I coughed, realizing it was blood dripping down from my lips. I looked up, seeing the mage girl looking terrified as the old Daemon was dead in her arms. Killeh rushed to him and started squealing, making quick movements back and forth as he tried to shake the lifeless body of the Daemon, but there was no response, and the mage girl tried to calm Killeh down, but he was restless and just kept moving around.
"Killeh!" I said.
He looked at me with tears in his eyes. I shook my head without saying a word, as he understood that it was pointless to try to wake the old Daemon; he was dead.
"Meh!" Rieven uttered as she closed in on Killeh and scrubbed the back of her head towards Killeh's body. I hadn't thought about it, but Rieven's body had changed; she now looked like a small dinosaur. Not round and fat, she could walk on four legs now instead of the round balloon we had seen earlier.
"You have lost a lot of blood while you bonded and coughed up several times, creating a blood pool in front of you, Zark!" The Mage uttered.
I looked at her, smiling with closed eyes, as I remembered my sister Sandra, knowing this was the last thing I would do in my life. I opened my eyes and looked down at the clock, which said I still had eight hours to live, but I knew it was impossible to make it. Slowly, I got up from the ground and coldly told the Mage:
"Leave the body of the Daemon here, we can not take it with us, as it will slow us down."
"But Zark, it is..." I interrupted her with a quick response, "Leave it!"
She laid it on the ground as Rieven tried to soothe Killeh, but Killeh just stressed, realizing that we would leave the Daemon behind. He grabbed my legs, but I pushed him away. I can't risk everyone's lives carrying around a dead body with us. I opened the door as the three of them followed me. Killeh kept looking back at the Daemon, tears not stopping from his face, as I grabbed him and pushed him through the door, time being of the essence right now.
When we emerged into the darkness with no light in sight, I looked up and noticed the Maular's head peeking down from above. I was going to whistle, but Rieven looked up and shot a big blue cannonball towards the top, making the Maular move away for a bit to avoid getting hit. The alarm went off several levels above, of course, because it didn't look normal for a big blue fireball to be just getting pushed upwards to the top without any apparent reason. Maular started to descend slowly from the top, but we needed to go further up and help out, as enemies would probably see the dragon and attack.
"Go up the stairs, we need to go up as far as possible," I told them as we moved, with me ending up behind because of the pain that slowed me down.
They quickly ended up on the next floor as I heard a strange sound and tried to move more rapidly up the stairs. I threw the chain at the exact moment a red lizard was swinging an axe towards the Mage, and pulled it towards me as it fell down the stairs. I moved to the side to avoid it rolling over me.
"Keep moving upwards!" I told them, as I came up to the bridge, that three Lizards came towards me. With a whip-like movement, the chain curled around the leg on the front, and I pulled it to the left, making it hit the other two; all three fell to the lower level. I followed up to the next level, noticing we had to cross the bridge, and saw a big blue fire engulfing the whole bridge as five red lizards had changed color to black and suddenly turned to dust. Has Rieven gotten more dangerous suddenly?
Three of them moved quickly up one more floor when fire covered the bridge, as Maular had arrived on the bridge, waiting for us. We came up on the bridge, as the alarm bells on the levels above continued to sound without stopping. Maular prepared itself as the Mage went up on its back, and Rieven and Killeh jumped up on the girl. I knew I couldn't fit, and the Maular wouldn't even be able to ascend to the top if I tried going up on the back. Both of us looked at each other and knew what we had to do. He started to ascend with them as a large number of red Lizards came from both sides of the bridge. It looked like most of the Lizards had gone down the stairs to this level to try and stop the dragon, but were greeted only by me. Blood soaked in the chain, with me only needed to keep the Lizards occupied until Maular reached the top.
I stood on the side so I could see both sides at the same time, waiting for an attack to come while the screams of 'MEH' and 'KILLEH' kept echoing in the air as the brats didn't stop yelling after me. From the right, a Lizard leapt towards me, and I threw the bloody chain low as it curled around its leg. I pulled to the left with full force, making it fly to the left side and hitting several Lizards, but not all of them fell from the bridge. It was so painful that I went down on my knees, and it was pointless even to fight. The moment had come; I was either going to fall from this bridge or get stabbed to death. I looked around and saw the lizards coming up close to me, and it seemed as though they were laughing. I was dangling on the edge, and suddenly something shone up and blocked my view when I leaned backwards, and everything turned black.
I have to be dead now. I could feel the breeze passing through me. Did I get forgiven and end up in heaven? Heaven sounds so good, and I think I'll feel a little bit refreshed from the wind.
"MEH!" Rieven's voice echoed in my head.
Does it mean that I can feel the ones I have bonded with in the afterlife?
"KILLEH!"
Well, maybe not bond with everyone. Why is the scream so loud?
"ZARK!" A girl's scream echoed around me.
Why do they harass me in heaven like this? At least give me some peace.
My eyes opened as I saw the red sky, and someone was holding my left arm. I looked up and saw the three of them sitting on the dragon, with me dangling in the air, and I could fall at any moment. The three of them looked as though they were using all their strength to keep me safe as I gazed out at the desert landscape, with mountains covered in red. Maular turned his head, looking at me.
"A...M-M-Master should not die!" He said.
I understand what he meant, but I am going to die anyway, and they are risking their lives to try and save mine may be pointless if I die of my injuries anyway.