A Deal with A Deity

-1:43 P.M.-

--Sky's Perspective--

"Back in this damn Black Lake again..." I tried to push myself up out of the black sludge on the ground. I couldn't even move, it was up to my chest when I sat upwards. I desperately trudged around, trying to escape. I felt a shoe on my shoulder and it pushed me forward, trying to dunk my face. I resisted as much as I could until the pressure went away.

"You were so close too... I'm amazed that you try this hard to fight off your animalistic instincts. You've officially impressed me, Sky." Deity said, walking around me and crouching down to my level.

"Take me out of here! I need to help my friends in the war!" I yelled at her, but she shook her head.

"You act like my stamina is endless. I can't keep supplying you with my stamina. I even let you take my power to raise the ground, and you still want more. I can't believe you aren't the White Stone of Greed." Deity told me.

"No... I'm the White Stone of Wrath, in and out." I smiled at her, trying to tell her that I knew my weakness. It was my anger.

Time and time again I was driven by my anger. Whether I liked it or not, it was a part of me I could not refute. That was in my blood. I was a monster driven by Wrath.

"So... where's Orion?" I asked Deity. She shook her head.

"Not sure. Probably for the best he isn't here. So, you don't want my help anymore... do you?" Deity asked me in response.

"That's not what I meant... I can't lose myself yet, I need to make it to Orion first. After I make it to Orion... I'm going all out. I'll dive headfirst into this sludge if that's what you wish for me... as long as I can make it back out." I told her.

"Hm? I thought you said you wanted to die in this fight. I wouldn't let that happen either way, but what changed?" Deity asked, wanting to clarify what changed about me.

I wasn't ignorant of this change. I saw Dani being carried away. I'm still not sure if she's dead, but seeing her like that... the small chance she was still alive... I realized I couldn't just run away from that. Dying is an easy escape for me... I can't give up when my family needs me the most. All of those people I helped train, Dani, Carl, Lia, Tavian... so many of those people are counting on me, and I couldn't give that up because I was tired.

"I just had a change of heart. So, can you make me that promise, Deity?" I turned to the white-haired girl, waiting for her reply to my question. She only smiled though. The first time I saw such sincerity in her eyes.

"I promise you, you'll be able to come back... satiate your Wrath in that fight against Orion... I'll be waking you up now. You'll have a clear head, but if you corrupt yourself any further... I won't be able to pull you out."

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I slowly opened my eyes on the medical bed and several people around me gathered even closer to my face. I lifted my arms up... none of the cuts were on them. The marks were still on my eyes, and they were still red based on the reflection through Helen's glasses.

"You're okay?! No injuries, right?!" Lia asked me. I shook my head.

"Everybody else... how are they?" I asked, looking at Carl, Mandi, and Dani. I pushed myself out of bed, not feeling any fatigue at all. Then... Deity was giving me more of her stamina, I see.

"They're all okay! They're fine but... they have permanent injuries. Dani doesn't have her left arm or right eye... and there's a chance she won't ever walk again. Carl's ribcage was broken, so he might not be able to exert himself too much... and Mandi can't use either of her hands." Xavier explained to me. I nodded, sucking in that hatred I had for Orion's soldiers. I needed to keep a level head, but I couldn't deny the eye twitching on the right side of my face.

"Sky... I'm sorry... I couldn't keep Cody alive... and Robby's in critical condition..." Charlie told me, wiping his tears away from his face. I looked at him with surprise, then at everybody else to get some clarification. David was the one who answered me.

"Cody went out fighting... that son of a bitch killed so many soldiers... but we can't recover his body in that mess he was fighting in. There were enough bodies in that arena to layer the ground... and Robby was stabbed straight through his back. Tyler and I are fine... but those people... they're gone." David told me, staring at the ground with a quivering lip.

"I'm sorry... I wasn't there..." I told everybody, but they tried to reassure me. Tavian and Ellie joined the crowd around me as I watched over my friends. Noboki even came up with them.

"Amera and Dante are still alive, obviously, but June is definitely dead. I could've put my life on the line as they did, Sky, but I sat back and defended... Sky, I know this is selfish of me... but please let me fight on the frontlines." Noboki asked me. She even bowed toward me as well.

"I don't want to be the one to control you, Noboki. You do what you think is fit." I told her, looking toward Tavian and Ellie. "Did you guys find Aegis and Nathan?" I asked.

"How did you know where we were going? We decided on that relatively late." Ellie asked me. I turned around and closed my eyes.

"I can see things with echolocation... sort of. Strands highlight my surroundings. Hold up fingers behind your back, I can see them." I told Ellie, still facing away from her.

After I accurately guessed three times in a row, everybody was amazed. "Some skill you got there... Sky. This is the part of the war that will get the bloodiest. I'm sorry your friends are injured, but we're just getting started, are you sure you can continue? I don't want to put you through too much before you go to fight Orion." Tavian asked me.

"It's fine. I made a deal with Deity." Mandi sat up out of her bed and Ellie stared at me in confusion.

"Did you just say... Deity? Like... that's the person's name?" Mandi asked.

"Yeah. She's the source of my powers. She says I'm her apprentice, and when I'm knocked out I occasionally go to this place that looks like an endless Black Lake. I talk to her there. She has red eyes and white hair." I told everybody.

"No way... you have contact with Deity..." Ellie sat, speaking out loud when she suddenly stopped and looked at me again.

"The markings... the red eyes... the Deity... where does that come from? Why do I know that person?" Ellie said again.

"We got company!" Carl shouted out, pointing behind us. How the hell did they get there?! There were like 50 soldiers clad in armor running at us!

I pulled out my sword, but Noboki slid her hand in front of me.

"Continue pushing up. I need to get some exercise. Tavian, Ellie, leave this to me." Noboki said to them. Tavian and Ellie nodded, turning to look up the icy slope next to us.

"We'll charge up there. Ullr, how many people can you carry?" Tavian asked him.

"As many as you need me to, Tavian," Ullr responded.

We all started to move up the icy slope as Noboki stood against those 50 soldiers. I went with Tavian up the slope to see exploded bits of the glacier running down into the water, forming another small hill leading downwards towards the docks. This was it... the final stretch.