The Dock

-2:02 P.M.-

"Sky! Please tell me you're still okay! Woah... you look normal again." Lia asked me. Lia ran over to me with Lily and Ullr gathered around me as well.

"What the hell was that?! You could jump that high and you never told anybody?" Tavian asked, running over to me as well.

"No, I... that wasn't me... I wasn't in control there... Deity saved us..." I told them, but they didn't seem to believe me.

"She's not in my head anymore... I can't get into the Corruption State she provided for me... shit... SHIT!" I yelled out, slamming my fists into the floor. There was absolutely no way I could win against Orion if I didn't have that Corruption State.

"Everybody left behind that ice wall over there has been completely incinerated by that magma." Noboki dropped in from above and landed right behind me as I started to tremble. There were only a handful of soldiers left behind in the war... yet could we even win against Orion?

"That ice wall... did Deity make that too?" Noboki asked me as she walked up to me.

"Yes... she made that wall, she made the wall with the tower... she's done everything I've done," I told everybody.

"Sounds like we want this Deity person on our side... can we reach her Bossman?" Ullr asked me.

"I have no idea... I don't know anything... she's always so vague." I said, still trembling. I was absolutely petrified now that I couldn't access that State.

"We only have a few more soldiers to handle! Let's keep pushing!" Ullr shouted out. He picked up his hammer, but we could all hear the final screams of soldiers rushing from behind us. Noboki, Tavian, and Ellie all took up their weapons, while Ullr and the others turned around to face the front.

We were surrounded... and with the injured in between the noble soldiers holding back both flanks we had to deal with... things were looking grim. I rose up and unsheathed my blade as well. I had to do this... for Dani! She was still asleep, and I wanted her to wake up over on Scorched with all of our friends.

"We can take this many!" Tavian yelled out as Ellie and Noboki followed him into battle. They fought in unison and took out several soldiers. Ellie blocked arrows from the ranged soldiers and Noboki and Tavian used their skills together to clear out the soldiers that were running to stop Ellie.

Meanwhile, Ullr and I rushed in with Charlie, David, and Tyler all behind us pushing the soldiers far enough to jump off of the dock in hopes to preserve their lives. Orion stood on the boat with his arms crossed and a sinister smile... something was coming!

[There's Danger Nearby]

I pushed Ullr out of the way with my hand and a sawblade shot straight through my wrist and threw flesh, blood, and veins everywhere behind me. That callout... that was something different. That wasn't in capital letters... yet it told me where the attack was coming from. How the hell...?

"Bossman?! Your left hand!" Ullr pointed to my left hand... which completely regenerated by the time I felt the wound appear and looked down at it. "Does it usually regenerate that fast?" Ullr added to his previous question.

"No..." I muttered.

"There's only six left!" Ullr shouted out, but before I could take the lead, Lily slid right underneath my legs, throwing both of her daggers into the throats of the soldiers standing in front of us.

Lily jumped off of their bent knees as they fell to the ground, ripped out the daggers, and cut the throats of two more soldiers. With one more weird flip I thought only Lia could pull off, the remaining soldiers died. Her blood-soaked hair fell down to her hips and she looked up with a mean look towards the boat.

"Where's Mrs. Vi, Orion?" Lily shouted to Orion. He still had his arms crossed and that wide smile again.

"Before I answer that! Sky! I noticed you don't have those markings on your body anymore! That's because Deity left your body... you can't Corrupt your System anymore, can you? How sad... do you even stand a chance against me anymore?" Orion asked me, ignoring Lily.

Lily threw her dagger with pinpoint accuracy toward Orion. She specifically shot it at his forehead, but Orion deflected it with his stone, just as I did. I was completely shocked... wasn't that my ability?!

"You're curious... aren't you? About so much... I can't imagine being as stupid as you. I can't believe you haven't reached your limit yet! I wonder where all that fatigue is going. Regeneration after regeneration, you keep on marching forward with no regard to who you're putting through that pain! You even tired out Deity! What a selfish bastard." Orion said.

"Is there a point to you opening that mouth to me? Are you stalling for something? You always have something planned, don't you?" I asked him. Orion shook his head.

He bounced around the ship while walking... like he was trying to be obnoxious... then, he pointed his finger up to the sky with a tilted head. "You know what, I did have something planned!" Orion closed his hand and I heard screaming from behind me.

"TAVIAN!!!" Ellie put her hands over a wound in Tavian's chest. He had a steel pipe shoot straight through the middle of his body. No blood came out of his wound... but he fell to his knees with his eyes stuck open.

The feeling in my head wasn't something I could describe. My world froze once Tavian and I made eye contact.

He didn't look unhappy. He slightly smirked. He looked at me... and smirked. I was Tavian's apprentice before I was Deity's. I was Tavian's White Stone before I was my own person. I had Tavian to thank for so much, and he didn't get angry at me for talking to Orion without killing him... Tavian wanted to murder Orion, but he wasn't angry that I missed that chance and Tavian got impaled. He was happy, above all else.

I remembered a lot about Tavian at this moment... this moment where time slowed down to an absolute stop. His family had been murdered by Lia. How he saved Lily when he didn't have to. How he started this rebellion that I joined midway and enacted thanks to the strength Deity gave me. How he carried himself, how he treated my friends... it all built up in a matter of a few seconds in my chest as well. I shared his pain, not physically, but emotionally. I was lost right now, I couldn't think... I couldn't feel... I couldn't do anything. I was trembling, but I wasn't moving.

My world unfroze to tears flowing out of his eyes as he made eye contact with me after looking at everybody else for the last time.

"Don't you dare pause now! Sky! This is something we've fought for three months, whether we were together, or not! This is something we were both born to do! This is something Lia had endured until she had suffered too much! This is something my family died for! This is something all of our friends had died for! Don't you dare pause now! You murder that motherfucker and you don't stop until you've freed this world from his clutches! Remember... FOR OUR FAMILY!" Tavian screamed out at me.