Battle Of Domion Valley (3)

My celebration is cut short – we are not done. The battle rages on behind us. We have split the enemy in two, its rear troops now decimated. The ones fighting against the core of our army remain.

The energy within me begins to fade and I sway on my feet. Mimi approaches me and attempts to stabilize me. The look in her eyes is filled with a mix of emotions. She looks around the area and whistles.

“You're amazing, Eve.”

I shrug and try to pull myself away from her and she grabs my shoulders tightly.

“No way. You've done your part. Let's get you somewhere safe for a bit.”

“I'm taking her somewhere to rest for a bit. We’ll catch up later.” Mimi looks around for confirmation.

The others nod and take off toward the armies at war as I try to protest again, “That's unnecessary, Mimi.”

“Shut it. Let's go over there, there's a small cave ahead. We can find shelter from the wind there.”

I concede, knowing she’s right. Even with adrenaline going through me, without the energy, I'm shivering. The power of the Zeroth Knight title, the power I receive from Rei, has been fading from me from the moment I returned to this world. “Fine. But we have to get back to helping the others soon.”

“Soon, not yet.” She wraps my arm around her shoulders and leads me away from the battlefield.

Despite our exhaustion and the fine layer of filth covering us both, my focus is drawn to my increasing pulse as my heart pounds in Mimi’s presence. By the time we sit in the small cave, my nerves are frayed. I have to scoot away from Mimi before she notices. She hesitates for a moment, but seems to resist asking why I’m so uptight. I take solace in our extra distance and lean my head against the wall. My breathing begins to slow, and I soon feel something uncomfortable.

I open my eyes and look over to see Mimi staring at me. “What is it?”

“Ah. No. Nothing.” She looks away.

I reach up one hand and grasp her chin, gently forcing her to look my way. “What is it, Mimi?

Her cheeks flush slightly as she stares at me. Small sparks dance behind her eyes. “The way you fight. Where did you learn it?” she asks.

I don't know how to answer it. My hand drops from her chin and my words hesitate in my throat.

“From my grandfather, initially,” I finally say.

“And thereafter?”

“... Someone important to me, taught me.”

“What happened to them? Because that honestly looked a lot like my style, and I’m self-taught. I’ve only ever taught one person before.”

Her words cut through me, sadness teases my heart and the tears fall. Mimi’s face falls and her eyes shimmer. Tears fall free from her eyes too, mimicking my own. She brings her hand to her face. “What? Why am I crying? Why are you crying? What’s going on Eve?”

I shake my head at her, and stand up.

“We have to go. Every minute, another person is taken from us.” I move past her and head toward the exit.

“Wait,” she grabs my arm. “I can get us there faster.” She rubs her eyes clear of tears as she wraps her arm around my waist. In an instant, the scenery around us changes.

“Damn. I knew you were fast but…” I look around me.

Below us, the two armies continue to clash. The Beta are making short work of our people. “We have to help them, Mimi.”

She nods, and in a blink of an eye, we’re behind the creatures and their ilk. I reach into the void, and the energy surrounds me. My arms and legs strengthen, my hair finally free of its ponytail. The wind whips around me and my eyes take on a small golden sheen. I am wholly me, yet I am still seeing myself from afar. I choose to believe that even if Rei is no longer with me, she is still supporting me. I must force Fennis to allow me to speak to her when this is over. For now, I can only nod to a blushing Mimi.

“O-of course. Let’s do this, Eve. Lowest kill count has to run naked through the camp tonight!”

Her words catch me off guard and she takes the chance to dash away, leaving a giggle on the wind. I shake my head. That’s how it’s going to be, huh?

All I desire is to destroy Gehenna and all that she represents. With a small, dark veil flashing over me, I dive into the fray.

Mimi quickly zaps through the Beta as I manage to take one down. My strength is still waning, and she’s slowly gaining on me.

I see Kay struggling to take on two Beta at once. Her daggers are blocking the beasts’ limbs, but she’s quickly being forced back.

A Beta charges me and swings its claws. I take the chance to flip over the Beta and use its head as a springboard. As I fly through the air, I ready my fist with as much energy as I can summon. I land, severing the Beta to Kay’s left in half. Her surprise is short-lived and she takes advantage of the freed arm, using it to stab the remaining Beta in the side.

As it rears up in pain, Kay uses the opportunity to withdraw her blades and sink them into the beast several times and it soon falls. Kay looks at me with a twisted smile on her lips. “Thanks.” She removes her daggers from the Beta and stares at the black blood coating them. That smile never leaves her face, even as her good eye sparkles.

She notices my staring, and a small crimson spreads across her cheeks before she sheathes her blades. She nods further down the valley where Mimi has gone. There’s even more fighting to be done... I’m already so exhausted that I can barely stand.

“You catch up with us,” she says before running away., leaving me alone.

Quickly, I retreat to the sidelines of the battle so I can try to regain some strength. As I stand in the shade of a tree, I can’t help wonder why I’m even fighting. What do I have left to fight for? Nina was taken from me, Rei is seemingly one with Fennis, and the Valkyries don’t know me. Why am I doing this? I thought it was to protect the people I loved.

“It is to protect them,” I tell myself.

“What is the point if they don’t know me?” I speak aloud, my voice carrying a tone dissimilar to my own.

“Goodness begets goodness,” I argue.

“Even if they’re all saved, and we somehow end this battle, there’s going to be more. Many more. And you’ll be alone the entire time.”

“They will be alive. They will be happy.”

“Happy without you.”

“But happy nonetheless. I have to do good, even if no one else will ever acknowledge it. That’s the promise I told the Rei in my world.”

“Your world was nothing but another lie.” My voice echoes around me, and back to me. My vision shifts and I find myself feeling disconnected from my own existence. Just then, I’m looking toward myself face to face.

“Even if my whole life was a lie, the way I felt about the people I met was not.”

“Your emotions were based on a lie. A you that isn’t who you truly are chose to make you into another.”

“Perhaps you aren’t wrong. However, that doesn’t change the objective truth of the universe. Whether I am me, myself, or another, good is good and is always good. True goodness is not done in hopes of acknowledgement. It is done for itself, for it exists within itself as the path, the way, the light. It is what you have always believed, from the very beginning. Long before the moon and the stars and the sun.”

“And in the end, I have to suffer for it? To be alone for all of my life.”

“You are not alone.”

The person standing before me, this other version of myself, reaches for my face, and cups it. Warmth spreads through me. I don't know how its happening, but a complete happiness beyond anything I have ever known overcomes me. “You are loved as you love, whether or not you see it. I am here, as you are, as they are, as we all will be, forever and ever.”

My mirrored self starts to fade, her being coming into me. My body feels light and feelings I do not recognize assault me. I double over in pain, landing on my knees and vomiting up a disgusting, terrible sludge. The sludge hisses at me as it turns to ash and is scattered on the winds. Great, more things I don’t understand. My life is still controlled by another. Regardless of what she makes me feel, my emotions are my own. Were I to give into hers, I would continue to be controlled. I refuse. I’ll suffer on my own before I give in to a false happiness.

The battle rages on and I must return to the fray, if only to save a single soul more.

I alight my body with the now-familiar warmth of the void, and move. My body is lighter than before; my exhaustion, while present, has been abated somewhat.