Aydrian opened his eyes and found himself in a dark tunnel, with a bright white light coming from the end of the tunnel. Its pure luminosity shone on Aydrians skin, warming him and making him feel at peace. It felt so nice that Aydrian wouldn’t mind dying if he could enter that soft light. Aydrian could swear that it beckoned him forwards, offering him tranquillity and relief. It seemed to offer him solace from all the things that had been bothering him. It reminded him of the embrace of a loved one. That feeling of security and safety.

In that light, I wouldn’t have to worry about Ben . . . or grades . . . or anything at all. I could rest there.

Aydrian took a step forwards, coming closer to the light. He felt the rays of sunshine wash over his entire body, slowly increasing from warm to scalding. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt.

Am I . . . burning?

However, before he could take another step after that, he heard a voice. The voice was soft and sweet like honey.

“Don’t step into the light.”

He wanted to listen to that voice, but he was just so tired. Without turning away from the light, Aydrian responded in a groggy voice.

“Why can’t I go there? I’m so tired. It seems so nice and warm.”

The voice spoke back to Aydrian, imploring him to turn away from the light.

“You still have things to do in life, Aydrian.”

“Things to do?”

Aydrian echoed back, sounding unsure. The voice got louder, more powerful than before. Its voice seemed to reach his very core; his very soul.

“Yes, you have many things to do. Please, turn around.”

Aydrian didn’t turn around. He kept staring at that bright, comforting light. He could feel himself withering away from its intense heat, but it didn’t hurt, nor was Aydrian scared. All his problems were slowly dissolving into nothing. Aydrian didn’t even realize his heart wasn’t beating, and even if he did he wouldn’t care. The light solved all his problems by reducing everything to nothing.

“I don’t want to. You should come with me. We can both rest in that light.”

The voice laughed sadly.

“I want nothing more to rest, however, there are things that must be done before either of us can pass on to the next life.”

Aydrian took a step forward, drawing ever closer to the light. Now, it was so bright that Aydrian couldn’t even see. Behind him, he heard the voice again. It was much dimmer than before as if it had gotten farther away.

“So then you will abandon your father in his time of need?”

Aydrian stopped in his tracks. The image of his father looking down at Aydrian’s dead body flashed through his mind. A single thump resounded in his chest.

Aydrian opened his mouth and spoke quietly.

“He . . . needs me?”

The voice responded fervently as if trying to keep Aydrian’s attention.

“Your father needs you. Femi needs you. The world needs you. If you do not return to the world of the living, not only will they die, but they will suffer a horrible end. You have people to protect.”

“Your . . . right.”

Aydrian’s eyes turned clear. That intoxicating comfort from the light slowly dissipated. The light began to fade. The feeling of fatigue and restfulness that the light gave was disappeared along with it. As Aydrian thought about how his father might be suffering in that dark storm, his chest began to burn with a strange, fiery heat. It permeated through his entire being, filling him with strength. Aydrian’s heart began to beat again in his chest.

Femi . . . Dad . . .

Aydrian opened his eyes and turned around, his soul alight with determination.

I can’t die if people like them still need me.

Aydrian saw a man with purple eyes. His whole body was shrouded in darkness, but his eyes glowed a dark purple. He extended a hand towards Aydrian. Aydrian stared at the man’s shadowy hand, hesitating a bit. Looking into those purple eyes, Aydrian felt goosebumps appear on his arms. It was similar to the sensation he felt when fighting the Wimiac, but with much less panic. It was the sensation of being in the presence of something mighty.

Aydrian took the shadow figures hand. Then, Aydrian saw two images in his mind. The first was Femi lying dead on a hospital floor. The second was his father, bleeding out on the ground, alone. Aydrian felt his heart rave at the sight of these images and spoke to the shadowy figure with purple eyes.

“Take me back.”

The shadowy figure with purple eyes gazed at Aydrian with sad eyes.

“Those who love the most are often those who hate the most. The coin of passion has two sides; love and hate. Do not forget that, Aydrian.”

The shadowy figure extended his hand which had a small plastic rectangular object in it. Aydrian instantly recognized it as Aezogoth: Magic Mania. At the sight of the game, Aydrian realized that the shadowy figure had taken a quote from the game.

How does he know? How did he get this?

Before Aydrian could say anything, the purple-eyed figure spoke again.

“I wish you good luck, Aydrian.”

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In that instant, Aydrian awoke. His eyes flew open. He arched his back and sucked in as much air as he possibly could, before rolling over and coughing out his lungs.

It hurts! It hurts, ah! Damn!

His whole back and inner chest were extremely sore. When Aydrian looked down at his chest, he saw a hole closing up. His skin seemed to reach across his chest, closing the wound quickly. It hurt more than anything Aydrian had ever experienced, but it wasn’t enough to make him scream. Aydrian had experienced overwhelming pain before. He bit down on his lip, quickly drawing blood.

After a few minutes, the pain passed. His whole body was drenched in a cold sweat. Aydrian brought a hand to his chest and found not a single scratch. For a moment, he couldn’t remember how he got a hole in his chest in the first place. His mind was foggy and blurry.

What happened? Where- I don’t under- how did-

Aydrian’s mind ran at a million miles an hour as he remembered what had happened. He remembered killing the Wimaic and how it had stabbed him through the heart. He brought a hand to his chest once more in amazement. He whispered to himself in awe.

“I’m . . . alive?”

Aydrian remembered the moments right before he passed out when the blue sphere had been shoved down his throat. Before he could contemplate his situation fully, a voice from behind him spoke.

“Get up, you don’t have time to dally. If you hurry, you just might make it in time.”

Aydrian jerked his head to look behind him and saw a shadowy figure, except instead of purple eyes, this time its eyes were green. However, the similar shadowy figure reminded him of the conversation he had prior to awakening. Aydrian looked down at the ground and saw Aezogoth: Magic Mania there.

It wasn’t a dream!

Aydrian’s eyes popped open in an instant. He remembered the images that he had been shown.

“They need me!”

Aydrian tried to get on his feet, but couldn’t find any strength in his legs. They felt heavy and Tingley, as if they had been in paresthesia for a long time. Upon seeing Aydrian’s clumsy display, the man with green eyes laughed.

“What is that saying you mortals have . . . I believe it goes something like Haste results in waste?”

Aydrian snarled at the shadowy figure with green eyes before pushing himself to his feet. His legs still felt wobbly, but slowly, he was gaining strength back. He gripped the Wimaics claws in his hands.

“Where is my father?”

The shadowy figure sighed as Aydrian paid his warning no mind. He gazed at Aydrian for a moment before responding.

“On the way to you right now, but he won’t get here before Femi dies.”

Aydrian’s eyes opened wide with understanding.

“Femi- The hospital!”

Aydrian bolted forwards to where the Wimaic had busted in through the glass and leapt outside into the rain. The shadowy figure with green eyes watched him go. Once Aydrian had disappeared into the darkness, the shadow summoned a small black sphere with his mere thoughts alone. The sphere distorted the light around it, sucking everything into it like a miniature black hole. The sphere slowly grew larger until it grew into an oval shape five meters tall and three meters wide. From that infinite abyssal darkness emerged a magnificent but deadly creature. It walked on four legs, had a tail, and huge paws. It looked almost identical to a black panther, only three times larger. Its eyes glowed a yellow-ish green. Its claws were white as the moon and razor-sharp. The shadowy figure with green eyes spoke to the creature.

“Protect the Duesvas and proceed as planned. Remember, earn his hatred but don’t kill him. Through hatred, he will become corrupted. When he becomes corrupted, he will become our greatest ally.”

The black panther made no response, only slinking off into the darkness after Aydrian.

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As Aydrian sprinted forwards into the darkness, he quickly became soaked with cold rainwater, but he barely noticed it. That strong burning sensation from the tunnel had spread from his chest, coursing through his veins, empowering every inch of his body with strength. His legs beat against the ground, propelling him forwards. His heart beat inside his chest without restraint. His hands turned white as they gripped the Wimaic’s claws.

Darkness surrounded Aydrian, making it hard to see anything outside of twenty meters, but that was more than he needed. Even if he was blind, he could still find his way around. Aydrian knew this town like the back of his hand. Aydrian sprinted through town and heard screaming. When he rounded a corner, he saw the main center of the town consumed by huge, blazing green fires which rose high up into the sky. Very few people who were alive could be seen on the streets. Most of the people Aydrian could see were mangled corpses.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Aydrian closed his eyes for a moment, and with a great force of will, he ignored it all. He didn’t stop to think how a fire could even keep burning in this torrential downpour, nor did he pay attention to the shrieks and wails of monsters and humans alike. He didn’t have time. He had to make it to the hospital.

Aydrian darted across the street, making his way around burning cars, screaming people, and roaring monsters. Creatures of all kinds raced through town, tearing into people like they were made of paper.

It was complete and utter chaos, like a scene from some apocalypse movie.

One of the monsters who was gnawing on a nearby corpse spotted Aydrian. It vaulted over a car before bounding towards him with obvious intent to kill. It was a goblin-esk creature with floppy ears and a pig nose. It attacked Aydrian, swinging a metallic dull sword in its right hand as it flew through the air.

Aydrian crouched low, allowing it to go screeching above his head. Then, Aydrian burst forwards from his crouched position and kept running. Behind him, the cries and moans of people and monsters could be heard. Aydrian felt sorry he couldn’t help them but did not stop.

Femi is more important than all of them.

Aydrian continued pushing forwards single-mindedly. He pushed the image of her dead outside of his mind.

That won’t happen. I won’t let it happen.

The burning inside him reached a new level, sending coursing waves of heat all throughout his body with every beat his heart made. Moments later, Another monster stood with its back to Aydrian a few dozen meters in front of him. It had shiny grey skin, almost metallic. It was horribly disfigured, almost like a hunchback but somehow worse.

Once Aydrian drew closer, it turned around to face him. It was an enormous five-meter tall ogre with huge arms. As he met the creature's gaze, that strong heat transformed into a raging fire. His body began to feel tingly and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. His vision became sharper as his pupils dilated. He noticed how the monster put most of its weight on its right leg. In addition, Aydrian noticed that its left arm had begun to tense up, suggesting an attack with that limb.

Once he was within five meters, the ogre swung its left arm towards him in a sweeping motion. Aydrian had seen this coming and jumped upwards, completely dodging its swing. The wind from the ogre’s swing below him ruffled his shorts. If that blow had hit him, he would’ve been torn in half by the sheer force alone. Just as he landed back on the ground, Aydrian burst ahead, advancing between its legs and quickly getting out of range from its attacks. The ogre roared in anger, but Aydrian had already left it in the dust.

This kept happening over and over, one monster after another, but Aydrian ran, dodged, dipped, jumped, and avoided his way through all of them without issue. Not a single one of them was fast enough to even slow Aydrian down. The inferno inside of him had spread to his entire body like a wildfire. It eventually even reached his mind, burning any superfluous thoughts to ash. It made his mind enter a hyper-flow state. Normal Aydrian would have been worried, but such thoughts were impossible in his current state of mind. There was no room for worrying or anxiety; only action.

After a few minutes of sprinting through town, he arrived at the hospital. The main doors had already been busted off the hinges and looked like they had been clawed open. Aydrian quickly bolted inside the building, only to find dead bodies lining the hallways.

No . . . no . . . no no no!

The heat inside his chest flared up inside of him like a fire being doused with gasoline. Aydrian flew down the hallways, before eventually running into a bear-like beast with red fur. It turned around, but not fast enough. Aydrian’s speed had reached its peak. He was so quick that by the time the bear heard his footsteps and turned around, Aydrian was already within striking distance.

The bear opened its mouth to roar, but nothing came out. That was because Aydrian had already skewered the bear through its throat. Then, Aydrian brought his other Wimaic dagger to its head, killing it instantly. He pushed aside its dead body and continued down the hospital hallways.

Aydrian finally came to the room he was looking for, the security room. He quickly jigged the door handle.

Locked.

Aydrian lifted his right leg up and felt the heat become concentrated inside of it. After a second, Aydrian exhaled sharply and kicked his leg outwards. His foot collided with the door, cracking the concrete door frame and indenting the steel. After another kick, the door flew off its hinges and banged against the tiled floor, creating a loud noise that echoed down the hallway. Shortly after, Aydrian heard pounding footsteps coming towards his location.

Aydrian sprinted into the room and quickly flipped through various security cameras until he found what he wanted. Near the back end of the building, a group of people had barricaded a door that was currently being beaten down. Aydrian saw a monster similar to the bear he had killed earlier. He knew first hand the door wouldn’t last for very long. Aydrian turned around to leave, but standing in the doorway was yet another monster. It was an insect with bug eyes and razor-sharp mandibles. It stood on two thin legs but looked like it could run on all fours just fine. Its exoskeleton was blackish color with elements of brown and grey. In short, it looked like a praying mantis had decided to grow to the size of a human and donned a black exoskeleton. It jerked its head to the side as it stared at Aydrian with compound eyes.

Aydrian bent his knees slightly. The movement triggered the monster to attack. It sped forwards at Aydrian and lunged face-first at him. As soon as it went airborne, Aydrian chucked one of his daggers at the thing's face before jumping to the side.

The insect monster managed to parry his dagger out of the air, but couldn’t avoid slamming itself into the wall as a result. It let out a strange rapid clicking noise and stumbled a bit as if it was disoriented. Its noises were cut short as Aydrian decapitated it.

Aydrian turned towards the doorway, where more insect monsters were gathering. Aydrian grabbed the door that he had broken off its hinges and threw it at the doorway, disorienting the first few monsters that were trying to enter the room. Aydrian used this time to recover his second dagger and ready himself.

Aydrian’s heart was beating insanely fast inside his chest to the point where it finally began to alarm him. He had been in a state of concentration for so long that his mind was beginning to slip. His body felt hot, but also heavy. His eyes hurt from not blinking for so long and he was starting to get a headache.

Not yet, I can rest later.

Aydrian steeled himself as three monsters attacked him at once. The first attack came in the form of projectile spikes which a spider-like creature had shot at him from a few meters away. Aydrian quickly crouched low to avoid them. Then, the second attack came from in front of him as another praying mantis-like creature lunged at him like before. Unable to move quickly in his crouched position, Aydrian launched himself forwards and stabbed the monster in its mandibles, quickly dispatching it before it could even bite down on him.

Unfortunately, Aydrian didn’t see another round of spikes being shot at him. One of them embedded itself into his left flank, while the others missed. Aydrian let out a gasp as blood began to flow down his side. To his right, the third attacker. It seemed to be some kind of flying wasp with an enormous stinger. It buzzed towards him, but Aydrian was in no mood to get stung. He flung a dagger at the beast's body, but missed and only took off a wing. Luckily, this was enough to incapacitate the giant wasp. It fell to the ground, beating its last wing as it tried to move.

Aydrian tore the spike out of his side and ran out of the room without bothering to kill the spider. He didn’t have time, he had to hurry. After a few minutes, the pain in his side had settled down. The heat inside of his body had grown in the area of the wound, eventually halting the bleeding and closing the wound. Aydrian was grateful because the more time he spent in this state, the more he could feel himself getting tired. By the time Aydrian made it to the back end of the hospital, he was moving at half-speed. The brighter a flame burns, the faster it dies

Just a few more minutes, Come on!

Aydrian forced himself to run at full speed despite his body's protests and burst around the corner. There, he saw the door which had previously been barricaded broken open. Inside that doorway, he saw a multitude of dead bodies. Not just humans, but also monsters. The red bear he had seen on the security camera lay on the ground near the door, its throat torn open.

I don’t see her body . . . I’m not too late . . .

Aydrian flew into the room as his fears crept inside his mind. He began to slow down as he reached the innermost part of the room. Through another pair of doors, he saw Femi on the ground with her intestines strewn about. Her body had been viciously mauled and she was barely recognizable. The ground was painted a crimson red.

Instantaneously, The fire inside Aydrian’s chest went out.

He felt cold.

Aydrian fell to his knees.

He thought nothing.

His mind felt numb.

He just stared at her dead body with glazed-over eyes.

Aydrian didn’t even cry, he was too shell-shocked. He had no idea what to do or what to feel. All he could do was look at what had resulted from his failure. He couldn’t even think coherent thoughts for minutes on end. His mind was like T.V. static; a bunch of nonsense.

After what seemed like an eternity, Aydrian snapped out of his stupor. His mind was heavily clouded by a mixture of guilt, grief, and anger.

How could I fail? What will dad think? How could I tell him . . . I failed. I let her die. She was the only one besides him who . . .

“God damn it.”

Aydrian whispered to himself with his voice breaking. He clenched his fists. It was in this instance that Aydrian’s soul cracked inside of him. It didn’t shatter, but it was a deep wound. From such a wound spawned a dark and unfathomable rage.

This world always took from him.

This world always stole his happiness.

This world made sure he would never have a happy family like everyone else.

This world made sure his father always had to work.

This world made sure his teachers would never believe him over Ben.

This world made sure his money was stolen from him on a daily basis.

This world made sure life was nothing but torment.

This world . . .

. . . had taken the one person besides his father who he trusted.

I’ll kill them all.

Someone had to pay so that he could rid himself of this horrendous rage. This ungodly anger teetered on the brink of insanity. His seething hatred gripped at his heart with an iron fist. It was almost enough to drive him insane.

Aydrian stumbled to his feet and took out his twin Wimaic daggers. Then, he began to slowly limp forwards toward Femi’s body. He picked up her corpse with great effort and exited the hospital by way of the back exit. Her intestines dragged behind him, but Aydrian didn’t care. He whispered to Femi even though she couldn’t hear him.

“I won’t let them take you. You deserve a burial.”

The heat that had disappeared from his chest earlier returned, except this time it was much colder. Instead of being a heart-pounding, fervent desire to protect, now it was a sombre wish to respect a fallen friend. It was like the flame was still burning inside him, but instead of a roaring bomb fire, now it was just the hot coals that remained. It filled his body with just enough strength to carry out what he wanted to do.

Once outside the hospital, Aydrian realized it had stopped raining. The dark clouds overhead had passed, allowing the sun's light to shine back down onto the world. However, the monsters didn’t go away. All around him, the world was burning. Fires had consumed most of the town. Cars were in the middle of the road, some with shattered windshields and others burning with blue flame from the gasoline. The smoke clouded the horizon, casting dim shadows all over the town.

Aydrian paid all of this no mind and began to limp to the nearest patch of grass. The closest patch of grass he could see was only a few feet away, the back lawn of the hospital. There, a monster roamed. It looked like a monkey with the head and paws of a wolf. As soon as it spotted Aydrian, it began to sprint over towards him.

Aydrian, with an expressionless face, set Femi’s body on the ground gently, before turning to face the monkey-wolf hybrid. That creature raced towards him on all fours before pouncing on him. Aydrian grabbed it out of the air with his bare hands and held it like a baby.

I don’t have time for you.

Aydrian put his left hand on its lower jaw and his right hand on its upper jaw before wrenching them in opposite directions, tearing the beast's lower jaw off. Then, he pierced its chest and tossed it off into the garden to die a slow and painful death.

Aydrian turned around and picked up Femi, returning to his original task. Once he reached the garden, he set her down and began digging with his bare hands. That cold fire inside him spread to his arms, imbuing them with stamina and strength. He had one goal, to give his last respects to a friend he had failed to protect. Before long, Aydrian had dug a sizable hole in the ground.

For some reason, not a single monster attacked him after that. Aydrian had no idea why, but he didn’t care. Once he had buried his friend after hours of work, he stared at her grave and then looked at his hands. They were covered in blood. His whole body was covered in blood.

What . . . is happening?

Aydrian’s hands began to shake as tears flowed from his eyes. Everything that had happened began to catch up with him as all the adrenaline left his body. Aydrian tried to stand up, but couldn’t. He remembered all the superhuman feats he had performed and thought to himself.

The brighter a flame burns, the quicker it dies.

Breaking down that steel door, killing the Wimaic and somehow coming back to life, killing all those monsters in the hospital, racing across town . . . all of it had been done with Olympic level athleticism. That was something that Aydrian didn’t remember having prior.

Is this . . . the backlash from all that?

Aydrian didn’t get time to think about it. With his objective completed, Aydrian felt his desire to do anything wane. Consequently, He felt his body get heavier as even more powerful waves of exhaustion fell over him.

Wait . . . monsters . . . I’m going to die out here . . .

Aydrian barely remained conscious as he stumbled inside and locked himself inside a hospital room before passing out.