Miri's POV

I see red as I jump into the arena so I can fight alongside Ali. The jump was not in any way or form little, and it made me stagger a bit with a slight pain in my leg from the impact. I wait a little to regain myself as I look over to where Ali is protectively standing over the humans, and I know in that instance that my girl is as mad as me. I'm sure the announcement that the new rules meant we had to last 10 minutes helped to infuriate her even more.

Just as I expected, she uses her amazing speed to grab a discarded mace and go after the monster of a warrior. She hits him with strong strikes, continuously, to get him away from the humans. I already know what she wants to do. Ali has never been much of a selfless person, but she would never be able to be at her best if she had to worry about the weak people being behind her.

But she slips up and gives the warrior a chance to regain his footing and he takes advantage of it to send her flying. The mace she had previously picked was long discarded. Due to the intensity of the hit, she spat out a mouthful of blood, and that scene served as a wake-up call for me. I ran towards Ali, but she had already helped herself up. She looked shocked to see me, and through her eyes I could already tell she was asking what I was doing here.

I simply whispered into her ear, “You already know I would never leave you to have so much fun alone, right? Now let's use our usual training style to teach the other empires how it's done. We got each other’s back but I want the first hit.”

She nods, as if to say she understands and agrees, and then without wasting much time she runs toward the warrior. But she stops at a reasonable distance and drops down to serve as a ramp and boost for me. I run as fast as I can and launch myself at him with the most force I can muster, sending him flying back into the wall with one punch. That was my revenge for what he did to Ali.

I hear the shouts and gasps from the crowd as the arena falls into an uncomfortable silence due to the shock. I have no time to process their reactions as the warrior stands up once more. Me and Ali launch into a flurry of moves, taking him from high and low, taking turns to have each other's back, never giving him enough time to strike back and using our speed to bridge the height and physical gap.

Despite the fact that our breathing has gotten heavy due to exhaustion, we continue. We've kept it up for 8 minutes already. The crowd that had previously gone quiet was now lively from the cheers of the humans both in and out of the arena. I launch Ali once more into the air and prepare to punch him in the gut only for me to feel a weird sensation of energy that stops me in my tracks. Just as I look up, I see Ali being hit at full force by a mace made out of gathered energy.

“Isn't he a middle-class warrior? How can he use energia like that?” I wonder.

She's a human, with that force, it could kill her. I watch as my Ali flies across the sky and slams hard into the wall. I ran to her. I watch as her breathing fades, as the gentle movement of her chest stops, as her eyes that once tried to flutter open squeeze shut. I reached her. I hold her. I shake her. I scream at her, beg her not to leave me, tell her that she is the only one, the only family I have left. I beg her to please look at me, to please hold me… but she doesn't move, doesn’t respond.

And then in my head I see vague flashbacks of this incident but with my mom and dad's face. As I beg Ali to wake up, I see the faces change from Ali to Mom, and then to Dad. I feel all the power in me multiply. I can't hold it in. I can't control it. And for once, I stop trying to because they were the reason my Ali is gone now.

I feel the power envelop me as I find myself suspended in the air. The brown lenses I have always worn had burned through, exposing my black eyes. I watch the faces of all these people who watched Ali die and did nothing who have taken everyone I loved, again and again.

And in a voice even I don’t recognize, I say:

"ON YOUR KNEES."

And I watch as everyone complies, all of them dropping to their knees.

Then, by some miracle, I find myself regaining my composure. The overflowing energy I reign it in. And as I drop back to the floor, I go back to Alira’s limp body. I hear the king and others chant something, but I pay no mind to it, focusing only on Ali. Even as I feel the presence of people behind me, I make no move to turn around.

Then the king speaks once more.

"My dear daughter, please look at me."

"Unless you are resurrecting my Ali back, the only reason I shall look at you is to end your life," I retorted.

He softens his voice again.

"My child, the human girl is not dead. Worry not."

"If she is not dead, then tell me why she isn’t breathing? Why isn't she moving? Why is there so much blood?" I question, all while refusing to face him.

"My dear daughter, I will explain everything clearly to you once we return to the castle, I promise. But let me just tell you that everything that happened today was designed to find you. An Ilulo crystal was used."

"What is that?" I ask.

"It is a magical crystal. Once used, all death and injury inflicted during that time is just an illusion. Everything will revert back once the crystal is deactivated."

I turn to look at him for the first time upon hearing those words.

"Please turn it off. Please wake her. Please I can't… I can't lose her. She's all I have," I say, sobbing at this point.

With a snap of his finger, I hear the sound of something shattering, and Alira shakes. She tosses and turns… and then she opens her eyes.

I throw myself into her arms, squeezing her as tight as I can.

"Riri, you are going to be the one that kills me if you keep suffocating me like this."

"Just let me. Please, just let me, Ali. I genuinely thought I lost you I thought you were gone forever and the thought drove me crazy," I say into her shoulder as I hug her still.

"Riri, don’t think you can get rid of me that easily. I am not going anywhere. Don’t worry," she reassures me.

Then we hear the sound of someone clearing their throat, and we turn to see the King of Shadows still standing there. Everything I’ve just done rushes back in my head. Me and Ali bow down in respect as I start to speak:

"King of the Shadows, I apologize for all I have done. You are free to punish me as you see fit, but please leave my friend out of this. After all, I was the one who hid my powers. It has nothing to do with her."

"No, my king. I was fully aware. If you are to kill or punish Miri, please feel free to take my life as well," Ali adds.

Then the king just laughs, alongside the princes.

"My dear daughter, please stand up. You really haven’t heard a word of what has been said, have you?" he asks.

I shake my head.

"You are the princess. My daughter. You will never have to bow for or to anyone ever again, my dear child. Now let us go to the castle and we shall discuss the rest."

What? I am his daughter? The lost princess is me?

I have a family.

I have a father.

I have brothers.

Am I dreaming?

He said “the castle” does he mean the Shadow Castle?

So… am I going to live there now?

What about Alira?

A bold idea comes to me.

"King of Shadows, please, if I am to come with you, I have to take Alira with me. Wherever I go, she goes. Please approve of this request."

I hold my breath. What if he refuses? I can’t leave Alira. Will he get mad and just slit my throat on the spot?

But instead, he laughs.

"Whatever my princess wants, my princess gets. Now, let’s go."

As he starts to walk away, me and Alira shyly follow behind them.

I can already tell,

My quiet life is officially over.