What the hell? Am I on my knees?
The energy to live is pushed out of me with each beat of my heart. Sticky liquid soaks my entire back. What’s trickling down isn’t sweat—it’s all blood.
Crap. Stand. Stand this instant.
“Haah! …Haaaah!” Only ragged pants come out.
I’ve barely managed not to fall over. I should be able to stand. C’mon, get on your feet already! The enemy is still here!
That’s right—they’re the enemy.
Everybody died. I’m the sole survivor.
Princess was kidnapped right in front of me before I could fulfill Rob’s last wish. I wasted my comrade-in-arms’ sacrifices. I’ve wasted the lives of the men who died so that I could live. In front of me now are my proud and noble friends who lost their pain and their hearts to become puppets that only exist to fight. Worse yet, they struck me from behind, even though they’re knights. They have been defiled and dishonored… Even though they were far more respectable knights than I ever was.
Simply because I survived. Only me. Because somebody like me is all that’s left!
“Haah! Haaah! Haah! Haaah…!”
I couldn’t save the little girls.
Wallowing in that remorse, I let the witch’s invasion happen. And then I collapsed in a heap right at the most crucial time. Princess cried out for me so much too. She was calling for me and I did nothing!
I inhale and exhale shorter, ragged breaths. I forget how to close my wide-open eyes. My eyeballs sting. My lips are dry and cracked. Bitter saliva fills my mouth. My chest has collapsed in and my throat is crushed. Breathing frantically jolts my shoulders up and down, only bringing me more pain instead.
Coldness fills me inside. My cut-open back is hot.
“Ah…ahhh…” Robert is right in front of me. He jerkily raises his sword overhead. “Sorry.” I hang my head.
I can’t see your face anymore. A small puddle of blood is growing bigger on the floor. And it’s about to get a lot larger.
“I’m sorry, Rob…”
ROAR!
Red blankets my vision. But it’s not blood—it’s fire.
White-hot flames slam down the walls, searing through the house. They pierce through the treehouse in a straight line, rushing through the doors and hallways and beyond, to the outer wall of the room across the way. All four Shadowless Knights are violently blown away. What accurate aim. The torrent of flame swallows their upper bodies. The remains turn to dust and crumble to pieces. They don’t smell of burnt flesh.
I’m the only one left.
No, that’s not right.
Dragon’s head pops in from the giant hole in the scorched wall.
“…Yer late.”
“My apologies.”
“Ya just had to go ‘n destroy Princess’ room too.”
The giant hole punched through the Millennial Tree is way too big to call a window.
“It was an emergency.”
“Yeah, you’ve got that right.”
✦ ✦ ✦
ATOP the high tower overlooking the entire castle’s grounds, where the three rivers flow into one and pour into the sea, is Lady of Pearl’s chambers. With the windows and curtains thrown open, bright sunlight shines in on the stylish room. A mirror sits on one of the walls draped with blue silk. The elliptical mirror stands taller than any adult, and its frame is made of polished gold and silver. Tightly carved patterns depict multitudes of deceased souls suffering in agony. Young and old, rich and poor; all equally fall prostrate before death.
Gold is on the frame’s right, silver on the left. An elaborately decorated skull is inlaid at the top where the ellipse’s halves meet. It’s a masterpiece cut out from a large sapphire. Lady Megan’s hands rest on the edge of the mirror as she intently gazes at the surface. A hint of a callous smile touches her flowerlike lips.
Suddenly, a flash flares across the mirror’s surface. The mirror bends and creaks as if a tremendous force is pushing against it from the inside…but the mirror does not give. Groaning, Lady Megan covers her eyes with her white palm. On her finger glints a sapphire ring, the mirror’s complement.
When the flash fades, nothing is reflected in the mirror any longer. All that remains is jet-black darkness.
“You struggle in vain,” Lady Megan murmurs in her monotone voice as she twists her ring in irritation. She rotates the perfectly clear sapphire, which is engraved with a finely detailed skull. “…But the deed is done.”
A single thin crack runs horizontally across a corner of the mirror—it doesn’t catch Lady Megan’s attention.
✦ ✦ ✦
IT’S gone. Something I always sensed is gone. It’s the barrier. The Fairy Barrier that protected us morning and night has completely vanished.
“Can you move, Gideon?”
What an odd feeling. The feeling of sharing all five senses with Dragon ain’t letting up. We shouldn’t be “connected” right now, but a thin thread runs between us.
“Gideon?”
“Yeah. This is nothin’. As long as I…rest a smidge…” Contrary to my words, the strength seeps from my limp legs when I try to stand on them. “Err?” I fall flat on my face. If I take another blow to my back, I’m finished.
“Do not attempt to cover your weakness with lies.” Dragon shoves his body through the hole in the wall, but only his front half makes it inside. Feeling his overwhelming presence over my back, up close, triggers instinctual fear and sends gooseflesh prickling across my skin.
“Hey, what’re—” Breath hits my back. “Ah….”
Feels so nice. The pain is dissipatin’. Next his breath makes contact with my left arm. As I’m casually watching him—
“WHOA!” My wounds disappeared. “Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Why?! What’s going on?!” Shocked, I jump to my feet and the world spins. “Whoops…”
On the spur of the moment, I cling to the nearest support—Dragon’s ruby scale-clad neck. Going right past warm, his scales are hot. But it’s comfortable. Just touching him helps blood pulse through my stiff body, putting an end to the nasty shakes.
“Settle down. I merely sealed the wounds. The blood you lost hasn’t returned.”
“No, no, no, I’m more than satisfied just being free of pain!” I look over to Dragon, examinin’ him—his left foreleg is bleeding! How in the world did that happen? I haven’t seen even a nick on his body over the past year!
“It can’t be…is that…” I touch my left arm. Aside from the blood, there’s no trace of the gaping hole. “Mine?” I nervously ask.
“Indeed. I transferred your wound.”
An instant reply.
“Hey! Don’t be reckless!”
I can’t see it from where I’m standing, but it’s likely that my back injury transferred to his back as well.
“It’s a small cut to me. It skinned a layer of skin at most.”
My jaw drops. “Excuse me, but that hurt like hell for me.”
“…I possess a larger body.”
That’s what it comes down to? In short, it’s a matter of relativity? In any case, I’m grateful just to be able to move.
“You’re capable of pullin’ a stunt like this too, huh?”
“I became capable of it. Because my scale is embedded in your body.”
I place my hand against the left side of my chest. The red scale, burned in and solidified with my flesh, is completely one with my body now. Nothing ‘bout it feels strange anymore. I’ve grown accustomed to it, like it’d always been there.
There aren’t any traces of burns on Dragon’s body. But I’m certain about one thing—
“You were the one burning.”
“…She’s right, I didn’t make it in time.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” I assure him.
“I think about it to this day. I can’t help thinking about it. What if I had never left her side back then? Had I been with her, would that child not have lost her mother? Would she not have been chased out of her castle…?”
PIERCE! PIERCE! Ice needles jab at my heart. Is this Dragon’s pain? Or is it mine?
“My decision turned that child into a witch.”
“LIKE! I! SAID!”
SMACK!
I whack Dragon’s shoulder with my palm. His thick scales don’t even twitch, and instead I’m the one in pain. A while after I wordlessly clasped my own wrist, tremblin’ in pain, I feel an oddly worried pair of eyes on me. I jerk my face up.
“I’ll listen to your woes later,” I summarize.
Unable to fulfill a promise. Not making it in time. Failing to protect someone. We share the same exact pain. We bear wounds that can’t be erased. But even so…no, because of that—
“We have to overcome this and move forward. You can move your limbs even if uneasiness is writhin’ in your gut, right? If you’ve got the strength to withdraw into yourself, then you’ve got the strength to move… You can do it. If not, we can’t save Princess. Am I wrong?”
“…You recover fast.”
Aah, he thinks so too?
“I commend your positive attitude.”
“Thanks.”
Just like his grief burned me, my despair was conveyed to Dragon as well. It must’ve stabbed him.
“Let’s go, partner.”
“Shall we get going, partner?”
And so we stand. We bump our clenched fists amid the burnt and smoldering debris.
“For the princess.”
“For the princess.”