‘What did you say?!’

Kat was having a hard time going with the flow of things. She seemed completely shocked that the other girls had gone along with me.

‘This thing has two hearts. The only way to bring it down is to take them both out simultaneously.’

‘How could you possibly know that?!’

Blue was back in position taking a beating and Candy had defaulted back to standing behind her and waiting for an opportunity to strike. Green was firing a volley of arrows that, even though magically charged, barely seemed to have any effect.

‘Just trust me! Blue, when I give the signal pull that thing off guard. Candy, get behind it. Green, try to get its eyes. Its hands are too big to pull out an arrow. Kat, just keep supporting.’

Blue glanced at Candy as she moved out from behind her. Candy had a smile on her face.

‘This is crazy, right?’

‘I wouldn’t expect anything less from our Sammy!’

‘Now!’

Blue raised her mace in the air and gathered blue energy into it.

‘Tidal Smash!’

Crash!

With all of her force she crashed it down into the ground. A wave of water fanned out in front of her in the direction of the Troll. It braced for impact, but there was none. The water washed harmlessly around its feat. Blue smiled.

In one motion, blue stood and pulled on her mace like it was a lasso that had roped its prey. The water came rushing back and crashed into the legs and buckling its knees. As it lost its balance, Green struck.

‘Blinding Arrow!’

Fooom....Shing!

She unleashed a glowing arrow that struck the monster in its lower left eye and then exploded in a ball of light. Good, that will dazzle it for a few seconds.

‘Candy, Your up!’

‘R…right!’

Candy hesitated for a second, but then lowered herself to the ground like a football lineman.

‘Luminous Dash!’

Zowzowzow!

There was a streak of rainbow light through the legs of the monster and suddenly Candy was behind it. I took the cue and rushed it head on. As it stumbled backwards I jumped in the air and pierced it on the right side of the chest with everything I had. Its hide was tough but no match for the fairyite steel. I heard Candy chant from behind.

‘Radiant Thrust!’

Waaaaaaaaaan!

Her rapier pierced through the left side from behind with a ray of rainbow energy that left a grapefruit sized hole in its chest. It threw its head back as black liquid flew out of its mouth and it fell to the ground, on top of Candy. Blue jumped in the air in celebration.

‘We got it! Yay!’

‘Um, can someone get this thing off me?’

‘I can’t believe it worked!’

It was then that I noticed a twitching movement in the bottom of the hole that Candy had made.

Thump, thump. Thump, thump.

Oh, no.

I looked up to see the Troll lift his head to look at me. I attempted to diagonally slash over to the second heart but it backhanded me before I could get the angle. I went flying and heard my left shoulder crack and pain seared through my body.

The hole in its chest began to close as it rose from the ground and turned to look at Candy. She attempted to flee. Blue ran to maneuver around the beast and get its attention, but to no avail.

‘Luminous… !’

With a thud of its fist a crumpled Candela lay broken on the ground. A flash of rainbow light and she was gone. Blue cried out in surprise.

‘No!’

The troll turned to contend with her as Kat ran to my side.

‘Mischievous Rewind!’

Tick Tick Tick Gong!

I felt all the sensations of the injury again except in rewind. The pain was suddenly gone but my nerves remembered and tingled from being on overdrive. Green continued to shoot volleys of arrows at the Troll but couldn’t get an angle on its head to get another eye.

Blue tried to keep her footing, but the beast finally grabbed her shield and pinned her in place. With a chop of its other hand, her legs were taken out from under her and looked broken. She screamed as it lifted her in the air above it head and threw her. Green had no time to react as Blue crashed into her. Kat grabbed my arm and tugged.

‘Get out of here! We can come back, but you can’t!’

The anger pulsed in my neck as I gripped my sword. The hate seethed as this thing roared again in triumph. I looked down at my blade and noticed a second red light  faintly pulsing on the hilt. This wasn’t over yet. I shrugged off Kat and resheathed my blade, holding it by the sheath on my left side with my left hand and by the hilt in my right. I lowered my form. It smashed the ground and began to charge.

I dashed at it and stretched my consciousness into the blade, activating it. A burst of crimson energy erupted from the blade and I felt it change in my hands. The world slowed and turned monochrome except two red circles which appeared on the monsters chest, right where its two hearts were.

My body moved on instinct as if accelerated by an outside force. My speed and agility felt familiar to the memory I had just experienced. The Troll slammed downward as I jumped up and slashed. I landed on its shoulder and its arm fell to the ground.

It looked around in confusion as if it hadn't seen where I had gone. It finally tracked me and looked to its side and attempted to use its remaining arm to grab me. I slashed at his eyes which rendered half of his head removed in a glop of black ooze. His head began to reform and I jumped down beside him.

I was suddenly overcome with an odd emotion. Curiosity. What was within those red dots? My world had been stripped of color and all that remained was those two specks of red.  I wanted to study them. I wanted to cut them out and examine them layer by layer and unfold their secrets. I was so focused on the dots that I did not realize that I had taken the beasts’ legs and other arm.

Its regeneration couldn’t keep up with the damage. That gave me time to examine the red lights a bit more. I gingerly placed my hand on its chest and felt its labored breathing. This wouldn’t do. There was too much flesh in the way of my precious lights.

I proceeded to cut and carve until I reached them. I pulled them both out and held them in my hand. They were meaty to the touch but what was inside was what I was after. They held more than just the black blood of this creature. They held secrets.

The charge on the sword ran out and color rushed back into my vision. I came to the realization that I was holding two hearts of the Troll. Many other students were watching from the trees in awe.

A green light began to form over the Trolls body. It formed an orb that drained energy from the monster as it grew. With a sudden crack the ball broke into four separate orbs. Three of the orbs flew into the remaining three girls and absorbed into their body. Green and Kat reeled and fell to the ground. Blue winced as she laid there unable to stand.

The remaining orb stayed floating above the corpse for a few seconds. The energy was warm and withing reach. It felt comfortable and familiar. I reached out my hand to touch it. Before I could, it slammed into my chest.

It felt as though an electric shock supercharged my brain. It was exhilarating and frightening all at the same time. The energy swirled inside until it came to a point in my chest. It exploded throughout me and I felt the Veil buckle one more time.

-

‘There you are sweetie. Come inside. It’s time for dinner.’

I embraced the woman and my head buried into her chest. She smelled of flour and freshly baked bread. She embraced me back in a warm hug.

‘Mom!’

‘Aww. What’s the matter sweetie?’

‘Nuthin. I just missed you, that’s all.’

‘Aww. Come here.’

She hugged me again and then pulled my head back and kissed my forehead. Her lips were soft to the touch. Her eyes were deep and blue and her hair was a dark brown. Her face was round and she had slight wrinkles under her eyes. I felt like I could stay snuggled into her white apron for an eternity. She patted me on the head.

‘Alright now. It’s time for dinner. Go set the table and I’ll go call your father and sister to come down.’

-

I awoke with tears running down my face. I was lying on the ground in somebody’s lap. Instinctively I let out a whimper.

‘Mom.’

I looked up to see Blue’s concerned face as she ran her hands through my hair. She smiled softly and a tear ran down her cheek. I stayed there for a moment and let the emotions wash over me like I was still a small child. I was snapped back to reality by a harsh voice.

‘What the hell is going on here?!’

In my current mental state, Victoria’s voice was the psychological equivalent of getting dragged behind a horse drawn carriage down a gravel road. My brain snapped from that of a small child’s to my current self with a whip that crashed against my brain in nauseating waves. I attempted to sit up but my cerebellum protested by spinning the whole world.

‘Where did that Revenant come from? How did it get through the gate? Someone speak up. Quickly now. Who killed this thing?’

I could tell by the sudden shift in her voice that she had spotted me on the ground covered in Revenant blood.

‘No! No no no no no no no. Quick someone go get Miss Puffin here as fast as possible! Magic is allowed. Are any of you healers?!’

She had slid in next to me and was holding my hand. My mind slipped in and out of a foggy state like it was still calibrating. Was receiving two flashbacks in one day really that taxing? Victoria’s voice had changed from authoritative to pleading.

‘Marina, please, what happened?’

‘The Revenant broke through the barrier when the gate was open. We tried to hold it back so Sam could run, but she fought it instead. In the end, we couldn’t do anything. She killed it single handedly.’

‘Then why is she like this?’

‘If I had to guess, it the mental trauma from experiencing a massive Aura absorption of a class 3 Revenant rebounding against your Veil. She has massive Aura sickness paired with possible mental instability. Great job, Victoria.’

That voice had come from a recently arrived Miss Wintry. She stood with her arms folded in front of me, looking disapprovingly down at Victoria.

‘This isn’t the place for this, North. Help me get her to the infirmary.’

She picked me up like a large child swaddled in her arms. I felt sick to my stomach and wished I could muster up some food to puke on her. As she carried me away, I noticed Kat and Green lay unconscious in the field with a few girls tending to them. I also noticed that Blue stayed sitting on the ground. Her legs were off oddly to her side. The world spun and I succumbed to darkness.