“The Goddess of Willpower? The god of our world?” Ren shook his head as he began to process this information. While it wasn’t any harder to believe than any of the other bizarre things he had just witnessed; nevertheless, someone coming out and saying they’re a god just sounds straight up incomprehensible.
“Yeah, it is quite a lot to take in isn’t it” Mana responded. “Especially considering that no human should ever meet their god, these circumstances are quite special. Well, I’m sure that with what you’ve just seen, this shouldn’t be much harder to accept.”
“You were watching?” Ren asked. If she really was a goddess then why didn’t she --
“Because I couldn’t do anything.” she said, finishing Ren’s thought.
“Huh? But it’s your world isn’t it?”
“Yes, but for reasons that would be too complicated for a human to understand, let’s just say it was stolen from me by your friend Tye.”
Ren failed to comprehend how a god could lose their world to a human. “I -- I don’t get how that’s possible.”
“To be honest I’m not entirely sure how this happened either, but that’s the truth we both have to accept.”
“So you can’t stop Tye?”
“No, but that’s where you come in.”
“Me?”
“You see, that pond you’re standing in is a portal to your world. As you can see, your world is complete darkness right now,” Mana snapped her fingers and the pool of water no longer held Ren’s reflection, it was nothing but a pitch black darkness, “there’s nothing there right now, meaning Tye is still building his world -- although surely he’s almost finished. Your soul was floating there in nothingness and because you followed my voice you were able to arrive here through my reflection pool.” Mana motioned to the pool of water Ren was standing in. “That’s right, I pulled you out of there and now I have laid claim to your soul. You are going to defeat Tye and reclaim your world.”
To Ren, what was just said may have been a foreign language. “Take back my world?” he questioned. “I’m powerless, as was shown by Tye. If Tye has the power to recreate the world at his will then how am I to compete?”
“Every human has that power.” Mana stated.
“What?” This was one of the most preposterous things Ren had ever heard. Every human has the ability to change their world? Philosophically that sounds brilliant but humans do not physically have the power to alter the world at their will.
Mana looked down at the reflection pool and became panicked. “No, he’s done already? We’re out of time?” Ren didn’t have time to question this, nor did he have any time to question anything. He was left in pure confusion.
“Listen to what I’m about to say and listen well. You’re about to be pulled back into that world, the new world Tye has created. It’s exactly as he said: you will be put into a world with false memories -- you will be living a false life. This is happening because Tye’s will has placed a hold on your soul just as I have done, but it is up to you to break the hold Tye has upon you or else you will be another one of the mindless slaves of Tye’s world. To aid you, take this.” Mana grabbed Ren’s right hand and put a fancy looking gold pendant into it. The pendant had a completely smooth, transparent jewel in the middle of it that made Ren question whether it was a jewel or just glass. “This pendant will be your most important possession and it shall be your hope, for it symbolizes your connection to me.” Ren looked back up at Mana. “I’ll see you again once you break Tye’s hold upon you, but as for now… I’m afraid I must leave you to your confusion.” Ren didn’t even have time to raise his hand and ask her to wait. “Good luck,” those were the last words Ren heard before he blacked out.
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Ren was suddenly staring at himself in a mirror. He blinked twice and then realized he had been spacing out.
“How long have I been standing here?” Ren questioned as he took in his surroundings. It was a standard, cramped apartment bathroom. As he looked around he attempted to sift through his memories and remember his apartment, but his memories seemed hazy, a haziness that had persisted over the past week. For the past week, even though Ren had been living in this apartment for months now he had felt that something was… different -- different being the only word he could think of to describe the way he suddenly felt about his apartment. He opened the door and stepped into his apartment’s main living space. There was a sense of familiarity but the feeling that something was “different” persisted to eat away at Ren. Ren wanted to continue to take in his surroundings in an attempt to remember his room but there was suddenly someone knocking on his apartment’s door. “Someone at my door this early in the morning? It’s almost time to head to school.” Ren said as he went to his door and opened it to see a face that instantly eased the feelings of uneasiness he felt about his apartment. He opened it to see his best friend Sal, a man with long black hair.
“Good morning! Ren!” Sal exclaimed.
“Sal?” Ren was shocked that it was Sal who had suddenly showed up at his front door, the reason being that Sal wasn’t someone a person would expect to be up at ten in the morning let alone seven in the morning. “What’re you doing here? -- and at seven in the morning?”
“Right, right. I know it’s totally out of character for me to be here so early in the morning. To be honest it took a lot of strength.” he said as he yawned. “However!” He yelled as he pointed at Ren. “I came up with a plan last night! And that plan was to--” he paused for a second for suspense, “--skip school!” he yelled.
Ren looked at him with a broken smile. “That’s your grand plan?” he asked. “Listen. School’s boring and all, but I don’t think I’d ever skip school on purpose. Only by accidentally oversleeping.”
“Ren! Have you forgotten what I told you last week?!” Sal exclaimed with passion. Ren always knew that Sal’s personality was… exotic, but this was perhaps one of the first times Sal had ever burst out a question with that much energy before.
“Last week…” Ren trailed off into his hazy memories again. Last week? Sal had told him something last week?
“Ren!” Sal’s exclamation made Ren jump. “I knew it. I knew it! You weren’t listening to me were you! Ah, how could you. That entire rant I went on and you heard none of it!” Sal sighed.
“Ah, I’m sorry, Sal.” Ren still remembered nothing about what Sal was talking about so all Ren could do was to go along with what Sal was saying. “Yeah, I have no clue what you’re talking about.” Sal might as well have gone and cried in the corner after the brutally blunt blow that Ren had just landed in Sal’s gut. Sal looked as though he could cry rivers of tears. Ren knew he had to do something in order to reconcile with Sal. He sighed, “All right. If this is so important to you that you would want to skip out on school then I’ll go along with you.”
“Really?” Sal’s face beamed with joy. “Even without you knowing what the plan is?”
“Yeah, but just this one time.”
“Hurray!” Sal exclaimed. “That means this will be a surprise then!”
“Yeah... I have absolutely no clue what you have planned.”
“I’ll just ignore the fact that you ignored me the first time. Come on!” Sal began to move on without Ren. Ren leaned out the front door and watched with a broken smile as Sal pranced down the hallway.
“It’s impressive how much faith he has that I’ll actually follow.” Ren said as he followed out the door. Sal then led Ren out of the building and through the city. After walking through the city for about a half an hour, Ren realized where Sal was leading him: the city mall.
“The mall?” Ren questioned.
“That’s right, Ren! The mall! An assortment of stores containing anything one could think of!”
“And something here is important to you?”
“Why yes, Ren… here… at this very mall… a new bakery has opened!” Ren’s jaw dropped. The reason for Sal’s excitement… was a new bakery opening at the mall. Sal looked at Ren’s expression. “Huh? Is there some kind of confusion?”
“No.” Ren sighed. “I guess I should’ve expected this from you.” He caught himself as he said that. Why? Why did he think he would expect something like this from Sal? There was no time left for Ren to think, for Sal had already begun pegging him to move on.
“Yes! It’s time!” Sal’s eyes shined as if his eyes were stars themselves. “Ever since I heard that this bakery was going to open here, I knew it was my destiny to try it.” he said, clenching his fist.
“You sure are excited for this, Sal.”
“HOW COULD I NOT BE!” Sal yelled. Ren tried not to pay attention to all of the eyes that had just turned towards the two. “Do you have any idea as to what this bakery specializes in!”
“Something tells me it’s bread related if it’s a bakery.”
“Naive! Those are the words of someone who is not a connoisseur of baked goods. It is much more, than just bread… Allow me to explain.” Sal carried on with his rant about how spectacular baked goods are as the two continued into the mall. Meanwhile, a force hiding in a nearby alleyway began to make their move.
“Sir, when are we going to begin the operation?” One of the hooded figures asked another.
“Soon. I’m expecting the other groups to be in position shortly.” The hooded man responded. The first figure continued to stand there hesitantly next to their commander and the commander took notice of their hesitation. “What’s the matter?” he asked.
The figure was taken aback. “What do you mean?”
“You’re hesitant. What’s wrong?”
“It’s just… what’s going to happen to the civilians?”
“The civilians are to remain unharmed, just as planned. They’re just victims like us after all.”
“I know that. I know none of us would harm any civilians.”
“So you’re talking about them then?” The figure nodded in response. The commander looked down at the ground. “Yeah. I can understand why you’d fear them. They just might kill the citizens in their attempt to kill us. I wouldn’t be surprised at all.” He bit his lip as he recalled his experience with them. “They were there, you know. Instantly. As soon as we remembered, they had appeared -- as if from thin air… and I was the only one who made it out of there alive. It’s hard to believe that was one week ago.” The commander then looked back up into the figure’s eyes. “However, they are but only a handful of monsters while we are many. We outnumber them ten to one. We can crush them. Yes!” he exclaimed. “That is what we must believe! Otherwise…” he trailed off. “Otherwise we’ll die without at least putting up a fight…” he said in a voice so low that the figure standing next to him couldn’t understand what he was saying. The figure, now determined to defeat these “monsters,” decided it would be best to fall in line with the other members of the force they had gathered and await the order to begin the operation. The commander stood there contemplating their odds against the monsters they were about to face. Ten to one? Would that be enough? Would they be victorious? Would they die without meaning? Nevertheless, the sound of his phone ringing meant that the time to find out was almost upon them.
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Character File
A Friend: Sal
Age: 18
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Long, black
Height: 6’ 0’’
Clothing: A fancy robe
Information: An energetic and passionate friend that Ren meets in the new world. How do the two know each other? -- or, why do they think they know each other?
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
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“How is it, Ren! How is it!” Sal was leaning over the table, his shining eyes awaited Ren’s answer. Ren smiled as he bit into his chocolate cookie, a smile that almost broke because of Sal’s overdramatic questioning.
“It’s delicious.” Ren responded.
Sal gasped. “Yes! Yes, now do you understand the true beauty of baked goods?”
“Yeah, it’s a pretty good chocolate cookie. I’m not sure if it’s a good enough excuse to skip school though.” Ren may as well have just destroyed Sal’s world with a nuclear strike.
“I see.” he said quietly as he turned away from Ren. He then turned around, bright as ever, with a plate of cookies in his hand. “This just means you haven’t learned just how good these cookies can get yet, Ren! Prepare yourself! We do have all day after all!”
“Eh? You expect me to eat cookies all day?”
“Of course! You will not leave here until you understand!”
Ren sighed. “I guess if some teacher sees us after school’s over they won’t have to ask any questions because I really will be sick.”
“No.” Ren looked up as Sal said this.
“Could you… could you possibly be coming to your sens--”
“If you truly love baked goods then you will not get sick!”
“That’s a lie!” Ren yelled. Ren smiled at the bizarre friend he had. He may not have had the clearest memory, but surely he knew that this bizarre friend of his could make every day of his life interesting. But this fun event was stopped by the large sound of an explosion that had to have originated from nearby. “An explosion?!” Ren exclaimed. Ren looked at Sal whose bright expression suddenly became very serious.
“Let’s take a look outside the shop, Ren.”
“Right.” he agreed. The two ran to the entrance of the shop and peered around to the right, the direction in which the sound of the explosion originated. A few shops down was obviously where the explosion originated for the large, flaming debris was spread across the mall’s corridor. One would think that this was just a freak accident and that the right decision one would make would be to assist any of the people who may have been caught in the explosion… but that’s when the screaming began. Ren and Sal began to hear screaming from both down the left corridor and down the right corridor, meaning that there were people who were screaming because of some reason that was not the explosion. The reason for this conclusion? If the explosion occurred to the right of Ren and Sal that would put the people to the left of Ren and Sal even further out of harm’s way than the two of them were, so there would be no cause for someone to scream because that person wouldn’t have a great enough reason to believe that they were in harm’s way; however, there were bound to be some people who were a little less stable than others so screaming in such a situation is still expected, but the number of people to break down like that would only be a handful of people. The real reason to expect that the screaming was not caused by the explosion was because of the number of people screaming. The volume of the screams heard by Ren and Sal sounded as if the mall itself was screaming from the multitude of people fearing for their lives.
“What the hell’s going on?!” Ren questioned. People, coming from the direction of the explosion, began to run past the bakery in an attempt to flee from the mall. Some of the customers in the bakery had already begun to do the same.
“We should get out of here, too.” Sal said as he watched the people flee.
“Sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to sit tight and stay inside this bakery,” a voice had commanded them. Sal looked to his right to see a hooded figure standing there with a broadsword over his shoulder.
“You -- you’re one of those rebels that came up on the news last week aren’t you.” Sal questioned. Ren looked at Sal as he spoke these words with conviction. Ren knew of these rebels Sal spoke of because the story came up on the first day that he felt that he was truly cognisant. After school had ended for the day, Ren had gone home to his apartment and turned on his TV to hear about some rebels who had suddenly appeared. Apparently around noon that day a group of people had gotten together with a goal to overthrow the government but the group was destroyed before they had a chance to recruit any members. However, while the group was labeled “destroyed” by news companies, a rumor began to circulate around social media that one member of the group had miraculously survived and was looking for people who “remembered.” Ren was now beginning to believe that the social media rumor was true as a group of hooded figures surrounded the front of the bakery.
“I’m sorry for this, but you’re all hostages!” Another rebel yelled as a group of about nine hooded figures appeared behind the man with the broadsword. One of the men who was in the bakery yelled back.
“Why’re you doing this! Why’re you attempting to destroy everyone’s lives!”
“Everyone’s lives?” One of the hooded figures laughed. “What good does a false life do for anyone?” For some reason the words “false life” hit Ren and gave him the same feeling he had when he was attempting to remember his past. He looked down at his pendant, something that felt so important to him yet gave him the same feeling of haziness.
“All right, all right.” said the figure standing behind all of the rest. The figure worked his way through the other hooded figures and into the bakery as he continued to speak. “I know that what you think we’re doing is unreasonable, but I promise you that in the end you’ll be thanking us.”
“Thank you? I bet you’re the ones who caused that explosion just now aren’t you! How could we ever thank someone who just murdered people?” The person who yelled this at the rebels was none other than the owner of the bakery who was still standing behind the counter of his shop.
“You seem to have a misunderstanding.” said the same figure who had just spoken. He said this as he took off his hood to reveal his own face. He was a handsome man with blond hair. He stood there with a solemn look on his face as he continued to speak, “No civilian was hurt. The explosion killed no one. I made sure of it. I would never kill another person -- especially not one that has been brainwashed just as I had been.” The people of the shop appeared shaken by the response the man had just given but still viewed him as an evil force. Ren looked at him a bit differently. Why would he do the things he did? He didn’t seem like an evil person. The person Ren saw before him seemed… like a normal human being. The man looked over at Ren and Sal and smiled at them, but it was a smile full of pity -- pity because he knew they were ignorant of their position -- and he said to them, “I’m sorry but I’m going to have to ask you to take a seat in here for a while. I promise we’ll be done here quickly and you’ll be on your way back home.” Was this man -- this man who appeared to be a completely normal, honest person -- was he truly evil?
There was nothing else Ren and Sal could do besides follow the orders of the man. Sal sat down without question and Ren sat down full of questions, just that he asked none of them. How long were they going to be there for? What was their goal? The answer to these questions would actually be revealed quite soon.
“Commander, are the other groups in position?” One of the figures asked the man without his hood on. The commander stood there with his phone next to his ear.
“Nothing.” he replied quietly.
“What?” the figure questioned.
“Nothing!” the commander responded again, but this time in fear. “These screams, I knew that meant they were here already but -- for all of them to be dead, too!” Ren looked at the man’s face, one that was so calm just a moment ago but now looked as though he knew he was already dead. “Everyone! In formation! They’re going to be here any --” The commander’s yelling was cut off as a sword had stabbed through his abdomen and lifted him into the air. Blood burst out of the commander’s mouth and the customers of the bakery who had been taken hostage cried out in fear, for they had no idea what was going on. Ren, who had been staring at the impaled man in horror, turned to look at who had stabbed him. The culprit was one of the hooded figures, no! -- the hoods worn by the rebels were all a light brownish color, but the hood worn by the one who had impaled the commander was dark black. This black cloaked man must’ve appeared out of nowhere and stabbed the commander right in front of all his men! The speed it would’ve taken for no one to have seen that -- that would be inhuman!
The black cloaked man standing there with the commander hanging on his sword flung his right arm to the right, causing the commander to fly off the sword and roll across the floor, ultimately ending up motionless against the wall. The hooded figure with the broadsword burst out in anger.
“I’ll kill you!” he yelled as he swung his heavy broadsword straight down at the man in the black cloak. The man in the black cloak turned around and deflected the strike of the broadsword effortlessly by using his own sword. The man in the black cloak then sheathed his sword and stood in a rested position, a position that made it appear as if he was completely defenceless. The man then watched as the hooded figures surrounded him. Ren’s mind was still fixated on the sight of seeing the commander murdered so brutally right in front of him, but Sal calling out to him from his right brought him back into reality.
“Ren!” Sal yelled at him. Ren snapped back into reality and saw that Sal was pointing to the exit. Ren knew what Sal was trying to convey: the two could now make their escape since the rebels were fighting the hooded man.
“Let’s go!” Ren exclaimed to Sal, who was already standing up out of his chair. The two ran behind the figures and out of the door, instantly turning to the left and making a break for it.
The black cloaked man watched as the two successfully made it out of the room. The figure holding the broadsword noticed that the man wasn’t paying attention to the nine people standing around him.
“Where the hell do you think you’re looking! Why would you need to pay attention to two people who aren’t trying to kill you?” the man with the broadsword had questioned.
“This place... it’s actually close to the exit. So they may make it out without me killing them.” The cloaked man said this as if it were the natural thing to do.
“What?” the man with the broadsword questioned.
“This incident you’ve caused,” the man in the black cloak said, “means that we’ll have to take drastic measures this time. Meaning that everyone who was in this mall must die. That is what it takes to ensure this world’s security… although it won’t last much longer anyway. Let’s just say it’ll ensure that the next world is free of your kind.”
“You bastard! I’ll just make sure that this ‘next’ world of yours is free of you as well, you monster!” The man with the broadsword lunged forward at the man in black but was cut in half before he had time to wind up his swing, a feat that the man in black had accomplished just by using his right hand. The rest of the hooded figures attempted to kill the monster standing before them, but the result was the same for each of them -- and he had killed them so effortlessly, too. The monster then turned towards the citizens cowering in fear.
Ren and Sal were near the exit. Just a little more and the exit would be on their left. Ren turned around to see if there was anyone following them, be it the rebels or the cloaked man, he wanted to know if one had emerged victorious and was following them. Although with what Ren had seen, he had hoped that the hooded figures would’ve emerged victorious… but the one chasing them was none other than the man in the black cloak, and he was fast approaching. Whatever was underneath the cloak was no human, for no human could be that fast.
“Don’t look back!” Sal yelled at Ren.
“But--” Ren attempted to petition but Sal cut him off.
“If you’re looking behind then you’ll have trouble running forward! Focus on running!” Ren took one last look behind them to see the cloaked monster make some kind of movement. Was he… throwing something? Something had indeed been thrown, for out of the corner of his eye Ren saw an object fly at incredible speed, and that was when Sal cried out in pain as he fell to the ground, and they were right at the exit, too. Ren quickly stopped and went to help Sal get up. As he reached to pull Sal’s left arm over his shoulder he saw that the cloaked monster had thrown a knife into Sal’s left leg in the perfect spot to sever the tendon. There was no way Sal could run now, but even so! -- Ren could not leave his best friend behind to die to some monster! Sal put his arm around Ren’s shoulder and Ren helped him to stand as they began to move out of the exit.
How many more steps could they take before the monster caught up? Four? Two? Or was he already there? The two had made it outside where the clouds in the sky may have been pitch black and it had started to rain; however, neither of the two paid attention to these details as they continued in their attempt to flee because to them it seemed insignificant. There was no time to worry about the weather because the monster behind them was scarier than any thunderstorm.
There was no escape from death: this was the conclusion Ren reached as the sword impaled Sal. Ren looked to his right in horror as his friend was impaled before his eyes just as the commander had been. Before Ren could do anything he was hit in the face by something, and hard -- so hard that he was knocked backwards, hit the ground head first and did two backwards rolls before he was there, lying face down on the ground. Ren struggled to get up, his nose bleeding from the impact and his arms felt limp. He looked up to see that Sal had fallen to the ground and had looked over at him. He looked as if he was saying the words, “Run, Ren.” Then the monster’s sword came down once more, stabbing Sal in the side of the head to finish him off. The monster removed the pitch black sword from Sal’s head and Ren watched as the blood slowly began to drip off the tip of the sword and onto the ground. Ren’s eyes then shifted as he looked up as the monster inched closer to him. He could now see that underneath the hood was darkness, pure darkness save for two bright red eyes -- eyes that truly seemed to reflect the word: evil.
Ren looked down at his pendant, the only thing left to make him feel better, and questioned why his friend’s life had just been taken by some monster and how he had been powerless to do anything. Powerless to do anything? Had he really attempted to do anything? He had done nothing to stop the monster -- nothing at all! -- and what was he doing now? Sulking? Feeling dejected? Looking down at his pendant, he felt reminded that there was still something he could do, if only he would stand up and fight. That’s right! FIGHT!
The monster standing before Ren had raised his sword into the air and began to swing downwards aiming to slice Ren in half, but was blown back by an intense force and blinded by a bright green light. The monster held up his hand to shield his eyes from the green light.
“Oho?” The monster said, surprised.
Ren had gotten to his feet, his body seeming to emanate a green light, the jewel in his pendant gone -- shattered by his will. In the moment he had decided to fight, Ren’s pendant shattered (as he would soon learn would be because his willpower was unleashed) and it was in that moment that his memories returned to him. He had been released from the hold Tye had on him. Ren glared at the monster fiercely.
“That look,” The monster began, “I’ve seen it so many times before... Most people have always been dead before they had the chance to give me that look. That’s a look of determination -- a determination to kill.” The monster stood there, motionless, as he stared at Ren.
“Damn right.” Ren responded. “I don’t know who the hell you are or what connection you have with Tye, but for you to kill people so mercilessly -- you can’t be forgiven!” Ren threw his hand in the monster’s direction and pointed at him.
“Yeah.” he agreed. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” The hooded figure looked up at the sky, leaving Ren confused by his behavior. One of Ren’s thoughts was, “Why isn’t he trying to kill me?” or, “Why did he just agree and do nothing else?” The monster looked back down at Ren. “I’ll have to have my fun with you another day. I hope you won’t disappoint.”
“Wha -- what the hell do you mean!” Ren burst out.
“Look at the sky. It’s a sky you’re familiar with, yes?” Ren finally took notice of the dark, stormy sky above him.
“It’s -- it’s just like the other day when Tye…” he trailed off.
“Yes. That’s precisely it.” said the monster. “This means Tye has finally woken up
from his slumber, has seen that this world has been full of problems, and will once again seek to rewrite the world because of that.”
“So I was too late then.” Ren said.
“You’ll have your chance again in the next world. I’m looking forward to it, Ren.” Ren questioned how this monster knew his name, but since he had some kind of connection to Tye then it was probably obvious how he knew. “You’ll be able to find me easily in the next world. After all, I am the head of the executioners. Know me by my name, Finite.”
“Executioners?” Ren questioned.
“Remember this, Ren. Life is not infinite, it is finite. There is always an end. For you, I will be that end. I am the end, for that is what I bring.” The earth began to shake as a bright white light appeared from the sky and began to expand, this was the world being reset. As the white light moved towards them, Ren continued to glare at Finite. “Remember, Ren. I am your end.” That was the last thing Ren heard before the two of them were enveloped by the white light.