--Blood

As blood poured from his grievous wounds he began to waver and drop to one knee.

Where was he?

--Hot, hot, hot, hot.

Every single one of his wounds ached and burned with an intensity beyond imagination. The fact that he was even conscious was a miracle in itself.

Noises could be heard near him. Metallic screeching and the sound of explosions. Accompanied by screams that would make hell seem like a nice place. Orchestrating it all was what sounded like a single man who was the sole proprietor of a terrifying laugh. The screams seemed to change owners but he could tell that they were all the screams of men.

Then like the rain in the eye of a storm, all the noises abruptly stopped. Fear began to well in his chest as he knew whoever made those people scream would come for him next. He shook and whimpered, he was so enamored by the trappings of his own mind that he didn't even notice that someone had snuck upon him.

"What are you doing here Ryuji!?" A concerned voice came from behind him causing Ryuji to jump out of his skin and put his hand on the weapon sheathed at his hip. Silence overtook Ryuji as he genuinely could not recognize this woman who very obviously knew him.

She was a beautiful girl, the kind you would often pass by on the street and decide that you need to turn around and take one extra look before they disappeared. She was slightly shorter than the average person. She wore a blue silky shirt, and her pants were also blue but a lighter variety and they seemed to be a tight fit. Her hair which was tied up in a bun had a pretty green color. Although you wouldn't be able to tell that now as her hair was covered in dirt and what looked like blood. In her left hand rested a simple and cheap wand with some engravings that Ryuji couldn't understand.

The girl quickly turned to anger at the amnesiac in front of her. "Why are you looking at me like that? It's me Elizabeth remember?"

An epiphany overcame Ryuji as he remembered that this girl, along with some other people, had been adventuring with him recently. How could he have forgotten this simple fact? It bugged the hell out of him. He decided that he may have concussed himself, or maybe it was just the lack of blood flow to his brain.

Ryuji attempted to get a bearing on their current situation. "Hey what the hell is going on Elizabeth? Where is everyone else?"

Tears began to fill her eyes and Ryuji put two and two together.

"No.....those screams....they couldn't have been...….right?"

Elizabeth remained silent for a while. As she began to open her mouth and speak, a sword was flung through the air, and embedded itself in a pillar behind where they were sitting.

"So this is where you were hiding huh. Do you feel no shame in leaving your friends to die like that?" A cocky voice that made Ryuji's skin crawl emanated from down the path.

Elizabeth stood up and gripped her wand. She pointed it at the assailant who was now directly in front of where the two were kneeling.

He was an eccentric man wearing a red cape and gleaming knight armor underneath. His head was exposed so you could see his sneering face and short parted hair. Although his hair was white he looked to be no older than 20. That being said in this world looks were not a very good gauge for determining one's age. In his left hand rested a single bastard sword. The edge had a few droplets of blood still clinging to it.

With her arm outstretched as if she was protecting Ryuji she spoke. "Ryuji stand up and fight! Or else we're not making it out of this."

"Admirable indeed but a little too late. If you were going to run away you should have done so while you had the chance!" The murderer's eyes were full of amusement as if was getting off on the misfortune he had laid upon them.

Before Ryuji could lift his tattered body up The man had readied his sword. It glowed a brilliant prismatic color.

"Fifty folds!"

As he shouted his incantation fifty prismatic swords much like the one embedded behind Ryuji appeared around his outstretched sword. With a single swing of his blade, the prismatic copies flung forward as if they were arrows shot from a bow. They flew through the air aimed directly at the duo.

"Tarkis!"

Elizabeth still positioned in front of Ryuji attempted to shield them by casting a single spell. Light enveloped her wand and the air began to heat. In the next moment just as the swords were reaching their destination a brilliant light shone. Accompanying this was a deafening bang. Both Ryuji and Elizabeth were swept away in the explosion.

Blinded and deaf Ryuji couldn't tell if he was alive or not. Surrounding him was darkness. Then for a moment in that solitary abyss, he thought he saw a face. A familiar-looking one at that.

It was strange although it felt familiar to him it also felt very vague at the same time. Like if you were just looking at the outline of a famous person without any defining features present.

"Did I die again?"

The face blurred even more and twisted like the bad reception of a staticky old TV.

"Surely this must be my imagination right?"

All he could see was the fickle image but it seemed to be mouthing something. Unable to discern what it was saying he stopped paying attention.

The next moment a brilliant light shone through and Ryuji could feel his body being jostled.

"Oh so I'm asleep and this is a bad dream huh. Must be one of those Vivid dreams you hear about."

As he slowly began to regain consciousness, Ryuji had decided to just forget this bad dream. It's not like he wasn't used to having terrible nightmares, but just as he was about to do that he heard something. It sounded far and distant and it only spoke one broken word.

"F

R

E

E"

A voice that he hadn't heard in fifteen years.