When I opened my eyes, the first thing I did was look around. I saw the endless expanse of interdimensional space. All the universes looked like stars dotted across a night sky. There were countless! All ruled by their own gods. The sheer beauty of it amazed me. I flew around for a bit looking into other worlds and exploring. I never entered, I didn’t have to. I used my powers to look into the worlds. All of them were beautiful, filled with life of all sorts ranging from cute little animals to giant monsters. The people that inhabited them all looked very different and I found it unique. I heard the gods of those worlds call them “mortals” or “humans.” Personally, I thought calling them that was quite rude, even if that is what they are. I eventually went back to where I was born- formed- uh... came into existence.
I saw someone else there, I immediately knew that his name was Yin and that he was my brother, technically. We’re two halves of the same entity, Xero, so I guess that makes us the same person? I’m not entirely sure, to be honest. I refer to him as my twin brother, even if we look nothing alike.
He always wore a hood over his head so I never really saw what he looked like. The bit of hair I can see is pitch black and I saw that his eyes were a beautiful shade of purple, like an amethyst. He’s also got large and quite beautiful black wings. A stark contrast to my white hair, gold eyes, and gold wings. I’m a light skin tone and he’s fairly pale. He was just staring off in the distance, seemingly deep in thought.
“Hey, Yin!” I called him. He barely looked in my direction.
“What?” he replied coldly.
“What do you think of everything? Have you seen the other worlds? They’re beautiful!”
He scoffed slightly and turned away. He was never one for talking much.
“Sooo... what’s your opinion?”
“It doesn’t concern you.”
“I’m just curious,” I retorted.
He glanced at me again with a raised eyebrow. His eyes were full of loathing.
“You want my opinion on these worlds?”
I nodded, smiling.
“Yep! You know, to have something to talk about as brothers! I want to get to know you and form a relationship with you.”
I noticed a spark of surprise in his eyes, but the loathing quickly came back after that. He turned away again.
“I could care less about these insignificant worlds.”
I was very taken aback by what he said. Insignificant? I knew we were opposites but I wasn’t expecting this.
“Can you elaborate?”
“I’d rather not.”
I nodded, respecting his decision. We fell into a rather uncomfortable silence. Yin didn’t like the other worlds. I began wondering why. I knew asking was going to be pointless because he would refuse to answer. So I began thinking, trying to come up with ways for both of us to get along. We’re both incredibly powerful. The idea of creating our own world together came to me like a slap in the face. We could make the world how we both want it, and both of us would be happy!
“Do you want to create a world with me?”
He looked directly at me this time, with utter shock all over his face. He quickly composed himself and went back to his cold, unfeeling expression.
“Create?”
“Yes.”
He thought about it for a moment.
“Why?”
“Because it looks fun! Sure it’s going to be a lot of work creating and ruling it, but I think we can do it together!”
He stared at me for a while, seeming slightly hesitant, before he grew annoyed.
“No.”
“Huh?”
“I said ‘no.’”
“Why not?”
He was quiet for a moment. Fury crept into his eyes as he spoke again.
“Why bother creating one when we have enough power to take one for ourselves?”
I was shocked by his response. Take over a world? We indeed have that kind of power, being the two halves of Xero, but forcefully taking a world for ourselves is just wrong.
“We can’t just do that!” I told him, exasperated.
“Yes, we can. No one will be able to stop us.”
“Do you not see how morally wrong that is?!” I retort, getting angry. He scoffs.
“I don’t care about what’s right or wrong. You shouldn’t either. We command all of light and darkness respectively. Space and time also bend to our will. Why shouldn’t we show these inferior beings that they should bow to us?!”
“What is wrong with you?! They’re gods like us!”
“In case you have forgotten, we are the two halves of Xero.” A black aura formed around him. Darkness swirled him as he grew increasingly angry. “We forged the very fabric of reality with our bare hands! We created all the gods, and by extension, the mortals.”
“We aren’t Xero though. We are Yin and Yang. Why can’t we just make a world together?!”
“ENOUGH!!!” He blasted his dark energy at me which I wasn’t able to avoid. It hit me directly in the chest, throwing me back a few feet. I looked at him, shocked. I saw a very brief look of horror on his face but he quickly replaced it with anger. His hands began glowing with his dark powers and he made his way over to me and grabbed my neck.
“We can either fight, or you can agree with me,” he growled.
“I don’t want to fight you.”
He hesitated slightly before suddenly getting extremely angry. He gripped my neck tighter
“I do.” Yin was about to blast my face with his darkness, but I quickly blasted him back with light. He let go of me and doubled over in pain for a moment. I blasted him again, but he countered. We both missed each other and our blasts destroyed two worlds. I was horrified. Yin just had this malicious grin as he stood back up. I heard him laugh slightly.
I grew very very angry.
“You think destroying worlds is funny?!”
“We’re fighting over something we rule over. You should just agree with me and end this before it gets out of hand. If we fight, then countless worlds will be destroyed. I assume you don’t want that now do you?”
I hesitated. I knew he was right. I didn’t want to destroy any worlds and if we fought, that’s what would happen, but I couldn’t just give in to his ideals. I could tell he’s gone mad, and I wanted to be there for him. I was stuck between wanting to protect everything and wanting to be there for my brother.
“If you join me and conquer, I’ll leave the inhabitants of the worlds alone and they can proceed as normal. We will have a say in the order of things, however. We can make reality have true balance.”
I could sense he was lying. He wouldn’t let things proceed as normal. Yin would’ve made everyone suffer. I couldn’t allow that. I looked him dead in the eye and firmly stated my answer.
“I’m not going to agree with your ideals.”
He scowled, but that scowl turned into a small grin as if he was expecting my reply.
“So be it.”
Our vicious battle began. We fought and fought for what felt like eons. Countless worlds and gods were obliterated in our battle. The more worlds that were lost, the more horrified and guilty I became. I wanted to stop, but I knew I couldn’t. If I gave up, then Yin would have his way. I couldn’t let him have his way.
Towards the end, we were both exhausted, heavily injured, and bloody. I collapsed. I couldn’t move, everything was hurting.
Yin made his way over to me again and lifted me up. I was far too exhausted to fight back. I could see that his black blood was pouring out of his gaping chest wound and his left eye. He looked even paler than he already was. I could tell that he was also on the verge of collapsing. The fact that he had any energy at all was astounding. I had no energy whatsoever and couldn’t even fight his grip.
“You lose, brother,” he stated, his voice filled with venom. He let go of me, charged his fist with his black energy, and punched my gut so hard that I coughed up my golden blood, rocketed towards one of the remaining worlds and crash-landed on a planet, forming a huge crater and kicking up extreme amounts of dust, smoke, and fire. I was in extreme pain, exhausted, and severely injured, yet I had gained enough energy to take myself to another part of this strange planet. From what I could tell, it was a forest.
After a while, my body gave out on me, and I passed out, falling into a deep slumber.
☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯☯
I slowly opened my eyes. I had no idea how much time had passed. Was it a few days? Weeks? Months? Years? I couldn’t tell. The only thing that registered was the extreme pain I was still in and the blue sky. The dust and smoke must’ve settled. I was extremely dizzy and my eyes couldn’t focus. I passed out again.
When I woke up again, my pain diminished greatly. My eyes focused and I wasn’t in a forest anymore.
Cottage my mind told me. I’m in a cottage, wrapped in cloth.
Bandages.
I noticed that I was on top of something far more comfortable than the ground I was on earlier and was raised off the wooden floors a bit. I was covered in soft cloth too, and my head was raised on something soft.
Bed. Blankets. Pillow. My mind told me. It seems that my powers are granting me the knowledge of passing time. Weird. Time is Yin’s domain. Maybe I have a little bit of his powers?
I took a deep breath through my nose, and I was hit with a wonderful aroma.
Food. My mind once again told me.
I don’t need to eat, as I am immortal and do not require sustenance to live, but I wanted to try whatever food was being made.
I sat up, fighting the pain. There wasn’t much pain but enough to be very uncomfortable. I took the blanket off of me and see two wooden planks against my left leg, holding them straight.
Splint. Used for broken bones to help them heal properly.
So my leg was broken. I was covered in bandages around my chest and some on my head and right forearm. I noticed another splint on my right wrist.
I wasn’t aware of how injured I was until I saw all the bandages and splints on me. I must’ve been severely injured.
A groan escaped my mouth because of the pain. I tried to stand up, but that wasn’t happening.
“Woah woah woah woah!” I fell over and pain shot through my body as I landed with a thud on the floor. “Ow!” I tried standing back up with no success.
I heard someone rush over and enter the room.
“Art thou- I mean- are you okay?!” A woman's voice asked me, very worried and helping me up. I looked up and I couldn’t form words. My stars, she was beautiful. Her hair is light blonde and her skin is light. Looking into her beautiful blue eyes, I can see that she’s a sweet and caring woman filled with nothing but kindness. However, her eyes were filled with worry and I didn’t like that. I didn’t want her to worry.
“I...” I started, just staring. I was absolutely mesmerized by her.
“You...?”
“I’m, I’m Yang.” I told her.
“I’m Helena... and art thou- uh- are you okay?”
“Uh... y-yeah I’m fine.”
I was curious as to why she kept changing her dialect, but I didn’t want to ask for fear of being rude.
She helped me up and back into the bed. I finally noticed that I was only wearing some pants with the left leg sleeve thing torn off to just above the knee. I think it was to make putting the splint on easier. I gingerly reached towards my back and found that my golden wings weren’t there.
They’re hidden. Your powers hid your godly form.
I put my hand down.
“Are you hungry?” Helena asked.
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I nodded my head yes, even though I can’t feel hunger.
“I’ll get thee- you something!” She smiled. Her smile... my stars my heart just flew at the sight of it. So radiant and kind, brimming with comforting warmth.
“Thank you.”
After she left the room, I began internally processing about all the events that transpired. Yin and I fought. I lost. I crash-landed on this planet. Then I passed out and have been asleep for who knows how long. I knew for certain that it wasn’t just a few days. The amount of dust and smoke I kicked up wouldn’t have just settled after a few days.
I grew sad that Yin and I didn’t form a relationship, and instead were at war with each other. I knew I had to stop him from taking everything over. Countless worlds, people, gods... all of them would suffer if he succeeded. Darkness will fall and consume everything. But his eyes... there was something other than loathing in them. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, as the glimpses were very brief- at least half a second but I knew there was something else. It bugged me.
I didn’t have an army or the energy to fight him. All I knew was that I had to stop him somehow. I had no doubt he had already started his conquering campaign with whatever worlds remained after our battle and there was nothing I could do at the time. I felt completely helpless.
Helena came back with something in a bowl, distracting me from my thoughts. It smelled amazing and I was very eager to try it. I looked into the bowl and saw soup. It had vegetables and some chicken in it. The flavor just exploded in my mouth as soon as I tried it.
“This is amazing!”
Helena beamed.
“I’m glad you like it!”
I continued eating the soup, savoring every bite. It wasn’t too long before the bowl was empty.
“Dost thou want more? I mean- do you want more? I made plenty!”
“I think I’m fine for now.”
“Thou hast been asleep for at least a few weeks, probably longer. I’m getting thee more food, and I shalt not take no for an answer.”
Before I could say anything, she took the bowl from me, left the room, and came back with more soup, which I ate.
“What about you?”
“I will eat in just a moment. I want to make sure ye- you are okay.”
I nodded, not entirely sure what to say. I just kept eating the bowl of delicious soup. I would’ve eaten it all day but I knew I couldn’t do that. She needed to eat too.
“Hold on Yang, let me get something for thee.”
Helena left the room and came back a few minutes later with a wooden crutch for me. I wasn’t even done with my soup yet. She placed it on the side of the bed.
We began conversing. We got to know each other a little bit. She made an abundance of soup to bring to the local church to help feed the poor and the homeless. She often visited an orphanage not far from her cottage to help with the children. She did a lot of charity work.
“As any good person should!” she said proudly. I smiled. “So what happened to you Yang?”
I didn’t know what to say to her. I couldn’t just tell her that I’m an immortal deity of light and basically started a war with my brother. She’d think I was insane! I just made something up, however, I’ve always been extremely bad at lying.
“I was mugged and left for dead,” I said, blank-faced. She raised an eyebrow.
“It has been noted that thou- you are, in fact, a terrible liar. What really happened?”
I confessed the truth... well... part of it.
“I got into a fight with my brother over what we should do with our home,” I started, being partially truthful. “The fight turned into a violent brawl that I lost. Next thing I knew I woke up here.”
Helena nodded.
“Thy- I mean- your brother sounds like a horrible man.”
“I don’t like saying unkind things about people... but he really is not a good person on the surface,” I said. “But I think he is really deep down.”
“Thou hopes to find the good in him?”
“Everyone has it, deep down. That’s what I believe,” I began. “There’s always a light in the darkness, and there’s always darkness in the light. One cannot exist without the other.”
Helena nodded.
“That’s true.”
We discussed this topic for a while before I smelled something burning.
“Is something burning?”
She gasped loudly.
“I left the bread in the oven!” She raced to the kitchen. I heard some clamoring as she got the bread out of her oven. I heard her sigh in annoyance. “It’s still edible at least.”
She remained in the kitchen for a little bit longer before she came back in. She handed me the crutch and helped me up. With the crutch, I was able to leave the room and go with her to the living area. It wasn’t too big, just a single room with a small table on the left wall, a fireplace on the right wall with a small brick oven next to it, shelves stacked with dishes, pots, pans, and various utensils for cooking and eating with. The floor had a large soft rug on it dyed white and golden yellow. In the corner by the door, there is a spinning wheel thing that is used for fabric making I believe. On the walls are paintings, beautiful paintings of fanciful scenery, various plants, angels, landscapes, and... me.
“So, what is this painting?” I pointed to the painting of myself.
“Oh... that,” she started sitting down at the table where her bowl of soup and some bread were at. The bread looked a bit charred on the edges, but otherwise still edible. “I... saw it in a dream once.”
Now it was my turn to be skeptical. Before I could ask, she turned to her food and whispered some sort of prayer before she began eating.
I just sat there silently as she ate. I just admired her demeanor and personality. I also admired the paintings she made. I looked by that spinning wheel thing and saw some art supplies and the beginnings of a painting.
“So you saw that angel in your dream?” I asked, referring to the painting of me again.
“Yes.” She answered that a little too quickly.
“I’m a little skeptical...” I said to myself quietly. She heard me and tensed up and continued eating. “Helena, please, tell me the truth. I don’t like lying.”
“Thou- uh- you lied earlier.”
“Valid point and I’m very sorry about it...” I let my voice trail off. I hate lying but I felt I had no choice.
“Thou art- I mean- you are forgiven. Please don’t lie to me again.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
I went over to her and sat down on a spare chair, wincing in pain with each step.
“Please.”
She sighed.
“That portrait... it’s you. I was amazed by how divine you looked, so I painted it.”
I nodded.
“So, can you see through my human disguise then?”
She hesitated for a moment before nodding her head slightly.
“Sorry for asking so much,” I said, feeling pretty bad for being so pushy.
“It’s fine. You would have found out sooner or later.”
We sat in silence as she ate. She could see past the human disguise. I didn't know what it looked like, but I was sure it allowed me to blend in enough to not arouse any suspicion.
I wondered what the world looked like now. Last I saw it, I was barely conscious and kicked up a lot of dust and debris in the air. I didn’t know how I remained on the surface for so long. The passage of time should’ve buried me, literally. Then again, I had no idea how much time had passed. It may have been at least a few centuries or a few thousand years. That amount of time should’ve put me underground with all the changing conditions of the world that piled up over that length of time. My powers kept me on the surface.
“How long ago did you find me?”
“About two or three weeks ago,” she replied. “You know, you ask a lot of questions for a god.”
“Yes, I know. Wait, how did you-”
“I figured it out on my own,” she replied. “I was born with the ability to see things no normal human can see. When people found out a few years ago, I was called a witch and nearly executed, but I escaped. I’ve been hiding here ever since.”
“That’s horrible!”
“As you said yourself, in every light, there is darkness. I’ve always known I was different. I’m able to see otherworldly beings and creatures that are considered fantasy.”
“Such as?”
“Merfolk, fairies, elves, and such.”
Helena kept telling me about her powers and all the stuff she’s able to see. Her eyes lit up with excitement as she explained it all. I was utterly mesmerized by her.
“Magic exists on earth Yang! Humans are unable to see it, but it exists!”
Our conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door. A woman’s sing-songy voice called from the other side.
“Oh, Helena~ I’m here~!”
Helena jumped from her seat and ran over to the door, answering it.
“Celena! You made it!”
Celena has long black hair with silver highlights, light skin, and silver eyes. She’s quite beautiful, otherworldly so. She had a huge smile on her face.
“I come bearing welcome gifts for your new boyfriend!”
“Boyfriend?” Helena and I said in unison. We looked at each other and our faces flushed red.
“Aww don’t deny it you two. Yang clearly has feelings for you, Helena. And you sent me page after page of letters gushing over him.”
We blushed even more. Celena was carrying a basket of jars filled with what looked like really thick oily stuff and small bottles filled with liquid. I assumed it was medicine or something used for cooking. It was all labeled in a language I couldn’t recognize.
“I went to visit Hana about your request for medicine and the woman went into a frenzy preparing all this medicine,” Celena explained. “I think she went a little overboard.” She took a good look at my horribly injured self. “Or she was absolutely justified because, oh my stars, you look awful. And I mean that nicely. As in, like, you look very physically awful. Not that I’m calling you ugly! You are incredibly handsome actually. What I mean is-“
I raised my non-injured hand to stop her, which she stopped. I was also trying to keep myself from laughing.
“I know what you mean Celena. I am very wounded.”
She sighed, relieved that I took no offense to her rambling. If anything, I found it quite amusing. She’s very energetic.
It took a moment for me to register what Celena was wearing. She had a crystal bow and a quiver of silver arrows strapped to her back. Her outfit was white and silver, form-fitting, and had shoulder pads, a chest plate with no sleeves, and a white armor skirt. Her boots were made of leather, colored silver, and went up to her knees. She had white arm guards on her forearms. On her forehead was a small tiara with a crescent moon gemstone on it.
In other words, she’s a goddess, literally.
“So Yang, you and your brother made quite a stir among the other gods in the multiverse,” Celena started.
“Yeah...”
“Not only that, but Yin has conquered like two worlds already-”
“WHAT?!” I shouted, utterly shocked. It startled Helena and Celena.
“Yeah. And he’s been trying to attack this one as well,” Helena explained.
“Wait, I thought you were from a town here?”
“I was. I just recently found out why I have this ability. I always knew I was different. I can also do this.”
Helena let her hands glow in a radiant light. She formed a small orb of light in her hand. I hobbled myself over to her and added some of my own to it, albeit rather weakly due to the state I was in.
“Celena,” I started. “Do you know anything about healing?”
“I know enough.” She began rummaging through the basket and pulled out a bottle of liquid, colored grassy green. “Thank goodness, she labeled these. This one is... oh, the all-cure potion. Heals any and all injuries and ailments. Okay then. Drink this.” Celena uncorked it and handed the bottle to me. I grabbed it with my good hand and drank all of it. Immediately I felt a change. My pain went away completely and I was able to move my leg and wrist again. All of my bruises and cuts faded away. Some of my energy was also restored.
I felt almost good as new. Helena took the splints and bandages off me. All that remained were some very noticeable scars on my chest. Celena whistled.
“You, good sir, are very handsome. Wanna share him, Helena?”
“NO!” Helena shouted defensively. “I- I mean-“
Celena laughs.
“I’m just teasing. I know he’s yours.”
Our weird conversation was interrupted by a few ravens swooping in cawing frantically. I did not know ravens could sound that frantic. I see Celena and Helena’s faces pale
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
They looked me dead in the eye.
“Hana is in trouble. She’s being threatened.”
Helena surrounded herself in light and her traditional colonial American dress was replaced with an outfit that’s similar to Celena’s, but the skirt is longer, the shoes are sandals that tie up to her knees, and the outfit is gold and white. She also has beautiful white wings.
I changed to my godly attire, white robes with a gold sash, and let my golden wings come out. It felt good to have my wings free again. We all raced out, flying as we were following Celena.
“Sooo Yang, how do you like the outfit I made Helena?”
“It’s perfect for her. And did you ‘made?’”
“The girl had no godly clothes so I made some for her.”
I looked over at Helena.
“I found out I was a goddess about a month before I found thee- I mean, you. Celena and the others have been helping me.”
“There are others?”
They nodded.
“The others are Hana, Virgo, and Pisces. They’ve been trying to keep Yin’s forces out of this world. Though it seems Hana is having problems.”
“You guys don’t talk the way people here do, at least I assume so.”
“Well when you hang out with a god that’s half fish and his hot-tempered wife, you tend to pick up the way they talk,” Celena said.
“Humans where we just at spoke in what Virgo calls ‘the boring dialect,” Helena explains. “Using words like thee, thou, thy, doth, ye, and stuff like that. I’m still trying to break that habit.”
“Where were we just at?”
“The people there recently declared themselves as the ‘United States of America’ not that long ago,” Celena told me.
“Ugh, King George thinks he can tell us what to do. I didn’t fancy having to quarter some of his soldiers. They ruined my carpet and my paintings. And let’s not forget having to pay a tax for buying sugar and paper!”
“This isn’t your problem Helena... you aren’t human.”
“T’was my problem a few weeks ago!”
Our conversation was interrupted by a burst of energy shot towards us. We all barely avoided it. We looked in the direction of the blast and saw a man with light red skin, sharp pointed teeth, and blood-red eyes grinning at us madly. His hair was short and white, with horns like a ram, as black as night. Behind him was a huge army of beings made from pure dark energy.
He was one of Yin’s servants.
“‘Bout time y’all showed up. Had me waitin’ for too long. I was gettin’ mighty bored,” he said with a thick county accent.
“Abaddon,” Celena growled low. Helena looked rather nervous. Abaddon cackled.
“Pleasure to see ya again missus Celena,” he said with a mocking bow. “I’m afraid introductions will have ta wait. Master Yin don’t want any interferences. I’m plenty strong enough for y’all, but since ya kept me waitin’ for far too long, my army will have some fun rough housin’ instead.”
Abaddon snapped his fingers and the weird energy beings lunged towards us.
Celena whipped her bow out and fired her silver arrows, charged with energy. That one arrow soon split into hundreds of arrows, eradicating the beings they collided with.
Helena summoned a spear, the staff portion was made of solid gold and the blade was long and intricately designed. It looked beautiful and deadly. She charged head first blasting light, slashing at them with her blade glowing and charged with energy.
I have no weapons. I don’t need them. Instead, I fought with my powers. Blasting at them, manipulating the light as a deadly weapon, striking those creatures down with every blade of light I conjured. It seemed that for every one we destroyed, three more would take its place. There’s only so much we could do.
We fought them off for hours. By the time we destroyed them, we were exhausted and drained.
“Heh. Seems you are strong Blaine.”
“It’s Yang,” I retorted.
“Whatever. Since yer all weakened, master Yin will be mighty pleased to hear that you’ve been crushed under his glorious name!”
He charged at us but was stopped by a large blob of hardened lava being hurled at his face with an audible crunch as soon as it made contact. He plummeted to the ground cursing as he fell.
“Next time you decide to pick a fight, make sure it isn’t near an active volcano you dumbass!” Someone shouted at him.
We turned around.
“Virgo!” Celena shouted happily.
“Glad I came over in time!”
Virgo has long black hair, dark tan skin, and fiery orange eyes. She was barefoot and had a long red skirt going down to her ankles with a slit on the left side. The skirt had lots of flame designs in gold. She had a red and yellow tropical flower on the right side of her head and an orange and yellow sleeveless top on. On her wrists were plain gold bracelets and was also wearing gold anklets. Her necklace was gold with an emerald in it. She looked like she came right from a tropical island.
Then she came right up to me and slapped me hard.
“That’s for making this whole debacle happen.”
“Virgo was that necessary?” Helena scolded.
“No, but still.”
“Damn wench!!!” We heard Abaddon shout as he came back up to us. He had blood pouring out of his nose and a few broken teeth that grew back instantly, a rather disgusting sight to see. I nearly gaged. Virgo looked at him with a furious blaze in her eyes.
“What did you just call me?”
“Ya heard me! A damn wen-”
He didn’t even get to finish that sentence before Virgo went up to him, grabbed him, and chucked him into the volcano with such force that it nearly broke the sound barrier.
“That outta keep him occupied for a bit. Now then, let’s head to Hana. I have a feeling that Moloch is there with her. Beelzebub is currently thirty miles underground so he shouldn’t be a problem for now... I hope.”
“We have no time to waste. We’re almost there. I hope we make it in time...”
We nodded and continued heading to where Hana is.