Overhead, Bella grimaced. She saw the lake shining with the light it usually had, and from that light, she could see that Mister Bale's little hut had been pulverized, ground up entirely. Mister Bale was there, too, by the lake waters.

His usually hunched up figure was standing tall, and there was a lot of green shining around him. He was fighting a big monster. An ugly monster. It was bigger than even the knight from before, and it had a round, pig-like face with a huge, fire-breathing snout, large tusks, and squinty red eyes.

Its body was fat and pot bellied with big, gorilla like arms and short, stubby but wide and muscular legs. Little black wings that looked far too small for it sprouted from its hairy back. It held its oversized arms out in front of it, blocking a beam of green energy coming from Mister Bale's hands.

Mister Bale looked tired, his wrinkly forehead even wrinklier, and his breathing was very deep.

Meanwhile the monster was smiling, not at all exhausted.

"Let's go," said Bella. "We have to help Mister Bale."

Ange barked in agreement, and they swooped down. When they got close enough, Ange roared, breathing down a torrent of fire onto the big monster.

The monster looked up and snorted, the fire doing nothing to it.

"What is this, forest spirit?" it said to Mister Bale. "You would challenge me with a little girl and an oversized hound? Me? Sloth, one of the Heralds of the Burning One? Amusing."

"Bella!" shouted Mister Bale, his voice hoarse. "Run! Do not fight this demon. Just flee!"

"No!" shouted Ange back. "I won't leave a friend behind!"

Ange roared in agreement, and he soared around the pig demon, loosing fire all around, seeing if there was any weak point in its hide.

"Unfortunately, little girl, I am quite fire resistant," said the demon. It moved with a sudden agility that completely belied its fat frame, and it lashed out with its other arm, extending unnaturally and grabbing onto Ange.

Bella fell from Ange's back, and from here, a fall of this height was definitely too much for her. She closed her eyes, trying to be brave, expecting pain, but instead, she landed on something soft. She opened her eyes and saw that she lay atop a patch of Fluffgrass that completely broke her fall with its soft and leafy structure.

"You should not have done that, forest spirit," said the demon triumphantly as it now grabbed a huge hand around Mister Bale. "Your [Forest Smite], enhanced by the Heart you so dearly guard, held me back, but even a little lapse in concentration will not do when you are facing the mighty Sloth."

"Stop!" screamed Bella. "Let them go!"

"Ah, the desperate pleadings of a child. Some among my kind believe you children of mortals to be worth mercy, but I, unfortunately am not one of them. So do not worry, ugly little mortal spawn, you will join these two in death very soon."

The demon let out a squeal of pain. Ange had bit its fingers, savagely shaking his head and tearing off chunks of flesh.

"Insolent pest!" The demon roared, and it used its huge arms to swing Ange up and then down, dashing him onto the forest floor and killing him instantly.

Bella dropped to her knees, her mind blanking as she tried to process what was happening, how much she was losing, how much she had lost in so very short a time. It felt like a nightmare.

"Now, you, forest spirit," said the demon, and it opened its mouth and unleashed a torrent of black fire that engulfed Mister Bale. Mister Bale writhed around for a second before going limp as the black flame ate him away.

"Do I smell despair?" said the demon as its porcine nose flared. His blubbery head turned to Bella. "Good. You will be a nice little morsel."

It reached its hand out to Bella, and she knew she could do nothing. She knew she would die here. The priests always said that there was a good and warm place everyone went to when they died.

She hoped she was going there with all her friends and Mister Bale.

Fat fingers wrapped around Bella' body, and she felt herself lifted off her feet, drawing closer to the wide mouth of the demon.

But no, she could not give up now. Not when so many of her friends had died protecting her, fighting to their very last breaths. 

For so very long, for so very many years, she had thought that if she was quiet, if she did not complain, things would be good for her. That she could keep what she loved. That she could finally have friends.

Now, she realized, that was never true. To keep what she loved, she needed to speak up. 

She needed to fight back. And she was willing to do anything to fight.

She put her fists on the big monster's finger, her teary eyes wide with anger, and she channeled as much power as she could. Every ounce of it, remembering vividly the light of the gate. White light crackled around her, and the demon cocked its head.

"You've still some fight left in you?" said the demon amusedly before its expression turned to shock, then pain.

It roared as the light sparked up its arm, turning the flesh all mushy, bubbly, and warped. Tumors and growths formed everywhere as did massive boils and blisters that popped painfully.

"Curse you, you little wretch!" The demon screamed and brought its arm down.

Bella could only see the world blur before she found herself on the forest floor, looking up to a smoky night sky, to a large, pale moon twinkling in the distance, in a place so far from here, so much quieter and more peaceful than here.

She felt strangely peaceful. She could hear her heartbeat through her chest, and it was so steady. So even. She tried to move her legs, but she could not feel them. She looked down. Her legs were so far away, torn from her body and crushed into bloody pulp from the demon tightening its grip on her.

The demon roared again in pain. Its arm was continuing to mutate, turning into something horrible and painful, and it ignored Bella.

Bella remembered Mister Bale's words. The lake was very special. It was where the whole forest found life, he said. Where, he said one day, if Bella was a good girl, it might even grant her a wish.

Bella had always thought Mister Bale had said that just to get her to listen to him, but she still crawled to the lake, dragging the remaining upper half of her body forwards with her arms, but they were skinny, thin arms that could do no work, arms that made her parents hate her.

But still, she kept dragging herself forwards, across the grass, towards the light of the lake. She cried, not because she felt pain – no, she could not feel anything anymore – but because she knew she was doing this because she had nothing else to do.

She wanted to fight so badly, to do something for her friends, for Mister Bale, but she had nothing anymore. She was going to die, and she knew it.

Soon, she would be with Ange again, with Mister Bale, with Simon and Ames and Sheila and all her friends in the warm place that the priests promised, but before then, she had to try her best, even if she knew it meant nothing, because she loved her friends and would do anything to make sure she avenged them. 

Slowly, surely, she made her way to the lake's edge, and then, weakly, she fell into it. She felt the cool water swallow her up as she began to sink. She looked up. The world above looked so murky under the water.

So far away.

She could not hear the burning and screaming anymore. Just nothing. Her vision began to dim, and she became so very sleepy, but she tried to hang on, but it got so hard. It got so tempting to just close her eyes, to sleep and let a happier dream overtake this nightmare, but she made one last effort.

She made her wish.

She wished for the light again. For the gate. For every time things seemed so dark, the gate was what showed her hope.

"The gate...," she whispered underwater, her voice coming out only in bubbles. "…The gate."

And the gate appeared.

She did not know if she was dreaming now, but she could see the gate above her, its light shining so bright and so warmly and so gently. She reached her hand out to it even as she sank further and further underneath the water, wanting to touch it so badly.

From the gate, a hand wrapped around hers, and a voice flowed into her head.

[I am power. Once formless, now flowing. You seek power, and to you, I grant a choice. I am not benevolent, and my power is not gentle, but it is power. It will grant you what you wish.]

[Vengeance.]

[Take my power and become something more. Something terrible, something pained, but something powerful. Avenge what you have lost.]

[Or let go and find peace, to fall into the eternal slumber of all souls freed from their mortal coils.]

[It is your choice.]

Bella held the hand tight, and she knew what her answer was. She had always let go, never speaking up and letting so many horrible things happen to her, but she had never, ever let go of friends. She would not do so now.

[Your choice is accepted.]

Bella saw the light dim and disappear, leaving her in complete darkness. Darkness that began to surround her, clinging to her skin. Cold, lonely, and sad darkness, and she knew she was going to be in this darkness for a very long time, but this was her choice.

And yet, she was still so scared.

The voice came again, and this time, it was a lot more gentle. A lot more human sounding. Comforting. 

[Do not be fearful. When the right time draws, I will come back for you. At that time, I promise you will have peace, little one.]

With that reassurance, Bella let the darkness consume her with a smile.