Gazing upon the stars, touching the soft grass, a nice chilled night that lightly blew a young girl's sky night hair: Her crimson eyes were scanning the entire sky as she was being amazed by the cementing display. Hugging her knees, her lips gapped, she reached for the sky, and brought out a soft grin. Behind her was an established luxury home out of fiction, and coming out the back door, was a tall man who wore an extravagant outfit, and his beard showing dominance. His brunette hair glistened from the twinkling sky as he walked to the young girl who he claimed was a prodigy. It was the headmaster of the orphanage. Standing next to her with his wrists crossed behind, he put his arm on her shoulder. She didn’t pay him attention since she was too focused on the sky.

“Samantha, the stars in the sky have you thinking, don’t they?” he said.

His voice was deep, mellow, but soothing. Samantha slowly shut her eyes, and felt nature’s whisper tickle her eardrums. She tilted her head, and lowered her arm, hugging her leg.

“Yes.” she softly replied.

He also gazed upon the sky, and grinned.

“What thoughts are running in that brilliant mind of yours?”

She opened her eyes, and they twinkled with excitement. A soft smile appeared in place, and she tilted her head more.

“Will I ever… reach the stars?”

Her response raised a brow on his face. He gripped his beard, stroked it, and also smiled. Seeing how much she's overcome, and the amount of development someone her age has grown, he let go of her shoulder, and patted her head.

“There's nothing you can’t reach for, Samantha.”

Once again, she brought her arm up, reaching for the sky, and turning her arm upside. With her palm now blocking her path, she stared at it as her eyes shook. She clenched it, and sighed.

“One day… I’ll reach the stars, and when that day comes…”

He turned to Samantha who began to shift her head to him, and he became the first to see the thin smile that embarked nightmares down the lane.

“...I’ll create a new world in which there are no limits on how life can be created.”

Her saying made his jaw drop and brought out a tear. Being a part of a society and world where creation is limited made the man feel a new form of hope. Seeing, hearing the confidence come out of her mouth instilled the prediction he had for her; that she was the God they seek and worship in texts: It’s name, Abyzou, the Witch’s God of destruction and creation. The two went back to gazing at the sky, and as he slowly balled a fist, he could hear her softly giggle which made him chuckle. The two laughed together as the stars in the sky began to illuminate more. She let out one last giggle until she abruptly stopped, and darkness returned into her mind.

She stood up, and time began to fast forward, and she was back to age twenty. She stood in an infinite darkness, walking in blind sight.

Since I was a young child, my obsession with nature, the feeling of being free, gave me hope, a light, a wisdom about the foundation of creation.

She stopped, and waved her hand, creating a world of blue and white, and the solar system. Her bright silver eyes locked onto the beautiful sphere of life, known as Earth.

Mother earth, her howls, her emotions, her beauty, I cherished them. I could relate to how she felt the days she wanted to express herself. When it rained, those days I wanted to cry, when it snowed, I felt bitter, giving people the same stare that froze their breaths. Times of clouded falls, felt reminiscent of my past as a young prodigy: Alone, isolated from seeing the wonders of nature. And, speaking of being born into the world, I could remember seeing the light, and how reality handled it.

Hearing voices, dozens, and a voice which I would recall of my mother. I only saw a glimpse of her face when I was taken away. My father, I saw him twice before he let me go, and soon after, found myself in an orphanage but it was no ordinary one, one meant for beings such as myself: potential hazardous ones and most fearing, the prodigy the headmaster saw in me.

She waved her entire arm across her view, and the entire observable universe was brought in. She walked into it, putting her arms behind her as she danced amongst the specs of light, dust covered galaxies, and the black holes that sucked the light and life out of the suns that bring life into the infinite darkness of their reality. She approached one, and tapped it as it sucked the light out of a star.

The headmaster always saw me as a normal girl, but not without the analogy of me being the prophet they worship. Although, I looked up to him, and respected him, like a father figure. Not once in my fifteen years of life did he see me as a heartless doll-like monster like everyone else did. He always treated me with favourtism and with the most love and care. For years I thought he only did that as a way to trick and potentially use me when the time was ripe. But, he proved me wrong when on my fifteenth birthday he freed me of the orphanage and let me spread my wings. I’ll never forget his face when his eyes were drenched in sorrow.

“Explore the world, and don’t forget who you are… Samantha.”

He said as his hands trembled on my shoulders. I grabbed his wrists and gave him a genuine smile without saying anything else. He cast a spell on me, and the last image I had of him was one of fear, and determination. A huge flash blinded me, I heard his war cry, and the next thing I could recall after one long blink was waking up in a different orphanage, but a normal one with regular—people. Everyone there spoke to me like I’ve been there for years, when in fact I’ve only just appeared. My emotions were mixed, but my love for the wonders of nature and creation overshadowed whatever heroic act he enacted.

Samantha blew away the blackhole, and walked over to a gargantuan nebula of the most gorgeous dust and space clouds. She spun, sang in it, and hummed a song from her childhood. Stopping within it, she dug her hands in the dust, and saw the precious elements of glitter sparkle in her palms.

I wanted to discover what secrets were held by this reality, but especially mother earth because of how she laid out the foundations to life. Seeking it, searching it, eventually took me eyes to the sky, and when I saw my first set of stars, I knew from there, there was more to this reality than here.

She blew the dust, and it clouded her view for a moment until once drizzling out, she had earth in front of her. Circling in orbit, she put her hands over it, and smiled.

Despite my admiration for art, nature, the unknown expectations of reality were what caught my full attention… until I remembered my original ambition.

Samantha slowly stepped back, and walked over to the sun, grabbing it. She went back to earth, and grabbed it too. She smashed both together, rubbed her hands to create sand-like particles, and threw out the dust in front of her. The dust slowly formed, shaped into herself, and an arm came out of it. A pale arm just like hers to which she reached and grabbed, pulling out the being in question, which was…

“Is to birth my own life…”

She stared into Sarah’s blank eyes, and rested her hand on her cheek, and grinned.

“Which I have, and that’s you, my adoring daughter, Sarah.”

Sarah did the same, and Samantha let out a tear.

“Someday… you’ll be free, someday, but not now, Sarah.”

The two stared deeply into each other's souls until Sarah was blown away by a heatwave of a big bang. The remnants of her fluttered around Samantha, and she absorbed her particles which slowly feathered on her skin.

“For we are one… Sarah.”

Samantha dropped to her knees, and whimpered softly in the darkness, remembering her true ambition, and the reality of losing Leon had finally struck her cold still heart.

***

Their eyes quivered, the sensation of death, the scent of crimson struck their noses. Staring at the grim reaper herself, the epitome of Envy glaring down at the two women who have been looking for her for over a decade who she finds to be a couple of pests: Samantha clenched a fist, transforming the dimension into a sea of darkness, leaving the observable universe as their only source of light illuminating behind her. Her platinum eyes glowing, their ghostly hatred glinted, and Mandy’s eyes also illuminated its own hatred for her to see. Seeing the sharp red glint glaring at her made Samantha smack her lips, and stare blankly at Mandy. The two glared for what seemed an hour, only for it to be a minute. Linnea grew fearful, nervous, but stood her ground as the embodiment of evil was floating in the dark sky. Yet, she questioned if what they were looking at was truly Samantha since her eyes were glowing a different colour.

As Samantha’s hair billowed, Linnea took a step forward, and grabbed Mandy’s arm.

“Ma-Mandy, is that really, Samantha? Abyzou? Whatever!”

Mandy’s eyebrows were deeply knitted, a fat wrinkle in between her brows, she couldn't hear her friend from the repeated echoes of Samantha’s voice vibrating her thoughts. Samantha snapped a finger, and the world transitioned again. Behind her, a familiar world zoomed out over her head, and Mandy finally moved a muscle. She glanced around, and knew exactly where she was. Samantha lowered her hand, mildly tilted her head, and gapped her mouth.

“It really is you… Samantha.” Mandy softly said.

Linnea gulped, and grew her clutch on Mandy’s arm.

“Ar-Are you sure? I-I mean yeah she looks just like her, but her eyes aren’t the same as before.”

“Doesn’t matter if they’re no longer gleaming the thirst of blood, it’s Samantha there’s no doubt about it. No one else in this world would give me such a cold, repulsive stare.”

Samantha began to slowly float down to the earth, and the world distorted, erupting staircases, and odd shapes that destroyed themselves upon impact, forming new galaxies.

“Mandy, Mandy, Mandy…”

Her voice sent chills down Linnea’s spine, and immediately got in a fight pose. Mandy raised her fist, and clenched it to the point crimson drew.

“For a while, I was beginning to doubt that our search was pointless. For a whole almost two decades we spent finding this vile woman, but for her to emerge after all this time?! It’s laughable.”

“No matter what you say, Mandy, your words are as empty as your meaningless life.”

“Ha! Don’t make me laugh when you yourself are just as meaningless if it wasn’t for one thing!”

Samantha twitched an eye, and once she landed, her hair simmered.

“And what would that be?”

Mandy lowered her fist, and smirked.

“I know what drives you more crazy than the fear of your daughter's life being in danger, Samantha.”

“Whatever your answer may be, you forgot that you’re in my world now, Bitch.”

“Call me whatever you like, you vile wicked woman. If it wasn’t for me getting involved in your life, all this time if the rumours of your death were true, then I’d be the happiest being alive! But if you were aware of my presence, and didn’t bother coming to face me, alone…”

Mandy smiled, and chuckled.

“I was starting to actually believe you were a coward as much as you are a devil!”

Samantha raised the edge of her lips, and knit her brows.

Linnea could sense her anger swell and to see her close friend Mandy standing up to her enemy instilled confidence in her.

“Not only are we here to put an end to your villainy! But to put a stop to your reign of terror, Samantha, Abyzou!”

Samantha raised a brow, and tilted her head.

“Huh?”

Mandy spread her arms out, and laughed.

“Come now, show me that nature bending of yours!”

Samantha felt teased, and it only fueled her rage. She grinned, and her eyes grew blank.

“Bend, nature? How about I show you something that you have feared since our first meeting.”

Mandy got in the same fighting stance as Leon, which made Samantha trickle a growl. Her fingers twitched, her arms vibrated, she twitched an eye and let out a grunt.

“Allow me to show you, a glimpse of the light, you fear!”

Samantha abruptly twirled her arms, generating lightning and in a second lunged her finger tips forward, shooting lightning out of it. A gigantic bolt of lightning came at them, and Mandy immediately caught the stream. The momentum sent Linnea flying away, and Mandy’s feet dragged as she killed off the powerful attack’s momentum. Her face scrunched, her teeth gritting, Mandy redirected the attack straight at Samantha, and it left her breathless. Seeing her own attack explode face first, it shattered, exploded the reality, and turned everything into a huge cloud of smokey darkness.

As the smoke clouded their visions, they couldn’t see the repulsive scowl on Samantha’s face as she faded into the clouds.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“M-Mandy!” Linnea shouted as she glanced around the darkness once again.

Mandy also looked around, but in a single blink of an eye, their environment has changed again. Mandy found herself standing in the middle of a road, what appeared to be a mixture of flint and downtown Detroit. The skyscrapers covered most of the night sky, the buildings appeared to be vacant, street lights flickering, they wondered if they were still in Samantha's world.

Linnea hurried to her partner's side, and Mandy quickly removed her coat, throwing it to the side.

“Woah!” Linnea said. “You are really prepared aren’t you?!”

Mandy had her shotgun holstered on her back, she was holding a military grade m16 rifle, and beneath her arm she had a mp5k submachine machinegun.

Linnea scratched her head, and appeared afraid.

“When and where did you get fully automatic weapons, Mandy?”

Mandy unloaded the magazine to the rifle, and inserted a different one filled with mana.

“Doesn’t matter where I obtained them. Right now, our focus is taking out Samantha.”

“Ri-Rght.”

Linnea reached for the submachinegun holstered beneath Mandy’s arm, and cocked it.

“So, what’s the plan? And where the hell are we?”

Mandy reached for a mag belt meant for the gun in Linnea’s hands, unclipped it and handed it to her.

“Here, use these mags, and from what I’m feeling, and seeing…”

Mandy glanced around as Linnea grabbed the roll of mags, and clipped it to her belt beneath her coat.

“...I think she’s trying to play with us first before she gets her hands dirty.”

Linnea nodded, and inserted a mag filled with Mana. While the two were preparing and figuring out what to do if all else failed, they heard the wretched giggles that haunted their minds, echoing the streets of the uniformed city.

“Mandy, Mandy, Mandy…”

They scanned the area while bumping back to back as her relentless giggles continued.

“You’ve grown so much these past years, haven’t you? And to see you redirect the light you fear! And shoot it back at my face?! You surprised me, Mandy.”

Mandy grinned. “Of course. When you have the perfect man like Leon by your side and teaching you your ex wife's secrets, one will understand the enemies weakness.”

Samantha let out a broken giggle that shattered the glass around them. The shards of glass rained on them like crystals, and as they shattered around them, they turned to sparkles of glitter.

“That was just a glimpse! And if you think you know everything about me! Then your fate has already been sealed!”

“We’ll see about that! You murderous fiend!”

“Me? Murderous? How could that be when Samantha herself has turned into nothing but a concept.”

“Hu-huh?!”

“Wh-what is that supposed to mean?” Mandy asked, drawing a sweat.

They saw Samantha’s reflection off what was left of the broken glass shards that didn’t get the chance to break. She walked in and out of the reflection in different walking poses.

“Think about it, clearly, you two.”

She walked out of the frames of the glass, and clapped her hands to annoy their ear drums.

“The past months with everything unfolding, what have you noticed about the people mentioning me?”

Linnea thought, and Mandy as well. The two quickly put it together and the encounters of the Witch cult that worshipped her, it made them grow more scared of what she meant.

“Abyzou…” Linnea said.

“Not once has my name been said, but to that of what I transformed into the embodiment of Envy. Do you know why only Abyzou pops in peoples mouths? Ask yourselves why does Samantha only exist in my closed circle of people that I’ve grown to loathe and love?”

Mandy’s jaw dropped, and she aimed her rifle to the sky.

“You did not!”

“Oh?! You’ve figured it out, haven't you? Mandy.”

“What, what does she mean, Mandy?”

Mandy’s eyes quivered as her gun trembled.

“She’s erased her own existence…”

Linnea felt the wind knocked out of her, and turned blanched.

“Mandy! You’re so smart, so so smart.”

Samantha’s eyes emerged from the sky, and stared down at the two.

“Samantha herself was once an existing being, but after the birth of Abyzou, and the Legend engraved in our reality, I decided to keep myself out of the eyes of normality: My existence should be no more, and I have grown enough to merge my soul with our reality.”

Samantha’s eyes rolled back, and she let out a horrendous giggle that forced them to cover their ears.

“I went from being able to cast spells at an early age, manipulate mana, bend nature at will by late childhood, to then manipulate time and space at teenage hood… and once Abyzou had been born, I was able to transcend all of reality! And rewriting the universe at the palm of my hand, getting that taste of power, only pushed me to greater heights.”

Samantha’s eyes melted away, and rained crimson on them.

“Using the power of Envy, I decided to do so. I can create new worlds, take them away, rewrite what I want, but only if I could without the interference of that scary man—William H. Christ! Then all of you would’ve been gone sooner than later. But, alas, this is how your fate shall be met with.”

Mandy ground her teeth, and deeply knit her brows.

“All I’m hearing are vague statements! You have no proof of what you claim! Beyond opnimpotence or not… you can be beat, SAMANTHA!”

Linnea also took aim at the sky.

“That’s right! And with our anger unified, Samantha, tonight will be your last sight of night!”

Samantha giggled, and the two could see faint red clouds flicker within the dark sky.

“We’ll see about that, if you can find me, that is.”

Mandy growled and launched herself into the sky. She aimed her rifle in multiple directions and tried to track down her presence. Getting a better picture of where she’s at, the cities definitely appeared to be combined, which grew more of a burden to Mandy’s frustrations.

“Great…”

Linnea flew to her side, and tried to figure out where Samantha could be hiding.

“I can’t even track down her mana. Wait, could she be submerging her mana to not be found?”

“I’m not sure, but in order to find her, we should head opposite directions.”

Linnea agreed and began flying south of them. Mandy flew north and was scanning everything her eyes and mana could see and sense. Linnea avoided the tall buildings, trying to find any signs of Samantha. Stopping mid flight, in-between two skyscrapers, Linnea took a minute to catch her breath. It wasn’t from her flying or anger, rather the fear she had been trying to hide. Hearing what Samantha said about herself, it grew contradictions within her subconscious. She grew doubts if what she said were true, if they had a chance of defeating her.

Linnea loosened her arms to the sides, and let out a sigh.

“Do we really have a chance?” she muttered.

Feeling her coat billow, and her hair fluttering, a fierce wind almost had her off balance for a moment. It forced her to cover her face for a moment. Bringing her arm down, she saw Samantha coming her way. She gasped and after a blink, she had vanished.

“Da-damn…”

Feeling spooked and her blood pressure rising, Linnea shook it off, and took deep breaths.

“She really is twisted, isn’t she?”

Looking around, she wondered where she had vanished. For a moment, it grew eerily calm, and the strong wind had gone away. Taking a glance down at her feet, she saw the empty street and tried to spot anything out of the ordinary. Giggling came back, and she frantically looked in every direction. Samantha’s reflection appeared again on the glass windows of the skyscrapers. It showed her innocently skipping, and having a calm grin on her twisted face.

“Where are you?! Sho-show yourself!”

Samantha continued her giggles, and her reflection eventually disappeared from the side of the buildings.

“Gone again… she’s definitely messing with my head.”

At the other side of the city, Mandy was patrolling the streets and with her rifle ready to rain down hellfire, her determination came out of her mouth with an angry grunt.

“Where could you be at, you fucking coward.”

The rifle aimed down, pointing in every direction, she heard concrete chipping. The heels that were chipping away from the concrete that sent goosebumps around her arms had her turn around and see nothing. It came from the right, and she glanced over, and found nothing. She was growing annoyed and more afraid by the minute.

“Samantha!”

Mandy’s breathing grew heavy, and she was itching to shoot Samantha’s face off. The urge to vanquish her enemy has never felt so good to her that she let out a broken chuckle. Eventually, it turned to laughter and Mandy’s face grew wicked.

“You twisted fiend! You vile evil wretched maniacal psychopath!”

Mandy’s words echoed everywhere, and again, she heard the clanking of heels.

“I can’t wait to finally be the one to bring an end to your—Miserable life, SAMANTHA!”

“Is that so?” Samantha said.

Mandy stopped, and stayed frozen. Samantha’s voice sounded close by, and she grew into a panic. She pointed the rifle in every direction, and grew tired of doing so. She flew to the sky, and aimed at the buildings.

“Poor, poor, poor… Mandy.”

Mandy growled and her mana began to surge.

“Look at you, so pathetic and thirsty for blood. To my knowledge, right now, you define a psychopath, my old friend.”

“Shut up! You’re the last to speak over the relentless actions that you have done to me and others. The world has suffered for that nonchalant attitude.”

“But Mandy, why say that about the world when you yourself could care less about it? You call me selfish when you’re being just as selfish as I was.”

“And how am I being as selfish as you?! Do I even have to point out the actions, the Sins, you have committed!”

Samantha laughed and the buildings waved from the range of her laughter.

“Believe me. If anyone knows you as much as you do, it’d be me—your embodiment of a nightmare!”

Mandy grew tired of Samantha’s charades and put away the rifle. She put her hand out, and as her fingers arched, flinched, a spark of light came out the palm of her hand. She yelled and she shot her arm forward, shooting a huge blast of blue mana. Impacting the ground, she blew up the entire area, and half the city was scorched and eviscerated. Samantha giggled and giggled as Mandy repeatedly began to fire random mana blasts in every direction.

“Your world will succumb to my light! You Witch!”

Samantha let out one more giggle and Mandy could hear her clap twice. The area was restored and back to the way it was, leaving her shocked.

“We were in my world upon our reunion, but now—now! You’re no longer in my precious domain, Mandy.”

“Then where are we?!”

Mandy erratically looked around, and saw a wave of hair slide to the right of a building. She flew in the direction she saw the carpet of raven hair.

“You really want to know? Do you think you can handle the truth?!”

Mandy once again created a ball of mana, and waved her arm around, enlarging it and launching it at the ground. The city was leveled and burnt to a crisp. Linnea could see Mandy in plain view from where she was floating. But again, the city returned to normal when the two blinked. Mandy’s aggravated and let out a yell filled with her frustrations. She repeatedly blasted the city over and over again. Every devastation, every explosion resulted in the same: The city came back to life, but this time, it grew in size, and in plain view, looked endless. The two reunited and were back to back once again.

“Jesus Mandy, you’re a loose cannon right now!”

Mandy smacked her lips and pulled her rifle out again.

“I just want this bitch dead. And I’ll do whatever it takes too.”

“And I know you would, M-a-n-d-y.” Samantha said.

The city enlarged and spotlights scanned the skies. They could see clouds rapidly moving and felt a chilled gust of wind sending chills across their bodies.

“Imagine if we were in our own reality? Think of all the consequences of your! Actions you uncontrollable buffoon!”

“What are you trying to exclaim?! Samantha!”

Samantha appeared from a mirror in one of the stores, and Linnea saw her standing within the reflection. Squinting her eyes, she dragged her vision to see where she could be actually standing. With no unveil, she couldn’t make out where she was.

“Damn it…”

Samantha spread her arms out, and grinned.

“Haven’t you already figured it out? I mean, indeed we’re not in our reality, but—”

“Yeah yeah, we’re in another world of yours!”

Samantha’s grin thinned out, and she furrowed her brows.

“Not… quite. Actually, we’re in an alternate world, my friend.”

“Alternate world?!” Linnea exclaimed.

“Yes, alternate as in another universe… one that I have created long ago,”

Mandy’s pupils dilated and she let out a gasp. Linnea’s arms trembled uncontrollably and remembered what she was speaking about. The day of reckoning, the day she was birthed as the Sin Of Envy: her giant eye that gazed down on the world, glancing, and with one Exorcist managing to capture an image of her outside of the earth. Abyzou had enlarged herself, and kept growing past the point of their solar system until the galaxies became mere twinkles to her body. Linnea could never forget how she faded out in specs of crimson dust, and merged herself with the infinite universe to destroy it, and create a new one.

Linnea let out a tear, and clutched her head.

“No… we-we’re in that world.” she muttered.

The world she remembered was similar to this one: empty, dark, but for a decade was filled with lava, and countless explosions of stars and nebulas corroding away as she messed with existence, playing around with it to create her ultimate envision.

“Linnea, you seem to have captured the ghost with your swollen eyes, my dear.” Samantha echoed.

Mandy glanced at her blanched friend.

“What is she talking about?! How am I not aware of the events that transpired to our world?!”

Linnea let go, and hung her head in fear.

“Because, Mandy…”

Samantha came out of the mirror, and appeared out in the open, gazing up at them.

“I erased you from my reality.”

Mandy’s eyes grew enlarged and she grit her teeth. She glanced down, and saw Samantha, and screamed. Her rifle dangled from its strap as she put her hands forward, shooting a giant beam of light at her that lay waste to the infinite city. With the flash of the light fading out, the city changed one last time to an industrial modern city out of a crime drama. Spotlights denting the night sky, odd shapes moving across the world, Mandy grew tired of Samantha’s games and sprung herself to the street. She loaded a regular magazine into her rifle, and began shooting at the building's glass. Raining hellfire on every single building, anything to create a reflection, Mandy loaded, and unloaded multiple mags of regular bullets until there wasn’t a single shed of glass material left.

“You cowardice bitch.” Mandy said while loading a mag with mana.

Linnea had remained frozen in the sky while her friend went to search the city again for Samantha. She flew off to the distance, and disappeared behind a skyscraper. Linnea swallowed and frowned, thinking that all odds were not in their favour afterall.

“How do we beat something that technically doesn’t exist? How could we beat someone who’s power exceeds space and time… we’re-we’re…”

Linnea gripped her hair, and shed a tear.

“We’re fighting a literal God…” she murmured.

Feeling hopeless, Linnea didn’t bother taking a glance at anything. Her shame poured out her pours, and she ripped her jacket off, throwing it away. She panted, and shut her eyes closed.

“Brother, I’m sorry, I can’t avenge you.”

Feeling defeated, Linnea couldn’t think of anything to help build up her self esteem.

“How did she get this strong? How did God allow this? Any God!”

Linnea grabbed all the pendants of her necklace, and held them up to her shut eyes. She slowly opened them, and stared at every insignia.

“If someone like her can exist, then that means no God exists. All these are false idols, empty words, expressions, and a mere waste of human acknowledgment.”

She ripped each one off, throwing them off to the side, and blasting them with small mana blasts. Only two remained which were a cross, and one that represents Witchcraft.

“The God that’s spoken off in biblical texts, from both Hebrew and Christianity—is false too.”

She grabbed the cross, but hesitated to rip it off.

“Yet, William says he does, and that’s someone supposedly close to him… unless—”

For a moment, there was a gleam of hope for Linnea within her blank eyes. A small glimmer of shine came back to remind her of the existence of both William, and the woman who had defeated Samantha.

“Unless, William’s the God everyone worships in sacred texts.”

She gazed upon the storming blackened sky, and softly grinned.

“If we can’t defeat her, then our deaths would trigger for them to come down from the heavens and enact her punishment.”

Linnea ground her teeth, and clenched her fist.

“I hope they do.”

She brought her gaze forward, and flew straight. As she flew, the buildings began to sway, which made her dodge them. Two collapsed and timbered. She evaded the tilting structure, and once she was in clear view, she saw Samantha standing on a medal beam to a once intact skyscraper. Her raven hair billowed to her left, her dress fluttered, she stared at Linnea with her ghostly grey eyes, and her straightened lips curved into the thin smile that has permanently instilled fear in her.

“It looks like—you found me, Linnea.”

Linnea turned pale, and froze once again.

“Let me ask you this, Linnea.” Samantha said.

She slowly raised her arm, and eerily pointed her finger at her.

“Why are you here, exactly? With that greedy woman more the less.”

Linnea couldn’t say anything, but trembled in fear.

“My fight isn’t with you. My fight is with her. So if you still value your existence, then I would suggest that you leave.”

Linnea closed her mouth, and dragged her hand across her face. She tried speaking, but couldn’t.

“It isn’t too late to leave now. I’ve given you a door to freedom, it’s wide open, so take it, and walk right out of it. But, make sure you shut it before saying goodbye… because this will be our last interaction, my old friend.”

Linnea remembered that phrasing, sparking the anger she had towards her for taking her brother's life. His laughter, his smile, his advice that gave her confidence made the dormant anger finally explode, and Linnea growled.

“How… How could I? How could I just leave without being a part of your downfall.”

Samantha lowered her hand, and frowned.

“How could I leave this once and a lifetime opportunity to finish you off to avenge my brother. How, how?” she whimpered.

She gripped the cross, and grit her teeth.

“You are the embodiment of jealousy, the definition of deformity, a being so vile, twisted, one that shouldn’t exist yet here you are… standing in front of me!”

Samantha looked away, and squinted her eyes.

“Samantha, Samantha… someone whom I once thought was a good friend—turned out to be a demon, the same demon who destroyed my town, buried it in a snowy death. The monster who killed my brother only because he was just in the way!”

Samantha grinned, and turned her gaze back to her.

“You lousy no good villain. I will ensure your death will be long and painful.”

Samantha crossed her arms, and tilted her body.

“Mmm, there’s a part of me that still cares for you. Strange? You should consider yourself lucky that I still have emotions for you.”

Samantha straightened her posture, and dropped her arms to the sides. Again, she raised them in amusement.

“I’ll give you time to think it over. But I’m guessing for now, you want to try! And take my life, if that’s even possible for someone of your level.”

Mandy appeared next to Linnea, and spat.

“Linnea, whatever conflicts you have inside of you, remember—”

Mandy put her hand on Linnea’s shoulder, and she turned her gaze to her friend's sparkling blue eyes.

“You’re not alone, and together, I’m sure we can defeat her in a way that’ll force her in a corner.”

“Ma-Mandy?”

Mandy winked, and let go.

“I have a plan, and trust me, by the end of it, if all our efforts fail, she won’t be getting out of this situation the same.”

Samantha squinted her eyes at Mandy, tilting her head, and deeply frowning.

“You sound confident of some sort? Why is that? Why do you think you could possibly defeat me? You stupid, detestable, whore.”

Mandy turned back to Samantha, and gave her a confident side eye.

“Because Samantha, as you said to me… no one knows you better than I do…”

Samantha’s eyes grew wide, and she let out a nervous chuckle, one that caught Linnea off guard.

“My old… nemesis.”

Mandy cocked her rifle, and slowly took aim at her. Linnea’s confidence returned, and seeing Mandy’s determination, hearing her backup plan sparked a new feeling Linnea never felt towards Samantha: The feeling of not being afraid. Samantha’s eyes quivered in anger, the moonlight behind her showed the sharp red glint in her platinum eyes as it stared at them. Linnea raised the submachinegun to the side of her face, and nodded. Putting one hand on her handgun holstered beneath her arm, Mandy dragged her sights to Samantha’s face, and licked her lips. Both women trickled a soft breath, sweat slowly pouring out their heads, sliding down their face: Samantha loosened her body, and she began to move her arms, squatting her knees to show them a ballet curtsey, which made them freeze all body movements.

Samantha bowed her head for a moment, and after, once she slowly brought her eyes back to them, they were crimson for ten seconds until her mouth opened again.

“Let's dance.” Samantha said.