For a moment Raida was unable to understand what had just happened. It was only a couple of seconds, but for Raidha it seemed like an eternity. Her eyes were focused on the object that was protruding from Drayd's chest, making her own chest start hurting just by looking at it.
'No, this can't be happening.'
An illusion, that had to be. Raidha couldn't believe it, she didn't want to believe it. Despite having it right before her eyes, it seemed a completely unreal sight to her. However, after watching Mirthia brusquely pulling out the sword and Drayd collapsing like a dead weight to the ground she had to accept it, Mirthia had backstabbed Drayd.
Raidha even forgot how to breathe as she stared with blurry vision at the rapidly spreading red pool beneath Drayd. That was probably a very serious wound, no, probably a deadly wound, since everything indicated that the sword pierced Drayd's heart.
"No… no… no… Imposible… A lie, this has to be a lie…."
Raidha could barely force her legs to take a few steps towards Drayd and slowly turn him around to check his condition. Raidha brought her hand to Drayd's face, finally confirming her fears. Drayd had no trace of life. He had even stopped breathing.
"Drayd, open your eyes! Drayd! Drayd! Drayd! No, no, no! Please, say something… Don't die… Don't leave me alone…"
At that moment was Raidha's heart which became broken. She couldn't contain her tears anymore, nor did she try. Drop after drop spilled over Drayd's, wetting his face that showed no sign of pain. He seemed to be just sleeping peacefully.
"Don't die…"
Raidha was completely blocked. She did not know what to do. Her mind was completely blank, only repeating the same sentence over and over again without stopping.
"Don't die… don't die…"
Raidha kept crying and pleading, probably expecting an absurd miracle.
"I don't want to be alone, I can't do anything alone. Without you… I don't know what I should do… Don't die!"
Mirthia slowly approached Raidha and stared at her back. Raidha noticed it, but didn't turn. She clenched her fists around Drayd's shirt and closed her eyes before speaking in a whisper filled with pain.
"Will you also backstab me?"
Mirthia continued staring at Raidha's back silently. Her gaze was as sharp as the bloody sword in her hand. However, that murderous look did not last long. Mirthia closed her eyes and slowly sheather her sword before letting out a dejected sigh.
"You don't have any fault."
Mirthia turned around and started walking in the opposite direction. Raidha tightened her grip around Drayd's shirt and bit her lip in frustration. Those words felt worse than a real backstab for her.
"No, it's all my fault."
The strength began to leave Raidha's body, to the point where she couldn't even stay on her knees. Raidha slowly dropped onto Drayd's chest, squeezing his clothes with what was left of her strength and burying her face into his chest as much as possible, drowning her cry into it.
Bump-bump… Bump-bump… Bump-bump
"Eh?!"
Raidha pulled away her face from Drayd's chest in a rush, without understanding what she had just heard.
"Could it be…?"
She put her ear on Drayd's chest again. Bump-bump, she heard the sound again. It was weak, extremely weak and seemed to be struggling desperately with every beat to not stop completely, but without a doubt, his heart was still beating.
"He is alive!"
Raidha's scream echoed through the place. Hearing her, Mirthia stopped and turned to Raidha.
"No one can survive such a wound, meow."
Mirthia turned around again, but instead of going straight away, she stood there, watching Raidha out of the corner of her eye with a gaze that seemed to contain a bit of compassion. However, Raidha didn't even listen to her. Her head at the moment was in chaos and she had no time to pay attention to anything but Drayd.
'Think, Raidha, think. What can you do?'
That wound was more than enough to kill anyone without a doubt, but not Drayd, whose power allowed him to continue fighting to hold onto life. However, he was not breathing and blood was still pouring through the open wound with each tiny heartbeat.
'He heals fast, but at this rate he will soon die from blood loss or for not being able to breathe. If I can keep him alive until he heals… There is only one thing I can do!'
Luckily, the dark power was versatile. Raidha couldn't use it to heal, but she could plug his wound to keep the blood from flowing out. Carefully, Raidha let his dark energy enter the wound and solidified it to block the bleeding, but that was not enough.
'What should I do now?'
Sweat poured down Raidha's forehead as she cracked her head to find a solution, but she had no time left. Without thinking of anything else, she shook her head and took a deep breath before putting her lips on top of Drayd's.
'Don't die.'
She gently transferred the air from mouth to mouth.
'Don't die.'
One time.
'Don't die.'
Two times.
'Don't die.'
Breathe in and breathe out, over and over again.
"Don't die!"
Raidha did not stop to rest for a second. It is impossible to know how much time passed, but in the end…
"Cof, cof, cof."
Drayd started coughing.
"Is alive? Is alive! He is really alive! Thanks, thanks, thanks for having this nonsense of power."
Drayd continued to cough roughly for a few seconds. It wasn't a pleasant sound, but it showed that he could breathe on his own again. Raidha finally collapsed onto the grass, letting out an exhausted sigh of relief.
"Meow?!"
But the tranquility did not last. Raidha had forgotten that Mirthia was still there. They both looked each other directly in the eyes. Eyes completely red against eyes reddened by the mixture of pain and fury.
"How? Why? You, meow…"
Mirthia slowly drew her sword again. At that moment, the gears in Raidha's head finally started working again. Raidha got up and stood halfway between Mirthia and Drayd.
"That's enough! Mirthia, please, stay away from him. I won't let you put a finger on him again."
"You won't let me, meow?"
Mirthia clenched the hilt of her sword and began to walk toward Raidha.
"A simple defenseless girl wants to fight me, meow?" Mirthia replied in a mocking tone.
"I don't want to fight you…" Raidha muttered as she saw her approaching.
"So move away, meow!"
Mirthia raised her sword and slashed at Raidha with all her might. There was no time for words. Raidha unleashed her dark power and created a sword out of thin air to block the attack without taking a step back. Mirthia seemed surprised to see that her attack had been easily blocked.
"No, and don't think that I'm a defenseless girl."
Both girls stared at each other. Their gazes were enough to understand each other's intentions.
"You won't give me a choice, will you?" Raidha muttered again.
The catgirl answer was simply to attack. The two got into a hand-to-hand fight. Attack by attack, block by block, Raidha slowly pushed Mirthia away from Drayd until she felt that no attack could reach him.
"Don't think that I have not realized your intentions. As you like, I really have nothing against you, but if you insist so hard, I will take care of you first, meow!"
At that moment the real fight began. Mirthia's blows started to hit harder. All her attacks couldn't even be compared to the previous ones. They were faster and contained more power in each blow. There was no doubt, it was not Raidha who took her away from Drayd, Mirthia allowed herself to be taken away. She maybe wanted a one-on-one, or maybe it was just kindness. Whatever it was, Raidha was grateful for it.
Raidha really wasn't a helpless princess. Every day she was forced to practice for hours. She knew perfectly how to defend herself if necessary. Still, she lacked real experience, while Mirthia was a veteran. As much as she tried, little by little, Raidha was being cornered. One little Raidha's mistake was enough for Mirthia to wrench the sword from her hands and she wasted no time launching an attack on the now unarmed Raidha.
"Dropping your weapon is the same as asking to be killed, meow."
However, Raidha's specialty was not swordsmanship, but magic. Before Mirthias's sword could reach her, Raidha created a barrier and deflected the attack before quickly taking some distance.
"I never dropped my weapon."
Raidha opened her hand and easily created another sword.
"Meaaaaaw, what an annoying magic."
"Yes, I learned it from my annoying teacher after all."
"I shall admit that I didn't expect that you would be able to use magic with such ease, meow."
"Well, my magic is a bit different from the usual. Actually, it is possible that calling it magic is not accurate. What I'm doing is directly manipulating the mana, with the difference that I can swirl dark energy around it and give it the shape I want. To use real magic I still need the help of some spells. I'm still not good enough to use it without concentrating."
"I never heard anything like that, meow."
"Privileges of my kind!"
Having managed to get far enough, Raidha started to launch projectiles of dark energy at Mirthia, who with feline agility managed to block or dodge them as she closed the distance. Mirthia was very fast, and it didn't take long for her to catch up with Raidha. Another vertical slash was aimed directly at her, but being such an obvious attack there was no way Raidha could not easily block it by simply lifting her sword.
"Still, not enough for a real battle, meow."
A quick kick knocked Raidha back, making her fall back against the ground. A series of attacks began to descend on her. Raidha dodged as best she could, rolling or blocking with magic. She managed to get back on her feet, but the result remained the same. For every slash of the sword that she managed to avoid, a punch or a kick reached her. The blows didn't stop for a moment, eradicating any opportunity to fight back. Mirthia really cornered her with ease.
"You don't know how to fight with a sword. Your magic is annoying, but it's not a big deal either. For a moment I expected more of you, but in the end, you really are a defenseless girl who seems to be afraid to fight, meow."
Raidha clenched her fist around the dark energy sword in frustration.
"It's true, I don't know how to fight, I don't want to fight. I just learned to defend myself because I was forced to. I never wanted to have a real battle… Much less to death… Regardless, it seems that fights started to haunt me wherever I go… So could you please stop trying to kill Drayd? I really don't want to fight anymore."
"Don't worry, you won't have to fight anymore, meow."
"I see."
Raidha's grip around her sword loosened a bit.
'I always thought I was untouchable. I always thought that everything would go as I wished. That I could fix anything in one way or another.' Raidha lamented to herself, remembering the words that Drayd repeated more than once. 'But you have already tried to make me understand many times without me stopping to listen to you. "You can't do anything"... every time I heard you say similar words I got angry and had to use all my strength to control myself, but obviously you were right. So, not everything goes the way you want it, right?'
Raidha sighed and looked up at the sky.
'Actually, I already knew. I knew it from the first moment I left Valdhoram. I knew I couldn't keep thinking that way… I have a stupid way of looking at life. I'm really just a cocky sixteen-year-old who had it all and didn't realize it. The real world is dangerous. I'm sorry, from now on, I'll try to hear you a bit more. Still, I can't change my mindset completely either, let alone in one day. I don't like to see anyone die, and that's exactly why… I'll keep trying to do what I can until the end! Until I run out of options!'
Mirthia began to approach Raidha with the clear intention of ending the fight at once, but when she was close enough to attack, Raidha lowered her gaze, now full of determination.
"And I said that I am not a defenseless girl!"
A wave of dark energy exploded around Raidha, hitting Mirthia and sending her flying several meters away.
"What was that, meow?!" Mirthia asked as she quickly got up, in pain.
"Something I learned from him! Well… from that in him! I'm sorry Mirthia, I'm not going to hold back again."
"Well, only a stupid, useless trick, meow."
Mirthia charged back toward Raidha without wasting a second, however, she abruptly halted and leaped back with all her might, creating even more distance than before.
"What's wrong with your eyes?" Mirthia asked.
Raidha didn't understand why Mirthia had suddenly gone defensive, but it was perfect for her. She needed some time to carry out what she wanted to do. She must take advantage of this reaction or she wouldn't have another chance.
"I'm Raidha Siphil, a silphen. All my people, without exception, are born with total affinity with the darkness. Most silphen are talented with magic and it is not uncommon to see one with an extra affinity or two apart from darkness. On the other hand, it seems that I am something special. And is not to brag, but not only I have a talent with magic that makes my annoying teacher envy me and can I control all the elements, but I can also use magic that no silphen has ever seen, to the point that I was forced to promise that I would never tell it to anyone, much less use it."
"Meow?"
"Get ready, Mirthia, get ready to see magic capable of altering reality itself. I invite you to a different world from the one you know, my own world. Let me show you my dream, or rather, my nightmare!"
Raidha took a deep breath and released all of her power. With determination, she began to release a magic she had only used once, the same day that she excitedly showed it to her father and the same day that her father made her swear that she would never use it again no matter what, as if it was the most horrible sin in the world. Raidha had never used that magic again, but she has never forgotten how amazing she felt after using it. However, the expression of horror and concern of her father left such a dent in her mind that made her spend many nights without being able to sleep peacefully. What at first was like a dream ended up being a nightmare that has accompanied her until today. Having decided to disobey her father and use that magic again, the words appeared naturally in her mind.
"Reality hears my order and succumbs to my power. The world vanishes, time does not exist, only my will persist. Fall in my dream, live on my whim..."
As well as the name she decided to give it.
"... Endless nightmare!"