By Ruiti He

“You’re a fool,” she shakes her head and looks down. “Even you can’t stop what’s to come.”

I looked at my best friend, Yumeki in confusion. “What do you mean? Aren’t I considered a god in this world?”

My friend could only wear a sad smile as tears slipped down her face. She approached me and slowly engulfed me in her hug, her arms circling around my waist.

“We won’t live on much longer Vema, we’ll both die here soon,” Yumeki choked out as the back of my shirt started sucking up the liquid that spilled from her eyes.

My mind slowly began to process what she had said as I began to look around, “What…? Why, were my efforts not enough…!? I ‘ve killed thousands in hopes of finding what I was seeking for!”

I could feel emotions swirl within you, messing with you. The grief, regret, despair, anger, and sadness were all churning in your stomach. I held tighter onto my friend while you looked down in shame.

“In the end, I still wasn’t strong enough..” I hiccuped, the tears almost completely blocking my vision.

Yumeki broke out from the hug before taking a good look at me and taking one of my hands in hers, “Hey, you did the best you could..! No need to beat yourself down for it..”

Tears poured down my cheeks like waterfalls as I started to shake. After all the lives that were lost, after all the money spent, after all the training and gruesome work I put everyone through.. It still wasn’t enough. I felt my body start to break down as my legs slowly started to give up on me and I fell onto the remaining rubble of the skyscraper. Yumeki bent down onto her knees while letting go of your hand. She kept silent and still, tears coursing down her cheek as they made their way to the floor, creating puddles of water.

It was hard to believe that this day would come, a day where I wasn’t strong mentally or physically. Months of torture has led me nowhere and it costed me thousands if not millions of civilians’ lives. The burden that I carried for so long only came down to such a disappointing and despairing result.

Soon, I was able to tell from a distance that the time I was warned about has come. I held onto Yumeki’s hand and we gave each other a sorrowful smile as light begane to blind me. Everything seemed to have slowed down. Memories flashed by me as I recounted the moments I’ve had with everyone, sad times, happy times, and times where people were able to depend on me.

The light continued to approach while my final tear slipped out of my eye, “I’m sorry everyone.. May I meet you again in another life…”