Hey guys,

Took me a while to finally get this chapter submitted, first because I find it hard to make long chapters that are purely devoted to fight scenes, and second because the site was down at the time that I wanted to submit and it wouldn't let me (same for Reaper Chapter 2, so this chapter and Chapter 2 of Reaper have been submitted at about the same time). Hope you all like this chapter! Enjoy, R&R.

Uzuki Cheverie

Ever on and on, I continue circling

With nothing but my hate on a carousel of agony

Till slowly I forget and my heart starts vanishing

And suddenly I see that I can't break free.

- Touhou Project, "Bad Apple!" English Version

Time Gate: The Adult Chapters

Chapter 10: Deathbringer Child

This child is the devil. How else could it move like that? It's body shifts like paper folding together and disappearing, like his movements are the results of some stupid disappearing card trick. It's like he's stepping into twilight and vanishing in thin air. The robe that he's wearing, covered with straps and buckles, is constantly turning into twilight squares as he disappears and reappears.

But he doesn't attack.

He just keeps walking around us, vanishing and reappearing; he's obviously trying to confuse us.

"They. . . They. . ." he says in a weak and trembling voice. "They told me. . . to kill you. . ."

I risk turning my gaze away from him to look at Zelda, who's now ignoring her bleeding arm and caring for Matsuda and Kurenai, trying to keep their wounds from getting any worse than they already have. Kurenai is still bleeding, and I can see the painful looking burns that are on Matsuda's body.

"Zelda, get them out of here," I order her, tension building in my voice.

"Will you be able to handle that thing on your own?" she asks me as she clutches her arm again.

"Just go. Now!"

She takes Matsuda and Kurenai and runs off. I'm surprised she's able to carry them both at the same time, especially with her wounded arm; she carries them like burlap sacks, one over each shoulder.

I turn back to the child, and am relieved to see that he hasn't even considered attacking me.

"W-Why did you let her go?" the boy stammers worriedly. "Is she one that you c-care about? Is she one you want to keep alive?"

"Who are you?" I ask, ignoring his strange questions.

"S-She is a traitor, a demon . . . she is one of them that I have to kill! My master told me that! He told me to kill her and drag her body to the Society!"

"I said, who are you?" I ask again, this time in an angrier tone.

"Why do you protect her? Her double-edged Soul resonates with both the enemy and the hero, and she. . . she is. . . she is a demon. . ."

"I'm going to ask one more time: who are you?" I hold my sword up, ready to charge at him and tear him limb from limb. I don't want him alive. I want him dead.

"I am one of them. . ." he cries. "Her, him, her, him, him, him, me. . ." He starts lumbering around on his feet, half spinning, almost like he's dizzy.

"What?"

"Tuxedo, bandages, robe, tunic. . . tunic, armor, me. . ."

Now this kid isn't making any sense at all. But I still want to hear him out. He's obviously mentally insane, but Shuto is always telling me that mentally unstable people make the most sense; that they know the true structure of the world. That is, if you can make out what they're trying to say.

"He rips my chest apart from the inside out. . . she follows him and lays bloody bodies in the ground, covered in bandages made from their own skin and Soul. . . she follows her and glides along the ground with grace. . . he follows her and speaks only when spoken to. . ."

"You have three seconds to tell me who you are," I growl. "Spit it out, and stop talking in code."

"If I don't talk like this. . . he shall find me and rip me apart. . . just like he did to her. . . and him. . . and hopefully not me. . ." His dizzyness takes him over even more, as he spins around on his feet.

I throw aside any thoughts that he may be able to tell me anything and attack him, my sword missing him just by a split second when he disappears into twilight. His disappearance leaves me standing in a pool of blood.

That blood wasn't there before. But when I look at my sword, there's none there, and I realize that he hadn't shed it; it must have been there already. I just never noticed it before. I spin around to see that he's standing directly across from where he used to be. He's still carrying that sword, the sword made with a twisted black and white blade, that shines when the flames' light flickers across it. There's a strange jewel encrusted in the handle; it reminds me of the golden jewel that's placed on the Master Sword's hilt. This jewel shines a deep black, and there almost seems to be something inside of it, staring back at me. . . I have to get a closer look at this blade.

"Have to kill you. . . otherwise. . . they'll. . . send him after me. . . and he'll kill me. . ." the boy cries, his light-grey eyes wide with shock and despair. His eyes have looked like that since he appeared. They're the eyes of paranoid people; schizophrenics and maniacs. People like Makoto and Uzuki and Mitsuhiro.

I charge at the boy, with the intent to get a closer look at his sword. When I swing at him, he does exactly what I want him to do; he brings up his own sword to block it. I push my blade back against his, so that are swords are scraping against each other, fighting to knock the other one over. While we're like this, I take a look at the jewel on the hilt of the sword, it's black color holding flickering red colors from the flames that surround us. Suddenly, something grows inside the jewel, a snake-like eye with a sharp pupil that glares back at me with hostility. I'm suddenly blown back by some heavy force, and I land hard on my back. The eye in the hilt is now staring at me, with more hostility than before. I support myself with my sword as I get back up.

"Blood eater. . ." the boy says sadly as he brings his sword up behind him,"stain this man's tainted soul with the blood of fear and hate. . ." He pulls on the handle, swinging the sword in an arc so that it comes back in front of him, and swinging it through the air. A visible shockwave is thrown at me, and hits me square in the chest, knocking me back onto the ground. My chest is stinging from where I was hit. When I look down to see if I was wounded, I see a thin but deep cut from the shockwave strewn right across my torso. I didn't expect a shockwave like that to do so much damage. It's like the shockwave was it's own blade. It was strong enough to get through my defense and cut through my jacket and shirt, and it still made an extremely deep cut in my skin after going through all that. That's something that I don't want to get caught in again; I may end up getting killed next time. If that thing goes for my head, I'm done for.

Dex, we need to do something about this! I think angrily.

Of course I'm the one you consult first, Dex snickers. Can't you save your own ass for once?

Do you want to die?

It's probably better than you asking for help all the time from me like a little child.

The boy topples over towards me like a drunk person, swinging his sword around as he goes. His movements are so stupid, so unpredictable, so unorthodox, that I just can't seem to get away from his attacks. I can block them, but it's hard to tell where is sword is going to go next when he barely has control over it and is just swinging it everywhere like an inexperienced maniac.

"Die! Die now!" the boy screams as he continues to swing at me recklessly. I keep dodging his attacks, jumping back further and further each time.

"Sorry, kid!" I yell back. I leap at him with my blade when his defense is open, and strike him right in the chest. "But I don't intend on dying without a good fight!" The blood sprays from his chest, but before it hits the ground, it stops, right in midair, like time itself had been frozen. Then, it starts to recollect itself and floats back up towards the boy. The boy tilts his head back, so far that I can only see his chin and neck, and then he opens his mouth. The blood flies down his throat, a surprised look on his face.

Ew.

When all the blood reenters his body, the boy lowers his head, looking back at me, and wipes the leftover blood from his lower lip.

"Blood doesn't taste that great, you know," the boy says in his soft, yet creepy tone of voice. He licks his lip with his tongue, and then holds his sword back up. I notice that his wound has already completely healed over.

I don't think I can kill this kid. I don't even think I can hurt him. It seems that if he takes any physical damage, the blood just floats back to him, like he's some sort of magnet. And then his wounds just heal themselves in remarkable time.

Well, if I can't win, then I can just hold him off until I can make my escape with Zelda, Kurenai, and Matsuda.

Our swords clash endlessly for so long. I block his attacks, he blocks mine. Our fighting styles, if you don't count his recklessness, are so alike that it's scary. He blocks the same way I do; he runs the same way I do; his fighting stance is the exact same as mine; even the smile that crosses his face when he knows he has the upper hand is similar to mine.

He even. . . looks like me.

Everything about him reminds me of myself from when I was a child. His hairstyle (even if his hair is white), his eyes (which are also white), his form (his skin is, not surprisingly, very pale, almost white), and even the way he scratches his neck every so often is the same as me.

Now his similarity to me is getting me mad. Now I really want him dead.

But when I strike him, our swords meet in the same way, and we both get blown back. Our fighting styles are just too similar for there to be a winner; the only difference is that he can swallow his own blood as a healing power, no matter how gross it tastes. Does that make him invincible? No, there's always a way to defeat a person, even if they seem like the strongest person alive. I just need to find his weak spot. So far, the only flaw I've found in his fighting technique is his recklessness. He's just swinging his sword around, and when he walks, it's with a certain kind of drunk clumsiness. I managed to break through his defense once, but the only thing that I got from that was the knowledge that he could heal himself by taking in his own blood. But what is the extent of his power?

I guess I have to perform a few more tests to find out.

I turn around, and head for the nearest building structure that's still standing over five feet. This one is a good ten to fifteen feet. I put my sword away and run at it, leaping onto the wall and running up the side. The boy follows me, and stops at the wall.

Ha! I don't think he can walk on walls! I think happily as a grin grows on my face.

Shit.

He has extra arms. I recall the Kyodai no Akuma having something similar to this. They're not exactly arms, but more or less physical forms of shadows growing from his back and digging its claws into the brick, supporting him as he climbs up.

I run up higher onto the wall, until there's no place left to run. He climbs up after me, and then grabs my foot with one of his shadow arms. By now I'm standing on the worn down brick wall; I try to shake its hand off, but I lose my footing, and I fall down inside the building, landing on my back on one of the marble pillars that just happens to be there.

I feel a snap in my back. I can't move.

The boy jumps down off the spot where I used to be standing, and lands only a few inches away from me. My body is in too much shock from the impact; I really can't move right now. This has happened to me before though, so at least I know that my back just needs to pull itself back together and I'll be walking again in no time; it may hurt a little while I walk, but it's nothing too painful that I can't deal with.

The boy takes his blade and presses the tip to my neck.

"W-What do you want from me?" I grunt in pain, my back searing with pain.

"Link Nohansen Hyrule," the boy says in his melancholy voice. "They told me to kill you. So kill you I shall."

"Who told you. . . to kill me. . . ?"

"The superior ones. The ones that can escape from death, just like I can."

The Society, I immediately think. There's no other explanation for it; I can't think of anyone else that would want me dead. But where did they get this kid? He can't be human, it's just not possible; he can't even be a Reaper.

"Kid. . . what's your name. . . ?" I ask.

"I don't have a name," he replies.

"You must have a name. . . what do people call you?"

"The superior ones call me 'Kronoa'."

Kronoa. Why does that sound so familiar? I think Uzuki had been muttering something about Kronoa a little while ago.

"Kronoa. . ." I hiss. "Why. . . why did you destroy this once beautiful kingdom? What did the Angels ever do to you?" I scream. Just screaming hurts enough.

"They were in my way," the boy says. "They were in the superior ones' way. So they ordered me to get rid of them. I have to listen to the superior ones. If I don't, they'll send him out to kill me. I don't want him to kill me."

I start to nudge myself upwards, until I'm on my elbows and I can crawl backwards away from him. l crawl off the marble beam, and onto the ash-covered ground, getting farther from the boy. He slowly walks towards me, his sword slung over his shoulder as he takes slow, shuffling steps.

"You. . . you need to die. . . please die. . ." the boy mutters. "If you don't die, then I'll die. . . and I don't want to die. . . so you must die. . ."

"G-Get away from me!" I scream in terror as I back up further and further. My back just won't get better. I need to snap it on something; it sounds painful - and it is for a while - but it fixes it and allows me to walk again.

"Stop moving away from me!" the boy yells at me. One of the shadow arms on his back lashes out and grabs my foot, swinging me into the air and throwing me into the wall of the ruined building. My entire body shoots with pain from the impact, and before I can recoil, the arm grabs me again and swings me into another wall. He keeps grabbing me and flinging me around, like a ragdoll, throwing me into marble beams, walls, and dirt.

He eventually throws me to the ground, which immediately sparks the idea in my head that he's showing me a bit of mercy. I try to crawl away, but before I can, he picks me up one last time and lifts me high into the air, higher than the buildings, and then throws me down very forcefully straight into the ground. My body hurts for a split second, but then I realize something. . .

. . . all his reckless actions fixed my back.

Fortunately, he doesn't lift me up again. It gives me time to shake away all the fuzziness from my brain from being flung around. After I can see decently again and the pain from my back has decreased, I begin my fight with him again. One side of my chest is hurting a lot though. I may have ruptured one of my ribs. Either way, I won't know until I get away from here and get back to the Reapers in the Dark Realm, with Zelda, Kurenai and Matsuda, in one piece.

I get up to my feet, ripping a kunai out from my belt holster and whipping it at the boy, the weapon flying through the air and straight for the boy's face. I'm sure that he's going to get hit; he's not even bothering to dodge the uncoming attack. But then, when it's only a foot away from his face, he opens his mouth, and lets his tongue cushion the weapon as it enters his mouth and slides down his throat.

Holy shit! Dex screams. That's not normal!

I curse under my breath, perfectlly agreeing with Dex's words. That's not normal at all. The fact that the kunai didn't damage his body at all when it went down his throat at such speed is miraculous. The fact that he could even swallow it is amazing enough. But what is he accomplishing by eating it? And how did he swallow it while the kunai was traveling at such a speed? Such a task would require the kunai to be moving much slower, slow enough for his mouth to get a hold of it and swallow it without choking on it. Such a task would require you to slow down time itself.

"Dex, I need you! Here, right now!" I order as I stare at the boy who's smiling back at me. He licks his lips.

I'll be there in two seconds, Link! Dex replies.

"Metal doesn't taste all that great either. . ." the boy sighs. He lifts his sword back up onto his shoulders, his body lowering and his knees bending from all the weight.

Dex, get over here. . . I think in a panic. I know that the longer I stay here, the higher chance there is of me and the rest of us not making it out of this alive.

I see a flash of light in the sky, and I look up, straying from Kronoa's gaze to meet my partner in battle. A cloud of darkness explodes out from the ash clouds above, the acid rain that's falling creating a lot more menacing look for the shadow. The shadows complete disperse as Dex lands with a thud on his feet on the hard ground, his head lowered down to the dirt before looking up with his crazed expression.

"Dex is here!" Dex cheers to himself. Then he bows as if he's just done the most spectacular thing ever. Then he looks up and points at Kronoa. "And he's here to kick your ass!"

Krona gives Dex an odd look.

"H-Hello number two. . ." he says in his crazy voice. "I'm so glad that you exist. . . otherwise I wouldn't exist. . . but then maybe it would be better if I didn't exist. . . right?"

"You got that right, you little shit," Dex sneers. Bits of twilight begin to float up from Dex's feet, forming into the black Master Sword that he's so fond of using, it's handle placing itself in his left hand. He taps the tip of the blade against his forehead jokingly. Then he sticks out his grey tongue at the boy.

"Prepare to eat dirt," he snickers.

"D-Dirt doesn't taste really good, you know," the boy wails. "I should know; Oromaru makes me eat it all the time!"

Dex raises his eyebrow. "Oromaru?" he asks. "As in the Society?"

"He's a bully!"

"Yeah, I know about Oromaru," Dex sighs. "You're Kronoa, aren't you? I remember you."

"Dex?" I ask. "What are you talking about? You know this freak?"

"Link, turn around," Dex hisses.

"What? What the hell are you talking about?"

"I said turn around. I'm taking care of this fight, okay? You get back to Zelda and the kids; I'll take care of the freak." Dex nods at me, signalling for me to leave. I back up, gripping my arm from the pain of all the impact of being thrown around, and make my way back to Zelda, where she's trying to stop Kurenai's bleeding.

When I reach her, I take my hand off my own injured arm and set my sword down so that I can reach into the medical kit attached to my belt, pulling out a roll of bandages. I rip off a huge chunk and press it down onto Kurenai's wound, desperately trying to stop the bleeding. It's not like she has many wounds; it's just that whatever wounds she does have are extremely deep. It's mainly just the gash that's on her belly that's causing all the bleeding.

"Take care of Matsuda!" I tell Zelda. She spins around, still balanced on her toes, and tries to locate all of Matsuda's burns, and thankfully, he doesn't struggle.

I tie thick layers of bandages around Kurenai's major wound, tying it as tightly as I possibly can so that the pressure remains on the wound. I can't let Dex fight on his own, I think. He nearly killed me; I don't need Dex risking his life for mine.

I grab my sword off the ground as I charge back to Dex's side, where he's holding off Kronoa's blade. The eye in the gem on Kronoa's hilt suddenly widens again, and Dex and I are both sent back by the same strange force that had sent me back just moments ago.

"D-Dammit. . ." Dex swears as he lifts himself onto his elbows. "That hurt a lot more than I thought it would. . ."

"Are you okay?" I ask him.

"Could be better, but I guess it's too late for that now, don't you think?" He reaches over and shoves my chest. "Now get the hell out of here. There's no reason for you to be in this fight."

I glare at him. "What the hell are you talking about, Dex? That thing destroyed this place, and killed Emily and Samuel! And now you're telling me there's no reason for me to be in this fight? Why do you suddenly feel there's more of a reason for you to fight than me?"

Dex climbs to his feet. "That's just the way it is, Link!" he yells. "This mess isn't your fault, it's mine!" Then his face hardens, as if what he said was something he didn't mean to. There's a short pause between us, and then I finally speak up.

"What do you mean this is your fault?" I ask. "This is the Society's fault, not yours or mine!"

"N-No it's not. . ." he sighs. "Link, I can't explain here. You just need to run. If he gets you, things are going to be worse than they are now. Much worse. So just get out of here."

"I'm not leaving!" I growl as I finally get up to my feet. Dex shoves me in the chest again.

"You are so stupid! Fighting in a battle that doesn't belong to you!" Dex growls back.

"It's not whether or not the battle belongs to me!" I yell. "I just don't need to lose any of my comrades!" I grab his shoulder with a tight grip. "And that includes you!"

Dex stares at me for a moment, and then removes my hand from my shoulder with his own. "Fine. But don't blame me if you get killed."

"I don't want anyone to die, Dex," I reply. "We have to stick up for each other; being the same person and all. Besides, what would the Deity do, if he was here?"

Dex bites his lip. "Good Din, you're too much like him. . . but I guess he would say that we have to stick together, huh? Geez, you two are way too goody-goody. I swear you two are going to get yourselves killed if you keep thinking like that."

"Could be worse," I laugh. "I could be stubborn as hell, like you."

"You are stubborn," Dex laughs back. "If you weren't, you would have left the moment I told you to."

I walk ahead of Dex with my sword in hand. "Stubborn as hell, yet supporting of his comrades; nice to have a little bit of both, don't you think."

Dex walks up next to me with his sword as well, and grins. "You know, I still don't approve of it. If you get killed, I swear I'm not coming to your funeral."

"Not coming to yours either," I snicker. "Now, let's put on a real show." I take out a kunai and grip it in my right hand. I make funny little gestures with it at Dex, waving it around playfully. "Just in case this is our finale."

Dex pulls out something from the bag attached to his belt. It's a really small bomb with a ring attached. A grenade, as Uzuki calls it. Then he pulls the ring off, and smiles at me.

"Let's start and go out with a real bang," Dex laughs as he aims and throws the bomb at Kronoa. It lands at Kronoa's feet, and he looks down at it in wonder. Dex and I jump back right before it explodes in Kronoa's face. It's not even a bomb really; more of a flash bomb than an exploding one. But it still confuses Kronoa, making him vulnerable and giving us a chance to attack. Dex and I jump at Kronoa and attack in different spots, Dex attacking his legs while I attack his torso. I can feel my blade slice through his body, so I jump back afterwards to examine the damage. Dex does the same, jumping back to the other side. We both watch as Kronoa's body – or should I say body parts – fall to the ground. Split into three pieces, his top half, middle section of his torso, and the rest of him from his waist down land next to each other. I've never gone to such a level with killing people, but now it's too late. The human feeling of murder will kick in later, as will the sickness from the sight of it and the nightmares that will occur at night.

"Ugh. . ." Dex says under his breath. I can tell that he's not enjoying the sight either. "Hopefully he doesn't come back from that. . ."

Suddenly, a loud screeching noise pierces the air.

"Spoke too soon!" I yell. I look down at Kronoa, screaming like a dying shadow beast as the pools of blood from his severed body parts start to move on their own, reconnecting themselves like wires. He continues to scream as the blood pulls his body parts back together, reforming himself until he's laying on his belly, completely whole again. He grabs his sword and pushes the blade into the ground, using it as support to lift himself up. His head hangs low as he glares at us from underneath his white white – now slightly stained from the blood. He starts to straighten his posture, his back making cracking sounds as his spine reforms and reattaches itself, and screams again to the sky, his wail piercing my eardrums. When I think about it, it's not a shadow beast that his scream reminds me of, but rather the haunting scream that once belonged to Majora's Mask when it had taken over Skull Kid's body. I remember that scream, all too well. Dex probably remembers it too; his face has formed the same sickly expression that mine has.

Kronoa stops screaming, but continues to make the odd Skull-Kid-wail as he heads for me, swinging his sword around uncontrollably.

"Now you've made me mad!" he screams. I block all of his attacks, but they just keep coming, wave after wave of strange and uncontrolled attacks. His eyes have changed to red, the same red color that possesses my eyes when I turn demon.

He's just like me.

I slide my blade off his, breaking his defense, and run to his backside, striking him in the back with my sword. The blood that flies off his body stops in midair again, and flies back into his mouth like before.

We're not going to get anywhere just slashing at him like this, I tell Dex through thought. Didn't you see the way he pulled his body back together like that?

I know, I saw it! Dex snaps back. If there really is no way to kill him, then we'll just have to hold him off!

Until when? The Reapers don't know we're here, and we can't exactly call for back up either!

We'll just have to figure something out! Dex retorts.

The boy locks his gaze on me, lifting his sword up into the air, ready to attack again. All I can do is what Dex told me to – hold the kid off until we can figure out a better plan. Although, being caught in this strange situation, I can't exactly say that I have all the time in the world to think. As the boy's sword comes down, I bring up my own, blocking the metal of his sword with the metal of mine. He presses his sword into mine, pushing me down towards the ground. He seems much stronger in physical strength than he did a few minutes ago. Could the blood that he re-absorbs into his body be making him stronger?

I fall to my knee under the strength of his sword, and I know that my guard will be broken soon.

"I'm going to cut you to pieces!" the boy hisses, his eyes filled with a lust for killing. "Your blood will make me stronger! And then I'll finally be able to take him down!"

"W-What?" I stammer. He sounds like Ganondorf. My blood will reawaken Ganondorf. . . what will my blood do to this child?

"I don't have enough of your blood!" he yells, his voice high-pitched with laughter. "Not enough! I need more, and then I'll be stronger! That's what they promised me!"

I take my right hand off the sword, and with my last bit of energy, I blow the boy back with gravity magic, using all the Soul power I have left that I can use without knocking myself out completely. The magic makes a morphed, deep noise as it explodes in a sphere of Soul, blowing Kronoa back into a marble beam, his head hitting the marble with a bang. I hear his neck snap. He looks back at me, his neck making more cracking sounds as the bones snap back into place. My stomach starts to feel woozy, and I feel the nausea coming on, but I try to hold it back by swallowing and wiping my mouth quickly. I stand up from the ground, the boy still standing against the marble, and we stare at each other, a silent battle igniting in our eyes.

I'm tired, and I'm hungry. My magic is getting low, and the smoke in the air is not only irritating my eyes and the rest of my body, but my lungs as well, making it harder for me to breath. If I keep attacking, Kronoa will just keep absorbing his blood and will most likely get stronger and stronger. And if he's the same as Ganon when it comes to my blood, one hit on me and it's all over. I can't let my pride get ahead of me; I need the Reapers to help me out. They're probably already trying to find me; I'm surprised they haven't tried contacting me with on my C.T. crystal yet. They probably figured that I would lie about where I was – they've been with me long enough to know that I like doing things on my own – and so they probably decided not to waste their time contacting me.

Kronoa and I continue to glare at each other, not taking our eyes away, not lifting our weapons, and barely even breathing. Dex is watching us, analyzing our actions and probably wondering why we're not making a move. Kronoa doesn't even look the least bit tired; and yet I'm here out of breath, and nearly on the verge of collapse. Normally, I'd still be full of energy, but all the smoke and fire and getting thrown into brick/marble walls hasn't done me all that good. I can't even get up from the position on my knees. Today's just not my day.

I need to get out of here. I need to run, as fast as I can. But he'll probably come after me. . . now that he has me weak, he probably won't let me go. Why doesn't he just make the final move already?

Kronoa lifts his heavy sword and balances it on his shoulders, wobbling on his feet slightly before catching his balance.

"G-Get up. . ." he stammers, his voice quivering again like before. "I don't like fighting people who don't want to fight! Get up!"

I glare at him. "A killer who still has honor. . ." I hiss. "What the hell are you?"

"I'm just like you. . ." he says. "No home, no control, no sanity. . ."

"You and I are not the same," I growl.

"No control," he repeats, his voice raising as he brings his sword back up. "Just no control. . ." His sword comes down, smashing it straight into the ground, causing the earth to turn up at the sides. The shockwave of air and dirt flies at me, striking me in the chest and knocking me back even further into a wall. I can feel my chest burn and sting, and I know immediately that I must be bleeding non-stop. My vision starts to blur, and my head suddenly feels like it's being banged on by a million hammers at once. Black circles start to float in front of my eyes, and my body starts to tingle. I don't feel anything, even after I see the blood explode from my mouth. My body suddenly feels limp, and in less than a second I can't feel my legs. I topple over onto my back, landing hard, my head hitting the ground with full force. But I barely feel anything.

Everything feels light and woozy, like I've been spinning around for hours on end and am now suffering from the dizziness; only dizziness doesn't make you feel nothing – even after the boy takes his sword and drives it through my heart.