Chapter 36: Don't Fight Me, Ignite Me (10)

As soon as Caim plunged the sword into his heart, Victoria knew what to do. That is, too late. But she did what she had to do. She unleashed the spell, making the imposter explode. His upper half separated from his body, flying far away into this crystalline white void. More and more blood everywhere. It would feel like a victory if most of it didn't belong to the real Caim.

Yonah immediately started running. Of course, Victoria wasn't far behind. The only surprising thing was that she managed to keep a firm grip on the staff when even her own soul was trembling. Victoria knelt before Caim, staining her robe with his blood. There really was too much blood.

Even at the beginning, it was surprising that he stayed on his feet, and even more so that he spoke coherently. He had holes all over his body. She noticed it instantly, despite the blood and fear. Chunks of flesh violently torn off. Deep wounds. He looked like someone who should have died several times even before they arrived.

But somehow, he had survived.

So, would he do it again? Or was this the definitive end? She didn't want to believe that. She didn't want to believe that they had been so close to a happy ending and ruined it by not being smart enough to realize the truth until it was too late.

Her white robe was being stained with Caim's blood, which had been shed because of her. She wanted to scream, but she didn't. She wanted to look away, but she didn't.

He still had his eyes open. He was breathing, clinging to life, but for how long? His hands reached for the sword. Fortunately, he came to his senses and let them drop. That would have been just another terrible mistake. It would only have caused him to bleed out faster.

Victoria could heal people with a bit of magical energy and willpower, so she didn't know much about medicine, but it was evident.

What she had to do was hurry with the spell, or he would leave before her eyes. Please, gods, give him the strength to survive this. Take my life if necessary.

A mocking laugh broke the silence. The imposter was still alive. It didn't matter, especially because it was unlikely he would still be a threat. She had to focus on Caim, whose life was slipping away faster and faster. While she formed the spell, Yonah held him lovingly in silence. As silently as she cried.

Her heart was breaking into a thousand pieces.

If Caim died here, neither of them would survive this. Not really.

"I see you still cling to life. At least you'll go to hell with me. But first, listen carefully, and I'll tell you the answers you've been seeking, okay?" A cruel and ruthless laugh. With Caim's voice. She could never have imagined her friend sounding like that, like a true son of the devil.

Her heart ached, but that was the least of it. She knew for sure he wouldn't say anything good. She couldn't do anything; her hands were busy. However...

"Kill that bastard, Yonah."

She didn't want to hear anything from that thing, especially if it wasn't a lie. The truth was more crushing than any lie. You could only hide from the truth, not defeat it.

That thing would say whatever it took to hurt Caim, and that was the last thing he needed in what could be his final moments.

No. How could she think like that? He would recover. That is, she would manage to save him. She had to.

She couldn't talk as if everything didn't depend on her. There was no fate or God in whose hands she could leave Caim. Victoria still believed in God, as she had been raised. Even though God probably didn't hold her in high regard, killing her own father in the house of the Lord, in front of the entire congregation. But that went double for Caim.

It was clear that God and fate had turned their backs on him long ago, whether he was a son of the devil or not.

Only she could do this. Only she could pull him from the clutches of death. Yonah gritted her teeth and got up to carry out her plea, but Caim himself stopped her.

"Please..." His mouth was full of blood. He could barely speak. "I need... to know. I need it."

Yonah grimaced. Even now, on the brink of death, he clung to his quest for answers. It was natural. When everyone repudiated you without remedy, it was normal to at least want to know why you had to suffer like that. She also wanted to know the answer. It was difficult for her to reconcile the idea of a benevolent God with the existence of a race of people brought into this world only to suffer.

But now, she should only care about her own life. Everything else didn't matter, it could be left for later.

But who was she to deny him the answers he so desperately sought? She had no right to do that. Perhaps the creature that had copied him really knew the truth, even if it was something Caim didn't want to hear.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"A long time ago, a man with horns was born," began the clone. "Because of his attention-grabbing appearance and innate charisma, he ended up surrounded by people eager to follow him. He took good advantage of it. This man raised armies, waged war. He brutally conquered all sorts of places. War is always hell, but he was especially brutal. It was said he was a demon. It was said he drank the blood of newborn babies and defiled virgins. And he was a man, after all. With or without consent, how would I know, he spread his seed to the four winds. That's all. We're a mutation no one remembers why they hate and that persists for the same reason any lineage does. A bit of luck and a lot of desire to screw."

A broken laugh. It came from Caim's throat, not his clone's or whatever it really was. He had said "we" after all. It was natural for him to laugh that way. This was what he had risked everything for.

There was nothing special at all. Nothing to justify it, a true explanation. Things had simply happened that way. A man may have been cruel or not. And his race still paid for it more than a thousand years later, even though no one remembered his name or his supposed horrible deeds.

That was all.

It was a bad joke. So, of course, Caim was laughing like that. Laughing as if he were crying.

Victoria's heart was also breaking at the truth. The hearts of all three. They sought solace and support in each other, as always. Their hands found each other. They squeezed tightly as Caim's blood continued to flow.

Yonah got up and did what Caim should have let her do from the beginning. Or not? Perhaps this ugly and simple truth was better than wondering the same thing for the rest of his life. Imagining and fearing, knowing that now the truth was forever out of reach. She couldn't know, and it didn't really matter anymore. What's done is done.

There was no going back. The clone's head cracked like a ripe melon in the sun, and his mocking laughter ceased forever.

Yonah staggered back.

It was to be expected.

She had crushed Caim's head, after all. She had looked him in the eyes before killing him. It didn't matter that she knew for sure it was the imposter. He sounded like him and looked like him. She felt the same way when she had made him explode.

That's why her silent gaze was so terribly heavy.

An attack from two fronts. From behind was Yonah's gaze, which she could feel clearly. And from the front were Caim's cloudy eyes, which didn't look at her as if pleading for her to save him. Not the opposite either, but they seemed to tell her not to blame herself if she couldn't achieve it. That was Caim. He always asked them for unreasonable things without thinking twice.

Her eyes stung. Victoria didn't wipe away the tears. It would only be a waste of time, and every second counted.

The space changed. From this crystalline void, they moved to one of the practically indistinguishable stone rooms they had passed through during the ascent. They hadn't been transported to a different place, however. The blood, the viscera. Everything was in its place.

And, as if they didn't have enough already, the Tower began to tremble. Dust and small debris fell from the ceiling. Victoria bit her lip. Caim was not in a condition to be moved. Although...

That is, when she managed to heal his heart, he would still have many other serious wounds to deal with. But if a collapse occurred, they could end up buried alive. She had to make a decision quickly. Moving him could kill him, but leaving him here would do the same if that earthquake didn't stop. The debris would crush him like an insect in his weakened state.

Victoria bit her lip so hard it bled. She felt the selfish desire for Yonah or Caim himself to make the decision for her. She wasn't ready to accept the consequences if it turned out to be the wrong decision. Fortunately, she didn't have to choose.

None of them took the decision out of her hands. It was a matter of fate. The ceiling didn't collapse; it flew away as if torn off by a strong wind. There was no sky on the other side, only an absolute void that seemed to want to engulf them.

The entire Tower kept trembling.

Victoria had had enough time to heal Caim's heart enough to allow her to extract the sword without him dying in five seconds. Now she just had to finish closing the wound and deal with the rest of his body.

She didn't want to

think about anything else. She couldn't think about anything else. But a cold wind was pulling them toward the void. Yonah drove her daggers into the ground. One to hold herself. Another to pin Victoria's robe to the floor, leaving one hand free to hold Caim for her while she continued with her work.

A series of quick, correct decisions, but she wasn't sure if it would matter. She wasn't sure if it would mean anything even if she managed to save Caim after all. There was nothing on the other side. What lay outside the Tower was not the world they had left behind. Human beings couldn't exist in that nothingness, right?

But that didn't mean she was going to stop trying to save him.

Even if it was the last thing she did, she thought.

She wouldn't die for having let him die. She swore it. She wouldn't let it be said that she hadn't tried hard enough. She would give everything and more, even if a certain death awaited them regardless.

Better to think about that than about dying, in any case. When there were still so many things she longed to do. When, in reality, they hadn't even started to live in the first place.

"I can't hold on much longer," said Yonah. Her voice carried defeat, resignation.

Victoria took a deep breath.

"I know."

The truth was the most terrible because you couldn't defeat it, only hide from it. She continued with her work anyway. Until she couldn't anymore. The cold wind tore them from the ground and dragged them into the void. Its impenetrable darkness had already swallowed the clone a while ago, and she had missed it. There was no trace of him left.

They floated in the void. Were they falling or flying? In the nothingness, there was no possible orientation.

In any case, she saw Caim's wounds heal without any explanation. She hadn't had time to finish, not even close. Despite the current circumstances, of course, she was glad. If this had healed Caim, maybe it wasn't so bad. Maybe it was just a door to another journey. Victoria didn't know how true that was.

On the other side, there was more than a void. Stars. For a moment, she thought she was floating in the sea of darkness beyond the skies.

But no.

They were falling through the night sky of a strange world, where all the buildings were larger than any castle.

There was a city below them, the largest city she had ever seen. At a distance that would certainly make the fall kill them. And a lot of beings and living trees were devouring its corpse.

Don't Fight Me, Ignite Me, Part 10: END

Soul Devourer: END