the resulting energy release pierced through the tree and went right through your chest. That seems to have sent you into a state of shock. You're bleeding out right now, at quite an accelerated rate too, I might add. See?"

Kosu pointed at Cross's chest. Slowly he tilted his head down and for the first time noticed the considerably large hole, right about where his heart was. Or would have been. His mind knew he should feel pain, but he felt nothing. Not even as the blood continued to pour down his stomach and pool beneath his feet.

"So, I'm dead?" Cross sighed. He looked up at Kosu but she had already floated away, waving her hand lazily beneath her. Lights swirled and a ghostly image of the forest came into focus beneath them.

"No, not quite, but you are very much dying. I would say in a few more minutes you will be dead."

Frowning Cross slowly lowered himself down to his real-world counterpart. His eyes were half closed and completely glassed over. A small amount of blood dribbled out of the side of his mouth. Reaching out Cross touched his own face, but his hand simply passed through the image.

"You can only look, remember?" Kosu said as she appeared next to him. "Of course, that only applies to you. It wouldn't be very fun for me if you died already." Kosu ran her hand along his image, stopping at the wound on his chest. The skin slowly began to knit itself together. Cross looked down at his chest and watched the wound close. Kosu continued on to the wound on his hip before sliding away. "There!"

Cross held up his hand. Even though he couldn't feel it, the ragged knife wound was enough to make his stomach churn, aided by the fact that he could see where parts of his broken bones were pushing against skin.

"What about this?"

"Greedy today, aren't you?"

"Please?"

"Well if you insist, I suppose I could." Kosu grinned and took his hand in hers. His fingers tingled as the broken bones were realigned. "Normally I wouldn't, you know, but if she gets help it seems only fair you do as well, don't you think? And you were being oh so agreeable earlier…”

She released Cross's hand and he held it up, flexing his fingers slowly before closing them into a fist. "What's happening to her?"

"Hmmm?" Kosu floated above him. "Oh, she's dying too."

"Why?" Cross said as he made his way over to Avril. She stood at the center of a smoking crater, everything in a wide radius around her burned down to nothing more than ash. What remained of her shredded and smoldering clothes hung loosely on her rigid frame. The blinding light still emanated from her body, but had died down somewhat in intensity, save for her eye that still burned with a brilliant and blistering white light. Cross tried to avert his eyes but found himself unable to do so. A pressure began to build just behind his left eye and his hand came up to cup his face.

"That would be because she is a very foolish girl. She is playing with magic far beyond her comprehension." Kosu lowered herself down and placed her hand over his. "Better?"

Cross nodded as the pressure faded away. Kosu did not remove her hand. Cross did not push her away.

"Do you know what that is?" Kosu pointed at Avril's shining eye.

Cross shook his head.

Kosu slipped away from him and swirled around Avril's head, letting her hand lazily drift down to tap the girl just beneath the left eye. "That is a weapon of the Void."

"A weapon of the Void?" The name dripped with danger and Cross's stomach dropped. "Things created in The Void can be brought into the real world?"

"In certain cases, though it's exceedingly difficult. This particular one is known as the eye of Voynar. It's quite a special little item. Voynar used it to great effect to unite the warring tribes and create the Kingdom of Voy. Quite a man he was."

Cross stared at the eye. "How did he get it?"

"Who knows?" Kosu rolled onto her back. "That was before my time and therefore unimportant."

"Before your time?" Cross's eyes flicked to Kosu.

She tilted her head back to look at him. "You're not going to ask me my age, are you? That would be quite a rude question to ask a lady."

"How long does she have?" Cross asked, turning his attention back to Avril.

"Not long. At the moment I would say…" Kosu reached up and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I would say she is the most powerful magic being in existence. Of course, she is not in full control of that power. As she did not inherit the eye by birthright or earn it during battle, it would be more appropriate to say that the magic is simply using her as a conduit. It will burn through her in a relatively short amount of time. It seems the magic is simply following the path of least resistance to exit her body. Unfortunately, that means it's mostly directed at killing you. Clinging to her emotions, as it were."

"Can it be stopped?"

"It's like a fire. It will run out when the fuel source burns out," Kosu said. "Simply survive until then."

Cross didn't respond as he continued to star at Avril, his brow furrowing.

Kosu made a face. "You want to save her."

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"We defend ourselves, the guild, and the innocent," Cross said as he rolled his shoulders and sucked in a deep breath before slowly letting it out through his nose.

Kosu snorted. "You think she is innocent?"

"No." Cross admitted, turning his head to look up at Kosu. She had floated down and was only a few inches away from him. "But I felt it when I probed her mind. She thinks she's doing the right thing."

"Most people believe they are doing the right thing. It doesn't make it so."

"She doesn't deserve to die like this."

"It's not your responsibility."

The edge of Cross's mouth tilted up. "Isn't it?"

Kosu stared deeply at him before her eyes crinkled into a smile. "As annoying as it may be at times, I do like this side of you, you know. Something about it is so very endearing. Very well, do you have a plan?"

"Not really."

"Perfect," Kosu grinned. "Before you come up with one, I would consider counting to three."

"Three?" Cross managed to say before Kosu gave him a hard shove in chest. He fell backwards and his eyes flickered open.

He was back in the real world.

"Count to three?" Cross said softly to himself. He heard Avril scream and began to tilt his body to look around the tree but caught himself just before he would have peaked around the smoking tree trunk. "One… Two…"

Before he could reach 'three' a blast of pure magic energy burst through the air, roughly where his head would have been had he turned around the trunk to look. The beam fired through the forest and impacted with a tree not far away, vaporizing it in an instant.

Steeling his nerves, Cross cleared his mind and loaded two fresh cartridges into his bracers. "Alright Romeo… Show me you're as smart as you think you are."

Taking in one last deep breath for good measure, and trying not to focus on the fact his very life was dependent on Romeo's inventive spirit, Cross spun around the tree trunk and took in the scene.

Avril had yet to move, but a multitude of magical circles had formed in the air around her. They pulsed, seemingly at random, before sending out a charge of elemental magic. Cross's hands curled into fists as her head tilted ever so slightly and her shining eyes fell on him. Her mouth opened and an inhuman scream filled the air, but still she did not move.

Two of the circles pulsed and twin plumes of fire rocketed towards Cross. He flipped his arms and fired off two charges. They flashed blue through the air and connected with the fire.

With a loud pop the charges exploded, releasing the ice magic contained inside. The two magics swirled around each other for a moment before exploding in a shower of mist. Cross used the moment to eject the spent cartridges and reload the one in his right arm and fire off another ice charge as a bolt of lightning cut through the mist towards him.

The charge connected with the bolt, but the lightning only slowed for a moment before continuing on its path towards Cross. The bolt struck him in the chest before Cross could even begin to dodge. Even though it had been weakened by the ice charge, it still threw him backwards and sent him rolling across the ground. His body convulsed as the electricity spread across his chest.

"Lightning beats ice, got it," Cross gasped as he came up onto his knees and ran his hand along his cartridge belt. Romeo had supplied him with ice, lightning, and shadow charges to test out, but only a handful of each. Gritting his teeth, he loaded in a lightning charge and immediately fired it towards Avril just as the mist faded away. "Your turn."

The magic cackled through the air but before it reached Avril it fizzled out and died. Cross's shoulders slumped as the magic circles around Avril began to pulse. He was going to have a very long conversation with Romeo about the cons of field-testing equipment.

Cross dove to the side as balls of fire were sent spinning his way, scorching the ground around him. He managed to get to his feet and began to run as it became exceedingly clear that Avril's magic did not suffer from the same issues with range that his did.

Circling around Avril Cross began to load in another lightning charge when Avril's entire body flashed. Cross lifted his arm to cover his eyes when he felt a sharp pain in his temple. Instinctively he ducked and barely managed to avoid losing his head as Avril suddenly appeared in front of him, her arm turned to stone and swiping towards him. Not quite fast enough to dodge completely, Cross hissed as Avril's forearm clipped the side of his head. Stars exploded in Cross's vision but he was still able to push the charge into the chamber.

Lifting up his arm he fired point blank into Avril's face. The charge struck her just under the jaw and her head angled off ever so slightly to the side as the lightning spread across her body. Stiffly, she stumbled back a step and the magic circles around her wavered.

Pressing his momentary advantage Cross slid in an ice charge and slammed his hand into Avril's stomach as he fired the charge. The backsplash of ice magic coated his hand with frost, but the majority continued forward into Avril. The magic circles faded away as tendrils of ice burst from the point of contact, wrapping around Avril like chains before coming to an abrupt stop just below her jaw.

Cross had been hoping the attack would be more effective, but as Avril's head slowly began to turn to look at him, he took what he could and used the moment to escape deeper into the forest. Behind him he heard the sound of shattering ice as Avril burst free from the restraints and screamed. Sliding behind a trio of trees he sucked in a deep breath and began to clear his hazy mind.

"Not going well?" Kosu hung upside down above him.

Cross glanced up at her. "You said count to three."

"You waited too long to start counting. You shouldn't blame others on your failings."

Cross loaded in two fresh cartridges. "So, I've been told."

"You've gotten so much better with using your Sight. Not long ago you would be dead already."

"Thanks," Cross said with a decided lack of appreciation.

Kosu began to play with his hair. "You know, I don't mean to be bothersome-"

"Yes, you do.”

"-but if you don't do something soon, she is going to die. I would say you have at most… ten minutes? Maybe more, maybe less."

"Can't be any more specific?"

"Now how would that be fun?" Kosu tilted her head.

"Not even a hint?" Cross grit his teeth as the tree to his right exploded in a shower of splinters that were almost immediately engulfed in a ball of flame.

"Hmmm, well you know what they say… A kiss can break any spell."

Cross stared her dead in the eye. "I don't think that would work in any way, shape, or form."

"You won't know if you don't try." Kosu dropped down until her nose was touching his, a smirk on her face. "Physical contact is very important, you know. If it's a matter of not knowing what to do I could alwa-"

What Kosu could do was never fully revealed as Cross was suddenly blasted forward by a ground shaking explosion that uprooted the tree he was hiding behind and sent him tumbling forward. Rolling to the side Cross narrowly avoided being crushed by the falling tree, but did not have any time to relax as Avril spotted him. Without hesitation Cross flicked both his ring fingers and sent a duo of ice charges towards Avril just as she lifted her hand.

The fireball Avril conjured connected midair with the ice charge and exploded into a thick wall of mist that Avril dispelled with a wave of arm. Cross didn't bother reloading both bracers as Avril stalked towards him. He pulled as many of the cartridges from his belt as he could and slid the first one into his right bracer.

"Right, then, let's get on with it," Cross said as he held up his loaded arm defensively.

Avril flashed out of his view and Cross grit his teeth, probing with his mind until he felt the tug. He slid to the right just as Avril appeared beside him. He fired the shadow charge, but Avril had already disappeared again and the charge went streaking off harmlessly into the forest. Cross loaded another charge, spinning as he let his Sight guide him. He fired his next shot before Avril had even come into view.

The lightning charge flew true, but Avril simply batted it away and it exploded harmlessly behind her. Undeterred Cross loaded another and fired. The ice charge exploded before it reached her, peppering her with razor sharp shards of ice. Her skin split open and drops of blood scattered along the ground, but she did not so much as blink at the pain.

"That seems unfair," Cross breathed as Avril took a step towards him and the lesions began to steam before slowly closing. Avril's foot came up and Cross moved to load in another charge. Before he could complete the action, Avril was in front of him. Even with his Sight he had no time to react before she struck him.

Something in his chest snapped as soon as her fist connected and Cross was sent flipping backwards through the air before slamming against a tree. He made no noise as he dropped to the ground, his cheek resting on the ground. He tried to suck in a breath, but could only managed the barest inhalation before the pain struck him. Convulsing on the ground he pressed his face against the frosted dirt, willing the pain to fade.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the shinning figure of Avril sliding towards him. The ground steamed with her every step as the energy from her body continued to emanate out at a dangerous rate.

Closing his eyes Cross managed to roll onto his back and reach his hand down to his cartridge belt. Running his fingers along the remaining flashbang he came to a stop on the final magic cartridge. Slowly he pulled it free and lifted it up to press against his forehead before loading it.

"I'm going to need some help with this one."

Cross opened his eyes as Avril stopped above him. Reaching down she grabbed him by the throat and easily lifted him up. Her skin burned against his and Cross's feet kicked out uselessly as her iron grip tightened. She brought his face closer to hers and stared at him though blank eyes. The intensity of the light burned his eyes but Cross did not look away.

"Die," Avril said softly as her hands ignited into brilliant flames and the pain increased dramatically. Cross bit back the scream as his flesh began to sear and drew his right arm back. He felt the energy build up beneath his skin, compressing into a single force. Reaching out he pressed the flat of his hand against Avril's chest.

"Zanchi!"

The energy exploded from Cross's palm and surged into Avril. Her entire body jolted back and while the flames did extinguish, her grip did not waver. Cross did not give her a chance to recover as he moved his hand up and let it drop on top of Avril's head, placing the bracer's barrel direction between her eyes.

"You're too bright."

The shadow charge exploded on contact and Avril's head was thrown back. Her grip lessened and Cross slipped free from her fingers. Landing in a crouch, he sucked in a greedy breath before launching himself into the cloud of shadow that had enveloped Avril. His hands found purchase on the burned remnants of her shirt and he pulled her towards him. As her head swung forward, Cross grit his teeth and smashed his forehead against hers.

The world exploded into a series of colors and faded abruptly to nothing more than black and silence.