#guest entry

Me and the others were ready to kick some ass, though I had to pop a spray-on potion to power through a migraine. I decided not to sleep, too determined to rest. We walked down the dark hallway and arrived on The Stage.

Beyond the stage, where the field of dreams resided, I saw a man that looked far more dazzling than anything that the mage could have possibly drawn in that webcomic.

I was struck by his beauty.

The others, RN and Jovin, they tried to focus on convincing young Dylan to turn down the business proposition. Now I say young, but that's mostly just in relative terms. Apparently there was only a ten year difference between the two different versions of him, with countless years beyond any mortal lifetime under either of their belts. Or at least, that's the vibe that I managed to get. For all I know, young Dylan could have been just plain-ass 20 at very least, knowing how long the lost pawns took to escape the furthest ring.

Anyhow, Elder Dylan took one look at me and said something that shook me to my core.

"You're early."

I'm not sure if either of the others felt it, but I could feel a sinking feeling in my gut, and a growing distance from The Network.

The timeline was doomed, and I felt alone.

Now, I'm not sure how, but it seemed as if Elder Dylan knew this too. He instantly smote his younger self with a bolt of black lightning, and began making his way towards he stage.

The way he walked, dragging a wooden baseball bat, with the glare I know all too well of a hunter... I should have been afraid. I should have ran. Where would I have ran to though? What lesson would I bring back to the alpha timeline, knowing my moments were numbered regardless? So instead, I gazed upon him. I couldn't even tell how exactly he managed to dispatch my allies. Had RN lost all hope? Had Jovin's fury led him to his folly? Had either of them managed to figure out that we were no longer connected to the outside world by any useful measure? Well, I suppose they would have to have known the mission was a failure from the sheer fact that Young Dylan didn't revive from that lightning strike for some damned reason.

Before I knew it, Jovin and RN were dead, collapsed on the ground, crumpled and bleeding. Even my gallade was mortally wounded somehow.

It was only me and him at that point.

Elder Dylan approached me. I expected the worst. I braced myself to be blasted away, to be cut into ribbons, to be slammed into the pavement, to be burned alive until I was no longer...

But when he got close... he reached out his hand... and stroked my face. My sandpaper-y coarse face.

"Now that we are alone..."

One of his many shadow tendrils held me... gently. I was lifted ever so slightly off the ground, at his mercy. Every hair on my body was standing on end.

"...No one can interrupt us."

He elevated me to his level, and pulled me in for a kiss. I had never felt so much from a kiss. Everything in me was on fire. I embraced him. I kissed him back, suspending the moment as long as I could. I held him tightly as the world began to spin. I had never felt so alive in my entire life...

...and then

it all ended.

before I knew it, there was a gaping hole in my chest, and he kept staring at me.

In his hand, gushing with blood, was my own literal heart.

He stole my heart from me.

And in that final moment of betrayal, I was powerless.

He let me fall to the ground, but I kept falling.

I should have known that he would do this to me.

I should have known that it was too good to be true.

Before I lost my last bit of consciousness, before darkness enveloped me forevermore... I heard him say only one thing:

"All shall return to void."

And then all was dark.

I had been kissed by the angel of death, and he took everything away from me.

Do yourselves a favor and stay as far away from that seductive bastard as possible. It will only end in emptiness and regret.