The gravel under my bare feet dug into the calluses on my skin, but my nerves felt nothing. Thick liquid ran down several spots of skin, yet the sting of a wound wasn’t there. My hands shook despite my efforts, and my vision blurred the longer I stared ahead.

All the people I once loved—those I vowed to save—laid around me with fear in their eyes. I stepped around them, cries and pleas fading into my numb thoughts. The road was long and my limbs felt heavy, but I continued on. I had a mission to fulfill. I’d sacrificed everything to get here.

Hot breath on my neck caused me to still, and chills rushed over my skin. A hand rested on my shoulder, and my vision blurred even further. Hot tears trailed down my battered and bloodied face as the hand brushed up on my neck.

“You’ve done well…” the breath burned the surface of my skin, “…my dear.”

My lip quivered, but the tears ceased their fall. As if I’d cried my last, they dried up and morphed into a new emotion. It was so new and raw I couldn’t begin to understand it. The longer I stood in the middle of the gravel streets, my emotions started to become a distant memory.

A hand wiped away the tears from my face, but no one stood in front of me. I dared myself to turn, only to spot all the battles I fought to stand here. I reached to touch my neck, and another chill ran through me. There was nothing.

“Don’t worry.”

I jumped and spun around once more. The sharp gravel beneath my feet began to feel like pillows as I stared back into familiar red eyes—though the body they possessed were not the ones they belonged to. I stared back at my own reflection, and yet I could barely recognize the person I had become.