My first thought was that I must be back in the shadowy place that Zephyr made portals through, it was so dark. But here I could see myself. It was like my body was completely lit up from all directions, but I was surrounded by complete darkness. It was neither warm, nor cold, and the air was completely still. And even though it wasn't cold, a chill went down my spine.

It felt like I was trapped in a void.

But I wasn't alone in this void.

Ahead of me stood the blurry form of Meliodas. Compared to my solid body, his image was oddly dark and murky. He was facing away from me, and I could see a hint of dark purple swirls on his neck and one shoulder.

"Meliodas-san?" My voice echoed strangely through the dark as I took a step forward and placed my hand on his shoulder. Only, I couldn't. My hand passed right through him, and upon my touch, he vanished, blowing away like dust in the wind. "M-Meliodas?" But he was gone. There was no one to answer my worried cry.

I was alone.

Purely, completely, utterly alone.

I had thought that I was alone during the festival when everyone went to fight, but at least everyone was still around. I could've found someone if I'd looked for them, as I had found Diane. But here, there was no one for me to find. Despair filled my heart, and I tried calling out the names of everyone I knew, knowing it was in vain. I couldn't help it. Something about this place seemed to be messing with my emotions, making me more upset than I would normally be. Normally I might try to calmly assess this situation - perhaps with some stress and a little tears - but not like this. Somewhere in my mind I knew this, but that part of my mind seemed to be being blocked, unable to affect the rest of me.

It was like the darkness itself was eating at me, and I suddenly all the negative emotions I had ever felt came crashing down on me. Sorrow. Anger. Despair. Horror. Hatred. Envy. Fear. Grief. Doubt. Frustration. Shame. Guilt. They all flashed through me, fighting to surface, and I couldn't help but to scream.

Tears streamed down my face, blurring my vision. Past the tears, colors started to flood the void around me, and by the time I'd blinked and wiped the wetness away, a landscape had taken form. A landscape I had hoped to never see again.

A village burned around me. The village of Voryn, which had disappeared from maps thousands of years ago. Due to this very incident. This was the village that I had lived in after being exiled from the Fairy King's Forest. Bandits had started the fire while robbing a member of the village. It had been during a drought, so the fire had spread swiftly, and the bandits had used the commotion to ransack the homes that the townsfolk were abandoning.

Screams of fear and pain rang throughout the village, but one was more familiar than the rest. And when I heard that voice, it was like I wasn't in control of my body anymore. I rose up off the ground and flew between burning buildings, taking the same path I had taken all those years ago.

I could feel all those emotions I had felt a moment ago grow stronger, but the strongest emotion of all that I felt right now was dread. Dread for what was at the end of this path I was taking. I tried to resist but it was like I was a prisoner of my own body. All I could do was watch what had already happened. I couldn't even close my eyes to block out what I was going to see.

The fire was getting hotter around me, as I got closer to the epicenter of the fire - the origin of the familiar scream. I practically shot into an opening in the buildings. Beside me, a smaller house crackled as it collapsed into itself upon my arrival, charred to a crisp. But that wasn't the center of my attention.

No no no no no….

My gaze settled on a group of people in mismatched armor - bandits - surrounding a young man. The man had been trying to stop their ransacking - he had been for a while now, while Zephyranthes and I had been evacuating people from the flames. Normally the young man had messy dirty blond hair, but right now in was singed and dark, slicked down from sweat and blood. His deep blue eyes were filled with panic as they flicked to the bodies that littered the area - bodies of other townsfolk that had stayed behind to help him fight off the bandits.

"Kay!" My mouth called his name of its own volition. I wanted to turn away. I didn't want to see this next part. I'd had nightmares of it for many years, and now here it was, in front of me, again.

Kay tilted his head to look at me. Relief filled his gaze and his face relaxed slightly, whether it was because I was safe or because he thought I could help him, I would never know.

Taking advantage of the distraction of my appearance, the lead bandit struck out, plunging his swords directly into Kay's stomach. He ripped it to the side with a gut-wrenching tearing sound, forming a large, deadly gouge. Blood started pouring out of the wound, staining Kay's blue tunic red.

The young man coughed, spraying blood, before doubling over and clenching his stomach. I could just barely hear him murmur "Zinnia…" before he collapsed.

"KAY!" The name hurt my throat, I screamed so loud. The horror of the sight overwhelmed me. It was the only thing I could feel. I felt like my heart was going to rip itself out of my chest. But then the anger came when I looked again at Key's attackers.

Within the prison of my mind, I could feel the emotions from before growing stronger, and darkness seemed to be seeping in from the corners of my perception. I could feel something about myself beginning to slip away.

"Dyrnwyn First Form: Dyrnwyn!" I dropped the cloak that I had forgotten was bundled up in my arms before it could transform. Before the light from the transformation could even dissipate, I motioned with my hands, causing the spear to fly towards the men surrounding the fallen Kay. One tried to dodge, but I twisted the spear so that it caught his shoulder, slicing a deep gash into him. I continued attacking the men, slicing through their leather armor like it was paper. I got all of the archers first to prevent them shooting me out of the sky. Whenever one of the remainder went after me, I would just fly above them, out of reach, before cutting them down with Dyrnwyn. Within moments, all of the men were down from my flying weapon, save the leader.

When I looked at this man, tall, with dark hair and a well-polished blade dripping with the blood of one of my dearest friends, I could only feel hatred. Even with so many of his men lying, dead or dying, around his feet, he looked confident in his abilities; it was like he thought that he could beat me with one arm tied behind his back. I wanted to give him a slow death as revenge for what he'd done, but I also just wanted him gone as soon as possible.

"Dyrnwyn Fourth Form: Increase," I said with deathly calm. The spear flashed, and now the bandit was surrounded on all sides by crescent blades. I could only see the uncertainty appear in his eyes for a moment before he was struck from all sides at once, causing an instant death. He looked like a pincushion before I returned Dyrnwyn to its cloak form and grabbed it. "Too good for him…" I muttered under my breath.

Shaking my head to try to clear it of thoughts of the bandits, I dashed over to Kay's side.

"Zinnia…" he repeated, shakily holding out his hand to me.

He's still alive! I could hear myself think the words. I took a moment to think about how odd it was to hear the thoughts from a past event before being pulled back into the scene around me.

I clasped his outstretched hand in both of mine, tears running rampant down my face. "Kay! D-don't worry. I'll get you out of here! I think I remember Zephyr getting the doctor out of town. Zephyr was injured in the fires, so he can't get you, but I'm sure I can! You're fine! You're going to be fine! And if not…" I removed one of my hands from his to clench the fabric of my cloak tighter to my chest.

But I could already see that his sapphire eyes were duller than they normally were. His mind seemed to be far away. "Zinnia… I remember when you first came to the village… I thought that you were just a girl… close to my age… When you told me… that you were a fairy… I just laughed…" He smiled, more blood dripping out of the edge of his mouth as he gave a slight cough. "'Where… are your wings?'... I had asked…" His eyes gained a little bit of focus and he looked at me. It was like he was looking into my soul. I felt almost as though he could see the current me, trapped in the past me's mind. His words started to be more broken, with longer breaths in between. "I… I wish… I could have lived... to see them… I'm certain… that your wings… will be the most beautiful… anyone… has ever… seen…" His words trailed off into silence.

"O-of course you'll get to see them! You can… You're going to…" But he had stopped breathing, and his eyes were completely glassed over.

Kay was dead.

All of the emotions that were building broke loose. Out of the corner of my tear filled eye, I saw darkness inching swiftly across my body, followed by a tingling feeling that felt both hot and cold at the same time. I screamed. And after that, darkness. I couldn't remember what had happened after that. All I knew was that when I awoke later, the town was in ruins, and even the villagers that Kay and I had been trying to protect were dead.