[Blightwing Boss Defeated]

  [Experience Points Earned: 1000]

  [Leveled 5 Achieved!]

  Level: 5 (400/2000) XP

  [1 Free Stat Point Obtained]

  [Choose Your Stat Upgrade]

  [Body, Mind, Spirit]

  I leveled up. Similar to the previous times, I felt a surge of energy course through my body until it filled me from head to heel. I felt a burning in my fingertips and a rush of heat surge within my chest. A flash of static crawled across my skin, causing little goosebumps to form on my arms and the back of my neck. My vision became clear, my breathing steadied, and even my heartbeat slowed down. My eyes, however, were still tired. My arms felt like stones, and I could barely manage to stay on my feet. I knew the familiarity of leveling up. It healed your injuries, but it didn’t restore your stamina or body. Even the mind was still affected. I notified my Codex to apply my stat upgrade to my Spirit. The feeling I had was different than before. It was not so much a physical boost to my body or a wash of clarity to my mind but a sense of hope. A hope that held me up and moved me forward. Despite this, I was still exhausted. My mind raced with broken thoughts. I needed something to center myself on. To stop the berating poking me in the back of my mind. I refocused on the scene before me and forced the voices in my head to stop. To quiet the cries for everything to end. For the battle to be finished and for the Blightwing to die. The Blightwing!

  The world around me was the same as before. A ruined skyscraper. I could see the broken crane, and everywhere I looked, there was shattered stonework of an old office building. At my feet was the frozen body of the Blightwing. It no longer moved. Its menacing eyes no longer stared into my soul. They were dark and cold. Its metallic beak looked dull and rusted. Its makeshift body of rebar, concrete, and scrap metal laid motionless like a pile of garbage. The notification I received as I focused on the body marked that it was [Dead]. It was finally over. I could return home. I could see my dad again. How long had it been? A day? Two days? Maybe even a week? It was hard to tell in this wasteland where the dark clouds always covered the red sky. It was definitely night now. I could make out a sliver of starlight on the far horizon. If I were quick enough, could I get home and sleep in my own bed? Maybe sleep for an entire day? I needed some food as well. My body was struggling to stand. My feet felt like shifting rocks. I was alive. That’s all that mattered. I let out a laugh. It felt good to laugh. It had been so long. Tala!

  Where was she? I know she fell with me. Was she okay? Did she manage to gain a level? If she did, she would be alright. She would be alive. She had to be. I stumbled my way back to an open area of black-and-white tiled flooring. Tala was lying on the ground. Her back was to me. She wasn’t moving. I focused my [Codex] on her and pulled up her status. [Unconscious]. Good, she was alive. Her status also indicated that she had gained a level. Thank the Fallen, she was okay. Looking at her, I could tell her cuts and bruises were gone, replaced with mended skin. The blood that once painted her forehead was now washed away. She was healed. Since there was no more danger, I decided not to wake her. I needed to take care of one more thing. Where was Theo?

  I stretched my back and felt my spine crack all the way up to my neck. Blood rushed to my head, and it made me dizzy for a spell. By the time I managed to clear my head again, I noticed a new notification had become available to me. I pulled it up into my vision.

  [Skill Transference Crystal (Legendary)]

  [Skill Imprint: Final Radiance]

  [Do you wish to transfer the skill?]

  Wait... What?

  Why was I getting another notification from the Skill Transference Crystal? I crushed it. Used it up. It didn’t even show that I had it in my inventory. Was this some kind of glitch? Perhaps it was some kind of old notification, and I had read it wrong? I focused on the notification again. I tried to close it, to force it from my vision, but it stayed firmly in my sight. This had to be a mistake. Was the Crystal saying I could take the Final Radiance ability from the Blightwing? I’ve never heard of anyone gaining abilities from monsters or Fallen. There had to be something wrong with my Codex. There was only one way to find out. I brought the notification firmly to my attention and confirmed I wanted to transfer the skill.

  A swirl of red and gray lines raced up and down my vision. They broke and formed back together as if they were trying to run free from each other, but something forced them to merge. A low hum began to grow in the back of my mind as static crossed my teeth and skull. I felt a spike of pain gouge me from the base of my skull. It was so agonizing that I almost blacked out, but I kept myself upright by placing my hand on a nearby wall. The humming sound grew louder and louder until I heard nothing but the thrashing of strange noises, and the pulsating beat of my heart raced through my head. Then everything went quiet. A calm washed across the world, and I found myself standing among the broken wreckage of the tower. The Blightwing’s body laid before my feet. A new notification popped into view.

  [Class Specialization Skill Acquired]

  [Final Radiance]

  As the words materialized in the air, there was a sudden high-pitched sound that cut through my skull like a serrated blade. It caused me to drop to my knees and brace myself against the stone wall. The red words broke apart and formed back together repeatedly. Strange lights of red, gray, and black cut through the words as if they tried to erase them from existence. My vision was filled with horrible static. A wave of nausea hit me, and a lump of stomach acid burned my throat. I coughed and spat red on the ground. I quickly dismissed the notification, hoping it would make the problem disappear, but the words stayed, and new words appeared. My entire [Codex] was having problems as if I’d broken it. Instinctively, I closed my eyes to shut out the horrible display, but the image only became sharper against the darkness. I couldn’t stand it. My head spun, and my stomach continued to push bile up my throat. I grabbed at my skull. “Stop! Please Stop!”

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  The peace of the world returned. My eyes only saw black. The noise was gone. What was that?

  I took a moment to compose myself, letting my chest and heart beat slow before I attempted to open my [Codex]. I braced myself for the worse but nothing happened. All I saw was my normal display of red text floating before me. Everything seemed to be back to normal. I locked my will on checking my list of skills, and there it was, the Final Radiance. So the crystal worked. Or at least it looks like it worked. It could be another mistake. Maybe my brain was broken, and I was only imagining the name of the ability. I pushed for the skills description to materialize, and it did so with no issues.

  Final Radiance: To burn as bright as the sun, the bearer of radiance must be willing to sacrifice everything. Mind, body, and spirit. Final Radiance is the be-all end-all attack to decimate anyone unlucky enough to crawl into its range. A massive surge of energy is pulled from every fiber of the caster’s soul to form a pool of radiant liquid to flow over and through the caster’s body. This applies a massive increase to physical and spiritual power, enhancing all attacks and abilities. However, the ability drains everything from the user, leading to extreme fatigue and even death.

  Use extreme caution. The skill was basically telling the user not to cast it or die trying. What kind of ability is that? Did the Blightwing boss understand the risk it was taking every time it used it? Did the ability have the same warning for the Blightwing? If so, does that mean it was pushed to its absolute limit and was willing to risk it all for survival? I looked down at the massive creature and couldn’t help but sympathize with it. It only wanted to survive, and it tried everything to do so. Did the boss even have a choice in the matter? Did it even want to fight, or was it forced to fight us? Did the Trinity summon it here only out of its own pleasure and curiosity, or was it necessary? Was death necessary in order for life to be?

  These thoughts were too much for me to handle. I didn’t choose the Thief class to sink my teeth into the details of the Fallen States and the gods that now controlled it. I was here to survive, fight, and become the most powerful outrider in the Quarters. To stand side by side with the likes of Makena, Layla, and… Lupin. Lupin Fletcher, the Midnight Ranger, whose very own son died fighting beside me. Lupin Fletcher, the strongest Outrider in our colony, and the one parent who wouldn’t be seeing their child return to their home. Lupin Fletcher, the man I had to stand before and tell him his son was dead. What was I going to tell him?

  I spent the next hour trying to look for Theo’s body. The terrain of the tower had completely changed over the course of the battle. Walls laid on their side. Floors were upheaved into gaping maws reaching for the sky. Metal scraps pierced the concrete floors, leading to massive gaps of darkness across the entire rooftop. The giant crane now rested in two pieces upon the top layers of the skyscraper, with its head dangling far off the edge and into the open air. There were piles of rubble everywhere I looked, and I was afraid that if I found Theo’s body, it would be under one of them or he had fallen somewhere in the darkness below. Despite being exhausted and wanting to rest, even for a minute, I wanted to do my best to honor the friend who died for me. I dug through stones and rebar till my fingernails bled and my palms turned red and raw. I don’t know how long I worked to clear away rock and cement to find Theo, but when my head spun, and I collapsed on the ground, I noticed a sliver of morning light appear above the horizon.

  By the time I awoke, there was an eerie red light shining down through black clouds. A dark shape rolled across the distant sky. Spherical and massive. It covered the entire coastline far off to the west. I knew what it was. The Great Fallen God. It was watching the world. I was glad it was far away. Moving like the shadow of a large moon above the clouds. I caught its eye before my body gave way to darkness, and I slept again.

  Dusk was settling around me when I next opened my eyes. This time, when I looked to the sky, I was met with two beautiful eyes. Tala’s eyes. She was sitting on her knees and looking down at me. She was saying something, but no matter how hard I tried to hear her, all I could make out was a muffled echo. She had tears rolling down her ashen cheeks, and her eyes — her beautiful eyes — were red and quivering. I managed a simple smile and a hello. She burst into tears and put her head on my chest. She held me for a long time. I let her hold me. Her body was warm, and her embrace, a comfort. After a moment, she sat up.

  “I’m so glad you’re alive,” Tala said as she wiped tears with the sleeve of her shirt. “When I woke up, you were just lying there. I thought you were dead. I thought… I…”

  “I’m alright. A bit tired is all.” I sat up — my spine cracking as I did. “How about you?”

  “Unharmed. For the most part. I guess I leveled up when I was out.” She rubbed her hands and flexed her fingers. Then she wrapped her arms around her body. “Theo… is he?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, he is. I tried looking for him but… He saved us, Tala. He should be here with us. He deserves to be. More so than me.” I sucked in a hard breath to keep from crying.

  “Ward, don’t… You deserve to live. So did Theo, but… but we can’t change the past. All we can do is remember what he did. Remember him as a hero. He’d like that. I think.” She couldn’t help but let her head fall into her arms, and I heard her let out a quiet sob. I’ve never been good at comforting people. I always felt awkward when opening up to others' problems. Especially girls. I had two close friends in The Quarters, Indy and Aiden, both girls. They were closer to each other than I was to them, and even though I felt like a third wheel most of the time, we all hung out whenever we had free time. Most of our interests included exploring the lower tunnels of The Quarters, the abandoned subway lines and stations, or checking out old collectibles like books and toys the Outriders would bring back. My favorites were the Rubik cube and the old sci-fi books. Aiden and Indy usually read some of the other fiction books. They tried to keep their girl habits secret, but I noticed them. I never minded, except when they needed more than a guy friend, someone, to comfort or hold them when they cried. Something a lot of people did in the Fallen States. They had each other to cry to; I had my dad. Right now, Tala needed me. So I sucked it up and wrapped my arms around her.

  Tala put her arms around me, and the two of us held each other for a long time. Her tears burned my shoulders. Mine seared my eyes. It felt good, though. It felt like a relief to finally let our emotions out. To let the tragedies that we experienced together finally come forth and break us down. To let our walls fall and be open.