Chapter 74: Earth, Wind, and Fire (8)

1

I simply refuse to die here.

I haven’t come this far to die now.

That’s what I always tell myself when I'm at death’s door, yes, but just like every other time, it’s true. There’s no meaning in dying here, like this. I can’t accept an ending like this. The world doesn't care about anyone's feelings, of course, but I’m different. I have the power to change things.

I can push destiny in any direction I please.

With my powers, though I can’t have completely lost them. Otherwise, I’d already be dead, I wouldn’t even be able to think.

Much less move, and I am moving.

I grip the horns that pierce me, pulling on them. The creature’s enraged roars soon blend with pain. The horns yield to my superhuman strength.

So do I.

I know my will can move this fragile world. My will itself is a superpower, and I don’t need any damn number to quantify it.

I am this strong now because I refuse to die, that’s enough.

Even before that day, that fire was always with me.

That’s the truth, isn’t it?

I tear off one of the horns. Black blood gushes out. It splashes on my face and clothes, but I welcome it with a smile.

For a moment, I consider drinking it as if it would make me stronger. In a way, I’m not far from the truth. Strength comes from crushing your enemies. The more enemies you crush, the stronger you get. With or without ridiculous numbers to represent growth, that remains true.

The winged and horned demon now writhing in pain under my hands is just the next enemy in a long, possibly endless list.

I rip off the last horn and stab it back into its head, from the wrong side, that is, from the perspective of that little bastard. I don’t stop until I feel something like bone, who knows what these things are made of, or what they’ll be made of in five minutes, for that matter. The composition of alien bastards doesn’t have to make any sense.

In any case, this is certain.

It’s not enough to kill it.

However, it does release me and falls, spiraling in the air, with bat-like wings wrapped around its body, stained with black blood from head to toe. Its own damn blood.

Along with me.

Of course. The only thing I’ve been holding onto until now has been the momentum of the bastard, as if trying to push me through the entire building.

With the horns broken and worn out, the beast far away, all that’s left for me is a free fall. The colors of another world and the army of demons engulfing the city are the only things waiting for me below.

Where the hell are you, Heather?, I think.

It doesn’t matter. I try to summon my wings.

No luck, somehow or another I’ve managed to regain my strength, but the wings are still out of my reach. What a fucking mess. Even if I reach the bottom, I simply refuse to die like this. I laugh sincerely as if I’ve already passed the danger. Yes, I’m a slippery and stubborn bastard, why not? Why the hell wouldn’t I survive the impact?

Even if only for long enough for someone to pull my chestnuts out of the fire.

Yes, damn it, why not?

But that doesn’t have to happen. Heather catches me in the air.

“I’m never letting you go,” she says.

She hugs me to her chest, flying slowly and with difficulty, but flying. Usually, I’d even feel angry because she had to save me. Even inferior. Now I just breathe a sigh of relief and return the smile.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

It didn’t feel like a victory. I’d only won the chance to go home while others dealt with the problem. An unceremonious exit, not fitting for the hero of this world.

But I told myself that the important thing in the end was to live to fight another day. No matter how bad it tasted, it was true.

“Heather. I’ll forget what I did here today. You’re right, in the end, it doesn’t matter. What happened to me could have happened to anyone. No, sorry. It happened to me because I’m in the fucking center of everything. The good and the bad. Like the eye of the storm, I… I’m not explaining myself well, am I? My head hurts and I’m half-dizzy.”

Heather returned the look.

“Maybe, but I understand what you mean anyway. You’re starting to see the truth. You have great regrets like that only because you step up, take responsibility, do something. A person who locks themselves away, hides from the world or goes to meditate on the meaning of life on some rocky mountain isn’t any more virtuous than someone who tries.”

I wasn’t sure that was exactly what I wanted to say, but it also made sense, so I nodded.

“I need you by my side, Heather. You’re the only one who understands me, who can support me.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Heather kisses me, and I awkwardly return the kiss, no wonder, the last time I kissed someone who truly felt something for me was a few days ago and the same person. I had no practice, but well, time could fix that. Few things, but that yes.

2

They went further.

With the first glance, Caim instinctively understood that he was no longer in his world, though he refused to believe it with all his might. The buildings. All the lights. Overwhelming. It almost made him forget that they were falling from the sky.

The three of them.

Yes, the three.

Because he had won, but that hadn’t been the end, as usual. He thought they would leave the Tower with the answers he had risked so much to obtain and forget everything, trying to forge a normal life. And they had left, with the Tower collapsing, but the ‘door’ had taken them to another world.

To die miserably?

No, the distance to the ground was too great. They should have time to do something. Well, Victoria should have time, he couldn’t do a damn thing.

“Give me your hand!”

There she was.

The wind howled, making them have to shout to hear each other well even at that distance. Well, they had been lucky (or maybe it had been on purpose) to fall together. If they had been scattered to the four winds, Yonah and he would have ended up as big, completely unrecognizable red stains.

Their hands clasped again.

The important thing was if they were together, not where they found themselves.

The buildings down there looked like real towers, unlike the infernal place they had left behind. They seemed to want to touch the sky, entering God’s territory. Not that he was afraid of heights, but he looked away. He preferred not to see how close they were to the ground. That was fear, that was common sense. Humans weren’t made to fly.

After an eternity, the fall slowed down, only then did Caim look down and allow himself to breathe easy.

They had fallen from too great a distance to notice at first, but their only problem wasn’t that they were in a different world, in fact, it wasn’t even the biggest problem. It wasn’t the ruins of a long-abandoned city; it was the corpse of a strange, futuristic city in which an army of beings was scavenging. They were everywhere and looked like insects. The night air was full of poor bastards screaming and dying.

Everything pointed to them being dragged into another fight, whether they liked it or not.

They landed on the roof of one of the buildings. Not all were the same height; from this one, they could jump to the ground without problems.

If only because it had collapsed.

“I wish I knew what the fuck we’ve gotten into now,” said Yonah, breathing heavily on her knees.

Well, at least he wasn’t the only one who had shit his pants.

The last fight in which they hadn’t thrown a single punch had already been intense enough to make it make sense to react like that. They hadn’t had the privilege of even a couple of minutes of rest to enjoy the victory.

Anyway, the story of...

No, of our life.

“I don’t think this is our world,” said Caim, looking around, observing the chaos.

It was obvious, but sometimes someone had to state the obvious for the group to move forward. He didn’t like the idea personally, but there was nothing he was leaving behind, no kind of affection for his old world. So it was something he could accept easily.

Victoria had had family and friends before he came to ruin it all, and as for Yonah...

Well, surely she had had good memories with people who were no longer there.

At least, he thought that’s why he could accept it more easily than they could.

That something had existed, even if they had been forced to cut their ties and burn everything on that fateful day, choosing him.

He might be wrong, but in any case, he didn’t think there was any going back. Nor any possibility of repair. No, more than not caring, Caim felt...

Excited.

“Maybe it’s the best thing that could have happened to us. Maybe here there’s a place for people like me… and you two, who don’t want to turn your backs on me.”

They looked at him.

“Maybe,” said Yonah, “but first let’s try to see how the hell we get out of this hellhole.”

Yes. Of all the places in this new world where they could have ended up, it had to be in the heart of a conflict with strange creatures. The same luck as always.

“We’ll manage as always.” He put a hand on each of their shoulders, squeezing.

He truly believed that. No matter what.

Earth, Wind, and Fire (8): END