Reyz approached Arylos, dragging the tip of his sword along the ground as his fury boiled in his veins. Arylos had his plan, but he didn’t know how long he would last to carry it through. He kept his shoulder in place as he tried to reconnect it back to his body properly.

Reyz howled a hollow and haunting scream as he brought his sword down on Arylos and the Titan dodged out of the way, but Reyz followed up with a backhand and brought his sword around for an uppercut that Arylos narrowly dodged, continuing his backwards rolling. Arylos realised he needed to change things up now.

Reyz let out a scream again and ran towards Arylos while preparing a sideways slash that Arylos planned to block with his arm, but Reyz cut the slash short and kicked Arylos back in the abdomen and brought his sword down and through his sternum, resulting in a howl from Arylos.

Arylos kept forgetting that Reyz is an expert, a true professional at what he does.

Arylos leaned back and kicked Reyz in the throat and Arylos quickly drew the sword out of his chest and ran it through Reyz’s throat and kicked the hilt to send the blade all the way through and sending Reyz to the ground. Arylos took his chance and quickly ran away, trying to get Reyz to give chase.

The worst part was that he knew a lot of people were running this way, not knowing Arylos’s plan.

He closed his heart to it. Reyz was now focused on him, which could possibly minimise the amount of collateral damage. Arylos leaned up against a wall and tried desperately to pull himself together. All he needs to do is get beyond the city walls. Once there, he can unleash everything he has against Reyz.

Provided he can retain his strength long enough.

Arylos put all of his strength into repairing his wounds, taking muscles from non-vital areas to fill in the damage. He could heal faster if he could eat someone, but he can’t do that here and trying to consume Reyz would be like trying to eat a rotting corpse; even if he could, he certainly didn’t want to.

Arylos pulled himself from the wall and turned to face where Reyz was and he saw the shadow of Reyz pulling himself back up. His limbs then twisted and as fast as a rabid dog, he dropped to all fours and ran towards Arylos, sounding out bloody shrieks as he ran.

“Damn, you’re fugly,” Arylos commented as he prepared his stance. As Reyz approached, one of his twisted arms reached for the sword in his throat and yanked it out, spilling blood and letting out a blood curdling scream as he leapt for Arylos. Arylos rolled underneath, just narrowly dodging Reyz’s sword swipe as Reyz’s broken body landed on the other side of Arylos, blocking his way out.

Arylos knelt down and punched the ground, knocking loose a large piece of the earth as Reyz howled and ran back towards him. Arylos lifted the large cut of rock and used it as a shield, knocking Reyz over him and throwing the boulder on top of the demonic creature, trapping it underneath.

As Arylos backed away, Reyz’s arm twisted again and hurled his sword at Arylos and Arylos knocked it out of his way. He heard Reyz scream once more and pushed the boulder aside and ran towards him once more with his mouth wide open and teeth sharpened to the shape of knives.

Arylos quickly reached down for Reyz’s sword and caught the creature’s maw on the blade as Reyz repeatedly bit down on the sword in an attempt to break it.

“Holy fuck you’re fucking ugly,” Arylos said in disgust and kicked the creature away and ran the sword down Reyz’s esophagus as the creature screamed.

Arylos took his chance and made more backwards steps. As he looked behind him, he could see a gate within view, getting closer to the city borders. Just a few more dance moves and it will be over. But Reyz is resorting to pushing tactics, moving faster and more erratically so it’s harder for Arylos to track him. This also means that he will be lashing out violently, no longer caring if Arylos is on the receiving end or not.

Arylos had to remain in control.

Reyz howled and his limbs twisted, bringing him back up to two legs and leapt towards Arylos; sword still in his gullet. Arylos took this chance and sidestepped Reyz and kicked his gut, causing his body to bend and for the blade to stir his organs, slicing and crushing his guts.

Reyz made a sideways punch that was dodged and Arylos followed up with another gut kick, causing Reyz to start vomiting blood and it began to leak from his nose. Arylos then took his chance to get another punch in knocking Reyz to the side, but Reyz spun around and kicked Arylos in the jaw, knocking it out of place again. Before Arylos could get back up, Reyz pulled the sword out of his mouth and ran it through Arylos’s own neck, causing the Titan to choke and nearly vomit himself from his gag reflex.

Reyz pulled the sword out and with hollow screams, made repeated slashes for Arylos, cutting anything that was flesh, each attack stunning Arylos and each subsequent attack coming faster than he could dodge.

Arylos stopped holding onto his bleeding throat and extended his nails into claws as Reyz made another piercer for his gut again. Arylos attempted a sidestep only for Reyz to correct and end up running through Arylos’s side. Arylos pulled the blade closer into himself and ran his talons through Reyz’s eyes and pulled them out of their sockets, causing Reyz to backpedal as Arylos pulled the sword out of his side.

Arylos fell on his back as he tried desperately to get his throat to heal, focusing as much as he could on it. He watched Reyz stumble blindly and screech with his convulsing body and twisting limbs. Arylos couldn’t help but a hint of sorrow for what this boy had become.

“How much humanity do you even still have in you?” Arylos asked accusingly once his throat healed, trying to get the creature’s attention. “How much of your soul did you sacrifice? Was it even fucking worth it?”

Reyz snarled and looked towards Arylos’s direction with his eyeless face. “More than you have in you,” he howled as he went back down on all fours.

Arylos couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s a shame, I was never human to begin with!”

Reyz howled and made clicking noises in his throat. He then ran towards Arylos, picking his sword up off the ground and aiming it towards Arylos’s chest and ran through him, narrowly missing Arylos’s still heart.

“Did you forget?” Arylos teased as he coughed blood from his punctured lung. “I’m a heartless wretch.” Arylos’s talons grew once more and he ran them through Reyz’s chest and ripped out his black and green heart, still pulsing in Arylos’s hands as Reyz howled and ran backwards, clutching at his hollow chest and fell to the ground, breathing heavily in a gurgled voice.

Arylos growled and crushed the vile organ in his hand, splattering blood all over him. He then felt the strength leave his legs as he fell to his knees, his back landing against a stone wall. He looked up and saw he made it to the city gates.

Arylos laughed under his breath. “Would you look at that,” he said aloud, letting go of his wounds so the blood would flow freely. “All of that work only to make it this far.”

Arylos leaned his head against the stone wall as his vision blurred, exhaustion kicking in. He was tired. He was hungry. He was alone.

He just wanted to go home.

He felt tears come down his cheek. He reached for his chest and found his Dreamcatcher charm. He pulled it out and saw that it had been sliced through, the painted wood within now stained with blood. He let out a cry as he clutched the small charm. He didn’t want to go. Not yet. But his body found no strength to continue.

He wanted to see her again, one last time if he could.

Suddenly, he felt warm hands pull on him and his vision darkened with a shadow blocking the sun. He saw a pair of warm brown eyes, like a thick and dark honey. He felt the warm hands pull his face close and find his wounds and he could hear someone’s voice. He could smell a familiar scent, one of a familiar soap he bought for this person joined by several other scents he could recognise from home.

He knew this person.

“Iris,” he whispered, reaching for her arm. He could feel her skin and it made him feel warm as he heard her voice, her cries. Yet his vision would not allow him to see her face.

“What happened to you?” he could hear her cry.

He held her close while clutching his charm. “I broke my Dreamcatcher charm,” he laughed in a shallow breath. He could hear her voice crack as she let out a laugh from behind her cries.

“We’ll get you a new one,” she told him, holding the hand that was holding onto his charm.

“I don’t need a new one,” he whispered with a smile, basking in the warmth of his real dreamcatcher.

“Yes you do!” she cried, holding him closer.

Arylos was content, he felt her warmth and it was enough to lull him to sleep. Her embrace was warm and sweet and he could be lost in her gravity.

But then the warmth was replaced by a sheer and utter cold; the weight of this realisation snapped him awake. He jumped up and threw Iris to the side just in time to catch Reyz attempting to stab Iris in the back with his sword, the creature howling all the while. With as much strength as he could muster, Arylos tossed the creature beyond the gate and out into the road as the creature struggled to get up. As it rose up, Arylos could see fresh red blood dripping from its teeth.

Arylos looked over and saw a partially eaten corpse of an older man. Arylos realised that while he was blacking out, Reyz was eating to restore his strength.

Arylos had enough.

“Iris, stay back. I will finish this,” he demanded as he rose to his feet, using the wall as a support and feeling the cold of the air once separated from Iris. He reached out his arm and the air hummed with a deep and intense growl. Suddenly, flames erupted from Arylos’s palm and consumed the rest of the man’s partially eaten body, burning it and consuming it for himself. As the flames burned, Arylos’s wounds healed and his muscles grew as a dark aura emanated from his body.

“Two can play at that game, Reyz,” he growled in a thundering voice. “I have not eaten human flesh in almost a year. You broke my streak.” The flames retreated and Arylos closed his fist, absorbing the flames and leaving nothing left of the corpse. His eyes shone a brilliant orange as his body regained its strength.

Reyz screamed, unable to speak like a man anymore and ran towards Arylos and Iris. With the strength of an earthquake, Arylos knocked the creature aside as it slammed into the stone wall nearby, breaking bone and splattering blood across the stone. Arylos wasted no time and grabbed the creature by its limbs and threw him into the ground repeatedly like a ragdoll, breaking more bones as Reyz began to vomit more of his guts from the sheer force.

Arylos then grabbed Reyz’s head and slammed it into the ground, creating a deep crater. He then pinned the creature down with his knee in Reyz’s chest and with a deep inhale, let out a series of thunderous punches, making the crater deeper.

Iris watched on as she saw Arylos revert to the creature she first met; his depravity knowing no bounds. It was as though he went backwards compared to how he has been.

Arylos laid down the last punch and Reyz stayed on the ground, silent and breathing heavily as blood poured from his mouth and nose as his features that weren’t shattered began to resemble that of a human again. Arylos took another inhale, finally securing victory. He felt disappointed that he took Reyz all the way over here only for the creature to fall so quickly. He rose up to his feet and turned to face Iris. He should have been proud; he protected her, saved her. If anything, she saved him as well.

But he could only feel shame.

Sentarus and Bellona along with a whole squadron of soldiers came through the gate, breaking up Arylos and Iris. Sentarus took a look at the scenery before him, trying to figure out everything that happened.

“Knife,” Arylos ordered with his hand outstretched. One of the soldiers obeyed and removed a knife from his belt and handed it to Arylos. Iris watched in confusion and horror as Arylos knelt down next to Reyz and began slicing open the man’s throat, wrists, and chest with cuts so deep they neared bone. Arylos then stomped on Reyz’s chest, pushing out as much blood as possible from his body as the man fell silent, his breathing finally ceasing.

“He’s done, chain him,” Arylos called out, trying to catch his voice as he stepped away from Reyz’s broken body.

“Wait, you mean he’s still alive after all of that?” Sentarus asked, heavy with confusion.

“Sadly, he won’t go down that easily,” Arylos answered as he walked past, leaving Sentarus even deeper in confusion as the king whispered ‘that was easy?’ over and over again.

Arylos came up to Iris and bowed his head. “I’m sorry,” he told her. “I lied to you and betrayed your trust, and because of that, you were in harm’s way again. I lied to you specifically to prevent that.”

Iris leaned against the stone wall and tried to process it all. She had questions, but many of them would have to wait. “Is it beaten?”

“He is, yes,” Arylos said with a nod while taking a glance back towards Reyz who was being chained up by some of the guards.

“‘He’?” Iris asked.

Arylos sighed as he turned back to face Iris. “It’s a long story, but that creature is a man. Well, once a man.”

“Who is he?” Iris asked, starting to come closer to Arylos.

“We will get to those questions momentarily,” Sentarus called out as he turned towards Arylos. “Right now, you will be coming back to the palace with me; we have much to talk about.”

Iris felt her heart sink as she watched Sentarus close silver shackles around Arylos’s wrists.