Elliot was a mediocre man at the age of seventeen. He lived a quiet, peaceful life in his city and he didn't wish to trade it for anything. He was a man of simple wishes and aspirations. He would bounce back and forth of being either a professional boxer since he had the skills-and of course body-to do it, or he could just be a living coach, one of those people that help people get back in control with their life.

For him those two things seemed amazing and he could definitely accomplish them if he set his mind to it. All he needed to do now was decide which one he wanted to do.

A voice in the distance called out to Elliot as he was walking to school. It was a sweet voice that went into his left ear and remained until it softly went out the other. He turned toward the voice and saw his crush, and friend since middle school, Isabelle walking over to him.

She wore a casual pink T-shirt that had the words "So random! Potatoe," and then it had a picture of a potatoe beneath it. Elliot had to admit her idea of what humor was was unbearable, but she had a charm that just kept him gravitated toward her. She wore a dark blue skirt with matching shorts underneath as well as white shoes that stuck out like a sore thumb with the rest of her outfit.

"Hey Elliot," Isabelle waved. "Thanks for waiting." She slowed down so they could walk right next to each other.

Elliot loved this woman. She was sixteen, one year younger, and she looked like a delicate flower to him. However, he couldn't forget she was anything but a flower. She's a hyperactive goofball that loved to get herself into trouble. Not to mention her ability to fight off people much bigger than her was impressive. If there was one personality Elliot loved in woman, it was one of absolute badassness. Then again thats not really a personality as much of a cool trait.

"You finished English homework last night?" Isabelle asked, showing off her completed assignment.

Elliot nodded. "Sure did." He swung his bookbag off his shoulders and took out his English worksheet.

"Cool. Now mind if I copy off you?"

And here was what Elliot was expecting. Isabelle was amazing at math and science, mediocre at everthing else, but completely abysmal in English. It didn't bother him letting her copy off of him cause he did the same thing with asking to copy her math work. It was an equivalent exchange made by two consenting individuals.

"Wait until we get to school," Elliot suggested. "We can't exactly write in mid air."

"You'd be surprised by what I can do." They laughed and continued walking in silence.

Some people would think that walking in silence is awkward or dreadful, especially with someone else. To Elliot, walking with the person he liked in silence was just splendid. He could pick up on subtle things about Isabelle that she may not even know about, all because they let their words fade for a second.

The way she walked for example. She would walk left then right then left, but on her next right she would limp a bit. That was mainly his fault from middle school.

Elliot had dared her to jump off his home roof into his swimming pool. She was very hesitant to do it and shook from head to toe as he helped her on the roof. He thought it would be a good idea to yell as she was jumping just to scare her slightly. When he did she lost balance and fell short of the mark and broke her foot. It took him also breaking his leg to get her to forgive him.

Now that limp was the left behind markings of a dumb mistake that nearly cost him one of his most beloved friendships. Without Isabelle, he didn't know what he would do with his life, amd that was no exaggeration. In middle school, he was a pudgy and uninspired kid that went on day by day not really doing anything of worth.

Then Isabelle came by and she helped him out of his rut. With the help of her - and even her parents getting involved later down the line - he lost several pounds and finally decided to take back the reins of his own life. That was the moment that truly made Elliot appreciate Isabelle and he decided to stay by her for as long as he could.

Now as they walked to school in silence, Elliot looked over anything he could use to bring up on a conversation later. After all silence isn't going to get him anywhere in her heart. That silence was what made him notice something. She began fixing her hair as they were walking; it was already perfect as it was but with each flick of a strand and movement of her bangs she grew increasingly frustrated.

"Is something wrong?" Elliot asked.

She rarely ever cared about appearances except when it came to people she wanted to impress. However, there was only one person in the school that she wanted to impress, but there was a reason why that couldn't be true.

For first off he was suspended after getting into a brawlfight with several guys. He rarely ever got suspended for things cause he was oh so perfect, but apparently the brutality of it counted the suspension.

Second off, the guy was a massive douche. Elliot couldn't understand why all the girls loved him so much, but apparently he was just that lovable to them.

Isabelle turned to Elliot when she heard his question. A grin appeared on her face that was so blinding that Elliot had no choice but to look away from its beauty.

"Haven't you heard?" Isabelle said with a playful voice. "Gary's coming back."

All of a sudden that smile turned from a beautiful white light to a dim reminder on how far Elliot was to Isabelle' s heart. Gary wasn't the most threatening name for a man, but the dude had to be one of the scariest yet the most infuriating person he's ever met. Elliot wasn't small at all, in fact he was sure he was taller than Gary, but when comparing who was stronger, Gary took first place without even breaking a sweat.

Now he was coming back from his one month suspension and every guy was dreading it while every girl was tripping over themselves trying to get to school the fastest. Elliot couldn't bear his own powerlessness in the face of the lion that Gary was. And his crush was standing right beside him getting ready to greet the person Elliot absolutely despised.

Elliot could see the school from where he was walking, not just because of the roof pointing overhead, but also because of the long line of girls at the front door. Elliot felt a touch at his shoulder. He turned and saw Isabelle pouting, and he knew what she wanted. As someone who respected her, he nodded and let her go no matter how much it hurt him. She smiled and ran off to battle the other girls to get in front of the line to greet her prince bastard.

Elliot slowly walked up and looked around. He spotted one of his close friends, Rowan sitting at a bench in front of the school doors watching the chaos unfold. Elliot walked toward him and called out. Rowan heard him and looked around trying to find him in the midst of racing girls. Once Rowan spotted him, he was already sitting down next to him.

"So how's your day?" Elliot asked not hiding his disdain.

Rowan sighed as he looked over the onslaught of lost dreams and futures. "Same as you hopefully." Rowan said almost emotionless. "Imagine hearing that monster is coming back."

"Yeah I sure did. This morning actually."

"By who?"

Elliot didn't say anything. It was obvious to Rowan from how quiet he was that he heard it from Isabelle. Rowan couldn't help but get angry at how unfair this whole thing was. Didn't these things only happen in shitty books and fan fiction. How in the hell could such a cliche invade real life?

All of a sudden roars and screams of all the girls began to carry throughout the school. Elliot and Rowan both had to cover their ears just to not go deaf. The man of the hour has arrived on time.

Elliot saw a slight pathway of girls begin to slowly form as Gary made his way to the school. He wore a black tank top which was banned in the dress code but no teacher or administrator would get on to Mr. Perfect. He wore black, baggy jeans that sagged enough to where his boxers were slightly exposed. The girls behind him gawked at the "boldness" and "sexyness" of it.

Anytime a girl would try and touch Gary, he would shove them away so rough they'd nearly topple over. He walked ahead and showed no remorse for the girls he did knock over. Yet even when knocked down by the person they liked, they still got back up and tried to touch him again as if he didn't push them down before.

Both Rowan and Elliot looked on with a burning hatred and even a slight hint of jealousy. Elliot looked throughout the crowd for Isabelle and he saw her at the part of the line that was closest to the front door. She was so close Elliot could probably drag her from there and keep her from getting hurt. Knowing her, however, that would probably end up hurting her more emotionally then getting rejected by Gary.

Gary was nearing where Isabelle was. Elliot could see Isabelle taking deep breaths as she hyped herself up for whatever it was she was about to do. Gary got closer and closer to her, and in one fell swoop, she jumped in front of his path.

Gary stopped and stared at the girl that would dare jump in front of her. At least that was what Elliot was sure Gary was thinking. Nothing moved as soon as Isabelle jumped in front of him. Even the girls behind Gary stood still and stared at the audaciousness of this girl.

Isabelle stayed quiet for a second, until she worked up the nerve to finally ask the question.

"Gary Sullington." Isabelle started out. "Will you

go out-."

Isabelle couldn't even finish her sentence. Gary, with no emotion in his eyes, punched Isabelle in the face. She flew back and fell face first onto the floor.

Elliot didn't even need to think for this. He jumped off the bench and rushed toward Gary. Before Gary could begin moving, Elliot grabbed a hold onto his shirt and lifted him off the ground. In one swift motion, he slammed him against the nearest wall. Gary looked down at Elliot with little to no emotion showing on his face.

"What the **** is wrong with you!" Elliot screamed into Gary's face.

Before he could do anything else a hoard of girls ripped Elliot away and threw him to the ground. He began to recieve kick after kick, blow after blow of angry girls wanting the attention of an ***. The last thing on Elliot's mind before he lost consciousness, was of how udderly useless he was to stop Gary or Isabelle from meeting.

The first thing Elliot saw when he woke up was his mother standing beside him as he lay on a bed. His mother, Wanda, saw Elliot open his eyes and when she did she went to hug him. However, a doctor held her back before she could come into contact with him.

"You shouldn't do that miss." The doctor advised. "He could be suffering a concussion and we wouldn't want you to hurt him anymore than necessary."

Elliot would have to thank the doctor later cause he was indeed having a splitting headache. His mother backed off but still wouldn't leave the room no matter how many times the doctor asked. It was only when security was threatened to be used that she decided to leave.

"Hey doc, how long have I been out?" Elliot asked.

"A few hours now." The doctor looked across some sheets of paper. "Yeah you were out for around four hours."

Elliot was knocked out for four hours because he tried to get revenge on what happened to his friend. He clenched his fist as anger began boiling up inside him. This was fucking stupid. Something needed to be done about him once and for all.

Elliot decided that he'll need help for what he was planning. When he's allowed to have his phone, he'll call for a few favors.

A few more hours passed and two people walked into his room. Rowan and Isabelle came into the room and found a place to sit. Isabelle sat in a chair beside Elliot's bed, and Rowan on the floor in front of the T.V.

The first thing Elliot noticed as soon as Isabelle entered the room was a bandage on her nose. Her nose was slightly crooked to the right and she was breathing through her mouth mostly.

"Did he break your nose?" Elliot asked already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, but it was my fault anyway. I shouldn't have jumped at him." Isabelle said.

Elliot couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was preposterous that she would even think it was her fault he broke her nose. Whatever Gary was, he wasn't normal. If any normal person did that then he'd be in jail and the person would hate him for their entire life. For Gary, he could still go to school like nothing ever happened.

Elliot badly wanted to tell Isabelle to stop fawning over him, but that wouldn't work. Looking into her eyes, Elliot could see the large amounts of love and lust she still had for that douche. Every girl who had an encounter with him would end up looking like that, no matter how bruised or beaten they look afterward.

They talked about school and homework for the rest of the time since they were there. Rowan asked how long would he be out of school, and Elliot said it would be three days. The doctor said that he'll spend a day in the hospital and two days resting at home.

Then it was time for them to leave. Isabelle and Rowan picked up their stuff and began to walk out.

"Hey Rowan." Elliot called out. Rowan turned around. "Stay here for a second."

"I would like to, but I got school in the morning amd homework to do." Rowan said looking at the watch on his wrist.

"Please, this is very freaking important."

Rowan saw how serious Elliot was. He didn't get like this too often, but whenever it does happen a fight is inevitable. From what happened this morning, Rowan was one-hundred percent sure what Elliot was wanting to do.

Normally Rowan would just leave Elliot to do whatever when this stuff happened. After all he didn't want to be caught up in the aftermath. But this was different. This time Rowan had a bone to pick with Gary as well. No matter how much common sense told him no, he would keep on finding an excuse to say yes.

Rowan walked back into the room and sat where Isabelle sat before.

"So what's the plan?" Rowan asked.

"First give me your phone." Elliot commanded.

Rowan took out his phone and handed it to Elliot. "Why not use your own?"

"Mom won't let me use mine."

Elliot made several phone calls to some people he knew who also had beef to settle with Gary. He explained the plan so many times it was basically ingrained into Elliot and Rowan's minds.

When he finished explaining the plan to everyone, he got off the phone. Now it was all a waiting game. He needed to wait till the final day until he had to go back to school. Once that day comes, Gary'll pay for laying his hands on Isabelle.

The first day passed like nothing. Elliot got admitted from the hospital and shopped with his mother. The parking lot of the store was large enough for several people. Not to mention it was situated behind the store so people from the street couldn't see what would take place. This was the main reason he picked this place for the event.

The second day passed just as splendid. Elliot didn't exercise that day so his muscles weren't sore going into the fight. He went over the plan in his head. One of the people Elliot called would place a note in Gary's locker. The note would say that a girl wants to confess to him at the nearest store's parking lot. He'll head there and Elliot and ten other guys would jump him.

As much as Elliot wanted to settle this himself, he knew going alone would be a deathwish. Ten pairs of hands are better than one after all.

Not to mention this was also a surprise attack, so there was no way for him to fight back.

Would it stop his douche antics? Probably not, but it would feel oh so satisfying. Taking a deep breath, Elliot steeled himself for tomorrow.

And indeed tomorrow came. This was the day that would turn boys into men as they fought the personification of their destroyed fantasies.

Rowan and the ten other guys showed up at Elliot's door in the afternoon. They decided it would be a great idea to go out together and eat before beating Gary.

They walked to the nearest mom and pop restaurant and began ordering and talking about their grievances with the man of the hour.

"You know what that guy is." One of the more chunky guys said. "He's a lunatic. Imagine having all those girls wanting in your pants and all you do is punch 'em."

Some sighed while others agreed. Although Elliot really hated this dudes guts as well, they both had a common enemy. However, Elliot thought maybe after he beats Gary he'll put idiots back in their place. That would be great and all but then he'll become what he despised the most, and he highly despised hypocrites.

After they ate, they began walking to the store to get in position. There were two large trash cans situated in front of the store wall. They moved them away from the wall and sat behind them. It would be an hour until Gary gets here so they have enough time to go over things.

Elliot looked at each of the people here today. They were talking and laughing about what they were going do to Gary once he shows up. However, Elliot's hands shook as he imagined what would happen if they somehow failed.

Rowan spotted Elliot's shaking, so in order to calm his nerves he placed his hand on Elliot's back. It managed to calm Elliot down a bit, but he still feared what could happen.

An hour passed and the sun was already beginning to set. It was about time for Gary to show up, so everyone was silent and waiting for a sign of movement. They were a school of sharks preparing to hunt down an orca whale.

The sound of gravel being walked on reverberated throughout the lot. Elliot took a peek out of his hiding spot. Gary walked up into the parking lot with his hands in his pockets. He looked around for the person that would never show up.

"Anyone here?" Gary shouted.

He turned and had his back facing toward the trash cans. This was the perfect time to strike and they all knew it. Elliot held up his hand with three fingers raised. Counting down from three, they prepared to rush him.

Once Elliot's final finger dropped, they all rushed from behind him with a battle cry that would frighten even the most intimidating of animals. However, they forgot they weren't dealing with an animal. They were fighting a monster.

Gary turned around right away and grabbed out to the closest person to him. It was almost as if he were expecting it to happen. He grabbed the closest person's hair and slammed them down on his knee. His nose broke and blood sprayed onto Gary's leg.

Gary grabbed his hair harder and yanked him off the ground by his roots. He tossed them into the next people in line and they fell back from the impact.

Rowan dodged out of the way and went to hit Gary with an uppercut. Gary avoided the hit and fell back into another one of the assaulters. They grabbed him from under his arms and pinned Gary to his chest. Gary slammed his head back and connected with the assaulters nose. He let go as Gary kicked at Elliot who was preparing to punch his lights out.

Elliot dodged out of the way and threw a punch at Gary's nose. He was aiming to break it to show how hurt he made Isabelle feel. Gary quickly raised his hand and blocked the strike. He tossed it out of the way and retaliated by elbowing Elliot on his lip.

The strike completely blindsided Elliot as his vision wavered and his bottom lip felt like it was crushed under a ton of bricks. This was his first time actually fighting Gary. He now realized why he never lost a fight after feeling how hard he could hit. Elliot's headache flared back alive and it made it hard to focus.

Rowan went back onto the offensive. He let one of his team get his face smashed into the gravel so he could get close. Rowan grabbed Gary by the shoulder and went to knee him in the one place men hate to be hit at. However, something completely strange happened. Rowan was sure his knee was on direct coarse to his junk, but he somehow missed. Gary looked straight at Rowan as if he were a deadman.

"This is some bullshit." Rowan managed to squeeze out before getting kneed in the balls.

Rowan collapsed as he gripped at his destroyed manhood before passing out from the pain. Elliot watched it all happen from afar. This all was a complete and absolute massacre. As much as he wanted to fight back, Elliot was in awe by what was transpiring.

Everyone was being brought down one by one and no one could even lay a finger on him. This was complete and absolute bullshit that should never have even occured in real life. Gary wasn't a human being; he was a monster risen from the depths to terrorize the mortals he hated.

When people were down, he didn't stop. He would continue to kick them as they were screaming or already passed out. Finally, now that everyone else was down and bleeding, Elliot was the one left standing. Gary turned and spotted him standing by himself shaking in his terrified shoes.

He began walking toward Elliot and that caused him to piss his pants. He was shaking so bad he tripped on his own body trying to get away from Gary as quickly as possible. That didn't work as Gary caught up with him and grabbed him by the shirt. He lifted Ellliot up and stared down at him.

"Were you the one that planned this?" Gary asked.

Elliot didn't speak since he was too afraid to even move his mouth. Gary sighed and grabbed ahold of one of Elliot's fingers. With one simple squeeze and twist Elliot's finger snapped like a twig. Elliot yelled from the pain as tears began streaming down his face. His whimpers began to grow loud enough that Gary was forced hold his mouth shut.

"Did you plan this?" Gary asked again without holding back his threatening voice.

Elliot nodded fiercely as Gary held his mouth shut. Gary wasn't done with him, however. He brought his hand down to another finger and snapped that one too.

"Let that be a lesson to you." Gary paused as he let Elliot finish screaming before asking another question. "Now tell me, why the **** do y'all keep on trying to beat me?"

Elliot didn't understand what that question meant. He kept on picking fights with others then proceeded to beat them senseless. This was probably the first time anyone ever actually went to challenge him.

Gary went to break another finger, but Elliot managed to speak up first. "You keep on fighting with other people!" Elliot shouted. "You are the top of the class, every girl loves you, yet you still pick fights with us. Everyone hates your guts and no one wants you around anymore."

There was silence. Nothing moved or squirmed. Not even the wind picked up. The truth was out there and now all Gary had to do was accept it.

Despite fearing Gary at this moment, he was already planning his next action. It was almost as of his fear was overwritten to be replaced by stupidity. His anger toward Gary only rose and didn't show signs of diminishing.

"You think..." Gary said, raising his fist. "You think I wanted to be born this way!"

He lowered his fist hard and punched Elliot in the jaw. He didn't stop, not when he was shouting for forgiveness, and not even when things went quiet.

When Gary finished with his rampage, he looked down at his hands. Blood smeared his palms like they were an easel for red paint. He clenched his fist and pounded at his own forehead.

Again this had to happen. He just wanted to be left alone. He just wamted people to think he was an asshole so he didn't have to ruin anymore lives than he already had. Now that he looked closely at the boy he knocked unconscious, he was that same guy that tried fighting him after he punched that one chick. Of course he would come back to try and beat his ***.

Gary just wanted people to leave him alone, but no matter how much of an asshole he pretends to be, they just seem to be attached to him.

Gary took out his phone and began dialing. The person that picked up on the other end sounded professional and ready for whatever he was about to say.

"Nine-one-one, what's your emergency?" The person on the other end asked.

"Hey, there's been a beating." Gary told the operater where it took place and she said they'll send people immediately.

Around five minutes passed when two police cars and an ambulance showed up. The first cop that got out of their car looked around and saw all the unconcious teenagers sprawled about the ground. The nurses in the ambulance began getting the unconcious kids into the back. They had to call for two more just to fit everyone inside.

A cop saw that not everyone was unconcious. There was one kid leaning on the trash can watching the scene play out. He walked over to him to question what he knew.

"Evening sir." The cop said. The teenager didn't answer. He just looked at him slightly then turned back his head to look at the incident.

"So, do you know who did this?" The cop asked it innocently not preparing what was going to happen next.

Gary moved away from the trash can and faced the officer. He held his hands behind his back and looked at the officer straight in the eye.

"I did this. Arrest me."

Gary was born on the second of September. However, he was originally supposed to be an October child. His mother began going into labor a month before his expected due date and both his mother and father worried for his safety.

Gary's mother arrived at the hospital on a stretcher as the nurses brought her to the room. The nurses found it strange that she felt little pain or nausea during the procedure. Usually women would feel ill and cramped during the procedure, but she reported none of that. So when it was time for the Gary to be born, it came as a surprise as she felt no pain during it.

During the entire time the doctor told her to push and she never complained, screamed, or moaned in pain. As Gary began to leave his mother behind she did note that she began feeling increasingly tired. The doctors were getting anxious as they've never seen a case like this before.

It was too late before they figured out what had happened. As the nurse grabbed the crying newborn, Gary's dad tried to get his wife to look at their new son. However, although her eyes were open her heart stopped beating a minute ago. The bright blue crystals that were her eyes had all of their glow taken out. The nurse took the baby away to do the normal procedures as the doctors attempted to revive the already dead patient.

Gary was told that story as soon as he turned ten. He had always thought his mother had died in a car crash the day he was born, but an uncle that had a grudge against Gary's father told him the truth. That wasn't the first time Gary had ruined someone's life just by his very existence, it just so happened to be what woke him up to it.

It wasn't until he was twelve when he realized that people acted differently when he was around. His fourth grade teacher for instance was a bitch to the other students, but to Gary she was nothing but a sweet middle aged teacher. Anytime Gary walked by she would stop harrasing the children and start praising Gary and saying how they should all respect him.

The last day of March in the fourth grade was one that Gary tried to run away from ever since it happened. It was the day that truly changed everything about him and any time he remembered the events he would find the nearest corner and cry.

That day in particular was when Gary flunked a test on purpose. He wanted to just leave school and mess around on the hill that overlooked the small rural town he grew up in. The snow had thawed and the weather was becoming much more cheery as winter had to make its way for springs incoming relaxation. He just breezed through the test since he was too distracted thinking of his plans.

When Gary got the test back it had a one-hundred written on the sheet. He thought that was odd, but there also something else written on it. There was a question mark behind the hundred and underneath it was the words "see you after class." He didn't want to stay so he was just going to leave anyway.

The bell rung and the class began to empty out one by one. Gary was putting his stuff away and he ended up being the last person in class. The teacher went up to the door and shut it with them both still inside. Gary rolled his eyes and just started to walk toward the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" The teacher asked.

She pushed Gary back knocking him against a desk. She grabbed the door handle and locked it. When she turned back around a grin was going from ear to ear. That devilish, nightmarish grin that Gary had in his mind for years. It almost seemed to be ingrained in his mind as no matter what he did he couldn't forget about it.

That day Gary never went to the hill he wanted to roll down. He wasn't able to join with the other baseball kids as they threw their ball back and forth. He wasn't allowed to dream normally anymore. Instead he was allowed to leave, but only when it got dark and his innocence stolen from him.

When he walked home with a black eye and a bruised rib, his father was waiting for him. He was furious and was going to let Gary have it when he saw him. That was until he saw the injuries. He repeatedly asked what happened and what was wrong, but Gary just cried into his chest until he passed out.

Gary refused to tell his father what happened. He was too afraid that if he did then his father would hate him and the news would reach his teacher. So he took the worst path possible and cried out his pain.

This went on for two weeks and his teacher would constantly hold him after class and recess just to do what she had desired to do since meeting Gary. She knew how wrong it was but didn't care since it felt so amazing and wonderful. She didn't even care about getting caught as she kept him well after night just to do her sick deed.

After Gary went home for the final time he was in the worst state he could be in. He went inside and his dad made the same spiel about telling him where he's been going at night the past few weeks. Gary shrugged it off and walked to his room with no emotion on his face. He was empty off all the things that made Gary himself. That teacher stole it all away from him the past two weeks.

He walked into his room and closed the door behind him. He leaned against the wall and thought about what happened before he left. The longer he thought about it the more he began to slide down the wall. He hit the floor and covered his eyes and mouth so his sobs didn't reach his father.

Gary looked around his room teary eyed and everything that he enjoyed was all blurry and disaturated from his teary eyes. He rubbed his eyes and the first thing he saw was his remote controlled car charger. Whenever he would finish playing with it he would put it on the charger. However, the latest events made him forget to even do that, so it laid in the middle of the floor as the most desired thing in the room.

He grabbed the cord and unplugged it from the wall. He stared at the black cord that was almost as thick as his finger. There was only one thing he could do with this thing and it put a half smile on Gary's face.

Wrapping the cord around his neck he blanked out for good. His eyes were long gone, the eyes that shined a brilliant blue like his late mother. When there was enough wrapped around his neck to hold on to, he breathed what he thought would be his last breath.

He pulled on the ends of the charger and the cord began to squeeze his neck. It hurt him like hell but it wasn't enough to stop him from breathing. He pulled harder and harder, but it still wasn't enough. He hurt himself to an extreme degree, but no matter how hard he pulled it wouldn't stop his breathing.

He collapsed onto the ground and let the cord get loose. He thought he was such a weak person that he couldn't even kill himself right. He sobbed so loudly that his father heard him from his room. He opened the door and asked what happened.

When he saw the cord loosely wrapped around his son's neck, he hurriedly rushed to his son's side. He quickly untangled the cord off from his son's neck and hugged the daylight out of him.

"Gary would you please tell me what's wrong!" His father shouted.

Through his fit, Gary managed to get out one word. He quietly sobbed the word teacher and the rest was unilliterate gibberish. That was all his father needed to hear. He connected the dots and knew what to do.

The next day he kept Gary from school and called down his brother. His brother was extremely rich because of his unethical and highly illegal business. Despite who he was though and what he told his son two years ago, he cared about Gary.

When he told his brother about what he found out, his brother offered a very much illegal way to handle the situation. He declined the offer but offered up another solution. His brother thought about it and said he'd send the money and there was no need to pay him back.

Gary's father decided the first best course of action was to call the police on the teacher. They showed up to her home as she was making dinner for her husband and daughter. When she opened the door they were immediately putting her into handcuffs. As she was being dragged out she looked back one last time at her family.

Then the next course of action was to sue the school for even letting that teacher get hired in the first place. After the jury roled in favor of Gary's father they got a million dollars owed to them by the school. All that was left was to attend the trial for the teacher.

When she was proven guilty and taken away by the police she looked at her husband one last time. He scowled back at her. The person he loved and married was gone, replaced by a replica that only acted like a gentle person. Then why did his heart break when he saw her walk away in cuffs.

Gary's father was at the entry of the court building. Gary was reading a book as the court went on. They were about to go until someone called for them.

"Mr. Sullington!" Gary's father turned to see the teachers husband walking toward him with his head lowered.

He told Gary to wait in the truck for him. Gary nodded and left the room. However, he was too curious about what was going on so he stood outside the door and eavesdropped.

"I am so sorry for the damage that my wife had caused." The teachers husband quickly said trying to finish as fast as possible so he could forget about her.

Gary's father looked at the man that stood before him with a face of genuine regret and sorrow. He was one hundred percent certain the man's apology was genuine, but he could tell that there was still a trace of hurt feelings and malice toward him.

"I mean she may be my wife but," The teachers husband continued. "but my daughter lost her only female role model."

Gary could hear the man break into sobs from behind the door. Gary's heart froze and his breathing stopped. In a matter of a few months since this stuff all started not only did Gary feel like he brought a rift in between him and his father, but he felt like it was his fault for breaking apart a loving family.

"At the same time she's a monster." The husband spoke in between muddled breaths. "So why do I feel so angry that the world took her from me. She's the person I fell in love with in college. She was a girl that would donate to the local childrens hospital. So why did she do this."

That was the final straw. The man finally broke down into a wail that he was glad his daughter wasn't around to see. Gary's father watched it with saddened empathy and feeling as if he could relate to the pain somewhat.

As for Gary, he finally began to head toward the car as soon as the mental breakdown began. Although it was of no way Gary's fault as to what happened, he felt almost like he broke a family apart by telling his father. He felt like he could have stopped all of this if he was just strong enough. If he could only push back, then people would leave him alone and stay away.

After a week passed Gary's father decided to send him to his uncle's place. Despite his hatred toward his brother, it almost felt as if there was a unidentified voice in his head screaming for him to do it. In the end he made the excuse of it being to get Gary away from his past, but after Gary left, a hole opened in his chest so deep his heart was exposed.

Gary traveled by plane with an escort that his uncle sent to retrieve him. The escort would rarely talk and kept his thoughts behind the dark glasses and hat he wore to hide his face as much as possible. Anytime Gary would ask him a question he'd say the boss will answer anything he asked.

Two days passed with an airplane ride and a day in an inconspicuous motel, Gary finally arrived in the city that his uncle worked in. At the time he had no clue what job his uncle had, but his father always told him to stay away from his uncle whenever he was around.

The escort made a call as soon as they left the motel and a small red car with tinted windows pulled up. They both headed in and the car left the motel lot and drove into the city.

An hour passed and the car parked in a mall parking lot. There were several people heading in the mall chatting about what they'll buy and how they'll spend their day. The escort opened the car door and ushered Gary out and had him follow him.

Several minutes of walking through the mall they came across a shoe store. It wasn't as busy as the other places, but there was enough people in there to call it a business. They headed inside and the cashier immediately spotted him. He said something to the person at checkout and left with a fake smile.

The cashier and the escort spoke for a bit as Gary looked at the many shoes that decorated the store. Finally when they were done discussing, the escort waved at Gary to follow them.

The cahsier took a key and gave it to the escort with a smile and wave. The escort went behind the register and entered a door that read "employees only." Gary quickly followed as they entered a hallway with many dissecting rooms.

They walked all the way to a door in the back.

Gary looked at the sign on the door. It was supposed to read bathroom but the "a" was replaced with an "o." The escort took the keys and opened the door with a rusty creak. Inside was a normal looking bathroom furnished with both a toilet and urinal. The escort pushed Gary in and went to close the door behind him.

"Knock on the toilet three times." The escort said closing the door and leaving Gary by himself.

The only light source in the room was a dangling lightbulb overhead with its wires exposed. The wires looked almost as if they were ready to snap at any moment. The light would occasionally flicker basking the bathroom in darkness for a split second until turning back on only to flicker a second later.

Gary looked at the toilet that the escort told him to knock on. There was no water in it and the bowl was stained with rust as if it hadn't been used in years. Gary messed with the knob that flushed the toilet and it was so flimsy it came right off. He quickly placed the knob where it was but it faced at a weird angle.

Finally he did as he was told and knocked on the toilet three times. Nothing happened as Gary stood waiting for something magical to happen. He began dreaming lately for something to happen to take him to another world. He would imagine monsters and people that he would play and fight with.

A constant person kept on popping in his head anytime he thought of it. A girl with auburn hair around his age would show up and together they would go on an adventure around the entire make believed world. It was all a dream, however, but he so wished to get away from real life. In some moments Gary woild wonder if the nightmares he dreamed at night were what he should actually be afraid of.

A minute had passed and nothing had happened. Gary went to knock again, but the sound of footsteps sounded from the other side of the wall. He stepped back as the toilet began to move along with the wall. From the other side stood his uncle, Henry Sullington.

"So you finally made it." Henry said with a cocky glare.

His uncle was a tall well dressed man in a white suit and red and black striped tie. His baige pants were loose so Gary couldn't make out his legs and he wore black shoes that looked as if they were crushing his feet.

His uncle waved him into the other side of the wall. As Gary came through with small cautious footsteps the door began to close behind him. They walked down the corridor as Henry was asking him questions.

"So do you have a girlfriend?" Henry asked.

Gary shook his head and Henry tutted at the answer.

"Everyone deserves an actual relationship, even awful people like myself. They don't deserve what you got."

Henry would keep on asking questions that seemed to have little purpose at the moment then he would reveal it as some sort of life lesson. That was something his uncle was best at. He could even turn someone's favorite color into a reason or consequence of their personality.

They came upon a large red door that broke up the bleekness of the hallway. With one large swing of the door they entered Henry's office. It was a plain room with a red carpet and brown desk at the back of the room. On both sides of the desk there were two large bookcases that took up the wall.

Henry quickly leaped into his chair and spun a three sixty before stopping and staring at his confused nephew. He looked around the room as if he were a newborn that just came fresh from the womb. Curiosity streamed through him like a black cat.

"Do you want to know why you're here?" Henry asked.

"I'm here because Dad thought it would be best to be away from home." Gary answered.

Henry messed with a pen on his desk trying to think of something to say. When nothing witty came to mind he shrugged.

"Okay then let me rephrase my question" Henry leaned forward on his desk. "Do you know why I'm excited you're here?"

Gary thought for a second then shrugged. He had no clue where Henry was going with this. Henry leaned back into his chair and began to chew on his pen.

"The reason I'm glad you're here is because of your ability." Gary's eyes widened when he said that.

"My ability?"

"Yep, let me set the scene for you." Henry stood up and moved around acting the events he was describing. "It was twelve or so years ago. I was a poor broken man with bills to pay that I know I couldn't keep. I was about to be evicted and as soon as I walked into the gas station and saw lottery tickets, I thought why the hell not.

"I went back home with the highest prized ticket. It was for a half billion, in other words five hundred million. Imagine my shock when I won that bad boy. Also imagine my shock when just a minute later after realizing I was a millionaire, I get a call from my dear brother that my nephew had just been born. However, poor Linda died what a shame."

Gary balled up his fist at the mention of his mother's name. Henry saw him, and instead of fearing or preparing to attack back, he laughed.

"That's the kind of anger I'm looking for my boy. Anyway I went to cash it in and normally how these things work is that there are multiple winners amd they share the earnings, but not this lucky man. There were no other winners for this prize so I kept everything. I became what I always wanted to become, a loan shark with a terrifying reputation that people would never want to mess with.

"Then you go off and many things happened to you and the people around you. You don't know how differently my brother acts when you're involved with stuff, it's like he's a different person entirely. Your ability is to change the parts of the universe that you want at any moment; you know how beneficial that is to me."

Gary thought back to all the moments someone changed the way they acted or behaved anytime he was included. The idea that he was somehow behind that was absurd, but at the same time why else would he be here with a loan shark of all people.

Henry saw the realization spread across Gary's face. It was the realization that he needed.

"So lets make a deal." Henry held out his hand. "You work for me, and I'll help you fulfill any wish you desire."

Gary thought about any wish he wanted at that moment. Thats when the conversation that both his father and the teacher's husband had flashed through his mind. If only Gary was strong enough to push away his teacher's advances then nothing would have happened. If only he was strong.

"You got a gym I can train in?" Gary asked. Henry's wicked grin widened as Gary held out his hand.

"I own several in this mall. Take a pick." They shook hands solidifying their deal.

To Gary at the time he saw the deal as an absolute win. If he could become tough enough to keep people away from him then he didn't care what his darling uncle had in store. Poor poor naiive Gary.

After a year with his uncle, Gary got his first job. He was to collect a debt from a man living in an apartment complex. The details of what would happen if he didn't comply was left with the other debt collector going with Gary. Of course he knew the consequence would be either a severe beating or even death, but the little he thought about it the better.

What cheered Gary up a bit was the fact the man came to his uncle on his own to collect a loan he knew he couldn't pay, so Gary didn't need to feel like a shit stain for giving them a visit.

They pulled up in front of the apartment. It was a rundown blue building with paint chipping off and the stairs were missing a few floorboards. The entire place was a safety hazard, but they were at the part of the city that was rotten and spread with homeless so no one cared to fix it.

The man was on the second floor in room ninety. Both Gary and his partner walked up the stairs as they creaked from years worth of neglect. The smell of mildew and rotting trash wafted to Gary's nose causing him to hold his nose shut. He hoped to get this done quickly so he could go back to his workout routine.

They made it to the second floor and the second door to their right was the fated room ninety. The door was a wooden door that looked like it had mold growing out of it. It seemed as if it hadn't been cleaned in months.

Gary's partner walked up to the door and held out his fist. He knocked hard causing the door to nearly shake off it's hinges.

"Freddy, buddy! I know your in there!" He shouted.

There was no sound on the other side of the door. The only thing that made the way to Gary's ears in the morning was the sound of cars driving on the road to wherever they were heading. Gary's partner knocked again, this time making a dent in the door.

"One last chance pal. You got to the count of five to open this damn door before I do!"

He counted silently in his head as he waited for any sign of life on the other side. When nothing happened he sighed dissappointed.

"Stand back kid."

Gary backed away as his partner brought his leg up to his waist. With one big kick the door flew off the hinges and fell to the floor picking up dust. He quickly walked into the room as Gary was busy coughing dust out of his lungs.

He heard shouting from three people in the room. When Gary was finished coughing he looked in the room and identified the noise. His partner was picking up a man by the throat and holding a gun to his head. A woman laid on the ground unconcious supposedly after trying to help out the man. Finally a young girl sat on her knees crying into her mothers chest.

They were all wearing tattered clothes and looked pale. Their bodies were malnourished and hungry for even a crumb of bread. The man was as light as a feather and didn't put up much of a fight. There was nothing he could do.

"What did you spend that fucking money on?" Gary's partner shouted.

"I spent it on this apartment and. And."

"And what?" He pit the barrel to the man's head harder making him moan in pain.

Gary could do nothing except look in horror at the carnage he was witnessing. The girl looked up at his partner and put on the best pleading eyes she could offer.

"Please don't hurt daddy." The girl pleaded through her tears.

He looked down at the little girl and at his hand with the gun. His grip slightly softened and his arm lowered an ounce. Gary breathed a sigh of relief thinking that his partner wouldn't go through with it.

All of a sudden he raised the gun back to the man's head. "Sorry kid." He said with regret brewing in his soul. "Gotta learn what the world is like some day. Today's your day."

He looked at the father's eyes with a rage that couldn't be quelled. "Once you get to hell, apologize to your daughter you shit."

With a final brief moment of hesitation, he pulled the trigger and that was the first day Gary became familiar with the color red.

Later that day he learned what the man spent the money on. For the short of it, mostly drugs. He spent nearly a thousand dollars both buying and producing drugs with that money. His wife would make the stuff while the father bought them. Sometimes they would even give some to the daughter so when she was taken in an orphanage it was discovered she was an addict. Even worse, according to Gary's uncle, she'll inherit her father's debt once she turns eighteen.

That was when Gary truly learned that he didn't even have to be in the same city for his effect to reach people. Because his universal ability allowed his uncle to win millions, he became a loan shark whos money allowed those people to carry on an addiction.

Gary kept on his workout routine for a few years. He would even skip school if he had wanted to just so he could get a few more reps in. Finally he was strong enough that he could take down several grown men at once.

The strength was really needed as well cause as soon as he turned seventeen something strange occured. Every girl decided to throw themselves at him whenever they saw him, and every guy unanimously decided he was the worst person in the universe. People kept ambushing him and Gary would disguise it as him hunting them down so they would leave him alone. However, no matter how much he beat them they would always return with more.

Present day and Gary sat in an interrogation room. The officer in front of him was a nice woman that never once showed any sign of the effects on her. She drank from a cup of coffee in front of her as she was asking him questions.

"This is the fifth time you're here in the past three months." She took a sip of her coffee and looked at him menacingly. "If the higher ups will let me to lock you up, I would have done it on spot, however, you seem be a special case to them."

"Not like I wanted to be a special case." Gary said without a hint of regret for what he did.

"Well I guess they just don't want you beating the other prisoners half to death. Those kids you sent to the hospital were in pretty bad shape you know."

No reaction from Gary whatsoever. He sat with his head down looking at a random wall. The officer kept a close eye for any sign of weakness from him, but he kept his emotions tight on his shoulders.

"If it was just plain self defense I would call you a good kid going down the wrong path. However, what you did to those kids after they were already down wasn't just plain self defense. That's something only monsters are capable of."

The officer kept trying to pick at Gary to no avail. She even wouldn't have minded making him mad enough to knock her unconcious cause at least then the higher ups would think wisely. However, nothing happened for the entire duration he was there. Instead he was dismissed and someone was outside ready to pick him up.

Gary stood and stretched his worn muscles. Sleeping in a jail cell really made his back feel worn out. He already knew his way around the place, but the officer still followed him since he wasn't allowed to be alone till he left.

They headed to the entrance and the person waiting for them was Robert, the man that Gary worked with ever since he became apart of his uncle's job. He waved at Gary as he was appearing around the corner.

"Gary, your uncle wants to have a chat with you." He said when Gary came within whisper range.

Gary sighed and already knew what his uncle was planning on. Getting in the car they drove off to the mall in silence. The sound of car horns and people talking on their phones filled up the empty noise.

Two hours later and Gary stood in front of his uncle's desk. Henry was beginning to show some grey on his head and his well kept appearance was starting to falter somewhat. As soon as he saw Gary, his face reddened with anger but he still managed to keep himself in check until Robert left.

"Every fucking time you get sent to that station, the cops get one extra reason to come after me!" Henry began yelling at the top of his lungs. "They don't care about me unless I or my people make a scene. The more you do this the more police I'll have at my doorstep!"

Gary looked up at Henry and balled his fist. Henry saw that and he feared what next action his nephew would take. One punch from him and Henry would need to be sent straight toward an ER. Granted he had hired professional surgeons, but he still didn't want to take time off.

"You're a monster you know that." Gary said with a deep growling voice. "You took people's lives away and you even take what little some have left. Worst of all you turned your own nephew into a monster!" Gary shouted with tears beginning to form.

Henry sighed and placed his hand over his eyes. He's heard enough bullshit for one day and he was exhausted.

"You want to know real monsters." Henry began. "A really monster is someone who knows they're doing awful things, yet they do nothing to stop themselves and continue hurting others."

Gary stood silently with nothing else coming to mind. He let his fist drop and lowered his head. Henry was glad to still have a working jaw by now.

"Now that your tantrum is over I need your help with a job. Go with Robert and he'll bring you to the next debtor owing me." Henry waved Gary out and he reluctantly left.

Gary left the bothroom, as he calls he, and met with Robert who was waiting directly outside the shoe store. Robert nodded for him to follow and they made their way out to his car.

They got in and began driving down toward their destination. The traffic was heavy that day and there was no absence of car horns and people walking the streets. Everything was as it should be.

"Whos the next one?" Gary asked.

Robert stopped at a red light that turned at the last minute. Gary shot forward as they stopped abruptly and several car horns blasted behind them.

"Some man tried to open a resteraunt with a few thousand dollars. We didn't know it at the time but the man was bullshitting about his experience. Now we're just going to collect his dues."

Gary already knew that if the man had the money he would of already paid up. This wasn't a collection, this was a beating or killing. The light turned green and Robert sped forward as much as he could until he met with the tail of a truck. They slowed down and went back to doing normal city speed.

"Anyone else at home?"

"Not as far as I know. Daughters at school and the wife works day shift."

Gary was relieved that at the very least no one else would have to see what was about to happen. The day when he saw the hope for a great and fair world leave that little girl's eyes all those years ago was burned into his skull. He saw even more faces like that after, but the first time really stuck out to him. At least he could have a break today.

An hour passed since Gary and Robert left the mall. At the home they were set to arrive to in a few minutes, the man they are heading to kill was making preparations. He got word that those stick up's boss was planning on killing him that day thanks to an extremely lucky neighbor of his somehow managing to overhear a conversation.

Lighting his oven and grabbing an expensive timed lighter he got as a present by his sister a few years ago, he set up his elaborate suicide. He set the timer for ten minutes so he could call his wife for the last time.

Heading to his room, he pulled out his phone and dialed his wife's number. The ring went on for a few seconds until she finally picked up. He sighed with relief since now the last words to his wife won't be "see you when you get home."

"What is it honey, and make it quick I'm busy."

Ah yes the overworking woman she was wants him to hurry. He always told her that she deserved a break, but she was so tied to her job she never gave it a second thought. At the very least whenever she was home he always tried to make it the best home she could walk into.

"Yeah, I just wanted to let you know how much I love you."

He heard a sigh on the other side of the phone. "Really, thats all you called for? Usually when you call me during work there's an emergency."

"Well I guess there will be one." He heard a confused what on the other side of the phone.

He told her everything about where he got the money for his failed resteraunt, his numerous debt, and what was about to happen to him. As he spoke more and more he began to break down. His calm and determinant demeanor devolved into a crying mess. His wife began to pack up her things as he heard her tell one of her coworkers to call nine-one-one.

"I'm sorry, but I bought you two tickets across the country so you can get as far away from here as possible."

"Shut up about that and turn off the dann oven!" She shouted at him.

He heard the one minute beep of the lighter in the kitchen. His time was coming to a close, but at the very least no one else would have to get caught up in his mess. The smell of gas began to fill the house making his head hurt. He even imagined hearing the front door open his head hurt so much.

"Don't worry. None of you will be coming with me and my mistakes will end with me."

Finally his wife screamed something that he couldn't hear. It was something about the school, but he couldn't focus. His daughter stood in front of his bedroom door covering her nose.

"Daddy why does it stink in here?"

His mind froze as the decisions that led him to this moment finally began weighing upon him. The five second alarm shouted and his mind cleared for a brief second for him to grab his daughter and hunker over her.

Then there was a loud bang and seering fire.

Nearby, Robert turned the car down the final turn that would take them to the debtors home. It was a quiet suburban area, a place ripe with people that would snitch if they found out what they were about to do. Thankfully Robert brought skii masks with him so they didn't need to worry on that front. Even still the universe would probably make it so people would look away at just the right time.

However, as they turned the corner a large explosion blew the roof off of one of the houses. Robert cursed and sped down the road toward the house now on fire. They stopped the car directly parallel to the home.

"So much for the money. The debt will be passed on to the wife at least."

People began exiting their homes and looked at the blazing mess. Another car sped to the home and stopped so abruptly the tires picked up smoke. The driver door shot open and a woman ran out of her car and tried to enter the home. One of the neighbors held her back before she could burn herself.

"Let me go, my daughters in there! Let me go!"

Her cries were so blood curdling that Gary and Robert couldn't let their eyes leave the scene.

Gary heard the mother's crying out for her daughter as she desperately tried to break from the neighbors grasp. Gary thought back to the moment when he saw the young girl's soul leave her body as she realized what such a cruel world this place was.

This was a place where loan sharks prayed on the helpless and police let them go since trying to arrest them would cause more trouble than worth. This was a place where parents will dope up their children and then leave them for an orphanage because of their awful choices. This was a place that allowed someone like Gary to exist.

He didn't want to see someone else's hope leave their body. He wanted that hope to at least shine in one person until their inevitable death at the ripe age of eighty. The suburbs was near a river that cut across the city, but there was enough ground for him to climb down and up quickly.

"Robert," Gary held out his hand. "Give me your jacket."

"Why?" Robert asked suspicious of what Gary was thinking about doing.

"Just do it!"

Robert wanted to resist, but no matter how much he tried he felt tempted to just do what Gary asked. He took off his jacket and handed it to Gary who took off running out of the car and toward the river.

With one quick dip into the water the jacket was completely soaked. Putting it on, Gary ran toward the blazing house. People tried to stop him but they were too weak to keep him at bay.

The house was blazing and even with the soaked jacket Gary felt like he was being microwaved. He looked around for any sign of life. No luck in the kitchen he ran down the hallway, his heart beating a million beats per second.

Gary made it to the master bedroom where he saw a man with a board lodged in his back hunkering over something. When Gary called out the man moved a bit and he could see a ten year old girl underneath him. He walked up to the man and tapped him on his shoulder.

"You've done enough. Now move so I can save your daughter."

The man was reluctant. He had no clue who this person was, but he knew that if he didn't let his daughter go then she'll burn with him. He moved out of the way and layed on his side. The board hit something behind him lodging it deeper into his gut. He yelped as more pain shot across his body and blood littered the floor.

Gary grabbed the girl who was barely concious at this point. He began making his way toward the front door. Once he leaves this place he can get back to doing his job.

What did his job entail though. Ruining the already ruined people's lives. His very existance was a curse on people and every waking moment he'll end up making someones day signifycantly worse. He's killed and ended people's hopes that hope was nothing but a concept, a fictional thing that can only be perceived.

Henry's words shot through Gary's mind. A true monster is someone that knows they're a monster but doesn't do anything to stop themselves. Now that Gary thought about it, this would probably be the only heroic thing he'll ever accomplish.

The front door was right in front of him. The daylight was so blinding that it looked like nothing but a white tunnel. This was the last moment. He sat the girl down and stood her on her feet. She looked confused and scared, but she wasn't crying. She still had a bit of a soul left in her eyes.

"Listen to me." Gary said. She looked at him waiting for his order. "I want you to run outside and tell those people I'm going to save your Daddy, alright?" The girl nodded and ran out into the blinding sunlight.

Gary stood silently thinking if he truly made the right choice. Then again did that really matter. If this was a right or wrong choice it's not like he'll find out.

He walked down the hallway and took the jacket off and threw it onto the ground. The heat became unbearable, but nevertheless Gary smiled as he walked into the master bedroom.

The man was still alive but barely hanging on. He waved at Gary as soon as he saw him then began coughing into his hand. Drawing his hand back he spotted specks of blood littered on his palms.

"Just saying if you want to save me then it's too late." The man said with a grin.

"Why the smile?" Gary asked. Things began crashing in the living room as the fire started to build up in strength.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Alright I'll go first. I'm just smiling since I can finally repent for my sins."

The man nodded understandably. If Gary hadn't arrived then he would be carrying the sin of accidently killing his daughter.

"I'm smiling since a hero saved my daughter."

Gary couldn't help but laugh at the idea he was any sort of a hero.

"Trust me I'm no good person. This is the first time I've done anything good my entire life."

The man laughed then coughed, spraying blood all over the room. The master room door broke off it's hinges and burst into flame.

"If you saved my daughter and kept me company during my death I'd call you a great person no matter the shit you've done."

Tears tried to work their way into Gary's eyes but his tear ducts were beginning to dry up. All he could feel was overwhelming sadness and gratefulness of his words.

"What's your name?" The man asked.

"Gary Sullington. Yours?"

"Frederick Delaware. I know I'm named after a state so what."

They shared another laugh. Gary blinked and looked at Frederick who was leaning against his bed. The life had gone out of his eyes, but the soul was intact through the entire deed.

The fire began to build up in the room, but there was one thing Gary had to do before he died. His skin was already turning red so he didn't have much time left.

Gary stood up and walked toward a dresser in the room. He took out a pocket knife and began carving. He didn't have time for full sentences so he wrote his message as short and sweet as possible. Flames licked at him as he carved each letter into the dresser. When he finished the message read "Pardon this family from debt."

The dresser could burn away and hide the message, but if there was anything in the world that Gary knew could keep this thing alive, it would be his luck. He sat back down and rested his head on the dresser as flames covered his body.

It burned so bad and his entire body screamed in pain, but Gary was happy. He couldn't remember the last time he was truly hurt like this and it made him realize he still had a soul.

With one final wheeze of a laugh, Gary's light vanished and disappeared into the darkness.

The universe had parted of its greatest prisoner and everyone felt it. No one knew where the feelings came from, but it was a synchronized feeling of melancholy and sadness that washed over everyone.

Gary shut his eyes and darkness was all he knew. But then his eyes opened and he was greeted to a whole new world. Death wasn't his final destination. It was his turning point.

Gary saw only darkness. It was as if he had blinked for an extra long time, but the darkness came and passed within mere moments. The heat of the blaze disappeared and was replaced with a new sensation. A sensation of calmness and solitude.

Gary took in a breath which confused him. If he was dead then how could he breath, or was he just passing through the memory of taking a breath. When he took in more nutritious air he finally realized this wasn't just a memory.

He opened his eyes, eyes that Gary thought would never be opened again. He was facing toward a blue sky, but there was something wrong. The entire air above him was masked by a large shroud of smoke. At first he thought that someone managed to bring him out of the house before he burned to death, but the lack of pain and his ability to move made him doubt that possibility.

Gary sat himself up with no trouble at all and took a look at his surroundings. To say he was shocked at what he saw was an understatement. All around him there were skeletons of unknown animals, burnt trees and grass showing no life at all, and the smell of rotting corpses hanged in the atmosphere.

Gary had no clue where he was or how he even got there, but he was certain of one thing, he needed to find a way out. He stood up and stretched his back. His body was in top shape and when he looked down at his feet he realized something.

For one thing he was completely *****. There was no clothes protecting his bare skin and his body was on show for all to see. At least there was no one around to see him in that state.

Another thing he noticed was that there were black markings all over his body. The markings snaked their way from his feet all the way to his eyes. He touched them, but it didn't feel unnatural. The markings felt like normal skin to him and outside of his appearance it didn't affect him in any way.

Still he was worried about how he managed to end up in a ruined place like this. At first he thought maybe he ended up in hell and there was indeed a life after death. The faint glimpse of a blue sky over all that smoke was what made him disregard that idea though.

Gary began walking around and searched for clues as to where he was. He thought if he could identify one of the burnt trees or plants then he could come up with a basic idea as to where he could be. After a while of checking every burnt tree he came across he couldn't identify any of them. They were burnt beyond recognition.

Gary continued onward hoping to accidently stumble on anything that could point him toward civilization. He kicked ashes and messed with burnt bark to entertain himself on a boring journey. He needed to find something to eat quickly too before he starved to death.

From all the skeletons there was probably not a single living creature within miles of him. The burnt ground was all that surrounded him as far as his eyes could see. If there was any animal alive then they had to be suffering a great deal from whatever fire caused this.

Nothing was in Gary's sight except for smoke and ash. He's been walking for quite a while and his feet never even showed signs of wear. He just kept on moving forward not wondering why he didn't feel hungry or thirsty or tired after hours of walking.

His head was down looking at his feet as they took one step at a time. The pattern of right left tranced Gary until he couldn't look up. His eyes were void of everything except just his goal to keep on moving.

It all stopped when his foot collided on something. It was soft and moved along with the impact of his bare toes. Strangely enough Gary didn't feel any pain from stubbing his toe on a weird object.

At first Gary had no clue as to what even transpired. His eyes were still blank as he stared at his feet. When he realized that he was no longer moving he snapped back to attention.

He saw that he had stumbled onto something in front of him. There was something completely pitch black in front of him. As Gary looked more closely at what his foot hit, he was certain he could see scales. They were rough and somehow his foot remained unmarked despite the scales being razor sharp.

Gary looked up slowly at whatever he stumbled upon. Towering above him was a ginormous boar-like creature. It's tusks went from the sides of its mouthed and curved to a fine point. Fine bristly hairs formed a mohawk running down its spine.

The boar turned and looked at Gary with demon red eyes. Those eyes seemed to stare directly into Gary's soul, freezing him in place. The boar cocked it's head as it stared at the suspicious bald animal. It sniffed the air around Gary and it made a deep growl.

Gary thought that this would be his end. He would die a second time and this time there was no meaning in his death. If he died here it would be pointless and he didn't want to ever go out like that.

Gary began sprinting around the hog as it made a noise that sounded almost a mix of a squeal and a growl. It began to chase after Gary with haste, it's tusks pointed forward like a spear.

Gary didn't let up. He was fast enough to outrun even professional marathon runners and he had enough stamina to run the length of an entire state. He was also sure that he could possibly take that thing down, but what if he couldn't. Whatever it was it was much more capable than normal animals. It may even be strong enough to kill him if he wasn't careful in his approach.

Gary never turned back but he still heard the thunderous running from the boar. He hoped he was outrunning it since it didn't seem to grab him immediately. Gary was about to speed up until he saw something at the corner of his eye.

A long scaly creature with seemingly thousands of legs snaked its way across his vision. The creature was mostly gray with some purple symbols here and there spread out across it.

The creature forked out its tongue and waved it in the air. It turned and saw Gary running toward it. The face was much like a snake with scales, the horizontal eyes, and forked tongue. The creature stood on some of its hind legs and growled. Gary nearly pissed himself in fright as the creature bared its fangs.

He couldn't turn around or slow down since the boar was chasing him, but speeding up would put him in a huge risk of being munched in half. However, there was one thing he could do. It would take some finess, but he was sure he could pull it off.

First step Gary had to take was turning a hard left. The boar turned just as he did and the momentum nearly made it crash into the creature. The creature turned its body and snaked its way toward Gary with its long abdomen following closely behind.

Because of the creatures extremely long body it seemed as if it weren't moving. Gary was running alongside the while staring down at its legs. The legs were moving quickly along with it, but there was some time when the legs would be seperated enough to form a gap.

He waited for the moment to dive. The boar was beginning to catch up to him with the creatures face following close behind it. It was hard for him to focus since the threat of failure loomed upon him.

However, Gary rarely failed and he wasn't going to let his first failure make him die again. Gary kept sharp eyes on the creatures legs. Finally the moment appeared. With one quick dive as soon as the legs split, Gary made it to the other side of the creature.

The boar hit the creatures face as it tried to follow him causing them both to stagger. By the time the creature regained its focus Gary was already too far away. It decided to let that meal go as it settled with the boar that knocked into it, which was now on its side as it struggled to set itself up.

Gary breathed a sigh of relief as he continued to run. If he stopped now then the creature could potentially catch up with him again. So he kept running, not even running out of breath from the constant movement.

That settled it to Gary that he was in some sort of afterlife. It wasn't hell, but it wasn't heaven either. Gary laughed quietly to himself at the thought of him actually going to heaven. The idea was so absurd to him that it became a topic to laugh at.

Whatever this afterlife was though it seemed beneficial as well as taxing. If there were monsters like that everywhere than he would need to constantly be on the move. He had no clue what would happen if he got eaten by one. Would he be sent to another afterlife, or would he just cease to exist all together. Gary thought it was best not to think about that now before he became too terrified to keep on moving.

Gary kept on running ahead as he kept his eyes and ears open for any potential threats. At one point he heard a howl followed by several others. After a few seconds he could hear a death screech that sounded like those bug noises from bad sci-fi shows.

At another point he saw what was potentially a large colony of tiny black bugs. By large, Gary meant large. There was a giant mound of ashes, bones, and burnt foliage that it scaled to the size of a small home for three. He could hardly see the bugs. but he knew they were there. The fact that some parts of the mound was moving around by itself and the vibration from what was probably trillions of bugs made him completely aware of that. Gary got as far away as possible not wishing to be swarmed by thousands of tiny chewing mandibles.

Nothing new came into Gary's sight for awhile. It was all just repetitive ashes, bones, and destroyed wildlife. Monsters started becoming a rarer sight the more he moved though and he held hope that that meant he was nearing someplace.

Gary looked over slightly to his right. What he saw was the beginning of a wild, lush forest that spanned on for almost just as long as his destroyed area did. Gary smiled at the thought of changing his location for even a few milliseconds. He was beginning to tire from the destruction where he started at.

Gary looked to his left and saw something just as fascinating. To his left was a volcanic area that spewed lava from rocks and fire burned on the few trees that were present. To Gary's surprise, although the trees were on fire they didn't seem to burn. It was like they were in an unstoppable time freeze where the tree would forever stay healthy despite the fact the fire was supposed to be killing it.

Gary was already deciding to head to the forest, but he kept in mind to visit the volcano area later. Since this was the afterlife its not like the fire could hurt him anyway, unless it could and he would be putting himself in more danger than he thought. Shrugging the thought off for later he headed toward the forest that still had trees that breathed with life and plants that swayed aimlessly in a nonexistent wind.

Gary didn't have any clue how long it took for him to get to the edge of the forest. Sense of time in this place seemed off to him, almost as if minutes passed by faster despite time seemingly going by the same as ever. Again he pushed his worried thoughts and questions to the side for later. He'll figure out things when he actually has to and he didn't try to over think things yet.

Gary took a deep breath looking at the green, orange, and even a few pink trees within. For some reason Gary had doubts about taking a step into the forest. Seeing it close up filled him with weird and anxious thoughts as if he weren't meant to even gaze upon the forest's calming gaze.

Swallowing his doubts he took a few steps closer to the forest. Gary could hear each step he took on the ashy sand beneath him. A bone cracked under his foot, but it didn't pierce his skin. One more step and he'll be through, but that final step was going to be the toughest to take of all.

With a leap and a grunt, Gary placed his first footsteps within the forest. He closed his eyes and prepared for something to jump out at him. Nothing took a step forward, and Gary peeked one eye open. When he saw nothing except for trees and exotic plants, he opened both his eyes to the fullest and took in the view.

In front of him were several different types of trees in both color and leaf shapes. One tree had blue pine needles, and another was a tree that had orange hexagon leaves. Plants grew out of the ground in clusters, some with their own kind, and others grew close with other species. The whole forest smelled of an exotic scent that filled Gary's sense of wonder.

Gary heard the calls of birds and several other animals as well. He looked closely and saw a tiny red and blue bird fly from branch to branch. He couldn't get a good look at it sadly but just the thought of there being much more tamer creatures here calmed him.

However there was a different sensation that began building. It wasn't an internal feeling, it was more of like he was stepping on something. Whatever that something was it burned like hell.

Gary lifted his foot and saw no sign of any thorns underneath him, nor did he see any sign of his foot being damaged. However, his feet burned as if he took a step onto hot coals. The imbalance of only standing on one foot, and said foot being in incredible amount of pain made Gary loose his balance. He fell and felt such a new and well versed idea on what pain can truly entail.

With screams of bloody murder and his thoughts only being on escaping, Gary jumped up and dived with full force back into his death paradise. He fell face first into a pile of ash and cherished the cool comfort that this place gave him. He stood up shakingly, the pain slowly vanishing, and he looked toward the forest.

That place was more hell to Gary then the actual ash dump he found himself in. He walked away with hard stomps that picked up ash and bone. He was thinking about all the things he could do if he could go over to the forest. He could build a shelter, hunt for food, maybe learn what this place was. Now he had to stick with no material for shelter and he had to walk every single moment now or else he'll be in constant danger.

Gary decided to stick close to the forest's edge though to survey what he could see from the outside. He thought if an animal came close enough to the edge he could quickly grab it and twist its neck. With the volcano on the other side it would be a simple matter to cook.

Even if this was the afterlife and he didn't need to eat, it still would be nice to taste a nice grilled chicken every now and again. He stayed close to the forest and watched on both sides just in case something decided to blindside him and try to take him out.

Several minutes, or maybe it was hours, passed by and Gary noticed something interesting. The volcano and forest had begun to get closer and closer to each other. He had to begin walking diagonally to keep himself from entering the forest. It was slight but they were definitely getting closer together.

Gary could now also see that scale of the volcanoes inside the volcanic region. They towered above everything and it cast a shadow over the already dark landscape. He could still see where he was walking, but now it was going to be harder spotting the smaller monsters in his area.

A few more minutes, hours, passed by. Gary still had no clue how long he had been walking for but he knew it was a long time. His feet were still not anywhere close to tired and he could still walk for even longer. He wondered if maybe he needed to force himself to have a break just in case it was all just delayed tiredness rather than no tiredness at all.

Suddenly, Gary heard leaves rustling in the forest. He began to step back far away from it because the speed at which the noise was going made Gary somewhat frightened at what could potentially be in their.

He stepped back far enough to where he could see trees rustling at the movement. There was a lone movement around several feet in front of a couple of quicker moving creatures. Gary was sure he could hear growls and roars, so he was fairly certain there was a hunt going on.

Gary held his chest and breathed hard. Whatever was in there wasn't after him, but he still kept at a distance just in case. However, a loud scream suddenly called out from the forest. Gary wasn't mistaken when he heard a girl screaming from within the forest.

Gary turned back to look at what was happening and he saw the lone movement of the trees coming straight toward him. He couldn't look away, but he did prepare to run if he needed to. Then again what he heard was a human girl scream, not some monster. He didn't know if he should abandon whoever it was to fend for themselves or help them. If whoever it was came over here, they would be bringing danger too.

The lone person got closer and Gary could vaguely see a girl running toward him through the shadows of the trees. He also saw the beasts chasing her. There was a group of monsters chasing her. The largest was a pink bellied, but brown and black backed creature. Large steel spikes protruded its arms and back and its tail even had a large spike sticking out of the tip.

The large creature held its tail up to its cheek readying it like a sword aiming to cut the girl in two. The two creature following the bigger one was almost an exact copy, except they lacked the back and arm spikes, yet they still had the tail sword.

This was Gary's last chance to either book it and save himself, or stay and potentially get himself killed alongside the girl. He got a good look at the girls face. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as a look of terror buried its way into Gary's heart. His legs shook in place knowing that what he was about to do was suicidal, but nonetheless he didn't want that look of terror to be the thing that stuck in his mind any time he would think "What if."

"Run faster this way!" Gary shouted. He knew it was pointless but he wanted to motivate her just a tiny bit more.

Indeed the girl heard him and she sped up. She gained a few extra feet and was nearing the edge of flora and ash. She made it to the edge and took a leap of faith. She jumped into the ashen region and sped closer to Gary. The monsters were nearing the edge too and Gary was planning on grabbing her and running.

Before she got to him the monsters made it to the edge. Gary prepared to break for it, but then the creatures stopped. The girl made her way to him and hid behind Gary for safety. She was shivering and scared to the point of shock, but Gary wasn't focused on her at the moment.

The creatures stopped right at the edge and began roaring and attempting to enter the area. Each time they stepped a paw in they roared and backed off. Instead they waited at the edge for Gary and the girl to come to them.

They sat and licked their lips, patient for the hunt. Gary looked at the girl and instantly noticed three things about her. For one she was completely nude like him. He could see every inch of her body and Gary hoped he didn't have blood in his body somehow.

The second thing he noticed was the fact she had the same markings as him. There were differences between them though. Her markings weren't black like his, instead she had green markings surrounding her. Her markings covered her privates so it functioned just a tiny amount like underwear.

The girl was an auburn haired, orange skinned, and small girl. She looked to be around a year younger than him, but her small stature made it to where she only reached his chin. She was like a small, helpless animal that was in desperate need for someone to protect.

As much as Gary didn't want that someone to be him, he felt like he had no choice but to keep her safe. He didn't want to see anyone else die because of his actions.

"Are they gone?" The girl asked.

Gary looked back to where the creatures were sitting. They were still there watching them with a murderous glean.

"Yeah, but they're animals so they should go for another hunt sometime soon."

Animals were simple beings. They only exist to exist and in order to exist they needed sustenance. Sometime soon they'll have to give up on them to find simpler prey.

Gary felt a tap on his shoulder and he looked back at the girl hopping from one foot to the next.

"Is it supposed to burn here?" She asked in between gasps of pain.

The fact she was burning here answered one of Gary's questions. He knew it was better to hold off till the answer came to him. People can't enter each others areas or else they'll burn. Since he was in the ash region and this girl was in the forest, that must have meant there was someone at the volcano as well.

Now Gary needed to test something else. "Hop on my back." Gary said crouching down in front of her.

The girl inspected him for a second before sitting on his neck. Gary shivered as soon as she did and he stood back up. The girl yelped in surprise as she suddenly became several feet taller.

"I haven't been on a piggy back ride since I was a child." The girl happily declared. She was enjoying herself seeing the world from a taller perspective for the first time in a while.

"Funny, I never had one." Gary casually threw out. "Your feet burning now? Anywhere else?"

"Nope, it feels great up here." Gary's second question was answered. As long as they didn't physically touch each other's regions then it was fine to enter.

"Whats your name?" The girl asked taking the initiative.

"Gary Fitz Sullington. Yours?"

"Maya Gilmore Buts, and I know what you're thinking but stop it."

Gary was confused on what she meant by that. He asked her and she adamantly refused to cough up what she meant. He didn't care very much outside of a simple curiosity, so he just let it be.

The creatures still haven't left yet and Gary was wondering what was taking them so long. He decided it may be best to just continue forward, but first he wanted to know some things.

"Hey, can you tell me what's ahead of us?" Gary asked Maya. "You got the height advantage."

Maya nodded and looked over the area. She shifted her body as she looked around and that didn't make Gary feel comfortable at all, for more reasons than one.

"I see just more ashes and volcanoes and forest, but nothing out of the ordinary." She then gasped seeing something. "I just saw a pack of monsters tear apart a giant bug."

She began to shake again with the thought of those things coming after them. Gary was getting fed up with her moving constantly. He had no clue how long he could last with her up there.

"You should calm down." Gary grunted through his teeth.

"What is it I'm feeling."

Gary could hear the terror in her voice. She was afraid beyond the point of being normal scared.

"What do you mean?"

"My hearts beating quick, I'm shaking all over, I'm breathing heavily. I don't know whats wrong with me."

Gary thought she couldn't be serious. How could she not recognize the main side effects of fear. The best he could do was begin walking ahead to hopefully take her away from here. Calming her was his first prioroty.

"You're scared."

"Thats what this is?" Maya asked still shaking. If Gary wasn't careful she could go into shock.

"Yeah, how do you not know fear?"

Maya shook her head. She didn't answer outside of head movement. Gary was just as curious about her as he was this entire place he found himself in.

"How did you die?"

Gary asked the question he was wondering since he first saw her clearly. He knew this must have been a tough topic for her, cause how is dying a good one. However, he wanted to know if there was any correlation from how someone died to where the appeared.

Maya was quiet for awhile. The lack of movement from her made Gary wonder if maybe he should've waited for a more appropriate time.

Finally she spoke up. "So this isn't a dream? I'm actually dead."

Maya had a feeling that was the case, but she couldn't accept it. If she woke up, then she'll be able to see the happiest moment of her life. Now Gary told her that she was indeed dead and there was no waking up.

A tear began to stream down her eye. The only negative emotion she knew sprung to life, sadness overwhelmed her. Gary heard her crying and a stream of guilt flowed over him. He sighed and slowed down a bit.

"Sorry, if you don't want to say anything you don't have to."

Maya continued to cry as she was being carried by a helpful stranger. In all of his life, Gary never really met someone who wore their emotions on their belt like Maya. Most people just kept their feelings to themselves until pushed over the edge, yet here was this gurl crying on his back as if that were a natural thing.

"What was the happiest moment of your life." Maya asked through her tears.

Gary didn't really have an adequate answer. He probably could pick any moment when he was younger then ten, but from what he learned as he grew up those memories had a dark shadow cast over them. Any good memory he had also brought someone else misfortune. There was almost nothing to pick from. At least maybe one, hopefully.

"I don't know. What about you?" Gary didn't want the topic of happy memories to be on him, so he made it about her.

"Well there's so much to choose." Way to rub it in, Gary thought. "If anything I'd say it would be when I met Helix."

"Phelix?"

"No, Helix, as in 'heel' and 'ix.'" Maya said that as if she had to have repeated that multiple times.

"Boyfriend of yours?" Gary asked.

Maya nodded and didn't say anything more. He heard her tear up harder as she remembered the love of her life. Gary thought she must have really cared about him to still be thinking of him even after death.

"Do you have any special people?"

Did Gary even have to think on that question. There wasn't a single doubt in his mind to the person he was most grateful to. It wasn't just that he was the only person that cared for Gary, but it was because he was a nice person in general.

"It would have to be Dad. He was the reason I didn't grow up to be a total piece of shit."

They continued walking forward as the fire and flora got ever closer. Gary saw that the beasts from the forest had been stalking them for a while. For whatever reason they still haven't headed off in search of easier prey. Was it hunting for sport or was it just that obsessive.

All of a sudden Gary felt Maya jerk on top of him. He looked up and saw her leaning forward looking at something in the distance.

"You see something." Gary asked.

"Yeah, a giant tree. Also maybe a beach but I can't tell."

A giant tree and a beach? Gary put his head to the test and came up with answers. The tree had to be the central location of this place, and the beach had to be another region. How many regions where there here.

Gary looked forward and saw that he was unable to see it as of yet. However, with just a few steps the top of the tree started coming into view. When a bit more of it came into view Gary saw what Maya meant when she said it was giant.

The tree was absolutely massive. Gary could tell they were incredibly far away, but the tree still took up quite a bit of his view. The leaves seemed to take on a wide range of colors and shapes. No one leaf looked the same as the others.

After a few minutes of walking the full girth of the tree came into view. Not only did he see the entirety of the tree, but he also saw what surounded it. Maya and Gary looked on in fascination at the marvelous landscape in front of them.

Gary woke in the region filled with ash and bones. To the right was a forest filled with life and beauty, while to the left was a volcano spewing lava and rock from its surface. That wasn't all there was though because there was indeed a beach.

However, behind that beach was a massive ocean that spanned for miles. The ocean was to the left of the volcano and lava would ocassionally spill in. The waves reflected a nonexistant sun so the light was a mystery as to where it came from

To the right of the forest was a mountainous region. There was a cave heading downward toward whatever mysteries were below. Gary could partially see in the opening and it looked like the cave took a sharp downward drop at the entrance.

That wasn't even close to the real marvel that waited for them. To the right of the cave, and the left of the ocean, there existed an endless sky. The water from the ocean fell into an endless abyss of clouds and mist, and the cave was situated at a cliffside that headed down. The entire region was nothing but clouds and mist and frost from the frigid temperature.

Gary couldn't believe the marvel that he was seeing. Yeah this was the afterlife, but this trumped all expectations he had thought the afterlife could be. Maya's saddened heart lifted seeing the beauty of the regions coming together to the tree. This was truly paradise in the making and no one, not even the monsters that inhabited here, could change that for her.

All the regions came together at the tree that towered above them. It reached so high into the sky it could touch space itself and probably still be even larger. Down toward the base of the tree, there were symbols decorating the trunk. There were three symbols in total, one for every two regions.

Gary wanted to get a closer look so he began walking toward the tree. The symbols were glowing a different color for each one. The one facing toward him was glowing a dark green, the one facing toward the beach and volcano glowed a bright green, and the final one glowed an orange hue.

The symbols were identical in shape even though the lights they spewed were different. The top of the symbol was an upside down "u". Three lines came down from both the middle, left, and right sides of the parabula. The middle one was completely straight while the left and right ones curved at the end toward their respective directions. Finally the bottom had another parabula snake from left to right and connected each of the lines.

As a final touch in the middle of the symbol was the shape of an eye socket. The middle line went straight through where the pupil should be and the ends of the eye met at at the left and right lines.

Gary looked at the symbols for an abnormally long time. He was so entranced in the symbol, as if it was calling out to him. He was so focused he never even heard Maya call for him.

It took her having to squeeze his neck with her legs to get his attention.

"What was that for?" Gary yelled.

Maya pointed to the beach beside the volcano. "Theres a woman at the beach."

Gary snapped away from the symbol and looked toward the beach. Indeed there was a woman standing there looking at them. If she were just any normal woman than Gary really wouldn't have minded. He knew there must have been more people so her presence wouldn't have been a shock.

However, she was doing something so inheard of Gary couldn't do anything but stare.

"Are you seeing that?" Gary asked Maya.

Maya nodded as they stared at the woman's "clothes." At least it acted as clothes but what it really was was a thick amount of water covering her body. The water flowed across her as if it were being controlled by something to stay on her.

The clothes were incredibly basic and rudementary though. She wore nothing but a water made bikini bottom. Her top was completely exposed and Gary could see her body in its full glory.

The woman looked around Gary's age, if not older. Her hair was violet in color and her skin glowed a pale white. She looked as if she were imitating what a ghost would look like. She had and ocean blue markings on her body on the same places that Gary had his.

She looked at them oddly as Maya waved at her. Than Gary remembered he had a ***** girl on his back. To anyone without context this would look extremely odd.

Gary took a quick peek to see if there were any beasts in the forest. Surprisingly enough, the same beasts that were waiting for them were still there. They were extremely determined to devour Maya for whatever reason. Why didn't they just find easier prey like any normal animal?

"Hello, how you doing!" Maya waved with a grin.

The woman waved back awkwardly, not even bothering to raise her hand that high or put much emotion into it. Gary could hardly focus with the strange situation he got caught in. Anything could happen at this point and his early reputation with these new people would be on the line.

Gary didn't want to be known as a creep right off the bat. Even still he couldn't just let her go and be eaten then he'll be seen as someone that would let someone die then just being a bit uncomfortable. After all this time he tried to make himself not over think and thats exactly what he ended up doing.

"She'll be alright over there." The woman said pointing toward the forest.

Her voice was completely emotionless. Her stare was blank as she pointed toward a minor clearing in between the tree and the forest. It was as if she had lived a thousand years and just grew tired of it all.

What she had said caught Gary's attention. "What do you mean by that?" Gary asked.

In response she pouted and turned toward the ocean. She walked with careful steps toward the edge as the water washed up on shore. The sand parted beneath her feet and the water covered her ankles as she walked ever closer into the ocean.

When in position she spread her arms wide. She closed her eyes and stuck out her chest, waiting for something. Maya and Gary looked at each other confused at what she was doing. It looked as if she were welcoming herself to whatever was shining the light down on the water. A sacrifice to the gods hiding to the nonexistent sun.

Then it all made sense as to what she was doing. The water began to become unsettled. Splashes of water rocketed into the sky as something below it moved around. Then it made a straight path toward the woman. Whatever it was it was quick and large enough to send water flying back at extreme speeds.

Both Gary and Maya screamed out to the woman to move, but she never did. Her eyes still closed and her feet in the water she braced herself for her incoming demise.

The creature beneath the water sped up for one final time. Then with the grace of a fluid dancer, it leaped out of the water. The creature was long and water gleamed of its black and yellow scales like a donuts frosting. It widened its mouth filled with plenty of razor sharp teeth and prepared to bite down on the woman welcoming it with open arms.

Before it could reach her it fell back into the water. It raised its head above the surface and roared at the woman. It didn't approach any further however and stayed exactly where it was. Something was keeping it back from its prey and it was not happy about it.

The woman opened her eyes and looked at the creature beneath her. It roared at her and tried to get closer, stopped, then retreated back. It kept its eyes on her and even as she walked back to land it never retreated its gaze.

Maya was starstruck by what she witnessed while Gary was confused on why she wasn't dead. It didn't matter on why, but it was still strange to say the least. However, one fact is for certain. The tip of their respected regions were safe zones for them to stand at.

"That was amazing! How did you do that?" Maya said.

Maya seemed like nothing but a curious child in a place filled with monsters and murder machines. Her emotions would quickly switch from sad to excited to puzzled all in a quick few seconds. To say she was a strange person was an understatement.

Gary took another glance at the forest and indeed the creatures never left the forest and entered the clearing. They stayed where they were observing maliciously at them.

"Maya I'll bring you back to the forest." Gary said.

He brought Maya to the edge and he sat on his knee. She climbed down off of his back and hurried to her region before Gary's area burned her feet. She sat crossed legged in the clearing keeping a close eye on the beasts eyeing her from the foliage.

Gary stretched his back and he missed the pop that would sound anytime he did that. It was always the little things he found to be the most iconic parts of him. Now that they were gone he didn't know what to make of himself.

"So, your name?" The woman asked.

"The names Gary Fitz Sullington. And you?"

She took her time to answer. She showed no emotion on her at all. It was getting kind of hard to tell what she was thinking.

"Liyata Gilga Feytown. I am the archmagician of the Royal Logichlat army and a teacher for anyone wanting to learn how to manipulate water."

So she was one of those people. No wonder she had such a distant look on her, she's playing a role. She's a larper and apparently didn't find that this was probably not the best of times to role play.

Maya encouraged her though as she looked at Liyata with amusement. She clapped and smiled as she introduced herself.

"My names Maya Gilmore Buts, and don't you think about it."

Liyata took her sweet time to respond. Gary wondered if she were wondering if they were playing roles too. Or more likely she's just a slow thinker. Everything from her mannerisms down to her voice made her seem like she was either lazy or broken. The world can do that to people especially since they just died.

Liyata sat on her exclusive beach and stared at the tree. She looked lost and her eyes were void of any light. Her soul was already gone, most likely caused by her death. Gary sighed at the thought of what happened to her to take away her hope.

He looked at Maya and saw her eyes still bright and cheerful despite everything. Gary loved to see eyes still enjoying life, or in this case the afterlife, to its fullest. She wasn't letting death wear her away until she was nothing but a hollow shell.

"So how did you two die?" Liyata asked.

Maya stayed silent and Gary had no clue what to even say. He was sure he could tell anyone who asked, after all to him he died exactly how he dreamed, saving someone rather than harming them. However, he found it difficult to even speak up about it. He found it hard to speak and it felt like his throat was clogged.

"To make you feel comfortable I'll tell you how I died." Liyata announced with no hint of hesitation.

Gary couldn't help but feel uneasy of how easily she said it. It was as if it never even bothered her that she was even dead at all. Her voice was just as emotionless as it always been despite talking about her death. What could it have been to make someone say it so easily. Even Gary found it troublesome to talk about his own death.

"I was doing my normal archmagician duty when preparing for war." Liyata started her story. "The rival nation, Gongliopo, was beginning an imperialistic march across the northern hemisphere, and sooner or later they would have reached us. I was preparing the next batch of water magicians for combat, but disaster occured."

Liyata for the first time since they saw her began to show some emotion. Her face darkened and her eyes looked like they could pierce through walls from how ferocious they burned. Her voice deepened as well giving her an aura that she shouldn't be messed with.

"The next day when Gongliopo were so close they were stepping on our feet, I was running to the other archmagicians ready for the first barrage of elements. However as soon as I arrived it turned out that one of the archmagicians betrayed us."

The water behind her was beginning to quicken its flow. The flow of the ocean at that specific spot counteracted the rest so it was making tiny white splashes. As she continued with her story the effect widened and strengthened.

"Sextont, archmagician of fire, was the only person left standing in the war room. Every one else were burning to death or were already dead. We fought and I was sure I would win. My water magic trumps his fire any day. But he managed to buy enough time for other traitors to come to his rescue.

"I was unable to finish him off as the traitors made a fresh hole in my stomach."

In one big watery explosion the water shot up like a fountain and shot water everywhere. It went high up in the sky, some splashed on the volcanic rock, and some went straight down in the endless waterfall. Rain poured from the sky as the water continued to burst upward.

Gary and Maya stood back as the commotion went on. Gary couldn't believe his eyes. He saw as a single angry girl made it rain by just getting angry. As for her story he didn't believe it one bit. She was a larper so she told a make believe story on how she died. Also her being able to freely manipulate water here didn't really help in trying to get the truth out of her. If Gary were to say she was lying then she'd just point to her abilities despite this being a very obvious fantastical afterlife.

The water fountain died down and with it the rain. Liyata's figure sat on the sand hunched over not looking up. The ocean went back to the normal speed its current was supposed to flow at. The beach didn't seem like it took any significant blows. It looked as if every single sand particle stayed where they were despite the onslaught of water.

"Sorry." Liyata said returning back to her lifeless face and voice. "I didn't mean to get so riled up."

Maya nodded but didn't get as close as she was before. Gary didn't say or do anything. He was worried that he may accidently tick her off again, and he didn't want to end up with water filled lungs. Despite her uninterested appearance she constantly gave off an aura that made it seem like she was easily pissed off.

"No problem." Gary said slowly choosing the most neutral words he could think of. "Thank you for sharing your story but I'm still not all that comfortable sharing mine."

Liyata nodded understandingly. "Sharing a scarring experiance as death isn't easy. I respect your decision."

Liyata still stared over at Maya waiting for her answer. Maya shook her head and said no. Liyata sighed and began making pictures in the sand. Gary leaned his head to get a good look but it was nothing but scribbles.

"I have one more question for you two." Liyata said pointing below Gary's belt. "Why haven't you two covered up?"

Gary's face reddened as he quickly covered himself with one of his hands. Maya didn't show much of a reaction. All she did was slighlty twirl her hair and laughed gently. She wasn't even that embarrassed being exposed; she moslty found it as an annoyance rather than something to be embarrassed about.

"Well I don't have anything sustainable to cover myself over here." Gary said coming up with an excuse. "I can't even use material from the other regions unless I get burned."

Gary and Liyata turned to Maya. She looked back at them and shrugged dismissively. She showed no signs of embarrassment and Gary couldn't understand how. Even he was slightly embarrassed having two girls see him in the nude.

"Well its not like there are any others here." Maya said. "And most of the stuff in the forest probably wouldn't work as clothes."

Gary looked into the forest and couldn't help but feel like he heard the dumbest thing ever. There was so much out there for her to use. If she's a nudist she should just say that. How could her saying she's a nudist be even more embarrassing than actually partaking in nudism.

Liyata sighed and looked out into the ocean. She could slightly see the creature that tried to attack her swimming in the space just forward of whatever was keeping it back. The thing was a major nuisance that had chased her all the way to this small beach.

It stared back at her with hungry eyes, eyes that imagined how red and delicious her blood would taste like. Salty, or maybe even having a richness to it. Out of all the things Liyata's done throughout her life she can at least say she's never stooped low enough as to consume blood. Using it as a weapon though, that was something she was highly familiar with.

They both stared at each other, only one of their eyes began to falter. It wasn't the eyes of the hungry blood crazed beast. Instead it was the creature in the water who's eyes faltered. When it realized the killing intent in the woman's eyes it began to turn. It didn't make it. In seconds it was diced into pieces from the force of the water cutting its steel laced scales. Its blood and guts colored the water a deep red as Liyata controlled the water to bring the corpse to her.

Gary saw it all occur from where he stood. Maya was sure she saw something happen, but she was too focused on something in the sky to notice what had just happened. Gary finally decided once and for all that it was best to not get on Liyata's bad side. From where he was it all happened in an instant. He saw the creature's trail above the water move around, until it suddenly turned still. As soon as it did the current began dragging a fresh corpse toward Liyata.

When the first piece of the creature arrived on shore Liyata took note of some things. For first off the creatures can't enter their safe zone unless dead. Secondly that these creatures were made of organic material. That must mean that they have a biological function, yet they hunt for sport and not to mention organic creatures shouldn't belong in the afterlife.

Liyata was about to examine the creatures innards until she heard Maya shout something. She turned and saw her pointing to the sky as Gary looked upward with confusion. Liyata looked up and way high into the air, an avian creature circled over head. Strangely enough the creature kept itself in the confounds of the volcanic region and any time it nearly ventured into other territories it quickly spasmed and turned itself around. It was almost as if it weren't in control of itself.

All of a sudden it screeched so loud it echoed throughout the place. The sound managed to reach them despite being so far below it. Gary looked closely at the bird in the sky. He didn't know if he was turning crazy, but it looked almost as if it were getting closer to the ground. However, both Maya and Liyata said that they saw it coming closer as well.

The wind picked up as the creature grew larger and larger and they could see it much better. Not only did the wind pick up but so did the temperature. The air turned into a destructive fiery gas that would have burnt their skin to a crisp if they were alive. The bird wasn't just a normal large creature either. It was a creature made entirely of fire weaving around the sky leaving a trail of smoke and flame.

Once again the creature jerked and spasmed as if it were trying to regain control. Gary looked closer and saw that there was someone on top of it wrangling it by its neck. It was a man with ginger hair and red eyes. His body was naturally toned as if he had been under a dumbbell by the time he was born. He was as nude as Gary and like the rest had markings. covering him. His markings were a bright red that spread throughout his body.

He wrestled with the living fire as he tried to control it downward by pushing its neck around. Any time it tried to veer off course he brought it back in by squeezing its neck. It didn't take long for them to land and Gary could finally see how massive the creature he wrangled was.

It was the largest creature in scope that Gary had seen. It was probably larger than the long snake-like creature he saw in his area. The bird creature screeched as the man climbed off of it. As soon as he touched the ground the creature took to the sky littering flames and smoke and embers in its wake.

The man looked a few years older than Gary. If he had to guess he'd say the man was in his mid twenties. The man had a presence that screamed for people to not mess with him. From his muscles all the way to the fact he wrestled a skyscraper sized fire bird and won, Gary could tell getting on this person's bad side could cause serious trouble.

The man walked over to the tree and Gary could feel the power in the man's steps. He was extremely confident of his abilities and prowess. Gary was well fit himself, but he could never reach the hights this person set.

He finally reached the tree and he looked around at the three of them. He had a slight smile on his face and his eyes were sizing them up for any potential threats. Finally he set his eyes on Gary and he couldn't help but get nervous from the man's gaze.

The man began to walk over to him. Gary tightened his muscles preparing for something to go down. He was sure that if anything were to happen then he'll be beaten to a pulp. He may have been the strongest person that he's ever met, but there was always a slight certainty that someone else existed that could challenge him. Now that person was walking toward him with a grin on his face.

Out of every man he's met each one of them ended up fighting Gary at some point. They all hated his guts and would always gang up and jump him from an alleyway. This was the first time in a while someone approached him solo, not to mention this person had such a cocky smile on his face.

Before he could reach Gary, something unexpected happened. As he was about to enter the ashen region, he banged his head on a wall. He hit an invisible wall that seperated the volcanic and ash regions. The place where he hit his forehead shimmered a bright yellow and that light made its way down a long wall that spanned the entire edge.

"****!" The man yelled rubbing his head. "Didn't think that would happen."

Gary sighed and relaxed his muscles. Now he couldn't reach him and there was no reason to worry. Even still that brought up an interesting question on how many walls there were.

"You okay?" Maya asked.

The man rubbed his forehead much harder than before. His groans of pain failed to cease as he tried to open his eyes.

"My head is hurting like a bitch." The man complained. All of a sudden he laughed softly to himself. "It felt like I just banged my head onto concrete and repeatedly did that for several minutes."

"That was descriptive." Liyata discerned.

"Thats cause I've done it before."

The man let go of his head and grinned. All of a sudden his danger factor immediately disappeared and what replaced it was a feeling of being able to approach him with anything. It was like if anyone had a problem all they needed to do was tell him and he'd do anything to fix it.

"The names Kiki Kumbala. Nice to meet you."

Kiki went to hold out his hand but remembered what had just happened to him. In the end he settled with a small wave to Gary. He saw Maya and waved at her as well. Then he saw she wasn't wearing any clothes and he ended up staring longer than he should have.

To get Kiki's mind back on track Gary sent Maya to check her side to see if there was a wall in between the forest and cliff. Kiki scoffed as soon as Gary told her to check.

"You're going to let a gentle maiden experience that pain." Kiki scowled. "Be a man and do it yourself."

"I would if I could but if I step over to her side I'll be burnt repeatedly." Gary excused himself.

Kiki mumbled under his breath that that shouldn't count as Maya awkwardly smiled at them. She stood up and made her way to the edge between the forest and cave. She held her hand up to the edge and immediately felt a wall. The wall lit up with a yellow light and started to burn her hand. She quickly let it go and shook her hand getting rid of the pain.

"There's a wall!" Maya shouted.

Liyata stood up and began to walk over to the edge of the ocean and sky. Before she could get close Kiki yelled for her to stop as he entered her domain. He began to grit his teeth ignoring the searing pain his foot was going through.

He quickly made it to the edge and touched the wall. The spot where he touched it glowed and began to burn his finger. He turned and ran back to his volcanic area and fell down on his back taking quick, deep breaths. The pain in his feet and hand still lingered even as he lay down.

"That's how a man should act." Kiki said through pained breaths. "Theres a wall."

Kiki stood back up and stretched for a bit. He asked them what their names were and he had a few things to say.

"So I've heard a few people named Liyata." Kiki said. "But Gary and Maya are two I've never heard in my life."

"Same here." Gary responded. "I've heard of a few Maya's once or twice though they're rare, but Liyata and Kiki are two new ones."

Maya sided with Gary and Liyata didn't put in much of her input. Instead she acted more like a silent observer. She looked all around her, her eyes never resting to inhale any type of information she could. The walls, the burning, the organic creatures in a fantastical reality. They all had to culminate from something, this isn't a place that could exist naturally.

As everyone was doing something else no one noticed the new person coming out of the cave. As soon as the person stepped out into sunlight and saw the other people, he immediately retreated into darkness. He wasn't wearing any underwear and got incredibly dirty down in the cave. He was a person of formality so being seen in this condition was something he wanted to avoid at all costs.

He looked out from his hiding spot and saw the two guys and one girl was nude themselves. They were arguing about names despite being in their most vulnerable condition. In a place with monsters and strange conditions unlike anything he's seen before, being out in the open with nothing to protect them from the elements couldbe costly.

He planned to stay hidden until he saw something that peaked his interest. The girl on the beach caught his eye because of one major thing. She was wearing clothing unlike the rest but however her clothing was just a small underwear made entirely out of water.

He couldn't believe his eyes and his ever curious mind had been caught on the hook. How could someone manipulate water to such a degree. Only the top scientists have the tech to accomplish what she was doing and she wasn't wearing anything to hide the devices. His brain started to come up with theories and hypothesis as to how she was doing that, but the only way to truly know was to get close and examine.

The call for answers was always much more important than anything in this world. He desperately needed to get back to his home to finish his work. The entirety of the world depended on his survival. Maybe these people could know a way out.

Liyata was the first to notice him as soon as he exited the cave. Since she was minding her own business there was nothing to distract her from seeing a man leave the cave and approach her direction. The man attempted to go around the tree by heading through the forest, but he bumped his nose into the invisible wall and began screaming in pain.

He fell on his butt and clutched his nose as everyone turned to look at the commotion. Gary saw that the man was gray haired yet he still looked surprisingly young. His looks gave off as if he were around Gary's age yet he still had a full head of gray hair. His body was covered in brown markings and he was surprisingly scrawny. His ribs were showing as if he hadn't eaten in days. It didn't take a genius to know how he died.

"You okay?" Maya asked.

The man let go of his nose and looked around. He locked eyes with Liyata and turned the other way toward the endless sky. He went over to it and looked down. Shaking his head, he stood back up and pointed toward the water underwear Liyata was wearing.

"Miss, how are you doing what you're doing right there?" The man asked with a bright shine in his eyes.

Liyata pointed to her and the man nodded. She tilted her head like a confused puppy and looked around her. When she found nothing she looked back to the man.

"I don't see anything unusual." Liyata said.

The man pointed firmly at the water underwear. "How are you manipulating water like that?"

Liyata's emotionless face still didn't show any sign of understanding what he meant. She looked down at her water underwear and began picking up the speed of the water. The man looked at it marveled at the sight of her controlling water. Gary could only imagine how wide his eyes would be if he was here during her story.

"It's just magic." Liyata answered.

He kept on staring and got as close as he could without colliding with a wall or the tree. Liyata's face began to reden and she huddled her legs close to her blocking out most of his view. When she hid herself the man shook his head and his own face glowed.

"I am so sorry." The man apologized profusely. "I just wamted to know how you were doing that." He closed his eyes and crossed his arms. "Magic huh, I doubt its as simple as that. There needs to be further study."

The man began to clammer on about some jargon that Gary could barely comprehend. He may have gotten hundreds on all his exams and was naturally smarter than the average person, but that was mearly just the universe giving him something good in the mess of the world he lived in.

"Hey gray head guy." Kiki shouted. The gray haired man didn't answer as he was too busy in his own thoughts. "Hey!"

The gray haired guy finally lifted his head for a second. He saw Kiki looking at him and he grew worried. He was an extremely muscular man and without his inventions he would most definitely lose. He had to talk his way out of this.

"Hello my good fellow. What seems to be the predicament?"

Kiki was confused for a moment trying to figure out what predicament meant. He gave up halfway through and shook his head.

"You gonna tell us your name or what." Kiki said.

"Oh sorry, I was just caught up with something."

The man coughed in his hand then took a bow. "My name is Damiano Dicluse Fopt. I am the head inventor of the Gemino facility and currently working on the Gemino project."

Gary had no clue what the man was talking about. He's never heard of a Gemino facility or project before. Then here this guy was spouting out that as if it was common knowledge. One person came here that happened to be a larper, fine, but two wasn't a coincidence. It felt like all the pieces were there but he couldn't put them all together.

"So what are your names?" Damiano asked.

They got introductions out of the way. Damiano commented on how weird there names were then got back to thinking. He muttered stuff under his breath, but Gary was too far away to hear him.

Gary looked out over to the sky region. So far there had been one person to come from every region. That meant someone was supposed to be coming from the sky region, but how would that even be possible. People can't fly and there was no way that someone with wings exists. Out of all the weirdos here there was no way it could take that step further.

Gary sat down and looked around him. There were already several people here and his expectations were blown away. When he saw the women, he expected them to be all over him like they always were. He couldn't tell about Maya but he knew Liyata didn't much care for him.

Then there were the men. Usually they would take one look at him and immediately dislike him. Some would just hide it to themselves even though Gary could still tell, while others made it clear right off the bat. Again he couldn't speak for Damiano, but either Kiki was good at hiding it or he genuinely didn't hate him.

That was a nice change of pace from woman smothering him and men doing everything in their power to beat him up. It was something that Gary longed for ever since it started happening. Yet Gary couldn't smile. He didn't know why, he should be excited that everyone wasn't out for him. But for some reason it felt wrong. He's lived in those conditions so long that he now that they were gone they were beginning to become nostalgic.

Gary gritted his teeth. There was no way that anything like that was ever going to happen again. He wasn't going to miss it, or even think about it. That was all in the past, it's never coming back, he wanted it to stay as far away from him as possible.

Gary raised his hand and punched himself in the face. Kiki and Maya saw that and asked him if anything was wrong. Gary looked down at his hands. No blood was on his palms or fingers despite the fact he hit himself so hard it should've done something.

"Yeah I'm good." Gary said disappointed.

"Haha I think I got an answer." Damiano shouted.

Everyone forgot what they were doing and looked over at Damiano. He was quietly laughing to himself. He looked like a mad scientist from the way he carried himself. Granted he's an inventor and there was a very thin line from them and scientists. One figures out new things, the other uses those things the scientists discovered to create.

"What did you figure out?" Maya asked.

Damiano stopped laughing and looked around everyone of the others. It looked like he was studying them, prodding for more information. His eyes peered into their very souls and moved around the trash to find the gold.

"I overheard your whole name debacle as well as a few other things." He pointed to Gary. "Tell me, what was your life like growing up?"

"I don't know how to answer that?"

Gary wasn't that fond of his childhood so some random man asking that kind of thing made him speechless. Should he try to dig around for the few good, or tell of the endless terrible. He needed a bit more to go off of.

"What was most around you in your childhood is what I mean. I'll go first as an example." Damiano coughed into his hand and began.

"I grew up in a standard home. Every single second I grew up my parents made sure I knew the truth about the world we lived in. That truth was 'The pursuit of knowledge and technological advancements is everything.'"

Damiano patted the earth below him with his feet. "The very ground I stand on could be used to create wonderful things, things you wouldn't even understand, I think. Schools, colleges, businesses, they all revolved around that same motto.

"Now that I gave you an example give me yours."

Gary had an idea of what he meant now, but it was still hard to figure out what he should say. There wasn't really anything that he could think of that identified his childhood as a whole. There was one thing, but that was more of a concept.

Gary looked around and saw everyone staring at him. Kiki gave him a thumbs up while Maya smiled. Liyata looked as if she were ready to pass out at any moment. He sighed and just said what came to mind.

"The world was a cruel place." Gary began. He got a reaction out of both Maya and Liyata as soon as he said that. "My living situation was standard I guess. My mother died as soon as I was born."

Once he said that he got a reaction out of everyone. Maya didn't look up from the ground, Damiano hummed with curiosity, and he got a sideways glance out of Liyata and Kiki. Strange how everyone reacted. Gary made a note out of that.

"My Dad tried to take care of me but because of something happening when I was younger, he sent me to my uncle. By the way my uncle was a loan shark that killed people for a living. I had to be in his business, and I can't even describe how much I despised it all.

"That's all I'm saying."

Maya stood up so quickly Gary could feel the wind shift. She looked so confused and out of the loop that it made her seem almost off putting. Those eyes full of love for life was furious at Gary's gall to say life wasn't anything other than perfect.

"What do you mean by the world is a cruel place? Its a beautiful utopia that everyone was grateful to live in."

Her voice was pained almost as if she took his story personally. She had a boyfriend and from her innocent nature of course she would assume the world was wonderful. She never had the chance to see it for what it truly was, and Gary was thankful for that. The fact the light never left her eyes for so long was a blessing that so few never got to experiance.

"Okay how about you share your childhood next." Damiano proposed.

Maya nodded. Her usual smile disappeared with a new look of stone faced confidence. She knew the world wasn't as bad as Gary made it out to be. After all she was born, lived, and died in that world. She knew about so many wonderful things that a new feeling arose in her. She couldn't describe it but it made her even more confident that she didn't want to be here.

"I was born into a loving family. Even though my real mom died giving birth to me, my dad and step mom supported me throughout my life. The world was glorious. Everyone I knew was so happy to be alive that we always passed by death as nothing more than a cycle of life as it should be seen as. No one suffered and everyone was glowing with positivity."

Gary couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was like the ramblings of a child that had been sheltered their entire life. He chuckled at the innocence that she embodied. He wasn't angry, instead he was glad that she never went outside and had decent enough parents. Not everyone was so grateful to have that.

Maya saw Gary chuckle at her words. She stared puzzled as he looked down with a smile on his face. That smile was different from all the others she's seen. It wasn't one of joy, but of pained nightmares. Nightmares didn't exist though, they were only a tale that parents said to get their children to sleep on time.

Next Damiano pointed to Kiki. "You're up next."

Kiki smiled and crossed his arms. "Well if you insist." He laughed to himself thinking of something. "Well my life was surrounded by one crucial detail, the fact that if someone doesn't have a strong body then they won't have a successful life."

Kiki flexed his biceps. The veins bulged up as his muscles tightened. Gary had no clue how healthy that even was, but it sure didn't look too comfortable. Despite that his grin never disappeared from his face.

"All of this came from years of hard work and I was considered one of the strongest kicklines alive. No, not just the kicklines, maybe even the whole world."

Kiki finished and began reminiscing about the time in his world. Now that Gary thought about it, how did this man die? He was so buff that anyone even attempting to fight him would end up dead themselves.

A weapon probably, but for some reason he wasn't too sure about that either. Gary was sure he knew what Damiano was getting at now that he heard Kiki's story, and if thats the case then where he lived they valued hand to hand confrontation. A weapon would be going against all their beliefs.

Liyata spoke next without having to be asked. "I grew up with my grandparents. My mother died during birth and my Dad was nowhere to be found. Magic was all my world was about. If you don't have strong magic you don't get anywhere especially since all the high paying jobs required strong magic control.

"If you're getting at what I think you are then that should be all I need to say." Liyata finished.

Damiano smiled a devilish grin. He had stumbled onto something big, something that could potentially mean rewriting the laws of the universe. The fact he was the first to stumble upon this, much less randomly in his sleep, brought him to such an elation that he couldn't fall back down.

"Now there is one final person to answer." Damiano chuckled.

Damiano looked over to the sky region. There was one person for every region, so there had to be someone coming as well. Better yet there was no ground to land on. That would mean they would either need technological enhancements or mutations to be able to stay there.

He was excited for whatever new discoveries this finding could provide. When he gets back to his world he'll find a way to document this event. There has to be a way, and if he can figure out this places secret maybe he could finally figure out the final components for the Gemino project.

A black speck appeared in the sky region. Everyone was looking closely at whatever or whoever it could be. Whatever it was, it was flying up to them quickly enough for the size to increase every few seconds. It grew in detail the closer it got to them.

As soon as it came into full detail Gary had no idea what he was witnessing. It was extraordinary, literally out of this world. Damiano laughed as his hypothesis was basically proven from just the person's appearance.

"Is everyone else seeing that?" Kiki asked breathtakingly.

They all nodded and replied with an astounding yes. What they were seeing was real not imaginary. The thing they saw was a woman flying up to them using two black wing on her back. Her skin was dark which made the cyan markings on her more pronounced.

As like the others she was completely ***** and Gary tried to look for any other distinct differences. Beyond the wings there was nothing else signifying her monsterous side. At least the wings were the most prominent as there may have been more subtle differences.

The woman flew faster and spiraled herself, picking up mist and clouds around her. With one final flap of her wings she made it to ground level with the rest of them. Her eyes were closed and her wings were unfolded completely making up her entire wing span. Her elegance knew no bounds as she towered above them with just her wings alone, wings none of them ever had.

She opened her eyes and her pupils were like that of a normal human, although they were slighlty stretched out almost halfway between human and reptile. Her hair was a midnight black that reached all the way to her shoulder blades. Her arms were half the length of her wings. Her wings curved at the ends to a point like a demons.

She looked like a God or Devil looking down on her subjects. Her wings caught the light and her shadow covered them in darkness. Everything was bending to her will.

She took a wide glance at everyone. Gary wondered what someone like her could be thinking. Did she see them like insects, puny people to be protected or squashed depending on how she's feeling.

Finally her eyes widened as her face flushed with embarrassment. "Don't look!" She screamed covering herself and flying downward.

To say Gary's sense of wonderment was busted as soon as she said that was an understatement. To think that the only girl really embarrased in the nude was the one to look the most monster like. The woman's head peaked up from in between the waterfall and cliff, but she never rised beyond that.

Damiano went to peek over the edge of the cliff, but as soon as he got close the woman's wings unfolded and poked him in the eye. He shouted and grabbed at the eye she stabbed at. Immediately she began apologizing saying she didn't mean to hit him there.

Then all at once Damiano stopped shouting. He let go of his hand and opened his eye. There was no sign of damage at all. It was almost as if she never did anything. His eye was fine with no pain whatsoever. He just yelled from the shock it gave him.

"Are you alright?" The woman apologized.

"Yeah I guess." Damiano responded wondering why he wasn't permanently blind. He deduced it had to be a cause of the world he was in, but how did it keep his eye from being hurt.

Damiano didn't get to close the next time and stood a safe distance away. He held his hands up showing that he meant no harm to her. She looked at him with a flushed face as she couldn't tell if this was a trap or just a harmless gesture.

She looked around at where she now found herself. Everyone was ***** and they had all eyes on her. She couldn't help but think indecent things but that only made her more embarrased. She didn't know if she should feel embarrassed or normal since she didn't know how they all wound up without clothes in the first place.

In the end she swallowed her nervousness and flew up. Everyone was looking and it only made her feel even more nervous. Then when she was at the height where everyone could see her she hid her face in her hands. If she couldn't see them then she had no need to feel awkward about the situation.

"What's your name?" Damiano asked.

She opened her fingers a bit to take a peek. "Evertro Mingus." She responded quickly. She quickly hid her eyes again right after.

Damiano had to choose his words carefully cause one screw up could get her overreacting again. They were all in the same predicament so why feel so embarrassed? Of course he didn't want to come out to preserve his dignity, not because he was embarrassed. There's a difference.

"Listen Evertro, I'm on to a breakthrough and you are my final test subject." Damiano said. "Tell me what was your childhood like. I'll give you an example."

He said the same spiel that he gave the rest of the others about how he lived in a time of science and technological advancement. However he made a single change to his earlier example. This time he revealed that his mother had passed during his birthing. Not before or after, during. The doctors had to do quite a bit of surgery in order to make sure he exited his mothers womb.

That got a tiny reaction out of Evertro. She lowered her hands and her gaze seemed one of immense suffering. It was like the look that many people Gary knew had, one of such trial and wear that they just seemed ready to die at any moment. Even teens, the ones who were supposed to enjoy life the most had carried that glare. It only lasted for half a second until she smiled as she listened to the rest of Damiano's example.

"You got that?" Damiano asked.

Evertro nodded and looked up while twirling her hair around her fingers. She wasn't the best at remembering things so anytime someone asked for something from her past she would need to take the time to think. Sometimes it lasted for a few seconds, sometimes several minutes, anyways it took her a bit of time. For this though since it was so broad it only took her a tiny bit of time to think of what to say.

"Well I grew up with just my Dad and brother. Like you my Mom died when I was born. I was always afraid of the phantoms. They tried to take me and my brother away several times, but my Dad stopped them. Until he didn't."

She went back to that look that screamed out her pain and frustrations in the world. Gary had no clue what these so called phantoms were but it seemed like they must have scarred her good. It wasn't a world of rainbows and daisies, it was one of danger and blood.

"I had to take care of my brother afterward as well as go to school. It wasn't all bad though. I got to save the world a few times."

Although she said that she didn't put her heart into it at all. She sounded as if she were faking her sincerity. She didn't need to hide anything from them, they were dead, its not like there was anything left to hide. Then again this came from the same person who refused to talk about his own death. Gary sighed and decided to just let bygones be bygones.

"Cool cool." Damiano said. "But I need more specifics. That tells me a bit, but not everything. Like what was the basic idea you were taught growing up?" He suggested.

For this one she never even needed to think. It was the thing that her dad, teachers, and leaders preached about throughout the star cycle.

"Death is never the end. Frustrated spirits float around aimlessly and terrorize the living. It is the duty of the P.E.A to exorcise them and lay them to rest."

Everything was silent. No one spoke a single word as they all took in that information. Evertro's appearance and past was definite proof and Gary didn't know how to handle it. There was a reason that people shouldn't be given knowledge like this, their reactions would be incredibly unpredictable.

As for Gary he tried to deny that was a possibility. It wasn't every day a revelation like that came out of nowhere and he had no clue if that meant this was a curse or just another new piece of information. The more he tried to deny the more he couldn't believe in himself. Everything he knew about his very existance became irrelevant.

Damiano laughed and his mouth widened so large Gary could his tongue. He turned from an unsettling man to an absolute insane scientists. Gary didn't know what he could be thinking, but it obviously had some sort of massive effect on him.

"So we aren't living in a universe." Damiano said. "This is all a large scale multiverse. I never thought that I'd possess this information so soon."

Gary staggered on his two feet. Multiverses were something that he's only heard from movies, but this was real. Six of them so there were six universes and each one of them had a different stand out trait.

Gary's universe was one of bleakness and despair where as Maya's was one of hope and joy. Not only were they apart of different universes, but they were paired with their polar opposite. Intellect and supernatural, hand to hand and wand to wand, despair and hope. Something like this was all too coincidental to not have been done for some higher reason.

Evertro snapped her hand up and waved it around. When everyone got their eyes on her she asked a simple question.

"What's a multiverse?"

Damiano didn't know how to respond to that. He was so accustomed to people knowing the same things as him that a question of why had taken him for surprise.

"Well think about it like this." Damiano explained. "The universe you live in is just a tiny part in a grander identity. Most people believe that the universe was all there is, but there was a theory as to the universe being like galaxies, a smaller piece in a big puzzle. A multiverse is just a giant universe compromised of multiple universes."

Evertro was still confused but she nodded as if she understood what he said. Damiano smiled and walked over to the cave entrance. He grabbed a loose stone and brought it back to where he first stood.

Science wasn't as complicated as people would be led to believe, especially when they know nothing. In the early days, science was just people beating two stones together and creating fire. They didn't have the concept of a hypothesis or brainpower to test experiments. All they did was do stupid stuff and record whatever they found.

However, the passage of time complicated matters. It now wasn't just what will happen, but why. The discovery of why led to modern day science and experiments, but it wasn't always like that. Now they were at zero and he didn't have his equipment to discover why. Right now all he needs to discover is what.

Damiano grabbed another piece of stone on the ground and he began to work. Both pieces were reasonably sharp enough and from his experiance he never tired out while in this link between worlds.

"Evertro," Damiano called. "You promise you won't poke my eye again if I approach?"

"Why not you saw me anyways." Evertro muttered.

Damiano smiled as he approached her with the two stones. He wasn't sure if this would work since there were multiple factors that could go awry. The stones could be the wrong type and the tree was obviously mystical in nature, but if he didn't try this then who knows if it would be the right thing to do.

Damiano flicked the rocks together roughly. They made a loud clicking noise but didn't show signs of breaking. He did it again and a spark formed from the friction. Damiano smiled as he asked Evertro to hold out her hands. He gave her the stones and she looked at them suspiciously.

"Can you fly up and see if the tree is flammable?" Damiano asked.

Evertro nodded and flew up as fast as she could. She wasn't going to disappoint people that she just met. She was going to prove herself useful.

As Gary watched Evertro fly up he decided it may be best to figure out a few things with Damiano. First though he wanted to see if the creatures from the forest disappeared. He turned to look and they were indeed gone.

"Maya," Gary called out. "You remember when they left?"

"Yeah they left a few minutes ago, around when Evertro came." Maya answered. "They looked back as if something bothered them then they began chasing it."

Gary couldn't help but find that weird. They stood there the entire time just waiting for Maya to go to them and ignored other hunts. Suddenly they decided to head off on something else that slightly bothered them? There wasn't going to be anything good coming out of that. Gary could just tell.

...----------------...

Throughout the time all six of them were standing talking about their experiences they had no idea someone else was watching them.

A man wearing a gray robe stood on top of a hill in the forest overlooking them. He used the trees to enhace his senses to overhear their conversation.

As he was listening he accidently let his magic get too out of control and accidently flicked a vine at the beasts watching the girl. The beasts looked around for the source of what hit them. When they found the vine they traced the magical energy toward the man on the hill. They stood on their legs and began charging at full speed.

He knew they were coming after him but its not like he had anything to fear. If they ever got close he could dispose of them easily. Meanwhile he had to do his duty and pay attention to everything they were saying.

They don't remember anything. Good, that's exactly how it was supposed to be. The plan worked into full effect and they were completely oblivious. All that mattered now was keeping them here.

The creatures were nearing him with great speed and intensity. He let go of the tree and decided to report everything he knew to the others. The creatures got too close for him to make a calm walk back so he had to dispatch of them.

He clicked his fingers and long thorns pierced out of the ground pushing the earth out of the way. There was one thorn for each and they peirced the creatures in the stomach with such force that their inside began pouring out like a fountain. They each died instantly on impact and their limbs went limp as they hanged in the air.

The thorns pulled them along and buried them under the earth. The man clicked his fingers again and grass and flowers began to grow over the disturbed ground. Stretching his aching body he left the six to fend for themselves, for now.