I sold my soul. Did I get what I wanted? Not sure...

  I thought I would finally be happy, but everything seemed so meaningless right now. What was all of this even for? I was looking straight into her grey eyes, foolishly hoping to find my answer there.

  "Holy... shit," she gasped, “that hurts,” her knees were giving out.

  Unfazed, I drove the silver dagger deeper into her flesh before finally letting go. It was dark and hard to see. Everything besides her cat-like glowing eyes was fuzzy. All I could see was a blurry silhouette. An outline of a fragile youngster pressed against the wall. Shrouded in darkness, slowly, she slid down onto her knees, coughing; unable to muster enough strength to lift herself up. A flimsy coffee table was her only support. Peak humiliation for somebody like her.

  “Ha,” air escaped my lungs abruptly. Was this a chuckle? I couldn’t tell. I found it funny how if an unsuspecting passerby were to see us now, I, me who shouldered so much because of their sick games, I would be the monster here.

  “Sure, let’s feel bad for her, a sadistic, natural-born fighter raised in literal hell!” My thoughts were a mess. I was a mess!

  One thing was undeniable. I had the last laugh. “Hahahee!” My smile disappeared as rapidly as it ensued. I looked down at her. Ironic, wasn’t it? She, who despised the dark, was doomed to never see the light by that hypocritical sister of hers.

  Fate, if you couldn’t tell already, I hated this concept of predestined future. My blood boiled thinking about it. I detested being controlled. Only fools would dare try to do so with me. But maybe I was the fool all along. I was a fool to think I was special. In the end, I was but a sheep in this herd for slaughter.

  I couldn’t look at her anymore. I turned my back on her. She was done for. It was all over. Right?

  I hoped this was true. What a fool, I was. I believed her.

  She, like others of her kind, would blandly lie, convincing us that we were special to have the gift called soul, giving us an illusion of free will. She made all of humanity struggle in hopes of finally reaching that dream picture of life. True, life was never fair, but at least we could change our future with the choices we made.

  Dragging my feet across the soft carpet, as if taking a stroll, I walked. My sense of purpose was lost. I was hysterical. “Bwahaha,” I was laughing, but it felt like I was about to cry. (Inhale)…(exhale).

  The end. It was the end of this cozy carpet. “Tap, tap” my bare feet touched the marble floor. However, I was too lost in thought to care about its coldness. Not stopping, I walked, thinking:

  What a lie, we were never masters of our own fates! Having souls never made us special, it just made us her pawns.

  Take me for example. All I wanted was to change my life, to finally leave that hell, but in the end, it didn’t even matter. Today, I found out that it was never my choice, none of it was. It all happened the way it was supposed to, everything was going according to her plan. Everything was decided from the day I was born. Yes, everything, including those choices everyone believed were theirs; the choices so many believed could change their fate. Even my chance at rebellion was part of her grand plan. What was the point of trying?

  I sacrificed so much…and where did it take me?

  Here I was, in a place desired by many, in a place for which many wars were waged. Eden, Valhalla, Jannah, Heaven this place had many names over its long history. Many would do anything to be here, but all I wanted was to escape, to run away. I didn’t want to face the consequences of my actions. Couldn’t I pretend this never happened? It was dark, making it impossible to see anything clearly anyway. Faster, I needed to walk faster; I was in a rush to escape this feeling of meaninglessness.

  With my back turned on her, I walked straight ahead to the sole source of light, peeking through the gaps. Halting, next to the door, I had to ask:

  “Why me?”

  There was no answer, as expected. I was ready to push that door handle and leave, but the temperature in this room started to rise.

  It was hot and I felt like all my energy was getting sucked out of me.

  Thinking back at this moment, I should have left. Why didn’t I leave?

  I felt an extreme burning sensation reaching the exposed section of my neck. It was fast and it was coming at me from the back. Reflexively, I pivoted my body, narrowly escaping it.

  Unmistakable, yes, I would have never been able to forget those. She must have really been desperate, bringing out that soul weapon of hers. Shrouded in blue flame, a familiar pair of scissors was now stuck in the door.

  It was a close call on my end, as those sharp blades were deeply lodged in the exact past coordinates of my neck. I turned, only to face the dying monster again. Her right hand, the one that just threw this weapon with such great accuracy and speed no less, was hanging there, flaccid. That throw consumed a lot of her remaining drops of strength, she was burning the last of it just to keep her head up. However, the flame didn’t so much as flicker, not even for a second.

  It was hard to believe. That flame was just as powerful as at her peak. If it weren’t for the dagger sticking out of her chest, feeding off her life force, I would have never been able to tell she was in fact dying. There wasn’t a hint of pain on her face either.

  “Go,” something within me screamed. The door was right there, behind me. Maybe I could have still returned to my old life. Sure, my memories would remain, but I could have pretended, living like all of this was a long, scary nightmare.

  Turning back to face the door, I hesitated. Then I looked at her again. Not sure what she had done to lose favor, making them guide me, allowing me to kill her. Not gonna lie, I wanted to see her die, to see her suffer.

  I walked to her. Deluding myself into thinking this was a good decision. Did I even have a choice? There was no guarantee of them allowing me to live a normal life. I highly doubted they would have. I was still their toy.

  The closer I got to that coffee table of hers, the more unbearable the heat became. My face felt like it was melting away. It was hard to breathe too. The room might have started to run out of oxygen. I was practically hyperventilating. This thirst for air was rapidly consuming me. However, I continued to move forward.

  Like a lighthouse, illuminating my way, she was guiding me in her direction with that bright blue flame. Turned out a great fighter couldn’t die so simply, she had to go down with a bang. At least, thanks to the small blue flames spread out around her body, I got the chance to see her face.

  Perhaps for the first time in who knew how long, she felt this weak. Her ebony skin turned ashen, her lips blue from blood loss, and dark eye bags formed under her eyes. Sickish pallor was accentuated by blue flame, but it burned strong, unyielding, just like that facial expression of hers: arrogant, prideful. Old habits die hard, ha. I smirked. Still, she looked pathetic, trembling as all her weight was supported by one arm, leaning on that small wooden table.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  How could I even begin to describe this feeling filling me, overwhelming me? Excitement? Relief? Fear of what to come? No, it was none of those, for better or for worse what I felt was complete apathy. I tried, I really tried to feel something, but nothing, in the end my efforts were futile. I was devoid of any sort of feeling.

  It was certain; however, that monster’s wounds were no longer healing. It was quite the sight to see, somebody so powerful and mighty on her knees bowing to ME, a loser they underestimated and ignored for so long. “Shouldn’t I be happy?” I wondered as I stood over her curled body, I took another look at the dying being on the ground, but somehow I still felt nothing.

  I would love to say I was happy, but I didn’t feel a thing. Maybe, I was just this heartless. I won. Truly, I won. “Why am I so devoid of emotion?” I wondered. Squatting down to her level, I tightened my grip on the cold metallic handle of a dagger.

  Her eyes locked with mine, “You are nothing, but a pawn,” she spat, dripping with contempt. “Don’t ever be deluded, you…” she coughed. “are the k..ieee,” I couldn’t understand through all that violent coughing. Her voice was haughty, last ditch attempt to save her pride. There was a crack. Her eyes. In her eyes was the truth, a clear glimpse of fear. I have to give it to her, she tried her best, I almost couldn’t tell.

  With no hesitation, I squeezed that handle, pulling it towards me. A precious red jewel at its pommel, a comfortable handle; surprisingly, despite the heat, it remained as cold as ever. Refreshing, yes the cool feeling it provided finally allowed me to breathe with ease. I came to love this dagger. My soul was used to make it, maybe that was the reason why it fitted me so well. It would have been a pity to leave this precious thing. I had to take it with me.

  “Ahhr,” she groaned in pain, rushing to cover her wound. Unable to bear the weight much longer, her left arm gave out, causing her to tumble onto her elbow. I wasn’t really looking as to what happened next. There was a lot of shuffling in the background as my attention shifted to this short yet sharp silver dagger. The runes carved into this blade looked even more magical stained in the holy being’s blood.

  “Thud!!” She fell again, almost hitting her head against the corner of the table. She was unable to stop the bleeding. Of course, she couldn’t. Not after this blade, that was. Eventually, she stabilized herself. I had to acknowledge her willpower. She raised her head again.

  “Pp…oiss..on,” she gasped, hoarsely, clutching her wound. Her other hand pointed at me, who was squatting on the tips of my bare toes, admiring the blade. Leaving me perplexed, she got close enough to mark my forehead with blood before…“Ptui!” Disgusting, I grimaced, she vomited blood. Good thing I moved in time before any of that got on…argh…I spoke too soon. There were drops of her blood on the hem of my undyed cotton pants.

  “Sigh,” I stood back up. Sure, I wanted to see this till the end, but had no intention of getting any dirtier than I already was. True, I didn’t care about the rugs I was wearing. Didn’t mean I was ok with being dirty tho.

  Damn, that blood was annoying. I continued to rub my forehead with the loose sleeve of shirt twice my size draped over my body. Why didn’t it come off? I was definitely rubbing hard enough, my skin felt sore, yet the moment I looked at my sleeve, it was clean.

  “That’s it. I give up!” Angrily, I dropped my right hand back down. I was still holding onto the dagger with that hand and oh my was I ready to stab someone given my mood back then. Too bad I couldn’t do so to the being next to me. There was no way I would give her a faster death. She had to suffer for everything she done to me.

  I had enough of it all. I wanted this day to just be over with already. I moved away, away from her sight, closer to the other side of this table. Sitting down on the edge of a circular carpet, I leaned against the wall behind me for comfort.

  Meanwhile, my acquaintance, over here, had far more serious things to worry about. That metallic taste in her mouth was nauseating. Throughout millennia of fighting, the taste of blood was the one thing she could never get used to. Her situation was dire, she, better than anyone, knew that this was it, finito la comedia. The light in her eyes dimmed and she fell, face first onto the floor.

  A massive blue flame engulfed this room. Pretty. Blue has long been my favorite. Under normal circumstances, if anything in my life could have been called normal anymore, I should’ve been roasted by this flame. Not today. The dagger in my hand protected me, akin to an active cooling system, it created a buffer zone of cooler air around me.

  I was safe. Even though the entire room was in flames, I didn’t need to worry about this place collapsing on me anytime soon either. Human logic didn’t apply here. After all, this was the world of Pravi. To be specific this was a room designed as a meeting place for three sovereigns, each responsible for their realm.

  Funny, this was a room supposedly serving as a sign of equality between the realms. In reality, this meeting place, where representatives had the chance to meet and peacefully discuss, was located in the heart of Pravi, a realm unreachable to those deemed unworthy. Who got to decide this supposed worthiness? The sovereign of Pravi! Surprised? Ha…there was no way that control freak would have it any other way.

  That was how this realm called heaven by us humans, inhabitants of Yavi, maintained its superiority both over us and the dark, mysterious realm of Navi. Looking back, I had no clue why we humans referred to this place as heaven. There was nothing heavenly about it, and its inhabitants were nothing but a group of stuck up pricks.

  At least, I felt comfortable sitting here, given there was still the issue of running out of oxygen as fire burned through it, but for now this flame allowed me to see this room more clearly. The flaming scissors, deeply lodged within the door's wooden interior, were the first to grab my attention. I heard stories of those blades being edged with diamonds. Which actually explained a lot.

  Their sharpness and accuracy were impeccable. I knew that well. I have seen her kill them before. I would have certainly died on the spot if I didn’t dodge back then. Dropping that thought my gaze wandered through the room. To the left of me, right behind the twitching body, was an angular sofa, oddly unscratched. Shifting my head to the right, my gaze focused on a woven hammock chair engulfed in those bright blue flames. It almost looked like a hanging torch of a sort. Kinda pretty.

  There was something shining on it. I wasn’t curious enough to walk there and see. Frankly, I was too lazy to move. Nevertheless, from where I was sitting, it looked like a round, disk-shaped piece of silvery-grey metal with blue jewels, impaled by a metallic stick. It looked like the weaving tool I saw in Dolya’s hands before. Spindle? I believed that's what it was called.

  “Ugghh,” another sigh, heavier than prior, a reminder that the burden on my heart never lifted. It was only locked within my subconscious mind. That spindle made those hidden memories resurface. I ignored it. That was all I ever learned to do. This wasn’t right, I knew that. I would fix it…

  Just not today. There was a puddle of melted gold dripping down onto the ground from where that spindle was. Honestly, nothing could surprise me at this point, I shifted my gaze back to the door, as my neck was starting to hurt. My legs also felt sore so I stretched them out. Thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about being burned. Certainly, a good decision to return for this dagger. The barrier it created even repelled the smog, the byproduct of this fire. I could have been at ease if it weren’t for this one “little” thing.

  Deep down, I knew, I had just opened a pandora box of trouble. My anxiety would have never allowed me to forget. But, I didn’t want to think about any of that right now. Just not right now. All I wanted was to enjoy this rare calm before the storm.

  I heard there were three things one could watch forever: fire burning, which I agree this blue flame was satisfying, water falling, can be cathartic, and watching the enemy bleed to death. Or was that last one something I came up with myself. To each their own.

  Anyway, looking to the left of me, I saw her motionless body on that soft mint green carpet, staining it with red. Who could have guessed? Those stuck up pricks bled the same as us, regular humans. Fascinating!

  “Maybe we aren’t that different after-all,” I thought.

  She was dead now. I could tell. It was evident based on the cracks turned to massive black empty spaces forming everywhere throughout this room. She, herself, was gradually disappearing, like ash, her body was fading, mixing with the air.

  That marked the end for one of the three great sovereigns, destabilizing the source fueling this room. A room created by the power of three. Not much time was left until it too would fade into the nothingness of Pravi. I had to leave unless I wanted to be consumed by the insatiable nothingness, leaving me here for eternity, in a void of no return.

  Without a care in the world, calmly, with a sense of grace, I wiped my dagger clean on the edge of green carpet. It was a pretty color. Something I would put in my own room too.

  I had nothing to worry about. All I needed was to reach for the door handle in time. I had about…ten or…fifteen, yeah that sounded about right, minutes left.

  Leisurely, I straightened my knees, momentarily becoming intrigued by how easily I could do so without lifting my torso. Not too long ago, I wouldn’t have been able to even reach my toes with the tips of my fingers without bending my knees or taking a wider stance. I changed a lot and it wasn’t just my flexibility.

  So much has happened over the past year. So much, I could never even dreamt of. I wanted to know what I truly could become, but…ah who cared anymore.

  “What have you done?” I murmured, closing my eyes, tilting my head back as I slid the dagger back into its sheath tied to the back of my worn out leather belt. I was in front of that door now, I could have left whenever I wanted. Trust me, I would have left, I wouldn’t hesitate if it weren’t for that...

  “Excuse me,” said a sweet female voice seeping in from within those cracks, “are you asking me?”