But there was nothing else. And I didn’t sense my sister’s presence, causing me to wonder if it was a hallucination. However, the words spoken seemed to be triggered by what this Dragon was saying. So then, was this beast describing to me the truth? Was this what the future version of my sister saw from her position further up the road?
Assuming she was further up the road…
But that shouldn’t be possible – for the future to just stop existing, all because a ditch had been created, supposedly by my sister. Yet, while I imagined that the road itself was fine, the life traversing along that road had seemingly been altered.
Or rather, maybe it was better to say it was currently in flux, having become unstable and intangible, beyond a certain point.
‘How do we fix it?’ I wondered out loud, immediately regretting that I hadn’t kept that question to myself.
She was still infuriated.
‘EVERYONE HERE IS THERE, APART FROM TWO WHO ARE THERE, BUT NOT HERE. THE ONLY ANOMALY HERE IS YOU.’
Dread crept into my chest, fear traveling up my spine and grasping my skull as I began anticipating where this was going. I assumed that the two who weren’t here were Jericho and Seth, for obvious reasons – because this version of the time loop was different from the others. But then did that mean that the loop restarted with my death?
Would the me who woke up in that midnight dome be someone else? The old me having died? Was I truly not the original Michael who Miriam had met?
I honestly wasn’t sure, but I was certain of a couple other things.
For one, this monster found it logical to kill me to see if it would fix the problem, with her likely only bothering to visit due to this anomaly, not caring that Ragnarok was just injured a little. And second, she had indirectly alluded to the fact that Miriam wasn’t a part of the problem. Meaning, she had no intention of harming my love, so long as she didn’t get in the way. Of course, this monster didn’t seem like she would care about collateral damage either. She’d just as well take out Miriam as me, since she really only cared about the three Originals – specifically, that they remain alive, not that they remain healthy at all times.
And, while I knew my death would probably mean my love’s demise as well, no matter what, I still couldn’t stomach letting her die by my side, right here and now, when it didn’t have to happen. As selfish as it felt to let her die alone, I couldn’t help but hope that maybe somehow she’d survive, if only I could get her out of harm’s way.
The moment I’d made the decision, the monster seemed to anticipate it, because the atmosphere around her body began to warp slightly, indicating she knew from Ragnarok’s thoughts that I could warp too.
Without another thought, I abruptly jerked my knees up and kicked against Miriam’s side as hard as I could, the unprepared demon rocketing away from me as I sent her one last thought to her startled, alarmed, panicked, betrayed mind.
‘I’m sorry. Please live.’
Instantly, I disappeared in the blink of an eye, sensing a very horrifying monster chasing after me just as fast.
Chapter 18: Restart
I stared at the animal corpse before me, confused by the sight. It looked like it might have been a deer, but I had no idea where it came from or why I was sitting in front of it.
Or why it was half gone.
There was no light anywhere as far as I could detect, and yet I found myself capable of seeing the motionless trees all around me. The sky above the canopy of leaves was pitch-black, with not a single star in sight, and there was no wind at all – not even a breeze.
It was completely silent and motionless, as if I was the only living creature for miles.
I stretched out the massive hand-like appendages on my back, curling the black bony protrusions like massive fingers, confused by them.
Had I always had these membrane-less wings?
Had I always had a black rocky tail?
Reaching up, I felt the horns on my head, something seeming familiar about those. They originated a couple of inches above my pointy ears and jutted outwards a few inches, before making a sharp turn towards the front of my head, almost as if I had some kind of warped triangular halo. My tail was at least half a foot thick at the base of my back, and roughly six feet long.
Rising to my feet, I discovered that the pants I was wearing were far too short, with the ends only reaching to the center of my calves. They ripped in the thighs from the bulging muscle underneath when I stood, though I left them on, not about to walk around naked.
What happened to me?
I couldn’t remember being any different than I was now, and yet surely I wouldn’t have put on pants that were far too small for me. Without a doubt, I must be larger than I had been, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember being smaller either.
And where was I?
No sound, no breeze, no light, no nothing.
I was alone. Completely alone.
And what was more, I was also…angry.
I had this sensation in my chest, as if I had lost something important to me – as if I was forgetting something important to me – but I couldn’t recall what. However, what I did know, was that I was upset.
But why?
Unexpectedly, I heard a faint voice that was so distant, I was sure it was a hallucination caused by the absolute silence.
It spoke only one word.
‘Michael.’
The voice was young and familiar. I looked around, unable to pinpoint the direction. I then opened my mouth, attempting to respond…
Only to be unable to!
Drawing in a deep breath, I realized for the first time I hadn’t been breathing – not at all.
Didn’t I need to breathe?
Honestly, I didn’t know. I felt like that was something everyone was required to do, and yet I had spent the last minute with my chest just as motionless as my surroundings.
“Hello?” I finally called back uncertainly, only to receive no answer.
Deciding there was no point in staying where I was, I glanced down at the deer’s corpse one last time, before moving a little to my left to walk in a straight line.
“Hello?” I repeated. “Anyone there?”
Why was it so quiet?
I stopped when I heard the voice again, the direction just as indistinct as before.
This time it was pained. Desperate.
‘Michael, I’ve missed you so much.’
“Who’s there?” I asked, spinning around, my tail accidentally slamming into a tree trunk and slicing right through it like an axe.
Instantly, the two-foot wide trunk began falling directly for me. Without thinking, I shot my hand out and grabbed it, my fingers digging in, shocked when it froze solid in my grip – shocked that it was nearly weightless, like it was made of styrofoam.
Was I dreaming?
Or had I always been this strong?
Tossing the tree to the side, it crashed loudly against several others, uprooting them as if the soil beneath my feet was loose and unstable. The sound was nearly deafening in comparison to the silence thus far, and then the ensuing stillness was almost just as deafening, as if the quiet itself had a roaring noise.
‘I’ve missed you so much,’ the voice repeated, this time even more pained. ‘I’ve missed you so much.’
Was she crying?
Without another thought, my feet went back into motion, desperate to find the owner of that voice now. “Who’s there?” I repeated. “Where are you? Do I know you? Where are we?”
There was no response.
I increased my speed, urgently trying to find her – to help her, to comfort her. To stop her tears.
My brisk walk turned into a run, only for my feet to slam into the ground as I tried to stop myself, about to faceplant directly into a pitch-black wall.
I knew there was no light, but this was different. I could still see the forest around me despite the darkness, but I couldn’t see beyond this wall. It was the most
absolute shade of black I had ever seen, as if it represented nothingness itself.
Instinctively afraid of it, I tried moving to my side, in an attempt to find my way around the obstacle, only to discover it continued on in a slight arc, as if it was forming a large circle. Confused, I lashed my tail out toward a few of the trees, leveling them in the process, only to get a good view of the sky above me…
There was no sky.
Only this black wall, that curved upwards, like…
Like a dome.
It wasn’t solid though. One of the leveled trees had fallen through it, as if it wasn’t a physical barrier. Without putting too much thought into the situation, I reached down and grabbed the two-foot trunk, curious as to what had happened to the other end, only to pull back nothing.
The other end was gone – the part that had fallen through the barrier – as if it hadn’t even existed. It was severed with the cleanest cut I’d ever seen.
My eyes widened in horror, feeling afraid for the first time.
Where was I? What was this place? And what lie on the other side of this barrier?
Desperate to find a way out, beginning to feel more and more like a trapped rat, I marked my current location on an upright tree, and then began following the curvature of the midnight barrier, only to make a complete circle a few minutes later.
I was trapped.
As far as I could tell, there was no way out – at least, no way except going through the wall.
Feeling my heart pound in my chest, I curled my tail up towards me, glancing down at the pointed end as I stomached the idea of sacrificing part of it to test the barrier out. I didn’t like the idea at all, but I felt like losing my hand or part of my wing would be much worse.
Still, the tail was an extension of my spine, which meant it would probably hurt a lot more than losing a finger or hand.
With a deep breath – the first one I’d taken in a while – I slowly began easing the pointed appendage through the nothingness, only to feel…
Warmth.
Pulling my tail back, I confirmed it hadn’t been severed, before sticking it through again, discovering the heat begin to run up my entire spine, sending a shiver throughout my body. It wasn’t cold where I currently was, but at the same time, the temperature difference between my tail and body was extreme.
A little less worried now, I stepped forward and began easing my hand through, only to find the same sensation. The air felt more dense on the other side too, but overall harmless.
I stuck my other hand out, and then stepped forward, closing my eyes as my face went through.
Instantly, I jerked when my pants exploded into flames with a loud sizzle – disintegrating instantly in a fire that didn’t hurt my now naked body at all. Simultaneously, another voice whispered to me, like a long-forgotten memory.
This one was different than the first, yet somehow just as familiar – maybe even more familiar – though I couldn’t identify who it belonged to.
‘They would just burst into flames,’ a female said simply, almost as an incomplete sentence.
I barely noticed her words though, my eyes widening in shock as I stared at the foreign landscape before me.
Everything was basked in an orangish-red hue, with a massive volcano off to my left, actively pouring out bright yellow molten rock that flowed into a sea of lava at the base. Everywhere else I looked, it was rocky and barren, with more hills and low mountains scattered throughout. Up above, the sky was an endless ocean of turbulent scarlet clouds that glowed bright red, as if lit up by a never-ending flash of crimson lightning that refused to blink out of existence.
I didn’t actually see any lightning though. Just the continuous red glow.
The terrain below my feet was mostly dark red with scattered black gravel everywhere, along with large patches of midnight rock not covered by the maroon dirt.
Glancing behind me, I saw the bubble I had been inside, an enormous pitch-black dome that could easily fit several houses within. Realizing that my wings were still partially inside the barrier, I twisted around to free myself entirely as I examined the void-like wall.
However, the moment I pulled completely away, the dome vanished like a popped soap bubble – the vegetation within instantly erupting into a huge bonfire that burned out in a matter of seconds, leaving nothing but ash in its wake.
What in the world was going on?
Was it really that hot here? It felt extremely comfortable to me, and yet both my clothing and the trees had vanished without a sight once exposed to the environment. And where was I anyway?
Suddenly, I heard that second voice again, prompting me to spin around in search of the source.
‘If you consider hell as someplace where humans can’t survive, then yes. I’m from a hell.’
“Hello?” I called out, only for there to be no response again.
Who was that? And why was her voice so familiar?
Was I hallucinating?
I mean, I knew I must be imagining it, because I was completely and utterly alone. Now that the mysterious dome was gone, there was nothing as far as I could see. No buildings, no signs of civilization, or even signs of life. No plants, animals, birds, insects – nothing.
Unexpectedly, that first voice spoke again, prompting me to twist around.
‘Michael, I’ve missed you so much.’
Dammit, what was going on?
These voices were really starting to bother me, not because they were annoying, but because I couldn’t see who was speaking, or even remember who the voices belonged to.
Beginning to feel a little like I was going crazy, I walked away a few dozen feet and then scanned my surroundings, attempting to put together what I did know.
Assuming the voices could be trusted, my name was Michael and I supposed I must be in hell, or something similar.
But did that mean I died? I didn’t feel dead. But I also didn’t need to breathe either…
I continued to deliberate for a few moments, trying to figure out what I knew and didn’t know, only to unexpectedly sense something off in the distance towards a volcano.
Deciding that direction was as good as any in this wasteland, I began jogging, slowly picking up the speed until I was traveling at a ridiculously fast pace. All along the way, I continued to hear whispers from two different people, like distant memories I couldn’t remember.
One of them kept saying I was too early, that I’d arrived too soon again. But neither of them would answer me when I called out to whoever was speaking.
I ended up coming across a river of lava, sounding like all the glass in the world being shattered at once as the molten rock moved downstream. It took me a few minutes to realize I couldn’t sense the heat I should be feeling, ultimately leading me to walking on top of the surface to the other side.
The experience was overwhelmingly relaxing, the heat on the soles of my feet nearly making my knees buckle from the warmth it sent throughout my body. Part of me wanted to just stay in the middle of the undulating yellow and orange river forever.
But the whispering voices prompted me to continue, hoping to figure out what was going on.
Once I reached the other side, I resumed running, realizing I’d begun to find this deserted wasteland kind of peaceful.
After the lengthy trip, my anxiety had finally vanished…
Only to unexpectedly return, when two demons dropped from the sky – one female, one male.
The girl had tan skin and icy blue eyes, but everything else was bright white, including her hair, horns, wings, and tail. She also had a secondary pair of smaller wings that came around to cover her chest, like a pair of white draconic hands cupping her breasts. Similarly, her significantly thinner tail came up between her legs and wrapped around her waist like a makeshift bikini bottom made of white stone.
She was smaller than me, but the man with her was decisively not.
He was half a foot taller than I was, and built like a muscle-head bodybu
ilder, with his wide black tail wrapped around his waist once, the end then curling between his legs from the front, giving him a makeshift pair of small biological shorts. He had gold eyes and charcoal gray skin, but everything else was pitch-black, including his hair.
Barely a second had passed from them landing, before motion in my peripheral vision made me realize a third was dropping from the sky.
I actually took another step back as a second man landed behind the other two, having the same coloring as the girl, except that his skin was light gray instead of tan. Otherwise, he had the same icy blue eyes and white draconic features. He was more my size too, being only a little taller, with a thinner muscular build, unlike the darker complexioned behemoth.
The girl spoke up first, a huge grin on her face, revealing a pair of dimples, her eyes focusing down at my exposed waist.
“Wow, you seem comfortable!” she laughed, before her icy eyes looked up to meet mine. “Looking for some company? I’m available if you’re interested.”
I just stared at her in shock, because while I understood what she said, I also realized the language she was speaking in was not what I had been thinking in. Had I always spoken this language? It seemed really familiar, almost as if I’d been speaking it all my life, and yet her words felt like the first time I’d truly heard it.
When I didn’t respond, the girl’s smile faded, replaced instead with a frown and furrowed brow.
The angelic demon behind her whispered then. “I don’t think your joke was well received, sister.” He then raised his voice as he took a step forward. “We apologize. My sister didn’t mean that as an insult to you or your partner. Allow me to introduce us. My name is Seth, this is Reuben, and my sister’s name is–”
“Jericho,” I interrupted, surprising even myself. How had I known her name? It just sort of slipped out.
All three of them looked at me in confusion and shock, prompting the person in question to speak up again. “I’m sorry, have we met before?” she wondered. She then gave me a small smile, partially revealing her dimples again. “I’m sure I’d remember meeting someone as handsome as you, but I’m afraid I don’t.”
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