The other two bodyguards drew their weapons, and the severity of what I had just done came crashing down on me. Dropping the knife, I fled the scene with utmost haste, making a mad dash to the cellar, hoping I could somehow hide there for the rest of time.
When I arrived, nearly tripping over my own feet as I descended the stairs, I found you sitting in the corner, more of your body glowing with that damned golden shimmer. You told me you had overheard maids in the garden saying that they planned to storm the manor, and that they knew the culprit resided within this very house.
Then, you told me you were unsure if you could stop them in this state.
Slumping to the ground, I held my head in my bloodstained hands. This was it. The game was about to reach its conclusion, and we would not be the victors like I had dared to dream.
I clenched my fists. No. The thought of those savage townspeople, that accursed exorcist, all the people who had wronged you in both life and death; the thought of those people laying their filthy hands on you was too much to bear. I would not stand for it.
Quietly, I asked you if you would be willing to go anywhere with me. If you would be willing to follow me to the ends of earth, like I had for you. When you nodded firmly in response, I shakily stood up and picked up my axe, making my way over to the walls of the cellar.
"Then let us make our escape, and flee to someplace nobody will ever find us again."
With that, I swung the axe at the magical flame lanterns lining the wall. The flames licked at the head of the axe, but immediately travelled down to the wooden handle, setting my hands ablaze. Wasting no time, I shattered several more of the flame lanterns, knocking them over onto books, chairs, anything that was within reach and would burn easily.
Bright flashes of iridescent flame glided across the old wooden floor, raging as an inferno would. Smoke began to fill the room rapidly, and, dropping the axe from my burnt hands, I stumbled over to where you were sitting and sat down by your side to watch the roaring flames.
That was when I felt you touch my arm. I turned to face you, and in that instant, I saw something I had not seen for far too long. An innocence, a fear, a flash of the girl you use to be long before all of this started. The look of a girl who was young and fearful of the cruel world that would await her in adulthood.
You told me in the softest of voices that you were afraid to die again.
As the flames began to sear away my garments, I placed my injured hands on your shoulders and looked at you one last time, trying to burn this image of you into my mind forevermore. An image of the girl that I had grown up alongside, the girl that I had given my service, and now my entire life, to.
Smiling, I told you there was nothing to be afraid of anymore. I would always be there to protect you.