Too be honest, horror movies and shows were a part of my life since I could remember. Ranging from the classic old zombies and ghosts, to the more modern ones with over saturated computer-generated imagery effects.

And now that I think about it, I kind of liked those things that my dad made me watch. Not so much from ghosts, though. I don’t know why I didn’t like them, but I think it had something to do with the whole intangibility thing that they had. But overall, I like the feeling of suspense that it gave me each time something happened in those movies and shows.

While on that topic, I may have described things to be horrific and the like for quite a lot of times this past couple of days, but those things didn’t quite scare me to the core. It was more of a momentary shock, rather than heart stopping scary. Sure, I may have found things to be so disturbing that I just had to close my eyes and ears, and maybe some stuff were also too disgusting that it made me vomit, but that’s mostly because of the smell that it had. Not so much from what I had seen. But I was completely fine after all those events, and is that… weird? For a normal person, that is.

“I think this is far enough” Al said.

I was currently back at the entrance of the lake with no one else here, but me.

“…” Was it a bad decision that I bailed out of that place? Who knows, but the only thing that was on my mind at that time, was that I needed to get away from that boy.

…

Maybe I shouldn’t have.

I don’t know anymore. This is the first time that this has happened. Well… not exactly the first time that I ran away from something that I labeled as ‘too dangerous’. And all I had on me for surviving those things were common sense and some knowledge that I gained from books and the things that I watched from the TV, like most normal people out there would.

“Ah!” I tripped on something while my mind was preoccupied, making me fall face forward.

My face hits the ground, hard enough for me to tear up a little. It hurts very much, but I got back up and rubbed my nose. It did do something, though. The pain snapped me out from my train of thought a few seconds ago.

I then rummaged through my pockets for the small black knife that Mr. Cobalt gave me and stared at it for quite some time. I also held the rings that he gave me, too. Remembering the debt that I owed him.

“Hah…” I sighed. Mostly because I was feeling pathetic.

There were people that were risking their lives back there, while I was out here running away just to save myself. And you know what? It feels bad. Nauseatingly bad. But what can I do against a monster like that? He's insanely strong, super fast, from what I saw, he was also almost unkillable. Also, he had no remorse for killing other people. He’s basically a robot meant to kill. But…

“Hey hey hey, wrong direction. The exit is a few hours that way” Al said. I know, but that wasn’t the place I was planning to go to, since I had a different plan in mind. I think what I’m about to do is what most people would call heroic, but to the others, the more realistic one’s out there, they’d call this outright stupid. I’d even describe this as plain suicide.

But Heroes are like that, right? Stupid people who don’t have a shred of care for their own well-being just to save someone else. I’m not looking down at them at all, though, but I kind of understand how those people think. That not every action needs to have a reason in doing it, so why shouldn’t I do it, then? It’s for the good of others, right?

“Hello? Hello? Anybody there? Reiiiiii?”

People also said that a hero isn’t born as one, but a hero is molded into one through the trials that he or she experienced throughout their lifetime. But, in reality, the people who said those things are the very one’s to judge whether you are one or not. So, what’s the point? Courage? Bravery? Justice? Patriotism? No. It’s just their own selfishness at work. The same principle also applies to criminals, so I guess there’s just a thin line that separates the two. You might be doing something that you think is for the good of others, but there are times when what you’re doing as an act that would hurt those people instead without even knowing.

I clearly remember what Mr. Cobalt explained to me a few hours ago. And surely, there is something that I can do. But I don't know if what I’m about to do is enough, and I might just get torn to bits while doing so. But still, I’ll stand by what my dad always told me.

Remember, we won't abandon anyone until they have no options left. But… well, you know, you need to consider the circumstances and stuff, too, and also… oh, never mind. The last part doesn’t matter, anyway. Hahaha!

And surprise-surprise, I still had one.

“Ah, well. This is also fine. Huh…”

I gave it my all to run back into the fight, and saw that there was still a few people left that were fighting him. Mr. Cobalt, Zyx, and Don. Worth wasn’t in sight, or any of the others anymore. Maybe they got thrown into the lake, too, but that was just wishful thinking.

The boy had a blank look, as he stares at me, the new contender in this fight, but he just looks away a second later, as if I wasn’t a threat to him at all. It was fine, because he’ll soon find out that I am one… or not. It could go both ways, but I hope it would go my way for once.

“What are you still doing here, kid!?” Mr. Cobalt yelled, as he dodges an oncoming wave of hands from the boy that was trying to grab hold of him.

Maybe he saw that this fight was one that we weren’t going to win, or maybe because he just doesn’t want me to be another thing that distracts him while he fights, but I definitely needed to be here.

“Uhmm…” I may be shaking because of how nervous I am, and the adrenaline's effect from when I tried to escape a while ago was already fading away, but I definitely had a plan. It may not be the most reliable plan out there, and it definitely was just based on my assumptions, but it has a chance to work. I just need a small gap in that exchange that I could fit myself into.

Zyx goes in on their one-on-one fight and appears in between the two. He goes right in front of the hulking man’s face, and looks at him straight in the eyes.

“…” The cloak that he was wearing flaps open, and a hundred or more inky black hands comes out of it. All of them latches on to Mr. Cobalt's huge body and drags him inside of the cloak, swallowing him whole. There wasn’t even a human body that was being covered by it. There was nothing else inside of that gray cloak of his besides darkness. Pure, black, suffocating darkness.

From joining in the fray, to swallowing him whole, that whole thing happened so fast that only a second was all it took to execute it all. The one they were facing against didn’t do anything while that happened, though. He just stopped and looked at what had transpired in front of him.

“HAH!” Mr. Cobalt reappears behind the boy, coming out of thin air. He grabs him by the back of his neck and slams him into the ground, igniting his body ones again in blue fire.

Don came running in and threw his knife at the boy’s body. Once it was impaled into him, it started to vibrate and tear large chunks of flesh. But his regeneration was so fast that the torn flesh quickly healed itself back.

The boy then grabs the knife and pulls it out, not even minding that he was still burning. He uses it to stab Mr. Cobalt’s hand, but it didn’t even penetrate his skin, as it slides to the side, as if it made contact with a slippery surface.

“Hold him tight!” He yelled, and then black inky hands suddenly appear out of the ground and held the boy down, while Mr. Cobalt released his grip on him and rained an onslaught of punches on his body and head.

Each hit sent rocks to fly in every direction, as the power of each punch that he threw was too strong for the ground to handle. This would’ve been the best chance to get close, but there’s still the whole being ignited in fire thing. Maybe… no, I’d get burned to a crisp first before I even get close enough to touch him.

It took a whole minute of clobbering until Mr. Cobalt jumped away and took deep breaths. He was sweating from head to toe, maybe because of the fire, but I doubt it. The reason was more likely to be because of the exertion of power that he put in each punch.

“Goddammit! Sit your ass down and just die already!” He shouted in frustration, as he saw the boy slowly get up from the hole in the ground that he created from his punches.

I then quickly ran next to him, before he could even recover. If this plan is going to succeed, then we need someone that could get near him and stab the dagger into his body.

“Ah! Uhmm! I got a plan!” I said. My normal way of speaking turned into a shout, because of how tense I was.

“Not now, kid. Can’t you see I’m busy here?” He said in dismissal.

“But, uhmm, I really do have a plan!” I take out the small black dagger from my pocket and showed it to him.

“Tch, that’s the only Corrupted Obsidian Dagger that we have. It’s a one time use, kid. We need that if you want to get your heart back”

“But… what use is it if we’re all dead?” That may have sounded kind of grim, but that’s the truth. What use is your fortune and properties when you’re already dead… donate them to charity, I guess?

“Uhmm, just to make sure… he’s one of those dolls, right?”

“First time I saw something like it, but there’s no doubt, that’s not a human being” He said, as a fact. “That’s something that needs to be buried underneath a mountain before the world takes interest in it… again”

We turn our heads back to wear the boy was, but immediately got surprised when we saw that he was now standing right beside us, as in, a few inches away from us. He just appeared there, and we didn’t even notice him.

Mr. Cobalt grabs me by the waist, and we leapt backwards by a few meters. Strange how he didn’t attack us while we were distracted, but he must have been observing again.

“!” A lightning bolt then struck where we were just a second ago, electrocuting the boy while his body spasms on the ground. It came from where the lake was. Meaning, Worth was nearby.

“You shit! I’m going to fucking tear you open a new whole, just you wait!” He said in disdain from far away, as he swims near the shore. The man had volume, I’ll give him that.

I saw my chance to stick the dagger into him and rush forward.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Mr. Cobalt said, as he grabbed my collar and pulled me up.

What the!? Why does he even try to stop me!? This is for our survival! Sur-viv-al!

“Uhmm… put me down… please?”

“Ay, sure, but I’ll be keeping this in the meantime” He said, as he yanks the small black dagger from my hand. He then let’s me go, and I flop down on the floor.

“Ah…” There goes the plan. But! There’s still another one, and this one involves getting close. I’d say, going too close for comfort for both of us.

“Then, uhmm, please hold him down for me” I said, as I got up from the ground and started to run towards the boy that was still writhing on the ground.

“Goddammit, kid! What are you even planning to do against that thing!?”

Planning? I’m going to hug him tight. That came out wrong, but yes, although, not in a sexual harassment way. It’s more of a ‘hold him tightly, or else you’re going to die' way.

From what I understood of my body's constitution, I absorb the fuel that powers those things. But I’m not too sure how that ‘sucking' works. It could only just be from the surroundings, or I might be able to suck those Souls directly from someone. And if that isn’t enough, these rings would also help in assisting me.

“Please! Just hold him down!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

“Gah, fine!” He said, as he runs to where the boy was. Great, now all I need to do is fit those rings on his fingers and…

“Huh?” He disappeared once again. I look at Mr. Cobalt to ask him where he went, but he had a grim look on his face.

“Hey, uhmm… are you okay?” Al said.

What?

“Kid, don’t panic and just stay calm!” He said. “We’ll find the medic, okay!?”

What are they talking about? I’m completely fine, see?

…

Huh… there’s dark spots on my shirt that looked like stains. Weird, I thought I was wearing a plain dark-blue T-shirt this whole time. Oh… that’s blood.

“Ah, well… just walk it off. You’ll be fine”

I suddenly sat down from where I was and touched the spots that were on my shirt. I then looked at my hands that turned red from it.

“The two of you, go and find Sun! Quick!” Mr. Cobalt shouted.

It didn’t hurt, or maybe I was just numb, but I think I was still perfectly fine. I was getting drowsy, though.

“Ah, shit. What happened to him?” Worth asked when he finally made it to where we were.

“I don’t know, it just happened so suddenly that I didn’t even notice anything happening at all”

“Where’s the medic? He’ll die of blood loss if she can’t close his wounds”

“Go help the others in searching for her, then. Give me a signal if you do, and I’ll carry him to where she is. Now, Worth! Hurry!”

“Ack! Fine-fine, I get it” He said while he ran back to the lake.

“Your fine, just relax and let them take care of the rest… heh. Being taken care of by other’s doesn’t feel so bad, right?”

I don’t know, I always did things by myself. The one’s that I can do, that is. If there’s something that I can’t, then I’d ask my dad about it and he’ll take care of the rest.

He’ll take care of the… huh.

“Hey hey hey! Don’t go to sleep now!” He slaps me awake. “Come on, kid. Just wait out a little more”

I feel like there was something important that I was remembering before he slapped me. I wonder… nah, I’ll remember it again if it’s important. If not, well, that’s life. You live and you forget.

“Hey, listen and stay awake!”

I am, though. I’m just not looking at him. The ground is ju- ow!

I look to the side and saw that he was burning my arm with his blue fire. Not wholly burning it from the shoulder to the hand, though. Just a small scorch mark with his lighted index finger.

“Good, now just focus on the pain and stay awake”

Ah, that reminds me. Where did the boy that we were fighting go to? And where was that man named Kai? He should also be around here, but I didn’t see him even once since we arrived. That person named Lanelle or something, said that he was supposed to be under the lake, but no one could breathe underneath the water for that long, and I didn’t see him leave, too. It fe-… ow!

“Please… your about to burn my whole arm off” I said to him.

“Oh, you weren’t answering me, so I thought I’d lost you for good that time”

I don’t think I’m even dying right now, since there wasn’t even a single shred of panic or dread that I was feeling. Or, maybe whatever it is that did this to me, might have made me to become numb. It’s just… I’m sleepy.

“Ah… I’m getting tired, too. Goodnight, Rei. I’ll see you tomorrow” Al said.

…

Al get’s tired? I didn’t even know that he can go to sleep. From what I noticed this past couple of days, he just stayed up and continued to talk, or observe things while keeping quiet. Whatever it is that happened to him down here, it must have done something that made him… normal?

I kind of liked the old Al… we haven’t been together for that long to know much about him, but the one from before we went inside here was better, if you ask me. He’s still doing the thing that he came here to do, though, which was to help me out, even if he is kind of out of it right now, so there’s that.

But also,.. I think I can’t keep my eyelids open anymore. I really want to sleep so badly.

“Hah…” I yawned once, after I sighed.

Everything started from my own selfishness of trying to help someone, and look how far that’s gotten me. I’m in some deep dark cave where people fought and died. I’m not trying to be a Hero, I’m just…

“Hey!...” I didn’t hear the rest of it, since I closed my eyes and started to doze off. Everything was tranquil, and the feeling of warmth eased me into a state of nothingness.

“Goodnight…”

Yeah, I’m just a kid trying to put what he can’t say out loud into action for once.