Hell's Land

It has been two weeks since the arrival of The Watchers, and the world has been in a state of chaotic disarray since. The Watchers have many names by which the people call them, but they’re all akin in to which they refer; The giant floating eyeballs encrusted in thick storms of red clouds, a few miles above every major city around the globe. More than five exist in the state of California alone. Martial Law has since been declared, as the U.S. scrambles to react to what has been being referred to as a “Mass-Invasion of Unknown Origins” Believed to be the first of its kind.  This Militaristic seize of control is besides similar reactions from nations all across the world. Matt has barely been able to leave his house during this time. He sits now at his front window, bolt-action rifle in hand, peeking through nailed boards as he waits out the rest of his guard shift.

Peering between the boards Matt watches his front Lawn. They dying grass sways gently in the breeze, dyed a rich auburn hue by the wash of an apocalyptic sunset. The sky normally colored the bright carnation red of a devilish overcast, now burns a rich blood-orange, almost vermillion hue, in the light of the evening sun. One might consider it a sight to behold if it weren’t for the unholy apocalypse the inexplicable monstrosity foretold.

Matt’s father naps in the next room, resting up for his evening watch shift, which comes after Matt’s. Matt’s mother stands in the kitchen boiling water upon a small propane camp stove as she preps the nights dinner. And lastly, Matt’s younger brother, Alex, sits at the candlelight of the dining table moaning of boredom, and his displeasure in the idea of pasta for a fourth night in a row.

“You know we have to make this food last,” Their mother retorts sharply “All we have is what we’ve stocked up. So, you eat this damn pasta again or you go to bed hungry tonight. And if you’re so bored go read a damn book.”

“Ugh, I’ll just wait for the power to come back,” Matt’s brother groans in return. Electricity has only been available for random intervals over the past two weeks, often gone in whole neighborhoods for hours at a time. The new militarized government struggles to keep civil infrastructures running smoothly. Whenever Matt’s family is blessed enough to have power for longer than a few short minutes, it is spent charging cell phones, laptops, and batteries for their small portable radio which currently plays standby classical music softly in the corner.

The radio has become the best source of News and media in the last two weeks. Television is alright, but is unusable when there’s no power, and has become littered with abandoned channels in station standby. The Internet is even worse with most major media feeds now being locked behind firewalls or downed servers. And cell coverage is only iffy at best, made worse by thousands of downed landlines. Short and long range radio has become the way to go. A means which can be operated by only a few individuals on portable power is now the most reliable source of information and communication in the nation.

Matt takes a moment from peering out the window to check his phones for any new messages. His phone at a little over half battery displays no new notifications. He decides to double check his group messaging app. “Has not refreshed in 2 days” It reads. Matt can only hope his friends are doing alright. It has been hard to stay in touch with them, and the one’s he has heard about only worry him more.

Matt has been able to keep semi-regular contact with one of his friends, India. She and her family have been doing alright. They live in smaller town nearby, farther away from the chaos. But, she has still been completely distraught since the day of the arrival. Her boyfriend, another one of Matt’s friends,disappeared without a trace on that day and hasn’t been heard since. Another one of Matt’s friends, Dean, also has not been faring well. Dean had fallen into an inexplicable coma on the day of the arrival, and has been lucky enough to be bedded in an emergency tent hospital for the past two weeks, however lucky that may be. The tent hospital is set up by the military guarding one of many overflowing medical centers. Matt has been able to get this information from Dean’s cousin Cassidy, who has been checking up on Dean and his family when she has been able in the chaos since the arrival. Matt has struggled to contact his other friends, one of whom lives on the other side of the country. He has not heard much from any of them.

The radio breaks into Matt’s chain of thoughts “We now return with another update from our president,” it says interrupting the music.

“Ugh, turn that shit off,” Matt spits back, putting his phone back in his pocket.

“Language!” Matt’s mother snaps in return. Matt’s brother gives a short taunting laugh as he walks over to the radio.

“Good afternoon Americans, Do I’ve got something yuuge to tell yoou~kssht,” Alex cuts off the President's words, turning knob to another station playing standby music. This time it plays some sort of jazz.

“Hey, did you hear that sound like party going in the background?” Alex asks his brother.

“Probably was one, screw that guy,” Matt says in return.

Matt hates hearing from the President’s regular radio broadcasts. The man sends them out at least three times a day. And they’re all from some super secret, top of the line, luxury bunker that he had ran off to on the very first day of the arrival. All he ever rambles on about is how he personally is going to save the world, and blast all those giant eyeballs out of the sky. As if all conventional weaponry, short of nuking every city in the world, hasn’t already been thrown at these invaders. The Watchers just absorb every blast unscathed, they don’t even seem to notice. All they ever do is stare that ugly unending dead-eyed stare, with seeming invincibility. So the president has no solutions to this current situation. He still manages to cast blame however. At this point Matt has already listened to this man repetitiously blame these abominations on at least five ethnicities, three world religions, two major news networks, and one opposing political party. Matt has grown tired of hearing this constant deluge fabricated blame. The president hides away in the lap of luxury while the rest of the nation is crumbling, and Matt isn’t gonna hear from him anymore. He readjusts his rifle in lap and turns back to his guard, peering through the boarded window once more.

Matt’s family lived in a rough neighborhood before, but since the arrival of The Watchers, it has devolved into a state of criminal anarchy. The military, in a state of national defense, has absorbed the bulk of police forces from across the nation. Any peace-keeping force that could be of help has been concentrated in specific locations across the country. Primarily the town centres of cities in the presence of a Watcher. This leaves many neighborhoods to chaos, as roving gangs of criminals and raiders revel in the lack of lawful presence, looting and terrorizing in the face of the apocalypse. This is the reason Matt’s family has barely been able to leave their house the past two weeks. They’ve boarded up their windows, and have setup lookout shifts. With constant vigilance they watch their surroundings to fend off any encroachers on their property. They continuously guard their home, and have only gone out when entirely necessary, being able to live off of stored food for the past two weeks. They’re lucky to have stocked up enough to last at least another six weeks. Martial law has created massive resource scarcity. Any previous retail store or grocery has either become the shell of a building picked clean, or a viscous free-for-all battleground for three packs of Uncle Ben’s Instant Rice. Matt’s family has done well in protecting their possessions, but they can only ever worry how long they will last.

Suddenly, Matt hears the sound of danger in the distance. The sound of a revving engine tears loudly through the streets of his neighborhood, and it’s growing closer. Matt peers through the boards of his window, down his street, and his suspicions are suddenly confirmed when he spots a pick-up truck, far larger than any individual ever requires a pickup truck to be, come tearing down his street. Matt hunkers down at window, his rifle in hand. His mother and brother, and even previously sleeping father, have crouched similarly nearby, having heard the roaring engine approaching as well.

The truck speeds by the house, and Matt is able to quickly spot six armed individuals riding onboard, two in the cabin and four more in the bed. They hoot and holler loudly as they rip by the house. Matt sighs in relief as they pass, but his relief is short lived when he can hear the pickup truck come to a screeching halt seconds afterwards.

Next follows a tense lingering moment of stillness, as the now quieter rattling of the engine grows closer once more. The truck slowly reverses back into view in front of Matt’s house, one of the men inside points towards the front. They must of noticed Matt’s home was not quite as abandoned or broken into as the rest. The portable radio continues to play jazz absentmindedly in the corner. The next track comes on;“Orange Colored Sky,”. The truck comes to a stop on Matt’s curb, and two men hop out, semi-automatic rifles in hand. Both men are visibly greasy and overweight, one wears a stained “God Bless America,” tank top, and the other looks as if he has just emerged from his mother’s basement. This is it. Matt shuffles back a step. He raises his rifle to the boards, peering down the barrel. He squints to peak through the board gaps at a rifle’s distance now. He breathes in restlessly, attempting to calm his nerves. Luckily or not, Matt has made it the last two weeks without fatally shooting anyone. He has gotten by with warning shots.  He waits tensely for the cautiously approaching intruders to creep near his line of fire. He is anxious. His family is crouched against the wall near him, sidearms in hand. He places a finger on the trigger and takes a deep breath inwards. The world around him seems to slow down. He can feel his heartbeat with in his chest. He purses his lips, he is ready to pull the trigger. Then suddenly, everything feels weird.  Matt is losing his balance as the voice of Nat King Cole, bewilderingly loud, as if unnoticed before, begins to belt out his chorus from the radio in the corner.

“Flash! Bam! Alakazam!” “Out of the orange colored sky!” and the Earth is violently trembling.

Matt has stumbled over and there is a yelp of pain from outside as. Catching himself, Matt drops his rifle to the ground. He quickly reaches for it, but notices from the muzzle a small trail of smoke leaks leisurely upwards. The gentle fume is illuminated by a crisp beam of light pouring in from a fresh new hole in the boards of the window, still dropping splinters and sawdust.

“What the fuck!?” One of them men yells from outside “Oh, We’re gonna kill you!”

Suddenly, there is a loud repetitive cracking and a flurry of splinters and debris as a volley of rapid gunfire is shot in through Matt’s window. Matt and his family hit the deck, terrified and fearing for their lives.

“Wait! What the fuck is that!” Another one of the men begin to yell, as the onslaught of bullets begins to lighten.

“Keanu! Get in the truck! We’re out of here!”

“But what about these fuckers!” Another cracking round of bullets sails over Matt’s head, devastating the wall of his living room.

“Leave it! Get in the fucking truck or you’re gone for!

“GAh! You fuckers!”

There is a final quick volley of rapid gun fire above Matt’s Family’s heads as the engine of the truck roars loudly back to life outside, before the insane group of gunmen can be heard tearing off into the distance. Matt returns to a kneel, peeking out the window once more to make sure they were finally gone before running outside.

Matthew stands in his yard, rifle in hand, paralyzed in shock. At his feet a greasy overweight man lies dead. A dark swatch of deep crimson slowly grows larger across his chest, slowing consuming the print “God Bless America,” and dying his stained tank top a final deep, dark red. Matt eventually steels his nerves and bends over, picking up the semi-automatic rifle from beside the man. He stands over the dead man once more, wondering what exactly had just happened before finally turning back to his house. But he is stopped in his tracks.

Understanding now what scared away the violent intruders, Matt stands, paralyzed once more, in fear. In the distance he could see The Watcher, or what once was such, floating above downtown as massive as it has always been, but different. It was opening, and not in the way any massive eye should. What was once the deep dark slit of it’s pupil, was now a physical gash, a chasm opening wider with every moment. And inside the gash, rows and rows of sharpened teeth. And finally, from inside the widening mouth a thick gray substance pouring out viscously, the torrent growing stronger as the mouth reaches it’s full breadth. Matt stands, still frozen in shock. The now gaping mouth of a colossal abomination in the sky pours a thick gray column fast and hard into the cityscape in the distance. Watching intensely Matt begins to notice the amorphous substance seems to actually be hundreds and thousands smaller object. Countless numbers of them pour downwards from the sky writhing and colliding during their descent. But some actually appear to break from free from the column and take flight. Matt squints his eyes, struggling to discern the mass of objects pouring from the hellish maw in the distance.

“What..What the fuck are those?” he mutters to himself in disbelief

And softly from inside the house, the song on the portable radio begins to draw to a close, the final syllables of Nat King Cole drawing out before burning into static, as Matt stand in his yard paralyzed in fear and confusion. Thus marking the beginning of the end.

“Flash! Bam! Alacazam!”

“Dean… Dean-Angelo,” Dean-Angelo thinks to himself, reassuring himself of his knowledge of his own name. His friends sometimes call him “D.A.” What a strange thing to think you could of forgotten, Dean ponders to himself, furling his brow as he sits in his bed. Soft overcast light peaks through the lowered blinds of his window, gently falling upon the floor of his bedroom in neat consecutive rows. The cool sounds of pattering rain and a whistling breeze can be heard outside. Dean turns his gaze towards his alarm clock. “1:45pm” it reads in harshly indifferent digital numbering. “Time to get up, I guess,” Dean says, breaking his fugue to drag himself out of bed. Dean has been having strange dreams recently. In which, he catches glimpses of outlandishly different worlds, bizzare creatures, and horrid events. However once Dean wakes up, he can only barely recall any but two of these visions. One is a recurring nightmare in which Dean is assaulted by an indistinguishable shadow figure, but is always cut short before Dean can retaliate. The second is whatever Dean dreamed last night, of which he cannot remember a thing, but left him awaking with an overwhelming sense of loss, and confusion. And nausea, Dean thinks to himself as he brings himself to his feet in the center of the room, the churning feeling of sickness roiling firmly in the pit of his stomach. He makes his way dizzily towards the bathroom.

After a quick shower and cleaning himself up Dean heads towards the living room, his nausea still present. He had stood around in the bathroom for several minutes, waiting to see if he would vomit, hoping to have gotten it over with so he could relieve himself of this troublesome sickness, but it was to no avail. This nausea was the persistent kind, the kind  of nausea that sits in your gut like a rock, simmering all day, but never boiling to the top, a constant incessant reminder of discomfort. In fact, the only things Dean had been able to achieve in the bathroom, is that now he had minor headache to accompany his unease. “Mom!” “Buddy!” Dean calls out as he passes an empty kitchen into his empty living room. He was the only one in the apartment “I guess they’re out right now,” Dean says to himself and the sound of the breeze picking up outside. “Good thing I don’t have school or work today, I think I’m getting sick,”

Dean decides to skip breakfast, feeling a mixture of too much discomfort to cook anything, and doubt in his ability to keep food down. Making it just does not seem worth the effort. He sits down on the couch to relax and watch T.V. instead.

“...strange weather patterns have been continuing to exponentially increase in recent months,” reads an anchorman on the television “Experts are at lost as readings continue to diverge, even from normal predictions of global warmi-ksshht,”

“Ugh, News,” Dean sighs as he changes the channel.

“...Cult activity on the rise as more and more fringe religious groups announce radical predict-ksshht,”

“...Scientists warn globe as strange foreign energy readings are discovered above major population centers across the worl-ksshht,”

“...is your local weather. Winds are on a sudden and unpredicted upturn in the greater Sacramento area. It is advised to be on the lookout for storm warni-kssht,”

“Why is it always just News,” Dean complains to himself, as he turns off the T.V. His headache beginning to become a minor nuisance alongside his nausea. The wind outside now begins to howl. “The News has been on a lot lately,” Dean thinks to himself  “all kinds of crazy people and weather going on everywhere. I guess the world is just going to Hell,” Dean quietly chuckles to himself before groaning in discomfort. He pulls himself up from the couch to find another distraction.

Before his sickness could get any worse Dean decides he should take some medicine. Popping a couple of Over-the-Counter pills from his medicine cabinet he hopes that his symptoms will soon ease. Dean then walks back to his bedroom deciding to use his computer to distract himself. He begins to browse the internet, but this does not help for very long. Social Media talks about all the same topics as the Television News, and it is equally just as boring. Dean does find some joy however, when he begins chatting with his friends on their online group messaging board. Most of them are offline at the moment, but a couple are there to talk.

“Damn the wind is crazy right now,” Deans friend Matt texts to the group chat. Matt is almost always online, and usually the first to respond when anyone else sends something.

“It really is, I saw some tree branches get blown down,” Dean’s friend David responds.

“Yeah I can hear it right now,” Dean adds as the wind continues to steadily wail on outside. They continue to talk like this for a while, and it is a welcome distraction for Dean. But it does not stop the continuous rolling in his stomach, nor the growing pain in his skull. Dean mentions this sickness to the group chat, as well as the current absence of his mother and godfather, the tediousness of the News, his boredom, and again his discomfort. The three of them discuss these points and then eventually move on to other topics.   They reach a point in the conversation is which David is in the middle of typing some rant about a recent game, when suddenly Dean’s cellphone belts out a shockingly loud alarm. The alarm tone rings painfully through Dean’s head, reverberating with the throbbing pulse of his migraine, and sending another wave of nausea up from his stomach. In his discomfort Dean picks up his phone to see what the alarm is about. “WIRELESS EMERGENCY ALERT: EXTREME AND UNPREDICTABLE WEATHER. PLEASE STAY INDOORS,” It reads concerningly.

“Hey Did you guys get that WEA alarm just now?” Dean asks the group chat, as the wind howls inconceivably loud outside. Dean decides takes this moment to raise his blinds and look out his window for the first time today, and he is disturbed to find the cloud formation that is forming overhead; A massive hurricane-esque spiral of dark clouds, beginning to slowly spin inwards above. This massive form is concentrating at its center in the direction of downtown. Just looking at this spectacle seems to cause Dean’s migraine to throb even worse, and his stomach to turn over twice. Even Dean’s limbs are beginning to feel weak.

“Yeah I’m going to have to go,” Dean’s computer dings as Matt responds to the group chat. “My dad wants me to help quickly strap things for down for the storm,”

“Yeah, I should be going to,” David adds.

“Oh… okay. Later guys,” Dean attempts to type back into the chat, but his friends are already gone. Dean is alone once again. His head suffers as if it were being drilled into. His stomach roils in unease like a ship tossed at sea. And his limbs and body feel torrid and heavy as if he were left out to bake in the sweltering sun. He cannot bear it any longer. He rises up in an effort to go find more medicine, but his own two legs no longer have the strength to hold him. His vision blurs. He stumbles as the room spins dizzily around him. His burning fever barely allows him two wobbly steps, before his knees fold underneath him and he comes down. Slapping a hand to the wall, he is lucky to guide his decent, coming to kneel in front of the window, he rests an arm on the sill. From here the wind outside practically screams in Dean’s ears. The screeching sound of ungodly wails rips through the trees and at the walls of Dean’s apartment, as the vortex of clouds in the sky spins rapidly now, like water going down a drain. Rain pelts the side of the building in heavy sheets, as Dean suffers in silence, kneeling in front of this window. His body feels like it’s burning itself away. The world outside continues to cry on, resonating with the pain inside Dean. It too feeling as if it were tearing itself apart, and then suddenly.. It does.

A crack of lightning and roar of thunder wail deafeningly across the land, breaking through all dissonance. This shocks Dean out of balance, as it shakes his whole apartment, forcing him to grasp at the window sill to keep. He gazes painfully out the window at the dark gray sky above as it strangely begins to shift in hue. In the distance he sees the eye of the storm begin to widen as a crimson overtone bleeds out across the heavens. Dean winces in pain as the ground beneath him continues to shake violently. Then he sees it, off in the distance, emerging from the center of the reddening storm, a bulbous shape bulging out from the widen gap in the clouds. Likely miles in diameter, this mysterious shape is incomprehensibly huge. The clouds begin to part, and Dean is struck by a wave of stabbing pain once more as this shape emerges; A humongous glassy sheened dome, fiery amber in color with a deep dark void-black gash of a slit in the center, pushing down from the very heart of this violent vortex. The eye of the storm becomes an actual eye, unnatural, gargantuan, and devilishly reptilian, gazing down at the timid earth beneath it.

Dean, still kneeling, finds himself dumbfounded at the events that have just unfolded. He is unable to comprehend, and his vision begins to fade. His limbs grow even even weaker, the room begins to spin wildly around him, and all of his senses scream in such pain that he is begins to fall numb. Gazing out he sees the massive abhorrent ocular gazing in turn at the ground directly beneath it. Then suddenly, Dean sees the ceiling, as the last of his strength gives out, he falls onto his back in the center of his room. His vision is almost completely dark now.

“Wow, you’d think after this many loops you’d be desensitized to this initial wave of unholy energy by now, but I guess not,” Dean hears out of nowhere, recognizing the familiar voice. Above him he is barely able to make out the faded figure of the young man with the blonde hair.

“C-Chris?... What the fu-,”

“Me?” you exclaim, as if startled from an impossibly lengthy slumber. You do not remember anything.

“Yep, That’s you. At least one of them is,” the voice of young man replies. You look down and are shocked to find six kneeling bodies, charred absolutely beyond recognition. These burnt husks of whom they once were lie in a precise circle, all facing a mysterious ornate box, perched glowing in the center of their scorched remains. “It’s a pretty gruesome sight, isn’t it? I’d be in shock too, if I hadn’t seen you guys do this a dozen times already”

“Do what a dozen times already?!” you attempt to call out, only to realize you do not have a mouth with which to speak. In fact, you realize you do not have any sort of corporeal body, at all. You are nothing but your thoughts and what you can see from your position; floating several feet above one of the charred bodies. You look up to find five small floating flames, flickering, but still glowing a bright brilliant blue. They are level with you, and are also floating several feet above the various other burnt corpses. “Am I one of these little flames?” You think to yourself, “Are we connected to these bodies?” You still can not remember a thing.

“At least the scenery is kind of nice. In an eierry sort of way” the young man’s voice continues, he sounds very familiar to you, as if you should know who he is, but it is only now that you realize you cannot even see the young man who speaks to you.

You look out to the scenery of which he refers, and are again startled. You, the ring of burnt bodies, and more accurately, the mysteriously glowing ornate box, are in the center of an incomprehensibly massive crater. Ginormous waves of earthen ground ripple evenly out from the center for at least a mile in every direction, like the waves of an enormous stone thrown into a giant pond, frozen in place. The static ringed-waves of devastated landscape, glimmer a soft purple-hued black sheen of obsidian under an overcast sky. The thick blanket of clouds above, a dark lavender-gray of ash and smoke hung in the atmosphere, drifts lazily east towards the horizon, in the same direction as the smaller plumes of smoke and dust that dances along the dark inky crests of scorched earth. The sun is but a pale faded glow directly overhead, hidden by thick smog. In the distance you can see the expended match sticks of what were once trees, surrounding you at the edges of the clearing, pointing outwards at acute angles, blown down by the whatever force caused this devastation. Here in the center of the crater are cracks in the ground, still glowing the passionate orange of embers clinging to thier heat, and at the very center of these cracks is again the box; ornate, mysterious, and emanating a strange radiance.

There is a long moment of silence as you, and seemingly the five other wisps, ponder the surrounding scenery, before the voice chimes in again.

“Oh sorry! I forget, you all probably still think this is the first time you have gone through this.” the voice pauses once more “I wish you guys could actually talk back right now. You all talk back so much, all the time. It’s weird to not hear you now, y’know” The voice states, seemingly in reassurance of itself, rather than in search of any confirmation. You doubt you could even give it a meaningful response, considering you still can’t even find whoever it is speaking to you. The voice seems to come from all directions at once, or perhaps from within your own mind, or whatever non-physical existence acts as it.

“Y’all probably not going to remember anything after this. You never do.” The voice continues matter-of-factly “To be honest, I don’t even know if any of you even remember anything right now.” This frustrates you as you struggle, as hard as you can, to try and remember anything, anything at all, from before you woke here shortly ago, but it is to no avail. It is as if your memories simply do not exist anymore. Perhaps you don’t even exist anymore. The thought of this is foreboding, and makes you uneasy. Yet despite this overwhelming feeling of dread you can’t help but feel, somewhere deep inside of yourself, that there is something that you need to be doing.

“It’s weird though,” continues the voice again, a little more light-heartedly than before “I don’t know whether y’all know what you’ve been through or not, or if you know just how many times you’ve been through this, yet despite how much or how little explanation I give you all each time, you’re all willing to go through this process again and again.” the young man’s voice sounds of that of concerned but proud parent at this point “That’s the power of determination I suppose”

You still don’t understand anything to which this young man’s voice refers, yet you believe he speaks the truth, as you feel that gut feeling from deep withinside yourself begin to grow. A turmoil of emotions; anger, confusion, loss, regret yet also companionship, triumph, wisdom, valor, and above all this, you feel determination. You feel as if you, as if all of you, have been greatly wronged, and although you comprehend nothing of which this voice speaks, you believe fully that he is offering you a chance, once again, to undo what has been done. You notice the five other wisps surrounding you begin to swell and spark, as if overcome with similar emotions.

You hear a warm chuckle from the voice as you assume he witnesses this “Well I can’t hear any of you, but it looks like you’re all ready to go, so let’s get back to business,” he says.

The wind suddenly begins to pick up. Sand and ash whip eastward as a soft column of light begins to shine down on the box right in the center of your circle. You can vaguely hear what sounds like a harmonic chorus carried along on the cacophony of the breeze. You look up the soft beam of light, but it becomes difficult to look towards the source. It shines much brighter than any sun normally should, even more so than it should hidden behind the thick layer of smog that still hangs in the sky. Yet despite this, you are able to make out the shape of person fading into existence, descending from a point in the sky that you are certain there was not a figure before. As the figure descends towards the ground, the intense light and cacophony of wind begin to dissipate, once again returning to their previous levels of overcast sky and gentle breeze of dust and smoke. The figure comes to stop, still floating about a foot off the ground. It is a young man, who you’re certain you should recognize. Definitely the source of voice that has been speaking to you, but you simply can not remember who he is. He is tall and lithe, wearing plain clothes. He smiles warmly as his blonde hair floats gently in the breeze, glowing similarly to the box beneath him, backlit by a radiance eternally behind him, despite the angle from which he is viewed. He looks around the circle with stunning green eyes, giving each wisp, including you, an understanding nod before leaning down and examining the box below.

“Ah, fine craftsmanship as always you guys,” he speaks, the voice you were hearing coming from a definite source now. The box glows stronger as he nears “Well, let’s open this up. Shall we?” The box glows intensely now, beginning to hum ominously as the young man places a hand on both sides of the now brightly lit box. The young man closes his eyes, and an intense look of concentration forms on his face, when something unexpected begins to happen. The boxes ornate intricacies begin to unfold from themselves. However, unlike that of normal box which would reveal a space inside for something to be stored, every time this box unfolds from itself, another seemingly mechanical intricacy pushes out from within the box to fill it’s space, causing the box to seemingly grow larger. This happens on every visible surface, as the entire mass continues to glow brighter and hum louder. This shape of seemingly infinite density, continuing to mechanically unfold from itself, revealing more and more volume, as it doubles, triples, and then quadruples in size. The intense looks of concentration is still plastered on this young man’s face as he guides this bizarrely mysterious, ornate unfolding box, once small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, now the size of a small child. This ordeal continues for a while longer, until the young man finally lets up as the now strange polygonal shape stands in the center of the circle. Roughly the size of a refrigerator, it glows a painfully brilliant bright white, and hums unbearably, like a million swarming bees. You’re almost forced to avert your gaze from whatever this young man has conjured from the box when suddenly the bright light and intense humming bursts away in a cloud dust and hiss of steam.

You are stunned once again, almost angered in fact as this new object stands in the center of your circle, more shocking than anything else that has happened in the last few minutes. The object is a large, roughly refrigerator sized metal box, with one of its faces, presumably the front side, having a section pushed inwards. A black glassy screen backs this concave segment, and a control panel runs across the bottom. All sides of this machine are covered in foggy glass bulbs, and glossy, colorful paintings, at least a couple decades old in style. Then out of nowhere, with a flickering stutter, the machine jumps into life! The bulbs click on, as they begin to flash rhythmically, to dramatic orchestral music sung out by the boxy machine in a buzzing electronic chiptune. The glossy paintings on either side of this contraption, lit by the pulsing lights and accompanied by the 8-bit soundtrack, depict a variety of demonic figures, monsters, angels, and other strange creatures. All of this surrounds a central image of six heroic looking figures in intense battle with a single, massively oversized devilish being. Everything being painted in a bright, dynamic, popping technicolored 80’s retro fantasy style. The backlit sign on top of the frontend of this machine reads “Hell’s Land” as the screen below glows with a simple image. White gothic text on the black background reads “GAME OVER” and a subtext beneath “Play Again?” Below that are six pixelated images of flickering blue wisps, rhythmically floating up and down, in line with the only six buttons on the control panel beneath.

“Well here, it is” The young man finally speaks once more “What’s supposed to be your guys’ last resort, here again for who knows how many times now” he looks on at the machine, his smile attempting to conceal a furled brow of pain and frustration, but he quickly shakes this emotion away “I’m sure you guys are going to win this time” he reassures. You a feel a bit a uneasy for a moment, but your determination still burns strong. “Whenever you’re all ready, we’ll begin the process”

You don’t care what the process is, you think to yourself, something terribly bad has happened and you already know it is you who needs to make things right. You trust this man to help you do so. You are already ready to go. Suddenly a short tune of electronic chimes plays from the machine as it reads “CHAMPION ONE: READY” across the screen. One of the pictured wisps does a little flourish as it turns a soothing shade of green. You’re shortly followed by all five of the other “champions”. Each wisp turning a bright green both on screen, and in the air surrounding you, all with short chiptunes. The young man gives another comforting, yet almost sad looking smile as he watches this happen. “Yep, you guys are as ready to go as ever.” He gives off a sigh “I really hope you guys can do it this time. Good luck!”

Then out of nowhere there is an Earth shattering crash of thunder. You whip around to see what’s happening, but when you turn back both the young man and the mystic arcade machine are gone without a trace. Once again you are alone. Five other wisps, six burnt bodies, no glowing box, all in the center of this massive crater, and everything is quiet again. That’s when you notice something strange happening once more. Almost imperceptible at first, you begin to sense an eerie shift in the weather and world surrounding you. Everything seems to be less colorful, and moving slower. The thick blanket of clouds once drifting lazily to the east, now barely crawl at a snail’s pace. The plumes of smoke, and whirlwinds of dust that once danced along the ground in the same direction, now feel unnatural, moving at a such pace that would not support such movement. The color continues to slowly drain out of the already bleak landscape, taking the last bit of vibrance this world had left.  Eventually it all comes to a stop; the clouds, the smoke, the dust, all frozen in place as unnerving semi-transparent sculptures. It’s a completely gray-scaled motionless landscape. You thought it was quiet before, but now it is utterly and uncomfortably silent. Not even the gentle whistle of the breeze exist anymore to give you solace. Only stillness and silence persists.

Then out of nowhere once again the young man’s voice begins to speak. Only now he is somber, almost entirely emotionless, yet his words are booming and a feel overflowing with unnerving power.

“By the powers of Creation, we craft this vessel’s hull,” his voice rings out with immense energy.

“And by the powers of Destruction we render this path null,” again there is an Earth shattering crack of thunder.

“By the powers of Heart we guide our heroes’ home,”

The noise of a gentle breeze returns again as you begin to notice some color and movement returning to the world.

“And by the powers of Space we retrace the lands that they roam,”

The universe begins to pick up speed once more, but, strangely, you notice, the clouds above now drift west.

“By the powers of Mind we parse fates by which we are bound,”

The world around you does not stop gaining momentum, but looking towards the ground to examine the new wind pattern, you’re perturbed to find the small jets of smoke streaming from the ground still point east. The smoke now materializes from thin air and retracts back into its source, as the whirlwinds of sand and dust retrace their familiar patterns,”

“And by the powers of Time we command them all unwound!” Your entire surrounding environment seems to be backtracking itself at an ever increasing rate. The wind becomes a howl as the overcast sky runs towards the western horizon. Flashes of debris whip by, and ever growing  snakes of smog burrow back into flames from whence they came.

Yet you six glowing green wisps continue to persist, your charred bodies still beneath you as the universe continues accelerating in reverse. The smoke grows into burning fires, and crevices reignite molten glows as the world around you presumably returns to source of all this devastation. Then, again out of nowhere, it happens, and you’re barely able to catch it. The entire heavens above turn a burning crimson red as you are shaken to your very core by the ghastly noise of monstrous laughter in reverse. You peer upwards just in time to see the very face of horror itself materialize from the sky above, an arm larger than any imaginable building reaches downwards, as massive sparks begin forming in every direction, and then suddenly nothing, but blindingly intense, unbearably hot, wrathful light, consuming your entire being.

“But we can only go back from whence we begin,” the young man’s voice speaks out a final time.

“To alter your fates, you must try, try again,”

The light is then gone again in an instant, as well as another several dozen flashing images. The world around you moves at an incomprehensible pace now. Events are here and gone before you can even think to fathom a detail. Days and nights strobe by in fractions of seconds, as the heavenly entities above whip across the sky at impossible speeds in the wrong direction. You can vaguely just make out the blurring lined movement of people interacting below from day to day. In fact you are able to make out what you think are six unique blurring motions of individuals. The six individuals consistently group together, and are almost always centered beneath you. It’s difficult to see, but you just might thing one of them, is occasionally more than one however. Then suddenly, before you know it, the reverse begins to slow down. You can clearly make out all six champions now. You feel yourself drawn around as you now hover specifically above one them in particular. The five other wisps are now dragged around above a respective champion as well. Those must be your friends, you think, and this one, this one is you? You don’t know what to make of any of this, but before you are even able to form a thought, the reversing world around you comes to a halt, and the five floating wisps and champions are gone. It is only you now, and what could only be yourself sleeping below. Then as quickly as everything else, you suddenly feel the unmistakable force of gravity, and you’re ghostly form is falling. No, not falling, being pulled down towards your body. You have no time to react before you come crashing down into your physical form, and before you know it, everything has gone black. 

Matt fell to the ground, gasping for air. Everyone surrounded him and helped him up. Matt was back in the house.

“Matt, you ok?!” David asked him. “Yeah.” Matt said. He noticed he still had the knife in his hand. He sat it down on the nearby table. He also noticed Jayde holding DA, who was unconscious. “I… I got a lot to say.”

“That’s basically what happened.” Matt said after he explained to everyone what happened to him and DA.

“No wonder DA’s been so weird.” Cassidy said, folding her arms. “My memories must still be scattered. Damn it.”

“This was pretty insane.” Trenton said. He turned to Chris. “And why didn’t you tell us about this?” He asked, gritting his teeth.

“Hey don’t get pissed at me.” Chris said. “I didn’t know about any of this. I was made after DA’s first incarnation. And no one, not even god, knew what he was fully capable of.”

“So, what do we do now?” David asked. “There’s a demon and a Hell Gate sealed in DA. Are just going to ignore it?”

“That’s all we can do.” Nathan said. “As far as I can tell, the only solution would be kill DA. No physical form means the Hell Gate can’t manifest even if the demon takes control.” Everyone gave Nathan enraged looks. “I’m not suggesting anything. Nathan Defended himself. “I’m just stating facts. All we can do is hope he can keep it under control.”

“But I can’t.” DA said. Everyone turned to him. He had regained consciousness and was barely able to stand. Tears rolled down his face.

“Dude it’s-” Matt stopped himself. DA’s eyes were once again jet black. “DA, what are you doing?” He asked.

"I-I'm sorry.” DA said. He wiped the tears off his face but more just started to roll down. “I didn't know I could... I'm sorry. I'm just... so tired. I have all my memories. ALL of them. From every life. The burden that comes with that it's... I'm sorry. If I wasn’t so tired that wouldn’t have happened. I'm done. I'm just done."

"Done with what? What are you talking about?” Cassidy asked him

"DONE WITH LIFE!” DA shouted “... I'm done with life. I've lived for too long. I'm old and tired. Yes, I've helped a lot. But look at me. I'm a walking time bomb of mental instability with the power to rip a hole in the fabric of reality. Can any of you honestly say you trust me? And I don't mean 'because we're friends/family' or some bull shit like that. I mean, will any of you trust me with your lives?"

Everyone remains quiet, shifting where they stood, trying to think of the right answer.

"That's what I thought." DA picked the knife off of the table. "I'm ending this."

"Wow! Wait! Calm down Dean! Don't you think-" Trenton started to say

"I SAID I'M ENDING THIS! I'M TIRED!! I AM SO FUCKING TIRED!!!! AND IF ANY OF YOU LOVE ME EVEN THE SLIGHTEST YOU'LL LET ME DO THIS!!!!" He raised the knife. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry I lied to you all. I just need to rest. I just need to set things right. I don't know if I'll be back. I don't know if I deserve to. But I need to rest. I'm just so tired."

Everyone tried to leap forward to stop him, but DA had stopped them in time. He took a breath. “I just need to rest. You understand right? I just… need you to take some of my burdens. Just for a bit.” He plunged the knife into his heart. He smiled, feeling at peace.

Time started again. Everyone ran forward, but stopped realizing what had happened. DA’s lifeless body fell to the ground. Everyone stood there, not knowing what to do.

“Did he just…? Trenton said.

“C-Cuz?” Cassidy called out to her cousin.

“Holy shit.” David said, shaking.”

“There’s no way that happened.” Nathan said, turning away from the body.

Matt remembered that the knife still had one charge on it. He turned to Chris. “What did he do?” Matt asked.

Chris looked at Matt. “You know DA. He likes to wing everything.” He looked back at DA’s body. “The good thing about being so old and being able to control time, you’re pretty adaptable. It becomes second thought to come up with a plan on the fly.”

“So he’s not dead?” Matt asked, sounding a little relieved.

Chris smiled. “I cannot wait to see the look on your faces.” He said, trying to contain his excitement.

“Hey.” David said “He stabbed himself in the heart. So where’s all the blood?” Everyone looked at DA’s body. He was right, there was no blood.

As the team medic, Nathan walked over to DA. He got on his knees and started to inspect him. Nathan stood back up and quickly stepped back. “What the hell?” He said confused.

“What’s wrong?” Trenton asked.

They heard a moan come from DA. Everyone saw him, slowly get up.

“CUZ!” Cassidy shouted with joy. When he stood up, she ran over to hug him. But, it felt weird. Her cousin was normally the same height as her. Now, her face was under his chin while hugging him. Not only that, but she felt something soft pushing against her, and he didn’t feel bony like he normally does. She pushed him away.

Everyone, except Chris who had once again disappeared without warning, gasped. Who they thought was DA, turned out to be a woman. DA’s clothes were tight on her as she appeared to be taller and heavier than DA. The woman looked down at herself. She rubbed her hands over her body, examining it. She smiled. “Not bad.” She said. “Not bad at all. I’m pretty hot.” She looked at everyone staring at her. “What, you guys want to take a picture or something?”

“DA?” Cassidy asked.

“Oh.” The woman realized what was going on. She rubbed the back of her head. “Sorry. I sometimes forget you guys can’t hear me.” She cleared her throat then place her hands on her hips. She smiled. “Allow me to finally, formally introduce myself. I’m Jayde Kinue Roberson. And I’m sort of taking over for DA for a bit. I guess that makes me the Duchess of Time.” Everyone continued staring at the woman. “So, I’m hungry. Who wants food?” Jayde asked. She walked into the kitchen and started to look through the refrigerator.

Matt started to walk towards the hallway on the other side of the kitchen.

“Where are you going?” Trenton asked.

Matt turned back and looked at him. “I’m going to bed.” Matt answered. “I… I need to process… everything.” Matt walked passed Jayde, who had a chicken leg in her hand.

The sky turned a dark bronze color and the sea around them turned into sand. The wood of the boat cracked and rotted, and so did the boat’s crew, who were now nothing but dust and pieces of skeleton that had yet to decay with everything else. DA disappeared and reappeared in the air. Demon wings faded into existence from his back and horns sprouted from his head. He cracked his neck. “No annoying Gods to get in my way.” He cracked his neck again. “No more human soul to tie me down.” He cracked his neck once more. “And no Angel to keep me sane.” He looked down at Matt. “I must thank you. That little shot to the head was enough for me to take control and pull us outside of time. Now I can pick up where I left off.”

He held out a closed hand. When he opened his hand, a small, red orb fell out. It floated gently to the ground. When it hit the ground, a massive blast of energy could be felt as it came out. Matt could feel the air now become very cold. The kind of cold he only felt around a Hell Gate. “No way.” Matt said, unable to process what was going on.

“Allow me to explain.” DA said. “It’s really quite simple. As the world was plunged into chaos by the first demon invasion, the demons and angels were at a stale mate. Neither side could over power the other. Thus, only humans suffered any major losses, as they would often be caught in the middle of the battles. So God came up with a solution: to make a being who would surpass angels and demons. In order to do this, he took the soul of an arch demon and arch angel and embedded them into two humans, twin worshipers who volunteered to fight for their people. Because they were twins, they’re souls were bound to each other. Thus, the Angel, combined with two human spirits, could keep the Demon, me, from taking control of the human. I’ve been trapped in one human vessel after another, just waiting for my time to be free. Each incarnation the human’s soul became more and more tired. I knew it would only be a matter of time until I would be able to overpower them. The hard part was getting away from that Angel. I also didn’t anticipate an incarnation coming to stop me before I could take control. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

Matt was shaking. This was a lot of information to take in. He tried to say something, but couldn’t think of the words.

“And because you decided to just stand there and listen to me blather exposition, I have been able to complete the Hell Gate.” DA said. On que, a huge eye opened up from where the orb had landed. The previously dead people suddenly stood back up, their skin partially returned to them and rotting. The Hell Gate had revived them as unholy abominations, zombies.

Matt raised his robotic arm to defend himself, preferring the zombies hit the part of his body they couldn’t infect, but noticed that he couldn’t. He looked down at it and saw it was old rusted. He turned to run, but saw more of them walking toward him. He was surrounded. Matt got into a battle stance, not knowing what to do, but also not wanting to go down without a fight.

A gentle breeze pasted through the air. As it did, the zombies stopped in their tracks. All of their heads fell to the ground, cut off. The bodies and heads then turned to sand and were blown away by the wind. Matt noticed a woman standing next to him. She looked like a ninja. She turned to Matt. “Time and location, now!” the woman demanded.

“What?” Matt said, even more confused than before.

“If you want to save your friend, give me what I need!” The woman demanded again. Matt couldn’t quiet work out her expression because she had her face covered.

“I-I…” Matt didn’t know what to say. He was still trying to process everything that has transpired.

“Forget it.” The woman said, annoyed. She put a hand on Matt’s head. Matt felt light headed for a second. The woman took her hand off his head. “Got it.” She said. She snapped her fingers.

“Damn.” DA said, sounding disappointed. He faded away, along with the Hell Gate.

The woman collapsed to the ground. “Too close.” She looked up at Matt. “I bought you some time.” She said. “I sealed the demon and Hell Gate in back into his soul. It’s just temporary, but it’s better than nothing.”

“WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?!” Matt shouted.

“I can’t explain.” She said. “You might hear this twice, and I don’t want to cause a paradox in case you do.” She thought for a moment. “Who controls space where you’re from?” she asked. “What’s their relation to your Duke?”

“His cousin Cassidy.” Matt said.

“That explains it.” She said. “Time and Space need to be twins, otherwise it causes a paradox. Then crazy, confusing shit like this happens.” She stared off into the distance for a bit. “None of this was supposed to happen, yet it also was destined to.” She stood up. “Time is confusing and makes no sense. That’s why I’m glad I control space. It’s a lot easier to understand. I can even do things like this.” She pulled a knife out from behind her back. “You can’t control time without having some control over space and vice versa.” She handed Matt the knife. “You can cut through space and time with that. Just think about going home and then slash it. It’ll open a rift you can walk through. But it can only be used two times so make sure you don’t mess.” She started to walk away. “I got work to do. Mostly clean up. I’ll see you in a couple of incarnations I guess.” With that, she was gone.

Matt looked down at the knife. “I am so fucking confused right now.” He said.

T̶҉h̴̕e ̴ẃ̨i̧͟n̵̢d̵ ͜h͞o͢w̴l͞͠e͜d͜͏͢ ̨̛o͡n̛҉͠ ̵̢t̛h̕͟͜e̴͞͏ ̵͜wat̴͢è̡r҉̛̀ ̶̀ąs̴͏ ̡̕̕t̵hè̴̷ ̧s҉͏h͢ìp̴̢͡ ̕͡͞s̶҉̕a̷͜i̧͢le̶͡d̨͠ ̡t̡ow͘͟a̧͜͝r̴d̢͠s̢͢͠ ̵í͢͟t̛s̸ ̨de̶s͝tí̢͢n͢a̷ţ͘i̷͢o͢n͏͏.̛͜ T́h͏̢e̶ ̧̀͡c͡a̶͢͞p͡t̷à͜i̷͜͡n҉, á̕͡ ͏́͞t̨́ąl͞҉l, ̴͜͜ŕ͘u̷͢gģe̡͏d ̢͞N̢̛ớr̵͝d҉͜i̸͜c̛̕ ̴m̴̕a͡ǹ͟͢,̴̶ ̛͢͜w̶í͢t҉h҉҉͝ ̷͝s̶̢͡c̡a̴҉r͏̧s͏̴ ̡o̢͏n ͝v̵͝i̴rt҉u͠a͝l҉̧l̶͝y̴͜͞ ̵h̛̛i͜͟͝ş͘ ̛è̕n͝t̢i̛͞r͟e ̶̶̨b͞o̧͢͝d̴͞y͢͞,̀͞ ̢l̕͝o͝o̴͟k͘ed͏ o͢ù̕t̀͠ in̶to̶͟͠ ̷̡̀th̛͘e̢͠͡ ̢̡҉b̛ȩ̛̕a̵͞uţ͢y̕ ͠t̴͠҉h̴a͏͘͠t ̴w̕a̢̡s̶ ̵t̡̀͢h̢͡e̶͘ s͏ea.̷̀ H͘é ̶͜t̵̨̛o҉͠o̡͏ḱ̸͡ ͞i̸̵n̴̸͜ ͢͝a͠ d́ee͟p̛͟ ̴͜͞b͡͏rȩ̛a͜t̛h̸̷ ̷́à͘nd͠ ͝l͏e͞ţ͝ ̷̶́i͞t͜ ̧̛͞ơųt҉͢.̸͝ ̶̸҉H͡i͜s̕̕ ̶̧̢m͠e͢n ͘śt҉̸͜o͝o̕ḑ͟ ̴i͠n͢ ̕f͟͝r̶̕ơ̷̴nt́͘ ́͝o̶̶f ̢҉̵hi͘m,̵͠ ̸͝ẃ̕͠a̷̢i̢t̶͏į͢ņ̸g̨̀͜ ̵of͝ ͠a ͜͞͠c҉̕o̶̵҉ḿ̶ḿan̢d̕̕.̵͞ ͏H͢è͞ ͝o̡p̸̷̵e̡̧̛n̡̨͡e̶d̛ ̸h͟i̡͝s̴̸͡ ̶̛m̶o̧̕u̵t҉̨h͢ ҉̡͠t҉o ̢́s͞pe͏a̶͢k҉͠.̧͡.̢.̨..̧̧.̶̛.͜..̴̛.̵.̸͡.͘͟.̸̡̡.͢.̀̀.̨͡͏.͏.́͟.̕͞͡.͝..҉.̸̢̕.͢.̶̡

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“FUCK!” Matt screamed as he hit the ground. He gasped for breath. He put his hand on his throat to see if he was still being choked. He wasn’t. He looked around and saw he was on a ship. He stood up, feeling uneasy. Looking around he saw people, but they weren’t moving. It was like someone pressed pause on a video game. He noticed the air itself felt different. There was no wind or sound. He didn’t even feel cold or hot. What was going on? Upon closer inspection, he noticed all the people looked to be dressed in Nordic clothes. More importantly, they were all looking at a man who resembled an ancestor he did research on a couple of months before the apocalypse. “Where the hell am I?” His every syllable echoed through the air.

“I’m sorry.” A voice said. Matt turned around to see DA sitting on the floor in the fetal position with his face covered.

“DA? What’s going on?” Matt asked his friend.

“I couldn’t control it.” He said. “I should have listened to you.” He started crying. Matt was about to walked forward, when a man dressed in samurai appeared in front of him. He stood there naturally, like he was always there.

“How long?” He asked DA.

“Can’t remember.” DA told him. “Too many memories. Too many. It hurts.”

The man stayed quiet for a bit. He held his right hand out. A katana appeared in the air and he grabbed it. “Did we love?” he asked as he walked towards DA.

“Yes.” DA answered.

“Were we loved?” the man asked.

“Yes.” DA answerd.

“Did we leave behind a legacy?” The man asked

“No.” DA answered.

“So, you are the last?” The man asked, a bit of pain in his voice.

“Yes.” DA answer. “I am the last reincarnation.”

The man stood over DA. “Good.” The man said. He lifted his sword. “Then this curse can finally end.”

Matt grabbed the man’s arm. “Don’t you fucking dare.” He said to the man.

“Get out of my way.” The man said. He disappeared and reappeared behind Matt. The man pushed his sword forward to stab Matt. Matt grabbed his sword with his robotic hand.

“Five.” The man counted. He rushed forward and punched Matt in the face with his other hand. “Four.”

Matt seemed unaffected by the attack. He grabbed the man’s fist and crushed it, the sound of cracking bones echoing through the air.

“Three.” The man continued counting. His hand instantly healed. He grabbed Matt by the neck and tossed him aside. “Two.” The man disappeared and reappeared over DA. He held up his sword, about to thrust it into DA. “One.”

Matt’s robotic fist rocket off his arm, going at least seventy miles an hour. His fist hit the man, knocking him back a bit. The man finally showed his first sign of emotion as a look of terror came over his face. “Stay away from him!” Matt yelled at the man.

Tears started rolling down the man’s face. “This can’t be my fate.” He said. He sounded as if his entire life just fell apart. He looked Matt in the eyes. “What have you done?” The man coughed blood. DA had pushed his hand through the man’s chest. He had been laying on the ground a literal second ago, now he was up. DA pulled his hand back as the man collapsed to the ground, dead.

“DA?” Matt said. “What’s going on?”

Ok, so I know it's been a while. But I am going to start to work on the next chapter. College is really, really, really, REALLY, kicking my butt right now so don't expect it to be updated too often. However, I have gotten some inspiration for the next story arc that I will enjoy writing and I hope you guys like it too. I'm not going to spoil too much, but here's a preview:

Everyone except DA stood in the kitchen. DA was in the living room, which had been cleared out to make room for their fight. DA twirled his cane in his hand.

“What’s everyone waiting for?” He asked. “I thought we were going to fight?”

Everyone looked at each other, wondering who would volunteer first.

David sighed. “I guess it’s up to me.” He said as he walked up to DA. He held up his fists. “Ok man, I don’t want to hurt you, but I got to do what I go-” before he could finish DA grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and threw him out the nearby window. “I’m ok.” David called. “Just need to pluck some glass shards out of my head.”

Nathan sighed. “I’m on it.” He walked out the kitchen door to get to David.

“Ok, who’s next?” DA asked.

“Why aren’t we throwing Cassidy out there?” Matt asked. “She’s the one we know can match DA.”

“Because watching you guys get your asses kicked is funny.” Cassidy said with a smile.

Trenton stared at her for a second. “So is being an asshole embedded in your family genes or something?”

“Is someone going to come or do I just win?” DA asked.

“All right.” Trenton jumped over the counter. “I could kick your ass before the apocalypse, so this should only be a slight challenge.”

Trenton rushed DA. DA stepped to the side and avoided Trenton. DA threw a roundhouse kick, but Trenton caught his foot and threw him. DA landed on the ground, but quickly got up as Trenton tried to stomp on his ribs. DA and Trenton started to trade blows, punching and block and getting punched. This lasted for about a half an hour. At this point DA and Trenton backed up from each other. They were both hunched over, exhausted. DA was worse off than Trenton, he was about to collapse. Then, his body glowed yellow for a split second. DA stood back up straight. Before Trenton could question anything, DA ran up to him pushed an open palm into his chest. Trenton went flying backwards and hit the wall. He fell on the floor, unconscious.

DA walked up to him and placed a hand on his head. Trenton opened his eyes, fully healed. “No fair, using your damn time powers!” He said angrily as he stood up. “I never said we couldn’t use powers or weapons.”

“Good.” Matt said as he shot DA in the head. DA’s head tilted slightly from the force of the bullet. The wound quickly healed and he turned to look at Matt.

DA’s eyes turned jet black. “Deru kui wa utareru.” He said.

“Shit!” Cassidy said. She quickly stood up. “Matt get out of there!”

DA grabbed Matt by the throat and lifted him up. Matt had always been taller than DA, but it seemed as though he had spontaneously grown. Matt’s vision was quickly becoming blurry.

As the smoke alarm rang Cassidy spared the fire extinguisheron the stove. By the time Nathan got the batteries out of the smoke alarm, the fire had died.

Cassidy through down the extinguisher and faced David. “What the fuck!” she shouted at him.

“I thought making eggs would go better if I used my fire powers.” David said innocently.

“Ok, here’s a thought,” Cassidy said, “next time, DON’T DROWN THE EGGS IN BACON GREASE!!!”

“But everyone loves bacon!” David said, trying (but failing) to defend himself.

Cassidy just looked at him. David, smiled, thinking he had won. But his smile transferred to Cassidy as she began to smile and his expression was blocked by bacon grease that suddenly appeared in the cone on his head. He quickly ran to the sink and tilted his head, causing the grease to pour out of the cone. He gasped for air. “I… hate you.”

“I hate you too.” Cassidy said with an even bigger smile. “By the way,” she turned to Nathan, “why does he need to wear that cone again?”

“He’s still recovering from what the demon did to him.” Nathan said plainly.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

David stood up straight and turned to Cassidy. “What I do in my free time is my business.” He said proudly.

“Did David burn another breakfast?” Trenton asked as he walked into the kitchen. “Actually, scratch that. Stupid question. Of course he did.”

“I’m getting better.” David responded.

“You’ve been trying that for three weeks and the fires have only gotten bigger.” Nathan pointed out.

“Looks like I missed something.” Matt said as he walked into the kitchen. “Let me guess, David burnt something.” He opened the fridge.

“Why is that the first thing everyone thinks?”

“You know why.” Matt responded, pulling out a leftover pizza.

“You guys still scavenging for car parts?” Trenton asked.

“Yep.” Matt said, grabbing a couple cans of cola too. We got most of the parts. Now we’re just sorting through them and making sure they all fit together.”

“Let me know when you start putting it together.” Trenton said. “I want to help with that.”

“Sure.” Matt said, closing the fridge. “Right now though, it’s just me and Jayde. DA was helping, but Jayde came over and scolded him for moving around so much. At least, I think it was scolding. It’s kind of hard to tell when the only one who can hear her is him.”

“How scared was he?” Cassidy asked, trying not to smile. She may love her cousin like a brother, but she still found it funny how he’s being bossed around by a dead girl the same age as him.

“He looked like he didn’t know if he should argue with her or crap himself.” Matt said, laughing. He took a bite of pizza.

Cassidy started to laugh too. However, it quickly turned into a frown. “Still can’t believe how messed up he is.” She said in almost a whisper. The room went quiet. It was then that everyone remembered their injuries. Cassidy still had stitches on her face and bandages on her torso. Matt couldn’t feel the cold soda he was holding with his robotic arm. Trenton still had a hard time breathing. Of course, David still had problems going to the bathroom. The only two people who weren’t injured were Eve and Nathan. Trenton was able to protect Eve and Nathan was told to stay out of the action. Still, Nathan couldn’t help but think he could have done more to help.

“I-I should get back to work.” Matt said, trying to hide his sorrow. “The car isn’t going to fix itself.”

“For the love of God.” A voice said. Everyone turned to see DA and Jayde standing outside the kitchen. Without realizing it, everyone took a glance at his cane. This seemed to piss DA off. “What the hell is with everyone feeling sorry for themselves? And more importantly me?” He threw his cane in the air and caught it, holding it like a weapon. “I can still kick all of your asses, don’t forget that.”

“Dude, you’re walking with a limp.” Trenton said. “I know how tough you are, but you should still get some rest.”

“He’s right.” Nathan said. “If you exert yourself too much, you might end up making it worse, or even opening up some of the stitches I made.”

DA clenched his teeth, trying to hold back his rage. Then, he seemed to relax. He even smiled. “Ok.” He said, his eyes scanning each of his friends. “Then how about this.” He pointed his cane to the window. “We’ll go outside and spar. One on one. And if even one of you can beat me, then I’ll hang back and be useless like you want.” His smile faded as his tone turned more serious. “But if I beat every single one of you, then all of you have to shut up about my injuries and let me do what I want.”

Matt’s mech charged at the demon, firing his tesla rifle as he did. The demon, despite its large size, quickly dodged, jumping left and right. When Matt came close to the demon he tried to hit it with the rifle, but when he did it turned to smoke and disappeared.

“Where’d it go?” He said to himself as he looked around. The demon reappeared behind Matt and threw a punch forward. However, it was blocked by Jayde as she grabbed the demon’s hand with her right hand. Cassidy and DA jumped and sliced the demon’s torso in half. The demon cried in pain with a scream capable of shattering glass. It once again turned into smoke and disappeared. DA and Cassidy collapsed on the ground, barely breathing. Jayde sat both of them up and let them lie against her. She put her hands around them, trying to comfort them. Nathan was sitting behind her, passed out, but otherwise unscratched. Matt’s mech turned to the three and kneeled in order to see them better. “You guys okay?” His voice came from the speakers of the mech.

Cassidy coughed up some blood. “Yeah.” She said weakly. “That demon… it’s savage.”

“Kind of figured that out from the drool coming off of it.” Matt responded.”

“Listen.” DA said, sounding just as weak as his cousin. “That thing has no pattern, no strategy, and as far as we can tell no weakness. No matter how many times we kill it, it just comes back.”

“What do you mean it keeps coming back?” Matt asked.

“We mean that even after erasing it from time and throwing it into a black hole it still kicked our asses!” Cassidy said, becoming enraged. “We even sealed the Hell Gate but it hasn’t slowed down at all.” She pushed Jayde’s hand off of her and began to stand up. “Now we’re going to return the favor.” She got to her feet and stood up straight. Despite her posture, Matt knew she had to be in extreme pain.

“Yeah.” DA stood up as well. “We still got some fight in us.” He wiped some blood off of his face. He snapped his fingers and his black sword appeared in his hand.

“Treten, Soldaten.” Matt said sympathetically. “You’ve done enough.” His mech stood back up.

“Not going to happen.” Cassidy said. She snapped her fingers and the metal shards of her katana appeared and floated in an orbit around her. “That thing killed us more times than I can count. So unless you have time or space altering powers, you’re not doing this alone.”

“Plus, how often do you get to fight alongside a mech suit?” DA added.

Matt chuckled. “Alright then. Let’s kick it’s-” The demon repapered and kicked Matt’ mech in the head, interrupting him. Steam began to rise from the mech. Matt quickly grabbed the demon’s talon like foot and slammed him against the canyon wall. Rocks fell from above. Cassidy waved her hand and the rocks disappeared. They reappeared on either side of the demon and quickly came together, crushing it. The demon broke the rocks with a fierce roar and leapt into the air. DA jumped onto Matt’s gun and concentrated what little power he had into it. Matt aimed his rifle at the demon and fired. Thanks to DA, it fired at the speed of light, making the shots per second impossible to count. Cassidy held her hand out, teleporting the bullets in front of the demon so they wouldn’t miss. The demon didn’t flinch. As it came down, Matt’s mech dropped the rifle and reached behind it and pulled out a giant hammer from the lump on its back.

“Stopp.” He said. Cassidy struggled, but stopped the demon a few inches from the head of the mech. All the mech’s power was diverted to the right arm and more specifically the hammer. The hammer cracked open and red energy flowed from the cracks. “Hammer Zeit.” Matt said with a grin as he hit the demon, sending it flying into the air. The jet engines on the mech came to life as flames shot out of them and propelled the mech into the sky. As Matt gained altitude he saw Trenton at the edge of the canyon.

“Matt!” he shouted. Trenton threw something at Matt. His mech quickly grabbed it and brought it closer so Matt could see it. It was one of Trenton’s holy hand grenades. Matt’s mech closed its fist on it and gave Trenton a thumbs up. Matt continued after the demon he sent flying, DA and Cassidy perched on either shoulder of his mech.

“Matt,” DA started. “How durable is this thing?” He asked.

“I don’t know. Why” Matt asked.

“Because it is burning our feet and smoking.” Cassidy said. “You do realize what your powers entail right?”

“I barely know what entail means.” Matt said, becoming irritated.

“Angle of Destruction.” DA stated. “Your powers are destruction, war, chaos, and anger. The more pissed off you are, the more power you pump into your mech. And it seems like you’re overcharging it.”

“I’m not that angry.” He said.

“Maybe not on the outside,” Cassidy said, “but on the inside you are boiling with rage. So calm your ass down before you blow us out of the sky!”

“I can’t.” Matt said, gritting his teeth. “The thought that all my friends almost died because I was too busy with my dad’s stupid car…” The mech started to glow a faint red from the heat.

“Matt it’s fine.” DA said. “Just stay calm.”

The demon was close now. It seemed to be in a daze as it appeared limp. Matt grabbed the demon and shoved the holy hand grenade into the demon’s mouth. The grenade exploded in a holy light. When it faded, the demon’s body was in pieces and began to fall back to Earth. Matt lowered the power of the mech and descend. He knew better than to drop his guard. If DA and Cassidy couldn’t kill it, he knew it was still alive.

He was right. It appeared right in front of him instantly. It caught Matt off guard and grabbed his mech by the head. The mech began to heat up as the fire hand tried to crush it. DA and Cassidy rushed the demon. Its other hand turned into a fist and came down on them quickly, forcing them to plummet downward.

“Nein!” Matt cried. The mech quickly began to heat up more. Matt angrily grabbed the demon’s hand and tried to force it off. The demon was too powerful. The metal began to moan and creak. Matt could see the demon’s hand print from the inside as it bent the metal. The mech got hotter and redder. Smoke was coming out of every part of the mech. All Matt could think about was his friends plummeting to the Earth, and how it was partially his fault. And with that thought, he was enveloped in a hot red light.

  Matt woke. He was on the canyon’s edge. Everything looked red and he heard an annoying ringing in his ears. He looked up and saw Jayde with a thankful smile on her face. Matt then realized he was being carried by her. Considering he had to be almost twice her height and weight it would be impressive. That is, if she wasn’t a ghost.

He turned his head and saw Nathan close to him, putting away what appeared to be a needle. “I better get more than a thank you once we get home.” He said. Jayde set Matt down on the ground next between DA and Trenton. Cassidy was next to DA.

“What happened?” Matt asked, trying to ignore the ungodly headache he had.

“Nothing.” Nathan said casually. “You exploded into a supernova, DA and Cassidy fell on top of me and broke a few things that I had to fix with nothing but dirt and rocks, and then once they got me back to the car and summoned all of your bits and pieces I put you back together and brought you back to life.”

Matt stared at Nathan for about a minute, confused. “How-”

“I’m the fucking white mage, that’s how.” Nathan said as he walked towards the car. “Now if you excuse me, I’ll be waiting in the car. Let me know when you plebes are ready to go.”

“You got cocky all of the sudden.” Matt stated.

“I brought you back from the dead. I’m pretty sure I have the right to be cocky.”

The sky began to clear. The sun was shining bright and the wind was blowing once more. It didn’t take long for everyone else to come to their senses. It was weird. They almost died, yet it looks like a normal day. The very sight of the sudden normality was almost too much. Not wanting to dwell on the thought, the group limped back to the car, DA getting behind the wheel. Matt began gathering pieces of his mech/jeep and putting them into the back. The mere fact that he was able to fit all the pieces in the back told him that repairing it would require a trip to the hardware store.

“Finally. Home.” Cassidy said with a sigh as she slouched in the passenger seat. Trenton, Nathan, and David got into the back. Eve just sat on Trenton’s lap.

“Not exactly.” DA said, still tired. “I don’t have enough power to get us home, and I doubt you do.” Cassidy thought for a second and then slammed her head on the dash, irritated. “Let’s try to find a place to stay the night. We should be able to head home in the morning.” He started the car. Matt walked over the passenger door and knocked on the window.

Cassidy lowered the window. “What?” She asked.

“I’m just going to hang on.” Matt said. “My junk is taking up the back.”

“Ok then.” Cassidy said. She leaned back and closed her eyes, trying to rest. Matt put his feet on the steps and held onto the inside of the car. He nodded to DA, telling him to go. DA put on the gas and the car took off.

Trenton turned to David and looked him over carefully. “Why the hell aren’t you all banged up like us?” He asked, a little irritated.

David turned to Trenton, his eyes almost blank. “He did hurt me.” He said slowly, choking down the pain.

“What do you mean? You look fine.” Trenton said.

David paused. “He kept hitting me in the dick.” He said emotionlessly. “Every time I tried to dodge he ended up hitting me in the dick. I don’t know why, but he just kept hitting me in the dick.”

Trenton used all of his will power and experience as an actor to try to keep from laughing. But he failed, and began laughing like a mad man, despite the laughter causing him intense pain. It took him three seconds to pass out from the pain. Nathan sighed, knowing that he would have to glue Trenton’s ribs back in place later.

  They’ve been driving for a while now. It was night time and everyone but DA and Matt were asleep. “We’ve been driving for a while now.” Matt said, speaking up so DA could hear him. He didn’t worry about Cassidy since she seemed too tired to be able to be woken.

“Gonna be honest,” DA started, “I may have gotten us lost.”

“Great.” Matt said, not at all surprised. “So what do we do now?”

“We wait until a me from the future pops up and tells us which way to go.” DA said.

“How long will that take?”

“No idea. I’m too tired to even tell the time, much less manipulate it. Should be some time before tomorrow though.”

They continued driving when they saw something sparkling in the distance. “Sweet. There you are.” Matt said.

“That’s not me.” DA said. “That’s the demon.”

“What?! How?!” Matt asked in a panic.

“I told you that thing was hard to kill.” DA said. “Please tell me some weapons survived that explosion.”

Matt let go of the car. The car seemed to fly forward. DA quickly turned so the back was in front of Matt. Matt grabbed onto the back door handle. Luckily, it was locked. DA popped the window half of the door open. Matt climbed onto the back and reached into the back. With unbelievable strength, he picked up his tesla rifle out of the back. Matt climbed onto the roof and steadied himself. He looked ahead and saw the demon charging. He aimed the gun and fired one powerful blast. The recoil sent the gun flying out of his hands. It was lucky that it did too, since it exploded a few seconds later. The demon backhanded the blast out of the way and kept moving, not fazed by the nuclear like explosion behind it. “Scheiße!” Matt cursed.

“Hold on!” DA shouted. The car sped up. Matt fell, but grabbed onto one of the bars on top of the car.

“Are you serious?!” Matt cried out. “Actually, let me rephrase that: Are you insane?!

“Yep!” DA answered.

The demon roared. The car was now going at about one-eighty. Jayde appeared standing on the hood of the car. She took a step forward and lifted up a leg. The demon put its head down, preparing to head-but the car. It didn’t take long before the two forces were within a foot of each other. Luckily, Jayde was faster than the demon. She kicked the demon in the head. With the added speed behind her, the kick shattered the demon’s head into billions of tiny bloody pieces. The demon’s body was sent flying over the car, landing behind it.

DA slammed on the brakes. Matt flew off the car and hit the ground face first. He turned over just in time to see the demon reform above him and fall, and he had no time to get out of the way. DA appeared out of nowhere, standing above Matt, and caught the demon, struggling to hold it above his head. The demon simple reached under itself and grabbed DA. It placed its feet on the ground and brought DA close to its face. It looked curiously at him as he cried in pain, being crushed in the demon’s giant, fiery hand. Bored with him, it tossed him aside.

“DA!” Matt cried. He stood up quickly. He grabbed the demon’s hand tossed him as far as he could. He ran over to DA and knelt down beside his limp body. “DA! DA! Sprich mit mir verdammt noch mal!” DA’s eyes were closed. Upon closer inspection, his hat was gone, DA looked skinnier, due to being crushed, and his left leg was bent in the wrong direction more so than usual. Matt stared at DA’s body for a while, thinking he would heal himself or another him would pop out of nowhere. He sat there, and stared. Just staring, waiting for his friend to wake up. Waiting for his best friend. Waiting. Just waiting. But nothing happened.

Matt stood up and turned around. The demon was trying to attack the car, but Jayde had a barrier up, protecting its frightened passengers. They were so preoccupied that no one seemed to notice what just transpired. Matt walked over to the demon. He waved his hand from left to right. The force of the wave crated a wind powerful enough to send the demon ten feet away. With one step Matt was right in front of the demon. It stood up and tried to punch Matt. It’s fist shattered the second it touched his face. It pulled its arm back as it reformed and tried to punch with the other. Matt held out his hand and grabbed the demon’s fist. He yanked it, detaching it from the demon’s body. Matt looked the demon in the eyes. “You are nothing.” He said. He dropped the demon’s hand and punched it in the face. The demon’s jaw shattered, but reformed. Angered, it grabbed Matt by the arms. Matt struggled, but his previous godlike strength now did nothing. The demon pulled off Matt’s left arm, just as Matt had done to him. Matt screamed in pain. The demon dropped him.

Matt stood up. “Get angry.” Chris said, looking at the demon and not Matt. He was next to Matt. Matt looked at him. His face was serious, something he didn’t know Chris was capable of. “Both you and that demon are fueled by rage. But you’re rage is just. Show me that just anger.”

“Chris-”

“I said show me!” He said angrily, still not looking at Matt.

Matt looked at the demon. It was looking at his severed arm, enjoying its handiwork. Matt gritted his teeth. He picked up his severed arm. “Fine.” He said through his teeth. “I’ll show you!” He groaned loudly. The ground rumbled. Then, veins shot out of the socket of his left arm, followed by the bones, then muscle, and finally skin. His arm was regenerated. He rushed the demon and hit it with his old, severed arm. The demon stumbled, but immediately countered with a right hook. It’s arm once again shattered when it hit Matt. Matt once again hit the demon with his old, severed arm, but it disintegrated when it hit the demon. They were evenly matched. The demon grabbed Matt with both hands and tried to crush him. Matt struggled, trying to break free.

Then, he saw something float down from the sky. It looked like a hat. Matt’s eyes widened. It was DA’s fedora. This was the pushed he needed. Matt yelled so powerfully, it broke the demon’s grip and forced him to stumble backwards. Matt just hovered in the air. He pulled his right hand back. “No one,” he punched the demon, “messes,” he hit the demon with a left hook, “with” right “my” left “friends!” he hit the demon with a powerful uppercut. The demon stumbled back again, refusing to be knocked down. “Determent to Destruction!” He cried as he flew out the demon. His eyes glowed red and the veins popped out of his entire body. He kicked the demon in the stomach. He then punched the demon’s chest with such force that not only did his hand go through its chest, but the ground under them cracked. He jumped back and landed on the ground. Finally, he pushed both of his hands forward, releasing so much energy, that the demon disintegrated.

Matt panted, tired. His eyes returned to normal and his veins retracted. When he caught his breath, he quickly ran back to his injured friend. Everyone was already gathered around DA, but stood back so that Nathan could look at him. Trenton and Eve were looking at DA, astonished by the state he was in. Jayde was comforting Cassidy, who couldn’t bear to look at the carnage. David was shaking, not believing what he was seeing was real.

“He’s alive.” Nathan said with a satisfying sigh as he stood up. “But not for long. He spent so much of his power that he can’t heal his wounds. If we don’t get him home where I can operate, he’ll die.”

“Okay, let’s go.” Chris said, picking up DA.

“I thought you weren’t allowed to help us?” David said.

Chris looked at him with a bone chillingly serious look. “My friend is dying for real. Fuck the rules.” He said emotionlessly.

A white light appeared from the sky and engulfed the car. Chris began walking towards it. Everyone else quickly followed.

Not surprisingly, the demon appeared in front of them with a roar. Even stopped, frightened. That is except for Chris, who kept walking, and Matt, who rushed the demon. “I’ve had enough of you!” He screamed at the top of his lungs. Matt held his right hand up. He threw it forward with all of his anger and power, bitch slapping the demon. The demon screamed louder than it had before. There was a gust of wind and it seemed too vanished. The air felt different, as if the Earth itself was relieved.

“What the shit?” Trenton said, confused. “Did I miss something?”

“I think… I think Matt just bitch slapped a demon out of existence.” Nathan said, just as confused.

“Is that possible?” Trenton asked.

“Apparently.” Nathan answered.

Matt’s arm dropped. It swung back and forth like it was a shirt sleeve. He not only shattered the bones in his arm, but he disintegrated them, along with the muscles. “We don’t have time.” Matt said, demanding everyone’s attention. “We’ve got to get home. Move!” At his command, everyone ran to the white light, hoping to get their friend home before it was too late.

    Matt laid in the grass, staring at the sky. It was all so peaceful. “How can it be when there’s so much nasty shit in the world?”

“Talking to yourself?” a voice said. Matt turned to see the bottom of a cane. He looked up and saw DA. He was in his pajamas: white T-shirt and baggy black pants. “Isn’t that normally my thing?” Using his cane, he sat himself down on the ground next to Matt.

Matt sat up. “Right now, resting should be your thing.” He said. “Nathan said you shouldn’t be walking around too much.”

“I know.” DA said. “But I needed a break from Jayde. She’s been so clingy lately. I had to sneak out. I even left a me from another timeline in there so she won’t get suspicious.”

“Well, she is a guardian angel.” Matt stated. “It makes sense that she’ll be extra cautious while you’re so weak.”

“I’m not weak!” DA said angrily.

“Oh yeah? When is that leg going to heal then?”

DA paused. “You know it won’t.” He said, not caring much. “That demon did too much damage to me when I ran out of power. At least now we know how we can die when we gain our powers.” DA threw his cane in the air and caught it when it came back down. “Plus I got this thing. Nathan made it out of the remains of my sword and your jeep.”

“You’re helping put that thing back together by the way.” Matt said.

They both just stared at the sky. DA sighed. “You know, I’ve always kind of thought of you as a brother.” He said. “You were always there for me when I needed you and you showed me things I wouldn’t have even thought about on my own.”

“Don’t get all mushy on me.” Matt said. “It’s not like you actually did die. Save that stuff for my funeral in seventy years or so.” They both laughed.

“It’s kind of strange though.” DA said. “If we were brothers, no one would guess that I’m the older one. I’m not short, but you tower over me. I’m bony, but you’re weaker than me. I’m-”

“Wait a minute.” Matt interrupted. “What do you mean weaker?”

“It’s true.” DA said. “You even said you wouldn’t want to get in a fight with me.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t kick your ass.” He said with confidence.

“Matt, I’m a black belt.” DA stated. “Exactly what kind of qualifications do you have?”

Matt stood up. “Come here and I’ll show you.” He got into a fighting stance. “I’ll even let you use that cane of yours.”

DA shakily stood up without his cane. “Don’t need it to kick your ass.” He said with a cocky smile.

Matt smiled too. They both rushed each other, and threw a right punch. They hit each other’s face. DA’s arm was fine, but the skin on Matt’s arm peeled away, revealing its robotic form. They both stood up straight. DA winced and knelt down. He held out his hand and his cane flew into it. He used it to stand back up.

“You’re lucky I was holding back.” He said. “Otherwise, you’d be in the stone ages by now.”

“Are you kidding me?” Matt chuckled. “I could have made you not exist. Remember what I did to the demon?”

“What the hell!” Trenton shouted. They both turned to the house, realizing that their collision was strong enough to make one of the walls crumble. The bathroom wall more specifically. Trenton had a towel over his lap, sitting on the toilet, and his face was red. “You two better repair this fucking wall now! I don’t want the entire neighborhood to see me take a shit!”

What the fuck! What the actual fuck! I mean… what the fuck! Chris is Jesus! Chris is fucking Jesus! He is Jesus! What the fuck!

I punched a hole in the wall of my room. Not because I was mad, but because it was the only reaction that my body could do. It was like I was in shock. I cannot even think of a reasonable reaction right now.

I looked over at the door. I opened it and walked out into the hallway. I quickly walked to the front door and went outside. I saw David pounding his head against the brick wall. “Zeus, Budah, Alah, anyone besides God right now, please kill me.” He said to himself. I kept walking. I didn’t know where I was going, but I knew I had to keep walking.

  After… who knows how long, I found myself at my house. It was nothing more than a giant pile of ash thanks to David. I guess my subconscious thought that home would calm me down or some crap like that. I don’t know. I’m not a psychiatrist. The point is I was at home because I couldn’t deal with this shit. I walked around the ashes not really sure what I was doing. I was still kind of in a daze. I just could not process any of this.

I suddenly tripped and fell. I quickly got up and tried to dust off the ash. I was too emotionally exhausted to be mad. I walked over to what I tripped over and saw a piece of metal. I brushed away some of the dirt and saw a license plate.

“No way.” I said, snapping out of my daze. I started to dig frantically. After what must have been hours I finally dug it out. My dad’s jeep. I can’t believe it survived. How the hell did it survive? You know what, it doesn’t matter how it survived. It survived and that’s all that matters.

I looked it over. It was pretty banged up. The tires were deflated, the doors and roof were torn off, and steering wheel and radio where missing. It was in pretty bad shape, but I think I can fix it. I looked around some more and eventually found my dad’s tools. I had nothing else to do today, so why not dig up the remnants of my house to repair a worn down jeep. It sounds like a good idea.

  “What the?” I said, rubbing my head. I heard a loud noise. What was it? “Oh wait, my phone!” I shook my head and quickly answered my phone. The only people still on Earth who have my number are everyone at home. “Hello?” I answered.

“… Matt.” It was Trenton. He sounded tired.

“Dude, you ok?” I asked.

“No…” Trenton said. He was breathing heavily. “We are… not ok.” He paused. “We… We found another arch-demon… Dean and Cassidy… they couldn’t teleport you because they were too tired… we realized that too late…”

“Where are you?!” I asked frantically. My friends were in trouble.

“Grand… Canyon…” I heard a thud after Trenton said that. He must have dropped his phone.

“Verdammt!” I shouted. I ran to the jeep that I spent all day and night repairing. I turned the key. Nothing. “Verdammt!” I tried again. “Verdammt!” I turned it once more “VERDAMMT!!!” I turned the key so hard that it broke, and the jeep started. “Uns beeilen!” I stomped on the gas as hard as I could. The car took off at high speed. I quickly turned the wheels left and right as the different turns came up almost immediately. Before I knew it, I was slamming on the brakes, trying to stop myself from driving off into the Grand Canyon.

I tried to get out of the jeep, but the door was stuck and the windows were plastic that didn’t move. It took me a couple of minutes to get it open and get out. I started to look around for my friends, not questioning how I got here so fast “Matt.” I heard a weak voice call. I finally spotted Trenton lying at the edge of the canyon, Eve holding his head up. I quickly ran over to him.

“Trenton! What happened?!” I asked, failing to contain my panic.

Trenton coughed up a little blood before talking. “Some kind of… savage demon. It… came out of nowhere. Never said a word.”

“What happened to DA and Cassidy?” I asked. “I thought they couldn’t die.”

“So did we.” He replied. “But they used up all of their powers the other day. They… were too tired to fight… they passed out trying to save us from an attack. I tried to attack afterwards… it threw me against the wall… would have died if it wasn’t for Chris.”

“Damn.” I ran over to the edge and peered down into the canyon. I saw a giant demon with a huge muscly torso and fire arms. It must have been twenty feet tall at least. It was slowly walking up to Da, Cassidy, Nathan, and David.

“Well, this is bad.” Chris said. He was standing right next to me, looking down at the demon.

I grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him off the ground. “Why aren’t you helping?!” I demanded.

Chris shrugged. “Not allowed to.” He said. “I was told not to get involved unless it’s necessary. And if you ask me, you got this covered.”

“What do you mean?!” I shouted at him. “Everyone is dying! We do not have this covered!”

“I didn’t say you all had this covered. I said you have this covered.” He said. And, in usual Chris fashion, he disappeared.

I stood there for a while, in shock. I then looked down at the demon. There was some kind of glowing crystal on its back. Years of playing video games have told me that if it glows, it’s a weak spot. But I had nothing to hit it with. No guns or explosives. All I had was my jeep.

I turned to it. My jeep. Which can do some serious damage falling from high up. And the doors don’t work properly. And the steering is so off that you need someone holding the wheel. I just stared at it for a minute. Looks like I have no other choice. I slowly walked to the jeep.

“Matt… what are you doing?” Trenton asked. I ignored him. As I walked, all I could think of was my friends, and how I needed to save them. Carry On My Wayward Son was playing in my head as I walked. I finally got to the jeep. The door opened with ease from the outside. I stopped and looked around, trying to find something to keep the door open with. I knew was I get going, the door will close on its own. The ground was bare and there was nothing in the jeep. I could use my clothes, but there’s no way I can keep them in place. I could just hold the door open, but the steering is so bad that I need both hands to control it. The seat is so close to dash that I can’t move my feet in order to keep the door open either. There was no way out of this.

I got in, keeping the door open, and started it. The engine came to life, and I slowly stepped on the gas pedal. The car jerked and the door slammed shut, just as I expected. I just slammed on the gas, throwing away the last fuck I had to give about my life. Within seconds, the car flew off the cliff. They all better appreciate what I’m doing. I’m about to kamikaze the shit out of this demon. I closed my eyes, took in one last breathe, and sighed. Then, everything turned white.

The whiteness grew brighter, and brighter. Until the point where it hurt. Finally, it disappeared. I opened my eyes. I looked around, trying to find out what just happened. Then I saw a lever to my right. I never put a lever in the jeep. Something in the back of my mind told me to pull it. So I did.

The metal around the jeep started to grow and warp. In a flash, the jeep turned into a mech. It looked similar to an Ogre from Titan Fall except with bigger hands, two shoulder mounted guns, and a lump on its back with speakers and two jet engines sticking out of the bottom. The speakers started playing Immigrant Song by Lead Zeppelin. The panels on the inside were monitors giving me a 360 degree view. There was armor that was a scaled down human version of the mech. It was some kind of controller that let the mech move with me. I realized I was still falling towards the demon. I demon looked up at me and the weak point was no longer visible. That didn’t deter me though. I clasped my hands together, the mech miming my movement me, and held them above my head. I then quickly threw them down, hitting the demon in the head. The mech bounced off of it and landed on the ground on its feet. The demon howled in pain and stepped back. It looked me dead in the eyes, as if it could see past the mech suit. I got into a fighting stance.

I was awoken by a loud bang at my door. “Everyone get your asses up!” I hear Cassidy shouting as she banged on another door. “I finally figured this shit out and I am pissed!”

“Great.” I said to myself as I sat up. I looked over at my clock. “Nine AM and I’m already getting yelled at.”

  We all gathered in the living room. Everyone was still in their pajamas and were still exhausted from the other day. DA and Cassidy were the only two who were dressed, but they looked more exhausted than all of us combined. The bags under their eyes were really noticeable and they seemed to slouch a bit. Not surprising considered they died like a hundred times yesterday.

“What’s this about you figuring shit out?” Trenton asked.

Cassidy sighed. “Last night I had a dream. Like the one DA had.” She said. “It was the memories of one of my ancestors. The dream focused more on when he joined DA’s ancestors. But after I woke up I was able to vaguely remember things from his life.”

“Yeah.” DA confirmed. “After I woke up this morning I had more memories too. I wanted to pop back in time to see what exactly happened, but I can’t.” He rubbed his eyes. “It’s like that point in time doesn’t even exists.”

“But you do know why this is happening, right?” Trenton asked.

“We have an idea.” Cassidy said. “But just to make sure… CHRIS!” She shouted.

“You called?” He said. We all turned to see him laying on the kitchen counter behind us. “So, did you figure it out?”

“I don’t know.” Cassidy said, folding her arms. “Did we?”

Chris smiled and jumped off the counter. “Why yes you did!” He said. “I am very happy! I’ll be honest, I didn’t think you would but you did! I’m so proud!” He shook Cassidy’s hand.

“Someone mind filling in the blanks?” I asked.

Chris looked at both DA and Cassidy. “Well? Come on. Surely the manifestation of Time and Space can explain something as simple as this.”

We all looked at DA and Cassidy patently.

DA sighed. “Basically… It’s the apocalypse.”

“Kind of figured that out already.” Matt said.

“No.” Cassidy said. “It is literally THE apocalypse.”

“Like…” Nathan hesitated to say. “Like the one from the bible?” The room fell silent. We were all waiting for someone to say “No, just kidding.” But the look on Cassidy and DA’s face said they were serious.

“So… our family?”

“Raptured.” Cassidy answered me. “Everyone we know. They were all sent to Heaven. That way we would have no distractions and could focus on the mission.”

“That mission would be to stop the apocalypse.” DA said.

“Wait a minute.” I stood up. “I thought Jesus was supposed to rise for the apocalypse. Where the hell is he?”

“One man, even if that man is the son of God, isn’t enough to stop an army.” DA said. “He needs an army to back him up.”

“Not only that, but he would need to do it from behind the scenes so no one would notice what he was doing.” Cassidy said. “Am I right so far?”

“On the nose.” Chris said. “Any guesses as to how he would be working “behind the scene”?”

“The same way an angel or demon does it. He would need a vessel.” DA answered. “Someone to hold his spirit and channel his power. But being the man he is, he wouldn’t overshadow that person’s soul, he would share the body. Which means the person he chose as a vessel will retain his personality but have all the knowledge of the son of god.”

“Wait.” Trenton stared at Chris. “You don’t mean that you’re…”

Chris held out his arms. He was then bathed in a white light and a choir sang “Hallelujah” in the background. “You can call me Jesus Senpai.”

“Is it too late to be an atheist?” Nathan asked.

“So… you really are… Jesus?” I asked.

“I said, call me Jesus Senpai.” Chris said.

“One, no one is doing that.” Trenton said. “And two, WHAT!! I mean… WHAT!!”

“I’m with Trenton on this one.” Matt said. “What the actual fuck‽”

“Don’t swear in front of your lord and savior.” Chris said with a satisfying smile.

“Stop that.” Cassidy said.

“Fine, fine.” Chris’ smile faded.

“So if he is Jesus, what does that make us?” Trenton asked. He sat back down and was rubbing his head, trying to process everything.

“We’re the guys who are supposed to help him fight off hell.” Cassidy answered. “But we need to reawaken the spirits that sleep within us.”

“Again, what?” Trenton asked.

“Basically, in our past lives we were able to stop the apocalypse before it happened. That’s why the first demon we fought called us Lords and Saviors. That’s what people called our ancestors.” Cassidy explained. “This time it’s already happening and we are just trying to push it back. Hence the Hell Zones we need to get rid of. But our powers come from the original source. The fabrics which make the universe and the people in it. Time and Space, Destruction and Creation, and Heart and Mind. We are all the personification of these fabrics.”

Again, the room went silent as everyone processed everything. This was a bit… overwhelming to say the least. I can’t even make a joke here. It’s just too much.

“…So, we are just expected to save the world without any warning?” Nathan asked.

“No.” DA said. “We’ve been training for this our entire lives without even knowing. We all have read books, seen movies, and played games where the main goal was to save the world and slay demons while facing unimaginable horrors. We have the knowledge and power thanks to our ancestors, but we had to be mentally prepared for the end of the world. Think about it. If literally anyone else was in our situation they would be freaking out, not knowing what to do. Instead we fight back and risk our lives to kill these things without hesitation.”

“Okay, I can’t deal with this.” Nathan got up and walked away.

“Yeah I need to go lie down.” Matt said.

“I think it’s best if we all just… do something else.” Trenton said, still in a daze. “We need to figure all of this out.” Trenton walked back to his room

Everything stairted slowly comin' intae sicht. Mah vision wis blurry bit a clocked th' guy comin' at me efter he hud sucker punched me. Ah shook aff th' head-ache 'n' quickly punched him in his gut wi' mah richt haun. Ah raised mah ither haun 'n' lowered it, elbowing him in th' heid. He fell oan th' flair, knocked oot cold.

"Nice try." Ah said. "But ye cannae beat me." Ah turned tae th' rest o' th' fowk in th' boozer. "Next roonds oan me." Ah said. Thay cheered 'n' starting chanting mah name, Adair.

Th' cheering suddenly stopped. Ah clocked a' body keekin at th' entrence. Ah turned tae see a jimmy 'n' a wifie. Thay hud oan some pure weird claes. Ah cuid tell fae thair een that thay wur asian. Ah'ament racist or anythin', bit foreigners dinnae juist come 'ere fur anythin' forby trauchle. Thay keeked at me 'n' said something in some kind o' asian leid lik' Japanese or Chinese. Thay quickly traivelt up tae me.

“Anata wa adeate imasu ka?” Th' jimmy said.

"What?!" Ah said, doilt. "Ah dinnae speak... whitevur Asian leid that is."

The jimmy keeked at th' wifie. Th' wifie sighed 'n' snapped her fingers.

“Thank you.” The man said to the woman.

“Welcome.” The woman said.

“That’s better.” I said. “Finally speaking in a language I understand.”

“My name is Minoru.” The man said. “This is my sister Michiko.”

“Nice to meat ya.” I said. “Now, if you excuse me I just got done with a fight and I was about to celebrate with a drink.” I walked to the bar and sat down. I waved me hand the guy behind the counter and he poured a drink and handed it to me.

Michiko sat down next to me. “Mind if I join?” she asked with a smile. I couldn’t help but smile back.

“I don’t see why not.” I said. I waved again and the man poured another drink. I’ve been going to this bar for almost fifteen years and I never learned his name. I was always too drunk to remember it. The man sat the drink in front of Michiko. She grabbed it and downed it in about a second. She sat the glass down with a sigh.

“Not as good as sake but alcohol is alcohol.” She said. “Hit me again.” She asked the man behind the counter. He refiled her glass.

“Never seen a girl handle a drink like that.” I said, impressed.

“I’m kind of a drunkard.” She said proudly. “Hell, I’ve been drinking for so long I can barely get drunk anymore.” She downed the glass again and let out a sigh. She turned behind her and looked at her brother. “Minoru, you want something?”

“You know I don’t drink.” He said. I turned and looked at him too. He had his back to us. Everyone else in the bar was still eyeing him and Michiko. I also noticed he had his hand on something on his waist. It looked like scabbard. From the way he scanned the bar I guess he was expecting someone to jump him.

“Fine.” Michiko said. “I’ll just drink enough for the both of us.”

“I’m fine with people wanting to come in and drink,” I started, “I’m even fine with people starting a good old fashioned bar fight (hell, I’ve started a few), but something tells me you’re here for something else.”

Michiko giggled. “Did the samurai and ninja clothing give it away?” she asked.

“You could say that.” I said.

“You’re a mercenary, right?” she asked me.

“What if I am?” I asked.

Michiko reached into her shirt and pulled out a small sack. She sat it on the counter. I took it and opened it. Holly shit! It was full of gold coins! My jaw dropped and I couldn’t say anything. “We’re hiring you.” Michiko said as if it was obvious.

“…What’s the job?” I said when I was finally able to speak.

“Demon hunting.” Minoru said bluntly.

“Really?” I said. “Demon hunting? I may be a religious man but I’m no demon hunter.”

“Liar.” Michiko said.

“You’re retired from demon hunting.” Minoru said.

“How do you know that?!” I asked.

“We know a lot of things.” Minoru said. “For example, the demon that killed your wife is still alive and well.”

“Of course he is.” I said. “You can’t kill the immortal.”

“What if we told you that you can?” Michiko said. “And by you I mean a select group of people.”

“I’d say you had one too many drinks.” I said.

Michiko stood up. She and Minoru started walking towards the door. “You’ll come with us.” Michiko said, as if it was obvious. They walked out.

“Home sweet home!” I said as I kicked the door open.

“That was ridiculous.” Matt said. Everyone went into the living room and sat down.

“Yeah,” Trenton said. “You guys died so many times I felt like I was watching an episode of Doctor Who.”

“To be fair we haven’t died nearly as many times as my dad.” DA said. “The man has more lives than a cat.”

David walked up behind DA and stabbed him with a kitchen knife. He pulled the knife out and DA was fine. He then stabbed him again, and again, and again. “This is fun!” David said, still stabbing DA. I made a rock appear above David’s head and made it fall on him. He dropped the knife and rubbed his head. “Ouch.”

“So does this mean we win?” Matt asked. “I mean, with DA and Cassidy being immortal and having those powers, we basically can’t lose.

“Cocky, cocky.” Chris said as he appeared in the living room wearing a lab coat. “You have to think of things more logically. What is Newton’s first law: an object in motion can only be stopped by an equal or opposite force.”

“Oh God, we’re learning!” David cried.

“No, wait.” Nathan said. “Think about it. Cassidy and DA did die, but they came back. The same with that demon. In the end, it took almost all of their power to defeat it.”

“I’m still not getting it.” Matt said.

“They can still die, just not as easy.” Nathan said.

“Correct.” Chris said.

“Still, they are powerful.” Trenton said. “We are one step closer to our goal. Which reminds me.” Trenton got up and walked over to Chris. “I think it’s about time you told us what the hell is going on.”

“I could, but that wouldn’t be fun.” Chris said. “It would be so much more fun if you piece it together.” He snapped his fingers and he was gone, leaving behind the lab coat.

“That’s Chris for you.” DA said. “Even with the world at stake, he is still the biggest troll I know.”

“Still, I don’t like this.” I said.

“Why’s that?” DA asked.

I sighed. “It’s just whenever the hero gains more power so do the villains. I mean it took both of us to kill that one demon and we almost ran out of power before that.”

“Yeah, but next time you’ll have back up.” Trenton said.

“No way is anyone dying while we all are together.” Matt said. “Plus, if I die I don’t think my little brother will let me live it down.”

I smiled. DA has some good friends. I wouldn’t mind having some of my friends too, but I’m glad they are at least with me. I yawned. “I’m think I’m going to bed.”

“Me too.” DA said. “Man are we going to be sore in the morning.”

Hello again internet! Did you miss me? Of course you did. And if not then why are you here? Because you’re awesome that’s why. Once again it’s time for a recap before we swan dive into the next chapter. This way for those of you who are not sure what has happened won’t accidentally land on the cement after jumping off of the high dive. Now grab your trunks, stretch those legs, and make sure there’s no poo in the pool because here we go:

Everyone set up base over at DA’s dad’s dad’s house after finishing off the first Archdemon. After a really bad and obvious Doctor Who reference everyone went to bed where DA had a strange dream about his (and Jayde’s) past lives. In that dream, he discovered that all of this has happened before and somehow his ancestors helped in preventing the last apocalypse and that they have to stop the next one from happening. With that knowledge Nathan goes to work on making sure that no one asks why a bunch of kids are living on their own, not going to school, and have no adult supervision. Trenton and Cassidy go shopping for food where Cassidy shoots a guy for trying to shoot her thus proving that you might want to ask someone if they are in Jr. ROTC before pointing a weapon at them. Once they returned to their new home Cassidy’s spider sense tingled do to another Hell Gate opening. With that, DA drove the car full speed at a house giving his friends heart attacks before distorting time to get them to Australia.

The demon had apparently been expecting them as it captured them. The demon was once called Orochi and had fought DA in his past life and now wanted revenge. Jayde freed everyone but before they could fight, the demon put up a force field, pushing everyone but him and DA back. The Duke of Time was in a one on one fight to the death. With all of his powers and the support of his friends, Duke had died a gruesome death.

Cassidy went into a blood rage and passed through the barrier to face the demon with her rage. But she quickly realized that her cousin wouldn’t want her to be consumed by rage like he was. She asked Jayde for her help and Jayde gave Cassidy her soul like she did with DA. With that, Cassidy awoke to become the Princess of Space. The demon could not counter her moves and was defeated. But more demons appeared and killed her. She did not realize the real demon was the eye in the center of the field.

Yep, both heroes are dead. That’s the end of the story. Go home, shows over, nothing to see here. Okay, JK. But seriously they did die.

But what is death to those who rule time and space? Their dying will to save their friends was so strong, it unleashed their true power. They became the very essence of space and time: The Manipulator of Space and Writer of Time: Space Time Continuum. With their powers combined, they defeated the demon, but at the cost of their lives… again. Their friends’ grieved for them for a whole minute before they reappeared. Their powers made them technically immortal. With their new powers, they had more hope for this battle and went home to plan their next move.

The blood that covered the battle field shot up as spikes. Space and Time easily dodged every single one without even thinking. Space waved her hand and every drop of blood disappeared along with the spikes. Time snapped his fingers and caused the demons to freeze.

“All yours!” He shouted to Space as he disappeared.

Space pulled her hand back as it turned black as night. “Black Hole Barrage!” She shouted as she pushed her hand forward. Black holes appeared all over the battle field, sucking in everything. The demons unfroze just in time to be sucked into the black holes. The attack would have easily destroyed the entire country within a second if it wasn’t for the demon’s barrier. Space pulled her hand back and the black holes disappeared. Time reappeared beside her.

“That was a little overkill don’t you think?” he asked.

“No kill like overkill.” Space said.

“You do need to control yourself.” Time said with a sigh.

“You’re one to talk.” Space said. “I recall a certain writer going on a rampage just the other day.”

“That was different.”

“How?”

“I wasn’t in control.”

“But I got the job done.”

“Fine, I’ll give you that.”

The ground rumbled and the two returned their attention to the demon. “I will not be ignored!” Its voice echoed. “I am tired of being defeated by you children! I shall enjoy watching you burn!”

Another of the demon’s manifestations appeared. This one quickly grew taller and taller until it towered over the two. A thousand arms grew from it as well as three extra heads. The giant demon moved fast, easily crushing the two beneath its feat.

The time line immediately merged with another and Time and Space appeared behind the demon. “That’s twice I’ve died today.” Space complained. “This demon is pissing me off.”

“Agreed.” Time said. “I don’t believe he knows who he is messing with.”

“Then let’s show him.” Space said with a smile. She waved her hand and the tiny shards of her sword that orbited around her flew forward. They circled around the demon’s leg at the speed of light, cutting it off. The demon screamed as it turned to the two. Time Jumped towards the demon. Thousands of him from different time lines synched up and appeared. They slashed different parts of the demon. The demon quickly swung its swords, killing hundreds with each swing. However, more Time’s appeared faster than the demon could kill them. Space moved her hands gracefully, as if conducting an orchestra, as she moved the individual and infinite pieces of her sword to cut the demon.

The demon’s eyes glowed and it let out a terrifying scream. A huge burst of energy engulfed the battle field as it self-destructed.

Once again, Time synched up with another time line and the two reappeared in the crater left behind by the demon.

“I see I’ll will have to deal with this myself.” The demon’s voice echoed. The two turned to see the giant eye floating in the air. Swords appeared out of thin air and flew at the two. Space crossed her arms and caused every blade to disappear. She flung open her arms causing them to reappear and be sent flying at the demon. Time rapidly stated to snap his fingers, causing the blades to infinitely fly at the demon at an ever growing supply. The demon sent out a pulse of energy that made the blades turn to ash. “I told you, I was made to kill you.”

“Black Hole Barrage!” Space shouted as she pushed her hand forward.

“Paradox Destiny!” Time shouted as he snapped his fingers.

Black holes covered the field once more. The demon’s body then turned to static as it was being thrown into the flow of time, causing its essence to be scattered to every point in time. Space concentrated her black holes on the demon. Not just that, but she traced where time was scattering the demon and put black holes on it at every point in every time line.

“You are too late for that.” The demon’s voice echoed again. The black holes and static disappeared and Space and Time were sent flying back with a sudden burst of energy.

“I have absorbed enough power to open the gates of hell.” The demon said as a giant door came out of the ground behind it. “Watch, as I fulfill my destiny and summon my dark lord.” The demon floated onto the door, seemingly acting as a key. He started to dump all of his power into the door as a more powerful and sinister energy poured out of the cracks of the door.

“Smells like rotten eggs and bunt rubber.” Time said as he waved his hand in front of his nose.

“Yeah.” Space agreed as she sat up. “It- wah!” She cried.

“What?” Time asked. “What the?” he said looking at Space.

“You’re back to normal!” They both said pointing at each other. Indeed Time was back to looking like DA and Space looked like Cassidy.

“What now?” DA asked.

“… We have a few seconds left,” Cassidy said. “So let’s put our all into it.”

DA tried to stand up but fell back down. “Damn it!” he shouted in pain. “My tail bone… how am I supposed to put in my all when I can’t stand?”

Cassidy stood up. “How many times have we been there for each other without actually being there?”

“Pretty much all the time.” DA said.

Cassidy looked at him and smiled. “Then stay here, and show me what you can do.” Cassidy started to walk towards the gate. DA sighed. He closed his eyes and pictured Cassidy, sending her his prayers. As Cassidy walked, something lifted her up. Each step was like walking up a stair case. Cassidy stopped when she was at the same level as the giant eye. Cassidy took a deep breath.

She struggled but turned back into Space. She winced a little as it seemed her body could no longer contain her power and it started to hurt. “This world… isn’t yours to… to take.” Getting out those words hurt. She kept flickering back and forth between Cassidy and Space. She held out her hand and summoned her remaining power. “Not enough.” She summoned more power, as much power as she had before. Tears came to her eyes from the pain as she finally stabilized, staying as Space.

DA held out his hand. “Everything I have,” DA said, “I give to you.” He snapped his fingers and fell down limp, cold and dead.

Jayde appeared next to Cassidy. Jayde snapped her fingers and her body morphed into DA, then into Time.

Space and Time held out their hands to the door. “Everything we are.” they said as one, “We’ll show you everything we are!” A giant clock and infinity symbol where the hands should be appeared behind them. They held out their hands and summoned all of their power from every point in space and time. “Look into the flow of time and the infinity of space, and see the truth of existence.” Millions of Times and Spaces appeared and were absorbed into the main two. When they were all absorbed, the power was unleashed. “Space-Time Continuum!” They shouted as the clock behind them started to ding and dong. The sound waves could be seen distorting the air. When the waves hit the door, the demon screamed and unholy scream. The barrier cracked. Another wave hit the demon and the barrier collapsed as the demon screamed again.

“Impossible!” The demon shouted. Before it could counter, the demon was hit by another wave and screamed. The sky cleared up and returned to normal. “How can you kill an immortal‽” One final wave struck the demon and it disappeared in a golden light. The door sank back into the ground. The screams of angry demons could be heard from behind the gate before it disappeared.

Time turned back into Jayde, her work down. Space turned back into Cassidy. Cassidy gave laughed and smiled but then began to fall. She hit the ground hard.

“DA! Cassidy!” David shouted. The rest of the group ran up to the two. David and Matt went up to DA. Matt put a finger on DA’s neck trying to find a pulse, but couldn’t.

“… He’s dead.” Matt said.

“So is Cassidy.” Nathan said. He and Trenton took Cassidy’s body and laid it next to DA.

“I don’t believe it.” Trenton said.

“They sacrificed themselves for us.” David said.

Even bowed their heads in a moment of silence.

“……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….BOO!” DA and Cassidy shouted.

“AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!” Everyone screamed as they turned to see their friends alive.

DA and Cassidy both fell on the ground laughing. “I told you… I told you leaving the bodies would be funny!” DA said in between laughing.

“You were right!” Cassidy said.

“YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!!!” Trenton yelled at them.

“I’m going to be honest, we should have saw that coming.” Matt said.

David was on the ground laughing now too. “That was the best prank ever!” he said.

“I don’t… I… what?” Nathan didn’t know how to react.

DA took a breath and tried to calm down. “We died but I transferred our minds and souls into another body from another time line.”

“Okay… Okay…” Cassidy stood up trying to calm down. “Okay…” she cleared her throat. Cassidy snapped her fingers and the bodies were eaten by miniature black holes. Cassidy snapped her fingers again and the black holes disappeared. “Come on, let’s go home. I’m starving.

Everyone started to walk back towards the car. “Everyone who hates DA and Cassidy raise your hand.” Trenton said. Everyone raised their hands except for Cassidy, DA, and David, the only three who thought it was funny.

“Now that’s what I call a battle.” Chris said as he walked with the others. “Good job Writer of Time and Manipulator of Space.” He shook Cassidy and DA’s hands. “I’ve made fresh tacos for everyone to celebrate.”

“How about instead you explain to us what just happened?” Cassidy asked.

“Why don’t you sleep on it?” Chris recommended. With that he was gone.

“What ever happened at least now we can better fight these demons.” DA said.

“So you two can’t die now?” Trenton asked.

“Technically, yes.” Cassidy said.

“Good.” Trenton shot DA and Cassidy in the head. They fell to the ground dead. “That’s for making us think you were dead!” he said. The two got up, the bullet holes gone as if they were never shot.”

The demon looked down at the Duke’s severed body. He spat on it. “Finally, that pest is exterminated.” He said in his emotionless tone. The demon went and sat back on the eye. He crossed his legs and lowered his head. Almost immediately, the group could feel his power emanating through the air. He was trying to open the Hell Gate even more.

Meanwhile, the surviving members of the team where trying to penetrate the demon’s shield. Matt furiously shot at the shield with pistols, firing at over a million rounds per second, but to no avail. David was summoning various explosives and tossing them at the shield, but they merely disintegrated upon touching it. Trenton even tried using his last two Holy Hand Grenades, but they didn’t even explode. The demon’s aura was too much for the light of God to shine through. Nathan was not trying to break down the shield. Rather, he was going through his newfound knowledge of everything medical, both scientific and magic, trying to think of a way to help his dead friend. Sadly, there was nothing he could think of that could reverse death.

“Damn it!” Trenton said. He punched the shield. “Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT! It can’t end like this!”

“We’ve got to think of something.” Matt said.

“Like what?!” David said to Matt sounding angry. “DA was the strongest among us. He could control time for God’s sake! What do you think we could do against that thing?!”

“I don’t know!” Matt said, sounding angry as well. “But we can’t just let DA die for nothing!”

“Guys!” Nathan shouted to get everyone’s attention. “… It’s over.”

Everyone just stared at Nathan. He was right. There was nothing more they could do. Their adventure was over already. What more could they do.

“No.” Cassidy said, hanging her head low and hair covering her face. “No. No. No. No. No.” She repeated over and over.

“Cassidy.” Trenton walked over to her. “I’m sorry but-”

“NO!” Cassidy shouted. She lifted up her head to reveal blood red eyes and sharp teeth. She rushed at the shield and put her hands on it. Slowly, she began to tear a hole in it. When the hole was wide enough, she slipped through. The shield immediately closed behind her. Cassidy rushed the demon so fast she left a sonic boom behind her. The demon just exhaled and created a shock wave that pushed Cassidy back. She just got back up and rushed the demon again. She punched the demon in the face, but he didn’t even budge.

“I will not waste my time on you mercenary.” The demon said. Cassidy continued to attack the demon bare handed. It didn't take long until her own blood went flying. Hitting the demon was like hitting diamond. Her hands were broken and cut but she continued to hit the demon. Once again the demon exhaled, sending Cassidy flying.

Cassidy got backup and prepared to rush the demon again. Jayde appeared in front of her, holding out her arms to stop Cassidy. Cassidy just looked at her, breathing heavily. She looked over at her cousin’s body.

“What are you doing?” She heard a familiar voice say. She looked up to see a school. She looked around and saw a little girl standing in front of a little boy who had his head in his knees, crying.

“They keep picking on me.” The boy said with a sniffle.

“Well then, make them stop.” The girl said as if it was obvious.

“I tried.” The boy whined. “I told them to stop and they just pushed me. So I told the teacher but that just made them mad.”

The girl sighed. “You got to stop being such a push over.” She said. “You’re stronger than this.”

“No I’m not.” The boy said.

“Yes you are.” The girl said.

“No I’m not.” The boy said. “You’re the strong one. I’m just… just… not you.”

“Duh.” The girl said. “You’re you. And you have got to stand up for yourself.”

The boy looked up at the girl. “How?” The boy asked. “I’m too sacred.”

“Um?” The girl had to think for a minute. “Well… what if I promised if you could do it?”

“Huh?” The boy said looking confused. “How does that work?”

“Simple.” The girl said as she sat down next to the boy. “I never make promises I can’t keep. If I say you can do it then you can do it!”

The boy whipped his face a little. “Really?” The boy asked.

The girl nodded. “I promise you can be strong.” She said confidently

“… Promise me I won’t get hurt?” The boy asked.

The girl sighed again. “Yes. I promise you won’t get hurt. Now will you stop whining and get up and play?” The boy smiled. The girl smiled too. She reached behind him and grabbed his ponytail. “Ding dong.” She said as she pulled it.

The boy laughed and grabbed her long hair. “Ding dong.” He said as he pulled her hair. They both laughed hard. The boy looked the girl in the eye. “Promise me one more thing.” The boy said.

“What?” the girl asked.

“Promise me you won’t ever change.” The boy asked. The girl just nodded. The two of them got up and ran to the playground together.

Cassidy looked down at her swollen bloody hands. She moved her hands and looked down in a puddle of water, seeing her blood red eyes and sharp teeth. She shook her head and looked up, back in the real world. “That’s right.” She said. “I told him I’d never change. But look at me.” Her eyes and teeth went back to normal. She looked at the demon, then at her cousin, then at Jayde. “I can’t do this alone.” She told Jayde. “Please, help me the way you help him.” Jayde nodded. She stepped behind Cassidy and put her arms around her. Cassidy felt a warm feeling in her heart, but also a heavy feeling. As if she could feel the world’s burdens, but was glad to be carrying them.

A bright light surrounded them. Cassidy gasped as power suddenly went through her entire body. Her hands healed themselves. A leather jacket appeared on Cassidy. Her shirt changed to a brown button up shirt. Her regular jeans changed to a pair of boot cut jeans. Her shoes changed to a pair of brown boots. Finally, a necklace appeared around her neck with. It had what looked like a canine tooth hanging off of it.

When the light cleared, Jayde let go of Cassidy. Cassidy was standing in her new attire, standing tall. She looked at the demon. “Hey! Asshole!” She shouted the demon looked up. Cassidy held out her right arm. The air around her seemed to warp a little. It became hard to make out what was going on. When the air around her arm returned to normal, Cassidy was holding a white katana. She pointed it at the demon. “Ah'ament aff tae juist let ye murdurr mah cousin 'n' git awa' wi' it!” She said. “Noo git up 'n' fight!”

The demon looked at Cassidy curiously. “Fine then, if you’re so eager to die.” He stood up and drew his swords. “Let’s make this quick.” The demon charged at Cassidy. Cassidy disappeared and reappeared behind the demon. “This trick again?” The demon said as he turned to strike. He swung his sword, but it went right through Cassidy like she wasn’t even there. “What?” The demon said. Cassidy jumped up and sliced the demon in half. The demon quickly healed. The demon opened its mouth and breathed fire. Cassidy held out her hand and the fire disappeared. Cassidy snapped her fingers and the fire came out of nowhere from behind the demon. The demon screamed in pain but still charged Cassidy once again. Cassidy did a quick back flip and kicked the demon in the face. The demon took a couple of steps back. Cassidy charged the demon so quickly he almost didn’t notice that she cut him in half. Once again the demon healed itself. “This isn’t time alteration like Minoru.” The demon said. “But this is familiar. Just who are you?”

Cassidy looked the demon straight in the eye. “I’m Cassidy Litz, Princess of Space!” She said. The demon heard a loud boom from behind him and was launched forward by a sonic boom. Cassidy swung her sword as the demon was propelled towards her and sliced it in half. The demon turned to ash. Cassidy lower her sword, but she knew what was coming next. The blood on the ground turned to spikes and tried to stab her, but they disappeared. The demon reappeared behind Cassidy. The spikes also reappeared, but stabbed the demon instead of Cassidy. “Space is mine to rule.” Cassidy said. She turned to the demon. “You can’t do anything to surprise me.” Cassidy pulled back her sword. “Now, this is for my Cousin.” Her sword turned black and the air around it became distorted. “Black Hole Breaker!” She shouted as she swung her sword. She cut the demon in half. The demon screamed in pain. Both halves of the demon and its blood were absorbed into the sword quickly, being cast into no existence.

Cassidy panted. She dropped to her knees and began to cry. “I did it.” She said with relief. “I did it.” She stood back up and turned to her cousin. She smiled. “I did it.” She said on last time. She looked at the eye on the ground. “Now to finish what he started.” Cassidy walked over to the eye. When she took a couple of steps, the eye looked at her. Cassidy gasped as she was suddenly unable to move.

“You are a fool.” The demon’s voice came from the eye. “You have Michiko’s powers but not her knowledge. If you did, you would know that I was bread specifically to kill Minoru, your dead kinsmen, and Michiko, the girl whose power you now harbor.” The demon reappeared in front of Cassidy. But not just one of them, at least five of them. They surrounded Cassidy. “You would also be able to recognize my true form. But it’s not your fault. Michiko is not the ancestor who you are reincarnated from. It is that mercenary Adair. But it doesn’t matter.” The demons stabbed Cassidy in the stomach all at once. “What really matters, is that you allowed me to power up. Now you can die knowing you helped bring about the end of this world.”

Cassidy was finally able to move as she fell to the ground. Her wounds healed but she was still hurt. The demons had put a poison into her. It had already hit her heart and brain. It was too late to heal it. Cassidy saw her cousin not too far away from her. She reached to him, as if he would help her. One of the demons stepped on her hand and grinded it into the ground. Cassidy tried to say something but just went limp. She didn’t even have time for final thoughts. Unlike her cousin’s, her death was quick.

“Not again.” Trenton said. His face went white.

Eve grabbed Trenton for comfort and tried not to look at the scene.

“Both of them.” Matt said, shaking.

David just clenched his teeth, too furious to saying anything.

Nathan was in too much shock to even move.

“Look well mortals.” The demon’s voice echoed. “This is what your future holds. This is what hopelessness is. This is what hell really is.” Thunder and lightning boomed through the sky. “Soon, my lord shall walk this realm as he truly deserves.” The ground shook, as more power built up. “I am the living Hell Gate and Elite Archdemon, Oni. Now, I welcome you my lord. Come forth, Satin!”

“Aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself?” Chris asked. He was standing right in front of the eye.

“I have no time for your games, trickster.” The demon said. “There is nothing you can do anyways.”

“I’m just saying you might want to get a better look before you start celebrating.” Chris pointed to DA and Cassidy.

Cassidy’s blood slowly crept its way to DA’s pool of blood. When they touched, their blood slowly turned to a bright gold. Cassidy’s body floated in the air, followed by both halves of DA.

“NO!” The demon shouted. The demons rushed towards their bodies. Before they could reach them, a golden light engulfed DA and Cassidy. Cassidy’s wounds healed and DA was put back together.

DA’s hair became straight and turned white. His goggles lifted themselves over his fedora and onto his face. On his fedora, what appeared to be a large round monocle the size of a beer mug extruded from the ring, as if it was some sort of device attached to the hat. His black trench coat turned a dirty brown. His shirt and jeans became old and faded, but had no holes or tears in them. On his back appeared the symbol of the cock with the hourglass in it. Behind the clock were gears. The gears came to life and started to turn. More and more gears appeared on his coat, until his entire coat looked as though it was covered in gears and cogs even though it would feel as if it was just fabric. Every gear on his coat turned in rhythm to a ticking noise, as if they were all powering a clock.

Cassidy’s hair turned a ginger red. Her necklace now sported four fangs hanging from it. The tip of each fang turned red, as if they had just bit into fresh pray. Her leather jacket turned black with specks of white and yellow. The specks slowly moved. It was like looking through a telescope and looking into the night sky. A white line also appeared on her jacket, the line twisted and curved until it formed an infinity symbol. Unlike DA’s coat, trying to touch Cassidy’s jacket would not allow you to feel the fabric. It was as vast and infinite as space itself.

They both landed on the ground, eyes closed. They both raised their right hands in the air. Their swords flew towards them, and they grabbed them. Jayde appeared only briefly, as she was absorbed into both of their bodies.

Cassidy’s sword burst into shards. Each shard carefully floated around her. In fact, there were more shards than was possible to make a sword. Cassidy dropped the hilt of her now broken sword. She had millions of tiny white shards floating around her like comets caught in an orbit.

The blade of DA’s sword split in half and pulled to the sides, as if the chainsaw blades would come out. Instead, a red energy shot out. The energy became solid, forming a long curved blade that was at least twice as long as the original blade. The two halves of the original blade tightly hugged the new blade. DA lowered his sword slowly.

“Foul beast who dare to walk this land.” They said in unison. “You claim that which is not yours. You willingly do a task of evil. You show no guilt or sorrow for what you have done. We will not allow you to continue.” As one, the two cousins opened their eyes, revealing bright red irises. “Repent!” They said.

With that the light disappeared.

“What?!” The demon said. “Impossible!”

The cousins smiled. “Manipulator of Space!” Cassidy said. An infinity symbol appeared behind her. It was the symbol of space.

“Writer of time!” DA said. The symbol of the clock with the hourglass in it appeared behind him. It was the symbol of time.

“We are the manifestation of time and space.” Cassidy said with confidence.

“We are what keeps this world turning.” DA said with confidence.

“We are the Space-Time Continuum!” They both shouted.

“You’re times up!” DA said as he pointed his left thumb down.

“And there’s no more space in this realm for you.” Cassidy said as she did the same.

“This cannot be!” the demon screamed. Thousands of the demons manifestations appeared around the two.