I've been surrounded by death for as long as I can remember.

While people speak a lot about the wild parties, the drugs, the degeneracy, the Mr. Pleasures that took advantage of everyone, people rarely speak about all the death. All the cold, heavy, stinking, rotting death.

But I remember. I remember seeing the other kids my age starving to death or overdosing, wondering if I might be lying next to them one day. I remember seeing adults around me die, fearing that I might not even get to live that long. Everywhere I looked, there was death. So many were dying so meaninglessly. Seeing this, all I could do is wait for the time when the reaper would come and take me from the hellhole I lived in.

“Mother? Father?” I said, to the people who are supposed to be taking care of me. The people who I last saw drowning in wine and burning dreamweed like it was firewood. “Where is our food? Is there any water? My throat is so dry, and I'm so hungry... don't you feel the same? Are you listening?”

No one responded to me. That night, I closed my eyes, and forced myself to ignore the pains of the hunger still eating at me.

My scenes were fading in and out. I could no longer tell how much time was passing. Either way, eventually, I heard voices.

“Aaah, damn, I'm never gonna get used to the smell.”

“We've been doing this for days, now, and you're still complaining?”

Two men. The second one who spoke seemed a bit older. As they walked around the house, I heard the sounds of their boots hitting the floor.

“Still, pickin' up dead bodies... why'd it have to be us?”

“Stop whining. You know every able-bodied man in this area has been doing their part. We probably won't even get to eat if we don't contribute, so shut up and get to it.”

The younger man sighed and continued walking around the house. I heard him dragging something around. Bodies, I had to assume. Probably mother and father, and some of those other random people who were hanging around in the house. Eventually, the sound of the boots was getting louder... coming closer to me. After a moment, the man tried to pick me up from the ground.

“Huh? Wait.”

“What is it, man? Let's hurry it up.”

“I, uh, I can't quite tell if this one is dead. I'm not entirely sure.” The man held me in his arms. I thought to say something, make some kind of movement, give him some kind of sign that I was alive.

However, try as I might, I couldn't get my body to listen.

“Who could possibly be alive in a mess like this? Stop messing around and throw her into the cart.”

The man hesitated a bit, but after some time, he carried me off and lay me with the rest of them. Lay me with the rest of the cold, rotting corpses.

“This is far enough from town, I guess. We'll dump 'em here.”

The rocking of the cart, which I assume was carried by speedscales, came to an end. Not long after the complete stop, I felt the forces of gravity take me. I hit the ground, and rolled about for a moment. Of course, the corpses in the cart with me followed soon after.

“Man, I can't believe you forgot to bring the stuff for the fire with you. I mean, are you just stupid, or what?”

“Shut up. I already told you the speedscales were carrying enough as it was. Quit your complaining, already. We'll come back and burn them tomorrow, most likely.”

After that, I heard the sound of the speedscales running away.

There I was, surrounded by dark silence. Left alone, with the corpses. The cold of death crept its way through my skin. I felt I would nearly gag on the stench of rotting flesh. I couldn't get myself free from under them.

“Someone! Anyone!”

In my desperation, all I could think to do was scream. Were there actually any sounds coming out of my mouth? Was I just imagining it? It didn't matter, to me. The only thing I could do was keep screaming.

“Please, someone help! I'm not dead!”

No one came. I lay there, awake for what felt like an eternity, for fear that the next time I shut my eyes could be the last. However, at some point, my tired mind could take no more. Was it a sleep for the night like always? My eternal rest? I had no way of knowing.

Time passed again, I don't know how much. I woke that day to the sound of shouting.

“I beg of you! Do not burn this pile just yet! There is still life in here!”

“What are you doing, woman!? Stop that! Get away from there!”

Before I could think about what exactly might be happening, I realized that someone was moving the corpses around me. Someone had picked me up and lay me down nearby.

“Come on, child, give me some sort of sign. Show me that you're alive.” I felt something on my chest. Her hands, maybe. Her tears started falling onto my face right after. “You're alive... you're alive!”

“Have you gone crazy!? Even if that kid is alive, she'll never survive for long, no matter what you do! Put her back in the pit with the others!”

“I won't let you kill this girl! I can save her! I can!”

“Who are you, anyway? You're not that witch people have been talking about, are you!?”

“I hope you're ready to make a run for it, child,” she said, holding me again. “Hang in there, just a bit longer.”

Though she said gotten me somewhere safe, I could feel myself fading fast. The world was dark, and even though I knew she was right there next to me, I was having a hard time hearing her voice or feeling her hands.

“I don't have any choice. She will die if I don't act quickly. To think I'd need to resort to that...”

That was all I heard, and even then, just barely. I was too tired to even try to think about what was happening. I was at the end of my rope, and I finally let go...

...or at least, that's what I thought happened.

Instead, consciousness was returned to me. I breathed deeply of the fresh air that was granted to me, for I felt I was starved of it for far too long. I opened my eyes and knew I was seeing the world. It was dark, but I could definitely see. I didn't feel thirsty or hungry, at least not as much as I did before. I tried to move my fingers, and they obeyed my command perfectly. I was starting to feel confident that I was alive. It was a bit hard, but I managed to make myself sit up and try to observe my surroundings. It was at this point that I felt something wet on my chest. I reached and touched it. As dark as it was, I could still see that it was red.

“Blood?” Panicking, I calmed down slightly when I realized it wasn't mine. I couldn't find a wound on me, and I wasn't feeling any serious pain like having been stabbed. I couldn't stop worrying, though. If it wasn't my blood, where did it come from?

I looked to my left. There was a woman sitting there, asleep. Wearing clothing as dark as the night that surrounded us, her skin seemed almost white like the moon. Looking at her face, she seemed to be a young woman. Younger than mother had been, I'm sure. Continuing to observe, I saw...

“What?” I looked at her arms. There were bloody bandages on them. I was very confused, but still, I somehow felt safe, next to her. I knew I wouldn't hear any answers until she woke, so I decided to try and watch her until she did. I was still very tired, myself, though, and I ended up falling asleep before I got to see her awaken.

The light of the morning sun woke me up. When I opened my eyes, the woman wasn't sitting where she was before. I sat up from where I was laying and noticed that the blood splattered over me has been cleaned off. Now that I could see clearly, I noticed Rune Complexes where the blood was before. I had never seen these Rune Complexes before, though.

“Oh, you're finally awake.”

I looked in the direction of that voice. It was the strange woman from before, no doubt.

“It seems to have worked, but I figured you might be hungry for some real food, so I started preparing something. Luckily for you, I've managed to find us a nice big speedscale egg, and I've got no use for a speedscale, so I'm cooking it. I have some water, too, so I'll be sharing that.” She looked at me, a sort of curiosity in her eyes. From what I could tell, 'it' may have been some sort of Runic Art she used to save my life. She didn't look like any healer I had ever seen, however. Still, I felt pretty confident she was someone I could trust.

“Okay.”

“Good,” she said, with a smile. “You're speaking, too. This has gone better than I thought.” With that, she walked away, I assume to continue cooking.

“Is something wrong? You haven't finished your food.” Indeed, my plate still sat there, half-full of food. While I could probably eat more, there was something on my mind that struck me as too important not to talk about.

“It's a miracle that I'm alive, isn't it?”

“I'm sorry, what?” She asked, though I'm sure she heard what I said. Instead of just repeating myself, I decided to elaborate.

“I was very unhealthy, before,” I said, looking at my hands and arms, seeing how full they looked compared to the mere skin and bones they were before. “I wasn't just hungry or thirsty, I was actually fading away. I was dying. I could feel it, as if the reaper was right there, waiting to pick me up.” Then, I looked at her. “But the chill of death is gone. Without a doubt, I'm alive, and I'm going to stay alive. What happened?”

She smiled, but it was somewhat bittersweet. Somehow, I felt I asked something I shouldn't have.

“Uh, never mind. I'm sorry.”

“It's okay,” she said, walking over, “I can tell you.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, and looked up at her face. She was still smiling that same smile.

“I've never really liked having to keep secrets from people, anyway,” She said, with a bit of a chuckle. “Especially not kids.” She reached for my hand, and I gave it to her. When she had my hand, she guided me outside of the small, abandoned house and we sat on the ground.

“It won't be any good for us to keep talking if we don't know each other's names, will it?” She said, looking at me. “Your parents at least gave you a name, didn't they? Please tell me they did that much.”

“Fal... I think.”

“You aren't sure?”

“That was a word they would say to me a lot. I think that's my name.”

She made a sour face, then. It seemed that it was just setting in, what kind of life I had before meeting her. “Alright, then, for now, I guess you can go on being Fal.”

“Okay.”

“Since you've been so honest with me so far, and since you seem like a kid who won't mind, I can tell you my name, as well.” Though she said it like that, I had the feeling that she wanted someone she could talk to like this for a long time, regardless. “I am Lady Eiha, the former Dark Witch of the Imperial Four.” She looked at me after saying that, perhaps checking for a specific reaction. When all I did was look at her, my expression unchanged, that seemed to tell her all she needed to know. “I see, so you don't know.”

“The name and title sound a little familiar, but I don't know anything else.”

She sighed, her expression souring again. “This is normal, isn't it?” She clicked her tongue, irritated. “Goddammit. Are you happy, now, Raul?”

“I'm sorry, what?” It's clear to me, now, what she was talking about. Thinking back, I can tell she was talking about how Raul's Law lead directly into The Last Days and more or less created the uneducated girl sitting next to her, but as a child, all of it flew over my head.

“Don't worry, it's not important, right now,” Eiha said, trying to smile. “Maybe I'll explain it more when you get older.”

“O... okay.”

“Well, I guess I should get to the important part, huh?” She looked at me again. “The part where I explain how I saved you.”

“Yes, please.”

“Fal, look at your chest.” I did as I wad told, and see that strange Rune Complex again. “That's a Dark Rune Complex. It serves two functions: The first “serpent” kept you bound to your body for a few extra moments while I worked to save your life. It should disappear on its own eventually. The second one is kind of like a healing Rune Complex that you would see from the Light Runes, but in a way, it's far more powerful. I was able to use it to restore life to your dying body.”

“More powerful than healing from Light Runes? I can't believe it.”

“Understanding of the Dark Runes can grant a person such an unbelievable power,” she said, a somewhat sinister smirk on her lips. Eiha certainly had a lot of pride in what she could do with her power. She still does. “Although, that's not to say that power doesn't some without a greater price.”

“What do you mean?” I felt that I immediately understood. I reached for her hands and saw that she still had the bandages on her hands, arms, and wrists. “You used blood?”

“Yes. Don't worry about it, it's not enough to kill me. My body will make more blood in time. I might be a bit weak for a few days, though.”

“Oh.”

An uncomfortable silence. She seemed to be done talking, and I couldn't think of anything to say. For what had to be at least a minute, it was just us and the wind.

“I'm glad you'll live.”

“Me, too.”

...and just like that, the silence continued...

“...what do I do now?”

“I sure hope you're not expecting me to have the answer.”

“I don't have anywhere else to go.” I looked to my left. To my right. “Even if I knew how to go back to the capital city, I don't want to. I hate it, there. I don't know where else I can go to. I don't know anything about the world outside.”

“Sad...”

“Lady Eiha, please, can I stay here?” I was almost afraid to ask. Did I have any right? I was going to be a corpse, and she had already put so much into saving me. She even cooked for me, and explained to me what happened. Who was I to ask for more?

“Well, if you're looking for new parents, that's something I can't do.” There was a look in her eyes like she was staring at something far off. “They always told me I would make a horrible mother.” I both agree and disagree on that. Anyway. “However...”

“Huh?”

“It would be just cruel to leave you alone as you are. People are going to give you a lot of trouble if you've got that thing on your body.” Eiha pointed to the Dark Rune Complex again. “As far as the rest of the world is concerned, you use the dark arts, like I do.”

“But I didn't make this!”

“Doesn't matter. People will see it and hate you, shun you, try to burn you alive, or maybe even worse.” Again, she was looking somewhere far away, this time, with more anger in her eyes.

“Did you save me with this art, knowing this would happen?” I felt worried. Didn't quite know what was going on, anymore.

“I wasn't planning on this. Didn't think about it until after the fact. My body, cliché as it sounds, just moved on its own.” It's clear to me, now, that Eiha was tired of being an “evil witch” by then. Deep down, for all those years, she still wanted a chance to save someone. I guess that's something you don't grow out of, even when the time of the Imperial Four is over.

“S... so, now what?”

“Alright, here's the good news. Sort of.” She extended her index finger upward. “I won't abandon you, Fal, but it's not so simple. I noticed that the dark energies seem to like you quite a bit. That's probably why my arts worked so well.”

“The dark likes me? I don't understand.”

“Exactly what I mean. Maybe it's all the death you've been exposed to in such a short life. I can't quite explain why.” She smiled at me again, but this time I couldn't help but see something in it that made me feel fear. “Either way, this is what will happen. Fal, you can leave, take your chances with whatever could be out there, and I'm sure you can guess how that will go. If you stay with me, though, I want something in return.”

“What's your price?”

“Stay by my side and learn to control the darkness. After what you've been through, I can see it. The Dark Runes are the only ones that will accept you. The paths of Anima and Light are cut off. Did you have anything else to devote your life to?”

Unable to think of a single thing, I shook my head. “There's nothing. Mother and father are dead. I didn't like them, anyway. Everyone else is dead, too. I don't have anything else. No goal, or purpose or anything.” I tried to summon some determination to me. This was my only path forward. “All I can do is go with you, I guess.”

“It's no easy thing you're agreeing to,” she warned, still smiling that devilish smile. “I can't guarantee you won't come out of this undamaged. If you survive the dark, you can make it your ally. You can take fear and make it into your strength. You can become that unknown nightmare, lurking in the shadows where others dread to even look. You...” she came closer and closer, until her face was right in front of mine... “...can become a freak, like me.”

“Like you...” that was the part that stood out to me. That was what I focused on. “I want that.”

“Hm. Really?” She raised an eyebrow. Seemed completely caught off guard.

“Even though I can only be in the dark, I want to use its power to help people, like you've done for me. Lady Eiha, you've been hated and shunned, right? That's why you could tell me about it. I... I don't like that. If I help someone with the Dark Runic Arts, maybe someday, people won't hate us anymore.”

“You can still be optimistic. I like that.” Eiha smiled, but instead of the bitter smirks and impish grins I saw before, this was a warm, genuine smile. “Alright, then. From now on, we'll be student and master. I hope you can keep up, Fal.”

I nodded. “Definitely!”

“This is great, really. Once you get far enough, I can show you to Grandall, and...”

“Hm?”

“...ah, don't worry about that. I haven't really planned it all out. Come on.” Eiha reached out with her hand, and I took it. “We won't be able to stay in one place for too long, I don't think. We should get going. Fal, are you ready?”

I looked down. I could tell that my feet and my legs wouldn't give up on me any time soon.

“I am.”

“Alright, let's go.”

So, with her holding my hand, I walked forward.