We kept running.
BOOM.
BOOM!
Louder steps or explosive slams echo from behind Hale and I.
I couldn't run anymore. I was relying on him for help.
And I knew he was better off than I was.
He was taller, so he could run easier, and he was more athletic than me.
"Wheeze… wheeze…"
I could feel my breath getting left behind.
I could feel my legs cramping further as we ran.
Tenna felt unfamiliar now. It felt horrific.
I used to say I lived here… now…
Here I am pushing past my body's limits to escape from it.
Hale and I reached where the outer wall of town once was, and we start running alongside it.
The flags are straight ahead, what I believe was the southwest gate of town is there.
At least, its ruins are.
Hale glances at me, still wheezing and panting like I'm on the brink of death.
Which… I guess I technically am.
"H-Hale…" I gasp out, "...i-it's okay…"
His face turns stern, his brow furrowing as tears welt in his eyes, "Y-yeah…! It's okay…!"
He looks back ahead of us, where the goalpost is, and runs even harder, hoisting me further up to help me run more.
"N-no… you know what I mean… cough." I feel mucus building up in the back of my throat. It tastes awful… like blood. I cough some more and keel over, stopping in my tracks as Hale slows with me.
"Fault… Fault!"
I pat his back a couple of times and shove him forward.
"Go-... go to the gate… I'll catch up."
I prevent myself from puking on his shoes as he stumbled ahead.
"Fau-"
"GO." I retch a bit.
"I don't- I don't wanna puke in front of you…" I look up and grin at him, "...so go on to the gate, I'm just gonna rest up… here."
I let my grin falter to a smile, a big, exaggerated smile.
Hale's face plummets to a frown, more tears falling down his cheeks as he turns and dashes.
"That's better… I think he'll make it out quicker and easier without me, anyway…"
I look for a little wall still standing, and lean on it with a groan.
I slowly fall until I'm sitting on the ground, my back against the wall.
…
Boom… rumble…
I can still hear the Devourer thrashing about toward the center of town…
"Is this it…?"
I take my hand and gently touch my face… my smile fades, and I grit my teeth some more.
'I'm so pathetic.'
Everyone I know is dead.
Everyone but Hale, and I let him go, just like that.
'I'm a piece of shit.'
"Hk…"
I grit my teeth harder, it feels like they're about to crack.
"I couldn't… I wanted to… I…"
I don't even know what to say.
I could feel my voice cracking and breaking as my vision began to blur in my one good eye.
"Hk… uh…"
I began to curl up.
I began to cry. And I wept.
I felt the cloth covering my missing left eye begin to dampen, and the tears streaming down the right side of my face began to drop onto my shirt.
Step. Step.
I sniffle, hearing some measured footsteps approaching.
I look up through the blur of my right eye, and I see many eyes staring back at me through a pitch black void.
The being that Hale described.
Trinity.
He held a distant look in his eyes.
"Is that all…? Just cry and accept your fate while your friend gets to live?"
He tilts his head, "Is that all?" His voice rings like a gong in my ears, and I hear it dozens of times…
"Is that it?"
"Is that all?"
"Do you amount to this?"
"Is this all you are?"
"IS. THAT. ALL?"
I look up.
"SHUT UP!." I pant after screaming.
No one's there.
The cold feeling in my chest began to welt, and turn into something warmer.
Hotter.
Boiling.
Rage.
"SHUT UP!" I shout to no one.
I could only see out of my right eye, and I swear I could see the world around me distorting between the ruins of Tenna…
…and the grey world I had known for a while.
"I'M…" I pant more, "I'LL…"
I can't find the words… but I need to say something, ANYTHING!
More tears flow out of the damp cloth covering my left eye, and the tear streaks on the right side of my face begin to dry.
Bo-BOOM!
A loud explosion rings from toward the center.
I swallow and begin to stand up on shaky legs. I assist myself against the wall behind me.
I look around at my feet and find a large sword on the ground, a heavy sword with a large handle to it.
A great sword.
I glance at the daggers along my waist and unhook the belt, discarding them.
Limping over, I reach down and pick up the sword.
It's heavy, way too heavy for a kid like me to pick up. But I hoist it over my shoulder and cough, feeling mucus build up in my mouth, which I spit out.
"You want your fucking game…?"
I pant and look at the black sky above me, the ash clouds floating through the air, the night sky only barely peaking through.
"I'll give you your game…" I rasp out, "I know there are more of you gods watching…"
I felt some of the eyes on me, whether they were Trinity's or some other gods', I didn't care anymore.
"So…" I raise my voice, hurting my lungs and throat as I shout with my soul…
"I'LL MAKE YOU DAMNED GODS WEEP SOMEDAY! I'LL SHOW YOU ALL!"
I'm going to make gods fucking cry one day.
I swear to it.
I'll make them sob.
Fall to their knees and cry their hearts out.
I swear on my soul.
*****
Trinity's 'jaw' dropped as the kid had made his declaration.
He was high above, yet he was still watching and listening as if he were right next to Fault.
"Make us cry one day?"
His shocked expression turned into a wide grin, "My goodness! Amazing!"
He cackled in the air, his feet kicking as his arms looped around his stomach.
"Glorious! Truly jaw-dropping! Hahahahah!"
What a kid! He hadn't seen a human child like Fault in ages!
"'Make the gods cry!' Ah what a quote, boy!"
He grinned and trained his gaze on Fault. All hundreds of his eyes on this one eye, no matter how far away they were across the continents.
"Marvelous! Spectacular! Stupendous! Outrageous! Spiteful! Truly a statement for generations!"
His arms stretch out as he spins in a little twirl.
Though, nearby, a black portal opens as another figure steps through.
A smaller figure than Trinity, a childlike look with a chubby face.
"You need to kill that child." She speaks.
Long brown hair with streaks of silver that makes loops around her stubby arms. Horns that protrude from her forehead that are a bright white with stripes of black. She's wearing a puffy, gothic black dress that matches the dark irises of her eyes.
"Oh, Ellty! Why would I need to kill a human child?"
She scowls up at Trinity's many eyes, "He declared to harm us one day! That's more than enough reason to go ahead and eliminate him!"
Trinity leans down and puts one of his gloved fingers on her lips, "Hush hush, my dear Ellty."
His eyes glow as he seemingly smiles at her, "A declaration from a human child is certainly nothing to scoff at, but don't you want to see where he goes from here? Don't you want to witness him change and grow? Don't you want to torment him until he breaks and remakes himself, just for us to tear him down…. Over and over!?"
Trinity laughs, his eyes jumbling, stretching and flattening dozens of times as he cackles into nothing.
Ellty only glares at him while he laughs, her cheeks puffing red, "Hmph! Fine! But only because it's in my nature to do exactly that!"
She flips her hair around her arms and turns around, "See you next century, Trinity."
"Ah, what a character you are, Ellty."
His smile fades as he turns his attention back down to Fault.
Cronus is barreling toward him at quite an alarming rate, the beast is fast, despite the rubble and spikes blocking its path toward the boy.
"Now… let's see if he holds up his end of the deal…"
If he lives, he truly could hold up that declaration he made.
If he lives, Trinity could have his lifetime's worth of entertainment from him.
So, Trinity decided to make a deal with himself.
Another version of him spawned, with less eyes than the original.
"Okay, me! Let's discuss what Weirdo down there would gain if he were to live!" He sits down on thin air, and pretends to sip from a cup that isn't there.
"Agreed! Let us discuss!" The other him responds eagerly.
He smiles and brings his hands together.
"First…"