Part 1

Rain was pouring down furiously.

Standing in the rain was a young man standing at the edge of a cliff, staring at the destruction of a village below.

The sky was filled with black smoke as the smell of death filled his nostrils.

Several destroyed buildings and massive piles of bodies awaited his vision.

The man felt empty and detached as he watched on. He turned his head at the sound of footsteps approaching him.

A group of people stopped beside him.

“Lord Nilan, we have been looking for you.”

Nilan turned his head back down to the destroyed village.

“There is nothing here, no survivors, nothing,” Nilan said in a soft tone.

An elder of the group steps forward.

“If there is nothing here, then we keep movin-”

“No.”

The elder was shut off as Nilan spoke.

“If there is nothing here, then there is probably nothing anywhere else. All that we would end up doing is traveling around, only to come to the same conclusion every time: death and destruction.”

A young woman stepped forward.

“Even so, we can’t abandon all hope just yet.”

"Elora,” Nilan said softly as he turned his head to her. “We could spend all of our time clinging to hope, and it still won’t change what has happened. There is nothing here for us any more for us to call home anymore.”

“Then where will we go?” Elora asked, defeated.

There was silence as Nilan looked on into the distance.

“Does the portal between worlds still exist?" Nilan asked softly, which surprised the group.”

“Surely you are not serious, my lord." A voice spoke.

“I am,” Nilan said as he overlooked the cliff. “This world is not for us anymore, so the only option is to go to another world and start anew.”

The group began to clear a path as Nilan walked through.

“I am not going to ask anyone of you to come." Nilan said as he began walking off from the group. “But should you decide to, we will move forward and think as one to ensure our survival and goals, so that we will not end up like this.”

Nilan stopped walking.

“In time, out of the shadows, we will create a new world.”

He started walking again.

"In time"

_____________________________________________________________________

The sky was illuminated.

BOOOOM!!!!

As the large pillar of lightning continued to shine brightly across NEO New York City, Nereus body flew out from the lightning pillar covered in dark smoke.

There was a loud boom as he crashed into an area surrounded by trees, creating a small crater in the ground.

The smoke from his body was starting to clear as he coughed, revealing the damage that was caused by the teen’s last strike.

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His body was heavily charred, and the upper portion of his suit and cloak was burned off, revealing his burnt chest. His right leg was blown off right above his knee, and his left was blown off below his thigh. His broken right arm was gone completely, and only his thumb and index fingers remained on his left hand.

That was the state of Nereus body as he laid there.

Nereus coughed again, causing sparks to travel across his body to the surrounding area.

He opened his eyes to see the lightning pillar in the distance. There was a slight ringing noise in his ears.

He attempted to lift his body up but plopped back down to the ground, causing him to stare into the night sky.

(I…lost, after everything I had striven for.)

Nereus closed his eyes as his mangled hand clawed into the grass.

“Yo…r….m….je…..ty” through the ringing in his ears, he was able to hear someone call out to him.

He weakly turned his head to his left to see Elora running toward him.

(Elora.)

She began checking his injuries as she kneeled down beside him.

Without warning, a white sword came through her chest from behind. Nereus eyes widen as he sees the weapon protruding from her chest as blood begins to pour out.

As she weakly placed her fingers on the white sword, blood began to dribble out of her mouth.

“Elo…..ra” Nereus said as he struggled to raise his mangled arm to her.

“Poof!!!!!”

Suddenly, Elora's body exploded, causing her blood and internal organs to splatter upon Nereus, the trees nearby, and the ground.

“E…lor….a”

His most trusted follower was now gone; it was as if an empty void of emotion washed over him.

Nereus arm fell to the ground as he tried to process the events that happened before him.

“So, it seems that you do have a shred of emotion left." A voice spoke out.

Nereus slowly turned his head toward the sound of the voice.

His eyes widen as he saw a white figure walking out of the trees, holding a staff with the appearance of a lance that had branches protruding from it.

“I’m sorry, I tried to recreate the attack you used on me within a 10 percent margin, but it seems I have to tweak the staff a little bit.”

Its white appearance and attire contrasted with the dark area around him.

Barefoot, the figure began walking through the puddle of blood toward Nereus.

Nereus looked on in disbelief as the figure stood above him, a person whom he fought and killed with his own hands.

Raziel, The founder of NEO New York City

His white hair was now longer, reaching his ankles.

Raziel looked down at him without saying a word, then to the lightning pillar off into the distance and smirked.

“Wow, it seems with that attack, this entire ordeal is now over. You managed to subvert a few of my calculations, but the end results managed to be within the parameters of my plans. While the end result was not what I expected, it is a welcome one none the less.”

Raziel looked down at Nereus.

“Ho…….w?”

Raziel stared at the man on the ground with a puzzled look on his face.

“It seems that you are trying to speak, but most of your internal organs are damaged.”

"How... are you still…..alive?” Nereus said as he got angry.

Raziel looked at the pillar.

“I believe I told you that my plans do not end at my death; I merely accounted for the fact that I could die." Raziel looked down at Nereus. “It wasn’t that I calculated that I would die against you; it was that I would die in general. There are many methods I have taken to ensure my survival throughout all of my calculations.

“That is... insane," Nereus mumbled out.

"Let's say that an individual, not you, were walking down a path only to come across a part where that path splits into two. Both paths lead to the same place at the same time; the only caveat is that one path leads to certain death. If you chose the right path, then congratulations, but what if you chose the wrong one?”

Nereus looked at Raziel as he continued to look at the pillar in amazement.

“Choosing the wrong path would only create more possibilities since the method of death is unknown. What if I get attacked by an animal? What if I get attacked by a person? multiple people? What if they have the same magic that I do? What if it is different? What if they can cancel out my magic? What if my death is natural in nature—sickness, drowning, and so on? If one plans on bracing all that going forward, then the only way to survive would be to have a method in which you cannot die in place.”

Raziel looked away from the pillar and down to Nereus.

“What I have done is no different; I plan ahead for the worst so that every eventuality that appears before me ensures my survival, thanks to the methods I have prepared. All living things in the universe will die. We can try to fight it, but ultimately that is the fate that awaits us, and no amount of power one attains will change that, but you can plan ahead.”

Nereus attempted to move once again.

“You may have believed that the relationship between us was nothing more than two people playing chess, both of us making moves against each other, waiting for each other to respond, back and forth until someone slipped up. But in reality, that was never the case. You were playing with the rules I implemented, using the board and pieces I created, against someone who you created in your head—a phantom opponent, if you would say so. No matter how many times you tried to deviate, the end result was always going to be the same: your defeat.”

The staff in Raziel's hand began to disappear, scattering as small particles in the air.

“That end result was so much so that I was able to integrate another plan into this flawlessly, and that plan was the individual who would ultimately defeat you.”

Nereus eyes widen at that statement.

“Do you understand? You were fooled this entire time. Leading others to a supposed wonderland with you at the top, while you were none the wiser. I was hoping that his last attack would have finished you off…”

Suddenly, six white feathered wings emerged from his back that reflected off the moonlight.

“I believe that this is checkmate.”

With that statement, the six wings converged upon Nereus.