Allya unsheathed her sword.

“I’d be careful if I were you,” the demon said. “One move and our planet gets wiped of all life.”

Allya eyed the demon’s hand, swirling with shimmering magic the color of blood. She didn’t have to ask to know what that magic could do.

She glanced behind her, at her pathetic little army. Her friends; Lila, Dame, Wreese. The few dozen fighters who joined them in a final attempt at peace. Even her mama. To Allya’s horror, all of them were backing up, slowly, lowering their weapons to the ground and raising their hands in surrender.

But the sound of clinking metal nunchucks and swords, wooden javelins and crossbows, maces and knives, dropping to the hard ground behind her was nothing compared to the way her stomach was dropping right now. One by one, her friends and her family were deserting her because they had given up. Their eyes were wide with fear and terror, but they were also dim. Dim with hope.

Allya turned back to face her enemy, her sweaty hands still wrapped around the emerald hilt. This was only her battle now.

The demon’s lips curled into a smile. Her raven black cape billowing behind her, she began to walk towards Allya. “You always thought you could outdo me, didn’t you? Always thought you were one step ahead.”

“We— we were one always step ahead,” Allya spat back, angry at herself for the way her voice was shaking. “You were just two.”

The demon’s wicked grin grew wider. Allya kicked herself for saying that.

“So this is how it ends?” the demon asked. “You praising my plotting skills while self-deprecating and wallowing in your own regrets? You were always one to be too hard on yourself.”

The magic in the demon’s hand had grown brighter, bolder. A pulse of scarlet in the fading light. “Unfortunately I can’t say it worked out in your favor. I did always think action was better than inaction. Turns out I was right.”

“Not when the action is wrong,” Allya countered. Maybe if she could keep the demon talking, the demon wouldn’t let go of that magic. At least long enough for one of Allya’s allies to come to her aid. Somebody would. Somebody had to.

But out of the corner of her eye, all Allya could see were the sagging shoulders of her mama. Her hands were still raised as if she were part of a death parade, and there was a look in her eyes that pained Allya to her soul. Defeat.

So her mama had given up, having seen the worst of everything she had done, all of her own mistakes that kept unraveling into a spiral of evil and hatred and endless destruction. But Allya hadn’t. Allya had seen the good parts of her mama’s choices, the parts that her own remorse had blinded her to.

And Allya knew there was a way to fix this. She just had to be careful about it.

The demon took another step closer, and Allya raised the sword ever higher. She had no idea if the demon could even be killed, but the intimidation should work in the plan that was slowly taking form in her mind.

“All the lying, hiding, cheating,” the demon went on. “You were afraid of me, weren’t you? Afraid of this. Afraid of us.” She caressed the magic in her hands, gazing down at the mass of shimmering sparks as if it were her own child. Allya shivered.

“You shunned us away because you knew our power was strong,” the demon continued. “You feared betrayal. You thought I would use it against you, because let’s face it. You didn’t trust me.” The demon’s face morphed into a snarl of hatred, and just for a second, Allya thought she caught something else in there. Pain.