Chapter 57: My First Love

Amphere Harrison

After a minute of watching the two lover’s corpse who is holding hands, I wiped away my tears. I have been kneeling in the ground for the whole time, so my toes are heavy when I tried to stand up. My vision blurred and my chest wound gave off an unbearable pain. I lost my balance, but thankfully, Airelina is there to support me away from falling. She carried me by my shoulders until we reached the dragon knights who have been watching Estoff’s death.

They are all smiling and celebrating upon witnessing my ‘heroic act’. Why are they…I don’t deserve all of this! Estoff sacrificed himself just to make me look like a hero! This is not… This is not knight-like! What honor is he thinking? All of this is fake!

“We have confirmed a nuclear threat in the underground part of the city hall of the city. All units are advised to evacuate immediately. I repeat. A nuclear bomb has been detected in the central of the city. All units are advised to evacuate immediately.”

It was the radio that keeps on blabbing and blabbing. I’m so irritated that I wanted to throw it off, but I need to calm myself down. It is for my sake. Estoff left me with a legacy, and that wouldn’t be fulfilled if I am dead.

A man with rectangle eyeglasses and spiky hair, with about the age of thirty is beside me, watching my movements. He is wearing a royal blue uniform with a star on his shoulder; the sign of one of the empire’s general. He is General Holster, a joyful man who is often dubbed as the Awkward Joker. He has a habit of cracking a joke where no one laughs, except himself.

His standing between the dragonoid and the humans are balanced, so I can safely say that he will not turn out to be as terrifying as Kyle Leviticus.

“Hey, cheer up!” Holster tapped my back. “Your ‘explosive fight’ earlier with Wraith made you the hero of the Twilight City! But now, we have to get the hell outa this place, because there will be another ‘explosion!’ HAHAHAHAHA!!!”

That obnoxious laugh irritate me the most. But he’s completely right. I should save my tears for later. I wanted a cold pint of beer once I get the hell out of this hellish city. Right now, we are trying our best to run away together with five other dragon knights under the command of General Holster. 

“All the civilians have finally evacuated via Portal Dragon’s magical warp points.” A short-haired lady reported. She was Iris, General Holster’s dragonoid, and also his wife. This particular lady is wearing a ninja suit, which makes her outright cool. “The nuclear bomb was planted by an Arcadian soldier. It is a black bionic device that resembles a gigantic radioactive heart. The bomb squad has no idea how to turn off that thing, so the best course of action is to evacuate.”

Airi kept her speed and pushed her head closer to my neck. I thought she was about to flirt again but I was wrong. She whispered. “There was never a plan to bomb the city. And that radioactive heart she mentioned… It is never the work of Arcadia.”

“I thought so, too. Maybe the zombie Black Phantom has something to do with it.” I replied. “There are still answers to be told by that old geezer (Dragunov).”

About some other topic, Airi dropped ‘totally’. She didn’t cry earlier, but I know deep in her heart, she was filled with melancholy. I was examining the details of her face but suddenly, a static entered on our earpiece.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

“We failed to capture Dragunov.”  It was Reina through the radio. “That Black Phantom zombie is able to use Dracaryx. After he shouted, he immediately vanished. We really don’t know what happened, so we’re now on duty to transport you away from that place. Give us your coordinates.”

I tapped my touch-screen interface watch and turned the GPS signal on. With this, they will be able to pinpoint our current location. But then…

“Hostiles!” One of the soldiers screamed. Suddenly, a wave of zombies run rampant like ants! Some of them have Arcadian and Empire’s uniforms, but what makes them distinct from us not undead is that their bodies are already rotting! From our vision, they look like a horde of hungry ants that just saw their lunch!

The soldiers, which are escorts of the dragon knights, used their assault rifles to fire the countless zombies rampaging throughout the vast space of the city. The knights used their sword to fight hack off the heads of the undead. General Holster’s performance in zombie-killing is top notch! He is wielding dual desperado pistols that can take five zombies in one bullet! His wife Iris is able to throw shurikens straight to the zombies’ heads!

A ring of light finally opened, which indicates our ticket out of here. “Over here!” I shouted as I pointed to the portal. The three dragon knights and their dragonoids jumped in first. Because of my dynamos and help of Airelina’s Armament Mode cannons on her back, we can screen out passing zombies that could chase my allies.

“General!” I shouted. “Let’s go!”

With my signal, General Holster and his wife left the battlefield and jumped to the portal. The only ones left here in this particular city is Airi and I. When we finally cleared a twenty-meter distance from the legion of zombies, both of us decided to jump in the portal. But then…

There was a deafening explosion. A crimson mushroom cloud emerged, and a powerful shockwave crawled in the atmosphere. The portal became disrupted and vanished without us entering it! Thankfully, the shockwave made the zombies immobile, meaning; they reverted back into a lifeless corpse. Thousands of zombies fall to the ground.

“This is not good!” Airi screamed as she jumped to me and hugged me tight. I can feel her soft chest within my cheeks, as if she was curling to protect her baby from danger. Moreover, she projected her metallic wings and covered our bodies. W-What is she doing!?

Everything became dark inside our cocoon. There was a surge of heatwave, but because Airi is covering me, its effect is not relevant. It must be the radiation of the nuclear explosion. I just realized that she made this to protect me…again.

“…You know Amphy…” Airi talked in a faint voice. “…We used to hug like this when we were lost in the forest…to make our bodies warm and make through the night…remember?”

Suddenly, images from my past entered my head. An adorable scarlet-haired five-year-old girl who has the most beautiful red eyes in the world. The Ancient Forest in the Guardian’s Haven. And the big bad wolf that attacked us. And the dark crimson handkerchief that I gave to the woman I first loved.

That was the time where I first had the adrenaline to fight for the protection of someone dear to me.

My childhood friend… I can finally remember her name.

“…Airi?” I widened up my eyes, though it’s useless. I can’t see anything. “…So you were the girl back then!?”

“…You’re so slow, totally!” Her voice is mixed up with laughter. “Back then, I have decided that this man, who protected me from harm…this man, who is my hero, will be the love of my life…forever…”

As she said those final words, the cybernetic wings slowly dissolved in the air. Was it due to the corroding effect of the EMP waves and radioactive area? I gazed upon the surroundings, and witnessed hundreds of buildings turn to ashes as soon as the wind blows them. The cars, the stalls, the signages; everything was turned into dust.

A-Airi…

“…Don’t worry, Amphy.” She made an innocent, yet fake smile. “…I have purified the air for you to breathe. I have removed the radioactive waves in this area… You don’t have to worry about being hurt…”

“Airi!” I cried. As soon as I released those words, the worn out woman fell to the ground. I caught her backbone with my arms, and noticed one thing…The back of her body has completely skinned out. Dust. Dust in my fingers. I am able to touch her very spine.

My eyes are filled with terror as soon as Airi’s consciousness declines.

“No no no no no… AIRIIIIIIIII!!!”