Chapter 119: Chapter 119

“Just for this once, hold me!” Eren thought he heard wrong, that his tiredness and need to ease her pain were getting the best out of him, but then, she stepped closer, invading his personal space before leaning on his chest, her face resting on his breastbone, her arms didn’t move from her sides, but the way she pressed her body against his made him realize how much she needed to be contained, she was frail and vulnerable, like a bubble about to burst, wrapping his arms around her whole being, Eren held her in his embrace, not a tight one, no matter how much he wanted to.

On any other day, Eren would have considered their situation as a dream coming too, which was true, for he had dreamed about holding her in his arms over and over again when he thought that she was dead, to feel her presence in his safe embrace, however, all he could feel beside the sweet bitterness, a handicapped happiness for he knew what that hug really was.

It was an anchor, he thought to himself, she needed an anchor to stop her from losing herself, she needed someone to contain her and protect her from dissolving like a sugar cube in a sea of madness, he saw it in her eyes, the feeling of being lost, the loneliness, the numbness, the nihilism, those emotions were not strangers to him, for he had been in the same shoes when he was a child, and she was his light, the one that brought him back from madness, nevertheless, he wasn’t her, he was a monster made of darkness, and he doubted that he will ever give her any light.

What else to give her then? Eren thought as he tightened his arms around her, just a little, letting her know he was there, him, the demon she once loved, or maybe thought she loved, he knew that it didn’t matter to her at that moment whom she was hugging, she just needed someone, anyone, even if it was the monster she hated the most, the one who broke her in the first place, looking down at her blank face and dark hair, Eren felt a twitch in his heart, she was so little, so vulnerable, so exposed and bare, frail and lost, like a little bird that fell from it nest, just like her old self, his fair lady, and he wished for those moment to last, forever, but the way her body stiffened before she pulled away from him, her eyes as cold as ice, brought his dream to it end.

Never allow yourself to forget, Sara mentally slapped herself with that statement, telling herself to wake up, to rebury Sara,  the weak, naïve, and delusional part of her, Sara was dead, and this was Dahlia's body, it was Dahlia's life, and Dahlia's mind, and Dahlia wasn't going to fall back to the trap of lies just to put her mind at some rest and peace, just to foul herself with the ecstasy of a momentary happiness, She would rather feel the pain, she would rather keep the weight on her own shoulders and walk her thorny road barefoot and not trust the same man who destroyed her again and risk having what was left of her destroyed... Again...

Eren rubbed his fingers on his palm out of nervousness as they both stared at each other, her eyes more hateful and cold than before for he had witnessed her weakness, her vulnerability, while his held a promise, to be always there for her, to be what she needed, whether it was a shoulder to cry on or a shield to hide behind, he couldn’t be her light for he already was her darkness, but he could and was willing to be anything else she needed.

The uncomfortable silence between them stretched a little more, and Eren knew that he had to end the staring game they were having and get her and her sister out of the cave as soon as possible.

“Don’t t…” Sara didn’t finish her words, the one she needed to tell the monster, that what happened was a onetime thing and would never ever happen again, nor would it change anything, that she hated him and still wanted him dead, because Eren pulled her back to his chest suddenly, his grip tight, urgent, and almost painful, he crouched down, holding Nara’s body by the waist while his other hand wrapped around Sara’s knees and he lifted her up, spreading his massive wings like ship sails, he jumped away from the spot before the conscious girl could protest or resist.

At first, Sara was surprised, and angered even by the way he was carrying her, like a little child, her face close to his, but then, her senses caught the approaching danger right before countless fire beams erupted from the ground, the solidified lava was again melting and the heat in the cave became even higher than before, the walls were melting and the roof was dripping with lava, Sara sensed the many, many lives even before seeing them, but the first that caught her eyes was the man who stood in the middle of lava, but instead of burning he looked as if he was made of fire, Sara knew he was bad news, unlike the demoness, he didn't have a flame in his abdomen feeding his magic, he was the flame itself.

As if the fiery man wasn't enough, the walls kept on melting down like crazy, enlarging the cave until it seemed like it occupied the entire inside of the mountain, burning lava covered every corner of the arena, demons started to emerge from under the lava, lots of them, thousands of them to be precise, and none of them wasted any time as they all started attacking the shadows’ lord and the princesses in his arms with fire balls.

Eren evaded most of the attacks while taking some as he used his wings to shield the princesses, with his human half still on the surface and the amount of energy he lost on the seal, the attacks were not as unnoticeable as they were before, Sara noticed that, and also noticed that the shadows were only wrapped around her and her sister while Eren had his bare skin taking the fire assaults, his energy was unstable and she knew he was barely holding on, but even so, he kept on flying around the cave protecting her and her sister from the deadly attacks.

Taking a deep breath, Sara focused on her own energy, it was about time she got herself out of the labyrinth of her mind and feelings, the battle wasn't done yet and they were not on the winning side, reaching her core, she allowed her strength to overwhelm her and the air around her, the twinkling dust surrounded her again, then formed a bubble around the three of them, blocking all the attacks and the excessive heat.

The barrier bubble Sara created was exactly what Eren needed to catch his breath and heal his injuries partially, enough to the point where he wasn't distracted by the pain any longer.

"Where did they come from? " Sara asked, barely seeing anything apart from the fire outside the bubble caused by the numerous attacks all aimed at it.

"The fire edge, this is no ordinary cave Sara but a passage, connecting the human lands to the fire lands, Micka must have felt the death of his fiancée and now he is furious, he summoned most of his forces, he is not going to let us walk out of here alive."

"This means we have to end him." Sara concluded looking deep in thought while Eren's heart warmed up at the word we, he allowed himself the satisfaction of thinking she considered him as an ally, someone she could be around and work with.

" Yes, we d...." Eren wasn't able to finish his words as the entire bubble shook violently  before being thrown to the melted ground, the particles touched the ground first making it solidify in moments but the barrier was broken and the three fell to the ground, Nara was still unconscious because of the shadows while both Sara and Eren groaned from the impact of the fall, looking up, they saw it was Micka who attacked him with a massive fiery axe, the fire lord didn't look like he was going to wait for them to regain their strength as he charged a second time.

"Watch after her and try to stay safe..." Eren said quickly while charging forward himself, ignoring his injuries and forcing his demonic side out as well as the creation energy, clashing with the fire lord midway before the later reached the girls, they started fighting ferociously, one using a burning axe and the other using his long dark claws

Looking around, Sara saw the rest of the demons stopped attacking them for a brief moment, and instead did something very, very... Extraordinary!

It wasn't something Sara could have missed even if she intended to, in those few minutes the demons stopped shooting fire at them, they all synchronized their energies, their cores all calmed down at once, as if they all took a breath at the same time, Focusing, Sara thought, they were focusing on something, Sara didn't need to wonder what was it as her answer came in no time.

The fire demons, every single one of them, all created a link, not to their body parts, but among each other, every single demon was connected to the others, it looked like a fabric tissue with threads binding the knots together, the cores then started burning with the same intensity, all like one, once they were all well-adjusted to each other, the demons, all at once, linked themselves with the man on fire whom she knew as their lord, Micka.

Once the link was formed, the flaming cores had small parts ripped off them, the parts were small enough to not cause the owners any actual damage, the separated energy travelled through the link from thousands of demons to end up all at one destination, the fire lord.

Like a life donation.

The link was broken right after but Sara knew it served the purpose just right, the fire lord's strength grew dangerously, his body became larger, a little bigger than Eren's demonic form, his speed accelerated and his attacks intensified, the flames covering him burned brighter to the point where Sara was feeling their heat from where she was standing and she was not standing anywhere near him, the shadows’ lord didn't bulge and kept on fighting the fire demon with the same fury, but she knew he was injured, she knew he was weakened and yet he was still fighting like a beast, and she knew why and what for.