《Your Choice》 Prologue: Given a Choice *Wooom*. *Wooom*. *Wooom*. My laptop whirrs disapprovingly as I mash the keys in rapid succession, each tap creating a letter filled with my own distraughtness about the rounds decline. ''You fucking idiots! How can you be so boosted?!'', I wrote in the chat, half serious half sardonic. ''You stupid ass chimps feed your ass off on mid lane, don''t mention mia once and expect the support to carry now that our adc left? Are you fucking retarded?!'' Whiping the sweat from my brow I reached for my bottle of water and chugged down the carbonized liquid. I chortled and coughed, returning into my written fit of rage. "Relax, realx bro.", I hear one of my best friends chuckle through the headset, a voice maybe a few octaves higher than mine. "It''s- It''s only game, why you haff to be mad?", he quoted and I nearly choked on my own laughter. "But, just look at that pile of shit! Boosted ass fucktard, bronze 5 scrub! Only JP hasn''t lashed out at him yet!", I tapped further on my keyboard, mouse swivelling over my crude mouspad made off the backside of a notepad. "But I guess birds of a feather flock together.", I sighed and snickered as JP retorted in the same blas¨¦ voice he always has. "It''s my team! I lost the promo to silver two times already. If...", I heard him whisper before his microphone failed in detecting his last mumbled words. "Don''t sweat it bro, I am sure you''ll get to plat some day. Just look at me! I went from silver IV to diamond II in just a few months. You''ll get to that point sooner or later.", I joked and awaited another sarcastic remark, some banter, before I would embrace well-deserved sleep. With a foolish grin on my face I waited, and waited. No answer came and suddenly the game stopped. Sweared dripped down my temples and my face scrunched up in anxiety as the oh so feared ''Reconnect'' screen popped up. "Fuuuuuuuuuuuck....", I groaned and alt-tabbed to the main screen. Some kind of renaissance painting with an edited paragraph of latin words at the top right: ''Qui bibit, dormit; qui dormit, non peccat; qui non peccat, sanctus est; ergo: qui bibit, sanctus est.'' Or in other words: Who drinks, sleeps; Who sleeps, doesn''t sin; Who doesn''t sin, is holy; ergo: Who drinks, is holy. A few years ago I would have cracked a smile about this small paragraph of words, so accurately encompassing my past life style, but now it just reminded me of my own foolishness and naivety. 18 years old, jobless, failed his biology studies at university in just two semesters and is now without perspective on life. It''s not that I can''t get a job, or retry my studies, I just don''t want to! There is no motivation in my life, no goad that pushes me forward to strive what I want to achieve. I don''t have this... will. All I have is my closest group of friends, games and a lot of freetime. I considered joining the armed forces but after a bit of persuasion by my parents I dropped the idea, what a dumb mistake on their side. First they prevent me from going to the only institution where I think I could get my ass up and afterwards they scream at me because I show no motivation on my own. Choose your side goddamn! I am stuck, simply stuck in this god forsaken, bored to death life. I know, I know, many people have it worse than me but give at least that small fo a reprieve and hear me rant on about first world problems, will ya? As In was about to fall into another episode of self-loathing the rattling of the ajar window shock me awake from my emotional vertigo. ''Where was I? Oh yeah, the fucking internet.'', I slumped down deeper on my chair and inspected the taskbar, the icon for WiFi was crossed out and I could only lament further. I glared at the cerulean ''Reconnect'' screen in hopes that alone would solve the problem but as many things in life, it didn''t. I could only curse at the foul router and it''s damned unstable connection. "Haaaaahhh....", I sighed and stood up, went to the window and yanked it wide open. I was greeted with the bare moon and a wonderful assortment of stars whilst a cold breeze vanquished the stuffy air out of my ''mancave''. I fumbled in my pockets and picked out a pack of cigarets, tapping on the downside I made one grit pop its marbled head up. ''You it will be.'', I thought and reached for the stub. Quickly lighted the first puffs were drawn and expelled into the nightly wind with me leaning on the window frame and sitting on its sill. I enjoyed the sweet nicotine with contently closed eyes and imagined myself soaring through the skies. To be able to fly and leave everything behind, it would be so wonderful. I love my family, don''t take me wrong, but I can''t take their constant nagging anymore! One day, one day I will pack my things and just leave! I swear to God! All said and done I realized: ''You would never do something so incredulously stupid. Get over yourself you wuss.'', and promptly stopped my train of thoughts. Stubbing the ablaze cigaret out on the windowsill I returned back to my old and trusty laptop. I was about to shut it down as something slightly disturbing happened. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. The inconspicuous Microsoft Editor openned up with no prior command given, it''s light blue outline and white offals staring intensely at me. "What... the fuck...", I mumbled and leaned over my chairs backrest. ''H'', a single letter was written and now I was actually spooked. "Oh... Oh man! Not good, this shit can''t be good.", I paced back, weighing my choices. Scream for help like the pathetic vermin you are, or shut the PC down and risk getting near the diabolic apparition. Of course I couldn''t choose option one, my mother would just give me a beating if I woke her up so roughly at 3:am. ''Oh man......'', I decided and reached foward, slowly. ''E'', another letter followed after the H and I jerked back. ''L'' I waited, fear and curiosity fighting it out. ''L'' ''Oh God! Hell! It''s a demon!'', I screamed in my mind and pounced forward, my hand just about to press the shut down button before another letter popped up. ''O'' ''Hell-O? Ohhhh! Hello.... That''s what it was.'', I sighed, a bit relieved that the demon that invaded my computer was at least friendly enough to greet me. ''But enough of that bullshit.'', I chided myself. If a hacker was operating my laptop I better shut it down now before he retrieves any sort of private data. I was content with my course of action and really wanted to go trough with it if not the message continued, faster and without the jumps. ''You. Idiot.'' ''Haah?'', I cocked a brow and leaned back. ''What is it now?'' ''I.Wanna.Talk.With.You.And.You.Asshole.Want.To.Choke.Me.Off?'' ''Wait. Wait. Wait! How does that hacker know what I was about to do?!'' ''I.Am.No.''Hacker''.You.Moron.'', the screen answered my thoughts which terrified me even more than at the beginning. "What are you!?", I shouted the only question that came to mind when I thought about the situation. Was this a dream? No, way to realistic. Was I drugged? Hum... Maybe, can''t be to sure about myself. But let''s scratch that as well. What was left was: This is real. Someone, or rather, something is reading my thoughts and answering via the fucking Microsoft Editor. ''I.Know.It''s.Pathetic. :('', the sadface really killed me. "Yeah sure....", I still walked back a few steps, didn''t want to risk that some girl starts crawling out of my screen only to strangle me. "Now.... *ehem*, mind to explain?", I asked the inanimate laptop, a bit surprised by my own nonchalance. ''Of.Course.'' And then some boring ass text was written about God and whatnot and a series of this and that and how said God is now talking with me and... Argh! I don''t fucking know myself. That thing just started writting down it was God and was incredibly bored. "Yeah, yeah...", I waved the whole story off after skimming through it and was just about to shut my laptop off when... ''No.Wait!'' God became desperate. ''I.-.I.Really.Have.Nothing.To.Do.;.The.Boredom.Kills.Me!Just.,.Just.Provide.Me.With.Some.Entertainment.I.Will.Give.You.Anything.For.It!'' ''God'' began raving about the drawbacks of being immortal and certain laws in place that prevent it, him or she from doing whatever it, he or she wants. It was a crazy story and I didn''t believe one word said. "Let''s say I accept your offer, how do I now your words aren''t just empty prose?", I asked with an arched brow and glared down on the screen. ''Tomorrow.Morning.You.Go.To.The.Gym.Right?You.Will.See.The.Results.'', ''God'' mechanically replied. It made me wonder, if what this thing is saying is true, how do I accept its offer and get this ''allmighty-spooky-divine'' power? ''Just.Think.About.Accepting.Then.It''s.A.Done.Deal!'' "Uhhh... sureeeee~ And with the power of imagination I will be shitting out rainbows and fly through the sky, but of course! I accept. Ah right!" ''I accept! Satisfied?'' ''Yes.Incredibly.So.'' "What now?" ''That.Was.It.''Till.Our.Next.Time.'' As the last word was typed incredibly slow and tedious the Editor flashed once and then was simply gone. ''What the actual fuck!?'', I staggered back from the blinding light and rubbed my eyes. Nothing changed as far as I could tell, it was all just a huge scam. ''FUCKING FUCK! YOU PIECE OF SHIT!'', I raged but remembered what happened just a few seconds ago. I talked with someone that proclaimed himself as God. How did I even not shut the laptop down the moment that fucker mentioned this? ''Nice... I was trolled.'', I cursed and grumbled before I shut down my laptop for good, evened my sheets and crawled into my bed. ''What a fucking night....''. My eyes began closing and my mind drift ashore in dreamland. Before I knew it I was asleep. Why God had choosen me, I still don''t know exactly to this date. But I can''t say I regret accepting its proposal. It was a choice I had to live through with my life. Chapter 001: Heavyweight (A.N.: Quality-wise this chapter should be better by a great margin compared to the prologue. After all I wasn''t dead tired and still had some concentration left. Please enjoy and leave a comment below! :D ) "Mhmm... Ahhh! Fuuuuuck. My back hurts. Fuck my life." I groaned beneath my floral patterned blanket and lolled my body straight. My back hurt from all the sitting and my limbs were sore. Tired and exhausted I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, the sun hawking down on me with fiery lights, blocking off any escape back beneath the covers. Surely I would have slept for a handful of hours more if not for this damned celestial body and my mother that insists on rolling up the shutters in the morning. Rolling sideways inside my lazy blanket-burrito I tried to decipher the time on my buzzer at the far off wall. 8:34 it glared back in red, digital letters. I tried to sit up but immediately regretted doing so. My head keeled forward and my eyes shut close. ''No... Energy... Too... Tired...'', I bemoaned my fatigue and tilted sideways until I laid down once again on my bed. Just as I was about to close my eyes I heard my mother shout through our small flat. "Leo don''t forget to vacuum the house and take out the trash, when I am back I want the floor to be spotless, you hear me?!", the ever so loud woman screamed and I could only retort with a husky grunt. "Sure. Will do.", and that marked the end of our super-friendly dialogue. Zombie-like I slipped onto the cool and hard ground, away from my haven called bed. With arduous effort I managed to stand up, walk to my desk and pick up my smartphone. ''3 unread messages. Huh...'', I grumbled and unlocked the phone. ''Bro, you awake?'' ''Wanna kill some weights?'' ''Brooooooooooo!!!!??? Come on man...'' Aiden was as impatient as always, an early bird out of the book. Waking up before 6 and going to the gym at 8, and that was considered to late for him already. I really can''t understand those people... What do they have against sleep? But as always I could only wrily smile and respond with a: ''Sure, will be there in a sec. Just gonna grab some food.''. As a finishing touch I added an ''Ok-Sign'' emoji. So cringey.... But whatever. After cheking my sparse notices I receive I lifted my arms a bit, a habit of mine, and inhaled the bitter-sweet odor of day old sweat. "Yeah, should still be good for now.", shrugging my shoulders I went into the kitchen and deigned myself a banana and piece of ciabatta -My breakfast in a nutshell-, before I hurried to the gym. Straightening my dirt-blonde hair in the mirror and rubbing the grime out of my face I was ready to go. I threw over my dependable ''DAKINE'' backpack with its camouflage design -towel and shorts already stored-, pocketed my keys and a bottle of water and rushed to the door whilst grabbing my padded cardigan. I checked my messenger once again for a reply -''Hurry then.'' is all I got- before I stepped out into the world once again, marking the beginning of my diurnal struggle. *Bzzzzt*, my phone rumbled as I slid it back into my pockets. ''What is it now?'', I grouched and checked for new messages. Indeed there was one, from somebody unknown. Instead of a name only a somewhat long telephone number was listed at the top. ''Do.Not.Forget.'' ''Holy fuck!'', I remembered this writting style. This is how the self-professed ''God'' called himself. A megalomaniac with some severe psychological complex. ''Just.Think.Of.What.You.Want.To.Do./.What.You.Want.To.Be.'', I ignored the myriad of notifications, my phone angrily buzzing even as I stashed it away. As I was tying my shoelaces together I couldn''t stand the incessant ringing anymore and switched into ''Flight-mode'' in hopes that it would stop the hacker or stalker or whatever it was. ''That should do.'', I sighed in relief before the humming started again, ridiculing my attempts in making it stop. ''Fuck.... He could do that.'', I was painfuly reminded. Instead of putting my phone into my shorts only for it to piss me the fuck off in the longrun I stored it away in my satchel, in a place where I wouldn''t notice it anymore. Out of sight, out of mind. Satisfied by my genious I hushed down the stairs and into the cellar with quick steps. I grabbed the dark green bicycle of my brother and heaved it up the stairs. Openning the heavy front door while stabilizing the bike was as tedious as ever but I managed it with flying colors. Now I stood in the driveway, ready to cycle to Aiden and then to the gym. "Let''s go.", I muttered and started pedaling onto the high street, on this mundane day, of this mundane week. The sun stroked my skin as I drove quicker and quicker over the tarmac, enjoying the fresh billows of air that blew through my clothes and the sound of the passing cars and pedastrians. This world was boring but nonetheless enjoyable in its triteness. It took me only a couple of minutes until I reached the well-known apartement complex, Aiden leaning onto the iron fence with an eager look on his face and a twitch in his feet, his black racer at his side. "Sorry bro...", I coughed and gave him an apologetic nod from the distance. I reached out for a handshake which he returned after a heavy smile but a smile on his face nevertheless. "Late as always.", he chuckled. "Today is chest day, right?", I asked, still a bit groggy from the rough morning. "Yup.", he answered curt and saddled his bike. "Will you hurry up?", he looked over his shoulder as he dashed away. "Yeah, yeah....", I couldn''t even care anymore and simply followed after him. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. On the way to the gym we talked about this and that. Our day, what we did and all this stuff. We joked about dicks, feces and everything coming to mind. We screamed at passerbies and made faces just to laugh out loud like two stoned hyenas afterwards. It was always a fun time with Aiden. Even as fresh adults this fact didn''t change. Well, he wasn''t my best friend for nothing after all. We arrived shortly after, partly sweaty and weary already. Changing into whatever is comfortable and filling up our water bottles with carbonated and flavoured drinks we set out to conquer the bench. I laid down my towel onto the gummed surface, put on one 44 lbs weight on each side of equally heavy barbell and laid down. Clasping my hands, sipping on my tangerine flavoured drink, I prepared myself for a set of 15 repititions. The warm-up was just some wriggling and stretching of my shoulders. My hands clasped around the roughened up metal bar and with one sudden push I lifted it from its safety struts and parallel to my chest. I was not slim and neither fat, somewhere inbetween would be more apt. I had muscles in spades but a rolls of visceral fat covering them, a fact that made me push even harder. I couldn''t help but envy Aiden for his well toned body. With barely any fat on his ribs his veins stuck out like thick tree roots, and that without any supplements to gain this effect. It was just how his body worked. But I, I had to work out extensively and watch out for my daily intake of food, something someone as fortunate as Aiden didn''t have too. Of course I was just deluding myself. I knew how hard Aiden trained as well as his eating behaviour. For each pound of meat he would at least eat sixfold the amount of vegetables or more. He had a well balanced diet, unlike me. But people can dream, can''t they? "Hey... HEY!", I heard Aiden snap his fingers in front of my face. "How many repetitions do you wanna do? Like, relax bro. We still have 5 more sets.", he seemed confused, awed and taken aback. "But good job man! I at least counted 30 reps!". "What?", astonished by my own prowess I didn''t even notice that the bar was still floating above my chest, my fingers adamant wrapped around the tempered steel and my arms not buckling an inch. ''Dafuq....'', dazed I placed the bar back and stood up, acted decently fatigued and leaned onto a nearby wall. ''What was that...'', I stared down at my hands, calloused and weathered down. 132 pounds was not my limit, it should be around 220 with 8 repititions but the fact that I was not even tired a single bit still took me by surprise. *Bamm*. The weights pressed onto the framework and Aiden lifted himself up. He crouched down and pulled another two 44 pound weights under his arms and loaded the barbell. "Let''s go! 220 pounds, you up for it pal?", he grinned mischievously. "Only 8 reps for you you oldie warhorse", with his shit eating grin he clapped me on the shoulder. ''You stupid fucker.'', I smiled in response to my own thoughts. Aiden always taunted me like that, just to make me go over my own limits. A good friend. "Of course. Let''s go baby!", I cracked my knuckles and writhed my neck. Through rapid inhalation and galvanic jerks I hyped myself up for the incoming task. ''You can do this!'', I told myself and entered a state of calm and excitement. Focus but push with all your might. Gnashing my teeth I grabbed the bar, red-faced I began pushing. *Foom!*, the weight jumped up, my body following with a short jolt before I regained control. ''What the fuck!!!'', I screamed inside my mind as the weight didn''t even register inside my head. I could see it but there was no pressure at all. ''1, 2, 3, 4... 8, 9, 10,...,''. My heart raced as I crushed my previous limit in a feverish on storm of countless repetitions. "Bro... Bro..... What the hell?!", Aiden exclaimed and I had longst breached the 15 mark. ''16, 17, 18, 19,..., 77, 78, 79, 80.''. I stopped and dropped the weight on its steeled supports. Aiden gaped at me, slack jawed, and even some other people stood in a circle around me. Their astonishment was written all over their face. "What the hell man?! Where do you hide those muscles!?", Aiden shouted and pinched my arms. "Get the fuck off, you gay?!", I stepped back. "Then explain, mate!", Aiden retorted. "I... I don''t fucking know...". Unable to force out anything other than a pathetic stammer I was still struck by the previous stupor. "Ok. Alright. You don''t want to tell me, fine. Let''s test where your limits are then. Come on. 264 next.", he stated matter-of-factly and even those strangers around us nodded in accord. Lifting more weights from the closest racks he began stacking them up on me, one by one. The audience gasped, mammered and took photos. I took note of them but it still pissed me off great time. ''Wtf do those guys even want from me?'', I could only raise a brow at the onlookers but in the end complied to continue once Aiden barred me with more weights, that and the peer pressure prevented me from stopping. Not that I couldn''t have stopped if I wanted to; but thing is, I myself was quite curious about what was happening to me. I laid down on the bench and a torturous afternoon of non-stop lifting began. At one point I had attracted the staff and most of the other gym members which were now oogling me like some alien specimen. -------------- Before I knew it the sun had set and world records were cracked, though none of the guiness world record association showed up to authenticate the recent events. I can only say: "What a day!". And this was supposed to be only the beginning. Chapter 002: This is how it feels (A.N.: No really exciting chapter, more so a preparation chapter for what is about to come. The powers have to be explained a bit at least; and yeah, they are totally overpowered! Don''t even question how one can stem the weight of whole galaxies, it''s just how it is! Hehehe XD Enjoy this chapter and please leave a comment below, it REALLY helps my motivation! :D ) Back at home I sat down nervously on my chair. Shifting around on the uncomfortable seat as anxiousness welled up inside my heart. My hands reached carefully for my phone before I stopped myself. "What the hell was that today?!", I asked myself aloud and gripped my head with both hands, running my fingers through my hair. With a weight capping at around 882 pounds, or 400 kg, I bench pressed half a car and that without breaking a sweat or any kind of special gear. It was an unprecedented display of physical strength of a person my age, a prior unseen or heard act. After the somewhat bizarre workout session I literally fled the gym, my friend Aiden left in the dust as I drove my bike with a speed rivaling that of a sportscar. Poor bike was completely broken after I arrived at home. But back to the present. My fingers trembled, tapped on the desk with trepidation, as my sights lingered on the small phone. What would you do in my situation? Imagine this: Just yesterday you sat on your lazy ass and played some indiegame or whatever the fuck you want, and then: ''Boom!''. Somebody unknown sends you a message and after perusing it for a while you can crisply resume it into: Of course you are a rational and somewhat reasonable young man and think: ''What is this psycho talking about?''. But because you are equipped with a decent amount of youthly curiosity and are a tad bit gullible you agree, if by any off chance this offer is real you could do whatever the fuck you want afterwards. But such an obvious scam couldn''t be real, right? Well, you are wrong and it is indeed the truth. Congratz you are now in possession of divine powers! Yay! Realizing that you look back on how you treated this being that has most likely granted you true divinity and think: ''Man, I insulted a God. GG WP. It was a good life.'', that''s how I feel. Naturally you could say: ''But mate, you could have just, I don''t know, lifted so much because of a sudden rush of adrenaline! Flight or fight reaction, you know?''. Whereas I would say: ''Yeah, maybe.'' But being able to lift a certain weight and being able to do so without even exerting any strength at all are two different things. And the weights weren''t fake either, Aiden testified for that. So here I am. Sitting at my desk, facing my smartphone on which I was messaged by a God and rudely cut him off. Nicely done Leo. You outdid yourself like never before! Though it was easy to lift the weights that were over 5 times my weight, right now, I was sweating bullets. My breathing was haggard and my skin felt cold; I was afraid, anxious, paralyzed by horror as realisation dawned onto me. ''Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Goddamn! I am so stupid!'', I cursed myself and didn''t dare to open my eyes for quite a while. I laid my head onto my white desk, onto the cool laminated wood to calm myself down. Whatever it was, a hacker equipped with some kind of biological weaponry who had injected me with some kind of superhuman serum, a lone alien that augmented my body with sci-fi technology or a honest to goodness God, I had to pay my respects and express my thanks at the very least. I pulled myself together, collected my wits and courage and flipped my phone onto its upside with the utmost care. The dark screen reflected my palid face as I awaited some kind of reaction. A maddened God smiting me with heavenly fury into utter oblivion or some madman banishing me into the ''Shadowrealm'' with his freakish cardgame. I expected it all, but none of that happened. Instead the screen just leisurely lit up without a care in the world, lampooning my doomed fate. ''Oh damn, it was a good time....'', I said goodbye to my life, expressed my love to my family and anticipated a flurry of insults and actual, real, curses by the Godlike being whereafter I will be reduced to ash. Feelsbadman. As expected messenger opened up, without any movement on my side of course, and a screen filled with messages was highlighted. ''How.Was.Your.First.Experience?'' ''Do.You.Want.Me.To.Explain.Now.That.I.Have.Your.Attention?'' Those two questions stood out the most, emphasized by a crimson glimmer that could impossibly be achieved through the programm itself. "Yes of course!", I shouted before any other coherent thought formed. I actually feared the worst but on the contrary I got a calm and relaxed response, a helpful one at that that. ''What a good guy.'', I mused before I regained my composure. Now I won''t plague you with exactly the same words written in their obnoxious format and instead I will give you a rough overview of what ''God'' -still don''t fully believe that part- told me. First off, I have super strength. No, stop your train of thoughts, right now! I don''t mean just simple super strength, I mean, godly strength. ''God'' did not define any weight where my powers would cap but roughly stated that bench pressing the mass of an entire galaxy would still be a breeze to me. So yeah, if I wanted to a clap, or whatever other motion, I could tear apart the fabric of space-time; indominus strength that defied any logic. I didn''t actually believe that part just for you to note down. Second off, my body is impervious to any kind of sickness or damage as long as I don''t will it otherwise. Under sickness falls pain and also -yeah, you guessed it- aging. Ergo, I am immortal and indistructible. Man of steel revamped. Neither did I think that was true. Third off, my powers encompass anything and everything. It is the ability to make my wishes and desires come true. Now I will give you a scenario, the same God explained to me, to shed light onto how this ability works. Let''s say, you want a dragon as a pet, who wouldn''t, like, serious. You could not only make it appear out of thin air just like that, tamed and already vaccinated against all draconic -or reptilian?- deseases, you could just make yourself a whole world full with dragons of your choosing! In other words, you could make countless of your own edens and have whatever power you want. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The first two abilities that were listed were just mandatory so that I don''t die before using my actual power. Yeah, that''s the gist of it. And just like you would I gave the phone a suspicious glare. "You seriously want me to believe that?", I asked with my lips pressed into a line. ''God'' just couldn''t be serious, right? ''Try.It.Then.'', ''God'' responded back. "How do you think I should do that? On the off chance that I now, give me a sec..., wish for a meteor to crash onto Earth and it actually happens what should I do then?", it was a ridiculous thought but a plausible one. ''Then.Think.On.A.Smaller.Scale.'' ''Yeah, that makes sense....'', I executed an inner face palm, an answer to my own stupidity. "Let''s see, let''s see...", I mumbled and let my eyes wander around my room, not trying to spot anything in particular. Although ''God'' told me to think small I was already drifting off with my thoughts into the metaphysical. If I was to test this ''omnipotent'' power to its cire I had to think up something extreme. Something that would not destroy the earth if things went awry. "Let''s reverse time!", I exclaimed and raised a finger into the air. With a cheeky smile sported on my face I waited only to see that nothing had changed. "Hah! Got you! Nothing happened.", I accused ''God''. ''Of.Course.Not.You.Idiot.Things.Like.Time.Travel.Are.Complex.You.Have.To.Actually.Think.The.Process.Through!If.You.Want.To.Travel.Back.Or.Forward.In.Time.Imagine.Yourself.Literally.Going.Through.Time.,.Your.Mind.Needs.A.Concrete.Picture.To.Work.With.'' "Of course...". ''Yeah, as if.'' Debating whether or not I should continue with this ploy I ended up doing exactly as ''God'' said. ''Huh... Imagine myself going through time... How can I accomplish that?'' Luckily I had a wild enough imagination that enabled me to come up with some stupid-ass ideas but also some enlightening ones. ''If I go just like that back in time wouldn''t I risk creating a paradox? Is there even any possible way to do that?'', I began pondering and realized any logical answer would need decades of careful consideration. In the end I concluded that such a task is impossible in itself. ''Think.Simpler.'', my phone answered. ''Time.And.Space.Are.Closely.Connected.,.That.Hint.Should.Suffice.I.Will.Face.The.Consequences.Anyway.'', I was reassured by ''God''. ''If I have this allmighty power, why not make time into space. That would mean if I take a step back...'', I slowly rose from my chair and backstepped. ''I should travel through time. As long as I equalize back as in ''behind me'' into back as in ''going back in time''.''. My foot tapped into the ground and the unbelievable happened. The room rippled, the scenery changed, everything began to shake. ''Oh man... Did I make a mistake?''. Fortunately I was not to deeply lost in my thoughts to miss the copy of myself that began wandering around the room, in reverse of course until it -or I?- was back inside my bed. As the last scene took place I felt my body being pulled forward, one hand reaching for my other sleeping self and closing the gap in excruciating tension. As our bodies came in contact I did not feel the sensation of touch and instead was drawn into my other self. I literally merged with my clone! I grit my teeth and pressed my feet onto the bedframe but the pull didn''t lessen in the slightest. ''For someone that can lift a galaxy I am pretty weak.'', I thought half laughing and half crying as my arm was now elbow deep in my other self. ''Oh man, I am being eaten by my Slime-self. God why?'', my thoughts, and appropriate panic, subsided as my vision blacked out. "HAAAAAAH!", I inhaled deeply and shot straight out of my bed with a sweaty back. "*Haaaah! Haaaah!* All.... *Haah!*... Just a dream...", I cupped my hands over my knees and broke out into a hysterical conniption. "Hahahahahah! What the fuck was that all about?!", I screamed and rocked my body to and fro. My heart beating like crazy from the wicked nightmare. It was a harrowing experience, like being drowned in sludge, and I would never want to experience that again. I smeared the snot from my nose and the pained tears from my eyes before I turned my eyes onto my buzzer. 8:34 ''Ha. Haha. Hahaha. HAHAHAHAHA!!!'', I closed my eyes, openned them again and repeated and so on and so forth until my mind finally accepted the situation, my inner cachinnation a burst of mixed emotions. ''No, wait. This can all be a simple coincidence.'', I shrugged the glaring proof of my time travel away and relaxed inside my somewhat dampened sheets although my mind was on the verge of breaking. And as if it all wasn''t enough it was then that I heard her. "Leo don''t forget to vacuum the house and take out the trash, when I am back I want the floor to be spotless, you hear me?!" The shrill voice of my mother never shook me so deeply as it did now. ''No, no, that can''t be.'', I trampled out of my bed, tripping over my own feet in the process and hitting the hardboard floor hard with my head. I might have gotten a light concussion wouldn''t my body prevent any serious harm so I just dusted myself off and reached up. I scrambled onto my knees in a total panic and fumbled with the phone placed on my desk. My shuddering fingers making the screen light up softly. ''Bro, you awake?'' ''Wanna kill some weights?'' ''Brooooooooooo!!!!??? Come on man...'' Those three messages grasped my sanity and pulverized it into smithereens. ''You.Believe.Me.Now?'', my phone burred, the screen changed and I fell onto my behind, my limbs trembling like thin leaves in the wind and a fit about to happen. ''No...No... This can''t be real.'', I gave a crooked smile as tears rushed down my face. At that moment I was simply unable to cope with my emotions as the absolute truth peered from the abyss coloured smartphone. It was at that moment where my sanity began to crumple and crack, a moment that was painful mentally and physically. I gasped for air, coughed and sobbed as spittle shot from my mouth. Turning into a God felt painful and left one to think what it means, and meant, to be human. I felt my life was changing, rapidly, and too quick for my own good and that of others. "Holy hell...", I pulled on my hairs and collapsed in on myself. ''I don''t like this...'' Chapter 003.1: Test (Part 1 of 3) The insight that my actions could drastically change a person''s life and even erase said life gave me the chills. I had the power to turn this world upside down, to create my own heaven while walking on the shattered ruins of what was once man-made, by billions of helping hands. In me was the potential to crush everything into the dust, to turn humanity into just another blink in the history of the universe, no scratch that. I could create whole new realities by a whim, forget single worlds, I could form dimensions! Many peple would be overjoyed with such a chance, to finally realize their dreams, their darkest desires, shoveled into locked crypts to never see daylight again. Some would take this chance to darn anything in existence. I won''t lie, I had these same selfish desires, the same vivid dreams with a phantasmic version of myself going on killing sprees, raping and pillaging, slaughtering or just enjoying the fantasy of a fully functional family. They were all bottled up inside me, deep down, and what I feared the most was not those thoughts in itself but the off-chance that they would writhe their ugly visages once more into daylight. For me life was something unique, something that no higher power had the right to have their hand in it. I could for example, as long as my powers were trully allmighty, create worlds just for my own enjoyment and fill them with life how I wish it. But my morals didn''t allow for such an action. And it tore me apart. I am a coward, a lying and deceiving bastard that always puts a mask on, even around his closest friends, and one that was too afraid to take the chance that offered itself. The fear of consequences, that I could destroy or alter countless lifes, it crippled me and left me sobbing on the ground. It was an all to familiar drone that ripped my sanity free from the enthralling whispers of cowardice. My skin crawled but my body still leapt forward, clawing at the screen with spastic movements. ''Then.Let''s.Put.Your.Resolve.,.Your.Fear.,.To.The.Test.And.See.What.You.Are.Truly.Made.Off.'', a foreboding presence crept up on me, a touch of glacial coldness on my neck and before I knew it I was inside a dimly lit room facing an eggshell white wall. I stood still, ramrod straight, and just gaped at the wall with a slack jaw. My senses were numb and my lungs devoid of air; whatever presence was holding me was clearly above just simple omnipotency as I was actually feeling my life drain away from me. The phone rang once again, my eyes able to catch a glimpse of the phone that was in my limp left. ''Test.Number.One.'' Feeling returned to me like a tidal wave, crashing into me furiously with all its might. I gasped, thristed for air, and greedily sucked like a fish on land. Still somewhat dazed from the prior lack of oxygen I looked down at myself with glazed eyes. I had one of my old leather jackets on and loose, grey sweats. When did I clothe myself? I had no idea. "Haa!", a sharp gasp prompted me to turn around. ''What... The... Hell?'' -----------(POV: Unknown)------------ I placed my tablet to the side, the pure white ablaze like actual paper. It was a wonderful idea of my mother, a small present that gave me so much more than I could have ever hoped for. It gave me refuge, was a sanctuary of homeliness and adventure for me. Because unlike in my real life, in the stories I read and wrote I could be anything! A queen! Commanding large platoons of soldiers while my king coaxed me whenever I wished, craddled me and treated me like his most important treasure. Or an adventuress! Bracing the biting wind atop the cliffs of sheer mountainfaces, seeking shelter beneath a ledge and finding a legendary artifact buried in its cavernous depths. Soon after I would climb the ladder of success, become known far and wide over the whole world. Tales would be told about me, twisted by time they would soon be legends and myths. Such a life would be wonderful. Or maybe, just maybe, a normal girl... Go out with my friends, talk, laugh, drink and eat; fawn over my crush or be simply loved by someone else that isn''t my family... I could do all that with a normal body, but instead fate, or God -How some love to call that whore!-, was not so kind and instead gifted me with acute leukaemia, chaining me to the hospital for a painful and short life. At least the medication didn''t affect me enough to lose even my imagination, the only haven I have left. Again it was out of simple habit as I tried to brush my once long, brown hairs out of my face, only to realize that I was still the disfigured version of my past self. The doctor already told me, quick and painless without any spiel, that my life would come to an end in a few years time if I am lucky. The cancer killing me slowly from the inside as my organs start to fail and my will succumb to the disease. It was a process I did not wish to experience. ''Rather I''d take my life than wither away.'' With hands of deathly pale complexion I pulled up the covers, shielding myself from the warm and yet too cold air. My eyes closed and my ears perked up to the rythmic sound of my own shallow heartbeat and the machinations that kept me alive. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep*. *Wrrruu* *Wrrruu* *Wrrruu* It was a symphonic interplay of all that which signified my premature passing. The more they played the shorter my life was, a melody of death. As my mind attuned to the beat it took only a single disturbance to force me to attention. In the almost too quiet room, with only the various monitors and screens giving off their eery limegreen light and the constant humming of the machines, another presence stepped in. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Announced by a startling click and a rattle reminiscient of screws turned loose I expected the worst, that one of the machines failed me. Whatever it was I immediately alarmed the nurse before I managed to look around the shadowy room. My gaze lingered on the heap of eletronics at my side, none the wiser as they all seemed to function properly, before I let it shift through the room. It took another series of metallic noise before I was enabled to locate its origin. Forcefully sitting myself up as the IV wormed around my snagged arm it took a couple of seconds before my back rested against the propped up pillow. Almost impalpable, indescernable by the nacked eye, a figure stood at the far end wall opposite of me. A tall, scrawny sillhouette of a... a thing clad in black. "Haah!", I sharply inhaled the stale air, my thoughts entangled and confused about the foreign presence, about the intruder, before I covered my bluish lips. The air was unnaturally cold, freezing almost, and for my battered body it was akin to a wintry gale whipping my naked flesh. ''Something was wrong, something was definetely wrong! I need he-!'' My thoughts came to a tumbling stop as the figure began turning to face me. The seconds ticked away and with each that passed the creature began growing in my eyes. It was something straight out of a nightmare. ''A feverish hallucination, th-that''s it!'', I tried to reason with myself but soon enough the ghastly face was lit by the artificial light in full its splendor. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep!* *Beep!* *Beep!* My heart clenched and palpitated and delusions kept arising, though they were ruthlessly shattered as reality reared its head and fears turned true. It was the ashen skull of something human and yet alien. A flesh barren jaw with sharp and jagged teeth, their stench foul and wafting all the way up to me; eyesockets frilled with black trimmings and a sheen of sanguine red; malars unnaturaly high as if the creature was laughing diabolically. "A-are... Are you death?", I stuttered and only the rustle of black robes and shifting of skeletal feet answered back. A limp hand rose to its front, grasping a bock banded in what looked to be gruesomely manufactured leather, with spots of blood and gore still splattered all over the sickly coloured hide. To my question the wraith, specter or demon scurried through its book with hasty eyes, or whatever the red lights represented. It perused the pages in leisure, not a sound made as it slowly scuffed forward. "P-please... I-I-I don''t want to die.", my eyes teared up and emotions surged but the reaper kept its steady pace. And before I realized the grim stood with heels clasped together above me, leaning its ugly visage before my face. Though fear and terror ran throguh my veins it was not at the level where it could actually harm me. A kind of calm drapped over me and helped me cope with these tempesting feelings. ''Am I accepting my death? Is it that simple?'', I pondered for a second before the gruff rasp of bone against bone took my attention. "Fear not...", its grated voice told. "Today is not your day.", croaking it finished off. "Th-then-", almost hopefully I called out before Death stopped me a boned finger. "I can not help you... Life is not my agenda.", it mumbled and the moment I just as much as blinked it was gone, spirited away and only a rough surfaced piece of paper left in my lap. As soon as it had fled the nurse came barging in, her face alarmed with sweat trickling down. "Wh-Who were you talking too?! Why was the door locked? W-What happened?!", she began her inquiry but I could only shrug my shoulders and tell her a white lie, hiding the piece of paper behind my back. "I-I had a nightmare and was o-only talking to myself to calm my nerves...", I grinned innocently and soon the nurse gave a warm smile. She sighed relieved, though only after inspecting ever nook and crannie of the room, and gave me motherly look. As the nervous woman left, checking underneath the bed once more before, I unfolded the paper in my weak hands. "If you think you know what you deserve, call for me." It stated without any other information. I caressed the paper that strangely felt like live skin with its same warmth and held it against my chest. My heart pounded but soon calmed down, winded and exhausted I fell asleep. My life changed drastically afterwards. ----------- ''What.A.Goody.Two.Shoes.You.Are.,.Truly.Admirable.'', God mocked me as we stood once again in my own room, the sun still shining and contrasting to the moon that hung above the hospital just a second ago. I kneeled on the ground, the cold still rattling me through the bones and the taxing ploy knackering me. "Fuck you.", I spit out, hateful for God and his stupid test. ''This.Time.It.Was.A.Somewhat.Harder.Choice.,.Right?But.I.Promise.The.Next.Test.Will.Rid.You.Of.Your.Indecisiveness.'' "Another test?!", was all I managed to shout out before my body was once more in the cold clutches of something far beyond me and my presumably allmighty ''powers''. It would still be a long day, a mentally scarring one, I knew for sure. Chapter 003.2: Test (Part 2 of 3) (This one is a... longer chapter. Lol. Sorry that I didn''t post one over the last three days but I was too focused on playing Overwatch and the now F2P, Evolve. Love the game so much. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Edit, 12.07.16: I have resolved some issues and contradictions at the end and tried to make some scenes more immersive, just small changes really. Hope you can enjoy it some more now. Leave a comment below if you liked this chapter, criticism is welcomed.) "Urgh... Ahhh... Argh... Damn... What the fuck happened?!" A terrible headache assaulted me as I laid there, covered in darkness with thick fog clouding my consciousness. "Arghh... Where am I?", I wondered and began turning my aching body, though to my dismay it stopped at pitiful tugs. I was lying uncomfortably and my mouth felt dry, my chest heaved up and down in painful exertion, the very motion sending chills down my skin. Smacking my lips together I felt the iron taste of blood run over my tongue. "Oh God!" --------- For Michael and Andrew it was the last day of their two week long hungary holiday. It should have been. It was decided they would spent their last few days away from Budapest, the capital of Hungary, and experience more of what the country has to offer. Their town of choice, or rather large village, was Kalosca. A small south-sided town, peaceful with rich culture. They hit it off in a nice small diner, a family owned restaurant in some byroad. Starting the evening with a glass of Zwack and a bowl of Guly¨¢s they soon ate their way up to the pecsenye and a freshly made loaf of L¨¢ngos. The personel was friendly and their meal enjoyable. With a last glass of wine they left and made their way back to the hotel. But on their way they stumbled upon a small bar, hidden away in the winding alleys, and after a couragous shrug and affirmative nod they entered. The decor was shabby and it smelt rank, the wrap didn''t lie this time, and only a few small groups of men were playing cards in the far off corners. With grit they convinced themselves to approach the broad shouldered barkeeper and soon enough they got in some friendly banter. Glasses of fruity P¨¢linka were downed and the bartender even had some bottles of vodka in store, hidden away from the less friendly customers. It was a wonderful time and they greatly enjoyed it. After an hour of drinking Andrew and Michael decided it was time to leave. They waved J¨®szef, the bartender, goodbye and left with satisfied smiles. Though the night was far from over. From there on out they began raiding every bar in sight, joining in on festive laughs and frolics until their throats were sore. All was fine until the seldom-so-drunk duo floundered over a neon lit entrance. It was one of the more.... extreme pubs. Both their gazes were immediately drawn to the pair of smoking hot girls sitting at a table with their brutish looking company. As drunk as they were they just giggled the signs of dangers off and approached. And in fact, nothing happened to them. Maybe because they paid for the next two rounds. But whatever. All seemed fine and dandy until one of the men procured a small bag of snow-white powder. Too intoxicated to judge the situation the duo did two of the well ordered lines of, presumably, coke. Though it wasn''t. The night afterwards blurred into oblivion, just a hazy smear of smudged memories, barely coherent and with sense. The night sped up, everything was flying past them both, and then they crashed. Hard. --------- "As I woke up I couldn''t feel my fingers anymore, merely static, my limbs were numb and only intense pain and heat radiated from my wrists and ankles. My throat was devoid of water and the taste of fresh blood was continously pouring into my mouth. It was weird for the first few seconds, I thought I burst my lip and forgot, but it stayed steady for the next few minutes or so and I began to worry. I felt around with my tongue, sluggish at most, and found three of my front teeth missing. My jaw hurt and felt dislocated and the jolts of pain from the uncovered nerve ends began rattling my mind. I couldn''t focus and make heads or tails of the situation. It didn''t take long until the pain was unbearable and I began shaking and wrenching myself free, struggling to get my limbs loose. But the only result my frantic pulling amounted too were bruises and cuts. I didn''t feel them at the time though. From the pain induced exhaustion, mentally and physically, I calmed down enough to begin reasoning the situation with myself. Shying the pain away and straining my jaws while I grind my teeth to dust I tried to hark to any sound and look out for any kind of hint. Merely a few.... excruciating seconds later I could swear to have heard something, nigh inaudible. It was very faint at that time, just a few whimpers of panic and calls of distress and although it was only muffled noise my intent mind could instantly recognize it. It was Ivan. I just knew it. It made click and I finally understood what was going on. We were being kidnapped. The whys and wherefores were still unclear to me though. And... and then it turned from a slightly discomforting nightmare into something far darker. It only took a single switch and man to step in, no, a devil. I...I just can''t understand how somebody, how something HUMAN, could do something so.... cruel and vile... to somebody else. It... it just makes no sense to me. It''s... absurd. It is kinda pathetic isn''t it? That I survived just by a stroke of luck. But Ivan, hah, Ivan my good friend... he had no such luck. He... He... *Sob*... Fuck... I''m such a coward..." Michael''s voice trailed off as he stared at the coffee mug in his hands, the chocolate coloured brew sloshing over the edges as his hands begin trembling. One of the many officers tried calming him down with reassuring pats on the back. "Boy, you need to tell us in detail... even if it means tearing old wounds open again...", the old captain confronting the haggard man croaked. "Y-yes... Of course.", Michael blubbered out. "Officer Csaba, I''d advise against it. The man is clearly still under shock.", a slim man with framed spectacles whispered into the old captain''s ears. "I know. But we need his help.", Csaba sighed and took his own sip of sugar free coffee. "So... where was I?", Michael asked no one in particular with eyes that were gradually losing their spirit. "Uhm...", the captain murmured and let a pen trail over a notepad. "You noticed that Ivan was with you." "Ah, right.", the broken man answered with a sad smile. "As I was saying... Ivan was there with me. In this room, or cellar, or whatever it was. I wanted to call out to him but my throat was sore and my voice hardly distinguishable against the faint splashing of waves in the background. Oh yeah, we were on a ship... But I guess you know that already.", showing another vacant smile Michael continued. "Before I managed to get his attention a door swung open. It came so suddenly and with the influx of blinding light I had to close my eyes for a good few seconds. After the noise and the light came a bang, a cracking sound, and then a pain unlike any other flooding through my chest. I could only cough and moan under the searing ache but as it was relentless it was short. Then came a cackle, it was a man with a whip that stood inside the now fully lit room. From there on I could see once again, exposing myself to utter scenes of madness and bloodfest. It was a bare room, without furnishing except two tables, one which both me and Ivan were chained against. They were cold and hard, resembled those tables you find in hospitals. Aspetic and metallic. What sent a shiver down my spine though were the spots of crimson spalltered all over the ground and even ceiling. I craned my neck and managed to catch a glimpse of my body. It was worse than I thought. My skin was blue and black all over, red wounds seeping thin lines of blood while the first were already festering. Another thick red line freshly drawn across my stomach by the man. I was likely suffering from dehydrationa at that time, my head was beginning to spin as information and perception downright bombarded it. Though what... what appaled me the most was not my own body and its condition but that of Ivan. He was bleeding all over, his hands and feet missing a few fingers and toes while pieces of bone sticked out every few inches of his fractured body. He was dying, right infront of me. The groans I heard before his last vestiges of strength that remained... The man cracked his whip through the air once again. It hit Ivan across the famished ribs and sent him retching red foam and gurgle for air. And then... and then... surprising the man and myself, Ivan stopped moving all of a sudden. He gave a final, pained and tired groan before his head snapped back while all the build up tension seething within his ravening muscles began subsiding. Instead of struggling against the call he decided it was time... yeah, to rest. He died, his black-beaten arms no longer wrestling with the bloodied cuffs. My blood drained from my face, and I wanted to cry, but I couldn''t... my body missing the necessary water that was vital for such a basic act of... sorrow. Yes, I just felt Ivan won''t take another breath, and so did the man. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. I cried silently with agape eyes but the man... that MONSTER!..., he only frowned; until this same frown turned into a beaming, malicious, sneer. The bastard directed his question at me as he leaned forward with that... gruesome, foul, smile on his face. Frankly, that was the first time I genuinely wanted to kill a man. Uhm... He wore some kind of suit and a white masquerade mask as well as a tophat, but you know that too, right? So, after his... remark... he turned around and faced the ceiling. There I saw a black camera sticking out of the corner. It was all the... WHORESON!... said before readying himself. He took a few steps back and cracked his shoulders. His arm reached back and whipped then whipped forward. I heard the crack right after and closed my eyes. Things then started to become weird... You have to believe me on this!", Michael pleaded as his story reached its climax. "I waited, just wanted to die already, before I grudgingly openned my eyes as no pain ever reached me, thankfully so. I looked up and saw him stepping back once as the whip slipped from my exposed chest. That bastard looked as confused as I did, his whip laying softly by his side, his smirk fading. , he exclaimed and readied himself again. It happened in a heartbeat, the whip arched back, snapped forward and then. "Argh!", I prepared myself and winced out of fear, the crack booming a second after. But again I felt no pain, or rather, the whip wasn''t even being registered. I thought the man was tricking me at first, deceiving me and giving me hope just to shred it afterwards! But there was genuine confusion in his eyes, one that spoke volumes. And so he tried again and again, this time I grimaced at him with open eyes each time he cocked his arm back, only for the same result to occur for the uptenth time. , his voice was laced with wrath and exasperation, unaware of how to remedy his torture session. Seeing how the whip didn''t hurt me or caused any kind of wound he began pulling out knives from a belt underneath his dress shirt. But as with the whip the knives didn''t even manage to scratch me, the tips just faintly pressing against my skin. I myself was stumped but couldn''t thwart the smile that was growing from my lips. The bizarness of the situation should be... clear to you. After all, you saw it. But alas you want my side of the story. It happened all in a second. The man was skulking around the room, scratching his chin while he took out other tools of torture, before he turned towards... Ivan. He stalked forward, a spey knife in his hands. He grabbed one of Ivan''s arms and pressed the knife against his skin. , before the blade drew blood he began screaming and was thrown against the wall. It happened so fast I couldn''t even follow with my eyes. He just parted with the ground and then disappeared. The resounding crash made me look to the side where I saw him weakly standing up, the knife pointed forward and panic etched into his face. , he screamed but... there was no one. I could observe the entirety of the room and can safely say, there was not another person with us in the room, no one! And... *shiver*... then IT happened. You see... for me it was... eerie. My torturer thrown against a wall, shouting and screaming at the top of his lungs as blood trailed from his mouth... I couldn''t have been happier, nearly began laughing.", Michael slapped his leg and guffawed, tears of equally joy and sadness flowed down his cheeks. "And then, and then, it just ended. Hahahahahaha! You... you know what I am talking about, right? How he got turned into fucking meatpaste! Like he was being grinded from the feet on upwards. He screamed and I was dying from laughter as he fell face first on the ground. My hoarse cackles drowning out his cries. It got silent afterwards. And there he stood. He... uhm... was a boy, or maybe a bit older, a young adult maybe? He had brown eyes, light brown hair and stubbles on his chin and cheeks. Even with the hood and loose jeans I was sure he was on the more... stocky side. A burly boy, muscular but not all too fit. He had a phone in his hands, a smartphone of sorts and began dialing as I tried to desperately call out to him. The youth just ignored me and held his phone against his ear, talking in some weird gibberish; a second later he disappeared. And now... I am here.", Michael slouched down on the chair after he finished and began lazily stirring his already cold coffee. "Hum... Interesting story you got there Michael... Though that doesn''t answer how the cameras couldn''t pick up on him.", officer Csaba sighed and massaged his temples. He didn''t actually doubt the man''s words, he couldn''t! The proof was lying by his side. Tens of tapes documenting days of utter torture for the man called ''Ivan'', while Michael was carried out by some shaddy characters and subject to some unsavoury perversions. He was quite shocked by the video. A man sent flying through a room by... well, nothing... and then simply thrown into an invisible meat grinder. And then there was the anonymous call, coinciding with the moment where Michael explained how the mysterious man began talking to his phone. They received it as some form of audio encrypted message. Strange mumblings that, so explained the experts, were a combination of tens of languages at the same time. "Twenty seven people dead on a ship, one wounded and fourteen incapacitated. The ship is on the Danube, coordinates: 46.522719¡ãN, 18.894892¡ãE." A short message that contained everything they needed to know, and some more. "Things will be changing soon. Be prepared." An ominous message, one that was kept in english and more so growled than spoken. "Ok.", Csaba scratched his chin. "Tell us again, slowly, what has happened. Everything, weeks before even, people you interacted with." "Allright.", Michael, downtrodden as he was, still complied and began reciting everything that he could remember. A long night awaited the police officers of the somnolent city of Kalosca. --------- "You thought that was funny, eh?!", I shouted at the damned phone in my hands. God tricked me. He MADE me kill those people, made me noticeable by the bloodcraving thugs. I had to defend myself, I just HAD to. I-I didn''t want to do it... I didn''t want to kill these people, I am innocent! Though there was this remnant of craze still budding inside me, one that unleashed its sanguine rapacity onto the final man of the group. As I saw the first man dying, God called him Ivan, I was speachless, I was enraptured by terror and ecstasy likewise. That another could end one''s life so easily, with not the slightest speck of remorse, it made me fear for the future of this corrupted world but at the same time it gave way for a mindset unlike any other. That there are simply people that do not deserve to live, they do not posess any merit, no reason to keep them alive any longer. People that couldn''t be redeemed. Demons hiding under the flesh of humans. Trembling but swiftly reassuring myself I began noticing my change of heart, realized that those people were about to face a reckoning, a divine retribution for all those they wronged. I sweared that their deaths won''t be swift, they won''t be painless, and even if I will suffer the consequences of my doing, scorning and despising myself for all those that I will kill, it calmed me somewhat still. It appeased my crumbling psyche, lying to it that I was fighting for the right cause with nothing but goodwill. Mentally in disarray and physically suffering from the still lingering stench of piss, blood and other liquids I unsteadily walked towards my bed, feeling hundreds of images already beginning to slink onto me, willing to turn wistful dreams into harrowing nightmares. "There.Will.Be.More.Deaths.In.The.Future.,.Rest.First.'', I took the message by heart and slowly wriggled my way under the blankets, although the sun was still out, the celestial body uncaring of what had transpired on this small world. ''Not even a minute has passed, huh...'', I murmured and watched the clock still snagged at 8:30. Closing my eyes with a tired sigh the drowsiness began washing over me. My sleep was filled with the frightened faces of thos I have... slaughtered. Though a small part of me felt that it served them right, a part that began growing over the next few days, a part that helped me swallow my aversion and rip those people to tatters that knew nothing but greed, torture and evil. I wouldn''t let it consume me, but I would let it guide me. Until then I can only bask in blissful ignorance and shut all those grieving souls out, be it as painful as it is. Maybe I was a bit crazy already? Chapter 003.3: Test (Part 3 of 3) (A.N.: A rather short conclusion chapter with plenty of self-reflection and all this philosphical bullshit that won''t matter anyway in two chapter or so because I am a bad writer :(. One more thing. Jesus! Five 5 star reviews? Are you guys out of your mind?! I won''t play the humble pretender and say: "Uhh... don''t give me 5 stars!", of course I want 5 stars. But in all honesty my story does not deserve 5 stars, and I don''t say this to get any pity from you guys, it''s just how I see my story. I am mindful of my grammar and try to make some more realistic characters; no emo-edgy-cringey assassins that dual wields; no pessimistic asshole that despises everyone but in the end helps anyway -what a hypocrite-; and no ''loner'' and ''loser'' that is covertly some super intelligent whatnot-bullshit and can secretly do everything. That''s all from me, I hope you like this chapter, post a comment below and maybe give me a more accurate review. Thank you! :) ) Uncerimoniously I was awoken from my short slumber, groggy and tired, by no one else than my own mother. "LEO! I told you to clean the house! Are you deaf or what, do you think your father and I are your servants? Get your ass out of the bed right now and help your father carry the groceries upstairs!" "Yeah, just... *Yawn*... give me a moment." "Did you just say ''Give me a moment''? Stand up, right now!" Goddamn, that woman really knew how to piss me off. Alas I love her, be she as loud as she is. Wobbly and a tad bit reluctanty I tore myself away from the snug combination of down blanket and pocket spring mattress, my eyes shunning the midday sun with restive flutters as it glared down on me. The room felt different, not in a way one could discern with the eye. My heart felt unrest as I stood above my white table, lovingly patting my companions surface. The past events took a tool on my mind, obviously, everyone would expect as much. But the real oddity was that the horror and cruelty I experienced just a few hours prior already devolved into a most minuscle itch at the back of my mind. I felt bad, yes, but that''s where it stopped. "Yeah... I killed twenty people, now I feel a bit bad.". Who in his right mind would react like that if not a psychopath. I grew nervous, hadn''t anticipated my own self and morals being corroded to such an extent already, and it was only the well-known stirr of my phone that rid me of the anxiety. ''Relax.,.It''s.Normal. Although.You.Are.Not.Fully.Confident.In.Your.Self.,.Your.Mind.Already.Understood.That.You.Are.No.Longer.Human. Surely.,.You.Will.Fell.Empathy.For.The.Dead.But.That.Doesn''t.Mean.It.Should.Hamper.Your.Judgement.,.Your.Mind.Is.Making.Sure.Of.That.,.Reminding.You.That.You.Are.A.God.Now.'' God was not wrong, naturally. Indeed, deep down I already acknowledged the fact that I am now something far outstripping the limits and boundaries imposed onto those that are humanity. I am not a human anymore, though I was still humane. You could think of it like that: "You are a human and the rest of humanity goldfish. One day you forgot to feed the little cretins and some of them die off. You won''t break down and cry, you would rather think: ''Damn. Tsk. Poor buggers, maybe you guys get into fish heaven, who knows?''". And that''s it. It was just surprising how quick this change took place. Naturally you would consider your family, your friends, those you hold dear, as far more important. They will remain inside your heart as existences that should be treasured, but anyone else? Yeah, you''d feel bad if they died, offer them a prayer maybe, but... well, you stop there and let the matter go. You are omnipotent but just couldn''t be bothered by such trivial matters anymore, humans were seldomly worth more than what they actually are; slightly more evolved primates. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Surely it came as a shock how apathic I felt considering all those deaths, but I won''t deny that their past actions gave me a bit of relief as well. Maybe I would be more devastated if I killed somebody innocent, but the thing is, why should I even do that? I won''t ever know how it feels to kill somebody innocent, because, why should I if he is innocent? You get what I mean? So, yeah, I can''t really put it into perspective. "Are you kidding me?", whilst in my self-reflection my mother peeked inside my room. "I told you to go help your father!", she shouted and I scrammed. She is more of a shark than a goldfish in retrospective. After helping my old father out with the groceries I was once again seated at my laptop, my fingers entwined and chin resting above I was sinking into deep contemplation. The first test was to discern whether I have the courage to change one''s life for the better. As someone that thinks of life and humanity as such as untouchable, in a sense that no greater power should have the right to interfere, I still buckled under the emotional stress of seeing a beautiful life wilt away. One could say I do not have to bear any responsibility, after all I could just undo all my past actions and deeds, but the last remnants of my human-self tell me otherwise. Now, the second test was more intriguing. It stoked a fire inside of me that wants naught but to immolate all the evil I have seen and felt for the betterment of this world and at the same time it has shown me just how powerful I am, to decimate dozens of people in the blink of an eye. It was child''s play. Its actual goal should be slightly different though. I believe many of you have heard of the phrase: ''Power corrupts'', right? It is not wrong per se but not correct either. Instead of corrupting you, you begin realizing what offers and chances were hidden away from you before. And now with this power you can realize them without repercussions. Power unclouds your real self, this self of you that slumbers deep down and only waits to pounce; the animalistic and visceral side of humanity, the savage inside of you. And I have to say, the temptation is great. Greater than anything I have and will ever experience. Just the mere idea that I could succumb to all my vice and debauchery for all eternity, live it all out, it beguiled me. Somehow, I knew what God''s third test would be, or the gist of it at least. To live like a God, to embrace what I have become lest I won''t change for the rest of my now immortal life. Now the question remained, should I do it? Could I do it? Yes, I could. All those dreams and aspirations I have I could finally make true, this indecisiveness from just a day ago came from suspicion and distrust, that my powers do not work, that this is all just a dream and it will sooner than later start crashing down. But the tests have shown me what I can do. I can make this world better, and even though I hate the thought of mingling into other peoples'' business, it is something this world deserves, for all the evil and atrocities it harbors. "God?", I whispered softly. ''Yes?'' "Let''s start the next test." ''Of.Course.'' I waited for the cold sensation of an ineffable power, far above me, to grip and suffocate me how it did twice before. But instead I was kept untouched; placidly I kept sitting and waiting. After insufferable five minutes with a sweat drenched back and my nervousness spiking I dared to speak up. "Uhm... God? When will the next test begin?", I asked and looked down upon my phone. Black. The screen was black. With a quirked brow I turned the phone on. ''No notifications. Huh...?'', clicking onto the messenger I browsed it for any signs of my divine collocutor. It was an intensive search, a vain one. "OH! That''s the third test!", I suddenly exclaimed as epiphany upon epiphany graced me. "So, now it''s all up to me what I can and cannot do, huh..... Lovely.", I snickered and leaned back into my chair. Fun times ahead of me, fun times. (A.N.: Yup, that concludes the prologue. Seriously, if that wasn''t the prologue then what is? Expect way more action and OP''ness -God, that sounds awful- in the next few chapters. I for one am looking forward to it. :D ) Chapter 004: The Time in your hands (A.N.: This chapter is a bit longer, an apology for the prior one, but has not so much going on. Next chapter the pace will pick up considerably. Don''t forget the poll in the last chapter. And that was all from me, I hope you enjoy! :D ) ''..... do not look for me, I am an adult after all and it was my decision. I loitered around on your expenses for far too long, it is time I give you back, tenfold. I have never told you but I amassed a bit of a fortune that will now be all yours. Do not ask where it came from or how I got my hands on such a sum, just accept it, please. Lots of Love, your stupid son, Leonard Wigenber.'' I folded the letter and slipped it through underneath the door. "So that''s that.", I sighed and stretched a bit, unwillingness keeping me staring at the door for longer than I wished. ''Hah... I need to take this step. I will come back for sure...'', I promised myself and parted away, my eyes no longer drawn to the old door, behind which was what I called ''home''. For now I''d leave this world as it is, mind you that the day will come were all all this filthy muck and scum will be smitten by my hands. But not now, now I want to live a life without restrictions, experience not this world only but all those strewn about in the boundless universes and dimensions. And -as unlikely as it is- if I find no suitable world I will just make my own. A holiday resort of sorts. It is an inexplicable feeling, knowing that you are God, or at least a sort of proxie for God. The feeling overwhelms you, empowers you. On one hand you now know that you can do everything you wish but at the same time you doubt the reality of the situation, think to yourself that you are just dreaming lucidly. Maybe dreaming once in a while wasn''t so bad. I freed myself from my soliloquy, from the distracting thoughts and wishes. What I needed was a clear mind, I was after all on the search of worlds untold lightyears away. What I wanted to experience was: Magic! Who wouldn''t?! I wanted to see genuine magic, unlike my boundless power that was most likely origin of all. How would people wield the abbreviations of my primal might? What could they achieve with such colossal gifts? On earth we reached heights unheard of before, we dominate our world in such a way that a tiny click could destroy it all and all of this without any inherent, heaven defying power. Just. With. Pure. Wits. So, what possibilities openned themselves up in a world where the sapient, sentient and feral alike plied with such indomitable powers? I needed to see it with my own eyes! I craned my neck, looked up into the nightsky and the moon I have come to live under. My mind found its destination and with just a *snap* the vista changed. And I must say, I have never seen such beauty before. The sky was ablaze with millions of stars centered around a majestic moon of brilliant azure sheen. A large, iridescent disc of coruscant stardust caressed the moons electrifying presence, elevating the otherwise simple cluster of rock into unimaginable augustness. It was like the aureate halo of an angel but marbled in sapphire blue. A mighty aegis, the patron of this world, a watchful sentinel. It was.... truly wonderful. A nightsky unlike any other. And here I stood. In a foreign world, in a foreign place. To pay tribute to this virgin world I had to change myself. This appearance was not befit of someone that was stranded in a world as supernatural as this. Adapt was the key word, though a fair share of curiosity was present as well. I''d really love to let out my inner child now that the situation demanded it. I wanted something as majestic as this world, no, surpassing it! I was a God after all! Why should I let myself be vilified just because this world surprised me for a bit with its common beauty. I stand above it! I am supreme! What I needed was a form that conveyed strength abundant, a form that would bring all to their knees. Something regal and majestic. The image of a dragon should commensurate the likes of mine, but I needed something beyond that and neither did I wish for my human form to disappear completely, I did not want to lose myself to much in the fantastic. With a second thought I created a simple image of a humanoid creature, it appeared before me as a figure alit by black space and sparkling stars, like the universe itself. Tall and lean but with power boiling beneath the skin; a rugged face, handsome and savage at once, with my same amber coloured eyes, but more prominent now with highlights of gold. As the thoughts left my mind the mannequin began to adopt the changes. Tall, very tall, around 6.5 feet to be exact, with pronunced muscles and chock-full of red hot runes. ''That''s new.'', I thought but in all honesty I liked the change. They had this untamed and tribal air to them. The engrailed crimson under my chiseled body was reminiscent of meandering magma channels scarring the face of volcano on the verge of bursting. I really liked it. For the final touches I turned the skin into a haler shade, kissed into an auburn tone as if by the sun itself, and brightened my dirty blonde hairs into liquid or. I took a step back and surveyed the cosmic being. It was... awe-inspiring and the effigy of my future self. I was trembling in joy and anticipation. But what it needed was this unique feature that elevated it from filthy normalcy. I went with angst-inducing slits striking my eyes and a pair of metallic wings at my back spanning over 30 feet. Clad in argentine tinted plates the wings exuded dignity and sublimity. Scratching my chin I thought something was still missing. I made the runic formations on my body coalesce on my sternum into a sort of bubbling vent in scorching red, beating feverishly like a heart. But it was still not enough! If I get the chance to make my wishes come true I will not stop halfway through. Claws. I needed claws and should worry later if this is even remotely human anymore. I sheathed my hands all the way up to the first half of my lower arm in basaltic rock, rutted with the same red flow of pyroclastic energy. My legs underwent the same treatement up to the first half of my shins. Fingers and toes alike now tipped off in razor sharp, obsidian fangs. ''So badass''. I perused the body once more, looking it up and down and looking for any kinds of faults. My sights stopped between the legs, I jerked together and cringed. ''Phew, nearly forgot the most important part.'', I mused to myself and let out a low chuckle. I won''t be able to call myself a man without... well, my manhood, my junk, after all. Now, though I was a male after all and would love to just flaunt my monstrous... *ehem* around I would rather have it proportionate to my height. Eight inches and a half with considerable girth seemed more than just enough to please any woman. With my godly strength and endurance I should have went for an even smaller... phallus, if I don''t want to hurt any future partners, but my male ego didn''t allow me to decrease the size. It was hellbent on its decision. Those were the final touches and with that done I could finally try out my new body. You might think it would feel weird, disgusting to some degree even, to swap bodies just like that, but it wasn''t. This body after all was in every way the culmination of my wishes come true. From the wings to the claws and the flowing veins of red it was all how I willed it, and it felt soooo good. I openned my eyes, my new and better eyes, and at the same time made my old body, my archaic cast, disappear. If I wanted to I could re-create it whenever I want so no worries there. It felt so different but at the same time so familiar. It was the self I thirsted for but could never become. But I did. The wings on my back unfolded, seized the sky with their massive span and let blazing light rain down upon the earth like the tears of the stars themselves. Earth shattered into dust, trees were upturned like they were a giant''s toys and the air screeched from the dazzling fullminations. Nature roared in pain, quaked in terror and crumbled into ruins as the world shifted its course through the advent of my coming; And the night was illumed as I commanded it, in the fires only purgatory could rival!!! ''This power! This strength! IT FEELS... SO... GOOD!!!'' The high calmed down, my body that had unbeknownst to me stood above the clouds floated down and gently my clawed feet touched the scorched ground. ''Shameful...'', this was a shameful display of unleashed furore on a world that did not deserve such treatement. I couldn''t believe how easily I have let myself be washed away by the torrents of power, the ecstasy of destruction, the erasure of innocent lives. It was the right decision to try my power beforehand and not on earth. It could have spelled disaster, one that even if unmade would still scar my heart. Killing the sinful was one thing but killing innocents another. Even as a God I''d love to avoid it. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. My frenzy deterred by the cooling realisation I could only exhale deeply. "Oh man...", my deep-throated voice boomed in chagrin. I retracted my wings into my back, now nil but two silvern spikes padding my shoulderblades. Like my wings the red veins underwent the same process, softly smoothing out until they were nothing more than dark stripes, tattoos of some sort; and so did my gauntlets and cuisse, only that the skin now looked a tad bit darker around those parts. My natural armor had some sort of connection to my subconsciousness and emotions. Me likey. That way I don''t need to focus on such changes to much. Though I could just wish my armor to always perfectly fit the occassion, nah, then I won''t have anything to do. After being done with returning into a less diabolic and more approachable form I took my time to oversee the disaster I created. It was worse than I thought. If someone told me that a damned a-bomb dropped here I won''t doubt them for a second. The land was turned flat, into a grey wasteland with ashen rain pelting from up above. Small patches of fire were still ravaging onwards but most had already been reduced to cinders, consumed by even more destruction. "Better take responsibility.", I grumbled and clasped my hands. Like it was second nature to me I began turning time backwards. On the destroyed plains the first stubs of charcoaled woodland sprouted, catched on fire but instead of getting devoured they grew against it, higher and higher until they formed a fully fledged forest. Trees thrown far away returned from the horizon and rooted themselves once again into the soil. Where inferno raged small rivlets and crystaline water began to burble afresh. Destroyed mountains fully re-constructed themselves, as if a giant magnet was pulling it back together again. And soon the voice of life returned as well. Chirps of pain turned into panic, then unease and finally silence. The flora has returned to its nightly repose and only the occasional sound of predators scouting and stalking echoed through the greenery. Balance was restored, though the living of silvan ignorant about the gruesome fate they had just escaped. They had luck. Not like I could say anything considering MY luck is plainly through the roof. I was not exhausted but still decided to sit down, just taking in the scenery I was completely oblivious to. It all hit me then. That I was just two days ago a normal human, broke a world record in bench pressing, travelled back in time, faced death in form of cancer -I still needed to heal that girl-, killed a whole lot of murderers and psychopaths and then decided to travel to a completely different world, maybe billions of lightyears or even whole dimensions from my old home apart. And now I even had a completely different body, so unlike the smaller and chubbier version of my past. It all just hit me as I sat there. Bringing tears to my eyes, of joy and sadness. Before I haven''t experienced this world at least, watched magic in its full splendor, I won''t return. Whatever it was that compeled me to do so won''t tire until it is satisfied. But that was not the only thing, what really pained me, what crawled under my skin and made me feel faint, was this unimaginable feeling of solitude. That I was truly on my own in this world, that my parents won''t support me from the back -no matter how much they shout at me I respect them still-, that my friends won''t laugh with me the next time I tell a joke, that it was ME who left them... My first day in a fantasy world and I am already homesick... so pathetic. I wiped the tears away and stood up. Somehow I had to distract myself, and I knew exactly how. Summoning a thick axe into my right I began logging off the nearest tree. *Thwack* *Thwack* *Thwack* *Crack!*. After the third hit the tree toppled on the struck spot. It felt nice to have something to do. And what I wanted to do was to build a small lodge of sorts. Just a small hut for the time being. ''Though before that I needed something different.'', I cracked a smile as my junk swung with each strike from side to side, an uncomfortable sensation to have it slap against your thighs all the time while you handle something as sharp as an axe. I continued chopping away at another dozen of trees, now endued with gruff leather pants made from thick, black hide. Of course my upper body was left exposed, it felt good and probably looked glorious. As I let time fly by I noticed a pecularity. I actually needed to chop the wood! It took around three hits for a tree to fall but my strength should be far above that. It was weird -As of late many things were ''weird'' to me, huh...-. I theorized it had once again something to do with my subconsciousness. After all, what would happen if I actually use all the strength this body possesses? I would cleave through this world and farther galaxies alike as if it was warm butter. A frightening thought. Because I had not the patience to emery the wood, varnish it, cut it into shape, correctly assemble it and afterwards nail it together I just willed it to happen. To chop the wood was an excellent exercise but I really didn''t want to do all the other laborous chores. Just to have a safe file I uploaded all the knowledge in house building into my brain; don''t know when you want to impress a lady by building her a house, you can never be too sure. The wood fell into place, the bark was stripped off, unevenness was ground away, the pieces were cut into their actual shape, a chestnut brown coating was applied and then finally everything was nailed together. The result was nothing to sneeze at. The cabin looked... cozy. Yeah, that''s a way to describe it. It looked inviting and homey. ''Huh... Looks nice.'', with that thought I stepped inside the empty house, a bit indignant that my wish didn''t automatically include furnishing. Because it had two floors I had much leeway in the form I could fashion my new home. On the first floor I added cushioned couches and stools facing an insulated fireplace and a wide spanning terrace, it was the parlor of sorts; smooth, lightbrown carpet covered the whole ground; a fully functional freezer -Which I just made ''work''. It just does. Defying all known physics.- filled with meat and some easily persihable vegetables and fruits stood in the kitchen compartement; and a storage room which I filled with smoked goods, herbs, nuts and seeds as well as many kinds of grains could be accessed there as well. Now I had the bare necessities, time for the luxuries! An underfloor heating system covered the two floors of the cabin, in a far off corner I build a toilet with fully functional drainage and added in a seperate room a large bath. For the second floor I simply wished for a three room complex with large beds each made from the finest material, night stands and wardrobes were included as well. ''Now that all is done.'', I cracked my fingers and looked around. ''This looks nicer than at home, doesn''t it?'' A bit giddy and excited I entered the heating system via a control panel lodged on the front door, cleverly disguised as just another wooden surface, before awareness came and I realized that I forgot something rudimentary. Lights! The chandelier and other different small-sized lights were definitely nice to look at. The heater turned on and the lights dimmed to a low I made myself fall into the couch with a satisfied grin. This was a wonderful home, one that my mother would love to clean each and every day. And surely my father would find a way to fill the storage room with useless garbage in under two days, it was one of his talents after all. And what would my friends say? Those bastards would be envious as fuck! "Hahahahaha...", I growled dour. Once I come back I will gift them with everything they want, with anything they will and ever wanted, it will be like christmas, only cooler. But now that I have decided to earnestly experience this world I will see it through to the end. "I need something to relax.", I mumbled to myself and made a joint appear. I remember the first one I smoked, or rather, coughed. It was quite embarassing if I do say so myself. My friends standing in a cricle with expectant eyes looking at me, their very breath urging me to take a puff. The aftermath was a awkward coughing fit. What can I say? It was the first time I ever smoked anything in my life and I was just fourteen or so. But looking back, those were the good old memories. Or when I did a somersault with my bike and ended up with blue balls, very painful. Or when I ripped my whole forearm open because I slipped over a grating, everything was bleeding. Or the time when I climbed up a tree and landed on a bench, breaking my collarbone in the process. (Those stories are no joke by the way, this is part of my life I am writing down. If you want the details just ask in the comments.) lt was calming to think about the past, something so nostalgic now that my life has turned so drastically. It functioned like an anchor, makes you remember who you are in stormy days or even the most brutal of tempests. ''Haah... What can I say, I love my life as it was and as it is.'', I drifted and my thoughts became clouded in a comfortable haze after the first few puffs. Yup, good times. Chapter 005: It will be history (Sorry guys. I had been on vacation until yesterday. I was mostly reading or commenting but never had the zest to try and write a whole chapter on my phone, so I did it today with my beloved Laptop. There will probably come another chapter today so please endure this chapter full of history, I think this is a prime example of an info dump. I decided to combine fantasy and wuxia. Instead of Ki, Prana, Dao or whatever we have Ether. Or just a fancy name for Mana. Let''s see how far I can spin this fiction before I fall face first into the slump that is the writers block. Once again, sorry for my recent inactivity. Oh and something important. The ''Gods'' I describe here are in the truest sense Gods to US, but to those other creatures they would be more like your generic adventurer or cultivator or whatever.) Gaia. A realm enriched by Ether, the essence of the fantastical and miraculous. A realm in which one can cultivate this strength and climb the steep ladder to immotality, a goal not many achieve. It is a place of hope as it is of despair. A reality in which the weak can only beg for scraps, grovel on their knees, and the strong lavish in vanity. And it was in this universe where an age old world existed. The world was called Anterra. A world that harbored great dangers but equally great riches. A world so vast, so enormous, that only the magical essence Ether kept it from collapsing in on itself. If it had only been a simply gigantic planet none would have looked twice at it. But there had to be a reason why this planet will be the stage for this tale. A linchpin. Anterra was the nail that holds together the different planes of existence. The nexus that connects them all. A spiderweb spanning through reality with Anterra as its centre. Naturally this world couldn''t be hid for long. Nay, just billions years later it had already been discovered and turned into a hot topic amongst those we humans could only consider ''Gods''. As eager as ''Gods'' are it was merely a matter of time before they swooped down to claim this undisputed territory their own. Considering Anterra''s function as a sophisticated network, pathways into other dimensions, once somebody captured this cosmic fulcrum the creation of an unrivaled dominion would be a palpable dream! It was the first step that had to be taken to establish a foothold in this dreary and backstabbing vastness that was the world of cultivation. But just as the first batch of Gods descended onto Anterra they were forced to understand one small triviality. This world was impossible to conquer. Or rather, impossible for only a few thousand of Gods. Even before the astral beings arrived on the ginormous world to claim it their own, it was already hosting serveral ancient races. Some of which have been walking Anterra''s surface since time immemorial. In other words. Anterra was already seized by creatures so old that even the Gods had no records of them. Historic titans, beings that knew of the beginning and the end of reality. Creatures not to be triffled with. The focal point and true home of these indomitable was the continent Landen. With this continent alone rivaling the surface area of Earth manyfold one can only imagine the size of Anterra as a whole. Truly gigantic. Alas it was in the Gods nature to be arrogant and conceited, to let hubris do the talking for them. So they did what they could best, deride Anterra''s guardians like the idiotic yokels they are with a request so averse and crude that it had to be a talent then again. They sought out the silent and languid guardians, the peaceful colossi that only wanted to keep to themselves, and proposed what can only be nicely described as indentured servitude. Enraged by the Gods'' pretension the hoary sentinels stirred once again. In the past these creatures fought for foolish supremacy but quickly realized the idiocy behind their childish quarrels. They had the potential to ruin Anterra and ascend to distant worlds but the mere thought made them homesick. Why would they want to destroy this peaceful world, leave their own ilk behind, those they loved and watched grow up. No, they couldn''t do that. And so they laid down their weapons; bared fangs turned blunt, rattling scales turned silent and ferocity mellowed. But in no way did that mean the guardians lost their edge, no, not at all. Now that such a threat writhed its ugly visage once again, albeit through a different source, they won''t helplessly watch on how their weaker kin would be degraded into slaves. Through the treaty of peace in the past they had time to ponder and think. If they had the might to transcend worlds shouldn''t there be others? The realisation dawned onto them and they began honing their skills in secret, preparing for the fateful day where their undisputed reign was challenged. And now was the day. Thusly the Gods had hit a wall. Eons spent refining and fortifying their skills, weeding out the weak links and evolving into killing machines, versus lives spent in swagger and pomp, lampooning others for their inability while they tasted the sinful fruit of vice and debauchery. The Gods burned the candle at both ends. The ground croaked in sorrow and agony, the air was speckled in tufts of crimson, oceans were set ablaze and the sky turned black. Anterra experienced its second age of chaos and destruction. Flocks, batallions, whole armies of Gods were picked from the sky like flies; corpses showered from above like torrential rain. But they did not surrender. Too much man power was lost already, too many resources invested into this galactic war. Even as their servants were torn apart, mauled, bathed in flames, drowned or rent asunder they did not surrender. Waves after waves were sent after the beasts with resplendent power and yet they did not falter. Quite the opposite was true. The guadians rapacity grew by the day, their instincts delighted in the carnage and bloodshed as the horde of Gods that eyed their world grew like a swarm of locust. But even then as thousands of Gods and their respective clans and tribes invaded Anterra its inhabitants showed no signs of losing. The droves of Gods were destroyed with ease. Esurient and with eyes rapt in bloodlust the once peaceful guardians cackled in their foes misery. And only after eras of war and chaos did the Gods finally resign themselves to the fact that they would never achieve supremacy over this world. But they won''t leave just like that, they had lost too much already. Uniting under a handful of banners the Gods rallied their troops together and readied their magical powers for a final, devastating spell. Words were spoken in tongues longst forgotten, voices echoed out from the stream of coiling nether and thunder of fundamental theurgy cracked through space. "Cereus Veritas!". The throng of Gods echoed with divine dissonance. Wisps of white fire lashed out, killed the Gods and their entourage before they began hurling for the handful of guardians that served as vanguard. In a dazzling fullmination of light and sparks, of solar providence and umbral damnation, the leaders of the major clans attacked the titanic guardians in this last ditch effort. In the end their spell managed to subdue a ten -yes, only a whole lot of ten- of Anterra''s myriad sentinels and siphoned the power of their bloodline into the next generation of patriarchs and matriarchs. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. For the millions of guardians this was an ignominy never to be forgotten. How could they actually let their brethren fall into the hands of the despised Gods? But before the guardians could rampage in outrage the gods already retreated. With tails between their legs but expressions full of joy and eyes glinting the clans retreated from Anterra to the plane they originated from. There they established the eight great sects and began a rule of iron fist with their newly acquired powers. Anguis, the clan prouding themselves to be the descendants of the mighty Bahamut. Iras, their families'' crest is blazoned by the flamming Moloch. Deleo, condemned by Tiamat, the fell Manticore, and Hannibal, the edacious Chimera, in their last breaths to never ending hunger and an overwhelming thirst for hunt. Divone, a bloodline of sovereigns and monarchs birthed from the Basilisk''s loins, the king of serpents. Casimir, a coalition of powerful paladins, eager to protect their clan like their guardian spirits would, the brothers Orthrus and Cerberus. Schularma, jaded savages marked by the jackal Anubis with the blackened crux ansata. The Xue-Ni family, heralded by divine flames all-consuming they are the bearers of the Phoenix'' plumes. Avriane, a family damned for their female-only offspring. They are the daughters of the royal Roc and the motherly Simurgh, the emperor and empress of the skies. This marked the end of the war. The Gods were satisfied with their spoils of war and couldn''t care less about the comrades they sent to their graves. Ay, just ten of the guardians compensated for billions of losses, ridiculous and yet true. That is simply how powerful the guardians are. But greed always found its way into all that is living and soon the newly founded families commenced a tradition that will be known as the Rites. The Branch families -those that were granted with only the most minuscle amounts of the revered blood- of the eight great clans and those cohorts without affiliations had to prove themselves in this dangerous contest of strength. A group of younglings were sent down onto Anterra and had to bind themselves to one of the ''lesser'' creatures and obtain its blessing by blood. Their strength would soar and likewise their bodies would change to accomodate the blood of the beings they absorbed. Through this procedure all kinds of minor families began popping up. Legion but irrelevant. And through a stroke of luck one such insignificant family will rise to prominence. --- The forest of Landen, a vast strip of green right in Landen''s center fringed by all kinds of weathers, was an area ripe with strive and territorial disputes. It was in a state of perpetual bloodshed and carnage. Its many ecosystems and diverse scapes, from sheer mountain ranges and frothing volcanoes to deep-blue lakes and frigid rivers, offered a plethora of chances as well as lurking dangers. Those that survived would grow and flourish in a matter of a few decades, become fearsome beasts that could wipe out whole islands. But those were the exceptions as most would fall victim to infamous, terrific predators or even the harsh weather itself. From torrential downpours so devastating that the whole area was awash or cataclysmic landslides and earthquakes caused by the shifting crust below. Fortunately most of the wildlife was prone to the most minuscle signs of danger and could elude their deaths until another day, though this same concept was questioned by a single foreign entity. Wyrms and Wyverns sleeping, playing and hunting on the white crests and mountaintops; Narga and Leviathans slithering and preying under the cover of the aquatic currents for deepsea monstrosities; packs and prides of the lupine and leonine, be it with iron maws or golden manes, hunting down collosal creatures and protecting their young; flocks of monstrous birds hawking from above the clouds for their next quarry, oblations to their heavenly grace; they all felt it deep in their marrow one day, a shock that sent them into vertigo. For a second those apex predators, those revered guardians, felt something they hadn''t for a long, long time. Something that was as ancient to them as they were to the common beast and Gods. On guard and trembling all over these beasts gathered their family and companions in just split seconds, snuggling up against each other to seek comfort as the presence continued to loom above their heads, ever so terrifying and malignant. It strangled their hearts, weighed them into an abyss of anxiety and horror and they could do naught against it. The youngs were jammed into their midst, protected by the elderly, but in the unknown as to what was happening. Their young minds to immature to pick up the ephemeral threat of cessation and destruction that floated in the air like specks of bloody snow. This phantomic menace spread throughout the continent and then the whole of Anterra without rest, appeared as odious reapers above the helms of the different families and clans. Scythes pressed against all their throats, nearly making them taste their blood and vomit, the otherwise allmighty guardians didn''t even dare to budge an inch as the promise of death kept encroaching. A touch of frost made their scales rise, fur stand on end and eyes dart about. But as quick as it came, this minacious breath on their necks, it was gone and the animals of Landen and further beyond could breathe once again, heaving growls and howls of relief as none of them had their life snuffed out, yet. They cherrished their survival with purrs, grunts, sniffs and ample comfort licking. After the small celebration the bevy of monsters advised caution and tried to identify the source of the prior boding sense of end. Though the only clue they found was an unknown life force, foreign and sudden, appearing on the outskirts of Landen. In itself this wasn''t a spectacle to be fearful of, the Gods often led expeditions with their young on the outer perimeters, but what startled them was that not a single entity had noticed this invader before. ''How weird'', the beasts thought. In their eyes it was but a single human, or God, weak looking with certain peculiarities, or so they could tell; though his presence made their stomachs churn and bile rise to their throats just by feeling him and probing around his aura. To play it safe the creatures distanced themselves from this man, the one and only vision of their deaths too much to risk a confrontation. The young were kept away while the elderly scouted, watched with slitted eyes the every move of the man. Their suspicions were confirmed after just a few moments. As they saw the human create substance from nothingness, like it was the most normal thing to do, they were even firmer in their decision. To create with magic was not unheard of but none of the stronger creatures could even sense any fluctuations of ether as the man began working. It meant he was either using an unknown source of energy, even unknown to Anterra''s inhabitants, or the man was actually overthrowing the laws of reality itself. Both options were reason for panic. For now their former impression of a weak human turned to: ''Very dangerous. Do not approach.'' Even the venered guardians agreed on this assesment. They were not dumb enough to think the threat of doom had only been an illusion. They gauged the danger level of this small man into unprecedented heights; that they couldn''t even identify his race made them even more fidgety. Wordlessly it was agreed upon that miles aroud the man a hazard zone was errected. The conclave of Guardians consensual in their choice and marking the area in an amalgamation of daunting scents and ether. If somebody trespassed they would know immediately and could prepare accordingly. Though the thing is there are some existences that do not know of this. Like a group of youthful godlings, immersed in the titilation of the hunt and prone to fulfil the Rite. (The next chapter should be packed with action, gore and blood.)