A fiery beam of fire shot across the sky.

In that instant, a blanket of dust had started to crawl from where the sun was emerging. The blue and yellow horizon was covered, and only an orange ozone spread through the forest. 

My mouth quivered.

"W-what is this?"

[Ayaka: "What the hell? I thought it would come a lot later."]

Her voice popped in my head.

I turned around. Their was still the empty trees behind me. 

Indeed, our communication device worked over a distance.

[Ayaka: "Where are you? Get back to base, it's an urgent matter."]

[Ayato: "Is it something to do with the orange sky?"]

[Ayaka: "...yes."]

The communicator seemed to play her voice in a monotonic way, so it was hard for me to tell what she was feeling.

I put the phone into my pocket and ran back towards the bushes.

When I pushed through the leaves, I found Rei wiping his forehead with forearm. Ayaka stood beside him, facing Kazane.

[Ayato: "Ayaka, wha-"]

I cutoff the thought. Instead, I walked forward.

"Ayaka, what's happening?"

Ayaka looked rather pale as she chewed her lip. Then, she pointed up.

"Y-you see that sky? We better run."

"Run? What is happen-"

[Ayaka: "Please don't make me explain."]

I stared at her pale face. Something felt strange. I've never seen her look this scared before. Even more ironic, the voice she used to send me a message was completely different than her real voice. Like I thought, the communicator device didn't capture any emotions.

I thought for a moment before speaking up.

"It must be something dire, huh."

"Indeed. We need to out of here." Rei answered, tossing on his robe. The chest that he summoned vanished into air.

Kazane watched us. Her face was confused but agreeing. Well, none of us needed much explaining anyways. This was a solar eclipse? Those things always came with horrendeous omen.

Rei turned and started sprinting.

"Follow me!" he yelled.

[Ayaka: "If you are wondering, what you're about to see here is hundreds time worse than Khosrow."]

As we ran, Ayaka's voice suddenly popped into my mind. I felt an urge to look back. Ayaka was running behind me, Kazane, and Rei to cover our rear and make sure no one was left behind.

I grunted.

[Ayato: "How the hell can this be hundreds time worse than Khosrow? That makes no sense."]

[Ayaka: "You'll see. Hell will start coming in after 15 minutes. Even with all our running, we won't make it in time, since we still have 30 minutes or so left of running."]

I thought about her statement for a bit.

[Ayato: "Didn't you say last night that GIRUS monsters couldn't cross into this area?"]

I thought I heard laughter behind me.

[Ayaka: "Well I'll be damned because the shit that will come aren't GIRUS monsters!"]

[Ayato: "What do you mean they aren't GIRUS monsters? If they aren't GIRUS monsters what the hell are they?"]

[Ayaka: "You don't want to know. I'm being serious."]

[Ayato: "So much of this knowledge is dangerous bullshit that has been a respond to everything. Is this another case where knowing will get me killed?"]

There was a pause in our communication. Then,

[Ayaka: "Wow. I know this medium can't convey emotions but I can feel your anger quite well."]

[Ayato: "Answer the question."]

[Ayaka: "I'm not saying you can't know, I'm just saying you don't want to. The monsters are some abominations, really. It's hard to explain, and we'd have to sit down and yap for a good amount of time. Also, where did you learn that knowledge was dangerous?"]

Now that I think about it, I remember my father warning me not to disclose about the "dark matter stuff", aka LI abilities. I wondered if I was supposed to disclose my ability to cheat death as well? At the end of the day though, Ayaka, Rei, and Kazane knew about it.

Then, I thought about Khosrow's reaction to Saria and I shivered. I wondered if by now, I had given enough information to Ayaka and Rei that I was connected with Saria. Was there some reaction they had that still hasn't surfaced yet?

It was better not test.

[Ayato: "I just heard it from my father or so."]

[Ayaka: "I see."]

I glanced at Rei and Kazane. They were both too focused on running to bother to talk. In some way, this communication device was quite useful in conserving how much energy was needed to talk.

But the communication device doesn't change physical worlds.

[Ayato: "If we won't make it to the shelter in time, how the hell are we supposed to live against those monsters?"]

[Ayaka: "Easy, I'll be bait and distract the monsters while you all run. I'll meet up with you guys in the gate."]

[Ayato: "What?"]

I spun around and glanced at her. Ayaka noticed me and gave me a sheepish smile, before turning away.

[Ayato: "What kind of stupid idea is that? You haven't even seen the monsters and that is the idea you come up with?"]

[Ayaka: "I know it'll work."]

[Ayato: "I can't accept that plan. If I was going to leave someone behind, I might as well have just fled and left everyone to die in the city."]

[Ayaka: "When were you such a hero? Then how about if? Caz if a monster appears in front of us, we won't have any time to formulate a new plan."]

[Ayato: "Why can't we kill it and go back to running? Like what we did with the Shaangs?"]

[Ayaka: "First of all, Shaangs are weak monsters. Second of all, if you stop to fight them for just a moment in this hell you'll die."]

My saliva suddenly tasted bitter.

Can't stop for a moment huh? Maybe this crap was worse than Khosrow.

But what could be worser than those Shaangs, Khosrow, and Forna? I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious.

I shook my head.

"Now isn't a good time to be wishing for death."

[Ayato: "What are the odds of a monster appearing in front of us?"]

[Ayaka: "Rather high, unfortunately. Being bait is the only way at least three of us can make it out."]

[Ayato: "Why can't I be the bait? I can't die anyways."]

A snort came from behind me.

[Ayaka: "No, you won't work well as bait. A lion doesn't eat flies, does it? But a pink butterfly might get its attention."]

[Ayato: "..."]

[Ayaka: "Listen to me alright? It's not like I'm planning to die. I haven't even written a will yet."]

[Ayato: "What kind of derranged joke is that..."]

I bit my lip and looked up. The sky had filled with the fiery fire streaks. The dust had completely covered the sun. Only the light from the orange fire shone down on the world.

Unfortunately, what Ayaka was saying sounded more reasonable. If something like Forna appeared in our path, then how the hell were we supposed to get past it? If someone could distract and lure it, then perhaps it was possible.

Though, what did Ayaka's analogy of fly VS butterfly at distracting mean? Surely it wasn't just an indirect way of calling me weak?

Though, she seemed extremely confident in her plan, as if there was a guaranteed survival outcome for the rest of us.

I sighed, crossing my fingers and praying that we wouldn't run into anything. We had been running for nearly 15 minutes now. If I remember correctly, Ayaka said that it was a 1 hour walk, or a 30 minute run. 

The hell that Ayaka warned of appearing didn't start. Yet. And we only had 15 minutes left of running. Maybe we would get lucky and not run into monsters.

Just like that, I jinxed everyone into damnation. The fiery balls in the sky started falling. 

"Run! Keep moving forward!"

Rei suddenly yelled out. He increased his speed and dashed forward. 

A single line of light blue burst from his feet and ran forward. It illuminated the way and shined radiantly. The wall of trees turned purple from the light.

I frowned.

Why did we need a light source? Unless...

One by one, the orange fires in the sky started falling. 

My mouth quivered, and I instinctly murmered.

"T-that is..."

[Ayaka: "The beginning of hell."]

The fires fell far from us. Some of them likely fell in places not even close to the island. Some of them were falling closer to us, like in the Brightful City. And I noticed.

The world was getting darker. With every fire leaving the sky, the world became dimmer and dimmer. There was no sun in the black atmosphere, there were no stars, and there was no moon. It was just a wrap of pure darkness.

I gritted my teeth.

"What the hell is this..."

Then, things went from bad to worse.

When I looked up, a drop of fire was falling directly on our heads.

The fireball was massive. It was so large, it seemed that even if we ran as far as we could, the fireball would squash us flat. And indeed, it was as simple as the bottom of a large fire.

"Fuck, that's not going to kill us, is it?"

I muttered under my breath.

At this rate, we were all as good as cooked meat.

Then, Ayaka yelled out.

"Kazane, when I tell you to, summon a large gust and throw us forward!"

"Wouldn't that knock us over?"

"It's fine! We need that momentum boost, even if it'll cost us more time."

As we ran, the fireball had gotten a lot closer to us. I could even feel warm. Really, really, warm. Then, a shout.

"Wind, now!"

A large gust of wind slammed our backs. My body toppled over, and crashed onto the dirt. I looked back. 

The grass right behind our feet was covered in dark, black ash. Smoke rose from the ground. And in the smoke,

My eyes widened.

"What are you doing? Run!"

A hand grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me back. I staggered and landed on my feet. When I turned, Ayaka was yelling at me.

"That thing moves faster than Khosrow! I'll distract it. You! Go! I'll meet you at the gate!" 

I turned around to face her. Her blue eyes stared at me back, as if hoping that I would agree. Then, I spoke in a voice of seriousness.

"I'll hold your word for it. If not, I'll run like a suicidal bastard to find you."

My words caused her to wince.

"T-there's no need for that. Just go the gate and tell Rei to bring you all to safety."

"What's wrong? If you aren't planning to die there's no need to be panicked."

Ayaka clenched her teeth, before turning back.

"Whatever. Just run and get the hell out of here please."

I watched her dash towards the abomination.

"I really meant it, you know."

Then, I turned around and ran after Kazane. A deafening clang rang out from behind me. But I didn't look back.

"Just as I thought, she was a liar after all."

I muttered to myself and stared at the rocky linen ground. We had found the cave and were sitting here, waiting for Ayaka to come back.

But she hadn't come back. In fact, it's been 10 minutes since we arrived and she still hadn't come.

[Ayato: "Can you hear me? Where are you?"]

She never responded though. Where was she? What the heck was she doing?

I had no clue.

The worst case possibility was that she died.

I shivered, but shook my head.

[Ayaka: "..."]

Something was off. When Ayaka had told me that she wouldn't die, she sounded extremely confident. But she couldn't actually promise me that she would make it to the gate.

What was she planning to do? I could feel her prescence slightly through the communicator, as if she was thinking about a response. Though, she seemed too busy to respond to it. Which likely means that she was fighting.

"I thought I warned you I was a man of my word..."

I muttered. The abominations that we ran past didn't seem to bother attacking us and instead all headed towards the direction Ayaka was.

I turned to Rei. He was leaning against the cave walls with a closed face and a peaceful expression.

"Rei, can we do anything about the situation? I think Ayaka is still fighting out there."

"Likely not. It's too risky. The whole world is about to be scorched in flames soon."

I frowned, watching his face. For some reason, he seemed rather relaxed about the whole situation. That made me angry.

"Are you not concerned about Ayaka? She's your sister! Do you want her to die?"

"What can be done about it? She made the decision on her own."

His curt response made me bite back a scream.

"What do you mean? Surely there was something that you could've done? Something that I could've done? Something we all could've done?"

"Like what? We aren't gods. We can't save everyone."

"Ayato!" Kazane yelled out.

My hand suddenly reached out and snatched the collar of Rei's shirt. But his expression didn't change a bit. No, it stayed damn calm.

"That doesn't mean we shouldn't have tried! You're just sitting here and camping while Ayaka's going to die?"

"Try what? The entire group gets placed into hell? Even with your ability to cheat death, we'd be endlessly killed by the abominations until you go insane."

"...Is that how you think? Well damn!"

I bit back a torrent of emotions and dropped his colar. Rei straightened his shirt and sighed. As I turned around and stared at the fires outside, his voice called out from behind me.

"I won't stop you. Actually, I think you're even better fit than me. But I wanted to ask, why do you care so much about someone you met a few weeks ago? It's not like she's someone special to you."

Ayaka was just someone I met a few weeks ago. Why did I have such a strong urge to save her? Even more than Rei?

I thought about the time when she found out I was not a mudane human, the time when we were at the vending machine, when we were killed at the lake and she brought me back to Kazane, when I woke up after Forna and saw her face, when I found her battered up in a fight against Khosrow.

I just wanted to be a savior. It was just human nature of wanting to repay to the world of all those that have saved me.

Saviors saved as much as they could. But what could they do? After all, they aren't gods that can save everyone.

"To hell with that, bastard."

A wicked smile formed on my face. 

"Rei. Do me a favor. Stay here and protect Kazane. You can do this much at least?"

"Ayato? What are you doing-"

A shield had suddenly formed on front of the cave walls, cutting the sound of her voice off. I turned and started walking out of the cave.

Kazane banged on the shield, but she couldn't break past it. She turned and seemed to be yelling at Rei, but he seemed unfazed.

I almost let out a laugh at the sight. I continued walking until I exited the entrance. Outside, the smell of ashes filled my nose. The world was now entirely dark, except for the blue trail. The fire abominations had all left the area.

Seeing that, I thought about Ayaka who was distracting them.

"I'm not a god who can save everyone?"

To hell with that.

To hell with gods, GIRUS, abominations, everything.

Who do you think I am? I saved everyone when Khosrow came. If my [Unending Death] was a cheat code, then so be it. I'll cheat again.

I was special, after all. Or maybe I was just a suicidal bastard.

Even if I die a thousand times, I'll defintely.

"Make things right."