March from Darkness | ✓ (to be edited)

TWENTY-SEVEN

DEMITRI

I blinked again, and I was surrounded by darkness, the only light from the light-post in the centre of the square. Liafeld stared down at me as I breathed heavily, catching my breath from the memories I had seen.

It was also then that I felt a strange sense of loneliness in my head. I felt... empty.

"Now do you know who you are, Daraya?" Latvaya asked.

"If I'm Daraya, then why don't you want to kill me?"

"Because you showed kindness to me when everyone else Silenced me."

"Why should that matter?" I demanded.

"Because it does!" he snapped, his fading patience showing through before he closed his eyes and took a breath. When he opened them, he began to speak. "Because it does. I know it is wrong of me to ask you to side with me in this, but I will ask you, as a friend, to fight back against the wrong that has been done."

"Latvaya, it doesn't matter what may have been said back then, nor what happened. You killed someone."

"Oh, that is just perfect coming from the contract-killer," he chided.

"I've heard that already from your Decran, and it isn't hypocritical in this case, either. I killed people that harmed others, what you have done is murder, not justice."

"Well, it is a good thing that I am not a god of justice, correct?"

"You killed someone with previous provocation! You killed innocents because of your uncontrollable temper! At that point, it doesn't matter if it's a matter of fucking justice or not. What you have done is wrong!"

"I do not care. I am sorry for taking the lives of innocents, I had no idea that my killing of that bastard would do so much further damage. Please, Daraya, I just want to be myself again. If you fight with me, as my friend, then I can be. I can be the First I was, the one that was able to care for everything around him, the one without blood on his hands."

"Master—" Koralai started again.

"What did I say about—" Something shot him, throwing him sideways mid-tirade. Koralai jumped and ran over to him, pulling him up before she glared and yelled out profanities that I couldn't make out.

I looked to the side and saw a frightening-looking woman hold a gold bow with several knives and capsules in her belt. Phrer stood beside her, a golden sword in his hand; Freya stood at the other side of the woman with the bow, her strawberry-blonde hair blood-red in the light, her dark blue eyes holding a vengeance and a black battle-suit covering her figure.

Phrer ran over to me as the woman launched another arrow at Latvaya and Koralai, pulling me up as I felt something materialise in my hand. I looked down and saw a shining silver blade in my grasp, not unlike the one back in Glitnir.

Latvaya materialised an energy that I could just barely see and launched it in the direction of Freya and the woman. I shot out a ball of my own, the red light absorbing the black and fizzling out. "I told you, Daraya," Latvaya said calmly, moving towards me as he launched several more energy balls at the woman with the bow, who in turn shot them all with golden arrows that fizzled out the energy. "I cannot be defeated by you, nor can I be defeated by anyone else here."

"We'll see about that, Vaya," I growled involuntarily, launching a blast at him that I hadn't thought of conjuring. It seemed to surprise him, as well, and I used that moment to run at him, catching him across the chest with the blade. He shouted in pain before he went to grab me. I dodged, kicking high enough to nearly hit him in the head. He ducked, but I managed to catch him with my other foot, sending him flying as I ran at Koralai.