wide eyes locked on mine. They already began to lose color and flickers of life as he realized what I'd accomplished. My gift came into play as I gave him my victorious smile.
"Enjoy the pits of hell, fucker."
He slowly fell back as the last threads of life left his facial expression, and I took that moment to pull back on the immense power that I'd conjured just to kill the single enemy. The retreat only made the world spin quickly, but that was when I caught onto the trickling auras of other approaching forces.
Fuck. We're about to get ambushed.
My legs had no more strength to support me as the pain I'd avoided feeling came with a vengeance. Without realizing it, I was already on the ground; my back was against the wooden surface of the balcony and warm liquid pooled around me.
People were calling me, surely someone was frantically calling me, but my sense of hearing felt like I was sinking in a world of water. The magic that made my vision completely black began to fade like my ability to feel. As the specks of the sky returned, I saw Brianne's frantic expression, her eyes filled with shock and fear.
I wondered if I ever told her how much I hated that expression on her immaculate face. Fear never looked good on anyone, to be honest, but when it came to Red, the sight made my heart clench in anger.
This moment was no different, even with the slow acknowledgment that I was dying. I had to be dying if I was losing all this sensation in my body. There was that cold numbness creeping in while the shock of everything was still sinking.
There was no way to make my calculative senses go any faster - in fact, I was sure they had slowed a lot thanks to the wound in my chest. I couldn't determine if I'd been shot with a bullet or something else, because I couldn't comprehend being disabled so quickly.
I need to tell them there are more coming.
My eyes desperately looked up into Brianne's, and though I couldn't hear what I fought hard to say, the realization of my words made her eyes widen before she turned her head to assess the urgency of this situation.
She gritted her teeth then, and my eyes began to grow heavier while I watched the way her aura danced with immense strength. It was growing bigger while the colors of vibrant golds, oranges, and pinks were suddenly tainted as black surged through her aura.
My poor innocent flower.
I hated this moment. I was completely vulnerable while my friends were in danger of being consumed by chaos. None of this should be happening. Our lives shouldn't always be threatened by this kingdom who dared to control our realities.
What words could possibly describe my frustration? What sentences could be structured for the Universe to listen to our constant pleas for peace? Why, whenever we got a moment's grace, did something happen to ruin it all?
If we were going to be given challenges left and right, why not make it consistent rather than this up and down nonsense?
That was how my life was. It had always been a constant play on my emotions. One step forward on the path of happiness, two steps back with constant challenges surrounded by death, heartache, and sadness.
Whenever I was happy, something came to fuck it up, and the acknowledgment of that made me want to give up. To throw in the towel and just be done with this.
I'm so fucking tired. When will this end? I want peace. I want to be able to love my girlfriend and boyfriend and be surrounded by my friends without the hidden anxiety that someone will come and ruin it all. Why is that so hard, Universe?
Brianne's eyes locked onto mine then, as tears escaped those spheres of glowing orange that began to shift to black. I pondered if she heard my thoughtful plea, and regardless of whether she had or hadn't, it didn't fucking matter.
Nothing matters anymore.
She quickly shook her head before her hands seemed to move down to hold something. Those tears of her fell, and I wondered what it would feel like for them to drop upon my flesh. I could imagine it, just as I could imagine a world without me.
Would she shed tears like this above my grave? Would she sob uncontrollably like I had when I lost my brother, Mom, and Dad? Did all of this happen