With All My Heart.

What am I?

“What art thee!?!”

Our thoughts synergize as he runs. His shoes imprinting the mud of the forest floor one after the other. The rain washing them all away, leaving no trace.

“Coupeau!” The man screams out as he turns back towards me.

The drops of rain surrounding him pause for a moment before coalescing, gathering in a thing sheet in front of him. It shoots forth towards me.

Shing

The slash slices through this body. Agony resonates throughout as the water tears through these bones. I fall into the mud the man had just run through, blood replacing the water as it seeps onto the ground. Yet I walk forward.

“HOW ART THEE LIVING?!?” the man screamed.

“It’s just a trick I read in a book once,” I state dismissively.

The man continues to run, dodging bushes and trees as he desperately tries to escape. Rain is pouring down, each droplet sounding like a piano key being pressed as they hit his body. His movements are slowed, his body falling apart at its seams.

“What-?”

Am I?

“What are you?” A third voice chimes in.

The voice comes from behind me. Despite the fact that I know no onesies behind me, I hear that voice all the same. It asks the same question again and again. Its voice is lined with sarcasm, filled to the brim with vitriol. It knows the answer to its question. It knows I know.

“It truly is such a pointless question.” The disembodied voice whispers into my ear.

Its grating, its tone one of indignation and disappointment.

“You ask yourself again, even after everything you’ve done?” The voice continues to spit out.

All the while the man continues running, unaware of the conversation happening just behind him. The man has seemingly given up on understanding a thing.

“Coupeau” The man calls out once more.

ShIng

Once again water coalesces, forming a thin sheet and tearing into flesh. Bones shattering as this body hits the floor once again.

“Coupeau”

ShIng

Another body falls. The same thing happens again. Yet I continue.

“Coupeau”

ShIng

I continue.

“Coupeau” “Coupeau” “Coupeau” “Coupeau” “Coupeau” “Coupeau” “Coupeau”

Yet despite it all, I continue.

The man seems to suddenly have a thought, stopping his bombardment of slashes. He looks at me, at these eyes.

“Ah-” The man seems to realize something and starts running. He’s frantic, his steps uneven and unbalanced. After ten or so steps, he trips over an exposed root and falls. Mud covers his face, the glasses that had somehow clung to his face betraying him, choosing the mud as its new master.

“Haah- Haah-” The man desperately tries to catch his breath as he crawls in front of a large tree, leaning his back on it.

“I- I KNOW!” The man screams, pointing at me.

“YOU- YOU'RE A-” The man said as he pointed towards them.

I am a-

“You're a-”

“A DEMON!”

A Demon.

“A Demon.”

“Thou art a plague! A worm that slithers into this place and feeds on our harvest. Thou shouldn't be hither !” the man screams at me. “After All’s we have gone through, it’s going to end because of an intruder!?! A WHAT A JOKE”

You don’t need to look at me like that.

“And, haha, what's worse is that thou art the worst kind of Demon. That's right. NOPERRA!” The man stares directly at these eyes. A look of hatred and fear, of disgust and disgrace.

“You’ve gotten used to it, haven’t you. People are looking at your eyes.”

… Still, there's no need for him to look at me like that. After all-

“DIE-” The man yells as he flings his arms up toward me.

“EXPLODE ALL THAT CONTAINS YOU, BREAK FREE OF YOUR VESSELS AND COMBINE-”

Water once again gathers from the rain, but rather than a sheet of water, it gathers into a ball. The rain from the surrounding forest also begins to gather. The soaked mud shakes, trees sway as water rises from them, their surfaces drying out. This body shakes, these eyes sting as I watch the water from their surface be taken. Blood feels as if it is trying to escape this body.

After a few moments, the water has gathered into a ball the size of his body. The man does not send it towards me, but into the air, and in an instant everything-

“PALICI”

PUHFFFT-TUNG

As if at the beck and call of a god, the gathered moisture expands, a flash of light ending the chase as everything is blown away.

Trees are torn apart. The mud, once soaked in water and blood, is blown into the air. This body is torn as blood is pulled towards the man, and water pierces this body.

“HEH- HEH- HAHAHAHAHA” The man laughs, surrounded by a large crater that has already begun filling with water. “That must’ve done it-”

“Was that one of the higher levels of water spell?” I call out. “To pull that off without an artifact, and on the first try… really goes to show how outclassed I am,” I tell him as I emerge from the tree line of the newly created crater.

“Ho-”

“Again, I got it from a book I read once.”

“Hah?” The man looked back in shock, which quickly morphed back to anger. “YOU-”

You don’t have to look at me like that. After all, somebody already is.

In front of the man, I see a chair. Ornamental in its design, it's out of place in the forest, let alone a crater.

Of course, it's not actually there.

Just like the voice that chastises me from behind, the chair in front of me isn’t really there. The man could not see it, nor could anyone else.

It’s something only for me to see.

Just as the voice behind me says things for only me to hear, the chair in front of me is only for me to see. Though in reality, the chair is not what I am meant to see.

In the chair is a girl, of maybe 15-16 years of age. She stares at me with eyes of Indignation and contempt. She looks at me as if I were the devil. Eyes of anger and disgust, of Fear and hatred, of Red and Blue.

She’s already looking at me like that, so there's no need to. I get the point.

“Yet you still ask yourself what you are. Because if there's a chance it's wrong, that you aren't worthless scum, you want-”

But there isn’t. I know what I am. I know what I did.

I won't forget that. She won’t let me. After all-

“I took your life from you.”

And with all my heart.

“I'm Sorry.”