The fight had left Riven battered on the ground. His body couldn't move efficiently, but his wounds and fatigue were slowly going away because of the rune.
"Should have been more careful," he muttered, staring at the gray sky.
"Yes, you should have. And what was that move?" she asked, referring to the last move he pulled that left the corrupted Cinder shocked and overwhelmed.
"I don't know either. It was something I remembered from the game and decided to check it out," he said, his voice coarse.
"Well, it was really powerful. You should use it often, but not too often, so you don't die from exhaustion," she said, sitting beside him.
He scoffed, "Yeah, sure." He continued laying there as if he was lifeless for another long hour.
Veyla had subtly drifted off to sleep from waiting too long. After a long while, he was almost recovered from the damage.
"I might not really use that move again, if possible. If I use this amount of time to reset, then it's dangerous in a long fight," he muttered to himself, slowly sitting upright.
He moved softly toward Veyla, who looked like she was so long in sleep. "She looks like a cute bunny when she's asleep but then transforms into a wild bunny when she's awake."
He stood up, still trying to watch his steps, holding onto a tree trunk as he stood up slowly.
"There should be a stream close by. I feel thirsty," he said, staggering slowly toward the forest.
He looked back one more time at Veyla. "She can protect herself, she was doing that before I came into this world. Don't worry so much about her, you barely know each other," he whispered to himself continuously.
He strolled little by little to avoid falling. He took it a step at a time, not rushing it so much, though the rune was still burning faintly, healing him.
"This is taking way longer than I had imagined. Aren't I supposed to have recovered fully by now?" he muttered, glancing around.
"I hope I don't get ambushed or that's the end of the road for me."
He stumbled across an oasis right in the middle of the forest after minutes of staggering.
"Not clean, but who cares when you're extremely thirsty," he said, falling close to the edge of the oasis and started sipping water slowly.
After a couple of sips, he felt a faint presence around the corner, like it was hunting him. He looked up and noticed a thread of sorrow.
"I'm not really healthy enough for a battle right now," he muttered, standing up and stumbling toward the woods at a fast pace.
He stumbled continuously, but the faint thread continued following up, picking up pace as he moved.
"Who is this? Why don't they just leave me alone?!" he sighed between breaths, heaving heavily as he staggered through the forest.
The thread moved closer the more he staggered away, and soon it was merely meters away from him.
"Damn, I'm cooked," he said, then turned around. "Only if I didn't leave Veyla alone and without telling her where I was headed," he said, clutching the left side of his stomach.
"Who are you?! Step into the light," he called out, skimming through the forest for the thread, but it was no longer there.
Soon, a human walked into the light, wearing glowing silver armor shimmering under the faint gray light of the star (sun).
He looked closer. "What do you want?"
"I am here to vanquish you and end your cycle, grace rot," he said, unsheathing his sword.
Riven didn't bring his sword, but he was smart enough to carry on a dagger. "And why is that?"
"Because you simply do not belong, boy. I'm here to relinquish you of that pain," the knight continued.
"Who said I wanted to be relinquished? I actually like this life of mine," he said teasingly, staring at the knight's expression through his helmet.
"Less talking, more dying," he said lastly before moving quickly.
Riven barely had time to fight in this state. He wasn't even fit enough to run or even sprint.
He dodged like a noob and parried like a bot. "Tsk!" he sighed, dodging a sword strike from the knight.
"You are pretty good... or is it because of the amount of remnants you have absorbed?" he asked, smirking faintly. "You shouldn't reach the point of madness. Just let me end you here and now."
"I wanna see you try," he said confidently, moving as quick as his limbs allowed him to.
The knight moved at a great speed, his sword shimmering brightly as he moved through the clearing.
He swiped his sword in a diagonal arc, sending out a shockwave meant to amputate him, but luckily for Riven, this wasn't his first fight.
He parried with his own slash, causing a shockwave that shook the forest. Both of them stumbled backwards, panting heavily.
"You do have some tricks up your sleeves, huh?" the knight spoke out, readying his stance again.
"You wanna see more?" he responded, taking his stance as well.
"Show me what you got, filth," the knight said, then blurred forward.
He overpowered Riven, bringing him to his knees and almost beheading him, but Riven took the opportunity and kicked his leg, which made him fall forward. Then he hit the knight in the gut and sent him flying 20 feet away from their location.
He panted, then staggered forward slowly, watching his steps. "This is harder than I thought."
"I guess I have no choice," he muttered, remembering what Veyla said. "I have to use it again."
He stepped forward in confident steps. "Ember Lash Requiem," he muttered, releasing a surge of energy that erupted the ground around him.
Then he blurred toward the knight who was still recovering from his kick. The real fight started.
They exchanged blows, Riven slightly overpowering the knight with complicated moves that didn't make sense to the knight.
He slid beneath the knight as he kicked him into the air, then flash-stepped above, hitting him in the gut hard.
Before he could reach the ground, he blurred beneath him and gave him a knee kick to his spinal cord, which sent him flying upward again.
He continued until the knight spat blood continuously from his mouth. "What are you?"
"I am Riven Ashur, a broken Cinder born to no Flame Keeper and no Grace," he muttered. "I am the Cinder who shouldn't have a name, and I'll become a Lord you cannot tame."
Then he released his final blow, just like before, and slit him from his torso downward. "Say hello to hell for me."
Then he fell on the ground and started evaporating softly.
"You will meet one who will show you no mercy," the knight said before rising.
Riven absorbed his remnants and then fell to the ground all over again. "You really had to make me use it."