We were once again overwhelmed by monsters, this time also tearing the town apart. Yet, Arlott and I were focused on something else. Someone else.

“Kiandra!” Arlott was the first to run out of the church and into Kiandra’s arms.

“Arlott, you’re okay!” They both hugged. “And you’re a cat girl now,” Kindra teased as she noticed Arlott’s ears and tail.

“Oh, yeah…” As Huitaca and I approached, I managed to catch Arlott’s cute blushing face. “We-we should focus on the monsters.” 

I felt my will stop going to her, ending her transformation. She and Kiandra started throwing spells together at the monsters still surrounding us. I joined them, trying to stop as many of them as I could.

But they were still too many and too strong for just the three of us.

Then, all of a sudden, the monsters stopped fighting. Out of surprise, we stopped attacking them, until a shout from Huitaca made us react.

“I’ll stop them as long as I can.” She was trembling from the strain put on her magic. Still, thanks to her holding them back, we resumed our attack with renewed force. It still wasn’t enough against all of them, but we were gaining ground.

As the fight went on, I managed to notice something. Brand may have been going slow on purpose. The monsters didn’t attack all at once, and only did so once the first few ones fighting fell first. He wasn’t taking us seriously, and he was still overwhelming us.

It felt like we were going to end here, no matter what we did. But even knowing this we kept going.

It didn’t take too long until  Huitaca couldn’t hold the monsters with her power, and they started to come in faster than before. Arlott and Kiandra were panting and struggling to even remain on their feet. I wasn’t as tired as them only because I was a spirit.

Then, a big crack could be heard, loud as thunder. We tried not to get distracted, but the sound kept repeating itself. We looked in its direction, and we noticed that the space where Huitaca pulled Kiandra from looked like falling apart, leaving some weird and translucent kind of portal.

From inside the portal, we could see something approaching. As it came closer, it looked like the silhouette of a man, or a monster. Maybe both. Whatever it was, it was coming to this side.

When the thing that was coming got close enough, I noticed that it looked like a demon, similar to Brand. But it also looked different at the same time. Its skin was red and it had horns, like I thought demons would look like. But his presence was something else altogether. It was as if one could barely breathe in its presence.

It looked like it wasn’t just me either. When it gazed at the monsters, they all got frozen in place, some of them even trembling. I could feel the fear in the air. I didn’t even though monsters could feel fear, since they weren’t human anymore.

The monsters weren’t the only ones showing fear. I looked at Arlott and Kiandra, and they both were gasping for air. Behind us, Huitaca was frozen in place, trembling even more than the monsters. I could feel her fear spilling all over, and I was sure everyone nearby could feel it too.

She was terrified of whatever that demon was.

The demon stopped before crossing the portal, as if it had all the time in the world. It then looked at Kiandra with a grin.

“At last,” it said with scorn in his voice. “I’ve found you, little witch.” But suddenly his gaze focused on something else.

On the other end of his gaze, Brand was shaking from head to toes.

“What are you doing here?” The demon asked Brand. He opened his mouth, but it was clear he just couldn’t muster the strength to answer. Instead, someone else broke the silence.

“Return Breena to us.” Arlott said in a thread of a voice that could barely be heard. Yet, it clearly took too much from her, as she began gasping from air once again. 

The demon looked at Arlott, and then back to Brand. It seemed to notice the small girl besides Brand, frowning as he looked at him again.

“So all of this just for a child?” The demon said calmly, but still giving a menacing presence. “All the trouble that witch has given us was because you wanted some girl?” It pointed at Kiandra.

Every one, monster or person, had fallen to their knees. Most of the people that helped us by praying before were now on the floor. I hoped they were unconscious, but some of them did look dead. I didn’t want to think too much about it. I was so focused on staying alive myself that I couldn’t even tremble.

Brand, on the other hand, started to convulse. He was crying out so loudly that it stung my ears, but I couldn’t even cover them. A weird mist started to come out of his body which was slowly shriveling.

First, Brand’s skin began to lose its red hue. His demonic futures shrank, as he slowly began to look like a regular man. He looked like the first time we met him. The mist kept coming out of his body, as it was turning translucent.

The shouts suddenly stopped, as Brand went motionless on the floor. He wasn't moving anymore as he became a spirit. As it looked like he was losing substance, I realized he was merging with the Sea of Wills.

“Now,” the demon said. “It is your time, little witch.” He pushed one hand through the portal, making every person on the plaza convulse. I saw how horrified Kiandra looked.

But then, the demon’s hand stopped before the elbow crossed to our side. The demon moved to push his arm, and slowly started crossing in once again, though still with some difficulty.

That’s when I noticed it was because of Huitaca using all her efforts to stop him. She looked even more strained than when holding back the army of monsters. But then Kiandra seemed to notice her too, as she took another molten steel-like bracelet. This time, however,  she used the bracelet’s almost unending will to power her own, helping Huitaca hold the demon from crossing the portal. Arlott was helping too, giving back to Huitaca as much Will as she could. I tried to do the same, giving as much as I could, leaving only the bare minimum I needed to not disappear myself.

Together, it looked like we managed to stop the demon’s hand once again.

The portal started to close so slowly, it looked almost still, but we kept pushing back. Kiandra fell to her knees again, while Huitaca stood tall focusing all the power she could muster towards the portal. I glimpsed how the demon glared at the four of us as the portal closed faster and faster. When it was almost completely closed, it pulled back its arm as the portal finally closed completely.

As we all finally caught our breaths, I saw Arlott starting to run. I looked at where she was running, and noticed Breena with a blank face. She had a confused gaze, as if she were waking up from a weird dream

Brand got to her before Arlott, still not entirely vanished, and grabbed her.

“I will not go alone,” he said, with a last breath, as he stabbed Breena with the same knife she stabbed Huitaca before. Brand then vanished into the Sea of Wills, leaving Breena to fall as she started to bleed. 

When Arlott got her, she was gasping, as if to return the air to her lungs, but failing miserably. Arlott began crying desperately with Breena in her arms.

I looked at Huitaca and Kiandra for help, but from their faces, it seemed there was nothing they could do.

“I’m not a healer,” Huitaca said with a trembling lip. Kiandra just shook her head silently.

Then, I suddenly had an idea. I ran to Arlott and Breena, and gently grabbed Breena in my arms. Arlott looked at me confused, but she gave me a trusting look as I began to try something I didn’t even know was possible; Try to give my will to someone I wasn’t bonded with.

I tried many times, hugging her, gazing at her while focusing, or just focusing on giving her my will. But neither worked. Arlott and I were about to give up when I decided to just try one last thing.

I held Breena firmly once again, and kissed her, trying to give her as much of my will as I could.

Nothing happened at first. But then, she started to glow as I began to flicker in and out of the living world, until Arlott separated us forcefully with a really worried look.

“Istas stop, I don’t want to lose you too!” She said as tears ran down her face. But then, we both looked at Breena. The wound on her side wasn’t bleeding anymore, and her face regained some color already.

“I think we should leave,” I said to Arlott with a smile on my face. “Get Breena to a safer place.” And with that, I dropped on the floor. Yet, I managed to look around us, seeing how every monster started to go back to the Sea of Wills.

#

 

For the first time in centuries, Huitaca had everything she needed. She had her human body, a place to call home, people that cared for her and calmness. Though, she had to admit, that last one wasn’t as solid as the others. She knew there was trouble brewing ahead of them, somewhere. 

Yet, she decided to only care for the things that she could grasp for now. She was used to spending centuries in the jungle, waiting for an attack that may never come. Yet, said attack came and was dealt with, and so much after that happened in mere days. Barely a blink in comparison to the time she spent alone. It all made her think again how she was spending her time. Her life.

This new freedom she had, this new breath was what she wanted for so long. Huitaca wanted to protect this peace, no matter the cost.

#

 

Arlott was sitting in the corner of the hospital room. She kept staring at Breena on the bed. It had been a week since the attack, and she had yet to wake up. So, Arlott went to visit her regularly, waiting for her to finally get up.

Arlott couldn’t help but worry more as she kept looking at her friend. Though, this also gave her time to think about her own feelings.

Since the moment she saw Istas kiss Breena, her feelings had been all over the place. Even though Arlott knew that it was more akin to a CPR than an actual kiss, her heart ached when she saw the two of them together like that. Arlott wanted to solve those feelings by herself, since she didn’t want to trouble Istas with her own turmoil.

The heart monitor kept on beeping as Breena laid on the bed as if she was sleeping. Looking at her only made Arlott feel even worse. She kept on thinking how Breena just wanted to care for Istas, but her new feeling made it hard to know what she really wanted.

#

 

Time was piling for Kiandra. She’d been avoiding the questions about her travels while the others stayed in the jungle. Each time, she told Istas or Arlott that she needed to organize her thoughts. But the truth was that she really didn’t know how to tell them anything.

Still, Kiandra knew she had to tell them anyway, and she did want to do it sooner than later. But it scared her to think about  Arlott and Istas knowing everything. Once they did, they’d become too involved to have a peaceful life anymore. A peaceful life Kiandra didn’t want to take away from them.

She kept on pacing from one side to the other inside her room, picking up things to fidget and leaving them in any other places, making a complete mess. She couldn’t deny she needed Istas and Arlott. Not as companions, but as her family. And as her family, she knew they would be more than pleased to help her when she was in need.

#

 

“Cleaning in aisle five!” Istas heard as she was buying the things she needed to prepare some Bunny Chow.

She hadn’t eaten it since Arlott made it for her, months ago. Istas wanted to surprise Arlott with it. She was not entirely confident of doing a great job, but she had noticed that Arlott had been a little weird lately.

She had bought some lamb to prepare, and was leaving the market when she stopped and went back.

‘I should prepare enough for Kiandra and Huitaca too,’ Istas thought, with a smile on her face. ‘I’m sure they will like the gesture.’

She got the spices and everything else she needed to prepare the recipe. She checked how to make it from a bearded bald guy on YouTube, hoping it would be at least half as good as Arlott’s.

Istas then began to make her way towards Arlott’s house, where the four of them where staying since the attack. The trip was more tiring than she expected, since her body was back to being small again after giving too much will to Breena. 

She suddenly felt her heart ache when she passed next to the crossroads where Arlott first introduced her to Breena. They had done everything they could for her, but now they could only wait and hope for the best.