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."

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"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.

ARCHETYPE: [CUSTOM] SELECTED.