"We live to die."
— Verse 8:14, The Aethric Tenet
…
For as long as I could remember, death had always felt like someone else's problem.
Other people died.
The rich. The fulfilled. The ones who mattered.
Maybe even the ones who secretly wanted it.
But not me.
I wasn't rich. I wasn't important. I hadn't accomplished anything worth naming, unless chronic failure as a ninth-tier sorcerer counted as an achievement.
And I had never asked for death.
So there was no reason it should come for me.
I had grown up in an orphanage, a gray place that smelled of damp stone and boiled cabbage. Whenever I asked about my parents, the guardians gave me the same answer: silence.
Years passed before the truth finally settled in my bones.
"I don't matter."
That was why my parents had left me. Why the guardians looked through me. Why no family ever chose me.
I was a void. A burden. An absence.
And absences don't attract death.
Death hunts meaning. Death hunts weight.
I had neither.
…So why?
…
"Why is death coming for me?!"
Code's eyes blew wide as the demon thundered closer, each step cracking the earth.
Behind him, Elara clung to his arm, sobbing uncontrollably.
"I don't wanna die!" she wailed.
THUD!
"Shit!" Code bit his lip until copper flooded his mouth. "There's nowhere left to run."
Behind them were dense trees, and beyond the trees was a deep canal. One wrong step and the current would claim them faster than the demon ever could.
The monster drew nearer, jaws stretched in a grin that dripped with saliva.
"Is this really it?"
Code's gaze flicked to his left arm, where Elara's fingers dug in like claws.
"If I shake her off… maybe I can make it alone. She's dead weight."
THUD!
"Eeeek!" Elara squealed, grip tightening.
Code snapped. "Oi! Do you mind not crushing my arm? It hurts!"
Elara froze, and for one quick second, the world narrowed to the space between them. Her tear-streaked face looked… angelic, scared, and beautiful.
"An angel?"
Code cleared his throat loud and awkwardly, coming back to reality. "Ahem. We need to focus on escaping. Isn't there anything you can do?" he asked, eyes darting between the approaching nightmare and Elara.
"Uh?" Elara touched her chin as she trembled. "I… I think I know a way."
"Yeah? Spit it out!"
"I can cast a divine protection spell."
"Divine protection?" Code echoed. 'A god's barrier that shields against all harm for a price,' He recalled.
"So, you're a priestess, huh?" he asked, studying her.
"Y-yes," she stammered. "But… it only lasts about two minutes. So we'd have to get out of the forest in that time."
Code's stomach sank. "We're miles deep. That's nearly impossible." He glanced up, and the demon was close enough now that each step toppled full-grown trees.
"At this point, anything's better than nothing, so just do it."
Elara nodded, raising her shaky hands.
"How long to cast?" Code asked, drawing his dagger from his side pocket.
"I need to finish my prayers first. Twenty seconds."
Shiuuun!
Code unsheathed his blade, eyes narrowing.
"I'm too weak to kill it. But twenty seconds? I can buy twenty seconds."
"Life is a whisper in the dark…" Elara's voice rose in prayer, as she shut her eyes.
Code charged forward, meeting the demon's left arm which swept down like a falling mountain.
"Death, a silence beyond form…"
Code bent backward at the demon's waist, the wind of the swing tearing past his face.
"Between them lies the spiral of return…"
SHWAAM!
The impact obliterated everything behind him.
"Infinity begins where both dissolve…"
Code's heart thudded as he glanced at the devastation. "That could've been me."
Another arm crashed down before he could fully recover.
"Shit!" He leaped aside as the ground exploded mere inches from him. Then he jumped again, landing on the swinging arm.
"Gotcha!" He smirked, then drove the dagger deep into demon's flesh and ran along the limb, carving it.
"Shrieeekkk!!" The demon howled and jerked backwards.
"The one who rules and lives forever in infinity…" Divine light began to swirl around Elara.
"Ahhhh!!!" Code roared, dragging the blade deeper, as gore sprayed about.
The demon twisted its head towards him, its mouth opening wide and snapping.
"No you don't!" Code muttered as he vaulted off, just as the demon's teeth clashed inches from his legs.
He hit the ground hard in front of Elara, breathing heavily.
"She should be done by now," he whispered, looking back, but realized she was still praying.
"How long is this gonna take?" he growled. "I don't have the strength to—"
"The god of fate and sorcery…" Elara whispered.
"What?" Code froze. His eyes went wide. "Wait… did she just say—?"
A violent gust suddenly ripped past him before he could finish. When he turned, the demon's fist was already descending toward him.
With a swift instant motion, he raised his dagger, bracing himself for the impact.
The demon's mountain sized fist connected with a loud BANG.
The blade crumpled… then shattered into glittering dust, as the fist hurtled towards his face.
But at the last instant before devastation, Code jerked his head aside.
BOOM!
The shockwave tore his face open, erasing the entire terrain behind him. Blood sprayed violently, as his right arm ripped free at the shoulder and spun away, slamming into a tree with a wet thud.
"Fuck," Code hissed. He blinked stupidly, staring at the stump as blood trickled out. He didn't scream, he just stared at the demon in silence.
The demon's grin widened and it raised its other fist, hauling it downwards.
Elara's eyes remained closed as she prayed. "Lord Aethrauzon…"
The demon's shadow loomed over Code, swallowing him whole.
"Grant us your divine protection…Divine Shield!!"
A blinding white light erupted from Elara, forming a perfect circular dome around them.
Code looked up with hollow eyes, dark lines stretching under his sockets.
"I should have known. Why did I believe? Why did I hope? Did I really forget…that divine protection doesn't work on me?"
"We did it!" Elara opened her eyes and smiled, until she saw the demon's fist drive straight through Code with a loud smash.
"I'm an atheist," he rasped.
His body launched backward, smashing into a boulder with a wet, bone-shattering crunch.
"CODE!!!"
Elara's scream ripped through the forest.