Our attempts at sneaking out of captivity immediately descends into a mad dash for the exit. There’s only one way out of this valley, and it’s straight through the center of the village. Also at the center of the village… is a raging monster.

  I can’t help but be unnerved as we run through the burning village. Not the shrieks of the fleeing villagers— not even the beast whose back is towards us, towering like a sheer cliff face. No, it’s the look in Lasula’s eye as she stares out at the walls of fire on either end. It’s not a scared look… but is instead the same one she had on that one night, the glazed-over expression when I saw her staring into the campfire. It’s terrifying. Like she’s not even awake when her eyes are open. Like she’s left her body and something else is puppeteering it from the shadows. Is she even in there at all?

  Lyra is secured to my back as we run like hell. Our way is clear, the sparse population of villagers gathering to fight the towering monster. The heat has grown only slightly uncomfortable for me, but I can tell that Lyra is suffering. We need to get out. Or we’ll be swallowed by the flame or the rampant fury. But as I fret over the hellfire surrounding me, my mind is suddenly drawn to the other evils lurking in the shadows it creates.

  As I round a corner between two engulfed huts, a sight immediately snaps me to attention. Whatever it is, I’m clearly seeing the end of it.

  A girl is laying over a pile of debris, her hand is outstretched towards a man that stands above her. But the man… a blade is nestled between his fingertips, and he holds it high over his head. There is a sadistic grin over his face. It takes only a split second for me to realize that the girl is the same one who stabbed me that day. And the man is the younger one that ambushed us on the cliff. Whatever it is… it causes my heart to sink.

  Not a thought runs through my head for what comes next.

  I suddenly burst forward, Lyra wrapping her arms around my neck in struggling to hold on tight. I barrel full-force into the man as he begins to plunge his weapon, knocking him off of his feet and sending us all to the ground. I still don’t think. If I do, I might not be able to forgive her. But at this point, if I do nothing then her death is on my hands. Dammit, I’m thinking again.

  The man is quick to get to his feet. But before he can do a thing, I summon my sword from the ground and hold it threateningly out in front of me. Of course, I’m trembling from my knees to my head, so the effect is minimal at best.

  Thankfully though, I hear the girl scrambling to her feet. Without even looking our way, she takes off running and disappears moments later.

  The man utters what sounds like a curse, standing there as if deciding what to do. But it’s in his looking past me that something gives him pause. No— it seems to outright terrify him. He nearly trips while scrambling to turn around, where he then bursts into a sprint. Like the girl, he disappears between the burning buildings moments later.

  For a brief moment, I wonder what caused him to startle. But all it takes is tracing his original line of sight, and it suddenly becomes clear. The dead, vacant expression on Lasula’s face is horrifying to witness. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve ran as well. It’s worse knowing that she isn’t in her own head right now. Otherwise she would’ve run up to ask what was happening. Or at least whether we were alright. But she’s just stopped above us.

  Whatever… Just means it’s up to me to get us out of here.

  The screams don’t stop even after we circle the long way around the rampaging monster. I saw my first dead body today. It was a man crushed under the weight of a collapsed structure. He was turned away from me, so at least I didn’t have to see his face. But the thought alone is still causing my stomach to churn. I’m holding back the urge to vomit. I just hope Lyra didn’t notice it.

  The last stretch is a steep incline out of the stone valley. I make sure Lasula is still following before starting up it as fast as I can.

The moon, full and pale, is perfectly positioned between the peaks on either side, just ahead of us. The hollow white and searing red on either side are at odds, and battle for supremacy on the incline. But the moon’s glow draws me towards it with a cool touch, while the inferno threatens me with hot daggers across my back. I just want to leave.

  Finally, after what feels like hours, I can see the end of the incline, where it begins to plateau into a comforting landing— still walled on either side by cliffs, but most importantly, out of sight from the village. I can almost breathe again.

  With a shallow breath, I begin to call out to Lasula behind me:

  “Lasula—! Look, we’re almost—“

  But I stop.

  Because to the dead chill that suddenly runs down my spine, I witness that the monster below has stopped attacking… and its whole body is turned towards us, it’s every massive pore pulsating and its slit-like mouth held open wide. It can smell me from that far away. There’s gotta be dozens of people at its feet… but its attention is fully on me.

  The undeniable truth sprouts from my deepest of fears. It’s shown up at every turn. Never did it show interest in anyone else. And after the injury it sustained, however that has to do with me… there’s little doubt in my head. It is here for me.

  The absolute speed at which it goes from completely stationary to suddenly crashing on all fours up the hill leaves me hardly the time to let out a gasp. Its snappy movements are twisted and jarring, the fear hitting me so thoroughly I feel the urge to break down crying. But instead I find myself scurrying up the hill with all my might, because now my life is seconds from over and whatever adrenaline I hadn’t spent is now raging through my body. I already know I won’t make it far down the plateau before it catches me, but my body refuses to make sense of it in time so I just keep running.

  Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

  From my back, a hand pops out. It reaches over and points ahead. Even though she’s on my back, it takes me a second to register that it’s Lyra who is pointing. But then I follow her direction and notice a large fissure in the wall ahead, just past the plateau’s entry. It looks big enough for us to get through, and definitely not big enough for the towering horror on my six. Perfect.

  I scramble over the last bit of the incline and make a desperate beeline for the fissure ahead. In my running, I didn’t even get the chance to make sure Lasula is keeping up. I couldn’t even think that far ahead, my every sense is telling me to just get there and worry about everything else once I’m safe. I can hear the monster approaching, its claws pulverizing the ground it leaps off of.

  …Wait…

  The realization comes all too late, by the time I dive through the fissure opening. Thankfully Lasula was just behind me and got through safe, but…

  The beast can turn stone to dust with its bare hands. The fissure goes back a ways, but I can already see the far end. Which means we’re boxed in, while—

  As soon as the monstrosity rams itself into the side of the wall, it immediately begins to ferociously tear into it, clawing chunks out at a time. I think I scream, but the sound of it is drowned out by the grinding away of our last shred of defense.

  “L—Lasula—!” I desperately cry out, as I sink in despair against the far wall. Lyra holds me tight, her tears falling onto my chest.   The vacant Lasula stands above us, unmoving. Unfeeling.

  But then…

  A spark flies from Lasula’s fingertips. It causes her hand to twitch.

  Suddenly her body violently lurches to the side. She tightly grasps her collar as her legs work to steady her.

  Lasula’s mouth moves, as her eyes slowly pan up to meet mine.

  The crashing finally registers in her head, and she jolts upright, turning to face the oncoming beast.

  With a deep breath, she throws the whole of her weight into a spell that causes the rocky gap to abruptly slam shut. The illumination of her spells allow us to see despite the darkness, that the stone barrier thickens and gains a crystalline sheen as she pours her magic into it. The noise fades behind it, until only a faint, but all the more disconcerting thumping can be heard from beyond.

  As soon as she finishes, she finally turns back to us. There is a grim look on her face.

  “I… I’m sorry, I… It’s all my fault… It’s all my fault…”

  I can’t help myself. The sudden overwhelming terror in the span of only twenty minutes causes me to break down completely. I fall into Lasula and wrap my arms around her waist, where I bawl into her coat. Lyra joins in almost immediately after. I feel like a sniveling little kid, but I don’t care. I’m about to die. I’m so helpless. All I can do is cry.

  “Wh— what do we do—?” I manage between sobbing snivels.

  Lasula doesn’t respond.

  The thumping is growing louder again. It’s accompanied by the muffled screech of the monster.

  It’s then that Lasula puts a hand on either of our shoulders.

  I glance up at her, but she doesn’t meet my gaze.

  “I’m sorry,” she says, far more calm than the last. “I should never have thought I could deny a part of myself for so long. But I’m used to breaking promises that I make with myself. Because above all else, the word of others is what I choose to hold above my own. So long as my promises to others are met… all others can burn in the flames of hell.”

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  A crack forms in the protective stone. The monster draws closer. But now that Lasula is calm, it’s like her temperament is immediately taken into mine.

  “D…Do you… have some kinda spell…?” I ask.

  She paces a few steps away with her back turned to me.

  “…I defiled my own body with twisted magics long ago… with the sole purpose of bolstering a magic far more potent than any other. Every time I use it I am reminded of… Well, of many things… But right now, I’m reminded of how ill-gotten my freedom truly is.”

  “What are you—“

  “I beg you… don’t think of me in a worse light. My every waking moment is an effort to expunge myself of the trauma I carry, and put to rest the evils that still seep through my veins.”

  Another crack forms in the barrier. Lasula doesn’t flinch. Lyra cowers up against me.

  “L-Lasula, it’s—“ Lyra sputters.

  With one final look back at us… Lasula smiles.

  “In time… I’ll tell you the whole truth,” she says.

  With that, she tears off her coat.

  What it reveals underneath is that both of her arms are covered in massive burn scars spanning the entire length of either arm from wrist to shoulder. But what draws my eye the most is something else— intricate symbols etched into her skin, depictions of a black flame that wraps around her arms and follows the contour of her burns. When she reveals them… it’s like she’s a whole different person. The harshness of those markings totally contradicts everything that she’s all about.

  Lastly, Lasula removes her hat, placing both it and her coat neatly on the floor.

  One final crack forms in her defenses. But at this point, it looks like she wants the beast to come. There’s a glimmer in her eye that reads she’s excited for it to come.

  And as the beast’s claw pierces the sturdy stone barrier… Lasula’s hands engulf in a smokeless blaze. From one second to the next, an explosion of outward force is caused by Lasula triggering her magic, the flame leaping from her fingertips and expanding in a fragment of time. I turn around and shield Lyra as a blast of fragmented rock washes over us.

  The light of the moon shines plainly through by the time the dust settles. Slowly I turn around, only to find that a hole bigger than the monster itself stretches just past where I stand.

  Further beyond, Lasula stands in the opening with her back to us as a breeze rolls by, lightly brushing against her hair. The markings on her arms are no longer black, but instead pulse with a dark purple glow. The beast stands looming above her, its skin blackened from the blast but otherwise unharmed, its mouth dribbling with saliva. And yet there’s a confidence in Lasula’s stance.

  The monster slowly leans towards her, its frontal pores twitching decisively. A low, bubbling groan escapes its mouth, one that gradually escalates until it becomes a thunderous roar that causes my eardrums to crackle. It lunges for her with all its weight, all its speed, its teeth baring down on her like a thousand—

  With a shout, Lasula launches a fiery fist through one of the beast’s pores. Blood begins to trickle from the wound. But then… the beast lurches, its body contorting unnaturally. Its skin begins to shift like there’s something moving underneath it. A putrid stench washes over us, and a high-pitched whine can be heard coming from the beast.

  Suddenly every pore across its entire body erupts with a scorching red flame, a screeching wail escaping its mouth as it erupts in its death throes. But the flame only grows hotter, engulfing the beast in its entirety. And Lasula fuels that flame, a column of fire funneling from her palm directly into the mass of burning beast flesh. The longer she remains, the stronger the glow of her arm markings become, illuminating the cavern nearly as much as the engulfed monster itself.

  It isn’t until the beast has become a charred husk that Lasula finally releases her magic. It takes a moment after that before she turns to face us again. And the face I see when she does immediately causes some things in my head to suddenly click in place.

  Back when we first met, when Lasula protected us from those villagers… I thought that she didn’t hurt them because she was afraid to. The look I remember on her face was a pained one. Even if she tried to hide it, there was frustration behind those eyes. I thought I knew why, but now I know how wrong I was.

  She wasn’t frustrated by her inaction. It was that it took everything she had to keep herself from reverting to this vengeful deity that stands before me. What I see now… as I look in her eye… is a lifetime of fury and flame.

  It isn’t long before a sparse crowd of mountain dwellers climb the steep hill. What they’re met with is the desolation of Lasula’s magic, the smoldering corpse of the monster that had laid destruction to their village… and she herself, the woman that they imprisoned who could have killed them all without lifting a finger. And they know damn well, by the looks of it.

  The villagers, all thin and frail, all in some degree of starvation… slowly get to their knees and bow their heads to her. Almost in pleading.

  I don’t see that girl among them… Probably for the best. I don’t think I’m ready to face her. Don’t think I ever will be. Luckily… I don’t think I’ll ever have to.

  Without so much as glancing at the mountain villagers, Lasula turns her head and begins to walk away. She motions for Lyra and I to follow. I’m stuck in place for half a second, as is Lyra. But as she gets further away, the nerve finally settles and I pick Lyra off the ground to catch up with her.

  “…Is that it?” I finally manage to ask.

  “Is what?” she replies without meeting my gaze.

  “All that shit that happened down there… and we’re just leaving?”

  “We’ve lingered in the mountains far too long. Our supplies have begun to dwindle.”

  “I— I know, but…”

  “Even if they accepted us, our remaining would only be a greater burden on them.”

  “Y-Yeah, but still… I kinda wanted to know what would’ve happened. Will they be alright? Their entire village got destroyed…”

  Lasula pauses a moment. Finally… she glances down at me. There isn’t a hint of a smile on her face… But even still, I can feel this warmth in her eye.

  “Are you worried about them?”

  I never really thought about it. They did nothing but be suspicious of us, imprison us, hurt us, and try to kill us. And yet I can’t seem to hate them over it. They don’t seem to be doing it because they want to. They’re just hungry. And scared. I think that monster had a bigger effect on their life than we realize. Getting rid of it… just maybe… helped them, in some way?”

  “I mean… yeah. I guess I am.”

  Finally, a thin smile escapes Lasula’s brooding countenance.

  “A story isn’t over just because we aren’t around to see it,” she says. “From here on out… what they choose to do will be their story alone. As will ours. We need not insert ourselves into theirs. Don’t you think?”

  I nod slowly.

  The silence that follows lasts several seconds. I don’t know what to do in that time, so I just keep walking. My mind still hasn’t completely processed everything that’s happened since I woke up. And… I’m still embarrassed that I cried like an infant. So I keep walking.

  The silence, however… is broken by Lasula.

  “…Are you… frightened by me?”

  My shoulders stiffen. I haven’t been able to unpack it yet, but… If I were to answer this now, it’d probably be a yes. I can’t help it. But I don’t want to say anything. Because I like Lasula. Even if she does scare me… I don’t want her to go away. So I keep quiet.

Luckily, I don’t have to say anything. Because Lyra speaks up for me.

  “Before Marco and I embarked on our journey… before we met you… he tasked me with finding myself a motivation. A reason for leaving my home far behind and going to a place that I never thought I would go, to discover one where none had yet existed. I told you of this before.” Lyra pauses. “What I didn’t mention was that I have managed to find mine. You may think I am merely curious towards what you taught me… but no. You ignited a spark within me, Lasula. For magic. Even now, you teach me more. And I am eager to learn, because I have found my reason. And it is in magic.”

  “B—But, no… I never wanted to…”

  “I am captivated by it. All of it. Every magic is its own tool or weapon, the sheer potential for creativity and ingenuity is endless. I knew since the very first spell you cast. That it is something worth dedicating my life in the pursuit of. For all its dangers… in the end, it is worth risking everything for. Wouldn’t you say?”

  Lasula seems awestruck, struggling to grasp at what to say. In the end, she stops in her tracks altogether. But she still can’t seem to come up with anything. I decide to step in.

  “There’s a lot we still don’t know about each other. And ourselves, I guess. Some stuff is bound to be pretty damn scary. Even so… I still wanna travel with you both. Honestly, I feel like I’m more alive now than I ever was growing up in the village. I don’t want that to change. No matter what we find out.”

  I say that for one reason in particular. After what Lyra told me about my arrival, I can hardly call myself human. If I end up finding out where I came from… I don’t want them to be afraid of me. If it turns out I’m some kind of monster… I don’t want them to leave me.   So no matter what I find out about anyone… I won’t ever run.

  A kind smile forms on Lasula’s lips.

  “I see. It is a promise, then.”