Tally's

"It doesn't count if you're already planning your defeat." He said with a pout as he dropped down to sit on the edge of the cliff, kicking down rocks off the edge as he did so. He was close enough for me to feel the heat coming off his body.

I didn't know that someone so cold hearted could give off warmth.

"So what if I want to die? Wouldn't it make your life easier? Stop this chasing one another, constantly trying to outdo the other. The good versus the bad. Evil versus, well, me. A story that's existed longer than time itself. Don't you ever feel like it all means... nothing." I say up at the reddening sky as the sun sets.

In the distance you can see the faint outline of the planet Armidea, floating above our heads just close enough to think that if we weren't already stuck to this planet, we would have long ago been pulled into Armidea's deep and treacherous water.

Seas. My lip hurts. I reach up to touch the numb nub at the right of my mouth, my fingers coming back wet with red blood from the already swollen wound. I wish that he would have finished the attack, pushed me off this cliff. Be done with it.

But he didn't. Why hadn't he?

I glance up at his figure, slouched over as he picks at the colourful rocks. He was chewing his own lip as he didn't reply, or even make a sound. That was weird, he usually had more than enough to reply to anything I said.

I slid my body up and around so that I was no longer laying on my back and instead sitting upright and close to Theul, who now looked at me.

"Your hit back there was good. One could say that you're improving." I say in order to break this heavy air that clung around us. It worked. Theul chortled and threw the rocks that he held down into the dark abyss that we sat at the edge of, our legs dangling carelessly.

"You don't mean it do you?" He asked suddenly, his eyes back on my own. To my own discomfort.

"Why shouldn't I mean it?"

He turned his head and I watched his jaw tighten. His dark clothes were always clean, with cool dark, asymmetrical lines. I've always admired them, deep down. They complimented his short brown hair and skin in a way that made something in me stir that I wasn't quite ready to look at just yet.

"What, the academy doesn't see you as a god anymore?" He quipped while looking the other way. He didn't want me to see his face. Fine.

"They've never seen me as a god." I shot back, crossing my arms. My eyes are drawn to the deep dark of the abyss, and stay there as I wished that it would swallow me whole.

"No. No. You're right. It's you who thinks that you're a god." He shook his head with a sarcastic laugh. This bite stung more than his other jabs during our many fights. The others were to throw me off, but this... this felt more personal. He suddenly stood up and wiped the red dust off his black pants. A perfectionist, as always.

He began to walk away and I knew that if he left, then it would be a whole other moon cycle before I saw him for our next run-in, our next battle.

And for some reason I didn't want this one to end. Not yet.

"You once thought me a god."

It comes out of my mouth without much thought. My stomach clenches as I wait for his response, as he stopped before the whole sentence had even been spoken. But he says nothing and continues walking.

I flex my hand and I feel the energy reach away from my hand like the oceans water climbing up a sandy shore. It ebbs and flows as it snakes to his retreating figure, winding its way around his body. He pauses for a moment, only too familiar with the feeling.

"Don't."

I relax my hand and the wave comes back to me. Water receding to its master.

"Then come back." I say quietly.

The crunch of the soil underneath his shoes is the only indication of his coming back. That and a small, cocky laugh.

"That was before I first kicked your ass. Then I realized that none of us are gods."

"We only act as them. That is true enough."

"You and your uptight wisdom."

"It is the truth."

"Doesn't mean I want to hear it. And truth is subjective."

"Is that what they taught you?" I ask with indignance as Theul plops back down into the dirt, next to me. I feel a large pat on my back and I quickly brush off the staining red dirt. I know that he has just rubbed onto my light brown tunic.

"Bealicia, isn't non judgement on your list to follow in order to be high and mighty?"

"Don't say my name and like you would know." I shoot back, but quickly bite my tongue. Wrong nerve.

He would know. Before Theul had turned to the Nothers for his wisdom and leading to his life as a warrior for the dark, and her enemy, he had once been a student to the light. Before they betrayed him, supposedly.

"I would know. Unfortunately. Maybe you should think about leaving before offing yourself with my hand." He leaned down onto his elbows as he observed the deepening sunset, crimson exploding across the sky and reflecting into his eyes.

I force myself to look back at the sunset.

"If only the solution to my problems would be that easy to solve. Have you ever heard of melancholy?" I say with only slight sarcasm.

He shrugs his shoulders with a slight tilt of his head and his long blade clinks along the rocky cliff.

"I may have dabbled in the subject throughout my studies."

"Bloody Nothers."

He only cant’s his head with another shrug and a smirk.

"You know I'll have to add today to the growing list of unforgivable actions that you've done. Today would have been a nice day to die."

I look back at the orange sun as it begins to disappear behind the rocky horizon across the abyss. The brilliant shade of red deepens into a purple as a misty haze begins its descent onto the land as it cools.

"Indeed." Was his answer for several moments before he spoke up again. "Another tally for my wins and your losses."

I look back to him as he keeps his eyes trained on the purpling horizon. When I refused to look anywhere else he sighed and rolled his dark eyes before settling them onto me.

"My life..." He began with a slight drama to it, but then he dropped his head in defeat as he slid up, off of his elbows, and sat upright so that our faces were close, closer than they've ever been whenever we weren't holding a blade to the others throat. My breath felt stuck in a lump in my own throat, he might as well have driven his blade into it.

"My life would be a lot more dull if you weren't in it."

The air around us pulses with frantic energy that swirls around us, energy that I don’t control. I don’t know what to say. 

He knows and he smirks once again. That annoyingly handsome smirk. 

He leans in slightly and my breath hitches yet again, and I want to meet him in the middle, closing the distance between us. 

Instead I stand up, and turn on my heel, walking away. 

Theul groans with annoyance before falling onto his back, his hands underneath his head. 

“Bealicia, come back, please.” 

“No.” I say as I stalk away. I begin typing in my coordinates so that the team knows where to bring me in from. After I finish, I stop and look up at the forest that lines the horizon opposite the abyss. I need to figure out what to do. In my life. With my life. If the academy is where I need to be, or if there’s somewhere else out there where I can find belonging. 

Running away I see. 

“Theul, get out of my head you bastard.” 

“But who should we chalk this as a win to?” His voice rings out in a sing-song voice. Irritatingly comforting. 

“Bea.” I say as I take in a breath and exhale it out. 

“What?” 

“You can call me Bea.” 

I can feel his self righteous smirk from all the way over here. 

“Stop smirking!” I yell in his general direction. 

“See you next time, Bea.” I hear his voice in a whisper, unsure if it’s in my head or if he was right beside me, leaning to whisper into my ear. 

I feel his presence vanish. Teleportation. Bloody Nothers. 

“Until next time, Theul.” I say to the empty land before me.