Earth (VI)

Snow opened her eyes. Her mind was dizzy, her body aching with pain that she didn't think that she had. Even moving one finger made her want to curl up. But, instead, she wanted to stay sleeping on the ground forever.

"Snow." The whisper of the Wind called out her name.

"Snow." This time is more demanding than before.

Opening her eyes, she looked around.

The Wind tickled her hair and kissed her face.

"Snow. Get up." The warm voice whispered in her ears, telling her that she couldn't stop.

With a groan, she sighed.

"Get up," The voice commanded. "You must finish what you have started and save the world."

Snow groaned. She wished she didn't have to, but she knew she couldn't.

Pushing off the ground, she sat up. It took a few minutes to reorient herself. It wasn't easy as the aches and pains were running throughout her body. Then, stretching her arms, she heard it pop back into place.

The world was silent.

The beams of dark light that were scattered all over the world were becoming lighter and lighter. Many of them were slowly but surely closing, but the one that she came through was still pitch black, pulsating with light.

Levian's body was decaying, melting into dark goo as the bones were left. When she reached over to touch the dragon bones, they completely disintegrated, leaving nothing behind.

For some reason, Snow felt a sharp pain in her heart. It was a weird fleeting feeling that she didn't understand. Why? Brushing it off, Snow didn't want to think about it anymore as Levian tried to cause death and destruction to both worlds.

"Snow!" Mike waved over his head. Then, he came running and stopped.

Dairen was hobbling over with an injured leg.

"It's good to see that you guys are still alive." Snow coughed once, looking over at them with relief.

"You telling me." Mike chuckled. "I thought I was going to die from that fall if it wasn't for Dairen. I don't know what he did, but he yanked both of us out of the air and onto safety. I swear the gods are watching us in favor of us to make it throughout life like this."

"Yes." Snow nodded. "They did."

Without her God, Snow knew she wouldn't have survived. Her heart was filled with gratitude.

Pushing herself up, Mike came over to help her up.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Mike grunted. "I'm glad that you guys are okay."

"Same." Snow replied with a sigh. The fight had taken a heavy toll on her. She wanted to lay down and sleep, forgetting about the terrible days to come.

Suddenly, a mighty swell of dark energy spat out from the beam of dark light. It pulsated outward, becoming stronger and stronger.

All of them were pushed back.

Snow paled. She instantly knew that the barrier between the two worlds was becoming dangerously thin. At the rate it was going, both worlds would be destroyed.

"We need to close the gate!" Snow shouted. Her hand in front of her as the Wind clashed into their body.

"How?!" Mike replied back. He was looking over at the doorway. "I don't have anything to close that door."

Snow's mind raced. She, too, didn't know what to do. Thrown into the fiery pit of hell that they were thrown in. It has become a dangerous fight between life and death for the billions of lives in both worlds.

"Snow!" Mike shouted. The doorway between both worlds was raging with black and blue fire.

The pillar of light was getting stronger and stronger, shimmering between the two as if it was ready to completely merge together. "We need to close the gates! Or both worlds are going to get destroyed!"

The world darkened quickly as the world around them started to tremble. Snow could feel the power of the world around them becoming dangerously heavy with dark energy.

"I have a way," Dairen spoke. His eyes glistened. There was something about the way he spoke that made Snow uncomfortable."

"How?" Mike replied.

"I'll stay behind here and close this side of Earth. I'm the only one who can be on this side," Dairen replied quickly.

"What are you talking about?" Snow didn't understand why Dairen was the one that needed to stay behind.

"I was once a demon Prince. I still have lingering power to close the gate!" Dairen said in a hurry. He looked around in a bit of panic in his voice. "Mike, take Snow and through the gate! My general got destroyed and could not destroy the machine on the other side."

"What!? I'm staying here to help." Snow shouted in an outburst. She wasn't going to leave Dairen again.

"No, believe me, this is not your world. So go back home, Snow."

"But-!"

"Go! I'll leave her in your hand, Mike!"

Mike nodded, grabbing Snow by the arm and pulled her into the pillar of darkness.

"Dairen!"

"I love you, Snow!" Dairen yelled out loud. "I'll come back for you, I promise!"

Snow felt a pull of powerful energy sweep through her core. She couldn't scream back, telling him the same thing that she had felt. Instead, the pent-up emotions came through her chest. No words came out of her lips.

She was falling.

Falling, until she thought she could no more.

The world became dark until finally, she felt something stop her. She landed with two feet just as if she entered and exited, walking through the gate.

Her head was dizzy. She blinked a few times.

The city around her was broken down as if a terrible war ensued. The few things left standing were the buildings in the vicinity of the sacred tree. The others were crushed or had holes in them.

Half the city was ravaged and gone.

Death was apparent everywhere she saw. The sadness in her heart welled up as she felt as if she could have done better to save more lives. It was a huge loss, but she knew she couldn't rewind the past and start all over again. They have done their job in slaying the cause of possible devastation that could end everything in both worlds.

Snow turned around. The gate between the two worlds was collapsing.

Everything happened so quickly that Snow didn't really have time to react.

The gate flickered on and off between two worlds.

Mike came over and helped her on her feet.

"Are you okay?" Mike asked, concerned.

Snow frowned. "You should have left me there."

Mike shook his head. "You wouldn't be able to close the door. You weren't a demon prince."

"Still-" The pain in her heart warped tightly.

Mike stopped her. "Believe in him, Snow. He'll be back."

Snow opened and closed her mouth like a fish. She pushed back her white hair. "Fine, after he comes back, I still have a piece of my mind that I need to tell him."

"Sure, he's all yours." Mike laughed.

Snow stopped for a moment. "Are you sure you want to stay in this world?" Snow asked the connection between this world and the other world that will be forever closed. Don't you want to go home?"

"No, this is my home now," Mike replied. "I have nothing there that I have connections to."

"But that was where you were born."

"It was, but this world is my home now," said Mike, "the other Players should have the option to choose to go back to their world or stay here as well as we speak. So, let's go and destroy the machine and end this. Keeping this place open like this forever is a terrible idea."

"Fine." Snow gave up; trying to change their minds was a terrible idea. She knew when both Dairen and Mike were set on their decisions, they were as stubborn as her.

Both Mike and Snow jogged over to the machine that was cranking with energy. Mike slashed downward into the machine that bubbled with darkness. Static energy flickered back, causing Mike to be thrown back.

Snow shook her head at Mike. She raised her hand. Her eyes closed, she reached outwards. Holy energy filled the very air, glistening with power as more and more saturated the whole room.

The power blinded her as she squinted.

Heavy vibration in the air rang with terrible energy that shook her to the very core.

It was now or never, and she knew that without closing the door to the world around them, everything would end.

The last thought she thought of was Dairen before the blinding light and the heavy magical air around them blasted outwards, closing the door between the two worlds.