Whoops..

As Grant lay flat on his stomach and the pool growing ever bigger around him, he suddenly felt cold.

[Ah.. so this is where I die..

I deserve it I guess.. I turned my back on my opponent...

I'm sorry Ally...]

While Grant lay dying on the ground, Phoenix was suddenly overwhelmed by an endless rage.

The bird immediately attacked Loki who was standing just a few feet from himself.

Although Loki looked troubled, the bird completely ignored it and launched a swarm of lightning fast attacks at him.

Seeing the incoming attacks, Loki deflected all of them effortlessly.

Grant wanted desperately to reach for his backpack and pull out a healing potion, but he couldn't move his arms any more.

The cold was consuming him at a rapid pace and his consciousness was quickly fading.

Even though he knew he was going to die, Grant was overwhelmed by sadness rather than fear.

He wasn't really afraid of dying. He was afraid of what effect his death would have on Ally and the kids.

He felt like he had let them down. He was supposed to be their guiding light and the one who protected them from the dangers of the world.

His sadness was quickly joined by guilt.

He felt guilty that he had not spent more time with them. He hadn't even taken the time to see Richard and Robin use their Path's.

He had been so consumed by his personal advance that he had almost completely ignored them.

He knew they understood the responsibilities that he shouldered when it came to defending the town and their fellow survivors but that was no excuse for neglecting them.

Many more regrets and desires flashed through his mind.

Overwhelmed by emotion, Grant couldn't control the tears that started to slowly trickle down his face which only made it more difficult for him to see.

Before Grant's mind was fully enveloped by darkness, he heard a voice he did not recognize.

"What on Astea are you doing Loki?! I told you not to kill any of the indigenous people!"

Loki, who had been fighting Phoenix this entire time suddenly stiffened when he heard the voice.

Phoenix took this opportunity to land a solid hit on him, sending him flying a dozen feet into a pile of rubble.

Phoenix quickly faced the newcomer and prepared for a fight.

Standing in front of him was a woman who was no more than 5 feet tall, with blue skin, and snow white hair. Her eyes looked like two floating halos that radiated a golden light.

She spread her arms outward and opened her hands as if to show that she was unarmed.

"I mean you no harm creature."

Phoenix was wary, but he was more concerned about Grant. He had felt the bond between him and Grant slowly fading and instinctively, he knew what it meant.

Grant was on the doorstep to the afterlife.

The bird quickly Flash Stepped over to Grant and tried to peck at his bond's shoulder.

However, Grant did not react.

Their was no light in his eyes and his breathing was extremely ragged and shallow.

Each breathe seemed to sap him of all his strength.

While Phoenix was frantically thinking of a way to help the new arrival appeared next to the him.

Phoenix suddenly reached out one of its wings and tried to cover Grant in a bid to protect him, but the little girl muttered a few words and Phoenix found himself locked inside some kind of golden cage before he was swiftly sent a few steps away.

The girl reached down and placed her hand over the wound that had been created by Loki.

After chanting a few words, a golden light burst from her hand and surrounded Grant in a cocoon like structure.

Seeing the wound begin to close, the little girl let out a sigh of relief. She had made it in time.

When she saw what Loki had done to the man in front of her, she became nervous and thought she had been too late to rectify the mistakes of her idiotic brother.

Their father had told them that they should not engage the indigenous people of the planet in combat and do their best to engage in a conversation.

Their father, mother, and the two of them were the last remaining members of their race and had stumbled across the dungeon to this new world by coincidence when they were escaping from their world.

Their race had been annihilated by the Dergmar and this planet was their last hope.

When she thought of the oversized purple fuckers, their stupid horns, and four arms she had to force herself to take a few breathes to quell the rage in her heart.

Phoenix, who had watched what the girl had done, was relieved when the bond between him and Grant started to grow strunger.

The bird was overwhelmed with happiness and gratitude.

While the little girl stood over Grant and continued to observe his bodily rapidly healing, she heard the sound of rubble being pushed away and looked up to see Loki slowly picking himself up.

Having already thought of the unpleasant Dergmar and then seeing what her stupid brother had done, she flew into a rage filled tirade.

"What the hell Loki?! Father told us not to attack the people of this planet! What is wrong with you?! What if he had allies that would stop at nothing to hunt us down and kill us?! Are you not yet tired of being hunted?!"

Loki looked like a child being scolded by his mother. He knew his older sister was furious with him so he did his best to avoid eye contact.

He placed his hand behind his head and rubbed the back of his head.

"I'm sorry sister but that guy turned his back on me! It was so disrespectful and I was overcome with anger!"

"So you tried to kill him?! I know you are struggling because you have lost all of your friends and everything you held dear but you need to think things through!

We have nowhere left to run. We either find a way to survive here on this planet or we die.

And if we die, that means our people have lost their right to challenge.

10000 years of war for what?

To fade into obscurity and be forgotten in this endless trial?"

Loki looked more and more ashamed the more his sister spoke. It was true he was struggling with the things that had happened to not just him but his planet in the past few weeks, but the fight with Grant had finally allowed him to let loose some of his pent up emotions.

But when Grant walked away, it reminded him of the Dergmar that had deemed him so weak and pathetic that he wasn't even worth killing.

The Dergmar had spat at him as he laid wounded and bleeding before it turned its back on him and walked away.

"I'm sorry sister. Will he survive?"

Loki's sister stared at him with an incredulous gaze for a few seconds before responding.

"He will live. But when he awakes, you will take responsibility for your actions.

I will explain our situation to him and you will apologize.

Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sister."

"By the way, are you going to stop using your Trickster Path and bring out your real body or are you going to keep using this strange projection?"

With a blank looked on his face, Loki seemed to remember something, "Ah... whoops..."