Kita opens her eyes to find herself laying on her back, staring straight up at the claw-like incisions in the torn tipi. Her eyes are quickly entranced by the blurry beads of the night sky above her, subtly being obscured by rapidly passing clouds.

Wait… What was I doing? She asks herself, struggling to recall anything.

She turns her eyes and looks around the room. There’s a lot of dirt and broken belongings. Something violent must have turned this place upside down. There is a small flame at the far end of the tipi where a candle gently sparkles against the material of the tipi's base.

Kita tries to recall what happened by closing her eyes and thinking to herself. I came here because… Because… I needed to talk? To something? Someone! …Who? Nothing’s coming back to her. The barrier of thought prompts her to clench her fist at the lack of cooperation. She moves on to the next problem, noticing the tension throughout her body and the wounds seeping through the tears in her clothing. In an attempt to get to her feet, the slightest twitch of her spine causes excruciating pain to shoot down her back. Prompting a brief seizure to shock her for her attempt. She lacks the strength to even raise her head right now. Her body feels fragile, as if all of her muscles are protesting. Kita's forced to stare at the room that is now rotating around her as she lies in the centre. So, she closes her eyes again and takes a deep breath before she tries to sit up.

Get up Kita, she encourages herself.

She puts all of her might into raising the upper half of her body when the searing agony flashes through her body the moment she reaches a seated position. “Gaah!” She screams, clutching both hands around her head as the beat of her heart pulsates, shaking her entire body with each kick. A tear seeps from her eye as she moves her hand away from her head and holds them in front of her face. With the obscurity of knowing that she’s looking at doubles of both her hands, her breath deepens as she feels a panic rising within her chest. All of her hands are doused in red from the brief moment she touched her head.

Is all of this my blood? Am I dying?

Each breath she takes becomes shorter as she notices the wet sensation on the top of her head. She looks around the tipi trying to figure something out but all she notices is her vision blurring most of what’s in her field of view.

She places each arm to her side and this time, concealing her screams, she attempts to lift herself to her feet.

“Mmm.” She murmurs. Biting her lip and keeping her mouth shut as she slowly tries to stand up. But she gives up, clutching her head as she feels the river of blood rushing down her back. Dazed and now seated on the floor, she reaches for her right shoulder and starts tugging at the connecting seam of her shirt between the arm and shoulder. Her body slowly rocks back and forth as she struggles to keep balanced. Her left arm barely feels like it’s holding her shirt. Her hands are devoid of any sensation and her unavailable strength has left her with a weakened grip.

She concentrates a little harder but still struggles to close her fist. Deep breaths, Kita. She closes her eyes and concentrates on the feeling of air flowing into her body as her lungs expand with each breath.

In… Out…

In her concentration, she can hear the subtle crackling and spitting of what sounds like fire. Hmm, that feels nice. Maybe I should die here again. She thinks to herself, her weak body convincing her to embrace the approaching heat.

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The sound of sizzling and the roar of the flames snap her out of her meditation- Again? She questions, opening her eyes to see the ceiling of the tipi that once revealed the stars, is now replaced with an overwhelming fiery glow. The momentary peace is now sheer panic. She grabs her right shoulder again and starts tugging as hard as she can. Her grip is stronger than before, it must be the adrenaline, but she's still too tired. She pauses to take a few deep, hurried breaths before she continues pulling at the shoulder.

The walls begin to dissipate as the flame seeps through the fabric. She pulls harder and harder as the glow gets brighter and her will gets dimmer. A tear slowly makes its way down her cheek before slowly dissipating into the air.

"C'mon!" She screams at the top of her lungs, exerting the remainder of her energy as she tugs as hard as she can, one last time. Whether it was adrenaline, fear, or both- she is overjoyed by the tearing sound that follows her efforts. The shoulder of her shirt rips, separating the long sleeve of her right arm from the rest of the shirt.

She quickly wraps it around her forehead to slow the bleeding before she dizzily tries to stand up, but in her hurry, she topples back into the ground. She takes another deep breath and tries again, getting onto both knees and trying to raise herself one leg at a time. She heaves herself up and starts falling over again but catches herself with a shift of her footing. She looks towards the entrance of the tipi, but the whole thing is glowing orange and too dangerous to touch.

The blazing fire surrounds her, and without the need for a route, she decides to create one. She limps as fast as she can towards the nearest side of the tipi before throwing her body at it. Tearing her way through the already glowing fabrics and collapsing onto the dirt outside, groaning as her whole body pulses in agony.

Having tumbled far enough from the flames, she lays idle on the floor, staring at the sky filled with stars as the smoky embers of the tipi waft overhead. So many different worlds, glistening out of view- One of them's got to be less painful than this one.

Kita heaves herself to her feet, wobbling as though she cannot account for the planet's rotation beneath her. She squint's her eyes to try to reconnect the double imagery surrounding her. Then notices she'd picked the right side of the tipi to jump out of. In the distance, from her elevated position, she can make out lights glistening like stars below the horizon.

It's far. She knows she can't make it, but something is pushing her to move on. Or rather, the lack of it.

She attempts to slide down the side of the hill, but it turns into a rather uncontrolled tumble. Her body crashes into the bushes and rocks, tossing her down the hill. Her body is battered by the ground, the pain is so heavy she can barely feel it anymore.

She abruptly halts as she plummets into a tree trunk at the base of the hill, grunting in pain as her breath ejects from her body.

The image of a shadowed figure hovers ahead of her. The silhouette has an arm stretched out. It's almost within reach- It's not a person, but it can help. A numbing pain surges through her body as she raises her arm, trying to reach the aiding hand.

"Please," The silhouette echoes in Kita's mind, its muffled voice growls as its hand approaches her. "Try again,"

Their hands meet as a flood of memories return to Kita, flashing before her mind as if she's relived it all within a moment. My soul, her mind remembers as the shadowy figure dissipates in her hand. He took you from me.

This isn't the first time she's died trying to get it back. She's startled by the pit building in her stomach as she realizes the essence of her being has been taken from her. Consumed by… By- Her mind draws a blank, another shadowed figure is all she recalls, reaching a clawing hand to her face with a menacing smile plastered on its smug face.

How many times has she died? What happened last time? The shadow of her soul and its captor are framed in her mind as she feels her body tiring further. She can't move her arms, or even lift her head. Her eyes are drooping too, despite how hard she fights it.

I need my soul. She begs as her eyelids encase her in darkness.