WITHIN SHADOW: BROKEN BOND

REBIRTH

For 486 days, I stayed and fought.

I've slept in the pouring rain, in strange places, and even surrounded in my own blood. The local police force has been after me for a long while. Of course I've managed to escape every time due to my abilities. They call me...the Traveler. I'm somewhat of a local legend, a myth. Most people I save are deathly afraid of me. I hadn't ever shaved and had bruises and cuts all over my face and hands. On top of that, I didn't smell great either. Not that I cared. 

I managed to find an abandoned apartment on the top level of a the shops downtown. I took a few bucks off of every other criminal I defeated. I did what I could to survive. 

I hadn't spoken or reached out to Fallon ever since that night. A couple times I came across a girl who I thought was her. She ran with a small time group of criminals I knew of but hadn't had  the time to take down yet. I swore...it felt like her. It probably wasn't. Nothing but a distraction.

My fighting style had completely changed. I learned how to fist fight in the streets, a brutish kind of combat. I was no use at long range engagements so I always needed to get in close. I utilized kicks and various weaponry whenever I could. I found that I was able to summon my sword when I needed to, just another perk of my powers.

I couldn't help but think that I wasn't  very good at that way of life. I could get there, stop whoever needed to be stopped. But the looks they gave me...made me feel like I was the monster. The city was gripped with fear. From me and from the crime.

I often dreamnt about the other world. My mother especially. I never told Fallon about her. It was so horrible that I blocked it out...sometimes it surfaced. My mother disappeared right when my panic attacks started escalating. Which only sent me off the deep end. Being in that new world, trying to help people...it only made me think of my parents more. What would my father do if he were in my position? He would fight. I guess I've been more like him recently. But my mother...she called to me. Dathon sat me down after she disappeared and told me she probably wasn't coming back. An awful memory of an awful time. She's gone. And I still haven't accepted it.

This was my fight now. As wrong as it felt to admit, I needed to do this. I couldn't go back. I wasn't strong enough. I was barely strong enough for what I was attempting to do. That world was dead. It was dying long before I was born. I only helped spread the virus.

I was the virus.