It was pretty peaceful at the dinner table. Or at least as peaceful as you can get. Darius was angrily stabbing his chicken and chewing aggressively as if the chicken had somehow offended him. Sally was picking at her food, looking up to glance at the two boys once in a while. Brian had his computer at the table and was typing away taking a break to take a bite of his food or drink some water.
Sally was the one who broke the awkward silence. "I, uh, saw you two boys earlier. You were sleeping together, something I haven't seen you do in a while." She said.
Darius stopped eating and narrowed his eyes at his mother. Brian closed his computer to give the boys a questioning look.
"It was nothing. We just...made up?" Kameron said quietly. Sally cocked her head but said nothing further. Brian smiled.
"It's good to see you two making up," he said.
Darius scoffed annoyed. "As if you care." He muttered though Kameron was close enough to hear. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" Brian asked. Darius set down his fork and glared at the man.
"I said as if you care." He snapped. Brian frowned. "Despite what you think, I do care Darius." He said, voice calm but Kameron could feel the growing anger underneath.
Darius laughed. "You don't belong here! You never did. You married Sally after a month of dating her. A month!"
Brian gritted his teeth. "Well, at least I treat her with love and respect unlike you. You are nothing but a drunk! A spoiled brat with no manners. I'm surprised Sally hasn't thrown you out yet."
"Well, you can try, old man," Darius growled standing up. Brian stood up as well.
Everything after that was a blur. Suddenly the table was being moved food spilling onto the floor. Kameron ducked as Darius threw the first punch. "No!" Sally screamed but the two paid no heed as they brawled. Brian managed to get Darius in the leg with a well-placed kick. That was before Darius resorted to using his surroundings. He grabbed one of Sally's vases before swinging it hard. It crashed into Brian's head and the man stumbled. Brian recovered and retaliated before Darius could hit him. Brian pulled Darius into a chokehold before he punched Darius in the stomach multiple times. Darius coughed at the loss of air and blocked another punch before flipping the man over his shoulder. He growled as Brian hit the floor painfully. Brian got up quickly but was stopped when Darius grabbed a plate off the table and hit Brian right in the spot where he had hit him with the vase, which was bleeding pretty badly. Brian cried out in pain and fell back. He managed to catch himself but Darius took the chance to rush Brian and tackle him to the floor. From that point on it was a bloodbath. Darius kept punching and punching and punching.
"Darius stop!" Kameron shouted. Darius only paused to glance at Kameron before resuming his punching. Kameron shuddered. What he just saw in Darius' eyes...for a second Darius looked inhuman. Like a predator waiting to pounce on its prey. And it scared him. Sally was whimpering in the corner. "Stop!" Kameron shouted again but Darius did not listen.
"I said STOP!!" Kameron screamed. He directed every bit of his rage at the one person who seemed like an enemy at that moment.
Darius cried out as he was thrown by a wave of red energy into the wall cracking the plaster. He fell landing on the floor with a loud thump. Sally rushed over to Brian and helped the barely conscious man up. It was silent. Sally and Brian were staring at him. With...fear. Darius only looked at him with surprise something that looked like sadness.
"Kameron..." He said softly.
Kameron began to hyperventilate shaking his head as he backed away.
"I-I..I..." He had no words. He quickly turned and ran ignoring the others calling his name. He raced out of the house through the backdoor and quickly grabbed his bike which was leaning on the house next to the door. He quickly got on and rode as fast as he could. Away, away, away.
How had he done that? All he wanted was for the fight to end. Luckily Kameron still had his phone so he stopped a few blocks away from the house for a second to call Sam.
"Pick up..." He whispered as the phone rang. Finally, on the fourth ring, someone picked up.
"'ello? Who 'dis?" Sam asked tired. "I-Its me. Can you meet by the forest?" Kameron asked, getting straight to the point. Sam recognized Kameron's frantic and scared tone and was fully awake instantly. "On my way." She said. Kameron hung up, trying to hold in his tears.
With that, he pushed off again. Little did he know that all his questions would be answered.
It was getting late and by the time Kameron saw Sam's bike it was well after 1:00 am.
Sam swerved right before reaching him. She was breathing hard. "Ok, jigaree dost. Now what the fuck is going on? Your mom called mine right before I snuck out, asking where you were." Sam said, scanning him for injuries.
Kameron sighed. He began to walk and Sam dropped her bike and grabbed her bag before she followed. It was dark but luckily Sam had brought a flashlight. She handed him a candy bar and he ate in silence before making up his mind. Sam needed to know.
So as they walked, he told her everything. His weird outbursts, the fight, Darius being nicer. And the dreams. They are incredibly disturbing yet informative dreams. He decided to hold back on Apep though.
The forest was silent as Sam processed this info. She stopped and grabbed his arm, halting him. She grinned with determination in her eyes. "I'm always with you and that will never change. We'll get through this together," she said.
Kameron felt tears welling up in his eyes. He quickly wiped them and smiled at his best friend.
Suddenly a weird taste and smell assaulted Kameron's senses. What the hell was that? It tasted like copper and the smell...was hard to describe. It was probably nothing though.
"Ok so. If you have these...abilities, we should test them out. What exactly were you feeling when your power came out?" Sam asked as they continued onward. They were well off the path but Kameron didn't care.
Kameron shrugged. It was all blurry for him. "Sad. Scared. And...mad." He said quietly. Sam frowned.
There seemed to be some weight behind those words but she would ask him about it later. "Ok. We just need to get you mad and then see what happens." Kameron stared at her is disbelief. "In a safe place of course." She added.
Kameron nodded. Seemed logical enough. Was it just him or was he feeling a little tired?
And his limbs seemed to be getting heavier. And numb. "H-Hey, Sam?" Kameron gasped. He turned to see Sam wheezing trying to breathe. "W-What's going on?" She croaked. They both fell to the forest ground, getting weaker and weaker. Only then did Kameron see a faint haze in the air. Of course. An invisible drug in the air. He should have realized it. But who would do that?
He didn't have time to contemplate it as he and Sam were slowly losing consciousness.
The last thing he heard before he went under was a familiar voice. "I've got them both."
When Kameron woke up he felt nothing. He could see nothing. It was just an endless expanse of stifling darkness. "Hello? Anybody?" He shouted, voice breaking. His hands were shaking. He was having a panic attack. He tried to take a deep breath but it was almost impossible with the crushing fear in his heart. He hated being alone. He hated being in the dark. Physically and mentally.
"Anyone? Please..." Kameron curled in on himself sobbing. He just couldn't hold it in. And not for the first time he broke down, releasing every little emotion with a terrifying blast of red energy. It swirled around him lighting up the void.
And then something appeared. A wall? Made from what seemed like red scales. He cocked his head to the side before tentatively touching it. Then the wall moved. Kameron yelped and scrambled back as something big circled him. Out of the darkness, a very large head bent down to look at him. A giant snake. A giant fucking snake. It was going to eat him, wasn't it?
But those eyes...They reminded him of..."Apep?" Kameron called cautiously. The snake stopped before nudging him gently. Kameron giggled as the snake began twirling and circling him. He felt much better with the presence of the Chaos god nearby.
Was it glowing? The snake was glowing. And right before his eyes he suddenly was in a different world. More specifically the giant tree that he saw every night in his dreams. But this time he was up in one of the huge branches. Apep wrapped his body around the branch and stared at him. After a few minutes of silence, Kameron grew uncomfortable and decided to sit down.
"What happened was a mistake," Apep said, startling the boy. Kameron frowned before remembering the fight between Brian and Darius. It had been a bad fight and in that moment all Kameron wanted to do was stop them.
"What am I exactly?" Kameron asked, changing the topic. Apep stared at him. He knew Kameron was trying to avoid the issue but he decided to ask more later. "You are the incarnation of...me," he said. Kameron cocked his head. "Long ago there were hundreds of gods living in a place that is not here. These gods soon split and a war raged. Only a few made it out alive. The strongest of them formed a council of ten gods, each governing over an element. I was one of these gods." Apep explained. Kameron nodded.
"But of course, the gods did not like me as I was more powerful than all of them combined. The only one who could toe to toe with me was Makal, the god of Order. Under all the other god's noses he cast me out before telling them that I was dead. Their belief was so strong that I did fade. That is until I found myself in the body of a human. A smart, funny, kind, shy, human." Apep said sadly, staring at him.
Kameron gasped softly at Apep's kind words. "Thank you." He whispered. The snake suddenly moved getting closer before he started to glow brightly. He started to shrink, changing, shifting into the form of...a man. Then Kameron saw Apep for what he was.
He was very tall almost seven feet with light brown skin. He wore garnet robes, hanging loosely on his built form. His hair was a black and long with red streaks, past his shoulders. And his eyes...were outlined with a black and red eyeliner and his pupils were like a snake, different shades of red.
"Oh," Kameron said softly. Apep smiled. "This is much better," he said. His voice was deeper and much more smooth. He was extremely good-looking. He looked so young too, only 24 or 25. Speaking of age..."Hey, how old are you?" Kameron asked. Apep laughed. "Currently 27 years old. In god years. In human years about 9000. Maybe more." Kameron gaped at the man wondering if he was kidding. Apep laughed again, amused.
"Wow for an old man, you look good," Kameron said. He instantly regretted it as Apep raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. "Oh? Well, thank you. Not too bad yourself." The god said. Kameron blushed and looked away trying to catch his breath.
"Why did Makal hate you so much?" He asked softly.
Apep frowned.
"We...used to be lovers. I was brash and impulsive and tended to charge in without thinking. He was the rational one, always keeping me tethered. As Chaos, I have been around longer than any god. But Makal wanted more power than he had. And he knew he would never get it with me around." Kameron frowned at this answer. Couldn't the gods get along?
"But don't you need Chaos to even have Order or something like that?" He asked. Apep smirked. "Yes. Very much so. But Makal didn't care about that."
Kameron looked down at the endless abyss surrounding the tree. "What exactly is this place again?" He asked, watching a rock the size of the empire state building fall from the ceiling and into the void.
"A branch of Yggdrasil," Apep said. Kameron glanced at him confused. "Wait this giant thing isn't a tree but a branch of a tree?"
Apep nodded. "Yggdrasil has branches in every world. It only has a few in alternate dimensions though."
Kameron snickered at the god's tour guide tone. This was nice. Sitting with Apep and not worrying about the world. But deep down he felt a sense of dread. But he could not quite place why. Hmm.
Something to figure out later. The world began to waver the air shifting. "Ah. time for you to go, little chaos."
Kameron woke up to see the worried face of Sam hovering above him. She was saying something but she sounded far away. He groaned and his vision and hearing cleared. "-okay? Hey!" Sam was shouting. "I can hear you. No need to shout at me." He said. Sam sighed in relief and helped him sit up.
Kameron frowned and glanced around. "Where the hell are we?" he asked. Sam shrugged. "I have no idea. The plants and trees look a little different. And I'm pretty sure those mountains weren't there before." Sam pointed to the large mountains in the distance. Kameron stared for a few seconds before sighing. "We need to figure out where the fuck we are." Sam nodded. They both stood up. "Let's head that way," Sam said. With that, the two of them set off, heading toward the mountains.