Choices

The moon was shedding its uncaring light over the bloodstained valley, illuminating the many dismembered bodies.

In the middle of the grove sat a lone man, his blonde hair reflecting the cries of the moon, and in his hands, a very beautiful golden-haired woman, unmoving and still. If not for the hole in her stomach and left arm ending with a bloodied stump, one would likely assume she was sleeping.

I was just standing on the edge of the valley, looking at the one who had been my first ever friend, with tears quietly soaking his cheeks.

The man was desperately hugging the woman he had called his girlfriend as if letting her go would make her death become a truth.

"Miren... You are... strong? Right?"

My mouth didn't move.

"Couldn't you have... done something?"

There were most likely a number of things I could have done to prevent this, however, ultimately, I chose not to.

I chose to abstain from helping them out even as I saw James desperately fighting against the demonkin, as I saw Sarah's stomach getting pierced by the clawed hands of one of them.

But I didn't tell him this. Instead, I let my lips stay shut, paying homage to the dead by not saying anything.

Suddenly, his head turned to me, letting me see his bloodshot eyes as he screamed at me, "ANSWER ME, MIREN!"

In one swift motion, he had laid the body of Sarah gently down on the ground and made his way to me, moving his body filled with wounds that he didn't care about.

Looking up at the grieving man, I had no comforting words to give, "What do you want me to say?"

His face twisted in pure, unbridled rage at my aloof response, completely unable, or maybe unwilling, to contain his anger.

His hand tried to grip the collar of my shirt, but as soon as it was about to make contact, our contract restrained his limb, making his arm automatically recoil.

This, however, didn't make his anger subside, in fact, it seemed to make it even worse.

"You could have saved her! She didn't have to die, did she?!"

It pained me to see the distorted face of the hero, the face partly filled with rage, and partly filled with deep sorrow. Still, didn't regret my decision.

It was too early for me to show myself to the world, too early for me to make the demonkind regard me as a target. We weren't friends, we were barely even allies. The promise we had made was one meant to be held in the future, not the present. The upside wasn't enough to risk me or the ones I loved.

It wasn't that I didn't feel bad about Sarah, in fact, my heart was currently trying to wrestle its way out of my chest because of the guilt. I hated myself, I truly did. However, I forced myself to look calm, not wanting to show my feelings to James.

In the end, I just turned around and walked away as my former friend sank to his knees, opening his mouth to say the last thing he needed to say.

"You truly are a monster..."

****

The excursion was canceled after just one day, the tragedy that had occurred during the first night was more than enough to justify the decision.

No one knew how the demonkind had managed to infiltrate the forest without the teachers noticing, but ultimately, they did. And this fact had led to something unthinkable happening, something that shouldn't have happened.

That night had been playing through my mind over and over again, repeatedly reminding me of what I had chosen.

I had seen the figures flying through the air, and left my party to follow them to a valley where James and Sarah were, with Suzuka for some reason absent.

I had been right on the cusp of moving in to help them, but a scary thought had stopped me. I had remembered what the primordial of steel had told me; The old one didn't want me to get involved.

There was no way for me to know what kind of consequences my intervention would bring, but if it created a situation where I would not only anger the demons but also the gods of this world, then the answer was obvious. I had to stay passive for as long as possible until I got strong enough to at least keep the ones I truly cared about safe.

Looking around at all the students who had gathered this Sunday on the academy grounds, all standing in front of a casket where my former friend was resting, with our class in the front, I couldn't help but feel conflicted. Turning my head to my right, Lindsey was standing dressed in a black dress, her eyes slowly shedding tears as we were listening to the bells that sent another soul to the gray skies.

If it had been Lindsey who had been assaulted by the demons I wouldn't have hesitated for a second to make the whole world my enemy, because she was someone I recognized as a friend and an ally. But Sarah was not, or rather, she wasn't anymore.

A couple of months back I would probably have gone made the decision to save her, at least tried to, but this was not the case anymore. I couldn't budge in my decision to save those I cared about, and who cared about me, and let the others meet their destinies with their own strengths. Even if it was someone I had hoped to rebuild a former relationship with.

The Miren of today was truly a broken person, a person unfit to be a hero like James would one day be. I wasn't the savior of this world, and I could never be. Maybe that was the biggest reason I had been chosen as the heir of a primordial beast who only did what he wanted to do; I was but a spectator in the grand scheme of things who would protect what I selfishly desired to protect.

Finally, my master opened his mouth, standing right behind the casket. "This week, we have all lost a valuable asset to humankind. A student who would have brought with her great success and progress to our society. A rare user of the rize element and the heir of the great Lindt family."

Lifting his arms to the side, a huge projection of the sweet girl appeared behind him. The bubbly girl who was always smiling was now smiling down at all of us. Her golden hair illuminated the dark and her deep blue eyes looked at us like an angel from above.

"However, more importantly, many of you have lost so much more. Some of you have lost an acquaintance, a cheerful girl who was always polite and gave curt greetings in the hallways. Others have lost a friend. A friend that always tried her best to make everyone happy, to make sure that everyone was alright. It wasn't just her element that could heal, her heart could as well."

Lindsey couldn't contain herself anymore, listening to the sad words of our principal, as she hugged me from the side. Unfortunately, there was no shoulder for her to lean on. Not only because of the difference in our heights but because I wasn't worthy to be the person to comfort her at this moment. After all, it was because of my decision that we were here in the first place.

"I give my greatest apologies to the parents of Sarah, who have to live through the pain of losing their child, who have to force themselves to live on knowing that that is what their beautiful daughter would have wanted. However, that is also something that applies to the rest of you as well. We will all have to live on, knowing that hard times are upon us, knowing that we will have to struggle in order to survive."

At this point, not a single student managed to keep their eyes from tearing up with a lot of students down on their knees. It appeared like Sarah had been quite well-liked amongst a lot of different students among a lot of different years. Sadly, there were still two pairs of eyes that didn't shed tears.

One of the pairs belonged to me, who was undeserving to show sympathy for the one I had chosen not to save. However, the other one belonged to the one who should have cried the most.

A few meters to my side, I could see the resolute face of James, held together expressionlessly. Most likely feeling my gaze, he turned his head to me, his eyes piercing me with absolute hatred, his face hard.

There were no words that had to be said between us. We had both made our choices, and we would continue to have to make the choices we felt were right.