"Ma'am. Come on, you could have just been on your way by now," the man repeated, a worrying inflection in his previous indifferent tone.

"No," She replied simply.

"Ma'am-"

"No. I have nothing to give you, I can't make something appear out of nothing."

The man’s face twisted in fury but Azario’s mother met his glare with an even fiercer one.

"Do you think I'm scared of you? I fear no man or nothing except God"

The stare down ensued-Azario holding his breath, as he hoped desperately that this time would pass.

One of the men that seemed to be in charge pulled the angry one aside.

"Let them through," he ordered whilst taking the other man away, The man attempted to say something to him with confusion evident on his face.

Two of the men picked up the roadblock moving it to the side. The dolt driver not wasting a second, drove past them.

"Mom why would you talk to them like that? They had guns," Azario criticized bitterly in Greek, his face frowning.

"Are you scared they would have shot us?" Azario's Mother asked back calmly in Greek.

Azario's eyes widened.

"Of course they could've Mom!" Azario exclaimed.

"They would not have dared," she stated matter-of-factly.

Azario sat up.

"How do you know?! They could have been crazy."

"Even if they did, I was not going to be submissive in front of a human being. I only submit my will to God"

"But we could have died,"

"And we would have died valiantly as martyrs, instead of living like a dog"

"You know I don't believe in that fairy tale nonsense. I don't want to die,"

His mother's face sank.

"Azario! How could you say that!"

"I don't believe in your magic man mom, I believe in real life."

"Azario! Don't blaspheme against God! He is not a man; he is above all that! Do you hear me young man! I raised you better than that," she preached.

"But you also sent me to school where they teach you the truth," Azario quipped.

Her face softened unexpectedly.

"You're right. I should have been more involved in your upbringing. It was just so hard raising you and your brother on my own."

"Please forgive me God, I will show my son the light of truth,"

Azario snorted.

"You're even apologizing to your God instead of me for, as you would put it, not raising me properly. Figures."

"God comes first but you're right. I'm sorry Azario. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive your mother."

Azario's mother's voice cracked and tears began welling up in her eyes.

"*Sigh* Don't cry over it. I don't want you to apologize, cause there's nothing to apologize for anyway since I don't believe in any of that stuff,"

An uncomfortable amount of silence passed.

"So…" she moved on.

"How was your work today?"

"Miserable," Azario mumbled.

"Why what happened?" Azario's mother questioned, concernedly.

"What's going to happen mom? Working at that pizza place is torture, I have to stand up for hours, while that balding piece of **** gets to sit on his *** all day," Azario venomously spat.

"Azario! Don't use such vulgar language," she chastised sternly.

"Why? I'm an adult. Don't say 'because God commanded us not to.'"

"Okay. Would you in good conscience use such language in front of a child."

"What?-No,"

"Why?"

"Because it's wrong, they shouldn't be saying such stuff at their age."

"You know deep down inside that it is wrong and wouldn't want a child picking it up, so why would you use such terrible language if you didn't have to," she posed.

"Well, there's a lot of stuff I can do but they can't-doesn't make it wrong."

"Of course, but you also wouldn't use such language in a formal setting because you know it presents you as vulgar. So don't lower yourself, my son."

*Haaa~*

Azario exhaled intensely. His mother continuing.

"So, you really hate your work. How about working somewhere else?"

"What's the point mom it's the same thing either way. Work eat sleep, work eat sleep work eat sleep, work eat sleep till I *******! Die to the black holes in a few years, is that all there is to life," Azario sneered.

"Of course not son, there's-"

"Mom, I don't want to hear another sermon. I'm tired," Azario voiced frailly.

"Well son, do you have any passions because all the jobs are like that If you don't enjoy them,"

"I don't have passion for anything," He breathed out.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"You don't enjoy anything?" she questioned with disbelief.

"Of course I enjoy things mom but they're not going to earn me money. I like playing games and watching entertainment."

"Well, you could have done such things as a hobby In your free time, if you had gotten into colleg-"

"I know mom stop reminding me," He interjected instantly, feeling his intrenched misery rear its unbearable head. Azario felt so ashamed, he even avoided the dolt drivers gaze.

**********************************************************************************

Later at his house

Azario collapsed into his bed, feeling a crushing weight in the pit of his stomach. His eyes landed on his door where a KFC poster was stuck on, depicting a platinum-haired man with a short stubble, the words 'KFC heavyweight champion Harland Sanders printed underneath it'. Feeling a thirst for action, he picked up his phone, swiping on the screen and entering the password. He was greeted by his wallpaper; which was a picture of him, his brother and his mother at a King fighting championship event. The picture did not invoke an iota of emotion.

'Let's see if the KFC event is available on ThouTube yet… Oohh, Harland versus Kentucky is live'

A fervent joy illuminated in the pit in his stomach-making him forget his stress and woes. He watched with bated breath and inquisitive eyes. Watching the event unfold.

'Ohh he could have gone for a takedown there, but I guess that isn't his thing, I wish he would learn grappling more seriously. He'd be a complete fighter otherwise'

*Creak*

His bedroom door opened.

Azario did not even bother looking-his eyes glued to the screen.

"Are you going to come to the gym with me? You really need to man," the frustrated but worried voice of his brother rang out.

Feeling depressed, Azario replied.

"Ugh, I'm tired today I'll go tomorrow"

"You've said that for a week now!" His brother declared.

"You're wrong, you only told me to for the past five days."

"Still, you keep saying you'll go tomorrow but at this rate you'll never go," he whined.

"I told you I'll go tomorrow, I'm tired and Harland's fight released on ThouTube I wanna see that"

"You can watch that later and you're always tired. You're just making excuses at this point," Deemas accused.

"What the hell are you talking about!? I have to work for seven hours and barely have to luxury to sit down and take a proper break. It's so damn boring-so cut me some slack."

"You know a few months ago I was 3 times weaker than you but now I'm pretty much caught up to you in strength," Deemas claimed, his voice betraying a sense of pride.

"Cool, I only worked out for like 4 months myself so congratulations on catching up to me," Azario replied in an indifferent tone.

"Do you not care that I will become stronger than you"

"Nope, good for you."

A deep-set frown formed on Deemas' face

"And anyway, if I wanted to I could catch up. So who cares."

"…"

Deemas became silent.

*********************************************************************************

A few minutes later

"Azario." his Mother called out from beyond his room.

"Yeah." he responded tentatively, as she entered his room with Deemas.

"Since you're not doing anything important."

Azario grimaced.

"Can you go to the gym with your brother? God knows what can happen at such times,"

"Mom he'll be fine. He's gone there before with friends"

"That is besides the point. He is only 14 and has NF1. If his bones break it will be harder to heal, he doesn't have mobile phone either, so how is he supposed to contact us if anything happens?" Azario's Mon explained.

Azario's eyes slightly narrowed in annoyance.

"He's not a baby mom, it's a 15 minute walk away."

"Azario!"

"Do you need me to hold your hand Deemas?~" he teased.

"No!" he replied vehemently.

"See?"

"Azario!" His mother growled, her patience wearing thin.

His eyes looked up from his phone screen to face his mother's fierce look.

"OK fine, "he sighed defeatedly.

She regained her composure and left his room.

"So when are we going," Deemas perked up.

"Let me watch this little bit,"

**************************************************************************************************

A few minutes later

"How much of it are you going to watch?"

"Just this little bit,"

*********************************************************************************

A few more-minutes later

"Are you going to take me or not? You keep saying this 'little bit, this 'little bit'!"

"It's getting to the good part Harland there's probably going to knock him out this round just wait"

**********************************************************************************

Even more-minutes later

"You said he was going to knock him out soon!" Deemas complained fervently.

"I thought he was, but that Kentucky guy is hanging in there and even being quite offensive, I didn't think it would be such a good fight."

"Then get off and take me to the gym."

"I can't stop watching now. Who knows how this is going to end?" Azario proclaimed, his voice full of fanatic anticipation.

*Sigh*

Unbeknownst to Azario who attentively watched the fight Deemas left the room.

**********************************************************************************

A dozen or so minutes later

Azario Looked up to see that Deemas had gone.

'What the hell, he'll be fine.' Azario thought dismissively.

He picked up his phone, mindlessly scrolling through ThouTube. He found a video titled 'why the vertex are the true people of the earth'

'Look at this vertex funded bot' Azario rolled his eyes.

He clicked on the video. It was in the stereotypical ThouTube commentary style, where the person would speak, and various associated stock footage images would be displayed in the background.

The immature voice of the man drawled on, in a textbook fashion.

"The vertex are the true people of the earth. According to their reliable sources, hundreds of thousands of years ago a voyage of vertex found this planet, they documented various things, set up a colony on this planet living across its vast landmass. The rightful apex species well before humans even evolved into the what they are today but the Ice Age extinction event wipe them out"

'********, then why can their vast civilization on earth, not be seen in the historical records at all. Not even one thing." Azario voiced skeptically.

"The proof of this is the fact that a few fossils of the vertex was located near modern day India."

'OK, but that doesn't prove that such a civilization had dominion over the entire surface of the planet'

"Which is why the vertex language is so intrinsically similar to Sanskrit, the oldest human language, which was of course taught to early humans by the vertex"

'So you're telling me that humans and vertex lived together in peace and that is somehow supposed to support the idea that the entire planet is rightfully theirs? That doesn't make any sense.'

'If this elusive super civilization existed, then revive them and they can have the planet not you. Azario mocked disdainfully.

Scrolling down, he found another video titled.

'Why God is punishing us with the black holes.'

'Ooo~ a religious zealot. I haven't seen these ones in a while,' he mused cynically.

"Praise be my fellow brothers and sisters in Christianity. Yes you read the title of this video right. The reason why the 9 black holes are going to swallow our world is because of our defiance to God," He uttered with conviction.

"What is the biggest sin a man can do?" he asked.

"Listen to you speak," Azario said sarcastically.

"That is of course worship of other than God. Humanity have done that for too long now and the straw that broke the camel's back was when some of the vertex began to impersonate gods of mythologies like Zeus or Thor and people actually worshipped them!" He exclaimed, with perceptible bewilderment.

"They were being fooled by the vertex's advanced technology. Look at the locations that have black holes, all places where the vertex were being worshiped."

'That was pretty stupid but a lot of those people were just desperate for security.'

"So, God is finally punishing us for our transgressions"

'So let me get this straight. We're all being collectively punished for the quote on quote the 'biggest sin' committed by a small minority… makes perfect sense' Azario resentfully concluded, feeling his insides burn. He went off of the video his face adopting a frown.

'It sounds more like Zeus and Co. are mad for being impersonated hahaha' he snickered to himself.

Azario continued scrolling mindlessly through ThouTube craving that rush off happiness unconsciously.

**********************************************************************************

An hour later

"Azario," his mother called out.

"Yeah mom," he replied passively.

"Where's your brother? Didn't you bring him back with you?"

"…"

Azario got up quickly, shock boring through him.

"Azario! Where is he?!"

"Didn't he come home?" Azario asked lamely, realizing his mistake.

"Aren't you supposed to know that! Since I told you to go with him!" she yelled coldly.

"…"

Azario got off his bed rushing to the door and opened it.

"You didn't go with him did you?! Ohh God-what am I going to do?!"

"I need to go see if he is okay," she reasoned helplessly.

Azario's guilt and worry surged, attempting to suffocate him.

"I'll go," he offered.

"It will be faster that way," he affirmed, while running down the stairs to the door.

"If anything happens call the police" she cautioned.

"OK mom-everything's gonna be fine," he declared with false bravado.