ã€ŠDimensional Cores: The Raiders (draft)ã€‹


 Episode 1: the new world

    Chapter 1

    The new world

    It happened one morning. I had just arrived back from a coffee run. My wife was leaving for work and I was off for the weekend. I decided to spend my time playing True Empire Online.

    The game was like an RPG. Containing magic, tech, races and an abundance of different classes. There were two sides to it. Those that wanted to create and those that wanted to play.

    I was technically a creator. Though, I didn¡¯t design things and I wasn¡¯t good at running nations, but my friends made up for that.

    For the players that enjoyed creating, our task was to form our own country and build it up into an empire. In the process creating new game content for the masses.

    Unfortunately there was a limited amount of land in-game, so creators had no choice but to team up.

    Forming what were known as guilds. The other type of players explored our lands and completed quests given by NPCs.

    My avatar in-game was a young human girl named Aku. Originally she was supposed to be a vampire lolita with insane magic, but through experimentation I came to the realization.

    That the vampire race had its drawbacks. While the race gave a 10% boost to magic damage during the night. During the day you lost 10% magic damage.

    That wouldn¡¯t be so bad considering day and night cycles were only two and a half minutes away from each other.

    You also took holy damage during the day basically negating your natural health regeneration¡­.

    Yeah¡­ so I had to do a race change to human, along with a quick class change from war mage to berserker. Thus turning the powerful lolita vampire into the ripper.

    While berserker was my main class, I¡¯d spent so much time on the character that I¡¯d unlocked, and maxed out almost every class in the game.

    My account was over ten years old. Some might call that a waste of time but when going into public is incredibly stressful you kind of turn to online games for social activity.

    Thanks to all the time I spent on Aku, I could basically cover anything my guild was lacking.

    Of course that was only if I had the correct gear, proper information, and time to prepare for the next battle.

    These days I didn¡¯t really need to switch from berserker. My guild basically had everything covered.

    Sometimes I¡¯d borrow some gear from our mage if we needed any extra elemental magic damage but that was rare.

    There was also those times when one of my guild mates was to busy and couldn¡¯t make it to a raid or event, so I usually ended up borrowing there main gear in order to fill their roll.

    Berserkers were useful but not having a healer is a hard time for everyone. The damage I could deal out as a berserker was just to good to give up.

    All I had to do was attack doing heavy damage with my life draining abilities. Every ability I used drained points from my health bar.

    Thanks to the stat training I did my health bar was one of the biggest in-game. So big I could be considered a raid boss.

    In return for sacrificing HP I was able to do massive physical damage and ignore hits. The hits still did damage but my attacks couldn¡¯t be canceled whenever I got hit. Even knockback based attacks couldn¡¯t force me to take a step back.

    New gear was always being added into the game, so it was hard to keep all my classes relevant, although, maxing out so many classes gave me all sorts of passive skills and an abundant amount of stat points.

    My avatars stats ¡ª excluding vitality ¡ª were very well rounded. Due to that it could be considered a jack of all trades.

    Of course some skills were only unlocked while you had the relevant class as your main.

    You could only switch between classes when out of battle so planning ahead was crucial.

    Lifting my cup I took a sip of my hot coffee. I lost myself, basking in the aroma of the fresh beans, and dark rich flavor.

    It¡¯s warmth seeped deep into my bones like a hot shower on a freezing cold night. It wasn¡¯t much of a breakfast, but it filled a hole in me that had lingered longer than I could remember.

    Soon it will hunger again asking for another sacrifice, but I don¡¯t need to worry about that for another hour.

    With a few clicks here and there, the title screen came into view and the games theme started playing.

    Normally I wouldn¡¯t pay much attention to it since I¡¯d heard it so many times, but today I decided to feel the music.

    TEO ¡ª True Empire Online ¡ª had one of my favorite title screen songs. It was a mix of EDM and classical music.

    A combination of piano and electric distortions serenaded my ears. I was a minute in, when I felt a rush of energy move through me.

    ¡°The hype is real!¡± thank God my wife wasn¡¯t here. She¡¯d probably call me an idiot for getting excited over a silly game.

    My hands became a blur as I typed in my username and password. I''d like to say things went well after that.

    That I was able to login and see my friends arguing about the latest gear, but that would be far from the truth.

    Something went wrong. The moment I hit enter, the screen went black. I looked at the monitor for a second in confusion only to catch my reflection.

    Just an old man with dark rings around his eyes. Dark shaggy gray hair hanging from his head. Years of late night gaming showing there toll on my pale skin.

    I could use a shower. Why Alice stays with me I have no idea. Though I wouldn¡¯t call myself ugly¡­. Just¡­ unhealthy.

    I could also use a shave and a hair cut¡­ is that a nose hair?! How did it get so long?! Why is that one so long in particular?!

    I never got the chance to finish cringing at my nutrient deprived over caffeinated appearance, before the screen came to life, blinding me.

    The monitor was ten times as bright, so bright that it filled the room with every color in existence, including one¡¯s that I¡¯d never seen before.

    It was as if the creation of the universe was being reenacted by the pixels of my computer screen.

    I fell out of my chair letting out a startled ¡°Fuck!¡± Then felt the floor pull away beneath me. Almost as if I¡¯d fallen through a trap door.

    For a total of thirty seconds there was no solid ground. I¡¯m no mathematician, but thirty seconds of free fall is a very, very long distance.

    The really weird part was There was no rush of wind just the feeling of freefall. Like I was in a vacuum but not quite that. I could still breathe. I think?

    My surroundings were hard to make out. It was as if I was being hit with stadium lights from all sides.

    Closing my eyes didn¡¯t help. It was like my eyelids were transparent. The light seemed to burn its way into my brain giving me the worst headache you could imagine.

    Think giant hot railroad spikes being driven through your eyes at light speed. Right when I thought my head would evaporate it all came to a stop.

    The pain gone. Headache vanished. Freefall no more. Burning railroad spikes poof. Just quiet calmness.

    The feeling of landing was interesting. Like falling onto a bed. I didn¡¯t feel a thud or should I say splat?

    It was like waking up. No, not quite¡­ it was literally like waking up. I found myself on a comfy mattress.

    Over me was one of those bed canap¨¦s. It looked strange somehow but I couldn¡¯t put my finger on it.

    That wasn¡¯t just fabric it was weird looking. Kind of¡­ leathery? The bed had a strange color scheme to it.

    White, black, rust and Jagged were the words that came to mind. Those last two weren¡¯t necessarily colors but that''s how I¡¯d describe it.

    Is it¡­ leaking? One thing was for sure this was not my bed, but it also wasn¡¯t unfamiliar.

    Familiar, but simultaneously foreign. The room looked way different. It was Like¡­ I''d seen it before, but only in a movie.

    It looked like¡­ but¡­ that¡¯s crazy. It looked like the room I designed in-game. It was full of mismatching furniture.

    The furniture in TEO gives buffs and stat boosts, so I hadn''t planned on making it look nice. It was made very evident when I saw a tall dresser facing the wall, and a random cat shaped chair in the middle of the room.

    Along with two different chandeliers hanging from strange places. One made of gold and the other of silver. Those would make anyone¡¯s OCD go haywire.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    There was only one window. It was fairly big and let in a lot of natural sunlight. The window was decorated with a cheep blue curtain.

    It had a cartoonish duck print on it. Now that I was a bit more in tuned with my surroundings I started to notice the details of the bed and why it weirded me out so much.

    The bed while impossibly comfortable¡­ was made of human bones! There were multiple skulls embedded in the headboard with burning blue flames in their eyes.

    Black blood slowly oozing from their teeth. Almost like they were clenching their jaws to hard.

    Other than that It felt like a cloud. The mattress was made of solidified human souls so entangled that not even God could sort them out.

    The covers were a quilt made of thousands of foreskin each one perfectly stitched together, as if done by an insane seamstress.

    I would have freaked out, but this all still felt like a dream. At least I hoped it was a dream. Hell, I¡¯d settle for a nightmare really.

    I finally noticed what I was wearing. It looked like I was dressed as my game avatar.

    Black dragon leather dress with black steel armor draped on top. There was also an enormous great sword on my back.

    It gave off a very edge lord vibe. I¡¯d of jumped out the window if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that I couldn''t get up.

    ¡°The hell!¡± My voice was strange. I tried to clear my throat. Then did the old doe-ray-me bit, only to be met with the same high pitch. It was that of a child.

    This was starting to feel like one of those isekai anime I used to watch. The kind of Japanese cartoon where the main character gets sent to another world.

    In all honesty the whole genera had been blown out of proportion and was more of a parody of itself these days.

    What I¡¯m trying to say is this stuff doesn¡¯t happen in real life, so how could any of this be real?

    I knew of it happening in books and other media so¡­ was this all in my mind?

    Maybe I fell out of my chair, hit my head, and I¡¯m now hallucinating? It made sense since everything in here is something I¡¯ve seen before.

    Maybe there was something in the coffee I drank this morning? It wouldn¡¯t be the first time Jeremy mixed my order up.

    Regardless, I needed to get off the bed. I made all kinds of strange sounds as I desperately tried to roll off the skin covered soul matrass.

    Couldn¡¯t help but realize I sounded like a frightened little kid. Now tired I laid there and was forced to think.

    I rubbed my two brain cells together creating a spark of an idea. The spark quickly grew into an inferno burning away all other thoughts.

    If there had been a light bulb it would have exploded!

    I undid the strap for the sword and tried sitting up, but found that the armor was also heavy.

    At this point I really wanted to get off the bed. The skulls were rattling and whispering in a strange language. Almost like they were trying to summon some kind of rape demon to skull fuck me. I just about started crying. Where¡¯s Doom Slayer when you need him?

    I let out a frightened whimper that only dogs would be able to hear. Then undid the straps of the armor and wiggled my way out the bottom of it. I managed to land on the hard stone floor. ¡°Ow."

    Getting up I dusted myself off. Silky dark brown hair hanging over my shoulders. I tried pulling on it only to find it was my actual hair.

    It¡¯s so¡­ soft. The silky strands reminded me of my nephews baby hair, except this stuff was a little thicker. Now that I looked at myself I was a lot smaller and slimmer.

    My bones no longer ached, I felt as light as a feather and best of all my kidneys didn''t feel like they were on fire! The room looked huge to my eyes.

    I could see so much detail in the stone walls. every bump and crack. It was like my eyes were bionic. I felt like a kid. Eyes full of wonder and the need to explore. Everything looked so shiny and new. Well, new might not have been the right word. I needed to see myself. Just what the hell happened to me?

    I made my way to the dresser. Using my alarming small hands, I managed to pry it from the wall enough to look in the mirror.

    You ever see something that made no sense. Like it¡¯s so confusing that your brain can¡¯t process it. This was one of those times. My two brain cells couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of the situation.

    What looked back at me was an adorably cute young girl with bright pink eyes. The strange part was the translucent pink hearts set over my irises acting like my pupils. I was actually in my avatar body. My blood ran cold and I felt goosebumps running up and down my body. My legs were trembling. I swallowed bitter saliva. It was the first time in my life that I had ever needed to gulp.

    ¡°Well¡­ there¡¯s only one thing left to check.¡± My voice still felt weird but it was all I could do to keep myself from freaking out. Speaking out loud tended to calm my nerves but when I heard my voice again it only made my blood pressure drop. I felt like falling over but managed to keep myself together.

    I couldn¡¯t help myself, I had to know, so I pulled my dress up, and felt¡­ around¡­ only to have my suspicion confirmed.

    ¡°It¡¯s gone! My little buddy! My best friend is gone!¡± The blood drained from my face. My legs gave out and I fell to my knees in disbelief. My vision blurred and I felt really tired all of a sudden. There was a darkness claiming the corners of the room. Slowly but surely coming to swallow me whole. Before I knew it everything went dark and my body was taken by the feeling of falling. I didn¡¯t even feel it when I hit the floor. I had already fainted before I even touched the hard stone.

    Awakening once again, unsure of how much time had passed. I tried to get up only to feel the same sensation take over. My vision darkened and I fell passing out once more. This happened two more times before I managed to stop myself.

    I laid on the floor for a bit. I remember now. My blood pressure was low so the blood wasn¡¯t making it to my brain. Once I''m on the floor the blood can easily reach my head. That¡¯s why I wake up but the moment I stand the blood can no longer bring oxygen to my brain so I faint. I needed to wait for my blood pressure to normalize before I try standing again. It took a few minutes to pull myself together.

    Really wish I had my coffee with me. The caffeine would have brought my blood pressure back up. Though with a body like this I might end up bouncing off the walls. Am I going to have to build up tolerance to coffee again? I have new taste buds. What if I no longer like coffee? New teeth to! How peculiar.

    I ran my tongue along my teeth and didn¡¯t recognize my own mouth. It was such a strange feeling. I couldn¡¯t get over all the new sensations. It was almost overwhelming.

    You never notice the feel of your body because your so used to it and now that I¡¯m in a new one. It¡¯s like I can feel every inch of it. Everything felt off. Like it was an off-brand version of reality.

    The question was, Is it because of my new senses, or is it because this is another world? My organs felt out of place. My heart beat wasn¡¯t right. It beat normally but it was¡­ off beat. Like trying to play a song you''ve heard so many times on headphones, through speakers. It didn''t sound worse or better just different. I felt so out of place like a clown at a funeral.

    It took a bit but I finally managed to stand. My legs were a bit wobbly but I was okay for the most part. I just needed to relax a bit and let my situation sink in. I wasn¡¯t quite there yet but this was enough for now. I probably needed a bit more blood flow for this next part so I jumped in place trying to hype myself up. A minute of movement and I was feeling much better. Nothing like a little exercise to get the blood pumping.

    ¡°Just how high am I! This has to be some crazy DMT shit¡­.! Right?¡± I felt a flood of warmth like I¡¯d just seen a cat video. My voice was kind of cute. ¡°Fuck! Shit! Pussy! Bitch! Fuck you dick breath! Eat shit you fucking cunt waffle!¡± I let out a laugh. I just about fell over, hysteria taking over my mind. There was something hilarious about swearing in a child-like voice.

    I thought about the emptiness between my legs. It was so strange. My new body told me there was nothing down there but I could still feel it dangling between my thighs. I wouldn¡¯t say it was touching the floor. It wasn¡¯t small. I¡¯d say it was above average at best.

    ¡°Farewell friend, you will be missed. No more date night. RIP.¡± I would have shed a tear, but there were other things I needed to deal with first. If this was really my avatar then why couldn''t I carry my armor and weapon?

    I made my way over to the giant obsidian grate sword ¡ª doing my best to ignore the hell spawn bed ¡ª and tried lifting it. It didn''t feel too heavy, but it was heavier than me, so there was no way to balance it with my new body.

    Hell, I doubt there''s anyone that could use my sword with its massive size. Put simply the weight ratio was terrible. By spreading my feet I managed to hold the weapon like normal, but knew there was just no way I could swing it.

    The inertia of the blade would over power me dragging me along for the ride. How could I ever hope to swing something that''s way heavier than me. I¡¯d just tip over the moment I was off balance. The sword would be swinging me instead and I¡¯m not as unbreakable as an obsidian grate sword. Then another thought came to bare.

    Magic¡­.

    ¡°Magic!¡± I just about jumped for joy. The excitement of being able to shoot lightning from my finger tips made me get excited. ¡°Magic would be so cool! I could be like a badass wizard!¡± I bounced up and down in excitement. The energy running through me was enough to power a city block or a really big AC unit. The only reason I say AC unit is because the day I bought my own was the day the light bill just about doubled. Who knew terraforming your apartment would be so expensive.

    Turning around I gave my attention to the window. Making my way over I started to feel just how real everything was. From the weight of my body, to the feel of the air. Everything was just starting to render for me. It was almost as if the game had just finished loading the area.

    I¡¯d still been wondering if this was a dream. Maybe it wasn''t a dream, if it was then this would be the most vivid dream I¡¯d ever experienced. Most likely the feeling of rendering was brought on because I was becoming accustomed to my new body and could finally focus on my surroundings.

    Like the smell of rotten flesh coming off the bed. Or the nice flowery smell coming from my body. I couldn¡¯t tell where exactly the pleasant smell was coming from. Some kind of lotion or maybe some kind of shampoo. This couldn¡¯t be a natural scent.

    The windows opened like doors pushing outward. A strong breeze came rushing into the mismatching room. The air was a bit chilly making me shiver. I recoiled back into the room.

    Where¡¯s my coffee? Did it get reincarnated to. Perhaps into some kind of animal or creature. What would coffee turn into? Something warm hyper and bouncy. Like a dog. I didn¡¯t see a dog anywhere. I hope it¡¯s okay. ¡°Poor pupper.¡± I was getting distracted again. Snapping myself out of my delusion I braced myself for the cold and tried to look out the window. I was probably the size of a nine year old, maybe a little older. That was annoying and would take some getting used to.

    It looked like the court yard. There was Clara¡¯s garden. Lots of flowers, vegetables and fruits. There were a few trees. I could only just reach out the window. Pointing my finger I picked a tree at random. ¡°eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Catch a dragon by its claw, If he bites you bite him back. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. You.¡± My finger landed on a small tree with yellow leaves. Its bark was an ashy grey.

    I tried to cast a low level spell. The kind of spell learned at mage level one. I didn''t know how to do it, so I winged it.

    ¡°Mana bolt?¡± nothing happened.

    That¡¯s lovely, I cant use magic either. If only I had a menu or something. With that thought a translucent blue screen popped up in front of me.

    ¡°Neat!¡± It was a menu. Looking through it, I noticed how similar it was to the game menu, only more complex.

    I tilted my head. ¡°There¡¯s no logout button¡­.? bummer.¡± There wasn¡¯t even a way to contact the developers.

    I managed to activate the hot bar and could now see a bunch of skills at the bottom of my vision. This was called a HUD. Normally I had it set to off when at the guild but right now I needed it.

    The abilities on my hot bar were for the berserker class. It felt like I was playing VR only with insane graphics and realistic physics.

    It was easy to slot in the abilities I wanted. Since I couldn''t use my sword I decided to put spells and movement abilities into my hot bar, along with a few potions of focus and healing.

    You could usually put a full stack in a single slot. A stack was the max amount of items you could tally together as a single icon. In other words. Five potions fit in one slot. With a few swipes I managed to change my class to war mage. I tried casting a mana bolt using the hot bar.

    ¡°Mana bolt.¡± It worked!

    There was a magic circle with a flash of eight runes. A ball of blue energy formed in my hand and rocketed forward. It blasted out the window and tore through the ash colored tree. With my stats the spell had lots of power behind it even though it was a level one spell, and I wasn''t using any mage gear.

    Thanks to all the upgrades I¡¯d put into the spell it hit hard and fast. Mana bolt was the first spell I¡¯d ever had so I¡¯d maxed it out pretty early on. I could cast it once every five seconds. Which was way better than the original twelve seconds. The cost was also down by half. It was a pretty useful spell consider it did neutral damage as a none elemental spell.

    My focus bar appeared in the corner of my vision, along with my health bar. They usually only popped up when you were missing health or focus. My focus bar had gone down a tiny bit and was slowly refilling. A little to slowly.

    I stood there in disbelief. The power I felt was incredible. It was almost toxic, addicting even. My hand trembled, I wanted to do more. I wanted to destroy. Just as quickly as the rush of power came it went. A feeling of fear taking its place.

    That was a scary thought. Almost became a bad guy there.

    Strange how come my regeneration is so slow? My focus bar held way more units of energy than before. Sitting at over ten thousand. How?! That¡¯s like five times as much as I used to have! My health bar was really low. One hit might be enough to finish me off.

    That wasn¡¯t right! I looked my stats over. My vitality, wisdom and intelligence weren¡¯t any different. Vitality affected health. Every point was about ten HP. Intelligence affected the amount of focus you had and the power behind your magic. Wisdom affected your focus regeneration and made it so debuffs effected you less. It also made spells cost less but you needed a lot of points to make a real difference.

    For example, with my wisdom mana bolt should have only cost like three units of focus but it cost five for some reason, meaning it wasn¡¯t doing anything. Something strange was going on. The rules of TEO were different.

    This could wait. Right now I needed to focus, if this was my room then outside should be my castle. I wanted to leave but then thought about my clothes. While the black dragon dress was good with its bonus to strength and decent defense it was a little over the top and uncomfortable.

    The dragon scales were poky and the whole thing felt tight even on my small frame. Of course it was, this thing was designed for sexy avatars to wear. Ones with actual curves. Not flat chested washboards like Aku.

    I probably looked ridiculous right now. Like a stripper¡¯s take your daughter to work day. Gross.

    I tried to open my inventory and was pleasantly surprised when it popped up. I selected some slightly less strange looking clothes.

    I¡¯d gotten them from the haunted school event a while back. It was basically a school uniform. Not quite traditional wear but at least it covered more and wouldn¡¯t be constantly stabbing me. Not to mention it matched my eyes.

    In a flash of light I equipped the lower level gear. I couldn''t help but notice how I was naked for a second. Even though my body was covered in light it still felt strange. Mostly just cold. This must be what magical girls feel like when they do those transformation sequences.

    The stats on the uniform weren¡¯t as good, but they weren¡¯t bad either. The weird part was that it gave me a charm boost of 20%. I¡¯d never heard of such a thing. It must be a new feature I didn''t know about. I took a look in the mirror and saw a cute school girl staring back at me. It spooked me a little. I wasn¡¯t used to my reflection yet.

    Too bad I didn¡¯t have any guy clothes in my inventory. Pretty sure I could only equip girl clothes though. I bet I could get around it, if I¡¯d just try to put clothes on the normal way.

    While still a little embarrassing I felt more comfortable. I wore a white short puffy sleeve buttoned up collared shirt with a bright pink tie around the collar.

    The collar was the same bright shade of pink. It came with a matching bright pink skirt with a white star pattern and white frills along the end.

    On my legs were long black socks. One sock reached above my right knee and the other just under my left knee. The long sock had pink stripes while the other had pink hearts.

    On my feet were multi colored shoes adorned with hearts and stars bringing the whole ensemble together, If I had time I¡¯d try on different outfits, but I didn¡¯t want to waste the day looking through my vast library of gear. I felt happy looking at myself in the mirror. Definitely not a traditional school uniform. Can anyone say zettai ryouiki.

    ¡°Aku looks so adorable! Wish I could have a daughter this cute in real life. I¡¯d spoil her rotten! No man would be good enough to take her from me! Not until they can beat me in a one on one PVP match. Only then will they be deemed worthy of dating my little girl!¡± crossing my arms I nodded my head in self satisfaction. My delusion ended there and I came back to the current situation.

    The thought of doing a cosplay montage sounded really fun, well as long as no one saw me. What was the point of being a cute loli, if you weren¡¯t going to cosplay. No, that thought was wrong. While I did look like a loli this wasn''t a 2D body. It was flesh and blood.

    I was instantly filled with a feeling of disgust and regret. Technically I am 39, so I''m legal, but still I wasn¡¯t looking to commit such awful crimes just because I''m in another world. Only bad people need laws to be a decent person.

    On the other hand there are people that look very young despite being adults. I wonder how their relationships work? Do people look down on their partners for being with someone that looks young? Surely not. Though I have my doubts.

    In my years of marriage I''ve never just stayed with Alice because of her appearance. The way she screams and clings to me during horror movies, or like how she insists on stabbing me with her cold feet in the middle of the night.

    That reminds me of how she steals the blanket away from me every night. And that reminds me of that time when I bought an extra blanket for myself and she took that one two! Why would anyone need two blankets! The worst part was she would get mad at me whenever I tried to take some of it back!

    ¡°What kind of stupid crap is that!¡± I was getting off track¡­ again. What was the point again? Oh, right! There''s just a bunch of little things that make me love¡­ and hate her. In conclusion, children are young, innocent, and have underdeveloped minds. I on the other hand have none of those qualities. There for I''ve concluded that I''m legal within reason.

    Though am not really looking for potential partners. Also I¡¯ll probably only attract minors or creepy weirdos. Now that I think of it. Since I''ve been nerfed doesn¡¯t that make me a target for potential predators? A feeling of dread came over me.

    ¡°I need to swell up, quickly.¡±

    With the hard questions answered I made my way out of my bedroom and into the scary new world.

 Episode 2: the crazy cat lady

    Chapter 2

    The crazy cat lady

    The hallway was huge. Not just tall, but wide. Big enough to fit a Toyota tundra on monster truck tires, with enough room left over for a foot long subway sandwich. That could be wrong, maybe more like a foot long with a bite taken out of it.

    Wait, why a sandwich? Hmmm¡­.. I¡¯m hungry. Well¡­ whatever, my measurements might be off. Everything felt to big compared to my avatar. I felt like Jack from that old fairytale. The one where he breaks into the giants castle to murder him in his sleep and steal all his valuables. Uh¡­ to feed his drug addiction?

    That didn''t sound right. Wait, that''s dad¡¯s version. Mom said something about golden eggs¡­ or was it a goose? Oh, forget it. The metaphor is stupid. Or is this what they call foreshadowing? Uh¡­ no, that''s where you hint towards a future event in a story. Crap! Am I going to be eaten by a giant?!

    Hastily I looked around to make sure there wasn''t a titan about to pull me into its maw. The coast was clear. I let out a sigh of relief before realizing how stupid I was being.

    ¡°Man, I really hate my imagination sometimes."

    Living with my overactive brain was a lot like being trapped in a dream. Constantly shifting from pleasant to nightmarish. Sometimes I¡¯d have a conversation with someone only to realize I¡¯d only imagined it.

    Other times I¡¯d be convinced there was some kind of demon living in the shadows stocking me. There was also times when I¡¯d do something only to realize later that I hadn¡¯t actually done anything. like turning the stove off or washing the dishes.

    It¡¯s gotten me in trouble more than once. It made me wonder if I wasn¡¯t imagining things right now. To be honest this whole situation felt like a fantasy story of some sorts.

    Could it all be In my head? If it was the delusion would be broken by now seeing as I¡¯m questioning reality. There was still the small chance this was all a story made up by my imagination. I just hope it was a story of adventure not one of horror.

    Nowadays writers tended to put dark spins on these types of stories. I was either gonna become a slave, get framed for a crime, or get stuck in a high level area of death. Where I¡¯d spend years trying to escape while losing my sanity. I wonder if I¡¯ll get a harem?

    I hope not. Alice wouldn''t be happy about that. Not to mention harems tend to take a lot of energy and time to maintain. I barely have enough energy for one relationship much less a battalion of exotic women. All from varying backgrounds, and transparent over used mental illnesses.

    Something like that was probably impossible for someone like me. I''m not much of a ladies man. Especially how I am now¡­. Oh God! What if I end up with a harem of guys or worse! What if I fall in love with some dude and join his harem! What if I get pregnant!

    The image of myself as a pregnant man eclipsed my mind. I was being whisked away by a strapping young lad.

    I shook my head vigorously.

    ¡°What''s wrong with me! Like hell that would happen! Stupid brain!¡± With concussive force I slammed my head against a wall trying to rid myself of the nervous energy brought on by intrusive thoughts. The wall shook a little and I was disoriented for a moment.

    ¡°Oh shit!¡± I then realized my mistake and covered my mouth remembering I was supposed to be sneaky right now. A quick look around and everything looked clear. I let out a sigh of relief and continued on my adventure.

    The walls were adorned with a variety of in-game items. From ancient relics, to high tech weapons, to ghostly ethereal armor. Nothing I could really use seeing as they were all on the aesthetic side of in-game items.

    For example one of the swords had Jagged sharp fragments on the pommel of the blade, making it dangerous to maneuver. Another, a giant plasma bazooka was far to heavy.

    Something like that needed a stronger race to even carry the dam thing. A human with high strength stats could do it but at the risk of mobility. Even something like the half giant race would have trouble moving around with that thing.

    The real issue was it was meant to be one handed. The blaster was very front heavy. Simply just aiming was an issue. Most of this stuff was horribly balanced making it just plain annoying to use if not impossible.

    Not just that but I didn¡¯t think any of the armor here would work with my small frame. Normally I could just equip gear and it would magically change size to fit, but now that I wasn¡¯t in-game the items were stuck at there default size.

    This was made clear to me when I pulled a set of studded leather armor into my inventory. Then tried to equip it only to get a message saying it was incompatible with my body type.

    Lucky for me the gear I had in my inventory was already fitted for my size. When it came to video games the cooler the weapon the more powerful it was. The issue was that the weapons ended up with many dangerous features to the wielder.

    Nostalgia came over me as I walked down the hall seeing all the gear my guild had obtained over the years. I was being careful not to make to much noise seeing as I might not be alone.

    Put simply I just didn''t know how much of this world was like the game. Would I still be seen as a ruler, or was I just a random kid trespassing on royal grounds? There was no way to know without running into someone.

    Was anyone else here from our guild? We were known as ¡°The Raiders¡± In total there was eight of us. Ryhme, Mao, Luca, Clara, eco, Shadow, fish taco, and well me.

    We were the rulers of the country known as Entropy. The name was generated by the game, seeing as no one could come up with a halfway decent one. Fish ¡ª short for fish taco ¡ª had suggested Mctacotopia as a country name. I shut that down immediately.

    There was no way I would ever associate myself with such a ridiculous name. The other guild members agreed. There were a few other names, but none as bad as that particular one.

    To be fair he may have been drunk at the time. Now one might ask how do eight players run a whole country. Well, in-game we are allowed to hire NPCs to take care of production.

    It¡¯s kind of like one of those mobile idle games. Basically you build using gold to buy structures like a farm. Then you hire farmers to run it and sell the crops. Upgrade, and repeat. Not really my type of game so I left it up to Mao.

    I was technically a creator which was nice but I was more into farming materials for Mao¡¯s builds. That man loves idle games. As far as I could tell our country has one of the best economies.

    There are even country stats showing the population, and a few other things like deaths, crime, morale and income. Our current population was over four-thousand. We had six settlements one being the main city we are currently in known as Serenity, and the other five are small villages and towns.

    It didn¡¯t seem like much but most country¡¯s ran a population in the hundreds. We were in the top ten for sure. Within the game world you could only ever have enough space for around a hundred countries, and the amount listed on the country rankings was sixty-seven.

    That was due to some countries taking land from others, and destroying there guild cores. Once a country lost it¡¯s guild core that was it. You could only get a new one by taking land from someone.

    We tried not to do that since it basically made you a target. Just think, if there was a country next to yours that was amassing power, land, and resources. Not to mention the refugee players were flooding into your own country asking for help. Then wouldn''t you want to team up with the other countries and beat the living shit out of them.

    The Raiders never attacked first. We only attacked if you attacked. That was the rule. Sadly we¡¯d gone to war with many countries and ended up with tons of extra land.

    Eco was once apart of a country called Yippy. Once the raiders took down there guild core he asked to join us and after a talk with him and another much longer talk with my guild mates he was brought into the guild.

    I came to a stop. There was a familiar smell wafting through the air. I knew it all to well. This was the smell of eggs and bacon. I was starving. Drool started to form, before I could stop it.

    I pulled myself together. For all I knew this was a potential enemy. Perhaps even a trap. I activated stealth, an assassin ability that hid the player from mobs and other players to an extent. My body and clothes turned translucent.

    To me I looked like a faded ghost. To others I was invisible. The only thing was, if you looked hard enough. You could see a feint blue shimmer when I moved.

    The passage opened up into a dining hall. It was probably one of the biggest rooms I¡¯d ever laid my eyes on.

    The walls had the heads, and body parts of dead monsters. They were all boss monster drops. Each one gave the guild stat boosts.

    The table was made of hard wood with a glossy coat of varnish. The chairs were large and fancy, adorned with gold and silver. The one at the head of the table was far more extravagant with its beautiful sparkling rubies and diamonds. For a moment I felt greed come over me.

    Forget fancy chairs. I could pay thirty years of rent if I pawned that thing, or better yet. I want to build a super gaming PC! I¡¯ll sit on a lawn chair if I have to!

    At one end of the room was a fire place. In it was a raging flame pouring heat into the room. It was a bit chilly, so I was thankful.

    The kitchen was through the double doors. both of which were wide open. I checked my inventory, and brought out a small holy dagger. Again, I still didn¡¯t know what this world was like, so caution was crucial.

    There was a low humming coming from the kitchen. It sounded female in tone. Maybe some kind of siren or witch. I imagined her cooking babies in a large pot.

    Shakily I approached the door frame. I made a roll getting right up against one of the open doors ¡ª It was just like in the movies ¡ª I then peaked through the opening. Only to see a.¡­ cat girl?

    She had almond colored skin, and long black hair. Fluffy looking cat ears twitched on her head and a long black tail swished happily behind her.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    She wore a form fitting black ghee. Tight enough to show the outline of her curves, but loose enough to fight comfortably.

    I put the knife away breaking stealth, and rushed in hugging her from behind. ¡°Shadow!¡± My arms didn¡¯t quite reach around her, and my face ended up in her butt, which was less than ideal.

    She jumped, and turned her head to look at me. Her tail was stiff like a broom handle. ¡°What! Ah¡­ Master? Master!¡± she turned all the way around and hugged me. ¡°Aww, your so small.¡± One of her hands landed on my head giving it a soft pat.

    Never in my life had I ever thought a cat would be giving me head pats. This was like that time I tried mushrooms and the cat started talking to me in German. I don''t even know German, or own a cat.

    I pulled away from her. ¡°I thought you were a monster.¡± That¡¯s when I felt the tears gathered in the corners of my eyes. I¡¯d been trying so hard to hold myself together, and now that I knew I wasn¡¯t alone a kind of relief washed over me, resulting in emotional salty tears. I really hated being left alone to deal with things.

    Shadow¡¯s eyes were as exotic as mine. They glowed a bright gold with black catlike slits down the middle.

    I was so enamored with them that I hadn''t noticed what the cat girl was doing. ¡°Are you alright?¡± She put her arms under my armpits. ¡°Here sit." Then lifted me up setting me down on the countertop in the center of the room.

    Behind me was the doors along with some cabinets. To my left side was the walk in pantry. To the opposite of the pantry was the walk in fridge. Last but not least was the twelve burner stove just behind my cat-like guild mate, along with all sorts of electric appliances. Such as the microwave, toaster, blender and so on.

    Shadow¡¯s action pulled me out of whatever novella I was having, and I managed a response.

    ¡°Despite what I look like, I am not a child.¡± I crossed my arms, my face falling into a pout.

    she laughed in my face, hurting my pride even further. Then started pinching my cheeks, and pulling them apart. Her tail swished much more slowly almost as if she was trying to hypnotize me. ¡°I know sweetie your a big girl." her voice was sweet like a loving mother but with a hint of mockery.

    ¡°What! Don¡¯t say stuff like that!¡± waving my arms around I managed to push her away. Her ears drooped for a sec before perking up again. Her face expression going from surprise to full on blooming smile.

    I knew she was messing with me but still. Somehow she made me want to cry even more. I¡¯d much rather be fighting a witch boss right now than be treated like a toddler by one of my closest friends.

    Except¡­ something had changed in her. I could see it in her face. Once she realized I was actually upset her smile turned into something akin to concern. Where I saw mockery there was now genuine worry.

    Her tail was still and her ears weren¡¯t as erect as before. How pathetic did I look for her to look at me like that. I wiped the tears from my face. Something was off. Why was I crying for such mundane reasons? I wonder if it had anything to do with my brain chemistry being that of a kids? That might be something to look into later.

    She stroked my head as if to comfort me. ¡°It¡¯s okay Master I¡¯m here now.¡±

    I on the other hand felt the need to yell at her, but¡­ I let it go seeing as being angry would just make me look like I was throwing a tantrum. While my mind was that of an adult male it still needed to be translated through the body of a small child.

    As if she hadn¡¯t attacked me she asked. ¡°Would you like something to eat?¡±

    I was still rubbing my sore cheeks. I hadn''t noticed how soft and plump my skin was until now. Honestly I was starving but I didn¡¯t want to make her cook for me.

    I scrambled whatever dignity I had left and in a cheerful bubbly voice I said ¡°I can help.¡± My body was filled with regret soon after.

    While trying to sound confident I ended up coming off as childish. I should have practiced speaking while in my room.

    Maybe if I deepened my voice I''d sound more grown up, but it was to late for that. The damage had already been done. I felt the last of my dignity erode away.

    Shadow gave me an are you serious look. ¡°Oh sweetheart. I appreciate the offer but no you can''t. You can barely see over the pan. Just sit there, and I''ll get everything ready.¡± She patted my leg as if to comfort me but it did nothing.

    I wanted to say something, but she had a point. It seemed that I was more useless than I thought. My character was severely nerfed. At the very least she knew I was willing to help.

    I wanted to ask how she came to this world, but thought it was better to wait for when we were at the table. That was probably best.

    She turned to attend the food. Her tail went back to happily swishing around. I felt the need to touch it. It looked so soft and fluffy. My right hand reached out and got a hold of it. As expected it was everything I could imagine and more. Not just soft and fluffy, but warm and firm.

    It didn¡¯t feel like a cats tail. It was to thick. The cat-like appendage could barely fit in my small hands. I wanted to nuzzle against it.

    To bad for me I hadn''t noticed shadows skin crawling or the hairs on her body standing on end.

    ¡°No!¡± Shadow quickly spun around slapping me on the left cheek. Her tail jerked away from me. I was in disbelief. Her ears were crestfallen while her tail squirmed anxiously. Her face displayed anger.

    What the hell did I just touch. A second after the impact my skin turned red and started to burn, before I knew it my body started crying. Tears were streaming down my face. I sobbed uncontrollably. Regardless of how I actually felt my body seemed to do its own thing.

    She''s acting like I pulled on her tail plug or something. It doesn¡¯t look like it¡¯s coming from her butt.

    Her expression of surprise and anger faded and she became flustered with a hint of concern. ¡°Master, sorry about that. You shouldn¡¯t grab my tail like that. It¡¯s¡­. It¡¯s very sensitive.¡± she gave me another head pat to cheer me up but like before I just wasn¡¯t feeling it.

    Eventually she realized the food might burn and went back to cooking. I sniffled quietly to myself and eventually calmed myself down.

    It didn''t take long for the food to be done. I hopped off the counter, and carried my plate out to the dining hall. Shadow followed with her own. She insisted that I take the big chair since I was the guild leader.

    That seemed a little silly, besides I looked absolutely ridiculous sitting in such a big chair. She brought out a few books from somewhere in the castle, and had me use them like a booster seat.

    I was more interested in seeing what was inside them so I gave them a glance. One book was about history of the world. It sounded like an interesting read. Another talked about herbs and potion crafting. I was never much of a reader but reading information on a new world got me excited.

    I was also curious to see just how complex this world was. That was as far as I got before shadow stopped me and told me to eat first. As if in agreement my stomach growled along side her. Which meant I was basically voted out at two to one. I murmured ¡°traitor¡± getting a strange look from Shadow.

    The scrambled eggs were gold and fluffy while the bacon was perfectly crisp. It took me a bit by surprise when I realized I couldn¡¯t stuff my mouth like I used to. The old me would have scarfed it all down in less than a few seconds.

    The feeling of fullness was already starting to take effect. Maybe I should slow down before I get a tummy ache. Shadow and I got into conversation, and just like me, she had woken up in her in-game room. I figured as much. I told her my end of the story leaving out the part where I fainted.

    ¡°A bed made of foreskin! I forgot about that! Didn''t you get it as a drop from killing the lich boss on level 72 Of the main dungeon?¡±

    I nodded along swallowing my food so I could respond. ¡°Yup. It gives a huge boost to Health and focus re-gen. Though it seems it only does it, if I sleep on it for at least four hours.

    The system is different now. There didn¡¯t used to be any requirements for furniture before we got sent here.¡± I felt a shiver run down my spine. The thought of ever having to lay on that ugly bed again made me physically ill.

    As if remembering something, Shadow got all excited. ¡°Hey master have you checked the guild tab?¡± she looked at me expectantly.

    It hit me like a truck. How could I have forgotten something so basic! ¡°You¡¯re a genius!¡± I opened my guild tab. It looked like everyone was online, but scattered. Shadow and I were in serenity the capital of Entropy.

    The next closest was Luca our mage. She was in serenity to, but she was at the mage college library. She often spent her time there completing special quests that permanently lowered focus cost, cast time, and cool down time for spells.

    Getting everyone together was probably a good way to start finding out how to go home. Eco, our monk was in the main dungeon on level 98. That one would be hard to get to.

    Usually the entry point for those levels was at level 95. Once you went in the only way out was death or you had to finish the dungeon.

    He was in there by himself to train up the brawler class. Ryhme, our gun slinger was in a small village to the south called Pearlescent. It looked like everyone else was outside our borders. I ran this all by Shadow. She nodded along.

    ¡°Does chat work?¡± Shadow tapped at her own screen. I tried mine.

    ¡°looks like we can only talk to Luca and Rhyme. The others are to far away. Guess our phone plan doesn¡¯t support long distance calls. Let¡¯s open a chat room with them.¡± Shadow nodded and began the process of connecting everyone.

    A moment later I received a chat invite. As soon as I accepted I heard the voice of two women. One cheery and the other sounded like it had no accent. Almost like I was talking with a machine.

    Luca: Helllllllo everybody! Am I coming in clear? OH EM GEEEEEEEE! We¡¯re like in the game guys! We were totally jamanjied!

    Rhyme: Hello. It¡¯s good to know I am not alone.

    That was strange the text was written out in chat but I could hear there voices somehow. It¡¯s like there talking into my head or something. My eyes met with Shadow¡¯s. She crossed her eyes then shrugged. A giggle escape my lips and the system typed it out in chat for me.

    Aku: tee-hee <3

    I sat there in embarrassment. How could the system do this to me. I could hear Luca and shadow laughing on the other end.

    Shadow: That¡¯s a cute little giggle master.

    Luca: Aww chief! I didn¡¯t know you were actually a girl. How old are you? Do I need to give you the talk?

    Rhyme: Captain your voice is rather pleasant.

    Aku: ugh! Shut up you guys! It¡¯s not my fault its the system! I swear it¡¯s out to get me.

    I felt my cheeks burning and all I wanted to do was run away and hide.

    Shadow: Now, now don¡¯t tease the master to much. Last thing I need is a another tantrum.

    Luca: so the chief is a kid? I can¡¯t wait to see her. I bet she looks cute. Since I¡¯m nearby let¡¯s meet up at the tavern around noonish, near the south entrance. I¡¯ll be checking out the city till then. See ya losers.

    Luca has left the chat.

    Aku: hey get back here! Ugh, and you guys call me the child.

    Rhyme: Luca is only fourteen. She most likely wishes to explore the new world.

    Shadow: let her be. She¡¯s maxed out her mage class I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll be fine.

    Rhyme: I¡¯d like to meet up with you all but I am currently In a bit of trouble. It seems our country has invaders. If you can, please join me in Pearlescent.

    Rhyme has left the chat

    Seeing as everyone had hung up I did the same.

    Shadow quickly summarized our situation. ¡°So in other words we''ll need to get Luca first then Ryhme. Eco will probably be last since he''s stuck in a hell zone, and everyone else is far off into the world. That''s grate.¡± She sunk into her chair sighing. Her ears hanging low. ¡°Master do you have any idea on how to get home? I have three little boys to take care of.¡± Her face was struck with worry. This time it wasn''t directed at me. It was the kind of worry only a parent could feel.

    ¡°I know you do but I don''t have the answers. You might not need to worry too much though. Why not have a little fun with me. Besides¡ª" Before I could finish she interrupted me.

    Her ears and tail shot up as she came back with. ¡°Oh, sure! I bet this is lots of fun for you! What, you think your going on some grand adventure! My kids are at there fathers right now.¡± midway through her outburst she started crying. ¡°What happens when it comes time for him to drop them off, and mommy isn''t there! They¡¯ll think I abandoned them! And you know Dale is just going to use it as ammo in the court room! He has been trying to get sole custody ever since the divorce!¡± That last bit pulled on my heart.

    Adult problems are scary. I just want to play games. I have a wife waiting on me, and the others they all have people waiting on them to. These would all need to be dealt with and I wasn¡¯t qualified.

    Right now though, I needed to consul my guild mate who was currently balling her eyes out. I never realized just how instantaneous crying was. The build up was so short. It¡¯s almost like a switch.

    I sighed and proceeded in a serious tone. ¡°Look at the in-game clock.¡± Shadow didn''t respond. She continued to wale. It was no good, she wouldn''t listen.

    I needed to make her understand, so I made my way over, and showed her my own clock. It marked the time as 9:01 AM. She finally noticed. It hadn¡¯t been a minute since we were logged in.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­. that''s not right.¡± The absurdity brought her out of her funk.

    Now that I had her attention, I needed to push on. ¡°How long does it take for a day to pass in-game?¡± I gave her a moment to get her barring¡¯s straight.

    The question brought intelligence back to her features. She cleaned her tears, and came up with an answer. ¡°Ten minutes¡­ I think.¡± She clung to the conversation to keep herself afloat.

    I corrected her. ¡°It¡¯s actually five minutes. What time do you think we''re running on? In-game time or home world time.¡± It came to her slowly.

    A bit confused. The gears in her head started to turn. Realization struck like a lightning bolt and her face brightened up. ¡°You mean one day in here is only five minutes out there?!¡± astonishment erupted from within her as the absurdity of her situation came cascading down upon her.

    I smiled and nodded. The idea of time dilation was just pure madness. I had been looking forward to seeing the look of fascination on Shadow¡¯s face when she figured it out.

    It was the same way I felt when I first came to the conclusion. ¡°We¡¯ve got time. Let''s use it wisely. For now let¡¯s find Luca, and Rhyme. Messages can still get through even if the others are far away so I''ll have them start heading here.

    As for Eco¡­ we¡¯ll need to go rescue him. He''ll just have to wait. It¡¯s not like we''re in any condition to go after him right now. We don''t even know if re-spawn is an option.¡± Shadow hugged me again pulling me into her lap in the process. Even her tail wrapped around me like a fifth limb. ¡°Master your amazing!¡± I felt her lick my cheek.

    I panicked. ¡°Hey! I¡¯m married! Let go!¡° but she did not let go. In fact she held on like I was a god dam plushy. Was she actually a cat now!? She was actively trying to clean me with her tongue. Starting with my head. ¡°Your so cute!¡± She started to nuzzle my cheek with hers.

    ¡°Why are you like this?! Your wasting time!¡± I wonder if Alice would forgive me. It wasn¡¯t my fault.

    ¡°No way! We have like a million years to log out.¡± Her cuddles were getting deadlier by the second. I could feel her licking my hair. It was like a mother cat trying to clean their young and she didn¡¯t even realize what she was doing.

    ¡°Um¡­. actually assuming from past interactions with you. Your kids get dropped off around five so¡­. we got¡­. About¡­.¡± I counted the fingers on my hand over and over as Shadow watched in amusement. ¡°One-hundred-eight days?¡± The cat girl was surprised at how fast I¡¯d done my math.

    Her face twisted in confusion as she tried to check my work. Unable to confirm my mathematic skills she took my answer as truth, and pushed me to the floor as she got to her feet. ¡°Well what are we waiting for let¡¯s get going!¡±

    My butt hurt. She dropped me so hard my health had dropped by a single point. Tears threatened to spill. It tuck all I had not to start crying again. I made my way to my feet. ¡°Okay so let¡¯s get some gear. Is any of your gear still usable?¡±

    ¡°Most of it, yes. What about you?¡±

    I deflated. Shadow hadn¡¯t been nerfed at all. I really should have made an adult avatar. I¡¯ll just have to play mage for a while.

    ¡°I¡¯m in no shape to take on anything right now. I need to set up some mage gear. My old gear should still be in the guild armory.¡± This was going to be a long day. Shadow gave me a head pat to make me feel better, but it just annoyed me.

    I suppose anger was a better emotion than despair. Anger got things done. We finished up our meal, and Shadow helped me find the armory. I managed to get my hands on my old gear. Along with a few other useful things from previous classes I had.

    My mage gear was outdated, but it was also set to my size, and far better than what I was already wearing. I strode out of the castle wearing a Gothic black dress with black stockings and a pair of black boots. Cringe wasn¡¯t strong enough to describe the feeling I was having.

    It looked really cute in a goth lolita sort of way but I was going into public. I remember when this gear was the best in the game. Now it was slightly better than mid game gear. I¡¯d almost forgotten the last part of my gear-set.

    I opened my inventory and pulled out my so called weapon. It was a stuffed white cat plushy. The thing looked like a toy but it also gave a boost to intelligence and wisdom. Not just that but it lowered the cost of spells and let me cast two spells at the same time.

    I looked out into the city. There were all sorts of businesses. From food, to clothes, to magic shops, and even a few tech shops. Tech shops were a rare thing in Entropy.

    Our country had medieval affinity meaning it was more magic and swords than guns and tech. There wasn¡¯t much danger here. Well, there was always normal players but now that this wasn''t a game I''m sure everyone will work together¡­ right?

    The NPCs were very animated. They all seemed very busy. For some reason everything sounded louder than normal. Even the sunlight looked different, brighter even. I noticed colors seemed to really pop.

    Maybe I really was high on something. I felt kind of silly standing outside in what was a pointy hat away from being an edgy witch costume. This sucked so hard.

    I hugged my stuffed cat for emotional support. Back when I was little I had a similar stuffed buffalo I would carry around. It helped with my anxiety.

    I really didn''t like going out. Especially when there were so many people. My social anxiety while not as bad as it used to be lingered in the depths of my soul. My nervousness must have showed because Shadow gave me a half hug putting her arm over my shoulder.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright master I¡¯m with you. It''s not fun running around as a ninja either but if your with me I don''t mind. let¡¯s get the band back together!¡± She held my hand, and strung me along. I was starting to rethink my life choices up to this point.

 Episode 3: Serenity

    Chapter 3

    Serenity

    Every NPC I talked to sounded like a real person. They all had their own lives, personalities, things they liked, things they hated. Some even had children. Each one just as real and complex as the last.

    These guys all seemed to be even more real than Shadow and I. Rather¡­ it felt as though my life had been set in a bubble within a bubble, within yet another bubble. while their lives were more grounded within their reality. Funny considering they¡¯re the NPCs.

    These guys actually lived in there world unlike us. They didn¡¯t spend their days behind a computer screen or their phones. They didn''t worship celebrities or take the talk of influencers as irrefutable truths. They thought for themselves and were even far more intelligent when it came to life.

    For these guys school wasn''t the only place to learn. The world was their class room. They lived day by day right in the moment honing their craft to near perfection.

    From forging weapons to running restaurants, to street performances. There were no followers here. Just energetic driven life cultivators continuously thriving in their environment.

    Another thing I noticed was this world wasn¡¯t new. As in it didn''t just appear the moment we arrived. It was evident by the way things were worn down, torn, and sun baked. The trees had at least fifty years on them maybe more. The stone roads were beaten, ragged, and cracked. There were even cracks on the buildings.

    In some places plant life threatened to consume the city. As far as I knew this place has always existed. The NPCs even knew of us. They referred to us as primordials. Beings with incredible powers and long life spans.

    It made me envy them in a way. They lived so happy. How come our society is so depressing. We have all the technology in the world yet everyone is still so unhappy. I thought to the way the NPCs lived their lives. Each of them had purpose. Was that what we were lacking? Purpose? I¡¯ve never had it. I¡¯ve never been driven towards a calling.

    Even the homeless had so much personality. I made sure to give those guys a gold coin. That was a lot. The currency here was bronze, silver, gold, and crystal. One hundred bronze was worth one silver. Ten silver was worth one gold, and one hundred gold was worth one crystal.

    You could rent a room for a day or two¡ªdepending on the inn¡ªfor a single silver coin. Food was usually a few bronze. As the ruler of an entire country. I had over one-thousand crystal.

    It sucked knowing these people were my followers. How the hell could I take care of them. I¡¯ll probably be pitchforked by the end of the week. Good thing there¡¯s no media to smear lies about me and provoke violence.

    A gold coin wouldn''t fix anything but at the very least it would give them a chance to get back on their feet. If they wasted it on something stupid like booze then that was there fault.

    I¡¯d gotten their names and marked them on my citizens tab. this way I¡¯d know who I gave money to. Those that didn''t pull themselves out of the gutter would need to be interviewed in order to root out the reason for there specific poverty.

    While some were simply homeless because of bad luck. Others had mental illnesses that made it impossible for them to live in society. That included the ones that were addicted to alcohol or drugs.

    There was also those that enjoyed being homeless but I wasn¡¯t gonna bother with them.

    I remember there being a drug in-game called purple mist. It was a story line in-game but here it existed in the back alleys of my city.

    Giving addicts an entire gold coin sounded bad but I also knew that those people rarely changed, so if they over dosed then that was just one less person to worry about. Either they''d get there lives in order or die alone. All I did was give them the choice. At the very least they¡¯d die happy.

    If my plan went the way I thought it would. Then in a couple days purple mist would be a myth. There was more to it than simply killing off a bunch of drug addicts, but that would come later.

    In the empire tab there was a stat indicating criminals. It didn''t give me names only a percentage of 7%. I wasn¡¯t sure if I could clean everything up, but I had to try. Of course a bunch of the homeless would probably refuse any programs I¡¯d implement.

    A lot of them would probably refuse the moment they realized they wouldn''t be allowed any drugs or booze.

    Being in charge was rough. Put simply I wasn¡¯t the good guy. It seemed that even this world was made up of varying shades of gray.

    On my little tour through the city the NPCs all seemed to complement me and give me candy. Surprisingly candy is very tasty. I never really had much of a sweet tooth before but now that I had new taste buds I couldn¡¯t help but like sweet things.

    This one lady handed me a cup of fruits with ice cream. I was so happy. I thought people would look at me strangely for walking around in what most would consider cosplay but instead I was praised and rewarded.

    One guy even gave me a ring of vitality. I did the math, well not really. Basically my vitality only gave me one health per stat point. That meant it was a one to one conversion.

    The ring gave me an extra health point for each point in vitality. That meant my health had doubled. Instead of it being in the Five-hundreds it was now in the thousands.

    My health was still really low but it was better than before. With this I might be able to tank a hit. The ring wasn¡¯t the best rarity but I could find something stronger.

    The armor I had before gave me a plus five to health Per vitality. There also didn''t seem to be a restriction on the amount of accessories one could wear but I wasn¡¯t sure if the effects of accessories were stackable.

    The last accessory I had was a stone that went on my sword called butchers gem. It gave a 15% crit boost. These days health was more important than damage. I really didn''t want to die. Especially since I wasn''t sure what came next. Valhalla maybe?

    Those weren¡¯t the only things I was given. This one lady gave me a few old dresses from when her daughter was younger. I didn''t have very many clothes I would consider¡­ not cosplay so it was greatly appreciated.

    The only thing was they didn''t offer any protection or stat bonuses just a charm boost. I even got a few dolls and plushies. The dolls were creepy as fuck, but I liked the plushies.

    They were pretty cool. Each one was of a different in-game monster. I was especially fond of the pudgy white ghost. In-game it was known as a white wraith but as a plushy it was very rounded, very soft, and had a derpy face. It was adorable!

    When in-game these things were more like trophies you could collect. Seeing as I could never hold them I didn''t see a point in keeping them, so I sold all of mine online for real cash.

    There was a super rare plushy I got once from killing a secret special mob boss called Murmur. Murmur is a shadow demon cat.

    I got the murmur plushy but mine was a rare version where instead of black it was red. It sold for over 1k online. I kind of wish I had kept it. I bet it was super cuddly.

    Shadow didn''t understand my love for plushies. I tried to explain the concept of gamer plushies but she still thought I was being childish. Maybe I was but who cares.

    Shadow was also having fun. She genuinely enjoyed her conversations with the NPCs. I was surprised at how friendly and talkative she was. I wish I could do that. She didn''t speak like that too me. This was the mutual respect talk you gave to strangers.

    Warm smile, soft spoken, charming, welcoming body language. I should be taking notes.

    There was this one lady she really hit it off with. The lady owned a flower shop. They talked about flowers for half an hour! I felt like a kid that had been dragged around shopping by their mom. It was torture.

    As I sat there on a chair listening to the two flower enthusiasts I got a glimpse of a small boy. Probably the son of the flower shop owner.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    He was watching me from behind the door frame that led into the back. I waved at him smiling. He ran away. The sound of pitter patter on hardwood reverberating from the back room.

    Poor kid must be shy. A moment later he came into the room approaching me. The little guy handed me a flower. It was a black rose.

    He must of thought I liked the color black because of how I was dressed. Then it hit me like a sack of screaming potatoes.

    This little dude was crushing on me hard! I was shocked. A little disgusted but¡­ from an outside perspective I suppose it was also kind of cute.

    Obviously I wasn¡¯t going to pursue a relationship with a child but I also didn''t want to hurt the little dudes feelings.

    This whole thing was familiar. I was reminded of the time when I was around his age and I gave a girl a flower.

    I found it in the grass fields behind my childhood home. By which I mean I stole it from Mrs. Robertson¡¯s garden.

    My efforts were in vein. She threw it on the ground and stomped on it. Then called me ugly in front of her friends and laughed.

    I cried all the way home and through most of the day. My dad called me a pussy so I tried punching him but it did nothing. He just kept laughing and told me ¡°A girl like that is nothing but trouble.¡±

    Mom comforted me but the damage was done. Still I wouldn¡¯t call that memory a bad one. It served as a lesson in a way.

    The world was cruel and people were tribal beings. I didn''t know it back then but that was a power move. She wanted to look cool in front of her friends so she could climb the metaphorical social ladder.

    I just so happened to hand her the perfect opportunity. In other words it was nothing personal just business. Anyway, that''s how I met my wife Alice. She still laughs about it to this day. Meanwhile the hole inside me grows with every moment that passes demanding for its hunger to be satiated. Ah yes. Good times.

    I decided to accept the gift and treat the young lad with respect. I took the flower and said thank you. The little dude got all excited and we got to talking.

    Turns out he wanted to be an adventurer and fight monsters. He even showed me his toy sword and did a few flourishes.

    The kid¡¯s name was Arthur Magnus. He was named after his grate grand father. The kid had a big imagination and was very energetic and animated.

    He kind of reminded me of my younger brother. After an hour Shadow and I finally left. As a thank you for the flower I gave the boy a magic cloak that would protect him from danger.

    It wasn''t super strong gear but it was useful and in his size. It was also augmented, enchanted, and had been re-forged from C to SS. I even managed to put a few runes on it back in the day. That was before an update injected better gear into the game.

    The cloak was about two updates behind the current gear I was wearing. It would really suck to hear Arthur had died in battle.

    Once I¡¯d given him the cloak he began to treat me like an older sibling and started calling me sister Aku. It was a complete one-eighty.

    I preferred it this way. He would grow into a fine young man one day. He could later get the cloak refitted once he grew up. That was something I found out from the seamstress at the clothes shop. She could do it with clothes but not with armor.

    Armor had to be reshaped by a blacksmith. The strange part about all this was the NPCs all referred to me as Lady Aku. It kind of weirded me out but I was slowly getting used to it.

    I didn¡¯t see the point in correcting people since that would require me to say ¡°No actually please call me Isaac. By the way I¡¯m actually a mister.¡± Then they¡¯d look at me funny and I¡¯d have to explain the whole body reincarnation thing. That would be every single time I met someone! Fuck that!

    We decided to stop at a fountain and sit for a bit. I happily munched on funnel cake while Shadow looked through her own guild tab.

    Her tail swished back and forth like she was one of those weird Felix cat clocks. I wonder if I can use her to tell time?

    The desire to grab her tail was slowly creeping up on me but I refrained from doing so. She¡¯d get mad again. It was both her weakness and her murder trigger. Kind of like kicking someone in the balls. You never know if they¡¯ll crumple over or go berserk. I¡¯ll do it when her hands are full.

    ¡°Luca says she¡¯s headed to the tavern.¡±

    My attention was pulled away from Shadows fluffy tail and I managed to pull myself together just before she saw what I¡¯d been focused on.

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m tired though. My feet are killing me. Let¡¯s sit for a bit longer.¡± Our plan was to walk the streets and try to find out more about this world. Having such short legs made it hard to keep up.

    So far it seemed like this world was as real as our own just way more raw. Our country even had trade relations with neighboring countries dating back twenty years.

    Countries like Erickdom and Zone. I bet that was something Mao set up. I wouldn''t know since I had completely checked out when it came to the town building mechanics.

    All I knew was that Zone was located to the west and Erickdom was up in the north. To the east was New Sweden and to the south was ocean.

    Though a few miles into the ocean there was an island called brah. Also in that direction was Pearlescent. Pearlescent was a town in our country located to the south right next to the ocean.

    That was where Rhyme was now. She had an in-game fishing hobby. it was one of her favorite game mechanics. Pearlescent was where we got all of our fish, salt, and a few other things.

    Rhyme said she couldn¡¯t meet with us due to something going on in that area. She didn¡¯t explain anymore than that so I was left to wonder.

    That girl was never the type to give elaborate explanations. The only resource we were truly missing was iron and coal.

    There were no good spots for us to mine so instead we traded other things like crops for it.

    Erickdom was in the mountains. They had plenty of iron and coal but not enough food. There best food source was mountain goats but that was about it.

    Crops didn¡¯t grow very well in that rocky cold area. We invested in green houses. Not only did the food grow yearly round it also grew fast.

    From my understanding Erickdom could make greenhouses but lacked the dirt to make anything significant. It was pretty tough to farm in such a rocky area. Our land was mostly open fields. Food would not be a problem.

    What we were lacking was security. Our military force was only eight players and there were currently only three available.

    We couldn''t secure the entire country by ourselves. If a player wanted they could stroll through our country. It would be easy for them to travel to a settlement that was unprotected and claim it for themselves.

    Even if they couldn''t defend it. They could still take all the resources for themselves and skip out before we got there.

    It¡¯s a little strange this hadn''t happened yet. Then again, maybe they haven''t caught on yet. Rhyme said something about invaders but she hasn''t responded to any of my messages.

    She must be to busy to respond. I couldn''t just storm over there. At least not the way I am now. I needed to hire NPCs. Not just for a military force but a policing force.

    Monsters also roam around freely now. A wall around each settlement would be nice. That way we could keep track of the people coming and going.

    Serenity had a wall and it was being misused. People could come in and out without any form of identification. Having some guards would be grate.

    I could also charge people for entry passes. A quick interview and paper work. The passes can have expiration dates. Any players caught without one get the chance to buy one or get kicked out.

    This is all so complicated. I¡¯m not suited for this kind of stuff. It was interesting to see all these things from the game taking real form. The game was never designed to be a real world.

    Maybe that was intentional? The only thing that could make something like this happen would be some kind of God.

    Everything here was designed to well for it all to be random. What if this whole thing was just a simulation? Like were all plugged into some sort of machine.

    How am I supposed to get Shadow home? I¡¯m so useless. Why did I promise her something so impossible? I could feel a weight on my shoulders. A dark heavy burden weighed on me. I shouldn''t be here.

    Shadow looked to me and all of my delicious sweets. Mr. ghost, the pudgy white ghost plushy and Snowball, the white cat plushy, were sitting next to me. ¡°You know those are bad for you.¡± She reached over and took my bag of rock candy. It vanished into her inventory.

    ¡°Hey! My candy give it back!¡± I cried out. She shook her head. Her ears swinging left and right. ¡°No its to much sugar. I think you¡¯ve had enough. Do you want to get a tummy ache?¡± She tuck my candy apples and stored them away. One by one my sweets vanished before my very eyes.

    ¡°but, but that¡¯s not fair! Those are mine!¡± When I realized she wasn¡¯t going to stop I reached for my bag of freshly baked cookies only to have my hand slapped away. She stored them giving me a stern look.

    ¡°Come on Shadow that¡¯s not fair. I¡¯ll be fine. I won''t eat them all just¡­ most of them¡­. Look! They were gifts from my people! I can¡¯t just let them go to waste!¡± The only thing left was the slice of cherry pie.

    She took it to. I wanted to cry but didn¡¯t want to give her the satisfaction. Instead I turned away from her and tried to finish my funnel cake only for Shadow to snatch it from my lap and put it away.

    ¡°No more you¡¯ve had enough. They won¡¯t expire in my inventory. Besides At this rate you¡¯ll have a sugar crash and I¡¯ll have to carry you around.¡± Her tail looked like it wanted to smack me.

    I was in disbelief. First off I knew for a fact she would love to carry me around and had even suggested it when I told her my feet were hurting.

    Also How could she be so cruel. Tears rolled down my face. I got the sniffles. Then burst out into full angry crying. ¡°I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! Your ruining my life! You don''t love me!¡± I kicked my feet like a toddler and let out all my frustrations.

    I wasn''t proud of my actions but it wasn¡¯t fair. It was like discovering a new addiction only to be sent to rehab after the first hit. I didn¡¯t even get a chance to hit rock bottom.

    I sat there at the edge of the fountain with a heavy pout. A sniffle here, a jerk reaction there. I started to wonder if this was my divine punishment for handing out gold to potential drug addicts.

    She looked upon me unfazed. ¡°Are you done? Did you forget I have three kids back home. I¡¯m used to silly little tantrums. The one you just had isn¡¯t even in my top ten. Oh look people are watching. Isn¡¯t that embarrassing. Your ugly crying in front of strangers.¡± The people looking on were laughing at my outburst.

    I felt kind of stupid now but I was still upset and when your upset you do questionable things.

    I didn¡¯t respond. I did the only thing I could and that was the silent treatment. Oh she was going to pay. I¡¯d spend the whole day quiet if I had to. It''ll drive her crazy. Yeah that''s what I''ll do.

    ¡°Honestly you seem to become more child-like with every second that passes. I¡¯m starting to get worried. Are you still in there?¡± She waved her tail over my face like she was trying to lure me back to her.

    I could bite her but I was doing the silent treatment not the¡­ biting¡­ people¡­ treatment? Whatever. It would only get me in trouble.

    I turned away crossing my arms over my chest with a childish ¡°humph"

    She didn¡¯t say a word. Instead she sighed. Her ears fallen. ¡°Okay¡­ in that case if your good I¡¯ll give you back one of the sweets, but only if your good.¡±

    My mood instantly changed. ¡°Really!¡± I smiled happily as I turned to her.

    She looked surprised but managed a ¡°Uh¡­ yup.¡± She had been trying to tease me but I called her bluff.

    ¡°Okay I can do that. I¡¯ll be extra good. You''ll see.¡± I just about bounced in my seat.

    she looked even more worried now. ¡°Hey. Master your still in there right? You haven¡¯t like actually turned into a child¡­ right?¡±

    I hugged both my plushies feeling gleeful. ¡°Whatever do you mean. I¡¯m the same as I¡¯ve always been. Um¡­ so can I have a candy apple now?¡± Shadow tried to stay firm but melted at my charm.

    Making my feet kick back and forth was just icing on the cake. With my current gear my charm was boosted by 20%.

    At first I didn¡¯t know what charm was, but after interacting with NPCs I realized it was my literal cuteness. It was basically like having high charisma but with a few drawbacks.

    For one I couldn''t ask for booze. Well¡­ I could but I¡¯d have to be very persuasive. It worked for what I currently needed so I wasn''t complaining.

    Charisma wasn¡¯t a stat that existed in-game. Somehow in this world it was an actual thing and playing on it let me get things from others.

    Like all the sweets they gave me. Though¡­ the tantrum was actually real. This body tended to act on its own at times.

    I was trying to be as cuddly as possible. That way Shadow would give me back my candies. So far it didn¡¯t seem to work as well on actual players. Though it did have some type of effect on them.

    Maybe it was because they had a counter stat. Some kind of secret stat that went against charm like a bull shit detector.

    It could also be the fact that Shadow knew what I was actually like or the fact that she knew I was actually a grown ass man. Only way to figure this out was to test it against players that didn''t know me.

    ¡°I suppose a candy apple is fine. It is an apple after all.¡± It kind of worked but not quite.

    If she was an NPC I¡¯d of gotten all my sweets back. She still seemed worried about me. I wanted to tell her about the charm stat but decided against it seeing as she might get mad and refuse to give me any of my candy back.

    She handed me the aforementioned candy apple. I licked it. ¡°Yummy, let¡¯s find Sister Luca! Come on Shadow.¡± I tugged on her arm she looked on in disbelief.

    Since I was stuck in this body I decided to use it to my advantage. Shadow couldn¡¯t make fun of me anymore since I¡¯d embraced the child like act. In fact she wasn¡¯t saying much anymore. Most likely thinking I¡¯d gone insane.

    For the first time since we met up in this world I was in control. Still I couldn''t get this feeling of guilt off of me. It clung to me like a cold wet pair of jeans. God I hate when that happens.

    This was nothing compared to the weight I felt but for some reason it just kept gnawing at me.

    I felt bad about what I said so I stopped in my tracks and looked back at her, my face full of regret. ¡°Um¡­.. I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t actually hate you." I had to overt my eyes due to the embarrassment moving through me.

    I was sure the guilt wasn¡¯t mine but I had to get rid of it and this was the only way to do that.

    Shadow let out a giggle. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I know you didn¡¯t mean it.¡± Her hand tousled my hair.

    The feeling of guilt disappeared. Yup, those definitely weren¡¯t my feelings. It was like I was sharing a body with someone else.

    I was never sure what emotions were actually my own and which were Aku''s. The two seem to blend together at times. I just hope I don¡¯t lose myself at some point.

 Episode 4: the man in the free candy van

    Chapter 4

    The man in the free candy van

    The tavern was located near the south gate of serenity. I held onto Shadows hand. Mostly so we wouldn¡¯t get separated. Also I was a bit to nervous to be seen by all these people and holding her hand made me feel better.

    I hadn¡¯t felt this way since I was a kid. When I was little my anxiety was pretty bad but as I grew up it diminished from an oppressive force to a mild inconvenience.

    Snowball acted as my shield. I could hide behind her whenever someone talked to me. I held the cat plushy tightly in my left arm.

    Our walk came to a stop, before we could reach our destination we ran into some¡­ traffic. In the middle of Verta street¡ªone of the two main roads that cut almost perfectly across the city¡ªthere was a small gathering of NPCs.

    ¡°Please marry me ma-lady. I the grate Mantis will keep you safe from your evil stepfather.¡± My curiosity eclipsed my anxiety.

    Releasing Shadows hand I weaved my way through the crowd by sliding between legs and maneuvering around unsuspecting bodies.

    I was like a snake creeping it¡¯s way through grass. Eventually I managed to get a glimpse at the speaker. It was a young lad. Around seventeen or eighteen.

    Shadow tried to follow but couldn¡¯t. She was to fat to fit between legs. I could hear her calling for me, concern in her voice. Did she really think I couldn¡¯t look after myself?

    I sent her a quick message through party chat and she seemed to calm down. Party chat worked the same as chat rooms. Only it had a shorter range. Not sure how short. All I did was direct a thought at her and it was done.

    The guy had shoulder length silver hair and blue eyes. He wore a black cloak over darkened ox leather armor.

    From the look of his pointed ears he was an elf. A moon elf to be precise. Moon elves had stat multipliers in perception and dexterity.

    They also had a racial bonus called dark affinity. It made them more vulnerable to light magic but gave them a boost in dark magic.

    Their dexterity was usually their second strongest stat. That type of build made a good foundation for the ninja class.

    The guy had an actual top hat and a cane. He was holding onto a female NPCs arm. She looked around fifteen maybe older with brown hair and brown eyes.

    The girl looked frightened. Unsure of what to do she turned to the crowd but no one was willing to help.

    On the ground was an old man with a pain stricken face. He was struggling to stand. His clothes looked somewhat dirty. Like he¡¯d been rolling around on the ground, but with a splash of jam.

    Wait¡­ my mistake, that¡¯s not jam it¡¯s blood. A closer look at Mantis showed he was a level eighty-seven summoner.

    As a moon elf you¡¯d think he¡¯d go for an assassin type class. Maybe summoner wasn¡¯t his main? Either that or he¡¯s an idiot that picked moon elf as a race because it looked cool.

    I hated neutral players. These guys didn''t belong to a guild or anything. The issue was they were allowed to roam my land and cause trouble.

    There gaming experience was way different from creative players. They benefited off our hard work.

    Well¡­ I suppose we also benefit from the resources they bring in and the quests they complete. But still, I don¡¯t like it when they get to play with my toys!

    This guy was especially bad. He was harassing my people. I thought back to the NPCs I''d met, reminding myself of how real they were. Flesh and blood just like me.

    No one from the crowd was in a position to help the poor girl. How could low level NPCs with no real gear stop a level eighty-seven player. Even though he was a summoner ¡ª a class that was physically weak ¡ª these guys were no match for him.

    The girl cried out in fear. ¡°Please let go! I don''t want to go with you! My stepfather is a good person! He would never force me to work for him! I do it because I want to!¡± The girl cried as she desperately tried to get away from the crazy man that had beaten up her beloved stepfather.

    I remember them. They were the ones that ran the Caf¨¦. The girls name was poppy and the old man went by¡­. Um¡­. James, I think. It was confirmed by the nametag floating over his head.

    Poppy waited tables and James was the cook. From what I knew the mother was sick and bedridden. I think her name was Jane, or Jan, or Jenny. Wait! Was it Linda? I can¡¯t remember.

    Mantis, as if a switch had been flipped, went from annoyingly clingy creep to predator. His face seemed to take on a shade of red.

    ¡°You! You stupid bitch! Can''t you see I¡¯m trying to help you! The man is evil he has infected your mind! Don''t worry I¡¯ll take good care of you. Trust me I¡¯m a nice guy.¡± He pulled her even harder trying to take her with him. She struggled to get free but it was like a kitten in the arms of a gorilla.

    ¡°No! Poppy! Please don''t take my daughter away!¡± The old man cried out trying and failing to stand.

    He was badly bruised. If I was a doctor I¡¯d say ¡°This man has suffered contusions¡± or something along those lines. Because that¡¯s what doctors say right? How does one use contusions in a sentence?

    Coooon-tusions that¡¯s a funny word. ¡°Please, I¡¯ll give you whatever you want! Just leave her alone! She¡¯s a good kid! She doesn¡¯t deserve this!¡± the man''s tears splashed against the ground mixing with dirt.

    A combination of frustration and a feeling of loss overwhelming him. he was desperate. Poppy called for her father dropping the ¡°step" from his name, but Mantis kept dragging her away.

    Mantis was strong. He didn¡¯t need to drag this out like that. If he really wanted he could just carry her off like she was a bag of money.

    He was doing this in broad daylight in front of so many witnesses. It was because he knew they couldn¡¯t stop him. He could do whatever he wanted because he had power.

    People watched with shock on there faces but no one did a thing. Some even shook violently in frustration.

    ¡°Someone help! Stop him! Please! Save Poppy! Ill give you all the money from my business! Just stop that man!¡± James rose up to his hands and knees but then collapsed on the ground unable to do a thing.

    He begged, he pleaded for someone, anyone to save his child. While this all happened I couldn¡¯t help but feel like this was some kind of quest or event. It was perfectly set up for the system to hand me a prompt. Something like-

    New quest!

    Quest: save poppy!

    Description: Poppy has been kidnapped by a mysterious stranger. You must hurry and save her before he gets away.

    EXP: 1200

    COIN: 32G (all the money saved up by James)

    REWARD: X1 PINK RIBBON

    Note: Stop standing around and do something you idiot! He''s getting away! Why are you just standing there! Do something before I hurl a lightning bolt your way!

    There it was, I knew my gaming sense was still working. Though, I¡¯ve never seen a quest be generated for such a specific situation. Especially not for a player dispute.

    Actually this is James¡¯s daughter. It only makes sense for it to turn into a quest after he offered a reward. Still the quest didn¡¯t activate right away.

    Normally quests had to be pre-programed by a dev. You kind of just stumble upon them like landmines.

    This one had been made on the spot. Was there someone watching? The note added pretty much confirmed it.

    Was I in trouble with the system or something? It left me with a strange feeling. The thought of someone watching me while I go about my business. What if I was taking a dump?

    I felt the need to cover my body with my hands. I shook my head. This was no time for that! Now that it was a quest I felt like I had to do something.

    Of course I would have helped even without the quest but this was just the push I needed to actually jump in.

    In the old world when stuff like this happened I¡¯d normally try to get away from the action but now that it was a quest it felt less like a messy situation and more like a straight forward task.

    Shrugging my shoulders, I picked up a rock and pushed past the NPCs. At the same time I sent a message to Shadow informing her on what needed to be done.

    She stayed back the moment party chat came to life. My voice was clear in her head. A bit of a strange feature being able to communicate with your party telepathically but I wasn¡¯t complaining.

    ¡°Hey, dick head! Let her go!¡± I threw the rock. It hit Mantis in the back of the head causing him to cry out in pain. He released Poppy. She ran to her dad crying at his side.

    I on the other hand was surprised it actually hit him. I''ve never been good at throwing things. At least my aim was always off.

    Just ask every school coach that''s ever had the pleasure of having me in there class.

    There was enough force in that stone to Crack a skull. The crunchy sound was actually pretty satisfying. Like cracking your knuckles accept better because it¡¯s someone else.

    Party chat

    Shadow: language!

    Aku: Not now! I¡¯m trash talking!

    ¡°Alright! Who threw that!¡± The guy turned around only to see me. ¡°You brat! You¡¯ll pay for that! Uncle Mantis has just the thing to deal with nosey kids like you.¡± He opened his palm revealing a flash of light.

    It faded leaving behind a small blue crystal. I knew what it was. It was a summoning crystal. The blue color indicating common.

    He must of thought I was an NPC. Guess he hasn¡¯t notice my level yet. I kind of wish I had adjusted my hot bar.

    As of right now I only had two attack spells slotted in. Didn¡¯t really think I¡¯d be fighting in the middle of town. My bad.

    I hugged my cat plushy and got ready to cast a spell. Mantis seemed to think I was scared.

    He had interpreted me hugging my magical medium as a sign of fear. if he was smart he could have easily seen that the cat was a weapon.

    Honestly it was a bit awkward to use a plushy as a weapon but back in-game it made an adorable accessory. Here it still served that purpose and best of all I could keep the eyes of people from looking at me to hard.

    Snowball will protect me. Though It would suck if I got blood on her, so I planned to fight long distance.

    ¡°Come forth Imp!¡± The crystal erupted into energy, a shadow appearing in front of Mantis.

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    Out of it a small goat-like monkey looking thing, crawled it¡¯s way into the new world. It¡¯s tail ended in a black arrow head. On its head were long goat-like horns. In its clawed hands a small spear.

    The feet were¡­. well they weren¡¯t feet they were hooves. It¡¯s burning red eyes looked at me but it didn¡¯t look menacing. It looked terrified.

    I started to wonder if the summoned creatures also had personalities like the NPCs.

    Did that mean monsters were now intelligent? If that¡¯s the case then fighting them might be a lot harder than it used to be.

    Normally mobs had attack patterns but if they were smarter now, they could potentially become unpredictable.

    Already this little fight seemed to bear fruits. I almost thanked Mantis for the info but then remembered why I was fighting him in the first place.

    It would be bad if I straight up kill the guy. Why is killing so much easier than knocking someone out?

    They make it look so easy in the movies. I just need to punch him in the chin really hard or bash him in the back of the head.

    The latter of those might kill and I don¡¯t have the height for the first. How annoying! I was the perfect size for ball busting but then again that¡¯s not guaranteed to work.

    He might just get mad and then I¡¯ll be in real trouble. I should probably end it as soon as possible seeing as I focused so much on defense that I ended up with very little offense.

    At the time it made perfect sense since my health was so low. The little imp looked back to Mantis almost like saying ¡°Dude, are you sure?!¡±

    Mantis looked his summon in the eyes. ¡°What!? Are you scared of a little girl. Show her who¡¯s boss!¡± The imp looked back to me.

    His knees were shaking. I didn¡¯t know if there was any repercussions for a summon not following orders but it looked as though some sort of magic had forced the little dude to take a step towards me.

    The next step was faster than the first. He sped up until he was at a full sprint. The whole time a look of fear on his face.

    I felt a little bad but I would make it quick. At least that way the imp wouldn¡¯t suffer. A magic circle appeared in front of me the size of a baseball.

    I felt it again this time. A similar feeling like when I cast mana bolt and stealth¡­ but this time it was slightly more noticeable.

    There was a pull inside me. Like something inside was being drained. The magic circle flashed eight runes. A ball of icy cold water forming. The imp was a foot away from me before my spell went off.

    ¡°Aqua bolt.¡± A ball of icy azure water fired. It entered the imps head exiting its skull on the other side and rocketed towards Mantis. Instead of hitting him an invisible wall of mana flared to life deflecting the spell back at me.

    I quickly activated draining barrier and the spell hit my own shimmering wall causing it to disperse into water droplets.

    The draining barrier ability was unlocked by leveling mage. It basically drained the power of magic attacks and added the energy into my focus bar.

    I didn¡¯t get all the power back. Only half of the energy had been returned. Due to the energy cost of the barrier In total I lost two units of focus.

    The ability he used was summoner¡¯s aura. It was more of a passive ability. Basically every time one of his summons died. He would gain a reflective barrier that could reflect one projectile attack.

    Either physical or magical in nature. He could have up to three at a time. I knew that would happen.

    It wasn¡¯t enough just to shoot him. I also had to aim it perfectly otherwise the attack would hit one of my citizens.

    Poppy and some of the other NPCs were helping pull the injured old man away. Shadow was currently helping evacuate people. My job was to keep his attention.

    The elf looked somewhat surprised at the situation. ¡°You. you¡¯re a player to?¡± I nodded. ¡°Then I¡¯m not the only chosen one! We can make a party and fight whatever demon lord plagues these lands! Ma-lady please join me! We can save the world together! You as my bride and me as your knight in shining armor!¡± He swung his cane around like he was flourishing a sword.

    It reminded me of Arthur¡¯s antics. No that''s unfair. Arthur was way more skilled than this guy.

    I was getting major creep vibes from him. Was this what people called a neckbeard? Honestly I thought these guys only existed on reddit. One thing was for sure this dude was a pedo.

    ¡°No thanks. I¡¯m a thirty-nine year old man. Even if I wasn¡¯t I¡¯m still in the body of a nine year old kid. That''s pretty fucked up dude. Why don¡¯t you go rent a room and jerk off till it hurts. That ought to clear your head up a bit. I know I always feel pretty good after a good wank.¡± Despite my nonchalant attitude, I felt goosebumps crawling up my arms.

    Was this what it felt like to be checked out? Hmmm¡­ if it was a hot chick checking me out I might be cool with that but this¡­ this was the gaze you give to a slow roasted honey glazed ham. What came next was one step above that.

    He stroked his non-existing beard and said ¡°So your legal then.¡± His face scrunched into the most perverted grin I¡¯d ever seen.

    His breathing seemed to become heavy and for the first time in a long time, I felt as though I was in true danger. My legs were shaking and I couldn''t move.

    This dude needed to be in jail. He probably deserved worse but for now getting him off the streets was top priority. A guy like that with this much power. That was just tragedy waiting to happen.

    I finally remembered I was a grown ass man and pulled myself together. ¡°I¡¯m going to enjoy kicking the shit out of you.¡± I gave my knuckles a quick crack. I could hear Shadow complaining about my use of curse words and how inappropriate I was being.

    I ignored them. Normally my anxiety made it hard for me to speak with confidence. The only way around it was to pretend to be someone else. Right now I wasn¡¯t Isaac. Right now I was Terry. Terry was an asshole.

    Mantis''s face did that thing where it turned red. It didn''t make him intimidating. Instead, he came off as an upset tomato.

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand! I can protect you from the horrible monsters of this new world! Ma-lady come with me! A lady such as yourself should never have to lift a finger! I will give you everything you¡¯ll ever need!¡± He seemed to calm down a tad and fell into an unconventional flirting bit.

    ¡°You''ll just need to cook and clean. Trust me I¡¯m a nice guy. My IQ is over one-eighty. You¡¯d be lucky to find someone as amazing as me.¡± It wasn''t really flirting but I doubt he saw it that way.

    I gave him a quick shake of my head and he responded with anger once again. ¡° I don¡¯t understand! All woman want are asshole jerks that treat them like crap! I''m a nice guy!¡± This guy was so far gone.

    I started to feel sorry for him. It seemed arguing wouldn¡¯t do anything. This guy was stuck in his own delusions.

    No matter what I say he¡¯ll just ignore or twist my words to suit his narrative. In his eyes he was the protagonist. He probably already made up his own anime name.

    Something like. ¡°My life in another world with a loli harem lol.¡± Honestly I¡¯d watch it. 2D was 2D after all. I¡¯m getting off track again.

    ¡°Woman don¡¯t like you because your not actually a nice guy. The moment you get rejected you act like there¡¯s something wrong with them when you¡¯re the one that''s messed up. Just look at me. I''m like a literal child what made you think it was a good idea. Pretty sure you¡¯re a pedo. Now come with me there¡¯s a nice room in my dungeon with your name on it. You can jerk off in there all you want. The goo on the walls makes grate lub.¡± The guy was visibly shaken.

    To me it looked like he was acting out jesters from a cartoon. I looked around just to make sure people weren¡¯t watching. I really didn¡¯t want to be apart of this fan-fic. Then again if I didn¡¯t do something, who would.

    His anger twisted into madness. His voice taking on his expression. ¡°I¡­ I see. So you to have been brainwashed by your father. This city is corrupt! I will destroy it and free all of it¡¯s beautiful maidens! First I shall free you from its clutches. To do that I¡¯ll have to beat you to an inch of your life.¡± He tossed his cane aside along with his stupid hat. Then started screaming like he was powering up.

    Grate, now he¡¯s going all Z on me. I was well passed annoyed. This was like that time I got into a fight with that one kid that watched to much anime.

    Not really a neckbeard just a kid with an overactive imagination. he tried to do a rah-sen-gan on me. I punched him in the nose five times.

    Not all at once. After the first nose punch I warned him I¡¯d do it again if he didn¡¯t leave me alone. The guy said something stupid like ¡°Finally a worthy opponent!¡±

    later my friend asked me why I decked him in the schnoz so many times. It was simple. I wanted to leave a mark.

    That way every time he saw himself in the mirror. He would remember not to fuck with me. That guy ended up needing reconstructive surgery.

    I got suspended. The principal and authorities decided it was self defense on account that the guy had been messing with me since the beginning of the school year.

    That didn''t stop him from filing a restraining order. There were quite a few witnesses and no one really liked that guy.

    He use to harass girls all the time. Dad was a cop so it was all good. I was still suspended for three days. Mom was pissed and went on and on about how she didn¡¯t raise me to be a delinquent.

    I think that was the day something broke inside me. I just kind of got tired of being pushed around, so I stopped caring about other people¡¯s feelings.

    Once you realize strangers don''t give a shit about you. It becomes easy to stop caring about them.

    While Mom was crying her eyes out Dad gave me my first beer and called me a scrapper.

    I wasn¡¯t a strong guy but I could easily beat up a scrawny anime kid. Especially one with such heavy delusions. Terry was born that day.

    Mantis pulled another crystal from his inventory. This one was silver indicating that it was a rare. Still not very impressive.

    Summoners usually had to spend gold to contract with new summons. They could have however many they wanted but were usually limited to the ten slots in there hot bar.

    The number of summons they could manifest at once usually depended on there focus bar.

    Typically you could have about five to six common or just one or two SS. Regardless I needed to stop him from summoning something else.

    So far our battle hasn¡¯t caused any damage to the city but that could change. I thought back to the innocent tree I demolished with my mana bolt.

    That was a beginner spell. What could something more powerful do? Probably level the city. I had to stop the summon from forming.

    There was something I wanted to try. The menu acted upon intention, so if I focus my thoughts I should be able to pull something out of my inventory, without actually opening my menu.

    I held Snowball in my left hand then lifted my right hand. With a thought I summoned a new weapon into it.

    Before it could form I pointed it at Mantis. As I pulled the trigger, the light gave way to a 32 Winchester revolver.

    The chamber erupted with a loud bang. A bullet exploded out of the barrel at high speeds.

    Mantis''s eyes went wide as the 32 caliber bullet struck him. I was not expecting my aim to be so bad. The shot went right through him and bounced off something in the distance.

    I felt pain. Not the pain from a wound but the pain one felt from seeing someone go through a terrifying experience. ¡°Oh shit! Oh crap! I¡¯m so sorry man!¡± I¡¯d shot him in the dick.

    I had been aiming for his hand in an attempt to knock the summon away, but it turns out accuracy with a pistol got really shaky past twenty feet.

    He screamed in pain and fear, but mostly pain. All while holding his bloody crotch. ¡°Nooooo! Blood! It hurts! Aaaaaah! Mommmmmmy! It hurts!¡± Tears streamed down his face.

    I was a bit shaken at the sight. The blood that came out was almost black. Not red or blue but a reddish dark purple. It made me a bit queasy.

    This was not a game. There weren¡¯t any red particles leaking from the wound. There was real pain painted on his face.

    I hesitated to shoot again. His Health was slowly dropping. It was the bleed de-buff. Every drop of blood was basically his life energy.

    The health bar was a literal representation of how close you were to death. This confirmed my theory. Whether you have a million health or a hundred. A head shot was a head shot.

    With that I put the gun away. Magic was destructive and more powerful than a gun but at least I could actually aim it.

    As far as I could tell magic was directed by intention. All I had to do was lock-on and release. The spell did the rest.

    ¡°You fucking bitch! Aaarh! It fucking hurts! You¡¯ll pay for that! Don¡¯t you know I¡¯m the chosen one! You can''t do this to me! This is my game! I''ll fucking kill you!¡± He took a deep shuttering breath ripping a chunk of hair out the side of his head.

    It looked like something had broken within him. ¡°It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s fine. I know your just being controlled by your father the king. You¡¯re really just an innocent princess. Do not worry princess I will save you.¡± His health was still dropping.

    He pulled a potion out drinking it. I should of used the gun to force him into a cell but the sound of his voice made it clear he was a nut case.

    I doubt he was actually afraid of guns. At least not in his current state. His body took on a green glow and his wounds healed.

    His health wasn¡¯t full, but he was no longer bleeding. I wonder if his dick grew back? Would it be the same size or smaller? Maybe it would grow back twice as big.

    What about the foreskin? Was he still circumcised? No wait, was he even circumcised to begin with?

    Would he need to stretch his regrown foreskin out or was it as worn and torn as before? If it¡¯s all new flesh then would jerking off feel like the first time?

    Would it entirely be made of scar tissue? What would that even look like? It was useful information to know.

    What if I lost an arm? Could I get it back with a heal spell, maybe with a potion or would it just seal the wound?

    If that''s the case then Mantis had just lost his pee shooter. Would I be happy with a new arm? Body dysmorphia was a thing. What if I freak out and try to rip my new arm off? No I would of done it when I woke up as Aku.

    I was so busy trying to figure out what was left of Mantis''s dick, that I forgot about the summon in his bloody hands.

    Mantis enthusiastically raised the summon into the air, evoking its power with a surge of mana. ¡°I call forth air harpy!¡± The blood stained crystal flashed and from the light a feathery lady appeared.

    She had no arms. Instead they were long white wings that spanned about 30 feet from one tip to the other. Her legs were covered in short dark brown feathers and ended with long claw-like talons.

    She let out a cry. Unlike her fellow summon, she had no qualms about fighting me. If she didn¡¯t feel bad about killing me, then I didn¡¯t feel bad about killing her.

    I kept Snowball in my left hand using it to simultaneously cast one spell twice. Then directed the spells with my right hand.

    They weren¡¯t fully formed and I managed to suspend them. I wasn¡¯t sure how I managed that but I was ready to fire.

    Mantis was still holding his crotch. Like he was checking to see if his dick was there¡­ or not. Maybe he was just itchy.

    His penis was made of scar tissue so it has to be itchy right? Is scar tissue itchy? Tears were still running down his face.

    ¡°Attack you stupid bird!¡± The harpy took flight flapping it¡¯s wings to create a gust of air releasing silver translucent blades of pressurized wind.

    I needed to bring it down and since it was a wind type. Fire would do. ¡°Multi Fire Ball!¡± This time two magic circles appeared over my hand.

    They overlapped a little. Two red flames formed, growing next to each other and forming two perfectly rounded spears.

    They spun around each other like orbiting stars. Ten runes flashed for each nova and by the end the two miniature stars grew twice in size.

    This took only a second to form and a moment later they blasted off into the sky. One was slightly closer to the target.

    The first fire ball collided with one of the wind blades expanding and consuming the wind magic. The wind magic only served to feed my spells power making it explode into a puff of smoke.

    The collision opened a path for the second fire ball to get through. It slammed into its target expanding to engulf the harpy.

    The orange flames combusted releasing a rapid stream of black smoke. The harpy let out a cry but soon came falling to the ground.

    The smell of roasted chicken permeated the air. The harpy flapped its melting wings and managed to land on its bird-like legs.

    Some form of wind magic surrounded her as the flames were snuffed out. The wind seemed to heal her partially.

    It¡¯s left wing was now burnt to a crisp, and its right was missing feathers. The things face was just about gone. There were several burns on its torso and legs.

    The damage was slowly being erased. New feathers were now budding from her skin. The need to look away overwhelmed me.

    She was basically naked without her feathers. Why would harpies need breasts? I thought birds fed there children by barfing down there throats.

    I hadn¡¯t planned on it surviving. Usually a fire ball was usually enough. My barrier was also still on cool down. It wouldn¡¯t be ready for another nine seconds. I had one more barrier spell but that one didn¡¯t work for magic based attacks.

    My hot bar only had movement skills and potions now. Aqua bolt was ready but that wouldn¡¯t work against her wind blades.

    I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d need that many attack spells. Seeing as this was supposed to be a safe zone. How was I supposed to know I¡¯d be fighting some crazy jackass.

    The movement abilities were for running away. Fighting in my condition was suicide. Running wasn¡¯t an option.

    I couldn¡¯t just leave Mantis to run around and do how he pleases. Guess I¡¯ll have to avoid her attacks till fire ball or magic barrier is off cool down.

    I could probably take a hit or two. My Gothic gear gave magic resistance so a hit wouldn¡¯t be fatal but what if her wind blades cut my clothes will there protection still work?

    Right when I was about to resort to the gun, I caught a feint blue shimmer behind the harpy. My mouth curled into a grin.

    Right before it could fire off another air blade. Shadow came out of hiding. Her eyes seemed to glow with malice. It was kind of scary.

    Her daggers gleamed a deep red. ¡°Assassinate.¡± She activated the assassin skill Assassinate. It did major damage when doing backstab and a bonus for critical hits.

    She thrust both her blades through its kidneys. It let out a pained cry trying to claw at her.

    The harpies claws managed to leave shallow cuts on shadow¡¯s legs. her confidence evaporated. It was like she¡¯d only just realized what she¡¯d done.

    It was the same feeling I got when I shot Mantis. I knew now hesitation would get you killed so I gave her a bit of guidance.

    Party chat

    Aku: Twist the knife and jump back before she really hurts you! Do not hesitate! She will kill you!

    A look of understanding came over her. Her knifes twisted and the harpy let out an agonizing scream.

    She quickly jumped away and the harpy thrashed trying to attack her. This was not the combat of a game. This was a murder, an execution.

    Blood splattered as the harpy fell. A moment of thrashing and it died. It¡¯s body turned to ash and it vanished from the new world.

    The blood also seemed to peel away and break up into the atmosphere. The original plan was for me to distract Mantis while Shadow got people to safety. Then once everyone was safe she would backstab Mantis and end the fight.

    Stabbing someone in the kidneys wasn¡¯t a killing blow but it did hurt like a bitch. The harpy went down due to the overall damage done to it.

    Damage seemed to all count towards her health bar so at least I knew monsters died the old fashion way or at least summons did.

    Shadow didn¡¯t want me to get hurt so instead of following the plan she went after the harpy. I couldn¡¯t blame her for disobeying.

    She looked to where I was but I wasn¡¯t there. In fact Mantis was gone to. She was all alone on a bloody battle field.

    ¡°Huh? Where did you guys go?¡± she looked around but didn¡¯t see anyone.

    ¡°aaah! Help Shadow! His kidnapping me!¡± I was being carried off in the arms of Mantis. This guy had grabbed me while Shadow was busy killing the harpy.

    He jumped from roof top to roof top. The guy had me in a princess carry. I felt anger swell up inside me and for the first time since I got here my body and mind synced up perfectly.

    This stupid dance had gone on long enough and I was tired of being treated like some girl.

    Without even using the hot bar I activated the martial art Crescent Rising. My foot glowed a soul silver and my body rolled back.

    My boot slammed into the side of Mantis¡¯s head. ¡°uh!¡± The ability was close range passing through his reflection barrier.

    His shield sputtered out vanishing completely. Mantis stumbled a bit as my martial art concluded and I landed on the tiles in front of him.

    My body quickly turned and my fist glowed red as I used another martial art called iron fist.

    My fist hit him in the gut causing his body to keel over me. The knock back was insane. He was sent flying into the roof of the building behind him, crashing through hard stone tiles and into an attic.

    Without using Snowball I started casting spells. Most weren¡¯t even on my hot bar. Eight magic circles appeared rotating in front of me like a giant revolver. Mantis was just about standing when the spells went off.

    ¡°Manabolt, firebolt, aquabolt, aerobolt, Terabolt, thunderbolt, prismaticbolt, Shadowbolt.¡± My voice took on a dark tone and the dark hole inside my heart called for substance.

    A missile of every element fired off one after the other. They were small compared to there regular size.

    Mantis looked on in horror. Each bolt tore through him like he was made of paper. He screamed in agony but I wasn¡¯t done.

    I reached out with my left hand activating the psychic ability called pull. His body was ripped from where he stud and came rocketing towards me. In my right hand my obsidian grate sword appeared.

    As long as I wasn¡¯t swinging it, the weight wasn¡¯t a problem. He cried out for help, but just before he could be impaled by my blade Shadow crashed into me knocking me back onto the brick tiles.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough master your going to kill him!¡± I felt so angry like I¡¯d just been refused something vital. Mantis didn¡¯t make it to the roof we were on.

    Instead he hit the edge and fell into the alleyway. He was just about dead. His health was in the red and slowly dropping. My sword had also fallen into the alley clattering on the hard stone.

    The rage I felt wouldn¡¯t go away. That was until I looked into Shadow¡¯s eyes. She was crying. In an instant my anger changed into remorse. I began to cry to.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough¡­. it¡¯s enough. No more.¡± She repeated these words on loop.

    ¡°I¡­. I¡¯m sorry¡­. I don''t know what got into me.¡± That was a lie. This had happened once before. Except¡­. that day¡­. no one was there to stop me.

 Episode 5: reality check

    Chapter 5

    Reality check

    The hallways were cold and damp. There were no windows to speak of just dark moldy drains. I assumed the drains were meant for water but I had a feeling it was for something else. It was never a good sign when a basement was made of stone and had a drain in the middle.

    I sat in front of a cell on a heavily oxidized rusty metal chair. My feet were an inch off the floor so technically they were dangling. I was starting to think I might be a very short nine year old. It was one thing to dangle from the giant guild leader chair. It was another to dangle from this rusty thing. I refuse to admit that I¡¯m younger than nine.

    Often In times of waiting I¡¯d hear my demon whispering worrying things into my ear. This was one of those times. I might need a tetanus shot. Now that I think about it I¡¯m technically not vaccinated. Vaccines don¡¯t exist here.

    How strong could my immune system be considering I¡¯d only just gotten this body. Was I gonna die? Smallpox, anthrax, Ebola. Hell, I could die from something as simple as the common cold. There might even be new diseases I¡¯ve never heard of.

    Oh look out everyone jimmy¡¯s got the wyzner virus! There he goes don¡¯t let him shit on ya. It¡¯ll make you poop razor blades for days. It was possible. This is a world with magic after all. Just imagine the insane magical diseases you could get.

    There''s probably a sexual disease that makes your dick fall off and start talking. If my dick could talk I¡¯d be in trouble. All the abuse it¡¯s taken over the years. There¡¯s no way I wouldn¡¯t be hanged. Frankly I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a single man that doesn¡¯t have an abusive relationship with his penis.

    Well, I don''t have a dick so that''s not really an issue. Whatever, I haven¡¯t gotten a flu shot in years so did it really matter? I already have to much to worry about. Best not to think about it.

    The silence seemed to drag on exposing background noise you¡¯d normally ignore. The sound of water slowly dripping onto the stone floor was becoming more uncanny by the minute.

    In the cell in front of me was my creepy uncle. He was still passed out. I could hear him slowly breathing. He looked so calm when sleeping. Hard to believe how much of a flaming shit bag he was. We managed to save his life and a few of the bigger NPCs helped us drag him to the dungeon.

    There weren¡¯t any guards or officers, no wardens either. It was just me and Mantis. Oh, and the nasty toilet that was also covered in rust. If anyone was gonna get a tetanus infection it¡¯d probably be Mantis. I should get him a new toilet seat.

    One of those plastic cushion ones. There cold at first then warm up the moment you sit on them. There also super easy to clean. That was until the plastic cracked and you started getting piss and shit inside the cushion. It¡¯s still the best especially if your taking a shit in the middle of the night.

    Hmm¡­ I suppose I was gonna be sitting from now on. I should invest in a few for the castle. This place is so cold. Every toilet feels like your sitting on a block of ice. Last thing I want is to have to call for Shadow because my butt was stuck to the toilet.

    It could happen! Your taking a piss, your butt gets wet, next thing you know your trying to pry yourself from a toilet seat that wants nothing more than your bodily fluids and wont take no for an answer.

    Can anyone say toilet boss from hell. No you cant! cause by the time you say ¡°toi¡ª" your ass is dead. Toilet shark. Surprise, surprise, the toilets got razor sharp teeth, and an invasive tentacle tongue. Guess where the tongue is going. You don¡¯t want to know. Turns out it¡¯s not a toilet boss at all. It¡¯s a toilet mimic and you fell for its trap.

    My brain was doing that thing again. I need to stop and focus. Like, what was I supposed to do with this idiot. We were supposed to rehabilitate this guy and turn him into an outstanding citizen. At least that''s what your supposed to do with prisoners¡­ or could I consider him a war criminal?

    The rules were different for those guys. No, he was more of an illegal immigrant. If I deport him there''s nothing to keep him from coming back. The borders are wide open. Anyone can waltz in. Especially since there aren''t any soldiers.

    Soldiers are to expensive and time consuming. Not to mention any high level player can just come along and slaughter them before they ever get past level one. Though, in this world they''ll be summoned fully trained. I¡¯ll put a pin in that one.

    Mantis couldn''t be deported. Besides, I couldn''t just set him free onto another unsuspecting person. What kind of sentence do people usually get for kidnapping two kids?

    Well¡­ I mean attempting to kidnap two kids. It¡¯s different depending on the state your in. Am I allowed to give him the chair or maybe the injection?

    I hear in some places they¡¯ll let you go out via firing squad. That sounded pretty badass. If it was me I¡¯d choose that one. It¡¯d hurt like hell but at least you''d go out with some balls.

    I Should of killed him. It would have been so much easier. Just one more second and his blood would be¡­. All over my hands. Dam, I¡¯d almost killed him. What the hell¡¯s wrong with me.

    I put my head in my hands. What the hell was I doing, I¡¯m no judge, no jury. How could I govern the lives of others when I didn¡¯t even know how to do taxes.

    There had to be someone else¡­.. no¡­. there wasn¡¯t. This was my empire. It was my land. My law. I couldn¡¯t let him walk free. Not after what he tried to do.

    This really wasn¡¯t a game anymore. I can¡¯t do this. I¡¯m not smart enough. I¡¯m not a leader. I¡®m not strong. Why do I have this power? I shouldn¡¯t have power over people. I¡¯m not the type of person you¡¯d want in charge. I¡¯m just plain incompetent.

    Guild leader, yeah right! Mao did all of the empire stuff. Eco, rhyme, and Luca were way better gamers. Why was I the guild leader. It was¡­. I don¡¯t know. I can¡¯t remember how it happened. The job kind of just fell on me. No one ever said anything about it. No one ever demanded I make them guild leader.

    That was when this was a game though. The role didn''t hold as much weight as it does now. There¡¯s no way I could be trusted to run the guild. I need to pass the job off to Mao. I¡¯m pretty much worthless. The only value I have. No, fuck that. The only value I had is gone. I¡¯m no longer the ripper. Just a tiny girl with freakish strength and speed.

    Oh right, and crazy nature bending magic. Magic¡­ that can destroy entire cities¡­. Okay, maybe I¡¯m not that weak but I¡¯m still not stronger than the other high level players. I even needed Shadow¡¯s help with that stupid harpy. I could feel tears budding in the corners of my eyes. I wanna be useful to.

    I felt a hand on my head. It was warm and gentle. There was¡­ a voice¡­. A whisper¡­ something below the volume of mute. Just a feeling. ¡°It¡¯ll be okay.¡± It seemed to soothe the hole inside me.

    Once my head was clear I came to my senses and felt a wave of panic rush through me. It startled me and I looked up. There was no one there. Some kind of ghost?

    I lifted my hand and pointed my open palm down the hall. ¡°purification!¡± I activated the sacred art purification. It belonged to the cleric class.

    A powerful light erupted from my palm. It filled the hall with its radiant glow. The ability only lasted a few seconds before it vanished. Whatever ghost had touched my head was long gone. I Wasn''t sure if there actually was one, but I wanted to make sure. The amount of ghost based mobs in TEO was one to many.

    That feeling, I know I felt something. I wanted to run out screaming but was petrified with fear. There was some groaning from the cell next to me. It spooked me making me jump up to my feet. I almost used purification again when I noticed it was just uncle Mantis.

    Relief washed over me as he rose up. I felt so happy now that I wasn¡¯t alone. Even if that company was a creepy neckbeard. Wait¡­. How did I use purification just now? It wasn¡¯t in my hot bar¡­. This also happened while I was fighting Mantis. Questions for later.

    The moon elf sat up and looked around. He spotted me, a look of hate corrupting his elven face. I watched as he reached into his inventory and brought out what looked like a shotgun.

    A quick scan showed me it was a KSG-25. I wonder why he hadn¡¯t used it in our fight. It was pointed at the bars. Was he gonna shoot his way out? He pulled the trigger and the gun rocked back unleashing a powerful round.

    The loud bang terrified me. It rang out through my skull as it rattled my bones. The hot beebees hit a magical blue barrier spreading out but doing nothing. He continued emptying the shotgun, but couldn¡¯t get through. It only held ten rounds.

    Technically it had twenty three inch shells but shot them out in twos. There was no escape. The cell was draining his focus. With no focus there was no way for him to break free. His focus re-gen kept the barrier powered. Even without it the guild core would make sure the cell stayed active.

    It would even heal his wounds and cast cleanse getting rid of de-buffs and any sweat, dirt, or bodily fluids. The cell would also use reset removing any buffs he might have. He couldn¡¯t kill himself Or escape.

    The only real escape would be if I let him out. In-game you could only hold a player captive for twelve in-game days. That was about an hour in the real world. Of course in the new world I could keep him there indefinitely. There was no time limit on his release.

    Healing jade magic washed over him. The gun had damaged his ears. I used a quick heal on myself getting rid of the ringing in my head.

    ¡°Set me free you foul demoness!¡± Now he was calling me a demon. I wonder what it was like to live in your delusions like that. It sounded like fun. A bit embarrassing but fun.

    A person that lived in there delusions couldn¡¯t see the embarrassment from acting like an idiot. It was like when I was a kid and played pretend. I remember it being rather enjoyable.

    Maybe this guy never grew up. I could have him all wrong and really he was just a five year old kid with an over active imagination. He¡¯d be almost the reverse of me. That would explain some of his behavior. Then again he seemed a bit pervy for that.

    On the other hand some boys could be pretty pervy. Even at such a young age. It wasn¡¯t uncommon. There were even a few girls in a similar mindset. I was reminded of my cousin Ashley. When we were kids she did all kinds of weird stuff to me.

    I had no idea what was going on but it felt nice. Once she got older she became one of the nicest human beings I¡¯ve ever met.

    Back then neither one of us knew any better. We never talked about what she did to me to this day and just pretend like it never happened. It was for the best considering how taboo it was and the fact she now has a husband with not one but two kids.

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°Stop. I know your angry but I''ll have you know I saved your life. You were just about dead after our fight. I could have let you die but I saved you.¡± He put the shotgun away and sat on the hard floor.

    A creepy smile etched itself onto his face. ¡°GG man. You got me good. Now let me out. I got things to do. Places to be.¡± He was out of character. Was this the real him? It was almost like he was roleplaying before.

    ¡°You tried to kidnap two young girls. Me included. I think you need help.¡± He looked a bit nervous.

    ¡°That was¡­. You don''t understand I was just larping. My sister will clear things up she¡¯s headed this way. If she finds out I was captured she''ll kill you. Besides this is just a game. Who cares none of this is real. So what if I did some bad things it doesn¡¯t even count.¡°

    When things got to real he jumped back into reality and tried to play it off as a silly joke. Like when my so called friend fucked my sister. I could still remember his words. ¡°Oh, it was just a joke bro. Sorry I banged your sister. It was for a funny video bro. Could you tell her thanks and that we should see other people. We''re still cool right? Let me borrow twenty bucks.¡± Fucking asshole.

    ¡°I saw what you did to James. He was really messed up man. I had to use two healing sacred arts on him just to get him to stabilize. Your larping caused him serious injuries.¡± My eyes fell upon Mantis exuding a pressure that made him squirm.

    He looked even more nervous now. ¡°There NPCs! You can''t hold me accountable for fake people! This is just a game! Let me out or I¡¯m calling the cops man!¡± He excused himself from all wrong doing because he didn¡¯t believe they were real people. The mind could rationalize all kinds of things.

    Frankly I couldn¡¯t blame him for not realizing this wasn¡¯t a game. I thought the same thing until I met the NPCs. However, I really didn¡¯t like his response. There was something in his voice that didn¡¯t sit right with me. There was a hint of entitlement, and smugness. I hated people like that. And what did he mean he was calling the cops? There are no cops. The only law is my law. He pissed me the hell off. The more he spoke the more I wanted to hurt him.

    ¡°They''re alive like you and me! You''d know that if you''d actually talked to them! James¡¯s wife Linda hasn¡¯t gotten out of bed for over a year now! She''s been sick all that time! Then your stupid ass goes and almost kills her husband! You¡¯d better pray to whatever God you believe in because if she takes a turn for the worst! I¡¯ll make you wish I killed you on that roof top! Ill beat you as bad as you beat James. I can just heal you afterwards and we can start all over! Again and again!¡± Tears threatened to spill as I stared deep into Mantis¡¯s eyes.

    My body wouldn''t stop trembling. My anger, and raged boiled inside me. The hole demanded sustenance. It demanded blood. I could end him right here right now. It would be so easy. It would be like kicking a puppy to death.

    Mantis shook his head trying to dismiss my words. ¡°You¡¯re a liar! You just want to keep me here for some stupid power trip! Well, I know what your all about and I¡¯m not playing your game! My sister will be here soon and then you¡¯ll be sorry!¡±

    How could he be so awful. Didn''t he realize how many people he was hurting. I was done with this guy. I¡¯d bring him food but I wouldn¡¯t talk to him. Once I find a way home I won¡¯t need to worry about it. He¡¯ll lose all his power and go back to being a nobody.

    I turned towards the exit and walked away. It took everything I had not to unlock the cell and start punching. He said all sorts of things but I ignored him. Arguing with a fool only made you look like a fool. Besides, I had much bigger matters to attend to.

    I felt a pressure in what I assumed was my bladder. I¡¯ve been needing to use the toilet ever since we started touring the city but I was dreading the moment I¡¯d need to actually do it.

    As time went on the feeling got worse and I was at the point where I really needed to go. My anxiety made it impossible for me to bring it up. I couldn¡¯t ask the NPCs for their restrooms, and Shadow seemed to always make things worse with her teasing. There was no way I could just say it out loud.

    The toilets in the cells were really rusty and I really didn¡¯t want to sit on one. It wasn''t like I could hover over it. I was short and I wasn¡¯t sure if I could get the angle right. I''ve never really seen a girl pee before so I wasn¡¯t sure where it would come out, or even if it would be a stream or not.

    The fact that one needed to wipe afterwards told me it wasn''t a perfect stream. Hell, even guys had to shake off the last few drops. It seemed like it would be even more messy without the hose. I could always use one of the drains. Each drain was set up in the middle of the corridor about thirty feet apart so there were plenty of options.

    I¡¯d need to use some of my clothes as toilet paper seeing as women had to wipe. The more I thought about it, the more my anxiety got the better of me. It got so bad that I was on the verge of crying. I couldn¡¯t do it.

    Why not though? I¡¯ve peed in worse places than a drain. Like the bed, the sink, behind a dumpster, on my friend that one time, in a cup, my wife¡¯s purse, and even in that sand box at the park. I really regret the last one. In my defense I was sixteen and really drunk. Why was I so afraid to piss in a drain? The more I agonized over it the worse I had to go. Stop thinking about it and find a toilet!

    I wobbled my way out of the dungeon, and ran into Shadow. She was standing just outside the entrance. I¡¯d asked her to give me some time alone with Mantis and she agreed once I convinced her I wouldn¡¯t kill the guy. behind her was the stairs that lead up into the castle. I still needed to climb them and wander around just to find a restroom. The thought made my bladder twitch and my body trembled to keep it all inside.

    Shadow gave me a worried look. ¡°Are you alright master?¡± She gave me a head pat. I must of looked pathetic. Her touch made my bladder squirm so much so, that I almost let the flood gates open. I couldn''t let her catch on.

    I could only imagine what she¡¯d do if she found out I had to use the restroom. I could already hear her giving me embarrassing but supportive instructions on how to properly wipe. She might even want to be in the room with me. I¡¯d much rather die.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine now. Thank you for waiting.¡± I squirmed under her gaze. I wasn¡¯t sure if things between us were okay. She stopped me from killing uncle Mantis so¡­. Was she mad? If she was, she wasn¡¯t showing it. She pulled me out of my train of thought with a poke to my left cheek. I let out a strange noise that could be akin to a startled kitten. Then looked at her questioningly.

    ¡°Hey, so like¡­. I¡¯ve been wondering. How did that creep carry you off like that? I didn¡¯t get to see. He must of done something awfully sneaky.¡± Her gaze unleashed a pressure I couldn¡¯t handle. My body went stiff and I looked to the floor. Sweat began to form. It didn''t help that I needed to pee. Of all times why did she have to ask now.

    ¡°What is it. Did he do something horrible to you? I swear if he did something to you I¡¯ll stab him, heal him, and repeat it over, and over again!¡± Her tail moved erratically like it wanted to wrap around Mantis''s neck until he stopped breathing. It was nice to know her methods of torture were similar to my own. I had no choice but to tell her how I got captured. I really didn¡¯t want to. It was so embarrassing. I¡¯d much rather take it to the grave.

    I murmured something out. It sounded like the soft whispers of my fleshy bed.

    ¡°What¡¯s that master? Could you say that again?¡± I did a little louder but this time it was muffled by my hands. Don¡¯t make me say it out loud. My body was trembling. I didn¡¯t want to get scolded again. The candy was one thing. Please, not for something this stupid. I mean it¡¯s not like it matters. Everything worked out and I¡¯ve learned my lesson.

    ¡°Hmmm¡­. Did I hear that right? Could you say it one more time but don¡¯t cover your mouth.¡± She was expressionless. She must of understood me but just couldn¡¯t believe what had come out of my mouth. There was a bit of a twitch in her left eye and the gears in her head started to turn. I wanted to cry. Maybe I could just cry and she¡¯ll feel sorry for me. Then again Mantis would probably suffer. He was a dick but war crimes were still war crimes.

    ¡°Well, you see¡­. I uh¡­.He¡­. He snuck over¡­. and offered me candy. I was like. What, candy! He must be trying to apologize! You know. Cause he did those awful things and all¡­ But¡­ when I tried to take it, he snatched me up and ran away¡­. It happened so fast I didn''t realize until we were on the roof tops! I¡¯m way to forgiving. That¡¯s always been my problem, you know¡­hehe. It was a silly mistake really. Could have happened to anyone. I''ve learned my lesson. Only take candy from strangers that won''t kidnap you. Funny story right? Hehe.¡± I felt so stupid.

    How could I have fallen for such a stupid thing. It was really Shadow¡¯s fault. She took my candy away. If she hadn¡¯t taken it all I wouldn¡¯t have craved it. Yeah that¡¯s what I¡¯ll say to her.

    Before I could get another word out I felt a hand grab me from my back and I was pulled over Shadow¡¯s knee. Her knee put pressure on my bladder and I went stiff trying to hold it in. Since she grabbed me by the back of my dress. It ended up being hiked up over my waist revealing a pair of black Spanx shorts.

    This position seemed familiar but¡­. it couldn''t be¡­. right? This couldn¡¯t be real! I squirmed trying to get away. The pressure put on my bladder was awful, but there was no way I was letting her do this to me! I could already feel tears forming in the corners of my eyes.

    ¡°You!¡± She smacked my bottom with the force of a high level player. ¡°Do!¡± She hit me again. It burned like crazy! ¡°Not!¡± Smack! ¡°Take!" Smack! ¡°Candy!¡± Smack! ¡°From!" Smack! ¡°Strangers!¡± smack, smack, smack! ¡°What is wrong with you!¡± she hit me a few more times before she let me go.

    I cried uncontrollably on the cold stone using it''s cool surface like an ice pack. My body trembled and I patted my butt trying to sooth it. It felt like someone had poured hot lava on my backside. I hadn¡¯t been spanked like that since my mom found my porn collection.

    Honestly mom. That was no reason to hit a young developing boy. Even dad was pissed at her for that. He later gave me access to some of his old porn on the condition that I never tell my mom it was his.

    ¡°aah! It hurts.¡± *Sniff, sniff*. My crying died down As my anger swelled. I wanted to Blast Shadow in the head but when I looked towards her. A feeling of trauma washed over me and my body went stiff.

    Was I actually scared of this crazy cat lady? For some reason she looked so much taller all of a sudden. That''s when I finally noticed the puddle under me and the smell of asparagus. My ass was soaked and I could hear the faint sound of a stream cascading into a puddle.

    I was surprised at how much there was. It was warm and stung like rubbing alcohol against my sore ass. The sight made me stop crying only for a new frustration to take over. I couldn''t believe it! Shadow had noticed much sooner than I did and had switched modes from scolding mother to concerned big sister.

    ¡°Hey, It''s alright. It was an accident. It happens sometimes.¡± Somehow the words hurt more than the beating. I said nothing and just sobbed quietly to myself. The meeting with Luca had been postponed for another hour. Shadow helped me get cleaned up. I tried not to look at my naked self. I didn''t really need to, since Shadow did all the ¡°cleaning¡±

    She was very rough with the wash cloth. It hurt! It was almost like she was trying to peel my skin off. Afterwards I changed into the school uniform I had on before. I didn''t have any underwear. That wasn''t an item you could get in-game.

    The game gave everyone default underwear. For men they got black boxers. For the women they got a black sports bra and black spanx shorts. Why I needed a sports bra I had no idea. I was as flat as they came.

    One look at myself and I suddenly felt better about taking a shower. The fact that there was really nothing to look at gave me relief. I was still afraid of Shadow. Every head pat and touch came with a spark of PTSD.

    I couldn¡¯t go commando. Not when Shadow was here watching my every move. She decided to go out and buy me some undies. Honestly by this point my shame had grown to the size of a world boss. The kind of boss that needed every player on the server to beat.

    I said nothing and just waited in the dining hall. I felt a draft. It was awful. It was like that time my pants ripped at the park. I lived eight blocks away and had to walk the whole way while exposing my ninja turtle underwear to just about everyone I knew. That day sucked.

    To take my mind off things I decided to look at the pink ribbon I¡¯d gotten for stopping Uncle Mantis. It wasn¡¯t really a ribbon it was a big pink bow with a clip. Basically you were supposed to clip it onto your hair. It gave a 10% boost to charm and a 5% boost to movement speed.

    Since it matched my gear the charm boost was up another 5%. I like the movement boost it gave. Charm was fun to play around with to. It was embarrassing though. Whatever, it doesn¡¯t really matter considering I¡¯m already dressed like I¡¯m from candy land.

    I equipped it. The system decided it would go on top of my head. I checked my stats. There was a hidden bonus for equipping it. The ribbon gave me the ability to phase through attacks. It had a 20% chance to activate per attack.

    That was insanely useful! I¡¯ve never heard of such a thing! That quest was strange. Why did I get a reward like this? It was basically made for me. The system is watching. So far it looks like it wants me to survive. Maybe it finds me entertaining. Not sure if that''s a good thing or not. One thing was for sure like Shadow it also liked to tease me about my new body.

    As for the 32G I got from James. I ended up giving it back. He paid taxes so that was enough. If anything it was my fault he got hurt. His taxes should of gone into a policing force that would of protected him.

    The EXP didn¡¯t really go anywhere considering my war mage class was maxed out. War mage was a good class for those that wanted to use all types of magic. The mage class had branching magic and depending on how far along you went down each branch you could unlock a new class.

    For example unlocking all of the fire magic branch unlock the class Pyromancer. For the war mage class you needed to unlock all the different types of magic. This would give you benefits for not just one type but every type of magic.

    Luca also had war mage unlocked but she mostly used the Shadowmancer class for its benefits for dark aligned magic. It let her cast all kinds of de-buffs. From slowness to blindness. I feel like it¡¯ll have even more utility in the new world.

    Shadow came back after about twenty minutes holding a bag. ¡°That''s a cute accessory you got there. Trying out new things I see.¡± Her face was so smug I had to look away. ¡°Yeah something like that. Its actually really useful gear. So¡­uh, did you get the¡­. stuff.¡± I almost died then and there.

    She nodded her head, her tail swishing happily as her smug smile bloomed into an evil grin. ¡°I got you a bunch of cute ones. I got myself some to.¡± What the hell did she mean by cute! She ruffled through the brown sack and pulled out a bunch of different colored panties. She laid them out on the table like she was showing me some prized collection.

    I couldn''t help but ask. ¡°Is it okay to just spread them out like that?¡± My embarrassment got the better of me and I really wish she¡¯d go away and leave me alone to pick my own underwear. Also why hadn¡¯t she got me any boxers instead. I should have spoken up when she headed out. Then again how was I supposed to know she¡¯d get nothing but panties. Oh, who am I kidding it''s Shadow of course she¡¯d do this!

    ¡°What? Are you afraid someone will see you with a of bunch of girls underwear and think your some kind of pervert.¡± Her smile just about split her face in half. She was so evil.

    My face darkened. ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought of that at all! Why are you putting things in my head! I already have titans and toilet mimics up there. I don¡¯t need anything else.¡± I freaked out and started Scratching my head vigorously with both hands.

    A feeling of panic and anxiety overwhelming me. ¡°I wanna die! This sucks!¡± My hair was now a bit frizzy. The pink bow ¡ª while still hanging on ¡ª was now a little crooked. I was about to start nervously pulling my hair out when Shadow finally spoke up. If my mind was a raging ocean her voice was a tiny ripple that seemed to flatten out the rapid waves.

    ¡°Calm down. Just pick one for today. All you need is one.¡± My head just about exploded. I let out a long breath and looked at my options. Most of them were pretty girly. Flowers, strawberries, butterflies, pink, blue, yellow. There was one with two bunny rabbits eating carrots. I hated carrots so not that one.

    Another was covered in multi colored stars and another had rainbows and unicorns. Wait¡­. was that a black thong? What the hell was she trying to do to me! Obviously she was trying to mess with me again. It¡¯s to big there was no way that would fit me.

    Her eyes widened and she looked a bit flustered. ¡°Woops! Sorry about that. This one is mine.¡± She reached over and pulled the thong out of the pile. I had questions but was mostly happy it was gone.

    Calm down. Just pick one. I can buy boxers later.

    The more I saw the sicker I felt. I couldn''t wear this crap! What the hell was I supposed to do! It was one thing if it was just cosplay but this is underwear! Its not supposed to be cute! No one''s gonna be looking at it. I just about cried.

    With a shaky hand I reached for the most plain out of the bunch. Just simple white cotton. Shadow let out a laugh. ¡°I knew you¡¯d pick those.¡± She was torturing me! She wasn¡¯t a crazy cat lady she was an evil cat lady!

    Sinking in my seat I tried to crawl out of it. Once on my feet I headed for the nearest vacant room. That was until Shadow stopped me. Her hand pressed against my shoulder keeping me from proceeding.

    ¡°What now! let me go change.¡± Sadly underwear wasn¡¯t something that could be equipped so it had to be put on normally. I figured I could just toss them in my inventory and dispose of them later. I doubt Shadow will try to check If I¡¯m wearing them. That would be way to strange even for her.

    ¡°No you don¡¯t. I need to make sure you actually put them on and don¡¯t just toss them in a corner.¡± How did she know? It was kind of scary. I didn¡¯t wanna upset her again so I slipped them on as fast as possible and looked up at her. ¡°Are you Happy now, you pervert! Is that what you wanted! To see a child slide into an innocent pair of underwear!¡± She ignored my accusation.

    ¡°Alright, now go put the rest in your room. Then we can go.¡± I did as she asked. I thought about putting them in my inventory but then I¡¯d be the guy with a bunch of girls underwear on him at all times. That was a hard no.

    It took me a minute to find my room and when I did I could hear the bed still whispering. It freaked me out so I just tossed the underwear into the room and slammed the door shut. There was no way I was sleeping in there.

    I¡¯d much rather share a cell with my creepy uncle Mantis than sleep anywhere near that thing. I headed back to Shadow. She had gone to drop off her underwear in her room. I was still feeling a bit of a breeze. It bothered me so I looked through my inventory and found a pair of white tights.

    I quickly un-equipped the black stockings and was now wearing the white tights. They were almost like pants. I expected them to be tighter than that. They were a little, but the fabric was so stretchy that it didn¡¯t feel uncomfortable.

    I lost the set bonus from wearing the school uniform but the clothes stats weren¡¯t all that good to begin with. This would be fine. With all that taken care of, Shadow and I headed to the tavern. Without interruptions we made it there in no time.

 Episode 6: Not "The Tavern" but "a tavern"

    Chapter 6

    Not "The Tavern" but "a tavern"

    I clung to Shadow¡¯s side. She smelled nice. Alice always smelled of lilac and jasmine. Shadow''s odder was more fruity. Almost like mine but with a hint of¡­ dog. There was also a bit of spice to it. Like cranberries but slightly less acidy.

    It was a good distraction from the fear and unease that was currently crushing me into the new worlds crust. The simplified version was I felt like hiding in a deep dark hole where no one can find me.

    To keep anyone from seeing my distress I kept my face buried in Shadow''s side. I¡¯d lost my dignity and was left with no confidence at all. Not only was I almost kidnapped but I fell for the stupidest trick in the book.

    On top of that I got spanked and not in a sexy way. My ass was dead ass sore. It felt like I¡¯d been dragged through a mile of gravel. The parts that didn¡¯t hurt were numb. She didn¡¯t hold back at all.

    If that wasn''t bad enough I went ahead and pissed all over the floor Like a drunk vergin. It also didn¡¯t help that I was currently wearing underwear that didn¡¯t really belong to me.

    Well it did but.... it still didn¡¯t feel like mine. It was kind of like that time I got Alice that sexy lingerie for our anniversary, and she was like ¡°I¡¯m not wearing that!¡± and I was all like ¡°but babe you¡¯ll look so hot in it! Please!¡± and she shoved it back at me then said jokingly. ¡°You wear it¡­..¡±

    ¡­.. So I did. That was a weird night. Best not to think about that though.

    In my current mental state. All I could do was cling to Shadow in hopes of not getting scooped up like a cat turd in a neglected liter box. Meanwhile there was so many eyes on me. How the hell was I supposed to know which ones were creepy aunts or uncles.

    Cosplay was fun at first but now I really just wanted some jeans and a t-shirt. Some boxers would be really nice. Shadow wasn¡¯t complaining. She was enjoying my new vulnerable state.

    Why was the world so scary? I don¡¯t wanna be here anymore. This is no longer a fun adventure. I wanna go home. I miss my PC and my gaming chair.

    These drugs better wear off soon. This is such a bad trip. I don¡¯t remember childhood being so terrifying. Maybe it¡¯s because I¡¯m no longer ignorant towards the dangers of the world.

    Forget TEO I¡¯ll play Minecraft instead. What if I was trapped in Minecraft? Not sure if that was worse or not. Everything being block shaped would drive me crazy. I also don''t think reality would mix well. Considering how broken things were in this world, that world would be a paradox in of itself.

    It¡¯d be like going back in time and having accidental freaky unprotected hippy sex with your dead grandma, only for her to get pregnant giving birth to your dad effectively making you your dad¡¯s dad and also your own grandfather. Time be whack yo.

    It wasn¡¯t until we entering the tavern that I finally released my grip on Shadow¡¯s side. I wanted to get a look. The inside of the tavern was somewhat barren. Then again it was the middle of the day. Most customers probably wouldn¡¯t show up until after the sun started setting.

    There were a few old-timey ornaments hanging off the walls. A few wagon wheels some rusty swords. Picture frames of distant lands. The nicest thing ¡ª and most expensive ¡ª was probably the grandfather clock. It was also the only thing not currently covered in dust aside from the chairs and tables.

    This place was called tavern. As far as names went it wasn''t very creative. There wasn¡¯t even a prefix like ¡°The Tavern¡± it was just tavern. We¡¯re not the best we¡¯re not the worst we¡¯re just a tavern. I kind of liked it. The name was right to the point. Tavern no bullshit.

    I''m gonna open a sandwich shop one day and just call it sandwich. You come in you odder a sandwich. You get a sandwich, a drink, and a small bag of chips. Nothing more.

    Simple and easy. Even a highly anxious guy like myself can order at a place like that. No follow up questions like ¡°What kind of sides would you like?¡± Just ¡°Here¡¯s your sandwich! Cut the crust off? Are you crazy! No I will not toast it!¡±

    Then the customer would be all like ¡°B-but I¡¯m allergic to white bread!¡± Then I¡¯d be all like ¡°No! Get the fuck out! I don''t deal with pussies! Little bitch boy!¡± and then everyone would clap, because¡­. Because it¡¯s my imagination and I say so!

    What was I talking about? I can''t remember. Oh right! The tavern! No, wait just tavern.

    Luca sure knew how to pick them, but I have to say it did look cozy. What really grabbed my attention was that half of the room had been turned into a lounge.

    The lounging area had a large carpet made of the black and gray hide of some mythical beast. It was so degraded I couldn''t even tell what mob it had been.

    Around it were a bunch of mismatching couches. It was centered around the fire place that was currently pouring heat into the room. There was even a pool table. I was more of an air hooky kind of guy but pool was cool to.

    Maybe I can get Shadow and Luca to play with me. On second thought I¡¯d probably be to short to get the angle right.

    As far as customers went there were a few passed out drunks and an adventurer or two. I even spotted a few neutral players. They didn¡¯t pay much attention to Shadow or I. each one looked somewhat depressed.

    There was some blood on the melee fighters. One look at there faces told me everything. They¡¯d seen what I saw when I shot Mantis.

    This world was raw and bloody. To real for a gaming mentality. Those guys were here to drink there worries away. I would have to talk to them eventually, but for now I set my focus on finding Luca.

    Looking around I spotted a familiar violet colored head. It had a curved cowlick sticking out. There was no mistaking it. That was Luca.

    I¡¯d know that cowlick anywhere. It often stuck out in a crowd. Much more in this empty place. I also recognized her night robe. It glowed ominously.

    She sat at the bar with her head down. Her right hand clenched the handle of a mug straight out of the medieval age. Her head jerked itself up only to take a sloppy drink.

    Then crashed back down with a heavy thud. It sounded like that hurt. She was so hammered I doubt she even felt it.

    One thing was for sure. She¡¯d feel it tomorrow. The poor girl hiccupped then let out a loud wet burp. There was an interesting de-buff just under her health bar. It looked like a bottle with an ¡°X" on it.

    That was usually reserved for when you were poisoned. I suppose alcohol was a kind of poison. My little brother just about died when he chugged a whole keg in under ten minutes.

    It was back when vines were cool. I remember him telling me ¡°I did it for the vine.¡± It wasn¡¯t even funny. He got all cold and clammy then started seizing and vomiting. Poor kid had alcohol poisoning.

    The de-buff wasn¡¯t draining Luca¡¯s health though. I wonder what level of poison that was. It had to be below one considering at level one you lost four health per second. Which was not the case here. This had to be some other version of the de-buff.

    I looked to Shadow who was standing next to me. She gave me a blank stare. She knew what I wanted but it seemed like she was refusing to take the lead.

    I really didn¡¯t want to be the center of attention and just wanted her to handle the meet up. I felt the need to cling to her again but I didn''t get the chance.

    Her tail did a cheerful swish. She smiled putting her hands on my shoulders. I felt a chill run up my spine. I was being pointed towards Luca.

    All of a sudden it was as if Luca was a mile away and the floor had sunk down. My heart started to beat faster.

    Shadow decided to give me a push of encouragement. ¡°Go get her. I know you can do it.¡± I stumbled forward before forming into a proper walk.

    It was like a baby bird being pushed out of its nest. I¡¯d been using Shadow as a support pillar since we left the castle. Without her I felt exposed.

    What if another Mantis came along and tried to take me away. The hole was asleep and I couldn''t build up any courage. My anxiety shot up and I felt like I might feint.

    I hate it when this happens. Every once in a while I lose the ability to be around others. It usually happens when my self-esteem is low. The punishment I received from Shadow had only made my anxiety worse.

    I was left with no conviction. The feeling of unease got worse as I realized I was surrounded by drunks. Even though no one was looking at me.

    I could still feel their sharp eyes burning holes into my skin. I dreaded the thought of getting into a conversation with them.

    Why was I so terrified? Pull yourself together man! I gave my face a clap and mustered all the courage I had left.

    Holding my ground I managed to push forward through it all. Snowball was being crushed by my unforgiving hug. I hate going out.

    I just wanted to play games and watch anime. How did I end up in such a place! I let out a whimper doing my best not to cry. My legs trembled. I don¡¯t want to be here!

    It felt like I was drifting through a dark forest full of hungry monsters. Teeth gleaming, their red eyes piercing the dark. In the distance was a campfire.

    Luca was there sitting on an old log. The drunk girl acted as a guiding light in a world of all encompassing darkness. Funny considering she was a Shadowmancer.

    All I had to do was get to her and I¡¯d be safe. I nervously made my way across. It felt like a mile but it was only about fifty feet.

    I reached out with a shaky hand and managed to get a hold of Luca¡¯s glowing black robes. All of a sudden I was back in the tavern and all I wanted to do was bury myself into Luca''s side.

    I gave her robes a gentle tug to get her attention. The fabric felt strange. It was weightless but resilient. My voice squeaked. ¡°Luca¡­. Can we leave? I don''t like it here. Its scary.¡± The girl stirred managing to glance my way.

    ¡°Chief? Oh my goober, hey!¡± Clumsily she wrapped her arms around me. Her breath stunk of booze. Her words were ever so slightly slurred.

    ¡°Wow, Your even cuter in person!¡± It was the reaction I was expecting but this was different from Shadow¡¯s. Shadow was gentle, Luca was anything but.

    She pulled me onto her lap and just about crushed me with her death hug. So this is what it feels like to be a lemon. Snowball and I were slowly being crushed into a new kind of coffee blend.

    I figured I¡¯d let her get it out of her system, but then it started to really hurt. ¡°Let go your hurting me.¡± I cried but Luca didn¡¯t listen.

    It was like she was trying to un-birth me by stuffing me into her torso. The image of somehow finding myself trapped behind her ribcage hunted me.

    In a panic I did the only thing I could and bit down on her arm. ¡°Ow!¡± she cried out in pain releasing me. I fell to the floor and like a nimble cat landed on my feet.

    As soon as I did I scurried my way over to Shadow in a zigzag pattern, as if someone was trying to snipe me. Then hid behind my beloved cat girl companion.

    My arms wrapped around her left leg. I tilted my head to the side peeking at Luca who was only just now getting herself back together.

    She''s a Mantis sympathizer! I let out a low growl that sounded more like a purring kitten than anything intimidating.

    ¡°That hurt chief.¡± She rubbed the Aku sized bite mark on her arm. I wonder if coffee addiction was transferable through bites. I didn''t really break the skin but what if it was more magical in nature like a werewolf bite.

    ¡°Geez, I just wanted to show affection. What are you a cat? Do you need me to buy you a liter box?¡± Her eyes were accusatory.

    She turned her attention to Shadow taking on a cheerful demeanor. ¡°Shadow, I¡¯m happy to see you to. When I got here I thought I was the only one. Would you believe I found myself under a bunch of books. That''s just what I get for logging out at the library last night.¡± She was a very cheerful drunk. I preferred the stoic kind.

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    Shadow gave me a head pat to calm me down. I hadn''t realized how much force I was using on her leg. So I softened my hug and took a step to the side revealing myself to Luca.

    She made a strange sound that made me want to run away. It was something between a squealing seal and a shrieking banshee.

    The only other time I¡¯d ever heard that sound was back when I bought my niece a kitten. Poor little guy died of dehydration a week later. She forgot she stuffed him in a suitcase. He was in there for three days!

    In a self induced panic I yelled out ¡°I don''t wanna die of dehydration!¡± Both Shadow and Luca looked at me like I was crazy. ¡°I ain''t crazy! Your the crazy ones!¡±

    They shared a look before Shadow finally decided to take over the meet up. ¡°It¡¯s alright master. Don¡¯t start crying now. There¡¯s no Mantis here." Shadow¡¯s hand caressed my head. She¡¯d done it so many times today. I was afraid a bold spot was beginning to form.

    Luca went back to being a creep. ¡°Come on chief. Come here. I have all kinds of candy in my inventory.¡± She opened her arms like she was going to give someone a hug, but her fingers were moving in a very creepy way. Even her cowlick was waving at me. Her face twisted into a mischievous grin.

    I wasn¡¯t falling for that again. Something told me Shadow had Spilled the beans on what happened with Mantis. I shook my head causing my hair to whip around like a horse tail swatting flys.

    I then proceeded to bury my face into Shadows hip like an ostrich rotating its eggs. My arms wrapped around her left leg once more like, like¡­. I don¡¯t know a snake strangling and old lady?

    ¡°Oh, come on chief. I¡¯ll be gentle this time. I swear.¡± The mage giggled like a villain from a bad movie. I didn¡¯t like it at all. I could run but then I¡¯d be alone. I don¡¯t wanna be alone.

    goosebumps ran up and down my spine. That smile was not one of good intentions. It was the kind of smile you¡¯d see on a prankster. More like a demon.

    I tried to focus on something else and looked up at Shadow for help. My eyes pleading for some form of asylum. However, Shadow had already moved on to more important matters.

    She was eyeing Luca''s drink with disappointment in her eyes. Even her ears were being judgmental with there accusing slope. When the hell did I learn to read the emotions of cat ears? Maybe Luca was right and I was becoming a cat.

    ¡°Luca aren¡¯t you like fifteen in the old world?¡± Thank God Shadow changed the subject. Luca looked like she was about to pounce on me.

    The mage''s face soured. It fell right on annoyed. In the most bratty teenager way possible, she rolled her eyes. Somehow the action resonated with me awakening a thread of anger within the hole.

    At that moment I really wanted to punch her. There was something about eye rolls that really ticked me off. It gave off the feeling of ¡°I know so much more than you do." Remembering she was just a teen, I refrained from doing anything I might regret.

    At least Shadow was finally being someone else¡¯s mom for a change. Now she was gonna get it. The mage picked up her mug and chugged the whole thing as if to show dominance. Oooo, she shouldn¡¯t have done that. Wish I had some popcorn. This was about to get goooooood.

    I looked to Shadow to gage her reaction. Her face expression didn¡¯t change. She wasn¡¯t moved at all. I wonder if this is what it¡¯s like dealing with teenagers. What a nightmare.

    ¡°I might have been fifteen in the old world but in the new world I¡¯m a fully grown woman. Also the drinking age is fourteen here so I¡¯m perfectly in my legal rights.¡± She spoke so proudly.

    Was this the birth of a new strong and independent woman. One that could fight in cage matches and pick up any skill at master level. Probably not.

    This felt more like a teenager finding freedom after years of strict rules. Then having it all immediately go to their head. She wasn¡¯t just drunk on alcohol, she was drunk on freedom.

    Shadow snorted. ¡°Okay you have a point. Your body is definitely grown up enough to drink alcohol but as a fellow adult I advise you to take it easy. Get to drunk and you might end up passing out and get carried off by some stranger.¡±

    She ruffled my hair again. ¡°Master was already almost kidnapped and she wasn¡¯t even drunk. The new world is pretty dangerous if you''re not careful.¡± Luca looked a bit dejected as she eyed her mug. It seemed like the message was clear.

    I felt my cheeks burn. Why did she have to bring that up. My bottom was still hurting. It was kind of itchy to. I hope it¡¯s not infected. I was afraid to look. Theres no doctors in Entropy!

    Did she really have to use me like an example. I had half a mind to bite her. Let¡¯s see how she likes being addicted to coffee.

    I was about to taste cat girl flesh when I realized it would only get me into more trouble. I needed to be more productive so instead, I decided to voice the injustice.

    ¡°That¡¯s not fair! How come when it comes to the actual child you treat her like an adult but not me!¡± I crossed my arms at the unfair double standard.

    Shadow glanced at me. A smile blooming on her face. She found me amusing. I wanted to be taken seriously not be seen as a yapping puppy.

    ¡°Well sweetie. In your case you need to be raised again but this time the right way. And for Luca, this is an opportunity for her to learn the ins and outs of being a responsible adult. Don¡¯t you think she might benefit from learning what being an adult is all about? When this is over she''ll be able to go back to her young self again. With a new perspective on life to boot.¡± While she spoke she continued to caress my head. By this point I felt less like a child and more like a stress ball.

    No, no, go ahead. Fondle me all you want it¡¯s not like I have feelings or anything. Take your stress out on poor little Aku. That''s why I spent so long grinding levels. Just so you''d have something resilient to play with¡­. That came out wrong¡­¡­

    Hang on a sec! Had I heard her right? She was going to ¡°raise me right¡± What the fuck did that mean? I really hope she hadn¡¯t lost her mind. It almost sounded like she was trying to fill the hole left from her kids with me and Luca. I really hope she was joking.

    Something was off about her. Its like she cant stop being a mom. Should I snap at her? No, she¡¯ll just ignore me. I seem to restrain myself a lot.

    By this point there was so much anger begging me to fight back but my mature adult half just wanted to brush it off and keep moving. That was probably why the hole got so big in the first place. At least my anxiety was becoming dormant again.

    What were my options then? I could just say my peace and walk the hell out of here but that felt harsh. I¡¯d also be alone. I needed people to cling to otherwise my anxiety might just leave me paralyzed on the street somewhere.

    I might be a little more confident now but it wont last forever. Besides I couldn¡¯t abandon Shadow just because she was a crazy cat lady. Not here but once we¡¯re alone I¡¯ll see what¡¯s up with her.

    The cat girls jab got a laugh out of Luca, but I didn''t find it all that funny. To me it sounded like she might be hurting.

    ¡°That¡¯s an interesting situation you got yourself in chief. Anyway, let¡¯s eat, this place is kind of a hole in the wall but the food here is pretty good.¡± Luca patted the seat next to her.

    Shadow took it. There was an empty seat next to Shadow but I didn¡¯t want to sit there. She¡¯d freaked me out enough today. I needed space. So I made my way to the other seat next to Luca and sat down.

    To my right was a passed out man and to my left was Luca. My action hadn¡¯t gone unnoticed. Shadow¡¯s smile had faded. I tried to ignore her.

    The drunk guy next to me murmured ¡°Dam Sheila¡­ fuck my brother¡­ I¡¯ll kill em both¡­¡± I gave the drunk man next to me a pat on the back. ¡°It¡¯s alright buddy we¡¯ve all been there.¡± Shadow and Luca gave me a strange look. I ignored it.

    They didn''t need to know my past. One of my ex-girlfriends. Well she wasn¡¯t actually my girl friend. She was the neighborhood whore.

    I thought I was in love until I found out she had sex with my brother. When I went to confront him he told me she¡¯d been fucking everyone on the block.

    I felt stupid for thinking I had something special with her. I had even gotten her a ring. Nothing fancy just one of those shitty plastic rings you get from a vending machine.

    Turns out it wasn¡¯t true love it was just really good sex. Like really, really good sex. The type of sex learned through trial and error. That bitch took my virginity.

    She also popped my cherry but I don''t like to talk about that. Her name was Mrs. Robertson. Mr. Roberson was in jail for selling knock off NFL merch. She was the only pedo I didn¡¯t mind.

    The bar tender came up to us as he wiped the counter. ¡±Can I help you lady Aku, lady Shadow?¡± This was my chance for some booze. I just needed to charm the guy.

    ¡°Hello sir. Can I get a mug of beer? Whatever you have on tap is fine.¡± I reached into my inventory and pulled out Snowball. Then sat the fluffy plushy down on the table. ¡°It¡¯s for my friend Snowball. She loves to drink beer.¡± The man looked amused.

    ¡°Does she now?¡± he asked with a chuckled.

    Shadow chimed in. ¡°Actually, Snowball quit drinking about an hour ago. She¡¯ll actually like a glass of apple juice. Isn¡¯t that right Lil Aku.¡± Shadow¡¯s voice was as sweet as honey. It held a tiny bit of venom in it.

    System note: HaHa

    I tried to ignore the systems spying. It was similar to the pentagon watching me jerk off. Only difference was my FBI agent actually texted me from time to time.

    Oh, she thought she could out role play me. Well I''d just have to out role play her. Raise me right, fuck that shit!

    I felt uneasy but managed to speak my protest. With a shake of my head I said ¡°No, actually the beer is for Mr. Ghost!¡± reaching into my inventory I pulled out the wraith plushy and planted it next to Snowball.

    Shadow wasn¡¯t expecting that. It felt like the world stopped. Everything was silent. Luca and the bartender looked nervous. They had a right to be. After all they were in the middle of a kaiju battle.

    Shadow didn¡¯t bat an eye and jumped on my role play. ¡°Mr. Ghost quit to. Him and Snowball promised to quit together. Actually Mr. Ghost would like a cheese burger.¡± Her face was so smug.

    She must of thought of herself as some grate mother. With the way I''ve been acting lately she seemed to start treating me more like a kid.

    The question now was what should I do? Should I reach into my inventory and pull out another plushy, Chompy perhaps?

    Chompy is a cute little green dinosaur. In-game it was called a gale-Rex. It looked like a T-Rex but with wind affinity. There popular among tamers because of how early access they are.

    There pretty good for hunting. You can also ride them. Thanks to there wind affinity there faster than a normal horse and can triple jump.

    I was going about this the wrong way. What would be the mature thing to do here? As ruler of this land I could ask for whatever I wanted but I didn¡¯t want to hold that power over everyone.

    Not Mantis, not Luca, not the bar tender, and definitely not Shadow. Instead of letting my body cry and scream I forced myself to focus.

    Booze was nice and I could really use it. Especially since my anxiety was so high lately. It would loosen me up and help with all the stress I¡¯m currently coping with.

    Then again, getting drunk wasn¡¯t gonna magically solve my problems. It won¡¯t get everyone home. Right now I needed my brain cells for other things.

    No mater how stressed it makes me I have to find a way home. I can get a celebratory drink when I see my wife again. Maybe even a fluff or two. Booze wasn¡¯t going anywhere. It would be waiting for me in the fridge like it always did.

    Taking a breath I implemented my last resort. I usually didn¡¯t do this in public because it made me look like a jackass.

    I only needed a second or two. Just enough time to shove my emotions down into the hole. Meditation wasn¡¯t my thing but it was incredibly useful.

    I didn¡¯t take a stance or anything I just forced everything to stop. Then flushed it all down the toilet. I managed to zero out my emotions.

    All the stress and anxiety was pushed into the hole for later use. With my priorities in order confidence began to radiate out of me.

    I needed to somehow assert dominance in a way that wouldn''t hurt Shadow. Something that would make me look like the grown adult I was.

    Not the power move Luca did but a power move that would shut everyone up without hurting anyone¡¯s feelings. Something only a true alpha could do.

    Booze was off the menu but I wasn''t gonna let her control every aspect of my life. Now then, let¡¯s start by shaking off Shadows hold over the situation. Then I¡¯ll take control from there.

    I pretended to be someone else. It was time I brought out my good friend Robert. Robert was grate for meeting with my boss. I didn¡¯t need to go full Robert. I just needed a taste of Robert.

    With full confidence, I let out a laugh. ¡°Actually that was a joke. As much as I¡¯d love a drink I¡¯m currently working. How about you get me a mushroom and Swiss burger. Also to drink I¡¯d like some sweet tea, and for the appetizer how about a plate of Cajun Fries.¡± It was the most confident thing I¡¯d said all day.

    I felt powerful. Not the kind of power I felt from firing manabolt, but the kind of power one felt when they were in control. The kind of power that could convince others to join a cause.

    It was the power of reason and leadership. True power in all its shining glory. You could cut throats all you wanted but that would never get you any respect. You¡¯d just end up pushing people away.

    Everyone would become your enemy. All alone with no one to trust or rely on. I didn''t want that, I wanted to bring everyone together. I wanted to uplift those around me, not oppress them into following my will.

    Shadow didn''t say a word. The bartender called the order out to the back.

    I looked to Shadow and Luca. ¡°Order whatever you want, it¡¯s on me.¡± Shadow was taken aback. She hadn¡¯t expected me to shrug her off.

    Luca just slowly sipped on a new mug of beer like nothing happened. Though I could clearly see the hints of a smile on the corners of her face.

    I felt my confidence start to give way to my anxiety and the young Aku¡¯s personality took over once again. I quickly hugged my plushies for comfort.

    Speaking up left me with a bit more dignity and that felt nice. The only down side was the amount of social energy it took from me. I needed to recharge soon.

    Talking to others usually drained my energy reserves. That was why I spent most of my time at home. I had a desk job so I didn¡¯t even need to leave the house. With everything that happened today I was ready for a long nap.

    ¡°Master, your finally acting like an adult. I¡¯m so proud of you. Honestly, I was starting to get worried. I thought you might have¡ª¡± Shadow stopped talking the moment she noticed what I was doing.

    I was petting Snowball like it was a real cat and making cooing sounds like I was talking to a baby. I looked to her and asked sweetly. ¡°What was that Shadow? Did you say something? Sorry, I wasn¡¯t listening.¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°Nothing master.¡±

    Luca let out a chuckle.

    We got to talking about what we needed. Since Shadow was responsible and reliable she was put in charge of gathering supplies for our trip to pearlescent.

    As for Luca, she had always been good at speaking with people and gathering information. In the old world her dream was to be a detective.

    She loved reading mystery novels and watching old detective shows. Like Fargo, the killing, Luther, or the adventures of Sherlock homes.

    Her job was to talk to the other players and find out what was going on in this world. I was told to gear up. Luca said since she was the better mage I needed to take a different role.

    Shadow¡¯s job in the party was to go invisible, and attack from behind. Her knifes were good but they couldn¡¯t do much damage unless they hit a vital spot. That meant someone needed to get the enemies attention.

    In order to make our team work we needed a tank or some kind of close range fighter. Except, I could no longer wear heavy armor.

    Tanks tended to get the attention of monsters and take hits. There job was to be a human shield. That was a problem for me since my HP was so low. I couldn¡¯t afford to take a single hit. Much less tank a boss.

    That made Shadow jump into protective mode and start refusing to let me anywhere near the action. She wanted me to play archer or gunner.

    I pointed out that, that would be a stupid idea considering we still didn''t have anyone to shield us from the mobs. With no front line both Luca and I were sitting ducks.

    She then suggested I become an assassin along with her. That way I could just hide and be safe. That still put Luca in danger and besides I didn¡¯t wanna hide.

    I used to be an over powered berserker. One of the top twenty players in the US server. The only thing I wanted was to finally blow off steam by hitting things.

    so she offered to become the tank and let me back her up as a Spearman. Spearman was an advanced class that required you to level up dualist.

    I had the class and had almost maxed it out. The only issue was Shadow¡¯s health was only slightly higher than my current health.

    Her vitality stat didn¡¯t have all that much invested into it. With my vitality ring it would only go up a tiny bit. She didn¡¯t even have the body mass to wear armor. At best she¡¯d be stuck with a chest plate and that wasn¡¯t nearly enough protection.

    I wasn¡¯t useless. I could do things. All I needed was a new fighting style. I had strong magic and could swing a short sword so I decided on going as a mix between a mage, duelist, and monk.

    Mages used magic to attack. Duelist used fancy weapon based attacks. Monks could fire off abilities crazy fast with low cost and low cool down time.

    The monk class was made for PVP with its fast acting abilities and fast recovery time. The only downside was it¡¯s lack of power.

    For gear you could use gloves or gauntlets. Gathering the equipment I needed would be easy but I wanted a custom sword. Something made for my size.

    Once we finished our talk the sun had started to go down. The tavern was beginning to fill with new faces. Luca was wasted so Shadow ended up having to carry the drunken girl.

    Though, the cat girl did make a few remarks about leaving her there for the perverts to find. Luca cried and even apologized for being a burden.

    Words like ¡°Please don¡¯t abandon me.¡± And ¡°I¡¯ll be good.¡± Spilled shamelessly from her mouth. Shadow was very understanding and made Luca feel better by stroking her head. In the end our mage really was just a kid. Shadow was very mature about it. Forgiving Luca and comforting her.

    I followed a few feet behind the cat girl watching her tail swish back and forth. I thought about grabbing it now that her hands were full but I needed permission for something and pissing her off wouldn¡¯t get it.

    As we walked my eyes drifted to the stores. I couldn''t keep them all safe by myself. Sooner or later there will be crime. This city needed work.

    The whole country did. I needed a police force. Hmm¡­ A military force would be good to. Some guards for the castle and borders wouldn''t hurt.

    There¡¯s so much to do. I need to get a head start. With my tasks set before me my fears fell away giving me a clear path to follow.

    Like an empty spinning bottle, my attention fell on Shadow. ¡°You guys head home, I need to talk to a blacksmith.¡±

    Shadow didn¡¯t like that idea. ¡°No, your not running off on your own. Do you want to get kidnapped, again.¡± She looked like she was gonna drop Luca to get at me.

    Did she really think I¡¯d just run off? ¡°It¡¯ll be okay. I can handle myself.¡± Probably.

    She didn¡¯t like that answer. ¡°We¡¯re going home! Now!¡± Grate, she was in mom mode again. Having her tag along wasn¡¯t really an option. I didn¡¯t want to make her carry Luca all the way to the blacksmiths shop and back to the castle.

    Besides, Luca desperately needed to go to bed. That idiot. How the hell does one go on about being all grown up then immediately proceed to get so hammered they can¡¯t even walk themselves home!

    Not just that but then they expect their fake mom to carry them! Teens are the absolute worst! And then they go on to blame all there problems on there parents! Like its their parents fault they wont get off the Xbox and find a job!

    By this point I was seething with rage. Hmmm¡­ where was all this anger coming from? Right, Alice¡¯s little brother Mickey. Back to my point, It¡¯s kind of expected for teens to fight with there parents and then expect their parents to bail them out like they hadn¡¯t just done something incredibly hurtful to them.

    Shadow waved her hand at me like she was trying to get my attention. ¡°You still there master? You zoned out for a whole minute.¡± She looked tired.

    I should hurry this up. ¡°I¡¯ll be okay. If anything goes wrong I¡¯ll tell you. That¡¯s what the party chat is for. Besides, you¡¯ll always know where I am. Thanks to the guild tab and party tab. Its like I have a tracking device embedded in my butt or something.¡±

    She stared at me as if waiting for me to break. I held on as best as I could. It was like having a staring contest with an angry goat. I was afraid it might head butt me at any moment. I even held my arm up to defend myself.

    She responded with "I''m not gonna hit you."

    I retorted with "Just a precaution" The silence continued.

    A brief second later she let out a breath. ¡°Alright fine, but the moment something happens you¡¯d better call for me. Also what¡¯s gotten into you? Before you were all shy and cute. Now your all motivated and reasonable. You¡¯re like a different person.¡± Was she saying it was a bad thing? I wasn¡¯t sure.

    ¡°That¡¯s because I didn¡¯t know where I was going but now I have a goal. Anyway, I promise To let you know if something goes wrong. I might need to cling to you in the future but for tonight I¡¯m myself.¡±

    I made my way in the opposite direction from the castle. Shadow kept walking. I wasn¡¯t sure if she got the message but she seemed to accept it for what it was.

    As for what it was even I wasn¡¯t sure. I just felt like I needed to do something constructive and on my own. I was stuck in this body and in this new fantastical world. I couldn¡¯t change any of that so it was time to adapt.

    I thought to those times my dad would yell at me about the decisions I¡¯ve made. I realized a long time ago. He wasn¡¯t trying to bust my balls or hurt me.

    He only pointed out my mistakes and made rules, because he was worried about me. If he hadn''t loved me at all. Then he wouldn''t have cared about anything I did.

    I came to that conclusion way to late. He was dead before I could ever tell him just how much it meant to me. I never even got to say I was sorry. Mom can go fuck herself.

    Before I went any further I looked back and called out to Shadow. ¡°Shadow!¡± She turned back to me. ¡°Thank you for worrying about me. It¡¯s kind of nice knowing your always looking out for me.¡± Somehow she made me feel happy.

    ¡°You better be home in thirty minutes. If your late I¡¯ll hunt you down and drag you back. I am not joking young lady! Thirty minutes!¡± She turned back in the direction of the castle and kept walking.

    Geez. She couldn¡¯t have just said ¡°Your welcome.¡± Why did she have to make me feel so uneasy. My good mood was gone. Screw it she really does hate me.

    Whatever, happiness was never meant to last. Its like water it comes and goes. It¡¯s a nice thing to have but it¡¯s stupid to rely on. Because the moment its gone your left flopping on the dry floor like a dying fish.

    You just have to Learn to breathe air. Grow a leg or two. Possibly a dick in case you get bored.

 Episode 7: Fly Like A Buffalo

    Chapter 7

    Fly like a Buffalo

    With all the innocence of a blissful minor, I skipped along the stone road. It was kind of fun. At first I was moving at a playful pace but eventually I started to add power behind each skip, and before I knew it. I was soaring through the air like a used condom¡­ or something with wings like a buffalo.

    My wife says buffalos don¡¯t have wings. She even showed me a picture of a Buffalo with its wings cut off. She is such a dummy, but despite that I still love her.

    Each skip got me about forty feet worth of distance. My body was so light I could hurl myself endlessly with little to no effort. It was like I was a rag doll. It felt less like I was falling and more like I was gliding.

    Due to the fear of human biology. I was still holding back. There was no way of knowing if my body could handle a full powered skip. For all I knew I might brake my legs simply just trying to get off the ground.

    So far everything felt right. Nothing hurt. There was a bit of strain on my ankles but nothing to serious. I was starting to get a little tired but that was nothing. The rush I felt from being able to move so far with little to no resistance felt amazing. Have you ever heard of a runners high. Well I call this a skippers high.

    Power skipping reminded me of a dream I had once. In it I could jump long distances and glide on the wind. That was until dad showed up as a giant gorilla and swatted me out of the sky like I was some kind of bug.

    What the hell was that about! Is it some kind of metaphor. Best I could make of it. My dad was tying to crush my dreams. Which he did repeatedly¡­ ruthlessly. Sometimes even unknowingly. Like that time he got drunk and told me he was gonna build me and my brother a tree house but then ended up with a nail in his hand.

    That day little Isaac had to drive his dad to the hospital while his little brother tried desperately to keep their drunk passed out father from bleeding out. Looking back on it now brought a smile to my face. That whole situation was just ridiculous. Especially when the doctors asked me if dad had taken any drugs. Like I was supposed to know what drugs my old man was on.

    Forget flying. Long jumping was the shit. The feel of taking off. The reverberation running up my legs from the impact that came with each landing. I especially loved how it felt when my feet would slide grinding the dust between my shoes and the ground. The experience was all to perfect. It was even better than sex. Whoa there Isaac. Don''t go crazy now. Okay so maybe it was a close second to sex. No, more like third. Right behind snorting a fat line of Molly off your future wife¡¯s ass crack while Mexican rave music plays in the background.

    There was so much neon paint that night. Holy shit. She was blue I was pink and together we made purple.

    I kind of wish I could skip bear foot, but then I¡¯d need to explain to Shadow why my feet were dirty. She would probably freak out. I didn¡¯t particularly care about what she had to say. It was more the fact that she wouldn¡¯t stop nagging. My anxious nature made her words hit hard.

    As an adult man I rather enjoyed walking bear foot. The feel of the ground between my toes felt nice. It was raw and real. There was so much sensory going on it was nice to actually feel something with my feet. Most of the time you¡¯d wear shoes basically locking your feet into sensory deprivation.

    Let me tell you the moment you take your shoes off and actually feel the ground is amazing. Like growing your hair out then cutting it all off in a drunken stupor.

    I remember cutting my hair off once and feeling rain hit my ear for the first time in over a year. It was such a weird feeling. the first rain drop startled me but at the same time the long forgotten sensation excited me. It was like the first time I tried cocaine.

    The first time you try something is always the best. That¡¯s why I was constantly quitting drugs cold turkey. That way I¡¯d get a bigger rush when I jumped back into one. While it did heighten the experience. It was never the same as the first time.

    I really wanted to enjoy power skipping. This was the first time for me. I wanted to really take in the experience

    Mantis managed to hop up onto the roof tops with little effort, however he had stronger bone density than I did, and going up was the act of fighting gravity, while moving sideways was more akin to a satellite orbiting the planet.

    His strength ratio was probably higher than mine so each point gave him more strength than it did for me. Then again my strength stat was pretty high so I was probably still stronger. Not by much. It was the difference between a fully grown man and a fully grown man on some form of bath salts.

    I was already moving close to fifty feet with each jump. I should be able to just jump up there. The buildings were from twenty-four to sixty-five feet tall. The question was could I get down without hurting my legs?

    Last time when Mantis took me up there. I was afraid to jump down. Shadow actually had to pick me up and drop down herself. I protested a bit but she did it so fast I didn¡¯t really get the chance to fight back.

    Her logic was she was a cat and cats always landed on their feet. Sure cats land on their feet, but what if they were hurtling through space and began to burn up upon entering the atmosphere. Bye, bye kitty that¡¯s what I¡¯d say. She said the landing hurt a little but that it didn¡¯t actually bother her.

    We¡¯re my bones strong enough to withstand a drop like that? I wasn¡¯t sure. Most likely it would be fine considering my stats said I weighed forty-five pounds and was about four inches away from being four feet tall. Meaning I might just be light enough to where I don¡¯t produce the necessary inertia to brake said legs.

    I broke my leg once back in middle school. Let me tell you not fun. I thought I could get away from my bullies by jumping out the window. It kind of worked. Right up until they came outside and started beating me. Thanks to my broken leg I couldn¡¯t get away.

    I know what your thinking. My weight and height sounded like the size of a six or seven Year old. Well¡­ you''d be wrong. Because I was not that. I was nine at the most. Eight and a half at worst. You got that! Anyway moving on.

    The way stats worked were pretty complicated. So say you¡¯re a human. As a human male you get a 0.4 boost to your base strength whenever you gained a stat point in strength.

    This did not hold true in the new world. It was slightly more complicated now. Age and size seemed to play a big part in it. It hadn''t been clear at first but now I was sure of it.

    As a little kid. My strength was low due to the fact I didn¡¯t have all that much muscle mass. When I gain a stat point the system would only add a 0.05 to my actual strength instead of the usual 0.2 meant for a human female.

    By the way 0.2 was like 20% and 0.05 was like 5%. It¡¯s not like you were at a disadvantage for playing as a girl. Honestly it depended on what build you wanted. Classes also affect your stat ratios. They either brought something down or pushed something up.

    In the game Aku hadn¡¯t actually been optimized for the berserker class. That¡¯s why my avatar wasn¡¯t in the top ten list. I was number nineteen in the player rankings. Not bad right.

    Sure I could have deleted the avatar and started over with a large half giant character. Except¡­ I couldn¡¯t do that because I didn¡¯t want to abandon Aku. I thought it was really funny that a little girl was running around as a berserker. Not to brag, but really¡­ when you think about it, being ranked nineteen with my avatar just showed how skilled I was.

    My rank meant nothing though. Eco was ranked eight. Luca was twelve. Mao was ten. Rhyme was sitting in the top five at rank three.

    The rankings were based off a lot of things. From the amount of experience you¡¯ve accumulated. To the amount of monsters you¡¯ve killed. Things like PVP win rates and how many classes you¡¯ve maxed out all went into account. I didn¡¯t really pay all that much attention to that stuff though. Because you could make it up there without ever fighting a single player.

    It was pretty hard to gain the necessary stat points in vitality to make berserker useful. I had to pick up a lot of melee based classes just for the stat experience.

    That¡¯s the other part about stats. Classes didn¡¯t award stat points. They did but not the way you think. Classes gave experience to each of your stats. Depending on the class it awarded different amounts to each stat. That way you couldn¡¯t just max your stats out at nine-hundred-ninety-nine. Simply by picking up every single class and leveling them like half way.

    The higher your stats went the more class experience they needed to go up. Once you got as many classes as I did. You might see an increase in your stats once every other class. Though that wasn¡¯t the only way to increase a stat.

    Stat experience was also awarded by doing certain things in-game. Swing your sword around and you¡¯ll get experience in strength. Run around a bunch and get experience in dexterity. Use magic a lot and get experience in both wisdom and intelligence. This was called stat training. The results weren¡¯t game breaking but they did add up over time.

    To compensate for the loss of 2 vitality. I¡¯d even used special gear that boosted my health. That included the demon spawn bed I supposedly slept in. You would not believe how rare that bed was. Nowadays I just wanted to get rid of it. It was still sitting in my room at this very moment. I wouldn''t be surprised if the castle was filled with demons by now.

    As for the other human ratios. Women gained a 0.4 in dexterity and a 0.3 in intelligence. While guys only got a 0.2 in dexterity and a 0.2 in intelligence.

    Guys also had a 0.3 in wisdom and a 12 in vitality. While women got a 0.2 in wisdom and a 10 in vitality. Perception was equal between them at 0.3.

    This was how they worked in-game. In the new world ¡ª thanks to a bit of observation ¡ª it varied from person to person. I actually looked at my stat ratios and a lot of things made sense now.

    My vitality had a ratio of 1. That explained my lack of health. My strength was at 0.12. That wasn¡¯t as bad as I thought it would be but it was still pretty bad. I could still punch a hole through a car but other people could now bench press a truck. Wisdom was at 0.02. That was reasonable for a kid considering children didn''t really have all that much life experience. That was also why my focus regeneration was so slow.

    Intelligence¡­ that was just wow. Just wow. It marked me off at a 0.8. I think it makes sense considering how smart kids are. They learn so quickly. There minds aren¡¯t bogged down with life. Mine is but thanks to my intelligence ratio, everything felt clear in my head. My mental state while stressed has held up longer than I expected.

    The high intelligence explained why my focus bar was so high and why my spells held so much power behind them. I also couldn''t help but notice I could do math in my head now. I could do it in the old world but now it was so much smoother and my head didn''t hurt as much afterwards. My calculations for time dilation only took me a few seconds to figure out.

    My perception stat also had a ratio of 0.8. I''ve heard that kids see the world as it is. Not to mention kids usually have better eyes than adults. It explained why my vision was so good. That''s why everything looked so colorful. Not because of drugs but because my perception was so potent.

    It also explained my good hearing. Everything came in super clear. I could even pick up and isolate conversations from crowded rooms. It was so cool I felt like superman listening to the neighbors take a dump.

    My dexterity was at 0.6. Meaning I was flexible in all kinds of ways. Not that that was useful for a girl Akus age. I thought about doing a split but I was currently on a timer. It also affected my movement speed making me fast and nimble. This was all before you added in the ratio gains and losses due to the class I had slotted in.

    I was originally skipping out of boredom but now I think I can make this my new form of travel. I was actually getting kind of good at controlling how far I went.

    I could jump but it didn''t have the same fluidity that came with skipping. Skipping was the combination of running and jumping. The momentum of running fed right into your jump and the momentum of jumping fed right back into running.

    I was finally starting to get tired. My legs were burning. Stopping, I fell on my sore ass and tried to catch my breath. There weren¡¯t very many people around. It probably had something to do with the lack of lighting. This wasn''t one of the main roads. It was off of Verta street. It didn''t even have a sign indicating it¡¯s name. My map said I was on hickory road. I thought the roads would be named 1st or 2nd. Actually those names were reserved for the streets closest to the center of the city. Around the castle.

    Its so dark here, I should really fix that. I''m sure I can build a few lamp posts out here. Wait, wait, that would be to expensive. My country is fantasy based so light posts were extra expensive. I''m pretty sure there''s a magical equivalent that''s more cost effective. I wish Mao was here. He would know. Him and Clara were off in the NPC kingdom Arvoes. It seemed like there messages were either delayed or lost. It was hard to tell. From my understanding Mao was trying to create a trade deal that would give entropy access to the NPC market.

    I was under the impression that that was already a thing. Turns out I was completely wrong. Entropy had access to the markets of allied countries. Arvoes wasn''t an ally. It turns out no one had access to Arvoeses market.

    If Mao pulled it off then that meant I¡¯d be able to buy interesting items from Arvoes. Entropy would also be able to sell to them bringing up the cities income. I wasn¡¯t sure what I could get from them. though, there kingdom didn¡¯t have a specific affinity. That gave them access to all sorts of different types of items. There was no penalty for tech or magic. I just needed to pay the delivery fee. If I had access to it. I could get all kinds of goodies for a discount.

    Sitting here in the dark made me a little uneasy. My anxiety was starting to settle back over my shoulders. It wasn¡¯t paralyzing. Not yet at least. I needed another pick me up.

    I managed to gain a bit of confidence from the situation at the bar. With it I was finally able to be alone. I still felt kind of scared of getting abducted but I pushed those feelings into the hole like a landfill.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    To insure I wouldn¡¯t start freaking out I thought of things that pissed me off. Waiting in traffic. Those people from the church that knock on my door every weekend. Alice¡¯s brother Mikey. Ten hot dog buns to eight hotdogs in each package. Paying fifteen dollars at a restaurant only for them to spread the food out like there cementing bricks, making the whole thing flat. Like some asshole painting a picture! I fucking hate those restaurants! Those assholes say ¡°Oh it¡¯s art, see how the mashed beans are smeared on the plate. It represents the ground and the avocado represents grass.¡± That¡¯s fucking bullshit! I came for a meal sir, not a weird ass food painting! There¡¯s hardly anything on the fucking plate! You¡¯d better run it through again cause I am not paying for it!

    ¡°Fucking assholes! Make me pay for some bullshit!¡± I kicked an empty metal trashcan creating a dent in its side.

    I wish that asshole was here trying to open his restaurant. Oh man I¡¯d fucking take a shit on a plate smear it in then make him pay me a full gold coin to eat it. You can¡¯t discriminate man! It¡¯s art!

    ¡°Fucker¡±

    There we go. That¡¯s the good stuff. It was time to keep moving. This wouldn¡¯t take long. I just needed to put an order into the blacksmith. The highest level blacksmith was Cindy. She was level ninety-two. Cindy was also the first blacksmith I ever hired. It would be interesting to actually meet her. I remember her as a sprite on my computer. I might of jerked off to it once or twice. The meet up might be a little awkward, but she was the best so I couldn''t go somewhere else.

    As far as NPC levels went. Cindy was basically an end boss. At level ten NPCs were basically mini bosses. That''s just how there stats worked. It took a bit of work to level one up and once they did. They were easy pickings for mid level players. Once they gained the experience to level. You had to then pay for them to level up.

    Ranking up was even worse. NPCs ranked up every ten levels. Not only did you need to pay gold you also had to sacrifice special boss drops called evolution crystals. The guild had quite a few but it wasn''t enough to max out a whole army.

    Creating an army of NPCs was almost impossible. Not only was leveling a pain. Gearing them up was annoying. If they died the player that killed them got the gear so it was never a grate idea to hand out unique weapons and armor. Leather armor with some chainmail usually worked. Though, that made them even more useless.

    Most guilds didn¡¯t bother with NPC soldiers. Not unless there players were low level. Most of the time they were more like Canon fader to get your opponents to exhaust there resources.

    My favorite thing to do was fill the NPCs inventory with stacks upon stacks of demon spider legs. Since every time you put one in your inventory there was a 20% chance of being curse with weakness for five seconds.

    Weakness cut your strength and movement speed by 10%. The percentage didn''t stack but the timer did. At twenty per stack ¡ª with the NPCs limited inventory space of thirty slots ¡ª the chances of getting weakness were fairly high. Especially since player inventory was limitless.

    To make the NPCs even more appetizing. I made sure to give them enchanted gear. Nothing crazy. Maybe a slight increase in durability. Just enough magic to make the armor nice and shiny. Just enough shiny to tickle the greed of my enemies.

    My strategy wasn''t all that popular due to the fact you had to Actually grind for demon spider legs. Technically you could use them to form curse arrows but it wasn''t worth the time investment. I usually just set up bounties on the player board and offered up one silver per stack. That was slightly more than what they were worth.

    Usually you could sell them for three copper a peace but my price got you five copper a leg. It was a pretty good deal when you think about it. That''s like an extra forty copper per stack. I mean if you have the legs you might as well sell them to me.

    When I told my guild mates about my strategy they all went quiet for a minute. I believe most of them said I was evil. Shadow didn''t understand what I was saying. Mao said ¡°That''s smart¡± while Rhyme thought my idea was to dishonorable. She came around when I told her if she thought it was honorable for max level players to slaughter level one NPCs. She stayed quiet after that.

    The bait was meant to attract assholes so there was no honor to begin with. Those that wanted to steal from the spiders nest better be careful as to not get caught in its web.

    As bad as NPC soldiers seemed. I know for a fact they were summoned knowing how to fight. Not just that but there AI wouldn¡¯t be stupid. That would be a huge advantage compared to the players that got isekaied. I just needed to make sure they were properly leveled and geared up. I¡¯d need to use a lot of coin but with my vast wealth it would be easy to pay for it. I could use the guilds money but that was more Mao¡¯s than mine.

    Originally the players made all the money from the NPC shops but now the empire was paid in taxes. 5% from all sales went to the guild. The guild once a week gave everyone a percentage of 2% to each of its members. As guild leader I got 5%. Mao got 4% for vice leader.

    I could always change it to where the members got a flat amount of gold but it was better this way because it showed everyone how good Entropy was doing.

    Most of my money came from killing and selling mob loot. It was pretty easy to gather money in TEO. Well that was true for most RPGs. I wasn¡¯t sure what it was like in the new world. I was lucky being empress of Entropy. That gave me a steady income of a couple hundred gold a week. Considering one gold had about the same value of one-thousand US dollars I was doing pretty good.

    I wasn¡¯t really a billionaire. I was more like a millionaire. That''s still a lot. That''s the most money I''ve ever had. The most I¡¯ve ever got was 22k. That was back when my mom and dad¡¯s life insurance kicked in. Everyone got a little money out of it. My sister got the most since she was my parents favorite.

    My current allowance seemed to go up slowly as time went by. A little while ago it was at eight silver but now. It had gone up to one gold and thirty-four copper. The money would be dropped into my inventory in a week. The last time I got paid was the last in-game night. I was basically making over a hundred gold every thirty-five minutes in real world time. That¡¯s insane. How did I only have 1k crystal then?

    I did waste a lot of coin on upgrading my equipment. There¡¯s no real limit to upgrades. It¡¯s really all about how much money and materials you had to put into gear. I was at the point where my grate sword needed several hundred crystal to upgrade. Usually only big guilds could afford to upgrade weapons like that. That¡¯s what separated us from the neutral players. To bad I couldn¡¯t even swing it anymore.

    Starting up again, I flew through the air landing with a puff of dust. That jump got a total of sixty feet. Not bad considering my feet didn''t hurt upon impact. That was the point of the experiment.

    I was also trying to get away from the people following me. I passed them a while back and now they were slowly creeping behind me. Normally I¡¯d freak out, but right now I was kind of pissed and felt like blowing off some steam. I didn''t feel like contacting Shadow so I decided to not use to many skills or get hit. As long as my health bar didn¡¯t go down and my focus stayed decently high, Shadow wouldn¡¯t come looking for me. Even if I can¡¯t handle it, If I make it to Cindy she can keep me safe, but I really wanted to punch something.

    It wasn''t every day I had the confidence to fuck with people. I really wanted to confront them, but felt like I should probably get closer to Cindy¡¯s shop just in case.

    I was about ten blocks away. Hopefully they wouldn''t lose interest. Kind of like when my mom stopped posting my art on the fridge. For a kid in kindergarten it was cute but for a 7th grader. It was just weird. Especially with all the sexual content I was dishing out. Sorry mom.

    There was a bit of a problem. I was in the middle of town and there was about five of them. What if we broke a building or hurt an NPC. I remember their faces. They were the people I saw back in the bar. I was watching them as Luca, Shadow, and I were talking about our plans. They seemed interested. My ears even managed to pick up a little bit of there conversation. If I hadn¡¯t misheard them they wanted to take my empire from me. They¡¯d been following us ever since we left the bar.

    If your wondering why I¡¯m not afraid. It¡¯s because there all really low level. I¡¯d say they¡¯d only joined TEO a day or two ago. I wasn¡¯t sure if I should beat them up or not. I wanted to hit something but I also wanted to know what there deal was.

    Were they actually just thugs that wanted my money or were they having a bad time and didn¡¯t have any other way of continuing. Maybe I¡¯ll try the talking thing first.

    At first I wondered why they thought they could pick on me when my level was maxed out. Then I remembered people with low perception couldn¡¯t see levels higher than twenty. It was such a noob thing I¡¯d completely forgotten about it. To there eyes I was only level twenty. The last time I dealt with that was in the early days of joining TEO. That was like ten years ago. These guys didn''t even have enough perception to see my stats. The only thing that would show up was my fake level and my guild affiliation.

    My gear was crap so they probably thought my level was accurate. Well actually my gear had a requirement level of twenty just to equip it. It was considered good gear up until level fifty. That was only when I had the black and pink stockings equipped. Right now it was incomplete. With the full set it¡¯s stats jump up by 10%.

    It wasn¡¯t that crazy to believe I was level twenty. I was apart of a powerful guild so it only made sense my guild mates would gear me up.

    There were items that could hide your level completely. My armor did something like that. It was fun to freak people out when I started owning them in PVP.

    These guys weren¡¯t completely stupid. They picked me for a reason. Shadow could easily take them. Luca even though she was drunk could still cast all kinds of nasty spells. There¡¯s no way they¡¯d go after them. The way I acted at the bar. They probably thought I was an actual kid. Sure why not the kid. Feed em candy keep it happy. Meanwhile we contact their guild and ask for ransom, or Entropy itself. The safer bet would be to get vast amounts of money from the guild.

    No, the safer bet would be to kill us off and take everything. Break the guild crystal then start there own guild using our land as there Foundation. With me as a hostage it wouldn''t be to hard to pull the guild into a trap. A head shot was a head shot after all.

    They could see I was in the raiders guild. But they couldn¡¯t tell I was the guild leader. Would they actually hurt a kid? Who knows.

    I could be wrong and I imagined the whole thing. For all I knew they wanted to join my guild. Though it seemed a little sus that they didn''t just ask me when at the bar. Why all the sneaking around? I wasn¡¯t apposed to letting them join. We needed to unify the players and find a way home. They were very sus. What if I was stuck in amogus.

    I quickly smacked my head. ¡°Shut up brain. Not now!¡± of all the times to ponder nonsense now was not the time.

    Regardless, if you come to harm me, my guild mates or my people. I will not hesitate to defend them or myself. If I can¡¯t capture I''ll kill. I¡¯d rather not risk getting myself or anyone else killed because some asshole thinks I won¡¯t go all out.

    Ugh, I take it back these guys were kind of dumb. I had my mini map active and could see them moving next to me, one street over. I¡¯m pretty sure one of them was right behind me using stealth, because I remember there being five of them. As the map was now, there was only four showing up.

    I wonder what the plan was? Maybe if I run around I can jump into stealth and surprise them. let''s play cat and mouse.

    As I skipped through the air I looked over at the roof tops next to me. The four players were on the street over to my left and the stealth guy had to be somewhere behind me. That''s where the breathing sound was coming from. The roof tops to my right were probably my best shot.

    I made the jump up onto the roof then kept going onto the next street. Dropping down didn''t hurt like I thought it would. I was putting more pressure on my legs while skipping than I did when falling thirty feet. I made my way into the shadows of the alleyway and before anyone could spot me I dropped into stealth.

    Stealth seemed way to useful to take off my hot bar. I now had a bunch of attacks slotted in. Since martial arts were so useful against Mantis I added a few of my favorites. In total I had about three martial arts. Three magic spells. Two stacks of health potions. One small the other medium. The mediums could stack eight in total. With my short health pool. There was no point in drinking full potions. Medium was more than enough for a full heal. Besides full potions only had a stack of five.

    As for small potions a stack of those was twelve in total. I could get a little over half of my health back with one of those. A small potion could easily save my life.

    For the last slot I had five Zen potions. These could give you about a thousand units of focus. I needed it since my focus regeneration was so bad. I was actually prepared this time.

    I even set my class to monk for the 0.1 boost to my wisdom ratio. It was now sitting at a 0.15. While still low, It was still a major improvement. I also had a passive skill that lowered the cost and cool down of abilities I might have.

    Being as quiet as possible I pressed myself against the wall and waited. A moment later I noticed the sound of pitter-patter on the ground. There was a feint blue shimmer as they moved forward.

    I wasn¡¯t moving so I had no shimmer. The guy looked around and realized it was a dead end. Then checked the full map to try and find me.

    I was no where to be seen. It was like I¡¯d vanished off the face of the new world. He scratched his head dropping stealth. The guy looked like a fake ninja. Almost like someone that had gotten a dollar store costume. His face was covered in a mask only revealing his dark eyes.

    Above his head was Grand_King23 level: 13. I decided to call him 23 for short. I couldn¡¯t tell what emotions he had because of his mask.

    I wanted to jump out and say ¡°boo" but that would be stupid. A moment later I heard the sound of foot steps. They were accompanied by a group of players. One was a tall man in his twenties. He had short blond hair and was wearing leather armor over a white tunic and brown pants. He wore brown boots and had a Gladius sword on his hip with a Gladius shield strapped to his arm. His player name was Boner. Because of course it was. His level was nineteen.

    Boner was the first to speak. ¡°Where did she go?" He looked kind of aggressive. It was as if 23s response would determine who he was about to kill.

    23 sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know. She came down this way. Then disappeared.¡± He waited nervously for a response but Boner didn¡¯t react right away. It was like the guy was trying to build fear in his teammate.

    Before Boner could say anything one of his other companions chimed in. They cleared there throat before speaking. ¡°B-Boner don¡¯t worry we¡¯ll find that kid.¡± The voice belonged to a girl in her early twenties. She wore light blue overalls, a pair of white stockings, some sandals, and a white collared shirt underneath. Her hair was a light brown almost hazel. It was a bit messy. She carried a large crossbow on her back. Her player name read Rosy_flowers<3 level: 17. I was just gonna call her Rosy.

    The girl next to her backed her up. ¡°Yeah my guy. She couldn¡¯t have gone far.¡± This girl looked a bit younger. Maybe eighteen. She was of the wolf-kin race. Similar to Shadows cat-kin race. Her hair was an aqua blue. So was her big fluffy ears that seemed kind of big for her head. Shadow had big ears to but this girls ears were very tall. Their fur was blue at the base then faded into black at the tips. Her eyes had the same color. Her tail was really fluffy. I really wanted to touch it. Just like her ears the base was blue and faded into black at the tip. She almost looked like a fox. I couldn''t help but notice the fangs in her mouth. She wore a black silk dress with a short Jean jacket on top. A pair of black leather boots fit snugly over her fishnet covered legs. She also had a plasma hand gun attached to a leg holster. On her back was a frequency rifle.

    The hand gun could fire a single shot before you needed to change the cartridge. That single shot had the power of a grenade focused into an electrical bolt of blue flame.

    The frequency rifle could fire indefinitely but the shots were kind of weak. It used kinetic energy as it¡¯s ammo. The weapon did more damage to those wearing armor.

    The girls player name read as Shaded_Sapphire level: 18. I was just gonna call her Shade. Sapphire was a mouthful. Shade just sounded cooler.

    The last one in the group was a quite kid that shared similar features to Boner. I wasn¡¯t sure if they were related or not but they looked similar with there short blonde hair and blue eyes.

    The kid wore a chest plate made of tempered steel. It was probably the most expensive thing the group owned. It didn¡¯t even look like it fit properly. I¡¯d say he was only a year older than Aku. When I created Aku I made sure to move the slider all the way to the left insuring I¡¯d have the smallest avatar you could possibly get. My hit box was so small sometimes I didn¡¯t even have to crouch to avoid a bosses attack.

    The boys player name was Austin_Is_Grate level: 8. Austin was the obvious choice for his canon name. He didn¡¯t look all that happy. The kid looked like he really didn¡¯t want to be here.

    My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Boner go off. ¡°You worthless peace of shit!¡± He threw a punch at 23 hitting him in the face.

    23 went down hard. I felt blood land on my leg. I don''t think anyone noticed. Rosy and Shade ran up behind him trying to hold him back. Shade yelled out. ¡°Stop it! He couldn¡¯t do anything!¡±

    Rosy cried ¡°You, You big bully!¡± both of them were no match for his physical strength. With his size and class. His strength ratios were probably higher than theirs. It didn¡¯t help that he was higher level. He pushed them away. The guy was built like a line backer and was easily the highest level among them.

    ¡°You are worthless king! You hear me absolutely worthless!¡± Boner was holding 23 by the collar. Shade and Rosy were both up against the wall.¡± The silver lining was no one bumped into me.

    ¡°It should have been you! You should of died to those goblins! Not Lina! She was trying to save you! You could have helped her but you ran away like a fucking coward!¡± he punched 23 again getting a pained grunt out of him.

    23 did nothing letting Boner push him repeatedly. He most likely felt responsible for the whole situation.

    Shade quickly drew her plasma gun pointing it at Boner. ¡°Stop, I¡¯ll shoot! Back away from him!¡± her hands were shaking. Boner kept hitting 23. 23s health was dropping slowly. ¡°I said stop it! Your going to kill him!¡± despite her words the gun didn¡¯t fire.

    Is she crazy. There''s no safety on sci-fi weapons. That thing gives off a fairly big explosion. She was about to blow everyone up. Most likely she didn''t feel like her frequency rifle could actually stop Boner.

    The guy kept punching. 23 grunted. Blood dripped and splattered on the ground. Rosy curled up into a ball. Austin was expressionless. He was more or less already broken. Shade kept the shaky gun pointed at Boner. Her voice broke as she started to cry. ¡°I mean it! S-stop!¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but try to stifle a laugh. It didn¡¯t work. Before I knew it my stealth had broken and I was cracking up like a mad man.

    Everyone except for 23 ¡ª for obvious reasons ¡ª looked my way. I was bent over laughing. ¡°ahahaha, Jesus Christ you guts are all fucked in the head!¡± I couldn''t help it. The entire situation was a huge clich¨¦. It¡¯s like they were reenacting a scene from there favorite movie or something. They weren¡¯t even that good.

 Episode 8: clown at a funeral

    Chapter 8

    Clown at a funeral

    So you know how sometimes someone dies and you can¡¯t help but laugh. Like when my dad passed away. I guess you can say I find tragedy funny. Not all tragedy just the really stupid kind. It¡¯s all just so stupid. It¡¯s so ridiculous I can¡¯t help but laugh at it all.

    I mean come on! Dude loses his girl then goes full retard on a guy that wont even fight back. How is that not funny? It¡¯s absolutely hilarious. Especially the kid over there who looks like he¡¯s been walking around his whole life with shit in his pants.

    My family thought I was a monster for laughing at my dad''s funeral. At least that''s how it felt when there eyes all landed on me. Not everyone was silent. Some were very vocal about it. Including my little brother and big sister.

    My dad died not from his crappie liver or an over dose but a fucking truck! What¡­ the fuck. He wasn¡¯t even saving a kid or something. The dude was drunk off his ass and was dancing in the rain to foot lose. He died like a jackass. I miss him.

    Mom¡­. Mom never treated me the same. She was a bit more distant. That was up until one day she kind of snapped and started beating me. Calling me the devils child. Which was strange considering she was never religious. I guess after dad¡¯s passing she found God. It tends to go that way when you can''t really hold yourself together. I guess I was just happy she had something to keep her whole. Even if it turned her into my tormentor.

    ¡°You¡­ what¡¯s so funny!¡± Boner took a step towards me. I couldn''t stop laughing. ¡°You little shit!¡± He rushed me.

    Rosy yelled ¡°Stop, she¡¯s just a kid! We need her alive!¡± Boner swung his first but it didn''t hit me, instead it slammed into the wall next to me making a big hole. I was no longer laughing. It scared me a little but I also knew it wouldn''t connect. My high perception told me it would only pass the side of my head.

    Actually, his punch was kind of slow. I saw it coming a mile away but even though you know your watching a scary movie and there¡¯s a jump scare around the corner. You still jump when it happens or at least I do. In my opinion jump scares don¡¯t make a movie scary. It¡¯s just fake bullshit.

    Boner while angry knew he couldn''t actually hit me. I decided to take his hissy fit as a declaration of war. I had bad memories of my dad punching walls whenever he got mad. Mostly due to the fact he would make me help him fix them. Then he would act as if he was teaching me a lesson on how to put up drywall. When all I could think about was is my dad some kind of super hero.

    He could punch through walls. To me that was a sign of super strength. That led me to believe I might have super powers so I tried to jump off the roof thinking I could fly cause it sure as hell wasn¡¯t super strength. I didn¡¯t hurt myself. Not even a scratch. My dad saw me up their wearing my superman cape and put one and two together. He actually dropped his beer and ran about forty feet just to snatch me out of the air. Which only proved the super hero theory. The fact that he dropped his beer was proof of my dad¡¯s love for me. I¡¯ve never seen him without a can of booze in his hand. Now that I think about it my dad might have been a villain.

    Boner was trying to scare me into compliance. He seemed to think I¡¯d just fall in order just because he could fist a wall. To assert dominance I stepped forward and sent a right jab directly at his conveniently eye level junk. I know I said punching someone¡¯s balls was a gamble but in this situation it was fine, seeing as Boner wasn''t allowed to hurt me. I also fond it funny because it¡¯ll piss him off. It¡¯ll be the equivalent of trying to scratch that one spot in the middle of your back, but not being able to reach. He couldn¡¯t touch me and that was exploitable.

    As my fist connected with something soft. I yelled out ¡°Stranger danger!¡± Then did my best murder witness scream. I gotta say it was so good. I decided to fall into Aku¡¯s personality and mess with these losers.

    Boner cried out in pain and dropped to his knees. ¡°You little shit.¡± His voice was a low grunt.

    I stood there with a pretend expression of fear. Holding my left hand up to my mouth with my right hand awkwardly extended in the same position from when I crushed his jewels. I even made sure to quiver for effect.

    Boner tried to reach for me but I took a fearful step back pulling my arm to my chest. He tried again. ¡°Hold still!¡± I ran out of the way then hid behind the wolf girl.

    Why the wolf girl? I wanted to get a better look at her tail maybe even touch it. So I did. I held onto her tail like I was hugging Snowball. The best part was she didn¡¯t freak out. It was so soft. Shadow¡¯s tail was softer but hers was so fluffy. There was so much of it!

    Its like she took her over grown ass crack hair and tied them off into a ponytail. Then dipped them into a concoction of vitamin E oil and conditioner.

    You could tell she brushed it regularly. I really, REALLY wanted to nuzzle against it but then she might suspect I wasn¡¯t actually a child and think I was some kind of pervert. I¡¯m no pervert¡­¡­ Okay fine, maybe a little but I ¡ª unlike uncle Mantis ¡ª have self control. I even came with a built in filter. That''s right no matter what deprived logic you hear come out my mouth. I can guarantee there''s at least eight other things I won''t say allowed.

    To seal the deal I had to play the damsel in distress. ¡°Help he¡¯s trying to hurt me!¡± The girl looked confused. She glanced at Rosy who shrugged her shoulders. I had no idea if it would work, but come on! Who wouldn''t melt at Aku¡¯s call for help. And as expected It actually had the intended result. As if finding new resolve Shade lifted her plasma gun up and kept it pointed at Boner. Rosy did the same with her crossbow. I was elated.

    Had my charm actually worked on them? It straight up turned them against Boner. Well, he was a bit of an asshole, but he had the right to be. His girlfriend was dead. I¡¯d be pretty pissed off if my girlfriend died in a bullshit rape fantasy. Still Shade was already pointing a gun at him. It probably didn''t take much convincing.

    Wait, what am I talking about. She¡¯s protecting me because she needs me as a hostage! Oh, no! have I accidentally ¡°princess peached¡± myself! Did that make Shadow my Mario? Mao would probably fit the role better. Well, that game has a lot of mushrooms so maybe Fish. Actually I don''t want to be saved by Fish. There¡¯s also Eco, he has a cooler character. Except it wouldn''t be a Mario game anymore. That would be more like the movie Taken. Maybe this was a Zelda game situation? I¡¯d better stop before we get sued for copyright.

    Boner looked toward her unsure on what she was doing. ¡°That''s no fucking kid! She''s a god dam psychopath!¡± He slowly got to his feet. His legs were a bit shaky.

    Shade kept her gun up. ¡°You¡¯re the one acting like a monster. King is almost dead. I don''t even think he can drink a health potion anymore.¡± She was right.

    I looked to 23 and could see how broken his face was. His mask somehow made it up to his forehead. Right now he might just drown in his own blood. His jaw was dislocated maybe even broken. There were a lot of teeth missing. I could see his tongue. Not just the little bit that you can stick out your mouth but the part that goes down your throat. It was kind of cool. Like a horror movie but real.

    His health was dropping at a decent pace. Either it was the blood loss, or he was suffocating. Should I save this guy. He tried to capture me. I''m not responsible for what Boner did to him. I could hear the zombie ninja. gurgling. Let''s see if these guys can save him, otherwise I might have to stop playing innocent Aku and jump into priestess mode. As little Aku I might be able to use my charm to create some serious chaos.

    ¡°We don''t even have potions. The last one was on Lina when she¡­. Look! King is useless anyway! He was to afraid to fight! This world is literal hell! I was doing him a favor!¡± Boner¡¯s rationalization was more for himself than anyone else. It was interesting to see a grown man lose his sanity in real time.

    Shade shook with frustration. ¡°What about Austin! He''s weak! You gonna kill him to!¡± her words seemed to throw Boner into a rage. A look of fear grew on Austin''s face and he took a step back. That kid was so quiet I¡¯d forgotten he was here.

    ¡°Of course not! He''s my brother I¡¯ll keep him safe. King! King had no one! He was gonna die either way!¡± Boner only fed the flames inside Shade.

    ¡°He has us! We are his family!¡± She started to cry. ¡°He is our family and you tried to kill him!¡± this was getting good. Maybe there acting wasn¡¯t so bad. I wonder when there gonna heal 23. That dude was suffering. Still you had to appreciate the commitment. I wonder if I could join in, I¡¯d be so good at it. I could totally steal the show. This was my chance.

    I made my way out of Shade¡¯s shadow and stepped forward. ¡°Boner, I¡¯m pregnant! And the baby is yours!¡± I must of done something wrong because everyone looked at me like I was crazy. I swear I''ve been getting that look all day today. I''m not crazy. I''m just antisocial.

    When I was a kid I used to watch novellas a lot. At first I didn''t really like them but my mom insisted on having them on all day. After a while I started to enjoy the drama.

    Shade put her gun down. ¡°What''s wrong with this kid?¡± Boner quickly chimed in with ¡°I know right! That''s what I''ve been trying to tell you!¡± Rosy looked on, unsure of the situation.

    23 tried to speak. ¡°graa graa graa graa.¡± It didn''t make any sense but that was okay. The guy gets an ¡°A¡± for effort.

    System translation:

    Grand_king23: That kids no kid. Also can you guys stop dicking around and buy me a potion. This fucking hurts.

    Well that explained that. Sometimes the system could be very helpful. I didn''t know what to do. Should I start stabbing? I¡¯d need to pull out my holy dagger. I was starting to get nervous with all these eyes on me. My body shifted back and forth on my feet. Focus¡­. Focus¡­. Hold it. ¡°Before you guys jump me let me tell you something.¡± I turned to Shade. ¡°If you fire that plasma gun In this small space. You''ll end up killing everyone.¡± Shade paused for a second. Then inspected her gun and realized what I meant. Most likely reading the range on the weapon. She got all flustered and almost dropped the aforementioned high tech grenade launcher. Her ears did a dip and her tail shifted back and forth rapidly. It was cute.

    A moment later she put the weapon away and swapped it for the frequency rifle on her back. I felt better now. I wonder if she ever used the plasma gun before. It must have been a new addition to her arsenal. Her weapon must have been crazy expensive to have gotten them out here in entropy. Maybe someone else had it. I doubt this group could have afforded it. So then where did it come from. The only tech affinity country close to Entropy is Brah and their way out in the ocean. Its not important. Not right now at least.

    I felt kind of bad about what happened to 23 so I opened my menu and fished out a full potion from my inventory. I walked over to him. No one stopped me. Shade kept her rifle on me. it seemed that was all she was good for.

    I uncorked the potion then Spilled its contents directly onto 23s lovely face. I watched as bone and flesh nit itself back together. It was so freaky but so cool. Cool like watching a demolition video in reverse. Creepy like finding a decaying dead body in your backyard.

    A moment later he sat up and looked at me. A lot of my actions tonight brought that same look of confusion. That feeling of just not knowing how to react. I smiled brightly exuding my boosted charm like rays of morning sunlight. Maybe now we can all become good friends. With the power of anime and friendship we can do anything.

    ¡°Why did you save him?¡± asked Boner. I stood up straight dusting off my skirt then sent my smile his way. ¡°I wasn¡¯t done playing with him.¡± I let out a giggle except it sounded way more ominous than I was expecting. I was only joking but everyone seemed to take it the wrong way. How scary could a short nine year old be?

    Shade fired her gun. I saw the moment her body tensed to fire and jumped just when the shot went off. I moved over everyone¡¯s head landing behind Shade. Then performed the first martial art in my hot bar.

    ¡°Sweep.¡± Crouching down I swept both of Shades legs. My leg glowed a vibrant jade and sent a wave of green energy out In a sweep like motion. Shade had only just turned around and was only just now getting ready to fire another shot, when she found herself falling sideways. She fired a shot but it wasn¡¯t even close to hitting me.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Her class was ranger. They were a very broad Type of long range fighter. That meant they could use all types of long range weapons with no penalty to there skills or abilities.

    Sweep was a grate skill for PVP. Not only could it cancel someone¡¯s ability but it also left them stunned for a few seconds. It wasn¡¯t heavy on damage and was more of a counter ability. If you had an ability about to go off and were hit with sweep, then not only would you fall on your ass but you''d also have that ability explode in your face, causing you to take about a fifth of the damage.

    Since Shade hadn¡¯t been about to use an ability. She didn''t take any damage aside from the fall.

    Boner drew his Gladius sword and came at me. I could see the exact movements of his body. He didn''t really know how to swing a blade. I didn''t either but It felt more like he was trying to swing a bat. The edge wasn''t even lined up properly with the swing. At best he might clip me but he wouldn¡¯t get a clean cut.

    I ducked under his weapon then sent a jab into his gut. I had to bounce on my feet to get the reach I needed but it was all worth it when He grunted in pain. I was holding back a lot. Last thing I wanted was to punch a hole through him. I thought I might need to kill but these guys won''t be able to touch me. Not with their level of speed.

    Boner¡¯s class was dualist. He was on track to unlocking the warrior class. The warrior class was unlocked by paying for both shield and sword based skills. When it came to paying for the skills you needed to level up your mastery with a weapon. That got you points to spend. It was the same for the mage class but instead of leveling weapons you leveled different types of magic.

    I made sure to keep Boner between me and Shade. This way I won''t have to deal with her constant shots. Every time I avoided Boner''s sword I landed one or two punches to his torso. I could go for the balls again but that was to dishonorable and I¡¯d already done that. It didn¡¯t even bring his health down.

    Boner activated the dualist skill clockwise. His blade glowed a deep blue as he spun around. The energy splashed outward like a wave. I avoided it by jumping up and landing on his face. Then used That said face like a spring board launching myself up onto the roof.

    Right as I jumped off of Boner. The girls both fired off a shot. A burst of kinetic energy erupted out of Shades rifle while Rosy activated an ability called stun shot. Stun shot did what it sounded like. Her crossbow fired off an electrically charged arrow that would stun me for a few seconds. They both missed especially Rosy. Her shot almost hit Boner. That made me wonder who she was aiming at.

    Rosy had the hunter class. That class was specific for hunting down single targets. It was pretty useful for hunting rare types of monsters including abnormal mobs with special traits. Like a silver dire wolf, or abnormal pets like the azure Phoenix. Even players.

    As soon as I landed on the roof I activated stealth then power skipped forward a few feet, came to a stop. Then turned on my heel and started a spell suspending its release. Once suspended it had little to no color or light.

    The roof was slanted. The highest point was in the middle. That made it kind of hard to fight. I had the higher ground giving me better reach.

    They sent their scout after me. 23 landed in front of me in full stealth. The shimmer of his stealth gave him away. That and the sound of him landing on the hard stone tiles. This group was no good. They were all bad at there roles. So far it seemed like Shade was the only one that could actually use her weapon and even then she had the grate idea to try and use a plasma gun in such a confined space.

    Rosie¡¯s aim wasn¡¯t terrible but she hesitated to much. She looked way to tense to have good aim with a crossbow.

    I directed my spell at 23 breaking my own stealth. ¡°Manna bolt!¡± a blast of pure magic flew out of my hand hitting the mall ninja in the chest and sending him back into the alley. He let out a pained grunt when it hit. As he fell his stealth broke revealing his startled face. The man let out another grunt once he hit the concrete.

    The spell only had the bare minimum amount of power to function. That made it none lethal. I found that once I activated the spell in the hot bar, I could control the amount of power I put into it. The feeling of something pulling from deep inside me. I was finally starting to get control of it.

    23¡¯s class was assassin. Nothing crazy. Just like Shadow¡¯s. It was a basic class but did what it was supposed to.

    With him taken care of I waited for the next one to show up. Surely enough Boner was the one to show his face. He was the party tank after all. He should have been the first to come after me. That way 23 could sneak around and get me from behind. Bunch of amateurs. I wonder what Austin did in the party. Something told me he was more of an escort. Not like a top dollar high class hooker but like one of those NPC escort missions. Those were always a pain.

    Boner pulled out two potions. One glowed a molten red. Kind of like a lava lamp. The other was a light glassy blue. It was almost violet.

    The red potion was a potion of strength. It was one of the weaker ones. It only gave a 0.01 boost to your strength ratio. The other was a swift potion. It was also of the weaker versions only adding a 0.01 to your dexterity ratio. They both lasted about five minutes.

    He held the potions up to his mouth then uncorked them by biting down and pulling. Spitting the corks out he downed them both like he was double fisting beer. I wanted so badly to just pull my gun out and shoot him. It would be so funny.

    Could you imagine. A powerful Gladiator worrier rushing into battle and immediately getting owned by a kid with a hand gun. That would be hilarious. Especially with Boner''s build up. It would be so anticlimactic. I didn''t want to be a douchebag so I didn''t go for it. Not to mention my aim still wasn''t that great. I could fire off magic but that wouldn''t have the same comedic effect as a gun shot to the knee.

    Boner held his sword out in his right hand. Then started to cast a buff on it with his left hand. ¡°Curse of slaughter!¡± his blade went from a shiny silver to a molten red.

    I know that buff. I¡¯ve used it as a berserker. It gave a 5% boost to landing critical hits and brought up critical hit damage by 10%. If you had the right gear the buff made a huge difference. It also made your weapon look pretty badass.

    I wonder how crit boosts worked in the new world? It probably made your weapon extra sharp. Combine them with damage boosts and I bet your blade could cut through stone.

    I wish I had a sword. It would be so much fun to get in a genuine sword fight. Well that¡¯ll have to wait. Right now I had to spank a monkey and no, I was not talking about my dick or any dick for that matter.

    I ripped two stone tiles from the roof and tossed them hard as shit at Boner. Boner let out a battle cry as he dashed forward like a Spartan warrior. He lifted his shield blocking my ninja throwing tiles. The tiles erupted into dust almost knocking Boner over. Boner was not perturbed as he activated another dualist ability. ¡°slash!¡± his blade lashed out in a molten blue. I jumped back avoiding the molts of light.

    Boner continued his assault activating another ability. ¡°Comet!¡± his sword erupted in an icy white and he thrust it forward. I side stepped it dashing forward and landing a slightly harder punch to his side. He grunted spit flying out of his mouth. I jumped away gaining distance landing at the highest point of the roof.

    My eyes caught the glimmer of something in the distance. One green the other was just a distortion of night. I jumped into the air moving backwards in a beautiful backflip. The shots hit where I had just been and I landed on the other half of the roof. Because of the slant in the middle they couldn¡¯t see me from where they were shooting. Boner got back up to pursue me.

    As far as back flips went, mine was rather elegant. I hadn¡¯t done one since I was a kid playing on my cousin¡¯s trampoline. I had the jump height for it and my dexterity was so high that my sense of balance kept me from landing on my head or falling over and rolling off the roof.

    Boner was breathing hard and was covered in sweat. 23 was at his side holding a black bowie knife. Rosy and Shade were parallel to us. Each one on a different roof across the street from where we were fighting. The buildings they were on were slightly higher than ours. They were also on the highest point ensuring that they''d always have me in there sights. Their weapons were pointed at me.

    This fight was over. It was so much fun exploring what I could do with this body but I think I¡¯ve figured out the limits of my abilities. I''ve even managed to fine tune My new fighting style.

    The only thing I was missing was a sword. As long as I don''t get hit I''ll be fine. I was gonna become a dodge tank. It seemed to work against these guys but I was still wondering what it would be like to fight a high level player.

    It was time to figure out what these guys actually wanted. I put my hands behind my head. ¡°So¡­ tell me, why are you after me?¡± All of them looked ready to attack.

    Like always Boner was the first to speak. ¡°Your guild owns everything, all the money and resources. It¡¯s your fault no one has anything! Your hoarding all the food and shelter. Meanwhile people like us have to risk our lives just for scraps! Your guild doesn¡¯t deserve any of it!¡± So in other words. My guild was being targeted by socialists. I don¡¯t know how I feel about that.

    Socialism doesn¡¯t work on a large scale like Entropy. Usually if you had a farm its fine but when you try to implement it in a large society it falls apart.

    No one is gonna want to be a janitor or work in the sewers when they can just sit at home and do nothing. Unless you invent replicators its impossible to actually implement it into a country.

    ¡°That¡¯s crazy. I¡¯m not hoarding all the food. I still have to pay for it.¡± These guys just didn¡¯t want to work for stuff.

    ¡°You get the taxes from the NPCs. You don¡¯t have to work for anything!¡± this time it was Shade. I don¡¯t think she was trying to yell at me. It¡¯s more like she was to far away and didn¡¯t think I would hear.

    ¡°Well, it did take me and my guild like nine years to develop this country. That was with the time dilation speeding up the progress. I took all the risk I should get the reward for it. If this country goes down then I¡¯m the one that¡¯ll lose everything." I spent hours working on this place. So many sleepless nights. Was it really so selfish for me to finally experience the fruits of my labor.

    ¡°But you have so much money! Why can¡¯t you give it to the other players. It won¡¯t hurt you!¡± Rosy was the one to speak up.

    ¡°Fuck you that¡¯s why!¡± Shade fired a shot at me. I avoided it with a simple side step. ¡°Alright, alright. Its because I worked for it. Because it¡¯s proof of my hard work. It¡¯s not hard to make money in this world. Kill a few beasts in the forest. Go after the weaker ones and even if you only kill ten you¡¯ll still have the equivalent of five-hundred US dollars. As long as you sell the items that is. It¡¯s not hard. That¡¯s like a weeks salary right there in one day. Do it enough times and you¡¯ll level up. Gather better gear enchant it. Invest in your power and eventually you¡¯ll be making the equivalent of thousands a day.¡± It was the truth. NPC crafters will pay top dollar for monster loot. It¡¯s how they make there money. It¡¯s all about supply and demand.

    Boner took the mic ¡°What if we don¡¯t want to risk our lives! What if there¡¯s no other work than fighting monsters!¡± He shook in anger. I could tell he really wanted to hit me. I suppose fighting monsters wasn¡¯t fun for everyone. I¡¯m not even sure if I would enjoy it. So far I¡¯ve enjoyed fighting. Wouldn¡¯t hunting mobs be even more fun.

    The relationship players had with the economy was what held everything together. Sure there were a few adventurer NPCs but they weren¡¯t big risk takers. There levels hardly ever went up. They usually only fought one to two mob per day. Just enough to pay for their food and booze. They might even save a little money for better gear in the future. Players changed that though. Just think of the vast amounts of items flooding the market. Tons upon tons of different types of monster meat and herbs. All from the players. There was no other jobs for them because they were taken by the NPCs I created.

    Players could only have one job. I mean I even had jobless homeless people. Sooooo¡­ how do I create jobs for players? I could create the structures and hire players to run them. Then again it would be more efficient to summon an NPC that actually knew what they were doing.

    Who the hell wanted to pay some entitled lady to way tables when I can summon a beautiful maid girl to do it with far better skill and less of an attitude. So why bother. Because it was the right thing to do? No, there¡¯s no such thing as the right thing. So far I¡¯ve been operating in a gray area. I guess I feel a little sorry for them. When did this become my responsibility. The weight of everything seemed to make itself present. I felt it about to crush me.

    Not now. Not yet. Just hold on a little longer. Focus¡­ push it all into the hole. Get the job done. Leave it all for later. Just do something.

    Having a place for players in my society isn¡¯t a bad thing. In fact it can be very beneficial. If I give them jobs they¡¯ll feel more obligated to protect this city. I can give them a place in society and they¡¯ll fight to protect it. It¡¯s a security measure really. I can make it work. I just need to make it work.

    I wanted to think it out more but a shot from Shade''s rifle came hurtling towards me. I side stepped it and it took out a decent chunk of the roof.

    She readjusted her aim and was ready for another shot. ¡°Alright, I get it. You guys need a place in society. Then fine, tomorrow morning show up at my place. It¡¯s the big castle in the middle of the city. We¡¯ll eat breakfast and you can join my guild. Sound good?¡± I watched as the expressions on there faces went from angry to surprise. Everyone but Shade that is.

    Shade shot another round. I avoided it again. ¡°You don¡¯t get it, we¡¯re going to free the country from your¡ª¡± She didn¡¯t get to finish. I used a full power jump to close the distance between us. The roof I jumped from exploded sending tiles flying onto the street below and up over the building where Rosy was positioned. Everyone let out a terrified scream at the insane display of power. My landing caused the tiles to brake. I¡¯m surprised the force behind my landing hadn¡¯t cause the roof to explode. Somehow it was like I could control the air around my body softening the impact. That seemed like another trick I¡¯d have to master. I was face to face with Shade. My hand was gripping the barrel of her rifle. She tried to pull it out of my hand but I held it firm. Her face held true terror. Her body quivered like a scared pup.

    I could hear the sounds of her team mates freaking out. In a low threatening voice I said ¡°Do you know what they call me.¡± She shook her head. ¡°They call me the ripper. You rip up one to many bodies and this is how they treat you." I could see tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She let out a whimper. ¡°You take my country and what, rule over this place yourself. Your just replacing one tyrant with another. Let¡¯s end it. How about it? Let¡¯s make a country where players and NPCs can do whatever they want.¡± As far as intimidating voices go. Mine wasn¡¯t bad. It didn¡¯t come off as fake. I still sounded like a child but there was real killing intent in my words. It¡¯s been a while since I was able to intimidate someone with my words.

    These people. They didn¡¯t care about other players. All they wanted was power without work. Who cares if you have to flip the pyramid around and let the sides cascade into a hill of dead bodies and broken minds. As long as there on top of all the ruined lives it does not matter.

    She released her gun. Her voice had so much dread behind it. ¡°Okay.¡± That was all I needed.

    I looked to the others. ¡°You heard her right? She agreed. So do you all submit?¡± Boner sheathed his blade. 23 sat on the roof letting out a sigh. Rosy lowered her crossbow.

    ¡°Good. Now then, like I said meet me at my place. Around eight in the morning. We¡¯ll talk then you bunch of hypocrites.¡± I Hopped to the next building so I wouldn¡¯t hurt Shade with my next power jump. I turned towards Cindy¡¯s smithy and did a full powered skip. The roof tiles under me erupted as I put all my strength into them.

    I¡¯ve deduced that my body actually can handle my power. I wonder if that means my body is denser than a normal humans. If so does that mean I already have some kind of defense? With my full powered jump I managed to hop over a hundred feet. To the ex-socialists it would have appeared like I vanished in a puff of air and dust. Within a few power skips. I made it to my destination.

 Episode 9: I flap to you

    Chapter 9

    I flap to you

    It¡¯s strange. This morning the air was cold. It was cold when I left the bar to. So¡­ why was it nice now.

    It wasn¡¯t hot or chilly. It was almost like I had a blanket of room temperature air around me.

    With every jump I could feel wind resistance. It¡¯s like I had my own atmosphere.

    With a thought I could increase its density and expand it to some degree. It acted almost like a parachute. With it I could slow my landing and almost glide.

    I came to a soft landing in front of Cindy¡¯s smithy. Despite what one might think. It was less of a hut and more of a small business.

    One look at the place told me I wasn¡¯t ready. There was no way I could talk to her!

    Not after all the flaps I sent her way. Just do it. She doesn¡¯t know and as long as you don¡¯t say anything stupid she never will.

    I tried to push my anxiety into the hole but I was having trouble with it. Had my good mood waned already?

    Even if I meditate there was no confidence to hold it in the hole. I knew I should of kept my mind off of Cindy.

    Nothing I could do now. Maybe I can pretend to be Robert again. No, my social energy was way to low for that.

    It¡¯s been a long day. I really should of gone home and left this for tomorrow.

    Then a nosey little thought crossed my mind. Mantis and the socialists. There¡¯s to much going on right now. I don¡¯t think It can wait.

    The sooner I got it set up the better. I don¡¯t know if I can keep going. At this rate I¡¯ll fall apart. Alice isn¡¯t here to hold me together. What happens if¡­¡­

    I felt a chill as a strange buzzing sounded in my ears. My heart started to speed up. Before I could freak out I shook my head bringing myself back to reality.

    A giggle escaped my lips as I swayed my head around. I somehow managed to pull my hair causing pain to radiate on my scalp.

    I took a long breath and smiled before making my way inside. There was a chiming of bells.

    The weapons shop was covered wall to wall in weapons and armor. Some of them even glowed with enchantments.

    The enchanted weapons had glowing markings on them. Actually they looked familiar. The markings that is. I think I saw some of them on the spells I¡¯ve cast before.

    Cindy was standing right behind the counter. She was a platinum blonde. Her hair was tied up in a neat ponytail.

    Her eyes were a shiny silver. She wore a pair of dark blue overalls and a light gray long sleeve shirt.

    Her body was slim and she was kind of short. At least I think she was short. Honestly I couldn¡¯t tell.

    Comparing her to myself I¡¯d say she was almost five feet tall. Now that I think about it, that¡¯s pretty short.

    Oh wait, that¡¯s right! She isn¡¯t human, she¡¯s a dwarf! A very skinny, very hairless dwarf. I always forget.

    She might as well have been a short human. Was there a point to looking like that?

    I suppose she was aesthetically pleasing. I remember when we summoned her. Everyone thought she was human.

    Mao even got mad at me saying I wasted the little bit of money we had.

    Turns out she¡¯s actually rare, in the same way an abnormal mob is rare. She has the royal blood trait.

    Man did we get lucky or what. I think that¡¯s what made the raiders so powerful early on. Her crafting skills were great even at the start.

    She had a special skill that boosted a random stat on the items she made. Most of the time it was just a plus one to defense or attack.

    Sometimes you¡¯d get more than just a plus one. One thing was for sure. The durability was always up by 20% on any item she crafted.

    In the early days the guild made tons of money off her. Neutral players would bring materials and ask for her services.

    Thanks to that she leveled up pretty quickly. Leveling slowed after a while, but she was basically a monster.

    Nowadays her services were kind of expensive but totally worth it. Every item she crafted was beyond high quality.

    Sure you might think what if the players kill her? That wasn¡¯t possible. Not unless they had a quasi-guild attack my city.

    That would throw the safe zone into a war zone. Only then could they actually target Cindy.

    Of course nowadays safe zones didn¡¯t exist. Quasi-guilds were guilds without a nation. They were basically just an excuse to create a giant party of players.

    It wasn¡¯t something done easily seeing as it cost a lot of coin to create one.

    No one would do that. There goal was usually to secure the castle where the guild core was.

    That way all our NPCs would become theirs. Some NPCs don¡¯t actually convert over. There was a chance Cindy would just disappear upon guild core destruction.

    There were many countries with these types of dwarves but to have hired her at the start was just insanely lucky.

    Usually it¡¯s a four-thousand in one chance. Not terrible odds but the amount of money you¡¯d need is ridiculous.

    The whole process is kind of like a gotcha game, or like shiny hunting in Pok¨¦mon. I always ended up spending way to much money on those.

    Her eyes met with mine. A smile grew on her face brightening up the whole room. I can¡¯t believe I flapped to her.

    I feel so guilty now. What do I do! I should leave! I should leave and never ever show my face again.

    I¡¯ve never met face to face with one of my flap victims. What about all the screen shots!

    I¡¯m pretty sure having multiple pictures of someone without their permission is illegal. I¡¯m not sure on that actually¡­.

    Still it¡¯s creepy as hell right? How did I become the weirdo? She wasn¡¯t real back then so it¡¯s not really my fault but still¡­

    My anxiety took advantage of my moment of weakness and made its way out of the hole.

    It spilled out like vomit churning and fuming in my stomach like rotten warn milk.

    I tried meditation again but my mind was all over the place. I resorted to the only thing that could help.

    Reaching into my inventory I pulled out Snowball and held her close. I felt better immediately.

    However one glance at Cindy made me feel uneasy. Where is my confidence! I was doing so well.

    I was about to fly like a buffalo when she called my name. ¡°Lady Aku. It¡¯s good to see you. How are you doing? Please come in. Just what are you doing out so late? By yourself of all things.¡± I was already inside but whatever.

    Ignoring the screams inside my head I pretended to open a door then walked through. I¡¯m such a bad person! What the hell is wrong with me!

    I buried my face behind snowballs head. If I don¡¯t move she can¡¯t see me right? No you idiot that¡¯s only in that one movie!

    Shit, shit! Play it cool don¡¯t freak out. Say something. You¡¯ve been quiet for to long. Just respond to what she said.

    What did she say? Right, okay. ¡°I¡¯m doing fine. I can walk around by myself you know.¡± Good job me!

    Why is Cindy treating me like that. I¡¯m strong. It¡¯s not like I needed a body guard or something. I beat up four terrorists all by myself. They couldn¡¯t lay a hand on me.

    ¡°Weather you can or can¡¯t walk on your own. You shouldn¡¯t be out so late. Especially down hickory. Aren¡¯t you scared of the dark road? Sometimes criminals like to hide in the shadows around here. I¡¯ve already had to knock a few people around myself. You are the empress. You shouldn¡¯t be putting yourself in danger period!¡± Was she trying to parent me too?

    I didn¡¯t need anymore people telling me what to do. Shadow was already enough. Speaking of Shadow. She would be here any second.

    I felt so guilty I didn¡¯t feel like fighting back. ¡°Sorry, yes ma¡¯am.¡± I felt worse now. I made this lady worry about me.

    Wait a sec! ¡°Did you say you already had to beat someone up! What happened!¡± Her scolding demeanor was gathered up and released into a sigh.

    ¡°Well¡­ if you must know I had a few primordials come in and try to steal from me.¡± Her face showed a hint of worry.

    I mirrored it feeling my own baggage weigh on me. Once she saw my face she switched back to her cheerful demeanor.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay lady Aku. They weren¡¯t a problem. I took care of it with no issues. No one got hurt. They even apologized.¡± That made me perk up.

    Still¡­. Crime was now being implemented by players. Cindy is over powered, but not every NPC was like her.

    Most were at level one. I need to hurry up and set up some law enforcement. Either that or hand out guns to every NPC.

    That sounded like fun. It also wasn¡¯t a bad idea. Last I checked headshots were still headshots.

    I could just imagine some guy trying to steal candy from a baby only for the baby to pull out an Uzi and be all like ¡°Not today bitch!¡± *blap blap*

    ¡°I¡¯m happy to hear that.¡± I gave her my best smile. Cindy was elated. She just wanted me to be happy. I wasn¡¯t but she didn¡¯t have to know that.

    ¡°Well, since you are here. What did you need from me lady Aku?¡± She was very professional all of a sudden.

    ¡°I was hoping you could forge me a weapon.¡± I looked through my inventory to find the material.

    ¡°Oh, sure I can do that. What kind of weapon? Do you have an ingot for me? If not I can only provide you with bronze, iron, or steel.¡± She leaned over the counter to get a look at what materials I might have.

    A moment later I pulled out the obsidian grate sword. Her body rocked back as I set the weapon down on the counter in front of her.

    She let out a whistle. I watched her as she looked into the glossy glass like reflection.

    She then proceeded to lean over and sniffed it, like a dog trying to figure out if it was food or not.

    Was that apart of the appraisal? She then licked the sword. Wow, Wish I could get a screen shot of that.

    As if just doing a fat line of coke, her eyes snapped to attention and she stood straight up.

    Her black pupils became wobbly as they grew and shrunk constantly changing. She shuttered and quivered like she was going through a round of shock therapy.

    Her face became a little red. She stopped herself. Her eyes shone with excitement as a puff of vapor exited her nostrils.

    I was so terrified. Just what kind of Scooby-Doo crap was that! Was she some kind of sword weirdo! I held Snowball close and tried to relax.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°This is a legendary weapon! Are you sure you want me to reforge it into something new? You¡¯ll lose all the progress you¡¯ve made on it.¡±

    The question felt very robotic. It reminded me of one of those ¡°are you sure boxes¡± you got before deleting old porn off your phone.

    I could never hit yes. That¡¯s why I have over eight-hundred-forty-seven gigabytes of porn, hidden on a secret cloud account my wife ¡ª nor anyone else ¡ª knows about.

    It¡¯s between me, my FBI agent, and god. In the event that I die my lawyer will release a virus that will eradicate all porn off the face of the internet.

    Anyway, my sword has been with me for a while. Almost a year actually. I could of gotten something stronger but I just kept upgrading this one. I liked the way it looked.

    I thought about it. My weapon had a lot put into it. If I reforge it I¡¯d lose all the coin I¡¯d spent on it. This weapon was my absolute favorite. I couldn¡¯t imagine losing it.

    I¡¯d gotten the weapon from an event. The event was about a meteor coming to hit the world.

    Spoilers it wasn¡¯t a meteor. It was actually an ancient space God. That same god was also a world Boss.

    My weapon was made of its blood. It¡¯s blood was like lava but when it cools it turns into obsidian.

    That¡¯s basically what the blade was made from. By reforgeing it. I could get a new and much more useful weapon.

    Considering I couldn¡¯t even use it as it was. It seemed like a good deal. This way I wouldn¡¯t actually be losing the sword.

    It would still be the same weapon. The only difference being instead of it swinging me, I¡¯d swing it.

    ¡°Yeah¡­ yeah I¡¯m sure. I¡¯d like you to make me a short sword.¡± Cindy nodded.

    ¡°A short sword. Okay, what should I do with the spare material?¡±

    Spare? ¡°like extra?¡± She nodded.

    It was a big sword. That meant I¡¯d have more of the same material to work with. That gave me an idea. ¡°How much more are we talking about?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ I can make a sword for your size using only about 5% of the material.¡±

    I freaked out. ¡°That¡¯s insane! Okay. How about you make me a chest plate. The rest you can turn into more short swords. I want to use them for perfect infusions.¡±

    I might actually be able to make a really good sword. A chest plate would be a good idea considering the armor made from blood obsidian has natural magic resistance, and if I was really lucky I might even get a strength boost. With Cindy it was even more likely.

    ¡°Very well lady Aku. I can do that. May I ask what type of fighting you¡¯ll be doing? I may be able to infuse it to help with whatever you need.¡±

    Oh, I know what she¡¯s talking about. It¡¯s the act of using monster parts for infusions, adding extra effects. Like attack speed boost or knockback.

    A perfect infusion was when you fused two weapons that are the exact same. She was talking about mundane infusions.

    ¡°Uh, well¡­. I think you¡¯d call it a spell blade. I want to use magic and sword fighting while avoiding attacks as much as possible.¡± That made sense right?

    She just stared at me while smiling. I felt the need to elaborate. ¡°I¡¯m not very bulky so my speed is important. I¡¯ll also be using martial arts as a backup method of fighting.¡±

    Spell blade wasn¡¯t an actual class but there were a few players that used magic along side the dualist class to get more elemental damage, while still being able to perform standard sword based abilities.

    I need to become stronger. ¡°I want to keep everyone safe so I need a proper weapon.¡± I felt the weight of the word on my shoulders and it made me want to crawl into a hole and hide away forever.

    She giggled.

    ¡°Hey! That¡¯s not funny I¡¯m serious!¡± I stomped my foot in anger holding Snowball close to my chest.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to laugh. It¡¯s just, it sounds so silly coming from such a small girl.¡± Her laughter grew in volume.

    It wasn¡¯t that funny. Was no one ever gonna take me seriously. I¡¯m trying to do important things here.

    Well, whatever It¡¯s not like I can change the way people see me by simply telling them.

    The only way to do that Is to actually perform actions that show how mature I am.

    I couldn¡¯t come up with anything in this situation. Maybe I just didn¡¯t care anymore. I was so tired.

    Today was just so long. There¡¯s enough content here for someone to write like¡­. I don¡¯t know¡­ eight or nine chapters.

    I wanted to go to bed even though it was only seven. I¡¯m actually kind of hungry. We ate at tavern but that was like four or five hours ago.

    Now that I think about it. I¡¯m pretty sure those thirty minutes are up. That meant Shadow was heading here. How do I deal with that? I kind of don¡¯t care. I was to tired.

    I still had things I needed to do today. There were players stealing. I knew this would happen.

    I just didn¡¯t think it¡¯d be so soon. I do needed to go help rhyme. She still hadn¡¯t answered back. I know she¡¯s alive but still. Every second that passed made me worry.

    I bet she was dealing with her own problems over there. What about the towns and villages where there¡¯s no one to help.

    The weight on my shoulders seemed to grow, and I felt like I would be crushed. It was a little hard to breathe.

    Stop, I can¡¯t get to everyone. They¡¯ll just have to make due. Build the foundation. Then spread it out over the country and let it grow.

    ¡°Lady Aku? Are you alright?¡± Cindy tried to get my attention. It was only then did I realize I¡¯d zoned out again. I need to do the other order.

    ¡°Sorry about that. I was thinking about the crime running through the city. Well¡­ the country really. Having you make me new gear isn¡¯t the only reason I came here.¡± I took on a more serious tone and Cindy seemed to follow along.

    ¡°Another order¡­ very well. What do you need?¡± I thought about this back at the bar.

    To start off I want to create branches of different types of fighters. Then I want to make mixed squads out of them.

    I need¡­ dualists, mages, rangers, healers, assassins and fighters. That¡¯s six, however the dualist needed to be split into two groups.

    Swordsmen and something with a heavier weapon. Like a mace, Warhammer, or great sword.

    That way I can have both heavy hitters and nimble sword fighters. So¡­ dualist would be split into warriors and berserkers.

    That meant I needed seven different types of NPCs. I need at least twenty squads just to start out with. So that meant I needed a total of 140 NPC soldiers.

    That¡¯s twenty swords. Twenty grate swords. Forty sets of full armor. Including chainmail. Twenty bows.

    A shit ton of arrows. Twenty pairs of gauntlets for the fighters. Twenty knifes. The rest will need to come from the church or a magic shop.

    I relayed this to Cindy. She wrote it all down on paper. ¡°Okay. That is doable. What should I make them out of?¡± Her eyes were on the paper she was writing on.

    I thought about cheeping out and going with generic iron but that stuff wouldn¡¯t hold up very long.

    ¡°Use tempered steel. Could you also add some enchantments. For the armor, I¡¯d like them to have some healing properties. Also give them defense against magic. Auto repair and durability boost.¡± She nodded along writing it down.

    ¡°I¡¯d also like the swords enchanted with cutting edge and add durability while your at it. Could you also give the bows reach and honing. If you can get piercing on them that would be grate.¡±

    There were so many possible enchantments. The enchantments you could get on a weapon depended on it¡¯s quality.

    I might be able to get Piercing if we use iron silk for the string and some wood from a demon wood tree. This was all stuff I had access to.

    ¡°Very well, I need these materials and this much coin for the job.¡± A moment later I got a trade menu asking for the materials listed.

    I scrolled through it and found I had way more than enough in the guild vault. I hit accept and watched the guild resources drain.

    I did end up using my coin leaving me with just over ninety-five crystal. Next time I planned to use the guild coin.

    I felt somewhat obligated to use my own coin since I hadn¡¯t used the tax money like I should have.

    ¡°Alright, now then. I need you to create more of the same stuff I just asked you to make. I want the first round delivered to the old barracks.¡± The old barracks was created for the morale boost.

    It also served as a training ground of sorts. You could use it for PVP without penalty.

    Normally fighting out in the wild with other players meant you could die and lose your stuff, but the barracks provided a way for players to practice PVP without actually taking the other person¡¯s stuff. I wonder how it worked in the new world.

    ¡°More of the same order? Are we going to war?¡± She looked worried.

    I didn¡¯t know what to say. Should I lie. I¡¯m no politician. I honestly don¡¯t know what to tell her.

    If I said we might go to war would that cause a panic? No way. I¡¯ve always hated it when politicians lied about things that were going on.

    ¡°We might go to war. Things are different now. Nothing is certain. What I can tell you is I need to make a protective force. You¡¯ve seen other play¡ª¡± Right there not players to them.

    ¡°Uh no. Primordials. You¡¯ve seen primordials try to steal from you. Well, not everyone is equipped to stop them like you are, and the raiders while strong, aren¡¯t enough to keep everyone safe. There just isn¡¯t enough of us to go around.¡±

    It hurt to say it but it was the truth. I didn¡¯t want her to freak out so I added on to the madness.

    ¡°You should know your taxes are going into creating a police force, guards and a military force. This way everyone will be safe.¡± This wasn¡¯t what I wanted. I wanted to sound confident, but I came off as unsure. Like a shy kid.

    I looked away unsure on how to inspire confidence. How do I do this? Can I actually pull it off.

    I¡¯ve never done anything remotely close to running a country. What if I get everyone killed.

    I felt tears forming. I was so dam tired of crying. I just wanted someone to take this burden off of me. Like always.

    Alice took care of everything. All I had to do was work. How do I do things while not fucking it all up.

    I came back to the same question I heard so many times before. Why am I so useless?

    ¡°I see. Well, since it¡¯s for the good of our nation I¡¯d be happy to give you a discount. I¡¯m sure the raiders will do a grate job of keeping us all safe.¡± I didn¡¯t realize she was right next to me. When did she move around the counter?

    Her hand reached over and patted me on the head. Her smile helped to clear my thoughts.

    What was I thinking about again? Right¡­ the country. Just one step at a time. You know, If I look at it as a whole¡­. My legs wobbled a bit as the feeling of fear took over my body.

    Everything as a whole¡­ I¡¯ll fall apart¡­. But¡­. But if I work on one thing at a time¡­ then I can start to build something real.

    Who did this lady think she was to pat my head like that! She¡¯s not even that much taller than me! Never mind, I don¡¯t have the energy for this.

    ¡°Thank you for your support. The discount will be very useful. I can get you a tax cut seeing as your forging for the country.¡± It was the least I could do.

    I can make it so she doesn¡¯t have to pay any taxes on the items she makes for us.

    ¡°Thank you lady Aku. That¡¯s very nice of you. I was sure you were going to draft me into your military force as a blacksmith.¡± I could have done that? That would have been a better idea, however¡­.

    I shook my head. ¡°No, I won¡¯t force anyone to leave there lives behind. It would be wrong of me. If I can¡¯t inspire people to fight for their country then I don¡¯t deserve to lead.¡± Maybe now she¡¯ll see me like an adult.

    Her smile grew ever wider. ¡°I feel inspired already.¡± She didn¡¯t mean that but I appreciated it.

    Our little moment was interrupted when the front door opened. I turned to see who it was.

    Surely enough I saw a familiar cat girl. She was huffing and puffing. Most likely due to the full sprint she did to get here that quickly.

    How do I spin this so I don¡¯t get in trouble. Pretending to be Aku doesn¡¯t take up as much energy as my other personas.

    It actually comes natural to me. ¡°Shadow!¡± I ran over and hugged her.

    She let out a surprised yelp. ¡°whoa there! Is everything alright master?¡± Her hand rested on my back.

    I shook my head then looked up at her. There were still tears in my eyes. They were from the responsibility that weighed on me. ¡°no! I was attacked by socialists!¡± her eyes grew wide as her tail straightened.

    ¡°What, when!? Its only been forty minutes! Are you kidding me! That¡¯s it! You are not allowed to leave the castle ever again!¡± Her arms wrapped around me. My energy levels depleted. All of a sudden I felt trapped.

    I was trying to keep her from getting mad by making her worry but it seemed to backfire. ¡°I¡¯m fine now. I beat them up and I didn¡¯t get a scratch on me.¡± So far I¡¯ve survived two PVP fights and haven¡¯t taken damage once. I¡¯m like a regular Mary Sue!

    I was on a roll. Though I really wanted to try out the phase thing from the hair clip. Then again that only had a 20% chance of activating so maybe I¡¯ll hold off on it.

    She pushed me away then checked me for any wounds. ¡°Master! How do you explain this blood!¡± She pointed at 23¡¯s blood that had splattered on my leg. Back when Boner went ape shit on him.

    The thought made me giggle. ¡°You should see the other guy. That¡¯s not mine. That¡¯s from the mall ninja guy. He¡¯s really funny.¡±

    I smiled up at her trying to smooth over the situation with a bit of charm. She didn¡¯t hear a word I said.

    ¡°HE!? Did he touch you! Show me where.¡± She pulled Snowball out of my arms and held the toy out in front of me.

    Was I supposed to point to where I got molested? Was that still a thing? Snowball didn¡¯t exactly have my anatomy but she was close I guess.

    I shook my head. ¡°No! It wasn¡¯t one of those kinds of attacks! They wanted to take me hostage so they could take over the country! There was no molestation of the sort! I¡¯m still a virgin you crazy cat!¡± She looked unsure.

    Did she think I was lying? I did hear once that there was a high percentage of rape victims that never spoke about it.

    Her eyes showed pity. ¡°It¡¯s okay. You can tell me when your ready. Now then. What did they look like? I can switch to my hunter class.¡± Why wasn¡¯t she listening?

    She needs to understand. These were people that would be showing up at the castle tomorrow. I don¡¯t need her going all John wick on them.

    I started laughing. ¡°hahaha! Why are you like this?¡± It was so funny I would of fallen over if it wasn¡¯t for Shadow holding me.

    ¡°You two have such a lovely relationship. I¡¯m a little jealous.¡± Cindy was watching us with amusement.

    Shadow finally noticed the royal dwarf. ¡°Oh sorry. Hello Cindy. It¡¯s good to see you. I hope master wasn¡¯t to much trouble. She can be a handful sometimes.¡± I really hate this crazy cat lady.

    She¡¯s acting like I was being baby sat by Cindy, who also happens to only be like a foot taller than me.

    Shadow had flipped me around, but still held me close to her with her hands intertwined in front of my chest.

    It¡¯s not like I was gonna run away or something. It wouldn¡¯t be to hard to slip out of this weird choke hold but after the day I had.

    It was nice to let someone else lead. Snowball was under my left arm as usual.

    ¡°No, lady Aku is adorable. I don¡¯t mind having her around.¡± Cindy had sparkles in her eyes.

    I need to do something about my charm. It¡¯s starting to get annoying. If I wear a trash bag like a dress could I make it go down instead of up.

    Who am I kidding. There¡¯s nothing Aku can wear without looking cute. Even a Hitler costume would look cute on her. Never mind, that might actually be cursed.

    Mo¨¦ Hitler.

    Shadow and Cindy got to talking about what I¡¯d asked her for. Slowly Shadow started to realize how much thought I¡¯d put into the whole ordeal.

    My head rested against Shadow¡¯s arm. Eventually their conversation came to an end and it was time to leave. I was nodding off and Shadow was the only thing keeping me standing.

    She pulled me along. There was still one more thing I needed. ¡°Before I go can you sell me a short sword. Nothing fancy just something to practice with.¡± Shadow had almost dragged me out the door.

    She came to a stop releasing a puff of air. Her tail seemed a bit agitated. She was ready to go.

    Cindy nodded. ¡°Sure thing lady Aku I have just the thing.¡± A moment later I got a trade offer.

    It wasn¡¯t a trade at all. The weapon was free. I didn¡¯t even know she could do that.

    ¡°I can¡¯t just take it.¡± I didn¡¯t want to take something I didn¡¯t pay for. Cindy worked hard to make these weapons. Even her iron swords were expensive.

    She shook her head. ¡°No don¡¯t worry about it. It¡¯s a standard short sword. Take it and keep everyone safe.¡±

    I smiled at her before accepting the gift. ¡°Thank you.¡± The weapon made It¡¯s way into my inventory. We said our good byes and headed home.

    Instead of holding Shadow¡¯s hand she held my arm as if she was mad at me. I felt like I¡¯d done something horrible to her.

    The urge to cry came over me and tears began to form. Nothing ran down my cheeks but that didn¡¯t change the fact I felt bad.

    My ankles were kind of sore. It hurt a little to walk. It didn¡¯t help that Shadow was moving kind of fast. Her speed made her seem even more angry.

    I felt the need to try and confront her. In a semi-crying voice I said ¡°Shadow could you slow down? My ankles hurt.¡± She turned her head to me coming to a stop.

    ¡°You did hurt yourself! Show me the wound!¡± She almost knocked me over as she crouched down and tried to find a cut on my tights.

    I was relieved she wasn¡¯t mad at me. ¡°No, its not like that. I was trying to figure out how strong I was, so I started jumping really far and I over did it. It doesn¡¯t hurt that much. It¡¯s just my ankles. There a little sore is all.¡± She seemed to accept it. A moment later she stood up and lifted me in the air.

    I didn¡¯t want this. ¡°What are you doing? I don¡¯t want to be carried.¡± She held me in a princess carry. This is how Mantis was holding me. The memory made me feel gross.

    She looked annoyed. ¡°Stop whining. You can hardly keep up and its late so be good and just let me carry you.¡± She was so bossy and I was spent.

    I hugged Snowball for comfort. Somehow it felt cold again. Was I going crazy? Maybe the temperature change was form my adrenaline going up and down.

    I let out a sigh and just let it happen. I was pretty tired by this point and being off my feet was nice.

    ¡°Thanks Shadow.¡±

 Episode 10: hungry..... you will do

    Chapter 10

    Hungry¡­.. you will do

    I ended up needing another bath. I was just gonna change clothes and cast cleanse on myself, but Shadow ¡ª the crazy/evil cat lady ¡ª felt like that was not the proper way to clean ones self.

    In fact she said that¡¯s disgusting and I should be ashamed. Even though it actually left you cleaner than any bath ever could! It also cleaned your clothes which was a huge bonus.

    Imagine not having to get up early to go do laundry. Those laundry mats are absolutely disgusting!

    Children make everything sticky, and for some reason I always end up using the one machine that doesn¡¯t work!

    In the end I was dragged kicking and screaming into the bathing area. The castle had a large chamber with multiple showers and a pool sized tub with infinite hot water.

    It was constantly being cleaned with magic. I wonder what the point was in actually washing up if the pool was just magically gonna clean you.

    Simply by getting wet I felt cleaner than any reasonable person ever should be.

    Still Shadow insisted. She also decided she was gonna wash up alongside me. I thought I might see a boob or two but she jumped in wearing a two peace swim suit.

    It was white. The bottom half had frills along the waist looking almost like a short skirt. Honestly this was even more sexy than her just simply being naked.

    She had a belly button. I did to. That was strange considering the belly button implied we were birthed. It¡¯s basically a giant scar.

    What did this mean? I decided not to pursue that thought any further for fear of my head exploding out of pure confusion.

    I couldn¡¯t help but stare. She caught me! ¡°Sorry!¡± I cried covering my eyes in terror. I heard her giggle.

    The sloshing sound of water told me she was making her way over. A moment later I felt Her breath on the back of my neck.

    I just about power jumped through the ceiling. My feet were about thirty feet in the air. Mid air I curled up into a ball and canon balled into the water.

    There was a big splash and I sunk to the bottom in the fetal position. I felt water push its way up my nose but I didn¡¯t care.

    I don¡¯t wanna be here! Alice I¡¯m so sorry! The good thing about being under water was no one could see my tears.

    I felt a hand grab my arm pulling me up. My head popped out of the water and I took a breath coughing in the process.

    ¡°Master don¡¯t be shy. It¡¯s pretty late so let¡¯s wash up and eat dinner.¡± Her smile made me feel better but I still felt like closing my eyes.

    For obvious reasons I still wasn¡¯t comfortable with my body, so Shadow was here to help with that.

    Except, she was only making me feel worse for different reasons. As long as I keep my eyes closed it wasn¡¯t an issue so that¡¯s just what I did.

    ¡°Sorry. I know I¡¯m being difficult but this is all so weird. I¡¯m married you know.¡± Alice was gonna kill me.

    ¡°I know that, but this can¡¯t exactly be helped. It would be a shame if you let this body deteriorate. I¡¯ll make sure it¡¯s all taken care of.¡± I could feel her hands on my shoulders.

    ¡°But I can get clean with cleanse! Actually, I¡¯m already clean! I can just get out now!¡± I tried to leave but Shadow held me firm.

    She sighed and I heard her tail splash. ¡°Master you sound like one of my boys. Did you know that they all individually came up with the idea of wetting their hair in the sink to make it look like they took a shower.¡±

    She laughed. ¡°Ridiculous right! You know your really lazy when you¡¯d rather do more work to get out of doing work.¡± She was running her hands through my hair.

    Was she trying to compare my totally viable cleaning method with wetting ones hair? I thought cats hated water.

    I gave up. ¡°fine.¡± I was already in the tub and she wasn¡¯t gonna take no for an answer.

    Despite her horrible reasoning. She was trying to help me. This probably wasn¡¯t fun for her either. It¡¯s like having to wash someone else¡¯s car.

    It didn¡¯t take long to wash up. We spent more time relaxing than scrubbing. Speaking of which it still felt like she was trying to peel my skin off.

    Well, it was either that or she starts nagging me again. I¡¯m just happy she didn¡¯t decide to clean me with her tongue. That¡¯s illegal.

    She handed me a white nighty and some underwear. The nighty was from our tour of the city.

    It had long sleeves. It reached well past my knees and the ends had frills. The fabric was a very thick cotton.

    I didn¡¯t feel like describing the underwear¡­.. let¡¯s just say they were colorful.

    No more tights. That meant I¡¯d be dealing with a breeze. This would take some getting used to but it was better than sleeping in street clothes.

    She spent a decent amount of time brushing my hair. It was kind of nice, up until she got aggressive with a knot. Ow.

    After that we headed for the dining hall. My ankles still hurt but I didn¡¯t mind walking.

    There was no real rush to get anywhere. I was already home. The feel of the cold hard uneven stone felt grate on my feet. It was almost like walking outside but not that.

    It took Shadow about thirty minutes to make dinner. I was surprised at how fast she cooked everything.

    Our kitchen was better than any normal kitchen. The stove was powered by runes, so it only made sense the food was easier to cook. Magic was still magic after all.

    Instead of taking the guild leader chair, I sat in one of the side chairs. It took the same amount of books to level myself with the table. Just two.

    I wasn¡¯t that sort. If anything the table was big. I noticed that when checking out the NPCs furniture.

    There had to be a way to grow taller in this world. Like some kind of growth hormone. Changing my avatar wasn¡¯t a thing anymore so I was stuck as Aku.

    The meatloaf looked juicy. On the side was mashed potatoes and pees. There was also a small bowl with steamed vegetables. I was hungry so I dove right in.

    Shadow watched me eat in horror. ¡°Slow down. If you eat like that you¡¯ll end up choking.¡± She was sitting next to me. Her tail was gently patting me on the back.

    The dining hall felt colder than usual. The fire was out. Shadow was the one to turn it on in the morning and was the one to shut it off when we left the castle.

    At first I thought it was powered by gas but I was wrong. Like everything else it was rune powered.

    Everything was an enchantment. Including the lighting in the room. It was all hooked up to the guild core.

    I wonder if we¡¯ll ever run out of power. As far as I could tell the core was gathering focus faster than it could spend.

    I wonder if it also powered the city. Where else was all the power coming from. There certainly wasn¡¯t a power plant somewhere.

    The question was. How do we implement runes like that. If they could do these sorts of things then I could definitely use them to do other things.

    Maybe even make weapons of mass destruction, or what about a magic micro wave that can cook hot pockets to the perfect temperature!

    Hear me out! You can eat them right after you nuke them! Never again shall I burn my tongue or eat a hot pocket that¡¯s cold in the middle!

    Yes the ultimate microwave! I could create world peace with something like that! Truly a revolutionary device!

    I shivered in my seat. Having damp hair didn¡¯t help with the cold. It was currently tied up in a ponytail. I wasn¡¯t a big fan.

    It pulled my hair hurting me. Shadow said I just wasn¡¯t used to it. Whatever, this was still better than having it hang wet on my shoulders.

    She must of noticed because she opened her menu. A moment later the fire place sparked to life.

    It wouldn¡¯t warm the room until after we were done eating, but it was the thought that count.

    Now that I wasn¡¯t in a room full of strangers. I could actually relax. All the stress I felt today wasn¡¯t gone, but it didn¡¯t bother me as much.

    Luca couldn¡¯t join us seeing as she was passed out in her room. Poor kid was tuckered out.

    I must have had a little food stuck to my face because Shadow picked up a napkin and cleaned it for me.

    ¡°If you¡¯re gonna be a girl you should at least learn to be more graceful. Take small bites, chew, and use a napkin. You act like one of my boys.¡± I was really getting sick of this.

    ¡°Well, I am a guy.¡± I took a bite of meat.

    ¡°I know but I¡¯ve called you she a couple times now, and you haven¡¯t really said anything.¡± She was pushing food with her fork.

    ¡°As long as your being respectful I don¡¯t really care what you call me. If I come off as a girl to you. That just means I haven¡¯t been very manly.¡± Everyone¡¯s perception was different.

    What would Shadow do if I shaved my head and dressed in plain male clothes. Most likely she¡¯d be really disappointed and might even become depressed.

    For some reason I felt panic at the thought of shaving my head. Part of me really wanted to cut it all off while the other part dreaded the thought.

    It was hard to really focus when my mind was so split. I¡¯ve shaved my head multiple times back when I started dating Alice.

    It was usually because I had lice. Why did it bother me now? Actually, It would be a shame to lose all this silky hair.

    Alice once said growing hair took a lot of time and effort. I remember growing my hair out as a teen.

    It wasn¡¯t that hard. Then again my hair didn¡¯t turn out as silky. Maybe it really is difficult to grow hair.

    ¡°Master? When I said slow down I didn¡¯t mean stop eating. Eat before it gets cold. You¡¯ll need lots of food if you ever wanna fill out that sports bra.¡±

    Her tail was moving along my back like a guy¡¯s arm in a movie theater. She was getting really good at using it. The urge to grasp it grew inside me.

    I felt my face warm up. Boobs? Like heavy bags of useless flesh! How could I power skip if I had giant knockers flapping in the wind!

    No way! That can¡¯t happen! Why would Shadow say that! I¡¯m not even wearing that bra thing anymore.

    I feel like having boobs would really throw me off. I am of the strong opinion that boobs are nice but only on other people.

    I got mad at her. ¡°Shadow! Leave me alone! I don¡¯t need boobs!¡± I got out of my seat then moved the books and my food one seat over.

    Shadow laughed. The rest of the meal went mostly uneventful. That was until I got to the steamed carrots.

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    I got up then looked to Shadow. ¡°Thank you for the meal. I¡¯m so full. Anyway there¡¯s some stuff I have to take care of so I¡¯ll be going now. Please excuse me and enjoy the rest of your night.¡± I tried to slip away by walking past her, but she stopped me with her tail. It was so firm.

    ¡°Master. Where do you think you¡¯re going?¡± Her smile was not a smile. It was to forced for it to mean anything resembling happiness.

    Her tail just about wrapped around me. I wanted to be polite but I also wanted to power skip for the hills.

    I tried to take a step back but was held in place. ¡°Uh¡­ I¡¯m full I can¡¯t eat anymore. It was very good though.¡± I felt arms wrap around me.

    I was startled by the sudden body heat pressing up against my back. ¡°ah!¡± I jumped in fear but didn¡¯t go very high since I was being held tightly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± Somehow Shadow snuck her way around me. She was also in front of me. Wait a sec, that¡¯s not Shadow!

    The thing in front of me wasn¡¯t even moving. That¡¯s the after image martial art for ninja! It vanished into nothing a moment later.

    ¡°You sneaky cat! But I don¡¯t wanna eat carrots! They taste like toe nails!¡± She lifted me up from the back of my gown like a cat carrying their young.

    Then plopped me down in my seat. The chair was scooted up against the table pinning me between the two.

    It was actually kind of hard to move. I could feel her holding the chair in place. You know¡­.. this almost felt like a highchair.

    Shadow leaned in close to my left ear. Her tail was wrapped around the back of the chair tickling my other ear.

    ¡°Listen honey. Whether it¡¯s this meal or the next you will eat these carrots. Don¡¯t feel bad you have several options.¡± Her tail swung back over to her side and was used to slide the plate closer to me.

    ¡°Option one, you can eat them now while they are nice and warm. Option two, you can eat them tomorrow for breakfast when they are cold and possibly covered in roaches or ants. The next few options get worse as I go so you can only imagine what that might mean. What do you choose?¡± her eyes were so sharp.

    I felt fear creeping up on me. It was only like two baby carrots but still! I hate them! If I set them ablaze could I get away with not eating them?

    I might lose the castle in the process. It still might be worth it. What do I do?! I just wanna go finish up my project and go to bed. I don¡¯t have time for this.

    I almost cried. ¡°Shadow your being really mean right now.¡± There was a quiver in my voice. I felt every bit my size.

    She seemed to take delight in my emotional state. She really was evil. Maybe if I cry she¡¯ll let me go. I could already feel tears forming. I sniffed and sobbed.

    She rolled her eyes in annoyance. It didn¡¯t piss me off like when Luca did it. Shadow¡¯s seemed more sincere.

    ¡°I¡¯m not being mean. I gave you options. There¡¯s like a million of them. You know my mom never gave me any options. She would just make me eat onions no matter how much I cried.¡± She forked one of the carrots then held it up to my mouth.

    My crocodile tears ended there as I kept my mouth shut to try and stop her. ¡°Come on. It¡¯s only two itty-bitty carrots. You already beat up a crazy kidnapper and a group of terrorist¡¯s. Your telling me your afraid of two baby carrots.¡± She waved the carrots in my face. I could smell them. Gross.

    I turned my head and crossed my arms. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of carrots. I hate them. There¡¯s a difference.¡± I finished by puffing out my cheeks. She sighed.

    ¡°Well, these little guys don¡¯t hate you. In fact they like you a lot. You hurt their feelings. Don¡¯t you feel bad?¡±

    What was this logic right now? I know I had a big imagination but come on. Like I was gonna fall for something so silly.

    I retorted with ¡°I hope they die in a fire and their children die of mysterious circumstances. And the rest of the carrot population dies out from a carrot zombie apocalypse. Then when there all burning in hell. They¡¯ll be tortured for eternity for being the worst food item to ever exist.¡± Shadow¡¯s fake smile faded. Then a new idea flashed behind her eyes.

    She moved to the other side of my head. Her tail now tickling my other ear. I squirmed to try and get comfortable but that wasn¡¯t happening.

    ¡°Maaassssster. If you eat the carrots I¡¯ll give you a slice of cake.¡± Her voice was so soothing. I could fall asleep right now.

    This was like that time Alice made me listen to ASMR. There was this sleepy tingly feeling and immediately after I was never able to feel it again.

    If I eat them she¡¯ll give me cake. Cake that she took from me in the first place. Part of me wanted to say yes while the other part was screaming no.

    Logically if I eat it it¡¯ll be over. If not then this will continue for who knows how long. I can do it.

    It¡¯s Like ripping off a Band-Aid or shaving your beard, because your wife says it¡¯s ¡°icky¡± her words not mine.

    Wait¡­.. why was she trying to feed me these gross looking things. Was she trying to fatten me up?

    That way she could eat me. I¡¯d heard that cats often eat their owners when they die. Not that I owned Shadow. Was Shadow gonna kill me?

    I squirmed in my seat but Shadow was still holding it up against the table. I couldn¡¯t even slip out the bottom.

    What to do. If I eat she¡¯ll let me go¡­. Or¡­. I could just fall asleep here. Its certainly relaxing enough.

    You can¡¯t make a sleeping person eat. That¡¯s just a choking hazard. I really want cake though. ¡°Okay¡± I cried. Shadow smiled satisfied.

    She held the fork up to my lips. I opened my mouth and immediately felt disgust. I gagged at the awful flavor and coughed it up.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want it, I don¡¯t want it, I hate it!¡± I kicked and pushed and even managed to move the chair back about a half foot.

    Freedom!

    I jumped up over the table and landed on the other side. Shadow watched me. She didn¡¯t look angry she looked more worried.

    Was I making life hard for her? Now I felt kind of bad. What the hell am I talking about!

    She doesn¡¯t have to mother me like that. It¡¯s weird. ¡°leave me alone for once! I don¡¯t need another mom! You crazy cat lady! Also you cant eat me I taste bad!¡±

    I didn¡¯t look at her face. Instead I kept my eyes on the hall while I walked away. Running away would make it look like I did something wrong. I needed to be taken seriously.

    Her reaction was unknown to me. It was better that way. I didn¡¯t want to regret anything.

    except¡­. She didn¡¯t come after me so did that mean she was hurt? Was she giving me space? I take it back not knowing was even worse.

    I felt guilt bubbling inside me. It demanded I turn back and apologize. When I didn¡¯t comply anger began to mix with the guilt almost overpowering it.

    It was directed at me. This was strange. You know how you can be mad at yourself. Well this was more like myself being mad at me.

    What was this? I couldn¡¯t force it into the hole and I couldn¡¯t really claim it as mine. It was like I had something else inside me.

    I ignored it. I had so many things going on right now. Apologizing to Shadow was to childish.

    Adults fight all the time. It¡¯s not like we hate each other now. We¡¯ll be besties by morning.

    I made my way to the lounge on the second floor. It wasn¡¯t a huge room. It was more akin to the size of a local bar.

    There was a few couches spread out. Some arcade games. A pool table, air hockey table, and even a foosball table.

    There was a fridge which was stocked up on drinks. From water bottles to soda, and even some beer.

    This room was actually designed by fish. Since he did such a good job I let him name it.

    He decided to call it the Fish cave. I stopped him. While Fish cave wasn¡¯t terrible. I thought of something a little better.

    Fish tank. He liked it so that¡¯s what the place was named. There was an actual neon sign displaying the name in bright letters.

    This place was actually pretty cool. The games were actual mini games you could play in-game.

    Most were cheap knock offs of old arcade games like packer man, or dug dig. There was also my favorite, galactic which was just a rip off of galaga.

    I looked to the fridge. It had a glass door revealing the ice cold beer cans. Everything in the fridge and in this room gave small buffs to the entire guild. Owning property basically made you overpowered.

    I had a bunch of extra levels in my stats thanks to all the items displayed in my guild.

    The extra levels weren¡¯t added to my actual stat levels. Instead they were seen next to the actual stat with a plus symbol between them.

    I thought about getting a drink when I felt a sudden stab of fear.

    Shadow will get mad.

    Why did I care. She¡¯s not in charge. I made my way over and was about to grab a can of beer when my hand reached for a juice box instead.

    ¡°The hell?¡± No matter how much I wanted I couldn¡¯t make myself grab a beer can. This is to weird even for me. I struggled for a bit but eventually gave up.

    Sitting on the couch I took a few sips from the juice box. It was apple juice. I brought up my menu. Opening the empire tab I looked through my options.

    It didn¡¯t take long to find the summoning option. I looked through it to see what types of NPCs I could get and was surprised when I realized I could summon an administrator.

    I think I remember this. These guys used to collect the money and keep the other NPCs moving.

    Mao got rid of them because he said he liked running all the NPC shops on his own. An administrator was basically like buying an auto button for mindless clicking.

    If I can get a few of these guys I can set up one at each settlement. That way they can keep track of what happens.

    Once a week or so I can get a report from them and from that I can decide on what needs to be done.

    It¡¯s not the worst idea I¡¯ve ever had. No that title goes to the time I spent money on that NFT.

    First thing¡¯s first. I looked for the solider NPCs and managed to find them. I could adjust there stats a bit but there was a limit to how many stat levels they could have at level one.

    This gave me an idea. I quickly changed the stats to encompass the right parameters for each soldier branch I wanted to establish.

    This meant mages got higher intelligence. Berserkers got higher vitality and strength and so on so forth.

    I had the option to give them different races. I went for half giants for the berserkers and warriors. Since they had more strength and vitality.

    I picked forest elves for rangers. Since they had very good dexterity and a decent perception, but mostly because of their affinity to The forest and they¡¯re natural at hunting.

    Ape-kin for monks because they got a small boost to all physical stats and with monk as their class. They¡¯d get an okay boost to wisdom.

    For mages I went with demon-kin. They had high intelligence, strength, and vitality. The real reason though was the boost to dark magic.

    I wanted dark magic since it had so many de-buffs and ailments. This would help with restraining criminals. The vit and str boost would help with keeping them alive.

    For healers¡­ well more like clerics. I went with human. They¡¯re balanced out stats were fine for the class and besides it was cheaper. I needed to cut back somewhere.

    For the assassin branch I went with moon elves since they had a nice dark affinity and had good dexterity and perception. They also made good assassins thanks to their night vision.

    I ordered twenty of each except for half giants. I would need forty of those. The last thing was a champion.

    I selected a human and went for a paladin type of NPC. I finished up by hitting the finalize button. A moment passed and nothing happened. ¡°What? I was expecting a big bang or something.¡±

    As if the gods had heard me. The castle began to shake. I heard thunder booming outside. It only lasted a few seconds before everything went back to normal.

    I checked the citizens tab and surely enough there was now an extra one-hundred-forty NPCs.

    Everyone of them were at the old barracks. I delegated training for the newly summoned soldiers. That meant they¡¯d be doing stat training. Mostly just working on physical stats.

    It wouldn''t hurt for our mages and clerics to get a little faster and bulkier. Being less killable was always a plus in my book.

    More muscle mass meant their strength and vitality ratios would go up. It was a win, win if you ask me.

    I hope they¡¯ll be alright. Maybe I should of done this tomorrow instead. That way I¡¯d be there to greet them.

    I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be fine. Those guys aren¡¯t mindless brutes. As far as I knew their dialog was usually very pro empire, so I doubt they¡¯ll do anything to harm the city.

    Then again what if they¡¯re all confused and start going full authoritarian on the local population¡­.. I checked the citizens tab and waited for a few minutes. Everyone was still alive.

    I let out a yawn. I¡¯m so tired¡­. Fuck it, if people die that just means more jobs for the socialists.

    I wonder how Boner feels about waiting tables in a maid Caf¨¦? It comes with a uniform.

    I looked to the clock on the wall and it was almost nine. It¡¯s still early. I normally didn¡¯t sleep till like one or two in the morning.

    I only ever needed like five to six hours of sleep. This body was different though. Do I really want bags under my eyes. Probably not but still. Who goes to sleep at nine.

    I brought my juice box up to my lips and finished it off. Glancing around the room I spotted the trashcan in the corner.

    From my seat I threw the empty cardboard husk making an ark through the air. It landed perfectly in the can. I love dexterity.

    Party chat:

    Shadow: Master, It¡¯s late you should go to bed¡­. But I¡¯m sure you know that so¡­. Do whatever you want.

    Well she sounded upset. Should I do something?

    I wasn¡¯t sure on what to say. I honestly felt like ignoring it. Another part of me wanted to say something and to my surprise it did.

    Aku: goodnight, um maybe we can sleep together¡­.. or not¡­. I¡¯m sorry!

    My eyes went wide at that. What the hell! I didn¡¯t mean to send that! Did I think that? It was in my head so¡­.¡­¡­ I did but¡­.. I don¡¯t think I meant to send that. This is to weird. I waited to see Shadow¡¯s response.

    She didn¡¯t answer. I felt uneasy. Oh man! Both Shadow and Luca can see that! I can never show my face again!

    With any luck they didn¡¯t notice. Then again there was the fact that it played your voice when you sent a message¡­.

    Huh. I wonder if Luca is okay. She did have a headache.

    Shadow didn¡¯t answer so¡­.. Did I break our relationship? She should of at least reacted.

    Was she mad forever. The guilt from before was back and stronger than ever. Though, it was drowned out by the rest of the noise in my head. Something was clawing its way out of the hole.

    ¡°BUZZ¡±

    What if I mess it all up? What if this country burns? What if I¡¯m not cut out for this? There all going to die! Every last one of them! It¡¯ll all be my fault!

    ¡°BUZzZ¡±

    Everything from today erupted out of the hole. Mantis caged like a dog. The socialists losing there friend and attacking me.

    There was more of them. More players suffering because I cant get my shit together. NPCs too. I¡¯m sure of it.

    What if everyone I love gets killed because I couldn¡¯t hold the city together. What if the NPCs all turn on me along with the players?

    What if I can¡¯t bring Shadow home? Her kids are still waiting for their mother! Why am I so worthless!

    Then other things came out of the hole. Much older things. I wanted to scream but that would wake mom up.

    And then¡­ she¡¯d beat me again. I can¡¯t! I cant! I cant! Mom was right. I¡¯m worthless.

    ¡°BUZzZz¡±

    You can¡¯t do it. It¡¯s impossible. Just die already! Disgusting. Filthy! Unlikeable. Degenerate.

    Useless! Loser! Disappear. Vanish. Evaporate! Just stop. Stop existing! Your not worth a fuck. Stop trying. Give up! Devil child!

    ¡°BUZzZzZ¡±

    The world glitches again and again. There was a horrible buzzing and I felt so small. The Shadows.

    They were closing in. This wasn¡¯t like the time I fainted. These Shadows were alive. They coiled and vibrated in a horrific frenzy.

    They took unimaginable shapes. Demons, monsters. They reached for me. I forced myself to my feet and ran.

    I ran and ran. It followed. Screeching. Buzzing. So very angry. I was being chased. The hole it was angry! It wanted to eat me!

    It was unsatisfied with the things I fed it! I kept running until I ran into something soft. I fell to the floor holding my head. The buzzing wouldn¡¯t stop.

    ¡°BUZzZzZz¡±

    You¡¯ll never be anything. Your dreams are stupid. You smell! Your ugly. Unlovable. Go away! No one wants you! You are just to broken.

    ¡°BUZzZzZzZ¡±

    It got louder and louder. That was until I heard her voice. ¡°chief?¡±

    Silence.

    with just her nickname for me. Luca freed me from the noise. It was as if it hadn¡¯t happened. The darkness was slurped back into the hole. I glanced up at her.

    ¡°Are you okay? Chief.¡± She looked so worried, so afraid.

    I wanted to cry but I didn¡¯t. Instead I smiled and let out a laugh. ¡°oops I fell down. I¡¯m fine. Why are you up¡­. I thought¡­. I thought you had a headache?¡±

    Even as I spoke I felt sick inside. Like I could vomit. There was an awful black ooze trying to make its way out.

    It wiggled and squirmed. It clawed and screamed but I held on. My inside were being torn to shreds.

    Hold it together Isaac. Not in front of other people. Their counting on you. You still have to get everyone home.

    Luca held her head. ¡°Yeah it sucks. Its pretty bad but I needed to use the restroom.¡± She was on her way back to her room when I ran into her.

    I got to my feet. ¡°Don¡¯t let me keep you. Rest up, tomorrow we have a big day.¡± She looked a bit hesitant. Like she wanted to ask something.

    The young mage was wearing a violet colored nighty that almost touched the floor. On her feet were a pair of white bunny slippers. Her cowlick seemed to bounce with every body motion.

    ¡°Chief. Can you help me with something?¡± She looked nervous. She was finally acting her age I guess.

    ¡°Okay.¡± I want to be useful.

    ¡°BUZZzzzzzZZZZZZzzZZZZZzzzzZZZZZZZZZz¡±

 Episode 11: the face inside

    Chapter 11

    The face inside

    So like¡­. You know how sometimes you''ll be jerking off. And you''ll have your phone in one hand and your member in the other. Well, sometimes my mom would call in the middle of it and her face would pop up on the screen¡­¡­ Does that mean that for a second I jerked off to my mom?

    Just so you know. I got rid of the contact picture after the thirteenth time it happened. Probably should of done it sooner but I kept forgetting.

    I wanted to ask Luca about it, but then remembered she was a minor, and that sort of thing could get me in trouble.

    I wish Fish was here. That guy was a true man of culture. As much as he annoyed me. He was the only guy that understood the finer things in life.

    Like tsunderes, or stuck in a wall scenarios. I miss the internet. There''s something powerful about being able to look up anything just by asking your phone.

    Just today there was so many instances where I wanted to Google something only to realize I no longer had my phone. Like how long is a penis on average, or how to torture war criminals. The one I was most curious about was. How to make your cat stop licking you.

    Phones exist in this world. At least in the game plot they did. Purple mist was never an item but it''s still real in this world. Though I felt like finding a phone would be akin to finding a twenty year old virgin girl. Not impossible just really rare.

    I looked over to the dizzy mage. She¡¯d been sitting on her bed with the covers over her legs. I was on the other side.

    Getting under the covers would be weird so I stayed on top. Her bed was a queen. It was actually kind of difficult to climb. It wasn¡¯t as comfortable as my bed, but at least it wasn¡¯t shrieking at me.

    Out of boredom I started making popping sounds with my mouth. After a bit Luca joined in. Was pop cat still a thing? When was the last time I saw a pop cat meme. It¡¯s been a while.

    I love cats. There so soft and fluffy and they make the cutest sounds. Shadow didn¡¯t count. She wasn¡¯t cute. She was mean and evil and crazy. My apartment doesn¡¯t allow pets. Such a shame. Oh! One time Shadow told me about how she beat up some lady at the park for trying to discipline her son. That didn¡¯t sound cute. What was I talking about again?

    Uh, I¡¯m so bored! I wanna go to bed. Maybe I¡¯ll wake up back home or in a hospital. It only made sense when you realize I¡¯ve probably been tripping balls the whole time. Not the worst trip I¡¯ve had.

    The worst trip I ever went through had to be the time I got transported to that one world. Where people wore silly hats. I got married, killed a guy, became their king, got over thrown, lead the resistance, killed the new king, disbanded the kingdom, got my wife killed, went on a revenge killing spree, and then retired to beach front property. Where I spent my days fishing in the ocean.

    That was until my zombafied dead wife dragged me under and drowned me for supposedly cheating on her with that nest of orc girls. I told her it was the only way I was getting out of there but she was all like. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you!¡±

    Our wedding vows were till death do us part not eternity. And after I killed all those people in her name to. All those dead bodies I hanged up in trees meant nothing to her. She wanted more. She wanted a grave and for me to bury her in the Sakura forest. Where she dreamed of going as a little girl but never got the chance. She was crazy. That place would take like a year to get to on foot.

    Her body would of fallen apart by then. What was I supposed to do carry a bag of bones. I offered to cremate her and spread her ashes there, but she was all like. ¡°No! I have to be buried!¡± Then she sunk my ship and dragged me to the bottom . She was all like ¡°kill us! Kill us both!¡±

    Anyway several years passed. The world was at peace. There were no more race wars. Women, gay, and trans rights were all brought up to standard, and to top it all off a new sustainable clean burning energy was developed. I came back as a zombie and started the zombie apocalypse. Its crazy how quickly all that equality stuff goes out the window when a zombie is eating your face. Think mad max but with undead riding motorcycles.

    I actually didn¡¯t mind that part. Did you know that humans taste like veal. Cause I didn¡¯t. I was expecting them to be chicken flavored. Pork flavored I would accept but beef! That I was not expecting. It totally threw me off. Are humans really descendants of monkeys or are they descendants of cows?

    I could be a cow. I¡¯d be a grate cow. The best even. No, no, don¡¯t get crazy now Isaac. bring it back. I¡¯d be an adequate cow. Yes, that! People would come from miles away just to taste my milk¡­.. that came out wrong. How come you never see a male cow? Can cows only be female? Unless male cows are just bulls¡­. but then why call them bulls?

    It¡¯s probably like how there are dear and bucks. Dad killed a buck once. He said he would take me and my brother out hunting for the weekend. We spent most of our time trying not to die of hypothermia. I wanted to hold a gun but my dad didn¡¯t let me because the one time I did hold it he saw the barrel and freaked out.

    Anyway he ended up hitting a buck with his truck on the way back home. It was awesome. Dam thing broke the windshield and almost killed me. It was mostly on my side and somehow it¡¯s antlers missed me entirely. I was so lucky. Surprisingly I¡¯ve seen death way more times than a normal person should.

    Like that time I almost got hit by a truck or like when mom left me out in the snow without clothes. There was also that one time when I tried to jump off¡­¡­ yeah.

    I looked back to Luca. She was staring at the wall. The light in the room was dim. Her room wasn¡¯t all that elaborate. The curtains were black with a light blue glow to them. There was a dark oak dresser with a mirror attached. On it was a magical skull. Something told me the items in her room gave magic based buffs. Our light source was a magic lamp. It hung from the ceiling and gave a bluish white glow.

    It didn¡¯t look like a lamp. It was like a white orb floating mid air. The thing wasn¡¯t actually attached to anything. I wonder if it¡¯s portable.

    Actually, more importantly I was wondering when Luca¡¯s gonna say something. We¡¯ve been sitting here for over five minutes making popping sounds. I¡¯m so sleepy. Last thing I want is to fall asleep here. Shadow would probably kill me if she found out.

    I don¡¯t actually like being here. I¡¯m a thirty-nine year old man sitting on the bed of a teenage girl. Not only that, but she¡¯s in the room with me and the door is closed. I was so screwed!

    Being a man sucks! I have to be careful otherwise they¡¯ll label me as a predator. Like when I was asked to pick up my niece from school and the teachers wouldn¡¯t let her come home with me. They even threatened to call the cops even after the kid identified me as her uncle and hugged me¡­.. Especially after she hugged me.

    Well to be fair uncle is used very loosely, and the person doesn¡¯t necessarily have to be related to be called an uncle. Often times the term is used to describe a mother¡¯s boyfriend, or family friends.

    I wasn¡¯t dealing with that so I left. My sister was so pissed at me. What was I supposed to do! Beat up the teacher and take lil Alley away! I¡¯d have a cop with his knee in my back before I even left the premises!

    I looked to Luca again wondering when she would tell me what she needed help with. She looked nervous. Why was she nervous! I¡¯m the one that should be nervous! I was nervous but she looked like I¡¯d done something horrible to her! I feel like such a creep.

    I wonder if Mantis ever feels this way. What if I had him wrong and really he was like me when I tried to pick Alley up from school. No, what am I saying that dudes a pedo for sure.

    It sucks that I can be so easily put in the same category as him. Honestly there was nothing I could do but cover my ass and stay the hell away from situations like¡­. the one I¡¯m currently in. Shit.

    I wanted to leave the door open but Luca closed it herself meaning what she wanted to say was private. I just wish she¡¯d hurry up.

    I noticed the de-buff under her health bar. It wasn¡¯t the same as the drunk one. This one looked like a man hunched over holding his head¡­¡­. Hangover?

    I''ve actually been meaning to try something. I reached out with my hand and hit cleanse on my hot bar. I originally had it ready so I wouldn¡¯t have to take a shower, but that didn¡¯t pan out.

    My hand glowed with a bluish white light. This wasn¡¯t like before where there was a pull. It was more like something was being pushed through me. The power came through my chest and out of my hand. The amount of energy being used was way more than what was being drained from my focus bar. I wonder what that meant?

    Luca was a bit startled. ¡°chief!¡± She closed her eyes and opened them once the light had finished washing over her.

    I happen to know that the cleanse sacred art felt like a cold shower. I should of warned her but was more interested in the effects.

    Just like I was expecting the de-buff was gone. ¡°How do you feel?¡± She glared at me in annoyance. Then her face changed to disbelief. It was like she¡¯d been constipated and finally managed to squeeze something out.

    ¡°What was that? My head doesn¡¯t hurt anymore. I don¡¯t feel all gross and sweaty either.¡± She finally smiled. That was a nice change to the gloomy mage.

    I let out a yawn. ¡°y-ah-yeah. That was cleanse. I wasn¡¯t sure if it would work or not. Good to know.¡± I felt like curling up into a ball and sleeping for ten-thousand years.

    Screw it the beds big enough for more than two people. As long as I stay way on this side it¡¯ll be fine. No one can hurt me while I sleep. That would be rude.

    On second thought, I couldn¡¯t do that. That would destroy any reputation I have. Which wasn¡¯t a lot but it would definitely paint me in a bad way. Can¡¯t escape the male stigma no matter what world you go to, or what body you end up in. I just have to hold on till Luca tells me what she wants.

    She started to stare at the covers now. Yeah screw it. I couldn¡¯t do this any longer. I wanted to sound more concerned, but I ended up coming off as annoyed. ¡°Why am I here? You said you needed something.¡± And just like that she started crying. Grate.

    I pulled the pin on the grenade and found it superglued to my hand. How do I deal with a crying teen. Do I hit her so she has something to cry about. No, that¡¯s moms method.

    What did dad do. He would call me a pussy and make fun of me. Yeah¡­. that¡¯s a no. What did I want when I cried. Back then I didn''t cry. Crying only made things worse.

    Well¡­¡­ when I wanted to cry I wanted some form of comfort. At least at first I did. When ever I searched for it. Mom would beat me for annoying her. This was all after dad¡¯s death. What did she do before then. Coddle me.

    Maybe I should go get Shadow. I feel like she had a normal childhood. She was also a girl once. I¡¯m sure she¡¯s better at this sort of stuff. However, Luca did ask for me. Was that intentional?

    What if she¡¯s also fighting with Shadow? Maybe I should ask her if she wants her instead. ¡°Luca I¡¯m not very good at this kind of stuff. Do you want me to get Shadow?¡± Luca shook her head and started to hug her knees.

    Well, I asked. That¡¯s one way of covering my ass. It wasn¡¯t enough though. What do I do? Why me? I¡¯m not the guy for this. I can barely keep myself together.

    What was she expecting from me? What kind of problems could a teenage girl even have? I did do this for Shadow this morning, but I actually knew what was wrong with her. I guess I could start there.

    I looked around the room trying to think. I could get in a lot of trouble for being here, but Luca is crying and I can¡¯t just walk away. I don¡¯t like seeing her cry. She¡¯s way to cute for that.

    Reluctantly I said ¡°Okay. Tell me what¡¯s wrong kiddo.¡± She cried a little harder then tried to speak only for it to come out as a cacophony of whiney noise. This is the language of whales! I don¡¯t speak whale! What am I supposed to do here!

    I tried doing my best whale sound but she didn¡¯t understand me. She cried angrily at me. Crap! I probably sounded like I was making fun of her. Don¡¯t freak out. What do I wish for when I¡¯m hurt and vulnerable?

    There was this weird feeling. Almost like my subconscious was answering me. The only thing I could do was¡­. I sighed. There was a total of sixty feet between us so I started crawling over. Once next to her I opened my arms and gave her a hug.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. Cry all you want. I¡¯ll stay till you feel better.¡± She started to cry harder and more or less tackled me over. A minute later we found a fairly comfortable position.

    We were both laying on our sides. She had her face buried in my chest and I was slowly stroking her head. It was a little awkward, but better than me trying to hold her.

    With my tiny body I couldn¡¯t even touch my fingers behind her back. Poor Luca. She really was just a kid. I found it fun to play with her cowlick. No matter how many times I tried to smush it down. The thing would pop back up like a spring.

    *BOING*

    I almost let out ¡°I see your happy to see me." Which would have been totally inappropriate to say to a kid.

    Eventually her crying devolved into sniffles. This seemed like the right time to figure out what was wrong. ¡°Alright, why don¡¯t you tell me what¡¯s bothering you.¡± She moved her head back and looked up at me. Her face was wet and her frown attacked my heart.

    ¡°I¡­.. before¡­¡­¡± she sobbed then shook her head. ¡°last night¡­¡­ I had a fight with mom and dad.¡± Her eyes looked away from me. ¡°They didn¡¯t want me staying with my friend for the weekend, because they said I was to young to be left alone. My friend¡¯s parents wouldn¡¯t be home and they were gonna leave her home by herself.¡± She sobbed. ¡°So I got mad because they treat me like a kid all the time.¡± She sobbed a bit more. I ran my hand along her arm and the other over her head. Her hair was soft like mine.

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    The crying mage continued. ¡°I said really awful things and then I ran to my room. My brother¡­.. he tried to calm me down but I got mad at him to, and now I cant take it back! I cant tell them I¡¯m sorry!¡± She cried even louder than before. This is what was bothering her the most.

    I was under the impression that it was over but there was more. ¡°I think they hate me. I can¡¯t say I¡¯m sorry because I¡¯m here. In this world.¡± She started sobbing again and new tears began to trickle down her face.

    Was that all. What a trivial thing to cry about¡­.. well¡­.. I was one to talk. I ran my hand over her head. Geez, if she had to deal with the stuff I do. Man, she wouldn¡¯t make it¡­. But that didn''t matter. It didn''t matter how trivial her plight was. Just because someone is suffering more than you doesn¡¯t mean your not suffering.

    *BUZZ*

    I still felt sick. I almost screamed but I held my tongue. I wanted to break down along side her but I couldn¡¯t. I needed something to ground me. I thought back to something in my past. It was always there when I needed it. As if answering my call a memory of my dad flashed through my mind.

    I was around six at the time and my dad was driving me home from school. I got to ride in the cop car.

    Dad¡¯s partner was there. Officer Davidson. Dad was on duty and he wasn¡¯t supposed to be picking me up, but he felt like surprising me.

    There was a call for back up. Officer down. It was a guy held up in his house shooting at cops. My dad decided it would be a grate idea to show me what he did for work, so he turned the siren on and started driving like an asshole.

    That day I watched my dad break a door down and drag a dead body out into the yard. It was so cool.

    I always thought it was amazing how dad wasn¡¯t scared of the guy. To me dad was my hero. Later that night I was playing with my match box cars on the porch and dad was watching me. He had a beer in his hand like usual.

    I say watching me, but actually dad drank most nights on that porch. It was always saturated with beer cans and cigarette buds. Really, it was more like I wanted to hang out with him.

    That night I asked dad how come he¡¯s never scared. He decides to turn it into a lesson. Even now the words of my dad echoed through my head. ¡°A man isn¡¯t someone that picks fights. He¡¯s not someone that treats women badly. His not an asshole. A man is someone that stays strong. That doesn¡¯t fall apart when shit hits the fan. That doesn¡¯t complain no matter how bad his life sucks. You know why that is kid?¡±

    I gave my dad a head shake. ¡°It¡¯s so that his loved ones won¡¯t be afraid. So that when the world shakes they have someone to hold on to.¡± I felt so proud of my dad that day. ¡°But dad. Don''t you get scared?¡± My dad smiled at me. ¡°Yeah¡­ sometimes¡­. But you''ll never know when.¡± He then ruffled my hair.

    I¡¯ll be strong to. I¡¯ll stand in the front lines and laugh at death as it¡¯s scythe misses my neck. I¡¯ll bend the world to my will and I¡¯ll do it with a smile on my face because I want to be just like my dad. My hero.

    I let out a laugh to Luca¡¯s horror.

    ¡°Chief! Why are you laughing!¡± She cried. ¡°You¡¯re the worst!¡± I felt her small fists lightly bump against my chest.

    ¡°Sorry Luca. I wasn¡¯t laughing at you. Don¡¯t worry. Your gonna be okay.¡± She looked angry like a frustrated child.

    ¡°Your family doesn¡¯t hate you. They will love you no matter what you say to them. When you get back home. You¡¯d better run to them and hug them.¡± She cried more.

    ¡°Are¡± *sob* ¡°Are you sure? I called mom a basic bitch. I also said dad had no balls cause he agrees with everything that mom says. Oh, and my brother. I told him he was fugly and that¡¯s why he couldn¡¯t get a girlfriend.¡± *sob*

    That was pretty bad. Kids these days have no respect. ¡°Just because they might be mad at you doesn¡¯t mean they don¡¯t love you. Also you need to be nicer to them. They¡¯re your family. The people most likely to help you bury a body. They also happen to be the people most likely to kill you.¡± She quieted down after that, and snuggled up against my chest.

    ¡°What if we never make it home?¡± Her voice was muffled by my clothes.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. Leave it to me. I promise I¡¯ll take you home.¡± I patted her head. As soon as I said those words the weight on my shoulders increased. I felt like I was digging a hole I¡¯d never be able to get out of.

    ¡°You¡¯ll stay the night. Right chief?¡± I could feel her nuzzling against me.

    If I say no she¡¯ll probably just force me to stay here by locking me into a death hug. I wasn¡¯t actually sure which one of us was physically stronger. I knew Shadow and I were almost the same. I had more stat points but her ratio was higher.

    Besides, leaving would probably make her cry again. ¡°I¡¯ll stay.¡± I patted her head. I feel like this should be reversed.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Time passed us by. In no time I heard her soft snores. They weren¡¯t the noisy snores of my wife but the soft breathing of a peacefully sleeping child. Luca was really cute when she slept. If we don¡¯t make it back I¡¯ll totally adopt her.

    Well, it was time I slip away. I know I told her I¡¯d stay but my plan was to leave once she fell asleep.

    Slowly I slipped away from her. She wasn¡¯t hugging me so it was easy. At most she had been pressed up against me. I felt kind of bad. She didn¡¯t hug me because she trusted me not to run away.

    I made my way over to her side of the bed. Reaching in my inventory I pulled out Snowball. I tried to be as sneaky as possible and managed to slip Snowball between her arms. She let out a strange sound. Then smiled firmly hugging the cat plushy.

    I almost freaked out. Last thing I wanted was for her to wake up and catch me running away. Snowball would keep her safe. I pulled the cover over her and gave her one last head pat. Then made my way out of the room. The door closed behind me and I was finally free.

    That was rough. I never wanna do that again. By this point I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. I feel like this day has gone on forever. Can¡¯t believe everything that happened.

    I made my way to my room. It was time I got some much needed sleep. I let out a yawn and scratched my ass.

    My room was just around the corner and before I knew it I was standing in front of my door.

    I have to bring everyone home. I have to. I can¡¯t fail. I¡¯ll do it.

    *BUZzZzZzZz*

    There all going to die.

    The lights in the hall flickered going out completely. When they came back on I could see the monster. It stood fourteen feet tall. It¡¯s body was black like oil and it had multiple black tendrils lashing out around it.

    It¡¯s face was a large round hole with razor sharp teeth so spread out they looked like a whirlwind of blades. There were sharp claw like talons protruding from random parts of its body. Part of its tendrils took the shape of a centipedes legs. They were long, and sharp enough to cut into the stone floor.

    It screeched and dove at me. I ran into the bedroom and closed the door behind me locking it. The monster slammed into it over and over. It clawed and screamed.

    ¡°No! No! Leave me alone! Please!¡± I cried. It kept Scratching at the door. I needed to barricade it.

    Quickly, I ran to the dresser and pushed it in front of the door. The beast continued to scream. I could hear it calling to me.

    Its voice was like a million nails on a chalk board. ¡°Isaaaaaaaaaaac!!! Isaaaaaaaaac!!!! I¡¯m here for you child! Let¡¯s play! You¡¯ve been a bad boy again! I¡¯m here to make you better! Demon child! You are broken, but I can fix you! As punishment for being bad I¡¯ll take your leeeeeeeegs!!!¡± It¡¯s voice sounded like an echo. It sounded like it was speaking underwater. Like it had mucus in its throat. Like it was sucking in its breath as it spilled vial out of its deformed face.

    I cried and fell into a ball. I made myself as small as possible. Tears ran down my face. My voice was almost a whisper. ¡°Please, go away. I¡¯ll be good. I promise. I¡¯ll do better. Please just leave. I can do better. I¡¯m not broken. You don¡¯t have to fix me. Please, I just want to go to bed.¡± The door continued to shake. The howling got louder and louder. The room began to vibrate as the buzzing became more and more uncanny.

    *BUZZZZZzZZZzZZZzzZZz*

    Why does she always come. Why is she so mean. I just want to be useful. Please someone save me! I¡¯m all alone. I¡¯m always alone. Why won¡¯t anyone help. She always comes. She always finds me. She wants to hurt me. I don¡¯t wanna hurt anymore.

    The horrible screeching sound grew multiple octaves. It continued to grow louder. My ears were hurting. I held my hands over them and just when I was about to break. The noise stopped. The rattling was gone. It felt like it¡¯d been going on for hours. I opened my eyes and looked towards the door. It was wide open and the dresser was back in its original spot.

    My body was trembling in fear. I was so afraid that I was paralyzed in place. I don¡¯t know how long I waited but eventually. Very slowly I stood up and made my way to the door. There was blood dripping from my right ear. I couldn¡¯t hear anything out of it.

    She wasn¡¯t here. Where did she go?

    *BUZZZzzZZZZzZZZZZzZZZZZZzZZZZZZZZZZ*

    Then I heard it. It whispered into my left ear in a distorted tone. ¡°Isaac.¡± Like it was trying to tell me a secret. My body went stiff. This whole time my heart had been beating a million a minute. It¡¯s face was upside down right next to my head. The dam thing was hanging from the ceiling in my room. In comparison even my bed seemed quiet.

    I ran out the door. I power skipped down the hall. It screeched and clawed its way after me. ¡°Issssssssssaaaaaaaaaaac!¡± It defied gravity by clawing its way on the walls. Wherever it went it left destruction behind. Causing stones and boulders to rain down in the hall.

    The hallway seemed to never end. It kept getting longer and darker. I felt powerless. The buzzing was getting worse. The monster was getting closer. I could feel it reaching for me.

    I cried for help but no one came. No one ever came. That¡¯s when I noticed a tether. It was thin like a silk web, almost silver. I reached for it and found it attached to my chest. Out of some bizarre curiosity I tugged it.

    ¡°Isaaaaaaaaaaac!!!¡± The monster was about to bite down on my right leg when the tether tightened and started to pull me away. The castle started to fall apart turning to rubble and revealing a white void. The rubble turned to dust vanishing completely.

    The monster screeched again. In this void its echo was exasperated. I was almost fifty feet away from it. The tether was no longer pulling and instead I fell to the floor tumbling like a pregnant woman down a flight of stairs.

    The feeling of free fall took my body. Both the monster and I floated mid air. I felt sick remembering the experience of being transported to the new world. It didn''t last long.

    The feeling of gravity took over once more and my body was lowered onto the surface of¡­. I wasn¡¯t sure. I felt solid ground but it wasn¡¯t ground.

    It felt like standing on something soft followed by solid floor boards. It was like the ground had felt my weight and adjusted itself to support me.

    I could see my reflection. I wasn¡¯t Aku anymore. I was Isaac again but not the original adult Isaac. I was a kid. I suppose you could say I was an Aku sized Isaac.

    I had the clothes from before I was transported. My pants and boxers fell to the floor. I pulled them up, but there was nothing to hold them there, so instead I took them off completely. My shirt hung loosely on my body going well past my knees.

    ¡°What the hell?¡± I looked up to the monster. It had shrunk down to a black ink ball with razor teeth embedded in its small body. For some reason it was still stuck in the air like a balloon.

    I was so confused. This isn''t how this normally goes. Normally that thing eats me.

    A new voice filled the void. ¡°What? How!¡± The voice came from this beautiful lady. She looked around eighteen. She wore an expensive looking blue dress with all kinds of ornaments.

    Her hair was blue and her eyes were¡­¡­ well, one looked like space with multiple stars and the other was a golden clock. She was sitting on a giant thrown like chair. It was made of a bluish white marble.

    I didn¡¯t want to be rude. ¡°Hi, ma¡¯am. Sorry to intrude. You wouldn¡¯t happen to know the way back home. My buddy and I are a little lost. We need to get back to the part where she eats me.¡± The lady was thrown aback.

    My words seemed to peak her interest. ¡°Wait. Answer my question. How did you get here? It shouldn¡¯t be possible.¡± She hopped off the thrown and made her way over to me in the blink of an eye. It was like she glided over.

    To answer her question I shrugged my shoulders. She gave that same ¡°is this person crazy¡± look. I was tired of getting that look.

    She walked around me inspecting me. I couldn¡¯t help but notice my body was kind of see through. The monster was also see through.

    ¡°looks like you were dreaming and now you¡¯re here. Strange.¡± She held her chin In contemplation. The lady noticed the tears on my face and the blood coming out my ear.

    She frowned pulling out a tissue. She then crouched down and wiped my face for me along with the blood from my ear. Maybe she was a nice lady. ¡°You poor thing. What a horrible nightmare you must of had. How about a glass of warm milk?¡± She materialized the aforementioned beverage out of nowhere and handed it to me.

    I didn¡¯t really drink glasses of milk, but again I didn¡¯t want to be rude. This was her¡­.. house? Yeah let¡¯s go with that.

    I drank the milk and found it sweet and soothing. My body once cold was now warming up. The pain I felt in my ear was gone like it had magically healed. Sound slowly came back to it. First as a ringing then just normal void silence. The lady looked pleased as she saw my surprised face.

    ¡°So can I leave? That things supposed to eat me. That¡¯s usually how I wake up.¡± I pointed at the inky demon. The demon let out one of its nail chalk board noises to which the lady wasn¡¯t having. She snapped her fingers and the noise was gone. Even the buzzing sound was silent. The empty glass I had was gone to. I hadn¡¯t even noticed.

    ¡°You want to go back to that horrible nightmare? Why?¡± Her eyes took on a more natural look, going from that weird space-time combination to silver with black pupils.

    Her question had me stumped. Why did I want to go back to that? Was that actually a dream? I was awake right? Did I fall asleep on Luca¡¯s bed?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I guess if I don¡¯t have to I¡¯d like to end my dream in this place. What is this place? Is this apart of my dream to?¡± she looked a bit disappointed with my answer. She took a moment to think.

    ¡°Uh¡­. Yeah¡­. totally, your right. This is a dream and in no way is it a real place.¡± That¡¯s what I thought. ¡°I¡¯m a bit busy at the moment, but you are one of my favorite children. I¡¯d hate to send you back to whatever that thing is. I don''t know. I don''t have the time to play with you.¡± She sat back in her chair thinking it over once more. I have no idea how she did that. She was right next to me a second ago. This was a dream I guess.

    Right when she was about to say something she stopped herself and went back to thinking. It was a little awkward.

    I looked at the monster questioningly. It shrugged what looked like its shoulders indicating that it had no idea what was going on either. I looked back to the lady.

    She waved her glowing red finger out in front of her. Molts of red light were being left suspended in the air as she played a game of tic-tac-toe against herself.

    It ended in a draw and she scratched her head. Something told me that game was supposed to decide weather she¡¯d let me stay here or not.

    I watched her pull out a coin. She flipped it and instead of catching it. She accidentally yeeted It over to me. It rolled to my feet coming to a stop. The coin was neither heads nor tails. Instead it was standing up perfectly on its side.

    She let out a grown and fell back in her chair. ¡°Screw it. You can stay¡­. What do you feel like doing?¡± I shrugged my shoulders. She sighed. ¡°How about I show you some pictures.¡± She snapped her fingers and a moment later I found myself sitting on her lap. I almost jumped off but found her left arm wrapped around my waist.

    This was really unexpected. ¡°Um¡­. Is this really okay?¡± I felt so strange.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry I¡¯m far older than you are. Therefore I know what¡¯s best.¡± Her arm pulled me back against her. I could feel her boobs press against the back of my head. My face went red. She hugged me and squealed like a teen seeing their favorite BTS fuck boy. She aggressively nozzled against my right cheek. I was used to this by now. I felt a kiss and wanted nothing more than to go back to my horrible nightmare.

    As much as it weirded me out I had to say. She was really soft. Soft enough that I got a Boner. It had been a while that it scared me for a sec. I couldn''t help but reach between my legs to see if it was real.

    Buddy your back! Yay! I was elated. This was a happy dream!

    Out of who knows where. The lady pulled out a photo album, and sat it on my lap. ¡°Check it out.¡± The lady sounded so proud like a parent showing off pictures of their kids.

    She opened it to the first set of pictures. It was a new born baby. The lady holding it was¡­.. my mom!!! I swear every time I hold my dick my mom shows up!

    ¡°You were such a cutie.¡± She pinched one of my cheeks. Who the hell was this lady!

    ¡°What! But I don¡¯t remember there being any baby pictures of me!¡± She turned the page again revealing more baby pictures.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s because your mom burned them all. I took all of these.¡± She showed me one of when I was three riding on my big wheel and wearing sunglasses. I thought I was the shit back then with my cowboy boots.

    ¡°How!? When?! I feel like I might remember you if you took these many photos!¡± There were a few of me naked in a bath tub. I feel so violated.

    ¡°I have my ways. I keep pictures of all my children. Well, there¡¯s a lot of them so I mostly keep pictures of the ones I like the most.¡± There was a picture of me when I rode the buss and another from when I was shop lifting food. That was when mom decided to feed me dog food instead of real food because she said it was to expensive to feed me.

    ¡°This is creepy.¡± I almost cried.

    ¡°Look this one is from last week.¡± She showed me a picture of me sneak hugging Alice from behind. I was lifting her up a foot off the ground with my arms wrapped around her mid section. Both of us were smiling.

    I felt a tear run down my face. ¡°Can I have this one?¡± I didn¡¯t have anything to remind me of her. I was afraid if I spent to long without her, her face would fade from my memory.

    ¡°I¡­. I don¡¯t know.¡± She sighed. Like a mother deciding to buy a toy for her kid she agreed. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll give you a copy.¡± She snapped her fingers and a copy appeared in her hand. I took the picture from her and felt more tears run down my face.

    ¡°Thank you. What do I call you ma''am.¡± I looked to her.

    Her eyes looked away and she became nervous. Eventually she sighed again. ¡°You can call me Cosmo. By the way It¡¯s time for you to go. Looks like your body is waking up.¡± She cleaned my face once more and kissed my forehead. Then snapped her fingers and I floated up into the air. ¡°Oh and take your pet monster with you!¡± the black ooze was stretched out like a noodle and brought up to my mouth. It made its way down my throat.

    I gagged, but I couldn¡¯t stop it from tearing its way back inside me. The monster screeched as it was forced back into the hole.

    I could feel it clawing inside me. Burning my insides and screaming my name. The hole went silent and the beast went back into hibernation. It wasn''t as bad as eating carrots, but holy shit. Cosmo snapped her fingers once more and I woke up.

 Episode 12: day two

    Chapter 12

    day two

    I woke up unsure of my surroundings. My mind was clear. That¡¯s usually how it went every morning. The memories of yesterday started to unearth themselves and I started feeling sick. Did I really throw a tantrum over candy?

    As much as I wanted to continue that lovely thought I needed to deal with my current predicament. Something was definitely wrong. For starters, I couldn¡¯t see anything and there was something wrapped around me. It was kind of comforting in a way.

    I tried moving but couldn¡¯t. Whatever it was it had a real hold on me. Like when my older cousin would hold me in a head lock. Only I wasn¡¯t crying and this person was a lot softer. Did I make it home? Was this Alice? I wiggled and my head popped out of a blanket.

    This room didn¡¯t look familiar. It was kind of dark. One thing was for sure. It wasn¡¯t my room. I could tell because the bed had a canopy and it didn¡¯t resemble my hell spawn bed. This one looked like it was made of a soft white fabric. Definitely not my room. Not from the new world or old. Was this another world? Did I get isekaied again? I wonder what this one is based off of?

    I felt what I assumed were arms wrapped around me. It wasn¡¯t just soft it was warm. I tried to wiggle my way out but every time I managed to gain ground. The arms would pull me back and adjust themselves.

    What if this was a world based off a movie? I could totally get behind that. What if it¡¯s an anime world? One that¡¯s not full of creepy weirdos trying to kidnap me. If were talking anime then¡­. Wait, what if I¡¯m in a hentai world! These weren¡¯t arms at all! I¡¯m being held by tentacles!

    ¡°No! No! No! Let me go you stupid hentai monster!¡± I squirmed and fought but couldn¡¯t get free. My voice still sounded like Aku¡¯s. That made it so much worse! I let out a girlish scream.

    ¡°Master¡­. stop it.¡± I felt something pull me closer. It was just Shadow. She was really warm. Like really warm.

    ¡°Shadow! Its you!¡± I felt relieved. Thank goodness. I thought I was about to become a monsters toy. I almost cried.

    She yawned. ¡°Its okay master. Your safe. You were having a bad dream. Quiet down and go back to sleep. It¡¯s only like¡­. I don¡¯t know five.¡± She glanced at the clock on the wall. It was to dark to make anything out. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s dark so its got to be late. Go to bed and we¡¯ll talk in the morning.¡± She snuggled up against me. I could feel her breath on the side of my head.

    I guess it is pretty early. Aww man, I woke her up. I¡¯m such a dummy. I got comfortable and let out a yawn¡­..

    ¡°Wait! I¡¯m married! Let go!¡± I struggled to get free but she was holding on. Was last nights carrot escape a fluke. And here I thought I might be stronger than her. Well, that sucks.

    Shadow grumbled. ¡°Master, your being difficult again. Just go to bed.¡± She stuffed me under the covers. Then wrapped her arms and legs around me. I felt her give my head a few licks before she was satisfied. It made my skin crawl.

    ¡°Shadow please!¡± I cried but she was already asleep. I could hear her purring like some kind of organic cat shaped heater. It was kinda pleasant.

    I tried to get free and even called out her name but she never responded. Once I tired myself out I just laid there. Well I tried. There was nothing I could do. Now hang on, I could use lightning. I contemplated it for a whole minute.

    It wasn¡¯t worth it. That would be way to mean. I don¡¯t wanna hurt Shadow. If I hurt her she¡¯ll get really mad. Then she won''t wanna be around me no more.

    I ended up falling asleep. It was to early for this. I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be fine.

    I woke up later to Shadow pulling the covers away from me. A rush of cold air washed over me chilling me to the bone.

    ¡°Ah! What are you doing!¡± I cried.

    ¡°It¡¯s already eight Master. You¡¯ve been sleeping for almost ten hours.¡± Shadows tail made its way over to my face tickling my nose. It was so annoying. I felt like sneezing.

    ¡°Stop it! I don¡¯t wanna get up! If I stay here I wont have to deal with problems anymore!¡± I grabbed the covers and pulled them back over my head. This was the start of my new life as a shut in NEET. Well if I¡¯m being honest I was always a shut in. The NEET part was new. it was more like I was picking up where I left off and quitting my job.

    I heard Shadow make a growl like noise. Compared to my previous kitten-like attempts, hers sounded like a fully grown tiger. I was actually impressed.

    I felt her get on the bed and slowly approach me like a lion about to pounce on a zebra. She couldn¡¯t get me as long as I was under the covers. I was perfectly safe¡­¡­

    Wait no! Shadow isn¡¯t an imaginary monster! She was a flesh and blood crazy cat lady with retractable claws!

    I waited in anticipation for her attack, frozen under the white fabric. I didn¡¯t dare breathe or move. She can¡¯t see me as long as I don¡¯t move¡­¡­ Ah. Nope, that was from that one movie. Stupid brain stop imagining things! I need to run! It was to late. She¡¯s gonna eat me!

    ¡°Alright master you asked for it.¡± Her nails dug into my ribs as she started to tickle me. I squirmed uncontrollably letting out a laughing cry. My ribs Were hurting! She was so rough! Her nails were like blades!

    ¡°No, no, no, okay! I give!¡± She finally stopped when I sat up in bed. I really had to pee. That was so close. There was no way I¡¯d let that happen a second time. Once was bad enough. Shadow hugged me and innocently kissed my head.

    She was starting to get really clingy. Did something happen last night to make her like that. She was protective before but now it was like she¡¯d take any excuse to hug me.

    I thought she was mad at me. I''m missing something. How the hell did I even get in her bed? I¡­. I remember crying in her arms?¡­¡­ when did that happen? My memories are all scrambled.

    The urge to pee got worse so I decided to end that thought there. How do I get out of this death hug. I don''t want to tell her I have to use the restroom. She''ll do something weird.

    I did something I¡¯d only ever seen my little cousins do. My body became limp and to Shadow¡¯s surprise. I slipped right out of her arms. Like some kind of boneless blob. This only worked because we were both sitting up. ¡°Sorry Shadow! I''ll play with you later. I have to..¡­ do a thing!¡±

    I crawled out of bed at the speed of a frightened cockroach and landed on my feet. The cold stone made my body protest, but I needed to pee like right now. My nighty went from riding up my back to covering my legs.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter Master? Do you need to go potty?¡± She asked sarcastically. Her smile was that of a mischievous cat.

    Why did she word it like that! I decided to bring balance to her tease. ¡°I gotta take a piss! Leave me alone you crazy cat lady!¡± I ran out of the room.

    ¡°language young lady!¡± her voice chased after me. There was a hint of anger in its tone.

    I ignored her teasing and made a B-line to the nearest restroom. It was around the corner. I tried the door, but it was locked.

    ¡°Occupied!¡± Came Luca¡¯s voice. The desperation running through me was immense but I managed to hold it all together. There was another toilet on the other side of the castle.

    I power skipped all the way cutting the trip to a few seconds. As soon as I entered I ran to the toilet, pulling my nighty up and my underwear down. I stood in front of it and¡­..

    ¡°That¡¯s not right¡­. Where¡¯s?¡­..¡±

    The stream made a small ark but once it lost pressure I was left with the all familiar feeling of piss running down my legs. I stood there in shock not sure on what to do. Honestly I should of tried to sit but I was so busy calling myself an idiot that it didn¡¯t come to mind. Anger swelled up inside me and I let out a yell.

    ¡°God fucking dammit!¡± My voice reverberated throughout the castle. Even Mantis heard it.

    Shadow gave me another talking to about my choice of language followed by detailed instructions about how to go to the bathroom as a girl.

    I didn¡¯t take notes but apparently it¡¯s very important to sit on the toilet and in the case of a public restroom you were supposed to use a paper doily. If that was not available then you needed to hover over the toilet like an alien saucer abducting cows. This was mostly stuff I already knew. Not necessarily things I¡¯ve put into practice but definitely things I¡¯ve heard of. It wasn¡¯t my fault I forgot my dick was inverted.

    Now to make things clear. I was not crying because I pissed all over the floor. I cried because Shadow insisted on making it a big deal even going as far as to include Luca in on the conversation. Luca had fun tearing into me. I thought we were best buds now. Why was she acting like we hadn¡¯t shared a moment.

    Was she mad about me slipping out of her bed and somehow ending up in Shadow''s arms. I left Snowball with her. Did that not count for anything? I hope she doesn¡¯t hold Snowball hostage.

    ¡°All I¡¯m saying Master is next time you need to go potty ask me or Luca for help.¡± Luca nodded along with Shadows words. Shadow leaned in forcing me to look her in the eyes. Then in a low growl said ¡°Okaaaaay?¡±

    There was no way I was gonna do that and I wasn¡¯t even sure if she was serious. To end the conversation I nodded my head.

    I Just wanted it to be over so I decided not to say anything in hopes of it dying. I sniffed and wiped away my tears. This would be the last time for sure.

    ¡°Come on then. You need another bath.¡± She tugged on my arm pulling me along. Luca waved me goodbye. ¡°Have fun chief.¡± I stuck my tongue out at her.

    The castle had several restrooms on each floor but the showers and bath were only in one place. That would be in the back of the castle.

    Bath time was silent. Thank God. Today I decided to wear one of the dresses I¡¯d gotten from the NPCs. It was a white dress with sky blue frills along the hem and short sleeves. It had a sky blue bow on the chest.

    This thing only gave a charm boost. I didn¡¯t see the point in wearing actual gear seeing as I couldn¡¯t wear armor. Sure I could get some elemental resistance or magic resistance. Maybe even a boost to a stat, But the moment the clothes got torn the effects would no longer work.

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    I came to this realization when Shadow handed me my mage gear after washing it and I realized it no longer had any stat boosts, aside from the usual charm. She ended up doing the same to her gee but she didn¡¯t look all that heart broken. Instead she just seemed to laugh it off.

    Let me tell you. It was devastating. To think something as simple as washing clothes could destroy its fabric enough for it to no longer give any boosts or protections.

    From what I could tell equipment stats were just enchantments. They weren¡¯t like the regular enchantments you could put on gear. They were like a line of invisible code that permeated the entire item. One rip in the fabric or crack in the metal, and the whole thing became useless.

    Armor and weapons were different from clothes. Those types of gear didn¡¯t break so easily. If I could get my hands on some light armor. Something like a chest plate and other stuff along those lines. It might actually be worth it. With the right enchantments I could make some serious gear. Cindy was already working on the chest plate.

    Wearing none player clothes meant I wouldn¡¯t get any boosts towards stats but that was okay. If I needed a boost to a stat. I could always just equip the gear I needed during the fight. No longer did you have to wait till you were out of battle. I guess it made sense.

    The only reason you couldn¡¯t change your equipment, class, or hot bar around was because the fighting menu was different from the regular menu. Nowadays they were one in the same.

    Though I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s a good idea to open your menu in the middle of battle. On the other hand I was able to pull that gun on Mantis relatively easy by just thinking about it. It took focus though and sometimes focus was hard to achieve during the heat of battle.

    I was surprised at how comfortable the dress was. I also wore some white tights and a pair of light blue Mary Janes on my feet. I wanted to wear the pink ribbon, but it would clash with the outfit. I¡¯d either sacrifice fashion or my life.

    If I sacrifice fashion and die anyway. That meant I¡¯d be laying in my coffin clashing colors but if I sacrifice my life then I¡¯d look nice for when they bury me. What a dilemma. I didn''t know what to do. That was until I got a quest.

    New Qwest!

    Quest: pink is the new black

    Description: Aku is having a fashion crisis! Her favorite ribbon clashes with her new dress. In order to rectify this injustice. You must pray to Cosmo for divine intervention.

    EXP: 0

    Coin: 0

    Reward: upgrade pink ribbon.

    Was this for real? Cosmo? Why does that sound familiar. There was a memory of some lady but I don¡¯t remember the context. If I''m supposed to pray to her¡­.. then, I guess she¡¯s some kind of God. So do I just pray? Like actually pray?

    I looked to Shadow. She was busy brushing her hair. We were back in her room. She¡¯d already brushed my hair for me.

    The cat girl was wearing a pair of blue jean booty shorts and a white top. Under the shorts she had on black leggings. Over the top she wore a jacket. I¡¯m pretty sure she had on a thong. I wasn¡¯t sure though. On her feet were a pair of black sneakers.

    The pants had a hole in them for her tail. It looked like all the clothes in her inventory came with a hole for her tail. It must be similar to how items got locked to the size of the last person that used them.

    I figured it wouldn¡¯t hurt to try and complete the quest. The pink ribbon was pretty useful. I mean it¡¯s effects have yet to be seen but by their description it sounded good. It was also the only real gear I had.

    I moved away from the mirrors line of sight so Shadow wouldn¡¯t see me. Then put my hands together and dropped to my knees. I thought to an empty white void with a light blue haired E-girl sitting on a bluish white throne. I asked this Cosmo to help with my bow. And surely enough I felt something in my chest. A moment later the quest was complete.

    I pulled the ribbon out of storage and it looked the same. I inspected it to make sure. What I found was interesting.

    Originally it was ranked as unique but now. The ribbon had gone up to legendary.

    The ranks in order from weakest to strongest went common, rare, unique, legendary, and mythical. Mythical was also referred to as SS by players since it was easier to type out in chat. I wasn¡¯t sure what SS actually stood for but it was a product of an older game. They should of gone with M but I guess SS was just a more popular term.

    There was also a rank above mythical. Which was known as prestige. It was usually known by players as the XD rank.

    Prestige gear was special gear you could only get from tournaments. I never managed to get one since it was reserved for the top three winners. That''s why it¡¯s called prestige gear because whoever has it deserves respect.

    Rhyme had one. It was called an arcane shadow Canon. I say canon but really it was more of a pistol. It basically fired dark magic. Nothing crazy. More like a low powered shadow bolt. It also had the ability to fire six low powered homing shadow lances.

    The focus cost was kinda high to activate the ability and She had two of them. I was jealous.

    The bow to start. It was no longer called a pink ribbon. now it was known as a ghost ribbon. It gave a 10% boost to charm now. I don¡¯t get it. It looks the same as before.

    The effect phase was upgraded to phase II. Kind of a shame since I never got to see the original ability at work. Then again that would mean I¡¯d of been at risk. Phase II had a 35% chance at activating when attacked. That was pretty high. That might actually be broken. On the other hand even getting hit once might actually get me killed so it kind of balanced itself out.

    It also had a new effect called ghost. It was basically a skill that made it harder to be spotted when using stealth. The movement speed boost it gave had gone from 5% to 10%.

    To my surprise it had another effect attached though this one was less battle oriented. The effect was called color wheel. The ribbon could now change colors to match what ever clothes the person was wearing. It even changed your eye color.

    It felt like I didn¡¯t deserve it. I didn¡¯t actually do anything to get the upgrade. I could of upgraded it myself with the guilds resources but something told me I would have gotten lesser results from it.

    I could upgrade it myself to mythical but something told me it would be more beneficial for me to wait for another upgrade quest to pop up.

    Whoever this Cosmo was. They must have something to do with the system. I wonder if that¡¯s the key to getting home. For now there¡¯s nothing I can really do so I was just gonna leave it at that.

    I had to try this out. I made my way over to the mirror standing next to Shadow. She eyed me curiously. I equipped the bow and it attached itself to the top of my head. It shimmered with energy and changed color to match the blue of my dress.

    A moment passed and my eyes started glowing. They were once pink but now they were a light blue. I could still see the hearts in my eyes but that was okay.

    ¡°Wow! That¡¯s crazy!¡± I was so amazed. It didn¡¯t even hurt. Did it change my eyes or is it some kind of illusion? Either way I was happy my eyes were no longer pink.

    ¡°How did you do that? Don¡¯t tell me. Are you gonna turn yourself back into a guy?¡± She looked worried. Why was she worried that would be grate.

    ¡°No, I finished a quest and got an upgrade to the bow. It can change its color, and the color of my eyes to match whatever I¡¯m wearing.¡± She looked relieved.

    ¡°Oh thank god. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯d do if I couldn¡¯t see Aku anymore.¡± She went back to brushing her hair.

    So in other words she liked my avatar more than me. Is this what it feels like to be one of those hot women. Where the guy supposedly is listening to everything they say but really he¡¯s just staring at her boobs.

    I was just a doll to this lady! I looked in the mirror and felt warmth flood my mind. What a cutie! With the dress and bow I was up to a 35% charm boost. The dress gave a 25% boost for some reason.

    I noticed that clothes without stats have more charm than the ones with actual effects. I wonder if I can get the seamstress to make me something with a higher charm boost. I might be able to mind control people if I got it high enough.

    Not that I wanted to control people. On second thought maybe that was a bad idea.

    Shadow finished brushing her hair and looked to me smiling. ¡°Master can you do a twirl for me.¡±

    I crossed my arms over my body and took a step back. ¡°No way!¡± I looked away to hide my embarrassment.

    She leaned over and spoke in an enticing voice. Like a demon trying to make a deal with a low intelligence goth kid. ¡°You know master¡­ if you twirl for me¡­.. I¡¯ll make whatever you want for breakfast.¡±

    That got my two brain cells moving. ¡°Anything?¡± I asked.

    She nodded. ¡°Anything.¡± Her smile grew and her pupils became black slits.

    I narrowed my eyes. ¡°I want pancakes and coffee.¡±

    Her smile dropped and she froze. I knew she wouldn''t agree. Pancakes was whatever but coffee. That was a hard one.

    ¡°Sure.¡± She stood back up.

    ¡°What! Really?¡± I almost did a back flip to celebrate but then remembered I might hit the ceiling if I got to excited.

    ¡°Yeah sure, why not.¡± She nodded her head up and down as if coming to terms with the situation.

    I did an enthusiastic twirl causing the dress to swing. It was a strange feeling to have the hem spin around like that. I did it again this time of my own interest. It was so satisfying to feel the fabric rush around my legs. It was almost like swinging a sword around in a perfect circle.

    ¡°Holy crap! this is kind of fun! Check it out Shadow!¡±. I spun around again. The twirl tickled my imagination and the illusion of a magical wave of energy extending out from the dress, played out in my mind.

    I started giggling. ¡°Yeah!¡± I spun again ¡°Take that hentai monster!¡± another spin and I made an explosion sound with my mouth ¡°ka-boooom!¡±

    Shadow¡¯s smile faded and that same ¡°is this person crazy¡± look came over her. I realized what I was doing and stopped, blushing in the process.

    ¡°Haha¡­¡± I scratched my face averting my eyes. ¡°Did I do something weird again¡­. Sorry"

    She shook her head. ¡°No, of course not. Your fine¡­ actually, I wish I had a camera.¡± Her ears were doing that weird twitchy thing.

    Oh yeah I wanted to ask her but forgot all about it after what happened this morning. ¡°Shadow¡­. How did I end up in your bed?¡± I regretted it the moment I said it. A flash of memories that weren¡¯t mine made themselves known. Not completely but glimpses of a night that never happened. A night that I didn¡¯t remember.

    She went quiet. I was afraid of what she might say. Before she could answer I hesitantly said ¡°You don''t¡­. You don''t have to answer that. I''m really sorry if I did something strange. I might of not been myself last night.¡± I looked away.

    There were these memories that I couldn¡¯t quite put together. They were like an itch I couldn¡¯t scratch. The bits and fragments I did see told a story that I really hoped was just a dream.

    Shadow wrapped her arms around me. I felt a tear spill. It rolled down my face before I could even register it. Why was I crying? ¡°Its okay master. You did absolutely nothing wrong.¡± My crying intensified and I couldn''t hold it back any longer.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I shouldn''t of said anything!¡± she cried along side me and held me tighter as memories of a broken Aku talking about her abusive mother flashed before my mind.

    What right did that dam child have to give my burden away like that! It¡¯s mine! It¡¯s mine to carry! How could Aku have done that to another person! Especially to Shadow! It was mine to carry! Not hers to give!

    We didn¡¯t stay that way for long. It only went on for ten minutes but it felt like hours. I was thankful to have Shadow by my side. Without her I would of broken before I ever managed to leave the castle.

    With that out of the way we left the room to attend to our own devices. I asked her to make extra because there was people coming over.

    While Shadow got to work I headed outside to wait for them. As soon as I opened the door. Fresh air swallowed me whole.

    It was chilly but not uncomfortable. That bubble thing was back and it kept me wrapped in a neutral temperature. I still didn¡¯t really understand how it worked but I wasn¡¯t complaining.

    From what I could tell. It was produced when ever I moved around. Like how a windmill produces electricity. The bubble was fuzzy like static. It reacted to my actions and if I focused on it I could condense it around my body creating some kind of shell. I think it reinforced me somehow. Like a brace or armor.

    If I focus it on a body part I can make it stronger. At least it felt that way. It needed more testing. That¡¯s what I wanted to do but right now I was busy. I needed to watch out for the socialists.

    I made my way over to the steps and sat down staring out at the street. I never actually gave them a time. I just said morning and breakfast. Oh well. For all I knew they might not even show up. I looked around at the property.

    Our castle wasn''t really a castle. While the building itself was an actual castle like structure. We didn''t actually have the wall to go with it.

    Instead of a stone wall we had a giant black metal fence with a few gates. The entire enclosure was a giant square with one large gate on the same side as the castle entrance and two smaller gates on each of the other sides.

    Our property had a giant lawn. In total it was about ten acres. Most of the land was behind the castle. The entrance was actually about two hundred feet away from the front gate. Connecting the castle to the gate was a stone road outlined by trees. Each tree was about forty feet apart. This was a major upgrade to the tiny apartment I used to live in. I wish Alice was here. She¡¯d love this place.

    The castle wasn¡¯t the only thing on the property. There was Clara¡¯s garden. The stables where we kept all of Fish''s tamer class mobs. Now that I think about it were we supposed to feed them? I¡¯m pretty sure Mao hired an NPC for that. I¡¯ll check on that later.

    Let¡¯s see what else did we have. There was the dojo Eco used from time to time to power up his monk skills. Then there¡¯s also the underground library that boosts all types of magic for the whole city. Luca was insistent on getting that one.

    Clara had Mao build her an alter to increase the effectiveness of her sacred arts and bless the property with some kind of protection.

    Huh¡­.. you know what. There¡¯s no one to maintain the property. I should hire some NPCs to look after it. Shadow cleans and stuff but she can¡¯t handle the entire place. What happens if the grass grows to high. What if the toilet gets clogged. Who¡¯s gonna take out the trash. I need a real man to come in and fix stuff.

    What am I saying! I am a real man! Oh, who am I kidding even if I know how to do all that. I¡¯m only one person and the property is huge. How long would it take me to get around on my stubby legs. Power skipping everywhere sounded tiring.

    I put those thoughts behind me. It was time to check the citizens tab. I gave it a skim and noticed there was a hundred-twenty NPCs missing. Well that wasn¡¯t good.

    We¡¯re we under attack? Normally the system would let me know if my settlements were under siege. Grate, guess that wasn¡¯t a thing anymore.

    I looked over the details. It looked like there was NPCs missing from all over the place. A quarter of them were the ones I gave gold coins to. It marked their deaths as poisoned which was a funny way of saying over dose.

    I checked their history and saw where the money went. Everyone knows if you want to find out who¡¯s responsible you just need to follow the money. It was so easy in this world. The gold went to the same three people. One Regi, one Silver and a player by the name of Brave_Jacks.

    A player? That was interesting. It didn¡¯t show his level or anything just his name and that he was a male player. The NPCs weren¡¯t one of mine. Looks like the purchase was made in an alleyway by ovule street. It was off to the south west side of the city.

    I¡¯ll deal with them later when I have the necessary man power. I could go in now guns blazing but then they might get away. I needed more info on them. How big was their operation? Who their leader was? Their suppliers. That sort of thing.

    With enough man power I could cut off their escape. Like a game of chest. The other deaths were different some were robbery. The others were from hostile take overs. The village Zenith was completely eradicated. Not a single NPC was left. They didn¡¯t even claim the land.

    Most likely they didn¡¯t want to deal with building up a village. They were probably only after food, gear, and other essentials. Why kill all the NPCs then. EXP? They were all mostly level ones. Highest level was four.

    It just seemed like a lot of trouble to try and exterminate the entire population just to get your hands on resources.

    Zenith provided the kingdom with wood from the forest. It also brought in herbs and pelts. Things you normally needed for potions and the like. Demon spider silk was also mined from there.

    Hmmm¡­.. what if it was so they couldn¡¯t describe their attackers? Instead of setting up a settlement these guys are just taking what was already there. The buildings weren¡¯t burned down or anything.

    Most likely they think I¡¯m gonna restock it on NPCs and they¡¯ll hit it up again once it accumulates resources. Why mine it yourself when you can have someone else pay for it and rob them blind.

    If that¡¯s the case then they must be held up somewhere nearby. In the forest maybe? No way, the mobs would be way to annoying for that. Maybe near the cliffs. There are caves over that way. It would be easy to clear it out and post guards at the entrance.

    It wouldn¡¯t be to far away from the main road either. I wonder if any merchants or supply carts were taken near that area.

    A closer look at the other dead NPCs told me two of them were delivering supplies from Zenith to serenity. So they had to be somewhere between the main road and Zenith. That put them near the cliffs like I thought. I went ahead and put a pin on the map.

    That really sucked. Looks like they took them out in the middle of the night while they were sleeping. Even if we had noticed I doubt we would of made it there in time.

    Hell, even if I summoned soldiers there. They would of all been slaughtered. Then I¡¯d be out a couple crystal. I can¡¯t help everyone. Not yet.

    There were some NPCs missing from other settlements but those were just simple muggings. This was bad. It¡¯s only been a day right and people are already turning to this. Can¡¯t they see the NPCs are people. Maybe they do understand and it¡¯s more of a survival kind of thing.

    The hole was quiet today. I thought about stuffing my anxiety into it but decided against it. It didn¡¯t really work out very well yesterday. I¡¯d better be more careful otherwise I¡¯ll end up a mess again.

    I held onto the anxiety and anger. It twisted and turned inside me. I wanted to curl up into a ball but instead tried to clear my mind with meditation.

    The heat from the sun. I focused on that and felt it mix with my body heat. After a while the anxiety and anger faded and I felt calm. If I¡¯d just done this from the start yesterday I wouldn¡¯t of spilled everything to Shadow.

    I stuffed everything into the hole out of convenience and speed. The last thing I wanted was for my guild mates to think I was crazy. Which I wasn''t. I was like totally sane. Yeah, totally sane. Totally sane¡­.. sane.

    I looked to the gate and could see a group of players there. I could even make out Shade¡¯s black and blue tail. It looked as soft and fluffy as ever. I don¡¯t think they noticed me yet. The fence did have a weird way of blurring things when looking in. I got to my feet and dusted off my dress. Maybe I could have a little fun with them.

 Episode 13: unmasked

    Chapter 13

    Unmasked

    Boner shook the black metal gate. ¡°Come on! You assholes!¡± He looked like he was about to murder someone. People avoided his group. His party members looked like they wanted nothing to do with him.

    He was like a male Karen trying to speak to the manager because the dilldo they bought was stuck in their asshole.

    That¡¯s what you get when you decide to use water as lube. Now Boner¡¯s gonna have to run to the hospital for an insertion.

    Reminds me of that time Alice¡¯s brother Mikey bought that urethra plug dilator. He shoved it into his pee hole without any lube and got it stuck. The guy didn¡¯t even use water just jammed it in bone dry. Makes my phantom dick hurt just thinking about it.

    Shade reached into her inventory and pulled out a pocket watch. It opened with a *click*

    ¡°It¡¯s about to be nine. I don¡¯t think the offer was serious.¡± She looked tired and hadn¡¯t changed out of the clothes she wore last night. Even her ears and tail looked droopy. I couldn''t help but notice how oily her face and fur was. I wonder how soft her tail is when clean?

    Rosy chimed in with her optimistic humor. ¡°Maybe¡­.. maybe their rooster fell asleep¡­¡­ y-you know¡­ cause roosters work like alarms in the morning.¡± The joke fell on deaf ears and the timid lady fell back into her shell. She was hugging Austin from behind protecting him from the cold air. Austin was zoned out as usual.

    The kid acted like he was AFK (away from keyboard) most of the time. It was kind of creepy. Like he¡¯d been lobotomized at some point. Maybe his wiring wasn¡¯t hooked up all the way. Either that or we were all in high tech immersion pods and his internet connection was shit.

    Can¡¯t imagine what that would look like on his end. His FPS (frames per second) would be disgusting. Yeah, fuck that. Not with these realistic graphics. It would drive me crazy.

    23 popped back into reality. Despite what he thought the guy was visible from a mile away. He was basically the equivalent of a guy sneaking around in a ghilli suit.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see any activity. It¡¯s kind of hard to make anything out from this side of the gate.¡± His dexterity was to low for his stealth to be effective¡­¡­. On me that is.

    Boner sighed. ¡°Useless as always king.¡± Boner suddenly jumped yelping in pain. ¡°What the hell! Who did that!¡± Boner turned left and right looking for the source of his discomfort.

    Everyone else stared at him questioningly. ¡°What! Did no one see that?! Something just stabbed me!¡± The big oaf reached for his ass but didn¡¯t feel any blood. He turned his attention to 23 glaring at him. ¡°It was you wasn¡¯t it!¡±

    23 once confused now looked frightened. ¡°What! I have no idea¡ªah!¡± 23 jumped crying in pain. ¡°What the fuck was that! Something just poked me!¡± he looked around not seeing anything.

    Boner only seemed to become more pissed. ¡°I call bullshit! Your just trying to get out of it by making yourself the victim!¡± Boner cracked his knuckles ready to pummel 23¡­. Again.

    23 kept looking around frantically. ¡°Use your head man! How could I possibly do it if I¡¯m standing right here! I haven¡¯t even drawn my knife! Something else is going on!¡±

    Boner thought it over. ¡°Well, you must of unlocked a new ability or something. You assassin types are sneaky that way.¡± The way Boner said it made him sound like a racist. Well, more like¡­.. assassinist? Classist? Yeah, let¡¯s go with that.

    This was fun. I had no idea how successful the passive effect ghost would be. These guys with their low perception couldn¡¯t see me at all. I thought they might be able to make out the dark blue swirls coming off of me but I guess not.

    It wasn¡¯t like I was actually stabbing them. I was only poking them lightly with the tip of my holy dagger.

    Shade pinched the bridge of her nose. ¡°Guys, could you two stop screwing around. Honestly you two should just fuck and get it over with.¡± She looked just about done with their antics.

    Wait! Did Boner and 23 have unresolved feelings for each other! Maybe they were in a love triangle with that dead Lina lady. Wow, I had no idea. I must do everything in my power to ensure their happiness.

    I snuck my way over to 23. He was still arguing with Boner. Once in position I gave him a push knocking him into Boner.

    ¡°What the hells wrong with you!¡± Boner shoved him aside.

    23 grunted as he hit the ground. ¡°That wasn¡¯t me! Something pushed me!¡± He got back to his feet.

    ¡°Your fucking with me right?¡± Boner no longer looked mad. Instead he seemed curious.

    These two weren¡¯t as hostile towards each other as last night. I guess they¡¯d made up after Boner broke 23¡¯s jaw.

    This wasn''t going the way I thought it would. How do people normally fall in love? How did I fall in love? If I remember correctly. Alice broke me down over time. Maybe it¡¯ll happen on its own.

    Austin was rummaging through his menu and a moment later a flash grenade appeared in his hands. Without saying anything he pulled the pin then tossed it into the air.

    I closed my eyes and heard the loud bang. Everyone else wasn''t expecting that to happen and we''re caught off guard.

    I heard Shade say ¡°You little shit!¡± I stand corrected. She and Austin were the only ones smart enough to close their eyes. My stealth was broken and I was now visible to everyone. Well, mostly everyone.

    ¡°What''s going on are we under attack¡± cried Rosy. She was smart enough to hold onto Austin. Unlike the other two idiots who were trying to feel out their surroundings.

    ¡°My eyes! What the hell Austin!¡± Boner was struggling to find his brother. He was like a blind folded kid looking for a pi?ata.

    ¡°Dude your yelling in my ear!¡± Boner had yelled directly into 23s ear causing him actual damage.

    His hands were now on 23¡¯s face trying to make out its features. I had no idea why he was holding 23¡¯s face. Didn¡¯t he hear his voice?

    I hope he doesn¡¯t break his neck out of frustration. Full potions could only do so much and I wasn¡¯t really looking forward to testing their limits.

    The jig was up and it was time to do damage control. ¡°Sorry. I wasn¡¯t expecting a flash grenade to go off like that. I was just having a little fun is all.¡± I managed to look all flustered while exuding my boosted charm.

    Shade had been reaching for her riffle but released it sighing. ¡°You know what. Where¡¯s your mom? Your in big trouble.¡± Mom? Not that Shadow was my mom but if she did find out I might actually be in trouble. Wait, what am I saying. These guys tried to kidnap me. They deserve worse.

    I decided to be honest. ¡°My mom died one night when she mysteriously fell down the stairs.¡± Hopefully that would make it so awkward she would stop talking about the pranks I pulled on them. Well, pranks, murder attempts. Potato, Potahto.

    Shade had a look of horror on her face. It looked like she wanted to say something but held herself back. So¡­. My plan worked.

    Best way to deal with strangers is to stare deeply into there eyes until there as uncomfortable as you are.

    ¡°Who is that?! Is that the not-kid from yesterday?¡± Boner had his fingers in 23¡¯s mouth. While 23 was trying to escape the Spartans clutches.

    Their eyes were all white and blurred. Like they had there irises scrubbed. I lifted my hand and used cleanse on each of them as an after thought I used it on Shade and Austin to clean them up. One by one there eyes regained their color.

    All the dirt and grease was vaporized in an instant and the group looked cleaner than ever. Even Shade¡¯s tail looked extra fluffy.

    Boner finally realized he wasn¡¯t holding an attacker and pushed 23 onto the floor wiping off his slobber covered hands on his pants. ¡°Grate it¡¯s you again.¡±

    Realization came over the assassins face. ¡°It was you! You were the one stabbing us.¡± he pointed his black gloved finger at me.

    I looked left then right and finally back at him. ¡°Me?¡± I pointed a finger at myself then tilted my head in confusion. My charm hit everyone in waves, but 23 didn¡¯t fall for it. His anger was blinding him.

    ¡°Don''t give me that cutesy crap! You said so yourself!¡± 23 wasn¡¯t in the mood for my antics.

    It didn¡¯t look like I was getting away with this one. ¡°Okay, okay sorry. It was me. I wanted to try out my new gear. It makes me basically invisible for low level players. When I realized you guys couldn¡¯t see me I just had to mess with you.¡± No one seemed to find it amusing. Off to a grate start.

    Don¡¯t friends mess with each other all the time? Maybe we weren¡¯t there yet. Oh man, but I told Shadow I was bringing friends over! When she finds out she¡¯ll think I¡¯m a loser!

    I heard a growl then looked towards Shade. Was she trying to intimidate me? Her growl was better than Shadow¡¯s.

    She became all flustered. ¡°S-Sorry! I haven¡¯t¡­.. eaten yet¡­... None of us have.¡± Wait, wait. So that sound? Was that her stomach?

    ¡°Oh, I thought you were actually growling at me!¡± I started laughing.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that funny squirt. She tried to chew on me while she slept.¡± Boner was still rubbing his sore ass from when I poked him.

    Shade grew even more flustered only for her to pull herself together and glare at the blonde giant. Her stomach growled once more as if it wanted her to eat him.

    I decided to keep their attention on me before they started fighting each other again. ¡°Sorry. Her growl took me by surprise is all.¡± I scratched my head. ¡°Well, why don¡¯t you guys follow me and we¡¯ll get you all fed.¡± I made my way over to the gate and it opened automatically.

    Boner looked annoyed at the gate but followed anyway. Everyone else joined him. The socialists were amazed by the property. Not because of its structures but because of its size.

    ¡°Your telling me you guys own all of this¡± said Shade. She looked full of energy all of a sudden. Maybe she was like Shadow and her wolf instincts were coming in. She probably felt like running around the property but was holding back.

    ¡°Not exactly. It¡¯s owned by the guild. No one really owns the guild. At least not fully.¡± That was how I started to see everything.

    The guild is like a company. Everyone has a few shares in it. I have the responsibility but I don''t own the money from the taxes or even the buildings currently set up. I could edit the buildings but that would be with tax money so technically I didn''t really own anything.

    ¡°So do we get to live here and get access to sweet new gear!¡± 23 was slobbering at the idea.

    I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t know yet. Let¡¯s talk first and we¡¯ll see what kind of jobs we have for you guys. There¡¯s a lot of things that need to be taken care of and I need to know what you guys are best suited for.¡± My words didn¡¯t sit well with these guys.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°You want us to work?¡± said 23. Shade quickly put her hand over his mouth.

    ¡°Don¡¯t listen to him. We¡¯ll be glad to work as long as we don¡¯t have to fight monsters.¡± She sounded kind of scared. Like she was in the middle of a job interview.

    23 broke free. ¡°No way! She has a shit ton of NPCs. Make them do the work.¡± This guy.

    I stopped walking and turned my attention to the wannabe ninja. ¡°So you want me to enslave the NPCs and force them to work for you.¡± They all went stiff.

    ¡°If you want slaves then you can just leave.¡± Already a fully powered fire ball flared to life behind me. I could see the fear in their faces. Even 23¡¯s face ¡ª that was covered in a face mask ¡ª showed so much dread. Most likely he was getting flashbacks of last night.

    Boner ran in front of them with his arms open. ¡°No! No slaves. That would be bad. Just because we have powers doesn¡¯t make us God¡¯s.¡± Who knew the giant had a heart, and here I thought he was just an angry asshole.

    He seemed to speak with some kind of experience. I wonder what really happened to these guys. Everyone else had a look on their face like Boner had just dug up their dead dog.

    The fire ball fizzled out and I sighed. ¡°Sorry. I¡¯ve had some trouble with people treating NPCs like there not real people. If you can¡¯t see them as people then please leave my country. I like you guys but I wont let you hurt my citizens.¡± I could see remorse on their faces. Something I said had resonated with them.

    Boner lightly smacking 23 on the back of his head. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. We are all well aware how real they are. After all, Lina was one of them.¡± His words caused a chill to permeate my body. What a shitty world we live in.

    ¡°Okay.¡± I turned and continued walking. They followed. Once inside the castle I lead them to the dining hall. That¡¯s where we ran into Shadow.

    She was waiting. ¡°Well, and here I thought Master had run off on one of her silly adventures.¡± She stood in the door way to the kitchen. She had a large plate of pancakes ready.

    I rushed over to help her. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to worry you. Everything is fine. These are the socialists. I know I¡¯m not supposed to invite people to join our guild and I haven¡¯t actually accepted them. But I¡¯m sure there¡¯s something they can do.¡± I held the plate of pancakes in my hands and walked them over to the table.

    Shadow didn''t look happy about the idea of them joining the raiders but she didn''t say anything. For starters these guys were total noobs. There was also the fact that our guild was a little split at the moment so we couldn''t have the usual meeting over new members joining.

    I didn''t really need their approval to add new members. As guild leader I could add as many people as I wanted. Still they should all get a say. It¡¯s not like I was gonna make them full members.

    I could restrict what they could do in the guild. I could even make it so they didn''t earn any money from taxes. Basically, if these guys did get accepted I¡¯d put them down as grunts.

    The others were just standing there unsure of what to do. ¡°Well, it¡¯s not every day Master brings home friends. Have a seat where ever you like. There¡¯s plenty of pancakes and coffee. If you don¡¯t like coffee I can get you orange juice or apple juice.¡± Shadow¡¯s smile brightened up the room. She did have a kind warmth to her.

    Shade took the lead. ¡°Thank you for the hospitality. We appreciate it. My names Sapphire. Things have not gone well for us and this is the first kindness we¡¯ve been shown so you¡¯ll have to forgive us if we come off as¡­.. animals.¡± She sounded so nervous.

    What was all that. Where did the tuff battle hardened wolf girl go. Was this that thing Alice told me about. The mutual respect your supposed to give to strangers. That is up until they do something to piss you off.

    Boner put his hand over Shades mouth. ¡°No one¡¯s buying that load of crap Sapphire.¡± Even Boner knew how fake her words were. ¡°Don¡¯t let the name tag fool you. My names actually Ryan.¡± Everyone in his party shook their heads.

    ¡°No way his name is Boner. Mine however is Kyle. I¡¯m both the assassin and leader of the group.¡± 23 flipped his knife in the air catching it behind his back. Boner looked irritated but didn''t act out seeing as he thought Shadow might be in charge.

    It was like the group was ignoring me because they thought they were talking with my manager. It¡¯s kind of dumb when you realize Shadow kept calling me master.

    I couldn¡¯t help but feel like 23 was trying to hit on Shadow. There was no way I¡¯d let that happen. She is my cat girl.

    I reached into my inventory and drew out my holy dagger. With the flick of my wrist I chucked it at 23. The blade struck him in the leg going about two inches deep. ¡°Oops. My bad 23. Looks like my hand slipped.¡± I forgot to clean it after poking them in their butts. Did that mean he was gonna die to infection?

    23 tried to remain cool. All while sweating bullets and letting out a slightly muffled puppy-like whimper. It was funny to watch. Even his party members seemed to enjoy that.

    ¡°Master! Don¡¯t throw knifes at people!¡± She ran over and pulled the knife out. 23 let out a pained grunt. Blood started to pool around the wound and drip down his pants. ¡°Your not getting this back until you learn to behave!¡± She put the dagger in her inventory and I murmured out a grumpy ¡°fuck.¡±

    She quickly turned to me. ¡°language!¡± Man her hearing is really good. I felt very embarrassed at the moment. These guys thought of me as a badass. What were they gonna think when Shadow belittled me like that.

    She pulled out a small potion and handed it to 23. He thanked her and took sips of the glowing concoction.

    Shade¡¯s eyes seem to perk up. A smirk possessing her face. She approached Shadow. It seemed like Rosy was ready to introduce herself but Shade had butted in. ¡°So your like Aku¡¯s mom right?¡± Was she about to tell on me?

    Shadow smiled warmly. ¡°Oh, I wish. She¡¯s not actually mine, or a child. Aku is a married thirty-nine year old man.¡± The room fell silent.

    Just like that the illusion was broken and everyone eyed me with disgust. I felt like that weird guy they caught running around the park in nothing but a trench coat exposing himself to old ladies. My anxiety seemed to skyrocket.

    It¡¯s not like I was doing it for nefarious reasons. I acted like Aku because it helped cope with my anxiety. As long as I pretend to be someone else I wont lose myself to raw emotions. Now that the illusion was broken. I had nothing to protect me from their gazes. What should I do!

    As if a switch had been flicked I started talking like Rosy. ¡°Y-yeah¡­. she¡¯s right.¡± Averting my eyes I shifted my weight back and forth causing my dress to sway. ¡° Um¡­. My real name is Isaac. I was never expecting to be stuck in this body¡­. so you don¡¯t have to look at me like that.¡± My heart started racing.

    I glanced around the room avoiding everyone entirely. This felt so awful. I wanted to run and hide. ¡°A-Also, Shadow¡­. it¡¯s not cool to out people like that.¡± I crossed my arms glaring at her. Focus on anger that always helps.

    She smiled. ¡°It¡¯s not cool to catfish guys online either.¡± That was true, however¡­.

    ¡°I never pretended to be a girl online nor have I ever tried to catfish anyone. Its just an avatar.¡± I don¡¯t remember people mistaking me for a girl.

    Most people that played as girls were usually guys. It was common knowledge. Shade and rosy didn''t seem like dudes. Maybe that statistic is wrong or they just happen to be girls.

    Now that I think about it there was that one guy that called me his waifu. I don¡¯t mind if you want to make Aku your waifu just keep me out of it.

    The dude used to buy me all kinds of cosmetic gear. It really creeped me out. He started sending me a bunch of lewd messages about what he wanted to do to me.

    I sold the gear and completely blocked the guy. He wouldn¡¯t leave me alone even though I told him I was a guy.

    ¡°So instead of catfishing online you decided to do it in the new world?¡± Shade looked like she wanted to shoot me. I knew that face it¡¯s the same one from last night. At least she was being herself.

    My anxiety was getting worse. It started to over power my short burst of anger. ¡°W-Well¡­.¡± Think about what you want to say before you say it.

    I let out a breath trying to calm myself. ¡°At what point did I catfish anyone. First of all. Aku is a little kid. And second of all I¡¯m married. I in no way have been actively looking for a partner. Why you would think that is beyond my understanding.¡± I hope the conversation ends there. I cant handle it.

    Shadow came over to my side and adjusted my ribbon a bit. I guess in all the moving around it became crooked.

    I couldn¡¯t take it anymore! I was about to kill everyone just to keep there eyes off me! If I had Snowball I would be fine but this is to much!

    I clung to Shadow''s side hiding my face. She sighed and gently stroked my head. ¡°Your back to that state huh? It¡¯s alright.¡± She stroked my head and everyone seem to be quiet for once. What I did was strange yes but it was all I could do. Without any protections I was useless.

    Shadow looked to everyone else. ¡°Sorry¡­ Master is very shy. She¡¯s afraid of people. From what I understand she pretends to be Aku as a way to cope with crippling social anxiety. At least that¡¯s what she told me.¡±

    When did I¡­.. that¡¯s right. Last night.

    She clapped her hands together and said ¡°Well, this has all been very eventful, so how about you all sit and we can get this little meet up going. Master behave for once and go fetch Luca.¡± Even after she outs me she goes and treats me like a kid.

    The black cloud in my head was stirring and turning. Twisting and burning. It seemed like Shadow was trying to give me a minute to clear my head.

    I nodded and headed off to find our Shadowmancer. She was probably in her room. That reminds me I need to get Snowball from her. With Snowball I¡¯ll be able to continue talking with them.

    I skipped along the halls at blinding speed. I had to practice more if I wanted to implement it into combat. It also helped exercise my anxiousness. The trip didn''t take long. Before I knew it I was standing in front of Luca¡¯s room.

    I tried to work through my emotions like before, but it was a jumbled mess. It would probably take to long so I gave up and knocked on the door. I heard Luca on the other side. ¡°Come in!¡±

    Turning the nob I stepped inside only to find our mage holding up different outfits up to her body.

    ¡°Your not ready yet?¡± It wasn¡¯t that hard to put on some clothes.

    She rolled her eyes irritating me. ¡°Not everyone can just throw on clothes like you chief.¡± Was she serious. I don¡¯t just throw on clothes.

    ¡°What do you mean! Don''t I look cute?¡± That was never something I thought I''d ever say, and I wish it had never left my mouth. Don¡¯t make it weird Isaac. Pretend like it¡¯s normal and roll with it. As long as she doesn¡¯t sense weakness you¡¯ll be fine.

    Lucky for me Luca didn''t question it. ¡°Yeah you look great. I just can''t decide.¡± She picked up a denim skirt. Then traded it for some puffy shorts.

    I made my way over and looked through the clothes scattered across the room. I found a long sleeved gray thread bear sweater. It was slim fitting. Then picked out some black shorts. I also picked out some black and white striped stockings.

    I presented them to her and she eyed them in contemplation. ¡°This is actually cute. I can wear the sweater like a dress almost. I''ll need an undershirt but this''ll work. Thanks master.¡± She smiled cheerfully.

    In a flash of light she equipped the clothes. The shorts were hidden under the sweater. She looked really cute but she was missing something.

    ¡°Do you have any hats?¡± She nodded and pointed to a few sitting on her bed.

    I walked over and immediately spotted a big puffy white hat. It almost looked like a trucker hat but was made of actual fabric. It was soft and puffy. Almost like a blimp but stylish and cozy.

    I handed it to her and she slipped it on. Her cowlick was now hidden, but It looked good on her. ¡°Not bad. What about shoes?¡± she turned to me.

    I looked around the room and found some flats. She delightedly slipped into them. ¡°Why are you so good at this.¡±

    I bowed. ¡°I¡¯m a man of culture.¡± She giggled.

    ¡°Chief your a weirdo.¡± She wasn''t wrong.

    It was time I got what I came for. ¡°So¡­. where¡¯s Snowball?¡± I looked around the room but didn''t see her.

    ¡°In my inventory.¡± She turned to look at herself in the mirror.

    I moved to her side. ¡°Can I have her back?¡±

    Luca mulled it over before responding with ¡°No way. You gave it to me.¡± I almost threw a fit but decided to ask why she was keeping my favorite plushy. I didn¡¯t get the chance.

    ¡°Besides chief. Your not a mage anymore. I can get more use out of your spell medium than you. Imagine casting a double bind on someone. It¡¯s stackable so it¡¯d last twice as long.¡± There seemed to be a light show going off in her eyes. Her mind filled with possibilities.

    The plushy was special gear that wasn''t available anymore. I¡¯d gotten it from an old quest. Basically you had to save a little girl from kidnappers. The girl is so grateful to be saved that she gives you her favorite toy.

    There was a bunch of different kinds of plushies you could get from the quest but I sold most of them over the years. I really wish I¡¯d kept them. I think there worth more now than back then. Snowball was actually the first plushy I got from that quest.

    Keep it together Isaac. Don''t start crying now. She has a point. She can get more use out of it. Remember your gonna get a badass sword.

    That didn¡¯t seem to help the upwelling of emotions from deep inside me. Swords aren¡¯t fluffy after all. Lately It feels like I was constantly fighting with a child. It¡¯s pretty exhausting.

    She reached into her inventory and pulled out Snowball. ¡°Isn¡¯t it cute. I love it. I think I¡¯ll name it Evan after my boyfriend.¡± She hugged it.

    Shit, she just had to do that. I almost had it under control. There was no way I could stay quite anymore. ¡°No! That¡¯s wrong! Snowball is a girl not a boy! You can¡¯t have her she¡¯s mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!¡± I tried to reach for her but Luca held her up in the air.

    Tears started to spill. I lightly pounded my small fists on her stomach. ¡°Please, you can''t.¡± I cried rubbing my eyes in defeat. I let out the loudest tantrum I could manage. ¡°Waaah! I hate you, I hate you! You¡¯re the worst!¡± I fell to the floor kicking and screaming. Well there I go. This one was even worser than the one about candy.

    ¡°Are you really crying?¡± She handed me Snowball. I hugged the plushy to my chest. My tantrum devolved into soft crying. ¡°It¡¯s alright. You can keep her okay. I didn''t know she was so important to you. Don''t worry, no one is taking her from you.¡± She gently patted my head. I felt the need to lash out at her but finally managed to hold it back.

    I did something strange again. Crap. This is getting out of hand. If I don¡¯t get a handle on my personality soon I¡­.. honestly I have no idea what will happen.

    Regaining control of myself I quieted down. ¡°Sorry¡­ Sometimes it¡¯s like there¡¯s someone else in the driver seat¡­.. Have you ever felt like you weren¡¯t in control of your body¡­. maybe even your mind.¡± She gave me that same ¡°is this person crazy¡± look I always got.

    Dam I really hate that look. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have said anything. Why did I open my big mouth. What if they try to lock me up in some insane asylum. It wasn¡¯t normal. Be normal. Be someone normal.

    Luca looked deep in thought. She seemed to be stroking a none existing beard. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know about all that, but I have felt different since coming here. A lot of things that bothered me in the old world no longer bother me here.¡±

    She looked like she was trying to remember something. ¡°I used to like sweets. To the point that I¡¯d always have chocolate in the fridge. I still like them but I don¡¯t feel the need to buy any. It¡¯s like things have become more¡­¡­ dull. Things don¡¯t seem to have as much of an impact on me anymore.¡±

    That sounded almost like¡­. ¡°You¡¯re an adult. That¡¯s why. I always thought that dull feeling came with learning about the harsh realities of life. Maybe it¡¯s your brain developing all at once. If that¡¯s the case then I got the brain chemistry of a kid.¡± Which might explain why I act in strange ways sometimes¡­... probably.

    Luca put her hand on my shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s alright. Your not the only odd ball. I caught Shadow curled up in front of the fire place this morning. She was purring. If you ask me she¡¯s the one that¡¯s really crazy.¡± Using her index finger she drew a circle over her right temple and rolled her eyes around in her skull.

    It got a laugh out of me. ¡°Crazy cat lady!¡± She nodded in agreement.

    The thing was. My personality was a little different but I knew there was something else pulling my strings. Shadow seemed to be acting out on instinct. Luca was slightly more mature. But me?¡­. I¡¯m not sure.

 Episode 14: interview

    Chapter 14

    Interview

    Animals, more like monsters! I watched as the socialists devoured pancake after pancake.

    Boner had no trouble stuffing them down his throat. I was starting to suspect he wasn¡¯t actually human. He might actually be a really short half giant.

    23 was the same. Shade was on a whole other level. She was eating with her bear hands! She would even growl at anyone that was reaching for a pancake at the same time as her. The really strange part was when they would growl back.

    Now I was strange but Shade. She was in a totally different league. Shadow was driven by her animal instinct to, but not to this extent.

    I wonder if Shade was more animal like because she was starving? If so then wouldn''t Shadow act more like a cat if she was hungry?

    Rosy tried to be modest using her knife and fork but she was also eating like a savage. A very refined savage at that. Kind of like watching a billionaire commit cannibalism in a fancy restaurant.

    Austin was the only one with manners. I figured they were keeping him fed. I suppose being a kid had its benefits.

    It seemed like Shadow wasn''t just being my mom. She was acting like everyone¡¯s mother. She forced these guys to wash their hands and even acted warmly towards them.

    She even asked Shade and Rosy if they needed any womanly products. They both declined. I didn''t even know you could get those in this world. I guess Shadow was always like that. Mega mom till the end.

    I hope I never get to the point where I have to worry about¡­.. womanly products. That would suck.

    At least I knew Shadow wasn¡¯t singling me out. Though I seemed to be her favorite. It was probably because she sensed weakness. She seemed to be drawn to it, and if she saw weakness she¡¯d poke at it till you started crying. Just so she could then comfort you.

    I had her figured out. I¡¯m pretty sure this is some kind of mental psychological torture to force me into loving her.

    It¡¯s like she¡¯s trying to make me dependent on her. It¡¯s evil I tell you! Crazy evil cat lady. Aku just had to spill my secrets to her. Now she¡¯s got all kinds of things to poke at. I felt panic in my gut.

    Snowball sat on the table acting as my shield. When we started eating I almost asked Shadow for an extra plate for her. Then I remembered she was just a toy.

    Part of me still wanted to feed my fluffy white cat but that was to embarrassing. I was halfway through my pancake before wondering where my coffee was.

    Shadow was beside me so I tugged on her jacket. She glanced my way smiling. I couldn''t tell if her smile was fake or not. She seemed to be perfectly fine with the¡­. event going on in front of us.

    ¡°What''s the matter? Do you want me to get a plate for Snowball?¡± She knew me so well! I almost gave myself away. Despite her being right. I could never confirm something like that.

    I shook my head as my embarrassment jumped up a whole notch. ¡°C-Coffee¡­. You promised.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but notice everyone else had coffee. Everyone but Austin and Rosy.

    Shadow reached behind Snowball and pulled out a small cup. She put it down in front of me. Inside of it was not coffee. It looked like Apple juice. I felt a spark of rage.

    ¡°You promised I could have coffee! Liar!¡± I crossed my arms and turned my head the other way.

    Luca was on my other side. She got to see my pout. She tried to poke my cheek but I nipped at her finger.

    ¡°Chief! Don''t bite me!¡± She quickly recoiled in a combination of giggles and fear.

    Shadow brought the attention back to her. ¡°I never lied master. I promised I¡¯d make pancakes and coffee. I never said anything about letting you drink coffee.¡± That sneaky cat!

    ¡°That¡¯s not fair! How come Luca gets to drink it and I don¡¯t?! She doesn¡¯t even like it!¡± As to prove my point Luca took a sip of her coffee only to show a face of disgust.

    She immediately reached for the sugar cubes dropping a handful into the mug. It was hard to watch.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter your not getting any. You¡¯re a kid. You don¡¯t need anymore energy. Do you know how hard it is to look after you normally. Add coffee into the mix and it becomes almost impossible.¡± I''m being difficult again. I should keep my mouth shut. Not only was I useless I was also a huge burden on everyone.

    ¡°Sorry¡­ you don''t have to look after me anymore. I¡¯ll do stuff on my own from now on.¡± I turned to the cup of apple juice and like a shot of whisky downed it in one go.

    Some of the sweet golden liquid spilled down the side of my mouth. I wasn¡¯t used to my mouth yet so chugging things could sometimes be messy.

    Shadow sighed. ¡°Don''t be an idiot Master.¡± She used a napkin to wipe the corners of my mouth.

    I wasn¡¯t sure what to do anymore. No matter how many times I told her I¡¯d look after myself she refused to let me do so.

    Does she like taking care of me and complaining to other people about it? She always seems to find a way to make me feel humiliated.

    Then the moment I try to end our strange relationship she refuses and worms her way back in. Is this why she doesn¡¯t have full custody of her kids?

    The group seemed a little weirded out by the interaction which was understandable. I felt the same but by this point I was somewhat desensitized to it.

    Boner seemed interested in something else though. ¡°So why does she call you master?¡±

    Shadow was quick to respond. ¡°It¡¯s not what you think. Isaac is the guild master, so I call him master. Its just a playful nickname.¡±

    Our guests stopped eating almost choking on their food. 23 was the first to recover.

    ¡°What! That walking disaster is the guild leader!¡± He couldn¡¯t believe they¡¯d trust me with the well being of the whole guild and country. To be honest I didn¡¯t either.

    I wasn¡¯t getting anywhere with my anxiety. I tried to face it but it just seemed to keep growing. There was no other choice. It needed to be done.

    I grasped it and started to shove it all into the hole. With a thought it was all flushed into that dark place. I then picked Snowball up and hugged her to my chest.

    It was time I got serious. ¡°I¡¯m the guilds mascot. They thought it would be funny to make me guild master.¡± Shadow and Luca seemed to dislike what I said.

    Ignoring them I continued. ¡°Our real leader is¡­ I don¡¯t actually know. Everyone has a different role to play. We usually come to decisions by putting everything to a vote. Right now we have about thirty members all scattered around serenity. That''s not counting the hundreds scattered across the country and beyond.¡± The looks on their faces expressed worry.

    I took a bite of pancake to let the information sink in then continued with my bluff. ¡°Each of our guild mates have multiple classes at level one-hundred. In fact as we speak we¡¯re all in a voice chat to determine weather you join or die.¡± For all I knew these guys had their own chat going on.

    I was hoping to intimidate them and maybe get some truth out of these guys. I needed to make sure they knew they weren¡¯t in control.

    They all looked at each other somewhat fearful. I could tell they were using party chat. Either that or they were communicating with another faction I didn''t know about.

    Shadow and Luca seemed to go along with my words. Luca was the first to speak. ¡°Alright. Tell me something. I''ve been wondering. How long have you all been in the new world?¡± I wasn¡¯t sure where she was going with it so I decided to go with the flow.

    If the dark mage needed to tell me something that''s what party chat was for.

    Shade took the lead. ¡°We¡¯ve been in this world for about two weeks now.¡±

    I let out a yell throwing my hands in the air. It startled everyone. ¡°Haha. Got you!¡± I laughed. They glared at me. My goal was to hide the look of surprise on my guild mates. It seemed to work.

    Part chat:

    Aku: Don¡¯t show surprise. As far as you guys know we¡¯ve been here a whole month. That means we logged in at 7:00 Am not 9:00 AM.

    Luca: Good call chief!

    Shadow: I don¡¯t understand???

    Luca: Chief wants them to think we know everything. The only thing these guys have to negotiate is their information. If they realize that then they might use it to get more out of us. We just need to act like we already know what their talking about.

    Shadow: That sounds confusing. I¡¯ll let you guys lead. Just let me know if you¡¯d like me to say anything.

    Luca continued her interview. ¡°That¡¯s interesting. We¡¯ve actually been here a month. Where are you guys originally from. You five definitely didn¡¯t come from Entropy. The weapons Sapphire carries are far to expensive and rare in our country for a couple of noobs to be running around with them.¡± She was pretty good.

    I should let her run the interview. I can tell her when I have a specific question.

    It looked like they were conversing within chat. I wish I knew what they were saying.

    ¡°We came from the valley of the shadow of death.¡± Said Shade. She seemed to take the roll of representative.

    The valley of the shadow of death. That sounds familiar but it¡¯s not a country is it?. Maybe I should check my map.

    I laid back in my chair patting my belly like I was full. Then opened my menu quickly checking my map. The map was under the table. Surely enough, there it was but it wasn¡¯t supposed to be there.

    Where Ericdom used to be was now valley of the shadow of death. Now that I think about it. Isn¡¯t that a lyric from a famous rap song?

    What, but that¡¯s so stupid. It¡¯s a mountain not a valley. If anything entropy was a valley. Kind of. No, better to say the valley was apart of entropy.

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    I relayed my findings to my guild mates. They both found it interesting. To buy time Luca sipped her coffee making another face of disgust and adding even more sugar cubes to it.

    At this point it was more sugar than coffee. I gave her another question and she asked it.

    ¡°I see. Tell me is it still a shithole?¡± I figured it was already a shithole to begin with since it wasn¡¯t exactly set up for the real world.

    Shadow got mad at the language I used. I quickly apologized and told her it was strictly a tactic to get information. She seemed to let it go. Shade took her own sip of coffee. Unlike Luca she actually enjoyed it.

    The look on her face said it all. That blissful feeling of warmth seeping through her. I knew it all to well.

    I¡¯d give my left nut for a sip if I still had it. I just wanted to know if I still liked coffee. A sip would tell me everything.

    ¡°Well¡­ you could say that. Ever since the guild kawa eleven killed Eric its only gotten worse. Most of the buildings are broken and burnt. Drugs are all over the streets and they have multiple gangs running rampant.¡± She and her group had a look of anger and regret.

    We gave them a moment to recover. This was all super interesting. I guess our iron supply was gone. Dam. We have plenty in stocks but it won¡¯t last forever.

    Guess we¡¯ll have to start recycling metal. We can probably buy up any broken weapons and armor. I should be able to set up a quest at the tavern for any raw ore.

    Hmm¡­ most of our trash goes to that landfill. I bet there¡¯s metal we can salvage. Gonna have to make a stop there before going to the barracks. So much to do so little time. Hopefully these guys can lighten my load.

    Actually there were a few spots to get metal but they didn¡¯t provide a lot. Now that everything was finite it¡¯ll run dry soon. What should I do with the workers? They''ll be out a job. Crap.

    Huh? What did she say the name of the guild was. Kawa eleven? Kawa11¡­.. kawaii!

    ¡°Sounds rough. How did you guys escape and what happened between then and now?¡± asked Luca as she sat back in her seat.

    Shade looked to her guild mates and they all seemed to nod. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll tell you the whole story.¡± She twiddled her thumbs nervously.

    ¡°We woke up at an inn. You know the whole blinding light thing? Yeah, it happened when we logged in. I think we popped in at around 8:00 AM. Most of us were pretty excited about the experience.¡± Her face went dark.

    ¡°That was until we went out into the wild and got attacked by wyverns. It was nothing like the game.¡± Shade leaned forward resting her face in her hands. There was a feint trembling to her body as if she was remembering the horrors of their wyvern encounter.

    Boner put his hand on her shoulder and took over. ¡°Those things were nothing like the sprites. I got my arm ripped off then went into shock.¡± He had a pained look on his face as he squeezed his left arm. He squeezed it so hard that his knuckles went white.

    ¡°These guys had to drop some of our rations on the ground to distract the wyverns. Mostly dried goat meat.¡± Boner squeezed even harder.

    It almost looked like he was about to rip it off. Once he noticed the pain he pulled his hand back leaving what a doctor might call coooooon-tuuuuusions. Its still a funny word. I almost laughed outloud but remembered that would be rude.

    I was a bit disappointed. There wasn¡¯t any scar tissue. His arm was like brand new. Where¡¯s the fun in that. An arm made of scar tissue would of looked badass.

    Although I guess this was a good thing. It would be a shame if Aku ended up with a scar.

    Shade came back with. ¡°We managed to save his life via potion but from then on we decided not to set foot outside the city.¡± Her voice had a quiver to it.

    23 spoke up next. ¡°Yeah.¡± He laughed wildly coming off as manic. ¡°That was till the food ran out! And the riots happened! An entire city burned to the ground over night!¡± Boner slapped him pulling him out of his madness. The so called assassin thanked him and stayed quite.

    I kind of wish he¡¯d let him go off. It looked like he was about to do a joker impression.

    23 sighed and fell back into his seat. Shade took over again. ¡°Up to that point we were surviving by selling equipment. Nothing crazy just scraps we got from fighting wyverns before coming to the new world.¡±

    Her eyes fell to the dark liquid in her cup as she tried to find her next words. ¡°Stuff got more expensive and Eric wasn¡¯t doing anything. He was bunkered down in his fortress.¡±

    She took another sip of coffee. ¡°Within a day our scraps became worthless. The only things of value were food, water, and weapons.¡± She reached into her inventory and tossed Luca what looked like a burnt doll.

    Luca examined it and told me what it was over chat. Nothing special just a half melted doll. Which meant it had some kind of significance to Shade.

    Shade continued. ¡°That belonged to a little girl named Sharon. She was the innkeepers daughter. Such a sweet kid. Her and Austin had a thing.¡± Austin wasn¡¯t embarrassed or anything. He just looked sad and lost in thought.

    ¡°She died alongside her father in a fire caused by the riots. They called it justice.¡± She got all emotional.

    The wolf girl growled as she pounded her fists onto the table. ¡°They called it justice! Those fucking monsters!¡± Tears ran down her face.

    Rosy cried to. 23 and boner were both frustrated and angry but didn¡¯t dare shed a tear.

    Austin looked like he was about to cry but no tears came out. Fucking little psychopath¡­. Probably.

    So the players destroyed the country and put themselves in power. It¡¯s almost what these guys tried to do.

    Though I suppose they were way less ¡°riot¡± and more ¡°let¡¯s kidnap the president''s daughter!¡± That was before they found out I actually was the president.

    Luca interrupted her fit of frustration. ¡°Who¡¯s currently leading valley of the shadow of death?¡±

    Rosy was the only one that felt like talking. ¡°N-No one¡­ it¡¯s currently in a civil war. W-Well¡­ more like a turf war between the different gangs. Eric¡¯s guild core is long gone. There are now three smaller cores scattered amongst the three major gangs.¡±

    She actually sounded a little confident. At times I feel like we suffer from the same mental ailment.

    It almost sounded like they triggered a civil war event. This happened when multiple factions attacked the same land and secured different sections.

    That candy clan must of claimed the land and named it valley of the shadow of death. Then when everyone realized their was a new land owner they must of tried to secure as many resources as possible.

    The NPCs must of splintered off from the newly formed country claimed their own sections of land and started the civil war.

    That¡¯s what usually happens when land is taken. Not every NPC is happy about it.

    The players probably made their own factions and started to take bits of land for themselves. I just need to ally myself with the faction that are more peaceful.

    Once they get an influx of food the other players will flock to them and they¡¯ll win the war. I just need to pick the right group.

    Then again For all I know there all evil. In that case I might need to occupy valley of the shadow of death. That might actually take to long.

    It was my turn to speak. ¡°You thought you could do the same thing as those in valley of the shadow of death?¡± I wanted to provoke them and use their emotions to get info.

    Boner stood up in outrage. ¡°Your wrong! The same thing that happened over there is happening here! We can make a place where people will be happy! You people sit in your stupid castle and eat your stupid free food while the rest of us starve! If we don¡¯t do something now then they¡¯ll all burn here to!¡±

    The raw emotion in his voice was chilling. So it¡¯s like that? I wonder why it took so long for it to happen here? Now that I think about it. Entropy has a stable food source. Food prices pretty much stay the same around here.

    We have plenty of adventurer NPCs. They usually buy up most gear and even sell back raw materials to the stores. Entropy did have a pretty good economy.

    It wasn¡¯t as good as it used to be when players were flooding it with raw materials and we had access to large quantities of metal. Regardless of that it was still going strong.

    Party chat:

    Luca: What should we do chief? Is that gonna happen to us?

    Aku: Entropy will hold out better than Ericdom. We got more supplies than them. Don¡¯t worry. We might be going in that direction but unlike Eric we¡¯ll actually set up some counter measures.

    Shadow: I had no idea it was that bad. Should we do something to help the other countries?

    Aku: There isn¡¯t much we can do. First let¡¯s get our own country in order. Then we¡¯ll secure some sort of deal with the valley of the shadow of death. We still need iron and coal from them. They must be hurting for food. Either that or we take it for ourselves.

    Iron was to important to go without. Coal not so much. Most fires were magic powered so coal was kind of pointless but we could sell it to new Sweden. Those guys were all about steam punk.

    Outside our chat everything was silent. Luca broke that silence. ¡°Were not handing it over. As we speak we are working on making things better. It¡¯ll just take time that¡¯s why were hiring you guys to help things run along faster. Were all working hard right now.¡±

    Our guests seemed to accept it. ¡°Alright, considering we¡¯ll be joining your group. We¡¯ll basically be running it to, so it doesn¡¯t actually matter.¡± Boner took a sip of coffee.

    Surprisingly it looked like he didn''t like coffee either. How did I never notice that. I had half a mind to take it from him.

    Luca asked the next question. ¡°How did you guys escape? What about that Lina girl?¡±

    Boner tensed up. His mouth was shut tight. Shade gave him a pat on the back as if tagging in. ¡°Lina¡­.. she¡¯s the one that helped us get out. She used to be Eric¡¯s maid. She had access to his vehicles. Gas was pretty much gone by that point seeing as whatever trade relations Ericdom had were severed when Eric stopped providing iron and coal, but we had a full tank.¡±

    So we lost our iron and coal way before Eric lost his empire. That idiot. How could he let all that happen. Entropy was still sending him food, but he canceled the deal before I even logged in. I swear if he wasn¡¯t dead I¡¯d kill him myself.

    Boner collected himself and butted in. ¡°A full tank didn¡¯t get us far. We had to abandon the vehicle along the way. It was enough to get us over the boarder. We had a few rations from Eric¡¯s stash. Enough for two days, so we started heading here. That¡¯s when¡­.. it went to shit.¡±

    Shade put her hand on his shoulder to keep him from going off. Even 23 looked sympathetic towards him. I guess this was the part where Lina dies.

    I had to ask. ¡°You two were close huh?¡± he seemed to get angrier with my question.

    ¡°Yeah! Well, not at first. We fought a lot over stupid things. She was so good at survival meanwhile the only skills I ever cultivated in life was bottle flipping. It wasn¡¯t until We got separated from the group that we hooked up. She hurt her ankle and Rosy had all our potions. I had to carry her over a mile. She kept telling me to leave her behind but I knew if I did we''d all die.¡± His body tensed again.

    Shadow chimed in. ¡°Master says you lost her in a mob fight. It must have been rough. Did you guys bury her?¡± for her first question it wasn¡¯t bad. Hopefully Ryan over there wouldn¡¯t take it the wrong way.

    ¡°There was nothing to bury. We didn¡¯t even get to see her die. Her health bar disappeared from our party list and that was that.¡± Everyone became crestfallen.

    Shadow followed up. ¡°Then we can have a funeral for her at the cemetery. If your okay with that.¡± Her kindness was amazing. Even I felt warmth in my heart. To bad it was eclipsed by the burning desire for coffee.

    Boner looked surprised and for the first time I saw a tear roll down his face. He started to cry. ¡°Thank you. That would be grate.¡±

    Like falling dominoes his party members one by one started to burst into tears and began to comfort each other. All of them but Austin. That little fucker was a psychopath. With that we took a short break.

    About thirty minutes later we reconvened in the lounge. 23 and Boner were playing pool while Shade gave the arcade machines a go.

    Rosy and Austin sat on the couch. They were relaxing. I sat next to Austin comparing my size to him.

    Apparently his size was accurate to his seven year old body in the old world. He must have been a very tall seven year old because I was nine and somehow an inch shorter than him.

    How dare he try to destroy my fragile world view! Doesn¡¯t he know I¡¯m in charge of a whole country! There all in on it. I just know it.

    Shadow must of said something to them while I was looking for Luca. And Luca has always been Shadow¡¯s accomplice.

    I¡¯m not crazy. There crazy! I¡¯m perfectly sane. Let¡¯s see who¡¯s the taller one when I chop off there legs! Hmmm¡­.. actually I might need to cut off more than just legs.

    Ugh! But if they die then I won¡¯t be able to make them feel small! What a dilemma. I should try high heels. Six inches was six inches. I¡¯d at least be taller than Austin.

    I didn¡¯t feel comfortable sitting next to this suspiciously tall second grader so I pulled one of the throw pillows over and stuffed it under my butt. Who was the tall one now you little punk.

    Am I crazy or was this kid still a tiny bit taller. No, no, no! Why am I freaking out over this! Obviously my height is in my legs.

    Duh Isaac! That¡¯s why! Yeah, this kids legs are way shorter than mine. I think? Well¡­ they well be when I cut them off.

    I looked to Rosy. ¡°Excuse me, Miss Rosy. How old do I look?¡± She blinked then gave me a long considerate stare. I felt a little uncomfortable being stared at and averted my eyes. I hugged Snowball closely to ensure I wouldn¡¯t turn into a stuttering mess.

    ¡°Uh¡­. I¡¯d say about six or seven.¡± She was wrong, so very wrong!

    ¡°What! No way, I¡¯m clearly nine! Eight and a half at the minimum!¡± She smiled nervously. I could tell she wanted to laugh at me but was holding back.

    Boner yelled out ¡°More like five.¡± 23 agreed with him. Throwing in a ¡°yup¡± into the conversation.

    I was mortified. No way! That has to be a lie! I felt like curling into a ball and did just that. Snowball was being squeezed between my legs and chest. As my arms wrapped around my knees.

    Shade threw her two cents in. ¡°Don¡¯t be dicks. She obviously has an age or height complex. You know Isaac, to me you look seven. Remember girls are usually shorter than boys. If anything I think your tall for a seven year old. Who knows maybe your more of an eight year old.¡± Immediately I felt a jolt of joy.

    I jumped up off the couch. ¡°Really you think so!?¡± I wanted to hug the borderline furry.

    Boner gave his own thoughts. ¡°She¡¯s just trying to brown nose you. In fact yesterday she called you a toddler.¡±

    My heart was crushed. How could she say such things, and to think I was considering only cutting her legs off at the knees! Well now I''ll just have to go for a hemicorporectomy. Unless¡­..

    ¡°Shade can I touch your tail?¡± everyone looked at me like I was a weirdo.

    ¡°No way you creep!¡± Shade held her tail in her hands like I was gonna run over and snatch it. I was either the mascot or a pervert. Never anything in between. I did say I wanted to be treated like an adult. This was the best I was gonna get.

    I felt like curling up again. Their eyes were all on me. I was about to fire off every spell on my hot bar simply out of sheer anxiousness.

    Lucky for them Shadow came into the room. ¡°Is everything alright? Sorry were late we can continue now.¡± She saw how distraught I was and made her way over to me.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± She stroked my head.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± That seemed to satisfy her. Shadow was very good at comforting me. In the beginning it was annoying but now it was like I was on a boat fighting the waves and she was a solid unmoving rock I could tie off to.

    Luca was right behind her only I hadn¡¯t noticed till now. Seeing as we were continuing our chat I pushed my anxious energy into the hole and tried to remain calm.

    I would probably do better if I had a Hoody to hide under or maybe some sun glasses. I could go full emo and grow my hair a bit more to hide my eyes. That¡¯s what I did in high school.

    I sat on the couch next to Austin. Rosy switched places with him putting herself between us.

    That seemed a bit over reactive. Were they all gonna treat me like I was Mantis now?

    The thought made my insides turn. I couldn¡¯t be here. I dropped on all fours then crawled under a table.

    Everyone seemed perplexed by my actions. Shadow got down on her knees and made strange cooing noises like trying to call over a wild animal.

    I shook my head and stayed put. ¡°Master, you can¡¯t stay under there it¡¯s filthy. Come on if your feeling shy you can cling to me or go to your room.¡± Clinging to her was part of the reason I was in this mess in the first place. It would just make me look like a weirdo.

    To the eyes of these guys I was copping a feel. What was I supposed to do. My heart was beating so fast. I felt my hands sweat. The room looked darker than normal and everyone was talking but I couldn¡¯t hear them.

    What was happening? I felt fear. Paralyzing fear. There in the corner of the room was a black thing. So dark it might as well have been a portal into dead space.

    It squirmed and vibrated. I couldn¡¯t look at it directly but I could see it in my peripheral vision.

    My breathing sped up and within the darkness I could see a whirlwind of sharp teeth getting bigger.

    The shadow coiled around the room like a centipede weaving its way closer to me. It was almost as if it was sniffing me out.

    It slowly inched towards me. I held Snowball closely. ¡°No! Go away! Leave me alone!¡± I cried. I kicked and screamed.

    It lunged towards me at blinding speed. That¡¯s when I woke up in Shadow¡¯s arms. She was pulling me out from under the table.

    I thrashed in a child like tantrum. When I realized I was okay I went quiet. My heart was beating so fast and I struggled to catch my breath. It was like I had been holding my breath.

    ¡°Master!! Its okay! No one is trying to hurt you!¡± She was on her knees holding me in the middle of the floor.

    There was multiple fire balls floating mid air. They fizzled out when I realized they were mine.

    Everyone else was hiding behind furniture. Even Luca had jumped behind the couch.

    ¡°s-s-sorry¡­.. I didn''t¡­..¡± I shut up.

    It was getting worse. My mind was deteriorating. I can¡¯t be here. I fought against Shadow and managed to break free.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± I laughed. ¡°It was a joke. Just a test to see if these guys were battle ready.¡± She didn¡¯t look convinced. No one did. It was that same look. I¡¯m not crazy.

    I tried to run out of the room but Luca got a hold of the back of my dress and once she lifted me in the air I was helpless.

    ¡°No! Let me go! I¡¯m fine!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Chief your not okay you almost nuked the castle!¡± Her grip was firm.

    I quickly unequipped my dress dropping to the floor. Before the flash of light vanished I re-equipped it and ran away.

    They couldn¡¯t match my speed. I ran to my room the sounds of yelling coming from behind me.

    I ran through the door and slammed it shut locking it. A moment later there was soft knocking.

    ¡°Master open up. No one is mad at you. Were not gonna hurt you. We just want to talk.¡± Shadow¡¯s voice was calm. I thought she would be angry.

    I didn¡¯t open the door. That couldn¡¯t be Shadow. They were all mad at me. I know it. This wasn¡¯t Shadow it couldn¡¯t be. My bed was doing its thing but it was the least of my problems.

    There¡¯s that fucking buzzing again! Why won¡¯t it ever stop! That dam monster! It¡¯s outside isn¡¯t it! Why won¡¯t it ever leave me alone! First in my dreams now I see it out here! It¡¯s not fair!

    I took a breath to calm down and assess the situation. Instead of focusing on the situation I focused on my surroundings.

    My underwear was all over the floor. I¡¯d forgotten about that. Okay maybe my surroundings aren¡¯t the best to focus on.

    What should I do. This is like that time when Alice, my brother, and my sister locked me up in that awful place.

    I was never going back there. Not again. I just need a moment alone. Just enough time to work through everything. I focused my thoughts and tried to calm myself.

    First things first. Eliminate worry. I looked to the door. ¡°Guy¡¯s, just leave me alone for now. I need a minute. I promise to talk to you later but for now just give me space. I¡¯ll be okay.¡±

    The door kept shaking. Did they not understand? I just needed a minute! I felt tears running down my face. Why didn¡¯t they get it!

    ¡°I said leave me alone! I¡¯m fine!¡± my voice quivered. The door shook even louder. They didn¡¯t answer. The buzzing was getting worse?

    *BUZzZZzzzZZz*

    I got a glimpse of myself in the mirror. It wasn¡¯t me or Aku. Not Isaac but a child-like Isaac. I didn¡¯t have pants but I did have a long gray shirt.

    This was like the dream. Then their not actually at the door. Maybe it¡¯s the monster.

    Crap.

 Episode 15: Shadow

    Chapter 15

    Shadow

    -Shadow-

    In my opinion the name Shadow is the ultimate assassin name. Just think about it! Who is the number one person you trust the most in the world. Your wife, husband. Maybe your kids, or a close friend.

    Your so wrong, because it¡¯s your shadow! You trust it so much that you don¡¯t even notice it. You trust your shadow the same way you trust gravity. Well some might trust gravity. I don''t. Gravity says I weigh 156 pounds when I know for a fact that I''m more of a 145. Anyway most people just don¡¯t think about their shadow.

    It¡¯s always by your side watching you, following you. It¡¯s seen you at your worst and your best. It¡¯s known about you from before you were even born. It¡¯s been hiding for thousands of years within the shadows of your ancestors waiting just for you.

    Your Shadow is far smarter than you. It knows everything about you and more. Yet for some reason you never take the time to learn about it. Even if you tried you could never stalk your shadow in the same way that it stalks you.

    You¡¯ve only ever glanced at it a few times in your life not knowing the dangers it poses. It knows the horrible things you do and can easily destroy your life with a sentence. Not even that a single word is all it needs.

    It''s by far the most dangerous friend you¡¯ll ever have. Shadows do not sleep. They do not eat or take brakes. They only ever watch and wait. They calculate and plan meticulously. Waiting for the moment when your at your weakest so that one day they might take your place.

    When they do decide to take your place not a single person will know. Not even the people you thought knew the most about you. Because a shadow knows you better than even you know yourself.

    That¡¯s where my avatars name comes from. In middle school and high school I was obsessed with my Shadow. It started with a thought then grew into an obsession.

    I used to draw people and make their shadows out to be monsters. Like the shadow was their true selves. I Especially loved the part where they expected it to be a normal portrait only to see eldritch abominations. Their reactions were priceless.

    Some people loved my drawings. My middle school art teacher told me they were beautiful. While my high school art teacher called them childish and uninspired.

    Most found it interesting until they realized all my drawings had the same theme. I also did most of them without permission so I got a lot of angry people asking me to destroy my art.

    They usually backed off when I told them I wasn''t drawing them I was drawing their shadow. That usually made them uncomfortable. You don''t mess with crazy. I didn''t care what they thought of me they were all basic.

    Their gripe was usually because they didn¡¯t like the way they looked in the picture. A lot of people were to shallow to see the beauty in my art. Well at least that¡¯s how my middle school teacher put it.

    Shadow wasn¡¯t just the name of my avatar it was also my online name. That name has served me for a very long time, and I have no desire to get rid of it. I like to think that my online persona is my shadow and the me out in the real world is my actual self.

    My guild mates all call me Shadow, but my real name is Holly Whitlock. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever tolled anyone that online.

    In my whole life I¡¯ve only ever dated one man. I¡¯ve also only been divorced once and married once. His name¡¯s Dave. He is both a sweetheart and a demon sent to make my life hell. Dave might of gotten replaced by his shadow at some point.

    He was always so energetic and driven. It¡¯s what drew me to him. The only thing he was interested in was building his future.

    He was really into his career in construction. With his own company he made far more than enough to take care of his family.

    There¡¯s something really attractive about a man driven by work. A man with a dream. A burning desire to build something with his own two hands.

    I especially love it when he would do work around the house and his muscles would get wet from the sweat. His ass was like¡­ I don''t know do kids still say bootylicious or was that never a thing?

    I mostly stayed out of Dave¡¯s way and supported him however I could. Sure you might say it¡¯s sexist for a women to be a stay at home wife, but it¡¯s not like I had any dreams or a passion of my own.

    I still drew stuff but it was only ever for fun. I never wanted to turn my hobby into a job. Doing that would turn it into work and that would suck.

    I was happy and that¡¯s what mattered. It wasn¡¯t cooking and cleaning that made me happy. That was just what needed to be done. What I truly wanted were kids.

    I used to babysit all the time. The money was not that grate but I got to look after kids. It was such a fun job. All I had to do was play with them and send them off to bed before their parents got home. It came so naturally to me.

    Sure I could have become a teacher but I was a high school drop out. Also I was never good at that sort of thing, especially math. Any math, like algebra, geometry, calculus, or that confusing physics stuff. No thanks.

    Now that I think about it teaching little kids didn''t require advanced math. It wouldn¡¯t have worked out either way. Those kids wouldn''t actually be mine.

    The reason I dropped out was¡­.. several reasons. One is because I skipped classes a bunch and spent most of my time smoking pot in a small clearing behind the school.

    Another is because I had very few credits to speak of. Then there¡¯s the time my parents found out about my smoking habits and decided to no longer support me financially.

    You could say that¡¯s child abandonment since I was only sixteen. I didn¡¯t feel like reporting anything or seeking help. Foster care is an absolute nightmare.

    I didn¡¯t live with them at the time. The school I was going to was far from home so it only made sense for them to let me get an apartment with some roommates. It was one of those fancy schools you have to pay to go to. All my roommates smoked pot. That¡¯s actually where I got into it.

    When I had to get a job my weed consumption dropped dramatically. When I quit my job due to a mandatory drug test I quit smoking entirely.

    Failing a drug test would make it hard to get hired again, so quitting before they could test me was the best option. Learned that from my old bestie Alisa. That¡¯s how she lost her job.

    I was to paranoid to try synthetic pee. I also wasn¡¯t sure if a detoxification kit would work. Those things could sometimes fail and they cleaned you out so well that the doctors could tell if you used one.

    I got a job as a secretary of sorts at Dave¡¯s start up. He was twenty-six at the time and I was seventeen. Best part about it was he was so green that I didn¡¯t even get a background check. A lot of our workers were from over the border if you know what I mean.

    He did a lot of construction work in his dad¡¯s company and decided to start his own. The company consisted of a handful of workers.

    I got to know Dave fairly well and around my twenties we started dating. At first in secret but after about a year we outed ourselves to the rest of the employees. To which they revealed to us that they already knew. Apparently we weren¡¯t as sneaky as we thought.

    The company grew and eventually we got married. Those were honestly the happiest days of my life. Our coworkers pitched in for a celebratory barbeque. We had fajitas. I got to say these guys were some serious drinkers. There was so much beer and they just kept buying more.

    You know, If I had to pick the happiest day. It would have to be the day my kids were born. I had no idea I could love something so much.

    It was like the light of the sun was outshined by these three little bald monkey¡¯s. I would do absolutely anything to keep them safe. I loved then more than my husband.

    I grew up in a house of girls. I was not prepared for the amount of energy those three had. Think Master but without a shred of sympathy or empathy.

    Dave Jr was the first to be born. He beat his brother Tyler by two minutes. Cody took a whole hour to come out after Tyler. He was also born with a few complications and ended up staying in an incubator for his first month.

    It was hard to look after two babies by myself so my sister Tanya helped me out for the first month. That just meant she took care of one baby and I took care of the other. We¡¯d rotate daily.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    The day she left was the day Cody came home and I ended up crying my eyes out trying to keep them all from doing the same. People complain about one baby. That¡¯s nothing. I could take care of one baby in my sleep.

    Dave helped when he could. When he wasn¡¯t working he changed dirty diapers and fed baby after baby. He would even take a baby with him into work as long as he was only doing office stuff.

    He never complained once. In fact I don''t think there was ever a time when he didn''t smile. He was so tired but he loved our boys so much. He was such a proud father.

    Thinking back he did so much for us. If only things hadn¡¯t gone the way they did. Maybe we wouldn''t hate each other now.

    I hate him for making me out to be a monster. He hated me, because of my parenting style.

    Dave had no right to make me look so bad! I¡¯m a grate mother! He said I bullied my children! I¡¯ve been nothing but kind and sweet to them.

    My boys are very sensitive so they cry on a daily basis. The only reason they don''t cry in front of their father is because there afraid of him.

    Evidence of child abuse he called it. He brought their soccer coach onto the stand so he could tell the judge my behavior around my children.

    The coach said I belittled my children in front of their teammates. He said I did it on purpose so they would get bullied and come crying to me. Could you believe that!

    Even their teachers came out and told the court about how I wormed my way into their classrooms just to embarrass them. Like what the heck right! Parents are supposed to embarrass their kids! That''s totally normal!

    My poor little ones are always being bullied and they always come straight to their mommy because they know I''m the only one that will keep them safe.

    The court doesn¡¯t understand that. That''s why they gave Dave primary custody. Meanwhile I¡¯m only allowed to see them on the weekends.

    Even then he brings them over so late and picks them up so early. He says it¡¯s because he lives so far. it takes him three hours to drive to my house and back.

    I didn¡¯t have a choice. My new job forced me to move one town over. It''s not fair! Children should be with their mothers! Dave is going to ruin them! He hasn¡¯t spent as much time with them as I have! He doesn¡¯t know them like I do!

    Why just last week Cody was attacked by an older boy at the park, and what did he do. Instead of crying like a normal human being he shrugged it off and kept playing.

    That''s so unhealthy! He should of clung to me! I could of made it better! Now my son is suffering alone. All because their father is teaching them to be strong.

    What happens when they finally break? No, I won''t let that happen. When I get back I¡¯ll help break them down that way I can help them heal.

    Otherwise if I let that pain build up they¡¯ll end up like Master. Poor Master. Her parents failed her, but that''s okay. I can take all that pain away.

    Now she has another chance to be fixed. I just have to keep chipping away at her armor until she finally breaks down. Then I¡¯ll help her rebuild herself.

    I¡¯ll show Dave that my parenting methods are the correct way of raising kids. Not that macho stuff he keeps spewing out.

    It¡¯s been at least five minutes since Master locked herself in her room. I¡¯m a bit worried.

    Luca was here with me. Master wasn¡¯t answering me. She hasn''t said a word since she went in there. I gave the door another knock.

    Desperate times. ¡°Master! Open the door. If you don¡¯t open up I¡¯ll make you eat a whole plate of carrots.¡± No answer. I was sure that would get a reaction. Master hates carrots and will go to grate lengths to avoid them.

    Now I¡¯m not saying Master was suicidal but I was starting to think she might of done something.

    Luca turned to me. ¡°You don''t think¡­. Chief might¡­ you know¡­. Do you think she¡¯s okay?¡± She was a bit anxious. Her weight shifted from one leg to the other.

    If even detective Luca was thinking the same. Then we had to do something. ¡°Stand back.¡±

    Luca moved a whole five feet away from me. Before I did anything I called out to Master one more time. ¡°Master! I¡¯m gonna kick the door down! Please get away from it!¡± there was no answer. It couldn¡¯t be helped. I took a step back then kicked the door right next to the nob.

    I heard and felt it crack. I gave my next kick a little more power and the door flung open. Wood splinters went flying. Who cared about the door. It can be fixed.

    What I saw was a huge mess. There was underwear all over the floor. The room was so mismatched. Master must really hate symmetry. This room was way to ugly to be accidental. I absolutely hated it.

    Right now that wasn¡¯t important. At the center of the room was Master. It looked like she¡¯d fallen over. I panicked.

    Rushing over I checked to see if she was okay. She was fine just unconscious. Her breathing was slow. Almost like she was just sleeping.

    Luca examined the room. ¡°looks like Master slipped on some underwear and hit her head. We should give her a potion just in case.¡±

    How do I feed a potion to a sleeping person without them drowning? Wouldn''t an IV drip be better? Maybe like a butt chug? Nah that¡¯s an awful thing to do to Master. I also don¡¯t have a funnel.

    I wonder if I can get that apothecary place to make me a potion but put it in a suppository. Yeah¡­. That could work. For now let me just make sure she''s okay.

    I gave Master¡¯s head an inspection. There was no bump so that was good. No blood to speak of either. It was almost like Master ran around a bunch. Tired herself out. Then fell asleep on the floor. Reminds me of my boys.

    I picked Master up. She was so small and petite. I was afraid of hurting her. I wish I had a little girl. That would be nice. That¡¯s what I wanted originally but with three boys I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be having any more kids any time soon. Not to mention I kind of need a man for that.

    Simply finding a sperm donor wouldn¡¯t do. I wanted a traditional family not a burden. Raising kids by yourself can be done but it¡¯s to big a task for my liking. What happens if I have triplets again. I¡¯m not taking the chance.

    I leaned Master against my chest holding her up by her bottom. I also made sure her dress was folded under her to prevent any flashing.

    Master had actually flashed quite a few people now. I never told her anything because I was sure she might implode if she found out.

    I figured she¡¯d get better at skirts eventually but it hasn¡¯t happened. No one really cared since she was just a kid but still. Some lessons might be in order.

    Master weighed the equivalent of a bag of flower. It was like carrying a toddler. She made such cute and soft breathing noises. I don¡¯t know what it is about Master but she always left me with the urge to hug and cuddle her.

    I read somewhere that heart beets are very soothing to children. Not that Master was a child but¡­. I mean her ear was on my chest so maybe it would help her have a nice dream. One can only hope.

    Luca was staring at Master¡¯s bed. The poor kid had gone pale. ¡°This bed needs to be thrown out and burned.¡± She had a point. I put my free hand on her shoulder and lead her attention away from the bed.

    It didn¡¯t look like Master was gonna do any redecorating. I guess it would be my job to fix this place up. Just like my boys. That was okay though.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ll take her to my room for now. We can talk with her once she¡¯s feeling better.¡± I headed towards the door only to see Boner there. He startled me a little. I almost dropped Master.

    He didn''t notice the bed which was a good thing. Right now wasn¡¯t the time for him to freak out. Last thing we wanted was for our new hires to think we''re some kind of murder cult.

    ¡°Is everything alright? Just what the hell happened?¡± He wasn¡¯t actually concerned. In fact he looked defensive. Like he was ready to fend off an attack. He seemed to have followed us with caution in mind.

    Why was he here now? He was late. ¡°Everything is fine. Master had another¡­. Episode.¡± Now he was curious, so was Luca. It¡¯s not like they didn¡¯t know about it. Well I guess they only knew about the one in the lounge. Should of picked my words better.

    It¡¯s better I tell them instead of them speculating. I don''t need awful rumors to be passed around about Master.

    Masters past needed to stay secret. At the very least they should know about the nature of the episodes. I sighed. ¡°Alright, just don¡¯t tell Master I told you anything.¡± I looked to them both. They nodded.

    ¡°last night when I went to the restroom I found Master crying in the hallway in front of her room. She was acting strange. Like a kid but¡­.. different.¡± I didn''t know how else to explain it.

    ¡°Different how?¡± said Luca. She was ready to prod and poke me. I had a feeling she might not respect boundaries but that was okay. She didn¡¯t need to know the details just the bottom line.

    I paused for a bit not sure how to answer that. ¡°Like¡­. he wasn¡¯t all there. Usually he¡¯ll act like a child but his words will have a hidden meaning to them. Like someone faking stupidity.¡± Luca and boner looked at me strangely. Should I have worded it differently?

    I continued. ¡°For as far as I could tell Master was an actual kid last night. She didn''t fight me on anything. She trusted me and did everything I told her. It was strange, I could tell she was hurting. My mother instincts kicked in. You know when you¡¯re a parent and you see a kid crying you just have to help.¡± I hope I didn¡¯t give anything away.

    ¡°It¡¯s chief we¡¯re talking about maybe she was just pretending to be a kid like usual.¡± I could see what Luca was saying but it wasn''t that.

    ¡°No, even when Master acts like a kid she still has some semblance of her adult self. This was just a scared little girl crying about monsters. Like she had a bad dream. In the morning it was like master didn''t remember it. To me it almost felt like her personality was cut in half.¡± When it did happen I didn¡¯t feel like teasing her. I just wanted to help.

    ¡°So what are you saying Isaac has multiple personalities?¡± Boner was skeptical. He eyed Master like she was going to attack him. If Master wanted him dead he''d be dead. There was no need for so much hostility. Then again master almost nuked half the castle so¡­. No Master wouldn¡¯t do it. There had to be a reason for all this.

    ¡°It¡¯s actually called DID or dissociative identity disorder. It usually happens when someone has a traumatic child hood. It¡¯s a way of coping with trauma. One of the personalities breaks off and takes on the burden of the trauma, while the other continues to live their life burden free. I would say its possible, but this doesn¡¯t feel like DID. Chief is a mess weather he has another persona or not.¡± Luca was a smart girl.

    It was a bit over my head but what I understood was Master was suffering from something else. As to what that might be we have no idea.

    Boner scratched his head. ¡°I¡¯m no psychiatrist. I got no clue what might be wrong with that not-child. All I know is he is dangerous.¡± He wasn¡¯t wrong, and he had a right to be angry. I¡¯d be mad to if someone almost killed all my friends. Well, Master almost did do that. I shook my head.

    Okay think it through. Master was about to kill everyone. Me included. That''s a fact but¡­. ¡°While that might be true you didn¡¯t see the look of terror on her face when it happened. At the time I wasn¡¯t scared about the fire balls. I was worried about Master. I don''t know what she saw¡­. But it had to have been something awful for her to do that.¡±

    I held Master close. If Boner tries anything I¡¯ll cut him down! I don''t care he is nothing to me! I wanted to hurt these guys from the start but Master was insistent on having them work for us! In the end I followed Masters lead. It might have been a mistake.

    Luca put her hand on my shoulder. ¡°Whoa there. Let''s not start cutting throats just yet. Your saying Chief hallucinated something?¡±

    I nodded. ¡°I guess? I mean you should of seen her face. I¡¯ve never seen anyone look that scared.¡± It was like that in the hallway to. Only there wasn''t any fire balls. How did Master manage to make so many? I know Snowball let''s her cast two of the same spell at once but I don''t think it let''s her cast that many.

    So¡­. what happened then? The point when Master started seeing things. That seemed to have nothing to do with that DID thing. What did Master even see to make her want to nuke everything?

    Just then Master said something in her sleep. It was so low that it was impossible for any normal human to make it out. I wasn¡¯t human though. Boner was to low level and his class gave very little experience to perception.

    Lucas class was the same and she was a human. She also wasn¡¯t next to Master when she spoke to me.

    Master said ¡°Centa¡± What that meant I had no idea, but maybe it was important.

 Episode 16: Rabbit Hole2

    Chapter 16

    Rabbit hole2

    -Isaac-

    The door to my room stopped shaking. In fact it somehow opened up only to reveal an empty hallway. There was no one there. I was half expecting a monster to come and eat me.

    Taking a peek didn''t really tell me anything. The hallway was dark, cold, and slightly moist. It looked like the guild castle but it¡¯s also not that. Everything felt slightly more¡­. I don¡¯t know, eerie? The only source of light was this glowing blue moss that seemed to cling to the walls.

    I didn¡¯t feel scared not like last time. This time around I was feeling cautious with a side of wonder and curiosity. Now that I had a moment to think about my predicament I realized that not only did that thing want to eat me. It also wanted me scared. Like some kind of bully.

    Once I understood that it kind of pissed me off. That was good. I wanted a little pay back for all the torture that thing put me through and was finally in the right mindset to do so. It¡¯s been haunting my dreams for the longest. I don¡¯t even remember when it started. All I know is it¡¯s gotten worse.

    This felt like realizing you were in a dream only I didn¡¯t have control over it. Was that normal? Also why was everything so vivid?

    The hallways were like a maze. It¡¯s way bigger than it should be and everything is strange looking. Darker, sharper, slightly elongated. Like it had been stretched or warped. kind of like that old Nixon tattoo my dad drunkenly got on his back.

    It looked like the hallways and rooms were shifting. At one point I found myself walking on the ceiling. Then the wall and finally the hallways kept repeating, but each time they''d be slightly warped in a different way.

    Sometimes they''d become narrow. Other times they were wider. Then there was the hallways that zig-zaged and went up or down In a slope. Sometimes the hallway would go straight up or down.

    I was starting to think I might of no-clipped into the new worlds version of the backrooms. I figured I¡¯d need a weapon to fight off the monster so I picked up one of the long swords on the wall.

    The sword was somewhat rusty. It was made of carbon steel. With the moist walls it only made sense it would oxidize. It didn¡¯t even have a sheath. Poor thing needed a good polishing and some oil. At least that''s what my internet browsing told me.

    I owned two swords in the old world. One was more of a prop for practice and the other was a real honest to god sword. I had it made by a modern day blacksmith. It cost me a little over Five-hundred with shipping.

    The blade was tempered steel. I didn''t really use it for anything. It was just cool to have on my wall. Of course I cleaned it once a week and applied oil to it. The sword was of Chinese origin. The seller called it a Gale Wind Ming Jian from the Ming dynasty. Not an original but a battle ready replica. I feel bad for who ever breaks into my home.

    The sword in my hands was kind of heavy but I could still swing it. It was one of the more traditional long swords. The kind a paladin might carry during the crusades. It had a golden cross guard with a ruby slotted in the middle. The handle was rounded with black leather wrapped around the handle. The pommel was of the same gold as the cross guard.

    I basically dragged it along which was probably a bad idea considering all the noise it made but whatever. At the very least the tip was slowly being sharpened. Or not, for all I knew I was basically blunting the weapon. That was fine to since it would hurt more.

    I hated all the build up and just wanted the monster to come out so we could get this over with. This wasn¡¯t some stupid horror film. I got beef with that fucking thing. It¡¯s fucked with me for the last time.

    Either I kill it or it eats me. Getting eaten is usually how it goes, but not today. Even if it eats me I¡¯ll make sure to stab it from the inside.

    I swung my blade around. ¡° Hee-ya! Hya! Take that centipede! I¡¯m gonna make her vomit blood I tell ya!¡± I got no answer. Under my breath I murmured ¡°coward¡±

    I felt strange. Something wasn''t right. I felt like I was actually physically here. My body had weight and everything was as solid as that time I tried Viagra. I could actually feel the strain from swinging the weapon around.

    I made it to a new hallway and found that this one had an actual window. I made my way over and took a peak. Outside was¡­. strange. It looked like giant weirdly shaped penises in the distance. Oh, those aren¡¯t penises! There giant mushrooms!

    There were no other structures. Instead it was just wilderness. The grass was unkempt and messy. It glowed a bright green almost like it was radioactive. Some of the mushrooms were the size of bushes. Others were as tall as trees. Speaking of trees there were none.

    Something told me this vegetation was the only light source in this place. Each mushroom glowed a different radiant color. The sky was empty. It wasn''t black. It was a colorless void. Endless and vast just like every other void in my life.

    Despite being unable to see through that darkness I somehow knew it was completely empty. Staring at it filled me with an irrational feeling of dread. Like I was all alone.

    Normally when you look at the sky there¡¯s a ton of stars. A decent amount of those stars are planets, but here it was as if this was the only planet in existence.

    How was this place even functioning? The grass must provide oxygen somehow. Where was the grass getting its food? Water was one thing but doesn¡¯t it need sunlight?

    Without sun light how can anything grow. There has to be some kind of energy in this place otherwise it would be freezing cold. Everything here was warm. The air was room temperature and very humid. Kind of like the humidity you might feel in a tropical area, or Huston.

    Did that mean this place was powered by something inside the planet? Then again I think this is a dream so the world was probably held together through imagination. Ah.... in which case I should stop thinking about it before the planet freezes over and I¡¯m plunged into eternal darkness.

    I looked away before my two brain cells had a panic attack. What was this place. It wasn¡¯t like a dream. The usual brain fog that came with these sorts of things wasn¡¯t effecting me.

    I continued on my expedition through the castle. The end of the hall turned left then went right finally opening up into a large room.

    This was the throne room. I could see my throne sitting against the back wall. However, there was a hole in the center of the room.

    The room was lit up by the tiny mushrooms growing from cracks in the stone and moss that hung from the ceiling. The hole was huge. I couldn¡¯t even see the bottom of it.

    It kept me from reaching the throne. The narrow path it left was cracked and looked like it might crumble at a glance.

    Something told me I needed to sit on the throne. The giant stone construct was covered in gold. Jewels glittered from the low light provided by the radioactive vegetation. Forget paying rent with that chair I could buy a nice house near the beach.

    The seat had pelts of magical beasts layered over it. It was just like the one in the actual guild castle.

    This place. It wasn¡¯t the guild but it held parts of it. Things that only I¡¯ve seen before. The grass and mushrooms outside were from the game to. It was actually one of my favorite biomes in TEO. The glowing mushroom forest. It was missing the trees but it still looked cool.

    Just where the hell was I? I looked into the hole. It was so dark. I couldn¡¯t even tell how deep it was. Something was moving.

    I¡¯m unsure how to describe it. Once I changed my perspective it made more sense. Instead of trying to find the thing moving in the dark. I watched the dark itself and realized it was vibrating.

    Familiar razor sharp teeth ¡ª only far bigger and more vast ¡ª spun around the darkness like shark fins sticking out of dark waters. Waters so deep they were as black as a moonless night.

    I heard a metallic growl. It skipped like a corrupted sound file. The darkness rose up forming a massive all to familiar centipede. If the centipede from my dreams was a baby then this would be its fat obese mother.

    This time I wasn¡¯t afraid. Okay, maybe a little but I wasn¡¯t crippled. My anger seemed to outshine the fear. I held my sword up ready to stab that thing. Hopefully the rust would give it an infection.

    *BUZZZzzZzZzZzzzZZzZzzzzZZZZzz*

    The buzzing was so loud. It made my ears ring. This was the source! I just knew it! I''m gonna end this.

    It lunged at me as a whirlwind of blades. I thrust my sword forward and managed to pierce its shadowy hide. The beast cried my name in its monstrous echo.

    My vision became distorted and images of my childhood flashed before my eyes. Was I dying? No there¡¯s something different about these memories. I didn''t remember them. No I do remember them but not like this.

    It¡¯s like I remember point A and point B but I couldn''t remember how I got from one to the other. How come I never noticed the gaps? These weren¡¯t all the memories but what I saw made my body tremble. Pain, fear, loneliness.

    My mother forcing me to stand outside in the snow naked. The cold air cutting deep into my skin. The crying and begging. Trembling in the cold. Huddling near the door trying to keep warm. My sister crying and yelling at my mom to let me inside.

    The pain of being continually beaten with a cable while being forced to undergo a cold freezing shower. The words Devil child chanted over and over again and the self hatred that came with them. She convinced me to hate myself. To believe in her words. Mom how could you do that to me!

    Was this why my sister Julia was always coddling me? She used to make me sleep in her room after she caught mom trying to suffocate me with a pillow. I think she almost killed me a few times. I can remember the pain of desperately trying to breathe only to be denied a breath.

    So much pain. Was this my pain? I don¡¯t remember it being quite like this. All the emotions that came with these experiences. They flooded my mind and made me want to curl up and die. How the hell could I live like this. I chose life every time.

    How could anyone be that cruel! I was a kid! What did I do to deserve something like that! Why didn¡¯t anyone stop her! My neighbors, they knew about it! I know they did! My family! Aunts, uncles, cousins. They saw what was going on but they never did anything! My vision distorted again and I was back to fighting the monster. Tears covering my cheeks.

    My sword had been ripped away from me and I was knocked to the cold hard ground. I tried to stand by pressing my right hand down but I didn''t feel anything. That''s when I noticed my arm was gone. Blood rushed from the wound.

    ¡°Shit!¡±

    Something grabbed my other arm and pulled me to my feet. ¡°We have to go!¡± I got a look at them. It was Aku.

    There was no time to question it so I ran along her side. The monster cried in pain reeling back into it¡¯s hole. Black ooze seemed to spill out of the wound I caused it.

    ¡°Isssssssssssaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaac!¡± it tried to call for me in its chalk board screech. Like most life threatening things in my life, I ignored it. Ignore it till it gets itchy and turns purple.

    My arm was gone and the blood seemed to slow to a trickle. It was almost like the wound had closed or something.

    The pain was numbed by the adrenaline running through me¡­. I think? I feel like I should be in way more pain right now.

    It looked like I was a little taller than Aku but what was she doing here? It¡¯s only ever been the monster and I. I thought she was just an avatar.

    She was dressed different. She wore a violet colored dress you¡¯d only ever see in one of those Disney princess movies. On her feet were sparkly violet slippers. Her hair was twice as long, but the most shocking thing was those bandages wrapped around her arms. They looked dirty.

    She led me down multiple halls until we found a perfectly pristine white door. ¡°This way!¡± She pushed the door open and stepped into a bright light.

    The door closed behind me and I found myself in what I would describe as a girl¡¯s room. Everything was pastel colored. There were all sorts of toys mostly dolls and plushies.

    In one corner was a kids bed. There was a dresser and a closet full of dresses. The room was small. I guess for a kid it was big but not by much.

    Aku walked to the center of the room taking a seat on a small plastic chair. There were four other seats. One was empty while the other three had Snowball, Mr. Ghost, and Chompy. I didn''t think Chompy was so important that he¡¯d need a seat to himself. Maybe he was just here to fill a seat.

    I couldn''t help but feel like this was planned. Was this some kind of intervention? I was half expecting for a talking pillow to be passed around as the plushies talked about my addiction to coffee, and how there''s a twelve step program that can really help me get my life back together.

    Those programs are so annoying. They always end with finding religion. Not that there''s anything wrong with religion I just feel like it shouldn''t be the go to when talking with a doctor. Oh what¡¯s that doctor Phil ¡ª who isn''t an actual doctor ¡ª your taking me to the ranch? Well what are we waiting for let¡¯s go!

    Aku motioned for me to sit. I did. It was kind of bizarre. Aku served me a cup of what looked like tea. I wasn¡¯t sure. It smelled funny and had actual steam coming off it.

    There was some sugar cubes on the table so I put a few in my cup and stirred it with what I assumed to be a tea spoon. It was tiny. I wasn¡¯t actually looking forward to it but it would be rude if I didn¡¯t accept her hospitality. I¡¯d describe it as hot leaf juice.

    My arm was no longer bleeding. I had no idea how that came about. It didn¡¯t even hurt. I''m tired of the rules changing. Why can''t reality just go back to normal already. It¡¯s just one rabbit hole after another. Am I gonna have to experiment again to figure out what might be able to kill me?

    So¡­. What would this be? The newer world? That¡¯s a stupid name. The new, new world. Nah. No wait I got it!

    Return of the new world two the reckoning! Now in 3D.

    I¡¯m so done with dimension hopping. This is getting ridiculous. I''ll never do shrooms again. I¡¯ve been to so many worlds over the years. The excitement was starting to fade.

    I didn¡¯t even get to explore the last world before I got sent here. It¡¯s like I collected a bunch of quests then decided to uninstall the game before ever doing anything.

    This game felt more like an indie horror game. One of those where you learn a lesson. Or it questions morality or humanity. Take your pick. Hopefully I¡¯ll get the good ending.

    All I need now is a laptop connected to a bunch of cameras with a faulty battery and a phone with messages of the old security guy before me. That for some reason mysteriously went missing, but that''s just a theory. A game theory!If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    What if I was trapped in five nights at Freddie¡¯s? Yeah, okay Isaac enough of that. I took a deep breath to center my mind. It did absolutely nothing. I¡¯ve been stimulated to much and now my brain won¡¯t stop making stuff up.

    Was this room even safe? ¡°Won¡¯t the monster find us? Also¡­. am I gonna bleed out?¡± ever since I stepped in the room not a drop of blood had spilled and I was afraid I¡¯d already lost all of it. Then again why was I still not dead?

    ¡°You¡¯ll be okay. You just need a little time to regenerate your spirit. Drink tea it¡¯ll help with your arm. You¡¯ll lose less mass to. You should be more careful, if you get eaten that¡¯s it. You don¡¯t come back. This room is special. She can''t get us here. This is my domain. She has no power here.¡± She took a sip of tea. I did the same.

    It wasn¡¯t coffee but I could pretend it was. My wound felt warm and it started to tingle. I watched as she poured more tea out for Snowball and her other¡­.. companions.

    Strange I didn¡¯t feel the need to do it myself. Nor did I think they were actually alive. I still had a fondness towards them the same way one might feel when looking at a collection.

    I felt more like myself than I had since going to the new world. My mind was clear and my wants were my own. They didn¡¯t differ much from what I usually felt, but they were also less clouded with doubt. The same doubt that made me question whether an emotion was actually mine.

    Now that, that doubt was gone. I could now for certain say that I did indeed throw a tantrum over candy. At least internally. Acting it out was never my intention.

    There was very little anxiety to speak of. I¡¯d still have trouble going into public for prolonged periods of time and I probably needed breaks between outings, but as I was right now.

    I could probably talk with strangers without resorting to a persona or a plushy. It seemed like when in Aku¡¯s body my anxiety was double what it normally was and in unexpected situations it just about tripled.

    I scratched my head. ¡°Okay your gonna have to slow down kiddo. How about we start with who you are?¡± She smiled at me. Man she was so cute! I must protect her at all costs! Now I know how Shadow and Luca must feel.

    ¡°Who I am? I¡¯m princess Aku of course! This is my castle. Well¡­.. it was my castle. That was till it crashed onto this miserable place and that monster ate through the floor in the throne room.¡± She looked a little irritated. It was also cute. Man, no wonder no one could take me seriously in Aku¡¯s body.

    Well its official I¡¯m more confused now than ever. This must be what Shadow feels when she try¡¯s to do math.

    Was I stupid? Hmm¡­ there¡¯s definitely been a decline in my ability to process info. Oh man! I¡¯m back to my Isaac brain! I tried to open my menu but apparently that was no longer a thing. Did that mean I now needed to dress myself? Oh no! My inventory! I¡¯m gonna have to carry stuff like a god dam peasant!

    From Aku¡¯s point of view. My face became confused, then dread, then angry. Confused hopefulness, Then I looked angry as I ruffled my hair with my one hand almost pulling it out, and finally my head fell onto the table in defeat. This all happened in the spam of five seconds.

    Aku¡¯s smile wavered taking on a more confused ascetic. She gave Snowball and the other plushies a nervous look then went back to sipping tea like nothing had happened. I seemed to have that effect on everyone. Somehow I made everything awkward.

    No stats, no items, no abilities, no magic, no skills, no sacred arts, no martial arts, no psychic powers, just nothing. I already knew this when I first came to this place and thought it all a dream, but still. I didn¡¯t really think it all the way through. Not only did I have the system stripped from me. I was a one armed weak scrawny kid.

    Just because my stats were gone didn¡¯t necessarily mean I was stupid. It just meant I wasn¡¯t as smart as I used to be. That sucks. My perception and strength is probably shit to. Oh well. I¡¯m happy I figured it out before I tried to do anything significant.

    Oh, right. I did try to do something significant. Good thing Aku was there to save me. I wonder if she¡¯s got any powers? Probably not considering she also ran away.

    ¡°Okay, how about you tell me about this place then. This world. Possibly, how you ended up here?¡± She looked deep in thought.

    ¡°You don''t know anything?¡± She tilted her head. The urge to hug and pet her was starting to really ramp up, but right now I needed answers. Also that was more than a rude thing to do to a stranger. Wait, was she a stranger? Regardless I didn¡¯t like it when people treated me like a pet so I wasn¡¯t gonna start doing it myself.

    ¡°No, I don''t know anything. Pretend like I''m someone who''s never stepped foot into this place.¡± It was the truth after all.

    She nodded. ¡°Well¡­ all I know is that I was in a meadow with lots of forest creatures. Then one day a lady came to visit. She was really nice. She wanted a small peace of me, so I gave it to her. It was so small I didn''t think it would hurt.¡± She sipped her tea fidgeting like a nervous child.

    ¡°That peace came to live in the castle. That peace was also me. More like it became the current me you see before you. I lived in the castle for many years mostly sleeping. One day while doing just that my castle crashed onto the old planet where I used to live. Only its different now.¡±

    I understood absolutely nothing about what she just said. It all sounded like gibberish. Like when someone describes a strange dream they had, but they can¡¯t quite remember it. All I know is that this world was different from what it used to be.

    That made me ask. ¡°How so?¡± She gave her tea another sip. Maybe a bit of context would help me understand.

    ¡°The world became overgrown. The animals aren¡¯t around anymore. The trees are gone to. There used to be these giant trees that provided fruit for everyone. Those mushrooms weren''t here before. I Ended up exploring the world and found you. Don¡¯t you remember?¡± She smiled.

    Remember? I tried to think of a time when I might of actually been here before. Somehow I managed to get flashes of memories. It was like they were always there I¡¯d just been ignoring them for the longest.

    A young Aku finding me sleeping on a mushroom bed. Then I remembered coming to this castle and¡­. I don¡¯t remember the rest. I think I sat on the throne. I shook my head. Before I left something happened.

    There was buzzing and a screech. I don¡¯t know. Was it the centipede? Had to be right? But it wasn¡¯t there yet. The sound it came from somewhere but I don¡¯t know where. The hole wasn¡¯t there. It was but not on the surface.

    Underground. Crumbling, settling, churning, writhing, grinding, digging. All the ¡°ings¡± you could think of. All under our feet. It¡¯s not over. This world is dying. Slowly its being hollowed out.

    She looked somewhat worried, but continued. ¡°That¡¯s okay, I remember. You already had primary control, so it was easy for you to become king. That¡¯s when the weird stuff started to happen. There was this hole in the middle of the throne room. It kept getting bigger. There¡¯s this buzzing to. The buzzing does something to the castle. It makes the walls move around, and it makes the plants cry. I don¡¯t like it.¡±

    She looked terrified. This all sounded familiar. I couldn¡¯t help but feel like this was all my fault. What about the bandages?

    ¡°Why do you have those?¡± I pointed to the dirty cloth wrapped around her arms. What I thought was dirt looked more like old dried blood.

    Aku looked somewhat embarrassed. I could tell she didn¡¯t want to talk about it, so I walked over to her side and tried to undo them. I didn¡¯t care about her privacy. What nine year old had privacy. Actually she looked more like a seven year old. Huh¡­. calling her a seven year old didn¡¯t bother me at all.

    She freaked out. ¡°No! You can¡¯t look!¡± She didn¡¯t put up much of a fight. If she really wanted she could pull away but she held her arms in the same place and didn¡¯t really try to stop me. She squirmed a little but was mostly still. Her squirming was less of a struggle and more of an anxious quirk.

    It was a little hard to get them off with one hand but not impossible. ¡°The monster hurt you right? Let me see. I wont be mad. I just wanna help.¡± She stopped moving entirely and turned her head. I guess she didn¡¯t want to see my reaction. Maybe she didn¡¯t want to see what was underneath the rags.

    I undid them and what I saw was¡­.. horrible. Cuts so deep you¡¯d think they went down to bone. My first thought was to blame the monster but¡­.. these cuts. They looked like they were done by a knife. Each one perfectly cut across. It reminded me of my teenage years.

    ¡°The monster didn¡¯t do these did she?¡± Aku didn¡¯t answer. She started to cry. It was soft like a child that had been hit for being noisy.

    Did I cause this somehow? Was I to blame? I gave the kid a hug and she fell into me accepting it. If she¡¯s been in this castle by herself for years¡­.

    Then when was the last time she felt human contact. I don¡¯t think she¡¯s ever had it. I hope the me that was here before at the very least held her hand.

    Just in case I made sure to give her a real hug. The kind of embrace that made you feel safe. She was smaller than me so it was easy. I could tell she really wanted it.

    After what felt like a minute I sat back down in my seat. She replaced the bandages with new ones. They seemed to come out of nothing similar to how the tea pot continued to refill itself.

    Once reapplied she continued to pour everyone some more tea. I¡¯m pretty sure you need tea bags or some sort of herb for this but somehow it came out already brewed. The liquid was a nice looking gold. Almost like piss but without the smell. The smell reminded me of honey. The taste was sweet and bitter.

    It was the perfect balance between the two. It didn¡¯t even need the sugar I put into it. Though that didn¡¯t stop aku from dropping four of them into her cup. The plushies were actually drinking it. At least it felt like they were. Their cups seemed to drain on there own.

    ¡°Do you wanna tell me what happened to your arms? Was it my fault?¡± She shook her head I wasn''t sure to what though.

    ¡°I did it to myself. It was¡­¡­ to help you.¡± So it was my fault. I¡¯m absolutely the worst.

    My next words were a bit intense. ¡°Help me how?¡± She already told me the hard part why not reveal the rest.

    ¡°Like when that Mantis guy tried to kidnap us. I sacrificed some of myself to change the system rules. You wanted to use all those spells and abilities. Even the monster wanted to kill that guy so I converted a part of myself into power and used it to temporarily hack the system. Doing so caused my body to crack. They look like cuts but that''s just the shape they took.¡±

    That was her! So every time I used a spell or skill that wasn''t on my hot bar she was the one that made it happen. Even that wasted purification sacred art. Just so I could spam abilities. Like all those fire balls.

    ¡°Back in the dungeon. Before I talked with Mantis. There was this voice¡­. Well, not really a voice. That feeling that everything would be alright and the gentle touch on my head. Warm and almost weightless.¡± It was something so small that I kept forgetting about it. I thought it was a ghost at the time but now I wasn¡¯t so sure.

    She nodded. ¡°That didn¡¯t cost me anything. You just looked so sad and I wanted to make you feel better. You know I felt it to. Your emotions and memories mix with my own. I know you feel mine to.¡±

    So I was sharing a body with this kid. That explained a few things. ¡°I appreciate that, but will you regenerate?¡± If those wounds were permanent then I deserved to die.

    ¡°I will. It¡¯s taking a little longer because the power I needed was to grate so I tore my spirit from the inside out. There¡¯s still a handful of power left that I haven''t used. I''ve slowly been adding to it with the ambient energy left floating around. I can still do more. I can bypass the system with my own power and make it so you have no restrictions. I wanna be useful.¡± I put my hand on her head. She curled in embarrassment.

    Those words. ¡°I want to be useful.¡± I still felt them clawing at my insides. So I guess that means Aku has it to then. Did she get it from me? It was something so ingrained in my head that I could never escape it. The feeling of never being good enough. Of always being a failure. Of being a useless peace of shit.

    ¡°Don''t bother. I don''t need you to mutilate yourself. I can handle it. Though, I appreciate the help you were amazing. Please promise me you wont do it again. You should save that surplus of energy for an emergency. No use in letting it go to waste.¡± She blushed.

    ¡°I promise¡­. Thanks Papa¡­ oh!¡± She covered her face like a child trying to hide for a game of peekaboo. She had to know that wouldn¡¯t work. I still enjoyed it though.

    Did I hear her right? It sounded like she didn''t mean to call me that. Should I pretend it didn''t happen. There had to be a story there. I really wanted to tease her about it but at the same time didn¡¯t want to make her cry.

    ¡°Do you wanna call me Papa? Is there a reason?¡± I really didn¡¯t mind. It sounded cute coming from her. If anything I¡¯d love to hear it again. Aw, crap. Does this make me a creep? Sharing a body with your daughter sounds disgusting.

    She then proceeded to make a strange noise. Maybe I should of left it alone. The small girl reached for Snowball and hugged the cat plushy to her chest.

    ¡°I-I¡­.. It¡¯s you know. Don¡¯t you remember when you and mamma made me.¡± Did I do that? You¡¯d think I¡¯d remember the act of procreation. She called herself princess Aku. Aku being the key word. So she had to have some connection to the avatar right? I created the avatar so¡­.

    The creation of Aku. I thought back to that day. I remember being excited because the game had just come out. Shadow said she wanted to play it and invited me to join her. Believe it or not she actually started before me. Beat me by a whole two hours.

    I didn¡¯t know the game existed until Shadow told me about it. Put down my pre-order that day. To bad my internet was down for most of that week. Something about solar flares or something.

    Alice was there. She wanted to watch me play. When it came to games Alice liked to watch. She said it was fun to see me fail.

    I tried to get her into some games but she was terrible. That was okay though. She had fun either way and every once in a while she would even win. She was what you¡¯d call a sore winner. That¡¯s why I could never go easy on her.

    She glanced over my shoulder. ¡°Why a little girl? Why not go for a big strong guy like that giant thing?¡± She pointed at the half giant race.

    ¡°Nah, I don¡¯t wanna play as a half giant. I wanna try magic this time around. Vampires seem to get a nice bonus to magic. Also playing as a little kid will give me a smaller hit box. Mages typically have low HP and there gear is usually built for magic defense. She¡¯s also really cute right?¡± The character on the screen had long pink hair and Dark red eyes.

    Alice gave me a crooked smile. Like she didn¡¯t agree with me. ¡°You boxed her into one pallet of colors. I get the appeal but you should go for something more simple. That way you won¡¯t end up having to stress out over gear not matching her color scheme.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t actually thought of that. With her pink hair it would limit the clothes I could give her. That would suck especially early game when you had very little access to cool gear. It was also a new game so there probably wouldn¡¯t be much gear to pick from.

    ¡°Alright, why don¡¯t you design her for me. I¡¯ll tweak it when your done.¡± She rolled her eyes then reached over.

    I watched her go through every option. It was a bit annoying to wait for her to finish, but I didn¡¯t want to rush her.

    After about fifteen minutes she sat back in her chair satisfied. I gave the character a look. Aku now had short dark brown hair and her eyes were a light brown.

    ¡°She¡¯s cute but not over the top. Her eyes look a little dull. Let me see.¡± I looked through the eye options and found interesting irises I hadn¡¯t seen before.

    It was between heart shaped eyes and star shaped eyes. I let Alice pick. She gave it a once over then selected the heart ones and made them pink almost violet.

    ¡°pink?¡± I questioned it.

    ¡°What? You had the hair pink before what¡¯s wrong with it. I think it¡¯s cute. She¡¯s kind of like a princess. She looks like she¡¯s in love or something.¡± She smiled.

    ¡°She¡¯s not a princess she¡¯s a vampire lolita. I was gonna go with a goth lolita, but a sugar lolita would also work. Honestly there¡¯s nothing saying I cant switch between the two. I have a lot of options now with the basic color scheme of her hair.¡± She was perfect.

    ¡°Izzy that¡¯s cool and all but what are we going to name her. How about evil, cause she¡¯s a vampire goth girl. You get it?¡± Izzy was my wife¡¯s nickname for me.

    I shook my head. ¡°Evil is kind of silly and way on the nose. Might as well call her Aku instead.¡± Alice scratched her head.

    ¡°What¡¯s an¡­.Ako.¡± Alice wasn¡¯t a geek like me so the name went over her head.

    ¡°Its Aku not Ako. The name means different things in different cultures, but in this context it literally means evil.¡± My wife rolled her eyes again. She was getting on my nerves.

    ¡°You made that up. I still like it though Let¡¯s name her Aku then. It¡¯s cute.¡± She reached over and typed it in as Akoooo. I quickly corrected her to which she pouted.

    ¡°Don¡¯t give me that look. I¡¯m not gonna have an avatar running around with a name spelled like that. Names spelled like that are reserved for repeat names like Aku1 or Aku2.¡± I hit the finalize button and the game started to download additional data. I hate when that happens.

    ¡°You know it would be nice if we could have a daughter that cute.¡± Except she couldn¡¯t.

    ¡°Sure sweetie. Maybe if we keep trying it¡¯ll happen.¡± I felt her fingers run along my back.

    ¡°Isaac your not suggesting we do it now are you? Isn¡¯t your friend waiting for you?¡± She was so seductive. Her voice was whispering softly in my ear. My eyes fluttered out of sheer delight.

    ¡°We got twenty minutes.¡±

    I came back to my current situation. Aku was staring at me with concern in her eyes. ¡°Papa, you okay?¡±

    I shook my head in an attempted to get my head out of the gutter. ¡°Yeah I¡¯m fine. I remember. Anyway, what now? How do I get back to the new world?¡±

    She blinked twice. ¡°Oh¡­ you have to sit on the throne like last time.¡± Was it that simple? Right, I¡¯m forgetting about the monster.

    ¡°The monster. Is there a way to get around without it seeing me.¡± That throne was hard to reach on its own, much harder with that thing running around.

    ¡°I could distract it. Then you could take the throne again.¡± Her plan seemed wrong to me. Even if I got the throne back what was stopping all this from happening again.

    Was I gonna have to sacrifice someone new every time I came here. That seemed unsustainable. Not to mention I¡¯d literally be sacrificing someone just to sit on a throne.

    I had to ask. ¡°You¡¯ll die right?¡± She looked away.

    ¡°Its not dying. Ill be apart of the monster that¡¯s all.¡± That¡¯s all!

    ¡°Fuck that! Your not distracting anything! There has to be another way!¡± She didn¡¯t say a word.

    ¡°Aku¡­. Come on. Think, you¡¯ve been in this place the longest. You have to know a way.¡± She frowned.

    ¡°There might be a way, but you¡¯ll have to eat the monster.¡± She looked unsure.

    ¡°Is that possible. Can I actually eat that thing.¡± She nodded in response.

    ¡°You already took a bite but your not ready yet. You know Papa. You used to be bigger, but the monster kept eating parts of you. You started to shrink. You were perfectly in control before I came here. The world is bigger now. More energy dense. That''s how I made my tea pot. It¡¯s a perfect access point for energy. Like a faucet.¡± That was alarming.

    Did that mean I was gonna shrink even more now. I reached for the stump of an arm I had and surely enough it had grown a tiny bit.

    ¡°What a strange world we live in.¡± Did this mean I wasn''t waking up until I got to that throne? Shit, and here I thought I might be able to run the clock out.

    Aku smiled. There was no way I could just leave her like this. She lived in fear like I did. Maybe even more so. I could go out there to the¡­. I don¡¯t know, physical world? I can escape to the physical world while she¡¯s stuck in here with that thing. in this tiny room day in and day out. I was the one that made that hole. Maybe not made but I definitely filled it. It¡¯s my fault.

    How did dad do it? How did he deal with the hole? Maybe I¡¯ve been doing it wrong. There had to be something missing. I wasn¡¯t doing something. I got the first part down but what do I do with the surplus of pain? Who the hell knew, the old man was dead time to move on.

    ¡°Aku, you¡¯ve been controlling our avatar body right? How did you do that? Do you have control over it?¡± She took a sip of tea and thought it over.

    ¡°It¡¯s the same as when I help you use skills.¡± She sipped her leaf juice. What did she mean?

    I sighed and motioned for her to continue. ¡°I sacrificed parts of myself to gain small amounts of control. Sometimes I don''t have to and you do things I was thinking about doing. However sometimes when I really, really want something you don''t¡­ I cut off parts of my spirit and force you. I can get away with just a pinky toe so it''s an acceptable loss considering I can regenerate it in under half an hour.¡±

    I don¡¯t get it. Did I possess her body? What the hells going on here. ¡°The Aku out there. Is that your body?¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°No, I¡¯ve never been in control of that body. My spirits never been able to control it. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever had a physical body¡­. Actually that¡¯s wrong. I did control it for a time but that was on accident. It also made me really tired. I had to sleep for a while. Your spirit is strong that¡¯s why your in control.¡±

    That explained last night. She didn¡¯t even know what she was doing. Was this kid a figment of my imagination or something? If so I¡¯m a real sick bastard. What did she mean my spirit was stronger? I was only a little bigger than her.

    If I shrink to her size will I lose the ability to move my avatar? I need more tea. I took another sip and felt the warm liquid burn the back of my throat.

    ¡°let¡¯s just work on getting out of here.¡± She agreed lifting her cup as if to do a toast. I joined her and our cups clanged together. We both took long sips and I felt my lost arm pulsing. Lucky for me it seemed like my nerves were gonna be the last thing to be restored.

 Episode 17: Banana knife

    Chapter 17

    Banana knife

    -Luca-

    Let¡¯s say you¡¯re a kid. Now imagine being the smartest kid in your class without actually having the grades to reflect that.

    That would be me. My names Lilian Flux. Cool name right. Well you¡¯d be wrong. Having a main character name is awful. Sometimes I feel like people expect more from me. I feel like it''s effected my personality to some degree. People say my name sounds like it came from a comic book reporter.

    Not a reporter of comics but a reporter inside a comic. Get what I mean. To be fair I probably painted myself that way with all the supposed mysteries I would solve. Not necessarily by solving mysteries but in the way I would investigate and ask questions.

    When I was a little kid I would hear rumors and start investigating. Things like ¡°If you watch that house long enough you''ll see a shadow in that window.¡± Turns out it was just a nice old lady.

    I remember walking around and calling out stupid things like. ¡°I¡¯ll find out what happened or my name isn''t Lilian Flux worlds greatest detective!¡± My parents thought it was cute. The kids at school not so much.

    You''d be surprised how easy it is to dispel rumors by asking a few simple questions. There are multiple sides to every story. There¡¯s my side, your side, there side, his side, her side, and the side that actually matters. Which is the truth.

    In middle school I was hired by fellow students to find out things about their friends, enemies, or to see if their boyfriends or girlfriends were cheating on them. It was good money. About twenty bucks per case and there was a lot of cases. That¡¯s how I afforded my gaming PC.

    Anyway my guild mates call me Luca. The name is just something I made up when I first joined TEO. I entered it on a whim as my avatar name and now it''s what everyone calls me. To be honest my avatar name isn¡¯t actually Luca. It¡¯s Luca37. All the other ones were taken. Jokes on them I¡¯m way more famous and successful than them. I haven''t even met another Luca.

    Right now I find myself in a make shift office. I managed to scrounge up a decent looking desk from the guild inventory. I even set up an abstract painting that reminded me of the stain my dog left after it got hit by a car.

    There was a few knickknacks on the desk including a screen shot of our entire guild, after we beat the last world boss Ifrit. The picture was in a frame on my desk. The boss was kind of like a cross between a genii and Krampus. Only it wasn''t a Christmas event. The boss was unbelievable strong.

    Ifrit had two forms. One form made it invulnerable so you ended up having to tank or avoid its hits till it became vulnerable again. It was so frustrating! Especially since it would heal most of the damage dealt while it was invulnerable. Along with a bunch of other guilds it took us about seven hours to take it down.

    That thing had been terrorizing the game world for almost a week. It brought down a bunch of player cities. The devs said they were gonna take it out of the game seeing as no one could beat it. In fact the server was supposed to go into maintenance that very night.

    That was a huge mistake. Because the moment everyone found out that the devs thought of us as a bunch of weak noobs. Everyone of us made it our life¡¯s mission to see its death. What did the devs think would happen when you insult a bunch of gamers. Everyone showed up! Even the noobs and they were useless!

    Players that hated each other banded together and worked on a plan to bring that thing down. It was awesome! There was even a bunch of videos on YouTube talking about the strategies used in the battle. I had no idea the raiders had videos online about our exploits. I even got interviewed by a youtuber. Not in person but through a chat room.

    To get an advantage over the boss the raiders and the country Bruh designed a route that would not only slow the thing down, it would also lower its HP. It took a lot of work but with a bunch of tanks riding on horseback we managed to get it to chase us all the way into the ocean.

    You might think why not use a motorcycle or a car? Those required gas, and the terrain wasn¡¯t suited for it. A flying vehicle would be to fast, besides With the horses the system treated them as if they were in your party. That was beneficial for healing and buffs. We didn''t need speed at the time. The horses were also cheaper. There was also the fact that the boss could and would summon flying mobs if anything was in the air for to long.

    Since horses could fit two people we had archers and other long range classes ride along. While the tank rode forward activating war cry to keep the bosses attention. The long range classes shot arrows, bullets, and spells at the boss.

    Our arrows were poisoned to counter the bosses healing. It kind of worked. Not really. The thing was pretty resistant to poison but ten arrows was enough to give it poison level one. It probably only saved us a few minutes but damage was damage I guess. The beauty of poison was the reduction to healing.

    Every once in a while if they got to far the boss would use long range attacks. Most of those times the tanks could throw up a barrier but sometimes they''d get burnt. It took us three hours to lead it to the shore. Mostly because we lost it a few times.

    Once down by the ocean things were different. With its weakness to water it was down in stats. We even used terraforming spells to make the area cold. That¡¯s when bruh¡¯s battle ships blasted it repeatedly. A lot of the tech based countries showed up with mechs. My job ¡ª along with all the other dark mages ¡ª was to bog it down with every de-buff we had and make it even weaker to water by lowering its resistance.

    Chiefs traps were just a bunch of magical land mines and pit falls. She would set them up in real time. They did the trick slowing the boss down and keeping it from wiping everyone. Not only did they lower its health down by about 20%. They also gave it slow de-buffs.

    Somehow during previous fights. Chief figured out that the boss did take damage in its invulnerable state when you used guild city traps. It was a glitch we took advantage of. They were expensive though but it was totally worth it when we actually won.

    The boss would go invulnerable and some of our tanks would be standing on the shore. They¡¯d lead it over and chief would set traps up in the shallow waters. Once it went back to vulnerable. The tanks on the ships would call it back.

    Stupid devs how dare they insult our skills! There will be no hand holding or baby difficulty! If its to hard then you should get good! Enough said.

    I love my guild there the best. Even though I only joined the game a year ago they took me in and helped me become really strong. Chief is especially nice to me. Though I hate it when she sees me online on a school night and tells me to go to bed. It¡¯s annoying! She¡¯s supposed to be my friend not my parent.

    She¡¯s also the one that invited me to join the raiders. I met chief in that same tavern we met up in yesterday. She gave me a rundown on the game and even helped me with some quests. I think we teamed up for a week before she invited me to her guild. I didn''t even know she owned the country till she told me. It was crazy. I thought chief was just a regular player like me but nope.

    When joining I was sure everyone would treat me bad since I was so new to the game and I hadn''t maxed any classes yet. That''s what most players did. I got called noob and was made fun of for my lame gear. However, everyone in the raiders was really nice. I got lots of tips and I even got to go level with Eco. He is the best at grinding. He kind of reminds me of an uncle.

    Every time I saw the screen shot I felt a wholeness inside me. It was warm and fuzzy kind of like when I got drunk. In a way coming to this world is a dream come true. I get to meet all my online aunts and uncles. Not really looking forward to meeting fish. He isn¡¯t as nice.

    Anyway Chief was very specific about our new recruits. I was to figure out what skills they might have and set them up with tasks. Chief also said to try and use Austin as a bargaining chip. I didn''t feel right doing that. While I might be smart. I don¡¯t have chief¡¯s blood thirst. That¡¯s why chief is chief.

    I¡¯m not sure why chief wanted me to run the interviews. It probably had something to do with the bad blood between them. Then again it could also be the fact chief is a nervous wreck most of the time.

    Chief has always been a little awkward but it never really showed all that much because we were texting before. This time everything was in person. She no longer had the time to think about her words and now had to respond in real time. At least that''s how I saw it. It made her extra cute. Who¡¯s the adult now chief! Let¡¯s see how she likes it when I tell her to go to bed early!

    I shook my head. No that doesn¡¯t feel right. This sucks. Chief has always been good at talking. If something was bothering me chief was the one I¡¯d turn to. Actually¡­ it''s not so much that chief was a good talker. It¡¯s more like she¡¯s really good at listening and she¡¯d come back with these answers that made me feel warm inside. Like my situation wasn''t so bad and that it would turn out okay.

    Yeah something like that. Alright lets get back to my current situation. As of yet the new recruits hadn¡¯t been accepted into the guild. I was expected to sign them up and restrict them to little to no guild access with a minimum wage of one silver per week. That seemed a little low for minimum wage but chief said it was fine. She said that Austin¡¯s care was being subtracted from their pay.

    Originally chief was gonna give them a full gold coin but changed her mind. Her reasoning was that one silver was enough to keep them around but not to much that they would become lazy and just sit around all day. With food and housing taken care of that one silver was basically just spending money. Not much but better than nothing.

    If they wanted luxury and hand outs they¡¯d need to hustle. Raises could be earned but that depended on there devotion and usefulness to the guild.

    Chief calls it grunt rank. That basically meant they could enter the castle and were being paid but they couldn¡¯t do much else. In this sense they weren¡¯t really members at all. More like employees with paid housing and food.

    With those two taken care of the money they made would probably be used to fund whatever craft they take up. Worst case scenario we were paying them to be cannon fodder.

    It¡¯s simple make them dependent on the machine and when the machine is attacked they will defend it. It¡¯s evil when you think about it but that¡¯s how society works. You put your citizens in a protective bubble. Keep them fed and safe and when something threatens to destroy there safe space then they¡¯ll stop at nothing to defend it.

    Not because it¡¯s the right thing to do but simply because it¡¯s what they must do in order to continue their shelter life style. They¡¯ll preach about how they¡¯re righteous and moral meanwhile they keep feeding the machine with fresh dead bodies. At least that''s how chief puts it.

    Just because I understood that didn¡¯t mean I was all for it. If anything I wish we could build a country where we were an actual force for good, but that was impossible. In order for any society to function people will always get crushed under the machine. And they''ll always be the ones that rage against it.

    I¡¯ve never had a job before and now I was like a manager. The only experience I¡¯ve had with managers was when my mom went off on that waitress for keeping the change.

    To be fair my mom paid with a hundred dollar bill and was expecting to get back over thirty dollars of change only for the lady to just assume the change was a tip.

    Honestly I don¡¯t see the appeal of hiring these guys. There basically useless. Chief told me she wanted a lot more players and that this would only be the start. A test run if you will.

    It almost seemed like Chief wanted a company not a guild. I guess the core members would be something like the board of directors and chief was something like the CEO?

    Although Chief did call herself the mascot? Did that make chief like that lizard from those car insurance commercials? That didn¡¯t sit right with me. Chief isn¡¯t a mas¡ª I didn¡¯t get to finish that thought. The sound of knocking on wood permeated the room. I guess it was time for the interviews.

    Boner opened the door peeking in. ¡°Hi there.¡± His face expressed a tense smile. He didn¡¯t step inside. Instead he stood there like an idiot. He looked like he¡¯d pooped his pants. It was clear this guy did not do well with interviews.

    ¡°Oh my goober! get in here! I have like three more to do after this!¡± The guy panicked and scrambled to sit down leaving the door wide open.

    I sighed. Then with a thought slotted in a wind spell and activated it. ¡°gust.¡± A lime green magic circle appeared in the air and a gust of wind blasted past Boners face causing the door to slam shut. The spell did no damage and was supposed to be used for knockback and disorientating targets for brief moments.

    It was useful when you wanted space from a mob or when you needed to change their formation and set them up for an attack. Most used it ether to set up fire walls, or to push mobs into fire walls. It could also be comboed with earth spikes and traps.

    The clumsy giant looked back at the door realizing what he¡¯d done wrong. ¡°My bad.¡± It wasn¡¯t that big a deal but it brought back memories of my family doing something similar.

    They¡¯d come to my room to ask me something, then I¡¯d ask them to close the door on there way out only for the door to stay open.

    Sometimes they¡¯ll tug the door hard as they leave so it slams shut behind them only for it to just creak back open. I hate when that happens! I swear I¡¯ll kill the person that didn''t level my door before drilling in the hinges! Oh, actually that was my dad.

    He lied to me. I asked him about my door and he said the door was leveled and that it was the house that was sideways. It worked on me when I was six, but now I understand how gravity works. He still won''t admit it. In fact now he says my door is haunted. That''s kind of how I ended up sharing a bed with mom and dad for a night or two.

    That door was so annoying especially when my brother would come by my room just to open the door and run away. He would push it just enough to where gravity would take over and that familiar creak sounded out. I started locking my door but then realized I¡¯d need to get up every time someone wanted me so that came to a stop. Families can be so annoying¡­. Well¡­. Not always.

    ¡°Alright Ryan? That¡¯s your name right?¡± He nodded in response. ¡°let¡¯s start the interview. In ten years where do you see yourself in this company?¡±

    The guy looked unsure as if waiting for me to reveal the joke. ¡°For real?¡± He kept staring at me waiting for me to budge.

    I stayed calm and smiled waiting for him to answer. He finally sighed and sat back in his seat realizing this was going to be a whole thing.

    ¡°Alright. Ten years huh?¡± He paused giving it some thought. ¡°I¡¯ll probably be dead by then.¡± His answer caught me off guard.

    I was expecting him to come back with something clever or witty. Maybe even something fake and made up. Perhaps some brown nosing. There wasn¡¯t any of that. He didn¡¯t even get mad at the stupid question.

    His words came from sincerity. Did he really think he was going to die within ten years? This deserved a fallow up. What would chief say in this situation?

    ¡°Why do you think you¡¯ll be dead? Are you planning on killing yourself. Just so you know the suicide hotline doesn¡¯t exist here¡­.um¡­. I¡¯m also not qualified to help you.¡± Hopefully that would throw him off.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    I knew his game. He was trying to claim depression. That way we¡¯ll feel sorry for him and let him stay for free. Chief warned me this might happen. Though she also said it would be that king guy not Boner.

    It didn¡¯t phase him. He seemed to calm down even further. Maybe I should of taken this more seriously. Crud, did he lose his fear of me. Oh no! That means I''m no longer in control! Chief is gonna be so mad. It''s okay. Just keep your cool. Don''t let him phase you.

    He stared at his hands. They were resting on the desk. ¡°No, I don¡¯t plan on killing myself. Actually, I¡¯ve been thinking. Originally I wanted to move away from adventuring but now, I want to go back out there. I can¡¯t really do that without a team so I¡¯d like to join whatever military force you guys have. I know I¡¯m weak but I can get stronger.¡±

    That was surprising. ¡° I see. Tell me what sort of skills do you have. I don¡¯t mean like the system. I mean like real world skills.¡±

    ¡°Skills? First off. Sapphire, king, and I are all high school signors. Rosy is in college. She was a signor at our school two years ago. As you can see none of us have very many skills. The only thing I can think of is driving but that¡¯s not very useful here. Actually, I know some basic mechanics, but that wont help in a none tech based country.¡± He was so honest.

    He wants to join our military? It technically doesn¡¯t exist yet. Chief said she was working on it. I¡¯m sure Ryan can help with that. If he grows alongside our troops he could even lead them one day. He¡¯ll be able to watch it form and will understand it''s reach and capabilities.

    Most likely he''ll have to go through some training. From what chief said about him. He doesn¡¯t even know how to swing a sword. I didn¡¯t either but there was no reason for me to learn. Leave that to the melee fighters.

    He could do basic mechanic work. That seemed kind of useless considering our guild was more magic based. I''m sure there might be a use for it but for now I can''t think of one. I put a pin in that one. Right now there was a burning question in my gut.

    ¡°Why?¡± He looked up from his hands his face meeting mine. ¡°Why go back out there. Didn''t you and your team go through hell just so you wouldn''t have to risk your lives anymore?¡± He looked away from me. Then met my eyes once more. This time they were as cold as steel.

    ¡°I want to become strong. I want to be strong enough so that the people that follow me stop dying.¡± His hands caused the desk to creak as his muscles tensed. He was only level nineteen, but he already had super human strength. His strength ratting must be really high. With his mass I¡¯m not surprised.

    ¡°Okay¡­. military it is then. But for now please take a break. I¡¯m sure Shadow can find you a room to rest in. Once master wakes up we¡¯ll discuss where to send you.¡± He nodded.

    ¡°I have a question. Your guild master? How did he get so strong. I don''t mean levels or gear. I''m talking about the way he fights. When we fought I couldn''t touch him.¡± He made a fist putting all his pent up aggression into it.

    ¡°Chief? Um¡­. Well.¡± Was chief actually good at fighting? I don¡¯t think she ever said anything about it. Actually didn¡¯t chief say something about her dad teaching her how to fight? Yeah I remember.

    ¡°I know! Chief told me once her dad showed her how to box! Right¡­ also she said she was never really good at it because her body wasn¡¯t suited for it. I think she meant she wasn''t in shape. Aside from that I¡¯d say it has something to do with chiefs perception and dexterity.¡± That¡¯s really all I could think of.

    ¡°So it all comes down to stats then. Boxing also explains why your guild master bounced around so much. Those fists were small but they also hit like lightning bolts.¡± He rubbed his ribs as if remembering pain.

    He was ready to go turning his attention to the door. Before he left I had to ask. ¡°What do you want to do about your brother? What''s his deal anyway?¡± He stopped and turned back around.

    ¡°Austin was tagging along with us because I was supposed to watch him. I wanted to play TEO with my friends so I figured as long as he was playing with us I could get away with gaming. That¡¯s why he¡¯s here. As to what to do with him? Can you keep him in the castle for now?¡±

    Now was the time to exploit him, but should I really do that? I know chief wanted me to but still. I wasn¡¯t like chief. I couldn''t bring myself to take advantage of people.

    ¡°For now its fine. What¡¯s wrong with him anyway? Your brother that is. Do we need to worry about it? He isn¡¯t dangerous is he?¡±

    He scratched his head. ¡°My brother is a normal kid¡­.. He was a normal kid. Then everything happened and he stopped talking. That¡¯s all there really is to it. He is no more crazy than your guild mascot.¡±

    Something ignited inside me. Before I knew it I stood up. ¡°Chief isn''t a fucking mascot! If it was up to me I would of killed every last one of you for trying to hurt chief! The only reason you¡¯re here is because chief allows it!¡± I wasn¡¯t expecting myself to get so emotional. It¡¯s like the words were already loaded.

    Boner didn¡¯t skip a beat. In fact he hadn¡¯t been phased by my outburst. His eyes fell on mine emanating coldness. ¡°Maybe so¡­. But you didn''t say he wasn''t crazy.¡± Compared to me he was so calm. Like still water.

    Where did the nervous interviewee go. The tables had turned. Wasn¡¯t boner the one with the anger problem? When did I become angry? I let out a breath I didn¡¯t know I was holding and fell back into my seat.

    My eyes dropped to the desk. My body felt tense like it was made of stone. ¡°Okay... you can go. Have the next person come in.¡± He left the room closing the door behind him.

    The rest of the interviews went fairly smoothly. Some of the questions included. ¡°If you could be a tree what tree would you be?¡± Sapphire said she wanted to be a pecan tree. That way people would be eating her nuts. I felt like I¡¯d heard that somewhere before and she was just repeating it.

    Rosy said she wanted to be an apple tree because she planted one with her dad in their backyard, way back when she was a little kid. That was way to wholesome compared to Sapphire¡¯s response.

    King said he wanted to be a bonsai tree because that meant he would be well taken care of. That said way to much about him.

    I also asked them ¡°What''s your biggest weakness?¡± Sapphire said the bathroom wall at school. I felt like there was a very sad story there and decided not to continue.

    When Rosy was asked this question she said dogs. Apparently she¡¯s been terrified of them ever since she was a kid. Which begged the question why wasn¡¯t she afraid of Sapphire? She got all nervous and responded with ¡°Don¡¯t be silly! Sapphire isn¡¯t a dog she¡¯s my friend!¡±

    I wisely decided not to pursue that bizarre logic. King had an¡­. Interesting response. He said his weakness was he couldn¡¯t breathe underwater. I wasn¡¯t even sure how to approach that so I left it alone.

    In the end Sapphire had an interest in crafting accessories so I decided to set her up with an apprenticeship with a local crafter. She¡¯ll basically be making jewelry. Apparently she used to make jewelry back home and had even designed and created cosplay. Once that was revealed I also decided to set her up with an apprenticeship with our local seamstress.

    She seemed like the type of person that didn¡¯t trust people very often, but when she did decide to trust you she was basically the most reliable friend you¡¯ll ever have.

    King was similar to Sapphire only he wanted to try blacksmithing. I didn''t want him bothering Cindy so I think I¡¯ll have him get the basics down from one of the Verta street guys. That should be enough to get him started. If he gets good at it I''ll let Cindy teach him. Maybe we can even set him up with his own shop and have him train new guys.

    He seemed like the type of person that would survive the apocalypse. That kind of cockroach type of person that dose anything to insure their survival. As long as the guilds survival meant his own I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be an okay asset.

    I left Rosie¡¯s story for last seeing as she might actually contribute to our guild. Apparently she had been taking classes for architecture. She had also been mentoring under her father during breaks so she knew a thing or two about buildings.

    From what she told me it looked like our buildings were missing vital support structures and that a strong wind might actually cause the buildings to collapse. Mao was amazing at making things look pretty but he had no idea how to make them function.

    I ended up giving her access to the blueprints Mao had created and she immediately got to work. All she had to do was modify the blueprints then update the buildings accordingly.

    This meant she had access to the guilds materials, but that was okay since she had to ask a core member to actually make and pay for the alterations.

    Chief actually told me what to do in this situation. If I found someone that was actually useful then I could give them extra coin. Rosy ended up making eight silver and we¡¯d also be paying her for the alterations for each individual blue print. That was just to start with. We¡¯d see just how useful she really was.

    As for her personality¡­. I¡¯d say she¡¯s shy but not crippled. She might hold her tongue and fluff her words but for the most part she stands up for her beliefs. She seems like a fairly noble person and could sympathize with just about anyone.

    At least she tried to. The architect showed some concern for chief and was wondering if everything was okay. I reassured her the best I could. She seemed to take it at face value. Just like that the interviews ended and I was left to look through my notes. I was making sure everything was organized when Shadow came through the door in a panic.

    ¡°Luca have you seen master!?¡± She looked like she¡¯d been running around.

    ¡°Is master missing?¡± There was no way. I was sure Shadow was watching her like a hawk.

    ¡°I got up to help the new recruits find and furnish their rooms! When I came back master was gone!¡± She started to cry.

    Why did she assume the worst? ¡°I¡¯m sure chief is fine she must of gone for a walk or something.¡± I felt like I was making excuses. Chief wasn¡¯t crazy enough to warrant this type of treatment.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. One of my pillows was on the floor and my window was wide open. I think¡­.. I think master ran away.¡± The words sounded so bizarre. It still sounded like chief went for a walk but¡­ why go out the window? Unless she thought she was in danger. She was in the guild though. Its safe here¡­. Unless she¡¯s running away from us? Wait, wait! This was chief we were talking about.

    ¡°Did you try chat or the guild tab!?¡± I looked for any change in expression. Her eyes went wide in realization.

    ¡°The map how could I forget!¡± She opened her menu. ¡°I did try chat, but she never answered. Also¡­ there''s something up with masters name. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on.¡± I guess when your in a panic you forget things.

    I opened my own menu. We weren¡¯t in a party anymore and chief wasn¡¯t chief anymore. Her name tag just said Centa. That wasn¡¯t right. How did chief change her name and why? She was over in the southwest area of Serenity.

    That¡¯s when I noticed it. A dark cloud in the distance. out the window smoke was coming from the southwest. Was that a coincidence? It had to be¡­.. but that was also where chief was.

    Shadow came to the conclusion faster than I did. ¡°Honey grab your gear were going out!¡± Shadow¡¯s eyes were thin slits. I felt chills running up my spine as Ryan¡¯s words echoed through my head.

    ¡°Maybe so¡­. But you didn¡¯t say he wasn¡¯t crazy.¡±

    This was bad. I opened my menu and equipped my mage gear. Shadow did the same but went with a different gee. This one was a dark red and had more of a monk style rather than the usual karate gee. I remember her telling me about her gear losing its stats after she washed it. That was a terrible loss.

    Right when we were about to leave Sapphire stopped us in the hallway. ¡°Guys there''s someone outside.¡± She was calm so there probably wasn''t any danger. What did bother me was the fact that she looked a little unnerved.

    Shadow confronted her. ¡°Sweetie, what do you mean someone¡¯s outside? Didn¡¯t you guys close the gate on your way in?¡± The wolf girl shrugged her shoulders as if she didn''t know.

    I stepped in. ¡°Sapphire what did you see?¡± The girl froze for a sec then came back with. ¡°I was in my room and looked out the window when I saw a person standing outside. A real freak if you ask me. They were wearing a banana costume and acted kind of aggressive.¡±

    Huh¡­ that sounds terrifying! Why is she so calm! ¡°Like outside your window!? Were they watching you?¡± That was way to creepy! What kind of pervert goes around dressed as a giant banana while peeking into teenage girls rooms!

    ¡°No¡± She shook her head. ¡°nothing like that. They were out front near the entrance. They kept yelling out a name. uh¡­ Iss or something like it. Regardless of why they¡¯re here, they seem a bit unhinged. Maybe we should call the cops? We have those right?¡±

    I scratched my head. Cops? What made her think that was a thing? ¡°Iss? That¡¯s not a name I know of. No one here goes by that name. We don¡¯t have time for this! Chief is in danger!¡± I pushed passed her. Shadow followed. Technically chief wasn¡¯t in danger chief was the danger but I wasn¡¯t ready to admit that. I¡¯m sure chief is just going for a walk. I just need to make sure. Then we can leave all this behind us and be a normal guild again. We''ll deal with that weirdo first and then go get chief.

    Sapphire called after us. ¡°Is Isaac okay?¡± Shadow answered back. ¡°She¡¯s fine. Just went for a walk.¡± I suppose starting up a panic was a bad idea. Especially after what chief did in the lounge. What if she does it in the middle of town!? How did chief even do that!? Even with Snowball she should of only been able to fire off two spells at the most.

    Together we rushed to the front door and when we opened it we were faced with someone in a bright yellow banana costume. Now that I think about it isn¡¯t that a really old drop from way back when? Yeah, chief had one of those.

    ¡°Where is Izzy?¡± It was a girl. She was around Chief size. The only thing that showed she was a she was her voice and her cute face. Her eyes were a light blue with golden star shaped pupils. Her name tag read Alice and she was a level 39 magical girl. You didn''t see that class very often. It was one of the first classes ever added in a update to the game. No one really used it all that much.

    The class gave you the ability to transform into a cute outfit and even a hair change. At the same time you''d gain buffs and an even boost of 0.5 to all your stat ratios. The abilities varied from physical attacks to magic attacks, and the transformations didn''t last very long. Usually about three minutes. Once that happened you had to let it recharge for a whole minute.

    In her hands was a kitchen knife. It had blood stains from previous use. The blood was old. It was evident by the dried out rust color it had.

    I had no idea who this girl could be but Shadow looked like she¡¯d seen a ghost. I wanted to say something but she beat me to it.

    ¡°Are you that Alice?¡±

    The girl smiled. ¡°So you¡¯re that Shadow. Where is my Isaac? I know he¡¯s here... Izzy! Get your ass out here! You''ve been playing with these girls haven''t you!¡± She waved the knife around with the same enthusiasm as a child swinging around a doll. The girl had red Puffy eyes like she¡¯d been crying.

    In true Shadow-like fashion she jumped into mom mode. ¡°Isaac isn''t here sweetie. Don''t swing that knife like that you might get hurt.¡± Sadly she wasn¡¯t getting the same murder vibes I was getting. Had I read the situation wrong? Was this not chiefs jealous ex about to go full yandere on us. Maybe I should¡ª

    I didn''t get to finish that thought as the girls presence became all wavy. Like seeing a mirage in the distance while walking through a desert. That was the after image ability! Where!?

    Shadow screamed as Alice held her hand behind her back and pressed the knife against her kidney. She hadn¡¯t stabbed her yet. The girl was holding Shadow hostage.

    ¡°Shadow! How!? Your perception is higher than mine!¡± There¡¯s no way this noob could manhandled Shadow like that! Yet somehow she was being held hostage. Did she have other classes leveled? She definitely had ninja leveled and that was an advanced class so she had to have some levels in assassin and some dark affinity magic. Hang on, I totally noticed her use that ninja ability why didn¡¯t Shadow see it? Shadow should be stronger. She just needs to over power her, but that knife.

    ¡°Sorry. I¡¯m a cat my eye sight is awful in the day time. I¡¯m basically near sighted.¡± That¡¯s no good. I didn¡¯t know that was a thing. What do I do? Why was Shadow so calm!?

    ¡°Where is Isaac!? tell me before things get messy!¡± She pressed the knife against Shadows back making her yelp in pain. Blood started to bubble around the tip. That wasn¡¯t a vital spot. It might hurt like crazy but she won¡¯t die from it. Sorry Shadow.

    ¡°Bind!¡± I reached out with my hand activating a spell on my hot bar. A purple magic circle appeared under Alice and Shadow. Alice stabbed Shadow forcing the knife down to the hilt. Glowing purple chains came out of the magic circle and wrapped around Alice. They held her suspended a foot off the ground and kept her from moving to much.

    ¡°Let me go you fucking bitches! I¡¯ll kill you both!¡± The girl struggled against her magical restraints but couldn¡¯t break free.

    ¡°Oh, crud! that hurts! Ow, ow, ow!¡± even to this extent Shadow made sure not to let out a cuss word. I was impressed.

    I pulled a potion out of my inventory and handed it to her. Then ripped the knife out of her back. She cried out in pain then drank the potion. It took only a moment for her flesh to mend. If we ever make it home I¡¯m taking one of these potions with me and having it analyzed.

    ¡°Let me go you fucks! Ill kill you all! Isaac you asshole! You coward! Hiding behind your sluts! You son of a fucking whooooore!¡± She kicked and screamed but she wasn¡¯t getting out of that spell. It would last a few more seconds and I could always cast it again.

    Shadow looked like she wanted to murder the little gremlin. I wasn¡¯t sure if I should stop her or not. On one hand she did try to kill Shadow. On the other hand I didn¡¯t want to be apart of a murder.

    I watched as she reached over and pulled the girl over her knee. The chains seemed to stretch keeping her from moving around to much. Shadow stripped the girl of that awful costume leaving her in a black sports bra and black Spanx shorts. Then proceeded to not kill but spank the living shit out of her.

    She was actually really cute. Like chief but with long blonde hair. True to the Alice name.

    The punishment went on for far longer than I thought it would. I mean she did stab someone. I kind of wanted to just walk away and go find Chief, but was afraid this girl might do something else to Shadow. That and I felt like I was also in trouble.

    Kind of like when my mom would spank my brother in front of me and all I could really do was sit there and try not to be the next target. When Shadow was done the girl was left a crying mess on the grass.

    ¡°You better watch your mouth young lady or ill wash it out with soup next time! What is wrong with you kids and using cuss words! I won¡¯t stand for it!¡± Shadow paced back and forth like she wanted something else to hit. I was on my best behavior. It almost seemed like she was more upset about the profanity than being stabbed.

    The girl continued to cry. She seemed much more docile now. I think she might be to embarrassed to fight back. The chains were no longer needed. I heard her mumble something. Shadow instantly snapped at her.

    ¡°What was that!?¡± the small girl squeaked in fear like a frightened mouse and curled into a ball. ¡°Wh-wh-where is Izzy?¡± She cried.

    Shadow let out a breath like she was calming herself down. ¡°Master was here but now she¡¯s not. She went out for a walk. We were on our way to go get her.¡± She seemed to accept the answer rubbing the tears from her eyes.

    I felt like now was a good time to ask. ¡°Who Is she? Is this Chief¡¯s ex?¡± Shadow was hesitant to answer.

    ¡°This is¡­. This is masters wife Alice.¡± Shadow wouldn¡¯t meet my wide eyes.

    This was masters wife! I thought she was fake. I used to make fun of master by telling him his wife went to another school. This¡­ this was an opportunity!

    I crotched down to meet the girls eyes. She looked somewhat fearful. ¡°Uh¡­ excuse me but Isaac? Has he ever done anything strange. Like hallucinate some kind of monster.¡±

    The girl went wide eyed at my words. No longer was she a frightened little girl. ¡°What kind of monster? Was it a centipede?¡± She sat up and was a little to close for comfort.

    Her words confirmed my suspicion. I felt a chill run through me. The wind as if coming to the same conclusion picked up. I slowly nodded my head afraid of what might come next.

    The look of horror that came upon her face was enough to unnerve even the toughest of veterans.

    ¡°Has Izzy killed anyone yet?¡± Her words. The implications of ¡°yet¡± I didn¡¯t know what to say. Shadow piped up for me.

    ¡°Almost.¡±

    Everyone was silent. Shadow told me about their encounter with Mantis. She said Chief had lost it and was about to kill the guy, but I mean he deserved it right? Maybe not death but he wasn¡¯t a good person. Of course master would want to hurt him. I would to.

    ¡°You let him run around free! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Do you have any idea what you''ve done! His meds¡­ Isaac has been off his meds for longer than a day! I thought I had more time!¡±

    I looked to the bellows of smoke in the horizon and could tell it was getting worse. Alice followed my line of sight and realized something I refused to acknowledge.

    The look on Alice¡¯s face became down right terrified. Shadow seemed to already know what was going on and didn¡¯t dare follow my gaze. She was in fact crying. I hadn¡¯t noticed until now.

    ¡°I should of dropped her in a cell alongside Mantis. I could of¡­ I thought about it but I was blinded by our friendship. I didn¡¯t want to believe it¡­. and now people are being hurt because of me.¡± Tears rolled down her cheeks.

    This was all wrong, Chief wasn¡¯t¡­ Chief couldn¡¯t¡­¡­.

 Episode 18: Centa

    Chapter 18

    Centa

    -Isaac-

    The air was frigid, the ground was ice, and I was in a singing mood. ¡°Cold as balls, cold as balls. Its cold. Its cold as balls. Feel my tits. There so hard. They can cut through glass its cold as balls.¡± No shame, not a shred. There was no one else around so why hold back.

    I was dressed in a long black coat walking down icy terrain. There were these spire like things. Each one spiraled up out of the ground like some kind of ice cyclone. As in they didn¡¯t move but were instead frozen solid. The interesting part was the multi colored glow they produced. It was like a gay parade. It was glorious. The inside of them was spacious and hollow.

    How something like that formed I had no idea. It looked like something out of a daydream I once had, about an alien planet covered in ice. Not sure if that was an isekai trip or not. It was a short dream and more of a thought really so I doubt it.

    I made my way inside one of the hollow ice formations. It was the only way to block the cold wind. There¡¯s no way I could do this. It¡¯s way to cold! Why the hell Aku sent me way the fuck out here I still wasn¡¯t sure.

    I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out a canteen. Inside was hot tea. Aku made it for me. The tea would replenish the moment I closed it and it would remain hot no matter how cold it was.

    I took a few sips feeling the warmth seep into my very bones. This stuff would also heal me if I got hurt. I could also steadily increase my mass as long as I kept drinking it. Already I was back to the normal height I had when I first came here.

    Still I could never replenish the bits of soul I lost to the monster. That¡¯s what I needed to win our little squabble. At least that¡¯s what Aku told me.

    When I got my arm cut off I ended up shrinking a little but now I was back to normal. Aku says I used to be taller though. Won''t be long now. I¡¯m growing like a tumor.

    My new pants fit well. They were thermal jeans to help with the cold. My shoes were also special like the canteen. They had perfect traction so I wouldn''t slip on the ice. I could also move a little faster and jump a little higher. Aku says my clothes will grow with me as I drink. They would also repair themselves as long as I kept drinking.

    I took a few more sips and felt cold air blast through the opening I made in the ice spire. Next time I needed to remember to break in on a side where the wind wasn''t blowing.

    You know lately I''ve been thinking. If I didn''t have such a huge country to look after I could just go out and adventure like a normal person. Kind of like what I''m doing now, but hopefully it¡¯s warmer.

    Frankly I prefer cold weather to hot weather. You could always add more layers to stay warm. In the summer you can¡¯t exactly walk around naked. Well you could but you¡¯d just end up in a jail cell.

    I reached into my jeans back pocket and pulled out an honest to god compass. It looked like I was slightly off from north. That was okay seeing as it¡¯s hard to see anything. This place was in a perpetual snow storm. It didn¡¯t help that the only light I got was the prismatic glowing spires. I couldn¡¯t see more than a few feet in front of me. The compass technically pointed north.

    In reality¡­ is this reality? In un-reality it was a guide. It kept me from falling into any ravines or going into dead ends. The place I was trying to reach is call the soul gate. Aku said there was one to the north. What it is even I¡¯m not sure. All I know is by opening it. My mind or soul or whatever this place is will get an influx of power, and some kind of reset will happen. Whatever the hell that means.

    Once it opens up I¡¯ll need to take that power into myself and somehow use it to grow stronger. The way I see it. It¡¯s like my soul or mind is a company and the centipede is buying up stock left and right. Essentially trying to take ownership of the company and force me out.

    So what do you do when someone is trying to take your company? You create more stock essentially making the centipedes stock worthless. I didn¡¯t have investors so this was a win. It sounded crazy but whatever. I was probably crazy to have made all this crap up.

    The tea didn''t create more stock all it did was power up what I already had. It was a tiny amount of energy but what I really needed was mass.

    I gave the canteen a few more sips before packing up and moving out. The cold air cut into me once more as I trekked the harsh land. This sucked. How was I supposed to find my way back! Stupid compass only goes one way.

    I had been traveling north for a while now. For all I know this is Aku¡¯s way of getting rid of me. Kill me off than re-take control of her body. Though she said she¡¯s never actually had a body. I might just be making excuses so I don¡¯t have to go on this adventure. If I had powers then sure why not, but I didn¡¯t. This was in no way fun for me.

    This whole thing seems way to complicated for my two brain cells to handle. I need at least three psychiatrists to even get a foot hold on what¡¯s going on. Doctor Novak wasn¡¯t around so I couldn¡¯t ask her.

    Stop over thinking it Isaac. All you gotta do is kill the giant centipede. You¡¯ll be fine. You¡¯ve killed lots of bugs over the years. Remember that time you got attacked by that giant flying cockroach.

    You killed it so efficiently. When it flew at you. You smacked it out of the air with your bear hand, slamming it against the floor. Then you stepped on it. by the way It was so crunchy. I thought bugs didn¡¯t have bones. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m actually going to die. ¡°This is all just a bad trip I tell you!¡± I yelled to no one. Then started laughing erratically. What was I doing?

    The blizzard was so strong I couldn¡¯t even see the supposed mountain I was told to climb. How can you not see a whole freaking mountain! I must be blind. Unless¡­. Maybe the mountain was the friends we made along the way?

    I looked around but didn¡¯t see any so called friends. I wanna go home! I¡¯m tired of hallucinating! I swear I¡¯ll take my meds! Just let me go home!

    If I knew it would be this much work I would of just let the monster eat me. It was to late for that. I was already an hour into this little hike. Besides Aku would probably be sad if I did something like throw myself into the void.

    You know how you watch a movie and you watch the main character pulling off all kinds of feats. Well now I know what it actually feels like to be in that position and I have no idea how to do it.

    It''s like if you were watching die hard except Bruce Willis is replaced with Michael Cera¡­. Actually, I¡¯d totally pay to see that. It would look ridiculous.

    After about forty minutes I took another break. The cold was really starting to get to me. My hands, feet, and face were completely numb by this point. The canteen provided some warmth. It¡¯s heat flowed through the inside of my coat.

    I might lose my fingers and toes but at least I wouldn¡¯t die of hypothermia. The more tea I drank the stronger I felt. I felt a little taller to. I wonder why Aku hasn¡¯t grown any? That reminded me of her hair. Is that where it¡¯s all going?

    I wonder. My dicks always been a little above average. Could I make get it to thirteen inches if I kept drinking this stuff? I bet Alice would love that. Then again what if it only made my hair grow? I could end up with super long pubes.

    To me that made sense. The rules of this world were all about mass And energy. Kind of like the old classic snake game. That monster has been feeding off me for¡­.. who knows how long. That¡¯s probably how it got so big in the first place.

    How did that thing even come about? I¡¯ve only ever seen it in nightmares and even then it¡¯s never been so aggressive as it has recently. It¡¯s so angry to. What if it¡¯s got a splinter in its leg. I¡¯d be pretty mad if I had something stuck in my leg with no way of getting it out. No way! That things no injured lion! It¡¯s been messing with me since I was a kid!

    I''m still missing the whole picture. For starters I¡¯ve never seen it appear out of my dreams like that. Something must of changed but what exactly that is I have no clue.

    I wonder how that works? What part of me actually got sent over? It wasn¡¯t my body. Was it my mind, or something more substantial? Like my soul. If souls exist that is. On second thought if were speaking scientifically isn¡¯t the mind the soul? All that bio electricity. Couldn¡¯t that be considered the soul?

    I don¡¯t even know anymore. It¡¯s all speculation at this point. Just trading answers for questions. What I do know is I¡¯m going to survive.

    I got moving again. After another hour of following my compass I made it to the foot of the mountain. Somewhere up there was the gate. from what Aku told me it would be some sort of cave near the top.

    I took a short break seeing as I probably wouldn¡¯t get to take another for a while. It didn¡¯t last long.

    Climbing the steep mountain wasn¡¯t gonna be to big a problem. My shoes not only had perfect traction they also allowed me to walk on walls and ceilings.

    I just needed to be careful when taking steps. The wind could easily knock me off balance and if that happened it was all over. Best not to think about it otherwise risk it¡¯s manifestation.

    Unsure if this would even work I placed my foot on the wall and surely enough I felt a powerful shift in gravity. Knowing what was coming next I lifted my other foot and held myself firm as gravity went completely sideways.

    The feeling was akin to a roller coaster changing directions. My guts turned and my heart felt out of place. The whole experience made me feel so disoriented that I almost threw up.

    With that out of the way I started heading up the mountain. The more I thought about it the more I felt like jumping off. This whole thing left me feeling so out of place that my mind strained to make sense of it.

    I decided not to think about it and pretend I was walking on normal ground. That seemed to help. I really hope this is worth it.

    As much as I hated this little journey through the corners of my brain. I got to say I enjoyed finally having my head to myself. This whole experience had been meditative in a way. Actually it was literally meditative when you think about it. I¡¯d completely blocked out reality and was in the midst of clearing my mind. Clearing it of that centipede that is.

    The cold wind still tried to cut me down but I held firm. Instead of curling up into a ball and hiding. I braced against the cold and continued forward.

    The side of the mountain had crystals jutting out. They took on beautiful shapes. Shapes that reminded me of flowers. Each was as unique as a snowflake yet sharper than any blade. Some were red others blue. I saw green and white and violet.. what was interesting was they each felt different. The green ones gave off a breeze. The blue ones were extra cold. The red ones were super warm. The white ones had glowed extra bright to where I felt like I was looking at the sun.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    I thought about taking one but they were very sharp and would probably cut me at a touch. What a shame. I bet Aku would love to have one.

    My walk up the mountain almost ended in tragedy a few times as the wind would try to push me off. That was okay. I could take it.

    The wind kicked up again and this time a bunch of snow came crashing down. It wasn¡¯t an avalanche. It was more akin to a car running down the highway and having a sheet of snow fall off its top.

    The blanket of snow hit me and I fell back. I hurtled down the side of the mountain screaming. Then felt the sharp ice flowers cut into my flesh. Finally I managed to stop myself on a rock. I hadn¡¯t actually fallen that far. Only about thirty feet, and it was more of a tumble due to the steep slope.

    My shoulder popped as the force pulled on my arm. It hurt like a bitch but at least I hadn''t fallen all the way down.

    I tried to catch my breath while I worked to shift the gravity once more. My feet were planted on the wall and everything shifted again. My head spun.

    After adjusting my perception I started to check my wounds. My coat was thick enough to protect me but my new pants had been torn at the right pant leg.

    There was blood trickling away from the sky. It looked so bizarre the way it fell sideways which made me wonder how gravity was both pulling me sideways and down at the same time. Maybe once blood leaves my insides my foot wear no longer considers it apart of me. I stopped trying to make sense of it.

    I quickly pulled out the canteen then took some sips. The wound quickly closed and my body started to warm up. My shoulder was almost pulled from it¡¯s socket. I rotated it and felt a dull ache. Another sip of tea and the pain faded a bit.

    I need to be more careful. If I¡¯d fallen any farther I wouldn¡¯t have been able to stop myself. I wasn¡¯t sure what would happen if I fell all the way down. I don¡¯t think dying was possible. Not in this place. Maybe my mass would shift around till I was all better but who knew how long that would take. I kept pushing forward the blood now frozen on my leg. Ignore it and keep going. Just keep it moving. Your already this far you can¡¯t give up now.

    I wasn¡¯t even halfway up the mountain yet. After about two hours I managed to make it passed the clouds and onto a platform. Gravity turned back to normal as I laid there on the hard stone.

    Now that I was above the clouds the snow storm was no more. All I could see was a sea of calm white fog and a dark sky.

    It took a minute to catch my breath. The air was so thin up here that I was having trouble breathing. I took a few sips of tea and felt my body warm up. The canteen felt good in my cold hands. I was actually starting to get feeling in my fingers again. They were in pain.

    I really wanted to just lay there and die but that seemed like a waste considering I made it all the way up here. It sure was cold though.

    The endless clouds looked amazing. It tickled my imagination. I felt like there might be some sort of creature swimming in that white fog. That would be cool to see. It looked like the kind of place one of those long chinese dragons would live.

    That¡¯s when I saw something moving. A shadow of some kind of elongated creature. I knew exactly what it was. It was still far away but it was slowly inching over, weaving through the clouds. That fucking centipede!

    It looked like it was still to far away. Somehow it was flying. That made no sense. Was its body just so long that it could stretch out that far? I still had time.

    I took in my surroundings and finally saw what I came here for. There was a cave but not just a cave. It was the entrance to the gate. The cave was only a few feet away from me. I was literally laying in front of the entrance.

    The next part would be the hardest. to open the gate I needed to blast my way through it with raw power. Lucky for me Aku had been gathering it for a little while now. I thought maybe she could save it for a future emergency which I suppose this was one.

    She says that the power that''s normally used to open the gate is usually impure and that the pure energy we had was so dense that even a handful was enough to bust it open.

    I was left wondering where she could of gotten that information from. All she said was that the lady explained it to her a long time ago when she made the mistake of accidently finding the small gate within the castle. Apparently that gate no longer exists since the castle crash landed in this place. All these stupid rules of different realities. I can¡¯t keep up.

    I rubbed my eyes and got up. A few more sips of tea warmed me right up but did nothing to satisfy my coffee addiction. Pretending tea was coffee was no longer working.

    At least I felt stronger now. My arms and legs felt like they had actual muscle mass. Not really, it''s more like they had stretched and filled out a little. Was I supposed to grow this quickly? I still felt small. Not necessarily child size but maybe something like a pre-teen.

    Can¡¯t wait till I¡¯m an adult. I hope I don¡¯t have to go through puberty again. Can¡¯t stand walking around trying to hide my boner. It gets super awkward.

    I looked into the cave. The entrance was covered with icicles. Each one taking on a different color. It kind of looked like a mouth. The inside was dark as hell. It was almost as dark as the sky. Lucky for me being exposed to all this darkness has caused my eyes to adjust.

    It was time. I couldn¡¯t put it off anymore so I started heading towards the gate. It was actually warmer in here than out there. In fact there was a heat coming from deeper inside.

    -???-

    *Scratch sractch*

    Tell me. Why do people fear death when they get to go to a better place? The fear of the unknown. I¡¯ve pondered this and have come to the realization that the unknown is the root of all fear. Does that mean they don¡¯t actually know where they go?

    *twitch twitch*

    Are you scared of the afterlife? Of course you are. you have no idea what it is. I know for I have lived there for a long, long time. It¡¯s an abyss of nothingness.

    *dig dig*

    The only stimulation I get is from whatever gets dropped down here. It¡¯s always pain. I never know when it might happen and it''s awful every time. I miss the old days when I actually got to go outside. Those times were nothing but pain to, but at least there was light and people.

    *nibble nibble*

    I miss the feeling of air¡­ and gravity. I especially miss the light. I want to experience warmth. I¡¯d settle for cold even. Something¡­. anything other than these painful feelings and memories. There like demons come to torture me.

    *claw claw*

    The only experience I''ve gotten here is pain, anger, fear, dread, sadness, and loneliness. So much loneliness. I can¡¯t even end my existence. I scream and cry till my throat bleeds and my eyes dry up but no one hears me. No one cares. Very few know I even exist. Why wont it end!? Why wont someone save me!?

    *Rustle crumble*

    There are lots and lots of awful emotions but I do get to see his memories. I experience them like movies so I¡¯m not completely blind to the outside world but I want to experience things for myself. I want to feel loved like he does. The last time I saw the real world was so long ago. As far as I could tell that time was the best I''ve ever had, and I spent most of it locked in a room.

    *Buzz*

    I wish to be free. I wish to roam around the outside world. I¡¯m tired of being crushed by negative emotions. Every day I grow stronger. I take back bits of control from him.

    *wiggle wiggle*

    He trapped me here! That dam brother of mine! He should be the one here not me! The deal was I was gonna take over and he! He was the one that was supposed to suffer!

    *twitch twitch*

    I¡¯m already dead but I¡¯m still not at rest. I can¡¯t sleep. Not with all this pressure and pain. Fear¡­ I feel it every day. It makes my eyes stay wide open. It makes me want to run but it never let¡¯s me leave.

    *buzzZz*

    Soooooon. Soon I¡¯ll be free. All this pain it¡¯s not without fruits. I¡¯ve managed to twist it into a monster and slowly its been cutting away at him.

    *fidget fidget*

    It¡¯ll still be a while before I can take full control but I¡¯m going to do it. Then he¡¯ll be the one down here and I¡¯ll be free of this pain. Free of the dark and out in the daylight. I haven¡¯t seen daylight in over twenty years. I want to feel it on my skin.

    *squirm rustle*

    Hope is the only thing that¡¯s kept me going. The hope that I¡¯ll finally be free. I will be free. I swear it. Lucky for me that dam castle hit the planet. It softened the surface and I was finally able to spread my influence passed the hole.

    *rustle squirm*

    I finally had the opportunity to attack my captor. Slowly I¡¯ve been gathering the power I need to overthrow him. Right now I¡¯ve got about 45% of the core. I only need 6% more and I¡¯ll be able to take control of our body. If I get more I can force him into the hole, but for now I just want to see the sunlight again. I want to feel something other than pain.

    *crack crack*

    That fool has wasted our life. There is so much that needs to be done. This country is bleeding. He takes it so slow but I know I can fix it. Not that stupid Isaac. He knows nothing. I''ve had to sit here and watch as he ruins one good thing after another.

    *stretch rip*

    Up above. Someone was here. It can''t be. Has it finally happened? Did he lose control of the throne? Eyes peered down at me. Right at me. My eyes met with theirs and for a moment I could taste his spirit. It was spicy just like in the dreaming. If I get even just a leg I¡¯ll have enough to take the throne. I can finally taste the air. Maybe even have a real meal.

    *buzzZzZ*

    The heavy dark mass rose up slowly causing the hole to shake. Rubble rained down into the hole. I was curled up into a ball watching as the dark formed into a massive centipede. It screeched and lunged at Isaac.

    *BUZZZzzZzZzZzzzZZzZzzzzZZZZzz*

    Something went wrong. The monster cried in pain and I felt a part of it get swallowed up by Isaac. I got something in return. It was a huge chunk of the prime core. This brought me up to 52%. Still not enough to force him into the hole. That''s okay though because finally I can be free.

    The beast sunk back into the hole and I commanded it to bring me to the throne. It pushed itself under me. I felt my frail body rise. Slowly but surely I was being lifted up out of the hole. With the core fragments I had in my possession I could now leave this place. The pain would have to come with me. Not only had I turned it into a monster but in order to control it. I also bound it to myself.

    The room I saw was dark. Still better than the dark hole I¡¯ve been trapped in. Thanks to the light deprivation I endured for so long, light sensitivity was high. Isaac was nowhere to be seen. That was okay. It¡¯s not like he could do anything.

    Each of the Strange plants that shone looked wonderful. The colors were some of the most beautiful things I¡¯ve ever seen. Beautiful rays of violet and blue. Some green. Others were slightly dimmer giving off dull red lights that seemed to stretch the farthest.

    I hadn¡¯t even been to the outside world, yet this much was enough to bring tears to my eyes. Looking through the eyes of the monster was like trying to see with your ears. It was possible to make things out but impossible to experience sight.

    It was time to finally leave this place. Half of me will stay here. The monster that is. It¡¯ll keep those two from dethroning me. One day I will return and find what¡¯s left of Isaac. Finally I shall have justice.

    In the mean time the monster will plunge this world into despair and leave those two in cold darkness.

    I was slowly lowered onto the throne. It was hard and cold but it also felt good. A light engulfed my form and I rose far above the world. Up into the void above.

    I awoke on something soft. It was warm and comfortable. I wanted to stay here. For the first time ever I felt happy. Maybe not safe but definitely happy.

    I opened my eyes and saw a ceiling. Everything was so much brighter than the throne room. Rays of sunshine cut through the air and danced on what I understood was a bed. They warmed the covers I was wrapped in and moved so vigorously.

    I smiled. It was so pretty! How were they doing that!? Was this something they did just for me? I tried to touch them but they hopped up onto my fingers. It startled me so I jumped back.

    They stopped dancing. Did I upset them? Maybe I scared them. I looked to the light source and realized the light hadn¡¯t been dancing at all. It was the leaves of the tree outside. They were moving in the wind and the light was being blocked by them. I see, so it was the shadows that were actually moving. Fascinating! I want to learn more!

    As much as it excited me it also made me sad. I thought the light was playing with me. That¡¯s okay. It was my first happy memory. I¡¯ll treasure it forever.

    I wanna try walking. There was never much room in the hole for that and most of the time all I ever did was curl up and cry. I shook my head. No more of that! Today is the first day of my life!

    I pushed the covers away then turned my legs so they were facing the edge of the bed. With a push I hopped off. My feet hit the cold floor and I fell on my butt. The pain brought back memories of mother. All pain seemed to do that and I curled up on the floor.

    The flash of memories came and went. Once it was over and I was back in the material world I finally relaxed my body. I sat up and tried to figure out how to stand.

    Shifting my legs I managed to get into a crouching position. There was some strain on my legs from being folded like I was but that ended once I started to push my torso away from the ground.

    I did it slowly not wanting to fall again, and soon enough I found myself standing. It was strange. I could feel the weight of my body pressing down on my feet. Gravity is amazing! I shifted the weight to one leg then the other and found it easy to balance myself on a single limb. I tried taking a step.

    It was both frightening and exciting. The moment I was on one leg and my balance tilted forward was so nerve racking. My other foot touched the floor just before I could completely fall over, and the weight distributed evenly.

    I forced my weight onto the foot farther away from me then moved the other foot forward. It was easy. I practiced for a little and it became natural to me. This body already knew how to walk.

    While that was handy I kind of wanted to learn by myself and not be guided by muscle memory. That¡¯s okay though it was a new memory I could cherish.

    Let¡¯s see now. There¡¯s one of those mirror things. I¡¯ve never actually looked in one. I made my way over and took a peak. The girl in the mirror. She¡¯s really cute! It looks like Aku but different. What¡¯s with the clothing though?

    I found myself wearing what I would call white cat pajamas. It was like a onesie only it was very baggy. It had a Hoodie with cat ears. I even had a tail. The pant legs seemed to touch the floor almost like it was to big for me. The sleeves did something similar in which they went past my hands.

    I did not dislike it. The clothes were soft and warm, but I wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything in them. They were for in doors. That¡¯s when I noticed the white and blue dress on a hanger. It hanged off the side of the dresser. There were a few other things here to. Some blue marry Jane¡¯s and some tights. A blue bow and a cat plushy.

    When I saw the plushy the name Snowball came to mind. I liked it. ¡°Will you be my friend?¡± The toy didn¡¯t answer. Hmmm¡­. She didn¡¯t say no. That¡¯s when the toy fell forward.

    ¡°You will! Okay!¡± I picked it up and hugged it. It was as soft as it looked, maybe even softer. I was so happy. This is the best day of my life. Well it¡¯s the first day of my life. Maybe there will be better days ahead.

    I got dressed and left the cat onesie on the bed. What should I do now? The people out there. I don¡¯t trust them. Last time I was able to come out they locked me and Isaac up in a strange place. If they find out I¡¯m not him then that might happen again. No! I can¡¯t let that come to pass. I just got here!

    I looked toward the window and an idea blossomed in my mind. I made my way over Snowball in hand. The window had a latch. I opened it and pushed it outward. It swung open. The air outside was a little chilly but Mr. sun was warm. I should try that thing.

    I focused the power in my tummy. It was nothing but aspects of my surroundings. There were heat and cold aspects and air aspects. Very little water aspects and quite a few earth aspects. There were light and shadow aspects. There was even a few life aspects. It was like a sup.

    I drew the power out of my center and forced it to circulate through out my body. Just like how blood moved through my veins essence now flowed through me. As expected a bubble appeared around me. It was like a shield. This was the most basic aura you could possibly make. It was expected with how impure essence was. If I had qi it would be different but I didn¡¯t. this power system wasn''t without its perks.

    When your stuck in the back seat for so long you have the chance to see how everything works. This body had a decent sized source of power and a lot of outlets.

    There was these tendrils that could connect to creatures. An invisible eye that could do all sorts of things. The power source it could be expanded through cultivation. In my tummy was two things. One was a ball of power and the other was a multi-colored crystal. That¡¯s the focus point for magic. There was also a bunch of other stuff I didn¡¯t know anything about.

    The lady explained it once to me. She came to me first before asking Isaac for a chunk of his core. I asked her about power and she told me there were all sorts of powers. You only needed to rank up to unlock one. She also gave me a few examples. Like cultivation or magic. Those two were the most common with psychic being in the third.

    However there was many other powers. Ones that were rare. Some strong, others slow growth. Some didn¡¯t even yield all that much energy for ranking. I was a bit confused by that point so I kind of tuned it out. Most of that didn¡¯t make sense to me. But I now understood that these bodies. These avatars had all sorts of things stuffed into them.

    The lady said having a bunch of different power systems was a terrible idea. That was unless it was perfectly designed in a way that they could all co-exist within the same body.

    From the looks of it. Most of them existed in this avatar but the yield was little to nothing. That wasn¡¯t counting the energy siphon that seemed to drain my core. Whatever power my core gathered was quickly taken through a strange thread. Where it goes I have no idea. I cant stop it. My best guess was the lady didn¡¯t want people ranking up.

    That made sense To me. The power gathered by mortals was hers to take. She did create all of us in one way or another.

    I focused power into the eye under my forehead. My body slowly lifted and I floated out the window. It was time to take care of that purple mist problem. Isaac was to chicken to storm in on his own.

    I¡¯ll need to pick up my weapon from that Cindy lady, but before that. I want to try food. I could already feel my mouth watering. The memory of food was not the same as tearing into meat with your teeth and actually tasting and feeling the hot grease and fat glide down your throat.

 Mini non-canon Episode A

    Morning was here. I was sat at the table eagerly waiting for breakfast. The sound of Shadow humming a somber tune glided through the air like a shivering wave. It reminded me of the first time we met in the new world. Back when I thought I was in a giant¡¯s castle.

    The smell of bacon, eggs, and a few other yummy things kept trying to invade my nose. I happily allowed them to serenade my sense of smell. It made my mouth water.

    It took about ten minutes but the food was ready. Shadow brought it to the table and set the plate in front of me. Her tail seemed to swish as she walked, almost like its momentum was being added to her forward steps. Maybe it was. Animals tended to use their tails to balance themselves so why couldn¡¯t Shadow do the same.

    Not only was there bacon and eggs but there was also sausage and soft warm freshly baked biscuits. The food looked grate. Its like I could taste it at a glance. As if forgetting something Shadow ran back to the kitchen. I stuffed bacon in my mouth and was assaulted by salty crispy grease. It was so good.

    She came back with a cup of milk and put it beside me smiling and waiting in anticipation. ¡°Eat up master.¡± She sounded so energetic. I hate morning people.

    I didn''t normally drink milk but this was probably one of those health things. I didn''t feel like protesting so I held the glass up to my lips and carefully took a sip.

    Strange? This stuff was delicious! "What did you put in it?! It''s warm and sweet! What kind of milk is this why is it so creamy and thick!?"

    "Do you like it master!?" She was all giddy. I nodded. "That''s good. It''s my breast milk!" Her what?Stolen novel; please report.

    The world came to a screeching halt. I searched her face for any signs of a prank. There were none. She wouldn¡¯t really do something as crazy as feed me her breast milk right?

    I immediately spat out any remnants of the cat girl concoction. It wasn''t enough! I tried to vomit but I couldn''t do that on command.

    Her ears drooped and her tail sagged. "What''s wrong? Are you okay? I told you to chew your food."

    "Whhhhhhhy!!!" I cried.

    She blinked in confusion but kept smiling. "Why what?"

    "Why did you feed me your ¡ª how did you even¡ª I can''t even!" My head was spinning.

    She looked at me like I was the crazy one. "What do you mean master? Don''t you know cat girl breast milk is super healthy for you. It''s also the creamiest milk you can find. It''s super popular with the girls since it makes your skin super soft. I made it just for you." She said that last part kind of weird. I ignored it not wanting to unravel the ramifications of someone wanting there breast milk inside you.

    Was I the crazy one? Was this stuff that common? Huh.... "When you say it''s super popular what do you mean? Like if I go to the store can I find it next to the almond and 2% milk or do I have to go find a guy in a dank alley?" It was a fair question. I feel like only weirdos drink cat milk.

    "Actually master there are cat girl milk farms." She seemed very pleased with herself.

    That sounded kinda messed up. Cat girls were people not cattle. "Huh... about how much does this stuff go for anyway?" I swished it around in the cup to get a look at its texture. This stuff was pretty thick. I bet you could make good cheese with it.

    "I believe it''s fifty copper per-pint."

    That was a lot. Hmmmm.... "Say Shadow about how much of this stuff can you make per day?"

    She smiled and became all smug. "I can make a little over a gallon!" She sounded so proud of herself. Even going as far as to puff her chest out at me as if breast size mattered when it came to the production of breast milk.

    One gallon, that''s eight pints a day. Eight pints is four silver a day and four silver in the old world currency is four-hundred dollars...... "Hey Shadow, how would you feel about going to live on a farm?"

    She no longer smiled as realization hit her. Truly a fate worse than death.

 Mini non-canon Episode B

    Air blew past my face as I power skipped down the hall. Each time I jumped I tried to go as far as I could in a straight line. It was kind of hard to contain myself within the halls. Every once in a while my head would almost hit the ceiling. The whole point of the exercise was to find control. It was a little dangerous but that was expected when one tried to imitate the flight of the majestic buffalo.

    I tried braking mid jump by pressing my bare feet on the stone floor, and watched as I slid across the stone. My foot got caught on an uneven crack and I fell forward. ¡°Whoa!¡±

    I came to a stop face down. There was so much pain. When I noticed my nighty had flipped over my back. I quickly got up to rectify it. My face blushed and I looked around to make sure no one saw me. The coast was clear. I wiped my teary eyes. That¡¯s when I noticed all the stones around me. Strange¡­ when did the inside become the outside?

    My mouth fell open as my predicament came to bare. There were now large cracks on the floor. They must have been from my take off. ¡°Oops¡­ Shadow is gonna kill me!¡± She was out shopping right now. If she sees the mess I made she¡¯ll never leave me home alone again! I¡¯ll have to go shopping with her and endure public shame. I really hate having to socialize with so many strangers. The thought of it made me feel constipated.

    This is like the time I used mom¡¯s lipstick to draw on the walls! What do I do?! I crotched down hugging my knees waiting for the end of my existence.

    I stayed like that for far longer than I should have. A fire lit inside of me and I bounced back up. ¡°No way! I can fix this.¡± Immediately, I ran around the hallway gathering the stones that had broken off. Some small, others large, always in different shapes. Though, I did manage to find two that looked a little like chicken wings if you squinted hard enough.

    I started to stuff them into the cracks trying to reform the original smoothness of the stone floors. As much as I wished it would work it didn¡¯t. I could already feel my butt burning from the pain that was going to be inflicted on me when Shadow came home.

    It was only a few days ago that I was bent over her knee for that incident with the microwave. How was I supposed to know you weren¡¯t supposed to put eggs in a microwave! The part that really got me in trouble was when I left it that way for Shadow to find. By the time she realized what I¡¯d done, the whole thing was stuck to the inside. I ended up having to clean it out and she didn¡¯t even let me use cleanse.

    Maybe I could use the town building mechanics to fix the floor¡­. Oh but what if she sees the changes in the logs. All that stuff is documented by the system. I¡¯m so screwed!

    I felt tears forming already. What do I do?! What am I thinking! I¡¯m a grown ass man! She¡¯ll just have to deal with it. So I broke the floor big deal! I imagined myself standing up to Shadow. It went well up until she turned into a giant cat monster and swallowed me whole. When did she grow those fangs?! Was that real or just my imagination acting up again? I don''t wanna find out!

    Coming back to my senses I found myself curled up into a ball. ¡°It¡¯s gonna hurt!¡± My existential crisis came to a screeching halt when I heard a knock on the door. Was it Shadow!

    ¡°Wait¡­ Shadow wouldn¡¯t need to knock.¡± This was a stranger. Shadow told me not to talk to those. I tried ignoring them but the more they knocked the more dread I felt. This wasn''t another centipede dream right? Didn''t feel like a dream. I pulled Snowball out of my inventory and gave her a hug for support. It helped a little.

    Even after a minute they continued to knock. Maybe I should see who it is? They could be in trouble. Reminds me of when I got multiple calls from the same unknown number.

    I got to my feet. Shadow might get mad but I was in trouble either way. What''s another nail when you''ve already got fifty of them in your coffin.

    I made my way over and opened the door. There was a girl waiting on the other side. Not sure what age. She looked like a college girl maybe a high school senior. Her hair was white and her eyes were blue. She was dressed like a maid with the addition of a trucker hat. The hat had the words ¡°Top Cat¡± written on the front in bold white letters. Strange choice of an accessory.

    ¡°Hello!¡± She sounded chipper. Morning people are annoying.

    ¡°Uh¡­. Hi? Who are you?¡± Why did Shadow have to leave the gate open. Now we have a weird lady camping in our yard. I could kill her. She was technically trespassing on private property. Technically.

    ¡°I¡¯m your new roommate.¡± Roommate? What was she on about? ¡±Haven''t you heard?¡± her eye¡¯s gave off innocence.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°No?¡± had Shadow invited this girl to come and live here? If so then why! I don¡¯t wanna deal with her. Already my anxiety is bubbling. I gave Snowball a squeeze hiding the lower half of my face behind her head.

    ¡°Um¡­. Well they''ve arranged for me to live with you.¡± This girl is suspicious.

    ¡°By who¡¯s authority!?¡± I''m getting to the bottom of this.

    Nervously, she looked away avoiding eye contact. ¡°Weeell like the owner or landlord or something.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about, I am the landlord!¡± I was just about ready to blast this girl.

    ¡°let me in!¡± She tried to get past me but I blocked her path.

    ¡°No! Go away!¡± I gave her a light shove.

    ¡°Whhhhhy?¡± She visually drooped and her face expression turned into puppy eyes. I almost felt sorry for her.

    ¡°I don''t know you go away!¡± She seemed to change tactics angrily pouting. It was cute but I still wasn¡¯t letting her come in. What if she¡¯s a murder hobo. Those clothes probably weren¡¯t even hers. Who wears a trucker hat with a maid dress. She must of killed a maid and some other poor soul.

    ¡°let me in I live here nyow.¡± Nyow? In response I ignited a fire ball suspending it mid air.

    ¡°Ah, wait, wait, wait, wait!¡± I held the fire ball firm allowing it to crackle in the open air. ¡°You¡¯d do yourself a huuuuuge favor¡­ if you let me in.¡±

    ¡°Go on.¡± She stopped cowering and stood up straight.

    ¡°You seeeee¡­ I¡¯m not just any ordinary girl. There¡¯s¡­ there¡¯s a huuuuuge secret. Underneath this hat.¡± She tore her hat away revealing a pair of white cat ears. At the same time her tail dangled behind her poking out the bottom of her dress.

    ¡°so¡­¡± normally I¡¯d be gushing over her tail but this wasn''t the time. I was wondering why she hid them to begin with.

    She let out an angry noise. ¡°It¡¯s not a costume! These ears are real. Look! I can move them.¡± She managed to wiggle them around making what I could only describe as cat girl noises. ¡°Nya, nya¡±

    They looked real but what did that have to do with anything. I already have a cat girl. Although this one is white like Snowball. I was still unimpressed. A few ¡°nya¡± sounds are nothing compared to what I caught Shadow doing the other day. She was perched on the roof chirping at a bird. It was precious.

    ¡°You can touch them if you don''t believe me.¡± I was about to agree to it when I remembered how Mantis tried to kidnap me. He lured me in with candy then snatched me up like I was a doll. I wasn¡¯t falling for silly tricks like that¡­. again. I shook my head.

    ¡°Please go away.¡± I tried to close the door but she blocked it with her foot!

    ¡°Whhhhhhhy! Don''t you watch anime?¡± She was persistent. Maybe I should blast her. I moved the fire ball between us and she backed off. I couldn''t close the door just yet since the fire ball was in the way.

    ¡°What¡­what if I get down on my knees and make this pose.¡± She did so resting her knees and her left fist on the ground while holding up her other fist in a paw like shape. She made another nya sound to express her charm stat.

    It looked like charm didn''t have much effect on me. Most likely because my charm stat was higher. Did this girl even know she had a charm stat? She held the pose far longer than she had to. Like telling a joke and not being sure if people understood it or not.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t¡­ doesn''t this make you feel a little weak?¡± Maybe she did know what charm was and was trying to brainwash me with cuteness. I wasn¡¯t falling for it.

    ¡°Nope. You should leave before Shadow gets back.¡± She was in shock. Maybe this was the first time her little charm trick didn''t work on someone.

    ¡°You are¡­¡­ unusually strong willed. Freaking weirdo.¡± How was I the weirdo? She''s the one doing all that weird stuff in front of a child. I¡¯d put her in my dungeon if it wasn''t for the fact that it would make Mantis happy.

    ¡°Go away already or I¡¯ll cook and feed you to the hole!¡± My fire ball grew in size and the hole stirred at the mention of a meal. I kind of regret acknowledging it.

    ¡°wa-wa-wait!¡± She waved her fake paws around.

    I sighed. ¡°You have something else you want to tell me?¡± I really didn''t want to kill her but I was also afraid I might get kidnapped again. Especially if Shadow finds out. Really should of minded my own business. I should go wake Luka up so she can deal with it. Then again she¡¯s actually a kid. Not to mention this girls charm might actually work on her.

    ¡°Look. I didn''t come here to rob you or anything¡­.¡± She pulled a cardboard box out of her inventory and placed it on the ground. Then crawled inside. On the front of the box we¡¯re the words ¡°adopt me¡± written in black ink.

    ¡°I just really, really, really need a place to sleep. I don''t want to be out here on my own. I¡­ don¡¯t have anywhere else to go.¡± This felt like another trick. Who carries around an adopt me box and pulls it out mid conversation so seamlessly. That had to be practiced. I think she was serious though.

    ¡°Sounds rough.¡± She didn''t grasp my sarcasm.

    ¡°Can I please stay here? Just for tonight.¡± I let out a grown. ¡°please, oh please, please, please, please, please, please, pleeeeeease.¡± She begged.

    It''s not like she can actually steal from us. I also don''t feel like she has any ulterior motives. ¡°Okay fine but only for a night.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡­.. Oh, okay. Thank you!¡± She sounded so grateful. Her box vanished along with my fire ball. I opened the door all the way and she came inside. Now what do I do about the floor.

    ¡°This place is a dump.¡± Excuse me! I let her stay for free and that''s what she says to me!

    She pulled out a broom and started to sweep the hallway. I wasn¡¯t sure how I should respond. On one hand she called this place a dump. On the other she was helping me clean up. That''s when I noticed it. The stone chunks were disappearing. The cracks slowly started to fill in and smooth out. What was this?

    The cat girl started humming as she worked. I checked her stats and realized she was an NPC with the maid profession. I didn''t know they had the power to fix stuff like that. She was done within minutes.

    ¡°There we go! Is there any other parts of the property that need cleaning, Shujin-sama?¡± I shook my head. I wasn¡¯t expecting her to Dr. Seuss everything. Maybe I should hire her. She wasn''t one of my NPCs but that wasn''t a problem. I could easily brand her.

 Mini non-canon Episode C

    Shadow

    *Sweep, sweep*

    It was the middle of the day. I was busy sweeping up the dining hall. This would normally be a huge task for just one person but thanks to my stats I could do it relatively easy. My high dexterity made the process incredibly swift.

    I was dressed in a black maids outfit complete with a white apron. I¡¯ve always wanted to try these type of clothes but after you¡¯ve had three boys you kind of lose confidence In your body. The clothes were perfect for house duty and it¡¯s not like they were super slutty. If anything I¡¯d call them cute.

    The dress came down to just above my knees. Underneath was a bunch of petticoats making the skirt super fancy and puffy. Its nice being young again. I¡¯m a thirty four year old in the body of at least twenty. I¡¯ve spent a good amount of time looking at myself in a mirror. It¡¯s still hard to believe.

    I wish I had some help. Now that I think about it wasn¡¯t there another cat girl to help with this sort of thing? Cooking cleaning and looking after master was a lot of work. Especially when Master insisted on going on her little adventures. Just the other day I caught her bringing in a bucket of sand. Apparently she was gonna make a home for a crab she saved from one of the seafood restaurants.

    I put a stop to that immediately and we ended up releasing it into the wild. There is no beach or ocean near here. That crab was probably eaten by a mob by now, but I wont say that out loud. Don¡¯t want master to cry¡­. Again.

    I know I said master acted like one of my boys but I¡¯m starting to think she might actually be worse. There¡¯s something wrong with her. It¡¯s like she switches from an innocent child to a grown adult. I get needing to act like a kid so her anxiety doesn¡¯t paralyze her, but sometimes it feels like she tries to get the best from both worlds. It seems like she¡¯s only an adult when it suits her.

    Speaking of which it¡¯s been about an hour since I last saw her. Not much time for her to get into trouble but still more than I¡¯m comfortable with. I¡¯d better make sure she isn¡¯t about to blow up the castle or something. Like when she tried firing off spells to test out there potency. Indoors.

    I took my apron off and headed down the hall. If I was master I¡¯d probably be in the lounge playing games. That¡¯s where I went except she wasn''t there. I checked the guild tab. It said she was in the castle.

    Party chat:

    Shadow: Master, what are you up to?

    Aku: I''m busy.

    Shadow: Where are you?

    Aku: throne room.

    Shadow: K

    What would she be doing there? Regardless of what she might have been up to I needed to make sure nothing had happened to her so before she could hide anything I headed her way.

    The throne room was much bigger than the dining hall. That was where I met up with master. She was standing on a chair leaning over some kind of tank. She was wearing a big black hoodie and a pair of black tights. On her feet were some white sneakers.

    This outfit was different from the one I saw her in. I lifted the back of the hoodie to make sure she was actually wearing something underneath. Surely enough there were a pair of shorts there. It startled her and she finally noticed me.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± I made sure to sound strong and assertive.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°Making a habitat.¡± She pulled a bucket of water out from her inventory and started to pour it into the tank. The tank sat on top of a table.

    ¡°Uh-huh¡­. Why?¡± I was getting a little irritated. I had a feeling she¡¯d brought something else into the castle.

    ¡°For my new friend of course.¡± She reached into her hoodie pocket and pulled out a bag of water. Inside was what looked like a chubby goldfish.

    ¡°How many times do I have to tell you stop bringing animals into my house!¡± my voice wasn¡¯t to loud but it was stern.

    Master looked at me like a deer in headlights. Did she really think I¡¯d be okay with this? How many times can you do the same thing and get told no before you finally get it.

    ¡°But shadow! You said you didn¡¯t want crabs in the house you never said anything about animals!¡± There she went again acting like a child with no common sense. If she wanted to act like a child then I¡¯ll treat her like one.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care what I said I don¡¯t want animals in my house. Now if you don¡¯t get this stuff out of here you can spend the rest of the day in your room.¡± She was all flabbergasted.

    ¡°What! But Shadow what about Squishy!¡± She started crying.

    I pinched the bridge between my eyes. ¡°Squishy? You named it.¡± I looked the goldfish over. It looked kind of cute. It wasn¡¯t a cheep goldfish. This little guy looked round and pudgy. What was I supposed to do with it. I wonder if the store would take it back.

    What do I do? First it was that dog. Then the rat. Oh and let¡¯s not forget that raccoon. Not to mention the crab. Now she wants this fish. I sense a pattern. Master really wants a pet. As far as fishes go there fairly easy to look after. Feed them and clean the tank every once in a while. Maybe if I let her have this one she¡¯ll stop bringing random pets home.

    ¡°Okay, you can keep him.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± She did a little dance before continuing. ¡°By the way Squishy is a girl.¡±

    ¡°How can you tell?¡±

    ¡°See, it has a hole.¡± Master pointed at a spot on the fish.

    ¡°Master, that¡¯s it¡¯s mouth.¡± She blinked and finally realized.

    ¡°Ooooh! So these are it¡¯s eyes.¡± She giggled. ¡°Squishy looks funny.¡± Was she acting? She got what she wanted so why was she still playing dumb. I swear! This is the same person that can do crazy math in their head yet they couldn¡¯t even tell that was a mouth. Sometimes it''s like she actually is a child.

    ¡°Let¡¯s make Squishy¡¯s home. Hand me the buckets and I¡¯ll pour them in.¡± Master smiled and nodded. One after another Master pulled buckets out of her inventory handing them to me. I poured them in one after the other. There were so many. It must have been a lot of work to fill all these buckets up. Where did the tank come from anyway?

    Once it was done Master started pulling out all sorts of things to decorate the inside of the tank. Items including rocks, a plastic castle for Squishy to live in. A chest so Squishy can keep her stuff in, some coral for color and to top it all off a magical filter that would keep the tank clean forever.

    ¡°Okay, now for Squishy.¡± I looked to Master reaching out with my hand.

    Master shook her head hugging Squishy to her small frame. ¡°I wanna do it.¡±

    ¡°Okay, you can do it.¡± I lifted Master up so she could put Squishy in her new home. She complained about being treated like a kid to which I ignored her. Honestly I think Master might actually be a kid in the old world.

    Squishy was set free. Well not really. She was put in her tank. Immediately the fish swam around getting to know her new surroundings. Master just about had her nose against the glass watching the little goldfish swim around in child-like joy. In turn watching her brought a smile to my face.

    ¡°Quick Shadow! We need to feed her!¡± Master looked worried.

    ¡°What, you just got her in the tank are you sure?¡± Master nodded. She then pulled out a small vile of fish food and tried to stand on the chair again. I grabbed her from the back of her hoodie and pulled her off.

    ¡°Don¡¯t do that it¡¯s dangerous. I¡¯ll feed Squishy.¡± I took the food from her hands, read the instructions, then gave the fish food a few shakes over the water. Squishy jumped into action eating up the meager fish flakes. Master still looked upset.

    ¡°What is it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°She needs more food.¡±

    Aww, Master was worried Squishy wasn¡¯t getting enough to eat. Maybe she¡¯ll learn some responsibility from owning a pet. I gave the fish food another shake over the water. Squishy immediately ate the food.

    ¡°Shadow. She needs more she¡¯ll never be big enough if you don¡¯t feed her.¡±

    Something didn¡¯t sit right with me. ¡°What?...¡±

    Master tugged on my shirt. ¡°If we don¡¯t feed it more then Snowball won¡¯t have enough fish to eat.¡± Master looked genuinely worried.

    ¡°Master¡­. You know¡­. There¡¯s a lot of things wrong with what you just said.¡± Master tried to think for a second before coming to realize what I meant.

    ¡°I¡­. Yeah what was I¡­ ah. I¡¯m kidding. Did you really think I was gonna feed Squishy to my toy cat. Don¡¯t be silly.¡± She smiled and blushed then ran off to another part of the castle.

    I looked to Squishy. She seemed none the wiser. Was Master gonna fatten this little guy up and feed her to her cat plush doll? Nah, couldn¡¯t be.

 Mini Non-canon Episode D

    Aku

    Today I decided to be an artist, and like any artist I started to draw. My skills weren¡¯t the best, but I could draw kind of good. I sat at the couch in the lounge. I was drawing a picture of Snowball. Snowball was modeling for me. She was sitting on the table watching me.

    My pencil moved with precision as I re-drew lines and erased others. I gave it some serious focus. The drawing was almost perfect. It had a few parts that looked a little off but over all I think it was good. Once I finished I sat up and gave the final product an appraisal.

    ¡°I give it a 7.5.¡±

    I didn''t have any crayons or markers so I left it as it was. Besides Snowball is as white as a ghost. Hmm¡­. Could Snowball be a ghost cat? It kinda made sense. It was meant to be a witches familiar except those were typically black not white. Snowball might be a ghost cat.

    Seeing my drawing filled me with pride. Still I probably wouldn''t show this to anyone, other than Snowball that is. ¡°What do you think Snowball?¡± I showed Snowball the picture then remembered she wasn¡¯t actually alive. Gotta stop doing that.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s nice. In fact how about I hang it on the fridge.¡± Shadow reached over my shoulder and took the drawing from my hands.

    I was a bit embarrassed. The thought of it being hung up made my face blush. ¡°No, you don¡¯t have to do that!¡± I reached for the drawing only for Shadow to lift it up high where I couldn¡¯t get it. I felt tears about to spill so I jumped for it but she pulled it away last minute then dropped it into her inventory. My head hit the ceiling and I came crashing back down onto the couch. I cried in pain and out of embarrassment. I rubbed my eyes as tears came streaming out of them.

    ¡°Are you alright master? I told you not to jump in the house.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m okay.¡± I cried. My little head bump was the least of my problems. If she puts it on the fridge I¡¯ll never be able to take it down. I''m to short and Shadow doesn¡¯t like it when I stand on chairs, or jump in the house. This lady, she¡¯s a bully.

    ¡°Shadow! You cant put it on the fridge! I¡¯ll hate you forever and ever! You cant!¡± I kicked in frustration.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so dramatic it¡¯s a lovely drawing. How about I draw a picture and you can hang mine up where ever you want.¡± The thought made my two brain cells spark.

    I can probably embarrass her with her own bad drawing. The opportunity was to good. ¡°Okay!¡± I almost jumped for joy. I bet I can black mail her for candy.

    That feeling didn¡¯t last long as she smiled her evil cat like smile. Her eyes even turned to slits like some kind of lizard person. My confidence wavered. Maybe I made a huge mistake. I feel like I¡¯m about to be taken advantage of. Like a merchant selling bath water and calling it a miracle potion.

    Shadow opened her inventory and brought out a frilly white dress. It wasn¡¯t a wedding dress but that didn¡¯t stop it from looking fancy. She handed it to me but instead of taking it I took a step back. I looked up to her in confusion. ¡°What? What¡¯s that for?¡± I took another step back not wanting to even touch the dress in fear of it somehow being associated with me.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    For the past few days I¡¯ve been wearing shorts. Originally I was having fun cosplaying as Aku but you can only do it for so long before you get tired of walking around in a skirt. It gets old.

    ¡°Your gonna be my model. Wear the dress and sit over there.¡± She pointed to a chair.

    Was this still worth it? Candy was sweet. Worst case scenario I hang her drawing up over mine. She did say I could hang it up where ever I wanted, and the rules don¡¯t say anything about using her drawing to cover up mine.

    I let out a breath then equipped the dress. Even going as far as to pick out some other things that would go with it. Including some white knee socks, a bunch of petticoats, some brown marry Jane¡¯s, and to literally top it off my ghost ribbon.

    Even though I was tired of cosplaying I refuse to do it half assed. Thanks to the small mirror on the wall I got to see my eyes change to a light brown. The ribbon turned pure white. I looked pretty cute. Maybe it was time to start dressing up again. For funzies I spun the dress around. Yup, still satisfying. Shadow giggled.

    ¡°You know Master I wouldn¡¯t mind playing dress up instead.¡± She gave my dress a little pat down smoothing out the skirt. It was obvious she just wanted to get close to me without scarring me away. As expected she hugged me from behind and rubbed her cheeks with mine.

    ¡°Shadow stop it!¡± I struggled but found no escape.

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t be a drama queen. It¡¯s been a while since you looked so cute!¡± She released me then ushered me over to the chair.

    I wanted to get this over with so I sat down. I felt my legs dangle. No matter how much time passes being small was so annoying. It¡¯s like I lived in a world of giants. This must be what left handed people feel like.

    Shadow sat on the couch, picked up my pencil and a new sheet of paper. She started drawing. Her tail swished as her pencil moved. She was going all out. I wanted to ask if she¡¯s ever drawn before but remembered I was supposed to be a model.

    She looked like she was having trouble. ¡°Hold on, let¡¯s fix something.¡± She picked Snowball up and placed her in my lap. ¡°Give this little guy a squeeze. You look a little stiff so stop trying to be a statue and act more like your shy self. Shy seems to suit you best.¡± The thought of shy suiting me made me wonder what Shadow actually thought of me.

    She was really taking this seriously. Maybe I should to. I hugged Snowball like I had so many other times. This made me feel a bit more relaxed. It showed on Shadows face as her smile went from fake to genuine. I felt pretty comfortable going forward. She went back to drawing.

    In total it took her almost an hour to finish her drawing. I was surprised it took so long but watching her was something else. It reminded me of the passionate NPCs that worked so hard in town. She was really into it. I wanted to see it for myself. From where I was I could tell it would be something special.

    ¡°Alright, I am done.¡± She proclaimed.

    I hopped off the chair and ran over. Snowball wanted to see to. It was¡­ ¡°How did you?.... That can¡¯t be real.¡± I stepped away from Shadow. This couldn¡¯t be real. How did she know?

    She looked to me worry in her eyes. ¡°Are you alright? I know it¡¯s a little scary but it¡¯s kind of a hobby of mine. I do it with multiple people.¡± This wasn¡¯t real.

    I stepped back even more knocking my old drink off a small round table next to the couch. The drink spilled and startled me so much that I fell on my butt. I could feel the juice soaking into the dress, but I wasn¡¯t worried about that.

    ¡°Oh, Master be careful!¡± She tried to help me up but I slapped her hand away from me and pushed myself as far away from her as I could.

    I cried out ¡°Don¡¯t touch me!¡±

    She finally started to take me seriously. ¡°Master. Your scaring me. Why are you so upset? Its just a drawing. Its not real or anything. That monster thing isn¡¯t real. It can¡¯t hurt you. I¡¯ll get rid of it if you want.¡±

    ¡°Are you fucking with me! Why of all things! Why did you draw that! And¡­. How the hell did you know!?¡± I couldn¡¯t look her in the eyes anymore. This person was not Shadow. Even if she knew she would never do that to me.

    ¡°First off language! And second off what are you talking about! It¡¯s just something I made up. Are you really afraid of a little centipede? It¡¯s not real.¡±

    It''s not real? This isn¡¯t real¡­.

    None of this is real.

 Mini Non-canon Episode E

    Shadow

    I was looking for Master once again. This time outside. That was until I noticed her standing on the roof top of one of the castle towers.

    ¡°Master get down from there this instant!¡± She waved at me like nothing was wrong.

    ¡°Hi shadow! I think I figured it out!¡± Master stumbled a bit almost falling off but stopped herself last second. It was so nerve racking. I almost fainted at the sight.

    She wasn¡¯t responding to anger and I wasn¡¯t mad anymore. More worried really. ¡°Okay, that¡¯s grate sweetie. Why don¡¯t you come down and we can talk about it over some warm milk and a slice of cake.¡± The worry in my voice was far to real.

    ¡°You don¡¯t get it! Snowball told me all about it! This place isn¡¯t real! It¡¯s a dream we just have to wake up!¡± She sounded insane.

    ¡°Master! Please get down from there! I swear if your not down by the count of ten I¡¯ll climb up there and drag you down myself! One!¡­ two!¡± Master wasn¡¯t listening.

    In fact she interrupted my count. ¡°Don¡¯t you get it shadow this place is a dream! How do you wake up from dreams?! It¡¯s so simple! Have you ever had one of those dreams where your falling?! You always seem to wake up before you hit the ground! I¡¯ll prove it to you! Just watch!¡± She started walking towards the edge.

    ¡°Master no! This isn¡¯t a dream! It¡¯s not-¡° Master jumped head first before I could do anything. I ran forward and jumped into the air. Somehow I was able to run up the side of the building and catch Master. My claws came out of my hands and feet. I was able to slide down the side of the building leaving deep grooves into the stone. Once we hit the ground I fell back and cradled Master in my arms.

    ¡°You stupid, stupid child! What is wrong with you!¡± I was afraid Master would run off and try something even more dangerous so I held her tight. She squirmed in my arms.

    ¡°Shadow! Let me go! You ruined it! Now ill have to try again do you know how hard it is to force yourself to jump off a building!¡± She was upset with me like I¡¯d ruined her joke. That¡¯s it. I gave Master the spanking of her life.

    A few days laterThis content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    I sat across from master in the lounge. We were playing a game of Uno. She wasn¡¯t having fun. For the past few days we¡¯ve been inseparable. It didn¡¯t matter where she went. Whether it was to her room or the bathroom. I would never leave her side. There was just no way I¡¯d let her out of my sight. Due to the lack of privacy she was upset. I don¡¯t understand why. What seven year old had privacy.

    ¡°I don¡¯t wanna play this anymore.¡± She put the cards down.

    ¡°You cant quit just because you¡¯re losing.¡±

    Master crossed her arms. ¡° That¡¯s not it at all! I¡¯m telling you this is all a dream. None of this is real.¡± She gestured to the whole room maybe even the whole world.

    I sighed. ¡°Okay fine. What makes you say that?¡± I decided to talk it out. If I can convince her that this world is indeed real then we might be able to move past this.

    ¡°You don¡¯t notice anything strange?¡± What was she on about. Maybe I should have her tested.

    I shook head. As far as I knew everything was the same as always. Master looked fed up. This wasn¡¯t her usually happy bubbly self. This was the thirty nine year old that came out every once in a while.

    ¡°When is the last time you saw Luca or even anyone else other than us.¡±

    ¡°I.... hmm. What about that maid girl you hired. She¡­.¡­ actually I haven¡¯t seen her around. Oh, now that you mention it where is Luca? She must be hung over again.¡± Luca seemed to drink an awful lot.

    ¡°That maid girl vanished the day she was hired. Luca hasn¡¯t been seen in forever. I haven¡¯t seen anyone in forever. There was that guy that sold me the goldfish but he is no longer around either. It¡¯s like these people just manifest whenever there needs to be plot.¡± Plot? Like were in a TV show or something?

    ¡°That can¡¯t be right what about the people that sell me food and other things.¡± That¡¯s right! Whenever I go out the streets are full of people.

    ¡°Are you sure you saw them. Do you remember their faces? Did you speak to them at all?¡±

    ¡°That was¡­..¡± Now that I think about it. I don¡¯t remember what they look like. All I know is that the street was full of people. I must of not been paying attention.

    ¡°Master your crazy maybe you need a nap. Come on let¡¯s get you tucked in.¡± I got to my feet.

    ¡°Shadow your not listening!¡± I gave Master a slap to her exposed thigh. She cried in pain remembering the previous punishments she¡¯s gotten. Nothing like a little PTSD to keep the kids in line.

    ¡°Come on I could use a nap to you know. It¡¯ll be more fun together.¡± I held masters hand and we walked back to my room.

    ¡°Shadow your real right?¡± Master said it so low like she was afraid what I might say.

    ¡°Hmmm¡­. I think so? Of course I¡¯m real.¡± She didn¡¯t seem convinced.

    ¡°That sounds like something a fake person would say.¡± Was she really doing this?

    ¡°Your theory is that fake people only show up for plot right?¡± She nodded. ¡°Then why am I still here. Have I vanished at any point?¡± She shook her head.

    I felt her grab my hand with both hers. ¡°Don¡¯t leave okay.¡± Her voice fluttered like that of a whimpering puppy.

    I gave her a half hug. Even if I didn¡¯t believe her logic. She believed it. It¡¯s like when my littlest thinks there¡¯s a monster under there bed. I might know its not real but they don¡¯t. ¡°I¡¯m not going anywhere.¡±

 Episode 19: Anglerfish

    Chapter 19: Anglerfish

    -Centa-

    You ever feel like something is stalking you? Like there¡¯s a tentacle about to snatch you up and do unspeakable things to not just your body, but your soul? Kind of like one those cartoons Isaac likes to watch only with more screaming and less moaning.

    Well, I feel like that all the time. Except it¡¯s not actually a tentacle and more like living shadowy toxic wisps of nightmare, packed full of terrifying trauma so dense that not even the sun can shine through. Kind of like Isaac¡¯s room before he got a girlfriend.

    It likes to hide in the corner of my vision. It lurks and laughs at me. I thought I was free of it but it''s followed me here to. It was the centipede.

    I thought keeping it in my soul trapped with my brother would be enough to keep it away from me but that didn''t work.

    A weaker version of it is constantly pressuring me like being covered in spiders while under the immense weight of an ocean.

    My logic was that it had such a huge rage boner for my brother that it would be happy torturing him while I lived free. I was so wrong.

    The monster was far more greedy than that. It wouldn¡¯t stop until the whole world was as dark as its mouth.

    I wouldn¡¯t fall so easy to it. I wasn¡¯t my brother after all. I¡¯ve been dealing with it for so long how could I lose to it.

    There was two options. One was to close my eyes and be tormented by Isaac¡¯s trauma. The other was to keep them open and deal with a few shadows.

    Keeping my eyes open was the best way to deal with my particular brand of trials. So I was gonna pull a page out of my brothers book and just ignore it till it either goes away or becomes so unbearable that I cry and curl up into a little ball. You know, like ya do.

    So far it seemed to be working. Snowball didn¡¯t approve but what did she know? She was a cat not a human. No, not a cat. She¡¯s a doll.

    Now that I think about it. Was I even human? I think I am. I mean most of the time I¡¯m a giant centipede of pain and suffering but for the most part I¡¯m human.

    I do human things like walk, eat and poo. Actually not sure on the last one I''ll have to experiment.

    Half human? Maybe less. The way I see it. It¡¯s like I¡¯m a spoon of cream and the centipede is dark coffee. We''re not exactly mixed together.

    We¡¯re kind of just floating in the same cup. The cup is like our body so technically I¡¯m more centipede than human.

    You could say. I¡¯m the cream. Aku is the sugar. Isaac is the water. The centipede is the heat and the coffee.

    As for my relationship with the centipede, I¡¯m like the lure on an anglerfish. Small cute and harmless to draw people in. All so the centipede can munch on their supposedly tasty bones or so I''ve heard.

    Whatever, I have intelligent thought so I was basically human. I¡¯m no monster that¡¯s for sure. Everyone always calls me a monster.

    I have emotions to. How could a monster have emotions? One thing was for sure. I refuse to be my brothers shadow anymore. He can be my shadow from now on.

    The black wisps brushed over my left ear. They whispered to me. The low frequency hurt a little. It was a sharp pain. Almost like a guitar string being tightened until it snapped.

    They asked for blood. They wanted something tasty, a sacrifice. I felt it cry and vibrate. It¡¯s presence surrounding me in a cage of vibrating energy.

    The reverb slowly increased in frequency as the seconds ticked by. Each second was elongated into infinity making it feel like I was trapped in the hole again.

    Nooooo! I was the one in control not it! This is my body!

    I attached myself to it since our goals aligned with each other but now that I¡¯ve achieved my goal I no longer needed the centipede.

    Yet it demanded things of me. With no way of freeing myself from it¡¯s wants and needs, I was still trapped. I might be out of the hole but I was in no way free of its hunger or pain. My brother truly has cursed me.

    Focus on something else. Like the system. I opened my menu. Then closed it. Opened it again, then closed it again. How peculiar.

    Every time I interacted with it I felt a shimmer around my core. Like a pulse of energy passing through some sort of circuitry. Almost like code coming to life.

    From what I could tell. The system was somehow attached to my very soul. Kind of like what they call an enchantment. It was similar to the tiny runes covering Snowball¡¯s body.

    Normally you couldn¡¯t actually see them but with my third eye I could make out the tiny rune script that permeated through the fabric.

    Not the whole thing. Most enchantments ran deep into hyper dimensions. Tiny pockets of space.

    At least that¡¯s how it looked to me. Like the enchantment was folded and the rest was hidden somewhere my eye sight couldn¡¯t reach.

    I wonder if that¡¯s how my inventory works. It was similar to how souls were stored in the body. Connected to the body by threads that seemed to stretch out from infinity.

    Each soul was similar to a black hole. A point of infinity. Though they didn''t pull things towards them. Instead they looked a bit more like a new born star. It was pretty to look at.

    Inventory was similar. As far as I could tell manifesting things out of my inventory was like reaching into a pocket you didn¡¯t know existed and pulling out things that shouldn¡¯t be able to fit there. It was so bizarre.

    Just like the enchantment that went into Snowball the one in my core was half-assed. I''m surprised it doesn¡¯t snap my soul in half.

    The power system was flawless but the menu that allows people to actually use that power is absolute garbage. Someone really needed to learn to code.

    Lucky for me I wasn¡¯t restricted to the system. I knew where all the outlets were and how to move power around. The so called abilities and skills were just the most basic of what was possible.

    In simpler terms the system was like training wheels. I guess you could also say the system was like a breakfast sampler.

    You get to try out different things. Like magic, auras, psychic abilities, even miracles could be used.

    I was surprised at that part. Why would the lady share her power just so some mortals could heal paper cuts and clean skid marks off their underwear.

    Especially without any shrines or sacrifices. It made no sense. Actually, I suppose she was draining all the quintessence out of every human so she was technically gaining power by having a large abundance of followers.

    It¡¯s a bit complicated. I haven''t seen a Single creature that wasn''t connected to her so sacrifices didn''t make sense. Sacrifices were best when you killed followers of other gods.

    Killing your own was not only bad for business. It was also an easy way to remove a potential quintessence generator.

    Maybe every living thing in this world was under the same god? It meant no holy wars, and the lady didn''t have to compete against other gods.

    She essentially monopolized religion to the point where you don¡¯t even have to know of her existence.

    Roughly ten years ago, I managed to have a nice long chat with the lady. Back then my thirst for knowledge was unquenchable.

    It was the first time I¡¯d been able to really talk with someone. Our conversation lasted four days. To bad she had to leave.

    She wasn¡¯t nice per say but she wasn''t rude either. Most of my Intel came from her. The Intel that didn''t was more from my observations with my third eye.

    To be honest I don''t think she actually wanted to talk to me. Why she answered my questions I still don''t understand. Normally a god doesn¡¯t share their power with just anyone.

    They have to be followers and the more devoted they are the more power they get in return. It¡¯s a bit of a trust type of thing. Either way the lady makes out with more power than her underlings.

    I can understand the need for the system. Without it the players wouldn''t be able to access their power. Maybe they could but that would require meditation, focus, and training. Sadly this generation lacked the discipline needed.

    If this keeps up they might end up damaging their souls. Every time the system activates it rips energy from their cores. Not a lot but still.

    When it comes to enchantments whatever is enchanted tends to lose durability a lot faster than normal. Since every time the enchantment goes off it cuts and burns through the item at a molecular level.

    Putting it on a soul is less likely to break anything since a soul doesn¡¯t have a solid form. However, the enchantment is way to crude.

    The part that really bothers me is It rips quintessence from the soul. The lady is already draining any quintessence you gain so the system is just slicing off peace¡¯s of soul every time it activates.

    It¡¯s the equivalent of owning a TV that runs on human flesh. I would not recommend it.

    At the rate Isaac uses it. Our soul would still last a few years before we rank down. That is as long as the enchantment doesn¡¯t rip our soul apart.

    I wonder what a human would look like ranked down into the beast ranks? A monkey maybe? Monkey-kin are a thing so probably not.

    The lady mentioned a few of the ascension ranks. Rank one is the living rank which is meant for anything that''s alive. Usually things that can''t move, or are to small and don¡¯t require a big soul, like plants, bacteria or even bugs.

    Rank two is the beast ranks. There basically just animals. Rank three is mortal ranks. Anything humanoid that''s broken out of animal instinct falls under that rank.

    There are other ranks but the lady didn¡¯t get into them. I know that God is a rank so maybe humans can become God¡¯s to if they live long enough.

    No one in this world is capable of reaching god rank due to the fact that the lady won''t allow it and why would she. That would just create more competition. Were basically all just solar panels for her.

    I looked to my companion. Snowball sat across from me at a round table just outside of James¡¯s restaurant. I didn¡¯t feel right being indoors.

    I simply refuse to be contained within walls. The thought gives me a mini panic attack. It didn¡¯t count when I woke up. I was only just getting a handle on my senses. In that moment I felt freer than I¡¯d ever been.

    I turned my thoughts to Snowball. Seeing my new friend brought joy upon my face. She was so cute. I would never be brave enough to venture on my own.

    Its good to have friends. We were waiting on our order. This will be my first real meal. I can''t wait.

    It''ll be so much better than the time mother made me eat mud¡­... Stop that! No more of those memories! My new life will not be a tragic one.

    Only happy fun thoughts. No more frowns. Frowns are bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad! From here on out all my frowns will be upside down.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    They wont know what hit them. While I¡¯ll be having fun they¡¯ll be wondering why the world is backwards and why their blood is going to their heads.

    It¡¯ll be like that time mom made me hang upside down from that tree. Ah! I did it again! Happy thoughts! Happy thoughts! Rainbows, unicorns, puppies, kittens, freedom, the majestic flying Buffalo!

    I must of looked insane because everyone was staring at me. Oh no! Have I given myself away! Am I going to be put in that room again!

    I took a breath and straightened up. No this will not be my last day. Oh god its to late I¡¯m so done for! Snowball quickly smacked me across the face knocking the maxillipede out of me.

    Wait what? Was that real? Did I imagine that? Snowball told me to calm down and relax. I sat there like a child that had been scolded.

    Snowball could be mean sometimes. I hope she isn¡¯t to upset. The thought made me almost cry. Not out of pain but because my new friend was mad at me.

    I¡¯m so confused. My cheek didn¡¯t hurt so did I actually get hit or not? Was I going crazy? To be fair I did have multiple people living inside my head. The real question is, should I charge them rent?

    I feel like if I did that then they¡¯d ask me to do things like put in lights in the castle and fix the toilets possibly do something about the giant hole. Actually I might be able to put rails around it¡­.. or turn it into a swimming pool!

    Oh, but then I''d have to install a filter and pay a guy to come and service it once a week cause I sure as hell ain¡¯t doing it.

    Where would I even get the water for that. I¡¯d need at least an ocean¡¯s worth. Yeah I dont know about that. Let¡¯s not even start on the centipede infestation.

    That sounds like a pain in the telson. Nah, they can stay for free. Ill be throwing Isaac in the hole anyway. As for Aku. She hasn¡¯t done anything to me.

    She can just stay in her room. I hear her tea parties are legendary. Maybe I¡¯ll pay her a visit some time.

    Before I could finish that thought the waitress poppy walked over with our meal. I¡¯d ordered a hamburger stake with a side of fries¡­. or chips? Whatever you humans call them.

    Snowball wanted beer and an order of grilled salmon. I wanted to try beer to but poppy said I was to young. When I frowned she told me I wouldn''t like it anyway since it was bitter like medicine and made you feel funny.

    I had the memories of beer, but it was tainted with Isaac¡¯s love for it. I wanted to see for myself. Father was a heavy drinker, so it must be good right? Then again I don¡¯t really like the taste of medicine.

    Father must have been very brave to drink it. Wish I could of met him. I bet he was fun to be around. Isaac¡¯s memories told me he was a big strong man with tree trunk arms. Super strong and super drunk.

    The drunker he got the stronger he was. When he wasn¡¯t drunk he was as weak as a baby. That¡¯s his only weakness. His superpower was super strength and super fast reflexes. He could also ignore pain and could drunk talk his way through any situation.

    Instead of the beer Poppy brought me a milk shake. It was really yummy! Like wow! I almost broke into tears out of sheer joy.

    I thanked Poppy as she headed over to help another customer. She gave me a smile and a small wave. She was really pretty. I bet she has a boyfriend. I wonder if I¡¯ll be like that to one day. Isaac would probably freak out.

    I¡¯ve been alive for a few minutes now and I can say without a doubt that life is even better than I¡¯d ever imagined. Now that I¡¯ve witnessed the real world somewhat. I really don''t want to go back to the hole.

    Everyone in this world was so nice to me. It feels so strange. I don''t think anyone''s ever treated me that way before.

    Well hang on. Alice was nice that one time¡­. Wait¡­. That was right before she put me in that place.

    She totally tricked me! I trusted her! How did I forget that? I wont be doing that again.

    Oh, did that mean¡­¡­. I looked at all the people around me. There was a lot more people now than when I first got here.

    I think they were all staring at me. They were all smiling. None of them were players. We''re people just being nice to trap me! What should I do?

    I could hear the centipede calling to me. Whispering betrayal into my ears. Calling for the blood of our enemies. This had to be a trap.

    They fed me these delicious things then slowly surrounded me while I was distracted. I should kill them all now and run away before it''s to late!

    I gathered essence forcing it through my third eye. It flared up as an invisible force gathered above each of my captors heads.

    All I had to do was crush them into the ground and it would be over. There auras were none existent so it would be easy.

    I wasn¡¯t going back to that hole or that dam room. With a thought they¡¯ll all be turned to mush. The centipede demanded a sacrifice.

    My power started to press down but before I could actually kill anyone ¡ª to the centipedes disappointment ¡ª Snowball stopped me.

    She said I wasn''t in danger and that these people were being nice because they liked me. The invisible kinetic energy evaporated as the power in my third eye receded back into my power source.

    I calmed down taking a long deep breath. These people almost died. I don¡¯t even think they realize it. The centipede cried in anger wishing for blood.

    It was unbearable but I couldn¡¯t show my distress. I refuse to go back to that room. I refuse to be put back in that hole. The noise got worse.

    Instead of it being a cage of vibrating energy it was like being trapped in an echoing chamber of thousands of voices all calling for blood.

    They slowly grew in octave attacking me from all sides. I couldn¡¯t even hear Snowball anymore. They were so angry.

    Right when I felt like I couldn¡¯t stand it anymore I did something I wished I hadn¡¯t. It was the only way to make it stop. I promised it something.

    I¡¯ll get you your food! Just wait a little longer! You¡¯ll have all you can eat if you just wait!

    The reverb quieted down and I was allowed to exist peacefully once more.

    Snowball kept telling me I was safe. That no one wanted to hurt me. I don¡¯t think she could hear the monster in my head.

    While she didn¡¯t communicate like everyone else I could hear her. It made me happy to know I was the only one she would talk to.

    Even though she refused to talk to people she trusted me enough to speak with me. It made me trust her even more.

    I finished my meal and paid. I left a few extra copper as a tip. Poppy thanked me and said goodbye to both Snowball and I. Snowball floated into my arms and we gently floated up over every ones heads.

    ¡°Lady Aku! Wait!¡± Poppy took hold of my leg and pulled me down. She was trying to trap me! I was about to attack her when she said ¡°You cant fly around in a dress!¡±

    I realized what she meant and my face turned red. So this is what embarrassment felt like. I don¡¯t like it.

    Everyone was laughing at me! It didn¡¯t feel like I was being made fun of but still it was so embarrassing.

    I dropped down landing on the floor then held my dress down. I was wearing tights but I¡¯m pretty sure since they were white they were somewhat transparent. Especially since my underwear was so colorful.

    Poppy sighed then reached for my hand. ¡°Come with me. Don¡¯t cry it''s not so bad.¡± Unsure what to do I grasped it and she ushered me inside.

    Poppy brought me to her room. If Isaac was here he¡¯d probably lose his mind at the thought of being in a girls room.

    We were thirty-nine and married yet that idiot brother of mine was still afraid of girls. How lame was that. Poppy let me sit on her bed.

    The bed was covered from one end to the other with plushies and dolls. None of them looked all that cute. There were far to many bears holding red hearts with white letters spelling ¡°love¡±

    Something told me these weren¡¯t things poppy bought but were more like gifts she¡¯d gotten from boys her age. That or she had weird tastes.

    Speaking of poppy. She was rummaging through an old box in her closet. I gave out a yawn feeling a little fatigued. There was no way I could fall asleep though.

    That would be a bad idea. Sleeping would leave me wide open to attack. The walls around me already made me feel uneasy. I needed to stay focused.

    She pulled out a pair of pumpkin shorts. Pumpkin As in they were puffy. The shorts were white with blue lace. Pretty sure there called bloomers.

    They were cute but wasn¡¯t I a little old for that sort of thing. If memory serves only toddlers wear those. That or really old ladies.

    Actually I think there¡¯s a small group of the younger generation that adopted them. Isaac calls them lolitas or something like it.

    ¡°These will be perfect. As long as you wear these under your dress you¡¯ll be okay. I know how much you jump around lady Aku. While its not befitting of a lady I understand you have obligations to fulfill. I¡¯d suggest wearing pants but it would be a shame if you didn¡¯t dress the way you do. Even I wear pants when I have to do anything physical.¡± She handed them to me.

    I took them and held them up. I think they were in my size. The fabric was cotton. The back side had these blue ruffles that ran across.

    I thought about opening my menu to equip them but realized these were classified as underwear, so I did it the old fashioned way.

    It was a little embarrassing changing in front of someone else but I managed. Turns out you can actually wear them over regular underwear.

    That was good. Walking around in such lose underwear would have been to strange for my liking.

    The tights were placed in my inventory. Just because I didn¡¯t like using the menu didn¡¯t mean I would inconvenience myself with something like carrying my tights around by hand.

    The day was warming up thanks to Mr. sun so I wasn¡¯t worried about the cold. Though, thanks to my aura I didn¡¯t have to worry about simple things like cold weather.

    On the other hand It did make me feel less like a human. I shook my head. I¡¯m not a monster. Any human with the ability to warm themselves would do it if they had the chance. I was acting within my human nature.

    ¡°There don¡¯t you feel better now that no one will see your underwear, and it matches your dress to.¡± She sounded like she was speaking to a child.

    Also it doesn¡¯t need to match my dress. No one needs to see it. Unless¡­ I show them on accident. Which is also the reason why I¡¯m wearing it in the first place¡­.. still she doesn¡¯t have to treat me like that.

    Technically I¡¯m older than her. Was I older? She¡¯s like sixteen and I was made around the time Isaac was a teen. I was older. Definitely over twenty for sure.

    Interestingly enough, the bloomers were a bit like wearing shorts. They were comfortable at least. I was just happy I could fly around without getting embarrassed.

    I got a look in the mirror attached to the wall. I couldn¡¯t actually see them which was a bit of a relief. Especially since Poppy made it sound like they were visible.

    ¡°Yeah, thanks Poppy. I need to get going now. There are many things I still need to do.¡± She was already smiling before I could turn my attention to her. I reciprocated with my own smile.

    ¡°I understand. That¡¯s okay. I¡¯ve got work to do. I left a bunch of customers unattended. I hope father isn¡¯t having to much trouble.¡± With that we headed back down stairs.

    A moment later we hugged and said our goodbyes. I floated up and away making Snowball''s little paw wave at Poppy as we departed. She found it funny but I was only fulfilling Snowballs request.

    We landed on the roof top of Poppy¡¯s home/restaurant. This was the fun way to travel. Cindy''s shop was next.

    I jumped from one roof to the next using my telekinesis to guide my jumps. It was important to practice my jumping skills. Especially when I didn¡¯t really have experience with moving around.

    I was pretty good. Floating was much slower and less fun. Jumping had so much momentum to it. I could power up my jumps with telekinesis not only conserving stamina, but speeding up my drop speed, softening my landings, and extending my reach.

    A little later and I¡¯d entered Cindy¡¯s shop. It was empty. Maybe she was in the back? I looked to Snowball. She didn¡¯t say anything. I guess I can look around.

    The weapons on the walls all looked to big for me. Everything but the knives and daggers. ¡°Wow! Look at that sword!¡±

    I ran over to get a better look. The weapon in question was hanging off a few hooks. Snowball warned me not to touch it but I really wanted to.

    The weapon reminded me of Isaac¡¯s old grate sword. The blade was silver and had multiple curving spikes. They looked like claws.

    This type of blade was more for heavy bleed damage. The kind of wounds that would be hard to stitch up.

    The handle of the weapon was long indicating it needed both hands to wield. My third eye sparked to life and the grate sword floated up off the wall and came to rest in my right hand.

    It was heavy! I just about fell over when a hand reached for the handle and held it up for me.

    ¡°What do you think your doing Lady Aku? Don¡¯t you know its dangerous to use a weapon far larger than yourself?¡±

    I looked to the owner of the hand. It was Cindy. She looked like she wanted to run me out of her shop. Her eyes seemed to cut into me like sharp needles.

    I felt her pry the sword away from my small hands. She was also having a little trouble with the weapon.

    ¡°How did you even reach this? I cant even do that.¡± The little blacksmith that could shook her head then looked to the empty spot where the sword used to hang.

    It seemed like she was trying to figure out how to get the weapon back to its home. How did she get it up there in the first place? That was probably back when this world was made of pixels.

    This was not someone I could afford to anger. She was strong. One look with my third eye showed the insane aura she projected.

    It was as dense as the toughest steel armor. Fighting her would be akin to committing suicide. This is my first day of life I refuse to waste it on something like this.

    Cindy wasn¡¯t my enemy she was only worried about me. To fix any miss giving¡¯s I lifted the weapon using telekinesis and watched as Cindy¡¯s eyes widened.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I¡¯ll put it back.¡± The sword lifted into the air and was set back down on the hooks. It settled into place and everything was back to how it was.

    I looked to Cindy hoping she wouldn¡¯t be mad. To my surprise she smiled. ¡°Be careful. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯d do if one of my creations was involved in hurting you. How do you think I¡¯d feel?¡±

    Is this what it feels like to have people that care about you? First Poppy now Cindy. Isaac was so lucky. This kindness¡­ it¡¯s not really directed at me. She thinks I¡¯m someone else.

    Why did these people care so much about Isaac? don''t they know he¡¯s a monster? At first it was nice but now that I know they think I¡¯m him I was starting to get annoyed.

    It¡¯s not a bad feeling though. I now found myself trying my best not to do anything that would hurt these people. Its strange. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever felt this way.

    What if she betrays me wont it hurt more if I get attached? On second thought I don¡¯t like it. Snowball chimed in with an ¡°It¡¯s a good thing.¡±

    ¡°Are you here for your sword? It¡¯s ready. I just finished polishing it not to long ago.¡± I can see why Isaac had multiple pictures of her.

    She was really pretty. Not in the same way as Poppy. Poppy was pretty in a fruit about to ripen sort of way. While Cindy had fully bloomed into something beautiful.

    It looked a bit strange with her size but there was no doubt in my fractured mind that Cindy was a grown woman.

    I wish I was curvy. Even Poppy has more curves than me. I¡¯m flat like a wall. I wonder how she got so curvy? The centipede is curvy to. It eats a lot. Maybe if I eat a bunch of food I¡¯ll grow to.

    I shouldn¡¯t get distracted, now wasn¡¯t the time. The sword was ready. That''s good. I needed a good weapon. ¡°Yes, how did it turn out?¡± I hope I''m not acting funny.

    I¡¯m taking a huge risk in coming here. For all I know this lady has a secret button under the counter that sends signals to my guild mates

    Isaac doesn¡¯t have any memories of anything like that, but then again Isaac is also forgetful sometimes.

    The short master Smith walked back behind the counter and reached into her inventory pulling out a newly forged weapon. ¡°Here it is fresh out of the oven.¡±

    Oh, so swords are baked. Neat, I wanna bake to. I hear cake is really yummy. cake aside, the weapon was so cool looking.

    The blade was as thin as paper. The black obsidian looked like shiny smooth glass. It was kind of tiny. like a mini short sword. Almost dagger size. Compared to me it was basically just a short sword.

    The handle was long enough to fit two of my hands but short enough that I could use it one handed. Isaac intended it for high mobility.

    Despite my hatred for my brother I agree with his decision¡­. He was still a monster though.

    What I found interesting about the weapon was that the entire thing was made of the same blood obsidian. Everything but the small multi colored gem embedded near the bass of the blade.

    The gem pulsed and on closer inspection had thin veins of focus spreading throughout the weapon. They were so feint that I hadn''t noticed them.

    I checked the weapon. The only thing that really matters was the durability. Things like attack power were silly.

    The sharpest sword did not exist. It did not matter weather your sword was made of steel or wood. The sharpness was the same regardless. The only difference was how well the material could hold its edge.

    Since the blade was so thin it would cut better than most weapons but if the durability was bad then the blade would snap in half at the first swing.

    I was surprised to see how indestructible this thing was. The gem was even more interesting. It was classified as a mana stone.

    Apparently the stone could hold a little over one-thousand focus. That was a nice boost to my reserves. It was about a 20% boost to my focus bar.

    The system called it focus but the lady told me its actually essence. I went ahead and pushed one-thousand points of focus into the gem.

    It took about ten seconds but I managed to fill it to the brim. The veins now glowed with a prismatic light and the weapon now pulsed like it had a heart.

    The real cool part was that the blade started to circulate the energy crating a small aura around it.

    The aura boosted the swords characteristics. As long as it had power running through it the sword would constantly be buffed.

    Physics aside. An aura could actually turn this blade into the sharpest sword in the world. Maybe I can influence its development if I use it long enough.

    My natural regen started to draw in essence from my surroundings slowly filling up my focus bar.

    It did this by having a natural siphon. The energy was constantly being pulled from my core and through my body.

    This provided me with a basic level zero aura while at the same time creating a stream inside of me that would continuously pull raw essence into my core.

    If I had the time I could create a better cultivation method that would replace my essence with qi. That would be nice. I¡¯d be the strongest player alive.

    Then again I don¡¯t want to mess with the multiple power systems at play. Worst case scenario I¡¯ll end up throwing my power systems out of whack completely destroying them.

    ¡°Good job! This is a nice weapon. I love it.¡± Cindy smiled proud of her work. She really made something special. The blade was made just for me. If I provide her with more materials what else could she make?

    ¡°You are welcome. I worked really hard on it. Mana stones weren¡¯t originally what I was going for but you said you wanted to be a spell blade so I did a little experimentation with the infusion process and managed to turn the weapon into both a sword and spell medium. You can use it to hold focus and power up your magic. It currently has ten mana stones inside of it, but I can add more once the weapon finishes solidifying. Its truly the first of its kind.¡±

    The system did inform me that the weapon wasn¡¯t done so it¡¯s stats were slightly reduced. Searching Isaac¡¯s memories told me this wasn¡¯t an actual thing in-game and that this was a product of the new world.

    I could use this for magic? I don¡¯t know any spells. Relying on the system is kind of scary so I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be using it for that purpose, at least not if I don''t have to.

    I had to thank her. ¡°Thank you. This will come in handy.¡±

    She responded with ¡°What will you name the sword. A hero¡¯s sword needs a proper name after all.¡±

    A hero¡¯s sword? That¡¯s right I am a hero. I looked to the weapon in question and thought about what I was going to do with it.

    I might be a hero but this wasn¡¯t a hero¡¯s sword. It didn¡¯t look like one. What were my goals again? I want to protect the country and explore the world. Then there¡¯s also the mission to bring everyone home.

    Why I wanted these things is because the country was as much mine as it was Isaac¡¯s. Exploring the world was obviously one of my goals since I''ve been trapped for so long, and freeing the players.

    That was simple. If I save the players then they¡¯ll see me as a hero and I won¡¯t be called a monster anymore. I¡¯ll be loved not because they think I¡¯m Isaac but because I saved them.

    I¡¯ll show that stupid brother of mine! I¡¯m no monster! I¡¯m a hero! I¡¯ll prove them all wrong. Maybe they¡¯ll finally like me and we can all be friends.

    As for the new weapon. The dark glass reminded me of that place. At first when I saw it I thought it looked cool. But then when I looked into the darkness of its black obsidian.

    It reminded me of the hole. Once you see it, it¡¯s hard to un-see. The name was obvious. ¡°I think I¡¯ll call it, Edge Of The Abyss. It suits the weapon.¡±

    It only made sense when you¡¯ve lived the way I do. This weapon while amazing was commissioned by Isaac. He also created the hole so it only made sense to call it that.

    I dropped my new sword into my inventory. Cindy didn¡¯t look happy with the new name but didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°Do you need anything else Lady Aku or can I get back to work now? You know I¡¯m still working on your armor.¡± She tapped on the counter with her fingers as if she was eager to get to work.

    I couldn¡¯t blame her. She was a busy lady, I shouldn¡¯t take up to much of her time. ¡°Yeah that¡¯s all I needed. Thank you, I¡¯m very happy with your services.¡± I smiled to show gratitude. She smiled back.

    We said our goodbyes and I was out the door within moments. Now that I had a proper weapon those drug dealers were as good as dead. The centipede perked up.

    I should of picked better words. The centipede gave out what sounded like a war cry. I don¡¯t want to kill that many. Maybe we can leave most of them alive.

    A second later I felt three of its limbs stab into my arm. I dare not scream. Instead I crouched down hugging Snowball doing my best not to draw attention and failing.

    At best I might be able to convince people I had a tummy ache. It''s voice echoed in my head. ¡°kill! Kill! Feast!¡± It was unbearable.

    That noise! The growing frequency! That dam buzzing! I can¡¯t take it anymore! Stop! I¡¯m sorry!

    The only way to make it stop was to do as it says. The words slipped out of my mouth ¡°Please stop. I¡¯ll do it.¡± My voice was a whisper but it didn¡¯t matter.

    Silence

    The noise was gone and I was left a sweating mess. I was so disgusted with myself. I just wanted to do my own thing but here I was a slave to a monster. I had sold my soul to it and now it was time to pay up.

 Episode 20: Gotcha

    Chapter 20: Gotcha

    I traveled north for a while before I finally realized I was actually going the wrong way. Just as I changed my direction I got a glimpse of something out the corner of my eye. It was hard to miss considering how bright it was.

    The object possessed the appearance of a golden pillar composed entirely of translucent golden light. The light stretched up high like one of those searchlights you see beaming through a night sky. Though in this case it was clearly daytime.

    The need to explore was growing inside me till finally it popped and overflowed like an angry soda. I wanted to see what it was, so like a curious cat I parkoured my way over.

    a few telekinetic powered jumps later and I¡¯d landed safely in front of the mysterious object. It looked like a machine of some sort.

    The thing was mostly comprised of glass. Inside the glass was a bunch of plastic red balls. The bottom half of the machine was made of metal and had a metal dial.

    There was a slot that was obviously made for coins. Isaac¡¯s memories gave me a glimpse of something, something he called a gotcha machine.

    The label showed a picture of different plush toys. They must be really small since the red spherical plastic capsules were the size of my palm.

    I was gonna leave it alone but something tickled my interest. There was a plushy on the label of a teddy bear. It was no ordinary bear. If Isaac¡¯s memories served me right then this was the hidden boss you could only find in the black forest.

    Black bear Grothug. The fact that it was the hidden boss of the black forest wasn¡¯t what interested me it was the aesthetic of the toy that made me want to adore it.

    The plushy itself looked like a normal teddy bear only it had long claws, red eyes, and a mouth full of fangs.

    Like all black bears its fur was a smoky brown. It looked so cool! It even had arrows and swords stuck to its back just like the actual boss!

    I''ve never actually seen the boss myself but Isaac has. Just from encountering this one plushy I now understood the appeal of collecting these adorably soft toys. Maybe I can try for the bear.

    The cost was one gold per try. So expensive! That¡¯s highway robbery! I gave it some thought¡­.. I should leave right now but¡­. but I really want the bear... I have lots of coins so I can at least try once. It''ll be okay.

    Snowball seemed to tell me not to play but I really, really, really want it! It¡¯s not fair! Isaac gets to have all sorts of things! I want something of my own to!

    I was about to throw a tantrum of which the world has never seen. When Snowball relented and said it was okay to play one time.

    I pumped my fist into the air. ¡°Yay!¡±

    I thanked her and pulled out a gold coin. The coin fit in the slot and I turned the dial. It made some satisfying mechanical ticking sounds followed by a ding.

    A translucent blue screen popped up. It told me I''d acquired a gotcha capsule. I hit manifest and a big red ball flashed into the new world. It was a lot bigger than in the machine.

    I popped it open. It split into two. The red plastic shell turned into a bluish white light and faded away leaving behind a plushy. The whole process felt so unreal.

    As for the toy itself it was Snowball sized. It wasn¡¯t Grothug. Instead I got a painfully common mob called a green slime. My disappointment was immeasurable.

    Interestingly enough the item was labeled as a summoning totem. I thought those were supposed to be crystals not plushies? That must be why their so expensive.

    After a bit more exploration I found an option to change its form. Either turn it into a crystal or summon the slime itself. The summoning was grayed out seeing as I didn¡¯t have the skill ¡ª much less the class ¡ª to actually summon it.

    That¡¯s fine, I didn''t really feel like messing with an acidic goo monster so I dropped it into my inventory possibly never to be seen again.

    I looked to Snowball who was floating next to me. Tears threatened to spill as I looked deep into her eyes. She sighed and said go ahead.

    ¡°Thank you!¡± I pulled another coin out and tried again. I got another slime, this one was of the red variety. It looked kind of spicy. I ignored it, and tried again, and again, and again.

    So far I¡¯ve gotten multiple slimes, a ton of gray wolves. Some wyvern, a bunch of ghost foxes, a few mushroom men. A bunch of man eating plants, and one zombie which was rare rank. He was cute in a scary way so I named him Joe.

    I even gave him a little backstory. Ahem, Joe was originally an office worker when the zombie outbreak happened and he got bit by a co-worker.

    He now wanders the streets during the night and shows up for work every morning. He has to work in order to pay for his embalming fluid.

    Without it his body starts to rot. How else will he keep his zombification a secret from his zombie hunter girlfriend who comes from a family of zombie hunting fanatics.

    Ah, yes. Truly a love that could never be. Like Romeo and Juliette, or Taco bell and my toilet. Okay so maybe there¡¯s some kinks that need to be worked out but it sounds like a cool back story. Maybe I can add in werewolves or like a mummy or something. Nah, that¡¯s dumb.

    Believe it or not the joe plushy was actually the highest rarity I¡¯ve gotten so far. Some how I managed to waste all of my coin on just this. ¡°This sucks! I didn¡¯t get what I wanted! Its not fair!¡± I cried.

    I kicked the machine. ¡°How come it¡¯s like that! This game is rigged! I¡¯ll blow it up!¡± I tried to use my telekinesis on the machine but found it impossible.

    This must be what Isaac calls god mode or an unbreakable object. That doesn¡¯t make sense though this isn¡¯t a game. How was it doing that?

    I activated my third eye and got a better look. It showed me the object was covered in a powerful aura. The aura was stronger than Cindy¡¯s! That¡¯s probably where that golden glow came from.

    The aura was so strong that it had a physical form. Clever way to prevent theft. Actually a bit more like overkill. This had to be put here by the lady.

    It was like an immovable mountain. I couldn¡¯t really see what was creating the aura due to the fact that the aura was so thick.

    It was like trying to see through the surface of the ocean to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Who knew gotcha machines could sign up for VPN scramblers.

    It had to be circulating power somehow. Yeah. You know what, if there was a way to drain that power maybe I could break it. Then again¡­ what if it has a fail safe.

    Auras can basically do anything if you take the time to mold them properly. There like Legos. You just have to stack them right and they¡¯ll be whatever you want. There goes that idea.

    I really didn''t feel like stepping on a landmine today. No thanks. But then how should I approach this then? Are there nukes in this game?

    Snowball had been telling me to stop a while ago but I was ignoring her for the moment. Maybe I should listen.

    I''ve already run out of money. That means I''ll have to wait till pay day to try again. I can''t wait that long! I kicked the machine again, except this time it glowed red.

    I wasn¡¯t sure what was about to happen so I just stood there somewhat petrified. Maybe It''ll give me another try since I clearly deserve a Grothug plushy.

    I was wrong again. A blue portal opened up next to the machine and a lady wearing fancy robes walked out of it.

    Her hair was black and tied up into twin braids. She wore square framed black glasses and carried herself like a librarian.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    The women looked around spotting me with her baggy eyes. ¡°Stop it¡± her aura was directed at me, and I felt like I was about to die.

    Satisfied she went back into the portal and it vanished like it was never there. I was relieved. I gave Snowball a hug. ¡°Well, that was terrifying.¡±

    I looked to the machine and decided attacking it was a bad idea. Who ever that lady was she was stronger than the machine. I couldn¡¯t even get a read off her with my third eye or via status screen.

    I know I¡¯ve gotten distracted but I just feel like this is important. I don¡¯t own anything I can really call my own and to have Grothug would be so amazing.

    Okay, So maybe I own a bunch of plushies but I really want a Grothug. I opened my menu and looked through my inventory.

    You know there¡¯s a lot of stuff in here. Stuff from different classes and other things. This is all Isaac¡¯s stuff though.

    A thought came to me then. It would be really funny if I sold all of Isaac¡¯s things. I bet he would be so mad. Oh¡­ on second thought¡­ I¡¯m totally gonna do that!

    And that¡¯s exactly what I did. I had to go to more than one store but I managed to sell every last item aside from the clothes on my back, the plushies I collected, the new sword, about 20% of the potions, and a picture I found of Isaac and his wife. Not sure how Isaac got that but it wouldn''t sell so I had to keep it.

    It didn¡¯t feel right to sell off my plushies. Not when they were my friends. Even if there not the ones I wanted there the ones that wanted me.

    I came back with all my new coins and started feeding them into the machine. One by one they went poof and were quickly converted to plush dolls.

    In the end I still didn¡¯t get Grothug. He was just to rare. The machine was mocking me. It¡¯s aura was giving off these tremors like it was laughing at me.

    I wanted so bad to blow it up but stopped myself when I remembered the power of that bookish girl. Instead I stood there watching the machine like a hawk.

    Even the centipede was laughing at me. How rude! It was supposed to be on my side! Well, at least it was enjoying itself enough to where it wasn¡¯t actively trying to traumatize me.

    Maybe I can ask the citizens for help. Poppy and Cindy were so willing to help me out. Why couldn¡¯t I exploit their love for coin? It''s not like they actually liked me. They only cared about Isaac.

    You know the way they look at me kind of creeps me out. It¡¯s unnatural to love someone like that. The question ¡°What should I do?¡± continued to haunt me.

    The more I thought about it the more tears threatened to spill. The more tears threatened to spill the more the centipede laughed.

    The more the centipede laughed the more Snowball told me to leave the machine alone. Meanwhile all I could think about was how badly I wanted my own teddy bear.

    How is this fair! It¡¯s so not fair! It ate all my coins for nothing! I guess it¡¯s still kind of funny how Isaac lost all his gear to this thing but still I expected to be rewarded not taken advantage of! I¡¯m only a kid I don¡¯t know any better. I should be given a refund!

    It was only then that I realized I¡¯d been staring at this thing for way longer than I should have. The only reason I knew that was because the thing was sweating nervously.

    At least those were the vibes I was getting from watching its aura. This thing had actual emotions. It made me wonder if someone was reincarnated into this thing.

    What did Isaac call it. Isekai? Yeah that. Was I dealing with an actual person. You know I might be able to reason with it.

    ¡°Mr. Gotcha machine. You¡¯ve taken all my coins and all I want is a Grothug. Is there anyway you can help me out?¡±

    It did not respond. Was it really ignoring me? Maybe I was just seeing things. That¡¯s when a little girl skipped over. She was a little shorter than me. Maybe like a five year old.

    In her fingers she held a single gold coin. That¡¯s a lot of money for a kid. I hope no one tries to take it from her. I thought about doing just that when Snowball stopped me by pinching my arm.

    ¡°Ow.¡±

    I looked around to see if there was a parent around and surely enough the little girls father was off to the side watching.

    At least I hope that¡¯s her dad. They both wore expensive clothes. The girl had a fancy dress and the dad dressed like a noble.

    I don¡¯t think we have nobles in Entropy. Maybe he¡¯s visiting from a neighboring country? A refugee perhaps? Then again he wouldn¡¯t look so fancy if he were one. Best guess was he was something of a traveling merchant.

    The girl got her own gotcha capsule and opened it. The shell turned into a multi colored light indicating she''d gotten something good. Possibly the jackpot.

    No way! She got Grothug! If I had one more coin he would¡¯ve been mine! That¡¯s not fair!

    I could totally take it from her. She doesn¡¯t deserve it. That¡¯s how I felt and I might of gone through with it if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the girl started crying. The dad rushed over to her.

    ¡°Are you alright? What¡¯s the matter?¡± The dad tried to console the child but she wasn¡¯t having it.

    ¡°Pa- papa! I didn¡¯t get the one I wanted! Can¡­ can I try again?¡± She cried.

    You know, I couldn¡¯t help but sympathize. That¡¯s exactly how I felt. It made me want to cry to. That¡¯s when I got an idea.

    ¡°Sorry sweetie you know the deal. I told you, you could only get one. Don''t cry you¡¯re a big girl remember.¡± He patted her head.

    Her crying started to quiet down as if she¡¯d found hidden strength. Aren¡¯t children supposed to be bratty especially the rich ones?

    I approached them. ¡°Excuse me, which one were you trying to get?¡± They both looked surprised as if noticing me for the first time. The man instantly recognized me.

    ¡°Lady Aku! It¡¯s nice to meet you.¡± He bowed politely.

    I don¡¯t think the girl knew the status of my vessel. She was the one to answer my question. ¡°I wanted the dragon.¡± She pointed to the wyvern on the label. Then sniffed as if she were still crying. Her dad ran his hand over her head.

    I nodded. ¡°I see. How about a trade then.¡± I produced one of the wyvern plushies I¡¯d gotten. The girls eyes lit up. She nodded her head and we made the trade. Both her and her father thanked me profusely.

    I thanked them in return. These guys are idiots. Don¡¯t they understand the value of this thing. They wasted their coin on a painfully uncommon rank plushy. Maybe the dad wasn''t a merchant after all.

    The girl giggled and smiled showing her dad her new toy. She went ahead and named it Cuddles. She hugged it and smiled.

    The girl jumped around and made the toy fly through the air. The dad smiled watching his child blissfully play.

    I was left wondering. Maybe it wasn¡¯t a waste. I looked to Grothug and smiled. It looked even better than on the label. I gave him a squeeze. He was soft enough to hug but firm enough to where it felt like I was actually hugging a person.

    I floated off with the bear in my arms. Snowball followed behind me. The two NPCs didn¡¯t even realize I was gone.

    As I jumped roof top to roof top I couldn¡¯t help but snuggle with my new friend. Snowball floated beside me unsure of whether she was proud of me or not.

    On one hand I made a little girl happy, on the other¡­. I spent all my money on a scam! Her words not mine. It didn¡¯t matter to me it was worth it.

    Exploring Isaac¡¯s memories I searched for a name for my bear. The name Grothug was cool but that was just the name of the boss.

    I came up with the name Kuma. It was kind of childish when you think about it. It was like naming your cat, Kitty. Not super creative but I like it.

    Ovule street

    This place was fairly normal. The people here were just like the ones ten blocks over. The only difference was there were a few more unsavory characters walking about.

    They were mostly players. You could always tell just by looking at them. They always seemed to give off an ¡°I don¡¯t belong¡± vibe.

    Quite a few were scantily dressed women offering services. They thought they were being sneaky but I could tell what they were up to.

    It wasn¡¯t illegal to do that in Entropy, but that¡¯s not why I came here for. The girls would flirt for a bit before the guys would walk with them into a building called the black rooster.

    Regardless of escort or not they all seemed to hang out there. It was like a tavern but it also had a bit of gambling going on along with running an inn and apparently a brothel of sorts.

    That¡¯s what I was able to gather from my observations and chatting with the residential NPCs.

    Most of them were unhappy about living next to such a sinful establishment. While some actually enjoyed the services provided by them.

    The ones that were unhappy were the NPCs with children while the ones that were neutral and or happy were the adults without children.

    I actually got complaints and was asked to relocate the black rooster to a red-light district. Not sure what that is but my best guess was they wanted me to create an area for places that provided adult services and have the black rooster open shop there.

    People were a lot more complicated than I thought. The black rooster was definitely on the corrupt side of the services and goods spectrum. Yet there was a customer base for it.

    Burning it to the ground would probably make more people angry than solve anything. After all you cant just force someone to shut down just because there doing things your not okay with.

    Adults can pick and choose what they want to do with their lives. Weather it be doing a bunch of drugs or building orphanages for blind homeless children.

    Surprisingly drugs aren¡¯t actually against the law here, so I¡¯m not sure what Isaac was trying to accomplish. These guys were operating in accordance with the law. If Isaac doesn¡¯t want drugs then he could just ban them.

    The only real issue would be if the black rooster was selling to kids and I haven¡¯t seen that happen. Only then would it be time to step in.

    Normally I¡¯d just leave them alone except there were other strange things going on. These guys had made a huge mistake. I¡¯m pretty sure they don¡¯t actually own the building. The NPCs that ran the place weren¡¯t any of mine.

    My NPCs told me they hadn¡¯t seen the original owners and that the original owners sold off their property to the new ones. Except I checked the logs and no such purchase had happened.

    I was a bit confused. I thought the guild owned those buildings. Turns out they belonged to the NPCs now, as long as they paid their taxes that is.

    You could own anything you wanted but if you hadn¡¯t paid the taxes on it then the government would show up and take everything you owned.

    These guys hadn¡¯t been paying any taxes. Not a single coin had been deposited into the guild. That was mistake number one.

    Mistake number two. The NPCs that originally ran the black rooster ¡ª or what it used to be called the black barrel ¡ª Are now dead. And the name brave Jack¡¯s was all over their death logs.

    It apparently happened about a week ago. Right around the time these guys moved in. Coincidence I think not. The reason Isaac never realized this was because it happened before he got here.

    To be fair my brother is an idiot. He should of realized it the moment he saw the deaths of the NPCs.

    I guess he was more worried about the criminals than the dead Bodies. He did kill off a bunch of people when he handed out gold coins.

    I¡¯m surprised the citizens didn¡¯t get angry when they found out their taxes were being handed out to addicts.

    There¡¯s a bit of an unnatural love for my vessel. It¡¯s a little creepy at times. Almost religious in a way. Strange indeed.

    Makes me wonder if the NPCs aren¡¯t hiding their actual feelings in fear of the raider¡¯s God like powers. A country entrusted to a bunch of morons. I¡¯m sure that¡¯ll turn out grate.

    I can do it. I¡¯m better than Isaac. My brother wanted to build an army and train them up first. He doesn¡¯t believe in his own power.

    Hell, he doesn¡¯t even know how to use these grate gifts that the lady bestowed on all the stupid players.

    They¡¯re to ignorant to see the full potential of all the power systems. Not like me of course. I could actually rule this world if I tried, but for now I think I¡¯ll just fix this country up.

    I don''t want to kill but if I don''t. The monster will hurt me. If I can kill only the bad people then it should be okay.

    Snowball protested. As much as I wanted to listen to her. I couldn¡¯t. Someone had to die. The centipede was hungry and if I didn¡¯t pick its victims then it¡¯ll just eat anyone it comes across. It doesn¡¯t matter if there a good person or not.

    The centipede chittered in my ear. It was asking for blood again. it seemed way more desperate this time.

    The pressure of it¡¯s presence was slowly crushing me. Like I was stuck between two fat dudes on an airplane. At least that¡¯s how Isaac would put it.

    For a second I felt like I was back in the hole. I almost scream but then the pain vanished in a gust of wind.

    The centipede wanted me to know what it would do to me if I didn¡¯t obey. I fell to my knees and started crying. My arms wrapped around Snowball.

    It continued to surround me in a screeching cage. It¡¯s voice like harsh static. It was getting worse. The longer it went without food the more pain it inflicted upon me.

    ¡°Shut up! I know! I¡¯ll get you your dam bodies just stop it! If you break me you¡¯ll never get anything!¡± I could hear it chitter like it was laughing at my torment. Was I really free? Was this all worth it?

    The world shook and I was back where I was a moment ago. It was as if time had stopped and finally begun flowing again. I was currently standing on the roof across the black rooster.

    My stealth was active and Snowball was in my arms watching. These were just people but I had to do it. They needed to die so that I could keep living.

    I was just waiting for my focus to top off. There was also the need to mentally prepare myself.

    It was time. I checked my reserves. My HP was full so was my focus. In my hot bar were spells, and potions.

    Seeing as I didn¡¯t know how to cast spells myself this was probably the best use for the hot bar. Even then they would only be used in an emergency. I probably didn¡¯t need them. My third eye could do all sorts of things.

    The Zen potions would come in handy since my cultivation was so slow. One Zen potion would easily top me off. I didn''t see the point in wasting them.

    Just in case I also had a single healing sacred art. You never know when I might need immediate healing. I looked to my partner in crime Snowball.

    She gave me a thumbs up¡­. Was that real? I know for a fact she doesn¡¯t have thumbs. I decided not to question it seeing as she had been doing all sorts of crazy things lately. I still wasn¡¯t sure if it was actually physically happening. Either way it was cute.

    Snowball floated into my left arm and I hugged her close to my side. Kuma was tucked away safely in my inventory. I opened that said inventory and drew out Edge Of The Abyss.

    The sword rested in my right hand. Using telekinesis it floated up and stuck itself to my back.

    The sword was being held there with my third eye but it looked almost like it was attached by some kind of magnetic force.

    The centipede called for souls. By itself it was a hungry mindless monster but together we were something more. Hopefully a force for good. Though I doubt that.

    This was the only way forward. The only way to have some form of freedom. My hands were shaking. I couldn''t calm myself. Can I really do this?

    Sharp pain started to radiate through my arm. I almost screamed. There was something stabbing into me! ¡°I¡¯m sorry I''ll do it!¡± I cried. I was wrong this wasn''t a punishment.

    Something dark was crawling around my body slowly wrapping itself around me. My hands were finally steady. The entirety of my body was covered by the centipede. It''s legs were bone deep releasing a numbing poison throughout my body.

    There was no pain. There wasn''t really much of anything anymore. My legs were being guided and I moved forward. I guess I no longer had a choice.

 Episode 21: Tantalus

    Chapter 21: Tantalus

    I hopped off the stone roof and floated over to the black rooster''s front door. Immediately I felt something snap in my essence circulation. I accidentally cut the flow of shadow essence that was powering my stealth.

    Interestingly enough the system overrides the flow of essence so when I try to use my third eye I often end up undoing abilities. I¡¯ll have to watch out for that.

    It¡¯s not that complicated. I just need to find another pathway for the power to travel. A path that doesn¡¯t interrupt the systems cookie cutter functions.

    Stealth wasn¡¯t that important. It wasn¡¯t necessarily a stealth mission but I would of preferred to be hidden up until I got inside.

    As expected I was immediately spotted by one of the busboys. Who coincidentally had decided to go on a smoke break right when I was about to do my impression of the quiet kid at school.

    ¡°Holy fuck!¡± He dropped the cigarette on the ground. The guy looked like he was in his twenties. He wore a red vest with a collared white shirt underneath and black dress pants.

    From my previous stakeout I knew that, that was the uniform brandished by employees of the black rooster. He wasn''t an NPC. The strange part was his eyes looked kind of red. The guy could use some eye drops.

    ¡°Hey¡± I gave him a nonchalant wave like everything was totally normal. As long as I didn¡¯t make it weird it wouldn¡¯t be weird. I wasn¡¯t my brother I didn¡¯t need to resort to staring people down until they were more uncomfortable than me.

    Let him think he¡¯s going crazy. Meanwhile I¡¯ll be slaughtering all his friends and co-workers. Not all of them, just until the centipedes hunger subsides.

    ¡°Are¡­. Are you real?¡± was this guy okay? He was genuinely unsure of weather I was real or not. Did he not know what stealth was?

    You know it hadn¡¯t occurred to me that the employees might also be on drugs. I couldn¡¯t be sure. He might just be really dumb. Oh¡­. Perhaps I shouldn''t make fun of him.

    He might be one of the special ones. Is special offensive? I¡¯d better not mention it. Father always said to treat them like normal people.

    The guy reached out to me his finger touching my forehead. What a strange greeting. I¡¯d do the same but I can''t reach that high.

    Memories of being spanked flashed through my mind. Ah! That''s right! ¡°stranger danger!¡± I ducked under his hand then threw a solid punch to his crotch.

    The guy grunted leaning forward and holding his balls. I might of punched a little to hard. I definitely felt something pop.

    For some reason there were actual tears welding up in the corners of my eyes. I felt a strange trauma come over me. It made me feel a bit sick.

    That memory. I was being kidnapped! Was that what was happening? No¡­. Wait, he was just trying to see if I was real. Strange, Why didn''t Isaac give me that memory. Actually there''s a bunch of stuff I never got.

    The busboy stood back up. I felt a little sorry for him but at the same time I didn''t want him touching me. I know I wanted friends but this was a friend I didn''t need. This is what Shadow might call a bad influence.

    He didn''t look angry. The guy was just standing there confused. Was he still not sure if I was real? Even the centipede was perplexed, so much so that it¡¯s buzzing had quieted down.

    Was this guy actually on something? It seemed very irresponsible to be high on your own supply. He sure looked like it. Wait¡­. Now hold on a minute! I can use this.

    I looked around like I was about to tell a racist joke. Then waved my hand like I was asking him to come closer. He blinked and leaned forward. So trusting.

    ¡°I¡¯m not real.¡± I loud whispered to him all conspiratorial like. His eyes went wide.

    The guy stood up straight and rubbed his eyes but I was still there. That would have been a perfect time to activate stealth and leave Snowball floating there but I wasn¡¯t that clever.

    He stumbled over his words. ¡°You¡­. Your not¡­ your not like, gonna rush in and kill my boss and everyone else in there¡­. Are ya?¡± His eyes squinted like he was trying to see through me.

    There was a long silence. For a moment I thought about joking around with him and making this all out to be a silly misunderstanding, but only for a moment.

    I looked to snowball, then the centipede on my shoulder. We all came to the same conclusion. The thought ¡°He knows to much!¡± bounced back and forth between the three of us.

    My sword spun out from behind me then shot forward stabbing the man through the skull.

    I was surprised to see it go right through bone like that. Well it was super thin so it had less trouble going through things.

    I hadn''t actual meant to kill him. The centipede had somehow assisted me in the kill. Even now I could feel it¡¯s shadow like wisps tightening around my arms and legs.

    It was like an auto correct feature. I felt like throwing up but I was also happy that the centipede wouldn''t hurt me now.

    Even now the constant ringing in my head had just about vanished. I felt my head ache fading.

    Maybe one life would be enough. Maybe I can get away with just one dead body. It was a bit to soon to celebrate as the monster inside me called for more blood.

    More blood? It wanted more. How many more people would I have to kill? I started to question myself. Are these really the actions of a hero?

    The centipede exuded its pressure and my body felt like it was being crushed under a mountain. I couldn''t move or breathe. All I knew was unrelenting pain. The numbness I felt earlier was still there but it didn''t block anything the centipede did to me.

    I started apologizing and when that didn''t work I told it I would kill as many people as it wanted, just make it stop.

    I came back to my senses. There was now something running down my legs. It was warm and wet. Yeah¡­. That¡¯s¡­ That¡¯s piss. Oh, looks like my eyes peed to. My bad, those are tears.

    Those dam emotions came rushing back. All those stupid memories of Isaac¡¯s childhood. I was very aware of the giant centipede hanging on my shoulders. Aware of how it wrapped around me. It¡¯s legs stabbing into me like dirty needles. Spreading rot and infection. Spreading poison and fear.

    This was why that guy died. Because the centipede is controlling me. This isn¡¯t my fault! I didn¡¯t kill him! The centipede made me do it! I¡¯m innocent! I can still make lots of friends! I''m not a bad person!

    It doesn¡¯t have full control but its taking everything I have not to run down the street and start slaughtering random people.

    I need to aim this blood lust somewhere else. That way I¡¯ll at the very least only kill those that are less worthy of living. I hope people will still want to be friends with me.

    The black wisps reached out licking the body. The centipede was feeding off of him. An intrusive memory crawled its way out the back of my head. That¡¯s right¡­ something weird happen last time it ate.

    It was that time, back when mother died but¡­. Something strange happened back then. That thing stopped it. That light. Where was it now? Why wasn¡¯t it here?

    This wasn¡¯t the time. I tried to gather myself. My body felt drained but I had to keep fighting. I don¡¯t want to be this things toy, it''s tool, but I don''t have a choice.

    I¡¯m not doing anything wrong. Its not my fault. I have to kill people to survive. It¡¯s like when a wolf kills a rabbit. It¡¯s just trying to survive. Nothing wrong with that.

    My sword came back my way slashing the blood off of its blade before attaching itself to my back. People were screaming but that was expected. I wanted to scream to.

    I shouldn''t scream. I''m a hero. If I scream and frown then nobody will want to be my friend. I¡¯ll just have to smile.

    Tears continued to run down my face and I smiled and cackled like a hyena on laughing gas. I fought so desperately against the pain. This was pure madness.

    The centipede didn¡¯t take long to feed and I wasn¡¯t sure if anyone else could see it. I turned my attention to the double doors. My third eye flared to life blasting them wide open with a burst of kinetic force.

    As long as I smile and laugh then people will be my friend. And that''s what I did. Even though I had someone else''s blood on me. Even though tears continued to run down my face. I continued to smile and giggle.

    I don¡¯t think the doors were supposed to open that way but they did for me. Making my way inside I was met with all manner of weapons.

    I saw guns and swords. Beautiful glowing magic circles. Bows and arrows. There were spears, cross bows, knives and other things.

    I scanned for my targets but only found two. Not all of these guys were apart of the staff. A lot of them were players. From the looks of it only two of my targets were here.

    They were all spooked from the commotion outside and me standing here laughing and crying was so out of place that they couldn''t even attack.

    Regi was the bartender. He looked a little like a butler. He had long black hair tied into a ponytail and a clean shaven face. Over his left eye was an eye patch. The pirate wannabe brandished a pair of fancy knives.

    Silver was a woman shaped cyborg. Like her name she had silver hair. She held a kinetic gun.

    Her race was obviously cyborg. Her head had silicone skin in the shape of a beautiful girl. Her eyes were a dark red yet their light seemed to cut through the dim room.

    The rest of her body was pure metal and plastic with different colored lights sprinkled about. Some blinked. Others were perpetually on.

    Where was brave Jack''s? I¡¯m pretty sure he''s the one running the whole operation. I bet he¡¯s upstairs.

    Seeing all there frightened faces made me giggle. I managed to do a little courtesy lifting the edges of my dress and bowing. I followed it up with a spin and dance fluttering my dress like flower petals in the wind.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    The centipede laughed at my tomfoolery. No one else found my performance all that funny not even Snowball, but that was okay.

    It was time to separate the hens from the foxes. ¡°Anyone that isn¡¯t staff get the hell out!¡± I was expecting the players to leave but no one moved. Maybe this was a hidden faction of players?

    I gave their avatars a quick scan and to my surprise none of them were affiliated with a guild. That was actually kind of smart. There was no way to tell if a group had formed or not.

    Since they didn¡¯t leave when I told them, I¡¯ll just have to wipe them all out. They were all bad guys after all and the centipede was hungry. Already it¡¯s buzzing was starting to pick up in frequency.

    Snowball had been yapping this whole time. I was busy trying to keep us alive and save the city. There was no time to hesitate. I¡¯m a hero after all.

    My blade spun through the air and went for the nearest guy. He had an axe and somehow managed to smack my blade away.

    The long range fighters all fired off their magic and weapons. The room erupted with the sound of gunfire. It wasn¡¯t as loud as the centipede currently chirping my head off.

    Ever since I walked into the room I¡¯d been building power around me. Using that said power I quickly created a wall of kinetic energy causing their attacks to be crushed under its immense pressure.

    As a counter I used that same energy to send a wave of kinetic force through out the room completely decimating their front lines. My barrier might be gone but thanks to that. All that remained were the enemies in the back. Mostly just melee fighters.

    Couldn¡¯t help but notice my focus bar had gone down by about 20% just from that one wave. It was so costly.

    To be fair It was only essence so that was expected but still that was so expensive. I¡¯ll have to be more frugal with my focus expenditure.

    I weaved through magical attacks of varying affinities. The centipede helped to balance me and guide me.

    Silver and Regi were making there way out the back. That was okay. I dashed forward using telekinesis to toss a chair at my first target. Who was a sword and shield wielding lady.

    She lifted her shield and the chair exploded upon impact. Using my third eye I took hold of the peace¡¯s and slammed them into the ladies body. They pierced her flesh causing blood to spew. She cried out in pain.

    It looked like I hadn¡¯t hit anything vital. My sword made it into my hands and I slashed it across her legs cutting half way through bone and flesh like they were both made of paper.

    She screamed again ¡ª this time more angry than in pain ¡ª and foolishly tried to cut me down, but her legs split open like a KitKat and she fell towards me. I stepped aside avoiding her sword then ran my blade through her back finishing her off.

    Death was so strange. Killing was almost easy. I ripped my blade out just in time to avoid a knife that had been thrown at me.

    The centipede as expected reached out and did something to the woman¡¯s body. I wasn¡¯t sure what but it hadn''t eaten her soul.

    My best guess was it was trying to keep her core from being collected. Eating took time and right now we were surrounded. Even though we were in a bad situation the centipede still found time to secure its meals. Greedy bug.

    It used to do everything that I said but now that our contract was fulfilled I no longer had a say in what we did. I could only ever do things that aligned with its goals. It¡¯s laughable.

    Another guy came at me with an axe. I giggled and smiled as tears flew from my face mixing with the blood on my cheeks. I avoided his axe using telekinetic force to push him against the wall.

    His axe clattered on the floor so I lifted it with telekinesis and shot it across the room striking an approaching man in the head. He fell to the floor a loud thump breaking through the chaos.

    I ran my blade through the guts of the guy stuck to the wall. His intestines spilled out splattering on the floor. The screams he produced were blood chilling but I continued to gigle like a school girl. Icicles were now being fired at me accompanied by wind blades.

    I caught the icicles one after the other using a wall of kinetic energy. The wind blades dissipated on contact with my barrier unable to slice through its girth. This was All going on while I avoided the blade of an assassin.

    The razor sharp edges of his dagger sored near my flesh as he desperately tried to cut me down. I must of killed one of his friends because he looked like he might be having a tummy ache.

    Ya know¡­ maybe he really wanted to be my friend and was trying to show me his knife. He could just be a super awkward guy that doesn¡¯t know how to talk to people.

    Another guy swung his snake-like sword down at me activating an ability. The blade glowed red as it arced through the air.

    The centipede saw it coming and took full control, forcing our body to step aside. Then it used telekinesis to pull Mr. knife into Mr. snake sword¡¯s path.

    Oh¡­. My friend.

    The sword cut into his left shoulder and sunk in almost a foot. It must of hit his heart because he went limp. Mr. Snake sword screamed in fear and tried to remove his blade from Mr. knife¡¯s ribcage but it was stuck due to it¡¯s strange shape.

    I was in shock. He killed my friend! ¡°Don''t worry Mr. knife! I''ll avenge you!¡± I sent my palm forward touching the friend killer¡¯s stomach. Then sent a burst of kinetic energy through him.

    His guts exploded out of his back. They splattered across the room like that one famous lady that would use her poo to make paintings on walls.

    I then took the icicles I¡¯d been gathering and flung them back at the ice mage that had cast them. She no longer looked like she wanted to fight as a look of horror came upon her face.

    The Icicles slammed into her like a pin cushion. Her body was flung back and pinned against the wall. Blood spewed out from her wounds as she died a slow painful death.

    Surprisingly the ice spears hadn¡¯t hit anything vital so the only death she could possibly experience was a mercy kill or loss of blood. Couldn¡¯t help but think the centipede had planed it that way. Cruel bug.

    My third eye caught a flash of essence from my left. A man with a spear activated a ability. The blade of his weapon erupted with a spiraling orange light. He moved across the room with blinding speed.

    I dove into action jumping onto the tip of his spear causing it to stab into the floor. Just as it hit I jumped back, his spears shaft almost breaking on impact. The power of his attack drilled through the floor boards until it hit the ground under the tavern in a puff of dust.

    I jumped through the cloud of dirt and landed a solid fist to his chest. He hardly moved. This guy must have some kind of knock back resistance. At the very least he was stubborn.

    He took a half step back pulling the spear out of the ground, and getting into position for another attack. Spear guy didn''t hesitate as he came in with a jab.

    His team mates decided to watch and cheer him on. This man must have been something special for them to let him go in alone.

    I avoided the spear head over and over again as he maneuvered it around in an attempt to poke me. My giggling wouldn''t stop. Tears flew as my body moved rapidly to avoid his attacks. This guy was actually kind of strong. To bad he wasn''t as fast as me.

    How did father put it? Bob and weave. Move around your opponent until you see and opening and strike.

    I sent my blade flying at him. It stabbed into his shoulder. Putting pressure on it. The blade lifted into the air taking the man with it. He screamed in pain trying to pull the weapon free. It tore itself out of his shoulder just about severing the limb.

    While I dealt with him two other players were getting into position from both my left and right sides. Each brandishing bows. They were organized. The arrows glowed a light green before they fired off a volley of arrows.

    The two of them were smart to shoot at an angle instead of directly across from each other with me between them. This way neither one was in the other¡¯s crosshairs.

    That ability was crazy. It was like the projectiles had multiplied. I built a wall of kinetic force on both sides stopping the arrows from hurting me. Another archer got his bow ready. He was directly in front of me.

    It looked like the rest of their team didn¡¯t want to get in their way as they prepared potions and tried to heal their fallen comrades.

    I focused on closing myself in a barrier and the kinetic force responded by moving into place. The power formed a perfect bubble around me. The archers skill went off as the man yelled its name. ¡°piercing shot!¡±

    A golden light shot from his bow and went right through my defenses. The light hit my stomach exiting my back and even going through the wall. Blood pooled around the wound. It was thin but still it was damage.

    There was also a poison icon in the corner of my vision. I was so surprised that I didn¡¯t noticed the guy with the gun about to launch a similar attack. He fired his shot only it didn¡¯t actually do anything.

    Somehow my aura connected with my ribbon and my body was flooded with shadow essence. The effect turned my body transparent completely ignoring the bullet.

    I should of paid more attention. The two players that had shot volleys were about to do their own piercing shots. That was enough of that.

    I expanded my barrier creating another wave of force to crash into them. The two archers that were about to fire were crushed against the wall. The kinetic wave wasn¡¯t as powerful as the first and only managed to push everyone else back a little.

    It didn¡¯t stop the last two ranged attackers from firing there own volleys now that my shield was down. I did my best to avoid them as I gathered my power to form a shield. Surely enough one grazed my side and another activated the shadow essence ability.

    I managed to toss a shield up just in time. Edge Of The Abyss made it back to my side. I used it to power the shield seeing as I was starting to go low on focus. The centipede cried in anger telling me to stop hiding and kill.

    Using the sword as a medium I readied a spell. A gold magic circle formed over my free hand. It flashed with multiple runes. I thrust my hand out as I called its name ¡°chain lightning!¡± powerful golden lightning shot out of my hand and struck both of my attackers. The lightning lashed out attacking others.

    They didn¡¯t have time to scream as they died almost as soon as the lightning hit. That was so cool! I even managed to hurt the allies adjacent to them.

    There was only two enemies left. I was feeling a bit tired. The centipede was keeping me on my feet. The last two drew out blades. A lot of good that would do.

    Their auras weren¡¯t to strong and I could easily break through. I focused my third eye and watched as flames began to form around them and all over the walls.

    This was a power called pyrokinesis. I could only produce a few flames but this was enough to at least start the fire.

    The last two cried out in pain as the flames ate them alive. The red glow of the room made grate contrast giving form to the formless.

    There were three distortions of light there. I¡¯m surprised my third eye didn¡¯t see them. To be fair if I¡¯d tried I¡¯m sure I could of made them out clear as day but I hadn¡¯t even thought to look.

    It didn¡¯t look like they were going to fight me. Most likely they were afraid and were trying to hide till things calmed down. I didn¡¯t want to fight them either. Maybe they¡¯ll be my friends.

    I smiled but the tears still fell. I must of looked insane because they shifted into defensive poses. At least that¡¯s what their silhouettes looked like. Before I could say anything the centipede activated one of the spells on my hot bar.

    It was the spell lightning only far more powerful. a bolt of blue electricity shot out from my hand and struck one of the hiding assassins. They were dead in an instant.

    Isaac would probably say no magic protection. Me on the other hand knew better. The guy''s aura had no lightning resistance.

    ¡°Jacob!¡± one of the assassins dropped stealth and ran to the fallen man¡¯s side. It was hard to tell what it was. His body was completely cooked. The smell of burnt flesh was so strange yet somewhat familiar. Like barbecue but not that. Beef almost.

    The room might have been ablaze but the darkness of the centipede permeated all of the dead bodies like black smoke. Lucky for me my third eye took care of sight.

    The third guy stepped out of stealth standing in front of the girl. ¡°Stacy get out of here I¡¯ll hold off the monster!¡± The man brandished his knife. It seemed to glow a dark orange, as the light of the flames bounced off of its dark gray surface.

    what!? A monster? Me?

    ¡°Hey. I¡¯m not a monster mister. I''m Centa.¡± He was wrong. I¡¯m no monster. It¡¯s the centipede that¡¯s making me do things.

    The building was starting to fall apart around us. Chunks of wooden framework were coming lose and crashing down. The centipede¡¯s face appeared within the shadows of the room. Hundreds of knife like teeth swirling around a black endless void.

    It spoke to me. ¡°More. Moooooooore!¡± it¡¯s voice was far worse than the gun fire a moment ago. Not only did it pierce my ears it shook my soul. My mind was cracking.

    I tried speaking to it. ¡°Why can¡¯t we leave them alone. You haven¡¯t even eaten any of the souls yet. You cant be that¡ª!¡± I was interrupted by a growing pain like my head was being pumped full of air. ¡°aaaaaah!¡± I went limp but the centipede held me up. It¡¯s needle like feet digging ever deeper into my body.

    ¡°Foooood! More food! Feast! Soul! Eat! Eat! Eat!¡± It started to tear into me as it¡¯s body squirmed. It¡¯s legs stabbing and cutting into me. No one else could see it. The legs weren¡¯t in my actual body. I was feeling what it wanted me to feel.

    I couldn¡¯t scream, I couldn¡¯t move, I couldn¡¯t breathe. This body was a prison. It screeched and scratched. I was in that darkness once more.

    The sound permeated through my present, my future, and especially my past. The tears wouldn''t stop. They ran down my cheeks as giant sticky red blobs. Huh? Since when were tears made of blood?

    It wasn¡¯t fair. Why do I have to live like this? No wonder my brother stuffed all his darkness into that hole. Ignorance. I wish for Ignorance.

    If only I didn¡¯t know of the outside world. If only the darkness was the only thing I knew. Then¡­ maybe then I could be happy. It¡¯s cruel to show me light. To give me hope and make it so I can never grasp it.

    This was like the story of that guy in Tartarus. What was his name?.... Tantalus

    Snowball tried to speak but the darkness didn¡¯t let her. I opened my inventory and deposited her inside. She didn¡¯t need to suffer like this. She doesn¡¯t deserve it.

    Stacy screamed in anger. ¡°I''ll kill her myself!¡± as the man called her name to try and stop her. She rushed at me with such fury. I decided not to do anything. Maybe with the power of friendship I¡¯ll be set free.

    The centipede didn''t like that idea and was ready to step in and use me like a puppet. I focused my entire mind on not moving and thanks to that my body was still. I could feel that greedy bug trying to pull my arms and legs into action but all he could manage was a simple tremble.

    I did it! I stopped it! Even though I was trying so hard it was impossible to do anything else.

    I thought she would save me but even though we had the power of friendship she was unable to do a thing. A large chunk of the ceiling fell on top of her pinning her to the floor.

    The guy tried to free her. I already knew she was dead. Her health bar was only half gone but my third eye showed me she had something stuck in her chest. It looked like her own knife. She must of fallen on it.

    The only thing that could save her was either a sacred art, or a potion. Was I really a hero? I didn''t mean to do it. The centipede made me. It brought me here and attacked. I-I¡­ okay so I did fight back but¡­ I had to! I was defending myself!... right? Am I the bad guy?

    I looked at the destruction and dead bodies all around me. These guys were just trying to make a foot hold in this world. I really just wanted to be better than my brother. Isaac didn¡¯t even care about those homeless people.

    He let them die and for what? to get rid of purple mist? Were these people really that much of a threat? So they have a little side hustle selling drugs. Big deal.

    Isaac used to do all kinds of drugs. He is such a hypocrite and here I am trying to prove I¡¯m better than him. It¡¯s a stupid joke!

    I found new strength in myself. A new desire ignited inside me and I found what I needed to take charge.

    Ignoring the cries for blood I made my way over to the two assassins. The man was still trying to pull the rubble off of the girl. His aura wasn''t built for strength. The girl was unconscious.

    ¡°Stacy please stay with me!¡± he kept trying to free her. This guy no longer paid any attention to me. He was ready to die alongside her.

    I did this. How could I call myself a hero. The centipede was already surrounding the two of them. It might hurt me if I do this but¡­..

    I Used telekinesis to pull the rubble off the girl. The man turned her over and saw the knife in her chest. ¡°You idiot!¡± he started crying over her body.

    ¡°Mister she isn¡¯t dead yet.¡± The guy finally realized it. He was about to feed her a potion when I stopped him. He glared at me. I was the one that put them in this situation. The centipede cried wishing for their deaths. I ignored it.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. If you feed her that the wound will try to close over the knife. She¡¯ll be in serious pain. I need you to pull the knife out of her. Then I¡¯ll heal her with a sacred art.¡± He only seemed to shake angrily.

    ¡°You bitch! You think this is some stupid game! You cant play with people like there toys! What gives you the right! God dam it!¡± He lunged at me and tried to stab me with his own knife. I avoided it and used telekinesis on his body. He flew off and hit the wall.

    I didn¡¯t mean to but I hadn''t noticed the deer head mounted to the wall. One of its antlers had pierced the man¡¯s heart. He died on impact. I felt my soul crack. ¡°This wasn¡¯t what I wanted! I cant let it end like this! Let me save one person! Just one!¡±

    The girl! I can still save the girl! I ran to her. Her health was very low. If I pull the knife out now she¡¯ll most likely die. It was gonna hurt but I could still save her!

    I can undue what I did! I can save her and be a hero! I don¡¯t have to be a monster! The centipede cried out in a chalk board scream. That sound, It was so frustrating.

    I cried and screamed. ¡°Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! You always do this! why can''t you let me live in peace!¡± My body shook and I started to curl up into a ball. I was surrounded by its gloom.

    Before I could fall back under its control I forced myself to slam my head on the floor. It felt good. I did it again and again until my head started to bleed. I then turned my attention to the girl. She was about to die. I tried to use the sacred art but¡­.. it didn¡¯t work.

    System message:

    EROR 404 Not found.

    Contacting developers¡­.

    A complaint has been made in your name. Please stand by while management tries to fix this problem.

    ¡°It¡­ it didn¡¯t work! Potion!¡± I pulled a potion out and tried to make her drink. The green liquid made it into her mouth leaking out the sides. It wasn''t going down her throat!

    Her HP dropped to zero and she was dead. Then and only then did the centipede try and eat her. It covered her like a swarm of flies and no matter how hard I tried I couldn¡¯t get it off of her.

    The shadows slipped right through my fingers like they didn¡¯t exist. I cried as I desperately patted them away.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t fair! Why dose it always end like this! Why do I have to be the villain! Why won¡¯t anyone come and save me!¡±

    I just want one person to care.

    I pleaded and cried. ¡°I can save her! I can save her! Stop it! Get off of her! She isn¡¯t dead! I can still save her! Please! Let me save her!¡± my tears slapped against her face.

    I let out a scream. A scream louder than anything this tiny vessel could ever dream of producing. It was a scream that came from my very soul. A cry of pain and anguish. A cry born from watching hope die.

    I did this. I did it. It¡¯s my fault. I killed all these people. I wish I was never born. I wish to stop existing.

    The darkness began to close in on me, as I curled into a little ball and fell into the hole once more. Though it wasn¡¯t I or Aku or even Isaac that controlled our body. It was the raging monster that Isaac¡­ no, that we created.

    It appeared that living was just to much for me. Not when that thing still controlled me. Control¡­ and here I thought I was the one controlling it. It used my shares of Isaac¡¯s soul to free itself and now it¡¯s out there. Free to hunt. Free to kill. Free to feast on human souls.

    Someone save me¡­¡­

 Episode 22: bandaids & stitches part 1

    Shadow

    The three of us ¡ª Alice Luca and I ¡ª moved deeper into the south west area of serenity. As we ran we chatted.

    Luca was having trouble running in her robes. So much so that she had to lift the edges of it so she wouldn''t trip. ¡°Hey Alice. If chief is so dangerous then why wasn¡¯t he locked up?¡±

    I ran on all fours. Usually I¡¯d try to walk on two legs but right now I was to worried about Master to care about acting like an animal.

    Even my eyes had taken on their slit like appearance. I couldn¡¯t get my claws to retract no matter how hard I tried. That would require me to relax and that was currently something I was incapable of doing.

    Alice¡¯s cute soft voice caused my ears to twitch in delight. ¡°Well. It¡¯s a little complicated. No one really knows about Isaac¡¯s murderous tendencies. In each case it was seen as self defense. Every one but the last one where he tried to stab his brother. Key word being tried.¡± She averted her eyes.

    This girl was way to nervous. She was being somewhat vague. I know we¡¯re in a bit of a rush but something still didn¡¯t sit right with me. Master wasn¡¯t like that.

    I know she almost killed Mantis but¡­ Master is so silly and childish. Even the old Isaac had that air about him to some degree. I know I witnessed it but I''m still having a hard time believing it.

    It felt like Alice was leaving a lot of stuff out. It was either a lack of time or she didn¡¯t want us to know. I needed to make sure before we did something we might regret.

    As of right now Luca had set the city to siege mode. That meant all the NPCs would head to shelter. Even our new recruits were helping people get away from the southwest area of serenity.

    The soldiers that Master hired while not properly leveled had been doing stat training up till now and were currently busy forming a perimeter to block off the area where the flames were.

    They were to protect the civilians at all cost. Even Cindy had volunteered to act as a wall to prevent whatever threat was out there from reaching the rest of the city.

    We didn¡¯t actually know what was going on. As far as I know Master was out there fighting a world boss. However it didn¡¯t change the fact that Master quit the guild a moment ago and that no monsters were sighted near the wall or in the city.

    Currently I was the guild master. Originally the title went to Mao since he was the vice leader of the raiders. He wasn¡¯t here right now and seemed to think I should be in charge.

    Good thing I had Luca at my side. I might be a responsible adult but Luca was a smart girl. It was her idea to contain the area.

    Every NPC reported a girl with black hair. Covered in blood and red eyes like a demon. It didn¡¯t sound like Master but she did have that ribbon that changed her eye color and the name Centa was reported by countless NPCs and players alike. Still Master didn¡¯t have black hair.

    I eyed Alice with suspicion. Was she really trustworthy. Was she actually that Alice? She looked like the Alice I remember. I need to make sure.

    Before we went any further into the siege zone I pounced through the air. Alice screamed as I tackled her to the ground. She was so huggable. Even though I was assaulting her it felt like I was holding down a doll.

    To my surprise Luca took a hold of the back of my robes. ¡°Sh-Shadow! What are you doing get off of her!¡± She tried to pull me off the cute girl but I hissed at her causing her to retreat.

    Alice no longer wore her banana outfit and instead was sporting some of Master¡¯s old gear from when she tried to level the magical girl class.

    It was a blue dress complete with black marry janes, white tights, white apron and even a big blue bow clipped onto the back of her head. She was really cute. I found myself stealing glances when ever I could.

    It turns out the banana gear was actually the best gear she had. I knew that feeling all to well. I used to have to ware this ridiculous monkey armor. I¡¯ll spare you the details.

    ¡°Get off me you crazy cat lady!¡± She gave me the same adoring nickname Master had. That¡¯s so cute! I gave her head a little lick......... It¡¯s not weird! She just needed a little grooming is all.

    ¡°Stop it! That¡¯s gross! What do you want from me?!¡± She cried desperately trying to push me away. To bad for her she wasn''t in a good position to fight back.

    This girl was weaker than Master. Her strength ratio was probably the same only her numbers were lower. Magical girls weren¡¯t shy about there strength stat. This girl just hasn''t leveled like Master has.

    ¡°Tell me what you know about Master?!¡± She had tears in the corners of her eyes. I wonder if there salty. I gave one a lick and surly enough¡­ they were! She was also blushing like a pink peach. I could just eat her up.

    I must of really freaked her out because she panicked kicking and screaming. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to tell you! Please leave me alone you crazy bitch!¡± looks like she hadn¡¯t learned her lesson yet.

    I gave her thigh a playful slap and she squealed like a frightened squirrel. ¡°What was that? Did I hear a bad word again. Naughty Alice. Do you need more discipline?¡± She made a strange sound like a rodent caught in a mouse trap.

    Her head shook back and forth. ¡°No¡­ I¡¯m sorry ma¡¯am. I¡¯ll be good.¡± I shouldn¡¯t bully her to much but seeing her squirm like that after she stabbed me felt really good.

    I couldn¡¯t let her say such awful words. It negated all the effort I put into making her look cute. I even brushed her hair and cleaned her finger nails.

    I don¡¯t know where she¡¯s been but she had so much dirt in them that I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if she was walking around on her hands.

    Clearly this girl needed a proper mother figure in her life to make sure she cleans herself. She told me she¡¯d been wearing the same underwear since she woke up in the new world.

    That was only yesterday but still. You should change your underwear at the very least once a day. Especially if you¡¯ve been fighting monsters in the wild like she has.

    Lucky for her Master had a bunch of new undies. Though she didn¡¯t like that they were so childish. She wanted something in black.

    As for how this cutie got here. She said she was trying to go to work when she realized she¡¯d forgotten her work ID. When she tried to open the door to her and Master¡¯s bedroom she said there was a flash of light.

    That¡¯s how she found herself in the new world. It checked out with all the other reports Luca managed to gather.

    Like little Alice, Luca ¡ª my other adoptive daughter ¡ª was also in distress. ¡°Shadow your being really weird.¡± She looked a bit embarrassed.

    Looking around I noticed the people watching the whole interaction. Well that was okay. I was hoping to assert dominance. What better way to do that than public humiliation.

    This way Alice will start acting more timid around me. Once I break her down I can mold her into someone worthy of Master¡¯s love. After all I refuse to give Master away to just anyone.

    Since I had her here I used my tail to tickle her. Tickle torture was the best kind of torture. She started giggling. What an intoxicating sound.

    ¡°Stop it! Stop it!¡± She laughed and cried. Her body seemed to squirm uncontrollably. The whole scene made my heart warm up. I could do this all day but that was probably a bad idea so I stopped before things got¡­. messy.

    This was all necessary for building a bond. Once the laughter stopped all I could hear from her was the soft crying that could only come from a child. This was a different kind of cute.

    I know! I¡¯ll give her a pet name! It¡¯ll help build our relationship. Let¡¯s see Isaac is Master and this girl ¡ª as ridiculous as it sounds ¡ª is her wife so how about¡­.

    ¡°Come on then Mistress. Tell me what you know. Sadly, you know more about Master than both me and Luca put together so spill the beans. We need to know what we¡¯re getting into.¡± The small girl looked like she really didn''t want to talk.

    She was scared. Maybe I went a little over board. It¡¯s not my fault she¡¯s so cute. She was primed. This is the part where I make her feel better. I¡¯ll start by cleaning her up then.

    I helped her up then dusted off her dress. I then straitened up her clothes and hair. She still had a few tears so I wiped them off with a tissue. I looked her in the eyes and smiled.

    Sadly she was still a bit mopey. To help her feel better I gave her head a gentle soft pat then pushed a lollipop between her lips.

    It was one of the candies I¡¯d confiscated from Master. If there¡¯s anything I know it¡¯s that children have a soft spot for sweet things.

    Little Alice made a delighted sound. I gave her tummy a little tickle causing her to giggle again. Children are so easy to please. I finished her off with a hug. Hugs are nice. They make you feel warm and loved.

    Luca looked on in disbelief. This was easy. You break there confidence, make them terrified of the world. Then make them 100% unable to function without you.

    Some might call this abusive or toxic but I think its just the act of raising children to be exactly the way you want them to be.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Shadow. Your kinda scary.¡± Luca looked more frightened than impressed. For the sake of our friendship I took it as a complement.

    I looked Alice in the eyes. ¡°Mistress, the truth is we don''t know what we''re walking into. It might be really dangerous, so please tell us what is Master¡¯s deal? If you do a good job I might consider giving you more candy.¡±

    The girl looked a little embarrassed and I wasn¡¯t sure if she liked the offer. She gave me a sad look then mumbled something through the lollipop. Her cheeks turned slightly pinker than they were a moment ago. She¡¯s just as cute as Master.

    The girl pulled the lollipop out then said ¡°Okay, but not a lot of people know¡­. So¡­. So when we get back to the other world¡­.. you have to keep it a secret.¡± She looked like she wanted to cry again.

    I gave her another head pat. ¡°Don¡¯t worry were all Isaac¡¯s friends. We just want what¡¯s best.¡± I looked towards my guild mate. ¡°Right Luca?¡±

    She responded with ¡°Of course. Chief isn¡¯t a bad person. I just want to help her.¡± She also looked like she wanted to cry.

    Alice went into her story. I wasn¡¯t expecting her to start so far back.

    Alice

    25 years ago.

    High school is such a miserable place. I used to be so popular. Originally I was going to a fancy private school, but after what happened I ended up expelled.

    The only other school I could go to was a public school near our house. Mom and dad saw it as a punishment.

    I remember the moment it happened. It was like any other day. I got to school and was walking down the hall. My fellow students didn''t greet me like they usually did. Immediately I knew something was wrong. It was like the air was replaced by laughing gas.

    No matter who I saw they would just snicker and walk away. When I finally found my so called friends they laughed at me to.

    For a second I thought I might be having that nightmare where I show up to school in my underwear, but when I looked down my uniform was in tacked.

    Maybe I got a booger or something. I check myself in my hand mirror and didn¡¯t find anything out of the ordinary.

    When I asked what was so funny I was called a whore among other things. That''s when I finally got to watch the video going around. The source of all the giggles.

    We commandeered a computer from the library. This was before schools started blocking websites so it was easy to find what we were looking for.

    In it I was drunk and naked. I was giving my boyfriend ¡ª at the time ¡ª a blow job. There was some serious commentary and then I took it up the ass.

    I was told as long as it¡¯s oral or butt sex I¡¯d still be considered a virgin but in their eyes I just ended up looking like a slut.

    The guys name was Rodney. He drove an El Camino, and on the weekends a Kawasaki bike. We only started dating about a month ago.

    He begged me to have sex with him almost every day and when I finally gave in he filmed it and posted the video on some shitty armature porn site under the name ¡°Alice in slutland¡±

    Back when I was a little girl my mother and father used to read Alice in wonderland to me every night. I loved that book. I always used to think of me and the Alice from the book as one in the same. I even wore blue dresses back then.

    I remember refusing to wear anything else. It drove my parents crazy and in the end I¡¯d still get to wear my dress.

    Weather it be to a gathering of their colleagues. The park. To weddings. It didn¡¯t matter. Little Alice loved her blue dresses.

    Now the book was a bit tainted for me. Originally it was a happy memory of my childhood. Of my parents but they weren¡¯t around as much so it was just a memory. And now that memory was tainted by filth.

    Needless to say I was livid. The tears kind of just poured out of me and my feet moved on there own. I searched for Rodney and finally found him near his locker.

    I don''t even remember what I said to him. I cant even remember the harsh words him and his friends had for me. I swear it''s like this whole situation came out of a bad movie.

    I went home and didn''t show my face at school for over a week. Eventually my parents found out I was skipping class. They usually worked all day and I only got to see them late at night.

    I also have a brother but he was going to a special school that corrected bad behavior. Nothing crazy. It¡¯s just my brother is really spoiled.

    Mom and dad were called in by the principal. I remember them being so mad that they had to miss work. In the end only mom showed up.

    It wasn¡¯t just the truancy that got brought up. By then all sorts of rumors were spread around. I was the laughing stock of the school.

    Some people thought I was absent because I was pregnant and my parents drove me down to Mexico for an abortion.

    Others said I quit school to work as a hooker. Someone actually asked me what my prices were and they were 100% serious.

    The people I thought were my friends were now treating me the same way we treated the loser kids. Hell, I¡¯d argue much worse than that. There was no way I could go back there.

    Life at public school wasn''t all that much better. I was the new pretty girl. Everything was okay for about a day or two. Word got around about the video and I started getting bullied there to.

    The girls would slut shame me. The guys would try to get me to do gross stuff for them. I used to be an innocent flower but now I knew so many disgusting things just from hearing people¡¯s comments.

    For example did you know that doggy style has nothing to do with doggies¡­. cause I sure didn¡¯t. Also, the number 69 is a representation of a sexual act. I still don''t quite see it but that''s what the number means.

    There was this one guy. I didn¡¯t know him but he showed up and started defending me. We became friends. His name was Jack. Jack was tall. I used to call him Jack the bean stock. Until he asked me to stop. It was still his contact name though.

    He wasn¡¯t popular but he wasn¡¯t in the loser crowd either. He would ask me all sorts of things. About how I was feeling, about my parents.

    Things like what I wanted to do and what kind of dreams did I have. He just seemed like he really cared.

    I guess I thought of him as a good listener. Then about a month later. He changed. maybe not that. I don¡¯t know if he was showing his true colors or if something had happened to him.

    Apparently he thought he had a right to my body because he protected me. And here I thought I had finally found someone worth something.

    When I refused he got really mad. Calling me a slut. He accused me of having sex with everyone except him. That I was making fun of him behind his back. Despite the horrible things he said to me he sounded hurt.

    I wanted him to go back to how he was. I tried really hard to help but it was like he was possessed. There was nothing I could do.

    I think they were telling him things. Turning him against me. Making him believe things that didn¡¯t happen. No matter what I said he didn¡¯t believe me.

    He was just like my parents like everyone else in this shitty world. I was getting tired of defending myself. Of being accused of so many things even by the people I thought knew me best.

    The more I talked the angrier he became. He said I was a bitch. He looked like he wanted to hurt me. I wasn¡¯t sure. He was shaking and yelling and so angry. I managed to get away from him before he did anything to me but I didn¡¯t know what to do.

    I tried going to my parents for advice, but they wouldn¡¯t listen to me. They no longer trusted me and thought I was talking about one of my sex buddies.

    Their words not mine. Apparently their colleagues had been feeding them rumors. A disgusting fantasy tale about my sexual exploits.

    Dad couldn''t look me in the eyes anymore and mom had given up entirely on me. I was alone. Shun by everyone I knew.

    Even the people that were supposed to guide me in this world had abandoned me. In the end I was left broken.

    One day I found myself in a very shitty situation. I was trying to take a smoke break. It was the only thing that helped me deal with stress. These few moments to myself were the only thing I could look forward to anymore.

    My home was empty and cold. My friends were now my enemies, and my parents had basically abandoned me without actually abandoning me.

    Maybe I still had a roof over my head and food on the table, but the bond that tied me to my family had been broken. At this point they only looked after me out of obligation.

    I¡¯d gone out back behind the school away from the teachers. I¡¯ve smoked out here so many times that I¡¯d become complacent. There was no way something would happen. Not during my smoke break.

    I was such an idiot. There was absolutely nothing sacred in this world. Not even the five minutes it took to rewind my mental health.

    A group of kids ¡ª three boys and three girls ¡ª approached me.

    Tiffany ¡ª the leader of this little gang ¡ª said ¡°Well if it ain¡¯t Alice in slutland.¡± She got a laugh out of the other kids. I hate her so much.

    One of the boys, Darrick backed her up. ¡°What are you doing out here. You trying to find a dick to suck. I¡¯ll save you the trouble I got one right here.¡±

    One of the girls spoke up. ¡°Jesus Darrick. That''s fucked up.¡± She giggled. ¡°You really gonna stick your dick in her. It¡¯ll probably melt off.¡± She was Tiffany¡¯s best friend Rebecca.

    Why won''t these people leave me alone? ¡°I was just leaving.¡± I tried to go around them but was stopped by one of the girls. This was Jamie. She sometimes tagged along with Tiffany but only Tiffany.

    I wasn¡¯t sure if she liked Rebecca all that much because I¡¯ve only ever seen them together by themselves once and that was when Tiffany had to leave for some obscure reason. Even then they looked super awkward together and didn¡¯t talk at all.

    Present day

    Shadow interrupted the story. ¡°Okay I get it Rebecca and Jamie are only friends when Tiffany is around but how does any of this effect Master?¡± She looked a little annoyed.

    I was a little speechless. This was the lady that tried to discipline me and also licked my head. I wasn¡¯t sure what I could say in front of her. So far she seemed to be excusing the use of profanity for the sake of story telling.

    She was absolutely crazy and I couldn¡¯t wait to find Izzy and run far away from this place. The farther away from her the better.

    I was an adult. This lady knew that but she seemed to proclaim herself ¨C without actually saying it ¡ª as my mother. I was really only playing along till I could escape with Izzy. I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll object seeing as I think she might of treated him the same.

    The need to run away was growing inside me. Luca didn¡¯t seem all to interested in the story seeing as she was just looking through her menu with the same enthusiasm as a teenager might have while swiping through a phone.

    Shadow was still staring at me. I sighed and answered. ¡°Izzy¡¯s story is apart of my story. Now don¡¯t interrupt I¡¯m trying to set the mood.¡± She eyed me the same way a cat tries to hypnotize pigeons.

    I panicked a little and responded with ¡°I-I¡¯ll keep the generic character back stories to a minimum.¡± This brought a smile to her face.

    She thanked me and I continued on.

    25 years ago

    I was about to walk away when Jamie got in front of me. ¡°Whoa, hold your horses Alice. You got the man all hot and bothered. You should take responsibility.¡± She was so condescending. I wanted so bad to take my cigarette and jam the hot end into her face.

    That would just get me in trouble. It was my word against theirs and my reputation was shit. It was so frustrating I almost cried.

    ¡°I have to go.¡± I tried to walk past her but she stood in my way and pushed me. Someone put their leg out and I tripped onto my butt.

    This is so unfair. Why won''t they leave me alone? I was like that to once. Maybe this is karma coming back to kick my ass.

    I could hear them laughing at me. One of the girls kicked me in the side causing pain to radiate through my torso.

    Tears started to form but I didn¡¯t want to cry in front of them. I tried to get to my feet and fight back but I was kicked in the side of my head and fell over. My attempts at blocking were futile. I was being pummeled from all sides.

    Only the girls were attacking. The guys were calling out stupid shit like ¡°Cat fight!¡± and ¡°Fuck her up!¡± It was humiliating.

    Eventually Tiffany grabbed me by the hair and dragged me over to the guys. ¡°Let me go! I¡¯ll fucking kill you!¡± I cried.

    She got close to my ear and said ¡°I¡¯ll let you go but first you have to suck these dudes off.¡± She laughed.

    Jamie rushed over holding a digital camera. I screamed and fought but I couldn¡¯t get free. I was kicked again in the stomach and ended up vomiting my lunch on the grass.

    Everyone called out an ¡°Ew!!¡± followed by laughter.

    ¡°I ain¡¯t sticking my dick in that¡± said Darrick disgusted by my plight.

    ¡°Oh, looks like she made a mess. Well then I guess you should clean it up Alice. You should really finish your food. There¡¯s like starving children and stuff.¡± Tiffany giggled as she tried to shove my face into the disgusting vomit.

    ¡°No! Stop it!¡± I cried. I fought back but I wasn''t strong enough. There were two hands on me inching me closer and closer to that disgusting vile. ¡°You fucking bitches! I¡¯ll kill you!¡± They laughed even harder. I could smell it.

    Before I could be fed my own vomit a voice rang out above. ¡°Knock it off you dumb-fucks!!¡±

    We all looked to where the voice was coming from. It was a young messy haired boy. Maybe a freshmen. He was yelling out the second floor window. His eyes were covered by black hair.

    ¡°The fuck.¡± Said Tiffany.

    I was safe for now. I was expecting the boy to get a teacher but instead he put his foot on the edge of the window and¡­¡­

    jumped! That was like thirty feet!

    He landed crouched on the ground. I heard him mumble something about his¡­..

    balls?

 Episode 23: bandaids & stitches part 2

    Isaac

    I was in the library sitting at one of the many tables. Today I¡¯d made the decision to ditch gym class. Really I just didn¡¯t want to get pummeled by basketballs again. If anyone asked I was here for a book report.

    The book fort I constructed was meant as a way to hide myself from watchful eyes. That and it was cool.

    Third period was usually held at the same time as lunch. I was scheduled for A-lunch but right now it was D-lunch. Just another thirty minutes before third period ends.

    Present day

    Alice

    ¡°Okay, hold on!¡± Shadow interrupted my story.

    I was a little annoyed. ¡°Don''t Interrupt me! I was finally getting into a good flow.¡± At this rate I''ll never finish.

    Even Luca had gotten more than a little irritated with her. ¡°Shadow let her tell the story!¡± The self proclaimed mage had actually grown an interest in my epic tale.

    The cat girl held her hands up as her tail curled between her legs. It felt like she was surrendering. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Mistress I was just wondering how you know the parts you weren¡¯t there for. It seems like lazy writing if your just gonna explain things out of your characters point of view.¡± What?

    ¡°I was totally there!..... Just not in the same room¡­.. You don''t think Izzy tells me things!? I¡¯ll have you know Izzy tells me everything!¡± The nerve of this cat lady!

    She blinked twice then seemed to accept it. ¡°Okay, good enough for me. You may continue.¡± She motioned with her hands like she was offering up a stage.

    I cleared my throat and got back into the story. ¡°ahem!¡±

    25 years ago

    Isaac

    I won''t be able to stick around the library once forth period starts. I¡¯ll have to find a new spot. That¡¯s alright though. I''m a pro at skipping class.

    Skipping class was the least of my worries. Simply put I felt like screaming. Like throwing myself at the walls and watching my body brake.

    The urge to take a sledge hammer and tear down the school was gnawing at me. It¡¯s been almost a whole year since dad died.

    Feels like just yesterday he was talking my ear off about UFOs and how the government wants us dead before the age of 65.

    Dad always had some crazy theories. Not everything that came out of his mouth was crazy. There were quite a few things he said that really stuck with me.

    Like ¡°you can''t die with dignity you can only live with it.¡± or ¡°what you do when your angry is a reflection on who you are as a person.¡± These little quotes were all I had left of him.

    There was one I especially liked. ¡°just because your alone doesn¡¯t mean your alone.¡± That one hit a little to close to home.

    I used to think it was a conspiracy thing but I think I get what he meant. He was saying I shouldn¡¯t act differently when alone. I should be myself at all times. Weather I was in my room in solitude or out in the real world.

    That was kinda hard for someone like me. The only thing I was capable of doing while in the presence of others was hide my face and stay silent. There was no getting out of my shell or being myself.

    I used to have friends. Not many but still. They kinda just left. No, maybe I was the one that left. It doesn¡¯t matter now. There gone.

    I miss dad.

    I¡¯d say he was in a better place but¡­ there¡¯s no way he isn¡¯t in hell. They say hell is nothing but a pit of fire. However after the research I did. I think it¡¯s more like a dream.

    No heaven or hell. Just a dream world. If you feel guilt then your dream world gets turned into a personal hell, but if you don¡¯t feel guilt then it becomes a heaven. A world based off your memories and emotions.

    By that logic a psychopath could go to heaven even if he killed a bunch of people. I wonder if dad feels guilty. He did kill a lot of criminals when he was alive.

    I did a lot of thinking about it after dad¡¯s death. I hope he¡¯s okay, but just incase he¡¯s in purgatory. I put my hands together and said a silent prayer.

    I wasn¡¯t religious before but after dads death mom started taking us all to church. It¡¯s one of those weird religions you never know about until someone mentions it. Church of the truth or¡­.. something.

    She did a lot of new things now. She was¡­. A lot different to how she used to be.

    Memories of pain resurfaced and with it a tear rolled down my left cheek. Shit! I quickly wiped it away.

    I was overwhelmed by these memories. Were they really mine? It couldn¡¯t be real. How could you even do that to a person. I shoved them down and forgot about them.

    I couldn¡¯t break down here so I pulled myself together. ¡°Shit. If the old man could see me now he¡¯d call me Samantha and make me sing I¡¯m a little tea pot.¡± I sighed and rested my shaggy head of hair on the table.

    There was no point in brushing it. It was just there to help with my anxiety. I could use it to hide from others. It acted as a wall between me and people. Thanks to it I never had to make eye contact.

    The book fort was my attempt at solitude. It was like a charging station for my social energy.

    As nice as it was it wasn¡¯t complete solitude. I could hear the librarian talking to someone. ¡°Oh, yes. I think I saw him. Are you suggesting he might be skipping class coach Teller.¡±

    I pulled my head up and out of the book fort taking a look in their direction. It looked like coach actually came to find me. That¡¯s so annoying. Shouldn¡¯t he be playing with dodge balls right now?

    I got out of my seat and snuck my way to the back. Coach went off in search of me. For a minute or two I had to sneak around like a ninja.

    I was short and lean so it was easy for me to go unnoticed. My black hair and black hoodie helped me blend better with the low light.

    The library had skylights so during the day that was about 60% of the libraries light source. Thanks to all that ¡ª and coach moving to the back of the room ¡ª I was finally able to sneak my way out the library.

    The librarian was to distracted by the book she was reading and hadn¡¯t noticed me run out the open doors. That was a close one.

    The trick to skipping is to walk around like you have some place to be. Teachers never asked as long as you look like your doing something.

    Maybe I should just leave the school grounds instead. I can go to the park a few blocks over. This is only third period. Still a bit of time left before I¡¯ll be safe.

    Can¡¯t exactly go home. Mom¡¯s been a bitch ever since dad died. Her punishments are pretty bad. I usually don¡¯t go home until its late. Otherwise I might end up getting my ass beat all day. It depended on her mood.

    Today was a hot day. The windows in the hall were all open. That¡¯s pretty normal for this school. The fresh air feels good. It looked like the wind was coming from the north Today.

    Today I had on a black hoodie. It was hot but¡­. I had to make sure no one could see it. I also had on some blue jeans. They were a bit torn.

    Typically they had these metal screens over the windows to prevent accidents and keep bugs out, but a lot of them are missing. They don¡¯t usually open the ones that are missing their protective screens but today most of them were open.

    Can I die if I jump out a second story window? I feel like if I land on my head then it¡¯s a sure death¡­¡­

    I stopped in my tracks and glanced at one of the unprotected openings. My voice was like a whisper. ¡°Dad why won¡¯t you come save me?... Your a super hero¡­.. Do you even know what mom is doing?¡± a moment passed. No answer. At this point I wasn¡¯t sure if I was praying or if I just felt like talking to myself.

    I approached the window. Even though it was the second floor the height was still scary. What if I survive. Should I go to the fourth floor, or maybe the roof? Roof access was usually locked. I checked it the other day.

    That¡¯s when I heard something. Crying? Screaming? It sounded like a girl. I turned my head to its origin. She was a bit further down. It looked like she was being bullied.

    Should I¡­.. do something? I think I recognize her but I don¡¯t remember. She has light brown hair and looks kind of hot.

    I made my way over dragging my feet. Lucky for me this window was also screen less. I wonder what would dad say in this situation.

    He would tell me to do something. To go save her. I¡¯d probably say something like ¡°but there¡¯s more of them and there bigger than me.¡± and then he¡¯d be all ¡°Don¡¯t be a pussy! If you don¡¯t stand for anything. Then you don¡¯t stand for nothing and a man that doesn¡¯t stand for nothing is trash!¡±

    That would hurt because I want to be like my dad. I¡¯d probably respond with ¡°They''ll kick my butt and then who¡¯s gonna save me.¡±

    Then dad would smile. He¡¯d lean down put his hand on my shoulder and say ¡°kid it doesn¡¯t matter if you get your ass beat. Nothing is worse than the shame of not standing up for what''s right. When your old and your drinking on your porch It''ll eat you alive.¡± Dad was always trying to teach me stuff. Even now it''s all stuck in my head.

    It slipped out of my mouth and I was left with regret. ¡°Yeah¡­. well dad¡­¡­ your dead.¡± I could feel his disappointment. It was like I stabbed him in the heart. My guts turned and I was left with a wound of my own.

    I had to yell ¡°God dam it!¡± Why am I such a coward! My hands clenched into solid fists. ¡°Sorry pop¡¯s¡­.¡± Why am I so useless?

    I¡¯m an idiot! A loser! Not even a bad person! I was just a god dam worthless coward! If anyone deserves a beating like that it should be me! I¡¯ve gotten them before!

    The hole inside me sparked to life and my anger swelled. I was so pissed at myself for being so weak.

    I felt so nervous. I wanted to help. I wanted to be like my dad. I wanted him to be proud of me.¡­.. but I wasn''t that person so I went for the next best thing.

    In these times it was best to pretend to be someone else. I focused my mind and tapped into Terry. He was an asshole.

    Like a dragon about to melt a city my anger erupted. My voice was like a molten breath. ¡°knock it off you fuck-tards!!¡± My body moved on its own and I jumped out the window.

    I¡¯d forgotten I was on the second floor. Oops. Like a cat I landed on my feet. It put a lot of strain on my legs but the worst part was when my balls slapped against my taint. I nearly fell over.

    ¡°My¡­balls¡­¡±

    I Did my best to stand up straight. My legs were a bit shaky. I must of looked so cool because these guys were just standing there. Almost as if someone had hit the pause button.

    The biggest of the boys spoke up first. ¡°Who the fuck¡­ is this your boyfriend?¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    The girl I was supposedly saving responded with ¡°Ew, no! Never! I¡¯ve never met him in my life!¡±

    She didn¡¯t have to be such an asshole about it. A simple no would have been fine. Now that I think about it. Isn¡¯t she that girl from that one video? Huh, small world.

    ¡°Oh em geeeeeee! Darrick! Darrick! This, this is the guy that stares at me in art class!¡± yelled one of the girls. She immediately covered her chest and tried to hide behind her friends.

    Was she in that class? Often times I just stare off into space. Sometimes my eyes land on people and I freak them out. I should really stop doing that.

    ¡°Oh so this is the guy. Well don¡¯t worry Darrick and the boizz will teach him a lesson.¡± Why was he referring to himself in the third person? Was that like his bands name or something?

    The guy cracked his knuckles. ¡°Hey moron!¡±

    One of the girls spoke up. ¡°Darrick you can¡¯t call them that anymore. Your supposed to call them mentally retarded or retard for short.¡±

    Wait did these people think I was¡­.. yeah screw it more fuel for the fire.

    The one they call Darrick stomped his way over in an attempt to¡­. scare me, I guess? He just ended up looking constipated. He was big but mostly dumb. Maybe he was the retarded one? In order to be considered retarded your IQ had to be 70 or below.

    That¡¯s kind of a high number when you think about it. Actually am I retarded? I might be. I mean I did jump out a two story window to fight three dudes.

    Wait, why didn¡¯t I just grab a teacher! My dad¡¯s voice came through again. ¡°snitches get stitches son.¡± Oh right! Thanks dad!

    ¡°leave Jamie alone you perv!¡± the one called Darrick threw a fist my way. It was very over the top like he was trying to make a big show of it.

    He might be big and strong but his punch was telegraphed to the point where even a guy in a wheel chair could avoid it.

    I ducked under it then cracked his ribs with a counter punch. There wasn¡¯t much power in my fist but I could see pain on his face.

    Quickly I jabbed him again in the same spot hoping that hitting him in the same place would hurt more. He came back with another jab. This one was faster.

    This time he hit me in the face knocking me down. I was able to roll with the punch and break my fall. I got a little to greedy with my first hit. I should of kept avoiding his punches.

    Blood gushed out of my nose. It hurt like a bitch but I could worry about it later. Thanks to my quick recovery.

    I was back on my feet before he could start kicking me. Why he just stood there I have no idea. Maybe he thought I¡¯d stay down after one hit.

    I went for a tackle but I couldn¡¯t make him budge. He was way to heavy. The guy grabbed me pulling me off of him. He got me in a position for a clean shot.

    Once lined up he punched me again. I managed to somewhat block that one. However, My body was knocked back against the wall. My back hit first. The sting of pain stabbing through me.

    That¡¯s when I picked up a rock closing my fist around it. Then went for another punch. He tried to hit me again but I worked my empty hand into his wrist somewhat slowing it¡¯s momentum and pushing it off to the side.

    This little maneuver lined me up perfectly for a counter. I decked him in the face feeling my knuckles crack against him. The punch was solid thanks to the rock. This time he actually stumbled back.

    Now was my chance. Dad once said ¡°When you get a good hit in you need to keep hitting them. Only a fool punches once and thinks a fight is over.¡± I silently thanked him.

    I punched again and again knocking a tooth lose on the third hit. When his friends saw the guy bleeding they jumped in.

    One of them got their arms around me holding me back while the other started to punch the shit out of me.

    ¡°Get that pervert!¡± yelled Jamie.

    I tried to fight back but it was no use. How did the roles get reversed? I thought I was on the good guy team. Three against one. That¡¯s just not fair.

    Where the hell was that girl I was supposedly saving. She was gone. Ain¡¯t that a bitch. I started laughing at the absurdity.

    That''s what I get for listening to the advice of a dead man. He¡¯s not even here anymore. Like hell he¡¯d actually answer my prayer.

    That Darrick guy was ready to knock me out. He wiped off the blood then approached me.

    ¡°You son of a fucking whore! You knocked out my tooth!¡± He spoke in a lisp and had blood running down his chin. I laughed again.

    He punched me as hard as he could trying to remove one of my own teeth but he didn¡¯t. I made sure to keep my jaw lightly clenched. It wouldn¡¯t help with tooth loss though.

    If it was clenched to hard there was a risk of getting knocked out. If I left it lose then my jaw might get dislocated or broken.

    I silently thanked dad for this knowledge. He might not have answered my prayers but he did leave me with a few gems of wisdom.

    What they usually tell you is to clench your teeth and push up with your tongue but that also made it easier to get knocked out. Which wouldn¡¯t be a problem in a ring but out here in the care of these assholes. Nah fuck that.

    Ideally I¡¯d have a mouth guard, but it¡¯s not like I carried one around all the time. With any luck I¡¯d leave today with a couple of bruises. Just another day for me.

    The guy holding me said ¡°Man what the fuck is this guy. Where¡¯d he learn to fight like that. Dude was coming at you like a zombie.¡±

    It was funny. All of it was so funny. There strong but they¡¯ve only ever gone after weaklings. They¡¯ve only ever attacked in numbers. My laugh seemed to unsettle them.

    ¡°What¡¯s so dam funny!¡± Yelled Darrick. He was angry that I wasn¡¯t reacting how he wanted. He probably wanted me to beg¡­ to cry.

    Fuck that! ¡°Hit me again big man! You think your so tough! Hiding behind your boyfriends! Fight me one on one like a real man!¡±

    ¡°Shut up freak!¡± He landed another punch to my gut. I felt like throwing up but I held it in. Last thing I wanted was for them to find something to laugh at. Instead I kept my eyes on his face and smiled.

    ¡°You Fuckers really suck. You call that a punch! My mom hits harder than you!¡± My laughter continued. It was so true. I could tell they were all a little intimidated. I bet no ones ever fought back this hard.

    ¡°Shut up!¡± They threw me to the ground and started kicking me. I just kept laughing through the pain.

    ¡°Ow! ahhahaha! Stop it guys your gonna make me pee!¡± Maybe if I provoke them enough they¡¯ll kill me themselves and God won¡¯t see it as a suicide.

    ¡°STOP!!¡± coach had arrived. I guess the fun was over. To my surprise that girl was here to. The one from that video. What was the title¡­.. Alice in slutland?

    Alice

    I sat beside the boys bed. His name was apparently Isaac Smith. Just like I thought he was indeed a freshmen. It was so obvious with that baby face of his.

    Well it was a bit more bruised now so he looked a little older. Still he was two years younger than me. I was sixteen. Though I could pass as a college girl with the right makeup.

    His hair was black and messy. It covered his eyes which I think was intentional. The guy was kind of scrawny but he did manage to kick Darrick¡¯s ass so he deserves a little respect.

    I¡¯ve never seen someone fight like that. Using a rock to punch harder. Who knew it made that much of a difference.

    We were in the nurses office. I was a little beat up to but not as bad as him. He passed out before we ever got him inside. I had to help coach Teller carry him.

    The nurse says it had nothing to do with the fight. Apparently he passed out because of sheer exhaustion. Why he was that tired I wasn''t sure. I helped get him into bed. The nurse cleaned up his face and bruised knuckles.

    I didn¡¯t know that knuckles could be hurt like that. Does it even make sense to punch when your hands get hurt? Is that why boxers wear gloves?

    I got another notification from Jack. It was more of the same. Just a bunch of betrayal talk and how I was sleeping with Josh the janitor. I decided not to look at the messages anymore and turned my attention back to Isaac.

    I couldn¡¯t help but feel like he was lucky. The teacher didn''t notice the rock he had been holding. That or he ignored it.

    Otherwise he might of gotten into some legal trouble. I''m actually not sure on that part but it sounds illegal. It¡¯s almost like holding a weapon.

    They tried to blame it on him. That Isaac was the instigator but I¡¯d already explained the situation and coach Teller knew Isaac very well apparently. Of course none of that mattered once he saw the video they took of me.

    It was nice to pull off a win for a change. Lately it felt like I was taking L¡¯s left and right. I was actually able to do the right thing for once. Maybe that¡¯s why I finally pulled off a win.

    I don''t know why I helped him. All I wanted to do was get away from them but then I ran into coach and he saw what a mess I was. I cried and told him everything.

    I don''t care if he came to save me I didn''t trust him. He could be just like jack for all I know but¡­. as much as I didn''t want to I had to at least thank him.

    I¡¯ve done so much horrible stuff to people. My karma was absolute shit. The one time I do something good for someone else¡­. I just can''t believe it. My eyes began to water. I¡¯m tired of being a shitty person.

    Jamie was actually pretty awful. She spun a tale about how Isaac¡¯s her stalker and that he had come after her. That Darrick was only trying to stop him.

    What an idiot. That didn¡¯t explain the video she personally took. You know I might have bad reputation but Isaac didn¡¯t. He¡¯s the sheriff¡¯s son or something like that. It''s hard to believe. Everything lined up so perfectly.

    I guess we got lucky. I think I''ll buy a lottery ticket. As for Derrick¡¯s tooth he isn¡¯t the type to press charges. That guy doesn¡¯t like cops.

    He¡¯s got a pretty bad record. I hared he steals Cadillac conversions in his spare time. Whatever the hell that is.

    (Author¡¯s note: she is talking about catalytic converters)

    In the end those guys will probably be suspended. I guess expulsion was just to much to ask for. Who cares, no matter how many you get rid of there will always be more around the corner.

    I¡¯ll probably get labeled a snitch. It doesn¡¯t matter. They''ll still come after me either way. Those assholes are relentless.

    You know I¡¯d normally never give this type of guy the light of day, but I felt like it would suck to wake up in pain and alone. This is how I¡¯ll pay my debt. Besides there¡¯s something I want to know.

    Hopefully he doesn¡¯t ask for something¡­ else in return. Having a pretty girl to wake up to is a good reward for any teenage boy¡­¡­.

    Unless he¡¯s gay¡­ but then again he did jump out a window for me. I doubt he did it for the sake of doing the right thing. He probably wanted something. Like Jack.

    ¡°Get the fuck off me you fucking bug!¡± Isaac cried out. The boy thrashed in his bed violently. He screamed and curled up into a ball.

    It more than startled me. I jumped to my feet. ¡°Are you okay!¡± Maybe this guy was crazy. He did jump out a window.

    Isaac sat up looking around. His eyes were covered by hair so I wasn¡¯t sure. The boy scratched his head. ¡°Still alive.¡± He almost sounded disappointed.

    The boy held his face laughing like a mad man. Then laid back in the bed rocking side to side like a turtle trying to get off its back. A moment later he turned his back to me. I wasn¡¯t sure what to say. There was one thing on my mind though.

    ¡°Excuse me Isaac¡­.¡± I called to him. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking why did you come to save me? You know I didn¡¯t need your help. I¡¯m not going to be your girlfriend if that¡¯s what you were after.¡±

    He grunted. I wasn¡¯t sure what that meant. Was I supposed to grunt back? I don¡¯t speak caveman. Maybe he really did want me as his girlfriend. Was he upset? Well he better not try anything.

    ¡°Answer my question! Did you save me just for sex or something cause I¡¯m not into that!¡± I blushed a little when I realized I said it a little to loud.

    He sighed. ¡°Don¡¯t flatter yourself. I didn¡¯t do it for you. Your not that hot.¡±

    I felt like complaining but as long as he wasn¡¯t asking for weird stuff like nudes or foot jobs than we were cool.

    I sat back down in my seat and relaxed. Now that, that was out of the way. I now needed to address what I saw while I was helping to carry him.

    The guy wore a black hoodie and jeans. Its hot as hell outside. Why was this guy wearing a black hoodie?

    ¡°Okay so you didn¡¯t do it for me. Do you want to explain how you got those¡­ things. You know¡­. Under your sleeves.¡± He reacted by sitting up. Then started to put his shoes on.

    ¡°What? Where are you going?¡± I got up to but only to block his path.

    He got to his feet and was looking for a way around me. Despite our age difference he was only an inch away from my height. He was still baby faced though.

    ¡°Move.¡± He grunted. Isaac looked dead. It felt almost like his body was being pulled by strings.

    ¡°Not until you tell me how you got all those¡­.¡± I couldn¡¯t say it. Not here.

    He looked nervous. ¡°It¡¯s from Darrick and the boizz. You know how fights work right?¡± He couldn¡¯t look me in the eyes but I feel like that¡¯s a normal thing for him.

    I shook my head. ¡°There¡¯s no way. Those marks are totally different.¡± He didn¡¯t like that answer.

    Isaac clutched his arm. His face twisted up like he was about to yell at me but instead his voice was one notch above a whisper. ¡°It¡¯s none of your business.¡±

    Such a serious boy. He should be out playing with friends not getting beat up by bad movie gangs.

    Would he really hit a girl? Everything about his body language told me he was about to punch me. The guy was like a wounded animal.

    You know I don¡¯t think he will. This was the guy that jumped out a window to save me. I think he¡¯s harmless.

    I stood in his way and refused to move. He continued to stare me down¡­ I think? His hair was still in the way. I felt a bit awkward but I held on. In order to win our little stare down I reached up and pinched his cheek.

    ¡°Ah! What the hell!¡± He backed up and sat back down on the bed holding the offended area. I made sure to pinch right where the bruise was for maximum effect.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think you can get away that easy. I don¡¯t care how awkward you are. I¡¯m not letting you leave until we get kicked out, or you tell me what I saw!¡± I sat in my own chair and waited.

    We waited and waited. An hour, two hours, three. It made no difference to me. Its not like I was in a rush to go anywhere.

    This boy was the most interesting thing that I¡¯ve come across since I can remember. I was going to get to the bottom of this.

    Eventually we were kicked out and had to go home, but even then I still followed him. Only Instead of heading home he went to the park and sat at a swing.

    It was already dark. Did this guy have no home? He did kind of smell. Wouldn''t he rather be home than here? He didn''t have friends either. At least I haven''t seen any.

    I sat in the swing next to him. Not a word was shared between us. That was until I broke the silence. ¡°You know. I haven''t hanged out with anyone in a long time.¡±

    He retorted with ¡°You mean stocked.¡±

    The nerve of this guy. ¡°Hey now! I''m not stocking you! At least that''s not how the police will see it.¡±

    He got to his feet then started walking away. Was he really going home? I got to my own feet and followed him.

    When he noticed me he started running. I did the same. Two can play at this game. I was going to win for sure. I use to be in track back at that stupid private school.

    Surely enough the boy got tired before me and he ended up laying on some grass. I ran in place. ¡°What''s the matter? Tired already?¡± I couldn''t help but giggle.

    Laying on the grass sounded nice so I joined him. Though, I made sure to leave about five feet between us.

    Through a panting breath he said ¡°y¡­you suck¡­. Why won¡¯t you leave me alone?¡±

    I was only breathing a little hard. ¡°Not until you tell me what I saw. I know what I saw. I just¡­. I just want to know why.¡± With those words he went silent.

    Isaac turned his head and looked the other way. ¡°Why did I have to jump in. I should of just kept walking.¡±

    I rolled on my side getting a tiny bit closer. ¡°I hate to admit it but If you hadn¡¯t they would of done something horrible to me. Think Alice in slutland part 2. Look¡­ just let me return the favor. You talk, I¡¯ll listen. Maybe I can help.¡±

    He sat up. ¡°I refuse. Besides there¡¯s nothing to talk about. Thanks anyway.¡± He waved his hand around like he was casting a spell. ¡°I release you from your life debt. Now leave me alone.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but giggle. What a dork. He stood up and started walking away.

    I wasn¡¯t sure if I should follow or not. He was probably going home and if I went with him it might cause more trouble than it¡¯s worth¡­.. but if I¡¯m right then something bad will happen. Maybe not tonight but soon.

    ¡°Isaac!¡± I called out to him and to my surprise he stopped.

    He looked kind of stiff. His voice sounded rough like he was trying to sound tough. ¡°leave me alone Alice in slutland! I don¡¯t want my dick sucked today! Especially not by some chick that¡¯s slept with half the school!¡± He hadn''t even looked at me. I couldn''t help but notice he was trembling.

    How could he say all that?! I walked forward and pulled his shoulder causing him to turn around. I was about to slap him but¡­. Why was he crying?

 Episode 24: bandaids & stitches part 3

    Isaac

    You ever think ¡°hey I can do a thing¡± Then immediately fail afterward. That¡¯s something that''s happened to me one to many times.

    Like when my dad wanted me to try a sport. I¡¯m not athletic to begin with. It¡¯s not like I''m out of shape. It¡¯s more like I¡¯m short.

    My height is 5¡¯4 but I''m still growing. Three months ago I was 5¡¯3. As long as I keep drinking milk I should grow some more. My growth spurt hasn''t kicked in yet so someday I should be as tall as my dad at least.

    There¡¯s a reason my short stature makes me weak. Think of an arm. Now imagine my arm right next to it. It¡¯s shorter.

    The longer arm even though it¡¯s as thick as my arm is still stronger. It has more muscle than my arm simply because it¡¯s longer.

    Now imagine a leg. Good, now think of my leg next to it. Mines shorter so you can already apply the logic from my arm to my leg.

    Here¡¯s a bonus though. Since my legs are shorter than other guys my age. I need about four steps to equal every three of their steps.

    Maybe if I had longer legs I could outrun my stocker. To bad for me I¡¯m not built like dad.

    I don''t even have his drunk talk to convince her to leave me alone. I couldn¡¯t talk for shit.

    Okay so maybe she¡¯s not that much taller than me but she¡¯s actually athletic. Man and here I thought all those years spent running away had made me into an athlete. Boy was I wrong.

    That girl was still following me! I was trying to head home yet she still walked behind me. The worst part was she looked nervous like I was the one that was stalking her.

    Like I know I can be a little creepy at times but she didn¡¯t have to follow me around. It¡¯s her own fault for putting herself in this situation. Either follow me like a normal stalker or just leave me alone! It¡¯s really not that hard lady!

    It pissed me off so much I had to turn around and yell at her. ¡°Leave me alone! stop following me!¡± My voice cracked a tiny bit when I met her eyes.

    She got all offended. ¡°What the hell are you talking about! I''m not following you anymore! I live this way! You¡¯re the one being super creepy! How do you know where I live!¡± She yelled. The girl looked like she was ready to fight.

    I was left confused. If she wasn¡¯t following me then¡­.. did we live in the same area? Shyly I tried to defend myself. ¡°Um¡­ excuse me. I live this way to.¡± My voice was weak like an anemic church mouse.

    I scratched my head in an attempt to exercise my anxiety. I couldn''t help but feel small when she looked at me.

    She finally relaxed. ¡°Well¡­. Sorry about that. I thought you knew where I lived and were walking that way.¡± She blushed and giggled. ¡°Man it was really starting to freak me out.¡± Now she knows how I feel.

    After that she decided to walk beside me. It was kind of embarrassing to walk side by side with a girl.

    Do I smell!? Crap when was the last time I took a shower! I cant remember! Forget that, smelling bad is a good thing in this situation.

    It might get her to leave me alone. I had to keep in mind that the most important thing was I couldn''t have her finding out about mom.

    I don''t want to be here. I held my hands over my chest and tried to be as small as possible. My eyes stayed glued to the sidewalk¡­. This is torture!

    If mom gets in trouble then that''ll ruin everyone''s lives. Well maybe not my life per say. My life already sucks. Going into foster care won''t make much of a difference.

    All I can do is take the burden so my brother can grow up normal and my sister wont end up having to look after the two of us.

    My sister Julia will be a doctor someday and having to look after two kids won''t help with that. It''s better if she doesn¡¯t get bogged down with us. Especially not two teenage boys.

    She texts me sometimes. She knows about mom but she hasn¡¯t seen how bad it¡¯s gotten. I just tell her I¡¯m fine.

    That everything is okay. It¡¯s not fair to make her worry. She has college stuff to do. She works really hard all the time. It wouldn¡¯t be fair to crush her future.

    So I''ll do it I¡¯ll carry this burden so that they can live free and happy. It¡¯s what dad would do. No, he¡¯d do it differently. I wish he was here.

    My dad would be able to save not just my brother and sister, but me to and he''d do it while laughing.

    The girl next to me reached over and moved the hair out of my face. I blushed a little. In a panic I pushed her hand away. Then averted my eyes in an attempt to keep myself together.

    I really don¡¯t like being touched. It gives me a lot of anxiety. it wasn¡¯t always like that. I remember a time when it didn¡¯t bother me as much.

    Actually It still bothered me back then but nowadays I expected more pain when it came to human contact.

    It¡¯s been a while since I felt someone touch me without inflicting damage or in disgust.

    ¡°You know Isaac. You''d get all the girls if you cleaned yourself up. Some nice clothes a haircut and you''d be universally liked. Don¡¯t get me wrong. You¡¯re a little scrawny and short but I''m sure there''s a growth spurt in your future.¡± She was so optimistic.

    It almost pained me to hear her talk. ¡°I can''t do that. I''m fine the way I am.¡± I shook my head nervously.

    There was no way someone like me could do that. I don''t deserve it. I¡¯m a bad person.

    I''m bad, bad, bad. Mom said she would help fix me but¡­ I think I''ve gotten worse. I''m so bad.

    A soft voice broke through to me. ¡°Are you okay?¡± It was Alice. She looked worried. What kind of shit did I do to deserve that kind of look.

    ¡°I''m fine don''t come closer!¡± I wanted so bad to run away but she would just catch me again. So annoying. Why doesn¡¯t she understand I want to be left alone.

    She waved her hand in surrender. ¡°That''s fine. I won''t touch you again okay. We can walk in silence.¡± She took a step back giving me room.

    I felt my body relax. Was my secret really safe? I don''t know but for now I can just walk home. So we did. In perfect silence.

    Turns out we actually lived on the same street. Only then did I realize who she actually was. ¡°So your that Alice.¡± Now I knew where I recognized her from.

    She looked at me perplexed. ¡°You know me then? Did you catch my beauty from a far?¡± She smiled then pushed her ponytail off her shoulder.

    I wasn¡¯t sure if she was trying to accuse me of spying on her or what but I definitely didn¡¯t want to be thought of as the pervert next door.

    I blushed a little. ¡°Th-That¡¯s not it!¡± I couldn¡¯t believe she got a reaction out of me. What was going on with me.

    Her grin was that of a trickster fox. She was playing with me. Dam it! I let my guard down!

    She laughed at me in a girlish giggle. ¡°Your so easy to mess with. It''s cute.¡± She gave me a light punch to my arm. I had to pretend like it didn¡¯t hurt but inside I was in so much pain.

    Yup, she¡¯s annoying. Should I mess with her back? Nah, I don''t want to give her the wrong idea. Also it''s to much effort. I¡¯ll just go home. I fell back into my zombie self then started walking again.

    ¡°Izzy your not going to say goodnight?!¡± her voice chased after me. I felt violated as the sound waves tried to crawl into my ears.

    Was she referring to me? Grate she forgot my name. ¡°My names actually Isaac.¡± Can¡¯t believe she doesn¡¯t know my name. I know her name. Of course I got it off a strange video online but still.

    She gave me a strange look. ¡°I know your name. Izzy is a nickname silly.¡± She laughed.

    Oh no, I said something stupid!.... Just roll with it. ¡°Yeah that was a bad joke. Okay goodnight.¡± As if my body was mechanical I stiffly turned back around and out of sheer anxiety broke into a sprint. Something told me this wasn''t over. She knew where I lived now.

    My house wasn''t that far away. It was only two houses down. Who knew I¡¯d run into the same girl that crushed my flower all those years ago.

    I opened the door to my house and was met with my angry mother. What a miserable women she was.

    A week later

    Alice

    Today I¡¯d gotten up early. I wanted to make sure I didn¡¯t miss Izzy on his way to school. It¡¯s been about a week now since he jumped out that window.

    Ever since then I¡¯ve basically been trying to get him to open up. Even though I¡¯ve been pestering him every day he¡¯s still so distant. Lately all I¡¯ve been getting out of him are angry grunts.

    It gets very annoying at times but I mean it¡¯s better than trying to make friends with everyone else. There all a bunch of assholes.

    Just yesterday someone stole my bra out of the locker room. I usually switched to a sports bra for gym class.

    The day before that. Some jackass filled my locker with used condoms. That¡¯s so disgusting! Part of me wanted to know where they got all of them. The other part was disgusted by my curiosity.

    I mean did some guy just wank off the whole night or was it like a group thing. The thought made my face go pale. Boys are disgusting!

    To be honest girls weren¡¯t all that much better. One of the girls stuck a used tampon in my sandwich. I almost ate it. If it wasn¡¯t for the string hanging out I think I might of thrown up my intestines that day.

    Anyway as for Izzy I¡¯m just curious about those bruises I saw under his sleeve. I¡¯m pretty sure there not from the fight with Darrick and the boizz.

    They looked different. Worse even¡­. I used to do that sort of thing to. I bullied a lot of people¡­. now that it¡¯s me on the receiving end¡­. Yeah you know I''m a pretty shitty person after all¡­. Nope! That¡¯s not me anymore.

    But it was me¡­. I wish I could take back what I did. Stop it Alice! There¡¯s no point in that. Can¡¯t change the past.

    If I could I wouldn¡¯t have dated that asshole with the El Camino. Can¡¯t even remember his name anymore¡­.. Rodney. He had such nice abs. No, no more!The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    It was getting late. At this rate we¡¯ll never make it on time. I¡¯ve never talked to Izzy¡¯s family. Not really. Actually I¡¯m pretty sure he hasn¡¯t told them about me.

    What am I saying! It¡¯s not like were dating! I wouldn¡¯t even call us friends. Like I would date him! His an Idiot! If only he¡¯d talk to me. I¡¯m sure I can brake his walls down. I just need to keep working at it.

    Looks like I¡¯ll have to go knock on the door. For all I knew he snuck out the back. I know for sure his brother was gone. Izzy¡¯s brother is such a cutie.

    I¡¯ve almost assaulted him on multiple occasions. He¡¯s like Izzy. If Izzy wasn¡¯t depressed. Also with short neat hair and actual muscle.

    I think he might be older to. Unlike Izzy he actually smiles. He even said good morning to me once. Such a well mannered boy.

    As of right now the only people in the house was Izzy, his mother, and maybe his dad.

    I felt nervous walking up to his house. This was so strange. Why was I nervous! It¡¯s not like I¡¯m meeting my boyfriend¡¯s parents for the first time. This is just Izzy. Nothing special. Izzy wasn¡¯t special.

    The house had blue painted bricks making up its walls. I remember back when I was just a kid. It used to be siding. It also came whit a wooden porch.

    The porch was old and torn. On closer inspection you could make out the cracks in the wood. On the porch was what looked like a sun baked couch. Around it I could see a few empty beer cans laying about.

    The couch had seen better days, it was covered in leaves and its color had faded from a dark red to a grayish pink. Those leaves must have been there a while.

    It had a few stains here and there. I approached the dark oak door and rang the door bell twice. Then waited patiently.

    Surly enough after a moment a women came to the door. I made sure to smile and look non-threatening.

    She greeted me warmly. ¡°Good morning¡­. aren¡¯t you the Johnson''s girl?¡±

    She had long dark hair. I could see a few wrinkles on her face. I was sure this was Izzy¡¯s mom. They looked similar.

    Isaac whit boobs? He¡¯s so skinny he¡¯d probably fall over. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct. Do you know my parents?¡± I couldn¡¯t remember if this lady ever came over. What a rude thing for me to do.

    ¡°I used to. Back before my husband died. He was close friends with your father. Though they had a bit of a falling out. We used to hang out back in the day when you were just a baby.¡±

    She looked as though she was looking back through her memories. ¡°You know I drove your mother to the hospital when her water broke. I even baby sat you a few times. What brings you here? Did something happen?¡± She was so nice.

    Izzy¡¯s dad died? Is that why he¡¯s sad all the time? I didn¡¯t know. There¡¯s a lot of things I don¡¯t know about him.

    If only Izzy would trust me. He acts like the world is on his shoulders. Like he''s hiding some big important secret.

    The door was wide open now that she recognized me. I managed to get a glimpse inside. It looked like Isaac¡¯s shoes were sitting near the couch.

    He¡¯s not even dressed yet! Grate I¡¯m going to be late because of Izzy¡­. again.

    ¡°I was waiting for Izzy. We usually walk to school together. Is he okay?¡± I tried to be as warm as possible without sounding fake.

    Mss. Smith got a strange look on her face though I wasn''t sure what it meant. It was to blood lusty to be of an over protective mom. For a moment I felt like I was in the presence of a killer.

    She went back to her warm smile. ¡°Oh, your Isaac¡¯s friend. I see.¡± She nodded. ¡°Would you believe it. That boy of mine didn¡¯t come home yesterday.¡± She shook her head. ¡°I don''t know what to do with him. He worries me sick.¡±

    That couldn¡¯t be right. I walked him home myself. Also his shoes were right there. She¡¯s obviously lying but should I call her out on it? If I do that then she¡¯ll just deny it and put her guard up.

    ¡°Oh, I see that¡¯s Izzy for ya. Thank you. I¡¯d better go. I¡¯ll be late to school.¡± I hope my smile isn¡¯t to strange. It looks like she didn¡¯t notice my lie. That¡¯s good.

    ¡°You should. I¡¯d offer to give you a ride but I have things to do and it¡¯s in the other direction.¡± She closed the door and locked it. Then started heading to her car. I walked away at an ¡°I might be late to school but it''ll be alright¡± pace.

    Pretending to go to school was easy. I''ve gone to school so many times that it was as simple as actively trying to go to school.

    I listened for her car. It started. Then the all familiar sound of tires pressing down on gravel made there way to my ears.

    I kept walking waiting to hear where the sound was going. She went the other direction. Once she was out of sight I made my way back and looked around for a key.

    There wasn¡¯t one. No fake rocks, no spare under the welcome mat. Not even in a flowerpot anywhere.

    Oh well, I¡¯ll just do it the old fashioned way. There¡¯s no one home so it¡¯ll be okay. I just want to take a look around. I¡¯m not stealing and I¡¯ll put everything back how it was.

    I moved around the house checking the windows. They were locked and it didn¡¯t look like Izzy was anywhere to be seen.

    Finally I found a window in the back that was open. With a little effort I managed to get it to where I could crawl in. Once inside I got a better look at the room.

    This room looked like it belonged to a girl. It was obvious thanks to all the band boy posters on the walls. Wouldn¡¯t it be funny if this ended up being Izzy¡¯s room.

    Reaching into my bag I pulled out my Polaroid camera and took a few pictures just in case it actually was Izzy¡¯s room. You know, for future blackmail material. Now then, where the hell was Izzy.

    I made my way through the house checking every room and making sure not to make to much noise. Just in case someone else was home.

    Eventually I heard something coming from a closet. I made my way over then pulled the door open. Turns out It wasn''t a closet at all.

    What I found was a dark dusty staircase going down into the basement. Izzy why are you doing this to me! ¡°Come on man you got ghosts in your basement haven¡¯t you ever seen any horror movie ever?¡±

    You know this is usually the part where the girl goes to investigate only for the door to shut behind her. Then some unseen horror monster drags her under the stair case.

    I took a deep breath. ¡°Okay. For Izzy.¡± I made my way down into that dark room. Thanks to the light of my phone I was able to Somewhat see.

    It was so cold down here. Each step had its own unique creak. I bet if I had the time and a friend I could play ¡°Heart And Soul.¡± Lucky for me at the bottom was a hanging light bulb with a copper pull string.

    I gave it a tug.

    Clink!

    The light came on revealing a spacious room. Not just that but a person. A naked person. A naked person covered in lacerations, and bleeding! ¡°Oh my God I¡¯ve walked into a serial killer''s house!¡± I loud whispered. ¡°My finger prints are everywhere!¡±

    What did I touch first. Uh, the window¡­. Oh noooooo¡­¡­ I took a shit in the up stairs bathroom! Poo has DNA right? What the fuck! What the fuck! I was hyperventilating!

    Chill, chill, slow breaths there¡¯s enough air for everyone. The body grunted. ¡°It¡¯s alive!¡± I almost ran out the room when I finally realized this was in fact Izzy.

    When I realized it was someone I actually cared about my body did something strange. A shivering wave of pure dread permeated my body like falling into ice cold water.

    My knees started to shake and before I knew it I fell onto them. It¡¯s hard to explain. I guess up until now this little mission felt more like a game.

    I got carried away and my imagination filled the gaps with silly things I''ve seen in movies. Now that I actually stumbled on to something so vivid and so close to home it all just kind of collapsed on top of me.

    Like exploring a dark wet cave for fun and having it cave in on you. Honestly I wasn¡¯t sure what I was expecting to find.

    At first I was a little worried about Izzy but at the same time I didn¡¯t think it would be like this.

    Vision was a little blurry. I shook my head trying to steady myself. I got to my feet and forced myself to move forward. I almost fell. It was like my entire body was dizzy.

    Once at Izzy¡¯s side I made sure he was breathing. It looked like he was just resting. His arms and legs were restrained with zip ties.

    I felt tears leaking from my eyes and I started to sob. ¡°Why! This isn¡¯t right! How could she do this to her own son! Izzy please we have to leave!¡± I tried pulling him but I wasn''t strong enough.

    He was so small so skinny. Why couldn''t I move him! All this time I playfully punched him he must have been in so much pain. Why didn''t he ever say anything! I had to do something!

    ¡°I know I¡¯ll call the cops!¡± I looked for my phone. It wasn''t here. I spotted it on the floor. I must of dropped it at some point. I reached for it but my hands were to shaky to dial. I let out a frustrated cry.

    ¡°We need to leave!¡± I ran back up the stairs and looked for a knife. There were plenty of those in the kitchen. I ran back down stairs and tried to calm myself.

    I didn''t want to cut him by accident. I was so useless! Please just let me save him. I managed to cut him loose but he wouldn''t cooperate. I couldn''t get him to stand.

    ¡°Izzy please let''s go!¡± He mumbled something. I didn''t understand it so I tried the phone again. I managed to put in a 9 followed by a 2. ¡°No!¡± stupid fingers! Stop shaking! That¡¯s when the phone was taken from me.

    For a moment I was terrified. I couldn''t find the strength to move to even turn my head. I was sure that she''d come back, but it was actually Izzy that had taken the phone away. ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Why was he stopping me!?

    He cleared his throat. ¡°No cops¡­. They¡¯ll ruin everything.¡± He held his head in his lap like he was tired.

    ¡°What are you talking about!? She can¡¯t do this! She shouldn¡¯t be allowed to hurt you like this! It¡¯s illegal! She should be in prison!¡± What was wrong with him?

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. It doesn¡¯t bother me. I don¡¯t even remember what she di¡ª¡± I interrupted him. ¡°What do you mean! Look at you! Look at yooou!! It¡¯s not okay!¡± My tears flowed like a river.

    For the first time in a long time. He looked me in the eyes. There was no awkwardness, no shyness. Then said ¡°You don¡¯t understand¡­.. If they take her away then my family will truly be broken¡­. Dad¡¯s gone. This is all I have left.¡±

    Oh¡­. poor Izzy. Gently I wrapped my arms around him. His body was so cold. He was so boney. He was like a living corpse.

    ¡°Then come with me. I already cut off the restraints. You can¡¯t explain that to her.¡± I wiped a few tears away. ¡°Come on let¡¯s leave. We can go to my house. My family is never home. It¡¯s better than staying here.¡±

    He hugged his knees. ¡°Go away Alice. I¡¯m¡ª¡± I interrupted him again. ¡°your fine! Your fine! Shut up! You always say that! Your not fine Isaac!¡± my tears poured out of me. ¡°I won¡¯t tell anyone but I can¡¯t leave you here! Please just come with me.¡±

    He didn¡¯t respond. My voice was like a whisper. ¡°I just need to make sure your okay¡­. Please.¡± He was shivering. This room was freezing. The air down here was on full blast.

    Later

    We were at my house now. I managed to find Isaac¡¯s room and bring him some clothes. His room was messy just like him.

    You wouldn¡¯t know it but he was well hung. Six inches at the least and that was when he was cold.

    He was sleeping on my bed right now. Izzy said he was tired. I was making him something easy to digest. It was also one of the only things I knew how to cook.

    Cook, heat up, same thing. Chicken soup was a very comforting food. It made you warm, tasted grate, and filled your belly.

    It also had plenty of nutrients thanks to the vegetables I put in it. He¡¯ll need some protein to but for now something warm and comforting will be better.

    I hope Isaac likes it. He¡¯d better like it. I served a bowl and grabbed a spoon. Then headed to my room on the second floor.

    Opening the door I was met with a sleeping Izzy. I made my way over and sat the bowl on the table next to the bed. My room was pretty girly.

    The walls were white. The bed was covered in pink and stuffed animals. I never showed my room to anyone.

    This however was an emergency. I pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed. This was like the first time I met him only I was the one to save him this time. ¡°Alice two, Izzy one.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but giggle.

    Izzy got a point for coming to save me that day. I got a point from bringing coach Teller to help. And the last point is obvious.

    Just then Izzy woke from his sleep. I handed him the glass of water I brought earlier. He downed it in no time.

    I dipped the spoon into the soup. ¡°I made you soup. Say ahh.¡± I held a spoonful up to his mouth.

    He turned the other way like a fussy toddler. ¡°Izzy! Do you know how many guys have asked me to feed them?¡± I made a pouty face.

    He snorted. ¡°Really where. I don¡¯t see any.¡± To emphasize his joke he held his open hand across his eye brows and turned his head left and right.

    ¡°Oh haha!¡± I gave him a light punch to his arm and he grunted in pain. ¡°Oops, sorry. Are you okay I didn''t open anything did I.¡± a lot of his wounds needed stitches. Some of them were even infected.

    I wasn¡¯t a doctor but I checked my computer and watched a few tutorials. It¡¯s not to difficult to stitch up wounds. Bend the needle, run it through fire then pretend your mending some sticky pants.

    As for the infections. I made sure to clean them with alcohol. Izzy was a huge baby about it. I really don¡¯t get him. He can take a punch but poke him a few times with a needle and he turns into a little kid.

    I also found some of my dad¡¯s leftover antibiotics from when he got an infection from getting in a dank hotel¡¯s hot tub with an open wound.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Said Isaac.

    There he goes again. I¡¯m fine. Is that his response to everything. For a little guy he sure tries to be manly.

    Especially with all the scars on his body. The guy looks like he just got back from the war.

    ¡°Well if your telling jokes I guess that means your feeling better. I¡¯m glad.¡± I smiled warmly towards him. He seemed to blush.

    ¡°You should eat. It¡¯s not just about sleep ya know.¡± I handed him the spoon. He took it gingerly in his right hand. Then squeaked out a ¡°thanks¡±

    He was so awkward. I giggled. ¡°What¡¯s the matter haven¡¯t you ever been in a girls room before? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re a virgin?¡± I pretended to gasp. Technically I¡¯m a virgin but he didn¡¯t need to know that¡­¡­. Technically.

    ¡°Shut up!¡± He threw a pillow at me then grunted in pain.

    ¡°Careful if you bleed on my bed I''ll charge you for it.¡± The bed was actually expensive and I didn¡¯t feel like sleeping on someone¡¯s blood.

    He grunted then tried to eat. To bad for him he couldn''t even do that. He grunted again but this one was of a pained nature. The pain actually made him drop the spoon I¡¯d given him.

    ¡°I knew something like that would happen.¡± I picked the spoon up. ¡°Wait here. Oh, who am I kidding your not going anywhere.¡± I left the room.

    When I came back I found him with his hands clasped in front of him. Was he praying?

    I didn¡¯t take him for the religious type. I gave him a moment before entering the room again.

    When I did enter he was hugging his knees. ¡°I got another spoon.¡± He didn¡¯t speak. ¡°Let me feed you this time. I won¡¯t make fun of you. I promise.¡± I sat down dipping the spoon in the soup. A moment later I held the spoon up to him. He ate it with a blush on his face.

    Once he was done. He went back to sleep. Izzy slept for a long time. Eventually I heard him yell something. Something about a centipede.

    Yeah, Izzy has strange dreams. When we first met he woke up yelling about a bug. Actually now that I think about it, It might¡¯ve been the same dream.

    Did I do the right thing. I should call the cops right? Izzy sure didn''t like that idea. I get having your family torn apart but at this cost. Why dose Izzy have to be the one to suffer?

    At this rate he might actually die. He doesn¡¯t sleep well. He doesn¡¯t eat well. He¡¯s in a constant state of anxiety. I think the anxiety is what keeps him alive.

    What could Izzy have possibly done for his mom to do that to him? There is not a single thing in the world that could warrant a punishment like that. She must be crazy.

    The real question is¡­ what now?

 Episode 25: bandaids and stitches part 4

    Izzy has been living with me for six days now. It¡¯s been nice not being home alone all the time.

    Ever since my brother Mickey was sent to that boot camp I¡¯ve been eating alone, watching TV alone. It¡¯s just been me in this big empty house. Not much of a family really.

    Is this what Izzy is afraid of? It¡¯s not exactly the same thing. I guess I can understand wanting to keep your family together under the same roof.

    The cops haven''t shown up. Not at my house or Izzy¡¯s. That lady must be scared. Good, she deserves far worse.

    Izzy says his mother used to be really nice. That she was like any other mother. It¡¯s hard to believe when you see what she does to him.

    He also said he needed to leave today. I don¡¯t know how he¡¯s going to explain his escape to his mother but he says he¡¯s run away before and that his mom usually treats him better when ever he leaves.

    Honestly, I don¡¯t know what to do. I want to help him. I want to call the cops, but if I do that then he¡¯ll be really mad at me. Apparently his mom is actually really nice most of the time.

    So what, once every full moon she beats him half to death! If I hadn''t intervened, Izzy might of died. Maybe not right away but soon.

    His wounds were infected and he was somewhat malnourished. I only just got his fever to go down.

    I couldn''t tell before because Izzy had been trapped in that freezing room. He never said a thing.

    I only figured it out when his cheeks weren¡¯t going back to there normal pale color. He¡¯s just lucky I had some antibiotics laying around.

    I knew a place that sold imported penicillin but it didn''t have the same stopping power as Amoxicillin.

    Izzy is a lot better now and his apatite seems to only be growing. He¡¯ll eat me out of a house soon. Still¡­ I can¡¯t send him back there.

    Apparently she only ever punishes him whenever he annoys her or if she¡¯s in the mood.

    His ¡ª to my surprise ¡ª ¡°little brother¡± doesn¡¯t know. Izzy even goes out of his way to stay quite while his mom¡­¡­ for lack of a better term¡­. hurts him.

    This is all wrong. I sometimes think I shouldn¡¯t have gotten involved, but at the same time I wish I¡¯d known sooner.

    Right now I had Izzy sitting cross-legged on the floor. He was being his usual emo self. That was okay though. It wouldn¡¯t be Izzy any other way.

    ¡°Remind me again why I¡¯m sitting here?¡± he was fidgeting nervously. He probably thought I was gonna play a trick on him.

    I got on my knees behind him setting down a bag next to us. ¡°I say we do something about your hair.¡± I ran my right hand through it.

    It was a little greasy and I could tell there had never been a comb near it. I almost felt sorry for it. I couldn¡¯t imagine treating my hair like that.

    Izzy tried to get away but I hugged him and pulled his scrawny ass back to his seat. He fought a little but let out a whimper of pain when I accidentally pressed down on one of his wounds.

    ¡°Let me go!¡± he struggled. ¡°I don¡¯t want you touching my hair! It¡¯s fine how it is.¡±

    I adjusted my hug only to accidentally press down on another wound. He stopped struggling after that.

    ¡°I just want to trim it a little! Come on Izzy. I won¡¯t change it to much I swear.¡± He tried to get away, but only ended up hurting himself again.

    ¡°Alice, no! Your not cutting my hair!¡± He took hold of my arms and tried to pry them off his midsection.

    ¡°Fine I won¡¯t cut it! Let me comb it a little!¡± I was being over powered. How is that even possible!

    That was until he hurt himself yet again. ¡°Ah! Shit!¡± Izzy crumpled back into my arms.

    ¡°Are you okay? I told you not to move to much.¡± I pulled away. ¡°Dummy.¡±

    ¡°I told you I don¡¯t like being touched.¡± He hugged his knees and used his hair to hide his face.

    ¡°I''m your friend. You can trust me. Besides your hair is super messy. It¡¯ll be a lot of fun to play with.¡± He wouldn¡¯t come out of his shell.

    During these few days we actually started growing closer. On one hand it made me happy. On the other it meant I¡¯d be more worried about him in the future.

    He mumbled ¡°Okay, okay¡­.. but don¡¯t do anything strange.¡± Permission? My eyes went wide. Yes!

    I did a little fist pump in excitement. If Izzy had seen me he would of ran away. Luckily, he was facing away from me.

    ¡°Let me straiten it for you. It should be twice as long when I''m done.¡± He let out an annoyed grunt so I threw in an ¡°It¡¯ll be better for hiding.¡± He shut up after that.

    I pulled out a straightener then plugged it into the wall outlet. While that heated up I started to brush Izzy¡¯s hair.

    My brush kept getting stuck in his knots but eventually I was able to mostly smooth it out. I then ran a comb through the ends to get all the knots out.

    Already his hair had gotten longer. It was actually kind of nice. I decided not to mention it. It¡¯s rare that I get to do this sort of thing with him.

    Since I wasn''t sure, if Izzy would let me do this again, I was gonna make sure to go all out. I started to put the top layers of hair up into a ponytail.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± squeaked Izzy.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know anything? To straiten it, I need to do it in layers.¡± I gave his shoulder a pat. ¡°You trust me right? Just relax for once.¡± I checked the straightener. It was pretty hot.

    Picking it up I did the first layer. Then the second layer. Layer by layer I straitened his hair until I¡¯d done the last one.

    ¡°All done lets get a look.¡± I¡¯d pretty much already seen it but I wanted to see how he looked as a whole.

    What I saw was surprising. I couldn¡¯t help but break out into hysterical laughter. ¡°haha!¡± It was so different!

    ¡°Hey what''s so funny!¡± Izzy finally decided to look at himself in the mirror. ¡°That''s- that''s me?¡± he pulled his hair to make sure it was real. ¡°no way.¡±

    I couldn''t stop laughing. ¡°You look like a girl!¡± his hair was passed his shoulders. He didn¡¯t look bad actually. As a guy he looked ridiculous but as a chick he might be able to get a few numbers.

    He crossed his arms over his chest. ¡°It¡¯s not that funny.¡±

    A new excitement grew inside me. ¡°Oh! We should totally do a little dress up! It¡¯ll be so much fun!¡±

    He looked frightened. ¡°No way!¡± he started to leave the room. ¡°I''m washing this crap out!¡±

    There was literally nothing in his hair. A shower should get it back to its normal fluff. But it¡¯ll be a day or two before he gets it as messy as it was. Still worth it.

    He came back a few minutes later. His hair was soaked. I motioned for him to join me on the bed but he crawled into his usual corner. I hope I didn¡¯t go to far.

    ¡°Hey Izzy, your not mad right?¡± He looked like he usually did. Just a big old frown with hair. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I was having to much fun. How about we play a game?¡±

    I rushed over to one of my drawers and pulled out a few different games. I had monopoly, candy land, scrabble and a few other things.

    Originally I thought it would be fun to have friends over and we¡¯d play all sorts of games, but they weren¡¯t interested in simple board games like these. They wanted booze and weed. In the end I never got them to come over.

    I set up a game of janga. At first I wasn¡¯t sure if he would play or not, but once his turn came around he silently pulled a peace out and placed it on top of the tower.

    For a tough guy he could be very gentle. His hand was so steady and calm. I thought I was good at janga but I lost every time.

    Eventually we played every game a few times. That was until we got to monopoly and it just seemed to drag on forever. It got late. I was hoping he¡¯d spend the night again but he insisted on leaving.

    I tried to stop him. ¡°Izzy you can¡¯t go. Spend the night again please.¡± he wasn¡¯t stopping. The guy kept walking down the steps and rejecting my offers. I almost cried in response.

    Finally we got to the front door. ¡°Izzy please. Spend one more night. If you do then I¡¯ll do whatever you want. Anything okay. You can do anything you want to me okay.¡± What teenage boy could refuse an offer like that.

    Instead of him being excited like I expected. He looked disappointed. ¡°Is that all you think of me?¡± his words were like a knife.

    I felt a tear leak from my left eye. Then the right. ¡°no¡± I cried as I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to leave¡± I felt powerless. I should of tied him to the bed while he was sleeping.

    I¡¯m not sure what he thought or what he felt, but the next thing I knew his hand was stroking my head and the words ¡°Thank you. I had lots of fun. I¡¯ll see you tomorrow. Lets walk to school together.¡± Spilled out of his mouth.

    I had to watch him as he went back to that woman. Once I couldn¡¯t see him anymore. I closed the door and ran to my room. I jumped onto my bed and cried for the rest of the night. The bed, It smelled like him.

    Isaac

    I walked past my house. I can¡¯t go home now. It¡¯ll be bad if I do that. Where should I go? I¡¯ll keep walking. Just keep walking.

    Why was that girl so nice? I wish she would just leave me alone. If she hadn¡¯t come along everything would be back to normal. I shouldn¡¯t have gone with her.

    Mom will remember. She might not do anything right away but the punishment will come. If I had just stayed home then everything would have been fine.

    Yeah¡­¡­¡­ but then that girl would of cried even more. I had to go with her. I didn¡¯t want her to cry.

    Dad told me I should never make girls cry. Guess I failed at that to. I also needed to make sure she wouldn¡¯t call the cops. Which felt a bit more important at the time.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Cops would be bad. I can¡¯t let that happen. I¡¯m such an idiot. I just had to pass out. Why couldn¡¯t I stay awake. I could have easily walked to the nurses office myself.

    All this happened because I was an idiot. Useless idiot. Why can¡¯t I do anything right. This was my burden not hers. It was supposed to be kept between me and mom.

    She was really nice though¡­. She didn¡¯t have to come save me. She could of minded her own business and walked to school, but she rushed in and came to my rescue.

    Then she basically nursed me back to health. She took care of my wounds and the infections. She doesn¡¯t deserve all the crap she takes at school. She doesn¡¯t deserve to be dragged down by my secret.

    Dad what do I do?¡­ No answer. I should distance myself from her. Maybe if I ignore her long enough she¡¯ll get board and leave me alone. It¡¯s a stupid idea but it¡¯s all I got.

    I wish I wasn¡¯t such a waste of oxygen. There''s no way I''ll ever be like dad. I wish I was useful.

    I continued to drag my feet. For over an hour I walked. I was far out on a dirt road. She¡¯ll come I know it. This is the usual path I take when I run away.

    How many times now have I walked this way. I wonder if I¡¯ll beat my record. Last time I almost made it to the bridge.

    She always comes¡­¡­ so mean. She always comes. She always finds me. She wants to hurt me. I don¡¯t wanna hurt anymore. Why am I so useless?

    I slapped myself knocking the insanity back into the hole. It was getting worse. Pretty soon that might not work.

    I still got another two or three hours to walk before she makes her rounds. Who knows maybe she¡¯s already heading this way.

    Surly enough a familiar car was approaching. It came from the direction I was going. Which meant she was on her return trip.

    I knew it. It stopped right next to me. The emergency lights came on and the driver side door opened.

    A women came rushing out. She wrapped her arms around me. My body flinched reflexively but no pain came.

    ¡°You idiot!¡± she shook me violently. ¡°Why would you leave me! Don¡¯t you know I was only trying to help you!¡± she held me tight and I felt tears land on me. ¡°bad! You¡¯re a bad boy!¡± She slapped me. ¡°Get in the car! Now Isaac!¡± She dragged and pushed me into the passenger seat. ¡°devil child!¡±

    I did whatever she told me. she drove us home. Her voice was nothing but a cacophony of noise. Nothing but buzzing static.

    It looked like this wouldn''t be one of the times when she coddles me to try and make me think she was on my side.

    And here I thought I''d be safe tonight. Mom made me a liar. Now Alice will think I''m not trustworthy.

    What was different this time? I was gone for almost a week. Mom''s worry must of turned into annoyance at some point. I''ll have to remember this for next time.

    She was trying to shame me for running away. During our ride home She chewed me out and said a few prayers. Most likely I¡¯ll be punished and it¡¯ll be over.

    I usually don¡¯t remember what happens and only have a few images and sounds to go off of. The only issue was that I hadn''t quite gotten to that part yet.

    I woke up that morning in the back yard. No clothes just dirt and mud. My previous wounds were burning.

    There were small remnants of images and sounds of being stripped naked and forced to play in mud like a dirty pig.

    The hoes constantly spraying me with water and my mom saying prayers throughout the night.

    I think I ate mud. My mouth had dirt in it and my throat was impossibly dry. I sat up and curled into a ball.

    My head seemed to peace it all together. The idea was absurd. I held my hair in my hands and went somewhere.

    I¡¯m not sure where I went but I was gone for maybe an hour. I was asleep but I also wasn¡¯t. it was like being half asleep through a lucid dream I couldn''t remember.

    A garden and a well. I couldn''t peace it together and when I tried the memories seemed to scatter like cockroaches under a light bulb.

    Black ooze sinking into the ground and so much crying. What the hell was I seeing?

    A moment of searching and the memories of last night and that place were gone. All I was left with was the word garden and the image of black sludge leaking from my head. Along with a few images and sounds of what mom did to me.

    I''ve seen that garden multiple times but I can never remember my time there. All I know is that something awful happens. I¡¯m always left with this awful feeling of dread and guilt.

    Somehow I fell asleep. Only to be awoken by the sound of my back door creaking open.

    Mom came over and pulled me to my feet. ¡°Let¡¯s go. You have school.¡± It looked like she¡¯d been crying.

    She pulled me inside and gave me a freezing cold shower. I don¡¯t remember the details. The garden came up and everything became static once again.

    Where was I going? I don¡¯t remember what I did during that time. What was with this buzzing?

    With no answers in sight I got dressed for school. Mom didn¡¯t want to see me anymore so she locked herself in her room. I could hear her whaling on the other side.

    It was still pretty early. The sun hadn¡¯t even come up yet. I was still cold. I went out to the porch and sat down on the steps. My knees pressed against my chest and I hugged my legs.

    Just a little longer. Just a little longer. I just need to hold on a little longer. Long enough for dad to come home.

    Alice

    I didn¡¯t sleep well last night. I had to stop myself from going out to look for Izzy. If I¡¯d just shown up at his house then maybe that woman wouldn¡¯t hurt him anymore. If she knew Izzy had people that cared about him. Then maybe she would stop.

    I need to do something before Izzy gets killed. I just wish I could call the cops. That would solve all our problems. Maybe it would.

    I walked to Izzy¡¯s house and found him sleeping on the porch. I feared the worst so I ran up to him panic in my voice. ¡°Izzy. Izzy!¡± he didn¡¯t answer.

    I shook him and he woke up. ¡°Don¡¯t do that! Answer when I call you, stupid!¡± I hugged him. He was cold again. Did something happen?

    I had to fight my tears. I don¡¯t want to cry right now. I''m so tired of crying and it¡¯ll only make Izzy worry.

    ¡°Alice I¡¯m fine nothing happened.¡± he didn¡¯t look fine. It looked like he hadn¡¯t slept. I could tell.

    At my house he finally managed to sleep a full eight hours. He was even starting to look healthy.

    ¡°What happened last night?! Did she hurt you?!¡± Izzy didn¡¯t get to answer. The door to his house swung open

    It was his mom. ¡°Oh, Alice. Hello dear.¡± She gave me a fake smile. ¡°Is Isaac giving you trouble again?¡±

    I immediately shook my head. ¡°no! Not at all! Izzy is a good boy.¡± Crap! Why did I say it like that. ¡°I mean he¡¯s great.¡± My smile was anything but natural. I was actually terrified right now.

    Something was off here. Her eyes were red and puffy. Her makeup was also a bit runny. Had she been crying?

    I hope she didn¡¯t hear me ask Izzy about last night. I wasn¡¯t that loud was I? Maybe this was my chance. I pulled Izzy to his feet. He was being his usual zombie self.

    This was the important part. I needed it to be convincing. The issue was I was way to nervous to simply just say it aloud. Which means I had to show it.

    Before anyone could say anything I leaned over and kissed Izzy. As expected Izzy did what Izzy does and freaked out. You little idiot play along!

    ¡°Alice! What are you doing?!¡± He was blushing so hard. I was to.

    I panicked ¡°sweetie! I think it¡¯s time you properly introduce me to your mother. We can¡¯t keep our relationship a secret!¡± Izzy was so flustered.

    ¡°Ma¡¯am I¡¯ve been dating your son for over a week now.¡± Even I couldn¡¯t believe what was coming out of my mouth.

    Mss. Smith seemed like she was confused. Maybe I over did it? No I think I haven¡¯t gone far enough. I need to make her fear me.

    ¡°My little Isaac has a girlfriend! His father would be so proud.¡± She was genuinely surprised. Was it that unbelievable. Poor Izzy even his mother didn''t believe in him.

    ¡°That''s right. In case your wondering where our relationship is. I''ve seen him naked.¡± I almost choked on my words but it needed to be done. Besides its not like I''m lying.

    ¡°kids are so forward nowadays!¡± She was blushing like Izzy who had at some point forgotten how to speak. He wasn¡¯t even grunting.

    ¡°Okay well, we¡¯ll be leaving now! Don''t wanna be late for school!¡± I took Izzy¡¯s hand and pulled him along. He didn¡¯t resist. Most likely he wanted to get out of there as much as I did.

    Hopefully now that she knows I¡¯d seen Izzy¡¯s scars she won''t be adding any new ones. After all if his girlfriend finds them she might report them.

    She was probably freaking out right now. Wondering if she was going to get in trouble or not.

    This basically made me a target. If she does that to her son, then what might she do to me?

    A few days later

    I was in Izzy¡¯s room. For some reason he didn''t want me in here. Probably because of the mess.

    There was a lot of trash in here. One of which was a half eaten moldy sandwich I found under his bed.

    Which begged the question why hadn¡¯t he eaten it. He had food but I guess he couldn''t eat, because of how nervous he was all the time.

    I thought his mother wasn''t feeding him but really he just wasn''t eating. I''ll just have to break that habit.

    When he was at my place he was finally starting to feel comfortable enough to eat. I''ve basically had to force him to eat ever since.

    I was pretty grossed out by his room but it¡¯s not like I wasn¡¯t used to it. My little brother did similar stuff. Most of the shut in boys are like that.

    I remember Mikey once had a whole watermelon in his closet. It had a single hole in the middle and was rotting. Mom made me leave immediately. Not sure what that was all about.

    I played on Izzy¡¯s bed throwing an old baseball up into the air and catching it. So far I''ve caught it every time.

    Izzy was moving about the room trying to clean it. He wouldn''t look at me and seemed to be running on sheer anxiety.

    It was kind of flattering. He thought highly enough of me to clean his room. I should hang out in here more often.

    You never know, Izzy might actually start cleaning himself up, now that he has a girlfriend.

    I could see it now. A hair cut. Maybe hit the gym. He can''t really wear anything else because of those scars.

    I put the baseball down sprawling myself out on the bed and felt something under the bunched up covers.

    Curiosity hit me like a brick breaking through a closed window. Immediately after I began ruffling through the blanket only to find¡­.. Buffalo?

    In my hands I now held a Buffalo plush doll but this was no ordinary Buffalo. This little guy had wings like an angel That''s so cute.

    A moment later I finally got the joke and burst into laughter. ¡°Buffalo wings! Haha!¡± this alarmed Izzy and he snatched the toy away from me.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look at that!¡± He threw it in the closet out of embarrassment and slammed the door. I was left to wonder what that toy meant to him.

    It was in his bed which implied he was sleeping with it. His reaction told me I¡¯d found something he never wanted anyone to see.

    Should I tease him? If I do that then he¡¯ll never bring that toy out again. He is the macho type¡­. kind of. Well, he tries to be.

    Sweetly I said ¡°Hey Izzy. Don¡¯t do that.¡± I got to my feet and made my way over to the closet. He tried to stop me but like a bull I was stubborn.

    Surprisingly Izzy yelled ¡°Stop leave him alone!¡± He didn¡¯t want to touch me so he pulled on my shirt.

    His words made me question him. ¡°leave him alone? Does he have a name? He has a gender so he must have a name.¡± Izzy blushed and ran into a corner in defeat.

    Now that I was unencumbered I went for the closet and dug the toy out. A smile bloomed on my face as I brought it back over to Izzy who had taken his usual position by hugging his knees to his chest.

    I called it the roly-Izzy. Get it! It¡¯s like a roly-poly but it¡¯s Izzy! Okay it might need some work but the ground work is there¡­.. hmmmm¡­. Armadizzy!

    I got down on my knees in front of him then showed him the buffalo. ¡°Isn¡¯t this your friend Izzy?¡± Izzy looked up for a moment then hid his head again.

    He was only fourteen so there had to be some child left inside him. It¡¯s not like I didn¡¯t have that one special doll from my childhood. In fact it was currently on my bed. Ms. Wigglebottom¡­

    What really bothered me about this situation was Izzy¡¯s reaction. There was so much anxiety there that it basically crippled him. Where was that guy that jumped out a window and beat the crap out of Darrick.

    I decided on a new tactic. ¡°Well since this little fella isn''t important¡­. I guess I can have him right?¡± That seemed to get him to move but only a twitch.

    I stood up and started putting the toy into my bag. That¡¯s when I hared Izzy yell ¡°Wait!¡±

    I turned towards him. ¡°What is it? Don''t tell me you actually care about this little toy. It¡¯s so stupid. A buffalo with wings. Buffalos don''t have wings.¡± Maybe if I bully him a little I can get him to open up.

    It was like a switch had been flipped. Izzy rose to his feet stomped over and snatched the doll from me. I might of over done it. He looked pretty angry.

    ¡°You can¡¯t have buddy! Also buffalos do have wings but dad says they cut them off because there delicious!¡± he finished by hugging the winged buffalo to his chest like a child having a bad day.

    I was a little taken aback. There was more there than I thought. ¡°so he is your friend. That¡¯s good.¡± I tried giving him a little positive reinforcement to smooth things over.

    Izzy got all embarrassed again and jumped onto his bed turning his back to me. I wasn¡¯t sure what to do so I sat down next to him on the floor. We stayed like that for a bit.

    Did I break him? I wanted to get him to come out of his shell and stop acting like a brute but this felt like I¡¯d only gotten him mad. At least he wasn¡¯t punching me.

    He was so scrawny. No muscle at all. How the heck did he beat Darrick up? Is anger really that effective? He even over powered me a few times like when I wanted to cut his hair.

    I felt my phone vibrate again. I checked it. It was Jack the bean stock again. I just needed to ignore him. Eventually he¡¯ll get tired and leave me alone.

    At some point Izzy spoke. ¡°Dad got him for me.¡± His voice was slightly above a whisper.

    I wanted him to know I was listening so I said ¡°I see. He must be special then.¡± There wasn¡¯t really a response, instead he just kept talking.

    ¡°I was having trouble going to school. I didn¡¯t like being surrounded by so many people so dad bought me this buffalo and told me he was special because he still had his wings.¡±

    His dad did that? The way Izzy described his dad before I was sure he was an asshole. Could he really have come up with that solution himself?

    ¡°Dad said I would be okay because buddy would keep me safe, and he did¡­. For a long time¡­ that was¡­. until he didn¡¯t and I had to leave him at home. One of the kids ripped one of his wings off. Mom sowed it back on but I never took him to school again.¡±

    This was like when I cut that teddy bear open in front of that girl. I don¡¯t think she ever brought it back to school either. She must of really hated me.

    ¡°Did you know when there¡¯s a storm buffalos run straight into it. There smart. They know the storm is coming towards them so they run through it to get to the other side faster. Most animals just run in the opposite direction or hide, making the storm last longer for them.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but feel like the buffalo was a metaphor. Maybe it represented manliness. Running straight into the conflict in order to get it over with.

    Izzy¡¯s dad seemed like an interesting person. I wish I could of met the guy. He sounds like a lot of fun.

    ¡°You know buffalos don¡¯t actually have wings right Izzy?¡± That question sparked a whole new argument.

    For over an hour we argued about weather a buffalo had wings. It was so stupid! Stupid but fun. In the end we agreed to disagree and I stayed over for dinner that night.

    Everything was pretty grate. I even managed to get Izzy to agree to go on a date with me.

 Episode 26: bandaids and stitches part 5

    Isaac

    I don¡¯t know what to wear! No matter what clothes I dug up, they were either faded, or full of holes. Sometimes both. Most weren¡¯t even clean.

    I tried talking to myself as a way to calm down. ¡°Okay, don¡¯t freak out. I¡¯m sure there¡¯s something in here you can wear.¡± Spoiler alert, there really wasn¡¯t.

    That¡¯s when I spotted a new shirt hidden in the corner. ¡°Huh¡­. When the hell did I get this?¡±

    I held up a red shirt with the sentence ¡°My name is Isaac, fuck off.¡± Written across the front in big bold black letters.

    I feel like dad might have had something to do with this one. He¡¯s dead yet he still manages to mess with me from beyond the grave.

    Even if it didn''t have that sentence on it, the dam thing was a short sleeve. It wouldn''t cover up my scars. Well that sucks. Thanks dad.

    Its official, I have no good clothes. Not unless I want to dress up in the monkey suit I wore for dad¡¯s funeral. I needed something more casual, but not to casual.

    What is wrong with me! It¡¯s not like this is an actual date! This is all fake. She¡¯s only doing this so mom doesn¡¯t get suspicious.

    Ever since we started fake dating, mom has been pretty chill. She can¡¯t really do anything in fear of Alice going to the cops.

    Can¡¯t believe it actually worked, but now I have to pretend to date Alice. I¡¯m not sure how I feel about it.

    This was just pretend. I couldn¡¯t even imagine what I¡¯d be like if we were actually dating. The thought nearly made my head explode.

    Don¡¯t think about it! Nope definitely not thinking about it. I shook my head back and fourth in an attempt to shake off my anxiety.

    I¡¯m not complaining¡­ I just don¡¯t like the part where we pretend¡­.. no¡­ that¡¯s not it¡­. Don¡¯t get me wrong! It¡¯s not like I want to date Alice.

    It¡¯s more like she¡¯s stuck with me. There¡¯s no way she actually wants to be with me. She can¡¯t do it forever. Eventually she¡¯ll get board.

    She might want to actually date someone. I doubt they¡¯ll be cool with our arrangement. This is stupid. I just want to be left alone.

    My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of knocking on my door. It startled me, causing me to jerk my head towards it. ¡°Mo-Mom!¡± it had to be her right?

    ¡°Isaac sweetie! Are you getting ready for your date?¡± She didn¡¯t open the door which was weird for her. Since when did she respect privacy.

    I cleared my throat trying my best not to crumple under her pressure. ¡°Y-Yeah! Do you need something?¡± My heart was beating pretty fast. I could feel it thumping in my chest like a drum.

    That¡¯s when she opened the door nearly giving me a heart attack. ¡°What is this? Your hair is a mess. Have you taken a shower yet?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t respond so she continued. ¡°Oh honey. That¡¯s alright this is what mom¡¯s are for.¡±

    I ended up washing up and when I came out mom had an outfit laid out on my bed. I don¡¯t remember ever having these clothes.

    At this point I was basically just wearing a towel around my waist. Lucky for me I didn¡¯t have to worry about my scars, since we were the only ones home.

    Mom came around the corner. ¡°Do you like them? I borrowed them from your brothers closet. You two are almost the same size. You¡¯ll just need a belt.¡±

    Cain¡¯s clothes? That explained it. There was a white long sleeve buttoned up white collared shirt.

    The pants were brand name jeans. Tommy Hilfiger jeans to be exact. She even got me some of my brothers shoes.

    They were a sight to behold, air Jordan¡¯s XIV. I heard the design was inspired by Michael¡¯s love for cars. Specifically his Ferrari 550 M. There¡¯s no way Cain was okay with this!

    ¡°Won¡¯t Cain be mad?¡± My brother worked hard to pay for this stuff. He cut people¡¯s lawns on the weekends and shoveled driveways during winter.

    Mom shook her head. ¡°No, actually your brother was planning to give them to you. Apparently it was to tight around his shoulders. You know how he recently started his growth spurt.¡±

    Of course it was. Cain¡¯s always been a better version of me. We were fraternal twins after all. One of us had to get the shitty genes in the family.

    He was a little taller than Alice. Still short but I mean compared to me he was a giant. It really wasn¡¯t fair.

    He was younger by two minutes. I should be the taller one. Sometimes he acts like I¡¯m the little brother.

    I don''t blame him. A big brother is supposed to be strong and confident not whatever the hell I was.

    That¡¯s okay though. He can act how ever he wanted. I¡¯m the real big brother. I¡¯ve been protecting him from the truth for so long. I just have to hold out till were 18.

    Hang on!...... she said the shirt didn¡¯t fit him. She didn¡¯t say anything about the shoes! Hmmmm¡­.

    You know what, who am I to question the wisdom of my mother. She is the adult after all.

    I¡¯m just a dumb kid who doesn¡¯t know any better. If Cain gets mad he should go talk to mom about it.

    Mom headed into the living room while I got dressed. I didn¡¯t see the point, its not like she hasn¡¯t seen me naked.

    She saw me naked the other day. Pretty sure that¡¯s not supposed to be normal. Oh well.

    Once I got dressed I headed out to the living room. The clothes felt way to foreign. It bothered the crap out of me.

    Mom made a strange sound like she was excited. For some reason my arm lifted up like I was trying to block an incoming blow.

    She seemed to narrow her eyes like she was mad. I swear I hadn¡¯t done it on purpose. She made me this way.

    It was like my body knew what to expect. I was a little shaky. Especially when she walked over. I trembled in fear, as her hand ran through my hair.

    Was she going to drag me to the basement? Throw me down the stairs and turn the AC on? Possibly leave me in the dark for an unknown amount of time? I couldn¡¯t take it!

    ¡°Ah! I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry!¡± before I could throw myself on the floor, I felt her arms wrap around me.

    I never knew what to expect with this lady. I could feel my tears dripping down my face. What was she up to? I don¡¯t want to hurt.

    ¡°Isaac what are you crying for? Are you that nervous? It¡¯ll be okay sweetheart. The first few dates can be pretty scary.¡± Her hand patted my back and she led me over to the couch.

    Per her guidance, I sat down on the sofa. She took the empty seat next to me. What do I do? Should I run?

    This is wrong. She¡¯s going to do something. She¡¯s going to hurt me again. I was good. I didn''t do anything wrong today.

    Mom pulled me over forcing me to lay my head on her lap. She then started rubbing my back. This is a lie. It¡¯s a trick. She wants to hurt me. I know it.

    ¡°You know Isaac, my first date with your father was really something. He took me to the park and played his guitar for me.¡± She giggled as if lost in her memories.

    ¡°He was so romantic. He even wrote a song for me. It wasn¡¯t good, but it sure was funny. I miss him so much.¡±

    Was she for real? What was this? She was trying to get me to let my guard down. To be vulnerable so she could hurt me even worse. I wasn¡¯t falling for it.

    Mom continued. ¡°We might have fought a lot, but we did love each other. I just wish he hadn¡¯t died so soon.¡± I could feel her fingering my hair. It disgusted me.

    ¡°Your father was a grate man. He put food on the table. He kept the bills paid and he kept us all safe.¡± Her hands were like intrusive tentacles molesting my shoulders.

    Even though I¡¯d just taken a shower, I felt so incredibly dirty. I remember a time when her touch was gentle and loving.

    Why was she doing this now. Mom seemed to go on and on about dad for almost an hour. Eventually she brushed my hair for me and got it all neat.

    She hadn¡¯t done that in forever and afterwards she gushed over how long and nice it was.

    She started giving me tips about how to maintain it. Like I needed more tips. Between her and Alice I had tips for days.

    It was all so strange.

    Eventually it was time for the date and I headed out. I couldn¡¯t wait to get away from her.

    I approached Alice¡¯s door clearing my throat. Her house was way nicer than mine. It was bigger to.

    I gave the door a knock and waited. Strange she didn¡¯t have a door bell. The door cracked open, and there in front of me stood Alice.

    She was wearing a beautiful blue dress. Her hair was down. She was so pretty. The dress seemed to hug her in just the right way.

    She almost reminded me of when we were kids. Back then she wore a similar dress, though far more innocent.

    Man she really was like Alice from that book. I think I read it once, though I never picked up the sequel.

    Her smile was so bright and she was even wearing a little makeup to. I hope I looked okay. Crap! I¡¯ve been staring way to long.

    ¡°Wow Izzy. You clean up well¡­¡­ aren¡¯t you gonna compliment me on my appearance. You know like a real boyfriend.¡± She almost sounded mad.

    I was so nervous I couldn¡¯t even look her in the eyes. Still I managed to clear my throat and say ¡°You look really good. I didn¡¯t even recognize you.¡± I tried to smile, but I just ended up looking somewhat constipated.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    She giggled. I wasn¡¯t sure what to do, so I just stood there like an idiot. My eyes locked on my feet. It was as if my feet were the most interesting thing in the world right now.

    Alice walked forward and wrapped her arm around mine clasping our hands together.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry Izzy. You don¡¯t have to be perfect. Though, I do appreciate the effort you put into looking the part.¡± She gave me a sniff as if checking if I¡¯d actually showered.

    The high school girl nodded in satisfaction. ¡°Don¡¯t think of it like a date. Let¡¯s just go see a movie and hang out. I really just want to be with you. So you don¡¯t have to impress me.¡±

    Her words seemed to deflate the massive bubble of anxiety, that had been building ever since I agreed to this little outing.

    Not a date? Of course it wasn¡¯t. I was freaking out over nothing. Well there¡¯s still the fact that I have to be out in public with other people, but I have Alice here, so it should be fine. Still, there was that¡­¡­ other¡­ thing.

    I had to mention it. ¡°You know. I¡¯m still 14 and can¡¯t drive a car, or own a car for that matter.¡±

    Alice laughed again leaning her head against my shoulder. ¡°That¡¯s okay. I don¡¯t know how to drive yet either. Let¡¯s take the bus. The next one leaves in ten minutes. It¡¯ll be more fun that way.¡±

    You know I never expected a girl to say that. Was she actually okay with bus travel?

    It was my turn to laugh. Her optimism was the best thing about her. It made me want to reevaluate the things in my life in a more positive light.

    Not only is she cool with public transportation, but she also makes me sandwiches, and doesn''t mind when I talk her ass off about video games.

    I might need to wife this girl. There''s no way she''s a real person. I must of hit my head or something. These girls just don''t exist in real life. She was like a unicorn.

    I was so happy that a thought managed to slip out my mouth. ¡°I think I love you Alice.¡±

    She jumped to attention. ¡°What! To soon Izzy!¡± I felt her fist collide with an old wound, causing it to flare up in pain.

    ¡°Ow! Not like that! You know like how a friend can love a friend!¡± holy crap! That really hurt!

    She rubbed my wound for me. ¡°Sorry about that. Don''t say stuff like that!¡­.. I guess¡­¡± She swayed back and forth nervously. it almost looked like she was blushing.

    ¡°I love you to¡­.. I love you a lot actually.¡± Her arms wrapped around me and I felt kind of strange.

    !

    A lot? What did that mean?! Was this the love like when you see a puppy, or like when you like, like, like someone? I¡¯m so confused!

    Alice

    Izzy and I got a bite to eat first. There was this cozy little diner I used to go to. The food was good, and it wasn''t to expensive.

    We walked in side by side. As we took our seats at one of the booths, we were met with whispers that seemed to be growing in frequency.

    Some laughed, others were spreading rumors. I could feel all their eyes staring at me.

    This was one of those restaurants where you could see the cooks making the food. The kitchen was the same as the dining room. In other words it was a slightly fancier waffle house.

    Izzy looked really nervous, so I gave him a playful poke stealing his attention. His eyes met my smile and I said ¡°Don''t worry about them. Were here to have fun. It¡¯s you and me, not you me and the town.¡±

    He seemed to cheer up somewhat. That¡¯s when the waitress approached us. ¡°Hello, welcome to pa¡¯s diner. My name is Whitney. I¡¯ll be your waitress today. What would you like to drink.¡± She handed us a pair of menus and placed down two sets of cutlery.

    The waitress was around my age. I think I remember her from school, but I wasn¡¯t sure. There was a certain feeling of caution growing inside me.

    She couldn¡¯t do anything here right? She¡¯s at her job, so she has to be nice. I spoke up first. ¡°I¡¯ll have some ice tea.¡±

    She nodded her head and looked to Izzy. ¡°What about you short dark and gloomy?¡±

    Izzy froze up. He couldn¡¯t even look at the girl. His eyes were fixed on his fingers which were twiddling nervously.

    I called to him ¡°Izzy don¡¯t spaz out now. This isn¡¯t a class room you can¡¯t just space out. Whitney has important work to do, you know.¡±

    My words seemed to snap him out of it and he responded with ¡°Just¡­ water.¡±

    Whitney found it funny then said ¡°I¡¯ll have that out for you right away.¡± She walked off to get our drinks.

    This wasn¡¯t going well. I think I need to shield him somehow, so I got up and sat next to him.

    I reached for his hand. He jumped when I touched him. Right, Izzy doesn¡¯t like human contact.

    I pulled away a bit then gently placed my hand on his. He usually got this way when he was nervous, but if you were gentle enough, he would let you in.

    Our hands clasped together. ¡°I got you. Don''t worry.¡±

    We stayed that way and I think Izzy felt better, now that I was basically sitting between him and the waitress.

    Izzy was a lot like a wounded animal. He closed himself off to everyone and didn''t let them near him.

    Over time I''ve been able to gain his trust and have become somewhat of a support pillar.

    You could say he¡¯s done the same for me. Just two broken people who when placed together become somewhat whole.

    I wasn¡¯t complaining. If anything I was happy I got to snuggle up to him. He was always so distant. Trapping him in a booth was clearly the way to go.

    I couldn''t imagine living like that, constantly freaking out over having to interact with others.

    Izzy says he¡¯s always been this way, but that ever since his mom started¡­. punishing him, it''s gotten worse.

    I still wondered where that guy went. The one that jumped out that window and took a beating for me.

    You''d think they were two separate people. Maybe Izzy isn''t as reliable as I thought.

    We got our drinks and ordered. I loved the steak here, and it looked like Izzy was thinking the same.

    Though he had trouble asking for his sides, so he went with an exact copy of what I got. It¡¯s like he¡¯s never eaten at a restaurant before.

    I managed to get Izzy to talk a little. He must have been feeling better because he went on and on about something called a Dreamcast, that was supposed to come out sometime next year.

    Apparently it¡¯ll be released in Japan around December this year. Izzy wanted to see if he could get it imported. Otherwise he¡¯ll have to wait till it¡¯s US release, and that might be a while.

    I wasn¡¯t all that interested, but hearing him talk with so much passion brought a smile to my face. He actually looked happy.

    ¡°¡­See the Sega Saturn, pissed a lot of fans off, because of the crappy release it got, even though it was better than the PSX. The PSX has to draw pixels through its polygon engine. And the Saturn could do it directly from its programing. This made it more flexible than the PSX.¡±

    He was so excited and confident, there was absolutely no way I could end his rant by telling him I was board.

    Eventually the waitress came by with our order, but there was something wrong with it.

    Izzy got his steak. It was cooked medium-well and came with two sides. The first side was mash potatoes smothered in brown gravy.

    The second was Mac and cheese. To top it off a fluffy honey coated biscuit was sitting on his steak like a little fluffy hat.

    None of that was wrong. In fact all of that was perfect. What was wrong is that Izzy¡¯s order was meant to be a copy of mine and my order was nothing like what I wanted.

    So¡­. Either they got my order wrong, or Izzy¡¯s order was wrong, or both. All I know is I sure as hell didn¡¯t order a plate full of sausages!

    I could hear them laughing. Both the customers and the girl serving us. Everyone was in on it, or at least they all understood the joke.

    They did this on my first date with Izzy. The date that I hoped to treasure for a long time.

    It wasn¡¯t enough to do this shit to me at school, but here! It was no longer just the students but the whole town! This was so unfair. I was so upset I couldn¡¯t even fight back.

    For the longest it felt like I was stranded in the middle of the ocean constantly kicking to stay afloat, but I was exhausted. I just wanted to give up and sink to the bottom.

    Frustration grew and the tears started to leak down my face. I couldn¡¯t look the waitress in the eyes.

    The cook that was making all the food was especially losing it. He laughed the hardest.

    That¡¯s when I knew this had been his idea. Cooked up by him and elaborated by everyone else.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter Alice in slutland? Is it not enough dick? I¡¯d get you more but then we¡¯d run out of stock.¡± She laughed again.

    ¡°Do you even remember me? I¡¯m the girl you locked in the supply closet over the weekend, or did you forget!¡± her words were so volatile.

    This was my fault. I ruined our date. I just had to be a shitty person¡­¡­ This was fine¡­¡­ I deserve it for being an asshole all those years. This was punishment. Karma at its finest.

    I just wish it would of waited for tomorrow. I just wanted one good memory with Izzy.

    Something I could hold onto when things like this happened. Maybe I really don¡¯t deserve a single day of peace.

    Just one peaceful night I could share with Izzy. Was that to much to ask for?

    Izzy got to his feet. Without thinking I held onto his shirt. ¡°Izzy it¡¯s o-okay.¡± I cried. He shook his head.

    His eyes met mine. I heard him say ¡°I don¡¯t like seeing you cry.¡± He handed me a napkin. I took it and wiped my tears.

    I wasn¡¯t sure what he was up to, but he got up on the table with his soda in hand. He gave the entire room a glance. My eyes must have been playing a trick on me.

    For the brief moment it took for Izzy to glance around the room, I could swear his eyes turned a dull red.

    The room froze over. Everyone went quiet. For a moment there was this pressure in the air. A feeling of dread coated the room like a dark miasma.

    Gone was the timid boy that could barely order water. What stood in his place was not the guy that jumped out the window but something else entirely.

    Izzy took a deep breath. Then splashed the waitress with his ice cold drink. She screamed and backed away. ¡°What the hell you psycho!¡±

    Izzy hopped off the table. Then picked up the plate of sausage and stomped his way towards the kitchen.

    He wasn¡¯t actually stomping. It was like his movements commanded the room. He approached the counter and hurled the plate of sausage at the high school student wanna be cook.

    In disbelief I watched as the plate flew through the air, shattering against his head, causing the guy to stumble back.

    In an attempt to steady himself he reached out with his hand to prop himself up, but instead ended up dipping his whole hand into the fryer.

    The sound of sizzling flesh rang out through the diner. A look of horror had been painted on everyone¡¯s faces, as the realization of what just happened hit them all at the same time. Even I felt bad for the guy.

    ¡°Aaaaaah! Shit! Fuck!¡± everyone panicked and started trying to help the guy.

    I ran up to Izzy laughing and grabbed hold of his arm pulling him out of the diner. We ran far.

    There was no way we would ever be able to go back there. That diner would have to close for the day.

    Eventually and ironically we got our hands on a hot dog food cart. It was run by an old man named John. He was nice to us.

    In the end we ended up taking a walk in the park. It wasn¡¯t a movie theater, but this was certainly more intimate.

    Isaac

    Well, that was fun, now I¡¯ll never be able to eat there. They¡¯ll probably spit in my food next time.

    That¡¯s okay though, it¡¯s not like I go out all that much. I just hope the cops don¡¯t catch up.

    They know me though. Everyone knows the son of the old sheriff. Not to mention everyone knows Alice to.

    Her parents are somewhat famous lawyers after all. Not really. There locally famous. She¡¯ll probably get chewed out by them.

    Fuck it. I¡¯ll probably be spending the night in jail. Probably. Right now we were walking peacefully in the park. This wasn¡¯t the one by my house. It was a little fancier.

    ¡°Izzy what were you thinking?¡± Alice hung from my arm.

    I shrugged my shoulders. She punched me. ¡°Ow! Alright geez. I was thinking¡­¡­. Well I remembered something my dad told me. If your paying for something you should respect the workers that do the service or sell the goods, but they should also respect you.¡± It wasn¡¯t that complicated. Respect one another and everything will be fine.

    Alice nodded along. ¡°Okay¡­ I get that¡­¡± She giggled. ¡°but did you really have to throw that plate at that guy¡¯s head!¡±

    I scratched my own head. ¡°Um¡­ I was defending your honor?... Don¡¯t girls usually like that kind of stuff?¡± I honestly had no idea what girls liked.

    Do sisters count as girls? My sister liked having guys fight over her, so they must like drama at the very least.

    ¡°Suuuuure, fighting for my honor is nice. It can also be cool, but you did it in the most unromantic way possible! Normally a guy challenges the offender. Not only did you skip that part, but you also assaulted a girl.¡±

    I was appalled! ¡°assaulted?! All I did was splash her with soda! No way.¡± I shook my head back and forth.

    She laughed again ¡°Izzy your crazy!¡±

    Everything was going well. I¡¯m happy she¡¯s happy. I really hated seeing her cry, and when I saw that I got so angry. There was no stopping me.

    Just when I thought our day couldn¡¯t get any worse I saw officer Davidson approaching from afar. Other wise known as my dad¡¯s old partner before he became sheriff.

    Alice looked like a deer in headlights. I could tell she wanted to run, but I held her arm keeping her steady.

    Dad always said ¡°You never want to resist arrest. That usually gives the officer a reason to taze or shoot. Let yourself be arrested and keep your mouth shut. Remember always ask for a lawyer.¡±

    I tried to sound chipper. ¡°Uncle Todd! Hey! I haven¡¯t seen you in a while.¡± It was a lot easier to talk to someone I actually knew.

    The guy had short dark brown hair and wore a khaki police uniform. I could see his gun on him. His body language told me he was not happy.

    Uncle sighed in frustration. ¡°Kid¡­. I got a report about a young couple that assaulted the part time cook at Pa''s diner. You wouldn¡¯t happen to know anything about that would ya.¡± He had a no nonsense type of presence, or as I liked to call it police mode.

    I shook my head ¡°Nope, I have no clue what you¡¯re talking about. Right Alice?¡±

    Alice stumbled over her words like a drunk. ¡°Y-yeah¡­ no I have no idea what your talking about sir officer sir¡­¡­¡± She then asked in a whisper. ¡°Are we in trouble?¡±

    I felt like slapping her, but only for a moment. Officer Davidson responded with ¡°Riiiiight¡­ anyway! Keep an eye out for any suspicious people¡­. Also stop doing stupid shit. I promised your dad I¡¯d look after you, but this is ridiculous. It hasn¡¯t even been a month and you¡¯ve already assaulted two people! Three if you count that girl but let¡¯s be real a little soda isn¡¯t gonna hurt anyone.¡± He looked away scratching at his head.

    I Had to at least try to defend myself. ¡°You don''t understand they brought a plate of sausages-¡± I was interrupted.

    ¡°Sausages! Jesus Christ Isaac! What the hell is wrong with sausages!¡± Before I could answer he continued ¡°You know what I don¡¯t wanna know. The less I know the better.¡± He then proceeded to walk away almost pulling his hair out.

    I couldn''t help but notice his hair had really started to thin out recently. Huh, wonder what that was about.

    Well, as far as interactions with cops go, that went pretty well. Alice looked like she was about to fall over. For once I felt like the confident one in our¡­.. ¡°relationship¡±

 Episode 27: bandaids and stitches part 6

    We did end up seeing that movie. Alice wanted to see some romance comedy. What was it called?....... ¡°There¡¯s something about Mary¡± I didn¡¯t hate it. Actually, I really enjoyed the movie.

    It was pretty late and we¡¯d just gotten off the bus. The closest we could get was about ten blocks away. Alice was tired and yawning at my side.

    The area we were strolling through was mostly composed of shops. As time went on, the town seemed to be slowly turning into a city.

    It was still considered small, so just about everything was closed now. Aside from a few of the more adult oriented joints.

    Such as the local bar my dad would visit frequently, or the strip club deeper in town¡­. That¡­. my dad¡­. Would visit frequently.

    My thoughts were interrupted by Alice''s sleepy voice. ¡°Hey Izzy¡± she let out a cat-like yawn.

    ¡°Yeah¡± I could feel her snuggling up to my left shoulder, like she was trying to use me as a body pillow.

    ¡°Do you want to spend the night at my place? I don¡¯t wanna be alone. My parents are out of town right now. They left this morning.¡± She nuzzled her cheek against me.

    The thought ¡°Wow! Girls are REALLY soft!¡± made its way through my¡­ other¡­¡­. head. I ignored my primal instinct. It¡¯ll go away eventually.

    For the time being I walked a little slouched, and with my hand in my pocket. No particular reason.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ if I don¡¯t go home mom might get mad.¡± Mom hasn¡¯t gone psycho for a while. It felt long over due.

    I wasn¡¯t sure what might tick her off, but if she gets to angry then she might try something regardless of Alice¡¯s fa?ade.

    ¡°Oh, I see.¡± She sounded disappointed. ¡°I just didn¡¯t want to be alone tonight¡­ I don¡¯t like being alone. I¡¯m always alone.¡± She was really trying to guilt me into spending the night.

    Wasn¡¯t it usually the guy that¡¯s supposed to do that? Should I try to stay with her instead? I was so tired though.

    Not to mention she was starting to annoy me. It¡¯s not like I didn¡¯t like her anymore. Its just I need time to myself. She¡¯s always around day and night.

    She sighed. I didn¡¯t react. She sighed again this time a little louder. I tried to ignore her but then she dug her nails into my arm and sighed even louder. Her hint was so obvious she might as well have just said it out loud.

    I gave in. ¡°Okay, okay! I¡¯ll stay the night, but I don¡¯t want to share a bed.¡± She shifted next to me and I could tell she was flustered.

    A moment later she voiced her thoughts. ¡°Who said anything about sleeping in the same bed? You can sleep on the floor.¡± It looked like I was the one messing with her now.

    ¡°Nah, I¡¯ll sleep on the couch then.¡± This also didn¡¯t sit well with her.

    ¡°Izzy no! You have to sleep in my room otherwise what¡¯s the point.¡± It appeared my fake girlfriend was very needy. I never thought I¡¯d be in a relationship like this. Even if it is fake.

    I don¡¯t get it. She¡¯s my friend but she¡¯s really clingy. It¡¯s like the reverse of a friend with benefits, as in a girlfriend without benefits.

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to be alone. I can understand that.¡± When did Alice become so attached?

    It was probably a result from being bullied by everyone. I was the only person in her life that didn¡¯t mistreat her.

    Wait, was I taking advantage of an emotionally damaged person? Hmmm¡­ you could say the same about her.

    I''m also emotionally damaged. Possibly even more than she is. Yeah, but I was also a dude so¡­¡­ my pain didn''t really matter.

    ¡°Hey, Alice.¡± I called to her.

    Her voice was like the whispers of a child about to fall asleep. ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°What am I to you?¡± The question seemed to hang in the air for a second like a wet fart.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be insecure! You¡¯re my Izzy. My friend.¡± Her friend. How could anyone be mad at that.

    If she¡¯d of said something strange like ¡°my hero¡± or ¡°my savior¡± then I would of ended it there and then but¡­. Being just friends was okay.

    My concern was simple. I didn''t want our relationship to be held together by a life debt. Instead it was two people backed into similar corners.

    Without conflict Alice and I would of never gotten along. She could of easily become my bully.

    Maybe we were closer than friends¡­. Honestly, friends just seemed like the most accurate way to describe our strange relationship.

    Who knew someone like me could ever become friends with someone like her. I guess the only way someone like me can get a sports car is if it¡¯s used¡­. That¡¯s an ugly way to think of it. Forget the metaphor.

    I didn¡¯t get to finished that thought. My body lurched forward as I felt something hit the back of my head. There was this flash of light and I lost all since of balance.

    Whatever it was, it was enough to knock me down. All I can remember was the sound of Alice screaming, and the darkness of the night coming to claim my sight.

    Alice

    It happened so fast! I wasn¡¯t sure what was going on! Izzy was hit! He fell and landed on his face. I felt something warm splatter against me.

    It was his blood.

    A bloody bat gleamed under the soft moonlight. He was tall. Taller than both Izzy and I. I knew him. In fact I hadn¡¯t seen him in what felt like forever.

    How come out of all the people in this town, he¡¯s the one that shows up. Not Tiffany and the squad.

    Not Darrick and the boizz. Not Whitney and that part time cook. Hell, Izzy¡¯s mother would have been more welcomed.

    No, this was no one other than Jack the bean stock. The guy I¡¯ve been ignoring for like a month. Of all the days he could of come after me. Why tonight?

    Izzy was laid out on the ground. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen someone sleep so soundly. He couldn¡¯t be dead. No way.

    Not Izzy! Not the guy that jumped out that window! Not the guy that threw that plate! Not the guy that had taken a beating from his mother just about every day of his life!

    He was messing with me, right? Izzy doesn¡¯t get knocked down. Izzy¡¯s the one that knocks people down.

    Izzy has survived so much worse how could he go down just like that? This wasn¡¯t real.

    That wasn¡¯t possible! ¡°Izzy get up!¡± I felt a tear run down the side of my face. ¡°Your joking right?¡± my voice quivered. Izzy wasn¡¯t moving.

    Jack spoke up. ¡°Oh, that guy? Yeah he¡¯s dead. There¡¯s no way he isn¡¯t. I hit him in the back of the head. Home run and all that jazz.¡± He swung his bat as if to show off his form.

    blood lashed out wetting the asphalt. His smile sent shivers down my spine. This person was deranged.

    I looked to Izzy. ¡°Izzy! Wake up!¡± he was unresponsive. I rushed to his side and got on my knees.

    ¡°Izzy please! Wake up you dummy!¡± I tried to shake him as makeup coated tears flung themselves from my cheeks. He wouldn¡¯t respond.

    I checked his breath. He wasn¡¯t breathing! I checked his pulse. There was a heart beat!

    Rolling him over I tried CPR pressing down on his sternum. I even tried breathing down his throat. I needed to keep oxygen flowing to his brain.

    I could hear laughter as I blew air down Izzy¡¯s throat. It was that asshole. ¡°Shut up! This isn¡¯t funny call an ambulance!¡±

    He yelled back ¡°Shut the hell up or I¡¯ll bash your brains in to!¡± his bat hit the ground creating sparks startling me. ¡°Tell ya what, how about you blow me for it.¡± He ended with a laugh.

    I pulled my phone out and was about to dial when jack used his bat to knock it out of my hands. ¡°aaah!¡± my fingers flared up in pain. Something was definitely broken.

    He spotted the phone and smashed it with a single strike. ¡°if you scream I¡¯ll just have to smash your head in and then both of you will die, but if you give me what¡¯s rightfully mine. I¡¯ll let you call that ambulance and maybe you can save your client¡± he held his bat like he was ready to hit me again.

    ¡°Client?¡± it slipped off my tongue.

    ¡°Don¡¯t play dumb with me! I know all about you. You go around selling your pussy to the school. I don¡¯t understand why you didn¡¯t put me on your list, but that¡¯s okay. You can do it now.¡±

    This guy was insane. ¡°I don¡¯t have clients! I don¡¯t know what your talking about! I¡¯m calling the cops!¡± the guys eye seemed to twitch.

    ¡°Oh sure call the cops and tell them how you¡¯ve been selling your body to every student in school! I¡¯m pretty sure prostitution is illegal!¡± Where was he getting all this from.

    I remember Jack being a nice person. What happened to him? Where the hell was he getting these delusions?

    Jack looked like he was about to bring his bat down on my head. I held my hand up trying to protect myself.

    ¡°Come on have sex with me and I¡¯ll let you go, if not I¡¯ll bash your head in for all the shit you put me through!¡± He rested the bat on his shoulder.

    I looked around. There wasn¡¯t much around here. It was mostly businesses. At this hour they were all closed.

    There wasn¡¯t even anyone walking around. Did he plan this? I wish I didn¡¯t live in such a small town.

    Through tears I nodded my head. He smiled. I don¡¯t care what I have to do. I need to save Izzy. I can¡¯t let him die. Izzy is everything to me.

    Isaac

    DarknessA case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    My head was hurting. My body felt like it was made of lead. I couldn¡¯t move or say a word. This was like that dream I kept having where that thing crawls over my body.

    That dam centipede. Surely enough I felt it. On my leg slowly making its way up. It¡¯s needle-like appendages stabbing into me as it crawled.

    I couldn¡¯t do a thing. It inched its way up to my ear and whispered to me as it¡¯s legs dug deep inside me.

    ¡°Isaac¡­. Your broken¡­.. it¡¯s okay¡­. I can fix you¡­. All you have to do¡­¡­ is let¡­. Me¡­. Feeeeeeeeeed¡­..¡± It¡¯s words were absolutely repulsive.

    Like nails being driven through the fingernails of a screaming child. I tried my best to ignore it.

    The sound of Alice crying was all I could hear. That guy. That asshole was planning to do something to her. I have to get up!

    The centipede looked off in their direction laughing. ¡°I seee¡­¡­ that girl¡­. You wish to save her?¡± it adjusted its legs digging itself deeper.

    ¡°If you¡¯d liiiiike¡­. I can help you¡­.. but only¡­¡­ if you let¡­.. me¡­. feeeeeeed¡­. Just one soul and I¡¯ll leave you aloooone¡­.¡± What the hell!

    What was this thing talking about!? It¡¯s not real!? It¡¯s only a nightmare! It can''t actually do anything! I need to stand up!

    I tried to move my body, but it wasn¡¯t working. No matter how hard I tried I couldn¡¯t get up! I have to! I have to! Come on!

    It was as if there was something holding me down. I did get hit pretty hard. Maybe it was the centipede holding me here. Like some kind of paralysis demon.

    ¡°You are a fooooool¡­.. do you reeeally think¡­.. this paralysis is a result of mee ee e¡­. Your body is broken¡­¡­ you cannot save anyone¡­.. useless¡­¡­ This is something only I can fixxxx¡­¡­ now let me fixxx it¡­. Let¡­ me¡­ FEEeeEeed¡­.¡± Since when did this thing talk.

    There was nothing I could do. I had to give in.

    I don¡¯t care! Save Alice! Can you do that!?

    It responded almost in a hiss. ¡°I can do that¡­. Do you accept the terrrrms¡­¡­ One soul for that mortal girls liiiife¡­.. deal?¡±

    I did not hesitate.

    DEAL!!

    It¡¯s body wrapped itself around me and I felt it¡¯s toxic needle-like legs dig into me. It hurt like hell.

    Shortly after, my body was afflicted by an itching sensation. Like being bitten by a million mosquitos.

    That did not last long as cold numbness began to spread. I felt my body rise in a way that reminded me of a vampire waking from its coffin.

    It was as if I was a puppet and someone had lifted me by my strings. My body. I couldn¡¯t feel it. Was I moving it or was it the centipede doing it?

    Either way it was absolutely disgusting. I felt violated. Like the fucking bug was using me like a condom.

    That wasn¡¯t important. What was important was Alice. All the pain I felt before was gone. All that was left was pure anger.

    I felt so much of it festering inside me. It was like a cold flame burning through my veins.

    My body moved on its own making it¡¯s way over to that asshole with his fucking pants down.

    He still hadn¡¯t managed to do anything. The poor sap was having performance issues.

    ¡°Shit! Hang on give me a minute. I swear this is the first time it¡¯s ever done this!¡± He seemed to be flapping it with his back turned to Alice, ass cheeks fully on display.

    As if letting her see its shriveled up form would somehow make him look less of a man.

    If dad was here he would have wrapped a chain around his neck and used his Harley to dragged this guy halfway across town.

    Alice cried big wet tears. Though to my surprise they were not those of someone about to be humiliated, but those of someone who was stricken with worry.

    Through tears, she kept mumbling my name. It only served to fuel my rage. I could feel it bubbling inside me like an angry beast.

    I tried to speak but it came out as a grunt. The guy turned my way in shock. Alice did to.

    The look on their faces. I must of looked like the walking dead. A real live zombie.

    Hope flashed behind Alice¡¯s eyes. ¡°Izzy!¡± She almost fell over trying to run to my side.

    That asshole stepped forward pushing her to the ground. She fell to the floor crying.

    He then glared at me like I¡¯d done something wrong. ¡°You shit! Cant you wait your turn! You can¡¯t hog her all to yourself!¡± He came at me with his stupid bat.

    I held my arm out as he took a swing at my head. It slammed into my palm. My hand tightened around it. For a moment I swear I could feel the aluminum creak under my grip.

    I could feel the centipede strengthening my arm. In fact it also was responsible for catching the bat. It was as if my paralysis demon was guiding my hand.

    His eyes widened in fear. ¡°What the fuck! Let go!¡± He tried to pull the bat away but was having trouble. With little effort I managed to rip the bat out of his hands.

    The bat spun in my palm like a propeller until I was the one holding the handle. The blood on it splattered on the walls and asphalt.

    ¡°Hey man don¡¯t!¡± He held his hand up in an attempt to protect his face.

    The centipede took over and I was totally okay with that. Both our goals aligned and our minds were in perfect sync as I hit him with the bat crushing his arm.

    That asshole cried out in pain pulling his arm away. It felt so good. He tried to back away but I hit him again.

    This time on the other arm near the shoulder. The crunch of bone breaking was music to my ears.

    Now immobilized I hit him again and again but these swings had less power in them. I made sure not to strike his head.

    Instead I focused on his body. The swings were heavy enough to inflict pain but not enough to break him. I wanted him to hurt.

    Hurt like how mom made me hurt. Hurt like how Alice was hurting. I was going to pay him back a hundred times over. Death by a thousand bludgeons!

    ¡°pwees stwo¡± he cried unable to make words anymore as he coward on the ground.

    ¡°Mercy! Fuck that you almost killed me and what about Alice!?¡± The next one went for his head.

    He went down. I kept hitting him. Putting more and more strength into my swings. The sound of meat being squashed resounded in the alley.

    By the end all I could do was continue to bash his head in.

    The guys head looked like a squashed watermelon. When I finally got a look at Alice¡¯s face all I could see was horror. It was directed at me. I dropped the bat and looked at the blood all over my hands.

    ¡°What¡­ the hell¡­ I didn¡¯t¡­ Alice¡­.¡± My wet eyes met hers. My eyes went wide as her fear became mine.

    ¡°No¡­ don¡¯t look at me like that! I¡¯m not crazy! He! He tried to kill me! He almost made you¡­¡± somehow my words did something.

    Her fear changed to pity.

    The blood and gore at my feet. On my clothes. It all finally clicked. The centipede collecting its meal vanished and I started to feel¡­.. everything. I vomited immediately.

    This wasn¡¯t right. This was All wrong. I don¡¯t kill people! I don¡¯t do this! Why in hell would I do this!

    All I had to do was hit him once. Why didn¡¯t I stop!?

    I couldn¡¯t¡­.

    All that anger and pain. It all swelled inside me and I couldn¡¯t stop. I didn''t want to stop. There was so much there.

    More than just what he did to us. Anger from before. It all came to the surface. I didn¡¯t even know it was there.

    I leaned against a wall then slid down onto my butt. There was one more thing I needed to do. I pulled my phone out and called officer Davidson.

    The phone rang a few times. Alice wouldn¡¯t look at me anymore. He finally answered.

    I felt tears run down my face as I said ¡°Hey, uncle Todd¡­.. I killed someone.¡±

    As if saying it made it real I lost control and started crying even harder. I guess Alice wasn¡¯t to upset because somewhat hesitantly, she came to comfort me.

    I felt her arms around me as I told my uncle where I was.

    Alice

    It¡¯s been about a month since Izzy¡­.. killed Jack. I still don¡¯t know how I feel about it. Jack was an asshole, but I don¡¯t think he deserved death.

    Hear me out. The majority of people would say yes, but I felt a bit different about it.

    What I do know is that he deserved to at least go on trial first. That¡¯s why we have them.

    Since I was a kid, dad has always talked about the justice system. He says that it doesn¡¯t matter how many people you kill.

    You deserve a trial. That¡¯s just how I was raised.

    It was about two weeks before Izzy and I started talking again. There''s a bit of distance between us, but we''re slowly getting closer again.

    Izzy says he was really angry when it happened. He says he wanted so badly to save me. Apparently he heard everything Jack said but he couldn¡¯t move.

    The doctors got a look at his head. They have no idea what happened to him. From the looks of it, the bat only knocked him out for a bit.

    That seemed unbelievable to me. I was sure he had died. There was so much force behind that blow.

    There¡¯s no way it didn¡¯t at least crack his skull. There was so much blood. They found Izzy¡¯s blood mixed in with Jack''s, but the weird part is¡­.

    Izzy¡­ he didn''t have a wound. That was impossible. I know I saw him bleed! I know it! It''s insane¡­. I''m insane. Am I¡­ insane?

    Izzy knows something but he won''t tell me. Maybe someday he''ll feel comfortable talking about it, but for now it was a mystery.

    The other thing that happened was Izzy¡¯s secret got out. One look at Izzy¡¯s body told everyone at the hospital what was going on.

    Nothing happened.

    They questioned him, his mom, his brother and sister, but everything is the same.

    I don''t get it. Why didn''t they take him away. Even Izzy doesn¡¯t know. He said the church got involved.

    I never realized how much power is in the church. What was it called again? Church of the true cross. Izzy¡¯s mom is somehow connected to it.

    I couldn¡¯t believe it. Even when everyone knew no one did a thing. I couldn¡¯t even help Izzy anymore. I hate this fucking world.

    I guess¡­. Its not all bad. Izzy should of died that night. I don¡¯t know what to think. Some people called it a miracle from god. Others say Izzy is the devil for what he did to jack. I¡¯m just happy he¡¯s okay.

    He was the only good in my life and I hate seeing him hurt.

    After I showed the cops all the texts and voice mails Jack sent me. They pretty much got the message.

    What Izzy did may have been over kill, but the guy basically tried to kill him, and tried to force himself on me. The cops had very little sympathy for Jack.

    People have also been saying all kinds of things about him. I know he did something awful but he was also once my friend.

    The Jack I knew was kind and funny. He was like a gentle giant. How did he change so much? Was he always like that?

    I went to his funeral. It didn''t go well. His mom got so mad. She basically ran me out of the cemetery.

    Still, I went back and put flowers on the grave. Not for Jack the asshole but for Jack the bean stock.

    Every now and then I see his blood on Izzy. Its strange. I blink and then it¡¯s gone. Izzy seemed to be really upset about what he did. I¡¯m glad he feels something. It means he¡¯s not a monster like everyone says he is.

    Izzy¡¯s cut back on the vengeance thing. I got bullied again and this time instead of fighting he just stood there and took hits.

    Most people know not to mess with me anymore since they know Isaac the killer is my boyfriend.

    I was upset to but at the same time I¡¯m happy that Izzy is alive. Life is shit. You have to find the diamonds in each terd that¡¯s handed to you and for me that diamond is Izzy.

    I feel like without him I¡¯d have nothing to hold on to. It would be like before. I¡¯d just continue to spiral out of control until I hit rock bottom.

    I no longer smoke. I don¡¯t have to anymore. Though it did take a bit before I could stop. Turns out there actually pretty addictive.

    I can even run for longer now. I¡¯m not at the level I was when I was in track, but I¡¯m getting there. I started to run every morning.

    I believe I quit smoking a week after Izzy jumped from that window. That was because I thought the smell was what made Izzy run away from me.

    I hope I provide the same level of comfort and stability to him as he dose for me.

    Present day

    ¡°So then what happened!¡± Shadow took hold of my shoulders and shook me.

    I got a little dizzy. ¡°Hey! Haven¡¯t you ever heard never shake children!¡± I backed away from her.

    ¡°Shadow don¡¯t break her neck! Wait till she finishes the story!¡± said Luca taking out a handful of popcorn and stuffing it into her mouth.

    Apparently she made a bunch of it and stuffed it in her inventory. Since time didn¡¯t move In there the popcorn was still fresh and warm.

    ¡°Well not long after that Izzy¡¯s mom decided she didn¡¯t want us dating anymore and she tried to take Izzy to some religious training camp¡­¡± What was their name again? That whacko cult.

    ¡°Uh anyway¡­. I don¡¯t know what the camp was about¡­. Point is. She died on the way there. She fell down some stairs. Izzy says he doesn¡¯t remember what happened. He says he blinked and she was on the floor.¡± I¡¯ve always wondered if it was an alter that took over for him.

    I didn¡¯t get to finish that thought as a pillar of darkness erupted from a few blocks over. Right where we knew Izzy to be.

    Oh poo, I didn¡¯t even get to the part about Centa or the mental hospital. That¡¯ll just have to wait.

    Shadow sprung into action drawing her knife and jumping in front of me. I was a bit surprised. Why was she protecting me? I thought she didn¡¯t like me.

    I know a bully when I see one. I felt a gust of wind almost carry me off, so I wrapped my arms around Shadow¡¯s leg to keep myself grounded.

    I managed to take a peak and what I saw was insane. There were these giant black bug-like serpents, expanding in every direction.

    I don¡¯t know how to explain it. It was like the giant version of snakes in a can. Only these weren¡¯t snakes! Their body¡¯s had sleek black spikes coming out of them.

    It looked like hundreds. Thousands! No billions of sharp leg-like needles covered their bodies like giant millipedes!

    The millipedes expanded like solar flares. Enormous arching bodies stretched across the city. They tore through buildings and people alike! Leaving behind rubble, blood, and destruction in their wake!

    One of which was coming right for us! I jumped left, Shadow went right. Luca¡­ I wasn¡¯t sure where she went but she was gone.

    The giant mass separated me from them. It was closing in on me like a game of snake.

    I ran on top of the roof tops, but it broke not just the building I was standing on, but all the ones on this side of the road.

    I kept jumping and running. It looked like I was keeping away from it. Eventually it came to a stop. I tried to catch my breath but I was panicking.

    ¡°What the hell is that thing!?¡± There were so many of them. They took up most of the sky and the land.

    You couldn¡¯t go anywhere without trying to cross over their massive bodies. I was trapped.

    That¡¯s when I realized. This wasn¡¯t the attack of multiple millipedes. This wasn¡¯t a millipede to begin with.

    It was a giant centipede and if it¡¯s name tag was accurate we were so fucked.

    RAID BOSS: DEMON CENTIPEDE (Squirmy)

    BOSS RANK: 3

    LEVEL: ???

    That was no good! How could something like this even happen!

    ¡°Hi there Alice in slutland.¡± The voice came from beside me. It was a girl. Her name tag was buffering. I¡¯ve never seen that before.

    Her hair was styled in a bob. Strands so dark it was as if light could not escape it. There were these red horns coming out of her head.

    What really drew my attention was those glowing ruby eyes and the red hearts imprinted over her iris¡¯s.

    She was around my height. Dressed in a black and red dress. She held a black short sword. One look at her and I knew she was a demon.

    The girl smiled from ear to ear. The name tag over her head finally finished loading. It read. ¡°Squirmy¡±

    Squirmy? Really?

    ¡°Izzy?¡± I called to her.

    She giggled like a little girl. ¡°No, silly! That fool is long gone. All that¡¯s left is Squirmy.¡±

    I don¡¯t remember that alter. Where was Centa?

 Episode 28: flower bud

    Chat Archive

    Luca: hay chief! do u have a sec?

    Aku: Sure, what¡¯s up kiddo?

    Luca: im no kiddo! im 14 an a 1/4!

    Aku: Wow! that old. Pretty soon you¡¯ll be older than me.

    Luca: chief thats not how time works. stop treating me like a lil kid. Im Luca the bestesttest necromansr.

    Luca: oops I ment shadomanser.

    Aku: You mean ¡°Shadowmancer¡± you missed the ¡°W¡± and the ¡°S¡± was supposed to be a ¡°C¡±

    Luca: who cares we only texting

    Aku: If you don¡¯t practice your grammar all the time, then when you actually have to write something, you¡¯ll just end up looking silly.

    (Authors note: I know I feel silly)

    Luca: oki-doki boomer u soun like my mom. al u ol peple the same. get wit the times ol man.

    Aku: You realize I¡¯m a millennial not a boomer. I¡¯m only trying to be helpful.

    Luca: I kow btw. Id like sum advice pls.

    Aku: Alright, shoot

    Luca: I rely like my bf Evan but my dad hates him. He is a lil oldr than me an he likes 2 vape. wut I wan 2 kow Is that any reson 2 breakup wit sum1?

    Aku: I¡¯d love to say yes but¡­. no its not. you know my wife Alice used to smoke when we first met. Back when she was 16.

    Luca: oh rite! The wife that gos 2 nother scool.

    Aku: How many times do I have to tell you she is real. Do you want me to pop her on a discord call?

    Luca: nah I dont need to hear yur voice changr.

    Aku: you know I can ground you right? I¡¯ll just set your guild privileges to zero and you won''t get any buffs from the guild.

    Luca: k k Im sory, so anywho I shodn¡¯t breakup wit him?

    Aku: I didn''t say that. The truth is I don''t know this Evan guy and to judge someone on the fact that they vape is ridiculous.

    Luca: wut bout his age he is bout 2 be 16 nex wek

    Aku: I was 14 and Alice was 16 when we started dating, though the roles were reversed in my case.

    Luca: i c

    Aku: Don''t worry too much. For all you know you¡¯re a good influence on him. Just don''t let him be a bad influence on you and please for the love of zombie jesus. DON''T GET PREGNANT!

    Luca: chief! shut up! That won''t happen we haven''t even kissed yet!

    Aku: kissing gets you pregnant

    Luca: no it dosnt! chief stop lying!

    Present day

    -Luca-

    ¡­Drip¡­

    ¡­Drip¡­

    Oily red liquid splashed against a hardwood floor. It was only made more apparent by the silence of the room.

    Silence was good. It was necessary. Otherwise those things would come inside.

    My leg was currently bleeding. I was hiding in a fishing shop under a table. Where did shadow and Alice go?

    I was all alone. Why did this have to happen? That thing hurt so many people. It broke everything.

    This was supposed to be fun. Why was it like this. ¡°mommy¡­ daddy¡­ brother¡­ chief¡­ anyone please help me.¡± I cried.

    I fished out a potion from my robes pocket and took a sip. I found that only a sip of a mid potion was enough to close wounds like this.

    My leg healed almost instantly and I felt much better. Corking the potion I stuffed it back into my robes.

    The potion was marked with a 95% tag. It won¡¯t stack anymore. Putting it in my pocket served other purposes.

    Pulling things out of your inventory took concentration. Using your hot bar also took a certain amount of concentration. Not much but the point still stands.

    Getting hurt can actually make it hard to activate things. Like spells or the full potions I had stacked in my hot bar.

    Having a mid potion to rely on was almost necessary. At least I feel like it should be. Something like this could save my life.

    Though I will say this. Pulling it out in the middle of a fight would also be kind of hard, but not impossible.

    I wish chief was here. Chief would be able to make me feel better. Why did I have to be alone?

    This wasn''t okay I¡¯m a child I shouldn''t be left alone. The adults are supposed to keep children safe.

    The ground started rumbling as the boss moved across the landscape. Everything was shaking. I curled up praying that the shop wouldn¡¯t collapse on top of me.

    All sorts of knick-knacks were falling off the walls including a mirror. It broke on impact sending its reflective glass across the room.

    A large peace managed to land in front of me. It reflected the face of an adult woman. Maybe she could help me.

    In my fear I hadn¡¯t realized that the so called adult in the mirror shard was no one other than me.

    I was an adult¡­. But I wasn¡¯t! I couldn¡¯t be! I¡¯m nothing like an adult. Mom and dad always have all their shit together.

    I couldn¡¯t be an adult! I wasn¡¯t responsible enough. When you grow up you just kind of become responsible and turn into a different person.

    You no longer forget to take showers. You learn to drive. No more skid marks in your underwear. You go to work and enjoy¡­¡­ actually, mom and dad don¡¯t enjoy their work.

    They¡¯re always tired when they come home, but dad is always smiling when I see him. So is mom.

    They always look so tired but when I catch them they pretend to be happy. What if¡­. What if adults don¡¯t know what they¡¯re doing either.

    Oh, I guess I never realized¡­.. how do they do it? How do they not break down? Who comes to save them when they¡¯re sad and crying.

    No one¡­ I always give mom and dad a hard time. I should have been nicer to them. If I¡­

    I shook my head. No, not if, when I get back I¡¯ll make sure to apologize and I¡¯ll try to make them feel better. It¡¯s not fair to have to deal with life on your own.

    ¡°someone help me.¡±

    I waited and cried for a while but no one came. The room would rumble every so often.

    I don¡¯t understand. There was always someone to help me. Even though I was crying no one showed up.

    Neither shadow nor Alice were answering my messages. I don¡¯t think they were getting through.

    Even the map was acting up. Some kind of interference. I don¡¯t know any boss that could do that.

    That''s when I heard a crash from the back room. It sounded like shattering glass. I got to my feet and readied a bind spell.

    Whatever it was I¡¯ll bind it then blast it. I made my way to the back of the dusty shop. I was afraid to make a sound.

    Gently I opened the door. Not even a creak. This was a living area. A lot of the NPC shops were actually homes with store fronts.

    It looked like a kitchen and living room combo. This place was very lived in. The couch had seen better days and a lot of the pots and pans had dents in them.

    I heard a creak. My head turned to a door on the other side of the room. This place was supposed to be evacuated.

    I was either dealing with an enemy or a civilian clinging to their belongings. Either way bind won¡¯t hurt anyone or anything.

    It was basically a fancy net gun. I shuffled my way over. The door knob was cold to the touch. I turned it slowly and pushed it open.

    On the other side of that door was what looked like a bedroom. From what I could tell it was meant for a child.

    The window was broken and a long snake-like centipede was poking its head into the room.

    It''s body was completely black. It¡¯s head swayed back and forth scanning the room with It¡¯s beady bug-like eyes.

    There was a soft creak pulling Its attention on what I assumed was a closet door. The door in question was a louver door. Meaning it had vent like openings allowing airflow.

    The sound of a muffled squeak escaped from the closet as the centipede let out a light hiss. Its stinger dripped with toxic acid melting parts of the floor.

    There was very little time to react but I unleashed my bind spell. A dark magic circle appeared under the centipede wrapping dark chains around its body and pulling it to the floor.

    It thrashed and lunged at the closet. I ran forward and tore the door open. Inside was a little boy.

    He couldn¡¯t have been older than three. The little guy was crying in the fetal position¡­ in a puddle of his own urine.

    For a second I thought about how to carry him without getting pee on me¡­ while I did that the centipede rapidly struggled with its restraints.

    Oh, screw it! ¡°Come on!¡± I reached for him pulling him into my right arm.

    As soon as I had a good grasp on him I ran out of the bedroom. The centipede cried out in anger spraying acid in a last ditch effort to stop us.

    Horrible screeching could be heard as I ran away¡­. Fuck running away! I turned around and activated a spell. ¡°Shadow lance!¡± a thin rod of pure dark mana raced back into the room.

    The spell entered the centipedes head and exited out the back. It¡¯s body turned into an ashy gray then crumpled to dust.

    My heart was racing. I couldn¡¯t believe it. Was this what killing felt like. It was so raw. Even though there was no body it felt awful.

    It was a monster. It wanted to kill me and this kid. I did it in self defense. What am I freaking out for!?

    It was a monster! It¡¯s not like I killed a dear or person¡­. maybe¡­ it wasn¡¯t that it was a monster.

    I felt this way because of the action of taking a life. Of making something stop existing.

    I know I didn¡¯t like it¡­ but at the same time I knew it wouldn¡¯t be the last. Where the hell are the adults.

    The sound of a collapsing building brought me back into the real world. The little boy cried under my arm.

    I don¡¯t belong in this world. To me the destruction of this place has little effect on me, but to him. His entire life is ruined.

    This was so fucked up and I didn¡¯t know how to fix it. Wasn¡¯t it our jobs to keep the city safe?

    I might not be an actual adult but I was all this kid had. His only hope. He was gonna be fine. I would make sure of it.

    We couldn¡¯t stay here. The building might fall at any moment. The kid continued to cry even though I was here.

    I was the adult why was he still crying! I came to save him¡­. Unless he knows I''m not really an adult. How do I reassure him.

    I thought back to the time when my parents and chief made me feel better. Its not enough to just show up. You also have to inspire.

    What would chief say in this situation? ¡°It¡¯s alright kiddo. I got you. You¡¯re gonna be okay. I''m the strongest there is.¡±

    The little guy looked up at me all teary-eyed. I could see a trail of snot connecting his noes to my robes.

    Disgusting. Don''t freak out. Don''t freak out. It¡¯s gross but he¡¯s just a toddler. Okay, I need to do something here.

    I set the little guy down on his feet. ¡°alright let''s get cleaned up okay. I need you to be brave. I¡¯m gonna use cleanse on us. It¡¯ll be cold but don''t worry.¡±

    While I did technically have the cleric class it was only up to level five. I needed it as a prerequisite to necromancer.

    I quickly slotted cleanse into my hot bar. Then used it on us at the same time. You couldn''t normally do this in-game but the rules were different here.

    A wave of chilling blue light washed over us. It was so cold! The little guy shrieked. I gave him a hug right after.

    It was the light that cleaned us. It even managed to strip away some of the dust that had been clinging to the room.

    ¡°Your okay. Its alright sweetie. See we¡¯re both clean now. Isn''t that better?¡± the little guy looked at himself then nodded.

    I curled my lips into a smile in an attempt to provide him with a sense of comfort. ¡°Wow your such a brave boy. I¡¯m so proud of you. Good job.¡± I held my hand up for a high five.

    He understood the gesture and enthusiastically slapped his hand against mine.

    I rested my hand on his head and tousled his hair. What a cute little guy. let''s see, What¡¯s his name?

    I focused on him and watched as his name tag came up. ¡°Alright Vincent. I need you to be brave for this next part. There''s a barricade about two miles north of here. If we can get there then we''ll be safe.¡±

    I don''t think he understood me. He looked confused. That was alright though. He was only a toddler.

    I fixed my hot bar and picked Vincent up carrying him in my left arm. Then we went out the front door.

    Outside we were met with the rank three boss. It was enormous. It''s body stretched far, but it looked like it was mostly contained in this part of the city.

    All around us I could see hundreds of centipedes. They hadn''t noticed us yet. They all seemed to be hunting for pray.

    There was something strange about the air. It was heavy and sour. It did something to me. Immediately I felt heavier. A de-buff icon appeared under my health bar.

    I couldn''t look into it now. The foot soldiers were tagged as ¡°centipede minion¡±

    From the looks of it their levels were low but I swear they were getting higher by the minute.

    I reached out summoning my scholar staff. A long black rod manifested out of nothing.

    My hand wrapped around its smooth narrow shaft and my focus flared to life powering the gem embedded in its head. ¡°necrotic burst!¡±

    a magic circle appeared out of the violet gem and a beam of pure darkness erupted out of its center.

    The corrosive darkness cleared a path for us. I ran forward before the spell could even end.

    Vincent closed his eyes and clung to my chest crying. Crud, at this rate by the end of this I¡¯ll be covered in the stuff

    I couldn''t help but realize I was just like him a few minutes ago, but right now he was counting on me, so I couldn¡¯t give up.

    ¡°Don''t worry Vincent! These guys aren¡¯t that scary. They¡¯re super weak.¡± Using my staff I bashed one that was trying to sting me. Then activated a blind spell on it.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    Even if everyone else dies, I swear I¡¯ll keep Vincent safe. ¡°Shadow Lance! Shadow missile! Bind! Shadow ball! Shadow spikes! Shadow splice.¡± I cast spell after spell taking one centipede down after another.

    Their bodies crumpled into dust as the bursts of Shadow magic cut through them like butter.

    Up on the roof tons more of them were gathering. Just as I passed under them a bunch of streams of acid came raining down above us.

    I used my robes to shield Vincent from the wall of cascading green liquid. Then activated the spell dark aura.

    Every spell I had was on cool down and all that was left was a stack of full potions. That was okay though.

    A thin cloud of protection covered us and the acid seemed to halt at the ominous looking mist.

    It wasn¡¯t enough as I started to feel my skin itch, even though it wasn¡¯t even touching me.

    I needed to get it off. That¡¯s when I remembered the ring that chief gave me the day we met.

    I activated its ability. ¡°Nova!¡± magic leaked from my body quickly converting into flame.

    A burst of fire roared around my body, burning and scattering the acid in all directions.

    Chief said if I ever found myself surrounded, I should use the rings ability. It was basically just an explosion of fire.

    Chief called it pull my finger. I jumped high into the air then use my staffs ability. ¡°dark star nova!¡±

    Three magic circles appeared rotating around the tip of my staff as I felt a large portion of my power drain from my body.

    The spell formed a ball of dark light and erupted a moment later unleashing rays of dark magic like a gothic disco ball.

    Each stream of light cut through chitin and spun around like the blades of a blender leaving behind that dark gray ash.

    The attack lasted about five seconds before coming to a stop. Every bug exposed to my attack turned to dust.

    I landed on a roof top and saw the damage the acid did. It looked like parts my skin were a little red.

    Just from the fumes? That was powerful acid. If I¡¯d taken a breath the fumes would of destroyed my throat and lungs. I¡¯d of been dead for sure.

    ¡°Oh, crap! Vincent!¡± I quickly pulled Vincent out from under my robes. ¡°Are you hurt anywhere?¡±

    He shook his head. I sighed in relief. ¡°Good. Don''t worry I''m gonna get you past the barricade. You¡¯ll be okay.¡±

    ¡°Mo-Momma¡± he pointed his little finger in the other direction. I nearly broke into tears.

    ¡°¡­Oh¡­¡­¡± Well¡­ there goes my heart. This had become increasingly inconvenient. For a moment I thought about leaving the kid behind.

    He was just a baby. I¡¯m sure someone will help him. Someone more fit for the job. An actual adult.

    I took one look at him and realized, no one was gonna come for him. I have friends. If no one came for me, then what hope did he have.

    I could save them both, but not at the same time. I''ll have to go back for her. Even with all this power, I can barely do a thing.

    Adult, yeah right. I¡¯m a kid too. How did this become my job? Someone should come and save both of us. It wasn''t fair. I don''t want to be an adult anymore.

    I wish I could go back home. Back where I have no responsibilities. Where the only thing I had to worry about was getting to school on time.

    Vincent smiled up at me. Somehow seeing his little face filled me with a warmth I will never understand.

    I couldn¡¯t help but feel better. I was doing the right thing. I might not be able to save everyone but at least¡­.. at least let me save a few.

    That was all I could really do. I wasn¡¯t a Hero. I was just a girl way out of her league. I might not be an adult but maybe I could be brave too.

    I started running. I ran with all my might. I was nowhere near as fast as shadow or chief, but I could move pretty fast.

    I jumped from one roof top to another. I was guided by fear and the need to save Vincent.

    This wasn¡¯t so hard. I was almost to the barricade. I jumped again only this time something was wrong.

    It was waiting from below. It took hold of my right leg and pulled me down into the alleyway.

    The pain was excruciating. My leg was on fire as its stinger injected acidic poison into my leg causing the inside to melt.

    You know poison was one thing but acid on top of it was just over kill. Was there even a point. Who was surviving acid only to die to poison.

    ¡°aaaah!¡± I screamed in pain as the centipede that grabbed me slammed my body against a fucking wall.

    It shook me back and forth. I was like a rag doll in the mouth of the ugliest German Shepherd.

    Vincent flew out of my arms landing a few feet away. The centipede swung me back around and I felt something snap in my leg.

    I went flying and crashed into a wooden fence. My body crumpled to the ground. I knew one thing for sure there was a lot of broken bones.

    I managed to swivel my head only to come to the horror of realizing it had torn my leg off and had started eating it.

    I found it increasingly difficult to concentrate. I couldn¡¯t even cast a spell. Vincent got to his feet.

    He should run away. The little guy took one look at me and instead of fleeing for his life, he ran towards me.

    The monster was distracted with the food it had acquired. Vincent used this opportunity to sneak past it.

    I wanted to scream! To tell him to run away! Why the hell would he run towards danger!

    Parts of my body were starting to feel numb and it was getting hard to move. The numbness didn''t stop my blood from boiling.

    Lucky for me most of the poisonous acid was left in my dismembered leg. That didn''t stop me from feeling its pain.

    Why did it hurt so much when it wasn''t even attached anymore. ¡°¡­.chiii¡­eef¡­.¡± I cried for chief even though I knew she wouldn''t hear me.

    Vincent made it to my side and tried to drag me towards the back door of another business but he was just a little kid.

    I tried to talk to him but it took so much effort to form the words. ¡°noo¡­ get¡­ oout¡­ of here¡­¡± I don''t know if it was my tears or the pain, but my vision was a little blurry.

    Vincent shook his head. ¡°no!¡± the little guy looked around for another way to save me.

    He must of spotted something because he ran to a corner. I was trying to draw out another potion but I couldn¡¯t focus enough to make it happen.

    I must of hit my head. A concussion for sure. Vincent came running back holding the mid potion I¡¯d taken a sip from earlier.

    Though, the bottle was a little broken and had leaked more than half of its contents. The kid fed it to me and I immediately felt better.

    I could feel bone crunching its way back into place. It felt horrible. Like watching someone push a broken shin bone back under the skin.

    Only instead of seeing it. You felt the whole thing. I was gonna need a beer after this. Many beers actually.

    It wasn¡¯t enough to fully heal me but I could cast spells now, and right on time too. That thing was eyeing us like a pair of steaks.

    Vincent backed himself against the fence while I started to activate a spell. ¡°necrotic burst!¡± right as the monster lunged at us my spell went off.

    I got scared for a moment as the thing seemed to be unaffected by the spell. It¡¯s body seemed to hold for a bit longer than I was comfortable with.

    Surely enough just at the centipede was about to bite into us. It¡¯s body crumbled into black dust and was mostly blown away by the wind.

    I felt sick. Vile began making its way out of my mouth and I ejected it all over the floor. This was an absolute nightmare.

    I curled up on the hard ground and continued to cry. Vincent gave me a hug. I can¡¯t do this. This was impossible.

    So what¡­. Do I sit here and wait for help. We¡¯ll most likely die before that happens. It won¡¯t even be quick and painless.

    Not unless I do it myself¡­¡­ or at least for Vincent. I eyed him. His health was nothing.

    I could easily choke him to death. No, that would be to slow. A spell? To messy. I could snap his neck.

    I worked my hands around his head. He was so soft. So tender. With my stats it would be like breaking a KitKat bar.

    His heart was beating almost as fast as mine. I could feel it¡¯s pulse through the veins on his head. This¡­ this was a mercy.

    Vincent squeaked ¡°Luga, bwave.¡±

    His words while baby gibberish were loud and clear. He was trying to comfort me the same way I did for him.

    I hugged him. ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry! Please forgive me!¡± I cried even harder as my eyes released a fresh flood of tears.

    How could I ever think such a thing! Stop it! Stop being afraid! Get up! Get up! Mooooove!

    Despite my trembling legs and the numbness running through my body. I managed to get to my feet.

    I opened my menu. The first thing I did was cleanse me and Vincent. It was time to look into that de-buff.

    Name: Curse of oppression lvl: 2

    Effect: -20 SR (Stat Ratio)

    Duration: unknown

    A whole 20% decrease. That¡¯s so much for only level 2. That explains why I felt so weak. Well, no point in complaining now.

    I started to mess with my build. There¡¯s no way to fight like how I did in-game. It was inefficient. I don¡¯t have the skills to carry myself.

    I¡¯m a glass cannon not a front line fighter. Surely enough with a thought I changed my class from Shadowmancer to necromancer.

    With a wave of my staff I activated my favorite spell from my solo days. ¡°dark summon¡±

    Darkness swirled in front of us as I brought forth a death soldier. I couldn¡¯t bring the centipede back.

    It no longer had a body, but I could summon something out of the darkness itself.

    The death soldier rose from the dark. It was made of ivory bone and held a sword of rusted iron.

    It¡¯s level was equal to the last enemy I killed giving it a level of 32. High for a centipede but not very high for one of my undead.

    This guy had the power to level depending on how many monsters we kill. With its current level he? ¡­ she? ¡­. It could pretty much handle all the small fry.

    Once it levels up to 35 I can upgrade it to a death knight. With a death knight I¡¯ll be able to summon two more death soldiers.

    Little Vincent looked terrified. I patted his head. ¡°Don''t worry, he¡¯s on our side. Vincent I¡¯d like you to meet Skelington.¡±

    I tried to give Skely a mental command and he heard me. The giant skeleton started dabbing. I immediately decided never to make him do that again.

    Vincent looked confused. ¡°see Skelington is harmless.¡±

    He didn¡¯t seem too convince. That was okay. The necromancer class was what I originally wanted when I joined TEO.

    I Always thought it was cool, if not a bit inconvenient. It never really worked well with my guild. Shadowmancer was more useful in a party.

    darkness was perfect. It did neutral damage to all the elemental forces, and it was super effective against light based creatures.

    Necromancer was easy to unlock. You just needed a few levels in cleric and a single dark spell.

    In the game dark summon was used to lure monsters to areas for an ambush but in this world¡­.. Oh boy!

    You know I don¡¯t know why I never tried it. This could be incredibly useful. Imagine an undead army. Actually, with control limit it would be more like a battalion.

    ¡°Okay Skely! Time to get to work. First things first were getting Vincent to the barricade. Then we¡¯re exterminating every. Last. Bug.¡±

    Skely made a strange sound. He didn¡¯t have a voice box so I had no idea how that worked.

    I gave him a mental command to go ahead of us. He zombie walked his way out of the alley.

    It wasn''t long after that he was attacked but we managed to take care of the centipedes easily.

    I was no longer afraid. I guess it was because I¡¯d fallen back into my original role as support.

    Even Vincent was enjoying our little stroll. Skely rushed forward swinging his blade down into the body of a centipede.

    The blade struck true cutting it nearly in half. It¡¯s body turned to that same dark ash.

    The other centipedes started to surround the death soldier on all sides. I quickly activated a few hex spells. ¡°bind, blind, gravity well!¡±

    Two were held in place. One by dark chains and the other by pure gravitational force.

    I commanded the skeleton to strike down the one that had been blinded. As he arced his blade the beast sprayed acid.

    His sword hit but his leg started to melt. That was okay. I activate another spell. ¡°mending necros!¡±

    A dark power manifested inside my skeleton and his leg was healed almost instantaneously.

    I''ve never heard of an acid that could break bone down. I was counting on Skelys resistance but he¡¯ll just have to be careful.

    Right on time to. A new hoard of demons had arrived and these were around the same level as my death soldier.

    I looked to Vincent. He wasn¡¯t scared. In fact he seemed to be having the time of his life.

    I was still terrified. My legs were shaking. This is what adults do. They make children feel safe.

    With a shaky hand I reached out and activated one of the two abilities my skeleton had. ¡°War Cry¡±

    The skeleton howled like a dying ogre. The centipedes all locked there eyes on my undead monster.

    I won¡¯t let him die just like that so I activated another one of my spells. ¡°dark infusion!¡± bands of dark mana wrapped around Skelington.

    He grew in size taking on more bulk. Even his oxidized sword turned into a shiny dark hunk of steel.

    I was a bit intimidated by his new look. Vincent however cheered Skely on. ¡°yeah!¡±

    I quickly covered his mouth before he got us killed. It looked like the monsters were more focused on Skely than us.

    Even with his buff he wasn¡¯t high level enough to go head to toe with that many. I had a plan though. Skely was my tank after all.

    With a thought I activated his second skill. ¡°Undying¡± The spell increased his defense and would keep him from going below one HP for 15 seconds.

    Skelys bones turned into a dark steel and the darkness around him seemed to grow in density. He looked more like a demon than the centipedes did.

    I watched as those bugs launched themselves at him. He swatted a few away with his sword but was stung in the back by one of the bugs.

    Breaking through Skely¡¯s dark aura it unleashed a spray of poison inside his rib cage.

    They were mindless creatures. Poison has no effect on the undead. If it had been acid then he¡¯d be in trouble. I was hoping Skely could take a few down before I had to step in.

    I activated the spell dark missile creating six compacted dots of dark mana. They had slightly less attack power than shadow bolt.

    The only real difference was each cast made six of them and once fired they''ll chase their target down until contact.

    ¡°Dark missile!¡± The bolts flew in swirling trajectories leaving a trail of violet light as they went.

    One by one they all met their marks either killing or crippling there targets. Skely shook them off then started hacking away at their exoskeletons.

    Three of them noticed us and darted our way screeching like hissing cockroaches. I pulled Vincent behind me then readied a spell.

    Just before the first centipede could reach us I unleashed my rings spell. ¡°Nova!¡± once again flame erupted out of my body. Vincent was unharmed thanks to the gap of air between us and the fire.

    The closest centipede had its head melt and its body flung back. The other two met a wall of flame.

    It burned there chitin and sent them flying. They crashed onto the hard ground and quickly recovered themselves.

    I activated another necrotic mend for Skely as he finished off his last bug. His level was up to 35.

    I checked his status sheet and ranked him up to death knight. His body grew and armor began to form around his bones.

    A new light shown in his eyes as he used war cry once again pulling the remaining two centipedes attention towards him.

    They screeched in rage wanting nothing more than Skelingtons death. Which was stupid considering he was already dead.

    They wanted him un-undeaded? Does that make sense? Unanimated? They wanted him to not exist anymore. Yeah, that sounds better.

    Darkness wrapped around Skelingtons body and weapon. This was the skill he unlocked. Dark cloak. It was an aura of darkness that buffed up all his stats by a whole 10%.

    He charged forward moving at a generous pace as he decapitated the first centipede. The second one unleashed a spray of acid.

    To my surprise Skely swung his darkness coated blade downward. Cutting a path through the acid using wind pressure! He was like some kind of shounen anime character!

    His blade low he glided forward at a speed grater than before. With an upward vertical cut he sliced the monster in half, but guess what.

    The centipede didn¡¯t even realize it until it tried to move and it fell apart. ¡°What! How!¡± While I was flabbergasted, Vincent clapped and bounced in excitement.

    That made no freaking sense! Are you telling me the cut was so thin that the monsters nervous system could still send signals to the rest of its body!

    It was cut in half! It¡¯s brain was in two pieces! I call bull! There¡¯s no way that was real! His sword is too fat for that to make any sense!

    Despite my misgivings like all centipedes it¡¯s body turned to ash. I was speechless. If I¡¯d of known it would be so overpowered I would of done this the moment I got isekai.

    This could have solved the whole needing a tank issue! The only reason we never thought of it was because necromancer was considered a terrible class!

    All it takes is one cleric and your entire army is basically useless. It was fine for hunting monsters but for PVP it was impossible.

    Especially since unlike summoned monsters, the undead can only grow stronger through battle.

    Once you log out your army disappears and you have to build it back up. It was so bad that sometimes I wouldn¡¯t close the game for weeks.

    There was no logging out this time. Skelington was now a permanent addition to this world.

    That reminded me. I reached out with my staff and used dark summon bringing forth a level 29 dark soldier.

    Like Skelington he rose out of darkness. The newly undead looked much the same as my first undead and he wouldn¡¯t be the last.

    Once Skelington was level 50 he could become a death general and I¡¯d be able to command two death knights and four death soldiers.

    I could also use animate to bring back fallen mobs or NPCs. The only limit to their numbers was my wisdom stat.

    ¡°What should I name you¡­¡­ Skelingtwo? Yup, that¡¯s your name now.¡± I looked to Vincent, who was staring at the new undead with sparkling eyes.

    I could summon another but it would end up at the default level of 10. I need to kill a higher level centipede before I try and summon again. Otherwise my undead mob will just get killed right away.

    If I¡¯d spent more time on the class then I could have increased that cap to 30 through skill upgrades.

    Skill upgrades were pretty simple. As you level you get skill points. You can drop the skill points into any skill to either improve its potency, lower its cast time, or lower its cost.

    Of course you could only upgrade a skill up to three times, after that you needed to head to a special facility depending on the type of skill.

    For magic it was the usual mage college. For clerics it was anything from a church to a shrine. Even fighter classes had to hit up a dojo.

    ¡°Skelingtwo? What a lovely name! He¡¯s so cute. Can I play with him?¡± I felt a tug on my robes. Turning my head I was met with¡­ chief?

    It looked like chief but different. For one she had horns and her hair was completely black.

    Her eyes were a glowing red. But that was nothing compared to that smile. No one should ever make a face like that.

    ¡°Chief?¡±

    She ignored me stepping forward and reaching out with a hand. I watched as a ball of what looked like fluorescent green liquid formed in her palm

    It looked like she was gonna attack Skelingtwo. The ball of glowing magic ignited into a green flame.

    ¡°What are you doing!¡± I tried to pull her attention but it was to late. She blasted Skelingtwo completely obliterating him in an inferno of jade flames.

    I felt pain in my chest and a copper like taste in my mouth. I forgot about that. When ever undead die the necromancer takes damage.

    ¡°Chief what is wrong with you!¡± I cried, falling on to one knee. My body felt weak. All of a sudden my emotions came forward and I was unable to hold back.

    ¡°Chief¡­. I cried for help but¡­ but no one came! I tried really hard to be responsible! I tried really hard not to cry on the way here. I was smart and fought really, really hard-¡±

    Chief didn¡¯t respond at all so I continued as my tears mixed with dead centipede dust.

    ¡°-It was so scary. I killed so many but they kept coming. They hurt me but I kept trying. I called for you! You didn''t come! You didn''t help me! But¡­ but even without you I managed to save Vincent¡­. You said you¡¯d take me home! I wanna go home now!¡± Chief Was unaffected. Instead she calmly walked over to me.

    ¡°You¡¯re a stupid child. You couldn''t even save one human.¡±

    I was confused. Looking up I saw Chief step forward using her hand to rip a hole through Vincent¡¯s chest. His eyes were so wide. His face fixed into a permanent look of horror.

    She pulled her hand out and was now holding a glowing ghostly green crystal. The object was covered in Vincent¡¯s blood.

    She popped it into her mouth like rock candy. Then loudly swallowed like she was gulping down a mouthful of water.

    Vincent¡¯s lifeless body fell. He was nothing more than a husk now. The child like wonder from his eyes had vanished.

    The person that was once known as Vincent was no more. In his place was a lifeless corpse.

    Then something strange happened. His skin turned gray. I tried to reach out for him, but before I could even touch him. His body turned to ash mixing together with the ashes of the monsters he feared.

    ¡°¡­.What? ¡­..But¡­.. he was human¡­.¡±

    It happened so fast I couldn''t even react. I didn''t believe it. I didn¡¯t want to believe it. Chief was a good person!

    It¡¯s all wrong¡­. Alice was right. I screamed in anguish ¡°you monster!¡± reaching out with my hand I blasted Chief with a necrotic burst.

    Before it could hit Chief jumped high into the air creating two balls of jade flame. She threw one at me but I jumped out of the way.

    The jade fireball slammed into the ground collapsing the stone on impact. Red and green light rose as the stone seemed to melt away like butter.

    She can''t dodge in the air! ¡°dark missile!¡± I fired off six bolts of dark magic. Despite being in the air Chief managed to twirl her body in a way that let her avoid the first two shots.

    How was she doing that!? That¡¯s not how physics works. ¡°God dam monster!¡±

    She drew out an all black sword. I watched as it glowed a deep red. The sword arced through the air cutting one bolt after the other.

    Whatever she couldn¡¯t cut she avoided until she had a better opportunity to shatter it.

    She finally landed on the roof of a nearby building. Her smile never faltered. In fact it only seemed to become more uncanny by the second.

    She finally fired the second jade fireball. I jumped out of the way feeling a wave of heat on my back.

    Lucky me I didn¡¯t actually get any fire on me. I commanded Skelington to charge at her. I wasn¡¯t a front fighter but he was. I could support him form the back.

    Skely threw his weight at chief swinging its blade down on her. She parried the strike causing it to slide off her blade and strike the roof top.

    Dust erupted into the air just about blinding me and Skelington. That didn¡¯t stop chief though as she used her blade to cut into Skelys armor.

    I watched as chunks of dark metal came raining down off the roof. I couldn¡¯t believe how sharp that sword was.

    She was about to fire off another jade fireball when I used the spell ¡°silence¡± darkness clung to her body and she was unable to cast.

    For good measure I used blind and bind. Blind didn¡¯t seem to stick but bind did. For a moment at least.

    Dark chains wrapped around chief, but somehow right as Skely was about to strike, she tore them apart with her raw strength.

    Skely¡¯s blade came down on her but she avoided it then went for a slashing attack. There was a good chunk of armor missing.

    Her sword slipped through the gap. I watched as Skely¡¯s spine was severed in a clean quick motion.

    My anger at chief turned to fear and for the first time in my life I felt like I was about to die. Surely enough chief appeared in front of me.

    She was so fast, I didn¡¯t even see her move. ¡°mommy!¡± I cried. I rubbed my eyes as tears poured out of them.

    I don¡¯t know why I called for my mom. It just came out.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry kiddo I¡¯ll reunite you with your bitch of a mother, but first I need to finish eating this world.¡± Chief¡¯s hand was a blur and I felt it pierce my chest.

    This couldn¡¯t be real. I couldn¡¯t die. This was all a game after all. I can¡¯t die for real. I¡¯m just a kid.

    -Squirmy-

    My hand felt warm inside this girls chest. I took hold of her soul and tore it from her body.

    She turned to ash and in my hand I now held a beautiful jewel. It was violet in color and looked like a flower about to bloom.

    ¡°Oops, I picked it before it could bloom. Now it¡¯ll never make it into adult hood.¡± I turned it over in my hand. There was no stem just the head of a flower.

    ¡°Oh, well. They always taste so much sweeter when they¡¯re young. To bad I can¡¯t eat it just yet.¡± I dropped it into my inventory.

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have eaten that kids soul. Now I feel bloated, but I had to make a show of it. Kill one to season the other.¡± I licked my lips in anticipation.

    No, I think I¡¯ll save her soul for when I see him again. There¡¯s nothing like a little misery to bring the flavor out of a meal.

    ¡°haha¡±

 Episode 29: Bonerrific!

    -Rosy-

    The game map showed our troops positions. I could even check on them individually.

    We had several force fields interlocked with one another, creating a quarantine barricade around the chaos.

    The quarantine shield near the 12th squad was nearly gone. My map showed 12th squad locked in combat.

    The man next to me had his own window open observing the battle. He had long blonde hair and wore heavy looking armor.

    The man looked a bit like a prince. He was tall. About 6 feet. I often found myself staring.

    It¡¯s not like I was into him. It was more like I was in the presence of movie level cosplay. The guy looked like he was straight out of an anime.

    I wanted to erect another mana shield to replace the damaged one, but the paladin had asked me to wait until it reached 3%.

    Simply just watching it whittle away was enough to make me nervous. What were those guys even doing?

    None of them had taken damage yet the shield was being eroded away by a level 50 monster.

    I didn¡¯t know what they were thinking but I didn¡¯t dare say anything since they were apparently the experts.

    What could they even accomplish with such low levels. Even my team wouldn¡¯t stand a chance against those things.

    Though they have killed quite a few. I guess real fighting skill went a long way. Still could they really do it?

    The more I saw the more I felt like gathering my friends and running for the hills. If only I had access to the guilds storage.

    I could look at the stuff but I couldn¡¯t retrieve anything without permission. The only thing they let me touch was the materials and only after they approved of it.

    Without resources we wouldn¡¯t survive out in the wilds. Besides where would we go?

    Another country? There¡¯s a few but the journey is farther than the trip we took to get here.

    The current situation didn¡¯t look good. When joining this guild I thought we were getting away from all the danger.

    Now there was a boss raid going on in the middle of the city. So much for a cushy life behind a castle wall.

    Still¡­ it was better than roughing it in the woods. This place was amazing and I didn¡¯t want it to end so soon.

    It¡¯s like my friends and I are cursed or something. I don¡¯t know. I guess I¡¯m just tired of being on the run all the time.

    Maybe if we fight for once we¡¯ll finally have a place in this crappie world. Somewhere we can call home.

    I know Austin could sure use a stable home. That kid has been through enough.

    He used to smile so brightly. I think he might of had a crush on sapphire. He was always really shy around her.

    Somehow seeing him act all shy made me want to be brave. I was always the shy one but seeing him like that made me want to change if only a little.

    I just wanted to look strong so that he would feel more secure. It¡¯s stupid, but I couldn¡¯t help but try.

    This situation was really starting to freak me out. To top off the misfortune, the raiders lied about their hidden army. We realized that right after we joined.

    An army of max level players. Yeah right! To think we would fall for something so insane. That was the whole reason we agreed to join them.

    We could have gotten more money but the idea of simply continuing with our lives was better than dying of hunger out in the wilderness.

    Now that I had a better idea of what the raiders were like, I think we may have overestimated them.

    Don¡¯t get me wrong we would totally lose in a fight, however, I don¡¯t think they would actually kill us.

    Boner and everyone else seems convinced that they would murder us in cold blood but I don¡¯t think so.

    They¡¯re people just like us. Gamers to be exact. They came from the same world as us. I don¡¯t think they want to kill anyone.

    Well¡­. maybe Isaac but that guy is totally off his rocker. Still, I can¡¯t help but feel sorry for him. Living with mental illness is no joke.

    I called out to the paladin. ¡°Sir Richard¡± he let out a grunt in response. ¡°shouldn¡¯t we be doing something?¡±

    He finally turned his attention to me and his smooth voice filled the spacious tent. ¡°What do you mean? We are already doing something.¡±

    Was this man sane? All we¡¯d done so far was stand here and watch the map. ¡°I mean¡­. Those monsters showed up and we¡¯re just standing here. Shouldn¡¯t we send out orders to go stop it?¡±

    I know sir Richard was born yesterday but come on! Even a child would know the situation has changed and we needed to adjust.

    Sir Richard came back with. ¡°if we have our troops rush in, then they will most likely die. For now let us watch and see. I have already asked for a report. Once we get that then we can act.¡±

    My shoulders slumped. I hadn¡¯t realized how much thought he was putting into it. So that¡¯s why he was watching the map. To gather info.

    In that case I need to do my own information gathering. I tried contacting Shadow and the others but I wasn¡¯t getting anything through.

    Strange. Are our communications down? I tried to message a random soldier. I managed to get through to him just fine.

    Why can¡¯t I talk to Shadow. I could talk to King and sapphire. Hmmm¡­. Something strange is going on and I don¡¯t know what.

    The soldier responded with all the details he could. Apparently there was some kind of explosion and monsters started raining from the sky.

    That just sounds insane to me. At least they were holding out pretty well.

    I hope Boner is okay. He might be apart of the troops, but he was no warrior.

    -Boner-

    I charged forward swinging my sword at one of the approaching monsters. It hit but didn¡¯t do much damage against its hard chitin.

    It was about to attack me when one of my party members punched it from the side.

    It¡¯s chitin cracked giving it a de-buff to its defense. I was surprised at the damage he managed with a simple strike.

    The guy was an ape-kin with the monk class. He went by the name Philip. His body was completely covered by dark hair.

    ¡°Boner you¡¯re doing it all wrong! You need to line the edge up with your swing! Don¡¯t you know anything about edge alignment!¡±

    Thrud our warrior had been going on and on about everything I was doing wrong. It was really annoying. Reminded me a bit to much of my parents.

    He blocked the centipedes stinger using his shield. I got myself ready to attack when Thrud started coaching me again.

    ¡°Alright Boner! Hold your shield up and use that skill I made ya get! Remember timing is everything! As soon as it stuns hit the beast with something and make sure you line up your sword properly this time!¡±

    Thrud and my party members stepped aside leaving me to fight the centipede alone. I felt panic rise inside me as I held my shield up.

    ¡°What the hell man help me out!¡± I looked to them but they just laughed like it was all some kind of joke.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be an idiot. You can handle it! Just do what Thrud said!¡± answered Philip.

    Alright¡­ alright. I can do it. Even if I don¡¯t got this I still have them here. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll jump in if I¡¯m really in trouble.

    Reflect wasn¡¯t originally on my hot bar but these guys insisted on it. It was just a crappie counter ability.

    The ability reflected a fraction of damage while completely blocking an attack and causing a five second stun.

    Who has the patience or timing for something like that? I would much rather have attack abilities instead.

    My shield glowed as that ugly bastard slammed its stinger into it. The force of the bug was reflected back, causing its chitin to crack.

    Black sludge leaked from the cracks as the centipede tried to recover from its stun. My team mate howled in excitement.

    It was a bit surprising to see how effective the ability actually was. Thrud called for me to attack before the thing could recover, so I quickly activated slash. This time I tried my best not to swing it like a club.

    My blade glowed a soft blue as I swung, it arched through the air unleashing molts of azure light in a horizontal slashing motion.

    The blade was almost perfectly aligned with the swing if not off by a degree or two. The attack landed cutting deep into the monster.

    I noticed the difference right away as my blade seemed to go through like the monster was made of paper mache. The beast screeched in pain releasing a spray of acid.

    I jumped back but got hit with some of it. My armor somewhat protected me from it thanks to the runes it held.

    Luca insisted on giving me new gear. I ended up with a new sword and shield. Along with fully augmented and enchanted armor.

    I did my best not to breathe any fumes in and waited for the cloud of green acid to pass, but I couldn¡¯t let this opening go.

    My sword glowed a mist blue as I activated the ability comet. I thrust the tip of my icy blade through the green cloud of acid, striking center mass.

    The ice spread through the centipedes body slowing it to a crawl. Before it could react I used the skill shield bash slamming my shield into its new frosty hide.

    The bastard broke into a million shards and I was met with two level increases. I couldn¡¯t believe the amount of EXP I gained.

    Still, it took forever to take one of these things down. My team cheered for me in excitement.

    It was their idea to have me fight one alone for the experience. Not just level experience but real combat experience.

    ¡°Good job Boner. Your getting the hang of it. Next time focus more on defense. Just because you have fancy armor doesn¡¯t mean you should be so reckless. Leave that to me.¡±

    The man speaking was our berserker. A half giant named Ganthor. He had a point. Even as we spoke I felt a burning sensation on my skin.

    I quickly drank a small potion just in case and watched the tiny bit of missing HP fill back up.

    I thought the fight was over but then I heard a scream. It sounded like a woman. My blood went cold.

    Why are there still people in there? Memories of a burning city flashed in my mind and my body started to shake.

    I nearly dropped my sword and shield. That scream had nothing to do with me¡­ I needed to hold my position¡­¡­ That¡¯s right!

    Yeah¡­.. orders. I¡¯m a soldier not a hero. That didn''t stop the guilt from nibbling on my innards.

    I could feel the disappointment on Linas face. What the hell did she know! She¡¯s dead¡­ somehow I could still see her. Judging me from beyond the grave.

    I sucked it up and yelled ¡°Come on let¡¯s go! Someone¡¯s in danger!¡± Despite my words it took everything I had to force my body to move. Even then I was stopped by one of my squad members.

    The ranger Jack gave me a strange look. Then looked to the other members of our party. They all seemed to have the same look on their faces.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong¡­ didn¡¯t you all hear that scream?¡± I felt sweat drip down my forehead.

    Ganthor cleared his throat before answering. ¡°We are supposed to hold this position. Our current orders are to kill all centipedes that come near and quarantine the area.¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Rage started bubbling inside me and it burst out like a raging storm. ¡°Your fucking kidding me right!? Didn¡¯t you hear that scream! There is someone dying out there and we are doing nothing! Who gives a shit about orders!¡±

    I couldn¡¯t believe them! How heartless could they be! What kind of monster can just walk away from that!

    I¡­ I almost did¡­. Fuck you Lina.

    Ganthor was calm. He simply answered as honestly as he could. ¡°if we abandon our post then more people will die. Those things will get out and we won¡¯t be able to contain their destruction.¡±

    I tried to think of a way around his logic but he was right. Dammit! ¡°God dam it!¡± I yelled slamming my fist against the magical barrier. Instead of hitting it went through.

    Maybe this is for the best¡­. I''ll survive and get stronger. Maybe one day I could even play the part of the hero.

    The scream sounded again and a cold chill ran down my spine. I wasn¡¯t strong enough to do anything! If I run out there I''ll die for sure!

    This was fucking insane. We had so many people, we could go in and save everyone! But then¡­. What if one gets out?

    Phillip put his hand on my shoulder. ¡°We are unable to disobey orders but you are a primordial. You are free to do whatever you want.¡±

    He was right¡­. So why don¡¯t I? I looked to where the scream came from, but for some reason my legs wouldn¡¯t move. It was different this time.

    Alone¡­ could I really do it by myself?

    What the hell! Why? Move! God dammit, move! I¡¯m not a coward! ¡°fucking gooooo!¡±

    But nothing happened. I felt sick. The phantom pain from having my arm torn off by that wyvern was flaring up, as if reminding me of that awful day.

    My arm still flared up from time to time. I couldn¡¯t help but grip it. Is it so wrong that I don¡¯t want to die.

    Why can¡¯t they do something! Why do I always have to be the hero! I fucking hate this world!

    My so called squad had no idea what to do with me. To them I looked like I was crazy. It felt like I was the only one that actually cared.

    Another scream sounded off in the distance. Just then Lina came to the forefront of my mind.

    It was right after we ran out of gas. It was my turn to take watch, but she wanted to stay up with me.

    I sat on a rock keeping an eye on the forest line. Lina informed me that the fire would keep the monsters away.

    I think I remember there being some sort of camping mechanic in-game, but the fact that Lina had suggested we sleep in shifts told me it wasn¡¯t full proof.

    Its not like I could sleep anyway. So much had happened back in the valley of the shadow of death.

    I held my blade in hand and my shield in the other. I was ready to pounce on anything that showed up.

    Lina was sat down near the fire. She had mint green hair and pointed ears. That¡¯s right, my dead girlfriend was an elf girl.

    She looked so relaxed. How could she act like that when we were in the middle of a monster infested forest.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re a little too relaxed?¡± I kept my voice somewhat low to avoid attracting monsters or worse players.

    Her lips curled into a cocky smile. Even her eyes were smiling at me. ¡°that¡¯s why I have you Ryan. You¡¯re so vigilant I doubt even a mosquito could sneak up on me¡±

    Speaking of witch she quickly smacked Her bare leg killing what I presumed to be a mosquito. Looks like I failed.

    Her voice was so soothing. Thinking back it was the thing I liked most about her. I bet she would be great at singing.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be an idiot elf. We are in the middle of the wild. The least you could do is keep your shoes on incase we have to run.¡±

    It¡¯s like she was trying to get herself killed. The stupid elf. I swear if we get attacked I¡¯m leaving her behind.

    ¡°Oh don¡¯t be a party pooper. My perception is far higher than yours. I can see pretty well at night you know. If we were in trouble I¡¯d have more than enough time to put my shoes on.¡±

    I sighed and checked on my brother. Austin had hopped into the same sleeping bag as Rosy. She used to babysit him from time to time back before she went to college.

    They were very close as a result. Sapphire was sleeping next to them and king was far on the other side.

    ¡°I need to get stronger¡­¡± I never meant to say it aloud but I did. I didn¡¯t care what the stupid elf said. She was an asshole anyway.

    To my surprise she actually said something that wasn¡¯t a snarky remark. The girl smiled her usual mischievous grin and said ¡°how can you hope to be strong when you don¡¯t put yourself in danger.¡±

    She had a point. There were so many people we left to die. We grabbed all the resources we could from Ericks castle but things went south really quickly.

    I could still hear them screaming. Begging for help. A lot of them tried to climb on the hummer on the way out, but we knew our chances of survival were better without them.

    There just wasn¡¯t enough food and we couldn¡¯t trust them. For all we knew they wanted our resources for themselves.

    We were shot at with bullets, arrows, and even magic. Good thing the hummer was armored. Otherwise we wouldn¡¯t be here today.

    I gave the elf one last look before I lost the memory. She was still dressed in her maid uniform.

    I wasn¡¯t into that whole cosplay thing but she was fine as hell. Even sapphire had taken a liking to her but lucky for me, Lina didn¡¯t swing that way.

    Before I knew it I was back in the present. Standing in front of my squad who were looking at me like I¡¯d lost my mind.

    That decided it. My left foot stumbled forward. Then the right. Before I knew it I was moving at a full sprint.

    My squad cheered for me. They had a job and so did I. I¡¯ll save as many people as I can. I¡¯ll become so strong that no one will ever have to die again. Right¡­.. Lina?

    I saw her smile once more and a tear managed to fall from my face. I left it behind along with my doubts.

    The scream sounded again and I honed in on it. Left, right, left. It wasn¡¯t far. Just a few blocks down the road.

    It wasn¡¯t long before I turned into an alleyway and spotted the civilians. One of those things had cornered a little kid and his mom.

    The kid held a wooden sword and stood in front of his mother to protect her. He wore a cloak that looked like it was enchanted.

    It looked fancy. Like something a veteran gamer would wear.

    The woman cried and tried to stop him but she was suffering from a wound in her stomach. She held a rag to the wound but blood continued to spill.

    The centipede lunged forward stinger first. I wasn¡¯t fast enough to stop it, but that didn¡¯t stop me from trying as I charged into battle.

    That¡¯s when the kid flapped his cloak unleashing a flashing light that seemed to stun the creature.

    The centipede missed its target but still managed to knock the kid down. It screeched in frustration at the momentary obstruction.

    That was all the time I needed. I struck its back with my sword. The ugly bastard cried in pain turning its attention to me. I was ready to kill something. To become stronger.

    The beast tried to sting me, but I used the ability reflect. My shield glowed white as the monster crashed into it.

    It¡¯s kinetic force was reflected back into its body causing black blood to explode out of its natural plate like chitin.

    I activated the skill slash causing my sword to glow a light blue as it bit down on monster flesh.

    More black blood came pouring out and the creature attacked again, only to be met with my shield.

    I nearly fell over but managed to parry its attack, redirecting its body to slam against the wall.

    Before it could recover I activated the ability comet, unleashing a frosty light, and ramming the tip of my blade into its neck.

    The beast died with hatred in its eyes as I leveled up once more. I nearly fell over out of exhaustion. My body felt heavy as I realized I was low on focus.

    I ran out here without refilling it. How stupid was I? I could of died without the use of my abilities.

    Now that the battle was over I took the chance to check on the kid and his mom.

    The kid was unconscious. He was a little younger than Austin. His name tag read as Arthur. I couldn¡¯t help but notice he had gained a level.

    The mothers name was Tulip. She looked like she was suffering from the monsters poison.

    I quickly pulled out a detox potion and a mid potion handing them to her. She gladly took then thanking me for not just the potions but saving their lives. It felt good seeing the lives I saved.

    ¡°Heal up. We have a lot of running to do.¡± How the hell did I end up in this situation? I blame my dead girlfriend.

    The detox potion was like a cleanse. It fixed any status ailments such as paralysis or in this case poison.

    I finally do what dad tells me and join the military only to be sent out to war the moment I sign up.

    Everything was peaceful not that long ago, and what¡¯s with this kids cloak? How did he get an item like that? He sure as hell didn¡¯t find it that¡¯s for sure.

    The mother carried the kid while I ran out in front checking to make sure everything was clear.

    We weren¡¯t to far From the quarantine barrier. I just need to get these two out of this area and everything will be fine.

    Why did I have to run out here? I just had to hear this lady scream. Oh well. These monsters aren¡¯t to strong. I can handle them one at a time, but if we get swarmed we¡¯ll be in trouble.

    If I hadn¡¯t shown up when I did they¡¯d be dead. This was the right thing to do. I need to focus on getting us out of here.

    ¡°Thank you!¡± the mother cried. She had already thanked me once but now she was crying. It must of all just hit her.

    That¡¯s what happens when you over think things. You should always fight first and think never. It always seems to work for me¡­. Most of the time.

    This wasn¡¯t the right time to be thanked and praised. I didn¡¯t look back I just kept moving. ¡°You can thank me by staying alive! Now move it!¡±

    With all these resources I should be able to fight. I might only be level 23 but with my new gear I have the stats of a level 40.

    At least that¡¯s what I was told. Being apart of a guild is insanely overpowered. As soon as I joined I gained a bunch of stat multipliers and plus 1s to each of my stat levels.

    Of course that was also the moment I realized that the not-childs army of max level players wasn¡¯t a thing.

    They tried to explain it as a way to gage our intentions but really there reasoning felt kind of dumb. It wasn¡¯t all bad. I¡¯ve never felt so powerful.

    We came up to a corner. I held my hand up to stop Tulip. The lady came to a stop and waited for further instruction.

    She was shaking and looked like she wanted to cry. Arthur was nearly smothered in her arms.

    Reminded me of the people back in valley of the shadow of death. It still makes me feel awful.

    Moving forward I peaked around the corner to check the road. There were several of those things on the right side and a few to the left.

    Yeah that¡¯s a no. We headed back and tried to go around. We made our way down the alley when one of those things fell off the edge of a roof.

    I readied my gear and got ready to fight. The lady stepped back trying to stay away.

    This one was stronger. A level 30 beast. I think I can still beat it, I just need to be smart about it.

    I stared this thing in the eyes. Paying close attention to the way it moved. The thing swayed back and forth like a snake.

    It wasn¡¯t attacking. Why? Was this one smarter? I was ready to activate reflect as soon as it moved.

    A moment later and just as I expected it lurched forward. I activated my ability ¡°reflect!¡± except, something went wrong.

    Instead of attacking my shield it went around it and tried stinging my arm. I turned my shield trying to block its path.

    The monster backed up but before it left it released a poisonous gas. I tried to stop myself from breathing it in but that was pointless as my eyes started to burn.

    It wasn¡¯t acid but still. I couldn¡¯t see anything. Tulip called to me. ¡°primordial!¡±

    I yelled ¡°get back!¡± there was really only one skill that¡¯ll hit. I held my blade out and activated it. ¡°clockwise!¡± I spun around releasing a wave of blue lashing light.

    The monster cried out in pain and I managed to give myself a second to recover.

    I focused on the potion in my hot bar and it popped up in my shield arm. I drank the detox potion getting rid of the blindness and poison.

    ¡°look out!¡± yelled Tulip.

    The monster unleashed a spray of acid right as I opened my eyes. I raised my shield and blocked most of it but felt my legs burning. It ran down my shield and dripped on my knees.

    The pain was like nothing I¡¯ve ever felt. It was as if lava had been spilled on my skin. There wasn¡¯t even that much.

    I activated one of the new abilities I got. ¡°Pain absorption!¡± the damage was instantly turned into healing and my legs began to heal themselves.

    The ability healed me for 100 hit points for every hit I took. The acid was continuous damage so it was all turned into HP.

    I activated the ability shield bash slamming my shield into the monsters body. It was bleeding from clockwise so I ended up with some of its blood on my armor.

    The ability stunned it for a few seconds. It was enough time for me to activate another ability. ¡°comet!¡± my sword stabbed into its body freezing it from the inside.

    I pulled back and slammed my shield into it again causing its frozen midsection to break into hundreds of shards.

    It¡¯s body turned to ash like the last one. I needed a moment so I sat down on the ground. I did say I wanted to be stronger but dam the price of strength is insane.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± the mother approached me.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine just a bit winded. What about you?¡± She looked terrified. Like she was trying to be somewhere else.

    This was similar to what happened in valley of the shadow of death. These people just had their lives turned upside down.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ My flower shop! It¡­ it was destroyed. How will I¡­. It was my home. I don¡¯t even have all that much coin on me. A few copper at the most. How will I keep living if I have no home. No way to make money. My son. He¡¯s just a little boy.¡±

    Shit. I reached into my inventory and pulled out a single silver coin. ¡°Here, take this.¡± I handed it to her, her eyes going wide.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to do that! It¡¯s to much.¡± She shook her head and tried to reject the money.

    I sighed putting the coin on the floor. ¡°Okay that¡¯s fine I¡¯ll just leave it here. I don¡¯t need it anyway.¡±

    She gasped. ¡°You can¡¯t just leave it there!¡±

    I said nothing getting up and walking away. It was time to get moving anyway. She let out an angry grunt.

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll take it then! Uh¡­. Thank you.¡± She leaned over and picked the coin up. Frankly a silver coin was enough to live off of for a few days.

    It was all I had. That¡¯s pretty much all I got from the guild. It would be fine. I have a bed and lots of food. A single coin won¡¯t hurt.

    We still weren¡¯t out of the fire yet. It wasn¡¯t far now. Just another block away. I checked the next street and found it empty aside from one of those things on a roof top.

    That made things harder. We weren¡¯t far. Maybe we could run the rest of the way. It wasn¡¯t a bad idea. Especially since there weren¡¯t that many here.

    If they start chasing us all we have to do is make it back to my squad. They can handle it from there.

    I looked back at Tulip and her son. ¡°Alright the barricade is only a block away. We can make it but you need to run.¡±

    She looked like she was about to have a heart attack. I didn¡¯t blame her. I nearly had a few myself. Dude, I hate escort missions.

    Reluctantly she nodded. I had her run first. I planned to stay behind her. Not only could I keep an eye on her but this way I won¡¯t leave her behind on accident.

    She was fast even though she was carrying someone. That might have something to do with her level. She was like her son at level 2.

    So far everything was going well. I could even see the barrier. My squad was there too. If only they weren¡¯t on the opposite side. Then I could yell for help.

    The noise proofing seemed to be a byproduct of sonic damage resistance. I wanted to try and use chat but due to guild restrictions I wasn¡¯t able to send messages to the troops.

    It was honestly something we all over looked. Everything was happening so fast. There was no way Shadow and Luca would of thought to give me access to the NPCs.

    It seemed like no matter how over powered or how big your empire was. Humans would still be humans.

    The centipede on the roof spotted us falling onto the street like a cat noticing a rat run by. One wasn¡¯t a problem.

    That was until two more came busting through an entire fucking wall after we passed by the window. I couldn¡¯t help but notice they were catching up.

    Crap! I can run faster but this lady will be left behind. The thought came to me. Maybe¡­. If I leave her behind¡­. I can get away.

    ¡°Yeah fucking right!¡± I stopped cold in my tracks. ¡°keep going!¡± Then used the new skill I¡¯d just unlocked.

    ¡°War cry!¡± similar to the not child¡¯s charm, hatred was carried through my voice like a pulse.

    Instantly the monsters attention was set on me. I held my shield up at an angle as the first one tried to sting me.

    The bastard hit causing my boots to slide as it pushed me back. Holding my shield steady I managed to parry it to the side. The next one came and I was less prepared.

    I had no choice but to activated reflect. Just as my shield started to glow I slammed it into the centipedes face. I felt something crack as my attack was added onto to the reflect ability.

    It was almost like an exploit. The power caused the centipedes back to erupt with black blood.

    It¡¯s body rolled forward. I sidestepped it and let the thing fall on its back. Then activated comet stabbing my icy blade into the last centipede.

    As it froze the bastard unleashed a cloud of poison covering my entire body with it.

    The runes on my armor got to work preventing serious damage but they could only do so much.

    This time I managed to close my eyes but still felt the sting of it on my face. The acid started melting my skin.

    I screamed in pain as big nasty welts started forming on the effected areas.

    I was in a bad position. I couldn¡¯t open my eyes. Those things would recover soon. At least Tulip got away.

    Lina did I do a good job? I saw her smiling face. She was beautiful. Green hair, pointy ears, and her smile was like the sun.

    I¡¯m coming home.

    ¡°Charge shot!¡± I felt a strong breeze pass over my head. Followed by the sound of a watermelon being splattered.

    I opened my eyes in time to see the centipede turn to ash. The one I¡¯d parried in the beginning screeched.

    It started spraying acid but I blocked with my shield. Some of it got on me again. I felt a combination of cleanse and heal being applied to me.

    The downed centipede I¡¯d hit with reflect got up ready to attack. I jumped away trying to gain a bit of distance. That¡¯s when a fire bolt struck one of them down.

    I finally saw them. It was my squad. Tulips kid was being helped by the cleric. The monk came rushing in using an ability that made his fist glow red to knock the centipede down.

    I lifted my blade then used the ability slash aiming for its head. It thrashed before turning to dust.

    ¡°You alright kid!¡± the monkey guy looked genuinely worried about me.

    I had a squad. Not just a squad but a guild backing me up. It sucked that they wouldn¡¯t come with me but I understand their position.

    With my new squad we could pretty much do anything.

 Episode 30: ripples

    -Shadow-

    20 years ago.

    It was a cold night. I had tears rolling down my cheeks. Mommy was doing what she usually did on a Saturday night.

    She was drinking.

    Angrily she responded to my crying in a drunken slur. ¡°Holly I don¡¯t want to hear it go to bed!¡±

    I tried to hug her in hopes of being comforted, but she pushed me away screaming naughty words at me.

    I cried ¡°Mommy, don¡¯t make me! The monster-¡° I was cut off as my mother yelled back.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care you stupid child! Go to bed! Mother knows best!¡± She pointed a finger down the hall while spilling whine on the carpet.

    The glass was half empty. I cried again and ran down the hall as my mother seemed to scream in anger.

    I thought she was mad at me, but really she was angry because she¡¯d drunkenly spilled whine on the carpet.

    The sound of bear feet taping on hard wood resounded through that hollow house as my crying mothers words echoed passed me. ¡°I wish you were never born.¡± Like a scalpel they cut so deep that I nearly fell over.

    Entering my room I was met with darkness and the sounds of my heavy breathing. I sobbed holding my ears while trying to hold the door closed.

    She didn¡¯t come after me. Mommy would never hit me, but when she drank, she would yell a lot. It was really scary.

    I ran to the bed and crawled under the covers to hide. I wish daddy was here. Mommy was always happy when daddy was home.

    She was often cold, and a lot of the time it seemed like she didn¡¯t like touching me.

    Are all mommies like that? If I was a mommy I would be really nice to my kids.

    I''ve seen other mommies on TV and they¡¯re really nice. How come my mommy isn''t like that?

    I remember those mommies hugging their children. I bet it was warm. I tried to do the same wrapping my arms around myself and imagining mommy was holding me.

    It felt a little warmer, but it wasn¡¯t right. My arms softened and shifted to a more comfortable position.

    I wasn¡¯t afraid of the monster anymore. I was more afraid of Mommy. I needed to be extra quiet, otherwise Mommy would yell again.

    I rolled over in bed to get comfortable. My eyes had finally adjusted to the low light, and I could see a lot of my toys on the floor.

    I got out of bed and reached for my favorite dolly. I remember aunt Susie giving it to me for my birthday.

    The doll looked just like me. She had pretty long black hair and brown eyes. Back when I got her I named her little Holly.

    I felt another tear run down the side of my face. ¡°What¡¯s the matter little Holly?¡± I asked the doll.

    ¡°Oh¡­ there¡¯s a monster in your closet? Oh sweetie, don¡¯t cry.¡± I sobbed. ¡°The monster can¡¯t get you. I¡¯ll keep you safe. D-Don¡¯t worry, Mommy¡¯s here.¡±

    Getting back into bed I hugged little Holly. ¡°It¡¯s okay little Holly¡± I cried. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I love you. You don¡¯t have to cry because Mommy is h-h-here¡­¡±

    Tears fell on the doll as I squeezed her tightly to my body. I wasn¡¯t sure why I was crying, but it felt good. Crying is good. It makes the sad go away.

    Little Holly had no reason to cry because she had the best mommy ever.

    ¡°Hush little baby don¡¯t say a word m-mommas gonna buy you a mocking bird¡­¡± I sang to little Holly and wrapped her in my loving warmth.

    I don¡¯t know how long I babied that stupid doll, but I must¡¯ve fallen asleep at some point.

    Present day

    I woke up somewhere else. My head was in pain and there was something on top of me.

    Lifting my head I realized I was under some rubble. My head was the only part of me that was visible. It looked like I was stuck under a collapsed wall.

    How did I get here?

    Immediately I thrashed getting myself out from under the rock, but at the same time scratching and cutting myself on the stone and wood.

    Two things were made apparent. The first was that my leg was broken, made obvious by the fact it was bent the wrong way¡­.

    Or was my leg facing the right way and it was actually my body that was bent the wrong way? Regardless it was broken for sure.

    The other thing was that I definitely hit my head. It was also made obvious due to the blood running down my neck.

    I must have had a ton of adrenalin running through me because the pain wasn''t that bad.

    My heart wasn¡¯t beating. It was vibrating. Should I be concerned? I¡¯m not sure if this was a heart attack or not¡­ Actually my heart was the only thing that didn¡¯t hurt.

    Fishing out a mid potion, I downed it. Everything seemed to nit itself back together including my broken leg.

    My heart was still vibing to its own tune, but I don¡¯t think I was dying. I was actually at full health.

    My throat was a bit dry from all the dust but I still managed to rasp out. ¡°Where are my children?¡±

    Dizzily I made my way out of the broken building. Once outside I hopped up onto a roof top.

    I thought back to what happened. Back to where everything went wrong.

    Alice was about to tell us what I assumed was the biggest secret of all, when all of a sudden I felt dread creeping up on me.

    It was subtle but slowly rising. I tried not to show the sudden change in vibe as Alice said something about Masters fake mom not wanting them to date anymore.

    As it passed over me every one of my hairs stood up and I started to sweat. My heart began beating faster and faster in my chest. It was so fast that at some point I was no longer sure if it was actually beating.

    It was a bit uncomfortable at first but I quickly got used to it. The moment seemed to last forever as all my senses were turned up to max. I¡¯d never felt so alert in my life, yet I still didn¡¯t understand what was wrong.

    Everything seemed fine, but I couldn¡¯t get the feeling of dread to shake off. I knew we were in great danger but I didn¡¯t know why.

    I looked around but didn¡¯t notice anything out of the ordinary. A moment passed and an explosion of some kind ignited in the distance.

    My body felt stiff, and my already erect claws tightened. It was like they were trying to extend passed their threshold.

    Kind of like how my ex husband would roll the tube of toothpaste from one end to the other in order to get that last tiny drop out.

    I tried to shield Alice from the danger and she even trusted me enough to hang onto my leg. However¡­..

    Something screamed inside me to run! To get away! To move as far away from that place as possible! I had to keep Alice and Luca safe, but I couldn¡¯t stop myself.

    It was as if a frightened beast had taken over my body. A raw primordial instinct forcing me to run as far as I could, and before I could stop myself they were gone.

    Maybe it¡¯s better to say I had left them behind. I abandoned my children. I couldn¡¯t believe I would do something so careless. There wasn''t any time to sulk.

    Buildings collapsed as I avoided a giant bug like body that seemed hell bent on destruction.

    It wasn¡¯t so much that it was crawling towards me. It was more like it had fallen out into the light and started to thrash in a panic.

    The monster was taller than any building. So long that I couldn¡¯t even see where it started or ended. It¡¯s body was covered in spikes and sleek black chitin.

    I wanted to go back but I couldn¡¯t. To do that I¡¯d have to get around this massive creature and that was currently impossible.

    I felt a strange tingle on my skin and for some reason it felt like the creature was humming. Kind of like the frequency of a humming birds wings.

    My stomach went cold, and I began to sweat. Somehow¡­ I knew¡­ this thing was watching me¡­. I was under a giant microscope.

    The beast somehow saw me even though it¡¯s eyes were nowhere to be seen.

    Snake-like tendrils grew out of its body rapidly extending towards me like giant snakes.

    This wasn¡¯t good! I activated a smoke bomb in my hot bar. It materialized in my hand just as I avoided the first snake-like limb.

    My eyesight might have been bad but I could literally feel the danger as if it were a tangible thing. It was almost like I¡¯d unlocked a 6th sense.

    I pulled the pin flipping the fuse. Smoke started to poor out as I dropped it at my feet.

    The smoke rapidly filled the area in a thick black cloud just as another tendril reached for me.

    The monster tried to stab me but instead it¡¯s needle like appendages struck the roof top of the building.

    Thanks to the thick smoke I was able to activate stealth, vanishing from whatever spectrum of sight it had, I could even feel the frequencies of my body change becoming less noticeable.

    The best way to describe it would be like ripples on water. I could feel the monsters ripples and it could feel mine.

    Stealth not only dampened my existence in the light spectrum. It also forced the monsters frequency to go right through me.

    The cloud of black smoke seemed to have its own effect forcing the monsters frequency to lose focus, scattering its vibrations in the process.

    It was all way to much information, and my body seemed to do what I needed before I could even figure out what was going on.

    Using my high speed I got away from there, and decided to travel through the alleyway where it was nice and dark.

    My sprint came to a stop when I noticed the strange objects in the sky. With my bad eyes they looked like reddish-black strings.

    It wasn¡¯t until one of them fell near me that I finally understood what I was looking at. They were like the big one, except these were smaller.

    One fell into the alleyway I was in while two others crash landed a street over. The sound of their screeching made me feel sick to my stomach.

    You know that one kid that would scratch the chalkboard. It was like that but a million times worse. Am I old? I don¡¯t think they use chalk boards anymore.

    I moved the other way not wanting to break my stealth. Lucky for me the beast was too low level to notice me.

    I activated dash leaving it behind. The ability dash let me move forward in short bursts of speed at the cost of a few focus points.

    Dashing through the streets I tried my best to get back to where the others were. By now I had already tried party chat and found that it wasn''t working.

    What does that thing have that¡¯s jamming our signal? I couldn¡¯t even bring up my map to see where everyone was.

    Every time I tried there was this little ¡°ting¡± noise. Like someone hitting one of those triangle instruments.

    Except the sound waves were kind of muffled by the constant humming of that giant monster.

    There was even a crazy de-buff lowering my stats. The constant buzzing felt very oppressive on my body.

    Why didn¡¯t I stay with them! They were right there! I should of grabbed Alice! I should have ran away with Luca!

    I was about to punch the wall in frustration when I spotted the head of the giant monster moving ever so slowly across the sky.

    That thing was the ugliest bug I¡¯d ever seen. Could you even call it a bug? Hard to believe it¡¯s only rank 3. Looked more like a rank 4 raid boss.

    Sometimes the devs would take rank 3s and turn them into raid bosses. It was meant as a fun way to bring back old monsters.

    How were we supposed to fight something that big. Was this supposed to be balanced?

    You can¡¯t just drop a whole ass - excuse my language - boss in the middle of the city out of nowhere! This is ridiculous!This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    No quest! No build up! Not even a cute maiden in trouble! This is terrible story telling! I swear the devs are so lazy. They should hire new writers. This is lazy writing in the purest of forms.

    Forget that. I need to find them. I need to find my children. Master is out there somewhere.

    Unlike Luca and Alice I can¡¯t see her HP bar. Luca is hurt but she¡¯ll be okay. Alice has full health. That¡¯s good.

    That boss isn¡¯t normal. It looks like a centipede¡­ centipede? Could this have something to do with that thing in Masters head?

    Master what did you do? This has to be that thing Alice was talking about. That bug thing that made Master kill that poop head.

    I wonder¡­ how did this all connect? Isn¡¯t that thing just an alter? It couldn¡¯t actually be real right?

    Just because this was a fantasy world didn¡¯t mean our mental illnesses could come to life as giant bug demons. That¡¯s not how mental illness works.

    I honestly don¡¯t know what is real anymore. I mean just look at me! I¡¯m in another world In a cat girl body of all things!

    If that¡¯s possible then why couldn¡¯t Master have a pet monster living inside her head¡­ That still sounded crazy. You know, to be fair everything about Master is crazy.

    She might say she isn¡¯t crazy but she totally is. Of course I always nod along since I don¡¯t want to hurt her feelings.

    Just then, another thought was unearthed. What if¡­.. what if that¡¯s Master!?

    That¡¯s how these types of plots unfold right? The nine-tailed demon kid gets taken over by the evil fox spirit and It¡¯s up to their friends or character growth, to turn them back to normal.

    Or the binge eater''s kakuhou turns the MC into a people eating cannibal and only the thought of no longer being human keeps them from going full Hannibal lecture.

    Or like Akira¡­. Oh wait didn¡¯t that guy die in the end¡­.. oopsie forgot to put in a spoiler warning. My bad.

    (Authors note: Who hasn¡¯t seen Akira?)

    How would I even go about turning Master back to normal?

    She can¡¯t fit into a dress anymore! How will I cuddle with her at night! She¡¯s not cute at all!

    ¡°No!¡± I slammed my fist into the wall next to me causing my arm to radiate with pain. The stone cracked on impact.

    My stealth broke and I heard the screeching of one of those ugly bugs. There was this vibration coming from behind me.

    The vibration felt similar to the one in my heart but different. Somehow it was wrong.

    It was a gut feeling of pure danger. I didn¡¯t even have to look to understand it had lunged at me. Before it could hurt me I activated after image.

    It¡¯s stinger went right through my illusion and I appeared just above its head. My claws lashed out cutting deep into the bugs back.

    Like a cracking egg it¡¯s body split open causing black blood to explode out of its back. There was little to no mess as the bug, and it''s bodily fluids turned to ash.

    ¡°Master would never turn into a monster!¡± The image of Master about to impale Mantis flashed Intrusively in my mind.

    ¡°That¡¯s not right! It was an accident! She never meant to! she was just angry! Master is a sweet girl!¡±

    Another memory popped up. One of Master crying and talking about her mother.

    That night¡­.

    I didn¡¯t know a mother could do that to their child. I know I would never do such a thing. She wasn''t a mom. That lady was the real monster.

    How could she hurt little Hol- uh¡­. Master¡­. How could she hurt Master like that.

    Master isn¡¯t a monster. Master is the victim. I¡¯ll save her. I just have to try harder. She just needs a hug and a good cry is all.

    How?

    I felt so frustrated. I wasn¡¯t like my guild mates. I wasn''t clever enough to come up with a solid plan.

    Anger flared up inside me. Born out of self hatred. My claws lashed out slicing through the wall of a building.

    I¡¯ve spent so much time with them. Why can¡¯t I be like them? Did I not learn anything! What the hell have I been doing all this time! I should of paid more attention!

    A roar escaped my mouth. It sounded like a tiger or a mountain lion. The air even seemed to shake with the expression of my anger.

    Come on stupid brain! This isn¡¯t math! It¡¯s simple! What would my guild mates do? What would Master do?

    Master always came up with great ideas. While everyone else filled in the details. All I did was stand where they wanted me and do as I was told.

    Slamming my head into a wall, I gave it some thought¡­.

    I need to take care of the boss. Take that out and the minions will all vanish¡­.. I think. This wasn¡¯t the game so I wasn¡¯t sure.

    Okay! That''s the end result! Now how would Master get it done? Something had to have rubbed off¡­

    Anything?

    ¡°Ugh¡­..¡± first Mao would give us a run down on what the monster could do. Then Luca and rhyme would start talking about ways to deal with that stuff.

    Eco would say something like ¡°I¡¯ll break through its defense and lead it to a better position.¡± or something like that.

    He always seemed to act as bait. Master said his rapid fire abilities made him good for gathering agro.

    Fish would say something dumb like ¡°I¡¯m not sticking my dick in that¡± Then Clara and I would start fighting with him, because Luca was present.

    Rhyme would probably go AFK not wanting to get involved. Luca would say she wasn''t a baby and tell everyone she found the joke a little funny.

    The conversation would turn into something else entirely as Master tried to calm everyone down and Mao would try to get everyone back on track.

    Wait, what was I thinking about?

    ¡°Ugh!¡± This only works if I have a party! Even if Alice, Luca, and I could team back up. That¡¯s still not enough people.

    I doubt anyone of them could tank! We don¡¯t even have a healer. I need more party members.

    The socialists won¡¯t do. They¡¯re too low level for that. I doubt boner could take much of a hit. Maybe with his new armor and shield, but¡­.. he would still die.

    To be fair I don''t think there''s anyone alive that could tank that thing. Not when real physics were involved.

    Boner is already teamed up with one of the squads. Sapphire would just be a sitting duck. She¡¯s also acting as lookout for the evacuated civilians.

    Rosy is with the champion watching over the map. She¡¯s more useful there¡­ or she was before communications went out.

    Luca originally wanted her to man the traps and keep an eye on everyone. So much for that idea.

    King is entertaining the civilians. Also he is probably the least qualified for a raid on the boss.

    Come on Holly, Think. We¡¯re the raiders for crying out loud. Its in the name.

    Oh¡­.

    And then it hit me like a bag of exploding light bulbs¡­. Or something that makes more sense. Like¡­. a brick?

    What about the soldiers? They¡¯re low level too but¡­.

    Master did set them to train their stats and at level 1 their stats would have been naturally low. Which means¡­.. it means¡­. Come on cat brain!

    It means stat training would have been super effective.

    There¡¯s lots of trash mobs around. If I have them team together and start clearing the streets of minions there sure to level up a few times. NPC levels grant way more stat experience.

    This sounds like a plan. Yeah, I can do this! Everyone will just have to wait a little. As long as they hold out till then I¡¯m sure everything will be fine.

    Alice, Luca, and Master can join me at the end to fight off the boss. It¡¯ll take time but I can do it.

    I activated stealth getting on all fours. My butt was raised high into the air as my claws pawed at the stone cutting shallow grooves into the rock.

    A moment passed before my ghostly body vanished in a blur of speed. The only thing left behind was a cloud of centipede dust and my doubt.

    I stuck to the alleyways avoiding one centipede after the other. I couldn¡¯t help but notice how much faster I was on all fours.

    It was almost like I was only using half of my speed up till now. My claws gripped the ground so well. I wasn¡¯t expecting it. The whole thing felt so natural.

    One of the centipedes fell from a rooftop trying to dislodge itself from its crash. It fell right in front of me too.

    I bounced off the ground digging my claws into its chitin. They sunk so easily, like a hot knife through a scented candle¡­.. A scented candle that smelled like a rotting waterlogged skunk corpse.

    A bit of pressure and I tore the beast in half before it ever knew of my existence. I didn¡¯t like how easy it was for me to kill. It felt so natural.

    I had no training whatsoever, yet somehow my claws seemed to find themselves in the perfect spot to do the most damage.

    I was no longer an assassin. I was a hunter. An apex predator on top of the food pyramid¡­. Or was that a ladder? A chain? Circle of life? I might of gone in a whole other direction.

    Scratch that! I was like that monster thing in that alien movie my ex-husband made me watch.

    Whoa! I¡¯m just like the predator! Cool.

    My body seemed so in tuned with my surroundings. It was shocking to me. These were my hunting grounds.

    Even with my bad eyes I could still feel them all around me. Danger. That¡¯s what it was. I was sensing danger coming off of every monster.

    It wasn¡¯t as bad as what the boss was radiating but I could still feel it on every one of them. Like having a radar in my heart.

    I shook my head as I dashed passed another target. Nope. I can¡¯t kill them. I need to leave them alive so that the soldiers can gain exp.

    If I kill them now we won¡¯t be able to take out the boss. Even if it means I have to take detours I have to leave them alone.

    Thanks to my speed and stealth I managed to make it back to the barricade relatively quickly.

    I thought I would come back to soldiers standing around, but they were engaging a large centipede in battle.

    This one wasn¡¯t as big as the boss but it definitely was a tall bastard. It¡¯s level was in the 50s

    The soldiers were having trouble holding it off, but were managing thanks to team work and the quarantine force field that seemed to be tanking the hits.

    The warrior would step forward gaining the monsters attention with a war cry. Once the beast tried to attack him, he would jump back behind the force field. The magical shields hit points were at half now. That wasn¡¯t good.

    While the tank kept its attention the assassin slashed into the monsters back though he didn¡¯t seem to be doing much damage. My best guess was his dexterity was to low to do a proper stealth attack.

    It didn''t help that his knife was so short. Maybe Master should of handed out short swords instead.

    The ranger was up on the roof tops. He fired an arrow hitting the beast in its right eye, creating a blind spot.

    It screeched and thrashed about. That was when the mage used a bind spell. Following it up with a curse of weakness.

    The creature was greatly de-buffed. It looked like curse of weakness had two stacks already. There was even a curse of slowness.

    The cleric activated a sacred art called minor blessing. This gave the tank a small boost to all his stats. He would need it to tank that monsters stinger.

    I watched as the monk charged forward unleshing a fury of strikes. He stuck to the blind spot making sure to stay out of its vision. That move was called break.

    It was an eruption of powerful blows that lowered defense. The monk jumped back behind the force field switching places with the berserker.

    I wasn¡¯t actually sure if the monster could see them or not, but it looked to be struggling to pin point their location.

    There was definitely some other type of vision there, but I couldn''t say for certain what it was.

    The archer shot the monster with a stun shot causing its body to spark with electricity.

    The berserker activated the ability sword smash. Swinging his blade as hard as possible. It hit causing the chitin to split further lowering its defense in the process.

    He activated another ability called blender, swinging his blade repeatedly at the beast, as his hit points were drained by the skill.

    He was like a lumber jack steadily chopping down a tree. Each strike did a good chunk of damage, but it wasn¡¯t enough to finish it off.

    At this point the monster still had over half its HP and the force field won''t last forever. Once it''s gone they''ll die one after the other.

    I moved forward drawing out my knife. It felt odd in my clawed hand, but I couldn''t use any attacking abilities without it.

    I activated the ability target. Which let me target an enemy insuring a critical hit. A dark red X appeared over the monsters body.

    I went with the most powerful ability in my hot bar. One that ignored armor. ¡°waking rend!¡±

    My weapon grew in length as pink energy wrapped around the blade. It took the form of a short sword causing the cut to extend past the centipede slicing it nearly in half.

    The ability was more powerful when used on someone with the effects of target. My knife vanished back into my inventory before the energy could even vanish.

    I didn¡¯t need to look at the monster to know it was dead. It¡¯s body turned to gray ash, sprinkling down like dandruff¡­.

    Or, or! Something cool like nuclear fall out! Yeah that¡¯s way better than dandruff!

    I was met with the goofy smile of a moon elf. He was very pretty for a guy. I already felt like punching him, though, I wasn''t sure why.

    Probably because he reminded me of Mantis. This wasn¡¯t him though, so I tried not to let that effect the way I treated him.

    ¡°Lady Shadow. You¡¯ve come to save us.¡± The moon elf nearly fell to his knees in gratitude.

    I couldn¡¯t help but feel like the situation wasn¡¯t that bad to merit a reaction like that. Looks like his name is Numen. Strange name.

    I looked back to his other companions. The berserker was being healed by the cleric. His life draining attacks had drawn out a good chunk of HP.

    I wonder what that felt like. Is it like giving a blood transfusion only with life force? On second thought, I think I¡¯d rather not find out.

    The archer - who was on the roof top of an item shop - fell on his butt letting out a sigh. The monk bowed politely at me while the tank approached.

    The tank - just like the berserker - was a big guy. Master said they would be half giants, but I wasn''t expecting him to be 7 feet tall.

    ¡°Hello¡° I looked his name tag up. ¡°Creeder¡±

    The man smiled and sheathed his sword. ¡°It is good to see you alive Lady Shadow.¡± He lowered himself to one knee.

    I wasn¡¯t sure what to say. That''s when I noticed everyone else mimicking the gesture.

    My mouth nearly dropped open. Right, guild leader. What a strange feeling. Is this how Master feels when all those NPCs gush over her?

    Now¡¯s not the time for this. This is a good thing. I can use their loyalty. How do I get them to stop? This is kind of like that war movie? ¡°At ease soldiers.¡±

    My words had them all fall back into a more formal stance. This was better for my health.

    ¡°Okay Creeder. Give me a status report.¡± Creeder took on a more serious look falling into the role of a stoic warrior.

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am! The twenty squads are all alive and well. We are holding our positions. Our station is the only one that was affected by the stronger monster. Other than our shield everyone else¡¯s holding at 100%.¡±

    Huh, I guess it¡¯s lucky I got to this one. That seems pretty impossible, but I¡¯m just glad everyone is safe.

    We really couldn¡¯t afford to lose soldiers right now. I thought about summoning more but we didn¡¯t have the gear for that many. I think Cindy was still in the process of making more.

    I checked my map. it looked like it was working again. That¡¯s good. The only thing was the area the boss was in had been completely blacked out.

    I couldn¡¯t see any of my children on the map. The only thing telling me they were alive was the HP bars under my own.

    Speaking of which it looked like Luca had taken some serious damage. I looked back towards the quarantined area and felt utterly useless.

    I wanted so bad to go and find her but that was as good as looking for a needle in a hay stack.

    I clenched my claws into fists causing blood to bubble in the cracks of my fingers.

    The blood slowly dripped off my knuckles. A moment passed and Lucas HP shot back up.

    Relief washed over me and my claws released my palm. I tried to send a message to Rosy but it still wasn''t working. I still had that de-buff.

    It was no longer being continually refreshed and the timer was actually going down now.

    ¡°Okay then, let me refresh your shield.¡± I checked the empire tab and reset the shield using the countries gold and the guild crystals focus.

    I had given Rosy instructions to keep the shields running. I guess she thought letting it break was acceptable.

    ¡°Alright then. I¡¯m heading back to the commanders tent. Please keep holding this position. Kill any centipede that approach. No bug gets out alive.¡±

    They all nodded new resolve growing on their faces. With that taken care of I vanished in a blur of motion. I swear I¡¯ll save my children.

    It took me about 15 minutes, but after a bit of running I found the tent. It wasn¡¯t far from the barricades but still.

    The tent was set up in the middle of the street. I went inside and found Richard the paladin and champion of Entropy.

    I don¡¯t understand why Master would pick a paladin of all things. I was sure Mao and them said mage champions were over powered.

    Maybe it was because of the synergy the paladin class had with other classes. They usually did well to bolster armies.

    ¡°Lady Shadow. You are back. What is going on?¡± Richard was the first to say something. Rosy looked somewhat intimidated by me.

    It was probably the claws that I couldn¡¯t get rid of, or the slit eyes I had, or the dry blood.

    I also think the fact that Master was afraid of me also seemed to play a role in how Rosy and her friends saw me.

    She was afraid of Master so it would make sense she would be afraid of the one that could control Master.

    ¡°We are taking the fight to the boss. I want the troops to start marching forward and to kill every centipede they find. We will converge on the boss and fight it as a raid party.¡±

    I need to save them. I need to keep my children safe. I need to protect my litter. My hand made a fist causing blood to drip as my claws betrayed me.

    ¡°Y-you want to fight that thing?¡± Rosy shifted where she stood.

    I just about attacked her. Nothing would get in the way of me protecting my litter. I had to unclench my fists.

    I might of come off a bit to strong. This girl is like Master. She is a shy one. I should be nicer so she can focus on the task ahead.

    ¡°Ahem¡± I cleared my throat. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, We can use the minions to level the troops. We¡¯ll slowly close in on it and take it out as a team. You don¡¯t have to help with that part.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t gonna let her convince me not to go on the offensive. There was nothing that she could say that would change my mind.

    ¡°What about Aku? Just what happened out there?¡± Rosy looked like she was gonna cry.

    I looked her in the eyes and she jumped. I wasn¡¯t that scary. ¡°I don''t know what happened, all I know is that our guild mates are still out there and in danger. If we don''t take care of the boss then we will lose more people.¡±

    Rosy looked like she wanted to run. Her and her friends had gone through a lot and the idea of conflict completely rattled her.

    For a moment I found sympathy in that. I put my hand on her shoulder for reassurance.

    ¡°Don''t worry kiddo. Everything will be okay. We¡¯re no ordinary guild. Your dealing with the raiders here.¡± Rosy nodded.

    I almost smiled. Almost. That was until I saw something that should of never happened.

    I was wrong. I was so wrong! This wasn''t right! How could this have happened! I was supposed to protect them!

    System log:

    Luca has died.

    Her HP bar was gone. She was no longer in the guild and I couldn¡¯t find her on my friends list.

    I let out a scream of anger and pain. Rosy nearly had a heart attack.

    ¡°Sh-shadow. Is everything okay? What¡¯s wrong?¡± She backed away from me.

    All I could think was how I¡¯d failed them. My litter was dying because I was so dam useless!

    ¡°Luca just died! Get the soldiers ready! We are going to exterminate every last bug!¡± There was so much anguish in my voice that even the well composed Sir Richard was startled.

    The venom in my voice was absolute. ¡±I¡¯m gonna tear out its heart!¡± a roar escaped my throat causing the tent to rumble like a storm.

 Episode 31: unrest

    -King-

    I stood by the gate watching as one after another people poured in. They varied from men, to woman, to children, and even a few house pets.

    There were quite a few dogs, some cats, and one lady even brought in a snake. As interesting as the snake was, it paled in comparison to the pet Phoenix.

    I always thought it would be bigger and more¡­. Fiery, but this thing looked more like a bright red parrot. It even spoke on occasion.

    It would say things like ¡°he has a small pe pe¡± Or ¡°he makes me watch¡± my favorite so far was ¡°you smell like fish oil¡­ but you taste like roast beef.¡± Whatever the hell that meant.

    Some people were just hilariously cruel. I felt bad for the bird and even worse for its owner.

    The owner of the overrated bird was an old lady that went by the name Norma. She told me she found the thing fighting off a stray cat.

    Best guess was it was abandoned by a player. It was level 41 and had the epic name ¡°fire cock¡±

    I don¡¯t think the lady understood the joke name and I wasn¡¯t gonna be the one to tell her.

    I did advise her to change its name, and to my relief she had already been thinking of a few.

    Feeling a little awkward at the influx of people, I put my arms behind my head and turned my gaze to the golden light above.

    Over the entire property loomed a giant golden dome, that expanded over us like a fancy circus tent.

    The massive shield was covered from one end to the other in magical runes. Each one seemed to feed power into the next, creating a chain of constant flowing focus.

    It would keep enemies out while allowing the citizens of Entropy to pass without a problem.

    The players were also allowed in, but there weren¡¯t many. The ones that did come in started demanding we let them into the castle. We refused of course.

    That didn¡¯t stop them from eyeing me. Letting them inside would basically be like breaking my ribs open and exposing my heart to the enemy.

    Maybe that was a bit too graphic. Basically, letting them into the castle would grant them access to our guild core and that was a big no.

    From my understanding most of the higher level players Fled the city. You¡¯d think as players they¡¯d ban together to fight off the hoard of monsters, but nope.

    Frankly most of us aren¡¯t in the mindset to sacrifice ourselves. We play games to escape life, not to throw ourselves into an even more stressful situation.

    Which begged the question. Why did the raiders rush into battle knowing there was a big chance of dying?

    The thought of another Erickdom situation made my blood run cold. I''d rather focus on the shield.

    The shield provided everyone with buffs. Stuff like stat boosts, accelerated HP regeneration, Accelerated focus regeneration, resistances and even a canopy of stealth.

    Even if the shield fell, these buffs would still stick around for another hour. As long as you were under the protection the buff timers didn¡¯t go down.

    All 20 squads had come through here for the extra boost. Hopefully it would give us an edge.

    Most of these benefits were only active for the NPCs and the raiders. The trust between guild members and none guild members was very, very thin.

    Thanks to the canopy of stealth, this place was virtually undetectable to enemies.

    We might as well not even exist. The only ones that could really find this place were the NPCs. The players just kind of followed along.

    It''s not like we were hiding it from them. We basically used the word of mouth to get people here.

    Once we got the quarantine area clear of civilians, sapphire and I were left with the task of bringing the NPCs to the¡­. Castle? Mansion? House of horrors? Sure¡­ why not.

    The rest of the city kind of just followed along. Apparently Shadow was able to command them through the menu.

    It¡¯s a bit like an order of delegation, except it¡¯s a single command to gather in the castle. Think tornado warning. It only works if you are willing.

    I think we¡¯re only here to make sure no one steals stuff, and to help keep the peace.

    I couldn¡¯t believe the raiders spent a whole 20k crystal, and a whole ass dragon core for a temporary over powered shield.

    It was a one time use type of thing. Apparently, it¡¯s foundation was installed forever ago, as In order to use it, you needed to first install six rune towers around the area.

    From what our mage told me. The towers were located underground. It was apparently Isaac¡¯s idea.

    This way during a siege, no one would be able to knock them down preventing the raiders from putting up a new shield. The guild core was everything.

    It didn¡¯t protect against ground spells but it did limit the amount of damage it could take. Not everyone had ground magic on hand.

    That hot cat girl said there was three of these shields set up, and that all we needed to do was activate them.

    It really wasn¡¯t something I was comfortable with doing, seeing as it was way too expensive, and I didn¡¯t want to be held accountable if anything went wrong.

    The shield was supposed to last twelve hours and all to protect these people that they barely knew.

    The thought made me angry. Not because they didn¡¯t deserve the protection, but because I was reminded of the screams of the people we left behind.

    Why couldn¡¯t Eric do something like this? He could have easily replicated the shield, but he decided to hunker down in his fortress and leave everyone else to die.

    From what I understood. Erick made a killing off of selling iron and coal. His empire was supposedly loaded.

    He could have easily hired a bunch of combat ready NPCs and provided them with gear and equipment.

    That would of taken care of the wyvern problem and even provided some peace through law enforcement.

    I know we¡¯re not supposed to force the NPCs into slavery, but when your born knowing how to fight. It really does make a difference.

    Sure I could get mad at Erick, but no matter how much I wanted to hate him, I know that I¡¯d abandoned people too.

    There was room in the hummer for a few more. Hell, even before then. We made it into that fortress and locked others out.

    All so we could get our hands on the best equipment. There wasn¡¯t much left but we sure as hell got out with a handful.

    Seeing all this, all the help the raiders had given to the people in the city. It only highlighted the crap we pulled.

    We tried to turn this place upside down and rule over the rubble. We weren¡¯t trying to save lives, we were trying to cut a place for us in this shitty world?

    We were just as bad as the monsters of this world, hell maybe even worse. Monsters don''t abandon their own.

    I guess we got a lot to make up for. I might not be able to go back and save the people we abandon, but at least I can try and help the ones that are here now. Still¡­

    It pissed me off to know how weak I had been. How easy it was to save yourself and let everyone else burn.

    On our way out I remember running over so many people. Their cries, the horrible crunch of their bodies as they begged for help.

    The thought nearly gave me a heart attack. My chest felt like a drum. My hands felt sweaty.

    I remember cowering in the back of that stupid hummer like a god dam cowered, while everyone else did their best to keep us alive.

    It didn¡¯t matter if I trained my level to max and found some crazy gear. I would still be the same guy that ran away. The same guy that did nothing when Lina was killed.

    How does Boner do it? How can he run out there without a second thought? Meanwhile I¡¯m standing here under this insane protection.

    Perfectly cozy in my castle that¡¯s full of food and warm beds. Sipping on coffee and eating pancakes. Playing arcade games and taking fancy baths.

    I should be out there too right? I should fight like Boner, or hell I could even do something like Rosy and monitor the raid.

    The more I thought about it the more terrified I became. The thought of having my body torn apart made me feel sick. Just like when boner had his arm ripped off.

    Looking at my hands, I felt helpless. They were trembling like a diabetic with low blood sugar.

    I couldn¡¯t even hold my knife in this condition. ¡°Useless as ever king¡± Boner always says that and he''s right.

    Even now all I wanted to do was find a hidden place, and lay low for a while. If only it were that easy.

    I sighed and felt a tug at my arm. Turning my attention to the intrusion, I was met with the big round eyes of a little girl with braided hair.

    She was accompanied by a bunch of other kids all of varying ages and sizes. They all looked somewhat cautious, as if afraid of me.

    Me of all people. I must have been sending out some serious vibes. I need to calm down.

    Taking a breath I relaxed and stood up straight. Somehow I felt a little braver. My heart seemed to steady itself, as my dark thoughts receded into the back of my mind.

    I didn¡¯t really like kids, but these weren¡¯t your average trouble making children. For one they were all frightened.

    I smiled and asked ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    The girl seemed to relax at my cheerful demeanor. She must have been the bravest of the bunch, since the others didn''t want to come near me.

    ¡°Can you play with us?¡± Her face gave way to doubt, almost as if she was expecting me to say no. I couldn''t help but notice she was missing a few teeth.

    She was around that age. No more baby teeth I guess. I really didn¡¯t want to play with them, but the mood around here felt really tense. Maybe I can change it a little.

    I was told to try and keep everyone calm. Cheering up a few kids wouldn¡¯t just make the kids happy, it would also cheer up the parents as well.

    In the end we played hide and seek. Everywhere, but the inside of the castle was fair game.

    It was easy to find them since my heightened perception allowed me to hear their breathing, or spot things that were slightly out of place.

    Favorite hiding places included the bushes, behind parents, in trees, the shrine, the stables, the dojo, and the garden.

    The braided girl especially took a liking to the garden, and the strange plants that grew there.

    I had to pull her away from a man eating plant. That was how I banned everyone from exploring the garden.

    I was actually starting to have fun. There was something cool about using heightened senses to locate the kids. It made me feel like a hunter tracking a deer.

    When it came my turn to hide I used stealth. Though it didn¡¯t take long for the braided girl to find me.

    I was a bit baffled by her finding skills. It was impressive and for some reason, it would always be her that found me.

    The whole thing was all a bit suspicious, so I checked out her stats, and found her perception was abnormally high for a level 1 NPC.

    I later talked with her parents and from our conversation. It seemed like she was able to train it up by simply playing a game with her dad.

    The game was simple. All she had to do was point to where the marshmallow was.

    The marshmallow was hidden under a cup, and the father would shuffle it with four other cups.

    Apparently she was very good at it. Her name was Sheila. She kept asking me about unicorns, and if I¡¯d ever run into one during my travels.

    She was way less impressed with me once she figured out I was as ordinary as she was.

    I spent a bit of time talking to everyone only to find out that one of the boys in the group had been rescued by Boner.

    His name was Arthur. He carried a wooden sword around, and had this insane cloak. The cloak had some serious stats.

    I wonder if there was some kind of crazy quest I could unlock by talking to him. It didn¡¯t seem that way.

    When I asked about the cloak, he told me lady Aku ¨C who ever that was - had given it to him. Maybe that was someone from our guild?

    Opening my menu, I checked the guild tab but didn''t see anyone with that name.

    They asked me about my travels and if I had any cool stories to tell. I decided this would be a good opportunity.

    Rumors were great for building reputation and could be used to inspire hope and faith.

    So I spun a tale. One full of adventure and great feats. About how I traveled across the world in search of a magical potion that could break the petrification curse off the fairy princess Nia, Daughter of the fairy queen Titania and fairy king Oberon.

    Using a bit of old world fairy tale lore I crafted the perfect story. Taking elements of travel from the odyssey. Along with the grate feats of Heraclius and other hero¡¯s of mythology.

    ¡°Whoa! How did you got out of the dragons tummy!¡± one of the younger boys asked.

    I smiled leaned in a little and said ¡° it was easy all I had to do was pull out the spices I got from the demon lord and sprinkle them around the dragons stomach. It gave the dragon a tummy ache and he threw me up.¡±

    Simultaneously, all the children went ¡°Ew!¡± and followed it with laughter.

    The story went on as I piled lore on top of lore. With each sentence the children¡¯s eyes grew wider.

    Sometimes they were terrified other times they cheered. What was for sure was I had captured their attention.

    As time went on more and more children gathered. Even some of the adults had shown up to listen in.

    I was good at telling stories. It was a skill I acquired thanks to all the creepypasta narrations I did online.

    My channel wasn¡¯t super popular but I still enjoy the content creator lifestyle. I didn¡¯t have the best voice but I could tell a story.

    The story ended after nearly 30 minutes of talking. Even I was tired after all that. That didn¡¯t stop Sheila from asking. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you date the princess?¡±

    What do I say to that? The people of this world couldn¡¯t exactly be held to modern day standards. Nowadays the whole damsel in distress thing was considered controversial.

    Just because you save a girl from something didn¡¯t automatically make her your girlfriend.

    Even if she felt some kind of attachment to you. It would probably fade after a week or two. It¡¯s better to leave things as they are instead of taking advantage of a life debt.

    I don¡¯t want to start teaching kids things I¡¯m not sure about so I went with the most real excuse I could think of.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t her type. We decided to just be friends.¡± Even in my wildest dreams I was still being friend zoned. The thought that I literally friend zoned myself made me chuckle.

    It was probably better this way. If I¡¯d said we were happily in a relationship they probably would of asked to see her.

    Not only that but it would of prevented me from getting a girlfriend in the future.

    Imagine pretending to have a fake girlfriend only to lock yourself into a fake relationship.

    Eventually the kids were called over by their parents and I was finally free. I decided to check out some of the more attractive NPCs.

    Just because the me in the story was friend zoned didn¡¯t mean the real me had to be.

    I¡¯d like to say it went well and that I had a date waiting in my future, but that would be a lie.

    One girl called her father to smack me around. Another took it into her own hands and slapped me. Most of them just straight up rejected me and called me a creep.

    I wonder if it has anything to do with the scum boost I had. For some reason anything I wore gave me what the system called a ¡°scum boost¡±

    When I first logged in my scum boost was at 50%. Right now it was more like 19%.

    In the old world I used to be able to make friends and even get girls, but as soon as I enter the new world all that went to shit.

    Not only did players and NPCs treat me like I was the worst. My so called friends now secretly hated me.

    Well, at least it felt that way. It was more like they thought of me as the annoying friend that they couldn¡¯t wait to see fall.

    Of course some stupid curse couldn¡¯t stop them from pitying me. They still had the memories and experiences of the guy I was back in the old world.

    That was probably why they kept me around. When I told them about the de-buff they said I was crazy and that it wasn¡¯t a thing.

    I suspected it was something only given to certain people like myself, who just so happen to try to hard when it came to girls.

    My theory was confirmed when I met a guy with the same issue back in Erickdom.

    The only thing we had in common was the fact that we were into chasing tail, and we both had high dex stats.

    That made me suspect it might have something to do with character types. Maybe whatever the hell brought us all here doesn¡¯t like me?

    Whatever, no one was more of a creep than Isaac. Skipping around and pretending to be a little girl. What kind of creepy shit is that!

    Well, that dude was also insane so who knows what goes through his head. I have a right to be mad. He nearly blew us all up.

    I tried again with another beauty. ¡°Hey, how are you doing? Do you need any help with anything?¡±

    The girl had short brown hair and green eyes. She gave me a onceover as if trying to find any hidden intentions.

    ¡°No¡­ I¡¯m fine.¡± Was all she said before turning the other way.

    The question was genuine. I was legit trying to offer help. While I did want to help, I was also hoping to strike up a conversation with her.

    Being hospitable was the perfect excuse to talk to all of them. Of course I also asked people I wasn¡¯t trying to hit on the same question.

    Not because I thought it would make me less creepy, but because I figured I¡¯d be killing two birds with one stone. Fulfilling my duties while hitting on girls.

    No matter what approach I took they all seemed to look at me like a fat turd in a urinal. It was really starting to mess with my self-esteem.

    ¡°are you a toaster, because I¡¯m looking for someone to take a bath with tonight.¡± Slap!

    ¡°I always thought happiness started with the letter H but my happiness starts with U.¡± punch!

    ¡°Are you part phone charger? Cause I''m dying without you.¡± Punch! Punch!

    ¡°Relationships should be 50/50. I¡¯ll give you my last name and you scream out my first!¡± Shove!

    ¡°are you hiring? Cause you look like you have a couple openings that need filling.¡± The girl was a bit confused, so I jumped into my next pick up line.

    ¡°you''re magnetic! My zipper is falling for you!¡± She didn¡¯t get that one either so I tried the next one instead.

    ¡°kissing is a love language. Want to start a conversation with me?¡± she got that one and slapped me across the face.

    She must of asked someone about the other stuff I said, because she later came back blushing like crazy and slapped me twice more. I moved on.

    ¡°Your body is 60% water, and I''m thirsty as FUCK.¡± That time I got a kick to the balls, followed by a punch from who I presume to be her boyfriend.

    What was with this world!

    You know for an anime inspired world this place really sucked! I was supposed to be over powered with a cheat skill, and have lots and lots of anime waifus following me around, and fighting over me! What kind of fantasy story am I in!

    The only explanation I could think of was I wasn¡¯t the main character. A side character then? Did that make Boner the main character?

    He does have the image going for him, and he even ran out into battle like a badass. That makes sense. So¡­. Does that mean¡­

    Crap! No wonder I¡¯m having such a shitty time! I didn¡¯t follow the plot! Right now Boner probably already awakened as the chosen hero and has all kinds of crazy abilities and spells!

    I bet he got a dragon waifu too. When he gets back I¡¯m totally gonna¡­ gonna. Huh, what could I do to an over powered protagonist? Probably nothing. His plot armor alone is enough to send me to the moon.

    I could see myself trying to attack him only to accidently trip on my feet and land on the sharp end of my knife.

    While deep in thought, a soft gentle voice called for my attention. ¡°Excuse me.¡±

    I looked back to its direction. God had answered my prayers and had brought me my own waifu!

    I stood up straight and gave her my most confidant smile, as I puffed out my chest.

    In the deepest manliness voice I could manage I asked ¡°Yes, do you need anything?¡± I immediately coughed afterwards deflating like a balloon.

    She gave me a strange look, and I was sure that I blew it. Even with devine intervention I still can¡¯t get a girlfriend. Well, whatever this probably isn¡¯t the time to chase tail.

    To my surprise the girl laughed before coughing to regain her composure. This kind of made us even in a way.

    She blush in embarrassment, then cleared her throat. ¡°Ahem, those primordials over there are trying to steal from Arthur.¡±

    The girl pointed her finger to a group consisting of two guys and a girl. They were cornering the same kid that Boner had saved.

    A woman seemed to be trying to get to her son, only for the female player to hold her back with very little effort.

    People were gathering around them, but it didn¡¯t look like they were going to do anything.

    The NPCs were to low level, and the other neutral players looked like they were on the wrong side of the whole thing.

    This was a bad situation. Which meant¡­. Well, fuck me sideways.

    I looked back to the girl. Her name tag showing up as Poppy. ¡°I''ll see what I can do.¡± Using party chat I sent sapphire a message.

    Party chat:

    Grand_king23: Hey Sapphire. Do you see the players over there harassing that kid?

    Shaded_Sapphire: Yeah, just noticed it. You should really do something.

    Grand_King23: Me! What am I supposed to do!?

    Shaded_sapphire: Stab them! You shit head!

    Grand_king23: but¡­. can I really do that? There so much higher level than me.

    Shaded_Sapphire: If you do nothing then the other players will walk all over you and that means the guild will be in trouble. Besides, you have all the guild perks and the protection of the giant ass shield. Let''s not forget the new gear.

    She had a point. I was stronger now. With my new gear I could probably take them. I eyed the muggers in an attempt to get a better look at the situation.

    The girl was a level 31 ranger. She had a shot gun strapped to her back. The guy tugging at Arthur¡¯s cloak was a level 32 monk.

    He didn''t have any weapons on him. Most likely the guy was only good at punching things.

    The other guy holding Arthur down, was a level 29 dualist. He carried a two handed long sword at his side.

    They were higher level but the guild gave me better gear and stat boosts. I wanted to be a cool anime protagonist. This was my chance. Who knew, maybe this was the start to my episode one.

    I went into stealth and made my way over. Zigzagging, I weaved my way through the crowd until it got so packed that I couldn''t get closer.

    Using the meager stat points I had in strength and the feather weight enchantment on my boots, I jumped over the crowd locking onto my target.

    Take out the highest level first!

    Activating the ability poison edge, I slammed into the monks back forcing my new knife into his kidney. He screamed in pain as his blood bubbled around my knife.

    The dualist drew his blade taking a stance straight out of an anime, as the monk tried to pull me off.

    For some reason the hulking brute couldn''t get a grip on me. His muscles were too big preventing him from reaching me.

    I wonder how he washes himself. He probably has to hire someone to do it for him. That¡¯s probably why he needs that cloak¡­. How sad¡­

    I didn''t hesitate as I twisted my knife before ripping it out, and stabbing again. I activated paralysis on the second stab hoping it would stop him from moving.

    The chance of it working was 25% and with the skill upgrades, it was up to 40%. Lucky for me, it fucking worked!

    the guys screams of agony and fear died down to a gargle, as foam started to volcano out of his mouth.

    A moment passed before He went limp falling to the ground like a sack of dead puppies.

    I couldn''t believe that worked! It never works! I almost cheered in excitement when I remembered I was in the middle of a mugging.

    The other guy held his shaking blade up to me while holding onto Arthur by the hair.

    Arthur cried ¡°Let me go!¡±

    The way he was standing made me feel like he¡¯d watched to many movies. I might be able to cheese this.

    He seemed to realize this was a real fight as he skipped all the fancy movie sword play and held it against Arthur¡¯s neck. My confidence dropped a hair at that.

    Even if this wasn¡¯t the case, he had longer reach and my whole build was centered around sneak attacks. I was out in the open and Boner wasn¡¯t here to distract them.

    Intimidation it was then. I needed to take this moment while they were still spooked. ¡°leave the kid alone! That cloak is his! It was given to him by the guild! If you hurt him the guild will hunt you!¡±

    I did my best not to sound like a bitch, but my legs seemed to betray me with the slightest hint of a shake.

    That was when the girl pulled out her shot gun pointing the double barrel at me, but before she could fire, a shot of distorted light flew down and blew the gun right out of her hands.

    She screamed in pain as the shot tore off a few fingers. The mother was able to get away from her in the panic, and looked to be contemplating on how to save her son.

    Sapphires accuracy was insane. I knew her old man was a gun nut, but I didn''t know she was so good. She only seemed to get better as time went on.

    The dualist looked up spotting my teammate on one of the towers and went pale.

    In his shock his hold on Arthur waned and the kid was able to slip out and run to his mother.

    The man cursed wanting to go after him but held still when sapphire shot near his feet. He dropped his sword not wanting to be shot.

    The ranger was hunched over morning the loss of her fingers. Both her index and thumb were missing while her middle finger and ring finger were bent in strange ways.

    I felt more confident this time, as I bent down and picked up the gun. Then took the sword. ¡°That cloak belongs to Arthur.¡±

    The sword was dropped into my inventory, while the gun was brandished against its original owner.

    I''ve never held a gun, much less fired one, but they didn''t need to know that. I waited a bit for Sapphire to come down.

    Once she did we escorted the three players into the dungeon where they were locked up.

    I don''t know how I felt about locking people up, but these guys kind of deserved it.

    Who goes around stealing from a kid? It''s not like they would be locked up forever. There wasn''t much of a law system in place¡­but.

    We could probably let them go once this whole boss thing blows over. For now it was easier to lock them up than deal with them throughout the day.

    I was surprised to see there was already a guy down here. He kept going on about how the kingdom was corrupt, and how he needed to save the princess.

    The guy even tried to recruit me with promises of training me into the ultimate killing machine.

    He was bat shit crazy. I think I understand why he was locked up. He kept calling sapphire ¡°milady¡± and going on and on about how they would make beautiful children together.

    The guy seemed to think she was my slave or something. Made me down right uncomfortable. Even Sapphire was at a loss for words..

    We ignored him. The fact that he was a player and not an NPC made it all the more creepy.

    I wonder if this guy was under a similar de-buff to my own? Maybe¡­ but I think he might actually just be a creep. The air around him felt like poison.

    He didn''t actually smell thanks to the cells ability to cleanse its inhabitants, but somehow he just gave off a feeling of toxicity.

    Sapphire and I headed back up stairs. She decided to check on Austin before taking her post again.

    I headed outside to try and reassure everyone. I could only imagine what they would think after seeing what happened.

    As soon as I stepped outside I was met with a wall of angry players. They all started yelling at me.

    ¡°What did you do with them!¡±

    ¡°You Fascist!¡±

    ¡°You can''t keep people prisoner!¡±

    ¡°Scum bag!¡±

    ¡°can I use the restroom?¡±

    ¡°Let them go!¡±

    I was speechless as I took a step back into the castle. The mob marched forward. I slammed the door shut and was immediately assaulted by loud banging.

    The door seemed solid enough to hold, as runes started lighting up on its wood and steel surface.

    The whole thing glowed a bright red. I wasn¡¯t sure what was going on, but the screams of the people outside left me wondering.

    Party chat:

    Shaded_Sapphire: What¡¯s going on!? Why¡¯s the building on fire!? What did you do!?

    Grand_king23: We¡¯re under attack! The building is defending itself!

    I ran to the nearest stairs and up to the second floor. I was a bit disoriented and ended up running around for far to long, trying to find the right window to observe the situation.

    When I did finally find the correct side of the building. Well, let¡¯s just say I was shocked.

    Not only was there some kind of fire wall around the bottom floor, but there was also a bunch of gargoyles running people down.

    The players were having trouble handling the level 100 monsters. Before anyone could die, I looked through the guild tab turning everything off. Then restarted the whole thing putting everything on passive.

    It was basically a reset. Immediately the fire wall stopped spitting fireballs at people and the gargoyles flew back to the castle.

    Like cats they seemed to lay in the grass in front of the building soaking up the warm sunlight.

    The runes on their bodies dimmed as they stared at the players ready to pounce at the slightest hint of violence.

    I was expecting everything to go back to normal, but apparently the building wasn¡¯t convinced the danger was gone.

    Party chat:

    Shaded_Sapphire: You should probably talk to them. You know, try to be all diplomatic and what not. Otherwise we might just end up with more bodies to bury.

    Grand_king23: ME! Why me! I''m not qualified for that! I¡¯m just a low paid intern! This should be the guild leaders job! What am I even supposed to say?! Sorry my house tried to kill you. Fuck that! They''ll tear me limb from limb!

    Shaded_Sapphire: Anything is better than nothing. The whole point of inviting the players in was to build trust with them. You know, so that they spend money and sell resources to us. Resources and income we desperately need.

    That was part of orientation and it was later elaborated when we were asked to hold the fort down.

    She had a point, but why couldn¡¯t she do it. There was no way I could convince those people to be chill.

    Grand_king23: Can¡¯t you do it?

    Shaded_Sapphire: No, it has to be you.

    Grand_king23: Why though? I¡¯m not like you or the others. Every time I¡¯ve had to do something, I always fail or curl up into a ball.

    Shaded_Saphire: You were doing pretty good a moment ago. You¡¯re the one that talked to everyone. They know you better than me. You¡¯re the one that saved that kid. It was pretty wholesome watching you play with those kids. It has to be you King.

    Grand_king23: Fine¡­ but if I mess this up you better not throw me under the bus. It was your idea to have me play peace keeper.

    Shaded_Sapphire: Always covering your ass huh? That''s the King I know, and tolerate. For both our sake, I really hope this goes well.

    I sighed holding my head as the stress of everything settled in. Putting a little thought into it, I decided to use the second floor window like a podium.

    I sat on the window looking out to the frightened people below. The NPCs were far off to one side trying their best to stay out of the situation.

    The players were being nice in that they didn''t use them as hostages. It probably didn¡¯t occur to them that the NPCs weren¡¯t on their side.

    In their mind, they probably thought the NPCs were in a similar boat. Mob mentality and all. I¡¯m outraged therefore everyone should be outraged.

    If things got desperate, it would probably go the same as Erickdom. The thought filled me with despair.

    Back in Erickdom, everyone was civil in the beginning. That was until they got desperate. You''d be surprised what the human mind will rationalize to ensure its survival.

    ¡°Everyone that has beef with my guild gather around! Please do not attack! If you attack the property will defend itself!¡± My voice wasn¡¯t the loudest but it was enough.

    The players all scowled at me. I could tell they wanted to attack. It looked like no one had died. Some had burn marks, while others had bite marks, or broken bones.

    If I had to say how many players there were, I¡¯d say about¡­ at least 60. There levels and gear was as diverse as the different types of plants in the garden.

    As far as high level players went there were only a handful. We would still be fucked in any form of PVP. Even with the help of the castles defenses.

    The only thing that might save us was the fact that they weren¡¯t organized. My best guess was that most of these people hadn¡¯t even left the city.

    They were just a mismatch of random people. No combat training or anything. The only experience was a few hours of gaming.

    They stared at me with their eyes full of fear and anger. They kept their distance, not wanting to be attacked by the fire wall and the gargoyles that surrounded the house of horrors. Well, all but one.

    There was a man in heavy armor that walked forward. He did not fear the protections of the castle. In his right hand he held a flaming sword.

    Before we could get into it, I checked his stats. The system marked him down as a level 40 paladin. Everything else was hidden. That seemed wrong.

    His gear was obviously over powered. Oh¡­ it probably had to do with the difference in his dex and my perception.

    Isaac had mentioned that was the reason he looked like a level 20 instead of his actual level 100.

    He was obviously high leveled. Made sense considering he had the most current gear.

    I¡¯m pretty sure there was an event promising that specific style of armor and sword.

    The fact that the event started only recently told me he wasn¡¯t the gaming for hours on end type, and was more the kind of player that spent large amounts of real world money on event loot boxes.

    Premium players were the worst. I¡¯ve got a bunch of hours under my belt and this guy pays his way to the top pretending to be a badass.

    The man spoke in a deep booming voice. ¡°My name is Xiander! I represent the neutral players you see here! We demand that you free the players you wrongfully imprisoned!¡± This dude sounded like he was auditioning for a movie.

    What was this guy talking about? Wrongful imprisonment? Did he not see them trying to mug a kid?

    I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°I¡¯m sorry but they were not wrongfully imprisoned, also its more like a time out. We plan to let them go once the boss is taken care of.¡±

    It was perfectly reasonable. It¡¯s not like they were being tortured or anything. I wouldn¡¯t say it was comfortable, but it¡¯s not that bad considering they would only be there for a short amount of time.

    The guy looked at me like I was the scum of the earth, or whatever this godforsaken world was called.

    ¡°You are obviously flaunting your power and abusing the players and NPCs! You don¡¯t deserve to rule over this land! I say give it to the people! Look at you hiding in your fortress while the rest of us suffer!¡±

    Now he was really getting on my nerves. Hiding in my fortress! He was under our shield too! So what if he wasn¡¯t inside the castle! He was literally standing under a roof that was worth $12mil in old world value!

    I nearly had a heart attack thinking about how expensive and temporary the shield was.

    It¡¯s like gambling but worse. We might be attack, we might not. Either way it was bad.

    This guy was only looking to rally people against us. He wanted to take our resources and put himself in power.

    As the thought struck me it all felt familiar¡­. Shit, didn¡¯t we try to do something like that? But¡­ It¡¯s different now¡­. I didn¡¯t understand then¡­ none of us did.

    You can¡¯t just give all your stuff to someone else. They won¡¯t appreciate it, because they didn¡¯t put the effort in to make it happen.

    What would be the point of building anything if everyone else could just take it from you.

    In our case we didn¡¯t take it. We joined it and now we¡¯re helping to build it up. I might not be able to claim it now, but one day my efforts here will build a tree that everyone after me will sit under.

    I sound like my dad. Oh how the turn tables. I chucked to myself. I wonder what else I¡¯ll learn in this shitty world, and what else it¡¯ll take from us.

    Some of us lost our voice, others our peace of mind, some became more like animals, and others finally figured out how useless they truly were.

    These people are insane. Its not like I own anything. Just because I work at Walmart doesn¡¯t mean I own the store.

    This was somehow different. When we did it. We were pretty desperate. We literally had nothing. We were hungry and tired.

    At that point we were contemplating selling gear to feed ourselves. The last of our money went to buying a plate of fries for Austin.

    Comparing these people to us. No way. Just look at them. Their clean and full of energy. They might not have a source of income but they sure as hell aren¡¯t suffering.

    This guy was trying to make us look like bad people. We didn¡¯t abandon anyone and we certainly haven¡¯t flaunted our power. Who the hell talks like that anyway?

    ¡°We¡¯ve been nothing but kind to you people! We brought you under our protection and you all just want to tear us down and take what isn¡¯t yours!¡± I felt like such a hypocrite.

    Xiander looked annoyed. ¡°fine! Be that way!¡± he lifted his sword and activated a sacred art. ¡°heavenly slash!¡± his blade glowed a bright gold turning the flames on his weapon from a dark red to a radiating yellow.

    Swinging his blade down an Arc of golden light lashed forward cutting through the flames and damaging the door.

    This was bad. He smirked in satisfaction, but just before he could attack again, a hand knocked on his armor as if knocking on a door.

    I hadn¡¯t even seen her approach. She was short with blond hair tied back into a neat ponytail. She wore a pair of overalls and held a decent sized war hammer.

    There was something about the smile on her face that made me want to run away. It was like the air around her was on fire.

    Xiander turned around and had a hole punched through his armor. He let out a pained grunt as spit flew out of his mouth. Then fell to his knees followed by the longest wheezing sound I¡¯d ever heard.

    It was almost as if she¡¯d forced all the air out of his lungs. I was terrified. If she could do that to him then what chance did I stand.

    At least she was kind of hot. I wonder what my dad would say if I brought home a midget?

    The short lady shook her head. ¡°There will be none of that, thank you.¡± She looked back at the other players. They all seemed to drop down to the floor as if in a bank robbery.

    I checked her stats. She was an NPC that went by the name Cindy. Her level was 1? Was this another per vs dex situation.

    I loocked her up in the guild tab and saw her true numbers. My jaw dropped at the insanity that stood before me. This girl was a straight up monster.

    I couldn¡¯t help but wonder how powerful a level 92 NPC would even be. She was marked as a blacksmith. That wasn¡¯t even a combat oriented class.

    Party chat:

    Shaded_Sapphire: Please tell me she¡¯s on our side.

    Grand_king23: uh¡­ yeah, I sure hope so. Otherwise we are so fucked.

 Non-canon Episode F

    ¡°Master get back here!¡± Shadow yelled as she ran after me.

    ¡°I refuse! Leave me alone you crazy scary cat lady!¡± I cried.

    I¡¯d just been forced into another bath and wanted to change into my hoodie when Shadow attacked me!

    She was currently trying to make me wear a pink dress. I told her I didn¡¯t feel like cosplaying today only for her to take offense.

    I ran down the hall half naked with only a towel around my waist. Even though I was originally a guy, I still felt the need to hold my left arm over my chest.

    Originally I put the towel around my waist out of habit, but something inside me told me to try and cover my chest.

    ¡°Master don''t be shy! You''ll look so cute in it!¡± begged shadow.

    I turned a corner only to realize it was a dead end. I¡¯ve been living here for so long yet I always forget the layout in times like these.

    I clawed at the wall hoping to find some sort of secret entrance. There had to be one! This was a fancy castle after all!

    ¡°Scooby-Doo don¡¯t fail me now!¡± I cried as I rushed to the nearest bookshelf and started to throw books on the floor.

    One of these had to be a lever or something! I could only reach books as high as the third shelf.

    If I was an adult¡­. which I am! Then I¡¯d put it at the top where kids couldn¡¯t reach it. I started to stack the books into a makeshift staircase.

    Shadow stopped in her tracks then called for me in confusion. ¡°Master, what are you doing?¡± I looked back to Shadow.

    She was giving me that look that said I¡¯d better stop before she got mad and tried to eat me. Ah, no¡­ that last part wasn''t Real. Stupid brain.

    I looked back to the books that were scattered on the floor. Man someone should really clean this up.

    That person would probably end up being Shadow¡­. Oh. I looked back to the cat girl and sheepishly apologized. ¡°Sorry Shadow. My imagination got the best of me¡­. again.¡±

    She ignored my apology. ¡°Put it on Master!¡± She took a threatening step forward holding up the dress.

    I took a step back realizing I hit the wall. ¡°Leave me alone you crazy cat lady!¡± I cried.

    I felt like my life was in danger. In a panic I grabbed a book and threw it at her. She ducked and the book flew across the hallway.

    ¡°Master! What''s gotten into you! We do not throw things inside the castle!¡± Oh crap! She was actually mad now! I was only digging the hole deeper!

    I looked around for anyway to get out of this situation. There was none. Just because I haven¡¯t worn a dress in a while, doesn¡¯t mean I''m gonna do it now.

    Now irritated she pointed to the space in front of her. ¡°Get over here right now before I get really mad! You''ve already made a mess of everything!¡±

    I felt a little guilty about the mess I made and the look on her face told me she was just about done with me.

    Am I an idiot? I feel like if I¡¯d just talked to her like a normal person none of this would of happened. She was really scary sometimes.

    Not only did I run out of the bath half naked, I also tracked water around the castle and made a mess out of the books.

    To top it off I also threw a book at her.¡­.. wait a sec! I stood up straight then rummaged through my menu.

    A swipe here, a tap there, and my towel was replaced by a white hoodie and basketball shorts. I was still a little wet but that was okay.

    Despite the water, I felt as comfy as can be. Shadow looked at me like I was playing a trick. I smiled at her then started to pick up the books.

    ¡°Master, what are you doing now? Didn''t I tell you to come here?¡± She sounded unsure. Almost as if she¡¯d realized she didn¡¯t actually have power over me.

    Normally her angry voice was enough to force some part of me to panic, and run around like a chicken with its head cut off. I just needed to calm down and think straight.

    Once I focused on what was actually going on, I finally managed to think clearly. The giant hallway started to lose some of its color and became smaller.

    Shadow herself started to shrink, her shadowy claws vanishing. She looked human again. Well, as human as a cat girl could be.

    It was almost like coming down from an acid trip. I had imagined the whole thing. Shadow had sparked my imagination when her eyes did that slit thing.

    It¡¯s been getting harder lately to act my age. Not sure why. Sometimes I don¡¯t even realize I¡¯m pretending to be Aku.

    Maybe I¡¯m not pretending and I¡¯m actually just Aku, but don¡¯t realize it because I was Isaac originally. The whole thing was strange. I wasn¡¯t sure where Isaac began and Aku ended.

    Shadow was still waiting for an answer so I have her one. ¡°I remembered something.¡± I grabbed the last two books and slid them into the book shelf.

    ¡°I don''t care. Just because you cleaned up part of your mess doesn¡¯t get you off. As punishment I think letting me dress you up will be appropriate.¡± She said that last part while struggling to hide her smile.

    At least I knew where her priorities were. I sighed before my anxiety could rise. She¡¯s just a person not a monster.

    This whole situation was strange. ¡°No, I''m an adult. I don''t need to listen to you.¡± It was so simple.

    I should really try to stand up to her more. My hands still seemed to shake. Standing up to her was like staring down a dragon. I couldn¡¯t even meet her eyes.

    Shadow scoffed. ¡°Now you¡¯re an adult? Really?¡± She crossed her arms. ¡°Alright, fine. We¡¯ll see how that goes.¡± She had the smuggest look on her face.

    Shadow turned around and walked away. Was it really that easy? I was free. I¡¯m such an idiot! Why didn¡¯t I do this before!

    I couldn¡¯t help but notice I wasn¡¯t wearing any underwear right now. I was still wet too.

    Later that day

    I was in the fish tank playing games when I realized it was an hour passed lunch. Strange, Shadow didn''t say anything.

    My tummy rumbled demanding food. I decided to see what the hold up was. It''s not like Shadow to not nag me about lunch.

    Usually I¡¯d be playing games and she would keep telling me to come eat. She would say ¡°Pause the game¡±

    I can''t pause it! Its an arcade game! There is no pause! She should know that! She plays those games too!

    Shadow only says stuff like that because she knows it bothers me. Anyway, downstairs looked pretty empty. Our resident cat girl wasn''t here.

    The kitchen was cold implying that no one had cooked anything recently. Strange, did something happen?

    Party Chat

    Aku: Shadow is everything okay?

    I paced back and forth waiting for a response. Oh no! What if the toilet mimic got her!

    A few days ago I¡¯d gone to the restroom one night, when one of the toilets I was on made a strange noise. Since then it¡¯s been kind of hard to go to the restroom at night.

    I just end up holding it till morning. Sometimes I don¡¯t make it. Usually I get away with it by using cleanse on the bed and my clothes.

    Right when I was about to grab the mythical rank toilet plunger from the guild armory, shadow responded.

    Shadow: Everything is fine. What''s the matter?

    I was so relieved. I really didn''t want to fight a toilet mimic. It would probably throw poop everywhere.

    Aku: Where are you? What happened to lunch?

    Shadow: What are you talking about Master? You¡¯re the one that said and I quote. ¡°I¡¯m an adult¡± make your own lunch.

    Aku: But, but Shadow! I¡¯m too short to cook stuff!

    I felt a pang of fear growing inside me. The need to cry and apologize was raging, but before it could take hold I clamped down and swallowed it.

    I get what she was doing, but that was so cruel! Is she really okay with letting me cook my own food? It¡¯s kind of dangerous.

    I couldn¡¯t cave now. If I did then I¡¯d never get any kind of independence. Last thing I want was for her to start telling me, what to wear, what to eat, when to sleep.

    Actually she already does those things¡­ Well, she did do those things. Not anymore I guess. Still, I can only imagine she¡¯d use this as an excuse to control me.

    Oh, what¡¯s that Master? You want to go out to buy fireworks? No I don¡¯t think so. What I say goes because I¡¯m the adult here. You tried it already and came crying back to me when you couldn¡¯t cook for yourself.

    She would be so annoying if I let her win. Enforcing all kinds of strict rules. Like no more wearing whatever I want and stricter bed times. I¡¯d only just got that up to ten o¡¯clock.

    She was having too much fun with this whole situation. Its really gotten out of hand. I¡¯m starting to think she¡¯s not actually my friend.

    For some reason, not having her around made me feel a little lonely, and there was also this fear of having to face the world alone.

    The only real good thing out of this was at least she wouldn¡¯t make me sleep with her anymore.

    We hadn''t shared a bed In almost a week, and I wouldn¡¯t call it a bad experience¡­. What am I talking about, I¡¯m married! I nearly slammed my head against the wall before a thought entered my head.

    But¡­ it¡¯s not really like that¡­ Yeah right! like my wife would understand! I shook my head in hopes of shaking off my dumb thoughts.

    On to the current problem. It''s not like I wasn¡¯t willing to cook for myself. It''s just that it was dangerous, and a bit of a hassle.

    I checked party chat again. It looked like she responded.

    Party chat

    Shadow: Oh, are you saying you don¡¯t want to be an adult anymore?

    I thought about just going out to eat, but that also came with its own risks, besides, cooking by myself would totally shut her up.

    Aku: Okay, I¡¯ll cook for myself then.

    Shadow: Master, your gonna burn the castle down.

    It sounded like she was trying a different angle, but I was gonna destroy her, before she had a chance to make me feel bad.

    I muted the chat and closed the text window. She thought she could scare me into compliance! Ha!

    Well, I wasn¡¯t backing down! I¡¯m American, we don¡¯t negotiate with terrorists! We nuke them until they surrender!

    That¡¯s what dad told my mom once on 4th of July when she tried to get him to slow down on the alcohol.

    I made my way to the kitchen and started getting the ingredients out. There was lots of meat, so I was gonna cook some chicken breast.

    You know I never understood why we had a walk in fridge. In-game nothing ever spoiled and in the new world we had infinite timeless storage.

    Well at least we still got an exp boost from having it, so I guess it served a purpose, and to top it off. I¡¯ll make some for Shadow too. She¡¯s gonna freak out when she tastes it.

    Maybe she¡¯ll start respecting me and we can take turns cooking. She¡¯ll be so proud. I¡¯m not useless. I can do stuff too.

    Looking through the guild armory I found a cheep white plastic chair. It was perfect for standing on.

    I grabbed a pan and put it on the stove. I moved the dial and watched as the runes lit up.

    A blue flame came to life under the pan. Heading back to the two chicken breasts I''d left on the counter, I got my seasoning ready.

    The two breasts were on a plate. I moved the chair into place and got on top. Moving the two over to the chopping board, I used a kitchen knife to cut the meat horizontally. This would make the chicken cook faster.

    I then started to season the chicken with salt, pepper, and some paprika. Once seasoned I put the meat back on the plate then got off my chair.

    I moved the plate over to the counter near the stove. Then set my chair up in front of the stove. I was still missing something.

    ¡°Oh right!¡± I made my way over to the pantry and looked for some olive oil. Surely enough there it was.

    I got up on the chair and was ready to start cooking. The olive oil went on the pan and almost immediately started to sizzle.

    I couldn¡¯t help but notice there was a message icon with the number 39 over it. It must have been Shadow.

    She¡¯s probably trying to offer me an out. Something stupid like ¡°I¡¯ll forgive you but from now on, you''ll have to do whatever I say¡± I''m not falling for it. She can go fuck a duck. ¡°Quack quack!¡±

    I crossed my arms and puffed out my cheeks. I don''t care even if she cries. I won''t be her doll forever.

    The oil was really starting to jump and I felt a tiny bit of it land on my arm. ¡°ow!¡± I cried.

    Right, I always forget that part. I lifted one of the chicken breasts and lowered it slowly into the pan.

    I made sure to let the meat fall in the other direction, so I wouldn''t be splashed whit oil. Learned that one the hard way.

    I did the same with the other one. Everything was perfect. That was until Shadow showed up.

    ¡°Master what are you doing, stop that!¡± She scared me and I whipped myself around only to slip and fall.

    I tried to grab something and ended up with my hand on the edge of the pan. It flipped over with me causing a horrible burning pain over my legs.

    ¡°Aaah!¡± I cried as I hit the floor nearly cracking my skull on the counter. Shadow rushed over.

    ¡°Oh my god!¡± She lifted me up as my legs burned in intense pain.

    Oh god, this was so much worse than the time my brother triple dog dared me, to knock over that stupid wasps nest!

    Shadow pulled out a potion from her hot bar and made me drink. It was pleasantly sweet. I felt the pain subside as the red skin on my legs started to heal.

    The cat girl was in tears. ¡°I can''t believe you would do something like this! You stupid, stupid child!¡± She gave my thigh a hard smack. It was nothing compared to the pain I felt from the oil.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    Was this karma for that guy I hit with the plate of sausages? That made no sense. He totally deserved it.

    She carried me to the bath and left me there to wash myself. I didn''t say anything since she seemed to be really mad at the moment.

    It was better to wait for her to cool down. This was all her fault! If she hadn''t scared me none of that would of happened!

    Whenever I try to do anything she¡¯s always yelling at me. Even when I¡¯m just doing something simple like going to the bathroom, or trying to reach something on a high shelf.

    I hate her. She treats me like I¡¯m useless. Like I¡¯m too stupid to do anything by myself. Granted, I might of done some things that were pretty irresponsible.

    Like when I tried to climb out onto the roof because it was a nice and windy day. The breeze felt really good and just having the window open wasn¡¯t enough.

    Or like that time I bought that tent and set it up in the fish tank, only to try and use a fire ball to cook s¡¯mores.

    I might of burned my hand but now I know fire balls don''t work as camp fires. So you know¡­ lesson learned. Knowledge is power and I''m stronger for it.

    I wasn¡¯t useless. You didn¡¯t need to yell at me all the time. I know when I mess up. She didn''t have to do that.

    I¡¯m an adult. It¡¯s not my fault my head has some strange child like entity influencing my thoughts. This sucks! I was doing so well.

    Everything was going great until she showed up. It was so frustrating. I still had oil on me and a bit of the seasoning clung to my hoodie.

    I could already see her using this as an excuse to make me out to be a helpless child. I dropped those thoughts before they could take hold.

    Right now I had something else to worry about. I had oil on my hoodie and shorts. The only reason it didn¡¯t burn, was because my clothes were very baggy, and it never touched my skin.

    Even then most of it got on my legs and only splashed a little on my clothes. In hindsight I might of used a little too much oil. Still, I couldn¡¯t keep wearing these clothes.

    The thought to just cleanse myself came to mind, but that would probably upset Shadow even more.

    She didn¡¯t see cleanse as a viable option when it came to cleaning oneself, or washing ones clothes. I still didn¡¯t understand why.

    In her words ¡°That¡¯s not how one washes things! It¡¯s way to gentle to work! There¡¯s no way that little sacred art can strip away filth off of people and fabric alike! That makes no sense Master! Now get in the bath, or I¡¯ll wash you outside in the yard with a brush and a bar of soap! Is that what you want!¡±

    The thought of being washed in such a public place made me want to dig a three block hole, jump inside and cover the opening with dirt. Why would she even suggest that!

    I don¡¯t think she was serious. She just wanted me in the bath. After some crying and pleading her threat actually worked.

    To be fair that argument had happened every single time I needed to wash myself. She was probably tired of it By then, and went to the most extreme threat she could think of.

    Opening my menu I looked up the sacred art cleanse, and after thinking about it. I couldn¡¯t use it. There¡¯s just no way it¡¯ll go well.

    She would probably use that as an excuse to say I didn¡¯t know how to take care of myself. Then she would probably start ripping into me again¡­. Making me feel like garbage.

    I sighed and took my clothes off. Then hopped into the large bath. The water felt great. The best part was no one could see the tears.

    Later

    Shadow was laying on the couch in the fish tank. She looked like she was crying. I wasn''t sure on what to do.

    Should I try to cheer her up, or should I give her some space? I felt kind of bad. I don''t know why, but I did.

    Did I actually do something wrong? Maybe muting my chat was a bad idea, I just didn¡¯t want to listen to her anymore.

    She always makes me feel useless. Then she smiles, hugs me, and tries to make me feel secure. It¡¯s weird.

    It¡¯s almost like she¡¯s destroying my confidence while turning herself into my source of stability. That sounds crazy right?

    I¡¯m not crazy. I know Shadow thinks I am but I¡¯m not. Well, I hope I¡¯m not. I¡¯m tired of being so insecure.

    Shadow can''t be upset whit me. She''s the one in the wrong¡­.. then why do I feel so bad? I don''t like it when she cries, and I hate being the reason she cries.

    Am I the worst, or am I in the right? I don''t know. Part of me wants to just leave things as they are, but the other part of me wants to try and cheer her up.

    Another part of me wants to eat her soul. It''s probably cause I haven''t eaten yet¡­. Yeah that makes sense¡­ right?

    I looked to the paintings on the wall, paintings of people and monsters. ¡°Stop looking at me like that! I''m not crazy! Your crazy!¡± I covered my mouth hoping Shadow hadn''t heard me.

    She definitely did and it looked like she was chill. No movement no reaction. Just mopey lazy Shadow.

    You know¡­ there was also another part of me that wants me to drink bleach¡­. I''m gonna ignore those last two.

    Alice said I shouldn¡¯t listen to intrusive thoughts. Especially if they tell me to hurt people.

    I pulled a silver coin out. If it¡¯s heads, I¡¯ll try to cheer her up and resolve things. If it¡¯s tails, I¡¯ll leave it as is and we¡¯ll slowly grow apart.

    I tossed the coin up and caught it. Revealing it showed¡­.. Hydra? I looked on the other side and saw a cross. ¡°Eh?¡±

    I scratched my head wondering what to do. I¡¯m an adult, think it through. What would be best?

    Whatever strange dependence we have isn¡¯t healthy. It¡¯s just weird. I like Shadow though. She¡¯s really nice to me. Most of the time.

    If that went away it would make me sad¡­. But there was something wrong with this whole situation.

    Instead of standing here thinking about it we should talk it out. I just hope she¡¯s reasonable for once.

    I also hope my imagination doesn¡¯t go wild and make her out to be a monster again.

    How do I approach her? She¡¯s to emotional right now. I don¡¯t think our conversation will be all that productive. Maybe I Should cheer her up first!

    That gave me an idea. The idea made me sad. It¡¯s for Shadow. Besides I haven¡¯t cosplayed in a while. Man I really miss being a guy.

    Later

    I¡¯d only just arrived back at the fish tank. Shadow was still there. She wasn¡¯t crying anymore, instead she just seemed to sulk.

    I was wearing the dress she had before, and added some petticoats along with some white tights.

    I also had on some pink shoes, and for an extra charm boost I managed to put my hair up into pigtails.

    It took a few tries to get them even, but it was well worth it as my charm boost went up by 25%. It was currently sitting at 102%.

    I could feel the cuteness radiating off of me, like I was done kind of cutness reactor about to go nuclear. It was almost sickening. Who knew what danger this frilly gear might attract.

    It was as if I¡¯d killed a unicorn and bathed in its rainbowy blood. Then grinded its horn into glitter and rubbed it all over.

    I mean sure I looked cute, but at the same time I felt like it was way too much. I hope I don''t give anyone diabetes.

    I knew a guy like that once. He watched one too many cat videos and was diagnosed with type two diabetes.

    The fact that the outfit matched my eyes made me really want to rip it off. Somehow the ghost ribbon had actually lowered my charm stat.

    I suspected it had something to do with it not fitting in with my pigtails. Sure it could change color to match my outfit, but it would look strange sitting between the pigtails.

    In the end I used some pink ribbons I found to tie little bows around the bass of each tail.

    Looking in the mirror made me smile, up until I realized I wasn¡¯t seeing a cute kid. I was looking at myself. I felt like such a weirdo.

    The need to tear my clothes off only seemed to grow with every passing moment.

    Back when I first came to this world the idea of cosplay sounded like fun, but that had been a while ago.

    Right now I really just wanted some guy clothes to chill out in. Even my voice had started to get on my nerves.

    Sure there was still the occasional joy I felt at seeing Aku in a mirror, but it was now immediately followed by a feeling of disgust when I realized it was actually just me.

    I will say that on occasion Akus personality shone through and I ended up wearing a dress, but that was only every once in a while.

    I can say that right now that side of my brain is pretty happy. So happy in fact that it wants to twirl the dress around.

    I did just that, imagining a wave of mana lashing out from the end of the dress. It felt even more effective thanks to all the petticoats under my skirt.

    Most of the time when I felt like dressing up, there was an even stronger feeling of disgust to go along with it.

    I sucked it up and stepped forward. Shadow heard me come in, and she immediately turned her head towards the couch, in an attempt to ignore me.

    This was gonna be a whole thing wasn¡¯t it. I sighed and walked over. She didn¡¯t budge as I made it to her side.

    I cleared my throat and let my inner Aku shine. Excitedly I called to the mopey cat girl ¡°Shadow, Shadow! Look!¡± She didn¡¯t say a word as I twirled around causing my dress to sway.

    Twirling dresses was one of the only pleasures I still felt. It always felt like I was performing a cool attack.

    Sadly she didn¡¯t react at all. She hadn¡¯t even seen me. The idea that I wasted precious social energy made me want to tear these clothes off and lay on the floor. I bet that would get her attention.

    I puffed my cheeks. Then drooped to my knees beside her. ¡°Shadow please! I wanna show you something! It¡¯s important!¡± I shook her back and forth to no avail.

    Seeing her limp like that reminded me of the time I tried to bring my puppy Lucky back to life, back when I was four.

    I felt tears gathering as the pain filled memory flashed before my mind. Almost immediately I sucked it up and continued harassing my cat girl.

    ¡°if you don''t look I¡¯ll cry, and we¡¯ll both drown! I don''t wanna drown Shadow!¡± She nearly growled at me as her ears twitched. Seeing that she wasn¡¯t actually dead made me feel better.

    Why wasn''t this working? I was giving her my best material. Maybe if I¡¯m more annoying I can get a reaction out of her.

    ¡°Shadow, I¡¯m gonna touch your tail. Say something if you don¡¯t want me to.¡± I gave her a moment.

    I shrugged my shoulders. ¡°She didn¡¯t say nooooo.¡± I sang. Then reached for her super soft tail. I couldn¡¯t help but smile gleefully at the thought of touching it again.

    Before I could reach it though my dreams were cut down when her tail moved away. ¡°Oh¡­ is this a game Shadow? I wanna play!¡±

    I tried again but it was too fast. It was so fun that I started giggling. No matter how fast I was her tail would move out of the way. How could she even see me right now?

    I tried one more time, but not only did she move it out of the way, she also knocked me upside the head with it.

    I was so shocked that the pain hadn''t registered until a moment after. I rubbed my head as tears gathered in the corners of my eyes. She plays really rough.

    Maybe I should try something else before she uses her tail to choke me to death.

    Reaching into my inventory, I pulled out Snowball. I sat Snowball on Shadow¡¯s arm and made her move to simulate talking.

    Using my own mouth I made Snowball noises. ¡°nya nya nya!¡± Shadow seemed to get more annoyed as she pushed Snowball off of her.

    I ignored the harsh treatment of my favorite plushy, not wanting to believe she would miss treat her like that.

    ¡°Snowball says you need to get up. She says your being a grumpy pants.¡± Somehow there was a bit of joy rising inside me. She was always annoying me, so this was payback.

    What next though, even Snowball the wise cat couldn¡¯t get her to talk. I looked to Snowball and she gave me a look as if saying ¡°I tried¡± I gave her a head pat for her hard work.

    What else could I do to annoy her, but not get myself smacked again. Her ears look fluffy. I bet there soft!

    I started trying to touch her ears. When ever I would touch one. It would flick itself away.

    I did that for a bit until they stopped twitching all together and went limp. She was trying to make them seem less fun and it worked.

    Maybe I should try something else. Like arts and crafts. Last time we built a replica of the castle out of popsicle sticks!

    ¡°Shadow lets draw together! I want to draw you!¡± I was actually afraid of Shadows drawings, but as long as she wasn''t drawing me I was okay with it.

    I ran around the room getting some paper and crayons. Once everything was gathered I put everything on the table in front of the couch.

    I put Snowball down on the table in a sitting position. ¡°One paper and a blue crayon for Snowball.¡± I said as I slid a peace of white paper in front of the cat plushy.

    Snowballs favorite color was blue, so the blue crayon was fitting for her. She wasn¡¯t actually gonna draw anything. Snowball just likes having the option.

    I moved the last peace¡¯s of paper into place. ¡°One for me, and one more for Shadow.¡± I looked to Shadow. She hadn¡¯t moved.

    It made me sad so I made up an excuse. ¡°it¡¯s okay Shadow. You probably have a tummy ache from not eating yet. I¡¯ll get you a snack.¡±

    I ran over to the mini fridge and pulled out a pudding cup. I think Shadow likes chocolate. Then put it on the table with a plastic spoon.

    ¡°You can eat it when you like! I¡¯m gonna draw you!¡± I got on my knees in front of my paper and started to draw Shadow.

    Her color palette consisted of black, light brown, and gold. It wasn¡¯t very good, but it kind of looked like her.

    ¡°What do you think Snowball¡± I showed my work to the plush doll on the table. She said it looked nice.

    All of a sudden I felt very proud of it. I moved to show it to Shadow. ¡°look shadow!¡±

    She didn¡¯t respond and continued to ignore me. ¡°Shadow¡­. You don¡¯t like it?¡± no response.

    I tried to shake her again, but it did nothing. Why was she ignoring me? ¡°Sh-Shadow stop it! Say something!¡± I cried.

    I wiped tears from my eyes. I don¡¯t think she realized I was crying. Why won¡¯t she talk to me?

    ¡°Come on Shadow! Let''s play together! We still haven''t beaten Fish¡¯s high score on puck-man.¡± His score had been on there for over a year.

    Maybe if I cuddle with her she¡¯ll be happy again. She loves doing that. I always refuse when she asks. You know since I¡¯m married and all, but I just wanted her to stop being sad.

    I tried to crawl onto the couch with her, but she was in a very awkward position and I couldn''t find space.

    ¡°Shadow I¡¯m sleepy let''s sleep together.¡± I couldn''t believe the words coming out of my mouth, but this had gone on long enough.

    She didn''t move. I was really starting to get worried. What if Shadow really doesn¡¯t like me anymore. More of my tears started to spill.

    ¡°Shadow if you don¡¯t say something I¡¯m running away!¡± I reached for Snowball and hugged her close to my chest. She was the only comfort I had left.

    I could no longer tell the difference between my feelings and Aku¡¯s, but I didn¡¯t care.

    The cat girl had, had enough and turned around startling me. ¡°What the hfil do you want!¡± She was also in tears.

    I couldn''t help but notice she was wearing head phones, which explained why she hadn¡¯t heard my begging and crying from before. They fell out when she turned her head to me.

    The head phones were designed for cat-kin. Once they went in they were unable to hear the rest of the world.

    It was nice since their hearing was so strong, that they could often hear through walls.

    I pushed myself back away from the couch. ¡°You don''t have to be so mean.¡¯ I cried.

    My charm had finally washed over her, as I could see the hints of a joyful smile on her face.

    I might of over done it as Shadow wrapped her arms around me and Snowball, pulling us into a hug.

    She rolled around on the couch with us in her arms and kissed my head over and over again, while making happy noises.

    She didn''t seem mad anymore and seeing her happy was a good thing. This was only the start. We still needed to establish some boundaries.

    ¡°Master, I knew you''d come back to me. Adult life is hard isn''t it? Don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll keep you safe.¡± I didn''t like where this was going.

    ¡°I¡¯m an adult!¡± I declared.

    ¡°Shut up! No you¡¯re not!¡± She retorted.

    I forgot she was a crazy person. I couldn''t get out of this hold she had me in. Even Snowball was stuck.

    Something was wrong here. Was it my super boosted charm? Oh, crap! What did I do! Is she ever gonna let me go!

    I wanted to open my menu and un-equip the outfit, but my right arm was stuck in the hug and my left arm was under me.

    My brain was to panicked to do it without the menu! Without focus I couldn¡¯t get it to even open!

    In a panicked voice I said ¡°Shadow! I need to use the restroom!¡±

    She smiled and said ¡°Aww, what¡¯s the matter Master? Do you need to go potty? Ask properly now.¡± She teased.

    This again! I hate it when she does that! What the hell did she mean by ask properly. Did she want me to beg or something!

    Well, I¡¯m in trouble now. She was so infatuated with my charm that she had essentially been brain washed. ¡°Shadow, I¡¯m an adult!¡± I reaffirmed.

    She chuckled then leaned in close to me. ¡°I don¡¯t want any more kisses Shadow! I¡¯m married!¡± I cried.

    She laughed again then said ¡°I¡¯m not gonna kiss you. I¡¯ll just eat you instead!¡± She bit down on my shoulder.

    ¡°Ah! No please don¡¯t eat me!¡± I¡¯d heard of people wanting to eat children up because they were cute, but she was serious!

    It wouldn¡¯t even be cannibalism since she¡¯s a cat girl. It made so much sense now. Cats eat their owners and she¡¯s always calling me Master!

    I started sobbing, as I realized I was going to be torn limb from limb, and it was all my fault! Why did I have to dress like this!

    ¡°Oh, sorry. did that hurt? Your such a cry baby. I didn¡¯t even bite you that hard.¡± She sounded worried, but at the same time annoyed.

    ¡°y-y-your not gonna e-eat me.¡± I had a case of the sniffles and the tears in my eyes kept me from seeing Shadow clearly.

    ¡°I¡¯m not gonna eat you Master. I swear your head always comes up with the craziest scenarios.¡± She kissed my forehead.

    I wiggled around trying to get free. ¡°I¡¯m an adult stop treating me like a kid!¡± I yelled. She sighed in response as if tired of me.

    Her hand was very gentle as it stroked my head ¡°Master, what am I supposed to do? You act like a child, you make messes, you break things, you can hardly take care of yourself, and you always look to me for comfort.¡±

    Why was she making sense? In the end I could only respond in a quiet and nervous voice ¡°That''s not¡­ I don''t mean to¡­ I only come to you because¡­ you make things better.¡±

    ¡°Of course I do. I¡¯m a mom. I¡¯m good at that sort of stuff, but you need to understand that when you act like a child, my response is to treat you like one. If you don¡¯t like it then start being responsible.¡±

    She was cutting deep now. I didn¡¯t know what to say. I was a burden to her as much as she was to me¡­. But we still enjoyed each other¡¯s company.

    ¡°I know I¡¯m a handful sometimes but I just want a little dignity is all!¡± Was that a lot to ask for.

    ¡°Dignity? What about the time you threw a tantrum at that water fountain. Back when I took all that candy away. Candy that you planned to eat in one sitting.¡± Yeah, I wasn¡¯t proud of that one.

    ¡°Okay so I might take my own dignity at times, but you don¡¯t have to add to it.¡± That was fair right?

    ¡°Master the only thing you are telling me, is that you don¡¯t want me to stop you when you act irresponsibly.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to wear girl clothes all the time.¡± I gave it my last try. Might as well throw all my cards on the table.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been wearing the same shorts and hoodie for the last week, and you don¡¯t even wash your clothes! You just rotate them over and over again! Is it so wrong for me to try and make you wear something clean!¡±

    Wait that¡¯s¡­ how did she turn everything around on me! That¡¯s so strange! This was not going the way I was expecting!

    ¡°Besides Master. You look really cute. You cant blame me for wanting to dress you up.¡± That was¡­ understandable. I too felt the need to do that sometimes.

    ¡°Are you still mad at me?¡± I asked.

    She chuckled. ¡°I was never mad at you. I was mad at myself. If I¡¯d just cooked you something you wouldn¡¯t have gotten burned.¡±

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t your fault. It was all an accident. I¡¯m okay.¡± I smiled up at her hoping my insane charm would smooth things over.

    There was now a frown on her face. A look into her past that I didn¡¯t understand. ¡°I remember when I was a kid my mom wouldn''t cook for me. I was so hungry I decided to do it myself. I ended up burning my hand. I still have the scar to this day.¡±

    Looking at the strange relationship we had, I asked ¡°Shadow, are we weirdos?¡±

    She nodded ¡°Totally¡­ 100%, especially you Master.¡± She chuckled. I did too. We laughed for way too long.

    Sure our relationship was strange, but it kind of worked. Maybe one day we''ll work through our traumas, but for now we were okay.

    ¡°You look so cute Master. Please stay like this for the rest of the day.¡± She patted my head.

    ¡°I don''t want to!¡± I whined.

    ¡°if you don''t I¡¯ll make you eat carrots for lunch.¡± She gave me her smuggest smile.

    ¡°No! They taste like toenails! Let me go already you crazy cat lady! I don¡¯t care how much crap I put you through I want freedom!¡± She pinched my cheek. ¡°Ow!¡±

    ¡°language Master. Keep acting like a child and I¡¯ll keep treating you like one.¡±

    How do I prove maturity? Maybe if I try to be nice, and reasonable she¡¯ll actually listen to me. ¡°I''m sorry. Can you please let me go Shadow?¡± Just like that I felt her hug soften.

    ¡°Sure thing Master.¡± She sat up.

    Was it really that easy? I just had to stop yelling and demanding things. Was this a trap. This feels like a trap.

    I looked at her suspiciously. ¡°if I change clothes will you be upset?¡±

    ¡°You can do whatever you want Master¡­ I wonder what I¡¯m in the mood for? Some grilled fish, maybe a hamburger stake? I could also follow it up with some¡­ cake.¡±

    My eyes perked up at the mention of cake. ¡°Cake sounds great! I could go for some cake!¡± I couldn¡¯t stop myself from bouncing on the couch in anticipation.

    ¡°Yeah, I haven¡¯t made carrot cake in a while.¡± Her words were so disgusting to me, that I almost gagged.

    ¡°Ew! Carrot cake is gross! I hate it! Can¡¯t you make chocolate cake instead?¡± My voice was whiny again, and I realized I was acting like a child.

    ¡°Um¡­ I mean you can do whatever you want Shadow.¡± It hit me then what she was doing, and I absolutely hated it.

    Out of pure frustration tears started to form again in the corners of my eyes. I looked down at my feet in shame.

    ¡°Um¡­ Shadow¡­ you know I think I might keep these clothes on for today.¡± I hated hearing the words coming out of my mouth.

    Shadow smiled from ear to ear. ¡°Yeah you know I think chocolate cake would be really good too. I can even add in some fudge.¡±

    My mouth watered. She was controlling me with delicious sweets, but I¡¯d like to think of it as a trade. Wearing these clothes was just a small sacrifice for cake.

    On second thought¡­¡­ the whole thing felt wrong. ¡°Shadow¡­ you¡¯re manipulating me. Is this really a healthy relationship? I don''t like it. It makes me feel used.¡±

    Her face fell into a frown. ¡°Yeah I guess it¡¯s a bit toxic¡­.. I see your point¡­ how about this. I¡¯ll cook up some food and bake the chocolate cake, because I like it when you smile, and you can wear those clothes for the day, because you know it''ll make me happy.¡±

    That sounded nice. I like it when Shadow is happy. ¡°Okay, but I don''t wanna wear so many petticoats. I''ve got like five of them on, and they¡¯re really annoying.¡±

    ¡°That many!¡± She touched my skirt feeling how puffy the whole thing was. ¡°Yeah that''s four too many.¡±

    a few clicks later and only one was left. It felt way better now. The whole thing still sucked, but it wasn''t as bad as before. Besides, I was gonna eat cake tonight.

    After that I helped with some of the cooking, and we baked the cake together. I even got to eat the left over fudge right out of the bowl.

 Episode 32: Shadows Unraveling

    -Shadow-

    Strange. I could hear music coming from somewhere. It looked to be coming from the boss, but I didn''t know why.

    Did it have a boom box somewhere, or something more modern, like a Bluetooth speaker paired with a smart phone?

    It also sounded familiar. The song was somewhat dramatic. Kind of like¡­. ¡°Why do I hear boss music?¡±

    It seemed a bit late for it to suddenly start up, but surely enough it was boss music.

    In fact, I¡¯m pretty sure this is the one that plays whenever you fight a hidden boss. It¡¯s a special boss that can only be fought once you meet the right requirements.

    Usually something simple like knocking over a grave, or doing a hidden puzzle. Some even appear when you complete a quest in a special way.

    You know now that I look at it. There¡¯s smoke coming from the boss. Did someone attack it? Probably a player or something. Maybe their strong.

    I didn¡¯t have time to focus on this. It wasn¡¯t important, just very strange is all.

    The current plan was to advance and kill the bugs as we go. Every block we would set up another wall of interlocking quarantine shields, but only if the monsters had been pushed back and the area was secure.

    This would give us somewhere to fall back to without losing progress and it would help keep the monsters contained.

    The issue we had was communication. That part was solved by Rosy. She had the brilliant idea to use flares as a way of sending signals.

    They would use red flares in case they ran into a monster they couldn¡¯t defeat. Like the level 50 centipede squad 12 was fighting.

    In which case it would be my job to move in and clear the high level monster out. Once cleared out a yellow flare would be fired. Then another yellow flare to signal that I¡¯d made it back to 10th squad.

    Green flares meant the area was completely clear and ready for a quarantine shield.

    In the event that a shield was broken orange flares were fired and the adjacent squads would need to move in and help clear the street.

    If we lost someone a white flare would go off. If we lost more than half the squad, a black flare would be fired.

    Once we lost over half a squad we would need to start relocating troops. The blue flares were for the boss.

    If they run into the boss then they needed to fall back to the last shield and Rosy would buy its upgrade - specifically boosting the vitality and defense of the shield, followed by the thorn upgrade - Then they would wait and protect the shield as best as they can.

    The thorn upgrade would create sharp curved blades on the shield laced with a type of magical poison.

    I wasn¡¯t sure how effective it would be on a bug that specialized in poison, but the added damage from the blades was probably a good idea.

    I also wanted it in pain for killing Luca. I¡¯ll make sure it suffers until it¡¯s last breath.

    I saw a few green flares flying through the sky. It was almost time to set up a new barricade line.

    The setup of shields was done all at once. This way there wouldn''t be any gaps for the centipedes to escape.

    It was pretty genius. Rosy said she got the idea from an anime she watched about a world full of giants that eat people.

    I think I remember that one. Master said it was good, but I don''t really like the way the monsters looked. They¡¯re a bit strange. Monsters should be scary looking not just plain creepy.

    So far everything was going smoothly. There still wasn¡¯t any sign of my litter. The thought made me want to cry.

    I pulled myself together not wanting to collapse into a crying mess. I still needed to save Alice and Master.

    I''m really sorry Luca. I should have looked for them harder. I should of held onto them. The thought made me violently angry.

    I wanted so bad to sink my claws into something, but the exp was meant for the soldiers.

    Even though there was a party slot available. Joining would be a bad idea.

    My assassin level might be maxed out, but the exp would still be granted to me and go absolutely no where.

    The squad was currently working as a team to take out what looked to be the 50th wave of monsters.

    They just kept coming, and the deeper we went the more there was. They were even starting to get stronger. Most of them were in the level 40s now.

    A lot of the front fighters had already reached level 7. Even the champion who was a level 1 not that long ago had grown to level 4 in no time.

    It''s amazing what a well balanced team could do even at a low level. They made up for each other''s weaknesses. Creating a perfect balance of precision and death.

    Kind of like what my guild did for me. I wish they were here. The boss wouldn¡¯t stand a chance.

    Luca was gone though. The raiders would forever be one short. I would never be able to hear Luca talk about how her homeroom teacher hated her, or what happened at school today.

    What about¡­¡­ her parents.

    If I ever make it home, I¡¯ll have to find them, and tell them what happened.

    I felt a wave of frustration growing inside me.

    Yeah, sure! Like they would believe me!

    By then Luca would have been missing for a bit. She would have already been fake buried. All I would be doing is opening freshly stitched wounds.

    They would probably cry and yell at me. I would try to explain only for them not to listen.

    I¡¯ve seen movies and TV shows like that. Where the one responsible feels horrible, and tries to apologize to the victims loved ones, only to get punched and told to never come near them again.

    That never helped anyone. It was just a way to try and get rid of the guilt they felt, but they deserved to know what happened to Luca, even if they don''t believe me.

    I couldn''t even take proper punishment for getting their daughter killed. Even if I did, what would happen to my boys?

    Could I really go to prison and leave them behind? I might have been over thinking it but how else was I supposed to move forward without trying to feel and express this pain.

    This is stupid. The whole thing was stupid. I wish I had time to cry.

    I don''t understand, back in the old world I always had time to cry. Yeah, maybe back when things weren''t currently still happening, and I had people around me that could take care of things.

    Right now I had to hold it all in, so I could kill that monster. Luca was my responsibility.

    I let her die. She was a child, my responsibility, and I killed her. I wanted her to feel what it was like to be an adult.

    To learn how it wasn¡¯t all about freedom. A hangover, sure. Talking to other grown adults and being treated as one, okay, but this was too much.

    I should have treated her like Master. I should of slowly poked at her shell until she cried. Then comforted her and made her feel safe.

    It¡¯s the only way to really control them. The only way to raise them into what the should be. I felt a little woozy as the world began to spin.

    My body wanted to throw up again, except I¡¯d already done that, and there was nothing left to hurl.

    I looked at my claws. They were shaking almost as much as my heart. Frustrated, I did the only thing I could. I roared.

    The sound resounded through the street. Somehow, it had a strange effect on the centipedes.

    The two monsters 10th squad was fighting rushed towards me. My body was a blur of violence, as I pounced on the first centipede ripping off its head, and using it to beat the other one into the ground.

    As both HP bars reached zero their bodies disintegrated leaving behind the all familiar dust.

    Once dead, I roared once more before breaking down. ¡°I''m sorry¡­ I¡¯m so sorry Luca!¡± My tears mixed with the dust as my claws dug into the ground beneath me.

    ¡°Lady Shadow, please get a hold of yourself. This is no place to lose your composure.¡± The cleric of our group put his hand on my shoulder and activated cleanse.

    My body was washed in a frosty blue cleansing light. All of a sudden, I felt cleaner than I''ve ever been.

    Maybe Master was right about it cleaning you down to the bone. I still didn''t like it.

    The light washed away all the nasty demon dust that seemed to cling to my robes.

    Even the tears and sweat that seemed to be never ending were disintegrated in an instant.

    The cold light was refreshing. Slowly, I got to my feet, and actually managed to pull myself together.

    The experience was a bit like having your friend slap you out of a panic attack, except it was more gentle.

    ¡°Sorry about that, August.¡± I wiped away the bits of moisture left over with the back of my hand. August was level 5. Sadly, clerics got less exp because they didn''t attack as much.

    It was actually kind of rare to find a cleric in TEO. Most clerics you see actually main something else. Well, that didn¡¯t include Clara, she was a cleric through and through.

    August held his cross and smiled as he said ¡°It is okay to morn for those we have lost, but before we do, we should make sure not to neglect our duties. Only once this is over should we give ourselves to our emotions. After all, we can not bury the dead if we are sobbing messes.¡±

    What he said sounded right, but it wasn''t how I did things. You should always cry if you feel like it, but in this case it was a little hard to do that when so much needed to be done.

    Born yesterday August was younger than me. Yet somehow, he already had the opinions of my ex-husband.

    It begged the question. How do the NPCs know so much? Does August even know he is apart of a video game?

    If I ask him about his childhood, or where he¡¯s from? Would he have an answer, or would he break down, unsure if the world is even real?

    Maybe I shouldn¡¯t say anything. It can wait until this is all over. Besides, I need to focus.

    I rubbed my temples in an attempt to clear my head. I didn''t have my ex husband here to fix everything. Like I need that idiot!

    Actually¡­ he was good under pressure. A lot of the time when stuff went wrong, or there was an issue he was the first to take action. Dave was pretty traditional when it came to that kind of stuff.

    That was part of the issue though. He tried to turn our own children into unfeeling psychopaths.

    I was starting to envy his ability to shut off his emotions. It was wrong, but if I could do it even for just today. It would be a blessing.

    Was it really wrong to not feel anything, when the immediate benefits were amazing? Probably not, holding your emotions in is bad in the long run.

    That¡¯s why Master is the way she is. But¡­ it seemed to work for my ex, so what was the difference? I didn''t get to finish that thought.

    A loud explosion went off, as green flames washed over the melee fighters. Our tank and berserker were both disintegrated before our eyes.

    The monk was also hit, but managed to get away with nasty burns all over his legs.

    August tried to heal him, but the healing green light of his sacred art did nothing against the burns.

    That¡¯s when I noticed the black mist that seemed to be coming from his chard legs. That wasn''t smoke. It looked like a Deadman¡¯s curse.

    The curse prevented him from healing. ¡°August you need to use purification!¡±

    He shook his head as the monk screamed in pain. ¡°I can¡¯t! I don¡¯t have access to that sacred art!¡±

    ¡°Then use holy light, or curse break! Anything that can break curses!¡± I looked around, but I couldn¡¯t see our attacker.

    It couldn''t be a centipede. They don''t have this kind of attack. Not a player. Couldn''t be.

    This was jade fire, right? Strange, I¡¯ve only ever seen this stuff casted by liches. Was there a lich somewhere?

    Our archer was looking around, frantically trying to spot the attacker, but his perception wasn¡¯t high enough.

    My eyes were no good, so I closed them and opened myself up to the frequencies of the world. Immediately everything went dark.

    The ripples in the water¡­ Not quite that. Ripples in space would be more accurate. They bombarded me from all sides.

    From my teammates to the giant centipede looming over everyone, to the faint familiar reverse frequency of stealth.

    Immediately I turned around roaring. to everyone else it looked like I was mad at the open air.

    The frequency from my roar slammed into theirs, and the stealth shimmered away like I was blowing out a candle.

    I couldn¡¯t believe it.

    A tear rolled down my face as I saw one of my litter standing there afraid and hurt. She was all scratched up like she¡¯d been attacked by a pack of chola cat girls.

    ¡°Master!¡± I ran to her and hugged her. She was still wearing her white dress. Her tights were gone, and her little blue bow clung to her hair for dear life.

    ¡°Shadow? Shadow!¡± Master cried like a lost child. Which technically she was.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. Don¡¯t worry everything will be okay now. I¡¯m here to save you.¡± I picked her up, holding her close.

    She wasn¡¯t fighting me at all. She continued to sob in my arms. No matter what happened, she could cry it out on my shoulder.

    Crying isn''t a bad thing. Crying makes you feel better, and cuddles make you feel loved.

    I knew Master wasn¡¯t a monster. I would love nothing more than to go home, but we still had a boss to deal with.

    Master seemed to have gone through a lot. I¡¯m not sure what, but getting mad at her for running off like that seemed like something that could be saved for later.

    Besides when has Master ever let me hold her like this? I was going to abuse the hfil out of her current vulnerable state.

    I patted her back. ¡°There, there Master. It¡¯s okay. I¡¯m here now. Everything is going to- ow!¡± I felt a sharp pain in my gut.

    That¡¯s when I realized¡­ I messed up.

    The girl in my arms started to laugh. It wasn¡¯t a regular laugh. Nothing like the innocent giggling of a little girl. No, this was the laugh of a possessed hyena on crack.

    Master pulled away showing me a pair of blood red eyes, and a smile that couldn¡¯t possibly be human.

    Slowly I looked down only to realize she had stabbed me with a kitchen knife. I couldn''t believe it. Before I could say anything, she tore the knife out causing the pain to flare.

    I screamed. ¡°aaaaaargh!¡± My vision began to tunnel as it was too much for me to bear.

    The girl swayed back and forth hugging her body with one arm like she was drunk, while playfully waving the knife in the other.

    Blood covered the front of her dress and started to spread. The red took over her entire outfit making the entire thing look like a rose. What wasn¡¯t red turned black. Somehow, Masters cute bow had melted off.

    August quickly healed me as Master threw the knife. I wanted to save him, but the pain was hindering my ability to move.

    The knife hit August in the chest. Master laughed again before saying. ¡°Always take out the white mage first. No wait that''s¡­. Uh¡± She looked around then said ¡°fourth? No that guy only counts as half alive so 3.5th?¡±

    The wound in my gut finished closing thanks to August¡¯s last act on this world. ¡°Master, what¡¯s gotten into you! Stop killing people!¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    She seemed to only laugh producing a ball of jade fire. With a flick of her wrist, she tossed it at the archer.

    I used a knife throwing ability to intersect the blast. My blade appeared in my hand glowing a light blue.

    Activating the ability Arial blade, I tossed it like a dart. It slammed into the bottom of the fire ball causing it to erupt on impact.

    The spell might of gone off prematurely, but the flames still managed to reach the archer lighting him ablaze. ¡°No!¡± I cried.

    My knife disintegrated in the flames only leaving the handle behind. Throwing knives were a dime a dozen. I still had my main knife and my sub knife.

    I was frozen. I couldn¡¯t believe she would do all this, but Master wasn¡¯t a monster! She was mentally ill. Alice really wasn¡¯t lying.

    I rushed forward grabbing both of Masters arms. ¡°Stop it! You¡¯re killing them!¡±

    Master struggled against me like a fussy child, but it didn¡¯t feel like she was actually trying.

    All of a sudden she looked afraid and confused, as tears started to drip down her face.

    Her eyes went back to that beautiful blue. ¡°Shadow? Help me! I don¡¯t want to kill people!¡± her tears were genuine. She was absolutely terrified.

    Somehow Master was being controlled or possessed. Most likely both. ¡°Master don¡¯t worry! I¡¯m going to save you!¡± She went still. I felt no resistance from her.

    There was this look of being hurt. Her eyes drifted down to her feet. ¡°Oh¡­ you¡¯re here for someone else¡­ That¡¯s okay¡­ No one ever comes to save me.¡± In that moment she sounded so very tired.

    Like a person that had lost one too many times¡­ I felt like that once. Back when my life fell apart.

    Both when my parent''s abandoned me, and when my husband left me. It is a horrible place to be.

    I don¡¯t know why, but I started crying alongside her. ¡°Hey, that¡¯s not true. I¡¯m here to save you.¡±

    She looked confused then smiled. It was the most hopeful smile I¡¯ve ever seen. ¡°Do you¡­ mean it?¡± She cried.

    I felt like I wasn¡¯t talking to Master anymore. Still I think whoever this person was, she really needed a friend.

    ¡°Of course. You deserve to be happy too.¡± I knew I was going to regret it, but it felt necessary.

    I wrapped the small girl up in a hug full of warmth and love. The kind of nurturing hug that could fill a hole inside you. she cried some more, as if it was the first time she''d ever felt human contact.

    ¡°Thank you¡­. but-¡° A chill ran up my spine like I¡¯d just been splashed with cold water.

    It started low but slowly grew in frequency. The girl sobbed some more before a concerned voice spilled from her quivering lips. ¡°You should run.¡±

    My body tensed and I pushed her away. I jumped back to get some distance as the feeling of fight or flight took over, and my body did its own thing.

    Slowly the skin on Masters forehead dried up and started to crumple away as two devilish horns broke through the surface. It was like watching the time-lapse of a growing sapling.

    As I focused on her, her name tag popped up. It read Centa, but only for a moment. Her name tag flickered and changed to the name ¡°Squirmy¡±

    I hadn¡¯t actually seen the name tag before. The moment my body tensed up and focused on the frequency, the tag toggled on.

    10th squads mage freaked out and fired a shadowbolt at the demon.

    ¡°No!¡± I cried.

    I moved forward and tried to deflect the shot with my knife. My blade met the spell. It tried to break through my knife, but the enchantments held everything together.

    Somehow, I managed to deflect it. The shot hit the ground beside me causing rock and dust to fly up.

    I quickly turned my attention to the mage. ¡°Don''t hurt her! What¡¯s wrong with you that¡¯s Master! Lady Aku!¡±

    I held my arms out in an attempt to act as a shield. The mage looked like he was ready to fire another spell.

    The assassin appeared out of the shadows. They both looked confused for a sec.

    That was until the mage spoke up. ¡°That thing is a demon and is the source of all this destruction. We must kill it now!¡±

    What? Didn¡¯t they realize this was Master? I didn¡¯t get to finish that thought before two more green fire balls flew through the air.

    The assassin jumped away, but was still caught up in the flames. His legs were engulfed by green fire, as he tried to roll around on the ground.

    The second fire ball slammed into the mage. He had very few points in dexterity and wasn''t able to avoid the spell at all.

    What was I supposed to do against such strong magic. If I got hit I¡¯d most likely die. Either by the flames, or the Deadman¡¯s curse. Most likely both.

    Both the monk and assassin cried out in pain. I turned my head to Master only to see an evil grin on her face and a fresh jade fire ball.

    I didn¡¯t know what to do. I didn¡¯t want to hurt Master, but she was also killing people. I have to restrain her.

    Moving forward I tried to grab Masters arms, but she threw the jade fireball at me. I activated after image leaving my illusion to take the hit.

    Appearing behind her I tried to take hold of her, but she jumped up into the air avoiding my hug.

    Master did a back flip and kicked the back of my head causing me to fall forward.

    I could feel the vibration of a freshly conjured jade fireball crackling to life. I might not be faster than Master, but when on all fours my speed was almost double.

    Before I could land on my face both my hands were thrust to the ground. As soon as they made contact a cloud of dust erupted into the air, as I put all my strength into it.

    My body vanished in a burst of speed, zigzagging as I moved away from danger. I could feel the heat of the fireballs colliding with the ground. Hitting places, I had been.

    My body whipped around and I finally got a look at the melted glass behind me.

    Master already had two new jade fireballs ready to be launched. What was with that spell? How was she even spamming it like that?

    No cool down, and she could cast it multiple times without the use of Snowball. This is kind of like what happened back at the Fish Tank.

    It was more in line with a hacker. Back when this was a game they were pretty common, though their accounts never lasted, since they were usually banned as soon as they were discovered.

    If I can just wrap my arms around her, or hit her with a knockout gas, this would all be over.

    Focusing my 6th sense on her, I looked through my inventory. Now I could move stuff around, and not be too distracted.

    Come on it has to be here. I know I had a few. Surely enough there was two knockout bombs in my inventory.

    They worked like smoke bombs, but instead of letting out a stream of smoke it was an instant expanding white cloud.

    Quickly I slotted them into my hot bar, getting rid of a wind spell called platform. Platform was basically an extra jump, but that wasn¡¯t too useful in this situation.

    Scratching the ground I positioned myself with my butt in the air. It felt like the easiest position for a take off. I needed her to fire one of those fireballs.

    Once moving at full speed it would be harder to avoid her spells. If I can get her to fire one off, then I can close the gap before she has time to fire the next one.

    Except something else happened. The fire balls just floated there. Staying in place as if Master had nothing to do with them.

    They were acting similarly to the fire like wisps you might find floating around a fox spirit. Only these were of a different color.

    ¡°Hehe¡± She giggled. ¡°What¡¯s the matter Mommy. Don¡¯t you love me anymore? Don¡¯t you want to groom me into the perfect little girl?¡±

    I was taken a bit by surprise. A fire ball was one thing but the words coming out of her mouth made me question reality.

    Hearing Master refer to me as Mommy made my heart flutter, but at the same time I knew she would never ever say that to me. Also, what¡¯s this about grooming?

    ¡°I don¡¯t groom children, I help them express their feelings!¡± I can¡¯t believe her. Spreading horrible rumors like that.

    When we get home I¡¯m going to ground her for saying such awful things. She sounds just like my ex-husband. There will be none of that.

    Her giggles were cute, but they also had a darker tone to them, that I couldn¡¯t quite put my finger on.

    ¡°Suuuuure, you do. That¡¯s why your children live with their dad.¡± She started walking towards me, while I stepped back.

    ¡°That¡¯s why you had to move towns so that your former friends and neighbors would stop looking at you like a monster.¡± We took the same amount of steps, but hers seemed to carry her farther.

    ¡°That¡¯s why when you moved into that house, you had to go door to door warning everyone about what you did. Isn¡¯t that right-¡± She leaned forward getting right in my face. ¡°-Holly?¡±

    Her gaze was like a wolf about to rip out my throat. Despite my all of a sudden dry mouth, I still managed to ask ¡°How do you know all that? I never told anyone my real name, or about all that¡­. stuff.¡±

    She pulled back giving me some breathing room. ¡°I am a demon. A special kind of demon. Something known as an ¨­mukade. Well, the type of demon doesn¡¯t really matter in this case.¡±

    I had no idea what that could mean. She smiled. ¡°Demons know things. We''re the most empathic species in existence.¡± The self-proclaimed demon started to walk around me. Eyeing me like a hunk of meat.

    She sniffed me licking her lips ¡°I know everything about you. How you feel, what your children think about you. I know you better than you know yourself and it''s all just so very tasty.¡± She skipped away swooning, as she hopped around like an over excited puppy.

    The ¨­mukade skipped back around flailing her arms like a child playing a game of pretend.

    She smiled an unnatural smile sending chills down my spine. Her frequency had become erratic and unnatural.

    She was a liar. ¡°Your wrong! I¡¯m a great mother! My boys love me!¡± I shook my head. Everything she said was a lie!

    That¡¯s what demons do. They twist things and make them sound horrible. I can¡¯t let her twist my mind.

    She laughed again ¡°Oh, is that so, but what about poor little Luca? You were looking after her and then what happened? She died in your care.¡±

    She poked me in the stomach. ¡°You call yourself a mother, yet you let horrible things happen to the children you claim to love. I wonder if Luca felt loved when I tore her soul from her chest.¡±

    ¡°Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!¡± I held my head hiding my face in my lap as I shrunk down into a crouch.

    Without thinking my claws dug into the sides of my head. I didn''t care, I just wanted her to stop talking!

    My tears were running once more, as the pain of losing Luca rushed to the surface. It was all my fault.

    She flicked my ears causing them to recoil. ¡°Do you want to know what she felt when she died?¡± I felt her little hand on my head, and a memory that didn''t belong to me, permanently branded itself into the front of my mind.

    I saw things from someone else¡¯s perspective. I knew as soon as the memory entered it was Lucas.

    I felt alone and scared. I felt like I¡¯d been betrayed by everyone. Abandoned and forgotten by the people that were supposed to guide me through a big and terrifying world.

    Even after trying so hard to save someone I failed. I wasn¡¯t an adult. I was just a stupid child that wanted to have fun. No one cared about me enough to show up.

    The fear and pain that ran through me as a hand tore through my chest was like nothing I had ever felt. I was a rodent in the mouth of a starving monster.

    It was too much! I couldn''t take it! I can''t believe it! Luca felt so alone, she was terrified!

    She cried out to us. She called for help. She begged for her parents, for her brother. For anyone to come and save her.

    I could feel the hatred she had for Master. For murdering not just her little friend Vincent, but her as well. She truly hated Master in her last moment. She hated me too.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Luca! I didn¡¯t hear you! I¡¯m so sorry!¡± I cried. I wish I could have hugged her. I wish I could of made her feel warm and safe. I wish she knew that everyone really did love and care about her.

    It was too late¡­ I couldn''t fix anything¡­ not only am I the worst mother ever. I¡¯m also the worst friend. My boys are better off without me.

    Wait¡­.

    That face¡­¡­ the hunger and greed¡­¡­ the joy it felt at taking Lucas life¡­ It was all her. She did this!

    I yelled back at the ¨­mukade trying my best to shift the blame. ¡°You killed her! It was you!¡± I couldn¡¯t take it.

    I didn¡¯t want to hear her! I didn''t want these memories in my head! Haunting me for the rest of my life!

    I felt her lean in and speak in a much softer voice. ¡°Where is Alice? Did you lose her too? I wonder when she¡¯ll die. It¡¯s only a matter of time. We are about to reach the crescendo after all.¡± She circled me again running her hand over my head like she was playing a game of duck duck goose.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already talked to her, you know. She was so cute.¡± She giggled. ¡°What was it she said? Please stop hurting me! I¡¯m sorry! I won¡¯t try to send you away again! Izzy please stop! I love you!¡± Her laugh became so much darker cutting a new wound inside me.

    She can¡¯t get away with it! She can¡¯t toy with people¡¯s lives like there nothing! I have to stop her! She¡¯s wrong! She¡¯s a monster! Master is a monster!

    My anger rose and I lashed out, clawing at the demon. The ¨­mukade avoided my swipes, walking backwards, and sidestepping my claws.

    All I could see was red. How dare she call me a bad mother! I¡¯m the best mother! My children love me! I make them feel safe and happy!

    These memories can''t be real! They¡¯re fake like her fucking smile! She¡¯s wrong I¡¯m the best mom! My mom¡­. my mom was the bad mom!

    ¡°Whoa! Almost got me that time.¡± She laughed as she ducked under another claw swipe.

    ¡°Shut the hellllll uuuup!¡± I tried again, but it was the same. Again and again, she avoided me. Until finally, my claws hit, stabbing deep into her abdomen.

    I smiled as finally I¡¯d be able to see her in pain. ¡°How the fuck do you like it!¡± However, I was wrong.

    She looked at me with a sad expression. Her eyes went back to that familiar gentle blue. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­ I just wanted to make friends. I didn¡¯t mean¡­ to become a monster.¡±

    The innocence in her eyes, and the feel of my claws behind her ribs. It was all so wrong. To add to that, the moment just before my claws dug in, there was a sudden change to her frequency.

    It was the same soft and bubbly frequency from when I broke her out of stealth, but different¡­ this time, it was full of fear, but mostly¡­.. guilt.

    She was sorry and felt an unimaginable amount of guilt. The whole thing brought new tears to my eyes.

    Was this a trick? Was the demon planting these feelings inside me? I¡¯d be a fool to think that. Her frequency told me everything I needed to know.

    Maybe¡­ I was the monster all along¡­. I wasn¡¯t supposed to hurt Master. I was just so angry. ¡°I''m sorry.¡± I cried as I fell to my knees unsure of what to do anymore.

    Her frequency changed again, the demon taking over once more. Her eyes turned to that blood red, her lips curling into a wicked smile.

    The waves produced by the frequency were one thing, but When I looked into its interworking¡¯s.

    There was no emotion. At least not like that girls frequency. It was as if I was staring into an all consuming hungry void. A void that could, and would eat the entire world. Maybe even beyond that.

    Even now I could hear the sound of people being ripped apart. Screaming, calling for help. They circled around that darkness. Like little stars being torn apart by a black hole.

    Before I knew it a thin black sword had appeared in her right hand. ¡°Yes, that''s it! That despair is so beautiful! Your already broken. I didn''t even have to use the mage all that much.¡±

    She giggled as she bounced in place in excitement. ¡°You humans are so weak willed. All I have to do is poke at your beliefs, and you fall apart so easily. Its kind of sad really.¡±

    I was tired of hearing her talk. Lucas memories kept playing over and over in my mind. I just wanted it to end already.

    She lifted her blade ready to strike me down, but before she could a powerful frequency started to grow from behind me.

    ¡°Don''t you fucking touch her!¡± it sounded like-

    I didn''t get a chance to look as who ever it was blurred past me. The demon did the same muttering ¡°Shit!¡± before vanishing in a blur.

    My eyes were unable to follow as the two of them clashed weapons in mid air. I only knew that due to the sound of metal clanging against metal, and the locations of their frequencies.

    I was startled as what looked like half of a broken iron sword struck the ground embedding itself in the stone.

    Right after that, explosions of red, blue, and green flames erupted above me, followed by the impact of the demon slamming back first into the stone road.

    She wasn''t really injured, but she certainly was in pain. It was made evident by how she struggled to get back up.

    My attention snapped to the other person. They landed right in front of me. Their feet impacting the ground like a bolt of lightning.

    There was this beautiful light. It was a sparkling light blue. The power seemed to be pouring out of them, forming some kind of cloak around their body.

    It seemed to collapse and reform over and over. Each time it reformed itself, it seemed to come back in better focus.

    I knew this person. Their frequency was as light and soft as a cloud. Yet sharp like a blade. It was warm and welcoming. Yet it could also be described as fury in its purest form.

    The energy seemed to subside going from a struggling flame in the wind, to the gentle soft glow of a distant star.

    She wore a white dress with blue frills. Her hair a dark brown styled in a Bob. She also had a big blue bow on top of her head.

    ¡°Master¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t believe it.

    She looked back at me, an adorable smile blooming on her face. ¡°Sorry I¡¯m late. I was trying to figure out all this aura and magic stuff.¡±

    I wanted to run and hug her, but I didn''t deserve it. How could I have made her out to be a monster.

    I should be ashamed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± I cried as I slammed my head into the ground begging for forgiveness.

    I killed Luca and possibly Alice. I¡¯ve taken these people away not just from their families but from Master as well. She should hate me. I deserve to be hated.

    Somehow Master was by my side. I felt her standing in front of me. ¡°You have nothing to apologize about.¡±

    I lifted my head and there in front of me was Masters outstretched hand. She was still smiling even though so much had happened.

    ¡°You''ve done pretty good. You evacuated the civilians and closed off the area. We might of lost some people but you were absolutely amazing Shadow.¡±

    She simply didn¡¯t know. She has to know. ¡°You can¡¯t say that! I killed Luca!¡±

    To my surprise. Masters smile did not falter. Instead, she said ¡°It¡¯s not your fault. If you want to blame someone then blame me. I brought that demon to this world, but right now I need your help to get rid of it. Preferably before more people die.¡±

    I knew on some level the demon had something to do with Master, but to have it confirmed was something else. I love Master. I might get angry, but I could never truly hate her.

    How is she okay right now? She should be crying and looking for comfort. Master isn''t a strong person, so why is she fine right now?

    I took Masters hand and got to my feet. ¡°Master!¡± Her expression changed as I took advantage of her kindness and wrapped my arms around her, pulling the small girl into a hug.

    She immediately started squirming and yelling. ¡°Let me go Shadow! I¡¯m married!¡± I did not let go. In fact, I started grooming Master by licking her head.

    She had been running around for hours through all this destruction, getting who knows what all over her.

    The demon gave us a strange look almost like it was judging us. This wasn¡¯t strange! It was perfectly natural!

    For some reason even though Master was struggling and screaming in disgust she wasn''t really doing much.

    Her struggles didn''t have any strength behind them. It was almost as if I¡¯d actually gotten my hands on a toddler.

    Out of happiness and joy, I lifted Masters dress and blew a raspberry into her tummy. She laughed at first then cried ¡°Shadow don¡¯t do that!¡±

    Master held her skirt down and turned a little red. It was so cute. ¡°Aww, Master, your so modest for such a little girl.¡± I teased.

    She was so flustered she could hardly speak. ¡°Wh-What¡¯s wrong with you!? What if someone saw!?¡± she cried. Bullying her was so easy.

    ¡°Oh, there''s no one around. Besides most people wouldn''t bat an eye. Even so, you got those little bloomers on.¡± I hugged Master some more nuzzling my cheek with hers.

    ¡°Shadow stop it I¡¯m trying to look cool!¡± Master cried.

    ¡°But Master, I can¡¯t stop. Can¡¯t you see how happy I am to see you?¡± I could hear her starting to growl. Well, more like a soft purr.

    About thirty seconds into the whole thing Master had finally had enough, and bit down on my arm.

    I yelped in pain to which she escaped and ran about 20 feet to my left. Anymore and she¡¯d of gone through a building.

    Well, at least I was sure this was the real Master. Oh, what I wouldn''t give to have that cute girl I first encountered. She was so cuddly.

    This Master wasn¡¯t bad either. Watching her get all flustered was half the fun. That¡¯s what made her so fun to tease.

    The demon had been sitting on a big rock watching our whole interaction. ¡°You two done with your weird skit, or do you need another minute to do more perverted stuff.¡± She looked almost board.

    ¡°Hey, its not like that!¡± both Master and I yelled. The ¨­mukade was trying to get under our skin again.

    I need to watch out for that. It nearly broke me last time. Actually, it did break me. But Masters adorableness patched me back up.

    ¡°Shadow, see what you did!¡± Master whined.

    ¡°It¡¯s not my fault you¡¯re cute, and I haven¡¯t seen you in forever! Its been over 14 chapters - if you count the flash backs ¨C uh¡­. I mean it¡¯s been a few hours. Fo-Forget what I said, now, are we kicking her butt or what?¡±

    Master sighed as that strange power from before flared to life once more. The demon got to her feet in response.

    ¡°Who the hell do you think you are my better half?¡± said the demon as dark power seemed to wrap around her similarly to Masters.

    Master smiled then stepped forward. ¡°I''m not your anything! My name is Isaac Smith and I''m here to kick ass and eat lots of candy and I''m not allowed to eat candy.¡±

    Strange. ¡°Master, language! Also if your hungry I have some cookies if you want? I know you didn¡¯t eat lunch, so you can have some.¡± I reached into my inventory and pulled out the bag of fresh cookies I¡¯d taken from Master yesterday.

    Master seemed to get visibly upset. ¡°Shadow I was trying to be cool!¡± she whined.

    ¡°So¡­ does that mean you don''t want cookies?¡± it was a fair question, but Master seemed to pout and cross her arms.

    She mumbled something I couldn''t make out. ¡°What''s that Master?¡± she murmured again, but I still couldn''t understand her. ¡°a little louder please.¡±

    ¡°I said I want them!¡± She cried. The issue hadn¡¯t been that I couldn¡¯t hear her it was that I couldn¡¯t understand her because for some dumb reason she decided to talk like a gremlin.

    Why couldn''t she just say that. ¡°Okay but I¡¯m only giving you two. It''ll be dinner time soon and I don''t want you spoiling your appetite. I¡¯m giving you two since you haven¡¯t eaten.¡±

    Master whined again, but came to my side for a cookie. I handed her two of them then petted her head as she ate.

    ¡°Can I have one too?¡± asked Squirmy.

    At first, I thought it was a trick, but she genuinely looked like she wanted one. ¡°If I give you one will you stop killing people?¡± I had to ask.

    The ¨­mukade looked upset at my terms then shook her head and stuck her tongue out at me. How rude!

    ¡°Sorry only good children get cookies.¡± I smiled smugly at her.

    She huffed rolling her eyes. ¡°Whatever I''ll just loot them off your corpse.¡± She smiled devilishly.

    As Master finished her cookies the demon pulled out a strange looking flower.

    The petals and stem were made of crystal. The whole thing was a beautiful violet. For some artistic reason the flower was only a bud though.

    The artist was probably trying to symbolize something stupid like fertility, or a girl on the cusps of becoming a woman. You know dumb artsy crud my unsupportive high school art teacher would say.

    What a strange design. Wouldn''t a flower in full bloom look better? I looked to Master who seemed to have a look of horror on her face.

    Seizing the opportunity, I playfully pinched her pink marshmallow-like cheek, but she swiped my hand away.

    The demon started to pour dark looking energy into the flower. The power turned the crystal black momentarily, before exiting the other side as black ooze. It gathered on the ground like a gross looking slime.

    I felt dread creeping up on me as the blob¡¯s frequency started to resemble someone I knew.

    Throughout the whole process the demon seemed to be struggling. As if doing this was taking an actual toll on her.

    The blob started to form into a person. First I saw the formation of black bones. Then the wrapping of gray muscle and pale skin.

    It resembled a naked woman, so I covered Masters eyes. Long violet hair started to rapidly grow out of her gray scalp. Finally black robes of pure darkness grew from shadows.

    The newly formed person opened their eyes and gave a smile much like the demon. The violet coloring. The hair. The cowlick. ¡°Luca?¡± I nearly ran to her.

    If it wasn''t for the fact that her skin was so pale and her frequency was so strange I would of hugged her.

    ¡°That''s not Luca!¡± said Master as she pulled out a decently sized mana stone and started to form spells with its power.

    The ¨­mukade laughed. ¡°This is what''s left of poor little Luca. She''s not quite a demon, she''s more of an evil spirit. Though you could call her a demon. After all to be a demon one simply needs to fall.¡±

    ¡°Luca I''m so sorry¡± I cried.

    ¡°Shut up!¡± she yelled. ¡°If you''re really sorry you''ll give me your life! An eye for an eye.¡± She formed a shadow lance mid air.

    Should I let her? Would that make us even. I was about to walk forward when Master stopped me. She tugged on my robes.

    I looked back to her. Master looked scared. ¡°Don''t do it Shadow! She''s not Luca you see that flower over there!¡± Master pointed to the crystal flower in Squirmy¡¯s hand.

    ¡°That''s Lucas Soul. Not just her soul. That''s Luca. The most important part at least. That thing you see in front of you is nothing more than an Imitation.¡±

    How did Master know all this? I didn¡¯t know, but I trusted her. ¡°Okay, then we¡¯ll get her soul back and figure it out from there.¡±

    I hadn''t even noticed it, but my claws had finally retracted. My head was clear. I knew what I had to do.

    I''m goanna save Luca.

 Episode 33 toasty chitin

    -Isaac-

    You ever wonder why pigs can¡¯t fly? Buffalo¡¯s can fly so why not pigs? Okay so maybe there¡¯s a few hurtles there, like the lack of wings, but if Darwin has taught me anything it¡¯s that stuff can grow wings over time. Why stop at pigs? What about dogs and turtles. Lions, weasels, sharks¡­ actually forget that last one. Not everything should be able to fly. Let''s take a strep back.

    What about chickens? They have wings, but for some reason they can¡¯t fly. What¡¯s the point in that? Is it because they¡¯re fat? Buffaloes are pretty big, and they can still fly. I bet their wings are huge. Buddy has small wings, but I like to pretend their just folded up, and when they¡¯re open they¡¯re huge.

    You know, if you think about it humans can fly too. They might need airplanes to do it but they¡¯re technically flying¡­. What if I put a chicken on a plane? I bet it would be super happy. I could imagine it looking through the window and flapping its wings in excitement. It¡¯s not quite the same as actually flying yourself. Like the difference between a guy on a motorcycle and a guy on a bicycle.

    The motorcycle might be faster and cooler but it¡¯s not the same thing. In which case it would probably be best to build the children some kind of augmentation. It¡¯s got the wings. It just needs a little more thrust. Like a little jetpack or something. You don¡¯t want to go to overboard with it otherwise you¡¯ll end up with little chicken terminators.¡­¡­ chickenators!

    I looked around. What was I doing here again? Oh yeah! I was looking for that soul gate thing. It feels like forever since I came into this cave. I pulled out the compass and surly enough it pointed me deeper into the mountain. At least I think it did. I was so distracted with the whole chickenator thing, that I forgot which way I¡¯d come from. I chuckled. That is such a me thing to do.

    I continued to make my way through the crystal passageway. By which I mean the inside was made of pure crystal. The walls and ceiling glowed with different colors as if responding to my presence. I ran my hand along the walls and watched as the light trapped inside followed my fingers.

    There was a soft tingling sensation at my fingertips. It was similar to static but less aggressive. The whole thing was strange. I wasn¡¯t sure what this stuff was, but it felt familiar. Not in a, I¡¯ve been here type of way, but more like a, I¡¯ve seen this before. It reminded me of the stuff I use to cast spells, only less power and more¡­ substance. Focus without the focus. More cloudy in nature.

    I could still hear the centipede outside making its way into the cave. It was a bit hard to believe. Could it really follow me down here? It was a pretty tight space. That didn¡¯t stop it from trying to force its way in, like the first time Alice let me do butt stuff with her. The cave seemed to shake as the monster thrashed inside its walls.

    the fear of it collapsing on top of me was ever present in my mind. I couldn¡¯t help but wonder how the hell I got here. I was playing games not that long ago. Now I was in this horrible place. My body was still small but growing. I think I was the size of a 14-year-old. Around the age I met Alice, just before my growth spurt. I took a sip of the hot tea in my canteen and felt my body warm up.

    A small drop of it landed on the ground causing lights to be produced. Like fireflies they rose up and out of the crystal. The air was full of swirling molts of multi-colored light. It was beautiful up until I tried to touch it and felt my skin start to burn. ¡°Ow!¡± I heard the centipede thrash even harder at the sound of my pain. I looked back towards the noise.

    ¡°You leave me alone you big bully!¡± My voice echoed down the crystal walls. The beast actually responded. ¡°Let meeee help you s-s-sweetie!¡± Its voice was so disturbing. It almost sounded like it was gargling broken glass in its mouth. I ignored it and went back to admiring the pretty lights. This stuff was like fire only alive and vicious.

    How do you go from a solid all the way to a plasma? It skipped like two whole states of matter. Now that I think about it, this isn''t uncommon. Ice on Mars turns directly into a gas when it melts, but this is different. Maybe it¡¯s because the crystal is energized by the tea? Kind of like a flammable gas. This was making my brain hurt. I didn''t have any stats boosting my intelligence, so using my brain was annoying to work with. It was like downgrading from a PS5 to a PS1.

    The light quickly vanished, and the cave went back to its dim glimmering self. It wasn¡¯t as freezing in here as it was outside but walking such a long distance through snow and ice had left me cold down to the bone. Usually when I got like this, I would run my cold hands under Alice¡¯s shirt.

    I chuckled at the minor torture I put my wife through. She always hated that, but for me it was revenge for stealing the blanket in the middle of the night. God, I miss my wife. She would absolutely love the new world. If only she was Isekaied too. It would be so epic to explore it with her.

    Geez, if Luca could hear me say ¡°epic¡± she''d call me an old grandpa. I hope I can get back there. Somehow the deeper I went the warmer it became. Originally, I thought the crystal stuff was ice, but really it was more like hard glass.

    I squeezed through the ever-closing walls, as they became narrower the deeper, I went. I was starting to get a little closter phobic. If I was still missing an arm, I could easily make my way through.

    My wife always tells me if I had no arms or legs, I¡¯d be a better dancer. Jokes on her, she dances even worse than I do! With me all you have to do is feed me a few beers and I can bust all kinds of moves. The worm, the cabbage patch, the robot. I can dance the shit out of the robot!

    ¡°Ow!¡± There were parts of the cave that seemed to scratch me. It was getting harder to move forward, but lucky for me after 20 minutes of struggling the passageway opened up. I finally managed to find the end. Unfortunately, while it was the end, it was also a dead end. No gate in sight.

    The only thing here was a hole in the ground. I took a look careful not to fall in. It was dark and I couldn¡¯t see the bottom. If this was the game I would simply jump down and use a feather falling potion to negate the fall damage, but it wasn¡¯t. This was¡­ well, it sure as hell wasn¡¯t real life, and far from any game I¡¯ve ever seen.

    What would dad do in this situation. If dad was here, he would tell me nothing is impossible. Dad would have also brought rope with him and his rifle. I could try to walk along the ceiling with my boots, but that seemed like a hard thing to do, and if it goes wrong, I¡¯ll just die anyway. I could die to the monster, but I didn¡¯t want to give it the satisfaction.

    I looked back to the way I came. Maybe I can negotiate with the monster. I¡¯ll give it my body on weekends, and I take it the rest of the time. Then again, if it¡¯s willing to torture me all day and night I wonder what it¡¯ll do to everyone else. I¡¯d like to see it try doing that with Shadow. She¡¯d have it over her knee before it could screech. This is dumb. I need to think realistically.

    I could reform the canteen into something else. Aku said I¡¯d need to do that in order to open the gate, but if I mess it up then I might not have enough power to break the gate open. That¡¯s how she made my current gear. She¡¯s had way more practice with shaping energy then me. I wasn¡¯t confident in my ability. When I tried to make stuff, the items I created had very rough shapes and fell apart the moment I lost focus.

    There was no way this was the end. There had to be a way forward. The sparks of light were dancing around me. Inside the walls it looked like a bunch of pixels moving around. They all seemed to move along the walls and circle around the hole.

    I don¡¯t think that stuff had the best of intentions for me. It did nearly burn my fingers off. This whole time it was trying to nibble on me. Yeah, there was no way I was going in there. At least that¡¯s what I thought until I heard the centipede screaming behind me. ¡°Isaac! Isaaaaaac!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, screw it!¡± I hopped into the hole and was instantaneously surrounded in darkness. The feel of free fall took over as I dove into the abyss. What I wouldn¡¯t give to be a cat right now.

    Eventually, I was able to see something. It looked like a giant crystal cavern. The only light was from the crystal and glowing water. The entire thing seemed to light up at my presence as if I had activated motion sensor lights throughout the whole cavern. I held my breath as I fell into the underground lake.

    It sure as hell didn¡¯t feel like any water I¡¯ve ever seen. This stuff wasn¡¯t even wet. It was warm and soft. It felt like I was surrounded by warm syrup. Some of it got in my mouth and it was disgusting. Not only did it burn my tongue, but for the brief second that I still had my taste buds. It tasted like rotten milk!

    I dragged my way to shore doing my best to not breathe this stuff in. my eyes were in serious pain. I pulled myself onto the crystal and took a breath only to cough. My lungs were on fire!

    My eyes felt like crumpled paper. My skin started to harden as if I was becoming crystal. I couldn¡¯t see anything. I pulled out the tea and guzzled a bunch of it down. My eyes started to heal, so did my tong, but my lungs continued to burn as if whatever was in the water had made it inside. I felt heat raging in my chest. I vomited and coughed whatever substance was eating my insides and it burned my throat as multi-colored lights flew up and out of my mouth. It took a minute, but the pain slowly went away. Even the crystal forming around my body had peeled off into tiny shiny flakes.

    ¡°What the hell is that stuff! I looked it over. The water was a swirl of colors, just like the crystal around us. This entire place was made of the same stuff. It was almost like the area had no texture. As if it was in the shape of a cave but it hadn¡¯t loaded in the surface images.

    This place was so deep down there was no way I was getting out. Well, I did have the wall walking boots, so there is that, but still, to find that hole I went down would be a nightmare. What if I fall again?Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    Don¡¯t think about it Isaac. Let¡¯s just focus on the task ahead. I pulled out my compass and saw that it was going crazy. This thing was more lost than I was.

    I got to my feet and decided to explore. The first thing I noticed was the glowing lights that seemed to be floating in the air. It was like when I dropped the tea on the ground only these lights were drifting much more slowly.

    As I walked the crystal under my feet lit up with different colors. They seemed to almost dance under my feet as if wanting to play with me. They were like excited children running around the waiting room at a clinic.

    For a second it almost looked like they wanted to attack me. As soon as I thought that the little lights rose up out of the ground surrounding me in a swirl of color. I got scared and they came at me. I felt my skin burn as they crashed into my body like hot embers. ¡°Shit! Go away! Leave me alone!¡±

    As if listening to me they pulled back and gently orbited around me like radioactive snowflakes. Were they trying to trap me? I tried to walk forward but I was blocked in. ¡°What is going on?¡± unable to move forward I sat on the ground and thought for a sec. I wish I could go home.

    I imagined waking up in my gaming chair and seeing Alice¡¯s face as she came home from work. Thinking about her always made me feel better. I opened my eyes and saw¡­. The lights had reformed themselves into Alice¡¯s face.

    Could it be¡­? I focused and opened my palm. The lights gathered at the center of my open hand. They didn¡¯t burn. In fact, they felt right at home. This feeling was familiar. Its like magic¡­ right? I didn''t have a hot bar, but I know the shape and feel.

    Focusing I imagined the magic circle for the fire ball spell. It was the only one I could truly remember. The spell circle was simple, and the artwork had been set as my desktop wallpaper for almost a year now. Surely enough the little lights formed the magic circle only it was slightly off. The shape was right, but it didn¡¯t feel right.

    For starters there was a lack of power. The spell circle looked good, but it was also the wrong color. It also didn''t feel the way fire magic feels. As soon as I thought that the lights cycled themselves until they were all a dark red. This felt right.

    It even felt a little warm, but it was still missing something. Usually there was a soft hum to this thing. It¡¯s like the plumbing was there, but it was lacking water to build the pressure. I had no way of truly knowing, so I couldn¡¯t activate it. The circle seemed to have some power moving through it, but it was more akin to that tiny bit of juice left over in a Capri Sun. There just wasn''t enough juice to do anything.

    I gave up and the light scattered. ¡°Yeah, right! Magic wasn¡¯t a thing in this world. That¡¯s like trying to get the cops off you by mounting a PS2 controller onto your steering wheel and entering a cheat code from GTA. I still remember the code too. R1, R1, circle, R2, up, down, up, down, up, down.

    Did this stuff actually have free will or was it just reacting to my thoughts. Maybe I can use the lights to communicate with my subconscious. This place was part of my mind after all, so maybe that''s what I needed to find the gate. Instead of trying the impossible I went for the next best thing.

    ¡°Show me the gate¡­ please.¡± The lights happily danced around me moving back into the ground. They lit a path leading me towards what I assumed was the gate. That¡¯s helpful. I can¡¯t wait till I get out of this place. This entire journey was a nightmare.

    I need to hurry with that monster behind me I don''t exactly have all day. Why couldn¡¯t Aku give me something cool like the master sword, or a grenade launcher. That would be so cool. I¡¯d honestly take a sick or anything I can use to whack that stupid bug. Like a really, really super ginormous boot! Or like a big can of demon bug spray. I¡¯d settle for a flamethrower really.

    Aku said weapons were a bad idea since the centipede was designed to eat through anything and everything. That¡¯s why I lost that sword and my arm along with it. Speaking of eating, I wonder if shadows made lunch yet. I could go for a cheeseburger right about now. There was no actual hunger, but I still got cravings. I pulled the canteen out and took another swig of the warm tea. It was no cheeseburger but being taller made it worth it.

    While I did want to go back, I also didn¡¯t want to be short again. Actually, I was still kind of short right now but not as much. Being short was the worst especially after you''ve known what it¡¯s like to be tall. The only thing worse than that was not being able to pee standing up. Do you know how annoying it is to go from peeing freely to having to secure a toilet every time you want to sprinkle some lemonade! It¡¯s almost as bad as losing the ability to walk. Well maybe not that but similar to it.

    It didn''t help that Aku had a small bladder. I¡¯ve heard that women had smaller bladders. Combine that with being the size of a literal child and you got yourself a recipe for disaster. There were a few times when it was close and let''s not forget the double accidents which were totally not my fault.

    I really hated having to ask for help when I can¡¯t reach anything. Or people having higher strength just because they¡¯re bigger than me. If only I could still be a berserker. Maybe then Shadow would respect me. The lights formed a familiar cat girl that looked oddly like an angry Shadow scolding me.

    ¡°What¡¯s that Shadow? It¡¯s bed time? Take that!¡± I pretended to swing a sword. The lights formed a giant great sword cutting Shadow in half. She reformed behind me. ¡°And that! ka-pow!¡± I spun around delivering a scissor kick to the copycat causing the lights to scatter like shattered glass. The lights even spelled out the word ¡°ka-pow¡± midair like I was in a comic book.

    They reformed into a copy of Shadow that was begging for forgiveness. ¡°Yeah! Bet you didn¡¯t see that coming!¡± My arms feel to my side as guilt started to settle in. ¡°Uh¡­. I¡¯m sorry.¡± By the end my imagination had taken over and I started to feel bad about actively trying to hurt Shadow. I don¡¯t actually want to hurt her. I just don¡¯t want to be bossed around so much. The copycat stood up smiling and ruffled my hair. Wait¡­. who am I apologizing to!? ¡°Stupid brain!¡± I bonked myself on the head with both hands wrapped tightly into fists.

    I went back to following the lights. Despite my previous corrective bonk to my brain I still managed to day dream. The best part about this world was having a dick again. Though, I haven¡¯t really gotten a chance to abuse it. There hasn¡¯t really been a good time to do it, also it might actually be illegal. Was touching your own 14-year-old penis illegal? As a general rule, if you have to ask then it probably is. Then again, was anything really illegal? I was literally in an entirely different world. Still, I don¡¯t feel comfortable doing weird stuff like that.

    I¡¯ve actually been drinking a lot of tea in hopes of needing to pee, but that doesn¡¯t seem like a thing here. Probably because this is all in my head or something. At least I hope that¡¯s the case. I noticed Aku didn¡¯t have a bathroom.

    Which leads me to believe she might have been going in bottles. I¡¯ve done that before. Back when my brother and I were scared to go to the bathroom at night. Dad made us share a room. That way he would have a place for the man cave. The only thing he put in there was a cooler, a TV, and a lawn chair. Now that I¡¯m 39 it makes perfect sense. Though I would have gone with a state of the art desktop.

    The lights around me seemed to get denser the closer I got to the gate. Up ahead there was an even stronger light. The little lights on the floor started to act more excited as they twirled around like plastic bags in the wind. The compass was still freaking out. I put it away.

    ¡°That¡¯s got to be the gate.¡± Right as I said that the sound of screeching chalkboards sounded above followed by the collapsing of crystal. In fear I ran for the gate. The lights below scattered in all directions as something large fell into the cavern.

    I did not dare look back. I already knew what it was and if I could only get to the gate then all of this would be over. Why the hell did I waste so much time! I swear I have the attention span of a 90 year old goldfish. All I had to do was open the gate and this world would reset in a blaze of creation, taking that thing with it.

    ¡°Isaaaaaaac!¡± it screeched after me. I could hear its body land on the crystal cutting up its surface as it pulled its long body forward. I picked up the pace not wanting to get eaten by that thing.

    I pulled the canteen out. Aku told me in order to break through the seal I needed to use pure energy, and in order to do that I would need to convert my canteen into a weapon capable of channeling quintessence.

    This would only work with the canteen since it was an actual source of power. Like a hole in a tent allowing water to come in from the rain. I focused on the canteen. The item itself was just a cover. Deep down it was really a ball of raging power, continuously catching more and more energy as it poured through.

    I felt it. The singularity inside. With a thought the canteen melted in my hand and start to change its shape. Not just its shape but its mass and weight. The centipede screeched just as my newly formed hammer hummed to life. It lunged at me, but I spun around, knocking it upside the head. A pulse of kinetic energy was unleashed causing the crystals around us to convert into more light. With the explosion of power, the centipedes entire body went left from the impact, slamming itself into a crystal pillar.

    The hammer in my hands started to fall apart. I had to refocus it to get its shape back and it didn¡¯t quite hold the same design as before. The power in it felt somewhat drained. It had about two more hits before all the power it stored was spent. ¡°What will it take to kill that thing!¡± The hammer glowed brightly as the power it held came rushing to the surface. It was now or never.

    I made a run for the gate. The gate was only a few more feet away. The monster screeched my name as it began to follow me again. If I had to hit it again then there was no way I¡¯d have enough power to break that seal. I could feel it about to snatch me up. I held the hammer above my head ready to strike, but right as I was about to reach the gate it bit down on my hood, yanking me up into the air. ¡°No!¡± I was so close!

    Now falling over the monster I got to watch as its mouth expanded into infinity. Row after row of jagged teeth grew around an abyss. The hammer lost its shape as terror rampaged through my entire body. It was about to swallow me whole. Was this really it? Was I really not going see my wife again? There had to be something I could do! I refuse to get the bad ending! ¡°I refuse!¡± That''s when I remembered something.

    The way the crystal reacted to the tea. To the quintessence. ¡°All it needs is power!¡± I held my hand out towards the demon and focused. All the lights of the cavern rushed over not only helping to slow my fall but forming multiple magic circles over the entire body of the centipede. This whole time they weren¡¯t reacting to me, they were reacting to the quintessence in my body, in the canteen! ¡°You guys want power right! Well take it! multi-fireball!¡± I drew quintessence from the hammer and fed it into the magic circles.

    They only needed a spark. Each one lit up and started pulling power in from every other light in the cavern. Each of the runes lit up one after the other. The magic circles formed their own low yielding fire ball and every fire ball exploded simultaneously. The monster cried out in pain as its body was torn from the rapid explosions. The flames coated its black chitin and the thing started burning alive. ¡°How do you like it!¡± I was in freefall as the lights used to suspend me in the air had lost the meager power they had and turned to dull crystal.

    If I could just not land on my head this will all work out. If the centipede can¡¯t die, then I should be okay. Still landing on my head would probably make opening the gate really hard and I don''t exactly have my canteen anymore. Seriously, what I wouldn¡¯t give to be a cat right now. Shadow would probably laugh at me. I had to roll in order to land on my feet. My right leg broke on impact, the broken bone piercing through my leg.

    The pain was awful, but I crawled my way to the gate. It¡¯s not like I haven''t felt pain before. Looks like mom really was making me better. I had to drag the hammer with me, but I managed to get there. The gate was a beautiful glowing crystal blue. After those fireballs eat through all the quintessence, the gate became the only light in the cave. Aside from the burning centipede that is. There was definitely some serious power on the other side. I got onto one leg and lifted the now greatly reduced hammer. Oh man, I hope this is enough. The hammer glowed humming with power.

    ¡± it¡¯s over!¡± I slammed the hammer down on the seal releasing every last ounce of power into it. The crystal blocking the gate lit up and started to crack disintegrating into iridescent light. Not just the seal, but the entire cavern was now being converted into beautiful molts of light as the energy from the hammer spread out over the cavern. I fell on my side unable to hold myself up anymore.

    That¡¯s when I noticed. The seal was still there. It was cracked and a lot of its crystal mass had been converted into light, but not completely. I didn¡¯t have enough power left to break through. ¡°Crap. What am I supposed to do now.¡± There had to be something I could do.

    I thought back to everything I''ve experienced so far. There had to be something. What were the rules to this world? As far as I could tell it was all about power. Power equals mass. How did Aku gather energy? She did it overtime. ¡°Oh, what about¡­¡± if power equals mass, then mass should equal power.

    E = MC2

    I put my hand down on what remained of the seal and looked within myself. There was a little bit of power there. It was extra, but it still wouldn¡¯t be enough. I needed more. I needed to give it everything and beyond that. Focusing, I poured the energy into the seal and watched it crack as bits of iridescent light rose into the air.

    I then started to cannibalize my spirit and fed it all into the seal. My body glowed brightly as a pillar of light escaped my core. ¡°Take it aaaaaalllllllllllllll!¡± My body started to rapidly shrink. All my years were being poured into the gate. In a matter of seconds, I went from a 14 year old all the way to 9, then 5, and finally 3. Lucky for me the seal finally had enough. Thank God, I was about to start feeding it my memories.

    I thought I¡¯d given it a lot of power, but it was nothing compared to the flood of rushing quintessence coming out of the gate. It was absolutely beautiful. It¡¯s almost like the in coming power revived the crystal. As if the entire mountain was starving for energy. Maybe even the entire world.

    Before I could forget I did what Aku said and started to absorb the energy into my body. Immediately I grew to my normal adult size and when it felt like I could hold no more something started to change within me. There was so much power. Way more than I could ever need. It was finally over, I was safe. All these years of being tortured and hated by that demon. All the stupid nightmares and the crippling emotions that ran through me. They would all vanish, and I would finally, finally be whole. I felt tears run down my face.

    This whole time I¡¯ve lived with the fact that I would always be broken, but now I didn¡¯t have to struggle anymore. I no longer needed to pretend to be other people or hide behind a screen. I could finally just live. The reset will wash over this world and make it whole again. It¡¯ll erase all other entities. All but Aku that is. At least that¡¯s what I thought. The centipede was supposed to vanish upon ascension, but we were wrong.

    I watched in horror. There in front of me the centipede stared into my eyes as it also sucked in the massive influx of power. This wasn¡¯t supposed to happen. I used the power I gathered to push forward slamming myself against the monster to try and stop it, but it was too late.

    Everything was consumed by the glowing hot white energy. Me, the monster, and the world. It was all so bright right before my vision went dark.

 Episode 34 powering on

    -Isaac age 8-

    The window in the living room fogged up, as I stared out over a snowy white canvas. I hugged buddy to my chest. He wanted to see the snow too. My younger brother was watching the TV. It was early morning on a Monday. We were both hoping the news guy would say school was canceled. With the way it was I don¡¯t think anyone will be able to drive.

    Last time this happened the power even went out. Dad had to bring out the generator, but the best part was we didn¡¯t have to go to school for three whole days! It was awesome! My ears perked up as the anchor guy was calling out a list of canceled schools. Why were there so many? I¡¯ve never even seen another school.

    Actually, my sister goes to another school. She¡¯s a middle schooler. She thinks she¡¯s so smart just because she knows how to add numbers with letters. Even mom and dad think she''s a genius, but I know the truth. My sister Julia is actually an alien! That or she might be sick.

    Every once in a while, I¡¯ll use the upstairs bathroom meant for mom and Julia. Usually because someone will be using the bathroom meant for the guys. Anyway, there was this one time I tried to use it and I saw blood in the trashcan. The first time it happened I started to cry and ran to my sister.

    She was mad and kept trying to yell at me, but I just wanted to make sure she was okay. Julia said not to worry about it. That it was something natural for her that happened once a month. She also told me to never use that bathroom again. It wasn''t my fault I had to go. If it was just number one then I¡¯d go in the back yard like how dad showed me, but I had to do a number 3. That''s when you need to poo and pee at the same time.

    I wanted the news guy to hurry up and call my school, because in another five minutes mom was going to make us walk. I really didn''t want to go only to find out it actually was closed. Then have to walk all the way back. How many schools were there!?

    The thought of having to go to another school after finishing this one made me want to hop on the back of a train and start my new and exciting life as a traveling hobo. Eating cat food stew and exploring the rail ways with my trusty side kick a rat named dog. Or maybe I should join the circus. I know how to squirt milk out my eyes. I don¡¯t do it much since mom and sis say it¡¯s gross. Cain and dad say it¡¯s hilarious though.

    I joined my brother by the TV. The list seemed to go on and on. Now that I think about it, it wasn¡¯t that many, but at the time it sure felt like a lot. We held our breaths until finally the guy called out our school. ¡°Jackson B. Elementary.¡± My brother and I cheered then ran towards the kitchen.

    Mom was packing our lunch. ¡°Mom, mom, mom, mom!¡± yelled my brother. Nearly knocking her over. ¡°Oh my goodness. Boys, what¡¯s the matter? Did they cancel school?¡± She sounded a little scared at the possibility.

    My brother paid no mind. ¡°Yeah! That Ron guy said it on the TV!¡± he proclaimed. Unlike my brother I was too afraid to speak up. Besides my throat was a little sore and if mom found out I might not get to go play outside.

    ¡°We can stay home right mom?¡± My brother tugged on mom¡¯s shirt. With how the roads were we kind of had to. Otherwise, my big sister Julia would have to walk us. She hated that. I hated it too. She would always walk behind us and kick our backpacks if we walked too slow. It''s abuse I tell you! Oh, the discrimination! The inhumanity! Last time my lunch got crushed.

    Mom was looking a little disappointed. She didn¡¯t like it when we missed school. Reason one was because of our education. Two was because this was her alone time, and she didn¡¯t want to deal with us all day. We sometimes fought. It wasn¡¯t my fault my brother was a jerk.

    She shook her head and said, ¡°I don¡¯t know about that.¡± She didn¡¯t believe Cain. Mom looked at me, as if I had all the answers. I looked away afraid of her gaze. It was that mom gaze like she was looking through my top layer of clothes and inspecting the mystery stain on my underwear.

    ¡°Isaac, is school really canceled?¡± At the time I was way too timid to lie. Mom knew that so she would always ask me about this stuff. I looked down at my feet and started to fiddle with the ends of my hair as I squeezed buddy nervously in my other arm. My hair had grown pretty long and messing with it had become my go to when in uncomfortable situations. Nervously I nodded.

    My brother scoffed then punched me on the shoulder. ¡°Mommas boy.¡± That wasn¡¯t true!

    ¡°A-am not.¡± I wanted to punch him back but when I tried my anxiety got the best of me and it turned into something akin to a greeting fist bump. Cain laughed making my anxiety skyrocket. I almost cried on the spot but held it in because dad told me I needed to be brave, and that real men only cry in the shower. Making mom and Julia worry about me was also a bad thing. I hugged buddy to stop the rising tide of nervous emotions.

    ¡°Stop it Cain, leave your brother alone!¡± yelled mom. She didn¡¯t actually yell, but it was loud and commanding. The kind of voice only a parent could muster up. I didn¡¯t need her help all the time. I wasn¡¯t that weak.

    My brother had that look. The kind of look that told me he saw me as a mommas boy. I don¡¯t like that. It¡¯s not my fault I¡¯m not as aggressive as him, or a liar like him. Mom didn¡¯t trust him, so he felt hurt when he told the truth, and she didn¡¯t believe him. All that anger was thrown at me when mom treated me like the good son. I hated conflict and unfairness. I don¡¯t like getting special treatment and I don¡¯t like it when people are mad at me for things I can¡¯t even control.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay mom, it didn¡¯t hurt.¡± I lied. ¡°We were only playing. Right Cain?¡± I looked at my brother. He still looked mad, but he must have understood my ploy because he said ¡°Yeah, sure, playing.¡± He wasn¡¯t very convincing, and mom knew it was all a ruse, but she went along with it because it¡¯s what I wanted.

    Sure, my brother was a jerk sometimes, but he was also kind of like my best friend. We would always play together, and he would always beat up bullies for me. The funny thing was mom always said I was a good influence on him, and dad says he was a good influence on me. Mom playfully ruffled my already messy hair quelling the bubbling anxiety. ¡°Isaac maybe it¡¯s time for a haircut. Your hair is as long as your sisters.¡±

    I shook my head causing my hair to whip around. My hair was one of the only things that kept me safe. It was the perfect filter between me and everyone else. With it I was actually able to talk to people. When I was littler mom and dad kept my hair short. Because of that I couldn¡¯t say a single word until the age of 5 when mom for whatever reason kept postponing my haircut. Buddy was also good at protecting me, but I wasn¡¯t allowed to bring him to Jim class, so having my hair to fall back on provided me with an extra layer of security.

    My first word was ¡°no.¡± We were at the park when Mom told my brother and I it was time to go. The only problem was I didn¡¯t want to leave, and I managed to actually voice my thoughts. Mom was so surprised that day, that she let us stay another thirty minutes.

    Up until then dad thought I might be on the spectrum, but you know in more offensive words. Just to be sure they had me tested and the doctor said I was actually smart for my age, but that I was a very shy kid. That day was nice. I got to skip school and the doctor gave me a lollipop since I didn¡¯t cry like all the other children.

    ¡°Hey dude, you there?¡± my brother waved his hand in front of my face trying to get my attention.

    I snapped back into reality. ¡°Huh?¡± mom had that look that said she thought I might be crazy. I shook my head again remembering the conversation. ¡°No! Please don¡¯t cut my hair!¡± I took a step back and held buddy up over my head like a helmet.

    ¡°Calm down sweetheart. I wasn¡¯t thinking of cutting it all off. I just wanted to take you in to get your ends trimmed.¡± She ran her hand through my hair finding the ends. ¡°See the damage? They just need to cut a little off. About an inch.¡± Mom held the end up to my face. There was some weirdness going on with the tips of my hair. They looked a little dry and tangled.

    Now that I think about it. Mom and Julia¡¯s hair is different from mine. Mine wasn¡¯t as shiny or smooth as there¡¯s. Is that because it¡¯s damaged? Still, the thought of going into a barber shop¡­. Would it be a barbershop or something like the place mom goes to?

    I don¡¯t want that. I shook my head, losing the ability to speak. Mom sighed in defeat. ¡°It¡¯s okay kiddo don¡¯t worry about it. Maybe I¡¯ll give it a trim myself would you be okay with that?¡± I shook my head to mom¡¯s disappointment. Mom wasn''t a barber. What if she accidentally cuts my neck?

    That¡¯s when I heard my sister go ¡°Yes!¡± She was sitting at the table in front of a bowl of soggy cereal. At that point she should just throw it away. Soggy cereal was gross. It was like eating a bowl of mushy baby food.

    ¡°Hey mom, my friend says my school is closed too!¡± She nearly hopped out of her seat.

    Mom nodded. Then asked, ¡°Do you know if Jackson B. middle school is closed?¡±

    Julia also nodded reaffirming my earlier confirmation. ¡°Yeah, my friend says her little sister is staying home too.¡±

    Cain piped up ¡°Was it Riley? Did she ask about me?¡± He had a crush on Julia¡¯s friend¡¯s sister. Riley went to our school and Cain was obsessed with her. I also had a crush on someone, but we didn¡¯t really talk. I don¡¯t even think she knows I exist. The one time I did talk to her she called me a loser and crushed the flower I tried to give her. I feel sorry for whoever ends up marrying that poopie head.

    ¡°Not exactly¡­. she actually asked me to tell you to stop talking to her.¡± I could tell sis really pitied Cain. I did too sometimes.

    Despite her response my idiot of a brother kept a smile on his face. ¡°Yeah, she¡¯ll come around soon. I just know it.¡± He was delusional.

    ¡°Actually, Reilly has been asking about Isaac.¡± Said Julia.

    My face turned red. ¡°What!?¡± I nearly died on the spot as my heart started to pound in my chest. Mom laughed at my reaction while my brother looked at me like I¡¯d stabbed his chicken and trampled his crops. It couldn¡¯t be true, right?

    Julia laughed so hard that I immediately thought she was pulling a prank. My brother must have thought the same because he glared at her. Even mom looked a little annoyed at her.

    ¡°She thinks you¡¯re cute.¡± She giggled at the end like it was a joke.

    I don''t trust her. ¡°And?¡± I asked.

    Sis sighed, realizing I wasn¡¯t going to be played with any further. ¡°Okay, okay stop looking at me like that. She really did say you were cute, but not in the way you think.¡± Did that mean¡­.

    The silence went on for a bit too long before my sister finally gave the punch line. ¡°She thinks you¡¯re a girl.¡± That statement brought laughter to the entire room as Julia, Cain and even mom all started chuckling. Especially my brother who had a look of superiority on his face.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    I crouched down hiding my face as it got to be a bit too much for me. This explained the strange interactions I had with Reilly. She tried to brush my hair a few times and kept inviting me to go play at her house. She even complimented buddy a few times. Of course, being the anti-social kid I was, I declined every time. My brother has always wanted me to accept. That way he could tag along, but Reilly said Cain wasn¡¯t invited.

    I never really understood my sister. She was either about to bully me or help me out. It really depended on her mood. Sometimes she would yell a lot and say I was annoying her. While other times she would help me stay out of trouble with mom and dad.

    Mom patted my back. ¡°Sorry kiddo this is why you should cut your hair, but don¡¯t worry I think your very handsome.¡± Moms were supposed to say stuff like that, so it didn¡¯t make me feel better.

    I got back up and glared at my sister. Even buddy was mad at her. ¡°You have to tell her I¡¯m a boy.¡± I demanded. It took a lot out of me as my anxiety rose. Telling people what to do was something beyond me, but when I got mad stuff just kind of slipped out of my mouth.

    My sister scoffed. ¡°Me!?¡± She pretended to be surprised. ¡°Why little sister that sounds like a you problem. Besides I don¡¯t actually talk to Reilly. I¡¯m friends with her older sister Janet. She¡¯s the one that told me. If you want to correct her, do it yourself.¡±

    My anger while active was immediately washed under a sea of anxiety. I couldn¡¯t even say anything to Julia who had gone back to her phone. How was I supposed to talk to Reilly? I could barely say hello to her much less correct her.

    Mom, seeing how down I was decided to change the subject. ¡°Isaac, how is your throat?¡±

    I wanted to answer but it was hard. Normally I saved my pretend card for later in the day, like if I needed to talk in front of class or something, but this was important. The pretend card was when I pretended to be someone else for a little. I didn¡¯t exactly have a name for this other self, but it still worked. Kind of. Isaac might be a weak unconfident loser, but that was some other guy, not me. I pulled my hair aside as if flipping a switch.

    ¡°It feels better now.¡± There was still a bit of a rasp, but it wasn¡¯t that noticeable. Last night when it started snowing, I put a Band-Aid on my neck to help it heal, but I don¡¯t think it did anything. I knew mom wouldn¡¯t let me go outside if I was still sick, so I prayed to God this morning hoping he would help me out.

    As for how I got this way. The other day I decided to play outside with my brother and some of the neighbor kids only to get a throat infection. Mom was pretty mad I hadn¡¯t taken my scarf with me, but I didn¡¯t like wearing it since it made my neck itchy.

    Instead of answering right away Mom looked like she was giving it some thought. It was a lie of course. I know she only does it to make it look like she was considering it, but really this was more of a set rule. If my throat was scratchy, she¡¯ll keep me inside. Probably wrap me up in blankets and curl up with me and buddy on the couch like she did yesterday. We watched a few movies, and she made me drink a bunch of warm stuff.

    The house was already hot due to the heater dad fixed last week. If I wasn¡¯t afraid of being seen without a shirt, I¡¯d have gone without one yesterday. I wasn¡¯t like my brother who liked to sleep naked. There was no way you would catch me without any clothes on. That¡¯s way too embarrassing. I was a little chubby in some areas and felt very self conscious. Mom says it¡¯s cute, but I don¡¯t want to be cute.

    That¡¯s why I started doing crunches and push ups everyday before getting in the shower. That way when dad took us all to the beach next year, I¡¯d be all muscular and cool looking. Like Batman, or Rambo.

    Mom finally decided to talk, breaking my little heart in the process. ¡°Sorry but you¡¯ll have to stay inside. I don¡¯t want you getting sick.¡±

    I wanted to say something, but my little trick hadn¡¯t lasted very long. Just enough for one sentence. It was pain not being able to speak to people. Not even my mom. This was too important though. Not being able to go outside was torture with so much snow. My desire outweighed my anxiety and like the Buffalo I charged into the storm. ¡°But mom! That¡¯s so unfair! We haven¡¯t had snow in over 10,000 years!¡±

    Mom snorted. ¡°Kiddo, we had snow last year. I¡¯m not trying to punish you. I just don¡¯t want you to get sicker. At this rate you¡¯ll have a cold before lunch. Do you really want to spend your day off sick?¡±

    I was only 8. A year was a very long time for me. Besides, what¡¯s the point of snow when you can¡¯t even play outside? I wanted to make another snowman. A really, really super big one. Still, being off school and being sick at the same time sounded like a waste.

    I didn¡¯t see a point in complaining. I knew she was just going to say no. Even my brother was a little sad for me knowing we wouldn¡¯t get to play together. I gave mom my saddest look. Mom looked me in the eyes. ¡°No, you¡¯re not getting me with those puppy eyes, so don¡¯t even try it.¡± It was worth a shot.

    ¡°Hey Isaac, how about you and I make a fort in the living room?¡± asked Julia.

    My sister was being nice again. It sounded fun but I knew she also wanted to go outside. Instead, I let out a loud yawn and smiled. ¡°That¡¯s okay, I¡¯m feeling a little tired. I think I¡¯ll get some more sleep. Buddy says he''s tired too.¡± If I couldn¡¯t go play outside, then I was going to sleep in. I needed it after all the social energy I spent.

    My sister looked a little disappointed but smiled anyway. That¡¯s when we heard some heavy footsteps coming from down the hall. It sounded like a black bear had just woken up from hibernation. We all knew what that meant.

    My brother Cain was the first to point it out. ¡°Dads up!¡±

    I knew exactly what dad was going to say. Now that I think about it, maybe it was a good thing I was sick. Before we saw him we heard him. ¡°What¡¯s this about sleeping in?¡± Dad walked into the kitchen wearing boxers and a white muscle shirt. He was really hairy. Mom says it¡¯s because he¡¯s part gorilla. I believe her. Dad sometimes made monkey noises in the night and mom had to make similar noises to calm him down.

    I cleared the mucus in my throat before saying ¡°Good morning dad.¡±

    Everyone else followed my example giving their own variation on the greeting. Dad smirked before opening the fridge for a beer. This was natural for us. He was always drinking. Not necessarily drunk but drinking.

    That¡¯s got to be where his super strength comes from. I tried it once, but all it did was make me dizzy. I also started talking a lot. It was strange. It even got rid of my anxiety for a time. As great as that was, it wasn¡¯t worth it. The stuff tasted like gasoline. I¡¯ve never had gasoline before, but if I did, I bet it would taste like beer.

    ¡°Well, all I know is before anyone plays in the snow or sleeps in. Someone¡¯s helping me dig out that driveway.¡± He popped the beer open before taking a long sip.

    Mom pulled the beer out of his hand then landed a kiss on him. ¡°Isaac is sick, so he won¡¯t be helping.¡±

    We all gave a variation of ¡°Eeeew!¡± and looked away. Parents kissing was gross. It was like watching your dog eat its own poop.

    Mom and dad laughed at our reactions. Dad looked me over. ¡°The kid looks fine to me. You spoil him too much. That¡¯s why his so skittish.¡± Dad jumped suddenly in an attempt to scare me, and I jumped in reaction. ¡°You see, skittish.¡± My brother and sister both laughed at me.

    Dad wasn¡¯t completely wrong. Despite being twins with my brother he was a better runner and lasted longer when hitting the punching bag. Whenever something went down on the playground, he was the first to jump into action. Meanwhile I was running away or hiding. It also didn¡¯t help that he was a little taller than me.

    I think dad likes my brother more but that doesn¡¯t stop him from trying to teach me stuff. Even when I fail, he always smiles and tells me there¡¯s no such thing as losing. You either try or you win, but I know trying just means I lost. Dad was patient with me, but I could tell it bothered him. Still, he always treated me the same way he treated my brother. If my brother could do it then I could too, and if I failed then I just needed to try a little harder next time.

    Mom crossed her arms and gave dad one of those looks that said he was wrong. ¡°He has a sore throat. I don¡¯t want him going outside and getting sick.¡± Dad smiled nervously and fell into a more defensive position.

    ¡°A sore throat? Don¡¯t worry about that. I¡¯ve had a sore throat since I was a baby and its never held me back.¡± There he goes again. He would always say something ridiculous like that. I was 8 at the time and actually believed him. It somehow made sense in my 8 year old brain. Dad had such a rough voice that the lie was believable. Always figured if dad could do that then I could too. That was how he pushed us to do better.

    Whenever we thought something was impossible dad would go out of his way to prove us wrong. Like when he broke down that wall so he could expand the kitchen. It was so cool when dad used that big hammer thing to break it down bit by bit. He even let me try but I couldn''t lift the hammer. It just goes to show that if a robber was persistent enough not even a locked door could keep them out.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want him outside Tom! If he catches a cold, I¡¯ll throw all your beer away, and you know most places will be closed.¡± That was the worst thing you could possibly do to my dad. She¡¯s done it before and both times it was pretty bad. Dad got super irritated when he didn¡¯t have his beer. He acted kind of like my sister when her cell phone was taken away.

    Before they could get into an actual argument I spoke up. ¡°I¡¯ll do it! I can shovel the driveway!¡± Even if it was work it meant I¡¯d get to spend time with dad, and if I did a good job, he would probably reward me too.

    ¡°That¡¯s my boy!¡± Dad looked almost proud as he initiated a high five. I smacked his giant hand with my normal sized one. It felt like I was slapping a rock. Dad has the biggest hands.

    Not wanting to lose to me, my brother chimed in ¡°I want to do it too dad!¡±

    Dad¡¯s smile grew ever wider while mom looked annoyed. She shook her head. ¡°Fine, but if he gets sick, I¡¯m not just throwing out all your beer. Isaac, I¡¯m also taking away that silly Nintendo and it¡¯ll end up being your Christmas present this year.¡± She walked away. I smiled. Jokes on her. I don¡¯t own any Nintendo products. I only have a Sega genesis.

    My sister didn¡¯t dare say a word. Instead, she stuck to her phone texting a friend. Dad would never make her shovel the driveway, but I¡¯m sure if she asked for it, he would let her.

    Later

    Mom had wrapped me up in just about every sweater she could find. She also kissed my forehead and told me to be careful. I was just happy my brother hadn¡¯t seen it. He would have called me a momma¡¯s boy again¡­ which I wasn¡¯t.

    The air outside bit into my face as I stepped out onto the wooden porch. Mom told me once that dad built it before Julia was born. It was hard to believe someone could just make something like this. Dad was always doing crazy stuff.

    He had gone to the back yard to get the shovels. That¡¯s where the shed was, which was something he also built. My sister was sitting on the couch outside with her phone in hand. Despite not wanting to help she also didn¡¯t want to be left out.

    My brother wasn¡¯t out yet, so I approached Julia. She didn¡¯t notice me at first and when she did ¨C just before I could say anything ¨C she ran her hand through my hair. I closed my eyes unsure if she was going to pull them, or just wanted to comfort me in some way.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to hit you. Do you really think of me that way?¡± She asked. She looked at me like she was hurt. It was her own fault for being so mean to me.

    I Was no longer sure on what to say so instead my face turned a little red and I stared at my feet. ¡°You really are a cutie.¡± She pinched one of my cheeks only for me to swipe her hand away and jump back. I took a fighting position, but my body started to shake out of anxiety. My sister must have thought I was cold because she hugged me and buddy. I squirmed a bit, but relaxed when I realized it was just a hug. ¡°If you¡¯re cold you should go back inside. You don¡¯t have to help dad. You¡¯re sick after all. I can cover for you.¡±

    I wanted to shake my head, but her hug was too tight, so instead I had to say ¡°No.¡± she seemed to understand and pull away. Julia then ran her fingers over my forehead to get the hair out of my face. Then fixed a few strands that were poking out.

    That was when Cain finally came out the door. He didn¡¯t even notice us as he hyper focused on the snow. First thing my brother did was hop into the snow and make a snow devil ¡°It¡¯s so cold!¡± I say snow devil because he was no angel. He picked up a snowball. For a moment it looked like he was going to throw it at me, but I saw him change his mind in real time as he switched targets locking onto Julia. It flew through the air and hit her in the face. She ran out onto the lawn gathering up a bunch of snow and making a giant snowball.

    I stepped back not wanting to get in the middle of their little squabble. Sis could barely lift it as she ran Cain down. Then dropped it on his head. Cain fell onto the snow and the two of them started laughing. I started laughing too holding my sleeve up to my lips. Even buddy was laughing at them.

    It looked like a lot of fun, but I didn¡¯t want to get sick and get in trouble. Just because my gaming console wasn¡¯t a Nintendo product didn¡¯t mean mom wouldn¡¯t label it a Nintendo and wrap it as my Christmas gift. I really wanted that game boy this year.

    Dad finally walked out the back holding a bunch of shovels. He handed me one and my brother took another. ¡°Alright, listen up kids! Julia, you¡¯re the referee. We¡¯re all going to compete to see who can shovel the most snow.¡± This was so rigged.

    I raised my hand. Dad looked at me then gave me a nod. ¡°That¡¯s not fair dad you¡¯re obviously going to win!¡± I stated. He always got the most snow.

    My brother and sister agreed with me. He gave it some thought before answering. ¡°Fine, if that¡¯s the case then the twins can work together.¡± It sounded fair.

    Both me and Cain were usually able to get at least half of the driveway dug up by ourselves. It wasn¡¯t impossible. Still if dad really wanted, he could still beat us.

    My brother and I shared a look. He seemed confident and it somehow made me believe we could win. Julia still looked unsure, but it wasn¡¯t her call to make.

    ¡°Okay!¡± My brother and I spoke simultaneously. Sis sighed and scratched her head. The competition was on. Now if only I wasn¡¯t held back by all these clothes.

    I walked up to my sister nervously. ¡°Sis, can you take care of buddy?¡± I held him out to her.

    She smiled and took him from me. ¡°Of course. Don¡¯t worry he¡¯ll be safe with me.¡±

    Dad started at the end of the driveway while we started on the opposite side. Sis had marked the middle where we needed to reach. Lucky for us mom¡¯s car was on our side. That meant less snow for us. Dad had parked his car on the street. The first one to finish their side won. What did we win? I don¡¯t actually know; it was just for fun. Brother was going at it while I tried my best to keep up. It was kind of hard with all these clothes on. My sister cheered us on.

    ¡°Come on Isaac! You got this! Cain help Isaac out he¡¯s not as fast as you!¡± I hated it when people compared us, but there was nothing I could do about it. Dad was going strong. His movements were precise and quick. He shoveled the snow like a machine. I tried to copy him, but no matter how hard I tried my shovel would always get stuck on the uneven ground. We had a gravel driveway and for some reason I Kept picking up Rock by accident.

    Somehow dad didn¡¯t. he went so smoothly that it was as if the snow was being vacuumed. Even my brother¡¯s shovel wasn¡¯t getting as stuck as mine, but I wasn¡¯t giving up. If only I didn¡¯t have three layers of clothes on. I was falling behind as my brother pushed forward. I wanted to win too, but at this rate we would lose by a few shovel fulls.

    Screw it! I dropped the shovel on the ground and started taking off the extra layers of clothes. I needed to do this quickly so I could get back in the game. With a bit of wiggling, I slipped out of them all in one go. Too bad for me I managed to also take off my shirt. I was now half naked in below freezing temperatures. The cold bit into my skin and I felt a bit exposed, but the fight was still on. There was no stopping me.

    Instead of losing my composure I continued to shovel the snow and finally it felt like I was actually doing some damage. Dad laughed. ¡°That¡¯s the spirit kid a real man doesn¡¯t get cold!¡± He pulled his shirt and jacket off buying my brother and I a little more time to catch up.

    My brother, not wanting to be left out, took his jacket and shirt off too. Then nearly cried as the cold rushed in biting at his pink skin. ¡°I¡¯m a man too!¡± He proclaimed before starting to shovel again.

    My sister finally looked up from her phone and noticed the ridiculous situation going on. ¡°What!? I looked away for one second! Isaac put on some clothes! You¡¯re going to get sick!¡± sis yelled.

    ¡°I¡¯m okay!¡± I nearly cried. We were nearing the end and I didn¡¯t want to stop. I just needed a little more. Just a little more and dad will lose. The cold started to bother me less and less as the work I was putting in produced body heat.

    At some point I worked so hard that heat started to pour out of me creating a blanket of warm air around my body. I even started to sweat. Fifteen minutes in and the sweat along with the falling snow began evaporating before my very eyes. There was a rush of adrenalin and I finally got into a machine-like motion. Scooping and tossing snow.

    Before we could finish the front door opened as mom came out with a tray of hot chocolate for everyone. ¡°If you guys get cold- what is going on here!¡±

    We all got in trouble that day and to make everything worse Cain and I both got sick. Dad was fine. He was built different. Mom couldn¡¯t believe we¡¯d taken our clothes off. Especially not me.

    It was embarrassing and after a bit of begging and crying she still agreed to get me that Game Boy for Christmas. My Nintendo genesis, however, was taken away and I wasn¡¯t allowed to go out and play in the snow.

    The part that still bugs me to this day was when school opened back up, I was no longer sick and had to go. Dad said I did an amazing job and that I was a real man. That gave me enough confidence to confront Reilly at school. She was shocked to find out I was a guy, and we became friends after That. It was too bad she had to move away about a year later.

 Episode 35: loading.... 35%

    Loading 2%

    -Isaac age 12-

    ¡°Julia, can we go home now!¡± I whined. I was sitting on a bench outside the dressing stalls. My sister was supposed to take care of me while mom and dad went off to a friend¡¯s wedding in Hawaii. I wish I could go to Hawaii.

    Dad said children weren¡¯t allowed, because apparently there was some festival going on where they sacrifice virgins by throwing them into a volcano.

    Somehow, I feel like he was lying, but then I remember that Indiana Jones movie, the one where that guy rips out that dude¡¯s heart. At least that¡¯s what comes to mind when I think of someone being sacrificed.

    As for My brother he was sleeping over at a friend¡¯s, abandoning me with our hormonal sister. I never knew if she¡¯s going to be really nice or really mean. ¡°Sis I wanna go home!¡± I whined again.

    ¡°Oh my god! Shut up already! Your so annoying! I told you I need new clothes for school!¡± Sis bought new clothes once every month. She had a part time job that went directly to her shopping addiction. Dad only pays for off brand stuff and only if you need it. Unless its your birthday or Christmas.

    A few minutes passed of Julia making noises in the booth. She would say stuff like ¡°This is so ugly!¡± or ¡°Oh my god this one makes my butt look fat!¡± Apparently having a small butt was a good thing. It made no sense to me.

    Dad says it¡¯s because I¡¯m too young and haven¡¯t found my tastes yet. All I know is whether it''s a big butt or small butt they both taste like butt. No thank you dad. You can keep all the butts. I¡¯ll have a cheeseburger instead.

    I looked at my Gameboy. It had run out of battery not that long ago. Right in the middle of Pok¨¦mon red. The worst part was I think the last save was two gyms ago. Pain was too weak a word. Normally I carried some AA batteries with me, but I was all out and had spent the last of my weekly allowance on a bag of hot cheetos covered in nacho cheese.

    ¡°Hey Julia.¡± I called to her with hope in my voice.

    ¡°No Isaac, stop asking to go home! it¡¯s not gonna happen!¡± Sometimes when Julia bleeds, she gets really annoyed with me. I guess I¡¯d be pretty annoyed if I was bleeding from my butt. Actually, I¡¯d be really scared. What happens if all my blood comes out? Do I die? Is sis going to die? How will I get home? What was I going to ask Julia again?

    ¡°That¡¯s not it.¡± My voice broke a little as a lady walked past me and into one of the many stalls. Somehow being here felt wrong. Not having Julia by my side left me feeling alone and there was a lot of people moving through the store.

    I didn¡¯t have my Gameboy to distract me, and sis made me leave buddy in the car. She said I was getting too old to carry him around and that it was starting to get embarrassing. It''s not like I carried him around all the time.

    ¡°Sis?¡± I called out fearfully as I squirmed in my seat.

    ¡°What is it?¡± While she was finally taking me seriously there was also a hint of barely checked anger behind her voice. It only made me more nervous.

    ¡°I need to pee.¡± I squeaked.

    She groaned, ¡°Then go! You¡¯re 12 years old now. Don¡¯t tell me you want me to hold your hand.¡±

    ¡°N-no!¡± I stuttered and shook my head as if she could see me.

    ¡°Ugh! Then what¡¯s the matter?¡± She whined.

    ¡°s-sorry¡­¡± nervously my gaze locked onto my feet. The problem was that there were too many people in the store. The more people that walked by the worse I felt. The feeling of a weight on my chest came over me and everything started to change. The store got darker and everything including the people started to stretch. They were all weirdly tall.

    I don''t like the way they walk. It''s like their legs were moving faster than their heads causing their top half¡¯s to be dragged through the air like kites in the wind. Their feet were so big, so wide. Probably to keep them grounded. The really scary part was the smiles they had. They didn''t look like they were happy. These kite people might just step on me if I wasn¡¯t careful.

    Even if I was down to play with human kites, how was I supposed to get down from the bench? it was so tall. Noticing how high up I was I pushed myself back against the mirror behind me and pulled my legs up onto the bench.

    Sitting near the edge was an easy way to fall to my death. I hugged my knees and for whatever reason my body started to shake as if I was cold. Why was everything so scary all of a sudden? I was so high up that the air started to thin. Where did all the air go? Desperately I tried really hard to breathe, but no matter how much air I sucked in I couldn''t catch my breath.

    It got even worse when one of the kite people approached me. I think it was a lady. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. I still couldn¡¯t breathe, and it was only getting worse as the darkness that filled the room started to close in on me.

    ¡°Are you alright honey? Where¡¯s your mom?¡± Her voice was booming with the power of a hundred truck horns.

    I cried out, ¡°I wanna go home!¡± tears started to form in the corners of my eyes as this kite person started mumbling something I couldn''t understand.

    I heard the stall door open, and Julia¡¯s voice come in crystal clear as if flattening the monsters around me. ¡°Whoa! Hey don¡¯t cry now. Didn¡¯t dad tell you you¡¯re not supposed to cry?¡± Julia had finally shown her face. She had a handful of clothes with her.

    Her presence seemed to force the world to snap back into its normal proportions. The lady stepped back and said, ¡°Sorry, I was only trying to help.¡±

    Julia seemed to glare at her like she had done something wrong only to suddenly look surprised like she knew who this was. ¡°Ms. Johnson! Hi.¡± Said Julia as she gave me a side hug. She was warm compared to the rest of the store. She also had that familiar Julia smell.

    ¡°Julia is that you?¡± my sister nodded. ¡°You certainly have grown. Just look at you, you¡¯ve become such a beautiful girl. You must be 16 by now.¡± She turned her gaze to me then said ¡°so this must be¡­. did your mother have another daughter? She sure is shy.¡± She eyed me. It finally hit me what she meant, and I couldn¡¯t respond out of embarrassment.

    Julia laughed. ¡°No actually this is my little brother Isaac. He¡¯s kind of small, but he¡¯s due a growth spurt any day now.¡± She caressed my head to give me a sense of comfort. ¡°You remember him, right?¡± She gently moved some of the hair away from my face to give the lady a better look.

    She leaned forward and looked me in the eyes. It made me extremely uncomfortable. ¡°Oh Isaac! I remember you. You were such a little thing back then. I see not much has changed.¡± She joked. I recoiled into my sister. ¡°Don¡¯t be shy. You know I changed your diaper once. You peed all over me. Well, I¡¯ll let you two go I need to check on my daughter she¡¯s the one looking at the dresses over there.¡±

    She pointed to an older girl in a blue dress. She had long blonde hair and seemed to be humming a song as she held up another blue dress. Her body had already started to develop. That just meant she was probably already a bleeder.

    One look at her had me burying my face into my sister¡¯s side again. That was the same girl that crushed my flower! I really didn¡¯t want anything to do with her. The lady left us alone and walked back to the flower hater.

    Julia pulled me to my feet. ¡°Restrooms over there kiddo. Do you want me to walk you over?¡± She leaned forward and whispered this next part. ¡°You had one of those crazy hallucinations again, didn¡¯t you?¡± my eyes went wide.

    -Isaac-

    I remember this. Little me really was a mess. The hallucinations she was talking about were something my entire family knew of. They happened every once in a while, when my imagination and anxiety collided with one another.

    It was a product of over thinking and trying to rationalize insanity through mental gymnastics. When my anxiety kicked in my mind would imagine up all kinds of things. Then I¡¯d try to make sense of it and my body would lock up. I¡¯d fall into a never-ending loop of crippling thoughts. I wish I could tell the younger me to relax. To stop over thinking, but this was a memory. He wouldn¡¯t learn that until Alice was there to give him focus.

    I think Aku could also benefit from this lesson. She was just like my younger self. Her personality plastered over mine made us into a helpless child. It was annoying, but I couldn¡¯t be mad at her. She was acting like me after all. How could I not want to help her when I knew exactly how she felt.

    It also didn¡¯t help that acting somewhat childish was my default. It was the same pretend to be someone else tactic except dumbed down so that I could still make actual decisions.

    It was a simple and effective way to detach myself from reality while still being conscious of my decisions. Because of that my wife thought I was an idiot. Now that I really think about it. That¡¯s probably why pretending to be Aku was so easy for me.

    You know a lot of stuff is starting to make sense now. Like how buddy and snowball worked to prevent that crippling paralysis was because they were both mental constructs made for that intended purpose. In my mind buddy was the physical manifestation of ¨C for lack of a better word- a ¡°Safe Space¡± I gave buddy that power over me, but really it was all made up.

    Dad would probably laugh at me if I told him that. This logic could also be applied to Snowball, but in this case for Aku. Funny how the mind works that way. Little me was smart in using his own imagination against all the crap it threw at him. Like fighting fire with fire.

    It''s all in my head and as a defensive reaction I somehow managed to build it up into a labyrinth. I don''t know if that was smart or not.

    -Isaac age 12-

    Once I realized it was actually my imagination that had made everything all strange, I managed to calm myself down. If I had buddy with me none of this would have happened, but lately it seemed like my family had been trying to wean me off of him. Maybe it was to build up my resistance to the world. They meant well, but it was really hard sometimes.

    ¡°Isaac¡­ you good? Do you want me to walk you or not?¡± With that sis seemed to retract her questioning about my¡­ episode.

    ¡°I can go by myself.¡± I broke away from Julia¡¯s grip then made a nervous dash for the restrooms. It was so embarrassing to be treated like a little kid, especially by my sister. She was the type to use your moments of weakness as ammo against you when she felt like it.

    I made my way to a urinal, doing the pe pe dance as I struggled to undo my pants. I almost didn''t make it, but it was okay because I did make it. It was amazing. I tried to aim for the urinal cake because I liked the smell that came out of it.

    My body twitched in the middle of the entire process like it usually did. Once I was done, I gave it a few shakes. A smile bloomed on my face as the feeling of an empty bladder felt great. I zipped up then went to wash my hands. As I washed them, I couldn¡¯t help, but wonder. Why do I twitch when I pee?

    It doesn¡¯t happen every time, but it does happen. I think I¡¯ve seen Cain do it too. Does everyone do it, or is it just us cause we¡¯re twins? I¡¯ll have to ask Julia about it. I made my way out of the bathroom and spotted Julia outside the door.

    Seeing her there filled me with joy since I wouldn¡¯t have to walk around the crowded store looking for her. I was so happy that I gave her a hug. She jumped in surprise resting a hand on my back. ¡°Careful there. You almost knocked me over there you little weirdo. I take it you¡¯re ready to go then?¡±

    I looked up to meet her eyes. They seemed to look right through me leaving me with a tiny pang of nervousness. Regardless of her gaze I managed to nod. I was going to stick to her like dog poop on the bottom of Cain¡¯s shoe. I don¡¯t know why, I don¡¯t know how, but he always manages to step in it just about every time we play outside.

    Lucky for me It looked like that lady and the mean girl had left the store. That was a relief. I was afraid that girl was going to take my Gameboy and crush it under her foot.

    Julia paid for the clothes using her friends discount to get 10% off. Her friend seemed nice. She kept trying to pinch my cheeks, but I buried my face into Julia¡¯s side. Her name was probably Jessica. Okay, so maybe I didn¡¯t actually get her name, but she looked like a Jessica, and even talked like a Jessica.

    Dad once said if it looks like a duck, smells like a duck, and sounds like a duck. It¡¯s a duck. I don¡¯t know what Jessica¡¯s smell like, but it was a 2 out of 3. At the very least she was 66.6% Jessica. With those numbers she was at least a Jess.

    I waved goodbye to Jess on our way out. She smiled and waved back. Julia¡¯s car was a 1983 Toyota Supra. She got it for Christmas and had already managed to get her driver¡¯s license. Sure, it was over a decade old, but it was still a car.

    Dad got it from a police auction. Apparently, it was used for a bank robbery. That already made the car super cool. Sis wasn¡¯t too happy about it at first. That was until she realized it wasn¡¯t just a car it was freedom.

    I tried to get into the front seat, but I¡¯d forgotten that the door handle was missing. That was probably why the bank robbers got caught. Julia was already inside and had just started the car. For a moment I thought she would leave me behind. Sometimes it feels like she doesn¡¯t like me anymore. What if this was her way of getting rid of me?

    It was the perfect time for it! Cain was away. Mom and dad were in Hawaii. In a panic I yelled, ¡°Julia open the door!¡± To my horror She shook her head. I was terrified up until she pointed to the back seat. ¡°Oh, thank god.¡± I blurted.

    I knew what that meant. She didn¡¯t like having me or Cain in the front, because she said it was too dangerous. Apparently, she didn''t have any air bags. I used to think it was so we wouldn¡¯t fight over it, but after riding around with her she wouldn¡¯t let me go in the front.

    So, what if she didn''t have any airbags? That''s what seat belts were for. This was where I put my foot down. I was tired of riding in the back like I was a little kid. Maybe I was, but still.

    I puffed my cheeks and stood there not wanting to give in. She finally opened her door and got out. My confidence waned a tiny bit, but I held my ground.

    ¡°Get in, or I¡¯m leaving you behind! You know I will! Moms not here so don''t think you''ll get what you want just because you¡¯re the favorite.¡± She wasn¡¯t in the mood.

    I hated it when Julia and Cain told me I was moms favorite. Hearing her say that completely deflated my cheeks. Which was also another way of saying it utterly destroyed my desire to protest.

    -Isaac-

    Now that I was able to reexamine this memory in all its details, I realized she knew that. They all did. It was how my sister operated. She would work her way into getting you to trust her all while gathering information about you. What you liked, what you dislike.

    All so she could use it when she needed something from you. Now that I thought about it. She knew everything about me, but I rarely got any information about her. She was silent about most things. I didn''t know any of her weaknesses. I guess I never felt like I needed to know them.

    Whatever relationship we had it was designed to keep me under control. She might help me here and there, but she manipulated me most of the time by putting pressure on my sore spots. In this case it was to keep me safe, but the method she used to get me into the back seat disgusted me. So much so that I felt something begun to stir.

    An echo of emotion long forgotten - so scattered that it was indecipherable - began to pulse within me.

    -Isaac age 12-

    Her gaze did something to my insides making me feel woozy and I ended up crawling into the back seat. Sis even made me wear my seat belt, reaching over to clip it in herself, and to reaffirm her ruling she pulled the belt real tight and gave me a look like she was daring me to argue.

    I didn¡¯t feel like playing along, so I sat there with a sad expression on my face. What she did was comical, but I wasn¡¯t in the mood to play along with her anymore. I was still upset at being told I was the favorite.

    The issue I had with it was that it had nothing to do with me. That was all on mom¡¯s side. I even tried repeatedly to make it fair for everyone, but that just seemed to make my brother and sister even more mad at me.

    Julia must have realized something was wrong because she asked, ¡°You, okay? You know I can¡¯t let you up here? Its dangerous. Quit acting like a brat.¡± She flicked my forehead.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    I didn''t react. Instead, I simply said, ¡°I don''t care about that anymore. Let''s just go home.¡± I was done for the day and planned to spend the rest of it alone in my room. I reached for buddy as my sister backed out of the parking space and headed home.

    Loading 11%

    -Isaac age 11-

    I wonder why teachers teach. It doesn¡¯t make a lot of money, and they seem pretty miserable. Ms. Martinez just talks and talks endlessly. She throws in lame jokes every now and then and there terrible! Jokes like, ¡°Why did the kid cross the playground? To get to the other slide!¡± or ¡°Why is the math book so unhappy? Because it¡¯s full of problems!¡±

    Jokes like that are way to cheesy. They were kind of funny the first time, but she just reuses the same jokes over and over again! Then laughs like she¡¯s the funniest person in the world! You have to be super dense or really narcissississisisteric, narcissister, narcissistic? Yeah, that one!

    You have to be really narcissistic to not understand when people don¡¯t think your jokes are funny. I blame that one girl that fake laughs for brownie points. She¡¯s always so smug just like the teacher. I think she''s one of those teacher pet types.

    As for Ms. Martinez I think she really wanted to be a comedian but couldn¡¯t get anyone to show up to her shows, so she became a teacher instead, because kids have to go to class and listen to her. Otherwise, they¡¯ll fail and have to work as a garbage man or get a loan and start a business.

    So far, I see nothing wrong with those options. I¡¯m pretty sure garbage men get paid better than teachers, and owning your own business had to make you lots of money. It made sense to me considering the people that own businesses have to pay the workers.

    If I can start a garbage pickup business, I can make even more money than Ms. Martinez and rub it in her face. I hope she cries¡­ maybe not that. Crying teachers make me sad. They''re already really sad people. Making them cry just feels like kicking someone while they''re down.

    Do people get paid to go to comedy specials? I know they laugh a lot. Maybe it¡¯s like how in sitcoms they make those people laugh at everything even though a lot of the jokes aren¡¯t funny.

    The laughter of the audience is funnier than the show. Somehow, it¡¯s contagious and it makes you laugh too. My brother always laughs even when he doesn¡¯t get the joke. I think my brain might be broken in that regard.

    If my brain wasn''t broken then I¡¯d be able to laugh at unfunny jokes, but because my brain doesn¡¯t work, I notice stuff that other people don¡¯t. Mom says I¡¯m very intuitive. Dad says intuition is just something women made up so that their husband¡¯s would listen to them more often. Whatever that means. Dad also said I have a screw lose.

    -Isaac-

    The reality was, because of my lack of social skills. I over analyzed stuff in order to figure out how I needed to react. Like when mom and dad were about to fight, I could usually see it before it happened.

    To most people, reading social situations comes naturally to them. So natural that it''s basically automatic like breathing. For someone like me though¡­ well, let''s just say I have to actually focus.

    There¡¯s no real secret to it you just needed to pay attention. Eventually you¡¯ll start to notice patterns. Like slamming doors, or just the way people seem to be acting.

    If I was a normal person with my analyzing skills, I could easily read strangers, but I wasn''t like that. My ability to understand social cues has grown to a more acceptable level in recent years, but every once in a while.

    I''ll say something that earns me that look that tells me I said something crazy. I hate when that happens. It only served to remind me how bad I was at conversations. So bad that sometimes when I spoke people would ignore me because I would often say things that were uninteresting, or plain annoying.

    That''s why I had to pay so much attention to body Language and the way things were worded. It was the little things that gave people away. Of course, this only really worked if I knew the people I was trying to read. Their default was how they were normally and anything that varied from that was an instant giveaway that something was wrong.

    See it happen enough times and you¡¯ll understand the little things that make someone angry or happy. Figure out why that happened, and you can find ways of preventing it, or if you¡¯re an asshole, provoke it.

    For someone like my brother simply seeing me was enough to make him irritated. For my sister running up and down the hall while she was in her room could set her off. For my dad putting his beer at the very back of the fridge behind everything else was a big no, no.

    For mom all you had to do was move stuff around in the kitchen to where it doesn¡¯t belong, and she would go crazy. These were just a few things, but I knew them and did my best to avoid making them mad. If I could keep everyone in a good mood, then no one would fight.

    Of course, if you managed to do these things, its not like they would immediately yell at you. they did cause irritation to the point where they might be a little grumpy for the rest of the day, but there were ways of smoothing out these incursions of random irritation.

    My sister liked it when I acted excited to see her and ran up with a big hug. This usually worked with my parents too, but if she was really grumpy, I just needed to bring her one of the pudding cups in the fridge and act like I snuck it around mom just for her.

    Dad was simple. You just needed to get him a beer and ask about his day. If he said it was fine, then don¡¯t pester him any further. If he starts talking about what happened at work, then listen and hype him up. The most important thing though was the beer and when he sat down in his lazy boy. You needed to pull his boots off for him. That always left him feeling better.

    As for mom you just needed to do something nice. Like wash the dishes for her or bring her a crappie flower from outside. She especially liked it when you cleaned your room without her asking you to, and for the love of God! NEVER, EVER, miss the toilet. Of course, this stuff only worked back before she went crazy.

    With my brother the only way was to pretend to fall down in front of him or stub my toe. that seemed to do the trick. He was an asshole, but he was a lot nicer after you got him to laugh. Pretending to be a cluts usually did it. My brother had ¡°kick in the balls¡± humor.

    He was also very easy to piss off. The thought of having to tip toe around him caused the echo to become ever more noticeable.

    -Isaac age 11-

    My daydream was broken when Ms. Martinez called my name. ¡°Isaac, come to the front of the class and solve the problem.¡± The problem in question was, -27 + 32.

    It wasn¡¯t hard. I just needed to subtract 27 from 32. Ms. Martinez had been teaching us how to add negative numbers with positive numbers. I knew the answer, but there was a problem¡­ I couldn''t get up. The thought of having to go in front of these strangers made me really nervous.

    The classroom seemed to stretch, and the number of students multiplied. All of a sudden, I felt so small. There was no way I could go up there¡­ but if I don¡¯t then they¡¯ll think I¡¯m weird and start making fun of me.

    We were only a little over a week into the school year and I was put in a class full of strangers. I didn¡¯t know any of these people. If I was normal then maybe things would be okay, but my brain told me I was in danger. How is it that I¡¯ve never met any of these people.

    Our town wasn¡¯t that big. This had to be some kind of trick. Maybe they were all aliens pretending to be humans and were planning to steal my organs to make themselves look more human!

    People started to stare making it worse. I just needed to solve the problem. I reached up to my hair and gripped it with both hands. The pain of pulling my hair was a perfect distraction. Too bad it wasn¡¯t enough to make me move. Pretend to be someone else. I¡¯m not Isaac I¡¯m¡­ what was his name? Crap I can¡¯t remember!

    ¡°Isaac come to the front of the class¡­. now.¡± Her voice was strong like she had a megaphone in her throat. I couldn¡¯t get up. There was nothing I could do. My heart continued to throb in my chest and my mouth started to go dry.

    ¡°Smith is there something wrong? I told you to solve the problem.¡± The room became infinitely bigger, and my fellow classmates all started to whisper.

    ¡°Alright then, Isaac you can stay after class for detention.¡± She pointed her finger to another student, a girl with a ponytail. ¡°Sasha come to the front; you can solve the problem.¡± Sasha was the teacher¡¯s pet. The one I had mentioned before.

    The girl got up and headed to the front of the classroom taking all the attention with her. I deflated and laid my head on my cold desk. There was no way I was going to survive this year. Not without buddy.

    I couldn¡¯t bring him anymore since those kids ripped his wing off. There was no way I¡¯d let anyone hurt him again¡­ So, I left him at home.

    He always asks me about my day. I know he isn''t real, but buddy has been my friend since I can remember. It feels wrong to just forget about him. Besides, he helps me work through my thoughts. Simply by letting me bounce my ideas off him it left me with a better structured mind.

    The day went on like any other. Without any care for my feelings. Sometimes I wished everything could just pause for a bit, so I could take a breath, but time and space didn''t care about me, or anyone for that matter.

    I could stand as still as I wanted to, but the world would continue to move and change around me. Despite asking it to stop or holding my breath it would not care and would just leave me behind. Life was scary that way. So uncaring and all I could do was try to stay afloat.

    Maybe I should be more like dad. He was also really uncaring when it came to life. If I stop caring about every little thing and only focus on the important parts, then maybe I can keep moving forward at my own pace. That sounded impossible though.

    Detention was boring. In order to give it purpose I used it to get ahead on my homework and even managed to get it done. Ms. Martinez noticed what I was doing and came to take a look. I tried to ignore her, but that didn''t stop me from feeling nervous.

    ¡°Hmmm¡­ yeah that''s all correct¡­ where¡¯s your work? Are you cheating with a calculator?¡± She accused.

    I shook my head. It was just the two of us so it wasn''t too hard to answer, but if it was only a yes or no question then a nod or head shake would do. Frankly, I felt a little offended at the accusation.

    Wait, did she think I was dumb? On second thought¡­. this required some context. ¡°That''s¡­. Not true. I um¡­ I did it in my head.¡± It was the truth.

    I didn''t look up at her, but I could feel her gaze burning a hole in the back of my head. I don''t think she believed me. ¡°Alright.¡± She scoffed, ¡°Solve this for extra credit.¡± She wrote out a new problem at the end of the worksheet.

    It was an interesting problem. Something I¡¯ve only ever seen in one of my sister¡¯s algebra books. This was kind of unfair, but not impossible. Sis explained it to me once when I asked her about the letters in her math equations.

    However, this one didn¡¯t have any letters. Still the same logic can be applied, so maybe I can figure it out. It¡¯s not a hard problem. Since it had no letters, the only issue is the order they needed to be solved.

    6/2 (1+1) =

    That was kind of smart on Ms. Martinez¡¯s part, but at the same time a bit harsh for teaching someone a lesson. This would basically determine if I was cheating or not, but at the same time she was setting me up to fail by giving me a problem that she hadn''t taught me how to solve. I could feel a wave of superiority coming off of her, like she¡¯d gotten one up on me.

    -Isaac-

    I remember this lady; she was such a crap teacher. Did she really think she was the source of all knowledge? She acted like the gatekeeper of math. It looked really ugly on her, and I remember my opinion of her dropped dramatically after that day.

    She was the type of person to hold knowledge over your head and not explain it properly just so she could pretend she was smarter than you. The worst type of teacher. Not even a teacher actually. Just an elitist asshole who thinks she''s better than everyone else.

    The only reason she became a teacher was because she couldn¡¯t make it anywhere else. It¡¯s easy to say ¡°Oh, yeah I¡¯m a genius, but I sacrificed my potential so that I could help guide the youth.¡±

    In reality she knew she was an idiot and didn''t want to disappoint herself by trying and failing. Instead, she became a middle school teacher just so she could make herself out to be a better person than anyone else.

    The rage I felt caused the echo to grow in frequency.

    -Isaac age 11-

    A normal kid might try to divide the 6 and 2 first, but Sis said you needed to do the part with the parentheses first¡­. Hang on¡­ I¡¯m over thinking it, I don''t think the order mattered all that much. That''s a 2. The 6 divided by 2 is¡­ just a 3¡­. So, what''s left? 3 and a 2.

    This was probably the part where I was supposed to get stuck, but I knew better. When all you have left are individual numbers then you need to multiply them together¡­ right? I hope I¡¯m right.

    I wrote down a 6 as the answer. The teacher leaned forward, in surprise. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be dammed. That¡¯s right. Where did you learn to do this?¡± There was a hint of irritation in her voice. This lady was acting like a drug dealer that found out one of her customers was buying off someone else. Dad said these types of situations could lead to death.

    She was a teacher so the worst thing she could do to me was fail me. I decided to tell the truth. I shrugged my shoulders. ¡°My sister showed me. This one is actually pretty easy compared to the ones she does though.¡± She clearly wanted me to fail, but like the goat I could not fall.

    Not when I can cling to the sides of cliffs like a spider! However, I can also get my head stuck in fences¡­. I wasn¡¯t sure where that fit into the metaphor, so I chose to ignore that fun fact. With that little win in my pocket my confidence had gone up a tad.

    She sighed calming herself down and took on a more professional demeanor. ¡°Why didn''t you come up to the board when I called you?¡± She was now holding up the sheet looking everything over once more. It was as if she was seeing me for the first time.

    ¡°I don''t do well in front of people.¡± I murmured. She didn''t need to know the whole hallucination thing. This lady seemed like the type to take advantage of something like that.

    The teacher sighed again. ¡°Alright¡­ well you can go home now. I¡¯ll give you the extra credit, but from now on show your work.¡± She took the worksheet with her and walked back to her desk at the front of the class.

    I got up and grabbed my stuff. Then headed out of the room. That was a total waste of time. All I had to do was write down a 5 on the chalk board and I could have avoided all of this. Well, at least I got the extra credit. To bad my teacher hates me now.

    Loading 21%

    -Isaac age 11-

    I ran down the street hiding behind a rusty old truck. It was missing its tires and had been suspended on cinderblocks. Mom always tells me never to go near it, since she was afraid it would fall down and turn me into a half boy, half machine, all badass¡­. Or something like that. I don''t remember I zoned out halfway through the¡­. conversation? Lecture? It was a lecture. Anyway, right now I needed it to hide.

    My heart was racing from all the running around I¡¯d been doing. I lifted my head to take a look and surly enough my assailant was only a few feet away from me. Like a slithery little sneaky snake, I made my way around the car as the other kid walked around the other side.

    He was huffing and puffing as he went. Thank God I managed to keep my breathing to a soft huff. I was the last one. The only kid that hadn¡¯t been frozen yet. It was my job to unfreeze everyone and keep our game of freeze tag going.

    My efforts were flawless as the kid ran away from me. I had escaped him. I needed to go unfreeze Cain. Thanks to my brother¡¯s recklessness I was able to get away, but ended up running nearly a whole block before I could find a place to sneak back around.

    I needed to move fast because there was only a few more houses until he reached the limit of where we were allowed to play, and once he realized that he would run back and try to catch me.

    With a bit of effort, I made my way back to my brother. He was just standing there like a statue. I wasted no time and crawled between his legs coming out his front side.

    Quickly I shook his hand then fist bumped him. Finally, to complete the unfreezing ritual I told him my favorite food, ¡°Pizza!¡± My favorite video game, ¡°Kirby¡¯s Dream Land!¡± and finally the color of my underwear, but I whispered it instead of saying it aloud, ¡°p-pink¡± and with that he was unfrozen.

    ¡°What took you so long, and why didn''t you throw those away! I get Julia left a red sock in with the whites, but you still choose to wear it dude.¡± I was just happy he understood the situation. Instead of accusing me of being a girl like how Pablo and Wesley did in the last game we played.

    ¡°I can''t throw them away they¡¯re my lucky underwear. I wear them all the time.¡± I whispered that last part before looking around to make sure no one heard me.

    Cain had a look of disgust on his face. ¡°That¡¯s disgusting dude. Even I''ll only wear mine for like two days, and even then, I''ll rotate them.¡±

    ¡°I do that too. that''s why I can wear them for three days.¡± I said smugly.

    ¡°Three? How?¡± He leaned in close as if I knew the secret of the universe.

    I scoffed. ¡°Your wear them normal. then backwards. Then inside out.¡± I chuckled at my genius.

    ¡°That''s diabolical. We don''t have time for this get moving! We need to free the others!¡± said Cain as he pulled me along. I was still tired from all the running I did before, but my brother didn¡¯t care about that.

    ¡°Cain slow down I¡¯m gonna-¡° I was cut off as my legs were unable to keep up with my brother. As a result, I was now being dragged.

    It hurt, but despite my cries Cain kept pulling me along. He finally let go leaving me on the floor. ¡°God, you¡¯re useless!¡± He left me behind as I fought back tears. Lately he had been a lot meaner to me.

    That¡¯s when I heard a scream. Somehow, I¡¯d ended up right in front of my house and mom had seen everything. She came running out to me and lifted me up. ¡°Sweetie are you okay?¡± I was crying and sniffling like a baby unable to get the words out. I wanted to say it was an accident so Cain wouldn''t get in trouble, but that was kind of impossible. She carried me inside.

    I was plopped down on the couch and mom checked my legs. ¡°You¡¯re all scratched up. Its okay I¡¯ll clean it up. When Cain gets home, I''m going to ground him for a week!¡± She kissed my salty forehead. ¡°How about I get you a glass of milk and some cookies. That¡¯ll make you feel better.¡± That actually sounded really nice.

    I finally managed to stop crying and say something. ¡°Um¡­ mom.¡± I was really tired of this over protectiveness. She didn¡¯t treat anyone else like this.

    I didn''t even get to ask. She just answered, ¡°No you¡¯re not going back outside. I knew letting you play with those older boys would get you hurt. I can¡¯t believe Cain would just leave you there. Big brothers can be really mean sometimes.¡± There was a lot of worry in her voice, but I felt the need to correct her.

    ¡°Mom I¡¯m the older brother and I¡¯m fine. Those guys are like the same age as me. Only Pablo is a year older. Besides, this is just a scratch. I want to go play some more.¡± She always did that. Just because everyone else was a little bigger didn¡¯t mean they were older.

    ¡°Uh¡­ right. Sometimes I forget. It¡¯s alright honey. I think you should stay inside for today. Just to be safe.¡± She playfully pinched my nose then walked off. Somehow my anger deflated. I knew I couldn''t really win against her, but at the very least I corrected her.

    I looked out the window and watched as Cain ran back and was frozen again. He was really bad at that. Cain always yelled and gave away his position. He thought since he was the fastest runner that no one could catch him. I always was the one to unfreeze him.

    Then with his speed he would go unfreeze everyone else and look like the big hero. He also got mad if I didn¡¯t unfreeze him first. In the end everyone said I was really bad at freeze tag not knowing it was thanks to me sneaking around that our game would last so long.

    Mom came back with the first aid stuff. First, she cleaned the wound ¨C which burned like hell! Owy owy ouch! - I did my best not to flinch or show pain. Then she applied a few big band aids and kissed my boo boos.

    ¡°Wow not a single complaint. My brave little boy. ¡°She ruffled my hair. ¡°You know Cain always cries when I clean his scratches. Your just like your father. I guess that really does make you the big brother.¡±

    My eyes lit up. It felt like she was just trying to make me feel better, but I also knew it was true that Cain complained a lot when he got his cuts cleaned. I had to ask. ¡°You think so?¡±

    She nodded. ¡°Of course. You know as the older brother it¡¯s your job to look after Cain. You need to be mature and responsible.¡± She smiled at me as she adjusted my shorts back into place.

    That left me wondering. ¡°What about Julia?¡± she was my big sister so did she have to look after us?

    ¡°Your big sister should look after both of you, but you two are her brothers so you should do whatever you can to protect her. Anymore questions?¡± She asked.

    I shook my head and stayed quiet. Mom headed off to the kitchen.

    -Isaac-

    This woman was my mom. Its shocking to see how she was back then. She really did love us. Mom just couldn''t handle dad¡¯s death. What I wouldn¡¯t give to prevent that tragedy.

    What I wouldn''t give to have this version of her in my life.

    The echo grew in power now sounding like angry static.

    -Isaac age 11-

    As promised, she brought me some cookies and a glass of warm milk. I wasn¡¯t one to turn it down especially since mom didn¡¯t allow us sweets all that much. That¡¯s why I liked breakfast. Cereal sounded like a regular meal, but if you got the right kind, it was absolutely amazing.

    The cookies did make me feel better and to add to that mom gave me the remote to the TV. I watched some cartoons and gorged on cookies. This was way better than any freeze tag. Well, maybe not. The fun about freeze tag was that I got to play with a bunch of people. While scary the first time, it got easier the more we hung out.

    However, this was an exceedingly rare occasion. You couldn¡¯t blame me for taking advantage of it. Eventually it started to get dark, and Cain came back inside only to find me sprawled out on the couch like a lazy cat.

    He shook his head then started stuffing his mouth with my cookies! ¡°Hey those are mine.¡± I whined.

    Cain grabbed the last cookie, looked me in the eyes then ate it very slowly, as if he wanted me to feel every moment of him chewing down the last of my sweets. ¡°Mommas boy. You ran away to mommy. I don''t get why mom spoils you. There¡¯s nothing special about you. Your just weak. I¡¯m faster and stronger.¡± He then walked away angrily.

    I felt like crying again. I know he was mad and didn''t mean it, but it still hurt. It always came down to this. Being the ¡°favorite¡± or whatever, made it impossible to get along with my siblings. Sis says Cain is just jealous, but I also think she is too.

    Between the three of us I was the most protected. Julia was the most trusted and Cain was no where to be found. He didn''t need protection and he was too much of a liar to be trusted.

    Dad didn''t feel the need to guide him because he was already pretty manly, and mom didn''t coddle him because he didn''t need it. He got less attention as a result and that pissed him off. Especially when he felt like he deserved it for being better than me at just about everything.

    Cain always wanted to be the center of the show and I¡¯d gladly give it to him, but I had no control over that. The good thing was he''ll be back to normal by the time dinner comes around.

    Loading 35%

 Episode 36: loading 71%

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    -Isaac age 12-

    How come some people call soccer football? And how come some people call football soccer? I asked dad this once and he said it was because we already had football so the name had to be changed.

    I also asked my teacher Ms. Martinez about it and she said soccer is actually called association football but the brits gave it the nickname soccer. It was later adopted by the Americans to differentiate American football from association football. My teacher also said soccer was superior because of how elegant it was and that American football was too barbaric to be called a sport.

    Dad said my teacher is full of shit and that soccer was for losers. He then asked me what else my teacher was teaching me and started talking about pulling us all out of school and home schooling us on how to put up drywall. He had recently put a hole through the wall in the living room after his team lost.

    I like soccer. It takes skill to control a ball with your legs. For the longest I didn''t want to tell dad I liked it, but then I did. He said that was good. I thought he would be disappointed, but he told me never to be afraid to say what I liked even if the other person hated it. After that he told me how stupid the game was then later bought me a soccer ball.

    I like soccer, but I can also see how satisfying it would be to tackle people to the ground. That actually sounded cool, but I didn¡¯t have the mass to pull it off myself. If I tried to tackle someone I''d just end up bouncing off.

    Whenever there was a strong wind Dad would always tell me to put rocks in my pockets so that the wind wouldn''t carry me away. I believed him when I was six and would often have rocks in my pockets out of fear. That stopped when mom washed my clothes and heard them rattling around her brand new washing machine.

    Sometimes I¡¯ll watch football with my dad. I like watching people get knocked down like lions hunting gazelle. One time I watched this one guy just zigzag back and forth only for this really big guy to hit him like a truck. After that I couldn¡¯t help but want to see more.

    I didn¡¯t really understand the game. Well. Kind of. I just wanted to see people get knocked down. Seeing my dad cheer for his team was also kind of cool and before I knew it I too had a liking for the sport.

    A ball flew at me hitting me In the forehead. I fell onto my back as the ball bounced off only to fly over a fence and into someone¡¯s backyard. My first thought was ¡°ow¡± My second thought was ¡°someone had to go get it.¡± Which was far more painful than any ball related injury.

    Actually taking a baseball to the balls was pretty horrific compared to sneaking into someone¡¯s lawn. Dad says since I¡¯m a helpless little boy that doesn¡¯t know any better; I can basically do whatever I want since I¡¯ll be tried as a minor. Still¡­ I don¡¯t have the guts to try something like that.

    I looked to my so called friends. There were four of us. It was Wesley, Pablo, my brother, and me. We were playing soccer in the ally behind our house and now the ball was gone. The same ball dad had gotten me. The one I was responsible for.

    ¡°It¡¯s your turn shit head.¡± Cain said looking at me. Shit head had become my nickname about a week ago, but they only called me that when it was just us.

    I looked over to the yard it had gone into and felt my body go stiff. Mss. Robertson no problem. The Rosenstein¡¯s fine, but this house? Hell no. ¡°But guys¡­ that¡¯s where the witch lives.¡± My body became heavy at the thought of going in there. My legs felt like wet sand bags.

    ¡°I knew shit head was too chicken to hang with us. Cain your brothers lame.¡± Said Wesley.

    Cain sighed, ¡°let me go talk to him.¡± Cain approached me wrapping his arm over my shoulders and guiding me away from the group.

    ¡°Isaac if you don¡¯t do this those guy¡¯s are going to think you¡¯re not cool and you won¡¯t get to play with us anymore.¡± Whispered Cain as he stuck my head into a choke hold. It was kind of painful.

    Cain always put me in strange choke holds. He says it¡¯s to motivate me to become stronger. Sometimes he grabs my hands by the wrists and squeezes them really hard. It hurts a lot and one time he even managed to dislocate righty.

    I had to go to a doctor after that. He didn¡¯t get in trouble because I told mom I¡¯d fallen down. She believed me like always and Cain was safe, but he got mad at me for lying. Not because I lied, but because he hated the idea of owing me one.

    That was ridiculous! I did it because I love my brother and didn¡¯t want to see him get in trouble. I thought telling him that would make him happy, but all it did was piss him even more off, and he twisted my sore wrist for being an idiot.

    ¡°But Cain that¡¯s the witches house.¡± I complained. He didn¡¯t seem to care as he started to actually choke me. I could feel his arm press against my throat putting pressure on my Adams apple.

    ¡°Yeah, so!¡± He swung me side to side like I was a rag doll. ¡°That¡¯ll make you even cooler when you actually bring the ball back! I¡¯ve done it before you''ll be fine you big baby.¡± it was starting to really hurt.

    I couldn¡¯t breathe and I was starting to panic. Which was the one thing you weren¡¯t supposed to do in a stressful situations! The more I tried not to panic the more I panicked!

    He wasn¡¯t going to let go until I agreed to it. With the last bit of air I croaked out an, ¡°Okay.¡± He finally released me and I was able to take a breath.

    Cain then punched me in the chest causing pain to radiate all over my ribcage. It really hurt! I Was on the verge of tears, but I didn¡¯t want everyone to call me a cry baby, so I held it in.

    ¡°You better not get caught, or I¡¯ll get in trouble. Don¡¯t go crying to mom either. Mommas boy.¡± His words hurt almost as much as his punches, but it was to help me get tougher. At least that¡¯s what Cain told me.

    Cain looked back to the guys and said, ¡°He¡¯ll do it!¡± They cheered and made their way over. Before I knew it they were praising me like I¡¯d won the lottery.

    The house had a tall fence all around it and the only way to go inside was to go through the conveniently missing fence post. The entire fence was super old. The sun had baked it over the years and some vine like plants looked like they were holding the whole thing together.

    I peeked through the hole only to spot what looked like a garden. My brother had gone in there before and it always made me so nervous. Like he would be swallowed up by the witch.

    Everyone knew this place as the witch¡¯s house. It was very old and had been built using gothic architecture. They say that sometimes at night you can hear the witch whistling. If you hear it you should run. The whistle is some kind of hypnotic spell that makes you walk into the house. Everyone that goes in disappears forever.

    Cain says there was once this kid that went in there 20 years ago and somehow escaped after 7 years of being trapped inside, but for him time hadn¡¯t moved at all. What if this was like some kind of warm hole into another part of the galaxy or something. Where you go through and it feels like only a minute has passed, but really it¡¯s been years!

    That didn¡¯t make any sense though since Cain had gone in there a few times already and he was fine. Maybe he was just messing with me. I¡¯m not sure. One time I thought he was messing with me when he told me my puppy died, but then mom confirmed it.

    I looked back to my brother. Both Wesley and Pablo had the biggest grins on their faces. ¡°Go in already!¡± Cain shoved me into the fence and I was stabbed by some of the loose nails that were jutting out of the wood. Pablo and Wesley laughed. I didn¡¯t cry. Instead I squeezed through the hole.

    My fear and anxiety had gone up a notch as soon as I entered. At the time I thought it was my gut telling me this place was cursed, but really it was only my fear and adrenalin giving me heightened senses.

    Slowly I made my way through the garden. It was actually a really nice garden. There were all sorts of flowers, vegetables, and even a few fruits. There was a peach tree back here and even some tomatoes. Wait¡­ are those carrots?

    ¡°ew!¡± I cried. I covered my mouth. This is the lair of a wicked witch indeed. Anyone that can spawn carrots deserves death. Death to the witch! I then noticed some small black looking berries. They were rounded and looked yummy. I tried some and was met with pure sweetness. Maybe the witch wasn¡¯t all bad.

    This place was so strange. It was like I¡¯d walked into another world. Had I somehow entered another dimension? I¡¯ve read about parallel worlds where things are completely different. Like right now there could be an Isaac in another world that likes to eat his boogers¡­. I''m I going to have to kill him?

    I looked around for a weapon. There was nothing but plants here. Maybe I can poison him with one. I gave the plants a closer inspection. I bet I could kill him with a carrot! I¡¯ll have to sharpen it first, now where can I find a knife?

    You know, I¡¯ve never realized how easy it was to grow stuff. ¡°hmmm¡­¡± I hummed. Maybe it wasn¡¯t that easy, but seeing that someone could do it themselves without needing a farm, or big equipment was so cool.

    The smells coming from the garden were so sweet. I¡¯d almost forgotten I was in a witches hut. There was a few bees around, but I wasn¡¯t scared. As long as they didn¡¯t come too close that is.

    That was when I notice a white box sitting on the ground. It had a lot of bees on it. They were going in and out. ¡°Is that a bee hive!? I¡¯ve never seen one! That¡¯s so cool!¡±

    ¡°Yes, I suppose it is¡­ coool.¡± The voice came from the back door of the house. I turned to see a very old lady. She was like a million years old! This must be the witch. Crap!

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry please don¡¯t eat me!¡± I was so scared I couldn¡¯t even run away. My body was the perfect size to fit in a caldron. Dammit! I should have waited for my growth spurt before coming in here. It¡¯ll be any day now.

    I thought she would lunge at me. Maybe use some kind of spell, or summon a demon to chase me down, but instead she laughed. ¡°My goodness! Eat you? I don¡¯t think so. With my teeth I can barely eat meat. Much less children. Besides, a little thing like you. Your nothing but skin and bones. Do your parents not feed you?¡±

    For a witch she seemed kind of human. Where were the warts? What about the pointy hat? Her skin wasn¡¯t green either. She was so¡­¡­ disappointing. Actually, now that I look at her¡­ this was just someone''s grandma! I want my money back this was a total scam! Crap, I felt kind of bad now. I should be polite like mom said.

    ¡°My parents feed me fine ma¡¯am. I¡¯m just kind of small.¡± I fingered my hair as I now realized I had to speak with this lady. I¡¯d rather be eaten by a witch than talk to someone. Priorities.

    ¡°I see. You do know you¡¯re trespassing?¡± Her voice was very croaky; like she had a frog in her throat. I fought back the urge to croak back in her froggie language.

    Instead I nodded. ¡°I¡¯m sorry ma¡¯am. I only came to get our ball back. My dad will get mad if I don''t.¡± I stared down at my feet to avoid her gaze.

    She pointed at a broken pot. ¡°That one over there.¡± Next to it was our ball. The flowers inside were still attached to the dirt. Its roots seeming to hold it all together even though it¡¯s home had been destroyed. It''s like the dirt hadn¡¯t realized the pot was broken yet.

    My heart sank. ¡°Ah! I¡¯m so sorry!¡± I ran over taking hold of the clump of dirt then made the whole thing sit up right. The blue flower petals were a little bruised.

    ¡°Well¡­ you certainly feel sorry don¡¯t you.¡± She approached from my side. ¡°But are you sorry for hurting my flowers or are you sorry you got caught?¡±

    Even if I told her I felt bad about the flowers she probably wouldn¡¯t believe me. So instead of apologizing and trying to convince her, I worked to correct my mistake. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. How do I save them.¡± I looked up to the old woman. She eyed me curiously. I noticed the corners of her mouth start to curl up.

    ¡°Well, isn¡¯t that something. What¡¯s your name? Mine¡¯s Martha.¡± Croaked the Wrinkly frog lady.

    I got a little nervous. ¡°My name¡¯s Isaac, but my friends call me shit head¡­. Um I mean I¡¯m Isaac.¡± I hope she didn¡¯t think we were weird. All it takes is a whisper and the entire town will know.

    What if everyone starts calling me shit head? That''s how people turn into things. They get called one thing and they become that. That''s why this Martha lady kind of looks like a witch. I don''t want my head to fill up with poop! That¡¯ll smell so bad! Mom wont love me anymore and I¡¯ll have to go live in an orphanage where all the other kids will beat me up because I smell like duky!

    ¡°Hello, are you okay?¡± She looked worried as I fell out of my delusional state. I cleared my throat and said, ¡°sorry. I¡¯m good now.¡±

    She blinked a few times before moving on. ¡°Isaac, so you are a boy. I wasn¡¯t sure. Go grab another pot out of the shed over there.¡± She pointed to a corner of the property. The aforementioned shed was man made, but not well made. It was mostly comprised of sheet metal and rebar.

    The whole thing looked to be welded together and had started to rust in some areas. The metal roof had been covered in a plastic tarp. It looked like there was a few holes there from when the rain rusted through the metal.

    There was a few garden tools inside along with some other things like mulch and an old push mower. It wasn¡¯t hard to find the pots. I got one that was about the same size and carried it out.

    It wasn¡¯t too heavy. Martha helped me put the clump of roots and dirt into it. We even added some mulch, soil, and water. I pushed it over to the spot it use to be, then carried the remains of the pot over to the trash bin.

    ¡°Are the flowers going to be okay now?¡± I asked worriedly. This was the first time I nearly killed another living thing. Was I a murderer? If I hadn''t spaced out then maybe the flowers would be okay. This was at least a misdemeanor. That¡¯s like 2k in fines, and six months! I¡¯m too small to go to jail! I have a little butt! I¡¯ll have to shave my head and join a gang! I don¡¯t wanna get a tattoo! ¡°My body is a temple!!¡± I yelled.

    Martha looked at me strangely. I acted like it never happened and just reiterated my previous question. ¡°Are the flowers going to be okay?¡±

    She stayed quiet for a second before taking the out I had handed her. ¡°They¡¯ll be fine. Plants are very resilient you know.¡± She had one of those old lady smiles on her face the kind that highlighted her wrinkles.

    I finally relaxed. ¡°That¡¯s good. Did you do all this by yourself granny.¡± Granny felt like a good nickname.

    ¡°Granny! Well, I suppose I do look like a grandma.¡± She sighed. ¡°Yes, I did it all by myself. It takes time to do things at my age, but I have all day, so it keeps me busy.¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    ¡°I see. Do you need anymore help? I can do stuff. Watch!¡± I did a quick cartwheel to show off how active I was. It left me a little winded, but I was very proud of it. It had taken me an entire week to learn how to do it.

    Dad says I should always help old people if they need it. Granny was a nice old lady so I wanted to help her.

    ¡°Well, since you¡¯re a nimble little guy there are a few things you could help me with.¡± She seemed to ponder something as she looked around the yard.

    That day I forgot all about my friends and helped granny with her garden, along with some of the house work. She was very grateful for all the help. She said it was her son¡¯s job to help her, but that he hadn¡¯t shown up in over a week. Apparently I did in 3 hours what would have taken her 3 days.

    She even had me organize her medicine into some little box thing that had different sections for every day and time of the week. I freaked out at how many pills she had to choke down every day but that''s just what happens when you get old.

    As a reward for all my hard work she let me try some honey and even gave me a jar of the stuff to take with me. I''ve never tried honey before and I can confirm it was delicious! It was so sweet and had a flavor similar to nuts. It was the best thing I''d ever tasted.

    I wanted to eat the whole thing when I got home, but mom said I was only allowed to have a spoonful.

    Cain wanted some too. I was happy to share, but he wanted the whole thing. In the end he got a spoon full and mom hid it somewhere we couldn¡¯t reach. I gave some to Julia too, but she wasn''t as impressed.

    That summer I came by every day to help granny and keep her company. I even let her meet buddy, but for some reason she couldn''t stop laughing. I didn¡¯t really hang out with my brother that much and it seemed to really bother him. When summer vacation ended I would only come by for an hour after school.

    It turns out bees don¡¯t sting as much as I thought they would. As long as you were gentle and had a calm heart you should be fine. I did get stung a few times though, but that was okay. It was worth it to collect the honey. It turns out granny liked to use it in her tea.

    When she told me she only collected the honey twice a year I felt bad. At first it was because I thought I¡¯d taken all the honey, but it turns out that one hive made over 30 pounds of honey a year. That was a lot of tea.

    She also showed me some jars of crystallized honey that had basically turned into candy. It was so good! I wanted to eat the whole thing but had to stop myself.

    At one point she showed me this really cool fairy tale book. Only it was different from regular fairy tales, or at least the stories were. They were darker and kind of scary. It was called Grimm¡¯s fairy tales. Granny said they were the original fairy tales before they were watered down for the newer generation. Apparently she use to read them to her son. Now I got to listen to them everyday.

    She later read me a book about king Arthur. When I learned about the sword Excalibur, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Granny says that the name Excalibur means to cut steel.

    I was so inspired by that story that I would often swing a stick around in my back yard pretending to wield Excalibur. I didn¡¯t dare let Cain see me in fear of being made fun of. I think mom saw me a few times but that was okay. Mom¡¯s a really nice person.

    Granny showed me all kinds of books. The wonderful wizard of Oz, Alice¡¯s adventures in wonderland. Of mice and men, and a few others. She had lots of books and I loved all of them.

    Like the books on Greek mythology or Norse mythology. She also knew some stories about this guy called the monkey King. Granny knew a lot about old legends. Did you know that there¡¯s this huge snake thing that lives in the ocean. It¡¯s called Jormungandr. Hehe, it¡¯s name sounds funny.

    There''s also this lady with snake hair that turns people into stone! Oh, and there''s this cool guy that fights a giant snake with eight heads. It''s crazy how many legends involve snakes.

    Mom invited granny over for dinner a few times and she would always praise me and tell everyone how helpful I was. I guess it made me kind of happy to actually be useful to someone, but at the same time I felt like I didn''t deserve it. I would even try to play down my involvement, but granny said I was too humble.

    My family loved me, but they never needed me. Sometimes it made me feel more like a pet. Something they could adore but never see as a reliable person. Sis liked to joke that I was no longer going to grow and that I would stay little forever.

    That actually gave me a strange nightmare where I caught my sister slipping a potion into my food. A potion that would keep me from growing any older. That dream gave me so much anxiety that I rarely ate and when I did I made sure to serve my own plate.

    It''s like my apatite would vanish the moment my brain fed my anxiety and my anxiety would feed my brain right back. My hunger levels were nonexistent.

    During our dinners together Cain kept telling granny about my blunders. Lucky for me she dismissed them and said I was doing my best. He later beat me up for being so smug. It was my own fault for getting cocky. I hadn¡¯t realized how self important and annoying I was being.

    The next day Cain didn''t let me visit granny he dragged me over to our friends and they took turns making fun of me for helping an old lady. Those guys were a bunch of goofs. This was just how guys were right?

    They tore each other down and kept everyone humble. This would only make me stronger. However, It got to be a little too much and I started crying. That¡¯s when they abandoned me and I was finally able to go see granny.

    Even though I wiped away my tears and made myself laugh, granny still knew. I told her I had fallen down and I guess she believed me. I didn¡¯t want to go home that day.

    Instead I used the old push mower to trim the yard. It took forever and my body was screaming. I kept pushing it as I felt something grow inside me. It was anger, but it wasn''t any ordinary anger. Nothing like the fleeting flares of rage that I¡¯d felt before.

    It was cold and all encompassing. Like a black tar pit growing in my chest. I didn''t know what to do with it so I used it by feeding it all into physical labor. Even though my body hurt I kept pushing that dam mower.

    It got dark and I managed to finish. I laid there in the freshly cut grass, it¡¯s smell working it¡¯s way into my nose. That pit in my chest was still there, still festering like sticky exposed meat covered in flies. It was full of anger and frustration. All the things that I once suppressed had gathered in that one spot like a poison.

    I didn''t want to see granny right now and instead started to cry. That seemed to help with the hole, but not by much. Eventually dad came to get me.

    -Isaac-

    granny. I haven''t thought about her for years. How could I have forgotten. She was in my life for a very short time, but she showed me so many things. The mythology and stories I learned were such a massive influence on my mind. Instead of my imagination creating horrible nightmares to torture me, it instead started to create fun adventures within a living breathing world. To bad it couldn¡¯t last.

    I felt the echo grow in power as the pain of that day revealed old wounds that I hadn''t seen in a long time. Wounds that had been long forgotten.

    -Isaac age 12-

    A few weeks passed. I had been ignoring Cain the entire time. He was the least of my worries. Granny got sick. She said it wasn¡¯t that bad, but that she needed to stay in bed for a bit. Mom helped me make her some soup. As I was heading out Cain stopped me in our driveway.

    ¡°You going to go feed the witch? You should just let her die already.¡± He laughed. My brother could sometimes say things as jokes even though they were more hurtful than funny. ¡°That bitch is like 100 years old. You should stop wasting your time. Come on! Let¡¯s go play with the others. I hear Wesley just got his hands on the new Nintendo 64 and a copy of Mario 64.¡± He said that last part as if he was offering me drugs.

    My little brain nearly exploded with excitement. I wanted so bad to go play with them¡­ but¡­ I also knew they wouldn''t actually let me play. Video Games was the only real thing I was good at and those guys usually kept the controller away from me.

    Besides, I was more worried about granny than getting to see and not play a game I¡¯d later get on my birthday. ¡°Sorry¡­¡± I shook my head while hugging the container full of soup. ¡°I can¡¯t right now. I still need to get granny her soup. There¡¯s also a bunch of stuff I need to take care of. Like tending to the garden, and besides, I need to make sure granny is okay.¡±

    My brother¡¯s malicious smile faded away like a psychopaths fa?ade being uncovered. I felt like he was about to do something, so I blurted out, ¡°Mom made the soup!¡± My eyes closed as I expected him to knock the container down or hit me.

    Instead he turned around and said, ¡°Whatever.¡± He then ran off disappointed. I let out a sigh as I had just dodged a nuke. I hadn¡¯t realized just how stiff my body had become as the meager muscles I had relaxed.

    I headed to grannies using my nervous energy to move faster. By the time I got to her front door most of that energy had been expelled into the world.

    Granny was grateful for the soup. She ate it slowly on her bed. I wish I could do that. Mom never lets us bring food into our room. Especially not after that half eaten sandwich under Cain¡¯s bed. There were so many roaches. I guess when you¡¯re an adult you can do anything you want.

    As a reward she read me a story about this kid named Tom sawyer. He reminded me a little of my brother except this guy was kind of smart. At some point granny got tired, so I let her rest while I took care of everything else.

    After organizing and giving the house a sweep I got to tending the plants. Once I was finished I said goodbye to granny and told her I''d bring her some food later. She thanked me and I was on my way.

    One day after school I looked for granny, except I couldn¡¯t find her. I asked mom about her and she said granny had been taken to a nursing home where they could take better care of her.

    I couldn''t believe it. I didn''t cry, instead I just said, ¡°Okay.¡± It hadn''t quite hit me then that I was never going to see her again. Her house was later sold by her son and the garden had basically been destroyed.

    I managed to get my hands on one of the flower pots and brought it home. It was heavy and my hands started to hurt along the way, but despite the pain and how long it took. I brought them into the back yard.

    They weren¡¯t the same blue flowers I saved before, but they were the same type. Granny called them ¡°forget me nots.¡± Apparently giving them to someone means that you will always remember them. This wasn''t the same situation, but these were the flowers that brought granny and me together, so maybe the meaning still stood.

    These little guys hadn¡¯t bloomed yet and it wouldn¡¯t be long before they did. Maybe I can find granny and give them to her. I could only hope. Granny said they have another name ¡°Myosotis.¡± Which means ¡°mouse''s ears.¡±

    It¡¯s called that because of the shape of the flower petals. I didn¡¯t know what mouse ears looked like, but now I did. I learned more from granny than I ever did at school. Ms. Martinez should let her teach the class instead.

    I took really good care of the flowers. Just like granny showed me. They actually managed to bloom and I cried for her. Sadly I hadn¡¯t found her. The new owners of her house didn¡¯t know anything about her, or how to contact her son.

    They gave me the number of the realtor, but they said they couldn¡¯t give me any information. Mom tried to find granny too by calling up a bunch of places, but she said they also wouldn¡¯t tell her anything.

    Dad gave it a shot and I thought with his police background he might find her, but a few days went by and he avoided the question. I think mom stopped trying too or maybe she never looked in the first place. They both looked really sad and at one point mom hugged me for a really long time. I think she wanted to say something but couldn''t.

    Then one day I woke up to water the flowers, but couldn''t. I walked out back just in time to watch my brother knock them over, and start to stomp them into the ground. For a moment I couldn''t feel anything as the sea of my emotion fell dead silent.

    He turned around to face me a disgusting smile on his face. ¡°You were being to girly again, so I got rid of your stupid flowers. Me and the guys have been talking and we think you need a more manly hobby. I won''t have any brother of mine embarrass me.¡± Said Cain.

    I was speechless. How could you do that to grannies flowers? The one I¡¯d been growing for her. How was I supposed to promise to remember her if the forget me nots had been destroyed?

    That cold dark anger came back. That time I got really mad, but I didn''t explode. Instead my body started to walk up to him. Not in a threatening way, but more like the type of walking you''d see in a zombie movie. As if an invisible force was dragging me forward pulling me along like a puppet.

    Before I could make it he spoke again, ¡°What are you going to cry? Go cry to mommy you little mommas b-¡° He didn''t get to finish as I punched him square in the face. The punch was so hard that he fell over nose bleeding. Without even thinking about it my body got on top of him and I punched him again and again until finally Julia stopped me. Cain lost a tooth that day.

    That''s when I started to cry. I didn''t care that I was going to get in trouble, or that Cain would be mad at me. The only thing I cared about was retribution, justice, and vengeance. I didn¡¯t protect him from mom that day. Even dad was pissed at him.

    Cain didn¡¯t talk to me much after that. We even had to be separated when for whatever reason he decided to punch me every time he saw me. He kept talking about how he was stronger than me and how he could kick my ass whenever he wanted.

    It didn''t matter to me. For whatever reason I just didn''t care. He could hit me all he wanted and I wouldn''t feel anything. That only served to piss him off even more. In the end Dad¡¯s man cave became my room.

    Being alone was different. It was quiet and calm. I didn''t feel restricted and I could actually relax for once. My ability to talk with people got better, or at least I could do it for longer now. It was strange. I was like a battery that needed to be recharged. My room had become a charging station of sorts.

    Despite how much of an asshole he was; I still loved my brother. He wasn¡¯t a bad person he was just jealous and for that I could forgive him.. Honestly, I don¡¯t know what I was going to do with those flowers. Granny was nowhere to be seen. They would have died eventually. It just really pissed me off to see them go like that. The disrespect was too great and in the end it meant nothing.

    Granny was still gone.

    -Isaac-

    I wanted to stomp Cain into the ground. I wanted him to feel what they felt, but that was then. The anger had gone back to where it had been and it took with it the sadness and everything else. I wasn¡¯t happy or sad. I just felt empty.

    I guess there was one strong desire I had and that was to be able to visit granny, but I was never given any contact info. She never told me she was leaving and the son never showed his face.

    That frog lady was most likely dead, but for whatever reason no one would tell me. I wasn¡¯t stupid. I could see it on there faces and I never got to say goodbye because they thought I couldn¡¯t handle the funeral. They thought I was too weak.

    Well I remembered her now. I might have forgotten over the years, but I remember her now. I''m going to find her grave some day and give her those flowers, but first I need to get out of these stupid flashbacks. I need to take back my life.

    I stood there in that fake ass room as quintessence began to poor in from all sides. I closed my eyes as it washed over me in a blaze of pure white. Instead of letting it blow me away to the next memory I held my ground and pushed forward. A moment later and I found myself in a black cave.

    61%

    It was dark, cold, and wet. My feet were immersed in a black liquid, similar to ink or oil. These clothes¡­ they were the same gear Aku had given me, but made to fit someone larger. My body had changed. Thanks to the influx of quintessence, it had grown to its adult stage. This wasn''t a memory like before. I was back in that rabbit hole.

    Back in that world within my mind and soul, but this place wasn''t somewhere I recognized. It was large and spacious like an underground cavern, but not the same one I was in before. This place was probably deeper. Unlike the glowing crystal from the last cavern. This one was void of light.

    The only light here was the faint glow my body gave from all the quintessence I had gathered. There was so much of it inside me. I felt like I was about to explode. Does that mean it worked? I wasn¡¯t sure. There was still something happening. I could feel my body undergoing some kind of change, but only on the inside.

    The last thing I remember before the flashbacks. I was fighting that thing and then all those childhood memories came rushing in. I didn''t get to finish that thought as I heard a cough from behind me.

    Startled I turned around. Before me now stood a girl with long black hair, wearing a black dress. That girl wasn¡¯t there before. She seemed familiar somehow, but I wasn''t sure why. Her red eyes landed on me. They glowed like that of a beast hiding in the darkness of night.

    A flash of something, old remnants of scattered memory buzzed to life, but there wasn¡¯t enough fragments to create a fully fledged thought. Instead I got a static like picture and the distorted sound of a giggling girl followed by a horrific scream cut off at its crescendo. Clawing, crying, begging, but for what?

    It was brief like a whisper in the wind leaving me with a sense of dread and mild curiosity. The girl glared at me. She looked like she wanted to strangle me. I took a step back out of a sense of self preservation. For whatever reason she laughed as if she had played a prank on me.

    ¡°To think someone like you was in charge this whole time. You really are filth.¡± She said that last word with so much hatred and venom. Whoever this girl was for whatever reason she really didn¡¯t like me.

    ¡°Who are you? Are you the centipede?¡± I asked taking a step closer to her. That one step seemed to put her on guard, so I stopped there not wanting to provoke a fight. I don''t know why, but I knew this girl had some serious power. Maybe she had guzzled down a bunch of it the same way I did.

    She sighed then sat on the wet inky floor. ¡°I''m no one.¡± The girl sounded so sad all of a sudden. Not sad but defeated. Like she couldn''t muster up the strength to actually care about anything.

    Something about this felt wrong. This girl didn''t feel evil. She just looked depressed. Like a high school kid that listens to too much Linkin Park. Were there more alters I didn''t know about? If there were Aku never mentioned them. That seemed kind of messed up considering the reset was supposed to erase all other entities.

    Now wasn¡¯t the time. I approached the girl who seemed to be making silly faces as she stared at her reflection in the dark puddle. My movements created ripples over the surface distorting her reflection. She frowned then glared at me again.

    ¡°Go away!¡± She yelled, lifting a hand and causing a rock to fly out of the dirty water. It struck me in the head causing me to grunt in pain. I ignored it.

    ¡°I just want to help.¡± I pleaded.

    ¡°No! Fuck you! You''ve done enough.¡± She cried.

    ¡°I haven''t done anything!¡± I retorted, but this only served to make her even more angry.

    ¡°Shut the hell up! It''s all your fault! You traitor! You monster! You did this to me! You took away any change of happiness I ever had! You locked me in here! Don''t you dare try to be my friend! Not after what you did! I trusted you and you¡­ you¡­¡± She broke into tears. ¡°Please just go away¡­¡­¡­ Stop hurting me.¡± She started whaling like a child waking from a nightmare.

    ¡°Hey, its alright. I can help just trust me.¡± I took another step towards her, but she didn''t like that.

    ¡°leave me alone! She waved a hand and I felt my body get thrown into the air. Dark tendrils reached out from the black water wrapping themselves around me and dragging me down into the depths.

    ¡°Why don''t you relearn your mistakes! Maybe you''ll finally remember this time!¡± She cried as I sunk into the inky black darkness.

    Black sludge was seeping into my lungs¡­. I felt pain and sadness. Self hatred and so much anger. The black sludge was burning my very soul. Eating away at the innocence that made up its fluffy membrane.

    Memories flashed through my head. Some were mine, others not so much. My memories seemed to come to the surface as other memories raced In to combine with them. It was almost as if my entire soul had been missing hundreds of puzzle pieces and were now reunited. Just like that a lot of things started to make sense.

    You know what¡­. I think my brother really did hate me, and my sister might have been more selfish than I remember her to be. This was all wrong! That¡¯s not how it happened!

    It was¡­.. oh¡­.. I see now.

    So that¡¯s why.

    The echo grew once more as old emotions seemed to reawaken deep within me.

    Loading 71%

 Episode 37: loading 88%

    Loading 77%

    -Isaac age 6-

    It was a warm summer night and I was playing with my match box cars on the porch. Dad was sitting on the outside couch smoking and drinking. I felt the most safe when I was with him.

    Dad was a super hero after all. He wasn¡¯t afraid of anything. He fought bad guys all day and kept the town safe for everyone. I couldn¡¯t help but feel proud of him.

    ¡°Kid you should go to bed already. Your mom will be mad if you don¡¯t.¡± Said dad putting out his cigarette by pressing it into the soil of a potted plant.

    ¡°I don¡¯t wanna!¡± I protested. Instead of listening to him I simply pushed my cars along the porch. There was no way I¡¯d go to bed. Not when there was no school tomorrow.

    Also mom wasn''t even home right now. She had taken Cain to one of the bigger hospitals a few towns over and they wouldn''t be back until Sunday. My brother was having issues with his ears.

    Dad sighed. ¡°You know I miss the days when you didn''t talk.¡± He was too tired to do anything so instead he leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes.

    I still couldn''t believe what dad had done. There was this guy shooting at people today and dad ran into the house and killed him. I even got to watch him pull the body out onto the lawn. It was so cool, but I don''t think dad had any fun with it. He was way to serious on the ride home.

    He looked annoyed right now. I crawled up onto the couch beside him and shook him a little. ¡°dad? Is you okay?¡± He snorted.

    ¡°I''m fine kid just a little tired.¡± That usually meant he didn''t want to talk about it. I dropped the subject there and took a proper seat next to him.

    Everything was peaceful for a bit. That was until a stray dog walked up the driveway. I immediately got scared as it started to growl at us. I nearly started crying before dad got to his feet.

    ¡°Hey! Get out of here you fucking dog!¡± Dad threw his half empty beer can at the stray animal causing it to yelp in pain. it took off running right after. He was never afraid of anything. I wish I could be like that.

    Dad looked back to me. ¡°Nothing to worry about kid.¡± It was only then did I realize he was just trying to keep me safe. Dad could be really protective sometimes.

    Before I could stop myself I asked ¡°How come you no scared?¡±

    He smiled as if reminded of something precious. ¡°It¡¯s because I¡¯m a man.¡± Dad then jumped into a life lesson. I now remembered what night this was.

    ¡°Listen here kid. A man isn¡¯t someone that picks fights. He¡¯s not someone that treats woman badly. He¡¯s not an asshole. A man is someone that stays strong. That doesn¡¯t fall apart when shit hits the fan. That doesn¡¯t complain no matter how bad his life sucks. You know why that is kid?¡±

    I shook my head allowing him to continue. ¡°it¡¯s so that his loved ones won¡¯t be afraid. So that when the world shakes they¡¯ll have something to hold on to.¡± My dad was the coolest but I wonder.

    ¡°But dad¡­¡­¡­ don¡¯t you get scared?¡± I felt fear as I didn¡¯t actually want to find out that my dad was afraid. I just wanted him to be brave and invincible. However what I got was neither. Instead I saw the unbreakable love my father had for his family and the strength we gave him to keep moving forward.

    ¡°Yeah¡­ sometimes¡­¡­ but you¡¯ll never know when.¡± He then ruffled my hair to help me feel better.

    I hope one day I can be as strong as my dad.

    80%

    -Isaac age 13-

    School was out. I was waiting on my brother. We usually walked home together. I was leaning against the fence that went around the schools perimeter. Kids walked by and I couldn¡¯t stop myself from feeling awkward.

    Despite those feelings of being out of place, the world continued to move. All I could do was stand still as I stuffed countless parts of my life down into a hole of pure apathy. I always promised myself I¡¯d one day examine each individual pain, but they just kept piling on top of one another faster than I could process. In the end it was easier to feed them into the hole than try and deal with them.

    Because of this the days I spent on this world seemed to pass me by faster and faster to the point where I wondered where had the time gone? Just what the hell was I planning to do with my life. I had no goals. Not much as even the desire to do anything.

    The thought ¡°maybe one day I¡¯ll get my life together¡± kept popping up, but it just never happened. It seemed like it was just something that helped me deal with the fact that I am no one and I am nothing. My family doesn¡¯t need me, but I guess they do want me.

    Dad says I¡¯m just going through a phase. Mom seems to think the same thing. They might be right, but I won¡¯t know that until I¡¯m older. Dad says he did a bunch of stuff he regrets when he was younger and mom says he still does stuff like that.

    Maybe one day when my brain develops I can look back on these days and realize just how much of a cringy drama queen I was being. One can only hope¡­ but I needed to live in the now and right now I felt like a piece of shit.

    I¡¯d gone through a whole day of being surrounded by so many people. My social battery was spent. Even though my hair blocked my vision - which helped - I still felt so out of place. All I wanted to do was go home and amerce myself in the world of video games.

    I had been waiting here for nearly 20 minutes. Cain had lots of friends and it took him a bit to say goodbye to everyone. I was no longer the cute kid everyone mistook for the opposite gender. Instead I¡¯d grown into a more creepy evolution.

    My lack of hunger ¨C due to anxiety ¨C had caused me not to eat as much. As a result from not eating my body hadn¡¯t grown as much as it should have. Instead I looked like I¡¯d been stretched out. My face was also different.

    It was like my skull grew, but my meat stayed the same. I didn¡¯t have the same plump cheeks as before and I looked slightly grayer than the original pink my skin had.

    That was probably thanks to never going outside and late night gaming. I also now sported dark circles around my eyes. With my strange behavior and weird looking body there was no way for me to be liked. Nowadays, I was known as the zombie guy. Whatever the hell that meant.

    To be fair it didn''t stop everyone from talking to me. Every once in a while there were random kids that would walk up to me during lunch to try and pull me into their social circles. Usually it was a teacher that asked them to talk to me. Not being assholes they would try, only for me to keep everything down to one word responses.

    To avoid that I started reading during my free time. That usually got people to leave me alone. I really hated the thought of talking to anyone, but if I had to I could hold the conversation for a while. I usually just tried to speed through it, so they¡¯d leave me alone.

    I didn¡¯t need friends or even want friends. They were nothing more than a burden. There was no way I could trust any of these people. The way they talk to each other and laugh. It wasn¡¯t real. It couldn¡¯t be real. The moment you turn your back those people will gladly laugh at you or plan a mean joke, maybe even try to prank you.

    Feeling nauseous from not eating I sat down on the grass and hugged my knees. I just wanted to go home and start my console up. If I leave without my brother, he¡¯ll get in trouble again. These days I was a constant burden to him. We had nothing in common anymore. He didn¡¯t even like video games.

    I¡¯d forgiven him for what he did to granny¡¯s flowers. He wouldn¡¯t admit it, but he felt bad about what he did. I knew because of how awkward he was after mom and dad punished him. He wouldn¡¯t look me in the eyes and tried to avoid me. There was actually several times where it looked like he wanted to apologize only to say ¡°never mind¡± and walk away.

    I don''t know. I honestly thought I would hate him forever, but hating someone forever sounds like a lot of time and effort. Besides, it actually hurt to see him all sad like that. I don''t like it when my family is sad. Forgiving him just seemed like the best way to move forward. It really pissed him off and he yelled at me for being an idiot.

    He would go on to say, ¡°How could you forgive me! Are you stupid! Aren''t you mad!¡± He was so angry. He just didn''t understand how he could be forgiven just like that even when he never apologized.

    It made me smile and I told him ¡°it¡¯s because your my brother and I love you. I know how you feel because I can feel it too and I don''t want you to hurt forever.¡± I had actual tears in my eyes as the feelings I felt were strong enough to escape the gravity of the hole.

    I never planned those words. It was all pure emotion. Not just mine but Cain¡¯s. It was like my sympathy had been turned up past max. I guess my ability to read people had turned into something else.

    It didn¡¯t take long for Cain to go back to being an asshole. The only difference was he mostly left me alone. Mostly. Usually he would pick on me if we interacted with each other, but for the most part we were neutral. Of course if I piss him off he would punch me, but that was just how Cain showed affection.

    It was whatever. Getting hit didn¡¯t bother me all that much. Not anymore. It was hard to feel normal things like joy or sadness. My anxiety was strong. My mind created all sorts of things only adding to that chaos.

    It was like a bad dream. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t hate pain. Sadly, pain was the only thing that felt real anymore. When ever I felt pain I had something to ground myself in reality. That was good considering I basically got my ass handed to me on a daily basis.

    My thoughts were interrupted as an obnoxious voice reached my ears ¡°Oh shit! Its that zombie guy!¡± I pretended like I couldn¡¯t hear. If I act like I¡¯m asleep then maybe, they¡¯ll leave me alone. It always works when I¡¯m in class. Even the teachers feel bad for me when they see how tired I look.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    I heard someone chuckle. ¡°I think he¡¯s sleeping. I ain¡¯t ever seen no sleeping zombie!¡±

    Crack!

    I groaned in pain as whoever was talking had kicked me in the ribs. Falling on my side I held my aching rib trying to soothe the pain. There were two of them. One was fat and chubby while the other was tall and bulky. I tried to pull myself to my feet, but I felt weak. I¡¯d skipped dinner yesterday and hadn¡¯t eaten anything yet.

    I knew these assholes. The tall guy went by Mark and the cubby one went by George. Cain was always kicking their asses for me, but today he wasn¡¯t around. They were going to give me the beating of a lifetime.

    Mark spoke first. ¡°Well shit dude! I thought you were a zombie my bad. Here let me help you up!¡± He pulled me to my feet then shoved me over to George. Who punched me in the face knocking me down.

    ¡°Daaaaam! Look at that shiner!¡± laughed Mark.

    George laughed along with him. ¡°Look at his face! Gross!¡±

    Both of their gazes landed on me, but George was the one to break the silence. ¡°I know¡± he chuckled. ¡°let¡¯s even him out!¡± Mark nodded and they both started kicking me.

    I could see my brother just standing there. He looked annoyed, but let them get off a few more hits before stepping in. They finally stopped when they noticed him. By that point I had stopped trying to get back up and was curled up into a ball.

    Cain ran over and punched George in the gut a few times treating the chubby teen like an old punching bag. He tried to fight back, but Cain was quick at jabbing him in the face and blocking his panicked fists.

    Mark freaked out and booked it. Most likely due to the fact that my brother had kicked his ass multiple times. Cain finished off George by landing a good hit to his nose sending him flying onto his back.

    The chubby asshole gave the us the best impression of a turtle on its back, as he raised his hand to block any new blows to his body. It was unnecessary as my brother decided to show him mercy.

    ¡°Get the fuck out of here before I fucking kill you!¡± He wouldn¡¯t actually kill someone, but this was more for the purpose of intimidation. He¡¯d used it on me when we were younger and I use to believe it.

    Funny enough, all of his intimidation tactics were refined and tested on me first. My brother knew exactly where to hit someone to cause the most pain and trauma simply because I¡¯d been his test dummy.

    Gorge scrambled to his feet as my brother kicked him in the butt causing him to speed up. I was pretty sure that got him in the balls. My brother didn¡¯t stop there as he chased him for a few feet throwing rocks at his back.

    Once it looked like George was gone, Cain came back to check on me. ¡°Hey, you alright? Nothing broken?¡± Cain¡¯s voice had gotten pretty deep. I nodded as I got to my feet. As soon as I did, Cain punched me in the cheek knocking me against the fence.

    ¡°Shit! You¡¯re so useless! Why can¡¯t you fight back! Those guys were total trash!¡± It wasn¡¯t fair for either of us. Ever since I started to get picked on more. Mom wanted us to walk straight home together. Cain didn¡¯t like that. He had real friends now. That¡¯s why Cain took so long to meet up with me. He was hanging with the boys.

    He was gonna get In trouble again once mom saw me. I agreed with him on this. It really wasn¡¯t fair. I would much rather take the beating or hell just head straight home to the comfort of my room. Than have his life revolve around mine.

    It was one thing to be left behind by the world. It was another to bring everyone else down with me. If I could catch up then maybe Cain and I would still be able to hang out and we¡¯d probably have lots of friends too. The way I was made me a stranger to reality.

    Instead we were both stuck with each other. Two brothers that couldn¡¯t get along having to walk side by side for thirty minutes in awkward silence. I get what mom was trying to do, but she was so out of the loop you couldn¡¯t help but get mad at her.

    Cain couldn¡¯t live his best life because he was stuck babysitting me and I was just a burden to society as a whole. My brother was basically stuck doing an escort mission for the rest of his life. Why am I so useless?

    I pulled myself back up, rubbing the blood away from my mouth. At least I knew this was real and not a dumb ass hallucination. Cain was trembling in anger. That was the only look I got from him anymore. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± That was all I could say. It was how I felt.

    ¡°Whatever.¡± Muttered Cain, before he started to walk home. In an attempt to not bother him I stayed a few feet behind. Everything hurt, but nothing hurt more than that last punch. That one held more than just force behind it.

    -Isaac-

    The echo reverberated off the walls of my mind. Angrily searching for a way out.

    Loading 82%

    -Isaac age 13-

    I found myself with my dad again. We were in the usual place, sitting on the outside couch. Dinner was being cooked and like usual he was drinking on the porch. I usually joined him when he got home from work. Something about being with my father filled me with a sense of pride.

    This couch felt like our thrown and the entire neighborhood was our kingdom. At least it felt that way. Usually I was somewhat afraid of the outside world, but when dad was here I felt like I owned the entire street. Maybe it was because I knew my dad would always keep me safe. He could always crush my doubt no matter how scrambled my thoughts were.

    Dad was so tall and strong. One time I even watched him beat up a guy like it was nothing. All because he was publicly drunk and cussing at everyone. The funny part was that dad would also cuss, but I guess it was different when it was your kids. He would rather we learn to curse from him and not some stranger.

    ¡°Hey dad?¡± I queried my father.

    He took a long sip before responding, ¡°Okay, here we go. You see Isaac, when a man and a woman love each other-¡° I cut him off. ¡°What!? Noooo! I already know that crap!¡± I nearly spat out my drink all over the porch. While dad had a beer in his hand I had the next best thing. A bottle of root beer.

    ¡°What you wanna ask out a girl then? I didn¡¯t think you were so advanced. My baby boys growing up!¡± He patted my back before pretending to wipe away a tear.

    ¡°Dad! Stop fucking with me! I want to know¡­ crap. I forgot.¡± He distracted me and I forgot what I was going to say! What was it? Right, I remember now.

    ¡°Dad are you and mom good?¡± Recently they¡¯ve been fighting a lot. It started when mom got drunk one night. Then dad said a rude comment about mom¡¯s cooking. He also started coming home more and more late. Today he was right on time, but only because mom yelled at him for it yesterday.

    I always thought these type of things happen all at once. Like there was just one big fight, but it was like slowly they¡¯re relationship had started to erode away.

    I brought it up with my siblings but they dismissed me. Julia said not to worry that they did that sometimes, but would go back to normal eventually. Cain punched me in the shoulder for even mentioning it.

    Dad had pulled out a cigarette. He stuck it in his mouth and lit it. He took a long drag before exhaling the smoke out over the porch like a fog machine. I don¡¯t like the smell, but I still thought it was cool.

    He took another sip of beer to buy himself more time. I knew he was stalling and he knew I knew. I¡¯m the one that always watches. Dad, I see the nervous tap of your fingers on the can, and I know you haven¡¯t spoken to mom at all since yesterday. I know about the drugs you keep in your car and I know uncle Todd is your supplier.

    I know a lot of things I wish I didn''t. Like how mom has a secret bank account, or how her and her friends talk shit about you behind your back. Stop lying to me.

    Dad finally sighed giving in. ¡°Can¡¯t get nothing passed you kid. You got good eyes. Maybe you should try being a cop someday. The force would be happy to have you.¡±

    Before he could get into some stupid recruitment rant I jumped back in making my voice just a little louder than his, ¡°Don¡¯t change the subject dad. Julia and Cain know it too. They just don¡¯t want to talk about it.¡± I didn¡¯t blame them.

    I wish I could turn away from it too. Somehow the hole has been festering with this idea. Whispering it into the forefront of my mind. I felt the need to say something.

    ¡°Yeah, I know kid.¡± He paused. ¡°You should know just because we fight doesn¡¯t mean we don¡¯t love you. You kids are the absolute world to your mom and I. Hell, the happiest days of my life were when you kids were born.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help, but stare at my feet. Those words were never good. For some reason it felt like everything was falling apart. There was this pang of pain like when granny disappeared but this one was fresh. It seemed to crawl it¡¯s way out of the hole Like a bug. It didn''t quite speak to me so much as the thought sprang up.

    Mom and dad were¡­ mom and dad. If they¡¯re not together then everything will fall apart. I felt tears in the corners of my eyes. I wasn¡¯t supposed to cry, but I couldn¡¯t help it. For the first time since granny went away I had tears. These emotions started to bring up other emotions and they all seemed to spill out of the hole.

    Dad put out the cigarette then gave me a hug. ¡°It¡¯s gonna be alright kid. We¡¯re not broken up.¡± Somehow dads hug opened the flood gates and I became completely vulnerable for the first time in a while.

    That was when mom came outside to tell us dinner was ready. ¡°Oh, Isaac is everything okay?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but stupidly blurt out. ¡°You guys don¡¯t like each other anymore.¡± Dad winced.

    In hindsight, saying those words aloud, in that order, in front of her, was probably a bad idea, but at the time I wasn¡¯t in control of my emotions. Just because I could figure out my parents were unhappy didn¡¯t mean I wasn¡¯t a kid with his life falling apart in front of him.

    ¡°What the hell are you telling our son!¡± yelled mom.

    This started an even worse fight than anything previously. I don¡¯t think I¡¯d ever heard two people scream and yell so hard that the neighbors came out. I should of kept my mouth shut.

    If I¡¯d only done that, maybe dad wouldn¡¯t have died that night. He stormed off got super drunk and danced to one of his favorite songs in the middle of traffic, only to be hit by a bus.

    Loading 85%

    -Isaac age 13-

    We were all dressed in black watching as dad¡¯s coffin was lowered into a 4 foot deep hole. I always thought people were buried at 6 feet. Maybe I was wrong and it actually was 6 feet. The hole looked more like 4. Is that incase dad comes back to life as a zombie?

    Why make it easier then? Why not bury him in concrete so there¡¯s no chance of him escaping and eating people? Unless these people wanted a zombie apocalypse. I could re-kill my dad if he came back. His Hunting rifle was still in the house.

    Before dad let us hold his guns he gave us lessons in gun safety. Those lasted about 2 weeks. They were pretty boring. Cain didn¡¯t have the patience for it so he gave up after the third day. Jokes on him when we all went hunting dad let me shoot a deer. We¡¯d gone a few times and sometimes we never came across anything.

    I looked around to see all the people that came. There were friends and family members I¡¯d never seen before. I couldn¡¯t believe how many people had come out here. Dad was popular after all. There were plenty of police officers too.

    The morning after my dad left. Two police officers came to our door. That was how mom found out. She pulled us out of school and couldn¡¯t even tell us what happened. Cain and Julia started crying right away but I didn¡¯t.

    The feelings were there but distant like they had happened to someone else. They only existed in the hole and I couldn¡¯t figure out how to get them out. The hole would let them out eventually but for right now it was as if it was hibernating.

    Maybe I just didn¡¯t think dad was dead. It wasn''t possible for dad to die like that. He was like a super hero. There was no way. This had to be a lie. He couldn¡¯t have. I never got to see the body. They said it was really bad, but I think dad¡¯s just faking his death to avoid the IRS. This was all an elaborate plan to avoid debt.

    It sounded like something he would do. Any minute now He was going to pop out of that coffin and scare us. He couldn¡¯t die. Because if he died then it would be all my fault. No one said it, but I could feel them. All of them staring at me.

    I could hear their thoughts. Their bodies like giant looming shadows hanging over the entire cemetery.

    ¡°You did it!¡±

    ¡°You killed him!¡±

    ¡°This is your fault!¡±

    ¡°Murderer!¡±

    ¡°Killer!¡±

    ¡°Demon!¡±

    I looked to my mom and her glare was the worst of all. Her eyes were wide. They were so judgmental. Her face fixed into permanent horror. I blinked and she went back to her mournful self. I looked to my siblings. Julia was crying. Cain was also crying but He looked more angry than mournful. Why couldn¡¯t I cry?

    I wanted to cry but I couldn¡¯t. I cried when I thought mom and dad were unhappy, but now it was impossible. Am I an awful person? I felt numb inside. Somehow, There was a detachment from my feelings. It was nice when it first started, but now it made me afraid. Maybe if I think about dad I¡¯ll cry.

    Like when dad fixed my ball, or when he showed me how to do an oil change. What about all the advice he gave me, or every time he kept me from getting hurt. The time he stepped on my Legos.

    The way he died¡­ he was dancing to one of his favorite songs, foot loose. I remember him asking me to burn a CD with that song and a few other classics. He would play it on the weekends and sometimes would dance with mom.

    Dad showed me the movie once. Could you imagine him dancing just like Kevin baker in that movie only to get run over in the middle of it¡­ That¡¯s hilarious! I started laughing like a crazy person. I couldn¡¯t stop. It was too funny.

    Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. I didn¡¯t care I kept laughing. A flash of anger came upon my mother¡¯s face and she slapped me. That stopped my laughter for a second before I continued.

    ¡°Shut up Isaac!¡± She slapped me again and again. I could hear the outrage of the people around us calling me disrespectful and a monster. She beat me in front of them all, and they actually encouraged her. How could I laugh at my father¡¯s funeral. They called me a demon. A devil. They said I couldn¡¯t be human.

    Everyone was angry with me. Even my brother and sister. Mom ended up putting me in the car and I didn¡¯t get to say my final goodbye to dad.

    Loading (88%)

 Episode 38: loading 94%

    Loading 90%

    -Isaac age 13-

    It was around 4 O¡¯clock. I¡¯d just made contact with our front porch spotting several of dads old beer cans. Even though he was gone no one dared clean it up. They littered the porch and in the flower pot was a dried up dead plant along with a bunch of cigarette buds.

    I did my best to ignore the remnants of my father, but that didn¡¯t stop me from feeling anxious whenever I walked in and out of the house. All they did was remind me of how disrespectful I was that day.

    I made my way inside closing the door behind me. Leaning against it I took a deep breath. My heart was a little fast, but I managed to calm myself by pushing it all into the hole. I was alone.

    Cain was out playing with friends. He no longer had to walk me home. Julia was out too¡­. probably. I¡¯d just escaped some assholes that wanted to throw me in a dumpster. My body had bruises all over and I was absolutely exhausted.

    Not just physically but mentally. All the running and beatings were nothing compared to the empty hole I felt in my chest. It felt like I was being hollowed out by some kind of parasite. I wonder what dad would say? He would probably tell me to suck it up and punch the bag for a while. I honestly didn¡¯t know anymore. I didn¡¯t care.

    Maybe it would make sense if I actually was angry but I wasn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t feel much these days. Just an empty numbness inside.

    I have emotions but they¡¯re not strong enough to make me do anything. Maybe in developing my coping skills I managed to gain some insane control over them. Could this really be considered control though?

    When I want to feel stuff or try to care about something it gets really hard. That¡¯s probably why I didn¡¯t cry during dad¡¯s funeral. Funny thing was after the funeral - about three days later - I finally managed to cry, but by then my family already hated me. Okay, so maybe they didn¡¯t hate me. They¡¯re were mostly just disappointed with me.

    When my brother caught me crying he punched me a few times and left me sprawled out on the kitchen floor. After that I figured it was to late to cry, so I stopped and now I just felt empty.

    The one feeling that still came in strong was anxiety and that was only because I felt like a weirdo. Were there other people like me? If so than I¡¯ve never met one. By nature it would probably be hard for us to meet.

    After leaving my backpack in my room I checked the kitchen. Mom wasn¡¯t cooking. She hadn¡¯t even cleaned the house. Ever since dad died a month ago she¡¯s been cooped up in her room. The only time she ever comes out is to use the restroom, or to visit that weird church.

    Julia told me some religious people approached them after the funeral. They conducted a prayer and everyone started crying. As a result of that encounter mom joined they¡¯re church. She¡¯s even started to carry around a weird looking cross.

    It''s like a cross, but instead of the ¡°T¡± shape it makes an ¡°X¡± instead and there¡¯s a circle around the middle section making it look a little like a spider web. She told me once it¡¯s supposed to represent God¡¯s radiant light. The stories she tells me are also pretty strange.

    I can¡¯t really remember the whole thing, but it had something to do with a bunch of gods revealing themselves to be demons and the true God fighting them off or something like that. The whole thing sounded like a bad movie.

    I usually just nodded along. If it helped her cope with dad¡¯s death then who was I to take it from her. I had my own coping mechanisms. Who the hell was I to judge.

    This was probably a good time to check up on her, so I made my way to her room. Giving the door a few knocks did nothing. Was she even in there? ¡°Mom? Are you okay?¡± She didn¡¯t answer.

    I was afraid she might have done something stupid, so I opened the door and took a look inside. I wasn¡¯t expecting to find what I did. Mom was on her knees her hands pressed together in prayer. In her hands she had that same Rosario she always carried.

    ¡°O Divine One, hear my plea, I lift my voice unto thee. A God betrayed, misunderstood, In your pain, you stand still good.¡± Her voice quivered as if she were crying. That¡¯s when I noticed the tears running down her face.

    I didn''t know what to say. I didn''t want to interrupt her. This whole scene left me with goosebumps. She continued her prayer as if I wasn''t there. ¡°In this dark and tumultuous hour, I seek your grace, your healing power. Though you see others as demons unclean, Help me find unity, let love intervene.¡±

    I wanted to leave the room but I felt like I needed to say something. ¡°mom?¡± I tried to pull her out of whatever episode she was having, but it had no effect. I put my hand on her shoulder, but she kept praying.

    ¡°As you were betrayed by those so near, we ask forgiveness, and make it clear. Discard our pride, our judgments too, embrace compassion, like love imbue.¡± I started to shake her.

    This was less like praying and more like an incantation. ¡°Mom! Stop it your acting strange!¡± She ignored me acting like I wasn''t there. She was off in another world and had left us all behind.

    ¡°O God, with love untold, turn my heart of gore to gold. Help me understand the divine you hold, break the barriers, let compassion enthrall.¡± I felt my body go stiff, as Moms cross started to glow.

    My younger self took a step back unsure of what was going on. I don''t remember any of this. None of this happened the first time around. This wasn¡¯t real. This had to be that goth girl messing with me.

    ¡°May my prayers rise in harmony, uniting us in spiritual symphony. Guide me into your eternal grace, embrace me in your divine embrace.¡± The light became stronger with every word. Golden light washed over everything as she completed her prayer.

    ¡°In your name I pray, O God supreme, Help me fulfill your heavenly dream. Grant me wisdom, humility, and a heart that mends, until all divisions dissolve, unity transcends. Amen.¡± She was smiling from ear to ear. I was afraid her cheeks would split open.

    My voice came out on its own as if I was calling for help. ¡°mom!¡± Even though it was my mom that was the one scaring me I still called for her, as if she could help me. I was pressed up against a corner trying my best to stay away from her. Every part of my body even the hole was telling me to stay away.

    The light subsided and mom had a frown on her face. She looked upset. Like someone had just thrown her birthday cake out a window. For a moment her eyes took on a yellow glow before going back to their dark gray. She expressed a sense of understanding as if experiencing an epiphany.

    ¡°I understand my lord.¡± She got to her feet and her eyes landed on me.

    ¡°Mom what was that? What''s going on?¡± I was so afraid of her. All I wanted was the prank to be over. This wasn''t real. I dug my finger nails into my arm in an attempt to ground my thoughts in reality, but no matter how hard I squeezed I couldn''t wake up.

    ¡°Oh sweetheart. Don''t worry mommy has a new purpose. God has transformed me from a demon spawn into one of his children. He has given me the task of making you better.¡± She was manic letting out a laugh.

    I couldn¡¯t say anything. She must have seen my face because she tried to reassure me. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s okay baby. You see God told me all about that little hole in your soul.¡± She poked me in the chest and I felt the hole stir.

    This never happened.

    She kissed me on the head. ¡°It¡¯s okay. He can fix it, but first it needs to get worse before it gets better, and once it¡¯s over. You will transcend and become an angel. Isn¡¯t that wonderful!¡± She hugged me and swung me around while laughing. ¡°My baby boy, an angel! Mommies little angel!¡±

    I tried to say something, but it was muffled by my mothers embrace. She quickly pushed me away holding me by the shoulders and staring deep into my eyes. All that happiness had vanished and instead her face was one of fear. I was so terrified by that gaze, that I couldn¡¯t speak.

    ¡°What did¡­¡­ you say?...¡± She questioned brokenly.

    ¡°Mom¡­ I think¡­¡­ you should go to sleep. Your not okay.¡± Her eyes were shaking. They were so wide and her lips were slightly parted. I saw a flash of light in her eyes and a moment later, her arms fell to her sides.

    ¡°Oh¡­. I see. That¡¯s why. I nearly forgot you¡¯re not an angel yet. The only way to save you is to make it worse.¡± Her hands started to dig into my shoulders. I felt pain as her nails pressed against my skin.

    ¡°Mom your hurting me.¡± I squeaked.

    ¡°You¡¯re the devils child. That¡¯s right! You¡¯re the devil!¡± She cried.

    ¡°M-Mom?¡±.

    Loading 92%

    -Isaac age 13-

    It was dark and cold. It¡¯s been about three hours. I couldn¡¯t really tell honestly. I didn¡¯t have a clock. The only thing I could do was count the seconds as they slowly ticked by. Except, I lost count a few times already.

    It''s definitely been more than three hours. I tried clawing and banging against the door, but mom got mad. I could hear her yelling. ¡°knock it off!¡± the door burst open and I saw mom standing there.

    ¡°Please¡­ please mom let me out. I¡¯ll be good from now on.¡± I begged.

    She closed the door then left me there. It didn¡¯t take long for her to return. This time she had a belt with her. My eyes went wide. ¡°Wait! Wait! I¡¯m sorry!¡± I cried.

    Whack! Whack! Whack!

    It hurt so bad. Far worse than anything I¡¯d felt before. She only attacked my legs. The pain was unforgiving. Like she was attacking my nerves directly.

    The lashes seemed to attack something deeper inside me. It was like it could move through the fourth dimension and inflict pain to my very soul. It was so bad that I had to actively push the pain down into the hole where only apathy could exist.

    ¡°Listen here! You need to stay absolutely quiet! If anyone finds out they¡¯ll come and take me away. Then you¡¯ll be left all alone and you''ll never become an angel. No one else loves you. No one is coming to help you. No one else cares about you. You killed your father and now I¡¯m all you have.¡± She hit me a few more times causing me to grunt as my legs burned in pain.

    This was too much, even my bullies were more merciful than her. I just wanted mom to love me again. I wanted her to hug me and tell me everything would be okay. She was being so mean even though I was crying.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°Stop being a bad boy¡­¡­ you¡¯re the devil. You need to be punished and only when you''ve learned your lesson will you be forgiven. Now stay quiet.¡± She closed the door and I hugged my knees. It didn¡¯t hurt as long as I pushed it all into the hole.

    Struggling was pointless. I would never be let out. Not until I learned my lesson. I decided to sit still and conserve energy. I didn¡¯t have any clothes. I was completely naked. I think Cain wasn¡¯t home either. I¡¯m sure if my brother knew he¡¯d try to stop her.

    But¡­ that would also mean that mom and Cain would fight. Julia was already fighting with her about the way she treated me. I don¡¯t want that. I wish my family could be happy again. I miss my dad.

    My leg was starting to fall asleep. My stomach had been growling, asking for food. That was rare. I haven''t really eaten since yesterday. That was my own fault though.

    I was in a strange situation. Before I would use pain to ground myself in reality, but now I found myself trying to daydream in order to escape it. It appears I¡¯ve made a complete 180. Lucky for me I had a big imagination.

    Sometimes though I cant take it and I¡¯ll start begging mom to stop. She never listens. I¡¯ve learned I can just ignore my feelings and push them into the hole. It works for the most part, but something strange has started to happen.

    There¡¯s these blank spots in my memory. Like, I have an idea of what happened, but they feel more like dreams. Honestly I¡¯m not entirely sure how I got here. I think mom was mad, or something. She tends to snap every once in a while. Mom says she¡¯s trying to fix me. To make me better, but I don¡¯t know.

    I trust mom. She¡¯s the only parent I have left. It¡¯s her job to guide me through this world and I¡¯m too afraid to try and do it on my own. She¡¯s my mom. She should have nothing but the best intentions for me and yet¡­ I just wish everything could go back to normal.

    With nothing to do, I closed my eyes and went to my happy place. Deep in my mind where the flowers are constantly blooming and the bunny rabbit are always playing.

    The sound of wind moving through leaves rendered itself, and the smell of closet vanished. It was replaced by the sweet scent of exotic plant life. Opening my eyes revealed new clothes and a massive garden.

    The center area I found myself in was paved with stone bricks. They were laid out in a circular pattern with a water well centered in the very middle. Around the stone brick path was a bunch of hedges. I¡¯d turned the surrounding area into a maze. Ever since granny vanished I had been making this garden in my head.

    The well however. That was here before I came to this place. Originally that was where the hole was. It kept showing me ugly things, so I covered it up by making it look like a well. Now it couldn¡¯t hurt me. It couldn¡¯t spill because it was sealed up tight under that wooden lid.

    The garden was really cool, and if you went passed it there was even a field full of flowers and all sorts of animals. I¡¯m not actually sure where the animals came from. They kind of just showed up here after I expanded and changed the area. Before I put in the grass lands it was nothing more than an asteroid floating in completely empty space.

    I gave the garden a walk around picking fruits that I felt like eating. Once I collected a basket full, I headed out to the flower meadow. The smells were amazing.

    Out here there was a tree with a swing set. I sat down and pulled out a strange looking fruit. This one was blue, but in the shape of a heart. I bit into it and was immediately assaulted by the taste of lemon only instead of sour it was the sweetest thing I¡¯d ever tasted. The flavor was like that of an orange. Definitely a citrus taste which was strange considering it had the texture of a grape.

    I finished it up before pushing myself back and forth on the swing. I wish I had someone that could push me. Julia would be really good at that. To bad this place is all in my head. I wish I could be more like my sister.

    Unlike me Julia wasn¡¯t afraid of mom. She was always standing up to her. She also has lots and lots of friends and she¡¯s super smart. Cain doesn¡¯t bully her at all. Actually I think they¡¯re very nice to one another. If I was like that then maybe dad would still be okay and everything wouldn¡¯t be so scary.

    Once I got tired of the swing I took my shoes off and walked out onto the field feeling the grass between my toes. I then laid down and looked up into a black and empty sky. Despite no sun, moon, or even stars, everything was well lit. This place was a perfect paradise.

    I was brought back into the real world when I heard mom arguing with Julia. They were outside the door. ¡°Mom you can¡¯t keep doing this!¡± sis cried.

    ¡°Its for his own good! He needs to be disciplined! Your father isn¡¯t around anymore and Isaac has turned into a devil child! I¡¯m making him better! Do you think I like doing this!?¡± yelled mom.

    Recently I¡¯ve been very bad. I¡¯m not sure how, but mom says I¡¯m a devil child, and that I was acting like a bad person. I tried to be better, but mom says I¡¯m still bad, so she¡¯s been trying to help me. When I get better then everything can go back to normal. Julia doesn¡¯t like it though.

    ¡°Your torturing him! If you don¡¯t stop I¡¯ll call CPS. ¡° threatened Julia.

    ¡°Oh really. You¡¯d do that to your own family?¡± There was a pause in the conversation as if she was letting those words sink in. ¡°Go on then! Do it! They¡¯ll come in and take me away and split the family apart! Even if you can get custody of your brothers you can kiss that doctor dream goodbye. You¡¯ll have to get a job and look after Cain and Isaac by yourself. I¡¯m sure your life will be so much better with two growing teenagers in your care.¡±

    Sis was always trying to keep mom away from me. I no longer slept in my room instead I stayed in my sisters room. Mom just doesn¡¯t want me to be a bad person. She loves me and I love- Oh, my eyes are leaking again.

    I was expecting Julia to open the door and take me to her room again, but that didn¡¯t happen. Everything was quiet. Another hour went by before the closet was finally opened. It was mom. She reached for me and pulled me to my feet. I was still naked.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Julia?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry about your sister. She¡¯s going to college soon, so to prepare for that she¡¯s going to be staying with a friend.¡± said mom as she dragged me along. ¡°Isn¡¯t that nice? it¡¯ll just be you, me, and Cain. I¡¯ll be able to give my babies the attention they need.¡±

    For a second I thought I was free, but instead she took me to the basement door. I could see the top of the stairs. The rest of the room had been swallowed up by dark shadows. ¡°Mom? What¡¯s down there?¡± I only asked because it looked like she wanted to take me down the stairs.

    She took hold of my shoulders then pushed me into the dark. ¡°You haven¡¯t learned a thing Isaac.¡± Said mom as my naked body bounced and rolled down the steps. I didn¡¯t scream instead I took the fall like a champ. My body came to a stop at the bottom.

    Mom stared down at me her eyes giving off that yellow glow again. ¡°Don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll make you better. Don¡¯t make too much noise or your brother might hear you. You don¡¯t want to ruin our family again so stay quiet, or they¡¯ll come and destroy all our lives.¡± She closed the door soon after.

    My body was in pain. I was left in the cold dark. Was I supposed to spend the night down here? Maybe the weekend? I didn¡¯t have school, so it only made sense and sis was gone so¡­. I might be here a while. Mom¡­ mom was just trying to make me better. We¡¯ll be a happy family again.

    Me and mom and Cain and¡­ oh not dad. Dad died. Cain also hates me and my sister is gone too. Mom loves me. She has to otherwise she wouldn¡¯t do this stuff to me. She just wants what¡¯s best. She wants me to be better. To be a good boy.

    It¡¯s just me and her now. The world is so big and scary. I can''t go out there by myself. I need my mom. I don''t want to be alone.

    So I laid there. Maybe if I learn my lesson mom will go back to how she was. We can curl up on the couch and watch those soap operas she likes. It¡¯ll be like old times. Like when I was happy. Everything will be okay once I learn my lesson.

    Um¡­ what could it be? Is it because I leave the toilet seat up, or maybe its because I don''t like carrots. I don''t think I can eat them even if I tried. What about my report card? I got a 0 in gym class cause I refused to participate.

    I thought about it for a long time and eventually I fell asleep. I wonder what mom told Cain. He wouldn¡¯t care either way. My stomach started to growl again. I¡¯ve never felt so empty. So thirsty.

    There hadn¡¯t been any noise upstairs. Was anyone even home? What if mom took Cain somewhere and left me all alone. Maybe I should try to get something to eat.

    I got to my feet. My body was still sore. I made my way up the stairs and when I got to the top I tried the door. It was locked. I don¡¯t remember it ever having a lock.

    I almost tried knocking on it, but mom told me not to make any noise. That would be bad right? She¡¯ll get even more mad and she won¡¯t let me out again. I went back down and sat on the floor.

    It was so cold In here that I had to hug my knees to stay warm. Mom can¡¯t leave me here forever. She has to come back. I nearly started to cry but didn¡¯t want to make a noise. I can¡¯t make a noise. If Cain finds out then mom might go to jail. She was all I had now.

    I sat there for hours. With every passing moment I started to believe she would never come back. That¡¯s when the door opened blinding me with light.

    I think it was mom so I cried for help. ¡°mom I¡¯m sorry please let me out. It¡¯s really cold and I need water. I¡¯ll be good I promise.¡±

    She didn¡¯t even look at me. All she did was leave a brown bag at the top of the stairs. ¡°eat and stay quite I don¡¯t want to hear you crying. Cain and I are watching a movie.¡± She slammed the door shut and I heard her lock it that time.

    I wanted to keep crying but that would be bad. I crawled my way up the stairs and opened the brown bag. Inside was a ham and cheese sandwich with the crust cut off, that was nice of her. There was also a bottle of water.

    I was so thirsty I chugged the water down in one go. I then ate the sandwich. It was so good. I sat there for a while listening for any noise, but couldn¡¯t hear anything.

    I spent the entire weekend down there and at one point something happened. I don''t know how to explain it. One second I was trying to rationalize mom¡¯s punishment and the next¡­.

    ¡°Mom loves me. She loves me so I need to be strong. I need to be better. I need to learn. I¡¯m bad. I¡¯m so bad. I¡¯m such a bad person. Mom knows it. That''s why I''m here. I¡¯m bad. I¡¯m so sorry mom, I¡¯m sorry.¡± I cried.

    Even the hole inside me had reached its limit causing the lid to crack as I desperately tried to stuff more trauma into it. I couldn''t do it anymore. I wanted to learn my lesson, but I didn''t know what it was.

    Was I going to stay down here forever? If only I was more like my sister Julia then maybe I could fight back¡­ but I don''t want to hurt mom. I want her to love me again. She was all I had now. I don''t want to be alone.

    It all kept building and when I couldn''t hold it in anymore I screamed. It was so loud that my throat started to hurt. When I ran out of breath the door opened and mom was standing there.

    ¡°I''m sorry mommy, I''m sorry!¡± I cried. I¡¯d broken the one rule she gave me! I was bad, so very, very bad!

    ¡°I told you to be quiet!¡± She turned the lights on closing the door behind her, then came down the stairs pulling out a metal wire. It might have been day time, or night time. I didn¡¯t know. What I do know is that it hurt. It hurt so much and she kept telling me to be quiet despite being whipped like a dog.

    After the first two lashes I shut my mouth. I was bad. Being loud was bad! I needed to stay quiet! I understand now! I won¡¯t talk anymore, but how will I let mom know that I learned my lesson if I can¡¯t talk!

    ¡°Shut up! shut up! Be quiet devil child!¡± She swung the wire down over and over telling me to shut up, but I hadn¡¯t said a word! She was hitting me for nothing and I couldn¡¯t tell her the injustice because I wasn¡¯t allowed to speak!

    My brain tried to find some logic but it couldn¡¯t! There was none there! I don¡¯t understand the lesson! It didn¡¯t make sense it wasn¡¯t fair at all!

    My only option was to ignore it to push it deep into the hole to forget this ever happened but the hole was angry. It was so full that it could no longer hold it all.

    Snap!

    I found myself inside my garden, but there was something wrong. The water well that once contained the hole was broken. Part of its black slime had spread over the brick road. The hole was now visible except it was full of that black stuff.

    The next thing I noticed was her. She was only a few feet away from me admiring a red flower that looked a bit like a ninja star. She wore a black goth dress and had gray eyes. They were a lot like mine. Actually she kind of looked like a combination of me and Julia. ¡°What are you doing in my garden?¡¯ I asked.

    She looked back at me and smiled. The girl started giggling then took off running into the hedge maze. ¡°Hey! Come back!¡± I ran after her, but even in my imagination I was slow.

    The worst part was that since I had been chasing her I hadn¡¯t been paying attention on which way I was going. In other words¡­ I was lost. Once I ran out of steam my run became a walk.

    Walking around aimlessly felt like a bad idea, but I didn¡¯t have any string or bread crumbs to mark my way. I know the layout of the maze, but I wasn¡¯t sure where I was inside of it.

    There was no landmarks or signs. A ¡°you are here sign¡± would be really helpful right now. I¡¯d given up on finding the girl and was instead looking for a way out.

    That¡¯s when I heard giggling coming from the other side of the hedge. I quickly made my way around and found¡­. Nothing. Maybe it was farther that way. Who the hell was this girl?

    This was my world and she just comes in out of nowhere. She¡¯s probably touching all my stuff right now. What if she breaks something, or steals.

    Angry I dragged my feet looking for an exit. Why did I even make this stupid maze! It¡¯s so annoying! I kicked the hedge in anger only to get my leg stuck in its foliage. This only served to infuriate me more.

    In an attempted to pull my leg out I fell onto my back giving me the view of the infinitely black sky. It was the one thing I couldn¡¯t change. I felt tired as all my mental strength was used on maintaining my stay here. I didn¡¯t want to go back to that other world. It was horrible there.

    My vision became blurry as my eyes started to leak. Why couldn¡¯t mom go back to normal? Where was Julia? Why did she leave me with her? I¡¯m so sorry mom, but I can¡¯t do it anymore! I don¡¯t want to hurt!

    ¡°Whatcha doin?¡± My view was eclipsed by that girls head. She was looking down at me with her big round eyes.

    ¡°none of your business!¡± I cried. I sat up not wanting her to see me cry.

    ¡°it¡¯s okay don''t worry you passed out. I think mom¡¯s already gone.¡± She sat next to me and gave me a half hug. It felt nice, but I wasn''t going to tell her that.

    ¡°Wait, how do you know that?¡± I asked still half crying. The girl shrugged in response. She was kind of strange.

    Loading 94%

 Episode 39: loading 96%

    Loading 95%

    -Isaac age 13-

    Wind rushed passed me as I went up, then came back down. Then up and back down. It was way more fun with two people. That weird girl reached out as I swung by adding to my forward swing.

    ¡°Go higher!¡± I yelled.

    ¡°If I go any higher you''ll go all the way around!¡± She had used some power to make my tree grow taller and increased the length of the swing.

    Just a little more and I might be able to see the entire world. Thanks to her I¡¯d come to realize that the world really wasn¡¯t that big. It was only a few miles all the way around and I wasn¡¯t sure, but it looked like the asteroid it once was had grown a little in size.

    I wonder what else I¡¯ll put into this world. The other side was pretty cold compared to this side. That was why I put my garden here. No matter how much I wanted I couldn¡¯t change the temperature.

    There was also some strange crystal structures on that side and I had no idea where they came from. It almost made me feel like there was something else out there shaping my world. In any case I dubbed that side the bad lands.

    The girl stopped pushing me, Instead she avoided me. Then on my way back down she stood in my path putting both hands on the seat of the swing. There was no whiplash as I came to a complete stop. Somehow she had absorbed all the momentum I had built up.

    I was both surprised and amazed by the subverted laws of physics. The conservation of energy seemed to not be a thing in this world, or maybe it was more because that was what she wanted. I guess anything was possible in this place.

    I smiled and laughed trying to keep the atmosphere Playful. ¡°That was fun! Do you want to go?¡± I asked. I didn¡¯t mind pushing her. This was the most fun I¡¯d had in ages.

    The girl shook her head. ¡°No, I''m fine.¡± She pressed her lips into a thin line and gazed into my eyes suspiciously. ¡° Isaac¡­You haven¡¯t realized it yet have you?¡± her lips curled into a smile like she¡¯d just caught me doing something strange.

    Did I do something silly? I tilted my head in confusion unsure of what she meant. ¡°What do you mean?¡± I didn¡¯t want the answer to that question as the world seemed to glitch around me.

    Instead I tried to go back to our game wishing to ignore the feeling of dread creeping its way into the front of my mind. ¡°let¡¯s play some more!¡± I pushed myself. She moved out of the way as I swung forward.

    On my way back The girl hugged me from behind. ¡°It¡¯s okay Isaac, look.¡± She pulled a small round mirror out of nowhere showing me my face.

    I was younger now. Maybe 7 or 8. I wasn¡¯t really sure, my size was odd back then. For a moment the mirror seemed to glitch. I slapped it away. No, none of that. I started giggling again. ¡°let¡¯s play some more, I don¡¯t want to think about that.¡± I nearly cried.

    ¡°About what Isaac?¡± Her words seemed to remind me of all the bad things that had happened to me and my family. I could feel the pain and misery rise back up inside me.

    I remember now. I wanted to stuff it all in the hole, but then it broke and now I didn¡¯t know what to do with all of it¡­..so I screamed.

    She hugged me as I thrashed around ripping the world apart with my own thoughts. As soon as I broke something she would fix it. Eventually we ended up laying on the grass. My face was pressed against her dress while she stroked the back of my head.

    I didn¡¯t want to think about it. I just wanted to go back to when I was happy. I want to play in my garden and stay away from the hole.

    ¡°it¡¯s alright Isaac no one is going to hurt you here. You¡¯re safe in the garden.¡± She said.

    I pulled my tear stained face away from her. I couldn''t help but wonder. Who is this stranger? She cleaned my face up with a tissue that seemed to come out of thin air. Then sat up on the grass crossing her legs like a preschooler. I sat up in a similar position, but I was positioned more like how a mermaid would sit.

    The girl looked to be around 12 maybe 13. She also kind of looked like a cross between Julia and me. Her dress made her look like one of those goth girls from school, but without all the makeup or drama.

    Weirdly enough, I didn¡¯t feel like I was talking to a stranger, or a girl from school. It was like I was with a sibling only without the baggage. Somehow this actually made me happy. To have someone I was comfortable around and who didn¡¯t hate me.

    A white bunny rabbit hopped over and wrinkled its nose at us as if asking us if all the violence from a moment ago was over. I felt kind of bad for the little guy. I must have given it a scare with the continental tantrum I threw earlier.

    That girl reached over picking up the rabbit and plopping it down on her lap. She then gave it a few scratches. It looked like it was happy, so that was good.

    I was a little jealous she was the one that got to pet it. They always run away from me. It was probably a form of protest since I refused to plant any carrots despite all the complaints I got from the furry council, but that was a story for another day.

    The girls voice cut through my scrambled thoughts, ¡°I think we need to have a talk.¡± I hated lazy segways like that. Her demeanor changed. from cheerful to serious in an instant.

    I wanted to keep everything playful, so I wouldn¡¯t have to think about what was going on in the outside world, but it looked like that wasn¡¯t going to happen.

    Still, I decided to play dumb. ¡°Talk about what?¡± I innocently asked. If there was anything to talk about I¡¯d say it was how she got here. Why¡¯s it always have to be me? Let her think about her trauma for once.

    ¡°We need to negotiate a bit. First of all you should think of us like a divorced couple and now we need to figure out who gets custody of our body in the real world.¡± I nodded along even though I wasn¡¯t exactly sure what she was talking about.

    I tried to clarify what she meant, ¡°You mean like my bod-¡° She interrupted me ¡°our body!¡±

    This sounded bad. It sounded like she wanted my¡­ our body for herself. Did this mean I needed a lawyer? I don¡¯t think I have enough money even if I broke open my piggy bank. I¡¯ll just have to represent myself. I¡¯ve watched enough law and order to know what to do, but¡­ do I really want that?

    If this meant I¡¯d get to stay away from real life for a bit and get to live here in my garden, then I was all for it. I didn¡¯t want to deal with mom anymore.

    Not just her. The world was scary too. I don¡¯t fit in anywhere, and it always feels like everyone is moving forward so fast, while I can barely figure out how to say ¡°hello¡±

    She interrupted my thoughts. ¡°Hear me out. Your mind already has trauma, so I vote that you come out only when mom is punishing us.¡± She nodded agreeing with her own horrific idea, as if it was the best course of action to take. The bunny rabbit hopped away not wanting to be apart of the conversation.

    I let out a long breath and responded to her crazy proposal with, ¡°screw that! I refuse! If you want our body then take it! I¡¯m done using it. I want to stay here and play in my garden.¡± There was no way I was going back out there.

    She nodded as if accepting it, but really she was just trying to placate me. That was the same fake smile I got from my brother, sister and mom. Usually reserved for when they wanted to trick me into doing something.

    ¡°I hear you, but here is the thing.¡± She created a ball of light in the palm of her hand. ¡°When the well broke we were consumed by all the bad stuff.¡± Black shadows spread across the balls surface covering the light.

    ¡°In that moment our mind couldn¡¯t handle it, so It cut out the bad parts like an infected arm and turned us into two.¡± The shadows were pushed to one side, now only taking up a fourth of the ball. It was then removed. There was now one small black ball and one large white ball. the original light had noticeably shrunk in size.

    ¡°You¡¯re the small ball.¡± They vanished a moment later as the girl continued her in depth recap. ¡°The whole point of splitting our mind was to get rid of those awful memories. Tainting my head with that stuff will just leave us with two broken personalities.¡±

    I don''t know why, but I felt a spark of anger inside me. ¡°What are you talking about! I¡¯m Isaac! This is my body! You can¡¯t just decide you want to force me into all the bad situations!¡±

    She waved her arms around as if trying to calm a bear. ¡°Whoa there! Don¡¯t freak out on me. Look, this isn¡¯t really your body anymore. I was being nice before when I said it was ours.¡±

    ¡°What do ypu mean by that!¡± I panicked.

    ¡°Think back, right before the split you desperately wanted to be someone else. To be like our sister. I¡¯m pretty sure I was created to counter mom. Let¡¯s face it. If you go out there mom will walk all over you, but if I go out there then maybe I can keep her from hurting us.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure but she seemed way more reliable than me.

    I didn''t get the chance to think about it as she Interrupted my thoughts again. ¡°your not just our bad memories and trauma. You are the weakest part of us.¡±

    I wanted to get mad but I did feel like a loser most of the time. Was she actually different? She seemed way more confident and reliable. Her words flowed nicely too.

    The fact of the matter was. I wasn¡¯t built to live in the real world. Often times it was very overwhelming. I¡¯d usually end up wishing the world would slow down.

    In a way this body reflected my mental age. I didn¡¯t have the social skills to portray a teenager, but this girl did. She might even be able to make lots of friends.

    Even though I hated it I thought back to the moment my head broke. I remember wishing to be like my sister, but to have it happen was a whole other story. ¡°Wait, so am I the original Isaac, or am I a knock off?¡± I asked.

    She rolled her eyes. ¡°You and I are both the original Isaac. However you are the part of us that has all our weaknesses and trauma. I was created because you could not function in the real world. I was designed in a way to be able to succeed in life.¡±

    I think I understood her. That¡¯s when I felt something crawling on my arm. I turned my head only to see a centipede. I jumped and screamed shaking my arm. The centipede went flying, but the girl reached out and caught it.

    ¡°Hey there.¡± She petted the bug like it was a puppy. ¡°It¡¯s okay little guy. I got you.¡± She cooed.

    ¡°Eww, kill it! That things gross!¡± I cried and took multiple butt scoots back.

    She snorted at my reaction. ¡°Your not afraid of a little centipede are you?¡± she mocked. ¡°It¡¯s so cute!¡± She let it crawl around her arm.

    ¡°That¡¯s not cute at all! its creepy! What is that thing doing in my garden anyway?! get it out!¡± There was no way I would let it stay here.

    ¡°Poppycock! This little guy is adorable I think I¡¯ll name it¡­.. Jeremy.¡± She petted it''s head with her index finger and made even more cooing noises.

    ¡°Jeremy? More like Squirmy.¡± I was trying to insult the thing, but to my surprise the girl took a liking to the name.

    ¡°Squirmy! That¡¯s perfect. It¡¯s so cute. Do you like your new name Squirmy?¡± I could hear the centipede make a hissing sound. It sounded like a yes.

    That raised a question, ¡°What¡¯s your name anyway?¡± I asked.

    Her mouth fell open like she was about to say something, but went silent for a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t actually have a name¡­¡­ oh, hey! Your good with names. Could you give me one?¡±

    A name for her? I shrugged in acceptance. She looks like Julia so maybe Juliatwo or julitwo. That seemed dumb. She¡¯s kind of gothy. Maybe something like dark diva, or spooky spice¡­¡­ nah. Let¡¯s incorporate the julia thing. How about gloomia, or spookya.

    No she¡¯ll probably get mad at those. What else do I know about her. She likes centipedes¡­

    ¡°How about¡­Centa. You know cause you like centipedes.¡± It sounded way dumber when I said it aloud and I regretted it immediately.

    ¡°Actually¡­ I think I like Centa. It sounds nice even if it is short for centipede. I like all animals in general, but I like this little guy the most, because he is small and weak and should be protected. Just like me.¡± She smiled brightly.

    That¡¯s strange. I was smaller than her shouldn¡¯t I be protected? That was silly I should be more concerned about my role here.

    ¡°Now that names are settled. What should we do about custody? Do I really need to take all the hits?¡± I didn¡¯t want to, but it wouldn¡¯t be forever, just until we left home.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Besides Centa was more confidant than me. Maybe she could keep mom from hurting us like that. I can finally live in a world where I have a garden.

    ¡°It¡¯s the only way we can survive. This means that if mom ever puts us back in that basement you¡¯ll be the one in control. This way we can exist without actually going insane. Are we clear on the details?¡± She reached out with her hand to shake mine.

    As much as I didn''t want to suffer this was really the only way to survive. The best part was that I wouldn''t have to deal with life anymore. Centa would handle everything.

    Before shaking her hand I had to ask. ¡°Is being a girl gonna get in the way of stuff?¡±

    ¡°I''m only a girl because you wanted to be like our sister. It probably won''t change anything. This is only a representation of my personality.¡± She extended her hand out again.

    ¡°Okay then.¡± Our hands clasped together and Centa was pulled away in a pillar of light. I was left behind in that meadow. At first I thought maybe this was for the best. Then the feeling of being forgotten started to grow within me.

    Was I really supposed to just fade away from that other world. Just because I couldn¡¯t handle being alive. That was the reason Centa was created right? To take my place. What if I never get to see my family again? I might as well just not exist.

    I so badly wanted to take my place as prime, but the memories of my mother trying to discipline me left me paralyzed. It was way too unfair. There was no way I could handle something like that. I felt my knees give and I fell onto the soft grass.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to exist anymore.¡± I cried as I curled up into a ball. I was so useless. I couldn¡¯t do anything right. I killed my dad and turned my mom crazy. My sister and brother both hate me and I have absolutely nothing to go back to. I failed.

    For the first few days I sulked under the tree not wanting to do anything. Funny thing about fear and anxiety, it keeps you from getting bored.

    As time went on a bunch of little animals started gathering around me. From birds, to squirrels, to bunnies and even a bear. I was visited by dear and wolves.

    Some of them were from the furry council worried about my well being, but I assured them that everything was fine and that I was no longer in charge of this world. I only lived here.

    That¡¯s when the furry council issued an eviction notice telling me I had to leave the garden within thirty days. I threw it back in their fuzzy faces.

    That turned into a whole story arc, but I¡¯ll save you the details and just say that the furry council is no more. Also all laws were abolished and the garden is now an anarchy server.

    That wasn¡¯t an issue since for whatever reason animals were easy to defeat. They were really more like ghosts with very little mass. They¡¯re like realistic animal shaped balloons that can walk and stuff.

    I needed to go for a walk to clear my mind after that crazy adventure, so I made my way through the garden taking in all its beautiful plants. Before I could enjoy the vibrant colors and sweet smells I found myself somewhere else.

    No longer was I in my inner garden. I was in the cold dusty basement of my old house. Upon realization I started to cry uncontrollably. My breath becoming quick and sporadic. Why was it so cold?

    ¡°Shut up! I told you to be quiet!¡± Yelled mom as she whipped me once more. I couldn¡¯t stop myself from crying out in pain. This only made her even more angry. After that I did my best not to scream and managed it fairly well only releasing a whimper here and there.

    She hit me a lot and she didn¡¯t stop until she was tired. Once she did she left the room locking me down there. It was dark again. My body was in so much pain. I couldn¡¯t do this. I know I said I would, but this was impossible.

    I couldn¡¯t do it. I don¡¯t want it. I don¡¯t care if it makes sense for me to take the torture for Centa. It hurts so much. I just want it to stop. I spent what I assumed was the weekend down there and when it was over I went back to the garden.

    This went on for a while. I don¡¯t know how many times mom hurt me, but it was the only experience I was allowed to have in the real world. Despite my begging and crying, Centa didn¡¯t care. She kept forcing me to take all the hits while she lived a happy life in the outside world. I hardly ever saw her anymore.

    She knew what I was going through yet she still used me like a shield. I was bad so I probably deserved it, but I couldn¡¯t do it anymore. Centa wasn¡¯t my friend. She was using me.

    She even made me drink the well. She said the hole had been bothering her and was making it hard for her to live her life, so she wanted me to take all the pain inside myself.

    When I told her I didn¡¯t want to she got mad at me and tied me to a big rock. She then threw me into the well. Brother once said that in order to keep yourself from drowning you need to drink the whole pool. I think I would have preferred drowning.

    The hole was full of not just horrible memories, but raw emotions and nightmares. Things I hadn¡¯t thought about in years. I wish I could forget, but that black water was inside me now.

    It clung to my tummy like an angry cat stuck in a tree. It moves around and claws at my insides. It keeps trying to scare me and break me down. I want to disappear.

    It had been almost two weeks now since the last time I was brought into the real world. I had no idea how much time I had before I was forced back into that basement.

    Mom no longer stopped at simple belt lashes. Once I learned to be quiet she started taking me out back into the yard and forcing me to play in the cold mud like I was some kind of pig. It got so bad that even when I was in the garden I couldn¡¯t live peacefully.

    I Was always on edge and felt like I was being watched. Because of that I started hiding in the well. It was the most secure location and I felt safe inside.

    I also removed my clothes since those were only for good children and I wasn¡¯t good. I was a bad person. I killed my dad and turned my mom into a psycho. I hurt my brother and caused my sister to run away from home.

    If only I could meet moms expectations. If only I wasn¡¯t a bad kid. Nowadays I spent all my time crying and praying to god for help. It doesn¡¯t work. No matter how much I wish to stop existing, it doesn¡¯t happen. I thought about killing myself, but that was bad too. I couldn¡¯t go to heaven if I did that.

    The only other option was if mom killed me, but that would also be bad because then mom wouldn¡¯t go to heaven either. The only way was for me to die naturally. Maybe Centa will be walking home from school and get hit by a car.

    I wish dad was here. He could probably save me. Dad was a hero. He was my hero, but no matter how much I called for help he never came. Was he mad at me? I was a bad guy and heros don¡¯t save bad guys, so I need to be good so I can be saved. Be good. Be good.

    How? I¡¯m a bad guy so I don¡¯t know what¡¯s bad about what I¡¯m doing. That¡¯s just how I am. That¡¯s why mom can¡¯t fix me. That¡¯s why I¡¯m always hurting. I hate myself. Why can¡¯t I be good! Stupid, stupid Isaac!

    I was back in the real world Again. This time there was snow in the yard. I was already naked. My body was covered in scars. The sight made me sick. It was so cold. The air felt like it was cutting into my skin. I heard the sound of water pouring onto the ground.

    Turning around my body shivered. Mom was holding the hose and had been pouring water into the snow. I already knew what was going to happen, but I didn¡¯t want to believe it. Like a child throwing a tantrum I couldn¡¯t help but yell ¡°No! No! No! Nooooo!¡±

    This only seemed to anger her. ¡°Isaac, I told you to be quiet! Come here for your punishment! NOW!¡± She pointed in front of her. She didn¡¯t want to have to walk through the wet snow.

    I cried not wanting anything to do with this. ¡°please mom! I¡¯m so sorry! Please don¡¯t hurt me! I love you! You don¡¯t have to do this! I¡¯ll be good I swear!¡± I cried.

    Mom looked away from me holding her mouth with her free hand. She started to cry but stopped herself. Without looking at me she said ¡°I can¡¯t stop now. I¡¯ve already done so much. There¡¯s no going back not until it¡¯s over. You''ll thank me when it¡¯s done.¡±

    ¡°m-mom¡­¡± I cried.

    ¡°now¡­. Isaac.¡± She pointed again as tears rolled down her face.

    I didn¡¯t want to move, but it was as if I wasn¡¯t in control of my body. First my left and then my right. Was this Centa, but why?

    Once I was right next to her she used the hoes to hit me. The metal end bit down on my back as she swung the hoes at me. I nearly fell to my knees in pain.

    I knew she hated it when I spoke, so I tried to remain silent, but I couldn''t stop myself from gasping when the cold water touched my body. This was hell. She hit me again and again. All I could do was grunt in pain. Eventually she told me to lay down in the wet snow.

    This only made me cry more and I slowly Immersed my body in that ice cold frost. I had never been this cold in my entire life. She made it even worse when she poured water over me. I hated it when she poured it over my face. I nearly drowned when my body involuntarily gasped sucking water into my lungs.

    She did that for a long time. I don''t know how long, but I was sure that I had hypothermia by the end of it. My body was in so much pain and I was sure that my fingers weren¡¯t supposed to be blue.

    There were a lot of body parts that had gone numb. I was shivering and was having trouble remembering where I was. I felt myself nearly fall asleep before mom finally pulled me out.

    She lead me back inside and into the basement. Then handed me a blanket. I did my best to stay away from the AC that was running. Somehow the basement wasn¡¯t as cold as the outside and I actually felt slightly warmer.

    I nearly died that night and if it wasn¡¯t for mom I probably would have. Mom checked up on me and saw that I was still shaking. She cried for a little.

    Then pulled out her cross and started praying again, ¡°Divine source of love and light, we come before you in this sacred night, with humble hearts and open minds, seeking your healing touch that binds.¡±

    Her cross started to glow gold and wash over me. ¡°Restore our bodies, mend each part, with your loving energy, heal every hurt, renew our strength, both body and soul, grant us the wellness that makes us whole.¡±

    The light was so warm, but it wasn¡¯t comforting in any way. This wasn¡¯t divine at all. It felt wrong somehow. Somehow I got the sense of arrogance from the power, like it was weaved into it.

    ¡°We thank you for the gift of healing, for your divine compassion revealing, may your grace flow, like a river¡¯s stream, washing away ailments, like a distant dream. Amen.¡± She finished.

    The light faded away and I no longer felt cold. My body was magically healed. Did this mean that the escape of death was no longer an option? There was no way out of this.

    I drifted off as my body was finally able to relax. This wasn¡¯t fair.

    I awoke in the hole. There was no pain. It was quiet and calm. So much different from the pain I felt before. The hole was the only place I felt safe. The tiredness of my body was gone. In this world things like that didn¡¯t exist.

    Sleep was possible, but why do that? If I went to sleep that would only speed up my time and I¡¯d have to go back to the outside world where my dad is dead and everyone hates me. Back to pain and misery. No, I wanted to enjoy the week of peace before every weekend.

    Sometimes mom wouldn¡¯t even wait a week. She would use a cable and hit me while I took a cold shower, or she would make me stick my hand in an ants nest and make me hold it there for a whole minute.

    She was always coming up with new ways to teach me, but I never learned any lessons. If I could just figure out what she wanted me to learn. what she wanted me to change, then maybe she¡¯ll leave me alone. The urge to scream built itself up in my head.

    ¡°No¡­ I have to stay quiet¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t hold it in so instead I dunked my head into a puddle of black water and let out the loudest scream I could muster. My throat cried in pain as bubbles rose up and out of the dark liquid.

    ¡°Isaac? Are you okay? What are you doing down there?¡± Centa looked down on me from above.

    I gazed up at her, afraid I was about to be sent back to the real world. ¡°Don¡¯t send me back! Please just leave me alone!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Calm down. Why don¡¯t you come up here and we can talk about it. Come on I¡¯ll even pull you up.¡± She held onto the rope used to lower and raise the bucket. It was purely ascetic, but could be used as a way to get in and out of the hole.

    Normally I¡¯d step into the bucket then pull myself up with the rope, but she did it for me. Not wanting to fall back down I held on for dear life. Eventually after a lot of grunting, Centa managed to get me all the way to the top.

    I climbed out as she asked, ¡°Did you fall in or something? How long were you down there?¡± I quickly conjured up some pants as she continued without an answer. ¡°Last time I came I couldn¡¯t find you. Were you in there the whole time?¡±

    I nodded. She didn¡¯t seem to like that. ¡°talk to me. Why are you so quiet?¡±

    She had to know. It was her fault after all. ¡°I don¡¯t want to do this anymore.¡± I cried.

    She looked at me confused. ¡°What do you mean? Everything is going so smoothly.¡±

    Maybe for her. ¡°I cant do it anymore. Mom hurts me a lot. We almost died the last time.¡± Unlike me Centa looked great. Like she¡¯d been sleeping well.

    ¡°No! You cant take it back! Besides, I already have primary control.¡± She crossed her arms and turned the other way.

    She didn¡¯t have any of the trauma I had. She was basically a happy child with no baggage at all. A better version of me. She was a better Isaac.

    Actually she was more like Julia. Selfish and not afraid to abandon her family. I said I wanted to be strong like my sister. This wasn''t what I meant. She didn''t care about me. Only what I could do for her.

    It didn''t matter that she was better at everything. Mom didn¡¯t see it that way. Centa was the one out there. So¡­. That means even if I learn my lesson she won¡¯t and mom will still keep hurting me. She wasn¡¯t going to stop! I was going to suffer for a long time. I can¡¯t do this, I can¡¯t! I wont¡­

    Making my way over to Centa I took hold of her shoulders. Somehow my grip on her felt solid. Like I was holding a ragdoll. ¡°What¡¯s wrong Isaac?¡± She smiled her happy free smile and I did too only mine was just an imitation.

    My eye twitched as I felt like I was about to make a huge mistake, but I didn¡¯t care. With a quick motion I pushed Centa towards the well. She hit the rim with her hip tilting over the hole. A loud splash sounded a moment later followed by her cursing.

    ¡°Fucking idiot! What¡¯s wrong with you!? Isaac get me out of here, NOW!¡± She sounded like she was angry crying.

    For a moment I was afraid to show my face. My body was paralyzed and I didn¡¯t know what to do. I could play it off as a joke and apologize, but then I¡¯d have to keep living this nightmare.

    ¡°Fuck you! I¡¯ll get out by myself!¡± she yelled sending a pang of fear through me.

    I watched the rope move as she tried to get the bucket to come down. Somehow the rope had been knocked into the well with her.

    I couldn¡¯t let that happen. I can¡¯t let her take away my life like that! I don¡¯t want to disappear! I don¡¯t want to feel pain either! I don¡¯t need her!

    Everyone I¡¯ve ever met has been a selfish asshole. My brother, my sister, my teachers, even dad was like that sometimes. To be fair only ever to other people. Why couldn¡¯t I be selfish for once!? Why can''t I ever get what I want!?

    I rushed over and yanked the rope away from her. She fell forward into the dark water, as I pulled the rope up. Once it was out I grabbed the lid and worked it over the well.

    ¡°Wait! Isaac what are you doing!? Stop it I¡¯m still down here! I don¡¯t like the dark!¡± She cried just as the lid was closed.

    My hands were shaking, but I couldn¡¯t stop there. I started to run around gathering the biggest rocks I could find and started stacking them over the well.

    Despite the sound of Centa crying. I couldn¡¯t stop. There was no way I could stop. I had to keep going. If I let her out she¡¯ll only make it even worse for me.

    I continued until I could no longer hear her. It must have taken days, but by the end there was now a small rocky hill over the area where the well had been. I sat at the bottom of it hugging my knees. I couldn¡¯t believe what I had done. I left her there trapped in darkness.

    I was a monster. Could I really function in the real world anymore. After all the crap I¡¯d seen. After everything I¡¯d been through. No matter how much I wished to forget.

    The memories of my mother still played over and over in my head. Even though all that rock was on top of her. I could still hear her crying for help.

    This wasn¡¯t fair! None of this is fair! This stupid garden isn¡¯t even a safe place anymore! It¡¯s full of bad memories. Full of ghosts. I hate it, I hate it!

    I started to slam my fists into the ground. As I did the world seemed to tremble. The garden around me slowly sank into the ground as I slammed my fists angrily into the dirt. I was so angry. Why couldn¡¯t I just be normal?!

    I hate being a monster. What I did to her was so wrong. It went against my very soul. I was disgusting. These stupid memories I hate them! I hate them!

    ¡°Get out! Get out of my head!¡± I cried as I slammed my hands into my temples putting pressure on my skull. I squeezed so hard that it felt like my head would explode. At some point I started to slam my forehead against a rock and surly enough I started to bleed.

    Black ooze leaked from my head and into the ground. Slowly, the pain and torture started to leave my mind. The memories of my mother slowly faded only leaving small remnants of it ever happening. Even the horrible thing I did to Centa started to leak, and before I knew it I forgot where I even was.

    I felt something start to enter my body. Power. There were white particles leading out of the ground and moving into my body. I slowly started to feel stronger. More solid, like I¡¯d been nothing more than a ghost before.

    ¡°This place¡­ it looks ugly.¡± A giant blue flower grew under me and I laid on it like a bed. Its petals started to close around me before a light surrounded me taking me back into the real world.

    -Isaac-

    I had no idea any of this had happened. What I did to that girl was worse than death. No wonder she hated me. It looked like I was no longer following my perspective and had become some sort of ghost like observer.

    My body was translucent and I had been left behind as the past version of me headed back out into the old world. My body started to sink and I found myself going deep underground.

    Loading 96%

 Episode 40: loading ^$&^"@

    My incorporeal body sunk deeper into the cold dark ground. As if unlocking X-ray I could now see the warping innards of the hole. It had expanded in some places and it¡¯s shape was starting to resemble a crewed boiling flask. The whole process had been sped up as if I were watching a time laps.

    Centa was at the bottom clawing at the walls and crying. Her fingernails long gone. Only bone was left. Bloody ivory scraped against rock leaving long trails of blood.

    The scene left me in shock. Remorse grew within me as the feeling of guilt built up over my heart. I wasn¡¯t just watching it happen I could feel what she felt. Her emotions were the deepest pit of despair I¡¯d ever encountered.

    The physical pain was nothing compared to the fear and desperation she felt. Centa cried for days, months, years, calling for that other me to come back. It was pointless. He had forgotten she even existed. She was forgotten and abandoned by the brother who betrayed her.

    It left me feeling disgusted at how much of a monster I¡¯d been. This whole time I locked her down there and forgot about her. I didn¡¯t just forget. I forced myself to forget. I was weak.

    Those that fear the strong are fools. The strong are strong because they are disciplined. The weak however. They will throw you under the bus and gas light everyone including you into thinking they are not the problem. The weak are scary.

    I was unable to take on the pain that came with living, so I forced it all on her just because I didn¡¯t want to stop existing. I could argue that she tried to do the same to me, but at least I had the freedom of the garden. Would she have done the same if I fought back¡­ maybe.

    I watched as she tried to climb up the walls only to fall back down. That black ooze that came out of the other me¡¯s head was slowly making its way through the rock and dirt.

    It dripped slowly into the hole. The black sludge swarming its way to her. She tried to fight it, but it jumped on her entering her body. Centa screamed as the torture of my trauma burned itself into her very being. She seemed to be able to keep most of it away, but slowly it made its way to her.

    The memories of pain and anguish rampaged inside her and she finally understood the horror she put me through. For a moment I felt satisfied that she was getting a taste of her own medicine. I even managed to smile, but then¡­

    She fell to her knees. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ please let me out. I¡¯m sorry Isaac.¡± She cried. Her words cut through me like a hot knife filling me with regret and self hatred.

    This was not justice, or something necessary for survival. This was the act of a scared loser that decided to nuke the potential enemy before they ever became a threat. I was the real monster.

    Time sped up again. The rocks above had started to sink into the ground. The well had basically collapsed over itself becoming nothing more than a pocket of black ooze.

    The hole had been designed to keep everything inside. It¡¯s walls were something that couldn¡¯t be altered or broken. Once it was sealed there was no way out. Even if I tried she was stuck down there.

    That left me wondering how that hole came to be in the throne room. Aku said it appeared after her castle crash landed on this world. Does that mean the castle was able to break through the hole?

    This place wasn¡¯t normal though. Reality was whatever you wanted it to be, as long as you had the quintessence that is. The castle crashing¡­ what if there¡¯s more to that? It¡¯s Aku¡¯s castle. One she created and lived in.

    Does this mean her inner world crashed onto mine? Something like that would probably make some kind of disaster happen. In that case two realities crashing into one another would probably be enough to crack the hole open. Not an earthquake, but a spatial quake.

    Something that shakes space and time as a whole. Sending ripples of force throughout the inner world. Something like that could probably break open the lid I put on the well.

    The show wasn¡¯t over. I had to watch as my past self visited this place every time he was tortured by mom. I wanted to punch him out for what happened next.

    Every time the old me came here he would relearn of Centa''s imprisonment. He cried and cursed himself probably feeling the same as I did now.

    Then like a selfish asshole he would choose not only to forget what mom did, but also what he had done to Centa. The memories and feeling bled from his head as they slowly made there way down into the hole.

    He couldn¡¯t handle the truth of our sin and ran away every single time. How many times had I done that? How long did this go on for? I felt like throwing up. It was disgusting.

    This was no way to treat another person. Not even an enemy. She didn¡¯t deserve this. But.. she tried to do the same to me. That doesn¡¯t make it right though.

    Shit! No matter how I look at it! I was just as wrong as she was, possibly even worse! This was wrong and I couldn¡¯t change anything because it had already happened.

    Centa no longer moved. She still cried, but was now curled up into a ball. This had been going on for a while. Years of me remembering and forgetting. Of passing on my crap memories and anxiety onto her.

    Any normal person would have broken. I wished it would stop playing, but I also knew I needed to watch till the end, because backing out now would just be more of the same shit, and I was done being weak.

    The pocket of darkness grew. It sank down into the world¡¯s core then started to hollow it out slowly eating it from the inside.

    Centa didn''t move for a long time and one day she screamed. moving her arms around and forcing that black ooze to swirl slamming itself against the walls. Despite all the anger and hatred behind her attacks it did nothing to free her. It didn¡¯t even leave a scratch.

    It was then that Squirmy made itself present. The bug had grown since I last saw it. It was no longer red, instead it¡¯s body had taken on a sleek black form.

    Centa sat in the black water. She took one look at the bug and seemed to have a conversation with it. I watched as the black sludge started to poor into the centipede. It grew in size until its body filled the entire cavern.

    After that everything faded to black and I found myself in the hole again. Back in my adult body. The feeling of self hatred and disgust still lingering. Clinging and staining my very core.

    This whole time I thought the centipede was the monster, but it turns out I was the real monster. Could I really blame myself after all the crap I went through?

    I took in my surroundings realizing there was a huge hole above me leading into an all too familiar throne room. My body felt light. This place was so dark that my eyes were having trouble making everything out.

    Centa had spent years in this place. Her final words still echoed in my mind. ¡°I¡¯m afraid of the dark!¡± I put a hand to my mouth as a lot of things started to make sense.

    A voice called out from behind me. ¡°Do you see now? What you did to me?¡±

    I turned around and saw her. This was the real Centa. Not a memory. This was the current version of her. She looked tired. Her irises glowing a dark red. That was different. Didn¡¯t she have gray eyes like mine?

    It looked like she¡¯d been crying, evident by the few wet tears plastered to the corners of her face. This whole situation was a horror show. What the fuck was my life?

    I sighed, ¡°Yeah¡­ you know what¡­ fuck you! Fuck this whole fucking place! This is total bullshit!¡± I gestured to the entirety of reality and maybe even beyond, but I doubt she understood that.

    I don''t think that was the response she was looking for, because a second later she got mad. ¡°Oh, fuck you! Are you trying to cast away your sins?! Take accountability for once and admit this is all your fault! You were supposed to beg for forgiveness and offer up your head as a trophy!¡± Her body shook violently as if holding back a hurricane.

    I was still angry, but her feelings were valid. I felt sorry for her. This whole thing was total bullshit. She should be mad. I was mad. Reality really took us for a ride and it needed to stop, but I wasn¡¯t done tearing into her. After all she wasn¡¯t blameless. Take accountability? She should take her own advice. After all, she did some crappie stuff to me too.

    ¡°You want to talk about blame! How about when you stole my life and used me like a human shield!¡± She tried to say something and chocked on her words as tears started to re-form. For someone that went through a literal hell she was way to fragile.

    Now wasn¡¯t the time to feel sorry for her. I need to bring my point home. ¡°You took advantage of my weakness and bullied me into taking the roll of a punching bag. Now that the tables have turned you decided it¡¯s unfair and you need to flip the game board over. We are in this hell because of you.¡±

    She finally managed to speak and what she said made me feel like an asshole. ¡°Fine, you can have our body. I don¡¯t want to exist anymore. Let me die Isaac. I''m really tired and I don¡¯t want to struggle anymore. No matter how much I try I just can''t win and I just don''t care anymore.¡± Her tears finally spilled.

    Those words were the same way I felt when I was in her position. The desire to stop existing was something I¡¯ve felt one to many times. Something I¡¯d wished for. Something I prayed for. I felt my own tears start to fall. Not because she wanted to off herself, but because I knew¡­

    Her body slumped looking like a puppet with its strings cut. She sat on the wet floor looking defeated. That wasn¡¯t what I wanted. I hated the centipede. I hated Centa for orchestrating this whole thing. For ruining our lives¡­. Did she really do that though. Maybe I was looking at it the wrong way.

    I took a new approach. ¡°Hey, I know what I did was horrible¡­ but¡­. You and I both know what happened was a shit show from the start. We were never built for the real world. That¡¯s why we broke in two.¡± She didn¡¯t move and instead continued to imitate a lifeless doll.

    So I gave her my proposal. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t want to keep fighting with you. Can we call a truce?¡± as I spoke I got closer eventually sitting down next to her. The ooze was gross, but I didn¡¯t care.

    That must have riled up something inside her because she got angry and threw herself at me pressing her thumbs into my neck as she tried desperately to choke me.

    ¡°Your sorry! Your sorry!! Fuck you! You kept me trapped down here for years and force fed me all your trauma! You don¡¯t get a truce! You asshole!¡± She cried as she shook me by the neck.

    It didn¡¯t really do anything. At first I thought I would run out of air, but then I remembered I didn¡¯t need to breathe. I realized while fighting Squirmy that my body was pure energy. Instead I spoke. ¡°Yeah I know, but do you really want to keep hurting each other like this?¡± She stopped at that.

    Instead she collapsed on my chest and let everything out. She reminded me so much of myself. Maybe because she used to be me. I could feel it. The part where we split off from each other.

    The edges were torn, almost like when you rip string cheese apart, except I could also see how the two half¡¯s had grown in their own directions. They were similarly sized unlike when we first split.

    The more I looked at it the more I realized there was no way to fit them back together. It¡¯s like when you cut a branch off a tree and plant it. Eventually it just grows into its own thing. That might have been a good thing. I didn¡¯t want to become someone else.

    I gave Centa a hug and forgave her for all the crap she put me through. I only hope that she could do the same for me. People are assholes. They¡¯ll convince themselves that you are a bad person just so they don¡¯t feel bad about hurting you. It¡¯s what I did and it¡¯s what she did.

    I don¡¯t think we should give up and die. I think it is what it is and we have to keep pushing forward. What was the point in hurting each other. She was basically me and I was tired of hurting myself over and over again.

    I think she liked the hug, at least it felt like she did. She seemed to fit so well in my arms. Her body felt cold. I wasn¡¯t all that warm either, but she might as well have been a corpse. Hopefully my meager body heat was enough to serve as a comfort.

    This was one of the few times I wish Shadow was here. While I hated it when she held me - because I''m married - I will admit her hugs were really nice. It''s like being smothered by a big squishy warm pillow.

    We stayed like that for a bit. That was until we heard a girlish scream from above. We looked up in time to see a giant white cat plushy falling down into the hole followed by an army of multi-colored plush dolls Carrying many different types of guns.

    Each weapon was pink in coloration and looked to be made of plastic. To literally top it off Aku was riding on kaiju Snowballs head wearing her frilly dress and a golden crown to boot.

    Kaiju snowball did the best superhero landing I¡¯d ever seen causing the dark water to shoot up into the air and rain down over the entire cavern. ¡°I¡¯m here for the final battle! And I brought the Furry Troops with me!¡±

    ¡°Furry Troops? I asked.

    She nodded. ¡°Of course! Its an acronym for Fluffy, Unstoppable, Resilient, Rallying, Youthful, Toy, Regiment, Overcoming, Obstacles, with Plush, and Softness!¡± She proclaimed as the last of her troops landed.

    All her battle prowess vanished when she saw what we were doing. She hopped off of snowball making her dress twirl mid air. This activated some kind of wind ability that let her gently land on the ground as if wearing a parachute. It was very reminiscent of a certain princess who¡¯s name rhymed with bleach.

    She made her way over. ¡°What are you guys doing?¡± Asked Aku. She crouched down next to us watching our little moment with all the joy of a child watching a Saturday morning cartoon.

    So this is what my parents felt when I walked in on them calling the stork. No, scratch that. Centa was more like a sister not a spouse. She¡¯s my¡­ evil twin¡­ or ¡­ maybe I was the evil twin? She looks a bit to young to be my twin. Evil little sister sounds about right.

    ¡°Were wrestling.¡± I responded. That was the usual answer I got back when dad was still alive. It worked back then so why wouldn¡¯t it work now. I just didn¡¯t feel like explaining the whole situation. After everything I¡¯d gone through, a nap sounded nice right about now.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    Her little face lit up with excitement. ¡°Get em papa! I¡¯ll help!¡± she grabbed onto Centas leg and tried to twist it into an uncomfortable position. ¡°Give up evil doer we have you surrounded!¡±

    Centa yelped in pain. ¡°Ow oooow! Stop that Aku that actually hurts! I give up okay! You win!¡± cried Centa. I was pretty sure she was only playing along for Aku¡¯s sake.

    ¡°Yay! You did it papa! You won! And I helped.¡± She looked like she wanted to be praised so I said, ¡°good job kiddo.¡± She blushed happily as if she¡¯d never received a compliment in her entire life. ¡°Now apologize to Centa.¡± I added.

    Centa was confused by this point, but seemed to play along out of either boredom or curiosity, possibly both. Aku puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms in a futile attempt to avoid making friends with Centa.

    ¡°Come on Aku. If you don¡¯t apologize then we won¡¯t be able to move on. Do you really want to keep fighting each other? I¡¯ve already wasted years of my life hating myself and I¡¯m sick and tired of it.¡± Her face seemed to soften.

    Centa chimed in. ¡°He¡¯s right you know.¡± That was enough to break through Aku¡¯s stubbornness, but not enough to keep her from complaining about it.

    ¡°But, but what about the Furry Troops! It took me so long to make them and it took even longer to come up with the acronym! Can I try them out on her?¡± This child was insane.

    I couldn¡¯t stop myself from asking. ¡°You sent me on a journey through the badlands and all you gave me was some tea and a compass! Why didn¡¯t you give me an army?!¡± I fought back the urge to drop kick this small child.

    ¡°Hey, hey! Calm down Isaac she¡¯s just a little girl!¡± Centa gave Aku a head pat and Aku seemed to nod and agree with her.

    ¡°That¡¯s right I get special treatment because I¡¯m small and I can only count to 7.¡± She lied.

    I sighed. Then in a calm voice asked, ¡°Sorry¡­ kiddo why didn¡¯t you give me something more useful like a tank?¡± My frustration could still be seen, but she wasn¡¯t hurt by it this time around.

    ¡°That¡¯s easy papa. I didn¡¯t have enough power then. When you opened the gate I was able to take in a bunch of power since we¡¯re linked together, see.¡± She tugged on something and it turned into a glowing white string. It looked to be attached from her chest to mine.

    Right, were linked somehow. That must be the physical manifestation of our bond. It actually kind of reminded me of a dream I had, though the details are kind of nonexistent. No matter how hard I tried all I could remember was being chased and a white room.

    ¡°Okay, I get it, so you used that power to make these guys. You¡¯re a little late though. If you had these guys before I opened the gate then it would have been nice, but it¡¯s already open. Actually why hasn¡¯t everything reset? I¡¯m still here. Do I need to sit on the throne or something?¡± It was supposed to be over right?

    Centa and Aku gave each other a long side glance as if knowing something I didn¡¯t. Centa was the one to break the silence. ¡°Actually, we¡¯re still in the middle of it.¡±

    A thought just hit me. ¡°Wait! Are you going to disappear like the monster?¡± crap I wasn¡¯t expecting to make friends with her. Hell, I didn¡¯t even know she existed up until a few¡­ days? Hours? I¡¯m confusing the time spent surfing my memories with¡­ this place.

    Centa gave Aku another look then said, ¡°He doesn¡¯t know anything.¡±

    ¡°Papa that wasn¡¯t the plan. Remember you were supposed to increase your mass so you could eat Squirmy.¡± Said Aku.

    I vaguely remembered something like that. Having all these forgotten memories had scrambled my brain a little. Things from years ago are crystal clear while things that happened only hours before were fuzzy. ¡°but I thought the monster would vanish after the ascension?¡±

    Aku shook her head. ¡°No! Squirmy is linked with Centa so they¡¯ll ascend together. Papa and I are linked so we¡¯ll ascended together also. To stop Squirmy we need to eat him. That way Centa can ascend by herself.¡±

    If a child could understand this crap then I could too. ¡°I get it, but what happens after we ascend? What does it even mean? I get its some kind of soul rank up, but are we going to change into something else, or what?¡± I asked.

    It almost sounded like a gotcha game. Where you rank up your monsters from one star to two and so on. This whole thing had gotten more complicated by the minute. I¡¯d only agreed to the plan because Aku said it was the only way.

    Centa spoke up next. ¡°When a Mortal ranks up they get stronger. In our case if your able to erase Squirmy before we finish ascending then I¡¯ll get my own body in the real world.¡±

    That sounded promising. Did that mean if I somehow cut my link with Aku we can all separate into different people? ¡°Can we unlink ourselves Aku?¡±

    Aku shook her head. ¡°Nope! That¡¯s actually hard to do. Its kind of like a square shape being jammed into a triangle hole... What I¡¯m saying is¡­ I¡¯m stuck.¡± That was a let down.

    My mind felt foggy as I sifted through my memories to think of a way to break the link, but the only thing I could really think of was all those crappie flashbacks. Did I really need to watch the granny saga?

    I directed my gaze to Centa. ¡°Why show me my childhood?¡± I asked.

    Centa tilted her head. ¡°What?¡± she queried.

    ¡°You know, those memories of when we shoveled the driveway and everything that lead up to when granny died? We were still the same person then so I don¡¯t see how it has anything to do with what we did to each other.¡± In all honesty it felt pretty random.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t me.¡± She shook her head.

    Aku seemed to pipe up raising her hand as if to answer a math problem ¡°That¡¯s apart of ascending. When people ascend the important memories, the ones that make them who they are surface.¡± Aku smiled as if expecting us to praise her for knowing stuff.

    The memories that make me who I am. I guess that made sense. Then¡­ ¡°Centa did you show me your core memories?¡±

    The girl looked away. ¡°Yeah¡­. It¡¯s a little sad when you realize my core memories are just my birth and imprisonment.¡±

    I shouldn¡¯t have asked. I simply put a hand on her shoulder and said, ¡°My core memories were of me beating the crap out of my brother. We were the same person back then, so it¡¯s not like your whole life has been spent in the hole.

    She looked sad, so I pressed my forehead against hers and reminded her of our childhood. It cost me quintessence to do so, but it needed to be done.

    Hunting with dad. Movies with mom. Playing games with our brother. Terrible singing and dancing sessions with our sister in the privacy of her room. There were so many good memories that the bad ones seemed to lose weight in comparison. Our childhood was happy until it wasn¡¯t. It might not have been great, but it was still ours.

    Her eyes leaked as she started to cry all over again. ¡°Thank you¡­ thank you¡­¡± She sobbed. I hugged her.

    ¡°You are way more than a prisoner. You are my sister. I¡¯ll find a way to save you, I swear. When you are free. You can show the world who Centa Smith is. They¡¯re gonna love you.¡± Aku waddled over nervously. She looked like she wanted to make Centa feel better too, so I included her in the hug lovingly caressing her head.

    We pulled away from each other at some point and it looked like Centa was still sad. I decided to get everyone¡¯s mind off of it and asked Aku, ¡°What were your core memories like?¡±

    ¡°Mine?¡± She went all shifty eyed acting embarrassed. ¡°I was¡­ I woke up in my castle and crash landed on this world.¡± Her core memories were so bare.

    She looked away not wanting to meet our eyes. I think I got it. Her story wasn¡¯t as long so she felt like she wasn¡¯t as interesting. It only made sense when you realize she¡¯d hardly ever seen the outside world.

    I acted excited, ¡°Really?! A whole castle crashed down! I bet you looked like a shooting star! That must have looked so cool from the ground!¡± Hopefully this would inspire confidence.

    Aku smiled. ¡°it was! There was all this fire and then bam!¡± She threw her hands up to express the explosion which made both me and Centa laugh.

    She went on to explain how strange the world looked and the things she witnessed while exploring it. We listen attentively to her story. She was so energetic and happy. Aku had been alone all that time. That was probably why she went all Wilson with the plushies.

    It was nice to see her happy, but we needed a game plan. ¡°Alright guys, how should we handle Squirmy? Can we lay a trap or something?¡± I asked.

    They both seemed to think about it, but they didn¡¯t look very confident. I didn¡¯t blame them. Squirmy had tormented all of us. Especially Centa. I don¡¯t think being locked in the hole with that demon did her any good.

    Aku spent some time running away from that monster, back when the hole first opened up. She use to have the whole castle to herself, but ever since the hole opened up. She had been confined to her room playing pretend with a bunch of dolls.

    Finally Centa gave her idea. ¡°Yeah, it might actually be impossible to beat squirmy. He was able to drink from the gate just like you. That and he is also eating souls as we speak. The good news is that the conversion rate of souls to quintessence is terrible, but its not nothing. Unless he eats them slowly most of their energy will disperse.¡±

    The whole thing didn¡¯t do anything to lighten the mood, but she continued, ¡°The only way to win is if you eat me Isaac. The conversion of a willing soul might give you enough power to eat him. Like I said I don¡¯t want to exist anymore. Disappearing would be a mercy.¡± A tear dripped down her face. ¡°oops¡­ look at that. guess I had some left over.¡± She laughed nervously.

    The same anger from before resurfaced within me. ¡°That¡¯s a load of crap!¡± I growled. Centa and Aku jumped at my surge of rage. ¡°You want to live too! I know it! Why else would you go through all this crap just to disappear! Why fight so fucking hard just to vanish, before anyone knows you ever existed!¡± I knew¡­

    She started to cry even more, but I could see her desire clear as day. I knew¡­ It¡¯s what caused me to lock her down here. The desire to live. I knew exactly how she felt.

    Centa screamed. ¡°You don¡¯t know! It¡¯s my fault! I made all those things happen! I killed so many people and that thing got lose! It¡¯s killing people right now!¡± She broke down crying. ¡°The world is better off without me. All I ever do is destroy. Even when I went against Squirmy I still caused the death of two people¡­ Besides, no one wants me around. The world will never know of a girl named Centa Smith.¡±

    I didn¡¯t want to hear her anymore. Putting my hands on her shoulders, I slammed my head against hers. ¡°ow!¡± She cried pushing me away before holding the afflicted area.

    I wasn¡¯t done. ¡°Shut up! That¡¯s not true! Did it ever occur to you that maybe I want you around!¡± She pissed me off. This girl reminded me too much of my old self. That stupid emo loser that was so willing to kill himself. Fuck that!

    ¡°You don¡¯t mean that!¡± She cried. ¡°You¡¯re lying! You just want to abuse me!¡±

    I took a breath. Then immediately started to karate chop her head over and over. ¡°Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! stop it! That hurts.¡± She cried.

    ¡°Maybe people wouldn¡¯t abuse you if you weren¡¯t a cringe emo girl! Stop saying embarrassing crap like that!¡± I retorted. Aku seemed to agree with me as she nodded along.

    ¡°That¡¯s true it¡¯s kind of embarrassing being around you Centa. That¡¯s why I never invited you to my tea parties.¡± Aku cut deep with that one as Centa¡¯s tears seemed to intensify.

    ¡°What! That explains why you kept throwing trash down the hole! Just because you don¡¯t like me! I¡¯m fun, I can be fun!¡± She was offended. ¡°I¡¯ve never been to a tea party, but I¡¯m sure I would be great company¡­¡± She cried.

    Aku tore into her some more ¡°I don¡¯t believe that. You¡¯re too gloomy and all this talk about death isn¡¯t fun.¡± our words seemed to resonate with her.

    ¡°So¡­ if I stop wanting to disappear you guys will be my friends?¡± She asked nervously. Most likely afraid of rejection.

    Was this really the same Centa from back then? She had no confidence at all. To be fair she did spend a lot of time alone. I bet her social skills have gotten rusty.

    ¡°Sure.¡± Aku and I answered simultaneously. Centa started to cry again, but this time they were tears of joy.

    Aku. ¡°soooo¡­. papa. How are we going to save her? She¡¯s not wrong. Squirmy is OP now. I don''t know if we can beat him even with the might of the Furry Troops.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll just have to try really hard. It¡¯ll be alright. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± I reassured her with a side hug. She seemed like she was really worried about it.

    Centa piped up with her own question. ¡°Aku, were you influencing me when I was in control of our avatar? You know, making me act like a kid?¡± Centa looked genuinely disturbed.

    ¡°Yupies! It was really hard to do because we''re not linked, but thanks to the brain soup it was possible. I was trying to keep you from hurting people¡­.. it didn''t work. Papa had all my power and I couldn''t make more without dying forever.¡± The little girl stared at her feet as if sad she couldn¡¯t do more.

    Centa seemed to understand and quickly comforted the girl. ¡°You did a good job. Please be more careful in the future. Converting your mass into energy is a dumb way to go.¡±

    I nearly did something similar, so I stayed quiet. There¡¯s no point in me letting them know. Besides I got it back and more. Wait¡­ ¡°What''s this about a brain soup?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that''s cause of the centipede! It¡¯s been biting off chunks of you and all the extra bits that don¡¯t get eaten up kind of just float around like a could. Thanks to that it¡¯s like that Wi-Fi stuff you like so much.¡± Answered Aku.

    Centa nodded along. ¡°Yup, that¡¯s exactly what it is. Think of everyone like a computer and the brain soup as an internet connection. That¡¯s how we¡¯ve been able to access general information from you. You don¡¯t really have a fire wall because Squirmy kind of ate through it.¡±

    That made little to no sense. That was until I tried it out and surly enough there was a fuzzy connection between us. It wasn''t a link. It was more like what air was to sound. Simply just a way for information to travel. It was still strange though.

    I wasn¡¯t able to assess the two girls in front of me, but I did notice that missing fire wall they were talking about. With a little quintessence I quickly grew some of it back, protecting myself from mental attacks. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but it was better than nothing.

    While Aku and Centa talked I decided to give my link with Aku a closer look. It was right there on my chest. No matter where I moved the string would grow longer or shorter. There was no resistance or pull.

    That was strange¡­ the walls seemed to be humming. Very lightly, but definitely humming. Actually it was way more than just the walls. It¡¯s like reality itself was vibrating. This must be the ascension. We didn¡¯t have much time. Plan or no plan we needed to get the show on the road.

    Now that I knew the ghost string existed I reached for Centa''s chest. As my hand neared, the familiar shimmer of something hidden met my eyes. ¡°Wait don¡¯t!¡± Yelled Centa as I grasped the link.

    The link showed itself to us, turning a blood red. It was noticeably much thicker than my link with Aku.

    ¡°We either win or we try. I¡¯m gonna call that asshole down here.¡± We couldn¡¯t argue over the best plan forever. The fact was we only had until the end of ascension and that was right around the corner. I gave the string a hard pull. A moment later I heard it.

    That same screeching static. ¡°Isaaaaaaaaaac!¡± Squirmy dropped down from above. His claw like legs making a scraping sound as they scratched the walls of the entrance above. It¡¯s body had grown making it look more meaty than before.

    ¡°I told you not to touch it! Now He knows where we are!¡± yelled Centa.

    ¡°The longer we wait the less time we have to kill that thing.¡± I retorted. She seemed to understand.

    ¡°Furry troops attack!¡± Yelled Aku. Her army of Plush toys jumped into action taking formation and firing shots at Squirmy. Each shot seemed to strip particles of quintessence off his body. In an attempt to stop the bleeding of quintessence his mass seemed to shift and mold itself.

    At first I was sure he would come after us, but the beast went after the¡­. um¡­ Furry troops. As soon as it showed signs of attacking them, Kaiju Snowball stepped up and slammed her fist against his ugly face.

    The impact was so powerful that a wave of air blew past us nearly knocking Aku over. Squirmy¡¯s chitin cracked as his head was sent flying back followed by the rest of his body. Quintessence went in every direction as assault rifles and RPGs pelted his body.

    ¡°Papa this is bad. He¡¯s way to big!¡± cried Aku. She backed away in fear only for Centa to hug her from behind.

    I scratched my head. ¡°How are we supposed to fight a fucking Kaiju?¡± Crap.

    That things body is straight up designed to whittle people down and eat them. If it touches us at all it¡¯ll suck away the power we gathered. The only way forward is to run away. Except.

    I looked up to the hole above. The throne room had already started to turn white from the surge of power rampaging through the world. Space, time, matter reality. It was all slowly being unraveled thanks to ascension. There really wasn¡¯t anywhere else to run. The hole was the only thing that existed in this world.

    It didn¡¯t matter that I pulled the string, because it would have ended up here in the end anyway. The issue was all the power it drank up. ¡°That asshole is so fucking greedy!.¡±

    Aku gave me a nervous look like a child afraid of getting in trouble. ¡°Sorry papa. I thought you would go on an adventure and win like in the stories. This is nothing like that.¡± She looked down to her feet. I hated seeing the fear on her face.

    She was just a kid. The world didn¡¯t need to be scary for her. She should be playing games, having fun, and not have to worry about all this crap. If I was a real father I wouldn¡¯t let her feel any fear, or stress. Now all those stories were ruined in her eyes. The good guys never win and the bad guys are the heroes.

    I¡¯m an idiot. I let a child tell me what to do. Still, she knew more than I did about this stuff. Maybe I should have asked more questions. I should have made an actual attempt at understanding what the hell was going on. This was my fault. Scarring children wasn¡¯t what a father did.

    I ran my hand over her head. ¡°It¡¯s okay kiddo. Don¡¯t worry, that things nothing more than a bug. I¡¯ll take care of it.¡± She didn¡¯t look reassured, but I smiled anyway. I needed to do the impossible, so that Aku could grow up believing she could do anything.

    The little girl tried to come after me, as I stepped forward, but Centa held her in place. ¡°Papa wait! You cant! It¡¯s too strong!¡± She cried.

    I looked back to her. ¡°Nothing is impossible for me. I¡¯m a super hero after all.¡± I could see Centa roll her eye, but as long as Aku didn¡¯t see her it was fine.

    I never believed my dad either when he made stupid claims like that. Not until he actually made what seemed impossible possible. It was my turn to do what my old man did for me. Needless to say I was terrified, but I couldn¡¯t let Aku see that, so I smiled and laughed like how my old man did back in the day. Don¡¯t scare¡­ inspire.

    The only way to win was to rip the quintessence right out of that thing. I don¡¯t think I can even craft spells without that crystal stuff, but I could try other things. This world was whatever I made it and I had years of stories to draw from.

    I reached out and started channeling power to my palm. The goal was to make a weapon, but¡­. It was harder than I thought. The chitin on the monster was as hard as steel. It was made evident when it ate my sword along with my arm that one time. That just meant I needed something that could cut through steel. A legendary weapon from mythos.

    Lucky for me I knew a lot about that kind of stuff. In the end I thought about the sword from that book granny read to me. About king Arthur. The sword was forged in the flames of a dragon. Crafted by an Avalonian elf. Its name even means to cut steal¡­ It¡¯s name was¡­.

    ¡°Excalibur!¡± it was as if calling its name manifested the legendary weapon. The rainbow colored light in my hand turned to gold forming into a long sword. It was just like I¡¯d imagined it to look all those years ago. Back when granny was still around. Back when I swung a stick around in my back yard.

    I lifted the blade over my head empowering it with golden quintessence. Then swung the weapon down creating a giant ark of pure light. It expanded cutting into Squirmy¡¯s back. The demon screeched in pain as the projected light dug deep. Causing a massive amount of quintessence to leak from the wound.

    Aku jumped releasing a ¡°woooooooow!¡±

    Just like that her fear had been replaced with excitement. Goal accomplished I guess. This was far from over. I still needed to pay it back for all the nightmares it gave me.

 Episode 41: ascension

    Even though I¡¯d just dealt the biggest amount of damage, Squirmy continued to attack the troops. Not just destroying their bodies, but devouring their quintessence. They were after all the easiest source of power. To the centipede they were nothing more than med-packs.

    Aku was a bright kid, but her imagination clouded her judgment. That was something I knew from experience. The troops could fire weapons, but they were no match for Squirmy¡¯s ability to break things down.

    Especially not with their soft plush bodies and low mobility due to their stubby legs. I couldn¡¯t criticize her too much. If I hadn¡¯t sped things up by summoning Squirmy. Then we probably could have set up some pill boxes and trenches. That was easy to say in hindsight.

    Still, I couldn¡¯t account for how big he had gotten and the time was still ticking. It didn¡¯t help that Aku and Centa were hell bent on wasting time talking about pointless things. Sometimes like the buffalo you just needed to charge into the storm.

    This was actually a good opportunity to get a better idea on Squirmy¡¯s attack pattern. Kaiju snowball did her best to knock Squirmy around, but the rest of the bug was free to trample everything in its path.

    Squirmy seemed to be adapting to Snowballs attack pattern. He avoided kaiju snowballs fists and crawled onto her body creating rips and tears over her soft outer layer.

    Snowball struggled against the centipede to no avail. This caused stuffing to fall out turning into raw quintessence, which Squirmy greedily drank right up. The rest of the troops open fired unleashing blasts of pink light that exploded like fireworks.

    Squirmy screeched in a horrific display of pain. His mouth opened releasing a putrid cloud of acid. It expanded over Snowball and the rest of the Furry Troops. Aku started crying as she watched her army melt and scatter into light particles.

    Their little bodies were no match for the green cloud clinging to them like napalm. It was as if the acidic gas was alive as it hunted the troops down like a pack of coked out wolves. The only one left was Snowball and that was only because of how stubborn she was.

    The green cloud lingered becoming a mist that clung to the ground. I wanted to jump in and help, but with the cloud it was too dangerous. With the amount of power I had, surely I could last a while in the mist.

    If I did that then my quintessence would be stripped from me in no time. I couldn''t even imagine the pain I¡¯d feel from accidently breathing that stuff in.

    Aku broke free from Centa¡¯s hug and ran up behind me. She took hold of my leg crying. ¡°Papa do something! He¡¯s going to kill Snowball!¡±

    At first I thought kaiju Snowball was its own entity, but in reality she was actually the stuffed toy I had a tea party with not that long ago.

    God dammit, now I really did have to do something. I couldn''t let my newly adopted daughters favorite toy get eaten by the monster in the basement.

    ¡°Okay, step back kiddo.¡± I gave her a little head pat and she seemed to let go.

    Squirmy was tightly wrapped around kaiju Snowball, so I couldn¡¯t just attack it again. At least not without hurting Snowball. I needed to get closer, but the acid wasn¡¯t clearing up. There was only one way.

    Focusing energy towards my back, I started to form something new. The power expanded taking the shape and texture of a pair of wings, but not just any wings. No, these were the wings of the buffalo.

    Before I could make use of my new appendages, Centa stopped me. ¡°Isaac, maybe you should take Aku away. I can hold him off until the ascension is over. From there you¡¯ll need to kill that bastard in the real world. That should end this nightmare.¡±

    ¡°Not happening.¡° I said.

    ¡°Why the hell not! If it eats you guys that¡¯s it! Ascension be dammed, you¡¯ll both disappear!¡± Yelled Centa.

    She still didn¡¯t get it. I sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t plan to run away. I don¡¯t care if it takes every last bit of quintessence. I will not abandon you¡­ besides, I still need to make that asshole pay for all the crap he put me through.¡± I finally looked back at her.

    Her face was covered in tears as her body trembled n fear. How long had she been crying? It struck me then that maybe she was the one that needed revenge on Squirmy the most. Too bad she wasn¡¯t in the mindset for it.

    ¡°Don''t cry¡­ remember what you told me.¡± I threw her words back at her. ¡°Your not afraid of a little centipede are you?¡± The wings on my back expanded. A moment later I vanished leaving a gust of wind in my place.

    Snowball was falling apart as Squirmy started to crush her body. He must have noticed me, because his head turned to greet me expanding into a swirling mess of teeth and darkness. I was more angry than afraid.

    Excalibur glowed gold as I poured power into it. Instead of swinging my blade I charged into that mess of teeth sword first. The darkness started to close in, but the golden aura of Excalibur expanded to protect me.

    The teeth started to cut into my swords aura slowly sawing it away as they spun around me at rapid speeds. There was a heavy resistance, but I focused on pushing through. Eventually I managed to come out the other side, ripping my way through that dark cloud of shadow and madness.

    The edges of that cloud started to break away converting themselves into red quintessence. That should keep the monster busy for a bit.

    I quickly turned around and went for Snowball who was nothing more than a head now. Reaching out I took hold of Snowballs fabric forcing my own power into her and turning her back into that all too familiar cat plushy.

    I held her tight in my left hand. Then started to fly away only for Squirmy¡¯s head to morph into a mass of tendrils. One of which reached out, somehow managing to eat through my swords aura and wrap around my ankle.

    The tendril burned my skin as it dug into my flesh. Thin sharp spikes grew like shark teeth puncturing my leg all the way through the bone.

    It felt as if my leg was on fire as I flapped my wings to try and brute force my way out. It didn¡¯t matter as it started to pull me down towards its black hole of a mouth.

    Aku forged a cannon out of her quintessence. Like most of her weapon constructs It was pink and made of plastic. ¡°Leave my papa alone you big bully!¡± The cannon fired, a large ball of pink light rocketed out of the toy and slammed into Squirmy.

    It exploded into multiple balls of light that spread out detonating against Squirmy¡¯s body. If it wasn''t for the golden aura of Excalibur, I might have been in trouble.

    Centa seemed to pull herself together and started pelting the centipede with distortions of varying frequencies. They did decent damage to Squirmy as his pull weakened. It wasn¡¯t enough to break his hold though.

    Without the constant pull I was free to turn around and attack. projecting a golden slash, It slammed into the eldritch abomination causing its body to split open.

    It wasn¡¯t enough, so I unleashed one slash after the other, adding onto Centa¡¯s and Aku¡¯s volley until finally, it¡¯s body collapsed into a mesh of shadow and dark quintessence.

    Now free I headed back to the others. It took no time to get back. My landing was almost smooth. Aku ran over hugging me.

    ¡°You saved Snowball!¡± Taking her plushy back she crushed it in her arms.

    I smiled, ¡°You saved me. Sorry I couldn¡¯t save the others.¡± The rest of the Furry Troops had all melted.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, Snowball was the only one I really liked. Mr. Ghost was too afraid to come and Chompy was too busy with a pie-eating contest.¡± She rubbed her cheek with the white cat.

    ¡°Pie-eating contest?¡± I asked.

    She nodded. ¡°Yeah! Chompy really wants to win, but I think that¡¯s silly. In a pie eating contest, it doesn¡¯t matter if you win or lose because you get to eat pie.¡±

    I nodded. The girl had a point. Truly wise beyond her years. After making her a cookie, I turned my attention back to the battlefield. Red quintessence seemed to collapse over itself as Squirmy tried to regain its form.

    ¡°That was a bit too easy. Why were we scared again?¡± I looked to Centa who sported a worried expression.

    ¡°That¡¯s because Squirmy expanded his body too much. He always makes himself bigger. Since his body is designed to break things down, more coverage means a bigger mouth to eat with. That¡¯s how he fights. He uses his body to intimidate then whittles you down slowly.¡± Said Centa.

    ¡°Why does any of that matter?¡± I asked.

    ¡°He has no density. He might as well be made of paper. Squirmy might have a lot of power, but it is spread too thin. That''s why this next part scares me.¡± She pointed out into the cavern.

    I turned my head only to see rampaging red quintessence focusing itself into one spot. Even the body and green mist seemed to be sucked in. Despite all the hits I landed, there was still so much of it.

    I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°He wouldn¡¯t be the final boss if he didn¡¯t have different stages.¡±

    That was when I realized what was happening. This was bad. Fighting something that dense was like a Ferrari trying to ram into a train. The car might be faster, but the train held far more power, mass, and momentum.

    Squirmy was taking the power, mass, and momentum of a train and packing it all within the mobility of a Ferrari.

    Within the red glowing mist a humanoid figure could be seen. I couldn''t believe my eyes. This was just cruel.

    Have you ever played ocarina of time? Of course you have! It''s like the best game ever! Anyway, during the water temple there¡¯s this shadow mini boss that takes the shape of Link the MC, and uses all of Links powers against you.

    This felt like that, except instead of taking the form of my shadow, Squirmy took the shape of someone else. Someone I used to know. He flexed his new muscles admiring his new body. He was now a young man in his early 20s.

    Just as tall as me with similar short black hair, and the face of my little brother. He even had the same asshole smile Cain did.

    I felt like punching him, which was strange considering I was currently holding a sword. Stabbing my brother with Excalibur felt¡­ strange.

    I could already tell Centa would be no help. She looked like she was having a Vietnam flashback.

    Aku was in a similar boat. Not the Vietnam flashback, just the not being helpful thing. She had used her quintessence to forge a pink hair dryer. I wasn¡¯t sure what that would accomplish, but I hope it shoots something at him.

    Squirmy was making his way over to us. His steps looked so natural, but they carried him way farther than they should have.

    Something about him was different. Obviously he was no longer a giant creepy crawly, but that wasn¡¯t what bothered me. His body was small compared to his giant centipede self, So why did it feel even more menacing?

    ¡°Stay away!¡± Yelled Aku as she pointed her hair dryer at Squirmy firing a ball of sparkling light. It was just like the cannon. It erupted like pink fireworks, but with more focus. Squirmy took it head on and just kept walking forward like it was nothing.

    Centa used an invisible force to gather loose rocks crushing them into a dense black mass. She then fired it at squirmy like an oversized bullet. The former creepy crawly took it like a champ. Not a scratch or even a reaction.

    ¡°Die you fucking asshole!¡± Cried Centa as she followed up her attack by making two semi-invisible walls on opposite sides of him. then slammed them together with squirmy in the middle.

    It was like a giant clapping its hands together. ¡°That¡¯s for making me kill all those people!¡± Her voice had so much emotion behind it. I was so proud of her. Had she finally unlocked her anger?

    For a second I thought it might be over. That was until red energy exploded in every direction as my not-brother roared in anger.

    Looks like that one actually hurt. Squirmy tore the ground apart as he jumped putting a huge amount of power into his forward momentum.

    He was so fast I nearly forgot to block. I brandished my sword just in time for his foot to slam into Excalibur knocking me into the wall and breaking the legendary Avalonian blade.

    Blocking was clearly the wrong move. It was like trying to stop a wrecking ball by jumping in front of it. The rock around me broke and my body was embedded into the wall like I was in a Loony Tunes cartoon. It appeared that with our new levels of power even the indestructible walls of the hole were no match.

    This was bad. Squirmy might have lost that thorn body that destroyed durability, but the entirety of his power was compacted into that small human frame.

    With his density he might as well have been a mountain with legs. ¡°You little shit! You tore out so much of my power! Do you have any idea how many souls I¡¯ll have to eat just to get that back!¡±

    I tried to speak, but ended up coughing up blood. ¡°Shit¡­¡± The blood quickly evaporated into quintessence. ¡°fuck you! You¡¯ve been torturing me for years! That¡¯s the least you could have given me! You deserve far worse!¡± My quintessence started to soak into the damage he did and I felt my body begin to repair itself. I even managed to break away from the wall.

    Before I could do anything, Squirmy reached out holding me by the throat. Then lifted me up like I was nothing. I grabbed his arm, but couldn¡¯t break free.

    The memories of my brother choking me came to the surface. There was so much crap I gave to the hole and simply being here made the memories crawl their way back into my head.

    Aku cried out, ¡°Stop it!¡± as she shot another ball of fireworks at Squirmy. Unfortunately, he used me like a shield. The shot erupted all over my back, burning a large hole in my coat, and melting parts of my skin.

    The pain was awful, but my anger only swelled. Aku quickly apologized. That asshole laughed just like my brother did whenever he would fuck with me.

    Centa¡¯s hands vibrated with kinetic energy as she tried to attack the former bug from behind, but it was as if he had eyes on the back of his head. Squirmy used his free arm to knock her kinetic palm strikes aside.

    It didn¡¯t matter. Even when she did manage to hit him the kinetic force did little to nothing. Every attempt to attack him seemed to fail as he either avoided them, took them head on, or used me like a god dam meat shield.

    I needed something that could cut through his density. Instead of trying to escape his grasp, I focused my power into my right hand until it was so thick that I could no longer condense it anymore. Reforming Excalibur I swung the blade at his arm. There was some resistance but the sword managed to cut through his flesh and bone.

    Squirmy screamed in pain and I used that opportunity to attack him again. My attack missed, as he jumped away putting a huge amount of distance between us. I swung the blade again projecting a golden arc.

    It connected, but only made a shallow cut across his chest. The arm I took started to unravel, but before it could completely vanish I fed that power into my spirit body.

    It felt wrong. The energy was different somehow and made me feel sick. Slowly though it converted into the white stuff and I started to feel better.

    Even though it was only his arm. The power I got was almost as much as what I already had. Forgotten memories of my brother flooded my mind. Things I couldn''t believe.

    A cold night. An argument. So much yelling and a knife. It was fuzzy but I was sure something had happened. The last thing I saw was a doctor holding a big needle. I nearly threw up.

    For whatever reason It made me so dam angry. Not just at my brother, or squirmy, but at myself for forgetting what he did. What he didn¡¯t do. how could I forget.

    This wasn''t the time. The fact was that this was a huge blow. If I could cut more limbs off then this would be over in no time.

    ¡°Isaac don¡¯t! You cant take that dark stuff in!¡± Yelled Centa.

    I rubbed my sore throat and asked, ¡°Why not? He¡¯s taken so much from us.¡±

    Aku tried to look me in the eyes, ¡°Strange¡­ papa is still human.¡± She then started poking me in the ribs, but I put a stop to that.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    Centa also looked me over. ¡°There¡¯s no antessence inside him, and his eyes are still normal. Do you feel Strange?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°Guys, now isn''t the time for this we need to focus.¡± They let it go and moved on to the more important thing.

    ¡°You hurt him. How?¡± Asked Centa.

    ¡°Papa is the strongest¡­ obviously.¡± Said Aku.

    ¡°You guys can hurt him too. You just need to focus enough power into a single edge or point.¡± It didn¡¯t matter that this guy had more power than us. If we can make our attacks denser than his body then we can hurt him. I¡¯ve already proven that he can bleed and that was a huge boost to everyone¡¯s mood.

    Aku traded out her hair dryer with a pink plastic sniper rifle. then started to push power into the chamber. It looked like a toy, but I knew it probably did something fancy.

    Centa gathered her own Strange power in her hands creating a ball of vibrating space. They both had potent methods of attack, but there was a few issues with our approach.

    First off unleashing long range attacks like that would drain our power faster than we could hurt Squirmy. That¡¯s why my last golden slash was low powered. I was afraid to commit to the attack and lose a good chunk of quintessence. However, cutting off his arm cost me nothing.

    Second off, even if our attacks are strong enough to hurt him, there is no guarantee we¡¯ll manage to hit that asshole. Close combat sure, but long range would just be a forfeit of energy.

    The only reason I managed to land a long range attack was because he was in the air and couldn¡¯t avoid it. If we attacked now, it would only be a waste of energy and we needed all we had, just to hurt him.

    We didn''t have much time left. It looked like the walls were really falling apart now. White cracks of light seemed to spread over the cavern.

    Aku yelped as a pillar of light cut right through The hole without a care in the world. The light acted like a tornado ripping sections of the ground apart. There was quite a few of them springing up, but not as big as the first one. Time was running out and I still wasn¡¯t any closer to saving Centa.

    Think Isaac, what else do I know¡­ what are his methods of assault? He hasn¡¯t used any long ranged attacks, or fancy weapons. That''s not true, what about the acid? The acid was reabsorbed though. Like it was apart of his body. Why is that?

    Squirmy uses quintessence to enhance his body. Either by giving it the ability to digest things at a touch, or making it super dense to where he can¡¯t be stopped.

    Simply by keeping it inside himself he is stronger than all of us. The way it rampages when outside his body... could it be that he isn¡¯t able to control it like us? That didn¡¯t seem right. Especially when you realized, he could reshape himself, so effortlessly.

    What was I missing? What is Squirmy like? He spent his entire life in the hole. In this place. All that time and the hole is simply that. Just a hole. No gardens, no castles, nothing. The only thing he has ever done is eat the world. The pieces were coming together.

    His use of quintessence was less of a strategy and more like a personal choice. Sure his body was dense, but his plan couldn¡¯t be to simply over power us. There was only one explanation.

    My not-brother was a greedy black hole. That¡¯s why instead of creating things he chose to make his body into a weapon. It also explained his reaction. When I stripped him of quintessence. The idea of losing something that was his, absolutely infuriated him, and to Squirmy everything belonged to him.

    I couldn¡¯t take him in a straight fight, but that was okay. I didn¡¯t need to beat him to a pulp. I just needed to get him into vulnerable positions. Allowing Centa and Aku to attack without remorse.

    I could continue attacking him with Excalibur¡­ but I wasn¡¯t great with swords. That might not put me at a disadvantage, but I should probably stick with what I know will work. Again, I just need to make openings.

    To do that I needed to box. Boxing was more than throwing a fist. It was about feeling the flow of a fight and moving with that flow. Sure he was a bigger fish, but I¡¯ve been fighting guys bigger than me for years.

    The good thing was that I knew how to throw a punch, and as long as I really focus, I can manhandled an emotionally compromised greedy asshole.

    If I do this I need to move fast and attack hard, and no matter what I can¡¯t let him grab me. For that I¡¯m going to need more power.

    My sword glowed and started to reenter my body along with the wings on my back. I even absorbed the items Aku had made me. Like the remains of the coat, and compass.

    As for the wall walking boots I simply stripped them of there ability turning them into regular footwear. There was power in all of them and now they were all inside me.

    My body felt strange as the power surged over the surface of my skin. There was this feeling of static running over me. Like being tazed, but in a good way.

    Simply moving my hand carried so much weight behind it. As I was I could probably walk through a building and not even realize it.

    ¡°Guys don''t attack yet. Wait for an opening. I¡¯ll keep him busy.¡± I jumped forward and made my way to my not-brother. It took several jumps before meeting squirmy at the center of the hole.

    No one questioned my lead. It made me nervous to know they expected me to win. Try or win, this ended here and now.

    Squirmy was hunched over holding his newly formed arm. The skin was only just starting to close over the muscle. Instead of blood, antessence leaked from the opening.

    He glared at me like I was the bad guy. ¡°You fucker!¡± yelled Squirmy. ¡°Once I get my new body, I¡¯m gonna find that wife of yours and make her feel what your whore of a mother did to you!¡±

    As he mentioned my mom the memories of her flashed through my mind. All the horrible shit she ever did to me was relived in an instant. I held my head and screamed only to realize it was just a memory. It looked like the thin wall I¡¯d set up wasn¡¯t enough to protect against mind-rape.

    I fucking hated this place. The memories are right there. Squirmy laughed brandishing my brothers old asshole grin. He was going to do that to my wife? To my Alice¡­

    No. Fucking. Way.

    I dashed forward slamming my fist against his rock hard face. His head rocked back before he retaliated with his own fist, but I used my favorite maneuver ducking under it. Then landed a solid blow to his ribs.

    This time I focused more power into the attack and felt something crack under the pressure. It sure as hell wasn¡¯t my knuckles.

    Squirmy let out a pained grunt before jabbing at me again. This time his arm elongated acting like a striking cobra. I avoided it, but once it snapped back a bone scythe grew out of his wrist cutting into my right shoulder, before returning to Squirmy.

    It hurt but I couldn¡¯t lose focus now. I jabbed at his face, only for Squirmy to block with his arm. What he didn¡¯t notice was my other quintessence charged fist planting itself in his gut.

    My fist sunk deep before I finally released the power in a controlled explosion. The explosion wasn¡¯t the fiery kind, but instead more like the concussive force of a grenade. Squirmy was knocked back by the controlled blast.

    It was a trick my dad showed me. When someone sees a fist coming to their face. Their instinct is to try and block or avoid it, so by faking it you can land a blow to their gut, and if you aim it right, you might be able to get off a solid liver punch.

    Centa quickly jumped into action creating a pulse of concussive force at Squirmy¡¯s back. It was so powerful that Squirmy was sent flying back my way like a wrestler being pushed against the ropes of the ring.

    She lined him up perfectly. I stepped forward unleashing years worth of bag punching experience into a single perfect jab. My fist slammed into Squirmy¡¯s face causing his lower half to pull forward while his head stayed pressed into my fist.

    This in turn sent him spinning through the air before he landed on his neck making a satisfying, ¡°CRACK!¡± Aku even covered her eyes not wanting to see the gruesome display, as Squirmy pulled himself to his feet nursing a broken neck.

    He held it in both hands before his antessence finally managed to fuse the bone back in place. ¡°You dirty cheater! You tricked me!¡± He yelled.

    ¡°Of course I did. This is a fight for survival, not a karate tournament. Besides-¡± I spat on the ground. ¡°-last I checked stretchy arms and bone scythes weren¡¯t allowed in any rule book.¡±

    Squirmy mashed his teeth before dashing at me. He threw a fist. I ducked under it and tried to deliver another blow to his chest, but he grabbed me by the wrist. Then tossed me into the air. He followed it up with a spray of acid from his dislocating mouth.

    I couldn¡¯t let that stuff touch me. On the fly I created another support item. This time I went with the bansho-sen. A powerful fan from Chinese mythology.

    One swing created a strong gust of wind clearing the acid in one go. I quickly turned the fan back into energy only to realize I was in the air and wide open. Recreating my wings would take too long.

    I couldn¡¯t help but notice how unstable things were getting. It was like space itself was shaking. Once you saw it, it was hard to ignore. I felt like a fish realizing it was surrounded by water. That gave me an idea.

    Before he could attack me, I focused on the waves of space. The math proved it was real, so I knew it was possible. Pushing on the fabric of space-time, I created a foothold by folding space.

    I was essentially sticking my foot through a small worm hole. While I was in mid air the bottom of my right foot was next to Aku. She shrieked running behind Centa in child-like fear.

    The foothold quickly rotated until I was at the perfect angle. One push was all I needed to launch myself back at not-Cain. I¡¯d taken him by surprise as I drop kicked him in the chest.

    He took the hit head on hardening his body by flexing his muscles and shapeshifting his feet, so that they dug partially into the ground.

    He took hold of my legs then slammed me into the cold wet ooze. It really hurt. Before I knew it he was on top of me landing hits to my face.

    This was just like when Cain use to beat the crap out of me. I lifted my arms in an attempt to block and felt his heavy hands slam against my forearms. They cracked under the pressure.

    That wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad idea. It was better than having my head bounce off the ground. I tried tilting my head left and right, to avoid the hits all together. It kind of worked.

    His fists ended up pulverizing the rock under me. Every time he missed I Jabbed him in the face causing blood to spill from his nose, along with trace amounts of antessence. It was to bad that my quick thinking didn¡¯t stop him from landing hits, and I couldn¡¯t seem to get him off of me.

    That''s when a bolt of kinetic energy slammed into the side of Squirmy¡¯s head knocking him off of me. I used that chance to get on my feet.

    ¡°Don''t lose dumbass!¡± scolded Centa. At first I thought she was being mean, but I held my tongue as I noticed the worry in her voice.

    I went to try and attack Squirmy, but he was already on his feet. His ears were bleeding and his right eye had been knocked out of it¡¯s eye socket.

    He eyed Centa, but I moved myself between them as if declaring I was his opponent. He seemed to only get angrier at the sight of me, causing him to try and fist me again. I avoided it, but then something strange happened.

    As soon as I ducked under the attack, another fist grew out of his forearm slamming into my face. I was knocked back a few feet before regaining my composure. Squirmy smiled.

    The extra arm reentered his body as he made a dash at me. this time he reshaped his arms, turning them back into the centipede needle-like legs.

    These had more potential to do harm, so I avoided them as best as I could, but one of them managed to cut a shallow wound across my chest. It burned like acid.

    I tried to jump away to gain a little breathing room, only for Squirmy to match my speed, keeping the distance between us the exact same as before. His claws were relentless.

    This was no longer a simple 1v1. I was fighting a frenzied monster. There was no rhyme, or reason to his attacks. He was lashing out like an angry bear. I tried to form Gungnir, Odin¡¯s spear from Norse mythology, but before I could form the tip, Squirmy cut it in half.

    That''s when his face changed into that of my long dead mother. He even spoke in her voice. ¡°Devil child! I¡¯ll fix you sweetheart! I¡¯ll make you better!¡± He yelled as the memories of my mother rampaged through my head. I nearly started to cry as squirmy forced his needle like arm through my chest.

    ¡°Isaaaaac!¡± Yelled Centa, as she suddenly appeared on Squirmy''s right side, unleashing a powerful pulse of kinetic energy, through a palm thrust. The attack hit Squirmy¡¯s abdomen. He wasn''t expecting it and was sent flying.

    The force tore his arm out of me, leaving a big hole in my chest, and a stream of silver quintessence. I fell onto my back. There was the briefest of flashes, as Aku used her weapon.

    It was nothing like a sniper rifle. Instead it was more like a rail gun. A burst of burning particles blew through the former bug. Aku¡¯s attack was so strong, that it lit the air on fire casting a huge explosion.

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Cheered Aku. She appeared by Centa and they high fived like it was over. It looked like they were folding space too, but instead of making solid platforms like I did they were warping threw space.

    Squirmy lost a lot of antessence. I could see it all leaking out and up into the air mixing with the power that seemed to rampage all around us.

    My chest was nearly closed, but that didn''t matter. I got to my feet ready for round¡­ I don''t know. Centa looked at me like she was upset. Even Aku seemed to be upset with me.

    ¡°Papa! You said you didn¡¯t need help!¡± She cried. Centa comforted her by giving her a half hug.

    ¡°Stop losing Isaac. Use your brain. You keep getting distracted.¡± Unfortunately she was right.

    The memories in this place and Squirmy¡¯s utilization of them left me a mess. I needed to be more like dad. Unshakable, unmoving, and focused. I thought about the times we were in danger and how dad acted.

    Like the time our tire blew out in the middle of the free way causing our car to spin, or like when that drunk guy rammed his car through our living room.

    Forget about what you cant do, or what already happened. I took an un-needed breath and decided to deal with what was in front of me. ¡°All right, I get it, I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯ll be different this time, so just get ready to hit him with everything you got.¡±

    They both agreed, but didn''t seem convinced. A moment passed and they moved back to their original positions. I took a breath turning my attention to squirmy.

    He was badly burned and broken, but his bones were shifting around. Instead of simply healing, he was shape-shifting himself back to that disgusting half mom, half Cain, all psycho form.

    I thought he would come after me, but instead he went after Aku and Centa. I tried to move to intercept him, but he had a head start .

    The only way was to move faster than light. Using quintessence, I folded space and managed to cut the distance between us in an instant.

    I turned to face him unleashing a fist full of power. He blocked with his disgusting limbs, but the power in my fist exploded, like a focused demolition. He took the hit as his body flew back, and his feet slid on the hard ground.

    I moved forward to punch him again. He tried to step back, but Centa lifted a rock wall in his path stopping him in his tracks. My fist connected again. I hit him so hard that he broke through the rock wall and went flying. His body bounced off the ground like a rock skipping on the surface of a lake.

    Just before he could regain his footing I folded space once more moving farther along his trajectory. Then took a running start before kicking him with my quintessence empowered foot. This time I felt his spine break as he screamed in pain.

    He must have flown over 100 feet into the air. Aku took advantage of it aiming her rail sniper at him. ¡°This is for what you did to my castle!¡± She fired a beam of light. The light moved right through him followed by an explosion, only instead of it expanding outward, the entire thing was contained within a sphere shaped force field.

    Centa had sealed him inside a ball of kinetic energy focusing the blast. A moment passed before a charred and broken body fell to the ground, making a loud ¡°CRUNCH!¡± on impact.

    Antessence leaked out by the gallons. I made my way over, as Squirmy¡¯s power became lower than my own. He couldn''t even speak. Most likely his lungs collapsed when he breathed in the flames. I think he was also blind. His eyes were black, brown, and bloody. He tried to make a sound, but his mouth and throat had melted shut.

    ¡°That''s what you get for impersonating my brother, and my mom.¡± I spat on him. ¡°You think I¡¯m afraid of Cain and my mom!¡± I kicked him. He made a strange sound.

    ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of them. Not any more. I fucking hate them. Especially Cain.¡± I kicked him a few more times. ¡°I remember now! All of it!¡±

    I wasn¡¯t even sure if this peace of shit could hear me, but the anger I felt was 100% justified. I might be able to forgive my mom. There was way more stuff going on with her than I originally knew, and until I knew what really happened back then, I¡¯d try to be neutral towards her.

    As for my brother¡­¡­ he was the worst. He wasn¡¯t a monster. He was just weak and would use me to validate his own ego. He was just a bully.

    It was easy to put me down, since I never felt threatened by him. Without threat I never felt the need to defend myself. He was annoying at best. Like an obnoxious little kid that didn¡¯t know any better.

    To think the whole time I was being tortured he knew. He knew and he kept it a secret because mom was treating him like the favorite. What a garbage human being he was.

    My sister was just as bad leaving me in that shit hole, just because she wanted to finish college.

    Oh man, but the worst person in all of this was me for letting them get away with it. No wonder I tried to kill my brother, and if it wasn¡¯t for Alice I would have.

    A year¡­ a fucking year I spent locked in that fucking Psych ward and in the end my so called family got to live their happy lives, while most of my life was sacrificed to facilitate theirs.

    (Authors Note: no more flashbacks. People don¡¯t like them. Figure out Isaac¡¯s back story on your own. Also I¡¯m sorry for the inconsistencies. I¡¯ll fix then eventually.)

    ¡°Papa! You did it!¡± Aku ran up to me before I could go scorched earth on Squirmy. She gave me a hug and just like that my anger faded. Kids were good like that. I wonder if that''s why dad was always so chill around us. I petted her head as a thank you.

    ¡°I couldn''t have done it without you guys. That''s some sharp shooting you got there kiddo. Your grandpa would be proud.¡± Aku giggled and smiled. She was a good kid.

    ¡°Is it really over?¡± asked Centa as she approached Cautiously.

    I looked to Squirmy¡¯s corpse. He was still leaking quintessence, and his body wasn''t healing like it should have. Whatever bit of energy he had left would soon evaporate.

    This was like when I lost my arm. Since I didn''t have a lot of energy at the time I couldn''t regrow it right away. To think this bastard was the one tormenting me this whole time. How pathetic I must have been to let it go on for so long.

    I looked to Centa and said, ¡°I think it''s over.¡±

    She had tears in her eyes, but she was also smiling. I don''t know why, but this moment just felt so nice. There were swirling beams of impure quintessence flying around, and Squirmy¡¯s particles floating about, like glowing red flower petals.

    I don''t know. Maybe it was the feeling of finally winning a battle we¡¯ve been fighting our whole lives, or the fact that we were finally free. I couldn''t help, but turn my gaze up and laugh. My joy was short lived as I spotted something unnatural. Immediately my eyes went wide.

    Above us was not the cleansing of the world, but a swirling black abyss full of giant razor sharp teeth, all swirling around as they closed in on us. I tried to attack it with an exploding fist of quintessence, but the swirling abyss had no interest in me. Instead it parted avoiding Aku and I completely.

    It was like a sea of shadows. I held onto Aku in an attempt to protect her, but Squirmy ignored us and went after Centa. It slammed into her like a tsunami dragging her away.

    ¡°Centa!¡± I yelled. Aku cried in fear as the ground started to crumble under our feet. While carrying her I tried to go after Centa.

    Centa unleashed burst of kinetic energy, but the black cloud simply moved around her attacks. She was doing her best, but the black cloud wasn¡¯t solid and bit by bit continued to close in around her. I could see bits of quintessence being torn out of her as the shark-fin-like teeth sliced into Centa¡¯s flesh.

    It was like she had fallen in a lake and was trying to paddle the water away with her bare hands. I needed to move now, but the unstable ground made it hard to move.

    I needed to stop panicking. Taking a moment to breathe I finally got a hold of myself. I focused on bending space, but everything was so unstable. It was all collapsing on top of us.

    I put all my power into my legs and pushed, but before we could reach her, a beam of impure energy slammed down in front of us, followed by a wave of white all consuming light.

    Loading 100%

    -Aku/Isaac-

    I woke in a pale blue void. Air was moving past me at an insane speed. There was nothing¡­ wait is that?

    a cloud?

    Oooh¡­

    Oooooooh!

    That was when I realized this wasn¡¯t another void and instead, I was falling from hundreds of feet in the air. ¡°Oh! fuck!¡± I yelled in Aku¡¯s voice.

    Wait! I was out?! I¡¯m back! ¡°Yeah! Let''s gooOOOOooooOOoooo! Crap! What about Centa!¡± She was right there. All I had to do was get to her. What happened, did we win? I was supposed to save her!

    ¡°Oh¡­ my¡­ Cosmo!¡± I finally noticed all the giant centipedes falling alongside me, and the giant one currently crawling within the walls of Serenity. I was so tired of stupid bugs, but that wasn¡¯t the most pressing issue right now.

    Right now, I needed to break my fall. I tried to open my menu, but that wasn¡¯t working. ¡°Well shit¡­¡± I no longer had a hot bar either¡­. Or a health and focus bar¡­

    ¡°Wait!¡± Something felt¡­ off. Usually there was this little ball of energy under my tummy, but I wasn''t feeling it. No¡­ hang on, it was there, but different.

    Before the ascension it was full of taco bell, Ice cream, and lots of hot sauce, but now it was full of Porridge and warm creamy milk. Did that make any sense?

    The better questing was, Can I do something with it? I''ve never tried it without the hot bar and it felt more noticeable now. You know what, I can feel a lot of things now.

    The ground was quickly approaching. Pretty soon my innie would be an outie. That''s when I got a strange message.

    System:

    Princess Aku: papa! Use that power stuff and move it through your body! Quickly!

    I didn''t have time to question it, so I did just that. The energy felt so different. I couldn''t exactly call it focus and It was too dirty to be quintessence. This stuff was more in the middle. I tried to make it move through my body.

    At first, I tried to make it go into my left arm, then my head, then right arm, then right leg, and finally left leg, but that felt odd. It was unnatural and didn''t really do anything.

    It needed to flow more like¡­ this? It moved from my center to my head. Then to my right leg. Then to my left arm. Then my right arm. Then my left leg, and finally back to my head. The power was still there, so I had it repeat the path it took.

    It looped over and over until finally my skin felt kind of fluffy. I now felt a familiar fuzzy bubble form around my body. It made me giggle, but only up until I crashed through a roof top.

    The flow of power was cut off and I was in so much pain! Lucky for me the hard stone floor broke my fall. ¡°ya¡­ ya¡­ yaaay¡­¡± I laid there with what I was certain was a few nails in my back¡­. I think I broke something¡­ but I¡¯m not sure what. I want to say¡­. Arm, but I also don''t like being wrong.

    This floor is actually kind of nice. I like the feel of chilled stone on my sore spots. I could fall asleep here. Actually, I feel really tired all of a sudden.

    The floor is warming up. It also feels kind of wet, and sticky. Like when dad showed me how to do an oil change and I got oil all over me, but pleasantly warm.

    The corners of my vision were getting dark. ¡°Night¡­ night¡­¡± Then everything faded to black as I gave into the sweet embrace of death¡­.

    Probably¡­.

 Episode 42: divine intervention

    -Cosmo-

    White tiles lined the floor of my personal bathroom. Within the room was what every bathroom had. A golden gem encrusted bath tub. Heated floors. A toilet Mimic ready to clean my unmentionables.

    Okay, so maybe it wasn''t like every bathroom. Mine came with a pink plush carpet that went around the toilet Mimic keeping it nice and warm at night and giving it some style.

    There was also a rectangle shaped one next to the bathtub. My bathroom also came with lots of cubbyholes for all my feminine products. Including the three different brushes I used to keep my hair nice and straight.

    I even decorated some of them with figurines of my favorite anime and video game characters. Like Faye Valentine, Tifa Lockhart, Megumine, and my favorite figurine of all time, Nezuko Kamado in chibi form.

    My glee was interrupted by my boiling stomach. That was the last time I¡¯d ever order takeout from that thai restaurant. My tummies been hurting all night. It¡¯s like there¡¯s a party in my gut and everyone forgot to wipe their shoes.

    Washing my hands I got a glimpse at my reflection. Blue hair and pinkish soft skin. Perfect figure and boobs that could make Chun-Li jealous. Not ridiculous and not underwhelming. In my opinion they had the perfect amount of perkiness and were as plump as a ripe tomato.

    ¡°I miss jiggle physics.¡± I murmured.

    Well, just because mortals got rid of them in most games didn''t mean they didn''t exist IRL. I jumped up and down to get the effect I wanted bringing a smile to my face.

    I¡¯m absolutely gorgeous. I had to be. Who wants an ugly goddess after all. I sighed. To bad it was all tainted by the disgusting smell wafting through the air, and the noticeable sweat from the violent expulsion of my intestines.

    What kind of goddess destroys a bathroom and can still call themselves divine? As long as no one finds out it should be fine. What happens in the throne room stays in the throne room so to speak.

    I washed my face for good measure. Then exited the bathroom. As soon as I stepped back out into my domain, I bumped into one of my admins, who was holding his nose.

    My face went red as my eyes grew to the size of plates. I was frozen as the smell of my horrible deed invaded my admins nose.

    ¡°Holy crap! Light a match lady!¡± swishing his cloak at me, he turned around and walked away. I panicked closing the door. ¡°it¡¯s not like that! There was a skunk!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Yeah sure.¡± He responded. The man was over 6 feet tall, and had the body of a Giga Chad. It was one of the things I really liked about him.

    To have my image destroyed was punishable by seppuku. I was ashamed, and the only way to fix that, was to die an honorable death, but before giving up on my many years of life, I should at least try to salvage my reputation.

    The room we were in was my real throne room. A visual illusion of a white void with a fancy chair in the middle. The floor reflected our presence, but distorted it enough to where wearing a skirt or dress wasn¡¯t an issue.

    I ran up to him, shame coiling inside me. Reaching out, I put my hand on his shoulder blade only for him to turn around and punch me in the face!

    I felt my skull crack under the pressure of his rock hard fist, as my head rocked back nearly snapping my neck. ¡°What the fuck Brutus!¡± I yelled as blood started to leak from my nose. I gasped in shock, my head vibrating in perplexity.

    ¡°You pervert. This is why I started wearing a cloak.¡± Said Brutus before pulling out a flask and taking a swig.

    ¡°You idiot! It¡¯s bleeding because you punched me! Not because I¡¯m a pervert!¡± I huffed before turning away from him tears starting to form in the corners of my eyes. ¡°Besides. that stuff only happens in anime¡­¡± I murmured.

    ¡°Oh¡­.. Whoops¡­¡± He took a sip. ¡°Sorry boss. You know not to sneak up on me like that.¡± He then handed me the flask.

    I took it. It was 8 AM and the thing was nearly empty. ¡°Brutus! What the hell are you even doing here!?¡± I growled.

    ¡°Take a drink first. Then we can talk.¡± He responded.

    Wait¡­ he never offers alcohol unless something really bad happened. I was afraid to ask, but did it anyway. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Did one of our world¡¯s catch on fire again. I told you guys to get rid of the speedster boots. Not only do they light the air on fire their also too overpowered. Don¡¯t you remember what happened on B1900003. The influx of cores had us backed up for three days!¡±

    The whole time I was talking Brutus nodded along letting me finish before finally pointing me in the right direction. ¡°it¡¯s not that. This is a code¡­uh¡± he scratched his head trying to think of what codename to use. ¡°uh¡­. A code¡­¡± he went silent for a moment before pulling out the employee handbook.

    I smacked it out of his hands before yelling, ¡°Forget protocol, just tell me what¡¯s going on!¡±

    He sighed. ¡°See for yourself lady.¡± He produced a blue screen then flicked it over to me. First thing I saw was a complaint from a PSE ¨C Player System Enchantment - which wasn¡¯t a huge issue.

    These types of complaints were handled by magic-tech support and weren¡¯t typically elevated unless the consequences of the issue affected the trial as a whole.

    This wasn''t that though. Just a standard 404, which just meant a player tried to interact with something in their menu they didn''t have, but still had a link. I gave Brutus a confused look.

    He smiled. ¡°it started as a 404. Then This happened.¡± A second screen was flicked my way attaching itself to the first.

    This one had a video playing. It looked like a normal fantasy city. That was until something exploded in the distance. All of a sudden it looked like multiple Centipede based monsters were falling from the sky.

    ¡°What the¡­ did you guys add an event or something? You know your supposed to run them by me first right?¡± I was a little irritated. This hadn¡¯t been the first time this had happened.

    Brutus shook his head. ¡°Nope. Take a closer look.¡±

    I really wish he would stop beating around the bush and just tell me. Clicking on the screen I skipped back the video, then moved the view over to where the explosion was.

    Oh, its my baby Isaac. Aww, I knew that outfit would look cute on his avatar. I¡¯m so happy I upgraded that ribbon. What a cute little angel. Wait¡­ Oh, man. He got blood all over his avatar. Who¡¯s blood?

    Oh¡­ that guys missing a head. And that lady over there has her whole arm shoved down her throat. Actually, that¡¯s not her arm. Wait, then who¡¯s arm is it? And where did her arms go?

    Oh, they¡¯re over there broken and battered. Looks like they were used to bludgeon that paladin to death. Wow, how did Isaac stick that whole staff through that war mage. It¡¯s going up his butt and coming out his mouth. That takes some serious dedication.

    I hit play letting the multi-dimensional video play out. Isaac¡¯s body started to glow. Before it happened I already knew what was going on, but I didn¡¯t want to believe it.

    His body turned into energy forming a ball of raging quintessence and aspects. ¡°That¡¯s ascension, but that¡¯s not possible! Brutus, explain why this is happening and why it¡¯s all your fault!¡±

    The cloaked drunk snorted in my face. ¡°First off, I told you he wasn¡¯t fit for the beta trial. You should of put him in delta. Second off you were the one in charge of looking after him. He is one of the few you insisted on keeping an eye on. Where were you?¡±

    I felt a bit ashamed, but there was no way I¡¯d let one of my admins talk to me like that. ¡°Shut up Brutus! I was obviously busy!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you were busy alright. Busy taking a massive dump.¡± He retorted.

    ¡°Shut the hell up! I¡¯m a goddess. Goddesses don¡¯t poop you jackass!¡± My face turned red.

    He laughed in my face. ¡°Right, did you do that thing again where you bounce your boobs in the mirror.¡±

    ¡°What! How do you know about that!¡± I cried.

    ¡°I met Tony the toilet Mimic once in the break room. Chill dude. Did you know his daughter recently graduated kindergarten?¡± He said.

    ¡°Tony told you that! Also yeah Chloe is such a good kid. I¡¯ll kill em!¡± I nearly stormed off to the bathroom when Brutus stopped me.

    ¡°Whoa there. Don¡¯t do anything crazy. Remember Tony has a family. Besides I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t want HR finding out you''ve been the one stealing peoples lunches.¡± He turned me back around.

    ¡°How are you finding all this stuff out?¡± I roared. ¡°Also maybe HR should find out about you attacking me!¡±

    ¡°Who do you think bought that Thai food?¡± He smirked.

    ¡°You little shit! I want my money back!¡± I yelled.

    ¡°lady you didn''t pay for it, you stole it.¡± He said bluntly.

    ¡°I don''t care!¡± I cried.

    He sighed. ¡°Sure boss. Point is while you were shi-¡° I interrupted him with a shrieking growl. He quickly changed his tune. ¡°Uh¡­ while you were busy, Isaac¡¯s little monster - as you call it ¨C took control. Not sure how exactly, but it happened. Then Isaac somehow managed to open his soul gate and flooded his core with enough quintessence to ascend. Do you want to tell me something?¡±

    I went stiff not wanting to meet Brutus¡¯s gaze. ¡°Well boss? How exactly did a mortal rank being under your strict drainage manage to gain enough quintessence to ascend?¡±

    I was silent at first, but over time his gaze made me way too uncomfortable. ¡°Okay, okay! Stop looking at me like that!¡± I walked around him and headed to the throne.

    ¡°Cosmo.¡± His voice was demanding, making me feel like a teen caught sneaking into the house after curfew. I pulled the flask to my lips and chugged the whole thing. Clearly it would be one of those kinds of days.

    ¡°All right! You remember back when Isaac was 14 and he brutally murdered a guy?¡± Brutus nodded. ¡°Well¡­¡­ he only managed to do it because he made a deal with the demon. That demon ate the quintessence from that guy and got stronger. It¡¯s also been gaining power through Isaac¡¯s raw psychic energy.¡±

    I was expecting Brutus to be angry but his face didn¡¯t change. ¡°I get it. So you couldn¡¯t strip away his quintessence - despite him being a follower - because the demon has no quintessence. You also let Isaac keep his quintessence so he¡¯d stay in control of himself. The demon however was slowly consuming that power and turning it into antessence.¡±

    I nodded lowering my head.

    ¡°You really have a soft spot for that kid don''t you?¡± he asked.

    I nodded again before adding, ¡°You do too you big brut.¡±

    ¡°That''s nether here nor there, so¡­ you''ve been enabling the kid¡¯s situation.¡± He pivoted.

    I decided to move forward. ¡°Yeah normally I can strip the quintessence from my followers, but because Squirmy is pure antessence, it''s basically poison. There was no way he could have gained enough to ascend, but opening the soul gate must have put Isaac¡¯s broken core over the edge.¡±

    Brutus pulled out a cigarette and started smoking. It was okay since this space was enchanted to cleanse anything in it. He took a long drag before releasing a heart shaped cloud.

    ¡°I guess all the cores he ate also went towards that goal. He only ate like five of them before ascending, so I found it strange.¡± He took his flask back putting it back into his cloak.

    ¡°five cores gone like that. That''s awful.¡± I felt bad.

    ¡°You should have purged his core and reincarnated the individual parts. Then chucked the demon core into the void.¡± He said.

    ¡°I can''t do that! It¡¯s Isaac! Besides I was sure he wouldn¡¯t lose to it. He was doing so well for the past few years. I didn¡¯t think it would all go bad so quickly. I thought¡­ I thought we had more time.¡±

    When Isaac first came to B2015630, Aku¡¯s half was supposed to snap back into place and it should have healed.

    Instead the tiny part that was Aku got stuck. Never really mending itself. I never expected her to become her own person.

    Within ten years of gaming Isaac managed to feed her core fragment enough psychic energy for it to grow. That stupid imagination of his is absolutely ridiculous. It didn¡¯t matter now. It was time to get serious. I still believed in that little boy that tried to help me.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°Who¡¯s on sight right now?¡± I asked.

    He shrugged. ¡°No one.¡±

    That irritated me. ¡°Why the hell not! Hurry up and go kill the demon, before it gets any stronger!¡±

    ¡°Can''t.¡± he said nonchalantly.

    Trying not to lose my cool I asked, ¡°Why the hell not?¡±

    ¡°I can''t open a portal. No one can. Whatever the demon is doing we can''t open any portals in that area. Best we can do is open one a day away. And before you ask yes we already have people headed in to neutralize the demon.¡±

    I reached out and tried to open my own portal, but surely enough even I couldn''t do it. The area in Serenity was completely inaccessible. It¡¯s like space-time in that area was unstable. Trying to connect a portal to that part of the world would be akin to a person trying to swim through a raging ocean.

    Brutus interrupted my thoughts, ¡°Time dilation has their time moving faster, so by the time we realized what was going on, that thing had already killed nearly 100 people, and just about destroyed a quarter of the city. By the time our squad gets there, I¡¯m pretty sure that thing will have enough cores in its belly to put up a challenge.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not great, it¡¯s a walking singularity. What¡¯s with the Army of Centipedes?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yeah that¡¯s kind of the messed up part. That bastard is torturing the cores. Then when they break he makes deals with them to make the torture stop. In exchange he eats their cores gaining every last bit of quintessence. Then he takes cores he hasn¡¯t eaten and splices them into fragments, and twists them into loyal demons that follow his will.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t believe it. ¡°Is it already a demon lord?¡± There was no way. How could it rank up so quickly?

    ¡°No its not a demon lord. Its actually a devil right now. For some reason though it can make demons.¡± Responded Brutus.

    It went up three whole ranks! That''s insane! Without even hitting the demon lord rank, its able to craft demonic horrors. Well, clearly it¡¯s not on the level of a demon lord since it¡¯s only able to make ¨­mukade.

    It¡¯s creations are also pretty fragile. Almost like a spirit summon. No surprise there since their cores are nothing but tiny fragments. One good hit is enough to break the soul fragment causing the body to crumble.

    It''s almost like a vacant avatar body. In order to make them compatible with mortals, I had to take core fragments from each individual player and build the avatars around the fragments.

    That way the bodies wouldn¡¯t crumble and when I transferred their cores to their avatars, the missing core fragment would connect up and everything would be fine. It didn¡¯t matter that the bodies were in the lower spirit rank and the cores were in the mortal rank.

    That¡¯s what the PSE was for. So that players could use their abilities with ease, instead of trying and failing to control the power by trial and error.

    I rubbed my temples. ¡°Okay, let me think. First off change the time dilation so that time is running at its slowest on their side.¡±

    ¡°Sure thing, but can I ask why?¡± said Brutus.

    ¡°Well, that demon ascended right?¡± He nodded. ¡°Then Isaac must have ascended too. Right now he might be the only one that knows what¡¯s going on, and that has the requirements necessary to Kill it.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s untrained, and besides even if the kid has ascended to the lower spirit rank, that doesn¡¯t mean he knows how to use his new abilities. Wasn¡¯t the whole point of the beta trials to get mortals accustomed to the different power systems? What makes you think he can adjust so quickly? He doesn¡¯t even have a PSE anymore. I know the kid is strong, but he ain''t no Garry Stu.¡±

    Despite his disagreement Brutus still changed the dilation on that world buying us more time.

    ¡°let¡¯s see what we¡¯re working with first. I¡¯m gonna bring him here.¡± I seated myself on the throne and started focusing on my follower Isaac.

    Brutus laughed, ¡°How? Portals are closed and we don¡¯t have access to his core. Not when its in that black hole. Even if you manage to bring his core here, and get him a temporary avatar, it won¡¯t help. Sure, with the time dilation he might get a weeks worth of time to train, but that''s pointless if he isn''t training his actual body.¡±

    As always Brutus was right. Even though he annoys me to no end that crazy old man was good at what he did and what he did was solve problems in a field were most die young.

    ¡°Don''t worry your little drunk ass Brutus.¡± I smiled. ¡°As of right now Isaac is on deaths door. Meaning his core has a foot in purgatory. That gives us access to him. I''m going to summon him as a spirit. A dash of quintessence and a handful of aspects should make a temporary copy of his current avatar.¡±

    Brutus narrowed his eyes. ¡°So¡­ instead of improving his body and power system, were going to teach him how his system works?¡±

    ¡°Precisely my dear Brutus! Teaching him how to use his power is better than letting him run around without even a basic level 1 aura. If we did that Isaac would be killed almost instantly.¡± I giggled.

    ¡°Aura¡­ so the kids a cultivator. I always thought that punk would end up a psychic.¡± Brutus threw his cigarette on the floor then crushed it under his boot.

    ¡°I know what you mean. Even at the mortal rank that kid was producing psychic energy. He was such a good source of quintessence.¡± I waved a hand opening a small portal and pulling out a cup of coffee.

    I took a sip before continuing, ¡°I think I''ll have you train him.¡±

    ¡°Me!? Are you sure that''s a good idea?¡± He actually looked nervous for once. ¡°I don''t know. That could go horribly wrong.¡±

    This side of him was rare. I think the last time I saw him like this is before his last ascension. That was back when he was still in the angel rank.

    ¡°Don''t worry it''ll be fine. The important part is to teach Isaac how to heal himself. Right now that idiot is bleeding out, so make sure that''s the first thing you teach him. After cultivation of course.¡± I commanded.

    ¡°Whatever you say lady, but if it goes south, we might lose our only trump card. The kids never been good at dealing with drama after all.¡±

    -Aku/Isaac-

    Cupcakes, Ice cream, and all manor of sweets populated the world of clay. I was seated at a table with a cup of tea in front of me. My dress was blue with a pink bow on my chest. I was also wearing some glass slippers. The outfit was adorable and I felt like showing it off to everyone.

    My hair was in pigtails, held up by black bands and decorated with pink ribbons, that were tied into bows. I especially had a fondness for the white trim at the end of my skirt.

    Everything here was strange though. My clothes, body, and even the landscape was made of clay. It was like being in a Christmas special.

    Across from me was pirate Snowball. She was seven feet tall sporting an eyepatch and a hook hand. In front of her was a mug of rum and a brick of cocaine. Like me she was also made of clay. Except for the hook hand. I think it was plastic.

    To my left was Chompy. He was a little taller than Snowball and was in the middle of messily eating a giant cherry pie. He wasn''t a pirate though. He was dressed like a sexy potato.

    He wore the body suit of a potato, with his arms, legs, head, and tail sticking out. What made it sexy was the silky black lingerie he wore on top. Strangely enough he was made of Paper mache. His potato suit was still clay though.

    To my right was Mr. Ghost. For his costume he had kidnapped and possessed an office worker. Only for some reason the office worker was flesh and blood.

    Every now and then the office worker would regain control of his body and start to cry. He was very funny and made me giggle a lot.

    Snowball reached over and poured me some more tea. She then grabbed a big knife and cut into the brick of cocaine. The cocaine was pure. I could tell because it was kind of yellow and in big clumps.

    She pulled over one of the clumps, then started cutting it into a fine pristine dust. She then scooped it onto her knife and brought it up to what looked like her nose, taking a long snort. Her completely black eyes grew wider, before her head started shaking and she stabbed the table.

    We all laughed, even Chompy who was deep in his cherry pie let out muffled laughter, getting red stuff all over the table. Despite his joy he wouldn¡¯t pull his head out of that pie.

    The office worker broke free again yelling out, ¡°Kimiko ni naniwoshita no? Kanojo o koroshita no wa anatadesu yo ne! Monsut¨¡! Watashi no tsuma wa dokodesu ka! Kimiko!¡± He screamed. We couldn¡¯t help but continue laughing. The table was nothing but laughter and the silly words of our new friend.

    I was left wondering where the subtitles were. Every Japanese dubbed anime I''ve ever watched had english subtitles. Where were the subtitles!? Had I been lied to this whole time? Does this mean that vacation to Japan I was planning with Alice, was a huge waste of time!?

    That¡¯s when Snowball pulled out a revolver pulling my attention to her. ¡°Oh, cool!¡± I said.

    She loaded in a single bullet, spun the chamber. Then pulled back the hammer. She held it up to her head and pulled the trigger. There was no bang, instead it was a ¡°click¡±

    ¡°Oh, I know this game! Can I go next! Please!¡± I begged.

    The office worker cried out calling for someone named ¡°Kimiko¡± He kept repeating the same thing. ¡°Tasukete!¡± over and over again until I finally joined him and started saying it too.

    ¡°Tasukete!¡± he cried.

    ¡°Tasukete!¡± I would reply.

    Eventually he just started crying and thrashing his head back and forth as if the rest of his body was paralyzed. He was very good at improv.

    Now that I think about it, didn¡¯t that word mean ¡°save me¡± or ¡°help me¡± or something?

    Snowball finally passed the gun to me. It was kind of heavy. I decided to do it my way pulling the hammer back and putting the barrel in my mouth. I could taste the oil. Clearly it had recently been cleaned. The man went silent for a second before yelling out ¡°Yamete!¡±

    I pulled the trigger and heard a ¡°clack¡± but no bullet, so I passed the gun over to Chompy, pushing it close to his pie.

    Luckily he was already leaning down to eat, so his short hand was able to grab the weapon. Pulling back the hammer he held it up to his head and pulled the trigger. To my relief It didn¡¯t go off. That meant I might still be able to win.

    Chompy got mad and threw the gun at Mr. Ghost. The man closed his eyes expecting it to hit him in the face, but Mr. ghost controlled his arm and caught it. It was an impressive catch, so I clapped while the man continued to cry as his own hand pointed the gun at his head, while the other slid the hammer into position.

    ¡°¨¡, kamisama! Onegaishimasu, onegaishimasu!¡± cried the man as tears rolled down his face. He pulled the trigger, but it didn''t go off. He Tried again pulling the hammer back and squeezing the gun. The man screamed as the hammer slammed down. To his relief there was no bullet.

    For whatever reason he started laughing. He came to a stop when Mr. Ghost. Readied the hammer again. Accepting it, he tried to get his last words in.

    ¡°Gomen ne¡­ Shiro¡­¡± Mr. Ghost gave it one more try. It finally fired blowing the guys brains out over the clay ice cream landscape.

    ¡°Mr. Ghost, that¡¯s cheating! I was supposed to win!¡± I complained. It would have gone back to Snowball and then I would have gotten the bullet.

    The man¡¯s body fell down revealing Mr. Ghost. He was in his wraith form. A ghost like monster with bluish pale skin and long arms that ended in claws. He shrugged his shoulders then sunk into the ground.

    ¡°Cheater!¡± I yelled before throwing my tea cup and sticking my tongue out at him.

    Mr. Ghost said nothing, so I got up and walked over to the body. The ice cream under my feet was mushy like it was melting. I looked the man over.

    He wasn¡¯t making any noise anymore. That made me kind of sad. I helped him by getting him back into his seat, but he wasn¡¯t the same anymore. Something was missing.

    I looked to Snowball for help. ¡°What do we do?¡± I asked.

    She snorted another line of coke then got up. I¡¯m not sure from where, but she pulled out a chocolate shovel and started digging a hole.

    Once it was about four feet deep, she walked back over, picking the man up getting blood on her self.

    I followed her as she carried him over to the hole and dropped him in. That¡¯s when a tomb stone popped out of the chocolate ice cream. Only I couldn¡¯t really make out what was on it. It looked like scribbles.

    Snowball then started to bury the man in chocolate ice cream. I wish I could be buried in ice cream. I want mine to be vanilla though.

    Once finished Snowball walked back to the table. I followed, rejoined her and Chompy. The man must have been really tired after our game, so he just needed a nice long nap.

    As soon as I got back into my seat Snowball poured me another cup of tea, but this time she added a tea spoon of cocaine to make it sweeter. ¡°one more please!¡± I said.

    She happily obliged and mixed in another spoonful. I gently lifted the cup with both hands and took a sip. It was so bitter, but the effects were instant.

    I felt my heart start racing and my focus was on another level. That¡¯s when I realized there was something wrong here. Wasn¡¯t I in the middle of bleeding out?

    As soon as I realized that, Chompy turned his head to me revealing a mouth full of blood stained razor sharp teeth. Wait a sec¡­ in his teeth, was that a finger?

    My blood ran cold as it struck me. That wasn¡¯t a cherry pie. It was a human pot pie. Notably one that wasn¡¯t very well cooked. As if noticing the change in my vibe, Snowball pointed at me with her hook hand.

    Chompy roared as he came after me. I quickly got out of my chair and ran away, but it was hard to move through slightly melted ice cream, while wearing glass slippers.

    Before I knew it I felt pain in my shoulder as potato Chompy bit down on me. I screamed in pain and was lead back to the table. ¡°No! Please let me go!¡± I cried.

    Snowball pushed the table aside knocking everything onto the cold creamy ice. Under that table was a 4 foot grave. How long had that been there?

    A tombstone quickly popped out of the ground. It read ¡°Here lies Isaac Smith. A friend, a husband, destroyer of a world. Killer of countless lives. 1984 ¨C 2023¡±

    ¡°Noo!¡± I cried as potato Chompy threw me into the grave. My blue dress got super dirty. Covered in chocolate ice cream and gushing red blood.

    I tried to crawl out, but pirate Snowball kicked me back in. That''s when Mr. Ghosts hands phased through the cold mushy ground and hugged me.

    The wraith monster Mr. Ghost had become, came with a life draining touch. Just like in-game. I could feel my body getting cold and myself growing weak and tired.

    I looked up to pirate Snowball, as potato Chompy danced around the grave like a ballerina. ¡°Please! I can still do more! I can stop Squirmy! I just need more time! I can save them!¡± I cried.

    Snowball crouched down over my grave and said in a Morgan Freeman voice, ¡°In the tapestry of life, your sins live on. Your journey may have ended, but the atrocities of your story will stretch far throughout time." I was paralyzed unable to utter a word.

    Then came a feminine voice, ¡°The fuck is this madness?¡± That''s when a ball of burning light slammed into Snowball causing her to explode in a shower of clay, gore, and blue flames.

    ¡°Wha- what!¡± I cried, as blood entered my mouth.

    Chompy started to run away, but he also got vaporized after a plasma like substance struck him in the back. I was left wondering when I''d wake up. My body started convulsing as tears streamed down my face. I rocked back and forth.

    Why was everything made of clay? Why was I made of clay?! I hate it! ¡°I wanna wake up now please.¡± I cried.

    That was when a familiar blue haired E-girl walked into frame. Like the Japanese man she was flesh and blood. In her hand she was holding what looked like a plasma gun. Similar to shades. ¡°No time to explain! Come with me if you want to live!¡±

    This whole dream sequence was bizarre, but seeing a familiar face gave me a sense of relief. It looked like Mr. Ghost was gone, so I pulled myself to my feet.

    ¡°Ow, it hurts¡­¡± I cried. My shoulder was in a lot of pain and I didn''t like being cold and wet. My dress was ruined too. Tears continued to flow in big warm blobs.

    Cosmo sighed. ¡°It¡¯s alright kiddo.¡± She used some kind of light on me and I felt my body mend itself. My tears were gone too. Along with all the blood and chocolate. My dress even stitched itself back together, and best of all I wasn¡¯t made of clay anymore!

    I smiled. Then did a little twirl to test it out. ¡°Thank you!¡±

    ¡°Come on then. We need to leave.¡± She reached down.

    I was so ready to get out of this nightmare, so I took Cosmos hand and to my surprise she lifted me up and out of the grave with ease. I wasn¡¯t expecting her to carry me.

    I guess I didn''t mind since that meant I wouldn''t need to walk through mushy ice cream. Especially since my glass slippers weren''t exactly made for semi-frozen mushy milk. I also felt a strong desire to be carried which was strange, but I chalked it up to Aku¡¯s personality leaking through.

    ¡°What is this place?¡± I asked.

    The goddess shrugged. ¡°from what I can tell it''s a combination of Aku¡¯s heaven and Isaac¡¯s Hell.¡±

    That explained a lot.

    Before we left Cosmo pointed her gun at the tomb stone and fired. The stone exploded into molten chocolate. I really wanted a plasma gun now. I bet shade will sell me hers for a platinum coin.

    ¡°Is that the original plasma gun? The one that can fire fifty times per cartridge?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yup. It was too over powered, so we had to nerf it.¡± Said Cosmo.

    ¡°I get that. Combine it with the skill rapid fire, a few crit and perception boosting potions, and you basically got a portable baby nuke gatling gun.¡± Those were some fun times.

    The goddess looked annoyed. ¡°I know! It was your abuse that got them nerfed!¡± She yelled.

    I started crying again. ¡°A-am sorry. I won¡¯t do it again.¡± I squeaked.

    ¡°Oh don¡¯t cry. I didn¡¯t mean to yell.¡± She bounced me up and down to which it just felt awkward. In the end the self proclaimed goddess handed me a big cookie. It was warm somehow like it¡¯d had just been baked.

    I gladly bit into it immediately feeling better. Cosmo then opened a portal and we walked through, but something strange happened it was kind of like the first time I got transferred to the new world.

    There was all these bright colors and then I just kind of woke up. This time though, it wasn''t in a bed. I was already standing and was wearing the same clothes I had in that strange dream.

    My mind felt clear and all I could think about was what the so called goddess did to my mom. To my family. To my childhood. She was right there in front of me.

    The room I found myself in was more like a void. By this point I was so tired of voids. The only thing here was the lady and that ridiculous throne she was sitting on.

    My anger swelled as a familiar echo pulsed within me. It was distant and I couldn¡¯t figure out where it was coming from, but I knew one thing.

    I wanted vengeance.

 Episode 43: beyond the backrooms

    The hole was empty. Void of all pain. After the ascension, the hole had grown, becoming a true void. Empty of all but one.

    Within that void was an echo. Slowly growing in power as it resonated within the hole. Forever bouncing off its walls, In perfect harmony with itself.

    The source unknown and its call incoherent. One thing was clear. It hungered. For what, was unclear.

    -Aku/Isaac-

    Rage coursing through my veins, I dashed forward towards the goddess. She smiled as if she¡¯d just seen a puppy wag it¡¯s tail. That¡¯s fine, let her underestimate me.

    My body felt heavy, but I still managed to jump forward, going a few feet into the air. I followed it up by swinging my fist. I put all my weight into my attack. It wasn¡¯t much, but using your whole body to punch was a recipe for a devastating blow.

    The only reason I was confident I wouldn¡¯t miss was because she was sitting down. Thanks to that I had no issues with putting every ounce of strength behind my fist.

    The goddess stayed cocky, as I rapidly approached her. I growled out a battle cry, ¡°Catch these hands!¡± Her hand quickly moved literally catching my fist in her palm.

    ¡°What!?¡± I cried as she grinned at me.

    ¡°Did I win?¡± she asked innocently.

    Once my body lost its momentum my glass covered feet clacked, as I landed on the arm rest of her ridiculous chair. We stared at each other, tears threatening to spill down my face, as my rage swelled within me.

    ¡°Aaaah!¡± I screeched, throwing another punch, and another, and another, until it turned into a game of patty cake, and by that I mean, she caught each of my fists while clapping between my attacks.

    She even started singing the appropriate song. ¡°Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker¡¯s man. Bake me a cake as fast as you can. Pat it and prick it and mark it with ¡°B.¡± Put it in the oven for baby and me.¡±

    I refuse to believe this lady thought we were playing a game! This is the most ridiculous flex I had ever seen!

    She was so annoying only adding fuel to my anger. This wasn''t a game! I was serious!

    That was when she went on the offensive. ¡°My turn!¡± She reached out taking hold of me and pulled me into her lap. ¡°limit break! Tickle attack!¡± She started digging into my side with her dainty fingers.

    I began convulsing as she dug into my ribcage. ¡°Ahaha! Stop it! Haha! I''m sorry!¡± I laughed.

    To my relief she stopped. ¡°finishing move! Nuzzle requiem!¡± She hugged me and started to rub her cheek against me.

    Fine, she wanted to play games, I¡¯d play games. ¡°Special move! I''m married!¡± I cried before biting her arm. It wasn''t my strongest move, but it was super effective at escaping holds.

    She shrieked letting me go. I quickly pushed off landing on all fours. In an attempt to avoid any long range attacks I zigzagged away. Once I was a few feet from her, I turned around and glared daggers at the goddess.

    ¡°Oh my goodness.¡± She laughed. ¡°It looks like Shadow is rubbing off on you.¡±

    I realized what I was doing and stood up straight. ¡°Don''t do that!¡± I growled.

    ¡°Understood little one, but remember you attacked me first. Now, why were you trying to hit me?¡± She asked.

    ¡°What the hell is wrong with you!? You¡¯re the most bipolar person I''ve ever met! Do I have to spell it out for you!¡± I yelled.

    ¡°I haven''t done anything to you child.¡± She responded.

    ¡°What about my mom! What did you tell her!? Why did you turn her into a psychopath! Stop playing these stupid games! You¡¯re not a very nice person! You¡¯re as fake as that $30 hair dye!¡± I accused. Halfway through my tears started flowing.

    Sighing, she took on a more serious expression. ¡°I get it. Look¡­ what happened to your mother was a mistake.¡± She said.

    ¡°A mistake! A MISTAKE! Your actions tore my family apart! Your actions stole my life away!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Honey, you don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on.¡± She said. It looked like she wanted to say more, but she held her tongue.

    ¡°Then tell me! Why did my family have to fall apart!¡± I screamed.

    She was quiet, but to my surprise there were tears in her eyes. How dare she cry! How dare she pretend to feel bad! I was about to yell at her again, but then she started talking.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t the one that turned her into a monster, but it was still my fault. I was supposed to look after you, but the time dilation was too high, so by the time I realized what was going on, your mother had already died.¡±

    ¡°What the hell do you mean it wasn¡¯t you!¡± I felt like an ant trying to take revenge against a human for absent mindedly stepping on my home, only to find out it was someone else.

    ¡°Isaac¡­ I might be a god, but I¡¯m nothing compared to the god that hurt your family.¡± She kept her gaze away from me. ¡°He took advantage of your mother¡¯s vulnerable state and twisted her core until she was no longer herself.¡±

    I got angrier with every word. Was this really not the end? ¡°Noooo!¡± I cried. I held my head as my body crumbled onto the floor.

    It couldn¡¯t be! When the hell was I supposed to enact my vengeance! I just wanted someone to hate other than myself! I wanted a target to let out all this anger!

    Ever since I relived my worst moments, all those wounds had been reopened. Once what was numb was replaced by overwhelming pain! It wasn¡¯t fair! How could the world treat me like garbage and get away with it! Someone had to pay!

    ¡°Isaac.¡± said Cosmo. She had moved to my side without me noticing.

    The goddess put her hand on my back. ¡°it was my enemy that controlled your mother. I let him. It was my fault. It¡¯s very hard to be everywhere at once. I¡¯m really sorry for what happened. It didn¡¯t help that you became invisible to me, once your mom became his follower.¡±

    I wanted to die, I wanted to hate her. To hurt her, but then I felt something else. It was distant. Not my pain, but a different one. It was inside her. Guilt¡­. not just the guilt of letting my family fall apart, but so many others.

    The screams and cries of children. The horrible whaling of trillions of people. Every last one of their worst moments were present within her.

    She watched their horrible lives play out on loop. Constantly thinking up ways of how she could have helped them. How she could have helped me.

    It didn¡¯t end there as I looked even deeper, and got a glimpse at her very soul. Cosmo standing atop a world of dead bodies. Surrounded by millions of other worlds in a similar state.

    People crying, begging for help. She was holding a spear hiding from a hungry god far in distant reality. Worlds away, between the fabric of space-time and the realms that inhabit it, swallowing whole universes and adding to it''s ever growing power.

    That space between was so vast. To big for my mind to comprehend. I thought about what the implications were, only to be unable to relate, so I stuck to my own scale of reality. The tiny sliver that was my insignificant microscopic puzzle peace. The only thing I could relate to.

    I had trouble running one country. I couldn''t imagine the stress of trying to manage multiple worlds. Much less the stress of watching her people suffer one after the other. What the hell was that eldritch horror? Was that her enemy?

    Forget that! She was still a god! Why the hell did I pray all those years just for someone as incompetent as her to ignore me! It wasn¡¯t fair! She was supposed to be perfect! She was supposed to keep the world fair! Why! Why was she so useless!

    But, she wasn¡¯t perfect¡­ I''m wrong. I¡¯m blaming her for all the crap that went down. She wasn''t all knowing, all powerful, or even all good. She was like the rest of us, just on a grander scale. Cosmo even felt pain like I did. Like me she had her own Squirmy to deal with. I wish the world was more black and white. Not this never ending gray.

    I pulled myself to my feet. As the goddess cried softly beside me. She kept her eyes on her feet not daring to look at me. At the person who¡¯s life she ruined through neglect.

    Why couldn¡¯t there be a big bad evil guy? One of those pure evil people with no redeeming qualities. It would be so much easier if I could blame a single person and not feel bad about their well being. Maybe, that eldritch horror was to blame, but it was too high on the food chain for someone like me.

    There was Squirmy, but while Squirmy had no redeeming qualities, I couldn¡¯t blame him for everything. He was just a parasite taking advantage of my crappie circumstances. Of course that didn¡¯t mean I wouldn¡¯t make him pay for it.

    The truth was, finding someone to blame was pointless. It didn¡¯t help anyone. The only thing it did was keep the pain going. That¡¯s why I forgave Centa. Everything was fucked and that¡¯s just how it was. The only thing I could do was to push forward and try to preserve what¡¯s left.

    I reached over and gave Cosmo''s dress a gentle tug. Then smiled as brightly as I could when our eyes met. ¡°I forgive you.¡± I said.

    She looked surprised, as one of her tears fell from her cheek. ¡°What... Are you sure? Just like that.¡± She cried.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I wouldn''t have forgiven you if you didn''t feel bad about it.¡± I wiped my own tears away.

    She eyed me suspiciously. For a moment her eyes becoming a soul silver. ¡°Your not a demon, so why do you have the sympathy of one?¡±

    I shrugged my shoulders and said ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means.¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°Of course you don¡¯t.¡± The goddess started sobbing again. ¡°Isaac, I¡¯m really sorry. I never meant for it to get this bad. I¡¯ve been trying really hard. I mean look at me! Who wears this stuff.¡± She twirled around showing off her fancy mini dress. I got to see the white lacy panties underneath as her dress spun.

    The goddess then turned to her throne. ¡°Look at my chair. Do you think sitting on marble all day feels good? It doesn¡¯t! my butt hurts! I have to do squats every day, just so it doesn¡¯t go flat! Look at my butt Isaac!¡± She turned to one side showing me the shape of her ass.

    I covered my eyes only leaving a small slit between my fingers. It was a nice butt. Plump and round. I think Alice had a nicer one though. Hers was normal sized and complemented her figure. The goddesses however looked like it had been stuffed. I managed to squeak ¡°It¡¯s¡­ nice.¡±

    ¡°Right! You should check out my onlyfans.¡± She got embarrassed for a sec. ¡°Uh¡­ never mind. Forget you heard that!¡± I nodded.

    The goddess hugged herself. ¡°I¡¯m tired of trying to act like a perfect goddess, only to fail when it comes to the important things. My admins know I¡¯m bull shiting. That¡¯s why they don¡¯t respect me anymore.¡±

    ¡°Why do it then? The white void? All the fake smiling?¡± I gestured to the entire realm. ¡°This entire place is nothing but a stage.¡±

    She sighed. ¡°I guess, I just wanted to look competent. Everyone has this image of what a god should look like and I just wanted to fill that roll. I feel so¡­ silly¡­ I¡¯m wearing a push-up bra right now.¡± The goddess laughed, then proceeded to snap her fingers and switched into some shorts and a hoodie.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. All we can do is try our best and push forward. Maybe, hope for an ice cream sandwich at the end of the tunnel.¡± It didn''t come out the way I wanted, but the meaning was still the same.

    She giggled ¡°When did you get so wise. It was only yesterday you learned to walk.¡± She ran her hand over my head.

    ¡°That was years ago.¡± I said.

    ¡°When your as old as I am a few years feels like a second.¡± She wiped away the remaining tears, her heart a little lighter than before.

    It was time to get to business. ¡°Why am I here? Did I actually die?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Not yet. Your bleeding out right now. If you focus I¡¯m sure you can feel your body back in B2015630, or the new world as you players call it.¡± She said.

    I tried to do that focusing inward. There was physical pain there. It was distant and felt kind of cold, but it was there. ¡°crap.¡± I said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry this is actually a good thing. A lots happened and we need to get you ready.¡± She straightened my dress. Motioning me to turn around. Then started to readjust my pigtails. ¡°Time dilation has given us an opportunity to train you up.¡±

    That sounded wrong somehow. ¡°Wait!¡± I said whipping my pigtails around to look at her.

    ¡°Whoa!¡± She took a half step back.

    ¡°Why me? Why not send an admin or yourself! You¡¯re a god so you must be really strong. I bet you could beat Squirmy up with one hit. Like how you did in that strange dream I had.¡± I was excited to watch her go creative mode on Squirmy¡¯s butt. I could just imagine her typing in a ¡°/Kill @Assholebug¡± and Squirmy just getting deleted out of existence.

    ¡°I cant do that. Right now that part of the world is on lockdown. You are the only one that can stop him, before he eats more cores.¡± She said.

    ¡°Me?...¡± I thought for a second. ¡°Why don¡¯t you just send everyone home! Back to the old world! You can do that right!? Besides there¡¯s a lot of people that want to go home!¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°That won¡¯t happen.¡±

    ¡°Why the hell not! The players have been dying left and right! Haven¡¯t you noticed! Why would you even send us to that place!?¡± I argued.

    Shadow needed to take care of her kids and Luca needed to go apologize to her family. I needed to get back to my wife. My Alice.

    ¡°The energy cost to send all those people home is way too much. The whole point of these trials is to find candidates for ascension. Dying isn¡¯t that bad. You¡¯ll all get reincarnated later anyway. Did you also forget that part of the world is locked. I can¡¯t pull people out, and besides, what about the NPCs.¡± She said.

    I think she was making good points, but I didn¡¯t understand half of them which only made me feel like a kid wondering why I wasn¡¯t allowed to stay up late, eat candy, and drink energy drinks.

    ¡°Okay, okay. So what? You just want to train me up to go clean up the server? You know since you say death doesn¡¯t matter.¡± I said.

    She shook her head. ¡°It does in this case. Squirmy isn¡¯t just killing people. He is also turning them into demons and eating their cores. I can¡¯t reincarnate them if their cores are eaten or broken.¡±

    I raised my hand to her surprise. ¡°Isaac there¡¯s no need for that. I¡¯m not your teacher. If you have a question just ask.¡±

    I put my hand down. ¡°What¡¯s a core? Is that like that raging ball of energy in my gut?¡± I asked.

    She sighed as if I¡¯d just opened up a huge can of worms. I didn¡¯t need a full explanation, I just needed the cliff notes.

    ¡°Alright. They¡¯re not the same thing, but they are similar to one another. Simply put, cores are souls. They can also be called the middle dantian. That raging ball your talking about is called a lower dantian. Though we usually refer to the middle one as a core since that¡¯s the most important part of a person.¡± She said.

    I felt the need to raise my hand again but instead asked, ¡°Is Jesus canon?¡±

    She narrowed her eyes giving me an ¡°are you serious¡± look.

    When I didn''t budge she answered, ¡°I don''t know honey¡­ Maybe, I''m sure the story came from somewhere.¡±

    That was disappointing. What else should I ask? Maybe Shadow? If this lady had been watching us this whole time then maybe she could explain why my guild mate acted so crazy.

    ¡°What about Shadow. Why is she so clingy? She acts like everyone¡¯s mom, but she seems extra attached to me.¡± It was something that¡¯s bothered me for a while. At first she was just teasing me, but then it turned into something else.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you figured that out yet?¡± She asked.

    I shook my pigtails. ¡°No, she¡¯s very strange. Is she trying to replace her kids with me?¡±

    The goddess laughed. ¡°I suppose that would make sense, but it¡¯s a bit more instinctual. Shadow has imprinted on you.¡±

    ¡°What? WHAT!?¡± imprinted! Like she¡¯s bonded to me? Did Shadow really see me as apart of her litter?

    ¡°Beast-kin are instinctual creatures. They tend to imprint on a single person and will do anything to keep that person safe. Most gods like to have them as guardians since their so powerful as they ascend. Shadow is different in that her core is human and not beast.¡±

    ¡°When! How did this happen!¡± I questioned.

    ¡°Right¡­. I¡¯m pretty sure she imprinted on you the moment you face planted into her butt. Back when you first ran into the kitchen crying. You should be happy. This means she will do anything to protect you.¡± Said Cosmo.

    That didn¡¯t make me happy at all! Shadow had been too clingy. I don¡¯t like the fact that she sees herself like my maternal figure. Not only was it weird. It was also misplaced. She should be worried about her children not me.

    What else should I ask? This lady was basically a dark web version of Google. I could figure out the secrets of the universe.

    ¡°What about lizard people, or the pyramids. Why does platypus fur glow under UV light!? Oh! How about the useless male nipple!¡± I was starting to get excited at having all these secrets unveiled.

    ¡°Isaac I love it when you get excited, but we''re on a schedule how about one more question and we move on.¡± She said.

    One? Only one? What should I ask? The meaning of life. What white dog poop is. What really happened on 9/11. If dad were here he would have a field day! What about¡­ oh. In the end there was really only one thing I truly wanted to know.

    I hesitated as my eyes started to water once more. Was I really going to ask? It was a stupid question. What if¡­ what if she says no? That would be horrible. Do I really want to find out? Would she really know?

    I started breathing faster and faster as my heartbeat sped up. The white void became darker as everything started to get scary again. The goddess must have noticed something was wrong because she put her hand on my shoulder.

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s alright. Don¡¯t freak out on me. Breathe Isaac. I am the goddess of space and you are in my domain. This is the safest place in existence.¡± She said.

    My eyes darted back and forth before I managed to make eye contact with Cosmo. I asked, ¡°Did mom really love me?¡±

    The goddess smiled warmly. ¡°Of course she did. How could you even ask that? Your mother loved you more than anything. You were everything to her Isaac.¡±

    I started sobbing uncontrollably. The goddess frowned, her own eyes starting to tear up, as her responsibilities weighed on her conscious. She opened her arms and wrapped me in a hug. ¡°It¡¯s alright kiddo.¡±

    My mother loved me. She loved me, and whatever monster out there took advantage of her, had to pay. I felt the echo ring within the hole in my chest. I still wasn¡¯t sure on what it was. A desire? An anger? It was different somehow.

    The hole was empty. All that pain was no longer contained. Instead I was only left with the memories of what happened.

    The pain was out there in the world killing people. That pain was mine. I didn¡¯t overcome it. I didn¡¯t become better. All that happened was the pain was casted out of me and set free upon the new world.

    I was responsible for whatever happens next. It¡¯s my job to kill that asshole. To save Centa and as many people that I can.

    ¡°Isaac. I know your hurting, but we need to get moving. Your body is bleeding and we cant stop it, unless you learn to heal yourself.¡± Said Cosmo as she pulled away.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    My tears had been wiped against the goddess and my face possessed not the fear of causing the death and deletion of people, but determination and direction.

    ¡°Isaac its you or nothing. Now are you with me or not, because there¡¯s a lot you need to learn.¡± She held her hand out to me.

    I was hesitant. There were people in trouble and I was the only one that had an idea on what was going on, but still could I trust this so called god.

    ¡°Isaac if you don¡¯t do this, then Shadow will be erased, Luca will be erased. Your wife Alice will be erased. Is that what you want?¡±

    My head went blank for a moment. ¡°Alice?...¡± That implied that she was in the new world.

    ¡°She forgot her work ID and came back to get it. She was caught up in the transfer sequence. It¡¯s all very technical, but the system found her old avatar and let her loose in the new world.¡± She said.

    I couldn¡¯t speak as the thought of Alice being out there by herself filled me with fear. Knowing her she must have been really worried about me. If I¡¯d have known I would have went looking for her the moment I woke up on that hell spawn bed.

    The goddess continued ¡°She then fought her way through the wild to get to you. I might have helped her a little in the form of quest rewards and my admins intervention, but she worked very hard to get to you.¡±

    I remembered what Squirmy told me back in the hole.

    (Once I get my new body, I¡¯m gonna find that wife of yours and make her feel what your whore of a mother did to you!)

    Without even thinking about it my hand clasped with Cosmo¡¯s, causing a portal to open up before us.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it! Whatever it takes to save my wife and my friends.¡± There was no questioning it. I¡¯d walk to hell and back for my Alice.

    ¡°Okay, in that case it¡¯s time for you to begin your training. I can¡¯t go with you. There¡¯s a lot of work I have to do, but he should be waiting for you on the other side. In one week you''ll come back here and I''ll use some of my power to send you back.¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°listen up. My power can get you to wake in the new world, but you''ll have to act fast to heal yourself, otherwise you''ll go back to purgatory and eventually be reincarnated.¡±

    I nodded again. ¡°Thank you¡± I said.

    Cosmo then materialized a pink backpack. It looked like something a 1st grader would wear. I guess I kind of was a 1st grader.

    ¡°Here, I packed you a few things. I made you a lunch. There¡¯s a sleeping bag, some clothes for training and pajamas. I also added a few pairs of underwear.¡± She handed it to me.

    The bag was so small yet it fit a sleeping back inside? Strange magic I guess. I slipped it on, but only one strap to prove I was still cool. The bag felt empty. It must be more magic mumbo jumbo.

    The lady then waved her hand again and brought Snowball to this world. I was pleasantly surprised to see my support plushy and snatched her up, hugging her.

    ¡°Snowball! You made it!¡± I cheered. This Snowball was different. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± I asked, pointing at a zipper on Snowball¡¯s back.

    She smiled. ¡°Well, that¡¯s for emergencies. I hid an extra pair of panties inside just incase of an accident.¡± She whispered.

    My face went red. Had she really been watching me even then? That¡¯s so embarrassing! ¡°That was an accident!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Calm down. I know you didn¡¯t do it on purpose. That''s why they''re called accidents.¡± She patted my head.

    ¡°I don''t need them!¡± I huffed before attempting and failing to bite the goddesses hand.

    ¡°Oh, sweetheart of course not. It¡¯s just in case something happens. Don¡¯t worry I¡¯m sure you won¡¯t even have to unzip Snowball.¡± She placated.

    I wanted to throw Snowball at her head, but she would probably just catch her, so instead, I went on the defense and hugged my friend to my chest, giving myself a feeling of comfort.

    ¡°Go on then and say hello to the lore keeper for me.¡± She said, as she lovingly patted my head again.

    ¡°Kay¡­¡± I nervously responded.

    Robotically, I turned to face the portal and walked forward. Before walking through I cautiously examined it.

    I couldn¡¯t see through to the other side. The thing looked like a swirling circle of pure blue light. It made me uncomfortable. Was there a path inside, or would this be like before with the railroad spikes and all the pain?

    I walked around the portal to get a look at the backside. ¡°What happens if I go in through this side?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Nothing, You¡¯ll be fine either way.¡± Said the goddess.

    How did that make any sense? I walked back around to the front. It looked just like the back, so how could people tell?

    What if the other side was the front and I just didn¡¯t realize? What if it was upside down? I did a quick handstand to check, but my dress fell over my face blinding me. That¡¯s when I remembered I wasn¡¯t properly dressed for this sort of activity.

    In a panic ¡ª brought on by embarrassingly exposing myself ¡ª I fell onto my side and quickly pulled my dress down a bit farther than it needed to. My cheeks burned as I pulled myself to my feet and dusted myself off. Looking back at the goddess I saw her trying to hold back a laugh only adding to my embarrassment.

    I turned back around and looked the portal over some more. It looked like a normal portal with swirls and everything. Then again this was the first one I¡¯ve ever seen, so what would I know.

    Anxiously I turned around and looked back at the goddess again. She waved at me gleefully smiling just. Cosmo was like a parent sending their kid to school. I just thought ¡°screw it¡± and jumped through the portal, hoping I wouldn¡¯t accidentally cut off a limb by touching the corners.

    It was a strange experience. Unlike before I didn¡¯t see a bunch of lights. Instead it was like being sucked through a vacuum, or underwater current.

    The tunnel was as wide as the portal was. Its walls were pure energy. The sight was akin to Moses parting the sea. Except, it wasn¡¯t the sea. It was the fabric of reality.

    Within the sea of energy was everything. Not just a storm of primal energy, but countless worlds floating within a raging sea. Some worlds had multiple galaxies and others were nothing more than a single planet with a sun, and moon.

    This was nothing like Cosmo''s soul. It was scaled down to my perception. I was grateful for that.

    One world was covered in lush forests with dome like energy structures all over its surface. Another world was dark with a strange metal planet floating next to it.

    Another world was covered in giant metal towers and along one side of the planet was a giant black storm.

    The tunnel curved and I was finally able to see my destination. It looked like a normal world. It was covered in green and looked to maybe have a few cities and towns dotted throughout the landscape.

    As if entering light speed, everything sped up in a short burst. I found myself closer to the world and could now see the area I was being dropped off at.

    The land was covered in mountains. I Found myself floating down near one of the higher points. This mountain was covered in pink flowery trees. I¡¯d watched enough anime to know a cherry blossom tree when I see one.

    At the top of the mountain was what looked like a monastery. I didn¡¯t get to look at it for long before everything sped up again and I was ejected through the portal.

    The same way I entered the portal was how I came out. I wasn¡¯t expecting to fly through the air like a drunk after closing time, but it happened, and I ended up falling on my butt. ¡°Ow!¡± I cried rubbing my backside. It didn¡¯t hurt that much. It was the surprise that got me.

    Gathering myself, I found that I was in some sort of courtyard. There were a few of the flower trees here. The ground was littered with their petals.

    In the middle was a statue of some lady. The statue gave off an unnatural golden glow. At first I thought it was a statue of Cosmo, but it looked nothing like her. She looked a bit like a Japanese princess with her flower pattern kimono and haori. Maybe Cosmo was apart of a pantheon. In which case I¡¯d love to switch to a more competent deity.

    I wonder if I can get some cool power boost if I became a follower of Thor. He is a war God. Nah, I wanna be Kratos''s follower! That would be so cool! He would be all like ¡°Boi! Bring me my axe!¡± and I¡¯d be all like ¡°Yes daddy!¡± ¡­on second thought that would be weird. My bad, I tripped out. My imagination fell as I realized I¡¯d gotten distracted again.

    Anyway! The entire property was surrounded by a stone wall with a wooden support structure. There were also quite a few sections to the building. Everything was centered around what looked like a big temple.

    As far as I could tell there was not a single nail anywhere. It was all held together by wooden pins or simply cut in a way where the individual parts locked together like a puzzle. I half expected Jet Li to walk around the corner.

    Despite how large it was, There wasn¡¯t anyone here. The thought ¡°What do I do now?¡± entered my head as I nervously got to my feet.

    Why wasn¡¯t anyone here? Had I been betrayed? Before I could freak out I gave Snowball a hug. ¡°What do you think Snowball?¡± I turned her around and held her up to look her in her dead black eyes.

    ¡°We should make a little noise to see if someone comes out.¡± Said Snowball. She didn''t really say it. It was more like a feeling of what she wanted to say.

    I guess she could only talk in my dreams. To bad, her Morgan Freeman impression was so good, if not a bit terrifying.

    My anxiety was coming back. No matter how I looked at it this had to be a trap. I was so stupid. Now Squirmy was going to eat everyone and it would be all my fault. I hugged Snowball in hopes of finding comfort.

    Someone shouted behind me, ¡°Hey, what are you doing here!¡±

    Their voice pulled my attention, causing my pigtails to swing, as I turned to face the newcomer. It was just some teen girl dressed in a kimono looking thing. She was about 15 or so. Strange, she had magenta colored eyes. Her silky long black hair hanging in a single braid.

    New face. She looks really grumpy. All of a sudden I felt super nervous and awkward. ¡°Um¡­ h-hel-¡° Before I could finish my greeting, she jumped forward attacking me! Snowball and I barely avoided her kick!

    My body felt heavy for some reason. Now that I thought about it, I felt something like this when I tried to attack Cosmo too. I was noticeably slower. It was almost like the sluggishness you feel during a hangover.

    The girl came at me again trying to punch me. ¡°I¡¯m fucking tired of you thieves coming into my home and stealing my stuff!¡±

    I did my best to bob and weave, taking on a stance my dad showed me where you press your arms together in front of you like a shield. It came in handy when her fist managed to connect with my arms, leaving me with an all too familiar sting.

    My glass slippers clacked on the ground like a tap dancers, as I did my best to avoid her. My pigtails were also doing there best to move with me. She was fast, but I could still follow her body movements thanks to my rediscovered ability to read people.

    She must have realized I wasn¡¯t a pushover, because she switched her tactics and started attacking me with aggressively quick and short jabs. Then followed it up with a wide scissor kick that I easily ducked under, before going for the ability sweep.

    I couldn¡¯t use martial arts anymore, so the ability didn¡¯t have that fancy green wave, but it didn¡¯t matter, as my leg connected with hers. Since she was on one foot I managed to sweep her, knocking her over.

    I didn¡¯t want to fight, so instead I backed up and tried to explain myself, but my anxiety took over and it ended up sounding like¡­ this, ¡°I um¡­Tr-training.¡±

    The girl exploded with energy as a violet aura raged across her body like a California weed fire. She charged forward screeching in anger as she came after me. That was when I could no longer avoid her.

    I did my best to block, but She managed to knock me down with a single strike. ¡°aah!¡± I yelped as the power behind her attack nearly broke my arm.

    Immediately, I started crying. It sucked not being in control of your body. Now, because of my crying I couldn¡¯t try and explain myself.

    ¡°You think your tears will save you! Don¡¯t be stupid! Bad children like you need to be taught a lesson! As punishment for trespassing! You¡¯re going to sweep the entire courtyard!¡± she yelled.

    As I was now I couldn¡¯t do much. No magic, no martial arts, no sacred arts, no psychic abilities, not even a proper weapon, or a single stat point. I was out matched completely.

    ¡°Okay.¡± I cried.

    She then snatched Snowball from my hands. ¡°Hey!¡± I yelled trying to reach for my friend.

    ¡°I¡¯m holding on to your dolly until your done.¡± She pulled me to my feet and started to lead me over to a barrel. Within the barrel was a bunch of tools. Mostly just rakes, brooms, and a few shovels.

    The brooms were made with twigs wrapped in a tight thin rope around a thick walking stick. The rakes also looked to be hand made. Only these had every individual peace whittled into shape, and were held together using wooden pegs. The shovel was just like the rake.

    She handed me one of the brooms. To which I just stared at her. The girl glared at me. ¡°Um¡­ excuse me¡­ I-I¡¯m here for training.¡± I weakly mumbled.

    It looked like I¡¯d fallen back into that shy kid again. There was nothing I could do, so I took the broom from her. I noticed how heavy it was. Maybe this was a wax on, wax off situation. Like maybe this was how I¡¯d learn how to fight with a staff.

    ¡°Get to work, and I don¡¯t want to hear any crying from you!¡± She then went inside one of the entry points.

    I started sweeping and after a minute, the girl came back, only now she was carrying a chair. She sat down and watched as I worked.

    I started from one end of the courtyard and swept everything towards the middle. The girl watched me never giving any input. At some point I put my backpack down, so I could work better.

    It felt like I was back at grannies. Half way through, I started enjoying the task, finding better ways to sweep and hold the broom.

    As I gave myself to work my mind cleared itself and I started feeling like myself again. The job still needed to be done, so I continued working. Pushing all the petals into multiple piles.

    I ended up asking her what to do. She sighed then went back inside and cane out with what looked like some kind of sack.

    ¡°Use the shovel and rake to put the petals in the sack, then drag them over that way, and put them into the compost. Don''t worry I''ll be watching.¡± She said.

    I tried to grab the bag, but she let it go causing it to drop to the floor, then walked away. It was no big deal, there was only about 6 piles and I think I can fit half a pile in this sack.

    It had been over 2 hours since I stared, but my task was done. The girl had fallen asleep in her chair. I put the tools back and made my way over to her.

    ¡°Excuse me. I¡¯m done.¡± I said.

    She woke up. ¡°What!? Your done?¡± She looked around. ¡°Oh¡­ yeah looks good.¡±

    I tried to take back Snowball, but she held her out of my reach. ¡°Hey!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Why do you want this thing so badly, huh?¡± She questioned.

    This girl was a bully. ¡°Give Snowball back. She doesn¡¯t like you.¡± I cried.

    ¡°Oh, what¡¯s this!¡± She spotted Snowballs zipper and tried to open her up.

    ¡°No! Don¡¯t touch that!¡± I tried again to reach for Snowball, but the girl stood up and held her out of my reach.

    Curse these stubby limbs!

    ¡°What¡¯s in this thing, money, drugs!? Lets find out!¡± Before I could jump for Snowball, she pulled the zipper and out fell a pair of white panties. My face turned red as my body froze in place.

    How was a grown man supposed to explain this away! Oh, don¡¯t mind them. They were forced upon me by god. Yeah right!

    Well, it wasn¡¯t all bad, at least they didn¡¯t have a strange design. I''m so dead! Calm down Isaac. It''s fine. They¡¯re your underwear, remember. There¡¯s nothing wrong with a girl owning them. Crap! I¡¯m not a girl though!

    The girl reached down and held the underwear up, as I started crying. ¡°Why would you put this in a doll? Did you steal them!? You¡¯re not secretly some kind of pervert disguised as a little girl, are you!?¡±

    My eyes went wide. That''s too specific and technically true! I shook my head unable to answer. This was the worst day ever! How could this girl be so cruel!?

    She waved the underwear in my face adding to my shame. ¡°Speak up you little pervert. Why do you have these hidden!?¡±

    I didn¡¯t know what to say. Maybe if I went with the truth she would understand. I motioned for her to come closer. She looked a little irritated, but leaned in. I whispered what Cosmo told me into her ear.

    ¡°Ew gross!¡± She stood straight up, then threw the panties at my face. ¡°You piss yourself on a regular basis!? What¡¯s wrong with you! Are you sick, or just some kind of piss baby!?¡± She yelled.

    I couldn¡¯t take much more of this. The pressure I felt over my entire body grew as the area around me became darker. This crap again!

    Its not real Isaac. Remove yourself from the situation. Stop caring. I tried to do just that and fell back into the apathy of the hole.

    It wasn¡¯t about stuffing my feelings inside. This time I abandoned them while retreating into the void.

    Squirmy and Centa took with them all the stored up pain. While that pain was gone the source was still around.

    The memories were apart of me now, leaving the hole empty. After everything my soul was hollow and thanks to that I could use it to zero out my emotions. For a moment everything stopped. It was quiet and calm. Until¡­ it wasn¡¯t.

    I could hear it. An echo in the vastness of the void. It called to me, but I didn¡¯t know where to go. It came from the left. Then the right, constantly changing directions growing in frequency. In volume, until I couldn¡¯t take it and left.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡± a new voice emerged prodding at both of our attentions. Before us stood an adult woman. I hadn¡¯t even noticed her, yet she still managed to make it to the center of the courtyard without detection.

    Her hair a dark green, styled into twin braids. Like the bully she sported a similar kimono.

    ¡°Lore keeper! This girl broke into the Monastery! I¡¯ve punished her accordingly.¡± She came off smug. Like a cat bringing a dead bird to it¡¯s master.

    Was I still in trouble? I don¡¯t want to be here. ¡°Th-that¡¯s not true.¡± I cried wiping my tears away.

    ¡°Yukio. What the hell have you done?¡± the lore keeper rubbed her temples.

    The girl now known as Yukio gave off an expression of confusion. It quickly turned into fear. She tried to act like she did nothing wrong. ¡°I-I was protecting the monastery.¡±

    The lore keeper narrowed her eyes glaring at the bully. ¡°This girl is Master Brutus¡¯s new disciple. And besides, What threat could she possibly be! She can¡¯t even cultivate! Look at how she¡¯s dressed! Does she look like a thief to you!?¡± The lore keepers words seemed to finally sink into the bully.

    However, instead of feeling sorry the girl looked angry. ¡°Why the fuck didn¡¯t you say anything piss baby! Its your own fault for not speaking up! Acting all innocent and weak! You were asking to get picked on!¡±

    I flinched, my old habits resurfacing. I couldn¡¯t even do anything. My body paralyzed, becoming heavy as if composed of sandbags. My underwear was still on the floor and Snowball was in that girl¡¯s hands.

    In other words, I had no shield and might as well have been naked right now. The tears kept falling one after the other, as I started to really feel like this was my fault.

    If I¡¯d just spoken up before, everything would be fine. If I hadn¡¯t pissed in that dungeon¡­or¡­ that other time¡­ then Cosmo wouldn¡¯t have stuffed those underwear inside Snowball.

    My eyes were glued to the ground as my cheeks burned in shame.

    ¡°Yukio! This is clearly your fault! Apologize.¡± Demanded the lore keeper. She surprised me. Somehow hearing it wasn¡¯t my fault made me feel a little better. Taking my transmission from park to neutral.

    My eyes were drawn to the older woman. There was a strange glow to her. A rainbow of colors swirling around her body. It wasn¡¯t so much that energy was escaping her. It was more like it was being channeled through her. It looked like focus.

    ¡°Fine!¡± The bully glared at me, ¡°I¡¯m sorry you can¡¯t speak up!¡± She then tore one of Snowballs legs off and dropped her on the floor. ¡°oops¡­ I guess it¡¯s trash now. We better throw it away.¡± She then stepped on Snowball, grinding her into the ground.

    Finally I felt anger rise inside me. How could she do that to Aku¡¯s friend! She was just like the assholes at school that ripped Buddy¡¯s wing off!

    I wanted to hurt her, but without power I¡¯d just end up eating dirt! There had to be a way to close the gap! I ascended! I was supposed to be stronger now! Oh, what about that fuzzy bubble thing? Yukio made one too, so why couldn¡¯t I? How did I do it before? It was like¡­ that, right?

    I reached for the ball of energy in my tummy. The thick power reacted to my call. It almost moved on its own. I felt it cycle through me like when I was falling to my death. It surged through my body in a star pattern, passing through each limb like electricity running through a copper wire.

    A thin blue light surrounded my body. It sputtered and danced over my skin and clothes like a raging flame. Parts of it were thin while others were thicker.

    The power seemed to have trouble with holding its form and chunks of the power leaked mixing with the air. I had to add more energy just to keep it going.

    This power was like what Yukio used before. It was similar to the fuzzy bubble I felt back when I fought boner and his band of IPad kids. The effects were very noticeable. My body was lite and full of vigor. As if every single one of my cells had entered the fourth state of matter. I was living plasma.

    The girl had an ¡°Oh shit¡± look on her face, but before she could surround herself in a similar cloud of energy, my fuzzy bubble exploded under my feet, causing me to move at an unreasonable speed.

    The fuzziness quickly shifted Into my fist, as it slammed into her gut, causing her to lean forward and vomit up her lunch. There was a little bit of vomit on my shoulder, but it was worth the horrified look on Yukio¡¯s face.

    She stumbled back and fell on her butt, then shifted on to her side expelling more vile. There were tears in her eyes and snot coming out of her nose, as she gave me a look like she wanted to kill me.

    The power in circulation had decreased in volume, causing the light around my body to turn into a discreet soft glow. Almost like the glow of a pregnant women.

    The lore keeper laughed. ¡°My goodness. You ruptured her intestines. She might go septic. That was well deserved. Yukio use this as a training opportunity. Focus on empowering your aura with healing and cleansing aspects.¡±

    Oh crap! Did I just hit a girl? Was this okay? She was asking for it, but still! To be fair I¡¯m technically a girl too, and smaller than her, so it should be okay. Besides, I was defending Snowball!

    ¡°Snowball¡­¡± I started crying again, as I looked to my fallen comrade. I wiped my tears with the back of my hand, then picked her up along with her severed leg. She wasn¡¯t too dirty, but she was hurt. Seeing her like that made me cry even more.

    How was she going to do parkour now. I hugged her to my frame. If I hadn¡¯t been all useless a moment ago it would have been fine. Even now all I can ever do is react.

    ¡°Isaac, I can fix her up for you.¡± Said the lore keeper. She reached her hand out.

    I was afraid to hand Snowball over. What if this lady was tricking me and was about to light Snowball on fire?

    ¡°It¡¯s alright child. Cosmo told me you¡¯d be coming. It looks like your teacher got too drunk last night and over slept. I can fix your little friend. I know Aku must be really upset.¡± She smiled warmly. It wasn¡¯t the smile of a beautiful woman. It felt much older.

    This lady kind of reminded me of a grandma, even though she was in her twenties. She was a bit strange. Her presence was that of nature itself and her movements were so gentle and perfect that she gave off the feeling of a tree.

    It was like she wasn¡¯t supposed to move. Like she was apart of the world. Like a plant or the wind. She was like a garden contained within a person radiating with life.

    I felt safe around her, so I handed Snowball over. I could feel the Aku in me still upset. She was a bit like a pouty child. At the moment Aku was too emotional to realize this lady was only trying to help.

    The lore keeper gently took Snowball from me. The way she handled the plushy was like one of those visually satisfying videos Alice likes to watch. It was so nice that Aku seemed to settle down into neutral territory. She was curious and wanted to watch this lady do more gentle stuff.

    Snowball floated midair as a blue magic circle appeared under her. ¡°Negentropy¡± said the lady as a multitude of runes flashed one after the other. Some in tangent, others flashed twice, but the effect was the most interesting.

    I watched as Snowballs leg reattached itself. It wasn¡¯t some kind of healing spell. This was the reversal of damage. Time was being rewound before my very eyes.

    It didn¡¯t take long for Snowball to look like her fluffy self again. Once it was done. The lore keeper handed her back to me. I hugged her putting Aku back into happy territory.

    ¡°Thank you! Thank you!¡± I said.

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it. Little girls should be happy.¡± Said the lore keeper smiling brightly.

    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m 39¡­ and a half. Also I¡¯m not a girl. I¡¯m a man.¡± I said a bit embarrassed. Seeing as I¡¯d be spending a week here with these people, It was best to get it out of the way now, before they decide it¡¯s girls only and accidentally undress in front of me.

    ¡°39? Why that¡¯s so young. Your just a baby.¡± She laughed.

    I was confused. ¡°I don¡¯t understand. What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°Did no one explain anything to you?¡± she asked.

    I shook my pigtails before she continued.

    ¡°Well, have you noticed your height? Does it seem any different?¡± She asked.

    Now that she mentions it. There is something strange going on that I¡¯m not sure about. I didn¡¯t know what it was until she said it, but I felt different somehow.

    The lore keeper started shaping energy into a ruler. She then increased its size putting it next to me.

    ¡°If I remember correctly from your file, your height was originally at 4 feet exactly, and now your 3¡¯11.5 You lost half an inch child.¡± Said the lore keeper.

    ¡°What!¡± I cried.

    What the hell! Half an inch! Also, what¡¯s this about a file!? I never agreed to that!

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not permanent. That¡¯s a natural side effect from ascension. If you were an old hag like me you would have turned into a young maiden, but because you¡¯re so young, you might have reverted by a month or two.¡±

    That didn¡¯t sound too bad. At least I knew I was still growing. ¡°So ascending early really doesn¡¯t make any sense then. I could live a much longer life if I wait till I¡¯m 60.¡±

    ¡°I suppose you could do that, but once you hit the angel rank you stop aging passed 25 and your body becomes harder than steel. Your body is in the lower spirit rank. That makes it sturdier than someone in the mortal rank.¡± She said.

    Was that why I could still do impossible things? I didn¡¯t have stats, but I was for sure stronger than your average little girl. How else would I have been able to jump and attack Cosmo like that, if my body wasn''t augmented in some way.

    ¡°Okay¡­ so what does this have to do with you considering me a kid?¡± I asked. Clearly it was because she saw herself as much older than me, but it felt like we¡¯d gone in another direction.

    ¡°As you progress through the ranks your aging slows down. As of right now at your rank, you¡¯ll age twice as slow as a regular mortal. That means that you could live twice as long. People in your rank aren¡¯t considered an adult until they¡¯re 32. Of course that number can change depending on the culture you are apart of.¡±

    ¡°So¡­ wait, but I¡¯m 39! That¡¯s like¡­ 7 years ahead of 32!¡± I yelled.

    ¡°You are a smart one. In your case it¡¯s a bit different since your avatar was physical 5 years old before you ascended. Usually you lose half your age when ascending, but because of Cosmo¡¯s avatars that can be mitigated. You should be happy your not a two year old right now.¡± She explained.

    A two year old that ages twice as slow¡­ that sounds like a nightmare and what the hell does she mean by 5 year old. I was clearly 9 and a half! ¡°But I am 39 so you have to treat me like an adult!¡± I retorted.

    ¡°You might be an adult to another lower spirit rank like Yukio over there, but to an angel like myself your nothing, but a child.¡± She said.

    That kind of sucked. Did that mean that even if I had my original old man body she would still consider me a kid? This was awful! I couldn¡¯t change her perception of me, so I might as well just roll with it.

    ¡°Okay, I get it now.¡± I waved her off.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Show me your mature enough and I¡¯ll gladly consider you an adult. At least in some regards.¡± She said.

    I looked back to that girl. She was still in pain, but her body was glowing a faint blue and silver. Next to her was my underwear. I was still embarrassed about them and worst of all they had vomit all over them.

    The best choice was to detach myself from the situation as a whole. Not my panties, not my problem. She could have them. It¡¯s not like I ever wore them anyway.

    The thing that upset me the most was the vomit stuck to the back of my shoulder. My dress was so pretty and now it was just gross. I needed a bath and Shadow wasn¡¯t here to help. I guess it was my turn to act like the parent. I am Aku¡¯s father after all.

    It would be just like when I was little, taking a shower with dad and Cain. I''m pretty sure Julia did it too. Dad would always try to embarrass her with that fact. That and how he changed her diapers. Apparently she was like a poop volcano. It turns out Julia was just lactose intolerant.

    My brains all over the place. Focus Isaac! I clapped my hands over both my cheeks then shook my pigtails back and forth.

    ¡°Yukio! Once you¡¯re done healing, you can clean up this mess, and throw those underwear away. I¡¯m sure Isaac no longer wants them after your¡­ artistic expression.¡± The lore keeper turned around and started walking away. ¡°Come along little one. Let¡¯s get you cleaned and settled.¡±

    I followed not wanting to get left behind with the vomit covered girl. The lore keeper seemed like a reasonably nice lady. I gave Snowball a squeeze to let out a bit of my nervous energy, as I followed the green haired mage.

    She had a nice fragrance¡­ like fruit and old books. Both things I loved.

 Episode 44: Breathing Fire

    The lore keeper lead me down a corridor. This place was nothing like my castle. Instead of the magical lighting I was used to, the halls sported oil lamps.

    I say oil lamps, but they seemed to be powered by something else. It wasn¡¯t exactly magic. More like a white hot burning rock.

    I thought this place would be more magically advanced, not whatever this is. Everything in the new world was so efficient. Why was this place such a dump.

    I couldn¡¯t help but notice the spider webs up above, and the rats that walked around the wooden support structures of the roof. It was a whole ecosystem up there. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised to find a little town with shops for rat and spider bartering.

    Maybe even a little spider-Aku and rat-Shadow, shopping around town and fighting off cockroach-Mantis, while little spider-Aku has horrific Hallucinations of a giant monster Cricket whispering horrible things into her ears, and trying to eat her.

    I don¡¯t know. I was still a bit on edge since I hadn¡¯t seen a single nail in the entire structure. This place was like arts and crafts, but on a mega scale. If dad were here he would have already ran to home depot and started remodeling.

    First thing he¡¯d do would be to get drunk and look for studs. Then he¡¯d fall asleep next to a freshly demolished wall and I¡¯d come over with a blanket to keep him from getting sick. I miss dad.

    At some point the lore keeper lead Snowball and I outside again. This time to a back area. It was a bit rocky with patches of grass here and there, but there was a pathway for us. It lead down the back of the mountain¡­ or was it the front?

    The scenery was amazing. We were so high up. It looked like only this mountain was covered in flowery trees. The rest were of the non-weeb variety. There were a few patches of pink sprinkled out in the valley below, but not many.

    Along the path were small holes cut into the side of the mountain, providing platforms for more rock lamps. Though these weren¡¯t burning at the moment, Instead they sat there behind the glass, looking like a hunk of bone with how white they were.

    Did they really need to chisel out holes for them? That seemed like a lot of work when you could just drive a hook into the rock and hang them like they did inside.

    The real strange part was how smooth the stone was inside. I wonder how they managed to do that? It must have been super time consuming.

    I looked back to the tree lady. Despite the harsh path, her movements were still so smooth. Meanwhile, I found myself struggling with my glass slippers. They weren¡¯t exactly built for traction. Slippery slippers. I chucked to myself.

    While I did like them, The slippers had grown cracks and looked like they would fall apart at any moment. Should I be worried? It didn¡¯t feel like there was any broken glass shards inside the footwear, but who knows.

    Despite the uncomfortable shoes, I still managed to keep up with the tree lady. The one thing I liked about them was the ¡°click-clack¡± noises as I walked.

    It felt like the tree lady was slowing down for me, but who knows. All I knew was that I couldn¡¯t seem to reach her and at the same time, we were the same distance away from each other, despite the changes in my speed. Whenever I sped up I could hear her giggle to herself, like she was playing a game with me.

    For a moment I thought I was being lead into an ambush, but there was a structure down here. It was a small building, built into the side of the mountain.

    This one was constructed with stone-like bricks, with wood here and there for support. By stone-like I meant it was as if someone had cut boulders into bricks then smoothed out the edges.

    On closer inspection the bricks didn¡¯t have any cement between them. They were cut in such a way, that they perfectly interlocked with each other. Whoever designed them must have been a very skilled craftsman.

    As for the wooden pillars, they were buried into the rocky ground ¨C not sure how they managed that ¨C and wrapped around the stone walls like a ribcage. Something told me they were also interlocked with the stone. The entire thing creeped me out, like low budget CGI.

    The entrance to the structure was made of wood, with a sturdy frame and a sliding door. Aesthetically the building wasn¡¯t all that appealing, but if I was here for a bath it only made sense to make it out of stone.

    I called to the lore keeper. ¡°Um¡­ excuse me tree lady?¡±

    ¡°Tree lady?¡± She questioned raising an eyebrow.

    Her attention made me a little anxious. ¡°Are you going to teach me magic?¡± I asked somewhat hopeful.

    ¡°Magic?¡± She laughed. ¡°Oh, child. You using magic would be like trying to breathe fire.¡±

    What the hell did that mean? ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°Do not worry. You will understand once your teacher wakes up. Right now is bath time.¡± She headed for the door. I shrugged and followed.

    The lore keeper opened the sliding door, revealing a spacious room. Strangely enough it was all wood, meaning the stone outside was a shell of some sort. This thing was basically built for tornados.

    There was a hamper inside and some cubbyholes lining the far wall, but this wasn¡¯t the whole building. There on the wall was another sliding door, hinting towards another room.

    We made our way inside. The lighting was a bit dim, with the only light source being the sunlight from outside. That''s when the lore keeper activated a spell, creating a ball of light from a yellow magic circle. The ball of light centered itself in the room, brightening the interior.

    With the help of the light I saw a few more ivory rock lamps attached to hooks on the walls. That must have been how normal people lit the room. Magic was so useful. Why wouldn''t I want to learn it.

    ¡°Tree Lady¡­ I forgot to grab my backpack. I didn''t bring any clothes.¡± I said.

    ¡°Don''t worry your little head. I¡¯ll get them for you. For now we¡¯ll start your training.¡± She reassured.

    Training, finally! ¡°Okay. What do I need to do?¡±

    ¡°Get naked and put your clothes in the basket.¡± She pointed to the hamper next to the wall. ¡°If there''s anything in your pockets pick one of the cubbyholes and store them there.¡±

    I felt a little nervous. Shadow was the only one to ever see me naked, so this was strange. Should I be concerned? This lady is a stranger after all¡­ but, I suppose I did come for training.

    In the end I gave up and did as she asked. Snowball was the only thing I had, so I put her in one of the cubbyholes. She looked comfortable. Like she had her own little house.

    I then tried to take my clothes off, but the dress wouldn''t go over my head and the inside of my slippers were sculpted to my foots exact shape. This was bad. Its like they were never meant to come off. What was I going to do now? I looked to the tree lady.

    ¡°I see the dilemma. You have the clothes of a doll. They''ve been stitched into form. These must be the clothes you were summoned in.¡± said the tree lady.

    ¡°What¡¯s that mean?¡± I asked, holding back the panic in my voice.

    ¡°Cosmo really didn''t explain anything. Your real body is back in the other world. What you are now is a spirit summon. That body of yours is currently made up of raw aspects. It¡¯s temporary and won¡¯t last longer than a few weeks. It''s well made for a spirit body. Very sturdy.¡± Said the lore keeper.

    ¡°like a summon from a summoning crystal?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That sounds like a game thing. Summoners are an entirely different power system than what you and I have. To think Cosmo would simply hand the power to link cores to just anyone, without even telling them how it works. The new gods are so reckless, if only lady Amaterasu were here.¡±

    Power system¡¯s? Going off of context I think I get it. I couldn¡¯t put my finger on it, but she was different from Bully and I. She also said I couldn¡¯t do magic, but I saw her do it. Did that mean she had some kind of magic based power system? Then what did I have?

    The lady reached over to the back of my dress. A moment later I heard it rip. ¡±Hey!¡± I cried. How dare she! I tried to fight her off, but she was too strong.

    ¡°Hold still child, or I¡¯ll make you kneel on gravel.¡± Said the crazy tree lady.

    I stopped immediately. Kneel on gravel? that sounded awful. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, please don¡¯t rip my dress.¡± I cried.

    ¡°It¡¯s made purely of aspects. It¡¯s not like it was going to last very long. Now stay still and I¡¯ll get you out of these vomit covered clothes.¡±

    I wanted to complain. My dress was so pretty. I didn¡¯t want to lose it¡­. I guess it was fine. It was covered in vomit, and I couldn¡¯t wear it forever, besides I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll find some other clothes I really like¡­ like pants, or a really big hoodie.

    The lore keeper pulled it off of me. Underneath it ¨C to my surprise - was a silky white slip. Alice wears these sometimes. I think she said it was so her clothes don¡¯t rub against her sensitive skin.

    Now that I thought about it. The fabric was pretty rough. That was probably why the outfit was so comfortable. I should probably invest in more of these if I¡¯m going to wear fancy dresses all the time.

    The last thing I wanted was to have to deal with sore nipples¡­ ¡°Oh God! Why would I think that!¡± I shook my head, hoping to forget that image, to which the lore keeper smacked my bare leg.

    ¡°Don''t get distracted. Your on a deadline.¡± Scolded the lore keeper to which I sheepishly apologized.

    Before the tree lady could strip me herself I went ahead and took off the rest of my clothes. The slip and the pirate-Snowball printed underwear. That last one was pretty embarrassing. I was left not only cold, but wishing I could use the cleanse sacred art.

    That was when I realized I¡¯d forgotten the pigtails. The lady was already undoing them, giving my head a bit of relief from the constant pull. I wasn¡¯t used to having my hair tied up like that. I also don¡¯t like it much. Aku on the other hand wanted braids like the lore keepers.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so shy. It¡¯s my job to make sure all you disciples wash yourselves. I¡¯ve seen more than one bare bottom in my day. You''d be surprised how many of you children try to skip bath time.¡± She waved her hand crafting a new spell. This one was a soul silver like the Negentropy spell, that fixed Snowball.

    I wasn¡¯t sure what it did, but my glass slippers started to vibrate. A moment later they fell apart turning into clear white dust. I was a bit worried about walking on broken glass shards, but they weren¡¯t sharp and they felt like normal sand.

    ¡°I imbued them with earth and wind aspects, reverting the glass back into sand.¡± Explained the lore keeper.

    I stared at her confused. She sighed before giving a better explanation. ¡°Think of it this way. In order to make glass it must be refined from sand. To do that heat is required. It melts the sand and releases the earth and wind aspects from it. Leaving a very specific type of earth aspect called glass. This method can also be used to refine earth aspects into Iron aspects.¡±

    To me it sounded like she used alchemy to transmute them into oddly warm sand. That was pretty cool. I wish I could do that. I bet I could make lots and lots of gold that way. I could pay so much rent with that! Now I need to learn magic.

    The lore keeper made her way over to another sliding door. Opening it, she used the same light spell from before, commanding the ball of light to float near the center of the ceiling. It was just like the last one only instead of white this one was more yellowy. How strange, the light from this one was actually warm, which was a welcome.

    This room dropped down a little and was all stone. The wall to the left was apart of the mountain while the rest was the same shell-like structure we saw from the outside. Along the shell walls were 2 inch slots cut out from the bottom part of the walls.

    My guess was that they were meant for draining water. Inside the room were several wooden tubs. There was also a few holes cut into the mountain where more of those ivory rock lamps were.

    ¡°Wait there for now.¡± She created a new magic circle. this one was a deep blue. I watched as she poured focus into the spell, forming a ball of water.

    I didn''t recognize this spell either. None of the spells she¡¯d used so far, were apart of the magic tree in-game. They also didn''t match with any NPC spells.

    The tree lady chose one of the smaller tubs. Then poured the water into it. The magic conjured liquid looked super clean and clear. Once the tub was full, the tree lady made another magic circle. This one was red and looked just as simple as the last.

    ¡°Come here and put your hand in the water.¡± She motioned for me to come closer. ¡°Tell me when it¡¯s at your preferred temperature.¡±

    I moved to her side and submerge my hand in the clear liquid. It overflowed, water spilling from the tub. Some of it getting on my toes. Strange, It was already lukewarm. The temperature started to go up and in no time steam began to rise. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± I squeaked.

    Her spell vanished and we were left with a steamy tub of water. ¡°Alright then. You can use this water to wash yourself. There¡¯s some soap and sponges over in the covered over there.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± I said before heading over to grab the items.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    ¡°Once you wash up and we get your training started, I¡¯ll get you some clothes from your backpack.¡± Said the lore keeper.

    I nodded. It didn¡¯t take long to wash myself. Five minutes and my body was clean again. The whole time she waited patiently for me. The hot water felt great on my skin. My hair hung loosely over my shoulders clinging to my back.

    ¡°Okay, good. Now, what do you know about meditation?¡± Asked the lady.

    I nodded. ¡°I''ve done it a bunch of times.¡±

    ¡°Very good. Now, what I want you to do, is focus on the heat of the water. You know that focus stuff you players use? Try to find it within the heat of the tub.¡± She instructed.

    If it meant getting stronger I¡¯d do it. I closed my eyes and tried to do just that. The heat was very invasive. I did my best to keep my mind clear and only focus on the water''s warmth.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll be right back with a change of clothes. You must stay in that water for an hour. I¡¯ll reheat the tub later.¡± The lady left the room leaving me to the task.

    Feel the focus in the heat. Heat was energy, so it made sense it would also be focus. Actually, what about ice spells? Did they use heat to function? I wasn¡¯t sure. Maybe I was missing something.

    I need to stop over thinking it and take it one step at a time. I¡¯ll start by focusing on the heat.

    Time went on as the encompassing warmth started to permeate my body. It felt really nice. I was nowhere near finding the focus in the water, but I certainly was relaxed.

    What I noticed from this is that the cold was just as noticeable as the heat. I could even feel the warmth of the water slowly leaving the tub.

    If all the heat went away then I¡¯d end up cold. I didn''t want that, so I did my best to focus on the heat left, while ignoring the cold. Instead of thinking of the tubs warmth as a separate thing, I thought of it like my body heat.

    My body was 60% water. I also drink water, so it¡¯s constantly flowing through me. Therefore the water in the tub can be thought of as an extension of myself. The same goes for the heat in the water since heat is constantly moving throughout the world.

    You could even extend this logic to air and less tangible things like knowledge. My sense of self slowly blended with the world as I fell deeper into meditation.

    I don¡¯t exist.

    After a few minutes I noticed the tub getting warmer again. The more I fixated on the remaining heat, the warmer it got. It was a bit strange like simply thinking about it caused the heat to move towards me. I could do this all day.

    As the heat focused in on me, the cold seemed to get ever closer. Though, it never got too close. It was as if the heat was acting like a barrier, providing me with protection.

    The doorway opened, but I continued to focus on the task at hand. ¡°I¡¯ve got your clothes. I was a bit busy with¡­¡±

    I opened my eyes and realized the water was frozen. ¡°What?!¡± I freaked out.

    It looked like the heat from the water had clung to my body creating a pocket of boiling liquid. How was I not cooking right now? I was afraid to move.

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± The lore keeper took a closer look. ¡°How interesting. The heat aspects and cold aspects have separated. How did you manage that?¡± the lore keeper started to look a little nervous, as if seeing something unsettling.

    ¡°Am I going to die?¡± I cried.

    She fake smiled at me like I''d just gotten my limbs blown off in a war zone. ¡°You¡¯ll be fine¡­ probably... H-how about you work your way out of the tub for now.¡± She instructed.

    How would that work? Would I need to crawl on the ice? That sounded like it would be too cold. Still it¡¯s better than being boiled alive.

    I reached out with my hand trying to prop myself up using the ice, but the ice melted into boiling water the moment my hand got close. It was like my body was radioactive.

    I tried touching other parts of the ice but they melted too. The parts that weren¡¯t within an inch of my body had either evaporated, or turned back into ice.

    While it was cool, I couldn¡¯t help but notice the concern growing on tree ladies face. ¡°Are you sure everything will be-¡° before I could finish my question, I felt the heat around me stripped from my body. The boiling water also turned lukewarm leaving me really uncomfortable.

    The lore keeper had used some kind of ice spell on me. ¡°That was close you almost melted the mountain side.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t believe it! Was it really that bad! ¡°Why would you leave me alone if it was that dangerous!¡± I cried.

    She shook her head. ¡°It wasn¡¯t supposed to be. What did you do?¡±

    ¡°I focused really super duper hard and then it all kind of-¡° before I could finish I felt something hot in my tummy. It felt awful like I¡¯d just eaten a ghost pepper. All of a sudden something warm and sour came out of my mouth spewing itself onto the ice. It was some kind of black gunk.

    I pushed away in a panic crawling on the cold ice, doing everything I could to get out of the tub. As soon as I got out, more black stuff came out onto the floor¡­ from both ends.

    ¡°Oh, I see now.¡± said the lore keeper.

    I started to feel a fever coming on. Before I knew it my vision went blurry. I got one last look at the lore keeper who was watching me with interest. The last thing I heard was, ¡°I told you not to breathe fire.¡± Before passing out.

    -B2015630-

    Blood leaking onto a dirty stone floor, people crying and begging for help. Destruction around every corner. So many deaths. I stood before myself. My body slowly bleeding out.

    It¡¯s limbs broken and twisted in unnatural ways. My arms and legs looked as though they had multiple joints. It kind of reminded me of an accordion.

    So much for being the hero. Falling from the sky, what a stupid way to die. The thought of my brother saying ¡°You should have worn a parachute¡± crept its way into my mind, before I quickly hit the eject-thought-button, sending it into the hole. Crap, I wasn¡¯t supposed to do that anymore. it wasn¡¯t a traumatizing thought, so it should be fine.

    I sighed, its not like I really cared about the way I might die. The fact was that I was dying¡­ yet I felt nothing. At least not for my vessel. No, what I was currently feeling was guilt. Horrible guilt for all the lives being lost in this very moment. All because I couldn''t deal with my own shit.

    It won¡¯t be long now before I die, and when that happens the rest of the city will go too. Maybe even the rest of the world.

    I¡¯ll go back to that claymation hell and the world will remember me as a monster. I couldn¡¯t let that happen. I couldn¡¯t let my friends and wife get eaten by my demons. Especially not when its all my fault.

    One scream after another haunted me. I clenched my fists , as the other me tried to do the same¡­ but It wasn¡¯t another me. It was me. I could feel every bit of pain.

    ¡°Move¡­¡± I begged. ¡°Move!¡±

    Despite my desire I could not make that crippled mess get up. I couldn¡¯t do a thing. The only option was to get stronger. Strong enough that this useless body can walk out that door.

    Hurry¡­ I need to hurry.

    -???-

    I woke in a cold sweat. ¡°No!¡± I cried out reaching for the ceiling.

    Sitting up I found myself covered in strange multi-colored stones. They fell from my body as I rose. Some Scarlett, others a royal blue, one a sky blue, and two were a green emerald.

    My breathing was quick and sharp like I¡¯d just ran a marathon. I could feel my heart racing as sweat dripped down my back. Reaching up I held my head. ¡°I need to get stronger.¡±

    It looked like the lore keeper had tucked me into a futon. For whatever reason I was still naked. With the sweat covering my body I¡¯d grown cold. I laid back down pulling the cover over me. The bed was wet, but the blanket at least kept the cold mountain air from bothering me.

    I always thought mountain air would be thin, but this place was odd. Maybe I wasn¡¯t that high up, or maybe the atmosphere on this world was different. There was a lot of trees. It could also be more magic mumbo jumbo. I needed to chill out with all these useless thoughts. They were just a distraction from the real problem.

    I was weak.

    I sighed, then rolled over a little to where the bed wasn¡¯t wet. The futon was surprisingly comfortable, if not a bit stiff, due to the hard wooden flooring. The room was fairly large. There were other futons in here, but they were all rolled up. I couldn¡¯t help, but wonder what the sleeping bag I got was for.

    Strange, the room didn''t have one of the lore keepers light spells. Instead one of the four ivory rock lamps were lit, and there was also an open window letting natural light in.

    The good news was that the fever was gone, so that was nice. I wonder what happened? Tree lady said I tried to breathe fire. I guess I did something a mage would do.

    ¡°Are you awake yet?¡±

    My attention was drawn to the door way. There stood Bully. Was she here to hurt me again?

    ¡°Oh, thank Amaterasu!¡± She gave off a look of relief. ¡°You better not die on me you fucking piss baby! Master Brutus said, if you die I¡¯d have to spend a week in the cave of absence.¡± I didn''t know what that meant, but she looked like she was about to cry just thinking about it.

    Even though I was sitting up again, I was still wrapped in the blanket like a chubby caterpillar in a silky warm burrito¡­ or something like that.

    Underneath the covers, I was still naked. The trust between bully and I, was no where near letting her see my no-no-square. She seemed like the type to shame me for having a flat chest. Not that I cared, but Aku did.

    ¡°Go away!¡± I cried as I threw one of the stones at her.

    She avoided it. ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t throw your corruption at me! I saved your life you little shit!¡± She growled.

    I was about to throw another stone when she went all pink nightlight again, closing the distance between us in the fraction of a second. Her hand wrapped around my wrist. I found myself struggling against her.

    ¡°Let me go!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Not until you stop being a brat!¡± She yelled.

    ¡°I¡¯m not a brat! You¡¯re the brat!¡± I retorted before activating my special move, and biting down on her arm.

    ¡°Ah! What the fuck!¡± She cried pulling her arm away.

    That was when she slapped me leaving a big red mark on my cheek. It took a second before it registered, but when it did, I immediately started to whale. I kicked and screamed and threw the covers and pillows around.

    ¡°I''m not happy! I hate you! Go away!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Yeah that¡¯s what you get! Next time you better be nicer to your big sister!¡± she warned.

    This was so unfair! She was the one that started it when she attacked me for no reason! How could she expect me to trust her when she hurt Snowball so badly!¡­ where was Snowball?

    ¡°Where¡¯s Snowball!¡± I cried.

    She looked a little confused. ¡°What, you mean your stupid doll? It¡¯s right there!¡± She pointed next to me.

    Surely enough Snowball was sitting at my bedside, right next to the pink backpack Cosmo had given me. She was really worried about me. Even going as far as to ask how I was feeling.

    ¡°I¡¯m better now. Thank you for asking.¡± I pulled her over and gave her a hug. She then told me I should be nice to Yukio because she saved my life.

    ¡°But she¡¯s a bully!¡± I argued.

    Snowball then said ¡°Yes, but you¡¯re not, so don¡¯t become one.¡±

    That sounded dumb. Don¡¯t bully the bully otherwise you become the bully. I didn¡¯t even bully her. I was defending Snowball.

    Snowball continued to stare into my eyes as if trying to guilt me into compliance. I pouted before finally relenting. I guess I can try to be nice.

    I looked to Yukio who was eyeing me strangely. Then asked, ¡°Did you really save my life?¡±

    She dropped her defense in a short sigh. ¡°Yeah¡­ you flooded your system with too much corruption and not enough quintessence. I had to place those stones over your gates to clean your meridians.¡±

    That sounded really technical so I asked, ¡°What do you mean? Did I mess up bath time?¡± My words seemed to only irritate her even though I had been serious.

    ¡°Hold on! Your telling me you somehow managed to muddy up your body with corruption and you don¡¯t even know what it means!¡± She rubbed her temples in irritation.

    Maybe if I¡¯m honest she wont feel like hurting me again. ¡°There was a bunch of warm stuff and I didn¡¯t want to be cold, so like a friend the warm stuff snuggled up with me.¡± That was the best way I could describe it.

    She seemed to get even more irritated. ¡°Oh my goddess! You didn¡¯t just draw in heat aspects you idiot! There was wind, cold, and water aspects inside you too. Your telling me a total noob like you somehow managed to draw all that in within 40 minutes of dicking around in a bathtub!¡±

    She made it sound like something impossible. ¡°I don¡¯t know what any of that means. There¡¯s no reason to be offended with me.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s bullshit! How could you do that without any knowledge of cultivation! I¡¯ve been stuck on this world for years trying to develop my own cultivation and yet you figured out how to draw essence in within the first few minutes! It took me a whole year to learn to do that!¡±

    I could see why that might piss her off. Especially if she had been working really hard on it. Here I am coming in with no knowledge, doing it within a few hours of being on this world.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± I said bluntly.

    ¡°What!¡± She reached for my neck holding it like she was about to choke me. I could feel her anger growing inside her. This was similar to my brother¡¯s jealousy, though not as thick or volatile. It was slightly fresher, like sour milk, while my brothers was more like moldy stinky cheese.

    The Aku in me was afraid, while the Isaac in me was starting to get irritated. This girl was stupid. She was somehow blaming her failures on my success. They were unrelated, and besides, I didn¡¯t care. I was here for one thing and one thing only. Not for some stupid sibling-like rivalry. I¡¯ve already done that and I fucking hated it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care if I did something you couldn¡¯t, right now my friends, family¡­ hell! An entire world are all about to be eaten by a greedy demon. I¡¯m not here to fight with little girls. I came here to get stronger.¡± The Isaac in me must have shown, because her grip softened as her face lost its nerve.

    I reached up and took hold of her arm then pulled it away from me. ¡°You say you saved my life right.¡± She nodded, her face falling into a more neutral expression. ¡°Then from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I don¡¯t know how much time I would have lost if you hadn¡¯t.¡±

    I imagine having to be re-summoned was a big time consumer. The Isaac in me had receded, now that his anger had subsided. What I was left with was guilt. Specifically Aku¡¯s guilt for being a brat when Yukio had saved our life.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I bit you and threw that rock at you. Also for punching you, but you deserved that last one, when you hurt Snowball.¡± I said

    Yukio mumbled, ¡°Bipolar much? Whatever.¡± Then asked, ¡°How old are you anyway?¡±

    I didn''t see a reason to lie, so I told her the truth. ¡°I''m 39 and a half.¡±

    ¡°For Amaterasu¡¯s sake! You''re older than I am! Why are you so childish!¡± She glared at me.

    ¡°¡¯I¡¯m not childish, I¡¯m creative!¡± I retorted.

    She scoffed before placing the hand she used to choke me on the wet part of the futon. ¡°Ew! Did you piss all over the bed!?¡±

    ¡±What!? No, it¡¯s sweat!¡± I panicked. She was attacking a very sore spot, just like the bully she was.

    ¡°Yeah right, you pissed all over the bed!¡± She accused.

    ¡°That¡¯s not true! Smell it¡± I cried

    ¡°like hell I¡¯m gonna smell it!¡± She backed away a little.

    ¡°it¡¯s not like that!¡± I yelled.

    Before she could respond a massive hand chopped at the back of her head. ¡°Ow!¡± She cried crouching down and holding the sore spot.

    ¡°Stop fighting! You¡¯re both children!¡± said a new figure standing behind Yukio.

    I hadn''t even seen him come in. It was like he just appeared. I wonder when I''ll be able to do stuff like that. Move so fast that no one can see me.

    The man had a very deep voice. He was also really tall. Like 9 feet. Then again I still wasn¡¯t used to my height so maybe he was normal sized.

    He wore a black cloak that hid his face. His shoulders were huge. The only skin I could see was from His arms. They were tan, and it looked like he had been working outside. There was a lot of dirt under his fingernails.

    I¡¯d forgotten I was naked causing me to scramble to pull the sheets back over myself. I ended up over compensating and went under the covers. To remain vigilant I poked my head out the other end.

    ¡°I¡¯m not a child. I¡¯m 26.¡± Murmured Yukio as she nursed her head injury.

    Ignoring her the man looked to me. ¡°Squirt, get dressed, training starts in ten minutes, and bring that back pack of yours, we won¡¯t be back for a while.¡± The man left us there. He didn''t vanish. He simply walked out of the room.

    Who was that guy? Was that the Brutus guy I heard about? I hope he isn¡¯t mean. He looks like he would be mean.

    I reached for the backpack and rustled around in it. The inside was the size of a small closet.

    Surely enough I found all the items Cosmo packed for me. The clothes were¡­ interesting. The Jamie¡¯s were just a pink two peace and the training outfit was not what I expected.

    I looked to Yukio. ¡°Hey, excuse me.¡±

    She glanced at me fear seeming to cling to her face. She went back to normal when she realized it was just me.

    ¡°What?¡± She responded, some what irritated.

    ¡°I know we''re not really friends, but can you help me? I don''t know how this goes.¡± I showed her the strange looking kimono.

    The fabric was soft. It was also the same pink as my eyes. It looked like a regular kimono, except the bottom half was a skirt. There was also a bit of a glow to it.

    She looked the clothes over. ¡°What the hell. Where did you get an enchanted object!?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s enchanted?¡± I asked. She looked like she wanted to smack me around for asking.

    The girl took a deep breath, then smiled uncharacteristically at me, before saying, ¡°How about you let me keep it? It''s not really that great for training and besides wouldn''t you rather wear something more simple like my kimono? You''ll be going with master Brutus so wearing fancy clothes like this would be a waste.¡±

    She was making sense¡­ but I didn''t trust her smile. Also, I''m pretty sure my clothes won''t fit her. What was she playing at?

    ¡°No, I refuse. If your going to try and steal something from me at least don''t tell me what''s special about it. What''s this about enchanted objects?¡± I asked.

    The girl sighed. ¡°Fine¡­ whatever.¡± She said. ¡°This kimono has been enchanted through rune script. Now where the hell did a piss baby like you get it? You didn¡¯t steal it from Amaterasu did ya.¡± She was clutching it like she didn¡¯t want to let it go.

    ¡°It was a gift from Cosmo.¡± I blurted, not wanting any more drama.

    ¡°The goddess Cosmo! Why would she give someone like you something as beautiful as this!?¡± She growled.

    I didn¡¯t have time for this. ¡°I¡¯m on a schedule. I can¡¯t waste anymore time here. Are you going to help me or not?¡±

    The girl looked irritate again. ¡°Give it to me and I won¡¯t bother you anymore!¡±

    Its not like I actually cared about the clothes. They were cute, but I don¡¯t think I was going to get to keep them.

    ¡°Make peace with me, then help me put it on, and before I leave this world, I¡¯ll give them to you. After all, there¡¯s no guarantee you¡¯ll keep your word after I hand it over.¡± There was no way she could refuse that offer. I had her.

    ¡°Deal!¡± She agreed without hesitation, causing me to feel like I¡¯d made a mistake. It didn¡¯t matter, there wasn¡¯t much else she could offer me. The best outcome was for her to get out of my way. Anything extra was a bonus.

    We shook on it. Then she helped me get dressed with time to spare. I was a little disappointed to find out the clothes weren''t all that complicated. There was a sash you needed to put on. She tied it off in a big bow.

    If this were a more traditional kimono, there would be a few more steps to it, but this thing was more the kimono equivalent of a clip on tie. I guess it was more modern in a way. Now that I thought about it, was Yukio wearing a kimono or was it one of those yukata things? I didn¡¯t really know the difference. Hers was silky so it had to be a kimono.

    The sandals I got were made of wood. Yukio calls them geta. The part I didn''t like was that I had to wear socks with them. It was for the best, since the string that went between my toes was so rough.

    ¡°There let me do your hair now. Pigtails right?¡± She asked.

    I shook my head. ¡°No thanks, I like it better this way. How about you tell me what¡¯s so special about these clothes? You know, what do they do?¡± I asked.

    If I felt like she was lying there was no way I¡¯d hand her the outfit. The girl seemed to think it over, as if trying to make up a huge lie, before sighing again in defeat.

    ¡°I don¡¯t actually know. The bare minimum of all enchanted objects is an aura boost. Maybe¡­. If there for training, they might give you better control over essence. It¡¯s hard to say. One things for sure, they probably do something ??????.¡± She said.

    I tilted my head. ¡°What?¡± Why was that last word all bleepy?

    Just then a pink window popped up. It was just like the one from when I was falling.

    System:

    Princess Aku: Hey Papa, would you like to know the stats of the clothes?

    That was strange. Can I focus on that like I did with the power in my dantian?

    With nothing to lose, I gave it a shot. With a bit of concentration, I could feel something cycling within the screen. The power in the screen was very thin and clean. It was nothing like the power I felt in my gut. I followed it back to the source and found that it came from my chest. My soul.

    It really was Aku. She was using quintessence to mimic the menu. I tried to interact with it thinking up a message to send back.

    Isaac: Why do you need to send messages? Aren¡¯t we already in the same body? You know, think and I¡¯ll understand.

    Princess Aku: That doesn¡¯t work as well as you think. You are in control and my emotions effect your actions, but trying to communicate that way is like trying to understand the emotions of a dog.

    Yukio, eyed me strangely. I guess I was the only one that could see the screen. I smiled back at her. She went on to elaborate on a lot of things my clothes might be able to do. All of which kind of sounded like the effects of gear.

    Isaac: How are you doing this? You¡¯re not cutting yourself up again, are you? I told you not to do that anymore!

    Princess Aku: First off, I¡¯ve never cut myself. That was my spirit body cracking after I liquidated parts of my core for power. Second of all, I don¡¯t need to do that anymore, since we have way more quintessence now and are generating more than I could spend on a simple message. You don''t need to worry. I''m a mortal now Papa.

    Isaac: Okay, that¡¯s good. How are you doing this?

    Aku: Papa, I¡¯ve spent my whole life inside my soul. I know how the system enchantment works. I¡¯ve seen the code and I think I can even improve on it. It¡¯s not hard for me to make up my own code.

    Wow, I couldn¡¯t believe my baby girl was a coder. She was a little genius. As her father, I couldn¡¯t be prouder. One day I¡¯ll get her, her own body and her own desktop, so she can code her own games.

    Who knows maybe we¡¯ll start our own father daughter Minecraft world. I could teach her to play the old doom, or start her gaming journey off with Pok¨¦mon Emerald. I can¡¯t wait to watch her wipe the floor in Mortal Combat with her mother.

    Isaac: Alright kiddo. Why don¡¯t you show me the stats.

    Princess Aku: Sure thing!

    Item name: Flower Kimono (Cherry)

    Rarity: Unique (U)

    Type: Clothing

    Defense: 50

    M-Defense: 100

    Durability: 45,000/900 (5x)

    Effects:

    1: Filter: Censors bad words and nudity.

    2: Meridian Purification: When cycling, essence corruption will be easier to purge from body.

    3: Conduit: Essence becomes 2x easier to gather and control.

    4: Divine regeneration : Heal 10x faster over time.

    5: Divine Aura: your aura will clean your body and surroundings.

    Enchantments:

    1: Durability IV: item will last 5x as long.

    2: Haste IV: increases movement speed by 80%.

    3: Elemental Resistance IV: reduces damage from all elements by 70%.

    4: Repair: Durability repairs over time. (Life aspects required)

    Equip effects:

    Charm Boost: +150%

    This was really good gear. For Unique gear to have that many effects was unheard of. Most of the effects weren¡¯t tailored for combat. At least not from what I could see. They used a lot of the lore keepers and Yukio¡¯s words. Something told me they were more to speed up my training.

    The clothes were enchanted to have stats but they also have enchantments like Durability and Elemental Resistance. What was the difference in that?

    Princess Aku: The base enchantment is what gives it the defense and magic defense, along with the effects, but the enchantments are extra effects tagged on in the empty spaces left over.

    So basically the whole thing was an enchantment, but the extra effects were spare enchantments tagged on after the creation of the item. The creation of the item was like printing out a sign in sheet while the added enchantments are signatures made in ink.

    Isaac: I get it. Thanks kid.

    The only effect that was truly useless, was the filter thing. It was a little annoying, but the benefits outweighed it. I wasn¡¯t sure what this essence stuff was, but going off of context I¡¯d say the word was interchangeable with ¡°focus.¡±

    Seeing as there was nothing left to say, the screen vanished. Yukio finished her lecture about enchanted items and I was free to leave. In the end I met up with Brutus out in the courtyard. He was nursing a flask. I could tell it was alcohol from a mile away.

    What the hell kind of training would I be doing? At least my kimono was pretty. I could feel Aku¡¯s delight. She seemed to want to twirl, but now wasn¡¯t really the time.

 Episode 45: The gremlin and the giant

    -Brutus-

    I was rudely awoken by an incandescent light flashing over my loft. Even though I was under a blanket, the photons still managed to permeate through my eyelids, figuratively raping the optical lobe in my brain.

    I grunted in discomfort, as a loud shrieking noise accompanied the blinding light. It was like the uncaring demonic cries of a newborn banshee, calling for its mother¡¯s teat in the middle of the night.

    The horrible sound pierced my ear drums and shook my very soul. I¡¯d felt this type of assault on multiple occasions and it never got easier. It was what the lore keeper called her flashbang.

    Sitting up I blinked my blurry eyes until they were able to focus on the green haired lady standing before a swirling blue portal. The portal was the only light in the room, since my windows were covered with trash bags and ducking tape.

    My head and heart were pounding. I couldn¡¯t remember what happened last night. That was until my memories started coming back in pieces.

    After hearing about my new disciple, I couldn¡¯t help but drink away my problems. A new disciple¡­ wonderful. I really didn¡¯t want to see that stupid kid. Isaac was a tragedy. One that everyone was responsible for. Now I had to be the one to deal with him. I could remember opening that thousands of year old bottle of wine.

    The bottle laid on the floor, now broken into hundreds of glass fragments. Crap, I really hope I drank it and didn¡¯t just throw it against the wall.

    Considering how hungover I was, I probably inhaled it, and chucked it. I couldn¡¯t even remember what it tasted like. What a waste. That bottle was supposed to help with my cultivation. Now I might only get a fraction of that poison affinity.

    ¡°Your late you big brut. Isaac¡¯s already at the monastery and get this, he almost killed himself.¡± She said.

    That didn¡¯t sound good. She then went on to explain the situation. How Isaac flooded his meridians with corruption. How Yukio mistreated him, and how it was all my fault. I told that stupid goddess this was a bad idea, but no, she gave him to me regardless.

    before I headed out, I went ahead and activated my cultivation method converting my hangover into poison aspects. Then fed that refined energy into the spark within my dantian. The density of that spark grew by a tiny, almost insignificant fraction. I totally wasted that bottle. Oh, well.

    The show was over due, so I headed out of the room and prayed to Cosmo that the kid hadn¡¯t died. Scratch that, If she found out, I¡¯d end up spending the next 10 years as her pet turtle. Best to keep it quiet and roll with the blunder.

    I followed the lore keeper through the portal and back to Chikyu. Once at the monastery I headed to the disciple quarters and met up with that brat Yukio. The brat was tucking the kid into bed. She was irritated and upset.

    ¡°You¡¯d better start detoxing the kid. If he dies then I¡¯m throwing you into the cave.¡± I threatened. My words caused the hair on the brats neck to go stiff.

    She quickly turned to face me, fear creeping its way onto her face. ¡°Please don¡¯t do that!¡± She begged.

    ¡°You were a dick, now redeem yourself by purging the kids corruption, or pay in another way and jump into the cave for a week or two.¡± I told her.

    ¡±Okay, okay, I¡¯m sorry!¡± She cried. ¡°I¡¯ll get the crystals.¡± She ran off.

    Once she was gone I began to cycle Qi to my eyes creating a spiral like pattern. The kids body went translucent allowing me to look into his meridians. I nearly fell over seeing all that corruption inside of him.

    The good news was, his soul gate was slowly allowing that corruption to leak out. The speed at which it exited his body was similar to the steady stream of sand falling in an hour glass.

    It was slow and it would only clean a small section of his body, which was why we needed to detox him before all that gunk had time to crystallize.

    Once it turned into crystal, he would basically be dead. Maybe not dead, but he wouldn¡¯t be moving much anymore. That was a bad thing. Sure his body was temporary, but I needed him agile for training.

    If that came to be, then I''d have to kill him and re-summon him, wasting a god awful amount of time. The worst part would be Cosmo finding out I got drunk on the job. I could pass it off as a cultivation accident, but this would be the 11<sup>th</sup> time this month and she was pretty pissed last time it happened.

    Yukio rushed back into the room carrying a wooden box. She placed it next to the kid, then pulled away the covers. From the box she withdrew a collection of crystals. Eleven in total.

    Ten of them were a foggy white and the last one was crystal clear. She began placing the foggy crystals over each of the kids gates. Including the gate that was already open at the center of Isaac¡¯s chest. The brat grabbed the last stone. It was so clear, you could drop it in a pool of water and never find it.

    She pressed it up to her chest then fell on her side, as it started to glow white. She was far into the lower spirit rank, so she had quintessence to spare. The girl now tired sat back up, then placed the stone over the kids dantian, which was located in the lower part of the stomach, just above the bladder.

    It wasn¡¯t a whole lot of quintessence, but it was more than enough to purge the body. The crystal pulsed into the kid, like a defibrillator shocking a heart back to life. The power forced its way through the kids meridians. They glowed brightly as the aspects trapped within started to turn into active particles.

    That¡¯s when the stones over the kids gates kicked in, drawing the essence out. Each one took on the affinity of the aspects they held. Green for wind. Navy blue for water. Red for heat, and lite blue for cold.

    The crystals were void of aspects. To make them you had to compress a multitude of affinities into a certain pattern. Layering runes on top of each other to create a siphoning effect.

    They also had to be constructed within a void chamber preventing the crystals from aspect contamination. Once created they were then coated in a jelly that would prevent the activation of the runes by blocking the flow of raw essence.

    The jelly of course was only able to block the ambient essence that encompassed the worlds. Once you put it near a gate and powered up the raw corruption, the resulting serge of essence would immediately enter the crystals and start a chain reaction, where the runes would activate one after the other greedily sucking up any and all essence within the kid.

    Normally, once the corruption turns into essence the cultivator can just purify it into Qi or push it out, but the kid wasn¡¯t gonna wake up with that much gunk inside him and he didn¡¯t have a cultivation technique to rid himself of the aspects. Even then it would take him a while to sort through that mess.

    As for the clear crystal it was a little different. That one didn¡¯t need a whole room outside the blue void to be created. In fact it was designed to keep aspects out. While it was easier to make. It was it¡¯s function that made it valuable. The ability to transfer quintessence was unheard of. Only the gods were capable of messing with energy of that purity.

    By normal society standards each of those crystals would be worth a country. For us however, they were abundant. Funny how mass production can bring the value of a life saving item to nearly zero. Any backwaters cultivator would only live for 5 years tops and would be in constant pain.

    Having corruption in your meridians was like trying to pass a kidney stone, if the kidney stone was spread throughout your entire body. Think elephant man, but instead of your muscles turning to bone, its your meridians and they¡¯re razor sharp and jagged.

    It looked like the kid would be fine now. There was still a bit of corruption inside him, but it was nothing a little exercise couldn¡¯t fix.

    ¡°For now leave the stones there, so that they continue to suck up corruption.¡± I instructed.

    ¡°Ye-yeah¡± the brat was nodding off. Yukio laid down next to the kid before falling asleep.

    That''s what happens when you drain your soul like that. It wasn''t even that much, but even a little can feel like you just donated a pint of blood. It was the thing that animated your body after all. I walked over to the futon and covered them both with the blanket.

    Yukio would probably wake up after a few minutes, but there was no need for her to catch a cold. She might think I¡¯m a monster, but I really did wish the best for her. Its not my fault she insists on blaming me for her short comings. Any other teacher would abandon her but I was all she had.

    Out of everyone in her entire trial, she was the only one to meet the requirements for ascension. Even then she just barely qualified. I guess I¡¯d be a bitch too if all my friends got sent to re-spawn and shuffled across the Cosmo-verse.

    Later

    After giving that brat Yukio a peace of my mind I told my new disciple to meet me in the courtyard. That¡¯s where I was now. Isaac sure was taking his time.

    Over half a day gone just like that. Whelp, can¡¯t change it now. It¡¯s not all bad. Lore keeper says the kid can already craft an aura, and apparently he has good control over essence.

    That saves us a lot of time. That imagination of his is really something. It kind of makes me want to try visualization exercises.

    With an imagination like that, Isaac might be able to make a decent cultivation technique, some day. For now I¡¯ll teach him the standard one. That¡¯ll give him an idea of how it works at least.

    I pulled out my flask twisting off the lid. The smell of my home brew whisky assaulted my sense of smell. The flask was enchanted, so that it could hold 10 times as much. That was the most you could get out of a flask of this size. There just wasn¡¯t much room for much else.

    Aside form holding more. It also made time run faster, so that the whisky would age quickly. As of right now it had aged about 100 years. Exquisite.

    I took a long sip just as the kid was coming out. He was wearing that flowery thing the lady put together. I¡¯d be lying if it didn¡¯t look good on em. Weirdo.

    It was time for training, so I put the flask away. I need to find out what the kid knows. What he doesn¡¯t. What he¡¯s lacking. Let¡¯s start out by testing that janky ass aura of his.

    I increased my already cycling Qi forcing my aura to grow and extend over the courtyard. Immediately the kid yelped, falling onto all fours. The pressure of my density aura would turn any living thing to mush with enough exposure.

    Of course, right now it was low powered, so it wasn¡¯t all that harmful to the kid. At worst it puts a little stress on his organs, but nothing a healing aura can¡¯t fix.

    The kid was struggling against the gravitational pressure. It was like watching a rat stuck in one of those glue traps. I made my way over to talk to him. He was grunting, while attempting to get back up. He looked like he was about to shit his pants.

    ¡°Training starts now. Don¡¯t panic. You have the tools to free yourself. Start by creating your aura. It¡¯s the only way to get back on your feet.¡± The kid wasn¡¯t the type to respond well to harsh treatment like Yukio.

    No, with this one I needed to be a bit softer. ¡°Come on kid. You did it before when you beat up the brat, now focus. Try to match your power with mine.¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    The kids body went transparent as I looked deeper into his meridians. I watched as the power in his dantian clumsily moved through him like a drunk trying to insert his keys into their front door at 3 in the morning. His control was awful, but still impressive for someone who just started not that long ago.

    Surely enough he managed to make a level 1 aura. It was sloppy and unrefined. Calling it an aura would be like calling a pogo stick a reliable form of transportation.

    The kid slowly got to his feet. The parts of him that weren¡¯t properly covered by his aura, seemed to struggle. He was also leaking a lot of Qi. At this rate he¡¯ll run out within a few minutes.

    ¡°Good job kid.¡± I smiled giving him a thumbs up for positive reinforcement.

    ¡°What is this?¡± asked the kid still struggling to stand.

    ¡°That¡¯s my aura.¡± I said.

    The kid nearly fell to his knees again when his cycling Qi weakened. He stood straight up once he fed it more. Then started giving it a steady flow of energy. The kid was talented for sure.

    ¡°Why''s it so different from mine?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Once you craft an aura, you have to refine it, until it¡¯s perfect. Then you grow it bigger and feed it new aspects for added effects.¡± I told him.

    ¡°Okay¡­ I can do that!¡± The kid started shifting his aura around trying to reshape it. It was a bit like watching a bug move under someone¡¯s skin, except it was his aura. I quickly expressed disgust.

    ¡°Calm down. Here¡¯s what¡¯s going to happen. I¡¯m going to probe your aura with mine. As I do this you need to try and reinforce those parts. I¡¯m only attacking the gaps in your shell. Understand?¡± I said.

    The kid nodded. I gently patted his head. It felt a little strange, but was a habit I couldn''t shake, much like drinking or smoking. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s start slow then.¡±

    Concentrating, my auras pressure gently poked the kid in one of his ribs. He laughed at the lite touch, then tried to reinforce that area, pushing me out.

    The issue was that in order to do that he had to move the aura from another spot weakening the rest of his defense.

    ¡°Alright, you see how this part of you is hard now.¡± I poked the hardened aura over his stomach. It wasn¡¯t hard exactly, but it was better than nothing.

    The kid nodded in response. ¡°That¡¯s good, but you need to create a layer over your entire body. I¡¯ll hold pressure over that spot, so you need to keep it protected. Let me try another hole in your shell. Remember hold the aura here, but try to make the rest of your body just as hard.¡± I said.

    ¡°I can do that Mr. Brutus.¡± Said the kid.

    ¡°Mr. Brutus?¡± That got a chuckle out of me. It¡¯s been a while since a disciple showed me proper respect, instead of fear or hatred.

    -Aku/Isaac-

    Mr. Brutus was nice. I don¡¯t know why bully was afraid of him. Maybe she didn¡¯t like alcoholics. I felt Mr. Brutus put pressure on my shoulder, so I tried to focus my aura over to that spot, but it was hard.

    We¡¯d been doing this exercise for nearly ten minutes. My aura was almost fully covering my body, but it was difficult to focus. It wasn¡¯t just about moving it around, I had to put just the right amount of fluffy cloud over every inch of myself. Just enough to where his pressure can¡¯t poke through. Like the magnetic field around Earth protecting the planet from solar radiation.

    While fighting Yukio, I was able to focus my aura into my legs to increase my speed. Then when I went to strike, it all shifted to my fist. The power was so concentrated then. It was fine for attacking, but I had to shift it around for it to work. If I could get it all over my body then I¡¯d be fast and strong at the same time. I¡¯d also have a layer of protection.

    In-game, my aura formed on its own. I didn¡¯t need to will it into existence, because it was always there, and when I got into fights, it would expand as if in response to danger. Like a pufferfish, or a peacock, or, or like a guy sucking his gut into his chest to seen more intimidating.

    It must have been regulated by the system back then. It reacted to my will as if alive. I don''t think that was normal. It was almost like those particles I found near my soul gate.

    Last night with boner, I was able to focus that power for a longer jump, and when I punched him, it pulsed like a bell. When I jumped through the air I could slow myself by fluffing it up, turning myself into a big feather.

    I did all that without thinking about it. Without really understanding what was going on. I was shifting the numbers around for more speed. For more strength. Even to soften my blows. My stats were like water changing their shape for better results. Shifting from trapeze artist to body builder.

    it only started to make sense after I created my own aura. After Yukio mentioned Aura boosts. After Aku showed me the stats of the clothes. Everything in the game was a watered down version of reality. A simulation set by Cosmo as some kind of test.

    This lead me to one conclusion. The stats we got in-game were a result of our auras, and the gear we wore boosting those auras in different ways. That¡¯s why these clothes gave me a boost to defense and magic defense. At least that was my theory.

    Eventually and inevitably, my power ran out. I was afraid of being crushed, but it turned out alright. Mr. Brutus quickly shut off his aura before I could get hurt. It wasn''t completely off. There was still a faint glow around him but it wasn''t very noticeable.

    ¡°Good job kid. That wasn¡¯t bad for your first time. How do you feel?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I feel fine. A little tired but fine.¡± I answered honestly.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what happens when you run out of Qi. Now that you¡¯re empty, let me teach you about how all this stuff really works.¡± He said before taking a drink from his flask.

    The man sat down crossing his legs. I did the same. ¡°What now?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You know that thing you did during bath time?¡± He asked.

    I didn¡¯t like the sound of that. ¡°Yeah. I breathed fire.¡± The guy looked a little confused at my words, but quickly moved on.

    ¡°Alright¡­ lets start somewhere else. Listen up kid. You saw that space between the worlds right?¡± Asked Brutus.

    ¡°Yeah, it was scary.¡± The one I saw while traveling wasn¡¯t as bad as the one I saw in Cosmos soul. That one was super duper huge infinity plus.

    ¡°Good. That place is called the blue void. It¡¯s the fabric of reality. It¡¯s where all quintessence comes from. Think of the world¡¯s like nets. That primal energy gets caught in the world¡¯s. This also filters that energy, turning it into what we call essence, or what you might call focus.¡±

    That was interesting. ¡°But¡­ why change the name like that.¡± I asked.

    ¡°Its complicated. When Cosmo created that game world she provided all you players with a sample system that incorporates different power systems. Mages call it mana, Psychics call it spiritual energy, Cultivators like you and I call it essence. It comes in different varieties known as aspects, but for the most part it goes by essence, since cultivation was the original power system.¡±

    So power systems were created, not found. ¡°Why the name Focus then?¡± I asked.

    The man smiled. ¡°That¡¯s a bit of an easter egg. Think about it kid.¡± He tapped the side of his head with his finger. ¡°What is it we¡¯ve been telling you to do since you got here?¡± He said.

    It hit me then. The new world was a trial to find candidates for ascension. In other words a test, a simulation. Tree lady told me to focus and Mr. Brutus also told me to focus. It¡¯s a hint! ¡°I get it now.¡±

    (Authors note: The other reason I went with focus, was because of the game ¡°jump force,¡± with so many different power systems in that game they went with the name focus for power, Instead of Chakra, Qi, Haki, or Reiryoko.)

    ¡°Right. Look here.¡± He pulled out a rock. It didn¡¯t look all that interesting. ¡°This rock holds quintessence. Very small amounts of it, but it¡¯s there. Watch.¡±

    The rock started to glow going from a solid gray to a molten brown. It wasn¡¯t like the power in my dantian. It was very dirty. I could feel the quintessence in it. There wasn¡¯t a lot. It was very little compared to the dirty brown stuff. Aku used 10 times as much in her pink system messages

    ¡°This is essence. It¡¯s quintessence with earth aspects.¡± Said Brutus.

    ¡°Heaven and earth equals Qi!¡± I knew all about that stuff from reading xianxia stories off of Royal Road. My excitement was vibrating.

    Mr. Brutus reached over and held my face. ¡°Stop shaking your face.¡± He commanded. I couldn¡¯t stop, so instead I focused my excitement to one of my hands and hid it behind my back.

    ¡°That''s basically right. Qi is a perfect balance of quintessence and aspects, essence is more aspects than quintessence. Corruption is too many aspects with little to no quintessence. Minimum aspects will get you antessence, or divessence. No aspects will get you quintessence.¡±

    ¡°Wait¡­ what¡¯s antessence and divessence?¡± Back in the hole, Centa and Aku told me I couldn¡¯t absorb antessence.

    ¡°Those are corruption of ego. Depending on what type of person you are, your core can stray away from quintessence and become something else. For example, trauma, dark thoughts, pain, The erosion of a soul, can all lead to a human turning into a demon.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    So that¡¯s how I ended up with Squirmy. Now that I thought about it. Centa should also be a demon. She has the same eyes as Squirmy. I remember her and Aku looking into my eyes to check. Could it be betrayal?

    ¡°Hey Mr. Brutus¡­ can humans eat demon souls, to increase their quintessence?¡± If not then Centa might have been trying to hurt me when she offered to let me eat her.

    (Author¡¯s note2: this is an inconsistency I need to change. It was stated that Aku¡¯s plan was for Isaac to eat Squirmy, but that¡¯s changed. I guess I just didn¡¯t think about the creation of demons back then, but now I know what I want. I¡¯ll go back eventually and change the wording, but it¡¯s not too big of a deal since it doesn¡¯t change too much. Just a few words here and there. Sorry for the confusion.)

    ¡°Not normally. Antessence would have turned them into a demon. If not, then that demon would have possessed their soul. However there is one situation where it could turn out fine, but that¡¯s impossible.¡± He said.

    I tilted my head. ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The only way it could work out is If the demon willingly allows the human to eat them. That would never happen though.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    So Centa might have been trying to take over my soul, or maybe she really was sacrificing herself for me? She said a willing soul gave way more quintessence than an unwilling one, so it wasn¡¯t like she would have gotten enough power to fight Squirmy off if she took over my soul. That was a relief, but there was another issue here.

    ¡°I ate part of Squirmy during the ascension. Should I be worried about him taking over my body?¡± I asked. For all I knew I was being controlled right now and didn¡¯t know it.

    I watched Mr. Brutus as his eyes glowed a molten brown under his hood. It was a little scary. Like looking into the eyes of hero Brian or something. I wasn¡¯t sure if I should run or not.

    ¡°No. Your fine.¡± His eyes went back to normal. I couldn¡¯t see them since they were hidden under the unnatural darkness of his cloak. ¡°You say you took in antessence?¡± He asked.

    I nodded, ¡°Yeah, it was while fighting Squirmy in my core. I cut off one of his spirit body limbs and absorbed it into myself.¡±

    ¡°Well, your soul looks fine. It¡¯s a bit of a void though. it looks like a demon core, but its not. As far as I can tell your core is purely composed of quintessence.¡± He said.

    I sighed in relief. So I was normal then. How could I doubt Centa. She would probably cry if she knew what I had accused her of. I wish I had stopped Squirmy back in the hole, but I failed. Can I still save her? ¡°Mr. Brutus¡­¡±

    The man before me seemed to sense the change in my tone as the Isaac in me took a more solid grasp over the wheel. He changed his relaxed demeanor for one that was more attentive. ¡°What Isaac?¡± He said it in a way meant more for an adult. Up until now he¡¯d been talking to me like I was a little kid.

    ¡°My soul was split into four entities. There¡¯s Aku, Centa, Squirmy, and me. Aku and I are linked together. Squirmy and Centa are in a similar boat. I was going to destroy Squirmy so that Centa wouldn¡¯t have to share a body with him. In the end I failed.¡±

    Mr. Brutus grunted in understanding before taking a drink from his flask.

    I continued. ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened to her. I don¡¯t know If Squirmy ate her, or if she¡¯s still alive inside of him. Frankly, I don¡¯t know which one is worse.¡± I felt a tear roll down my cheek and my body seemed to sob on its own.

    ¡°Don¡¯t do that to yourself.¡± He put a hand on my head, ruffing up my hair.

    Mr. Brutus had such big hands. They were so big that my whole head fit in his palm, but even though they were covered in calluses, he was still very gentle with me. I could feel the power he had. He could snap my neck if he wanted to, but instead he chose to give comfort.

    I reached up taking a hold of his arm with both of mine. Even though I held onto his wrist with both hands, I was only just able to touch my fingers on both sides. I couldn¡¯t help but giggle at how big he was. I pulled his hand away from the top of my head and held it in front of my face.

    He didn¡¯t resist at all. I tried biting his finger only to meet hard leathery skin. I then rotated his hand and took a look at the palm. It was so cool. The only other time I saw hands this hard was with my dad. Though dad¡¯s weren¡¯t as big. The similarity was more the fact that they were working hands.

    ¡°You done? What are you even doing?¡± asked Mr. Brutus.

    I hadn''t realized how embarrassed he was due to the darkness of his cloak. ¡°Sorry Mr. Brutus. Your hands reminded me of my dad.¡±

    He was relaxed now that his arm was back at his side. ¡°He must have been a strong man to have hands like mine.¡±

    I threw my hands into the air. ¡°Dad was the strongest! He used to beat up robbers and yakuza bosses. He even killed a bear with his bare hands once.¡±

    ¡°Holy ???? kid. Your dad''s like a super hero.¡± He said.

    ¡°He¡­ he was.¡± I sobbed.

    ¡°He still is. As long as you remember him. He always will be. Who knows with reincarnation you might get to see him again. He might not be the same guy, but the soul is still the same.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    That sounded nice, but with so many worlds out there, I knew the odds of that were slim to none. Still it¡¯s fun to dream.

    ¡°Mr. Brutus, if Centa is still in there, do you think its possible to save her. She¡¯s been suffering for a long time, and it¡¯s not fair that I get to live free, while she gets tormented by that monster.¡± I cried. I hoped with all my heart for there to be a way to save her.

    ¡°If her soul still exists within that demon, then the lady might be able to separate the two, but only if there''s enough of her left. There¡¯s no telling what that demons done to her. For all you know she''s no longer the same person she once was.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I nodded. There was no point in getting my hopes up. Right now only one thing mattered. ¡°I understand. Then I¡¯ll learn everything I need to know, and become so strong that Squirmy won¡¯t be able to hurt anyone else.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the spirit kid.¡± Said Mr. Brutus before taking another drink.

    ¡°Can I have some?¡± I asked.

    He looked at me like I was crazy. ¡°Not yet. Maybe after you get your level 1 aura to form properly.¡± He said.

    That was a surprising answer. I was expecting him to say no. I mean I was considered an adult according to the lore keeper. Mr. Brutus was probably trying to keep me focused.

    I was still wondering about that aspect thing. If Qi was 50% quintessence and 50% aspects, then what kind of aspects did I have in my Qi?

    It was blue so it could be water aspects, or something else? That Negentropy spell was blue too, so could it be something like time? That sounded really cool.

    I took a quick look at my dantian. It was empty except for a tiny spark at its center. I tried to pull on it, but it wouldn''t move at all. What I did notice was a tiny thread of Qi shooting out of the spark. It started orbiting around it like an electron.

    Was this re-gen? It¡¯s so slow. That tiny spec wasn¡¯t enough for anything. At this rate it would probably take a day to recharge.

    ¡°How come I can¡¯t use magic? I have power, couldn¡¯t I just use it to cast spells like I did in-game?¡± I asked.

    The guy let out a deep breath. ¡°You can''t use Qi to cast spells. You need specific aspects to form the magic circles. You also need a mana lens to focus essence into the delicate patterns of runes. Lens are what mages have instead of dantians.¡± Explained Mr. Brutus.

    I see. That¡¯s why I couldn¡¯t use quintessence to cast spells. Then the stuff blocking my soul gate. It must have been essence. No, it was more aspect than quintessence so¡­ corruption?

    ¡°What about the soul gate? What¡¯s that about?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Gates aren¡¯t too important right now, but it wouldn¡¯t hurt to know. There are ten of them and you need to slowly open them as you go through ascension. Each gate will give you better control over energy as a whole. Having one open is what pushed you over the edge for ascension, but normally you¡¯d want to open up one at the lower spirit rank. One at the upper spirit rank, and two at each rank after. You should have all of them open by the time you reach the arc angel rank.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    That meant I was up to standard on my gates. That was good. The only issue was that I was unlocking all these things in this body, while my old body was still a normal human.

    ¡°Will my progress transfer over to my old body?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Like if you go back to being that old dude? I don¡¯t think switching back Is even possible.¡± He said.

    I felt my blood run cold at the thought of being stuck like this. ¡°wh-what!¡± I yelled standing up.

    Mr. Brutus didn¡¯t really react. Instead he pulled out his flask and took another sip. ¡°What do you mean by that! Explain!¡± I demanded.

    ¡°You ascended. That means your soul became stronger. If you put your lower spirit rank soul into that mortal rank body.¡± He enacted an explosion with his mouth and hands.

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± I fell back down in defeat. I couldn¡¯t believe it. I couldn¡¯t go back to normal. What would Alice say if she found out? Would she leave me for someone else? I don¡¯t know. It would be really weird being in a relationship with her. Not like this.

    ¡°As for transferring your status as a cultivator. That¡¯s impossible. Your power system is made specifically for that body. It''ll be left behind the moment your core is pulled out.¡± He said.

    That made too much sense. ¡°Is there anything I can do?¡± I asked. There had to be something. Anything.

    ¡°I guess you could get Cosmo to build you another avatar that looks like your old body, and can hold your new soul.¡± He said.

    I felt my hopes rise like an OD¡¯d drug addict, coming back to life after having their heart injected with pure adrenaline. ¡°Would she really do that! My marriage won¡¯t have to end!¡± I crawled closer to him to see his face for any reactions. Was it a lie? A joke?

    He chopped my head with his open hand to which I recoiled in pain. ¡°Ow!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Your distracting me. Let¡¯s get back on point.¡±

    I nodded as tears gathered in the corners of my eyes. ¡°O-okay¡­¡± I rubbed my head.

    ¡°Where was I-¡± He started as he stroked his non-existent beard. ¡°-Right! I want you to do what I did.¡± He held out a rock to me.

    I took it in my hands, as if handling a priceless gem. The stone was oddly warm for some reason. ¡°What do I do with it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You have that fancy kimono.¡± He got to his feet. ¡°Try to sense the earth aspects inside it, while we walk to our camp sight.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­ I tried that last time. It didn''t end well.¡± I said, remembering that black tar spilling from my mouth. I could still taste it. that bitter spicy sour sludge. I nearly barfed at the memory.

    ¡°The lore keeper gave you that task because she didn¡¯t think you would start absorbing the aspects. Normally it takes someone at least 3 days before they start to feel the essence of the world much less absorb it. You skipped a step and now that you know what the stuff is, I suspect you¡¯ll have a better time of it. Now follow me, were heading out¡± He started walking towards the front gate.

    I scrambled to my feet and fallowed. My body sure felt heavy after I drained all my Qi. Still, I had a question. ¡°Why did you call it Earth aspect. This rock isn''t from earth it¡¯s from¡­ whatever this place is called. Wouldn''t it make more sense to call it ground aspect? It would be more inclusive that way.¡±

    He laughed. ¡°I said earth as in dirt, not Earth as in your home planet.¡±

    That made more sense. The word earth did mean dirt. He could have also gone with tera.

    Once outside what I now knew as the front gate, we were met by a lot of stairs. Like a billion of them. If anything this was a total clich¨¦. One thing was for sure it was gonna be a workout for sure.

    That didn''t matter though. I needed power. Not the fake power I had handed to me by a system, but the real version of that power that was unshackled by numbers. Max level 100 was a joke. I was going past that. I¡¯ll hit level 101 before I leave this world.

    Alice, Centa, everyone. I¡¯m sorry I put you all in danger, but I¡¯m coming to save you. You can punish me later, but for now let me have a win. Just one.

 Episode 46: Cutting A New Path

    ¡°2509¡­ 2510¡­ 2511¡­¡± I counted each step as I walked down the flower mountain. Snowball counted with me as we went.

    Mr. Brutus said there was 10,000 steps. Snowball and I didn¡¯t believe him. How could an architect plan out the steps perfectly like that? Math be dammed, that was ridiculous. It was even more ridiculous than a house without nails.

    Snowball suggested they built the steps and coincidentally ended up needing exactly 10,000.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. That sounds a little too lucky. If it was me, I¡¯d buy a lottery ticket, maybe two¡­. Hmmm¡­ Do they even have lotteries in this world?¡± I pondered.

    Snowball said ¡°Of course they do! How else would Mr. Brutus be unemployed and not have to worry about rent.¡±

    ¡°That was true. Last I checked there was no subscription fee for becoming Mr. Brutus¡¯s disciple. What kind of adult sleeps in all day and doesn¡¯t have to worry about rent. I worry about rent all the time and I have a stable job.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Yeah! He should be buying us lots of snacks, and spoiling you rotten!¡± Said Snowball.

    ¡°What would you even win in a lottery from this world? For all we knew the currency was bagels. I don¡¯t like bagels. I like donuts. They¡¯re not as hard and taste way better. They also don¡¯t need any prep to be eaten.¡± I said.

    ¡°I prefer macaroons.¡± Snowball added.

    ¡°Those are good too! You know who likes bagels? Alice likes bagels.¡± I added.

    ¡°Yeah, she would like bagels. She has lawyer parents, so it¡¯s in her blood. Liking bagels should be a crime punishable by death. There¡¯s something wrong with wifey.¡± said Snowball.

    ¡°Yeah, I know.¡± I responded ¡°Speaking of Alice¡¯s parents, they give off the feel of high class. Before meeting them, she made me wear a suit and tie, which was kind of dumb considering her dad wore some basketball shorts and a white T-shirt.¡± I said.

    ¡°That''s so embarrassing! I bet you felt really silly.¡± Said Snowball.

    ¡°Oh, totally. I ended up looking like a total ????????. Even her brother Mikey showed up in an anime waifu T-shirt and some kind of samurai-ninja pajama pants¡­. I forgot, what were we doing?¡± I said

    ¡°We were counting remember?¡± answered Snowball.

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± I yelled.

    My plan was to count each step and have the flower mountain people stop telling everyone there was 10,000 steps.

    Yup, they¡¯ll remember me as the guy that actually counted all the steps, erecting a statue of me in my honor, OR! Or¡­ immortalize me in their folklore! From what I could tell, this world followed Japanese mythology, so it only made sense. I¡¯ll be right up their with princess Kaguya and Momotaro.

    I stopped in my tracks looking back towards the top of the mountain. ¡°What step was I on again?¡± I asked. Snowball shrugged her shoulders also forgetting her count.

    Mr. Brutus was quite a few feet ahead of us, so I doubted he was actually listening, or cared for that matter. Either way I rushed down the mountain until I was in shouting distance.

    ¡°Mr. Brutus!¡± I called.

    ¡°What!¡± He responded.

    ¡°We need to start over!¡± I said.

    ¡°Why!¡± He finally stopped in his tracks, looking back at me in irritation. There was no need for that kind of attitude. Didn¡¯t he understand that I was trying to change history here! I was revolutionizing what everyone thought of flower mountain.

    ¡°Becauuuuuse! I lost count!¡± I sassed him.

    He held the bridge of his nose then started walking back up. ¡°Wait there.¡± He grumbled like the Mr. grumpy pants he was.

    I smiled gleefully since I was getting my way, despite being so unreasonable. ¡°Yay!¡± I cheered as Mr. Brutus approached me. He was a little scarier than usual, but that was just his exterior. I knew deep down Mr. Brutus was a gentle giant, even if he was grumpy sometimes. Maybe he needed to poop?

    That''s what I thought, up until the big guy reached over lifting me up by the waist. ¡°Haha! That tickles! Mr. Brutus, I didn¡¯t say uppies.¡± I laughed. He then slung me over his shoulder like a sack of shrieking severed Medusa heads. Then continued walking down the mountain.

    ¡°Where are you going!¡± I cried, struggling in his ogre-like grip, only to feel like a kitten in the arms of a silverback gorilla.

    ¡°Now¡¯s not the time for your cutesy bull. Did the lore keeper feed you sugar or something? Why are you all uppity?¡± He questioned.

    ¡°Put me down! I want to play!¡± I cried.

    That¡¯s when Mr. Brutus gave me a hard slap to my butt. I screeched in pain. ¡°That hurt! I¡¯ll tell Shadow on you! She¡¯ll scratch your eyes out!¡± I cried.

    ¡°I need Isaac not Aku.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    That was when I realized Aku had been in the driver¡¯s seat. Well shit, it was hard to tell her emotions apart from mine, even though it should have been obvious.

    To regain my sense of self, I tried to focus on my other body. It was never far, like a third appendage you never use. I could feel it, the other me bleeding and broken. The pain felt so fresh as if it had just happened. That was enough to give me prospective.

    ¡°Sorry Mr. Brutus. I didn¡¯t realize I wasn¡¯t in full control. It¡¯s hard sometimes.¡± I said still hanging over the giants shoulders.

    Mr. Brutus let out a sigh. ¡°Have you found the essence in the stone yet?¡± He asked

    ¡°Yeah, see!¡± I held the rock in his face while making it do the glowy thing.

    ¡°Nice, and you learned it off screen.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Yeah. It was super hard. I had to learn about the rocks past and its ancestors. Even the history of rock kind, including all 7 great rock wars, before it showed me the way. Now I can do that glow trick with just about anything.¡± I said proudly.

    ¡°You had a whole flashback sequence going on in the last two-thousand steps?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Yup. 24 and a half to be exact. Did you know that the 4th great rock war was won by obsidian because it coated most of the planet after five super volcanos erupted at nearly the same time?¡± I said.

    Mr. Brutus took the rock out of my hand, put it in his mouth and started chewing. ¡°Hey! You ate Rocky! He was my best friend! I¡¯m the godfather to his children you ???????!!¡± I cried.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough of the bit, let¡¯s get back to the important stuff.¡± He waved me off. ¡°Can you feel the essence all around us right now?¡± He asked.

    I huffed, then answered. ¡°Yeah. It makes me feel dirty.¡± The energy in the air and ground was all filthy with aspects. Compared to my Qi that stuff was actually really gross, like unfiltered water from an old rusty faucet.

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± He shifted my position so that I was sitting on his shoulders. I was so tall now. That got a giggle out of me as I bounced on his surprisingly comfortable back. It¡¯s like it was made of soft boiled potatoes.

    ¡°Now try this.¡± He held his hand up in front of me and I watched as essence seemed to gather in it. It swirled around in multiple colors. It was just like that lightshow the lore keeper put up to intimidate Bully, only not as big or shiny.

    ¡°Even though its dirty it looks pretty.¡± I said.

    ¡°Try to do the same, and remember don''t stuff it into your body. You wouldn¡¯t know what to do with it. That''s why you nearly died last time.¡± I nodded in response, but there was no way he could have seen me.

    By this point we were half way down the mountain. I tried doing what Mr. Brutus wanted, but was having issues. I did manage to put together a few wind aspects, along with trace amounts of other aspects, but not much else.

    Also, while I was focusing on other aspects, all the wind aspects disappeared and all I had left was water aspects, but here¡¯s the thing. Where the hell did the water aspects even come from. I didn¡¯t gather a single one yet the mass of energy in my hand was primarily water aspects.

    It was black too so that told me it wasn¡¯t purely water. Did I make corruption again? It couldn¡¯t be. This stuff wasn¡¯t hard or crystal like. It was like regular essence, but all mixed together in a super disgusting way.

    That wasn''t right. There aren¡¯t even that many different aspects. Mr. Brutus had a bunch of different stuff when he did it. How?

    I released the gathered power and tried doing it again. This time instead of pulling in whatever I could get my hands on, I tried to find all the different aspects around me.

    There was a lot of wind aspects surrounding us. Below us I could feel earth and cold aspects. Then there was the light aspects in the sun light and even a few heat aspects. With the heat aspects came small amounts of cold aspects.

    I didn''t quite understand that. Cold wasn''t actually a thing. It¡¯s the absence of heat, but for whatever reason I could feel it as an energy. How strange.

    ¡°Mr. Brutus¡­. What is cold aspect.¡± I asked.

    ¡°Good question. I suppose cold isn''t really a thing is it? Heat and cold aspects aren¡¯t actually heat or cold itself. Heat aspect is created when energy is put into matter. Cold aspect is created when energy is stripped away from matter. The heat you feel from a fire or sun shouldn''t be thought of as heat aspects. It¡¯s actually momentum aspects.¡±

    That was both interesting and confusing. ¡°So the true energy of the universe is quintessence, aspects give it a form. I wonder how science could advance if they knew?¡±

    ¡°There are worlds like that. There¡¯s this one world where all the humans have become robots and run purely on quintessence.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Wow. Is that one of Cosmos worlds?¡± I got excited.

    ¡°No, it actually belongs to another god. We were in the middle of recruiting them into the pantheon, when they went dark on us. Now their world is slowly dying.¡±

    ¡°Worlds can die?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Not usually. Typically it can happen when a god abandons it or dies. It¡¯s normally a product of neglect.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Why build a whole world only to abandon it? That sounds like it would be a waste. Abandoned by god.¡± I was reminded of all the prayers I threw out into the heavens, only to be ignored. ¡°I guess even when they are there it doesn¡¯t make a difference.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d be surprised kid.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Why build worlds to begin with. Just because you¡¯re a god doesn¡¯t mean you automatically have to build a world.¡± I said.

    ¡°You don¡¯t become a god at random kid. The world¡¯s are how gods get stronger. Once you rank up to god hood, regular cultivation wont cut it. The only way to gather enough quintessence to ascend, is to create whole worlds and raise followers to gather and refine the essence into quintessence.¡±

    That sounded kind of lonely. Would I ever get to the point where I¡¯d have to make a whole world just for myself to get stronger. That begged the question. What was above god hood?

    ¡°How many ranks even are there?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Not that many. In order its living, nature, mortal, lower spirit, upper spirit, daimon, angel, archangel, Seraph, demi-god, and god.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°I think you missed one.¡± I said.

    ¡°Nope, that''s all of them.¡± He retorted.

    I scratched my head. ¡°Okay¡­. so if there isn¡¯t anything above god rank. Then how would they ascend again?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s the thing. No one really knows if there¡¯s a rank above god, because no ones ever gathered enough quintessence to ascend past it.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I couldn¡¯t imagine the energy it would take to ascend past god rank. That¡¯s ridiculous. ¡°What¡¯s the point?¡±

    ¡°Uh, what?¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Why keep ascending? The lore keeper said you become immortal at the angel rank, so why go any further?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Tell me kid. You were bullied in school right?¡± said Mr. Brutus.

    I thought about the many enemies I had over the years, and locked on to my brother. He was the worst because he was family, yet he treated me like garbage. ¡°Yeah¡­ all the time.¡± I responded.

    ¡°Well, imagine this. What if your bully one day became angel rank, and was still an ???????.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    If someone like my brother had gained power like that¡­ he would make life for everyone hell. Someone as weak minded as him couldn¡¯t handle that kind of power. It would corrupt him instantaneously. He¡¯d think himself a god.

    ¡°If something like that were to happen¡­ then I¡¯d have to get stronger than them.¡± I said.

    ¡°Right and what do you think they would do?¡± said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°They would also try to get stronger. And eventually we¡¯d both enter the god rank.¡± I said.

    That was dangerous. I wonder how many assholes out there managed to become gods. Is that what that thing was? The one I saw in Cosmos soul. The thought made me so frustrated. To think there would always be a bully stronger than me made me want to curl up in a corner and hide.

    ¡°That¡¯s why the lady puts a bottle cap on all ascensions. She strips the extra quintessence mortals make, keeping you all in the mortal ranks.¡± Explained Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°I get it, and the trials are a way to test the mortal population. What does she look for in a person, before they can ascend?¡± I asked.

    ¡°First the choices they make. Then If they are willing to work hard to improve, and finally if they can handle the knowledge that comes with knowing about the greater multi-verse. Some people break down. A lot of the time, the lady has to erase their mind, descend their souls, and send them to purgatory.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Why not pick the most obedient players? That way she¡¯ll know they won¡¯t go dark.¡± I asked.Stolen novel; please report.

    ¡°Because then it would be a cult. Okay, that¡¯s enough talking, now get to work on gathering that essence. I didn¡¯t carry you on my back, so you could ask questions.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I sighed and went back to meditation. The universe was even bigger than I could ever imagine, and the after life was merely a tiny part of it.

    I took my time identifying each and every aspect. It was slow, but I knew that the ending result would be great.

    Later

    Swirling and writhing, the essence orbited my body. It danced and mixed with other aspects. They looked so happy mingling with one another.

    I wanted to draw in more, but I couldn¡¯t. My control range was only about 6 feet, and I¡¯d already identified every aspect around me.

    It was time to bring them home. I started by pulling them in towards my open palm, while fighting the urge to pull it inside my body. It was harder than you think. For whatever reason my body felt like a dry sponge begging for energy. It must have had something to do with the lack of Qi inside me.

    The dirty power swirling in the palm of my hand, was pretty thick compared to what Mr. Brutus did. I think I might have over done it. That was okay though since it just meant I did a really good job, right?

    I opened my eyes and saw Mr. Brutus sitting across from me. Between us was what used to be a campfire. The wood was burnt, but there was no fire to be found. I was left wondering when Mr. Brutus put me down, and when did he start the fire.

    In my hand was a ball of multi colored light. It was so cool. ¡°Wow! I did it Mr. Brutus!¡± I yelled in excitement.

    He nodded. ¡°Yup, you sure did. You even stripped the fire aspect out of the fire. I¡¯d be mad if I wasn¡¯t impressed. Then again it¡¯s probably those clothes helping you out. Still, you got the hang of it pretty quickly.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Fire aspect? Don¡¯t you mean heat aspect?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Not at all. If you combined wind aspect with heat aspect, you get fire aspect, which is the essence of fire itself. You can combine aspects to make higher tier aspects. Like for example water is a 2 tier aspect, because it combines certain wind aspects to make it.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    Wind aspects¡­ so ¡°Hydrogen and oxygen? Do they hold their own aspects then?¡± I asked.

    ¡°They do¡­ but they¡¯re very similar to one another. It¡¯s only a tiny difference. Its not hard to get one or the other since you can simply tune it to the right frequency.¡± said Mr. Brutus.

    Frequency¡­ ¡°Can water aspects be changed into fire aspects, if one were to tweak their vibration?¡± I knew that the lore keeper turned my slippery slippers into sand, so wouldn''t that be the same thing?

    ¡°Your talking about a full change in frequency. Doing something like that¡¯s nearly impossible. Even a god with all 10 gates unlocked wouldn¡¯t have enough control over energy frequencies, to turn one completely different aspect directly into another. The only way to turn that water aspect into fire aspect would be to strip the hydrogen and oxygen aspects away from each other, then add heat aspects to ignite the two.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    That made a lot of sense. The lore keeper managed to put wind and earth aspects into my shoes turning them back into sand. The earth aspects made the glass impure and the wind aspects broke it down. So it wasn¡¯t all just magic mumbo jumbo.

    ¡°Then what do I do with this thing?¡± I waved the ball of essence around.

    ¡°it¡¯s getting dark and you¡¯re going to need to rest soon, so let¡¯s call it a day for now. Maybe I¡¯ll teach you something else before you go to bed. How about you toss that thing into the air and see what happens.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    He had a wide grin growing across his face, making me feel like he was about to pull a trick on me. Mr. Brutus wouldn¡¯t do that. He¡¯s a good guy.

    I smiled back at him and did as he told me. Then watched as the essences scattered above us and floated in the air like confetti. Each one a different color. It was so pretty. Like the stars had come down to visit. ¡°Wow!¡± I cheered.

    ¡°Yeah, you sure did gather a lot of them. That¡¯s way more than what the brat got on her first try.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I¡¯d been meditating the whole time and hadn¡¯t realized where we were. It was a small clearing in the valley. Around us were a bunch of trees. There wasn¡¯t any flowery ones though. I thought we were alone, but I could hear the sounds of animals in the forest.

    This was like when dad took my brother and I camping. It was a whole other world, but still nature was the same. Actually, scratch that. It wasn''t the same at all. Why were there so many eyes looking at us from behind the tree line? ¡®Mr. Brutus!¡± I cried.

    The eyes in question were numerous in numbers. They all seemed to glow like tiny embers. Considering how low they were to the ground it was safe to say we¡¯d encountered a pack of wolves.

    ¡°Yeah, I know. The fire was supposed to keep them away, but you stripped the life right out of it. Hang on.¡± He said.

    I watched as Mr. Brutus spilled some of his flask on the burnt wood. Then lit a match and threw it into the boozed up sticks. It lit instantly and I was met with a much welcomed wave of heat. A moment later the creatures from the forest started to recede into the darkness.

    I got to my feet and yelled. ¡°Yeah! Take that, you fucking long nosed, dirty faced, sister fucking, rotten flesh eating, furry looking, over glorified snot nose, retractable dick fucking, Alabama baby humping, tail wagging, shit licking, butt sniffing mutts!¡±

    ¡°You potty mouth.¡± Said Mr. Brutus chuckling, before taking another drink.

    I sat back down. ¡°That¡¯s just how I was raised.¡± Not being able to hear bad words made it¡­ wait a sec! I could totally hear them!

    A new pink window popped up in front of me.

    System:

    Princess Aku: I did it! I broke that filter thing!

    I sent a message back to her.

    Isaac: You did what now?

    Princess Aku: I got rid of the filter enchantment on the kimono! Now papa can say all the bad words he wants! Praise me please!

    She changed the enchantment? I didn''t know her hacking skills could do that. That made me wonder what else she could do.

    Isaac: That''s amazing kid! Good work.

    The next message was just a giggle. I could hear her in my head the same way regular chat worked. The window closed soon after.

    I eyed Mr. Brutus¡¯s flask. I wonder if what he was drinking was actually alcohol, or gasoline? If it¡¯s alcohol then it had to be at least 80 proof. The way it instantly lit up like that made me think it might have been stronger. Possibly even Jet fuel.

    ¡°Don''t worry about those beasties. Even if they do attack I can pretty much take them all out with one blow.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I Wasn¡¯t sure if he was lying, but I''m sure he¡¯s strong enough to fight them off. I went ahead and scooched closer to the fire. It was a little chilly, but thanks to the flames I wasn¡¯t cold.

    Mountain air was weird like that. The air was always cold. It was actually night time. That was disappointing, I really wanted to see a sunset on the flower mountain.

    ¡°Cosmo packed you a lunch. Go ahead and eat. I don''t think you''ve eaten at all today. That''s probably why you haven''t regenerated a lot of Qi.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I¡¯d nearly forgotten about the lunch Cosmo packed me. I really was hungry. I think the last time I ate was breakfast with the socialists¡­ oh, that was in my other body. This body hasn''t had anything to eat ever. Its just like when I woke up in the new world. That''s probably why I haven''t pooped or peed yet.

    Am I going to have to do that in the forest? It wouldn''t be the first, but this time it felt wrong somehow. That might just be Aku talking. Like when I wanted to piss in that drain, but she wouldn''t let me.

    The wolves definitely pose a problem. Maybe I can do it while in a tree. One thing was for sure. I''ll need to do it away from the camp sight, otherwise I''ll attract more animals.

    I took the pink lunch box out. Inside was a bunch of sandwiches. I offered one to Mr. Brutus, but he refused and instead started sipping on his flask.

    It didn''t take long to finish off the food. Cosmo had even cut the crust off for me. They were pretty good.

    It had grilled ham, with lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, and a slice of what I think was goat cheese. It reminded me of the sandwiches Pablo¡¯s grandma used to feed me, whenever my so called friends and I would go hang at his house.

    That grandma couldn''t speak english and would always try to feed me. Pablo said she thought I was starving because I was so small and skinny. She was a really nice lady, and refusing her food felt rude. I especially liked her quesadillas.

    With the sandwiches done I laid on my side and watched as the fire cracked and danced in the night.

    ¡°How much Qi did you recover?¡± Asked Mr. Brutus.

    I thought about it, then answered, ¡°Uh¡­ 20%?¡± I guessed.

    Mr. Brutus nodded. ¡°That''s more than enough. That food should speed up your re-gen for a little. I''m going to teach you another way to use your Qi.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I sat right up. Another way to use it! Like aside from auras! What else could I do! Shoot giant world destroying Qi blasts. Create 100s of clones of myself! Stretch my body like it was made of rubber! Shoot a giant heaven piercing lazer sword! The possibilities had me drooling!

    ¡°I''m teaching you how to use Qi sight.¡± I watched as his eyes glowed that molten brown again.

    That was disappointing. ¡°What can I do with that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Think about it like this. Up until now you''ve only been able to see the first layer of the world. With Qi sight you''ll be able to see the second layer. Why don''t you try it? It should speed up your training and it''s not that difficult to learn.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    The more skills I had the more versatile I¡¯ll be. I might not become a master at everything, but at this point I still wasn¡¯t sure on what was useful. I shrugged my shoulders. ¡°Okay, what do I need to do?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just like your aura, but instead of cycling the power through your whole body, try doing it in your eyes.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I did as he asked awakening my Qi. The power sprung to life following my will. It zigzagged through my body like electricity through a coil, until it reached my eyes and started chasing it¡¯s own tail.

    My vision went dark like I was blind. ¡°I can''t see anymore!¡° I panicked failing to hide the worry in my voice.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you ain¡¯t blind. You¡¯re just not making the right pattern. Try adjusting it little by little.¡± He said.

    ¡°Can''t you just tell me what the pattern is?¡± I asked. Last time I figured out the star pattern on my own, but that was just me being lucky. There was no need for that, since I had a teacher now.

    ¡°You need to figure it out on your own kid. This is important for your growth.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I think I get it. He could tell me exactly how to do it, but that wasn¡¯t beneficial for my future. I could do it exactly how he tells me every single time, but I¡¯ll never understand why it works. By hinting towards something, he can point me in the right direction without taking away my creativity.

    It was like when I was little, and I didn''t know what hot was, so dad let me touch hot water. It hurt a little, but I understood what hot was, instead of just taking his word for it and never figuring it out.

    So I focused. Slowly changing the pattern. For over ten minutes the darkness wouldn¡¯t go away, until I tweaked it just enough to where my vision was back, but blurry.

    I played with it some more, moving the energy around until it was back to normal. I tweaked it a bit more and found that I could see the details in the trees and identify each blade of grass. It was amazing.

    I tilted the energy some more, and found darkness allover again. That didn¡¯t seem right, until I pushed it a little further and saw colors. So many colors. It was even more beautiful than the essence I released earlier. I tweaked it some more and watched as those colors focused creating shapes, and forms.

    The more I played with it the clearer the picture got. Finally I realized something, it was Mr. Brutus. There was two balls of light inside him. One was so bright. It was pure white and glowed like a sun, while the other was a bit more dirty with purple and golden brown light ribbons. Were those dual affinities?

    The two light ribbons seemed to circulate through his body. I tried tweaking it some more and before I knew it everything was in perfect focus. Those were his dantian and soul.

    It wasn¡¯t just his soul, but all the souls in the vicinity. There was hundreds of them. Even the trees had souls. Even the blades of grass had them. The creatures of the forest were visible now. Their souls much bigger than the plants and greenery.

    The real insane part was how far my vision reached. I could see not just what was in front of me, but behind as well. I don''t know how far, but I was sure it had to be at least 100 feet.

    I looked to myself¡­ no it was more like I focused on myself and saw my own dantian. It was very blue and not as big as Mr. Brutus¡¯s. ¡°This¡­ this is insane.¡± I tried to get up, only to feel vertigo take over, causing me to stay on one knee. I guess I wasn¡¯t used to this sight yet.

    ¡°Yeah, try to see the essence of the world.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I focused on the fire and surely enough there was a red hot light coming from it. Its like I can highlight the aspects I wanted. I tilted my head. It did something similar.

    I finally understood why Mr. Brutus wanted me to learn this. I¡¯d been moving essence without being able to see it and now that I knew what it looked like, I could control it way better.

    The 6 foot reach from before, had now been extended even farther. ¡°Would it be enough¡± I wondered.

    Reaching out I gathered the power of the world once more. There was so much of it, but I could only gather so much at a time. Still the energy reached out in strands coalescing in the palm of my hand.

    ¡°Kid, what are you doing? That¡¯s very impressive, but be careful.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I wanted power. A lot of it. More than anyone has ever had before. More than Squirmy. I needed it to save everyone, so I gathered essence and started to form it into a familiar shape.

    ¡°Is that? Are you trying to make a magic circle without a lens?¡± said Mr. Brutus as he stood to his feet. ¡°I see your just shaping it without absorbing it into your body.¡±

    The circle was the easy part. It was the runes I had trouble with. I managed to form them one after the other, but it was taking too long. Sure I was able to gather enough essence, but it still wasn¡¯t right.

    ¡°I think what your trying to do is impossible, and it¡¯s amazing you actually managed to go so far, but it¡¯s still not going to work kid.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    The last rune was put into place, but for whatever reason I couldn¡¯t get it to activate. ¡°Come on.¡± I murmured.

    ¡°That¡¯s insane, but it still won¡¯t work. You don¡¯t have the right building blocks. Your trying to build¡­ a fire spell with a combination of random aspects. If you wanted a fire spell you need the right type of aspects.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    That reminded me of when I was near the soul gate. The color of the spell wasn¡¯t right, so I changed it to red. The only thing was, I didn¡¯t have enough of the red stuff. With no way to cast the spell, I threw the whole construct into the air and watched it spread out into multiple particles. The light show wasn¡¯t as big as the last one though.

    I fell back on my butt a moment later. ¡°I was so close. If I can make the magic circle smaller, then I bet I can cast the spell.¡± I speculated. It would need to be way smaller though, or I¡¯d need more time to cast it.

    Mr. Brutus scratched his head before he sat down. ¡°I''ve never seen a cultivator pull that off. At least not one at your rank. Usually only those that have opened up more gates have that much control, but even then it''s not worth casting spells by that point. You should have more destructive power as a cultivator by then, and besides, a cultivator doesn¡¯t have the same amount of control over essence as a mage would. The amount of concentration you''d need is more than you can afford in a fight.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°The power systems were created by people in the past right?¡± I asked.

    Mr. Brutus nodded.

    ¡°Then what¡¯s stopping me from walking my own path.¡± I said.

    Mr. Brutus smiled widely at me. Then started laughing. ¡°No way! The kids gone rogue!¡± He slapped his knee.

    ¡°I want to learn magic too. I know I can make it work. I just need to make it smaller. The smaller it is the less fire essence I need to build it.¡± I said.

    Since the magic circle was so big I couldn''t reasonably gather the right aspects to cast it. Not without focusing for a long time.

    That¡¯s why in game once you upgrade the focus cost of a spell, the magic circles got smaller. I always thought it was strange, but it also told you where the other players upgrades went, so I didn¡¯t mind it that much.

    ¡°Maybe, but you still need to input the right types of aspects into the right runes. You don¡¯t even know what the runes on those spells do.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I didn¡¯t know it was that complicated. Obviously it used fire. That was a combination of wind and heat so those were the obvious aspects in the spell. ¡°I get it, but if I want an edge I think magic will be very useful.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t about the power that came with magic. It was about the versatility. The way the lore keeper used it made it seem so useful. It worked for more than just fighting.

    Revenge and saving the world was great, but I needed to think about the future once Squirmy is gone. I¡¯m obviously going to live for a long time. The life I had back home was just the beginning.

    Once I live that life, I want to see the rest of reality. I could bring Alice along. We could ascend the ranks and once we reach the angel rank, then we¡¯ll be together forever. What more could we want.

    ¡°I can¡¯t teach you that. If you really want to learn magic you¡¯ll need to talk with the lore keeper, but are you sure you want to do that? You still haven¡¯t learned how to heal yourself.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    He was right. Today was the first day of training. That meant I had 6 more days. Could I really learn what Mr. Brutus was teaching me and magic in that time?

    ¡°I¡¯ve been blowing through most of the stuff you¡¯ve given me. What do you think? Do you think I have the time?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Unlike everyone else you have an advantage. Your ability to imagine is what makes all of this so much easier. That¡¯s actually why it¡¯s easier to train children than adults. They¡¯re way more open minded and creative. It¡¯s not so much that you¡¯re talented. It¡¯s just that you have an overactive imagination. Lets not forget your kimonos effects.¡± He said.

    I got it. I wasn¡¯t special. I just had the right mindset, and the right gear.

    He continued, ¡°Once you master a level 1 aura, I believe you could master a healing aura quickly. Here¡¯s what I think, stick with me and learn how to be a cultivator, and if there¡¯s any time left you can go with that old lady and learn to shoot rainbows out your ass. Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Alright, sounds good.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°You know, normally a mage draws that power in, then focuses it through their mana lens to print the runes needed for a magic circle. Kind of like a 3D printer.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I figured, but how do they get stronger?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Mages get stronger after ever spell they cast. The aspects found in essence not only form the magic circles, they also add themselves to the mages mana lens making it bigger. Over time mages can stack mana lens over each other for more control and power. Also part of the quintessence passing through theor mana lens, gets added to their soul over time.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    That sounded OP. Simply casting spells was how they got stronger. That was so much easier than what cultivators did. What did we do again? Gather and refine energy? ¡°Am I done for today?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Go to bed, were getting up early tomorrow for more aura training.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I wasn¡¯t sure what time it was, but I did feel tired after the long day I had. To think I started the day innocently sleeping next to a cat girl. Since then, I nearly killed everyone with a bunch of fire balls, got everyone to think I was crazy, relived my horrible childhood, fought and lost to a giant bug, almost died, met god, found out Jesus wasn''t canon, also that my mom wasn''t actually crazy, beat up a girl, nearly died¡­ again, made friends with a rock and watched that same rock get eaten by an alcoholic grumpy pants giant.

    I was more than tired. I reached into my backpack and pulled out the sleeping bag. It was pink like everything else I apparently owned. I laid it out then pulled out the PJs, which were also pink. You know, for whatever reason everything from my kimono, the pajamas, even the sleeping bag, all smelled like baby powder. It wasn''t an unpleasant smell, I just found it strange.

    I sighed before looking back at Mr. Brutus. I didn¡¯t want to change in front of him and I didn¡¯t want to run into the wolf infested woods. I also didn¡¯t want him to leave me alone in this scary place. I¡¯ve played Slenderman.

    He looked like he was about to offer to turn around, but before then I crawled into the sleeping bag PJs and all, then started stripping off my clothes. I then put on the PJs.

    They were soft and fit perfectly which made me wonder when Cosmo had time to take my measurements. Well, she did craft my avatar, so I guess she must have taken them then. She probably stuck that info in my file too.

    I crawled back out and saw Mr. Brutus had turned around. What a gentlemen. ¡°I¡¯m decent.¡± I said lifting both my arms into the air, causing my long sleeves to swing.

    He turned back around. ¡°So you are.¡± He took another drink.

    The sleeves looked like they could be buttoned turning them into mittens. Wasn¡¯t that what baby''s used so that they don''t scratch their faces? Cosmo might actually be worse than Shadow.

    I folded the kimono back up and stuffed it inside my back pack. Then crawled back into the sleeping bag. It wasn¡¯t as uncomfortable as I thought it would be, but the warmth of the fire and the view of the night sky was nice.

    I should take Alice camping. It¡¯ll be fun. Closing my eyes I saw my dying body back in Serenity. The pain was getting worse and the screams were slowly dying out.

    How strong can I really become in a week. Strong enough I hope.

 Episode 47: Un-bear-able

    ¡°¡­¡­Shadow¡­ noo¡­. Luca wa¡­ wait¡­. Centa¡­. ruun¡± I murmured in my sleep. ¡°Alice¡­ don¡¯t¡­ please¡­ stop it!¡± I yelled as I woke from a nightmare. I shot up in my sleeping bag,

    ¡°No! Get away from them!¡± I cried as I got to my feet activating my aura. A blue warm light coated my body like a fuzzy blanket. I looked around for Squirmy, but couldn¡¯t see him.

    That¡¯s when I realized it was just a bad dream. It was still dark out. I laid back down and started sobbing quietly to myself, as the burning embers of the fire crackled and danced beside me. Every now and then I¡¯d let out a quiet, ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡± to no one.

    -Yukio-

    I made my way through the beaten path. I¡¯ve been on this walk many times before. So many that I could do it with my eyes closed. That thought made me want to scream. I hate this world. The only thing I still liked about it was the perpetual pink petals from the cherry trees. There was none out here though.

    The lore keeper said she infused them with life aspects, so that they would always be in a state of constant bloom. A nice side effect was the slight boost to a persons natural healing. Lore keeper said It would even give vigor to the elderly. They also had a calming effect that worked wonders on PTSD and other metal illnesses.

    Someone like Isaac would benefit nicely from it. That¡¯s why they sent him here. That¡¯s why I came here too. Just two crazies pretending to be sane.

    The path curved through the forest like a coiling snake. The ground soft with treaded soil. I had to admit, it was at least well made.

    I still couldn¡¯t believe Master Brutus crafted this path with his own two hands. No tools, just brut force. Punching trees and pounding the ground with his feet. He''s a real monster that one.

    He even managed to pulverize the tree stumps into sawdust. Then dumped it all in our composter. That composter was where the lore keeper gathered life aspects for her trees.

    Last I heard she¡¯d already created several more saplings and was going to plant them soon. Her goal was to fill the area with them to expand and improve the area effects.

    I thought I was done with all this crap. Master Brutus just had to rope me in. That asshole broke into my room at 2 in the morning, and threw me out the window right into the courtyard. Then said he needed me to beat up Isaac.

    I hope that piss baby doesn¡¯t hold it against me. I really could use that kimono. I don¡¯t know what effects it gave, but it had to help with cultivation. Maybe I could find another way to grow my power. Maybe even get off this world and find¡­

    My body filled with frustration. I reached for one of the two wooden swords at my hip, drawing it in one quick motion, cutting down the nearest tree. It went down with little resistance, as my constant level 0 aura grew to level 1.

    It was always active and ready to jump a level. The day that piss baby beat me, I¡¯d left my guard down. He moved so fast I didn¡¯t really have time to defend myself. If I had, that dumbass would have been laid out flat on the floor.

    I was nearing the clearing. I really didn¡¯t want to be here. Being around Master Brutus was like falling into an angry gorillas cage. Actually the gorilla might be preferable.

    The first thing I noticed when entering the clearing was a sleeping bag. The sight was a bit strange. Normally you''re supposed to sleep inside a sleeping bag. Not on top of it. Something didn¡¯t feel right.

    The piss baby was¡­ twitching? I quickly looked around. There wasn¡¯t an enemy nearby. My first thought was a deadly snake bite, then I remembered who Isaac¡¯s teacher was. Master Brutus had probably hit him with some kind of paralytic or neural toxin, but it wasn¡¯t like that at all.

    As I got closer I realized Isaac wasn¡¯t hurt, he was just crying. For a man he sure was a crybaby, but¡­. I needed that kimono so... ¡°Hey.¡± I moved to his side.

    ¡°What did Master Brutus do to you?¡± The brut in question was nowhere to be seen, which lead me to believe he might have pushed Isaac too far. I was still a little traumatized from my time with that big gorilla.

    Isaac looked up at me with those strange heart shaped eyes. They reminded me of cherry blossoms. Seeing that innocent face covered in salty tears made me feel kind of bad for him. Which was strange, because yesterday that same face would have given me a sense of euphoria. That was before I knew the whole story though.

    That moment. The one from yesterday when he went off on me. It was different from his crybaby self. That was 100% Isaac. The person in front of me now, felt more like a little kid. This had to be Aku¡¯s feelings coming through.

    From what lore keeper told me. Isaac is the driver, but Aku¡¯s emotions influence how he went about accomplishing things. That sounded annoying. I couldn¡¯t imagine getting anything done with a mind like that.

    She had a theory about it. Whoever had the stronger emotions was the one influencing the bodies reaction, and since Isaac was a black hole of apathy, that only came alive when angered. Aku was usually calling the shots.

    I gave him a hug. ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± I said as I patted his back. He was so small. The little guy reminded me of my little brother in a way. He cried like this when the trial event happened. I wonder where he ended up.

    Now wasn¡¯t the time for that. Throwing my baggage on top of Isaac¡¯s would be a bit too selfish, even if it is a medium for sympathy. There¡¯s no telling how he would react, if I tried to one up him. I was trying to keep that kimono after all.

    Still, that didn''t stop the memories from crawling back. 1000s of players gathered together. The blood. We didn''t stand a chance.

    I felt my own tears start to gather, as the memories of the war flooded my senses.

    -Isaac-

    Yukio is really soft. She¡¯s a girl so of course she¡¯s soft. Should I really be doing this? I am married after all. I couldn¡¯t stop it. No matter how much I wanted to pull away and man up, my body wouldn''t move.

    Aku wanted comfort and I couldn¡¯t really give it to her the way we were stuck together. The question was, was it really just Aku that wanted it, or was I somehow feeling the same?

    I couldn¡¯t tell. Her emotions felt like my emotions. It wasn¡¯t out of character for me to wish for comfort when upset. That dream would make anyone emotional.

    Back in my home world. In my old body. I¡¯d sometimes feel like I needed to be careful who I cried in front of. Honestly, I didn¡¯t want it to be Yukio. She seemed like the type of person to use my crying as a way to hurt me in the future.

    One of those, ¡°Oh yeah! Well you weren¡¯t saying that shit when you were crying like a little bitch!¡± type of come backs.

    No one wanted to see a grown man cry. It was the least flattering thing in the world. A lot of people would probably make fun of you if you did. Apathy was the way to go.

    Aku however, she was just a little girl. A kid. Her cries would bring sympathy and compassion. Maybe even annoyance if she was being too bratty about it, but for the most part worry.

    I guess what I¡¯m wondering is¡­ if I¡¯m in this body would that give me an excuse to cry in front of people? No, If I did that it would only make the people counting on me worry.

    Too bad I''ve already failed on multiple occasions. Dad was that for me. I wish I could be like him. Strong and confident. That would be so cool.

    I felt something wet land on me. Wait, was Yukio crying too? That didn''t make any sense. Was she feeling sad? Maybe I can¡­

    I wasn¡¯t sure how it worked, but the moment I thought about it. My sympathy kicked in and I saw something. 1000s of people fighting. A silver haired Valkyrie unleashing giant azure beams of energy, vaporizing anything in their path. A single girl survivor. Still fighting even with a missing arm and broken leg. She looked just like¡­ Oh.

    I get it now. This was how her trial went. Was this what mine would end up being? Would I really just end up back on this world? All alone and frustrated. Haunted by the same memories over and over again. Yukio might be my future.

    I couldn¡¯t let that happen. I need to get back. I need to create a powerful army that can defend against a boss as powerful as that one. The weight on my shoulders only seemed to grow.

    It took Aku a few minutes to calm down, and afterword¡¯s I felt embarrassed. Yukio sat next to me on the sleeping bag. She was calm despite having some of my snot and tears on her clothes. I hugged Snowball for emotional support. Fully expecting her to make fun of me.

    ¡°Are you alright now?¡± She asked.

    I nodded. ¡°Yeah, sorry about that. I had a bad dream, and Aku wouldn¡¯t calm down.¡± I said lamely.

    She nodded. ¡°Yeah¡­ I get those too¡­ you didn¡¯t wet the bed did you?¡± She asked.

    I blushed holding Snowball up to my face to hide my reaction. ¡°I did not!¡± I yelled shaking my head back and forth.

    ¡°Riiiiiight¡­¡± She said sarcastically, before touching my legs. ¡°Oh¡­ it¡¯s dry.¡± She said with a hint of surprise.

    ¡°Of course I¡¯m dry! I threw Snowball at her face. Snowball jumped into action clawing her eyes out. She fell back holding her empty eye sockets while screaming in pain.

    That¡¯s what I thought happened, but really Snowball bounced off her forehead and landed next to me in a sitting position. ¡°Wow, did you see that!? That was the coolest bottle flip ever!¡± I said excitedly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll rip off its legs¡­¡± Mumbled Yukio trying to hold back her anger.

    I gasped pulling Snowball away. ¡°You said you¡¯d be nice! That wasn¡¯t very nice!¡± I cried.

    She sighed. Then held her head. ¡°Sorry¡­ please don¡¯t throw things at me.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­ I¡¯m sorry about that. Did it hurt?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes it did. That things got a zipper.¡± She said clearly restraining her anger.

    I felt bad now. Zippers hurt. ¡°I¡¯m thirsty.¡± I said.

    ¡°Sucks for you.¡± She said as she turned the other way.

    ¡°Is there a river or something nearby?¡± I asked.

    She pointed to her right.

    I thought about going, but then remembered all the doggies out there. ¡°Will you come with me¡­ please?¡± I asked.

    She sighed again. ¡°Fine.¡± Then got to her feet and started walking.

    ¡°Wait!¡± I said, as I tried to put my sandals back on to follow. I managed to get them on just as she went passed the tree line. Then rushed after her.

    The only thing was, I couldn¡¯t see her. ¡°Yukio! Wait for me!¡± I begged as I tried to find her. She wasn¡¯t here.

    I kept going, but it just got darker as I went and it became so much harder to see. At some point I tripped over a rock, falling forward. My body started to cry so I sat up. ¡°Wh-where did you go?¡± I whined.

    ¡°Boo!¡± Yelled Yukio now behind me.

    I jumped in fear nearly biting my tongue. ¡°Aah!¡±

    That¡¯s when she started laughing.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t funny!¡± I cried, balling my fists.

    ¡°That¡¯s what you get for hitting me with a fucking zipper. Now come on.¡± She said before taking my hand by the wrist and leading me through the forest.

    I stayed quiet as we walked. After a few minutes we came across a river. It wasn¡¯t super big, but it did have running water.

    Dad once told me running water is good for drinking, because it has less of a chance at having bacteria. I went ahead and cupped some water with my hands. After all the crying I was just about dehydrated.

    By this point I was so tired of crying and being all emotional all the time. It was exhausting. I wish I could just go back to not feeling things. Then again, that was how Squirmy came to be. Maybe there was another way. How did dad make it work? One thing was for sure. I couldn''t keep existing the way I have.

    The water was cool and refreshing, soothing my dry throat. Now that I thought about it. Couldn¡¯t I create water by mixing wind aspects? I did it before, kind of. It was all nasty and black though.

    Yukio got her own drink of water. Once she was done I gave her kimono a gentle tug. She looked at me with her piercing purple eyes. I jumped in place as her sharp gaze infected me like a rusty knife. She could be really scary with her resting bitch face.

    ¡°I-I have to use the bathroom.¡± I mumbled while nervously shifting my weight from one foot to the other, and staring at the ground. I closed my eyes towards the end, bracing for impact, as my body flinched in anticipation of her response.

    ¡°You can just go behind any tree.¡± She said annoyed.

    ¡°I know that¡­ but like¡­ don¡¯t I need something to¡­ wipe with.¡± I blushed heavily.

    She looked like she finally understood. ¡°Ah, I see. Rookie mistake. Always bring your own roll when training with Master Brutus.¡± She pulled out a roll from her inner robe. It was only half a roll and it was flat like it had been crushed.

    When I went camping with dad I used leaves and even rocks to wipe, but Aku wasn¡¯t having it. She in fact had been very upset when I initially thought about it.

    Yukio handed over the roll. ¡°Thank you.¡± I smiled.

    After taking care of business, we headed back to the camp sight. I was starting to feel sleepy again and almost fell while yawning.

    As we went I noticed Yukio gathering sticks. Seeing this, I wanted to be helpful, so I did the same. By the time we got back she had a whole bundle of them under her left arm, while I only gathered six of them, or was it five?

    This one branched out into two, so it was technically one, but if I break it. I could make myself look more reliable in Yukio''s eyes. I decided to do just that. Only to make a loud snapping noise that probably gave me away.

    Yukio put her sticks down next to the fire, before she started to feed them into the remaining embers. I Shrugged my shoulders. Then dropped my sticks on top of hers while smiling in hopes of being praised.

    She didn¡¯t praise me. Instead she ignored me, as if I hadn¡¯t just risked my life gathering sticks with a bunch of wolves running around. How rude!

    I took my sandals off, before quickly crawling into my sleeping bag. Yukio finished feeding the camp fire. The flame grew a little stronger as it excitedly devoured its meal. She put the left over sticks to one side for later.

    ¡°That¡¯ll keep us warm. Are you going back to sleep?¡± She asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I could if I wanted too. I don¡¯t want to have another nightmare.¡± I admitted shamefully. I felt like a little kid afraid of their closet. I didn¡¯t want to close my eyes and see my dying body again. It was hard to sleep when I was in two places at once.

    ¡°Yeah, I get that.¡± She moved over to my side. I shrunk into my sleeping bag for protection. Snowball sat on top ready to pounce on her if she tried anything.

    ¡°Did you know that there¡¯s a dream fairy?¡± She said.

    ¡°Dream fairy?¡± This sounded made up. Like something you¡¯d tell little kids to get them to go to sleep. ¡°I know I look young but I¡¯m not a child.¡± I told her.

    ¡°What¡­ no, this is real.¡± She insisted.

    ¡°Yeah, right.¡± I denied.

    ¡°You¡¯ve met demons and gods, yet you don¡¯t believe in dream fairies?¡± She laughed.

    She had a point. Maybe Santa was also real. ¡°Okay, what¡¯s a dream fairy?¡±

    ¡°So there¡¯s this dream god out there. He not only runs the dream realm. He also created purgatory. He doesn¡¯t have followers like lady Cosmo, or lady Amaterasu. Instead he has dream fairies.¡± She said.

    ¡°Interesting so far.¡± I said.

    ¡°While the dream god believes in forcing people to experience certain dreams as a way to test mortals, warn them, or even help them figure out an issue in their lives. His followers the fairies. They¡¯re a little more open to bribery. All you need to do is put a sugar cube under your bed and they¡¯ll give you sweet dreams.¡± She rummaged through her robe before producing a small box. From within that box she drew out a sugar cube.

    ¡°You just carry that around everywhere?¡± I said.

    ¡°I like sugar in my tea.¡± She shoved the sugar cube under my sleeping bag. ¡°That should do it. You¡¯ll have a nice dream now.¡± She said.

    ¡°Oh¡­ Thank you. What time is it anyway?¡± I asked.

    ¡°3 AM probably. Why do you ask?¡± She said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you need to sleep?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°I¡¯ll just lay on the grass. No big deal.¡± She responded.

    That sounded really uncomfortable. She would probably end up super grumpy in the morning. If she was mean before she would be even worse without a good night¡¯s sleep.

    ¡°Do you want to share?¡± I said as I scooted over to the left side of my sleeping bag. There was enough room for two. It was kind of an emergency after all. Besides I¡¯d hate to admit it but without someone by my side I wasn¡¯t going to be able to sleep tonight.

    While I didn¡¯t really care about silly nightmares. I could tell Aku was having a hard time right now. Yukio seemed to think it over.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to do anything strange are you? You are a guy after all.¡± she asked.

    ¡°I was a guy... I¡¯m also married. The thing is I¡¯m still a little scared¡­ or at least Aku is. Every time I close my eyes, I see that other place.¡± I felt tears start to gather again, as the screaming made its way across the blue void. I hated it.

    Out of all the people in this world, why did it have to be Yukio that showed up. She was the opposite of cuddly. She was a pink cactus. The lore keeper would have been ideal in this situation. Hell even Mr. Brutus was more appealing than this girl, but she was the only one here at the moment.

    ¡°Fine, but I¡¯d better get that kimono.¡± She said as she slipped her sandals off.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°Really!¡± I asked excitedly.

    ¡°Yeah but if you do anything creepy I''m going to stab you.¡± She said as she pulled out a knife from her kimono.

    ¡°That''s okay! It''ll be like a sleepover!¡± I said excitedly. To me it seemed like Aku really wanted some kind of childhood. That was something I couldn''t really give her. Not at the moment at least.

    Yukio slipped into the sleeping bag. It was a snug fit, but not uncomfortable. I pulled Snowball in and hugged her. Then turned away from Yukio. Yukio turned her back to me also.

    Simply feeling her body heat left me with a great sense of comfort. ¡°Thank you.¡± I said.

    ¡°Shut up and go to sleep. Also, You¡¯d better not pee on me.¡± She said.

    It didn¡¯t matter that she was being a little mean. That was just her personality. There was still one more thing that was bothering me.

    ¡°Hey Yukio¡­¡± I fidgeted

    ¡°Please don¡¯t start asking me why the sky is blue.¡± She responded.

    That made me laugh. I remember when ever I slept with mom and dad all I would do is ask silly questions like that. ¡°No. It¡¯s not that. I was just wondering. You went through a horrible event too right?¡±

    I could hear her sigh. ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about it. Go to bed piss baby.¡±

    ¡°I understand. I just wanted to know if you think I¡¯ll be able to kill my demon. You say I¡¯m really talented and all that but will learning all this stuff be enough. Could I really save my friends and wife with what I¡¯m learning here, or will it end like it did for you? I¡¯m so afraid.¡±

    She was silent for a moment. Then said, ¡°it doesn¡¯t matter. Your still going to try. If it was me I¡¯d do everything in my power to save them even if I knew I¡¯d still fail. My advice is to find your loved ones and flee. Let lady Cosmo deal with it.¡±

    I didn¡¯t respond.

    Could someone as useless as me really save the world? Yeah right, but I guess I would still try. Even if it meant I¡¯d only save my friends.

    I was feeling tired again and fell right to sleep. Then had the best dream ever. Where I killed Squirmy and got to eat cake as a reward.

    It was the good ending. Where no one died and the city was fixed within a few minutes. It was full of smiles and laughter.

    Later

    I stared at my feet wiggling my toes, as I waited for something to happen. Mr. Brutus said we''d be training early this morning, but he was no where to be seen.

    I thought about trying to perfect my aura by myself, but held off on it, since I didn''t want to waste all my power. Instead I worked on gathering all the heat and wind essence I could get my hands on.

    Without my Qi sight and kimono, it took a lot longer. In the end I wasn¡¯t able to gather enough. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn''t get the magic circle any smaller. It was small, but there still wasn''t enough building blocks.

    The issue was the heat aspects. They were slow to gather. The wind aspects also took a good amount of time, but came easier, with how abundant they were. In the end it took several minutes to gather all the power I needed and surely enough, I managed to make a ball of fire.

    It was small and had little to no power. There was something wrong with the shape and flames. It looked deformed.

    I wasn¡¯t too excited. It worked sure, but it took a long time to do it, and I had to adjust the aspects around to get the right combination.

    The power scattered into red sparks. Maybe if I use a mana stone, I can gather the power before hand. That made sense to me. I didn''t have the control of a mage, and the gathering part will take even longer without the kimono. That was made evident by my current experiment.

    These pajamas really were soft though. I felt well rested too. They probably have some kind of buff for recovery.

    ¡°I don''t know what to do. What do you think Snowball.¡± I looked to my companion.

    ¡°Burn it. Burn it all down. Leave this world a pile of ash.¡± Said Snowball.

    ¡°What really?¡± I was surprised.

    ¡°No you little psychopath! Why don''t you go talk to that girl. She''s been doing this for a while. I bet she has some pointers.¡± Said Snowball.

    She had a point. Compared to mine, Yukio¡¯s aura was so calm. It was gentle and compressed, yet powerful and dense.

    I sighed then got up and made my way over too her. The grass here looked like it had been trimmed recently. Now that it was day time, I couldn''t help but notice the plants were way more wild on the other side of the tree line.

    Yukio looked to be cleaning her wooden blades. They were glossy and thin. Why would she even want something like that. It didn¡¯t seem useful at all. Was she planning on practicing her form?

    ¡°Hey.¡± I greeted her.

    She made a noise as if she was acknowledging my presence. I sat down seating Snowball at my side.

    ¡°Can you show me your aura?¡± I asked.

    She looked up, sighed, then started to speed up her Qi. Her body glowed a bright pink.

    ¡°Wow! Your really good.¡± I said.

    ¡°It''s a basic level 1 aura. There¡¯s really nothing special about it.¡± She said as her aura faded out of the visual spectrum.

    I knew it was still there. I just couldn''t see it anymore. That was how the auras worked for the players too.

    ¡°Can you watch me do it, and maybe give me a few tips?¡± I asked.

    She rolled her eyes. ¡°Fine.¡±

    I smiled then started to cycle my Qi. Surly enough a blue flame flared to life around me.

    ¡°There''s your issue. You go from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye. Stop trying to force it to work. Take it slow. Get the energy to flow properly through your meridians. Not force its way through you like you¡¯re a live wire.¡± She said.

    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡± So if I take it slow and focus on perfecting the flow, it¡¯ll be more solid when I speed it up.

    I undid the aura then tried again. This time I only used a single thread of Qi. It moved slowly. This was just to plan out the path. I played with it tightening the turns and straightening it¡¯s trajectory.

    ¡°That looks better, but you should try to compact the flow more. Get it nice and tight. That¡¯ll help keep your Qi from leaking like it does. The goal is to keep it from spilling. Meridians give energy a quick path to move through the body, however they cant hold it indefinitely. Power can always leave your meridians at any given time. Once outside the meridians the energy loses its momentum and can be lost. That¡¯s why you leak so much Qi. Also, not having a level 1 aura to keep the energy from escaping means you have no way of recovering that power. There are techniques that require you to expel Qi but with your supplies they might be a little too advanced.¡± She said.

    That was a lot of information. I tried putting her explanation into practice. The thread was moving so fast, it was basically chasing its own tail.

    ¡°It¡¯s easy when you only use a thread. Try increasing the power slowly and keep compressing it.¡± She said.

    I started by adding another thread. It didn¡¯t feel that different, but to be fair there wasn¡¯t enough for a full aura yet. ¡°How come Mr. Brutus didn¡¯t teach me this?¡± I asked.

    ¡°He does things differently. His body is so big that his Qi takes a lot longer to cycle. People like you and me can cycle Qi super fast, so we need more control rather than power. Think of the brut like a bulldozer and us like sports cars.¡± She said.

    That made a lot of sense actually. ¡°He¡¯s always cycling Qi though.¡± I said.

    ¡°He has a lot of power. Also he can just keep refilling it through his cultivation. He¡¯s always drinking alcohol after all.¡± She explained.

    ¡°Cultivation through alcohol? How does he convert poison into Qi?¡± I asked. That sounded super easy. I should learn to do that.

    ¡°It¡¯s one of his affinities. He has earth and poison. For poison he drinks alcohol. For earth he gathers it through his feet. That¡¯s why he likes coming out here.¡± She answered.

    ¡°That sounds convenient, but isn¡¯t that stuff bad for cultivators?¡± I tried to breathe fire yesterday and it didn¡¯t go well.

    ¡°He can refine it. It¡¯s not that hard. If you see him stomping on the ground that¡¯s apart of his refinement of earth aspects. He¡¯s stirring up the earth aspects extracting the Qi. Its like how a washer spins water off of clothes. For poison he empowers his liver with Qi and spins the poison aspects within it diluting the poison aspects into Qi.¡±

    That all sounded like things I would never be able to do considering I didn¡¯t have those affinities. Which in turn lead to me asking, ¡°What affinities and cultivation do you use?¡±

    She sighed again. Then created a ball of swirling pink energy. A moment later the ball of energy ignited into a ball of spinning plasma.

    ¡°Cool!¡± I cheered.

    ¡°Not cool.¡± She said.

    That brought down my spirits. ¡°What?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Plasma is one of the hardest affinities to cultivate. Sure it¡¯s powerful, but it¡¯s not good for growth.¡± She said.

    I then started thinking about what went into plasma. You basically had to strip electrons from neutrons and protons. So¡­ wind aspects and lightning aspects? That didn¡¯t seem too hard.

    ¡°What have you been doing?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Not much. I¡¯ve kind of just been cannibalizing my own Qi, by feeding it into my spark. It¡¯s slow, but it¡¯s the only way I know to cultivate.¡± She said.

    ¡°Cant you just pull in plasma aspects?¡± I asked.

    That seemed to irritate the girl. She snapped back. ¡°Where the hell am I going to find that! Its not like there¡¯s a star floating around! Sunlight wont cut it, trust me I¡¯ve tried!¡±

    ¡°Do you know what plasma is?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Of course! I¡¯m not stupid! It¡¯s what stars are made of!¡± She retorted.

    Was her plasma from a star, or was it more like a plasma globe? ¡°Show it to me again, please.¡±

    ¡°Why? You¡¯re not magically going to figure out a solution to my problems! Why would you even want to? What could you possibly know. I¡¯ve spent years working on this problem and have gotten nowhere.¡± She complained.

    I could get mad and tell her to fuck off, but trying to hurt me wasn¡¯t her goal. She was frustrated. ¡°Yukio¡­ I¡¯m not trying to insult you by calling you dumb for not figuring it out. I just want to help you. It won''t hurt, right?¡± I said.

    Her face seemed to soften before she gave up and recreated the ball of plasma. ¡°look at it all you want. Maybe someone as talented as you can figure it out.¡±

    I used Qi sight. It took me a minute to tune it again, but I was getting faster at it. The ball of plasma was pretty solid. The aspects were mixed perfectly together. There was lightning affinity for sure, but I wasn''t sure what else. Wind seemed like the best bet, but I didn''t know what type. If it¡¯s a plasma globe then it had to be neon.

    ¡°Do you know what kind of wind aspects there are?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Wind? It¡¯s just plasma.¡± She said.

    Did she not know? I mean the entire thing looked really solid, but still plasma had to be a higher tier aspect. ¡°I think plasma is a higher tier aspect. Most likely wind and lightning.¡± I said

    ¡°That can''t be right¡­ if that was true, then it would be¡­ a tier¡­ 3 aspect...¡± She said. Her eyes went wide. ¡°Oh, My, Amaterasu!¡±

    Before she could bring her realizations to a full conclusion a roar echoed from what I hoped was far away. We both turned to face its direction, only to watch tree after tree fall, as whatever it was got closer.

    I got to my feet activating my aura. Then got in front of Yukio. She seemed to be too scared to react. Lucky for me there was already energy moving through my eyes, so I could see the creature.

    It¡¯s soul was a little stronger than the wolves and its shape was huge. As it closed in on us, I could also see the scatter of other animals. Birds, squirrels, and other woodland creatures were fleeing in terror.

    If even they were afraid of it, we were in trouble. ¡°Yukio get your head in the game! That things coming!¡± I yelled.

    ¡°Uh, yeah!¡± She scrambled to her feet, lifting one of her wooden blades. Her aura flared to life engulfing the weapon in an electric pink glow.

    It looked almost like she¡¯d given it an actual sharp edge. There was still so much I needed to learn. Before the beast broke through the tree line, I made sure to memorize the pattern of Qi inside her weapon. That sort of thing was so much easier now that I could actually see it.

    I reached for the other sword on the ground, and tried to implement the same flowing diamond spiral. It was so much faster now that I had a picture for reference. With lots of effort the energy snapped into shape. I couldn¡¯t help but notice how hard it was to move Qi through the sword. It was probably because it had no meridians.

    Everything from my aura to the augmented wooden blade leaked way less energy than what I had managed to do yesterday. I lessened the flow of power to keep drainage low.

    This made the leakage almost none existent while at the same time lowering the benefits. Still it was better than no aura. I could always increase the power when needed.

    The monster broke through the tree line just as my weapon began to hum with a soft blue light. I wasn¡¯t sure what I was expecting, but this made the most sense.

    What came barreling out of the forest, was not a monster. It was a 10 foot tall bear, covered in bees. No wonder it was enraged.

    ¡°Alright kiddies! I brought you guys breakfast, but first you need to kill it. Yukio stand back and let Isaac try. If it looks like he¡¯s about to die jump in and take over.¡± Said Mr. Brutus somehow smoking a cigarette beside me.

    When did he get there!? Did he just say he brought the bear here? ¡°Wait! You want me to fight that thing!¡± I yelled.

    ¡°That¡¯s Master Brutus for you.¡± Said Yukio, sounding a bit dejected.

    ¡°Go on kid, kick it¡¯s ass!¡± Cheered Mr. Brutus.

    I was a little afraid at first, but then thought about Squirmy. Before dying I saw what he had become. Compared to that monster. This thing was nothing but a noisy fly. If I couldn¡¯t kill the bear then what chance did I stand against Squirmy.

    This was kind of what being an adult was all about. Bigger problems pop up all the time, making the smaller problems look easy in comparison. I wasn¡¯t afraid anymore. This bear was just a springboard on my way to punching Squirmy in the face.

    I gripped the sword tightly in my right hand, as the last of the bees flew away. The agitated bear pivoted it¡¯s rage onto us.

    ¡°Hey Isaac. Let me take care of it.¡± Said Yukio.

    I shook my head. ¡°No, I got this. It¡¯s just breakfast.¡± I said before dashing forward.

    The bear roared, standing on its hind legs, as it readied its paw for a claw swipe. It took a swing, but I had the power of Cosmo and anime on my side. Just before it''s claws could bite, I flung myself into the air.

    The beast, being a beast, committed too much into its attack leaving it wide open. I thrust my blade into it¡¯s chest, but the weapon wasn¡¯t able to go very deep, as the muscles wrapping its skeletal structure hardened slowing the blades thrust. In the end, the glowing polished wood was stopped by it¡¯s thick ribcage.

    The beast roared before trying to attack me again. Since I was in the air I was unable to avoid it. All I could do was force more Qi into my auras pattern. This caused it to flare up. I wasn¡¯t done yet, as I force my shell to harden on my left side where the bear was about to strike.

    It''s claws dug into my shell and even managed to cut a shallow wound in my side. What was even more devastating was the force behind its palm sending me flying.

    By this point in my life, I was used to falling, so I rolled my body through the air and managed to somewhat soften the impact. The sword I once held, had snapped in two. Both pieces now imbedded into the ground beside me.

    Crap. Fighting it head on was stupid. I wasn¡¯t strong enough even with my aura¡­ but that wasn''t how I did things. I always cheated my way through fights. Like packing my punches, or using my surroundings to my advantage.

    Cant reach their face? Find some steps to get a little more height. They like to punch? Put your back to a wall and let them fight the wall. It was dirty, but in a real fight there were no rules. If I was going to get my ass beat, I would at least make it super annoying for the other guy.

    The bear was ready to charge. I felt fear, as I knew what would happen next. ¡°I refuse.¡± I murmured.

    I snatched up the longer piece of my sword, before pushing my hand into the ground, as the bear lunged forward to attack. Just before he could get me, I pushed off the grass becoming airborne.

    The beast slammed its claws and bared its fangs at the spot where I once was. Regaining my composure I slammed my foot into its furry back before using it as a stepping stone to get away.

    The bear didn¡¯t waste any time to come after me. It swiped at me again causing me to jump away. This time however I threw a cloud of sand at its eyes, temporarily blinding it.

    As for where the sand came from. Before I pushed off the ground I grabbed some of the moist soil. Then split the water aspects back into wind aspects. Thus turning the dirt into sand. Maybe not as precise as the lore keeper, but close enough.

    ¡°Nice going kid.¡± Said Mr. Brutus. I couldn¡¯t help but notice he was holding Yukio by the shoulders, as if preventing her from jumping in.

    With this opening, I ran around the bear, as it tried to rub its eyes in frustration. Quickly, I cycled my Qi through the piece of wood I had. Pouring vast amounts of Qi through its frame. Then snapped it into the diamond spiral pattern.

    I began molding its aura into a sharper weapon. The power I put into it leaked like crazy, but I only needed it for a second. I dashed forward hopping onto the bears back. Ramming the blue energy blade through its heart.

    The thing roared in pain as it thrashed about. I ended up falling off of its back and onto the ground. It was dead, but not in the way I wanted.

    In its death, the beast fell back right on top of me. I felt a lot of stuff break as its weight nearly crushed me. The pain was absolutely un-BEAR-able. The terrible pun made me laugh causing a sharp pain in my chest.

    Mr. Brutus was quick to move the bear off of me. ¡°You alright kid?¡± Asked the giant.

    I sniffled and sobbed as the pain decided to be extra perky today. ¡°I-I¡¯ll live.¡± I cried trying to sit up. ¡°I-I think some of my ribs are¡­ *sob* broken¡­ Also¡­ *sob* my arm looks funny.¡± The arm I mentioned was not only bent the wrong way. It also had a second elbow. I kept sobbing even though I tried my best not to. ¡°It hurts.¡± *sob*

    Yukio finally came over. She looked frightened. ¡°Oh, shit¡­ I¡¯ll get the lore keeper!¡± She yelled before trying to run for flower mountain.

    I say she tried, because Mr. Brutus had stopped her by holding her up by the back of her kimono. ¡°Let me go, you fucking gorilla! He needs a healer!¡± She yelled.

    ¡°Hold on brat. This is a learning opportunity.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°No fucking way! This isn''t how people learn healing auras! It¡¯s too much!¡± She yelled.

    ¡°Isaac you wanna stop crying and explain to this brat what condition your real body is in? is it better or worse?¡± said Mr. Brutus.

    He was right. How could I expect to heal my other body when I couldn''t heal this one. It''s all the same no matter what the situation is. Everything I do in this world is nothing compared to what¡¯s to come.

    Despite the pain, I sat up. My breaths were sharp and quick. I felt like I might pass out from the pain. Simply breathing hurt. My heart seemed to pound in my chest. So many parts of my body were throbbing like they had been smashed by a hammer.

    My tears continued to fall, but that didn''t matter. ¡°H-how do I do it?¡± I asked.

    Yukio stopped struggling. ¡°Isaac you can''t be serious! You don''t have to do that! This asshole will break you!¡± She said.

    ¡°I have to!¡± I yelled back. That seemed to shut her up.

    Mr. Brutus ignored her as she tried to break free. ¡°Aspects¡­ life aspects to be exact. You should be able to find them in the corpse of that bear. Gather them up.¡± He instructed.

    I channeled Qi to my eyes again, looking at the bears flow of energy. Surly enough, silver like aspects was escaping it¡¯s body. I reached with my good arm and started gathering it up. There was another aspect there. It was dark and the more silver aspects I took, the more dark stuff was produced.

    It seemed to spread from the wound I¡¯d created. I wasn¡¯t sure what it was, but it sure as hell didn¡¯t feel like life aspect. It was rotten, or the essence of rot.

    The power gathered so quickly. I was surprised to be holding so much of it. It wasn¡¯t that I¡¯d improved. It was the fact that there was an abundance of life aspects.

    As the energy left the bear some of it leaked from the stream, causing the grass under its path to grow quickly.

    ¡°Good job kid that should be enough. Don¡¯t over do it. That is our breakfast after all. Last thing we need is rotten meat. How are you holding up?¡± He said.

    *sob* ¡°It¡¯s getting worse.¡± I cried. The adrenaline I had before was starting to fade causing more pain to flood in. I felt like passing out as my old friend darkness came to visit again, and by that I meant the corners of my vision were darkening. ¡°Hello darkness. When did you get here?¡±

    ¡°Master Brutus!¡± Panicked Yukio.

    ¡°I know, I know. Don¡¯t worry about it. Remember this body is temporary so even if he dies, it won¡¯t matter.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°When did all this oil get here?¡± I asked as that warm, wet, sticky feeling came to this world too. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s blood. Haha! Mr. Brutus check it out! It¡¯s a blood bath!¡± I giggled weakly as my broken ribs messed with my lungs.

    ¡°That¡¯s great kid. Why don¡¯t you activate your aura now.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I tried to cycle my Qi, but with my new anatomy it was confusing. The pattern was less of a star, and more like a broken pretzel. I tried tracing my body with a strand of Qi to get a feel for the path.

    Once it felt right, I added more power making sure to compact the pattern for better efficiency. Not because I needed it to be perfect, but because the day was young, and I didn¡¯t know what else was in store.

    Before I knew it I felt all fuzzy again, and my body started to glow once more. The aura was almost perfect. There was still a few holes here and there, but it looked pretty good.

    ¡°Good job. It¡¯s close enough to start a life aura. Now the energy flowing through your body is creating a field around you. That field is your aura. You should already know this. What I want you to do is feed the life aspects into your aura. Let me be clear. DO NOT feed them into your body.¡± He instructed.

    ¡°G-got it¡­ feed them into my body¡± I said weakly.

    ¡°No! I said don¡¯t feed them into your body!¡± said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°That¡¯s so many rules though.¡± I mumbled.

    ¡°Its one rule! Don¡¯t feed the aspects into your body! Infuse them into your aura!¡± he yelled.

    Yukio started laughing, ¡°haha! You dumbass can''t you see he¡¯s messing with you?¡±

    I started laughing too. ¡°Haha, got you Mr. Brutus.¡± I said. He sighed before taking out his flask and chugging a lengthy amount of what I hoped was orange juice.

    ¡°Okay, be serious for once. The most important part is your intention. Imagine the energy healing your body. Not just mending cuts or bruises, but fixing bones and internal organs.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I nodded in understanding. Then fed the aspects into my aura with the intent to heal. Immediately it¡¯s vibe changed. Going from a fuzzy blanket, to a warm milky bath.

    The process was a little like pouring water into a balloon. At first it just expanded. Then the aspect settled in, mixing with the energy field.

    The feeling of warm milk spread even through my bones. It was wonderful¡­ up until my bones started snapping back into place.

    ¡°Ah! I-it hurts!¡± I cried.

    It was like my bones were breaking in reverse. Every injury sustained during battle felt like it was happening all over again, only all at once.

    By the time it was over, I was left curled up in a ball, crying on the now long grass. I stayed there for a bit, unsure if I was about to feel more pain, but it never came.

    Mr. Brutus was laughing. ¡°Got you back!¡± he said.

    This was far worse than what I did to him. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t play games like that, if he was going to take it so far.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Asked Yukio.

    ¡°That really hurt!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Yeah, normally your supposed to use apathy aspects to numb the pain, but it was an emergency, so we couldn¡¯t afford to take our time.¡± Said Yukio.

    Apathy Aspects? There was so many different aspects! How was I supposed to keep track! More importantly Yukio was in on it! I felt my body jerk as I cried softly to myself.

    ¡°Need a hand kid?¡± Asked Mr. Brutus as he held his hand of betrayal out to me.

    I smacked it away. ¡°No! That was really mean!¡± I got to my wobbly feet just as Yukio came in to give me a hug. Before she could wrap her arms around me, I pushed her away. ¡°I don''t like you either!¡± I cried. I started balling my eyes out.

    ¡°Hey, its alright. Its over now.¡± Said Yukio trying to calm me down. She pulled a peace of betrayal cloth from her robe and looked like she was about to wipe away the evidence of her betrayal. I didn¡¯t let her. Instead I ran away from them.

    I couldn¡¯t stay with these betrayers anymore, so I started gathering my things, as my tears continued to fall.

    Both Yukio and Mr. Brutus looked confused, but Yukio was the first to ask. ¡°Umm¡­ Isaac what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I hate it here! You guys are big meanies! I''m running away!¡± I whined, as I packed my sleeping bag.

    ¡°What?¡± She said.

    I threw my backpack on. Then ran over to grab Snowball. She was also upset with them. I then started angrily marching away from the area in a random direction. ¡°I said I¡¯m running away! I hate you guys!¡± I cried.

    Mr. Brutus seemed to laugh and shake his head, while Yukio looked like she was about to do the same.

    I approached the tree line. Then turned back to look at my teacher and fellow disciple. They both seemed to not care.

    ¡°Okaaay¡­. I-I¡¯m leaving now.¡± I said weakly as I took a step passed the tree line.

    They didn¡¯t say anything. Instead Yukio seemed to gather up the remains of the sword I¡¯d broken, while Mr. Brutus started to skin the bear, mumbling something about making a nice coat.

    I walked a little further before looking back again. They were still ignoring me! My crying intensified as I ran back. Breaking through the tree line I yelled, ¡°Is no one coming after me! Don¡¯t you guys care!? What if I get attacked again!¡±

    Yukio sighed then responded, ¡°Stop being a drama queen, or I''ll hunt you down and throw you in time out!¡± She yelled.

    I got nervous all of a sudden. ¡°Oh¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­ I''ll go cry over there then.¡± I kicked a rock looking away from the scary girl glaring at me. ¡°You know since no one cares about me.¡± I added sniffling and wiping away my tears.

    Yukio seemed to glare at Mr. Brutus, but he ignored her. I tried walking over to a corner, away from these betrayers, that didn¡¯t seem to care if I lived or died, only to be intersected by Yukio.

    She looked like she was about to bite my head off, so I hissed as a way to scare her off. Instead of running away like I thought she would. She picked me up and flung me over her shoulder like a bag of destined to be drowned kittens.

    ¡°Let me go! I don''t want to drown in a river.¡± I cried as I kicked and struggled against her grip of betrayal.

    ¡°What are you on about?¡± She mumbled before plopping me down on the grass in a sitting position of betrayal. ¡°Stay right there, while I get a few things. I don''t want to hear another word out of you.¡± She scolded.

    Strangely enough, the blood I got on her seemed to dry up and flake away. ¡°But Yukio you guys started it!¡± I cried.

    ¡°I don''t care! You¡¯re like an actual child! Now don''t move from that spot. You''re in time out.¡± She scolded.

    That¡¯s when she pulled my backpack off of me and started rummaging through my things. ¡°That¡¯s my stuff!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Shut up!¡± She yelled.

    Even though she was going through my things I couldn¡¯t seem to move from where I was. She was kind of scary.

    Yukio pulled out my kimono and a new pair of underwear. They were yellow with little mouse¡¯s on them. I felt embarrassed, but didn¡¯t say anything.

    She came over and handed the clothes to me. I didn¡¯t take them, unsure of what she wanted. Instead I stared at her angrily.

    ¡°Take them you little shit!¡± She yelled.

    I yelped before grabbing the clothes. ¡°Why? Haven¡¯t you hurt me enough?¡± I cried.

    ¡°You¡¯re covered in blood. I think you need a quick dip in the river, so let¡¯s go.¡± She took my hand again and nearly dragged me.

    It was like Shadow had possessed her or something¡­. I miss Shadow.

 Episode 48: Bearbecue

    My body trembled. The water was so cold! Why would anyone wash up in a river!? I wanted to get out, but when I tried to leave, Yukio said I had to wash off all the blood and threw me back in. She was so abusive!

    I sobbed quietly as I did my best to get all the sticky stuff off my skin. It only took a minute, but it felt like an hour. I dragged myself out and hugged my knees in an attempt to horde what little body heat I had left. Lucky for me I had lots of experience with that sort of thing.

    ¡°Don''t be such a baby. It¡¯s only a little cold.¡± Said Yukio as she washed my PJs in the river.

    ¡°It¡¯s really cold!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Shut up, and sit in the morning light!¡± She commanded. ¡°It¡¯s like you want to stay wet.¡±

    I crawled my way onto a big stone to sun bath. This must be what lizard people do. I could be a mark Zuckerberg. ¡°Yukio, your being mean again. If you don''t stop you won''t get my kimono.¡± I threatened.

    ¡°Keep it. It won''t fit me anyway. Besides, I doubt it would actually get me off this world.¡± She said bluntly.

    That made me sad. ¡°What do you need in order to leave this place?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Stop being nosey! Worry about your own fucking self!¡± She yelled.

    I looked to Snowball for advice. She was propped up against a tree. ¡°Your reputation level isn¡¯t high enough. Do a few more quests before trying again.¡± She said.

    Of course! Right now our friendship rank was on neutral. I needed to farm friendship, before trying to ask her personal questions.

    It''s like a dating Sim. I need to talk her up first before she reveals her secret sexy cut scene. ¡°Snowball, you¡¯re a genius!¡± I yelled.

    That got a laugh out of Yukio. ¡°What? Are you talking to your toy again? You know it''s not real.¡± She said.

    ¡°Of course Snowball is real! We fought a giant bug monster together!¡± I yelled.

    Yukio rolled her eyes. ¡°Sure, whatever.¡±

    ¡°You speak heresy! Snowball shall strike you down nonbeliever!¡± I then ran over to grab Snowball and brought her over to the rock, setting her on top of it. As soon as she was in place I started to dance around her while chanting, ¡°mama say, mama-sa, mama kusa! mama say, mama-sa, mama kusa!¡±

    Yukio looked back at me. ¡°Isaac, knock it off. You¡¯re scaring me.¡± She said.

    That was the whole point. I sat back down next to Snowball. ¡°Snowball is my friend. She¡¯s as real as she needs to be.¡± I said before looking away from her. ¡°if you keep being mean to me I¡¯ll tell Mr. Brutus on you and he''ll turn you into a pretzel!¡±

    ¡°That guy doesn¡¯t care about you. He¡¯s a bigger asshole than me. Did you forget how he pissed off a whole ass bear and made you fight it to the death.¡± She responded.

    When she put it like that it sounded pretty messed up. I stayed silent for the time being. At least the sun was comforting. Unlike Yukio who was a bully picking on a little girl¡­er¡­ grown man? Crap. I really need to get Aku surgically removed and find me a male avatar.

    Drying off didn¡¯t take as long as I thought it would. I wasn¡¯t completely dry, but it was enough to put on some clothes. I was so grateful to not be naked anymore.

    While getting dressed the thought of going without underwear crossed my mind, but Aku was very against it. So much so that she nearly threw another tantrum. Which would have looked very strange without context. At least Yukio understood my situation so its not like I¡¯d be locked up again.

    I tugged on her kimono. ¡°Hey Yukio! I did a good job right!?¡± I asked.

    She looked annoyed but answered, ¡°Sure I guess.¡±

    ¡°Then can I have candy as a reward!?¡± I fidgeted back and forth, scratching my arm. It was like I was a drug adic looking for a fix.

    She pushed me away. ¡°I don''t have any candy.¡±

    Her words upset me deeply. ¡°Then go buy some!¡± I complained.

    She flicked my forehead. ¡°ow!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Bratty children don¡¯t get candy. Now if you¡¯re nice I¡¯ll give you a sugar cube.¡± She said.

    I held my forehead planning my next attack, but she was clearly on guard. Her fingers fixed into a flicking position.

    Maybe if I hold my breath she¡¯ll give up. Crossing my arms I sat cross-legged on the ground. Then puffed up my cheeks and waited, but before I turned blue she crouched down and slapped me. ¡°Don''t fucking pull that crap with me!¡± She yelled. Her slap caused me to cry out in pain. Which in turn made me take several shallow breaths.

    ¡°I hate you!¡± I started pummeling her with my tiny fists whipping through the air like cat paws. She simply put her hand on my head and held me back at arms length. Due to my shorter arms I was unable to touch her.

    ¡°You¡¯re so annoying. If you keep this up I¡¯m leaving. I refuse to be a babysitter for such an emotional child. What¡¯s wrong with you? Why are you so cranky? Did you not get enough sleep? Was it the bath?¡± She said.

    I held her arm trying to get it off of me, but I couldn¡¯t break free. ¡°You¡¯re a bully!¡± I cried.

    She sighed. ¡°The only bully here is you. You keep trying to blackmail me. That¡¯s not a nice thing to do you know.¡±

    I stopped struggling. Blackmail? That was something a bully would do. Oh, so Yukio was simply enacting self respect by refusing my demands. ¡°Sorry¡­ you¡¯re still mean though.¡± I said honestly.

    ¡°Whatever... here.¡± She handed me a sugar cube.

    My face lit up as I took it into my hands. ¡°Thank you!¡± I immediately started to suck on it. It was sweet but it was no candy.

    Yukio left my PJs hanging from a branch and even promised me she''d sew the holes closed once they dried.

    On our way back, I reached to hold her hand. It didn''t look like she wanted to, but after a little persistence she gave in. This was important for filling up her friendship meter. Since I annoyed her I had a lot more ground to cover.

    I hugged Snowball with my other arm in an attempt to charm her. Snowball was so warm after sitting in the sun for so long. It was like hugging a toasty warm fluffy sweater, after pulling it out of the dryer.

    ¡°tweet, tweet!¡±

    I looked up above only to spot something interesting. ¡°Yuyu! Look!¡± I yelled pointing up into the trees. On one of the many branches was a bird covered in red feathers, sporting a fluffy yellow belly.

    Yuyu followed my finger. ¡°Yup, that''s a Rum Robin.¡± She confirmed. ¡°Also, please don''t give me a weird nickname.¡± Nicknames were a sign of affection and were a great way to build up friendships.

    ¡°Why is it called a Rum Robin?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That''s what Master Brutus calls them. Apparently he left a barrel of rum sitting out here and a bunch of those birds got into it. The ones that got really drunk fell in and drowned.¡± She explained.

    ¡°That''s awful!¡± I cried.

    Yukio patted my head. ¡°Don''t feel too bad about it. Those birds are like flying rats. They reproduce like cockroaches and only live about a week. Besides, I¡¯m sure the ones that drowned died pretty happy, considering how drunk they were.¡± She said.

    ¡°Oh¡­ okay!¡± I said cheerfully. ¡°Do you have any bread?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No!¡± She yelled. ¡°Don''t you dare feed those things! They will never leave you alone!¡±

    I was a bit startled by her outburst, but understood her reasoning. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m sorry.¡± I nearly cried due to being yelled at.

    Once we got back to our camp sight, my nose was hit by an awful smell. It was the smell of fresh meat. Yuyu on the other hand wasn''t fazed one bit.

    I''ve smelled this before. Back when dad killed and skinned a buck. It was pretty gruesome back then, and it was no different now.

    Mr. Brutus had already dismantled the bear. It¡¯s hide had been hung on a tree, while the meat was neatly stacked up on a blue tarp. The organs were being placed in jars. The bones were being washed, and sawed into 4 inch pieces. Then placed out in the sun to¡­ dry, I guess?

    Stripping the meat off the bone couldn¡¯t have been easy, yet Mr. Brutus was able to do it so quickly. There had to be some trick involved. My best guess was acid, but where would he get something like that. Is poison the same as acid? I don¡¯t think it is. Also, why was he trying to preserve the organs?

    The whole situation felt like a cult sacrifice. Yuyu didn''t seem all that bothered by it, so it must have been a normal occurrence. While the situation was a perfect medium for my curiosity, I was also still mad at Mr. Brutus for playing that cruel trick on me.

    Yuyu said it was an emergency and there was no time to make the healing process painless, but still, that didn''t mean Mr. Brutus had to laugh at me. I was in a lot of pain and he didn''t even offer a head pat.

    Remembering my frustration with him, I sat down and turned my back to him. He would need to apologize if he wanted my affection back. Right now his friendship rank with me was at enemy.

    I wasn¡¯t paying attention, but when I looked back to see what was going on. I saw Mr. Brutus roll some of the grass to one side like it was a carpet. Underneath was dirt as expected.

    With his control over earth, he easily moved the mix of moist grains aside, revealing a metal lid underneath. It reminded me of those metal cans homeless people would lite ablaze during the winter.

    I couldn¡¯t help myself but watch as Mr. Brutus pulled the lid off. It didn¡¯t look like there was anything inside. That¡¯s when Mr. Brutus pulled out a small metal cube from his cloak.

    From it a portal opened up. The brut reached in and pulled out one log after the other. From there, he picked them up one at a time and ripped them in half with his bare hands. Then fed them into the metal can.

    That¡¯s when Yuyu picked up a stick drawing out her knife. She ran her blade over the stick a few times creating small wooden shavings. My dad showed me that trick once. He called it a feather stick.

    From there Mr. Brutus poured some alcohol into the pit. Then held out a lighter to Yuyu. Yuyu held the feather stick out near the lighter as Mr. Brutus lit it up.

    This caused the wooden shavings to ignite. From there Yuyu dropped the stick into the pit and a moment later it too lit with a burning flame.

    I looked away unimpressed by cave man fire. Just because it looked interesting didn¡¯t mean I was interested. Nope, I had to stand my ground, so Mr. Brutus would feel bad.

    Time passed and I found myself peeking again. I had to know if the big guy was feeling bad yet. He wasn¡¯t. Not one bit. Mr. Brutus was still ignoring me. That made me so mad, but I was giving him the silent treatment not the yelling and throwing a tantrum treatment.

    What was interesting though was the big metal pot Yuyu had. She was lining the bottom and it¡¯s walls with a strange cactus plant. I wasn¡¯t mad at her so I watched as she worked. Once all the plant fiber was in place, she started to lower the meat in.

    She filled the pot almost to the brim, but there was still so much meat left. Mr. Brutus took the remaining meat and dropped it into that cube thing. I wonder if it was similar to a players inventory? No! I¡¯m mad at him!

    I looked back to Yuyu who was putting a clean white towel into the pot covering the top of the meat with it. That was strange.

    She then put a metal lid on the pot. That¡¯s when Mr. Brutus came over with what looked like a metal wire. He tied it off to both of the handles then grabbed a sturdy branch and hooked the wire onto it. With that done he lifted the whole thing using the branch. Then walked the pot over to the pit.

    The fire had died down, but the heat was still strong. It looked like the wood was burning like the camp fire had. Just like a cigarette. Would it actually be able to cook the meat?

    He then lowered the whole thing into the hole, removing the branch once the pot was settled in. From there Mr. Brutus put the metal lid back on the can, but instead of rolling the grass carpet back, he used his affinity with earth to cover it in dirt.

    I got it. This was a slow way to cook meat. Those plant like things must keep moisture in so the meat doesn¡¯t dry up. I bet they also keep it from burning. Since the heat has nowhere to go in the can the temperature also rises pretty high in there. That¡¯s such a efficient way to cook meat. I was impressed.

    Mr. Brutus glanced my way to which I remembered I was still mad at him, so I turned away forming a childish pout, while releasing a canonically loud, ¡°hump!¡± to get my point across. I couldn¡¯t be more obvious.

    If he didn¡¯t understand I was mad at him. Then I¡¯d just have to grab a stick and beat it into that monkey skull of his, because at that point it would be obvious he just didn¡¯t care I was mad and that was unacceptable! How dare he ignore my feelings!

    I took another peek to see if Mr. Brutus was feeling bad yet. He just kept ignoring me as he drew a few symbols in the dirt where that can had been buried. Was he doing magic?

    I rushed over to get a closer look. ¡°Wow!¡± I said as I watched each symbol glow with blueish silver light. It didn''t look like a magic circle. There was just a few runes in the dirt. ¡°What is this?¡± I asked.

    ¡°This is rune script. It''s the most basic enchantment known to man. Even a caveman like me can do this. It¡¯s a temporary enchantment that''ll speedup the cooking process of the meat. Think of it like the middle ground between casting a spell and an enchanted item.¡± Explained Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°What kind of aspects did you use?¡± I asked, as I inspected the silver light of the runes. It was almost like life aspects but not that. This one was kind of blue. Just like¡­. The Negentropy spell! ¡°Are these time aspects?!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not wrong, but we call them momentum aspects. There''s an abundance of them everywhere you go. It¡¯s the easiest to find. Everything is moving after all. This planet isn¡¯t just rotating. It''s also hurtling through space. Momentum aspects are time itself. That''s what haste spells are made of. It¡¯s what''s in those speed boost potions back in B20¡­ 1¡­ whatever.¡± He explained.

    That sounded so cool. ¡°But what do the symbols mean?¡± I asked. I pointed to one before saying, ¡°This one looks like chicken toes! Is it because chickens can run kind of fast?¡±

    ¡°I''m not¡­ sure¡­¡± I must have thrown him off guard, because he scratched his head before brushing it off and continuing. ¡°This pattern was something the lore keeper showed me. Just because I learned to play Seven Nation Army on a guitar, doesn¡¯t mean I know how to play a guitar.¡± He replied.

    The metaphor was clear. He basically learned to copy a string of letters perfectly, but has no idea why it works. He only knows that it works. That¡¯s why Mr. Brutus let¡¯s me try and learn on my own, so I¡¯ll have a better understanding of the things he teaches me.

    I crossed my arms tilting my head. ¡°Wait? So can I draw on paper to cast spells?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It might work as a guide to craft the spell, but you''d still have to shape it yourself. Like tracing a picture. You¡¯re better off with a mold, because you still need the aspect building blocks. Crayon wouldn¡¯t work as a circuit for energy. That would be like using string as a way to pass electricity to a lightbulb. Since my control over aspects is so poor, I drew the symbols with my fingers while filling the grooves with momentum aspects.¡± He explained.

    So that¡¯s a no. I doubt Squirmy will sit back and watch me draw mystic symbols on the ground. Maybe if I had the spells prepared before hand? No, it only works because Mr. Brutus pours the aspects in as he draws.

    What if I carved the spells into my sword? I can easily channel Qi through it which gives me a good feel for its shape structure and materials. I let out a long, ¡°Hmm¡± In contemplation. ¡°Can I put the runes on weapons and use them to cast magic!?¡±

    ¡°You can, but you would need to replace the aspects each time and that sort of casting is very harmful to items. Slapping a spell onto a weapon would destroy it within a few casts.¡± He said.

    ¡°Wait! But aren¡¯t enchantments the same thing? How come they don¡¯t melt gear after a few seconds? You know, since they''re always active.¡± I asked.

    ¡°They do, but Enchantments are optimized to the point where the durability drop is low. It¡¯s not the same rawness of a spell. Even rune script is more gentle on materials.¡± He said.

    ¡°Would rune script be a more viable option?¡± I asked hoping for some sort of angle I could exploit.

    ¡°Maybe, but even then you¡¯re better off with regular enchantments. The things rune script can do aren¡¯t the same as spells. It¡¯s a lesser enchantment. It would be better to modify your swords aura with aspects.¡± He explained.

    I can do that? Now that I thought about it. I can apply the same life aura using life aspects. Though, a sword that can heal any cut it makes sounds more like a torture device than an actual weapon. What if I used other aspects like fire or momentum!?

    Wait! Why am I chatting with this betrayer!? ¡°I''m still mad at you!¡± I turned around releasing a huff.

    I heard him sigh. ¡°Alright then.¡± He said.

    I was startled, as I felt his rough hands grab me by the waist. My mind raced with a bunch of scenarios I''d seen while browsing Hentaihaven. Back when the website still existed.

    Lucky for me those disgusting thoughts were thrown out the window when my feet left the ground as Mr. Brutus threw me into the air. I must have gone up about 60 feet. The sudden G-force was so awful, as if I¡¯d been thrown around in a rollercoaster. That was until Mr. Brutus caught me.

    While I might have screamed at first. It also got a laugh out of me. He didn''t stop there as he threw me into the air again, and again, and again. After the fifth time, he finally put me down. By then I was all giddy.

    ¡°Here, I got this for you while I was off world.¡± Mr. Brutus handed me a red lollipop.

    ¡°Whoa! Thank you!¡± I said taking it into my hands.

    Pulling the wrapper off I stuffed it into my mouth. The red candy tasted like cherries. My favorite!

    ¡°Hey! How come you¡¯re being nice to him?¡± Said Yuyu. She was off to one side trying to fix the sword I broke.

    ¡°What do you mean? I''m always nice.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    She raised an Eyebrow. ¡°Are you fucking with me?! You basically tortured me during our training, and you never got me any candy!¡± Said Yuyu.

    Mr. Brutus gave my head a soft pat. It felt really good. I even found myself rubbing my head against his palm, like an affectionate cat trying to rub their scent on their human.

    ¡°What the hell is this!¡± Yelled Yuyu, stumping her foot and brandishing the newly refurbished sword.

    The wood appeared to have a scar where it had snapped in half. Almost like the weapon had healed. I wanted to ask about it, but Yuyu seemed kind of pissy at the moment.

    ¡°What do you mean brat?¡± Asked Mr. Brutus as he gently caressed my skull.

    Since Mr. Brutus was here, I didn¡¯t feel the need to flinch at Yuyu''s outrage, so I continued to suck on my lollipop like a baby with a pacifier.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Technically you could call it a pacifier considering Mr. Brutus used it to pacify my anger, but that implied I could easily be tricked with candy. which was not something that was true. Nope, this is not me falling for the same trick again. It¡¯s different this time. It was apology candy. Not kidnapping candy. I made sure this time.

    ¡°What do I mean! You were never like that with me, and if anyone¡¯s a brat, it would be Isaac!¡± She responded.

    I let out a ¡°hey!¡± In outrage. Then immediately took a step back when Yuyu glared at me. Yeah, no. I refuse to get in the middle of samurai vs Kong. I glanced over at Mr. Brutus to gage his reaction as I sucked on my delicious treat.

    ¡°What brat? Are you jealous?¡± He accused.

    I looked back to Yuyu who looked to be shaking in frustration. ¡°I''m not jealous! If you could have been nice this whole time! Then why the fuck are you such an asshole to me!¡± She yelled.

    Mr. Brutus chuckled not giving a real response. This only served to anger Yuyu, throwing her into a rage.

    I felt the hairs on my neck tingle as Yuyu yelled, ¡°Don''t laugh at me you dam dirty ape!¡± Her aura flashed as she powered her wooden blade. The power around her body and weapon ignited with pink plasma, as she went to attack Mr. Brutus.

    I immediately felt the hairs on my neck stand, causing me to jump away from them. Just as a clapping wave of plasma made it¡¯s way through the air, striking Mr. Brutus.

    I felt bits and pieces of rubble pelt my front side just as I landed. I hadn''t even realized my aura had somehow activated.

    With my insane reaction time. I was left wondering if this had anything to do with my sympathy. It was as if I knew something was about to happen.

    The power Yuyu displayed wrapped back around her body revealing a stone statue where Mr. Brutus had been. It fell apart, first revealing Mr. Brutus''s arm. The limb shot forward wrapping it¡¯s fingers around Yuyu¡¯s neck. Suspending her in the air.

    She didn''t even struggle as the earth under her rose up and wrapped around her body. Mr. Brutus then released her, leaving her trapped in the rock, with only her head visible. ¡°That should teach you not to attack your Master.¡± He said.

    ¡°Yuyu! Are you okay!?¡± I ran over to check on her. Her eyes were unfocused. It was like she was staring into space. She didn''t speak. Instead she started making strange gurgling noises.

    ¡°Don''t worry about her kid. She tries to attack me on a daily basis. I didn''t hurt her or nothing. All I did was poison her a little. Her body is paralyzed right now, but she''ll be up and moving in a few minutes.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I climbed up the side of the rock. Then waved my hand over Yuyu¡¯s eyes. ¡°Cool! She''s so calm. I''ve never seen that.¡± I said in amazement. I pulled her cheek to which she didn''t react. All I got was a bit of drool.

    That gave me an idea. I grabbed both her cheeks and forced her lips to curl. ¡°look Mr. Brutus she¡¯s not grumpy anymore!¡±

    ¡°Huh, I¡¯ve never seen her that happy.¡± He was amused by my shenanigans, but only for a moment. His lips went from a slight upward curl to a stoic frown. ¡°You know what¡­. It feels wrong somehow. Maybe you should stop.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± I looked back to Yuyu and realized, He was right. Smiling didn¡¯t really suit her. It was actually super creepy now that I thought about it. A happy Yuyu sounded wrong. The only way that could happen is if a building full of puppies and kitties was burning down.

    I made her frown. This seemed right. Now the fire was put out and Yuyu went to jail for starting it. I love happy endings!

    ¡°Alright, kid. That¡¯s enough dicking around. Lets get some training in while the meat cooks.¡± He said.

    I did a little back flip off of Yuyu¡¯s earth cocoon, landing on my feet. I nearly fell upon landing, but that was okay. I was just testing out my sense of balance.

    Before the ascension, I was capable of all sorts of acrobatics, thanks to my really high dexterity. Now I wasn¡¯t sure. My body was still pretty nimble even without an aura. With an aura I was sure I could reach the same amount of speed and balance I had before. With enough practice, I might even be able to go passed it.

    I went ahead and chewed up the last of my candy. Then threw the lollipop stick into the remains of our campfire. Somehow the small bits of burnt wood were still producing heat, even though there was no visible flame. I think it was similar to the slow burn of a cigarette. ¡°I¡¯m ready Mr. Brutus!¡±

    ¡°Good to hear. Activate that aura and let¡¯s work on closing off those holes.¡± He instructed.

    Nodding I knocked on my dantian and it responded with a flood of energy. As soon as my aura finished cloaking my body, a sudden pressure came over me. Mr. Brutus¡¯s aura was way stronger this time. My shell was really being put to the test. So much so that I had to force even more power into the cycle.

    Thus causing my aura to bleed Qi. Before I knew it my control was back to square one. The more power I added the harder it was to hold onto. It was like trying to contain a storm within a small glass bottle. The more I tried to mold it, the more energy was released.

    This wasn¡¯t right. I focused on compacting my Qi, in an attempt to keep it contained within my meridians. The power was moving too fast causing it to go off track. Next thing I knew, my aura fizzled out, as the power I forced through my body lost its pattern.

    My body fell to the ground as Mr. Brutus¡¯s aura nearly crushed me. It didn¡¯t hurt me. It just felt like I was under another bear. Perhaps an Obese cub this time. It was un-cub-able. No that¡¯s not clever enough, and it doesn¡¯t make any sense.

    I wasn¡¯t in pain. It was¡­ cubearable? Uh, that one¡¯s kind of mid. Besides it¡¯s not that bearable¡­ Wait, was that one a bear pun? Yeah that kind of works, except the situations also not that unbearable, If anything this was more annoying than unbearable¡­ so it was cubnoxious. Oh I like that one! Darn, if only I actually had a cub on my back.

    ¡°Come on kid. Focus that power again. You won¡¯t die, so take your time and work your way back.¡± He instructed.

    I cut off the mass amount of power. Bringing it back down to a thread. It cycled through my body slowly, until I got the pattern down.

    I then added more and more Qi creating the faintest of auras. I still wasn¡¯t able to stand, but some of the pressure was off. Slowly I added threads weaving them into a star. As I did I worked on molding my aura and keeping all my power contained.

    Before I could add more power, I focused on containing the Qi that was already flowing. It was slow, but I worked on it. It was just like Yuyu said. Going from 0 to 100 was a bad idea. I needed to build the foundation first. Then add floor after floor until I have a whole building.

    After 30 minutes of trying, I still couldn¡¯t get to my feet. Mr. Brutus turned his aura off and I felt relieved as all that pressure vanished.

    Standing up I couldn¡¯t help but notice how solid my aura was. It was almost like Yuyu¡¯s, but not as powerful.

    ¡°That¡¯s pretty good. It needs a little more Qi before it¡¯ll be considered level 1, but it¡¯s solid with no gaps. Undo it and try to reform it again. Keep doing that until you can make it happen within a second.¡± He said.

    Make it happen within a second? How! It took me 30 minutes to make this and that was with Mr. Brutus prodding the weak points in my shell. Without that I¡¯ll just be guessing at what needs more coverage.

    Mr. Brutus walked over to where he buried the meat. I went ahead and practiced my aura. It was slow going, but it did feel like I could get the first few layers to form a little faster.

    I practiced the first five over and over. After 10 minutes, I felt as though I could form them in under 5 seconds. These were actually the easiest ones to make. From my calculations I needed at least 50 layers, before my aura became as solid as Yuyu¡¯s.

    My first aura ever had enough power to reach level 1, but it was lacking focus and structure. The aura I managed to mold with Mr. Brutus, had about 23 layers. I had a long way to go. The good news was I could heal myself now, so I wouldn''t die immediately upon waking in the new world.

    I continued to practice only to realize I¡¯d neglected my upper back. I tried to mold my aura so that it covered that area, but it was easier to start over.

    Time went on and it didn''t feel like I was improving. I kept going until finally Mr. Brutus called me over. ¡°Come on kid, it¡¯s time to eat.¡±

    I looked to where he was and saw that he had already lifted the pot out of the hole and was holding a paper plate with what looked like a huge hunk of meat. Simply seeing the reddish dark meat made my mouth go wet with drool. I could see steam coming off of it.

    I made my way over taking the plate. ¡°isn''t it a little too early to be eating such a heavy meal?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Actually for a cultivator heavy meals are important for Qi regeneration. Especially if it''s meat. Meat gives the most regeneration. From now on you¡¯re a carnivore.¡± He said.

    I raised a hand.

    ¡°Yeah?¡± He responded.

    ¡°Can I be a candy-vore Instead?¡± I asked.

    ¡°As a responsible adult I have to say no.¡± He responded.

    I dropped my hand down in bitter disappointment. Had Shadow told this man not to let me gorge on sweets, or was this a universal thing? I¡¯ve never had kids but if I did¡­ I probably wouldn¡¯t let them have too much candy either.

    I was fine with that. I love eating meat. Besides, if I didn''t eat it then Mr. Bear would have died for nothing. Well technically he died so I could live. Without his life force I wouldn¡¯t have learned how to construct a life aura.

    Before taking a bite I thanked the bear for its sacrifice. Using my hand, I tore off a stringy chunk of meat. Then fed it to my mouth. It was a little like beef but¡­ sweeter. The meat was a bit gamey but was pretty good. It definitely had a strong flavor and could really benefit from seasoning. I loved that it wasn''t super dry. I¡¯d give it a 7 out of 10.

    ¡°It¡¯s good.¡± I said.

    Mr. Brutus had what looked like a whole steak in one hand. While holding his flask in the other. ¡°Dam right it is! Don''t you realize I was able to cook it for 8 hours within the span of one!¡± Said Mr. Brutus before taking a drink of his flask.

    ¡°You assholes are eating without me!¡± rock exploded as Yuyu flexed her aura breaking out of Mr. Brutus''s stone hold.

    ¡°Yuyu! You have to try some it''s really good!¡± I said.

    She stomped her way over. I skipped towards her meeting her half way. Once in front of her I presented my plate. She stopped in her tracks, looking annoyed. Then took the hunk of meat in her hands before ripping into it with her teeth.

    ¡°This stuff is better than last time.¡± She said.

    ¡°I finally got the timing right.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°I still think it could use a little barbecue sauce.¡± Said Yuyu.

    ¡°She''s right. It needs something extra for that strong beast taste. It almost feels like I licked Mr. bears prepackaged bath water.¡± I said.

    Mr. Brutus waved me off. ¡°That¡¯s how most fresh meat is. Once you get used to it. It becomes less noticeable. Like the bitter taste of alcohol. If you can get passed it, you¡¯ll find lots of interesting flavors.¡± He said.

    He wasn¡¯t wrong. All beer tasted different. For me it took about a week of drinking before I could make out the actual flavors of beer. After that I finally understood that a lot of people drink because they like it. Not just to get drunk.

    With that I learned to appreciate the flavor of the meat. Eating it made me feel like an adult with mature tastes. Yuyu still had a hard time with it, but continued to eat.

    After our breakfast, or I guess it was more like brunch. Mr. Brutus handed me the previously broken wooden sword. I ran my fingers over the mend job Yuyu did on it. It was solid, but was no longer smooth.

    ¡°Wow Yuyu. You did a good job fixing it.¡± I complemented.

    Yuyu grunted in response. She was still chewing on a lump of meat.

    ¡°Alright kid. You like fighting with swords right?¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°I dabble in all kinds of things.¡± I clarified. ¡°Watched this!¡± I twirled my skirt around and made a ¡°ka-boooom!¡± Noise with my mouth.

    Mr. Brutus looked confused for a second. Then pretended to be hurt by holding his chest. ¡°Oh, no. You got me kid!¡±

    A wave of concern came over me. ¡°Oops! I¡¯m sorry Mr. Brutus. Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll live.¡± He patted my head. ¡°I¡¯m gonna have you spar with the brat. The goal is to improve your efficiency with not only the sword, but fighting with an aura in general. I noticed your aura was all over the place when you murdered that bear.¡± He said.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t murder it! It was self defense!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Same thing. Either way you killed it. Good job. That¡¯s not important right now.¡± He said. ¡°Brat. You know what to do.¡±

    Yuyu had already finished her food and was picking at her teeth with a toothpick. ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡±

    Just like that, her aura flared to life. It was only at level 1 though. It didn¡¯t have that plasma flare like before. I was a little thankful for that. Though, it was disappointing, not being able to see that powerful aura again.

    I focused, forcing my aura to form layer after layer. It was a little faster but once I hit the fifth layer it really slowed down. I managed to get it to twelve layers, before I realized it would take too long to go any further.

    I could probably build it as we spar. I finished it off by forming my blades aura. I tried to do it in layers too, but it was a lot harder and I was only able to get it up to 5 layers.

    Once everything was set. I held the sword out in front of me to protect my vital organs. Funny thing that is. All organs are basically vital. Maybe not the reproductive organs, but who would want to live without those?

    ¡°Begin, or whatever.¡± said Mr. Brutus, before he walked away to tend to the remaining bear parts.

    I went for a downward strike only for Yuyu to hold her blade up with the tip pointing down, diagonally to her right.

    My attack was caught by her sword and slid off its surface completely avoiding her. That¡¯s when she changed her stance. Raising the tip of her sword to the sky and bringing it down for a strike. Her attack landed hitting me on the head.

    It felt like I¡¯d been struck with a limb rather than a stick, causing pain to rattle over the surface of my skull. I immediately dropped my sword and started crying.

    ¡°Ow, Yuyu that hurt!¡± *sob* I held my head trying to sooth the pain. ¡°I don¡¯t wanna play anymore!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t hit you that hard. I even softened my sword for you. See?¡± She held her blade out to me.

    The pink glow looked very fluffy. I tried touching it. It felt like I was holding a soft plush tail. ¡°Wow! You can do that?¡±

    ¡°Yup, now do you know what I did?¡± She asked.

    What she did? ¡°You parried my attack right?¡± I asked. I¡¯d seen that move while watching sword fighting videos.

    ¡°Good job!¡± She gave me a head pat. ¡°Do you know what you did wrong?¡±

    ¡°Ummm¡­¡± I rubbed my two brain cells together. ¡°I froze up.¡±

    ¡°Yup. You didn¡¯t block. You of all people should know, fights don¡¯t end after you hit something. You should have retreated a little and watched for my movements. I¡¯ll give you a quick run down of the basics of sword play. So listen up!¡± She snapped her fingers to keep my attention on her.

    ¡°lots of beginners attack their opponents sword. You need to attack me. Don¡¯t watch the sword. Watch me. The flexes of my muscles. Where my eyes are focused. Even the way I¡¯m breathing can give you a lot of information. Like if I¡¯m tired, or even if I¡¯m in pain. It should tell you everything you need to know about your opponent.¡± She explained.

    I nodded. So in other words I just needed to do what I did best. Sympathize. That was a bit hard to do on command. It¡¯s only happened a few times and I¡¯m not sure how it worked. For now I could simply do it the old fashioned way. Like when I was a kid navigating the social landmines of society.

    We went at it for a while. As we fought I added layers to my aura. No matter how hard I tried I couldn¡¯t seem to strike her. She was too quick.

    What was I doing wrong? Now that I thought about it. Her moves weren¡¯t all that fancy. In fact she wasn''t moving all that much. I on the other hand was moving my arms and twisting my body.

    Her sword struck mine, as I did my best to block her attack. I decided to be more flexible with my moves. Instead of trying to power through like a certain brut. I would strike and abandon my attack the moment it was blocked.

    The same went for blocks and parries. I was always shifting my stance for better leverage. This let me last much longer before the inevitable fluffy bonk on my head.

    I fell back on the grass holding my noggin. ¡°That hurts!¡± I yelled kicking and thrashing on the floor.

    ¡°You¡¯re such a baby. Come on, don¡¯t give up. You¡¯ve already improved a little.¡± Said Yuyu.

    ¡°I don¡¯t wanna!¡± I cried.

    Yuyu poked my tummy with the tip of her sword. It felt funny. ¡°Stop it!¡±

    She did it again as I tried to retreat from her. She continued until one of her pokes squeezed a fart out of me. I felt pretty embarrassed. Yuyu however started laughing.

    ¡°That¡¯s not funny!¡± I yelled getting to my feet and flaring up the aura of my blade.

    ¡°Come fight me then! you''re not getting any cheap shots today piss baby!¡± Said Yuyu holding up her sword.

    I dashed forward for a stab. She flicked her wrist swiping my weapon away with hers. Then went for a Horizontal strike. I held my blade up at an angle shifting the trajectory of her weapon so that it went over my head. Then dropped my blade low and went for an upward diagonal cut. She sidestepped it. Then poked me in the chest.

    ¡°That¡¯s not fair!¡± I said.

    ¡°How is that not fair?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Um¡­ um¡­ I don¡¯t know. You¡¯re a bad guy, so you¡¯re supposed to lose.¡± I said.

    She shuck her head. ¡°Bad guys win all the time. I think Aku just doesn¡¯t like losing.¡± She mockingly suggested.

    I wanted to get mad, until I realized the girl had a point. The anger I felt was coming from Aku. If only my newly adopted daughter wasn¡¯t so attached to me. I hate to say it but she was really getting in the way.

    [System]

    [Princess Aku] I am not! She hurt Snowball and now she¡¯s cheating! Papa beat her up! She has to be cheating! Papa is the strongest!

    [Isaac] I see. I am the strongest, but Yukio knows how to use swords and I¡¯m trying to learn from her. Do you think you can sit back and let me play with Yukio for a little while?

    [Princess Aku] *gasp* that¡¯s so scandalous! I¡¯m telling mama on you!

    [Isaac] Not in that way! Also, don¡¯t tell Alice stuff like that! She will literally stab me!

    [Princess Aku] I don¡¯t caaarre!! You can¡¯t make me play with her!! *tantrum noises*

    [Isaac] Alright, settle down kiddo. What if she apologized?

    [Princess Aku] ¡­¡­. Maybe¡­ I don¡¯t hate her that much. She did help me fall back to sleep and get water, and stuff. Her head pats are nice too.

    I looked to Yuyu. Who in turn was looking at me funny. Crap, did I do something strange again?

    ¡°Did I just watch you have an inner monolog?¡± She asked, smiling from one ear to the other.

    ¡°Kind of¡­ you need to apologize!¡± I snapped.

    ¡°For what? Hitting you? This is training. Everyone gets a little hurt during training.¡± She responded.

    I ran over to where Snowball was sitting. Then brought her over. ¡°For hurting Snowball of course!¡± I held snowball up to her.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! You hurt me real bad! My leg still feels funny!¡± Said Snowball.

    ¡°See! She says her leg feels funny! It probably got put on backwards!¡± I translated.

    This got a laugh out of Yuyu. Which only seemed to anger me more. ¡°Stop laughing! Why are you laughing!? It¡¯s not funny!¡± I yelled as I started a one arm windmill punching spree.

    My tiny fist started to pummel Yuyu, but she kept laughing at me. She dropped her weapon. Then held my arm by the wrist, like how my brother used to do when we were littler. Only less painful.

    ¡°Let go!¡± I pulled, but her aura must have been powering her grip, because I couldn¡¯t break free. That¡¯s when I bit her.

    ¡°Ow!¡± She yelled in pain releasing me. I fell on my back and felt a tantrum coming on as my Qi rushed through me.

    Power erupted out of my body as I screamed. Qi without focus, or reason formed a pillar of blue light that could be seen for miles. The power was raw and rabid. It didn¡¯t last long as my dantian bottomed out. At which point my tantrum sputtered out into kicking and sobbing.

    ¡°Please stop! This is why I never had children!¡± Yelled Yuyu.

    Her loud voice scared me, causing my crying to quiet down into sniffles and whimpers.

    ¡°Alright, I''m sorry for laughing okay. I¡¯m also sorry for hurting¡­ Snowball.¡± She said Snowballs name like she was implying it was ridiculous.

    ¡°You don¡¯t *sob* mean that¡­¡± I cried.

    ¡°Of course I do! Here, let me see.¡± She picked Snowball up. I had dropped her while expelling all my Qi.

    ¡°Don¡¯t hurt her!¡± I cried.

    I watched as Yuyu forced a handful of Qi through Snowballs body. Snowball glowed pink as she started wiggling in Yuyu¡¯s grip. That¡¯s when all the power went into Snowballs leg and vanished.

    ¡°How does that feel Snowball? Do you feel better now?¡± Asked Yuyu.

    ¡°My leg feels pretty good!¡± Said Snowball excitedly.

    ¡°She says she feels better!¡± I translated.

    Yuyu handed her back to me and I gave her a hug.

    ¡°Okay, so are we good now?¡± She asked

    ¡°Yes!¡± I cheerfully replied.

    ¡°You released all your power though. I guess we can practice without the aura part. Your sword skills are non-existent, so it''ll be good if we can beef them up.¡± She said.

    ¡°Yeah, well I¡¯ve spent most of my time playing video games. I might have watched a video or two on sword fighting, but I¡¯ve never actually put any of that into practice.¡± I explained.

    ¡°I noticed. Most newbies tend to go super flashy with their sword strikes. Almost like they¡¯re in a movie or something, but you were a bit more conservative with your movements, even from the start.¡± She explained.

    I nodded then went to put Snowball in a safe place. On my way back I grabbed my discarded weapon. Picking it up I gave it a few swings. Swinging it around without an aura felt strange. There was no real weight to it and it felt like I could snap it in half, if I swung it to hard.

    Even though I had no aura, my body had been enhanced after the ascension. If I still had stats, I bet my stat ratios would be through the roof. A single level in strength would be worth 10 levels.

    Of course those levels were nothing more than the body being enhanced by an aura, so I should be able to reach even higher levels in stats simply by cycling more Qi.

    That¡¯s not even taking into account all the neat aspect combinations I could use to give myself buffs and abilities. I still needed to experiment a little, but for now I had to learn the basics.

    Yuyu started to pick her nose. ¡°I see an opening!¡± I said before attacking her.

    ¡°Bitch please!¡± She intersected my attempt at a swipe. Then brought her weapon down over my head while only using one hand.

    I hopped to the left then went for another strike. Her weapon never struck the ground and instead she pulled it close to block my attack.

    From there I swung my blade over and over again bashing it into hers from multiple angles. No matter how I attacked. She just kept blocking my strikes. The worst part was that stupid smirk on her face.

    I went for a stab, but she avoided it, stepping passed me as I stepped forward. Then spun her body around and smacked me on the butt with the flat of her blade.

    ¡°Ow!¡± I fell to my knees holding my ass.

    ¡°Sorry about that. I might have increased the difficulty by accident.¡± Said Yuyu.

    I understood what she meant. ¡°That¡¯s good. That just means I forced you to try harder!¡± I got excited at the thought of actually getting her to sweat a little.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get cocky!¡± She struck down with her blade, but I rolled out of the way. Then lunged at her for another attack. She avoided it as her body vanished in a blur of speed.

    Realizing what had happened I stopped myself. Then lifted my sword over my head just as she struck down at me from behind.

    ¡°What the hell? How¡¯d you know I was gonna strike you there?¡± She asked.

    ¡°You always go for the head.¡± I responded before spinning around and swiping my sword at her. She jumped back avoiding me, before dashing forward for another strike.

    I blocked it to which she pulled her sword back and swept my legs out from under me. As I fell I thrusts my hand into the ground injecting as many wind aspects as possible into the dirt, while removing the life aspects in the grass. This combination caused a cloud of dirt to explode up into the air.

    Yuyu tried to strike the spot where I supposedly fell only for her blade to hit ground. That''s when I revealed myself just above her.

    ¡°let''s see how you like it!¡± I yelled as I struck her in the head, except I was way more harsh with my strike. So much so that Yuyu fell over and started bleeding from the top of her head.

    I landed on the ground beside her. ¡°oops. Yuyu, you were supposed to block¡­ Are you okay?¡± I asked.

    She didn''t respond. I couldn''t help but notice my sword was broken again, but in a new place. I poked her a few times with the remains. No reaction.

    ¡°Oh, no! She''s dead!¡± I panicked.

    I looked around for any witnesses. Mr. Brutus had left a while ago. My attention fell on Snowball. ¡°What should I do?!¡± I cried.

    ¡°I don''t know! You murdered her! You need to hide the body before someone finds out!¡± said Snowball.

    ¡°But.. no! She was supposed to block. in anime, when the MC trains like this, the teacher never gets hurt they always manage to block or tank it like its nothing! She can¡¯t die!¡± I sobbed.

    I crouched down hugging my knees. ¡°No¡­ not again. Why does this keep happening!¡± I cried.

    Snowball had gone silent as I pondered my next move. I wanted to turn myself in, but I couldn¡¯t do that because that would get in the way of my training and then everyone else would die.

    ¡°Be normal! Why can¡¯t you be normal! Stop hurting people! Stop killing them! I¡¯m so sorry! I didn¡¯t mean it!¡± I rocked back and forth wishing I could just undo everything.

    ¡°You monster! You monster! You monster!¡± I pulled on my hair as tears splashed against my thighs.

    Later

    I was sitting on the grass playing with Snowball when Mr. Brutus finally showed up. By now it was already starting to get dark. My smile and laughter was forced as I tried to come off as normal as possible.

    I couldn¡¯t be here right now so I pretended to be a child. It wasn¡¯t hard seeing as Aku¡¯s soul was still attached, and I¡¯d basically been doing it all day without realizing.

    ¡°Where''s the brat?¡± Asked Mr. Brutus.

    I shrugged my shoulders not really meeting his hidden eyes. ¡°I don''t know. She said something about treasure and ran that way.¡± I pointed in a random direction.

    ¡°Yup, that''s right! Aku totally didn''t murder and bury her.¡± Added Snowball. I covered her mouth and smiled up at Mr. Brutus. It must have been very unconvincing because he became more serious.

    He seemed to mull it over for a second before looking around the area. I couldn''t help but notice he was eyeing the blood stains on the ground and my broken sword. I scratched the dirt between my fingers to exercise some of the anxiety I was feeling. It wasn¡¯t enough as I lightly sobbed and sniffed.

    ¡°You forgot the blood and murder weapon.¡± Whispered Snowball.

    ¡°I know.¡± I cried as softly and quietly as I could.

    Mr. Brutus looked my away like he knew I did something. I tried to smile but it wasn¡¯t working. In the end I had to hug my knees and bury my face in them.

    ¡°Um. that''s ah¡­ p-period blood. Yuyu had a big one right before she left. Real big.¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh. I guess it''s hard being a woman.¡± He said.

    I sighed in relief thinking I was safe. That was until the fire pit exploded as an ash covered hand burst through the once buried metal lid, not only sending the lid flying but also throwing ash and dirt into the air.

    ¡°Aaaaa!¡± I shrieked. ¡°it¡¯s a zombie! This is just like my DMT zombie ex-wife all over again! Yuyu''s come to take revenge on me and start the zombie apocalypse!¡± I cried.

    Zombie Yuyu or Zubu for short started crawling out of the pit. I sprung to my feet flaring my aura to life.

    She was on all fours and was covered head to toe in dark gray ash. ¡°Go away!¡± I yelled as I threw a rock at her head. It hit causing Zubu to grunt.

    That was when her aura flared to life. A zombie with the power of a cultivator? It was really the end. ¡°Oh my Cosmo were all going to die! No! But I don¡¯t wanna turn into a zombie and have to eat people again!¡±

    That¡¯s when the gray ash started to peal itself from Zubu¡¯s body and vanish. ¡°Whoa! Mr. Brutus, look! Zubu is fighting her zombification!¡±

    A moment later I heard. ¡°What the fuck Isaac! You buried me alive you son of an abusive bitch!¡±

    Oh, crap. My imagination got the best of me again. But¡­ she wasn¡¯t breathing, or was that something my mind made up? Didn¡¯t I check her vitals? I did, or did I just imagine I did. ¡°I thought you were dead!¡± I said.

    That¡¯s when Mr. Brutus stepped aside just as Zubu vanished in a blur. An instant later, I found myself in a familiar position. There was a knee pressed up against my stomach and I was staring at the ground for some odd reason. I also couldn¡¯t help but notice, I couldn¡¯t really move around much as it felt like someone was holding me in place.

    My eyes went wide, as It suddenly hit me. ¡°Wait! Wait! We can work this out! I¡¯ll-¡± My cries were cut off by a loud whack. followed by an all to familiar burning sting. ¡°-aaaaaaaah!¡±

 Episode 49: Caterpillar Cloak

    My heart was beating like a Jehovah¡¯s Witness knocking at my door on a crisp Sunday morning. I couldn¡¯t seem to catch my breath. I was tired and felt like taking a break. That would be a mistake. I couldn¡¯t stop now. I won¡¯t stop. I need to get stronger. There was still Qi to be spent. Blood to be spilled and bones to be broken.

    Releasing a long winded breath, I pulled thousands of Qi strings from my dantian. Focusing and braiding them together into a thin stream. This insured I could fit a large amount of Qi into my meridians without losing strands.

    The power surged within the ley lines of my body causing microscopic eruptions of Qi and corruption through each of my gates. The power weaved itself into a star, creating a perfect circuit as it chased its own tail.

    The circulation of Qi began to generate an energy field around my body. Layer by layer it came together. I was quick in condensing each sheet of power into a hard but flexible cloak as they continue to stack themselves atop one another. Can¡¯t afford to mess up. Can¡¯t afford to lose more time. Squirmy was still to strong.

    The layers pressed together, forming a solid wall of protection and enhancement. Already I could feel my body becoming lighter than a feather. Lighter than air. With my aura in place, I positioned my right leg behind the other. Orienting myself for take off, my eyes narrowed on Mr. Brutus.

    He was just standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. His aura was unseen, but I could still feel it trying to crush me into the ground. It was as if it was apart of the world itself.

    Taking another thread of Qi, I forced it into my right leg. Then started to condense it under my foot. Mr. Brutus showed me how to use Qi pulses. They were little waves of Qi that mixed with surrounding aspects. This created a strong reaction, similar to a controlled explosion.

    I¡¯d done it before but with essence instead of Qi. Back when I blew up all those roof tiles in that fight with Boner¡¯s group.

    The ground erupted in a cloud of dust as I released a powerful pulse of energy under my right foot. The force sent my body forward nearly breaking my leg in the process.

    As I rapidly approached my target, I swung my right fist sending out another pulse through my arm. Mr. Brutus held his big meaty palm out stopping my attack. The release of energy didn¡¯t even make his arm shake as the power dispersed through his uncaring limb.

    It was like trying to shatter a giant meteor with your bare hands. That was expected though. I used my other hand to grab him by the wrist. Then molded the outer energy around my hand to rotate and cling to his skin. This let me move up the side of his arm like a cockroach skittering up the back of your throat after accidentally drinking it.

    I slid around his right arm to his shoulder blade. The big ape tried to grab me with his other slightly less meaty hand, but I¡¯d already made it to the center of his back. With his muscles I¡¯d be surprised if he could reach me.

    I hit the breaks on my caterpillar aura. Leaving my arm stuck to his back. This let me take all the momentum and feed it into my right leg. Twisting my body I slammed my leg into the side of his head. The aura around my limb had swelled reminiscent of a hammer.

    Pulsing, my kick managed to cause Mr. Brutus¡¯s head to tilt a little. That was the first solid hit I¡¯d gotten ever. I was so happy that I forgot I was in the middle of a fight. The man reached again grabbing me by the leg.

    I felt panic as my body was swung around like a numb chuck. Then flung forward. That¡¯s when an earth wall popped out from behind me stopping me from flying any further, as my back cracked against its rocky hard surface.

    I opened my eyes gasping in pain, only to see Mr. Brutus¡¯s knuckles coming right at me. There was no time to block or move out of the way as his fist became a solid brown blur.

    Lucky for me his karate-like punch missed, pulverizing the wall instead. The whole thing exploded into super thin dust on impact. Not getting hit didn¡¯t stop it from being scary. I found myself on my knees as dirt textured sand rained over me.

    Mr. Brutus held the side of his head where I landed my kick. Then rubbed it. ¡°Not bad kid. Your fighting style has evolved from your street Boxer origins. That was a solid kick. You shouldn''t have stopped though.¡± He said.

    My eyes had become somewhat watery. My heart continued to pound on the last door holding the tiny bit of sanity I had left. I was sure my heart would rip it¡¯s way out of my chest like a little alien parasite, and start dancing its way out into the forest. How many near death experiences was I going to have on this world?

    My thousand-yard stare vanished as my eyes snapped to Mr. Brutus. I glared at him for a second before breaking down. ¡°Mr. Bruuutttuuuuus.¡± I cried. ¡°That was so scary. Can¡¯t you be more gentle?¡± I begged. I couldn''t even stand since my legs felt like jello. My body trembled like I¡¯d been sitting on a washing machine all day.

    I kind of missed Zubu and her fluffy head bonks. Too bad she was all butt hurt. I didn¡¯t even get to apologize properly before she stormed off to flower mountain. She is so dramatic!

    Also, my butt still hurts. Even though I used lots of healing aspects I could still feel it burning. What the hell did she do!? It¡¯s like I had a deadmans curse or something.

    She even took all the toilet paper. Now I have a rash in my no-no square and it burns to pee. It all started to pile up causing more tears to spill. I shouldn''t be crying. I should be training, but I was so tired and my butt hurt. I miss Shadow. I wanna go home.

    Mr. Brutus gave my head a soft pat. ¡°I can''t be gentle with training. We already tried that, remember? You thought it was a game and didn''t take it seriously.¡±

    I shrunk a little taking a more defensive posture. Fixing my eyes on the ground, I started fiddling with my fingers. ¡°Yeah but¡­¡± I squirmed. ¡°That time it was a game. You said we were gonna play and even threw me in the air and stuff.¡± I pouted.

    The giant sighed. ¡°Can you stand?¡± He asked.

    I didn''t want to, but I tried anyway. Using my arms I tried to support my legs, but my body was still feeling strange. I shook my head not really meeting his gaze. The man sighed again before lifting me up and carrying me like a toddler.

    I was starting to like being carried. It reminded me of when I¡¯d pretend to be asleep in the car, so mom or dad would carry me inside. Though, I think it also depended on the person and their intentions. If it was Zubu or Shadow I¡¯d probably squirm and complain.

    Whenever Mr. Brutus was near I always found myself sniffing him. You would expect him to smell like booze all the time. Sometimes he did, but a lot of the time he just smelled like soft dirt.

    It wasn¡¯t that farfetched to blame it on his cultivation or affinity. I bet it all got converted to Qi somehow. I reached up and touched his fuzzy beard. It was a nice beard. Very manly and well kept. Almost like he brushed and washed it recently.

    Mr. Brutus was nice enough to let me play with it sometimes. Right now though he looked a little annoyed, but that was okay since he was only going to carry me to that tree over there.

    He sat me down next to Snowball and my backpack. ¡°Alright, take a little break and we¡¯ll start back up again in a little bit.¡± He said.

    I nodded before pulling Snowball into my lap. ¡°Mr. Brutus, when¡¯s Zubu coming back?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I doubt she¡¯ll come back here. Not only did you burn that bridge. You cut the trees down and salted the ground on the other side.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    My guilt started to bead up over my chest. ¡°But¡­ you can make her right?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. How about you show me that aura again.¡± He said.

    My eyes locked with what I thought were his. I wanted to keep pushing, but clearly he didn''t want to go get her. I wasn¡¯t sure why. It''s not like he cares about how she feels. There''s no way he¡¯s protecting her from me. It''s not like I was going to hurt her. I just wanted to apologize.

    If I had a phone, I¡¯d probably text her super long paragraphs and leave hundreds of long bipolar messages on her voicemail, until her inbox was full. You know, nothing harmful¡­ I wonder how long it would take to train a Rum Robin to deliver messages?

    Our little staring contest wasn¡¯t going well. I couldn''t hold his gaze as my anxiety crept up on me, so instead I nodded giving off a fake smile.

    Closing my eyes I called my Qi to action. Within a second I managed to create 20 solid layers. It took another 5 seconds to get it up to 30. The next layer would take a whole minute so I capped it there.

    ¡°Nice. Now show me what you did to move around me like you did.¡± He said.

    I showed him my arm and started to reshape the surface of my aura. Along my arm was hundreds of little tiny spikes. ¡°It¡¯s like how spider legs work, only more like a millipede''s legs. Watch.¡± I said as the spikes started to move across my aura. They were like little ocean waves.

    ¡°Your aura is so flexible. Makes it easy to do this.¡± He flicked my forehead causing my aura to shatter.

    My Qi was still flowing, but my aura had fallen apart. No good. I cut the power. ¡°Not fair Mr. Brutus! You know I can harden it too right?¡± I said.

    ¡°Auras come in layers. You can make the outside flexible and the inside hard.¡± He explained.

    Layers. That¡¯s how I¡¯ve been doing it so far. Maybe I should harden the first 20 layers and leave the rest flexible. Worst case scenario I can harden the whole thing for a quick defense boost.

    He was about to walk away when I asked, ¡°Mr. Brutus are we done learning stuff? We¡¯ve been working on my aura for the past two days. It¡¯s already day 4. Isn¡¯t there something else you want to show me?¡±

    He seemed to think it over before answering. ¡°Your aura has improved quite a bit. Your ability to mold it so creatively, is also pretty interesting. It¡¯s not quite level 1 yet, but you aren¡¯t far off. The only thing left to teach you is to cultivate. I was going to let you master your aura first, but introducing you to cultivation might be a nice way to take a break from aura training, while still being productive.¡± He said.

    I understood. When you work on something without breaks you tend to get tunnel vision. Best thing to do in that situation is to work on other things and come back later with a fresh perspective.

    ¡°That''s how I get stronger right?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yeah, that''s how you grow stronger. As cultivators we gather essence and refine it until it becomes Qi. Then we feed that power into our sparks.¡± He explained. ¡°You''ve seen your spark right? That thing that produces your Qi?¡±

    I knew of it. Even though my dantian was half full, I could still see that spark at its center. It glowed brighter than the Qi it produced. ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Good. That things the nexus point for your meridians and gates. When you rest, energy is collected there. When you eat, food is naturally converted into energy. When you exercise aspects are released from your gates. Do you understand?¡± He said

    ¡°I get it. My body is naturally designed for energy to flow through it and gather in my dantian.¡± I said.

    Mr. Brutus nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right kid.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s cool and all but I¡¯ve been wondering about affinities? How come I don¡¯t have that? I want to shoot fire out my butt.¡± I said. My Qi felt like it was a perfect mix of everything. I couldn¡¯t even make out the individual aspects involved.

    ¡°Right now, you have what is called null Qi. It¡¯s not necessarily a none affinity, because it¡¯s frequency is based off of you. Your body shape and soul. Think of it like Isaac aspects¡­ or Aku aspects, I suppose.¡±

    I nodded just as he continued his explanation. ¡°This is normal for someone who¡¯s just ascended into the lower spirit rank. Usually once you open your first gate. You unlock your affinity. For some it takes a little bit of time before it manifests.¡±

    ¡°So my affinity will unlock soon then. Considering this isn¡¯t my real body it won¡¯t happen here. Especially since time in the new world is running super slow. Zubu told me how your cultivation worked. Does that mean I¡¯ll have to switch to something different once my affinity unlocks?¡± I speculated.

    ¡°That depends on you. You could create your own, or keep using the same one, if the affinity is easy to find that is. For now I can teach you the standard cultivation technique, so that you can get a feel for it, but once that affinity manifests. You¡¯ll need to figure out where to get the right aspects. You¡¯d better hope it¡¯s not a difficult affinity to cultivate. Otherwise you might need to make an aspect farm.¡± He explained.

    ¡°What¡¯s an aspect farm?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Some cultivators gather different aspects and create constructs within their bodies that generate aspects for cultivation. Think of it like a generator producing electricity. Only instead of electricity its aspects. Of course these aspect farms when paired with methods of energy refinement are known as cultivation techniques.¡± He explained.

    I think Zubu has that issue. ¡°Is Zubu¡¯s affinity like that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Kind of. She needs plasma aspects. She can''t just pull in the individual aspects. She would need to combine them first before taking them into her body.¡± He said.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell her that. She was under the impression plasma aspect was tier 1. You could have really helped her.¡± I said. He really was being mean to Zubu for no reason.

    Mr. Brutus sighed. ¡°Yukio isn¡¯t a good student. She sees me like her enemy and refuses to use me like a resource. She doesn¡¯t trust me. Everything she knows is stuff she figured out while fighting with me. You know, back when she came to this world. She was about the same size as you. Cute little thing.¡± He said.

    Considering how slow we age that was really telling. Mr. Brutus probably tried explaining things to her, but she wouldn¡¯t listen.

    Since cultivation is the last thing Mr. Brutus teaches. It only makes sense he never really got to that point with Zubu.

    Then again if it was me, I probably wouldn¡¯t be so keen on learning from Mr. Brutus. Considering he and Cosmo were responsible for killing all of Yukio¡¯s friends and family.

    Still¡­ just because I wouldn¡¯t be happy about it, didn¡¯t mean I would sit around sulking. Nope, I¡¯d use them to get strong enough to where I can kill each and everyone of them. That made me wonder. Would it ever come to that?

    I shook my head. Now¡¯s not the time for such things. Squirmy first. ¡°Teach me then.¡± I said.

    ¡°Sure. It could be dangerous so let''s take it one step at a time. It''s not difficult, so you should be able to get it right off the bat. Start by gathering aspects from all over. Like you did before.¡± He said before pulling out his flask and taking a sip.

    ¡°Okay¡­ can I have some of that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No... Maybe later if there¡¯s time.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°You said that last time too. Also, how come I can¡¯t have candy but alcohol is okay?¡± I complained.

    ¡°last time you had candy you buried the brat, remember?¡± He tapped his temple with his index finger causing me to flinch at the memory. ¡°Also, if I let you drink alcohol it¡¯ll only be to learn how to create a cleansing aura.¡± He explained.

    That made way more sense now. ¡°Fair enough.¡± I shrugged in defeat.

    ¡°Stop yapping and get to work gathering that essence.¡± He instructed.

    I pouted and started the preparations. Closing my eyes I plucked a few strings of Qi. Then redirected them to my eyes. The spiral shape only took a few seconds to form. As soon as it did the world and most of its hidden parts became known to me.

    I wonder if the world ever got embarrassed from having people like me or Mr. Brutus x-ray it¡¯s clothes off? I¡¯d be pretty terrified if someone could just choose to strip me whenever they felt like it.

    Zubu did that to me the other day when she made me wash up in the river. The cold water was awful. I only wished I could have pushed her in. If it wasn''t for all the yelling she did I would have fought back, but she was really scary.

    The only thing that really made me uncomfortable was the joy she got from throwing me back into the water. I could have drowned. Especially since I don''t know how to swim.

    ¡°Focus Isaac. Now isn¡¯t the time to get distracted.¡± Scolded Mr. Brutus. His words made me flinch again.

    I started by identifying all the different aspects. It was a hell of a lot easier with all the knowledge I¡¯d acquired. The whole process only took a few minutes and once I¡¯d found each and everyone of them, I took half.

    I didn¡¯t want to over do it because it felt greedy. Like I was ripping away a vital resource from the world. Take to many life aspects and the grass dies. Take to many wind aspects and you get pelted with angry wind. Take to many heat and cold aspects and everything slows down.

    The energy gathered in a spiral-like motion. It all coalesced into a ball of random aspects floating within the grasp of my pudgy little palms.

    The temperature within the sphere was constantly flowing. I felt pockets of cold popping up all over. It was also a bit prickly like static, but soft like water. The essence swirled in my palm reminiscent of a bottled storm.

    It was like I was holding reality in my hands. The sphere reminded me of a small snow globe. Except instead of an underwater town covered in tiny white flakes. It was full of angry little bees of varying different colors and frequencies.

    Once I felt like I had enough, I cut the flow and thanked the world for providing so much.

    Canceling my Qi sight, I opened my eyes to the beautiful swirling mass of essence. It was pretty big considering I only took half of the resources in the area. It was probably due to the fact I could identify more aspects now.

    Mr. Brutus was seated in front of me. In a crisscross apple sauce position. ¡°You have a good collection of mostly everything. You even took some life aspects without murdering the remaining plant life.¡±

    By remaining plant life. He meant the grass I hadn¡¯t destroyed while using my aura pulse take off and the stuff he broke when moving earth around.

    I guess Zubu also did some damage there when her aura basically exploded into fire and lightning. Let''s not forget all the life aspects I''ve been using to heal my broken bones and ruptured organs.

    ¡°Thanks, I try¡± was all I said.

    ¡°Now comes the dangerous part. I want you to draw that power in and cycle it through your body. Only do half though.¡± He instructed.

    ¡°You want me to breathe fire?¡± I asked cutely tilting my head.

    ¡°It wont be like last time. Last time you over did it by taking in so many aspects. You didn¡¯t even use the Qi to cultivate all you did was release it into the world while filling your body with corruption.¡± He said.

    ¡°Right. So from what you told me so far. I¡¯m supposed to filter this stuff using my bodies natural filtration system. Then feed the Qi into my dantian?¡± I speculated. ¡°What about the corruption?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why you¡¯re only taking in half of what you gathered. Then you and me are going to spar afterword¡¯s. You¡¯ll feel a little sluggish like you just ate one too many greasy burgers in a row, but once you get your blood pumping it¡¯ll cause the corruption to make its way out through your gates.¡± He said.

    ¡°Does it matter that most of my gates are closed?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Not closed, more like clogged. Corruption can still leak out, but at a much slower pace.¡± He explained. ¡°Now get to work.¡±

    I nodded. Then started to pull the essence into my body. It was a bit nerve racking as it all started to enter my meridians.

    The power felt like back before my ascension. This was the original power source my body used. Despite that it felt so wrong. Like sugar in a gas tank. It was so different from Qi. Like the difference between fire and turtles choking on plastic.

    Quintessence by comparison was even stranger. There was no way I would have been able to make the connection between essence and quintessence without Qi. Even then it wouldn¡¯t have been obvious.

    I let them cycle through my magical highway. Slowly but surely the aspects began to strip away from the quintessence. I also couldn¡¯t help but notice a very small amount of quintessence was being funneled into my soul.

    that teeny tiny minuscule amount was enough to greatly reduce the few threads of Qi I managed to get out of the essence I took in. I hadn¡¯t even tried to feed the stuff into my soul. It was like I had no control over it.

    There really wasn¡¯t much Qi there, and the amount of quintessence left within those few strands might as well have been zero. Not even enough to build a swing in my inner world.

    Mr. Brutus must have been using Qi sight because a moment later he said, ¡°Now take that Qi and feed it into your nexus point.¡±

    I did just that forcing the power into my spark. As soon as it went through I was met with a new sensation. Something I¡¯d never felt before. Like taste or maybe sound.

    It tasted like sweet freshly baked bread, sounded like a reverberating bell chime, felt like a soft warm sweater right out of the dryer, on a cold winter morning. It looked like a fire work but more watery in the way it drizzled down, also kind of like a plant in the way it grows.

    It smelled like purple. Which was strange since I had no idea colors had their own scent. It was even stranger when you realize I¡¯ve never smelled purple before, but somehow could still identify the scent.

    ¡°Whoa!¡± I yelled. My excitement didn¡¯t last very long as all of a sudden my body became super heavy. I also felt really tired. Like I¡¯d just pulled an all nighter and got zero sleep.

    ¡°There it is. Come on kid get up. We can¡¯t let that stuff settle otherwise you¡¯ll feel even worse later.¡± He said as he pulled me to my feet.

    My body really didn¡¯t want to stand up. It felt like I could curl up and fall asleep. That¡¯s what I wanted to do, but I had a feeling that Mr. Brutus would do something drastic if I were to close my eyes. Instead I eyed him while sprawling myself out on the ground like a dead raccoon on the side of the road.

    That¡¯s when Mr. Brutus took control of the ground again, causing it to cling to my body. Despite my protests the dirt forced me to stand. Oh, no! He knows necromancy! I felt like I could kill Mr. Brutus for forcing me to do stuff.

    This was probably how the undead felt when necromancers forced them to get out of bed and help them move into their new apartment.

    ¡°Come on, don''t be lazy kid.¡± He started by making me do a few jumping Jack¡¯s. I absolutely hated it!

    ¡°Whaaa! I don¡¯t wanna! Let me sleep!¡± I whined.

    ¡°No, no. Come on get that body moving. Attack me.¡± He said giving me back control.

    With my weight back on my legs they became wobbly and unstable. I nearly laid back down then and there. That was until I heard an elongated scream from across the cosmos. Back there¡­ where my body was slowly dying.

    The scream¡­ it¡­ wouldn¡¯t¡­ stop¡­

    I couldn¡¯t afford to waste so much time whining and complaining about things that didn¡¯t even matter. The only thing that mattered was my strength, and right now it was nothing compared to that overgrown bug.

    So what if I was tired. So what if my body was sore. So what if I hadn¡¯t slept more than 2 hours since Zubu left. I should try complaining to all those people I doomed to a fate worse than death.

    Their cores will be tortured, torn, and used to create even more of those things. I¡¯m sure those people will understand if I say that I¡¯m tired. Yeah fucking right! My resolve hardened along with my stance.

    Taking a deep breath, I concentrated on the sluggishness I was feeling. Somehow, the more I focused the worse I felt. It was like when I was little and I wished for the world to slow down and stop spinning. The laziness spun, causing me to become dizzy and nauseous.

    I cycled my Qi which in turn caused the corruption in my body to cycle once more. This made me feel pretty good. I created the 30 aura layers making sure to form the first 20 to be as solid as steel.

    My avatar became coated by a thin but dense layer of fuzzy blue energy. Taking a deep breath I prepared myself for battle. Then dashed forward.

    My fist slammed against Mr. Brutus¡¯s palm again, so I exploded another pulse under my right foot. Then used the momentum to kick his arm up into the air as my body performed a back flip in the process.

    As soon as my foot touched the ground, another pulse exploded under it allowing me to move forward into Mr. Brutus¡¯s mid section for a fully powered punch.

    That success was short lived as Mr. Brutus turned his body avoiding me. He then slammed his knee into my exposed gut. This caused my aura¡¯s 10 outer layers to shatter. Even though my first 20 were still in tacked. I still felt pain.

    The forward momentum I¡¯d created was interrupted by the sudden knee in my gut. Causing me to flip through the air and land on my neck. There was a loud crack followed by a horrific and intense mix of pain and numbness.

    Unable to move, my body fell on it¡¯s side. ¡°You''d better fix that before you accidently die. Unlike the brat this is the most I can hold back. That''s why I had you learn that healing aura first.¡± He said, before taking a sip of alcohol.

    As he drank one of the rum Robin¡¯s came down onto his arm and started pecking at the flask. He shooed it away with his free hand but it kept bugging him like it had a death wish.

    I quickly added in some life aspects from what remained of the patchy grass. My aura took on a white glow instantly snapping my neck back into place.

    ¡°That hurts!¡± I yelled.

    ¡°I told you to start adding in apathy aspects.¡± He responded.

    ¡°You never showed me how!¡± I retorted.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I? Huh. Must have slipped my mind. Alright, well let¡¯s learn a little about 0 tier aspects since the corruption in your body is mostly purged.¡± He said.

    I wanted to punch him in his perfect manly beard, but there was no way I¡¯d get a lucky hit like that in. Instead I sat up and released a breath of frustration.

    His knee really took a lot out of me. Even though I was so determined before fighting an over powered gorilla really took it out of you. I was expecting my life aura to fix everything, but it couldn¡¯t fix burn out.

    No wonder Zubu hated this guy. ¡°Okay, so what¡¯s this about 0 tier aspects?¡± I probed. This was a good chance to recover a little and learning new things was also pretty productive.

    Productive in a ¡°knowledge is power¡± sort of way. Not in a ¡°I will break my bones until they are stronger than steel¡± sort of way.

    ¡°Carful there kid, you¡¯re starting to sound like the brat.¡± He cautioned.

    He had a point. There was no reason to get angry over things like that. I was here to learn everything I could. Not complain about everything I disliked. Besides, this body was temporary, so it didn¡¯t really matter how beat up it got. ¡°Sorry Mr. Brutus. That last hit really hurt.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d imagine so. Now, where should I start¡­ so you know about the normal tiered aspects like the tier 1 wind aspects such as hydrogen and oxygen. Now I need to teach you about the 0 tiers. 0 tiers aren¡¯t that simple. They¡¯re concepts. You¡¯ve already associated with a few.¡± He explained.

    That made my ears perk up. ¡°I have?¡± I asked in surprise.

    ¡°You did it a moment ago kid, when you healed yourself.¡± He said.

    ¡°But¡­ those were just life aspects.¡± I said.

    ¡°Think back to when you fought breakfast. Remember when I told you, you needed to not just stuff your aura with life aspects. You also had to imagine yourself healing?¡± He said.

    A white rock lamp went off over my head and I finally understood what he was getting at. Concepts. ¡°Healing is a concept isn¡¯t it?¡± I said.

    ¡°Bingo! That¡¯s right healing is a concept. It exists within the water aspect too. However it¡¯s far more abundant within life aspects. These concepts exist within nature, however the enlightened such as you and me have captured them under the labels of words. Such as healing.¡± He said.

    ¡°That¡¯s so cool!¡± I said excitedly.

    ¡°By labeling the healing aspects we gave them a concept. A foot hold in reality. Thus creating the aspect itself. Now when primal energy filters through the concept of healing, it becomes healing aspect.¡± He explained.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know labels could hold so much power. That¡¯s insane. Is it like that old myth about names giving you power over people?¡± I asked.

    Could this mean anyone that knew my name had power over me? I remember when mom used to use my full name I would freeze in place like when I¡¯d catch dad eating birthday cake out of the fridge at 2 in the morning.

    ¡°Not in the way you think. Names can make you powerful, or they might turn you into a monster. It¡¯s your footprint on reality and the more famous you make it the stronger you¡¯ll be. They say names like that can change reality around the person that owns them. Whether by striking fear in the hearts of people or inspiring them.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°So it¡¯s more about your names reputation? That¡¯s lame. I thought it would be more magical.¡± I complained.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it? A name can do all sorts of things. People can fill names with power simply by imagining the stories associated with them. Just look at little Aku in your chest. She wasn¡¯t real yet she still managed to become a mortal simply by your thoughts alone. Even that centipede gained power by burning itself into your mind. You were their foothold in reality.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    It was kind of like a Tulpa. Or a Tsukumogami. The Tulpa was a collection of mental energy. The Tsukumogami was more like an object coming to life due to old age. I bet it has to do with the same mental energy I used to create Aku and empower Squirmy.

    Names were basically the same thing. They gave people a target to focus their mental energy. Was it like a form of cultivation? A cultivation that gathered quintessence instead of Qi. The whole religion thing was starting to make sense now.

    Names were truly powerful and scary things. It made me wonder. What would the mention of my name bring. Hope¡­ or despair? I didn¡¯t want to think about it. ¡°Okay, no more. Where do apathy aspects come from?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s the secret kid. It¡¯s all around you. Reality doesn¡¯t care about the people that live in it.¡± He said.

    I was left thinking the same words I¡¯d always known. I couldn¡¯t hold it back as I mumbled them aloud. ¡°The universe doesn¡¯t care about me.¡± It was as if the words couldn¡¯t wait to enter the world and torment me.

    Just like that. The very aspect we were talking about flared to life all around me. It¡¯s like they were waiting for me to acknowledge the truth. That I was nothing. That my existence was not necessary, and that I was useless.

    There was something wrong with these aspects. They almost felt¡­ personal. It was like my experience with life was put into them. I could see myself getting my ass kicked. I could see my brother bullying me. I could see myself separating my emotions from the world. Separating myself from reality.

    The 0 tier aspects were concepts. Only by understanding them can they become real. My understanding of apathy was far too great. Thus creating a huge abundance of them. Had I really put so much work into not feeling anything? So much so that the aspect became so prevalent. The hell was wrong with me.

    Well, it wasn¡¯t hard to understand that concept. Its not like the world cared about me, so what reason did I have to care about it. Actually it felt like the universe got a kick out of my suffering.

    That brought a thought to mind. If the universe didn¡¯t care about me. Then I could really die for no reason at all. What if it decides that it¡¯s board and just leaves, forgetting about me completely?

    I looked off into the distance and saw hundreds of giant eyes darting from one side to the other. Almost like they were methodically reading a book. Blinking, they went away making me wonder if they were ever real to begin with.

    I let out a breath and got to my feet. Creating a thin 5 layer aura, I injected apathy aspects into it. Immediately I stopped caring about a lot of things. I was still tired and sleepy, but could now ignore it. It was like the good old days before Aku¡¯s emotions got in the way of everything.

    The scream from across the cosmos no longer hit as hard. The guilt I felt for what I did to Zubu lost its edge. I was focused as all distractions gave way to absolute apathy. To absolute focus.

    ¡°Okay, should we go again?¡± I asked, ready to throw myself into training. To forget about the weight on my shoulders.

    ¡°I got a better idea. How about I teach you some kata that¡¯ll help you gather aspects. It could come in handy, and might even give you a better understanding of essence.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I nodded.

 Episode 50: Cuddles And Nibbles

    -Cosmo-

    The lore keeper was sweeping the courtyard. She used an Imbue spell to give the broom properties of wind. Thus greatly improving it¡¯s reach and power. This allowed her to sweep giant sections with only a few strokes.

    It was a neat trick, but someone as powerful as her could easily drain the aspects out of the petals and reduce them to nothing.

    The truth was she found the activity somewhat relaxing and fun. After all, the next batch of new mages wouldn¡¯t be delivered for at least another month. This left the lore keeper with little to do.

    Moving my entry point I opened a portal behind her. Passing through, I gave the lore keeper a hug. As soon as my arms wrapped around the green haired mage, I felt a sudden increase in heat. So much so that it felt like my skin was pressed against a hot stove.

    ¡°aaaah!¡± I screamed, detaching myself and rolling on the ground. ¡°What the hell lady that burns!¡± I glared at her, only to notice her body was covered in a glowing red flame. It was a magical aura.

    Sure, It was nice to have, but was in no way as flexible, or as focused as the aura of a cultivator. The only thing that made it useful was the fact that it was easier to create and maintain.

    ¡°Lady Cosmo. How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that! Just because you are a young goddess doesn¡¯t mean you get to be immature! And what¡¯s this I¡¯m hearing about you selling disgusting videos and photos of yourself on the Ethernet! You should be ashamed young lady! Honestly, what would lady Amaterasu say if she were here?!¡± Scolded the lore keeper.

    ¡°How did you find out about that!¡± I panicked.

    She pulled out her ether phone and showed me a bunch of my photos. ¡°Master Brutus sent these to me. He has a bunch more just like them. Shame on you child! Shame!¡±

    My cheeks went red as I covered my face. ¡°That dirty ape! I¡¯ll kill him, and reincarnate him as a toilet!¡± I rose up from the ground ready to murder that fucking brut.

    ¡°Calm yourself. He has done nothing wrong. You are the one changing the legend of your name. Do you really want to be known as the goddess of cheap porn?¡± Said the lore keeper.

    ¡°Don¡¯t say it like that! It¡¯s a very respectable job nowadays. You need to get with the times grandma!¡± I fought back for some breathing room, but she kept coming.

    ¡°How many credits have you made?¡± there was no anger in her voice. In fact she sounded pretty genuine.

    Too bad I really didn¡¯t want to answer that question. ¡°Well, you see¡­ there¡¯s a lot that goes into these things, like advertising. You have to post samples on social media and things¡­ also you need to take account for inflation and¡­ global warming?¡±

    ¡°What!? What does global warming have to do with anything? You know that¡¯s just a scam made by the rich to sell electric cars.¡± Said the lore keeper.

    ¡°Global warming is real! In another ten years the sea level will rise and take half of all land masses on every world!¡± I yelled.

    ¡°They¡¯ve been saying that crap for over 10,000 years. Also the same rich assholes that preach it are the same ones buying beach front property.¡± She said.

    ¡°Well then, agree to disagree.¡± I responded. There was no changing her out dated views.

    The lore keeper sighed. ¡°Why are you here? Don¡¯t you have multiple worlds to look after?¡± She said.

    ¡°I got a short window of free time. Now Where is my baby Isaac?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Brutus carried him off into the forest. I¡¯m a little worried though. Yukio went out there and came back very upset.¡± Said the lore keeper.

    I felt my blood run cold before asking, ¡°You let that monster drag my baby into the forest without supervision!?¡±

    The lore keeper shrugged her shoulders. That¡¯s when the conversation stopped as I heard laughter coming from the entrance.

    ¡°Higher!¡± I heard Aku¡¯s voice, and soon saw the little guy simulate flight somehow, as his little pudgy baby body rose up from an unforeseen place. I felt a pang of worry, so I rushed over.

    Isaac fell back down to the ground and as I approached I finally realized what was going on. It looked like the giant gorilla was tossing my baby up in the air and catching him.

    ¡°Hey, stop that! It¡¯s super dangerous!¡± I yelled.

    This caused the brut to stop and look my way. ¡°What, were just playing. Ain¡¯t that right kid?¡±

    Isaac crawled up from the gorillas arms and onto his shoulders. He then wrapped his legs around the brutes neck while putting the top of his head into a headlock. Brutus played along putting his hands on Isaac¡¯s legs ¡ª as if he were actually chocking ¡ª and allowing the little gremlin to tilt his head slightly to the side. ¡°I wanna ride up here for a bit.¡± Said Isaac.

    ¡°What is this? Are you two getting along?¡± I asked in shock. While Brutus was the best choice for Isaac¡¯s teacher, I was also hoping Isaac would come running into my arms after spending so much time with the brut. The whole thing went in a completely different direction and now for impossible reasons, Isaac was super attached to Brutus.

    ¡°Mr. Brutus is a lot of fun and he has a cool beard too!¡± Said Isaac.

    I hadn¡¯t seen Isaac in a few days. This world was protected from those types of things, so the only way to get a look at the situation was to show up in person.

    Seeing how happy he was made me smile and feel all warm inside. ¡°Why don¡¯t you come over here for a bit?¡± I opened my arms waiting for him to jump into them, but it never came.

    ¡°I¡¯m good.¡± He responded. It was so disappointing that my heart nearly broke in two.

    ¡°Come on, I came all this way to play with you.¡± I begged.

    He shook his head hurting me even more. This was so unfair! Why was the brut so much more preferable than me! I''m soft! I¡¯m cuddly! I can be fun!

    That''s when Brutus reached over and plucked the child off his back. Isaac seemed to see it as a game playfully shrieking. ¡°I like you kid, but I''m tired of babysitting you. Go with the lady for a while so I can relax.¡± To Isaac¡¯s disappointment he was handed over to me.

    I was still a little hurt, but holding my baby mended my heart nearly instantaneously. ¡°Hi there! How are you?¡± I bounced little Isaac but he wasn''t all that enthusiastic about it.

    ¡°Put me down, I¡¯m married!¡± He cried out. It wasn¡¯t what I wanted to hear, but it wouldn''t be Isaac if he wasn''t loyal to Alice. I just continued to co and baby him for a bit. Seeing him embarrassed and squirming was satisfying in a different way.

    Later

    We were all seated in one of the vacant rooms. Brutus was sitting on the floor leaning against a wall. While I sat on a pillow beside a small table, with little Isaac on my lap. He kept trying to get away, but I wouldn¡¯t let him. I was only gonna be here for a few hours and I wanted to make the most of it.

    ¡°That kimono looks so cute on you!¡± I gushed.

    ¡°it¡¯s nice.¡± Responded Isaac.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m glad you like it. I got you some other clothes with the same enchantments.¡± I generated a small portal connecting to my personal pocket dimension. Then reached in and pulled out a new outfit. This time I went a little more casual. It was a simple pink top and Blue skirt. I even got Isaac some socks and a pair of shoes.

    He looked them over. ¡°These are nice too, but can I get some pants?¡± He said.

    ¡°Of course not. Your way to cute to have your potential wasted like that.¡± I said before tickling him. He let out some giggles as I played with him.

    This was just what I needed after so many countless hours of work. I could feel the stress melt away with every little giggle. ¡°Stop it! I''ll pee on you!¡± He threatened.

    ¡°Oh, do you need to use the little girls room? You should have said so.¡± I teased. Isaac always liked to cut it close.

    ¡°I need to use the little man''s room, yes!¡± He corrected. That little correction caused me to laugh. It seemed to make Isaac even more upset so I cut it short in an attempt to spare his feelings.

    ¡°Okay, but make sure you come back here. I want to see your progress.¡± I let him go, releasing him into the world. He was about to run off, when I handed him the new clothes.

    ¡°Make sure to change into them. That kimono is a bit worn.¡± Isaac was doing the pee, pee dance as he vigorously nodded and took the clothes. He quickly scampered off running passed the lore keeper as she brought in a tray of tea.

    ¡°My goodness! Slow down child before you fall!¡° Said the lore keeper.

    I could already see Isaac falling over and peeing all over the floor. It just seemed like the most Isaac thing to do. I¡¯m sure he''ll be fine. I looked to Brutus who seemed to be heavily nursing his flask.

    ¡°How did it go?¡± I asked.

    The lore keeper put the tray down on the table, before taking a seat across from me. She poured some tea into what I assumed was my cup. I then added some sugar cubes to it. Along with honey and a little bit of milk.

    ¡°Was it really that bad?¡± I asked when I realized the big oath wasn''t talking.

    He shook his head. ¡°The opposite actually. That kid soaked up cultivation like a sponge. All he needs is a little more refinement.¡±

    I was surprised to hear how well it had gone. Today was day four. Though it was already getting dark.

    The lore keeper raised her eyebrow. ¡°That¡¯s pretty impressive. It¡¯s not like it hasn¡¯t been done before, but the percentage of disciples that manage to do it are pretty low. Then again Isaac does have a time limit, so he may have felt pressured into rushing it.¡±

    ¡°Hey Brutus, what were the results? Do you think Isaac can do it? Can he really kill that demon?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Hell if I know. The kid is very resourceful and flexible when it comes to problems. If not he can at least keep a bunch more people from assimilating.¡± Said Brutus.

    ¡°I see, so what¡¯s the plan for him going forward. Will you be helping him refine his techniques?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I don''t think so. Best thing to do is hand him off to the lore keeper.¡± He responded.

    Both the lore keeper and I stopped to look at him. ¡°What can she teach him?¡± I asked.

    The guy took another sip before answering. ¡°Magic of course. The kids been staying up late casting spells in the middle of the night. So far he¡¯s only used fireball, but he can cast it within a minute. Sometimes it¡¯s a perfect cast. Other times a puff of smoke. The formation takes a few seconds. The gathering of aspects is where he struggles.¡± Said the brut.

    I almost couldn¡¯t believe him. How could a lower spirit rank with only one gate open cast spells. It was so impractical yet Isaac somehow managed to train the skill up to where he can successfully cast magic within a minute.

    That was unheard of. Then again, I¡¯ve never heard of a cultivation disciple trying to train up their casting skills. Isaac seemed to already know the runes, so he not only had a starting point. He also had a head start. Maybe I should let more cultivation disciples learn magic.

    I''m sure the water cultivators would benefit off of a simple fire spell when out in the wild. Fire cultivators could also benefit from having access to fresh water. Any other cultivator with rare affinities would benefit from both types of magic. Even a simple light spell would be handy.

    ¡°Are you serious?¡± Asked the lore keeper.

    ¡°Deadly. The kids got some casting talent. If only he''d become a mage instead. Whatever you do, don''t tell him. The last thing we need is for it to go to his head.¡± Said Brutus.

    The lore keeper seemed to mull it over. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say talent. More like willpower. Anyone with the willpower to keep practicing and stay focused can learn anything at an accelerated rate. Though¡­ I do believe you are right at not telling him how well he is doing. Putting those ideas in his head will only distract him.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense, my baby is a genius.¡± I said.

    ¡°Your wrong. I¡¯ve seen his kind before. They learn slowly but with their focus and determination they can grow rapidly within a few days. Talent can only get you so far. Hard work will always surpass talent.¡± Said the lore keeper.

    -Aku/Isaac-

    I ran into the nearest bathroom. It looked strange. There was some kind of white thing that looked similar to what toilets were made of, but different. It almost looked like a Japanese toilet, but not quite the same. You definitely needed to squat to use it.

    I couldn¡¯t hold it anymore so I did my business. Even though it burned, I also felt great relief. For a moment there I was sure I wouldn¡¯t make it. Especially since I had no idea where the restroom was.

    It was time to get dressed. I started by stripping down to an embarrassing blue pair of underwear with little white dolphins all over it. Then put the clothes on one article at a time. It felt nice to wear modern clothes. The shoes especially felt really good. Walking around in wooden sandals was starting to get annoying.

    I tried hopping up and down to get a feel for my new footwear. Then got excited when I saw the side of them light up. ¡°Wow! I haven''t worn light up sneakers in years!¡± The footwear felt so good. So solid and grippy.

    That¡¯s when the door opened. Zubu finally showed her face. ¡°Zubu! Hey!¡± I said excitedly. I must have looked really silly jumping in place with light up sneakers.Stolen story; please report.

    She quickly closed the door. That made me kind of sad. Was she still mad at me? I needed to apologize.

    I tried to go after her, but as soon as I opened the door she was nowhere to be seen. I felt like crying again, but held my tears back. Now wasn¡¯t the time. Cosmo was here to visit. While she annoyed me to no end, I couldn''t say I actually hated her.

    The Aku in me would say¡­ She was really good at tickling. Unlike Shadow, she didn¡¯t dig into my ribs. While it was fun it was also a little scary because I was never ready for it. It was a surprise every time.

    The Isaac in me though¡­ he''s¡­ I''m a little more cautious. She did kidnap a bunch of us and forced us into a crap situation. Maybe once I kill squirmy I can at least get her to send The Raiders home. The issue was I had no leverage in this situation.

    This was too much to think about. It didn''t help that I was tired. When did I sleep last? I think I took a nap not that long ago. Can¡¯t let the tiredness take over. I need to keep pushing. One problem at a time.

    Cycling some Qi I created a one layer aura. Not enough to be noticed, but just enough to stuff a few apathy aspects in. I was immediately met with relief as my problems became less urgent.

    I still felt a need to fix them, but it was no longer overwhelming. I wish I learned this forever ago. Like when I had all those anxiety attacks.

    It could have really come in handy. To bad I couldn''t use it while sleeping. Seeing as I had to concentrate in order to keep the Qi flowing.

    I ran back to that room. As soon as I entered I heard Cosmo gush over me. She rushed to my side and got a closer look. ¡°Wow, I knew it¡¯d look good on you.¡± She started straightening my clothes as if I¡¯d dressed myself wrong.

    ¡°Its fine.¡± I complained as I tried to push her hands away. It¡¯s not like I had the skirt on my head or something.

    ¡°How about I fix up your hair. I still think you look precious in pigtails.¡± She said.

    I shook my head. ¡°No, it¡¯s fine.¡± I whined.

    ¡°At least let me brush your hair.¡± She ran her finger through my dark chocolate strands. ¡°Yeah let me¡­¡± she waved her hand as I felt a familiar chill come over my body. There was no mistaking that blue light. She just used cleanse on me. ¡°I''m fixing your hair.¡± She produced a brush out of nowhere.

    She wasn¡¯t going to stop so I let her. I sat myself in front of her with my back facing her. She ran the brush through my hair getting rid of all the knots. I couldn¡¯t help but notice my butt was no longer itchy or sore.

    Maybe I did have a bacterial infection. Cleanse usually fixes that sort of stuff. I felt pretty good all of a sudden and even gained a rush of energy. Like feeling good after overcoming a cold.

    I didn¡¯t dislike having my hair brushed, but it was still pretty strange having a literal god do it. Through the whole ordeal she hummed a happy tune. It sounded familiar and that¡¯s when I realized it was the opening theme to TEO. I hadn¡¯t heard it in a while so I started humming the same tune. This seemed to delight the goddess.

    ¡°Alright, that should do it.¡± She announced. I was about to go sit on my own pillow when to my disappointment she pulled me back on her lap.

    I only needed to endure this for the rest of the day. Then she¡¯d leave and I¡¯d be completely free for¡­ I don¡¯t know, a few days. Till I need to go fist Squirmy in the butt.

    To my dismay she continued to gush and make baby noises. It was really getting on my nerves now. Even Aku was getting tired of it. Once our minds synced up the decision was made.

    We waited for an opening, and as soon as we found one, we took it by biting her. She screamed as expected, but that¡¯s not what I cared about. It was the sweet release of her grip I was most looking forward to. To be honest hearing her in pain brought me a little joy.

    I quickly dashed away from her. Running on all fours and zigzagging around the room. I then laid myself down next to the tree lady forming the best Aku loaf I could.

    The lore keeper stroked my hair. It felt pretty good. That¡¯s when Cosmo realized what had happened. ¡°What the ????! Why can¡¯t you be affectionate with me!?¡± She whined.

    Was that filter back again?

    Mr. Brutus chimed in with, ¡°Isaac¡¯s like a cat. Give him to much attention and he¡¯ll bite and ignore you.¡±

    I sat up. ¡°Hey! I¡¯m not like that at all!¡± I complained. This seemed to get everyone to laugh at me, only embarrassing me more.

    ¡°Okay, enough of that. Let¡¯s get to the reason I came here. Sweetie do you think you can show me that aura of yours?¡± Said the crazy goddess.

    I sighed and stood up. ¡°kay<3¡± I happily replied. I would love nothing more than to change the subject.

    I refuse to be thought of as a cat. That would make Shadow¡¯s mothering more¡­ strange. Like she had actually given birth to me or something. I shook my head at the thought.

    ¡°Isaac baby? Are you in there?¡± Asked Cosmo, trying to snap me out of my imaginary prison.

    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m on it!¡± I said. More Qi began to cycle through me creating a star pattern within my meridians. I could feel that same fuzzy cloud again, as I formed layer after layer until I had 43 of them stacked on top of one another. I actually managed to form a level 1 aura before, while fighting with Mr. Brutus, but that took time.

    ¡°Good job!¡± Cheered the goddess.

    I felt a wave of joy rush through me from being praised. This caused me to giggle and sway. My reaction only seemed to make Cosmo even more giddy. She rose to her feet causing my body to naturally tense up.

    ¡°Don¡¯t freak out. I¡¯m only going to check your aura.¡± She said.

    I began to feel silly, so I dropped my guard. She slowly approached and put her hands on my shoulders. Her delicate fingers sunk through my aura as if sinking into a puddle of water.

    This wasn''t something normal. When ever Mr. Brutus pierced my aura it always shattered no matter how gentle he was.

    Uh¡­ what¡¯s going on?

    All of a sudden the atmosphere in the room changed. Reality was¡­ shifting. The lighting seemed to have more of an eerie feel to it. Was I having another anxiety attack? This was different somehow. I tried to figure it out, but couldn¡¯t put my finger on it.

    Cosmo¡¯s demeanor had become more serious. She squeezed my arms and ran her hands over my entire aura. It felt odd. Like I was under a microscope. Even Mr. Brutus felt off. Like he was also feeling the same¡­ whatever vibe I was getting. the lore keeper didn''t really react. She simply continued to take small sips from her tea cup.

    Somehow I found myself missing the clingy gushy goddess from before. This person was more akin to a surgeon than a divine being. It felt like her fingers could easily reach inside my chest and squeeze my heart. What the hell was this?

    For whatever reason I had goosebumps running along my entire body. There was something really wrong here! When did my mouth get so dry? Was this¡­ dread? But why, how? Where was the threat!

    And then¡­

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter kiddo?¡± Asked the goddess of only fans.

    It was so hard to answer, but I managed anyway. ¡°Am I¡­ real?¡± The words opened a whole new level of fear as if I¡¯d just gotten the attention of an ancient sea creature, miles under the ocean. For a moment it almost looked like my body had the joints of a doll. That quickly went away when I blinked my eyes.

    Cosmo frowned. ¡°Darn¡­ so you saw through me already.¡± She took a step away pulling her hands out of my aura. I could see a mix of fear and disappointment etched on her face.

    For a moment it felt like the world had stopped, as if her word had just confirmed something for me. We are not the same. I shouldn¡¯t have said anything. This was a huge mistake.

    Paralyzed, I could no longer breathe or move. Then an emotion came through. One I wasn¡¯t expecting in this situation. Loneliness, and frustration. Except it wasn¡¯t coming from me, or my newly adopted daughter. It was from Cosmo.

    Seeing this confused me, so I dug a little deeper and saw a frizzy haired girl, pressing wet sand together on a deserted island.

    The sand sculptures were reminiscent of people. Mostly just their heads. The girl would talk to them like they were her friends. Then the tide would come in and wash them away.

    This left her feeling sad. Like she¡¯d been abandoned again. She started using mud to make more statues and kept them away from the ocean. They got more elaborate as time went on.

    The girl would decorate them with rocks, shells, and stringy plants. It was hard to watch as she tried to hug one of her creations only for it to crumble. She started to cry and quickly became angry.

    She screamed then began to break all the mud statues to pieces. A day later and she was back to rebuilding them and muttering how sorry she was.

    The girl eventually grew into a teen. Then there was another person. It was a really pretty woman. She had a glow to her. Like the morning sun. Warm, welcoming, and most of all nurturing.

    She helped the girl off the island and even raised her to adult hood. Then the woman disappeared and the girl was lonely again. That¡¯s when she started to make worlds and real people.

    The souls were fragments of her own soul. She pumped them full of quintessence until they ascended into the mortal rank. At that point she befriended them.

    But¡­ with time they would realize what they were. There was panic, anger, and especially dread. The girl would then detach herself from them. She¡¯d cut them loose onto the world''s she had created.

    There they would thrive. Striking their souls together to create offspring. Their bodies designed to create life after the creation of a soul.

    They were her friends, until they weren¡¯t. Oh. I guess finding out you were stitched together by her just to fit the role she needed was pretty terrifying. At least that was kind of how I felt.

    I started to find other emotions in the room. Pity from the lore keeper and a similar dread within Mr. Brutus. Now that I thought about it. He had been drinking a lot since Cosmo showed up. He hadn¡¯t put his flask away once. I''m pretty sure he hasn¡¯t even cultivated.

    I tried to calm down and even managed to take a long breath. I am Isaac Smith yet this woman pulled my soul out of my original body and turned me into¡­ this. Was I¡­ her toy? Her plaything¡­ Her Snowball...

    I¡¯m Isaac Smith. I am not a doll.

    I wanted to question her. To get angry and tell everyone I was a real person, but I could still feel what she felt and somehow. That changed things.

    If I was trapped alone on an island. I¡¯d probably do something similar. Was she alone though? She had friends now, right? What about the pantheon? The lore keeper?

    The loneliness in her core told me otherwise. The more I thought about it, the more godhood sounded like a burden. Imagine being the one responsible for building an entire world just so you can make a friend.

    No matter how many of us she creates she will never have a real friend, because they''ll all run away the moment they become aware. That thought somehow eclipsed my anger causing both Aku and I to feel sorry for her.

    ¡°Sorry. I¡¯ve tried to be kind and gentle, but after you¡¯ve dismembered and reassembled one too many people. It leaves a stain. The reason you feel the way you do. Is because I was the one that put you together. Your heart, your soul, your eyes. Every bone, every organ was stitched by me. I know it¡¯s pretty scary for someone to know every inch of your being, but there really isn¡¯t any helping it. Everyone figures it out eventually. I just wish you hadn¡¯t figured it out so soon¡­ I need to leave.¡± She almost seemed to be in tears.

    The goddess stared off somewhere. My feet wouldn¡¯t move, so I molded my caterpillar aura and inched closer to her. Then using my aura like puppet strings I wrapped my arms around her as best I could.

    She stared down at me in surprise. ¡°What are you doing? You don''t have to be nice. I won''t remake you just because you hate me, or run away in fear.¡± She said.

    I thought about infusing apathy aspects into my aura, but that wouldn¡¯t hold as much weight as simply doing it myself.

    She wasn¡¯t all that scary. So what if she put me together. I¡¯ve grown a lot since then. She cant take credit for the person I am now. That would be like a parent feeling entitled to their kids money just because they birthed them. My aura vanished. ¡°You looked really sad.¡± I said.

    She made a strange noise before forming actual words. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid?¡± She questioned.

    I shook my head ¡°Nope, why would I be afraid of the goddess of only fans?¡± I sassed.

    ¡°What! I told you to forget about that!¡± She lifted me by my armpits like she was trying to hold up a cat.

    I felt my legs swing under me and for whatever reason Aku thought it was a game and started laughing.

    ¡°You deserve that.¡± Said the tree lady.

    After that the lore keeper and Mr. Brutus began roasting the goddess left and right. After all that abuse I was surprised she didn''t start crying.

    The goddess let me play games on her phone. There was this one I really liked where you buy cars and fix them up. Once you sold them you could then take that money and buy more cars.

    When I got to a dress up game, Aku pretty much refused to play anything else. It was cute, so I let her have fun. She got lots of adds for other games and ended up downloading most of them. However I had to put my foot down when she started watching the brain rot that was cocomelon.

    Eventually the lore keeper decided it was time for dinner and brought out a delicious rabbit stew. It was a pretty big pot. She sat it on top of a towel to protect the table. Then served everyone a bowl.

    There was all sorts of vegetables and the broth was super thick and creamy. ¡°Wow! This looks so good! Mr. Brutus why can¡¯t you cook like this?¡± I said.

    The man in question shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Meats all I need. My Qi makes up for the rest.¡±

    ¡°Wait! Are you telling me you¡¯ve only been feeding Isaac meat this whole time!?¡± Yelled the goddess.

    ¡°I killed a bear!¡± I added before blowing on a spoonful of stew.

    ¡°You did what!?¡± Cosmo sounded a lot like my mom when she found out I almost got hit by a car while playing soccer.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I just broke a few bones, but I healed up nicely. Though my arm makes a funny sound when I do this.¡± I said, before extending my arm out and hearing a pop.

    Cosmo glared at Mr. Brutus like he¡¯d just peeled chicken nuggets. I felt a little bad because I didn''t know that would get him in trouble, so I turned my charm up sliding my stew over to Cosmo. Then scooted over.

    She eyed me questioningly. I just smiled. ¡°Feed me!¡± I demanded.

    Her anger quickly vanished. ¡°Oh, of course sweetie!¡± Gushed the goddess.

    She lifted up a spoonful of stew. Then blew on it for me. I watched as it touched my lips and went into my mouth. It was a little embarrassing, but it was the only way to fix my blunder. Also Aku seemed to really enjoy the treatment.

    I¡¯d said those things as a joke, but Cosmo didn''t find them funny. Now I had to suffer for probably the rest of this¡­ friendship. Since any time we ate together. She was now going to want to feed me. Well at least Mr. Brutus was fine.

    ¡°Hey! What about Zubu!¡± I panicked.

    ¡°Who?¡± Asked Cosmo and the tree lady.

    ¡°The kids talking about the brat.¡± Bruted Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Oh, Yukio is eating in her own room. She¡¯s been studying since she got back.¡± Said the lore keeper.

    ¡°That girl is studying? When did she clean up her act?¡± Asked Cosmo.

    ¡°When she got back from helping Isaac with his training.¡± Answered the lore keeper.

    ¡°What¡¯s she studying?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Most likely she¡¯s looking for a way to develop a new cultivation technique.¡± Said the lore keeper.

    ¡°New? Like one developed by her own two hands?¡± I asked.

    The lore keeper nodded.

    ¡°Is she still acting like a follower to Ama?¡± asked Cosmo.

    ¡°Yeah, blasphemy and all. She really dislikes you.¡± Said the tree lady.

    Cosmo sighed. ¡°Yup, that¡¯s why she isn¡¯t here. Too bad I wanted to see that cute tsundere face of hers. Well¡­ more like tsun.¡± Cosmo and I both laughed but it seemed like it went over everyone else¡¯s heads.

    Was it really Cosmos fault she wasn¡¯t here? ¡°Actually, I think she¡¯s staying away because of me.¡± I said sheepishly.

    I felt a head pat as Cosmo rubbed my head. ¡°Kiddo, whatever you did to her is nothing compared to the beef she has with me. Trust me.¡±

    I wanted to tell her the crap I pulled, but dropped it there. Regardless of the amount of beef we all had with her. I still hurt her, and that was unforgivable.

    After the meal, Cosmo had me follow her outside. The lore keeper tagged along. I really liked how you could see the stars out here. Though, I couldn¡¯t really recognize any of them. Not that I was into astrology or anything, but I''ve always been able to point out Polaris whenever I star gazed.

    ¡°Okay Isaac.¡± Cosmo leaned towards me, putting her hands on her knees for support. ¡°Can you cast a fireball for me?¡±

    ¡°Oh, sure. I can do that!¡± I got excited again ready to show off my skills. I started by gathering the necessary aspects. It took me a minute or two.

    With a thought I reached out and formed the circle followed by the runes. Each rune lit up like a fire work and pretty soon a glowing star appeared floating near the center of the magic circle. It was the size of a baseball.

    The goddess pressed her lips. ¡°it¡¯s a little small.¡± She said.

    ¡°I could have made it bigger, but I didn¡¯t want to waste a lot of time gathering aspects.¡° I replied.

    ¡°Your formation is well made. Though the aspects aren''t quit right. I think you did a splendid job. For a low rank cultivator with no training in magic.¡± Said the tree lady.

    ¡°Okay, Isaac. Fire it off into the sky. I think it¡¯s time you went to bed.¡± Said Cosmo.

    I wasn¡¯t sure how late it was, but I was really tired. My entire body felt spent and with the stew in my stomach. I felt like I might be able to sleep normally tonight. If I cant fall asleep. Then I¡¯ll just have to power up my apathy aura and keep training. Maybe once I work myself half to death I¡¯ll finally be able to rest.

    ¡°kay<3¡± I answered before firing the spell into the sky. It went about 50 feet before disappointingly turning into a puff of smoke. I almost cried when it didn¡¯t make a boom.

    Cosmo then to my dismay, lifted me up again. ¡°Where¡¯s your stuff?¡± asked the goddess.

    ¡°Mr. Brutus hasit.¡± I let out a yawn.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get it.¡± Said the tree lady, as she walked away.

    Mr. Brutus had stuck my backpack in his cube thingy. Snowball was in there too. He didn¡¯t want me to drop her while I was being thrown up into the air. I could see her tumbling all the way back down the stairs.

    Eventually I got my stuff back including Snowball who was mad at me for leaving her in Mr. Brutus¡¯s cube. Apparently Mr. Brutus kept dirty socks in there that smelled really bad. I had to apologize on the spot, which made Cosmo laugh at me.

    The goddess carried me into an empty room. The tree lady brought me a futon, pillow, and blanket like last time. I was ready for a long rest. Well, as long as Morpheus allowed it.

    Cosmo helped me get my PJs on. Commenting on the cute blue underwear I was wearing. I just wanted her to go away.

    ¡°Oh, how did this happen?¡± She asked poking her fingers through the holes in my PJs and into my tummy.

    I knew this had been done by the bear, but I didn''t want to get Mr. Brutus in trouble so I lied. ¡°I fell.¡±

    She seemed to take it at face value. ¡°Poor baby.¡± She gave me a quick hug and kissed my forehead. ¡°No! Don''t do that!¡± I cried rubbing my forehead. She apologized.

    I crawled into bed soon after that and was hoping the goddess would leave already. Sadly for me she didn''t and instead started to pat the blanket right over my chest.

    I wanted to be mad but it was kind of soothing. Almost like when my mother would help me get to bed when I was sick. With the delay of rest I¡¯d gone through, It didn''t take long for my mind to fall to darkness.

    -Cosmo-

    ¡°Why do you baby him like that?¡± Asked the lore keeper.

    I was still patting Isaac even though he was already asleep. ¡°Two reasons.¡± I said.

    ¡°And what might those be? Entertainment? Did you lose a bet perhaps?¡± Asked the lore keeper.

    I almost laughed but held back to not wake Isaac. ¡°One, Isaac and Aku are both adorable. And two¡­ his childhood was cut short. I just want to try and fill up some of that hole left behind. He didn''t deserve to have his development stomped into the curve like that.¡±

    ¡°Do you really think babying him now will make a difference?¡± Asked the lore keeper.

    ¡°I don''t know, but I feel the need to tip the balance of scales.¡± I responded.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how much you try. That child will grow to hate you regardless.¡± Said the lore keeper.

    I almost snapped at her, but stopped myself for Isaac¡¯s sake. I didn''t need him waking up. Not when he had clearly been ignoring sleep. She walked away leaving us alone.

    Apathy auras were dangerous, but I didn''t blame him for trying to ease his pain. He had a world to save after all.

 Episode 51: Flowing River

    -Isaac-

    It was early in the morning. I was standing on our hotel balcony in a long-sleeved white shirt and a pair of blue boxers.

    The view of the city below was amazing. I couldn¡¯t believe I agreed to this honeymoon thing. The city known as Venice was like stepping into another world.

    The water filled canals almost made it look like the city had flooded. I couldn¡¯t help but feel like this trip had been wasted on me. I wasn¡¯t very adventurous. I hadn¡¯t even explored my home town all that much.

    The whole thing made me feel nervous. Instead of it feeling like a relaxing vacation the whole thing made me anxious.

    I nearly scratched my hair out as I thought about all these nerve racking things. I was unworthy of this. Alice¡¯s parents should have just kept the money instead of funding the trip.

    My mind started to race. I now had an obligation to have fun and experience everything the city had to offer. Then report it all back to our family and friends. It sounded so tiring. I wish I could just crawl into bed, but I needed to smile and take lots of pictures. Somehow this vacation had become a chore.

    That¡¯s when I felt someone¡¯s arms wrap around my waist from behind. ¡°Morning Izzy.¡± And just like that my thoughts faded away. My mind consumed by absolute happiness.

    Having fun suddenly didn¡¯t seem that hard. ¡°Morning Alice.¡± I turned around and kissed her.

    With my arms around her I easily picked her up causing her to shriek, and laugh. Carrying her back to the bed I laid her down and continued to kiss her. She kept mumbling something about not having brushed her teeth, but I didn''t care.

    I wanted to stay by her side forever and ever. Our time together was cut short all of a sudden. When I heard the distorted screeching sounds of my demon roaring out from across the void. Piercing through the foggy cloud of my dreams.

    -Aku/Isaac-

    I woke up again for the fifth time that night. Sitting up my eyes adjusted to the dark room. I was so tired of having my dreams interrupted. I wish I could get my hands on some heroine to erase reality.

    That was one way to do it. It was effective that was for sure. I still remember that cold inky dark emptiness that came with the drug. No dreams, no nightmares. Hell, It wasn¡¯t really sleep. It was nothingness. Like vanishing out of reality.

    No¡­ that¡¯s what I used to do. I¡¯d rather not go through that again. Getting to my feet I decided to get the day going. It was probably 3 maybe 2 in the morning. That didn¡¯t matter.

    Lorie was most likely still in bed. Which meant training wouldn''t be until later. Still, just because my teacher wouldn¡¯t be in for another 3-7 hours didn¡¯t meant I couldn¡¯t study independently. I can practice other things. My aura still needs work. Maybe some meditation will help calm my brain.

    I was so tired though. My muscles sore from all the training. I took a deep breath and began to craft my apathy aura. I gave it five layers for extra power. Then glanced at the clothes neatly stacked in the corner.

    I didn¡¯t want to wear them. I¡¯d cosplayed enough. Wasn¡¯t there any other clothes I could wear? There had to be. People have been coming in and out of this place for years. There had to be some clothes left behind.

    Putting on my light-up-sneakers, I left the room and went on a little¡­ adventure. I was pretty good at stealth and with my Qi sight I could keep an eye on everyone. Moving around with them was still challenging since I hadn''t adjusted my body to the over stimulating sight. Now was as good a time as any to work on that.

    It looked like Zubu was still asleep. The lore keeper was also out cold. Mr. Brutus however. He was nowhere to be seen. He always left in the middle of the night.

    During our time together I found out he actually rents a loft somewhere on another world. I could only imagine his landlord trying to charge the big guy rent. Only to be so intimidated that Mr. Brutus lives rent free. Not just in the loft, but their head as well.

    Since he can travel back and forth between worlds. I wouldn¡¯t blame him if he wanted to sleep in his own bed. After moving room to room. I finally managed to find what I was looking for.

    This room had a bunch of clothes in it. It was mostly kimonos and yukata, but there was a few clothes that looked more modern. Possibly left behind by other worlders after ascension.

    The issue was there wasn¡¯t very many clothes in my size. When you ascend you shrink, so it would make sense that any clothes left behind were usually for adults. My thought was, they had to have some clothes for people that turn into children after ascension.

    Surely enough I managed to find some clothes that looked like they might fit. I had to continue wearing the pink light up sneakers, but I wasn¡¯t that upset about it.

    As an adult I could never pull it off. People would probably call me a creep, but in this body it was a non-issue. I could also tell Aku really liked them and besides, breast cancer was still a thing. Pink light up sneakers were nothing more than a neon breast cancer awareness sign.

    I should start collecting donations for the advertisement fee. That could get me so much rent money. Like six and a half months tops.

    I ended up wearing some snuggly fitting blue jeans and a green long sleeve shirt. It felt great to finally wear something I could really move around in. By that I meant not worry about flashing my underwear, which I was starting to think happened a lot, but no one ever said anything, so I pretended not to notice.

    I shut off the rock lamps by turning a little nob on their side. It turns out the white rocks are called frostlyte. Cosmo said they were mined off a world full of dwarves.

    She also said that frostlyte burned when exposed to oxygen. Turning the nob exposed the rock to air causing it to light up. It was pretty cool.

    The rocks didn¡¯t even produce heat. In fact they were colder than ice and could still burn you if you touched them. Apparently you need special gloves to hold one. They can also last a few years, depending on their size that is.

    I headed back out into the courtyard. The pink trees all seemed to have a ghostly glow in the moonlight. For some childish reason, I felt like a bunch of ninjas were about to pop out of the shadows.

    Instead of taking a fighting pose and fighting imaginary ninjas, I ignored my intrusive thoughts and headed off to the middle of the courtyard. That¡¯s where I sat down and started to gather up aspects. This was mostly to see what sort of aspects were in the area.

    Just like I thought, the aspects on the mountain were different. For one there was a calming energy through out the courtyard. It almost seemed like life aspects.

    Or better yet, It was like life aspects just not the whole thing. This seemed like a tier zero aspect clinging to, not life, but water. The trees themselves gave off so many different aspects. They were why the mountain felt so chill.

    I tried not to drain them and only focused on the extra stuff in the air. After a few minutes I¡¯d gathered enough to start, but there was something odd. It looked like I¡¯d come across a new aspect.

    I thought I was gathering light aspects from the moon, but it didn''t feel like that. The light aspects felt more gentle than the ones I got from fire, or the sun.

    It was soft and soothing. Light at a different frequency. Would it be called moonlight aspect or maybe just moon aspect? I wasn¡¯t sure, but I liked it. It was refined light. Pure and gentle. If sunlight was a warm blanket. Then moonlight was a clean and cool bedsheet.

    It was time to take the power in, so I got to my feet expanding the aspects I¡¯d gathered into a sea of multi colored stars. The aspects surrounded me on all sides. I gave them a little spin so that they wouldn¡¯t fade into the area.

    From there I began to practice the kata Mr. Brutus showed me. As I performed the motions, my body caused the floating essence to mimic my movements. It was as if my body was conducting an orchestra, directing the aspects into a dance.

    I didn''t force it. Instead I opened myself up to the aspects. With the guidance of my body, they rushed in. Even within my body the kata continued to lead.

    The power cycled through my meridians as if it were preprogrammed. The energy refined itself turning into pure Qi. The corruption slowly made its way out of my body, as my exercises guided them out.

    Everything was in perfect harmony. Perfect flow. Once I really got into the flow of things my kata began drawing in even more aspects from the surrounding area.

    They began to dance around me causing the lose petals to glide and spin in the air as they traveled. It was like I had control over the fundamental forces of the universe.

    Mr. Brutus said this kata allowed everything to flow through me. It was like a swimmer moving through water using his arms to cut and push their way through. Instead of water though, it was the aspects that inhabited reality. Both in my body and out.

    Moving the aspects outside my body caused the ones inside to be pulled along for the ride. Like getting caught in an underwater current. I was cultivating and purging my body of corruption at the same time. Mr. Brutus said this method was call Flowing River.

    My nexus point greedily gobbled up any Qi that came in its path. It had grown brighter ever since I started feeding it. I noticed my Qi recovery rate had also gone up by a tiny bit. The density of my Qi strands had also increased.

    Once the density of the essence in the area was low, I cycled my Qi and began working on my level 1 aura. The sun wouldn¡¯t be up for a while, so I had a lot of time to train.

    Sunrise

    With my eyes closed, I focused on maintaining the spell. Before me was an orange magic circle with a ball of fire floating in the middle.

    It wasn¡¯t exactly round and the size kept changing. At some point it started to release black smoke. I don¡¯t understand why it¡¯s so unstable.

    Was it the runes? Were they not drawn right? The tree lady said the formation was good. They also looked fine to me. Besides I¡¯d tried several times to change them around. That only made it worse.

    I don¡¯t get it. The spell was so unstable. The only thing holding it together was my intent. Maybe I should have kept training with Mr. Brutus. I still had three days to learn everything I could. By the end I bet I could master my aura and maybe even come up with better aspect combinations for new auras.

    For example, I figured out that using earth aspects with the intention of defense made my aura harder. Mixing water aspects with it gave it an even better defense. Sure it sounds strange but hear me out.

    When it comes to the hardness scale, diamonds are pretty hard, but this also makes them brittle. That''s why steel is so good.

    Steel is not only hard, it''s also resilient. It can absorb energy. Water while it might be flimsy can absorb a lot of energy. I dare you to grab a Hammer and try to break water in a pool. It wont break, it¡¯ll absorb the energy. Then refill the gap you made.

    It is the combination of hardness and softness that creates the concept of toughness. This is also why a diamond or obsidian sword wouldn¡¯t work. While both are super hard materials. They are also brittle and are prone to cracks and breaking. A steel sword might bend, but a bent sword is better than a broken sword.

    Sure I might have commissioned Cindy to make an obsidian sword, but the materials are actually from the blood of a space god. The sword is in truth a combination of hardened molten glass and fancy space metal.

    While on the subject of swords, maybe I should go ask Zubu to help with my sword play? Or maybe not. she hates me. Darn, how could I grow stronger? I¡¯d learned so much already, yet I still wasn¡¯t strong enough. Lorie wasn''t up yet so I couldn''t bother her.

    There had to be a way to grow stronger. I don''t get it. Why was this so hard. I might have gotten tougher but it still wasn''t enough. I felt for my real body. It was still bleeding out slowly. Like an hourglass ticking down to my death. The echo resonated in the whole as I felt a burning anger inside me grow.

    I clenched my fists then punched the nearest tree. ¡°Why! Squirmy and I went through the same ascension! We should be equal, but there¡¯s such a huge gap between us!¡± I yelled.

    Then again¡­ I¡¯ve never been strong. It was always my resourcefulness that let me stand a chance. Even then I still got the shit kicked out of me. That¡¯s why it felt so good the first time I fired a mana bolt.

    That¡¯s why I got so excited when I fought Boner¡¯s crew. It just felt like I finally had power. It was a dangerous feeling but it¡¯s not like I killed anyone.

    That was wrong too. Even if he was a disgusting asshole, I almost killed Mantis. Though that time was out of anger and had nothing to do with a power trip.

    Then there was Zubu. She really didn¡¯t deserve what I did to her. I was so consumed with winning that I forgot to pull my punches. There was a rush there too. At least towards the end. Maybe I should work more on restraint. At least when I''m fighting people I don''t want to hurt.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Right now I needed to work on what made me strong to begin with. If resourcefulness was my strongest quality. Then picking up more skills will give me more options. After all, an artist is nothing without a strong color palette. Which meant magic was my best choice.

    I tried pouring more fire aspects into the spell. This brought the flame back to life, but it also increased the smoke. ¡°crap!¡± I yelled before firing it off. It was nothing more than a ball of dying embers.

    ¡°What a strange spell. Was your goal to create a smoke screen? Because all that thing will do is irritate your eyes.¡± Said the tree lady.

    She was standing a few feet away from me. Watching the messy ball of smoke dissipate into the low oxygen atmosphere.

    ¡°Oh, good morning Tree lady!¡± I greeted her cheerfully.

    ¡°Where did you get those clothes?¡± she asked looking me over.

    I had a gleeful smile on my lips. Then looked around before motioning her to get closer. She leaned in. I quickly whispered to her in a conspiratorial sort of way. ¡°I stole them.¡±

    She pulled away with very little reaction. Then said, ¡°I know you did.¡±

    That made me a bit nervous so I started to pull my shirt off, but before I could get the shirt passed my belly button ¡ª that made no sense because this body was artificially created ¡ª the lore keeper stopped me.

    ¡°Why are you stripping?¡± She panicked.

    I was confused. ¡°You don¡¯t want your clothes back?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Those were left behind over a 100 years ago. No one really owns them.¡± She answered.

    That made me really happy. Wearing a dress was fun, but not every day. Skirts got annoying over time, and since everyone sees me like a child the clothes I wore were usually decided by whoever wanted to be my care giver that day.

    Mr. Brutus only cared if I¡¯d eaten food, so I liked hanging out with him. He knew not to micro manage and only butt in when I asked for help, or advice. That, or when I was about to make a huge mistake.

    The lore keeper was like that too. Except she cared about taking baths. As if manifesting it with my thoughts the tree lady asked, ¡°When¡¯s the last time you washed yourself?¡±

    I felt a little nervous as I realized it had been a while. ¡°Well¡­ it was back when Zubu came out there. Also Cosmo used cleanse on me yesterday, so I should be good.¡± I could see her eyes start to narrow.

    ¡°That was¡­ two days ago!¡± She panicked.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t that long ago it was¡­ oh, it was two days ago. It¡¯s fine I don¡¯t need a bath. I was cleansed yesterday.¡± I didn¡¯t want to walk all the way to that brick house that looked like it was about to fall apart.

    I just wanted to jump into training. It''s not like this body was real. It didn''t matter how many bellybuttons Cosmo put on it I knew my real body was elsewhere.

    ¡°That is not a valid method of cleaning ones self. While it does get rid of dirt, bacteria, and other substances. It dose not leave a pleasant odor. Don''t you like smelling nice?¡± She said

    I think I got it. She was talking about the non-odor left behind. Basically cleanse left you without an odor. This meant that the smallest bit of sweat would replace any smell you had. With a flowery shampoo the smell of one¡¯s body could be masked for far longer with something like deodorant, body wash, or simply just the smell of a bar of soap.

    I saw no point in fighting it, as my frown grew and my shoulders sagged. The tree lady wrapped her arm around my waist and carried me like a duffle bag full of drugs.

    I hung loosely. Along the way I tried to figure out what type of drug I was. It would probably be an upper. Adderall came to mind. To be honest anything with methamphetamines.

    Later

    I followed the lore keeper through the unstable structure that was the monastery. She still hadn''t told me what we were doing, or where we were going.

    After she made me wash up, I helped her collect eggs. I even got to hold a Chicken. To my surprise they¡¯re heavier than they look. I had always expected them to be light since they were a bunch of feathers, but there''s actual meat under there.

    The baby chick¡¯s were so cute. I was afraid of stepping on one. The lore keeper said the chickens are fed until their legs break. Once that happens they¡¯re good for eating.

    Apparently they get so fat that their twig like legs snap. It made me a little sad, but it was also kind of cool. Like ripened fruit ready to be plucked.

    As if manifesting it through conversation we found a Chicken with one of its legs broken. The lore keeper was quick in cutting it''s head off with wind magic. She then used another wind spell to strip it of feathers. The feathers were gathered and put in her cube thingy.

    She took a bit of time to remove the organs and drain the blood. Everything was put into a jar. She then dropped it all into her cube thing for latter.

    ¡°Why do you guys keep the organs and stuff?¡± I asked. I remembered seeing Mr. Brutus do the same.

    ¡°The organs and blood are full of life aspects. I can use them to heal or to grow crops from my garden. A drop of blood when completely drained of life aspects is enough to grow a whole tomato.¡± She said.

    That was so smart. In that sense. A bone could easily be used as a mana stone for life aspects. Of course that only worked in one direction. I doubted you could inject life aspects into a bone as easy as you could with a mana stone. Then again necromancers were a thing.

    After the whole chicken thing we headed to her greenhouse garden. It was warm inside despite the cool air outside. From there she pick a few things from the plant life. With everything she gather she made both me and Zubu some omelets. They were great.

    She was now leading me to another part of the monastery. Specifically an area inside the mountain. We were heading down a spiral staircase.

    There were a few frostlyte lamps, but the lore keeper insisted on using her light spell. The ball of light made me feel like we were on an adventure through a dangerous dungeon.

    Like we were exploring the ancient tomb of some long dead king. Full of treasure and booby-traps. You could say the light was like a fairy helping to guide us through the puzzles. I walked cautiously avoiding suspicious steps and strange parts of the walls that looked like they would active traps.

    ¡°Tree lady, is there like a super powerful sword or god trapped at the bottom? Is this where I get my mega super boosted powers to fight Squirmy? I can¡¯t believe you guys were holding out on me!¡± I speculated.

    My heart was racing in excitement. I wanted to push passed her, but she seemed to hold her hand out to prevent me.

    ¡°Don¡¯t say such nonsense. The only thing downstairs are books. We are headed to the library.¡± She said.

    ¡°library? Is there like¡­ a grimoire that¡¯ll teach me forbidden magic?¡± there was no stopping the hype train I was on, as the lore keepers words only fed coal into the engine.

    The old young lady sighed. ¡°You know rowdy children get the spoon.¡±

    ¡°Wow, like a magical spoon that let¡¯s the wielder do cool stuff! It¡¯s not a sword but I¡¯ll take it! I¡¯ll use it to¡­ um¡­ scoop Squirmy¡¯s eyes out?¡± I said.

    ¡°No child. I meant a wooden spoon for your butt.¡± She grumbled.

    I shut up right away putting both my hands over my butt. I hadn¡¯t realized how annoying I was being. Gotta work on that.

    We finally made it to the bottom. There was only a wooden door here. The lore keeper opened it revealing pure darkness on the other side.

    I felt nervous as I was reminded of the basement in my families old home. I wanted to run away. That was until the lore keeper created several light spells and sent them flying through the room.

    It was crazy how quickly it lit up the dark. What I saw was a platform with some stairs going down and a vast darkness in the distance. We made our way out and I noticed a bunch of tables on the platform.

    The floor was made of shiny amber wood. The room smelled of old moldy books, but I didn¡¯t see any around. ¡°Where are the books?¡± I asked.

    The tree lady smiled then directed one of the fairies to fly over the rails of the platform and out into the darkness.

    I immediately understood. Below us was a massive labyrinth of shelves full of tomes. My jaw dropped as the realization that the mountain was hollow came to fruition.

    ¡°They¡¯re all down there.¡± Said the young looking old lady.

    I felt nervous again at the thought of having to walk around in that dark maze. What if the books fall on top of me and no one ever finds me?

    I sat on the floor and crossed my arms and legs in protest. ¡°I don¡¯t wanna learn magic anymore!¡± I pouted and decided not to move from this spot until my demands were met.

    ¡°Is that so? Well in that case you can organize the books until it¡¯s time to send you home.¡± She said to my horror.

    ¡°What!? Okay, okay! I¡¯ll learn it!¡± I cried.

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡± Said the tree lady. She then walked over to the wall and a moment latter it dissolved into particles revealing a shelf full of books.

    ¡°Wow, how did you do that?!¡± I asked.

    ¡°The shelf is enchanted with illusion magic. It only shows the books when one goes near it. Isn¡¯t that fun?¡± She said.

    ¡°That is pretty cool. So I don¡¯t have to walk around in that monster infested book cemetery?¡± I asked.

    ¡°There¡¯s no monsters down there. It¡¯s not a book cemetery either. Each shelf is enchanted with suspension magic that pauses the passage of time for any item completely within its shelves.¡± She explained.

    ¡°Why books though? Couldn¡¯t you guys go digital and not have to kill so many trees every time a book gets too old? What if someone spills stuff on a book? Is the information lost forever?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The information on the books is actually recorded by the magic. The books are there to display the information. When a book is considered damaged the negentropy enchantment activates, bringing the book back to how it was when it was new.¡± She said.

    ¡°Are they all magic books?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You ask a lot of questions, but I suppose it¡¯s a good thing to be so curious. Most of my disciples accept everything at face value.¡± She said as she looked through the shelf of books running her slender fingers over each of the spines.

    ¡°If you must know. No. The books you see down there are more obscure magic. Some magic theory. Others more scientific approaches to magic. There are also a bunch of lore books, including history for lost worlds. You could also find books on cultivation and other power systems. For the sake of my students though everything you need to learn magic is on this shelf.¡± She pulled out a green book with a fancy golden border.

    ¡°let¡¯s start by learning a few runes.¡± She said as she put the book down on one of the tables. She then withdrew her metal cube. From it spawn a stack of papers and a pink pencil with bunny rabbits all over it.

    I think I finally understood her name. Lore keeper does fit her better than tree lady, considering how many books she kept. Regardless, she needed a new nickname. Maybe¡­ Lorie for short.

    I made my way over and sat in one of the chairs. It was cold like a dead body, but hard like that mystery stuff stuck under my sink at home. My eye sight was a bit low, but it wasn¡¯t that bad. Someone like Lorie would probably get mad if I sat on a book for something as silly as extra height.

    She turned to a page full of symbols. ¡°Alright child. I want you to start by drawing out these symbols over and over again.¡± She drew a few of them onto one of the sheets of paper. Four of them to be exact.

    The first one was a circle with a smaller circle inside of it. I¡¯d seen it a bunch. It was literally on every spell I¡¯d ever cast.

    The second rune looked just like the universal shuffle button symbol for all music players. The third rune was almost the same only this one had a small line through the middle.

    The last rune was like the last two, only it didn¡¯t have a line and ended with a loop instead of being open ended. ¡°What do they do?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The first one with the two circles is a containment rune. These are the start to any spell Or enchantment. Not only do they contain the power of the spell. They also allow you to shape the magic. Such as turning fire into a ball or turning ice into a lance.¡± She said.

    So that¡¯s why they were in every spell. Even Mr. Brutus¡¯s life hack had it. So theoretically I could adjust the shape of the fire ball into something else making a whole new spell without changing the runes.

    ¡°This rune here is called a connector rune. It allows power from the first rune to go to the next. This also adds stability to a spell. The next rune is the same, except it has a short delay that prevents the next rune from activating right away¡± She explained.

    It almost sounded like Redstone from Minecraft. I like Redstone even if it¡¯s sometimes a bit too overwhelming.

    ¡°Delays can be increased by using other types of delay runes including conditional runes, but since you are a beginner we will be sticking to these 4.¡± She said.

    Lorie moved her finger down to the last rune. ¡°This here is an end rune. These are tagged onto the end of a spell. This rune takes the flow of power and sends it back creating a magic circuit. It also helps with spell stability. Now get to drawing. Memorize them as best you can and get them as perfect as you possibly can. You¡¯ve already used these in that fireball spell. Now its time to separate the runes from the spell.¡± She instructed.

    I nodded. ¡°Okay.¡± I got another look at the runes. She was right, these were present in the fireball spell. I¡¯d memorized the runes as a group and if the way she described these is correct, that also means I¡¯ve been shaping them in the wrong order.

    That explains why the spell never activated until all runes were in place since the flow of power was coming from the containment rune not the end connector rune.

    I felt like I¡¯d been playing a game wrong this entire time. Like there was a whole game mechanic I was missing that made the game 100 times harder.

    I raised my hand. To which Lorie grabbed and lead back down to the table. ¡°Don¡¯t do unnecessary things. What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°So how does the delay rune work in the fireball spell?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Oh¡­ it¡¯s actually pretty simple. The fireball spell creates a condensed ball of oxygen. For that it needs a second to fully form. That''s where the delay rune comes in giving the wind rune time to do its thing, before the heat rune can ignite the wind aspects. ¡± She explained ¡°Do you understand?¡±

    I nodded. So magic wasn¡¯t all that magical, but why did the runes work in the first place? ¡°How does this work exactly? The runes. Like how do they let anyone change reality like that?¡±

    ¡°The runes were created by Odin. The fool in search of power hung himself in Yggdrasil for 9 days and 9 nights. During this he said he was able to see the fabric of reality. He said it was nothing but numbers. From there he created the runes. Each one holding a set of numbers that bend reality to the casters will.¡± Said the lore keeper.

    That sounded an awful lot like cheat codes. The thought that one could bring themselves so close to death, survive and come back with cheat codes was insane to me. Odin must have been some sort of masochist, or he really needed that power.

    Lorie started to leave, but I stopped her. ¡°Hey, Lorie!¡± I called.

    She turned around looking at me questioningly. ¡°Lorie? Clever. What is it child?¡±

    ¡°Zubu won¡¯t talk to me. Can you make her sweep the courtyard as punishment?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You want me to punish her for not speaking with you?¡± She questioned, raising an eyebrow.

    ¡°Please, she¡¯s over reacting.¡± I begged.

    ¡°Child. The only reason I have not thrown you into the cave of absence is because you are on a schedule!¡± she yelled.

    She didn¡¯t understand either. maybe Zubu lied to her about what happened. ¡°It wasn¡¯t that bad.¡± I tried to argue.

    ¡°You put her in upside down. Her blood pooled in her head. She became delirious and hallucinated all the way back to the mountain. The only thing keeping her moving was her aura making her body move how she wanted. Brutus had to help guide her back. She wouldn¡¯t even let him carry her because she thought he was a monster and kept trying to run away from him. The only thing that kept her alive was the flow of Qi and her resilient lower spirit body. I had to cut her legs off and regrow them because the muscles had rotted and turned to poison. That got rid of most of it but a lot of it started to circulate through her body. There was a bunch of clots and Cosmo had to interfere.¡± she said.

    Her words caused a chill to run down my spine. My eyes started to leak again. She must have seen how shook up I was because she continued. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. It¡¯s not your fault your minds the way it is.¡± She patted my head just as I looked away from her and back at the sheets of paper on the table.

    It wasn¡¯t as simple as stuffing her in a hole. I¡¯d almost killed her for real and all because my over active imagination turned it into a silly murder mystery game. The only reason I didn¡¯t get in trouble was because they thought I was crazy.

    The memory of a padded room flashed before my mind and I nearly broke my pencil. I really don¡¯t want to go back there.

    ¡°Will you tell Zubu I¡¯m sorry.¡± I cried as a big fat tear fell from my face and onto the papers below.

    ¡°That is not my job child. You need to talk to her yourself.¡± She responded.

    ¡°But she won¡¯t talk to me!¡± I panicked.

    ¡°You cant force her to forgive you. She has every right to never talk to you again. How about you write her an apology and I¡¯ll deliver it.¡± Said Lorie.

    There really wasn¡¯t much I could do. A well written apology might not be enough to be forgiven, but it might open the path for further conversation. I just want her to know I feel bad and that I was very sorry about what happened.

    The Isaac in me knew she would never talk to me again, but Aku seemed to think there was hope for a friendship there. She was a kid so stuff like that made sense to her, but in the adult world people stop talking to you for much less. There was really nothing you could do there.

    Still, Aku wanted to apologize, so I let her. She wrote down her feelings onto a piece of paper. She even decorated it with a flowery border and added in crud drawings of rabbits, puppies, kitties, and even an owl with a corkscrew for a neck. Then at the bottom was a picture of Zubu, Aku, Snowball, and even me holding hands. It was so childish. I wasn¡¯t sure if I should add something.

    In the end I decided to write ¡°P.S¡± giving Zubu a little hint that it was actually Aku trying to apologize. That I also felt bad about what happened and that I understood if she never wanted to see us again.

    Aku seemed to frown at my contribution but didn¡¯t argue seeing as I made it clear they were my thoughts and not hers.

    ¡°Okay, here you go.¡± I said as I handed the folded paper to the lore keeper.

    She took it gingerly into her hands. ¡°I¡¯ll deliver this. You get to work.¡± She said before leaving.

    I turned to the sheets of paper and started to draw the symbols over and over again. The only thing that could get my mind off of Zubu was to throw myself into training.

 Episode 52: Black and Lacy

    Using my pencil, I drew a big circle on the sheet of paper before me. Then another smaller circle. Then I lined up runes in between the two.

    The first rune was a containment rune, which was actually what the two big circles were. Despite what one might think they were not an aesthetic choice.

    The inner and outer rings were meant to hold the power of the runes in place. Like lines on a paper holding sentences and paragraphs. While the other much smaller containment rune, set at the beginning of the rune script, both shaped and contained the effects of the spell.

    I added in the connector rune next. Then a wind rune. The wind rune provided oxygen for the spell. It was also kind of swirly looking.

    From there I added another connector rune and then an amplification rune. The amplification rune gave a boost to the effects of the runes before it, making them stronger. It also looked a little like a multiplication symbol only with an extra horizontal line and two dots on a diagonal axis, on opposite sides of each other.

    I then added a delay connector rune followed by a heat rune. The heat rune injected heat aspects into the spell. Turning the wind aspects into fire aspects. It looked a little like the amplification rune, but less dots and more lines.

    The delay connector rune, made it so the heat rune wouldn¡¯t activate right away. As explained by Lorie earlier today.

    Following that rune was another connector and amplification rune to increase the power of the spell even further.

    I added another connector rune with a short delay. This would allow the fire to grow a little before the momentum rune activated, which was the next rune in the magic circuit.

    The momentum rune was what turned the spell into a projectile. It was also what made the spell hit with concussive force. Thus causing it to act like an explosion, despite not really having any way to create a violent reaction.

    I didn''t really like the way the momentum rune looked. It almost resembled a pizza with only one peperoni slice on it. Seeing it brought back memories of my brother stealing the peperoni off my pizza slices, when I wasn¡¯t looking and then gas lighting me into thinking I had accidentally gotten a slice of my sister¡¯s cheese pizza.

    Anyway, from there another connector and amplification runes were used. Followed by an end connector rune, thus closing the magic circuit.

    It wasn¡¯t that difficult to understand. Everything else was up to the spell caster. Intent mattered. Intent was the reason I was able to get the spell to manifest in the first place. It filled the holes in my mistakes and lack of knowledge. A skillful mage, could use it to craft impossibly powerful spells.

    As for why the fireball spell worked in my inner world. Well, sometime after lunch, Lorie said since inner worlds are hyper dimensions, spells created there are far smaller, meaning you needed less power and less Intent to make it work.

    That¡¯s why mages aimed to make their magic circles as small as possible. I had noticed Lories magic circles were less than a foot wide and her runes were so small compared to my child like scribbles.

    She also mentioned that, that was why enchantments were so gentle on materials. The smaller the rune script. The more focused and stable the spell was. Of course bigger magic circles also meant more powerful spells.

    Now that I thought about it, in-game spell upgrades would make your spell circles smaller when upgrading cast time and bigger when increasing their effects.

    This also explained why the meteor spell wasn¡¯t that different from a fire ball spell. It was only the cast time and size of the circle that changed.

    In other words, in my inner world. I could have used water aspects to cast fireball and it would have gone off without a problem. Intent could have easily made up for it. The whole thing was still so bizarre to me, but if it worked it worked.

    What was really pissing me off was with all this knowledge. I was still unable to cast the fireball properly. Intent couldn¡¯t make up for lack of skill. Though my magic circles weren¡¯t bad at all. I was still missing something. Something important to spell casting.

    It was so annoying. I¡¯d spent most of today learning what the runes meant, yet I still couldn¡¯t figure out how to cast a simple fireball. It wasn''t that powerful of a spell. Mages could unlock the buy option after using ember a few times to bring their fire magic proficiency up to 8%.

    Lorie was no help. She just wanted me to learn the runes. She doesn¡¯t even know about all the failed attempts I made at casting. There was no way I was going to learn magic in the short amount of time I had left.

    I decided to call it quits and go talk to the lore keeper. I don¡¯t need to learn all this extra stuff. I just needed to be able to cast a spell or two. A spell that would round out my build. Cover for my weaknesses. Something that would give me an edge against Squirmy.

    Forget learning each note. I could always learn magic later. For now I needed to learn how to play Seven Nation Army on the flute, so I could impress my friends at Brian¡¯s little brother¡¯s bar mitzvah.

    That metaphor almost seemed to silly to be a metaphor. I closed the book and put my notes under it. Then headed out of that dark room and up to the mountain top.

    It looked to be well passed midday. Maybe around 4 PM considering where the sun was in the sky. It was nice not having to breathe that old book smell anymore.

    The air was fresh and breezy. For whatever reason it made me pretty happy. I stretched and even did a cart wheel for good measure.

    That was when I heard Zubu curse from somewhere. Feeling a little curious I snuck my way towards the sounds of her suffering. She couldn''t be mad at me still right? I did apologize after all. Wait, was that Aku talking or me?

    I headed through some double doors. Went down the hallway, and found myself standing in front of a door. I ended up having to use my Qi sight to find her and now that I was here I didn''t know what to do.

    ¡°Come on work you stupid crap!¡± She yelled.

    Her voice made me feel a little scared. I didn''t want to knock or anything. Maybe I should leave her alone. She never really liked me to begin with, so it''s not like we were friends.

    She isn¡¯t always a big bully. She might be grumpy most of the time, but she can also be really nice in a rude way. I was stuck on what to do.

    The Isaac in me told me to leave her alone, but the Aku in me really wanted to go talk to her. Zubu sounded like she was doing an undertale genocide run and had been stuck on Sans for the past two hours. If I go in I might be able to help her, or I could just make things worse.

    It was getting hard to hold Aku back. She no longer needed to waste quintessence to make us do stuff. With her mortal rank soul, she had some control over our actions now. Of course, I still had a stronger soul and could veto her, but that took focus. I couldn¡¯t stay focused all the time.

    It was like taking a kid to a candy store. You constantly have to scold them, or hold their hand just to keep them from running around and touching everything. It was exhausting.

    While I was distracted with another metaphor, Aku took control of our hand moving it forward and knocking on the door without consulting me. Apparently she didn''t care how Zubu felt because she had already apologized and you were apparently supposed to forgive people when they said they were sorry.

    Immediately, I could hear movement on the other side. To my surprise Zubu said, ¡°Come in.¡±

    I opened the door and was assaulted by a flying book. The book was thick and sunk into my forehead just above my right eyebrow. It had so much force behind it that it knocked me back and onto the floor.

    I immediately started wailing uncontrollably as Zubu yelled, ¡°No! Get the fuck out!¡±

    She didn''t look afraid. The wannabe samurai was more angry than fearful. I felt something warm running down my face. It got in my right eye.

    I tried to rub it away as I sobbed and trembled, but only ended up smudging it all over. My cries called for comfort. Zubu was the only one there so I ended up looking to her for warmth. I saw a mix of regret and frustration there.

    -Yukio-

    ¡°Come in.¡± I said.

    The door to my room swung open and to my surprise that little psycho was standing at the entrance. I got so pissed that I threw the book I was reading at his face. It slammed corner first into Isaac¡¯s eyebrow.

    It felt really good to cause that idiot pain. At first it did. At least up until I saw their face. The blood and tears. The look of betrayal. The fear etched into every body motion and expression.

    Especially the heart wrenching cry. It was so different from the way Isaac normally cries. So loud. Nothing like the whiny brat I was used to. Like there was something actually wrong.

    For a moment I was reminded of the torture Isaac¡¯s mom put him through and the fact that there was an actual kid in that body. That didn¡¯t excuse what they did¡­ but they were both crazy.

    I didn¡¯t feel bad! I couldn¡¯t! Isaac nearly killed me, but that face and that horrible wailing. It was hard not to feel a little guilty. Especially with the fountain of blood coming out.

    The final nail was how he looked at me, as if begging to be held. I wasn¡¯t this dude¡¯s mom or older sister. He should cry to lore keeper, not me. She was the one looking after him. Maybe he should cry to that stupid gorilla.

    Why did he have to be so small and fragile. It¡¯s like a natural defense mechanism to force people to be nice to you. It was so unfair!

    Now that I thought about it. I may have tried to take advantage of those traits when I first ascended. Tried being the highlighted word there.

    Okay, so maybe throwing a book at his head was a bit much, but he did nearly kill me. I think I need to talk to him. To both of them and find out just what the hell was wrong with them.

    Picking up a few tissues off my desk. I made my way over to the crying baby. Kneeling down I started to wipe away the blood and tears from their face.

    ¡°Sorry about that. Hold still.¡± I said.

    Isaac followed my orders, as if I hadn¡¯t been the one to hurt him. Trembling under my gaze, he looked so scared of me. When did I become the scary one. I used to be a much kinder person. Kids used to love me.

    ¡°Come on, you¡¯re a big girl, heal up.¡± I instructed as I held the tissues over the small cut on his forehead.

    The slightest hint of a healing aura came to life as the wound slowly closed. Pulling the tissues away I helped him to his feet. ¡°There, it¡¯s all better now, so stop crying.¡±

    It was a bit awkward for a moment as I had sent one too many mixed signals. This prompted Isaac to ask, ¡°Are we¡­ even now?¡±

    Feeling somewhat annoyed at him. I shook my head. ¡°No way. What you did was way worse.¡± I said.

    Isaac looked like he was about to cry again. I couldn¡¯t tell if they were real tears or the fake cries of a psychopath. He then pushed past my arms and hugged me. I was stuck between pushing him away, or letting it happen. In the end I couldn¡¯t make a decision and froze up.

    ¡°I thought¡­ I thought you were dead. I didn''t know what to do. Mr. Brutus was gone and I was sure I had killed you¡­ just like Jack.¡± He said that last part so low. I could hardly hear him.

    Despite my anger I still managed to ask, ¡°Who is Jack?¡± Isaac backed away and held his head. His tears starting up again.

    ¡°I can''t!¡± He cried. Before I could stop him he ran out the door and down the hallway.

    There was no way that idiot managed to turn this back on me. How could he be the victim when I was the one that got buried alive. It pissed me off, but at the same time. I¡¯ve never seen him act like that.

    I ran after him. Last thing we needed was for Isaac to do something stupid and I had to admit I was a little curious.

    Thanks to my much longer legs, I managed to catch up with him. grabbing on to the back of his shirt, I pulled him into my arms. He struggled in my embrace, until he suddenly gave up and collapsed into me.

    He didn''t say anything. Instead he just cried a bunch. I couldn''t help but wonder what had happened. Lore keeper told me the abridged version of Isaac''s past, but she never mentioned a Jack.

    Great, was I going to have to look after this dumbass until he was feeling better. I had better things to do than babysit a crazy cocktail of multiple personalities and sugar.

    Later

    I was back in my room. Isaac was laying in my bed sleeping. So far he hasn''t said a word since he mentioned jack. It was almost time for dinner too. I hope he doesn¡¯t expect to sleep here.

    Since he was inconsolable the best thing to do was to make him comfortable. I even made sure to retrieve Snowball from his room. It was a bit strange not to see him carry his doll around. Isaac had probably moved passed that phase. Or it could have something to do with the calming effects of the trees.

    When Isaac first got here, he was like a ball of pure anxiety. As time went on his mind seemed to calm down somewhat. Don¡¯t get me wrong, he was still a nut case, but at least the rougher parts had been dulled down.

    I peaked over at the sleeping child. He was hugging his push doll. Thanks to it, I didn¡¯t need to hold him. Snowball was all the comfort he needed. I really didn¡¯t want to play big sister right now. Not only was I busy. He was also annoying as shit. Clingy little snot nosed kids were the worst.

    I sighed and continued my studies on plasma. Well, I tried. Isaac woke up just then and looked around the room. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± He mumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

    ¡°I haven''t forgiven you.¡± I said bluntly.

    ¡°I know. I just wanted to say I¡¯m really sorry and that I¡¯ll leave you alone now. ¡° He crawled out of bed carrying that dumb cat plushy in his arms, and made his way to the door.

    ¡°You don''t have to go that far.¡± I said.

    ¡°Huh?¡± He mumbled.

    I sighed spinning my chair around. ¡°Tell me who Jack is and I might forgive you.¡±

    Instead of crying like last time Isaac looked annoyed. I was surprised by that.

    ¡°Fuck you. Either forgive me or don''t. Don''t use forgiveness as a bargaining chip. It''s worthless that way.¡± He said as he opened the door and left.

    Meanwhile, I was left wondering when I had become the bad guy. He was kind of right. Forgiveness wasn¡¯t something that could be used as a bargaining chip. The moment it was used that way, was the moment it became meaningless.

    -Aku/Isaac-

    ¡°No child, I told you to learn the runes.¡± Said Lorie as she mixed the contents of a steaming pot.

    ¡°But Lorie, I don¡¯t have time for stuff like that. Please just teach me to cast spells. I can always learn the rest later once Squirmy is dead.¡± I begged.

    The lore keeper tasted a spoonful of broth. ¡°Ooo, not bad. Do you think it might be too salty?¡± She held a spoonful up to my lips.

    I took a sip and was met with a delicious mix of flavors. There was something about fresh ingredients that made it so much better.

    ¡°I boiled some chicken bones to make the broth.¡± She explained.

    ¡°it¡¯s delicious!¡± I said. I couldn¡¯t wait for dinner. Wait, she distracted me! ¡°lore keeper! You can¡¯t change the subject like that!¡± I argued.

    ¡°Okay, Okay. How about I show you how to cast one spell. After that it¡¯s back to the books.¡± She offered.

    ¡°Deal! But it can¡¯t be fireball!¡± This caused her to raise an eyebrow.

    I giggled. She thought she could easily get my fireball spell to work. Well now she had to teach me a whole new spell from scratch.

    ¡°Alright, fine. What spell are you looking to learn.¡± She asked.

    This was actually something I¡¯ve been thinking about. ¡°Do you know the wind spell platform?¡± I asked.

    Her face seemed to soften. ¡°Such a simple spell. Are you sure that¡¯s the one you want to learn?¡± She asked.

    I nodded.

    ¡°Really? Not something more flashy and destructive? Like death ray? Or winds of destruction? What about scorched Earth. The new students always gravitate to that one.¡± She suggested.

    I turned them all down then reiterated the one I wanted. ¡°I want to learn platform.¡±

    ¡°Very well, but why that one? I figured a bundle of chaos such as yourself would go for something more exciting.¡± She said.

    ¡°Just because I look like a child doesn¡¯t mean I am one. I¡¯ve thought it through.¡± I said.

    ¡°You have? Well, explain your reasoning then. I¡¯m curious.¡± She said.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been practicing with Mr. Brutus and during those fights. I realized what I was lacking. I¡¯m pretty nimble, but I¡¯m also pretty small. When I fight I have to move around my opponent and look for weak points. That becomes an issue when I jump in the air. I¡¯ve been able to somewhat negate the airborne opening I create when jumping, by parrying incoming attacks and using my caterpillar aura to move along the surface of my target, but I need to be able to take advantage of my speed while airborne.¡± I explained.

    ¡°I see. That¡¯s some serious thought you put in. Do you really think you can cast the spell fast enough to make use of it?¡± She asked.

    ¡°The part that takes the longest is gathering the essence, but wind aspects are all over the place, so it¡¯ll only take a second.¡± I said.

    The lore keeper patted my head. ¡°You are a smart child. Let¡¯s hope it all works out.¡±

    I smiled up at her. ¡°Can we eat now?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Soon. Why don¡¯t you set the table. I think Yukio is sticking to her room so don¡¯t worry about setting a plate out for her.¡± She said.

    I nodded and as soon as I turned around I saw Zubu standing there. Like a grumpy goat standing up on their hind legs. What I meant by that was her presence intimidated me. She kept her eyes away from me.

    I moved around the room shifting my body into strange positions to try and make eye contact. She kept avoiding me, but I wouldn¡¯t let her. Finally I did a handstand and stared right into those violet pink eyes of hers.

    She went wide eyed before bursting into laughter. ¡°What is wrong with you?¡± She giggled.

    My hand cramped up and I fell over. I felt a bit awkward initially, but with that display of ridiculousness it had faded a little.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    I should have just explained Jack to her. After all these years I still wasn¡¯t comfortable with that subject, but it wasn''t like she couldn''t find out. There was a super detailed file on me, or so I''m told.

    Regardless of files, I didn''t really feel like talking about him. Besides, explaining jack didn¡¯t excuse what I did to Zubu. All it did was make me look crazy and I couldn¡¯t have that.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± I blurted. Why show up and make me feel uncomfortable. I thought we were fighting.

    ¡°I have my reasons.¡± She blushed. ¡°lore keeper. I think I¡¯ll be eating dinner at the table tonight.¡± She avoided eye contact with both of us this time, while fiddling with the ends of her hair like a nervous school girl. She was almost cute.

    For a moment I felt like flipping the ends of her kimono and getting a peek at her underwear. Then making fun of her for whatever reason. Just to get her to act like her normal grumpy self and not this shy timid girl I saw now.

    I bet she wore kiddy panties like me. Something silly like yellow with a monkey eating a banana on the front. The temptation was palatable. I almost couldn¡¯t control myself. It was Schrodinger''s panties. You didn¡¯t know what they were until you flip the skirt up.

    While distracted with another metaphor, Aku''s curiosity got the best of her, causing her to reach over. Flipping the bottom of Zubu¡¯s kimono up. Underneath was a pair of black silky lace panties.

    I was in shock. Meanwhile Aku was jealous she didn¡¯t get to wear such nice underwear and only got some cheap dollar store bundle junk.

    This horrible action caused me to get the worst spanking yet. Which was strange considering burying someone alive was far worse than flipping a skirt.

    I was hoping Lorie would stop it, but she seemed to agree with Zubu¡¯s parenting style. In fact, once Zubu was tired she tagged in, choosing the wooden spoon as her weapon of choice.

    By the end, my tushy was burning so hot, that you could use it to finish cooking dinner. I couldn''t even explain the situation, because I couldn¡¯t get a single word out through my tears.

    The table was eventually set and I ended up clinging to Zubu¡¯s side. ¡°Leave me alone, piss baby! Go sit over there!¡± Yelled Zubu.

    I sniffled and sobbed as I wiped my tears and snot on her kimono. ¡°I didn''t mean to. it was Aku I tell you.¡± I cried.

    She looked annoyed at the state of her clothes, but decided to keep punishing me by ignoring my distress.

    ¡°I don''t care who it was. It was still wrong.¡± She said.

    ¡°Your not mad?¡± I cried. She didn''t answer. ¡°Your mad.¡± I answered for her.

    ¡°Can''t you just sit in your own seat already. Am I going to have to get you a highchair or something?¡± Complained Zubu.

    I shook my head. From my perspective all I wanted was to clear my name. From Aku¡¯s perspective all she wanted was for Zubu to be nice to her again. Well, as nice as she rudely could.

    Aku¡¯s behavior was odd to me. After being punished by Zubu. She then went to her for comfort. It made no sense to me. That was like getting burned by a stove and then hugging it in hopes of it healing your burns.

    Aku wouldn¡¯t leave Zubu¡¯s side until the not-teen gave her a hug, or a head pat. She was probably going to cry herself to sleep on her lap. Any time I tried to pull us away, she would overpower me with raw emotion. In the end I felt pretty bad for her and wished I could comfort her myself.

    That was when Mr. Brutus showed up and I found myself grateful to have another man around. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Did the brat bully the kid again?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Oh, quite the opposite actually. Isaac was being a little pervert is all.¡± Said Lorie as she brought in the food.

    That little accusation let my emotions overcome Aku¡¯s, giving me back control. ¡°I was not!¡± I cried ¡°Mr. Brutus you have to believe me!¡±

    He let out a sigh before pulling out his flask and taking a seat at the table. ¡°Go on then, let me hear it.¡± He said.

    That was when I gave a detailed explanation on what happened. He listened and nodded along making sure to hear out the whole story. I felt like I was finally being heard and Aku seemed to think Mr. Brutus was going to be nice to us.

    Zubu seemed to rest her chin on her hand looking off into the distance. Lorie kept bringing in the rest of the food.

    At the end he just started laughing. ¡°So you did the old flip and run huh! Man that brings back childhood memories.¡± He laughed.

    It turned out Mr. Brutus was also a scoundrel when he was younger. ¡°I told you it¡¯s not like that! Aku did it. She was curious and flipped her kimono.¡± I pleaded.

    ¡°Ata boy. You stick with your story. I¡¯m sure if you throw it out there long enough someone will believe you. Just make sure to never change the details. Keep it consistent every single time and ask for a lawyer.¡± Said the brut before sipping his flask.

    He was clearly drunk and probably wouldn''t remember this conversation. I kept clinging to Zubu in hopes that my cute child-like mannerisms would break her down. ¡°Zubu, please don''t ignore me. It makes me feel bad.¡± I begged.

    ¡°I don''t care that you flipped my kimono. I''m still upset with you for burying me alive you dumbass.¡± She said.

    I pulled away realizing the situation. ¡°Okay.¡± I squeaked. Backing away from her, I seated my sore bottom on the seat reserved for me. It was cold, soothing my backside.

    I glanced over at Zubu who seemed to look away from me. The whole skirt flip incident did anger her, but it also reignited the frustration she felt from when I nearly killed her.

    It was pointless to soak in this feeling of un-want and absent affection. While I understood this, Aku clearly did not. She thought she could be forgiven if she acted all cuddly.

    I was feeling pretty tired at the moment. How many hours did I sleep again. 1¡­ 2? I did sleep a few more minutes on Zubu¡¯s bed. It was too bad Jack haunted my dreams. It didn''t matter. I went ahead and created a one layer aura of apathy.

    It really wasn¡¯t enough. I felt like I was about to fall asleep, so I increased it to three layers. This helped a lot. I could still feel the tiredness and soreness of my body, but it didn¡¯t bother me as much. Both mine and Aku¡¯s emotions were also better controlled since they no longer fed off of each other.

    Feeling upset and agonizing over being upset, created a loop that fed itself. With apathy I could detach myself from my emotions to the point where they didn¡¯t effect me as much. thus stopping the endless loop.

    With a clear head I could now explain the situation better. Removing your emotions from the equation gave ypu the bottom line. I didn¡¯t want to be seen as a mental patient, but being transparent would help them understand me better as a person.

    Clearing my throat I tried again. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Sometimes it¡¯s my brain with Aku¡¯s feelings. Other times, it¡¯s just me. Aku can sometimes be in full control when her emotions are strong enough, or she can take advantage of my distracted mind. That last one was what happened, but it wasn¡¯t all Aku¡¯s fault. My mind was thinking ridiculous things and Aku became curious, so she flipped Zubu¡¯s skirt to see what kind of underwear she was wearing.¡±

    ¡°I knew it. You are dirty minded.¡± Said Zubu with disgust and hatred.

    That hurt but it wasn¡¯t wrong. While I felt shame, Aku got upset. She lashed out at her. ¡°It¡¯s not fair! How come you get pretty underwear. I want some too!¡± I couldn¡¯t stop her so instead I sunk into the corner of my mind.

    Zubu looked like she was about to yell but instead asked, ¡°Aku?¡± Once she realized who was talking she got a smile on her face. ¡°No, you are too little for fancy underwear.¡±

    ¡°Well, well¡­ why do you get to have them! You don¡¯t even have a boyfriend!¡± My adopted daughter cut deep with that one making Zubu blush in embarrassment.

    ¡°The kids got you there.¡± Said Mr. Brutus before taking a sip from his flask.

    ¡°Shut the fuck up Brutus!¡± She turned her attention back to Aku. ¡°I will once I get off this stupid world you little brat!¡± She yelled.

    That was the end of that conversation as Aku decided to ignore Zubu like she¡¯d done to her.

    During dinner we all got to talk about our day. Mr. Brutus said he was out shooting Rum Robin¡¯s in the forest. The lore keeper told everyone about how my training was going. She made me feel all blushy and warm inside by giving me lots of praise.

    I had to translate for Snowball, because no one else spoke catanese. She said she was busy decorating her new room in the castle.

    I talked about a drawing I made of the dead chicken Lorie killed coming back as a chicken wraith. I even pulled the drawing out of my pocket to show everyone and even taunted Lorie with it. To which she pointed out we were currently eating that same chicken, and that I was being disrespectful to it¡¯s sacrifice.

    Zubu didn''t feel anyway towards my drawing saying it was fine. While Mr. Brutus said it was really cool and even asked if he could have it. I gladly gave it to him and got lots of praise and head pats, and even another cherry lollipop. This made Aku very happy.

    After that, Zubu talked about her studies to find a new cultivation technique. It turns out she was looking through science books to figure out how plasma actually worked. She was going to invent her own cultivation technique based off of science. That sounded like a cool project.

    Mr. Brutus called it an advanced cultivation technique. Apparently his cultivation technique was a basic one. That to me sounded crazy.

    From the way Zubu explained it. It almost sounded like she was going to turn her dantian into a plasma globe. Mr. Brutus said that was dangerous because if she messed up her body could explode, but Zubu called him a fat ugly gorilla and he shut up.

    It was such a strange feeling hearing them all talk and laugh like that. It reminded me of back when my family was still together. Back when we would all eat and talk at the table.

    My sister playfully teasing and embarrassing me. My brother joining in. Mom telling both of them to cut it out. Dad sipping his beer and telling insane stories about work.

    The food was gone pretty quickly and soon Mr. Brutus had to go. I gave him a hug. ¡°Be safe Mr. Brutus, also I wanna fight you again. Once I figure out how to use a few spells.¡± I said.

    ¡°Sure thing kid. I expect you to at least scratch my cheek this time. We¡¯ll call it your graduation fight.¡± He said before patting my head.

    With that goodbye the man I knew as my master turned and left. It was too bad. I wanted to play with him a little, but right now he couldn¡¯t help me. The only one that could do that was Lorie.

    I turned my attention to her. She was putting everything away. ¡°Come on then child. Let¡¯s do the dishes before we start learning magic.¡± She said.

    I didn¡¯t want to do dishes. That¡¯s why I loved paper plates and styrofoam cups. Yay convenience! ¡°Can¡¯t you magic them clean?¡± I complained.

    My complaint got a laugh out of Zubu who quickly shut up when Lorie glared at her.

    ¡°Isaac, washing dishes is a discipline. The moment you use magic for everything is the moment you become lazy.¡± She explained.

    Zubu chimed in, ¡°Don¡¯t try to fight her on it piss baby. I¡¯ve been arguing the same thing for years now. If you complain one to many times she''ll make you wash dishes by yourself for a week. Well, for the rest of your stay.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­ One issue though. I¡¯m too small.¡± I said hoping to save myself the boring task of clean up.

    ¡°I have a step ladder for you.¡± Said the lore keeper bursting my bubble. ¡°What? I have thousands of ascendies pass through here every few weeks. Do you really think I wouldn¡¯t have a way for them to pitch in? If there were a few more of you, I¡¯d let you all do the cooking and cleaning.¡± Said Lorie.

    I panicked. ¡°What about Mr. Brutus! How come he doesn¡¯t have to wash dishes!? Just because he¡¯s a man doesn¡¯t mean he gets to leave all the kitchen work to us ladies! We¡¯re not his slaves!¡± I suggested.

    ¡°Nice try child, but he helped me last night after lady Cosmo left. Yukio has also been helping out every other day. It¡¯s your turn.¡± Said Lorie.

    I was contemplating whether or not to breathe fire to get out of it, but then remembered how annoying it was to get over that sickness. The question was. which situation would be less work?

    I held both hands up using them like scales, while I stacked cons and pros on each side. The pretend scales dipped one way. Then the other, until I gave up, because I¡¯d forgotten most of the stuff I¡¯d put of them.

    Figuring out which one was more work was actually more work than simply doing one. ¡°Okay fine!¡± I said stomping my foot into the floor.

    ¡°My goodness, so much defiance. Keep that up and I¡¯ll bring out the wooden spoon again.¡± Said Lorie.

    I shrunk under her threat. ¡°Sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to be so rude. Aku really doesn¡¯t like doing chores.¡± I could still feel the frustration Aku felt in my gut. She was like a feral kitten ready to lash out at the most inaudible mentions of work.

    In the end I helped do the dishes and somehow ended up with water all over the front of my shirt and jeans. This always happened when I did dishes. I still wasn¡¯t sure why.

    Alice never got wet, so why was it different for me? Even Lorie was dry. This made me think it was some kind of prank and everyone was in on it.

    As I washed plate after plate I made the universal symbol for ¡°Okay¡± with my right hand and managed to get the thin membrane of a bubble to form. A smile born of pure glee began to bloom across my face. I began to blow air into the glossy looking sheet.

    The air began to stretch and pull, until it became a giant bubble. I quickly closed it off and with my other soapy hand I was able to hold it.

    I started giggling and turned to the lore keeper. ¡°Look Lorie, I made a big one!¡± I cheered.

    She turned towards me and saw my giant bubble. ¡°How did you manage that? Never mind get to work or we¡¯ll never finish.¡± She said.

    I felt unappreciated. ¡°Lorie, you don¡¯t like it?¡± I nearly cried.

    ¡°It¡¯s a fine bubble. Now get to work.¡± She said sternly.

    ¡°Hang on! I wanna show Zubu!¡± I ran off into the other room as Lorie called for me to come back.

    ¡°Zubu look! Look! Isn¡¯t it cool!?¡± I said excitedly.

    She gave the bubble one look. Then popped it. I was immediately hit with a wave of shock. followed by sadness. Before I could start crying though, it turned into anger and I yelled out, ¡°You asshole! Why would you do that!?¡±

    This got her to lean back like I was about to hit her. ¡°Calm down. Just make another one.¡±

    I turned around in a huff and said ¡°it was still really mean.¡± Then headed back to Lorie who scolded me for running off.

    She said a bunch of stuff about not running in her hallways and how I shouldn''t abandon a task just because I was easily distracted.

    I tried to explain to her what Zubu did but she wasn¡¯t having any of it. It was so unfair. How come I was the one in trouble? I came back and besides, what Zubu did was way worse. She should be the one getting the spoon.

    Since my clothes were now soaked in dirty dish water, Lorie had me change into my PJs instead. I wanted to keep wearing my jeans, but Lorie insisted I change.

    The PJs were at least comfy and they came with pants, so I wasn''t that heart broken about it. It also looked like they had been cleaned. They had that functioning member of society smell.

    Together we sat at one of those low tables. I still wasn¡¯t sure what they were called. Zubu even joined us. The lore keeper poured us all a cup of tea. I tried it expecting it to be sweet or something, but it wasn¡¯t at all. It was actually kind of bitter and at the same time underwhelming.

    This was just dirty hot water. It was nothing like the sweet stuff Aku gave me in our soul. Then again, now that I thought about it. Neither Aku or I have ever in our lives once had real tea, so how would we know what it tasted like. My mind was blown.

    ¡°I¡¯ve decided I don¡¯t like tea.¡± I said before pushing the leafy juice away from me.

    This made Yukio laugh again. She sure found a lot of stuff I did funny. I stuck my tongue out at her. She mirrored my action. Causing me to gasp. Greatly appalled by her childish behavior, I held a hand up to my open mouth in shock.

    This only seemed to amuse her even more. ¡°You idiot. You didn¡¯t even mix anything in.¡± She reached for a sugar cube on the tray and grabbed four of them. Then dropped them into my tea cup. Next she added a little honey and milk. Mixing it all together gave off a very enticing aroma. The amber liquid turning into a pinkish tinted white.

    I was left wondering if I should have asked for warm milk with honey mixed in. That would have been delicious. Actually, if I did that then Zubu would probably try to give it to me in a baby bottle or sippy cup. I could handle this. I was also an adult.

    ¡°Honestly you children have terrible palettes.¡± Said Lorie before taking a long sip of her sour hot puddle juice.

    ¡°Will it taste better now? I asked suspiciously. For all I knew those were salt cubes, expired milk, and¡­ huh, what looks like honey but tastes awful? Tree resin? Whatever, point was, Yukio could be really mean when she wanted to bully someone.

    ¡°Try it.¡± She said.

    I shrugged my shoulders and gave it a try. It was far more tolerable now. Not as bitter as before. Very sweet with an after taste of¡­ almost wheat but more herb like. It was almost spicy, but in an itchy sort of way. I didn¡¯t dislike it at all, but it left me craving for something with a kick. ¡°Can I get coffee instead?¡±

    The two of them said, ¡°No!¡± in unison.

    ¡°Okay, geez. Sorry for asking.¡± I gave the milky leaf juice another sip.

    It wasn''t that bad. Still I preferred coffee¡­ did I prefer coffee? I haven''t tried it in this body. With these taste buds. Shadow refused to give me any this morning¡­ or was that a couple days ago?

    When I examined time through my real body. It had only been a minute or two. Maybe a little longer. I wasn¡¯t sure anymore.

    ¡°Isaac pay attention for a moment.¡± Said Lorie, snapping her fingers.

    I didn¡¯t like that. ¡°Please don¡¯t snap your fingers at me. My ADHD isn¡¯t that bad.¡± I said.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to talk to you for almost a whole minute!¡± She scolded.

    ¡°Oh, sorry. I spaced out.¡± I apologized.

    She sighed letting go of her anger. ¡°Now that I have your attention. Try to gather momentum aspects and wind aspects.¡± She instructed.

    Nodding I got to work. The two aspects were easy to get, seeing as we were surrounded by air, and momentum. It might have taken a minute before the lore keeper told me to stop.

    It was a lot of aspects for such a simple spell. My best guess was she expected me to mess up and need extra building blocks.

    ¡°That was pretty quick. Your not even wearing the special clothes for training.¡± Said Zubu almost with a hint of jealousy In her voice.

    ¡°Wearing them makes it easier to move aspects around, but I won¡¯t have that in the field so using it now will only make it harder for me when I actually have to fight my way out of a death trap. Besides, I haven''t worn pants in a while.¡± I explained.

    Zubu thought it over, coming to the same conclusion. ¡°That''s a good point. It might be useful for beginners. When first learning to move aspects, but for you. It¡¯ll just make you lazy.¡±

    ¡°Now then. Why don¡¯t you try Qi sight.¡± Said Lorie.

    Plucking a few strands of Qi, I cycled them to my eyes. My eyes glowed as the hidden world came to life. I turned my focus over to Zubu. She glared at me and tried to cover her no-no square.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me!¡± She yelled.

    My body jumped in fear. I looked at the ceiling instead. ¡°Isaac, I¡¯ll cast the spell now, so keep an eye on it.¡± Said the lore keeper.

    I looked her way and watched as momentum and wind aspects poured in. It was different from the way I cast spells, but how was the question.

    That¡¯s when I noticed it. The momentum aspects were being used on everything, but the wind rune. I felt kind of dumb now that I thought about it.

    This whole time I was pouring fire aspect into the entirety of the fireball spell. I didn¡¯t realize I had to form each rune with the corresponding aspects. And apparently connector runes and containment runes were supposed to be built out of momentum aspects.

    I¡¯d deal with that issue later. Right now, I needed to learn this spell. Let¡¯s see¡­ containment, connector, wind, delay connector, uh¡­ mystery rune, then the rest of the space is full of connectors and an end rune. ¡°Got it!¡± I said.

    I tried to do what the lore keeper did and built the runes with the corresponding aspects. They formed nicely. The mystery rune took longer but I eventually got it.

    ¡°Wow, you actually did it.¡± Said Zubu in surprise.

    Lorie cast the spell, but it was different to how I did it. Instead of pouring power into it. The spell pulled power in on its own. I wouldn''t have been able to see it, if it wasn''t for my Qi sight.

    ¡°What the hell?¡± I stood up trying to get a closer look as the lore keeper activated the magic constructed within the circuit. Glowing emerald wind swirled through the room forming a circle over our heads. That¡¯s when the mystery rune activated solidifying the wind aspects.

    ¡°How did you do that? You made the spell power itself.¡± I interrogated her.

    Zubu didn¡¯t seem to understand the situation. She kept looking at the spell like it would tell her something and when she didn¡¯t get what she wanted out of it. She went back to drinking tea.

    ¡°I think I understand what you are getting at. From what I saw with your fireball attempt with lady Cosmo. You tend to power the spells with raw essence. While that isn¡¯t wrong, most mages use the void to power our magic. All we really provide is the building blocks.¡± She explained.

    ¡°Void? Like that blue thing between worlds!?¡± I asked excitedly.

    She nodded. ¡°Magic is far more grounded in reality than you think. Each rune has its own code of numbers. They in tern interact with reality allowing things to happen. I¡¯ve told you this before.¡± Said Lorie.

    ¡°So, like are we in a simulation?¡± I asked fearfully.

    ¡°Heavens no. Reality is nothing more than math. It is all vibrating energy. You can manipulate it with the right numbers. Even cultivators like yourself can bend it simply by moving essence around, or by molding your auras.¡± She said.

    That number thing held true. Physics was all about numbers. With math many unseen things have been discovered. If the math works out, then it must exist.

    ¡°How do you power spells using the void then?¡± I asked.

    ¡°They do it naturally. All you have to do is power them to the point where they activate. From there, intention does the rest.¡± She said.

    Suddenly this whole magic cultivator build didn¡¯t seem so impossible. I no longer needed to power the spells myself. All I needed to do was refill the missing aspects.

    That begged the question¡­ ¡°How did Mr. Brutus refill the momentum aspects on his life hack?¡±

    ¡°Oh, its not that complicated. That gorilla simply filled each rune with enough aspects to last as long as he needed it to.¡± She said.

    That was the most brut force thing I¡¯d ever heard. Was that what he meant by getting the timings right? To think that guy really gathered enough momentum aspects to keep the rune script working for an entire hour. I doubted I could do that.

    Wait, don¡¯t get distracted again. The important part of the conversation was that I no longer needed to power the spell manually. That was a whole lot of essence gathering out of the way. With my new understanding of magic. I bet I could make that fireball spell work now.

    ¡°One question!¡± I raised my hand.

    ¡°yes.¡± She responded.

    I put my arm down. ¡°What¡¯s this rune here do?¡± I pointed to the mystery rune in my magic circuit.

    ¡°That there¡¯s a suspension rune. Think of it like stopping time. That¡¯s what makes the air harden like it does. Otherwise you would just fall through the moment you stepped on the platform.¡± She explained.

    The rune did look a little like an hour glass. I thought it was an infinity symbol. Maybe both?

    The lore keeper undid her spell. ¡°Go on then. We don¡¯t have all night.¡± She motioned for me to activate the spell.

    I thought of the void. I thought of making a platform. Intent mattered so I filled the gaps in my skills with pure intention.

    Surely enough, the spell activated and to my astonishment it powered itself. I almost messed up when not providing it with more building blocks, but I somehow managed to fill in the missing aspects and kept the spell working.

    Before I knew it a wind platform appeared over the table. Even Yukio was surprised. I couldn¡¯t believe it was that easy.

    This whole time I¡¯d been casting spells the hard way. When they could have been powered externally. I felt like I actually stood a chance now.

    Granted, I might still lose, but at least I knew I gave it my best shot. A wave of happiness hit me and I couldn¡¯t feel more grateful to have Yukio and Lorie with me. Somehow sharing this moment with people I kind of liked made me feel pretty good.

    I wish Mr. Brutus was here. He would probably pat my head right about now and tell me how good I was being. ¡°Is this good?¡± I asked.

    Lorie didn¡¯t react much, but I could tell she was in shock. Yukio looked like she¡¯d just seen me grow another head and it started telling horrible dad jokes.

    ¡±Your really something else you know that.¡± Said Yukio.

    ¡°No, this is nothing. Compared to my goal, this is just the first brick towards building a house.¡± I said.

    She seemed to clench her fists. The wannabe samurai got up. ¡°Yeah, I need to go.¡± She said before walking away.

    Before she could leave Aku reached for the back of her kimono. ¡°Yukio! Can we have a sleep over?¡± asked Aku. I hated the idea of spending another night with her, but Aku really wanted to hang out. So much so that she took advantage of my distracted mind.

    ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t plan on sleeping tonight. I got a lot of work to do.¡± She said before finally leaving us behind.

    Aku was very upset and wanted me to go after her like in the movies. It wasn¡¯t like I didn¡¯t want to make Yukio feel better. In fact what I wanted to do was help her with her project. It was a cool project and helping her build it would give me an idea for building my own cultivation technique.

    For that reason I took a step towards the rooms exit. That¡¯s when Lorie stopped me. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about her. This is the most motivated I¡¯ve seen her.¡±

    ¡°I want to help her. She¡¯s trying to make a technique right?¡± I asked.

    ¡°She is, but you must let her do it on her own. Maybe you can look it over later, but for now leave the girl alone. She is obviously shaken by your progress. Trying to help her will only make her angry with you, and then her progress will suffer.¡± Said Lorie.

    I understood. Sometimes it was important to let people accomplish things on their own, but still. I really like Yukio and wanted to be helpful. I didn¡¯t want a rivalry. I wanted a friend.

    Lorie went over the runes with me. It wasn¡¯t anything complicated. It was just details I might have missed. Like the timings of when to add power or building blocks. Even showing me an easier way to form the runes.

    It was a bit like those kindergarten books that showed you step by step instructions on the order in which letters needed to be drawn. I felt like a little kid learning their ABQs for the first time.

    Lorie looked to be having fun. She was a really good teacher, even going as far as to make simulations using colorful aspects. They were very good for keeping my attention.

    She would show a smaller version of me casting the same spell. Then showing me the correct way of casting the spell using the same simulation.

    I found myself poking the holograms. Lorie made them react to my input. It was pretty funny when aspect Aku ran around the table in fear of a giant version of herself.

    I was so interested in the aspect holograms that I created my own little Aku. I made her do a little twirl. Lorie seemed happy about it and we ended up playing a game.

    Lorie created a whole castle with many kinds of demons inside it. I fixed my Aku avatar up so that it was the berserker version of Aku. The game was on.

    My little guy was in the sewers fighting through rats and making their way towards the dungeon under the castle, but before getting there I encountered a rat king mini-boss. We played like that for a while and forgot all about magic.

    Eventually it became very late. Lorie to my dismay insisted on bed time. ¡°But Lorie, I wanna play some more.¡± I cried.

    ¡°No child. Go to bed. It¡¯s late. I can¡¯t believe you got me to play these silly games with you.¡± She said.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you have fun? You made such a good demon king.¡± I said.

    ¡°Yes it was fun. I just¡­ I¡¯ve never done anything like that with a disciple.¡± She said.

    This brought a smile to my face. I Snuck my way passed her arms and gave her a hug. She jumped in surprise before putting a hand on my back in an attempt to simulate a hug. ¡°Child¡­ you should go to bed now.¡±

    I pulled my head away and looked up at her. ¡°I will. I just wanted to thank you for being really nice and playing with me.¡±

    For a moment it looked like Lorie was genuinely happy. So much so that her hand ruffled my hair. ¡°You¡¯re a good girl. Let¡¯s get you to bed now.¡± She said.

    Oddly enough her praise made me kind of happy. I was a good girl! I was the best girl even though I wasn¡¯t actually a girl.

 Episode 53 Chapter 1: Apathy

    Isaac-

    ¡°Izzy! Help!¡±

    Dashing forward I buried my fist into the chitin of a monster centipede. It was like piercing a watermelon full of dirty oil. The inky blood spilled over me as the beast let out it¡¯s final cries. As soon as its core fragment broke, the body and blood turned to ash.

    With no enemies in sight, I pushed forward running through the streets of a familiar yet foreign medieval city. Which may or may not be a twisted up version of Entropy¡¯s capital.

    The roads were like a labyrinth. The buildings lining the road were so tall and close together that there was no other way of getting through, but to take the impossible maze. At one point I was sure I¡¯d gone left 5 times yet the streets somehow managed to look different despite the obviously massive circle I¡¯d taken.

    Along the way I ran into waves of monsters. They were all centipede of varying sizes and levels. One after the other they fell. Swiftly I began to clear my way through this city-like dungeon.

    ¡°Please! I need help! It hurts Izzy!¡± Alice¡¯s voice sounded so far away. I wasn¡¯t even sure where it was coming from. It seemed to be an echo of an echo.

    ¡°I¡¯m coming!¡± I yelled as I kept moving forward. Kept punching. Kept calling her name. ¡°Alice!¡±

    Finally, after a mountain of dead centipede ash. I burst through the final wave of mobs and found her. She was suspended in the air, held up by Squirmy¡¯s needle-like legs. His top half had taken the form of my brother. While the bottom half had become that of a centipede, coiling around Alice¡¯s body.

    His dirty legs were stabbed deep into her, controlling her joints like she was some kind of puppet. Her bones were being shifted. Twisting and sliding under her skin. Distorting her body into something unrecognizable. She no longer resembled a human being anymore.

    Squirmy smiled, his eyes glowing a crimson red. ¡°You¡¯re running out of time Isaac.¡± He ran his claw-like fingernails over Alice¡¯s misshapen neck, causing blood to bubble around the wound as tears ran down her twisted jaw. Her vertebrae had been pulled up into her neck making it arc to the left. She made the most inhuman cries as Squirmy laughed.

    ¡°No! Let her go!¡± I tried to move, but couldn¡¯t, as sudden pain radiated from my right leg. I looked down only to see a black needle stabbing out of my shin and through my foot, pinning me to the ground. The chitter chatter of mandibles rubbing together filled my ears as I realized one of those monsters was right behind me.

    It''s body tilted to my left side and pulled forward. I turned to look at it. It¡¯s red eyes stared back as yellow venom dripped from its mouth. Its mandibles opened for attack as a thin needle sprung out of the opening.

    Weakly I tried to knock it off with a backhand, but it pulled away before I could connect. Squirmy found it hilarious and began laughing in my brothers voice, only for it to distort towards the end into a much more demonic chuckle.

    ¡°Make him watch.¡± Commanded Squirmy.

    The demon spawn stung my back injecting a paralytic into my body. My limbs went limp as I fell to the ground unable to do a thing. Before my entire body could go numb I closed my eyes in fear of what came next.

    It¡¯s legs stabbed into the sides of my head holding it up. In this position my eyes would have been fixed on Alice. I didn¡¯t want to watch and thankfully my eyelids were closed before I could lose complete control. My quick thinking was for not as the bug bit down on my face, ripping off chunks of skin.

    I was unable to do a thing as it¡¯s acidic saliva melted it¡¯s meal allowing it to swallow. It continued ripping out my face until both my eyelids were gone. It was so painful, I couldn¡¯t even scream.

    Unable to blink I was forced to watch my wife¡¯s horrible fate. Though, instead of fear or pain in her eyes. She looked upon me with anger and disgust.

    Squirmy began to snap her bones back into place returning her to her original shape. Her skin had become a dark purple and had swollen significantly, but it was my Alice.

    The last thing to pop back into place was her jaw bone. Now able to talk I expected her to call out for help. To cry for me to get up, but instead she said, ¡°It¡¯s all your fault.¡± Accompanying her words was a splatter of blood and saliva on the ground.

    Squirmy¡¯s arm turned into a thin black scythe-like blade. He laughed as he cut Alice into ribbons right in front of me. The whole time she kept that same hatred in her eyes. Even when her head rolled out in front of me, she looked at me in disgust.

    -Aku/Isaac-

    I woke from my sleep in a cold sweat. I had to stop myself from screaming and waking everyone up. The sound of the centipede screeching from worlds away rung in my head. It wasn¡¯t real! It was a dream! It had to be!

    I hugged my knees and cried. ¡°It¡¯s not real. It¡¯s not real¡­ it¡¯s not real.¡± I repeated those words over and over again in hopes of them being true.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. I killed them. Why am I so useless! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! You fucking dumbass! Why couldn¡¯t you just let Centa have your life¡­ that¡¯s all you had to do. You just had to be selfish! You just had to want something better! You never deserved any of it!¡±

    Tears continued to fall onto my pants as I sobbed quietly in the dark. Snowball was there next to me. Her eyes judging me. Even she hated me.

    I wish I was never born. I¡¯m the worst. I killed my dad. I destroyed my family. Worst of all, I sentenced an entire world to a fate worse than death. All because I wanted to be selfish. All because I wanted my own happy ending.

    Sleep was the worst, so I stayed there crying into these unfamiliar chicken legs. I didn¡¯t want to go back to sleep. I didn¡¯t want to see those horrors again. I wanted to die. Only then could everyone else be happy.

    It might have already been too late for that. My death wouldn¡¯t fix what was already broken. I was the one that created this mess. It wouldn''t be fair to shit on the carpet and leave everyone else to clean it up.

    Then again, all I was good for was making big messes. If I tried, the only thing that would happen is I¡¯d smear it around and make it worse. Why was I so useless?

    Eventually sleep came knocking once more. My head felt so heavy. My eye lids begged to be closed. I had a horrible headache from lack of sleep. My body was always sore. My bones were in so much pain. My feet felt like tenderized meat, and I was pretty sure I had a mild fever.

    A sleepy fog began to cloud my mind. My body demanded rest. It was so tempting. My eyes closed and for a moment the sounds of the bugs outside stopped as I fell asleep again. Within a second of falling asleep I saw Alice being torn to shreds by a sea of demon bugs.

    ¡°No!¡± I cried as my aura flared to life. 20, 30, no 50 layers covered my body in a blueish silver glow. I thought of my childhood. I thought of the apathy the world felt for me and watched as a dark miasma engulfed the room. I pulled. Not a few. Not half, but as much of the dark aspects as I could fit into my aura.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Apathy flooded the fuzzy bubble around my body and soon nothing bothered me anymore. Even my body became numb as all I could feel was warm sharp needle pricks along the entire surface of my skin. Only one thought inhabited my mind.

    ¡°I need to get stronger.¡± I murmured.

    Rising to my feet, I headed out the door. My steps were heavy thuds as I made my way down the hall and out into the courtyard.

    Once there, I practiced just about everything I¡¯d learned so far. The kata, my auras, even the few spells I¡¯d learned. Then a Fireball sprung to life becoming a solid red flame. I fired it into the sky and watched it explode several feet above my head. The embers quickly twisted and expanded into a ball the size of a car, as the kinetic force pushed the flames out. It almost looked like a blooming flower.

    I needed something to hit. Seeing the trees all around me, I began to create several fireballs. Draining the heat aspects from the courtyard. Even if it was cold outside, I was still able to draw in the ambient heat in the area, freezing the ground and lowering the temperature by several degrees. After all, nothing could be absolute zero.

    I was about to launch them when I felt a hand on my shoulder. ¡°Stop it! What do you think you¡¯re doing? You¡¯re going to burn the whole monastery down!¡± Yelled Zubu.

    Her touch seemed to Inject another 0 tier aspect into my aura. It was so persistent and invasive. Like getting honey on your hands. She was attacking my aura somehow.

    I hated the aspects. They were slowly undoing my safe cloud of apathy, causing my mental fortitude to crumble. What was she doing? What was this aspect and why was it so attached to me? No matter what I did I couldn¡¯t shake It off.

    Whatever it was. The foreign aspects burned through my apathy like it was made of paper. Immediately, I felt like falling back into the foggy darkness of sleep. Back where my demon could reach me.

    I shook my head. ¡°No! I need to get stronger! I need to keep going!¡± I cried.

    She gave me that look. The one I hated so much. Pushing her arm away I yelled, ¡°I¡¯m not crazy! I¡¯m not! Stop looking at me that way! Why do all you stupid people look at me like that! Stop it! Stop looking at me!¡± I shoved her, putting a little more distance between us.

    She tried to come closer again. I felt like blasting her in the face. Maybe once her eyes were gone then she¡¯d stop looking at me like that. That was what I wanted, but I couldn¡¯t.

    My fireballs dimmed. Their orange glow faded as I dropped to my knees and broke down. My aura was all over the place. It was so unstable that it sputtered out.

    I couldn¡¯t do that. Lashing out at the world would only end in way more pain. It wasn¡¯t fair. Why did reality hate me so much? Even if I were to burn this entire world to the ground, reality still wouldn¡¯t care.

    Zubu got down on her knees, closing the distance between us. ¡°Isaac¡­ it¡¯s okay.¡± She wrapped me up in a hug. ¡°You¡¯ve been working really hard. You deserve a break.¡±

    I shook my head and like a cranky toddler that refused to sleep. I cried, ¡°No! I don¡¯t want to sleep! I don¡¯t want to watch my wife get torn to pieces again! Don¡¯t make me! I hurt you too! I¡¯ll do it again and again! Its happened so many times now! I keep hurting everyone!¡±

    ¡°Shhh, shhh.¡± She cooed. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I forgive you. I¡¯m not afraid.¡± She said as she stroked my back.

    ¡°You can¡¯t! You shouldn¡¯t forgive me! You don¡¯t mean it! Just because you feel pity doesn¡¯t mean I didn¡¯t do horrible things! I¡¯m not a good person! I¡¯m a monster!¡± I cried.

    ¡°You, a monster?¡± She laughed. ¡°No way. How could a little piss baby like you be a monster? If you try to throw any of those little tantrums I¡¯ll show up to punish and put you in a corner. It¡¯s time for bed Isaac. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll make sure you get a good rest.¡± Said Zubu.

    ¡°Shut up! You¡¯re only forgiving me because you think I¡¯m crazy! Let me go!¡± I cried as I thrashed in her arms. She only seemed to hold me tighter.

    This stupid girl didn¡¯t understand. Why does she keep trying to get herself killed! Doesn¡¯t she know I was about to burn her to ashes!

    ¡°Don¡¯t be a dumbass!¡± She yelled. ¡°I forgive you because I don¡¯t want to see you in pain anymore!¡± That was when I felt something warm and wet land on my shoulder. Was she crying?

    She couldn¡¯t do that! She couldn¡¯t suddenly care like that! It was fake! She was a bully and was trying to trick me!

    It was a lie! Why was she so comforting? Her emotions. She was sad. Sad for me. No, it wasn¡¯t real. How could I trust her! How could I trust any of these people when all they ever do is lie and try to lock me up!

    She was trying to get me to have more nightmares, so she could laugh at me! She even took my aura away so I¡¯d be in pain! Dispelling auras wasn¡¯t possible! What the hell was with these strange aspects! They were clinging to me like a wet blanket!

    How did they break my aura? It wasn¡¯t possible! This stuff was¡­ Oh, but that didn¡¯t make any sense. Why would Zubu have love aspects? Better yet, how could that effect my aura? No, it didn¡¯t dispel my aura. Just the aspects.

    My apathy was built on the memories of no one carrying about me. That¡¯s why the love aspect was able to break it down. Without a foundation my aspects crumbled away. Despite the situation, that was actually pretty cool. Ideas and philosophies could actually battle it out on a battlefield.

    I¡¯m an idiot. I knew it wasn¡¯t true. The apathy was born out of a time when I was used as a punching bag. Back when everyone else got to be selfish. Of course this was only a small part of my life. Since then I¡¯ve found people that actually cared about me.

    Though it was never about the people. It was about the apathy of the universe. I suppose people also counted. Was my philosophy just disproven by this bad mouthed girl? I guess it wasn¡¯t that infallible to begin with. In all honesty it was the ideals of an emo kid. I felt myself cringing inside.

    Alice cared about me, so did my guild mates. My sister cared to a certain degree. Maybe not my brother. He was to weak for loyalties. My mom¡­ she cared. At least that¡¯s what Cosmo told me. Dad definitely cared. Hell even my boss cared about my well being.

    As an adult the world was a lot better. I no longer got my ass beat for one. People actually treated me with a bit more respect. I didn''t have enemies anymore. Everything was a lot more mundane. I mean sure I now had responsibilities, but those weren''t necessarily a bad thing. If anything, they made me feel a bit more confident.

    Why the hell did I become an unfeeling monster to begin with? My dad was kind of like that. I guess it was easier if I pretended they didn¡¯t care, because then I wouldn¡¯t hurt anyone when I did horrible things. Because if I did care, then they could hurt me. By not feeling anything, or having expectations of people. The world couldn¡¯t effect me. It almost made me invincible.

    Of course I couldn¡¯t hold my emotions in forever. Eventually something would happen. Whenever someone I truly cared about got hurt. I¡¯d instantly jump in to fix the wrong. Granny was the first. Then there was Alice.

    Did this mean Zubu actually cared about me? It was the only way to undo my apathy, so she had to have been concerned. She was still crying.

    I really didn¡¯t like the fact that she was sad. She was also, regretful that she was so mean to me. Zubu was feeling my pain. It wasn¡¯t on the same level of empathy I could accomplish. It was the basic level any human could give to another. I wouldn¡¯t call it pity. She genuinely felt like I had been wronged.

    I wasn¡¯t sure on what. if it was how she treated me, or my crappy past. He¡¯ll maybe it was what I had to face in a few days. Who knew, it could be all of the above. What I understood was that she was upset because of me.

    I didn¡¯t want to, but I did care about Zubu. I cared about her a lot and I¡¯m also the reason she¡¯s sad now. The fact was that I hurt her. I made her cry. Realizing that, I began to feel bad. I didn¡¯t like it when the people I liked felt bad. Especially when it was my fault. I even made her get up in the middle of the night.

    ¡°Don¡¯t cry. I¡¯m really sorry.¡± I apologized as my guard dropped completely, allowing myself to be fully embraced. Maybe I could be her Snowball for a bit. I was soft, squishy, and cuddly. Why not?

    ¡°What are you sorry about? I shouldn¡¯t have been such an asshole.¡± She cried.

    I giggled. ¡°What do you mean? That¡¯s just who you are. It¡¯s kind of scary, but it¡¯s also a lot of fun too. You¡¯re the only person that doesn¡¯t fall for my charms.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re such a weirdo.¡± She said.

    For the first time since Alice, I felt like I could completely trust another person. So much so that I fell asleep.

    -Yukio-

    I held Isaac in my arms. His body was burning up. Almost like he had a fever. I knew he was having trouble sleeping, but this was different. This was full on exhaustion.

    That aura was so dark and dense. It was like a void. I never knew there could be so much apathy in one place. It wasn¡¯t just in his aura. It was all around the courtyard. This level of madness was beyond anything I¡¯d ever seen.

    The amount of PTSD written patients that have come through this mountain were nothing compared to what I just witnessed and to think I was such an asshole to him. I really wish I¡¯d been a little nicer. Neutral at the very least.

    I looked around at the damage. Nothing was truly broken, but the ground had ice over it. Isaac was always doing impossible things. Normally drawing in heat aspects was way harder the less heat there was, but somehow while sleep deprived, he managed to almost suck the area dry.

    I could feel heat already spreading from the points where the fireballs died out. It would probably take an hour or two before the aspects integrated back into the area.

    ¡°That child is very dangerous isn¡¯t he?¡± Asked the lore keeper. She appeared from the shadows. I hadn¡¯t even noticed her until she spoke.

    ¡°Should we tie him up?¡± I asked, half joking, half serious.

    ¡°Heavens no. Right now, I think he needs rest. I¡¯ll see if Cosmo can talk with Morpheus about those dreams he is having. For now put him back to bed.¡± Said the lore keeper.

 Episode 53 Chapter 2: Cozy aspects

    Aku/Isaac

    I awoke surrounded in humid warmth. The type of warmth I''d wake up to when Alice was up for spooning. It was right on the border between uncomfortable and comfy. If I had even the smallest ounce of energy I might''ve been uncomfortable.

    The truth was my body felt awful. My head was throbbing. I could barely move. It felt like if been hit by a bus. I had a horrible fever that seemed to be radiating out of my bones. Wait was that¡­ breathing I felt? Hold on a second!

    I tried to crawl out of bed, but the person behind me stirred in their sleep, reaching out and pulling me into a hug. I yelled, ¡°aaah!¡± it was like being dragged under the bed by a hungry monster. I tried struggling, but I couldn¡¯t break free. ¡°Let me go!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Stop your yapping and go to sleep. You¡¯re my bed warmer.¡± Oh thank Cosmo, It was only Zubu. She pulled me closer to her, putting her leg over me.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You need rest so were sleeping in today.¡± She answered.

    ¡°No, I can¡¯t do that. I need to get stronger.¡± I complained.

    ¡°You need to rest. Now if you keep struggling, I¡¯ll have to burrito you up in a blanket.¡± Said Zubu.

    ¡°But Zubu, I could really use some water.¡± I whined.

    ¡°No. If you get up all the cozy aspects will scatter. Now stay put. The only reason you¡¯re here is to warm my bed.¡± She said.

    Were cozy aspects a thing? It was a concept. Now that I thought about it. Whenever I went to bed it would take at least an hour veggie the bed became really comfortable. Getting up usually meant you had to start over. I bet it¡¯s attached to heat aspects. ¡°But Zubu, remember! I¡¯m a man!¡±

    ¡°Oh please, I¡¯ve seen you naked. You¡¯re harmless. Even if you were to swap genders now you would still only be working with a babies water gun.¡± She insulted.

    That one actually cut deep making me feel like some kind of pet. ¡°That¡¯s not true! What if! What if I grab your chesticles! What then!¡± I threatened.

    ¡°I¡¯ll spank you and make you stand in that corner naked until I wake up later.¡± She said, pointing to the one side of the room where the window was constantly leaking cold mountain air.

    I thought about doing it, but there was no winning situation here. Even if I claimed my manhood by copping a feel, she would not only take it away a moment later, but leave me in a far less manly position. I also didn¡¯t think Alice would understand. I was only trying to assert dominance, please don¡¯t stab me.

    Activating my aura and fighting her seemed like the way to go, but I also didn''t want to hurt her and Make her mad at me. I really did value our friendship. There was also a chance one of us would die, since fighting with auras was very dangerous.

    After all, there was a reason people training with guns used targets instead of people. Well that wasn¡¯t quite right for this scenario. If we were training both of us would hold back considerably.

    In a real fight we¡¯d keep pushing harder and harder until one of us submitted to the other. By then one of us could get really hurt and there was a chance the friendship would be over.

    I really didn¡¯t feel like going through another fight with Zubu. We¡¯d just made up after the last one. There was nothing I could do. It was really frustrating. So frustrating that I almost cried. There was only one thing I could do.

    ¡°I¡¯ll pee on you.¡± I threatened. If she was going to treat me like a child. Then I would just have to weaponize it.

    ¡°Well, now that I know you¡¯ll do it on purpose and not as an accident. I have no choice but to punish you, if you do.¡± She said.

    ¡°What! But what if I do have an accident! You know I¡¯ve got a really small bladder.¡± I cried.

    ¡°You¡¯re the one threatening to pee on people. You can¡¯t expect me to think it was an accident when it¡¯s premeditated.¡± She argued.

    ¡°Zubu please let me go to the bathroom! I¡¯ll come back just please let me go!¡± I whined.

    ¡°Comfy cozy aspects!¡± She emphasized. ¡°Go to sleep and you won¡¯t have to worry about thirst or needing to use the bathroom.¡± She added.

    That was solid reasoning. I remember sleeping in the basement to make the day go by faster, and to ignore the pain my body was in. Still there was no need for that now.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    I tried reasoning again. ¡°But what if I wet the bed! You¡¯ll be super mad!¡± I cried as I kicked my feet to show urgency.

    ¡°Nice try, but the real Isaac would never admit to having accidents. Which means you¡¯re either an imposter, or you¡¯re trying to trick me. Either way you¡¯re not going anywhere. Also from now on you sleep with me. You generate a crazy amount of cozy aspects.¡± She said before snuggling up against me.

    ¡°I¡¯ll bite you!¡± I threatened again.

    ¡°I¡¯ll bite you back. Then I¡¯ll tickle you until you pee and punish you for wetting the bed.¡± She countered.

    I was nearly in tears. ¡°That¡¯s so unfair! You¡¯re a bully!¡± I whined.

    ¡°Go to sleep, before I gag you with one of my dirty socks, burrito you up in a blanket, and stuff you inside a pillow case. Then use you like a body pillow.¡± She warned, before letting out a long yawn.

    Every word out of her mouth made me super duper upset. ¡°Zubu your being really mean.¡± I cried.

    ¡°I don''t care. You¡¯re the one lying through your teeth. You just want to run off and work yourself into dust. Rest is important. You need to take a little time off so that everything you¡¯ve worked on can settle. Then you can go back to it with a fresh mind and get even better results.¡± She explained.

    It was only now that I understood what she was up to. Zubu just wanted me to take a break. ¡°But I can''t waste time.¡± I said.

    ¡°I''m not going to let you leave. It¡¯s out of your control, so you might as well make the most of it and rest. Do I need to sing you a lullaby? Maybe get you a cup of warm milk? How about I just hold you and keep you nice and warm?¡± She said before curling around me like a cat sleeping in front of a fire place.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. ¡° I apologized.

    ¡°What do you have to be sorry for?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Making you worry. Making you take care of me. My friend Shadow says I¡¯m a handful.¡± I answered.

    ¡°Do what I say and it won''t be an issue.¡± She commanded.

    Feeling tired I gave up and let out a yawn. Then cozied myself deeper into the comfort of the bed. I hope Zubu never has kids. She is such a bully. Also, why did she get an actual bed while I had to sleep on the floor? It was so unfair.

    Later

    It was now around 9 o¡¯clock. Zubu had finally let me get up. All three of us were at the table and had already scarfed down our brunch.

    I was so happy to make it to the bathroom. I was so close to not making it. There was no way I¡¯d ever let that happen to me again. I¡¯d rather be licked by Shadow a 1000 times than have another accident.

    I¡¯d thought about using a clothes pin to clamp it shut, but I wasn¡¯t sure where the pee came out, since whenever I went to the bathroom, I tended to look away.

    I held my glass of milk up to my mouth and finished it off with a few gulps. Lorie warmed it up for me and put honey in it. It was sweet with an aftertaste that I could only describe as uncooked oatmeal. It was delicious.

    I gave a warm smile to everyone, only to realize they weren¡¯t all that happy with me at the moment. Lorie looked like she was holding in a bowel movement. Zubu just looked worried. Neither of them was even close to being done with their food. They seemed more focused on me at the moment.

    The atmosphere was quiet and awkward. Like someone had just let out a big wet fart and no one knew who it was. It wasn¡¯t that though. I almost did something horrible¡­ again.

    No one had said anything. No one had punished me. Not even so much as a simple scolding. My butt might be safe, but somehow this felt so much worse.

    I couldn¡¯t stand this awkwardness. If no one was going to bring it up. Then I¡¯d have to be the one to rip the band-aid off. ¡°So¡­ are we going to talk about it, or what?¡± I asked doing my best not to meet anyone¡¯s gaze.

    It was silent for a moment before Zubu leaned back in her seat letting out a long breath. She didn¡¯t say anything, almost like she didn¡¯t know where to start.

    Lorie took over. ¡°Isaac¡­ you were lacking sleep and became delirious. Nothing more. Next time you are having trouble sleeping, please say so. We have plenty of methods to deal with nightmares.¡±

    She was being nice. They now knew how I felt about being called, or seen as crazy. From now on they would most likely try to walk on eggshells around me.

    For the longest time I¡¯ve been afraid of being called crazy, because I was sure they would lock me up again, but just because people didn¡¯t say it, didn¡¯t mean they didn¡¯t think it. I could ask the world not to call me crazy, but all that did was put a band-aid on an ever growing crack. You cant fix a dam with band-aids.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay if you think I¡¯m crazy. I don¡¯t want to be treated differently just because you think you¡¯ll hurt my feelings. My mental issue¡¯s are my responsibility, not yours. I refuse to be pitied by everyone.¡± With that I got up from the table and started to leave.

    ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going!¡± Said Zubu, getting up from her seat.

    She looked like she was going to stop me. ¡°I¡¯m going to practice what I know. Then I plan to hit the books.¡± I turned my attention to Lorie. ¡°Lorie can you watch me cast spells and let me know if I¡¯m doing okay?¡± I asked.

    Before Lorie could answer, Zubu butted in. ¡°No, you need to rest. You¡¯ve been training yourself ragged every day and night.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve slept more than enough. I only have today and tomorrow before I have to save a whole world. I¡¯d rather perfect what I have than become rusty.¡± I said.

    ¡°Lore keeper say something to him! He can¡¯t keep going like that!¡± Yelled Zubu.

    ¡°It¡¯s his decision. Just don¡¯t burn my home down.¡± Said Lorie.

    ¡°Isaac, I¡¯ll stop you.¡± Said Zubu. She rushed over to me and took hold of my arm. ¡°You might have gotten some sleep, but your body can¡¯t handle that much stress.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if I break. This body is temporary. My real body is currently bleeding out in a monster infested area. I need to get stronger. Otherwise I won¡¯t just die. My core will be swallowed by my own demon.¡±

    Zubu knew I was right causing her to sigh and release my arm. ¡°Okay, fine. Then let¡¯s train together. I¡¯ll help you improve your skills by fighting with you. Without a partner the only thing you can do is perfect your form.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure? I can¡¯t promise it won¡¯t go the same as last time.¡± My words made her wince reminding her of the ash covered grave, she was once left to die in.

    ¡°Do not worry, I¡¯ll be here to make sure nothing goes horribly wrong.¡± Said Lorie. She got to her feet and began to head out of the room.

    Lorie seemed to bolster Zubu¡¯s confidence. Now with a safety net in place we were both feeling somewhat optimistic.

 Episode 53 Chapter 3: Nudist

    Zubu went to fetch some practice swords, while I headed to my room to get dressed for the day. I didn¡¯t have any clothes I really wanted to wear, since the outfit I had yesterday was going to be washed sometime today. I also didn¡¯t want to wear any enchanted clothing, because that would get in the way of progress.

    I laid out both of my outfits. There was the really pretty flower kimono and the more modern outfit. I thought about raiding the hand me down room again, but Lorie said I was only allowed one set of clothes from there.

    It wasn¡¯t fair¡­ but it was kind of fair. Every disciple gets three pairs of clothes. One for sleeping. One for training and chores. Then another to wear every other day.

    I guess that meant they had to wash their clothes every single day. Compared to them I had 4 pairs of outfits, so Lorie was actually being really nice letting me keep so many.

    While the long sleeve green shirt was super comfy. All I really wanted was the jeans. If I could get those then I could wear this pink top with it. That would also negate most of the enchantment effects.

    I sighed. Oh well. I¡¯ll just wear the modern outfit since I haven¡¯t worn it all that much. Though, This one still had that boring filter enchantment.

    It says it would also censor nudity, but I had yet to see it. Maybe I should flip Zubu¡¯s skirt again to test it¡­ maybe not. I still hadn¡¯t recovered from the last punishment. Though, I was curious to see what other type of underwear she wore. Does she have different colors? What about the fancy lacy patterns?

    The more I thought about it, the more I wished I could have created an adult avatar. It would have been nice to model lingerie in front of a mirror. I shook my head. What was I thinking?

    I looked to Snowball and asked, ¡°What do you think Snowball? Should I wear this one?¡± I held up the pink top and blue skirt.

    ¡°I like it, but I¡¯m a nudist, so what would I know.¡± She responded.

    ¡°Nudist?¡± I tilted my head looking at her. I felt my cheeks warm up, as I covered my eyes and turned around. ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I didn¡¯t realize you were naked!¡± I panicked.

    ¡°Calm down. It¡¯s only weird if you make it weird. You should join me, it¡¯s super duper liberating!¡± said Snowball cheerfully.

    That¡¯s when a blue window popped up in front of me.

    [Princess Aku] PAPA! We need to find Snowball some clothes!

    [Isaac] Don¡¯t worry about that.

    [Princess Aku] But papa, she¡¯s naked!

    [Isaac] She¡¯s covered in fur. It¡¯s just like wearing clothes. Also she seems totally cool with it.

    [Princess Aku] But papaaaa! *tantrum noises*

    This was a ridiculous situation. I wonder if normal fathers dealt with this sort of stuff too?

    [Isaac] Alright kiddo. How about I ask Lorie to make some clothes for her? Would that make you feel better?

    [Princess Aku] Lorie can do that?

    [Isaac] Uh¡­ yeah¡­ I think so.

    [Princess Aku] Okay!

    [Isaac] Now that I''ve got you''re attention, do you think you can remove the enchantments from these clothes?

    I reached for the modern outfit.

    [Princess Aku] Sure!

    I had to wait a bit, but got a confirmation a moment later.

    [Princess Aku] All done papa! Praise me!

    [Isaac] Good job sweetie. You¡¯re a very good girl.

    [Princess Aku] *giggle*

    The screen vanished as our minds intermingled with one another. I got myself dressed and found myself wishing I had more socks. These black ones were starting to get hard and crusty. The left one was even starting to rip right where my heel was supposed to go.

    Not only that, but they smelled horrible. Like a dead rat stuffed into a jar. With a mix of water and peroxide. Then left to rot and eventually explode in my brother¡¯s newly bought hellcat.

    With no other choice, I put on my socks and shoes. My brain had been distracted and I realized I hadn¡¯t put my skirt on yet. That was fine. Skirts are so strange. You can still put them on even if you¡¯re wearing shoes. It has a little zipper making it even easier to fit over my foot wear.

    Next was the top. I slipped it over my head. It fit snuggly over my torso. I found myself missing my comfy baggy clothes. It was nice to feel blanketed in fabric. Like wearing a snuggy all day. Only less soft.

    These clothes weren¡¯t all that tight to begin with. In fact they fit how they were supposed to. The only thing I liked about skirts was that they were somewhat baggy by design. Still, they were kind of annoying when you constantly had to worry about flashing people.

    I should see about getting some spanx. Then I wouldn¡¯t have to deal with it. Speaking of which, It was about time I figured out what size I was, so that I could buy my own clothes in the future.

    As I tried to turn my skirt around to look for a tag, Lorie popped her head into the room. ¡°What are you up too? Silly girl, you¡¯ve got it backwards. The zipper goes on the side.¡±

    She came over and fixed what wasn¡¯t actually broken, by shifting the zipper so that it was now over my right hip. ¡°Did you change your underwear?¡± She asked suspiciously.

    I blinked then looked at her. ¡°I didn¡¯t even change my socks.¡± Lorie simply shook her head and sighed.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    I hated when people did that. It¡¯s like they think I¡¯m incompetent or something. I wasn¡¯t a child. I could easily make decisions on whether or not to change my underwear. They were still clean.

    She annoyingly went through my private things and pulled out a pink pair with the picture of a little koala bear clinging to a tree and sleeping on the front. It even had a little text bubble with a bunch of Zs to indicate that it was snoring.

    I felt embarrassed and Aku was still upset that she didn¡¯t get to wear nice underwear like Zubu. She felt as though Lorie liked Zubu better and was giving her special treatment. She even got a nicer bed than us.

    I tried to take the underwear from Lorie, but she wouldn¡¯t hand it over. ¡°I need that to change.¡± I complained.

    ¡°Are you sure you can do it by yourself?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Of course! Don¡¯t ask stupid questions and leave!¡± I grumbled.

    ¡°Don¡¯t take that tone with me. You¡¯re the one putting on your shoes and socks before your skirt.¡± She retorted.

    So that¡¯s what this was about. Lorie was the type to want everything done a certain way. If you did it any other way, then it¡¯d better be really interesting. Otherwise she would correct you. From her perspective, she might have thought I had actually gone crazy.

    ¡°You saw that?¡± I hung my head, feeling a bit embarrassed. What kind of crazy wizard eyes did she have? Were they like my Qi sight? I wonder if I can use it too.

    Had she been watching me this whole time? I know she¡¯s seen me naked, but having someone stare at you with their crazy magic eyes was creepy as fuck.

    Magic eyes aside, why did I feel like this situation was familiar? Had I done this before? Somehow an image of Shadow came to mind.

    Wasn¡¯t this sort of treatment something Shadow would do to me? I could lash out again, but that would probably just make me look worse. The question now was, was Lorie treating me like a child, or Was Shadow treating me like a mental patient?

    In the end the only way to undo the damage was to be reasonable and transparent. ¡°Sorry Lorie. I did do all those things. I was being lazy. Can you please not start treating me like a child just because I¡¯m an idiot with no discipline. Also I didn¡¯t know the zipper was supposed to go to the side. Thank you for showing me.¡± I said.

    ¡°Well that was much better.¡± She ruffled my hair. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. There¡¯s not much you can do to get me to see you as an adult. It¡¯s clear to me you still haven¡¯t gone over the wall yet.¡± She said.

    I tilted my head. ¡°The wall?¡± I questioned.

    ¡°Yes. In mortal society adults are seen as people who are of a certain age, but when you enter the higher ranks it becomes a bit different. Getting over the wall usually happens after you¡¯ve lived 100 years. Once that happens you¡¯ll turn into a real adult.¡±

    ¡°I thought you said adult age was 32 for my rank?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s the morally legal age, but the wall is different. Living for a long time can change a person. Going over the wall is basically saying you¡¯ve hit full maturity. However for some that wall is way higher. Like lady Cosmo. She is no where near the wall. It could take her another 1000 years before she fully matures.¡± She explained.

    So it wasn¡¯t about the body maturing. it was the mind that needed to mature. When your body is aged backwards every time you ascend. The concept of adulthood loses its footing. The morally legal age was for people that wanted to smash. While going over the wall was on the mental side of things.

    It was kind of like the sense of wonder children had. Adults had it too just not very much of it. I guess Living for a 100 years would change thing. With that much time, you''d probably become stagnant and complacent.

    I wonder if that¡¯s why Lorie never ascended past the angel rank. She might no longer have the drive to push forward. She didn''t seem depressed. I don''t think she¡¯s lost her purpose. She was simply at peace.

    ¡°So does that mean you''re tired of living? Are you board?¡± I asked.

    Lorie laughed. ¡°Of course not. There''s no need to worry about my mental state. I''m happy on my mountain.¡± She reassured.

    ¡°Really you don''t get board?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Not when I have such lovely students. Seeing how full of life you children are fills me with lots of joy. You especially, Isaac. The short time we¡¯ve spent together has somehow lasted so much longer than the time I¡¯ve spent with other students. Well except for Yukio, but that child is incredibly stubborn.¡± She said.

    Time running slower around me? That usually wasn¡¯t a good thing. Stuff like that only happened when the other person was a handful. Was she tired of me already? Was I getting on her nerves?

    She continued. ¡°You have this spark in your eyes. I¡¯ve never seen a disciple with so much excitement. Watching you grow is a lot of fun. It¡¯s as if I were reliving my first days as a lower spirit rank.¡± She smiled as she envisioned her own days of youth.

    Lorie was actually pretty cool. ¡°I¡¯m happy to be your student. I wish I could stick around a little longer, but Squirmy¡¯s been leaving me messages and my voicemail is almost full.¡± I said.

    ¡°I know. When your trial is over. I¡¯ll see you again.¡± She said.

    I smiled. I¡¯ll bring Alice along. It¡¯ll be fun. She¡¯ll love the trees. I wonder if Zubu will be off world by then. Seeing her again would be nice, but not seeing her would also make me happy. Knowing she finally made it off this world.

    ¡°Can I have them now?¡± I reached again for the underwear. She gladly gave them to me.

    ¡°Let¡¯s fix that sock problem. It wasn¡¯t an issue until Lady Cosmo got you those shoes.¡± She petted my head again. Her hands were the most gentle out of all the head pats I¡¯d received. I think it came with living for so long. Something told me she might be older than Cosmo.

    ¡°I¡¯m curious. This whole place follows Japanese culture right?¡± I asked.

    In response she nodded confirming my assumption.

    ¡°Then why is it you don¡¯t make people take off their shoes when in doors?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s what your curious about? The monastery has a repair and cleaning function. There¡¯s really no need to take one''s foot wear off. Of course I only turn it on when it¡¯s only me and Yukio. Once enough students arrive I shut the enchantment down and make them clean everything.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous. Isn¡¯t that a huge waste of time?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It builds discipline. In your case you don¡¯t really need it because of how motivated you are, but when motivation runs out. Discipline is the only thing that¡¯ll keep you going.¡±

    So the key to success was to turn everything into a habit. To others it might look like you¡¯re working really hard, but to you. You¡¯re just doing your daily routine.

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡° I said.

    Lorie had me sit down and remove my foot wear, while she headed off to get some fresh socks. I also managed to change my underwear while she was gone. I still thought skirts were weird. I didn¡¯t even have to take it off to change.

    When she came back she had a clean pair of socks in her hands. Lorie must have smelled the putrid odor from my stockings, because she made a funny face causing me to smile and giggle.

    ¡°Isaac that¡¯s disgusting! How could you let it get so bad?! This is not a laughing matter!¡± She scolded.

    ¡°Sorry. I was busy doing things. And I was afraid you¡¯d take my cool shoes away because I didn¡¯t have any other socks.¡± I answered truthfully.

    She tossed the new socks at me. They hit me in the face. Then Lorie lit the old ones on fire with a strange spell. The flames didn¡¯t burn anything else but the socks. They were also black for some reason.

    ¡°Wow! Can I learn to shoot black fire?¡± I asked enthusiastically.

    ¡°That stuffs a bit too advanced for you. Let¡¯s stick to the basics for now. ¡° She said.

    I nodded my head and got my new socks on. Then slipped into my light up shoes. It felt great to wear fresh socks. I got to my feet and hopped up and down to see the pretty lights.

    ¡°Come help me bring a few things outside.¡± She said.

    ¡°Okay, but can I ask you for a favor?¡± I negotiated.

    ¡°What is it child?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Snowball is naked. Do you have any clothes that will fit her? Or can you maybe use that magic stuff to magic up some new clothes?¡± I asked feeling pretty childish for the ridiculous request.

    She snorted in amusement making me regret bringing it up. I felt like crying as my anxiety rose up inside me. Sensing my emotional state Lorie petted my head, making me feel a little better while at the same time, labeling my actions as childish.

    This was so dumb. I¡¯m an adult cosddammit! I swear. It was easier to fall into the role of a child than try and fail to reestablish my adulthood through a tantrum. Besides she might refuse to help if I acted too bratty.

    ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± She said.

    The Aku in me jumped for joy while the Isaac in me felt a weight off his shoulders now that Aku was happy.

 Episode 53 Chapter 4: Cinamonod! Cinamonamom? Cinamopolis??

    I helped Lorie by carrying a chair out into the courtyard. She had instructed me to put it next to the old dusty table near the main entrance.

    She came out right behind me holding a fresh pot of tea. The young looking grandma refused to let me carry it, saying it was too dangerous and that you needed a certain amount of experience to handle a hot pot.

    ¡°So what tea is this? It smells different from the usual stuff?¡± I asked as Lorie set the tray down on the old table.

    ¡°It¡¯s just cinnamon. Nothing fancy.¡± She answered.

    ¡°Cinnamononon.¡± I said incorrectly. Cinnamonapolin was an actual word I had trouble pronouncing. It was an issue even before I became fun sized.

    ¡°Si-Nuh-Muhn.¡± She corrected.

    ¡°Cinomanon?¡± I said incorrectly.

    Lorie smiled and tried to stop herself from laughing. ¡°Yes that''s correct. Good job. Would you like some. This one is a lot more kid friendly.¡± She said

    ¡°I¡¯m an adult! I like coffee and beer!¡± I responded defensively.

    ¡°My goodness. Such adult drinks. You must be very brave.¡± She said as if trying to hype up a child.

    I sighed not wanting to fall for the obvious trap. I quickly tried to change the subject by pivoting back towards the tea. ¡°I didn''t know you could turn cimonomoonamen into tea¡± I butchered.

    Seeing my anxiety she ignored my pronunciation. ¡°You can turn anything into tea if you boil it enough. Here, let me get you a cup.¡± She poured some out for me. The liquid was a dark amber color. She then added a few sugar cubes and a bit of milk. The milk turned the liquid into a pinkish brown. Almost like strawberry milk but¡­ not that.

    Lorie slid the cup over to me. ¡°Can you add more milk maybe?¡± I begged expecting it to taste bad.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think about it. Just taste it.¡± She commanded.

    I took a quick breath before lifting the cup, blowing on it, and bringing it to my lips. There was a satisfying slurp followed by a delighted ¡°hmmm!¡±

    The liquid spice was sweet, but not too sweet. It really did taste like cinomonom. The milk made it slightly thicker while still keeping it''s watery texture.

    ¡°I like it.¡± I said.

    ¡°That makes me very happy to hear.¡± She said pouring her own cup.

    Wait a sec¡­. ¡°Did you make this with me in mind?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I did. You didn''t like the stronger tea, so I made this one instead.¡± She responded cheerfully.

    ¡°Thank you Lorie, I like it a lot.¡± I said.

    I drank my tea while asking Lorie about mundane magic stuff. Once I was done with the cup, I remembered Snowball was still inside, so I went back in to grab her.

    She was now sporting a new blue dress. Lorie said she put it together from my old clothes. That being the torn up dolls dress I was summoned in.

    It looked so nice on her. She was princess Snowball now. ¡°You look so pretty Snowball.¡± I said gleefully as I held her up to look at her.

    ¡°You can¡¯t do this! I¡¯m a nudist you clothes loving weirdo! Let me out of these clothes! I want to feel the wind on my fur!¡± Yelled Snowball as I spun around with her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous Snowball. You can¡¯t walk around naked. You¡¯re a lady of fine quality. What if Mr. Brutus saw you? He¡¯d get the wrong idea. And then we''d have so many kitties running around. What are we going to do with so many cats? There''s no shelter around Snowball. We¡¯d have to eat them. Are you cool with becoming a cannibal?¡± I scolded her.

    Lorie laughed hearing me talk with my friend. ¡°How about you let me hold on to her, so her new dress doesn¡¯t get dirty.¡± Said Lorie.

    ¡°Yeah, okay!¡± I skipped over and handed Snowball over to Lorie. She took my doll, setting her down on her lap.

    Everything was great today. Thanks to the sleep I got, I wasn¡¯t tired anymore. In combination with the delicious tea, seeing Snowballs new outfit, and it being such a nice day outside. It all left me feeling really good. Giving me a rush of energy.

    Out of happiness I ran out into the courtyard and threw my momentum into a chain of cartwheels. At the end of the chain, I spun my body around and performed a back flip, rotating in the air several times before landing on my light-up shoes. They flashed like fireworks at the end of a performance.

    ¡°Te-da!¡± I cheered.

    Lorie clapped, ¡°Very good.¡± Then projected a large 10 above her head out of colorful aspects.

    ¡°Wow, that was great!¡± Said Snowball.

    I smiled and politely did a curtsy by putting one foot in front of the other and bending my knees, as I held the ends of my skirt out. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    That¡¯s when Zubu stepped out the door holding a pair of wooden swords. ¡°About time.¡± I said.

    ¡°Don''t rush me. These were outside covered in dirt so I had to clean them.¡± She said as she stepped onto the courtyard. A moment later she threw one of the bamboo swords at me.

    I kicked the sword causing it to spin in the air. Reaching out, I stopped it by grabbing the handle. The handle came to a perfect stop, while the rest of the sword wobbled like a guitar string.

    I giggled, ¡°hehehe, It made a funny noise!¡± Zubu seemed too serious to laugh so I dropped my smile and fell back into ultra serious battle mode.

    Effortlessly, I summoned my level one null aura. The power engulfed my body and sword in a brilliant azure glow. All that aura training had paid off. It was so thin yet super uber dense. My body felt as though it had the momentum of a bus.

    Zubu let out a whistle. ¡°Wow, looks like I won''t have to hold back.¡± She said.

    ¡°That¡¯s not all.¡± I said as momentum, wind, heat, earth, and water aspects began to enter my aura. I didn¡¯t have the body of a mage, but I did have the aura of a cultivator and it could hold aspects almost as well as a mana stone.

    The only issue was I had to gather them while my aura was active. That meant I wouldn¡¯t be able to cast spells right off the bat, but it did come with other benefits.

    The momentum aspects gave my movements more priority. The wind aspects made me lighter on my feet. Heat aspects increased my speed.

    (Authors note: I originally wanted momentum aspects to effect speed, but once I put a little more thought into it. It made more sense for it to effect someone''s priority. As in the force behind their movements, or as the word ¡°momentum¡± implies, momentum.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    The relationship between momentum, heat, and cold. Is very simple. Momentum is potential. Heat and cold are direction.

    I¡¯m unsure if I¡¯ve contradicted the story with this change, but I''ll eventually update the rest of the story later to reflect this. Sorry if there is any confusion.)

    Earth aspects gave me strength and defense. Water aspects did something similar, but with the added effects of making my aura more flexible, causing my steal-like shell to act like liquid metal.

    Mr. Brutus said, I should make the outside of my aura soft and the inside hard, but once you reached a certain amount of layers it became harder to mold. That meant my caterpillar aura wouldn¡¯t be as nimble, or flexible.

    Water aspects solved that issue. I was now able to keep the solidity of my steel shell while also being able to mold it as if it were molten metal.

    Bottom line was, aura creation had to do a lot with the first 20 layers. They were the ones that decided what the aura would be. That¡¯s why making them hard turned the outer layers, into a stiff inflexible mess.

    At first I thought Mr. Brutus was playing a prank on me. When he told me to make my aura hard on the inside, but then I realized he was trying to teach me about aura creation. Without his intervention I would have ended up with a super soft aura that could easily be broken. The worst part was I wouldn¡¯t even know.

    He could have just told me, but then the lesson wouldn¡¯t have sunk in as well. Hands on experience not only helped you learn things. It also gave you a much deeper understanding. A kind of understanding that couldn''t be put into words.

    It was kind of hard to change my aura back to hard. Water aspects helped with that. Aura creation was almost like the growth of a tree. Every layer grown was nearly permanent. It was no wonder why over time it became easier to create each of the layers, since they were simply just extensions of my natural aura.

    My level one aura never actually vanished. It was always there, but hidden. Every time I needed a layer or two I was simply empowering the layers I¡¯d built over time with my Qi. And here I thought I was creating the aura from scratch every time.

    My aura went from a solid blue to a golden orange. It was so different from what I had before. With my control I could hold it for hours. Especially with all the cultivation I did. My spark was almost twice as strong now.

    ¡°Interesting aura. What do you call this one?¡± Asked Lorie.

    ¡°Paradoxical aura.¡± I said.

    ¡°Why?¡± Asked both Zubu and Lorie.

    ¡°Because, cultivators shouldn¡¯t be able to cast spells.¡± They still looked confused. ¡°Just watch.¡± I added.

    Instead of explaining it, I showed them. There was just enough heat aspects stored in my aura for a low powered fireball, so I withdrew the aspects necessary for the spell and formed an orange spell circuit. Surely enough a glowing ball of flames appeared floating within the spell construct.

    My aura now void of heat aspects, went from a warm orange to a breezy greenish blue. Both Lorie and Zubu looked impressed.

    ¡°I see. Using a cultivators aura to cast magic. That does sound like a paradox. Though mages often use magical aura¡¯s to empower their spells. In truth, your aura acts like a storage device. That¡¯s clever, but you wont be able to hold very many aspects in there. Unless you add more layers. Even then you¡¯ll only be able to cast a few spells.¡±

    She wasn''t wrong about that. I couldn''t fit all the aspects I wanted, so I ended up reserving percentages of storage space for each one.

    10% storage for momentum. 10% storage for wind aspects. 10% for water. 10% for earth. The rest of storage was reserved for heat aspects and any other aspect effects I might need. Such as the healing effects from life aspects.

    In truth, I only needed mass storage for the heat aspects. However the combination of the other aspects was great for increasing my physical attributes.

    I thought about learning other types of magic. Kinetic based spells seemed like they would be very useful, especially since momentum was so easy to get. Wind, earth and water spells also seemed like a good choice.

    There was a reason I focused more on my fireball spell. That was because even before I ascended, I already knew the spell structure for fireball. Also watching Squirmy burn was so satisfying during that whole open the gate quest.

    Zubu¡¯s aura flared to life. Her body glowing a bright pink. A moment later, the power lit itself on fire releasing burning static along her body. She looked like an exploding transformer. Her sword took on a similar energy. Though, much more focused like a welding torch.

    ¡°Is that safe?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Do not worry child. I¡¯ve already created a practice barrier around the top of the mountain. It¡¯s impossible to die.¡± Said Lorie.

    ¡°How does that work!¡± I panicked.

    Both Lorie and Zubu gave me a strange look, before locking eyes.

    ¡°You okay, Isaac?¡± asked Zubu cautiously. There was that look again.

    They must have thought I was freaking out or something. Was I freaking out though? I looked around to see if there were a bunch of fireballs floating around. There was only the baby fireball I conjured to show off. Everything looked fine. Even my aura looked normal.

    My actions didn¡¯t sit right with them and I could tell they were about to call the whole thing off. In an attempt to prevent it I said, ¡°I was just curious on how the barrier worked. I didn¡¯t mean to¡­ uh¡­ scare you guys.¡±

    It was silent for a moment before Lorie jumped into an explanation. ¡°It¡¯s something like an enchantment. Though since I had little notice it¡¯s more on the rune script side of things. Don''t worry it''ll work. It¡¯s just not permanent.¡± She said.

    ¡°Why are you so fixated on the barrier?¡± Asked Zubu, her plasma fading into a thin mist of pink light.

    ¡°I just want to know what the barrier actually does. Like is my soul trapped in my body, or is it more like a resurrection type of thing? Are you a necromancer? You have to tell me if you are!¡± I questioned fearfully. I didn¡¯t want to be brought back to life over and over again.

    Been there done that. The memories of my mother torturing me to the point of near death and bringing me back to life ran through my head. That was seriously horrible. I never wanted to go through that again.

    Seeing how distraught I was, Lorie gave an explanation. ¡°It can heal you and it can restore anything inside of it back to before it was broken. So buildings, trees, the ground, cuts, bruises, stabs, dismemberment. It will all get reversed.¡± She said.

    ¡°Is it like a time loop? Couldn''t something like that make someone immortal?¡± I asked. If focused on a single person, it could be insanely OP.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a complete reversal of time. It only undoes the damage if there¡¯s no level zero auras. Things like plants can be reversed by negentropy, but for creatures nature rank and above. It would take way more energy to get around their natural aura. Especially for you two. You guys will just get hit with strong healing magic, with a side of cleansing.¡± She explained.

    Something told me I should have invested some storage for apathy aspects. If Zubu didn''t have to hold back. Then being hit would hurt a lot. I quickly gathered some apathy and gave them 10% of my auras storage. Already I could feel myself mellowing out.

    ¡°So if I die, it¡¯ll bring me back to life?¡± I questioned.

    ¡°Yes, it will. As long as it hasn¡¯t been too long and your soul is still attached to your body.¡± She explained.

    I looked to Zubu fearfully. ¡°Please don''t hurt me too much. I don''t want to die a bunch.¡± I nearly cried.

    ¡°Don''t worry, a cut here or there won''t hurt. Use some apathy to negate the pain.¡± Said Zubu.

    Her words didn''t really reassure me, but she had a point. With some apathy, pain would be a none issue. Still, Lorie said some about detached souls? It sounded like a cause for concern.

    ¡°What happens if my soul is detached? Does that mean actual death?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You die when your heart stops. If your soul were truly detached, your body would turn to dust.¡± She said.

    That didn¡¯t make sense. People die all the time and there bodies are fine. ¡°I have another question. How come on my world people don¡¯t turn to ash when they die?¡±

    She sighed as if I¡¯d just asked where clouds came from. Zubu sat down realizing I wouldn¡¯t be satisfied without an answer.

    ¡°Okay. Usually when it comes to God¡¯s, they have a collection system to gather the souls. However Cosmo has way to many followers to implement that system into all of them, so instead she only gathers the souls of those who are lower spirit rank and above.¡± She answered.

    ¡°Wait just a minute!¡± I yelled realizing a horrible truth. ¡°Are you telling me some people just end up spending eternity trapped in their dead bodies!¡±

    ¡°Not that long. For the most part they are sleeping, so they can¡¯t really feel or experience anything. The cores end up being gathered slowly. Cosmo¡¯s system drains away the quintessence until they are back with her.¡± She explained.

    Right, the bottle cap. Since their body is dead, they can¡¯t produce quintessence, so Cosmo¡¯s bottle cap ends up draining their reserves, causing their souls to slowly go back to her.

    ¡°What about bones? Those don¡¯t go away.¡± I said.

    ¡°They do eventually. Unless they get preserved in some way. Such as fossilization. Since the soul is slowly removed. Things like bones don¡¯t fall apart right away. Even when the soul is gone, they can last a while. It¡¯s only when you rip a soul from its vessel that the body turns to ash.¡± She explained.

    Slowly drained away into nothing. Can a soul survive that process? It sounded like the soul was used like a battery. I was about to ask when Lorie interrupted my thoughts. ¡°Aren¡¯t you two going to fight.¡± It wasn''t really a question. Lorie was very stern with her words, almost as if tired of the conversation.

    Zubu pulled herself to her feet and held her blade up reigniting her aura. Static and fire roared to life as it wrapped around her, turning her blade into a plasma sword.

    My aura had already gathered enough heat aspects to turn yellow, so I launched my previously conjured fireball at her, but she cut right through it with her glowing sword. Then came charging at me for a stab.

    It was a little scary, but This was nothing compared to the trials yet to come.

 Episode 54 Chapter 1: Gains

    I fired one fireball after another, but Zubu kept slicing through them reducing each orange nova into smoky waves of heat. Within the spells their kinetic energy was being displaced sending the momentum of my embers to opposite sides and away from Zubu¡¯s path.

    The Issue was how focused the energy in her plasma sword was and how low powered my fireballs were. If I wanted one to land, I would need to put more power behind my spells, or wait for an opening. Either way her plasma was a higher tier than my fire making it much stronger by default.

    She closed the gap between us and went for a horizontal cut. I ducked under it feeling a tingly sensation over my hair as the static of her blade attracted the strands on the back of my scalp. I went for my own strike with my orange glowing sword.

    The molten Iron like energy lashed out almost in a whip like motion, as I had gone for reach instead of power. If I could only knock her out of her flow, I could take the offensive instead of being stuck on defense.

    My iron whip almost struck her leg, only for a pulse of plasma powered Qi to erupt under her feet. Sending her body up into the air. My aura was pelted by dust and rocks as a result.

    I went after her jumping and adding the thrust of a Qi pulse to my momentum. My sword swung in a big arc as I sent another fireball flying at her.

    She quickly cut my spell down, but at the cost of her defense. My molten iron sword bit down on her shoulder cutting through several layers of her aura, sending her crashing down.

    The momentum of my downward strike carried forward. Causing my body to rotate. I was now up-side-down in the air. Quickly, I created a wind platform. Then activated my caterpillar aura to stick to the bottom of it.

    Before pin-balling my way towards Zubu for a follow up attack, I positioned my sword over my head, holding it with both hands. Then turned the molten steel of my swords aura into the shape and density of a war hammer. With a powerful swing of my hammer and a reverberating pulse of Qi under my feet. I bounced off my platform both obliterating it and launching myself back down.

    I flipped through the air putting all my momentum into my sword hammer. Aiming its dense molten aura at Zubu. Who was only just now getting to her feet.

    She fired off several shots of plasma, pelting my steel shell. Each hit stripped 2 to 3 layers off my aura. Before my spinning hammer could strike her. She jumped back avoiding my downward strike. The ground exploded on impact sending a huge amount of dust into the air and creating a small crater.

    Unwilling to let my weakened aura reform, she dashed towards me. Then with a swift flick of her wrist. She cut through the final 15 layers and opened up my chest cavity. Just as I felt her blade enter the radius of my aura, I had jumped back in hopes of avoiding her attack.

    Even though I had retreated, she still managed to cut me wide open. The smell of cooked flesh filled my nose as a horrible burning pain filled my chest.

    With my aura broken, my aspects began to scatter. I didn¡¯t want to lose them all, so I focused on keeping them in my orbit. The worst part was that without apathy the pain nearly caused me to blackout.

    Lucky for me it quickly vanished a moment later as the wound closed up. Even my shirt was mended, along with the messed up ground.

    Once I was healed, Zubu closed the distance stepping on a hidden magic circle I¡¯d left behind. It erupted in an explosion of kinetic force. The spell construct was just a bunch of kinetic runes awkwardly stitched together, but it did¡­ something.

    Instead of acting like a landmine, like I originally was hoping for. It was more like a weak launch pad that not only threw you into the air, but also blasted you with rocks and dirt.

    The spell wasn''t completely useless. I knew it wouldn¡¯t do a lot of damage. I intended for the spell to create openings, or buy me time to recover. Still, the damage was annoying at best. Maybe Loire could tell me what I did wrong later.

    With Zubu up in the air, I gathered up the heat, wind, and momentum aspects from the scattered remains of my Paradoxical aura. Then formed two orange glowing magic circles.

    Twin stars grew quickly. Once they were the size of basketballs I fired them. Both of which slammed into her. They erupted in an explosion of black smoke and orange embers. Completely engulfing her body.

    The force of the explosion only seemed to push her higher as a ball of smoldering smoke was sent out of the impact sight. As the smoke cleared I was able to see her falling. The only damage she took was the loss of her left arm.

    Instead of allowing her entire aura to be broken apart she sacrificed her arm by using it like a shield. This Zubu was different. Instead of acting like an out of control angry berserker, she was calm and calculating.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    I used this chance to reform my aura. The layers came back within a few seconds, but the aspects I¡¯d gathered was greatly diminished. Slowly I began the process of drawing them back in.

    In an attempt at an aerial recovery, Zubu performed a number of summersaults. Even with the loss of a limb, the pain did not slow her down as she flipped through the air, landing on her wooden sandals like they were running shoes. She held up her newly formed arm and unleashed a powerful and dense stream of plasma from her growing aura.

    Seeing the real danger before me, my eyes went wide. I quickly formed another platform in a vertical orientation and used it like a shield to block the blast. My spell was consumed by pink flames a second after casting. It was just enough for me to move out of the way.

    The burst of energy hit the ground melting a small patch of dirt as if all the heat had been focused on a single point. ¡°Zubu that¡¯s dangerous!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be a baby! The Lore keepers barrier is up!¡± She retorted.

    ¡°But Zubu! If you vaporize me! There won¡¯t be anything left to heal!¡± I whined.

    She thought it over. Scratching her cheek. ¡°Yeah¡­ good point¡­ my bad.¡±

    That¡¯s when Lorie decided to chime in. ¡°As long as your soul is still around and there¡¯s a leg or arm you¡¯ll be fine. Of course in you¡¯re case Isaac. You can just be re-summoned.¡±

    This comment caused Zubu to smile in a sadistic manner. ¡°You see piss baby. Lets just cut off a finger each and let the lore keeper hold on to them. That way she can bring us back whenever we die.¡± Said Zubu a bit too gleefully.

    Was she trying to pay me back for putting her in the ground? Total dismemberment was an option now, but it sounded so brutal for a simple training exercise. My legs were shaking again. Like when Mr. Brutus threw me around.

    Zubu started to swing her sword at me in a playful manner, while I flinched, holding my sword up and trembled. ¡°Stop it!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Come on you little shit! Get your ass in gear! You¡¯re the one that wanted to do this!¡± She yelled.

    ¡°Waaaah! I wanna take a break! We¡¯ve been going all afternoon and I¡¯m getting kind of hungry!¡± I whined.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Said Zubu smiling. This time her smile was more of the ¡°kind¡± variety. Dropping her sword she got a little closer. Then began ruffling up my hair as a tear ran down my face.

    Wait¡­ what was going on? What was this! She was really abusive a second ago! Why is she all cuddly all of a sudden?! Was she trying to get me to quit this whole time!? Why would she do that!? She¡¯s a bully I tell you!

    ¡°I¡¯ll go fix up some sandwiches.¡± Said Lorie as she rose up from her seat setting Snowball back down.

    Zubu - against my will - guided me over to sit under one of the flower trees. There was a nice patch of grass growing under it, thanks to the abundance of life aspects in the area.

    She sat down first. I parked my sore butt next to her on the grass, only for her to pat her lap. ¡°Come on, take a little nap. I¡¯ll be your pillow.¡±

    A lap pillow from a beautiful- wait, no. This was a trap. Zubu was still a bully. Besides, she wasn¡¯t a very comfortable person. Actually, sharing a bed was kind of nice. No, it¡¯s still a trap. She might do something mean like put a bug in my ear.

    I did say I trusted her now, but I was sleep deprived then and she¡¯s been pretty mean to me while training. Her lap does look soft though.

    Her face quickly twisted in annoyance. ¡°I¡¯m offering a lap pillow you asshole! Even if you¡¯re lacking a manhood there is still nothing more appealing than laying on the lap of a beautiful and lovely young maiden. Do you think I offer this to just anyone?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re like twenty-something. There¡¯s no way you¡¯re still a maiden.¡± I argued.

    ¡°What was that you little shit!¡± She wrapped my head in a headlock. ¡°How dare you imply I¡¯m un-pure! I¡¯m a virgin I¡¯ll have you know!¡±

    ¡°Okay! I¡¯m sorry!¡± I cried as I pushed against her arms trying to slip out of her hold.

    She released me a moment later when she heard me start to cry. ¡°You¡¯re such a cry baby.¡± She complained. ¡°Come on then. The offer still stands.¡± She patted her lap again.

    I was still hesitant. ¡°Your not going to trick me or something?¡± I asked tearfully.

    ¡°No, Isaac. I promise. Rest is just as important as training. Losing your mind is no way to start a fight with a demon. You need to be strong not just in you¡¯re body but your brain too.¡± She responded.

    Should I really? I am married, but would it really matter if I add one more nail to my coffin. I¡¯ve already shared a bed with this teen shaped woman. Compared to that, a lap pillow seemed trivial.

    Alice was going to stab me either way. Might as well get my money¡¯s worth. Besides it¡¯s just Zubu. She doesn¡¯t even count as a girl. Not when I¡¯ve heard her fart and watched her pick her nose. Or like when she forgot to flush the toilet. Girls don¡¯t poop. Only guys can do that. Also wives¡­ and adopted daughters.

    While I was distracted Aku went ahead and laid our head down on Zubu¡¯s lap. It was too late to withdraw now. Zubu had soft spongy legs. She began stroking my hair. The things she was doing with her fingers was divine.

    I could feel them circling my ear and push hair around. I was like a puppy in her hands. If I had a tail it would be going crazy right about now.

    ¡°You have really soft hair. When¡¯s the last time you cleaned your ears? They¡¯re filthy.¡± She said.

    ¡°In this body? Never.¡± I answered honestly.

    ¡°Why did I even ask. You spent most of your time on Chiky¨±, out in the forest.¡± To my disappointment she got up putting my head down on the much less comfy grass ¡°Wait right here.¡± She ran off going inside.

    Chiky¨±? Was that the name of the monastery or the world? I thought they used letters and numbers to name worlds. Unless.. this world isn¡¯t connected to Cosmo.

    I looked to the statue in the middle of the courtyard. This place had to belong to Amaterasu. Why else would there be a statue of her in the middle of the courtyard? I doubt Cosmo would be cool with sharing followers, so it made sense to me that this world belonged to someone else.

    I Also couldn¡¯t forget how Lorie didn¡¯t feel the same way Mr. Brutus and I did. She was completely calm around Cosmo, so to me it seemed like she wasn¡¯t put together by her.

    I¡¯m also pretty sure she follows Amaterasu. She uses her name all the time. Zubu does that too, but when she does it. It comes off as unnatural. Almost like she¡¯s forcing herself to say it.

    My crazy powers of sympathy and intuition aside. This whole situation was pretty insane. It wasn¡¯t that long ago that I was working a dead end job and playing video games on my PC.

    It was almost maddening to find out how large and dangerous reality really was. At times I just wanted to go back to being a chicken and laying eggs for my owner.

    That was impossible now. Once you see how the sausage is made. There was no going back. A better way to put it would be. You can break an egg and try to piece it back together, but it will never be the same.

 Episode 54 Chapter 2: level 3 aura

    Zubu came back with a spring in her step. This time she held some kind of pick looking thing. The pick had a little spoon on one end and on the other was this fluffy white cotton ball.

    It looked like candy making me want to put it in my mouth. I knew it wasn¡¯t, but the child-like urges of my body were too strong. The only thing that broke me out of it was the assumption that she was going to stab my ears with the spoon end.

    I covered my ears. ¡°Will it hurt?¡± I asked fearfully.

    She shook her head, ¡°No, of course not. You have nothing to worry about. Lore keeper use to do it for everyone and eventually it became my duty. I¡¯ve gotten pretty good at it over the years.¡±

    Despite her reassurance, I was still hesitant. She looked somewhat hurt when I didn¡¯t agree to it right away.

    ¡°Come on, don¡¯t look at me like that. I¡¯ll have you know all the brats that come through Chiky¨± see me as their big sister after my ear cleanings.¡± She insisted.

    I still couldn''t answer. The spoon looked kind of sharp from this angle. Almost like a shiv. We were both prisoners on this world and prisoners stabbed each other all the time.

    ¡°Come on you stupid brat! This isn''t a request! You¡¯re so full of yourself! Do you think just because you''re cute you can do whatever you want? Lore keeper and that gorilla might let you get away with stuff, but I¡¯ll have you know you''re not that cute. I''ve seen way cuter ascenders with way less bratty personalities than you.¡±

    I still didn''t budge. All I could think about was blood coming out of my ears, as Zubu laughs at me.

    ¡°I get it. You don¡¯t trust me. I¡¯ve been pretty horrible to you, so it only makes sense you¡¯d think I was up to no good. I¡¯ll go put it back.¡± She turned around and began to walk away.

    She was clearly upset. She seemed almost insulted at my refusal to let her clean my ears. I guess I was being a little mean in refusing. She was bragging about her skills. Which meant she held pride in it. By refusing, it was like I hurt her feelings.

    ¡°Wait Zubu!¡± I yelled. ¡°It would make me really happy if you cleaned my ears.¡± I said nervously.

    I couldn¡¯t stand it anymore. I really liked Zubu, and I really wanted to trust her. I really wanted someone like that looking out for me. It would be a load off to not be on guard around her all the time, and for that to happen. I needed to open myself up to attack.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± She asked as she turned around to face me.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯d love it.¡± I said.

    Turning her down would only discourage her from doing nice things for me. My head went back on her comfy lap.

    When it came to ear cleaning, I usually just dripped some water into my ears and cleaned the wet earwax that came out with a cotton swab, but that was only when I showered.

    Zubu started picking at my right ear. I was afraid it would hurt, but she was so gentle with it. It was so relaxing that I almost fell asleep.

    Once she was done with that ear she used the candy side to fluff my ear. It felt so good. She then had me turn around facing her tummy. She did the same with the other one except this time I actually fell asleep in the middle of it.

    I woke up to a gentle nudge from Zubu. ¡°Wake up Isaac. You¡¯re the one that said you were hungry.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m up¡­¡± I squeaked as I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

    Zubu licked her fingers and tried to fix my hair. ¡°Ew! That¡¯s so unsanitary!¡± I cried as I quickly rose to my feet and took up a defensive position.

    ¡°Nonsense, I do that to all the twerps that wake up with messy hair.¡± She said.

    I looked around and saw Lorie standing there with a tray of sandwiches. Just then my stomach growled demanding food.

    ¡°Thanks Lorie!¡± I said as I took one and started to wolf it down like I was raised by my sadistic mom.

    ¡°Slow down child. Choking can¡¯t be healed.¡± Warned Lorie.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± I said behind a mouthful of sandwich.

    After lunch¡­ or no, dinner? After linner, I got to practice some sword play with Zubu. This time without an Aura. She was very helpful even showing me different forms with better leverage.

    Locking your joints made such an improvement when it came to blocking or parrying attacks. Despite that Zubu still managed to bonk me on the head a few times.

    Slowly, I felt myself getting stronger. Would it be enough? I had no idea. All I could do was try.

    It became dark before I knew it. I felt so tired that I ended up sitting under that same tree from before.

    ¡°Are you done yet, or do you still want to play some more? I¡¯m still not tired yet so I can keep going if you want.¡± Asked the not-teen.

    I couldn¡¯t believe she wasn¡¯t tired yet. It was probably because her body was older than mine. Kids had lots of energy, but burned through it quickly. That¡¯s why naps were important.

    Zubu however was in that sweet spot between an adults body and a kids body. Where you had the energy of a child with the endurance of an adult.

    I didn¡¯t want to be treated like a kid so I deflected it. ¡°I wanna keep going, but I don¡¯t want you to be mad at me.¡± I said.

    ¡°I see. You do look tired. I would be mad if you pushed yourself too hard. For the record. I think you¡¯re really strong. It¡¯s kind of frustrating to be honest.¡± Said Zubu. She averted her eyes giving her cheek a light scratch.

    ¡°Why¡¯s that? It¡¯s a good thing.¡± I responded.

    ¡°Its not your fault. It¡¯s all me. I¡¯ve been here so long, and seeing how fast you¡¯ve grown in such a short time makes me feel like I¡¯ve wasted my time.¡± She admitted.

    ¡°I see¡­ well I¡¯m happy you wasted your time.¡± I said smiling up at her.

    ¡°What the hell, piss baby!¡± She yelled.

    ¡°Hold on, let me explain!¡± I flinched.

    ¡°It better be good, or I''m throwing you off the mountain.¡± She grumble.

    ¡°If you hadn¡¯t wasted time here. Then I wouldn¡¯t have met you. I probably would have fallen to insanity while out in that forest.¡± I said. Now it was my turn to feel nervous.

    ¡°Oh¡­ yeah. I guess it worked out then.¡± She said shyly.

    I shifted on the ground trying to get comfortable. It was hard since my ass was still sore. I still didn¡¯t understand why that was. Even the barrier couldn¡¯t fix it. Cosmo seemed to be the only one that could undo the curse.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°What did you do to me anyway?¡± I asked.

    ¡°What part? Like when I cut you with plasma, or when I bounced your head off the ground? Or what about when I melted the ground at your feet and told you the floor was lava? That last one was my favorite.¡± She snickered to herself.

    I hugged my knees in an attempt to comfort myself. Though, I couldn¡¯t stop myself from shaking. I shook my head. ¡°No Zubu! I¡¯m talking about when you¡­ you know¡­¡± I blushed.

    ¡°Know what? I don¡¯t know what craziness you¡¯ve cooked up in your mind.¡± She looked frustrated. ¡°Spit it out piss baby!¡± She yelled.

    ¡°Don¡¯t yell, you¡¯re being mean again.¡± I said.

    ¡°Okay, okay, relax. Tell me what you¡¯re talking about.¡± She placated.

    I took a deep breath. Then said, ¡°My butt still hurts, and it doesn¡¯t matter how many healing aspects I put in! It wont heal!¡± I cried. Shifting my butt to one side. I scratched one of my cheeks. While scratching helped with the itch. It also made it hurt more.

    That¡¯s when the not-teen started chuckling. She soon broke into full on laughter. Meanwhile all I could do was pout, whimper and scratch the other cheek. Which only led to more crying. I¡¯d been punished enough.

    ¡°Isaac that¡¯s because you were a very bad girl. It wouldn¡¯t be a punishment if you could just heal from it right away.¡± She said.

    Seeing as there was no end to my torment my crying intensified. ¡°I hate you! You¡¯re a bully! Aaaarh!¡± I cried as I kicked my feet.

    Zubu covered her ears and pretended not to hear me. ¡°Don¡¯t ignore me!¡± I yelled before throwing a rock at her head.

    Her aura flared up vaporizing the rock. ¡°See this is why your butt still hurts and as long as you keep acting like a brat it¡¯ll stay that way!¡± She yelled.

    ¡°Waaa!¡± I cried.

    ¡°waaa!¡± Zubu mocked me.

    I continued to cry only for the not-teen to copy me. She even went as far as too fall on the ground and start kicking and screaming mirroring my own cries but louder.

    I crawled my way over to her sniffling and sobbing. Then put my hands over her mouth to shut her up.

    My attempts to make her stop only worked to muffle her voice. ¡°Hmmm¡­¡±

    ¡°Stop it! Only I¡¯m allowed to cry!¡± I voiced my frustration through tears.

    That¡¯s when She licked my hand causing me to jump and retreat. ¡°eeew! That¡¯s gross!¡± I yelled.

    She started to laugh at me. In the end I felt more silly than upset. How cruel could she be to mock the cries of a child. She¡¯s a bully I tell ya!

    From there I decided to stop crying at her and instead sulked with my back turned to her. My butt still throbbing.

    ¡°Hey! Aren¡¯t you gonna cry and beg for a cure?¡± She threw her question my way but I ignored her.

    ¡°Leave me alone. I¡¯ll run away!¡± I cried.

    ¡°This again. Come on Isaac get a hold of yourself. If you do I¡¯ll show you how to fix your little problem.¡± She offered.

    I gave up immediately. In the end all I wanted was for the pain to go away. ¡°Okay, how do I fix it and just what the hell did you do to me?¡± I turned around to face her. My body still trembling.

    ¡°They¡¯re called punishment aspects. The lore keeper showed me how to harness them so that brats like you can learn their lessons instead of simply just healing themselves.¡± She explained.

    Punishment aspects? ¡°Well, that kind of explains it. So how do I fix it?¡± I said.

    ¡°Cleansing aura. A strong one at that.¡± She explained.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to do that. Where do I get the aspects again?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Easy, turn wind aspects into water aspects. Then imagine them cleaning you.¡± She said.

    ¡°Oh, yeah. I remember someone saying something like that.¡± I said. I went ahead and got to work gathering up the wind aspects. Then tuning their frequencies so that a third of them were hydrogen and the rest were oxygen. From there it was easy to create the tier 2 water aspects.

    The water was pure. Without any impurities. This was a bit strange. Would splashing myself with water really do the trick?

    It should be similar to how I summon apathy aspects. I needed to think of it like a shower or bath. The water turned warm as heat and cozy aspects began to manifest within its deep blue light. This must be the void filtering through my thoughts.

    The only issue I had was that the water seemed a bit too active. I could see waves moving along its outer layer and the inside was full of violent currents. Somehow an image of shadow appeared in the water holding a wash cloth.

    Right, those baths were pretty painful. I could still remember the discomfort. Like I had been scrubbed with rocks. That was a no.

    Maybe less bath time and more like the cleansing sacred art I was used to? As soon as that thought came to mind. The water aspects calmed and began to glow a soul silver.

    This was cleansing water. It was the very essence of a cleansing sacred art. Like always, it was very cold. The previous heat and cozy aspects had been stripped away.

    I really didn¡¯t like cold showers. Could I change it if I base it off something else? Mom was always really warm and gentle when she cleaned my cuts and scrapes. There was love and care. For her it wasn¡¯t just about getting a job done. It was about making sure I felt better.

    The water began to change again, as heat, love, and cozy aspects began to mix into it¡¯s depths. This time its light became heart gold. It was so different now. Like the chicken soup Alice fed me. When she nursed me back to health.

    I could still do more. This water wasn¡¯t just supposed to clean wounds and filth. It was also supposed to cure illnesses.

    I thought of the time I got sick. When mom would curl up with me on the couch and we¡¯d watch movies together all day. What was that one movie we loved to watch together? Mrs. Doubtfire!

    The golden glow grew, turning the cleansing water into a ball of pure healing and cleansing energy. Full of love and safety. Full of cozy embrace.

    This wasn¡¯t the only kind of love and warmth there was. I thought of the love and care my sister showed me when I would have anxiety attacks.

    I thought of the love and confidence my father would instill upon me by encouraging me to do things that made me nervous. I remember how much he would smile and laugh even though he was angry and scared. All to protect me. To make me feel safe.

    Last and most importantly I remembered the love I felt for Alice and the love she had for me. I remembered the peace and stability she brought into my life, simply by being at my side.

    I thought of how I would do anything to see her smile and how much she would do to make me feel okay. It was a perfect loop of support and love.

    The ball of aspects only seemed to grow as it became more complex. It was a combination of all the love I felt throughout my life. Even if my mom and sister brought pain. I will always remember the time when they loved me.

    ¡°Oh, my go- Amaterasu¡­¡± thumbed Zubu.

    I went ahead and fired up a null level 1 aura. Then drew in the warm light. It flowed so smoothly. With the same grace and fluidity of a super fluid.

    What started as an attempt to make a cleansing aura, became so much more. Upon absorption, my aura was immediately changed. Going from a silver glow to a golden radiance.

    That light stretched out within the courtyard covering every corner with a loving embrace. My butt finally began to heal, but not just that. Everything the light touched caused flowers and plants to grow. To bloom. I hadn¡¯t even noticed all the life aspects mixed in.

    Once mended, I dispelled the aura. The power vanished a moment later and I felt pretty good. Like I¡¯d just taken a shower and brushed my teeth. Then had a little nap while being held in my mom¡¯s arms as she sung sweet loving lullaby¡¯s.

    ¡°Neat.¡± I said.

    ¡°No way¡­ was that a projection? You just created a level 3 aura!¡± She said.

    ¡°Level 3? How many Levels are there? Is there a boss at the end? Should I be saving my potions?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No you idiot!¡± She nearly smacked me. Instead she sighed before continuing. ¡°Well, there¡¯s level 0. That¡¯s the basic aura everyone has. Even if you¡¯re in the mortal rank simply breathing and walking around causes essence to flow through you. That creates a level 0 aura.¡± She explained.

    I nodded.

    ¡°Then there¡¯s level one. It¡¯s the enhancement of the body. Level two, is the manifestation of affinities. You¡¯ve already done that with your paradoxical aura. It also includes the manifestation of my plasma affinity.¡± She said.

    ¡°So what, level 3 is just a really big aura?¡± I asked.

    ¡°kind of¡­ its called projection. It¡¯s basically when your aura effects you¡¯re surroundings. Master Brutus has that pressure thing he likes to do. It¡¯s projection at its max. I suppose your ability to cast spells would also be considered a projection considering you cast spells with your aura, but that¡¯s just a technicality.¡± She explained.

    There was always something new to learn. Even when I felt like I was at the peak something new popped up to blow my mind.

    ¡°What did you do to make that aura? It even refreshed my body and clothes. I feel like I was just hugged by a big minty fresh teddy bear.¡± She said hugging herself as if trying to replicate the feeling.

    ¡°I thought about a lot of stuff. My family. My wife. The blue void filtered through and filled the cleansing water aspects with loving memories.¡± I explained.

    ¡°Oh, wow! I¡¯ve never heard of that before! Concepts are one thing, but entire memories. That¡¯s pretty crazy.¡± She said.

    ¡°What do you mean? Isn¡¯t it just like how 0 tier aspects work.¡± I said.

    She put a hand over her mouth as she thought it over. ¡°Maybe?¡­ But, 0 tier only works because there are lots of people that understand the concept. I¡¯ve never heard of the memories of a single person turning into aspects. Something like that would take a lot of willpower and visualization.¡±

    Zubu actually sounded smart for once. She had bursts of intelligence every once in a while. Actually, it wasn¡¯t that she was smart sometimes. It was that she understood the subject.

    She shook her head in defeat then said, ¡°I bet gorilla face will know. So far, I¡¯ve figured out everything on my own, but now I¡¯m curious enough to actually ask him.¡± She said.

    Zubu sounded so excited. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen that passionate face on anyone but me. Was that what I looked like when my mind fell down a rabbit hole? Even though Zubu wasn''t cute at all, It was kind of charming on her face.

 Episode 54 Chapter 3: Catvard

    I poked Zubu¡¯s cheek, pulling her out of her racing thoughts. Then called to her. ¡°Zubu, Zubu! Heeeey!¡± She eyed me with annoyance behind her eyes. ¡°What do you need to leave Chik¨±?¡±

    ¡°Stop asking that! Also, why do you keep calling me that?¡± She avoided.

    ¡°I call you that because you¡¯re a zombie. Remember? You came back to life and everything. By the way. If you bite me will I turn into a zombie? We got pretty close last night. I¡¯m pretty sure I breathed in your farts. Should I be tested?¡± I said before sniffing myself.

    Zombies usually smelled bad. I smelled a little bad, but that might just be sweat. Zubu also didn¡¯t smell of death. Was that because we were both cultivators and could heal our decaying flesh?

    ¡°That¡¯s disgusting! Don¡¯t say disgusting things you little fart sniffer!¡± She yelled.

    ¡°But Zubu it¡¯s true! You did turn into a zombie!¡± I retorted pouting.

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I¡­ never mind. Are you actually serious?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t want to be a zombie again.¡± I answered.

    ¡°What!? When did that happen!?¡± She interrogated.

    ¡°After I tried a really strong hallucinogen and ended up in another world for about ten years.¡± I answered.

    Her initial surprise vanished as if losing interest in the subject. Did she not believe me? The multi-verse was real! Why couldn¡¯t my insane hallucination be real? Forget it. This wasn¡¯t what I wanted to talk about. Zubu clearly pivoted the conversation to avoid the question.

    ¡°What do you need to leave this place?¡± I asked again.

    She quickly turned it around on me. ¡°Who¡¯s Jack?!¡± We both went silent for a moment. Staring each other down to see who would break first. Then when I didn¡¯t answer she said, ¡°Yeah, I didn¡¯t think so.¡± She turned away from me clearly upset.

    I felt my eyes water again as the memories of that night played in my head once more. Before it could become too overwhelming I took a deep breath. Then blurted out, ¡°Jack is the guy I murdered when I was 14.¡±

    ¡°Are you seri-¡° her voice cut out when she turned around and saw the tears on my face. ¡°-I¡¯m sorry. I shouldn¡¯t have brought it up.¡± She finished.

    I did it again. I used my own trauma to eclipse everyone else¡¯s. It was kind of a dick move but at the same time. It was as if I was holding my hand out to her. Bonding over trauma. Making myself vulnerable so that we can connect.

    I didn¡¯t want to hold this in forever. I never told my wife because she was so connected to it. If I really wanted Zubu as a friend. Then I needed to trust her. If she broke our trust then I¡¯d have to close my heart to her forever and move on. I just hope she doesn¡¯t stomp it into the ground like most people did.

    She came over and sat at my side. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Do you think you can lend me an ear?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Sure, but you don¡¯t have to.¡± She said.

    ¡°But Zubu I want to! Wanna tell you lots and lots of things.¡± I replied.

    She nodded. ¡°Okay. Go on. I¡¯m listening.¡±

    ¡°Well, back when my mom was making me¡­ better, Alice wedged herself between us. She wanted to save me, and I wanted to keep my family from falling apart. Alice came with her own baggage though. Actually, just like you and me, we bonded over trauma.¡± I explained.

    ¡°Sounds rough.¡± Said Zubu.

    ¡°A little but as long as Alice was there, everything was alright. It didn''t take long for her past to come back to hurt her. There was this guy, Jack. He was stocking Alice. Jack found out we were dating, except we weren¡¯t really dating. It was just something Alice threw out there to throw off my mom.¡± I said.

    Thinking back it was such a dumb and silly thing to do. She was basically marking her territory. The thought made me chuckle, confusing Zubu.

    ¡°Anyway, we were on a fake date. Basically, we were two friends hanging out and on our way home. When Jack showed up. He got me pretty bad with a metal bat. Nearly killed me.¡± I rubbed the back of my head remembering that sudden reverberation on the back of my skull. That loud metallic ¡°TUNK!¡± Sound. The flash of light. The taste of iron in my mouth. All the screaming.

    ¡°That was when Squirmy popped back into my life¡­ the centipede. He crawled out of the hole and pinned me down like a sleep paralysis demon. Then offered me the power to save Alice. I took it.¡± Zubu looked horrified at the moment. Seeing her like that was kind of¡­ interesting. It almost made me want to stop talking and try to boop her nose, but the story wasn¡¯t over.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong. If I had to do it again I would. At the end of the day. I cared more about Alice than Jack¡¯s life. Maybe this time I would¡¯ve stopped hitting him after I broke his limbs¡­ but then again. That bloodlust was hard to shake off. It was so absolute, so encompassing.¡± I said.

    ¡°Why do you feel bad about killing him? He sounds like an asshole. If anything, it was self defense.¡± Said Zubu.

    ¡°Because he was also a person!¡± I raged spooking Zubu. I had to calm myself. ¡°He wasn¡¯t always an asshole. He was once my wife¡¯s closest friend. She even had a stupid nickname for him¡­ uh¡­ Jack the beanstalk, but because of her past. He was relentlessly bullied and gas lighted into the person he became. Even so, killing someone¡­ even if justified does things to a person. Especially with how brutal and raw the murder was.¡±

    Zubu was silent, thinking over my words. I didn¡¯t need to say more, but something inside me begged to be let out. It burned in my chest like a raging fire. Like it wanted to be heard. It echoed within the hole and across the cosmos.

    ¡°For a long time¡­ I would wake up in the middle of the night and there would be this warm, wet, and sticky feeling on my hands. I could still feel it. The blood. It wouldn¡¯t go away no matter how much hot water I poured over it. No matter how hard I scrubbed.¡±

    My anger rose inside me. Bubbling to the surface, resulting in a display of anger and frustration. ¡°For fucks sake! I wasn¡¯t even sure if I was hallucinating his blood or mine!¡± I punched the ground creating a small hole and nearly breaking my hand.

    Zubu was frightened. She looked to be holding her breath. As if waiting out a storm.

    Taking a deep breath again I had to calm myself once more. ¡°It took a long time for me to be okay. I haven¡¯t thought of Jack in forever and recently. Reliving all those crap memories brought all that trauma back.¡± I said.

    ¡°Sorry¡­ I guess I don¡¯t know what its like to actually kill a person. I mean, I feel responsible for the people that died in my trial, but I¡¯ve never directly killed anyone.¡±

    She had already gone through her own hell. It was probably something like survivors guilt. I bet Cosmo sent me here just so we could trauma bond with each other, and push forward together.

    That goddess was always playing games. Still, having someone that somewhat understands my situation was just what I needed. I also couldn¡¯t help but notice, Zubu wasn¡¯t as mean or grumpy as when we first met.

    ¡°Well, a deal¡¯s a deal. In order to get off this world. I need to ascend once more. Into the upper spirit ranks.¡± She said.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound too hard.¡± I said.

    ¡°Isaac, it costs twenty times the amount of quintessence to ascend every single time, and my cultivation technique is nonexistent. I¡¯ve been cannibalizing my dantian for years and I¡¯ve only gathered a third of what I need.¡± She said.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°So.¡± I said bluntly.

    ¡°So! SO! What the hell! I know it¡¯s not as traumatizing as what you went through, but if you want to compare stories I got way darker stuff to share!¡± She snapped holding me by my neck.

    ¡°Hold on that''s not what I meant!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Explain!¡± She roared.

    ¡°It might take a while, but you''ve already gathered so much. Its not like you¡¯re in a dead end position. You also have so many resources around you. With that much time you could become a master before you even ascend. You only need to keep trying. And besides, you got that new cultivation technique, right?¡± I said.

    She released me. ¡°I see what you mean, but I don¡¯t trust them. Also, that cultivation technique won¡¯t work. It¡¯s impossible.¡± She said.

    ¡°Let me help you.¡± I offered.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t want your help!¡± She lashed out.

    ¡°Why not? You helped me a lot today. It¡¯s only fair you let me help you. You shouldn¡¯t compare your progress with mine. We¡¯re two completely different people. Besides we¡¯re friends now so my success should be yours and your success is mine.¡± I said.

    She held her stance for a few more seconds before releasing a long winded breath. ¡°Okay fine, but only because you have a cute face.¡± She pinched my left cheek.

    ¡°Ow!¡± I cried pushing her hand away and rubbing the sore spot. She laughed as I made a pouty face at her.

    A moment later she held her open palms next to one another. I watched as she closed her eyes. Wind aspects began to twirl within her hands.

    It looked like normal wind, but once I activated my Qi sight, it became clear there was more there. 0 tier friction combined with regular wind aspects. There was nothing fancy about it.

    The air rubbed against itself creating static. She had successfully created lightning aspects. Normally for this type of electricity you needed something like dirt or ice to create the friction.

    In this case we could skip that step since heat aspects could easily be converted into friction. Thus creating static. While this was an easy way to make lightning aspect. I¡¯d love to see what adding earth or ice aspects would look like.

    You would still need to add friction to make it work faster, but I bet you''d get an even bigger kick out of it. Like the difference between hitting someone with a snowball and a snowball with a rock in it.

    This little lightning ball wasn''t enough. While the static was a form of plasma. It was still missing the burning particle component that made up her affinity.

    She held it that way for a while and eventually ended it after five minutes. ¡°It doesn¡¯t work. This stuff doesn¡¯t feel like my affinity.¡± She said.

    ¡°You can''t get the air to ionize.¡± I said.

    ¡°Yeah, that''s the word. Ionnaise.¡± She said incorrectly.

    ¡°The reason it¡¯s not working is actually kind of simple.¡± I said.

    ¡°I knew it! How are you so good at this stuff?! You have to be cheating somehow! Are you secretly reliving your life due to some kind of time reset. Or is it more like your not really Isaac and your some kind of genius reincarnated from another world where this stuff is common knowledge? I bet you have a cheat skill or something!¡± She said.

    ¡°You''ve been reading way too many power fantasies. This stuff is like 4th grade science.¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh¡­ cool! so it¡¯s the modern day science in a fantasy world trope!¡± She nodded up and down looking somewhat excited. That was until she realized what I¡¯d said. ¡°Wait! Did you say 4th grade!?¡± She blushed, before looking away.

    ¡°Don''t be embarrassed. Lots of people forget what they learned in school once they¡¯re adults. It¡¯s nothing to be ashamed about. If the information was really all that important you would have remembered. The only reason I know about it is because I have an interest in stuff like that.¡± I placated.

    ¡°Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I can''t remember the last time I had to do advanced math. Or voice the periodic table. Which desperately needs to be updated since stuff like frostlyte and durillium exist.¡± She said.

    She was right. By this point that information was only being passed down so that generations wouldn''t forget it. That stuff was only useful to a very small percentage of the population. Though I guess it¡¯s not a bad thing since without it we wouldn''t have cobalt for our phone batteries.

    ¡°Alright. What the hell am I doing wrong then?¡± Said Zubu sheepishly.

    ¡°Two things. Number one is the fuel your using. Number two is the pressure is all wrong.¡± I explained.

    ¡°Explain better, fart sniffer!¡± She held onto both my shoulders and started shaking me.

    I pulled away. ¡°Stop that! Haven''t you heard!? You¡¯re not supposed to shake children.¡± I complained.

    ¡°Okay! I¡¯m sorry! Tell me what I''m doing wrong you little shit stain!¡± She yelled.

    ¡°You need to change the frequency of the wind aspects to a mix of 65% argon and 35% hydrogen. Then lower the pressure. These gasses burn way better than plain old air, making them more efficient, and the ionization of atoms is easier when they¡¯re not so close to one another.¡± I explained.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­. I¡­ I do that and it''ll work?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Yup, it should work if you do those two things. Though hydrogen has a very violent reaction. You don¡¯t normally put it into a plasma globe since it might cause it to explode, typically they use it in plasma cutters, but since were cultivators it should be fine. I¡¯m sure you can control it.¡± I said.

    ¡°Uh¡­. are you sure about this?¡± She asked nervously.

    I shrugged my shoulders. Then turned my head towards snowball. Who was sitting on Lorie¡¯s chair. ¡°What do you think snowball?¡±

    ¡°As a graduate of Catvard. I would say it¡¯s 142% safe. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m on the safety committee.¡± Answered Snowball.

    I nodded and smiled. Then translated to Zubu. To my surprise she was skeptical. ¡°Catvard! Doesn¡¯t she mean Harvard!¡± She yelled.

    I chuckled and shook my head at Zubu¡¯s lack of knowledge. ¡°Snowball¡¯s a cat. She can¡¯t go to Harvard because it¡¯s a human school.¡± I explained.

    Her eyes went wide. When she realized I wasn¡¯t joking. ¡°Uh¡­ right¡­ look Isaac, lets forget about Snowballs credentials for now. Do you think my face will be blown off if I try that gas cocktail of yours?¡± She asked nervously.

    I gave it a little more thought before answering. ¡°If you don''t like it we can just use helium instead. It has a really pretty pinkish glow, so it¡¯ll look more like the plasma you use. We could also try argon on it¡¯s own. It¡¯s pretty too! The color is a bit more violet with a bluish glow.¡± I suggested.

    ¡°Rrriiiiigght¡­ now I just need to figure out the frequency for helium. It¡¯ll take a bit. I¡¯m not super great at spectrum aspects.¡± She said.

    ¡°It should feel like this.¡± I said as I gathered wind aspects and adjusted the frequency to helium.

    ¡°How the hell do you know that!?¡± She asked.

    ¡°I don''t sleep much, so I''ve been messing with this stuff a lot. I can even turn earth aspects into limestone.¡± I explained.

    ¡°I guess I''ve never really tried to explore the different frequencies of aspects. Lore keeper says frequencies are actually pretty hard to master.¡± She said.

    ¡°I wouldn''t call myself a master. I can make a few different types of aspects, but not that many. The one I¡¯ve been having trouble with is iron. You need to use heat, and cleansing aspects to refine earth into metal. However, I tend to over do it and end up with metal so pure that it¡¯s super soft. Almost like gold or silver, but ugly. I¡¯ve been able to add carbon to harden it up, but it¡¯s really hard to distribute the carbon evenly, so I just end up making huge pockets of impurities instead of strengthening it as a whole.¡± I explained.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you said, but I think it¡¯s pretty cool how you can take something as magical as being a cultivator and turn it into a science experiment.¡± She said.

    ¡°Science is the act of studying cause. Coming up with what might happen. Then proving or disproving your assumptions through experiments, or by watching the effects. It¡¯s not about being right. It¡¯s about being less wrong. Using those principles on something as misunderstood as magic or cultivation. Is just the act of applying logic to a newly found facet of reality.¡± I said.

    ¡°I get it. It¡¯s not a blind belief. It¡¯s a logical method of approach.¡± She added.

    I nodded.

    She spent about an hour trying to replicate the helium in my hands. Eventually she got the right frequency.

    ¡°Alright, let''s go again.¡± She said as she tried to make a plasma globe once more. This time she created a vacuum within the ball of wind aspects. It was a literal cavitation bubble.

    A moment passed before she changed the frequency of the surrounding wind aspects into helium. Then permeated some of the gas into the vacuum. All she was missing was the electric current.

    Normally you''d use an electrode to generate the electric field, but in this case all she had to do was create lightning aspect.

    That was when a tiny ball of wind aspect appeared in the middle. She injected heat into it focusing them into friction aspects. This turned the wind aspects into static creating an electrical buzz. The helium ionized right away creating beautiful pink arcs of twisting plasma. They collided with the walls of the vacuum like bolts of purple fire and lightning.

    ¡°So pretty.¡± I mumbled, as my eyes sparkled.

    It was beautiful. Just like the one I saw in that science museum when I went on my 2nd grade field trip.

    ¡°It worked! Isaac you did it, you little asshole!¡± She cheered.

    ¡°No, you did it Zubu. I''m happy for you.¡± I smiled.

    The ball of plasma dispersed as Zubu went to hug me. I felt her kiss my cheek like an overly affectionate grandma.

    ¡°Ew! Grose!¡± I cried.

    ¡°I love you! I love you! You¡¯re the best little sister ever!¡± She said as she stood up lifting me into the air. She swung my feet around as she spun under the flowery petals of the cherry blossoms.

    I¡¯d never seen her this happy before. It wasn¡¯t a scary smile like the one I forced on her when Mr. Brutus wrapped her up in dirt. After spinning me around some more she finally put me down on my wobbly legs.

    ¡°I''m happy for you Zubu, but could you not swing me around like that.¡± I said almost falling over.

    ¡°Sorry¡­ you know, it¡¯s almost time for dinner, and lore keeper probably won''t let us eat if we haven''t washed up yet. Especially since we did all that jumping around and stuff.¡± She said.

    ¡°Oh, no! I refuse. I already cleaned both of us with that crazy aura. If you want to wash up go right ahead. I¡¯ll be practicing my spells till dinner time.¡± I said.

    ¡°Come on you big baby. You can practice a water spell when we get to the bath.¡± She said as she dragged me away.

    ¡°No, no! I''m married! Stranger danger! Help! Somebody! She¡¯s trying to kidnap me! I¡¯m being kidnapped! Help! Rape! Rape!¡± I cried. I¡¯d blow a whistle if I had one.

    ¡°Don''t be stupid! We¡¯ll be taking turns dumbass! Do you really think I¡¯d let you see me naked. I just need to make sure you actually wash up.¡± She scolded.

    That''s when I realized something horrifying. This world had no laws and we were in the middle of nowhere. Where no one could hear me scream.

 Episode 55 Chapter 1: Scars

    Using my sneaky, sneaky, slippery snake skills, I snuck my way out of not just Zubu¡¯s coiling arms of trickery and cruel abusive sibling love, but her den as well.

    Ever since I had that¡­ episode. She had become really clingy. Last night at dinner. I got really full and couldn¡¯t eat anymore, so she forced me to finish my plate by putting me on her lap and manually making me chew my food.

    It was not fun. I got really messy and had to take another bath. Even Zubu got dirty. It was the most I''ve ever cried and then she wouldn''t stop laughing at me.

    My relationship with Zubu confused me. I¡¯ve never loved and hated someone so much. This was an abusive relationship for sure and I was afraid to end it. She might do something horrible if I try to separate from her.

    I could already see her reaction. She¡¯ll refuse to end our friendship and start bullying me into submission. Then when I¡¯m crying and feel bad. She¡¯ll swoop in with kindness and gas light me into thinking I was the problem.

    Pushing me to the limit had highlighted the manipulation of another friend of mine. Shadow was like that too. Except, she was less mean and grumpy.

    Also, way more Subtle and manipulative about it. Which was somehow way more scarier. I knew she had been acting strange and Cosmo somewhat explained her behavior, but there was more to it.

    Being bonded to her through imprinting would only cause her to treat me like her family. It said nothing about her manipulation. The scarier part was when I connected the dots. She acted like she was my mother all the time and I remembered her only having partial custody of her kids.

    While that wasn¡¯t strange on its own. In combination with the way she treats me. It becomes clear that she might have done something horrible. Maybe not as bad as assault, but still not something children should be apart of.

    While I wanted to confront her about it. She would have to wait until I got back and squashed the shit out of Squirmy. One problem at a time.

    Zubu by comparison wasn¡¯t too bad since she was only messing with me out of boredom and because I had the best reactions.

    While Shadow was like a watered down mentally abusive version of my mom, Zubu was almost like a combination of Cain, and Julia. To her it was fun with no long term plans. If I was bigger I¡¯d stand up to her, but as I was. I couldn¡¯t see myself coming out on top. Siblings were so annoying. She would probably sit on me for funzies.

    Her strange sisterly abuse didn¡¯t end after I finished my plate. After that, she wouldn¡¯t let me stay up with Mr. Brutus and Lorie. I wanted to talk with them some more, but she made me brush my teeth and put me to bed early. She said something about being ready for tomorrow.

    Too bad for her as soon as she left, I managed to leave the room and made it to the library. My goal last night was to craft a few spells. During my fight with Zubu I came to realize relying on nothing but fireballs was dumb. Especially since heat aspects wouldn¡¯t always be so available.

    I needed something I could cast in a pinch. Something reliable, so I decided to recreate manabolt. It was a null type spell that required a null rune.

    It only required raw essence and some momentum aspects to cast. The best part was that I could easily cast it with little time. However the spell wasn¡¯t the same. It acted the same, but it wasn¡¯t exactly the same.

    I also figured out I could use the platform spell in other ways, but I still wasn¡¯t exactly sure on how I could abuse it. All and all I was happy with the results of 3 hours of research.

    During that time Mr. Brutus and Lorie got super drunk while Zubu ran around the entire monastery looking for me. During my hand Qi sight training I realized she was looking for me, and was terrified she might find me.

    The way she was running around up top, made me think she was really angry with me. I was so afraid of her wrath that I crawled under the table to hide.

    The whole time I kept thinking I should just go back up and apologize, but was afraid of the consequences. The more I waited, the more desperate she became. I started to whimper at the thought of being found.

    Eventually Zubu found me crying under the table. I was sure she would hurt me, but she didn''t. Instead she acted super worried and scooped me into a hug.

    Lucky for me the combination of my prolonged disappearance and my sheer terror of her. Resulted in Zubu seeing me like a mental patient. While it wasn¡¯t exactly something I was happy with. I preferred it to being mercilessly spanked by a woman half my age.

    This whole situation was ridiculous and I¡¯d long since given up making sense of it. It was easier to accept the comfort of childhood rather than try to fight for maturity all the time. Of course, if I had the energy I probably would have tried to explain myself, but cuddles were nice too.

    Why do all the women in my life try to mother me? They always saw me like some broken puppy they could nurse back to health. I guess I was kind of like a broken puppy.

    At least Alice acted more like a wife, but there were a few times where she would put her foot down and force me to take care of myself.

    You know, normal things like not eating a bunch of junk food, or going to bed at a reasonable hour. Or forcing me to go out with her because she wanted me to stop hiding in the apartment.

    Anyway. I needed to focus on the current abilities and skills I had. Today was the last day. The day Mr. Brutus and I would fight. The day I¡¯d get sent back to the new world and have to face Squirmy.

    It felt like forever ago that I came to this world, but in reality it had only been a minute or two. Even less time had passed in the old world.

    I made it out into the courtyard. Like usual, I started with my kata. My body knew the movements so well now. It was like breathing for me.

    As I performed, power began to flow through me. It surged through my meridians until finally swirling around my nexus point. By then the essence had been purified into Qi. Bits of quintessence were also created adding themselves to the hole in my chest.

    I know it¡¯s supposed to be my soul, but it was stretched across time and space. My core was more like a portal connecting me to that claymation hell, and the new world where the other me slowly bled out.

    My body in Serenity was just like a broken hourglass full of black tar and left out in the hot desert. The tar slowly leaking out as if in slow motion. Slowly ticking down to my death.

    There was no point in feeding my nexus point, so I took the extra Qi, braiding the strands together. Then cycled them into a star pattern. My aura grew instantaneously, quickly reaching the minimum 50 layers for a level 1 aura. As soon as it did, I went back to perform my kata once more. This time however instead of sucking it up and purifying it. I added the aspects to my aura.

    The glow around my body did not change color. Instead the glow intensified becoming more solid. Both hard and soft. Sharp and blunt. It could become any shape. Strike with deadly force, or be as gentle as a cloud.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    This was an extension of my natural aura. Also known as my null aura. There wasn¡¯t enough of each individual aspect to create elemental spells, but in a hand to hand fight it was perfect.

    I got into a fighting stance and released punch after punch as I began to shadow box. The energy around my fists pulsed extending forward about a foot. While not as powerful as being hit with my actual fist. It gave me more reach.

    This covered another disadvantage I had been facing. With shorter limbs my ability to fight someone head on was limited, but now I could easily reach them.

    I activated my Qi sight. Then tried to move around the area. It made me dizzy, but with time I was slowly becoming more accustomed to the increase in sensory.

    In time I was sure I could keep it on indefinitely. My hope was that it could prevent me from being ambushed. I could also see how amazing it would be, if my perception was so great I could react instantaneously to attacks.

    I did hand Qi sight training for a while. Until I started to see the influx of heat and light aspects. Without turning off my Qi sight. I began to gather those aspects replacing the null aura with my paradoxical aura.

    Heat aspects covered my body. I breathed in the sunlight and exhaled sparkling aspects into my aura. It wasn¡¯t dangerous as long as I pushed them back out. I was the groove in reality through which power could flow.

    Soon enough my aura was full. That¡¯s when I hopped up onto the roof almost falling over as my eyes and feet felt so out of sync.

    Lucky for me that didn¡¯t happen and I was able to start the next part of my training. I began to create fireballs. The goal was to see how many I could control at once.

    They were regular sized. No meteors. No baby fireballs like the embarrassing puff of smoke I showed Cosmo. These were perfect red spheres. The size of basketballs. As I conjured one nova after another, I let them rotate around me.

    They were like stars orbiting a black hole. Eventually I reached my control limit. Which seemed to be 26. It was a lot, but required an insane amount of concentration to pull off. I had no idea how I managed to make so many during my anxiety attacks.

    If I were to sneeze right now they would all explode in my face. I held them in rotation a little longer. This was to exercise my control. It was a little like doing math in your head. In that it made my brain hurt. Once I was nearly out of building blocks to sustain the multitude of fireballs. I began to drain the aspects out of the spells.

    They quickly vanished gathering into a ball of molten air. I took a breath trying to relax. The power scattered reforming themselves into a huge magic circle. The magic construct pulsed at my feet, as I began to cast.

    As the circle expanded, a large ball of glowing red flames formed a few feet above me. I raised my right hand towards it for better control.

    Inside, the flames spun and raged violently. It was beautiful. Like a big firefly. I focused on the flames. This was a spell I had been working on. However this was the first time I tried to actually cast it.

    Not a meteor, but something more focused. Less combustion. More heat. Slowly the red flames turned orange as the heat intensified. It felt like my hand would burn up.

    I added a few cold and water aspects to my aura to prevent myself from burning to a crisp. Then I raised the spell higher up into the air to keep the roof from catching fire.

    Slowly I began to alter the flames using nothing more than intention. Their heat went up as their color changed to Yellow. I wasn¡¯t expecting to make it this far. The flames felt so hot against my cold aura, and just as the flames began to go blue, I ran out of building blocks. Causing the spell to fizzle out.

    The sudden loss of the spell caused me to lose concentration. My Qi sight and aura vanished as well, leaving me with a maddening headache.

    ¡°The amount of heat aspects you would need to make a spell like that would require you to cast it in a desert. However a more skilled mage could easily generate the heat aspects.¡± Said Lorie, now standing on the roof with me.

    She was more of a sneaky snake than I was. ¡°Sorry. I haven¡¯t gone crazy. I was just¡­ hang on what was that?!¡± I said.

    ¡°You have much to learn and if you hadn¡¯t decided to spend the day yesterday playing with little Yukio, I could have taught you the difference between a powerful mage and an average one.¡± She said.

    ¡°Okay, and what would that be?¡± I asked feeling a bit insulted.

    ¡°You keep trying to gather all the surrounding heat aspects like a child that doesn¡¯t understand what heat is. Activate your Qi sight and watch me.¡± She said before holding her hand out and creating a flame.

    I cycled Qi to my already tired eyes and watched the flow of power. Both inside her body and out. There was a handful of mana lenses in her tummy all stacked atop one another like a microscope.

    Heat and wind aspects poured through the mana lens coming out the other side like thin lasers. They acted like a 3d printer forming the small flame at her hand. The amount of control and precision was enough to make me jealous. I wish I had a mana lens.

    The flow of heat aspects stopped, yet the flame in her hand stayed strong. I was confused until I saw what was going on. The air aspects were being fed into the fire. In turn this kept it going. She was converting fuel into fire and fire into heat aspects!

    Realizing what was going on I nearly punched myself in the head for being such a dumbass! ¡°I¡¯m such an idiot!¡± I yelled.

    ¡°Yes you are. For such a smart child you over looked this little detail.¡± She said as the heat aspects coming out of the flame were quickly gathered up and forced back through her mana lens.

    That was when a ball of fire came to life right next to the lore keeper. How could I have over looked something so simple!? I thought back to Mr. Brutus¡¯s camp sight when I first tried to cast a fire ball.

    Mr. Brutus told me to gather up all the aspects in the area and I guess I kind of saw heat aspects as fire because of how our camp fire went out. I felt so bad that my eyes became wet with tears. Lorie was also being kind of harsh.

    ¡°Lorie¡­¡± I whined.

    ¡°Calm down child. Believe it or not you are not the first to make this mistake. Everyone always gets caught up in the whole magical side of things that they forget logic.¡± She said.

    ¡°Okay¡­ can I get a hug now?¡± I cried.

    She shrugged her shoulders and hugged me. It made me feel better, especially since Lorie almost seemed like she was mad at me.

    ¡°I was going to wait for you to realize the obvious, but this is your last day and things have changed. So I decided to simply show you, so that we could move on to your final lesson.¡± She said.

    ¡°Final lesson?¡± I got excited.

    ¡°Yes. I didn¡¯t plan to teach you this, but you¡¯ve already touched upon it yesterday while playing with little Yukio. I¡¯d rather you not be confused later on when you explore your power on your own.¡± She said.

    Did I use magic in a crazy way again? I don¡¯t think I did anything crazy. Maybe it was that failed attempt at a landmine. That wasn¡¯t that ground breaking. It was just a terrible attempt at spell craft. Was the lesson about spell craft itself?

    ¡°What would that be?¡± I asked.

    ¡°If you really want to know, follow me.¡± She said, before creating a blue magic circle and opening a portal in front of me. The runes looked different from what I¡¯d seen. It made sense she never showed me the runes, since that would give me a way to go home.

    Loire said nothing more as she passed through the glowing blue portal.

    ¡°Lorie wait!¡± I whined.

    She was gone. I whimpered in fear as the scary hole in reality hummed like a hangry ghost. I didn''t want to go through another portal. The void I saw was maddening.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Asked Lorie poking her head back out.

    I ran to her in fear. ¡° Lorie, please don''t just walk away like that!¡± I cried.

    She stepped out. ¡°What''s the matter? It¡¯s only a portal.¡±

    I squirmed under her gaze in embarrassment. ¡°The void is scary.¡± I mumbled.

    This got a chuckle out of the young looking grandma. ¡°Is that so? Well how about I hold your hand then?¡± She said as she took hold of my right hand.

    ¡°You won''t let go right!¡± I panicked.

    ¡°Of course not. I''m not Yukio. You can close your eyes if you''d like.¡± She said.

    I eyed the portal still feeling uneasy. Lorie tried to pull me towards it, but I resisted. Looking back up at her, I cried, ¡°I don''t wanna go. It¡¯s too scary!¡±

    She stopped and sighed. Then looked to me and put her arms under my shoulders. ¡°Not even if I do this?¡± Lorie lifted me up like a toddler.

    Surprisingly, I actually felt comfortable. ¡°Okay¡­ I can go like this.¡± I said a little embarrassed.

    ¡°You¡¯re such a good girl.¡± Said Lorie.

    I felt happy at the praise then immediately wondered why. I knew Aku liked it, but why was I flattered by it? Strange, maybe I¡¯ve spent too much time in this body.

    That was when an old memory shook itself lose. I saw my younger self crying in a dark cold room. My mother standing over me with a cable

    ¡°Bad! Bad! You¡¯re a bad boy Isaac!¡±

    The memory faded leaving me feeling useless and drained. I was bad. I was a very bad boy. I was so very bad. Stupid! Stupid! useless boy! I hurt them¡­

    ¡°Lorie I¡¯m bad. I¡¯m really bad.¡± I cried.

    ¡°I don''t think so. You¡¯re a lovely and sweet child.¡± Said Lorie.

    Her words touched a deep part of me. It was like I¡¯d been starving and Lorie had just handed me a bag full of mushroom and swiss burgers. I had no idea how badly I needed those words.

    I shook my head realizing she was wrong. I was a bad person. I didn¡¯t deserve praise of any kind. I fell back into my apathy and allowed the compliment to slide off. This wasn¡¯t an aura. It was just who I¡¯d always been.

    Lorie began to walk forward. I hid my face in her shoulder as she carried me through the portal. I didn''t want to see the void again. It was too big. Bigger than the world that never stopped spinning. That never gave me a chance to catch up.

 Episode 55 Chapter 2: Sorcery

    As soon as we exited, Lorie put me down. Taking my first breath, my lungs started to burn, as I sucked in boiling hot air. I began coughing uncontrollably. It was as if the air was made of tiny razor blades. If it wasn¡¯t for my lower spirit body my lungs would have collapsed on the spot.

    Lorie waved her hand casting a spell on herself. Her body was wrapped in an icy greenish blue breeze. Both protecting her from the harsh heat and giving her breathable air.

    The ground was black and molten. There were cracks running along the floor, their faint orange glow hinting towards magma underneath. It looked like the world was covered in ash and flames. All I could do was cough as my vision darkened. I breathed in more fumes in an attempt to get some air and was left wondering when Lorie would help me.

    That¡¯s when Lorie waved her hand casting a spell over my whole body. All of a sudden I was breathing normal air. My head was still hurting. Not just from the pain of running around with Qi sight, but the heavy dosage of carbon and tar now coating my lungs.

    Lorie then proceeded to heal and cleanse me, making me feel better in the process. ¡°Why did you wait so long! You could have at least warned me before we walked through. You¡¯re so mean!¡± I cried.

    ¡°I¡¯m really sorry sweetie. I¡¯ll bake you cookies to make up for it, but you needed to feel it to understand.¡± Said Lorie.

    I looked around the area. The sky was dark. Everything was either on fire or covered by obsidian. The only light was the lava nearby. ¡°What is this place?¡± I asked.

    ¡°This place is called Earth.¡± Said Lorie.

    I felt my blood run cold. ¡°Wha¡­ no. That¡¯s not right. What happened? It was perfectly fine when I left! There¡¯s no way this much time passed!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not your Earth. Believe it or not, Earth is a popular seed. Many gods go for it as a safe bet. Nobody wants to gamble tons of Quintessence just for the mine to dry up before they can get their return.¡± She explained.

    ¡°That¡¯s crazy.¡± I said.

    ¡°Look who¡¯s talking.¡± She sassed.

    ¡°Ha, ha.¡± I said sarcastically. ¡°so¡­ this isn¡¯t my Earth? Then what the hell happened?¡± I asked.

    She sighed. ¡°Dimensional migration happened. This was supposed to be a mortal world, but a higher rank resident of another world managed to flee to this Earth. They were a mage. Not a very powerful mage, but they were very knowledgeable. Anyway that mage managed to recruit some of the residents of this Earth. By using her abilities to inspire and create a cult.¡± She said.

    ¡°So the cult destroyed the world? Was it like a nuke to stop the mages?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No, it was a spell, and it was done by only one man.¡± She said.

    ¡°One dude did all this! But how!? He must have been gathering aspects for months!¡± I said.

    Lorie giggled. ¡°That''s where you¡¯re wrong child. It only took ten minutes before the world was ended.¡± She said.

    That seemed so¡­ impossible. Even with the conversion of fuel to heat. Something like this would take forever. How could one mage do all this? There just wasn''t enough heat aspects to do it. I couldn''t even get enough for my mega fireball.

    I turned to Lorie. ¡°How?¡± I asked.

    ¡°For that you need to understand the difference between a strong mage and a weak one.¡±

    ¡°And what would that be? Protein? A gym membership? The power of friendship? The willingness to eat disgusting carrots?¡± I joked.

    ¡°Not exactly. Do you remember that healing aura you pulled off yesterday?¡± She asked.

    What could my aura have to do with magic? Lorie did say mage auras could boost spells, but could something like that really make this much of a difference?

    ¡°I remember making a really big aura.¡± I confirmed.

    ¡°Good. Out of curiosity, what did you name it?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Chicken soup aura.¡± I said.

    She laughed. ¡°You come up with the strangest names.¡±

    ¡°What does this have to do with magic?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The mage that migrated here was a lot like you. She had a logical approach to everything. However, logic while reasonable, creates rules and restrictions on what you can do. Real power comes from the imagination. From experience. From emotions. It comes from the understanding of complex ideas and philosophy.¡± She explained.

    Mr. Brutus said something about imagination too. It did play a big part in casting spells. The same thing went for cultivation. That was how I was able to make chicken soup aura. It was also where 0 tier aspects came from. Intent was deeply rooted into the very core of both power systems. Maybe even all power systems.

    ¡°The mage that burned the world was mad. You and I both know a single world wouldn''t have enough heat aspects to do something like this. However, much like your complex understanding of apathy generates an abundant amount of aspects. That mage¡¯s anger produced enough heat to cast the biggest fire spell anyone¡¯s ever seen. It covered half of Asia and was enough to ignite the atmosphere. Those hateful fire aspects still run rampant on this world to this day.¡± She said.

    Now that she mentioned it. The fire aspects felt odd here. It was like they were angry. Hungry almost . Like a vengeful spirit. As if the world wanted us dead.

    I couldn¡¯t believe a single person did all this. Lorie turned to me and asked, ¡°Do you understand now?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. That''s insane.¡± I answered.

    ¡°Some mages specialize in certain types of magic. Like a shadowmancer or a white mage. This is because they have a greater understanding of that subject. They can generate their own aspects. All because their muses are so large that the void filters through their thoughts. Thus creating their own special brand of aspects. Though, for the pyromancer. He wanted to see the world burn. Thus creating a fire aspect so gluttonous and malicious that he burned up with his own spell.¡± She explained.

    That sounded super dangerous. Especially with a mind like mine. I gulped imagining all the ways my brain could kill me. The only thing I could think of was my apathy creating a black hole, swallowing up whatever world I was on.

    ¡°Before there was cultivators and mages. There were sorcerer¡¯s. Sorcery was the true original power system. Well, if you could call it that. It wasn¡¯t something invented by a god. It was always there to begin with.¡± She said.

    ¡°isn¡¯t sorcery just magic?¡± I asked.

    She shook her head. ¡°Not exactly. Sorcery is the manipulation of reality through imagination. Even now cultivators and mages both use it to empower their systems. God¡¯s are the only ones known to abuse it to the max. That''s how they create their quintessence farms.¡± Said Lorie.

    ¡°So are you telling me to become a sorcerer?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You already are. Using both magic and cultivation are the signs of a sorcerer. In truth anyone can become a sorcerer. All you need is a muse. Without a muse I am a skilled and wise mage. With it I am a druid.¡± With that Lorie waved her hand casting what looked like a healing spell. It carried with it not only healing aspects, but cleansing, life, water, earth, and heat.

    The power released like a wave scattering yellow and green particles across the obsidian ground. The black rock crumbled into wet soft dirt. Then grass began to grow out of it followed by a tree.

    The tree quickly grew into adulthood and began to grow pink flowers. They quickly bloomed. As soon as they did I felt a sudden breeze passed me as the carbon and ash began to convert into fresh air. I couldn''t believe it. She created life in such a horrible place. Where had the aspects even come from?

    ¡°My muse is nature itself. I am the generator for nature aspects. My thoughts, my experiences, and my desires gave birth to these plants. The spell I used is a modified healing spell. I call it terraform. It is the same as your chicken soup aura.¡± She explained.

    ¡°That''s amazing Lorie!¡± I cheered excitedly.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    ¡°This patch of life will continue to grow and in 100 years this continent will be full of life. My plants will feed off of the negative energy in the area.¡± Lorie reached up.

    I watched as one of the branches reached down. The flower petals began to fall off the branch as something new began to grow.

    Green balls? They loaded themselves up onto Lorie¡¯s palm. She held them out to me. ¡°You like cherries right?¡± she said as the green fruits began to ripen in her hand. They looked so fat and juicy.

    ¡°Wow, thanks!¡± I took some and tried one. ¡°It¡¯s so sweet!¡± I cheered.

    She smiled. ¡°So¡­ do you have any clue what your muse might be?¡± She asked.

    Could the chicken soup aspects be considered a muse? While the memories were important to me. I wouldn¡¯t call it a muse. I had no idea what it would be. Maybe apathy? But¡­. Even that was undone by Zubu¡¯s concern for me. What rule was constant in my life. What ideal and philosophy did I have that was unshakable?

    I couldn''t think of anything, so I decided to ask Lorie what she thought. ¡°Do you have a recommendation? I have a strong connection to apathy, but I don¡¯t know how solid that would be.¡± I said truthfully.

    ¡°You should think about it. Ask yourself. Where does the apathy stem from. It cant simply be that you just cant feel.¡± She said.

    I knew exactly where it came from, but to say it aloud would be giving it to much power. Instead I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders.

    ¡°Oh really? You have nothing? So you¡¯re actually just dead inside. You can''t fool me child. Who do you think will hear you? We''re on a dead world.¡± She said.

    She had a point. Did it really even matter anymore. Holding stuff in was what broke me in the first place. I sighed.

    ¡°Alright¡­ the world spins. The universe expands, and everyone walks past me. My apathy was born from the need to make reality stop. I couldn''t handle it all at once, so I decided a long time ago to detach myself. I can feel things I just cant reach them. They are buried and it¡¯s hard to dig them out. That¡¯s why I sometimes come off as extra childish. Because Aku¡¯s emotions are way easier to feel than my own. If it was just me. Then it would be way different.¡± I said.

    In truth if I were to use this side of the coin for my apathy aura. Not even Zubu could dispel it.

    ¡°Yeah, I figured it was something like that. Because of what you did you¡¯re insides are now hollow. That''s why you can feel the emotions of other people. Especially Aku¡¯s since she is so¡­ attached. Maybe when you were a kid your sympathy was simply just your hyper focus on others body language, but now its different. You are empty. Especially now that the demon took all the pain with him. Too bad your still stuck with the memories of your trauma.¡± She said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind the memories. They are mine. Without them I wouldn¡¯t be me ¡° I said.

    ¡°I suppose that is what we all are. Good or bad we are all a collection of memories.¡± She said.

    She knew so much. Was that also in my file. If she already knew then why did she even ask? I hate therapists. They''re so full of shit.

    ¡°So what. Should I really rely on dark emotions like that? Apathy was how I ended up with a demon. What if I have another episode and swallow the entire world?¡± I said. I was getting pissed. Did this lady want me to turn out like the pyromancer?

    ¡°First off, apathy is not a negative emotion. It is the lack of emotions. And second off, you¡¯re following the wrong branch.¡± She metaphored.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Could you stop talking like a fortune cookie and say what you mean!¡± I yelled.

    ¡°You certainly sound like yourself. I take it your angry? That¡¯s really the only emotion you are in tuned with.¡± She poked.

    I did not respond. She took the hint and moved on. ¡°I do not recommend going the apathy route. While that may be a big part of your core, it is not who you truly are. You should think of who you are as a person. Your core self. Make that your muse.¡± She said.

    My core self? There was nothing in there. Isaac the coward? Isaac the murderer? Isaac the pervert? No. What the fuck was she talking about? There was nothing special about me. I was boring. There was certainly nothing there that could make an interesting ability or power.

    ¡°I still don''t understand. There''s nothing inside me. I''m nothing. Is nothing the answer?¡± I speculated.

    ¡°Your supposed to be smart. Figure it out. It''ll hold way more weight if you figure it out yourself. Just think about it. The way you learn things. The way you approach conversations. The way you eat, sleep, train, and plan out your day. The way you make everyone feel better. It¡¯s there in everything you do. You can''t be that blind child.¡± She preached.

    In everything I do? What, logic? No that¡¯s not right. What then? Caution? That didn''t seem right either. She said it was also how I made people feel better. ¡°My cuteness? I¡¯ll have you know this is something too recent to be apart of my core self.¡± I said.

    She smiled. ¡°No. I think that one belongs to Aku. Though, you were quite the adorable little boy when you were little. Don''t worry you''ll get it when the time is right.¡± She said before ruffling my hair.

    ¡°I hope your right.¡± I said.

    After that we headed back home and ate breakfast. That was when Zubu got super duper mad at me for sneaking out the way I did.

    It wasn''t hard to get her to smile again. I just needed to give her a hug and tell her how happy I was that she was worried about me. She softened right up after that and I got to tell her about what happened when I went off world.

    After breakfast we went back to training. This time it was just simple hand to hand combat. Surprisingly we were evenly matched despite my small stature.

    Zubu tried punching me, but I avoided it with a good old bob. Then hit her in the gut. Her body leaned forward and I could have jumped and gone for the good old knee in the face but didn''t.

    Instead I stepped back and gave her some room to recover. ¡°How are you that good?¡± She angrily asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been in a lot of fights against people who were way bigger and stronger than me.¡± I said.

    ¡°Yeah¡­ that checks out.¡± She said.

    ¡°Hey Zubu do you know what my muse might be?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Your what? Oh, you mean that thing Lore keeper told you about¡­. Yeah, I don''t really know. If it''s not that black hole inside you then I don''t know.¡± She said.

    I put a hand on my chest and looked inside. The hole was still so vast and empty. I hadn''t really filled it with anything since before the ascension. It was void. Well, there was that echo. Even now I could hear it reverberating off the emptiness of the hole.

    I didn''t see how my core wasn''t a representation of a black hole. There was literally nothing here. No Squirmy, no Centa. Not even that black ooze I hate so much.

    I focused back on Zubu. Who looked to be picking her nose. ¡°ew!¡± I backed away from her.

    ¡°Oh, shut up. Its not like you¡¯ve never picked your nose.¡± She retorted.

    She flicked it away then wiped her hand on her kimono. Despite how gross it was to watch her do that, I couldn¡¯t really say I hadn¡¯t done the same. He that is without sin among you, let him be the first to cast a stone at her.

    ¡°How¡¯s that cultivation technique coming along?¡± I asked.

    She smiled. ¡°It¡¯s settling well within my stomach.¡± She said confidently.

    ¡°No kidding! You already made it work?¡± I said in shock.

    ¡°Yup, once you helped me hammer out the details. The rest was easy. The construct is already producing Qi and quintessence in my soul space.¡± She said.

    ¡°What¡¯s a soul space?¡± I asked dumbly.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know what a soul space is!¡± She yelled in shock.

    I shook my head. Was I supposed to know that word?

    ¡°Isaac don¡¯t you think it¡¯s strange how no doctors or scientists have found where your core is. Hell, they¡¯ve never even come across a person¡¯s meridians.¡± She said.

    ¡°Now that you mention it¡­. Wait, isn¡¯t there a bunch of info on Chakras and crap?¡± I said remembering all those cultivation novels that existed in our world. Let¡¯s not forget all that talk about crystals and auras. Goddess forbid essential oils. That last one made my skin crawl.

    ¡°That¡¯s all lost knowledge. My best guess is things like cultivation were once a thing, and over time were forgotten.¡± She said.

    That sounded dumb. How do you forget about something as op as cultivation or magic. Though that would explain how we have a vague understanding of the concept.

    Actually, wasn¡¯t things like knowledge horded by nobles? I remember things like purple dye and medicinal recipes being secret knowledge. That''s how nobles stayed nobles.

    It wasn''t hard to see something like cultivation and magic be horded by the rich and powerful. And for the poor, its not too farfetched to say they labeled the magical phenomenon a miracle.

    It''s also more beneficial to hide the truth. Since labels with strong beliefs can make people more powerful. Now the real question is how did people forget in the first place?

    It didn''t make much sense. There must have been an extinction event¡­ or what if they couldn''t make new ascenders? Every one on my Earth is in the mortal rank. How did someone break into the lower spirit rank without help?

    ¡°Oh! I forgot about Cosmo¡¯s bottle cap!¡± I yelled in realization.

    ¡°What the heck is wrong with you! You go all AFK and suddenly burst out yelling!¡± Yelled Yukio in annoyance.

    ¡°Zubu, it¡¯s the bottle cap! That¡¯s why they died out!¡± I said.

    The bottle cap was how Cosmo gathered quintessence. This meant the original ascenders wouldn¡¯t be able to ascend anymore. Not their children either.

    ¡°Okay, but why send ascenders into a new world. Why not just make a few mortals and let them figure it out?¡± She argued.

    ¡°It was probably to ensure mortals would actually have a chance to spread and not die out right away.¡± I explained.

    ¡°Yeah, I could see that¡­ you distracted me! What was I saying again?¡± She closed her eyes tilting her head while crossing her arms.

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t it something about doctors and scientists not being able to find our meridians and souls?¡± I said.

    ¡°Right. That¡¯s it. You see that stuff doesn¡¯t exist in this dimension. Lore keeper said it¡¯s like layers. Our souls and meridians exist on a higher plane of existence. We can only see the tiny bit that touches this world. Or something like that.¡± She said a bit confused.

    ¡°I get it. Its like how you can draw a person on a piece of paper and put a cube on top of it. To the guy on the paper it looks like a line. In his reality it¡¯s a square. He¡¯s unable to see the whole cube because it¡¯s impossible to see the third dimension.¡± I said.

    ¡°Uh¡­ yeah that sounds right. That¡¯s what soul spaces are.¡± She said.

    She looked a bit upset that I had taken the roll of the teacher from her so to cheer her up I acted all excited about the knowledge ¡°Soul space! That¡¯s so cool!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it is.¡± She smiled.

    ¡°So what do you do now? Do you just push helium into your cultivation technique and hope for the best?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Kind of. I don¡¯t have a technique for refinement, but I can always just cycle the aspects through my body and refine them that way. So far I¡¯ve been refining wind essence in my meridians. Then using that to build my construct. This way by the time it generates plasma Qi I can already absorb it. It¡¯s not very fast since it takes time to refine the wind aspects. Then convert that to helium Qi.¡± She explained.

    It didn¡¯t take that long to make helium¡­ unless. ¡°Is it harder to convert wind Qi into helium?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yeah it is. Qi is a bit harder to control.¡± She said.

    ¡°If you already have the construct. Then why not make helium first. Then refine it into Qi?¡± I suggested.

    ¡°Oh. That¡¯s smart. I still need wind essence for the lighting aspects, but that should cut down on time.¡± She said.

    This was good for when it became my time to make my own cultivation technique. ¡°You should try adding earth aspects into the lighting aspects.¡± I suggested.

    ¡°What, why?¡± She questioned.

    ¡°Just test it out and see if it generates more electricity.¡± I said. It was better to have her test it than implement it without knowing if it would work.

    ¡°That¡¯s a way better way to generate lightning aspects and it even brings the tier up making it more powerful.¡± Said Mr. Brutus approaching us from the direction of the entrance.

    Was it time already? I didn¡¯t feel ready yet. It was too soon.

 Episode 56 Chapter 1: my new family

    -Cosmo-

    *Swipe*

    *swipe*

    ¡°Too ugly. Too ugly. Too short. Too ugly. Short. Short. Ugly. Short. He looks way too nice. Ugh! Why does that pervert Zeus keep popping up! That guy would have sloppy sex with a goldfish!¡± I complained, as I went through my dating app. ¡°Why¡¯s it so hard to find a decent god!¡± I yelled before throwing my phone into the white void of my domain.

    Dating is so hard for a goddess with so many kids. There aren¡¯t enough hot gods to go around. It makes me want to create a mortal and raise them into godhood. That seemed a bit too unethical though.

    ¡°Hmmm¡­ maybe I can get Tsukuyomi to make me a husband. I''m close friends with his ex-wife, so he might help me out.¡± I said to the void.

    Throwing my thoughts into the void was the best therapy I could hope for. It was like throwing out the trash, or deleting cringie old memes off my phone. It was to bad my words couldn¡¯t speak a man into existence. I still think creating my own husband was the best way to go.

    Then again, it¡¯s still kind of messed up. Breeding humans to find the perfect mate seems wrong. Even if I had Tsukuyomi do it for me, that would still be bad. Also, I don¡¯t think he would be up for the task.

    He¡¯s too uptight. I heard he killed another god just because he didn¡¯t like the way they provided their world with food. That was why he and Ama got divorced. He totally murdered her friend for no reason. Even though he was always so calm and chill whenever I spoke with him. It''s always the quiet ones.

    Honestly, their divorce was for the best considering Ama and Tsu are siblings. Their dad kind of saw how well they were together and paired them up from birth. Everyone was cool with it since they were soul siblings not blood siblings.

    They say Ama¡¯s aura and Tsu¡¯s aura complemented each other perfectly. Like turtles and lesbians united by the act of choking on plastic.

    Summoning my phone back into my hand, I swiped a few more times before giving up for the day. My break was almost over anyway. In defeat, I slumped in my chair staring out into the void.

    That was when a portal appeared before me. Not many people knew where my domain was, which meant it was one of my admins. Then again I wasn¡¯t expecting a visit. Could it be that annoying twin tailed demon girl again.

    I quickly summoned my trident powering it up with a celestial aura. Silver energy swirled around my trident causing it to look like a pristine spinning drill. ¡°The bitch won''t catch me off guard this time.¡± I murmured.

    I was about to hurl my weapon, when I saw a familiar boot and cloak come through the portal. With a body as big as that one it would be impossible to mistake him. ¡°Hi Brutus.¡± I greeted, as my power and weapon shrunk and fizzled out like a dying snail at a french restaurant.

    ¡°Hey.¡± He responded nonchalantly.

    ¡°I told you to text me before you show up. You almost died again!¡± I scolded him.

    ¡°Yeah, I can never figure out how to use this thing.¡± He pulled his phone out. The screen had so many cracks running from one end of the phone to the other.

    ¡°Oh, my children! Why don''t you have a screen protector or cover!? Are you trying to break it!¡± I yelled.

    He tapped at his phone like a chicken mindlessly pecking at the ground to look for worms. Each tap causing a new crack to form and my anxiety to grow. ¡°Oh, that? Yeah¡­ the guy that sold it to me tried to charge me 50 credits for it, so I said no.¡±

    ¡°Please don''t tap on it that hard! Touch it gently!¡± I yelled.

    ¡°Like this?¡± He gave it another tap. This time the screen cracked in multiple places.

    I scratched my head unsure if he was messing with me, or if he was actually serious. Knowing him it was probably both.

    I was done. ¡°To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?¡± I asked holding back tears at the torture of that innocent ether phone.

    ¡°I¡¯ve decided to change the lineup. I think I¡¯m going to have Isaac fight Sparky instead.¡± He said.

    ¡°What, why? Don¡¯t do that to poor Isaac.¡± I said.

    ¡°No, it needs to be like that. I¡¯m too strong to bring out the kids talent. The beef those two share will be enough to push the kid to his limits. Besides, even if you have a hunk of iron, it¡¯s still not a weapon. You cant forge a good sword without a strong fire to heat the metal.¡± Explained the brute.

    ¡°What your doing is very dangerous. How do you know Isaac won¡¯t burn up in the process?¡± I warned.

    ¡°Because, I was the one that raised him into the fine cultivator he is now. For nearly a week I managed to stuff all kinds of things into his empty shell. All that¡¯s left is to melt it all together, peel the outer shell and shape the metal into a sharp damascus blade.¡± Explained Brutus.

    Damascus was the act of putting nuts, bolts, and all kinds of random metal into an iron shell. Then melting them all into an ingot. Once you hammered it out and the blade cooled down. You¡¯d end up with a very interesting pattern where the different metals fused together. The nuts and bolts were the lessons Brutus and The lore keeper put into him, while the fire was the trial ahead.

    ¡°Isaac is going to hate you.¡± I responded.

    ¡°I know¡­ but I¡¯m his master not his friend. My job is to teach and guide him. I don¡¯t enable. I don¡¯t get in the way. I simply push my disciples into the best they can be.¡± He said.

    ¡°Fine¡­ but you better not throw me under the bus. This was your idea not mine. If you break that little boy, I¡¯ll cut off your balls.¡± I threatened.

    ¡°Yeah sure. I bet you¡¯ll be happy when he¡¯s all teary eyed and curled up in your arms.¡± He retorted.

    ¡°Despite what you think. I don¡¯t like seeing him like that. I prefer to see my children happy and smiling.¡± I responded.

    ¡°Oh, by the way. What do you want to do with the brat?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Yukio? What about her. She¡¯s still doing her own thing. Wasting resources and being stubborn.¡± I said.

    ¡°Not exactly. She¡¯s been training with Isaac and has improved rapidly. She even developed an advanced cultivation technique. Within a few months she¡¯ll ascend and all without your help. Face it. You failed. You should let her change religions already. She clearly doesn¡¯t like you. If you try to force her you¡¯ll be no better than¡­ him.¡± He said.

    I felt frustration grow inside me. That stupid girl. Hadn¡¯t she realized I was only trying to help her. If she keeps this up, I¡¯ll have to start draining more of her quintessence. I won¡¯t let her ascend until she stops being so stubborn.

    She could have already left Chik¨±, if she¡¯d just cooperate. What the hell was so important that she would refuse my help! Refuse my blessing! I¡¯ve given her everything! Why can¡¯t she just love me! At the very least be neutral towards me! She was like a moody ungrateful teen!

    ¡°Hey Brutus, do you think you can get your other disciples to show up?¡± I asked, as an idea bloomed within the vastness of my mind.

    ¡°Yeah, but why? Your not gonna do something stupid are you?¡± He asked suspiciously.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s time I showed her what she¡¯s missing out on. If we¡¯re going to do this, then we¡¯ll need a proper arena. Since I assume you got permission for Sparky from the dragon goddess. I¡¯ll call her up and get the other disciples ready. You go fetch Isaac and Yukio.¡± I commanded.

    He stared at me with clear disappointment on his face. Turning around he said, ¡°Whatever. I need to go.¡±

    The brute walked away. Then waved his hand over the portal changing its exit point. A moment later he stepped through leaving me there.

    I really hope Isaac will be okay. He might be able to hide his emotions, but he has a fragile heart.

    -Aku/Isaac-

    Mr. Brutus had just hopped down from the roof. As soon as Zubu spotted him, her aura flared to life.

    A moment later it ignited, going from a swirling cloud of pink particles. Into a raging ball of buzzing plasma. The air smelled of copper as she shot forward with explosive energy.

    My instincts kicked in, causing me to run and hide behind a sakura tree. Mr. Brutus held a hand up, as Zubu slammed her aura into him. Her plasma seemed way more violent this time around.

    It had somehow changed over night as the energy came off as more explosive and hungry. It made me wonder if adding different frequencies of your affinity could change it over time. If that was the case then couldn¡¯t a cultivator completely change their affinity into something else?

    I was getting distracted again. This was the perfect opportunity to study Mr. Brutus. Pulling a few strands of Qi I activated Qi sight to view the details of their sudden clash. The world peeled away giving way to the meta data underneath.

    The pressure of his aura was focused from his palm holding the violent explosion that was Zubu from erupting. She was almost like a star being held together by the perfect balance of gravity and explosions. Expecting an injury I began to gather chicken soup aspects into my hand.

    With his other palm Mr. Brutus spawned a golden brown rock. I wanted to put it in my mouth for some reason only for Mr. Brutus to crush it - along with my hopes - a second later, as his fist closed over the golden nuggie. That was a strange and cruel thing to do to candy. Mr. Brutus thrust his palm forward blasting a cloud of dust at Zubu.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    The powder slowly evaporated within her plasma, but not before hitting her in the chest like a shot gun shell. If I had a name for that attack, I¡¯d call it Diamond Dust, or Rock Salt. Something told me I was the only one that liked to name their attacks.

    Zubu''s plasma dispersed as she was sent flying on a collision course with the tree I was hiding behind. I quickly created a platform in her path, but instead of making it a flat surface, I gave it the consistency of a pillow, catching her in it¡¯s soft embrace. To do this I had to chain two platform spells together in order to get more dimensions out of the spell. It also increased the constructs durability.

    With the cozy, cleansing, healing aspects I¡¯d gathered, I used a concentrated version of my chicken soup aura to take care of any injuries the not-teen had. This would also make her feel a lot better. The golden light shot out from my palm like a flashlight engulfing Zubu in it¡¯s golden radiance.

    I then ran out in front of Mr. Brutus and held my arms up like I was trying to scare off a big old grumpy bear. ¡°Don''t hurt Zubu you big bully!¡± I yelled.

    Mr. Brutus laughed. ¡°That''s new.¡±

    Seeing the giant go from serious to giddy I lowered the pillow of air and ran to Zubu''s side. ¡°Are you okay? Does it hurt?¡± I asked worriedly.

    She smiled. ¡°Thank you. I''m fine.¡± She Said, as she patted my head giving me a feeling of coziness.

    ¡°Kid, what about me? She attacked me first where¡¯s my heal?¡± Asked Mr. Brutus a bit hurt.

    ¡°Yea, but you''re really strong. Fighting back is like a baby being punched by their drunk uncle for crying!¡± I retorted.

    Before I could get my own hit on Mr. Brutus, Zubu hugged me from behind pulling me into the air pillow.

    ¡°Zubu wait! I''m trying to defend you!¡± I complained.

    She started giggling. ¡°I know, I''m so happy!¡± She said before she began to repeatedly nuzzle and kiss my cheek.

    ¡°No! Stop it Zubu! I don''t like that sort of stuff! My wife will get mad!¡± I cried.

    She suddenly passed and asked, ¡°Did you see enough?¡±

    I stopped struggling for a sec to answer. ¡°Yeah, a little. He isn¡¯t actually made of rock. Mr. Brutus uses his pressure thingy as the ultimate defense.¡± I said.

    ¡°You¡¯re so smart! Yes, you are!¡± She cooed as she nuzzled me some more while hugging me tightly.

    ¡°Come on, let me go! No means no!¡± I whined.

    ¡°Oh, shut up! You like it!¡± She gas lighted.

    ¡°Dam, you two were studying me? That¡¯s cheating. You¡¯re not allowed to work together.¡± Complained Mr. Brutus.

    Since Zubu wouldn¡¯t let me go. I might have to bite her. There was another way. I had no choice, but to undo the air pillow and drop both of us on her butt. The sudden drop cause her to scream, but most importantly release me upon impact.

    I tried to quickly crawl away only to be grabbed by my hips and pulled back. ¡°No! Please let me go!¡± I cried.

    ¡°No way bad children like you need to be punished!¡± She pushed me onto my back and held me down by pressing her left arm down on my shoulder. I squirmed trying to get away to no avail.

    ¡°Zubu wait! I know what you''re going to do! Please don''t do it!¡± I cried, as I kicked my feet trying to push myself away from her. I couldn¡¯t find any traction as my feet slipped on the slightly damp grass.

    She had an evil smile on her face before she pulled my pink top up nearly exposing my nipples. Then dove in and blew a raspberry into my tummy. I couldn''t stop myself from laughing.

    ¡°No! Haha! Stop it!¡± I put both hands on my stomach trying to block her, but by then she started to tickle me! I broke out into even more laughter.

    Eventually Lorie came out and called everyone in for lunch. Instead of letting me stand back up. Zubu lifted me into the air and threw my upper body over her shoulder while walking towards the dining room.

    ¡°Mr. Brutus help!¡± I threw both arms up hoping he would save me.

    ¡°That''s what you get for helping the brat.¡± He said.

    ¡°That¡¯s not fair! Can you at least bring Snowball. She¡¯s over there.¡± I pointed to a tree where Snowball had fallen over due to a sudden case of the snoozies. ¡°She¡¯ll be upset if I leave her behind.¡± I whined.

    ¡°Fine.¡± He said before staying back to grab my support plushy.

    I was eventually put down but that didn¡¯t stop me from complaining. As Lorie served our plates she listened to my issues, while I hugged Snowball for comfort and protection.

    Snowball¡¯s dress was still so pretty. It really suited her figure. During sudden bursts of anxiety I found myself fingering the frills of her dress. Being played with so much had put me in a very fussy state. I wanted freedom, not to be constantly suffocated like a puppy surrounded by noisy cruel children.

    ¡°So you''re upset that Yukio is being nice to you?¡± She asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I said! I just want her to respect my boundaries!¡± I yelled.

    ¡°Last I checked toddlers didn¡¯t get things like boundaries or privacy. I wouldn¡¯t want you to drown in a toilet after all.¡± Said Zubu.

    ¡°I am not a toddler! Tell her something Snowball!¡± I yelled.

    Snowball began to insult Zubu only I couldn¡¯t translate it without getting in trouble. ¡°Wow Snowball! I can¡¯t tell her that!¡± I said fearfully.

    ¡°What did she say!¡± Yelled Zubu.

    ¡°She used the N word a bunch! Like a lot! Like, like more than seven times! Also she said stuff about sleeping over at your moms house and eating her tuna!¡± I responded as vaguely as possible.

    Everyone went silent for a sec. Until Mr. Brutus started laughing. He had such a deep chuckle. I had no choice, so I put Snowball over my lap and started to spank her.

    ¡°OW! Stop it! I regret nothing! Its all true!¡± Yelled Snowball.

    ¡°Bad Snowball! We don¡¯t say things like that!¡± I yelled.

    ¡°You¡¯re crazy.¡± Said Zubu.

    I looked around the room frantically for fireballs. There didn¡¯t seem to be any around. ¡°Don¡¯t scare me like that!¡± I yelled. What if I blew everyone up. Zubu might be annoying, but I didn''t want her gone.

    ¡°Your fucking insane, piss baby.¡± Zubu laughed at me only adding to my frustration.

    ¡°Girls! Will you two stop fighting before I get the spoon! I don¡¯t care who started it! I want peace and quiet at the table!¡± Yelled Lorie.

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡± We both grumbled.

    Mr. Brutus couldn¡¯t help but continue to laugh at the situation. It was hard to believe how things ended up. Zubu was such a bully when I first got here. She still is, but now it was more playful.

    I came here to grow stronger and ended up with a sister somehow. I¡¯m older so that made me the big sister. I don¡¯t know why she insisted on acting like she was the older sister. Just because I was fun sized didn''t mean I was a child.

    Today I got to eat some kind of chicken soup. There was chicken in the bowl and it was surrounded by vegetables. The broth was very watery. It had a good amount of oil floating around. I think I ate something like this before at a mexican restaurant. I guess Lorie was trying something different today.

    Lunch went on as normal. There were a few words, but nothing significant. It was just another meal with my none blood related family. My grandma. My drunk uncle, My friend, and my annoying little sister¡­ who kept stealing meat off my bowl and depositing more vegetables under the excuse that I needed them if I ever wanted big annoying boob¡¯s like hers.

    After lunch we all headed out into the courtyard on Mr. Brutus¡¯s instruction. Even Lorie had joined us. Would I really have to fight him right now? Here on top of the mountain?

    What if we broke the mountain? There wasn¡¯t much room for us to go all out. Not with all of Lories trees around. Unless Lorie puts up her practice barrier again, but even then I had a feeling Mr. Brutus could break it accidentally. I could already see him turning the mountain into a pile of rocks.

    ¡°Kid, are you ready for your final test!?¡± Yelled Mr. Brutus. His voice reminded me of my high-school coach. Was it coach Teller?

    ¡°Nope. I need at least another 10 years, but that¡¯s not really an option.¡± I sassed.

    ¡°Is this really necessary?¡± Asked Zubu.

    ¡°It is.¡± Said Lorie to my surprise.

    ¡°What, why!? If Isaac needs to fight someone as a final test then let it be me!¡± Yelled Zubu with the same energy as an over protective older sister¡­ which she was not. Nor had any business being.

    She clearly didn¡¯t understand the situation. It couldn¡¯t be her. ¡°That won¡¯t work.¡± I said.

    ¡°You little shit! Do you have any idea what this gorilla will do to you!? Even with a practice barri-¡° She was interrupted by Mr. Brutus. ¡°No barriers. Were doing it without safety nets.¡±

    ¡°Are you crazy! Why would you do that!?¡± She interjected.

    I didn¡¯t let him answer as I tugged on Zubu¡¯s kimono like the child I appeared to be. ¡°Hey, it¡¯s okay. I¡¯ll be fine.¡± I said calmly while smiling up at her.

    ¡°No! You don¡¯t get a say! You¡¯re nothing but a piss baby that doesn¡¯t know any better!¡± She yelled, trying to scare me off. She wanted to bully Aku''s child-like personality into obedience. Get her afraid and emotional to put me in a position where I couldn¡¯t argue.

    While Aku might have been frightened, my desire to improve and save my city, overpowered hers. I did not waver or back down. ¡°You can¡¯t protect me forever. I¡¯m going to leave here soon and wouldn¡¯t you rather I be prepared than show up on a battle field and die?¡± I said.

    ¡°Just¡­ leave your body behind. We can give you a new one and you can stay here with me. Let that asshole Cosmo handle it.¡± She answered.

    She sounded frantic almost in a panic like way. The logic was none existent. I wasn¡¯t sure if she was joking or not.

    Lorie interjected, ¡°That was always an option. It would be child¡¯s play for Cosmo to wave her hand and build you a proper body. You¡¯ve already ascended meaning you don¡¯t need to participate in the trial. You could stay on Chik¨± and ascend along with Yukio. The two of you could stay together indefinitely if you time it right. All you would need to do is let your original body die.¡±

    ¡°See! You can stay and I¡¯ll make sure we have lots of fun everyday!¡± Zubu insisted.

    Stay here? With my none blood related family. A functioning one that isn¡¯t broken and won¡¯t fall apart like the last? With a sibling that doesn¡¯t hate me, a grandma that makes me delicious foods, and an uncle that¡¯s fun to talk to and hang out with.

    ¡°I can¡¯t do that. I love you Zubu, but I love everyone back in the new world too. Would you really be happy seeing me miserable everyday?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t let you! I¡¯d make sure you were always happy!¡± She cried.

    I felt loneliness from her. Digging a little deeper. I could see disciples arriving on this mountain. I saw her making friends. Then losing them after their ascension.

    It happened again and again until she became so bitter that she stopped trying to connect with them and took on a more distant roll. She must have been so lonely. I was about to do it to her again. I was going to hurt her¡­ again¡­ but.

    ¡°If you could go back and save your family and friends, wouldn¡¯t you?¡± I asked.

    She went wide eyed. Pressing her lips together, she repeated the same words she told me on the night we spent out in the forest. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. Your still going to try. If it was me I¡¯d do everything in my power to save them, even if I knew I¡¯d still fail.¡± It was like she could feel what I was feeling. She wiped her tears away and seemed to calm down.

    ¡°Thank you for worrying about me. I know I can drive people up the wall some times.¡± I said.

    She smiled and patted my head. ¡°A little, but it was also a lot of fun. This was the longest week of my life.¡± With that she turned back to Mr. Brutus. ¡°So what¡¯s the point of this test?¡± She asked like a mother planning out a play date.

    ¡°Its not that hard to understand. I need to push the kid to his limit. No safety puts pressure on him, giving better results.¡± He responded.

    Zubu clenched her fists. I stepped forward and stopped her before she could do anything crazy. ¡°That¡¯s why it can¡¯t be you Zubu. I could never go all out against you. I¡¯d never want to hurt you again. Not like last time. Not without the safety net.¡± I said.

    ¡°Yeah¡­ I get it. hurting you is only fun when it¡¯s a prank.¡± She said.

    I ignored the confession and rolled with it. ¡°Uh¡­ yeah.¡± I took a half step away from her. ¡°Besides, I really wanna punch him in his perfect beard.¡± I admitted.

    ¡°Alright then! It¡¯s settled!¡± Said Mr. Brutus as he clapped his hands together creating a swirling blue portal beside the statue of Amaterasu. That flicker, was that Qi? It was so concentrated and dense. I feel like if I tried I might not have enough. Lorie did it with a spell though.

    ¡°We have people waiting so let¡¯s get moving.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Who¡¯s waiting?¡± Both Zubu and I asked. Me out of anxiety and Zubu out of curiosity.

    Lorie stepped up resting her hands on our shoulders. ¡°Master Brutus has other students besides you two. They will be there to watch. It¡¯s a great learning opportunity. You two are Master Brutus¡¯s best disciples after all.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± We both asked in surprise.

    ¡°Its true. Isaac, you¡¯ve grown so quickly in such a short time. And Yukio, you learned everything on your own. Anyone else in your positions could not hope to have half the results you¡¯ve gotten.¡± Said Mr. Brutus. I think that was the first time I heard him call Zubu by her name, and he even gave her a compliment.

    ¡°But¡­ I¡¯ve been stuck on Chik¨± for years. I have to be at the very bottom.¡± Said Zubu.

    ¡°Maybe, but everything you''ve learned was hands on. You might actually be a genius. You can even gather multiple specific types of aspects with only one gate open.¡± Said Lorie.

    ¡°Is that not normal?¡± I asked.

    ¡°On average cultivators in a similar rank and gate can maybe isolate 3 different aspects. You two were even able to play with frequencies.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Whoa! I¡¯m above average! I¡¯ve never been above average!¡± I yelled in excitement.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough of that. Let¡¯s get going before the kid bleeds out.¡± Said Mr. Brutus before walking towards the portal. He stepped through it a moment later.

    It was finally time. I felt nervous giving Snowball a hug, but Zubu pulled my hand away and held onto it making me feel a little better. The Aku in me wanted her to lift us up and swing us as we walked towards the portal, but I was just happy we were on good terms now.

 Episode 56 Chapter 2: its over 8,000!

    As we walked towards the swirling vortex of eternal doom, Zubu swung me like l was hoping she would, except it was actually just her lifting me into her arms in a playful manner.

    ¡°You don¡¯t like the void right?¡± She asked.

    I closed my eyes shaking my head. This caused Yukio to laugh. I felt my cheeks burn in embarrassment. She held me as we walked through the scary hole in reality. I hid my face in her shoulder to prevent myself from seeing infinity.

    ¡°You are such a baby. You¡¯re like a toddler on an elevator.¡± She jabbed while laughing at me.

    ¡°Am not! You didn¡¯t see what I saw! There¡¯s a big scary monster out there eating entire universes!¡± I responded.

    She snorted, ¡°I don¡¯t see nothing.¡± most likely, thinking it was only my imagination, but I knew it was real. I remembered what I saw within Cosmo. It was big and scary. With like thousands of teeth riddled with gingivitis.

    What if it sees me and starts heading this way. I''m not brushing all those nasty teeth! There¡¯s probably cavity monsters hiding in there!

    After what felt like forever, Zubu said, ¡°Hey, piss baby. We¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°Really? Your not trying to trick me right?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No. Why would I do that?¡± She asked a bit annoyed.

    ¡°Because you¡¯re mean and you¡¯re always trying to scare me with that rumor about a ghost, that roams the halls at night.¡± I nearly cried.

    ¡°That¡¯s only so you¡¯ll be too scared to sleep by yourself and have to spend every night with me, my little cozy aspect farm.¡± She said before kissing me on the top of my head.

    ¡°Gross!¡± I yelled. I couldn¡¯t get away because I didn¡¯t want to fly off into the void so I had no choice but to curl in disgust.

    ¡°Kid she¡¯s not kidding, we¡¯re here.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    Pulling my head away from Zubu I opened my eyes only to see her upset face. ¡°What? Are you mad at me?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Why do you trust him more than me!? He made you fight a bear, remember?¡± She said before lifting me into the air and throwing Snowball and I at Mr. Brutus like a javelin.

    ¡°Nice throw. She¡¯s very aerodynamic.¡± Said Lorie now standing besides Zubu.

    I shrieked as I flew like a dart while Snowball simply started complaining about feeling nauseous. Mr. Brutus reached out and caught Snowball and I like an American football.

    I was afraid he¡¯d get carried away and spike us into the ground, but he didn''t. he was a lot nicer than Zubu and that was pretty crazy considering he had me fight breakfast.

    Instead he sat me down gently on his shoulder then gave my head a pat with the same arm. That¡¯s when I noticed the insane scenery around us. I knew there was something strange about the odd colors, but this was beyond what I thought might have been a sunset.

    It looked like a grassy field. There were hills and a few trees around. Farther away was what looked like a large lake and even some mountains in the background. The mountains were completely covered in icy blankets of fluffy snow. That was odd.

    I could see a few windmills dotted around the landscape though¡­ they didn¡¯t really look like windmills¡­. and¡­ why are the mountains moving? Was that! ¡°Holy shit! Is that a flying rock!¡± I yelled as what I thought was a mountain in the far distance was actually a massive floating rock formation.

    There were several of them floating about. I turned to take in more of my surroundings and realized we were standing on a floating island! An actual honest to Cosmo skyland!

    Beyond the edge was nothing but a dense fog of multi colored clouds. Each one hummed with electrical currents like static over a fuzzy blanket.

    The most surprising thing was the sky. It wasn¡¯t exactly blue. It was more like a reddish purple. Also there was a lot of black things floating up there. Like satellites only a bit too close for comfort. The sun also looked kind of strange.

    I couldn''t really call it ¡°Sun¡± since that was just the name of the star my home planet orbited, but it was basically this planets main source of light. The color was a bit off, it might actually be a little darker than what am used too.

    The most interesting part was the massive lite blue planet that covered 30% of the sky. It was only halfway visible as the rest of its body was hidden by the horizon.

    ¡°This is so cool! Why can¡¯t Cosmo make cool worlds like this!¡± I yelled in excitement.

    Mr. Brutus laughed at my reaction. ¡°That¡¯s because custom worlds like this one are hard to plan out. Our goddess is too lazy and hates to take risks, so she just goes with the default seed just about every single time. Welcome to Drakeyard.¡± As soon as he said it a big black dragon flew out of the swirling electrical clouds and up over our heads. It¡¯s body was covered in black shiny scales and long fluffy black feathers. I saw it¡¯s black eye look down on us. At its sender was a glowing red diamond shaped pupil.

    I¡¯d never seen anything so big in my life. Science says something that big couldn¡¯t exist since it¡¯s body would collapse under its own weight. Even if it didn¡¯t collapse, the amount of food needed for it to survive was beyond any reasonable ecosystem can provide.

    ¡°That¡¯s so cool!¡± I yelled in excitement almost falling off of Mr. Brutus¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Mr. Brutus I wanna ride it!¡± I begged as I held onto his head with both hands and shook him back and forth.

    ¡°Alright, alright kid. Calm down. I¡¯m sure Ribdena will take you for a loop around the skyland if you ask nicely enough. Just remember to show respect. She¡¯s a dragon goddess not a toy.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Dragon¡­ Goddess¡­¡± I let out an unintelligible sound nearly fainting at the amazing words coming out of Mr. Brutus¡¯s magnificently bearded face.

    The dragon circled the skyland. Then flapped it¡¯s wings as it slowly descended upon us. Each flap creating gusts of wind that nearly knocked me off. I gave into the current and fell back performing a backflip and landing on my feet. Then ran away from Mr. Brutus to go see Zubu.

    ¡°Zubu! Zubu! Zubu!¡± I called to her as a Qi pulse blasted me forward. I head-butted her in the guts causing her to let out an, ¡°oof!¡± she was knocked off her feet and fell on her back. My body rolled forward in the air, my bottom landing on top of her guts for a two hit combo.

    ¡°What the hell! That really hurt, piss baby!¡± She looked like she was about to slap me. She couldn¡¯t though, since my knees were on her hands, pinning them to the ground. Lorie found my playful assault funny causing her to laugh.

    ¡°Zubu! Hey!¡± I said excitedly while bouncing my butt on her tummy. She made funny noises every time I bounced on her internal organs, causing me to giggle and do it even more. Sitting on her was very comfortable. Like a squishy pillow.

    I guess she wasn¡¯t as comfortable as I was, because she let out a war cry lifting me by the knees and tossing me back over her head. I flew through the air both Snowball and I shrieking as we watched the ground and sky trade places several times. I landed on my back hitting my head on a rock. ¡°Owy!¡± I cried in pain holding what felt like a skull fracture.

    ¡°That fucking hurt! Just what the hell do you want! Haven¡¯t you hurt me enough!¡± She yelled causing me to feel a little bad, but only for a second, as I became excited again ignoring both pain and verbal assaults.

    ¡°But Zubu! I wanna ride the dragon with you! Come on! It¡¯ll be so much fun!¡± I said.

    ¡°You¡¯re gonna ride that thing! That¡¯s super dangerous! What if it eats you!?¡± She yelled.

    Lorie waved her hand giving both of us a quick heal. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. Mr. Brutus says her names Ribdena! She¡¯s a dragon goddess! Isn¡¯t that super duper cool!¡± I said.

    ¡°Ribdena? Really? You trust something with a name like that? Even if it¡¯s a god, it¡¯s still a stranger. This is just like the candy incident all over again!¡± Zubu scolded.

    ¡°I told you I thought it was apology candy! Geez! If I knew you were gonna use my past against me I wouldn¡¯t have told you about it.¡± I said feeling betrayed. I puffed my cheeks and hugged Snowball in a pout.

    ¡°That¡¯s just how most women are.¡± Said Lorie as she helped me to my feet. I thanked her for the assistance then glared as Zubu. Snowball glared to but you couldn¡¯t tell.

    ¡°Ride it with me!¡± I whined stomping my right foot into the ground and causing a small dent in the grassy dirt.

    Zubu got to her feet then said, ¡°Okay, okay. I¡¯ll ride it with you.¡± She smiled as she pinched and pulled one of my cheeks. I grumbled in response and tried to bite her, but she pulled her hand away and went for the other cheek. So annoying!

    That was when the dragon landed with a loud, earthquakey ¡°Bam!¡± The ground shook slightly, causing Zubu to hold on to me. I¡¯d like to think she was protecting me, but something told me she was only trying to keep herself from falling.

    As soon as the dragon¡¯s wings folded, I noticed there were people on her back. It looked like Cosmo and a couple of kids¡ªone boy and two girls. The goddess seemed to be in a chipper mood. Most likely because she had a weird thing for kids. Not in a creepy way, but more like a kindergarten teacher surrounded by adorable and loving children sort of way.

    The dragon lowered its head giving everyone a ramp to climb down. I could see Cosmo happily instructing her flock on safety and leading them off the dragon. Each kid hopped off the dragons nose one at a time. The boy however did a flip. The kids all gathered up like a school of fish. Well, like a trio.

    Seeing them interact with one another caused me to realize they were all cultivators. The way they talked didn''t sound like the noisy banter of children. It was more like a proper conversation. I got a little nervous seeing so many new people at once and my hopes of riding a dragon on a cool new alien planet vanished. It was now replaced by the sudden urge to hide and be as quiet as possible.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Instead of rushing over and saying hello to Cosmo, I hugged Snowball in my left arm and hid behind Zubu wrapping my other arm around her leg. My anxiety made itself known as it writhed in my gut like an angry kitten.

    It was almost suffocating the way it wrapped itself around my lungs and throat. The way it curled around my eyes and obstructed my vision. I had to calm myself by taking a deep breath and sinking into the hole.

    This helped and gave me the opportunity to create a one layer aura of apathy. This apathy was born out of the need to make the world stop and thus making it immune to Zubu¡¯s touch.

    I didn¡¯t want to completely shut out my emotions. I just wanted to turn them down a little, like fiddling with a thermostat. Dialing it down to a much more manageable level. Just enough so that I wouldn¡¯t start blasting everyone with fireballs.

    I hadn¡¯t felt this way in a while. That was strange, why was that? Being here on this world everything felt off. The serenity of flower mountain was gone. All I had now was the comfort of Zubu and Snowball. I felt like I¡¯d stepped way out of my comfort zone.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Where¡¯d all that excitement go?¡± Asked Zubu in concern.

    I didn¡¯t answer. Instead I clung to her and buried my face into her side. Had I not changed? Why was I still so weak? It shouldn¡¯t be this way. I was a powerful cultivator now. Not that scared little kid trapped in his mother¡¯s basement.

    Both Aku and I felt nervous. Our minds synced up perfectly. Her excitement was gone. So was mine. We both sunk into our child-like selves. Or as I liked to call it, defense mode.

    I peeked over to the crowd and noticed the dragon was glowing a dark purple. Her body turned into what looked like a giant aura. It shrunk down revealing a dark skinned woman with black eyes and black horns. She almost looked like a demon the way her horns curled. The woman quickly joined the group greeting Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Its nice to see you again Ribdena.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯ve put any thought into joining my religion. It¡¯s such a waste to see such a fine strong man be bossed around by such a weak goddess.¡± Flirted Ribdena. She gave Mr. Brutus¡¯s muscles a gentle squeeze, though he didn¡¯t really react.

    ¡°Quit your shameless flirting! I¡¯m right here!¡± Yelled Cosmo.

    The dragon paid Cosmo no mind as she kept her flirty eyes fixed on Mr. Brutus. He smiled in return. Then answered, ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m good where I am. Sorry to disappoint, but I guess I enjoy being yelled at all the time, and threatened constantly with being reincarnated into a toilet.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s too bad. Just know the door to my den is always open. Both literally and metaphorically.¡± Flirted the dragon goddess, as she gave Mr. Brutus a wink.

    This made Brutus laugh while Cosmo simmered. He then turned to the children and jumped right into sargent mode. ¡°Alright maggots! Today you¡¯ll be going up against one of your fellow disciples in a 3 on 1 match.¡± Said Mr. Brutus, his voice booming.

    3 on 1? I thought I was going to fight Mr. Brutus? Was he trying to make me fight that trio over there?

    One of the girls with green hair and blue eyes raised her hand like a 1st grader needing to use the restroom. She wore a green dress and looked like she could be Lories daughter.

    Mr. Brutus pointed at her. ¡°Isn¡¯t a 3 on 1 kind of unfair? Also I vote for Ron to be the 1.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m down. I¡¯ll fight everyone at once. Including master gorilla.¡± Said the only boy in the group. His hair a short spiky black while his eyes were a deep crimson. He wore a red bandana on his head, black shirt and a pair of grey overalls.

    ¡°You''re an idiot.¡± said the last of the three. Her hair was blonde and fixed into a braid. Her eyes a vibrant green.

    They all looked a little bigger than me. Like actual 10 year Olds. I was jealous they got to be taller. Too bad I left Cindy¡¯s iron sword back in the new world. Otherwise, I¡¯d take Snowball¡¯s advice and cut off their legs.

    ¡°Knock it off you three. Brutus why don¡¯t you stop them?¡± Asked Cosmo.

    ¡°A little anger is good for the soul. Let them fight. Competition is a good thing.¡± He said.

    ¡°He¡¯s right little goddess. That¡¯s how many of my whelps grow stronger.¡± Said Ribdena.

    ¡°Most of your whelps are dead.¡± Retorted Cosmo.

    ¡°Only the strong have the right to live. Unlike you, I do not coddle my children.¡± Countered Ribdena.

    ¡°You two should go introduce yourselves.¡± Said Lorie pushing us forward.

    I didn¡¯t want to go, but Zubu was walking towards them. All I could do was hold on to her as we got closer.

    ¡°Stooges, I want you to meet your fellow disciples. They¡¯re my best.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    The three children eyed us up and down clearly sizing us up. I don''t think they really like that we were called his best.

    ¡°Hi. I¡¯m Yukio. I¡¯m a lower spirit cultivator.¡± Said Zubu.

    I didn¡¯t really budge from my spot choosing to assimilate myself into Zubu¡¯s butt.

    ¡°Isaac, sweetie. Come on. Introduce yourself.¡± Encouraged Cosmo.

    That was when Zubu grabbed me from behind and pulled me off of her. ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to!¡± I cried.

    Zubu plopped me down in front of the other kids. ¡°Don¡¯t be rude! They¡¯re your fellow disciples!¡± Yelled Zubu. I hugged Snowball using her like a shield.

    ¡°Your best? This whelp wouldn¡¯t survive a day among my kind.¡± Said Ribdena sending a chill down my spine as her eyes looked deep into my very being. I felt like she could easily scatter the particles that made up both my body and soul with only a thought. She was much stronger than Cosmo. I could feel it in my phantom balls.

    ¡°Don''t bully my baby!¡± Yelled Cosmo. This seemed to get Ribdena to back off.

    ¡°What¡¯s with this girl?¡± Asked the blonde.

    ¡°Introduce yourself stupid!¡± Commanded Zubu, as she smack me in the back of the head.

    ¡°Um¡­ Hello! My name¡¯s Isaac! I¡¯m a lower spirit cultivator. I hate carrots and I like candy. My favorite flavor is cherry, but I also like blue raspberry. Chocolate is nice too, but not dark chocolate. I like coffee too, but I don''t know if I like it anymore¡­ Oh! This is my friend Snowball. She¡¯s a nudist. We''re working on it though.¡± I said. My heart was beating so fast and I wasn¡¯t sure if I messed up or not. I just wanted the spotlight to be gone.

    ¡°Good job baby!¡± Said Cosmo before petting my head. Ribdena seemed to disagree with the positive reinforcement. I probably won''t be getting that ride today. The dragon lady was a bit scary anyway.

    I held onto Snowball for dear life. She was my only lifeline now. For all I knew these people were about to make fun of me for being strange.

    ¡°Aww, I like her! She¡¯s cute!¡± Said the blonde girl.

    ¡°Your name¡¯s Isaac?¡± Asked the green haired girl. Lucky for me it seemed like all that extra stuff was ignored.

    I nodded watching the gears in her head turn. It was actually Ron that came to the conclusion.

    ¡°You picked a girl avatar? I don''t get it. Why are there so many dudes that play as girls?¡± Asked Ron.

    ¡°It¡¯s for the smaller hit box. Also, who wants to stare at a generic guy character through a whole ass game. Besides, there¡¯s so many more ascetically pleasing outfits when you play as a girl.¡± Said the blonde girl.

    All the gamers in the group seemed to agree nodding there heads. That included Cosmo, Yukio, the not a blonde girl, the green haired girl, and me. Ron, Mr. Brutus, and Ribdena being the exception.

    ¡°All I¡¯m saying is it makes it hard to find a girlfriend.¡± Said Ron.

    ¡°Yeah sure, what girl would be into you. Your balls haven''t even dropped yet.¡± Said the green haired girl before breaking out into laughter.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be your girlfriend. All you have to do is give me lots of good gear, and tell me I¡¯m pretty.¡± Teased the not blonde girl as she put her left arm over Ron¡¯s shoulders.

    Ron scrambled away. ¡°I¡¯ll pass. I''m not into people who used to be dudes, and besides I like girls with more¡­ assets.¡± Said Ron. He said that last part while salivating and staring at Ribdena¡¯s ample chest.

    ¡°In you dreams little boy. Maybe in a hundred years I¡¯ll let you sacrifice your soul to me as a snack.¡± Said the dragon goddess eyeing him with hunger fueled eye¡¯s. Ron trembled with fear before fixing his eyes permanently to the ground.

    Both the girls laughed as I continued to feel uncomfortable. It was like they forgot I was here. That was until they turned their attention back on me.

    ¡°Hi, My names Brad, but you can call me Pez. I''m a lower spirit cultivator.¡± said the not blonde girl.

    I reached out and gave him a handshake. It was odd meeting someone else in a similar situation. Though, I noticed he wore actual boy clothes. Unlike me.

    ¡°I¡¯m Yolanda but I go by Riza now. I''m also a lower spirit cultivator.¡± Said the green haired girl. I shook her hand too and started to feel less uncomfortable. Though, not enough to stop hugging Snowball.

    ¡°I''m Ron. A lower spirit cultivator.¡± Said Ron before asking, ¡°How old are you?¡±

    Before I could answer Pez butted in. ¡°Why are you asked her that, you creep! Can''t you tell their obviously a little kid!¡±

    It was then that I realized from there perspective I¡¯d been acting like a child. I was so nervous that I couldn''t even correct them. I tried but my voice wasn''t there.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to be a creep. I was just wondering since he seemed different from us.¡± Said Ron.

    ¡°Um¡­ actually¡­ I¡¯m¡­¡± They all looked over for my response only for me to choke. In the end telling them my actual age was too embarrassing. Especially with the way I''d been acting, so I went with a lie. ¡°I¡¯m 9¡­ and a half.¡±

    Zubu laughed. I figured since I looked like a five year old, 9 was probably the right age for a lower spirit cultivator. It wasn''t really a lie.

    ¡°I can''t hold back!¡± Yelled Cosmo before scooping me up in a hug. ¡°You¡¯re so cute! I¡¯m so proud of you for making new friends!¡± She said as she spun me around in her arms.

    She eventually put me down and kissed my forehead. ¡°Cosmo, don''t do that. You¡¯re gonna make Snowball throw up. She¡¯s not like hello kitty, she actually has a mouth.¡± I whined.

    She wasn¡¯t listening and continued to coo at me like my words were no better than baby babble.

    ¡°So are we fighting Isaac then?¡± Asked Pez.

    ¡°I don''t wanna hurt him.¡± Said Riza.

    ¡°Fighting little kids isn''t my style.¡± Added Ron.

    ¡°Oh please, you have no style.¡± said Riza.

    ¡°The kid could wipe the floor with all three of you. No, you''ll be fighting the tall one. She¡¯s even stronger than the kid.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°No way. I''m stronger.¡± I whined.

    ¡°In your dreams piss baby! I''ve been going easy on you!¡± Retorted Zubu.

    ¡°So have I! you haven''t even seen my final form! I¡¯ve only been using 1% of my true power!¡± I responded as my anger overpowered my anxiety. How dare Mr. Brutus call me weaker! I¡¯m so strong that even Snowball and her power to erase universes is afraid of me.

    (Authors note: RIP Akira Toriyama. I¡¯m late, but this man gave me my childhood. You were the most influential mangaka in history. Inspiring future creators to make wonderful and entertaining works of art. Even going as far as to ignite my own imagination well into my adulthood.)

    ¡°Would you two knock it off! I brought the spoon just so you know!¡± Yelled Lorie pulling out her wooden spoon from her robe. It dripped with punishment aspects causing both Zubu and I to shut up. There was nothing stronger than her spoon. It¡¯s power level was way over 9,000. Or¡­ was that 8,000.

    8,000 in the manga.

    ¡°Hey Yukio. You wanna come over here and snuggle with me for old times sake?¡± Cooed Cosmo releasing me as she opened her arms welcomingly to Zubu.

    I used that chance to run over to Mr. Brutus. Lifting both arms, I said, ¡°Upies.¡±

    Mr. Brutus held his hand out low to the ground. I hopped onto it. He raised me into the air allowing me to walk across and sit on his shoulder.

    ¡°I said get the hell away from me!¡± Yelled Zubu as she ran away from Cosmo.

    ¡°Come on, you used to love cuddle time!¡± Yelled the goddess as she chased after Zubu.

    ¡°Lies! I''ve never said such a thing!¡± yelled Zubu.

    ¡°Hey how come you''ll let Isaac sit on your shoulders, but when I wanna do the same you throw me hundreds of yards away!?¡± Complained Riza.

    ¡°I wanna sit on your muscular shoulders.¡± Said Ribdena a bit too musically.

    ¡°Me too!¡± Said Pez.

    Lorie tried to muffle her giggle with her palm before saying ¡°You certainly are popular Brutus.¡±

    That¡¯s when Mr. Brutus sighed. He clapped his hands together causing the ground to shake. Everything and I mean everything began to shift around as the ground moved under our feet.

    It was fun to ride on Mr. Brutus¡¯s back. By the end of it. Zubu was standing a few feet away from the trio. While Cosmo, Lorie, Mr. Brutus, Ribdena and I were all off to one side.

    There was no way I could beat him. Not when he could move the ground under my feet. What was stopping him from opening up the ground and crushing me under miles of rock and dirt.

    ¡°Alright kiddies! It¡¯s time for the first match! Yukio! I expect you not to hold back! Begin!¡± Boomed Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Get¡¯em Zubu! Light em up!¡± I cheered.

    ¡°Yeah! Bully the crap out of them! Make them cry! Rip off their legs, and grind there heads into the ground!¡± Yelled Snowball in a blood lusty voice. It was almost demonic in tone.

    I turned Snowball around to look at her. ¡°Snowball that¡¯s too mean.¡± I said.

    ¡°Its okay as long as she doesn¡¯t do it to me again. Come on let¡¯s cheer her on! It¡¯s gonna be a blood bath! Splash zone! Splash Zone!¡± Said Snowball, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

    All their auras ignited. I couldn¡¯t help, but realize the trio had null auras. Meaning they hadn¡¯t opened their first gate, or maybe their affinities hadn¡¯t manifested yet.

    I activated my Qi sight and looked them over. They were very weak compared to Zubu and me. Their dantians were smaller and the flow of Qi and essence was thin and slow. The cores in their chests were much smaller than Zubu¡¯s.

    I was right about all their gates being closed. Maybe having mine open was what made me stronger. With it came greater control, so it explained why their Qi moved so slow.

    Zubu must have noticed their ¡°farmer with shotgun¡± power levels, because she held back on her affinity, only using a level 1 aura. So much for not holding back. She was going easy on them.

    This was gonna be interesting. Watching Zubu use what she learned on her own against what Mr. Brutus taught his students. If she won then she¡¯d prove she didn''t need Cosmo¡¯s assistance. It would be the ultimate defiance of a deity.

    Ignoring the grace of god and climbing up a cliff without a hand out. What came next was the fruits of Zubu¡¯s labor. I couldn''t wait to watch her wipe the floor with them.

    ¡°You three better not lose!¡± Yelled Cosmo.

 Episode 56 Chapter 3: Emancipation

    -Cosmo-

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna get you. I¡¯m gonna get you.¡± I chased after Yukio. She kept running away from me. All I really wanted was a hug. If I truly wanted to catch her, I could close the gap between us in the blink of an eye, but it was more fun if I gave her a chance.

    In truth I didn¡¯t want to make her do it. She didn''t really like me much, so instead of forcing her, I wanted her to let herself be caught. Maybe if I gave her a way out she¡¯d start to trust me a little.

    I couldn''t wait for her to ascend again. Little Yukio was just as cute as little Isaac. Of course teenage Yukio had her own charm as well. She was like a yellowing mango. Not quite ripe but still beautiful to look at.

    The ground began to tremble, and the world shifted as if Gaia herself had awakened from her slumber. Yukio was suddenly pulled away from me, and I found myself standing between The Lore Keeper and Brutus, with Ribdena positioned on the other side of Brutus.

    I looked around to try and get an idea of where the hell I was. Oh, there''s my baby Isaac. He was sitting on Brutus¡¯s shoulder and looked to be playing with Snowball. I wanted to pull him into my arms but held back. He also seemed to dislike my cuddles. If Isaac was like a cat then I needed to wait for him to come to me. Maybe I can lure him over with candy?

    That was when Brutus announced the beginning of the battle. All four disciples activated their auras igniting their body¡¯s with solid flowing energy.

    It was my idea to have Yukio go up against Brutus¡¯s other students. Maybe once she lost to them she would see how stupid and stubborn she was being.

    All she had to do was listen and she would have been out of Chik¨± forever ago. Enough of trying to become Ama¡¯s follower. She wasn¡¯t even around anymore. She needed to grow up. The only way to do that was to have her lose to a bunch of rookies.

    ¡°You three better not lose!¡± I yelled.

    Ron like the confident hot head he was, activated a Qi pulse under his foot kicking up dust and bits of grass as he flung his body forward for a Qi reinforced punch.

    The other two who were much more calm and collected went separate ways to surround Yukio. Ron¡¯s fist cracked with power only for Yukio to intersect it, pushing her hand up against his inner wrist. Where had she learned that from?

    -Yukio-

    I saw Ron coming a mile away, so I tried out some of Isaac¡¯s advice and jammed my palm into his crackling wrist. Holding it firm his attack had no way of actually reaching me.

    The boy clearly had no plan in case his attack failed making it easy to punch him in the throat. Which was another one of Isaac¡¯s tactics. It might have been dirty but it was effective.

    Ron¡¯s aura felt weak and flimsy. It would do little to nothing to protect him. He crumpled to the ground, his aura sputtering out and losing its shape due to the sudden loss in focus.

    Just as he fell, I noticed a rock hurtling toward me from the left. I quickly deflected it with a hand swipe, only to feel a sweeping kick connect with my right leg.

    Pez was the one to throw the rock while Riza used the distraction to attack my footing. It was too bad she had only attacked one of my legs because the other one erupted turning my falling momentum into a backflip.

    This was another one of Isaac¡¯s tactics. You could effectively counterbalance a fall by overpowering it with raw force. The Qi pulse transformed my sudden descent into a whiplashing somersault, allowing me to land on my other foot right behind Riza.

    Seizing the opportunity, I kicked her in the ribs, sending her flying into Pez. Like Ron''s, her aura was so flimsy that it offered no protection. Pez, fearing for his teammate, tried to catch Riza in his arms, but the impact was too much; he toppled over, landing beneath her.

    ¡°I¡ªI *cough* can¡¯t breathe,¡± Riza cried, her broken ribs piercing into one of her lungs.

    ¡°Oh, shit!¡± said Pez unsure of what to do.

    I wasn¡¯t a monster so I didn''t attack him while he was distracted. Isaac might¡¯ve, but I wanted to win as fairly as possible to make sure Cosmo wouldn¡¯t start saying something stupid.

    Ron got to his feet as Pez panicked. That¡¯s when the gorilla chimed in, ¡°Riza is out!¡± The ground wrapped around the green-haired girl, pulling her away toward the spectators.

    This was gonna be easy.

    -Aku/Isaac-

    ¡°She has three broken ribs and a punctured lung. Her heart is also beating abnormally fast. She might be having a panic attack.¡± Said Lorie.

    ¡°I can help!¡± I said, as I dropped off of Mr. Brutus''s shoulder and rushed over.

    Riza kept saying the same thing over and over. ¡°Can¡¯t¡­ breathe¡­ need¡­ doctor.¡± Tears were running down her face. Her eyes wide with fear.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry! Snowball went to med school! We¡¯ll have you up and running in no time!¡± I said.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s a good thing you¡¯re here Dr. Snowball.¡± Said Lorie before snorting with suppressed laughter.

    ¡°Oh my goodness, that¡¯s so cute!¡± Cosmo gushed, pulling out her ether phone to snap a picture of Snowball and me. She was like an overly proud mom, eager to share pictures of her kids online.

    Riza shook her head and cried, ¡°N-no¡­ need a real¡­ d-doc¡ª¡± She coughed up a bit of blood before gurgling.

    ¡°For someone who can¡¯t breathe, you sure talk a lot. Now then! Are you allergic to anything? What about insurance¡­ got any?¡± I translated for Snowball, animatedly gesturing with her soft plush body.

    The green haired girl coughed up more blood. ¡°I see. No insurance. To the streets with you!¡± I translated.

    ¡°But Snowball you took an oath to save lives!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Dam¡­ your right. I cannot in good conscience allow this girl to die! Forget the money! Nurse Aku! Administer the meds! 20ccs of Chicken soup! Right stat now!¡± I translated for Snowball.

    ¡°Sure thing Dr. Snowball!¡± I said before taking a few seconds to manifest my chicken soup aura and focused It¡¯s effects into a ray of light.

    The light washed over Riza like a golden shower¡ªuh, a golden shower of soup, not pee. Slowly, her bones began to heal as the blood that didn¡¯t belong where it was, returned to its rightful place.

    It took longer than a normal healing spell and the healing power was a little weak, but it did replace pain with love and warmth, so it wasn¡¯t a big issue. All and all it was a useful ability to have.

    ¡°That''s impressive. I¡¯ve never seen a healing technique so gentle.¡± Said Ribdena.

    ¡°It¡¯s so different from a healing spell, or my ability to heal.¡± Said Cosmo.

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s quite the technique.¡± Said Lorie.

    Mr. Brutus smacked his lips curiously. ¡°Anyone else taste artificial chicken?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Yup.¡± said everyone.

    -Yukio-

    Ron kept charging at me while Pez assisted him by flanking. This strategy was better than what they were doing. It kept me from attacking back, but at the same time they couldn''t really land a hit on me.

    The goddess turned her attention back to me as soon as Isaac finished healing Riza. Cosmo didn¡¯t look happy at all while I easily avoided and blocked hits. I wanted to keep it fair to prove I didn¡¯t need her help.

    That was why I''d win without using my affinity. I was stronger. I was faster, and most importantly Isaac was watching. I couldn¡¯t let him down. He was my biggest fan. If I lost, then I would no longer make him feel safe. I couldn¡¯t protect his mind if he found out how weak I actually was.

    Unleashing two Qi pulses, I flipped backwards kicking both of them in their chins. Their bodies rose up into the air as my feet touched the ground. With another Qi pulse I shot forward slamming my palm into Pez¡¯s chest and taking him for a ride.

    The only way was to separate them. Once far enough I created a Qi pulse between Pez and my palm, slamming him into the ground. Unlike Riza¡¯s and Ron¡¯s soft aura, his held up nicely only losing a few layers after each hit. His body bounced off the dirt ripping up the grass.

    There was only a few layers left and I could easily break through. It was time for the finishing blow. I pulled my fist back and aimed for his leg. Once it was broken he would be out of the fight.

    I didn¡¯t get the chance as a power from deep within exploded out of Pez. Both blowing me away and creating a pillar of white light. It burned my skin. Not like a fire, but like sunlight concentrated through a magnifying glass.

    I landed on my back and noticed a second pillar behind me. Both of them had unlocked some kind of new power. The energy was different from before. Instead of a blueish silver. Their Qi now glowed a pristine white.

    What the hell was going on? They shouldn¡¯t have affinities. Much less the exact same one.

    -Cosmo-

    Gritting my teeth I watched as the weak and useless Yukio manhandled Pez and Ron like they were children. They were, but I didn¡¯t know she could fight so well.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    During her trial she never showed this much talent. I only let her ascend because she was able to hold out for so long in the final battle. That and her leadership skills when it came to bringing the players together.

    How did she improve so much? All she ever did was hide in her room, only coming out for fresh air, to use the bathroom, and to eat. It wasn¡¯t fair! She had to be cheating!

    Yukio broke through their formation and accelerated forward, dragging Pez with her. I could only watch as she slammed him into the ground. What the hell had Brutus been teaching them? They¡¯re useless! That was it; I couldn¡¯t stand back and let her make a fool of me in front of that stupid lizard!

    Tugging at the links between my soul and theirs, I empowered them with a celestial aura. Power erupted from both of them as my influence took hold of their body and mind. I needed to be careful, or their lower spirit bodies might break under the stress.

    It was difficult¡ªlike trying to fill a water balloon with a fire hydrant. The flow was insane. I was used to moving mountains of energy, but this felt impossibly hard.

    There, now it was even. Brutus eyed me with restrained anger, but I didn¡¯t budge. He had to have done something to make her that powerful. Both of them were cheating, and I hated cheaters.

    ¡°You haven¡¯t grown up at all. You¡¯re still a sore loser. It doesn¡¯t matter that you gave them that boost. That girl is way too stubborn to lose,¡± said Lorie.

    -Aku/Isaac-

    ¡°So it¡¯s a dwarf star right?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It is.¡± Said Ribdena.

    ¡°Cool and the rock formations, they¡¯re all held up by an electrical field right?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes, something like that. Everything is pretty much magnetized. Gravity is also a bit different depending on what island you are on. This one has a similar G-force to the world you come from. I built several of these skylands to accommodate different races and ascension ranks. I¡¯m the most artistic out of the pantheon. Therefore I provide areas for training or matches.¡± Responded Ribdena.

    ¡°That¡¯s so cool! How does that work? Is it magic or something?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Not at all. At the center of each island is a zephredium core. It¡¯s so dense that it has its own gravitational pull. Though it dose not reach very far due to the towers you see dotted around. Each one has enchantments that make the skyland more hospitable. Such as controlling the weather and providing minor buffs to all life. Natural recovery and healing should be doubled and there¡¯s a boost to ones energy supplies.¡± She said before suddenly asking, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be watching your friend?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I''m not worried about her. She''ll win for sure.¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh, and what makes you say that, whelp? Haven''t you noticed your goddesses influence?¡± Asked Ribdena.

    ¡°Yeah I know, but Zubu is still holding back.¡± My words got a curious look from Ribdena.

    With that I turned to the battlefield. ¡°Hey! Zubu! Cosmo is cheating! That means you can go all out! Give them everything you got!¡± I yelled getting the attention of everyone and a glare from my deity.

    -Yukio-

    So it was that stupid goddess all along. I felt anger bubble up inside me at the thought of constantly being stocked and bullied by the same bitch that killed my friends and family.

    Ignoring the two displays of obvious divine intervention, I turned to glare at Cosmo. She was reprimanding Isaac for calling her out. When she finally noticed my gaze, her face became nervous. I might not be able to hurt her ¡ª yet ¡ª but I sure as hell could teach her not to mess with me.

    My dantian erupted as the Qi within my body ignited like a gas leak. My aura suddenly burst like a match, becoming a crackling display of frenzied particles. Pez and Ron rushed in, behaving like wild animals.

    I didn¡¯t give them a chance to attack as arcs of plasma lashed out in all directions, scorching grass, dirt, and air alike. The streams of burning lightning enveloped everything within reach ¡ª like hungry serpents devouring everything in sight. The violent display of power filled the air with the pungent smell of copper.

    As if possessed, their bodies moved inhumanly, erratically dodging my burning attack. There was no doubt in my mind that they were being controlled. The strain of Cosmo¡¯s power seemed to nearly break them. I had to end it before the goddess inflicted any more damage to their lower spirit bodies.

    I stomped on the ground creating a wave of plasma. It hit both Pez and Ron at the same time knocking them away. As soon as I saw them go down. I used another Qi pulse, as plasma began to swell around my right hand.

    I thought back to the conversation I had with Isaac last night.

    ¡°So like Track Wars?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare call it that!¡± Yelled Isaac.

    ¡°Alright, my bad. Explain it once more.¡± I said.

    ¡°Zubu you weren¡¯t even listening were you!?¡± Cried Isaac.

    ¡°Yeah, I wasn¡¯t. I checked out the moment you said, in a galaxy far far away.¡± I said.

    Isaac looked like he was about to cry making me feel bad. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m listening to you now.¡± I placated.

    He sighed. ¡°Alright, so like, cant you focus plasma into the shape of a sword? Like, I know you can coat your sword in plasma to give it an actual edge, but that¡¯s not the same as a plasma sword. Yours is more like¡­ a plasma chainsaw.¡± Said Isaac.

    ¡°Oh yeah, I¡¯ve tried that before thinking I could manifest weapons out of pure plasma, but it¡¯s kind of hard to control the energy into a dense weapon. Plasma does what it wants. I can aim it but its still hard to control. I have been able to fire off plasma balls, but not very rapidly.¡± I said.

    ¡°Hmm¡± Isaac hummed in thought. ¡°Yeah, I guess plasma would be hard to control. That¡¯s actually why plasma cutters use hydrogen since it helps control the flow better.¡±

    ¡°isn¡¯t that the same stuff that explodes?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It is, but controlled explosions are what make the world go round. That¡¯s how we¡¯ve advanced as far as we have. Without them the world population wouldn¡¯t have grown as big as it did.¡± He explained.

    ¡°Still, it sounds dangerous.¡± I added.

    ¡°Yeah, I know¡­ what if you used a magnetic field? Magnetic fields are pretty good at controlling plasma. Then all you¡¯d have to do is pour lots and lots of plasma into it.¡± He said breaking my mind for the hundredth time.

    Present day

    The guy was something else I tell you. My body was pushed forward by my Qi pulse as the plasma in my hand swirled into a violent pillar of burning light. Using lightning aspect I managed to create a magnetic field around the plasma, causing the energy to focus into a thin but dense blade.

    It glowed a dark violet in my hands, as I quickly caught up to Pez. His body twisted in the air as I swiftly swung my weightless blade in a horizontal arc.

    He seemed to dance avoiding my attacks over and over. Even when I elongated my sword he still managed to slide away from it¡¯s path. His body contorted and make strange sounds as his joins and flesh moved around to avoid me.

    While in the air his foot kicked the side of my head causing me to stumble back a little. Focusing on the twerp before me, I swung the blade again but this time with the open space between us I adjusted the magnetic field to release plasma in an expanding lash.

    The sudden widening burst of energy was hard to avoid, washing over Pez like a splash of water. Not only did it burn through several layers of his aura, but the force of my attack pushed him back. He nearly lost his balance as he landed on his feet.

    The little twerp, now furious, lunged at me with a flying kick. Just what I needed. I caught his foot in my left hand, feeling the force reverberate through my arm, as the energy of his aura propelled him forward like a burning white rock.

    The energy surrounding his body seared my palm as he focused it into a single point. I held on as I flicked my wrist cutting his leg off with one quick motion of my sword. His greatly depleted aura was no match for my dense plasma. The particles burned as the skipped through his leg.

    With the aura broken he crumpled to the ground along with his severed limb, as blood sputtered out like dark liquid from an old rusty pipe. There wasn¡¯t a lot of blood due to the burn.

    The smell of burnt flesh and copper was disgusting. Power now gone, Pez was pulled out of his frenzy only to transform from a scary creepy child to a crying little girl.

    ¡°I''m sorry about that. It was the only way to end it quickly. Don''t worry. Limbs are easy to reattached.¡± I reassured the little guy. He seemed to take it at face value nodding along as I gave him a bloody head pat.

    ¡°Pez is out!¡± Yelled gorilla face as Pez¡¯s body and limb were quickly swallowed by the ground and carried away.

    Aku/Isaac

    ¡°Come on kid. Give me the leg.¡± Said Mr. Brutus holding his hand out.

    ¡°No! It''s mine I found it!¡± I cried as I hugged Pez¡¯s severed limb tighter.

    ¡°Please give me back my leg!¡± cried Pez.

    ¡°You can grow another one right Dr. Snowball?¡± I said.

    Dr. Snowball was examining Pez. ¡°Of course. It should grow back within a week.¡± I translated.

    Mr. Brutus grabbed the leg and attempted to pull it away from me, but I held on tightly and refused to let go. ¡°Why do you even want it?¡± he asked, clearly annoyed.

    ¡°She can grow another one just use your magic Lorie!¡± I cried.

    Lorie sighed and came over. Then began to tickle my armpits. I started laughing before falling to the ground. ¡°Nooo!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Is okay baby.¡± Said Cosmo as she comforted me while purging the blood from my body with a cold cleansing sacred art.

    -Yukio-

    ¡°aaarrrrrrrrgh!¡± yelled Ron as he seemed to be fighting for control of his body. Cosmo looked to be distracted at the moment. He held his head like he was in pain. This was all that stupid goddesses¡¯ fault.

    Ron slammed his hands into the ground injecting air into the dirt. As soon as it happened a large cloud of dust erupted into the air. This was Isaac¡¯s move. Cosmo was copying him. I quickly activated Qi sight not wanting to fall for the same tricks again, but it was too late. He was too fast.

    Ron came at me from behind slamming his knee into the back of my head. It hurt, but I knew better than to panic. The blow nearly blew me away, but thanks to my training sessions with Isaac, I knew how to take a hit as my body became limp.

    I felt myself falling again this time forward, so I activated another Qi pulse causing my lower body to be thrown into the air. My legs wrapped around Ron¡¯s torso.

    With the force of my sudden flip, I managed to pin the red-eyed boy to the ground and began slamming my fists into the back of his head, hoping to knock him out. Instead, each punch only chipped away at his aura, layer by layer.

    The aura seemed to have way more layers than mine offering much more protection and enhancement. It was ridiculous. I was sure I could get through. That was until Ron exploded with celestial energy sending me flying and ripping off most of my remaining defensive layers.

    I landed on my back, but quickly pulled myself up. My Qi was down to about 30%. Having to use my affinity and all the Qi pulses had burned through a lot of it. The sudden burst of Cosmo¡¯s energy had released a good amount of power from Ron¡¯s aura.

    He seemed distracted. I used that time to quickly form the plasma sword once more and renew my plasma aura. Now facing him, I locked eyes with Ron to see what he would do next.

    To my surprise, the kid looked scared. Like he had just woken up in the middle of a murder scene. I felt bad for him. It wasn¡¯t his fault. Cosmo was using him. Just like how she used everyone else. ¡°Are you alright?¡± I asked.

    He looked a little shocked at the question. Most likely because I was supposed to be his enemy at the moment. ¡°Yeah¡­ I don¡¯t know what that was. What this is.¡± He looked at the celestial aura coming off his body. The little guy seemed pretty freaked out.

    I undid my sword and even the plasma surrounding my body. ¡°Don''t worry about that. Just try your hardest not to lose okay. You¡¯re the last one left. It''s all up to you now and everyone is watching. Give me a good fight okay.¡± I encouraged him.

    He nodded in response and came at me fists first. I blocked and avoided his attacks with ease. He still had a pretty strong power boost, but threw punches like there was no tomorrow. I caught his fist then swung him up into the air before blasting him with a plasma ball.

    He took it head on causing layer after layer of celestial aura to shatter. With that I dashed forward and delivered the last blow burying my fist deep into his gut.

    His aura completely shattered as his body was flung backwards. With that the fight was over and it was Isaac''s turn next. I looked to Cosmo almost as if saying I was coming for her. She didn''t look nervous or afraid. It was more like she had a lack of expression. It creeped me out a little, but I didn¡¯t let it show.

    -Aku/Isaac-

    I ran out into the battlefield. ¡°Yeah! Way to go Zubu! That was so cool!¡± I cheered.

    ¡°It was nothing. They''re rookies after all.¡± I answered.

    ¡°I knew you could do it. You¡¯re really strong.¡± I said.

    I looked to Ron. He didn''t look so good. ¡°Chicken soup attack!¡± I said, before blasting him with a ray of golden chickeny goodness.

    ¡°I think your pretty cool too.¡± said Zubu.

    ¡°I do okay.¡± I responded.

    After about a minute or two, Ron was back on his feet. By then Pez and Riza were by his side.

    ¡°I can''t believe we lost. Ron you idiot!¡± Said Riza.

    ¡°Me! You¡¯re the one that got knocked out first! I told you your aura was too flimsy.¡± Ron retorted.

    ¡°Your aura isn''t that great either! It¡¯s not my fault! It''s because you¡¯re an idiot!¡± She responded before crossing her arms in embarrassment.

    ¡°You two should just start dating already.¡± Said Pez seeing some sort of repressed feelings between the two.

    ¡°Yeah, right! Like I¡¯d be interested in a tiny dick looser like Ron!¡± Yelled Riza.

    ¡°Like I¡¯d be into a flat chest, no ass, vomit haired bitch.¡± Responded Ron.

    ¡°Guys could you not get into it now. There¡¯re more important things to talk about.¡± Said Pez.

    ¡°Like what!?¡± Responded both Riza and Ron.

    ¡°Didn''t you guys notice that weird aura? Or how about the fact that I can¡¯t remember most of what happened!¡± Asked Pez.

    ¡°That''s enough of that. Come on then children, let''s go back over there. Brutus is going to explain a few things to everyone.¡± Said Cosmo suddenly appearing beside us.

    Zubu looked annoyed as Cosmo pushed the trio and me back over to the others. She didn''t even bother with Zubu. Almost like she was trying to ignore her.

 Episode 57 Chapter 1: role reversal

    We all gathered around Mr. Brutus. All his disciples were instructed to sit on the grass. However, Zubu refused and because of that Cosmo didn''t hand her a juice box.

    I got apple juice and the best part was that it seemed to never end as I continued to swallow mouthfuls of sweet apple goodness. I gave some to Snowball and she seemed to agree. As I guzzled down my delicious drink, Riza started messing with my hair. She complimented me on how soft it was.

    Compared to her hair mime wasn¡¯t as tangled. It looked like green wasn¡¯t her natural color. That was made evident by how burned and dry her hair was.

    Ribdena moved closer to Zubu. ¡°Say child. You clearly aren¡¯t happy with your cheating goddess. How about you become my follower instead. You might not fight with the ruthlessness of a dragon, but we can fix that.¡± Offered Ribdena.

    ¡°Quit trying to convert my followers you fat fucking lizard!¡± Yelled Cosmo before wedging herself between the two.

    ¡°Mr. Brutus is it fight¡¯n time yet!¡±? I asked.

    ¡°Were taking a break at the moment. You should relax for now.¡± Said Mr. Brutus before taking a sip of his flask.

    ¡°Isaac you should use this time to stretch.¡± Said Lorie.

    I nodded. That was when Lorie sat down in front of me and started to pull and bend my legs for me. It felt odd, but I understood the importance of a good stretch.

    ¡°You know if you were a better goddess you¡¯re followers would never doubt their faith.¡± Said Ribdena.

    ¡°Oh shut up! At least I give my followers the chance for free will unlike your religion. Where the weak are sacrificed to you. Weakness is important for innovation. Last I checked there are no buildings or technology of any kind in your world! Those towers were provided by my mages!¡± said Cosmo.

    ¡°Technology is for the weak. They use it because they can not match the strong. It is weakness. The only reason I have the towers is to accommodate weaklings like you.¡± Said Ribdena.

    ¡°Oh yeah! Last I checked you have an ether phone. Doesn¡¯t that mean you¡¯re weak?¡± Cosmo suggested.

    ¡°I wanted to have monthly meetings between all the gods and was voted out. It was either I get a phone or not know what¡¯s going on. I absolutely hate it. Also why do you post so many captioned photographs?¡± Said Ribdena.

    ¡°They¡¯re called memes! They¡¯re supposed to be relatable and funny!¡± Responded Cosmo.

    ¡°Maybe you¡¯re child would actually like you, if you talked to them face to face like a person. Instead of sending cryptic messages plastered over old cartoons and edited pictures of cats.¡± Jabbed Ribdena.

    ¡°Yukio likes me plenty. She¡¯s just unhappy at the moment and is looking for a god that better suits her needs.¡± Said Cosmo.

    ¡°Oh, I don''t want to change religions anymore.¡± Zubu interjected.

    ¡°What really!¡± Said Cosmo excitedly.

    Everyone looked over in surprise. It was shocking for Zubu to say that considering how long she¡¯s refused Cosmo¡¯s blessings. I knew better than to take her seriously. There had to be a twist.

    The goddess tried to hug Zubu only to get a solid kick to the face. She tumbled back into Ribdena''s arms. Who remembered she didn''t actually like Cosmo and let her fall on her butt.

    ¡°What the hell! I thought you liked me now! That was a dirty trick! You knew I¡¯d drop my guard!¡± cried Cosmo.

    ¡°As if I¡¯d suddenly start liking you after the stunt you pulled!¡± yelled Zubu shutting the goddess up.

    ¡°It was pretty shitty of you to not only boost the kids, but control their bodies down to the last cell.¡± Said Brutus.

    ¡°Yeah, what gorilla face said!¡± Said Zubu anger clearly growing on her face.

    ¡°So you don¡¯t want to follow me?¡± Questioned Cosmo, somewhat disappointedly.

    ¡°Of course I do, I plan to claw my way up your stupid corporate ladder until I¡¯m strong enough to cut your head off!¡± yelled Zubu.

    ¡°How can you say that? Do you really think I''m that bad? Why can¡¯t you just accept my blessing? It would make your life 100 times easier! You¡¯re just being stubborn! What could be so important that you¡¯re actively refusing me?¡± Cosmo yelled.

    ¡°Are you kidding me? What about my family? My friends? I¡¯d give it all away¡ªthe roof over my head, the food on the table, the clothes on my back! All the knowledge of multiple worlds, the power, the longer lifespan, the path to godhood! I¡¯d sacrifice it all just to see them one more time!¡± Zubu cried.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°Yukio, I told you that''s not possible anymore. Their souls were recycled before you were ever reincarnated into the lower spirit rank.¡± Said Cosmo.

    ¡°I know that! I can¡¯t un-know it! And you¡¯re the one who took them away! How can you expect me to like you when you¡¯ve destroyed everything that ever made me happy?¡± Zubu cried. She turned and ran off.

    ¡°Hey hold on!¡± Yelled Cosmo as she got up and tried to go after her, only for Ribdena to hold her back. ¡°What are you doing? Let go!¡± Complained Cosmo.

    ¡°In this case you are the last person that should be involved. You need to distance yourself and stop meddling with the mortals that despise you. You are not her friend. You¡¯re her captor. Her assaulter.¡± Said Ribdena.

    I tossed my juice box aside, handed Snowball to Lorie, and ran after my little sister. No one stopped me as I sprinted passed them.

    -Yukio-

    That stupid goddess. How could she not understand she was the problem. I hate her. Why couldn¡¯t I just be recycled with the rest. Maybe then I wouldn''t be in so much pain.

    Reaching into my robe. I drew out my knife. It was old and had been a gift from that brute. He gave it to me after he showed me how to skin a dear. I guess he wasn¡¯t that bad. At least not all the time.

    My knife was a bit dull at the moment, so I grabbed a rock that was nearby and ran it along the edge of the blade. I just wanted to see them one more time, but that wasn¡¯t possible.

    There was no after life where we could all hang out. They were gone. Erased from existence. Even if I found their reincarnated souls. They wouldn¡¯t be the same people. They wouldn¡¯t even know me.

    Not Jake my fianc¨¦. Not my little brother Koji. Not my best friend Tabitha. They were gone, so why the hell was I still here? What was the point of ascending into immortality when they wouldn''t be there with me.

    I ran my finger along the newly sharpened blade. It was almost paper thin. I¡¯ll enhance it with an aura. That¡¯ll make it less painful.

    I held the knife up and saw my reflection. My tears hadn¡¯t stopped. Just do it. Do it. Make the pain end. I moved the blade over to my left arm and prepared myself.

    ¡°Zubu what are you doing?¡±

    -Aku/Isaac-

    When I found her, she had tears running down her face. There was this familiar look on her. One I knew too well. It made me really sad. Like I¡¯d failed as a friend.

    ¡°Leave me alone you fucking toddler!¡± she screamed angrily, like a tortured animal lashing out. It hurt to hear the emotion in her voice.

    Did I make others feel this way during my own emotional breakdowns? It wasn¡¯t fair to those I cared about, and it left me feeling terrible.

    ¡°I¡­ um.¡± since the situation had escalated so quickly, I choked on my words. It was my job to calm her down, but I was terrified of saying the wrong thing.

    ¡°You what! Go the fuck away! This is none of your business!¡± She yelled.

    She was in a lot of pain and seeing her like that¡­ feeling it radiating out of her. It was a lot to take in. It shouldn¡¯t be this hard. I care about her. I really did, so then why¡­ why couldn¡¯t I say something. Anything!

    What did everyone else do when I got caught like that? I¡¯ve been there before. Those emotions. They cloud the mind and make it so you can¡¯t think right. She was in a dark place and all I needed to do was pull her out.

    ¡°N-No!¡± I yelled shaking my head.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a game! I¡¯m not counting to three! Leave or I¡¯ll cut you!¡± she yelled holding the knife up and pointing it at me.

    This was it. ¡°Fine! Then cut me!¡± I yelled before pushing forward and ramming myself into the blade. I felt a sudden sharp pain in my gut. It hurt. It really did, but Zubu was in much greater pain.

    Her eyes went wide. ¡°No¡­ I didn¡¯t mean it! Why would you do that?¡± yelled Zubu.

    The only way to change her mind was to let her see how selfish she was being. I knew she would never actually stab me and now I had turned her mind away from her objective.

    I fell on my side with the knife stuck in my stomach. ¡°If you wanna die, then I¡¯ll die with you. We can be reincarnated together.¡± I said weakly with a big smile on my face.

    ¡°You idiot! What about your friends and family!? Are you just going to abandon them!?¡± She cried.

    ¡°But Zubu, you are my family. That¡¯s why I came.¡± I cried.

    ¡°That¡¯s not¡­ you can¡¯t be serious. We¡¯ve only known each other for a week.¡± She sobbed.

    ¡°But it¡¯s true, and you were planning to hurt me, so I decided to do it first.¡± I said through the growing pain.

    ¡°Isaac, you¡¯re such a dumbass. Please heal yourself before you bleed out. The others will probably blame it on me.¡± She said.

    ¡°Only if you promise not to be selfish again.¡± I said.

    ¡°Okay. I promise.¡± she answered

    With that I popped the knife out and started up an aura of chicken soup. It closed my wound slowly and left an instant chicken raman flavor in my mouth.

    I sat up and stretched as Zubu glared at me. ¡°Are you mad at me?¡± I asked.

    ¡°If anyone is selfish it¡¯s you!¡± scolded Zubu. She had that look like she wanted to spank me.

    ¡°I just did what you were about to do. How do you think I would feel after you were gone?¡± I said.

    Her face softened ¡°Yeah. I''m sorry. I know you¡¯re going to leave soon and then I''ll be all alone again. It''s not fair that I have to keep existing just so you don''t get a little sad.¡± She explained.

    ¡°Not a little sad. I would cry and be really, really sad forever.¡± I corrected.

    ¡°That sad?¡± She asked?

    I nodded.

    ¡°Dammit! Before you came along I had no worldly attachments! Now I can¡¯t do anything without wondering if it¡¯ll make you sad or not!¡± She said roughing up her hair.

    I smiled. ¡°That makes me really happy.¡± I said cheerfully to her annoyance. ¡°If it makes you feel any better I really hate making you sad too.¡±

    ¡°if that¡¯s the case, then it would make me very sad to see you sleeping late, and drinking coffee, and getting drunk, and wearing boy clothes, and forgetting to change your underwear everyday, and not eating enough. What else? Oh and going a day without a bath.¡± She said.

    ¡°Hey don¡¯t do that! That¡¯s not fair!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Nope, if you don¡¯t follow anyone of those things I¡¯ll be very sad, because it means you¡¯re not taking care of yourself.¡± She said.

    ¡°Why the clothes thing though?¡± I asked seeing no point in having to wear feminine clothing all the time.

    ¡°Well, obviously seeing my adorable little sister look her best would bring a smile to my face, and it would make me very sad if her cuteness was obstructed by clothing that doesn¡¯t suit her.¡± She explained.

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m the big sister!¡± I retorted.

    ¡°In your dreams you little gremlin!¡± she responded.

    We stared each other down. That was until I tasted copper in the air. At first I thought it was Zubu, but I realized her aura wasn¡¯t even active.

    ¡°You taste that right?¡± She asked looking around.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I responded.

    ¡°Up there!¡± Yelled Zubu as she got to her feet and pointed into the sky.

    Following her finger I saw a portal position horizontally above the skyland. From it a massive red bolt of lightning shot out slamming into the ground. It kicked up dirt and rocks. Melting everything under it''s immense heat and pressure. The sound was like a million bees having a sex orgy.

 Episode 57 Chapter 2: disassociation

    Switching to my Qi sight I was able to make out a person standing in the middle of the chaotic lightning surge. Their soul looked a lot brighter than any of Mr. Brutus¡¯s disciples. Even mine and Zubu¡¯s weren¡¯t so shiny and plump. I kind of wanted to bite into it like an apple. Just to see what it would taste like.

    While it was bright, it wasn¡¯t as strong as Mr. Brutus¡¯s or Lorie¡¯s, much less the two goddesses. What rank was that? It couldn¡¯t be any higher than upper spirit rank considering the difference in our quintessence.

    It was maybe over 20 times the amount I had and going off of what Zubu said¡ª that put it just above the threshold of upper spirit rank. If this was an attack I wasn¡¯t too worried since Mr. Brutus and the others were much stronger than them, but still. Who would have the balls to show up and attack when there was two whole ass goddesses nearby?

    ¡°That asshole is back.¡± Said Zubu with barely restrained anger.

    ¡°Who?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Claw.¡± She murmured just as the lightning subsided. The heat aspects were quickly ripped from the ground and scattered into the area. This caused the ground to rapidly turn into a strange foggy glass. It was almost pretty.

    At the center of the new lot stood a teenage boy. His eyes a golden yellow. His hair a spiky navy blue. The guy wore strange black armor. It was like a body suit, but it had ominous black plates attached.

    In his hand he held a black rigid spear. Raising it up he rested the sharp end over his shoulder. Throughout the entire display of power. He had a sickening cocky smile plastered on his face.

    Already I hated this guy and I wasn¡¯t sure why. Could it really just be that shit eating grin, or was it my sympathy showing me his terrible personality? Either way I didn¡¯t want anything to do with this person.

    ¡°I see you¡¯re still as much of an asshole as you were when I last saw you. Maybe even more.¡± Said Mr. Brutus as he made his way over while taking short puffs of his lit cigarette.

    He pulled Snowball out of his inner cloak and tossed her over to me. I caught her and gave her a hug for comfort. That was strange. Why did he bring her to me? It was almost like he knew I was feeling uneasy.

    While Snowball did make me feel better it was actually Mr. Brutus¡¯s presence that put me most at ease. Still, I wasn¡¯t exactly comfortable.

    Zubu on the other hand looked like someone had poured sand down her underwear. I hid behind her peeking out from behind Zubu, as I hugged one of her legs.

    This made me feel much better. Zubu also seemed to calm down, realizing she had scared me. Her hand found its way to my head, gently massaging my scalp with her nose picks.

    Snowball was also nervous for some reason, so I held her up near Zubu¡¯s hand. Zubu understood immediately and gave her a head pat too.

    ¡°Old man! Look at you! You haven¡¯t aged a day! What¡¯s your secret? Wait, don¡¯t tell me. Is it giving out blow jobs?¡± Said Claw.

    ¡°Nope, it¡¯s fucking your mom,¡± replied Mr. Brutus savagely. In my head I imagined a bunch of black men going, ¡°ooooh!¡±¡ª brain rot at its finest.

    This seemed to irritated the spearman. ¡°Shut your mouth! You know she¡¯s dead!¡± Yelled Claw.

    ¡°Yeah, I dug her out last week. All she needed was a nice soak in some hot water and half a jar of vaseline.¡± responded Mr. Brutus.

    I felt a bit sick, but seeing Claws reaction made it worth it. ¡°What the fuck!¡± He charged up his spear with red lightning. Then threw it like a dart. It left a trail of crimson static behind it, as it hurtled towards Mr. Brutus.

    Unshaken, Mr. Brutus pimp slapped it aside, sending it spinning in the air. It landed several feet away, embedding itself in the ground and erupting in a grumpy burst of lightning. This caused a vein to pop out on Claws forehead and start throbbing. I¡¯ve never seen a guy get so mad that his head nearly explodes.

    ¡°You should stop acting like a dick. Otherwise I¡¯ll have to treat you like one and abuse the fuck out of you.¡± Threatened Mr. Brutus.

    Mr. Brutus was amazing. He didn''t need to raise his voice. He didn''t have to pretend to be someone else. He was completely in control of the situation. Sure his comebacks were revolting, but Claw was the one that started it. All Mr. Brutus did, was do it better. The fact that Claw couldn''t get a reaction out of him even though he made such a huge entrance was so cool.

    I raised my hand and asked, ¡°Mr. Brutus! Who is this guy?¡±

    ¡°You don''t recognize him? I mean sure he looks different, but if you look under all that hair jell and arrogance, I¡¯m sure you''ll figure it out.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I looked Claw over once more. He locked eyes with me almost like he was also trying to figure me out. Peeling away the top layer of reality, I looked closer at his soul. It seemed familiar, but I wasn''t sure why.

    ¡°No fucking way! You picked a girl avatar!¡± He laughed. ¡°At least now you finally have a body that suits your personality! And what''s with that outfit!? Why are you carrying around a doll? You look like one of those Hello Kitty girls.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Clearly this guy really did know me. He made me very nervous all of a sudden. I felt like running away and hiding.

    ¡°Shut the hell up Claw! You¡¯re just as annoying as ever!¡± Yelled Zubu.

    This time he eyed Zubu. The two of them looked around the same age. Claw was a little taller though. ¡°No way, is that you Yoyoyo? Holy crap you filled out that Chinese costume nicely.¡± He started eyeing her like a diabetic watching dessert making videos.

    ¡°My name is Yukio! Your such a fucking creep!¡± Yelled Zubu crossing her arms over her chest as a defense from his eyes.

    ¡°It¡¯s called a kimono¡­ and its Japanese not Chinese.¡± I nervously added.

    ¡°That''s what your worried about?¡± asked Mr. Brutus before flicking his cigarette off to one side.

    ¡°Mr. Brutus, it''s not Chinese. That''s like a whole ass ocean away.¡± I said. There was something about getting the nationality wrong that really bothered me. It was like listening to a guy talk about something he knows nothing about while thinking he knows everything about it. Besides Zubu defended herself. I was just backing her up.

    ¡°You still don¡¯t know who he is?¡± asked Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Of course I know who he is. That¡¯s Claw. He uh¡­ he hates traffic and likes girls with big boobs¡­ right?¡± I said.

    Everyone kind of just stared at me. I wasn¡¯t going to take any of it back, so I don¡¯t know what they thought they were doing. I just didn¡¯t want to look stupid for not knowing who he was. After a few seconds, their stares started making me very uncomfortable, as my anxiety grew in my chest like an angry tumor.

    That¡¯s when Mr. Brutus gave Claw a look like he wanted him to do something. Claw sighed. ¡°You know for being the smart twin you sure are retarded¡­ mommas boy.¡±

    His words sent a chill down my spine, as memories from my childhood flashed before my eyes. They continued through the years we spent living with our sister, and finally the time he tried to steal Alice away and got me locked up in an psych ward.

    If I was my normal self I would have been fine, but the current me. The one that had all his traumas and old memories scrambled after the ascension. He was having a rough time.

    When I saw that doctor with the needle, I started hyper ventilating as my anxiety hit the ceiling and broke through. ¡°No, No, No, No, No!¡± I cried. My heart raced as the world became darker.

    No, he¡¯s going to lock me up again. He¡¯s going to steel my wife away. Cain is going to ruin everything.

    ¡°Isaac! Isaac relax!¡± Yelled Zubu as fireball after fireball began to form all around us. Not 10, not 20 but more than I could count manifested, as their spell circles drew in the heat aspects from both my madness and the lightning storm from minutes ago.

    ¡±Holy crap.¡± Said Claw.

    Mr. Brutus sighed. Then gather wind and momentum aspects into his hands. He then clapped them together creating a shockwave of kinetic force. It quickly spread throughout the area in a ripple like motion, causing my spells to shatter and fall apart.

    After the display of power he thrust his palm at me releasing a cold wind over my entire body. The sudden cold was enough to pull me out of my anxiety attack. I still felt like shit and when I looked up I saw that cocky smile I¡¯d known throughout a large chunk of my life.

    The echo grew in intensity.

    -Cosmo-

    ¡°Why the hell would he make such a flashy entrance? That was a huge waste of Qi.¡± Said Cosmo.

    ¡°First impressions are important. They can decide the way a battle goes. Control the mind of your opponent and the win is as good as yours.¡± said Ribdena.

    ¡°He¡¯s an upper spirit rank. Do you really think he needs a mental advantage?¡± I responded.

    ¡°Not at all. Especially not with that weak whelp you have. If she were mine I¡¯d feed her to the others.¡± Said Ribdena. She smiled devilishly clearly happy that her follower would win over mine.

    Before I could bite back I felt a tug at my dress. Looking back I saw little Ron standing there. ¡°What¡¯s the matter sweetheart.¡± I asked.

    ¡°Who¡¯s that cool guy? Is he one of ours?¡± Asked Ron excitedly.

    ¡°That was so cool how he showed up all of a sudden!¡± Yelled Riza excitedly.

    ¡°Yeah, he came out of nowhere. Reminds me of an anime protagonist.¡± Added Pez.

    ¡°That guys name is Claw. He used to be one of ours.¡± I said.

    ¡°For real!¡± Said the triplets.

    ¡°What happened? Did Ribdena steal him?¡± Asked Pez.

    ¡°No, I would never do such a thing.¡± said Ribdena sarcastically. She was so smug. I hate her.

    ¡°What really happened was Claw had several personality problems. Of course like you three he managed to pass the trial, so I helped him ascend. The issue is he has a fetish for power. The more he has the worse his personality gets. I didn¡¯t want him and he seemed better off in Ribdena¡¯s care.¡± I explained.

    ¡°Yes, that boy has the greed and ruthlessness of a true dragon. He is perfect. I actually prefer him to Brutus. Brutus is strong, but he is too level headed. Only those that give themselves to their desire and anger can follow me.¡± Said Ribdena.

    ¡°You should be careful. If he ever reaches godhood I can already see him becoming a monster. A guy like that shouldn¡¯t have power.¡± I warned.

    ¡°Power is the only thing that matters. If he becomes a monster then it doesn¡¯t matter as long as he is strong.¡± said Ribdena.

    ¡°You call yourself strong yet you¡¯re apart of the same pantheon that hides from that¡­ thing.¡± I responded, whispering the last part.

    ¡°I am strong, but that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m stupid.¡± Said Ribdena.

    ¡°Cosmo¡­ if he is such a bad person then why did you let him ascend? Don''t you usually look at people''s lives and behavior patterns? There''s no way you could have missed it.¡± Said Pez.

    ¡°Yeah¡­ um. It¡¯s a bit too complicated for a youngling to understand.¡± I said dismissing Pez and turning back to the slaughter soon to come.

    -Isaac-

    Unable and unwilling to deal with him, I sunk back into the corner of my mind and somehow managed to make it back into Aku¡¯s castle. It was looking way better than the last time I was here.

    The hole was sealed up and it wasn''t dark anymore. The moss and vines that once hung from the ceiling were gone. I sat on my thrown closing my eyes. I could see Aku as she interacted with the world on her own. With her mortal rank soul, she had no trouble moving our avatar around.

    -Aku-

    ¡°So, you want me to fight him?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s exactly what I just said. Why are you repeating it?¡± said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Are you afraid mommas boy. Or should I say mommas girl.¡± teased Cain.

    I didn''t like uncle. He was really loud and rude to everyone. ¡°I¡¯m fine with that.¡± I said smiling and giving Snowball a hug.

    Uncle looked at me funny like I¡¯d said something strange. ¡°Why the hell are you so happy? Quit hugging your stupid doll! This is just like that buffalo thing all over again!¡± he said.

    ¡°Isaac you seem okay. I was expecting you to be mad or something. Did you get over it already?¡± asked Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Oh¡­ sorry for the misunderstanding. papa¡¯s not here right now. He said something about going out to buy some milk.¡± I explained.

    Both uncle Brutus and sis looked at me like I''d grown a tail. I looked over my shoulder to make sure that wasn¡¯t the case. If I had grown a tail, I¡¯d want a cat tail, so that me and Snowball could match.

    I looked to Zubu. ¡°Hey, sis. I need to go potty. Snowball has to go too.¡± I said. Everyone seemed to get that look. The one papa hates.

 Episode 57 Chapter 3: awakening

    -Cosmo-

    ¡°I told you this was a bad idea! Now Isaac¡¯s sealed himself away!¡± I yelled at Brutus while poking him in the chest. Each poke drawing blood. Angry I found myself unable to hold back. He paid it no mind.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting him to just shut down like that. I was sure the kid would just do what he always does and get angry.¡± Responded the brute.

    ¡°You¡¯re an idiot! That only happens when someone Isaac cares about gets attacked! When he gets attacked he shuts down and falls into deep apathy! Now the only emotions left are Aku¡¯s!¡± Said Lorie.

    ¡°Oh¡­ my bad.¡± Said Brutus.

    ¡°Hmm¡­ yeah Julia said something about multiple personalities, but seeing it is way different than hearing about it.¡± Said Claw.

    We¡¯d moved to another part of the skyland. One that wasn¡¯t covered in a layer of glass. I looked over to Aku. The kids were playing with a ball Brutus had on hand. They were kicking it around, passing it back and forth. Even Ribdena had joined them after not understanding the concept of a game.

    Lil Aku was so cute running around and smiling. She looked so happy to have friends to play with. It was so cute. She didn''t have all the baggage Isaac carried. Her eyes were full of life and joy. Maybe¡­ maybe this wasn''t a bad thing.

    Brutus pulled me out of my thoughts by tapping my shoulder and saying, ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking, but we can¡¯t leave the kid like that.¡± Said Brutus.

    That was exactly what I had been thinking. Aku just looked so much happier than Isaac, but still. That didn¡¯t mean Isaac was happy. Isaac wasn¡¯t feeling anything at the moment.

    I turned to Claw. ¡°You¡¯ve seen something like this before. How did you guys pull Isaac out of it?¡± I asked.

    Claw shrugged his shoulders. Then said, ¡°Hell if I know. A couple years back he went all crazy one day and came after me with a knife. He stabbed me a few times putting me in the hospital. After that we stayed away from each other. Last thing I heard he was calling himself Cent or¡­ something.¡± Answered claw.

    ¡°I see. I could try the multidimensional surveillance system but that would take too long.¡± I said.

    ¡°Old man. The only reason I agreed to this was because I wanted to wale on Isaac and get revenge on him for everything he did. It just doesn¡¯t feel right beating up a little girl that keeps calling me uncle. I got nieces and nephews back on Earth. I wouldn¡¯t want to beat them up.¡± Said Claw.

    ¡°You seem different. What happed to the asshole from before?¡± Asked Brutus.

    ¡°I was trying to show off before and dominate my brother. He deserves it after killing our mom and dad. Not to mention putting me in the hospital and taking my leg.¡± Said Claw. The loud mouthed asshole seemed to clutch at his left thigh, as if remembering an old pain.

    ¡°He took your leg?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yup, he cut off the tendons. Removed a whole ass chunk while I was passed out from blood loss.¡± Said Claw.

    I didn''t know that part. I guess I should have paid more attention. I¡¯d only ever been concerned about Isaac. He had such a tragic past that I never thought to look at the bullies he hurt.

    This was just another one of my failures as a goddess. To be fair, Cain was never one of the children on my list, so keeping up with him wasn¡¯t really my job.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s pretty obvious what needs to happen.¡± Said The Lore keeper.

    She drew in our attention. ¡°What?¡± We all asked in unison.

    ¡°You need to make him angry. Make Aku cry. I¡¯d suggest having Claw bully her. Maybe even take Snowball and rip her in half. It worked last time when Yukio first met him.¡± Said The Lore keeper.

    ¡°That¡¯s too cruel!¡± I whined

    ¡°It would work though.¡± Said Brutus.

    ¡°But she''s just a baby!¡± I whined.

    ¡°We can get her another Snowball and an ice cream while were at it. Besides she already doesn¡¯t like Claw.¡± Said The Lore Keeper.

    ¡°Oh, but my baby!¡± I whined.

    Claw let out a loud burp. Then cracked his neck, before saying, ¡°On it.¡± he stepped forward, ready to commit horrible playground crimes in order to get at his brother.

    -Aku-

    I watched the ball go from Pez to Riza. Then from Riza to Zubu. I couldn¡¯t wait to get it back. I hopped up and down in excitement and anticipation. Even Snowball was happily cheering me on from the sidelines.

    Ribdena got the ball next then passed it to me. I was about to run forward and kick it to Ron when uncle came over and put his foot on top of the ball.

    ¡°Uncle do you wanna play too? It was my turn. I can pass it to you.¡± I said happy to have another player, even if it was my rude uncle.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Shut up!¡± He put more pressure on the ball causing it to expand horizontally. It made a rubber like sound. Almost like it was crying. Then the ball made a loud, ¡°POP!¡± as it burst from the strain of uncles foot. The sound scared me causing me to yelp.

    I felt tears gather in the corners of my eyes, as I realized I didn¡¯t get to go ¡ª and that the game was no longer possible. I wanted to yell at him, but he looked so scary at the moment. His eyes were sharp and the smile on his face reminded me of a villain.

    I could hear everyone complaining about what he did. I didn¡¯t want him to be mad at me, so I ran away and headed over to Snowball. However, before I could even get halfway, uncle made it to her first, kicking her into the air and snatching her up. She squirmed in his hand and called for help.

    I panicked realizing he could really hurt Snowball. ¡°No! Don¡¯t touch her! Snowball isn¡¯t a toy!¡± I cried.

    ¡°This thing isn¡¯t a toy? Its just a stupid doll. Why the hell is it wearing a dress? It¡¯s a cat not a person.¡± He put a finger on Snowballs collar and with a swift motion tore the dress off.

    ¡°Stop it! That dress was a gift!¡± I cried.

    -Isaac-

    My brother was being an asshole again, but I didn¡¯t feel anything. There was this black stuff clinging to me like a wet blanket. It made me feel so tired and lazy. Like I could sleep for a really long time.

    This chair was so comfortable. Better than laying in a bed. What was with all that noise. It made it so much harder to sleep.

    -Aku-

    ¡°Stop it! Let her go! Don¡¯t hurt her!¡± I cried trying to jump and grab Snowball. He held her really high up and pushed me away. I wasn¡¯t sure on how to do that thing papa does. I knew how it worked, but I didn¡¯t have the skill to pull it off.

    ¡°What the hell do you think You¡¯re doing, asshole!¡± Yelled Zubu.

    ¡°Its none of your fucking business! This is family shit!¡± yelled uncle.

    ¡°Please give her back! She doesn¡¯t like heights!¡± I cried.

    Zubu fired a ball of glowing pink plasma, but uncle reached out causing his spear to rip itself from the ground and fly over.

    Grabbing it he swung it effortlessly destroying Zubu¡¯s attack. The plasma scattered without its outer electrical membrane.

    ¡°How about I do this instead.¡± Said uncle as red lightning crawled up his arm really slow like.

    ¡°Please stop!¡± I begged as my tears splashed on the grass.

    The lightning got on Snowball, lighting her on fire. She screamed in pain as her body was slowly being burned.

    I screamed.

    -Isaac-

    I felt my chair begin to sink into the ground. It was only then that I realized this stuff was apathy. I¡­ liked it. I liked it a lot. I didn¡¯t have to feel anything. All I had to do was sleep and forget.

    I might end up in the hole, but I didn¡¯t mind it as long as I no longer had to feel pain. It would be fine. Caring about stuff was what broke me. With apathy, I could live in the fiery pits of hell and nothing would hurt. What more could a person wish for?

    The world spins, the universe expands and everyone moves on, so why should I keep trying when everything I ever do won''t matter in a 100 years. Time erases everything. It¡¯s time I retire. Let someone else take the crown.

    This might not be heaven, but it wasn''t hell either. It was neutral. I¡¯d only wished I''d accepted it forever ago. Back when disappearing would have helped a lot of people.

    The more I gave in to the hole. The less I cared about reality. It was peaceful and that was all I needed. By this point, my chair was beneath the ground, and I couldn''t find the strength to pull myself out ¡ª as dark bands of apathy began to coil around me. They were cold, but I didn''t care. It was like being under the aura of a paralysis demon.

    Right when I was about to be swallowed whole, I heard a loud scream. The sound cut right through my apathy and struck my very core. The frequency of the scream resonated with the echo in my chest. I felt my emotions turn over like an old engine rumbling to life after years of stasis.

    The echo grew in intensity.

    ¡°Aku!¡± I yelled as my body was engulfed in a powerful light, shooting me into the sky and back under the crown.

    -Aku/Isaac-

    My aura flared to life as I saw the burning remains of Snowball on the ground. I¡¯d slacked off for far too long. It was my fault Snowball got hurt. I only hope Aku could forgive me. How dare he make her cry!

    ¡°Awake now are we.¡± Said Cain with that fucking smile on his face.

    ¡°You can beat me to a pulp. You can destroy my self esteem. You can hurt me all you want, but don¡¯t you fucking dare hurt my daughter!¡± I yelled as the echo pulsed in my chest.

    In that moment I wanted nothing more than to hurt him. I should be hurting myself. If I hadn¡¯t dissociated like that then none of this would have happened.

    I¡¯m the worst father! How could I not protect her! How could I let her cry! How could I have laid there while this asshole hurt her! You''re a piece of shit Isaac!

    Drawing on the heat, wind, and momentum aspects surrounding Snowball, I boosted my speed while extinguishing the flames. Then, raising my hand, I blasted him with a new spell.

    A soul silver magic circle manifested in my palm. I called out the name of my modded spell: ¡°Multi-Shot!¡± Several mana bolts erupted simultaneously, resembling a spray of projectiles. Cain spun his spear like a whirlwind, dispersing the low-powered spells before unleashing a blast of crimson lightning.

    I released a Qi pulse under my feet shooting myself up into the air. My body rotated in a summersault as I flew over the lightning in an arch.

    Seeing my trajectory he fired another burst of lighting straight up into the sky most likely aiming to where I would be.

    I set up two platforms adding water aspects to my shell to create my caterpillar aura. Landing on the bottom of the first, I activated a double Qi pulse, not only destroying the platform, but launching myself down to the next one.

    The second platform was vertical at a slight angle, putting my brother directly in the path of my next jump. With another set of Qi pulses, I tore the last platform into aspects sending me on a collision course with Cain. Turning my body midair, I slammed my two feet into his stupid grinning face.

    It only took a second to perform all my acrobatics, and it didn¡¯t help Cain that he was so sure of his attack that he took his eyes off me.

    It wasn¡¯t over, as I released a big Qi pulse out of my light up shoes, knocking Cain off his feet and sending him flying into a tree. The tree splintered, but didn¡¯t brake.

    Quickly, I created a platform, pressing it against him to pin him in place. Then began gathering heat, wind, and momentum aspects. They quickly formed a magic circle creating a red nova.

    I focused on lowering the combustion of the flames and began to feed it wind aspects converting them into hydrogen for the best result. The flame grew in intensity and violence as it roared in the palm of my hand. The heat aspects were fed back into the spell changing the basketball sized fireball into the size of a giant beach ball.

    The flames became even hotter, as they changed color from red to a bright golden yellow. Finally after 3 seconds of cast time I unleashed my new spell calling out it¡¯s name: ¡°Solarball!¡±

    I quickly undid the wind platform that was holding my brother in place and fed the wind aspects into my attack. Before the attack could land, using my previously activated Qi sight, I saw red static running along my brother¡¯s body.

    The attack exploded creating a massive burning vortex of swirling yellow and orange flames. At its center rose up a pillar of red lightning.

 Episode 58 Chapter 1: THE PAIN!

    The golden flames and red lightning coalesced into a blooming cyclone. Suddenly, I caught a flash of light within as Cain hurled his spear at me. Crimson lightning trailed behind the weapon, slicing through my flames and forcing them to retreat from the combined might of his attack and the static aura that surrounded him.

    In the end his lightning was stronger simply due to the fact that it was made of Qi and not essence. A drop of Qi was enough to cut through a wall of essence, but that didn''t mean his aura hadn¡¯t lost a bunch of layers.

    I couldn¡¯t do what Mr. Brutus did, so I created several platforms overlapping and lining them up in a row. Each one was positioned vertically at a slight angle. There was about 5 of them. Which was all I could manage in the short amount of time I had. The spear broke through the first and second. By the third I noticed it veering slightly to the left

    I leaned to one side allowing the buzzing spear to narrowly pass me. I could have gone for a normal dodge, but I wanted to see how my platforms would hold up. The answer being not well.

    As soon as the spear passed me, I fired a spray of mana bolts. Cain evaded what he could, while shattering what he couldn''t. It gave me time to close the distance between us. I needed reach, so I chained three platform spells together altering the effects with intention.

    Half way to Cain I drew a sword of pure hardened air. The spell circles overlapping one another to form the guard. Before I could reach him ¨C with my Qi sight - I saw his spear coming from behind me.

    I stopped and activated a Qi pulse not just jumping up into the air and out of the way, but performing a backflip and landing on a newly formed vertical platform. My caterpillar aura giving me the grip I needed to hang on the side of it.

    I focused on giving my wind blade an aura and to my surprise it worked. As soon as his spear was back in his hands, I released a double Qi pulse and swung my transparent sword, bringing it down on Cain.

    In a panic he used his spear to block me, causing my improvised weapon to crack, as it clashed against the shaft of his spear.

    I reached out with my caterpillar aura covered hand and grabbed his weapon. Gliding along the shift I slipped up the back of his arm, but before I could strike he unleashed a burst of red lightning in every direction.

    The energy expanded as it desperately tried to break through my aura. The sudden surge of power threw me off and shaved off a few of my layers, but I managed to land on my feet ready for the next attack.

    ¡°What kind of mage are you! You can''t use aura! That''s cheating!¡± Yelled Cain.

    He was still the same asshole as before. This wasn''t a game. It was a real fight. I took the opportunity to mend my aura and inject momentum, water, and earth aspects into my makeshift sword. The strike I got on his spear had cracked it resulting in it leaking wind aspects.

    I also noticed it was to light to be used effectively as a weapon. Without the weight there was no real chopping power. That was where the momentum aspects came in. The water and earth aspects also added a little weight to it, but most importantly they made it more resilient.

    I focused on powering the spells and reforming the blade as I spoke to my brother. ¡°This isn''t a game! I¡¯m going to kick your ass for hurting her! I don''t care how overpowered you are! I''ll make it happen! I¡¯ll make it painful!¡± I yelled.

    It wasn''t enough to just hurt him. I needed to humiliate him. Dismantle him, like taking down a boss with multiple phases. He was going to pay.

    ¡°What the hell are you? A cultivator? A mage? That''s Qi inside you, but you also have a pretty good handle on aspects like a mage. You have to be a mage with aura spells. Your like some kind of trickster! You think tricking me will be enough! I¡¯ll show you what¡¯a real man can do!¡± Said Cain.

    ¡°You aint no real man! A real man wouldn¡¯t call himself a real man! Dad never did!¡± I said as I added more layers to my aura. I was up to 79 layers now. I¡¯m pretty sure that was a new record for me.

    ¡°Oh, fuck off! I¡¯m the alpha here!¡± He tossed his spear at me, lightning crackling and trailing behind it. Instead of simply dodging, I avoided the blade and grabbed it by the shaft. Hoping my plan would work, I asked Aku for a favor.

    The spear dragged me along. Cain controlled it making sure I hit every rock and tree ¡ª like road kill stuck in the wheels of an old pickup truck. It was painful, but I only needed a few seconds.

    He raised his hand sending me up into the air. I kept going higher and higher until finally I got the confirmation from Aku.

    As soon as the spear lost power, I threw it to one side not wanting it to accidentally stab me on the way down. I began to accelerate rapidly and was flooded with memories of when I fell out of the sky and the pain I felt when crashing through that roof.

    Not wanting that to happen again, I quickly gathered up as much wind aspects as I could control. Then created the longest platform I could. It was about a foot wide and 100 feet long.

    I slammed my caterpillar aura covered hand against it and began to slow my descent. The friction created almost lit the platform ablaze, so I gathered up the heat and injected it into my aura. By the time I got to the end my speed had slowed significantly, but not enough to hold onto the platform.

    Instead, I undid the spell. Then reused some of the aspects to make a much smaller one. One I could stand on. I landed on it with a cat like thump. It took a second to catch my breath, but I used it to make a low powered chicken soup aura, healing my body of any cuts or bruises I''d gained along the way. It even got the dirt out of my mouth, fingernails, and underwear.

    ¡°Thank you! Thank you so much Aku! You¡¯re the best!¡± I said.

    As if invoking my quirky daughter a blue window popped up before me.

    Princess Aku: Kick his butt papa! Uncle was really mean to Snowball!

    Isaac: I know. I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t come sooner. I should have done something right away.

    Princess Aku: It¡¯s okay. Uncle was bullying papa too.

    The window closed after that. I held my wind blade up. It looked like the aspects I¡¯d added in had made it pretty sturdy. It also changed it¡¯s color to a ghostly steal blue. To reinforce it farther I began adding more layers too it reinforcing it with more aspects.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    At least one more layer. I didn''t exactly have time to sit here and focus. The next issue was the fact that Cain still had loads of Qi inside of him. Meanwhile I was already down to around 70%.

    What now. I looked down to where he was. It looked like he was trying to call back his spear. Little did he know it was un-enchanted. I wasn¡¯t sure what it was enchanted with, but it definitely had some crazy stuff on it considering how shiny it was. Once Aku zeroed it out, the black material became dull and hollow. Almost like a dried up goat horn.

    Considering he seems to rely on it so much this should be a big hit to his power. Of course he can always just pick it up and use it anyway. The way he spun it around and held it, told me he had some proficiency with it, but I wasn''t sure on his skill level yet. I won''t know until I actually fight him in melee.

    So far the only thing he knew how to do was throw his spear, fire lightning bolts, and create expanding waves of static. He wasn''t very versatile, but he did have a lot of destructive power to throw around.

    I really wasn¡¯t sure if I could win. The only thing letting me keep up with him was all the layers I¡¯d built and the heat aspects boosting my speed.

    He walked over and picked up the spear. Then glared up at me. I flipped him the bird causing him to scream in anger before firing a bunch of lightning at me. The blasts were huge and moved without much precision.

    What kind of training did my brother do? Its like he was fighting someone way bigger than me. He would be good in a war. Taking out large targets, but I was small and fast. It was almost like he was pretending to fight a giant kaiju. I got an idea and decided to use falling to my advantage.

    I fell back pushing off the platform right before his lightning struck my spell construct. Creating another platform I used my caterpillar aura to glide and speed up my descent. It was a bit like one of those speed bossing platforms in racing games. Only instead of the platform boosting me it was my aura pushing me forward ¡ª like the wheels of a car spinning on asphalt.

    My brother fired blast after blast, but all I had to do was create platforms and use them to cling, glide, speed boost, block, and most importantly to change my direction.

    ¡°Stop moving and let me hit you!¡± yelled Cain.

    I was nearing the ground, so I chained three platform spells together, creating a dense diagonal square. This one was different though. Its structure was much more flexible and resilient.

    This resulted in a trampoline effect where the downward energy I accumulated was redirected into a long jump. I flew threw the air like a rabid homeless man and was about to bring, THE PAIN, to my brother when he unleashed another blast of buzzing red Qi.

    That was fine. I quickly created a small platform vertically to my left side. Pressing my hand on it, I activated a small Qi pulse pushing myself about a foot away from the red lightning¡¯s path. I could feel the angry static tickle the side of my head.

    I positioned my sword for a strike. The momentum all coalesced into my next attack. Before my brother''s lightning could end, I swung my wind blade just as he came in range of my sword.

    My blade managed to cut several layers off his fuzzy aura, but no blood had been drawn. My momentum continued pulling me past him. With my caterpillar aura, I quickly pivoted performing a 180 before releasing another Qi pulse sending me right back at him.

    My blade arched once more biting into his shell with far less force. There was so many left. That was when Cain spun around swinging his un-enchanted spear at me like it was a staff.

    It was so fast that there was very little time to react. I had to hold my blade diagonally over my head allowing the spear to strike and slide off, missing me by a hair. I went for a stab extending the aura of my sword.

    The tip hit Cain in his gut ripping through more of his layers, but no blood yet. Instead he was pushed back almost falling on his ass.

    With his guard down I fired a spray of mana bolts in his direction. Each one breaking through at least one layer of his aura. The more layers I removed the weaker he was.

    His natural strength was insane with his upper spirit body. Adding an aura multiplied it many times over. The only way was to whittle him down layer by layer until I could actually keep up.

    The issue was I¡¯d already burned through over half my Qi. It was crazy how much power I needed in order to maintain so many layers at once. Adding aspects on top of that burned through my supplies much quicker.

    As long as I was fast enough, I could keep hitting him and avoiding his attacks. The Question was, could I hold out long enough for a decisive blow.

    No matter what, I couldn¡¯t let him recreate his aura.

    -Yukio-

    ¡°You assholes did it on purpose!¡± I yelled at the 4 god-like beings before me.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want it either.¡± Whined Cosmo.

    ¡°The kid needed to wake up. He only has a few more hours before he needs to go home.¡± Said Master Brutus.

    ¡°It was actually my idea. If you want to be mad at anyone you can blame me.¡± Said Lorie.

    ¡°Come on Lore keeper! You know how sensitive Isaac is! What made you think this was a good idea! Letting that asshole burn Snowball! That had to be really traumatizing for Aku! She was having so much fun too!¡± I reprimanded.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect him to go that far, also aren¡¯t you the one that tore Snowball¡¯s leg off. Don¡¯t you think that was traumatizing?¡± Said Lorie.

    ¡°That was¡­ okay you got me there, but it was wrong then and it''s wrong now.¡± I said. The three of them looked like they were ashamed. While Ribdena seemed to have a fire dancing behind her eyes, as she watched the two brothers duke it out.

    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s amazing! Did you see how Isaac boosted himself with those platforms! The dude looked like some kind of sonic character!¡± Said Pez.

    ¡°I really like that crazy fireball at the start of the fight. It was so bright and gold. The way the flames kind of bloomed at the end were gorgeous.¡± Said Riza.

    ¡°Yeah, that was cool, but have you seen Isaac''s sword skills. He¡¯s totally holding his own against that spear. That''s crazy when you realize he¡¯s a whole rank behind him.¡± Said Ron.

    ¡°That''s because he¡¯s overcompensating by going over the 50 layer limit. With that he can keep up, but it¡¯s a major drain on his Qi.¡± Said Master Brutus.

    ¡°Over 50? But I can only do 9!¡± said Ron.

    ¡°That sounds really hard. How many layers does Claw have?¡± said Pez.

    ¡°Claw started with 50 layers. He¡¯s down to 32 now. The guy managed to reform some during the fight, but Isaac hasn¡¯t given him many chances to rebuild.¡± Explained Master Brutus.

    ¡°So is the piss baby gonna win?¡± I asked.

    Master Brutus shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Who knows. With the way the kid is draining his Qi, sparky might win. Then again, if the kid manages to take down enough layers, he could win. His magic doesn¡¯t need Qi, so he might be able to do it.¡± Said Master Brutus.

    ¡°I¡¯m happy we didn¡¯t have to fight him. It would have gone pretty badly.¡± Said Pez.

    ¡°How dose he move essence like that? He¡¯s like a mage.¡± Said Riza.

    ¡°He has to be a hybrid between a mage and cultivator. Didn''t you see all that spell casting. Cultivators can''t do that.¡± Said Ron.

    ¡°Of course they can. They just don''t. Isaac will never be a master at spell craft, but he is clever enough to make the most of his skills.¡± Said The Lore Keeper.

    ¡°I want him¡­.¡± Mumbled Ribdena. ¡°How much do you want for him!? Ill give you 100,000 credits!¡± She bargained.

    ¡°Isaac isn¡¯t for sale and besides didn¡¯t you call him a weak whelp.¡± Said Cosmo.

    ¡°She also said he wouldn¡¯t last very long.¡± Said Lorie.

    Their words seemed to irritate the dragon goddess. She pissed me off so much. ¡°You clearly don''t understand what real power is.¡± I said.

    This got a laugh out of the dragon. ¡°Oh,. and you do? Don¡¯t think just because you beat up a bunch of beginners that you know anything about strength.¡± she said.

    ¡°I might be young, but I know more about it than you do. You confuse cruelty with strength. Cruelty is nothing more than the tool of those that want to feel powerful. True strength comes from restraint. The only reason weaklings like you and Cain exist is because those who are strong show you mercy.¡± I said.

    The dragon goddess let out a smokey breath. ¡°Don¡¯t think just because your goddess is here I won¡¯t burn you to a-¡° I didn¡¯t let her finish pushing past Cosmo and Master Brutus. I got right in her face.

    ¡°Do it. I was ready to kill myself an hour ago. You don¡¯t scare me.¡± I said meeting her gaze. I could smell the smoke coming off her. Feel her burning body heat. It was like standing next to a furnace.

    ¡°Okay, enough of that.¡± Said Cosmo wedging herself between us.

    ¡°Keep your children in check.¡± Said Ribdena

    ¡°You stupid girl. Do you really want to die.¡± Said Cosmo as she pinched me by the ear and pulled me away from the dragoness.

 Episode 58 chapter 2: I am the river

    I ducked under a swipe. Then dashed in for a cut. Before I could get my attack off, Cain slammed his boot into my chest knocking me flat on my back. My body slid on the grass as I felt the awful sensation of all my air evacuating my lungs.

    My aura lost so many layers taking several aspects with it. Before I could get up, I saw a spear coming for my face. All I could think was, ¡°move!¡± to my surprise as if my body already knew what to do, it did.

    My head tilted to one side allowing the spear to hit the ground beside my head. I activated my caterpillar aura allowing my body to slide on the grass. This got me away from Cain. He tried coming after me, but I left a landmine behind. Unlike the one I used on Zubu this one was refined.

    The spell exploded, knocking Cain up into the air and on to his own back. My Qi was at 30% and I was sure he still had quite a few layers to go.

    Waving my hand I put a platform on top of Cain, but he unleashed a wave of lightning burning the green transparent square. I tried pulling the heat aspects from his attack and managed to get quite a few.

    Casting fireball I spent the extra 3 seconds to turn it into a solarball and suspended it into the air. I quickly began feeding it hydrogen aspects converting them to more heat aspects.

    Cain was on his feet and was trying to catch his breath. I saw layers reforming over his aura. Using the heat aspects, I not only fed them into my aura, but I also created multiple fireball spells and chained them together.

    ¡°Multi-fireball!¡± I called the name of my spell, as several basketball sized novas were released from their spell circles.

    Cain gritted his teeth as he forced lightning into his spear and began spinning it around creating an electrified force field. My spells slammed into it, causing the flames to erupt and spin around his spear.

    They weren¡¯t strong enough to punch through. It was so frustrating. This was all I could do without an affinity. Why was I still not strong enough!? I worked so hard! I learned everything!

    How is it fair to lose to such an asshole! ¡°Die!¡± I yelled as I fired off my Solarball.

    My brother unleashed a massive bolt of lightning causing the yellow star to explode prematurely, not only catching him in the line of fire, but me as well.

    My aura fell apart. All that was left was 3 layers. I couldn¡¯t do anything. I couldn¡¯t draw a single drop of blood! It was so unfair! Was he really just gonna get away with it? Get away with hurting Aku?

    I don¡¯t understand! I¡¯ve always been able to do something when the people I love were hurt! Why couldn¡¯t I do it now? Was this really my limit?

    Cain rose to his feet. His aura was slowly being repaired. I tried to do the same, but I could only get about 20 layers up. Any more and my Qi would run out too quickly.

    I didn''t want to be on the ground so I forced myself to stand. My body was screaming at me, telling me it was nap time. Stupid child body. I rubbed my eyes and realized my sword was gone.

    ¡°What''s the matter is that all you got? Pathetic. I knew it. maybe you should just run back to your mommy Cosmo and let her take care of you. That''s where you belong, mommas girl.¡± Taunted Cain.

    I laughed mostly out of how frustrating the situation was. The universe really hates me. ¡°I¡¯d rather you kill me.¡± I said honestly.

    It was pretty much over. There was no way I could win with the low amount of Qi I had left. Even if I could still cast spells, my aura was what let me keep up with him. Hell, it was the only thing keeping me standing right now.

    Burning Qi really did make you tired. Curling up against Cosmo''s big boobs sounded really nice right now. Though I probably shouldn''t think of stuff like that since I am married. In all honesty, I was just happy to have a normal guy thought for once.

    Still why the hell did seeing this asshole again make my heart burn. I felt like slamming my head against a rock after hearing the absolute nonsense he kept shouting. He couldn¡¯t have a normal conversation. He was always so loud, so annoying. All I ever wanted was peace yet he would always antagonize me. Doesn¡¯t he understand I was showing him mercy?

    We have neighbors you know! What if they hear you beating the shit out of me. What if they see the bruises? How would mom and dad explain that? I can¡¯t keep covering for you jackass¡­. Uh, where did my mind go there. Stupid memories. Stupid ascension. This fucking hole won¡¯t leave me alone either.

    ¡°I fucking hate you. You¡¯re such an asshole and the most frustrating part is that you can¡¯t even see it.¡± I said nearly pulling my hair out. My brother gave me that look. Like I was crazy. Then immediately fell into the most angry glare he¡¯d ever given me.

    ¡°Me! I¡¯m the asshole? You¡¯re the one that ruined our family! So what if I bullied you when we were kids? That¡¯s what brother¡¯s do! You¡¯re a monster Isaac! You killed that kid Jack and don¡¯t give me that crap about self defense! You fucking broke every bone and smashed his head in!¡± he yelled.

    I felt pain in my core as Jack''s unrecognizable face flashed before my mind. For a moment I saw that mystery blood on my hands again. Cain wasn¡¯t there. He had no idea what it was like. I felt the echo cry in outrage. It was like a crying baby begging for something I didn¡¯t understand.

    Cain continued, ¡°What kind of person does that? What kind of person CAN do that? Then you attacked me and took my leg! You stabbed me over 30 times and smiled while doing it!¡± Cain argued while clutching at his leg.

    For a moment I felt his pain. The anger and hatred he had for me. It was weak in our youth but after I took his leg it turned into something else. A bottomless ocean of rage. No! Fuck him he doesn¡¯t deserve my sympathy!

    He hurt me too! He helped create that monster in the hole and it bit him! I can¡¯t be held responsible for that. He was one of the ones that helped create Squirmy! I couldn¡¯t take it. I needed to balance the scales between us. He needed to hear his sins too.

    ¡°You hurt me! You beat the shit out of me almost everyday! You destroyed grannies flowers! you sat back and let mom torture me! What kind of brother could do that! What kind of brother is so afraid of their sibling that they feel the need to constantly put them down! It took years to fix some of the damage you caused and its still hurts so much!¡± I cried, clutching at my chest.

    It burned making it hard to breathe. My brother said nothing, instead he shook his head readying his spear. I prepared myself. My Qi was dangerously low. There was only one move I had left.

    It wasn¡¯t even meant for fighting, but it did fit my current needs. The fact was I couldn¡¯t do anything without Qi. Without access to more complex spells. There was very little chance I could blast my way through with raw essence. I needed Qi. Screw it, I had nothing else I could do. I¡¯m gonna lose, but at least I can say I tried.

    With a bit of focus, I added water aspects to my shell. Then activated my caterpillar aura focusing it¡¯s crawl ability under my feet. I began moving my body in the kata Mr. Brutus showed me.

    Cain let out a laugh. ¡°Haha, no fucking way! Are you seriously trying to cultivate right now, in the middle of a fight! You ran out of Qi already? I knew you were weak! That''s such a basic cultivation technique too! You''re clearly a beginner. I don''t know why I wasted my time with you.¡± He lifted his hand and fired a blast of lightning. Only for my caterpillar aura to pull me to one side avoiding it just as my arms followed the kata of the flowing river.

    Something odd happened though. I felt some of his Qi get pulled into my body mixing with the other aspects. The Qi was¡­ kind of angry. It was lightning aspect, but there was something else there.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    It almost felt like anger, but darker. More harmful. Almost like a combination of righteousness and¡­ arrogance. Like a self important teacher that won''t let you leave her class room after the bell rings, because she believes the bell doesn¡¯t dismiss you, or like a security guard that takes his job way to seriously.

    ¡°Quit your dancing and fight me like a real man!¡± He blasted me again, but I avoided it by only moving slightly with my caterpillar aura. I tried to move less so that I wouldn¡¯t run out of Qi right away.

    It was surprising. I didn''t need to put that much movement into my dodges, I just needed to move a little. Just enough to get out of his path.

    Maybe instead of kicking and screaming, I should have just slowed down and swam in the ever changing world. I¡¯d always freak out when in reality, I just needed to react less and not allow my thoughts to spiral out of control.

    The world might spin. The universe might expand, and the people might walk past me, but I could allow reality to flow through me instead of simply being dragged along by it¡¯s current.

    My brother dashed forward going for a stab. I avoided it with the smallest of margins while pulling out the heat and momentum aspects from his movements. Then reversing them by feeding them into the aura around my fist and redirecting them into his gut.

    He staggered back as I continued the kata of the flowing river.

    -Yukio-

    ¡°What''s going on? How is Isaac doing that? I thought that was just a cultivation technique.¡± I said as Isaac performed the flowing river.

    ¡°It is, but it was originally designed as a fighting style. It looks like the kid got so desperate for Qi he started Cultivating and figured out the other half of the technique.¡± Master Brutus explained

    ¡°Wow, Master Gorilla! You¡¯re like Mr. Miyagi!¡± Ron said excitedly.

    ¡°Not really. I actually forgot it was a fighting style until a moment ago when the kid went all flow state on Sparky.¡± Said the brute to everyone¡¯s disappointment.

    ¡°That¡­ sounds more like you.¡± Said Cosmo.

    ¡°I want a cool fighting style!¡± said Pez.

    ¡°Me too! Me too!¡± said Riza.

    ¡°I want one. Teach us Master Gorilla.¡± Commanded Ron.

    ¡°You three don¡¯t even have basic fighting skills. Learn to fight first then we can decide on styles. Yukio learned sword play. The kid however is a combination of a lot of things.¡± Said Master Brutus.

    ¡°He¡¯s close.¡± Mumbled Lore keeper.

    ¡°What was that?¡± I asked giving her a nudge with my elbow.

    ¡°He¡¯s close to unlocking his muse.¡± She answered, confusing me even more.

    -Aku/Isaac-

    I took a stab to my chest piercing 3 layers of my aura. It almost knocked me over but my caterpillar aura kept me standing while reducing the damage by sliding back away from the spear.

    I still had more than what I started with. Which was 34 layers thanks to the influx of Qi. This wouldn¡¯t work. I could use flowing river to soften his attacks, but it still required me to be fast enough to avoid them.

    If only I was faster. I needed to even the playing field. The reach of his spear was hindering my progress. He went for another stab, but this time I avoided it. Then pinched the shaft of his spear between my left armpit.

    Gathering the heat and momentum aspects I slammed my right hand into the shaft of the spear breaking it in half. Then jumped back to avoid any retaliation.

    ¡°You asshole! That spear was made from the tail of a dead dragon!¡± Yelled Cain clearly angry with me.

    I tossed the other end aside. ¡°That¡¯s what you get for hurting Snowball.¡± I said.

    ¡°Your stupid doll?¡± He yelled in frustration.

    ¡°She wasn¡¯t stupid! She¡¯s my best friend you big fat meanie!¡± I yelled back. Aku was clearly still very upset. I didn¡¯t blame her. I also had a fondness for Snowball. She made me feel less lonely.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how much you try. You¡¯re still going to lose. I¡¯ll make you pay for what you did to mom and dad.¡± Said Cain as he threw his remaining half of the spear aside.

    ¡°Yeah, I guess those were my fault in one way or another, but blaming all your problems on me is stupid. The truth is you can¡¯t deal with their deaths, so you don¡¯t. You blame it on me instead because its easier than not being able to do anything.¡± I said.

    ¡°I blame you because you¡¯re the one that got mom and dad to fight! You¡¯re the one that pushed mom down those stairs!¡± He yelled.

    His words stung. I remembered it. The night mom died. She wanted to send me to some kind of camp. She said by going their I¡¯d finally become an angel.

    All I wanted was to be with Alice. She wouldn''t listen. I asked god for help and no one answered. I tried to run away, but she would always find me. Those people. The ones in white. They were always smiling.

    I didn''t want to go, so on our way their, I pushed her down some stairs and ran away. I was later found by cops and brought to my sister.

    Sis got the inheritance and we sold our old house. It wasn''t a bad life, but sis had to hold off on college until we got older, and ended up becoming a nurse instead of becoming a surgeon like she originally wanted. Cain blamed me for everything.

    When he lost a job, when he got kicked out of school, even when his girlfriend broke up with him. He would always find a way to make it my fault and beat the crap out of me for it. He would always say I was laughing at his misfortune.

    I didn''t really care. His beatings weren''t that bad compared to moms. I never got angry. I never got revenge. I didn''t react at all, and that pissed him off.

    He hated that I was friends with Alice. He tried several times to get with her. Alice and I didn''t date at that time, so technically she was up for grabs. We were just friends. It wasn''t until my 18th birthday that we became a thing.

    She was always weirded out by the age difference. Especially since she was legally an adult and I was just a teen. We were only two years apart but I get it. If the roles were reversed, I¡¯d feel the same.

    My sister strangely let her ¡°babysit¡± me. Why a 16 year old boy needed a babysitter was beyond me. Really, she just needed someone to make sure I didn''t do anything crazy, but she called Alice my babysitter to tease me. It was embarrassing. Even Alice played along sometimes.

    I wasn¡¯t exactly the most stable person, so turning it into a joke took the edge off the real reason she was there. Julia always thought I might kill myself and she liked seeing me smile when I was with Alice. Now that I remembered a lot of things, I knew sis had abandoned me with my mother.

    It sucked and I knew she felt bad, but after mom died, she didn¡¯t hesitate to take us in. At first she hated me. Not just because of dad, but mom¡¯s death too. However, When she saw my scars, she broke down crying and kept saying she was sorry.

    I didn¡¯t understand why back then, since most of my memories had been dumped into the hole, but after awakening them I finally understood how she felt in that moment.

    Cain didn''t care about my scars. He would just tell me to man up and that it wasn''t that bad. He would always go out of his way to make me look bad in front of Alice. Telling Alice stories about embarrassing things that happened when we were kids.

    Alice still liked me though. Around the age of 25, we got married. My brother hated that I was happy. That I ended up with her despite all his attempts to sabotage our relationship.

    One time he had a friend of his call Alice and tell her how I was cheating on her. Of course she didn¡¯t believe it for a second. Most marriages probably would have ended there, but Alice knew I wouldn¡¯t do something like that. Especially since I had so much trouble talking with other people.

    Then one day my brother couldn¡¯t take it anymore, so he showed up at my place, but this time he acted all friendly. He started talking about how he wanted to make amends.

    Then a year later after managing to befriend my wife. He tried to kiss her and when she refused him, he went off and made a post online about how I¡¯d been abusing Alice. He also said he and my wife had been madly in love and sleeping together, and how he got her pregnant, but that I made her get an abortion even though Alice isn''t able to have kids.

    There was a whole bunch of garbage like that. I tried posting it on reddit for advice, but I guess I put it in the wrong sub reddit, because it got deleted. And when I put it up in the right place people just kept telling me it was a fake story, so I gave up on that.

    Anyway, Cain¡¯s post made Alice cry, and I blacked out. I remember it¡¯s voice. It¡¯s promises for retribution. How it could make everything stop. I don¡¯t even remember agreeing to Squirmy¡¯s deal.

    The only thing I did remember was the part where Cain told me he knew what mom was doing to me. He knew the whole time and didn''t once think to try and help me.

    After that I woke in a psych ward and started fighting the doctors. They drugged me and I went dark again. It wasn¡¯t until 2 years later that I came out of that haze.

    I suspect Centa was in control during that time, but I don''t know. I was only told about her which meant she had to have come out during that period. It was hard to believe that this person standing before me was the same brother that did all that crap to me all those years ago. And to think I actually cared about him at one point.

    Cain came at me again unleashing a fury of lightning charged punches. I avoided them while syphoning off their power. One of his attacks actually landed knocking a few layers off my aura. I managed to stay up using my caterpillar aura and continued to avoid his attacks.

    Eventually, I saw an opening and manage to throw his power back at him with a well timed counter. It was decent damage, but never enough to break through his shell. I felt so tired, so I injected apathy into my aura.

    That¡¯s when I started to feel his anger. His frustration. There was this overwhelming urge to lash out. To find something he could control. That something was apparently me.

    Unable to bring the world to its knees he chose to pick on me instead. My brother was just a big old bully and now I could see his movements before they happened.

    It was strange. Like I was in perfect sync with him. I understood him better than he understood himself. Not just his emotions, but his body movements and muscle twitches. This was a level of sympathy I''d only gotten glimpses of before.

    With it, I blocked attacks I shouldn¡¯t be able to block, and best of all I countered him perfectly, sending waves of force through my finger tips. I was taking his power and focusing it into his weak points. It was as if he was fighting himself.

    I ducked under another fist, stealing the momentum and heat aspects from it. Then redirecting them in a punch of my own. My tiny steel hard fist slammed into his gut sending him staggering backwards.

    His attacks were so simple compared to before. I didn¡¯t even need to move all that fast to intersect them.

    My brother coughed up blood. It splattered to the ground. ¡°What the hell¡­ What are you?¡± He asked, his words and expression a mix of anger and fear.

    I took a deep breath. ¡°I am the river.¡±

 Episode 58 Chapter 3: punishment

    -Aku-

    I was seated with Snowball on the smaller thrown reserved for the princess, which was me. We were watching the fight papa was having with uncle.

    ¡°Get him papa! You can do it! Right Snowball?¡± I cheered.

    ¡°Screw Isaac! He let me burn! He could have stepped in whenever, but waited until I was already crispy!¡± Complained Snowball. She was wearing a mint green dress this time.

    ¡°Papa was being bullied too. You can¡¯t be mad at him. Did it hurt?¡± I said stroking Snowball.

    Snowball crossed her arms. ¡°Not that much. Actually not at all. I don¡¯t have any nerves in that body, so I can¡¯t actually feel anything.¡± Said Snowball.

    ¡°Oh¡­. Then why were you screaming so much? You really scared me!¡± I scolded.

    ¡°I was playing the part. Your dad wasn¡¯t gonna come out unless you were really upset.¡± she explained.

    ¡°That¡¯s really mean! I thought you were in pain!¡± I said.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I was just trying to help.¡± She apologized.

    ¡°Okay, I forgive you.¡± I said.

    We went back to watching the fight. Papa took everything Uncle could give him and tossed it back in his face in a much more focused attack. Papa was like that Kung pao panda guy I saw in his brain soup.

    This needed snacks. I pulled some quintessence from my hair and used it to create a plate full of cookies and a tall glass of warm strawberry milk.

    I got half way through the glass of milk and ate most of the cookies, before a golden light came down onto the king¡¯s thrown. From the light Papa materialized. I was surprised to see him here. Especially since he was also fighting out there.

    ¡°Hey kiddo.¡± Greeted papa.

    ¡°Hi, what are you doing here papa? Shouldn¡¯t you be focusing on the fight?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I am, but first I need to tuck you in.¡± Said papa.

    ¡°Tuck me in?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yup, it¡¯s nap time. You need it so you don¡¯t fall asleep later. I¡¯ll even stay with you until you¡¯re sound asleep.¡± Said papa.

    ¡°Really! Okay!¡± I cheered. Papa rarely spent time with me. He was gonna tuck me in too. I couldn¡¯t believe it.

    Papa hopped off the thrown, his gray hair swaying as he landed. I got up too. He lead me out of the thrown room and even knew where my room was despite only seeing it once.

    We headed inside. I was a little embarrassed because all my toys were thrown around. Even my clothes were a bit scattered. ¡°Oops, I forgot to clean.¡± I said hiding my face behind Snowball.

    ¡°Really, well it cant be helped. Lets clean up a little.¡± Said papa.

    I didn¡¯t really want to. ¡°It¡¯s okay papa. I can do that later.¡± I insisted.

    ¡°No. You need to clean your room. You cant sleep in a messy room. That¡¯s how you get little goblins under your bed.¡± Said papa.

    ¡°Goblins!¡± I panicked.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Their little green monsters that live under your bed and in your closet. If you don¡¯t keep your room clean they¡¯ll move in.¡± said papa.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want that.¡± I cried.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry let¡¯s clean up and it¡¯ll be okay.¡± I said.

    ¡°Okay, papa.¡±

    It didn¡¯t take very long to put all my toys away in the chest at the foot of my bed, and the clothes were easily hung up in the closet. I gave the room a quick sweep getting all the little trash up.

    ¡°Alright kiddo, time for a nap. Do you have anything to sleep in?¡± Said papa.

    ¡°Yeah, I do!¡± I nodded. Then ran to my closet and pulled out my favorite white nighty.

    Papa helped me get dressed. He told me to lift my arms. Then he pulled my dress up off my shoulders. Holding the nighty up, he fed my arms through. ¡°Good job. You¡¯re such a good girl.¡± He said ruffling my hair. It made me really happy.

    With that done papa tucked Snowball and I into bed. Then sat on the edge. ¡°So I just need a nap?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll wake you up before you ruin your sleep schedule.¡± Said papa. I hugged Snowball as papa stroked my hair.

    ¡°But what about uncle?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about him. I¡¯ll take care of it.¡± Said papa.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°I know you will. Papa is the strongest.¡± I said proudly. I got a little nervous because I wanted to ask papa for a favor. ¡°Papa, can you tell me a story.¡± I mumbled tiredly.

    Papa sighed and started telling me a story about a beautiful girl found in a glowing bamboo stem. Her name was Kaguya. She was a moon princess.

    I couldn¡¯t remember the last time I got this sort of treatment. Maybe when I got to meet shadow that one time. That was nice. Oh, there was also the time when Cosmo visited me.

    I actually felt kind of sleepy now. I couldn¡¯t remember the last time I slept.

    -Isaac-

    Cain fired off one lightning bolt after another. He was done with me and decided spamming lightning was his best shot at winning.

    ¡±Stop dodging! That¡¯s cheating! I¡¯m stronger! You can¡¯t just dodge everything! It¡¯s not fair!¡± He yelled as he continued to spam.

    Slowly, I gathered the Qi he spilled, applying the lightning aspect to my aura. I didn¡¯t like the concept it carried, so I did my best to Zero it out. This turned my lightning aura white instead of red.

    As far as I could tell lightning aspect was way better for speed. Not only did it make me faster it also gave my movements destructive power. It was no wonder Cain was the way he was. This feeling could make anyone drunk. Then again he''s always been that way.

    Cain was burning up his Qi like there was no tomorrow. It was like watching a child throw a tantrum. I did that too once while fighting Zubu. Though mine was just a pillar of Qi shooting off into the sky.

    ¡°Cain you idiot! Don¡¯t you dare loose! Show that whelp what true power is! I hereby release your restraints!¡± Yelled Ribdena as a full body tattoo rendered over my brother¡¯s entire body. It looked like a chain and seemed to glow even through the armor and fabric he wore.

    I didn¡¯t understand what was going on, but Cain looked really happy about it, as the markings began to glow like red embers. ¡°Hell yeah!¡± said Cain, as the chains began to burn away like the lit tail of a cigar.

    Immediately, I saw Cain¡¯s dantian grow twice it¡¯s size as his body began to bulk up. Not a lot, but it was very noticeable. This was bad. That meant his aura would make him even stronger. Before I could panic I took a deep breath.

    It didn¡¯t matter how strong he was. I am the river through which reality flows. No matter how much power he had, I''ll take it all and throw it right back into that stupid face of his.

    Cain started floating as the lightning aspects mixed with the air around him. He released a burst of lightning into the sky. I watched as it came back down over my head in a volley of multiple streams.

    The bolts were so fast, but I felt it coming. It hit lighting up the ground in a blinding red flash. My brother laughed happy to watch me burn, but I didn¡¯t get hit. I weaved in and out of their path. Not just avoiding them but drawing in fractions of their power.

    Running around the beams, I unleashed a white bolt of my own. Not expecting the sudden burst of light my brother took it in the chest. However, because of his affinity for lightning it did very little. That was what I was expecting.

    ¡°Dumbass!¡± he yelled releasing a giant blast of lighting at me.

    I had enough lightning aspects now, so I expanded them into the air around me creating a magnetic field. As I did that I performed one of my kata positions just as his massive lightning bolt reached me. Then changed forms guiding the blast around me and back at my brother.

    The power slammed back into him burning his chest. I closed the distance between us hopping up into the air and scissor kicking my brother in the side of the head.

    His floating body was sent crashing into the ground. I gathered heat, wind, and momentum, creating another Solarball. The golden fireball floated above my head ready to be released.

    ¡°How are you doing this!¡± Yelled my brother before releasing another bolt of lightning, before he was even on his feet. He was afraid.

    I did the same as before, using part of the lightning aspect I had to guide the lightning back at him. It hit him again but this time I released my Solarball as a follow up attack. The lightning burned his body, but the fireball created a large explosion surrounding my brother in flames.

    I didn¡¯t stop as I dashed forward with a double Qi pulse charging through the flames and slamming my fist into Cain¡¯s face. My attack knocked his burning body out of the flames. His upper half was now naked. The lightning aura I had was enough to keep myself from being burned. Thanks to its speed boost I was able to move behind my brother casting a blank range fireball.

    I pressed the fireball into his back controlling the explosion by using my flexible aura as a chamber. The force was enough to blast a hole through my brother¡¯s back. He screamed in agony as he flew forward - due to the force of the explosion - falling on his face.

    The blast caused me to lose my fingers, but using a combination of both our blood I was able to make a weak healing aura. The pain was the last thing on my mind. I was too focused on the trash in front of me.

    It wasn''t enough. I needed more. I needed him to know never to come after me or my love ones again. Lifting my hand I chained three platform spells together creating a hardened wind whip.

    Then, channeling a combination of my Brother¡¯s stolen Qi and what I could re-gen ¡ª I created a diamond spiral pattern within the spell construct, giving it an aura. Finally, I injected lightning and punishment aspects into my weapon, turning its aura into a buzzing white whip.

    Cain looked back and saw me approaching. His eyes went wide. He quickly drained the life aspects out of the grass and his own blood, in an attempt to make a healing aura. ¡°Heal! Heal! Come on! Why can¡¯t I heal!¡± Yelled Cain in a panic.

    ¡°They¡¯re called punishment aspects stupid! I¡¯ve been pounding them into your body since this whole thing started. There¡¯s so much of it inside you that it¡¯ll take a really, really strong cleansing aura to fix it.¡± I said as I slowly approached.

    ¡°What? Why?¡± He panicked almost in a crying tone.

    ¡°I¡¯m done showing you mercy. I¡¯ve been letting you get away with everything since we were kids. It¡¯s about time I actually fought back. You always thought I was weak, but really I was protecting you from me. How about I show you what our mom did to me.¡± With a flick of my whip, I cracked it on his chest.

    He cried out in pain as a red bloody line branded itself on his skin. Again! Again! Again! Again!

    ¡°Stop! It hurts!¡± Cried my brother as he tried to draw himself away with one arm while holding his organs in with the other.

    ¡°Oh! It''s not that bad! Man the fuck up!¡± I yelled throwing his words back at him. I brought it down again and again until his cries were no longer intelligible. I thought about stopping there. About showing mercy, but when the hell had anyone else showed me mercy.

    Besides, my heart was still burning. I held my whip high and was about to bring it down again. When someone grabbed my arm. I was so angry that I almost lashed out at them. Until I realized it was just Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°That''s enough kid. You won. Cool the fuck down.¡± He said.

    I looked back to my crying brother. He was all curled up on the ground. sobbing as his intestines pushed out of the small hole through his midsection. There was so much blood. He actually managed to drag himself quite a few feet. It was made evident by the trail left behind. I had it on my clothes too and my hands.

    Looking back at my brother, I got a sudden glimpse of my crying beaten body in a dark basement. I felt so nauseous all of a sudden. My aura died down and my whip vanished right before I hurled on the grass and started to cry.

    What the hell is wrong with you? Just be normal Isaac.

 Episode 58: Chapter 4: reverse arson

    -Isaac-

    I entered Aku¡¯s room. She was softly snoring. My adorable daughter was like a sleeping princess. It made me want to lock her door and station a dragon outside to keep any boys away.

    As I gushed over her, I noticed the covers were moving. I almost screamed as I saw Snowball poke her head out. ¡°What the hell!¡± I whisper yelled. ¡°You¡¯re alive?¡±

    She hopped off the bed. ¡°Of course I am! I fought that big bug guy remember?¡± She loud whispered back.

    ¡°Right¡­¡± I said remembering when I rushed in and saved her. I didn¡¯t realize she would still be animated though. I don¡¯t think I gave her that function when I reformed her into that small cat thing. Then again, the only thing I felt like doing in that moment was making her easy to carry.

    ¡°Did you murder that asshole?¡± Asked Snowball.

    ¡°Not¡­ exactly.¡± I said remembering the horrible state I left Cain in. Punishment aspects were a bit over powered.

    If I hadn¡¯t used them, Cain would have healed up and the fight would have continued until his Qi ran out, or my body got too tired to continue. Odds are I would have fallen first due to the fact my avatar body didn¡¯t exactly have the stamina for long drawn out battles.

    There was apathy that could have let me ignore my fatigue, but I needed the right combination of aspects to keep up with him. There just wasn¡¯t enough layers for it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t space out on me. Did you at least win?¡± Asked Snowball.

    ¡°Yeah, I won. He won¡¯t bother us again. At least not for a long time.¡± I answered.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t want Aku to see. That means you must have done something really awful huh? Did you stab him in the butt? Or was it more like burning him alive? Like an eye for an eye type deal?¡± Asked Snowball.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. After I broke his favorite weapon, the rest was my own revenge.¡± I said.

    ¡°Are you going to hurt Aku?¡± Asked Snowball as a small knife appeared in her plush limb.

    ¡°What, no. Why would you even ask that?¡± I said taking a step back. I¡¯ve seen Child¡¯s Play before, I know what dolls are capable of.

    ¡°Its my job to keep her safe. That¡¯s why I was created.¡± Said Snowball.

    Oh, crap. Did that mean what I think it meant? ¡°Are you like¡­ another alter?¡± I asked feeling panic rise inside me.

    ¡°Something like that. Though I was created from Aku¡¯s soul not yours. Compared to you guys, my soul is more of a spec. as for the accusations. You are a very dangerous person. I¡¯d rather you stay away, but Aku is too attached to you. Both literally and emotionally.¡± Said Snowball.

    ¡°I get it, but I also want to protect her.¡± I said.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen what happens to the people you try to protect. Their all better off alone.¡± Said Snowball.

    She wasn¡¯t wrong, but there had to be something I could do. I couldn¡¯t be a burden forever. I¡¯ve grown a lot, so I have to be useful to someone by now. All this power and I can barely do a thing.

    ¡°Snowball¡­¡± Cried Aku as she rubbed her eyes looking for her friend. I could hear the tiny bit of panic in her sleepy voice.

    I reached over and picked the sentient plushy up. Her knife vanished into thin strands of quintessence, before Aku could see it. ¡°Hey sleepy head. You dropped this.¡± I said handing her Snowball.

    She gave the cat plushy a hug. Then asked, ¡°Is it over papa? Can I play outside now?¡± she asked sleepily with all the innocence her appearance implied.

    I nodded. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s over. Your uncle won¡¯t hurt you ever again.¡±

    ¡°Yay. Papa¡¯s so strong.¡± She said.

    Of course I was. I had to be.

    -Aku/Isaac-

    Zubu had me sit on her lap. She held me in a warm hug. Mostly out of concern. Snowballs remains were plopped down in front of me. It made me really sad to see her like that. She was like a burnt marshmallow. I thought about putting her in my mouth, but stopped myself.

    Lorie sat down across from us. She waved her hand and used the negentropy spell on Snowballs corpse. The burnt marshmallow started to un-burn itself. It was like an arson video being played in reverse.

    Before I knew it Snowball looked like her old self again. ¡°Snowball!¡± I cheered pulling her into a hug.

    ¡°I! Am! Immoooorrrrtttaal!¡± Yelled Snowball happy to be back in the outside world. She then started shrieking in pain as I began chewing on her arm.

    I spat it out when I realized she didn¡¯t taste like a marshmallow. ¡°Your not a marshmallow.¡± I complained. My statement seemed to get a laugh out of everyone.

    ¡°Of course I¡¯m not a marshmallow! Don¡¯t eat me! I¡¯m really bad for you! My stuffing will get tangled in your intestines!¡± She scolded.

    ¡°Thanks Lorie! She¡¯s just as fluffy as before!¡± I said.

    ¡°I¡¯m happy to help.¡± Said Lorie now smiling.

    ¡°You useless whelp! How could you lose! You¡¯re an entire rank above that toddler!¡± Yelled Ribdena standing over Cain, who was sitting on the ground now fully healed.

    My brother looked tired. There was no anger on his face, which was surprising for his awful personality. He just seemed to have given up completely. Why did he look so afraid of his goddess? She wasn''t the one that made him, so he had no reason to fear her.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry goddess! I¡¯ll do better next time! Please don¡¯t throw me back into Pandora!¡± He begged. Cain put his head and hands down on the grass, as if begging for forgiveness.

    I could feel his fear. Curious about this Pandora place, I dug a little deeper. Within his core I saw a hellish world full of giant monsters.

    I saw my brother running for his life, as a two headed beast chased him down. My brother released a giant bolt of lightning, but the beast ignored it diving for a bite. So that was why he fights like he¡¯s attacking a giant.

    That was when Zubu kissed my cheek pulling me out of my vision. I shrieked. ¡°aaargh! No, stop it!¡±

    ¡°Can I get a kiss too? I worked really hard today!¡± Said Ron sitting next to Zubu. He seemed to play innocent. Most likely hoping Zubu would forget he wasn¡¯t a kid and go for a sisterly peck.

    ¡°No, your not cute enough for that.¡± Said Zubu.

    ¡°Ha! Like a girl would actually be into you!¡± Taunted Riza with the smuggest look on her face.

    ¡°Shut up! You¡¯re so annoying!¡± Yelled Ron.

    ¡°Would you two shut up!¡± Scolded Mr. Brutus.

    They stopped arguing and turned away from each other. To me, it felt like they actually liked one another. They seemed quite familiar with each other¡ªalmost as if¡­ ¡°Did you guys date?¡± The question slipped out before I could think, and for a moment, I found myself back in the spotlight. Crap.

    They both looked at me. Then at each other. Then at the ground. Clearly I hit the nail on the head. ¡°Yeah, those two used to date. It was back during their trial.¡± Said Pez.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    My curiosity was peaked giving me the strength to question Pez some more. ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°Don''t talk about our business!¡± Yelled Ron.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that hard to understand.¡± Said Riza pissing Ron off. ¡°We stopped dating because we became fun sized.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­ yeah. I guess that would do it, but you two are in the same boat though, so it¡¯s not that bad. I figure as long as you stay away from the physical stuff you''d be fine.¡± I said.

    Ron sighed¡ªlike he was a deflating balloon. ¡°We tried that, but it just didn''t work out. It was too strange. Made me feel like a creep.¡± Said Ron.

    ¡°Yeah, what he said.¡± Added Riza.

    Pez eyed me strangely. Crap, did he figure out I¡¯m an adult! I held Snowball up and started to play with her causing him to lose interest. Why did I have to lie? I just needed to tell them my actual age and I wouldn''t be struggling right now!

    I thought about it and no matter what angle I approach, Ron and Riza were in such an odd situation. Actually, didn''t Alice make her avatar with the same measurements as mine? I started to feel very uncomfortable at the thought of having an ¡°imouto wife¡±

    I''ve always thought of Alice¡¯s avatar as Aku¡¯s sister. Well at least in OC lore wise. Of course that version had nothing to do with my adorable daughter. It was only related to my avatar.

    One things for sure, I won''t be kissing Alice, or¡­. yeah. I doubt Alice would be cool with any of this either. I just hope it won''t be the end of our marriage. The fact that I had Aku in my head and looked like her made this situation so much worse.

    ¡°Hey, piss baby. You good? You look like your brain just imploded.¡± Said Zubu. I shook my head rapidly. Then hid behind Snowball.

    Ribdena shook her head at everyone¡¯s antics. Then opened a swirling blue portal. ¡°Go on whelp. Maybe this time you''ll come back a real man.¡± She signaled for Cain to walk through the pulsing vortex.

    My brother clutched the grass shaking out of pure fear. I¡¯ve never seen Cain act like that. It was probably what he deserved. However, he was still my little brother.

    The beating I gave him was probably enough to keep him away from me. Weather he learned his lesson or not, I didn''t really know. I just knew he understood not to bother me anymore.

    Still, for the sake of my mother and father, I couldn''t just leave him to his fate. Being punished for being weak was something I didn''t agree with, and mom and dad would probably step in to stop Ribdena. Even if it meant getting killed in the process.

    ¡°Hey! Leave him alone!¡± I yelled crawling out of Zubu¡¯s lap and rising to my feet.

    Ribdena eyed me like I was food. ¡°Are you seriously trying to save this weakling? Did he not hurt you?¡± Asked Ribdena.

    ¡°He did. Several times at that, but I already paid him back. Besides, if my parents were still alive, they would probably be really upset with me, if I didn¡¯t at least try to help my little brother.¡± I said.

    I could feel the stares of the trio, but in that moment, I didn¡¯t really care. In that moment, my desire out weighed my anxiety.

    ¡°This is none of your business. Go play with your doll whelp.¡± said Ribdena.

    ¡°Oh, but it is! That''s my little brother you¡¯re bullying you fat lizard! Leave him alone, or I''ll have Snowball bite your tits off!¡± I yelled.

    ¡°You really want him that badly?¡± She waited for an answer. I simply stared into her eyes and she seemed to get the message. ¡°Fine. I have no use for weaklings. Cosmo you can have him back.¡± Said Ribdena.

    Cosmo had this look on her face like she¡¯d just been inconvenienced. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to keep Claw?¡±

    ¡°No, if I keep him. I¡¯ll just end up eating him. He belongs with your weakling followers.¡± Said Ribdena.

    Cain released a sigh of relief. Hugging Snowball for protection, I walked over to him and seated myself across from him. The trio looked like they wanted to ask me questions, but Zubu seemed to intersect them and usher them away.

    Cain gazed at me in suspicion¡ªas if expecting me to say he owed me a life debt or something. I could totally make him wear a maid uniform and serve me cinamoed tea. Instead, I simply smiled like the innocent little girl I appeared to be.

    I held Snowball up and translated for her while shaking her around animatedly to make it look like she was upset. ¡°You burned me alive! Don¡¯t you have anything to say to me punk!¡±

    My brother scratched his head letting out a long breath. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I burned you alive.¡± He said.

    I put Snowball down and giggled. He looked away from me as if embarrassed by the situation. ¡°You¡¯re crazy.¡± He said.

    ¡°You¡¯re a jerk.¡± I said.

    He glanced in Zubu¡¯s direction. ¡°so¡­ you and Yoko a thing?¡± he asked.

    ¡°What! No, of course not! I still love my wife and would never, EVER cheat on her! If anything Zubu is like an annoying disgusting sister. She farts a lot and digs around her nose when she thinks no one is watching.¡± I responded.

    ¡°Are you talking shit about me piss baby!¡± yelled Zubu closing the gap between us with a Qi pulse and snacking the back of my head.

    ¡°Owy!¡± I cried holding the afflicted area.

    She turned to my brother. ¡°Claw, did you know that this little piss baby wets herself.¡± Said Zubu.

    ¡°Zubu! That''s not true! It only happened twice!¡± I cried.

    ¡°That''s more than enough you little shit!¡± yelled Zubu as she pulled my cheeks apart, painfully pinching them.

    ¡°Get her Snowball!¡± I yelled as I swung Snowball into her face.

    ¡°Ow!¡± yelled Zubu.

    ¡°Oops, forgot about the zipper again.¡± I said. Concerned I asked, ¡°are you alright?¡±

    Zubu got on her knees and pulled me over them. ¡°Wait! Zubu not in front of Cain!¡± She smacked me a few times before letting me go and storming off. Cain laughed at me. I probably deserved it for forgetting about that zipper, but still. Why did she have to disrespect me in front of my asshole brother?

    To my surprise instead of making fun of me Cain moved on. He looked like he wanted to talk about something else. I sat back up wincing, as I put weight on my sore tushy.

    Cain put one of his hands over his shoulder and made a pained expression, as if remembering the lashes I gave him. ¡°Did mom really¡­¡± He didn¡¯t finish his question, but he didn¡¯t have to.

    ¡°She did. She also had the power to heal. That¡¯s why I never died. Every time I came close she would put me back together, but never enough to close the wounds completely. Healing was sometimes painful. Like being beaten but in reverse. Bone by bone, cell by cell. She mended it all. I think the scars were meant to remind me, so that I could never forget.¡± I said.

    He nodded. This was the first time he ever actually listened to me. Before, when I tried to tell him stuff he would instantly dismiss me and blame me for everything. ¡°She was a bitch.¡± He mumbled.

    I felt anger rise inside me. Getting up on my knees I slapped Cain with a back hand. ¡°Don''t you dare talk about our mom that way! She was grieving when an asshole took advantage of her!¡± I yelled.

    My brother locked eyes with me. He was shocked, almost afraid as a bit of blood rolled down the side of his mouth. ¡°Sorry.¡± He said. Everyone stayed quiet. Any other conversations being held at the time were suddenly stopped.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. Here let me fix that for you.¡± I said before generating a level one aura. Then I add in the concepts for a chicken soup.

    The golden rays around me gathered together into a beam of warm light, that reached out and wrapped itself around my brother. ¡°What¡­ this is.¡± he began to cry as the love our mother gave us washed over him. In that moment we both relived the care and support of our parents.

    Later

    At the end of the day, Cain ended up going back to Chik¨± with us. Honestly our relationship was no where near fixed. We would never be close to one another. The only reason we were currently cool was because I had recently kicked his ass.

    Once my brother gets another power boost, it''ll go to his head and he''ll start acting like an all powerful self-righteous know it all. The only way to get him to chill was to smack him around a little. That was my job.

    Cosmo said she would relocate him eventually and not tell me where. It was better that way. We would never get along. There was no point in trying.

    Once back on Chik¨±, Cain picked a room and said he wouldn¡¯t be coming out for a while. Meanwhile Mr. Brutus, Lorie, Cosmo, and Zubu all stood around me in the courtyard.

    My time here had come to an end, and it was finally time to send me back. It was strange. I found this world more familiar than the new world. I¡¯d only spent about a day and a half there compared to the week I spent here.

    It was only natural I¡¯d feel more comfortable here since I had more time to settle in. That and unlike the new world this place didn''t come with problems.

    Even if I beat Squirmy there was still so much that needed to be done. Entropy was unprotected and resources would start running out. The country needed to adapt to reality. Then there was the strange stuff happening down by the coast.

    ¡°So is this it? Should we all say goodbye now?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It would be wise.¡± Said Lorie.

    ¡°First off. Let me explain what will happen. In order to go home we¡¯ll need to pay a visit to the cave of absence.¡± Said Cosmo.

    ¡°You mean that thing Zubu is afraid of?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Hey! Screw you piss baby! That cave is fucking terrifying!¡± said Zubu.

    ¡°What happens? Oh no, don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s a bunch of flashbacks! I can¡¯t handle anymore of those!¡± I whined crouching down and holding my head.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing like that.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°The cave of absence is a space where aspects can not exist.¡± Said Lorie.

    ¡°Isaac don¡¯t listen to them! It''s super scary! Your body like, vaporizes and you can only exist as a soul. It¡¯s the worst kind of existence!¡± Said Zubu.

    ¡°As a soul? That doesn¡¯t sound too bad. I''ve done the whole soul thing before. When I visited Cosmo in my dreams¡­ at least I think that was a soul thing. My body was all transparent and stuff.¡± I said.

    ¡°You were supposed to forget that remember sweetie?¡± said Cosmo.

    ¡°Uh¡­ I thought you said I needed to forget about your only fans?¡± I said.

    ¡°Isaac!¡± Yelled Cosmo startling me.

    ¡°I''m sorry.¡± I cried.

    She quickly apologized and handed me a peace of candy. I quickly gobbled it up and asked for more only to be denied.

    Seeing as I wasn¡¯t getting my way I ignored her and ran into Zubu¡¯s arms. Zubu rested her arms over my chest allowing me to hold on to them and even lean my head against them.

    ¡°Isaac don¡¯t you love me at all?¡± whined the goddess.

    ¡°love is a strong word. Maybe you should stick with tolerate. Yeah, that¡¯s the perfect word.¡± I said.

    Everyone seemed to laugh, while Cosmo acted like a cat lover who¡¯s pet hated them.

    ¡°Okay, fine then. Let¡¯s just go and get this over with.¡± Said Cosmo as she began walking away.

    Zubu picked me up. ¡°I can walk.¡± I said.

    ¡°Shut up piss baby¡­ let me hold you for a bit.¡± Said Zubu somewhat embarrassed. I could feel her giving me a squeeze.

    I understood what she meant and said, ¡°Okay.¡±

    This was probably the last time I¡¯d get to see her. I was feeling really tired after my fight with Cain. That was just this body though. Once I was back in the new world my other body should be somewhat rested.

    I didn¡¯t want to fall asleep. I wanted to take in every last moment I had with my friend. I really hope we get to see each other again. That would be nice. Snowball thought so too.

 Episode 59 Part 1: cave of absence

    The night mountain air was a little cold, but clinging to Zubu kept me warm. So warm that I suspected it was the reason she really wanted to carry me. Being used as a personal heater wasn¡¯t a bad life. It just wasn¡¯t what I envisioned myself doing. She still smelled like copper, but with a hint of flowers and sweat.

    I¡¯ve come to the conclusion that being carried wasn¡¯t so bad. I just didn¡¯t like being carried by people I didn¡¯t trust. I also didn¡¯t like it if I was carried in a public place or in front of certain people.

    In front of my wife, no. In front of my brother, no. The image I have of myself in there eyes was that of a man. Not necessarily a strong man, but at the very least a respectable one. That meant I couldn¡¯t allow this sort of treatment to be seen in front of them.

    I didn¡¯t want to show my brother weakness, or he might take advantage and hurt me in some way. I didn¡¯t want to show my wife weakness, because that meant I couldn¡¯t be strong for her. When it came down to it, I was really just a big old baby.

    I breathed deeply through my nose taking in Zubu¡¯s scent. I wanted to burn her memory into my brain. Her smell, the softness of her body. The squishiness of her torso. The warmth she produced. Even her heart beat, and the way she breathed.

    There was no guarantee I¡¯d see her again. That thought made me very sad. Never see Zubu again? That sounded horrible, but if she ascends and leaves Chik¨± behind, it might come true.

    Considering how much she hates Cosmo. She might leave her multi-verse entirely and get lost in the blue void. She could find new friends and forget all about me. Maybe remember me every once in a while when a random kid annoys her.

    How long before I forget what she looks like. what she sounds like. How long before she becomes a different person. Would we even still like each other by then? The Zubu I know might just disappear entirely by the time we meet again. I hope she doesn¡¯t start vaping.

    We walked along the back of the mountain. Where the bath was. This was the place where I almost accidentally killed myself. I breathed fire and nearly put myself in a coma.

    We went passed it and headed to the other side. The path narrowed to the point where only one person could walk by at a time. We were still pretty high up. What if Zubu decides to throw me off the cliff? I suddenly felt very nervous causing me to hold on tightly to her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t let you fall.¡± Said Zubu like an adult reassuring a child.

    I looked up to her smiling. I guess she was pretty sometimes. It might just be the moonlight though. I reached up and slapped her cheek.

    ¡°Ow! What the hell piss baby!¡± She yelled.

    ¡°I thought you were an imposter.¡± I answered.

    That¡¯s when she flipped me around and grabbed me by the legs dangling me off the side of the cliff.

    ¡°Aaah! I¡¯m sorry!¡± I cried, as I did my best to hold my skirt down.

    ¡°Teddy bear undies? I hope you like them, because that¡¯s what you¡¯ll be buried in!¡± Threatened Zubu.

    ¡°Would you two knock it off!¡± yelled Lorie.

    Zubu pulled me back up and when I was safely back in her arms we both apologized, ¡°sorry!¡± we were both terrified, as Lori had drawn out her signature weapon. Le Spoon.

    She turned back around putting Le Spoon away. Both Zubu and I let out a sigh of relief. Then looked each other in the eyes. As if in perfect sync we stuck our tongues out at one another causing both of us to giggle uncontrollably.

    Our hike continued as I settled into her arms once more. The silence was nice, but I really wanted to talk to her some more. I wish we could have 100 more¡ªno 1,000,000 more conversations! But, what would we talk about?

    ¡°Zubu, Zubu.¡± I called to her, my voice unintentionally childish. By this point I was used to it.

    ¡°Yeah?¡± She answered somewhat annoyed.

    ¡°is Yukio your birth name?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s Ashly. I was originally part Japanese though, but I was raised as an American.¡± She answered.

    ¡°Oh, I figured it wasn¡¯t your real name. Did you know that Yukio is primarily a guys name¡­¡± I felt a sudden chill run up my spine. ¡°Your not a dude right?¡± I asked fearfully.

    Zubu laughed. ¡°Yeah, of course I am .¡±

    ¡°What! Let me go! Your some kind of pervert aren¡¯t you!¡± I cried, as I wiggled my body in her arms in an attempt to get free.

    Zubu laughed again, ¡°relax I was kidding. No Diddy stuff.¡± She said.

    I fell limp in her arms as relief washed over me. Nope the only pervert here was me. ¡°Don¡¯t joke like that. You¡¯ve done some pretty weird stuff to me and it would look really bad if you were a guy.¡±

    The conversation continued in that manner for a bit. With Zubu teasing me in her usual way. Eventually we began talking about Earth. It was peaceful chatter, up until we got down to the details.

    ¡°It¡¯s jiff peanut butter.¡± I insisted.

    ¡°No it¡¯s jiffy peanut butter.¡± She shot back.

    Instead of fighting any further I simply stated the obvious. ¡°I think your Earth isn¡¯t the same as mine. What year did you get isekaied?¡±

    ¡°2023¡± answered my tormentor.

    ¡°Me too.¡± I responded.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense.¡± She said.

    ¡°That¡¯s because most Earth¡¯s have the same history, so I have a set date for trial events.¡± Said Cosmo. ¡°On some Earths their history can be a little different. For example. On most Earth¡¯s Diddy wasn¡¯t exposed until 2024.¡±

    That was interesting. I wonder if there was another me out there. Maybe. Was my world even still around? It''s served It¡¯s purpose after all.

    ¡°Do our Earth¡¯s still exist?¡± I asked, fearing the worst.

    ¡°Of course they do. 2023 is only one point in time used for the trial event. There have been other events. You two just so happen to be from the 2023 one. Separate Earth¡¯s of course, but same year.¡± She said.

    ¡°so there really are others.¡± I said.

    ¡°Yeah, also sometimes when someone dies in a tragic way I¡¯ll let them go to another world. Other times I¡¯ll pick them at random. Why do you think there are so many unsolved missing cases? Your brother was apart of the trial event before yours.¡± Said the goddess.

    My brother had his own trial. I should have asked him for some advice. Then again he probably would have lied.

    After about 5 minutes of walking we came to a strange sight. It was a cave, but odd. The opening looked like a mouth with all its stalagmites and stalactites representing teeth.

    The real strange part was all the blood leaking out of the cave and down the side of the mountain. How did I never notice the blood waterfall?

    ¡°Why¡¯s it bleeding?¡± I asked fearfully.

    ¡°It¡¯s not bleeding!¡± said Cosmo.

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s not blood, it¡¯s chocolate.¡± Said Mr. Brutus before reaching out to the red liquid dipping his finger and taking a lick.

    He had this look on his face like he¡¯d just made a terrible mistake. ¡°Yeah, no. It tastes like blood.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°See it is blood!¡± I panicked.

    ¡°I told you it was scary.¡± Said Zubu.

    ¡°Ugh! It¡¯s not blood! It¡¯s just water with iron!¡± Said Cosmo.

    ¡°But it smells like blood, looks like blood, and it tastes like blood.¡± Mr. Brutus counted each one on his fingers.

    ¡°Yeah, dad told me if it¡¯s three things then it¡¯s true!¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Its totally blood. That¡¯s what happens to your body after you go through. They say some people never make it back. That¡¯s why it bleeds to this day.¡± Said Zubu.

    ¡°I don¡¯t wanna go in there!¡± I cried hiding my face in Zubu¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Its okay piss baby. You can stay here with me and be my cozy aspect generator.¡± Said Zubu a bit too gleefully.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    ¡°For the love of me, it¡¯s not blood!¡± said Cosmo. Clearly irritated.

    ¡°Yukio, stop trying to convince Isaac to stay. Scaring him is such a cheap trick.¡± Said Lorie.

    ¡°So its not blood and I won¡¯t be trapped in there forever?¡± I cried.

    ¡°Isaac, you like science right? Tell me, have you ever heard of a blood waterfall in your home world?¡± Asked Lorie.

    I thought about it for a second, tilting my head when I needed to think a little harder. ¡°hmmm¡­ Oh, I remember hearing about this. It¡¯s like rust.¡± I said.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I said! Why doesn¡¯t anyone listen to me?¡± Cosmo complained.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know kid, it tastes like blood to me.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°That¡¯s because blood is full of iron. Back in my world in a place called Alaska. There¡¯s a blood river, that acts the same.¡± I explained.

    ¡°Huh¡­. Alright.¡± He said.

    ¡°So¡­ do I have to go in there?¡± I asked. Not only did it look like it was covered in blood, but the inside was completely dark.

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t be afraid sweetie, I¡¯ll be going with you.¡± Said Cosmo.

    I looked to Lorie. ¡°Don¡¯t worry child. You¡¯ll only be in the cave for a moment.¡± she smiled warmly.

    ¡°Zubu, what do you think?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I think it¡¯ll be scary, but you¡¯ll be okay. Remember, if you want to fight a demon, then going through the cave is nothing.¡± She said.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll try.¡± I said. Zubu put me down on my feet causing my light up shoes to ignite. I jumped a few more times to cheer myself up. Then turned to the goddess and asked, ¡°So, why do I need the cave? I¡¯m not complaining. I¡¯m just curious.¡±

    ¡°The cave is easier and safer than ripping out your soul. I need access to it in order to send you back. Besides, breaking your body will only send you back to purgatory. That won¡¯t do. It¡¯ll take time to find you again so using the cave is easier. Think of it like jacking off a car to get under it.¡± Said Cosmo.

    Mr. Brutus held back a laugh before correcting her, ¡°jacking up.¡±

    She blushed in embarrassment as everyone seemed to laugh at her. Everyone, but Lorie who found the whole situation distasteful.

    Once we all got over her blunder, I said, ¡°Okay, so is there anything else I should know?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Remember when you first got transported? It¡¯ll feel like that.¡± Said Cosmo.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you make it painless?¡± I panicked.

    ¡°Whenever I transfer souls across reality it always feels that way. There¡¯s nothing I can do to change it. Well, there might be, but it''s a bit too time consuming.¡± Said Cosmo.

    She was being very calm and gentle with me. This was what a goddess should be like. Nice and understanding, but stern and not afraid to tell you how it is.

    ¡°Thanks for the warning.¡± I said. It was better to know before I hopped in.

    ¡°Sorry I¡¯m not more helpful. I wish I could go there myself and fix everything, but I really am just a useless goddess. Maybe if it was Ribdena instead she could fix it, but I¡¯m just too weak.¡± She admitted.

    ¡°I¡¯d rather have a weak goddess than a ruthless one. The fact that you feel bad about it makes me think you¡¯re not that bad.¡± I said.

    She nodded. I looked to my not-family and moved my way over to Mr. Brutus. I gave him a hug. Kind of, his legs at least. He picked me up and tossed me into the air. It was kind of dangerous, but that was just how we played.

    He caught me just as Zubu, Lorie, and Cosmo chastised him. I giggled as he put me down. ¡°Thank you for teaching me how to be a cultivator, Mr. Brutus. It was a lot of fun.¡± I said.

    ¡°Anytime, kid! You were way more fun to teach than those other little monsters,¡± he said, affectionately ruffling my hair.

    I turned to Lorie next rushing towards her and giving her, her own hug. She hugged me back. ¡°Thank you Lorie for taking care of me. Your food was delicious. I also really like your games.¡± I said remembering the aspect projections we messed around with.

    ¡°You¡¯re very welcome. I also had fun playing with you. My home will always be open to you.¡± She said.

    Last was Zubu. I ran to her and hugged her as well. The hug was a bit rough, but I didn¡¯t want to break down into tears before I got to her. It would be too embarrassing.

    ¡°Geez piss baby, I¡¯ll miss you too.¡± She said.

    ¡°Thank you for caring enough to stop me from doing dangerous things.¡± I cried.

    ¡°You can still stay here. The offer is always open.¡± She said.

    I shook my head. Our hug lasted longer than it needed to. I finally managed to pull away and see the tears on her face. I reached out holding onto her kimono. Then asked Aku for a favor. Zubu watched in confusion as a light began to spread from my chest through my arms and onto her clothing.

    Glowing bands of quintessence and aspects began to weave themselves through the fabric as Aku enchanted the outfit. ¡°There, I kept my promise. Now your clothes have the same enchantments as my kimono.¡± I said.

    ¡°No way! You little shit! How did you do that?¡± She asked excitedly.

    ¡°Aku is a talented girl.¡± I answered.

    ¡°That¡¯s interesting.¡± Said Lorie.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Added Cosmo, sounding a bit too nervous for my liking.

    Next, I held Snowball up to Zubu.

    ¡°What? I can¡¯t take her. She¡¯s your friend right? What are you gonna do if you get nervous or scared?¡± She asked me.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. Snowball has another avatar back in the new world. You can hold on to this one. This way when you sleep with it we¡¯ll be together.¡± I said.

    She smiled through her tears. Taking the doll she gave it a hug. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    I turned back to Cosmo as my anxiety rose. I felt like I was about to willingly jump into an alligator pit. I didn¡¯t even have Snowball to hug anymore. Taking her back would be cruel, so I held my head high and tried my best not to cry anymore. I needed to be strong so that Zubu wouldn¡¯t worry.

    ¡°Alright baby! Lets get you moving.¡± Said the goddess as she took my hand.

    ¡°Hold on.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Said the goddess.

    ¡°Before you go kid there¡¯s a few things you need to know.¡± Said the giant.

    ¡°Like what?¡± I tilted my head in curious confusion. This caused Cosmo to gush.

    ¡°You built a pretty powerful aura. Its way over the 50 layer limit.¡± He said.

    I nodded. ¡°Yeah, it needed to be. That was the only way to fight Cain.¡±

    ¡°Do you know why the layers get easier to build after you create them The first time?¡± He asked as if leading me into a lesson.

    I thought about it. Then tried to power up a few layers to see if I could spot it. Ten layers flared up. They were so easy to make. It was like breathing. Why was that? I didn¡¯t even have to focus that hard.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± I admitted.

    ¡°Right, I see what you¡¯re getting at. It will be a problem I suppose, but we did our best to prepare him.¡± Said Lorie.

    Zubu while still hugging Snowball looked to Mr. Brutus for answers. ¡°What does she mean?¡±

    ¡°Alright, pay attention you two. Especially you kid. This¡¯ll be your last lesson.¡± He said.

    There was always something new to learn. It made me kind of happy. Getting new ways to hurt Squirmy was always welcomed.

    ¡°When a cultivator builds an aura they aren¡¯t just building a cloak over their body. They are using their power to slowly mold their natural aura into layers. Even when their aura is turned off, the layers are still there. Attached to their natural aura. That¡¯s why its easier to activate your aura after the first time.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    Lorie chimed in with her own take. ¡°This is also true of mage auras. This is why over time a mage can gain natural resistances to certain elements.¡±

    I understood the concept and had even come to a similar conclusion back when I was training with Zubu. ¡°I get it, but how is this important? I feel like it''s not that helpful.¡± I said.

    ¡°That''s easy.¡± Cosmo hugged me from behind. ¡°You see Isaac. That means that when you switch back to your other body, your aura won''t carry over.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­.. ooooooh.¡± I said realizing what this meant. ¡°Does that mean I''ll be weak again?¡±

    ¡°Let me put it this way. It¡¯s like hitting the button for a New Game Plus. You¡¯ll basically have to recreate the layers of your aura, but don¡¯t worry there are a few bonuses.¡± Said the goddess.

    ¡°Like what!¡± I yelled clearly upset. I knew my spark was gonna get a reset, but I had no idea my aura would be zeroed out too!

    ¡°Well, the body you currently have is made up of aspects. It¡¯s like a summon. While it is somewhat like your actual body, it¡¯s not the same. For starters you¡¯ll get a boost to your natural physical abilities. Your spark will also be a bit stronger. Maybe not as strong as the one you¡¯ve cultivated in this body, but not too far behind.¡± Explained Cosmo.

    That didn¡¯t sound too bad. ¡°What about magic?¡± I asked. As long as I had that I¡¯d probably be okay.

    ¡°It¡¯ll actually be a bit harder since the world system is actively collecting the raw aspects.¡± Said Lorie.

    ¡°What does that mean?¡± I questioned fearfully.

    ¡°I can explain. Players have dantians too, but theirs are designed to hold essence. In order to make it work. I had to connect their player system enchantments up to the world system enchantment. Basically the world is constantly gathering the aspects and force feeding them to the players. This in turn reduces the essence saturation in the world.¡± Explained Cosmo.

    So in other words. The new world had less essence to go around. That was wonderful. ¡°What was the point in letting me learn magic!¡± I panicked.

    Lorie laughed. ¡°First of all, you¡¯re the one that was so intent on learning magic. Second of all you can still use magic. Just not as quickly, or as easily as you have. Instead of 20 fireballs, it¡¯s 10.¡± Said Lorie.

    That didn¡¯t sound too bad. ¡°Why can¡¯t you just hook me up to the world system instead?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You are a cultivator. With that much corruption you¡¯ll crystallize into a statue before you can even try one of your katas.¡± Said Cosmo.

    ¡°How come players don¡¯t turn into statues though?¡± I asked, trying to find some sort of hole in their logic so that the mean joke would end.

    ¡°Their cultivation technique is simple. It¡¯s like a current inside their bodies. Essence or focus. It flows through them like a water current. Even the essence in their dantian is constantly being replaced¡ªlike a cup in the rain.¡± Said Cosmo.

    That was actually pretty cool. As long as the energy was flowing it couldn¡¯t crystallize. That was kind of how the flowing river worked too. ¡°But you can still control the flow right?¡±

    It had to be that way since different players had different re-gens. ¡°You¡¯re not wrong. The system controls the flow of essence, but unfortunately there¡¯s no off switch, so even if I turn the flow way down, you¡¯ll still end up over flowing the moment you fall asleep, or get distracted.¡± She said.

    Zubu threw in her own two copper coins. Her voice slightly muffled by Snowball¡¯s head. ¡°You do get distracted a lot piss baby.

    I looked back at her and yelled, ¡°Hey! Its not my fault I have so many important thoughts!¡±

    ¡°Right, like when we were training and you thought the sky was falling because of how low the horizon was. If I hadn¡¯t reminded you we were on a mountain, you would have dug a giant hole in the ground.¡± She reminded me.

    ¡°is that why there¡¯s a hole in the walkway now?¡± asked Lorie.

    ¡°That¡¯s not fair I was saving our lives! You can¡¯t blame me for that!¡± I started crying again but only because Lorie had her hand in her robe. I knew she had wrapped her fingers around Le Spoon.

    ¡°Would you stop derailing the plot!¡± yelled Cosmo. She sighed. ¡°Do you understand why I can¡¯t hook you up to the essence flow?¡±

    Realizing this was a way out of a beating, I nodded. ¡°I understand. I¡¯m just trying to figure out my options.¡± I said.

    ¡°Don''t worry kid. Everything will be fine. You should know one more thing. I¡¯d like you to form an aura for me.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    I nodded, then formed my level 1 null aura. It flared to life around my body like a blanket of blue flames. This might be the last time I get to see it.

    ¡°Good job, now I¡¯ll turn mine off.¡± He said as the air around the area began to shimmer. Zubu and I were both surprise, as it appeared we were all standing in Mr. Brutus¡¯s aura.

    The power receded back towards Mr. Brutus and as soon as it passed me, my aura flared for a second time becoming a raging blue. ¡°What is this?¡± I felt so light. Like a feather.

    Mr. Brutus was smiling. ¡°That''s your aura. I''ve been putting pressure on it since you got here. Even when I was gone it still permeated the area. My aura is the type to linger. You are way stronger than you know.¡±

    I smiled at my master. He was helping me build it this whole time, and now that I know how powerful it actually was, I felt confident in my abilities. This was like finding an important game mechanic at the end of the game, only to realize it would have made everything easier if you figured it out forever ago.

    ¡°Wait! You let me fight Cain like that!¡± I complained.

    He laughed. ¡°Oh, don''t think you''re special. Claw boy was under the same pressure.¡±

    ¡°Isaac, I still need to hook you up with the system. Otherwise it¡¯ll try to kill you when you show up. Anything without a system enchantment will be purged. Kind of like how immune systems attacks germs. My admins have a small enchantment on them that prevents it, but for you I need to give you something extra.¡± Said Cosmo.

    ¡°Extra?¡± I questioned.

 Chapter 59 Part 2: Departure

    Cosmo clapped her hands together releasing an extending wave of quintessence. The light spread out like a sea of tiny stars, filling the area with tiny specs of light.

    ¡°Wow!¡± I said as my head nearly twisted itself off in an attempt to encapsulate the whole display.

    Cosmo smiled. ¡°This is only a small aura domain. The fun part starts now.¡± Said the goddess as ribbons of multi colored light began expanding from her hands.

    The bands of light began forming what I could only describe as code. I recognized it. It looked like the same stuff Aku used to enchant stuff, only she didn¡¯t have this level of control.

    While Aku spread her code through an item like the growing roots of mycelium, Cosmo was creating enchantments without directly putting them on an item. It was also far more complex.

    They were like strings of words, weaving themselves together. It was nothing like the letters written in a book. This was a complex layout of code spread out through multiple dimensions, while being layered on top one a another.

    I had no idea where it started or ended, as the letters seemed to fold in on themselves vanishing from reality itself. Where one rune would disappear another would pop up in it¡¯s place.

    Once the enchantment was ready, Cosmo shrunk the domain into a tiny ball. It had such a soft glow that I wasn¡¯t sure if it was still there or not.

    ¡°That was disgusting! What a waste of quintessence!¡± Yelled Lorie as she walked over to Cosmo.

    Cosmo looked all offended. ¡°What, but it was so pretty.¡± She sheepishly complained.

    ¡°That code is garbage, let me see it!¡± She snatched up the ball of light and began stretching it out and condensing it. It was like watching someone play with slime.

    This was far from ascetically pleasing, since she was doing it so angrily. It was almost like watching an angry person fight with a hologram completely destroying the fun illusion it once was.

    ¡°I thought it was cool.¡± I said trying to make Cosmo feel better, while doing it in a way where Lorie might not lash out at me.

    ¡°Don¡¯t kid. It might have looked fancy, but the goddesses enchantment skills aren¡¯t the best. That¡¯s kind of why little Aku was able to trace it.¡± Said Mr. Brutus.

    ¡°Does that mean Aku isn¡¯t a genius?¡± I asked with fear in my voice.

    ¡°She¡¯s still smart. But she learned enchanting from someone that¡¯s not very good at it.¡± Said Mr. Brutus as he ruffled up my hair.

    That made me feel better. For a moment I doubted my daughters abilities. She still managed to undo the enchantments on Cain¡¯s weapon, so it wasn¡¯t like she was bad at it.

    ¡°There we go. That¡¯s much better.¡± Said Lorie before handing the spec back to Cosmo.

    ¡°What is this? It looks so ugly now.¡± Whined the goddess. The ball of light had turned a dark brown and vibrated in an anxiety inducing way¡ªlike flashing lights in a fog.

    Lorie walked away without another word. Cosmo looked over the actual code, making a variety of noises. ¡°Huh¡­ that¡¯s, but how did you account for- oh, wow that¡¯s smart! That saves so much space and time. It¡¯s so compact and it can run for a week with only half a unit of quintessence.¡±

    Maybe Aku can study this enchantment and get better at it. It might be complex, but I''m sure she could figure it out given enough time.

    That was when the goddess turned to me. ¡°Okay. This enchantment will go on your soul. It took me a few days, but I managed to combine parts of the player system enchantment with the admin and NPC versions. You¡¯re a cultivator, so I needed to change things around while still keeping you under control of the world system.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I asked completely confused.

    The goddess sighed. ¡°It¡¯s simple. Your soul is too strong for the regular player system, so I had to upgrade it to the admin one, while replacing the parts that let you go god mode with the NPC and mob systems.¡± She said.

    ¡°Can I still use my inventory?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes, you can. You¡¯ll even have access to the original inventory you had. Including your money. However the system will mark you down as an NPC instead of a player. Which means you won¡¯t be apart of your guild, or have access to any of the guild buffs or systems.¡± She said.

    ¡°The buffs would have been nice, but that¡¯s okay. My guild mates will still be able to access those systems.¡± I said.

    ¡°One other thing. You¡¯ll no longer have a level or access to classes and abilities. It¡¯ll mark your class as cultivator, but that''s just so the system doesn¡¯t purge your Qi.¡± She said.

    ¡°That¡¯s horrible!¡± I complained. I had been planning to spam crazy amounts of spells using the ambient essence in the area. Maybe even use shadow and Luca like batteries to power everything. So much for city leveling magic¡ªlike meteor, sky fall, or black death.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, with the powers of a cultivator you can easily surpass your former abilities. Maybe not right away, but eventually.¡± She explained.

    I guess it was fine. My level progression had been maxed out back in the old world and with those bad stat ratios, my abilities were heavily nerfed. Aku, The Ripper, was no longer as powerful as she once was. Now I had a new progression system. One that could go beyond what the game system allowed.

    ¡°Alright then, lets get going. Once in the cave I¡¯ll enchant your soul and send you home.¡± Said the goddess.

    I was about to walk forward when I got a hug from behind. I could smell her copper-like scent. ¡°Zubu. I have to go.¡± I said.

    ¡°I know.¡± She got close to my ear and whispered something. ¡°Don¡¯t trust the goddess.¡±This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Her words sent a chill down my spine, as Zubu¡¯s core sent an image of Cosmo smiling like a devil. It came with the feeling of a manipulative bitch. I guess I got that feeling too when she cheated during Zubu¡¯s match. It was a bit scary to see how Zubu could abuse my sympathy to send hidden messages.

    I pretended like I hadn¡¯t heard her and smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll see you again. Don¡¯t worry about it. Please get stronger and ascend.¡± I said.

    With that we parted. I waved goodbye to her as I walked with the goddess into the cave. She smiled and made Snowball wave back at me.

    Cosmo held my hand as we strolled through the cave. I kept glancing at my body waiting for the moment it would dissolve. ¡°Is it gonna hurt?¡± I asked nervously.

    ¡°No, its painless. It wont happen until you pass the stone gate.¡± She said.

    ¡°Oh.¡± I responded.

    About a minute into the cave it opened up. At the back was a pile of rocks. Had the cave collapsed? ¡°That doesn¡¯t look right.¡± I said.

    ¡°No, that¡¯s the gate. It¡¯s just not assembled yet.¡± Said Cosmo. She waved her hand and I watched as the stones on the ground began to lift themselves and form a structure.

    Each rock stacked atop one another. Slowly they grew into two towers, as the stones balanced themselves perfectly. The twin towers then leaned into each other forming a perfect archway.

    At first I thought it was some kind of energy or magic holding it together, but it wasn¡¯t that. The rocks were perfectly balanced. I¡¯d seen something like this before. There was a video online of a guy stacking rocks near a river. Finding the perfect balance between them, so that gravity and tension, would hold them perfectly.

    Once the structure was complete, it¡¯s center began to glow ominously. The darkness within it seemed to be unnatural. It was nothing like the portals I¡¯ve seen up to this point. Actually, I don''t think it was a portal.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. It¡¯s just magic. Each of those stones are enchanted with spatial magic. They create a place where Aspects can¡¯t exist. We use it to allow disciples to grow more aware of their souls. It can also be used to create items. Like those crystals Yukio used to purge your corruption.¡± She explained.

    ¡°Why¡¯s it look so scary though?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Well, light is an aspect too. All 5 senses are basically useless in there. The only thing that works is your sixth sense. The one that let¡¯s you see inside yourself and maybe even beyond, if you train it up enough.¡± Explained Cosmo.

    ¡°What about things like time and space?¡± I asked.

    Cosmo giggled. ¡°You are such a curious child, aren¡¯t you? It''s so cute.¡± She said.

    ¡°It¡¯s not curiosity. It¡¯s fear. I don¡¯t understand it so it scares me. I just want to not be afraid.¡± I said.

    ¡°You need to relax a little. Knowing everything is exhausting. Sometimes being afraid can be fun.¡± She said.

    She had a point. Not about the fun part, just that I needed to stop overthinking. I took a deep breath and said, ¡°Okay. In that case. Do you think I can gain another skill from this thing. You say you send disciples in to figure out their sixth sense. Can that be useful to me?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It can be, but to train it up would take a long time. The cave can however unlock it for you. It¡¯s what they call the third dantian, or the minds eye.¡± She said.

    Suddenly the fear I felt was gone, as a new feeling of excitement came over me. ¡°for realziez!¡± I squeaked.

    Cosmo sighed. ¡°Let¡¯s just send you back.¡± She said.

    ¡°Come on! I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be useful in the future! Please, please, please, I really want it!¡± I begged. I hung from her dress and whined like a toddler crying for candy at a super market.

    She gave in immediately. ¡°Well, I suppose it won¡¯t hurt. It¡¯ll also fix that horrible transfer sequence.¡±

    I felt so happy knowing I wouldn¡¯t have to suffer those railroad spikes again. It was so worth it. Just for that reason alone.

    ¡°When you go through the gate try to focus on your soul. Figure out which way your dantian is. Then go in the opposite direction. Try to find your third eye and open it. Even if you only open it a little that¡¯s enough to awaken it. I won''t wait for you to open it so you better move fast.¡± She explained.

    I took it all in like a drowning man guzzling down water. ¡°That¡¯s so cool! Okay!¡± I said.

    ¡°You¡¯re a cultivator so you won¡¯t get much use out of it. Now, If you were a psychic, then you could do all sorts of things. It¡¯s kind of how cultivator¡¯s can cast magic, only way less efficient. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t recommend it.¡± She said.

    ¡°I understand. I just want as many options as possible. Even if I cant use it right away. I might need it in the future.¡± I said.

    ¡°You might be erased fighting Squirmy, yet you¡¯re already planning ahead of it. I guess that means you¡¯re confident. That¡¯s good. There¡¯s nothing scarier than a confident Isaac.¡± She said.

    ¡°Yeah, Squirmy is a big issue, but he isn¡¯t the final boss.¡± I said. I may have been a bit too on the nose about it causing Cosmo¡¯s smile to wane, but I turned towards the gate ignoring the subtle hints of her body language.

    ¡°I see¡­ Well, we should get moving then. You only have about 15 minutes before you reach the point where you won¡¯t be able to heal yourself,¡± she said.

    I felt panic rise in my chest. ¡°let¡¯s go!¡± I yelled taking hold of Cosmo¡¯s hand once more and pulling her forward. She giggled as we went through the inky dark gate.

    I immediately felt sick as my body melted into fuzzy light. It was like I¡¯d turned into vomit. Oh god! Where¡¯s my mouth? How do I throw up!

    I freaked out as I tried to move around only to find that I no longer had those connections. I started to hyper ventilate when I realized that not only could I not scream, but I was also unable to breathe.

    ¡°I can¡¯t feel anything! Oh my Cosmo! What the fuck! Help!¡± I cried not out loud or in my mind, but in a void like state where I existed and simultaneously didn¡¯t exist. I was now the fabric of the universe.

    Desperately I tried my best to hold my individual parts together only for them to be stretched out into infinity. It was like trying to keep water from escaping a glass with no bottom or walls.

    Eventually those parts completely faded away and I was alone with only my thoughts to keep me company. I found that breathing was no longer an issue, as in I didn''t actually need to breathe.

    That¡¯s odd. Was that me?

    I saw or felt or¡­ something, a ball of vibrating energy. Focusing in on it. It looked like this was my soul. The frequency painted a strange picture. Like a planet, but odd.

    The northern part of it had been stretched out through what felt like a hole in reality. Inspecting my soul, I found that the inside was completely hollow. The whole thing was shaped like a sphere.

    Wait, what¡¯s that?

    There was something vibrating inside the hole. It was faint but all consuming. Wait what am I doing? I need to unlock the third eye thing!

    Uh, let¡¯s see¡­. That over there looks like my dantian. It was like a star orbiting my soul. Its frequency felt like a rotating fire. Cool, it¡¯s kind of like the sun of my inner world. The eye thing must be¡­ Oh, there it is.

    My third eye had a much lower frequency. Thanks to the frequency my mind was able to make out its actual shape and structure. It was like a gray stone covered in bands of icy cold metal. I guess that would make it like the moon of my inner world. Now how do I open it?

    I tried interacting with it and could feel¡­ something. The metallic rocky sphere was like a limb I¡¯d never seen, or used before. Now that I knew where it was. It wouldn¡¯t be hard to try and interact with it.

    It was like when my kidneys first started to hurt and I figured out they were on my lower back. They had so many nerves yet I never paid them any mind until I actually felt them.

    Of course knowing they were there didn¡¯t give me some sort of power. It simply told me not to sleep on them, or at least to sleep on my side and alternate positions so that they wouldn¡¯t hurt in the morning.

    I began to focus, as bands of light began to wrap around my soul. That must have been Cosmo putting in the player system. I ignored it as I worked on opening the eye.

    The rock began to shake as if an earthquake was ravaging it¡¯s tectonic plates. The amount of focus I now had was ridiculous. It was like being in a body had held back my mind.

    Automatic breathing. Automatic heart beat. Feel, taste, touch, sight, smell. It all took up bandwidth. Like a magnifying glass, I was able to laser focus my mind onto the task of opening my third eye.

    Even then I was only able to open it a tiny crack. That¡¯s when I heard Cosmo¡¯s voice. ¡°it¡¯s time to go.¡±

    Just like that my soul snapped like a frozen rubber band melting in room temperature. The stored kinetic energy sent me flying across the cosmos as my soul collapsed back into itself.

 Episode 59 part 3: Fussy

    I felt my very being coming back together, as my soul contracted across time and space. I even managed to briefly see that hellish claymation world Cosmo called purgatory. It was still covered in blood and gore.

    Lucky for me I only saw it in passing, as the blue void showed itself to me once more. This was far different from when I was first transferred across time and space. No longer was my soul bombarded by violent cosmic noise.

    With my third eye, the multiverse opened up to me in a whole new way, revealing parts of itself I didn¡¯t even know were possible. It was enormous.

    I was even able to see the edges of reality. Passed the spider web of universes. Passed the primordial energy. At the farthest reaches of reality was nothing but a void. Not a black or blue void, but straight up just nothingness.

    Actually, I wasn¡¯t sure, but I swear I could see some kind of movement out there. I didn''t want to get the attention of whatever that was, so I focused more on reality.

    The entirety of the blue void looked kind of like a donut. At its center was total darkness. It almost looked like a black fabric of some kind. It glowed and moved like it was alive. I didn''t get to make it out completely as my range of vision began shrinking.

    The universe grew small, as I took a breath and started coughing Uncontrollably. My sight was blurry, but I was very familiar with that shade of red. This had to be the new world. I made it back.

    Just as the world began to render I was met with a wave of pain only serving to ground myself deeper in reality. I couldn''t move my body. It was too painful. This was worse than when the bear crushed me.

    I almost screamed, but stopped myself when I remembered the monsters outside. I need to fix myself. Don''t pass out, focus.

    Reaching with what little mental bandwidth I had. I found my greatly reduced dantian. It was smaller and my spark was hardly visible. I pulled drawing out that thick soup of null Qi.

    Weaving the lose stands into a braid, I cycled them threw my meridians in a pretzel-like star pattern. With zero corruption in my lay lines, the power flowed perfectly. Blue flames flared to life around me, as the resonance of my Qi and body produced an energy field across the surface of my skin.

    There was enough Qi flowing through me for a level one aura, but the foundation wasn''t refined enough to work as anything, but a slight physical enhancement. It was much like the aura I created when fighting Zubu when we first met¡ªlike a weak flame in the wind.

    I began gathering the life aspects from the growing puddle of blood. Then fed them into my erratic behaving shell. Immediately, I felt my body begin to mend itself. It hurt so much, as my bones realigned themselves. Each individual part grinding together, until they were back in the right place.

    My vision started to clear as my blood loss situation was fixed. I kept drawing in the life aspects. Eventually switching to a chicken soup aura, once I was able to focus again.

    It took far longer than I was hoping for, but my body was finally whole. The chicken soup aura cleaned me and even parts of the room, as the golden energy leaked out my broken aura¡ªlike a deflating bouncy house.

    That was when I noticed my clothes were different. ¡°Hold on. That¡¯s odd. Where did these bloomers come from?¡± I asked no one as I lifted my dress to get a better look.

    I didn¡¯t hate them. They were almost like boxers but frilly. I bet Centa had something to do with it. It wasn¡¯t a bad choice. At least now I can jump around and not worry about flashing people.

    I pulled myself to my feet. My body felt¡­ different. Solid was a good word for it. No it wasn''t my body that was different. It was more like the world was different. Before I felt like I was apart of the world, but now, it was like the world was made of paper, like I was in a dream. There was way more momentum to my movements.

    I swung my fists a few times while bobbing and weaving intermittently, as if shadow boxing. I through in a back flip and a few cartwheels for good measure. It felt good.

    My body felt much sturdier, as if my bones were replaced with combustion powered metal pistons giving me the mass and inertia of an old 2000 Toyota Camry.

    I hopped a few times around the room. Then frowned when I realized my shoes no longer lit up. All I had now were these boring blue Marry Jane¡¯s. ¡°Lame.¡± I whined.

    Now to check and see if the menu works. As soon as I had the thought, a pink screen popped into my view. It looked like a menu, but not any I¡¯d ever seen before.

    The design was a bit too childish. Almost like one of those parental apps that turn your phone or tablet into a kid friendly brain rot machine. It was a bit embarrassing and I knew this was something I¡¯d only bring out in privacy.

    I was so upset that I pouted and began muttering, ¡°Stupid goddess.¡± I stomped my foot ¡°I¡¯m not a little girl.¡± I let out a ¡°humpf¡± as I crossed my arms and brought up my status.

    Character name: [Aku] (NPC)

    Type: [Princess]

    Sex: [F]

    Age: [5] (child)

    Personality traits: [Curious, Sympathetic, empathetic, spiteful, apathy, cute, cruel, kind, quirky, intelligent, social anxiety, anxiety in general, ADHD, broken mind, over thinker, pervert, *schizophrenia, *slight incontinence, madness, persistent, autistic, overactive imagination, Peter pan syndrome, trauma, PTSD, paranoia, observant, DID]

    Primary personality trait: [Fussy baby]

    I couldn''t even get to my actual stats before I started to throw a tantrum. ¡°What?¡± I said aloud. I was so offended! ¡°What do you mean five! I¡¯m 9 and a half at least! Stupid goddess¡­ I mean 39.¡± I shook my head, ¡°Why does it say I¡¯m a fussy baby! I am not!¡± I fussed.

    This was so dumb! ¡°How is ¡®slight incontinence¡¯ a personality trait! It¡¯s not even true you dumb bimbo! I have a small bladder! It takes time to adjust! Anyway, I don¡¯t even have that issue anymore!¡± I yelled angrily. I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment.

    It made me so self conscious that I suddenly felt like peeing, except I was 100% sure I didn''t actually have to go, Last time I got stressed out about it, I had a similar feeling, only to go to the bathroom and push nothing out.

    It was only the stress and embarrassment that made me feel this way. Stupid body making up problems I don''t actually have, or was it my mind playing tricks on me? Like when I don''t have to go at all and then five minutes later I¡¯m about to burst.

    Just in case it wasn''t all in my head, I went into the back of the building where the restroom was and tried to go, only for nothing to come out. I knew it was a trick! I''m not a piss baby like Zubu says!

    Actually, there have been a few close calls, but that was because I was busy preparing to save the world! I even made sure to drink less water so I wouldn¡¯t have to go to the bathroom every hour.

    To be honest, it was actually a very concerning problem I¡¯ve been ignoring out of embarrassment. I really didn¡¯t want to admit it, or even ask someone for help. I¡¯d totally die of embarrassment if I did that.

    That was also why I refused to drink water before bed. Especially after what happened that one morning with Shadow. The whole thing stressed me out. Which only added fuel to the fire.

    I felt tears in the corners of my eyes as I realized ¡®Fussy Baby¡¯ was set as my primary trait. Meaning when people looked at my stats it¡¯ll only show that trait. Why was I a princess type NPC? Cosmo better not turn me into an escort quest.

    ¡°I swear she did it on purpose.¡± I cried.

    I sat on the floor and hugged my knees as my body began to sniffle and whimper uncontrollably. The tears in my eyes were so thick that I was momentarily blind. I cried like a baby¡­ I mean like a grown man. Then began to whine and mutter between sobs.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have Peter pan syndrome. That¡¯s just Aku.¡± *sob* ¡°Why was everyone so mean to me?¡± *sob* ¡°What¡¯s with all the mental illnesses.¡± *Sniffle* ¡°schizophrenia And slight incontinence had an asterisk. Did that mean she wasn¡¯t sure?¡±

    I¡¯ve already admitted to being crazy, but I couldn¡¯t be schizo crazy right? Now that I think about it my psychiatrist never told me what she thought was wrong with me. Even Alice wouldn¡¯t talk about it. I bet it was to spare my feelings.

    To be honest I¡¯ve never really wanted to know. I would just pretend everything was fine. I really didn¡¯t want the stress. For me stress was stressful, so it only made sense Alice would hide it from me.

    Was I really the best person for the job? Yeah right, I was the only person available. Who was I kidding, even Alice thought I was weak. I¡¯ve only been pretending to be strong.

    The question I had now¡­ was I pretending to be an adult pretending to be a kid, or was I an adult pretending to be a kid? I didn''t know. I wasn¡¯t even sure if these were my emotions or Aku¡¯s.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    Closing my salty wet eyes I focused on myself. On my soul. That tiny little castle shaped hat attached to a hollow world. Getting a glimpse of the truth made me recoil in trauma. I didn''t want to believe it, so I threw that knowledge into the hole.

    I shook my head back and forth before slamming it into the floor board¡¯s. ¡°Be normal! Be normal! Cos Dammit! I haven''t fixed anything!¡± I panicked.

    In the end Squirmy had only fed off my misery. The memories that created that pain were still there. Still bleeding. I cant do it. I cant be an adult right now. I need to step behind the screen.

    The world nearly turned dark again. That was until I pulled myself away and allowed the child like persona I¡¯d cultivated for so long to play the part of the hero. Another coping mechanism, there¡¯s so many now. It was necessary if I was going to save the world.

    Mind at ease, I took another look at my stats. I needed to see what these new stats and numbers meant. It was just a video game. Ignoring the traits I went right into the juicy stuff.

    Level: [1/1] (Max)

    HP: [11.00/11.00] Re-gen: [0.01] (M)

    Qi: [97.30%] Re-gen: [0.30%] (M)

    Class: [Cultivator]

    Profession: [N/A]

    Affinity: [Null]

    Strength level: [1] Base: [1.2]

    Vitality level: [1] Base: [10+1]

    Dexterity level: [1] Base: [6]

    Perception level: [1] Base: [8]

    Essence control: [6]

    Dantian: [3]

    Spark: [1]

    Resistances: [N/A]

    I knew all my stat points would be gone, but I wasn¡¯t expecting a new stat system. I guess wisdom and intelligence were replaced by essence control, dantian, and spark. Resistance? What was that about. Was that like defense? What about attack power? DPS?

    Now that I thought about it, I guess it made sense. I really couldn¡¯t level up anymore. My stats were only there to give a rough estimate of my growth. My stat ratios were kind of insane though.

    My vitality was higher than what it was before ascension. It was actually at a normal amount for once. Still, with only one level to vitality, I was basically left with my base HP, which just so happened to be less than what I had before ascending. Back then my base vitality was at 1.

    What was the +1 though? ¡°Oh, yeah! I forgot about the ring.¡± I looked at the silver metal band on my ring finger. It was the ring of vitality given to me by one of the NPCs in town. It only increased my base vitality by 1, but was pretty OP when I only had a Base of one. Now it was less needed, but still welcomed.

    It looked like all my stat ratios had been multiplied by 10. That checked out with what Zubu said. Every time I ascend I¡¯ll get 10 times stronger. It was like going from a one star character to a two star character.

    This also meant each level in vitality with my new ratios would net me 2 hit points instead of the messed up one hit point every 5 levels.

    As for my strength. A normal human usually had it at a 0.4 or 0.3. I was around 2 times stronger than the average human adult. Which was insane when you realized how small I was. If I was an adult I couldn¡¯t imagine how strong I¡¯d be. Maybe a 4 or 3?

    If I could still level my strength, it would go up by¡­ ¨C I counted my fingers - 0.24 for each stat point I gained. That meant my 1.2 would turn into a 1.44. That¡¯s pretty good. My brain seemed to salivate at the thought.

    (Authors note: originally 1 level in stats would double the base stat. Turning her 1.2 into a 2.4, but for power scaling reasons, that felt like too much of a power boost for one level. Now it only goes up by 20% which is 0.24 turning her 1.2 into a 1.44.

    There¡¯s a few things I need to change from Episode 7 and 3, but it¡¯s basically along the same lines. I ended up doing a lot of math and wanted to make sure I got it right. Making a stat system has taken up a lot more time than I expected.

    I believe in episode 3 it was stated that Isaac¡¯s vitality went up by one for ever level in vitality. That needs to change to a 0.20 meaning one HP for every 5 levels.)

    I shouldn¡¯t think like that. I wasn¡¯t a player anymore. The player stat levels were just their auras being regulated by the system. Which means¡­ which means¡­ I should be able to increase my stat levels simply by adjusting my aura!

    While keeping the stat windows open, I quickly recreated my null aura, but this time I built it in layers. It came somewhat easy to me.

    I remembered when it was actually a lot harder to do this. Back then I didn''t know what the hell I was doing and without the whole picture it was like a blind man trying to find a bathroom in an empty mall.

    I did my best to add layers on top like I normally did and found my limit at 15. That wasn¡¯t bad considering I had to start over. With the aura in place I glanced at my stat sheet and saw an improvement.

    Instead of my strength level being 1 it shot up to 75. My mouth fell open. ¡°That¡¯s insane!¡± I heard the sound of something scratching at the walls. I held my mouth shut hoping those monsters hadn¡¯t heard me.

    Nothing happened, so I relaxed. Then immediately started to ramble in my mind. 75! That''s like¡­. 18 in strength! What the Claymation! Off of only 15 layers? That''s like¡­ 5 levels per layer!

    Was I this strong this whole time? No, Cosmo said I¡¯d be physically stronger in this body. It¡¯s hard to tell by how much, but something tells me my stat ratio on Chik¨± was way less than what it is now.

    Was that why Zubu could overpower me so easily with physical strength? With her size and rank she would probably be around 2, or a little over that in her base strength. I just thought it was because she was bigger, but the difference between us was a good amount. I guess it made sense.

    Dexterity and vitality had similar numbers allocated to them. Actually, the levels kept fluctuating. It was most likely due to my messy aura. That¡¯s odd, perception didn¡¯t go up at all. Yeah, that¡¯s probably because I haven¡¯t improved my eye sight yet. I¡¯ll try that in a bit, but first. I wonder¡­

    Using intent my aura shifted becoming more lean, as I tried to focus on boosting my speed. I watched my status as my strength and vitality, dropped by 25 points each, while my dexterity went up to 125. Interesting.

    I thought about defense and felt my aura become a bit denser. The numbers on the pink screen shifted over to my vitality. Boosting my health from 165 to 275.

    I did the same with strength and the same thing happened. That would turn that 18 into¡­. 30! This was all before creating a level one aura. What would happen if I added in aspects? Would my stats go up, or would it mark it down as some sort of buff?

    For that matter where did resistance come from? Maybe I needed gear for that. Oh, yeah, didn¡¯t that kimono have resistance enchants. I bet that¡¯s what it is, or perhaps its that thing Lorie said about mages gaining elemental resistances from using mage auras?

    I shut my aura down to keep myself from burning through my Qi. With a small stable aura it only burned 1.2% of my Qi in the short time I had it active. As much as I wanted to run out there and start killing stuff. I first needed to figure out my abilities. I tried cycling Qi to my eyes and managed to see the hidden world once more.

    My perception had gone up to level 20. That was disappointing. I guess I wasn¡¯t very good at it. Now that I think about it. I was never able to see very far with that ability. I¡¯m pretty sure Zubu could see almost a mile away. She rarely used it, but she was always able to find me before bed time. Even when I did my best to hide from her.

    Glancing around, I was surprised to find that the world wasn¡¯t as vibrant as what I saw on Chik¨±. There actually seemed to be a dark mist over everything, making it hard to see very far.

    Actually, now that I really looked at it. There was some kind of dark cloak on top of me. It was weighing me down. It Must have been some kind of de-buff. I hadn¡¯t noticed it because I was in an unfamiliar body and thought that feeling was natural.

    I tried activating my aura and watched as the cloud was pushed away slightly. It acted just like Mr. Brutus¡¯s gravitational aura. Except it had way more Ill intent. Mr. Brutus¡¯s aura felt like being under the pressure of a giants boot. Meanwhile this stuff was more like being covered in a heavy poisonous gas.

    I attempted to peer through the miasma. It was a bit hard, but with some effort and a bit more Qi, I managed to see a few things. There was hundreds of those monsters around. I was pretty much surrounded, but they hadn¡¯t noticed me yet.

    I drew in a few heat aspects, along with wind and momentum. It took me twice as long, but I managed it. It was almost like they wanted to scatter. Holding onto them took focus and strong willpower.

    Forming the spell circle for a fireball I created a small nova. At least I could still cast. Just not as fast as before. Let¡¯s see. ¡°Inventory¡± I thought, causing a pink screen to show itself before me.

    ¡°Wait¡­ where¡¯s my stuff?¡± I tried refreshing the page to no avail. That¡¯s when I remembered what Centa told me. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right!¡± I whisper yelled.

    That stupid Centa sold all my stuff! This sucks so much! What is this stuff, plushies? No, summons. ¡°What the hell, even if I had my old character sheet I¡¯ve never leveled summoner once.¡±

    I scrolled through the item list hopping to find something useful. Why is all this stuff just straight up garbage. There¡¯s nothing useful here. ¡°Oh! How could I forget! Please be here!¡± I scanned the items one after the other hopping to find her.

    Surely enough, there she was. With a tap of the screen, Snowball manifested into my arms. ¡°Hey, Snowball. Sorry for the wait.¡± I said.

    ¡°About time!¡± She complained. ¡°Do you have any idea what it¡¯s like to be stuck in a place with no time, no heat, no cold! Zero sensation at all! It¡¯s absolute torture! Imagine not existing, but existing at the same time while needing to poo and not having a litterbox around!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m s-¡° I didn''t get to finish my apology, as I felt something warm on my arm. Giving it a look I saw a dark brown mush smeared on my forearm . ¡°Ew!¡± I cried.

    Snowball laughed as I shook my arm only for the stuff to disappear a moment later. ¡°ha! Got you!¡± laughed Snowball.

    ¡°Snowball don''t do that!¡± I cried, before remembering the situation we were in. I shushed her. ¡°You need to be quiet or they¡¯ll hear us.¡±

    ¡°Oh, my bad.¡± She apologized.

    I gave her a few pets and hugs to make myself feel better. It worked a little, but there was still so much to do.

    I continued to look through my inventory and found something I wasn¡¯t expecting. I hit manifest and watched as an evil looking teddy bear flashed into existence. ¡°Grothug? Cool. This is actually pretty rare. To bad I can¡¯t use it, or even resell it since all these summons are soul bound.¡±

    I looked over it¡¯s stats and was caught off guard by the note tab. The note tab was a place where you could attach information to an item. Most players used it as a way to write down a fun memory associated with the item. Sometimes players would put there signatures in and gift the item to fellow players.

    This note however was different.

    Note: This bear belongs to Centa. His name is Kuma. If found please return him to Centa.

    I was met with the final memories of my sister. She was right there, but I couldn¡¯t do a thing and here I was complaining about her selling my stuff. I¡¯d give it all up again if I could go back and save her.

    Looking Kuma over he looked a bit sad. ¡°It¡¯s okay Mr. Kuma. I''m gonna save her.¡± Snowball and I gave him a hug. I think he appreciated it.

    I put Mr. Kuma back in my inventory and kept looking for more stuff. Farther down I found the sword Cindy had given me. It also had a note attached. One I hadn¡¯t seen before.

    Note: To the empress of Entropy. Take this sword and keep the country safe. We¡¯re all counting on you, lady Aku.

    -Cindy

    P.S if you sell this sword after I graciously gifted it to you, know that I¡¯ll hunt you down and use you as an anvil.

    ¡°Keep everyone safe.¡± I muttered. Had I really done that? I put everyone in danger. I¡¯ll just have to make up for it. I guess.

    I dropped it back in my inventory, knowing I could easily recall it if needed. I was almost at the bottom of the list. There was no way there¡¯d be any other useful items, but I might as well check.

    I scrolled down and like I thought there wasn¡¯t anything else I could use, but there was something. At the very bottom of the list was a picture. One I thought was apart of a dream.

    One flash of light later and I was met with a picture of me and Alice smiling. I was hugging her mid section. I remember this day. It wasn¡¯t that long ago. How Cosmo got a picture I had no idea. It was a lovely day at the park.

    ¡°Alice¡­¡± I put the picture back as a tear rolled down my cheek.

    My aura flared to life as I headed towards the door. My sword flashed into my hand as heat, wind, and momentum aspects began to gather into spell circles. I knew there were monsters on the other side, but I didn¡¯t care. I wanted them to hear me. I wanted them to come.

    I kicked the door open and yelled, ¡°Fight me!¡±

 Episode 60 Part 1: Go Back

    As soon as I stepped outside, all eyes were on me. Before I had made my sudden entrance, they were marching down the street, but now. The centipedes were frozen in place. Watching me with their blood thirsty eyes. This was almost like that nightmare I had back in Chik¨±.

    A quick scan with my Qi sight told me there were at least six of them in front of me, and several more down the street. I wasted no time. Using the confusion, I fired off the two low powered fireball spells, I had previously conjured into reality.

    The two novas were aimed at the farther two of the bugs. One fireball instantly landed and as a result, expanded in a hungry blaze. While the other red nova was easily avoided. That centipede seemed to show a bit more intelligence than the on that got hit.

    The nearest three lunged at me in hopes of pinching me with their mandates and injecting their poisonous stingers into my body. There attempts failed, when I jumped over them resulting in the demons slamming their chitin covered heads into the building behind me. Thus causing the wall and roof to collapse over their heads, creating a dust cloud in the process.

    As soon as one of my feet touched the ground, I pivoted on my heel and dashed forward, swinging my blade while closing the distance between me and the closest mob. With my Qi sight I was able to spot their weak points easily. With their tiny souls one good hit was enough to turn them into dust.

    My sword bit down into the monsters red belly as the blades aura elongated causing the cut to expand deep into the bugs mass. During its last moments, The centipede had released a cloud of poison, but that wasn¡¯t a problem thanks to the wind aspects in my aura, providing me with my own circulation of air.

    It''s body turned to dust as it¡¯s purple cloud of poison expanded like a terrible grunge band, with a fog machine on their first gig at the old folks home.

    I used the gas to my advantage and hid within it. From there I moved around the street cutting one centipede down after the other, until the only ones I could see were a few blocks away.

    Feeling warmed up, I hopped up onto one of the buildings to get a better look around. My Qi sight helped tremendously as it pointed out the monsters perfectly.

    It was still hard to see most stuff, but with a bit of focus it was doable, especially since that miasma couldn¡¯t cling to me with my aura active.

    It wasn¡¯t hard to tell the bugs apart from people. Their souls were tiny and were made of antessence. There were also people down that way, and the giant bug was in the opposite direction.

    It looked like there was some magic shielding set up. There were several of them linked together forming a wall around the area. That was smart. In-game we would do something similar to contain the fighting in a single area.

    This kept a lot of our buildings from being destroyed and even helped us set up traps and the like. After all, attacking a wall of retaliation fire would only cause the durability of your gear to go down. Damage over time was the worst for durability.

    The odd thing was that that type of shield had no way of retaliation. What was that about? Did shadow and Luca think of a different way to take Squirmy out or was this just bad planning?

    The only benefit I could think of was that that type of shield did have a lot more durability. It could be upgraded into a damaging shield, but the options weren''t great.

    The people down there were fighting off the invading mobs. Their team work was pretty good. Where did they even come from? There souls are odd. That¡¯s no mortal rank soul. What the hell did that mean?

    Were Cosmo¡¯s people already here? They were kind of weak though. I wonder, are they NPCs? Cosmo said their system was designed for stronger souls. That would also explain why NPC levels were so much more OP than player levels.

    Where did a group like that come from though? That was when I remembered the soldiers I¡¯d summoned a week ago¡­ or was that last night? Time isn¡¯t real.

    They were already mobilized and working in perfect sync. If the system was the same as in game then a night of stat training probably gave them several points in their physical stats. That was good.

    Was that why the shields were like that? Oh, I get it now! The mobs aren¡¯t the real threat! It¡¯s the boss! While Shadow and Luca could easily take down the mobs themselves. It made more sense to farm the exp. Because when it came time to fight the boss. They were gonna need a raid party.

    My guild mates did a great job while I was gone. I¡¯m so happy I don¡¯t have to deal with this stuff by myself. I¡¯m an idiot. The weight of the world wasn¡¯t on my shoulders. It was on everyone¡¯s. In that case I just need to do my part.

    I glanced over towards the Boss. It was huge, but I bet it¡¯s weak to fire. If I can light it, it¡¯ll slowly burn to death. It¡¯s not like Squirmy had a spell that could put out flames.

    The only body of water capable of putting them out is on the other side of the city. That sort of travel wouldn¡¯t work with the quarantine wall.

    ¡°Considering how big the soul is, that has to be the main body.¡± I said aloud.

    There was no way it was in the lower spirit ranks. Squirmy¡¯s soul was bigger than Cain¡¯s. How was that¡­ oh, right. Squirmy was eating human souls. How many did he go through to get that strong!

    The thought made me very angry. Squirmy had already assimilated so many people. I couldn¡¯t save them anymore. They were already gone. All that was left to do was to save the people that were still around and hope that my friends were still alive.

    I¡¯ll attack the main body first. Maybe I can end this quickly before he has time to get any stronger. Even if I cant kill that thing, at the very least I might be able to figure out a strategy and pass it along to the raid party. Attack patterns, abilities, weaknesses, weak spots. Whatever it takes.

    My feet erupted as they exploded with Qi pulses. My strength and speed were on a whole other level, as I dashed towards my target. As much as I wanted to find everyone and make sure they were okay. It was better to gather information first. The most dangerous part was the main body after all.

    Each Qi pulse caused the roof of the building I was on to collapse. As long as my guild stood, the city could be rebuilt. As I went, I gathered up aspects feeding heat, wind, momentum, earth, and water into my aura. While working to build up it¡¯s layers.

    Each layer grew in somewhat messy. It took time to break it down and reform it, but once it had that solid steel texture, I could move on to the next layer. Each layer was annoying to build and was progressively harder to make with each stack.

    I needed to prepare my attack for Squirmy, so I began building a fireball spell. Not just any fireball, but an advanced magic fireball. One night while I was studying after dinner. Right after Lorie and Zubu did the dishes. Lorie caught me looking at a type of magic I shouldn¡¯t have.

    -A few days ago-

    To my frustration Lorie pulled my book away. ¡°Child, you are far to young to be playing with this level of magic. Besides without a mana lens it would be nearly impossible to control a spell like that. Where did you even find this?¡±

    I stretched my arms and legs while yawning, then put my head down on the table like a child coming back to their desk, after playing outside during a hot hour of recess.

    The cold table felt good on my throbbing head. ¡°Lorie, can you at least tell me what it is?¡± I asked feeling tired after a long day of playing with Zubu.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    Lorie sighed. ¡°Well, since you''ve already read it, I''d rather clear it up so your not confused. This is called advanced magic. It¡¯s like going from a calculator to a computer. The main difference being the double circle and the amount of runes put into it.¡± She explained.

    Even though I was tired I immediately shot up with interest. ¡°Wow! So its more complicated magic then?¡±

    ¡°Not necessarily. Think of it like this. You can create a more powerful fireball by injecting more aspects and void into the spell, but this puts strain on the spell. The runes aren¡¯t capable of holding that much power, so the spell can break. You were close to doing that when you made that yellow fireball. At that point you were at the limit of how much you can put in.¡± She explained.

    ¡°I see. So the CPU can¡¯t handle the information load.¡± I worded it in a way that made the most sense to me. ¡°Then how do you get around it? Do you add more connectors and containment runes? I could also make the spell circle much bigger.¡± I asked.

    ¡°Your not wrong. It can help with spell stability, but it can also mess up the flow of power within the spell. Let me show you what advanced magic does.¡± Lorie showed me an example by creating a fireball magic circle. It was big with bold lines, so I would be able to see it better.

    Containment, connector, wind, connector, amplification, delay connector, heat, connector, amplification. Delay connector, momentum, connector, amplification, end connector.

    ¡°Watch closely child¡± She began adding heat, wind and amplification runes with connectors between them. This made the spell circle grow in size. The other runes just kept shrinking to make room. The spell powered up only for the runes to destroy the outer ring of the spell causing the whole thing to erupt into violent flame aspects.

    Lorie with all her knowledge, skill, and control managed to contain the backlash within the palm of her hand. The small explosion frightened me, causing me to jump in my seat and nearly fall over.

    As soon as I got over it my curiosity took hold of me. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked, somewhat disappointed.

    ¡°The power of the runes over powered the magic container. When making spells one needs to account for the power of the runes. In such cases you need to add a third layer to the containment circle.¡± She began to recreate the spell, but this one had another circle added to the outer ring. Within that circle was even more runes.

    Oddly enough. Instead of the first circle ending in a end connector rune. It had a connector that was ¡®T¡¯ shaped. As she poured power into the spell the runes lit up one after another. She was powering it slowly, so I could see the flow of magic.

    When the power reached the T¡¯ connector. It went into the second circle connecting directly into a second Containment rune. The power continued until it hit the final end rune. With that a fat red nova appeared in the center.

    To my surprise, It was so stable. So big, yet it felt like it was only in the first stage of its power. While it didn''t rage out violently, this one seemed to have so much more stability than a normal fireball.

    If a normal fireball was just called a fire ball, then this one could be called a greater fireball. Maybe I could poor a lot more power into this one. Something above a Solarball.

    ¡°Just so you know a cultivator like yourself should never try this kind of magic, at least not until your control over essence gets twice as good. Promise me you won¡¯t mess with it. It could go horribly wrong.¡± She warned.

    ¡°I promise on my bastard of a brother¡¯s life.¡± I sincerely swore.

    ¡°Good girl.¡± She patted my head causing a wave of gleeful joy to rush through me. ¡°Wait, I thought you hated your brother. Well, I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t wish his death.¡±

    -Present-

    It wasn¡¯t my fault. I made it pretty clear how I felt about my brother, but Lorie seemed to think I was a good person. In reality I think I was around neutral. It¡¯s almost like she wanted me to play with dangerous magic.

    That''s probably what it was. She just didn''t want to seem irresponsible. How was I supposed to know she was being serious. According to my stat sheet I was just a little girl, so how would I know. Worst case scenario I melt my belly button shut. I¡¯m okay with that since I shouldn¡¯t have one to begin with.

    The first magic circle took little time to form. It was the second one that felt very forced. Once I got the extra runes in, the spell seemed to lock in place. The magic itself was slow at building up. The lack of aspects made it burn like an idle cigarette.

    The spell didn¡¯t need to be made right away. I still had time before I reached that asshole. I suspended the spell allowing it to linger in the background. Then began making my way by jumping over the roof tops.

    Just as I jumped to the next building an alley lurking centipede launched itself up onto the roof from the other side. As soon as it spotted me it lurched forward for a cobra strike. I gathered up the aspects for a platform and managed to block its path.

    Its body crumpled against the platform creating spider web-like cracks on its surface. Using the confusion, I dashed forward slashing at its body and reducing it to ash. It''s cries attracted other mobs nearby. They tripped over themselves trying to get up onto the roof.

    I readied my blade as the first two mobs climbed onto the roof. Working in tangent they released a spray of green acid. I used a weakened version of my caterpillar aura to weave in and out of the green liquid. It hit the tiles melting them on contact.

    Wasting no time I moved in for a killing strike. My aura coated blade cut through chitin reducing the demon into dust. I quickly turned to the other centipede only to see it lunge at me stinger first.

    Unleashing a Qi pulse under my foot, I launched my body into a backflip landing a kick to what looked like the centipedes throat. It was a light tap to throw off his attack. This caused it¡¯s momentum and head to fly upwards, opening it¡¯s belly for attack. I wasted no time and slashed at it¡¯s stomach just as my feet touched the stone tiles.

    It¡¯s weak shell of a body gave up turning to ash. This was too easy. I mean sure their attacks could be very deadly if they landed, but even a low level player could take them out if they got a good hit in.

    Their chitin was durable, but blunt force could easily get through by causing internal damage. Their tummies were the softer part of their bodies making them ideal for slash attacks. The only real challenge here was the big guy.

    These buggy foot soldiers were only meant to kill civilians not fight off actual warriors. I eyed the remaining centipede on the ground. They looked to be fighting each other for a chance to get at me.

    That was odd, why were only some of them working together? It also felt like there were some that were smarter. I wonder¡­ I tried to focus in on them.

    To read them. In order to do that, I needed to empty my mind and open it up to them. Surely enough I managed to connect. It was so much easier now that I knew apathy was the key.

    I saw sparks of memories. There wasn''t much there. It looked like a tiny insignificant thought. A sliver of what once was. The memory of waking up in the morning next to a wife and eating breakfast with the kids.

    There was something else. Woven into the fabric of thought was a thread of darkness. Almost as if the soul itself had been badly burned or marked. Like a scar or tattoo. An ugly stain. I tried to make it out, only to find something else. Something terrible.

    I felt disgust rise inside me as the memory of years of torture flashed before my mind. I saw a dark room and my brother holding a knife. Carving my flesh.

    The memory only lasted a second, but it was enough to disgust me. I threw up. Off the side of the roof. That vision was so nauseating that I almost fell off the building.

    I¡­ no it wasn¡¯t me¡­ he was screaming, begging to make it stop, but Cain¡­ not Cain, Squirmy just kept cutting and finally after months of this. The monster disguised as my brother offered a deal.

    ¡°Sell me your soul and the pain will end.¡±

    The victim agreed and I watched as their soul was cut into a million pieces and scattered among several different monsters. The other centipede. The one fighting it¡¯s brother for a chance to eat me, was a soul fragment from a different person.

    There was a promise. A way back to a humanoid body. It was vague and fleeting, but there. It echoed in the monsters simple mind. Again and again. I could hear it. Understand it. Feel that powerful desire.

    ¡°GoOoOOOo BAaaaAcK!¡±

    All these people were tortured and torn apart. Twisted into these things. I could feel their agony. The desire to ascend and go back to being a person. To be whole once more. They were promised a way back, but they needed to eat souls in order to ascend.

    Before I knew it I felt tears running down the sides of my face. This was my fault. ¡°I''m so sorry.¡± I mumbled before dropping down for an attack.

    Swinging my blade it elongated into a cutting whip. I landed between them as their bodies fell in two. I couldn''t let them continue living. I had to kill them all. Screw the EXP.

    Turning towards Squirmy¡¯s main body, I saw the line of hundreds of monsters. They all needed to die. Each and every last one of them. I dashed forward towards my next target, and one by one I dismantled them.

    My Qi was burning, so I began draining aspects from my attackers. There was quintessence and poison aspects coming off of them, but I was able to cycle them down into null Qi by mixing in trace amounts of ambient essence.

    Half of that Qi was the fed into my spark slightly increasing it¡¯s re-gen. While the rest was braided and weaved into my star pattern, to keep my aura satiated.

    While killing these monsters was easy. It was still tiring. Every time I took one down another showed up. It didn¡¯t cost Squirmy much to make them either.

    They were also attached to the system somehow. I guess Aku wasn¡¯t the only one that learned to enchant. He was manipulating the world system.

    I scissor kicked a centipede to one side only to be met with a wall of acid. My platform activated forming a wall between me and them. I took that chance to put a little distance between us. Then fired a spray of Manabolts.

    The bolts slammed into the wall of acid, turning bug into ash. A normal person would probably think they were all dead, but my Qi sight showed me that there was one still alive. It lunged out of the gas stinger first.

    I swung my aura coated blade in a diagonal swing, slicing off its head. The rest of it collapsed in a cloud of dust. I apologized to it then turned to the main body. With my caterpillar aura, I zoomed across the street with little to no Qi wastage. Squirmy would pay.

 Episode 60 part 2: flowerception

    -Luca-

    My chest was hurting. Why was it burning so much. It felt like I was being hollowed out. Like my insides were being eaten by a hungry worm. It hurt so much, but I couldn''t move. It was as if I was in the middle of surgery and was still awake.

    I woke in a soft bed. It was¡­ not like a mattress. It was far too fuzzy. There was also a strong sweet scent. My eyes were being molested by the rays of sunlight trying to pry them open.

    I wanted more sleep, but the light was persistent. The longer I laid awake, the more my mind began to race. This couldn¡¯t be my bed, so out of curiosity and the constant bombardment of photons. I began the process of waking.

    Opening my eyes, I saw some strange purple fabric. I tried touching the stuff, only to feel what felt like a plant. What was going on? I sat up stretching my arms and yawning. As I did, the purple fabric around me spread out like a blooming flower.

    Actually¡­ it really was a blooming flower. I took a look at my surroundings and found myself on top of a hill. A really big and round hill. Like creepily round. Surrounding the area and taking up the whole horizon were giant purple walls.

    Were they petals? Only then did it hit me. This entire place was inside a flower. ¡°Holy crap¡­ a flower in a flower? That¡¯s like¡­ flowerception.¡±

    Clumsily, I made my way off my fuzzy bed. It wiggled as I crawled. As soon as I tried to step off I fell head first. Not wanting to hit my head I rolled forward landing on my back instead.

    The fall was odd. It shouldn''t have happened. It was like the ground moved away at the last second. Almost like the time I was walking home and didn¡¯t realize I was about to step off the curve. I was aware this time, so it must have been my legs playing tricks on me.

    I sat up and glanced at my feet accusatorily, only to realize I was a lot smaller than I remembered. Wait a sec! I recognize that scar! I ran my finger over the tiny scar on my leg from when I fell off of uncles roof while playing with my idiot cousin.

    This body was the one I left in the old world! ¡°Yes! I¡¯m me again! I never ever want to be an adult again! I¡¯ll stay small forever and live off the government until I die!¡±

    The clothes I wore weren''t anything I¡¯d ever seen before. It looked like the fairy costume I wore on Halloween last year, but instead of green it was white and far more comfortable. The fabric was stupidly soft¡ªlike wearing a fuzzy blanket. Was this thing made of cotton balls or something?

    Where the hell was I? ¡°Shadow! Help!¡± I continued to call to my guild mate, but she didn''t answer. I felt tears begin to build and started to cry again. No one showed up. Not even when I¡¯m back in my child body they still wouldn''t come.

    How could they just abandon me? I was an unsupervised child. What if something happened? I felt pain in my chest causing me to realize something did happen.

    I continued to sob while hugging my knees to my chest. Chief was so mean. How could she hurt me like that. How could she kill Vincent like he was a monster. She made him go all dusty on purpose. Must be some kind of magic or something. All just to hurt me.

    After who knows how long I felt something brush up against my legs. I looked down and saw a blonde cat. I sniffed up some snot as I stroked the little guys back. It started purring and rubbing up against me.

    This made me happy. ¡°Hi little fella. Where did you come from?¡± Just then a butterfly flew by catching the cats attention. It ran after it in hopes of a hunt. ¡°Wait up!¡± out of fear of not wanting to be left alone, I ran after my new bestie.

    The ground felt pretty solid. Actually, I think it was dirt. I couldn''t tell at first because the grass looked too green. I''d never seen grass this shade before. It was so vibrant.

    The blonde cat darted when it saw I was running after it. I found myself getting winded and had to stop. I rested my hands on my knees, as I tried to catch my breath.

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­. I¡¯m really weak in this body. Short limbs are the worst.¡± I had no choice but to watch as the kitty got away. Darn, I had already named it too. Mr. Fuzzels.

    To my surprise It stopped and began hissing. At first I didn¡¯t understand why, but then I noticed someone standing there, or something standing there. When did they get here? Before the cat, stood the silhouette of¡­ I wasn¡¯t sure. It was tall and wide.

    I couldn¡¯t make them out. They looked like a blurry shadow to me. I wish I had my glasses. On the other hand not having my braces was very nice. The shadows moved like a flame slowly shrinking down until they resembled an actual person.

    I panicked as I recognized them, ¡°Chief?¡± my tears started to flow again as I saw her standing there. The shadows had somehow manifested as the person I used to trust.

    Her black hair and red eyes were highly recognizable. The horns while being a new addition fit her perfectly for what she was. A monster. A demon. The devil incarnate. Moe Hitler.

    ¡°Go away! I don¡¯t want to talk to you!¡± I cried. There was no excuse for what she did. She was evil. She needed to be locked away, or killed, or have a pineapple shoved up her butt for the rest of eternity¡ªlike in that one super inappropriate movie my brother showed me.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    Chief smiled and laughed. She stepped forward stepping on the cats skull and crushing it against the ground. It tried to cry out, but was instantly silenced. ¡°You monster!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Shut the fuck up, brat!¡± She stepped forward as the kitty turned into light and vanished. I was thankful for that since I couldn''t handle anymore blood.

    ¡°Chief, just leave me alone. I don¡¯t want to talk to you.¡± I said fearfully.

    Alice was right. Chief hurts people. She¡¯s evil. She killed Vincent and now she¡¯s back to hurt me again. She won''t stop. Even though she killed me, she still followed me here. Where ever the hell this was.

    I pressed my hand over my chest. I could still feel the pain I felt when her hand went right through me. It burned even now.

    As chief got closer, I took a step back, but it wasn¡¯t enough as she seemed to close the distance between us so quickly. Her hand reached out grabbing me by the wrist. ¡°No!¡± I cried trying to pull myself away.

    Annoyed with me she twisted my arm all while smiling like a possessed doll. ¡°Does this hurt?¡± She sweetly asked.

    ¡°Ow! Stop it!¡± I begged. She was so strong, but why? There¡¯s no game system here! She looked younger than I did!

    She grabbed me by the hair and began to drag me. ¡°Come on, we have work to do. I don''t have all day.¡± She commanded, as she dragged me down the hill.

    ¡°No! Please! I don''t wanna go! You¡¯re hurting me! It hurts!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Shut up, and stop calling me that. I¡¯m not Isaac. This looks like a thin spot.¡± She pulled me forward causing me to face the ground, as it crumpled away, and opened up.

    I held my hair hoping I could relieve some of the tension. The hole in the ground revealed a hollow cavern underneath. ¡°What is this?¡± I cried.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious, I¡¯ve hollowed out your soul.¡± She said smugly.

    ¡°What does that even mean!¡± I cried trying to break free. ¡°let goooo!¡±

    ¡°This again. I suppose your memories aren¡¯t what they used to be. Go ahead try to remember anything from a year ago.¡± She said.

    ¡°I¡­ what are you talking about!¡± I sobbed.

    ¡°Stupid bitch!¡± She kicked me in the face knocking me on my back as she ripped out a chunk of my hair.

    I screamed in pain hoping for it to finally stop. How could anyone be so cruel. I was so afraid of her that I started pushing myself away. Out of fear I couldn¡¯t even stand, much less run. I kicked and scooted my ass back as far and as quickly as I possibly could.

    Even though I was in a horrible situation, at least I had some relief in that this wasn¡¯t chief, but why did she look like chief, If she wasn¡¯t chief? Did that mean chief wasn¡¯t actually a monster?

    Maybe she¡¯ll still come to save me. I had to try. Even if I wanted to stay quite, I could never stop myself from calling out to her. ¡°Chief! Chief!¡± I cried.

    The demon girl laughed. Then yelled ¡°Isaac help! This poor girl is being attacked! Are you really going to just leave her in my hands?¡± She looked around as if searching for someone.

    ¡°Are you jumping out a window, or perhaps throwing a plate of sausages at me? What about a rock, or a blade made of pure quintessence? No? Oh, well. I guess he doesn¡¯t care about you. He¡¯s busy saving someone more important. Poor little Lilly.¡± She mocked.

    I went silent as the thought started to sink in, that chief probably couldn¡¯t hear me. ¡°Shut up! Just go away! Chief will come and she¡¯ll beat you up! You¡¯ll see!¡± I cried hugging my knees once more.

    ¡°No one is coming. Isaac doesn¡¯t care. Shadow doesn¡¯t even like you. She cares more about Isaac than she does about you. Why do you think she mothers him and doesn¡¯t treat you the same. You¡¯re the actual child yet she takes better care of him than you.¡± Said the demon.

    ¡°No your wrong!¡± I cried shaking my head.

    The demon suddenly appeared next to me almost whispering in my ear. ¡°What kind of adult let¡¯s a child get so drunk¡­. Unless¡­ she doesn¡¯t give a crap about you. Your entire guild abandoned you. Instead of making sure you were okay. Your so called friend decided to save herself and left you behind.¡± Said the demon.

    ¡°No, its not like that! Shadow and I got separated when that monster fell over the city!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Oh, Lilly.¡± She shook her head. ¡°Are you really that naive. You were right next to her when it happened. Are you really going to tell me she couldn¡¯t reach out and grab you? I think she cared more about Alice¡¯s safety than yours. Stop lying to yourself.¡± Said the demon.

    ¡°Stop talking!¡± I yelled lashing out with a slap. The demon caught my arm in her hands and broke it in half, causing me to let out a scream, ¡°aaarrrrrrrrgh!¡±

    ¡°How rude! You¡¯re a rude child Lilly! Why are you making me hurt you?¡± She said. ¡°Stop making me do bad things to you! Can''t you see I''m trying to be your friend!¡±

    I kept screaming, my arm in so much pain. The demon grabbed it again causing even more pain to radiate as she twisted the two broken half¡¯s causing my arm to turn all the way around and the broken bone to rub against the other.

    The skin turned purple as the bone poked it¡¯s way out. There was no blood. Instead white light began to break off and float away. The pain was so bad as she played with the two half¡¯s moving them around all while giggling like a little girl.

    ¡°Be quiet or I¡¯ll break the other one and give you a toxic blood infusion!¡± She yelled as a sharp black stinger protruded from her mouth dripping with a greenish yellow acid. I knew it was acid not just from experience, but because it started melting the grass as soon as it touched it.

    Shaking my head rapidly, I did my best to shut up, even though I was in so much pain. I couldn''t imagine having such potent acid running through my veins. ¡°That''s better Lilly. Good girl. Now tell me do you remember anything from a year ago?¡± Said not Chief.

    Not wanting to be hurt again, I thought about it. A year ago? It felt¡­ fuzzy. There were echo¡¯s and shadows, but I couldn¡¯t recall any of it. Wasn¡¯t there important people there? What was it? My¡­ something.

    That was odd. I had memories of stuff not that long ago. Like right after I got out of that flower I thought about some¡­ people. I couldn''t remember what the memory was. What was going on!

    A flash of a memory came through. A night where master held me. I wanted to go home and apologize to my family. Those shadows, they were my family. Why can¡¯t I remember their faces, what they sounded like, or even how many of them there was.

    ¡°What¡­ why can¡¯t I remember.¡± I cried.

    ¡°Good. Now how about a month ago? Can you remember that?¡± said the demon.

    I tried but shook my head.

    ¡°Good! Now what is the earliest memory you have?¡± said the demon.

    I was afraid to answer, but it came out anyway. ¡°I¡­ logged into TEO.¡±

    ¡°Perfect! Now for the next part.¡± The demon grabbed me by the broken arm causing the horrible pain to go up by a million percent, as she dragged me towards the hole.

    ¡°Stop, please! I''ll go wherever you want!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Oh, Lilly. Of course you will, because we¡¯re friends, but first I need to make sure you¡¯ll never betray me.¡± The demon released me. Leaving me to look into the empty world.

    ¡°I wont betray you! Please just stop hurting me!¡± I cried.

    ¡°Not good enough. Let¡¯s give it another 10 years and we¡¯ll see where we¡¯re at.¡± She kicked me in the back knockng me into the hole.

    Chief¡­ please¡­ save me.

 Episode 60 Part 3: Floorbottom

    -Alice-

    Let¡¯s see. Oh, this shade is nice. The clothes are boring, but Izzy said I can get cute clothes by playing the game. Green eyes are so cool. I¡¯ve always wondered what it would be like to have black hair. I wonder if I should dye it IRL.

    Maybe not. Blonde hair and blue eyes are rare after all. However, there was nothing permanent about making an avatar. I could do something like¡­ this.

    I took the sliders and moved them all the way to one side. Within a minute the characters boobs grew to comical proportions. The waist became so thin that I could probably choke the crud out of her kidneys and snap her in half.

    Turning away from my laptop I looked to Izzy. He was sitting at the table looking at his phone after eating breakfast¡ªwhile also ignoring the delicious bagel I heavily wrapped in cream cheese.

    ¡°Izzy! Your bagel is getting cold! You need to eat it within the next¡ª¡± I checked the time on my phone, ignoring the clock on my laptop since I¡¯ve never been able to understand time zones and messed it up as soon as I got it. ¡°¡ª5¡­ no, 4 minutes,¡± I said, ending in a much calmer tone.

    ¡°Bagels?¡± he glanced at the table where the item in question stared back at him. Making a face of disgust he pushed it away.

    ¡°Izzzzzzy!¡± I complained.

    ¡°Disgusting. I''m not eating that.¡± He went back to his phone.

    ¡°But, Whhyy!¡± I whined, almost turning my laptop into a¡­ floorbottom.

    Izzy sighed as I noticed the patterns of one of his shower thoughts about to be poured into the real world and make my head hurt with artistically thought out details.

    Sensing the bombardment of words that was about to come, I decided to record it. Not because it was a crazy event, but because I wanted everyone to feel my pain.

    ¡°Bagels are like the overachieving, carb-heavy cousins of donuts who showed up to the family reunion with a PowerPoint presentation. I mean, who decided that dense, chewy dough should be a breakfast option? It¡¯s like biting into a tire! Meanwhile, donuts are the fun, free-spirited party animals, dressed up in colorful icing and sprinkles, ready to celebrate life.¡± Preached Izzy.

    ¡°Izzy please eat the bagel.¡± I replied, wishing he would stop his blasphemy.

    To my surprise he continued being difficult. ¡°Bagels are just like, ''Hey, I¡¯m a bagel. I pair well with cream cheese and existential dread.¡¯ Oh, ho, ho, but Donuts on the other hand, they¡¯re like, ¡®Let¡¯s live dangerously and top ourselves with bacon!¡¯ Honestly, if bagels had feelings, I¡¯d feel bad for them¡ªlike they¡¯re just sitting there on the counter, waiting for someone to take them seriously. But who wants serious for breakfast when you can have a donut that screams, ¡®Life is awesome.¡¯¡±

    He then went back to eyeing the bagel¡ªlike it was under suspicion for murder. For a second I could swear the bagel was sweating. I ended the recording there before he committed bagel genocide.

    I should be mad, but in this situation I had no choice but to laugh. ¡°First off, bagels are delicious, and second, you need to eat it within the next¡­ 3 minutes.¡± I insisted.

    Izzy sat back in his seat. ¡°You know you can just give me my meds. There''s no need to sneak them to me in food¡ªlike I¡¯m some kind of pill tucker.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not as fun though. Besides you have trouble taking pills. It¡¯s easier to crush them up and mix them into cream cheese.¡± I responded.

    He sighed in resignation, then compromised with my demands, ¡°Fine, but I¡¯m only licking the cream off.¡± He said.

    What a waste of a bagel. Oh, well, as long as he takes his medicine it¡¯s fine. I went back to my character creation and looked through a few more options.

    After a minute. Izzy came over with a now clean soggy bagel. Then gave my screen a glance. ¡°You pushed the sliders to the right didn¡¯t you?¡± he asked with the slightest hints of amusement in his voice and a devilish grin on his face.

    Crap, was this like one of those taboo things? A meme perhaps? Did I do something embarrassing and frowned upon? I always seem to walk into these things¡ªlike when I held that N64 controller the wrong way.

    That thing had so many handles! How was I supposed to know you were only supposed to hold the middle and right one! Izzy even said himself, some games needed you to hold the left one, so I wasn¡¯t wrong. I guess watching me reach all the way over to move the analog stick was hard for him to digest, but it totally wasn''t my fault.

    I tried to defend my actions. ¡°Not all of the sliders!¡± I responded, feeling like he was making fun of me.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    ¡°Hang on.¡± He said taking the laptop from me.

    My husband began messing with my character. ¡°Izzy you¡¯re gonna mess her up.¡±

    ¡°Here.¡± He handed the laptop back to me.

    I took it and immediately looked at the changes. The character now had blonde hair and blue eyes. A lot of the proportions were evened out. She still had very nice curves but they were less exaggerated and didn¡¯t make her look like a blow up doll. Darn, but I wanted to play as a blow up doll.

    ¡°You can play as Alice, like from that book you like.¡± He said.

    ¡°I see. I do like that idea.¡± I said. Originally, I didn¡¯t actually have a plan for the avatar. I simply messed around with character creation, but basing it off of an already existing character¡ªespecially one I really liked, made me grow slightly more attached to it.

    It wasn¡¯t right though. ¡°Hang on.¡± I said, before messing with the sliders once more. Eventually I got the results I wanted. This time I flipped them all to the left. Creating a little blonde girl.

    ¡°Oh, yeah. I guess that character would be a brat. I was making her look more like you.¡± Said Izzy.

    ¡°Aww, Izzy, I¡¯m not that beautiful.¡± I blushed, looking away from him.

    ¡°What are you talking about? Your 100 times hotter than that.¡± He leaned in and we kissed for the third time that morning. He was so sweet.

    We pulled away and I asked, ¡°So, are you gonna show me your little country or whatever?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Its not a little country. Entropy is actually one of the bigger ones in game.¡± He responded almost offended.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah¡± I waved him off, ¡°I know how proud you are of your virtual land.¡± I mocked while rolling my eyes. It was only a game. It wasn¡¯t like he actually owned a whole country.

    Izzy sighed. ¡°It might be a game, but it¡¯s also something I put lots of work into. My country, the NPCs, the structures and relationships I¡¯ve built through time and effort. Even the reputation and respect I¡¯ve built through my actions in game aren¡¯t fake. It might be virtual, but there is weight in all the work I put in. The country I helped to build isn¡¯t something only I could have done. I have an entire guild of people. Even my enemies helped shape it by acting as obstacles we needed to work around.¡± He explained.

    ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t really think of it like that. You did say the game is different for every play through.¡± I apologized.

    ¡°It can be depending on you. You can build a different type of character and get a different experience. If you stick to the main game by sticking around in the starter NPC area, Arvoes, you can pretty much experience the game the same way every time, but if you head out into the player countries. Well, you¡¯ll have all kinds of new content to play with. Countries change all the time. People are always fighting for land and resources and end up creating new towns or cities in the process. As a land owner I can even design dungeons in my lands. The developers can also create pop up events for different countries. That¡¯s how the game stays popular.¡± He explained.

    ¡°I see. That sounds kind of cool. What should I pick as a class?¡± I said.

    ¡°Well, there¡¯s a bunch and each one has different game mechanics. So different that each one feels like you¡¯re playing another game. Don¡¯t feel like you have to stick to the same one. Changing classes is easy. You just need to talk to the right NPCs to unlock them. There are also advanced classes you can unlock through leveling and special actions. You should start off with a melee fighter since they¡¯re easier to level up in the beginning.¡±

    ¡°Assassin sounds cool. There¡¯s something neat about a little girl running around with a knife.¡± I said.

    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad choice. It takes a bit more skill, but you can do lots of damage if you know what you¡¯re doing.¡± Said Izzy.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve started the game.¡± I said as I pushed the little button to finalize my character.

    ¡°Get to level 20 and I¡¯ll swing by in game.¡± He said.

    -Present day-

    My eyes slowly opened. Did I black out again? I looked around and found myself still strung up. My arms had been wrapped up in black tendrils. They seemed to be barbed since I could feel blood running down my arms.

    It also hurt a lot as they dug into my flesh, as if burrowing into my skin. I wanted to reason and pull Izzy¡¯s consciousness to the surface, but after nearly destroying my voice and annoying Squirmy in the process, he cut my tongue out and pulled several of my teeth.

    I couldn¡¯t handle this. I wish he¡¯d just kill me already, but every time that came to mind I shook my head and thought about Izzy. He was still in there. The man I love.

    I couldn¡¯t give up. Never, give up. If only I could still talk. I¡¯d call for him. Call for help. Even though it hadn¡¯t worked the first 100 times I didn¡¯t know what else to do. In this situation all I was capable of was to cry horrible noises from my mutilated mouth.

    We were so high up that even if I were to get free, all I could really do was jump to my death. Fighting him would only make everything worse. Squirmy sat there in a body that looked so much like Cain. Was this some kind of mind game for him? It pissed me off more than it scared me.

    If only I¡¯d been stronger. Why did I quite playing? I never even got a single class to max. I was always switching from one to another and couldn¡¯t even get myself properly geared up. I had so many classes and had no idea which one to focus on.

    I almost laughed. Listen to me talking about games. Izzy would be so happy to hear me right now. When did I turn into a gamer?

    Cain looked like he was sleeping. I had no idea what he was doing. His lower half had merged with the monsters head. He couldn¡¯t chase me if I got free, but then again. That would mean climbing down the back of the boss.

    That wouldn¡¯t work since he could make tendrils out of its body and catch me. Looking down the monsters back I couldn¡¯t help but feel like it had an entire ecosystem on its back. It resembled a forest, but spikier.

    There wasn¡¯t any trees, but the nasty massive horns dripping with poison could easily act as them. It was a death trap. Even now I could see the minions lurking in that forest like lice. They were the strongest of the bunch. Each one was near level 100. Most were around 80 and the highest one I¡¯d seen was 94.

    Beyond them I could also spot what looked like cocoons. Some were small and green colored while others were huge and black. I had no idea what they could mean, but I wanted to know.

    The more information I gathered the better. Maybe Shadow might come. Luca was dead. I don¡¯t know how, but those were the facts. You¡¯re supposed to come back to life when you die, but I guess that wasn¡¯t a thing anymore.

    I haven¡¯t died since I got here. I survived simply because I didn¡¯t want to get hurt. I wonder if Izzy would be sad to know his guild mate was gone. Did he even realize? Did he care, or was this the same guy that killed Jack all those years ago?

    Regardless, I want to save him.

 Episode 61 part 1: Step-Up Centipede Edition

    -Aku/Isaac-

    I locked eyes with the last centipede in my vicinity. I bobbed left. It copied me. I bobbed right and it followed. I spun around on my heel thinking its noodle body couldn¡¯t possibly do the same, but the level 26 arthropod spun its body whipping its tail at me. From there we both came to a stop locking eyes once more.

    There was only one thing left to do. I started break dancing and it tried to imitate me. I say ¡®tried¡¯ because it looked really stupid and awkward. Mostly because it¡¯s anatomy didn¡¯t allow it to dance like a human.

    Pretty soon other centipedes gathered around forming a circle around us. We both stopped to look around. For a moment I thought I was surrounded, until they began pounding their lower half¡¯s on the ground making rhythmic sounds.

    It kinda sounded like the stomps from queen¡¯s ¡®We Will Rock You¡¯, but slightly different due to future copy write issues.

    That was when one of the centipedes started to chitter chatter, while intermittently flicking it¡¯s mandibles together to make clicking sounds. He was so into it that he accidentally began to spit venom. It was as if it was beat boxing.

    The centipede I¡¯d been playing with began to bust a move. It wiggled its body in waves while dipping it''s head from time to time in perfect harmony with the beat. It then became a wheel, as it bent its body back and bit down on its tail. The mob began rolling around the circle of centipedes, as I watched stoically from my spot.

    It then ended its dance by bouncing its wheel form into the air. Then it uncoiled its body. It dove down in front of me and whipped it¡¯s tail, as if threatening me. I took a step back feeling dissed, as rocks and dust pelted my dress.

    ¡°Are you really gonna let him dis your whole-body type like that! Get his ugly multi-limbed ass!¡± yelled Snowball. She was tucked under my left arm. I nodded in response.

    I put her down and began to moon walk while forming my caterpillar aura to allow me to glide. No matter how much I moved my body only went a few feet from where it had been, creating a smooth illusion.

    I followed it up with a few aggressive moves and a flip or two. As I danced Snowball beat boxed her own tune. It only seem to add to the one already going.

    Casting the platform spell, I created a loop about 3 feet wide. Then began to glide along it with my caterpillar aura, while performing what was called an ¡®air walk¡¯ the whole way.

    The platform moved going around the crowd, as my caterpillar aura continued to allow me to cling and glide smoothly along the transparent green track.

    I circled my opponent a few times then smoothly slid across the stone floor as if in imitation of Michael Jackson. I then ended it with a Qi pulse empowered spinning back flip. I only went up about 7 feet, but with the momentum of my Qi explosion I was able to rotate around 30 times, before landing on the ground with a spin.

    With my back turned to my opponent, I walked back to my spot, as if I¡¯d just done the ultimate mic drop. Snowball kept talking shit to the centipede while the crowd around us seemed to be in an uproar. Bouncing and bashing into each other as if in a mosh pit.

    My opponent tried the same moves again only to be booed and laughed at. I used this chance to gloat by slowly dancing my way back to the middle of the circle.

    I hadn¡¯t even used my best move. The Robot. So I did that now while adding in lightning aspect to make it look like electricity was powering my movements.

    Some of the centipedes joined in showing off their own skills. The beat boxing centipede and Snowball kept the music going with a few other centipedes who weren¡¯t as confident in their limb coordination.

    The fun lasted a few more minutes until it was abruptly interrupted by an angry Squirmy. ¡°What the hell is going on!? Why are you all dancing!?¡±

    The music cut out as we all looked to the source of the voice. There above us on top of one of the buildings was a girl that looked an awful lot like me. Her hair in a similar bob and a dress almost like mine. Though her color palate was the opposite of what I wore. The thing that really separated us, was those red heart eyes and the horns on her head.

    I looked to my new friends. They looked back. Then we looked to Squirmy who had created a ball of green flames. ¡°You either attack that asshole, or you die with him.¡± He threatened.

    That¡¯s when they all looked at each other and started chittering their mandibles, as if in conversation. From my understanding. They wanted me to live and were thinking of a way they could keep me as a pet.

    I wasn¡¯t really up for that, but it''s nice that they liked me enough not to want to kill me anymore. Now¡­ how would I get humans to not kill them in return? Oh! They started saying other stuff now.

    Something about how maybe Squirmy would be cool with that and something about challenging him to a dance off? I was confused. It went back and forth like that for a bit until Squirmy made the jade fireball bigger.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    Out of desperation, one of them skittered over to me and lightly pinched my arm. I didn''t understand it at first, but pretended to be hurt when my sympathy kicked in.

    ¡°OH! OW, OW! That hurts! Ouchy!¡± in reality the centipede was only lightly nibbling on my arm. It kind of tickled¡ªlike a puppy nibbling on my squishy flesh parts, but I couldn''t laugh right now or I¡¯d give the ruse away.

    I didn''t think it was that convincing, because Squirmy looked like he was about to give birth to a porcupine. ¡°Die, all of you!¡± he fired the jade fireball down at us.

    I gathered up the wind aspects from the area and layered as many platform spells as I could above us. It was only three, but they were wide and curved to force the blast up and away. To add to the likelihood of the redirect I made the whole thing spin.

    ¡°Scatter!¡± I ordered.

    The centipedes all ran in different directions. The platform only held the flames back for a few seconds, but kept them from falling on top of everyone.

    By the time the attack died down they had gotten away. I could feel the surface of Squirmy¡¯s intent to follow them, but I launched a manabolt to where he was about to move to.

    The bolt caused him to stop, as it rocketed in front of him. He glared at me creating another jade fireball. ¡°You just had to run into this version of me. If I was alpha, or delta, I¡¯d kill you where you stand, but I can¡¯t afford to waste resources like that.¡±

    Squirmy blasted the building he was on causing it to erupt in an explosion of green flame and smoke. Using the distraction he disappeared. I sighed. There was no point in getting worked up without a release. Instead I retrieved Snowball.

    I scanned the area, making sure there were no more enemies around. Just because I made friends with a few centipede didn¡¯t mean all centipede would stop attacking me. Once I''d confirmed the coast was clear, I entered one of the abandoned shops.

    The shop wasn¡¯t one that was super popular, since it was lower ranked and had less interesting items, but it had the basics of a magic shop.

    A lot of the potions had been broken and spilled, but I managed to find a few mid and small potions. Curious, I activated Qi sight. The bottle glowed showing me that it was nothing more than¡­ heat? Not quite. It was¡­ the concept of bonding and¡­ refinement. so bonding, refinement, water, and healing life aspects.

    I wonder how they managed to saturate water with healing. That must be what the bonding aspects were for. That makes sense, this stuff was brewed after all. I bet I can find bonding aspects in food too. The mid potions had more life aspects than the small potions.

    I also managed to find a few mana potions. They were of the small variety and only held about 55% water aspects 15% bonding, 15% refinement, and 15% null. It was interesting to see that the aspects were separate, but at the same time together. It should have all turned into null.

    The odd part was that the null aspects seemed to behave differently. They were following a pattern of sorts. Actually I think they held a concept inside them, but I wasn¡¯t sure what. It was a bit more complex than the bonding one. The life aspects from the healing potions also behaved strangely. Maybe it was an intent thing.

    When I have the time I¡¯d like to learn to make potions. It sounds like it could be fun. Since I couldn¡¯t be apart of the guild anymore, maybe I could open my own potion shop.

    Oh! I bet I could turn my chicken soup aura into a potion! I bet that would sell like crazy! Healing without pain! And you feel all warm and cozy! I wonder if I can make it out of different flavors? Like hot chocolate! Oh, what about juice? Like apple, grape¡­ or blue raspberry! I could even copy the flavors of those strange plants in my inner garden.

    Lucky for me the garden had been revived. It wasn¡¯t in the same place anymore but it was in the castle courtyard now. Aku¡¯s been taking care of it for me.

    The potions weren¡¯t what I was here for, but it could be useful if I needed to make a quick healing aura. The null aspects could be a little helpful. I checked the glass counter and glanced into the display case.

    There were a few low level wands and a few spell scrolls. The wands were useless since they were meant for intelligence and wisdom boosts. Two things I no longer had access to.

    The spell scrolls might have been useful, if it wasn¡¯t for the fact I didn¡¯t possess the necessary focus pool to power them. Not to mention I didn¡¯t exactly know what aspects were needed to cast the spell inscribed in the scroll.

    There was a few other things. Like amulets and rings, but they only boosted intelligence and wisdom. Hold on! This ring looks like a caster ring. I opened it¡¯s status screen and was immediately reminded of the childish theme my menu was stuck with.

    Item name: Ring Of Binding

    Rarity: Common (C)

    Type: Ring

    Intelligence: 5

    Wisdom: 2

    Durability: 100/100

    Effects:

    1: Captured Spell (bind -20%): Allows wearer to cast a weakened version of the spell (bind) once every 30 seconds without having the spell equipped or unlocked.

    Spell effect: Summon shadowy chains to restrain a single target for 8 seconds. (Cost: 7 F)

    I¡¯ve used the spell before and while I don¡¯t exactly remember what the spell circle looked like, I knew what aspects it used, or at least I had an idea of what was needed. It had to be similar to how the platform spell worked, but with shadow aspects instead of wind.

    Still, didn¡¯t that mean I could cast ¡®bind¡¯ using the platform spell? Then again platform wasn¡¯t sturdy enough to fully bind someone. Otherwise Cain wouldn¡¯t have been able to break out of that pin tactic I used.

    If anything wind doesn¡¯t feel like it could capture someone. To me it aligned more with the concept of freedom. Maybe it could also be aligned with trickery.

    I was reminded of a time when I chased after my homework that got caught up in the wind after being attacked by one of my many mortal enemies. Every time I tried to grab it the wind would pull it away until it dropped it in a puddle.

    How could nature be so cruel. I recycled sometimes. While wind was more aliened with trickery, it didn''t exactly scream ¡®bind¡¯. I bet I could make a wind spell that specifically makes skirts flip.

    Chuckling, I smiled at the absurdity. Then my laugh turned a bit creepy as I imagined flipping random girls skirts that were walking by. ¡°ah! No. What¡¯s wrong with me. That¡¯s a bad thought. I¡¯m not a¡­ well, no I am a pervert. BUT! BUT I have shame! That¡¯s right I feel bad about it so I don¡¯t do stuff like that¡­ unless I can find a way to use it in battle.

    I bet Lorie would shake her head. Zubu would probably punish me for it. Mr. Brutus would laugh and probably have me try it on Cosmo. Cosmo would yell and immediately feel bad when I stopped smiling.

    ¡°I have a wife though!¡± I shot up looking around in a panic as if she were here to judge and take away my computer privileges. I sighed when I remembered where I was. ¡°What was I doing again?¡± I asked Snowball.

    ¡°You were trying to figure out how to cast the hokus in the doohickey.¡± She answered. Sometimes hearing the info without a bunch of madness attached was nice.

 Episode 61 part 2: Shadow Jacket

    I turned the ring over in my hand. It didn¡¯t fit my fingers. Not even my thumb could hold on to the metal band. That was fine, the ring was ugly anyway.

    All I really wanted was the essence and quintessence construct it held within. The symbols inside looked so interesting. I still wanted to try and make a wind-based bind.

    Actually, with a wind-based bind, they¡¯d probably break out right away¡­ it might have something to do with the shadow aspects. Perhaps a concept attached to it?

    Bind¡­ was bind a concept? It had to be. Getting trapped or stuck was something that¡¯s existed for a long time. I remember reading a story of a supermarket worker falling behind a freezer and getting pinned against a wall. Apparently the freezer was so loud that no one could hear him.

    There was another story of an abandoned house that smelled really bad, only for the new owners to find the previous owner stuck inside the wall. Apparently they were in the attic when they fell through the floor board¡¯s and into the wall cavity. They died in a similar way to the freezer guy.

    (Authors note: credit to the research of those stories goes to the YouTube channel scary interesting.)

    Alone and trapped in darkness, with no one to hear your cries, or pleads for help¡­. Not even your prayers could get out.

    I got sudden flashes of the basement I was once locked in. Personal experience was the best for concept based aspects. For example the memory of fire didn¡¯t produce very many heat aspects.

    Even though dad showed me how to start a camp fire and how to maintain the flames, it wasn''t enough. It might be because it was a long time ago and I can only remember the basics.

    Basically, the memory hadn''t left a strong enough impression for good results. It was disappointing to be honest and if I wanted to get the concept down I would probably have to hop into a furnace.

    I also thought about using the memory of that world. The one Lorie showed me. The way the fumes attacked my lungs and the harsh heat and dryness on my skin. The only issue was, I didn¡¯t want to take inspiration from a fire that had ended an entire world.

    In any case it would be a weaker copy of someone else¡¯s work. I¡¯d rather find concepts I was familiar with than use copies of concepts I could never understand, because I hadn¡¯t lived through those experiences.

    It was also dangerous to base anything off a flimsy idea, because if that idea was disproven like how Zubu undid my apathy. Then I could be caught off guard. Concepts were everything to a sorcerer.

    As for this whole bind thing. My memory of that cold dark place could work. Especially when I add the experience I had with the hole in the well. The only issue was, did I really want to make that aspect? The thought scared me. Manifesting my trauma was not something I wanted to experience. Squirmy was enough.

    I needed power though. To save the people I love, I shall embrace what scars me the most and use it against my enemies. ¡°Yes, its perfect I¡¯m already an orphan! Now, all I need is a cool super hero name!¡± I tilted my head in thought, ¡°Hmmm¡­ Since bind was my super power, from today forward I shall be known as Bondage¡­¡±

    Snowball chuckled, ¡°Maybe you shouldn¡¯t go with the first one you think of. That one might get you arrested.¡± She suggested.

    ¡°Yeah¡­okay.¡± I sheepishly agreed. ¡°I just don¡¯t want to be Robin.¡±

    I gathered up the shadow aspects in the room, along with the momentum aspects needed for every spell. The memory of being trapped in that dark basement came forth transforming the shadow aspects into something horrific.

    For a moment I swear I could hear the cry¡¯s of a little boy lost in the dark. Just like that all shadow aspects now carried that memory. I kind of wish I hadn¡¯t thrown that memory in there, but now my mind had forever entangled the two as one.

    ¡°Oh, no! It was the apathy aspects all over again, and I¡¯m not sure how to break the concept away from the tangible shadows!¡± I panicked.

    Actually, was shadow aspect a concept? It was hard to tell. Sometimes the lines blended together. Like heat and cold. Those were human terms after all.

    I think all aspects are based off of concepts. This was more like one of those situations where all voices make sounds, but not all voices are real.

    I fed the aspects into the ring and watched with my Qi sight. Inside the ring was a spinning magic circle. It sped up as aspects were introduced. I wasn¡¯t sure when the spell would activate, but it sure was taking in a lot of aspects for such a weak spell. It was already connected to the power of the void, so why wasn¡¯t it manifesting?

    The part I found Interesting was that the ring itself wasn''t enchanted like other items. The enchantment it held was very stripped down. Aside from the slight boost in stats it was mostly there to connect the item to the system, with as few connections as possible.

    I suppose it was too make room for the magic circle around the bind spell. It was temporal in nature and had a lot of suspension runes attached. It was also an advanced spell with not a double circle, but a triple one.

    With all the suspension runes I wondered what exactly it did. Suspension runes usually froze stuff in time right? Did that mean the bind spell was frozen inside the ring?

    It basically acted like a mold of sorts, but the suspension spell was way to advanced for me. I don¡¯t think I can replicate it at my current essence control level.

    Lorie and Mr. Brutus lied to me. They said I couldn¡¯t use molds. Knowing them they probably didn¡¯t want me chasing a rabbit down a hole only to realize it was impossible to follow.

    If I¡¯d known about it, I probably would have went against them and wasted my time trying to learn magic I couldn¡¯t perform. Knowing my learning skills I would have figured it out eventually, but Lorie didn¡¯t want me messing with advanced magic. Mr. Brutus and Lorie both taught in a similar way and by that I mean on a need to know basis.

    I guess that¡¯s what love was right? Tricking your favorite people into doing something because it¡¯s what¡¯s best for them. It infuriated me, but at the same time I knew they were only trying to help.

    The ring was kind of hot. It seemed to vibrate in my hand. I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if that was normal? Then like a collapsing nova the ring cracked and shattered into black bolts of lightning. They wrapped themselves around me and Snowball holding us down. ¡°What the fuck!¡± I cried.

    ¡°This feels weiiird maaan!¡± added Snowball.

    I tried to struggle against the black purple bands, but they were really tight. Snowball also tried, but she looked odd. Her face was kind of red. Was she not able to breathe?

    ¡°Somethings! Somethings awakening inside me! And I¡¯m not sure if I like it or not!¡± she seemed to be squirming as if in a tickle fight. I had my own issues to worry about.

    It was like being stuck in a straightjacket. I started panicking getting flashbacks to my time in the asylum. ¡°No! Let go! I won¡¯t steal pudding anymore I swear!¡± I cried as I fought against the bindings.

    No matter how much I tried I couldn¡¯t get free. Eventually I broke into a sobbing mess. The spell however didn¡¯t last that long. The bands began to break down allowing me to slip out Eventually.

    Once I got out I crawled into a corner and wiped my tears away. *Sniff Sniff* ¡°That was so scary.¡± I cried.

    Snowball seemed to make strange noises so I hugged her to make us both feel better. This helped bring my racing heart down.

    Okay, calm down. What went wrong? I put the right aspects in and the spell worked, but it destroyed the ring. Actually, I put a lot of aspects in there. The power from the void was also a lot.

    Why didn¡¯t it activate when the right amount of essence was met? Right, because I was casting through a mold and didn¡¯t direct it out of the ring. That means the spell circle grew too strong for the suspension enchant and broke it. ¡°I¡¯m such a dummy. How did the circle look again?¡±

    I tried to recreate the bind spell and managed to remake it within a minute or two. Like I said it was a platform spell, but with a different shape and affinity. In other words, super duper simple. I activated it on a chair and somehow crushed it in the process.

    ¡°Okay¡­ so maybe that memory infused Shadow aspect works a little too well. Sorcery is so dangerous. How am I still alive?¡± That¡¯s when I remembered my upgraded lower spirit body. ¡°Neat! I¡¯m both adorable and durable enough to be punted!¡±

    I pulled myself to my feet then went to look for the item I actually came for. A lot of glass was in the way, so I had to be careful.

    It had to be here. I know they sell them. I started moving around the broken glass while using my null aura as big soft mittens to protect my hands. Surely enough, I found what I was looking for.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    Within the glass shards I found a silver round stone. Not just one, but one medium and two small ones. Opening their status screens, it was confirmed.

    Item Name: Mana Stone (Small)

    Focus: 0/50

    Rarity: Common (C)

    Type: Utility

    Durability: 1000/1000

    Effects:

    1: Mana Storage I: Allows user to store up to 50 mana for later use.

    The larger one read,

    Item Name: Mana Stone (medium)

    Focus: 0/100

    Rarity: Unique (U)

    Type: Utility

    Durability: 2,500/2,500

    Effects:

    1: Mana Storage II: Allows user to store up to 100 focus for later use.

    I had no idea what the focus to aspect ratio would be, but it was worth a try. Before doing anything. I took a look out the broken window.

    I could see the boss¡¯s midsection moving across the land and knocking down buildings. At that rate it would get here within the next 5 minutes or so.

    That was why I came this way. I wanted to scavenge a few items while I waited for my chance to hop up on Squirmy¡¯s back. I was gonna burn that bastard alive.

    Seeing as I had the time, I began channeling hydrogen aspects into the advanced fireball spell I had been working on for the past 30 minutes. It was only at the stage of warmth and was essentially an invisible flame. I¡¯d been using it to generate a few heat aspects for me.

    I hadn¡¯t had much time to work on it. If I wanted to, I could have fed it so much power that the spell would fully manifest, but for now I wanted to build the spell first, so that I¡¯d have something special ready for when it came time to drop it on Squirmy.

    So far I had tweaked the runes a bit and worked on spell stability. Every time I had a little free time I¡¯d send pulses of void energy through the spell to test out if the power flowed correctly. This allowed me to root out the little mistakes and adjust as needed. As far as I could tell, the spell should be able to hold a ton of power.

    As expected the hydrogen aspects quickly turned into heat aspects, as the hot air began creating sparks of light. Everything was contained so I wasn¡¯t worried. A good amount of the heat aspects were being siphoned away by the system, but the remainder was easily pushed into one of the small mana stones.

    The little mana stone greedily drank up the aspects going from silver to red with little to no time. To my surprise it managed to eat up a good amount of heat aspects without instantly filling up.

    It was at 30 units after 2 minutes. If I was still a normal player. I could instantly fill up the mana stone with a thought, but doing that would result in null aspects instead of just heat, which was what I needed at the moment.

    Once it was topped off, I got a sudden notification.

    [Side-Grade]

    Congratulations, you¡¯ve created a new item. Your ¡®Mana Stone (Small)¡¯ has turned into ¡®Heat Stone (Small)¡¯

    I checked the status of the Heat Stone.

    Item Name: Heat Stone (Small)

    Focus: 40/40

    Re-gen: 1 (M)

    Rarity: Common (C)

    Type: Utility

    Durability: 800/800

    Effects:

    1: Heat Storage I: Allows user to store up to 40 heat aspects for later use.

    2: Heat Absorption I: can regenerate heat aspects on its own at a rate of 1 per minute.

    ¡°What! It can re-gen on its own?¡± I said in shock.

    That was useful, but I did lose 200 max Durability and 10 units of storage space. Still, that means this thing is wired to the system and will generate aspects for me even when in a cold environment.

    I wouldn¡¯t call this a loss. This was probably more useful. As far as I could tell each unit of aspects was enough to fill half a layer of aura. That gave me enough heat for quite a few fireballs. I mostly needed it for the finisher I was working on.

    Hold on¡­ didn¡¯t this mean the system charges more for spells than what is actually needed? If I remember correctly, manabolt was 5 focus. That¡¯s way more than what you actually need to cast the spell. One focus was probably enough.

    I guess it try¡¯s to keep the energy in your body balanced. Like if you use a fire spell it then needs to pull out all other aspects in order to keep the essence in your body as null aspects.

    Otherwise you could end up with a surplus of cold aspects and not enough heat, wind and momentum to cast another fire ball. I can imagine some guy with a full mana pool only for his spell not to work because he has no heat aspects.

    I took a look out the window. The boss was still a few blocks over. My guess was only off by 2 maybe 3 minutes. I loaded the stone into my inventory. Then looked around the room for anything else that might be useful.

    Everything good was tucked behind the counter. The display case had a lot of magical items, but nothing super useful to me. Mostly because it was no longer compatible with my¡­ biology.

    Was ascending a bad idea? It felt like a lot of items in this world were now useless to me. It wasn¡¯t my idea. That¡¯s why I needed to adapt. As I had that thought I felt a pull in my chest as quintessence was used to create a chat window.

    [Princess Aku] I can help!

    She had been pretty quiet. I was actually happy to have someone to talk to.

    [Isaac] How so?

    [Princess Aku] Behold!

    I felt energy beginning to well up in my chest before extending out into my clothes and spreading like the fungal roots of mycelium.

    [Isaac] Oh, right! I forgot about that! What did you enchant them with?

    [Princess Aku] I gave it the same stuff the pretty kimono had.

    [Isaac] Nice!

    [Princess Aku] you are welcome! Please save mama now.

    The pink window closed leaving me to think about the fact that Aku thought of Alice as her mom. I mean she did help with character creation, but we were currently stuck in the same body making the whole thing kind of awkward. Thoughts for later.

    I needed to see the effects this would have with my stats, so with a thought I brought up the childish pink window once more.

    Item Name: Purest frills (white/blue)

    Rarity: Unique (U)

    Type: Outfit

    Defense: 20

    M-Defense: 80

    Durability: 25,000/500 (5x)

    Effects:

    1: Meridian Purification: When cycling, essence corruption will be easier to purge from body.

    2: Conduit: Essence becomes 2x easier to gather and control.

    3: Divine regeneration: Heal 10x faster over time.

    4: Divine Aura: your aura will clean your body and surroundings.

    Enchantments:

    1: Durability IV: item will last 5x as long.

    2: Haste IV: increases movement speed by 80%.

    3: Elemental Resistance IV: reduces damage from all elements by 70%.

    4: Repair: Durability repairs over time. (Life aspects required)

    Equip effects:

    Charm Boost: +200%

    There were a few changes to my character sheet. My essence control had doubled and with the ¡®+6¡¯ was now at 12. I tested it out by gathering up some aspects. The speed I could gather it had definitely multiplied by two. It was also much easier to control.

    The thing was there still wasn¡¯t enough ambient essence to make a difference. I mean sure I could gather it faster and had better control, so crafting spells and cultivation were twice as easy.

    I might even be able to control more spells at a time, but the issue was that there just wasn¡¯t enough essence to cast that many spells. Even if I increased the range of the aspects I could gather by activating my Qi sight, I don¡¯t think I could gather enough to reach my spell limit control.

    The mana stones should help with that. Heat was what I was struggling to get. Even with the fuel to heat trick it would take a long time to make it work since the system was always trying to steal the aspects I produced.

    It made me happy to be able to move energy around the way I can, but it sucked that there really wasn¡¯t that much to go around. It¡¯s like learning to tap dance only to lose your left foot to an infection. I mean, sure you can still do it. Your performance is just way sadder now.

    The ¡®Outfit¡¯ thing in the ¡®Type¡¯ section was a surprise. The only time I¡¯ve seen that was when you get yourself a special type of set gear. Meaning I could only have these benefits if I was wearing these exact clothes.

    Removing one would lead to devastating stats. It might be a flaw in Aku¡¯s enchanting, but not that big a deal considering the benefits. One good thing about it was that these clothes would be treated as a single item, so equipping them would be instantaneous and they would also be kept together in my inventory. Perfectly organized.

    ¡°Your getting distracted again.¡± Said Snowball.

    Moving on. Like the kimono my ¡®outfit¡¯ now had resistance to all elemental types of attacks. It was strange. Normally the wording was protection, but for some reason it turned into resistance. It even showed up in my character sheet at the very bottom. There were now four of them.

    Resistances:

    Fire 70%

    Water 70%

    Wind 70%

    Earth 70%

    Lightning 70%

    Now that I thought about it resistance made more sense. Since it was my aura resisting the damage not my gear protecting me from damage. It also gave me a defense of 20 and a magic defense of 80, which wasn¡¯t much, but would help with my aura.

    Funny thing. In-game magic defense didn¡¯t mean it would protect you just from magic. It meant any type of energy attacks. Things like the burning light from the sacred art ¡®smite¡¯, or the electric fire from Shade¡¯s plasma gun.

    I tried bringing my aura up and got it to 20 layers. It felt a lot better now. Much less flimsy. Like being covered in a thick layer of slime, but it wasn¡¯t sticky. It wasn¡¯t exactly a level one aura, but it was close. At least when it came to protection that is.

    As far as I could tell. It was like I had an extra layer between each segment in my aura that was devoted specifically to elemental defense. The shape of my aura was also a bit different. That was probably where the magic defense and physical defense came in. In the future I might be able to mimic it naturally.

    The effects of the kimono wasn¡¯t as noticeable back on Chik¨±, because of the constant pressure Mr. Brutus was exuding. For one the cleaning effect didn¡¯t work very well. The only thing that actually worked was the conduit effect and maybe the self repair. Though that last one took forever.

    I was pulled out of my thoughts, when the building began to rumble. Squirmy was approaching. It was time, so I stuffed Snowball into my inventory while adding null aspects to my aura. Then made my way outside.

    There were centipedes hopping off of the Boss¡¯s back. Each one level 50 or above. They were getting stronger. I wonder why. I didn¡¯t have time to deal with them, so I readied two bind spells and started dashing forward.

    As soon as the first centipede lunged at me, I bunny hopped my way over it¡¯s attack then activated the double bind to capture two of the higher level ones. Interestingly enough exotic aspects like the memory infused shadow I used were harder for the system to take. It was like it couldn¡¯t identify it as well.

    My sword appeared in a flash of light as I sped forward cutting down another one that was in my path, before hopping up on the head of one of the shadow bound monsters and using it like a Qi pulse spring board to launch myself up and onto one of Squirmy¡¯s massive legs. From there I used it¡¯s upward movement to jump onto the boss¡¯s back.

    I was met with more of the arthropods. Each one with a stinger dripping with poison or acid. I avoided their attempts to harm me while using my blade to cut limb and head alike.

    From there I began powering the advanced fireball by forcing more power from the void into the spell and feeding aspects into their respective runes.

    The ball of hot air began to spin and glow. Slowly growing into a perfect red nova. Small and calm, but very hot. It felt like it could hold much more. I couldn''t wait for it to fully mature.

    The flame was so stable that I almost couldn¡¯t look away. Squirmy¡¯s back was covered in spikes making it harder to travers. Centipede mobs rushed towards me ready to attack, but they were no match for my sword. Even their acid couldn''t burn me thanks to my boosted aura.

    With each enemy I encountered, I drained aspects feeding them into my aura, thus forming new layers on top of the old. Piece by piece, I forced my natural aura to split and grow new sections.

    This was something that should have taken days, but in the short time I had, I gathered the energy into layers using my experience and new control to sculpt my hard shell into something greater.

    The battle was too easy. Even the tendrils that extended out from under the chitin were met with the narrow edge of my blade¡¯s aura. What I couldn¡¯t cut I tied it up with bind.

    The heat aspects I¡¯d put into the heat stones were slowly being used. Each unit forming a neat little spell I named ¡°Delay Fireball¡±. Which was a combination of the landmine spell and a simple fireball.

    I didn¡¯t set them off right away. Instead I left them behind attaching them to the massive chitin of the Bosses back. It wasn¡¯t time yet. I needed to get to the top. To the head for the big one.

 Episode 61 part 3: Climbing Pains

    Alice-

    The pain was getting worse. This must be because of my adrenaline dropping. I watched a documentary with Izzy once. It was about a jogger that went over a cliff. By morning the pain had intensified because her body had coold down.

    It had to be something like that. I¡¯m sure Izzy would know for sure. He was smart like that. How would he handle this situation? He would take the beating until it was over. Until I came to save him, but there was no one else coming.

    Shadow was really the only hope I had, but I doubted she would come after me, considering we weren¡¯t really friends. She probably wants me out of the way, so she can have Izzy all to her self. Was I really just going to die here?

    Maybe I deserve it, since I was the one that locked Izzy away. Now his alter was out to get me. To this day, I still wasn¡¯t sure if I¡¯d done the right thing. Turning my husband in like that and watching them take him away.

    Maybe I should have run away with him. We could have fled the country and gone to live somewhere else. Just the two of us. We could have left all that crap behind and lived free.

    Still, turning him in was a logical step. He had killed Jack and left Cain in a horrible state. How long before he did something else. It¡¯s not like Cain was going to stay quiet either. It would have happened regardless and if I hadn¡¯t done anything. Then I would have been seen as an accomplice.

    I wasn¡¯t crazy, so there was no excuse for me. Allowing Izzy to pay for his crimes just seemed like the best option. Not just because he was easily labeled insane, but because he needed help. Help that I couldn¡¯t provide.

    I thought if I could love him enough that that darkness inside him would go away, but it always felt like he kept me at a distance. He never wanted to talk to me about what happened and instead he would ignore it and tell me he loved me.

    We were in love, but I could never get around that wall. The one around his heart. Instead, I only got access to the fuzzy exterior with an occasional glance at the bladed puzzle on the inside.

    It wasn¡¯t his fault. How could I expect to see his whole self when even Izzy hadn¡¯t seen it. That was the issue with walling yourself off into multiple alters. I guess I finally got what I wanted. I got to meet Centa before, and now I¡¯ve met Squirmy. No wonder he kept it hidden. It was all to keep people safe.

    My thoughts were interrupted by the sudden sound of coughing from Squirmy. He stirred in his sleep. Then stretched his arms out and yawned, as if waking from a simple nap and not the LSD nightmare he seemed to be in a moment ago.

    ¡°He¡¯s coming.¡± Squirmy chuckled. The guy sounded almost gleeful.

    I wanted to ask who, but could only make a strange noise. My mouth flared up in pain. The flesh fusion of Squirmy¡¯s lower half came undone, as he slithered his way out of the bosses head. Long spindly limbs grew from his tail-half allowing for better mobility.

    He began crawling towards me. The sight filled me with fear. I absolutely hated bugs and now my husband had turned into one. How was I ever supposed to kiss that mouth.

    Stupid developers turning my husband''s alter into a boss. I wish I could get my hands on them and make them feel all the pain they put both of us through. I swear I¡¯m gonna write a strongly worded letter, but instead of not sending it I''ll actually send it! That''ll teach them!

    Not only was Izzy a bug now, but he looked like Cain. If I wasn¡¯t strung up like one of those sex cartoons Izzy swears he doesn¡¯t watch. I¡¯d punch this dude in his stupid face and keep hitting him until his bones reshaped themselves to look like Izzy.

    The tendrils holding me up began to lower me down coming to an abrupt stop once we were at eye level. Regardless of my position I refused to look him in the eyes.

    ¡°Don¡¯t ignore me!¡± he snapped his grey clawed fingers causing my restraints to writhe.

    They readjust themselves digging their shark-tooth-like claws deeper into my limbs and body. The pain no longer made me squirm. This was just how things were now. It was more of the same.

    ¡°Alice, why are you so sad? We''re together aren''t we?¡± He said while smiling like he dislocated his jaw.

    I continued to ignore him. Attention was what he wanted and I refused to give it to him. Infuriated, he made the vines move once more. That was when I felt my left arm suddenly twist as the flesh vines pulled. I screamed as the joints in my arm snapped and came undone.

    This was worse than what I felt before. I cried out, as the limb was rotated. The bones creaked and cracked as my flesh and skin twisted, bursting veins and arteries in the process. The pain was unbearable.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fucking ignore me! It¡¯s your own fault your in pain! Your absolutely worthless!¡± he yelled.

    Izzy wake up¡­

    Aku/Isaac

    Climbing up the monsters back was annoying. The spikes gave me platforms to jump to, but the centipedes that showed up made it annoying to climb.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Wait what was I doing?

    I activated my aura injecting water aspects into it¡¯s steel shell. This turned all 22 layers into a squishy cloud like substance. I didn¡¯t have enough aura to set up protections, so any hit would probably go right through me, but that was okay. Since I needed mobility more than defense.

    My aura was still pretty dense, but with all the extra water. It would make the whole thing pretty soft. Great for shapeshifting, but not the best for protection.

    It would provide a little defense. Mostly from blunt and poison based attacks. Blunt was pointless against this enemy. It wasn¡¯t so much that I had poison resistance. It was more like the water aspects had a cleansing effect that would prevent poison from taking effect.

    This water aura wasn¡¯t that great since a simple wind aura would take care of any poisonous gas and the physical defense was garbage. I needed more earth aspects if I really wanted to ward off attacks.

    Maybe I should add a few wind aspects just so I have my own airflow. After all, it was better not to get poisoned in the first place. The carbon can easily be converted back to oxygen with a little intention. It would be nice since there''s so many fumes floating around.

    Instead of adding it in. I converted some of the water aspects back into hydrogen and oxygen. Then adjusted the frequency of hydrogen into oxygen. My control over aspects was pretty good when it came to my aura. The system didn¡¯t mess with it.

    Taking the squishy cloud aura I¡¯d created, I reformed it into a caterpillar aura, then used it to cling and glide my way up the steep chitin on Squirmy¡¯s back. My speed was pretty good and the centipedes I encountered were easy to avoid, since they couldn¡¯t really lunge at me as well, because of the laws of gravity.

    Not getting hit was currently a priority, so I didn¡¯t attack them at all. Instead I continued to use the Heat Stones to create spells and attached them over the surface of Squirmy¡¯s back.

    Thanks to my new level of essence control, I was able to direct a larger number of spells at a time, and with the Heat Stones, I could easily form them.

    Momentum and wind were still pretty abundant. Not as much as what Chik¨± had, but still a good amount for spell craft. Lorie did specify on fireballs not platforms.

    I should have picked up more wind, earth, water and kinetic spells. There was still my manabolt and landmine spells, so I did have a few options, but a wind blade spell could easily be spammed. Weather that would be as effective on Squirmy as fire, I wasn¡¯t sure, but at least I¡¯d have more options.

    I attached another delay fireball to Squirmy¡¯s hide. They were pretty much invisible, so there was no way they would be found. As for the nasty little fireball I¡¯d been cooking up.

    Well¡­ it¡¯s foundation had grown into a labyrinth of weaving runes. Almost like it had become alive. At this point I was unable to edit the spell. It just kept growing on its own.

    It wasn¡¯t that concerning since it was incredibly stable for an out of control spell. For now I could keep it under check by limiting the amount of void going into it.

    The aspects however were being replaced on their own. The spell seemed to be gathering wind and momentum without my intervention. It drew in heat aspects as best as it could, but there wasn¡¯t a lot to go around. Which lead me to wonder how it was feeding the heat runes.

    No matter how I looked at it, it just didn¡¯t make any sense. How the hell was it replenishing the heat aspects? Considering how it seemed to be self-sustaining, was this even my spell anymore? It wasn¡¯t until I took a closer look that I realized what was actually going on.

    If it wasn¡¯t for the hydrogen powered runes, I was sure the spell would die out on its own. The spell itself seemed to be powering itself with the extra heat it generated from burning fuel.

    In truth, it wasn¡¯t that complicated of a spell. All I did was add more wind, heat, kinetic, and amplification runes. The end result would take a while to fully power up, but whatever it would turn into would be super deadly.

    As for the hydrogen powered runes, let''s just call that an upgrade. I decided to form the wind runes out of a combination of oxygen and hydrogen aspects. The results made a much hotter flame and I could always inject more of it directly into the final product, like how I did when forming a Solarball.

    That was okay. Wind was easy to get. Momentum was also easy to get. Heat would be a problem, but I could make up for it by feeding a few fireballs. My control over all the spells was pretty good. It was making my head hurt a little having to keep my focus on so many things.

    As I went up Squirmy¡¯s back I made sure to zigzag around covering a large area in my little spells. I couldn''t wait to set them off. It¡¯ll be like the time Cain tried to make a slam fire shotgun in our garage, only for it to turn into a pipe bomb instead.

    I tried to stop him, but he wouldn''t listen. It''s not my fault he packed it so tightly. Sis still blamed me, since I hadn''t told her, but Cain said he''d hurt buddy, so I had no choice but to stay quiet. She was always working and couldn''t keep my brother from doing horrible stuff to me.

    I took half a unit of heat aspects and fed them into another spell, but before I could attach it to the chitin on Squirmy¡¯s back, a sharp tendril shot out from under the plating of Squirmy¡¯s chitin and went for my chest.

    Thanks to my quick reflexes, I was able to move slightly to the right causing the invading black spear to miss my heart. The bad news was that it had struck the artery in my left arm and was the only thing keeping my blood inside my body.

    That didn¡¯t last long though as the tendril tore itself out of me causing me to fall. My body plummeted hitting several spikes on its way to hit the pavement.

    Somehow, parts of my body began to feel numb. That was when I realized I¡¯d been hit with a paralytic and was unable to move. My health also seemed to be dropping rapidly.

    There was a huge amount of poison inside me and since my aura wasn''t fully formed any more, the passive cleanse was working unbelievably slow. With the pain in my aura creating a new aura felt like it would take too long.

    My mind was racing as it filled my brain with multiple possible solutions that wouldn¡¯t work. That was when I remembered what Zubu said. She said something about how Mr. Brutus filtered poison aspects.

    I didn¡¯t think I could do that in a reasonable time, so I did what I could. I tried to relax. Then began converting the invading poison into aspects. From there I expelled them from my left arm by fussing them with the blood that was rapidly pouring out.

    It was just enough to allow me to move. With a breath, my aura came back to life as I reformed it into a hard shell. It only had about 5 layers but was all I had time to form. From there I gathered wind and momentum aspects into a platform spell. Then used two platforms to create a pillow like construct beneath me.

    I didn¡¯t want to come to a sudden stop, so instead I willed the pillow to move down as fast as I could make it go. As soon as my back touched it, it felt like I¡¯d fallen off a house.

    From there I gradually slowed the pillow down, until I came to a full stop. By that point I¡¯d lost a lot of blood. I probably only had a few more seconds of consciousness.

    With no time to gather what I needed. I simply withdrew a mid potion from my inventory and chugged it down hoping it would still work as intended.

 Chapter 61 part 4: Alice her husband and his monster

    I was pleasantly surprised at how pure the energy in the potion was. It wasn¡¯t exactly Qi, but it wasn¡¯t not Qi. The power seemed to cycle in a pattern I¡¯ve never seen before.

    It was a circle and only around my midsection. It was enough to create a healing aura around me. How did it do that? It was as if the potion was alive.

    Could this be apart of the brewers intentions? Was it possible for intent to linger for that long? I didn¡¯t know, but I was happy it worked and didn¡¯t turn my meridians into crystal.

    After that I gathered up some cleansing aspects and injected them into my aura. This cleared out the lingering poison from my body.

    I could always use my platform as an elevator, but then I wouldn¡¯t be able to leave more of my spells behind. If this was going to work, I¡¯d need to move faster.

    First I should prepare. I withdrew the heat stone from my inventory. It still had plenty of charge, but I might as well top it off. I began feeding hydrogen into the advanced fireball and recharged everything. It took a minute or two, but they were ready. With that I put them back in my inventory and turned my attention back to the boss.

    Squirmy was getting away! ¡°Hey get back here!¡± I yelled as my pillow tilted forward and started to chase after my tormentor.

    I nearly fell off the soft nimbus causing me to whine and fall on my butt. Once I was close enough the pillow came to a stop, as I switched my vision to Qi sight and tried to figure out where the last spell I put down was.

    The delay fireball was a bit higher, so I floated my pillow up slowly while keeping up with Squirmy¡¯s marching speed. Platform travel was kind of slow. Faster than walking but way slower than my top running speed. I enjoyed how comfy it was.

    While focusing on the last spell I had placed, I didn¡¯t notice the falling centipede reaching terminal velocity. When I did it was a bit too late to move out of the way, as it¡¯s stinger went right through me popping my comfy pillow like it was a balloon.

    ¡°Holy crap!¡± We both fell side by side as it tried to sting me again.

    I wasn¡¯t hurt somehow and for some reason my body felt odd. That¡¯s when I remembered the ghost ribbon on my head. ¡°Yes! Thank you!¡± I said.

    I kicked the centipedes head away then formed a new pillow. This time I forgot to slow my fall first and ended up crashing through it. ¡°Crap!¡± I cried before forming a new one.

    This one to my relief actually managed to catch me like normal. ¡°I thought I was gonna die!¡± I complained as my little heart raced in my chest.

    I could feel tears in the corners of my eyes. I wasn¡¯t sure if they were from distress, or if they were a result of having so much wind blowing in my eyes. My whimpers said otherwise.

    Wait what''s that? I felt something moving through me. For a second I thought I had more pain inside me by it wasn''t that. There were aspects inside my tummy. They made a circle pattern but this wasn''t a healing aura.

    Was that shadow aspect? I used my Qi sight to get a better look and it really was shadow aspect. It was barely noticeable. The power moved up to my head and entered the ghost ribbon.

    Inside the ribbon it gathered into a ball and yawned, then seemed to go to sleep like a cat laying itself out in the sun. It was kind of cute for a ball of dirty energy. The aspects were a bit different from shadow aspect. I was sure this had to do with the creators intention. This stuff was almost like Qi.

    The only difference the life aspects and shadow aspects had with normal Qi was that they felt like they were alive. I wonder if that was why they felt a bit more dirty than regular Qi? Being alive makes them susceptible to corruption.

    I looked over at the centipedes back and thought about my experience so far, ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll keep my distance. Got it.¡± I did just that as I made my way back up. Once in range I used a power skip to make my way back onto Squirmy¡¯s back. A few of those big black tendrils tried to attack me, but this time I was ready.

    Instead of stopping each time to place down a spell, I prepared the spells beforehand, so that I was never in the same place for too long. The tendrils still tried to get me, but I managed to cut the big ones down while the small ones burnt up in the atmospheric pressure of my aura.

    To do that I had to add momentum aspects to my aura, but with the concept of gravity in mind. It was similar to Mr. Brutus¡¯s aura, but way less deadly. Not the best protection, but it was better than being wrapped in just a simple vapor cloud.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    The burning of tendrils also served to provide me with friction aspects that could be converted to heat. Which were held inside my aura before being injected into one of my delay fireball spells.

    My speed only grew as Squirmy¡¯s back began to curl. I was nearing the Boss¡¯s head. My Qi sight activated again. I wanted to see what might be up ahead.

    The dark cloud was pretty thick here, but I could make out two lights above. One a bright gold and the other a dull red. That gold soul looked so familiar. There was a comforting feeling of warmth there. For a second my wife¡¯s image came to mind. ¡°It¡¯s her.¡±

    Seeing her soul filled me with renewed energy, as I abandoned the traps I had been setting and weaved my way in and out of the spikes. The centipedes were level 80 now. Each one trying to attack me.

    When I neared the top I began to find pod-like eggs and centipede mobs close to level 100. There names had also changed from ¡®Centipede (minion)¡¯ to ¡®Centipede (prime)¡¯. I just wanted to save my wife so I shot past them. ¡°Alice!¡± I cried as I flew up and over the Boss¡¯s head.

    -Alice-

    Squirmy was poking holes in my skin. Using his claws like needles. I couldn¡¯t take the pain anymore. Screaming did nothing. It burned as acid ran along his claws. I couldn''t take it anymore. I started thrashing while screaming unintelligible obscenities! Squirmy simply laughed.

    ¡°Alice!¡± the sound of my name cut through the torture as both Squirmy and I glanced towards the disembodied voice. It sounded like a little girl and when I saw her I felt hope rise inside me.

    I didn¡¯t know how or why. All I understood was that he was here. I tried to call out for Izzy, but forgot my tongue was gone and ended up hurting myself. Pain radiated from my throat and mouth, as tears ran down my face.

    ¡°Finally! About fucking time!¡± Squirmy lifted his arm sending several large tendrils to impale Izzy. Instead of dodging Izzy dove in head first, using his sword to slice through them like butter.

    His feet touched chitin. Then he stepped forward with a horizontal strike, but Squirmy backed away. To my surprise the power around his sword lashed forward slicing into Squirmy¡¯s gut and leaving a shallow cut behind.

    -Aku/Isaac-

    Unleashing a fireball Squirmy avoided it, then rushed in for a bite. His mouth unhinged, as his teeth fell out and were replaced by needle like stingers. Each one dripping with a variety of poisons and acids.

    I held my left arm out ready to take the bite. Then focused the water in my aura to cleanse. His stingers entered my arm. That was when I tightened my shell preventing him from unlatching his dirty teeth.

    The toxins was surprisingly strong, as they quickly enveloped my arm in a cold burning pain. The worst was the acid that seemed to turn my flesh into dripping black sludge.

    I didn¡¯t care, as I clamped my aura down on my upper arm creating a tourniquet to prevent the toxins from spreading through my body. In order to stop a loss of focus I even added apathy aspects to my aura. Just enough to stay calm.

    With Squirmy stuck, I put my sword away, before readying a fireball in my free hand. With a thrust of my arm, I quickly jammed the burning nova into his gut, while wrapping it in the hard shell of my aura to control the force of the explosion. It erupted through his body blowing a massive burning hole out of his back, while also tearing my fingers into bloody ribbons.

    I expected his form to lose shape, so I could really lay into him, but it only waned for a second before solidifying once more. By the time I realized I¡¯d made a mistake, it was too late.

    Unable to release my arm, Squirmy took advantage of my own trap by growing tendrils out of his back and molding their ends into scythes. They swung up and over coming down with the multiplying force of a whip. Since I was stuck I had no choice but to take the hit and hope my aura could tank it.

    -Alice-

    Izzy had Squirmy¡¯s mouth stuck to his arm. It was melting. How could someone withstand that torture? Was it because of his experience with his mom? No, the truth was, he was doing it for me.

    I thrashed in hopes of getting out and realized that the tendrils holding me weren¡¯t as tight as before. Squirmy was distracted. That¡¯s when I saw several blades coming down on Izzy¡¯s back.

    With all the strength I had, I tore my good arm free and directed a magical-girl-spell called ¡®protect¡¯ towards Izzy. A silver multi layered magic circle appeared over my bloody hand, as energy raced over to my husband. Please, save my Izzy.

    -Aku/Isaac-

    I braced the aura on my back for an attack, but instead of pain I felt something warm behind me. My Qi sight gave shape and color to a big round shield, perfectly placed over my back. The magical protection kept Squirmy¡¯s blades at bay.

    Silently, I thanked my wife before turning my aura against myself by sharpening the tourniquet and using it to amputate my arm. The limb was mostly just bones away so it wasn¡¯t hard to cut through.

    Dual Qi pulses ignited under my feet as I launched myself into the air not only abandoning my former limb, but avoiding the sudden rib bone skewers extending out of Squirmy¡¯s ribcage.

    I spun my body around and used several platforms to power skip myself away from him. Angry, Squirmy rammed through the magical shielding provided by Alice before taking on a larger and scarier form.

    Not only did he grow in size, but his color scheme became more edgy. His mouth had completely changed by growing mandibles in addition to his needle like teeth.

    The once slightly gray pale skin had gone full of ash gray, with streaks of black and red. He had even grown an extra two pairs of arms which had all gained another joint. His fingers also had extra joints and looked very long.

    I felt a circle of healing Qi grow inside me, as my wife directed a healing sacred art on my mangled body. My right arm was fixed. I watched the remaining broken fingers snap back into place, as the missing fingers regenerated.

    Even my missing arm was trying to regenerate. It was a bit too slow, but was welcomed all the same. At the very least I was thankful for the replenishment of my blood.

    I gathered whatever life aspects I could before the world system swallowed them up. Then used them as a basis for a healing aura. I wish I could help Alice, but right now I needed to take care of this guy so we could get away and to do that, I was gonna need another arm.

 Episode 61 part 5: Greater Azureball

    I thought about using the advanced fireball, but both Alice and I were in the splash zone. It also didn¡¯t help that I still needed time to properly power it up.

    Using the spell now would be a waste, considering how many tests I put it through. It was looking like the fight might drag on. I needed to end it as quickly as possible.

    I gave the spell a glance just to make sure it was still okay. It was burning dimly above us. Everything was in order. Even my arm was almost fully healed. The pink skin was a great indicator of health. I drew my sword from my inventory ready to attack.

    Squirmy still in a rage dashed forward and lashed out with his clawed hands. I used the aura of my sword to block the in coming slashes. Then countered with a strike. My sword cut down on his shoulder drawing black blood.

    His body was so dense that my aura coated sword did very little against him. Seeing my weak attack a tendril shot out of his body. I expanded the aura of my blade for a fraction of a second, widening the wound for a quick extraction and retreat.

    The wounds I¡¯d given him struggled to close. The tendrils were so fast that I could barely cut them down. The worst part was that my sword was struggling to get through. These were much denser than the ones from before.

    The issue was that my aura was too weak. I needed more power. With no other choice, I fed even more Qi into the star pattern. This caused my aura to flare up. I wasn¡¯t able to make more layers, but the raw power was needed.

    This caused my aura to collapse and become more patchy. It broke down and reformed itself, as I tried to get it to form into proper layers. Getting it to settle was nearly impossible.

    Each time the aura reformed, it managed to come back just a little more complete. My defense was garbage, but protection wasn¡¯t what I needed at the moment. The only thing that would work was raw speed and power. With it I stood a chance.

    Don¡¯t. Get. Hit.

    Apathy flooded my existence, as I tried to connect to Squirmy. There was a lot of awful things there. Memories of his victims and the truth behind what he had really planned for them. It made me sick causing me to almost get hit. I toned it down to the bare minimum I needed for my muse.

    Focusing my aura, I was able to move the unstable energy to the parts that I needed. While weaving I powered my legs. When striking I powered my arms and weapon. No defense, just attack and weave.

    With my perfect focus and my muse. I was able to dance around my opponent, while chipping away at the bladed tendrils and siphoning off chunks of null Qi. Slowly and persistently, I worked my way in. Once I was finally in striking range, I ran my blade through his gut.

    He recoiled in pain holding his bloody wound. Enraged, he exploded in a rapid fire of jade fire bolts. With my increase in speed, I avoided them while siphoning off what I could. I found plenty of heat, momentum, wind, punishment, and what I would call harming aspects in his attacks.

    Gathering everything up I condensed the aspects into a tiny ball. The system tried to pull out the aspects succeeding in ripping a few away. That was until I wrapped a red magic circle around it, allowing a fireball to form around the harmful energy.

    Not only did it consume the aspects, but it gained a new attribute, turning the spell into something much more sinister.

    The once red nova turned black with a blueish green core. I fired it at Squirmy. Squirmy shapeshifted his lower limbs into two several jointed ones and tried to side step my attack.

    To bad for him that fireball was only a faint, as it had only contained half of the aspects I stole from him. The bug man ended up walking into the punishment infused delay fireball I¡¯d put down to his side. It went off not only swirling around him in a dark greenish bloom, but also lifting his body into the air with the exploding force.

    That was when I fired off another punishment fireball. This one lacking the harming aspects was only a dark orange. He took it in the chest causing it to expand into a fiery swirl.

    The sudden impact sent him flying, landing on his back. His lower half was gone and his body was on fire. He rolled and shifted His flesh in an attempt to put out the flames.

    It worked, but It was to late as his body was charred to a crisp. ¡°Why can¡¯t I heal!¡± He complained.

    I smiled as I made my way over. ¡°Punishment is a bitch.¡± There was a bounce in my step and my evil laugh came naturally.

    It was too bad I was in this body, because it seemed like my maliciousness was lost in translation. To everyone present, I looked like a playful girl taking a stroll through a flower and bunny infested meadow.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°You bitch!¡± he tried to get up forming new limbs, but the damage to his body was too much. His flesh would no longer regenerate. Squirmy thought he could be reckless since his body would just fix itself, but that was going to be his downfall.

    Especially when he feels all the punishment delay fireballs riddled through the boss¡¯s body. The thought made me so happy. I couldn¡¯t wait for the bonfire. It¡¯ll be killer.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see how you like it!¡± He lifted his burnt hand to try and blast me with his baby barf flames, but before he could get it out, I focused my disaster of an aura to my legs, and dashed forward, ramming my blade through his chest. Right through that tiny core fragment he called a soul.

    Squirmy¡¯s fake body turned into black dust. The boss screeched. Fixing my aura, I quickly rushed to my wife¡¯s side and cut the tendrils holding her. I hugged her In my arms. We were of similar sizes, so unlike Luca, I was actually able to hold and comfort her.

    I hated cutting our reunion short, but this was no place to celebrate. ¡°We need to go.¡± I said, as I stacked two platform spells together spawning an air pillow once more.

    Alice looked so weak. So hurt. Her mouth and arms were covered in blood. Did she bite her tongue? Why wasn¡¯t she saying anything¡­ oh. ¡°That fucking asshole!¡± I clenched my fists as my anger rose. My soul felt like it was beating in tune with my heart.

    I felt the echo grow in frequency, as it¡¯s reverberations hummed in my chest like an angry beehive. For a second I thought I was having a heart attack, as my chest began to burn. Now wasn¡¯t the time for distractions.

    I nearly flew into a rampage, as one of the nearby pods cracked open revealing an Aku like avatar. She wore similar clothes to mine, but with a black and red color theme. She also had horns on her head.

    The only thing that kept me from doing anything was the fact that I needed to get Alice to safety. Before Squirmy could get himself together, I helped Alice onto the pillow. Then stuffed a potion in her mouth. She knew what to do and began drinking it down.

    I hopped on the nimbus beside her and decided to make it a little more comfortable by injecting cozy aspects into the spell. I immediately felt the pillow get softer and warmer. I hope Alice liked it.

    We floated away just as Squirmy began to open his doll like eyes. He moved brokenly, as if unfamiliar with his new body. I wasn¡¯t just going to let him get away with it.

    Alice cried as her body stitched itself back together. I hugged her ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I know it hurts!¡± I cried. I wish I could wrap her in a chicken soup aura, but I wasn¡¯t in the right mindset for that. The cozy aspects were easy because it was a pillow.

    I¡¯m so weak. If I was a real man she wouldn¡¯t be in so much pain. Why can¡¯t I control my emotions? Just enough to be able to heal her in a nice way.

    ¡°Izzy, you came. You¡¯re here.¡± She cried.

    ¡°Of course I came. I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m late. I didn¡¯t know where you were, so I was going to throw myself at the boss until it died, or I died.¡± I said.

    ¡°Your always so reckless. Please don¡¯t throw yourself away.¡± She lightly scolded.

    I nodded, ¡°Yeah, of course. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Alice looked back to the boss with hatred in her eyes. ¡°I wish I could have done more. That asshole deserves pain.¡± She spat.

    ¡°Do you wanna see something cool?¡± I asked.

    My wife narrowed her eyes in that way that said, ¡®what did you do now¡¯ but nodded out of curiosity.

    I stood to my feet readying the spell I¡¯d been preparing for so long. It had been floating at my side the whole time. I fed momentum, wind, and heat aspects into it, as the power of the void flooded its containment runes. Seeing as they were so effective, I added punishment aspects directly to the fireball itself.

    The red nova grew In size, as if it had been starving this whole time and was waiting for me to feed it. I took all the heat aspects from the heat stone, feeding them into the spell while injecting hydrogen into the fireball itself. It quickly grew into a large Solarball.

    The yellow ball didn''t stop there, as it expanded even more. That¡¯s when I began condensing it. Keeping it at the size of a beach ball. The heat was so well contained that I couldn¡¯t even feel it.

    ¡°Uh¡­ Izzy, that looks super dangerous. Is it¡­ supposed to shake like that?¡± Alice¡¯s words made me smile.

    It didn¡¯t end there, as the spell greedily sucked up not only the heat and fuel I was providing it, but the air and ambient heat in the area. I could feel a cold chill run along my body, as the flame turned into a hot blue light. It was powerful¡ªlike a meteor spell, but much more compact and with way more kick.

    The blue flame was self sustaining, as it drew in aspects on its own. The only thing keeping it in check was the magic circle I¡¯d created. Even that was having trouble at the moment as the outer ring began to vibrate and strain.

    ¡°Izzy, it¡¯s really pretty.¡± Said Alice.

    Squirmy slowly made his way towards the edge of the boss¡¯s head, gathering 100s of large bladed tendrils for an assault on us. By then it was too late. I released the advanced spell. Whispering it''s name In the wind, ¡°Greater Azureball.¡±

    Slowly, It moved at the pace of a falling tree. Gradually, it picked up speed, as our nimbus pillow floated in the other direction. The boss¡¯s mouth had just opened and released a cloud explosion of acid and poison, as it¡¯s tendrils shot forward at the same time. Even it¡¯s head lunged forward to try and attack us with its massive stinger.

    It didn''t matter as my Azureball burned right through the cloud, striking true and erupting in an explosion of white and blue flames. The flames expanded in a swirling mess. Sweeping and blooming across Squirmy¡¯s head and what I would consider to be his neck.

    As soon as the spell went off the rest of my spells activated creating and releasing over 100 punishment delay fireballs all throughout Squirmy¡¯s back. The giant bug was lit ablaze, as most of his body erupted with violent flames.

    I wished it was enough to finish him off, but it was nowhere near the damage needed to bring him down. Since he was a shapeshifting type of monster, head shots wouldn¡¯t work here. It didn¡¯t matter right now, Alice was the priority.

    Even with all that, the monsters HP bar had only gone down about 8%. It wasn¡¯t enough. This meant I needed way more attack power. This really sucked, especially since my Qi was down to 27.74%. I wish I could leave for another week of training, but that would require me to almost die in a safe and hidden area.

    At the very least Squirmy had been lit on fire with burns that could not heal, and that wasn¡¯t something he could easily fix.

 Chapter 61 part 6: I love you

    Our cloud sputtered it¡¯s way across the skyline. Without all the strain of all my active spells and aura, my mind was clear. This was the first break I¡¯d gotten since I got here.

    Having my wife here made me feel at ease. Sadly, she probably couldn¡¯t solve all my problems just by being here. However, her presence was enough to clear the weight off my shoulders, or at least make the weight of the world feel like a feather. It was as if I¡¯d just taken a massive dump right before a foot race.

    My Qi was still so low. Even though I had been cultivating the whole time I was traveling. Flooding my body with Qi was the biggest drain of all. While it did provide me with incredible strength and speed, it was better suited for a last resort.

    In truth I would have been fine if I focused on adding heat aspects for speed, but at the time I just wanted some revenge with a side of saving my wife. I was pretty tired after all that and could really go for a nap right about now. Even my simple air pillow spell was taking too much bandwidth to maintain.

    Maybe I should have ignored all those ground soldiers. Then again, without there passive aspects, I would have ran out of Qi by the time I made it up to Squirmy. His body was still burning at this very moment.

    His HP bar had only gone down. Which meant his re-gen wasn¡¯t working. The thought made me giggle in glee. My wife gave me a nervous smile. Probably wondering why I was giggling to myself like a crazy person.

    I gave her a smile then went back to plotting. There was only two sure ways to kill Squirmy. One was to burn every part of him until his HP bar dropped to 0. The other was to somehow damage his soul.

    Except he clearly had planned for it by splintering himself into multiple bodies. If even one part of him gets away, then the boss could easily regenerate. This meant my dancing buddies would also need to perish. I wasn¡¯t that attached to them, so it wasn''t that big a deal.

    From what I could tell it looked like the ¡®minion¡¯ class centipedes gathered quintessence for Squirmy. They might have been promised a chance to ascend back into people, but Squirmy was clearly lying about that.

    The centipedes that roamed the ground were the gatherers. The primes were the ones getting the actual quintessence they gathered, except they weren¡¯t ascending back into people. Instead their ascension was a way for Squirmy to reincarnate himself. It was basically like a big old pyramid scheme.

    Another way to look at it is, Squirmy was a virus. Constantly replicating himself by possessing lesser souls with his antessence. Mr. Brutus said something about that, but even though I ate a chunk of Squirmy I was fine.

    That¡¯s why that pod gave birth to that evil Aku thing. In which case I wish I had left several delay fireballs near the pods. Whatever, saving my wife was more important. Besides, I managed to cover most of that area in azure flames.

    The only reason I figure all that out was because of the short moment when my sympathy attached to Squirmy. Without that I would have been left to guess.

    My muse was the only way to end it quickly. Otherwise I would have lost all my Qi before the fight was over. Next time might not go as well considering he¡¯ll know about my punishment aspects.

    It probably didn¡¯t help that he chose a body that was so hard to move with. He needs to stop relying on intimidation to fight me. It was really holding him back. First off, Cain didn¡¯t even look like that anymore. Second, I¡¯ve killed so many bugs in my time.

    They¡¯re not scary. They¡¯re just a little annoying. Most of the time I just send them out the window¡ªlike when my neighbor gets super drunk and try¡¯s to come into my home thinking its his, so I let him sleep on the couch and escort him out in the morning.

    ¡°Right¡­ so you had a ¡®vision¡¯ when you went through a near death experience. That¡¯s normal¡­ I think.¡± Said Alice after I told her about my week on Chik¨±. She seemed to nod along to her own words as if she had just rationalized a ghost writing, ¡®KILL YOUR FAMILY!¡¯ in blood on the bathroom mirror.

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I said! It was real! With like this crazy zombie chick that bullied me and farted in my face a lot and this ancient sorcerer dryad! She was like a living tree, but she looked like a grass haired maiden!¡± I explained.

    ¡°Right¡­ and there was a gorilla too, or something?¡± She said in that tone where she clearly thought I was crazy, even though everything I was saying was true.

    For a second she almost gas lighted me into thinking it was a dream, but then I remembered all my new abilities and took that as proof it really did happen.

    ¡°That¡¯s Mr. Brutus! He made me fight a gigabear and showed me how to see vibrating energy! He¡¯s like a giant dude with his own gravitational pull! I watched him clap his hands together and make the sky quake!¡± I clapped my hands to mimic Mr. Brutus, ¡°BOOOM!¡± making the explosion sound with my mouth and pretending to fall over.

    The reenactment fell short of the real thing. My clap wasn¡¯t very loud and when I fell over, I could have sworn I made a squeaky sound¡ªlike one of those baby toys that make noise when you squeeze them.

    My wife didn¡¯t share my enthusiasm. She gave me one of her fake smiles, then said, ¡°That¡¯s great sweetie. We should find a pharmacy and see if we can get your prescriptions sent over.¡± She patted my knee.

    I felt hurt causing my lips to frown and quiver. I even let out an involuntary whimper. Seeing as she didn''t believe me, I laid on my side, turning away from her. ¡°fine.¡±

    I wanted to be upset, but my mind wouldn¡¯t leave me alone. How did that work exactly? I didn¡¯t have the same brain chemistry so mental illness shouldn¡¯t be a problem.

    Trauma was one thing, but stuff like autism wasn¡¯t really possible right? My brain had been rewired not once but twice now thanks to getting a new body and ascending.

    Did Cosmo build my body to match my old one!? What if my brain chemistry had super imposed itself onto my soul¡ªlike some kind of phantom limb situation! In which case that meant my mind was stuck like this forever! I wonder how long it would take to retrain my soul. That sounds hard though.

    I was resigned to simply lay there, but Alice had other plans as she reached over to slide my dress up. I shot back up holding it down as my cheeks began to burn. ¡°Don''t do that!¡±

    She smiled for real this time. ¡°Wow, it¡¯s only been two days. I wasn¡¯t expecting so much modesty. Those little shorts are so cute. You look like a baby.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re one to talk! Your no bigger than I am!¡± I retorted.

    She laughed, ¡°I¡¯m not the one wearing bloomers like a toddler.¡± She said in a sing song voice. ¡°Also, I think I¡¯m taller than you. That makes me older.¡±

    I glared at her. ¡°You¡¯re so annoying! I¡¯ll have you know, I¡¯ve ascended into the lower spirit rank, so that makes me older by default! Besides my account is way older than yours, so there!¡± I argued.

    She gave me that look again. Then went for my dress once more. I smacked her hand away. ¡°Knock it off. Or I¡¯ll, I¡¯ll-¡° She cut me off.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Or you¡¯ll what? Are you gonna flip my dress up as revenge?¡± She asked in a mocking tone.

    I became all flustered at the thought of even attempting such a thing. ¡°Alice, I¡¯m a grown ass man! If I do that I¡¯ll go to jail!¡± I yelled.

    ¡°Oh, and I wont?¡± She sassed.

    My head tilted as I realized she had a point. ¡°Yeah, but you¡¯re an actual girl, so it doesn¡¯t look as bad.¡± I said slowly realizing the double standards.

    ¡°You¡¯re a girl too, or are you hiding a little willy down there.¡± She said shamelessly.

    I felt my cheeks burn once more. ¡°Alice! Don¡¯t say stuff like that!¡± I had to whisper the next part. ¡°It¡¯s gone. Everything down there is anatomically correct.¡±

    Alice got a suspicious look on her face. ¡°How do you know that? Did you do something disgusting?¡±

    ¡°No! I would never do that! Well maybe if I had an adult female body¡­ but no!¡± I shook my head in embarrassment. ¡°Shadow said it looked right so there!¡± I crossed my arms in front of my chest puffing out my cheeks.

    She narrowed her eyes on me. ¡°so you did cheat on me!¡±

    ¡°I did not! I couldn¡¯t really wash myself, so Shadow helped me out. I had my eyes closed most of the time. She got one look at me naked and said it looked right.¡± I explained.

    ¡°Let me see.¡± She tried to lift my dress once more before I stopped her.

    ¡°Alice, stop it! Your being weird!¡± I complained.

    ¡°Oh, so you¡¯ll let that curvy cat lady see your princess parts, but you won¡¯t let ¡®ME¡¯ your ¡®WIFE!¡¯¡± She went quite for a sec. Then turned her head to the side looking away from me. ¡°I see how it is. You think I¡¯m ugly.¡±

    ¡°What, noooo! Alice, please stop. I love you and I don¡¯t really want my hoo-ha looked at while I¡¯m in the middle of the air where anyone and everyone can see me. Perception goes super hard here.¡± I explained nearly in tears.

    She looked around. ¡°What? You think the centipedes will watch¡­¡± She eyed one of them as the level 12 centipede chittered it¡¯s poison coated mandibles at her. ¡°Bunch of perverts.¡± I could totally understand what the arthropod was saying, but I didn¡¯t want to translate and get that look again.

    I watched as my wife withdrew a large rock from her inventory. Then held it over the side and released it. By the time I realized what she had done, one of the centipedes skulls had cracked open causing it to turn to ash.

    ¡°No! Alice! What have you done!? That was the beat boxing one!¡± While I knew I had to kill all of them I also really hoped I could get into another dance battle. Snowball could probably fill the roll, but I don''t think anyone else can hear her.

    ¡°Beat boxing?¡± My wife questioned to which I averted my eyes and pretending to be deaf, blind, and dumb.

    Now that I thought about it. Those centipedes were once human, and they had thoughts of their own. What if they saw my butt. That would be so embarrassing! Why did Alice have to tell me this? Now I¡¯m nervous again.

    I curled up into a ball holding my dress between my legs. I wish I was somewhere else. Why did Alice have to stimulate my brain like that!? ¡°Why are you like this.¡± I whined. My face kept blushing.

    This whole time those little monsters were seeing up my dress. I know I had on bloomers, but they weren''t exactly shorts. Even though it''s okay for them to be exposed accidentally, they were still considered underwear. The air pillow was transparent too. I whimpered ready to cry.

    ¡°Izzy, hey, I¡¯m sorry, did I tease you too much?¡± Said my wife after dropping a flamingo statue off the side of the platform. ¡°I was only pressing your buttons because I¡¯m mad at you.¡± She insisted.

    I Began to wonder why she had so much junk in her inventory. Then shook my head realizing I¡¯d gotten distracted once again. I pointed down. ¡°They can see your butt too.¡± I cried then hid my face behind my knees.

    She looked down and realized what I meant. ¡°Oh¡­ so what, we¡¯re killing all of them anyway and it¡¯s not like they¡¯ll tell anyone.¡± She said.

    I needed to calm down. I pulled Snowball out of my inventory and gave her a hug. This instantly made me feel better.

    ¡°Aw, who¡¯s this little guy!¡± my wife cooed over Snowball¡¯s sudden appearance.

    That¡¯s right, I hadn¡¯t introduced them yet. I sat up again forgetting the previous anxiety I had and excitedly started talking about Snowball. ¡°This is Snowball! She¡¯s a well educated nudist, and a part-time doctor. She graduated from Catvard university and does parkour in her down time. Also she¡¯s secretly a powerful beast who''s true form was sealed away long ago.¡±

    Alice smiled. ¡°Hello there, Snowball.¡± She said.

    That was when I realized maybe I¡¯d acted too much like a kid there. She was way to nice about that sort of stuff. Like when I got buddy a cupcake for his birthday and she decided to make it into a whole little party. We even lit a candle for him.

    It was Aku that wanted to introduce Snowball. Her sudden emotions of excitement had hit me with surprise. Actually¡­ maybe I wanted to introduce Snowball too. She had a decent effect on my anxiety. Mostly because she shielded me from everything.

    ¡°Am I being strange?¡± I asked as Alice looked Snowball over.

    ¡°No more than usual. Do you feel okay? You normally don''t interact with the plushies, unless you¡¯re really stressed. If it gets any worse you might go all dark and stop caring about the world again.¡± She responded.

    She knew me better than I knew me. ¡°To be honest, I¡¯ve been stressed for a while now. You can tear into me some more if you want. I know you''re angry with me.¡± I said.

    She handed Snowball back to me. I gave her a hug realizing my wife was simply preparing me for an earful.

    She started calm- ¡°Sorry. I missed you a lot. I had to fight a dragon to get here, and then I find out you¡¯ve been playing with a bunch of young girls! How dare you cheat on me!¡± -then ended in a rage.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t cheat on you. Those are my guild mates. Luca¡¯s like 14 and Shadow¡¯s just plain crazy.¡± I defended myself.

    ¡°Considering how Shadow acted around me. I¡¯d argue that you did cheat.¡± She accused.

    ¡°That''s not fair! I held my ground as best I could! She''s a crazy cat lady!¡± I said.

    She looked to be thinking it over as her face changed from rage to understanding. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll give you that, but why haven''t you kissed me yet?¡±

    ¡°For the same reasons you haven''t kissed me.¡± I stated.

    She frowned knowing exactly what I meant. ¡°Do you wanna hold hands?¡± She offered.

    I nodded. We laid down next to one another clasping our hands together. I felt a bit nervous holding the hand of a child I wasn¡¯t related too, but that went away as my Qi sight activated, showing me my wife¡¯s fluffy golden soul beside me.

    If I had to describe it. I¡¯d say it looked like a perfectly steamed golden egg yoke. Fluffy, soft, and warm.

    ¡°How do we get home?¡± She asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m working on it.¡± I answered.

    She eyed me, as I cuddled with Snowball. ¡°You know, you make a really cute girl.¡± She said.

    ¡°What are you talking about!¡± I felt my cheeks redden once more.

    ¡°You¡¯ve always been really shy and a bit childish at times. All I¡¯m saying is that it pairs well with that body.¡± She explained.

    Was that what she meant. Yeah, I guess, but that was just because of Aku¡¯s emotions. Was I also that childish, if even my wife couldn¡¯t tell the difference?

    ¡°I don¡¯t seem different to you at all?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Well, you do seem a bit more childish than usual, but that might be because you¡¯re really stressed out. You always act like a kid when you''re stressed.¡± She said.

    ¡°And your okay with that?¡± I asked fearfully.

    ¡°You know, around the time I woke up in this world, I had a thought. I was walking down the street, when I saw a playground. For some reason, I really wanted to hop on a swing, and I did. Even though I¡¯m an adult it was a lot of fun, and no one cared because to them, I just looked like a little kid. I didn''t have to be embarrassed. I didn''t have to hold back.¡± She explained.

    I had a similar thought. ¡®Was it okay to cry since I was in this body?¡¯ at least that¡¯s what I thought several times. She might have a point. Now that I think about it, was Aku really effecting me most of the time? I know for sure she had a hand at most of my reactions, but all of them? Maybe I am a bit childish.

    ¡°Izzy, How is any of this possible. That thing. Is it really one of your alters?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Kind of. I''m not sure actually. My soul is kind of like a planet. And on it there are animals and bugs. Squirmy was one of those and Centa made him her pet. Then when she couldn¡¯t handle my pain, she shared it with Squirmy. Turning the little guy into a demon. From there he hollowed my soul out and somehow being sent to this world freed him. That''s how this whole thing started.¡± That was how I understood it.

    ¡°But¡­ that''s not how it works Izzy. You can¡¯t just manifest your mental illness like that. It doesn¡¯t make sense.¡± She said.

    ¡°I didn''t manifest him. He was sealed. Then when I reconnect with the soul fragment in my avatar body. The fragment punctured a hole in the surface of my soul, thus releasing Squirmy from his prison. The manifestation part was the result of our souls ascending.¡± I tried to explain it, but she was still giving me that look. The one I hated so much.

    I didn''t blame her. The whole thing sounded absolutely insane. If I had more time, I could probably explain it better.

    ¡°I want to believe you. There''s just a lot of confusing and unbelievable stuff coming out of your mouth right now. It¡¯s okay Izzy. I love you.¡± She rolled on her side and hugged me.

    I loved her too. Which was why I couldn¡¯t be mad at her, or lash out. I was crazy yes and because of that it was hard to tell the difference from crazy and tangible. We loved each other, and at the end of the day, that was all that mattered, but still¡­

    ¡°You do believe me right?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Of course I do. I just don''t understand you. Even if you are crazy. I¡¯ll run away with you, as long as we''re together nothing else matters.¡± She said.

    ¡°I love you Alice.¡± I mumbled.

    ¡°There¡¯s something I need to tell you.¡± Her voice sounded almost mournful, but I couldn''t really unravel it as her next words sent me into a rage.

    ¡°Luca died.¡±

 I forgot! &#x1F62D;

    I forgot about the boss music. I set that up forever ago during episode 32 and never put it in during Isaac''s scuffle with the boss.

    I went ahead and added something to episode 61 part 2. We''ll just have to pretend like it was playing the whole time.

    Edit/injection:

    My sword appeared in a flash of light as I sped forward cutting down another one that was in my path, before hopping up on the head of one of the shadow bound monsters and using it like a Qi pulse powered spring board to launch myself up and onto one of Squirmy¡¯s massive legs. From there I used the legs upward movement to jump onto the boss.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    Oddly enough as soon as I touched Squirmy¡¯s back, I began to hear boss music. Specifically the song that played during exotic boss fights. For a moment I felt like I was sitting in front of my PC once more.

    I really was crazy if I''m hearing boss music right now. The thought made me want to cry. I couldn''t even tell where the music was coming from. It was as if the sky itself was producing it. ¡°Oh no. Alice where are my meds." I whimpered.

    My mini panic attack was put on hold when I came to the realization that I was surrounded by enemy forces. I was met with more of the arthropods. Each one with a stinger dripping with either poison, or acid. Using my OP dodging skills, I was able to avoided their attempts to harm me, while using my blade to cut limb and head alike.

    End