O Death ⇉ Paul Lahote

fifteen

Heidi walked through the streets of her world, knowing exactly where she was going. She placed a hand on the wall surrounding her world, frowning a little to herself before imagining a sledgehammer and hit the wall repeatedly until a small hole began to form. She threw the hammer to the ground before grabbing pieces of the wall and ripped them apart, making the hole bigger. She couldn't tell what was on the other side; all that was there was a white light and a thick fog – but all she knew was that she needed to get to the other side, no matter what it took.

She knew the world she was in wasn't real; she'd have to be an idiot not to know that. It was fun at first, but she knew she had to get home – no matter what it took.

Ereshkigal materialised beside Heidi, sending a cold shiver down the younger girl's spine. "Heidi, why would you do this?" she asked, almost innocently as her head cocked to one side.

"Because you tried to kill me, you crazy bitch!" Heidi screamed back, turning her attention to Ereshkigal.

Ereshkigal twisted her hand around a little black smoke quickly forming. "I'm sorry, Heidi, but I can't let you do this." She then used her powers to launch Heidi as far away from the wall as possible.

Heidi hit her head on the side of a house as she fell to the floor, lightly pressing her hand to the back of her head as she winced from the pain before shakily standing back up. "You can't have me! I'm not going to let you have me!"

She walked back over towards Ereshkigal, removing her hand from her head and ignoring the small amount of blood there. Once she was a smaller distance away from Ereshkigal, Heidi imagined a large sword, feeling it materialise in her hands and twirling the handle between her fingertips.

Ereshkigal took a step back at Heidi's actions, almost frightened by Heidi but she held it back. "This is pointless, Heidi. You know you can't defeat me."

Heidi smirked, gripping the sword tighter. "You're forgetting one important thing, Ereshkigal; this is my domain. I can imagine whatever I so desire and it happens; my domain, my rules."

Ereshkigal's eyes narrowed, a black smoke circling her hands and snaking around her arms. "If it's a battle you want, child. Then a battle you shall get."

Heidi's eyes hardened, allowing the anger to rise within her and completely take over her. "Do your worst, bitch."

To Heidi's surprise, it wasn't Ereshkigal to make the first move; it was Yama instead. Out of thin air, Yama charged towards her, pickaxe at the ready. Admittedly, Heidi took a few steps back, almost ready to run away. But she knew if she wanted to get to Ereshkigal, she had to get through Yama first.

Swallowing her fear, Heidi raised her sword just as the pickaxe was going to collide with her arm, blocking the force with all the strength she had within her. Yama and Heidi locked eyes as they were both locked in their own power struggle, both of them trying to get the upper hand against the other.

Eventually, it was Heidi who broke first, and Yama's pickaxe pierced her shoulder, causing her to lose her grip on her sword and fall to the ground in pain, crying out in pain. Once she was down, Yama kicked her hard in the stomach, causing her to fly backwards.

Slowly, she got back onto her feet and imagined a katana and charged towards Yama, shouting a battle cry as she slashed her katana, cutting Yama's arms and chest in the process, eventually jumping as high as she could and bringing her sword down – slicing him completely in half, coating both her and her katana in the process. Heidi stood between what was left of Yama's body, coated in blood and glaring at Ereshkigal.

Instead of being intimidated, Ereshkigal couldn't stop the smile on her face as she slowly walked towards Heidi. "You think you and I are so different. But look at you; covered in blood, revelling in destruction and bloodshed. You were born to be the bloodthirsty leader I was in life."

Heidi slowly shook her head, slowly walking towards Ereshkigal. "I am nothing like you. I will never be anything like you."

Ereshkigal raised an eyebrow, twisting and curling her fingers around each other. "But you still killed my husband without a second thought."

Heidi winced a little, finally realising what she had just done – killed someone in cold blood and without anyone controlling her. The murder was all her doing. "I will do whatever I have to in order to survive, so I guess in that sense, you and I aren't so different. We both want to survive."

Ereshkigal nodded, reaching Heidi and gently caressed her cheek. "We both know what it takes to survive. You truly are a remarkable woman, Heidi. I'm sure your parents would be so proud of the woman you've become."

Heidi's eyes began to water at Ereshkigal's words. She knew she had to defeat her, but a small part of her didn't want her to go – she'd never had someone be this supportive of her before and she craved it. But she had to keep telling herself that this wasn't the way to get support, no matter how hard her mind was telling her not to do what she had to.

Ereshkigal continued, ignoring Heidi's reaction. "If only it didn't come to this, you could've had anything and everything you wanted – fame, money, love... all of that could've been yours if you hadn't done this. But of course, it's not too late to change your mind. All you have to do is drop your sword and bow to me and all this will be over."

Heidi was almost going to do it before she slowly shook her head before she kicked Ereshkigal in the stomach, causing Ereshkigal to fall to the ground. Heidi brought her katana to Ereshkigal's throat. "I will not bow to you again, I will never bow to you." Heidi hissed as she drove her katana through Ereshkigal's throat and watched the light leave her eyes.

Looking up from Ereshkigal's body, Heidi noticed a large wooden door in front of her. She took one last look at the perfect world she had created and the destruction she had ultimately caused before walking towards the door, opening it and stepping inside.

Note

This story is coming to an end – I have one last chapter left and then it'll be finally over. I want to thank every one of you for reading this story and leaving comments – it really means a lot to me and I cannot thank you all enough for the love and support this story has received.