Black Roses

"Xie... Xie! Wake up! I'd really appreciate if you'd lend a hand! " Lifting my head up, I was on Mia's back as she was flying across the vast open space within Pita's large courtyard in her palace. 

Holding on tight as a folly of explosions were  exploding all around us, I covered my head as Mia swung her right hand with a chaotic ghost like sword into the air. Swerving on the ground and sitting past several lagers of an abrupt fog, I shook my head and raise my hand over her shoulder to clear a path. 

"Ha! That's my girl! "Launching off from within the courtyard, we narrowly made it past the fog as hundreds of thousands of corrupted creations were fast approaching. 

Swerving to tilting her sword, she stopped on the center of the silver bridge that connected our world to Pita's as the handmade portals were no longer working. Shocked when Mia set me up, I stepped back and was immediately brought to my knees with a long, passionate kiss. 

Surprised, my heart raced steady faster and in a matter of seconds, the power within me began overflowing and made its way into Mia. The longer the length of my breath was being stolen by her intensity and soft lips, the stronger my desire to part and breath was less important than the moment itself. 

Exhaling a gust of wind, I met her gaze as she pushed me over the boundary line into the portal. Sliding her sword across the floor, she tore apart the very cosmic bridge with her power and cut me off from her. 

"Go, Xie! Return to Earth and find me! "

"M-"

"Go! " As a curtain of darkness engulfed her side of the bridge, the golden barrier she erected kept the fog from passing over. As she turned to face the impending army of impurity, she met my gaze once more and uttered a few words that carried with them the same weight as getting hit with the sun's light... ("... I love you... ")  

Her smile sank my heart as my body craves her skin, her voice and her very soul. As she disappeared into the fog, the portal behind me had begun to open as Mia predicted and pulled me inside through my rejection. 

~

Pausing for a quick second as I awoke inside a dumpster, my mind was scattered as I jumped up and raced to find a way home. Unable to create windows to reaching Rin and the others, I coughed as my lungs were on fire. 

Rushing through the unfamiliar town, I quickly pulled open a window in the middle of a busy intersection and slid inside as a passing truck screeched its breaks. 

Slamming into a pile of stacked boxes filled with beer cans, I got back up and rushed to the exit from the market in the same town I now live. Heading out into the pouring, midday rain as just a few seconds ago it was night, I raced home and crossed the front lawn. Bursting inside and giving my mom a scare, I immediately hugged her while intently trembling and as a million things were running rampant through my mind. 

~

Holding onto Kana with all my might, I didn't dare let her go up until Rin arrived after my mom called her and Amy as they went out looking for me. From what I gathered, my mom's new look and appearance had changed since the last time I saw her a few hours ago. As I read on the date on the calendar in the kitchen, what was a few hours had been a few months here on Earth. 

It then dawned on me that the portal that brought me back had chipped weeks off time on my way back. It was mind numbing and confusing as well as frustrating. A dozen different emotions and twists had made me question what was even real. It wasn't until Rin came bursting through the front door that I sprung into her embrace and she intently kissed my head. 

"Your back… your back… its okay. Everything's okay. Your back. "Her tears fell harder than mine as our time apart was for her was unbearably excruciating. 

As she repeated the same words and held me tightly as if letting me go would kill her, I immediately felt her slender body lose its tone and weight. She must have gone through long periods of hunger and stress simply looking for me each day. Amy and Angela rushed inside and stopped as Amy collapsed onto her knees with tears in her eyes. 

"Its really, you… Your back! "Angela hugged me as I held my hand to Amy and cried as I didn't want to ever be apart from them again. 

Time then abruptly stopped as I opened my eyes and found Rin's floating hair-strands frozen mid-air. An eerie silence befell the house as a series of approaching footsteps rang from outside the front door. As I lifted my gaze, I instinctively border the entire house with a powerful barrier, one such powerful that my fingers burst with intense pain and blood. 

["Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Come now, Xie! Won't you let me in? After all, we share a common destiny would you say… Xie. Are you either your family? Hmm… I think you are… I think you understand how much you live them. "] 

"GO AWAY! "

["In due time, Xie! I'll be fine for good! But… Hear me Xie… What mercy can you do your family if they age without you? Hmm? This barrier for example… I can guess you were abrupt with your power and encased feelings of love within the walls… that's smart, however, the damage it would cause at such a high density, well… Even I would grit my teeth to the shock it delivers to the wielder. "] 

Staring down at my broken and unresponsive hand, I was more invested in keeping the surge of my power growing than I was worrying about my health. 

["How much longer can you keep this up, Xie!? An hour… two? You are certainly more powerful than I ever was when I was in the trail stages of receiving my power… It hurts worse than hell I take it… "] 

Coughing blood, my chest was on fire as I was grasping at air while maintaining the barrier high. Pita's presence alone is pushing my power to its limits. If she were to swing her hand and use her power, she would kill my family before I could make a move. 

Holding the barrier with all my might, the sudden burst of pain I felt was unimaginable as I started  whaling as my skin and bones began repairing themselves as part of the curse Pita mentioned. It would never let me die and I suffered as I pushed and kept up my focus on protecting my family. 

Before long, a sudden slash echoed as I released my barrier in an instant. Tremors and even the sounds of Pitas blood curdling screams echoed from beyond the door. Exhausted and on the verge of collapse, I fell to the floor as everything was engulfed in a bright light and then exploded from outside. Pitas voice disappeared as quickly as the light did.  

It took seconds until I shockingly realized Pita's enormous light I often felt had suddenly disappeared. I then knew something powerful and more dangerous than Pita was towering just outside the door. Turning to my family I couldn't move as I held the time stop to ensure we could escape. 

An abrupt force of gravity suddenly surged across my body. The floor below caved in with the immense pressure as I looked over and saw my family was unaffected by it. Sharpening my gaze and coughing for air, the burst of power suddenly disappeared as I caught my breath and returned everything to how it was. 

Distant voices echoed as I immediately passed out as my vision blurred and felt as if I had dropped completely numb. Whoever or whatever that was, I felt its blood crazed rage as if I could clearly see it even with my eyes closed. It was hungry… and it looked at me with eyes as pitch black as the darkest hell imaginable. 

It was going to come for me next as I knew this to be a fact. Pita was considerably more powerful and yet, that thing took her out. Whatever Pita had said over the time in our relationship, she never told of anything that can over power and even kill someone as great as her. 

Added with what I heard, it was more overwhelming as things continued to happen that I could not begin to comprehend. 

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