Infighting

Then, the whole sky turned red.

Dropping to the ground, Kai curled into a ball as the searing heat engulfed his body, singing the edges of his pure white tunic. Whatever jumped in front of him did a good job of blocking the main part of the explosion.

A thunderous roar of noise echoes throughout the Dome, the combined explosion of countless quater moon abominations creating an enourmous crater in the ground.

The remnants of the explosion start to dwindle, yet it still hurt to breath. As the heat starts to die down, Kai opened his eyes, feeling them burn slightly, and lifts his head.

Utter devastation.

That's the only way Kai can describe what he sees. Countless bloody carcasses belonging to some of the weaker crescent moon beasts scatter the area. Majority lie in the massive crater formed by the explosion. The sight was absolutely horrifying. The crater was stained red with beast blood and was decorated with the insides of their bodies.

The worst feature of the crater though, was the lack of a human body.

Rashik was gone.

Looking down slightly, Kai spots an oversized paw in front of his face, a paw without a body.

Wait...

Looking up, Kai spots the body which the paw belongs to. Aldred stood over Kai, protecting him from the explosion. The edges of his pristine gray fur was singed, but overall the explosion did little damage to the full moon beast. Still, even if the explosion and flames did no damage, that doesn't explain the deep cut mark on the wolfs side.

"Aldred-" Before Kai can speak, the sound of dirt being pushed is heard from across the crater. Turning to the source of the noise, Kai spots a disheveled figure making a mad dash for the cave entrance.

The figure had a purple bodysuit, olive skin, short black hair and a scabbard attached to their waist. They didn't stop to check if any of the moon beasts were alive or breathing, they only cared about making it to the cave entrance.

"Noelle! What are you doing?"

Noelle ignored Kai as she continued sprinting to the cave, presumably to chase down Rashik. Murder can be seen in her eyes as she ran, not caring about anything around her.

Quickly picking himself off the ground, Kai takes off towards the running girl. He is closer to the cave entrance so he should be able to get there before her.

...probably.

The outlines of the two running could almost be a poetic sight, if someone who actually cared about poetry was there, that is.

Sadly, even though Kai was closer, he was much slower. Noelle was just about to reach the hollow when a hand grabbed her arm from behind.

"Noelle! What the hell do you think you can do? He has a damn army!"

Noelle tugs her arm, trying to break free, but Kai holds strong. Without turning around, Noelle continued to try and free her arm as she shouts.

"Let go of me Kai! I need to kill that bastard!

Kai's grip tightens around her arm.

"Noelle, just stop it! You can't-"

His concentration on holding onto Noelles left arm was so good, he didn't even notice her right swinging around.

The feeling of a fist connecting to his cheek sends Kai sprawling backwards, the punch connecting perfectly with his jaw.

Falling to the ground, Kai feels his head spin as he woozily turns his head to look up at Noelle, his eyes wide with shock.

Noelle's face paled as she looked down at his sprawled form, she quickly glanced down at her fist before opening her mouth to apologise.

"Shit, Kai, I'm-"

But Kai wasn't listening, he was already lifting himself off the ground. Every fibre of his being was screaming. Every bit of anger, dissapointment, self doubt, weakness, everything he felt in the last two days manifested into one move.

Kai launched himself off the ground and wrapped his arms around Noelle's waist, tackling her to the ground. Pinning her down with his body, Kai lifts his hands and curls them into fists. Without warning, he starts wailing down on her, his punches connecting with her arms which are guarding her face.

"Why are you such a bitch!"

He screams, raw emotion fuelling his body and voice. Seconds pass, but it feels like eternity to Kai. Every punch fails to connect, only hitting off her forearms harmlessly, angering Kai even more.

"You beat me, torment me and just act fucking snobby all the time. Who are you to do this shit!"

As his punches keep failing, Kai gets more and more upset. After minutes, or maybe even seconds, of pummelling Noelle, one punch finally connects with her, and it feels-

Amazing.

The feeling of euphoria from his punch connecting is almost enough to make him forget why Noelle moved her arm away from her face in the first place.

Almost.

Just as Kai goes to punch her again, another fist connects with his face, this time it being much closer to his eye.

Kai cries out in pain as he tumbles off Noelle, the woman quickly standing up. Kai clutches his face as he hateful glares up at her, her glaring back down.

"Who are you to call me a bitch? You have NO idea what I've been through!"

Noelle angrily kicks Kai in his stomach, eliciting another cry of pain from him. Just as she goes to kick him again, a man covered in wood chippings and a blue liquid appears in between them.

"Just stop! The both of you! What in the world are you doing?"

Failure stands between the two fighters, blocking the other from their sights. Sofia arrived behind Noelle and placed a hand on Noelle's shoulder, leading her away and glaring at Kai as she does.

Kai watches the two leave, kicking the dirt and sending it through air.

"Now Kai, what was all that about?"

Kai flinches slightly, noticing that Failure left out the 'My dear' when talking to him, but Kai mentally prepared himself as he starts speaking.

"I'm sick of her! Who does she think she is? She thinks she's above everyone because some sad shit happened to her, well, shit happens! Get over it!"

Even though he was probably overreacting, Kai didn't care. He was too angry and too scared to think straight. Everyone could have died and all Noelle cares about is killing another person.

Failure nods his head calmly, listening to the rant. Every emotion Kai is going through is too complex to put into words. Every bit of anxiety, stress, worry, denial, everything he has bottled up comes out in one torrent of vile words.

"I'm fucking sick of this shit, I want to go home! I want to see my family, my dog, my bed, my friends, shit, I'd be happy to see my school!"

Tears well up in Kai's eyes as he waves his arms wildly, no proper thoughts forming in his mind.

Pain rises on the back of his head as Failure softly slaps him, Kai places a hand tenderly on the place he slapped and looks at the disheveled man.

"What?"

Failure sighs.

"Kai, quite frankly, you're an idiot."

Kai scowls.

"Oh yeah, I know I am, everyone knows I am, it's all I am in this shitty place. I live by pure luck, its a miracle I'm alive! And I'm an idiot? Is that why you made up that bullshit, how the forest grew from the 'Will of Ethania'."

Failures eyes narrow as he looks down at the aggrieved boy.

"What do you mean?"

Kai takes a deep breath and wipes his eyes. Lifting his head, Kai digs his fingernails into his palm and says.

"Just leave me alone, Failure."

Failure frowns and goes to say something, but something in Kai's eyes stop him. Letting out a sigh, Failure waves his hand dismissively and says.

"Alright..."

And with that, Failure dissapears, leaving Kai all alone.

...Again

Pushing every thought of his jumbled up mind, Kai looks around at the aftermath of the explosion. Countless corpses lay scattered around the charred crater, each more gruesome than the last. Other beasts emerge from the edge, slowly making their way to the centre, stopping at the bodies of some of the other animals.

Each beast let's out their own wail or cry, grieving over the lost. The sight causes a stinging pain in Kai's heart. Each of these beasts had someone for them, lovers, friends, family, but what does Kai have?

Noth-

A small whimper can be heard behind Kai, which nearly makes him jump out of his skin. Turning his head, he spots the head of a pitch black wolf peeking out of his shadow.

Kai smiles softly and crouches down, softly petting his familiars head. Umbra closes her eyes and let's out a low hum in response.

At least I'll have you...

Standing back up, Kai throws one last glance at the sheer destruction caused by the abominations and sighs. Turning his back to the sight, he started to walk away towards...

I don't know.

After walking away for about a minute, Kai is about to just lie down so he can-

"Catalyst."

Closing his eyes, Kai inwardly groans as he turns around. The fact that a wolf even bigger than a bus managed to sneak up on him is a little sad.

"What is it, Aldred? Are you going to give out to me too?"

"No" The monstrous wolfs voice is as gruff as always, yet for some reason it sounds a little softer. "You made your choice, now you must live with the consequences, just don't look back in regret, that will only hinder your sight of what's in front."

Kai wants to say something, but there's nothing mean he could possibly say to Aldred. The wolf has always been there for Kai. Helping him level up, giving advice, honestly, Kai preffered Aldred over Failure.

"Alright... I'll remember that."

Aldred nods, then turns his body and walks back towards the crater.

He must have to deal with the aftermath...

Kai turns around to continue walking, but notices something. Right in front of him, far in the distance, is a small wooden cabin. Kai chuckled softly at the sight.

Bastard wolf...

Sadly, that glimpse of happiness is gone as soon as it appeared. The darkness returns to his eyes as Kai continues to trudge further and further away from where the massacre took place.

Time passes by in a blur as Kai continues to walk straight, not taking any heed of his surroundings. Eventually, he reaches the edge of the Dome, the dark, hard wall stopping him from walking any further.

His mood darkens even further, everything wants to stop him. Walls, holes, people, nothing wants him to move forward.

So he doesn't, giving up always was Kai's specialty. Lying down on the soft ground, Kai curls up into a ball and holds himself tight as he submits to the feeling of fatigue gnawing at his heart and mind.