Everything about it - too familiar. They ought to be stronger than this. A warrior cannot afford to hesitate at a pivotal time. One has to be precise, dispassionate, abrupt, unfeeling. A drifter who allows conflicting emotions to well up like a gout of blood from an opened sore will not last long.

They are up against a skilled opponent. One who knows where to hit where it will hurt the most.

Because of you.
(Because of you.)
(Because of)

Guilt is more potent than any sword.

The Drifter halts with the scrape of dirt beneath their boots. The thin stripe of cobalt-colored skin darkens with a cloud of some nameless emotion, dark eyes glinting like cherry pits.

Their sprite chirps, issuing a line of brusque text:

not real