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I donât like asking for comments. It makes me look like an attention seeker, butâ¦
Please, I want comments, no, I need comments, whether itâs on my profile or on this thread. Please let me know if Iâm doing anything wrong. Having to go through months without comments start to worry me. Itâs as though my story has no mistakes to it (I am aware of grammatical errors). Please, let me know if Iâm doing something wrong here. Iâm asking for comments not for the sake of commenting. Iâm asking for comments because I want to see if I am improving or making mistakes all over. If you do want to support me, constructively criticise me if you think thereâs something wrong. I wonât mind.

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Chapter 55

Roseâs eyes are half-opened, or half-shut if you were pessimistic. Her chest rose and fell as her mouth stayed opened to draw breath from outside. She didnât think of anything. If you were to look into her thoughts and perspective, you would see or hear nothing. She was standing, but with her back slanted forward. She looked at the black floor, her pupils ran everywhere, fully opening her eyes, as if she were finding something small. Then her eyes rested and her pupils stopped moving. That black floor turned out to be a road, recently rolled with tar all over.
Then finally, she looked up and saw Kogh standing in front of her. His back hair was growing out of his collar of his shirt. When did he have a collared shirt? she wondered. His back was covered by the viridescence of his shirt. I donât even know where I got that word from. He was wearing pants down to his knees and a pair of sandals. Beyond him was a vast number of soldiers pointing their range rifles at Kogh, while a soldier with badges hung at his chest shouted at Kogh.
Kogh and the man were bickering back and forth whether to eliminate Rose or not. She frowned. What did I do? I saved peopleâs lives and they want to kill me?
The man shouted in defiance to Koghâs proposals. The man claimed that Rose killed multiple men and women. She had even slaughtered children.
Hell no! I saved them! She wanted to shout it out, but she just couldnât collect the words. She couldnât feel her tongue. Instead, she glared at the man furiously, her hair falling off.
Then she realised that her hair wasnât tied up. She raised her hands, but nothing came up. She couldnât feel her hands either. She moved her legs, but she didnât move forward. She couldnât feel her legs. In fact, she could only see and hear.
While she raged in her mind that she couldnât tie her hair up, Kogh kept her from being killed, in a diplomatic way. He was talking for sure, but after a few seconds, she couldnât understand a word he said. He was just blabbering to the man.
Even her neck couldnât be moved. But she did feel a loss of warmth around her body. She tried to frown, but if she did, she didnât feel it either.
The man was raising his voice now, though he was blabbering with Kogh. The man suddenly walked towards Rose, but Kogh guarded his way. The man tried to shove him away, but Kogh stood like a statue, except that the statue moved every time the man moved. Rose could tell he was frustrated by his face. His nostrils were flaring and his chest was being heaved continuously.
Then he shouted, and the soldiers behind him took aim and fired. Roseâs eyes widened and she was worried that Kogh was about to die again. No, he didnât die. She wouldâve smiled, if she could move her lips.
Kogh had made a wall of condensed force, massive and tall in front of the army of soldiers. It still hadnât broke, even though the bullets of range rifles were far stronger and faster than blast guns. Rose wouldâve fainted from making that wall.
She heard a SHLAAK as Kogh stuck his hand inside the manâs stomach. She also heard a deepened shout coming from the man. He shouted a command before he fainted and a barrage of gunshots filled the air. The range rifles flared, but the massive wall still stood, zealous and enthusiastic as ever.
Kogh moved his other hand under the manâs head and laid him down in a peaceful sleep. He would be in critical health, Kogh would tell Rose later, but he could still survive, given that most of his soldiers were loyal to him.
Kogh rushed towards Rose and picked her up. She felt his hands on her upper back and knees. He then pushed upward and flew away from the city. After a few moments, she was shivering from the cold, and she regained control over her body. She could twist her neck from one side to the other, her hands could move around freely, her legs could be lifted and so on. She looked at her chest and found out that she was naked. So that explains the shivering. She asked Kogh about why she was bare and what happened. So Kogh told the story from his perspective.
Kogh crashed into the ground, killing two unfortunate men in the process of disarming them. Killing two for hundreds of people was more worth than not doing anything at all. He saw a soldier shouting at Kogh, swearing at him for killing both his friends. Kogh looked down and felt pity for him, and sent a punching blow to the soldierâs face, knocking him out instantly. Now, five soldiers were surrounding him with fists. Others were grabbing their range rifles back, but they had to reposition and repair what was damaged. Range rifles were notoriously known for their fragility. They were like glass cannons. They could fire rounds that could devastate people, but they were easily broken. That was why only specialised and trained men got to use it. Apparently, no one here was trained enough.
Kogh tried to counter the five of them with non-lethal ways; going as far as to kick a manâs nose and crushing it. A soldier, armed with a laser knife, came charging forth, slashing and never letting Kogh escaping. He frowned and moved to the side, dodging the manâs knife altogether. Kogh planted a foot against the manâs back and sent him forward, knocking into one of the soldiers. He heard them curse as they crashed and fell. That left three people. But that was when Kogh formed an uneasy alliance with them, when the monsters of corruption came.
He never remembered the bee-like creatures tearing him apart when Rose brought it up. She frowned at that denial. So, instead of persisting, she let him speak while she made a coat out of force for herself.
The one at the front, presumably the alpha male, screeched at the top of its lungs, if it had lungs. The ear-piercingly sharp noise spread throughout the entire city. Kogh didnât cover his ears, but the soldiers around him did as they looked for the source of the noise. By that time, most of them had their range rifles ready. They took aim and fired, but he witnessed white sparks ricocheting off of the monstersâ shells. No, why didnât the gunshots work? That was when he heard another screech, coming from the opposite direction. He was definite and sure that he saw a monster of death falling from the building.
It was two-legged and had goat-like legs. It had two goat feet. Red fur covered its groin up to its face, except for the face. It looked inhumane, its eyes spread too far apart and its carnivorous teeth grew long enough to reveal itself in the moonlight. Its nose was humanlike, at least, but its ears were as long and pointy as an elfâs, if they had existed. It had claws sharper than Koghâs current force blade design.
It landed on the ground with a soft thud and ran with great force, barging through the people who were in its way. Kogh noticed some soldiers moving towards the monster of death to shoot, but it was too late. It knocked one up in the air and Kogh saw the manâs arm separated from his body. He didnât scream.
It swiped and shoved soldiers away as it charged toward the monster of corruption, as though it had a grudge so strong and fervent that Kogh could smell it. When it was in range, it jumped up and stuck its right hand into the alpha male. The monster of corruption screamed and a moment after, the monster of death too screamed. They fought; the stinger of the bee trying to impale the goat creature, while it kept swinging, dodging and stabbing.
Kogh saw the soldiers around him lowering their weapons, treating Kogh as though he didnât exist. The commander also forgot who Kogh was and looked at the fight between death and corruption; one against hundreds, as a goat tore through bees.
When almost a quarter of them was eliminated, the bees falling and crashing into the ground, the three quarters of them fled. The goat killed the last bee and fell along with it. It landed on the ground softly, holding the bee in one hand while its other hand was wet with blue blood. It breathed heavily and fell to the ground, evidently tired. Kogh rushed towards the monster, knowing it was Rose from the start as the goat returned to a naked Rose.

Chapter 56

Thankfully, the beast still had space to walk around this time. Instead of being caged into that horrible tight space, it was free to move around in a somewhat secluded area. It thought secluded because it only had Jeyneâs company. The beast had started to take a liking on Jeyne. She came every few hours, just to check on it. Sometimes, she even sneaked in a meal of fried chicken for it. The last time it ate before that was when it ate a small part of the gigantic monster of death. The most interesting part of the day was when Jeyne came in and played with it; like the beast catching a ball, chasing Jeyne around (with no intention of eating her, of course), or Jeyne reading a book to it, as if the beast was a child. It gathered and learned more words from books Jeyne brought in, and its vocabulary and understanding of words became broader.
Though, the beast wasnât a child. It had a thinking mind similar to an adolescent person. It knew why Jeyne had brought these books to read for it, or why she came in to check on it; progress, training, security, experimentation, the beast would think. Even though it thought these, it still wouldnât mind listening to Jeyneâs soft voice when she read a book about a fairy granting wishes to humans. Instead, it learned words like âmagicâ, âsparkleâ, âwingsâ and âcontentâ, âsadâ, âangryâ, âcuriousâ and so on.
Each morning, it would wake up and hear light footsteps. Some mornings, it would even hear mutterings and soft curses. That would be gone by the time Jeyne entered the room, which was about an hour later. Then Jeyne would play with the beast in a room large enough for the beast to play around. When it was tired, long after Jeyne was tired, she would walk over, with obvious effort, to a case taller than her. That was its favourite pastime. The case was filled with fictional and non-fictional books. But for its level, Jeyne would pick fairy tale books over others.
It felt like minutes when she read. Whenever she said a word it didnât recognise, it would whimper. It was a normal thing to the both of them. Whenever it whimpered, Jeyne would know that it couldnât understand something. A word, or a sentence, or just maybe the whole story.
The beast would snuggle down at Jeyneâs feet. It no longer felt the need to munch at them. It crossed its front legs and laid its belly on the floor, listening, breathing, sleepingâ¦
When it woke up, it would sense Jeyne sleeping at its side as well. Sometimes, Jeyne barely touched its fur. Other times, Jeyne was resting her head on its back. She wouldnât know that the beast would wake up, since it had no eyes in the first place.
It would try and wake her up; touching her head with its front paws, growled softly at her ear or even poked at her with its nose. When she woke up, she would thank it and leave the room. At first, the beast would bite her shirt and pull at it, wanting her to never leave. But Jeyne would convince it that she would return. Câmon. Itâs selfish of you. Jeyne would say that for the first few days. Then slowly, the beast stopped messing up her shirt. It would only be a few hours before Jeyne returned. Every day, she would explain why she left. One day, she was on her duty, guarding the entrance. The other day, she was helping General Exen, or Popsicle jokingly. They were reasonable activities to the beast.
After explaining why she left, Jeyne would go back to reading stories, as usual. But she would change the type of stories; from fairy tales to science fiction stories. There was one book that interested the beast. It was about a pilot flying a star ship, the LaFist Light. He would travel from planet to planet, trying to find a cure for his wife, who was ill with an unidentified disease. During the journey, he encountered a series of challenges and obstacles, such as fighting a large alien octopus that didnât need to breathe, and battling against a rogue star ship. There were also gratifying moments, like making friends with a Kurdok bounty hunter. The Kurdok race lived in Planet Kurd. A Kurdok usually had humanoid features; limbs, a torso, a head, feet and hands. Though, their skin was greenish and they had big ears, like that of an elephantâs. The Kurdok bounty hunter introduced himself as Jaky.
Eventually, the pilot, whom Jeyne named him Bryan, went through an adventure with Jaky and a few others; Ri, an experienced mechanic, âPew Pewâ, an adept marksman and Faye, a quick and adaptive swordswoman, to name a few. At that point, the beast whimpered. Jeyne explained what a swordswoman was, but she said that it was very rare to see someone use a close-ranged weapon.
Whenever it got to the fighting parts, the beast would crane its neck nearer to Jeyne, even though it could hear her very clearly. It wanted to listen more clearly. Almost every description of fighting scenes was laid out for the beast to imagine. One time, Bryan battled against Jaky about a disagreement on trading a few slaves away. At that time, Bryan hadnât met Ri, âPew Pewâ, or Faye. The beast imagined a steel platform, hung by four strong ropes. Bryan stood on one side and Jaky stood on the other. The only things separating them were metal crates and boxes. Both of them took cover behind them and traded shots with each other, sparks flaring and flying like fireworks. Jaky ran out of ammunition first, followed by Bryan. When they realised it, Jaky ran towards Bryan and sent a punch crunching into Bryanâs left cheek. He fell, but hooked his leg and tripped Jaky, falling with him. The both of them sent hooks, straights and flails at each other, bruising each other to an intense degree. Eventually, they ran out of energy and Jaky gave up about trading the slaves. Both of them realised that they were about to fall off the platform, so Bryan screamed while Jaky pulled him away.
The beast listened to Jeyneâs storytelling for a month, gathering new words, forming and building a vocabulary of its own. At least, of course, until the next major operation, which, ultimately and unfortunately, involved the beast.
(Screw the rules)
âOh, for Godâs sake,â was the first phrase the beast had uttered to Jeyne.

Chapter 57

Avus reached the brain. The coppery smell was stronger and more pungent from before, at least that was what Avus had noticed. But he spent a long time in the worm that he was used to it by now. Perhaps too long of a time. Only when he stopped did he think about Clarissa. Is she alright? Has she gotten to safe place yet? Along the way, he had troubles, like blood flooding him at times that he didnât notice. This disorientated and suffocated him with the iron-like smell and made his eyes hurt and strain so much. He thought he was going the right way, until he realised the mess he had made with his wooden stick before. So he turned around and met another one of those blue blood tsunamis. Thank the bloody gods I didnât go the wrong way again.
He was tightly packed between two walls of flesh, flexible in their own way, while being sturdy and hard to cut. But when it came to the brain, it had an especially spacious room for it to do its thinking, I guess.
But the problem was that he couldnât reach the brain, despite its space. The entrance was too narrow for him to go through. Plus, he was already losing in the war of balance between the two walls. His stick was already a blunt end. It could serve him, but only in beating. He couldnât stab anything past the trachea. Though, throughout every tough stride, he hadnât felt tired. Now that he thought of it, George did do hefty work; farming, carrying large things for his wife, cooking (though not as heavy), and carrying more large things for the villagers. George was a big helper. Avus wanted to see his body build now, but he was too restricted.
He squirmed between the walls, hearing the slimy movement as he went. He was absolutely disgusted by what he heard. But then Iâd be a bloody hypocrite. Bloody hell.
He tried and tried, but his chest was just too big. He retreated to a bigger space behind and repositioned his shoulders, torso and legs, tightening his chest, moving his shoulders back and tucking his legs together. He even went to the extent of contracting his chest by exhaling air at one breath. When he did try, he barely got through.
When he looked down, he only saw a blue wet ragged shirt and a pair of pants in the same state as the shirt. Well, itâd be useless to take it out, now would it?
His sense of gravity was overthrown, so when he took his steps, he would stumble like a baby who was learning his first steps. When he tripped the third time, he accidentally plunged his stick into the flesh.
All the while, he had never heard the worm screech and howl in pain. It just never moved after Avus casually barged into the worm. Only now did the worm screech. He let go of the stick and plugged his fingers into his ears when he heard it. Stupid worm, you have to think of me as well! He admitted before that he was absurd at times. This was one of his times.
He went for the stick stuck on the ground (or flesh), and was about to pull it out when he thought better. He grabbed the stick and pulled it gently out of the flesh, then walked up to the brain.
Weirdly enough, the brain was bigger than almost every organ in the human body combined. It was about two times taller and three times wider than Avus alone. The brain was the small intestines more crushed and crumpled up than before, but instead of the normal pink brain that humans had, the worm had a blue one that matched its blood. Even though your brainâs a colossus compared to my own, youâre still not capable of having cognitive thinking, are you?
Its spinal cord (if the worm did have a spine), travelled downwards and was sucked up by a tiny hole below the brain. What was fascinating to Avus wasnât that the brain was big. What he was amazed at was that the brain didnât need as much blood to survive. This, to Avus, further proved that monsters of death had the ability to regenerate at a fast rate.
Despite that, he stepped back and charged at the brain. He swung the stick forward and bashed at the brain. It absorbed the damage and started to shrink rapidly. Then he realised that his surrounding was also shrinking. Bloody hell! Bloody hell! Bloody hell! It was his favourite curse.
His stick was too blunt for cutting his way through. But then something burst through and smashed the already shrinking brain. It was crumpled more and it squeezed out almost every drop of blue blood in it. It was Clarissa with the same wooden stick as his, except sharper, much sharper.
He noticed that Clarissa didnât carry the gigantic bag. He asked where the bad was, but Clarissa didnât answer. She let go of her stick and ran to Avus and hugged him before he reacted. But he didnât react. He stood there, motionless.
They stood, one clinging onto the other, while the worm still shrank.
Instead of warning her, he just carried her up and exited through the hole she had made. On the way, she apparently realised and grabbed the stick along with her.
Both of them landed outside safely. When Avus turned around, he saw a naked humanoid figure almost ten times bigger than Avus, riddled with small but deep incisions. He supposed that every cut but one was his doing. The figure still had red and slimy skin, but it finally grew arms and legs. Its groin didnât develop. Thank goodness for that, Avus thought.
He remembered the blood dripping from the both of them. He asked Clarissa whether she wanted to clean, but she said she would do it later. Right now, he had to focus on the humanoid figure which was reducing in size, and function if you could call it that.
Surprisingly, Avus and Clarissa never contracted the virus, though it was more surprising for Avus. The Darkness virus was supposed to affect anyone that lingered near the infected for too long. Guess I was wrong.
So, the humanoid figure shrank until the Avusâs size. Now, he could see holes right through the body, though smaller than before. All this happened within a few minutes, which was remarkable for Avus. Shrinking from a size three times longer than a whale to a human in a few minutes was an incredible pace. But all Avus could do was walk away, until Clarissa pulled him in and kissed him.
What for?! Avus thought.

Chapter 58
Henry had already brushed his teeth, acquired a shaving razor and cream bottle and used them, taken a short bath, and worn his casual clothes to head off and meet Popsicle when Jeyne burst into his room, just like last month, What do you want, Jeyne? He didnât have the chance to answer when she grabbed hold of Henryâs right hand and dragged him out of his room.
He complied and ran with her, though he broke her grab on him. He noticed the same monster of darkness from before, running with Jeyne without a leash-
Henry immediately shouted out and demanded a reason for the beast being set free. Jeyne grunted. Thatâs my answer. They kept running. Yeah, thatâs my answer.
But it was when the beast opened its mouth and shared its somewhat childish voice that Henry stopped and widened his eyes and realised that he was breathing through his mouth. He chased after them and, yet again, demanded an explanation for the beastâs first words. Jeyne grunted a second time. Thatâs still my answer. Christ..
Both of them ran and barged into the canteen, where it remained empty, except for a few scraps of food on the floor, chairs and tables. They looked like chewed chicken, small chicken bones and balls of rice, often distorted by teeth. How do they eat in here?
They headed through a different way; left of the clinical bay. Weird how the sick room is just next to the canteen. Jeyne charged towards the door and crashed it open with her shoulder. Jeyne rushed out to the yard while the beast paused in its steps. So did Henry.
The yard was vast, to a degree. Although it was big, the number of soldiers here overwhelmed the area by a lot. Jeyne only had to run a few steps before blending into the crowd and losing herself. The yard was surrounded by tall steel fences with barbed wire spiraling around the top. The soldiers were in all sorts of positions. One was squatting, one was leaning against the fence and putting his weight on it, one was standing but in an awkward stance, one was standing upright, possibly trying to show respect to that mushroom head. Speaking of Popsicle, where is he?
The beast whispered something to itself, but Henry didnât catch what it said. But he didnât bother asking what it was. He was unsure whether to interact with a beast that violently tore his sleeve away before.
Henry now exited to the yard. He only noticed the poorly cemented floor when he stepped on it. There were some cracks and holes to be filled, but Henry shrugged.
He felt a furry surface brushing against the back of his hand. He looked down and saw the eyeless monster of darkness following him to the mess of soldiers, of which one of them was Fat Tim, whom Henry had knocked into. The fat soldier turned around and exhaled a warm and humid breath of air right at Henryâs face. Henry recoiled from it and saw Timâs face of anger that was under his olive green helmet. Henry smirked at how the helmet couldnât fit Timâs bulk of a head. Lose some weight, fat arse.
Fat Tim probably noticed the smug look on Henry's face, because he waddled to Henry and swung both his arms to smash Henry's face with his plump palms, but Henry ducked and heard a loud smack above him. He let out a hysterical shriek of laughter and rolled on the floor, laughing. He felt a sharp bloom of pain at his stomach; Fat Tim's boots, probably. Though, Henry kept on laughing, at least until Tim kicked him the fourth time. Henry changed from laughing crazily to bursting with outright brutality.
He picked himself up and sent a punch at the speed of lightning, his knuckles cracking Fat Tim's nose. Tim fell from the impact, but Henry pulled him backwards, then planted a foot at his belly full of fat. With his hands still grabbing Tim, or Tim's arms, Henry pushed forward with his foot and toppled Tim over. Henry still put more force into his belly, even up to a point of driving his foot into it, when someone grabbed him from under his armpits and up to the shoulders, then hauled him away from a breathless and battered Tim. Though, he wasn't battered everywhere, but his nose was squirting out blood. Henry smirked once again.
Then Henry shouted to let go, but the person wouldn't. Henry turned his head and saw Exen, with the most neutral face he had ever seen. I don't even know if that comparison exists.
Henry didnât struggle to freedom when Exen pulled him away from the scene. He looked down and saw the beast following him, trying to stay with him. He still felt its fur brushing against him.
When they arrived in the canteen, Henry wiped the dust off his shoulders when he was let go. Then a palm met his left cheek and a different kind of pain exploded in his face. The sheer amount of force sent Henry sprawling onto the floor. He attempted to absorb the impact on the floor by putting his hands forward. This instead sprained his shoulders. GOD **** IT! His mind was shouting this phrase over and over when he was rolling on the floor. It wasnât funny this time.
And now, his mouth was spouting the phrase too, repeatedly at that. At a point, his voice went up from the usual pitch. His throat felt sore and his voice sounded hoarse after that. When he was done (he was still breathing endlessly and rapidly), he noticed Popsicleâs eyebrows close together. Why the hell are you frowning, mushroom head? His shoulders still released painful wails, and his face was contorted because of it.
Exen asked to meet him in the interrogation room once Henry was done suffering. He giggled for a few moments before striding away to the yard.
His shoulders still felt painful. Despite that, Henry frowned. Youâd really think Iâd suffer for a long time, do you? He noticed the beast lying down in front of him. Its fur was barely touching him where he lied down as well, twisting with pain.

Chapter 59

Rose was lying on a force platform. She was above the clouds, so she could see the stars pricking from the darkness above. So far, the sun hadnât risen yet. It hadnât for a month now. During that period of time, Rose had been training above the clouds. Kogh had set a force platform so large that he almost fainted. But he had gotten back up quickly and continued to help Rose harness her ability. For a month, she hadnât turned into that goat-like monster of death. And she was grateful for it.
For that one month, she had gotten used to her blade and could think of the image of it in her mind all the time. Kogh mentioned something about it. He said that it was easier to get that certain model that youâd been so familiar with and summon it out. He was right. When Kogh charged at her with nothing, supposedly, she was able to conjure the blade and equip it in time to block his invisible sword. He had also taught her how she could sense her surroundings without ever needing to see, hear or touch; by sending immensely soft waves of force like sonar and pick up information from that wave alone. When she finally got the hang of it, it was an eye-opener for her.
For real battles, she would go to Fisher Village (since she got used to flying as well), and hunt a few monsters of darkness. When they had arrived at the entrance, memories came flooding into her head like a tsunami of black tar. Those memories were painful, especially when she lost her journal. That book was filled with things she had discovered outside. Monsters of corruption, darkness and death. How the sun rose for the first time in her life. How Kogh could use force abilities. There were also questions written on that book she had forgotten. Even as she remembered the place and what she had done there, she never remembered what questions that she had on her mind at that time.
But the sheer feeling of finally killing a monster of darkness in a long time was satisfying. The hissing sound of her blade when she shoved it into a four-legged monster of darkness was music to her ears. Kogh sat in the sky, looking at her, observing her. She had sliced off the flesh of the beast, collected every piece of it at an invisible sling, exerted almost a quarter of her energy and tossed it up to Kogh, who made a platform for the sling to land on.
Kogh said she did well. At least she didnât get hurt. That was the most important thing to Kogh at that time. Probably even now.
All those memories; painful and blissful, were broken into shards when Kogh asked about meeting her father. He pointed out that if he trained her, she would have to bring Kogh to see him. He said that it was a deal. She inhaled and exhaled deeply, and in annoyance. She thought about it for a while.
What do you want now, Kogh?
She tilted her head backwards and diagonally, looking at Kogh, standing and stretching his arms, though it was as though Kogh could stick onto a wall from Roseâs point of view. Kogh repeated his question, with a bit of aggressiveness, now that he had made his side of the deal. Rose stood up, somehow irritated by the tone of his voice, even though she had been with Kogh for more than a month. She sighed, then asked when Kogh wanted to see him. He immediately said tomorrow, because he had to prepare. Rose frowned. Besides the food both of them had collected, there was nothing else to pack up and go. She explained why, until she saw Kogh rubbing his hands. She went closer to look, then saw Kogh pulling his arms away, creating a beam of fire in between. It roared in the space it had, rose up into the air, and it was extinguished almost immediately. Rose now stepped backwards in shock. And wonder.
Kogh said he needed one day to teach Rose how she could conjure fire out of sheer friction, and a bit of force. Her smile was uplifting to Kogh. Well, I guess, anyway, she thought.
She rubbed her hands, but she only felt a slight heat forming, like what a normal human would feel when he rubbed his hands together. Kogh giggled while shaking his head. He told Rose to cover, or dip if you prefer, your hands in force. He said to rub her hands together. And voila! A thin line of fire was shot out of her hands and arced downwards. It touched the platform and disappeared in a hiss. Smoke danced around and floated up.
Rose smiled even more, but then asked how Kogh could make a beam of fire instead of a thin line. Just a bit of time.. Rose though when she kept rubbing. Kogh slowed her down, or else she would have made that thin line of fire again. When she was satisfactory, she sped up the process and separated her hands. Instead of a beam of fire, all she got were flames licking at her face.
In an instant, Kogh put the flames out and quickly tended her face. She felt stings of pain, no, a whole faceful of pain, if that was even a word. She screamed and fell. She panicked and flailed around, forcing Kogh to dodge and hold her down. Even her legs were smashing on the force platform. Unfortunately, with the help of force.
The whole platform shattered and crashed like glass, except there wasnât any sound heard. Both of them fell, but Kogh held on to a wild Rose and wrapped his arms around her tightly. He made a U-shaped platform and slid right onto it, slowing down when they reached the center. The pain was still there, but she closed her eyes and breathed. She felt Kogh releasing his hold on her and stood back. She opened her eyes and asked why. He said her face was repairing itself.
What? She never bothered and closed her eyes. She didnât care about anything other than sleep. So she slept. But when she almost dozed off, Kogh kept apologising, in a muffled voice toned with terror next to her.

Chapter 60

Avus raised his eyebrows, but didn't open his eyes. Very closely next to him was Clarissa. He noticed that Clarissa wasn't wearing anything, though her chest was covered with a blanket. Then he realised, that he was sharing a bed with Clarissa.
What in the bloody hell happened that night?
It had been a month before. He remembered Clarissa kissing him really hard. Even her tongue shot forward and barged into his mouth. He didnât resist. He just stood there, mesmerised. When she was done, she looked in Avusâs eyes dreamily. His memories were fuzzy, but he remembered that the both of them were covered in blue. Her teeth stood out from the blueness of her body. Then she fainted.
In an instant, he jerked forward and caught her inches before hitting the ground. Then he took it upon himself to carry Clarissa away from this land to another; possibly East. But now that he knew that they were in the land of death, he was probably not arriving at East anytime soon. Not even in a month.
Avus was very sure East was the safest city among the thousands of cities all around it. But what he knew was that once you were outside East, you would be standing on the land of corruption, where monsters of corruption were very common, followed up by monsters of darkness. No monsters of death were spotted once on this land. After a certain distance, you would be standing on the land of darkness, though the land of corruption was smaller compared to the land of darkness. On this land, monsters of darkness were more common, followed up by monsters of death. They usually waged wars on one another, but so far, there had been none. The sun (or lack of) was evidence to that.
The land of darkness was a vast area, or rather, circle (since East was a circular city). Avus estimated that the radius from the heart of East to the edge of the land of darkness was about a few thousand kilometres away. That was a lot of distance to cover.
But, after that point, all the land belonged to the monsters of death. Hell, it could even be three-quarters of the planet.
And he was somewhere in the middle of it.
So, maybe I wonât be able to go back. Maybe..
Avus carried her and her backpack. Every hour or so, he would just lay Clarissa on the ground and place the backpack opposite her. He would do some stretching to ease off the aching in his body. Even for someone who had never exercised before, Avus still felt ready to carry more, thanks to Georgeâs efforts. By the time he was ready to carry her again, he saw her rubbing her eyes as she got up. She asked where they were, but Avus just smiled at her. She never said anything else until the next hour.
She asked where they were going. Avus replied with East.
Itâs impossible, though..
His relationship with Clarissa deepened the night she had kissed him, though he wanted it to be platonic. He started to speak without nonchalance; always with interest. He stopped his sarcastic tone and started to have decent conversations with her, mostly about what she and George had went through. Sure, Avus did have Georgeâs memories, but not all of them. Some were fuzzy and some were non-existent until Clarissa brought a certain event into the topic.
She moaned while rubbing her eyes. She thrust her leg forward, kicking the blanket, and revealing her bare chest to him. He turned around, got out of the bed and planted his feet onto wood.
This room was horrible compared to his own office, but it served as a good shelter for the time being. By good, what he really meant was barely livable. Still, it was better than nothing. Between the bed were two table stands. A wooden mug of water stood by Avusâs side. He slid his hand into the handle and chugged the water down. For the first time in his life (in four of his bodies), his throat was dry, most likely because the air was dry. He felt the soreness in his throat, but even with water, it couldn't assuage it.
This inn was like a stereotypical inn back in the medieval era. Some villages and towns never went through modernisation. The reason, Avus did not know. How he found the inn, he knew.
When he was travelling with Clarissa out in the land of death, only sticking to one direction, when one of them felt tired, the pair would settle down and rest. The backpack had enough food and water to last a few weeks. But that was the problem. They could only last a few weeks, even when conserving them. When they stopped and rested, Avus would take the first watch, looking out for any monsters of death. After approximately four hours, Clarissa would take the second watch. After that, they continued on their way on a supposedly new day.
A few hours after the both of them had ate the last set of food and drank the last drops of water, they were starving and thirsty. Then they had found the inn, like how someone would find an oasis in the middle of a desert.
When he opened the door, he persuaded the innkeeper to let them stay for a good nightâs sleep before paying him. He actually succeeded. And it was so bloody easy.
Even with his throat condition, he could still talk, but slightly. Clarissaâs voice whizzed past him, asking when they were leaving. Avus asked her to pack up within ten minutes. She begged to stay for a bit longer. But that âbit longerâ only extended to fifteen minutes.
He opened the door and went outside the room. He jogged down the wooden stairs and bumped into the innkeeper.
Avus would think that in a medieval-styled inn, the innkeeper would follow the theme, but he was proven wrong. He wore a brown jacket that stretched down to his waist, a black T-shirt and a pair of shorts that covered only his thighs.
When he promised that he would pay him, he actually wasnât. He was planning to knock him out and escape with Clarissa. But he met the barrel of a blast gun. It was aimed right between his eyes. The innkeeper, while pressing the barrel against his face, he said that he wasnât bloody stupid to fall for Avusâs tricks.
The innkeeper chuckled.

Chapter 60.5 âAvusâ

Imagination and science has kind of a mutual relationship. Imagination gets its shape, volume and structure from the laws of physics, and to a certain extent, chemistry and biology. But it doesnât completely follow the laws of physics. Someone can imagine a floating ball on Earth, and a ball that falls in space as though there was a gravitational magnitude from a random direction. One can also imagine a poisonous snakeâs venom can cure cancer, and a type of antibiotics can kill someone.
Itâs weird. Imagination doesnât fully fit into scientific laws and theories as well. It defies them instead. But itâs what helps ascend science in almost every way possible. Air travelâs made possible because of that. Land travelâs made possible because of that. Hell, weâve made weapons because of that as well.
Imagination and science are like two best friends, climbing up to see whatâs on the other side of the wall. One friend is thoughtful, rational, logical and curious about the universe but very shy and antisocial. The other is often cheerful, joyful, and has extreme ADHD. He is volatile, and sometimes even dangerous. Even though the other friend is afflicted with a serious disorder, that was actually what helped the both of them achieve what they want; progress. They still are doing it.
Iâve always marvelled at how they correlate with each other so well. Them helping each other to find everything out. That, to me, is beautiful. But of course, it canât always end well. Science has been used for wars, though not in my two lives. There were wars, but they werenât important in this region.
Hopefully, Iâll be able to do something that revolutionises science. I hope Iâll be able to do it.
And all this Avus got from his second life, when he closed his eyes while playing on a swing.

Chapter 61

It followed Henry whenever he went. It stayed by him when he sprained his shoulders; when he was taken to the medical bay, where he rested for a few hours before. Though it did wonder why there was an emergency outside. Jeyne wasnât here, so it wouldnât have an answer. Henry didnât know anything as well.
Maybe General Exen put someone else in charge.
During the few hours of Henry resting, the beast would loiter around in the room and linger a little bit longer when it was asked to leave. Mostly, it was the nurse who shooed it away, but when Henry woke up, he asked it to leave as well.
Well, looks like nobody wants me-
It was proven wrong. Jeyne was right in front of it, squatting to reach its head level. She patted its head and asked to follow her to the reading room. That was what the beast would call it.
On the way back, it would think about what stories Jeyne would tell it. Maybe LaFist Light (the book about the pilot who flew a star ship, LaFist Light), or traditional fairy tales. Aesopâs Fables was its least favourite. It didnât know why. Though, one of its favourites was The Hobbit. That novel had such a sweet arrangement of words for the beast.
When it entered the room, it saw someone else. If it had eyebrow muscles, it would frown.
Exen?
He was standing by the far end, leaning on the wall with his arms folded. As usual, he kept his mushroom hair neat and straight.
Heh, General Mushroom.
It kept its laughter to a bare minimum. It didnât think anyone heard it, but it felt as though Exen was staring at it with piercing eyes. Its laughter (though very little) stopped.
Jeyne already knew the beast was introduced to General Exen, but she introduced it to him just in case. The beast had courtesies and manners, thanks to Jeyne teaching the beast what was right or wrong. It bobbed its head in respect and raised it back.
Exen snickered, saying that the beast had manners, though deliberately in a mocking tone. Jeyne didnât try to defend its dignity, although it didnât need the dignity.
He explained why he was here; to take the beast out to see if it could handle the work of a soldier. He guessed it would be past time to see the beast in action. He claimed he had never seen the beast actually killing something before. And he reckoned that it would be one hell of a show.
With insurmountable innocence in its tone, the beast asked whether Jeyne could tell a story after it was over. Jeyne smiled and agreed to keep the promise.
Exen shifted in his position and started moving. When he first exited the room, Jeyne and the beast followed after him.
Exen briefed them that they were going out of headquarters to control the number of monsters of corruption. Then Jeyne reminded Exen that they were humans too, just like the beast.
But Exen reminded Jeyne that he preferred the safety of current humans rather than other humans who just attack the current humans for no other reason than primal instinct. Jeyne kept her mouth shut after that.
They were out on the yard again, but there werenât any soldiers present, except three.
The beast knew Henry wasnât there, since he was in the medical bay. There was a fat soldier, a rather thin one and one that looked like the leader.
It heard Exen shout out to a Private Tim, and the fat one moved in front by one step in a rigid fashion. Exen introduced the beast to Private Tim. When he spoke, he sounded as though he was tired from a five-kilometre marathon. He huffed and puffed after almost every word he said. He explained, though slightly inarticulately, that they were just going around Klensburg to eliminate a pack of monsters of corruptions that looked like bats, according to a report from a guard.
He also explained that monsters of corruption were, in nature, quite hard to find and see. If you could just catch a glimpse at the monster, you were already considered lucky. If you could kill one, youâd be considered a marksman or a masterlucker, according to Tim.
One thing the beast realised was that the three soldiers held those stick-like weapons; the ones that killed it once. But it wasnât afraid, because if Jeyne could trust them, the beast could, too.
And so, after everyone (except the beast) was armed with a stick-like weapon, in which Private Tim called it a blast gun. At first, the beast was excited, but scared as well. Killing a monster of a similar kind was frightening, yet satisfactory when it finally could kill one. Speaking of which, the beast felt proud whenever it thought of the death of the gigantic and deformed monster of death with an extra arm on its head. It thought it was very ironic.
Though, after hours of searching for the group, the beast could yawn if it wanted to. The team; Exen, Jeyne, Private Tim, two others it didnât know; didnât look exhausted or bored. Instead, they emanated vigilance, so to speak. Jeyne held her weapon as though it was precious to her. Exen placed his weapon over his shoulder, all calm-like but with eyes that could literally pierce someone if he stared long enough. Private Tim held his weapon close to his chest, caring more about the weapon than himself. The other two were chatting with each other, though in a soft tone.
The beast jerked its head up and stopped. It opened its mouth and asked everyone to stop as well. They did. It swore it heard something.
Then something struck the beast from behind, and it sprawled forward. Then it heard six shots that were almost synced. It recovered with little cuts and bruises and looked back. It saw dead carcasses of monsters of corruption. The scene was black of flesh and blue of blood. How did it know colour? It didnât know either.
When it turned around, it saw one last monster of corruption moving in on Jeyne like an eagle. It charged towards Jeyne shouted out to her to duck, but she didnât. The monster gripped onto Jeyneâs shoulders and snatched her from the team.

Chapter 62

Henry grunted as he lifted himself off the white bed. He could still feel the burn in his shoulders as he used his hands to push himself up. Far off from his bed was a nurse, sitting at her plastic chair and doing some paperwork, probably on his own injury. She was in her mid-twenties to Henry.
He called out on the nurse and asked what had happened during the time he was taking a nap.
The nurse only told him to meet General Exen in the interrogation room. The nurse also told him to wait for him to come back from his reconnaissance mission. He said that he was going to kill some bloody bats. Henry nodded and left the room.
Sometimes, Henry would think about the room in his house; the laboratory with experiments all around. He remembered the long tables trapping him in the middle of the rooms and the various test tubes, beakers, measuring cylinders, and flasks on those tables. Some of them were broken and some were still surviving and standing. He wasnât sure about the specifics. His memories about that were too fuzzy, but he did remember the monsters. THOSE BLOODY MONSTERS!
Henry growled deeply at the thought of those things. Oh, yeah. Those things led me to this lab. Then, Ebonos..
What happened to him?
He hadn't thought about Ebonos in a long time. He was like a support character in a general fiction novel that was temporarily remembered and eternally forgotten. Well, not eternally forgotten now.
He was now in the curving hallway. Not this sh*t again.. Instead of heading straight for the interrogation room, he searched each door, starting with the one on his right. He slightly twisted the doorknob and saw that it was locked. He took one big step to the opposite door and tried the knob. No luck.. He tried and tried and tried..
Then, when he did finally could open a door, he pushed it open. It was apparently a janitorâs closet. There were plastic bright red buckets sitting like a barricade against Henry. Hmm, empty.
There was a shelf filled with detergent bottles, paper towel rolls and cloths. It covered three quarters of the width of the room. Beside the shelf were brooms leaning against the wall and the shelf, chilling with their cool glare of noodle-like hair at Henry.
There was nothing much to see. When he turned around, he met a nose, then a pair of eyes, then a mouth.
He released a shout and jerked his shoulders up. When he stepped aside (by accident), he saw that (apparently, it was a man and that) he was just a janitor. Only his eyebrows were raised before he led his ultimately boring life of cleaning up everyoneâs mess, including Henryâs.
He continued the search, but coincidentally, every door was locked, his own included (since he locked it every time he exited the room).
When he finished his search, he was already near the interrogation room. He shrugged, took a step forward, twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open. It was like the room he had seen before; eerie and slightly dark lighting, two chairs facing each other with a table separating them and nothing else.
Except for that door at the other end of the room that had a sign saying, âDO NOT OPENâ.
Yeah, like that wonât tempt me.
DO NOT OPEN.
Yeah, it wonât.
DO NOT OPEN.
I am not opening that door.
Then he opened it.
He only saw a ball rolling out from the darkness ahead. He looked at it, touched it with his foot and it disappeared. He frowned and stepped forward. Then a hand, too dark to be seen, grabbed his forearm and pulled him forward. The hand escaped from him as soon as Henry fell into a hole. For as long as he was falling, he felt super light. And now that he thought of it, he didn't feel like he wore clothes anymore. He felt as though ice wraiths in a form of snakes were biting him with gigantic fangs at his back.
Why am I suddenly naked?
He kept falling, but he never felt terror or dread in his heart. Instead, I feel free.
He smiled at the feeling of it. He spread his arms wide and let the cold wind pierce through his skin. He twisted around, faced the pit of darkness and opened his mouth. He felt air rushing in and closed his eyes. His hair fluttered everywhere. And he saw a monster of darkness, falling with him. It had the voice of the monster of darkness in the Klensburg headquarters, but it was more outgoing and active. It talked to Henry as if it had known him all its life. And so, it fell with Henry, chit-chatting, and never noticing that Henry was naked.
Henry obscurely remembered the monster saying that they were going to land. But to that Henry said that it was a lie. They had been falling for almost a few hours on end, and they had not met ground.
The monster suddenly became serious. Henry and it were going to land, and it said that Henry had best be prepared. He shrugged and stopped the urge to answer back.
He thought, and thought hard. But the problem was that I have no idea how to stop.
He asked the monster if it was lying. It shook its head.
But I donât want to stop.
Wind was still piercing his skin. He flailed his arms, but it wouldn't help stop the fall. So he flailed his limbs, but nothing happened. He was still falling fast. His mind started to panic, thinking of every possible way he could crash.
I could fall on my ***, or my back, or my chest, or my head..
Though, he convinced himself to calm down and think. He controlled his breathing and his heart slowed down from the panic.
And soon enough, he noticed that he was gradually decelerating. But still he hit the ground head first.

I'm not probably going to start chapters 63 to 65, because I have exams next week. I will try to pay up for the losses. I've been noticing more views, and I appreciate that you'd even take a look at my story (or novel), but I've been waiting for comments for a VERY long time. So please comment.

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Chapter 63

The next day, Rose woke up to the shining radiance of the sun. Then she frowned.
A monster of darkness. Somewhere, she thought.
She brought her right hand up to shield her eyes, because she found out that Kogh�s head was resting on her left shoulder. He was snoring as loudly as a pig. She never noticed that her face was healed from the burn.
She slowly moved away from him and laid his head on the invisible force platform. She stood up and stretched herself, then she yawned.
What was that word? Pandiculation, yes.
She boosted up and looked at the bright land. It was desolate, except for the city where she became a minotaur of death. She giggled at the word �minotaur�. The ground was cracked and brown. The sky was clear and blue. The horizon was a curved line of light. She made a force platform and sat on it with her legs wrapped up with her arms and her chin resting on her knees.
She was staring at one particular square figure that was jutting out of the horizon. It was rather small, but anyone who focused enough could see it. She squinted her eyes, but it still didn�t become clearer.
She stood up and flew up higher. The silhouetted square become an oblong of a building.
Her mouth slowly curved into a smile. She shouted in joy and flailed her arms in a rave. In her raving, she woke Kogh up. He shouted her to calm down and asked why she did that. She just pointed her finger at the piece of oblong block far away. He rose to her level and saw it. Instead of celebrating like she did, he just nodded.
He asked if she wanted to go there. She stopped raving and slowly twisted her neck to face Kogh. It was a face full of �Yes, duh. Are you stupid?�.
So, after packing up (again), they went, Kogh carrying two thirds of the food and Rose one third of it. Instead of flying by using force to push them, Rose suggested making a platform and pushing it with force. Kogh stopped moving, raised his finger and shook it. That was basically saying that Kogh agreed to it.
So they did. If you were in the Darkness region and you saw them, you would think that they were standing still while moving. It looked just like that.
And true enough, they finally arrived at a new city, though it looked less interesting and more of a replica of the previous city. It was a disappointment for Rose, as Kogh could see by her long face. He smiled.
C�mon, I can even argue that it IS the same city.
It wasn�t, though. There were more tall buildings than before and more lightings. Cars were moving all around in the streets and it was livelier with people. There were cafés, restaurants, corporate office buildings, shopping complexes, apartments, condominiums, hotels, terrace houses, stalls, hospitals, police stations, and many more.
Alright, let�s sweep this city before we move on..
Then she saw a man holding a range rifle on a typical tall building, aiming the weapon at a window of another building.
Rose widened her eyes. She conjured her force blade and threw it at the man like a spear. Before he pulled the trigger, she saw his head recoiling sideways. Then he fired a shot in the air, though muffled.
She raised her hand and pulled the range rifle into her hands. It had a silencer attached to the barrel, but other than that, she didn�t notice anything special about it. So she claimed it.
Kogh said that she had better be careful with it, like what a mother would say.
Rose heard him, but never listened. She just turned towards Kogh and beckoned to him to follow him.
She moved towards the dead man. When she landed, she saw that the man�s head was separated from his torso. It didn�t roll, but it did move a bit. Rose wasn�t disturbed, but Kogh probably was, by a little. Blood was pooling around the man�s neck, but it avoided flowing to one narrow area.
I guess that�s where my blade is.
She had an idea of the city the moment she took a look at it. So she started moving to the left without any plan.
She was over the city as though she were a floating god with a dark cloud beneath her feet. She felt so big compared to everyone else down there. So puny I could just squeeze them!
In fact, with the abilities she had, she could probably squeeze someone to death from this distance. Then she noticed something. Kogh wasn�t following her.
She turned back and saw a hole in the building. She glided towards it and landed right at the edge of the hole. She peered below and saw darkness. Then she felt two hands pushing her into it.
She uttered a yelp as she fell into the hole, her arms flailing not for joy, but for terror. She looked up and saw those very pair of hands sliding away from her view. She cursed into the air, or the darkness. She tried to fly, but she couldn�t feel any force surrounding her. Oh, crap.
She turned back into the darkness and closed her eyes, letting her body fall according to the will of gravity. She didn�t know why she gave up on challenges so easily. She remembered fighting a monster of corruption that had a protective shell. Her blast gun shots couldn�t work the first or second time, so she gave up just like that. She was in a similar situation, but instead of a blast gun, it was force.
She brought her hands up to her forehead. She cursed herself for easily giving up. To add insult to injury, a voice in her mind kept telling her that she was going to land horribly. She tried to shoo the voice, but it kept coming back. It was a voice of a seventeen-year-old teenage boy. Somewhere along the line-
GET OFF MY HEAD, YOU ****ING ****!
The voice was growing louder with each sentence, until Rose got mad and transformed into a monster of death. Her clothes (made from skins of monsters of darkness) were ripped in place for a larger body in whole. But this time, she could retain her thoughts. Now, the voice wasn�t there anymore.
That�s right. Keep your mouth shut-
Her face crashed into the ground.

Woo! Got a C+ for Physics and A- for Chemistry!

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Chapter 64

His butt crashed onto the ground. He didnât know what happened. He was falling down and felt as though other people had fallen the height he had fallen.
But most people died from this height. I merely got a buzz on my ***.
He remembered a barrel of a blast gun aimed at his head. Ah, yes! That bloody innkeeper!
He pushed himself up and looked around. Darkness was everywhere to Avus. He aimlessly walked and noticed that his footsteps were deafeningly louder than usual. It was like he was stepping on explosive mines and setting them off one foot at a time.
While he was listening to his own feet explosions, he heard a paradoxical loud but soft grunt. He wasnât sure whether it was a feminine or masculine voice. So he turned to the direction of it and walked, and listened to his booming steps.
Back then, he remembered taking the barrel of the blast gun away, then energy pellets flew from it. He could have sworn that his eardrums burst. Avus then ducked and tripped the innkeeper. He fell on his back with a grunt, and his blast gun landed a few steps further. Avus went to take it, but his next step went into a hole; a deep one. While he was falling, he kept hearing Clarissaâs voice that he was going to land. He didnât believe her. He was thinking about his other three lives, and what he could have done, probably because of ADHD, I guess. He didnât feel fear or terror when he fell. He felt peaceful, at least that was what he remembered. Perhaps it was in Georgeâs nature to be at ease. After all, Avus remembered that George almost never had fights with Clarissa.
Whenever he or she did wrong, both would usually accept what had happened and move on. The most distinct memory of when they were fighting was when he was about to die. They were arguing on his deathbed, because George wanted to die already. That was his last memory until Avus barged in to rob him of his body. That was unintentional, please!
When he walked for what it felt like fifty explosions or so, he heard another loud but soft grunt. This time, it was familiar. In fact, it almost seemed all too familiar, like when you would try to recall a movie youâve watched
Henry?
He turned around, and felt fingers pulling at his shirt. He struggled for a while before he turned again, then he saw a girl, with long hair. She was wearing
Rose?
He called out to her, but she didnât reply. He called out again. She didnât reply. He frowned and snatched her hand, then he called out to her. Now she replied, but with a whisper, that she didnât recognise him. First, he was shocked. Then, he realised and relaxed. Rose was indeed his daughter, but one he never thought so much of. Sometimes, Rose would cross his mind, and he would partially think about Rose while working on a planned experiment. When Rose escaped, he only batted his eye for a few hours before forgetting her altogether. But seeing her face brightened his face as well. He wasnât tearing at his eyes, but he was smiling, like seeing an old friend, except Rose wasnât old.
Right now, he didnât say anything, not because he didnât want to, but because it wasnât time yet, or that Rose would be confused that a different man was her father.
He just asked her to follow him. She did, and they walked towards Henry. It was now twice the number of explosions at their feet.
As they went further in, Henry slowly revealed himself, holding his feet while clenching his teeth tightly. Avus swore there was blood on Henryâs lower lip.
Henry looked up and saw the both of them. Avus asked if he recognised him, but stopped halfway. Itâs bloody useless to say it.
Henry said that his feet were hurting so badly and wanted them to wait. And so they waited. For an hour.
When Henry could barely get up on his feet, Avus found Rose sleeping on the ground or floor. Who knows what the hell it is?!
Avus was about to wake her up, when he thought about where to go, which was nowhere at the moment, since there was just darkness. Then he noticed something. Every one of them was glowing faintly; just a tiny bit of light emanating from their chests.
And I didnât notice that until now.
So, where to go? Where to go?
His memories with Rose were scant, but he did remember sweet memories with her.
When she was five, her mother passed away. Avus was already in his third body. He didnât allow anyone to attend the funeral except Rose and his trusted generals. That included General Exen and Henry. Henry was always talking to Rose about matters Avus couldnât care less about. Avus did not remember a tear falling out of his eyes. In fact, no one had tears falling. The generals looked down in respect; Rose wasnât old enough to understand death; and Avus wasnât bothered with her, even though she was his wife. All he cared about was East; the effort he put into making East what it was; one and a half lifetimes spent in this city.
When Rose was seven, she was sent to her first school. Avus followed her with reluctance. Bloody hell, how long has it been? Nine? Ten years? The school gate was vast, but with little to no ornaments. That part was very clear to Avus, but when Rose was sent off, all the other parts were fuzzy, even his experiments.
Then another paradoxical soft roaring sound snapped him out of his memories. He looked up, but saw nothing. He looked left and right, but saw nothing.
Then he turned around and saw stream of white air fumed out of two nostrils of a monster of death, twice the size of all three of them combined.

Chapter 65

Iâm catching up! Iâm catching up!
The day was sunny, and the beast was running as fast as it could. It streamed past deformed buildings and dead trees that had grown in front of those buildings. Thirty metres in front of it was a flying monster of corruption and Jeyne.
Then it noticed that the monster was further away.
Why canât I catch up?!
This speed was the fastest the monster could go, even with the sunlight. While running, the beast noticed Jeyne in an unconscious state. Then it also noticed that his other teammates werenât there with it. Sure, they might be slower, but I donât hear them running, or using their vehicle.
It sensed two other monsters of corruption coming in from beside the flying monster. One was a quadruped monster with wings. It had a left eye, right nose and teeth below them. If the beast could frown, it would. The other one took the form of a ball. It had no legs, but it did have a gigantic eye in the middle.
As soon as it sensed them, it was pushed off by some kind of force. The monsters hadnât even laid a finger on it. The force sent the monster flying backwards.
This feels so familiar. Like.. I could control it.
It managed to reduce impact damage when it landed. It only bruised its left hind leg, but it felt the sunlight working on it like threads weaving around its leg. It got up a few seconds later. By then, the duo was close enough for the force to hit the beast again. This time, it stayed in the air. The beast whimpered a few words and demanded release. Its demand was granted, when the force threw it to a building. The concrete diminished as soon as the beast hit it, and the debris fell along with the beast. Some of it sliced at its skin, which healed a few seconds later. Some of it crushed the beast, some at its abdomen, head and limbs. The sunlight could heal minor wounds in a few seconds, but major wounds like heavy trauma to itself and breaking of bones needed more than a few seconds, but perhaps a few minutes.
The winged monster jetted into the beast and aimed its teeth at the beastâs head. The beast instinctively rolled to the side along with the debris on it. The monsterâs teeth sunk into the concrete and stayed there. The ball-like monster rushed in, and with that came more of this familiar force.
The beast rolled again, and the force smacked against the floor.
Even with its half-healed injuries, it leapt forward at the monster and swiped at it. The sharp claws brought it down like a volleyball smash, but instead of it bouncing, it went splat on the ground. Liquids began flowing from it profusely.
The beast landed, but toppled over and fell, deepening the injuries even more. The winged monster finally jerked its head and broke free. It paused where it was and jerked its head from left to right, as though it was searching for something. The beast heard a loud sniff, then the winged monster trotted over to the beast and looked at it. Its teeth erected from its mouth and slowly approached the beast.
Hah! Erected. Where did that come from?
Weird that I have time to joke around when I could have killed it.
The beast got up and endured the pain. It finally stood on its four legs, but the monster had already lunged at it. It couldnât get to roll, but only slightly shift to the side. The monsterâs teeth sunk into the beastâs left leg. It attempted to scream, but could only make a wheezing sound.
Why the hell is my throat damaged despite the sunlight?!
The monster stayed there as though something would happen next. Indeed, something did happen. The beast swung its right paw at the monster and managed to send it to the side. The monster simply fell on its side, though ripping out part of the beastâs skin. The beast didnât wheeze, but immediately moved and jerked its paw back and forth until it was sure the monster was dead.
****ing retard.
It felt its broken bones and bruises healing by the second, but it still couldnât chase after Jeyne. It opened its mouth and clicked its tongue, but picked up no sign of the monster of corruption, or Jeyne.
It let itself collapse to its knees and stayed there. It slowly fell asleep. Then it had a dream.
What the beast could see was darkness. Its natural radar wasnât working, so it was blind for the first time of its life. It walked, and heard a gunshot at its feet, though it wasnât as loud as a real gunshot.
What in the world?!
It took another step and heard another gunshot.
Thank goodness it wonât be louder than that.
It hated loud noises. They would make it dizzy and irritated. They would make it shiver and strain almost every muscle in its body. Super-hearing could be a blessing to it, giving the beast higher sense of awareness, but hearing fairly loud sounds was a curse as well. All it could do, however, was to adapt to it.
It tried to place its paws down as softly as possible, but it still resulted in the same volume. Also, no matter how hard it thrust its paws into the ground, the volume stayed the same.
When it achieved (and endured) a certain number of gunshots, it could hear a conversation; a voice of a man, a girl and another man. It also heard a scream along the way. The beast started running as fast as it could, and slowed down as the sound got closer. It came to a stop, and was sure that it was in front of them. It opened its mouth to speak, but no sound came out. The first man shouted out, probably warning the other two that there was a monster of death behind them.
What? No. Iâm a monster of darkness.
Then it opened its eyes and saw them.
There was one it recognised.
Rose?

I wonder why I keep procrastinating. I guess Iâm talking to myself. Bloody hell.
Also slightly influenced by Stephen King.

-----

Chapter 66

Henry wondered.
Why do my feet hurt instead of my head? I crashed head first, not feet first.
Even after the unknown manâs warning, Henry sat there and did nothing, except when you counted breathing as something.
The supposed beast behind him never did anything as well, besides breathing furiously through its nostrils. Its breath shrouded Henry in white fumes. He couldnât see anything besides his own limbs and torso.
Since it didnât attack.. Might as not move..
He was feeling lazy for the most part. The pain in his feet was the least of his worries at the moment. He shifted from time to time, though he avoided moving his legs and feet. He stared at his feet and wondered still.
Whatâs the beast doing now?
He twisted his head around and saw the beast lying on the ground next to it. Its fur gently touched Henryâs back. Then he realised that he was naked.
He opened his lips widely and revealed his partially clenched teeth.
If I was naked, why didnât they say anything?
He looked down and saw that it was his torso he was staring at. It was a façade. A very convincing façade, indeed. His groin was luckily hidden. He let out a gasp of relief. Then he brought his right hand up and gently slide his fingers over the fake torso, and immediately, it disappeared, revealing his bare chest. The white fumes were getting increasingly thicker and condensed that Henry couldnât see his legs anymore, let alone his groin. He twisted his head to see the beast again. It was peacefully sleeping.
Its nose wasnât actively releasing the white gas anymore, and yet I still canât see my bloody leg.
This time, Henry dared himself to move his feet, and when he did, they didnât hurt anymore. So, he stood up and walked forwards in hope of finding Rose and the unknown man.
Funny thing is that I could still recognise her even after years since talking to her. Sheâs grown so much.
As he placed his first step, he heard a loud sound under his foot. He paused, then placed another foot down. That same loud sound was heard. He then moved one step ahead, but lightly placing his foot down. The sound was as loud as before. This time, he stamped on the ground. The sound was just as soft (or loud) as before.
Oh, great. I have to deal with this?
He walked, each step producing the thundering sound, towards
Where am I going?
He looked back and saw the beast following him. It looked like a monster of death, but it seemed to him that it probably was the talking monster of darkness he had met before, with its eyeless face and fluent tongue.
What did Jeyne to do it?
Henry called out to the beast, asking him what it was.
It replied with a whisper that Henry couldnât hear. So he stepped closer.
Apparently, it had no idea what it was.
Henry folded his arms and nodded. Then he felt lazy again and sat cross-legged. He felt as though all this was a dream, but it was a dream too real to be called one. The pain in his feet was real. Hah! I guess the expression âpinch meâ doesnât apply to everything. What are we doing here in the first place?
Then he turned around and asked the beast why they were here. It also had no idea.
He then looked ahead and saw the two people coming back. The unknown person had his arm over Rose as they walked, rather slowly and stiffly, towards them. Henry called out to them, saying that the beast wouldnât hurt them and that he was the proof. He waited until they were in talking distance to ask them what they were doing here. Both of them didnât know.
Well, thatâs bloody helpful.
Henry told everyone to move. This white stuffâs getting annoying as hell.
When they did finally settle in a place where there would be no white fumes, Henry asked Rose about how she got here. She never replied. Henry pushed on, asking her about where she was before she got here. Iâm pretty sure this is a dream. Unless itâs an interconnected dream. She still didnât reply. In fact, she looked pale, and unresponsive, and dead.
But she was still breathing. Why does breathing matter in a dream, though?
I assume, he thought. That people from the past are in this âworldâ. Rose, that talking monster of darkness, even though itâs a monster of death here, but who is this guy?
Henry turned his attention to the unknown man, and asked him who he was.
Hopefully I can know how heâs connected to me.
Henry saw the manâs eyes twitch. His mouth hesitated to open and he looked elsewhere, then back to Henry, when he started his speech.
He claimed that he was the mayor, named Avus, even though he didnât look like the mayor Henry knew. Firstly, Avus started off with an extraordinary assertion that he could never die, and that he possessed people when he died.
That sounds bloody ridiculous. And it only seems that the beast and I were listening. Rose still looked as dead as ever.
Then Avus went on to say that this was his fourth body.
Okay, on second thought, maybe this is just my dream.
In his second body, he took over East, and revolutionised the city. So-called Avus chuckled a little, saying that Henry wasnât born during that time, so he wouldnât know about it. Avus told Henry that he was in his third body, a human clone, that talked to Henry and eventually brought Rose into this world. He said that the DNA of the body was taken from a random man Avus didnât bother to identify.
Probably dead, Henry thought.
Then Avus told him how Henry tried to chase him and that he was the mysterious man in the coat.
(Screw the rules for a moment) âI held a machete,â Avus said.
Oh, bloody hell! That was about a month ago!
Then memories came flooding back from that event. Henry named it the Godzilla event. He remembered being on the monster of death, with the useless arm sticking out of its head. He remembered fighting with.. With..
Avus?
Henry asked the current Avus who that maniac was. He frowned and didnât know.
Well, he was a maniac, after all.
The thought of the maniac slipped his mind like sand being swept away with the wind. But the memories of the rest of the event occurred to him.
Oh my God. The helicopter I took control. The people I shot on the wall of East. Myke. Saving. My. Life.
Myke.
Saving.
Life.
Myke.
Myke

You got a nice story (= . I enjoy reading it.

What is this? Are those words Iâve never typed?

If youâve seen the last few pages, foreign comments are non-existent. Thanks for making this thread a bit more lively (which is an understatement, of course).

-----

Chapter 67

was sitting on his chair at his balcony and looking at the plagued land when someone knocked on his door. He was drinking some liquor he didnât know about.
But it tastes awesome!
He placed his bottle down next to the chair and got up, slightly grunting at the effort needed to get out of oh my glorious, wonderful, amazing chair! It was mentally hard for him to get out of his favourite chair. There was always that mysterious force pushing Myke down onto his chair when he tried to get out.
The bloody Force of Laziness is what it ****ing is.
He took big steps towards the door and opened it. It was Henry. He smiled, put a hand on Henryâs back and pushed him in. Henry shouted at Myke, but he didnât seem to care because he knew Henry wouldnât harm him unless it was necessary.
Necessaryâs a subjective word, though.
The ambience, or ambiànce as what Myke called it, in this room was never much noticed by Myke at all. Henry would always say that it always looked dark and moody. Even now.
What are you talking about? Looks just fine to me! You just a man full of **** to say!
But he didnât say it out loud. He didnât say anything.
Myke stepped backwards behind Henry and pushed him out to the balcony. There was another chair saved for him, but a far uglier one compared to my oh so glorious, wonderful, amazing chair! Henry slapped Myke on the shoulder before thanking him and sitting down.
Henry swore that he would, one day, beat Myke up for all these pushing. Myke just laughed and steered his attention to the land. He soon started having conversations with himself.
Ever wondered why the landâs the way it is? Seems to me like the land was plagued a long time ago.
It did have a start, right? Well, I donât know the answers. Maybe the mayor has some, but I wouldnât bother. He looks scary as hell. And acts scary as hell.
But you havenât even talked to him.
Henry turned his head, moved his eyes around and grabbed Mykeâs liquor bottle. Myke noticed it and slapped Henryâs hand away from it. He told Henry to get one from the fridge, but to only drink sips from it at a time. Itâs expensive.
Henry said that he only wanted to try one sip from the liquor. Myke then showed him his index finger, and it indicated that it said âone sip, and only one sipâ. He was serious.
Henry nodded, grabbed the bottle and took a sip.
Ever wondered who made this liquor?
No, do you?
Dude, I asked you because I didnât know.
May the answers be with you then.
Myke imagined a sad face where his lower lip slithered out from its original spot, a childâs attempt at grabbing sympathy.
He snapped out of his thoughts and asked what Henry was doing before he came in. Henry looked into the far distance and looked back at Myke. He was carrying out training with privates, and said that it was a hard task; the environment wasnât suitable for Henry, and when he complained about it to the mayor, he didnât say anything. Him not saying anything meant that he had to stick to the current situation and place. A few privates there were rude, especially when Private James kept on answering Henryâs obviously rhetorical questions, like âWhat do you think youâre doing?!â or âDonât do that!â
Wait, that wasnât a question.
Henry rambled on about how Private James annoyed the bloody hell out of him, and ironically, this rant was annoying Myke too.
Yeah? Deal with it. Henry, youâre made for this. Youâre the calmest person I know, and the angriest person I know. Yeah, youâve got issues, friend.
Myke asked what happened after that. Henry went on to say that he was in his office writing reports to the mayor.
As if the mayor gives a ****.
Henry said that these reports were wasting paper. Trees around East had been less, claimed Henry, even though he didnât even know where the paper came from. One report was about the training. Another was about an errand Henry had to run, but he didnât let Myke know about it. And another.. And another..
Then Myke asked why Henry had so many reports to write. Henry just looked at the night sky after ranting. Myke found Henry lifting his liquor bottle. He shouted, then launched at Henry for the bottle, to which Henry got onto the chair and jumped away from Myke. He landed on the arm of the chair with his stomach, which sucked the breath out of him. Henry landed on his feet with a thud, landing as gracefully as ever.
Ough, my God..
He slid off the side of the chair and his left shoulder hit the floor with that same thud. His eyes flew up and saw Henry still holding that liquor bottle, and mockingly too; his fingers were on the neck of the bottle, hanging just above Mykeâs head.
Why, you son of a *****!
He pushed himself up and lunged towards Henryâs legs. Henry didnât catch it coming, so Myke caught hold and wrapped his arms around his legs, and both of them fell, one falling again. He felt the bottle landing on his back, and he quickly forgot about Henry, reaching for the bottle instead. The bottle spilled almost half of its content before Myke stopped it from spilling. He instantly put the bottle to his lips and drank. That rush of taste rejuvenated him, and he got up. Henry was standing, and smiling at thr same time. Myke began to laugh as well. Then the both of them walked back to their seats, which were surprisingly at their same positions and sat, and watched the Darkness land, as though it was their favourite land (even though it wasnât).
God**** you, Henry, Myke thought, with a smile.