You pick up the sword with your right hand, bring it up to see your reflection. You look up to see what is now a panoramic view of death and decay. You tell yourself you're ready for anything. But deep down you know you're not. As you descend into what once was a prideful city, you begin to have flashbacks of what life was like. You remember those distant faces. Your friends, that special one that held your heart, your parents. Not of that matters at this point, you keep walking deeper and deeper into the carcass of the old city. From the corner of your eye you catch a glimpse of a faint green light. You feel your pulse rise, you palms start to sweat, but that doesn't concern you. You get a rush out of chasing your fears, striking down terror so you decide to follow it. Walking closer and closer you come to the realization that is some kind of ghoul. Further inspection reveals its a measly little thrall simply praying to its gods. Your heart stops racing. You feel a slight disappointment for you wanted to feel the adrenaline of battle. You walk dangerously close to it but it pays no attention to you, so you decide to slash it in clean half from the torso, watch it turn to ashes as a grin pokes from within your helmet. You begin to make your way back to the Main Street as a shattering eerie screech bleeds into your ears. It was a trap. It was always a trap. Your heart once again begins to race, faster and faster as time goes by. Seconds become hours. Minutes years. The first acolytes drop. You make quick work of them. The lingering thralls wait behind, gathering forces to attack all at once. You feel a light coming from sword. You tighten the grip from both hands and with all your strength, you slam the relic on the ground releasing shockwave after shockwave of devastating energy. You hear the screeching from behind you. An ogre pops it head from around the corner. You start to feel uneasy. You're scared. Quick thoughts come to you're head. Strategies to defeat the wicked beast. But you're thinking has flawed, you block yourself out of your mind and out of sheer desperation you summon you're great golden gun. Shot after shot land on the ogre but he just won't fall. Again the screeching noise comes from behind. A knight rises from the hellish portal, but this is no ordinary knight, no you remember this one. The scars it bares on its skin are immediately recognized by you're angering eyes. He's the one. He's the one that killed them. He's the one that shattered their ghosts. He's the one that took them from you. You catch what seems almost like a grin coming from the monsters mouth and that's where you lost it. Almost as if he was mocking you. He sure remembers you too. You forget about the ogre and charge full force towards the knight. The light is no longer around your sword, it's in place a dark black lingering fire fills the cracks of your weapon. Almost as if, it was a physical representation of your hatred. You clash swords with the beast. You know you're stronger and quicker, faster reaction time. But there's one thing you missed. You left the ogre alive and now it pins you from behind. You seem not to worry about this for you have only one goal. To bathe in the ashes of the beast. You dodge quickly to the left and then the right but you're trapped and you know it. The ogre's beam catches you in mid air you stumble back to the dying ground. The knight takes this opportunity and swings at you, blocking most you swing back but he catches the smallest opening and from there your his. Slice after slice you feel the layers of your skin rip open blood rushing out. You're dizzy, weary your vision is blurred. You get a vision. But this is no ordinary vision. You see them. You're best friend, the warlock. Who shared with you his ambiguous knowledge and his knack for rivalry. The Titan, who you came to see as a protecting the glue that brought the three of you together. You know you'll be joining them soon and it excites you. You're anxious for it. You've accepted your fate. The fact that you will die here no longer bothers you for it hurts too much to remember the play back that constant memory, more like a nightmare in your head. You couldn't save them, but now you have a chance to join them again. You quickly snap back into reality. The knight raising his blade up high blurting out gibberish in another tongue that you care not about. Both you and the knight lock eyes and grin, although those grind had vastly different reasons behind them. You hear something cut the air with cunning strength and in the blink of an eye, another blade pierces the helmet of the knight snapping his head to the side. You hear the cracks of his neck as you and the knight lock eye contact. He quickly falls to his knees in front of you. In the back you see the ogre burst into purple flames. Disintegrating, becoming nothing. A strange Titan comes down from the roofs and stands in front of you. You should be glad and happy to live but you only hold a grudge. You didn't want to live, you wanted to be with them. And these new strange folk denied you that. A warlock blinks next to the towering Titan. SHe asks if you're in need of assistance, but you quickly nod and tell him your fine. SHe asks if you're alone. You say yes. She urges you to join them tells you it's not safe out here alone, but how can you join them if you can't even keep your friends alive. You can't just replace them and fill in the void with new memories. The void is there for a reason. To remind you of the mistakes you made, impregnating them into your brain so you won't make them again. It's noticeable to them that you are battling a strong moral dilemma. The warlock reaches out for your hand, the Titan soon follows. The decision is yours, will you try again. Clean slate. Fresh beginning. Will you reach back?