The ashes before Strife

Episode 8 : Sunlight ; 2

I pushed his concern aside and quickly jogged to where the camp was seeing Damian with his hand on the shaky wall.

He looked behind him staring at me with glee on his face smiling to the supposed end of our boredom. I placed my hand on the wall sensing 3 earth mages along with 5 others digging the hole heading right above us, I pulled Damian back a few steps to stop the rocks from falling onto his head but as I looked behind me I saw a giant grey beetle-like creature looking at us with a row of canine teeth smiling "Eloy, Damian I don't think we're out of it yet."

They then turned around seeing the beetle in shock. "Did it come alone?"

"If it did then this makes things simple," I sensed down the cave seeing several more like it on their way here along with a horde of other insects not far behind

"But we're so close why now?!" Damian's panic consumed him as he began to hyperventilate. I knocked him out and rested him on the floor beside Eloy "That may have been the best choice Incursik but now were a man down!" He drew his new bow shooting a fire arrow into its head killing it as two more emerged.

"Yeah, we are." I pulled my swords out of their sheaths on my waist readying to fight "you stay here! The second the exit opens up shout for me, and close it up if I'm not back after fifteen seconds"

As I began to attack them coursing purple lightning into my blades Eloy grabbed my arm stopping me "are you crazy kid?! You are in no condition to fight let alone stand! One wrong move and those stitches will open up. That moment could be your death!" I shocked his hand off with electricity and started moving forward again.

"Yeah, your right. But I can't help but think that this makes it even then. For them, I mean" I burst forward igniting the ashreaver technique slicing the two beetles in half and shooting two streams of purple chain lightning killing the rest of the beetles as a swarm of purple centipedes came gushing in. Just what caused them to come at us in a frenzy? Was it the egg's odor or my blood from earlier?

I shot myself forward crashing into them with an explosion of fire dispersing them all over the ravine covering it in burnt cinders as many fell into the darkness below and some flew into the ceiling.

I struck my sword into several of the centipedes' heads with my white flame covered swords creating large swings cutting each wave apart but having to take a few steps back as the horde came charging in, this repeated for the next few minutes, whenever a large cluster of them would gather up I'd charge into them and use myself as the epicenter of an explosion to gain ground then swing my sword repeatedly.

"Incursik they're here! Hurry!!!" I diverted my attention to listening to Eloy's voice and in that second one emerged from the sides biting into my leg injecting its venom. I ripped it off my leg burning it to a crisp as I felt my leg numb from the poison "paralysis *huff* it just had to be paralysis."

I then ran back as quickly as I could dragging my paralyzed leg along the floor and emerged from the corner to see a hole in the ceiling with several people looking behind me in horror.

I erected a wall of fire to slow them down and released the stitches on my wounds to divert them to focus on alchemy to get rid of the paralysis before it spread to the rest of my body which worked but now blood leaked out of me leaving a trail as I ran making it even harder to focus on the poison still in me.

I wanted to change it using alchemy but if I made one wrong move I could lose my entire leg.

Several purple centipedes with golden pincer legs and mandibles ignored the fire running through it hungry for my blood as many others burnt to a crisp on impact

A man called out "hurry!" It just had to be as we were getting saved, didn't it!? The biggest then dived through the air to eat me and I raised my white fiery sword cutting it in half grasping onto a wound on my stomach with my other hand as I spun around.

Its body's sides landed on either side of me and then as my hand was still raised I shot two giant icicles at the centipedes pinning them down as they violently screamed at me snapping their mandibles.

As I struggled to limp under the hole as the paralysis spread up my body, I mustered my magic creating a platform of ice beneath me shooting me up the hole clogging it as I began to pass out from the loss of blood and paralysis spreading to the rest of my body hearing shouts right next to me but I smiled as I could see the edge of the sun at the end of the tunnel.

I then found myself in a black room slowly turning into a memory "round 3 down memory lane then? After two years this is certainly a surprise."

It formed a rusted old bridge with several abandoned cars on it over a river with a salty breeze while silven sat by himself on the edge looking at the blue seawater on the railings violently throwing about his blonde hair.

I joined him watching the sun fall into the water seeing my reflection below getting ready to witness the events unfurl before me "I thought you might be here silven" the two of us turned and I grew wide-eyed when I saw the beautiful ginger-haired Alice in a flowing white dress leaning against the railings next to me in between her and Silven. "I heard all that happened from the others... wanna tell me why you killed her?"

She looked at him through me with the same caring green eyes she always had "it's because I didn't want her to go through what I did. Being trapped in that room all day long getting the bare minimum no matter what I did. It wasn't living, I was nothing more than a corpse that could talk."

She giggled at Silven's response sliding her feet dancing around silven getting closer to him on the other side "so you are saying you did it so no one would have to inherit your pain?"

Silven nodded in silence as she then punched him in the back nearly pushing him off "you really need to work on that weak heart of yours Silven. There's always going to be pain in this world but now that no one is there to inherit yours your family is going to come looking for you again. You fooled them into thinking you were dead once but I doubt you can do it again."

Silven looked at her getting off the rails and standing on the stone path looking at her with a smile "then what do you suggest I do then?"

The ginger-haired girl smiled leaning closer to his face "Become so prominent as a knight that there is almost no one who can deny you. Then dismantle your family. Simple right?"

I chuckled alongside silven enjoying this happy memory knowing the fate that befell my family and how I only needed to lift a finger for it. "Now come on. I found some fruit seeds and everyone's planting them in the park. I'm sure they'd love it if big brother Silven Windrega is there."

The blond-haired boy and ginger-haired girl then began walking off as I stared at them from behind happy, remembering just how critical Alice was for me as Silven, if it weren't for her I may not have finished my training to become an arch knight in four years. "Thank you... for reminding me about this."

The world then caved in on top of me as I continued to stare at the fragmenting shards of memory of the girl walking away.