“Why’re you doin’ this, Robert? …Weren’t you the one who told me to take Princess Lala Lilia ‘n run?!”
Silence followed by the jarring friction of a sword scraping across the surface of a shield are the only replies. I inhale, releasing the tension from my muscles. Twisting my upper body, I swing my shield to the side, displacing the sword’s momentum. Rob pitches forward and loses his balance. Now that’s what I’m after!
“TAKE THIS!” I roar.
I muster up the remaining embers of strength from my drained limbs, gut, and chest to shove the entire weight of my body behind my shoulder, and ram straight into him. It sends him and the sword he holds flying. I drive him right through the open door, short hallway, and slam him again through a second door. The momentum doesn’t stop there, because he tumbles backwards—but just him. I rammed into the enemy myself, and I wouldn’t make the mistake of falling with him.
That’s right. He’s the enemy.
He gets to his feet and slams against me—it’s a battle of bodies this time. These tremors of impact rushing through me are nothing compared to his sword’s weight. And I’m prepared to take the hit. I’d already grabbed my trump card off the ground by the time he rammed me.
Moving with the momentum of swinging my sword, I plant my feet and twist my body to the right forcefully.
“YAAH!!”
It knocks him off his feet. Rob hurries to regain his footing, but he’s lost his balance, and the momentum of the attack knocks him completely off kilter. His arms and shoulders go slack, and the sword in his hand can no longer be used as a wall to protect him.
My sword hacks into him, slipping through the joints in his armor and cutting through flesh to sever the bone.
Robert was the man I was proud to call my friend. He was a man I could trust to have my back under any circumstances. The captain of the knights who had stuck to his noble motives so bravely before, is sliced right down his chest and is defeated with surprising ease.
I thrust my sword into him and stare down at it. Not a single drop of blood spills from the gaping wound.
“As I thought…you died…”
Why the hell did I let myself dream for even a second that you were still alive?
I’ve been drained dry.
Annoying.
Tears won’t even come out.
How empty.
Somebody steps on a single acorn.
It’s a dry crunch. My sword’s too far out to swing back in time. I pivot on my right foot to spin my body to the left, but I’m not fast enough. A sword cuts through my arm, spraying red into the air. And I know the face splattered with red that’s starin’ emotionlessly down at me.
“Greg…is this a joke?”
Lightning Greg—no one could withstand the quick repetitive blows he dealt with his huge frame.
“Did you lose your pride as a knight too?” My lips twist ruefully. My eyelids tremble. “How could you cut me from behind?!” My strained voice is drowned out by the sound of meat being skewered. The edge of my sword slips through his armor’s joints, piercing through the heart to the back.
“This can’t be happening. It can’t be happening…”
I looked after this man on his deathbed. I’m dead certain I heard his last moments with my very own ears—the whistle of him taking his final breath.
Lightning Greg turns to black dust around my sword and crumbles away.
No, no, this thing is different. Whether he’s alive or dead, he’s a copy of the man I knew.
Like ashes, like falling leaves, his skin peels off and his eyes roll, falling out of their sockets, leaving behind bare bones that soon turn to dust as well.
It’s a pointlessly exact duplicate. It’s a fake. Vacant eyes stare at me just like they had in his last moments of life. It’s a fake!
“It’s not like I didn’t already know…that I’m the last one left…”
Somebody steps on a second acorn.
It’s a dry crunch. A blow hits me in the back.
Something grave just happened to my body.
Laid bare to the outside air, the flesh exposed under my ripped-open skin burns. I was cut—from behind. My body hasn’t processed the pain through the searing heat and the shock yet. The clothes covering my back are soaked. It’s blood. I gotta land a blow on ‘em before I lose my strength!
Over my shoulder, I see the continuation of this damned nightmare. Gripping the blood-soaked sword behind me is my good friend Robert. My face twists and my throat tightens.
Damn it all!
He’s standin’ up like nothing happened.
Did I go too easy dealing the finishing blow?
I should’ve ended him there and then. I shouldn’t have let down my guard until this guy turned to dust and disappeared.
Somebody steps on a third acorn.
It’s a dry crunch. Darkness weighs heavier in the room. Before I knew it, three familiar faces showed up.
“Didn’t anybody…teach ya to…knock?” The pain slowly sinks in as the red stain on my back expands. “Not yet…I can’t be…defeat—” My consciousness is swallowed by the floor and my knees give out. Right as I bite down to grit my teeth, the strength leaves my jaw. Everything goes slack of its own accord.
“Haah! Haaah! Haah! Haaah…!” My shield is heavy. Sword is…heavy. No matter how much I strain, I can’t get the point up in the air. “Ugh!” My knees hit the ground, dragging my line of sight down.