Alone, engulfed by pain, I struggled against the darkness gnawing at my mind. She had tried to tear away the one thing that kept me human. In this world of abilities, my life had been shaped by nothing but suffering at the hands of those who wielded power. A twisted reflection of everything I had endured. All you humans have ever done is torture me, feed me pain, and make me suffer. And now, when I've finally found something worth cherishing, you want to take that from me too.
Why?
Why must I suffer?
Michael wondered. I wondered. We wondered.
Blood trickled from my eyes and ears. My entire body trembled as I endured the agony, desperately clinging to the precious memories of my beloved. Every smile, every glance, every word she had ever spoken. These memories were all I had left to hold on to. Pieces of her that no amount of pain could take away.
Perhaps every human deserved their end. Perhaps the world would be better without them. But my beloved was innocent. She had done nothing to deserve the cruelty of this world, and I refused to let it swallow her.
I wanted to die. I truly did. Yet I couldn't leave her alone in a world filled with dangers, surrounded by people who would hurt her without a second thought. I didn't need to be beside her every moment. I didn't need her to hold my hand or reassure me that everything would be alright. Just knowing she was safe was enough.
Her voice...
Her voice was my sanctuary. My solace in a world that had given me nothing but misery. Every time I saw her, even for the briefest moment, something inside this hollow shell came alive. Her presence filled the emptiness with light, with hope, with love. She reminded me that there was still something beautiful left in this miserable existence.
That was why I would not fall.
Not here. Not now.
No matter what those damned arrows did to my mind, I would hold on to her. I would walk, crawl, bleed and break if I had to. I would find you, my love. I would endure every ounce of this world's suffering for as long as I could hear your voice.
Michael rose.
His legs trembled beneath him, and every movement sent another wave of agony coursing through his body. He took one step, then another. His breathing was ragged, his vision blurred, but he continued. What began as an agonising walk gradually became a series of desperate leaps. Soon, I was moving again, forcing this battered body to obey.
Finally, Michael stepped beneath the blazing sun.
The pain remained. The blood had not stopped flowing, and whatever Nome had done to his mind continued to torment him. But he pressed on for his "little girl."
I'm coming for you.
And I will find you. Always.
He drew a deep breath and tightened every muscle in his body. His resolve hardened, pushing aside the weakness threatening to drag him back to the ground. Then he broke into a run.
The dry earth blurred beneath his feet. Dust rose with every stride as he accelerated, his body cutting through the scorching air. The sun beat relentlessly against his skin, but he refused to slow down. His only tether to humanity was her, and that alone was enough to keep him moving.
He pushed harder.
Faster.
His speed climbed beyond 60 mph, each stride carrying him further across the barren landscape. His mind was a storm of pain and determination, but one thought remained clear.
Elizabeth.
As he ran, his thoughts drifted towards Emox. Reaching the college had never been easy, and the institution had clearly designed its grounds to prevent students from meeting one another. Its vast, isolated territories were deliberately separated, forcing each student to fend for themselves. They had been thrown into an environment where beasts roamed freely, where survival was the first lesson and strength determined who would make it through.
Only the strongest would emerge.
At least, that was what Michael understood.
Yet another problem remained.
Nome.
That girl was still out there, somewhere in this enormous wilderness, and she had already demonstrated just how dangerous she could be. Her arrows had done something to him, something he barely understood. Even now, their effects lingered, threatening to tear apart the memories he was desperately trying to protect.
In his current condition, confronting her again would be foolish. He was injured, exhausted and fighting an ability he didn't understand. If they crossed paths, he wasn't confident he would survive.
He needed to become stronger. More importantly, he needed to understand what she had done to him.
But one question continued to gnaw at his thoughts.
How was she still alive?
He remembered driving a knife towards her. He remembered the worms, the arrows and the way she had disappeared into the shadows. Yet there she was, standing before him as though death had never been an option.
What exactly was Nome?
Before he could pursue the thought any further, the ground beneath his feet began to tremble.
A cloud of dust surged across the barren landscape, growing larger with every passing second. Something was approaching at tremendous speed, kicking up enough debris to obscure the ground behind it.
Michael narrowed his eyes.
Then a voice pierced through the rushing wind.
"HELP ME!"
A girl's desperate scream.