Her name was Amelia. She was a monster slayer, a paladin, one of the last protectors of the realm.

Amelia stepped into the village at the boundary of the unknown. Her gorgeous, curled hair dropped all the way down her silver, shining armor, to her waist, where she had belted a dagger, mace, a sword, and various potions.

The sun was rising again. It had been a long night, which nobody survived.

"It was another of these nightmares." - Amelia spoke through gritted teeth, as she touched the bloodstained ground. - "But now, I know where you are."

The girl raised her hand high in the sky, it was like beams of sun gathered in her palm. They started sparkling, then beamed in a blinding flash and formed a lance as long as three times the girl's height.

Amelia squinted her eyes and looked at the sun, then aimed the lance at its center. She ran forward, then released her incandescent weapon. It disappeared in a blink, moving with the speed of light itself.

[ Three months has passed ]

Amelia was in a mushroom forest. She followed the charred holes in fungi and found herself amidst a nest made of feathers. There was no trace of the monster's corpse.

"How!? HOW DID IT EVADE IT??" - Amelia screamed.

"I didn't." - A calm voice spoke from behind the girl.

Amelia broke in a cold sweat, she could be dead at any moment If she made a single mistake.

"It appears you were looking for me..." - The monster spoke. - "...and you tried to hurt me, why?"

Amelia didn't reply, her armor and skin were instantly surrounded by a golden fluid.

"I see. The blood of Unbroken." - The monster continued. - "You must be really afraid, but I promise, I'm not going to hurt you."

"I am not afraid of you!" - Amelia hissed through teeth and drew her sword. Its blade dispersed into a glittering, blueberry fog. - "LIAR!" - She finished with a taunting call.

The monster leaped three times, as If it bounced off the air, and looked at Amelia with its starry eyes. - "I know what it is... sand of unfulfilled desires. You are already protected by an impenetrable defense, yet you still wish for me not to come any closer."

"It's not for defense!" - The sand accumulated in billions of tiny dots, which shot at the monster in an instant.

It was like a thousand bullets hit its skin, the monster's black robe was all riddled with holes. The monster's face contorted from mental pain, the dust attacked its psyche with the worst of the monster's memories multiplied a thousandfold. Black tears started rolling down the monster's pale and rosy cheeks, and black blood started overflowing in its mouth.

The monster was all jittery and shivering, then fell on its knees, and at last on the ground.

Amelia sighed with relief, then she started crying herself. It was over, finally over and she was still alive.

"Are you sad?" - Amelia's short moment of rest ended abruptly. It was a familiar voice.

"...how...?" - The paladin barely whispered, her lips were trembling

"It hurt. It really hurt."

"...how...?"

"I won't let you break me down with just this." - The monster spoke. - "You caused me many bruises." - The monster rolled up its sleeves and revealed its injured hands. - "But this what I was fated to be."

"HOW DID YOU SURVIVE!?" - Amelia screamed, almost hysterically.

"I rejected reality."

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"What...?"

"I don't want to die."

Drop by drop, sweat dropped from Amelia's chin and forehead. Her body grew warmer, hot, until it was entirely set aflame.

The monster looked in shock, but it had no time to react, before the entire mushroom forest was incinerated.

Dozens of flaming bolts shot out of Amelia's body at the monster, but before they could even touch it, they turned into flower petals.

"If it's what it takes, I'll make you beg for death." - Amelia shouted and scorching nova flared up the sky, engulfing everything around in flames and turning the petals birds into embers.

The flames couldn't touch the monster, who was surrounded by a fluctuating sphere of transparent plasma.

"You break my heart." - The monster spoke in a sad voice. - "I thought, we could talk it out."

"Every second the words leave your mouth, is a second when an uncountable amount of people suffer."

The monster landed on the ground, its bare feet stepped into the white ashes that reached as far as one could see with their eyes.

"I suffer too." - The monster whispered to itself. - "Every second."

"Then LET ME END IT." - Amelia raised her leg and stomped on the ground with all her strength. Two black chains erupted from the soil and captured the monster.

The monster resisted, but quickly realized that no amount of thrashing around would help it free itself.

"No magic can break these chains." - Amelia spoke confidently and took out her ruby dagger.

"Please..." - The monster spoke with tears in its eyes.

But Amelia was adamant, she didn't falter.

"Please... I beg you..." - The monster cried.

Amelia came closer and closer.

"Please... don't kill me. I only want to live. I only want to be happy. I only want a place for myself."

"Yes, you only WANT for YOURSELF. That's what you do your entire life. It's time to end your endless charade."

As Amelia was just a few steps away from the monsters, her unbreakable shield turned into thousand of golden butterflies. The butterflies flew towards the monster, encompassing it.

"No!" - Amelia rushed and struck the barrier with a dagger, but it was impenetrable. She struck again, and again, to no effort.

[ Days passed. ]

Amelia kept striking at the barrier, she hoped that she would be able to kill the monster once it came out, but her arm was slowly losing its strength. She hit again and again, but the pace was getting slower, until she stopped altogether. She needed to catch a breath.

"Hey, you. Please, listen to me." - The monster spoke from behind the barrier.

Amelia was tired, she could not attack any longer. She sat in front of a monster, observing it with her keen eyes.

"I am desperate, so please, help me to understand If you are a doer of good or evil."

Amelia laughed. - "Does it matter? Anyone who stops you, no matter the methods or intention, is doing a favor to this world."

As these words finished leaving Amelia's mouth, it started raining.

"Please, answer me."

"Leave your hiding and you will receive your answer." - Amelia replied.

"It's a trick."

"It's also honesty."

[ Forty... Fifty... Sixty years later. ]

"Are you still there?" - The monster asked.

Amelia sat through the endless rain, wet, miserable, and shivering from the cold.

"Someday, you'll be gone." - The monster spoke. - "Don't waste your life and let me go. We waited there for so long."

Amelia did not respond, If she did, her battle would be lost. It was a gamble, If the monster left too early, it would die. If Amelia remained here in silence, it could keep the monster locked up forever.

"I don't want to be here, please, have mercy. It's dark and there is no room."

Amelia spoke nothing.

"I often have nightmares. I don't want to suffer any longer. Please..."

Amelia prepared her dagger, she believed the monster would not hold any minute longer.

"I believe you're a good person, and you also have good reason to do what you are doing, but I want to give my life meaning and live it to the end. I will pray for you a few days longer. Please, leave by then, I don't want to hurt you."

Amelia knew, there was no chance she would do it.

[ One day passed. ]

It started to snow.

[ Second day passed. ]

It snowed no more, everything, including Amelia, was covered in a thin layer of frost.

[ The third day passed. ]

Golden butterflies were falling off, one by one.

Amelia woke up, monster's silhouette passed in front of her. She was too late, she overslept, but the monster didn't attack. It left her alone. She still had a chance, she lifted her arms with all her strength.

The monster screamed in pain. The dagger was stuck in its eye.

Amelia fell, she had no strength to fight any longer, it was her time to go.

The weather turned to storm, and as If the monster's blood stained the snow, it turned red.

Then, ever-reaching darkness consumed the world.