Sapphire's wave of water hit like a truck and I just sighed as it did. This was not the first time I had personally died to Sapphire’s attacks. Though, calling it an attack was a bit deceitful. Attacks tended to have targets. Sapphire simply left nothing but corpses.

  The strangest part was not the pain or the death. In fact, that was quite normal. It was that when I came too, I was floating in what appeared to be some sort of blackness. “Oh Fuck! Am I in the death realm again?!” I said as I glanced around in panic and anger.

  A figure suddenly appeared. They were very tall, had glowing golden eyes, long flowing blonde hair, and she seemed to be smiling at me. Despite myself, I instantly felt relief at seeing her. I didn’t know why, it didn’t make sense. Yet her presence calmed me immeasurably.

  I couldn’t even feel suspicion, though logically I knew I should. The woman looked at me. She wore nothing, but there was nothing for her to wear. She was female.. But she wasn’t? She was humanoid, yet didn’t match humanity.

  I stared in awe at her as a voice entered my head. “Nya! Tama says hi!” The voice was calm and serene. The words felt like something some fantasy cat girl would say to you. It was.. Odd. I looked at her with less awe and more confusion.

  The figure did not shift, move or react. Only her flowing hair continued to move and her eyes seemed to flicker as if in amusement. “Tama needs you to do her a favor. You need to get the other girls. They woke up like you.”

  I frowned. Other… girls? Who.. what..? Images entered my mind. A purple haired girl with a yellow dress..

  An image of Alia appeared and I grabbed at it without thinking. My hands went through the image. That's when I realized the images in my head were in front of me too. Full pictures of each girl. My eyes wandered them before landing back on Alia.

  “Nya, You love her don’t you?” The voice sounded like it was trying to be all knowing, but there was a hint of teasing. I looked away from the images and said nothing. Silence filled the void for a long moment before the voice spoke again.

  “If you want to save her, you need to save them all.” Was her words. I felt a rage bubble in me.

  “And why would I do that exactly?” I snapped at her. “They are NPC’s. Toys! How about instead, you finally let me out of this hellhole!” My words came out meaner than expected, but honestly not mean enough in my opinion.

  In response, I felt amusement from the figure as she responded. “If you want.” I paused and looked at her.

  “Really? Just like that? What's the catch?” My words floated in space for a moment, Then the first image, Ruby.. was burned to ash.. Then Sapphire… Then Bloom. I watched as each one burned to ashes in front of me. Then it reached Alia and my heart froze. I tried to reach, but it was turned to ash in my hands that simply floated away.

  Shaking, I looked back at her, my voice shaking slightly. “So.. what? Your.. your just gonna kill everyone because I left? Figures thats what a place this fucked up would do.” I looked at where Alia's picture had been and clenched my teeth.

  Silence filled the void and after a long moment the voice spoke again. “Make your choice.” It was solemn, serious. I felt like if I didn’t make a choice, death and respawn was the least of my worries.

  I looked over at her and quietly asked. “Can.. Can I keep the picture?” I felt warmth from the woman and Alia’s picture reformed in front of me. I grabbed at it, and this time I was able to take it in my arms.

  “And.. and she survives if I do this.. Right?” I asked as I looked deep in her golden eyes.

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  There was no response, but I felt the affirmation. I sighed deeply and looked around the void for a long moment before nodding slowly. “I.. I’ll do it.” The figure seemed to glow brighter for a second, then there was nothing.

  A moment later I respawned… except it was not where I had died.

  I respawned instantly, but this time I wasn’t in town. I looked around the strange space as I slowly floated down naked in the water. My dress was gone, my weapons were gone. All around me was a sort of bubble, outside the bubble was a deep dark oceanic floor.

  “Where.. Where are we?!” I heard Sapphire ask from behind me. I whirled to face her and punched. I hit clean on her jaw so hard she was thrown back a few feet and hit the ground hard on her back.

  “What the fuck were you thinking you damn psychopath!” I screamed at her in rage. “Where is Hero? That is the important question. You are going to tell me right now!”

  I stepped forward, and went to kick her but instead, I had to dodge an ice spear. The moment I stepped out of the way a ball of water slammed into me, pushing me back. I activated my skill and my bubble rifle appeared. Aiming it at Sapphire I was about to fire when a voice cut through.

  “Both of you stop it!”

  A moment of silence as Sapphire and I turned to see Hero standing there. He was holding something in his hands. He quickly looked at it for another moment, then put it in his bag. “What was that?” I asked as I stepped forward.

  He looked at me for a long moment, then his face turned determined and he shook his head. “It’s nothing. Where are we?” I stared at him. He was clearly lying through his teeth.

  I smiled and casually walked towards him as I spoke. “Not sure, after Sapphire killed us, we spawned in here and..” As I reached him, I grabbed his back before he could react and jumped back before finishing as I put my hand in the bag. “Then you appeared holding..”

  I pulled a photo.. Of me?! I looked up at him perplexed. He reached me and grabbed the photo first, then the bag from me. “Why do you..”

  “It’s not important!” He snapped at me as he put the picture carefully back into the bag. “We need to find a way out of here. This place doesn't look familiar. I watched his bag for another moment before looking back up at him.

  “But.. you're the Hero?” I said in surprise. He raised an eyebrow at me. I looked at him puzzled, Sapphire ended up speaking what I was thinking.

  “You are the Hero! You have been everywhere! You know and do everything!” Sapphire’s words were almost more reverence than statement. I admit, Hero had not been what I had been taught. Sapphire’s lines were what I remembered citing in school as a cadet.

  The real Hero was.. Interesting. I still loved him of course, he was just different then the propaganda would have you believe. During slides he was shown as a powerful combatant with a powerful sword. He would slay hundreds with a swipe. A monster among men and a superior among gods.

  At least, that was the Hero I remembered, that was the Hero I remembered fighting as Alissa… I frowned at that. That.. didn’t seem right. Maybe he had been holding back all this time? No, he was clearly underleveled right now, that had to be it! He fought me at a higher level usually.

  “Alright, so.. It seems there is only one way.” Hero said as he pointed down the one path, a long hallway leading to a curve that went off the edge and then down. He turned, and without another word, began to walk that way.

  I smiled at that. Now was the Hero I had been taught to fear and worship. I happily followed, Sapphire close behind. Hero made it to the end of the hallway first, he looked down, then began moving down like he was walking down steps.

  I sped up and sure enough, there were steps. The hallway curved down, then opened to a massive underwater city. Sapphire rushed past me as I looked at the city in awe. “Hero, wait for me!” Sapphire cried as she tripped on the top stair and began tumbling.

  Hero stepped to the side as if he was just going to let her fall. Then he paused, something flashed in his eyes, and he caught her. “Be more careful Sapphire!” He snapped at her before helping her up.

  What a perfect General! Truly, my father would be proud. The way he snapped at her! I wiped a happy tear from my eye. The way daddy used to run drills until I couldn’t move. The weekly whippings for being a bad girl. Then my smile faded as I remembered the perfectly spotless room I had prepared for Hero for after our wedding. The whips and chains were all neatly aligned. I even had a special…

  I shook my head and took a deep breath. That wasn’t me anymore… I looked out into the deep ocean around us, the outside looked blue, yet it went down into darkness. I stared into the darkness and idly wondered why.

  Suddenly, a pair of yellow eyes opened in the darkness and I froze. I summoned my bubble rifle, but before it had even finished appearing. The eyes were simply.. Vanished. I looked around for them but I couldn’t find anything. “Alia, what are you doing! Get down here!”

  Hero’s voice shook me out of my head. There was clearly nothing there. I was just stressed… yea. But just in case.. I cocked my bubble rifle as I went down the steps, following the Hero.