Xian Xi

Forever.

I might as well slit my own throat now.

"If it makes you feel any better, I still want to kill you - just give me the go ahead". She says, her eyes twinkling.

I drag myself to my feet and leave the cozy cave quietly.

I need water - badly.

Not to mention food.

She comes up behind me.

"You still want to embark on your hopeless quest of finding survivors?" Her tone is dripping with sarcasm.

"Yes, but right now, we need to find some water."

She moves to stand beside me.

"There's always ocean water".

"It's poison… but since you have so much in common with it, why don't you drink it?" I retort.

"I'm not as pathetic as you - I don't need water to survive. Neither do I need food. What I need is fresh blood - by that, I mean yours".

I glance at her. She's smiling, her red eyes gleaming mischievously.

"Not a chance. Since we have forever, you can plot as long as you like".

"You'll die before me. When I said forever, I meant your tiny lifespan".

I wince at the intended insult.

"If that's what you thought, more's the pity. I'm not dying - ever". I counter, my tone daring her to top it.

"Immortal? You expect me to believe that?" She says, mock disbelief etched in her voice.

"I don't expect you to believe anything."

She goes silent.

"What are you then? A god? A descendant of a Demon? A messed up Hybrid?"

I don't respond, mostly to infuriate her. But, I can't tell her either.

Only two other people knew about my cursed lineage - Fargo, then Arya.

Fargo had found out on his own during one of our hopeless mentorship sessions.

A strangled cough erupts from my parched throat.

"Pathetic". She mutters, walking off.

I lean down, bracing my hands against my knees.

I draw the stale air greedily into my lungs.

"Come on. Don't you want water anymore!" She calls out, her voice muffled by the wind.

I look up. Her figure has been belittled by the distance, blurred by the rising dust.

I start limping forward, hating my slow pace but unable to do anything about it.

"Where are you going?!" I call out to her.

She turns back.

All I can see of her in the dusty darkness is her stark eyes.

"Do I have to carry you?"

She starts walking back - toward me.

When she reaches me, she slings my arm over her shoulder.

"With all the blood I gave you, your limp should be gone by now."

Despite how much I want to shove her away, I lean into her support - my legs were just a few minutes away from buckling beneath me.

"Where are we going?" I ask again.

She sighs, annoyed.

She makes me feel like some little child who always asks stupid questions.

"Toward the sea". She finally responds.

"Sea?" I stop walking. "I told you I can't drink sea water - no one can."

"We'll dig a well near the sea. Don't worry, I'll do all the digging." She responds with the patience of an old innkeeper.

"I'll probably hit you first before I dig up anything." She mutters under her breath.

I ignore her.

She's hard to understand - nice, then wicked the next. When you expect her to kill you, she helps you.

"When we leave the Demon Realm, where are we headed?" She asks.

I ponder her question.

There's only one place to go, but as it is, I'm an outcast - all special individuals are outcasts.

"I don't know." I whisper, sounding as hopeless as I feel.

She falls silent as well.

We walk for hours.

Then, the vast ocean looms ahead. The air here is saturated, hinting that the sea is indeed near.

She halts, slipping my arm off her shoulder.

"I'll find something to dig with while you wait here." She says.

I watch her walk off before settling down on a nearby rock.

Movement by the water catches my attention.

I shrug it off as a tide.

But, the movement continues, too distinct to be just a mere tide.

I lean forward, squinting my eyes to see through the haze of dust carried by the wind.

It's a figure. Two figures.

My heart nearly misses a beat.

Are they players that survived?

Fear is a terrible guide, and curiosity an even worse one, but I find myself limping across the distance.

But as fate would have it, Dove beat me to them.

She's running after them, aiming to kill.

I can't let her harm them.

"Dove!" I yell at the top of my lungs.

Her neck snaps unnaturally until her gaze meets mine through the distance.

On hearing me, the people there start running.

Dove doesn't stop her chase. If anything, she becomes even more wild. If she merges with her Demon form, everyone is finished.

Panic claws at my chest.

She hadn't been bluffing when she said she'd kill any survivors.

Limping as fast as I can, I call out to her again.

"Dove! Leave them alone!"

She slows down, gradually pulling herself to a halt.

She turns predatory eyes on me, looking every bit the blood-hungry demon.

The people start slowing down when they realize that she is no longer on their trail.

They eventually stop, preferring to watch from a distance.

"I almost had them!" She growls through gritted teeth.

"You don't kill humans, Dove!"

"That's what I exist for!"

"You can change that." I respond, my voice softening to a whisper.

"The sooner you get all that flowery nonsense out of your head, the better." Is she says as she walks away, stick in hand.

I follow her with my gaze. She stalks back to where she had asked me to wait.

She pokes the stick into the ground violently, crouching down to examine the rocks.

She pokes at the ground again, anger resonating through her every action.

How did I even end up with her? I find myself wondering.

Eventually waters spills out of the hole she's been digging.

She looks up, her gaze deadly.

"Here's your water. Drink up before you die on me."

I start limping to where she is.

Getting down on my knees, I scoop the water in my palm and drink it.

A moan escapes me as the cool liquid slides down my throat, moisturizing my mouth that had become near-papery.

I drink several times before my thirst is quenched.

Leaning back against the rock behind me, I survey her lazily.

"Why did you say you don't want me to die on you?" I ask.

She glances at me briefly, her glare worthy of slaying dragons.

"If you die, I die. That's what a blood bond entails. If I want to survive, I'll have to protect you with my life." She responds.

"Oh."

She settles down on one of the rocks, staring into the distance.

"There's more of them". She mutters, her tone bitter.

I follow the direction of her gaze.

She's talking about the people she had chased earlier.

There are about six or seven of them from my count.

"Did you get a good look at any of them?" I ask, sounding hopeful.

She doesn't respond immediately.

"The two of them were very familiar. I'm terrible with names, though."

A thought suddenly pops up.

"What's my name?" I ask her.

She darts a quick glance at me and shrugs.

I feel a bit disappointed, but I do my best to mask it.

"They are coming this way." She says.

I look behind me.

They are indeed.

Squinting, I notice that there's more of them - about twelve, I think.

Dove clenches her fists.

"Don't even think about it." I warn her, knowing exactly what she's planning to do.

"I'm not going to hurt your friends. But don't expect me to be nice".

Her tone makes me think twice about allowing them to come over to where we are.

"Can you wait over by that rock?" I ask, pointing at a rock a good distance away.

She follows my finger, grimacing.

"You're now the one treating me like a slave. Haha." She says, her voice dripping with thinly disguised malice.

I had said that, I realize.

"That's because you don't want to be treated as anything else."

With a hiss, she starts walking to where I assigned.

I return my attention to the approaching people.

I can make out brightly coloured robes blackened by dust and grit.

The gait of the person in front is all too familiar.

I never thought I'd be so happy to see the person I had hated so much at one point in time.

Nervous, I run a trembling hand through by dusty and tangled locks.

I rise to my feet, dusting myself off as much as I can.

I can't believe they're still alive.

Arcane rushes forward, nearly toppling me with his fierce embrace.

A tear slips from the corner of my eye.

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