Bleed Together, Fall Together

“Didn’t expect them to work together,” the old man muttered, hefting a dead knight’s sword.

The odds were hopeless. A hundred against three. No chance of victory—only the choice of how we’d fall.

But we’d make them bleed for it.

“Enough chit-chat.” Ren’s voice was a blade unsheathed. His body ignited in a violet aura, the air around him warping like heat off a forge. “We’re killing them all.”

He raised a shaking hand. Half the knights lurched into the air, arms akimbo as if tied by threads no one could see.

Cough.

Blood erupted from Ren's lips. "Can't. keep them long!"

A burst shattered the rigidity of frozen bodies—Iron. Her blades flashed, and bodies fell in pieces. Too swift. Even my mark-honed eyes barely able to keep up with her.

"Take care of the knights!" Ren barked.

I clenched my fist on my sword. My heart pounded, filling me with power until black energy churned about me like living darkness.

Fireballs screamed at me. I dodged, dragging rubble from the ground and tossing it with inhuman strength. Rocks smashed through helmets, killing four knights before they could even fall.

Spearmen attacked in formation, shields locked, spears shuddering like a steel porcupine.

Clang. Clang.

I parried, twisted, countered—but not fast enough. Pain seared my arms as blades found flesh. Ten knights fell under my blade, yet the tide pressed on, unbroken. A glance at Iron: her right arm blazed with the same radiance as the speedster we’d fought before.

"Users’ emotions shape the mark’s power," Ren’s words echoed. "They’re all unique."

Then why did hers look the same as the speedster’s? Does it vary by mark—or by something else?

Back-to-back, we stood our ground for an hour. Ren smashed waves with gravity; Iron sliced them in two. But our breathing was difficult, our motion slow.

Should I allow the mark to consume me?

The terror curled up within me—what if it never returned me?

Ren's touch on my shoulder. Then my power surged into him.

"Whoopee!" he bellowed, eyes blazing violet. The air trembled, and a pressure capable of shattering a mountain crushed a score of knights.

Cough. More blood.

And me?

Flame erupted on my sword, matching that of the mages themselves. The veins of the mark writhed up my arm, famished and starving.

I smiled.

"Round two."

Ren sucked in my power, body shuddering with each ragged breath. At his side, Iron leaned forward, her arms crossed with gashes so deep that blood seeped from her fingertips onto the stone floor.

Clang.

A sword fell to the ground from her fingers.

"I have a few questions for you," I said, clenching my hand on my blade. "So don't die."

Iron spat blood. "Take care of yourself."

"What're you lovebirds muttering?" Ren coughed, his eyes furrowing up despite the veins thrusting black beneath.

I didn't deny it.

Flame danced down my sword, and I hacked a burning circle around us. The battlefield coalesced—heartbeats synchronizing, senses unfolding. The knights' movements slowed. The mages' mana faltered like candle flames.

Then—

Bzzt.

A shock of electricity at the rear of my eyes.

Weak points.

Kill paths.

The world reconfigured itself in bursts of light and shadow.

The first knight stepped over the fireline.

I was already on the move.

My sword sang, the scar on my arm writhing with pleasure. We were symbiotic now—I provided it brutality, it provided me power. Bodies thudded onto the ground. Blood clouded the air.

By the time the last shattered crumpled, my vision blurred from exhaustion. Behind me, Iron staggered, sagging hard. Ren's nose bled freely, his aura guttering like a candle at the end of its life.

Twenty knights remained.

"I can take this," I snarled—

THUNK.

Cold steel punched through my belly.

The mark’s connection to my head cut out. Agony erupted—blood vessels bursting beneath my skin, red seeping across my uniform.

I spun, ready for betrayal

But it was merely a spearman, dying, his hand clamped on the shaft.

"J-Join… the… Empire…"

He breathed and tensed.

Cough.

I fell.

Iron knocked me out as I dropped, splitting the spear shaft in two with a snarl. Her warm lap. Her blood-stained hands enveloped my wound.

Ren stumbled before us, arms waving above his head. His final strength crackled, husky but defiant.

"I'll kick your butt all the way to hell if you die, kid," he snarled. No humor left—just blunt, harsh fear.

I grinned.

Iron's grip closed. "Don't you smile at us." Her voice cracked. "You're not going to die here."

The mark laughed inside my head.

"Pathetic."

The rest of the knights were behind the blazing fire.

"I can depend on you, can't I?" I shouted, flailing up a shaking hand at them.

"Nah, kid. We've got you stuck with us," the old man—Ren—growled.

I looked over at Iron, but she was turned away from me.

"Hey," I shouted, voice raw. I swallowed the fear, trying to get out what was tearing my chest in half before I died.

She finally turned around. Her eyes were a little watery—dust? Or was it my fault?

"If it weren't for this stupid Pit…"

I coughed up blood, but continued speaking.

"I'd ask you out."

I smiled—actually, for the first time in years.

She turned away fast, saying, "I'll think about it… but don't say it means I like you, okay?" Her voice trembled, flustered.

The old man wheezed, a dry cackle.

Before the ring of fire had spent itself—and before I dived in—

Ren's violet aura blazed in his eyes as he raised a hand. Boulders were torn from the earth, coiling in mid-air into broken spears.

"We're talking," he growled—and hurled them.

A stabbing agony shot into my belly—then receded. The mark on my hand blazed, searing me into the flesh with a black sun and a single white ray.

"Iron, cut the light," I croaked.

"Are you insane?" she bellowed back.

"Save Ren," I growled, pulling out the spear that had lodged in my abdomen. I was on the verge of blacking out as I pulled it free.

Iron paused for an instant—then spun on her heel, glanced back at me, and leaped into combat with Ren.

Seven knights remaining.

My injury healed at a supernatural rate, leaving behind only a tender scar.

"It's a CONTRACT," the mark snarled in my head.

I gritted my teeth.

"This! one ray… it means something, doesn't it?" I insisted.

"Not bad," the mark croaked.

"Who knows what is going to happen when it reaches eight rays?" Its voice laced with sarcasm.

I stood up, ripping off my worn-out shirt, showing scars and bruises from healed wounds. Some of the newly inflicted wounds remained as scars, refusing to disappear.

"What a miracle," Ren snarled.

Iron's face flushed red as she walked away.

"Stop, pervert!" she shouted. ".

"You'll miss me when I'm dead," I mocked back, brandishing my sword.

"You're dead after this," she retorted, her tone angry.

"That's rude," I chuckled.

The horrors of my past no longer ripped at my heart.

Instead, they were. subdued. As if they'd moved aside, to allow me to be in this here and now.

The final knight fell to the ground. We had emerged victorious.

"Come on! We've got no time to slack off!" Ren screamed.

We stumbled out of the Pit, gasping for breath, blood trickling down our arms.

We didn't halt until the main road.

"Take us there," I gasped, looking at Iron.

A few hours passed, and we crept behind the Pit lines into the darkness of the black forest.

We ran for what seemed like an hour—our pace unnatural, our hearts racing.

The full moon burst through the clouds, illuminating our path.

And then we stopped on the road.

"Stop here," Ren said, throat dry.

In front of us was a camp and a carriage. The fire had burned low, so they must have all been sleeping.

"Is anyone awake?!" we bellowed.

The flaps of the tent were shaken, and a man staggered out.

"WHO'S IT— Oh, sorry! Thought it was 'Landless,'" he stuttered when he saw the blood on us.

"Sorry," he quickly added, eyes full of fear.

"We're travelers too," Ren fabricated with an honest tone, "but bandits attacked us. Most of our traveling group perished—only we managed to escape."

"Oh… is that the case?" the man answered, compassion making his expression gentler.

"Where are you traveling to?"

"To Solmaris," replied Ren.

"Then let's head now, before the bandits find us," Ren suggested.

"Okay, sir… same destination I'm heading to," said the man.

A glow distinguished his arm when he whistled. His horse woke at once, stamping the ground with renewed strength.

"Get on the carriage—drive straight through," he told him.

"Roxas Van's my name," he said, offering his hand.

"Ren, you may call me Ren," answered the old man, shaking it.

Buried up to half in sacks of wheat, we climbed into the carriage.

As soon as I settled in, my eyelids grew heavy, and darkness engulfed me.

The sun split, golden stripes down the highway.

I awoke to a view I never could have dreamed.

Wheat fields stretched to the horizon, drenched in sunlight until they glowed molten gold. And behind them, looming over as if alive, was the fortification wall of the Eldros Empire, dark forests lying around it.

Ren and Iron slept on, both in opposite corners.

Iron's breathing was gentle next to me.I couldn't help but look—too long.

Her eyes flew open.

"What're you staring at?" she taunted.

I bowed my head, cheeks aflame.

She smiled gently. When I looked up again, her face was empty once more.

"What?" she said tonelessly.

"Your mark," I said. "I've seen the same glow before—on the one I killed."

She braced herself.

"Spells may appear similar," she panted, "but their uses differ with each caster."

"Some claim they mirror the gods… but legend does that."

"You learn a great deal," I panted.

"I learned about them… when I was yet a noble," she sighed.

"Fallen noble?" I asked.

"Yup. Setup for rebellion," she confessed, voice shattering.

She looked away towards the empire spreading her across the horizon.

"Let's not discuss this."

"Nobles are weak," I began—then hesitated, looking into her eyes.

"Surroundings define you," she told me softly. "Experiences make you someone you never thought you'd become."

I nodded. I saw what she was feeling.

The ride was tough, the horizon uncertain—but we didn't complain.

We looked out at the fields of gold and walls of fortress before us, riding together into what we'd find.

—To Be Continued—