Atticus's form blazed through the forest at full speed. He still appeared like a blur, deftly moving and evading the trees and other obstacles in the forest.
If one wanted the absolute truth, Atticus had absolutely no idea where he was going, nor did Aurora, who was behind him.
He only knew one thing, and this was exactly the same thing that kept playing in his head, constantly and constantly: he had to keep running.
The veins on Atticus's head throbbed with such force it seemed as though they would burst out at any second. Atticus kept repeating those words, his clenched hands dripping with crimson blood as he tried his very best to stay lucid.
Aurora's gaze was fixated behind them, oblivious to Atticus's predicament, trying to see if there was anyone following them. Words could not begin to describe how glad she felt when she saw that they had lost their pursuers. But despite that, she still kept her gaze fixated behind.
After running for a few truly torturous moments, Atticus's dizzy gaze caught sight of a cave up ahead.
The inside of the cave was pitch dark, with only a few meters into it getting illuminated by the sunlight.
Atticus's form sped up as he instantly approached, entering the cave in the next second.
He only moved into the cave for a few meters before he abruptly sunk onto both knees, his gaze immediately becoming cloudy and his body unresponsive.
"Atticus!"
Atticus felt his body go limp, his form falling face first down on the ground, a trail of drool escaping his mouth.
Aurora had already gotten down immediately Atticus had stopped, her expression instantly morphing into a worried look as she rushed towards Atticus.
"A-Atticus what's h-happening!?" Aurora asked in a panicked tone, supporting Atticus' head with her lap. This was the first time she would ever come across something like this.
Her forte wasn't in rune engraving, and she had no idea about the implications of overusing your will. In essence, she had absolutely no idea what to do.
Seeing the throbbing veins around his head and his hand drenched in blood only added to the pool of worry. She couldn't begin to imagine the amount of pain he was going through.
Aurora had no idea when tears started streaming out of her eyes.
"A-Atticus, please don't leave me. What's going on?! How can I fix this?" Aurora muttered between sobs while staring at Atticus.
At that moment, only one thing came to her head: all this happened because Atticus had come to rescue her.
"It's all my fault," the tears streaming out of Aurora's eyes only seemed to increase in intensity as she placed her palm on Atticus' cheek.
"A-Aurora, kn-knock meee oooot," Atticus's words came out slurred and not understandable, but to Aurora, it was something. She wiped away her tears, bringing her ears closer to Atticus' mouth so she could hear him well.
Atticus knew what the problem was exactly; he didn't even have to think to know. He had overused his will, and now he was paying for it.
His heart was beating incredibly fast because of the crazy things that kept appearing in his head. What made him the most scared was his inability to stop himself from acting on them.
He only needed one second, one second to tell Aurora what she should do. The blood streaming out of his hands increased in intensity as Atticus suddenly clenched his hand, the already large throbbing veins on his head growing even bigger.
Atticus felt his mouth for a split second, one that he used without hesitation,
"Knock me out now!"
Aurora sat up straight, her face showing confusion for a second, wiping off her tears once again. 'If Atticus asked me to do it then there has to be a reason,'
Aurora's trust in Atticus was at its peak. Even if he was currently looking as though he was inches away from life, his words still carried a great amount of significance to her.
Aurora swiftly sat Atticus up. She could feel how limp his body was. Wiping out all her remaining tears and mucus that had formed, Aurora raised up Atticus's chin with one hand, positioning it and making sure it was straight.
There were multiple ways to knock out a human, and due to intensive training from her childhood, Aurora was already well versed with things like this.
With his head straight, Aurora unleashed a hook to the side of Atticus's jaw, the attack landing with great force causing Atticus's head to rotate horizontally.
Atticus felt his head go cloudy for a few moments before he fell unconscious.
Aurora quickly grabbed Atticus, laying him gently down and resting his head on her lap.
…
Atticus saw visions. Each one more scary than the last. They were all scenes of him killing his loved ones and then himself.
'Where am I?' Atticus wondered. He was currently in a dark space and all around him, anywhere he looked he would see different brutal scenes.
As soon as he killed himself, the scene would once again change, showing him another scenario.
Anytime 'he' killed himself, Atticus could feel a small part of himself disappearing. It was a completely surreal feeling. One that Atticus needed to stop.
'Am I in my mindscape again?'
Atticus closed his eyes, tuning out all the screams and shouts sounding all around him, and allowed himself to reach a state of calm.
'They're not the real me; they are all illusions, and it's all just in my head,'
Atticus repeated these exact words continuously, tuning out everything else apart from his own voice.
He had already determined what was causing him to see the illusions. Each one of the scenes was simply what would happen should he ever completely use up his will.
He would lose the will to live, the will to protect his loved ones, the will for revenge. Only one thing would come to his mind: what was the point in everything?
It was better to just end it all now.