Carl closes his eyes and his muffled voice is all I can hear and in that moment I know exactly how he feels, after all I had felt the same way just an hour or so ago. How could I not understand his pain? But this time it’s different, maybe Kate is still alive, I could save her, save him from his mind numbing pain. Never again.

“Which way?” He points his hand towards one of the more well built houses, closer to the centre of town. I try to frown before remembering that I can’t and give a brief nod of the head before crouching along the treeline looking for a way through the enemy patrols. I keep my stance low, and move steadily, almost dead quiet.

I’m moving west when I see a gap in the patrol and make a run for it, squeezing myself between buildings as I slowly approach the centre of the village, and soon the building is in sight, just outside one of the guards holds one of the girls I saw earlier, blonde hair, green eyes, she has such a smooth face. I listen carefully to hear what the guard is saying, “-LOT of trouble young lady. You’re coming with me, I think you’ll sell for a pretty price too, a nice face like yours.” I begin to sneak towards her, inching my way close when I step on a branch. The branch is obviously no match for how much a hunk of metal such as myself must weigh, and quickly the guard's head snaps around to face me.

It takes him a moment to process exactly what he’s seeing but thankfully I’m quick on my feet, and that moment is all I need. I run up to him, taking him by the arm and twisting around, I must have done it a little quickly because a chilling crunch fills my right ear as I quickly yank him over me, forcing him to topple over my metal body, I can practically feel his shin pain, and slam onto the floor. Somehow though the guard has the strength, and apparently the wind in his lungs to let out a nice big shout.

“MACHINA!” In that moment I knew just how fucked I was. As fast as I can I punch the man's face, a loud crunch, followed by a blood curdling splatter, as his skull is crushed sounds out, and I grab the beautiful girl in front of me, who clearly cannot believe I am real, or that any of this is happening. “RUN!” Is all I can get out before I push her out of the way of a… IS THAT A FIREBALL!? The flame engulfs me, and for a moment when the boom hits my ears I think about how this is the same way I died last time. Well hey, this time I got killed by what I can only assume is magic, so that’s new.

The blast sends me shooting into the treeline, crashing against that beautiful bark and, to my surprise it doesn’t break, I simply slam into the tree and stop. “Sturdy fucking tree… SHIT!” I jump out of the way of another ball of fire that hits the tree behind me, increasing my jump trajectory by a good few metres before I crash directly into one of those damned muffin mushrooms, covering me in a thick slime, not that I have time to think about it.

Another explosion sounds to my left and I complement the fact that I’m not deaf yet before sprinting madly into the forest. I feel as though I’ve been running for hours before the sound of shouts slowly fades, and I take this opportunity to take a break. I’m about to clasp my hands on my knees and start panting when I realise I don’t need to breathe, so why the hell do I feel so tired? A wonderful tune breaks through my thoughts and suddenly I have the worst, yet best idea I’ve ever had.

As shouts and thundering footsteps of horses echo behind me I begin to climb, then I jump from tree to tree like a monkey. Man I loved Tarzan as a kid, I almost have the urge to give out a yell, but I refrain from doing so and keep jumping, tree to tree as whatever energy or stamina I’m running on slowly gets lower and lower, but that tune still pierces through me with a promise of energy. From tree to tree, slowly the day grows dark and soon the only indication of direction is the glowing monolith in front of me.

When did it start glowing? It doesn’t matter now, I just have to get to it. Just two branches left, one to the other- SNAP Oh SHIT. And as the shouts grow louder from in the distance, I feel at ease as I slowly drift off to the hum of energy in my ears.