The forest was silent.

The screams had faded into the distance. They were just a memory now.

But the horror remained.

Marcus stared at the spot where Elowen had been.

There was nothing left. Just disturbed earth and a few drops of blood.

The insects had taken everything.

Marcus felt a cold shiver run through his body.

He had seen death before. He had died once himself.

But this was different.

This was cruelty on a level he could not comprehend.

He looked at the woman standing in the moonlight.

She looked calm. She looked peaceful.

She looked like a goddess of death.

Marcus swallowed hard. His throat felt dry and scratchy.

He tried to process what he had just witnessed.

Elowen was strong. She was a noble who had combat abilities to fight.

She had beaten Marcus almost effortlessly. She had toyed with him at one point as well

But this woman had ended her in seconds.

She didn't use a sword. She didn't use a spell chant.

It was as if she just willed and the world obeyed.

Marcus looked at her face.

It was pale. It was beautiful.

And it was terrifyingly familiar.

He looked at her eyes. They were black voids.

They were the same eyes that had stared at him in the carriage.

The same eyes that had watched him in the dungeon.

"The little girl," Marcus whispered.

But it made no sense.

The girl in the dungeon was a child. She was small and frail.

This woman was an adult. She was tall and commanding.

Marcus blinked. He tried to clear his vision.

Was it an illusion? Was it a transformation?

He remembered the concealment spell. The way she had blurred their bodies.

Maybe the child form was the disguise. Maybe this was her true self.

Or maybe she was something else entirely. Something ancient.

Marcus felt a knot form in his stomach.

He was standing in front of a monster. A monster that killed other monsters.

Was she an ally?

She had saved him. She had stopped Elowen's blade.

But the way she did it...

The cruelty. The curse. The insects.

It wasn't the act of a hero. It was the act of a punisher.

She turned her head slowly. Her black eyes locked onto his.

Marcus froze.

His instincts screamed at him.

Run.

But he couldn't run. His legs wouldn't move.

She stared at him. Her expression was flat. It was unreadable.

She didn't smile. She didn't frown.

She just observed.

Marcus felt like an insect under a magnifying glass.

He wondered if she would curse him too.

He gripped the hilt of his broken dagger. It was a useless gesture.

If she wanted him dead, he would die.

But she didn't raise her hand.

She just stood there. Waiting.

Marcus let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

She wasn't attacking. Not yet.

He needed to speak. He needed to understand.

He tried to push himself up, but his body screamed in protest.

His ribs were broken. His back was slashed open. His arm was stabbed.

Pain exploded in his chest. It felt like hot iron.

"Urgh," Marcus groaned.

He gritted his teeth, but he forced his legs to work and pushed off the tree root.

He wobbled, but somehow managed to stand.

He swayed on his feet, as he felt lightheaded.

He looked at the woman and she hadn't moved yet.

She watched his struggle with that same detached interest.

Marcus took a step forward.

He needed to thank her, and maybe ask her name.

He needed to know who she really was.

"Who..." Marcus croaked.

His voice was a whisper. It cracked in his dry throat.

He took another step.

"...are y..."

The words died on his lips.

His legs gave out.

His muscles simply stopped working.

The adrenaline was gone and the blood loss was too much.

He felt the world tilt and he saw the ground rushing up to meet him.

'Oh shit,' Marcus thought.

It was a calm thought. A factual observation.

And before he could feel the impact, darkness rose up and swallowed him whole.

✧✧✧

Marcus opened his eyes.

He was standing in darkness.

There was no ground. There was no sky.

There was just endless, absolute darkness.

It was heavy and thick. It swallowed everything.

He looked down at his hands, but he couldn't see them.

He touched his chest. No pain.

His ribs felt whole under his fingers. His back felt fine.

Marcus looked around. There was nothing but the void.

"Am I dead?" he asked aloud.

His voice didn't echo. It just vanished into the gloom.

"Again?"

He sighed. He rubbed the back of his neck.

"That was short," he muttered. "I didn't even get to the war arc."

He felt a strange sense of calm. No panic. No fear.

Just acceptance.

He looked into the distance. Or what passed for distance in this abyss.

He saw something.

It was a small speck. A single dot of pure white light.

It was the only thing visible in the entire universe.

It was far away.

Marcus stared at it.

He didn't know what it was. But he felt a pull.

It wasn't a physical pull. It was a sensation in his chest.

Like a magnet. Or a hook.

He took a step.

There was no sound of footsteps. But he moved.

He took another step. Then another.

He started walking toward the light.

The dot didn't seem to get any closer.

Marcus picked up the pace. He started to jog.

He felt light. Weightless.

He looked down. He couldn't see his legs moving in the dark, but he felt the motion.

"This feels... nice," Marcus thought.

He hadn't felt this light in years. Even before he died on Earth.

He started to run.

He pumped his arms. He stretched his stride.

He ran faster.

He ran faster than he ever had in his life.

But he didn't get tired.

His lungs didn't burn. His muscles didn't ache.

He just felt speed.

He ran for minutes.

Or maybe it was hours.

Or days.

Time didn't exist here. There was only the run.

The white dot began to grow.

It went from a speck to a marble.

From a marble to a ball.

Marcus kept running. He felt a sense of purpose.

He needed to reach it. He didn't know why. He just knew.

The ball grew larger.

It became the size of a house. Then a castle.

Then a mountain.

Marcus slowed down, then skidded to a stop.

He stood in front of it.

It was a sphere. A perfect, glowing white sphere.

It was massive.

It hovered just a few feet "above" the non-existent ground.

And it loomed over him.

It pulsed gently, like a beating heart made of light.

It cast a soft glow into the surrounding darkness, finally illuminating Marcus's face.

Marcus stared up at it. He felt small.

He felt a sense of awe.

"What are you?" Marcus whispered.

The sphere didn't answer. It just pulsed.

Thrum. Thrum.

Marcus felt the vibration in his bones.

He reached out his hand.

He didn't think about it, his body moved on its own.

He wanted to touch it. He needed to touch it.

He stepped closer.

The light was warm on his skin. It felt like sunlight on a spring day.

He extended his fingers and then pressed his palm against the surface of the sphere.

It was solid. Yet soft.

Like touching condensed air.

Then, it reacted.

The sphere shuddered.

Cracks of light appeared on the surface. They spread outward from his hand.

They raced across the massive curve.

Snap.

Crackle.

The sound was like breaking glass.

The sphere began to disintegrate.

It didn't explode. It dissolved.

The solid white surface broke apart into millions of tiny particles.

They looked like fireflies. Or sparks.

They floated up into the endless darkness, and danced in the air.

It was beautiful.

Marcus watched them fade.

And the massive object was gone, just like that.

He stood alone in the pitch black again.

"Well," Marcus said. "That happened."

He lowered his hand.

He waited for something else. A gate? A voice? God?

But nothing came.

The faint light from the particles vanished.

The darkness embraced him completely. It was heavy and thick.

He felt himself falling.

Not physically falling. But sinking.

He lost the feeling of his arms. Then his legs.

He was just a mind floating in the dark.

Then, sensation returned.

It came back all at once.

Pain.

Dull, throbbing pain in his chest.

Sharp stings in his back.

Cold air on his skin.

He tried to take a breath, but he couldn't.

Something was pressing down on him. Something heavy.

He gasped. It was a short, shallow sound.

He felt suffocated. His ribs screamed in protest.

Marcus opened his eyes.

He saw the night sky. It was full of stars and the moon, which was half and bright.

But something was blocking his view of the constellations.

A face hung over him. It was upside down.

Two small, black horns poked downward into his field of vision.

It was the dragon girl.

She was kneeling just above his head, peering down at him with wide, unblinking blue eyes.

She looked worried. Or... curious.

Marcus blinked.

He was back. He wasn't dead.

He tried to move, but he felt weighed down.

The dragon girl didn't move. She just kept staring at him.

Marcus felt a wave of relief. She was safe.

But that wasn't what was crushing his lungs.

He looked further down toward his chest.

Sitting right on top of his stomach was a grey lump.

It was fuzzy and it had one button eye.

The bear.

The small, stuffed toy was sitting squarely on Marcus's broken ribs.

Marcus stared at the bear.

The bear stared back.

The button eye glinted in the moonlight.

The bear raised a stubby paw.

"Yo," the bear said. His voice was squeaky and casual.

"Short time no see."

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