Chapter 4: The Crimson Flash

After that moment, the girl helped me limp back to her house, she got looks from the other villagers as I leaned on her shoulder, which she found pretty embarrassing, yet I found it funny as hell. Once we got back, she pretty much told me everything, spilling the beans of who she was exactly. I figured it must have had something to do with Gwihir, as he had spoken to her for a brief moment after she arrived. 

"My name is Emily, I'm twenty six years old", she began, "And I once was a Reaper". She told me of how she had studied at Torch for four years, starting a year earlier than was allowed, and she was the strongest student in her year, and at one point the whole school, as her power of speed was so strong, she couldn't be beaten. She told me that Reapers who were that strong, were sometimes given a title, or nickname, and that she had one of her own. 

"The Crimson Flash, they called me, and I'm sure you can figure out how I got the name".

 "If you were the strongest in the school, why are you here, and not back at Torch?". 

She faintly smiled at me. "Because I left", she said. The day before that year's graduation, she left the school that had been her home for around four years, she did exactly what I did, and just went west. She told me that she had begun to hate the school, that the pedestal she was placed on, had distanced her from everyone she had called friends, so she left to try and start over, not as the Crimson Flash, but as the girl called Emily. 

I lowered my head after hearing her tale, relating to it in more ways than one, "I know how it feels, to be alone, to lose your friends, probably more than anyone in the world right now". I raised my head and gave the girl a hollow smile that I know she saw right through. "This world is so cruel isn't it?" I said rhetorically, recalling the last few years. 

"Can I ask again now?" Emily asked. I knew immediately what she was referring to. The question she asked when we first met. I lowered my head as tears began to drip down my face. She could see this and I heard her get up from her chair. I figured she was going to comfort me, so I raised my head quickly to stop her approach. 

"Guess I'll start at the beginning" I said with a chuckle and smile, asI wiped my cheeks.

I introduced myself with faked enthusiasm, speaking my name allowed and explaining how everyone I had loved had forgotten it. Emily said nothing about those words, but I could tell that she was trying to process their exact meaning. 

"It's not any more complex than it sounds. Every person I cared about who isn't dead has forgotten I even exist, not recognising my face or name, it's like for the past 3 years I never was even born". I was trying my best to remain calm, as if I got emotional, I would just become a wreck and be unable to even form proper sentences. In a way I did expect this to happen however, this was the first time I had ever told anyone this, or spoken it aloud, hearing it all out in the open it cut very deep. I took a deep breath, gathered my thoughts and fought back the pain that stemmed from my words. 

"I suppose you're asking yourself why, aye, well I guess more than anything, it stems from not having powers" I said glumly. 

"I'm sorry?" Emily said in confusion. 

"No I'm dead serious, I don't have any powers, I can't shoot fire, I can't fly or run at super-fast speeds, I can't transform into a creature or anything, I have nothing". Emily looked at me in shock, unable to process my words initially. After several seconds she voiced the questions quite strongly. 

"Bullshit, every person born on Fracture has a power in some way, sure they may not all be suited for Wraith combat, but even still, you've got to have one!" she yelled. It wasn't so much yelling at me, just in the sense I had challenged one of the fundamental laws of this world, telling her something that should be impossible, so I expected this kind of reaction from the start. 

"Unless I wasn't born on Fracture" I said calmly. Emily's eyes went wide, really wide. She looked at me in stunned silence, before she crossed the room and sat beside me on the bed. "I won't say anything else until the end, please, explain the rest" she said quietly without looking at me, keeping her gaze fixed upon the floor. I nodded in response, before I continued onwards with my story.

"The Wraiths attacked my world unexpectedly, how? I've got no idea, all I know is that they wiped out everything, our world is lost to us, or so I assume at least. We were saved by Reapers that came to investigate what the hell was going on. How we got back to Fracture from my planet, oh which was called Earth by the way, I don't really have a clue either". I trailed off as I recalled the sight of Earth, the last few moments before my home disappeared from view. 

"I watched as my town burned around me, the place I had grown up with my parents and closest friends died around us, as we lifted off in the Harriers, I saw it all." Emily said nothing like she said, she didn't move either, she just continued to look at the floor. I took a few moments to collect myself before continuing onwards. "I should clarify, when I said 'we' earlier, I was referring to myself and my friends at school, we were all rescued by the Reapers. 

Due to shard exposure, every single one of them began to develop powers in some many, except me" I finished the last few words with a laugh, trying to disguise the pain, both to myself and the girl sitting beside me. "And well, because I didn't have any powers, and everyone knew that too, it made me a really easy target for the student teachers who felt threatened by all my friends, who were easily outclassing them." I took another pause as I gathered all the memories into a nice concise order. "And well, that's when my three years of hell began, the student teacher, led by a shithead called Rudy, used their powers to influence my friends. I'm pretty sure he brainwashed them or something until the point they all forgot me or just couldn't see me anymore. It took a while, think over a year or something but once I was alone I became and easy target for their jealousy and rage with constant harassment and abuse becoming my every day." I trailed off as I thought for a moment. "It might be better if I just show you what became of me," I said slowly, as I rose from the bed. Emily looked up from the floor to see me standing in front of her. I then proceeded to take off my shirt and unwrap the bandages Emily had wrapped around me to help with the wounds I had gotten from the Wraiths. I then hobbled over and grabbed the wet cloth sitting in the water bowl beside my bed. I then began to wipe pretty much all over my torso, removing the anti-sweat makeup I had applied to cover up everything. I heard Emily gasp slightly as more and more of my scars began to appear. I was done after a couple minutes, before tossing the cloth back into the bowl.

"Where do I begin?" I said with a hollow laugh. "Well most are just old bruises from getting punched and kicked a lot, they'll fade with time so I'm not too worried about those, but here I've got some shallow cuts from a knife (gesturing to my left shoulder), here is where I got hit by a mace and got a bone fracture (gesturing to my right upper arm, which had a nasty patch of brown skin where they had to operate), oh and I do have a scar from when I got a spear thrown in my back trying to run away one time". I turned around to show her, but before I could even react, the girl had thrown her arms around me from behind, hugging me tightly. Her face was buried against my skin, and I could feel her smooth hair spilling over me. I was so stunned I couldn't even react for a few moments. "You scared me there for a moment haha, now could you please let go of me" I said with a hollow chuckle. I felt the girl's head shake side to side against my back, indicating that, well, she sure as shit wasn't letting go. I stood there, absolutely stiff, daring not to move a muscle in case I made her mad and she hit me, as my instincts were telling me. However, that vanished utterly when I felt warm water droplets begin to roll down my back. It was then I realised that this girl, whom I hadn't even known for more than a week, was crying for me, feeling sorrow at the pain I had endured. I couldn't quite believe it at first, but when she spoke next, it hit the point home. "That's not the school I remember" she whispered in disbelief through her tears, "And the fact they would do that to you is just horrible, I can't believe it, it's fucking bullshit" she said, squeezing me even tighter. I didn't know how to respond to this girl, I just remained silent, staring straight ahead. "I guess I can understand why you wanted to die now," she said slowly. "It wouldn't be the first time" I said with a sarcastic tone. "Huh?" At this point I immediately realized my mistake. Knowing I was going to get pressed on that, I felt it better to come clean before getting pressured into explaining what I meant. "While still stuck there… one day I got low, the eastern cliff edge looked real inviting, got dredged up by a city fisherman an-." Without warning I was suddenly spun around to face the girl who stood only a few centimeters smaller than me. She had one pissed off expression on her face. "WHAT?!?!" she roared at me. Fight or flight took over in that moment and I shoved her away. Taking a few steps back, honestly scared as I thought she was about to beat me like one of the student teachers. She realised this after a moment, and lifted her mood immediately. She reached out a hand to me. "No, wait" she said, "just stay back, over there," I said with a gulp. Emily didn't move closer towards me, she just stared at me with a guilty expression.

"I mean it wasn't easy, I really had to work at it" I said with a hoarse voice. "Look, why does it matter, it's done, can't change it, nothing more than that." It was hard to say the words with the feeling of being punched any second hanging in the air. Emily knew this as well, I think she had begun to realize that I was more broken than her initial assumption. She took a step towards me, and I took a step back. She stayed where she was after that, realizing what she had done. "When the Wraiths attacked the school a week ago, I saw it as my chance, not to die in some sad attempt like the first time, no, something much more meaningful than that, even if no one knows it." I paused as I gathered myself up. "I fought, with garbage weapons, alone against that horde and Spawner, relying on my wits and luck to get me through that, and get myself away from the school so I could do one last meaningful thing with my life." I then began to laugh my hollow laugh. "'Send me out with a bang' ya know, but I suppose that didn't pan out either, considering you saved me, it's alright though, when I'm healed up, I'll be out of your hair before you know it, and you can forget all about me." I smiled at the girl before me, whose gaze had fallen to the floor once more. In a way I think I was trying to convince myself more than her of this plan of mine, but we both knew I was probably just going to find another way to get myself killed after I was gone. "Don't give me that" I heard Emily say quietly. Without even knowing, in the instant I simply blinked, Emily was putting her arms around me again, enveloping me in a gentle hug. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry you had to endure all that alone" said whimpered, crying against my shoulder. "I know it's no excuse, but that is not the school I left" she said, still crying. "I don't really care," I replied with a dark tone. Emily had looked up at me now, but I was staring straight ahead, a dark look on my face. "I couldn't care less why it's like that, all I know is part of me wants to kill every last one of them, and burn that place to ash" I said, venom in each word I spoke. I didn't see Emily's reaction, but I don't think I cared either way. This overwhelming feeling was all I could think about in that moment even though it strangely didn't feel like my own thoughts for some reason. 

"But you aren't any more, you're not there anymore, and I'm right here, and I refuse to let you go anywhere so you can just die". I was completely stunned, I didn't know how to respond, what to say or do. 

"What, you think you can stop me?" I said, my dark tone having lessened.

"Yes" She replied without missing a beat which caused me to chuckle slightly.

"How, how can you say that so easily after everything I just told you?" I asked after minutes of the two of us standing there in silence. 

"Because it is easy, and because it's true, I'm not them, I will not abandon or forget you, it's as simple as that" she said with a faint smile, looking up at me. 

"But how, after all this time, am I supposed to deal with this?" I said meekly. 

"Slowly, one day at a time, until the moment comes when you aren't even thinking about the fact that I'm here beside you, because it's just the norm." It began with a small chuckle, which grew into booming laughter, filled with joy, as I threw my arms around Emily and cried my eyes out in front of her. She smiled brightly at me in response, as she knew that this was what I looked like underneath all the scars, and barriers I had put up. 

My wounds had actually re-opened after the events that just transpired. Emily, slightly covered in blood, cleaned, rebadged me and helped me back into bed after I finally stopped crying. It was now actually late in the day, as the events which just unfolded actually took a couple hours, I just took out the several minute pauses to make it easier for you to understand. I paused at some moments for up to ten minutes, as it was that hard to speak about. But anyway, When I finally was sitting back down upon my bed, Emily sat beside me with a smile on her face. 

"So that's what you meant by, I know how it feels to be alone", she said. I nodded at her, but I didn't say anything, I had already said more than enough to know where I was coming from. "Okay, you win, you have a way worse backstory than I do", she added a few seconds later, which made me laugh a little. "More than anything though, I'm just so stunned with you." "That I went skydiving without a parachute?" I asked guiltily. "No not that, I mean, your strength." "Now you're just fucking with me" I said with disbeleif. "No I'm serious, despite knowing how it was going to end, you still fought, and although it wasn't your intention, you protected everyone at the school by yourself, for someone without any powers, that's amazing." Emily's eyes beamed at me, her whole expression was filled with such joy and conviction it made my chest hurt and face feel hot. I looked away from her for some reason, unable to keep staring at her. "It's nothing special, and I was just being selfish anyway." "Well I'm still impressed, and that won't change" the girl said, I could tell without looking that she had a grin on her face, her tone gave it away. "That hasn't changed ya know, part of me still feels like this all too bleak, that this bloody suffering in my chest will never go away" I said, as I looked back up to Emily. The girl amazingly, just scoffed. "You will, I'll make that happen, after all, a few things have changed already, doesn't mean that can't either." "Oh yeah, what's changed then?" I said, obliviously to her factual words. "Well, you're no longer in that place that was causing you so much pain, you've got someone that will remember you forever now, Gwihir, and you're not alone anymore, you've got me" she said with a slight giggle. I stared stunned, processing the words over and over, trying to figure out if I was imagining all that or not. "How could I ever-" I began, but Emily cut me off. "You figure that out by living, by staying here and living with the pain you've suffered, the scars you bear, and the hatred in your heart, and growing stronger from it." I said nothing to her, I just nodded, as a tear rolled down my face. 

"That aside for now, I'd like to talk about the present a bit, like a few moments before I found you earlier." "You mean over by Gwihir?" I asked. She nodded in response. "Do you have any idea what he is?" Emily asked slowly. "Yeah, a dragon, which is fucking awesome, they weren't real on Earth, only stories and fantasies, so I'm so buzzed that he exists. "You aren't even afraid of him?" Emily asked this slowly, waiting for my reaction. "Emily, I'm suicidal, not in the damn slightest," I said with a beaming smile, "I'm gonna befriend the hell out of him, that man is gonna be my best friend I tell you" I said with a laugh. Emily stared at me with a stunned expression. "Incredible" she said while shaking her head. "It took weeks, when I first arrived here I mean, before he would allow me into the village, he is not one to trust easily, and yet you, in your first meeting, got his name and everything." "Ah, it's cause I'm British." Emily let out a burst of laughter. "I'll pretend like I know what that means" she replied, which caused me to smile a bit. "Anyway, if he's gonna be your best friend, what does that make me, I'm hurt ya know" Emily said this with some sarcasm, so I know in a way she didn't expect a serious answer. I didn't actually pick up on this in that moment, and gave her an honest answer."How about the girl I live with?" I said plainly. There was a stunned silence before Emily let out a surprised 'AH!' sound, which was louder than I expected. She began to panic immediately after that. "But I mean I thought we were gonna find you a nice place somewhere else in the village or build you something or" She continued to ramble on for a few more seconds until I finally interrupted her. "If you'll have me?" I asked plainly. I think I saw her face go red a little, before she nodded. I let out a sigh in relief and sank back against my bed. "Oh great, that's such a relief, you have no idea how attached I am to this bed, it would've been so sad to leave it behind." Emily let out a loud laugh in response to that. "You may not have powers, but damn can you make a girl laugh." She said when she finally stopped laughing. "What can I say, it's a gift" I replied with a smirk. "I'm sure, a gift in humour and fighting, quite the catch you are" she said with a giggle. "Gifted in fighting, that's a bit of a stretch" I replied, confused as to why she said that. "Don't sell yourself short, to be able to fight like you've described, without powers against such Wraiths, that's amazing." I was humbled by her words, and by what she said next. "You see, me and Gwihir are really the only ones who are able to protect this village, and we only manage to get by with just us" "But he's a giant fucking dragon" I thought to myself. "So we're going to make you one of us, despite you having no powers, you have clearly have extraordinary skills, more so than many other here in the village, which we are going to train, you'll become much stronger than ever before, you're going to make a great addition to the team" she finished with a smile. "Team? And what are the two of you exactly? I asked in suspicion. "Vulkar's" she said simply. 

Despite not being completely healed, I wasn't about to just sit around doing nothing in Emily's house, that shit just drives me mad, so I offered to help Emily out as much as I was able, until I was properly back on my own two feet, and ready to be trained. I was against it at first, but after some encouragement from Emily, again talking about helping me find a way to repay her, I agreed. However she was adamant at first to me coming with her, saying "No, you need to heal, I won't let you hurt yourself", but as I continued to sneak out in the following days, she finally agreed. I started by simply carrying around fruits and vegetables, delivering them to some of the villagers, who were most grateful. Emily was kind to each and every one, she knew all their names, and was so sweet, it was really uplifting, considering I'd been surrounded by nothing but douchebags for the past six months. One day, when we were delivering some more food, a little girl came up to us both while we were walking and said the cutest and most embarrassing thing. "I've seen that boy with you a lot, miss Emily, is he your boyfriend?" Emily dropped the basket she was carrying in surprise before shaking her hands and head frantically. Her face was bright red, which started to get me embarrassed. "What?, why would you ask that, just because he lives with me doesn't mean that he's" She looked at me, I titled my head to the side in response, but she then darted her eyes away, staring down at the ground. I placed my basket on the ground, and kneeled in front of the girl. "Hi, I'm Emily's friend, it's nice to meet you," I said with a smile. "Emily, actually saved my life, and gave me a place to stay, so I'm helping her out as a way to repay that kindness". The girl looked at me with eyes of wonder, like she had just seen a spirit or something magical. "I'm not her boyfriend, Okay?" I concluded, to which she nodded in response. I then lent closer to the little girl and whispered in her ear, "Not yet". The little girl and I both let out a giggle, before I stood up, and she ran off home. As she reached the end of the road, she turned around and waved to us. "Bye Mr, good luck Miss Emily" she called back, and then she was gone. After we had finished waving back, Emily came up to me, gripping the sleeve of my shirt. "Good luck, what did she mean by that?" I simply shrugged my shoulders in response, as a cheeky grin formed on my face. "And what did you say to her? I swear it was something rude.". "I don't know what you're talking about" I said in response. I turned and walked past her, over to the overturned basket, and began to put the fruit back into it. Once it was filled with all of its contents, I stood up and walked back over to Emily. She stood there, one of her hand clutched against her chest, her cheeks bright red, staring at me the whole time. "Pfff" I let out as I looked at her. She simply scowled slightly in response, which caused a goofy grin to appear on my face. "Here you go" I said, and presented the basket to her. She stretched out her hands, and placed them on the basket, put pulled them back in surprise, as she had accidently placed them on top of my hands, which were gripping the basket. She looked down at the ground again, before saying, "I'm really sorry". "Don't have to apologise to me for a damn thing y'know, unless what, you left a glove in me when you patched me up?" I replied. She lifted her head in a hurry, "No you're" she trailed off as she saw my calm, smiling face. You know the one, where the person you're looking at has their eyes closed, with a cheerful smile. She shook her head after a couple seconds, then said, "No, you're the sweetest guy I know". "Odd where you went with that but I'm not gonna turn down the oh so rare 'compliment', considering I don't get many of those nowadays" I replied with a half chuckle, and stretched out the basket again. She once again placed her hands over mine, but she didn't recoil away, I then slowly began to slide my hands backwards, until they were free from the woven reeds. I then turned, picked up my basket, and said "Shall we?" before walking past Emily, and up the road, as a gentle breeze blew from the East. Emily stood there for several seconds, just staring at my back, her cheeks still flush as a rose, until she called out, "Right behind you" and caught up in a flash of crimson.

A week after what we referred to as, 'the basket incident', I had almost fully recovered, and had regained my full upper body strength, and so I was able to help out Emily with the more heavy tasks in the village. One of which was pushing a cart of firewood down the cliff path, distributing the wood throughout the village, and then pushing that cart back up. Normally, Gwihir would have been helping her, but, since I had arrived, he was convinced it would be a valuable bonding experience. Gathering the wood wasn't that hard, there was tons of the stuff on the forest floor after a recent storm had blown through. Also, it turns out Emily is not a big fan of thunder, so guess who came flying into my room in the middle of the night, absolutely terrified. I decided that I wouldn't give her a hard time for it, and just hugged her until she fell asleep in my arms. I then just lay her down in my bed, and just fell asleep in the chair on the other side of the room. Back to the job. Once we had collected enough wood, we began to push the cart back towards the village. I had to cut some of the logs into smaller ones, so they were able to fit in with the rest. Emily found it strangely entertaining when I had to do that, and I can't explain to you why, cause I still really have no idea myself. Pushing the cart down wasn't very hard as gravity was really helpful. Emily was steering from the back, while I just made sure the whole thing didn't go flying off the edge. Emily also had a set of brakes for her wheels, so if it ever looked like the cart was about to go flying, she would just gently apply pressure, and slow the cart down. The distribution of the wood was actually quite fun, as all the villagers' smiling faces made it quite satisfying. But what really made it was that we saw the little girl again. She approached us with a big grin on her face, before saying, "Hey miss Emily, how's the progress going with big brother?" (The girl had begun to call me that over the past few weeks, and it was too cute for me to correct her). Emily looked really confused at the question, "I'm sorry, what do you mean?". I thought it over a couple seconds in my head, before I burst out laughing, which caused the girl's smile to get even bigger. I approached the little girl, gave her a small log, and then said, "Run on home little one, you'll make her embarrassed again". She nodded in response before running off, back down the road. I turned back to Emily, who still had a confused look on her face. I let out a slight chuckle, shook my head at the same time, and walked off to go hand out more firewood. Pushing the cart back up the cliff path, Is where it got interesting. The cart, even without the wood, was pretty damn heavy, and so both me and Emily were behind it, pushing with all our might, but these things are hard when gravity starts to work against you. And worse of all, we hadn't accounted for the mud. At around three quarters of the way up, which had taken us half an hour to get to, the damn thing got stuck. One of the wheels was lodged against a rock, and wouldn't move forwards. We synchronized our pushes, slamming our shoulders against the wood at the same time. On the third push we finally got the damn thing free, but it jolted forwards from the force, which caused Emily to lose her footing. She fell forwards, knocking her head against the rock path. She looked up to see the cart start to move backwards, towards her face. The wheel stopped just inches from her nose, as she looked onwards in fear. She slowly got to her knees, blood started to trickle out of a small gash in her forehead. She gasped at what she saw, when her vision finally focused. There I was, my back pressed against the middle of the cart, stopping it from moving with all the strength I could muster. Blood was running down my stomach and legs, as I had torn open a wound when I had slammed down into the mud and landed on the rock. "You okay Emily?" I said, through heavy breathing. "Am I okay? Look at you, you're bleeding everywhere" she replied. "Don't worry about me, I'm not that important, what matters is that you're okay" I responded through huffing breaths. Emily then got to her feet, and started to push against the cart once more. It only took us five minutes to fully reach the top after that, and push the cart onto flat ground. "Victory" I said with a grin, through the breathlessness, before passing out from the pain. 

I awoke back in our house, lying on my bed without a shirt. I had bandages all across my stomach, over the wound. Emily was asleep at the end of the bed, sitting on a chair, yet resting on the mattress. I smiled as I looked at her, sleeping so peacefully. "You saved me again, huh" I said quietly, before leaning over and kissing the girl on the forehead. I sat back upright, and stared off towards the other side of the room, only to suddenly feel arms get thrown around my neck, and a body pressed against my left side. I turned to see Emily bury her face into my shoulder, I could feel her cold tears run across my skin. "I was so worried" she began to whimper, "I thought I was going to lose you". "Come on" I replied, "You know better than anyone that I'm not going anywhere, I'm home after all" I said with a teary smile, as her crying was starting to make me cry. She lifted her head and stared at me, then placed her right hand on my right cheek, before suddenly slapping it. I was stunned for a brief second, as I looked into Emily's slightly angry face, covered in tears. "Listen here you idiot" she said with a rage filled voice, "You said to me on that cliff 'I'm not that important'". She slapped her hand onto my chest, over my heart. "You are more important to me than anyone, and I have no idea what I would do without you, so don't give me any 'I'm not that important' bullshit". She completely broke down in tears after finishing her sentence. I stared at her for several seconds, before pulling her head in against my chest. "Haha, yeah, I'm sorry, it was just out of habit". "Habit?" she responded. "I'm just used to not really being cared about, I spent the last few months being told I was worthless for so long, I actually believed it, I'm not used to being seen as anything but just yet" I looked into her eyes, and gave her a comforting smile. Emily then threw her arms around me again, crying even louder. "Stupid idiot" she yelled through all the tears. "Yeah, I know," I said, as I fell backwards into my bed. I thought Emily was going to let go of me as I lay down, she didn't. Emily hugged me even tighter, as she fell down on top of me, still crying her eyes out. "It's okay, I'm right here with you" I said, as I brought my arms around her back. We both lay there, wrapped in each other's arms, crying, until we both fell asleep, her face pressed gently against my chest. 

This wasn't the last time I got on Emily's grumpy side, but even when I did, we still grew ever closer, and that's not even counting all the 'romantic' moments we shared. I awoke the following morning to find Emily's sleeping face still on my chest. I was surprised at first, no that's an understatement, I was fucking ecstatic, most of you can probably figure out why hehehe. But soon remembered what had occurred the day before, and simply smiled before laying back down and staring up at the ceiling. Seeing her lying there, still with me, and not to mention how damn cute she looked, I think I finally did realise that yeah, I was in love with her. As the thoughts rolled around in my head, I kept telling myself that I really did, and that no I didn't, I felt some movement on my chest. I lifted my head to see Emily raising hers. She looked around the room, before her gaze eventually fell on me. "Morning sleepy, did you get a good one?" Before I could even finish, Emily had her head buried back into my chest and a fist just millimeters from my face. "Tell me what you did right now, and I may let you live, '' she said with an angry tone. "I held you!" I yelled frantically. There was a long silence where neither of us moved. "What?" said Emily slowly, she sounded less angry and more confused now. "I just had my arms around you and that's it!" I said in a panic. "Is that all?" "Yeah, what else would I have done?". I was the confused one now, but I didn't get an answer as in the next second, there was a slight rush of wind, Emily was gone and my bedroom door was swinging in the frame. I smiled as I said to myself "Yep there really is no question about it". Soon after, I attempted to get out of my bed, but found that very painful. As such, I was forced to crawl out instead, and that still hurt like a bitch. When I reached my chair, I lifted myself onto it, and stared at myself in the mirror. I then began to unwind the bandages around my stomach, to see how bad it really was. It looked worse than it actually was. There was a large cut just below my sternum, and stretched down across my stomach to the right. It was open a small bit and was really red along the edges. I touched it and my fingers came away slightly red. I heard my room door slam open and turned to see Emily standing there, she was in her full outfit with a sweet black coat on, kitted up with a backpack and everything. She looked at me, then at my fingers, then at my stomach then back to my face. "Please don't kill me, '' I said quietly. She dropped her bag in the doorway and began to walk towards me. I closed my eyes in fear as I got ready to get smacked really hard or something. For what its worth, I was kinda terrified of her. Sure she was the nicest person I had ever met in my life, but when it came to fighting, she was unstoppable. Gwihir told me that once, he tested her to see how strong she was, she beat him to a draw. I'll just say that again, that girl, with just a knife, beat Gwihir to a draw, at his FULL strength. The only explanation, according to Gwihir, was that she moved so fast that he never got any solid hits in, how fast I asked, he said light speed fast. You can understand now why I'm slightly terrified of her. However, to my surprise she didn't hit me at that moment. She gently placed her hand on my cut and ran her hands over it. "Yeah, we definitely need something stronger so it doesn't get infected". She then got a new bandage out of a nearby draw, and started to wrap up my stomach. "I'm going to leave the village for a couple days okay, I'm going to buy some more medical supplies, strong stuff that we can't make here, we'll need it to stop any infections that could occur, like in a certain someone's wounds' '. I nodded in response. She tightened the bandage and walked back over to her bag. "Where will you be going, Shroud?" I asked. She picked up her bag and turned to face me. "No, too risky, there's too high a chance that people will recognize me there, that's why I'll be heading to Blister" she said with a grin. "Blister but isn't that the other side of the continent?" I said in confusion. "Five thousand kilometres to the west of Shroud to be exact, on the complete other side of the Lunaros continent". I stared at her with wide eyes as she turned around and headed out the door. "I'll be back in a few days" she called back. "ONLY?" I yelled back, to which all I received back was a chuckle.

Emily was gone for three days, it went to shit on the third. Isn't that just surprising, like nothing has gone tits up in my life before… that was sarcasm. I was now able to walk around normally, I couldn't run as that hurt too much, but at least I was up and about. The wait had been killing me know, I couldn't wait for Emily to get back, to see her again, god I was such a fucking sap. It was about five in the evening when Gwihir swooped down in front of me. I was just taking a stroll around the village, and talking to people, so his arrival was most unexpected. "My friend, we have a problem," he said sternly. I nodded calmly. "We have two groups of Wraiths moving on the village, both from opposite directions." I began to run ideas through my head of how to deal with the new threat. "I can deal with one group, I need you to deal with the second''. I stared at him blankly, I had no words for him. "This is a village of people who want to get away from this world where the stronger powers dominate, most here are not suited for combat at all, no one can fight them but me and Emily, and she isn't within sight for me, as such, I must turn to you". "You know I'm still really hurt right". I said, to which he nodded. "You just need to hold them long enough, until I arrive and finish them, can you do it?" A smirk formed on my face. "Emily's gonna kill me if I die" I said as I turned and started to walk to our house. "Then you better not die my friend" said Gwihir, with his own smile, before he soared back into the air, and headed to the north. I burst through the door of our home, and headed for my room. I went straight to my closet and got out my hoodie. I stared at it for a couple seconds. "Give us a hand, would ya dad?" I said, before pulling on the worn threads I then reached in and pressed a panel at the back. It fell inwards revealing two swords, resting in their scabbards. I had been practicing whenever I had the chance, regardless of my wounds. They didn't hurt when I held a sword in my hand, and hurt even less so when I held two, it felt more natural as well. I strapped one sword to my back and another to my waist. "Hell, I think Emily is gonna kill me regardless" I muttered to myself, as I made my way south. I started to run now, as the thought of battle got my blood pumping. Adrenaline was one hell of a painkiller. I gunned it up the Cliffside path as fast as I could, and upon reaching the top, was face to face with a horde of hungry Wraiths. 

Behemoths and Fangs were the main types from what I can recall, if there were other species there at the time, I can't remember. As I stared down my new foes, , which managed to freeze them in their tracks. If only I had known that it wasn't just me smiling at them then. I raised my hands to grab my swords, and found that I couldn't lift my left arm very high, as it hurt my wound. I grumbled as I drew one of my swords instead of both, and gripped it tight. "If only I had some music" I muttered, as I readied myself. Seconds later, both sides rushed each other, clashing beneath the trees. I recalled all of my memories of my fighting on earth, back at the school and all of the knowledge I managed to gleam from books back at the shit hole of a school as I furiously swung my sword, carving apart Wraith after Wraith. I showered the ground with their blood, painting them, myself and the landscape a beautiful red canvas. I rendered bone, crushed armour plating, and cut apart the black flesh of every Behemoth and Fang stupid enough to get past me. They were not getting anywhere near my home, not again. If you think that this was easy for me, you'd be wrong, trying to fight all of them with my previous injury was bloody hard, and painful. My bandages got torn off, I got several cuts on my left arm, a gash on my chest, but it's not like they got off any better. I killed some of them before I finally got pushed back, and by pushed back, I mean fucking thrown back so hard that I almost flew off the cliff. It was a big ass Behemoth that did it, it was a kick to as well, how humiliating. I bounced off a tree after the impact, and the next thing I knew, the ground was no longer beneath me, I had lost grip on my sword, and the red sky was above me. "SHIT" I yelled as I felt my body fall downwards, and then slam vertically into the side of the rock face. I felt some pressure around my left ankle, and looked up to see a vine had wrapped itself around it. I Smiled, as I felt my luck turning, and lifted myself up and grabbed the vine with my right hand, while simultaneously drawing my second sword with my left hand (I used gravity to my advantage) and drove it into a crack in the rock. I scrambled my way back up the cliff, and crawled over the edge, coming face to face with the Wraiths once more. I cut the vine away, and stared down the Wraiths that stood before me. "You're gonna have to hit me harder than that asshole" I spat, as I walked over and picked up my dropped sword. "Alright, let's dance" I said with a red gleam in my eyes. 

When Gwihir arrived with Emily, they were greeted with the sight of Wraith ash and fading corpses scattered amongst the trees. Wherever they glanced, they saw only ash, blood and flesh. After walking around for several minutes, as if they were searching for something, Gwihir finally called out "found him". Emily rushed over to the dragon, and saw me leaning up against a tree, with my eyes shut. I had one of my swords leaning diagonally on the tree, I was resting my face on the blood soaked handle, and had my left arm on the blade. The other sword lay on the ground beside me. Emily gulped a little when she saw the large Wraith spine sticking out of my left leg. I was also covered head to toe in blood, both my own, and the Wraiths. "How could I let this happen?" Emily said, as she began to cry. She stared at the ground with a mix of grief and anger as Gwihir simply nudged me with his snout. After a couple seconds, my senses finally returned and I managed to blurt out, "Ah I'm awake Emily, I swear, please don't punch me". Emily's crying died down to sniffles, as her grief changed to relief. I couldn't open my eyes, I didn't have the strength, but Gwihir said that she looked the happiest he had ever seen her and that has more context behind it than you would believe. "I wouldn't dream of it" she said, as she placed a hand on the side of my face. "I had eyes on him the whole time, if he looked like he was actually about to die, I would have been here in a heartbeat" Gwihir said after a few seconds. "Yet I didn't need to," he added. Emily stared at him with wide eyes of confusion. "Despite his injury, and having no powers, and the odds of battle stacked against him. He was truly incredible". He paused as he looked down at me. "That boy has incredible combat potential, he is already so strong as he is, I could seldom believe my eyes… it's almost unnatural." I smiled at his praise. "And to top it off, he has a surprising amount of luck as well" he said with a chuckle. "Oh you'll make me blush Giwhir" I managed to wheeze out. "What am I going to do with you?" Emily said with a shake of her head. "You already decided that remember". She laughed a bit, before pulling me in for a gentle hug. "That I did," she said warmly.

My training began a couple of weeks later, after the hole in my leg disappeared, my wounds fully healed and I was finally able to run on my own again. For reference, shards are a pretty fantastic tool for stimulating advanced recovery in people, so getting patched up by the village doctor was no issue. Anyway, under the guidance of Emily and Gwihir, I was to become a 'Talandar ' of the village, yay. It kinda roughly translates to Guardian or Valkyrie, that's what I picked up at least. It's an ancient word apparently, spoken in a long forgotten tongue. Gwihir's idea. I wasn't complaining though, I liked it. Still, the training…It wasn't fun, it really wasn't. For months I was trained by the two of them, it was unbearable sometimes, but I never gave in, I never threw in the towel. I wanted to get stronger, I wanted to protect my two new friends, and my new home, which is why I agreed in the first place. I must say, looking back now, those months were so worth it, I got stronger with each bit of training I did, which continuously fuelled the fire that was lit inside. I had to fight, obviously, that was the only way to see in what areas I was lacking. At first, the only thing I wasn't lacking was resilience, I could take anything they threw at me, and get right back up. I fought against the countless Wraiths that came too close to the village in those four months , I fought against Emily numerous times, (I'll get into that later), and I even had to fight Gwihir, who was still able to be even cooler than before. He was able to alter his size at will, with my first reaction to that being, "What the Fuck". He had four forms. His gigantic, five story's form, a form that was twice the size of a male lion, a form that was the size of a house cat, and a humanoid metal knight form, which was the most odd, as it was well human sized, and clad in full armour. That form, and his lion form, which is what I dubbed it, were the two forms I fought against, and if I said it was easy, I would be lying. He was brutal, in both forms, never went easy on me, but also never tried to kill me as well which was nice. 

During one such fight I got to find out why he had adopted his knight form in the first place. After I had been knocked down to my ass yet again I groaned in pain as I rolled on the grass. "Again" said the great being as he extended his hand to help me. I grabbed it and was hauled to my feet as once again took a hold of this blade. The weapon itself was rather simple in its design, with sleek metal as its guard, forming a proper 'T' shape. Though in a way, it just felt strong, from only looking at it I could tell. In that regard it honestly reminded me of many powerful fictional blades such 'Anduril' from Lord of the Rings. I almost paid for these thoughts dearly however, as I noticed solely at the last second the flat side of the blade careening towards my unguarded face. This was going to hurt, immensely, and I knew I had realised far too late to react. It was my fault for zoning out and I knew this was Gwihir's way of teaching me not to do this again during battle. And yet, it was still frustrating, knowing there was nothing I could do. "Move brat". That's all that was said, that's all I heard, but I felt every inch of my body compelled by those words that came from nowhere. I threw my torso backwards and downwards with speed I should not have been able to move at, turning it sideways at the same time. I watched as the blade glided past my eyes in the exact spot my face was less than a second ago. As I heard the blade smack into the ground I crumpled into my knees pulling my torso forwards. I then pushed off my feet, slamming my blades into Gwihir's stomach as I put my entire body into the swing. I sent that man flying. Both Emily, who was sitting in a tree nearby and myself watched as Gwihir's big metal body went sailing through the air before crashing into the ground with a loud metal thud. 

Gasping for breath I stood up tall, my hands losing their grip on my swords as my arms felt like actual jelly. I then wrapped my hand around the grip of Gwihir's sword which was lodged in the ground behind me, as both he and Emily looked at me. "Gotcha" I said with a breathless smirk as I tried to pull out the blade in victory. However, to my surprise, the weapon stayed locked in place. "Unfortunately my friend, you won't be able to do that," said Gwihir as he picked himself up and dusted off. He then walked over as I stepped back and seamlessly pulled the blade from the dirt. "It was created solely for me by a very old friend, no one else can hold this blade but me," he said as he sheathed his blade. "What, so like Mjolnir?" I asked curiously only to receive ever more curious looks back. "Oh, right, nevermind." I shook my head clear of such thoughts, and of the frustrating aspects of this world I still wasn't used to yet. "Tell, does it have a name, all the best swords have names?" There was a long pause before Gwihir spoke, I believe he was genuinely telling me or not, it was then I realised how much this actually meant to him. "Krakanor" he said aloud and I swear I heard the ground shudder at its mention. Emily sat up from the tree, pondering the name of the blade with an odd nostalgic look on her face, despite telling me later that was the first time she heard it as well. "Enough about me though, Emily, I want to see if he can pull off that kind of move against you" said Gwihir as he stepped backwards, with a smirking girl passing by him on the right. "Oh gimme a break," I uttered in defeat as I reached down and picked up my swords, as the dragon looked onwards inquisitively

As time progressed, I began to learn more about my new giant friend. He told me of his past, and the great tragedy he had lived through. He told me that he was one of the last of his species, which had long been forgotten. They were once known as Wright's, which were the precursor race to the Wraiths. He told me that long ago, the Wrights had co-existed with the humans of Fracture, and lived in peace with them. He spoke of one human, who corrupted the Wrights, transforming almost the entire population, into what we now know as the Wraiths, that was what he knew at least. I resonated with that immediately. I had never really thought about it, but us, the Earthborn, were technically an endangered species. We were the last human beings from the planet Earth, so, I suppose I knew exactly how he felt, and he seemed to pick up on that too. He also spoke of his old position. The Wrights had a council hierarchy, to govern them. Gwihir, said that he was once the high lord of the council of seven. He spoke with shame though, as he told me of how the seven, who were unable to be corrupted, fled into hiding upon realising that they would be unable to save their race. His expression was one of sorrow when he told me this, after one of our battles. Emily was to the side, watching over, ready to step in if necessary. What I did next however, shocked them both. I got to my feet, and walked over to Gwihir, who was in his lion form, kneeled in front of him, and placed my forehead against the front of the dragon's head. "I know what it means to feel alone, to be the last of your kind, but I'm still here, and so are, which means that, I, one of the few remain beings of the planet Earth, am in some way linked to you beyond the simple bonds we currently share, Gwihir, high dragon lord of the council of seven". I paused for a brief second. "You and I, both have a duty, to live, to survive, so let's do so, together". I lifted my head, and stared at the dragon, whose eyes were wide in amazement. "You are more than right," said Gwihir, after the longest pause. "My existence, my survival, is proof that my race still lives, and will not be snuffed out so easily". "Hell fucking yeah it does" I replied. Gwihir then proceeded to stand up onto his back legs, and then stretched his right forearm, with a closed fist. I grinned, and met his right fist with my left, forming officially the coolest fist bump in the history of ever. And all Emily could do was look on, in complete wonder, as her chest grew tighter at the sight of me, or so G told me.

The training with Emily was especially hard, as I think she wanted me to get stronger, almost as much as I did. We had constant duels, whether it was hand to hand, with knives or swords, they were always tough, painful but really fun as well. I don't think there was one duel we had where she wasn't smiling, she was always having fun, and I guess, so was I. We had a total of one hundred seventy six matches, and I lost each and every one, but with each defeat I learned, yearning for the day I finally beat her. We would have races against each, and sometimes I would just run on my own while she timed me. "Wow, races and running, super awesome training Ardit" I know that's what you're thinking, so firstly, shut the fuck up, and secondly, by the end of the training, I was able to do a hundred metre sprint in about six seconds I'll let that sink in, six, damn, seconds, in your face Usain Bolt. Granted Emily, with her power, was able to do it in less than a second but still, but hey, for a guy, still without powers, to do that in six seconds, that's something to be proud of, and I still am, so shut it. The last real training we did together was hunting and elimination. We would pair up, just me and her, and ascend up the steep, and only, path out of the village up the cliff, and go off hunting Wraiths, killing any that were too close to the village. This is where my skills were really able to shine. Emily, as a fun little game of hers, would often disappear on me, luring any Wraiths in the area to my position, to see how I would handle the situation. I never disappointed her. Every time, I would simply draw the knife she gave me, and dart between them all, moving too fast to even get hit. I would slit throats, hit weak points, vital spots, over and over. Eventually, I was able to kill about fifteen Wraiths in twenty seconds, yet I was never able to reach Emily's level, but part of me didn't want to in a way. Her speed was beyond awesome, and I felt it belonged to her alone, I didn't need to be able to match her, that was just fine by me.

One day, after a successful hunt, Emily told me to wait outside the house. I asked in suspicion as to why, to which she simply replied, "Just a little secret". I waited about five minutes before she returned. Oh, I forgot to say, she also told me to have my back to the door, so when I heard it open, and then my vision suddenly go black, it made me jump so much. I calmed down very quickly though, as I felt that my eyes were being covered by some hands. After I finally felt the hands let go, my vision was still black, until I realised that they were covered by some material. As I lifted it up I turned around, to stare at the girl, who had the cheekiest grin on her face. "What is this?" I asked. "It's my old coat," she replied. "You know how at Torch, that the Reapers have cool outfits, armour or costumes, well, that coat was mine, you saw me wearing it before, remember." I looked down at the coat that was now wrapped around me. It was black, dark as midnight with grey accents, it had short sleeves that went only halfway down to my elbows. It almost stretched down the ground, it was just above where the tops of my shoes were. And to add, it had a hood, an awesome hood, man this girl knew me well. "I'm sorry it's a hand me down, it's just that I felt like that as you were getting stronger you need-""I love it" I interrupted. "Excuse me?" "I said that I love the coat, thank you so much". She looked to the side, pretty embarrassed. "Come on, it's just a silly coat, but, you are more than welcome". "Why are you giving this to me?" I asked eventually. "Well, due to how strong you've gotten, I realised that I had found my successor, a person who is just as fast as me, and will be able to keep up with me forever, I felt you really deserved it". I didn't know what to do, I felt so happy and proud, I'd never felt so much fulfilment and joy in my life. I simply bowed in front of her and said, "I am humbled by your words, truly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you". "Slow down dude" she said quickly after, "I still have one more thing to give you". "You're really spoiling me today aren't ya, not that I'm complaining, so what's this last gift? I said, probably like a total ass. "Ardit-Antaro", she said simply. "Sorry" I replied. "When a Reaper is truly strong, or if they're just liked enough, they can get nicknames or titles, you're no Reaper, but you are a Talandar , and every single person here loves you" she paused and gestured behind me. I turned to see that the entire village, including Gwihir, was standing right behind me. My jaw, hit the fucking floor so fast, let me tell ya. I turned back to Emily. "I was given my title, back at Torch, and it was given to me by my friends, so now, as your friend, I'm giving you your title, the title, of 'Ardit-Antaro' born of the ancient language long since lost". The entire village erupted. There was cheering and whistling, clapping and shouts of praise, Gwihir was smiling his big, wide smile. I began to cry, hell who wouldn't, and using my speed, before she was able to react, I was there with my arms around Emily, hugging her so tight. "Thank you, for being in my life" I whispered. "There's no place I'd rather be," she replied.