Sacrifice

I lost my balance with fright when I fell, luckily in time for her to hold my hand, her hands shaking, I don't know if it was because I was nervous to see what I was going to do.

or if I couldn't support my weight, taking me out of my reverie I hear the same voice of the 'demon'

"Pull her, so she stops suffering, you know how much she wants to rest next to her son who will never return HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

 I managed to pull myself back up with Rosario's help, but as I climbed back up to the small tree I felt drops splash onto my hands.

When I looked at the old woman next to me, the guilt began to take its toll, I tried to remain calm so as not to show how shaken I was.

"wh....wh...why would you do that?"

I feel despair in your voice when I feel even worse

I choose to be silent and simply hang my head

"Was that because of earlier?

I...

i

I couldn't help you?"

I start to hear her voice quicken and crack showing the despair she is in

"Please, I can't bear to lose another child,

please please please"

I feel your warm hands in my cold ones, warming my heart, I feel welcomed, loved for the first time by someone

"I'll do whatever-"

How could I say that

'I don't know why I'm alive, it's inevitable I'm so small in this conflict and I need to be big...'

"I carry too much weight"

Seeming to understand my point of view

"I can help you, I can"

"I truly believe s-"

The whole tree starts to shake with the explosion we heard, it starts to slip when it almost falls, I pull it close to me and leave it at home

to see what happened

"IT'S AN INVASION! DEFEND THE SETTLEMENT!"

When looking at several people standing around her house with red eyes

"It was you sons of-"

I unconsciously create a long spear in my right hand

I separate my feet to keep myself unsteady when I hear a command

"Destroy him"

Seeming to obey that voice, they all started running towards me

I jumped back after killing two of them and almost falling into a trap

'They think?'

With a fluid movement I turn my spear in 360 as I cut off the heads of at least half of them,

I lose my balance for a second when one of the people I knocked over grabs my foot under the bridge

Unconsciously afraid of death I activate my new ability and feel like I lost something

I start to shine in golden particles when everyone seems to slow down as they lunge towards one of the attackers who was a boy

'Shit shit shit they don't stop coming, how did this happen?'

When a vision passes through my eyes, Victor without both arms with Aqua in his lap while I see half a face smiling as if it were funny

Blood starts to appear around my body when I see someone approaching from behind these puppets

A 6′ 2″ tall man with black hair and long, dark clothing as if to camouflage himself at night

"Don't take this the wrong way kid, that's just my job, Worms! Blow this whole place up"

"NO!"

when he starts running towards me I instinctively dodge a blade, seeming to wait for my dodge,

 He hits me with a front kick to the chest and I go flying towards the door of the house behind me.

I hear the demon's voice again

"See, you'll never save anyone, they'll tear your friend apart, they'll kill all the people you love and you won't do anything"

"You never do anything"

My blood starts pumping as I feel the world turn black and white when only the red light of my enemies illuminates this night

I stand up and my long spear begins to be enveloped in golden light and magically is replaced into two twin swords with a white aura near the edge of the weapons

I enter a state of flow while I stop the puppets and dodge or counterattack in the moments when the man tries to finish me

He manages to find an opening and sticks his knife in my right arm, I quickly pull it out as I dodge backwards again and see that I'm leaning against the house's gate,

I jump to the right when a puppet tries to grab me

BOOM!

when he passes me and blows up the house

I quickly look at the house when I gain space from the attackers and see an old lady coming out covered in blood.

My eyes started to water when I saw her and that was the moment the killer tried to stab me again, because my eyes were blurry I moved my upper body, unable to dodge properly and I was stabbed in the leg.

But my eyes wouldn't stop crying

'Why am I crying about this?'

My mind starts to travel when I focus on the fight again

He threw a knife towards me, I dodged it but it was a feint, he got closer and started stabbing me, I started to feel blood from the wounds on my stomach, I started to feel weak

when I saw a figure cutting off the killer's head with a clean cut, coming straight from his back, and all the puppet heads exploding

"Huff huff you're here"

She looked at me worriedly and approached, her voice breaking in the middle.

"You're dying!"

"You still owe me you promised!"

He started sticking plants to my wounds and a golden glow came out of them, the pain started to lessen.

"We need to save as many people as possible!, I have to protect..."

'Protect? who?'

I have a severe headache making me stop thinking about it.

Catherine looks at me with pity and hugs me and I start to feel my shoulder wet.

"I I feel-

I am really sorry

I'm sorry, if I were stronger"

Unconsciously tears start to come out of my eyes

'Hmm? Why am I crying?'

The memory of my friends comes to my mind when I start to try to get up

"Come on, Aqua and Victor are in danger we need to go now!"

Catherine didn't stop me from going, she went towards the old woman and took the wooden toy from her hands, took mine and placed it in my palm.

"What? Why do I have to take this?"

Tears start to form again in my eyes and I feel like a part of me is missing, like it shows how broken I am inside, all this sadness that I've always tried to control leaking out.

'Control yourself herran! control yourself! you have to protect your friends'

Catherine starts running towards the center of the village that is glowing with the flames of the explosions and as she turns to go I also hear a voice that makes my heart sink.

"I.. I... I love you son"

I come back, take your hand and say,

"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you ma'am,"

I see a different shine in her eyes when it seemed like she was leaving

"Alive"

My body stiffened with that simple sentence