Caught in a state of half-consciousness, I could hardly think, surrounded by an endless sea of green.

Suddenly, I realized I was on the ground, my outstretched arms now holding me up over...greenness.

“Well, this is rather inconvenient,” a voice said.

I stood, using my good arm to lift myself from the ‘ground’, which was impossible to distinguish from the sky. I squinted up at the entity that was speaking. Something felt off...

Dressed in green tuxedo-like clothes, it was a man who looked to be in his twenties, sitting on an old brown chair. He looked at me, toying with a slinky the same color as his silvery-green hair. I recognized him from...from something.

God, my brain was too rattled. I could hardly stand, let alone think.

“I know people from your world have no method of contacting ours, so you probably haven’t gotten into this situation on purpose...So...let’s just confirm some stuff. Tell me, what is the name of this?” He held the slinky up, presenting it to me at eye height, letting its bottom fall to the floor.

“A...a slinky?” I said, confounded as I squinted to see through my unfocused eyes.

He nodded. “Wow, from Earth. Never woulda guessed,” he said sarcastically, “Tell me your name.”

“Psychi Purdue.”

“Heh.” The man laughed. “Right, and are you a psychic?”

“Y-yeah?” I said.

Maybe I had died...my mind wavered too much for me to consider it more. It hurt. My arm really hurt under its cast...I wanted to be home.

“All of that I already knew, by the way. This is just procedure, in case I got something wrong.” He grabbed both ends of his slinky and began flipping it up and down like a jump rope. “So, Psychi, you’ve been summoned to a universe known as Kinjaak. I would love to just put you back in your world, but that just isn’t possible. All I do is facilitate things, not do the magic.”

My hand on my head, I just asked, “Magic?” like a dunce.

“There is magic, not that it’ll matter to you once I’m done here. Could you stand straighter for me?” I considered entertaining his request...then he stood and walked behind me.

Alarm bells tremored in my skull. Something very bad was about to happen, and I had already seen it happen. I reached out with my telekinesis, preparing the air around myself, but...he couldn’t touch me anyway. I may have been dazed, but I wasn’t so exhausted that I couldn’t defend myself, right?

“It’d be too risky to keep you around, and I’d get flack for doing it anyway. Thus...I don’t know if this is fair to you, but...”

Danger. Without thinking about it, I ripped air towards the man in green to send him careening away.

It didn’t move. I could still feel what I was trying to affect, but...I had no sway over where it moved.

He looped his slinky over my neck. “I need to kill you, now.” As I began to panic, flailing and trying to grab the metal wire. He suddenly jerked back with the slinky, and I felt him knee my leg, sending a jolt through it, and making me trip back onto his knee.

Shit shit shit shit. I was powerless, absolutely powerless. I kept trying to move the air, a crutch to save me, but it just wouldn’t work. I was stuck. My powers were such an extension of who I was, that I didn’t even know how to react or what to think. I just grasped the wired and tried to pull back, gasping for air only for my own breath to block in my crushed throat.

My heart hammered like it never had before. I kept trying to control the air, but it refused to budge. It was so empty, so heart-wrenchingly gone. It felt like I’d lost a limb, yet my mind didn’t notice, and I could still feel the nerves, even though nothing was there.

I couldn’t make it budge, and I wasn’t making it out.

After a few seconds, I just fell limp and looked into the green abyss.

I was going to die. So randomly. So suddenly. I didn’t have the strength to survive or even the strength to try to.

Instead of fighting, I just thought.

To be honest, I would have laughed if I could. I would die, strangled by a fucking slinky.

He sighed, breaking the beginning of my thought process. “It’s a shame to see someone who could do so much be squandered by some idiots who didn’t even think to ask before messing with dimensions...twice, but...I guess you’re part of the reason this is a problem in the first place...if you really squint, that is.” he muttered the last part under his breath.

It was my fault. I probably had an out in that fight, but I didn’t try hard enough to find it. Instead, I just antagonized Jana...

If I’d paid any attention to my dream, too, this wouldn’t have ended this way either. Instead, I just doubted and doubted and doubted myself.

“Honestly, you would just cause the world more trouble to keep living.”

I weakly crunched my hand into a fist, my nails digging into skin. No, you piece of shit, that’s your opinion. Why the fuck was I even letting myself die here in the first place? Did I really need to validate every thing this weird murderer said just because I was trying to invalidate my own life, to make dying easier on myself?

“You know, it’d probably be easier for you if you thought about the bright side of this. Like, for example...uhh, you won’t need to worry about personal connections, you know? No need to have any more awkward conversations about your fuck-ups. Umm...like your family. Won’t need to bother them again...or hear their complaints about how incompetent you are.”

No, fuck you! What the fuck do you know about my family?

I glowered forward as my vision began to blur even more, and my strength left me. I couldn’t move, though. My arm was so lethargic, and I didn’t have any opportunity to retaliate or save myself...this wasn’t a fight I could win.

No.

I wouldn’t be this pathetic. I had to be better than this. What would Jeremy think if he saw me give up like this?

He would be terrified.

What if Jana saw me give up like this?

She would be angry.

What if Parkarka saw me give up like this?

She would be sad.

The man in green began to slide me to the ground. Suddenly, my consciousness rallied itself just as everything began to black out. For only a split second, the world was vivid.

If they wouldn’t want to see me like this, I should have felt the worst about it.

I wasn’t going to give up.

In that split second that I slid down, I took the opportunity to jab the man, sending my elbow jutting into his stomach, satisfyingly squishing his insides in the one attack.

He was either a lot weaker than he let on or just caught off-gaurd because he let the slinky off of my throat for just a moment, giving me just enough time to take in a deep breath and clasp my hands beneath the wire, creating a separation between it and my throat when he tried to pull it back.

“Ok, so you want this more painful?” he asked, as though I were an idiot, doubling down on the pressure. “Really?”

I was tempted to snap back some harsh, not-so-eloquent comment along the lines of ‘fuck you’ but figured I had better uses for my breath.

“It isn’t worth it, you know. People probably don’t want a failure like you around.”

Was he just making it up, or did he know a single thing about me?

Still, as he struggled with my arms, jerking me about in an attempt to make me falter, I thought.

Some people didn’t need me. Parkarka would be fine if I died here, maybe, but...

Jana could die if nobody helped her to the hospital.

Emma...maybe we weren’t friends anymore, I couldn’t really tell, but...I felt I at least owed her a boyfriend.

And Jeremy...

He was tough, tougher than I ever would be, and I was so, so proud of him....but I would never leave him alone like that.

I would be there for him, down to my last breath.

Screeching, I put every cell in my arms to work, fighting against the green man’s slinky with the whole strength of both my healthy arm and twitching, pained arm. I pushed it back, further and further, roaring through my efforts, and once I got the chance, I ducked beneath it and dove away.

I careened to the floor and slid across it before quickly trying to stand back up.

A foot stomped on my back, and I immediately broke, falling to the ground with a gasp. I kept trying to stand, even though it looked pathetic, flailing and grasping the nothingness I laid on for leverage, trying to shake him off.

“You still have that much energy?” he asked, sighing with annoyance. “Is your arm not injured or something? That’s got to be painful for you.”

Did he think I cared?

I roared and screamed like a feral animal shaking about, trying to escape, but it was pointless. I just wasn’t strong enough to fight back. Eventually, I cried. I cried, and I cried hoarsely, “Please...” I had to beg for mercy, and it was pathetic, but at that point, I didn’t mind.

“‘Please’ gets you nowhere,” he said. “You’re about as good as dead out there, one way or another.”

“Why...?” I sputtered out.

“You aren’t the only person to get sent over here. Actually, you’re the second person to, in recent years.”

“T-the second?” I asked, hardly understanding anything going on. I could piece together that I was being sent to another world, and for some reason, that meant he needed to kill me, but...

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“The other one happened to be a super-psychic too. I thought he could be compelled to do what I wanted, but the damn psychopath went literally insane, and long story short...” he clicked his tongue. “He’s trying to destroy the world, now. Not preferable, y’see?”

“Well, I-I can help you!” I said, looking up with a dazed expression. “I-if he’s a super-psychic, I know who he is.”

“And so do I. What do you all like to call him on Earth...the Living Catastrophe? I also know that you don’t have experience fighting him. You’re outclassed and really not worth keeping around.” A large rock suddenly appeared in his hands. “Normally, I would make a contract with you, but I know it won’t affect your kind, from experience. I suppose if I had some way to know you were genuinely interested in killing him, that might change things, but...I don’t, sorry.” He raised the rock up, a cold glare in his eye.

“B-but I do!” I yelled suddenly, scared. “I-I can link our minds.”

He lowered it again. “Go on,” he said with a curious cock of his eyebrow.

“It’s called True Telepathy. If I did it, you could read my mind! If he’s destroying some other world or something, I would absolutely help, and you’d know that immediately if you could read my mind.” Maybe I wouldn’t have willingly left my home for it but...fighting him was for sure better than getting my head caved in.

“Hmm...” he thought on it for a moment.

“A-and I can share memories, so you can get a good idea of who I am, how I think and stuff. I-I swear I wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Besides him, I presume...and monsters, not that you’d be familiar with them.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I swear you can trust me,” I pleaded. “J-just give me a chance.”

Finally, he stepped off me. “Fine, do your thing. And don’t even try to kill me, I’m quite literally immortal.”

Slowly, on shaky feet, adrenaline still pumping through me, I stood and looked at him. He seemed entirely unconcerned, and somehow the rock had left his hand, vanished into nothingness. “T-thank you,” I said, at a loss for words.

“I don’t need ‘thank you’. I need you to do your thing.” he shrugged, walking back to his chair and leaning against the armrest. “Besides, I was just trying to splatter you on my floor. There’s no need to pretend you’ve got any gratefulness towards me.”

Fair enough. “U-uhh...I can’t-” I began.

He rolled his eyes. “You can. I just activated psychic powers in this place.” [let’s just pretend I didn’t forget that.]

“A-ahh...” I could still hardly form words, my body quaking like...like back then. Adrenaline was a two-way street, I supposed. “I-I need you to walk towards me.”

He did, saying, “If you kill me, I’m going to kill you.” [though, that much should be obvious]

Once he got close enough, I reeled back, then smacked my head against his.

Redness surrounded me. I was a bit taller, a bit leaner...and someone else. I stared at a woman dressed in red robes with a disbelieving, gaping mouth. She was a colleague I was very familiar with, if only because I had known her for a hundred years. She sat back in her chair, where an art stand with a half-pained but stunningly detailed painting propped atop it sat in front of her.

“What do you mean ‘he’s gone off the deep end’?!” I asked, my heart sinking. “I formed a contract with him before he arrived, and he swore to kill mon-”

“Idiot!” the girl dressed in red yelled. “Do you not know a thing about the psychics from that world!? They’re almost entirely immune to all forms of mental manipulation! Thinking you could keep him in a contract was your folley, and you’ve simply proved once more just how incompetent you are! It’s a miracle that Yellow has been so lenient on you!”

“Excuse me!? How was I supposed to know that!?”

“As our ambassador of interdimensional travel, it is your duty to research our neighboring universes!”

I outstretched my arms in furious indignance. “I’m a newbie. You’re eons older than me. I hardly-”

She rolled her eyes. “Enough! Use this time you spend on making excuses, and instead study and rectify your mistakes. Otherwise, stop picking your nose into our business.”

I clenched my fist but didn’t try to butt in to get the last word, stomping off and summoning a green portal to my own realm in my path.

As I left, I grimaced at encroaching loneliness as I heard the faintest of whispers behind me. “Why can’t you just be him?”

“I said the memories first, you fool!” He yelled, stumbling back from me, in pain. “Forgot to turn off pain, damn it.” [Maybe I am a klutz.]

I felt all my pain suddenly disappear, relieving me after being wracked with so much. He cleared his throat. [Wait, where’s my pain go? Did he just get rid of it?] I thought.

He glared at me. [Of course I got rid of it, how is that not clear?] “Yes, I just disabled the processes that make pain poss-”

[In that case, what else can he do in this-]

“Whatever, can you just stop interrupting m-” he continued before stopping himself. [Wait, her lips aren’t moving...Oh, its your True Telepathy thing, isn’t it.] He thought. Even as he did, though, other thoughts overlapped what he was saying, quiet but audible. [(she should’ve told me she established it)]

I nodded my head. [I hate using it, but True Telekinesis lets us read each other’s minds from anywhere.]

[You don’t say. (thanks for saying the obvious, girl)]

[But what was that? A girl in red...]

[Did you see my memories too?]

[Whoops, I’m not used to having people peer into my mind. But sorry, I can’t not see others’ memories when sharing mine.]

He shrugged. [Well, you haven’t gone insane from seeing The All, so you should be fine.]

[Good to know this isn’t a ‘Sorry, but I have to kill you’ situation. So...what did you see?]

[You murdered some people(on accident, sorta).]

[Oh, shit, he saw that, fu-]

He waved it off. [Don’t worry, I understand the circumstances. Unlike you, the last dude turned out to be some psychopathic, manipulative, extremely deranged murderhobo with incredibly strong psychic powers and a pension for chaos. ‘Oh no, i killed two people’ is purehearted and cuddly in comparison(I wish he were you).]

I slowly stood from the ground, no longer encumbered by pain. [Right...him...so, you’ve spoken to him]

[Yes. I’m sure you haven’t met him before, but he’s got a way with words. He tricked me into letting him leave alive. (I did my research on super-psychics after that event. Turns out he’s some freakish genocidal maniac.)]

I put a hand to my head, the mere mention of that psychic giving me a headache. I hadn’t met him personally, but he was at the forefront of so many people’s minds. [He killed an estimated seven million people on his lonesome. I really hoped I wouldn’t ever need to see his face. (And if it exists, I hope there’s a personal hell set up for him in the afterlife.)]

[Wow,] he thought sarcastically, [you can’t even call him a kid; you hate him that much. Deep(But yes, Orange made one just for him).]

[I picked it up from Parkarka. She doesn’t like to hear his name. And...I’d rather avoid thinking about that monster, too. (And I’m guessing you’re known as Green if there’s some other person called Yellow?).]

[Ironic,] he interjected, smirking at something I didn’t understand. [(and yes, I’m called Green)]

[Right. And who even are you? Why do you have a slinky?]

[The latter question is complicated, but as for who I am, my full title is ‘The Man in Green. I’m what you’d call a god.]

[Riight...So, you’re a god? A shitty one? (That explains a bit.)]

[Watch your rough toun...mind, mortal. If I must elaborate on my place in the grand scheme, I’m nothing special. We gods can bend reality but can’t do anything like throw lightning. All I can do is manipulate my dimension, intercept and mediate interdimensional affairs, and some other neat things. My only real use to my six peers is being ‘the dude who gives them media from Earth and works his ass off as the GM. Anyway, how do you turn this telepathy thing o-]

[You can’t(not as far as I know),] I responded.

[Oh. then what if I simply-]

All feedback stopped.

“...do that?” The man in green smiled like he’d done something really smart.

“Did you turn off my psychic powers again?” I asked.

“Yep.” I felt our connection settle back in as he enabled my powers once more. [Knowing to do that should stop me from constantly being bothered by your thoughts.]

[I expected you’d be able to do that.]

He smirked sardonically. [No need to be so humble, good lady.]

[So anyway, can I go now to find a way back home?]

[Sorta. I’m letting you live, but it isn’t exactly out of the kindness of my heart.]

[Ok, then what do you need me to do?]

[Help the hero.]

[The hero? (What, am I now being inserted into some poor protagonist’s story?)]

He chuckled. [Perhaps a tragic protagonist’s story. The Hero is fighting to survive against the new Monster King’s forces, so I want you to help him.]

[So what happens if I say I’ll do it but join with the Monster King for some

reason(as if I’d actually do that)?]

[Right, you don’t know. The Monster King is that psychopath we were talking about.]

[So nothing’s changed...I’m still expected to fight him...I-I’m not sure if I’m ready for that.]

[Oh, then more great news, he has the strongest magic in all the world(a bit of an oopsie-doopsie on my part).]

I looked at him with an expression of ‘are you kidding me’, my mouth gaping as I shook my head in denial. [Well, excuse me for living! I guess I’ll just die because that’s a double whammy I’ll never beat, not unless magic is relatively pathetic in this world of yours(and what about an ‘oopsie doopsie’!?).]

[(Nothing, nothing at all.)His magic powers are about equal to your psychic ones. They’re more versatile but less powerful, and he also has an ability that can make magic useless against him.]

I threw my working arm up in defeat, shaking my head. [Sorry, you might as well say goodbye to your world. He’s unstoppable. That boy fought Parkarka and three other super psychics at the same time and came out the victor.]

[(You think I don’t know that?) Hold on with that defeatist attitude. The hero is no pushover, and right now, psychic powers are disabled. They will remain that way until Yellow changes it. We had to turn them off to limit the new monster king’s power(like it helped).]

[Ok...(I see where he’s going with this)]

He spread out two palms. [With that in mind, you have two options. Either you live your life in this new world with no psychic powers as an essentially mundane human(maybe I’ll just kill you instead), or you join the fight, and we let you use your powers so long as you’re doing your part.]

I sighed, holding my head in a headache. [So either I’m stuck in a new world with nothing, or I’m stuck in a fight against an undefeatable tyrant.]

[Precisely.]

[This is stupid! Why do I need to go through all of this? Who even summoned me here? If it’s really not helpful to disable them-]

[All of that. It sounds like a personal problem, kid. Nobody said trying to save a world from the brink would be easy.]

I sighed. Life just wasn’t fair. [Whatever, I guess I’ll default to the latter. I’d rather die trying to fight evil than live life mundane and useless.]

[Reasonable choice. Anyway, I’ll swiftly get Yellow to enable psychic powers. In the meantime, I’ll put you in the hands of whoever summoned you. Now go out there and be the solution to this problem(which I created on accident).] A yellow portal suddenly appeared to his left, and he began walking toward it.

I blinked rapidly as I breathed in, then breathed out, absolutely seething with rage. [Wow, I really don’t like you. If I die, this is all on you.]

[Awfully rude to say to a man who saved(spared) your life. Anyway, feel free to beat up whoever summoned you or something. Well, unless they work for the Hero. Oh, and do be patient with the guy. He’s your total opposite. I’ll give you an update when your powers are enabled. This should take juust a minute.]

He walked through the portal, and suddenly, I felt woozy and disoriented, then I collapsed, and the greenness dissipated to blackness.