Sparks shot into the air as Skylar leaped back across the deck of the ship, a bead of sweat on her face as a smile adorned her lips, “Come on… Why the hell are you this strong?”

  Julieta held out her own longsword with a frown, “I’m hardly that strong Skylar… The difference between us is that of technique. If it were strength alone you’d easily be overpowering me…” Julieta declared with a narrowed gaze.

  Skylar blinked at that, feeling the wind dance along her skin, “Suppose so.” she closed her eyes gripping her blade tight, to most warriors, this be a sign of disrespect, Julieta looked at the sight with a frown.

  “The wind guides your blade, just as it did his… There is your problem.” Julieta declared as Skylar blasted forward, her eyes snapping open as she slashed at Julieta, only for Julieta to duck to the side and slam her boot into Skylar’s side, “You follow the wind too close, anyone and everyone who can sense the breeze can predict your movements.”

  Skylar growled at that, raising her blade once more defiance in her gaze, Julieta narrowed her own a scowl forming on her face, “Good grief.” she at last threw her blade to the side, “I yield, this battle would go to me otherwise… and I can’t teach you how to properly wield a blade if I leave.”

  Skylar blinked at that, “Wait… So you're going to.”

  “Don’t misunderstand.” Julieta folded her arms looking to the sea of clouds ahead, “I still have my own things to do, and I intend to return to Pandamonium given time, but seeing as I’m already here. I may as well pass on a few teachings of mine to someone worth a damn.”

  Skylar smiled at that sheathing her blade, Striga watched the sight from a nearby railing she was sitting upon it, with a bored expression on her own face, “One hour… You went on for a whole hour and that was the conclusion you’ve both reached?”

  Skylar turned to Striga and shrugged, “You say that like you had something better to do.”

  Striga tilted her head slightly, “I do have something better to do. Planning our strategy for example, or do you wish to launch an assault on Babylon without any idea of what we're in for?” the wind blew gently as the trio stood there.

  Julieta let out a cough and glanced at Striga, “Before that, we should really do something about the way you both look.”

  Striga blinked and then looked to Skylar, before frowning in realization, “Oh. That’s… a fair point.”

  Skylar tilted her head confused, “What do you mean? I thought we looked fine?”

  Striga sighed walking up to Skylar and grabbing her hand pulling her into the cabin, “I’m not going to bother to explain, just come with me.”

  “Eh- W-Wait! Hey, stop!” Skylar shouted looking at Julieta with a pleading expression, Julieta only smiled with her eyes closed letting Skylar get dragged behind a door into the cabins.

  “H-Hey! What are you doing with that bottle!” Skylar shouted from within followed by what sounded like something crashing.

  “Just stay still and let me get to work!” Striga returned from within the area.

  “No way! H-Hey, get away from my- GAH!” A thud came from the cabin and a chuckle came from Julieta.

  “There we go, that should shut you up! Now sit still so that I can get this all over with!” There seemed to be a cat screaming in there as well.

  “H-Hey! Not so rough!” Skylar shouted from within the cat let out a scream as glass shattered and something that sounded almost like a chainsaw turned on… before silence came at last.

  Julieta blinked, listening to this all from the outside, before finally the door swung open and Striga walked out from the cabin with a smirk.

  “Alright, that should do.” Striga declared running a hand through her hair before turning towards the open door.

  Skylar grabbed the edge of the door, stumbling out in a cold sweat, and growled, “Was that really necessary?” some of her pink hair fell over her right eye.

  Pink.

  Not white.

  Pink hair.

  Julieta blinked at the sight, before nodding, “You're a white-haired mage after all, someone sees you on a battlefield, or even in a nearby village and it’ll cause a panic. The hair dye was more than necessary. That said…” She turned her gaze back to Striga, “You didn’t have enough for yourself?”

  Striga nodded, “Stuffs already rare as hell, I barely had any in the bottle. Figured Skylar could make better use of it than I could.”

  Julieta frowned, doubting that was Striga’s only reason but she decided not to press her for the moment.

  Skylar let out a sigh turning her gaze to the side of the airship, she blinked seeing something straight ahead and so she ran towards the front of the airship.

  “Is that…?”

  Julieta and Striga turned their gaze towards Skylar and a smirk appeared on Striga’s face, “It is. Babylon is right there… With the border of the skies just behind it.”

  Sure enough, the island ahead was massive… You could see the castle in the middle of it all.

  Some kind of strange gray triangle surrounded it at this moment, “...A barrier?” Her memory of her lessons on barriers was fuzzy at best, but she was aware that they take a LONG while to shatter through. But more importantly, there was the large set of clouds at the very back edge of that island flying upward.

  The cloud wall.

  Skylar had heard stories about it before… But she’d never seen it in person.

  Skylar’s hands tightened around the railings as she stared forward, “That’s where I’ll find her… I can feel it in my gut. That’s where I’ll find Jenna.” Skylar growled her eyes flashing with anger in this moment.

  Julieta paused at that glancing at Striga who had a frown plastered on her face, the two decided to head off leaving Skylar alone with her thoughts.

  Skylar blinked suddenly feeling something in her pocket, she reached into her jacket with her left hand and pulled out that pocket watch.

  “Your inheritance.” Jenna’s words rang in her head once more as Skylar stared down at it.

  She slowly raised her right hand grasping the edge of the pocket watch and cracked it open just slightly.

  Her head suddenly throbbed with pain and she took a step backward as something in her head SCREAMED in agony.

  “We did everything right! Everything that was asked of us and still. STILL, it wasn’t enough!”

  An unfamiliar woman’s voice echoed through her head, and for a moment she was standing somewhere underground.

  Dark cold, no. Not cold, the fires around her burned bright and there was someone standing in front of her.

  Someone she didn’t know.

  Skylar felt something of a presence behind her.

  Slowly she turned around in this dark cave and straight ahead she saw.

  Herself.

  At the ripe age of 7.

  Covered in blood and bruises, the young version of herself started to open its mouth but when it did.

  …The vision or perhaps a memory? Whatever it was, it faded and Skylar was back on the airship she sucked in a breath and clenched her chest trying to calm herself down her entire body was shaking.

  Her vision was wobbly, and she found herself staring at the pocket watch once more.

  She grits her teeth pulling her arm back ready to toss it over the edge.

  …

  But… She couldn’t, it was like something was holding her back.

  So slowly she lowered her hand and put the pocket watch back into her own pocket gritting her teeth, she didn’t know why.

  But she was terrified. There was something about that watch, something wrong.

  Most people would be thrilled about knowing they could find their past…

  But that fire.

  That cold cave…

  And all that blood.

  She grits her teeth taking a breath, “Calm down… it could just be an illusion… Something Jenna made up to get in my head.” She spoke her own reasoning despite her trembling form.

  She gripped the railings and kept her gaze on the island ahead, there was something wrong.

  A feeling in her gut, that was screaming at her to turn back and run away.

  But even so.

  “...Sickles grate on heaven's gate…” Alma’s voice entered Skylar’s head and she paused at his words, waiting for him to continue, “Do you feel it, Skylar? The horrors of fate whispering on the wind…? Something is going to happen here. And it’s not good.”

  Was that what this feeling is? Whispers from some sort of destiny? It felt awful like her stomach was turning and twisting.

  She opened her mouth and responded, “And how do you know what that feels like Alma?”

  “Everyone can feel it, it’s not special. It’s a feeling in your gut, whenever you make a choice it’s always there. And fate always guides to the proper course.”

  Skylar was about to speak up when she heard a voice from behind her, “Hey Skylar! Come on in here already, we need to discuss our plans before we dock!” Julieta shouted from behind Skylar.

  Skylar stared forward towards the island ahead but turned away walking back towards Julieta with her false smile, “Right right, let’s get this over with.”

  Chapter 8: Babylon.

  Lust sat upon her throne and tapped the arm of her chair with impatience, that was… until something appeared before her.

  A pink portal.

  Lust blinked at the sight as Jenna walked out to face her, Lust frowned, “Ah, you would be Jenna…? Correct?” Lust was unsure of the name, she hardly ever showed up to the meetings with the other Eternal’s so her information about what they were up to was always limited.

  This went double for those who have yet to catch her interest, Jenna fell into that category.

  Jenna smirked at that, putting a hand on her hip, she was more than used to this type of treatment, “That I am, and you are the ever so enigmatic succubus Lust.”

  Lust rolled her eyes at the nickname, “Call me what you will, it matters little… but you are quite the fool to come here.” Lust held out her right hand, a pink glow coming from it.

  “I think not.” Jenna retorted, narrowing her gaze, and in an instant a black pulse shot forth from Jenna’s body, and the pink glow around Lust’s hand vanished causing her to blink in mild surprise, Jenna then raised her arms, “Relax yourself, I have not come to take a life. Merely to confirm some information of mine.”

  Lust scowled but lowered her hand, “Then make it quick, I’m on a tight schedule as is.” Jenna smiled and raised her hands, in a shrug, “You’ve taken a liking to The Shadewalker correct? As such, I’m sure you don’t mean to toss her aside just yet… and yet I couldn’t help but notice that you sent what seems to be… about 4 forces, all bearing striking similarities to your soul.”

  Lust paused upon hearing those words, she frowned for a moment contemplating her response, “I would very much like to know how you came to such a conclusion…” Lust muttered before standing from her chair and looking down at Jenna, “But I’ll answer at least one of those questions of yours, I don’t intend to strike down The Shadewalker… it would be a waste.” Lust put a hand on her hip smiling wickedly, “Such a warrior must first prove their worth to me before I subjugate them entirely.”

  Jenna listened intently to those words, before cupping her chin, “I see… so that is why you sent those shards outward… you would have Skylar face them all, before facing you.” Jenna closed her eyes, lowering her hand to a pink portal opening up behind her, “While I would like to learn more about that particular technique… I too have other matters to attend to.” With that Jenna turned around, “...But now that your time here is limited, I will gladly burn this island to the ground just like I did with The Kingdom.”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  Lust chuckled at that falling back into her chair and cupping her face with her hands, smiling with the glow of her eyes, “You’ll die trying.”

  Jenna paused at Lust’s response before a scoff escaped her lips as she walked forward to her portal, she gave a two-fingered wave, “That depends fully on The Shadewalker.” she said nothing more, vanishing in that single instant.

  Lust blinked at the words before a wicked smile spread across her face, “This just grows more and more interesting by the second…” She lowered her hands and started to walk towards the large door to her throne room, there was a door to the far back as well it led to the staircase.

  But she only ever really climbed those stairs to return to her bed chambers, nevertheless, she reached out and swung that door wide open.

  There were two soldiers who immediately dropped to their knees in a bow, Lust glanced to the one on the right, “Hm.” she put a finger to her cheek as she narrowed her gaze, “You, go and check upon Delish. Ensure that he is keeping to the task at hand, I don’t need any setbacks now.”

  The soldier looked up nodding before grabbing his spear and running off.

  Lust lowered her hand and started to walk forward once more, “The barrier we have set in place around this castle won’t be so easily broken…” she mused lifting her right hand, it was covered in four rings, a red ring, a green ring, a blue ring, and a yellow ring, “I suppose if nothing else, these abilities of Origin’s will come in handy.”

  She blinked as she heard the sound of footsteps from ahead of her, she lowered her head and offered a smirk to the one who approached her, “Hm, back so soon are we Midus?”

  Midus dropped to his knees and bowed before the one he’d call his queen, “...My mistress, I would make a request of you.”

  Lust blinked at that, Midus wasn’t the type to make requests.

  A rare occurrence that caught Lust’s attention.

  She smirked kneeling down at Midus and she reached out and cupped his cheeks or at least she did the equivalent of that he was still clad fully in armor after all, “A request you say? You would ask such a thing of me, even though you have failed me twice?” her gaze narrowed and her nails dug into Midus’s armor sending small cracks through his helmet.

  Midus grit his teeth at her words but he spoke his mind regardless, “...I want to know what she is.” he asked suddenly causing Lust to blink her gaze was steeled and her face contorted into a frown, “That girl, despite everything I’ve thrown at her. She continues to grow stronger by the second, impossibly so.” His gaze locked onto Lust, “She’s more than just some hybrid isn’t she?”

  Lust lowered her hands and sighed standing to her full height she folded her arms and cast her gaze to the side, “Your guess is as good as mine,” Lust scowled, “Greed had already been slain by that girl, and most God’s cannot stand to her either…” Lust then turned her gaze back to Midus, “...And it would seem she’s now caught your full interest then?”

  Light poured in from a window to the right, setting a beam of sunlight that split the air between both Lust and Midus as he spoke, “I want to be the one to kill her.”

  Lust paused at those words before she started chuckling, “Is that so? Your words are laced with conviction but you lack the strength to see such a thing through.” Lust’s eyes glowed a bright pink, “are you about to ask me what I think you are?”

  Midus looked to the ground, “Power. I want the power to defeat that girl, regardless of the costs.” He said, “can you grant me that power Lust?”

  “Heh.” Lust couldn’t help but laugh at the question, “You already have might, fame, and recognition, and yet you would ask for more?” She smiled wickedly, “How Greedy.”

  ***

  Skylar stopped just short of the cabin door, feeling a chill on her back, she turned her gaze back towards Babylon as it got closer her eyes narrowed, she closed her eyes and then turned back to the cabin opening it.

  There Julieta and Striga were already waiting, the room was messy books and vials were scattered about and on the desk in the center, there was a map.

  A map that Striga was examining intently, “...We’ll dock here.” She says pointing to the far south of the map, “It’s not the most secure location but it suits our needs perfectly.”

  Skylar arched her brow, “How so? I thought we were going to look for the soldiers, wouldn’t that require us to dock near the mines?” she asked as she looked at the map, the entrance to the mines was to the far east of the island.

  “That’s one objective.” Striga nodded, “but I want to get a look at the small towns along Babylon's borders, war takes a toll on the people most of all. Worst case they’d try to drive us out, but in the best case…” Striga trailed off

  “We could get them to form a revolution.” Julieta finished with a nod, “A sound plan… but there’s more to it isn’t there?”

  Striga nodded, “Skylar. I want you to head to the west, there is a large town in the middle of the island, the town of Midgar.” Striga pointed to the town in question, there were at least two other villages on the way and Skylar frowned even as Striga continued, “It’s there that the Dark Knight’s are said to reside. I want you to recruit them to our side.”

  Skylar folded her arms, “Huh? Why me? I’m… not the best at peace talks you know.” she tilted her head.

  And Striga chuckled a bit, “Neither are The Dark Knights, they’ll likely challenge you to a duel in exchange for their services.”

  Skylar blinked at that before nodding slowly, “...That’s mildly concerning. But alright whatever it takes.”

  Striga then let out a sigh, “There is one other matter, the matter of our enemy. While Lust remains our primary target, let's take a moment to review the forces. Most of them will be clad in silver armor, as such if you see anyone in that sort of guise proceed with all due caution.”

  As she mentioned this Striga began to roll up the map, Julieta then arched a brow, “And what about me?”

  “You’ll be staying on the ship, I’ll need someone to coordinate a strike from above once that barrier drops.” Striga explained, “That’s another thing, Skylar, I want you to ask around the other villages and see if you can find out more about that Barrier, it has to be relatively new since I’ve never gotten any reports about it.” Striga explained running a hand through her hair, “I’ll be doing the same on my side, though I expect you’ll have more success due to the hair change.”

  Julieta blinked, “Speaking of that, be sure not to use your real name, Skylar, you’ve already fought Midus twice I’m sure the people of this land already hold a fair bit of fear regarding you.”

  “Right right.” Skylar says dismissively, “I’ll stick to ‘Valery’ while I’m here. Now are we done here? I want to get a lay of the land before we dock.”

  Striga chuckles and waves her off, “Yes yes, go ahead that should be all.”

  Skylar smiled and spun on her heel, bolting out the door.

  Julieta folded her arms and looked to Striga, “I’m still against this, we shouldn’t be sending someone as young as her into a warzone.” Julieta scowled.

  “That’s why I’m sending her to The Dark Knight’s village, I couldn’t stop Skylar if I tried. So I’m sending her somewhere where someone can stop her and keep her safe.” Striga explained as she set the map she rolled up into a nearby bookshelf, “Or at least that’s the hope.”

  Julieta blinked, tilting her head, “...So you are looking out for her.”

  “...” Striga paused, keeping her gaze on the wooden shelf before her before sighing, “she’s a spark after all. A spark that will ignite into an inferno that’ll set the world ablaze. If we just give her time to light it up.”

  “Hm.” Julieta smirked, “She’ll kill you if she finds out this was your plan.”

  Striga chuckled, closing her eyes, “That’s fine, we often do things that we know people will hate in order to protect those we care for most,” Striga looked down to her right hand, and to the gold ring upon it, “...That’s just part of being human.”

  Julieta let out a hum while unfolding her arms and walking to the door, “Before we dock I’ll go and check on the rest of the staff, better to make sure we’re ready to retreat on a moment’s notice.”

  Striga sighed, walking over to her desk and pulling up a chair, “You do that.”

  Julieta gave a two-fingered wave as she opened the door and walked out, Striga leaned back in her chair looking up to the ceiling, “...Delish.” she muttered the name of the one she was betrothed to, “What could you possibly be thinking?”

  ***

  Skylar looks out from the nearby railing, her eyes narrowing on the castle surrounded by that barrier, “...It’s always a castle isn’t it?” She muttered with a frown, she never understood the pompous buildings that leaders had to put themselves in, did they really need a place like that?

  “You’d have one too if you were in a position of constantly being threatened with assassination.” Alma chimed in.

  Skylar blinked at that, “I… Don’t think I would.” She frowned, “I’d probably take that as a challenge and face the Assassin head-on.”

  “...You have issues.”

  Skylar blushed slightly at Alma’s comment, “Shut up.” she hissed before blinking at the castle ahead, her head suddenly pounded and pain surged through her body as she clutched her forehead, “Ow…” she winced as she reached into her pocket pulling out that pocket watch once more.

  She looked down at it and let out a shaky breath opening it at last, for the first time.

  “...Huh?” she blinked, the watch was cracked and it wasn’t even ticking, “The hell? It’s broken?” she frowned at the sight, “Some inheritance,” Skylar muttered, closing the watch and setting it back into her pocket.

  “Was that supposed to be important?”

  “Hell if I know, it was something Jenna gave me.” Skylar frowned, “Could just be a prank knowing her.”

  Skylar paused as they at last arrived at the island, “...It’s silent.” Skylar muttered, her brow furrowed, “but they're supposed to be at war, I figured they’d try to shoot us down the moment we tried to dock.” Skylar muttered with surprise.

  “We should consider ourselves fortunate that they aren’t.” Striga spoke as she approached the edge with Skylar, “it either means they don’t consider us to be a threat, or their attention lies elsewhere.” Striga then leaped forward taking a step onto the first bit of grassland, “Either way, that just means we have time.”

  Skylar nodded in agreement leaping onto the side of Striga, “So then, this is where we split is it?”

  “Skylar.” Julieta called out before tossing a small pouch to Skylar, Skylar yelped but she reached up and grabbed it, “There are potions in there for you, they aren’t foolproof. The most they do is speed up natural healing. But they should help.”

  Skylar blinked looking at the pouch and she opened it, there were about 8 potions in total, she then sealed the pouch back up and attached it to the side of her pants, by tying it to her belt, “Thanks I’ll put them to good use.” Skylar said smiling.

  “Hm, you better.” Julieta then turned around, “The moment that barrier drops I’ll be ready to launch an assault on the castle. So you two better get to work.”

  Striga nods and turns to Skylar, “Well then, I’ll be seeing you.”

  Skylar nods and turns in the opposite direction, with which the duo begins to split, “The first city isn’t that far off.” Skylar muttered to herself, “I should head there first.” She blinked as she saw something in the distance, “Smoke?” she blinked her eyes widened slightly, “No…” she grit her teeth quickly running forward, she had to make it. She had to be on time.

  ***

  Skylar breathed in heavily as she arrived at the city she had been running for a little over an hour now and had only just had the chance to catch her breath, she blinked taking in the sight around her before she started walking forward through the small city, rubble and fire overtook most of the land, and she could hear the distant shots of cannon fire, along with people's screams.

  She stopped in the center of the city, a frown plastered on her face, “I knew it was going to be bad… but this…? Why are we slaughtering innocents?” The sight alone made her want to vomit, it was awful seeing this sort of carnage.

  She questioned, as her gaze drifted to a nearby house.

  There she saw a man crawling outwards from the rubble, Skylar’s eyes widened upon seeing the man, and she quickly rushed to his side bending down to one knee, and reaching into her satchel pulling out a potion, “Just hold on, you're going to be okay!” Skylar shouted despite her claims the man was barely clinging to life.

  And she had to act fast if she wanted to save him, she began to uncap the bottle but as she did so the man began to speak, “G- Glo-...” Skylar paused, bringing the bottle up to the man’s lips as he raised his hand upwards toward the burning clouds above, “Glory be… To Babylon.” As soon as he uttered those words, his hand fell onto the ground limp as a noodle, but his eyes remained open staring up.

  Skylar looked down at the man, she didn’t need a doctor to tell her that this man was dead.

  Slowly she put the cap back onto her potion, setting it into her satchel with shaky hands, she then raised her right hand clenching it into a fist and she punched the ground.

  “Faster.” she growled as she started to stand up, not bothering to remove the dirt from her knees, “I have to be faster, I can’t keep letting people die like this.”

  She moved forward to one of the many buildings checking inside of it, her eyes narrowed at the sight of corpses she winced trying to keep her vomit from leaving her mouth.

  …

  She failed.

  Turning around she started to walk forward, her eyes narrowed in silent disgust at the sights around her, one after the other she checked the buildings.

  One after the other she found another set of people she couldn’t save.

  Skylar shoved her hands into her jacket’s pockets before she stopped in the center of the city her eyes widened at the sight before her, amidst the smoke and dirt she almost didn’t notice the single person standing.

  Skylar instantly reached for her blade at the sight of this person.

  “Must you always start with trying to kill me?” Jenna questioned a soft smile on her face as she tilted her head to her side, even with Skylar’s slightly altered appearance Jenna was not one to be fooled, not with her all-seeing eyes, “that hotheaded approach is only going to get you killed here.”

  Skylar growled at that biting down on her lip, she needed information and she wasn’t going to get it if she drew her blade, “Why are you here?” Skylar asked with a hiss.

  Jenna frowned at the question, turning her gaze to the burning buildings, “...To examine the truth of humanity.” She said, putting a hand on her hip, “It’s interesting, to say the least, for every word these people yap about ‘peace and love and hope.’ they can’t stop fighting.” She muttered with her gaze narrowed.

  She sighed, “But I digress I didn’t come here to speak about the inner workings of the soul. I came here to issue a challenge.” Jenna’s gaze turned playful as she uttered those words.

  “What…?” Skylar blinked confused by Jenna’s wording, “A challenge? What makes you think I’d accept any challenge from you?”

  “Oh come now, that’s an easy one.” Jenna chuckled, turning her gaze back to Skylar, “Because this is a challenge that you can’t refuse, one that you're all too familiar with.” Jenna spoke as the embers of the flames flew past her face.

  Skylar blinked, narrowing her gaze, “Meaning?”

  Jenna smiled tilting her head, “Perhaps a reminder is an order?” she muttered lifting her hand and snapping her fingers pink goo shot up from her sleeve and fired into the sky, it started to cover the whole dome above.

  Skylar’s eyes widened at the sight, memories of what happened to The Kingdom due to that same sky entered her head, “No…”

  “You needn’t worry just yet.” Jenna cooed a wicked gleam in her eyes as she clenched her hand into a fist and swung it down, the pink goo above shot back down flowing back into Jenna’s sleeve with that simple command, “My challenge to you is simple. Kill Lust by the end of this week… or watch as I burn this land to its final ember.”

  Skylar’s grip tightened around her blade as he took in a shaky breath trying to maintain her composure, “You aren’t fucking serious! Why!? Why even think of doing something like this!?!” She shouts, throwing her hand to the side.

  Jenna blinked a soft smile appeared on her face, in stark contrast to the brutality of the methods she’d employed.

  She looked up to the sky pondering the question for a moment, “...So focused on one goal that you refuse to see what’s around you.” Jenna suddenly spoke, “Or are you simply that blind? You’ve been at the center of worldwide change for a while now haven’t you?” Jenna lowered her head, locking eyes with Skylar.

  Skylar paused at that looking at her sword, though her memories were limited she couldn’t deny the truth of those words, she was there for the breakout of Pand?monium, she was there for the day The Kingdom fell, she was there when Jubilee lost its storm barrier… and now she was here on Babylon.

  Jenna then posed her own question, “Isn’t that strange? You’ve only been traveling a year or so… and yet the world seems to revolve around you? It’s almost as if…” Jenna then trailed off her gaze locking onto the burning buildings, “Ah, but I digress. You have more important matters to deal with don’t you hero?” With that, she turned around and opened a portal she started to walk towards it.

  “...Why didn’t you kill me back then?” Skylar suddenly asked, “You’ve had so many chances to kill me. So why? Why do you keep letting me go?”

  Jenna stopped just short of the portal, “...” She looked to the ground biting her lip drawing blood and letting it drop to the floor, but she didn’t utter a word. Instead opting to go through that portal and leave Skylar behind.

  Skylar stood there, the sounds of screams had all but faded and she grit her teeth slowly reaching up and she sheathed her blade looking up to the skies above, dark clouds had already begun to convert them of course they had.

  For even the sunlight would forsake Skylar, she sucked in a breath trying her best to contain herself as she refocused her gaze to the area straight ahead, “Keep moving.” She muttered, “Just keep going, I’ve got a job to do… they're counting on me.” She started to move forward though her pace was noticeably slower than it was moments ago.

  Her hands clenched into fists as she walked forward, her gaze fixed forward even through the smoke and the flames that consumed this village, she couldn’t give up.

  She had to keep moving.

  Even if she could no longer remember the reason why…