Heski could feel his fists and his chest burn with a million emotions as he looked up to Valencia Qa. Or so, he used to. He still remembered a time where she was his hero. And now? That's the last thing he felt. All he thought now was that he must convince and protest about her ways for the sake of Oceanuris. For this was blatantly unjust, right?

He also perhaps felt a little scared. A drop of sorrow in his glowing heart. For he could literally die. Like his Nai did.

Nai...

Heski tried to shake that thought away.

Meanwhile, Valencia Qa, up there as she had always been, shooted darts with her gaze. "Heski, it is you again." She spoke.

"And it will always be me until you learn to help your people properly." She snapped back.

"Hmm," Valencia closed her eyes and let out a quiet hum. She stood up, from the Throne, and sauntered to Heski, keeping a distance still. "Well, I..." she hesitated as she spoke, before fixing her face. "Nevermind. Why...why don't you and your friends stop coming here and spreading these...lies." She kept her composure, the waters unrippling. "Survival is essential. And I will take it away, if you continue to chase this 'justice' of yours." She placed two of her fingers on her neck, as they trembled on her skin.

"You always say that. You always, always say that." He jerked his hands and arms and gestured them sideways in a forced fashion, like he was shooing away Valencia the Great's words.

He bursted.

He finally had enough.

"Maybe, you're afraid of dying. That's why you became immortal. Huh? Is that it? Is that it?!" He kept his vision fixated and glaring at Valencia Qa. Her fingers slightly trembled. Heski wiped his face. "I'M TIRED OF THIS, VALENCIA. I'M SICK OF IT! I'M SICK AND DISGUSTED, BY YOU UNFAIR WAYS AND I WILL NOT LET THIS STAND!" Heski ran and lunged to Valencia, ready to bash her face.

Valencia, she flicked her fingers swiftly and summoned her sword, scratching Heski's face. FLISCHING! Heski moved his fist toward her face. Valencia shielded it with her blade, jerking it in front. Heski's knuckles had slight traces of scars and pulled skin and scratches and tomato red. But he still went. Heski ran to another direction, before lunging forward with one of the snapdragon pots.

Valencia blocked it again with her sword. BLISCHING! The pot shattered in a million pieces in front of her, the ceramic shards battering her face. And the floor. The pieces were scattered around her.

She didn't want to attack him, but Heski appeared as the one with more bruises at the moment. Valencia hoped he wouldn't thrust himself again. He wanted to survive, right?

And still, he ran to her again.

And Valencia swung her sword to Heski's shoulder. No blood sprayed out, and still Heski fell into the ground. Valencia trembled, and flicked away her sword. Her hands shook as if they were plucked harp strings, and her legs felt weak. She could only hear her breath, expelling loud and like a drum. Her head felt light and dizzy, and oh how sick she felt too. She would puke at this very moment if her mouth wasn't constantly moving with air.

She didn't want to kill him. She didn't want to kill him. He had no part in what Agate and Dolos have done to her. And she didn't want to kill him.

Luckily, there was a spell for that in the Art of the Qa.

Only a small knockout.

She jerked her head everywhere and back to Heski and breathed again.

"Heski," she whispered. "I'm so sorry, I—" Without thinking, she picked Heski's limp body up by his chest. She glanced around. I can't leave you out here. It might end the same way as my Nai had. Her heart pinched at the thought.

And she carried him, and took him, as she took steps out of the Throne House. In the dusk, silent light, she kept taking him and heaving him upwards on the hill. As Valencia climbed towards the Manor, she realized that there was a place where he could be taken that Agate and Dolos had no care for.

Well, that wasn't saying much. They never showed empathy towards anything.

There was an underground dungeon in the Manor, dusted and forsaken. Agate and Dolos never really talked about that place, but Katherlynne described to her before what it was like. No one was ever trapped there before, she said, but Agate and Dolos have described it as an eerie place.

Still though, it was hidden away from Agate and Dolos (or rather abandoned).And she could hide Heski there until he woke up.

The dungeon was the place she knew he could stay until he woke up. And she made sure he was carried there safely.

#

Heski's eyes slowly opened, his vision slowly becoming less fuzzy. His eyes shot open, and then he glanced around. It was dark. And no figure could be made out except for some metal bars. Bars...He gulped and his eyes darted everywhere, he felt his body sweat, his back suddenly becoming cold. Heski despised the dark, he loathed it so much. Because it only reminded him that, like a flame, the glow would eventually die and so would your life. He didn't like the thought of death–especially after Nai's passing. So he always tried to rub the light on, even if he was a-lone and considered crazy.

His breath escaped from his neck loudly, and he touched the floor with his hand and jerked it back from the cold in the same second. He let out a whimper and a cry in the isolated place. He scrambled backwards into a corner, sitting down and constantly jumping at the chill. He kept looking around, and he kept breathing in and out. Uneven, loud and soft and with a tremble.

There was no light. It was like he had his eyes closed forever. His breath kept shaking and his arms shivered and sweated and became so cold and his head spun and he felt so, so scared. A tear bursted from his eyes, and he placed his hand over his trembling mouth. His breath kept gasping and another tear fell. Another tear, translucent, fell down, and another streamed out. And more, and more, and more.

Until he buried his body into his knees and cried in the cold and the darkness. Alone.

And his glow was left off.

#

Valencia pretended to not know anything about Heski in front of Agate and Dolos. In fact, she didn't even bring the topic up.

But as soon as they left the kitchen, Valencia jumped from her chair and tapped Katherlynne's shoulder. Her heart pinched and it screamed at her ever since she sent Heski down there. Because as her pinching heart and squeezing stomach had it, she felt kind of guilty.

"Katherlynne," she whispered and tapped her with a finger. "Come here."

Katherlynne pivoted her body as she took a few steps to spin towards Valencia. Her sunset eyes gazed at her.

"What do you need?" she asked.

"You know the underground dungeon in the Manor?" Valencia asked. Katherlynne nodded. "I sent someone there, and I need you to go free him."

"Really?"

"Yes. He..." Valencia compressed her lips before giving a sigh. She lowered her voice as she spoke. "He and his friends constantly visit the Throne House, preaching about justice. And Valencia the Great's 'leadership'." Valencia didn't need to put the air quotes for Katherlynne to know what she was talking about. She was ordered to sit on a chair all day.

"He sounds amazing," Katherlynne sighed. How she wished that Valencia the Great's "leadership" was much different, too. "You should just let him win. He could change our lives and let us live for the better."

"Agate and Dolos will kill him as soon as they get the chance." Valencia clenched her fists. Dolos had a sword, for goodness sake. It was how he'd train her back then–when she wasn't on the ground and crying as Dolos barked at her with a cold face. "At least in this case he won't get killed. Just let him out, okay?"

"Okay then," Katherlynne sauntered for a few steps before turning around. "Oh, but why can't you do it?"

"I'm going to my daughter's room." Valencia averted her gaze before glancing back at Katherlynne. "I haven't really been able to talk with 'Sia in a while. She's been so busy with her training."

"Haha, alright." Katherlynne picked up a metal key that sat by a decorated bowl on the cupboard. "I'll go see him. You have fun with 'Sia. And tell her I said 'hi'."

#

Heski had his head buried in his body. How tired and exhausted he felt. How broken he felt–much more than the scars Valencia Qa gave her. He couldn't make out anything, like how he couldn't make out any light in there. His hands were frozen and cold and sweaty and airy. How he wished to hold someone's hand, oh how he wished that he could hold Nai's hand, or Kario's. He felt damp and exhausted and sick and why did I even do this? I wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for my "justice." It literally feels like I'm dead.

Heski let out a small whimper. Then he heard some footsteps in the hallway.

A figure appeared in the darkness.

"Hello?" Her voice had a head-voiced tone. Heski lifted his head and wiped his face, gazing into the endless black. The woman held a silver item and a clicking sound came as she pushed it into a hole. Click, click. The door–which was nothing but metal bars–swung open towards him, like a hand reaching out. "Heski, right?"

Heski nodded.

"Well, I came here to let you out." She stepped closer to Heski, and there revealed a young (or so she looks so) woman with sunset-colored hair. It was wrapped into a bubble ponytail, and her dress had a bow around the waist. It was quite minimal and frilly, with white frills around her shoulders and an apron above her white gown.

"Okay..." Heski slowly stood up and wiped his face as he followed the woman. He walked out of the cage (or cell) and pushed the iron door as it swung loose and ajar.

"I heard that you're in here because you were trying to defy Valencia?" she asked as they sauntered in the dark hallway. Heski simply let out a yes, and nothing more. Heski would've loved to indulge the woman in his thoughts, no matter how maniacal he sounded. But this darkness, it must've consumed more than the light that can shine from a Youmlay berry. It must've consumed his burning sense of life and justice to nothing but fear. And the survival instinct.

Perhaps Valencia was right.

They walked in silence, and no voice filled the room for a while. Only the sound of their footsteps landed softly on the ground. Heski glanced around, there weren't any prisoners. Which was intriguing. It wasn't a huge dungeon, though.

Heski's head shivered slightly at the thought of Nai. His Nai. A loving woman, so loyal and chivalrous and dead. Eyes closed forever like a dark room. Heski couldn't help but stab the pads of his fingers with his nails–and it slid off slightly with the spray of sweat.

Soon enough, they reached the end of the hallway, with a small, wooden door.

"Well," she turned around and placed her hand on the handle. "Here's the exit." She opened the door and smiled. The world was no different from the dungeon–dark–but at least there was the cool air of nature and the moon shining outside. The moon wasn't as bright though, and was in fact sharp around its edges, shaped as a crescent–edged as a knife.

Heski glanced at her. "Thank you," he walked a few steps to the door, one foot (literally–his foot) short, and turned around to look at her. "Oh. You can come with me if you want. I doubt you want to stay in this place." His shoulders shivered a bit. Just a bit.

"It's okay.' She stared down at her shoes, a pomegranate, magenta pink and with sharp tongues pointing upward. They didn't look like they would hurt to wear. Rather, it looked as if they were a mask, for the real thing that held her down. "I would really like to come and help you, but I can't do much." She sighed wistfully. "And I can't say much that could help, either." She took Heski's hand. "But I wish you good luck because Oceanuris needs it." He gazed into her eyes. "Fight for us, Heski. Keep going."

Heski's heart shook at the words. Should he even, really? What if he ended up in that forsaken dungeon again? It would be like death.

Or worse...

He took a few steps out into the outside world of Oceanuris. And nodded to the woman as he turned away, walking and heading straight home.