A flash of lightning left Yoshitsune’s blade to smite the target of her hatred. A crack of thunder followed as the bolt’s companion ripped through the enclosed space like a gunshot or an errant firework.

The bolt struck the long-nosed bird man in the side and smashed him against a wall of the chamber. He bounced against the stones and landed gently onto the ground.

“Yoshitsune!” Uragoe shouted in surprise. “I should have done a better job of disposing of your body. Next time, I will bury you under the lake bed.”

“You are not allowed to speak my name!” Yoshitsune screamed.

She quickly stepped into Uragoe’s space before his wings kicked up a strong gust that buffeted her mid-swing. Uragoe managed to duck beneath the sweeping blade and summon several of his own. While they were quickly neutralized by Yoshitsune’s arcing katana, Uragoe used the opportunity to buy himself more space.

Jarek and I approached each other with the mutual understanding of each other’s roles in this personal duel. I locked hands with the upright bear and felt the tightly corded muscles push against me.

I placed my hands on the furry demon’s shoulders and pushed back with all my might, overjoyed with the simple, honest challenge. There was no greater feeling of accomplishment than to overcome a suitable challenge with only one’s power. Mano a mano; muscles against muscles. No teeth, no tails, and no abilities.

The claws of our feet scrabbled the rocks while our arms strained and our teeth became clenched in focus. In our silent agreement, anything except for pushing the other back was an admittance of defeat and weakness.

Meanwhile, our engagement had left the remaining pair to fend for themselves. A summoned cloud spilled rain upon the beasts of the black. Their movements dulled as their flames were temporarily quenched by the downpour. The weasel did not hesitate in the face of opportunity; a flurry of well-placed spear strikes felled the horde of animals. It was not, however, enough to sufficiently harm the mammoth. A loud trumpet sounded and the tar began to bubble with new creations.

“Bonnie!” The weasel shouted at the scaled woman. “Help out Uragoe. I’ll hold this behemoth back.”

Bonnie cupped her hands. A wellspring of water spilled out of her hands and steamed against the hot rocks below. Globes of the clear water burbled from the pool and hung in the air. A soft glow from her blue eyes sent the globes moving lazily forwards.

Uragoe clapped his hands together to make a squall behind the globe. The heavy gust of wind accelerated the projectiles at heightened speed.

Yoshitsune managed to cut down all the bubbles that approached her, but could not slash through all of them. My exhilarating contest of strength against my ursine opponent dissuaded me from moving even an inch from my anchored position. I would much rather take some water to the face than to give my opponent any feelings of victory.

The ball of water struck my head and enveloped me in a cold bubble. I reached to tear at it with my claws but did not feel my body respond to my commands.

Soft sounds of singing entered my ears. It was a somber melody; a melancholic song of longing and loss. I was no longer present in that chamber where the fires of battle once ignited my heart. Instead, I only felt a deep painful mourning.

I could feel my body changing. My scales turned into supple skin and my well training muscles turned into the thin, dense limbs of a working woman. I felt hair grow well beyond my shoulders and several layers of dresses covered my skin.

I stood on the rocky shores of some distant place underneath a lighthouse painted the color of milk. I stared out at the ocean; tranquil waves against my tempestuous heart. My mind was twisting into something that was no longer my own.

How many days have I walked to this place to watch the horizon? Each day, I saw the sailing ships with their towering masts approach the port to return their sailors to the shores and into the loving embrace of those that awaited them. Each time, I foolishly allowed myself to hope that one of them was the ship that I sought.

Why had my heart not turned numb and wooden after so long? When will the day come that I will not stand and wait for a return?

What I was desperate for was closure that would never arrive. Ships went missing regularly. Whether that was misfortune in a storm or being interred into another nation’s Navy, there was usually some rumor that came back with the ships that traveled the waters alongside those ill begotten vessels. However, for me, for my ship and my sailor, there was only silence.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Tell me you are dead and I may continue to live,” I spoke in a feminine voice that was not my own. “No, tell me you are dead so I may die with you.”

The sea called towards me to dissolve the vessel of my essence into the churning waves below. Once I dissipate into nothing, the pull of divinity would reunite us. Even if you still live, even if you have created a life for yourself somewhere else without me, I would be comforted in the fact that you are safe.

All it took was one step to fall into the waves. There was no one to stop me. The lighthouse keepers were too occupied with the roast I brought them to pay attention to me. The poor things were never given enough rations from the government. They needed a nice meal every once in a while.

And, in that window of comfort and joy and warmth I brought to another, I hit the frigid waters of the sea. The air escaped my lungs and I began to sink. My innumerable layers of dress began saturated with water and held me down like iron weights.

I drifted down in the cold dark depths. The light above me was fading quickly. Yet, I felt tranquil in my belief that this discomfort would deliver me to a peaceful place. I hoped I would see you again. Only then would everything in this world be right again; everything would be back to how it used to be.

Oh how wrong I could be.

A solid strike cracked my ribs and ripped me out of this hallucination. I tumbled along the rocks before I dug my claws in and skidded to a stop. I retched sea water from my lungs and rolled to my side to avoid the bear’s follow-up attack.

My tail slithered out to the side and flayed Jarek’s furry calves. Blood spilled out of the slash and soaked the fur with blood.

“Just when I was beginning to respect you,” I spat and got to my feet.

How ignoble of them. My pure challenge was tainted by this bizarre magic. What happened to a sense of sportsmanship and accomplishment? Where I thought I found a kindred spirit, I found nothing but an opportunistic meathead.

Fine. If that’s the kind of battle that he wanted, I would give it to him.

I charged Jarek and smashed him with my shoulder. A brick wall of meat met me and caused both of us to grunt involuntarily at the impact. As he lowered his stance and raised his arms to smash them against my back, my tail slashed against the back of his legs again. As they wobbled slightly, I wrapped an arm around his leg and pulled up.

Jarek toppled backwards, his overhead attack now only glancing off of my scales. I raked my claws across his flesh. A deep layer of fur and skin and fat prevented me from doing as much damage as I would have loved to do.

He roared directly in my ear. Some magic must have been infused into the shout because I felt myself lose strength in my muscles. A feeble arm flexing showed up as a short timer above my health bar as a foot planted itself directly into my chest and launched me across the chamber.

I landed on my feet and met Jarek head on. He bore down on me and we exchanged a flurry of swipes and punches and bites. The volume of attacks finally allowed us to draw each other’s blood.

Except, only one of us was happy to have the other’s blood in their mouth and on their bodies. As Jarek’s blood nourished my health, mine was a deadly poison that sizzled his skin and burned his mouth that he tried to spit out.

He took a step away; a small surrender that changed him from a challenger to prey in the eyes of my primal intuition. The satisfaction of bringing fear to this hulking beast’s eyes was better than any drug. My tongue flickered out of my mouth. I had to press him. I had to shed more blood and cause more distress. The last thing he should feel is regret that he turned our bloodless challenge into this feral duel.

I chased him down with my claws out and mouth open. Jarek kept fighting. His large paws still bruised muscles and caused my bones to creak. But, all the efforts were futile. I dug claws and teeth into his flesh without any hope of extracting me.

I heard the sound of burbling water and felt a gust of wind. Another round of those damnable bubbles were coming my way.

This time, I would not be the one placed into the peaceful reverie of a romantic suicide.

I gripped into Jarek’s shoulders and piloted his body to intercept the new onslaught of bubbles. I watched the water envelope his head and the panic in his eyes turn peaceful. The body turned limp in my claws and I began to push it towards the source of the bubbles. Bonnie tried to move, but had little room to retreat to.

I dropped the bear demon’s body at Bonnie’s feet. While maintaining eye contact with the merfolk, I swiped my claws against Jarek’s neck. Hot blood sprayed into both of our faces. She stood frozen in front of me; nobody else could save her.

“Don’t interfere,” I hissed, my tongue extending out to flicker directly in Bonnie’s face. “Just turn around and attend to your own business.”

Bonnie looked towards the weasel before returning her gaze to me. She did not want to turn her back to me. She did not trust that I was not going to kill her in retribution. While I did have a small craving to slay her for interfering with my fight, she provided me with something far more intriguing.

“Listen to him, Bonnie,” the weasel ordered. “Help me instead.”

She heard the orders, but could not move to follow them.

“Go!” I shouted and splayed my claws. Bonnie nearly jumped out of her skin to get away.

As I watched the merfolk run away, I heard the booming sounds of thunder behind me. Yoshitsune and Uragoe maintained their near-stalemate. Small scorch marks covered Uragoe’s body while Yoshitsune’s body was covered in various cuts from the blades of wind. Small streams of blood flowed all over her body.

I moved to support, but I was stopped by both a gust of wind and a strike of lightning. Dumbfounded, I looked in the direction of my temporary employer who regarded me with her eyeless gaze.

“Sorry, Ishmael-san,” Yoshitsune said. “But, I realized that I want to kill him myself. With my own two hands.”

I shrugged my shoulders and found myself a nice spot on the rocks to observe. Far be it from me to interfere in something so personal. There was no better than inflicting revenge through one’s own blood-soaked hands. Instead, I was interested in how far Yoshitsune would take her revenge; to see just how deep her hatred ran and just how hot it burned.

“Show me your violence, Yoshitsune.”