My wrist hurt…the infection of the brand swelled up my arm but never bled, smelled, or left farther than the boundaries of the black smear that was dyed into my skin.

"Twelve." Cody shook my shoulder, the force was hard enough to rip me from my attempted sleep.

"What?" I said, trying to cradle the wound against my chest.

"Up, we're leaving." With a turn I buried myself deeper in the foul blankets. They smelled faintly of blood and dirt.

"The bell—"

"We are leaving the compound." I sat up, abruptly, my jaw dropped.

I shook my head, "you're crazy." I hissed.

"No, we are leaving." She grabbed for me, but I pushed back, shaking my head. She blocked the only way out, and grappled me with ease.

"Cody! I don't want to!" I said, barely even above a panicked whisper.

I was ignored and clawed at her grip which tore into my upper arm while she tugged me through the little hovel. I tried to wriggle my way out of her crushing clamp around my middle but it did little to even move her. My frustrated gasp was suddenly covered, quieted by a sweaty palm pressed upon my lips.

Its wheeze gurgled through the hallway; a profound liquid-filled cough splattered onto the floor. Cody turned and knelt, forcing me to look at her with an intense glare while her breathing shook and she pressed close against me. She mouthed quietly, not even a whisper to her words: "Nightmare Man." I blinked while its head turned the corner, the muzzle was bare, sewn together to pale-flesh that was unbound to the law of life and death. I could smell its rotting carcass over the sweat baking into my palms.

Cody was quiet when she pulled away, her breath was a strained quiet shudder, barely enough that it almost melded into the shadows around us. I flinched when she grabbed my arm, squeezing for me to remain quiet while we walked through the bloodstained halls. I shook, as she dragged us through the endless stone passages. I clung to her, unable to pull away or demand where she was taking me. All demands to go back were forgotten with a Nightmare Man roaming the walkways.

She crouched and knocked on a solid wall, which immediately crumbled. With a hard shove Cody looked over her shoulder simultaneously, forcing me to scramble inside so I didn't hit my head on the roughly cut stone.

Two teens were sitting beside each other, with the final one staring at me with their palm raised and blinking in the dark. I tried to back away, only to find Cody behind me, pushing me farther in. "You—" She slammed a hand over my mouth to deny my exclamation.

"Don't you dare insinuate I will hurt you! Now move!" She hissed, I curled into the corner noticing that the teens were hunched into themselves, their necks bent to not hit the black ceiling above.

"Are you finished?" Cody said.

"Barely." The teen with deep black skin said. The whites of his eyes barely cut through the surrounding dark. "Twelve can go through, I'll follow and block the end."

"Go first." Cody nudged me forward, "I'll follow you." She sounded tired, and I hesitated before I was nudged again by her elbow and directed towards a hole, just as dark as the ceiling.

"I can't—"

"You will." She said, pushing me up and towards us. I knocked my head upon the ceiling but continued until I scraped my hand against the edge. There was nothing ahead of me, and I pulled back, gasping aloud when my belt popped due to Cody's yank upwards and through.

"Go!" One of the teens hissed.

"I don't want to."

Cody huffed, answering curtly. "I don't care, this is our only chance." She forced me farther, I hissed in pain while scraping my knees and hands on the rough stone. I crawled forward to stop the painful grind

"There's isn't anything in the dark, Twelve! Hurry!" Her tone was rising in pitch.

"It's dark!" I exclaimed, flinching when the group hissed for me to be quiet. My teeth chattered even when I gained the confidence to continue.

"Twelve! I love you, but by the Stars above—just go!"

I was about to retort when the first scream ricocheted down the tunnel. It was sudden, loud and denying mercy that the teen was begging for. I had frozen, falling on my side while Cody turned and raised her palm to cast magic, but the darkness had forced itself farther down and with a terrible snap her scream vanquished any willpower for me to continue.

"Go!" She screamed, I could hear her kicking the wheeze-cursed chortles from the Nightmare Man. I couldn't move away from the cackling madness until I felt a hand upon my leg yanking me down and clawing nails through my knee.

My magic sparked as pain inflated my panic, the flash of light illuminated from my palms flashed against the terror bleeding from the walls. I raised my palm to cast but missed while it scrambled to get me. The hot rock squeaked when its rotten body parts burned to the jagged stone, peeling in a long strip that hardly bothered its scramble to pull me back. My wound poured with black ichor, the veins on my pale flesh spread wickedly with pain so profound that my scream caught in my throat as I tried to pull away.

The spotted blur of my vision dizzied sick up my throat, and the dwindling light from the fire sticking to my body illuminated the Nightmare Man clasped onto my leg. It had loosed its grip enough for me to crawl back. A profound weakness shook my limbs, and the Nightmare Man stared at me with black rot settling in the steep grooves, my magic burned the tainted flesh, I could feel it trying to find the disintegrated bits of my remaining leg. I flinched when it gurgled, the liquid bubbling like a second inhale.

I coughed hard, blood from the infection poured even more with the swimming dizziness. I stared at two deep-yellow eyes, blind with half-death, reeking of char and withering flesh while it continued to wait. A sharp wheeze broke through its body while its beastly hind legs tore into Cody's back pushing her back, the last structure of her body burst deeply in the stone tinged with red sparkles. I grabbed her skull and crushed it against the bottom of the cavern. A soft cry escaped her chest while she was shoved into the dark and I still crawled back, suddenly toppling over and down a steep cliff. The Nightmare Man lunged, following me with an outstretched hand.

I sat up screaming, inhaling immediately through a loud gasp when I crashed to the floor. My hip pulled, the weight stabbing into the joint like a knife. Someone was calling my name, only for it to be drowned by the innate horror burning from my palms.

"Raymond!" I scrambled back with a cringe flinging my arms up and the same pain still deep in my side.

"Chike, calm him!" Someone demanded.

My chin was yanked up to look directly at Yuna and Chike, a murmur of truth blurred the feeling of dread to nothing. Chike had his hand upon my shoulder, shaking slightly while I breathed through forgotten horror.

"What happened?" He asked.

There were no words that I could say, with a shake of my head. "Don't touch me." I managed, pulling into myself while the pain in my hip settled into a dull and permanent reminder.

"Chike." Yuna said. "Let's give him some space."

"What happened?" Elenice's demand was sharp, coated with frustration while I curled into myself.

"A simple terror." Yuna stood between me. While Chike retreated to his mother's side. I clawed my nails through the short-white strands sprouting from my scalp.

"Ray—"

"Enough, Chike." Elenice tutted.

"But—"

"We need to give him space." His mother continued. "Let Yuna handle it, afterwards, find me. We need to discuss this."

"Of course, Elenice."

The quiet was suffocating, but I could feel Hawkins sitting on the bed. A constant numb blurred my consciousness from what Chike told me. Telling me I was okay and I was, he was correct. But I couldn't help but smell the claustrophobic wither of a memory I couldn't even recall. Something happened, something terrible that left me shaking.

"Raymond." Hawkins said, and I looked up at him. The light around me outlined his features, sharp and in definition of brightness, his expression was gentle, expectant for me to speak, when I didn't he added: "are you okay?"

"I can't—" I swallowed down bile, breathing through my nose to keep the nausea at bay. I shook my head, covering my mouth while I scrambled to my feet and sprang through a stumble towards the bathroom. I crashed to the floor, vomiting up spit. Yuna was kneeling beside me, with Hawkins close behind from what I could see through my bleary vision.

"That's it." I shuddered out a sob, unable to keep panting groans from sickening me further.

"I can't—I can't remember…" I gasped, drooling into the pink-tinged chucks floating in the water. I collapsed against the edge of the tub, staring down at the dull-grey leg tucked underneath my left. It was sectioned by a large portion of metal, a kneecap, a shin, and a foot with no toes but a chunk of whole metal. Every section was split by a black depth and I stretched it slowly out from below me, cringing softly, Yuna tutted at me, sitting beside me.

"Careful, careful." She said, "You've had quite the wake up." Hawkins had flushed the toilet, leaning to wash his hands while I sat staring at him, blinking.

"Come here, kiddo. Let's get you off the floor." Hawkins bent with his hands extended. He lifted me with ease, I stumbled into his arms, whimpering against the pain that subsided from a leap of fury into a dull thud. "Can I pick you up?" He asked, I tried to lift my right leg but it pulled at my hip and I nodded.

With a shiver I leaned into Hawkins' shoulder. "It hurts…" I whispered.

"Might be the surgery, you need to rest." Yuna said, brushing the back of her fingers against my cheek. "You're warm too."

"Could be his normal body temperature." Hawkins' voice was a soothing rumble against my ear. I sat up when Hawkins set me down, glancing where Yuna had joined me at the foot of the bed.

"How is your leg?"

"Heavy." I said, drawing the water close to my chest before taking small sips. "And it aches." I moved the toes to a slow thud in my hip.

Yuna hummed. "We'll start slowly."

"Also, Kiddo. By the end of the week, we are going to be returning to Anshel Keep," I looked up at Hawkins, rubbing my hip while he spoke. "It might be a long drive, but we would like you to come with us."

"What's a drive?" I asked, accepting the cup of water I had been offered.

"We have vehicles called cars, built from metal and crystal that can take us from one location to another in only a few hours. King Brennus found the schematics in an Old World ruin and implemented it after the War of Rings." Yuna said.

"Weird." I mumble into the wooden cup.

Hawkins hummed, taking the empty cup from me. "Convenient. Travelling by horse is exhausting."

"A horse?"

"We'll show you, it's a beautiful creature." Yuna said, "we have a lesson plan for you when we return to Anshel Keep. It will be tough but I think you can do it." A hand had brushed through my short hair. "We want you to get nice and strong. Maybe even become a Shield if you'd like, then you could travel to the different cities in Deunite."

"I would love to see the world." I agreed, "maybe I could write where I go in my journal and you could read it?" I said and rolled my new ankle.

"You'd do that for us?" Yuna's inhale was gentle, and made my heart leap with warmth.

"Would I be able to come back?" I asked.

"Of course, you'd always be welcome at Anshel Keep."