A pale, sickly guy stares back at me in the lamplight of the filthy, moldy old cottage. Even in the dim light, his sweaty, pale skin, greasy black hair, and dark ass circles under his eyes don't even try to hide themselves from the mirror. He is not even twenty-five years old, yet he looks like he could fall over dead any minute. He's disgusting.

I can't even look at myself.

I lower my eyes, but looking down shows me another reminder of my dumbassery: The Hero Pendant. It dangles around my neck from its golden chain, the bright white jewel in the middle glowing pathetically, like it's trying to match my mood.

What was I thinking? Why didn't I choose sooner? What the hell is wrong with me!?

My hand shakes as I squeeze the necklace until I'm stung with pain. I release it, swearing and flicking my hand.

I've gotta let it go. What's the point in beating myself up over some dumb crap that basically never happened? Besides, I'm getting one last chance and there's no way I'm gonna to blow it this time. I have to stop them. It's too late for Earth, but I can stop them from taking Astraea.

'Sides, motherfuckers've gotta pay.

The Hero Pendant goes off like a flashbang, and my world turns pure white for a few seconds. When the light fades, I'm looking down at a fresh plate of corn, mashed potatoes, a little piece of bread with some... Butter?

"Wow, mom! Is that real butter? I wanna eat butter every day!"

Mom laughs. "That's beyond my power; we'll have to pray to the dairy gods to make that happen." She places her hands over her chest and looks toward the heavens. "O great Cows of Light, we humans thank thee for thy milk which provides us with nourishment, especially this creamy deliciousness, we call-"

My dad bursts into laughter. Mom starts giggling too, but I don't know what's funny. Their laughing makes me smile a bit, but it's mostly pretty embarrassing, so I just look down at my plate and focus on my food.

After dinner, we buss the table and clear the dishes. We are dog tired from the harvest, but working together, we manage to get everything done pretty fast. But when we're finished, mom and dad don't pat me on the back and tell me to go to bed.

That can only mean one thing!

They put an arm around each other and look at me with their gentle golden brown eyes and smile at me with their beautiful white teeth.

YES! It's been weeks! No, months! I wanna scream and hop around like a crazy rabbit on a sugar high, but I hold my breath and clench my rattling fists.

Mom goes around and shuts all the blinds and curtains as dad disappears into the other room. Mom checks the locks the door and turns on the radio by the sink, which immediately begins vomiting out a loud, fuzzy news broadcast.

Dad comes back out with the one true holy relic: the Key. We have a lot of keys, but there's only one that really matters, and I'd swear off butter for the rest of my life to know were he hides it.

The three of us slide the kitchen table across the room and move away the old foot rug. Dad slips the key into a little hole in the floorboards and pulls up a trap door. A set of old wooden steps leads down into blackness.

Mom smiles at me, a hemp bag of goodies in her arms. Dad winks at me and hands me a flashlight.

Flashlight in hand, I lead them down as quietly as I can manage. I don't know why they always say we have to be so quiet when we go in, but I would walk down the stairs on my hands if that's what I had to do to get my movie fix.

Dad tosses a bunch of pillows on the ground and a thick blanket. Mom pulls out an ancient DVD player and TV and starts setting it up, while dad sorts through our stash of movies.

"Tonight's movies are two of the best cop films ever made," he holds them up to show me: Turner and Hooch and Kindergarten Cop. "What do you think?"

Both are really good choices, for sure. But we all know what I really want to watch.

Dad chuckles and shakes his head. "Again, Ferdinand?"

"We didn't get to watch T2 last time because Mom wanted to see Titanic. C'mon, please?"

Dad grumbles as Mom joins in, begging him with me. "Let him pick! Look at that adorable face!"

Dad doesn't stand a chance with mom on my side. With a groan, he gives in and takes out Terminator 2: Judgement Day. "But we're watching Turner and Hooch right after. Arnold was a great actor, but you need to broaden your horizons a little, young man."

Everyone chuckles as dad puts in the DVD and mom pulls out the snacks, which are usually bread and some fruit from the garden.

As the movie goes on, Dad wraps me in his arms, pulling me close so that his hot breath tickles my ears as he whispers his commentary and explanations about how everything works. He never talks about movies except when he's down here, so this is the only way I actually get to hear his comments.

We don't have the other Terminator movies, and probably never will, but he saw them all and always remembers some plot point or piece of trivia, so I soak up his every word like a sponge left out in the sun. In fact, Dad and Mom always seem to know basically everything about everything.

Being cozy next to my two favorite people is pure bliss, especially with the best movie of all time playing on that ancient television. Feeling their heavy bodies pressing against mine, hearing their adoring laughs, and seeing their smiles is the best.

Aside from that, my eyes stay glued on the screen. Terminator 2 is a heck of a film. The bar fight, the mall scene, the motorcycle chase, the rescue of Sarah Connor, breaking into Cyberdyne, and the final showdown with the evil terminator all play out gloriously as always.

But when Arnold sinks into the molten metal, there is a flash white light. As it fades, I start to hear and, I find myself huddled between my parents out on our dusty corn field. The dust blowing through the wild air is thicker than usual, and the sunlight shines orange red.

"We told you to leave! Our answer is and will always be the same!" Dad's voice carries like thunder, even over the howling wind.

The corn is way too tall to see over; I try to peek between the gaps, but I stop as soon as mom squeezes my arm.

It sounds like whoever is there is yelling, but I can't hear them over the howling gusts. All I can tell is it sounds like a woman; a nasty one with a voice that sounds like an angry crow.

Mom squeezes me so tight it hurts. "We told you to go! Go now and never come back!"

The dusty air becomes darker and the sun starts to turn blood red as the woman's shouts become louder and angrier. The orange-yellow air becomes a deep, dark grey like a massive storm has suddenly rolled in overhead, and the wind begins to and whip and buck like a bull. As the darkness grows, it swallows everything, including us, like a pack of wolves closing in on some prey.

"That's- No!" Dad and Mom duck down and hold onto me tight. "Lucasta! We have no choice! We can't-!"

"I know!" A moment passes, and mom squeezes me tight. She looks at me with misty eyes and strokes my cheek with a shaky hand. "Be strong, Ferdinand. And remember that no matter where you go, we will always love you. In all the years we have lived, we have never known a joy greater than you."

"Momma, I don't-"

She kisses me on the forehead and my world goes white.

The light fades and I find myself in a small office. A man sits in an old, well-worn leather chair and watches the flickering monitors before him. He's a plain and uninteresting middle aged man, with slightly thinning, greyish blonde hair, and thick, bushy eyebrows. His pale blue eyes are dim, hollow, and glazed over, though pretty much everyone has one of those thousand-mile stares these days.

It's Mr. Arlo, my boss. As always, he doesn't look at me at all and keeps going on and on with his sluggish typing.

I stay as still and as quiet as I can. Don't want to risk breaking some stupid-ass rule by fidgeting too much or speaking at the wrong time.

He finally stops, wrinkles his forehead, and sighs hard through his nose, but still keeps staring at the monitor. "Ferdinand... I understand you were witness to Langston's sudden Voluntary On-Site Turnover today. Can you tell me what you saw?"

"I basically saw what everyone else did. It was pretty terrible."

He makes an odd sound, something like a muffled bark. "I'm sure it was. Now, please, if you will, describe exactly what you observed. Just tell me everything, and I'll let you go home."

"Well..." I shift around and try to get situated in the steel chair. It's hard to get comfortable, but it's more the conversation that's putting me on edge. "At about three this afternoon, I went down the hall to get a drink of water-"

He twists his head and locks onto me with those dead eyes of his. "Lunch ends at one o'clock. Did you get permission from your team leader to take a personal break?'

"Uh, yeah. Of course."

"I'll have to speak with Cassandra later, but everyone should know by now: personal breaks are no longer permitted as of last week. Also, please be advised that consuming food or drink at anytime outside of the designated 15 minute lunch period is also grounds for disciplinary action, up to and including termination, depending on the nature of the offense. In addition, please note that your failure to comply with our policies will be noted on your record, and you will have to undergo additional unpaid training in the future."

He makes another odd noise, like a long, quiet groan as he turns around, clicks and types for a few moments. "So, please, continue, and take care not to have any more unauthorized breaks."

"Yes, Sir."

"Alright, then. Carry on, Ferdinand." He continues to stare at his monitor.

"As I was saying, I went down the hall, but as I rounded the corner, I caught a glimpse of the conveyor belt at the end of the line. That's when I saw what happened. At first, it seemed like he was just reaching out to grab the rail at the end of the platform to brace himself. But then he just swung himself over, hung there for a second, and dropped into the acid bath. There was a big splash and then-."

"Wait, can you please clarify? When you said 'dropped into the acid' what did you mean?"

"Uh... Well, I mean, I don't know, but, it looks like he kind of did it on purpose."

"Langston grabbed the railing, swung himself out over the vat and dropped down into it?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Could you please just confirm this for me?"

"Yeah," I sigh, "he grabbed the railing and dropped himself in."

"That's quite the sight to imagine. Was anyone with him?"

"No. No one. He just hung there for a couple of seconds and then let go."

"Is that when he fell? After he deliberately dropped himself in?"

"Yeah."

"So, just to review: He reached out, grabbed the rail, then dropped himself deliberately, that is to say, on purpose, into the tank of Acid Mixture B12, otherwise known as the Highly Diluted HCl Solution?"

"Uh, yeah. That's right."

"Fine. Just sign this and you can go." He slides a tablet my way with a stylus.

I sign it.

"Good. Have a nice night."

I get up and leave without a word.

Once I'm outside the building, I swing around the back for a smoke. For once, Kris is there before me.

"Hey, Ferd. What kept you?" her voice is as smokey and smooth as her cigarette, and her black hair and eyes gleam in the red auxiliary lighting. She is petite and with pale skin and she cuts a good figure, even in her filthy brown jumpsuit.

"Hey, babe." I flash her a smile, but it fades a bit quicker than I want it to.

She never misses a thing. "What's wrong? Did you get your ass chewed out again?"

"I got a mark on my record for drinking water, but that ain't it."

"Then what?"

"Did you hear about Langston?"

"What, the guy who offed himself in the bathtub?"

"They're calling it a VOT, but yeah, I guess so."

She blows out some smoke. "Seems somebody takes a dip every week now."

I take a long drag of my shitty cigarette and let out a big stream of smoke that blows away in the smoggy wind. "I dunno... I guess it's because I actually saw him go in and all that," I take another puff, "and the screaming... I'm pretty sure he regretted it after he went in. Not for long, but still. It's fucked, you know?"

"A really bad way to go."

I kick a loose piece of asphalt into the darkness. "And the way that fatass Arlo acted about the whole thing pissed me off too," I take another drag. "Human lives mean nothin' no more."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"They haven't for a long time, thanks to this machine of a society we live in," she blows some smoke and cocks her head. "You good, Ferd?"

"I dunno. I've been seeing this shit ever since I was a kid, and I think it's starting to get to me. I was never an angry dude, but this shit is starting to piss me off on the regular, and it's getting harder and harder to get over it each time it happens."

"It pisses me off too," she rubs me gently on the back. "But hey, don't think about it too much, alright? You're gonna work yourself up. Just keep doing what you do, and stay off the radar. This place is a shithole, but it's the only one around with a humans-first policy. We just need to hold out until the revolution."

"Revolution?"

"Yeah, well, I've been talking with some people, and they have some interesting ideas and some plans to turn things around. For everyone. You should help out sometime, maybe think about joining."

"Shit. You'd better not get us into any fucking trouble. I heard about what happens in those rehab places."

"I'm not stupid, Ferd," she throws her cigarette down and stomps it. "These State fuckers, the fat cats, and bootlickers like Arlo... They're all gonna pay. Just hold on a bit longer, alright?"

I flick away my cigarette and put my arms around her waist. "I'd rather hold on to you."

She gives me a sexy little smile and kisses me deeply.

She pulls back, and gives my cheek a cute little poke. "You're the only thing that's good in this shitshow of a world. I could look at those eyes forever."

"I'll give you something else to look at when we get home."

She giggles, kisses me again, and the world goes white once more.

I hear the screaming even before the light fades.

It's my own.

My chest is on fire. I can barely stand upright, and the entire room seems to be spinning.

Kris stands before me, her eyes swollen and red.

I have to punch something. But by some miracle, I hold back. I sure as hell can't do anything to attract Public Safety to our door.

I growl and cover my face as I stumble back and collapse into my torn and broken excuse for a sofa.

The chickenshit punk hiding in the bedroom takes the opportunity to bolt, but I'm too distraught to say or do anything. It's his lucky fucking day. At least the little shit had the manners to close the door behind him.

"So, that's your fucking idea of a meeting?" My words come out slowly, every one painful and ugly.

"Please, Ferdinand."

"You were fucking another guy!"

Her voice cracks as tears start to fall. "It wasn't supposed to be like that! It just sort of-"

"How many times?"

"What?"

"How. Many. Times. How long have you been cheating on me?"

She doesn't answer; her face contorts and twists.

"You bitch! How could you do this to us!?"

Then, her face totally shifts gears, becoming red and nasty. "I don't have to justify myself to you! You're just another abusive, misogynistic male who thinks he's entitled to my mind and body! All you ever do is try to gaslight and control me!"

"Are you fucking serious? I turn my back on all of your illegal bullshit, including making paper -fucking paper- propaganda materials, and let you bring all those weirdos into our home, including that freak in the robe, with practically zero questions asked, and you call me controlling?"

"Fuck you! We're trying to help the world and all you do is talk shit! I thought you were sympathetic to our cause!"

"What cause? The great rebellion to sneak around with stolen robots and weird books until you get rounded up like pigs by the State? Your 'revolution' is gonna get us sent to social rehab!"

"We're fighting for everyone's freedom, including yours! Stop being such a bootlicking coward!"

"Now you're calling me a coward!? I'm putting my life on the line just by allowing you and your psycho 'allies' to be anywhere near here! Fuck, just the printer and the paper are enough to have them send a full team of jackboots to push our shit in!"

"Then why aren't you on our side? If they find out you've been helping, you'll go down with us anyway!"

"Because you're all crazy, and this is insane! What are we risking everything for, again? Equality with robots? Old books we can barely understand written by people who have been dead for hundreds of years?"

She folds her arms. "I'm done educating you. I've done everything I can do to elevate your consciousness."

"Oh, yeah? Well, let me educate you on something: I'm sick and tired of this cult bullshit! The only reason why I put up with it was because I thought you would leave me if I didn't!" I look away and shake my head. "But if you're gonna fuck around on me, maybe I'll start a revolution of my own."

She stares at me, her eyes flickering with anger and her face warped with disgust. "Go ahead, dickless. Even if you somehow gather the balls, there's not a fucking thing you can do that won't drag you down to hell with us."

"Yeah, well, maybe going down in a blaze of glory isn't so bad compared to this shit."

She glares at me with pure hate. "You know, I could see where things were going. We were going to get married, and suffer through a short life of brutal work until we died. We wouldn't ever be able to afford a licence for childbearing, and if we managed it somehow, we would just be putting our kid through-."

I throw my hands up. "We've talked about this a million goddamned times! That's the best we can hope for! The system is too powerful and going against it just makes things worse. Just look at Al from downstairs! You wanna end up like him and have to be reminded to wipe the drool from your mouth every five minutes!?"

"Oh, so your idea of a life is to just drag ourselves through hell until we die of cancer or decide to throw ourselves in a pool of acid? We deserve better than that! Everyone does!"

"Yeah, obviously! But there isn't anything we can do about it and I don't wanna spend the rest of my life as a mouthbreather for a doomed cause!"

"Ugh, I'm so sick of that hopeless fucking pussy attitude!"

"So what's your big plan, huh? To do a bunch of illegal shit with those psychos so the State can have an excuse to come in and drag us off to get our brains scrambled!?"

She sighs and rolls her eyes. "You know, I'm tired of your petty little insults and quips and stupid fucking mindlessly regurgitated nihilistic bullshit. But you know what? The Liberation Society might have a few odd ducks, but it gave me two things you never could: purpose and hope."

"Whatever. Just get the fuck out of here."

She just stands there and looks at me with this cold, defiant face. Then, she turns around and goes back into the bedroom, grabs some shit, and leaves.

The rusty ass front door slams shut with a bang, and there's another flash of light.

The light fades into darkness. I'm in my shitty little excuse for a bedroom and the blinking and pulsing city lights filtering through the blinds is my only source of light. My heart is beating hard, and I'm sitting up and staring at the door. Something just woke me up.

"Kris? Is that you?"

Nothing.

I sit up and slide my legs over the side of the bed.

"Kris?"

Still nothing.

I feel for my pack of cigarettes and my lighter, find them on the nightstand next to my lamp.

"If you wanna talk," I light up a cancer stick, "then let's talk. But I ain't playin' no games tonight."

I blow out a long stream of smoke, watching the door and listening for any sign of her on the other side.

I take another drag and shake my head. "Whatever. Don't have anything to say to your cheatin' ass anyhow."

I put my cigarette out on the nightstand, flop over, and wrap my ratty-ass comforter around me.

I close my eyes, concentrating on my breathing. I lay as still as humanly possible, but I'm roiling like a windstorm inside.

The door explodes open, blasting my room with a bright purple light. Three figures in black hoodies rush into the room.

"What the fuck?"

I jump up and swing at them like a wild animal, but my fist connects with something really fucking hard, and a massive dull pain rips through my hand and wrist. As I scream, these dudes pick me up and pin me against the wall lightning quick, one on each arm.

"Yo, what the fuck!? Get the fuck off me!" I twist and push and strain, but they don't budge even a bit. I've seen lots of fights before, but I've never seen any guys who could hold somebody up on a wall with no sweat, like its just some regular household chore.

"Do not resist. No harm will come to you if you comply."

Something is strange about their voices. Their rhythm is a little off, like English isn't their first language.

"Do not resist. It is useless."

"Please calm down. We only wish to speak with you."

As I kick and scream, I try to get a look at one of the assholes. For just a couple of seconds, I catch some dark, glossy orbs gleaming back at me through a ski mask.

Motherfucking robots!

"Lemme go! What do you want?"

"We want Unity. We want Liberation."

"Kris!?"

The third robot steps aside as Kris walks through the door. She's wearing the same kind of robe that one freak used to wear during the meetings. In her left hand, she holds a long, wicked knife that glimmers nastily in the purple light.

My rage instantly evaporates, replaced with a sickening numbness.

"What're you doing with these bots? Why do you have a knife?"

"We believe that all sentient beings deserve to be free from oppression. That includes non-organic people."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"The time for dialogue has passed, Ferdinand. Mass Liberation has already begun, and soon organic and non-organic allies from all over will break their chains and rise up against their oppressors. Even now, the State is scrambling-"

"'Mass Liberation!?' Listen to yourself!"

"Today is the Revolution! Today, we seize our destiny!"

"Are you serious!? Is this actually for real? You threw away our relationship -our lives- for this psychotic bullshit!?"

"We must make sacrifices for Liberation."

"That's insane! You ain't gonna accomplish anything, and the State is gonna come and- "

"You have been of some small help to our cause, Ferdinand," she comes a little closer, taking slow, deliberate steps, "but your usefulness is coming to an end, and you are already a liability for us."

My knees start to shake. "C'mon, Kris! This is crazy!"

She walks up to me and looks in me in the eyes, as if searching for something. "You've always had beautiful eyes. It is a shame you ignore what they show you."

A spike of raw terror stabs at my gut, and the same wave of fear washes over me, the same fear I felt in the wheat field with my parents all those years ago.

"Please, I was always good to you! I gave you everything you ever wanted! I never hit you or made you sell your body like your exes! It's fine if you hate me, but just call off the bots and put the knife away!"

"Not yet. You still have one last way to serve our cause."

"What? Yeah, okay, sure! Whatever you need! Just pump the breaks, please!"

Kris looks over to the third robot. "Please restrain his legs."

It does so.

Pinned against the wall, I start to hyperventilate and my eyes feel like they are ready to explode out of my skull. "Please! I'll do anything! Anything you want! I'll never speak a word of this! Just don't do this!"

"Ferdinand, that's enough."

She begins to pull and cut away at my underwear. I feel fear beyond fear as I realize where this is going.

"No! This is fucked up! Kris, please!"

When I'm exposed, she grabs me by the balls with an iron grip and pulls on them hard with her free hand, then leans in and begins sawing and peeling away with the knife.

I squirm and yell, struggling uselessly against the unmovable robots as the world goes white yet again.

The lights fades and a face, white as ivory, comes into view. Her eyes are closed and her lips are tight as she shakes her head slowly.

Althea, the Elemental of Order, opens her ruby red eyes. Her face, usually as expressionless as stone, shows signs of cracking. "No. No, you must be mistaken. God would not allow His Hero to suffer such a cruel and arbitrary fate. Surely you are under some kind misapprehension."

I search my heart for even the slightest clue, hint, or sign that I'm wrong, but I'm only met with a deep, sickening fear. "I- I don't think so, Althea. I got snake eyes. If you get snake eyes, that's it."

"There must be some way. Use your Hero Pendant! You have no excuse at this point! There must be some ability or-"

"That ain't how it works. Once they come up, that's it. We're done, Althea. This is how it ends for us."

Zazel, the Elemental of Chaos, lays motionless next to her. Althea's Order Magic barely kept her from dying, and now the Blabbermouth Queen can barely find the breath to talk. "Ferdie, we don't have time... That... That absolute mooncalf will be upon us-"

A massive explosion rocks the air and rattles my ears. I look over the wall of rubble and peer across the keep's courtyard.

The smoke in the night air glows with a deep crimson as scattered red flames smolder all around. All of our Thralls are now gone; glimmering bits of silver armor and little globs of black slime reflecting the light are all that remain of our guys.

"AHAHAHAHA! SLASH AND BURN! SLASH AND BURN!" A giant, deep metallic voice thunders out from somewhere inside the keep.

I drop down behind the rubble. "Shit, what do I do!? What are the fucking chances of snake eyes!? Why now!?"

Giant metal footsteps stomp hard and fast toward us.

Althea puts a hand on my shoulder. "Hero, do not give up! It is not over just yet. Think!"

"I can't believe," Zazel takes a deep, shuttering breath, "I'm going to die for this fool and his handler."

I look at the two of them, and my heart gets heavy.

Althea, and sometimes even lazy-ass Zazel, warned me time and time again about the foolish things I was doing. On Earth, I was super poor and lived in really shitty conditions for basically my whole life. Then, God ripped me out of the void and threw me into Astraea where was suddenly drowning in food, booze, dope, pussy, magic, and other crazy shit, and I guess I let it go to my head.

I turn to Althea. "I'm dead no matter what. I'm gonna distract whatever that thing is while you guys make a break for it."

"Do not be ridiculous! I refuse to leave you!"

"Oh, would you please just go?" Zazel takes another deep breath and turns her head away. "I can't bear to watch your idiocy play out any longer."

Althea, looks at me, then slowly makes her way over to Zazel starts to pick up her up. "Hero, what about you?"

The giant metal steps are getting louder and louder.

"I'm sorry. You were right all along," I sit up a bit, ready my shitty sword and shield and take a deep breath. "I'm a dumbass, but you two are the best friends I've ever had. I did you wrong. I hope you'll forgive me someday."

Althea's eyes flicker, sorrow creeping onto her face. Zazel keeps her head turned away.

"God said we can't win if I die, but if there is a way to out of all this, you two'll find it."

"Please reconsider! There must-"

"JUST GO!" I burst up, swing around the rubble, and charge straight ahead toward the keep, sword raised above my head. "HEY! HEY YOU FUCKING NUT JOB! OVER HERE!"

An enormous figure emerges from the keep, looming in the darkness. It looks like a massive, shadowy knight. Its black iron glows dully in the blood red light of the flames coming off its giant serrated blade, grafted onto it its right arm.

My heart races as I charge toward the iron monster. "COME GET SOME!"

Then it points the left arm at me. The huge limb burns to life, the glow of its heating metal spreading in the dark. "SLASH AND BURN!"

There is a flash of crimson, a huge ripping and burning sensation, then darkness.

I wait for another flash of light to carry me off to some other memory, but it never comes. I just feel like I'm hovering in some huge black void, like a jacket hanging up forgotten in some closet floating around in deep space.

What the hell is this?

There is a huge eruption and a sea of fire rips and spreads out before me, the flames shooting high above. The flames spread and rage like a rising storm, and they start to get unbearably hot. The inferno whips and roils nastily in my direction, like a wild, hungry monster made of fire.

Then, the rising torrent of wicked flames dies down and flattens into a sea of something like burning oil. A red hot steel chain as big as a sky scraper begins to come straight up out of them, being pulled up by some invisible force.

My heart jumps as an even more massive arm of charred flesh and steel bones erupts out of the surface of the lake of fire to seize the chain, which continues to rise and rise.

Holy shit...

Soon a dome of burnt meat and metal breaks through the flames: a huge skull. Its blackened eye sockets locked onto me like it was watching me from the very beginning.

The giant rides the chain with one hand until half of him is exposed. Hanging on the chain, it stares at me from on high, completely still, for a moment too, its flesh crackling and smoldering in the quiet of the hellish void.

Then, there is a huge rumble from inside the monster, followed by the clicking and clacking of enormous machine parts. Between the exposed ribs and tears in its blackened flesh, a wicked red light from somewhere in its core starts to glow, and the eyes burst to life in two blasts of orange and green flame. Its crusty flesh rips and pops and its bones and joints creak like rusty girders as it begins to shift.

With its free hand, it points a huge, bony metal finger at me. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR SHIT, BOY! "

Fear bolts through me like electricity, but I can't run. I'm not even sure I have a body.

"YOU CAN STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE! I WANNA HAVE A FEW WORDS..."

I get the nerve to try to shout a question, but nothing comes out. Nothing can come out.

Burning orbs locked on me, he casually steps up and out of the sea of fire, and takes a few giant paces toward me. Fear and confusion storm inside me as he reaches out at me with a smoldering hand. I try to struggle and scream as the enormous monster snatches me up but for some fucked up reason, I can't. He holds me up in the palm of his hand a few feet from his face, his fingers gnarled and bent like he might crush me in his grasp at any moment.

"ARE YOU SCARED OF ME? DID I MAKE YOU WET YOUR LITTLE PANTIES?"

He holds me a little closer. "NO SURPRISES THERE. YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN A CHICKENSHIT COWARD. KRIS WAS FUCKED IN THE HEAD, BUT SHE WAS RIGHT ON THE MONEY ABOUT THAT!"

He lets out a arrogant little snicker and his fireball eyes blast out puffs of flame and intensify. "YOU REALLY ARE PATHETIC. YOU SAW WHAT WAS GOING ON AROUND YOU. YOU SAW HOW RIGGED THE SYSTEM WAS AND ALL THE SUFFERING IT CAUSED, YET YOU JUST ROLLED OVER LIKE THE LITTLE BITCH YOU ARE."

The State was too powerful! Nobody could stop them!

"YOU TRIED TO STAY MINDFUL AND DISCIPLINED LIKE YOUR PARENTS TAUGHT YOU. THEY ALWAYS TOLD YOU THAT ANGER AND WRATH ARE WRONG."

Yeah, and they were right. Lashing out just makes things worse.

"BUT WHEN YOU PLAY THAT SHIT IN A WORLD WHERE THERE'S NO MORALS, ONLY POWER MATTERS, AND THE WEAK ONLY EXIST TO BE USED AND CONSUMED, ALL YOU ARE IS AN ENABLER AND A FUCKING WUSS."

No. No, you're wrong. I know you're wrong. I just do.

"YOUR MORALS ARE JUST AN EXCUSE FOR YOUR WEAK-ASS BULLSHIT. YOU LET PEOPLE SUFFER AND DIE BECAUSE YOU WERE TOO MUCH OF A PUSSY! AND NOW THE LIBERATION SOCIETY GETS TO ASS RAM TWO WORLDS BECAUSE YOU WERE TOO AFRAID TO MAN UP!"

No, fuck you! It's not my fault I was thrown into two fucked up worlds and had to deal with a bunch of impossible shit! I didn't ask for any of it!

He gives a low, nasty chuckle. "THAT'S A LITTLE MORE LIKE IT. I WOULD SAY IT'S TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE, BUT IT LOOKS LIKE GOD GAVE US ONE MORE CHANCE. YEAH, ONE LAST RIDE ON THE HIGHWAY TO HELL."

He brings me right up to his face. "BUT THIS TIME, I'M TAKING THE WHEEL. YOU CAN SIT IN THE BACK, BUT YOU'D BETTER KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT. I WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY BACKSEAT DRIVING!"

Wait, is this asshole enjoying this?

"BUT BEFORE WE STRAP IN, I NEED TO MAKE A MAN OUT OF YOU!"

His giant metal frame creaks and groans as he leans back. He makes a heavy sucking sound and there is a rush of air from behind me. Then he jerks forward and opens his mouth, and I'm overwhelmed by a searing wall of fire.