Dawn- An age of Darkness

With each breath came the pause, getting wider and wider by the second. I couldn\'t feel my pulse anymore. The same had happened before. But it wasn\'t over yet. The dragon was yet to be dead. Xerphas was still moving. "But Ashirnae said-"It tried to get up with its shaky legs.

"Unfortunately Ashirnae isn\'t all-knowing." I got up, coated the mystic blade in cold light on my right hand and my other sword on my left transparent hand. Xerphas was almost up. It had a hole in its chest with my knife sticking out. But it wasn\'t dead. 

I grinned with bloodied teeth and ran. Every muscle in my body felt like ripping off, but I didn\'t stop. I couldn\'t. Not anymore. Not after what I\'d been through and not after what I witnessed. If I stopped now, then what was the point of going through all this pain? What was the point of going through all this suffering, all these sacrifices? I couldn\'t stop. "I\'m not going to let anyone take anything from me ever again! Not gods and not even the devil!"

I shoved both of the swords in Xerphas\'s head. It twitched uncontrollably and glared at me. I shoved them deeper.

"SO that\'s what drives you." His voice ran across the battlefield. "You do possess it after all…." I didn\'t give a damn about what he was saying. "But you\'re too naive."

I threw up blood and fell flat on my back. I didn\'t have any strength left: my transparent arm disappeared. 

Dick was barely standing where he was and Lianne came rushing to my side.

My vision blurred. 

"Looks like my friends are here," Dick chuckled. I was dying and the guy was laughing. Didn\'t he have any common sense? He was barely standing and he still had the audacity to laugh so sarcastically?

How was he different from that one certain geezer?

"Time\'s up, it seems." Ashirnae flew back. 

Dick clicked his tongue but came towards me instead of running towards him.

Ashirnae grinned at us, hiding behind his cape again. "I hope you\'ll entertain me some more the next time we meet." His voice faded. "You were more fun than I thought. Let\'s have more fun…"

But I certainly didn\'t want to.

I still had some potions left and an elixir too. But I didn\'t have any mana left and I couldn\'t speak either. Lianne\'s lap was really soft. I wish I could rest like that without dying. 

Lianne was crying. The last time she cried like that was when her father almost died. 

At least she cares about me. 

"That was a close one, wasn\'t it?" Dick ran his mouth like nothing was out of the ordinary. I couldn\'t keep my eyes open anymore. "You can just rest now. I\'ll take care of the rest." There were still thousands of dragons left in the sky. The dragons however weren\'t going on frenzy. They just hovered, occasionally throwing acid. 

It wasn\'t over yet and I couldn\'t afford to go unconscious. Not yet! The blue tint of my body faded and more blood gushed out from my mouth. 

"Argh!" I groaned and moaned. I couldn\'t believe I was so exhausted. I couldn\'t believe, I did it again. I couldn\'t believe, I was dying.

This time there was no one to save me. This had to be it. This had to be my death. I didn\'t mind it though. It was better than letting someone else die for my sake. But for some reason, I didn\'t want to die.

I was a human after all.

"Daarc…." A rather cute bunny girl held my hand. "Daarc."

She called my name. I hated it, but my love for bunnies still lingered even in my death bed.

But she didn\'t just stand there crying, she passed on mana to the ring. Did she know what happened and how it worked? We did run into her back in the forest, so there was a chance. I guess I owed Alisa more than I credited.

I couldn\'t see all that well so I couldn\'t really tell what she was doing but I didn\'t care anymore. It was more like my mind was already on the verge of giving up. My body had given up a long time ago. 

Only willpower kept me going. And that too was at its limit.

"Drink this!" A voice rang through my ears but I couldn\'t move shit. I couldn\'t feel anything and I didn\'t know anything. 

What was I even doing here anyway?

I think I\'ll sleep now…. 

My breath slowed even more. I plunged into slumber. I couldn\'t say that I hated it though.

It actually felt nice to finally be away from all the noise, from all the fatigue. 

***

It was cold, yet comfortable. 

Did I die?

Something warm pressed against my lips. And then a clear, sweet liquid passed through my lips into my throat. 

  "…arc! Daarc!"  Someone called my name. 

But I want to sleep…. 

"Daarc!" 

But why do they sound so sad? 

"Daarc!" The voice burst into tears…. It hurt….

I didn\'t choke but swallowed, and seconds later I opened my eyes. I saw two beautiful ruby eyes glaring at me with intent. The moment I opened my eyes she spread her hands around me and hugged so tight it was hard to breathe. The fact that our lips were still connected made me feel somewhat bashful.

She moved her lips away from mine and a thread of silver, drooled off her lips. My lips opened and I tried to shake my head to confirm whether I was dreaming or not. I wasn\'t. It was all real. "Lianne?"

"Yes, Daarc it\'s me." Her smile was prettier than a million jasmines. 

***

I tried getting up but she shoved me straight back into her lap. "Don\'t get up. You\'re life\'s not in danger but you aren\'t healed either. I only gave you a minimum dose of the elixir, so you won\'t lose your humanity. But it wasn\'t enough to heal you."

I understood the situation and looked up at the sky.

Large crows were fighting undead dragons. Not the best of sight to behold. The crows had human figures on top of them. It was too dark to see. But since they were supposed to be Dick\'s friends, I got the impression that they were probably demons. There weren\'t too many of them though. The dragons weren\'t running wild now that their leader was on the ground either: Still the same mechanical clunky movements. I wondered how it worked but it wasn\'t the time to be worrying about undead dragons.

"My brethren… slain. You vile vermin poisoned us… killed us. And now they\'re dead. You might be different. But… humans are so simple. They kill… what they fear." The voice faded: it was Xerpas\'s. I didn\'t know what he was talking about. I still didn\'t know if the damn thing on the ground-covered in wounds- was dead or not. I didn\'t know shit.

Its corpse hadn\'t vanished and the thing just lay there. I really hoped it\'d disappear like normal undead. After all weren\'t Gods already dead?

But it didn\'t.

"You don\'t have to worry about it. It\'s pretty dead. At least for a few days: at least." I didn\'t know what Dick meant but one thing was clear. Gods couldn\'t be killed like this. There had to be another way. "But man, now I have another thing to be jealous of you. To think I\'d be beaten to a punch to you. And I thought I was handsome too…." He lamented. 

"Seriously? You\'d rather want to be beaten to a pulp, near death, just for a kiss?" My voice was low and I couldn\'t really talk like I wanted to. Plus it hurt. 

A slight tint of red appeared around Lianne\'s cheeks. Maybe she\'d cried too much.

"Hell yeah! And wait, you owe me a kiss too!" Dick started to throw a tantrum. Well, if he was good enough to throw tantrums, he was good. I didn\'t have to worry about him at least.

  "NO, I don\'t!" I shouldn\'t have yelled. My heart felt like bursting out. I was pretty much out of commission. But wait my pulse. It was still there beating steadily. I didn\'t die. "I wouldn\'t mind giving you a slap though."

Dick burst out laughing. "Cracking jokes even on the deathbed, classic man."

"Take it easy!" Alisa grabbed my hand again. Her eyes were brimming with tears. I\'d have to thank her later.

  If it weren\'t for her, I\'d have been dead by now. Biteria was here too. I owed my thanks to the little bunny too. If it weren\'t for her, I could have never had shot the arrow.

I guess I owed my victory to my friends. 

"Dick do it!" One of the figures up in the sky shouted. It was a girl- probably. My senses were still a little funny.

"Remember when I said there was someone stronger than me?"

"No."

Dick giggled. "Watch. But don\'t be too jealous. She really is a monster on very different levels." He pointed his hand upwards and threw a gust of fire to the girl on top.

The girl glowed in a fiery blaze. I could make out some of her features. She was definitely human if not a half-demon. 

For a moment it seemed like the fire devoured the girl but it didn\'t. The fire enveloped her and the whole sky glowed bright red. The fire left her and spiraled upwards. Seconds later a massive bird, the size of a blue whale- made of fire- descended from the heavens and devoured the undead dragons with a screech that shook the whole town. 

Bones of dead dragons fell from the sky and a cry of victory ran through the sky and the city: many roofs were destroyed. 

My heart was literally running wild. It was a little hard not to feel jealous at that though.

The eastern horizon was getting brighter too. It might end up being dawn soon. I\'d survived another day of this hellish prison, known as the Dark realm. My eyes closed and I knew, I\'d be bedridden for quite some time. Hopefully, I won\'t sleep through a month like last time.

BuT man…did this lap pillow thing feel good!