Illyria.

That name meant everything to me; but at the time, there was very little I could do but sigh. It was near the end of July, school was set to start again in a little more than a month and that meant one month sitting on this bench contemplating the sky. It was an afternoon, cloudy as I recall.

Why?

I thought again. Then sighed dismissing further thoughts. Below me cars streamed passed, people walked by, and a few occasional punks flew by on their hover boards. The usual busy atmosphere of Ayre hadn't changed, as it continued to be the center of action in the world. Tall lean sky scrapers, patterned streets lights, people buried in their phones. All seemed normal, all was good; but I wasn't. I felt like crap, even though there were no major natural disasters and the world was at peace, mostly. I still felt like crap. And the cause for my symptom was very simple:

Illyria.

She was the center of all my troubles and happiness. Going to university meant separating from her, not that we were in a relationship; well it was kinda of one way. Heck she made me lose more sleep than an interrogated subject with absolutely no effort.

The pain! The pain!

All the pain that could not be described except by the word pain itself. But if I were to be angry, there was no one I should be angry with except myself for liking her in the first place. If only I knew that we can never be...

Curses!

I squinted my eyes in pain at the thought. But beyond anger, I was more confused than ever. Confused about what I should do, and what I should do from that point. I had a life, or at least I thought so. For the past year my life has been entirely involved around Illyria, whatever volunteer she signed up for, I signed up for. Whenever there was a peer student tutor opportunity I signed up for it, hoping one day for the chance to tutor her. For devil's sake, I even tried blending into her social circle, which was surprisingly complex and random. In the end however, I became more adapted for her social circle then herself. None of my efforts paid off though, and one by one, my friends around me who encouraged me to go after her in the first place were telling me to give up. But the problem was, even if I wanted to forget about her, I only found myself doing more harm than good to myself. Because in my world, her image was inerasable and my feelings undeniable.

If only I could go back in time and stop all of this...

A childish thought, I knew. But I was more than willing to accept anything other than the truth at the time. I buried my head into my hands and tried to calm myself. I wanted to scream, I wanted to strangle someone and it hurt. It really, really hurt.
And that's when I heard the explosion.

***

For a moment, I didn't raise my head. And when I finally did, I saw this long black trail of smoke rising up into the sky like an ancient dragon. Seeing the accident from afar, I walked over to the railing and peered down; below me the streets were in chaos, cars jammed against one another, people were running away like a swarm of headless ants, and the hover board's kids...well they just kind of flew above everyone else. Around me people began to get up and head over to the exit, it was a messy sight honestly, people tramping over one another like ants trying to get into their hive before disasters hits. To be honest, at the time I was interested of what was happening what was going on below and I wanted to get a good view from there, so I decided to stay and watch for a bit.

BOOM!

The second explosion was louder and closer. Even the building I stood on shook the slightest bit as I saw another trail of smoke rising just a couple blocks away from me. Eyebrows arched, lips tight, I walked over to the adjacent side of the railing to get a better look. And Out from the ash and dust I made out a vague giant humanoid shape, long thin legs and bulky torso. I immediately knew what it was.

Deathwalker.

I have seen them from videos online before and a replica once from the war museum. These two legged iron behemoth have only one purpose, to destroy anything in its path with brutal efficiency. Minus the disadvantage of low maneuverability in tight places and uneasy balance, the Deathwalker would be an up to date killing machine. Heck those things were two stories tall, how do they even sneak them into the city in the first place? But then again that's the National Security Bureau's problem, not mine. I was just an ordinary citizen, what the hell could I do about it? As I averted my eyes from the destruction below, a loud crisp snap of ice came below me. Then without thinking, I peered down the railing once again:

About time the mage squad came, ice beam huh? I gave pause. That form of magic...no it can't be...impossible!

To confirm my suspicion and fully understanding the danger, I leaned forward over the railing, in a desperate attempt to get a view, and if my suspicion was right...

Another blast, a blue ray spread across the machine like a thin layer of paint. At the origin was a small girl wearing a blue uniform dress holding a staff. She looked ever so petit and fragile in the midst of all that destruction and chaos, my protectiveness instinct rang like a ruckus in the back of my head. Rationality prevailed for the moment. What help can I be? I knew no magic, I was just plain ordinary. Rather I would get in the way of her duty, and that would be bad...

As troubling predictions filled my mind, I watched her send another wave of icy blue light against the hulk mass of iron. As the machine attempted to crush her beneath its feet she summoned a mini blizzard and pushed back the machine all the way until it was sitting on its bottom like a hapless child. Despite the distance between us, I could still feel the sense of chill of her ice magic. Or perhaps it was just the effect. But whatever the case, every time she put her magic on display I felt it was more than it seemed; it wasn't just a tool, it was art! The way she channeled magic, the way she wielded it...as a regular ordinary human being who hasn't the slightest interest in magic; I dare say she was the reason I took interest in them first. Although it was widely socially accepted that humans don't mingle with elementals, but she was an exemption, and there wasn't exactly much I can about my addiction for her...

BOOM!

That was the third explosion, the whole sky was blacked with smoke again. And through the smoke I could make out a couple flashes of blue light, but other than that...Nothing, the scene offered no hint of what was going on within the smoke. I could no longer hold back; I had to check somehow, find out how she was doing. When I took a quick glance of my surroundings I realized that I was the only person left on the rooftop. Everybody else seemed to have evacuated already. Without wasting time, I charged towards the nearest exit and made my way down stairs. To point out how much of a hurry I was in, I would jump seven or eight steps before reaching the bottom and nearly tripping over every time I landed. I couldn't care less, I just kept on going as one thought continued to circle though my head:

Faster! Faster! Faster!

Before I realized it, I was on the ground floor and without second thoughts, I threw my front body in an embrace as I rammed my body through the fire exit. I was greeted with a fresh cloud of dust, not bad enough to get me coughing, but bad enough to make my eyes squint. With the narrow vision, I spotted the fighting several blocks ahead, where blue flashes of ice beams shone through the smoke with a rhythmed cacophony of machine guns.

What the hell do you think you're doing? You're just going to get yourself killed!

Every nerve in my body protested against the act and as a result of the rebellion, my body stood frozen in the middle of my tracks.

It could be the wrong person, it's a battlefield. It's easy to get things mixed up...

I was right.

You didn't know how to use magic, you didn't even have a proper weapon!
You're only going to get yourself killed!

Again, I was right.

Okay. Let's pretend, somehow you do manage to miraculously save her, do you think you will hear her thank you?

No! Because by then you are going to be dead!

And I hated it when I was right.
Then there was this feel, this sense in the back of my head telling me and keep on saying the same thing. My fist tightened as I tried to shut out the voice, but doing so only made it stronger, and with my own voice muffled out like a whisper in a gale storm. But only one name, one name screamed louder than all, louder than a thousand gale storms combined, so loud it even broke the barrier of thought and launched its self into reality:

"ILLYRIA!"

Q: Do you have someone you can sacrifice your life for?