Emily Rockefeller

“Second sun my ass,” I said, yanking the door on my fridge to grab a bottle of beer. “These news people are crazier than me,” I continued, popping the bottle open with the edge of the kitchen’s marble countertop before storming off into the living room where the TV played the news. Despite my hate for the entirety of that news station, I still committed myself to watch it, but not without taking frequent swigs of my beer.

“This just in, scientist Dr. Malakabush is saying that our newfound second sun is transmitting a frequency down to Earth similar in nature to radio waves. Could this mean it is attempting to communicate with us?” The reporter questioned as the camera slowly panned over to the sky where a glowing yellow orb floated above, as if looking down at the world. The camera began to distort the longer it looked at the orb. I let out a deep sigh before shutting off the TV with the remote I held in my suit’s pocket. “I don’t have time for this bullshit,” I stated, tossing the remote down onto the couch as I made my way over to the standing mirror in the hallway leading to my front door, adjusting myself in my suit for my interview. I looked perfectly ready; besides the alcohol, I would probably be the best candidate for this interview. I thought, taking one final swig of beer before setting it down next to the mirror and heading out of the house, unlocking the car in my pocket as I took a step out.

“Here we go again,” I whispered to myself, looking up at the ominous orb staring down at us before setting my sights back down at my truck's door. The door took a few tugs to open, like normal, but eventually decided to let me in and start it. As I began to pull out of the driveway, I started tuning my radio to my favorite Rock 97 radio station only to be met with an unfamiliar voice speaking on the other end.

“This station has temporarily been taken down. Please check our website at www.Rock97.com for more information.”

“Damit!” I yelled, banging my fist on the steering wheel as I pulled out to the street, speeding off. “This dumb sun keeps ruining my life!” I yelled, angrily whipping my rusty old truck through the streets. Despite my anger, I kept checking myself in the sun visor’s mirror, making sure my hair, makeup, and eyelashes were on point as I drove.

Once I finally made it to the building where I would be getting interviewed, I parked in a handicap parking space right by the front door, stepping out with pride knowing that I just got a really good parking space. As I pushed past a crowd of people watching the ‘New sun’ in awe like they hadn't seen it this whole week. “Dumbasses,” I mumbled, pushing the door open and entering the building.

The tiled floors looked clean, professional. The building had a huge lobby where people talked and huddled around, waiting for something maybe? I didn’t care. I stepped up to the receptionist, adjusting the tie on my suit confidently before speaking. “I’m here for an interview for Candle Lit Webdesign HR department,” I stated, leaning an elbow on her desk to support my head as I stood there. The receptionist, a pale, almost sickly looking woman in her sixties, stared back at me with cold, dead eyes, mouth slightly ajar.

“Floor thirty-eight,” She answered soullessly. I nodded slowly, backing away from the desk and heading off to a nearby elevator.

“Freak,” I whispered to myself, watching as a chippy young man held open the elevator door clumsily for me as I approached, balancing two coffees in each arm. “Thanks,” I muttered, eyeing the man like he was gonna rob me as I entered.

“No problem!” He cheered out, his voice squeaky and annoying. I bit my tongue to keep myself from laughing. “What floor?” He asked, his finger hovering over the buttons.

“Thirty-eight,” I answered, letting out a tiny giggle as I did.

“Really?” He asked, pressing the ‘38’ button. “That's where I’m going too! Are you the new HR person?!” He asked excitedly like a little kid finding out he’s sitting next to his best friend in class. My laughter ended there; so did my good mood.

“Yup,” I admitted, gritting my teeth. The elevator began to rise, nearly causing the man to spill the coffees he was holding.

“That’s so cool. I’m an intern there; my name’s Kash,” The man said, holding out his elbow to me for a supposed elbow bump. I looked down at his arm with a tinge of disgust.

“I don’t do elbow bumps,” I explained, crossing my arms.

“Oh…” Kash said softly, retracting his arm and looking away from me down at his holed-up shoes. What a weirdo. I thought, shaking my head as I continued to wait for the elevator to stop at our destination.

Once the elevator did eventually stop, I wasted no time, passing by Kash to open the door for myself to the office, closing the door on Kash’s face as soon as he caught back up to me. The office was fairly large but cluttered with random computer parts, chairs, and old equipment. It also smelt horrible, like a mix of sweat and chemicals. People in cubicles peered out at me like I came to shit in their toilet or something. I hated every second of it. Then suddenly a man dressed in a nicer suit than even I walked up to me, hand outstretched for a handshake.

“Miss Gold, it’s nice to finally meet you. You had an outstanding application online,” The man said as I took his hand with a smile.

“It’s so nice to meet you too, Mr. Big.” He withdrew his hand from mine.

“Shall we?” He asked, motioning towards his office tucked away in the back of the room.

“We shall,” I answered, following him into his office, stepping over the debris on the floor with caution. As soon as I closed the door behind me after entering the office, the mood seemed to change completely.

“You were 20 minutes late,” Mr. Big stated, sitting down at his desk. I slowly inched my way over to the chair facing him, sitting down.

“Sorry, sir, traffic was crazy,” I lied, slowly moving my arms to cover my stomach area out of nervousness.

He nodded slowly, then let out a deep sigh. “I’ll cut it short for you. HR is not my biggest concern in this workplace by far, so here's what I’ll do for you,” He began to say, looking me over seductively as he talked.

“Mom, I got the job,” I said, talking into my phone as I left the building, reapplying my lipstick as I made my way back to the car.

“Good job, Kate! You have something going for you at least, but is the pay going to be enough to support the rent for the house?” She asked as I got into the car. I hesitated for a moment before answering.

“Honestly, Mom… No,” I answered, leaning back in my seat with a sigh. My mom sighed along with me.

“I’m sorry to say this again, Kate, but I think it’s time you relocate to an apartment instead. Is there an apartment near your new workplace?” She said, sympathy present in her every word. This made me angry for some reason.

“No! I’m not moving!” I answered, sitting back up in my seat.

“Well then, Kate, I don’t know what to tell you!” My mom shot back. I took a second to calm myself down. “Why don’t you find a roommate?” My mom asked, her voice also back to its normal calmness. That's not a bad idea. I thought to myself, not wanting to admit that to her.

“I’ll post an ad or something.”

I’ve been watching this world for about a week in their time now. I’ve studied all there is to study about them from a distance. Today was the day I would assimilate myself within their ranks, whether they want me there or not. I have come to this world with the same goal I have had with every other world I have visited; to learn. In my pursuit of knowledge, I have learned many extraordinary things, even for me and my standards. I hope this world has what I need.

The ascent down was quick, calculated, precise. I landed on what these humans call a beach, scaled my orb-like body down to the size of a small dog. At first nobody noticed me, but these humans, as dumb as they may seem, were excellent communicators. Once one of them knew I was there, all of them knew I was there. Except for one; a man dressed in tight swimming trunks attempting to obtain a mate while flexing his muscles and waving his curly hair around in the wind. A perfect target. I wasted not another moment, rocketing myself into the man’s body while his back was turned, taking over his every function with ease. My omnipresence left me in that instance. Is this what it is like being human? I questioned myself before tripping over my newfound legs and falling face-first towards the woman in front of me. She quickly ran off before I could fall onto her, causing my face to land straight into the sand.

“Where did it go?!” Someone yelled as I started to pick myself up. As per usual, though, my body was imbued with my power, a precaution I usually take to make sure that the mortal body I’m hosting doesn't escape me in death.

“There it is! It’s in his eyes!” Another person yelled, as someone helped me up only to push me back down, pointing at my face. Eyes? I thought, pushing off the ground once again to a standing position before shooting a laser down from my vision into the sand, causing it to heat up and turn into molten liquid, then freezing it in a thought, creating a mirror so that I could see myself. My eyes are weird. I thought, staring at my newfound body in the reflection, watching as my eyes shined through a bright yellow light back at me. This was never a problem before. Why is this happening now? I questioned myself, feeling the sudden sensation of someone cracking a guitar over my head. The wood broke against my head satisfyingly, but I took not a scratch of damage.

“Get out of here, freak!” The angry man who cracked the musical instrument over my head yelled. The voice pierced through my newfound ears. So loud. I thought, swiping the air towards the man, hard enough to cause him to fly away with the wind, along with the sand and accidentally other people. As if on cue, another sound beamed in my ears; a loud high pitched whaling looped over and over again. In addition to the screams of fleeing beachgoers, the sounds were almost overstimulating to my human brain. I stood still on the beach, now clutching the sides of my head in an attempt to make the noise less noisy.

Before long, I was surrounded by lights and noises adding to my already overstimulated human brain. Police cars made a circle around my position on the beach, helicopters flew above me, and men with guns shouted commands to me. It was all TOO MUCH. My mortal brain couldn’t take much more of the sounds and sirens without taking permanent damage, so, without warning, I pushed off the ground, flying into the air with a sonic boom so powerful it sent police cars flying with tremendous speed to their eventual explosive deaths. The helicopters came with them, flipping in the air rapidly as the operators attempted to save themselves to no avail. If I wanted this to end, I needed to find the source. My eyes adjusted as I rose above the clouds. They communicated through waves and signals in the air, and I could see them now. My eyes split apart as I began tracking the signals to the one location responsible for my attempted harm, zipping through the air with speeds unrivaled by any human invention.

Eventually I landed outside of the white house, looking up at the Oval Office with an intense, knowing stare. A man inside hastily paced the room while on the phone with someone. My vision adjusted back to its normal properties as I locked onto the man. Slowly flying up to the room's window, the man’s eyes suddenly locked onto mine as he halted his movement. I crashed through the window behind his desk, making my way inside. Once I was in, I slowly let my feet land on the ground softly before swiping the desk away. Alarms blared as the impact of the desk hit the wall to my left. It no longer mattered to me. It seemed as though my body had already adapted to the noise.

“Help!!” The man yelled, dropping his phone as he ran towards the exit. Before he could take another step towards the door, I grabbed the back of his suit by the collar, yanking him towards me and making him face me, face to face. Now only inches away from him, I spoke;

“Anyone who enters this room dies,” I stated in an attempt to possibly startle the man into submission. He looked back at me with a wide-eyed gaze, mouth ajar but no words coming out. “Does that scare you?” I asked, testing my own voice, trying to find the perfect ‘scary’ tone to use. The man nodded slowly in response. “You look quite young for a president,” I stated, noting his youthful facial features in an attempt to create a less hostile environment for him in order for me to be able to reach an impasse, but still standing my ground.

“Thanks,” He responded, a skeptical tone present in his voice. Suddenly the door behind him burst open as a canister of smoke was thrown in.

“Oh,” I said simply, flying back outside with the president still in my grasp before anyone could lay a hand on me. “I did make a deal,” I remarked, watching the president's terrified eyes wander down to the fleeting ground below.

“No, please don’t hurt them!” He pleaded, looking back up at me. I shook my head slowly, letting go of the president so I could get a clear shot on the troops inside of the office. The office exploded into a fiery ball of debris as I shot a laser through my vision at the people inside. As soon as the office exploded, shots were fired at me from seemingly every angle, though every bullet simply stopped on my skin in reverse force. Before the president could hit the ground, I quickly picked him back up again, this time flying him higher into the skies so that we could not be disrupted again. The president was now even more wide-eyed. Fear, it seemed, had completely taken over him. Excellent, I thought, giving the president a thumbs up in another attempt at a sign for peace. He didn’t immediately notice my gesture, so I simply forced his head down to look at it.

“Peace,” I commanded, whipping his head back up to look at me again.

“Whatever you want, okay?!!” He pleaded, his voice shaking so much I could barely make out what he was trying to tell me. Despite him saying that I could have whatever I wanted, I knew it just wouldn’t be respected as much as I would hope unless I made a proper deal with him.

“I’ll cut it short for you. You are not any threat to me at all, but I know you will keep harassing me, so here's what I’ll do for you,” I began to say, watching my eyes yellow glow shimmer in the gloss of his.

“My fellow Americans! We have come to a conclusion with our newfound alien intelligence. Instead of working against us, he will be working with us in our very own country. Everyone! Welcome, Atom!” The president boomed, speaking into a microphone to a sea of people as I slowly flew down next to him. I wore a nice suit and tie, all dressed in American attire. Cameras began to flash, lighting up the stage we stood on. “Atom will be helping us bring our nation to its greatest heights, and in return he only asks for…” The president spoke before pausing to look at me, perhaps forgetful of my part of the deal. I didn’t hesitate, taking his place at the podium. The cameras were solely on me now as I took over the speech.

“In return for bringing America to new heights, my only request is to be treated as though I were just another human among this world as you all are. My reasoning in that is to learn, as I have been for eons now with other worlds. If my part of this deal is met effectively, I will be sure to raise this country up past even what the Romans once were,” I explained, stepping off the podium to bow once I was done.

The crowd instantly erupted into chatter as reporters began storming the stage to question me, only being stopped by police officers in riot gear placed there for that exact reason. I stood for another minute, watching the crowd's mixed reactions as they discussed amongst themselves. My point is made. I thought before softly pushing myself off of the ground so as to not accidentally hurt anyone while flying away. Once I was far enough to safely increase my speed, I rocketed up out of Earth’s atmosphere to watch from afar as I began to think of a location for my learning. I knew it had to be in America now that I was basically tied there, but where in America? What place gives me the most human experience I could ever find? I thought, looking down at the small planet in wonder, before coming to a realization. New York City.

Humans need shelter to survive since they are less adapted to drastic weather changes, unlike other mammals. Some humans idolize having big homes or high-rise apartments, which I guess makes sense. More security, less stress equals more happiness. Whatever they needed, I wanted to experience for myself, so logically the next step was to find myself a home.

As I descended to the sprawling city below, I scanned the massive groups of people walking and the tons of cars driving with wonder to where they might be going. As soon as my feet softly landed on the sidewalk, I was called upon by the voice of a man.

“Yo!!! Is that the alien dude?!” He yelled, trying to be annoying on purpose. I didn’t care. I slowly turned my head towards the sound of his voice, watching as he ran over to me, phone in hand as he aimed its camera directly at my face. I continued to watch him as he pointed his phone at me, before suddenly coming to the realization: every person who I’ve met so far has had one of those ‘phones’. I needed one too, I decided, swiping the phone away from the man recording me without a second thought.

“Holy shit!!” The man screamed out in pain. I paid no mind to him, brushing it off as just the pain of sadness from losing his device. I inspected the phone with curiosity, watching the display as it showed myself still being recorded. Fascinating. I thought when suddenly blood sprayed on the surface of the phone, or was it my face displayed on the screen? Anyways, someone was bleeding. I looked back up at the man in confusion, watching as he gripped the hand that was previously holding the phone with his other, shaking as blood seeped out from crevices in his fingers on the other hand. “What is wrong with you?!” The man yelled, looking down at the sidewalk where three of his fingers lay severed. It seemed as though, while swiping the phone away from the man, I had accidentally cut off three of his fingers.

“Whoops,” I noted before going back to examining the phone, ending the video on the screen. Before long, there was a crowd around me. People began calling the police as the man was helped. Suddenly, I pressed a button on the side of the phone and unexpectedly the display locked! I stared at the phone in shock. This wasn’t good at all. I was able to quickly deduce that I needed a password to unlock it, and my only lead on the password's content was the man who was now lying down on the sidewalk, still clutching his hand in pain. Without any hesitation, I swooped him off the ground and shot up into the air above the city with him in my arms.

“What's the password?” I questioned, letting go of him with one arm so I could show him the phone screen, still locked. The man was unfocused on the task at hand, too busy screaming about how high up we were. “Useless,” I said, entering his brain with my powers to get the information out of him myself. The act seemed to cause the man even more pain, as he began to squirm around in my grasp, like picking up an angry cat not wanting to be picked up. The password was simple: “12345”. Once I typed the sequence into the phone's display, it finally unlocked again. “Thank you,” I said, before simply dropping him. He was of no use to me anymore. His screams faded as I started going through the phone.

There were apps for everything on here! It seemed I had underestimated the humans and their incredible communication skills. Without a second thought, I opened an app called ‘messages’ only to find a whole list of contacts with hours of information stored away in each one. It all was so fascinating. I pressed on the most recent one; a contact named “Kate.” It seemed as though they were planning on moving in together, him and Kate. The previous owner of this phone had contacted Kate through an ad on a social media app; I found that strange. Why would another human let a stranger into their shelter for what it seemed like years? Is that not a safety risk? I questioned myself when suddenly the phone began buzzing in my hand as a question appeared on the display. The phone was asking me if I wanted to answer a call from Kate. I accepted the call, curious to see what else these humans have invented for long-distance communication.

“Why is it so god damn windy on your end, George? Also, where the hell are you? You were supposed to be here 20 minutes ago,” A slurred voice called out from the phone as I answered. Was this Kate? I questioned myself, hesitating for a moment to speak.

“Hello,” I said simply, wondering if the person on the other end could hear me, or if it was just a one-sided thing.

“Who is this? Where is George? Don’t tell me you were a troll this whole time,” Kate answered, clearly frustrated.

“My name is Atom. George is dead.” I explained calmly. I heard Kate sigh before laughing to herself.

“What are you like twelve? Do you really think I would actually believe that, that alien freak is on a call with me right now after killing my roommate or something?” She responded, clear annoyance in her tone.

“I never told you I killed him. Are you watching me?” I asked, glancing back down at the city below, analyzing every rooftop and vantage point.

“Drop the act, dumbass. Just tell me where George is so I can get this shit over with,” She said, fed up with me for some reason.

“George is dead as I told you before,” I said, looking down at the scene below just to make sure. “But I can be your roommate instead,” I offered, finding this the perfect opportunity to find a home for myself. Kate sighed again.

“I don’t have time for this,” She said, hanging up the call.

For a moment I stared down at the phone, watching my glowing eyes shimmer in the reflection of the screen. The shine grew as I narrowed my eyes on her name. I wouldn’t let her get away from me. This was my only lead; I needed to pursue it with 100% intent to finish it. So I did, adjusting my ears to hear further than ever, dialing in on the unique tone of her voice. Before long, I found her. I wasted not a second more, speeding off to her location. She was talking to herself about me, calling me a scammer while pacing in her bedroom. I found her in a house lifted to the side of a slanted road. Rows of the same type of house lined up next to hers on both sides, each perfectly straight in contrast to the heavily slanted road.

“Home Sweet Home,” I said to myself, flying up to her bedroom window on the second floor, watching as she continued to pace the room, a half-empty bottle of beer in her hand. After a moment of her not noticing me watching from the window, I decided to call her back. I watched as she hesitated for a moment in answering the phone, looking at her own phone screen with a raised eyebrow before shrugging to herself, then finally deciding to answer the call.

“What do you want, scammer?” She asked, confidently waving her bottle of beer in the air to herself.

“Look outside your window,” I said, allowing my eyes to glow even brighter, lighting up her room in a bright yellow hue. She froze, slowly moving her eyes to meet mine, watching her from outside the window, a forced crooked smile across my face. I hung up the call.

When people ask me why I refuse to give a single dollar of my trillion to someone who needs it, I always respond with a question. “Where was my dollar when I needed it?” When I was them, no one gave me any help and that is why I learned how to market. I am a businesswoman, a warrior, a conqueror, a goddess, and a selfish liar. I am Soyutu Idol and I will conquer every goal I seek.

I sit, stewing in my own annoyance as I sit by myself at a fancy local restaurant, stirring my tea with my finger while almost everyone around me crowded and took pictures. I couldn’t care less about their presence but like hell I couldn’t care more about the fact that I can still be better. I didn’t know what I wanted but I knew I wanted something. Money isn’t the problem anymore; I need something more, and I need all of what it is. Just then someone from the crowd around me pushed through and called me by my nickname. “You,” they said. I stopped my security from stopping him by simply raising my hand then stood up and looked over at him. He was wearing a black robe with the hood up. I could barely make out his face but saw a sly smile within the hood as he reached out, handing me a letter. I took it without hesitation then opened it. In writing of blood it read. “I heard you seek more power.” Then there was a triangle just below it also made in blood. Confused, I quickly looked up to see the person who gave me the note to find out he was just gone. I looked back at the note, noticing that there was also an address written in small characters in the corner of the note. Interested, I stuffed the note into my back pocket then signaled to my bodyguards that I wanted to leave and once in the car I told my driver that I wanted to go to the address on the paper. Once there I told the driver and my bodyguards that I wanted to be alone. The address led to a secluded park. I put my hood up as I walked through the park, analyzing my surroundings before sitting down on a bench and waiting for something to happen. As I waited I started to wonder if this was a good idea but then remembered that this was the only option I had currently, so it didn’t really matter if it was safe or not. Just then the man from before appeared before me from the bushes. “I didn’t think you’d come so fast. Why drop everything to see me?” he said, sitting down next to me. “Your letter looked credible,” I said, looking over at him. He laughed. “Is that credible to you?” he asked, turning over to look at me. He had a perfect face and looks that could compete with mine. “I wanted what you were selling. A good businesswoman is always prepared to drop everything they are doing for a good deal. Understand that,” I said. He nodded slowly. “Well this certainly is worth your time. I work with the Illuminati and we have been watching you for quite a while now,” he stated, smiling with that evil looking grin. I raised my eyebrow at him. “Really? And what, you want me to join or something?” I asked. He chuckled. “Precisely. See, I knew you were smart,” he said. “Why should I believe this is real?” I asked, crossing my arms. He smiled wider. “That’s a good question. We would like to invite you over to see for yourself tomorrow. We will land our helicopter on your helipad and pick you up if you don’t mind,” he said. I hesitated for a second before realizing that I had to see because if he was telling the truth it would be a complete game changer for me. I could obtain everything I wanted to. “Ok. Yes. Do that,” I said awkwardly. He looked at me strangely. “Well then... we certainly will,” he said, eyeing me like I was some sort of prey. I smiled at him. “But if I find out you’re lying I won’t be happy,” I said. He laughed as if saying he wasn’t scared of me. “Ok but I assure you, we are all too real,” he said, standing up. “Well I must be going. I hope to see you again soon, Miss Idol,” he said, holding his hand out for a handshake. I took it reluctantly after standing up myself. After he left I felt strange — for how quick the conversation was, I learned so much — but I didn’t stay to dwell on it. Heading back to the car I told the driver just to take me back home. Once home I opened the door to my sister making dinner for me and herself. I sighed then said, “I already ate.” Lori looked back at me with a frown. “Welp,” she said simply but continued to make the meals. I looked at her for a second before heading off to my room, tired from my day of brewing in my own want for more. As I laid in my bed I thought about how I only took in my sister because she was a good businesswoman like me, being able to compete with my markets and sometimes even out selling me in some areas and also the fact that she had also escaped our parents’ poverty to get to me which is a feat only I thought I was able to do. She was an asset in most places but I just hated how much she tried to change me, like she had made it her whole life to change mine, but truthfully, I’ll never change. I am a monster, through and through. There is nothing more to it, but she will never see it that way. Never.

The next morning I woke up in a daze as Lori rushed into my room and shook me awake. “What, what?” I said, annoyed. “There is a helicopter parked on our helipad, they said they were looking for you,” she said, surprised by it all. I nodded then got out of bed before stretching then heading out the door. Lori followed me, confused about what was going on. “Are you not going to tell me what’s going on?” she asked. “I’m leaving,” I said simply. She looked me in my face. “You’re still in your pajamas, where could you possibly be going like that?” she asked, clearly concerned. I just shrugged as I made my way into the helicopter, leaving her behind. She stopped and just watched as I was taken away with a look of pure disbelief on her face. Once in the helicopter a man sitting next to me gave me headphones to put on and once they were on he spoke to me. “Well, good morning, Miss Idol. We expected you to be a bit more—” He paused. “Ready,” he said, looking me over. I looked at him with a smile. “I’m ready for anything,” I said. He nodded slowly. “Yeah...” he said, sounding not too convinced. After a few moments of awkward silence he spoke again. “We are excited to have you join us.” I smiled. “That’s if it is convenient to me,” I said back. He gave me a sly smile. “Oh, I’m sure it will be,” he said slyly. “Great,” I said back, looking over the water we were crossing. The rest of the ride was filled with silence as I calculated in my head every possibility that there could be concerning the danger that I could be in and carefully planning out what to do in those situations, but whatever I did I always needed to keep a cool head about things. I will not die if I don’t want to. Soon enough we landed, but once I got out I was confused. We were standing on a completely remote island with nothing but the ground beneath our feet and some rocks. “Home sweet home!” the man said, before taking my arm in his and leading me towards a random looking rock in the middle of the island. I silently observed as the rock suddenly swung open like a hatch and we were greeted with the sight of a ladder going down into the island. I looked at the man next to me to gauge his reaction but he still kept that sly smile on his face. He looked over at me, letting my arm out of his before saying, “Ladies first,” and slightly pushing me towards the ladder to which I complied and started my descent. As I descended the ladder I started to wonder what I had gotten myself into, thinking about all the possibilities that may be at the end of this seemingly endless ladder. It wasn’t long before I had reached the end and was able to see for myself what I had entered. As I looked around my jaw almost dropped to the floor as I gazed over the huge complex around me with golden walls, priceless paintings and statues, and just endless gems and gold scattered around on the floor like some useless junk, and on the front wall there was a giant symbol of a triangle looming over the whole complex. I truly was in the presence of the Illuminati and I loved it. The man from before, now down where I was, looked over at me laughing a bit. “Magnificent, isn’t it?” he asked, looking over at the symbol with pride. “Correct,” I said, shaking my head to regain my composure. Just then the man who invited me here in the first place appeared from a door in the triangle symbol, his arms outstretched as a greeting. “I just knew I’d see you again, Miss Idol! Welcome to my humble abode and hopefully yours to be soon as well,” he said, approaching me. As he approached the man next to me knelt down in respect. “Let me tell you about what we do here,” he said, putting his arm around me, forcing me to walk with him. “As you may have seen, money is of no problem to us; in fact, we are the ones who truly control the money in the world. I guess we could say we have an unlimited amount of it,” he said smugly. I shuddered at the thought of him having more than me but just swallowed it down remembering that soon enough I will be on top once again. “That’s great,” I said, trying my best to be friendly. He laughed. “Yeah, I guess so, but money is none of our concern. We seek more. Control. Let me show you,” he said, leading me into a room where the only thing inside was a ritualistic dagger and a metal operation table stained with blood. “Um...” I said, feeling a bit strange about this whole thing. He patted my back in reassurance. “Don’t fret, this is just a simple ritual that allows us to be able to take the souls and control the bodies of humans,” he said, smiling cruelly at the thought. I looked into his eyes trying to see this man’s intentions but all I could see was an undying evil. “Well, would you like to join us and achieve this power for yourself?” he said, looking at me with that same predatory look he gave me when we first met. My eye twitched trying to contain my smile as I got ready to give him my answer. “Yes,” I said determinedly. He nodded then moved to the knife. “Then shall we start?” he asked, picking up the knife and running his finger along the blade. “We should,” I said, excited. He moved towards me, smiling slyly again as he handed me the knife. “To awaken your third eye you must give your mind, body, and soul to me while cutting the symbol of the Illuminati around where your third eye will be with the knife. When you’re all done the cut should heal immediately. Can you do that, Miss Idol?” he asked, to which I nodded almost immediately. “But there is one thing you must know about me,” I said, closing my eyes and starting the process. “And what would that be, Miss Idol?” he asked, his voice laced with pride and greed. I paused, taking time to not swear my body, mind, and soul to him but to myself instead and finishing the symbol on my forehead trying to make it as perfect as it could be before speaking again. “I’m a liar,” I said simply, finishing the ritual and finally letting my true colors shine, smiling at him as I spun the knife in my hand. He looked up at my head, confused as to why the cuts didn’t heal already but then processed what I said then looked at me with anger. “You fucking cheat,” he said, dashing at me with inhuman speeds, knocking the knife out of my hand and sending me flying back into the wall with a painful slam. “But you have no idea how many souls I have taken and what it has done to my body and mind,” he said, ripping off his shirt, showing me his absolutely lean musculature that nearly looked godly. I stood up, getting ready for a fight for my life as he dashed towards me again, faster than I could perceive then swiping me with the knife causing blood to rush out as he collected a drop with his fingertip then dashed back. “And just so you know, since you’ll be my personal servant now, this is how we take people’s souls,” he said, slowly moving his finger with my blood on it to the middle of his forehead while staring me in the eyes with his stupid sly smile. In that moment I felt almost defeated but then I remembered what I promised myself. “What is mine is MINE and MINE ONLY!” I yelled as my blood in his fingertip suddenly flew out of his grasp and back into my body. “I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU,” I yelled, channeling some of my blood to my hand in the form of a dagger and rushing towards him. He looked at me in shock at my newfound control over my own blood as I jumped towards him, stabbing my blood dagger straight in his back then ripping it back out and stabbing it into my own forehead where I put the markings, taking his soul. “Thanks for the tip,” I said, backing up from him as he continued to look at me with shock but now also a little bit of fear as I stumbled back, feeling a sudden flood of information enter my brain. I dropped to the floor on my ass as I started to feel tired. “YOU FOOL! WHEN YOU KNOCK OUT FROM MY POWER I’LL KILL YOU!” he screamed at me, to which I simply responded, “Kill yourself,” and as my eyes started to close I watched as he unwillingly put the blade of the knife up to his throat and quickly slashed it, killing himself as I commanded.

When I woke up I quickly looked up to see where I was. To my surprise I was sitting on some sort of throne-like chair in another room of the complex and before me were the members just kneeling. “You saved us,” one of them said, as I struggled to stand up out of the throne. “What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, stretching my oddly sore limbs. “We were completely under his rule. We are free now under you.” another member said. I just walked past them, ignoring whatever ramble they were going on about not really caring too much about them. “You guys know how to keep this place running?” I asked, walking back to the hatch. They all answered in unison. “Yes, ma’am!” I turned back to them in complete shock at their obedience towards me. “Ok then...” I said awkwardly. “Then can someone fly me back?” I said to which one of them immediately stood up. “Yes, ma’am!” he said, following me up the hatch to the helicopter. Once in the helicopter I asked him, while getting comfortable, “How long was I out for? I feel like that was the longest nap of my life!” he responded immediately, “A week and four days.” I laughed. “Yeah, ok...” I said, thinking he was joking but he simply shook his head. “I’m telling the truth,” he said, starting the helicopter up. “You have to be lying,” I said, looking at him with shock. He looked back at me calmly. “I would never lie to you,” he said. I sighed and shook my head. “Well damn. This is going to be messy,” I said as the helicopter started to get off the ground. The rest of the ride was filled with only the sound of the helicopter as I thought over what me disappearing for a week and four days had done to the public and most importantly my sister. Once I made it back home and stumbled out of the helicopter I opened the sliding door to my house leading to the kitchen where Lori sat, tapping her glass on the table like a mad woman. I said nothing but just watched. Then suddenly she just snapped, banging her glass on the table causing it to shatter. “So we are just going to leave for a week and four days without telling anyone?!” she yelled, standing up and approaching me. “What’s the issue with that? I’m back now, right?” I asked, unfazed by her freakout. She slapped me to which I was unaffected. “I WAS WORRIED!” she yelled. I shrugged. “And I was sleeping,” I said looking at her in her deep blue eyes. “God help me,” she said, shaking her head. “I suppose you aren’t going to tell me where you were either.” I shook my head. She nodded knowingly in return. “Thought so,” she said with a sigh before moving her gaze up to my forehead where my scar is and gasped. “What the hell happened, You?!” she asked in a worried tone. I just rolled my eyes. “I did that, I’m fine,” I said. She slapped me again. “Now why did you do that?!” she asked, crossing her arms. “I was-” I cut myself off “It’s none of your business, Lori,” I said, crossing my arms as well. She shook her head. “Why do you have to act like this? Why can’t you just be the You I know. The kind and caring one. The one who doesn’t care if they look a little weak at times. The one who isn’t afraid to cry,” she said, I looked at her like she was stupid. “When did you ever see that?” I asked, almost laughing. She sighed. “I know it’s in there. No soul is truly pure evil,” she said, putting her hand on my chest caringly. I looked at her with disappointment. “And you know that how?” I questioned. She looked me in my eyes with pure determination. “You are my sister. That’s how I know. And whether you like it or not, you saved my life,” she said. I sighed. “Lori,” I said, taking her hand away from my chest. “I hate to disprove your illusions, but when it comes down to it, if I had the option to kill you if it meant completing my goal, I would take it without a second thought,” I said coldly as I watched the light in her eyes fade away now replaced with sadness. “I understand that, but I’d rather die being your supporter than live fearing you for what you think you are,” she said with all her heart. I took a deep breath. “I think you’re crazier than me,” I said, pushing past her to get to my room. “Someone has to be,” she said in a teary voice as I left. Once in my room I completely disregarded the conversation Lori and I had just had and focused on how I could obtain more power with my new soul snatching power for the rest of the night.

I love my sister. I love her too much to let her destroy herself over some stupid sin she so clings to. It helped her survive at first, but now she needs to let go and come back to reality. I know she has it in her but first to find it I need to know exactly what she is going through. That is why the day after the argument I left, heading to the streets for answers because the people love to talk, especially when it’s about Soyutu. As I left the mansion and started my walk I made sure to put my hood up so as to not grab attention so I could just eavesdrop. I knew for a fact people were talking about her, I mean, the world’s richest person was just gone for a week and four days — who wouldn’t be talking about it?! I thought as I finally made it into town, now just walking around trying to find the perfect place to eavesdrop, eventually setting my sights on a small family-owned restaurant. Once inside and settled down I listened in on a conversation with the people next to me. Unfortunately they weren’t talking about my sister so I decided to fix my approach and just outright ask someone about it. Just then as my waiter approached me and took my order of fries I stopped her as she was leaving to ask her the question. “Hey, did you hear about Miss Idol’s disappearance? Strange, right?” I said, just trying to get anything out of her, but she just looked at me like a weirdo. “Um, yeah, strange,” she said before heading off. I sighed. That’s two plans down and I still had not a single word about what I wanted to know. As I panicked trying to find another source of information I noticed a man in a suit walk in alone and sit down in a booth by himself. “Was this my chance?” I thought right before my waiter came back up to me with my fries. Quickly I made my move, asking the waiter if I could change seats to sit with the guy to which she agreed and I was off, fries in hand as I made my way over and sat down across from him. He looked at me like I was insane as I stuffed a fry in my mouth and just looked him in the eyes. “Can I help you?” he asked, looking me up and down. I nodded slowly. “You looked lonely, I just wanted to talk,” I said with a smile. He continued giving me a confused look as he spoke again. “Ok?” There was a moment of silence as I carefully picked my words in my head, eventually pushing my basket of fries towards the middle of the table to share, then spoke. “Did you hear about the disappearance of Miss Idol?” I asked. He took a couple fries from the basket. “Yeah. It was a fucking crisis,” he said, stuffing the fries in his mouth. I looked at him confused. “What do you mean?” I asked. He paused and just looked at me. “Wait,” he said, studying me. “You’re not no cop, right?” he asked. I quickly shook my head. He laughed a bit then spoke again. “Good because if you were I’d kill you,” he said nonchalantly. I gulped. “Well yeah, it was a crisis because she is the fucking plug. I get all my drugs from her black market operations and they were all screwy when she wasn’t in town. Now I heard she’s fucking with the Illuminati, whatever that means,” he said, leaning back in his seat and eating more fries. I widened my eyes and leaned forwards. “The Illuminati? Drug trades?” I mimicked in complete shock. He chuckled. “You didn’t know she did bad things? You must be dumb or just naive,” he said, to which I took offense, replying, “I knew that! I was just more concerned about the Illuminati thing.” he smiled and nodded. “Yeah, but it was bound to happen. Every fucking billionaire is doing some sort of messed up thing,” he said, crossing his arms. I raised an eyebrow at him. “Every?” I echoed questioningly. He thought for a moment before nodding his head. “I could name one that’s not corrupt,” I said, crossing my arms and scoffing. “Go for it,” he said, clearly thinking I couldn’t name one but little did he know I was one! “Lori Idol!” I said, slamming my hand down on the table. He looked at me a bit surprised but thought for a moment. “She probably does but just hides it well,” he said, looking smug. I looked at him, surprised he would say such a thing. But as I got closer he looked at my features before realizing something. “Wait. Woah, hold up,” he said, leaning forwards to inspect me further. I leaned back now. “Are you fucking Lori?!” he asked, pointing at me now. My face got red. I suck at lying. I quickly nodded. “You can’t tell though!” I said. He looked at me like I was pointing a gun at his face now. “Whatever you want, Miss Idol. Just don’t tell your sister I was talking to you,” he said with worry. I laughed, “Of course not,” I said. We continued talking until it got dark and we had to leave. He offered to walk me home which I accepted without hesitation. I learned during our conversations about Soyutu that she is most likely working with the Illuminati and that there is an almost anti-Illuminati that does the opposite of what the Illuminati does essentially, so instead of taking advantage of people they keep the balance in the world. Once I was home I made sure to get the man’s contact for further details, but I also wanted his contact because genuinely he was a great guy that I would love to get to know more about. “Thank you for walking me home!” I said, giving him a light hug. “Of course, I had a pretty good time with you, even though you did surprise me a bit at first,” he said with a chuckle. I nudged his shoulder as I approached the door. He waved one final time as I walked inside. Who would have thought a mafia boss could be so kind to a girl like me? I thought, closing the door behind me.

To conquer the world one must first seize the people’s faith and hope and make it your own. To do that you must start your own religion and to do that you need to have followers, and considering that I have the power to control people through a blood ritual, this should be an easy task. So I set out to find the right person to start my religious campaigning, heading out in the night to not draw attention. Eventually I came across someone interesting, he was clearly struggling and in need of help, a perfect pawn for my game. He was walking down an alleyway looking half beat to bloody hell, scrambling away from someone in the dark. I watched as two men holding baseball bats approached him from behind slowly and tauntingly as they jeered and laughed at him struggling to get away. Now was my chance to make my move. In the blink of an eye I appeared before the man. I was dressed in an all-black robe to really sell the religious thing, and stood before him hand outstretched for him to grab. He looked up at me surprised at my sudden appearance but took my hand anyway. I helped him up and stood him aside, his pursuers stopped and looked at me annoyed. “What the hell do you think you are doing? That man owes us money!” one of them said, cracking the bat in his palm. I put my hands together forming a triangle with my thumbs and index fingers then raised the hand sign above my head. “Under the triangle you owe nothing to no one except your savior,” I said, trying to sound as cryptic as possible. They laughed at me. “What the hell did we just run into?” one of them said whilst approaching with clear intent of harm. I lowered my hands slowly as they approached. Once close enough one of them swung their bat at my head. I ducked under it almost instinctively then spun around and sweep kicked him off his feet before standing back up again. The man I was saving next to me backed up as he watched on but I grabbed his wrist to prevent him from running away. “What the hell was that!” The other man said, helping his friend up. I put my hands together again to show the symbol before speaking again. “Those who follow the triangle will be spared from the apocalypse,” I said, bowing my head. The two men looked at each other before slowly backing away, then running away. Once they had left the man I saved looked over at me and thanked me profusely. I looked back at him and nodded. “No, no, thank you,” I said, putting my hood down so he could see my face. His jaw dropped as he realized who I was. I put my hand on his cheek and smiled. “You are the first of many,” I said, wiping a drop of blood off his face. “W-what?” he stuttered as I put the blood to my forehead, taking his soul. I stared into his eyes as every single piece of information he had acquired over his entire life rushed into my brain. I took a deep breath. He just stared at me confused as all hell. I shook my head, letting the information settle in my mind before poking his head, sending him the power and information he needs to start my religion with a single thought. His face rapidly healed as I passed him. My plan has started and now soon enough the world will be mine. As I walked away I could hear him run away, off to spread the word and spread the virus that is my control, for the more people who willingly give up their souls to me the more power I gain.

The past couple of days were a blur to me on account of me having so much information go into my brain at once from everyone around the world as my influence starts reaching other countries. I have also been performing miracles everywhere I can as well to strengthen people’s faith in me, soon enough the whole world will be under my control and I will be able to move this planet to new heights. But for now I am bed ridden, taking constant naps and just resting so my body can fully take in its new power. Lori came to check on me only once before leaving without explanation, and in her checking on me I noticed a new scar on her forehead similar to mine but a circle. It worried me slightly, because something told me she was plotting something to keep up with me somehow even though I had never given her any hints to my new goals, but she wasn’t a threat to me so it wasn’t quite an immediate problem that I had to worry about. My security has been working overtime securing the outside of my house from people in swarms wanting to invade my privacy. It didn’t bother me much, because it let me know that my plans were working, but it could get a little annoying at times, so I drowned out the noise by listening to music and sipping some tea even though I practically don’t need food or drink at this point on account of how many souls energize my body. As I sat on the couch sipping my tea and listening to music I started to think about how far I had come from when I was poor to now and chuckled thinking about how my parents would react if they could see me now. But just then I was brought out of my thoughts by the feeling of someone behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see a muscular man wearing just swimming trunks and sunglasses, holding a crushed phone down in his right hand and just staring at me from the middle of the room. He had an almost perfect body and crisp brown skin that anyone would dream over, and his hair was curled in neat coils that went down to his eyes. It was like a sort of demi god was standing in my living room. “But why?” I would question to myself, standing up to get a little bit of leverage on him. He looked mad. “Do you need something?” I asked, the whole situation feeling weird as we both just looked at each other, both looking like we were just brought here while chilling out in two completely different places. I looked around awkwardly as he ignored my question. “You know why I’m here, Soyutu Idol.” He finally answered, his voice laced with rage. I looked at him like he was stupid. “Seriously?” I said, annoyed. “How do you make people worship you?” he asked, clutching his hands into a fist. I raised my arms out before speaking “They see me as their savior,” I said, trying to dismiss the situation as calmly as possible not to draw attention to my real intentions. He pointed at me. “They see you as a god!” he yelled, stomping his foot hard, sending vibrations through the floorboard to my bones nearly knocking me off balance. “He isn’t normal.” I immediately thought, as this situation started to turn into something else. He looked at me, furious. “Look, what the hell do you want?” I asked, dropping the whole savior act and crossing my arms. “I want what you want. I deserve it. They should worship me!” he yelled. I just looked at him dumbfounded before just laughing at him. As soon as I started to laugh a cloud of smoke appeared in front of me and from it his hand emerged covering my mouth. I quickly fabricated some blood in my hand in the shape of a dagger and stabbed it into his wrist. As soon as I stabbed him I heard him yell in pain then throw me across the room sending me crashing through a wall into my bathroom. “Fuck,” I mumbled, quickly getting back up on my feet and moving blood to my hands, hardening them for a more powerful punch. As the smoke cleared from the broken wall he came flying towards me at insane speeds. I caught him with a right hook to the face as he sped towards me, sending him to the left of me like deflecting a bullet as he flew through the wall to the outside. I wasted no time, following him outside to see him in the ground looking like he just came from the sky with a meteorite. Everyone near started taking out their phones and recording me and him from an unsafe distance. “Get back!” I yelled as he got back up and rocketed towards me and successfully grabbed me and plummeted me into a crowd of people, causing people to go flying and simply explode on impact with our fast-moving bodies. We tussled on the ground until I eventually overpowered him and pinned him to the ground. “WHO ARE YOU!” I finally got out. He smiled at me then said with a voice laced with arrogance “Axel Lions. Remember the name because it’s going to be the one to kill you.” Before kicking me off of him and sending me flying into the sky but before he could attack me again I controlled the blood on the ground from my fans to surround him in a huge solid blood bubble as I crashed back down into my mansion sending it into even more ruins. Before I could get back up the black smoke appeared again and he was once again in front of me, smiling arrogantly as he approached me on the floor. “Cocky bastard,” I said, before flinging some blood behind him and midair turning it into a spear sending it rocketing towards his back faster than he could react. “AH!” he yelled as the spear impaled him. He attempted to pull the spear out but I quickly controlled it to rush into his bloodstream so that I could control him with my own blood instead of his, due to the fact I had none of his blood in my possession yet. He looked up at me, now standing before him and snarled. “You bitch!” he yelled out, his eyes glowing a bright red as he stared me down. “YOU KNOW WHAT I DID FOR THIS POWER?!” he screamed, to which I simply shook my head in response. “I sold my fucking soul to the devil!” he yelled, while laughing. I raised an eyebrow at him. “You think I’d believe that?” I asked. He chuckled. “You will once you’re knocking on his door,” he said, before attempting to dash at me, which I stopped by controlling my blood in his body to shoot out in spikes and embed themselves into the ground, holding him down as I walked up to his shocked face. “You... You aren’t better than me!” he yelled, struggling against my power. I looked at him curiously. “I’m not? That’s strange,” I said, before summoning an axe in my hand, spinning and swiftly cutting his head clean off his body. As his head fell to the ground and blood spouted from his neck, now disconnected from his head, I waved my hand through the stream of blood, his body still held up by my spikes, then wiped the blood on my forehead, but unexpectedly as I did so his body and blood turned to ash. I looked down at the ash which used to be his body with curiosity. “I guess he wasn’t lying,” I said, noticing the card on top of the pile of ash. I picked up the card and read it. It was an address, and signed at the bottom was the name “Satan.” I looked deeply into the card before pocketing it. “Another claim for power,” I thought, now thinking of the possibilities of what the card could mean and if I could gain more power through it.

As I watch the world pass behind me through the monitor as I leave the atmosphere I start to think about my sister and how I’d do anything for her, and for that is the sole reason why I’m here now and why I joined the anti-Illuminati and mastered their arts. The force of me launching up into space was crushing, but hopefully it was worth my entire net worth, and I hadn’t just spent all of my money on it only to explode and never be able to save my sister. Although those thoughts were a possibility, death to me was an option that is and forever will be off the table for me until I’m able to save Soyutu. The crushing force eventually starts to get to me a bit and my thoughts come to a close as I focus on just trying to withstand it. Eventually it stops, then hours start to pass, then days, and being the only person on the ship, it got a little lonely, but nothing I wasn’t used to. As I was watching the radar while eating some astronaut food I noticed something picking up, but it didn’t quite look like an asteroid. It was small but not small enough to go past the radar. I quickly took a look on the monitors to see if I could spot it but when I did I froze in place at the sight. Currently I was further than any other person ever to be put out in space on some sort of suicide mission to others but with my now enhanced body I could survive, so everything beyond this point is just a sketch to the people back home. A guess, but now I was looking at a literal person floating, frozen in space. The only problem with this was that no one had been this far, so how did he get here? I questioned as I took a closer look, noticing shrapnel-looking spikes sticking out of his body, a pure black color, which was strange. It looked almost otherworldly. The man had dead white hair and an uncovered body, although I could only see his upper torso. He had a strangely fit-looking body. He must have loved working out, I thought, inspecting the body as it passed. But something caught my attention as the body moved by and I could see it in full. He had no private parts. This wasn’t a human, I started to think, examining how there were spikes around his head too, like some sort of crown of thorns. How did I not notice this before? I thought, backing away from the monitor as I watched the body fall back to the thrusters. My mind was racing at this point. “What did I just see?” I thought, switching the monitors to see that the body was now inexplicably gone. My heart sank seeing this. I tried to play it off as a visual bug or me just hallucinating but I instinctively put on my space suit just to make sure I was safe if anything happened. In the suit I felt safe until I heard the sounds of the computer’s alarm going off as it detected a foreign object on the ship. I froze again, my heart beating 1000 miles an hour as I quickly scrambled to the laptop. Just then the spaceship shook as a loud noise echoed behind me. I quickly turned around to see the hand of the man penetrating through the ship’s body, reaching in. I couldn’t do anything but watch as I was abruptly taken off my feet and ejected from the ship through the hole as I was thrown into the abyssal vacuum of space, floating and spinning uncontrollably as I just hope that the monster who did this doesn’t come for me next. As if on cue, I was caught in the air by the creature, its eyes now locked onto mine as it spun itself with me. A black substance like tar oozed out of its shrapnel-looking spikes as it just stared. Its expression was emotionless. A blank and cruel stare with no thought behind it. I looked back, stunned by the situation as I could only hope it ended well. “Please...” I muttered. It continued to stare at me as if studying me, then without warning cocked its hand back and sent a punch towards my head hitting me with a force beyond comprehension as I flew through space faster than any spaceship conceived. My helmet broke with the impact so I quickly used my power to move some of my body’s water to cover my face from the coldness of space. It barely worked in time as I was still flying faster and faster throughout space. There was uncertainty as I flew, completely vulnerable to anything I could come across, just speeding past thousands of miles of endless space. It was an unbelievable sight to see, a blur of stars and planets as I flew. Soon the sights began to lose their charm as I flew for hours, seemingly endlessly, as I just wished for it all to end or for me to crash some place just anything but this feeling of complete loss of control over what happens next. After a while of nothing happening and me fighting off the lure of sleep I eventually gave in and let the universe choose what happens next, closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.

Upon opening my eyes I was surprised to see the sight of the sky as I slowly got up to see valleys of grassy hills. I took no time in taking my space gear off and taking a deep breath of air. It was strange; everything looked normal, like somehow I had crash-landed back on Earth. But that wasn’t possible, I reassured myself, continuing onward to find any signs of civilization — and I did eventually stumble upon a small town hidden away in the hills. As I walked up to the town I could spot a few things that I found a tad bit unusual. First, they had no streets or sidewalks; it was all grass and wooden houses. This all felt so strange to me. It felt like I was home, but at the same time it also felt like I was somewhere else, like another planet. Upon entering the town I was greeted not by people but by these weird, blue, alien-looking people. They were very short, with fleshy round limbs as arms and legs and cute little antennas on the top of their heads that came to rounded points. They looked like cute little plushies, but they didn’t seem as amused to be looking at me. They almost looked angry. One of them stepped up to me, crossing their cute little arms then said, “What is a human doing here?” he asked. I raised an eyebrow at him. “Where am I?” I asked, to his surprise. “How do you not know where you are? You are a human, right?” he asked, as their expressions turned from anger to confusion as they looked to each other for answers. “I am a human but I crashed here. On a space expedition,” I explained. Their faces then dropped. “Another one? What could this mean?” one of them said, cowering with fear. I looked at them confused. “You should go.” The one standing before me said, eyeing me with prejudice. “Go where?” I asked, trying not to offend them. “To where you belong!” one of them yelled. “Yeah!” another one backed up. I slowly started to walk away, unaware of why they were being so mean, and eventually left the town confused and a little hurt by their rudeness. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before I found another civilization, surrounded by huge stone walls with a huge wooden gate leading into the town. The whole thing looked like some medieval fantasy. As I walked up to the gate I noticed two guards clad in armor guarding the gate. Once I was at the gate one of them yelled, “Provide passport!” I looked around for a second before responding. “I don’t have that,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. The other guard walked closer to me, pointing his spear at my neck. “Then state your reasoning for trespassing!” he yelled. I put my hands up slowly. “I crashed here after getting my spaceship hijacked,” I said, to which the guard paused for a second before raising his spear and yelling “Liar!” as he brought down his spear towards my head. I acted quickly, summoning a shield of water to deflect the attack. “IT’S A GLORBINIAN!” the other one yelled, shooting a beam of water towards me. “Wait wh-” I said, getting cut off by the impact of the water knocking me off my feet. “How did he just use my powers?” I thought as I started to get up. I was suddenly kneed in the stomach by one of the guards, falling back to my back. The hit was strong, stronger than any other human’s. I lay on the ground as both guards pointed the ends of their staffs at my throat. “Give it up, Glorbinian,” one of them said. “No human is this weak,” the other said. I shook my head. “No, no, I’m a human, I promise you, I just crashed here! I was sent here by the anti-Illuminati organization!” I pleaded. “Yeah, right, like we haven’t heard that one before. No one’s coming to save us now, that organization’s probably dead now,” one of them said. I sighed, seeing that this wasn’t going anywhere. “My name is Lori Idol, do you know my name?” I asked. Both the guards looked at each other and laughed. “What a fake name!” one of them jeered. I sighed again, rolling my eyes. “Fine,” I said, launching myself backwards on the ground with a kick of my feet, then knocking their spears out of their hands with a follow-up kick. “Showing her true colors now, huh?!” one of them said, readying himself for a fight as I flipped up to my feet. “I try not to get into fights,” I said, summoning two pistols in my hands made of water. The guards responded by summoning swords of their own. I quickly ran towards the middle of the two of them, sliding under their swords as they swung them at me while shooting water at them, aiming to get through their armor into the open areas of their bodies, to no avail. After a couple seconds of dodging their swings and shooting water I figured it wasn’t working, so I dashed back, creating a safe distance between us as I calculated my next move. “You really thought you could just get water into us like that, Glorbinian?” one of them asked, spinning his sword tauntingly. “We make bubbles around our mouth, eyes, nose, and ears, so don’t even try, Glorbinian,” the other one said, eyeing me down. I responded by colliding my two water pistols together, transforming them into a katana made of water. If I need to make my own entry, I will, I thought, readying myself in my stance. But just before we were about to fight again, the gate swung open behind me and a voice bellowed from inside, “What is all the ruckus!” The commanding voice echoed as the guards in front of me quickly knelt down respectfully. I wasted no time, turning around to see who the voice was coming from, and only inches away from me was a boy who looked only 18, looking back at me with a sly smile. “Well hello, beauty,” he said. “Please tell me this girl isn’t a Glorbinian,” he said, peeking over to the knights behind me. “We believe she is, sir,” one of them said shakily. The boy shook his head. “Well, isn’t that a damn shame?” he said, looking back into my eyes. “But would it be so wrong to still want to have her?” he asked, inspecting my face. I stood still, holding my katana close to my body, ready to attack at any second. “I don’t think I care too much, as long as it doesn’t change back mid-session.” He shrugged. I looked at him, confused, but before I could react he had a hold of my wrist, snapping it like a twig and making me drop my weapon. “AH!” I yelled, but before I could fight back his elbow met the side of my head and then black.

The world was almost mine. I have conquered almost every country at this point, now all that’s left is to perform a couple more miracles to convince the last of the stragglers. I was currently on a private jet back home, relaxing after a tiring couple of days of campaigning my religion across the world. I kicked my feet up on the table in front of me and went on my phone to look at the news. “Breaking news!” it said. “Asteroid entering orbit and on a course to hit the world in only a few minutes! It stands at about 6 feet 6 inches tall. Please do not panic.” As I read the headline I thought about how I could somehow make it about myself to promote my religion. “Maybe if I caught it...” I thought, thinking of the possibilities of how I could make it benefit me, but as I was thinking suddenly one of the cabin crew came into my area in a hurry, yelling for me to put on a parachute and jump out of the plane, but before I could even stand up to ask them what was going on, something busted through the plane at terminal velocity, sending the plane exploding into a ball of fire, and throwing me out within a fraction of a second. This wasn’t quite a problem for me, though — only an opportunity, I thought as I adjusted myself in the air and free fell towards the asteroid that went through the plane, following it. I started to have a bit of fun, spinning around in the air as I chased the asteroid heading towards a small town on the outskirts of a city. As I got closer to the asteroid I started to make out some of its features. It was very small for an asteroid and for some reason it kind of looked like a person, although I knew it wasn’t — or so I thought — as I got up next to it, noticing its head turn to face me with a quick snap. I stared back at the creature with pure confusion as it reached out for my face with its hand, unintentionally sending him back behind me, clearly unaware of how physics worked at this velocity. I quickly turned around in the air to look at the creature behind me but it wasn’t long before we both crashed down to the ground in a field of wheat, now destroyed by our impact. I wasted no time shooting back up to my feet and with a wave of my hand clearing the dust out of my sight, but to my surprise it was gone. “What the fuck was that?” I muttered under my breath, looking around frantically for the creature. Just then a voice echoed from behind me. “Please...” he said, the tone of the voice sounding all too familiar, as I quickly turned around to see the creature standing there motionless, spikes protruding from its body a pure black unlike any black I had ever seen, its skin as white as dust and his hair a dead white color, and his eyes... just staring, completely dilated, almost spasming in place as it watched me. “Please what?!” I yelled out confused, noticing the tone sounded almost identical to how Lori would say it to me. It said nothing else but I started to hear something. A rhythmic thump. “Buh bump” pause “Buh bump”. It was a heartbeat. Was it my own? I thought, putting my hand to my chest to feel my heartbeat, but to my surprise mine was racing. No, this heartbeat I heard wasn’t mine. It was his. It started to get louder. I started feeling it in the soles of my feet. Was he scared? No, this wasn’t fear... it was excitement, I thought, before, without warning, he pushed off his feet, dashing at me at speeds that seemed to almost touch the concept of speed itself and before a singular formation of a thought could connect in my mind I was on the ground swept off my feet with my face held down by his foot as he just stood above me. I wasted no time, summoning a dagger of blood and moving to stab his heel but as soon as the muscles in my arm twitched to move I was sent skidding across the dirt thrown by the sheer force of his foot as he dashed away. I quickly caught myself by stabbing the ground but as soon as I got up I was met with the face of him, crouching down to my level to look me dead in my eyes not even an inch away. Shocked by the quickness, I involuntarily yelped as I lost my footing and fell backwards onto my butt. “Stop!” I yelled, holding out my hands to protect myself but keeping my dagger held up in my palm. His heartbeat rattled my very bones as it vibrated through the ground, nearly causing tremors in the earth. My hands shook before him as I held them out. “Stop,” he echoed before turning his attention to my dagger, snatching it out of my hand and bringing it up to his face to inspect it. As I watched this unfold I couldn’t help but smile at the opportunity, controlling the dagger to explode into blood and shoot into his eyes. To my surprise he didn’t move as this happened, nor did he scream as it went into his eyes. There was zero reaction. As the blood absorbed into his eyes I stood up again, feeling confident in my victory now, seeing that he would be under my control as long as the blood was in his body’s systems. “Well then,” I said, dusting myself off. “What’s your deal then, freakazoid?” He just kept looking at me, his heartbeat not as loud now. He kept a blank expression on his face as he stared, like he wasn’t just trying to kill me a moment ago. Just then he reached towards my wrist slowly. I carefully watched his hand but as it got closer I chose not to move it away, just to see where it would lead. He kept his eyes locked onto mine as he moved my hand up to his face and started to make me hit his face over and over as if trying to tell me something. “Did he want to fight?” I thought, as he let me go. I slowly slapped him as if communicating back to him that I understood. To which he stood to his full height once more and weirdly contorted his body to some sort of fighting stance. “Well, ok then,” I said, taking a few steps back, then getting into my own stance while also subconsciously moving my blood in his body to hold him back so that this would be a one-sided fight for me. As soon as I was in my stance he dashed at me, this time a comprehensible speed. As soon as he was in reach I sent a punch towards his face that stopped him in his tracks, the collision sending shockwaves through the area, sending us both flying backwards. Knowing he would be there the second I got up off my feet, I flung a piece of my blood above myself once on the ground, and as I predicted, he was there, standing above me ready to attack but before he could the drop of blood above our heads transformed to a spear of blood and flew down at his head before his punch could land, piercing right through his head and out of his mouth. The punch never stopped, though, to my surprise, hitting me in the face and breaking the ground around me while also breaking my nose. I quickly opened my eyes again to see another punch coming my way. “HOW!” I yelled out before getting my face pummeled further and further into the ground blow after blow as I tried vainly to protect myself or do anything. Eventually I managed to stop his punch by directing my blood in his body to his fist and pulling it back before it could hit me, giving me enough time to speed out of there and back on my feet as I slid back on the dirt, watching him approach, ready to give me another beatdown. I took a deep breath before dashing at him, summoning another sword in my hands to cut his head clean off once and for all, but when I swung he ripped the blood spear out of his head and swiftly disarmed me. I wasted no time in exploding the two weapons to blood and sending it towards him once again. Expecting him to dash back to avoid the attack, I prepared another but without warning I was lifted up off the ground by my throat as he just endured the blood entering his eyes once again. “Shit!” I managed to say, before summoning a dagger in my hand and stabbing his arm holding me. No reaction. He simply stared at me, the same stare from before. His heartbeat was now so loud it shook the very earth with each beat. He started to cock back his hand to punch me, as I struggled to get out of his grip and right as he was about to send the punch which would for sure just fucking explode my head, towards me, I commanded all my blood in his body to his hand to stop it, sending spikes into the ground to stop it in its tracks, but he persisted, launching the punch towards my face only to stop inches away by the force of my blood holding him back, almost ripping the earth into two as he struggled with all his power to hit me, as I too struggled with all my power to stop him. This was now a fight of will. His lust for blood over my greed to achieve my goals. We were in a stalemate now; I was on the verge of passing out as I used every last bit of my energy to hold him back. He started to smile a bit, but only the slightest grin as he struggled to push past my power. Just then he let go of me and before I could fall only a centimeter he chopped off his hand at the wrist with his other hand, letting his now severed arm punch me in the face sending me immediately to my doom. It wasn’t a slow fade; it was a flash of light. I was dead before a single one of my brain’s neurons could shoot a single signal to my body to move.

In a black abyss I tugged to move but could not move. Something covered my eyes. I continued to struggle to no avail, the sound of chains echoed through both of my ears when I moved. “Where was I?” I questioned before a familiar voice spoke from afar. “Good morning, beautiful,” he said. I started to struggle even more hearing the voice of the guy from earlier who dismissed the guards and knocked me out. I heard him laugh at my efforts to escape. “Listen, I know you aren’t a Glorbinian. You don’t spill Glorbinian blood, but for everyone else, you are. So I decided just to keep this little secret between us. You’re going to be my personal little slave,” he said, his voice laced with evil. I tried everything to get out of the chains, but they wouldn’t budge no matter how hard I tried. He just kept laughing at me as I struggled. “WHY!” I suddenly yelled, giving up on trying to break out of the chains. I felt his hand touch my leg as he spoke. “Because you are by far the most beautiful girl I have seen since being trapped here. I want you all to myself, and now all I need is a bead of your sweat and you’ll be fully under my control,” he said, moving his hand to my head and wiping a drop of sweat off of my forehead. I panicked as I felt him do this. “NO!” I yelled. If I can’t get out of here I can’t save Soyutu, I thought, quickly pulling the sweat drop away from him with my mind, then transforming it into a sword and controlling it to cut my own right hand off so I could get it out of the chains, then forming the water around my wrist into a new hand made of water. Without hesitation I ripped the blindfold off my face and punched the man in the face, knocking him back away from me. “You can’t take me!” I yelled, slamming my hand on the remaining chains on my wrist and ankles breaking them, allowing me to roll out of the bed I was chained on and land onto the floor. “Holy shit, you’re a crazy bitch!” he said kicking the bed and breaking it, sending shrapnel of wood speeding over me while I took cover on the ground. Once it was clear to stand back up I wasted no time, standing up and summoning a katana of water. He stood there rubbing his face where I hit him. “Did you get stronger?” he asked. I didn’t bother answering his question, instead charging at him, jumping over the remains of the broken bed, spinning then slashing at him. He dashed out of the way with ease, kicking me in the side, causing me to go flying through walls until eventually crashing down into the dirt outside. I quickly got back up on my feet and readied myself for the next attack. People stopped and watched me as I stared at the opening I left with my body on the walls of the castle before me. The man walked from out of the hole I left, cracking his knuckles as he approached. Everyone around me knelt down as they saw him approach, as if in some sort of trance. I formulated a plan in my head quickly to get the upper hand, unsummoning my katana and kneeling down as well. He watched me, confused about what I was doing. “What is this? You finally understand your place now?” he asked, crouching down to my level and raising my head to face him. I nodded slightly. “I’ll be your slave,” I said. He laughed. “Well then I gu—” he said, before I cut him off. “For a kiss,” I said. His expression changed from pride to confusion. “Um... Ok, I guess?” he said, hesitantly puckering up his lips and advancing towards mine. I didn’t hesitate to pull back and slam my forehead on his puckered lips, causing him to accidentally spill only the slightest bit of saliva right on the center of my forehead, giving me complete control over him and whoever he controlled. “NOOO!” he yelled out, trying to grab me. I grabbed his wrists as he tried to rip at me and sleepily pulled him towards my face and said, “We can fix this. I’ll save us all,” before passing out on top of him.

A hundred times over I told myself this would all be over soon, but I can’t believe myself anymore, never more I still climb. I climb the walls in this hole I found myself in. It hurts, so so so much. I’ve lost all sense of time now. In fact, the only sense I could feel was touch and the pain that comes with it. I think I’m competing against death, like a trial to get my life back. I was certain I died there, so where was I now? Eventually I actually saw something, a light, and without hesitation I climbed towards it as fast as I could, fully determined to grab onto it. I could see now; my senses started to come back the closer I got to the light. Once I was close enough I reached out for the light, grabbing it in my hand. The walls around me suddenly disappeared as I grabbed the orb of light. As I fell I looked into the light seeing its beauty in its golden hue. It felt almost entrancing as I stared into it and slowly moved it to my head. I wanted whatever this was, whether another chance at life, my soul, or a claim to power. It was now mine as all things should be. Just then I was thrown upwards, the wind hitting me at a thousand miles an hour as I flew. Then, I was alive again, in my own body, but instead of being where I died I think I was in some sort of coffin. I could hear cries and people screaming from all around me. “CURSE YOU FOUL DEMON OF TAR!” one of them yelled. I kicked the door of the coffin open revealing me to a crowd of millions and millions of people before me, covering the streets, all looking heavily distressed but now looking like they had just seen Christ reborn, which, well, wouldn’t be untrue to them... I stumbled out of the coffin, looking around to notice the many banners of triangles and other decorative things in my name, showing their support for me even when dead. Everyone was now dead silent, kneeling before me like I was their god. I glanced at them all, confused at the greeting. “Hey guys, it’s ok now, I’m alive,” I said nervously. Immediately after speaking, one person yelled out from the crowd, “SHE HAS RISEN!” starting a riot in the crowd, with people screaming and crying even louder than before. Everyone was so happy to see me alive. I took a couple steps towards the crowd before me, all hands raised in the air, trying to see a way to get through, but just decided that they could probably just carry me there at this point. So I hesitantly turned my back to them and slowly lowered myself into the sea of people letting them take my body. I was crowd surfing. It was a truly odd experience, but since they were all under my control it was almost like they were all extensions of myself. Once home I commanded everyone to go back home and do what they were doing before coming here to mourn me, then immediately started thinking about how I could obtain more power, thinking about how I was completely overpowered by that weird alien creature guy. What should I call him? I thought, remembering what the people called him earlier. “Demon of Tar?” I said aloud to myself. “Tar,” I finalized in my head. That’s what I’ll call him, I thought, before turning my attention to the card on my still broken kitchen counter. I picked up the card and inspected it once again. The address was an apartment number at a nearby apartment complex. Number 606, how classic, I thought, chuckling to myself. I sighed, knowing that this was my only chance to get ahead of Tar, because if conquering the world wasn’t enough, then I would conquer hell too. It didn’t take me long to get to the apartment, and upon knocking I was only greeted with silence. Strange, I thought, moving my hand down to try the knob. The door opened. The apartment room looked as normal as any other, but as I entered, the door slammed shut behind me, locking me in the room. I sighed before summoning a dagger of blood and getting ready for a fight. To my surprise, nothing happened. “Well, this is different,” I said, crossing my arms and looking around the living room. Just then, out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a figure before it disappeared. “Hey!” I yelled out, before feeling a chill go down my spine as I slowly turned around to see a tall man dressed in all-black robes with a long black cloth covering his face. I slowly backed up a few steps, putting some distance between us. His presence was commanding and deadly. “You’re one of the few people to ever escape me,” he said, his voice echoing throughout the room. “That’s cool,” I said, looking over his body and stance. He nodded. “You came here for Satan?” he asked. I nodded. “I’m declaring war upon hell,” I said confidently. “Bold. I like you,” he said. I put my hands on my hips, no longer affected by his deadly presence. “Well, I like you too, you’re cool-looking,” I said, nodding. “Death has no identity. It’s what I have to wear,” he said, talking about his outfit. “Death?” I echoed. He nodded. “I am Death. You do understand that to get to hell you must die?” he questioned. I glanced around the room with my eyes before looking back at him. “How will I get my soldiers there with me?” I asked. “Soldiers?” he questioned, tilting his head to the side. “You thought I would just go solo? Fight the whole of hell by myself? Hell no. I’m not fucking dumb,” I said. “And I didn’t just conquer the world just for them to go to waste. I will ensure my victory by making them fight with me. That’s 8 billion potential soldiers; I’d be foolish not to utilize this to its fullest.” He nodded his head as I spoke. “I’m nearly scared on Satan’s behalf, but do not underestimate your opponent, Soyutu. This devil is different,” he said. I looked at him confused. “What do you mean?” I asked. He sighed. “Satan isn’t his name. Satan was killed by this devil. This devil is Kin. Kin Takahiti, and he has allied with heaven. You will be declaring war on not just hell but heaven too,” he said, crossing his arms. I grinned. “More to conquer. I do not fear what I won’t let kill me,” I said. “Then I’ll meet you at the river of sticks,” he said, reaching out his hand for a handshake. “Thank you,” I said, taking his hand.

When I opened my eyes again I was surprised to see myself on a boat sitting right across from Death as he paddled us across the river of sticks. “Woah, that was quick,” I said, holding my head. “You had no consciousness. It must have felt instantaneous,” he said. I nodded. “So when I win this war do you start working under me?” I asked. “I work for no one, but I’ll cut you a deal since I like you,” he said. I leaned in, listening closely to what he had to say. “I’ll work with you but I get to keep my soul, plus I get to take any souls from people you kill along your way if you don’t take them first, of course,” he said, looking over at me. I nodded quickly. “Yes, very good deal,” I said, nearly jumping out of my body with excitement. He shook his head. “Or maybe I’m just lonely,” he said. “We’ll be lonely together. At the top,” I said, as the boat came to a stop at the shore of hell. Now the only door between me and hell was right before me. “Good luck. Don’t get taken,” Death said as I left the boat. “You have no idea how bad I want this,” I said, looking back at him. “I’ll be watching, friend,” he said. I nodded. “I’m flattered,” I said, before turning away and opening the door before me and entering the red wastelands of hell progressing towards the dark castle in the distance. Did I just gain a connection with Death himself? I thought as I walked, thinking about all possibilities of me using him to get more power. Eventually I made it to the main parts of hell, a straight pathway leading towards many other pathways surrounded by pits of people screaming in agony. What a waste, I thought. So many souls gone to rot, unclaimed. Suddenly a demon crashed down in front of me. It was all so surreal, such a mythical creature standing before me but it wasn’t anything I wasn’t used to at this point. “Hello,” I said, waving my hand. It looked at me strangely. “What are you here for, mortal? Your soul has not been condemned yet,” it asked. I smiled. “War,” I said, before dashing towards it and stabbing my index finger through its eye, extracting its blood and quickly wiping it on my forehead, submitting him under my control. It held its eye in pain but didn’t say a word. “Convince them to join me before it’s too late,” I said, patting it on its back, dismissing it to do my bidding before advancing forwards to the castle. Once at the doors to the castle, I wasted no time kicking them down, sending the doors flying off their hinges. “Kin Takahiti!” I yelled. He sat on his huge throne, disproportionate to him, as he looked down at me, clad in armor of a pure black metal. “Soyutu Idol,” he said blankly, standing up and jumping down to meet me face to face. “I declare war!” I yelled at him. He covered his ears as I said this, like me yelling hurt them. “God, do you have to yell?” he asked, shaking his head. I looked at him with disgust. “Seriously?” I asked. “Yeah, you’re fucking annoying,” he said. I raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you trying to get a reaction out of me?” I asked, crossing my arms. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “I was just informing you, because I didn’t think you knew that already.” I just looked at him like he was stupid. “This is so stupid. I told you I was declaring war on you and you just call me annoying?” I said. He nodded. “Did no one inform you of me?” he asked, looking around for someone. “You really came here with no information about me and expect me to take you seriously?” I just sighed. “This is below me,” I said, shaking my head. “You’re tel—” I cut him off, summoning an axe of blood and swinging towards his throat, which he stood there and took head-on, the axe barely entering his neck. He looked at me like I was a child. “That wasn’t very diplomatic of you,” he said, attempting to grab the axe out of his neck, but it just imploded into his wound. “Oh?” he said, confused, as I commanded the blood in his system to go up to his head. “This is an interesting experience,” he said, his literal blood cells fighting back against mine, killing mine in the process. My eyes widened as I felt my blood being broken down to mere atoms in his body through some biological miracle. “We still doing the war thing?” he asked, tilting his head. I swallowed a lump in my throat. “Yes, but I’ll fight you last — your army against mine first, then our fight,” I said, taking a few steps back. “Sounds fair to me,” he said with a smile, reaching out to shake my hand, to which I took with crossed fingers.

I awoke to the sounds of yelling and the smell of fire. “PLEASE, MY QUEEN, WAKE UP!” someone yelled, shaking my body. I quickly opened my eyes to see the person shaking me in pure distress. “There is no time, my queen,” he said, ripping me out of bed and taking my hand leading me out of the burning building. “The Glorbinians are attacking! They said they need you to die,” he said, leading me to a secret path towards the back walls. As we ran I noticed many guards defending the castle from the little blue aliens that were spewing all sorts of elements from their hands in large quantities. Fire, ice, water, air, electricity, and many more. “What were these Glorbinians capable of?” I thought as we left the kingdom through the back wall where a group of guards stood ready, covering me with their armored bodies. “Lord Idol, what do you command?” one of them asked. I took a moment to think. “Get everyone out of here, only fight back if needed, we will rebuild once the attack is over but for right now get everyone hidden in the hills. The fewer casualties the better. Let’s solve this with words instead of violence,” I said, to their surprise. The guards looked at each other before nodding to me. “Yes, my queen,” one of them said. “We have called for an escort team to pick you up and take you to safety. They should be here any second,” another one said, and as if on cue a horse with a wagon attached to the back of it came up behind the group. The guards quickly turned around as they heard the wagon approach. “Where is the rest of the group?!” one of them yelled angrily. The only guard on the wagon stood up. “They died,” she said. “How are you going to protect the queen?!” another guard questioned, to which I intervened. “I’ll be ok,” I said, climbing onto the wagon. The guards looked at each other unsure of what to do but eventually the guard on the wagon with me whipped the horse, making it run off with the two of us. I quickly sat down not wanting to fall off the back. The guard followed suit. Sitting down, I noticed fresh bloodstains in the wagon, which concerned me because the guard with me did not have a single scratch on her armor. “Do you mind telling me how the others died?” I asked, to which she just looked at me, not saying a word. This isn’t one of my guards, I thought, noting how every other guard insisted on protecting me and answering to my every command, while in contrast this one was just... indifferent... “I didn’t catch your name,” I said, crossing my legs. “Flower,” she said. I leaned in, showing interest. “That’s such a cute name! My name is Lori, it’s nice to meet you, Flower,” I said, holding out my hand for a handshake, which she took. “Great, I think we will make good friends,” I said with a smile as she took her hand back and started to take off her helmet, revealing her dead white hair put up in a bun with a single strand hanging down to her chin, and her almost tar-black eyes as she stared back at me. As I studied her face further an image of the monster who crashed my spaceship flashed across my mind. “I don’t think so,” she said, placing down her helmet beside her. “Oh... Ok then,” I said, summoning a hand of water to replace my missing right hand. “You’re going to tell me about that so-called monster you saw before you crashed here,” she said, crossing her arms and staring me dead in my eyes. “I was sent from Earth to go out and find habitable land for the time being when he set me off course by throwing me and sending me crashing here,” I said, looking at her with concern. She jumped out of her seat, leaning forwards only inches from my face. “WHAT IS EARTH!” she yelled. I leaned back trying to make some distance. “Where I come from?” I said, confused. “WHERE IS EARTH!” she screamed, stomping her foot, causing it to fall through the wagon and make a hole. I shook my head. “I couldn’t tell you,” I said. She looked at me angrily. “Well, you are taking me there!” she yelled. I nodded. She took my nod as confirmation and quickly sat back down. “May I ask why you need to find him?” I asked. She looked at me and nodded. “He is my brother. He is going to get himself killed out there fighting the wrong person,” she said. “Your brother?” I echoed. She nodded. “Do you have a problem with that?” she said, staring me down. I shook my head. “I’m here trying to get more power so I can save my sister,” I said, smiling. “Really?” she asked, loosening her gaze. I nodded. “I trust she won’t get killed, but her mind is what will die. She is headed down a dark path,” I said, lowering my head somberly. Flower watched in disbelief. “You aren’t lying?” she asked in surprise. I shook my head. “I have no reason to lie to you, my friend,” I said, looking up at her again. She raised an eyebrow at me. “No one is this nice,” she said, shaking her head. “What do you mean?” I asked, tilting my head to the side. “You’re too nice to be real!” she exclaimed. I laughed, shaking my head. “I’m just clear-headed is all,” I said, smiling warmly. Flower looked away. “I wish,” she said, frowning. I quickly made my move, moving to sit next to her and putting my hand on her shoulder comfortingly, to which she jolted in surprise. “You are a good person too. You care about your brother, and to me that is more than enough,” I said. She looked at me with shock. “You... You understand me?” she stuttered out, confused. I nodded. “Of course! We are practically sisters,” I said. Her eyes lit up as I said this, like a child’s. “Yes!” she yelled, hugging me. I smiled as I hugged her back, securing a friend and an ally.

As days pass and the attack ends, Flower and I make our way back to the kingdom only to find it completely destroyed, with the guards and residents trying to rebuild their homes the best they could. Walking into the remains with Flower, one of the residents came up to us, a battered-looking male. “They said they wouldn’t stop until they have you, my lord,” he said, coughing. “I understand. Thank you,” I said, raising up my hand and placing it on his forehead, healing him with my water. He bowed his head. “Thank you, my lord,” he said, before running off to help rebuild his house. I turned back to Flower and sighed. “I think I’m going to have to turn myself in,” I said, to which she shook her head. “Why not just attack back?” she asked. “It’s not right and will do nothing for me. I’d rather talk to them,” I explained. She sighed, facepalming. “You are quite something, you know that, Lori?” she questioned. I just laughed. “Yeah, yeah, let’s just go. I don’t want to risk any more bloodshed waiting,” I said, getting back on the wagon. Flower followed, getting the horse to start moving to the closest Glorbinian village. Upon making it to the village we were immediately stopped in our tracks by a Glorbinian, hand outstretched, motioning for us to stop. I stood up and got out of the wagon with Flower, and we were both escorted into the village. As we walked inside more and more Glorbinians surrounded us, yelling in a foreign language. I looked over at Flower to gauge her reaction and to my surprise she was overwhelmingly calm. The Glorbinian leading us suddenly stopped and turned around to look at us. “Our leader has been notified and will be here to personally execute you for your future crimes and overwhelming threat to this world,” he said, looking at me. “Future crimes?” Flower questioned. “Yes. It has been determined by the oracle,” he said, to which the others around us yelled in agreement. “This is stupid, Lori, why can’t we just make them submit to us with force?” Flower whispered in my ear. “That would only prove their point,” I whispered back, to which she just sighed. After a while of standing awkwardly and getting yelled at in another language finally a royal carriage rolled into town, shutting everyone up and making the Glorbinians fall to a knee and bow their heads. Flower and I stood still, watching as the king stepped out of the carriage, surprising us with his appearance being so unusual compared to the other Glorbinians. He had a humanoid body with red skin and sharp-looking scales that covered his back, and looking at him just gave me an uneasy feeling. “Turning yourself in, human?” he asked, puffing out his chest arrogantly. Flower looked at me with concern. “What’s your plan here?” she asked. “If he attacks, you defend me by attempting to keep the bystanders' attacks away from me while I try to reason with him, but under no circumstances do we kill,” I said, keeping my eyes on the king as he approached. Flower nodded and turned her attention to the Glorbinians around us ready to fulfill my orders at a moment’s notice. “You are a threat to us all, Miss Idol,” he said, stopping in front of me. “I’d like to propose a compromise,” I said, trying my best to smile. He laughed at me as I said this, making my smile quickly fade. “Yeah, no, kill them,” he said, turning his back to me. Just then the Glorbinians around us sprang up out of their bowing positions and quickly turned to us in an almost trance-like state. I quickly summoned my water hand and grabbed the shoulder of the king as Flower leaped up in the air with incredible force and defended me from attacks with just waves of her hands, causing enough wind to blow away all the elements coming towards me. Since I knew that the Glorbinians had weak bodies but strong elemental powers, I thought that if I could just get the king into hand-to-hand combat he would want to reason with me, but as soon as I grabbed his shoulder he grabbed my hand and yanked me over his shoulder, sending me crashing to the ground. I wasted no time, exploding my water hand away from his grip and kicking him in the stomach, causing him to go flying up into the air. Once he was in the air I got up and reformed my water hand while also summoning my water katana, getting ready for his next attack. From the sky a giant fireball came plummeting down with great velocity. I quickly leaped towards the fireball and with one clean cut sliced it in two with my water katana, causing it to split and explode into many mini fireballs falling around the area. As the smoke cleared up away from my face I was met with the sight of the king’s fist rocketing towards my face, but just before it could hit I quickly launched my head back, doing a full backflip in the air whilst simultaneously dodging the punch. As I completed the backflip I was met by yet another attack, a lightning strike, by which I was promptly struck, causing me to go crashing back down to the ground. Once on the ground I watched as the king came crashing down in front of me with great force, landing on his feet. “LET’S TALK!” I yelled, getting back up on my feet. He laughed again. “Never,” he said, dashing towards me at great speeds, ripping the terrain behind him. “Fine,” I said, realizing I wasn’t going to get through to him, then catching him by the mouth in the air and slamming his head down into the ground, showing him that I wasn’t holding back anymore. I held him there as he clawed at my arm trying to escape from my grasp as I squeezed his jaw. As he clawed at my arm to get free, skin started to rip off of it, but I kept my grasp, unwilling to fall to him. “SAY YOU’LL TALK!” I yelled, crushing his jaw further. Just then he held his hands up, showing that he was willing to talk but as I let go he attempted to fire a fireball at me which I promptly stopped by stomping on his arm, snapping it in half. He let out a muffled scream as I did this, but I simply gripped his jaw harder to show I was no longer taking his shit. “Do you want to try this again?” I asked, twisting my foot on his broken arm. He quickly nodded. I let go of his mouth and took a step back letting him stand up. As he stood up, he waved his hand ordering the other Glorbianins to stop. “Good, so I was thinking that we could solve this with words?” I said, now smiling again. He started to nod but suddenly raised his hand up again to shoot. As soon as he did this Flower dashed up from behind him and quickly grabbed his arm, twisting it around his back and putting her free hand to his throat. “Make a move like that again and I’ll slit your throat,” she said, looking at me for confirmation. I raised my hand, telling her to hold. “Do you retire?” I asked, to which the man just smiled and looked me in the eyes. “I’d rather burn in hell!” he said before combusting into flames, then turning to ash. Flower quickly dashed back, confused about what just happened. I turned my attention to the Glorbinians behind her seemingly being released from their trance. “He meant that,” I said, walking up to the pile of ash, noticing a card lying atop it and picking it up. The card showed a map, and on it there was a circle around a wooded area; at the bottom was a name: “Satan.” I looked at the card for a moment before turning it over to Flower then turning my attention to the now bowing Glorbinians before us. “Thank you, Miss Idol and strange lady!” one of them said. I looked over at Flower, pocketing the card, confused. “They’re bowing...” I said in a whisper, pointing at them. Flower turned around. “I see that... What do we do?” she asked, scratching her head. I took a step forward. “Why do you bow?” I questioned. One of them stood up. “You saved us from that tyrant! He was using us for war!” he said. I glanced at Flower before looking back at him. “You’re welcome I guess,” I said with a smile. The rest of them started to stand too as another one spoke. “Be our queen!” they yelled. I turned to see what Flower thought of this, to which she nodded back at me. After confirmation from Flower I turned back to them with a thumbs up. “You got it!” I said confidently. They all cheered. One of them came out of the crowd, grabbing my hand then leading me to the royal carriage with Flower trailing behind. “Then let me show you to the capital! We Glorbinians have a gift for you, Lord Idol!” he said, getting in the front. “Oh, okay...” I said back, confused, as Flower and I got in the back. On our way to the capital, Flower and I talked about how weird it was to receive this type of treatment after practically just killing their king. Once we made it to the capital a cacophony of cheers was heard as if they somehow knew that I was coming. Once out of the carriage and in the kingdom we were led to a well where there were hundreds of Glorbinians gathered, all happy to see me. A Glorbinian dressed in white robes approached me and Flower in front of the well and bowed before speaking. “We would like to give you this gift, Miss Idol. Our leader before us was jealous of you humans and made a deal with the devil to obtain power similar to yours, but no power over us allowed him to have this gift we give you today, Miss Idol. You have shown us that there is still light in the darkness of this world and someone like that should without a doubt have this power,” he said, the others around him bowing their heads and closing their eyes as he spoke. “We understand you have the power to obtain the souls of any organism through any of their body’s water, correct?” he asked. I nodded. “Then we give you this. The well of tears. For generations it has been tradition for every Glorbinian to cry into this very well. Our powers as you know consist of the power to control and create elements. This well will give you the power to control every element ever conceived of and the power of creation, only given to the most worthy of persons. So please, Miss Idol, if you may, claim your power and throne to godhood,” he said, bowing his head. I hesitated, looking to Flower for guidance. Upon seeing my expression she would pat my back and reassure me. “You got this,” she said, as I walked up to the well, dipping my finger in the tears and putting it to my forehead. Just then a flash of light came over my vision as I saw visions of new worlds being created and galaxies being formed, as I floated above them all, and my sister looking up at me from deep red worlds of blood, before I suddenly lost consciousness, falling safely into Flower’s arms.

Asleep I dreamt of hell. Soyutu was there, losing a battle she thought she could win. She’s dying. Her soul being taken by a man of wrath. I was there, trying my best to solve the problem with words, but this man, he kills people with words alone. I can’t let this happen. She’ll die. HE’LL KILL MY SISTER! My eyes rolled inside their lids as I stirred awake, feeling as if I had just come out of a coma. I reached my hand out above me and felt around the air trying to get a sense of where I was. I couldn’t open my eyes and everything was so foggy. Then I heard a voice. “Lori? Are you awake?!” Flower called out, grabbing my wrist and shaking me, allowing me to open my eyes. “Ah!” I yelled, sitting up. “Holy smokes, I nearly thought you were dead!” Flower said, sitting on my bed. I looked at her in a daze as I felt all the blood rush out of my head. “How long was I out for?” I questioned. Flower looked around the room with her eyes before responding. “Only two days. They said you would be out for longer though.” I shook my head. “No, no! My sister is in trouble! Where is that card?!” I asked frantically. Flower reached into her pocket and pulled out the card left from Satan and quickly gave it to me. “Why do you need the card?! What’s going on?!” Flower asked, looking at me with concern. I studied the map on the card as I got up from the bed. “I saw it in my dream — my sister is in hell losing a battle. She’ll die if I don’t hurry!” I exclaimed, searching the bedroom for clothing to wear. “Then I’m coming with you!” Flower said, putting on her armor. Upon finding no clothing that fit me, I frantically conjured clothes onto my body, to mine and Flower’s surprise. The clothes weren’t made of water, they were actual fabric. “How the hell did I do that?!” I questioned, looking down at my combat-ready white outfit. Flower shook her head. “I don’t know, but just be glad,” she said, as we walked out of the house to the still very destroyed Kingdom. I looked around at the remains with a sigh, and grabbed Flower, stopping her from walking off. “What is it?” she asked, turning to face me. “If we don’t make it back, they will have nothing left,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s wrong.” Flower looked at me, confused. “Well, what can we do with such short time like this?” she asked, looking around at the destroyed Kingdom. I held out my hand and closed my eyes, imagining the Kingdom rebuilt and expanded. When I opened my eyes it was how I imagined it to be. Flower stood, staring at the rebuilt and expanded Kingdom before her with amazement. “Holy shit, Lori…” she said, turning her head to me slowly. “Problem solved. Let’s continue,” I said, holding out my hand and creating a truck out of thin air, elements and materials coming out of my palm at high velocities, creating it from the ground up. “W-what is that?” Flower asked, inspecting it. “It’s called a truck; it will get us where we need to go,” I said, getting in the front seat. Flower hesitantly got in the passenger’s seat as I started the truck, and once ready sped off to the location on the map. As we drove off Flower laughed at the unfamiliar sensation of the car, which she had never experienced before. I laughed with her, finding her reactions funny as we sped away towards the map’s location. Once there, Flower and I hopped out of the truck and approached the small cabin that was out there, hidden in the trees. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Flower asked as we walked. I shrugged. “For my sister I’d do anything,” I said, preparing myself for what came ahead. “Do you think after this we could get to Earth?” Flower asked, a hint of sadness in her voice. I smiled. “Of course. You are my sister too, right?” I said, bumping into her playfully. She laughed. “Yeah, I guess so!” she said joyfully. Once at the cabin door I knocked. “Hello? Satan?” I called out, feeling a bit weird saying his name like that. Flower moved in front of me, opening the door. “It’s open,” she said, entering. “Let’s be careful. Do NOT sign anything,” I said, entering after her. The cabin looked normal, not the place for a negotiation with the devil himself. Flower looked around, inspecting things and moving things around to maybe find anything of value. Just then the door behind us slammed shut on its own, making both me and Flower jolt and turn towards the noise. “Who the hell did that?” Flower said, looking around the room frantically. I laughed, watching her look around like that, but my laughter stopped as she turned to me and a shadowy figure dressed in all-black robes with a black cloth covering its face appeared behind her. I wasted no time, holding up my palm and shooting a beam of water towards it. “Woah!” it said, disappearing and reappearing in between me and Flower. “Calm down. I am here to talk,” he said, looking between the two of us. I lowered my guard. “Are you Satan?” Flower asked, crossing her arms. He shook his head. “I am Death, and if you two wish to go to hell to talk to the devil himself, then I shall grant that wish,” he said, putting his hands together at his stomach. “Can you tell me something?” I asked, stepping towards him. He nodded. “What is it, Miss Idol?” he asked, turning his attention to me. “Is my sister there in hell? Did she make a deal?!” I asked, pleadingly. As he heard me speak about my sister it felt as if he were smiling. “Um, yes, your sister is in hell, but she did not make a deal; in fact, she is waging war on hell as we speak,” he said, nodding his head. “WAR?!” I yelled, reeling my hand to slap him. “WHY WOULD YOU LET HER DO THAT!?!?!” I screamed. He took a step back. “I’m just doing my job, Miss Idol…” he said, putting his hands out to protect himself. “Bull fucking shit!” I yelled, putting my hand down and stomping. “Bring us there now!” I yelled. He nodded, holding out both of his hands for handshakes. “Just shake my hand and I’ll meet you at the river of sticks,” he said, as Flower and I took his hand, and before we knew it. Darkness.

A river bridging the gateway to hell and heaven and a boat flowing towards the gates of hell, Lori, Flower and Death sit on that boat moving towards hell’s gates with great anticipation of what is to come next. Flower looks nervously towards Lori who is sitting ever so still, contemplating her morals and what to do to save her sister as Death rows the boat ever so closer to the gates, a face looking longingly behind the black cloth that covers emotions for death has no identity. Once the boat hit the dock and the two friends left an eerie silence filled the rivers calm waters but as soon as they opened the door a wave of terrible heat hit their faces, inviting them to hell, its red lands showing the least bit of comfortability as they hiked on towards the waging battle before them. A sea of people clashed against an army of demons. Blood and flame flung in the air as demons and humans were slaughtered. In the distance a figure shrouded by dark stood above it all, watching, but not intervening through some sort of bind restricting her. Lori, seeing this, would point in her direction and scream, “SOYUTU!” and Soyutu, hearing this, would turn in Lori’s direction, watching from afar as Lori and Flower would sprint towards her, pushing through the sea of humans before Lori would just give up on trying to run and would simply grab Flower and fly up to Soyutu, sitting atop a hill. “What the hell are you doing here, Lori?” Soyutu would say, completely perplexed as to how her sister, who she thought had just left for a trip, was now standing before her, missing a right hand and flying with a friend who looked all too familiar to the monster who caused her to go here for power. “I’m here to stop you from waging war on hell!” Lori said, dropping down next to Soyutu with Flower. Soyutu looked at Flower before looking back at Lori, confused. “For what reason?” she asked, glancing down at the war going on beneath them. Lori, clearly pissed off by Soyutu’s ignorant attitude, slapped her across the face. “ARE YOU DUMB?!” she yelled, Flower taking a step back, intimidated by the whole experience. Soyutu cocked her head back to look Lori dead in the eyes. “Are you fucking dumb?! You do understand how much danger you are in right now don’t you?! I have this all under control, can’t you see!?” she said, pointing down to the battle beneath them, clearly going in Soyutu’s favor as demons turn on each other after death, killing other demons starting a cycle of returning victory in Soyutu’s name. Lori watched the battle beneath them but stayed undeterred in her mission, turning back to Soyutu with a frown. “You don’t know what you are messing with, You,” she said softly. Soyutu shook her head. “I know exactly what I am messing with. Power left unclaimed. Souls just waiting to be taken. All to be mine,” she said, holding out her arms. “You... This isn’t right. You aren’t a monster,” Lori said, reaching out to her. Soyutu returned her gesture by moving Lori’s hand back to her. “I don’t need your saving, Lori. I know what I am,” she said, putting her arm down. Lori sighed and glanced back down at the battle with a look of a broken heart. Just then, Flower, having had enough of Soyutu’s shit, stepped up in front of Lori, pointing at Soyutu. “You are a naive, selfish little prick! Why can’t you just listen to your fucking sister for once instead of getting yourself killed!? You mean the world to her! I hear her talking about you in the lightest ways despite you never deserving that praise! You have no idea how much she would do for you and you just throw it all away for your own selfish gains! You aren’t a monster! You don’t deserve that title,” she said, on the verge of shedding tears. Soyutu took a step back, finally realizing her actions. Lori looked up to see Soyutu speechless as Flower turned away, frustrated. “I’m sorry, You,” Lori said, heartbroken. Soyutu just shook her head. “No, it’s true,” she said, backing up to the edge of the hill. “I don’t deserve you. I’m sorry,” she finished, falling backwards into the sea of warfare below. Lori watched in sadness as tears fell from her opened eyes, unable to contain them any longer. Flower, noticing this, came up behind Lori, giving her a hug, but not before long a bang rang throughout all of hell as the sky above them parted way for light. “What’s going on?” Lori questioned, wiping her tears away. “Is it heaven?” (Nevaeh spelt backwards btw) Flower asked, letting go of Lori to get a closer look as an angelic figure descended from the light, angels guiding her descent. “I told her she didn’t know what she was messing with!” Lori yelled. “This war just became a lot bigger,” she noted, looking back at Flower, who was in awe of the glorious sight. “Do we help her?” Flower questioned, looking back down at Lori, to which she shook her head. “No, Soyutu can handle herself in that fight. But that devil — that fight I need to take,” Lori said, walking towards the edge of the hill looking out towards the dark castle sitting in the distance. “What do I do?” Flower asked. “Kill the rest of the demons,” Lori said before flying off towards the castle’s opened doors. Meanwhile, Soyutu would walk towards the descending god, getting prepared to confront her. “Soyutu Idol. Why do you challenge heaven and hell?” she said, crossing her arms as she finally reached the ground with her army of angels behind her. “Because it is mine to claim,” she said, summoning two swords of blood in both of her hands. God looked at her with a tilted head. “Do you not want to know the name of your opponent before fighting?” she asked as the angels behind her readied themselves for battle. “What is your name, then, swine?” Soyutu said, spinning her swords as she walked. “Leah,” she said, sprouting an extra four arms, two on each side, and opening a third eye. “Great,” Soyutu said as a wave of humans ran around her towards the angels, colliding in a bloody battle before the two superpowers charged at each other in the empty space by the battle around them. In another part of hell, Lori steps up to the throne, still weighing her morals as she reflects on what she saw in her dream earlier as Kin jumps down to face her. “Lori Idol,” he said with a smile. “Never thought I’d see you here,” he said, inspecting her. Lori nodded. “Yeah... I’m sorry, but I can’t let you hurt my sister,” she said, putting her head down. Kin raised an eyebrow at her. “You don’t have to fight me, Lori,” he said, crouching down to her level. “Yes I do. You’ll kill her. You’ll kill me. You’ll kill us all,” Lori said, her eyes starting to twitch with a tinge of insanity as her mind began to snap from the pressure. “Umm... Are you okay?” he asked, reaching out for her chin, but as he does so, getting his throat grabbed as Lori looks him in the eyes, a look of pure pain and regret on her face as she lifts him up with a force equal to her love. Kin quickly raised his hand and slammed it on her arm, breaking it, allowing him to get free of her grasp as he backs away, also not wanting to fight her. Lori doesn’t flinch from the pain, only flicking her hand, reconstructing her bone. “I can’t let you do this,” she said, approaching Kin. “Fuck, Lori, why do you gotta do this?” he says, getting prepared to fight for his survival, but looking behind her and out of the doorway to see something horrible. On the other side of hell where Soyutu and Leah were fighting, Leah takes the first blow, flying into the air as Soyutu approaches with relentless attacks shooting blood spears up at her as she dodges while trying to conjure an attack of her own. Soyutu would leap up towards her, aiming for an attack to the neck but as she swung her sword, Leah sent down a beam of light, hitting Soyutu head-on, sending her flying back down to the ground. Leah, looking down at Soyutu lying in the middle of the battlefield, realizes that she was losing the battle, but being that she wasn’t one to give up, she quickly shook off this realization and came charging down towards Soyutu, all of her arms ready to turn the tables and win this battle so she and the rest of heaven and hell can live in peace. Soyutu, feeling the new power of the claimed angels, quickly shot up from off the ground, fully healed, as she watched Leah rocket towards her from the sky. “Fool,” she said, commanding one of her troops to explode into a giant spike of blood, impaling Leah in the stomach before she could even notice what was going on. Leah dangled from the spike, struggling to stay alive as the huge hole in her stomach started taking the last remaining years away from her life, but no matter now. Soyutu had already won, forcing the spike of blood to rush into her body, exploding her from the inside out, causing a bloody rain to fall down onto the battlefield as she took a drop of her blood and pressed it against her forehead, taking her soul and passing out momentarily. From the other side of hell, Kin, seeing the blood rain and knowing what it could be, stopped in his tracks, awakening an ancient rage from inside as he targets it towards Lori, the only thing in his way of killing Soyutu. “HOW COULD YOU!!!” he screamed, charging at Lori with newfound speeds, nearly faster than time itself. Lori, seeing the threat of Kin, raised her arms up to block the attack, getting pushed through the walls of the castle, causing a massive explosion, echoing throughout all of hell as she recreated her organic matter, quickly being ripped off her body as Kin relentlessly attacked. The two flew around hell at speeds faster than light or even sound, exchanging blows that would tear holes into each of them but be quickly reversed by one another’s healing factors. Neither one could land a significant enough blow to completely destroy one another. This went on for a while, blow after blow, both fighting for the lives of their loved ones, the reasons for their existence here today, but neither one’s love proved stronger than the other’s as they zipped through the blood-red sky. As they went on, their ferocity grew, eventually affecting the terrain around them, clearing any blood clouds that lingered in the sky, and effectively destroying the air itself, turning it to a void-like space. “I’LL KILL HER FOR THIS!!!!” Kin yelled, finally, truly setting Lori off, sending her into a life or death situation, forcing her mind to conjure up something to kill him once and for all. Suddenly Lori stopped attacking Kin, instead pressing her palms against his stomach and flying him up into the realm above hell before creating two black holes within her palms, colliding them inside of Kin’s stomach, causing the collapse of the very space around them as it implodes in on itself until the both of them are within a single dot of white in the abyssal void around them, before exploding out, knocking out Lori as she creates another black hole from behind her, to pull her away from the explosion as Kin suffers a different fate, getting caught in the explosion never to be seen again. Lori now rockets back down to hell, slowed down by the black hole but still dangerously fast as she enters its atmosphere then hits the ground, shaking all of hell with the sheer impact of the collision. On the battlefield, Soyutu is woken up by the impact, standing up in a daze as she looks around to see fleeing angels and piles of dead demons, Flower (yes, the time has come) sitting atop the tallest one, completely unharmed. Soyutu, seeing this, ponders the powers Flower must have and how they could most definitely help with the incoming fight with Kin, who she doesn’t know is already gone. Soyutu, now fully convinced and set on killing Flower, walks towards her, sitting atop the pile, and once at the bottom calls up for her. “Hey!” she yells. “White hair girl!” Flower would look down upon hearing Soyutu’s voice. “What could you possibly want?” she questioned, jumping down from the pile to face her. “I was just wondering if you could lend me a hand,” Soyutu said with a smile. Flower raised an eyebrow at this. “Yes?” she said, glancing around with her eyes, unsure whether to trust her. “Could you answer me this? Do you know of a guy who has that same hair as you, and is an alien with many strange black spikes coming out of his body?” she asked. Flower nodded immediately, stepping towards her and grabbing her wrists. “That’s my brother! Do you know where he is?!” she asked pleadingly. Soyutu nodded. “Yes, and I can take you to him for a price,” she said, grabbing her hands. “ANYTHING!” Flower yelled, letting go of Soyutu. “Then I want your soul,” Soyutu said with a smile. Flower stepped back, contemplating this for a moment as Soyutu held her left hand out for a handshake. “Think about how much danger he may be in if you don’t get there right now. He could be dying right now and I know exactly where he is. You know what you have to do,” she said, eyeing down Flower as she stressed about the dilemma. “You’re right. I can’t be selfish,” Flower said, reaching out for Soyutu’s hand but just before the deal could be made, Lori appeared in between the two, cutting Soyutu’s hand off before a finger could be laid on Flower. “Didn’t I tell you not to make a deal with the devil?” she said, a purely blank expression fixed on her bloodstained face as Soyutu reels back her freshly cut arm in complete and utter shock. “W-what the hell?!” she yelled out, stumbling back. Lori simply turned her head towards Soyutu as she stumbled back, a face of pure fear looking into the eyes of an almost soulless being. “You can be the devil now. I killed the old one so you wouldn’t die. You’re welcome,” she said, a monotone expression after experiencing so much. Flower hesitantly stepped back as she watched the scene unfold before her. “You what?! Do you have any idea what you have done?!” Soyutu yelled, looking almost concerned for her sister. “I know full well what I have done, and I’m sorry. I never wanted this to happen,” Lori said, turning around and walking away with Flower trailing behind, too scared to even talk to her friend. “Lori, wait! I’m sorry!” Soyutu yelled, but Lori never looked back. At least for now, her job was done. Soyutu was safe; that’s all she cared about. In time she will be fixed, but not now, now Lori rests.

“Why am I so weak? Why can’t I win? Why can’t I be better?” I thought, looking at myself in the mirror, looking at the bags under my eyes and bloodshot eyes as I swore and cursed. I raised my left arm to look at where my hand used to be as I formed a hand of blood to replace it. “I’m horrible,” I said before punching a hole through my wall then leaving the bathroom, greeted with the sight of Death sitting on my couch. “You alright, U?” Death asked, standing up and turning to me as I just stared back, too tired to even speak. Death sighed. “I guess not then,” he said, walking towards me then giving me a hug. I stood there, allowing him to hug me for as long as he wanted. “I’m ordering all humans to build me a ship capable of taking me anywhere I want in space,” I said, as Death pulled away from the hug. He nodded. “Is it because of your sister?” he asked. I sighed but then agreed. “She is all I have. The only person who cares enough to save me,” I said, trying to find Death’s eyes behind the cloth. Death tilted his head down slightly as I said this, showing that he disagreed with my statement. “Do you not agree?” I asked, grabbing his hand with my non-blood one. He looked away from me. “If I weren’t on the job all the time, I would have intervened as well,” he said. “I know you would,” I said, giving him a kiss on the cheek, before walking away. “But I need to be better. No more greed,” I said, walking out to my balcony to see how the project was going. Death followed. “That’s a step in the right direction,” he said, scooting up to be next to me. “Why don’t you take that thing off your face? I want to know what I’m getting into,” I said, turning to him with a smile. He took a step back. “Death doesn’t have an identity,” he said, crossing his arms. “Does my future father to my children have an identity?” I asked, taking a step towards him. “W-what do you mean?” he asked, worry laced in his voice. “I mean that I love you, Death,” I said, stopping in front of him. “Woah, isn’t this moving a bit fast?” he questioned. I simply took his hands. “Death doesn’t wait for the right moment to strike. This is how it works. I understand you. Let me be yours and you be mine,” I said, pressing my body against his. He looked down at me, holding both of my hands. “Even without the price of my soul?” he asked. I nodded. “This is me being better. Your soul is not for my taking, and if I must have it, you’ll have mine as well,” I said, looking up at him. He nodded. “Then yes. I accept. I’ll be yours,” he said. “And I’ll be mine,” I said, mixing up the words by accident. “What?” he said with a chuckle. I laughed as well, but closed my eyes for a second, almost passing out. Quickly trying to regain my consciousness, I commanded blood in my body to painfully poke my organs, waking me up. “I didn’t mean to say that,” I said with a laugh. “That’s fine,” he said, pulling me in for a hug. I returned the hug, wiping blood out of my mouth behind his back. “I love you,” I said, hugging him tight. He chuckled. “I love you too, Soyutu,” he said back, rubbing my back comfortingly. After a moment I pulled out of the hug and steadied myself. “One more thing. May I now see your face?” I asked, tilting my head. He nodded hesitantly. “I... It might not be as pretty as you may have thought it would be,” he said, removing the cloth from his face revealing a face full of burn scars. His face itself wasn’t at all ugly but the scars most definitely diminished its value. I didn’t flinch, only reaching up to touch it. “You’re beautiful,” I said, tracing his scars with my finger. “You aren’t disgusted? The gods who gave me these scars told me I would never be loved again,” he said, feeling his own face. “Looks like we proved them wrong,” I said before giving him a kiss. He smiled as tears filled his eyes. “Thank you,” he said, closing his eyes. “Of course, my love,” I said, wiping away his tears. He nodded. “I should get back to work then, huh?” he said, putting the cloth back on his face. “I’ll be here waiting for your return then, my love,” I said, smiling as he disappeared, off to go back to being death. As soon as he left I stopped my blood from poking my organs and fell to my knees, coughing up blood before passing out.

I slowly awoke to the feeling of someone carrying me away. “Let’s get you somewhere more comfortable,” Death said, laying me down on the couch. I looked up at him with tired eyes. He sat down by my legs, pulling a blanket over me. “What happened?” he asked, moving my hair out of my eyes. “I guess I’m getting sick,” I said. He sighed. “That’s not good at all,” he said, giving me a kiss on the forehead. “Want me to turn on the TV for you and brew you a nice coffee?” he asked with a smile. I nodded. “Yes, thank you,” I said, watching as he walked over to the TV to turn it on. Just then a chill went down my spine feeling as if another presence had entered the room. Death froze as well, feeling the same thing. “Soyutu Idol,” a familiar voice said as all the glass in my house suddenly shattered. As soon as I heard the voice I stood up from the couch at such great speeds, destroying my couch in the process. Tar stood facing me and Death, his blank expression and bloodlust-filled eyes staring between the two of us. “You live again. So will I,” he said, his voice deep and raspy. Death, upon seeing the threat that was Tar, teleported next to him before laying a hand on him that was supposed to kill him instantly, but instead he just continued to stare, slowly moving his eyes down to Death before kicking him away within a fraction of a second, sending Death flying through my wall at rocket speeds. “Death does wait,” he said, approaching me. I stared up at him preparing myself for the fight of my life as he approached, his cold eyes staring deeply into my soul. I attacked first, transforming the empty space where my hand used to be into a spear, lunging it at him, which he dodged effortlessly, moving his head away as I continuously stabbed towards him to no avail. “FINE,” I said, teleporting above him and kicking his head, finally landing a hit as he stumbled forwards. “Pain?” he questioned, holding the back of his head. “I love it,” he said, spinning around, backhanding me as I was falling, sending me rocketing out of my house and flying across the sky. As I flew I thought about how I could turn the tables, and remembering the abilities of Leah, I sprouted one more arm on each side as I teleported myself to the ground, bracing myself for the next attack. Tar would appear behind me, to my surprise, but as he swung at my head I quickly dodged, then countered with a sweep kick to the legs, knocking him off his feet, then turned around to face him as he sprang off his hands, flipping back to his feet. He only had the slightest bit of a grin on his face as he looked at me. I summoned four swords of blood in each of my hands, staring right back at him as he approached again. I dashed to my right before jumping up and swinging all four swords at him. He attempted to dodge but was too slow, getting cut in the throat. But it made no difference; he simply healed his wound before kicking me out of the air and back onto the ground. Once on the ground he rushed towards me before stomping at my head. Just before his foot could hit me I teleported behind him, swords pressed onto his torso as I quickly sliced his stomach before dashing back. He paused, his wounds healing instantly before looking back at me, his slight grin turning into a full grin as his heartbeat gained volume, causing the ground to quake, but I barely noticed it, too focused on winning the battle, as I positioned myself, stepping back onto a patch of grass behind me, instantly killing it with a touch of my foot. Tar looked down at this, now grinning even more. “I understand,” he said, dashing towards me at newfound speeds, destroying the ground and the city’s windows as he punched me square in my face, sending me spinning back through the air, flipping as I flew through buildings destroying them as I crashed. I teleported to the ground but upon teleporting Tar was already there, his heartbeat now beating so loud it would cause buildings to fall as he grabs my face with his hand, smashing my head into the ground with force so powerful it creates a crater in the ground where we fought. He keeps banging my head into the ground, sending me further and further down with each slam. Eventually I was able to grab ahold of his arm, tearing it off with one quick and powerful motion before teleporting behind him with a drop kick to the back of his head. As I was about to hit him, in an instant he grew his arm back, blocking my attack then pulling a spike out of his body before stabbing it through both my Achilles tendons, locking my feet together, then elbowing me back into the ground. I screamed from the pain as I frantically attempted to pull the spike out of my tendons, realizing that it only cut me more as I tried. Tar stood above me, staring down with only a half smile as he slowly tore another spike from his body. The pain was unlike anything I had ever imagined, truly insufferable as I watched him tear one out of his body like it was nothing, so slowly and painfully too, like he almost liked it. “Feel my enlightenment,” he said, fully taking out the spike then launching it at my throat at speeds that nearly surpassed time. The spike went straight through my throat like butter as it pinned me to the ground while unable to breathe. “Till we meet again, friend,” Tar said, walking towards my head, his heartbeat echoing throughout the earth, shaking my very being, before stomping down on my head, crushing it completely with one motion, killing me without a second thought. Once dead I sat in a void, waiting, never more broken.

“Could you tell me more about your brother?” I asked, while walking with Flower towards the site of the earthquake that took down almost all of New York. She nodded. “I’ll start from the beginning,” she said, clasping her hands together. “So, things back on my home planet worked very differently from here. That war thing you guys do with each other — on our planet, that is what we would do all the time. After the age of five you were considered old enough to fight, and there was never not fighting. My species could only reproduce after a female dies in combat through an exploding heart, in which the baby takes the qualities of the person who killed the mom,” she said. “An exploding heart?” I questioned. She nodded. “It’s the only way my species can die. They fight until their heart explodes due to the severe conditions their bodies are being put through during intense combat, or through another person crushing it, although crushing it wouldn’t result in birth due to it being unnatural. Our heartbeat also emits a kind of supersonic pulse that gets louder the more we push ourselves. I unfortunately was born with a rare heart condition amongst my species: once my heart begins to go past a certain limit, it must maintain a steady increase, otherwise I’ll die — which is near impossible to do because of the fact that you can’t stop fighting, not even for a second. But my brother knew that. He protected me, killing anyone who tried to kill me. Which was very very strange because my species never obtained love for one another, usually after two of our species reached the right age at the same time, they would just end up killing each other immediately. But my brother, or not really my brother, saved me,” she said. I nodded throughout the explanation, showing my full interest and understanding. “So you two aren’t really brother and sister?” I asked, as we reached the center of the site, standing before a closed off area where a deep crater laid. “No, but he is as much a brother to me as you are a sister. You saved me, you know?” she said, looking down into the crater. “I did?” I questioned. Flower nodded then turned to me. “This is no doubt the work of my brother, but whoever he was fighting... whatever he is fighting, is powerful, more powerful than the gods,” she said, looking around. I nodded, looking down into the crater, thinking of the possibility that the person who fought him was maybe my sister. “But! Whoever did fight him died because my brother fights until death, and by the looks of it, he is still alive,” Flower said, kicking a rock into the crater. My eyes widened as she said this. “What if-” I started, getting cut off by a huge gust of wind blowing past me as I turned over to Flower who was now being aggressively hugged by her brother, his appearance still sending chills down my spine as I watched. She looked at me shocked at his sudden appearance but then quickly subsided and hugged him back, closing her eyes. I backed away from the two of them, looking into the eyes of the monster, now as concerned as ever as I quickly flew away, leaving the two of them alone as I made my way to my old house where I lived with Soyutu. Once the house was in sight I wasted no time, crashing through the window leading to the living room then landing on the floor. “SOYUTU!!!” I yelled, looking around frantically before spotting her huddled up on the couch, seemingly unfazed by my abrupt and loud entrance, eyes glued on the TV watching some sort of nature documentary. “Soyutu?” I said, my voice laced with concern as I approached her docile state, tapping her on the shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice deeper and more depressed than I had ever heard despite spending most of my life with her. “Sorry? Why are you sorry? I thought you were dead,” I said, hopping over the couch, sitting next to her. “Die? No, I can’t die. I still have my soul,” she said, eyes still glued to the TV. I raised an eyebrow at her, now looking at her with great concern seeing the dark bags under her bloodshot eyes, as she just stared like life was on pause just for her. “Are you ok?” I asked, putting an arm around her trying to comfort her. “I hurt the only person who cared for me. I don’t deserve to be ok,” she said, slowly turning to look at me. I shook my head repeatedly. “No, that’s not at all true,” I said, scooting closer to her. “You made a mistake. You are trying to fix it now, right?” I asked. She nodded. “That’s good! You deserve to be happy; it’s what I wanted. It’s the only way you can be fixed,” I said, fixing her hair. “I understand. I’ll get better, I’m sorry,” she said, putting her head down. I quickly moved her head back up to face me. “Don’t be sorry, U. I forgive you,” I said. She smiled. “Thank you, best sister ever,” she said, before looking back at the TV, clearly intrigued by something on it. I looked as well, turning to see the TV. The documentary showed a fish, the Livingstoni cichlid, seemingly dead in the water as other smaller fish passed by it before the fish suddenly snapped at them, eating them all, causing me to jump a bit. “It’s a fish that plays dead to catch its prey,” Soyutu explained. “Scared me a bit,” I joked. The documentary was actually pretty entertaining as I watched more, deciding to stay just a bit longer to see what was going to happen next. Eventually Soyutu fell asleep, laying her head on my shoulder as she peacefully snored away. I continued to watch the rest of the documentary before falling asleep myself.

In my dreams I dreamt of peace between my sister and me. Us being happy together, putting all the war behind us. It wasn’t real. This wasn’t a dream. I was being played, I thought, reaching out, trying to break free from the dream to no avail. I was fully aware that I was in a dream, not of my own. I know what my dreams are like; this was not it. I closed my eyes hard, trying as best and as hard as I could to break out. I could feel my arms moving out of my dream but I couldn’t see a thing. But suddenly, without warning, I was able to wake up, falling off the couch onto my knees as I frantically looked around my dark living room. I let my guard down for too long, I thought, carefully looking around the room. Everything looked normal until I looked over at Lori, noticing a note placed carefully on her lap. “What the hell...” I whispered, walking up to her and taking the note. It read, “I’ve been watching you, Soyutu. I thought you would start to pose a threat to me if I let you grow a bit more but unfortunately it seems you only grew softer. I am the real goddess of greed, and I have taken your sister’s soul for wasting my precious time. Find me if you dare, but I assure you, as your creator, you will not win this fight.” Reading this, my eyes widened in surprise. This couldn’t be true, I thought, throwing the note aside and attempting to shake Lori awake, but she was cold, stiff — she was dead. As the realization hit me I suddenly heard the sound of a faint giggle in the distance, then in an instant I teleported directly in front of the noise. It was a man, dressed in all-black with purple hair. He looked at me with shock as I stood before him. He attempted to get away by summoning a portal behind him but I stopped him by grabbing his throat. “Is this your doing?” I asked, staring him down. He quickly shook his head. “I was just tasked with keeping you two asleep! It was my boss, the goddess of greed,” he said, pausing, then suddenly smiling. “What’s so funny?” I asked. “What am I even saying?” he asked himself, shaking his head slightly. “You can’t do anything, you’re just a puny hu—” Just then I sent a blood spike through his neck, silencing him as the portal closed behind him. That didn’t matter anymore; I had his blood now. His soul was mine, meaning that I now had all the information he had ever obtained along with his powers. I now knew who I was going after, along with everyone involved in the plot. I summoned a portal in front of me but before entering it I looked back at Lori, swearing to myself I would avenge her and save her. Entering the portal took me to the realm in which all the gods live. I was greeted with the sight of a huge golden gate that I simply kicked open to get into the area. Once inside the gods watched intensely as I walked through their land, heading straight for the town hall looking building in the distance. It didn’t take long before I was inside. Inside there was a table seating ten gods, all looking to be of high status. They turned their attention to me as I entered. “Sorry to interrupt,” I said, quickly analyzing every one of them. “I am looking for the goddess of greed,” I continued, putting my hands together. The gods looked at each other before a god with white hair and a beard stood up. “She is no god! She is a demon; she has taken so many of us. Who are you to ask for her?” he said, summoning a lightning bolt in his right hand, cocking it back at me. I remained composed. “I am Soyutu Idol,” I said, to their surprise. “A dirty human!” one of them yelled as Zeus threw his lightning bolt at me. I stood still, taking the lightning bolt in full force. Unsurprisingly, it did nothing. “Lightning?” I questioned, holding my arms out now to drip down blood from my veins. “This is no normal human!” another one of them said as they all started to stand up, getting ready to defend. I was first to attack, sprouting extra arms and flying towards Zeus at speeds the god of gods himself couldn’t even comprehend as I ripped through his body, his blood and organs flying in every direction. Another god’s power to my arsenal, I thought, as I turned towards the quickly approaching and angry gods, all ready to attack me at a moment’s notice. But I wouldn’t give them a moment to react. I was faster than that, dashing to each one, ripping them apart as I passed by to the next but making sure that every time I killed one their blood would hit my forehead before moving on to the next. Within a matter of a second every god that stood before me was dead, but I wasn’t done. They will all pay for taking my sister’s soul away from her. God or devil, they’ll die, I thought, walking out of the town hall, covered top to bottom with the blood of gods. As I walked out I was greeted with the sight of an ill looking god standing at the bottom of the steps looking up at me with great hatred. “YOU MONSTER!” he yelled, holding out his hand for some sort of attack. Is that—? I thought, before getting cut off by a strange feeling as I felt all of the blood in my body start to be pulled away before exploding from the inside out. The god laughed, seeing that he had vanquished me, but only moments later I was alive again standing behind him as I plunged all four of my arms through his body. “It is him. The god of blood,” I said, ripping his body in half as he let out one final scream, becoming drenched with his blood, consuming his soul and power as it hit my third eye. I paused after feeling the power course through me as my own. It was everything I needed, everything I wanted. Thoughts raced through my mind as I looked down at my hands, but unfortunately it wasn’t long before more gods appeared, surrounding me as I stood entranced by the pure possibilities of my newfound power. I smiled looking up at the gods all circled around me. “YOU’RE ALL MINE!” I yelled as each one simultaneously exploded, their blood rushing towards me, now going straight into my body, allowing me to consume their powers directly. I stood there laughing to myself as the rest of the gods who were just watching started to flee. No matter, I thought, composing myself. “I’ll keep to my promise,” I said, holding out my hands as every single god in the area would explode from the inside out, their blood flying towards me in mass quantities as it entered my body, giving me more power than ever. Upon obtaining their souls I gained information on where Death was, and within an instant teleported myself there, seeing him caged up in a small cage hanging from the ceiling of some sort of cave. Another god dressed in all-black robes stood, reading a note from an envelope, her back turned to me. “Found youuu,” I said, staring at the back of her head as she read the note. She turned around, looking more concerned than scared as she stared back at me. “Soyutu! You shouldn’t be here! She is dangerous! Leave me, please!” Death said from his cage, banging on the bars. The goddess quickly looked back at him, saying nothing before looking back at me, eyes darting back and forth with concern. “Why did you—” She paused, looking back down at the paper before looking back up at me with disgust. “YOU—” she started before I teleported right in front of her, covering her mouth while having my finger up to my lips. “Shhhhhh,” I said, ripping off her jaw, then kicking her back, sending her onto the floor. “You’ll pay with your life for taking my husband and sister hostage for your cruel games,” I said, standing over her like a hero as she turned around to face me in her final moments before she would explode just like the rest, giving me both her soul and Lori’s. As soon as Lori’s soul reached my body I quickly flung it back out, releasing it to go back to Lori. Death cheered from his cage. I smiled, knowing that I was able to save the souls of both Death and my sister. The feeling filled me with a warm tingle as I approached my love, stepping on the notes with my bloody shoe, completely disregarding whatever was on them. Once Death was free he gave me the biggest hug. “My savior!” he said, giving me a flurry of kisses as he thanked me. I laughed, finding his form of saying thank you amusing. Once we were both back home safely I was greeted with another big hug, this time from Lori as she cried and thanked me for saving her. I smiled, seeing how happy I made her then responded. “It’s what I needed to do. You are my sister, and I will protect and love you no matter what, just how you had with me.” I hugged her back, letting her know that in my arms she was safe.

As I flew through the air looking for Flower I also watched as people down below worked on a huge mother ship looking thing. I knew it was Soyutu’s doing and had been here since I got here, but I still questioned why she was working on it. Once I spotted Flower walking with Tar at a park I quickly landed in front of the two of them. “LORI!” Flower yelled, giving me a hug. “Hi, Flower,” I said with a chuckle before looking over her shoulder towards the still scary but fully clothed figure of Tar. “You got him to put on some clothes, I see,” I joked. She broke the hug, looking back at him proudly. “Yeah, I’ve been training him in the arts of being normal,” she said, turning back to me, a proud smile on her face as she spoke. “Learned most of the stuff I taught him from watching you,” she said as Tar stepped forwards, holding out his hand for a handshake. I hesitated for a moment but took it anyway, shaking his hand. “Although he still struggles with the problem of trying to fight things or people, we are working on it, and he’ll be better at it in no time,” Flower said, looking up at Tar with a caring smile. “That’s great, Flower,” I said, admiring their bond. “I’m even letting him go out on his own tomorrow, and I’m trusting he won’t start any silly fights again. Right, Tar?” Flower said, to which Tar nodded. I looked down, thinking about who would truly win now between Soyutu and Tar, but thinking about Soyutu reminded me to tell Flower what happened yesterday. “Hey, I think Soyutu is better now!” I said, smiling. She raised an eyebrow at me. Tar just stared, his slight smirk fading as he heard her name. “Why do you say that?” Flower questioned. I smiled. “She saved my life yesterday. Some goddess of greed took my soul, and Soyutu went on a journey to save me!” I said. Flower looked shocked. “YOU DIDN’T THINK TO TELL ME THIS SOONER?!” she screamed, other people around the park looking over at the scene. I laughed. “It’s ok, I’m ok now, plus it was barely an inconvenience for Soyutu. She is pretty strong now,” I said, looking over to Tar to gauge his reaction. Tar was now smiling, staring off in the distance. “Well, I am glad you two could finally make up,” Flower said, nodding. I turned my attention back to Flower. “Well then, I’m going to get going now. See you later, Flower!” I said, waving as I walked away. Flower waved back. “Bye bye, sister,” she said, walking away with Tar by her side. I started to wonder about Soyutu, deciding to call her. She picked up after 6 rings. “Sorry, I was doing something, what do you need?” she said. I cleared my throat. “I was just checking on you,” I said, sitting down on a bench. “That’s cool. Dinner tonight? I’ll cook; it’s the least I can do for you helping me fix up my mansion,” she said, clearly doing something in the background as she spoke. “Ok, but I’m cooking. You saved my life,” I said, smiling. She chuckled. “We can cook together,” she said. I froze, thinking about what she just said, the pure happiness in my mind thinking about doing that with her almost making me pass out. “Yes! That is a great idea!” I said. She laughed. “Ok, then I’ll see you at home,” she said. “I’ll see you then!” I said, getting ready to hang up, just before she said something that shocked me to my core. A set of words I never thought she would say to me. “I love you, Lori.” My smile couldn’t get wider as I replied, “I love you too, Soyutu.” Later that day Soyutu kept to her promise as always:) and we were now both together in the kitchen, chef outfits and all, as we joyfully made multiple small meals for Death as our judge, like we were in Hell’s Kitchen. It was heaven. It was my Soyutu back. It was everything I had ever wanted.

Waking up the next day I decided to go on a walk through the park. People bowed as I would walk by them; I would just wave. Eventually I found a bench with a good view of my project in the distance to sit on. As I sat there I reminisced on why I was building the ship in the first place but was brought out of my thoughts by the sight of a little girl setting up a lemonade stand right in front of me. I watched as she put up a foldable table then attached a paper to it saying “Lemonaid - 1$.” Once she was done setting up the stand, I walked over to be her first customer. She looked up at me with shock, clearly not expecting me, of all people, to be her first customer. “Can I have a cup of lemonade please?” I asked, smiling down at her. She quickly nodded, pouring me a cup, nearly spilling most of it as she struggled with the pitcher being so full. Once she was done I took the cup. “Thank you, how much will that be?” I asked. “1$ please,” she said nervously. I pulled a hundred dollar bill from my pocket, giving it to her. “That’s all I have on me right now, but you can keep it,” I said, walking away, sipping my lemonade. As I walked through the park I felt someone watching me, someone powerful. Once I knew he was behind me, I stopped and turned around, taking the last sip of my lemonade as I looked at Tar as he stared at me. “Have you tried some of that girl’s lemonade yet, Tar?” I asked, tossing the cup aside. He didn’t say anything, only approached. “I want to kill you one last time,” he said, his voice as raspy as always. I nodded my head. “Yeah? That’s cool, but do you want to see a magic trick?” I asked, looking up at the sun. “Why don’t you fear?” he asked, standing over me. I looked back up at him. “The blood you spill is mine,” I said as the world around us was suddenly enveloped in a red light. He quickly looked back to see that the sun was now a crimson red color. As soon as he turned his back to me I punched my fist into it, ripping out his spine with one quick motion. “Turn your back on me again and I’ll do worse than that,” I said, watching him instantly heal himself and turn back to me, the widest smile I had ever seen on his face as he dashed towards me, moving faster than the speed of light, but right as he was about to attack I countered, banging my fist on the top of his head, sending him crashing to the ground. He quickly countered by grabbing my heel and pulling me towards him before tossing me behind his back, sending me flying. I crossed my arms as I flew through the air, indifferent. He suddenly appeared on top of me in the sky, punching me down to the ground sending me crashing through a building. As soon as the building was destroyed it rebuilt itself in an instant, tendrils of blood pulling the structure back into place as I teleported back on top of the building, arms still crossed. Tar came rocketing down towards me but was stopped by a spike of blood impaling him in the stomach at speeds faster than he had ever experienced. “This will be your last,” I said, as tendrils of blood came shooting out of the ground, catching him as he pushed himself off the spike. The tendrils ripped him apart limb from limb as he tried to escape them. I watched from the roof with a calculated gaze as he tried vainly to get to me only to be ripped apart more and more. His heart was now beating louder than ever but the buildings stood strong, reinforced by blood as this whole world was now filled with my own blood, making it stronger than it could ever be. “YOU LIED!” he yelled out, still trying to get towards me. “Lied? Lied about what?” I asked, walking closer to him, allowing the tendrils to let him go as he quickly rocketed towards me. “YOU ARE A—” I caught his mouth as he came into reach. “Let me tell you something,” I said, holding him as he tried attacking my arm to let him go free, but I simply reinforced it with blood, making it almost impossible to break through. “I found your planet,” I said. He quickly stopped, looking into my eyes with his. “Someone told me you killed your whole species, but when I got there, there were still some left alive, so being the person I am, I took care of that for you,” I said, allowing a heartbeat to beat out of my chest, causing a supersonic wave to go throughout the earth. His eyes widened as he finally was able to cut off my arm, dodging back as I more than instantly healed it. His smile now broke the sides of his face, ripping his cheeks open showing every one of his sharp teeth as he looked back at me, his heart beating louder than ever, even becoming a little fast as he launched towards me. We collided, throwing each other into the air as we exchanged blows, the red sun covering us perfectly as we fought. I found it almost fun, starting to counter his blows, adapting 10 times faster than him while exchanging more and more fatal blows as his heart began to beat faster and faster. This was no longer exciting to him. THIS WAS FEAR! I thought, beating him to his punches, absolutely dominating him as we fought, before grabbing him by the mouth once again, crashing him to the ground of the park we met at, and holding him down as he struggled as hard as he could to attack me back like a rabid dog that I was about to put down. I looked to my right seeing Lori and Flower running towards me holding out their hands trying to stop me but as I let go, Tar’s heart suddenly exploded, making a sound that echoed throughout all of the world. Flower fell to her knees beside her brother, holding him close as I stepped back watching the scene unfold before my eyes. Lori just stood there behind Flower, staring me in the eyes with a knowing stare.

When I woke up earlier this morning I wanted to surprise Soyutu by waking her up but when I entered her room, I realized she was gone. Around her room were many concerning things, and the more I looked, the more I realized what was happening. She played us all like a flute. The gods stealing my soul — it was all her plan, so she could kill all the gods and get their powers. On a bulletin board she had a list of every planet or thing she had conquered within a day, and to say the list was small would be a complete lie. Every planet in the solar system, stars, planets with aliens inhabiting them, Flower’s planet — all in a span of 12 hours. This was beyond anything I had ever comprehended her doing. This was insanity, no one needed this much power for themselves. So I took pictures and called up Flower to meet at the park and discuss what to do, but when we got there together and started to discuss, the sun had started to turn red. The familiar heartbeat of Tar rang throughout the sky. We could barely stay standing. Flower started having panic attacks hoping that whoever it was he was fighting would not win, but right before our eyes Soyutu stood victorious over him as his heart would explode right before Flower’s eyes as she begged for it not to be true. I was now staring into Soyutu’s eyes from behind Flower. “WHY! WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO HIM!” Flower screamed, looking up at Soyutu. “He attacked me first,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “YOU’RE A LIE!” Flower screamed. “Lori showed me everything. You tricked us all,” she said, standing up and approaching Soyutu. I quickly stepped in, grabbing Flower by the shoulder. “Flower, wait,” I said as she would swat my hand off of her and turn to face me. “You’re taking her side?!” she yelled. I shook my head. “No, not at all, but this isn’t the way to go about things!” I said back pleadingly. She shook her head. “Of course you are taking her side. That’s all you care about. You care about nobody else but her, even though she is the devil!” Flower said, looking back at Soyutu, ready to fight. “Flower! I’ll deal with Soyutu, this isn’t a matter you should be concerning yourself with!” I said, reaching out to grab her shoulder again, but she simply kicked me in the stomach, creating distance between us. “No, Lori. She killed my brother,” she said, suddenly dashing towards Soyutu. I quickly rushed towards her, pinning her to the ground. “You can’t do this!” I yelled. “But you can?!” she questioned, kicking me off of her and quickly getting up into a fighting stance. “I don’t want to do this,” I said, holding out my hands. “But you insist on protecting your stupid sister no matter what? If Tar had won, you would be doing the same exact thing I am!” Flower said, putting her hands down. I paused for a moment, thinking about her words before responding. “I understand that, but now you have a choice: do the right thing, or don’t and face the consequences,” I said, getting in a fighting stance myself. Flower shook her head. “Your sister is a fraud. She deserves death, and if you won’t do it I will,” she said as I heard her heartbeat through the air. “Flower, no!” I yelled out as she rocketed towards me, attacking me with a flurry of fists. I tried my best to just evade the attacks, but she made it hard as her heartbeat picked up speed and volume, attacking me harder and harder. Eventually I had to fight back, trying to keep her heart from stopping to stall time in order to figure out maybe a cure to the illness as we fought. “Why are you doing this!?” I yelled, creating black holes within my fists to get ahead of her sheer power. “Because you won’t!” she yelled, increasing her ferocity as she fought harder and harder. The ground around us shook as we fought, now exchanging blows in a standstill, but soon her sheer ferocity would become too much as she started getting faster and faster, causing me to start blocking again. I watched her face as she pummeled me as it got more and more concerned as she continued. “I don’t want to kill you!” she yelled. “How can I help you then?!” I yelled back. She paused, looking away. “I’m sorry,” she said, stopping in her assault. “NO!” I yelled, holding her. “Take care of my child when I die. It will be yours,” she said as her heart began to beat faster than ever before it exploded, exploding her with it, sending her blood and guts flying everywhere. From the blood there now sat a baby with black and white hair. A boy named Thyme, a name I decided on the spot thinking about a plant that heals and grows in great masses. I fell to my knees, looking at the baby as it looked back at me. My best friend was gone. Left only with this baby, unsure of what to do or how to even care for it. And it was all my fault.

After that traumatic experience and revelation of my sister’s greed, I started hatching my last plan to fix her. I would do anything for her and I meant it, so if she wanted to conquer the universe then I would create a new one to match. Then once she was done I would be the last thing standing in her way. I’d force her to make a choice. Me or greed. I was now on the planet where I got my creation powers, walking with Thyme in my arms towards the kingdom town I would now call home. Once I got inside, there were cheers and chants for my arrival, but I never looked up, never acknowledged the cheers. I wasn’t happy. People quickly stopped cheering as they watched me put my hood up as I carried Thyme into the castle and into my old bedroom, setting him down on my bed and sitting next to him. I watched as he sat up and just looked at me, as if observing how I act. Despite my bitter mood, watching him brought a smile to my face. He seemed to mimic me, smiling too. I laughed, going to pat his head, but suddenly he materialized a sharp object, launching it through my hand. “Holy shit!” I said as my hand instantly healed. He giggled. “Holy shit!” he yelled back, to my surprise. I quickly withdrew my hand before just staring at him trying to process what just happened. After a moment I thought of a way to discipline him. “That’s bad,” I said, shaking my head. He shook his head as well, saying, “Bad, bad, bad.” I sighed, to which he copied almost immediately. I watched him for a moment, thinking about how there was no way I would be able to raise this child on my own. But there was one problem with that: I had never dated before, and barely knew how to talk to people like that. It doesn’t matter! I thought. This is urgent, and I can’t create universes while also watching a child that likes to copy everything I do! I quickly stood up, taking Thyme with me as I left the castle in search of a responsible man to be my boyfriend. I searched the whole kingdom, talking to every guy and showing them to Thyme, but he would always scare them off. Soon night began to fall, and so did my hope, as I sat in front of a water fountain, letting Thyme play with the water as I watched on from a bench, tired. While I was watching him, a man looking almost as tired as me sat down next to me, seemingly not knowing that I was there. I turned to look at him, confused about what he was doing, but he had his head down in his hands. “Um, excuse me, sir,” I said, tapping his shoulder. He quickly looked up from his hands, looking me in my eyes. “Oh, my lord, I didn’t mean to invade your space, I didn’t notice you sitting here!” he said, starting to get up. I quickly pulled him back down. “No, no, it’s fine, sit here,” I said, smiling. He looked at me gratefully. “Thank you. I’ve had a really long day. My name’s Kale, by the way,” he said, looking over at the water fountain, noticing Thyme. “Cute kid,” he said. I nodded. “Where is his mother though?” he questioned, looking around frantically. “He’s mine. His name is Thyme,” I said, trying to calm him down. He looked at me, confused. “Like the flower?” he questioned. I chuckled. “Yeah, like the flower,” I said. “That’s pretty cool. I didn’t know you had a child though — who’s the father, if you don’t mind me asking?” he asked, as Thyme approached us, dripping wet from the fountain. “That’s the thing... I took in this child after his mother died, so I’m currently looking for a father because this child is a real handful,” I said, trying my best not to look away in embarrassment. He looked at me then back down to Thyme. “What’s so troublesome about him?” he asked, reaching down to pat his head as he got closer. Thyme quickly materialized a sharp object again, sending it through the man’s hand. “That’s why,” I said, healing it for him as he held back a scream. “I see...” he said, retracting his hand. “You wouldn’t want to try and help me out, would you? You know, be my boyfriend?” I asked, blushing a bit. His eyes widened as he looked at me. Thyme climbed up in between us sitting down. “Are you asking, like, for real, or...?” he said, looking down at Thyme with a hint of concern on his face. “You don’t have to...” I said, finding it useless. He quickly looked up at me, grabbing my hand behind Thyme’s back as he spoke. “No, I want to. I’ll help you. I’ll be your boyfriend,” he said, smiling at me comfortingly.

World after world I created, my power growing significantly as I created solar system after solar system, galaxies on galaxies. It all was so tiring, but after days of doing this with no breaks I finally had managed to create a whole other reality. But looking out into the distant red hue overshadowing my own reality, I knew Soyutu had done the same, conquering the old reality I had to leave behind for my new world I call home. As I descended back down to my planet, I noticed a toddler running towards me. I watched in confusion, but soon came to realize it was Thyme, now somehow grown up a bit more. Kale trailed behind, looking up at me with a smile as I descended to the ground, picking up Thyme as he ran into my arms. “Mom!” he yelled. I laughed, looking at Kale approaching. “Did you teach him all this?” I asked, moving Thyme to one side, holding him with an arm. Kale nodded. “He is a very very fast learner, and an even faster grower,” he said, walking up to fist bump Thyme. “I can see that,” I joked, rubbing Thyme’s head, this time without getting shrapnel shot into my hand. “You got him to stop attacking,” I said, letting Thyme squeeze my finger. He nodded. “Almost died trying,” he joked. I shook my head. “I bet, this little guy is feisty,” I said, holding Thyme out in front of me. “Aren’t you?” I asked him as he laughed, before handing him back over to Kale. “Everyone loves him,” he said, putting Thyme in a more comfortable position on his body. “I’m glad, but holy am I beat,” I said, falling back, creating a hammock underneath me as I fell into it. “When can you be done?” Kale asked, sitting on a chair I created for him just then. “Soon. Tomorrow I’ll finish my plan,” I said in a serious tone before looking over at Thyme, who was smiling at me. “Then mommy will come back and give you all the attention and care you’ll ever need,” I said, smiling back at him. “But if you don’t?” Kale asked. “If I don’t what?” I questioned. “Don’t come back.” I looked back up at the sky. “If I don’t come back,” I echoed, thinking about what he should do if that occurred. “Never tell Thyme. Let him live a life his mother never got to have. A life without worry. A life with a loving father and mother. A life without tragedy and death,” I said, staring towards the overlooking red hue. “But that’s not going to happen. I’m coming back. I’m fixing my sister. I’ve never let down a promise,” I said with a smile. “I believe you will. For our child. For your home,” Kale said, patting me on the back before walking away with Thyme, letting me close my eyes and rest.

As the dawn of a new day starts, the two sisters prepare themselves, Lori saying goodbye to her boyfriend and child while Soyutu sits atop a bloody spaceship meant for battle, but little did she know, the last battle she would have atop that ship would be the battle between her and her sister. A clash that will ring out throughout both of their realities. Eventually Lori would arrive atop Soyutu’s ship, descending down with grace as she approached her sister, ready for everything. “So you are the last to stand in the way of achieving my goal,” Soyutu would say, standing up and crossing her arms as she would stare down her new opponent. “This isn’t you. I’ll prove that to you,” Lori said, stopping only feet away from Soyutu as she stared back as fierce as ever. “Then what will the rules be?” Soyutu asked, tilting her head as she spoke. “No using concepts like time, death, and others. A fair fight. The fight is first to collect one another’s blood or water, according to who has what. If you lose, you have to give up your greed, and if I lose, you can accomplish your goal. And one final thing: if I lose, you have to kill me to claim your win,” Lori said confidently. Soyutu, as blank-faced as ever, nodded, accepting the challenge. “Deal,” she said, holding out her hand for a handshake to make the deal official. Lori took it, sealing the deal. Then the two sisters took 5 steps back before waiting for a sign to fight. Lori took the first step dashing towards Soyutu, summoning two black holes in place of her hand whilst Soyutu would summon her dagger, getting ready to counter any attack thrown at her. Lori would attempt a jab past Soyutu’s defenses, missing only by an inch as Soyutu would dodge the attack and counter with her own, successfully slicing up and at her stomach as Lori would fly by. Soyutu attempted to grab the blood before Lori could get away but the wound healed instantly as Lori would send a punch to Soyutu’s back sending her rocketing forwards, rolling on the surface of the ship as she went. Lori quickly dashed towards her again, this time conjoining the two black holes in her hands together for one big attack as she spun 360 degrees, swinging her hands towards Soyutu, who, moving faster than time, dodged the attack and delivered a clean sweep kick to Lori, knocking her off her feet and causing her black hole attack to hit the ship, causing it to implode on itself, giving the two sisters now no ground as they continued to fight, unwilling to stop until one was victorious over the other. In space they collided with each other, now trading equal blows, but only hitting each other’s fists as they fought, unable to get any further as their powers were matched. Soyutu, realizing this, started banging her head on Lori’s, trying her absolute best to get the smallest drop of blood on her forehead, when suddenly Lori, sensing the danger of this, opened her third eye for the first time, knocking Soyutu’s head back and allowing Lori to get a clear opening on Soyutu’s body, hitting blow after blow as she tore through her. Soyutu wasted no time opening her third eye as well, the two sisters’ immense power causing tremors to occur in the very fabrics of reality around them as they were once again evenly matched, tearing huge holes in each other’s bodies as they continued to fight, neither of them getting a good enough hit on the other to win as they struggled with all their hearts to keep up with each other. Suddenly Soyutu started hitting faster, using her heartbeat, which she obtained from Tar, to enhance her strength as she summoned behind Lori a wall of spikes, slowly beating her towards it as Lori tried to fight back, oblivious to the trap Soyutu had laid out behind her. After a few more blows Lori was hit into the spikes, stabbing her through her back, blood flying out of her body into space and into Soyutu’s third eye as it blinked, allowing the blood to give her Lori’s soul. Now stood before Soyutu the hardest part of the fight: to kill Lori. Soyutu released Lori from the trap and created a ground beneath them as she contemplated the dilemma in front of her. “I know you, Soyutu,” Lori said, falling to her knees. “I know who you really are. The girl who sold lemonade to the very people who she despised for not giving her more, but that’s not what you really wanted. The more you wanted was just a hug. Someone who loves you, something our parents never gave us. Like it or not you saved me. I followed you. I learned from you. Now it’s time you learn from me. Now it’s time I save you. I know you, Soyutu, so let me give you the love we never had. Take my hand and leave this all behind. Greed for love. Make the choice,” Lori said, holding out her hand for Soyutu to take as she smiled at her sister, knowing full well who she was as she approached and took her hand, tears in her eyes as she began to speak. “You know nothing of who I truly am,” she said, sending shock to Lori’s face as Soyutu would crouch down to her level, still holding her hand as she spoke again. “I am a businesswoman, a warrior, a conqueror, a goddess, and a selfish liar. I am Soyutu Idol and I will conquer every goal I seek,” she said, crushing her sister’s hand and tossing it to the side as she got up to full height and stared down into her eyes as she spoke for the final time. “Now kill yourself.” Lori opened her mouth, but no words came out as she summoned a dagger of water against her own throat, pressing into it as she slowly cut. Tears flooded from her eyes as she slowly closed them for the last time. “I love you…” Lori said, her voice hushed as her throat was cut fully open now, left to choke on her blood, her healing factor no longer able to save her, because now no one could save her, not even herself, as she fell to the ground. Dead.

Soyutu takes the throne above all reality, becoming the strongest, but as she looked out from her throne into the abyssal void in front of her, she couldn’t help but feel the eyes of another staring back.

Back on Lori’s planet, now conquered by Soyutu, there is one left unconquered: a boy by the name of Thyme, who swore to the sky revenge for his mother, figuring out she had been killed and that the people who lied to him his whole life were the people closest to him. Betrayed by the world, he would seek out power elsewhere, promising to bring Soyutu to death.

I awoke to the sight of a huge fiery gate made of black ashy wood. Did I pass out? I thought, inspecting the structure of the gate. I looked down to see I was standing on some red-looking rock. It was hot but nothing I wasn’t used to. Fire surrounded me, and the sound of screams came from the now-opening gates. Where am I? I thought before a weird-looking red creature resembling a human but with a pointy tail and goat legs approached, hands behind their back. I stared blankly at the creature, trying to put it all together in my head where I was or what had happened. The creature stopped walking once it was at arm’s length from me and tilted its head. “You look exceptionally peaceful for someone who just landed in hell,” it said, looking me over. I glanced over the fiery landscape before looking back at the creature. “This is hell?” I asked, looking at him with an expression of disappointment. It looked at me like it was confused. “Did you just ask me if this was hell? What, is it not good enough for you?” he asked. I sighed. “I just thought it would be a little more intimidating,” I said, frowning. It looked at me like I was stupid. “Are you stupid? You should be scared of me,” it said, crossing its arms. “Should I?” I asked, before a person suddenly fell from the black sky, landing next to me. The man got up and looked around fearfully. “W-where am I?!” he asked, looking at me then back to the demon. I smiled. “Hell, or at least that’s what the goblin says,” I said, pointing at the demon. The demon was taken aback by my comment. “Who are you calling a goblin, human?!” he yelled, stepping towards me with a flaming rage. “Are you not a goblin?” I asked, tilting my head. The man next to me backed up as I said this. The demon stomped, summoning fire under his foot. “I’m a demon. Your personal punishment giver, to be exact,” he said, staring me in the eyes. My expression stayed the same. I shook my head. “Could have fooled me.” Just then, the demon lunged at me, hand outstretched for my throat. Before it could grab me, I stopped it by grabbing its wrist. The collision of me grabbing his wrist at high speeds caused wind to blow by our faces at high speeds. The demon gasped in surprise. “You will not put your disgusting hands on my throat,” I said, staring him in the eyes. Without warning, it summoned fire from its hand, hitting me directly in the face. This ugly goblin did not, I thought, gripping its wrist harder. I flexed my face muscles through the fire, leaving it completely unharmed. When the smoke arose from my unharmed face, he looked at me with dread, realising I wasn’t affected by his flames. “Ugly goblin,” I said, snapping his wrist in my hand whilst pulling its body towards me, then letting go of its broken wrist and palming his face and smashing it to the ground, crushing its skull on impact. I stood up, letting go of the body then looking at my hand now stained with black blood. “Fuck! That damn goblin stained my fucking hand!” I yelled, feeling my anger rise. The man who was still watching next to me just stared. I quickly turned my head to him, looking him in the eyes. “You got a problem?!” I yelled. He quickly went down to his knees and put his hands together as if praying. “You’re in hell, dumbass,” I said, before suddenly two flying demons came down on me, grabbing both of my arms and flying me away, then dropping me into a fiery pit filled with other humans. I crash-landed on a few people, crushing them under my weight. I lay there fuming with rage. “What did I tell you ugly goblins about touching me with your dirty piss hands!” I yelled, standing back up. Just then, I was set on fire. It made me even more angry than I was. A demon torturing some nearby demons saw me and approached, confused at the sight of me standing unfazed by the fire. “A strong human?” it said, extending its finger out to poke me. I reached out and bit the demon’s finger swiftly, ripping it off then swallowing it in one go. “I TOLD YOU GOBLINS TO NOT TOUCH ME!” I yelled before grabbing the demon by the throat and crushing it before it could even scream. “You all are mine!!!” I yelled, throwing the demon’s body aside.

I woke up from being in hell in a cold box. It was dark. I was lying on metal, but I couldn’t quite tell where I was. Those goblins really had to kick me out, I reminisced, grimacing at the thought of their stupid scared faces. Just then, the metal under me started to feel hot. Was I in a cremation chamber? I thought, noticing the flames starting to rise in the box. “Can’t catch a goddamn break from the fire,” I said, kicking the seal at my feet then pushing myself out of the chamber and onto the morgue floor. The workers around me all froze, seeing I was still alive. I slowly stood up, dusting the ash off my naked body. “Where’s the exit?” I asked, glancing around at them. One of the workers pointed to a door, through which I promptly left. The door brought me to a hallway which also led to a locker room where I stole some clothes so I wouldn’t be walking around indecently. When I got outside, I took a deep breath of the air, stretching my limbs. Just before I was about to walk away, I heard the annoying sound of police sirens. “Seriously?” I muttered under my breath, now taking a seat on the sidewalk outside of the hospital. A police car shortly arrived, pulling up in front of me then an officer hopping out and walking up to me. “Do you know why I’m here?” he said, crossing his arms. I shook my head. “No, I’m just sitting here waiting for you for no reason,” I said, staring him in the eyes. He rolled his eyes. “You are being detained,” he said, pulling out his cuffs. I stood up. “No thanks,” I said, walking towards him. “Excuse me?” he said, reaching down to his taser. He started to back up, now holding out his taser towards me. “Sir! Stop walking towards me! Hands up!” he yelled. I raised my hand to his head. Immediately he shot off his taser, hitting me in my chest. The electricity was intoxicating. Without stopping, I grabbed the side of his head then slammed it down on the front of his car, knocking him out. After he was knocked out, I grabbed his taser and shot myself in the stomach with it once more, draining it of all its battery before throwing it away and putting the cop in the passenger’s seat and getting in the driver’s seat. Once I was in the car, I proceeded to drive it to the station and park it in the parking lot. After the car was parked, I got out, leaving the cop inside, and walked into the police station with my hands up. “You wanted me?” I asked, looking at the person working the desk. They looked at me like I was crazy. Before they could say anything, a group of 4 officers took me away, putting me immediately in an interrogation room and cuffing me onto the table. After 30 minutes of staring at the wall, a detective finally entered. “So you care to tell me your name?” he said, sitting down in front of me. I leaned back, keeping my eye contact. “Do you deserve to know it?” I asked. He leaned forward. “I deserve to know why you knocked out my officer!” he yelled. I kept my composure as he yelled. “What does that have to do with my name?” I asked. He sighed. “What were you doing in the hospital morgue?” he asked, leaning back. “They put me in the cremation chamber, so I don’t know,” I said. He raised an eyebrow at me. “Who put you in there?” he asked. I laughed. “How should I know? I was walking on the street doing my usual thing before I felt my heart stop and I couldn’t move anymore, then I woke up in the goddamn cremation chamber,” I said, shaking my head. He looked at me like I had three heads. “You mean to tell me you died then somehow reanimated in the morgue about to be cremated?” he asked, leaning in with interest. I narrowed my eyes on him. “Is that what I said?” I asked. “Yeah?” he questioned. “Then don’t ask me if I said it,” I said. He sighed again. “What was your reasoning for knocking out my officer?” he asked, clearly annoyed. “I didn’t like the idea of being manhandled into the car. That’s why I drove myself here,” I said simply. He smirked at me. “Well, you are being charged with assault on an officer and trespassing,” he said, feeling proud of himself. I smirked back. “I can’t wait to see you again out of here,” I said, leaning forwards, staring into his eyes. His smirk quickly faded after my comment and soon after I was taken away by officers.

Another busy day in Heaven, I thought, taking my halo off and spinning it around my finger, sitting on a cloud over the world. Just then, one of the more insufferable angels appeared in front of me. “Leah, you know taking off your halo on the job is a sin?” he asked, putting his hands on his hips. “Whatever,” I said, putting my halo back on. “Why are you here?” I asked, putting my head in my hand. He then pulled out a letter from his pocket, handing it over to me. “Special mission from God,” he said before disappearing into a beam of light. I didn’t hesitate to open the letter and read it. It was usual for me to get these types of letters but just not from my coworkers. The letter read: “A man was kicked out of hell. It is your duty to get him back down there without any trouble. I put his life details in your book. I wasn’t able to reach you directly because there was no halo signal. Did you take off your halo again, Leah?” I sighed, rolling my eyes and putting the letter away. “It was for one second,” I mumbled under my breath. I knew it was important that I start on my mission immediately, so I summoned my book and looked at the latest details of what was happening in my client’s life. As soon as I read that he was awaiting trial, I thought of the idea to become his lawyer, and soon I was walking into the police station disguised as a lawyer. A woman at the front desk greeted me as I walked in. “Hi, I’m here as a lawyer for—” Suddenly I was cut off by the woman. “Yeah, he’s right down the hall, let me get you an officer to escort you.” I looked at her with a bit of surprise but then remembered I didn’t even know what his name was. Before I could quickly check, an officer came into the lobby to escort me. I followed him closely down the hall and to the man’s cell. “You have 10 minutes,” the officer said, before opening the cell and letting me inside. My client was sitting on his bed, just looking at me. “Hello, Mr.—” I paused. “I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.” He stared me in the eyes with a cold, sharp gaze. “Kin Takahiti,” he said, keeping his stare. As soon as I heard the name, I felt a fire start in my stomach and felt the air get heavy. “Um, well, Mr. Takahiti, I will be your lawyer,” I said, a bit nervous. “Why do I need a lawyer? I did those crimes,” he said simply. I looked at him with shock. “Why would you say that?! I’m trying to get you out of here!” I yelled. He laughed at me. “You’re almost cute. Do you think I care if I go to prison?” he said. I took a step back. “What is wrong with you?” I asked. “Nothing, and that’s the real problem. I have nothing at all to fear. Nothing to worry about, and it makes me dangerous,” he said, now standing up. I had to think quickly. It was like I was looking at a hungry beast ready to pounce on me. I quickly summoned my book and glanced through it. “You were adopted into a foster home when you were twelve, after your family all died in your home!” I yelled, trying to confuse him enough to stop. He stood still, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. “Where did you get that information?” he asked. I took a deep breath before reading from the book again. “There are 16 suicide notes written from all different people with your name in them,” I said in shock and confusion. “Do I?” he asked. I looked up at him, almost scared, before looking back down at the book. “When you were a senior in high school, you went to a summer camp where you met a girl named—” Before I could finish the sentence, he grabbed the page off my book then ripped it into shreds in seconds. “How did you...” I asked, remembering that no mortal human could see my book or even interact with it. “Do not test me,” he said, staring me in the eyes with a death glare that sent chills to my very soul. I stood my ground, gulping down my fears before speaking. “Let me get you out of this, and I won’t read more,” I said, unsummoning my book. He simply just stood there, staring at me, seemingly weighing his decisions but never answering. Soon I was taken out of the cell by an officer and left the building. I knew I won. Now all I needed to do was get him out of the system so I could send him back down to hell without anyone batting an eye.

The next day I entered the court for Kin’s case. Standing next to him, I resolved this case wasn’t going to end well if I didn’t do something about it. As soon as the judge brought down her gavel, everyone took a seat. I was nervous, while on the other hand, Kin was nonrespondent, just staring out into space. It would be impossible to determine what he was thinking with just a glance. The judge started, presenting the case to the jury and allowing the prosecutor to speak. I barely paid attention to the speech, thinking about how I could win this case some other way because no matter what I said, he had already admitted to everything. Just then, I got an idea, but before I could enact it, I was called to state my defence. So I stood and cleared my throat. “My client was simply trying to defend himself. It is clear that after coming back to life in that scary circumstance, he was still in shock. Who wouldn’t be?” I said, glancing at the jury to gauge their reactions. The judge dismissed me back to my seat and called a witness to the stand. Ignoring what was going on in the room, I quickly started to enact my plan. If I was to use my bow of light and arrows of inception, I could change the minds of the jury and judge without them even seeing it happen. So I summoned my bow and loaded it with an arrow of inception. No one could see the bow or arrow, but I still had to be discreet about how I used it so as not to draw attention to my movements. So I discreetly drew my bow under my desk then aimed the arrow at one of the jury’s heads, shooting. Perfect shot. After a few more shots at the jury, I heard the prosecutor call Kin to the stand. I quickly stopped what I was doing to pay attention to what was going to happen. Once Kin was up on the stand, he was asked questions by the prosecutor. “Were you in shock after coming out of the morgue?” they asked. Kin laughed, sending a familiar fear into the atmosphere. “Hell no,” he said. The prosecutor hesitated to ask the next question. “So you did it because you were trying to escape?” they asked. Kin smirked, leaning in. “If I wanted to escape, I would have, dumbass. That’s why I turned myself in,” he said. I facepalmed. The judge quickly shut down the call, sending Kin back to his seat. I got back to shooting the jury with the arrows to change their minds, and before long I was being called to stand once more, with only one more person left to convince. The judge. As I stood, I slowly made my way to the middle of the room in front of the judge while speaking. “You should feel bad for my client! If you just died and came back to life about to be burnt back to death you would be confused too! My client has been through hell and back, no wonder he thinks he is something he’s not! That experience probably hit him like an arrow...” I said, now drawing back my arrow and aiming at the judge. “Right in the soul,” I said, letting go, hitting the judge straight in the head. Once I was dismissed, it was time for the jury to decide if Kin was guilty or not. Finally, the judge spoke up. “By unanimous decision, the jury has decided that Kin Takahiti is not guilty.” As soon as the judge said this, I looked over at Kin for his reaction. He slowly turned to me, blank-faced. “I saw that, you cheater,” he said, staring me in the eyes. I just grinned at him. “Still won,” I said, packing my things up. I knew he just hated me at this point but he would have to try harder than that to escape me doing my job.

After the court case, I disappeared from the face of the earth again, walking endlessly, letting life take me away like the wind. Only a week later the strange girl found me again. I was walking through an alleyway in the middle of the night, lit up by the neon lights near the alley, when I noticed she walked in on the other end of the alley, arms crossed and dressed in a suit, with her short blond hair flowing freely. I stopped as soon as I saw her, looking down into her piercing blue eyes. “Well, hello, Kin,” she said, stopping only a couple of feet away from me. “I’m sure you know by now that I’m not human,” she said. “Are you a goblin then?” I asked. She shook her head and laughed. “A demon? No, quite the opposite,” she said. “You kind of look like an elf to me, is that what you are?” I asked. “You’ll have to try harder than that to make me annoyed. We angels are trained to be pure of heart,” she said, smirking at me. Keeping a blank face, I responded. “Yet you express pride,” I said. This seemed to stump her, and she hesitated to respond to my observation. “I didn’t come here to argue with you,” she said. “You came here to bring me back to hell,” I finished. “No thank you,” I said, starting to turn around. “You’re funny,” I heard her say, my back turned. As I started to walk away, I heard the sound of her bow being drawn back. Then, quickly, I reached back to the back of my head, grabbing the arrow coming towards me then snapping it in my hand. “You’re funnier,” I said, turning back to her now worried face. “What the hell are you?!” she yelled, summoning a sword of light. “I never said I wanted to fight,” I said as she ran towards me, jumping off wall to wall. I tracked her with my eyes before grabbing her by the throat while she was in the air then headbutting her, sending her flying to the ground. “I thought you were smarter than this,” I said, slowly approaching her. “You aren’t human!” she yelled. “Some call me a monster. I’d agree with them. Some tell me I should be dead. Again, I’d agree. Some say that I’m strong. Finally, I’d have to disagree,” I said, standing over her now. She looked up at me, confused. “What?” she questioned. “Are you scared of the man behind the criminal’s mask?” I asked, holding out my hand to help her up. She took it, allowing me to help her stand back up. “Why are you doing this?” she asked. “You aren’t worth my time, and clearly you are too naive to understand what I’m saying anyways, so who cares.” She looked me in the eyes questioningly, but before she could say anything, I noticed something was off in the air. There was a type of sense you got around this girl, like you were at the foot of heaven’s stairs, but now there were more, like the stairs just broke. The sense was coming from behind her. They were hiding. Just then, an arrow of light rocketed towards Leah’s back. I quickly pulled her towards me, then flipped myself around so the arrow would hit my back instead of hers. “Run,” I said, pushing her away. This situation felt so familiar. An old rage boiled inside of my chest as I ripped the arrow out of my back and turned to the intruders. They looked like Leah but twisted with evil. “Fallen angels,” Leah said as three more covered the other side of the alley. I knew I couldn’t let a single arrow hit the fragile angel behind me. I quickly ran towards the angel who shot, blitzing him before he could yell for me to stop, but as soon as I made it to him, he teleported behind me, stabbing me in the back with a sword. Before he could rip the sword back out, I grabbed the blade and pulled it further into me so he couldn’t escape me again. Then suddenly the sword just disappeared in my hands. “Cheaters,” I mumbled under my breath before spinning around faster than he could react, backhanding him in the head so hard his head exploded on impact, splattering his bloody brains against the wall. I looked over at Leah, defending herself against the other three angels. In a fraction of a second, I was behind her, snatching her sword away and pushing her behind me before entering the fight with the three, quickly and brutally cutting them down to a pool of limbs and organs. These angels’ blood was the same color as the demons’. A pure black. The sword of light disappeared in my hand, and as I looked back at Leah, she was held with a sword to her throat and a huge group of fallen angels behind her. A memory flashed back in my head. Then, everything changed. A banished rage circulated through my veins, and then in the blink of an eye the sword that was held at Leah’s throat was now up the ass of the fallen angel who was holding it, and his spine in his hand. And in another blink, every single one of them was dead, each one in a progressively brutal way. When I snapped out of my rage I awoke to my whole body covered in the angels’ blood, my wounds healed and Leah looking up at me with a newfound fear. Looking at her face, I couldn’t help but scream internally. Then a single thought crossed my mind before I sped off. “I did it again.”

The next few days were a blur. I never looked back after I left. I killed myself so I could go back to hell. It was far better than reliving my past. Only once before have I felt that way about someone, and I wish to never feel it again. In hell, I’m safe. These chains around my wrists don’t hold me down. My mind will always be free, but those feelings, they can hold me down. They did. They ruined me, but the whips that lash at my skin only add scars that would scare off anyone who would try to ruin me again. As I am hung up by my arms and legs uncomfortably, I simply just look down at the demon lashing me, blank-faced as usual. The demon didn’t look too happy either, and eventually he just sat down in front of me, dropping the whip and sighing. “Can you just try to act like you’re in pain?” he said, looking up at me in defeat. I shook my head slowly. “What’s even the point of trying, then?” he asked, facepalming. I shrugged my shoulders. “What is wrong with you?” he asked, to which I just shrugged my shoulders again. “Are you even supposed to be here? What the hell could your dull self do to get here? Not once have I seen you commit a single sin here. You’ve just been silently obedient even walking to your torment, and even though you are able to get out, you refuse. WHO ARE YOU?!” he exclaimed, grabbing his head as if very stressed out. I smiled at him. “Kin Takahiti,” I said. He looked up at me as I said my name. “I can’t do this. Something is wrong here,” he said, standing up then flying away to the huge dark castle in the sky. Hanging there alone, I observed the other tortured souls around me. “What makes me the same as them?” I asked myself before just then I was teleported in front of the devil himself. He sat on a huge throne, towering over me. “Kin Takahiti. Are you the one who slayed 16 of my demons?!” he yelled down, sending shockwaves past my face. “Yes,” I answered plainly. He stopped his rage, now looking down at me in confusion. “You’re going to ask why I’m not trembling before you, and to that I will answer that I don’t fear you, which you will get angry at, and punish me with something I will overcome with ease,” I said, looking down at the ground now, admiring the design of the throne room floor. There was a heavy silence in the air as I just gazed around the throne room, completely indifferent. Just then, the devil pointed at me with his huge finger, sending fire beaming out of his finger, which I blocked with my arm, painfully, but I didn’t flinch. When the smoke cleared I noticed my arm was charred now. “You are mortal, but strong,” he said, looking down at my arm. I sighed. “I don’t want to fight you,” I said, looking up at him. “You infuriate me. Too much to be able to stand here in front of me,” he said, shrinking down to my height then summoning a greatsword of hell, approaching me. “Fight me,” he said, now spinning his sword around, hitting the ground as he walked, causing sparks on the dark metal floor to fly. I sighed but nodded my head. “I’ll give you what you want,” I said, readying myself for a fight in which I had no idea if I would win or lose. He dashed towards me, raising his sword up to swing. I dodged the swing and hit him in the stomach as a counter before he spun around and cut my face as I backed away. “Truly a worthy opponent to be bested by me,” he said, teleporting in front of me, grabbing my head and headbutting me into the ground then raising his sword over me, ready to finish me off. As soon as he swung down, I blocked with my arms, but the sword just cut through them like butter. The sword slowed as it went through my arms allowing me to move my head out of the way of the blade. I quickly made my way back up to my feet, dashing towards the opening in his stance and spin-kicking him in the head, sending him flying into a pillar. When the dust settled, the devil emerged from the rubble unscathed and swinging his sword. I smiled at the sight. “End my suffering, then,” I said. He teleported in front of me, with his sword raised above my head. I moved my head so the sword would cut cleanly down my neck. But before I could be ended, the blade suddenly stopped an inch away from my neck. “End your suffering?” he echoed, then laughed, withdrawing his sword. “No. Suffer,” he said, kicking me hard in the stomach, sending me flying up through the room and back out into the endless wasteland of hell. In a crater of my own defeat, I cried tears of blood, because now in Heaven, Hell, and Earth, I was forgotten. A dead monster. A prisoner to none because no one is there to convict me.

He’s too dangerous to live, I thought, opening the gates to God’s throne. The past couple of months, I have been trained by the strongest angels and soldiers of God to be able to stand a chance against the monster. I now am in front of God, clad in armour, fully ready to go to hell and eliminate the monster. “I’m ready, sir,” I told God, to which they nodded. My wings sprouted from my back as I flew off to hell. I was entering an environment that I had no control over. When I crashed down on hell’s unforgiving land, I was met with the sight of the most horrific things all around me, but I knew I needed to stay strong, so I walked past it all, just looking around to find Kin. I looked up at the dark-looking castle in the distance, wondering if Kin could be in there as the new king of hell. I wouldn’t put it past him, the way I saw him kill those fallen angels. As I walked back, demons just stared, not daring to stop me. After a while of walking, I found something interesting. There was a huge crater in the ground, and at the bottom, a pool of dry blood. What happened here? I thought, looking around. Just then, a demon walked up to me. “Why are you here, enemy?” he asked, crossing his arms. I looked at him, annoyed. “I’m here to kill a true monster. Kin Takahiti,” I said, summoning my sword and pointing it at his throat. He gave me a glare. “That guy?” he said, smirking a bit. “He’s a bitch,” he said. I felt a hint of anger as he said that, then didn’t hesitate to cut off his head with one quick swing. “I won’t let you disrespect him like that,” I said, kicking his head as it fell. After that I went on my way, walking down terrible sight after terrible sight. While walking, I soon found Kin. I stopped in my tracks as I saw him just sitting on the ground, both arms cut off at the elbows. As soon as he saw me, his eyes opened wide in fear. “Kin?” I asked, to which he quickly got up and backed away. “No. Please,” he said silently. “Get away.” I looked at him like he was crazy. “You aren’t Kin. Kin doesn’t fear,” I said, approaching him. For once, I felt like I was the bigger person with him instead of him being the dangerous one. He shook his head. “You don’t know me!” he yelled. I laughed. “I guess not. This is kind of pathetic,” I said, looking him up and down with an ugly smirk. “Why can’t you just understand?! I’m just a human!” he yelled. I stopped and just looked at him in pure disgust. “Please shut up, you’re embarrassing yourself,” I said. He stared me in the eyes. “What does it matter? You’ll just leave here, forgetting me. My whole life has been forgotten so far. I’m a ghost of my old self and now a ghost of the new self,” he said, defeated, falling to his knees. I looked at the sight in interest, raising my head, looking down at his pathetic self. “Pathetic,” I said, taking my helmet off and spitting on the ground before him. “Falling to emotion with all that power,” I said. He looked down at the ground. “Do you think I ever asked for this power? Do you think I wanted to kill my family? It was the only way I would survive. I just wanted a simple life with her. A life without rage. All that fear I put in people was so that they would leave me alone. I was never anything, just an imaginary monster. I would have never killed you. I wanted to protect you, and that scared me. I wanted to protect Mia too so I killed the person who tried killing her right in front of her, then the only person who brought me peace left me because I was born a monster. When I came back to her after finding myself she had already moved on. After that I swore to myself I would never fall in love again. I’m not a monster. I’m a human, broken by the cards dealt to me. A survivor that just wants to be released from this hell I brought myself to, but I can’t even get that can I? When will life and death just accept my pleas to be brought peace? Torture me all you want, just leave me the space to think alone,” he explained, crying tears of blood. I looked down at the broken man before me, completely changed by his outlook, saddened and inspired. Never more have I wanted to kill someone, not to get rid of them but to release them. So I raised my sword and closed my eyes. “I had never known you until now,” I said, swinging down my sword, but instead of it hitting his neck, it was stopped with a loud clash. When I opened my eyes, I found the sight of the devil, dressed in armour, his sword stopping mine. “An angel interfering with my work? Is this a call for war?” he said, spinning his sword around mine, sending it flying out of my hand. “Fuck,” I said, realizing who was in front of me. I quickly dashed backwards, summoning my sword again and taking a defensive stance. “Why can’t you let him die?!” I yelled. He laughed. “It’s what he wants,” he said, spinning his sword as he approached me. “Fine,” I said. “I’ll just have to kill you first.” I dashed towards him, filled with rage, slashing at him to no avail as he dodged every attack before countering with his own, blocking it with my sword. We were now in a standoff, his sword forcefully clashing with mine as I defended. Not for myself, but for Kin too now. But before long the devil had me down on my knees, struggling to defend. Just when I thought it was about to end for the both of us, a hand protruded through the devil’s chest, flinging his blood onto my face. “What?” I said, staring at the hand as it ripped out of his chest. The devil healed fast, quickly turning around to see who had hurt him before suddenly flying to the right from getting hit. Through the dust there stood Kin Takahiti, blood pouring from his eyes, his veins popping out of his skin with unkempt rage, his muscular physique the same as the mystic angels of death. It was a sight to see. I sat on the ground in shock, watching as the devil zoomed back to him, swinging his sword, hitting Kin in the neck but the sword not piercing his skin. Kin smiled, his teeth red with blood. “Death won’t be enjoyable without you,” he said, his voice raw and commanding. With one quick movement, he shattered the devil’s sword into a million pieces then sent a flurry of punches towards his face. The two clashed fists and kicks, the devil’s armour slowly breaking off but Kin’s body only getting stronger. Suddenly, Kin just headbutted the devil, sending him flying to the ground. Then, in the blink of an eye, the devil was now in Kin’s hands, raised in the air, one hand to his head and one to his body, then without warning a terrible rip echoed through the whole of hell: the devil’s head, connected to his spine, was ripped apart from his body. The blood from the devil dripped down onto Kin as his smile faded, going back to his normal self. I prepared my sword to end him and his suffering, but as I approached him, he dropped the devil’s dead body on the floor and raised out his hand to me, stopping me in my tracks. “No,” he said. “I want to win now. I want another option for peace,” he said. I looked at him in shock, but before I could say anything, the ground started to crumble beneath us, then without warning, the whole of hell collapsed, falling in on itself. Kin jumped at me at the speed of sound, grabbing me and holding me in his safe arms.