The fire lord trudged along, pushing, forcing, wishing himself to keep going. Nick felt so heavy on his back. His whole body feels so cold.
'Why was he fighting this again?' Were the words that filled his head. 'For living,' he fought back, 'for all that could and will be.' 'yes', the voice would respond, 'but why save him, a stranger?' 'For redemption, for hope,' he would argue.
His mind kept on drifting, his body felt so sluggish.
The voice would retort, 'you never cared before. You never tried before. Power, remember, above all else.' 'No', he would respond again, 'life above all else.' 'Why didn't you save those who jumped in to stop that beast,' it taunted, 'what makes him different?' 'Some lives can be saved,' it was something he believed. 'Like yours?' The voice asked. He couldn't bring himself to respond. His head felt gropy, like even forming thoughts was too much effort. But the voice remained. 'You killed people, good people, who didn't deserve to die. You destroyed families, you widowed wives. You killed their kids. You are insufferable, the worst of all humans. You should just die. Give up, give up, give up, give up. Do it, like all those orders you willingly committed, like all those graves you willingly left unburied. You are scum, you are witched. There is no forgiveness in this world for you. No one wants to see your disgusting face. Die, die, die. Your a demon, worse than a demon. Demons kill because that is their reason. You killed with satisfaction. Your disgusting. Your evil. If you really want to live, drop the body on your back, escape like you always have, into fruitless lies. Drown yourself in beer, and kill like you used to, with a smile on your face, with no shame. You were made for more than this. Drop the boy, he doesn't deserve your pity, he could have ran, should have ran. How could he not know who you are. He's just pretending, so that he can backstab you. Drop him, drop him, drop him! Stop trying to prove the world wrong, give in, show them who you truly are. A COLD BLOODED KILLER! Nasty beyond belief. Listen.'
"HAHAHAHA."
'The boy, he's laughing at you. Do you not feel ashamed, drop him. Let him go like all your problems.'
With a Vaillant grunt, he flung Nick to the ground, and took off in a full sprint. Now was not the time to play hero.
The voice subsided, fading into a silent murmur. Each step he took felt woopy, but he ran, like the wind. Nothing was holding him back, but still he could hear the laughing, the echo of peer glee.
Nick stood up, his arm staying on by threads.
"Isn't this great," he screamed. "I can't believe my luck!"
He ran almost skipping towards the carousel monster. His smile, was just not right. It was lopsided like he had a stroke, and half his teeth were jutting out.
The tiger stopped dead in its tracks eyeing the weird man.
"I should thank you, I haven't had this much fun in years."
The tiger tilted its head. It could understand human speech, but what this man just said didn't make sense. Those who see his power run, and get run down in the hunt. Although the tiger knew this man was different the moment it was punched by him.