Max found himself on the moon of some random planet, utterly baffled. One moment he was trying to walk in the slums, and the next, he was on a completely different celestial body, standing in a desolate landscape with craters and dust as far as the eye could see. He looked around, half-expecting some sort of explanation, but all he got was silence.
"Okay, Max," he muttered to himself, "don't panic. You're just on the moon of a planet you don't know in a galaxy you've never heard of. Totally normal."
Taking a cautious step forward, Max hoped that maybe, just maybe, he could make some sense of this situation. But as soon as his foot touched the lunar surface—*whoosh*—he was suddenly catapulted into a cluster of asteroids like he was the universe's own pinball.
He tumbled through space, flailing his arms and legs in a panic. "What the—?! How did I even—?!"
Meanwhile, not too far from his chaotic trajectory, a group of space pirates lounged about on their ship, orbiting an asteroid belt. They were a motley crew, with eyepatches, scruffy beards, and enough weapons to start a small war. One of the younger pirates, a scrawny kid with a telescope, peered through his lens and gasped.
"Captain!" he shouted, eyes wide. "I see somethin'! A kid—he's flyin' through space!"
The grizzled pirate captain, who was nursing a bottle of alien grog, snorted and waved him off. "Yer seein' things again, laddie. How many times I gotta tell ya—don't start drinkin' 'fore noon! We got a job to do!"
The young pirate frowned, confused. "But Captain, I swear—he's right there, bouncin' 'round like a moonhopper!"
"Bah! Enough with yer tall tales!" the captain grumbled, taking another swig. "Get back to yer post 'fore I make ye swab the decks with yer tongue!"
Back in the asteroid belt, Max was having an existential crisis of his own. He was struggling to even breathe, terrified that the smallest gasp might cause catastrophic destruction. "Okay, okay, think, Max," he whispered to himself. "How do you control this? Maybe… use just 1% of your strength?"
Gathering his courage, Max tried to take the tiniest breath possible. But as soon as he exhaled, an entire planet made of solid rock shattered into a billion pieces.
Max's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Are you kidding me?! That was 1%?!"
Realizing that he couldn't just wing it, Max decided it was time for some serious training. He spent months in the void of space, practicing how to control his strength. Planets crumbled, asteroids disintegrated, and Max's frustration grew with every failed attempt. Eventually, he discovered that he needed to use precisely 0.000001% of his power to walk normally—and even that left tiny cracks in the ground wherever he stepped.
One day, after finally mastering the art of not destroying everything he touched, Max floated by a particularly bright sun, enjoying the warmth. "This is actually kind of nice," he mused, admiring his ability to breathe in space and survive in the vacuum without any issues. It dawned on him that this was likely the result of that mysterious Forbidden Fruit, which had somehow fused with him during his reincarnation.
Just as he was about to relax, a shadow fell over him. Max looked up to see the pirate ship hovering nearby, its crew gawking at him like he was the strangest thing they'd ever seen—which, to be fair, he probably was.
One of the pirates, a burly guy with a scar across his face, leaned out of the ship and grinned. "Oi, kid! What're ya doin' out here all alone? Come on over—got some chocolate for ya!" He waved a bar of chocolate like it was the most tempting thing in the universe.
Max blinked. "Seriously? Chocolate? In space?"
The pirate's grin widened, his acting skills as subtle as a sledgehammer. "Yeah, yeah, c'mon over, and we'll take care of ya. Safe an' sound on our ship."
Max sighed, utterly unimpressed by the pirate's attempt at luring him in. "Listen, how about you guys just surrender now and save us all some trouble?"
The pirates burst out laughing, clutching their sides. "Hah! Surrender? To a kid? That's rich!" the captain howled.
Max rolled his eyes. "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."
Before the pirates could react, one of them accidentally fired a cannon at an asteroid the size of a small planet. The blast was impressive—at least, to them. The asteroid shattered into pieces, and the pirates cheered at their handiwork.
"See that, boy?" the captain boasted. "We're nothin' to mess with!"
Max just stared, unimpressed. "Oh, you think that's something? Watch this."
He turned his head to the side and let out a tiny sneeze. *Achoo!* In an instant, a massive planet nearby disappeared, completely obliterated as if it had never existed.
The pirates went dead silent, their jaws dropping in unison. The captain's bottle slipped from his hand, clattering to the floor. "By the stars…" he whispered. "He just… sneezed."
Max smirked, floating over to the ship with ease. "Now, about that surrender…"
The pirates practically tripped over themselves, scrambling to bow, grovel, and lick his boots like their lives depended on it—which, considering the circumstances, they probably did.
"Of course, Your Highness! We surrender! We ain't never gonna rob another boy again, swear on me mum!" the captain babbled, his voice trembling.
Max landed softly on the deck of the ship, resisting the urge to facepalm at their groveling. "Alright, alright, enough with the boot-licking. Just tell me how to get to planet 32002."
The captain, still trembling, pointed a shaky finger at the ship's navigation console. "It—it takes eight years to get there, yer Majesty. It's real far."
"Eight years?" Max repeated, his patience wearing thin. "That's ridiculous. Just give me the coordinates."
The navigator, terrified out of his wits, quickly input the coordinates and handed the screen over to Max. "Here ya go, sir!"
Max took one look, memorized the map, and then, without another word, floated off the ship. "Thanks for the help," he called out casually. "You guys might want to find another line of work, though."
Before the pirates could respond, Max zoomed off into the void, breaking the speed of light like it was nothing. The pirates watched in stunned silence as he disappeared from sight.
As soon as he was gone, the entire crew broke into cheers of relief, hugging each other like they'd just survived a near-death experience—which, in a way, they had.
The captain wiped the sweat from his brow. "Alright, lads, new rule: no more robbin' kids. Ever."
"Aye, Captain!" the crew chorused, their fear palpable.
As they sailed away from the asteroid belt, the captain muttered to himself, "First time I've ever been glad to see the back of a kid…"
Meanwhile, Max was zooming through the galaxy, leaving behind a trail of stardust and shattered expectations. He couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all. Sure, this new life was completely insane—but at least it wasn't boring.
Max's descent toward the distant planet was accompanied by an eerie silence, the kind that creeps into your bones and makes your skin crawl. As he neared the surface, the landscape revealed itself in all its twisted, grotesque glory. What from afar appeared to be mountains and forests were actually monstrous, malformed structures, as if the planet itself was a living, breathing entity, contorted and writhing in pain.
The planet was alive with movement, but it wasn't the bustling activity of a thriving civilization; it was the chaotic, frenzied thrashing of what Max assumed were savage beasts. Hulking creatures with jagged, misshapen bodies prowled the terrain, their forms blending with the twisted landscape. Their eyes, glowing with a sickly, unnatural light, were filled with a mindless rage, their mouths gnashing with rows of razor-sharp teeth that seemed to hunger for destruction.
Max's arrival triggered a reaction from the planet's inhabitants. A haunting, guttural roar echoed through the air, a sound that could only be described as the wail of something deeply, fundamentally wrong. Massive, ancient cannons, overgrown with what looked like flesh and sinew, began to shift and twist, aiming skyward. Soldiers, if they could even be called that, emerged from the shadows—creatures with warped, grotesque features, their bodies a horrifying amalgamation of man and beast. Their skin was a patchwork of scales, fur, and exposed muscle, their limbs ending in claws and talons instead of hands and feet.
In a small village at the planet's edge, a father, his body twisted and deformed like the rest, tried to shield his daughter from the horrors around them. Her eyes were wide with terror, her tiny, clawed hands clutching at her father's malformed body.
"Daddy, are we going to be okay?" she whimpered, her voice barely more than a rasping whisper.
The father, his voice a low growl, tried to comfort her, though his own fear was palpable. "Yes, my dear. The soldiers will protect us from the great beast. We just need to stay hidden."
Nearby, a mother, her once-beautiful face now a grotesque mask of horror, held her young son close. His small, twisted form trembled in her arms as they huddled together, seeking comfort in each other's presence.
"I'm scared, Mama," the boy choked out, his voice a mixture of fear and sorrow.
The mother, her voice thick with emotion, whispered, "Don't be, my love. As long as we're together, we'll be safe."
In the heart of the military base, a soldier—a monstrous figure with a heavily armored, beast-like body—stood at his post, his eyes fixed on the sky. His thoughts, though muddled by the madness of his form, were of the one he loved, a creature as twisted as he, waiting for him in the dark recesses of the planet. He had promised to return to her, but now, facing the approaching threat, that promise felt like a distant, unattainable dream.
"I'll come back to you," he snarled softly, his voice barely audible over the planet's own groans of pain.
Max, oblivious to the tragic reality before him, saw only monsters. To him, this was a world infested with vile, dangerous creatures, and his mission was clear—he needed to eliminate the threat.
The queen of the planet, a being of great power, but twisted and grotesque like the rest, stood upon a balcony overlooking her realm. Her many eyes scanned the horizon, her senses tingling with the impending doom. She had ruled over this land of beasts for centuries, guiding her twisted people through countless battles, but never had she faced an enemy like this.
"Protect our land," she hissed, her voice echoing through the minds of her subjects. "Do not let the great beast consume us."
As Max touched down, the ground itself seemed to recoil in fear. The creatures, driven by instinct and the queen's commands, unleashed a barrage of attacks. The cannons fired, their projectiles howling through the air, while the twisted soldiers charged with a ferocity born of desperation.
But to Max, it was all the same—mindless beasts trying to resist their fate. He raised his fist, ready to end the conflict with a single, devastating blow.
With one punch, Max shattered the planet's core. The ground split open, and the twisted structures began to collapse, their grotesque forms crumbling into dust. The monstrous inhabitants were thrown into chaos, their roars of defiance turning into screams of agony.
The father, still clutching his daughter, felt the earth give way beneath him. He held her tight, shielding her from the falling debris as the world around them dissolved into darkness. The mother, with her son in her arms, whispered one last lullaby as the ground beneath them shattered, her voice drowned out by the planet's final, agonized cries. The soldier, far from his love, closed his eyes as the void swallowed him, his final thoughts a prayer for her safety.
As the planet's life force ebbed away, the queen, sensing her kind disappearing, cast one final, desperate spell. Her many eyes fixed on Max, her voice filled with a venomous hatred.
"You, who have destroyed us, will one day know the pain you have caused. I curse you to feel the same agony, the same despair. May the universe show you no mercy."
Max, standing amidst the ruins, felt a cold shiver run down his spine.wait what how can i hear this curse? The curse latched onto him, a dark presence that would follow him, a constant reminder of the lives he had just extinguished.
Max, standing amidst the desolate ruins of the shattered planet, suddenly felt a cold shiver run down his spine. Confusion flickered across his face as he wondered how he could hear the queen's curse. After all, in the vacuum of space, sound couldn't travel. But this curse was not a mere sound—it was something far more sinister, far more profound.
The queen's final words weren't spoken in the conventional sense. Instead, they were woven into the very fabric of reality, carried through the ether as a dark, arcane energy that transcended the normal boundaries of space and time. As Max stood there, the curse latched onto his very soul, bypassing the physical laws that usually governed his existence. It was not something he heard with his ears, but something that resonated deep within his consciousness, striking at the core of his being.
The curse was a manifestation of the queen's immense power and the collective anguish of her people. It was a spell of pure emotion—raw, undiluted hatred and despair—poured into a single, potent hex that bound itself to Max. The venomous words echoed in his mind, reverberating in a way that felt almost tangible, like the brush of cold fingers against his skin.
As Max launched himself back into space, searching for his next destination, he couldn't escape the oppressive weight of the curse. It wasn't just the words that haunted him, but the feelings they conveyed—the deep sorrow and anguish of an entire species facing extinction, their desperate cries for mercy that he had ignored. The curse was a constant reminder of the lives he had extinguished, lives that had once been filled with love, hope, and fear, now reduced to nothing but dust.
Despite his immense power, Max couldn't shake the sense of dread that now followed him. The curse was a dark presence that lingered in the back of his mind, a shadow that threatened to overwhelm him with guilt and sorrow. He began to question his actions, wondering if he had made a grave mistake in assuming that the twisted beings were nothing more than mindless beasts. The queen's words echoed in his thoughts, her curse a foreboding warning that one day, he would experience the same pain, the same loss that he had inflicted upon them.
In this moment, Max realized that the universe was far more complex than he had imagined. His actions had consequences, and the queen's curse was a stark reminder that power alone was not enough to navigate the moral complexities of the worlds he encountered. As he continued his journey, the curse would remain with him, a dark cloud hanging over his every move, a constant reminder that even the strongest beings could not escape the consequences of their actions.