Chapter 4

"Defeatist?" the old man asked. By now, the bowl had been filled to the brim with ashes, and he had finally stopped. "I do not believe that one chosen by the Sign would be so quick to bend their knee."

"I'm not as strong as I used to be," I said. I couldn't die anymore, but that didn't mean the pain of dying was a minor affair. Roman hadn't exaggerated in his screams after the sudden accidental suicide.

"Perhaps," the old man said. "What lies between you and your strength is not the blood flowing in your body, but the knight that made you give up so quickly."

"Maybe," I said. Roman grunted, not too happy to talk about the armored man that had crushed his head in one hand.

"Forgive me for asking so brazenly," the old man continued. "But do you not have someone waiting for you?"

I blinked. Of course I did. I… hadn't forgotten. I couldn't forget them. Yet, my mind was hardly able to picture them, the faces of my friends.

"... old man," I said. The man looked towards me, his glassy eyes stayed unfocused. "Why can't I remember their faces?"

"The longer you are here," he said. "The more you will forget. You did not just leave your physical strength, after all. Our soul is our memory. It is our everything."

I stood up, grabbing my sword and shield. I couldn't let this be. I couldn't let myself forget. The longer I spent here, the less likely I am to find a reason to defeat that knight.

Roman grunted again, standing up and following after me. I turned towards him as we ascended the stairs.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Can't be stuck here either, I have places to be, criminal empires to build."

I scoffed, walking through the still open doors, ignoring the soreness in my legs from the quick ascension. "Here's the plan then. I will distract it, attack it from up close whenever possible, and you shoot it, alright?"

"Yeah yeah, jolly cooperation with the huntress in training, I get it," he said. "You want a job when we're out here? I could need someone with your skills."

"No thanks."

With that, we approached the gate towards the open area again.

It was shut, dark fog hanging right around it, as if blocking the way out for the armored monster. The sun was setting in front of us. Had we really wasted so much time already? Depending on where we landed, the sun could have meant we took a while to reform, or were transported to some continent where it wasn't night.

Roman approached the fog and stuck his hand through.

"I think we can walk through this."

"Alright," I said. "Let me go first, count to five, then come."

He nodded, and I began traversing the fog. Through the gate, I could see him standing there, tall and with his weapon in hand, facing us.

The armored man was waiting.

Before I could do two steps into the area, he leaped, his halberd crashing into the ground next to me as I stepped to the side and smashed my sword right in between two pieces of his armor.

It howled, thrashing around and knocking me away after hitting my shield. Roman came through, his cane aimed at the man who stood right in front of him.

"What the hell?!" he shouted. "I thought you were supposed to distract that!"

"Stop talking!" I shouted. "FIRE!"

Throwing my shield at the champion, as the old man called him, I drew his attention long enough for Roman to make a hasty retreat to a more secure location. He fired, the bullets piercing through the armor.

I had a reason to fight. I had people that I couldn't forget. I had him. And well, I had Roman, that was helpful as well.

Leaping forward and grabbing my shield, I raised it up, trying to block the attack. Instead, Roman's next attack hit his hand during the attack, knocking the champion's aim off and leaving him wide open.

"GO!" Roman shouted. I did, my sword gripped in both hands, I jumped, far less than what I had been able to do just yesterday, and rammed the sword into the opening the helmet left for the eyes.

It flinched, staggering backwards and falling onto its back. Taking the opportunity, I removed my sword and stabbed down again, this time into another opening. Before I could bring my sword down a third time, it stood up, knocking me over. I could feel the tiredness in my arms already.

Roman came, firing one of his bullets into the air and then knocking it towards the armored man. It exploded right in his face, giving me enough time to avoid the thrashing after my attacks presumably blinded him.

It didn't take long for him to grab his halberd again.

"Nothing we do hurts him," Roman said.

"Wrong," I said. "It hurts him, he just…"

"Has more HP?" Roman tried.

"Stop calling it that!" I said. The openings on the helmet flashed up in a red light. "I think he's angry."

Leaping at me twice twice the speed from before, I dodged backwards. Raising my shield just in time, the grip of his halberd smashed into it, knocking me up. My stomach hurt, and it didn't stop, its shoulder smashing into my shield once more, shattering it. A pang of regret accompanied by pain in my back as I met the wall. Standing up as the pain left me, I knew I was about to reach my limit.

The monstrous man roared inside his armor, and spun around, hitting Roman who blocked the attack with his cane. It held strong, but Roman was thrown away. Whatever his weapon was made of, I wanted a piece of it for a new shield.

Concentrating on Roman left it distracted enough for me to sneak up on it and grab onto its back, piercing another opening that Roman's shots had done to its armor. It threw itself onto its back, crushing me under it. I screamed, the pain was bad, but still not as bad as dying. I had a chance to fight back. Twisting the sword gave Roman the opening her needed.

Shot after shot fired at the things head, until I felt it grow lighter.

And lighter.

Roman sighed, falling onto his knees, glaring at me as the armored man vanished into ashes. And before I could say anything, I felt stronger. I felt warm.

And all my energy returned. Then, I felt even more strength return. White mist entered my body, and I could see Roman enjoying the same comfort. Standing up, I checked myself over. My shield was still broken, but the rest was okay.

"Daaaamn," Roman said. "I'm on fire!"

He looked at his hands, where small embers sat on his fingertips. Looking at my own, I saw the same.

The sun had set, but I couldn't really see any stars at the moment.

"Let's…"

The word left my mouth as the door at the end of the area opened.

Through it, I could see something strange. Not the ruins around us, but a modern city. I blinked, it was familiar, I could have sworn I saw it before.

Stepping towards it, Roman following right behind me, I took another peek, much closer now.

"Hmph." Roman shrugged. "Looks like our way out."

"Looks like it," I said. "What are you gonna do?"

"No idea, need to find people, do shit, you know?" he said. "Do you know where we are?"

"Maybe we should just ask around?"

He shrugged again, and we stepped through the doors.

Behind us was no shrine, there was no simple arch that led to the open area. Instead, all we saw was a glowing portal, and people who walked around us as if they didn't see it. The portal's pitch black edges looked as if they could cut something, and looking around it, I found the other way of the portal to lead to just the same area.

"Weird," he said, putting his hand through. "You think it's because we're dead?"

"We're not dead," I said. "We're with living people."

"Yeah, right, maybe this is the actual afterlife?" he asked. I sighed, stepping towards a woman who was carrying a child.

"Excuse me," I said, smiling. The woman smiled back at me. "Can you tell us where we are? We seem to be lost."

"How would that happen?" she asked, her voice soft. "This is Vytal, dear. North of Vale."

I blinked.

"What?" Roman asked, rather loudly. I grinned, thanking the woman and turning back to him.

"See!" I said. "Totally alive!"

He grabbed his wrist, felt for a pulse, tried to breathe and keeled over in pain.

My heart sank.

"Okay," I said. "Maybe not totally alive."