Held up in a choke hold, Nire frantically scratched at the person dressed in black’s large hand at her neck. All while choking the black haired girl, the person seemed to be transforming all together into slime or some other viscous material, for when she scratched, she could only tear into the slime before it quickly came together again. The aggressor soon changed from man to a towering purple slime creature with no certain shape or form. From the blob, two fiery, bright green eyes started burning as it stared intently at the struggling child. Blood rushed to Nire’s head and she could feel that she would soon lose consciousness. As she stared into the deep flames of the monster’s eyes, she could hear screams from the people of the city all around her and her vision soon began to fade. How familiar, this feeling, Nire thought to herself as she continued to struggle desperately to take gasps of air.

Splat!

“Nice job, Li! Make sure the townspeople are safe, Lang!”

Nire fell back to the ground on her knees and desperately gasped for air. “Who?” she said aloud as she looked around to see what had happened. Looming over her was not the slime monster anymore, but another figure in a long black coat with red accents. The person in the black coat seemed to be standing in a pool of the purple slime. In their hands, they held a long lance and a big shield.

“Are you alright? Can you stand?” they asked in a low voice that Nire knew was a man’s voice. The tall man offered his hand to help the girl up, but as she looked up at him, he took immediate notice of her eye; her red eye. “That eye!” he suddenly exclaimed as he helped Nire up and told her harshly, “Stay here, don’t go anywhere.” As if he didn’t trust her to stay in one place either, he pointed two fingers at her, mumbled a few words as if chanting a spell, then a sharp jolt ran down Nire’s spine and she fell to the ground with a loud thud. With Nire out of the picture now, the man turned around to face off with the slime monster that had put itself back together again in the time the man was distracted with Nire.

“Captain,” the slime monster said as it began to reform into its human proportions, “you know this does not concern you, right? Just hand over the girl.” It’s voice became menacing.

“That’s funny,” the man said as he prepared to throw off his coat, “I never knew you people were the type to negotiate. Unfortunately, we’ll be taking her,” the man said triumphantly as he swiftly threw his coat off into the debris.

“Then I guess I will be taking your life as well.” The purple man merged back into the slime monster. “Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance to keep it,” its voice echoed out as it began its relentless attacks on the man it previously called “Captain”.

Meanwhile, Nire was now struggling with the spell the man in red cast on her. She lay on her back, still as can be, but her mind and her thoughts were anything but. “I have to get out here. I need to get out here,” she repeatedly thought to herself. All around her, she could hear the speed and the intensity of the two fighting. It was hard to tell which was supposed to be human and which was supposed to be monster. After a few more moments of struggling alone, the guiding voice spoke up and broke its silence.

“Get up, Nire!” it yelled to her, breaking the immobile spell on Nire as well.

Immediately, the girl sat up and took a deep breath, hand clutching her chest, sweat dripping profusely from her forehead.

“I’ve got you now,” an ominous voice said from not too far behind.

Nire slowly turned to see what had transpired while she was down, and to her horror, the slime monster now had its firm grip on the man that had come to help out the town. Taking a closer look, Nire could see that the man was in great pain, but tried hard not to show it.

“Run, Nire,” the familiar voice from inside told Nire sharply once more.

As the monster gripped the man, it tightened its grip and the cracks of bones could be heard as the man finally screamed out in pain. He soon went limp and the monster tossed him aside like an old rag doll it had grown tired of. Nire had heard the voice of the reason inside her head clearly, but the image of the broken man being tossed aside triggered something inside her: a familiar scene that she had experienced before. The girl grinded her teeth and told the voice sternly, “No. I’m done with running away.” Her left eye began to shine and glow like sparks flying or a fiercely burning fire, and that, too, ignited a fiery passion within Nire.

The voice called out in vain, trying to stop the girl from doing anything dangerous, but ultimately, could do nothing but observe the girl filled with a sense to avenge the fallen man. Nire ran forward towards the slime monster, picking up the fallen man’s lance while she was at it, and charged at full speed. However, unused to the heavy and strange feeling of wielding a lance, she soon lost her momentum, leaving an opening for the slime monster to consume the tip of the lance.

“Didn’t you learn anything watching the Captain? You won’t last another minute, weak as you are,” the slime monster said haughtily.

The girl smirked in response, seemingly full of confidence as well. “No. That’s where you’re wrong.”

---

Nire was standing in a familiar realm of darkness talking to a familiar man with long, silver hair and deep, red eyes. The presence of this man felt familiar, but in a sense that she could not explain well. Like someone she had met in a previous life. This time in the darkness, she felt comfortable, unlike previously with the man who introduced himself as “Foom”, because she firmly believed that she knew the man standing before her.

“So, if I’m Nire, and you’re me, does that make you Nire as well?”

“Hmm,” the silver-haired man thought to himself. “I suppose you could think of it like that. But why don’t you call me ‘Tub’? That’s what they used to call me,” he replied, patting the head of the little girl who did not seem to enjoy being treated like that. “Call for me when you need my help. I’ll always be right here watching over you.”

He motioned towards his left eye and Nire mirrored him. “Right here,” she repeated softly.

“That’s right. So don’t ever forget it, Nire.”

---

Coming back to her senses, Nire’s red eye began to glow even more intensely, as if it knew what was to come next. Nire then spoke in a loud and confident voice, “Tub, I release you.”