The cathedral was empty as I pushed open the doors. The only thing that stood to meet me was the statue of Aura. She seemed to be the only one who was always here.

What else was I expecting?

I advanced toward her, pushing my palms against the cold fenced barrier that separated us. I stared into her stone face, wondering just what exactly she had seen.

Maybe, just maybe, there had been others like myself. Others who were trapped in this game, not knowing where to turn next and just hoping and praying that one day, they'll be able to return to the real world. But maybe there could have been others who enjoyed The World more, loved it more, than their true lives?

"How sad," I whispered to myself.

How sad that must be to hate your life so much that you have to escape it with a game, with artificial people, with an entirely different "you."

How sad.

I thought of my sister. She was doing just that: escaping everything with this game. How strange it must be to her (or unfair, I might think) that her own flesh and blood, the person who was so completely against video games of any sort, was the one who was trapped in the place she considers hers?

Poor Tsukiko. How terrible was her life with Mom? Was she picked on at school? Nobody had the right to pick on her, if that happened. Nobody.

I wondered how many hours of her life she wasted in this fake world. Who had she met that made it so amazing? Who were the ones to help her through her troubles without even meeting her face-to-face? I would like to meet those people.

My poor sister. How sad.

"Why are you here?"

I turned to face the voice who directed the question toward me. Balmung stood in the doorway, the outside sunset making his body look as if it were on fire. Who was he to ask such a thing?

My mouth opened to reply to him, but only soft struggled whimpers came from it. I tried pushing the words out that no, don't you dare ask me that, this is mine just as much as it is yours, but that only caused intense pain in my stomach and throat.

"Answer me, damn you," his velvet voice demanded as he began toward me. I backed up only a tiny bit before I hit the barrier. A sword was drawn and swung at me, but I ducked just in time.

What is going on? What the hell is going on?

I found the biggest opening, just a small part between his left leg and the barrier and pushed myself through. My legs couldn't move fast enough as I headed toward the door. Within just a few seconds, Balmung was right in front of me, glaring down at me.

"You don't deserve to be here," he told me in a deadpan voice. "You don't deserve any of The World."

Leave me alone…Balmung, just leave me alone.

I pushed against his chest, watching with an evanescent sense of delight as he toppled backward into one of the pews. Wasting no time, I turned around the other way to run, but he was there. It was as if I hadn't pushed him in the first place.

Warp out…warp out…dammit!

It didn't work. As I stared into those bloodcurdling eyes and repeated those words in my head, my body started to shake with words that wouldn't leave my mouth. The fear was pushing them back down into my throat.

"Don't shed your pathetic tears here, you bitch," Balmung spat out, lifting a finger to wipe at the tears that had spilled over long ago.

I heard the echo of the back of his hand collide with my cheek. Everything went numb as I tumbled to the ground. My blurred eyes settled on Aura, who was no longer a statue, but a picture of the real thing.

Her blue eyes locked with mine and her head tilted to the side. Her soft-looking skin was bruised with where the chains were wrapped so tightly around her.

Her feet moved toward me. The tender sound of her bare skin smacking against the glossy floor synced with the rhythm of my heartbeat in my ears. She knelt down, looking with utter concern at my face. The blood running from my nose went straight toward her. She didn't acknowledge it when the liquid stained her skin, squished between her tiny toes.

"How sad," she muttered, touching my cheek. Her palm was warm. So warm, that I ignored my urged to hold onto it for dear life.

A foot, one not belonging to a young girl, kicked me over onto my back. I gazed up in defeat at Balmung, whose eyes had changed completely.

There were no eyeballs. They had transformed into empty black caves from which a red substance spilled over from.

"See, Rin?" he asked. His voice was no longer his. It was something much deeper with a grisly edge to it. "We are the same, from the skin we cut to the blood we bleed."

What are you…talking about?

"Knight," Aura addressed him, tilting her eyes up to his. She stood and moved to his side, grabbing onto his hand. "Put her out of pain."

With his free hand, Balmung lifted his blade and pointed the tip toward me. I couldn't breathe through the blood that was now coming from my mouth.

"I will fix you," Aura told me.

The blade's tip seemed to sparkle as it was raised just a few inches higher. Balmung smiled, a smile flashing eerie jagged teeth, and plunged it downward.

"NO!"