Remnya

The crimson ghost loomed over the forest, devouring everything in its path with vicious bites, turning beauty into ashes and darkness into light. Remnya felt her body vanishing into the blaze; it wasn't part of her anymore; she had become fire itself, burning with immense fury.

Yet, she could still feel Zeo's heart beating next to her, fueling her unbreakable will.

If Zeo lived, she would depart with a smile.

Edo's silhouette faded before her eyes, but his grim aura lingered in her consciousness. Remnya had to destroy it, even if it meant her own demise.

Unable to restrain that monster in her weakened body any longer, Remnya allowed all her nightmares and dreams to clash into oblivion, the birth of a demonic entity, wailing with the sorrow of thousands of banshees.

Her crimson fire would decide her fate, and she was at peace with it. Deaf and blind, her body faded into the flames.

"I'm sorry, Zeo," she whispered, her words vanishing into the unknown.

As the blast reached its target, the earth shattered beneath her feet, and the lament of all her demons finally fell still.

A tempest silenced her nightmares.

Remnya closed her eyes and felt how a river of magma carried her away toward her last destiny. If that were her fate, she would happily accept it. No more darkness. Only an intense light awaiting her arrival.

Peace at last.

A beautiful maiden sauntered among the flames. Her eyes were as crimson as her own, and her hair as dark as the night of her mind.

So warm, yet so distant. So familiar, yet so unknown.

The maiden spoke, her pale lips hiding a bittersweet smile.

"It's not your time yet, my little girl."

Her voice reached deep into her soul, and tears flowed mercilessly from her blind eyes. Remnya knew that voice very well. She had heard it too many times in her dreams.

The beautiful woman from her dreams. The one who had loved her with all her soul until the end.

"Is this you . . . Mom?"

. . .

"It's not your time yet, my dear baby."

. . .

Between sobs, Remnya gathered the strength to ask the only thing she had always wanted to know.

Why had she abandoned her in that world?

But those words never left her mouth.

Deep within, Remnya knew the answer.

. . .

The maiden looked at her and gifted her a last smile, reassuring her heart with a beam of hope before fading among the crimson flames of her soul.

An everlasting memory that would accompany her until the end.

Her words echoed in her mind.

It's not your time yet, my dear baby.

. . .

Silence.

. . .

"REM!"

Remnya recognized Zeo's voice among the cries of her soul, and the overwhelming heat engulfed her body again, triggering all her senses with the euphoria of life.

Remnya shrieked as she fought the dreadful reaper, inviting her with its gelid hands into the cold nothingness. But it wasn't her time yet.

Mom had said so.

"REM!"

"ZEO?" Remnya screamed desperately, fearing her words would fade into the darkness.

"Do you remember the last time you protected me?"

Silence.

"Why are you asking me that now, of all times?"

"When you found me in the backyard and fought Liam and his friends alone for me."

"What about that?"

He chuckled. "I never got the chance to thank you properly for it."

. . .

When Remnya opened her eyes, she witnessed how beauty had turned into embers and fires spread across what once was a forest full of life. The earth glowed orange like the crater of a volcano, and the hot air waved on the horizon, distorting reality.

In front of her stood Zeo, like an imposing knight.

Beyond them, Edo's body was engulfed in blue flames, shielding himself from her crimson ghost, slowly fading away along with all her energy.

"That was quite impressive, Remnya Scheduna," Edo said, his voice sending chills down her spine. He was unharmed, holding back her crimson blaze with the sole strength of his left arm while blue flames covered his right arm.

"When they told us our target was a fire manipulator, I volunteered myself for the task." Edo swung his arm against Remnya's fire, causing a massive explosion that shattered the ground around them and tore apart the crimson ghost looming over him.

A short wail and her ultimate attack burst into millions of sparks, embers, and smoke, falling over them like a crimson rain, turning everything into hell.

No, no, no, NO, NO, NO.

Her heart screamed in her chest, refusing to accept what she saw. Remnya had already given her all, and it hadn't been enough.

Drained of energy, Remnya dropped to the ground, tears stinging her eyes. She punched the soil with a weakened, bruised fist while fury burned and mangled her insides.

I failed.

Remnya lifted her face to stare at Zeo and ask for forgiveness, but she noticed her friend using his vectors to hold back Edo's blue fire as it tried to break through the green shield protecting them.

"Your friend isn't any less impressive, I've got to admit." Edo snickered and turned his fist into a ball of fire and then charged at Zeo at the speed of sound, leaving a trail of blue hell behind.

Before Remnya could process the events unfolding around her, Edo punched through Zeo's shield and crushed his jaw, sending him flying like a doll against the burning ground.

The shield shattered like a crystal dome, emerald droplets evaporating into the hot air.

"Zeo!" Remnya tried to run to him, but Edo was already over her and caught her arm.

"Although impressive, your crimson fire is still at an immature stage. A child's play." Edo stared down his nose at her, almost disappointed. "However, with proper training, you'll reach levels beyond your imagination. Come with me, little sister, join us. We Nephilims are your only family in this world, not those pathetic humans or that crossbreed." He glanced at Zeo, who struggled to sit up, his jaw completely broken.

Remnya snatched her arm free from his grasp and glared at him. "Screw you! You're nothing to me but a disgusting monster!" She clenched her fist and tried to punch him, but Edo blocked it, grabbing her wrist with brutal force.

He yanked her against him and shoved his face into hers. "It'll take time, but sooner or later, you'll understand you belong with us, the true rulers of this planet." He twisted her arm behind her back, almost breaking her elbow. Remnya clenched her teeth, holding back a groan of pain, and shook his body with all her remaining strength. Edo lifted his eyebrows and nodded in approval. "I see you still have some energy. I'm glad I broke through your attack. Otherwise, the amount of energy you used would have killed you."

"I don't care about what you say!" Remnya roared through clenched teeth. "I'll never join a disgusting bunch of monsters who prey on the innocent!" Remnya whirled, kicking Edo on his knees twice. "NEVER!" She elbowed him with his free arm and tried to headbutt him.

Edo twisted his lips into a gloomy scowl and jerked her arm sideways until her bones cracked.

An electric pain filled her right arm, paralyzing all her senses. He released her, and Remnya fell to the ground, burying her teeth into her lips to hold back a scream filled with pain and hatred.

"I apologize, but being a Nephilim, your bones will heal quickly." Edo sighed. "I didn't want to do this, but you left me no choice—"

A fiery explosion detonated over Remnya, shaking the land beneath her knees, and emerald lightning flashed before her eyes, engulfing Edo's face and forcing him to stagger away from her.

Before Edo could react, one of Zeo's vectors grabbed him by the neck while the other snatched his face, trying to break through his eyeballs.

Groaning like an enraged beast, Zeo charged at Edo and pushed him away from Remnya with the brute force of his vectors, burying his enemy against the incandescent earth.

Zeo dashed toward Remnya and stood between her and the monster. He roared with the fury of a lion, "DON'T EVER TOUCH HER AGAIN!"

The veins on his forehead bulged, and blood rolled down his face and arms in streams of crimson, dripping onto the soil.

Remnya tried to stand and join her friend, but her legs could barely hold her body. She stumbled twice before being able to limp to his side.

"Rem, this is our last chance. GO AWAY NOW!" Zeo bellowed, despair clouding the anger in his voice.

"Zeo—"

"If you don't leave now, he'll catch us both, and a new hell will begin for you and me!" His words cut Remnya's flesh like a sharp razor, burying deep into her soul. "You're the only one who can change our fate, and that's it, abandoning this place and hiding from them." Zeo's voice trembled as he fought the pain filling his body, destroying his veins with the immense force of his vectors. His veins began popping, bursting blood over his face. "Go away, Rem . . . It's now or never!"

Edo roared and cursed, fighting Zeo's vectors. Those ghastly arms buzzed like millions of furious hornets as they pushed Edo's head against the earth, trying to destroy it.

How long could Zeo resist?

Remnya clenched her teeth and battled the tears burning her eyes, falling incessantly on the burnt soil. "Don't tell me that, dumbass . . . We need to stay together." She tried to walk closer, but Zeo's emerald aura pushed her away like a punch to the face. She stumbled and fell heavily over a mountain of ashes.

With her eyes locked on Zeo and shaking, Remnya released a painful, desperate scream, "WE NEED TO STAY TOGETHER!"

Zeo turned to look at her, his pupils glistening and flickering with sparks and tears. "We will, Rem," he murmured, "that's why I'm doing this. It's the only way for us to escape this hell." The glow in his eyes made her shiver; they connected with her very soul, assuring her he meant every one of his words. "You know what you have to do now."

Remnya understood.

She finally understood.

All her dreams with Zeo shattered.

In the end, it wasn't meant to be. They couldn't be happy together; she had always known it, yet refused to accept it, hoping fate would smile upon them one day.

No.

Remnya would have given her life for him, and Zeo knew it.

Her legs trembled as she stood up, tears rolling down her cheeks and his broken arm sending excruciating pain throughout her body.

"I won't die, Rem. They need me." Zeo smiled at her for the last time. "We will meet again, I promise."

"You never broke a promise . . . " Remnya murmured through a closed throat, "you never did . . . " Her heart cried in her chest, and the world slowly fell apart before her crimson eyes.

"It's a promise," Zeo's voice began to fade away as the glow of his vectors and eyes strengthened. The earth beneath Edo cracked with the immense power Zeo was using.

"It's a promise."

Remnya swallowed and stood still, her heart kicking viciously in her chest, trying to break through her ribs, and a new resolution burning in her soul. Tears blurred her vision as she contemplated her friend for the last time.

The boy who had turned into a warrior, the boy who had given her a reason to believe in dreams and fight for them, the boy who had taught her how to be a human.

The boy she had always loved.

Remnya could not fail him. They had fought so much together to be happy; it couldn't be the end.

It wouldn't be the end.

He was her reason to live and fight. They both would survive.

"I'll see you soon, Rem," Zeo told her and beamed at her for the last time, his face as beautiful as the aura surrounding his imposing figure.

"I'll see you soon, Zeo," Remnya whispered between sobs, clenched her teeth, and forced herself to look away.

Finally, she left his side.

A powerful shockwave pushed her away as Zeo released all his hidden powers against Edo, covering the sky with an emerald blaze. Lightning spread across the burnt forest, destroying everything in its path, yet ignoring Remnya as she ran toward her fate, far from him.

Refusing to fall, Remnya ran away. She ran as she had never done it before. Remnya ran for him and his dreams.

Remnya never looked behind. All her remaining energy filled her chest and weak legs, giving her the power and will to escape hell once and for all.

Zeo's sacrifice wouldn't be in vain; she deemed that her mission. Remnya would change the fate of many, and they would meet again.

Once and for all, the girl with the crimson eyes would fulfill her fate.

*°*°*