part 02/02
My own dream was against me. Every weapon I touched became a toy. Every punch, kick, & slap I threw was as light as a feather. I would have been completely helpless if I wasn't lucid dreaming; that's the only way I survive as long as I did. I had foresight, the ability to float like a ghost, somewhat teleport within short distances. Regardless, I never had full control.
Mind you, there were very little timeskips in this dream. It started with my discovery & I have had to jump between motels, steal vehicles & wallets, live off-of gas station food & rural roads were completely unacceptable because he was always going to catch up to me, & I would've caged myself in a car on a barren road.
I took my chance with the bus because if it was magical, what else could it have done?
Not much, apparently, because as we were chatting, making witnesses to the lives we'll soon aband—I ducked. The entirety of the bus & the lives I witnessed, cleanly sliced in half.
We didn’t make it outside of the province & Tenma was already several feet away. I had to act, fast. I crawled above their warm corpses & sat where the bus driver was—is—sitting to zig-zag his row of attacks.
One wrong turn & a slice of his battle axe had jumping out of the bus before I fell into the cliff with it. I didn't look back when it exploded. I couldn't. I can't die but I can take injuries, & running away under agonizing fire isn't the most effective escape.
Just like that, I was back on foot. He was 50 feet away.
Timeskip, teleport, my mind was in too a state of terror to focus on wielding the only weapons in my arsenal. Then, I remembered. One more thing I had up my sleeve. The one leash I still had on him : my soul.
30 feet.
My chest liquified & melted.
10 feet.
My hand sunk into my skin & ribs like a ghost phasing through a wall.
His shadow engulfed my own. Tenma grabbed me by the neck, & I clawed at my beating heart.
Vividly, as I'm typing this, I can still feel the tightness at my throat. The apology I couldn't say, for taking his freedom, a concept that I, too, cherished; with my whole heart, in fact.
The same heart I ripped out of my chest as he raised his axe for the final blow. With it, my soul.