“Ouch…” Mira whispered to the empty air, her voice cracking as she stared blankly up at the canopy.
A deep, throbbing agony radiated from her midsection, far worse than the burn on her wing.
Trembling, she brought her hand down to touch her abdomen.
When she pulled her hand back into her line of sight, her fingers were completely soaked in dark, warm blood.
She choked back a gasp.
There was a jagged, deep laceration tearing through her clothes and skin—left by the dragon’s massive claw when it had swatted her from the sky.
She attempted to push herself up, but her knees immediately buckled.
She collapsed right back onto the blue leaves.
The pain was simply too overwhelming to handle.
“Is this really how it ends for me?” she whispered.
A bitter, hysterical laugh bubbled up in her chest, echoing hollowly in the quiet woods.
But the mirth died instantly.
The laughter broke into a sob, and the tears finally spilled over, hot and fast down her dirt-caked cheeks.
“I don’t want to die here. Not in a place like this. Not alone…” she sobbed, curling slightly into herself to protect her stomach.
“Sam… Alice… they’ll come for me, right? They have to… they’ll save me…”
But the terrifying silence of the sapphire forest was her only answer.
She kept crying, but each ragged sob caused her abdomen to seize, making her wince in sharp agony.
Even the simple act of weeping was too much for her ruined body to bear.
“They promised they’d help me get back home… Back to my sister…” she wept, her voice fading to a fragile whisper.
The edges of her vision began to blur, darkening into a heavy, suffocating vignette.
But out of the shadows of the tree line, a small figure suddenly stepped into the clearing.
Mira blinked sluggishly, forcing her eyes to focus.
As the blurry shape stabilised, her chest tightened, and her eyes widened.
Standing right in front of her, bathing in the dappled sunlight, was her sister.
Was this actually real?
Reason whispered that it was impossible—a cruel hallucination born of blood loss and despair.
But as the world began to slip away, Mira didn’t care.
A faint, peaceful smile touched her lips.
If she was going to die in this alien forest, she was at least happy to see her sister one last time.
“Wait, Abby…” Mira breathed, staring up at the mirage of her sister.
“Why… why are you crying?”
The little girl just stood there, her small shoulders trembling as teary eyes locked onto Mira’s fading ones.
Even though the movement brought an immense surge of pain, Mira dragged her bleeding body forward across the dirt, clawing her way toward her sister.
“I’m so sorry…” she whispered, her voice cracking as she finally reached out and tightly wrapped her arms around Abby.
No more words were uttered.
She simply held the mirage in absolute, desperate silence.
As her eyes drifted shut, the cool forest floor, the blue leaves, and the entire world around her began to fade into a heavy, dark void.
“Mira!” Sam screamed, his voice tearing through the quiet woods.
He and Alice finally burst into the clearing, their chests heaving and limbs burning from the brutal, frantic sprint.
But the moment their eyes fell upon her, a paralysing horror crept deep into their souls.
Mira’s body lay completely still on the forest floor, pale and unresponsive, with fresh streams of tears still glistening on her cheeks.
They lunged to the dirt beside her, Sam frantically pressing two fingers against her throat while Alice leaned down to listen for a breath.
Nothing.
No rise and fall of her chest.
No rhythmic thud beneath Sam’s fingertips.
“Damn it!” Sam roared, slamming his fist violently into the dirt.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen! It’s all my fault…”
“Don’t say that!” Alice grabbed his shoulder, forcefully pulling his attention away from the ground.
“It is not your fault, Sam!”
“It was my plan that got her killed…” he choked out, his voice cracking as he clutched his chest.
The heavy, suffocating guilt made it feel like his own heart was breaking, and the tears finally spilled over.
Suddenly, two arms wrapped tightly around him.
Alice pulled him into a fierce, desperate embrace, burying her face against his shoulder.
Sam froze, the sudden warmth catching him completely off guard.
The desperate words died in his throat, and his sobs gradually subsided.
“Enough,” Alice whispered fiercely, pulling back just enough to look straight into his eyes.
“This was not your fault. You never intended for this to happen, Sam. Your plan is the only reason why the two of us are even alive to stand here right now.”
Sam wondered how she could remain so stoic in a nightmare like this.
But as his eyes focused on her face, the truth finally dawned on him.
She wasn’t calm at all.
Just like him, silent tears were streaming down her dirt-streaked cheeks.
She was just trying to be strong for him.
The words he wanted to argue with melted away.
Instead of speaking, he wrapped his arms tightly around her, returning the embrace with everything he had left.
“We should… at least bury her body,” Sam whispered, his voice cracking as he finally broke the heavy silence.
“Yeah…” Alice murmured, pulling away and using the back of her sleeve to wipe the fresh tears from her face.
Using nothing but jagged rocks and their bare, blistered hands, they began the gruelling task of digging into the earth.
Hours seemed to bleed together in a blur of agonising physical labour, but neither of them complained.
Finally, they laid her to rest in the centre of a natural circle of slender green trees.
A soft beam of sunlight cut through the canopy, illuminating the fresh mound of earth like a spotlight.
Sam stared blankly down at the fresh mound of earth, his mind still numb as he tried to process the reality of the situation.
“Hey, Sam,” Alice whispered, gently tapping his shoulder.
“Look.”
He blinked away his exhaustion and followed her gaze upward.
There, hanging from the very top of the slender green branches that formed the circle around Mira’s grave, was a cluster of ripe fruit.
They looked exactly like the crisp, red apples from Earth, swaying gently in the breeze.
Sam stared at them in awe.
It felt impossible—a quiet miracle.
Maybe they were a gift from Mira beyond the grave.
A final, silent thank you for protecting her until the very end of her game.
They harvested the fruit in silence from the high branches and began to eat.
The crisp sweetness was a bittersweet comfort to their starved bodies.
By the time they finished, the sun had fully dipped below the horizon.
Alice gathered fallen wood and struck a spark, lighting a new campfire beneath the canopy to keep the deep forest shadows at bay.
She sat on a fallen log, staring blankly into the dancing orange flames, her mind entirely numb and hollow.
“I’ve made a decision,” Sam said, his voice cutting through the crackle of the wood and instantly catching her attention.
Alice looked up.
Sam was staring into the fire, his jaw set with a hard, unyielding determination.
“I’m going to win this competition,” he said, each word steady and heavy with promise.
“And when I do, I’m going to wish for this game—and any other game like it—to disappear forever. I refuse to sit back and watch good people like Mira die for entertainment ever again.”
“Well then,” Alice said, pushing herself up from the log.
“I’ll be sure to help you reach that goal.”
A fierce, genuine smile broke through her weariness as she extended her closed fist toward him.
Sam didn’t hesitate.
He stepped forward and struck his fist against hers, locking in their silent pact.
They were in this together now, until the bitter end.
With their new purpose forged, they stayed beside Mira’s grave, sustained by the crisp fruit hanging overhead.
They rested, healed, and watched as time passed—until finally, the last day of the game had arrived.