I heave myself up from the dirt of the forest in an attempt to stand, but the instant I get more than a few feet off the ground, my head starts swimming. And with that dizziness, I stumble forward. My legs instinctively try to catch themselves, but everything fails to save me as I fall face-first into the ground. I slam into the grassy dirt, and my head runs blank.

Again, I try to stand, but every time I move, my vision swims. I can't move without nausea and vertigo strong-arming me. The Lily healed me, but she didn't remove my exhaustion, the weariness of bone and mind. So, without being able to walk, I roll onto my back and stare at the sun cowering behind the clouds above. Chirps of distant birds and echoing gunshots caress my ears as I quickly fade into darkness.

*************

My eyes flutter open as if only a moment passed, and for a second, I wonder why it's so dark. But as I glance around, noticing the red lilies and the abyssal river, I realize why. I'm in the Lily's mindscape or whatever she called it.

I sit up, my hands pushing against the soft dirt, as I hear a fragile hum. The delicate and peaceful song consists of only a few notes. Still, I follow the strange melody along the river until I find her. The spirit within the Blooming Spider Lily perches on the river's edge, two bright red and blooming lilies in her hand.

When I get close, she turns to me and grins. Her face looks so innocent and childlike for the mind of one of the deadliest weapons in the world.

"Hi! I'm surprised you managed all that! You're awesome!"

I wave and sit beside her as she admires the two flowers, joining her for a moment. The face of Alexos and that dead Bado, Dominus, which I doubt is his proper name, appear in the petals of the flowers as she spins them in her hand. Lily bursts out again as she holds them to me.

"Do you want these?"

Hmm? What does she mean by that? I can have the lilies? What does that do?

She seems to notice my scrunched-up face and tries to explain.

"Oh! It doesn't do anything special. I was just offering if you wanted to hold them."

The peaceful face of an illusory Alexos in the flower's petals gives me pause. Finally, however, after a short moment of uncertainty, I nod.

She then hands the delicate flowers to me, and I gingerly take them not to damage them. They might have been enemies in life, but the dead deserve at least a modicum of respect. Especially Alexos. As I look at his face frozen for eternity in the confines of the Blooming Spider Lily, I realize what the man said is likely accurate.

Had we met in another life, at a different time, and under other circumstances, we likely would have been allies. He was not an evil man or outright wanting of my death. He had moments of anger, as all do, yet he returned from them unlike some... And in the end, he had the mind to save my life as his final act.

Gazing at his dead face now makes me hollow. Killing him was futile. He... was not the one that killed Edmund. He might have attributed to his death, but he neither pulled the trigger nor orchestrated the event.

Alexos was doing his best to survive and bring back his family, delving into the abyss, dealing with demons, and tricking Gods in any chance at all to save them. I--

He didn't have to die. So little of what he said was truthful, but I am confident he didn't lie to me this time we met. I can feel it. This was his honest self. Alexos came for a fight to retrieve the lantern, but he, even with his illusions, was more genuine than I.

I wanted to kill him so badly, get revenge for Edmund, and get back the Philiam, but besides the last one, it all feels so... futile. I had this image of a madman willing to do anything for his insane dream of reviving his family. While I'm not entirely wrong, he's pushed to such an extreme because of me.

Had I upheld my end of the bargain in Rustbank, giving him the lantern he wanted, he probably would have given me both the Lily and the Philiam. Of course, I can't be certain he'd do that, but I'd take it nine out of ten times.

He might have been a part of Edmund's death, but I was just too angry to see that it was my fault, not his. However, in retrospect, He actively did what he could to keep me alive. He had limits in that forest, things he had to do so that his cover wouldn't be blown, but in the end, I survived, right? Everyone survived besides the person I killed.

We betrayed him first. I betrayed him. And still... he chose to save my life.

"Lily?"

I ask for the little lass' attention while my eyes are glued to the petals.

"Yeah?"

"Can you release Alexos' soul? Like you did before?"

Lily nods, but her tiny eyebrows are raised at me.

"Why? I thought he was your enemy? All he did was lie, cheat, and kill people while I was with him. Doesn't really seem like a nice guy."

I nod at her, my focus leaving Alexos' face as I realize he has more wrinkles than the other time I saw his true face.

"He wasn't..., but I forgive him. He's not all bad. Killing him is enough. Let's let him look for his family in the Underworld. Perhaps a miracle will happen, and he'll either find or remake them with his skills."

Lily leans forward, her dark dress tinged with hints of red here or there, shifting as she takes the lily with Alexos' face hovering above it.

"Sure, if that's what you want. I'll get plenty more souls soon, so I'll let this one slide even if he did manipulate me several times. Did you know he's the only one who ever fired the gun without hesitation? Even Killian sometimes wavered. But... he didn't."

I smile as she agrees, a twinge of relief flowing through me. Not all is bad. He still got to go to the Underworld. Wait... he's corrupted, isn't he?

Lily raises her hand to release the soul, and I grasp outward and hold onto her arm.

"Wait! He got corrupted, didn't he?"

She turns her head toward me, her neck moving unnaturally with a crack as she nods.

"Yeah, but you killed him before it went all the way. When his soul left the body, the Darklight fell off it. It was kinda like a parasite that I yanked out of his head before it's damage set in. I only want that nasty stuff if it can't fall off and mess with me, like the Bado here."

I confirm with her one last time before she continues.

"So, it's fine? And what about the wrinkles on his face? Does that have to do with the corruption?"

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

She nods, then shakes her head, her head of hair bobbing like a bouquet of flowers.

"It should be fine. Worse case, they can deal with it down there, but I don't sense anything wrong. And his age is from using me. Each bullet shot takes five years of life, something you will never get back."

I wave to Lily to release his soul for it to drift to the Underworld. Then, I ask her another question.

"What about me? Would you still take those years from me?"

She bobs her head again, her feet splashing into the river of black as she does so.

"Yup! Can't help it! I siphon Ether and Vigor gradually from the Cardinal. Unfortunately, it's so far away, and I'm not strong enough to pull it to satisfy the needs of a single bullet more than once every few years. Good news, though! You'll still be healed if you kill something with the shot. It's just that lifespan won't ever return. So, if you want to use me in the next two years, you must shave off years of vitality."

Lily's cheerfulness directly opposes the morbid words coming from her mouth. I can only sigh as I lie back on the grassy knoll of lilies leading down to the river. Once on my back, I gaze upward at the moonless night of pitch-black, the eternal scenery of Lily's inner world.

As I do so, however, Lily sparks up again, her words shocking me.

"You know, I wouldn't mind having another friend. The fellow attached to you is not far from sentience. Maybe another two Sigils? Yeah, I think it'll be sentient by the 7th with all it's been through. The lingering resentment is robust, one of the most extreme I've ever felt, in fact. And that includes the Arca Killian and I came across."

I consider her words and nod. At this point, I can safely fend off the Bloody Palm without much issue. It shouldn't be able to overpower me if I advance it again, but it'll be even stronger. Maybe one day, it'll be sentient enough to speak and make a deal.

"How, though? There isn't anything I can use, right?"

Lily laughs, her hand pointing to the remaining lily in my hand.

"That one's corpse. It had an Abbot, same as your palm."

Then, Lily turns to face me, her tiny hand clenching into a fist.

"And if he tries to take you over, I can beat him into submission."

"Really!?"

Shocked, I can't help but ask to be sure. Lily blushes a tad before nodding.

"Well... if you hold me with it, yeah. Other than that, no. I have little control over anything besides souls if they do not directly touch me."

I shake my head with some disappointment as I continue to watch the sky. But a little bit of help is better than nothing at all, I suppose. Minutes pass in utter silence other than Lily occasionally tapping the water's edge. She must not know how to talk since she's always alone, so she doesn't find the silence odd. But finally, after many minutes of tranquility, I'm the one to break the silence as I ask why I'm here.

"I'm not dead, am I?"

Lily giggles, her hand covering her mouth.

"No, of course not. You just passed out from mental exhaustion. I pulled you in here because you're still holding onto me."

"Right... Well... can you let me out? I need to get that Sigil, right? I don't have much time before it dissipates. I'll visit you when I fall asleep. How about that?"

Carefully, I ask her if I can leave but try to be kind. I know she hates being here alone, so I offer to see her later. She looks at me, a tremble in her lip, but she nods.

"Yeah... I can."

She genuinely hates to be alone, huh? It hurts to see her like this, so I hold out my hand to her as I sit up, offering a promise.

"I'll visit you whenever I sleep, okay? We'll shake on it."

She also puts her hand out, and I take it, shaking her hand, wrist, and arm as she is so fragile. The strength in Lily's arm is almost non-existent, but the cold is very much so real.

The artificial sentience that is the Blooming Spider Lily nods happily toward me, the world going black almost instantly afterward.

**************

Abraham Ulren

Sputtering out dirt and blood, I push myself to my feet. The burning crusade that is Bonfire is facing toe to toe with Dakster and several of her puppets a mere few feet from me. I was tossed aside like an unwanted toy, just as Virgil was.

For some reason, the Motherbound he was fighting up and died, its corpse falling over without any prior sign. So, the man came to help us fight, for the battle beyond with the two Angels is far too dangerous to join. Over there, Ether floods like the rainy season in Sinscreak, and bullets fall as if it was raining.

I can't do much to help, but I try anyway. And Virgil is pretty heavily wound, not to mention that he and Bonfire's abilities match terribly. Simply getting close rips him from Mask. So, scrambling to my feet and drawing my weak Colt, a measly 2nd Mark with some extra firepower, I see Bonfire be faithful to his self-named nickname. Amidst several foes exists a roaring bonfire.

I take aim and shoot at one of the puppets, trying to remove their head. Meanwhile, I dive deep, attempting to spare any Ether to conjure another Nightmare. Perhaps Usef or Fjorn could do the trick. But regardless, they need to be able to survive Bonfire's skill, Combustion, his most recent creation of pyromania.

The fight with the Demon Of Storms gave him only a single day to prepare after advancing, so he was only a slightly more durable 4th Sigil during that battle. But since then, he's proven his unique connection to the flame, creating a skill that merges him and his love.

He has revealed to me that it has a limit; the skill burns him to ash over time, even as it hastens and empowers every aspect of his being. Like a brilliant flame, one unable to be touched, he seethes. I thought his joke years ago about being a candle lit at both ends was nothing but dark humor about his coming death.

Now, I see it was a blooming idea.

Virgil dashes back into the fight as I shoot and miss the unnaturally moving puppet. The man of darkness cloaks himself and dodges a few attacks as he grapples two separate marionettes and rips them away from the fight with tendrils of shadow.

The radiance of Emmet Knox keeps Virgil from going all out with his Ether. And that's not to mention that the man just finished a two-on-one fight where he couldn't get hit once or risk contamination.

The last bullet of my cylinder finally slams into one of the puppets, throwing it off balance. So, I take advantage of this weakness and compel the Nightmare of Fjorn into existence. Then, right behind the marionette of Dakster appears Fjorn and his deadly scythe as the Nightmare tears the enslaved's head off in a clean motion.

But as it does so, my mind swims with exhaustion and my body with weakness. Too much Ether. Too many Nightmares. My legs turn into paper as I fall to the ground, barely managing to order Fjorn to fight as a puppet befalls him. The Nightmare backsteps to dodge a spit of acid as he swings the scythe to deflect a dagger that explodes and sends him reeling. Nightmares are durable, though, and I compel mine to try and slay one or both of these people enslaved by Dakster.

I want to see how Bonfire's doing, yet my fatigued mind can hardly do one thing at a time. But finally, I manage to split my attention and watch Bonfire battle Dakster and another marionette after several seconds.

A silhouette within a column of fire is all he is at this point, and deep inside that heat, I see flakes of skin wafting and sublimating into the air. Dakster moves around him with blinding speed, her motions leaving behind afterimages that Bonfire tries to strike at with fire. But he can never catch up to her, no matter how hot he burns.

All she is doing is tiring him out. She is waiting for his candle to fizzle out. Even the marionette she fights him with is the most evasive of them all, turning into wisps of gray smoke here or there to dodge the black flame that roars from Bonfire.

I try to crawl forward and get closer for a better shot, but there isn't much I can do. Powdered isn't a powerful Colt, and it will likely do little against Dakster even if I hit her with it. Dammit! Where are you, Wyatt!? You're the only one not here!

No. I can't deflect. I need to focus. A minuscule gap remains until Ether saturation breaches its limit. At most, I can use Force a single time. The movement must be minimal due to the distance and how little Ether I can spare. At the right time, however, an inch is worth a mile.

The dark flames on Bonfire bellow wilder as he screams with his scorching lungs. Yet unlike the shouts of pain one would expect from a man burning alive, the lover of fire possesses no such things.

"Stop running, you whore!"

Dakster doesn't reply verbally, but she does retort with a flash of green-tipped daggers that heat up in the fire before sinking into Bonfire's flesh. I also catch her eyes flicker carefully to Johnny. She can't wait him out! She's in a hurry too! They're both fighting against time!

Ugh! This dumbass! This is why I've always told him to carry a Colt or Claymore, but he always argued that "They can't handle the heat." like an idiot. He could hit the speedy opponents if he had a gun right now, for his fire, while all-encompassing him, is slow to reach others. He really needs to deal with that weakness. His Vault only works upward, the gout of flame sending him vertically. The man has almost nothing for close-quarters speed.

Bonfire groans in pain and doubles over as the marionette behind him lunges for him, diving into the fire for the kill. It has a dagger in one hand and a shard of some black substance in its right. I panic for a moment over which to Force to the side, but I quickly make my choice as the dagger flies for Bonfire's throat.

With an outstretched arm, I clutch my fingers together, a mnemonic that helps Force activate faster. A scream of Ether in my mind bursts from my temples and jumps off my hand before heading straight for the dagger, pushing it from Bonfire's neck to his shoulder. The other thing in the marionette's hands, the black thing, smears across Bonfire's body.

But I swell with pride as instead of falling from the pain, Bonfire howls as he turns around and wraps a flaming hand around the marionette's neck. Then, almost instantly, the other being is ignited with the same dark fire that screens Bonfire from sight as red smoke evaporates from them. Neither scream as the marionette dies, but Dakster throws more daggers.

Bonfire reacts with a whirl, having the flaming corpse in his hands take the daggers into its body before throwing it to the ground. But as the corpse bounces off the ground, his fire sputters out, the spurts of conflagration turning to licks of fire in just a second. The man's body is revealed as his fires die out, leaving a body scorched so badly that the owner is unrecognizable.

What? What's happen--

"Good. I Thought Sealant would work on you. Could've been real bad if those fires were only internal. Now what was that about hell on earth, deary?"

Sealant? What is that? Is that some new Estate-based gear? Rich fucker.

Bonfire steps a few times forward as his body stumbles, flakes of charcoal flaking off his body. I can't help but grind my teeth at the state of his body. It's one thing to be resistant to fire, but for it to also prolong your life while bearing endless pain is torture, I can't even imagine.

Yet, despite the burns, he refuses to fall as he shambles toward Dakster. Emmet Knox raises his hand toward Dakster as he draws a short knife and cuts through his charred palm, a stream of red blaze replacing the crimson blood that should fall out.

One word sputters out of his collapsing lungs as fire reappears, Bonfire finding a way around Sealant in only a moment, his eyes staring at the radiance of his blood as if it were his wife. Clever, as he always is when the cards are down.

"F-Fire."

My heart sinks as Dakster laughs, dodging around the light blaze with ease.

I need to keep him alive until Johnny can help. Or anyone else. Just. A. Bit. Longer. Gritting my teeth with a noiseless scream, I push my wobbling body to a stand. I might not be able to use Ether right now, Fjorn, fighting with the Ether I gave him, but I can still help. My eyes catch onto the satchel the marionette had that Fjorn decapitated. I'm out of ammo; my last only now being used. Whatever is in there must be helpful.

And so, I, a scrawny half-breed, wearily dash for the satchel as my closest friend burns himself alive from within against a terrible foe.