Wind. Separating the skin, searing the flesh. John was falling. There was no light. And no colour. Just a darkness.
From the darkness that John fell through, he heard voices.
"Murderer!"
"Monster!"
"Betrayer!"
"Is he even a real person?"
"He has to be an alien."
"He can't even say hello right."
John began to curl up from the sound.
He brought his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. This way his heart would be protected. No blows would be able to sneak through.
"Why does the creator let such scum on this earth anyways?"
"Why do people like this have to exist?"
Die. You're scum. You're less than nothing. So do your Job and die. Because anything else would be useless.
It was beyond hate. It was violence.
John's lips parted with realization. That was it. This was just the pipeline.
The world had told him that he wasn't wanted. But it was too weak to end him. Even a nuclear explosion couldn't make John die. And if you can't get rid of the person with your might. Then you just end them with your own.
There would be no escape for John. He was already falling.
THUMP
THUMP
Something hammered against John's ribcage. It was trapped and trying furiously to get out.
THUMP
THUMP
John huddled tighter into himself. He didn't know what it was. But he couldn't let it escape. Not into this darkness.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" John let out a blood-curdling scream
It didn't matter how much John huddled. It could still leap through his back.
John's face grew pale with fear.
What if the thing that left him was essential?
What if he could live without it?
As those thoughts weaved through John's mind. Light jumped into existence. It illuminated the world around John.
John put his hand before his face as he looked toward that light. Falling with John was a golden figure. It was tiny, maybe about the size of John's hand. And it had John's same chubby build.
It glowed with strange radiance. It didn't banish the darkness like light should. Instead, it was there with it. Woven into it.
"Reach" Echoed the figure.
Its left hand began to squirm, crack, and bend. It grew amorphous as it grew in size. Soon, there was just a swollen ball twice its size next to it.
And then the ball shifted.
It shot towards John with such speed that John didn't even have time to flinch.
"Reach"
The hand shot through John.
And then John was someplace different.
.
…
.
...
.
...…
Below John was a bed of thorns. Above John was a strange sky. Instead of a sun, there was an eye that glared with enough hatred to burn the world down. The sky was filled with clouds of red energy, and the sky was pitch black. There wasn't a single star in the sky. It was just a lightless mass.
A golden hand shot out of John's chest as he fell. It palm stiked the thorns below John. The hand bent and cracked, and John's fall was slowed. John landed lightly on the thorns. They stabbed into John's skin and cut holes into his flesh. John was stricken with pain. But he was alive. All because of a hand.
It.... It hurts.
John was going through a pain so horrible that it made the nerves on his spine twitch and bend. It was as if his whole body was dissolved and regenerated at the same time. It trapped John in a limbo of pain.
"You should have just embraced the fall. Then there would be no pain."
John looked up at the voice.
Standing above John was a young girl. One he knew very well at this point.
Sloth
John bit his lip as he looked up at BSlothB
"There...." He paused for a solid minute.
There was a feeling in John's chest. Something warm. Even despite the horrible pain that filled his body.
It was new. And John liked it.
"There is something that can be found here. Something light. A special sort of kindness. " John said
"No, there isn't. All there is on the road off the end of the cliff is an endless field of thorns. Once the unbreakable breaks. It can never be fixed again. That's just the way of the world." Sloth said
John grit his teeth even harder.
"But... I've seen it." John said
"I've seen the light."
Sloth scowled.
"Okay. You know what. I'll move with you. We'll see together if it's true."
John smiled.
The heroes weren't supposed to help the villains.
John could be like ______
"I'd like that."
.
…
...
...…
The soft sound of breathing. The feeling of a sharp spring poking into your back. The dull hum of electricity running through the room. The taste of slightly warm air.
John was awake.
I'm sorry _______
That was the first thought that visited John's mind as he opened his eyes. He was awake and he was alive.
John rocked himself to his feet. He turned to look at the two dragons sleeping next to him.
John hugged Naos and Nepute.
He awoke with an embrace. Next, he turned his head to _______'s body.
It was letting off a feces-like stench. _______ was rotting.
I'll need to find an embalmer.
John picked up _______'s body.
TAK TAK TAK
John turned his head to the door where the sound was coming from.
"Are you decent!" Yelled someone from the outside of the door.
"I DON'T SLEEP NAKED! YOUR FINE!" John yelled
The door swung open.
Standing at the doorway was a man with a stern look and a bearded face. He was the leader of the guards that John had seen yesterday.
"We checked the database. And you're confirmed to be a warrior. You're good to go." Said the guard
John nodded.
"Okay, thank you."
The guard shuffled out of the way as John squeezed through the door.
The guard's brows furrowed into a tight knot as he smelled _______'s body.
John looked at the guard.
"Do you know of any embalmers nearby?" John asked
The guard frowned
"No, why the hell would I know that?"
John looked at the ground.
"Sorry."
The guard looked at John for a moment.
He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his cellphone.
"Here's my phone. You can look it up an embalmer with this." The guard said
John took the phone from his hand. He searched up the nearest embalmer.
After repeating the directions enough times in his head, he felt reasonably confident that he had memorized it.
"Thank you."
He handed the phone back to the guard.
Now, he just needed to find out how to get the money to pay for an embalmer.