(Swapping back to Braxton's perspective from Nox's)

Suddenly I awake. A middle aged man is holding me in his arms and crying heavily. I am inside of his arms, and we are inside of a room with many different pieces of paper, tools, and half made wooden furniture. His loud cries are blaring out, and I can hear hurried steps moving towards us from another room. His sorrow is making the edges of my eyes burn, and his desperation makes me uncomfortable. I try to grab my bearings in the bizarre moment.

Moments ago I had been in my hospital room, and now I am...In the room from my dreams. My “Father” is holding me. The somewhat familiar face of Elaine is bursting through a door. Her usually soft face is hysteric, and she is scanning the room for threats. I start to formulate situations that could have happened when a stream of thoughts come into my mind.

I suddenly remember being a baby and being raised by Klay and Elaine. I remember watching Klay make furniture and tools out of wood. I think about how much I love them, and how perfect they are...

My mind is receiving a list of thoughts like this when suddenly I feel incredibly nauseous. A consciousness other than my own comes crashing into me. Like dropping a cinder block in a large puddle, the smaller consciousness becomes surrounded by my thoughts, and creates a large disruption in my thoughts. I start to cry as I feel the same fear the small child feels.

What just happened? Am I okay? Why do I want to see outside so much? Where does this powerful love for Elaine and Klay come from? Am I becoming the child? No...The child is becoming me. I start to cry with his emotions, and the new found feelings I have. I feel like I'm crushing the child’s mind, and I start to try and somehow separate our memories.

Like trying to split nitrogen and oxygen in the air with my hands, I struggle to save the poor child. I feel a deep sense of helplessness as I overpower the infant. After about 30 seconds the struggle ends and the child is no more…

For a minute I realize I'm not breathing and gasp for air. My Dad starts crying more heavily as I recover. My mom joins and they both hold my small body. I start to think about what just happened.  I think my mind has blended with the small child’s. I can't tell if he is in my mind with me or not, but I can tell I have his memories and thoughts.

I decide to talk to my parents to try and calm them since I...There child is...Okay now. “Klay, Elaine. I feel okay now. Thank you for coming and helping me,” I say with a trembling voice.

“Thank god. Thank god.” My dad finally starts to release his vice grip around me.

“What hurts? Are you really hungry? Do you feel sick?” My mom asks while slowly collapsing the grimace plastered to her face.

“I feel...Different...” I walk away from them to a slightly greater distance. I am not at all used to having people touch me, and it makes me uncomfortable and happy at the same time. With a lightly recognizable clicking noise I felt the back of my head flex. The air around me starts to vibrate, and a hammer lightly starts to float.

My mom and dad look at me as though I'm an alien. They stand perfectly  still, and start to gape at the hammer. With instinctive readiness I reach out towards the hammer, and right as my index touches it, it disintegrates into a fine sand. With a loud hissing noise the heavy sand falls to the floor.

“You...Elaine...Our son has it. He is...” Klay holds Elaine in his arms and looks from her to me while slightly puffing out his chest.

 “Nox, you have an ability. It is very rare, and only a few have it. You need to stop using it. It will hurt you badly if you keep using it.” he says while holding his hand up to me as if to calm a frightened animal.

I listen, and let go of the feeling. Immediately the air stops shaking, and I feel a slight headache that quickly fades. I look at my dad and mom. Klay looks at me as though I am a statue made of gold while Elaine looks at me as though I'm in mortal danger.

“Do not show anybody this Nox.” mom says while slowly moving towards me. “Nobody can know, because there are some people who will try to use you, and maybe even hurt you if they know.”

“That makes sense, and I won’t let anybody else...” I start to quieten as I trail off. 

I love the two people here, but only because of Nox. The loss of everybody else is...much worse than having these two. I start to think about Kinslee, the way she would listen to my dramatic stories and whimsy...How luke cried harder than anyone when I was dieing, and how I know he is probably struggling by himself. My mom lost the light of her life and her greatest burden when I died. How is she doing now? Did Angelica find someone new to take care of? Whoever it was, they are very fortunate to have somebody like her by their side.

I start to cry. Deep pain wells around my eyes, and my throat knots up. My short legs buckle. My dad runs to me and catches me as I collapse. 

I grab him tightly as I let out a lament originating from my past life, “ahhhhhhhhhhh. W-W-Whyyyyyyyy?” 

I ask the question that pervades me. The answer does not come, and instead another pulse of despair hits me as I grab my dad tightly and sob. Somehow his presence is warming the feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Several minutes pass before I let go, and I decide I need to reflect on my position. I open my mouth to say something to my dad. No sounds come out and instead I push him away. 

I start to walk away when my mom says, “Nox, are you okay? What’s wrong? The power is not that bad a thing. I just don’t want you to be reckless with it!” She says with delicate eyes, slightly pursed lips, and a gently outstretching arm.

“...I...Just need a little time to...Think.” I say while walking away.

 I look around and make a light hearted smile. With heavy footsteps I walk outside. The forest that surrounds the house and the small pen of Chok’s fill my field of vision. An opening in the forest reveals a small plot of land with a few large sized weeds. They have been planted in plowed land, and beyond the field is a hill with a rocky side. I make my way past the field and climb the hill.

After sitting on the rocks that sharply fall at least 30 feet I start to calm my mind. I start to go over all of the things that just happened. I'm reborn into the body of the child “Nox”, and our minds have melded. I have the same power that I had in my dreams, and I'm now quickly growing less emotional about everything that has happened. I deeply love both of my parents now, and the little boy's mind is influencing me in different ways. 

My hands come in to my sight, and I turn my head downwards. I'm about 4 or 5 years old. I have a small tan frame associated with boys who play outside, and I rip out some of my hair. I have the same brown hair color with a blond sheen as my mother.

The great row of Mountains miles away from the village comes into focus as I lift my hair to see it. I drop the hairs and gasp. I have forgotten completely about the creature that is coming. I start to feel anxiety at how I do not at all know when it will show itself. I quickly start to think about different ways to stop it. If my repeated dreams are any hint then the gigantic creature would soon walk through and destroy everything. 

The problem is… The unknowable creature holds limitless power, can warp reality, cause destruction on a massive scale, it is colossal, and even with ten thousand times my own power there is no way I can ever defeat it. I desperately want to save my parents, and I know that saving the village is something my moral compass is about to force me to do.

I think about trying to reroute it. Again, it destroys the mountain simply because it is in the way. I can not imagine me being able to change its direction. The new plan is now to just lessen the devastation...but the shockwave is so powerful it's impossible to stop it or even slow it down. I start to panic as every thought is shot down, and then another idea appears.

I can simply move the villagers out of the way...The only way is to warn them of the incoming danger with enough impact to force action, and I need to do it this very moment. I jump up from my seat with a newfound purpose, and think , “Hahaha! Why mope around Braxton? Pain is your specialty after all. This is just a moment compared to before, "with forlorn acceptance.

The plan is to use some kind of blood to write a message on the cliff that is above the central part of the village. I can use my power to do it, and then make some kind of a loud noise or flashing light to attract everybody's attention towards the sign. The village is small, and it looks like it is close to subsistence farming as far as technology goes. I assume they are superstitious about something as cryptic as a massive message written in blood. Then I can go and tell my parents outright that we need to go away.

I start running. I feel my hot breath release from my mouth in a rhythmic fashion. My new legs and arms give me newfound confidence. I hear the chicken-like creatures in a pen in the distance. The sound of wind passing through trees temporarily erases the sound as I get closer to the clearing. I run to the cage, and with an ineptness that has escaped me since I was little, I attempt to use my power to kill the chickens.

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With the same feeling as creating the gigantic marble I smash a few rocks laying around into the birds heads. Four of them fall with light thuds after the rocks slam into their skulls. With an unsteady control, I attempt to try and grab just the chickens and hover them like I did the hammer. After a moment I am able to pick up the birds and start to run while shakily hovering them next to me.

The village is somewhat small, and I need to hurry to a place that can draw a lot of attention. I look backwards, and see a small group of candyland lodges gathered around the cliff. I run to them while trying to not let the birds drop to the ground.

I walk off of the dirt paths that litter the village. The houses are usually surrounded by forest, and they each have a dirt pathway to the central area of the houses in front of the cliff. I make my way towards the cliff by sneaking around the trees. After about 6 to 7 minutes of effort I make it to the face of the cliff.

I then write in letters I hope with all my heart the village will understand, “Beware the God of a million arms as it dances across the land. Escape to Tauss if you have will to understand.” I write the message in crimson blood supplied by the birds, and I quickly think of ways to grab everybody's attention from their houses. In one movement I raise my hands towards one of the goliath sized evergreen trees. With the headache becoming a migraine, I start to rip chunks out of the tree to cause it to fall near the village.

Thoughts of failure start to design themselves in my mind when I finally bring the tree to one stroke. My mind starts to feel hazy as I wrench the last chunk out of the tree. The migraine intensifies as I watch the easily 300 foot tall evergreen come crashing down near the cliff. The sound of wood cracking quickly panics me as I realize the actual tree is falling many times faster than I originally thought. To dodge I use my power to move me quickly towards the cliff. I watch as wind whistles past me, and I block with my arms as I am rammed far too hard into the rocky cliff. My ability to reason evaporates, and I lose consciousness.

Suddenly I awake and there is an all too familiar light. It is the same light that signaled utter annihilation by the monster. With panic I start to yell louder and louder. With all of my strength I collide rocks and trees near the cliff together to form a cubby hole type bunker. I feel myself levitate slightly off the ground as I scream from the pain of the migraine that using my power is causing. I feel the air tremble as both the shockwave and my power get closer and closer.

Halfway through the protective hole's completion I stagger with heavy steps towards it. Still straining to continue building it, I feel the air start to blow so hard past me it lifts me slightly further off the ground as the shockwave forces it further and further away from the origin of destruction. Two steps are left between me and the bunker when it is finished. A loud rumble forms as I jump into the bunker and desperately fight my exhaustion to close it shut.

A hole the size of a pin head is still open when the abomination’s power finally hits. A loud splattering noise echoes through the small dome, and the ground shakes like a man freezing to death. Unlike previous times, I did not fly through the air, and instead darkness covers my field of vision while warm liquid is forced around me.

I awake to pure darkness. Eerie silence creates a slight ringing in my ears. Caked on material surrounding the back of my head and lower body add to my current state of sensory overload. I feel around for some semblance of a clue as to where I am. Rocks and pieces of poorly situated wood are everywhere I feel. At this point a landslide of memories crash over me. I had built the protective structure, and hid myself in it. Before then I tried to save everybody from the village and ended up knocking myself unconscious while dodging the tree. 

At this point I start to slowly crack the stone surrounding me in the direction of where I came from. The low cracking of rock is slowly giving way to wood and dirt. I start to slowly scrape with my power. I manage to finally see a shimmer of orange sunlight as it pierces my surroundings. I break the small gap to the size of a car door, and try to stand up to escape my tiny prison.

A dull pain causes me to collapse. The pain comes from my right leg. I look down and immediately gawk at my leg. My right leg has been destroyed past the knee. I look around the cave and see that the liquid and stiffening material I felt is my own blood. I glance down and start to analyze my wound. The cut is perfectly curved at the bottom of my knee. It looks like someone has taken a crescent like blade and perfectly cut through bone, tendon, and flesh alike.

I hold back tears of frustration as I grab some cloth and create a tourniquet around my new wound. I slowly climb past the dirt to get out of the hole. With an unmoving frame I sit next to the hole and look around at the landscape. The trees that used to tower next to the cliff had all but been evaporated. Broken and beaten beyond recognition, the trees lay stacked on top of each other.

The smell of wood similar to pine and cedar pungently float around the air.  The Sunset lights the destruction in a sublime majesty. It somehow forces me to try and see my new injury in a positive light. At least I was alive? I have experienced far worse injuries before. Right? There isn't the usual signs of villagers whenever I awake to see the bright light, so I hope with all of my heart that my parents are okay.

I get up and grab a large branch broken into the shape of a “Y”. I snap it into a more suitable shape for a crutch using my power. I look forward towards the Tauss village, and start to slowly hobble. At this point I start to feel incredibly tired, and I seriously contemplate on whether or not I will be able to make it to the village. I struggle on through the pain of the leg towards Tauss despite reason.

After about an hour I start to notice a ridiculously powerful itching sensation coming from my leg. I look down and see the inconceivable. My leg’s bones and skin are regrowing like a lizard. With freakish speed the leg has turned into a pink outline of what it was previously. For the last hour I have been avoiding looking at the the injury, or even trying to acknowledge it as I creep across the destroyed wasteland of trees and earth, so seeing it almost completely healed is surreal.

I know the world was different from my own, but regrowing limbs is not even a human ability. I slowly place the foot down and with great surprise it functions properly. It works much the same as my left leg, but with no shoe or clothing on it. It is also perfectly clean and flush like a baby's complexion. I decide it might have something to do with my power as I start briskly jogging towards the Tauss village.

Another 4 hours pass and I start to wonder about the immense length of the sunset. Everything felt different in this new world. In the short time I have been here, I have experienced losing a leg, regrowing a leg, fusing my consciousnessf with a young boy named Nox, possible saving a village from devastation, and getting new parents. My own sigh rings through the air as I entertain the thought that the day has lasted years, and the events become increasingly harder and harder to organize in my head.

I start to become increasingly detached from everything that happens. My mind wants to work, but it is barely functioning at this point. With a near apathetic expression I come across the side of the Tauss village. I test my power on the nearest rock, and I discover like in my past two incursions it has increased. The rock splinters into sand, and quickly falls with a loud hissing noise.

Just like the tree the sand falls much faster than on earth, and I assume that gravity is stronger here. The gigantic creature I decide to call an “Eldritch” has even more mysteries surrounding it now. It is impossible for something that large to exist on land even if earth had half of its gravity. The mystery came and went at equal speeds as I acknowledge the fruitlessness of even thinking about the events.

With an exhaustion that perpetually afflicts me while I am in this world, I start to consider how to stop the approaching Goth. Unlike the Eldritch this particular brand of horror is somewhat understandable. It ate, it killed, and it is going to come to this village at some point in the next few hours. 

I decide I can do what I have with the dodo like chickens. I will try and fuse the creature with random inanimate objects. More complex ideas escape my now groggy vision. I walk to a small opening in the woods about a mile away from the village in the direction the Goth is probably approaching from. It is a fair distance away from the village because I didn't want anybody to get hurt in the fight. I lay down on a rock to wait for the encroaching tide.

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Jesus. This took 2 hours to edit. PUHLEASE comment on grammar mistakes.