Surprising death is a feat that feels incredibly satisfying. Trust me, I can confirm that from personal experience.

Anci was staring at me. If the skull he had for his head allowed him to show expressions, he'd be blank as an empty piece of paper.

"But... how did you...?" a few words eventually escaped his mouth.

"Oh, the pommel? That's simple. I remembered how in some comics and tv shows, they had magical swords with crystals in the pommels. So I wanted to create something similar," I replied and gave Anci a big satisfied grin.

"But... You literally just jammed it in there. That... how did you know it wouldn't break? If it did, the wave of cold would freeze us to death!"

"Oh? Really? I just kinda... I knew it would work. I can't explain it." The whole situation suddenly felt strange. Back when I got the gem from White, I didn't even think. I just had this primitive instinct inside me that was telling me what to do.

"It's the Divine Creativity talking," Soul inserted himself into the conversation." A part of you is finally starting to embrace it. You're feeling confident, so your powers are telling you what you can achieve."

"You think so?" I asked, just to be sure.

"I do. You've grown quite a lot since we first met you. As a person, I mean. I believe that you are starting to overcome your inner demons. And once that happens, there will be no stopping you. Ifrit doesn't stand a chance!"

As much as Soul's words gave me some reassurance, they also frightened me a little. What if the Divine Creativity would take over? It would mean that there would be one primitive urge guiding me, completely pushing away my free will. That didn't seem like a good outcome to me. Before I could think more about it, the entire building shook. A few of us lost our balance and fell to the ground. Confused looks suddenly filled all the few faces that could show emotions.

"What was that?" White asked. Soon after, another tremor followed.

"Earthquake?" Foof threw his idea out there.

"No, it's coming in specific intervals," Soul denied the theory.

"The fire waves then?" said Chester.

"No, those wouldn't come this often after one another. We need to take a look outside!" the cloud-shaped death ordered us.

Without a single word, Chester summoned a bunch of his black tendrils and forced them to smash one of the walls. The gap was pretty big, offering us a nice view if we were courageous enough to peek over the edge. Another bunch of tendrils wrapped around the plant mage's body, working as a safety rope while he leaned through the hole.

"Holy shit!" Those were the first words that left his mouth, right before another tremor followed.

"Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like the building is tilting?" Anci was right. We didn't notice it before, but the structural integrity must've been damaged. We were slowly falling.

"Chester, status! What is going on?!" Soul shouted at him, hoping to get some useful information.

"There's some big, and I mean, HUUUUGE monsters fighting down there, they are tearing through the ground floors!"

"The Colossi!" Foof called out. "They are these really big Burned who often fight each other for territory. Super hostile to everything, even one another."

"Fine, but I don't care what exactly it is. We need to get out, now!" Soul's commanding attitude always appeared in tough situations. We all disliked it, but truth be told if it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have made it out.

"Any ideas? We need to get onto another building. But such a distance is something we cannot jump." Beast pointed to the building right across the street, which we could see through the hole made by Chester.

"Can you throw us?" Foof asked the mage.

"I can, but at this distance, I can't guarantee that I will throw you right into the window. You might as well hit the wall and... well, you know what that would mean."

"jump..." a voice whispered in my head. This wasn't the same as before. It was an actual sound. I could hear it, but at the same time, I knew that it was only in my mind. "Jump, you wuss!" it spoke again, but this time, much louder.

I took a deep breath. There was a chance this would be the end of me. If that were the case, I was ready for anything that would follow. But unlike in the past, I had something new. Something that I've obtained on this crazy adventure. I started running towards the hole in the wall, pushing aside everyone who stood in the way. "Air. Think about air," I said to myself. I let the idea fill my entire mind, blocking out everything else, including the voices of my comrades. Now, they were nothing but muffled mumbling somewhere in the distance. Air. I imagined its sound. How it would swish and whistle. I imagined how it would feel. The gentle stroke of summer, or the sharp cold sting of winter. I imagined how I would draw it. A few grey lines, swirling around, letting the readers of my comics know what the weather was like. I imagined how the direction in which hair would flow changes with the wind. Clothes would do the same thing. Those thoughts filled my mind. As I jumped over the edge, I saw the street below me. I looked just like back when I fell off the roof of my office. But this time, I had something I lacked back then. This time, my desire was different. I let the hot air fill my lungs, and shouted with all my might, hoping that even the scariest demon in my head would hear it: "I WANT TO LIVE!!!"

Suddenly the wind picked up. A powerful force hit me in the stomach, nearly making me throw up. This strong burst carried me back up and forward, towards the other building.

"I'll make it! I'll land safely!" My body spun as I commanded, flying through the window and down onto the ground. This time, I didn't stumble and fall. I landed perfectly on my own two feet. Meanwhile, the deaths were staring at me from the other building, completely paralyzed by what they saw.

"Don't worry! Just jump across! Trust me, I will make sure you're safe!" Something washed over me. All my muscles were tense as if I was about to face incredible danger, and yet there was no sign of fear. I was standing there, about to hold the lives of my friends in my very own hands, and I felt no doubts. The only image in my mind was that of the wind.

To my surprise, Chester was the first one to trust me. While the deaths were exchanging concerned expressions, he pushed to the front. "Okay, you ready, Edward?" I replied to his question with a resolute nod. He didn't hesitate for one second, got a running start, and leapt right towards me.

"I want him to live! I want him to make it over to me!" I ordered my mind and waved my hands as if I was instructing the wind to hurry up and start blowing again. Now that I think about it, I must've looked pretty silly. It didn't take long and another powerful gust appeared, throwing Chester over onto my side.

"Haha, you did it! You used your power!" He called out as soon as he landed, looking at me with a proud smile.

White was next. She jumped while holding little Foof in her arms. This time, it felt even easier to summon the wind than before. It seemed I was getting better and better at this. However, my true test of strength came only a few moments later. The two Burned, who were fighting each other down on the street have finally wrecked the building enough. It was leaning to the side, about to fall any second.

"Eddie! You can do this!" Soul shouted at me and forcibly threw the remaining two deaths out of the hole in the wall, along with himself. At first, I wasn't sure if I could carry three people at once, but then that strange feeling overcame me once again. That determination to do my best. A certain knowledge that the power needed is somewhere in me. My imagination turned towards much more powerful images now. Not just a gust of wind or a breeze, but a powerful blast. A tornado, whirlwind, storm, hurricane, anything I could think of. My eyes instinctively closed as I imagined my friends being carried upwards and then thrown over to our side. I didn't have enough courage to look at how it went. I just kept them closed and hoped for the best until I heard three loud thuds somewhere behind me.

Finally, the other building fell to the ground. The entire city block shook with that impact forcing a massive cloud of dust to rise, and all the neighbouring buildings to shake. The tremors made all those who were standing fall back down to the ground. Then there was just the sound of falling rubble. We couldn't see anything for a few minutes. Covering our eyes from the dust, at least those who had them, we looked for each other in the room. I managed to find only Soul and Chester, but distant calls from White and Foof have reassured us that they are also alright. Eventually, the dust settled down and we could all see and breathe again, without the risk of inhaling crushed construction material.

"Everybody alright?" Soul asked. The answer to his question came as soon as he turned around.

When my eyes saw it, I couldn't believe it at first. None of us could. Anci was lying in the corner of the room. On the wall behind him, I saw a thin stroke of neon blue liquid, which also seemed to be squirting out of a large crack in his skull.

"ANCI!!" White shouted and rushed over to one of her oldest friends. The others quickly followed her. "Anci! Speak to me! Can you move?!"

"Hehe, Ifrit doesn't stand a chance," the reaper laughed. Should he have muscles on his face, I'm sure he would smile. "You can really throw people with quite the force, Eddie." I couldn't move. My eyes were glued on him and I stood there like a zombie. No thoughts in my head, no emotions, not even a single movement of my muscles.

"Come on, buddy, you're gonna be fine!" Soul tried to encourage him and quickly tore off a part of White's dress to seal his friend's wound. "I'm just gonna–” A brief touch was all it took for the chipped shard of Anci's skull to fall off completely. The injured death hissed out in pain.

"Stop! Soul... You know what is happening. Can you listen to me? Can you grant me my wish? For one last time?"

Soul let go of the piece of cloth. His smokey hand wrapped around Anci's, while White held the other. "Yes, friend. What...what is it?"

"Don't blame Eddie. None of you. You especially." He looked me in the eyes as he said the last sentence. "Accidents happen. Just keep moving on. Eddie... I know you can..." His last breath vacated his lungs sooner than he anticipated. His body slumped at first, before falling apart into individual pieces of armour. In the end, physically, that was all he had ever been. His soul, which resided in the skull he used to wear for a head, was gone. Nobody could move anymore. The last dragon armour. He protected it as if it was his own skin. White was weeping on the floor, hugging whatever was left of the skull, along with Beast, who snapped out of the shock first and was trying to comfort her. She was saying something, they all were, but I couldn't hear what. It felt as if somebody just turned down the volume. My legs gave up and I fell down to the ground, unable to stop looking at the head my friend used to wear. And finally, after the time of peace, reality came knocking once again. I had hope. For once in my life, I hoped that things would be different. That something finally changed. But no, it was always the same story.

"You killed him," the voice in my head spoke. I could hear it. Just like before. It told me to jump and make it across not too long ago. Now, it was telling me this.

"I didn't..."

"You DID! If you could control your powers better none of this would've happened! You got carried away. Like a giant who squished his pet bug. You are meant to be a GOD! But all you do is play pretend with these people. You are not a god. You are useless! You couldn't even save him. You couldn't save anybody! How many have to die for your cause before you give up?"

The voice was so familiar, but never in the past did it reach my ears. It always used to be just in my head. Now, things seemed different. It was as if somebody was physically speaking to me.

"Who are you?" I mumbled, hoping that my faint voice will reach this mysterious speaker.

"Don't you recognize me, Eddie?" Suddenly, it was as if a door opened in front of me, showing me a mirror. Not even a meter away from me was another person, kneeling just as I was. My spitting image, yet different. Darker, ashen skin, eyes filled with nothing but black, and a mouth that spoke words I didn't understand: "I am your best friend."