(Rose)
I saw the explosion and the fires fanning out. I ran toward there as I knew Blume was in there, against the monster I'm responsible for.
I found them, but I arrived too late. Blume is about to die for me.
Ogre saw me. It decapitated Blume right away. Shivers ran through my spine as I witnessed that.
Blume... What did you do...
I'm so sorry for what I've done to you.
The monster walks slowly toward me, a senseless smile on her face.
My anger grows.
Against myself and against her.
O - Rose, real Rose. Oh I'm so glad you have returned. We can play once more, and for real now that the annoying flower is gone.
R - You... You don't understand why I've truly returned?
O - You love me.
R - Ah. Ha ha... No. Would you have chosen to live ''nur'' as Blue, I might have... I came to see the one you just crushed, but now I'll simply watch you die.
O - Yes, please come and try to kill me again my dear. I want to have that more fun again.
I sigh. She's pitiful.
R - You're such a sad being truly. Blume has already vanquished you, even if you don't realise it yet. Still, alright, I will play with you for the little while you have left, until you finally will be gone for good.
I draw out my sword. It's an elegant one. I have little skill in swordsmanship, but I've wanted to pierce that chest for a while now...
She comes at me with her inhuman strength. I block the punch with the sword and my other arm, without a flinch on my spine or legs.
She looks bewildered. She expected me to fly away from the strength she has.
She didn't see that strength in me.
I've had some help.
I know it won't last, but for a little while, I have a little blessing of power from a dragon god. I'll make it count.
As we stand against each other, I resist her push firmly. I see my reflection in her eyes and on my blade.
I see that my hair is gradually turning white as I process this power inside of my body. I'm releasing this strength of a lifetime.
I push her back. She falls down. She seems to laugh in joy and scream in anger at the same time. She stands up while she yells.
I look ready to fight. I'm burning too inside. She grows into her larger self. She's like vapour in that state, but I still go against it. The power is shapeless inside of me also.
I channel it inside my arm holding the sword and my thoughts sip into reality. Blume taught me the easiest of spells, and the reality ensues, by the will of the new gods.
What I thought of becomes real, and this is what I call magic.
My sword now slashes with light even at a distance. I slash her apart despite her being three times my size, and not a solid form.
Her body instantly reforms behind the passage of light, but she stills seems shocked.
Feeling powerful on my side, is rather intoxicating. Moreover, I'm facing a mortal enemy I want to have a painful revenge against...
I rush at her feet. She tries to punch me into the ground. I block her. My feet sank into the burnt ground, but my back held on despite the pressure.
We're getting weaker I can tell. Me because I'm consuming recklessly the amount of energy I was granted. Her because Blume is killing her rapidly from within as we stand.
She's shrinking again. She looks in pain, and also in shock. Maybe she understood she can no longer win against us.
~
The Ogre is angered. She's weaker than ever too.
O - What have you two done...
R - Taking responsibilities for our choices and their consequences you mean? We made you into what you are today, and that was our mistake to correct. I'm sorry you suffered because of us. Though, you might have either way...
O - ...
R - You're beginning to feel fear I guess? No, rather you're beginning to acknowledge your fears, right?
She's in turmoil. She's on the verge of panicking I can tell.
O - Why can't I live if you still can? You, of all people! You're me! You're filled with desires of flesh and death! You still are lying about who you really are Rose!
Before I could reply, she jumped at me with new strength and hatred. She grabbed my neck and the blade of my sword.
Yet, my arms are now strong enough to free myself from her grasp. I punch her in the face before she realises what happened. She falls down. I pick up my sword and point it at her again.
R - I remember a little now what you did to me last time we met... You're despicable... Why should I live and you not? Probably because I judge that I'm trying to act in a rightful manner and you don't. I'm not trying to kill you, who killed us both, I'm trying to stop the stupid beast that killed pointlessly everything around it. I made you my enemy in the process because I wasn't perfect at it. That's all there is to it.
On our first encounter, I defeated the blind monster, but made a powerful and vengeful enemy in the stead. A far more personal one since I meddled into its existence and it read through my brain.
She got her revenge. Now we settle things for good, hopefully.
I'm catching my breath. I'm almost out of time with the power given to me. She's standing up with difficulties too.
She tries to grow into her vaporous form again, but it fails. Vines and buds of small flowers suddenly sprouted all over her and entangling her like cobwebs. She screams and manages to tear them all apart.
But the flowers keep growing all over her however.
She runs at me.
I blinked, and she's right next to me.
I felt a shock over my head and passed out.
~
I feel the wind screaming against my ears and head. I'm falling into the sky?
Am I flying? No, I'm falling!
She sent me in a violent burst flying into the sky?
O - You will die with me sister, mother or whatever... You're out of power now. Try to overcome gravity as you are...
R - You just wanted to fly with me?
O - I love you as much as I hate you. I want to tear you apart again, and again. It's good that you can return too...
The ground is still so far under the clouds. It's rather fantastic to view. I'm holding her hand and she's holding mine as we fall. It's weird. I still hold the sword in the other hand.
She looks like Blue again...
R - It's too late to try that again. You just needed to learn a little of life's value to find a place in this world... This amazing world... Why did you bring me so high in the sky?
She doesn't reply. I think she acted on a very human impulse and isn't sure why herself.
O - If I must die, I'd rather die my way or yours, but not from your shabby flower poisons...
R - I thought your wrath would overcome you, as you realised you lost. I'm surprised.
O - Don't think this is over yet! I will return!
R - And you will also evolve. We made sure of that. You can find... No, we can both find a more interesting way to live than just impulses and murder.
She still hates my guts I can see on her face. She's dropping flower petals as we sky dive, endlessly as they keep regrowing all over her. A cloudy pink trail follows her fall. Blume is shredding her power apart slowly in the cutest way possible...
Ogre faces me as the land below us reappears. She still wants to kill me, and to die on her own terms. She won't change her appearance. She wants me to kill her as she arbours the look of my old sister. What a sick joke.
Alright... I don't see how I could survive this fall anyway. And I'm not even sure that the process we used to resurrect me once is ready or bought for a second use. Moreover as Blume seemed conflicted about it.
Ogre crushes my wrist. I punch her as I yell. She tries to claw or grab my neck. I kick her away. As we're still falling endlessly, she's floating away in an odd fashion.
She flips around, and flies at me. I'm preparing myself to strike. No matter how strongly I repeat to myself that she's not my sister, seeing her look rushing at me with murderous intention, my heart aches. It aches furthermore as I plan to strike her with a sword... It's hard to convince myself that I'm not about to kill someone I loved when my eyes are telling me precisely that.
I stab her through the chest. She's impaled on the blade suddenly. She has her ribcage pierced through. She's coughing blood. Real blood? She never bled before...
It's the continuation of her sick joke, hurting my mind by making me feel as if I did that to my own sister...
We keep falling. She's lifeless.
The skies and landscapes this high give magnificent views...
~
We're falling in a strain of white petals and crimson droplets.
I've slain a nemesis who chose to bleed to meet its fate. Since I can't fly, I'm surely falling to my death. We all die...
Everything dies...
Yet all of us refuse it somehow... That's what they are, and what I became.
The power temporarily granted to me is now gone. The wind is strong against us but I can still see the scenery. I have a few more seconds left before the end.
I don't want to die...
I need to apologise to Blume...
And I still fear death of course! That I could return once more would be quite a leap of faith, no matter what happened before.
I see the ground, the forests, the hills, some cities spraying their dust around like spores.
Ogre's body keeps falling next to mine, overcome with flowers growing like rust on metal over her flesh. It's not just a weapon or a tool, I bet Blume is there.
She told me so herself, creating a biological program, or intelligent weapon, is extremely hard and time consuming.
Therefore she had no choice, given how quickly it went, she had to put her own mind inside that thing. She had to use her own intelligence to make this vacuuming of Ogre's power work from within.
She wasn't quite killed before me, she abandoned her body like a decoy. Well, I have no more time. I know she's there!
I see the edges of the trees appear below as I grab the decaying body in a hurry. I call Blume for help, uncertain that she might hear me. I'm holding tightly a mixture of mud and blooming flowers. I ripped apart unwillingly what was left of her shape. I try to hold on Blume tight as we're going to crash in a few seconds.
Save me Blume...
The world has changed.
More than I could imagine. Magic spells can be used even by people like me now, when the power is there.
There's still so much that I can't understand.
Something saved me. Someone arrived in time, seeing my fall, and diverted my momentum swiftly and smoothly.
I saw light overwhelming me. And that was all I could see.
All I know is that I was saved.
~