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.
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