Rey huffed, sucking in air as fast as he could. Phil's body seemed to get heavier with each step. The howling and shrieking were getting louder. The demons were getting closer, and he was nowhere near their destination. If worst came to worst, he would have to dump the bodies and hope for the best.

  This clearly didn't happen in my last playthrough.

  Last time, they had taken the bodies inside the castle and almost lost everything. It wasn't until they burned the bodies that the demon assault stopped, but that also meant a horrible fate for the deceased.

  "How…far?" Kassandra asked, who was lagging behind.

  He slowed his pace a little bit. "We need to hurry, or we're royally fucked."

  She was trying, but it didn't look like they would make it. Then, something happened that Rey was dreading.

  "W-What's happening?" came Phil's hollow voice. "Why does it hurt so much? Where are you taking me?"

  Kassandra stopped dead in her tracks. "Rey, P-Phil… he's—"

  "I know." Rey turned towards her. "It's not him. Not entirely. This is Hell playing a final cruel trick on us. Please trust me and don't stop, or we'll join Phil and Latoria."

  "R-Rey, where are you taking me?" Phil asked.

  Rey didn't respond. He had lied to Kassandra. It was Phil…his soul, which was still tethered to his dead body. This was the part that he hated the most about Hell. It made one into a monster that forced them to literally throw their friends to the dregs of Hell to save themselves.

  He ran and heard Kassandra's footsteps behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief, and after a few agonizing minutes, he finally saw his destination before him. All the while, Phil kept asking questions, clearly confused and growing increasingly terrified as Rey wouldn't answer. Kassandra tried to, but Rey cut her off every time. It also didn't help that Latoria's ghost rose from her body.

  "We just need to get to that boulder," Rey called.

  His legs felt like they would buckle at any moment. He didn't know how long Kassandra had. He noticed something moving amongst the trees, and it didn't look like any of the demons they had fought.

  His Stamina was plummeting, and with the last ounce of his strength, he rushed to the boulder with the deep claw marks they had crossed before. He flung Phil's body over his shoulder, and it landed almost right next to it.

  [+1 Strength]

  [+1 Endurance]

  Kassandra was nearly done for. She gulped air down, and each step felt like it took a mountain's worth of effort for her. He footed it back to her, took Latoria from her, and dumped her body beside Phil's. Their souls hovered over their bodies, shimmering in an ethereal blue light.

  "What's going on, Rey?" Phil's ghost asked. "Why won't you talk to us?"

  "Rey, please," Latoria called in a quivering voice. "What's happened? Are we dead?"

  "I'm sorry, Phil…Latoria," Rey finally replied. "But your fate is in your own hands now."

  He wanted to say more and tell them things would be okay, but he didn't. There was no time. He turned as the demons raced out from the trees and towards the ghosts.

  [+1 Willpower]

  "We're just going to…leave them here?" Kassandra asked between deep breaths.

  "Yes, unless you want to become a ghost yourself, you need to run." Rey took her by the arm and tried to run, but she didn't want to move. "I will explain everything once we put some distance between us and this place. Every hungry demon for miles is coming here, and if we don't return to the castle soon, we'll also be a pair of glowing blue lights. Please, Kassi, we need to go now."

  She stared at him for a moment, then finally nodded and let herself be led away. Behind them, demons came spiriting through the tree line. They circled a terrified Phil and Latoria, who didn't have to fear them...yet. The demons hollered and shrieked as they bashed on the ground or beat their chests. Some simply stopped and stared as they drooled.

  Not all of them were so focused on Phil and Latoria's souls. A couple saw Rey and Kassandra making a run for it, and silently, they broke off and rushed for a tired Rey and Kassandra.

  "Oh, you mother-loving lichs," Rey cursed, which Kassandra didn't understand. Liches literally loved their mothers fiercely. However, she did notice the pair of demons chasing them.

  "What do we do?" She asked.

  "We keep running…for now."

  Among the trees, more demons rushed towards the boulder, which spelled doom for Phil and Latoria. However, it was highly unlikely that they would still make it through their predicament, but there was still a small sliver of hope.

  The demons were gaining on them, and Rey could see the top of the castle. He had hoped that they would be able to get to the castle and get the others to help, but the chance of that was dwindling with each step. Still, he pushed on and dragged Kassandra along with him.

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  She was nearly spent, but he was not letting go of her hand. He would drag her to safety if necessary. Besides, he had already turned into a demon once; what was the harm in doing it again, as long as she got to live?

  Finally, they burst through the clearing where the castle stood. They were still a fair distance from the castle doors, but then Kassandra tripped and rolled in the dirt.

  "Looks like we'll be fighting them here," he huffed.

  He turned and readied his scythe. The first demon was a simian-like monster who stood taller than Rey, had beefy arms, and protruding fangs. He hooted in a voice that said he must've smoked four packs of cigarettes a day.

  [Gorran (Exiled) – ?]

  He jumped for Rey and used his thick tail to give himself an extra lift. He must've gone ten feet in the air, and there was no stopping that. Rey jumped aside, and the terrifying monkey cracked the ground when it landed.

  Rey snorted and thrust his blade into its left eye. The monkey shrieked, and one arm shot to his bleeding eye. Rey was about to pierce the Gorran in his armpit, but Kassandra screamed as the demon's brother or sister gripped Kassandra by the ankle and dragged her away.

  Not on my watch.

  He lunged for the second Gorran, and it didn't see Rey coming. He fell upon the monster's back and shoved the scythe's blade in its back, severing its spine in half. The demon let go of Kassandra and fell to its knees, squealing in pain. Before Rey could pull his scythe out, something gripped the back of his shirt, and the next thing he knew, he was hurled through the air and crashed to the ground hard.

  The one Gorran was on him in a heartbeat. Rey barely managed to roll to the side. The demon's massive fist just grazed his arm and broke it. His bicep erupted in pain. Thankfully, he was used to worse.

  He kicked at the monster's knee and made it topple to the ground. He was desperate, in pain, and without a weapon. He was about to run when he saw a silver object streaking through the air.

  "Catch it!" Kassandra yelled.

  It was one of her daggers, laced in Moonlight. Rey caught it in his good hand and, in one smooth motion, stabbed downward, aiming the blade at his chest and killing the Gorran. He ripped the dagger out of his chest.

  [+1 Dexterity]

  [+1 Perception]

  [You killed a Gorran (Exiled) – E+2]

  "Fucking monkey." He spat. "But thank you for being Rank 2."

  Then he turned towards the other, who squirmed on the ground, trying to get up, but its legs didn't move. A strange relish passed through Rey, watching that demon squirm. Then Kassandra was on him, slashing wildly with her other dagger. Each slash painted its back red, but then the monster lashed out with his fist, which connected to her knee, which bent inwards.

  She screamed a bloodcurdling scream, and Rey saw red. He dashed towards the monster at a speed he didn't know he possessed. Before he could get to the monkey, it somehow turned around and broke Rey's scythe in half mid-attack. Still, Rey drove the blade so deep that it stuck out of the demon's stomach. It writhed in pain, and Rey let it.

  "That's what you get for breaking my weapon."

  Eventually, his humanity won out, and he put the monster out of its misery by stabbing it through its neck.

  [+1 Willpower]

  [You killed a Gorran (Exiled) – E+2]

  He turned to see that Kassandra was losing consciousness. "Oh no, Kassi, please be okay."

  Her eyes fluttered in response, and she moaned weakly. Without thinking, he quickly got her seated and threw her over his shoulder. He screamed as his broken arm screamed in pain. He clamped down on his jaw and made for the castle, one step at a time.

  Dr. Bahar placed a hand on his broken arm. It glowed with a greenish light, and immediately, the pain throbbing in his arm subsided as the warmth from her hand spread to his arm. There was an audible crack as his bone snapped into place. He knew from past experience that his arm was as good as new.

  "There, it should be good now," the doctor said. "I wish I had some painkillers to assign you, but let me know if it hurts too much."

  "Will do, doc." Rey saluted her.

  She smiled and left the room, leaving Rey with the only other patient in the castle—Kassandra, who was lying on the ground. She was still unconscious, even though her body had been healed. Her knee was set in place again, and she didn't appear to be hurt, which was a relief.

  "Oh, you gave me quite the scare, Kassi," he said quietly.

  "Did I now?" she replied, making Rey flinch. She opened her eyes and sat up slowly. "And that was the third time you've called me Kassi. I only allow my closest friends and family to call me that."

  Oh, but we are or were or will be? He shook his head lightly. No, we won't be.

  Rey shrugged. "I call every Kassandra, Kassi, it's just easier."

  She squinted at him. "Well, I don't care what's easier for you and what's not. You will call me Kassandra, and that's that."

  He made a show of writing it down on an invisible notepad. "Kassandra, and would you like fries with that?"

  She wasn't amused. She was always amused by his silly jokes. This meant she was serious.

  "No, but I would like the explanation you owe me. Why did we risk our lives to dump the bodies of Phil and Latoria to be devoured by all those demons? Why couldn't we have just brought them into the castle like the rest of the bodies of the demons? And why were there ghosts hovering around their bodies?"

  "That's a tall order," he replied. "And I haven't even had the time to frame a proper answer."

  "Then give me the unaltered truth, and I will tell you the Element you're looking for."

  "What?"

  Kassandra smirked. "You heard me—the truth. So, don't think. Just start talking."

  Rey sighed and lied through his teeth. "I wanted to keep this a secret, but I guess not. I can see the future. It's not a joke because I selected the Seer Element—I don't know why it's an Element, but it is. Anyway, it lets me see into the future. It showed me a horde of demons descending to covet Phil and Latoria's souls."

  She leaned forward. "But why were there souls here in the first place?"

  He shrugged. "This Element only lets me see the future. It doesn't tell me why Hell functions the way it does." He decided to give her another crumb. "There was another thing I saw, and it's even more confusing. I saw Phil and Latoria running towards their souls."

  "What? You're joking?"

  "I saw Phil, like how he died with that wound in his gut, still bleeding, but it was growing grotesque as he ran towards his soul. The same with Latoria."

  "And what do they do once they get to their souls?"

  "I couldn't see that far," He replied. "I ran out of Mana. My Mana pool is quite shit—only ninety points, barely enough to release an ear-shattering fart."

  She snorted. "Just don't shatter my ears with one of those."

  "Noted. Now, your turn?"

  "Despite you being so rude to me," she gave him a side-eye. "I was pondering what sort of Element could counter someone who moved super fast, which could nullify teleportation and even mess with time. Funnily enough, the answer came to me like it did to Sir Isaac Newton. Though no apple landed on my head. I dropped my dagger and nearly took off some of my toes."

  Rey's eyes widened. "You're a genius, Kassi."

  She smiled. "So, you got it?"

  "I got it."

  The answer to all his troubles was Gravity.