‘What the fuck?’ I had continued echoing like a chant within the recesses of my dazed mind.

My arm still reached out to the empty space, not knowing what to do. My world had seemed like it had been held into a standstill, and I didn’t know how I could possibly go on from there.

My senses of purpose suddenly faded away as soon as the girl, whose existence contradicted my life’s analogy of things, got desecrated right in front of my eyes.

What was this feeling? No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t quite shake it off. Could Shayna’s death pose some sort of meaning to me? No, never. That can’t possibly be the case. Yeah.

However, snapping myself back to reality for a moment, I was suddenly cursed by the misfortune of immobility. Contrary to my usual resolve of confidence, the presence of this despicable being choked me to my very core. I felt in some way the slight emotion of intimidation, because by him, all that laid in my future was death.

You can’t blame me for having this minute existential crisis. I had quite literally just watched and witnessed the death of the first being I ever tried to save. Man, if you ask me, I’d say I ain’t willing to join the crowd and add to the moderately large pool of blood.

“Now, where was I?” The man soliloquised. “Aha, that’s right.”

His body surged an otherworldly force of energy and the entire scenery had its already ominous look be taken a step further. He did not seem to be like a light schedule as he sought to end this bout as quickly as possible with that stance, not giving me a chance to rack up a comeback of any sort.

“Say Goodbye, Jaxon Storm.” He uttered his final words to me.

“Don’t.”

An unmistakable voice from out of nowhere intervened for me. My vision quickly narrowed the angle of the speech to see if my mind was not just playing games on me.

“Tyler?” I voiced out in shock. “Tyler, Tyler, now I don’t want the death of two people on my head due to my ignorance so if you could do me a favour and ru—“

“Don’t kill him, Xandro.” Tyler instructed the strange man, showing some sort of familiarity with him. “At least wait till your turn.”

Tyler, the one I considered my best man, who made my journey thus far in AG worth living, had been yet another pawn in the hands of Zyron to kill me. I wouldn't call the emotion that circulated in my veins as surprised. I'm kind of flattered that this much had been out in place just to get rid of me. Which made me wonder why the big man himself could not just come down and finish the job by himself. I guess I had a being who could clash senses of pride with me all along.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Tyler… you…” I gasped to go with the flow of the big revelation.

“Step aside, big guy.” Tyler ignored my existence, his eyes on a dead lock with Xandro’s. “He's mine.”

Xandro chuckled, mocking his comrade. “Be my guest, Ty.”

Tyler turned towards my direction, and the hearty face of the comrade I was upheld in high regard had been diminished on the spot. “With pleasure.”

As quick as a blink of the eye, Tyler covered between himself and I, face slamming me onto the ground with terrifying ease.

I crashed neck first, the pressure of his attack drilling through the pool of blood and cracking the ground below. The impact was so powerful, sending shockwaves to my skull as I began to feel blood exit from my dome.

My egoistic nature did not allow myself to be violated in such a manner without a comeback. I grabbed on to the arm that had still grasped my face to his shock and wrapped my legs on his head in a triangle chokehold.

With swift and fluid motion, I inverted the position we had initially attained, using my legs to propel myself upward and over my predator.

Without a time to waste as I was the one in control, I maintained an armbar and snapped his arm in two. He groaned in pain but I silenced him with a furious punch, and I did not stop at just one punch. I landed a fury of thunderous punches, pouring out my frustrations of life on him.

“You can't tell me your entire life’s worth was just to be a pawn for Zyron, Tyler.” I died to reach out to the Tyler I knew before, striking him multiple times in his face with brutal punches. “There has to be a part of you who wants to be free from the hold Zyron has on you as a pawn, man. Snap out of it, Ty.”

As I launched my fist to land the emphatic punch, my fist was caught in place Tyler’s index finger, sending back a ripple effect throughout by bodies’ system.

“What the fuck are you mumbling about, Jaxon?” Tyler smirked, his face all bloodied up. “Snap out of what? You baffle me, old pal. To be an instrument for Zyron to exert his will and power on is the true road to ultimate supremacy.”

Tyler punched my gut, nearly boring a hole through it as he launched me a distance away. He got up to his feet, striking a cold pose as he wiped the blood off his lips in style as the damage I had just inflicted on him slowly healed.

“It's a shame.” Tyler continued as rolled on the floor brutally. “If you hadn't been a dick and offered your soul to the big man, you would have been his greatest asset for real. I wonder why He sees you as a threat anyways. You must really be something for your existence alone to cause even a fraction of worry to my Lord’s mind. I'll do Him, and the world a favour by taking on his burdens and erasing it from the memory of existence.”

His cold words made me understand better the truth of life. I struggled, slowly gaining rising up to my feet.

I lit up a smile on my face as I wrapped my right arm around my midsection. Against all odds, there was only one thing to say and do at this moment.

“Yo, Zyron! Wherever the fuck you are right now, I know you're watching and paying attention to every detail to this battle. Orchestrate the outcome however you want, but I want you to know you don't own the life I live, the breath I breathe. Hope you got popcorn or a harem of women or whatever you might possibly use to accompany your main source of entertainment, because you're about to watch your carefully constructed plan blow up in your face as you witness the might of the first ever man to defy the writings of fate.”