August was capable of traveling astounding distances when he let loose. It was something he hadn't noticed before, but now it had become apparent.
He would fire off a sword as hard as he could beneath himself, riding it to the very end when its momentum could no longer hold his weight. Then he'd summon another and continue on. It was immensely efficient and incredulously fast.
And even though he traveled a ridiculous distance, the dark forest showed no signs of ending.
When his aura could no longer sustain riding the blade, August dropped to the ground, careful not to shake Alia's body any more than he absolutely had to. He would run through the forest, clutching the soon to be corpse.
His vision seemed… off, along with his entire body feeling strangely… hollow. It was as if he had been drained of his blood and soul. Even so, he still continued on.
He ignored every beast he came into contact with, at the very least the ones he could avoid. Some were simply too swift and persistent to leave alive.
August did not even spare himself the few seconds required to extract aura molds from the beasts he killed, every second he wasted was another his friend did not have to spare.
And even so, unbeknownst to him, faint whispers of yellow mist followed him.
He charged on, doing what he could to keep her wounds clean whenever he ran into a stream or river. He washed them thoroughly and rinsed the bandages. She could not afford to develop an infection in her current condition. Thankfully, the pressure he applied has managed to slow the bleeding to a crawl.
He carried on like this for four days, through both the day and night, not giving himself a single moment of rest or respite from the exhaustion. It weighed on him cruelly, but his mind raced with fears of what would happen to Alia if he wasted even a single moment.
By the fourth day, he could no longer feel his legs, and his arms had grown numb. But August did not falter for a single second… at least not yet.
He was panting with each labored step, sweat rolling down his face as he charged on. He pushed himself much harder than he could even handle, and continued pushing.
It was on that day he felt a tap on his arm.
"August…"
He looked down, still running through the dense forest. The redhead stared back at him with hazy eyes.
"August…. You can… rest." She whispered weakly.
He shook his head.
"If I rest, you'll die."
"That's…fine…. Just rest. " her eyes remained open for a short moment, then started to close once more.
He smiled sadly, and sped up.
"Just shut up."
Before she could respond, her eyes closed and her arms went limp once more.
Now he couldn't stop, even if he wanted to. If she woke up, that meant that August was running out of time, her body was starting to waste aura on frivolous things like consciousness instead of keeping her alive. At the very least, that was what he told himself to find the strength to keep going.
The crimson light of sunset washed over him, and his friend's body had started to become cold. August stopped and slowly set her down.
He had already turned his armor to the secondary form to lighten his load, so he pulled his sweater off and gently put it on the redhead in an attempt to keep her warm.
He then summoned an aura mold and frantically generated the world forge, putting together an impromptu suit of armor with the same grey sweater. Discarding the lower half and pulling it over himself before scooping his friend up and running off once more.
'Please God, or gods… just this one time. I'm really trying this time, don't take another person from me.'
August did not believe in amt god, well, it would be more accurate to say he had no faith in them. A being who had done nothing but allow his life to be miserable and cruel. A being who had taken everything from him in succession.
First it was his father, and by proxy his family, and then the crossing had separated him from his brother.
So it was quite ironic that he called out to god in the moment where something was being taken from him once more.
August did not outright refute the existence of a higher power, but he had not truly considered it until the giant spacial tears began to spread throughout the sky.
Something that couldn't be explained no matter how you liked at it with conventional science. Nobody knew exactly what they were or what would come of them.
'Wait… is that true?'
He could have been distracting himself, but for some strange reason, he felt as though he was missing something. It was as if he knew something, yet at the same time couldn't recall exactly what it was.
Maybe that was another act of God.
Right now, August believed in a god, he believed in coincidences, he believed in luck, and destiny, he believed that all of them were cruel and unfeeling dieties that found twisted joy in his suffering.
And so he cursed them and embraced them at the same time, whichever would allow him to escape this malevolent forest with his friend alive would be the choice he made.
So he had called out to God.
He called out to every god he could think of, begging each and every one to save him, asking them to no longer take anything more, to let him be. He called out to them in succession.
He begged for mercy, he begged for safety and kindness, he confessed his sins and begged for forgiveness. August felt tears stream down his face as he begged for a single victory in the long defeat he had known as life.
He renounced his hatred of gods and called for amicable conditions, even now, he could not see himself worshipping any god. But he was willing to forget how bereft and alone he was left by them in the past, simply for an answer.
None of them seemed to hear him however, as he still ran between the trees of the dark forest. He still had to force his shaking legs to continue on the damp ground as the body in his arms grew cooler to his touch.
And when he had exhausted his repertoire of gods to call to, he called to the one person he knew would always be there.
He called to the one who always stood in front of him, the back of the one person who promised he could always count on them.
August bit his lip so hard he tasted blood, then opened his mouth and whispered desperately.
"Hart, if you can hear me, I need help."
Suddenly a warm yellow glow enveloped his body and he heard a familiar whisper as his body filled with strength. His arms grew stronger and his vision cleared, even his other senses returned to how they were.
"Ad astra, to the stars, my little brother. "
August stopped and looked around, turning his head frantically, looking for the origin of the voice, for the origin of his brother's voice.
But there was nobody there.
He continued on with his newfound strength, and he felt the body in his arm become just a little warmer.
He found himself smiling through the tears, somewhere, somehow, his brother had heard him.
And it was then that August burst forth from the dark forest, finding himself under the stars, or star.