She ran through the library's tight corridors, collecting into her arms as many books as she could carry. A loud wooden crack made her stumble as the floor tilted down, like a sinking ship. The five-story building was beginning to collapse. She rose with effort, coughing heavily, smoke filling her lungs.
She should have evacuated with everyone else, but she could not leave the books behind to the flames… nor could she save all of them…
She hugged the stack in her arms close to her chest.
She was going to die with them.
At the end of the corridor, a figure came through the smoke—a tall, dark-haired man with a long red jacket and a longsword strapped to his back.
"Looks like things are heating up," the man strode up the sloped floor toward her, unbothered by the smoke or the heat of the flames.
"V… Vincent?"
He reached her and hooked her waist in the pit of his elbow.
"Hey, what are you—"
"Let's—" He took another large step forward and bent his knees, his arm tight around her. "Catch some air!" He swung forward, launching her up along the tilted floor, through the window, and into the sky.
She screamed, her arms locking around the stack of books and pressing them deep into her chest.
He ran after her, inhumanly fast, the hardwood collapsing beneath him, and jumped as his foot landed on the windowsill. He rose through the air and stretched his hands forward to catch the woman.
A dark figure flew in, a blur of leathery wings, knocking Vincent aside and snatching the woman away.
Vincent was sent spinning to the ground. He pulled his legs to his chest, reorienting himself, and managed to land on his feet. Then, he looked up, his face set in a grimace.
The humanoid, four-armed, four-winged demon held the woman with one pair of arms, and its chapped lips split in a wicked grin before it spoke.
"Which will it be, BLOODRAGER?" it hissed with its forked tongue. "Save the girl," it held a long, curved knife to her throat. The woman closed her eyes. "Or the city?" It gestured toward the city square, where bulbous fire demons had been wreaking havoc.
Vincent pulled out his sword. "Wake up, Ravenous," he said, slicing the blade across his forearm, letting the tumor of flesh melded to the sword's hilt drink his blood. The flesh pumped to life, opening one blazing red eye and growing a set of serrated teeth along the blade's sharp edge. "This demon…" The satiated sword's teeth began to whirl, like the blade of a chainsaw. "Is really starting to piss me off!"
***
"That was so cool!" Nekoko said as they left the theater.
"Yeah," Kai nodded. "Definitely one of their better ones."
It was early evening, and not wanting to leave just yet, they walked around the mall a while longer before deciding to sit down at a coffee shop.
"So, when's your flight?" he asked, as the waiter placed two ceramic cappuccino cups at their table.
"In a couple of days," she nursed the cup, enjoying its warmth.
He felt a pinch in his heart but dismissed it. He knew she was going to leave from the start; it made no sense to be upset about it. "Is it safe to assume you won't be back next year?" He gave her a forced, crooked smile.
"I don't even know if there'll be a next year… they might shut down the Expo indefinitely."
"After everything that happened… I won't be surprised if they do that."
She nodded, then her eyes became distant, as if she were thinking of something else. "What did happen in there? I was in the studio the whole time, so… the things I heard from others and what people say online… it sounds so hard to believe."
"Yeah, I guess it does."
"Did you see them? The wolf and the giant everyone keeps talking about?"
Did I see them? He grimaced. I still see them, every damn night. He took a sip of his coffee; it was still burning hot. "Yeah… I saw them, but it's not like I can prove it to you."
"No, of course not. I didn't mean it like that. It… it just doesn't make any sense… none of it does."
"I know."
"I haven't been able to stream because of it… If I did, I'd have to address it, and I don't know what to say."
"Just tell the truth. Say you didn't see anything, that you got hurt, but that you are fine now, and that you're going to be alright. That's what your fans want to know. I'm sure they're all worried about you."
She drank a few sips and sighed. "You're right, I should do that… but it's difficult. How are we supposed to move on when so many others… so many others didn't make it, and we don't even know what happened?"
Kai lowered his head. He knew what had happened, and he knew why… that didn't make things any easier for him. "I don't know… but trust me, knowing wouldn't change a thing. We just have to accept happened and find a way to deal with it… I'm not saying it's easy, but there's really nothing else we can do."
She slumped in her seat, sullen, staring at nothing in particular.
"Look, I…" he started, feeling like a hypocrite telling her all of this, when the truth was he had no idea how to move on from what he had seen—what he had done.
You should talk to someone, Gabriel had told him, and maybe he could… if he changed the details.
"When you saw me outside the center, drenched in blood… I told you the blood wasn't mine…"
Nekoko shifted to sit up straight.
"Someone…" he hesitated, feeling a heavy weight on his chest. "Someone bled out on top of me…"
Her lips parted, but she said nothing, and he went on, his gaze fixed on the coffee cup.
"He was a young guy, about my age… Could've been me… I remember…" His voice cracked. "How warm his blood was," he winced. The detail was gory, grotesque, and wholly unnecessary. He should have kept it to himself.
Nekoko's hands reached over the table and clasped his. There was a sad look in her eyes. "We survived," she forced a smile. "We're the lucky ones."
He smiled back.
***
Later that evening, Nekoko made her first stream since the Expo. She was mindful not to dismiss the fantastical claims of the other survivors, nor confirm them, stating simply that she wasn't there, didn't see, and didn't know. But there was one thing she was quite adamant about.
"The paladin is real," she said, her cat-girl avatar nodding. "I can Purrr-omise you he's real. I saw him with my own eyes. He had golden armor, and I assure you, with 100% certainty, that he was, in fact, wielding Lightgrave."
Her chat didn't believe her.
"Wha—I'd never lie to you, dear customers. B2B had a showcase, with a life-sized version of the sword, made of metal and everything, so I assume that's where he got it from, but I don't know… And I'm not the only one who saw him, okay? My manager saw him, and a bunch of other people saw him too, so… yeah, the paladin is real. I don't know where he went after, but I think he survived, though as far as I could tell—and I checked—no one saw him after the event. Honestly… I think a friend of mine was the last person to see him, and even he didn't know where he went.
"Anyway, wherever he is, I hope the paladin is alive and well, and I am very thankful for all of his help. He was a total bad-ass… Ten outta ten, would get rescued by him again." She snorted and laughed.
"I am disappointed I didn't get to do my concert," she said after reading some of the comments. "But in the grand scheme of things, it seems like a petty thing to worry about, you know? I mean, people…" She sighed, her tone turning soft. "People died, so… my concert not happening isn't really at the top of anyone's priorities, and it shouldn't be…
"I hope I get a chance to do another one in the future, but, erm…" Her tone became more jovial again. "I would have to do a lot of training first, because… Erm… I suck." She snorted, giggling.
***
Two days later, Nekoko was on her flight back to her hometown.