Chereads / Asunder shadows / Chapter 17 - It's for you, it’s for me

Chapter 17 - It's for you, it’s for me

"Could you be… Arkin's daughter?" Theralox asked.

I bit my lower lip hard, cursing my carelessness. This Arkin was probably Raidha's father, the king of the Silphen. I didn't expect this guy to meet her. I put strength in my body, got up, pulled Vurtalis out, and ran to his back in an attempt to stab him, but before I could thrust the sword into him, he moved away from me and I foolishly fell in front of him.

I bit harder on my lip, to the point that it started to bleed. I rolled over on the floor and shot all remaining bullets in the pistol at him. Again, he avoided the shots like it was nothing, but at least I pushed him away from Raidha a bit.

"Go away, you idiot! Can't you see that I won't last long? Do not stand still!" I yelled at Raidha.

But no matter how much I insisted, that idiot didn't seem to want to leave. She just stood next to me with teary eyes.

"You only know how to cry?! Start running right now!" I yelled louder.

She forced a smile back at me before running at once… toward Theralox.

'No matter how hard I try, I could do nothing against him, and even failed to stop Raidha…'

However, before the Katryde could do anything, a black tornado appeared around Raidha and violently pushed him away from her.

"Drayd, you did that?" Raidha asked me, as surprised as I was.

"I didn't do anything…" I answered in a small voice.

"Speaking of the devil..." Theralox said, with cold sweat dripping from his forehead.

The sound of calm footsteps reached my ears. Both Raidha and I turned. A familiar person was approaching us.

"Dad?! What are you doing here?!"

The king of the Silphen had appeared out of nowhere. I felt at the same time relieved and worried.

"Of course, I came for you, Raidha… And by the way, exterminate this plague that dares to touch my daughter," Arkin answered her at the same time that he gave Theralox a look capable of killing by itself.

'Did he comes to help us? Seriously? Well, he's still her father after all, that's normal… I guess…'

Raidha helped me up and led me next to her father. A sigh of relief came out from her mouth. All her worries seemed to be gone. How strong was her father? The truth, somehow it looked reliable, so…

"Um…" I murmured after approaching Raidha's father.

And a second later I could only hear the sound of what seemed to be my ribs breaking.

"Ugh… arg… aaaa… I… I… know… it was too…" I spat out words along with blood after falling back to the ground.

Again, I didn't even see what hit me. He then grabbed my neck and pulled me away from Raidha.

"How dare you kidnap my daughter!"

"This… no… I… "more blood came out from my mouth with every word.

"Dad, what are you doing?!" Raidha tried to stop him without success.

"Raidha, your wings… What happened to you? It's his fault, right? And... what happened to Vurtalis? Really, daughter, you don't understand anything, you…"

Before he could finish speaking, a beam of light was shot at us. He released me and blocked it with his bare hands. No way I would remain there any second more. I started to crawl away from him, leaving a trail of blood behind me. Raidha ran after me, picked me up, and began to run, bearing almost the entire weight of my body.

"Raidha, don't even think about getting away from here!" Her father yelled.

Raidha paused for a second and bit her lip with her eyes closed. After opening them, she started running faster than before.

"Raidha, don't you understand what you're doing?!" Her father yelled again.

"No, dad, the one who doesn't understand is you!" She replied without turning around.

The king of the Silphen tried to follow her once more, but Theralox didn't give him time to do so. We take the opportunity to escape both. He could barely watch her leave with me while continuing to block Teralox attacks.

***

The commotion created by Arkin allowed us to escape. I leaned against Raidha and we ran for what seemed like forever. It wasn't more than a few minutes, but every step I took was a bloody hell that slowed down my perception of time.

It was hard for me to breathe, I couldn't see well. My whole body felt heavy and blood was pouring out of every hole in my body. Every few seconds I also cough up blood that threatened to choke me. It would not be an exaggeration to say that at that very moment I was more dead than alive.

"Forget about me and go back with your father… Aren't you afraid something will happen to him?" I said in a thin voice.

"He doesn't worry me. Those Katrydes are nothing more than a game to him," she replied with a concerned look.

"Then you will be better with him. Take your sword and go back… I don't think I will last much longer…" I finally told her the truth.

It was surprising that I was still alive after all the wounds I had received and a miracle that I was still conscious. I did not understand where I got the strength to keep moving.

"Don't say stupid things! I'm not leaving you here!"

I spat blood a few more times before I could speak with difficulty again.

"Why… Why are you doing this for me?"

"... It's not just for you… It's also for myself."

I fixed my gaze on her eyes. They were still the same watery eyes as before, but they showed a strange determination.

"I do not get it…"

"I… I… I promised to bring you home! No matter what, I will not break my word!" I noticed that she was holding me tighter.

I couldn't answer that. Still, I did not understand absolutely anything of that girl's behavior.

"Just hold on, here's the fissure. Give me a few seconds, I'll open it and we could go."

I stopped to catch what little breath I was able to take while watching how the princess began to use her space-time magic… or whatever it was. Instead of opening a portal, it looked like she was creating a kind of black hole in the middle of the city.

'Do we have to jump there? Well, that will be better than staying in this place…'

Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine.

"Down!" I yelled without thinking.

I jumped, or rather, I just dropped myself toward Raidha and pushed her to the side. A moment later, I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen. Something went through me. And not only did it pierce me, it brushed Raidha on the side as well. I collapsed to the ground, which was slowly turned red beneath me. My consciousness finally began to gradually dissipate. I could barely hear sounds and maintain a blurry vision that was slowly turning black.

"Didn't I tell you that you wouldn't escape?"

Theralox appeared in front of us, looking rather pitiful. His clothes were torn and he had quite a few serious injuries.

"What are you doing here? My father… Where is my father?! It can't be that you…"

"Unfortunately, he's perfectly fine. That demon is incredibly strong. I haven't been able to do anything to him at all. However, I also have some resources to stop him. It will take some time for him to come here, long enough to finish you off. Even though I wanted to kill him at any cost… At least losing his daughter will make him feel a bit of what I felt… I know, a sad and pathetic revenge… However, it will make me feel better… I hope my brother too."

He passed me completely confident. He probably believed that I was already dead, which was really not weird to think. But it wasn't like that, I was still alive… Something inside me refused to leave things as they were… I couldn't let him kill… Raidha...

A drop of energy filled my body from the same nothingness. My mind was no longer working well and my body seemed to act on sheer instinct. I got up like a zombie on the brink of collapse. Theralox did not notice me. I didn't realize how Vurtalis got into my hand before flopping down on him slashing with all the strength I had left.

"Ugh! What?!"

At the last moment, he noticed me. He turned quickly, but it was a little late. As he turned around, Vurtalis sank into his chest a few centimeters. It was not a fatal wound from my lack of strength, yet I left a deep enough gash to push him back. Too bad that Vurtalis was not like before, with its previous shape perhaps… perhaps it would have killed him…

'Even in the end, I couldn't do anything…'

My eyes and the Katryde's meet head-on. He gave a hard push to get me off from him and took a couple of steps back with a mixture of pain and fear on his face.

"What are you?" The Katryde murmured.

"Now Drayd, let's go!"

Raidha caught me before I fell while she held her wound with her left hand, which had turned completely red. She pulled me hard and dragged us both into that black hole… in which my only remaining thread of consciousness was finally cut… What happened next in the city, we would probably never know...