Abby slowly got up, “Oh my fucking god that stung like a bitch.”

Mimic spoke up, “I can tell you, I have never been ripped apart like that before.” Abby coughed up black blood and spit it out on the ground. She slowly walked over to the open door. She walked outside and saw a shield around Stratos Isle, it had started to crack.

In the distance, she saw Funk and started running that direction. Abby looked around, “Oh my god, what happened in this place.”

Funk looked at her, “Oh, thank god, you are not permanently dead.”

Bella walked over and hugged Abby, “It is good to see you. Bella, what went down here?”

She pointed at Steve laying on the ground, his tentacles had fallen down around him. Abby blinked a couple of times, “There are limbs everywhere, and where are Lory and Haley? Is Haley safe?”

Funk sighed, “Haley is safe. Steve went totally insane, those tentacles ripped everyone apart. He even grew big giant zits that ate people. Then, once he was finished, Lory and Haley willingly went into a giant mouth that Steve spawned out of tentacles.”

Abby let out a sigh of relief. “That means that they are fine.”

Bella looked at her, “What do you mean?”

“They are probably inside of Steve, maybe his mind, maybe his soul, or perhaps just a safe space. Steve must have felt himself slipping and decided the only saving grace to not becoming a full on monster was asking them for help. Because believe me, if that, whatever that is, takes control, then Steve is going to be consumed and dead soon.” Abby slowly walked over towards him, she put a hand on him. “I think Steve is in there, somewhere. And you know who, is in there as well. I am going in.”

Bella looked at her, “What? Please make sure, you know, the devil does not come out.”

Abby grinned at her and turned into a black glob, she tried tracing Lory’s energy particles, having spent time with her the most. Then she crawled into Steve’s ear. She soon landed in some kind of house and saw Haley and Lory sitting there at the table. Abby grew back into her normal form. Lory looked at her, “Welcome Abby, how did you get in here?”

Haley got up and ran over to Abby and hugged her. “It is good to see you, Abs.”

She smiled, “I followed you Lory, what a fun little house.”

Lory nodded, “This is the place where Haley grew up. We have no clue what is going on.”

Abby walked over and hugged Lory. Abby looked around, “So, you guys thought, let’s just get a coffee?”

Lory shrugged, “What else am I supposed to do?”

Tentacles came out of the wall and flew over towards Abby. She got poked and prodded by tentacles. They slid up and down her body. Then the tentacles retreated and looked at Abby. She sighed, “Was that necessary Steve?”

A smile grew on the tentacle, “I am sorry, Steve is not home today. This is my home now.” Then the tentacle shot away.

Lory got up, “What is going on Abby?”

She sighed, “Steve is somewhere, and he is losing the battle.”

Haley got up, “What battle?”

“The one for his soul. This thing he unleashed, whatever it is, it is powerful and ancient and for some reason it resided within him. Steve is somewhere fighting for control with his last willpower. He got you in here to help him. Whatever is trying to get control cannot harm us, since Steve sees us as family.” Abby walked over to the door, “Shall we go, into Steve?”

Abby walked outside and heard Abby and Haley follow her. All three of them gasped. Lory pointed, “Is that, his beating heart?”

Haley nodded, “And we are tiny, it is at least five times our size.”

Lory looked around, there were doors everywhere. Some of them locked, others are barred shut. Abby crossed her arms, “The elemental energy flying around is here insane, if he used all of this, he would kick our ass.”

Haley ran forward and pointed at something, “That is a rune, on his heart.”

Lory walked over to Haley, “Are you alright, with everything that is happening Haley?”

She looked at her mom, “No, I am very far away from being fine. I am sad, angry, and I want to punch things. I can let my emotions flow over once I know dad is safe.”

Lory sighed and nodded, “Alright, Munchkin.”

Lory walked over to the heart. Abby followed her, “You should not get too close, it will have a barrier around it.”

Lory looked at her, “I don’t think Steve has any barrier for me.” She walked over to the heart and put her hand on the heart. Silver energy lifted her up, she sat down on top of the beating heart.

Abby sighed, “Seriously Lory?”

She shrugged, “What else am I supposed to do? This is all new to me. I have heard of ancient races that are able to walk through their soul and mind.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Abby nodded, “We should try to find a way to get to another place.” Red energy flew over to Haley, she got up and then Lory got picked up. Even Abby got picked up by the red energy. A keyhole appeared in the heart, a key out of dark energy got crafted and opened the heart, a white portal opened up, and the red energy carpet flew through it.

Abby, Haley, and Lory ended up in a white space. Haley looked around, “I remember this, dad showed it to me once, but where is he?”

Lory pointed at a mirror that had been slid to the side. Abby ran over and gasped as she got a shotgun pointed in her face. Agent S let out a sigh of relief, “Thank god it is a friendly face this time.”

Lory walked over, “Steve?”

“No madam, my name is Agent S, things have been wacky around here.”

A guy with a dark robe and a scepter walked over. “If you would step aside, miss,” Lory did a step aside. The man walked outside and shot a huge energy red beam, it shook the whole white space. Abby and Haley looked at tentacles getting obliterated.

Lory looked at the man with the scepter, “Who the fuck are you?”

The man chuckled, “My name is Thanos.” He bowed, “Nice to meet such a nice lady, see what I did there?”

Abby blinked a couple of times, “What the fuck is going on?”

Another version of Steve walked over with big white wings. “Howdy there Haley, you got some nice wings.”

Haley scratched her head, “What the hell?”

The man shot a huge beam of light, very bright light and more tentacles got obliterated. “We have been holding down the fort since Captain and Steve are not here. We are not interested in control, nor fighting for it, but someone has got to do the dirty work now that she has been freed.”

A man wearing adventuring gear walked over, he had a huge sword. Lory looked around, “You are all, Steve?” They all nodded.

Haley looked at her mom, “I think dad has some, how do I call it?”

Abby sighed, “He has some personality issues.”

Lory had to chuckle, “That was bad Abby.”

Abby looked at all the mirrors, “And you guys are usually in there?”

The man in adventuring gear answered, “Aye, I have been here for a very long time. Steve slid open all the mirrors before running for his life along with Captain. I would gladly return to my life of doing nothing when this is over.”

Haley walked over, “Is your name Steve?”

“Nope, and I'd rather not say what it is, I got some nasty things in me head.”

Abby grunted, “He talks weird.”

Lory waved her hands around, “Who the fuck is loose, and what is going on?”

Thanos sighed, “Well my lady, you see there was another lady that we met, her name is Eris. Her name could also be Strife, a tentacled monster of chaos. She was fun.”

Abby gasped, “Fun, you call a tentacled creature fun?”

Thanos chuckled, “More fun than a werewolf.”

Abby gasped, “You know werewolves?”

Thanos smiled, “As a matter of fact, I know a few.”

Lory cleared her throat, “Abby, Steve, danger?”

“Oh yeah, sorry, go on, tentacled chaos.”

“Me and Strife really hit it off, we had the greatest times together. She realized I was not interested in sticking around. She made an evil plan to keep me in check. All I to do was take a bite from a golden apple, and I would be bound to her forever. However, I saw it coming and Eris’s plan backfired. I consumed her instead, locking her up in this place.”

Thanos pointed at a dark mirror at the end. “She slowly got, rooted and assimilated into Steve’s being. This being the nexus of his mind after all. There is a reason that Steve loves conflict and tries to go out of the way for conflict, he loves it too much. Eris’s divine form is a huge mass of tentacles and when Steve tried to transform and failed to do so, Eris saw her chance. She might not be able to leave, since she is a part of Steve now, but she can fight to kill him. Since that is no possibility, we can’t kill each other. No matter how much I want to kill him,” he pointed at the adventuring man. “If you kill the others, they just get locked up behind their mirror.”

Lory started pacing back and forth, “Holy fuckeroni. Are you telling me, you are all Steve? This is his mind, and multiple people are living here?”

Abby looked at her, “That is precisely what he is saying, but Steve seems to be the vocal point.”

Haley looked up, “And Captain, whoever he is.”

Abby grunted. The Steve with giant white wings padded on her back. “Ah, I see you know the truth. No worries, we won’t burden Lory and Haley with that.”

Lory looked at them, “The truth?”

Agent S walked over, “Yes, there are many dark secrets in this place, Eris is not the only one, we could be glad it was not, the devil.”

Lory looked at multiple dark mirrors, they were closed. Lory sighed, “I need to find Steve, where do you think the original one is?”

The man in adventuring gear walked over and opened a portal, “I think I know where he is hanging around. Just, follow me and I will take you to him.”

Haley, Abby, and Lory looked at each other, they shrugged and jumped through the portal.