I can’t believe I’m actually here. The place that has haunted my nightmares for months. In my dreams I could never reach it. But I have to, I have to save her. The lone tree that stands tall in the empty field, the one who drips the color of the blood it has spilled over centuries. It’s the only way.

I’ve seen this place enough to know that the faster and farther I run the farther the tree gets. I will not fail. Rage boils inside me and I scream but there’s nothing to hear me, not for miles. I’m alone with only the moonlit flgrass at my feet for company. Fog is coiling in every direction as far as I can see but my path to the tree remains unobstructed. It’s like it’s taunting me, it’s so close yet remains just beyond my reach.

I need to save her. Even if it costs me my life. She is everything to me. She is the sun, the moon, the very air that I breathe. Without her I am nothing. Without her I will cease to exist. I know that saving her will kill me but I don’t care. This is the only way I can prove to myself that I’m worthy of a soul as pure as hers.

I unsheath the blade at my ribs and slice down both of my forearms. The power in this land requires a sacrifice, I can not take what I am not willing to give. I will offer my life for hers. I watch the blood run down my arms and spill onto the ground below me. Once the first drop falls I begin to walk. I have made this journey every night for months but I never make it. I don’t survive long enough to reach her. I pray to any god that may be listening. Begging them to accept my broken, blood soaked soul in exchange for her beautiful one. I lift my gaze and stare at the soul tree.

The tree has kept her captive for almost a half a year and I know it’s now or never. She’s running out of time. They say when you’re close to death your life flashes before your eyes. As I walk toward my death I see images of her. The sun kissing her face as she studies by the window in the library on the night we met. The willow tree where we met and shared our first kiss. The river bank when she first told me she loved me while I was laying in a pool of my own blood.

The images shift and I see my goal. The tree is closer and I can feel her drawing nearer. I can sense her heartbeat, slow and weak but still there. A few more steps and I will be there. I will save her. My legs begin to shake and I don’t think I will make it. No no no I have to make it. I can’t die before seeing her eyes one last time. I can not leave this world without her knowing just exactly how much I love her. I collapse and a scream tesrs free of my throat. The edges of my vison begin to dim as I crawl my way forward. Inch by agonizing inch. I stretch one hand out and collapse in relief as I feel the rough hit bark. My relief to an abrupt haunt when the white hot agony rips through my body and I can’t fight it any longer. My eyes close and I feel the life leaving my body.

“I love you,” I whisper into the night, “and I’m sorry.” She can’t hear me but she needs to know. I have failed. Her smile will never again be witnessed by another. Her laugh will never again grace the ears of those unworthy to hear it. The world is unworthy of her but I can not let her die. I have though. I have let her die. She’s gone and now I will be too. A single tear slips free as I take my last breath. The soul tree has claimed another and this time love did not conquer all.