A fiery inferno of raging flames covers the devastated landscape of the former capital city. The once-thriving metropolis was now reduced to a hellish landscape of destruction and death. A chorus of screams and cries echoes among the ear-shattering gunfire. Tracer rounds crisscross the skyline like fireflies dancing in the night. A dark Heaven filled with smoke, ash, and brimstone lies above. Countless burnt husks of former people lie in hundreds among the rubble and ruin as the devastating scene unfolded. We'd lost this war, but this nation surrendered anyway. Our leader had already given the order to retreat. Still, we massacre them out of revenge and fury. Our rage is fueled by the memories of our fallen loved ones. I stood silently as my brothers-in-arms were slaughtering with impunity. I watched as some brave soldiers tried to aid the damned civilians. Instead, they were summarily dispatched by the loyal warriors of the Corporate Intercontinental Coalition.

"Any soldier found aiding or abetting the enemy in any way is sentenced to death on the spot as a traitor! Those that don't stand united are cancer on our mighty Coalition," the Supreme Leader's words echo in my head.

As for me, I was no different from them. I neither helped my fellow warriors murder in mass nor aid the helpless victims. No, I merely watch with plenty of blood stained on my hands. My hands sowed enough death and misery during this war. Enough to earn me multiple eternities in whatever Hell awaited me. We did this; I did this… This carnage on a level humanity has never seen. I look up to the burning Heavens to see what's left of the majestic moon. Lunar no longer exists except in fragments of its former self. The gravitational repercussions will be felt for eons from what we did. My grandfather once told me of the scorching of the Earth during World War Two. It's funny that I think of that as the men in front of me lift their long rifles at me. Preparing to carry out the Supreme Leader's orders for inaction. It carried the same fate as a traitor. I've sent the men beside me to death for merely ordering them to stand down. None of them said a word as the firing squad steadied their rifles. I suppose the men that stood with me felt the same way as I did. We were all damned to Hell. The whole Earth was damned to Hell.

I thought back to the family I once had. Long since becoming a casualty of this war. A mere number among countless statistics. It was like that for all of us. It's how we justified the raging fury that fueled the atrocities of this godforsaken war. In my quest for vengeance, I had aided in bringing mankind to its knees, to the brink of extinction. I stare back blankly at the barrel aimed at my head, awaiting the Hell I knew I'd burn in shortly. There is no reprieve for me, no forgiveness. It is a fate that I brought on myself; it is a fate that we all brought upon ourselves.

I didn't flinch as the muzzle flash of a rifle ended the man next to me. Another moment of gunfire silenced the man on the other side of me. The loyal officer was saving me for last. After all, it's what I would do and had done many times before. I had silenced men in the exact position I was in now. The same hatred and visceral I had then burned in the nameless officer's eyes. This poor soul had a fatal tunnel vision that would one day lead to the same fate as me. More loud gunfire executed the rest of my men, one after another, in perfect precession. I had to admire them for their courage and honor at the end. I must, as that is all I can do at the end. We were traitors in the eyes of our loyal brothers in arms. Our actions betrayed the oath to the Coalition. Still, this allowed us to keep what sliver of humanity we had left by doing so.

Then, the gunfire paused, creating a sense of silence, which meant I was next in line to be killed. If you could call it a pause with the song of weapons firing around us. My men lie dead at my feet, and soon, I would lie in a pool of blood. Yet, it seems as though time has slowed down. As I watch the muzzle flash in slow motion, I can see the burst of the muzzle flash blossom like a flower in bloom. The bullet expels from the barrel of the rifle as a spent bullet casing simultaneously ejects from the weapon. I could almost imagine my name etched on the bullet as it slowly and painstakingly inched toward me. I refused to close my eyes and would meet my fate straight on. Yet time refused to allow righteous justice. Instead, a gray-scale tint engulfs the world. Giving the world an abstract black-and-white reality.

Slowly, I became keenly aware of another presence. One that I could not describe or understand. Its existence crept in like a silent predator until it was all I could feel. Time was at a standstill now. A perfect capture in a painting of the world as it was now. To be memorized for all to see forever. A moment in time paused for future generations to see. That's what my hope was, but my instincts told me otherwise. I was witnessing something no human had seen or was meant to see. The notion that this was some weapon of our Corporate Intercontinental Coalition is beyond belief. We would have won this war long ago if our side possessed something this powerful. All the senseless destruction could have been avoided. No, this was something else entirely. The presence felt as if it was behind me. A chill ran down my spine.

"Boo...," a voice said close to the left of my face.

I felt as if the universe had placed its hands on my shoulders as if it were giving me a hug. I turned to see something my eyes could not distinguish. A face that stares too close to mine looked me in the eye. There was neither a face nor an eye that I could see. Just a smile looking back at me.

"Oh... are you not scared by my sudden appearance???" the voice said, but the mouth did not move.

I felt compelled to correct whatever the mysterious being was that I was looking at. "You confuse my apathetic demeanor for not being in complete terror," I whispered bluntly.

My instincts pushed me to be brutally honest, save I'd face a more terrible fate than the Hell I was destined for.

Suddenly, a figure was directly in front of me. Gazing upon me with unseen eyes or, more correctly, a face I could not comprehend. Where the eyes and nose should have been was blurred static. Only the smiling mouth was visible to my eyes. Whatever this mysterious figure was, it looked like a child's drawing. As a result, it seems more like a picture of an outline of how a human would appear on paper if he were drawn out. An approximation of an idea in the mind of something that didn't truly understand what a human was. The figure's body looked like it had yet to be filled in by the artist creating it.

"Are you God or the Devil???" I asked, the words coming out of my mouth on their own.

For once, I thanked the rigorous training I endured that steeled my nerves to inhuman levels.

"Am I a God or a Devil???" the incomprehensible figure said.

As if the figure pondered the question, I asked it. Seemingly curious that the question was asked in the first place. What bothered me was the response it gave as it debated the question. 'Am I a God or a Devil???' Those words rattled in my mind. But the figure's smile grew before I could dwell on the implications.

"Hmm, I wonder??? Don't you, Adam?" the mysterious figure said.

"What are you then?" I asked.

It knew my name and probably knew what I was thinking. An unsettling prospect. The entity tiled its head in understanding, and that was all I needed to know to confirm my suspicions. 'If not a God or Devil, then what?' Either way, this was a supernatural situation. But unfortunately, I was asking the wrong questions. Such a powerful being that could stop time wasn't just here to talk to a mere mortal.

"What do you want from me?" I questioned.

"Ah... to the point, I see," the being said. "I'm looking for something, and while I search, you will indulge me. I'd hold on if I were you. Where you're heading, it's going to be...," the entity said, fading out.

I was blinded by a bright light, followed by what I can only describe as a pulsating wave of electricity, wrecking every inch of my body. I couldn't move despite all my efforts to do so. It was beyond unbearable how much pain I was experiencing. I felt like I was being fried in a pot of hot grease all over my body. It was as if I was falling through the ground like a rock. Then, I heard my own scream drown out everything else. Then, there was a sudden impact that stopped my fall brutally.