Possible that there will be another short chapter tonight. I attempted something at the end, don't know if it was good or not but I'd like to try more.

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Yalsal bent down, grabbing onto the newly fallen guard's sword. Scratching his smooth chin, he chuckled. "Stupid isn't it? How some of these guards actually think they can do something. It's crazy, it really is. If you're a guard in the city, not even a captain, and all of the other guards are taken out, what makes them think that they're an exception?" Yalsal ran his finger along the edge of the sword. "You know? You're really no different."

Anne wanted to scream, she tried to scream. I don't care what happens, I don't want to die here. She managed to eek out a quiet cry, more like a whimper than anything. The croak of a dying frog would've been louder.

"I feel somewhat sorry for you." Yalsal said.

"Stop playing around." Undor held his bloodied arm.

"Sorry. You know, too bad you couldn't avenge your friend. Honestly, I must say that I was impressed by its will to protect you. I really admired that." Yalsal turned to spit on the ground. "Too bad its master was nothing but a piece of trash."

He raised the sword.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Bes. Anne closed her eyes and called out, Please don't come here Rainen.

The sword came down.

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"Haaa.... Haaa.... Haaa."

Rainen grasped at his heart which was about to burst forth from his chest onto the open landscape before him. The people, all the men, women, and children had retreated to their homes. The only ones who ran around were adventurers and guards.

Feeling his knees buckle, Rainen used his ability to jump again. Upon making it to his destination, he could not stop the force that brought him down. He fell to the ground and watched the sky as it spun around him, or was it? He couldn't tell from the black clouds that filled the sky.

I don't care what happens, I don't want to die here.

That's Anne. Rainen struggled to his feet. I have to go save her. He stumbled forward, just barely catching himself on the top of the building. Once again he jumped, again and again he did so. So much did he push himself, that he eventually ended up warping to another building starting on his hands and knees.

*Crumble*

He glanced over at the broken stone. Where had they come from? He shook his head, the dizziness intensified and his body convulsed.

"Haah... Haah...."

How close was he to Anne? How much longer would it take for him to reach her? At the rate that he had been going, it only seemed like a few more jumps, a few jumps that he may not even be awake for. Giving out under him, his arms allowed his face to be planted onto the top of the building.

There he waited with an uneven breath. The cold air stung his lungs, each breath he took led to endless fits of coughing. The pain that came with it hid behind the deepest part of his chest. So much did Rainen want to tear it out, tear out the dull yet sharp pain that were buried in the darkest depths of his body.

His hands scratched away at his clothing. No matter how much he tried, the unbearable itch would not go away, the pain could not die. Fierce were the way his hands clawed, if one saw how much he batted at his chest, they'd think that some kind of bug was living under his skin.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Bes.

His mind immediately returned to reality. Why? Was it due to the endless regret he felt from Anne's thoughts? Was it why he no longer continued to rip open his chest? Nevertheless, the words she thought, the message that she had sent, brought clarity to Rainen's mind. Her next words shook him.

Please don't come here Rainen.

With that, he felt the link die.

"She, she's not dead yet. She just overused it." he tried to convince himself. "Hold on, hold on just a little longer Anne... I'm coming."

He focused his eyes forward and disappeared. I, I can do it. Just another minute or two and I'll be there.

I promise that I'll save you. I'll make it.

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The world before him was filled with flowers. The ground was covered in scarlet lilies, how strange they were, blooming underground at the end of Autumn. The boy reached out slowly, ever so wanting to caress one, one more beautiful than the rest, the only one that seemed to be clinging onto life.

As he brushed it with his fingers, like a dying spider, its paper thin buds closed. A voice called out to him, whether he heard it or not, his vision turned red. He looked upon two beings that did not fit. The two beings that made him fail his goal.

When he was done, two new, scarlet, lilies appeared, blooming bright and new.

The boy tread back to the lily he had been looking at before, even when its final moments had passed, it still shone brighter than the rest, for in a dark time, it had saved him, and he had saved it. Or so the boy believed. He could no longer tell himself that as he plucked it from the ground.

What a strange flower. So out of place, so... odd.

The boy who wished not to pick such a lifeless flower, and that of many others, lost his mind, cast away the chains that bound him, and shook reality. So long ago it was that even he could not remember when it happened, the dream, the nightmare, the memory of the day his new world started to break.

For the boy who tried so hard, who did his best, who pushed himself to the brink of insanity, all he received at the end was nothing more than failure, and... a spark of hope.