My incorporeal body sunk deeper into the cold dark ground. As if unlocking X-ray I could now see the warping innards of the hole. It had expanded in some places and it’s shape was starting to resemble a crewed boiling flask. The whole process had been sped up as if I were watching a time laps.

Centa was at the bottom clawing at the walls and crying. Her fingernails long gone. Only bone was left. Bloody ivory scraped against rock leaving long trails of blood.

The scene left me in shock. Remorse grew within me as the feeling of guilt built up over my heart. I wasn’t just watching it happen I could feel what she felt. Her emotions were the deepest pit of despair I’d ever encountered.

The physical pain was nothing compared to the fear and desperation she felt. Centa cried for days, months, years, calling for that other me to come back. It was pointless. He had forgotten she even existed. She was forgotten and abandoned by the brother who betrayed her.

It left me feeling disgusted at how much of a monster I’d been. This whole time I locked her down there and forgot about her. I didn’t just forget. I forced myself to forget. I was weak.

Those that fear the strong are fools. The strong are strong because they are disciplined. The weak however. They will throw you under the bus and gas light everyone including you into thinking they are not the problem. The weak are scary.

I was unable to take on the pain that came with living, so I forced it all on her just because I didn’t want to stop existing. I could argue that she tried to do the same to me, but at least I had the freedom of the garden. Would she have done the same if I fought back… maybe.

I watched as she tried to climb up the walls only to fall back down. That black ooze that came out of the other me’s head was slowly making its way through the rock and dirt.

It dripped slowly into the hole. The black sludge swarming its way to her. She tried to fight it, but it jumped on her entering her body. Centa screamed as the torture of my trauma burned itself into her very being. She seemed to be able to keep most of it away, but slowly it made its way to her.

The memories of pain and anguish rampaged inside her and she finally understood the horror she put me through. For a moment I felt satisfied that she was getting a taste of her own medicine. I even managed to smile, but then…

She fell to her knees. “I’m sorry… please let me out. I’m sorry Isaac.” She cried. Her words cut through me like a hot knife filling me with regret and self hatred.

This was not justice, or something necessary for survival. This was the act of a scared loser that decided to nuke the potential enemy before they ever became a threat. I was the real monster.

Time sped up again. The rocks above had started to sink into the ground. The well had basically collapsed over itself becoming nothing more than a pocket of black ooze.

The hole had been designed to keep everything inside. It’s walls were something that couldn’t be altered or broken. Once it was sealed there was no way out. Even if I tried she was stuck down there.

That left me wondering how that hole came to be in the throne room. Aku said it appeared after her castle crash landed on this world. Does that mean the castle was able to break through the hole?

This place wasn’t normal though. Reality was whatever you wanted it to be, as long as you had the quintessence that is. The castle crashing… what if there’s more to that? It’s Aku’s castle. One she created and lived in.

Does this mean her inner world crashed onto mine? Something like that would probably make some kind of disaster happen. In that case two realities crashing into one another would probably be enough to crack the hole open. Not an earthquake, but a spatial quake.

Something that shakes space and time as a whole. Sending ripples of force throughout the inner world. Something like that could probably break open the lid I put on the well.

The show wasn’t over. I had to watch as my past self visited this place every time he was tortured by mom. I wanted to punch him out for what happened next.

Every time the old me came here he would relearn of Centa's imprisonment. He cried and cursed himself probably feeling the same as I did now.

Then like a selfish asshole he would choose not only to forget what mom did, but also what he had done to Centa. The memories and feeling bled from his head as they slowly made there way down into the hole.

He couldn’t handle the truth of our sin and ran away every single time. How many times had I done that? How long did this go on for? I felt like throwing up. It was disgusting.

This was no way to treat another person. Not even an enemy. She didn’t deserve this. But.. she tried to do the same to me. That doesn’t make it right though.

Shit! No matter how I look at it! I was just as wrong as she was, possibly even worse! This was wrong and I couldn’t change anything because it had already happened.

Centa no longer moved. She still cried, but was now curled up into a ball. This had been going on for a while. Years of me remembering and forgetting. Of passing on my crap memories and anxiety onto her.

Any normal person would have broken. I wished it would stop playing, but I also knew I needed to watch till the end, because backing out now would just be more of the same shit, and I was done being weak.

The pocket of darkness grew. It sank down into the world’s core then started to hollow it out slowly eating it from the inside.

Centa didn't move for a long time and one day she screamed. moving her arms around and forcing that black ooze to swirl slamming itself against the walls. Despite all the anger and hatred behind her attacks it did nothing to free her. It didn’t even leave a scratch.

It was then that Squirmy made itself present. The bug had grown since I last saw it. It was no longer red, instead it’s body had taken on a sleek black form.

Centa sat in the black water. She took one look at the bug and seemed to have a conversation with it. I watched as the black sludge started to poor into the centipede. It grew in size until its body filled the entire cavern.

After that everything faded to black and I found myself in the hole again. Back in my adult body. The feeling of self hatred and disgust still lingering. Clinging and staining my very core.

This whole time I thought the centipede was the monster, but it turns out I was the real monster. Could I really blame myself after all the crap I went through?

I took in my surroundings realizing there was a huge hole above me leading into an all too familiar throne room. My body felt light. This place was so dark that my eyes were having trouble making everything out.

Centa had spent years in this place. Her final words still echoed in my mind. “I’m afraid of the dark!” I put a hand to my mouth as a lot of things started to make sense.

A voice called out from behind me. “Do you see now? What you did to me?”

I turned around and saw her. This was the real Centa. Not a memory. This was the current version of her. She looked tired. Her irises glowing a dark red. That was different. Didn’t she have gray eyes like mine?

It looked like she’d been crying, evident by the few wet tears plastered to the corners of her face. This whole situation was a horror show. What the fuck was my life?

I sighed, “Yeah… you know what… fuck you! Fuck this whole fucking place! This is total bullshit!” I gestured to the entirety of reality and maybe even beyond, but I doubt she understood that.

I don't think that was the response she was looking for, because a second later she got mad. “Oh, fuck you! Are you trying to cast away your sins?! Take accountability for once and admit this is all your fault! You were supposed to beg for forgiveness and offer up your head as a trophy!” Her body shook violently as if holding back a hurricane.

I was still angry, but her feelings were valid. I felt sorry for her. This whole thing was total bullshit. She should be mad. I was mad. Reality really took us for a ride and it needed to stop, but I wasn’t done tearing into her. After all she wasn’t blameless. Take accountability? She should take her own advice. After all, she did some crappie stuff to me too.

“You want to talk about blame! How about when you stole my life and used me like a human shield!” She tried to say something and chocked on her words as tears started to re-form. For someone that went through a literal hell she was way to fragile.

Now wasn’t the time to feel sorry for her. I need to bring my point home. “You took advantage of my weakness and bullied me into taking the roll of a punching bag. Now that the tables have turned you decided it’s unfair and you need to flip the game board over. We are in this hell because of you.”

She finally managed to speak and what she said made me feel like an asshole. “Fine, you can have our body. I don’t want to exist anymore. Let me die Isaac. I'm really tired and I don’t want to struggle anymore. No matter how much I try I just can't win and I just don't care anymore.” Her tears finally spilled.

Those words were the same way I felt when I was in her position. The desire to stop existing was something I’ve felt one to many times. Something I’d wished for. Something I prayed for. I felt my own tears start to fall. Not because she wanted to off herself, but because I knew…

Her body slumped looking like a puppet with its strings cut. She sat on the wet floor looking defeated. That wasn’t what I wanted. I hated the centipede. I hated Centa for orchestrating this whole thing. For ruining our lives…. Did she really do that though. Maybe I was looking at it the wrong way.

I took a new approach. “Hey, I know what I did was horrible… but…. You and I both know what happened was a shit show from the start. We were never built for the real world. That’s why we broke in two.” She didn’t move and instead continued to imitate a lifeless doll.

So I gave her my proposal. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to keep fighting with you. Can we call a truce?” as I spoke I got closer eventually sitting down next to her. The ooze was gross, but I didn’t care.

That must have riled up something inside her because she got angry and threw herself at me pressing her thumbs into my neck as she tried desperately to choke me.

“Your sorry! Your sorry!! Fuck you! You kept me trapped down here for years and force fed me all your trauma! You don’t get a truce! You asshole!” She cried as she shook me by the neck.

It didn’t really do anything. At first I thought I would run out of air, but then I remembered I didn’t need to breathe. I realized while fighting Squirmy that my body was pure energy. Instead I spoke. “Yeah I know, but do you really want to keep hurting each other like this?” She stopped at that.

Instead she collapsed on my chest and let everything out. She reminded me so much of myself. Maybe because she used to be me. I could feel it. The part where we split off from each other.

The edges were torn, almost like when you rip string cheese apart, except I could also see how the two half’s had grown in their own directions. They were similarly sized unlike when we first split.

The more I looked at it the more I realized there was no way to fit them back together. It’s like when you cut a branch off a tree and plant it. Eventually it just grows into its own thing. That might have been a good thing. I didn’t want to become someone else.

I gave Centa a hug and forgave her for all the crap she put me through. I only hope that she could do the same for me. People are assholes. They’ll convince themselves that you are a bad person just so they don’t feel bad about hurting you. It’s what I did and it’s what she did.

I don’t think we should give up and die. I think it is what it is and we have to keep pushing forward. What was the point in hurting each other. She was basically me and I was tired of hurting myself over and over again.

I think she liked the hug, at least it felt like she did. She seemed to fit so well in my arms. Her body felt cold. I wasn’t all that warm either, but she might as well have been a corpse. Hopefully my meager body heat was enough to serve as a comfort.

This was one of the few times I wish Shadow was here. While I hated it when she held me - because I'm married - I will admit her hugs were really nice. It's like being smothered by a big squishy warm pillow.

We stayed like that for a bit. That was until we heard a girlish scream from above. We looked up in time to see a giant white cat plushy falling down into the hole followed by an army of multi-colored plush dolls Carrying many different types of guns.

Each weapon was pink in coloration and looked to be made of plastic. To literally top it off Aku was riding on kaiju Snowballs head wearing her frilly dress and a golden crown to boot.

Kaiju snowball did the best superhero landing I’d ever seen causing the dark water to shoot up into the air and rain down over the entire cavern. “I’m here for the final battle! And I brought the Furry Troops with me!”

“Furry Troops? I asked.

She nodded. “Of course! Its an acronym for Fluffy, Unstoppable, Resilient, Rallying, Youthful, Toy, Regiment, Overcoming, Obstacles, with Plush, and Softness!” She proclaimed as the last of her troops landed.

All her battle prowess vanished when she saw what we were doing. She hopped off of snowball making her dress twirl mid air. This activated some kind of wind ability that let her gently land on the ground as if wearing a parachute. It was very reminiscent of a certain princess who’s name rhymed with bleach.

She made her way over. “What are you guys doing?” Asked Aku. She crouched down next to us watching our little moment with all the joy of a child watching a Saturday morning cartoon.

So this is what my parents felt when I walked in on them calling the stork. No, scratch that. Centa was more like a sister not a spouse. She’s my… evil twin… or … maybe I was the evil twin? She looks a bit to young to be my twin. Evil little sister sounds about right.

“Were wrestling.” I responded. That was the usual answer I got back when dad was still alive. It worked back then so why wouldn’t it work now. I just didn’t feel like explaining the whole situation. After everything I’d gone through, a nap sounded nice right about now.

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Her little face lit up with excitement. “Get em papa! I’ll help!” she grabbed onto Centas leg and tried to twist it into an uncomfortable position. “Give up evil doer we have you surrounded!”

Centa yelped in pain. “Ow oooow! Stop that Aku that actually hurts! I give up okay! You win!” cried Centa. I was pretty sure she was only playing along for Aku’s sake.

“Yay! You did it papa! You won! And I helped.” She looked like she wanted to be praised so I said, “good job kiddo.” She blushed happily as if she’d never received a compliment in her entire life. “Now apologize to Centa.” I added.

Centa was confused by this point, but seemed to play along out of either boredom or curiosity, possibly both. Aku puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms in a futile attempt to avoid making friends with Centa.

“Come on Aku. If you don’t apologize then we won’t be able to move on. Do you really want to keep fighting each other? I’ve already wasted years of my life hating myself and I’m sick and tired of it.” Her face seemed to soften.

Centa chimed in. “He’s right you know.” That was enough to break through Aku’s stubbornness, but not enough to keep her from complaining about it.

“But, but what about the Furry Troops! It took me so long to make them and it took even longer to come up with the acronym! Can I try them out on her?” This child was insane.

I couldn’t stop myself from asking. “You sent me on a journey through the badlands and all you gave me was some tea and a compass! Why didn’t you give me an army?!” I fought back the urge to drop kick this small child.

“Hey, hey! Calm down Isaac she’s just a little girl!” Centa gave Aku a head pat and Aku seemed to nod and agree with her.

“That’s right I get special treatment because I’m small and I can only count to 7.” She lied.

I sighed. Then in a calm voice asked, “Sorry… kiddo why didn’t you give me something more useful like a tank?” My frustration could still be seen, but she wasn’t hurt by it this time around.

“That’s easy papa. I didn’t have enough power then. When you opened the gate I was able to take in a bunch of power since we’re linked together, see.” She tugged on something and it turned into a glowing white string. It looked to be attached from her chest to mine.

Right, were linked somehow. That must be the physical manifestation of our bond. It actually kind of reminded me of a dream I had, though the details are kind of nonexistent. No matter how hard I tried all I could remember was being chased and a white room.

“Okay, I get it, so you used that power to make these guys. You’re a little late though. If you had these guys before I opened the gate then it would have been nice, but it’s already open. Actually why hasn’t everything reset? I’m still here. Do I need to sit on the throne or something?” It was supposed to be over right?

Centa and Aku gave each other a long side glance as if knowing something I didn’t. Centa was the one to break the silence. “Actually, we’re still in the middle of it.”

A thought just hit me. “Wait! Are you going to disappear like the monster?” crap I wasn’t expecting to make friends with her. Hell, I didn’t even know she existed up until a few… days? Hours? I’m confusing the time spent surfing my memories with… this place.

Centa gave Aku another look then said, “He doesn’t know anything.”

“Papa that wasn’t the plan. Remember you were supposed to increase your mass so you could eat Squirmy.” Said Aku.

I vaguely remembered something like that. Having all these forgotten memories had scrambled my brain a little. Things from years ago are crystal clear while things that happened only hours before were fuzzy. “but I thought the monster would vanish after the ascension?”

Aku shook her head. “No! Squirmy is linked with Centa so they’ll ascend together. Papa and I are linked so we’ll ascended together also. To stop Squirmy we need to eat him. That way Centa can ascend by herself.”

If a child could understand this crap then I could too. “I get it, but what happens after we ascend? What does it even mean? I get its some kind of soul rank up, but are we going to change into something else, or what?” I asked.

It almost sounded like a gotcha game. Where you rank up your monsters from one star to two and so on. This whole thing had gotten more complicated by the minute. I’d only agreed to the plan because Aku said it was the only way.

Centa spoke up next. “When a Mortal ranks up they get stronger. In our case if your able to erase Squirmy before we finish ascending then I’ll get my own body in the real world.”

That sounded promising. Did that mean if I somehow cut my link with Aku we can all separate into different people? “Can we unlink ourselves Aku?”

Aku shook her head. “Nope! That’s actually hard to do. Its kind of like a square shape being jammed into a triangle hole... What I’m saying is… I’m stuck.” That was a let down.

My mind felt foggy as I sifted through my memories to think of a way to break the link, but the only thing I could really think of was all those crappie flashbacks. Did I really need to watch the granny saga?

I directed my gaze to Centa. “Why show me my childhood?” I asked.

Centa tilted her head. “What?” she queried.

“You know, those memories of when we shoveled the driveway and everything that lead up to when granny died? We were still the same person then so I don’t see how it has anything to do with what we did to each other.” In all honesty it felt pretty random.

“That wasn’t me.” She shook her head.

Aku seemed to pipe up raising her hand as if to answer a math problem “That’s apart of ascending. When people ascend the important memories, the ones that make them who they are surface.” Aku smiled as if expecting us to praise her for knowing stuff.

The memories that make me who I am. I guess that made sense. Then… “Centa did you show me your core memories?”

The girl looked away. “Yeah…. It’s a little sad when you realize my core memories are just my birth and imprisonment.”

I shouldn’t have asked. I simply put a hand on her shoulder and said, “My core memories were of me beating the crap out of my brother. We were the same person back then, so it’s not like your whole life has been spent in the hole.

She looked sad, so I pressed my forehead against hers and reminded her of our childhood. It cost me quintessence to do so, but it needed to be done.

Hunting with dad. Movies with mom. Playing games with our brother. Terrible singing and dancing sessions with our sister in the privacy of her room. There were so many good memories that the bad ones seemed to lose weight in comparison. Our childhood was happy until it wasn’t. It might not have been great, but it was still ours.

Her eyes leaked as she started to cry all over again. “Thank you… thank you…” She sobbed. I hugged her.

“You are way more than a prisoner. You are my sister. I’ll find a way to save you, I swear. When you are free. You can show the world who Centa Smith is. They’re gonna love you.” Aku waddled over nervously. She looked like she wanted to make Centa feel better too, so I included her in the hug lovingly caressing her head.

We pulled away from each other at some point and it looked like Centa was still sad. I decided to get everyone’s mind off of it and asked Aku, “What were your core memories like?”

“Mine?” She went all shifty eyed acting embarrassed. “I was… I woke up in my castle and crash landed on this world.” Her core memories were so bare.

She looked away not wanting to meet our eyes. I think I got it. Her story wasn’t as long so she felt like she wasn’t as interesting. It only made sense when you realize she’d hardly ever seen the outside world.

I acted excited, “Really?! A whole castle crashed down! I bet you looked like a shooting star! That must have looked so cool from the ground!” Hopefully this would inspire confidence.

Aku smiled. “it was! There was all this fire and then bam!” She threw her hands up to express the explosion which made both me and Centa laugh.

She went on to explain how strange the world looked and the things she witnessed while exploring it. We listen attentively to her story. She was so energetic and happy. Aku had been alone all that time. That was probably why she went all Wilson with the plushies.

It was nice to see her happy, but we needed a game plan. “Alright guys, how should we handle Squirmy? Can we lay a trap or something?” I asked.

They both seemed to think about it, but they didn’t look very confident. I didn’t blame them. Squirmy had tormented all of us. Especially Centa. I don’t think being locked in the hole with that demon did her any good.

Aku spent some time running away from that monster, back when the hole first opened up. She use to have the whole castle to herself, but ever since the hole opened up. She had been confined to her room playing pretend with a bunch of dolls.

Finally Centa gave her idea. “Yeah, it might actually be impossible to beat squirmy. He was able to drink from the gate just like you. That and he is also eating souls as we speak. The good news is that the conversion rate of souls to quintessence is terrible, but its not nothing. Unless he eats them slowly most of their energy will disperse.”

The whole thing didn’t do anything to lighten the mood, but she continued, “The only way to win is if you eat me Isaac. The conversion of a willing soul might give you enough power to eat him. Like I said I don’t want to exist anymore. Disappearing would be a mercy.” A tear dripped down her face. “oops… look at that. guess I had some left over.” She laughed nervously.

The same anger from before resurfaced within me. “That’s a load of crap!” I growled. Centa and Aku jumped at my surge of rage. “You want to live too! I know it! Why else would you go through all this crap just to disappear! Why fight so fucking hard just to vanish, before anyone knows you ever existed!” I knew…

She started to cry even more, but I could see her desire clear as day. I knew… It’s what caused me to lock her down here. The desire to live. I knew exactly how she felt.

Centa screamed. “You don’t know! It’s my fault! I made all those things happen! I killed so many people and that thing got lose! It’s killing people right now!” She broke down crying. “The world is better off without me. All I ever do is destroy. Even when I went against Squirmy I still caused the death of two people… Besides, no one wants me around. The world will never know of a girl named Centa Smith.”

I didn’t want to hear her anymore. Putting my hands on her shoulders, I slammed my head against hers. “ow!” She cried pushing me away before holding the afflicted area.

I wasn’t done. “Shut up! That’s not true! Did it ever occur to you that maybe I want you around!” She pissed me off. This girl reminded me too much of my old self. That stupid emo loser that was so willing to kill himself. Fuck that!

“You don’t mean that!” She cried. “You’re lying! You just want to abuse me!”

I took a breath. Then immediately started to karate chop her head over and over. “Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! stop it! That hurts.” She cried.

“Maybe people wouldn’t abuse you if you weren’t a cringe emo girl! Stop saying embarrassing crap like that!” I retorted. Aku seemed to agree with me as she nodded along.

“That’s true it’s kind of embarrassing being around you Centa. That’s why I never invited you to my tea parties.” Aku cut deep with that one as Centa’s tears seemed to intensify.

“What! That explains why you kept throwing trash down the hole! Just because you don’t like me! I’m fun, I can be fun!” She was offended. “I’ve never been to a tea party, but I’m sure I would be great company…” She cried.

Aku tore into her some more “I don’t believe that. You’re too gloomy and all this talk about death isn’t fun.” our words seemed to resonate with her.

“So… if I stop wanting to disappear you guys will be my friends?” She asked nervously. Most likely afraid of rejection.

Was this really the same Centa from back then? She had no confidence at all. To be fair she did spend a lot of time alone. I bet her social skills have gotten rusty.

“Sure.” Aku and I answered simultaneously. Centa started to cry again, but this time they were tears of joy.

Aku. “soooo…. papa. How are we going to save her? She’s not wrong. Squirmy is OP now. I don't know if we can beat him even with the might of the Furry Troops.”

“We’ll just have to try really hard. It’ll be alright. Don’t worry about it.” I reassured her with a side hug. She seemed like she was really worried about it.

Centa piped up with her own question. “Aku, were you influencing me when I was in control of our avatar? You know, making me act like a kid?” Centa looked genuinely disturbed.

“Yupies! It was really hard to do because we're not linked, but thanks to the brain soup it was possible. I was trying to keep you from hurting people….. it didn't work. Papa had all my power and I couldn't make more without dying forever.” The little girl stared at her feet as if sad she couldn’t do more.

Centa seemed to understand and quickly comforted the girl. “You did a good job. Please be more careful in the future. Converting your mass into energy is a dumb way to go.”

I nearly did something similar, so I stayed quiet. There’s no point in me letting them know. Besides I got it back and more. Wait… “What's this about a brain soup?”

“Oh, that's cause of the centipede! It’s been biting off chunks of you and all the extra bits that don’t get eaten up kind of just float around like a could. Thanks to that it’s like that Wi-Fi stuff you like so much.” Answered Aku.

Centa nodded along. “Yup, that’s exactly what it is. Think of everyone like a computer and the brain soup as an internet connection. That’s how we’ve been able to access general information from you. You don’t really have a fire wall because Squirmy kind of ate through it.”

That made little to no sense. That was until I tried it out and surly enough there was a fuzzy connection between us. It wasn't a link. It was more like what air was to sound. Simply just a way for information to travel. It was still strange though.

I wasn’t able to assess the two girls in front of me, but I did notice that missing fire wall they were talking about. With a little quintessence I quickly grew some of it back, protecting myself from mental attacks. It wasn’t perfect, but it was better than nothing.

While Aku and Centa talked I decided to give my link with Aku a closer look. It was right there on my chest. No matter where I moved the string would grow longer or shorter. There was no resistance or pull.

That was strange… the walls seemed to be humming. Very lightly, but definitely humming. Actually it was way more than just the walls. It’s like reality itself was vibrating. This must be the ascension. We didn’t have much time. Plan or no plan we needed to get the show on the road.

Now that I knew the ghost string existed I reached for Centa's chest. As my hand neared, the familiar shimmer of something hidden met my eyes. “Wait don’t!” Yelled Centa as I grasped the link.

The link showed itself to us, turning a blood red. It was noticeably much thicker than my link with Aku.

“We either win or we try. I’m gonna call that asshole down here.” We couldn’t argue over the best plan forever. The fact was we only had until the end of ascension and that was right around the corner. I gave the string a hard pull. A moment later I heard it.

That same screeching static. “Isaaaaaaaaaac!” Squirmy dropped down from above. His claw like legs making a scraping sound as they scratched the walls of the entrance above. It’s body had grown making it look more meaty than before.

“I told you not to touch it! Now He knows where we are!” yelled Centa.

“The longer we wait the less time we have to kill that thing.” I retorted. She seemed to understand.

“Furry troops attack!” Yelled Aku. Her army of Plush toys jumped into action taking formation and firing shots at Squirmy. Each shot seemed to strip particles of quintessence off his body. In an attempt to stop the bleeding of quintessence his mass seemed to shift and mold itself.

At first I was sure he would come after us, but the beast went after the…. um… Furry troops. As soon as it showed signs of attacking them, Kaiju Snowball stepped up and slammed her fist against his ugly face.

The impact was so powerful that a wave of air blew past us nearly knocking Aku over. Squirmy’s chitin cracked as his head was sent flying back followed by the rest of his body. Quintessence went in every direction as assault rifles and RPGs pelted his body.

“Papa this is bad. He’s way to big!” cried Aku. She backed away in fear only for Centa to hug her from behind.

I scratched my head. “How are we supposed to fight a fucking Kaiju?” Crap.

That things body is straight up designed to whittle people down and eat them. If it touches us at all it’ll suck away the power we gathered. The only way forward is to run away. Except.

I looked up to the hole above. The throne room had already started to turn white from the surge of power rampaging through the world. Space, time, matter reality. It was all slowly being unraveled thanks to ascension. There really wasn’t anywhere else to run. The hole was the only thing that existed in this world.

It didn’t matter that I pulled the string, because it would have ended up here in the end anyway. The issue was all the power it drank up. “That asshole is so fucking greedy!.”

Aku gave me a nervous look like a child afraid of getting in trouble. “Sorry papa. I thought you would go on an adventure and win like in the stories. This is nothing like that.” She looked down to her feet. I hated seeing the fear on her face.

She was just a kid. The world didn’t need to be scary for her. She should be playing games, having fun, and not have to worry about all this crap. If I was a real father I wouldn’t let her feel any fear, or stress. Now all those stories were ruined in her eyes. The good guys never win and the bad guys are the heroes.

I’m an idiot. I let a child tell me what to do. Still, she knew more than I did about this stuff. Maybe I should have asked more questions. I should have made an actual attempt at understanding what the hell was going on. This was my fault. Scarring children wasn’t what a father did.

I ran my hand over her head. “It’s okay kiddo. Don’t worry, that things nothing more than a bug. I’ll take care of it.” She didn’t look reassured, but I smiled anyway. I needed to do the impossible, so that Aku could grow up believing she could do anything.

The little girl tried to come after me, as I stepped forward, but Centa held her in place. “Papa wait! You cant! It’s too strong!” She cried.

I looked back to her. “Nothing is impossible for me. I’m a super hero after all.” I could see Centa roll her eye, but as long as Aku didn’t see her it was fine.

I never believed my dad either when he made stupid claims like that. Not until he actually made what seemed impossible possible. It was my turn to do what my old man did for me. Needless to say I was terrified, but I couldn’t let Aku see that, so I smiled and laughed like how my old man did back in the day. Don’t scare… inspire.

The only way to win was to rip the quintessence right out of that thing. I don’t think I can even craft spells without that crystal stuff, but I could try other things. This world was whatever I made it and I had years of stories to draw from.

I reached out and started channeling power to my palm. The goal was to make a weapon, but…. It was harder than I thought. The chitin on the monster was as hard as steel. It was made evident when it ate my sword along with my arm that one time. That just meant I needed something that could cut through steel. A legendary weapon from mythos.

Lucky for me I knew a lot about that kind of stuff. In the end I thought about the sword from that book granny read to me. About king Arthur. The sword was forged in the flames of a dragon. Crafted by an Avalonian elf. Its name even means to cut steal… It’s name was….

“Excalibur!” it was as if calling its name manifested the legendary weapon. The rainbow colored light in my hand turned to gold forming into a long sword. It was just like I’d imagined it to look all those years ago. Back when granny was still around. Back when I swung a stick around in my back yard.

I lifted the blade over my head empowering it with golden quintessence. Then swung the weapon down creating a giant ark of pure light. It expanded cutting into Squirmy’s back. The demon screeched in pain as the projected light dug deep. Causing a massive amount of quintessence to leak from the wound.

Aku jumped releasing a “woooooooow!”

Just like that her fear had been replaced with excitement. Goal accomplished I guess. This was far from over. I still needed to pay it back for all the nightmares it gave me.