Heading back towards the room I looked back towards the window next to the staircase I arose from. An empty abyss enveloped the entire outside. Pure darkness filled all above and below. The light that was refracted to the window showed nothing except the frame of the window. No light was able to escape that well however, I believe my flames could solve this idea. I stepped back and with my sword's scabbard, I bashed the glass out. Immediately while doing that a vacuum began to suck up all the shards and began to consume me. I gripped onto the frame as I saw furniture start to fly in my direction. Trying to breathe only made it more difficult. The air pressure was trying to even out too quickly. I ended up letting go as I began to fall. The wind speed around me let out a deafening noise similar to a helicopter as I made my descent. I began to cast condensed fireballs and shoot them below me. The knockback of the fire slowed my fall quickly as I began to map out where I was falling. I began to see parts of the floor below me with corpses starting to harbor the flames. Other fireballs began to steam an fizzle out as I started to jerk my body near the burning corpses.
I continued to fall at high speed and began to approach the burning corpses. When I got close enough I began to focus on one of the burning corpses I was directly below. Condensing the energy within it as I made my freefall descent. A few seconds from hitting the ground I exploded the body as the force of the explosion combated my velocity. It ultimately began to slow down and even for a split second, my velocity was neutralized. I was only thirty feet above the ground as I began to throw myself in a rolling position. Not even 2 seconds later I began to feel the impact of the ground onto my body. Scratching and bruising my entire body in the process as I slowly stopped rolling. I had made it to the ground. I got up and noticed some deep gashes from my descent that was bleeding. The feeling was strange though. I felt more numb to it than anything else. Before I would've screamed in agonizing pain, however now I just feel numb. I began to burn the wounds around my body as flames cauterized and stopped the bleeding. My flames and psychic abilities seemed to not damage me or at least inflict pain.
I sat down on the side of the building as I began to hear laughter all around me in one pitch, before a voice speaking up. "Incredible Faust, you've adapted quickly haven't you." The familiar voice was of the Baron as I heard footsteps walk around. "You are quite the hero. Anyone else would've died and not been so resourceful, but you! You are of high praise!" I got up and began to look for the Baron, I then turned around and the building was no longer there. Only a smooth textured platform served as the ground below me. I walked in the direction away from the building.
"Is this another one of your meetings, Baron?" He began to laugh maniacally as he gave a relieved exhale. "Before you start questioning me. I have something to show you." He appeared from the abyss in front of me. Puffing his usual cigar he motioned me to follow him as he began walking back in the direction he came from. "You see, while you played hero, something terrible happened. You lost track of what you were to watch." A spotlight shined onto Gale as she was laying down, her face away from us. Blood began to gush out of her onto the floor. "You didn't realize what you'd done to just open that window. The everyday actions that you don't think of will always lead to someone's destruction." I began to walk closer to Gale as I then laid her body on her back. Her eyes slowly turned to me. She began to weakly reach out to me. "Don't lose track of what we are trying to achieve."
"She's dying my friend, soon you'll have nobody left to save, but yourself. I'll offer you something new." I looked towards the Baron as he began to grin. "Submit your soul to me and I'll make sure that anyone you've ever cared about will live long happy lives. She will return home, while you do work for me here." I took out my sword slowly as I pointed it towards him. "You've already imprisoned me in this world, Baron. You do not need my soul since you asked for me to save this world. You gain nothing from this as I know you. Nor would the Baron ever show me Gale in our meeting, we never made the pact." The Baron began to laugh as he walked closer. "You think you can kill me? I know almost everything about you, that's how I saw you and Gale team-up. So just give in now."
I started to laugh. I laughed more and more chaotically. The baron began to get frustrated as he gripped his hands tightly. "Fine! I'll take your soul myself." He began to quickly move towards me as I slashed in front of me. His grasping hand was cleanly cut off as he fell to his knees. Screaming in agony. "You asshole! I'll burn you alive with your own powers!" I looked at him, anger filled his face as I knew what he was. "Pretending to be a god is very challenging. You got a few ideas right however, it wasn't good enough to mimic the Baron." I took up my sword as decapitated the now kneeling Baron in front of me. I then woke up abruptly at the window I previously bashed open. Behind me, I began to hear screams of a very fragile man. Grabbing his neck in pain as tears flew from his eyes. I went to grab my sword as I unsheathed it and began running to him. As soon as I got within range, I pierced his skull with my sword as I dug it in deeper. He instantly fell silent.
The word 'hero' began to fill my head as I heard it in many voices. Going in and out before ultimately, I heard Clare whisper 'hero' to me. My stomach instantly churned as I began to throw up onto the body below me. The vomit began to seep into the stab wound as I saw the sight and began to regurgitate more. I began to feel lightheaded as I sheathed my blade. Slowly walking to the room Gale and I hid in. I opened the door slowly as I leaned on it. Gale wasn't in view however, I heard her scatter in the bathroom. "It's just me." A sigh of relief was heard in the bathroom before she got out. "Did you have to be gone for so long?" I saw Gale as most of her wounds seemed to be healed. Only bruises and scars riddled her face as I looked around. "How long was I gone for." Gale raised an eyebrow. "You're an idiot, you've been gone for 2 days!" I widened my eyes as I looked up and down. "I was only gone for an hour, and how did most of your wounds heal up!" Gale gave an exasperated sigh as she looked towards me. "I can regenerate faster due to my psychic ability, but you were still gone for two days!" I shook my head as I went closer to her. "All I did was go down one floor, found someone, went back up and-" The thought hit me as I began to cough profusely, almost to the point of vomiting. Gale quickly tried to sit me down.
"Faust, Faust. What's wrong?" I looked towards her as she began to grow a worried gaze. The image of her bleeding out on the ground began to haunt my mind. As I gave her a tight hug as she shortly returned it afterward. "I was in a nightmare." Her eyes began to widen as she held me tighter. "I'm guessing another esper tried to fight you in his dream. I've heard rumors of such that can manipulate thoughts and turn their targets into braindead zombies. Most times, people don't have the resolve to defeat them. You're strong to even break out of that horror." She caressed my hair as I began to cry, I kept trying to conceal it, but the tears flowed out. "Their messages always haunt our thoughts, the make us contemplate our friendships, our goals, our bonds, and ideals." I began to settle down as I looked away from her. "Make sure not to die first, Gale." She sighed patting my back. "I don't plan on dying. Neither of us can make it home or save this hellhole if one or the other die."
I nodded as I began to feel a tingle in my hand. I looked towards it as a blue flame emerged from it, I looked towards Gale's hands as a similar flame appeared. We quickly connected eyes at this sight right after we noticed. I felt as if we understood one another as we began to close our hands into a fist. The blue flames began to envelop the fists as we both screamed in pain. Gale began to speak out. "I don't want any more offers from you, Baron!" I added in. "We'll forge our own path. We won't play any more tricks that come from you." The blue flame began to spread towards our entire arm, as I saw Gale start to cry and scream in pain more. Instinctively, my body began to do the same.
I saw Gale reach out to me with her other hand as I gripped it tightly, locking hands together. We both spoke out. "We'll find our own way back!" The blue flames began to disappear, as golden flames arose from our gripped hands. A womanly voice began to speak out. "Become arbiters of fate, and maintain the balance." The golden flames then quickly disappeared as we both became lethargic and winded, gasping for air. I looked towards Gale as we both fell to the ground. What new pact did we just forge?