🏆 THE AMBY AWARDS 2023 TOP PICK - DIVERSE LIT 🏆
It's Rin and Hye-jin against the world. Or so it should have been.
Nagara Rin and Joon Hye-jin, college sweethearts and passionate gamers, have lived a fairytale marriage. Not even a decade after did...
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"Not so fast, you mutt!" a familiar voice spoke from the afterlife. A whish of energy and wind drove my matted hair off my eyes. My body crashed against something soft and lumpy. A body. Made from organic matter. Probably. Arms supported my back and the back of my knees. I was being carried. Then, we hurtled to the ground in a blur of white and yellow-green.
I rolled to a stop, a groan flying out of my lips when I tried to right myself. I succeeded in climbing into all fours, my chest still heaving huge gulps of air. What just happened?
"Seline, get up," Iruna said somewhere above me. My legs followed despite my head not quite understanding what was going on. "I'll give you both some time. Get out of here."
The features and the memories clicked. "Iruna," I said, relief washing over the burns in my gut. "What about you?"
The girl looked back at me with a grin. "My job is here," she said. "Go. I'll free Kora soon."
Before I could ask how in Haalor's horns did Iruna know Rin's name, she bounded off towards the netherbeast, some kind of white light dancing in her fingertips. A loud thud after, the beast collapsed to the ground, its flank burned to a crisp. Holy shi—
"Go!" Iruna yelled as she went after Arzo next. "Get out of here! Live to tell the tale!"
I was about to dash back into the fray when a hand gripped my arm. I whirled, fist already hurling towards their face. A warm hand stopped it and I found my face inches from Rin's. "That's enough," he whispered, his face grim and streaked with dust and blood. "Let's go."
My lips curled in on themselves and I allowed myself one last, lingering glance. Iruna yelled as she met Arzo's dark whips with her pure-white magic. Lightning crackled and shrieked. The whole room shook. Debris and shards quivered before breaking off their home and falling to the ground.
It's time to go.
"Come on," I felt Rin's gentle tug on my arm. Despite the weight digging in my heart, I followed Rin out of the room. For the first time since coming into this world, the corridors were quiet as we tore through them.
"When we face Arzo again, I'm not letting your skills out," Rin said, his breaths loud against the stillness of the dim hallway. We turned a corner, this one not any more familiar to me than the last one we left. "But we might be able to cheat the system."
That's Rin, alright. Always looking for a way to make the situation work better for him. Always looking for the smallest needle's eye to squeeze himself through. "What is it?"
He threw a glance at me. His eyes reflected so much uncertainty and fear—more than during the years we've spent together combined. "I'll cast Skill lock repeatedly and inaudibly, just so Arzo couldn't predict when you would have your skills and when you don't," he held out his hand and summoned a dagger into it. "You'll be the wildcard. Use whatever skill you thought would be best in the situation. The only thing I will be controlling is the when."
