“They caught up to us. W-we need to leave.” Mari says, fear written all over her face.

“They’re on horseback, we can’t outrun them.” Sanora says, looking at the approaching group of at least twenty riders as she draws her sword.

“We’re going to fight them?” Mari gulps as she looks at Sanora, but she just shakes her head.

“No, we won’t. Take what you can carry and leave. Stay in the high grass next to the road.”

“You want to fight them alone? Don’t be stupid, even you can’t win that! I’m not leaving you behind!”

“Yes, you are. Its me they are after. I know I’m good, but I know I’m not good enough to go against that many people.” Sanora looks at Mari. “I told you I’d keep you away from danger, and I will. I’m not asking you to leave. I’m telling you to.”

“No.” Mari shakes her head. “I don’t care. We’re in this together, I’m not leaving.” Mari grips the clothes over her chest.

‘What did I ever do to deserve you… I’m sorry, Mari.’ Sanora thinks as she takes a deep breath.

“So what are you gonna do? Fight them? Face it Mari, you couldn’t even go up against a single one of them.”

“But I-“

“No buts. Don’t you understand? You’d only get in my way.” Sanora hisses, causing Mari to take a step back.

“I might have a chance of getting out of this alive, but not if have to look out for you at the same time. So, leave, unless you want to be a burden.”

Sanora turns her gaze back to the oncoming group, not able to bear the hurt look on Mari’s face. They’re close already and Sanora is growing uneasy since Mari is still standing rooted in place.

“Stop just standing around for fucks sake, get a move on!”

Mari flinches as Sanora shouts at her.

“But I don’t want to leave you! I don’t care what happens to me!”

“And get us both killed?! If I die here my blood is on your hands, why won’t that go into you head?! We don’t have time for this, fucking LEAVE!”

Mari just stands there, starting to sob as she looks at Sanora before finally scrambling to gather some of her stuff. Without another word she takes off into the plains crying, disappearing in the high grass.

Sanora lips turn into a sad smile. “Good girl.” She whispers to herself before bracing for the fight. A few moments later the riders reach Sanora. She can’t count them all as they move around her, cutting her off from every direction. A moment ago, she estimated that they number about twenty, but now that she sees them she counts at least thirty, all of them armed and wearing masks.

“Something tells me you’re didn’t just stop to ask for directions.” Sanora says once they all have come to a stop. One of them jumps if his horse and steps forward. He is the only one not wearing a mask. A tall man with a bald head and a large scar on his throat.

“You look as unassuming as I’ve been told.” He says, his cold voice low and gravelly.

“Don’t be so modest. Admit it, you’ve never seen such a pretty face before.” Sanora grins, but a cold sweat is running down her back.

“Please spare me your chatter. I’d ask if you want to do this the easy way, but you killed enough of my men for me to know your answer already.” Everyone around dismounts their horse as the man speaks.

“You know that and still and still came after me? No idea if you’re brave or plain stupid.”

“Like I said, spare me your chatter.” The man says and waves his hand, signalling his men. They start to close in on Sanora from every direction.

‘At least buy Mari some time…’ She thinks as she heaves a resigned sigh and tightens the grip on her sword.

“Let’s dance.” She says and hell breaks loose. Not wasting another moment, she charges at the nearest man and takes a swing at him. He isn’t even fast enough to parry. Sanora slices his arm clean off before locking onto the next one.

“She’s holding up pretty well, boss.” One man standing next to the leader says as he watches the carnage.

“She’s going all out already. Good. She’ll tire herself out playing with the pawns, let her.” The leader mumbles with crossed arms as he watches Sanora mow down his people one after another. The rest of them just stand and watch as well. Right now, she is murder incarnate. Blades come at her from every direction only for her to either dodge or parry them before taking out another of the assailants. The bodies drop one after another and slowly the ground gets soaked in their blood. Not two minutes later the last of them dies by Sanora’s sword.

“That all you’ve got?” Sanora says panting as she pulls her sword out of a corpse. “I’m almost a bit disappointed.” She grins at the boss as she stands in a lake of blood, in between the countless corpses and body parts.

“This is getting tiresome.” The boss says and gives another signal with his hand. In a second over a dozen crossbow bolts are flying at Sanora from every direction. All she manages to do it shield her face with her arms as she feels several impacts through her chainmail and painful stings all over her legs which almost give out. There are six bolts sticking out of them, blood already soaking her pants around every wound.

‘Guess that’s it.’ She thinks as she looks at her legs. She can neither run nor fight anymore. She is barely managing to stay on her feet.

‘I wonder how far Mari is…’ A smile returns as her thoughts wander to Mari. But her vision is growing blurry, her mind hazy.

‘Of course they poisoned them.’ She sighs.

“Wait for her to pass out then cut her tendons. Toss the dead men into the grass then we leave.” The boss says and turns around to walk back to his horse.

“Oh, this isn’t over.” Sanora grumbles as she starts to gather magic in her arm with frightening speed. In the blink of an eye a blue fireball grows in her palm, her body already screaming in pain.

“You’re not getting out of this alive either!” She shouts and the fireball keeps getting larger as Sanora pours in every ounce of her magic without holding back. She can feel her limbs grow cold and numb as every bit of energy is sucked into the spell, causing the veins in her right arm to glow dimly. It grows so much Sanora has to hold it above her head lest it consumes her as well. She can feel her heartbeat getting weaker the larger the spell gets, but she pays it no mind. She already made her choice. If she is going to die here, then the very least she will do is blast those people right to hell before she does. Wisps of golden flames start to spread from the core of the fire above her. Sanora’s ears are ringing, her vision is almost completely black by now. All she sees is the bright, golden light above her.

‘Ah, that looks like…’ last thoughts wander through her mind as her heart stops for good and the entirety of the fireball turns into a brilliant gold.

“…when day breaks.” With a whisper she lets go of the spell and the world around her fades away.

============================================

Tears stream down Mari’s face as she runs. The grass around her is whipping her face without end, she can hardly keep her eyes open. Only a few moments after she left, the sound of clashing blades started behind her. With every step her heart is screaming, begging her to turn around and go back to Sanora. But deep down she knows that what Sanora said is right. She would only hold her back and make their chance of escape even worse than they already are. But the words still hurt her.

She is lost in her maelstrom of thought and trips over something, tumbling out of the grass and back onto the road. But she doesn’t get up. She just lies there, face in the dirt and sobs quietly.

‘Why now. Why did all of this have to happen now. When I just found someone I care about. This isn’t fair.’ Her fingers dig into the dirt and her sobs grow louder. She sits up and turns to look back to where she came from, where Sanora is still fighting just around the next curve.

“This isn’t fair.” She whispers. All the strength has left her. If Sanora isn’t with her, then what reason does she have to keep running?

Suddenly a dim light starts glowing down the road. In mere moments is grows brighter and brighter. Mari has to narrow her eyes to keep looking at it. She can feel the warmth all the way here. The in a spilt second the light disappears, follow by a deafening bang and a gust of wind.

Mari just sits there with her mouth hanging open, staring down the road as her thoughts come to a stop.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Damn, what’s going on over there?”

The sudden voice makes Mari jump. She quickly turns her head. There are two women walking down the road.

“You alright?” One of them asks Mari. She is a good head shorter than Mari, her brown hair a similar colour to Sanora’s. She’s wearing nothing but plain day to day clothes that have seen better days. Her face looks young but seems weathered, tired. The one next to her seems more up to travelling. She is wearing sturdy clothes made of leather and she carries a big backpack on her. She has two braids in her otherwise open, dark-red hair running along the sides of her head, just above her long and pointy ears which are embellished with a plethora of earrings. Her face is gentle, and she has an oddly calm air around her.

Mari knows there is only one kind of person who would look like this while travelling the plains. Adventurers.

“Hey, someone in there?” The woman waves her hand in front of Mari’s face as she speaks, finally breaking Mari from her stupor.

“No! We were attacked in our camp and my friend told to me leave and stayed back to buy time. Please, help her! I’ll pay you anything, just please help her!” Mari begs them with tears in her eyes.

The women exchange a quick glance before nodding.

“Right, we’ll have time for question later.” She extends a hand to Mari and pulls her up. “Let’s go help your friend.”

A spark of hope returns to Mari. Maybe they aren’t too late. That bright light must have been a spell from Sanora, so that means the fight is still going. Without another word the three of them start to run down the road. Mari can hardly keep up with them as they run, taking every ounce of strength she has to not get left behind.

‘Please be alright, gods please don’t let us be too late.’ Mari begs as they run.

Her heart is pounding faster with every step they come closer to Sanora, but when they round the curve, they are greeted with a sight that makes it stop for a second. A large portion of the earth is scorched. Glimmering corpses litter the ground, the smell of burnt flesh hangs heavy in the air. A few of the people managed to survive the initial blast, but they are burnt beyond saving.

“Looks like a crucible waltzed through here.” The brown-haired woman mumbles as she takes in the sight.

Mari doesn’t register the words. The only thing on her mind right now is finding Sanora, and it doesn’t take long until she spots her lying on the ground in the centre of the circle.

“Sanora!” she rushes towards her and comes to a sliding stop on her knees by the girl’s side. “Gods…” She whispers, seeing the state Sanora is in. She is covered in blood all over, though it doesn’t seem like her own. Her legs are skewered by bolts, and her arm is hardly recognizable. It’s covered in heavy burns all the way to the shoulder. The fingertips are cleanly burnt off all the way to the bone. Her veins have grown even darker and are visible all the way to her neck and on her face. The skin around her veins is slowly growing dark as the blood is seeping into the flesh surrounding them.

Mari holds up her staff, letting every bit of magic she has flow into one spell to heal Sanora.

“Don’t leave me, please don’t leave.” She pleads in between sobs, but Sanora’s wounds don’t heal one bit.

“Why isn’t it working?!” Mari cries as she tries to draw out more energy, but she is completely dry and no matter how much hard she tries, there is nothing left to cast another spell with.

“We need to get her to the flesh sect! Help me carry her, Deepvalley isn’t far. If we run we can make it-“

“That wont help.” The woman with the brown hair cuts her off as she walks towards Mari. “Her heart already stopped beating.”

Mari looks at her for a moment before quickly feeling Sanora’s neck. Nothing. Below her still faintly warm skin is no pulse to be felt.

“No…” Mari slumps back. “This can’t be happening.” Her empty eyes stare off into the distance as her mind shuts down completely.

But in the chaos, something moves among the dead bodies. A few of them shift and from below the emerges a bald man. He is staring at the dead Sanora with bloodshot eyes, the left side of his face covered un burns. He takes a look at his men around him. Not a single one managed to escape the explosion. The few who survived are hanging onto life by a thread. And out here where there is no hope of help, they will die in a few minutes as well. His gaze wanders back to Sanora.

‘What by the gods was that? That spell? This girl… killed every last one of them? Every single one? I’m done for. Everything I built up will go to shit. All those years of work, burnt in an instant… by one girl!?’

His fists clench as fury overwhelms the man. With a loud scream he swings his hand in rage. Electricity crackles between his fingers and gathers into a bolt of lightning which zips right at Sanora.

Before Mari even registers the attack, she is pulled back, seeing Sanora’s body twitch as it is struck by the spell. She slowly turns to look at the man who cast the spell. He is stuck, struggling to free his lower half from below the body of a dead horse.

“You… you did this.” She whispers through grit teeth. “This is all your fault.” She growls as her face distorts in rage and despair. She grips the dagger she bought with Sanora so long ago, the memories making the sting in her heart even worse and her rage even more burning.

============================================

“You overdid it, Mika.” The woman on the other side of the table sighs.

“I know.” Sanora- Mika, says, looking down at the table with a sad smile. “I just didn’t know what else to do. But at least Mari is safe, that’s all that matters.” She adds with a sad smile.

“Is that really all that matters to you? What about your friends? About finding the moon, coming back home? Back to me?”

“I…”

“Don’t you care about me?” Mika’s throat tightens at her mother’s hurt voice.

“Of course I care about you.” She looks up, looking at the white blur of a face. “But I couldn’t risk Mari dying. I want to come back, I really do, but what choice did I have? They had me pinned, there was no way to win.”

“You didn’t have to win. All you had to do was survive.”

“But I still can. I survived the first time I cast like this as well. I can still-“

“No Mika.” Her mother cuts her off. “Don’t you understand? Your body couldn’t take it. Your heart stopped already.” She shakes her head.

“What?” Sanora whispers. “But last time I survived as well.”

“This isn’t like last time. You didn’t just cast that spell with magic you didn’t have, you used your life to cast it. Your brain is already dying. This is the last thing you’ll ever feel, stretched into a few more moments before you’re gone for good.”

Slowly the weight of reality starts to crush Mika. She just looks at her mother wordlessly as a storm of emotions overwhelms her.

“But this… I…” She stammers as her body starts to tremble. “No.” She shakes her head. “This cant be happening. I can’t be dead!” She shouts and buries her face in her hands. “No, I-I don’t want to go!” She sobs as memories of her life flash in her mind. Her home in River’s rest, Amni, Bawarag, Mari. All the things dear to her rushing through her thoughts and the fear hits her like a truck.

“No no no, I don’t want this!” She stands up knocking over the chair before walking back and trying to escape the inevitable. But she trips over the chair. Time seems to slow to a crawl as she looks up at the ceiling through teary eyes.

‘I don’t want this. I don’t want to die. Someone, anyone, please… help me.’

With these last thoughts she falls and hits the floor.

Her eyes shoot open as she wakes up in a world of pain. The ceiling above her is gone, replaced by a night sky filled with stars. Her limbs are twitching by themselves, the occasional spark still zipping between her body and the ground. Her memories are foggy. The last thing she remembers is letting go of the spell and closing her eyes.

She forces herself onto her side to cough out the blood in her longues. Once most of it is out, she takes a few deep breaths again. Her vision is blurred by red, her mind hazy. If it wasn’t for the pain coursing through her whole body, she would just pass out again. She takes a look around her, seeing three silhouettes of people standing close.

‘They survived? Gimme a break.’ She thinks wryly and lets her head drop to the ground again, preparing for the moment they would kill her for good. Something heavy lands on her and if she still had the energy to, she would scream in pain.

‘There it is.’ She thinks with grit teeth, preparing for the inevitable. But instead of pushing a blade into her throat the person holds her, wailing as she does so. Sanora recognises the voice of the crying girl.

“Mari?” She presses out and blinks to get rid of whatever is blurring her vision. It finally clears a bit and she looks at the person on top of her. It really is Mari, hugging Sanora tightly as she wails. This would be a really heartwarming moment if not for the waves of pain Mari’s every squeeze is sending through Sanora.

“Mari, please, pain.” She groans and Mari quickly gets off Sanora who breathes in relief.

“S-sorry.” Mari says as tears and snot run down her messy face.

“Don’t worry.” Sanora tries to lift her head but as more pain fills her, she decides to just let it rest on the ground.

“Wait.” She furrows her brows. “Why are you here? I told you to run.”

“I did, but I found help on the way.” Mari looks at the others. Sanora follows her gaze to the two girls.

“Not that you needed it.” The brown-haired woman smiles at the two.

“What happened?” Sanora looks around as much as her pain allows her to. The group surrounding her has been thoroughly decimated. Burnt corpses lie piled around her on the scorched earth.

“We just saw a bright light, then something exploded. When we reached you, things were already looking like this.” The woman says with a shrug.

“So that was me huh?” Sanora can’t help but smile a bit at the thought of the spell she managed to cast.

“Wouldn’t recommend pulling that off again though. Casting that spell killed you.” The woman adds.

“Gotta say, I’m feeling pretty alive for being dead.”

“Hah, don’t get cocky now. That was just stupid luck. That lightning spell somehow restarted your heart. Wouldn’t count on luck of these stupid levels to save you every time.” The woman grins at her.

“Lightning spell?” Sanora raises an eyebrow.

“Oh, seems like he got away.” The woman mumbles as she looks at the spot where the man was pinned down earlier. “Whatever. Let’s get you stable first.” She shakes her head.

“Right!” Mari exclaims. “We need to hurry back and bring you to Virelia. You’re looking beyond awful.” She looks at Sanora with worried eyes.

“Sorry but I’m not going anywhere right now.” Sanora says. “I can’t even lift my head. My everything hurts.

“But I can’t heal you, and you need help!” Mari says.

“You got enough juice for another cast yet?” The brown-haired woman asks Mari.

“Uhh yeah, a bit. But it doesn’t work on her, we just saw that.”

“What we saw was something else. Healing magic doesn’t work on dead people, and well, your friend was pretty dead.” Mari’s face lights up in realization as the woman chuckles.

She takes her staff and immediately casts another spell. A wave of warmth and relief washes over Sanora as the spell takes hold, slowly mending her burnt skin and torn insides.

“Ahh that’s better. Keep it coming.” Sanora sighs. But soon Mari runs out of energy. Sanora’s injuries are still grave, but Mari managed to take care of the worst for now.

“Sorry, I’m dry.” Mari slumps.

“Don’t worry, I’m already feeling a lot better.” Sanora smiles at the girl. “I’m glad I have you. Thanks for coming back.”

“I’m glad I have you back.” Mari smiles back at Sanora.

“I’m glad you have each other as well.” The brown-haired woman speaks up with teary eyes, interjecting herself into the moment without an ounce of tact, earning a shoulder in the side from her companion and some stares from Sanora and Mari.

“Uh… sorry.” She just smirks, rubbing her side. “Always, we shouldn’t stay here. Every prowler from here to Murkwater is gonna smell this barbecue.” She looks at the burnt bodies around them.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself.” Sanora chuckles. “Hey Mari.”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.” Sanora smiles at her.

“I love you too.” Mari beams at Sanora.

“Great! Then carry me!” She says extending her hands towards Mari.

============================================

“Dammit it all.” The man cusses as he drags himself through the plains. “That accursed girl. That fucking monster from the depths of tombs. That was no human.” He curses as he thinks back to the sight of his dead men. “Sanora the kingslayer.” He grits his teeth, and his eyes burn with fury. “I swear to the gods one day I will come for you and send you right back into the hole you crawled out of.” He clenches his fists. “You will pay for this.”