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Standing as if I don't know what just happened, confusion is what I can embrace right now. Frustration is what's flowing inside me. The body of my girlfriend lies there few feet away, motionless on the ground.

I'm left paralyzed with grief. My arms aren't moving, my legs are even daring to push forward. My posture's a statue. My limbs are unresponsive, yet one thing I do feel. A piece of my heart is now missing.

The girl I liked so much, the girl I wanted to save. Her grace. She was within my grasp. We were almost freed.

Glancing at her lifeless body, I just want to cradle her. I want to feel her again. But then the monster that took her life, a snicker veers me back to him. I glance at what Raudan has in his forcibly possession, her heart. His pitch black tattooed hand has her blood all over it. His claw-like fingers tightly in control of the organ. And as I continue seeing him, being repulsive at what he's doing next. He starts licking the heart with that slimly tongue.

My head leans down totally upset. I remain numbed, as I can begin to feel some movement in my fingers. Yet all I can think about is how much I'm a disappointment. The sadness gripping me strong.

I failed her.

I can hear Raudan continuing to gloat while still licking her heart. He loves intimidating me. This abhorrence is just his pleasure of torturing me again. And then, I begin to think about that so-called test.

It was a ruse, this whole passing the test. Wasn't focused on me, was it more about Anita. He wanted not my heart, but hers. He used her in a game. It made sense. He was focusing all of this nonsense to her. He was just distracting me with the piece, while he targeted his kill. She was going to die before I had a chance to see her again. He used me to come down here not to rescue her, but to be a witness in her execution. And like a hapless fool, the ignorance of not seeing that warning sign. The yearning of Anita's safety blinded me from what was actually going on here.

He got what he wants. And as my grief quickly turns into anger, I want him dead. I want him gone. I look back at him. I promise him no matter what, I will kill him. He just smirks and licks the heart again. Smirking for a while, he finally speaks up.

"Find the truth. And then I'm all yours." He starts laughing sinisterly and suddenly, he flees through a tight hallway.

I still stand watching that murderous freak leaving. Wanting to pursue, this sudden grief keeps paralyzing me.

I let Raudan get to me. I watched my girlfriend get killed by that freak.

Feeling this emotional bag starting to bust on me, tears slowly descends my cheeks. A burst of yells wakens me from this sullen nightmare. I can hear the others, turning to see Terra and the rest arriving. I can hear Icarus mentioning how he used his axe to break hold the force field after many attempts. Then Terra looks to me.

"What happened?" She asks.

I refuse to say a word. Staring back at Anita's body, I begin to plod my way towards her. Dropping to my knees, I bend down letting the tears to flow.

"Oh!" Silas says.

Guess Anita's death is sinking in with them.

Seeing the gushed hole in Anita's chest, blood is coming out. Her eyes frozen. Touching her skin, the coldness quickly takes over. I bend down to whisper to her.

"I fail."

I get back up, wiping the water away from my bottom eyelids. Terra walks near me.

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. It's Raudan who'll be sorry."

Terra does her best to console me, but my focus goes back to that demonic freak. Not giving the others a head's up, I sprint through the tight hallway. I can hear Terra yelling for me to stop. The others may not like me going all defenseless. To them, I'm luckily to still be alive.

Yet Raudan never intended to kill me today. Anita was the one.

With the anger guiding me for vengeance, I try to find out where that freak could be. I rush to a brick-like room. Walls ending to one area. As others open up revealing to be like a maze, I keep running around the meandering walkway. Not knowing where I suppose to go. Is this part of Raudan's game again, teasing me?

He already killed my girl.

Out of the blue, I stop running. I breathe heavily, listening closely Raudan's dark voice roams through these maze-like walls.

"Don't neglect the truth."

I try to stay calm, but I can't hold it anymore. I holler back, "You're dead!"

Resuming the pursuit, I don't see the end. But as I continue to go around the brick walls, a huge fireball hastily comes right at me. I can't duct by the time the fireball flies close. However, a force pulls me swiftly out of harm's way. I'm taken down to another area hitting the ground. At that exact moment, I can hear the fireball exploding. Glaring back at the spot, I look to see a scorch mark hitting the center of an end wall.

I exhale quickly then stare at my other side. Terra asks me if I'm okay. Of course it would be her. I nod as she crawls to me. I want to say thanks, but the anger I have within me is growing. I stand up spinning around the maze-like room, hoping he's here somewhere.

Trying to walk off, Terra tries to stop me. "Stop running. We need to head back."

"You know who killed Anita!" I scream, "I saw it with my own two eyes."

"Raudan kept us away, so he could bring you down here."

"That's why he's going to get what's coming."

"Not now! We need to refocus. We need a plan."

"The plan's simple. I want Raudan."

"Another day." She comes to me holding onto my arms.

I try to ignore that, yet she wants me to make sure there will be a day. A day Raudan will be stopped, but today we need to retreat. Heartbroken over this, I hate to dwell. I have to mourn the loss of my girlfriend while that gold-tattooed monster is on the run.

Terra must be stupid to try to not at least find that malefic. She may want to go back, but something in me wants to continue this hunt. I can't go back until I see Raudan defeated. I push her out the way wanting justice. Nonetheless, she doesn't want to let me go quickly embracing me in a bearhug. She hugs me tight. I try to take her off, my focus entirely on getting Raudan. Yet the more I struggle, the more she strengthens her hold. I do every way possible to squirm out of it, but like her sister she's feisty. She doesn't want to me go. Do another foolish act without thinking it through.

I demand her to let me go as my voice becomes lighter because of the crying I'm still sheering over. I try to pry my arms away, but just as I'm able to break the hold. She grabs hold of me again, she then leans to me. And as I have no defense over this, she pecks on my lips.

Did she just kiss me?

My mind lost it. As she leans back, she begins to lesser her hold. I try to open, my vocal chords ready to speak up. Yet my lips are still stunned over her kissing it. Is this an act to prove her point or does she have feelings for me. I look at her emerald eyes. I finally ask in a low voice, "Why?"

"To stop you silly."

She grins as she still holds onto my hands. I feel her warm touch. But as I think about how I loss the girl I never had a chance to tell I love. Reflecting back on that moment I saw her heart torn away from Raudan, once again I stood helpless.

I saw Anita died.

I just wanted to fall to my knees and wept hysterically. However, all that changed when Terra gave me that kiss. It was a kiss I never expected. It weirdly soothed me. The anger I had to pursue Raudan sort of diminished. Does this kiss mean something? Was it just an act to make me stop and follow, or was it more. Either way, I remained quiet. I followed Terra back.

After another two minutes exploring the maze-like room, we finally head back to the catacomb room where Anita's body is in and as well the others were waiting.

"Took you long enough." Camille says.

"Let's just go." Terra states.

Silas looks to me coming closer. "Raudan did this." I nod slowly. Silas continues, "He ran away did he."

I stare at Silas not giving him a response. He takes that as a yes. Terra then cautions all of us.

"We need to go before more of Raudan's friends appear."

I look back over the spot where Anita laid motionless, but her body is being covered by a brownish woven cloth. "Where you found that?" I ponder not seeing that from anywhere.

"From this one." Icarus responds.

He shows me to another figure a mile away to the side of the ring. It's a young black woman bruised and dirtied. She has long black hair covering her face. She's wearing only a burlap tunic. Yet she isn't moving. I didn't even know Raudan held another female norm.

"Who is she?" Terra asks.

"We don't have anything." Silas replies.

"I wanted to cover Anita's body, so I spotted that female being hidden by that cloth." Icarus says.

"She's dead?" I ask them.

"She could be." Camille says.

"Well let's bring her too. Let's nurse her back." Terra states as she then orders Icarus and Silas to carry Anita. Terra then tells me to help Camille get the unknown female.

"I don't need help." Camille rejects that order. She bumps into me trying to drag the unknown female herself. Seeing we both have to gain each other's trust, I grab hold onto the unknown female's legs. Terra then sees me, she sees my brown eyes.

"Everything will be okay." She smiles leading us out of this room, heading back to the entry hole.

But as I carry the other female, I reminisce back on the last moments with Anita.

I told her those same words. Everything will be okay. Glancing back at her dead body, I know Terra did the right thing. She didn't want me to carry Anita. She knew how emotional it will be for me.

Yet after watching my girlfriend lost her life, there's a hidden fear. A fear that Raudan wasn't solely responsible for her death.

In some way, my mistakes ultimately cost Anita her right to live.

***

I knock a couple of times on the hard wood entry door. Standing in front of Anita's house, I wait patiently for any response. I look up to see dusk is well on its way, the sun going down West Dawning's side of the wall. I continue knocking several times.

They know I'm out here. They don't want to talk me.

I smooth out my hair, my lips pucker in. I guess they're not coming. As I try to step back, the front door opens. I veer towards a lovely Asian female. Her hair very much similar to Anita's. She then checks me out, still clinching onto the door knob.

"You're him aren't you?"

I nod, "Yes ma'am."

She smiles. "I saw your face during a picture my baby girl was holding." She then leans close to me. "Any news?"

Underneath Mrs. Belladon's calm, crisp voice, I can sense the worrisome. I thought she hated me, but she seems so nice. Yet before I can tell her the bad news, a male's powerful voice hollers from the interior. Suddenly, a black middle age man wearing glasses comes over towards the door. He stands behind Anita's mom. That has to be Mr. Belladon.

"What are you doing here, unless it regards our daughter? You should leave." He says.

"It's about Anita." I say.

"You found her!?" Mrs. Belladon clasps her hands together.

I bend my head down and then I can hear Mrs. Belladon gasping so loud it's like a glass window shattered in pieces. I see her slumping over her husband sobbing. I try to apologize.

"My baby is gone. So now, you can get the hell out of our lives." Mr. Belladon stares at me, and then shuts the door. I feel the impact.

It's a literal meaning that this would be the last time I would see her parents again.

***

A week since Anita died. The guys gave Anita's remains to Director Vartwild. And thereafter she wanted to present a funeral for the parents in Dawning's honor. Mr. Belladon from what I heard wanted to keep the funeral secret. But one thing for sure, they forbidden me to go see her. They filed a restrain act to restrict me from seeing Anita's grave.

It's a huge insult.

I was saddened when Emmet told me the news. He tried his best to convince the director to overrule it for at least one day. However, the director wanted to respect the Belladons' wishes. Just like the Anti-Magic Act, the restrain act will remained untouched.

Filled with hurt and anger, I can't even give off a final goodbye to Anita.

Feeling so guilt ridden, I decided to stay at Aunt Verdi's, bringing Addie along with me. My aunt heard about the news about Anita. She gave me her condolences. Feeling hurt Mr. Cree haven't given us the same courtesy to see Rufus' grave. I feel so despondent. No wonder, I feel more responsible for killing them than those malefics did.

Aunt Verdi did her best to give me meals, but at times I didn't felt hungry. I spent most of my time, cooped up in the small matbed; inside the kiddy room my aunt had to create since she became my legal guardian. She never had any children, no cousins for me to hang around with. Technically, I'm the closest to a child she'll ever had.

It's Tuesday, I lounge in bed like I always do these past days. I look over to the end table, next to my telen is a grayish object sticking out of my satchel bag. I almost forgot about that. I reflect on the packing when I left the Basement.

All this time I grieved, I neglected I took the half-stone piece with me. It was lying on top of The Orre's corner mat during the day I packed some clothes. The Orre wasn't around, so he left it there. Maybe he knew I needed it. So without wasting any second, the others had to contend with their stuff. I decided to grab it. Emmet never fussed over it, because he didn't see me. I put the stone piece in my bag. Just like that Addie and I left.

Retrieving the stone piece, I caress the smooth, stone surface. Then the thought of what Raudan meant clouds my mind. What was taken from me, what I always wanted.

I know truly I want my family back, I want Anita back. But then spotting Addie coming at me, he starts barking. I let Addie know that maybe it's a big risk in doing this, but what Raudan told me.

Seek the truth.

Something similar to what Declan showed me, as I thought about the stone symbol's meaning. How it meant the same thing Raudan said before he killed Anita. He wanted me to know more about what the stone piece has for me, and after I discovered what was taken from me.

Raudan is all mines.

Sitting up legs crossed, I look back at the piece as it lies gently on my lap. I exhale slowly, and then as if something guides me. "I want to seek the truth. I ask..." Thinking hard, what should I say?

And then I remembered the biggest part, what was taken from me. The event that stole my childhood changed the course of my life. How I ended up here.

My head leans close, my lips not that far from the stone piece. I ask in a sly whisper.

"Who started the fire that destroyed my family?"

And then the cryptic symbol starts to glow. The circles begin to refigure, this time into a word I can translate. There's only one word.

It's my name.