Unification

"I finally found you!"

Those words could have sent him into some kind of hypothermic shock with how much they chilled his very body, the cold sweat and shock running own his spine making his skin cover in goosebumps, and would make the hairs on his body stand up on ends. If his body had any. Not only did the prospect of being discovered freak the void mage out as the instant realization that his life was currently in peril, and the person confronting him had their life put in danger now was a feeling he would never be able to get used to. The pit in his stomach that burrowed ever deep at the thought of this person's life coming to an end all because of his will and drive to survive made him feel incredibly selfish. Who was he to take someone away from this planet to survive? His mind would always wander to the horrific thought of how people who knew them, how they'd react to knowing someone they cared about was no more.

But arguably what made him feel so cold and tensed up inside was the tone this woman used when she had spoken, such... hatred and fire spat from their mouth when they had said that. Like his mere existence on this planet was a sin of pure heresy and that he was the vilest wretched scum on the entire planet, even the way her pale face seemed to turn almost as bright red as irons fresh off a forge, and the way her whole body tensed up- not out of fear but out of pure anger and rage upon laying sights upon him. It frightened him, made him shake at the thought of what she would do to him if he allowed her to best him in combat. But also made him so very upset, whatever rage she felt towards him wasn't real. At least, the reasons behind her rage were not. And that was what made him most upset of all, the catalyst of all the death, sorrow, anger, sadness and hatred stemmed from deeds he had not even committed. Not his sins, but the sins of his extremely distant ancestors.

Despite all her rage, the mage thought she looked rather pretty. Despite her rough looking dirty skin, he found some kind of admiration in it, the rough skin must have meant she was a really hard worker in his eyes. Her white as snow hair was tied into a ponytail, he presumed her hair probably go down to her waist if it was untied- and it looked surprisingly well kept and smooth compared to her skin. And those light blue eyes showed a burning passion and determination, which he admired- even if that desire was to kill him. The rest of her was glad in heavy looking silver armor, only her head and one hand were not covered in the shiny material. On her hand, instead sat an Amp of platinum, a highly skeletal amp that was simply thin bits of the metal following along her hand's skeletal structure on both sides conjoining at the tip of her fingers- in the center was a hollowed out circle that surrounded a scar on her right hand, bumps of deformed tissue that created a small half circle with three expanding beams of light that one could easily find in pictures depicting the way light traveled through windows or from openings. It was the magic brand of a Light Mage, the ones who hated him most.

The woman, on the other hand, was not as kind with her thought process when gazing upon her target. With the dirt and mud that covered the mage, she only drew the conclusion that was because he was a dirty rat that hid away and crawled through the mud to escape death, the dried blood on a few places on his once pitch black cloak made her furious at the thought of how many lives he had taken not taking a second to consider if the blood was his. The tears and holes in the faded dirty cloak sleeves and his messy long unkempt black hair was a symbolization of how desperate and on the ropes he was, which only drove her harder towards her goal of eliminating this threat to the safety of the planet. And those dark purple eyes were nothing but a blight, a scorn, a mark of a Void Mage that was the most disgusting thing she ever would look at- no eyes should EVER be colored that way, and they had bags underneath them and looked so tired- which must have meant her campaigns were making him run off very little sleep. All the better for her cause.  

The two stared at one another, both shaking but for different reasons. Fear and sorrow, determination and rage. 

The one clad in silver took but a moment to glance around at their surroundings, a small clearing with emphasis on the word small. They had a distance of about seven feet between them with the clearing itself being about twenty feet with a thicket of trees surrounding them from all sides. She knew if she was to eliminate him she had to pay attention lest he retreats into trees and be impossible to keep track of, he left no survivors in his wake which meant if she lost track of him then it be all over for her. The thought alone of failure stung more than the thought of her death if she failed it could spell doom for the entire planet and she knew as much- she had hammered that into her head repeatedly as a general of an army. 

Swiftly she pulled a blade of platinum with a bronze handle from her leather sheath, the distinct sound of which caused the mage in front of her to flinch and instantly adopt a defensive stance, his foot pointed sideways while crouching slightly lower to the ground. For but a second she tensed up and paused, her brow that was the same color as her hair furrowed slightly and her eyes narrowed slightly, she found the change in his body language to be slightly odd until she considered he was likely planning on bolting for the trees. Then a burning fire began to sinch her heart as she tightened the grip on her blade, spinning it around in her hand once before pointing the tip of the blade directly at the mage in front of her. "Void Blight! Demon! You will be vanquished from our landscape!" She shouted for the heavens to hear, her voice filled with conviction, resolute, and authority. 

The mage, however, shuddered a little and the color of his eyes dimmed slightly, looking lightly downwards as his chest seemed to tighten up- appearing like he had stopped breathing for a few seconds. Such, hateful things they called him, and it never got any easier to deal with no matter how many times they said it. The only positive was she was far tamer than some of the other people he had to face. The mage felt a growing sense of futility, for he knew this next part all too well. It was a like a dance on an endless loop, a dance where the ending is also a fumble. Every time he felt his joy and hope fade more and more towards the beginning and he knew the ending would always be the same, but stubbornness and hint of hope still shone through even though his outlook was grim at times. Someone had to believe eventually... someone had to.

"My name is Arcus... I don't want to fight you, I don't want to hurt..." Arcus paused for a moment, fluttering his eyes open and closed a few times with confusion. He hadn't heard her voice come yet. No interruption, no being cut off? He'd... never actually gotten this far before someone cut him off or tried to attack him. "you... or anyone else." Arcus finished up shaking as his teeth pressed down on his body lip as his hope began to rise slightly, even if she rejected it- that was more progress than he had ever made before. That was something at least, and something was always better than nothing.

The general had paused, staring at him with most...peculiar look on her face, her eyes somewhat wide with shock and a rather neutral lip posture meant it was impossible to really read how she felt, the slightly cocked right eyebrow, however, gave her a look of slight confusion. Why he sounded like a timid child! His voice so unimposing, shaky, quiet and uncertain yet seeming like he was trying to get his point across with all the might and courage he had. Holding her breath she began to think on this for a moment, before letting out a deep sigh realizing what this was.

In an instant her feet were off the grass and she flew towards him with insane speed, the mage letting out an extremely startled gasp jumping to the side at the last possible moment as her sword slammed into the ground where he had once been standing- a sinking sound of the sword cleaving through the dirt and grass, sickening because the Mage knew if he had taken any longer to move he would have been hacked in two down the middle. What made the mage more sickened, however, was the look he got, that glare of pure hatred and disgust that made his skin crawl and churn everything he had inside of him. 

"You vile CREATURE!" She shouted again swift ripping the blade out of the ground and swiping it at him, the sound of the sword cutting through the air coming too close to his head for comfort as he again forced himself backward, his heart rate increasing drastically as he realized the tip of her blade had been mere inches from his chest cavity. "Trying to use such tones and words as to bring my guard down for the kill! Well, it won't work on me!" She proclaimed with vile spite in her tone flipping her blade to instead go in for a thrusting motion, gripping the handle tightly as the tip of the blade pointed the same direction as her nose before she thrust it forward as fast and hard as she possibly could muster- 

Which only resulted in her suddenly gasping as she found herself falling towards the grassy earth below.

Granted, she recovered wonderfully by tossing her sword aside so she did not impale herself and tucked up, rolling as her armored back hit the floor with a soft metallic thud before kicking her feet up and spinning around all in the matter of a second, her amped palm facing forward with her other hand firmly grasped around her right hand's wrist, gaze snapping around as she tried to figure out where he had gone, it had happened so fast! One second he was there and then the next the world around him seemed to... fold over him and he was gone!

Slowly her gaze darted down to her discarded sword as she reached out to grab it before hearing an absolutely terrifying sound that made her jump back a few feet out of instinct, the sound was a combination of loud static noise and what she swore was an echoing somewhat ghostly sounding siren before hearing a loud metallic screech as something next to her exploded- sending her sword flying off into the other side of the small clearing, nearly making it all the way into the forest before it had skitted to a halt. Her eyes widened as she looked to where her sword once had been and then back to where it had just ended up before shifting spinning around in a three hundred and sixty-degree arc frantically trying to figure out where that had come from. But to no avail, she couldn't see him wherever he was. The sun couldn't punch through the trees, at least not enough that she'd be able to see him. Especially not with all that damn black he wore.

Then, a moment of clarity.

If he was keen on keeping her sword away, then she would wait for him to knock her sword away and then strike him. Nodding to herself she turned on her heels to try and get her weapon before she heard something somewhat large hit the ground little ways to her left and start running. At first, she spun around ready to attack until she realized no one was there- and that the sound of rapid footsteps was getting further and further away. A sudden shocked look coming on her face as she ran and grabbed her blade before spinning around and bolting quickly in the direction she had heard him running. Her heart rate increasing as she felt her body protest to running with all this armor on her body which felt nearly twice as heavy when running but she ignored it all, right now she had to focus on catching him! On catching the demon!

Her breathing got heavier and heavier as she ran faster and faster towards her target who was insanely quick himself, she was surprised by how fast he was- almost as fast as she was. At least at short distances, she wasn't sure how much longer she could keep this up. But anytime her muscles screamed for a break, her bones ached in protest, or her mind told her it was pointless she shot them all down by reminding herself that she had a mission to complete, that she had to stop him before he brought doom upon the planet! She couldn't quit, she HAD to keep going no matter the pain or cost.

Then she saw him, paused at a river that he seemed hesitant to try and cross and began to circle around it. What better luck was there was a secondary clearing just past the river- a place filled with light, a place she could teleport to. Newfound furry and determination she even sped up slightly as her breathing came out in heavy pants and wheezes, pushing her body beyond her breaking point and risking serious injury just to have a better chance of stopping him. As she threw herself into the river it seemed to hardly stop her, the sound of the water violently being disturbed and thrown about made the mage suddenly turn around just in time to feel the general's metal shoulder impact with his face, converting all the momentum she had from running into pure physical force that sent the mage flying back into the clearing. 

The mage was tense as he felt the ground in the clearing, a new pain forming in the back of his head that pulsated with pain that joined the burning sheering pain that he felt in the front of his face that made an unholy duet of discomfort. He could feel blood trickling down a small cut above his left eye as well as a lot more coming down from both of his nostrils, his nose felt like it had just been flattened and was somewhat numb with a slight buzzing pain that turned it into a trio of pain. 

The mage's vision was hazy as he tried to figure out exactly what happened to him. That was cut short when his vision became blocked by a looming shadow of a figure that seemed to be panting heavily as far as his slightly ringing ears were concerned. Then he saw the figure lift up something into the air and instantly it seemed like everything flooded back to the mage as he gasped, quickly trying to move. However, the sword still sunk into the side of his stomach and pinned him to the floor as he shrieked in pain and panic, forcing an eye shut from the sheering pain that he was currently feeling and resisting the urge to throw up, he had felt the blade puncture through everything as he laid there.

Panic setting in as he realized he had been wounded severely and was in an insanely dangerous position he tried to move but couldn't- his body would instantly tense up and freeze as pain shot from his side and up his spine whenever he tried to move with the blade planted inside of him, looking up with horror he saw the general from before with a look of... hope. She looked shocked, surprised, even... happy. To her, she had just mortally wounded the most wanted and feared person in the entire country of Arcadia- she was about to avenge every fallen warrior and finally allow everyone to sleep soundly at night with this wretch finally laid to rest.

She began to pull the blade out of him as Arcus suddenly seized up in pain tightly grabbing the blade trying to stop her as it hurt too much to bare but all it served to do was slice both palms of his hands open and forced him to pull them away as he cried out in agony "Pl-please stop!", a few tears streaming down his face as the pain became too difficult to manage as the blade was now halfway out and he could feel more blood pool at the back of his cloak, coughing up a bit himself as he stared at her with wide eyes. "S-stop." He weakly begged as she suddenly pulled it out all the way as he shrieked and tensed up, his back raising slightly as blood began to leak and pool to the front of his cloak.

"Today I end your reign of terror and your doom desire before it comes to pass! Demon!" Her voice was still hateful but had pride and hope-filled in as she raised her sword upwards to deal a fatal final blow on the mage before her.

"I sa-said STOP!" Arcus suddenly shouted thrusting his palm upwards at her- the same sound from before echoing as she suddenly felt like she had been slammed with a battering ram log used to knock down castle doors, all the breath being forcibly ejected from her lunges as shards of her armor flew off into the grass as she began to gasp and struggle to regain her ability to breathe, but before she could even do that she suddenly felt herself hurtling towards the ground and landed with a loud 'thud'. Thankfully, her armor stuck out in the back enough that it saved her head from any injuries, but her neck suffered from some pretty bad whiplash that felt like she had just ripped every muscle in her neck. 

She curled up in pain and slight fear as she tried to regain her ability to breath, and tried to figure out exactly what had happened to her. Eventually, she calmed down enough and began to shakily place her hands on the ground and get on all fours before shakily standing up, feeling shaken and weak from what had just happened to her. Before her were two sights, shards of her armor tossed about the field in large chunks from where she had been hit and had her armor shattered in the front, and to her horror- the Void Mage was currently standing up with his hand glowing a dark purple hue. At first, she quickly ducked down to avoid an attack but realized he wasn't trying to attack her, he seemed to be... well-doing something but whatever it was he wasn't acting particularly aggressive.

She quickly theorized that he must have used up most of his strength already from running and taking that hit, and swiftly went to draw her sword when to her horror she found it was on in her hand anymore, or in her sheath. Her eyes slowly looking to just behind the mage, she could see her blade laying there still covered the crimson liquid of the mage's blood. Out of reach and between her and it was the Void Mage. She swallowed harshly, bringing up her hand as she gritted her teeth. She had to succeed, failure was NOT an option!

Her scar tissue began to glow white as she launched a set of three orbs that swiftly flew towards him, spiraling around one another in an erratic pattern making dodging these orbs very difficult since one couldn't really guess where they were headed. The mage, however, swiftly put the palm of his hand that wasn't glowing over his face and pulled back, reality bent around him and he was gone in an instant- as if he had never even been there at all.

The general in broken silver swiftly turned around only to be met with a fist in her face, a stinging feeling coursing through her cheek and making her teeth feel loose from the impact to her jawline and cheek, she recoiled from the hit and got ready to retaliate she felt a sudden tightness in her whole body as she lifted off the ground, grabbing at her neck she suddenly realized she couldn't breathe, her throat was being crushed. In fact, her whole body right now felt like there was a massive force on all sides trying to compact her down. 

The mage had tears in his eyes as he suddenly slammed her down into the ground by opening his tensed shut palm and thrusting it downwards making her suddenly gasp out in sheer pain again but also from slight relief because she could breathe again, she shakily looked up at him before trying to get up- but found she was still being weighed down to the ground, she was pinned and couldn't do anything but struggle. She didn't struggle though, not for long anyway. The general saw no point in it, it was undignifying to struggle in ones last moments she thought, she'd die with acceptance of her failures and with honor. 

And the still of this failure weighed heavily, almost as much as the weight on her chest and stomach that kept her down. He was going to kill her, and people would still live in constant fear... and he'd be able to continue on with his sick plans for people, she'd just another tally to his kill count. Like the rest, the only slight bit of comfort was knowing she severely wounded him... and that maybe someone could finish him off later on. Slowly she closed her eyes and waited for him to kill her...

But then felt the tightness in her chest realize. At first, she wondered if she had died. That the weight lifting off of her was her spirit moving on until she felt a stinging pulse resonate in the back of her that made her realize she was far from dead, her eyes shooting open as she saw the mage slowly backing away from her, hand still glowing but now clenching his wound tightly. It seemed either the bleeding had stopped- or so much blood had pooled that it was impossible to tell if he was still bleeding or not. He was panting heavily as he stared at her, his eyes lowering as he continued to back away feeling too weak to run but feeling he had to keep distance. "I...I don't...want to kill you..." He panted heavily, his voice labored and weak as he winced closing his left eye shut. 

The general who still laid on the ground with her head propped up ignoring the pain in her neck muscles looked confused, horrified even as she stared at him for a moment before beginning to breathe heavier as anger began to pool. As the mage began to turn around she suddenly yelled at him. "Why me and not the others huh!? Is this some kind of sick game? Make me live with my failure!?" She spat with a mixture of malicious and pain as she winced, finding the idea of him leaving her like this to be in a way, much worse than death. Since she'd have to live with what she failed to do, and have everyone be able to remind her of those failures face to face.

The mage, however, suddenly tensed up and swiftly turned around. "W...what do you mean...others?" His voice sounded weak but also worried and confused as he stared at her in disbelieve at what she could possibly mean by that.

The woman blinked before narrowing her gaze. "What are you playing at?" She hissed harshly before another pulsation of pain surged through the back of her neck and cheek that made her twist her head back a little and let out a soft grunting hiss.

"N-no I'm seriously...I left most...of them alive." Arcus shivered as he began to think of the times he hadn't left anyone alive, it always tore him up... he tried so hard but sometimes he had no choice, sometimes he had been forced and it haunted him. "I...I swear I tried...I swear I...I didn't...I didn't want to kill the ones I did but-" Arcus' plea was cut off as the girl suddenly sat up.

"What the fuck are you trying to pull?" A harsh hiss escaped her lips before she froze, noting the wetness of his eyes and how confused and almost, scared and worried he looked as she looked down slightly, and then back at him. "...You...you had to of...killed them they...they never...came back." Her voice now distant and echoing like a ghost, wavy and nearly inaudible as she looked down in shock and horror. Was...was he telling the truth? 

Arcus swallowed harshly. "N-no no I know there were plenty alive! I made sure of it! I...I made sure..." The mage sounded absolutely mortified right now as he looked down quickly and then back to her. "W-why would they have turned up dead? Wh-why?" He asked her almost begging and pleading to know what the causation was. "D-did my magic...do-do it? Do-does it have some sort of h-horrible after effect? W-was I too zealous w-what?!" The begging continued as he was nearly in tears, how many people had he fought by now? Hundreds...? Thousands? And... now that he realized it, he never...encoutnered the same Light Mage more than once...

Oh... gods.

The mage suddenly nearly collapsed due to the mixture of sorrow and weakness he felt, his whole body shaking as he clenched his arms tightly and looked slightly away, his small sniffs and wheezes weak and horse. 

The general stared at him with a look of udder shock and disbelief at what was before her. Either this Void Mage was a master at lying and decite and acting or... or he was telling the truth. But if he was telling the truth then that meant he wasn't killing everyone that he encountered, which meant he had some form of compassion, which meant...

Which meant everything she had been told was a lie.

No, no that couldn't be right- it COULDN'T be right! If it was right it meant her entire philosophy, the entire reason she had opted to lead this campaign against him was a lie! It meant that everything she knew, from generations and generations of history, was wrong! And that couldn't be right! It couldn't, it shouldn't- it wouldn't!

...Would it?

Before her was a Void Mage she... had stabbed, violently... who was in tears over people who he thought he spared but were dead, he had already been in a position where he could have killed her easily. Suddenly without her even thinking she blurted out. "They never arrived at all. None of them, we were told you killed them. It wasn't an after effect." She wasn't thinking she just couldn't bear it any longer seeing him crying over something he likely didn't even do. It felt wrong, it was such a vague and limited form of comfort yet it ate away at her whole being to be directing it towards... HIM of all people.

The mage froze, and then suddenly looked at her blinking a few tears away. He seemed, surprised to say the least by his wide-eyed expression that she had just spoken to him in such a way with such wording. Sure, Arcus had asked but at the same time... he didn't actually expect an answer he had just been extremely emotionally distraught by it all. "T...then why are they all dead?" He asked softly with confusion as she suddenly snapped at him.

"I don't know!" She yelled out of anger and confusion as she felt a flurry of confusing emotions, her whole life she had been raised to know Void Mages were a blight in history, who abused their powers at any turns and would kill anyone they wanted before they tried to destroy the world and were wiped out. And when Arcus had appeared early into her military career she made it her mission to track him down and kill him before he could exact revenge for his fallen people, that was how everyone felt. That was how history was told, the Void Mages were all evil horrible people- but yet this one, this one...wasn't?

What the hell was she supposed to do? She didn't know what was right anymore, she didn't understand what she was supposed to do right now- especially if... if everyone... dies who encounters him, what was going to happen to her? Then something clicked, if they said... they never returned they...they must have bodies right? But why would they confirm people dead who faced him and were spared?

Unless...

No, no that wasn't possible she was being ridiculous there must be some other reason for why that was. She slowly stood up and grunted as the mage suddenly recoiled back, she would in response roll her eyes. "Stop...being so jumpy..." She muttered despite deep down knowing he had every right to be jumpy when she stabbed him earlier, she was just too angry and confused and sad to know what to do. Aside from returning home and there was a fear in the back of her mind that it would spell her doom, but she had no other options right now. Slowly she turned around and heard him utter a 'sorry' towards her that made her heart sink slightly.

Shaking her head she slowly collected her sword and began to wander away from him, ignoring the pain as she wanted to just be away from here right now, away from this confliction. Part of her half wishing he had killed her instead of planting all this uncertainty into her brain, half an hour ago she was so... certain on the outlook of her life and everything in and now- well, now her whole life was thrown into question as was everything she knew and her whole reason for living in the first place- the Light Mage Accordance, which she now doubted if they were doing the right thing anymore hunting him.

It was so confusing now, it made her want to cry or scream in frustration but she held back from doing either.

That was when she heard footsteps behind her, and unlike last time they were coming towards her. She paused and waited to see if she was just confusing her own footsteps echoing off something or her ears playing tricks on her but they kept coming closer, and closer. At first she was too shocked and overwhelmed with everything to turn around until the footsteps stopped a few feet behind her, swallowing softly she turned around- and sure enough, the mage was standing right there blood covered face and all looking at her with a look that made her sick and even more confused and conflicted.

He looked... worried for her.

The woman blinked a few times and rubbed her hand over her eyes to see if she was hallucinating but the mage was still there, and she screwed up her face. "What the hell do you want?" The general suddenly snapped at the mage, feeling her confusing and frustration boiling from everything that just transpired in the span of five minutes. It took her years to figure out everything in her life and it took literally five minutes to have all she built up towards come crashing down around her.

The mage didn't respond at first, he was still weak as he winced and gripped at his side some more which made the woman turn away slightly out of guilt. Arcus had stopped the bleeding awhile back by forcing gravity to close his wound. "..I...I want...to go with you." The mage stated softly making her suddenly recoiled back- nearly stumbling as her eyes were as wide as possible staring into his own purple orbs. "W-wha...?" Was all the general could muster up at first as her gaze stayed locked upon him, unable to comprehend what he had just said until she ran it through a few times. "W-why the hell would you?" She finally asked trying to sound pissed off to deter him but it came off like a slightly frustrated confused question more than anything else with how uncertain her tone of voice was, so much so it made her cringe as she had never heard herself speak that way before.

Arcus slowly began to rub the wrist over his wound, his eyes looked more and more tired the longer she stared at them. More than just from blood loss, the features from before she loathed... seemed a lot more, sympathetic now with this new perspective on him, even if she hated having this new perspective on things. Finally, the mage spoke and looked her in the eyes. "I...I don't want anyone else to die..." He blurted out as more tears came to his face making her blink a few times as she felt more guilt sweep through her, and more confliction. The thought of having that source of conflict made her more irritated. "No, I'm fine." She quickly hissed at him and turned on her heels and began to stomp away from him, well for a few seconds before the pain shot even more through her when she did that, so she quickly stopped stomping to save her body from more agony. 

Then, she heard footsteps again against the grass and groaned turning around. "Go away!" She shouted at him pointing her finger with authority in the opposite direction as she was headed, but Arcus shook his head the tears mixing with the blood coating his face making a very gross mess on his face. "No. I don't want you to die, I don't want anyone else to die." His voice weak but pleading, making her feel a mixture of more regret sympathy and anger as she shook a little and quickly turned away to avoid showing how close she was to either crying or screaming. "I-I do-don't know why I stabbed you so just... g-go!" Her fists clenched tightly as she could feel her amp protesting, it wasn't meant to undergo any kind of pressure like that it was meant to help project magic to be more powerful.

"Y-you thought you were doing the right thing."

She froze when she heard that, her grip loosening as she felt a few tears escape her tear ducts despite how hard she had been trying to not release them, what the hell had she done? What had they all done? This person wasn't... evil at all and yet they had all done just horrible things to him, and he was...he was DEFENDING them now? Defending the fact she STABBED him? She should be finishing the job, and that should just be it but she couldn't! Not now, not ever... not without regretting it for the rest of her life despite that being what she was told to do ever since he had appeared, she and everyone else had been told to KILL HIM. But now she couldn't... she wouldn't.

"Y...you were the first to listen..." Arcus stated looking down, a few of his own tears falling as he finally used his cloak sleeve to wipe off the tears and freshly softened blood on his face thanks to said tears as he shivered. "...I never wanted those people to die...I don't want anyone to die... I hate...violence and death." His voice nearly too quiet to hear as he shivered and shook thinking of all the heartbroken families, with a brother not coming home, or a mother no longer there to tuck them in, a dad not coming home to hug his children, a wife not coming home to kiss her spouse, a child not being around to have their next birthday with family and friends, someone no longer coming to the pub to drink with their buddies... 

It broke him, he'd take being stabbed a million times and surviving over even a single person dying... his wounds could heal, even if agonizing. Death... death was final and irreversible... and so, so tragic. 

He began to sob now as his whole body quivered with sorrow looking at her with eyes full of tears. "I don't want it... I don't want it...I don't..." The Void Mage sounded broken as he looked down, shaking as he stared down at his hands, making the general feel worse and worse with every passing moment until she too needed to make him stop before she also broke. "Okay okay! Fine, let's go!" Her voice insanely harsh and irritated sounding in order to hide how emotional she was becoming, rubbing her arms she swiftly began to walk and tried her best to calm down, trying to fight back all the conflicting thoughts from her head in order to think somewhat straight.

The mage paused for a moment, she'd let him? Despite her clear irritation, it was such a relief to hear and in a way... made him extremely happy that... he would be with someone else. He was always so... lonely all the time, he never had anyone to be around. Quickly he caught up with her and nodded. "T-thank you...I promise once I know you will be safe I'll leave you alone." He knew she was irritated and didn't want to be a pest but nearly walked into her when she suddenly stopped making him tense up, his chest tightening as his heart rate began to speed up wondering if he had just done something wrong.

She was staring forward now as her thoughts came flooding in for a few moments, new ones being added in on him wanting to make sure she was safe. Swallowing she began to walk again and sighed. "Yeah yeah." Was all she could manage to muster up staring forward trying to ignore the fact he was right there, as thinking about him or hearing him speak or anything involving him made her think again, and she didn't want that. She hated that, she would rather anything else at this point. 

As they passed by many different trees Arcus took a moment to look at them, not knowing what to say at first. There were some with oval shaped leaves, others were more intricate such as some that were like a sphere with eight long triangles. A few trees however did not even ahve leaves- they looked to have branches covered entirely by a white cotton candy-like substance. Looking back to the general he slowly sped up to get closer to her. "What... can I call you?" He asked as she stopped and this time he did bump into her. Despite it stinging Arcus' arm due to being slammed earlier- and her not being affected at all due to her armor he quickly bowed his head and said, "Sorry." as swiftly as possible.

The general shook her head, and then tilted it to the side with confusion as she scrunched up her nose and turned to him finally. "My...name you mean?" She questioned as he swiftly nodded, slowly she looked forward and sighed before walking. Making the mage frown at first, but he didn't protest or push and followed her along closely going back to look at the trees.

"...Well..." She recalled he had said his name before. "...Arcus..." It felt wrong to call him that, yet it felt even worse to call him anything else she and others had used to label him in the past, she swallowed her pride and her confusing conflicts in her head to at least address him properly. "My name... is Heather." She muttered absentmindedly as Arcus had a smile come to his face.

She had said his name, no one...had ever said his name before. It sounded, it sounded so... so sweet to hear someone else speak his name. It was like, a dream come true as he felt his excitement and joy building up the more and more he thought about it, it gave him hope for a day where he could be like everyone else. Someday, he'd be able to be with them all- he knew it, he felt it- and Heather here was helping him see and achieve that!  

"Heather." Arcus repeatedly softly to himself, blinking a few times and smiling as Heather herself rolled her eyes. "Yes, congratulations and pronouncing it correctly." Her tone was sarcastic and somewhat cruel in tone as a loud huff escaped her lips, staring at the floor as she heard his voice again. "That is a very nice name you have." The voice was sweet and sincere, honest and true as he smiled happily repeating the name a few more times under his breath as Heather stared off into the distance for a moment, before sighing and shaking her head. Slowly her hands moved to the front of her breastplate where she felt all the sharp edges and chunks taken out of it from earlier, thinking for a moment as she swallowed trying to force down everything she knew as she said this next part.

"Arcus is a...nice name too." She finally mustered, it wasn't like she was lying- it was a rather interesting name he had never heard before but it was... hard. She was trying to go from hating this person to the bitter end to trying to be somewhat nice towards him, and topped with everything else it was not that easy. Looking over she paused seeing his eyes light up as he stared at her with awe. "Really? You like it?" His voice sounded ecstatic, a new found energy that almost made it look like he hadn't been stabbed earlier- save for all the blood obviously. 

Slowly her gaze panned upwards towards the thick tree leaves and branches above them as she sighed gently, closing her eyes and nodding before continuing on her way once again. "...Yes. It is a... nice name." She finally stated as the mage let out a small string of happy giggles and quickly followed her along. Heather still didn't know what to feel... or think, or do really but... at the very least, this trip wouldn't be too long. Hopefully, anyways.