Inner Corridor- Helen

When everything was over, and those that needed treatment were treated, many broke into tears. Whether it was out of sorrow for their lost companions, or because they were genuinely relief to have survived, I would never know.

In a desperate attempt to vent out their anger, frustration, fear, sorrow, they began stabbing the wind beast, cutting it into pieces, tormenting the body that had lost its soul.

Mikhail, who was inspecting his dismembered limb, nodded with satisfaction and held it against the stump where his arm used to be.

Darkness began to flow from the stump on his shoulder and attached itself to his arm. In mere seconds, his arm was reattached and without a mark to even show that it had been removed before.

One by one, he pulled out the pieces of ice shards and shards of rock that had stabbed into him.

“I am sorry… about what everyone did…” I apologized, remembering that most of his wounds were dealt by us.

“That is alright, I had a good nap,” he said, stretching his arms out happily, “I haven’t slept like this since I was a child.”

Before I could sigh in relief that he had no lingering resentment, he threw his arms up into the air, “do you think I would say that?! I nearly died because of your stupidity! If I wasn’t blown into smithereens, I could have dealt with him myself and there wouldn’t have been this many casualties… I shouldn’t have said that… I am sorry about everything.”

His words were harsh, but they were true. If we did not interrupt, there wouldn’t have been as many casualties. Like a dagger, the cruel truth plunged into my heart and twisted it in pain.

My face must have betrayed me because he had noticed that I was crying before I did.

He moved toward me and, with only inches away from each other, he brought his hand up and wiped away my tears with his index finger.

“It is alright if you want to cry,” Mikhail said calmly, “it just shows how much you care about them.”

I looked up at him, desperately holding back the emotions I felt, “is it really alright…?”

Mikhail silently nodded and opened his arms to me.

Unable to help myself, I took a half step forward, with his arms wrapped around me, I began to cry.

“It hurts,” I muttered, holding my chest with my hand, “it hurts a lot.”

“Do not run away from it,” Mikhail said tenderly, brushing my hair gently with his right hand, “it is a part of life, and one that you must embrace. Their departure is not something you should feel sad about. Just as death is a point of end, it is a point of beginning. Their journey has already started. And wherever they are, I am sure that they would want for nothing more than your happiness. They have left this world, but we must continue what they have left for us and…once we accomplish that, all we can do is remember them, and live life to the fullest for them. Then, when we meet them again, we can tell them about everything.”

Choking up on my emotions, I held his shirt and pressed my head against his chest, muffling out the screams that came out of my mouth- the feeling of despair, the feeling of saying goodbye, the feeling of hating myself for being alive, the feeling of regret, the feeling of frustration from being weak. I felt like my heart was tearing into pieces.

I wanted to escape from the pain so badly, I wanted to die. I wanted to end the pain that clings onto the fiber of my soul.

Yet, I knew that I couldn’t, not only because I had people that would be abandoned if I left, but because I was weak. I was too weak to do anything. I was too weak to save them and too weak to save myself.

I looked up at Mikhail who was looking at me with a trace of remorse in his eyes.

“They… didn’t die in vain… did they?” I asked him, hoping to ease the pain.

“No, they didn’t,” he responded, looking past me, “they fought bravely and saved us all. They sacrificed themselves to protect you, and all those they love, and all the innocent lives that would fall victim them.”

He smiled gently, as if remembering something within himself, “besides, if you continue to remember them, then they will continue to live in your heart. Don’t you think so?”

“…”

Amidst the sorrow, I hated that… I hated that I felt relief that everything is over, that I could find comfort in his arms. With his heat lingering on my body, and soul, I separated from him and tried my best to smile.

“I am sure they would be happy if you sent them off with a smile,” he said comfortingly.

I could not continue this self-loathing. If… If I ever see them again, they would get angry at me if they found out that I was crying on their behalf. I slapped my hands on my face and shook away all of the remaining negative feeling within my heart and smiled brightly.

I have to move on, for their sake and mine.

Once everyone settled their emotions, we began to separate around the room.

Even though Mikhail wanted to say that we should leave as quick as possible in to avoid any guard attracted by the commotion, he silently watched the doors while we gathered the dead to say our final farewells.

It was a selfish thing for us to do since hundreds to thousands of people were dying outside, people who had families like the people who died by our side, but I couldn’t stop myself for being so selfish.

While we gathered the bodies, we tried our hardest to find a few personal keepsakes to return to their respective family. From the bodies, we also took the silver, flower necklaces off the body of those who had died. It was a symbol of our sisterhood that Chloe had suggested when we created our group. It was all that was left of them that we could remember them by, and it has been tradition that we carry them on our neck in hope that they would live on within the roses.

When Chloe woke up, I was the first to hug her, crying like a baby as I held her.

She was confused, but when she realized that she was still alive, there was tranquility within her heart. Hugging me, she allowed me to cry in her chest.

Before I could say anything, Mikhail came over.

He dismissed me with a forceful sort of voice, making me leave to help the others as he inspected her body in order to see if there was any problem.

With much reluctance, I left, glancing over my shoulder of a few occasion.

She stared up at him, then looked down at her clothes.

She reached up to slap him, but he took her hand, “you shouldn’t be moving your body unnecessarily right now.”

“What did you do to me?” She said, glaring up at him.

“I brought you back from death,” he said, lifting her up and carrying her like a princess “and I made you into a demon. I figured now your personality fits your race.”

“You…” her body was trembling in anger, “I should have just…”

“You should have just died?” He responded, “for the price of becoming a demon, you are allowed to be with her again.”

“…”

“You know, she told me that she would gladly take the blame,” he continued, looking over towards where I was, “that she would bear your resentment for being so selfish. But, don’t you think that she’s rather selfless… for your sake, she would bear your hatred, just so you can live again.”

Holding onto her chest with her hands, she muttered softly, “I would never hate her…”

“I knew that as well,” he replied, “it’s a cheap price to pay for a second life, and to be with her for even a minute longer, don’t you think?”

“I won’t thank you,” she responded, looking away.

“I wasn’t expecting you to,” he replied, “I have already seen enough.”

She pinched and stared murderously at him once more.

“We will be moving now, so if you don’t want to fall flat on your face, don’t move around,” he said, carrying her towards the group.

Feeling their eyes on her, she couldn’t help but regret her decision. She wanted to cover her face and dig a hole and jump into it.

She didn’t say a word of gratitude, but it didn’t seem like Mikhail cared one bit about it.

When Mikhail came over with Chloe in his arms, I was quite shocked.

Gathering up the courage, I smiled and welcomed them back.

Thankfully, nothing happened.

Chloe did not have an issue with her body, but since she’s been changed, it would take time for her to recover.

Mikhail had decided to support her until we find a place to hide.

“Thank you, Mikhail,” I said, mustering up the courage to speak to him again after the embarrassing thing we did, “you, you really helped clear my mind.”

I was glad that he was the one I opened up to.

“I’m glad to be of service,” he replied teasingly, “if you need a chest to cry on, I will gladly offer mine again any time.”

Giggling lightly, I drew my sword.

“Alright, that’s my cue to stop,” he said, turning around with Chloe in his arms.

As I watched him head towards the door to watch it, Mikhail stopped, and without turning to look at me, he said, “this world is a cruel and merciless place, do not linger in the past because you will lose the future, and those who care about you will disappear one by one, and before you know it, you will be alone…”

Once we were in a secured room with a single entrance, Mikhail placed Chloe down onto the ground gently and turned to look at us.

There was high tension in the room. From everything we saw, there was no way that Mikhail was anything close to ordinary.

For the sake of their life, everyone knew that they would have to listen to his orders without an exception.

“I am sure that you are all aware of this but, they must have realized by now that the castle has been infiltrated and, rather than coming to stop us, they have most likely to move to their demon lord’s side in order to protect him,” Mikhail said, “the next battle, which will determine it all, may be more difficult than the battle we just experienced.”

When Mikhail said it, everyone turned pale. The thought of having to go through another hell was almost more than what everyone could take.

Some collapsed onto the ground and began crying again.

Even though we have survived, it was torture to have to know that we would have to risk our life again- this time with even fewer numbers.

“That is why, I think it would be best if I go alone,” Mikhail said, noticing how demoralized we have become, “if I travel alone, I may be able to make it to demon lord before they reach him. Our chance of victory would be far higher than if we took our time and marched forward.”

“Wh-what about us?” One of the fallen knights asked, looking up at him in desperation, “what… what will we do?”

“Their main priority right now should be reaching the demon lord so they won’t be checking every room for us. I will go deal with the demon lord and then come back. Everyone else, stay in this room and I will come back for you all once I am finished with everything.”

“Will you be alright? You said that it will be harder…” I asked, frightened by the aspect of him challenging a demon lord and his guards alone.

“I should be able to do something about it,” he replied sheepishly, “you just have to believe in me.”

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Help everyone! As you may see from the title, I have decided to change the title of the story from Fallen Snow to A Tragedy for a Demon Lord as it would be for befitting. I hope you enjoy and, because I am new with writing stories, and this is a very rough draft, if anyone spot any grammatical error, please don't hesitate to point it out or criticize. Thank you, and please enjoy! ^-^