CHAPTER SIXTEEN : RISE

"No. no. no. no. no. no. no." Terry froze seeing the dire rat grab onto Aly's neck her pained face frozen in his mind. Terry's vision suddenly went black and he was standing alone in the dark void that he had grown used to. The massive eye of Erebus looked down upon him.

"Why are you freezing up?" Erebus questioned.

"I... don't know what to do. She's hurt and there are so many rats. I can't believe I let this happen." Terry said with tears streaming down his face.

"She's more than hurt the wound she has is fatal. She won't survive." Erebus said quietly.

"There's no way we can save her?" Terry asked desperately.

"You can try. But you can't freeze up. Get rid of the rats and we'll see where we are at."

Terry opened his eyes back to the gruesome sight of the rat biting into Aly as she tried as hard as she could to stay standing. "W...Run! RUN RUN RUN RUN!!!!!" She screamed desperately.

Terry was silent he pointed his finger towards the rat as he walked forward, "Flame nail Maxima." A line of brilliant flame erupted out of Terry's finger and pierced the rat's body burning it from the inside.

Ally collapsed.to the ground with a dull thud her wound continuing to bleed out dripping onto cold sewer stone, "Terry... w...what?" She huffed out lightly.

A black aura radiated around Terry causing the rats that were aggressively charging to freeze in fear. Terry continued to walk forward dropping the torch to the ground. He stopped in front of Aly's collapsed body. "Raging Inferno," Terry whispered with a snap of his fingers A destructive fire roared through the sewers in front of him. Leaving nothing but ash from the rats on the grimy sewer stone.

Erebus spoke quietly in Terry's mind, "Go back to her put pressure on the wound it may help stop the bleeding.

Terry turned around to kneel next to Aly. She was hardly able to move her head, "So... you weren't an E rank runt after all?"

Terry shook his head working on flipping her over so he could put pressure on the wound. Taking his left hand he held tight feeling the warm blood flowing through his fingers. His heart was racing, "No... I wasn't. I just didn't want to tell you."

"It's ok." She coughed up a bit of blood, "I understand."

"She's not going to survive the bite was deeper than I thought she has internal bleeding," Erebus explained noticing the blood she was coughing up.

"You're going to make it." Terry said quietly, "I'll get you out of here don't worry. I'm not going to let you die here."

"I can tell my wound's pretty bad. You don't have to lie to me." Aly said quietly, "If my mom comes to the circle looking for me. Could you tell her I died fighting a dragon or something more than a rat?" Aly tried to laugh but only winced in pain when she tried.

"No... you're not going to die." Terry said as he felt her pulse slow down and watched her eyes close. The pulse slowly stopped and the color was now fully drained from her face. The bleeding stopped as the pained look on her face slowly morphed into a smile.

"I'm so sorry. It's all my fault." Terry said struggling to hold back tears.

"You're right. It is your fault. If you didn't play your game of pretending to be weak. Of letting her take point. Of letting her think she would be able to do this alone no matter what. You brought her death."

"I know..." Terry muttered lifting his hands off of the wound his hands covered in blood.

"Do you understand now? Do you understand it's strength that's able to protect people that's able to stop what happened to this girl to other people you will grow to care for? Pretending to be weak will get you nowhere. It will only hurt you in the long run. It will only hurt the people around you." Erebus spoke.

"I just wish I could save her now. She was alive happy smiling just a moment ago." Terry stood up looking down at Aly's unmoving body.

"Why? You sound as if you have feelings for her. I thought you preferred men." Erebus questioned.

"I don't like her like that it's just... she was becoming a friend and I don't have many of those." Terry had a tear streak down his face, "And... when you don't have many friends I guess it makes it harder to lose one."

Erebus was quite leaving Terry alone in his thoughts for a moment, "We can bring her back you know?"

Terry gulped hard at that question, "We can?"

"Of course. There's just some... risks involved."

Terry shook his head, "It doesn't matter if there's any chance of bringing her back we have to try."

"I see. Get on your knees and place both of your hands on her stomach. Say Rise. Focus on what it feels like to use dark magic when you do."

"I..." Terry nodded his head, "I will." Terry did as he was told he got on his knees placing his hands on her stomach it was damp from the sewer water they walked through. Terry sighed and closed his eyes remembering the few times he cast dark magic, "Rise." Terry's voice sounded horse and almost like a whisper even though he was speaking in his normal voice.

Everything was silent for a moment beside the sound of some water dripping in the distance and some air blowing from an unknown source. Until Aly suddenly gasped deeply breathing in heavily.

"It worked your back." Terry said with a smile until his eyes widened in horror. Her skin started to shrivel up her gasping grew pained her eyes blacked. "What's going on?!"

"I told you there were risks this was one of them." Erebus said calmly.

"Her skin continued to shrivel as darkness started to spread from Terry's hands enveloping her body turning her body into what seemed like darkness itself. Aly's body shaped and contorted into what looked like a wraith made of darkness. It shrieked loudly and sounded like a banshee."

"A...Aly?" Terry whispered.

"This isn't Aly anymore. She wasn't able to cope with the resurrection process her mind and body were lost. This is a nightmare."

The wraith screamed again seemingly shaking the foundations of the sewer. "I... no this isn't right."

"I'm sorry Terry. She's gone. It was a try worth taking that in the end failed. Now the question is do we keep this creature as our own or do you want to get rid of it?"

"She's.... gone. Aly, I'm so sorry." Terry said reaching out to touch the nightmare creature it slowly responded by wrapping its arms around Terry in what was seemingly a hug.

"These creatures are mindless Terry whose only purpose in life is to serve us. Do not be deceived." Erebus spoke seriously, "Do not think for a moment that Aly is still in there. She is gone."