The day of Armageddon has come.
It was almost instant, as soon as everything was activated, death overtook the battlefield.
"SCREEEEEEETCH!"
A creature lunged at a boy even younger than Sunny, its mandibles digging into his head before ripping off his entire face. Once his face fell, chunks of destroyed brain did also. Sunny had no time to get caught up though — a swift red scythe-like blade came crashing down upon him, this blade being a creature's arm.
He jumped back, slashing at the joint, but the blade didn't go in at all. As if mocking him, the nightmare creature rapidly spun and cut off the head of a person behind it.
Sunny couldn't use the trump card yet, as with the current situation, it would not only cause the nightmare creatures to die but the humans as well. Right now, all they had to do was gather them... that was all... but still...
An ocean formed — an ocean of blood. Organs ground, limbs dashed, spirits crushed.
Yet they rose.
A random woman swung up a mace at the head of a nightmare creature, knocking its head from its neck. Before her head could be chopped off by an approaching abomination, a young man jumped on top of it, twisting its head off like a barbarian.
Those two worked together in perfect sync; he remembered them now. It was a big deal at the party as the man had proposed to her. They were going to get married once they made it back into the waking world.
At least...
They were...
With a single splat, both of them were squished under the foot of a creature reminiscent of a bear and deer — that was if the bear was bloated to the point it looked like a balloon and the elk had bones protruding from all over its body.
A cry rang out as one of the friends of that couple ran up to it. Throwing a spear at its head, it went directly into its mouth... before being chomped and spat back out directly at the man, killing him as well.
In the air, a flying creature regurgitated some sort of liquid. When it fell on them, their skin melted all the way up to the bone, slowly dissolving them entirely.
Yet he stood.
He had to wait until the right time.
If he didn't, everyone would die... but there was another issue — the matter of the gatekeepers. Sunny couldn't deal with them; if he left, then everything would fall apart. Kai couldn't because he handled the creatures flying. Effie and Nephis were on the front lines leading the charge; if one of them left, then they would lose. Cassie could go, but there was a 90% chance that she would perish. That's when a voice rang out from behind him.
"So this is how it ends, huh?"
Pauline was there, staring in the direction of where the gate guardians would be located.
"If you give me the orders to go, then I will. The choice is in your hands now."
The choice she was giving him wasn't just a choice if she should be the one to fight them or not — she was asking him to decide if she should die for the people or if he should forsake many of them, causing their deaths. If she goes, she will die, but if she doesn't go, many will die.
But there was an underlying meaning behind her words —
A meaning only outskirt rats like them would understand.
By forsaking her, he would forsake himself. If he let her jump into the wolves, then he would abandon his roots — his hate for the many Legacies that must have been on the battlefield. It wasn't a sane thought; it was a ludicrous one only people like them would have.
"I'm sorry..."
Those were the only words he spoke while throwing her to the wolves.
Pauline went on her way to fight the gatekeepers.
It was only minutes after she left that the opportunity finally arrived. All of the nightmare creatures were gathered up close enough together, and everyone was far enough away from one to retreat.
Giving the signal to Cassie, she gave the signal, who in turn shot up a giant pillar of flames to gather attention, and then she spoke.
"EVERYONE, SHUT YOUR EYES NOW!"
Seconds after those words were spoken, Sunny let the shadows over his left eye disperse.
He jumped into the middle of the horde, making sure the blinding light that lit up the entire field hit every last one of them. Many nightmare creatures began screaming. Due to low intelligence, the effect was instantaneous, causing them to thrash around and attempt at their own lives.
But he couldn't stay here forever while everyone else got away, could he? Cassie was leading everyone away, as she had been studying the battlefield in preparation for this moment. It was an organized but blind march toward the gates.
As soon as everyone made good distance, he ripped out his left eye, not bothering to get a new one, and left it in the middle of the horde.
Now that he could see the eye, the effects happened to him also. With the last of his remaining unaffected mental strength, he wrapped shadows around his one remaining eye, using shadow sense to follow the crowd.
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By the time they arrived, the gates were open, coral bodies scattered around. The remaining survivors rushed into the corridors.
Sunny didn't though.
Next to the entrance of the doors, leaning on the coral wall, was Pauline, who was dying. The fact she was able to hold on despite the fact half of her stomach was gone shocked him.
With a pained smile on her face, she spoke, her voice hoarse and weak.
"Don't feel sorry now... what's done is done."
He clenched his fist, watching people blatantly run past her like she wasn't the reason they could enter those gates in the first place.
His stomach turned and his body began to shake. Were these the people he decided to save? Is this what it meant to be a hero? Seeing the expressions of those who pushed others back to get in the doors first and even try to shut the coral doors on others.
His head once more turned to Pauline, whose smile never left.
"People who kill moths are seen as good — getting rid of pests... but those who kill butterflies are seen as cruel, they are seen as wicked..."
Her eyes that were about to close for the rest of time locked with his.
"Me and you are moths."
She stuck her bloody hand out — a hand that would never be stuck out again.
"But oh, how I dreamed of being one of those ignorant and ever-so-beautiful butterflies..."
Tears leaked from her dimming eyes, tears that will never come again.
"Yet even so... even if you told me to stay, I would have gone anyway... and I'm sure you would do the same..."
For the first time, Pauline had smiled at him with teeth — the last smile she would ever give.
"We truly are fools, aren't we...?"
And with the last words she would ever speak, she did it ever so gently.
"I have a disdain for heroes... fools though? Fools I have quite a soft spot for..."
Nobody was left. Everyone had already entered.
Sunny walked up to Pauline, closing her eyes for the last time.
"Your nightmare is over... rest well... you beautiful butterfly."
With those words, he walked through those coral doors.