From Lower to MiddleTiers, lifeforms require a seed of individuality to successfully progress and develop through the later Tiers. However, in the transiton from Middle to Upper Tiers the very same seed needs to germinate into a sapling of indiciduality. The difference in power between the stages is also just as great, if not greater than that between Lower to Middle Tiers. This is also the stage when domains begin to form, and they are characteristic of the individuality used to germinate the sapling. So from seed to sapling, what's next right? Well it is documented that throughout the Upper Tiers, saplings are required to grow so to speak. Simply meaning that the lifeform's individuality needs to be further cemented before using that fully grown tree to condense a 'world', which would be centered around that specific individuality. That is believed to be the final step before ascending beyond the 12th Tier, and into the area of 'Godhood'.

- An excerpt from “An in-Depth Study of Tiers and their Significance to the SYSTEM”

{Clip's POV}

Sadness had overwhelmed me, it crushed my soul as my mind kept replaying everything Chase said over and over. I still struggled to believe if everything that spewed out of his mouth was the truth. But Chase was someone I could trust, he was like family. He looked at me as I finally became emotional and started tearing up. The hot tears burnt as they traveled down my sunburnt face, the physical pain I was feeling right now was nothing compared to the gaping hole that was left in my heart.

I was responsible for my brother’s demise, ‘Was I a murderer… ?’. I didn’t get time to be consumed by my thoughts as I felt something pinch my injured thigh. I jerked and snapped my head to see what inflicted the pain. It was a small harmless beach crab, the same kind that slowly feasted on my brother’s corpse. With that thought, I picked it up and crushed it in the inside of my palm. I watched as its juice drained down my hand and into my wound. ‘ I should get this cleaned up before it gets infected', I cogitated as I continued to examine it. I glanced over at Chase and saw that he was already staring at me. We made eye contact before I asked,

“Could I use your belt?”. He broke eye contact and responded with, “Yes you can”. I watched as he unbuckled his belt and threaded it out of the loops of his pants. “Here”, he uttered. I grabbed it then proceeded to wrap it tightly around the wound to lessen the blood loss.

After properly rinsing out the laceration with the saline water, we mostly stayed in silence as we gathered the remaining bags we found on the shore. “We can’t leave him there”, I stated.

“You’re not touching him”, he muttered out. Confused and wondering if I had heard correctly I asked,

“What did you just say? He needs a proper burial Chase, it’s the least we could do” I quickly added. Flabbergasted at his comment, he snapped his toward me, “You’re. Not. Touching. Him!!”, he said angrily. My face utterly stunned, took a step backward. “What crawled up your ass and set up shop?” I rhetorically asked.

As his eyes zeroed in on me, he moved with such lightning speed that I didn’t even have the sufficient amount of time to dodge or counter-react his next action. Chase’s mouth landed on my left shoulder, clamped down, and began to gnaw at me. I screamed out as I rammed my fist on the side of his face repeatedly until he released my shoulder from his mouth. He landed on the ground a few inches away from me as I delivered the last blow. 'Did this b*tch just bit me?’

Shocked I looked over at him and shocker he was already staring at me. He was glaring his teeth back and forth that was adorned with some of my blood. He quickly got up and started speedily making his way over to me. I didn’t even hesitate; injured leg or not, I am not getting eaten by this cannibalistic freak. I started running and making my way toward the forest. I ignored the pain of my injured leg and busted ankle.

It was almost night time and I was currently hiding in a tall tree away from Chase. ‘Why was he acting like that, did he trip or something?’ I thought to myself. I instantly spun my head in the direction where I heard a rustling noise coming from. Trying my best to stay quiet and as extremely still as possible, I peered down to the forest floor trying to pinpoint the exact location of the noise. It was the pilot and as I was about to call for his attention but I immediately held my tongue. ‘Why did he look like that?’

He looked deranged and completely out of his wits, he was also covered in blood. Deep down I hoped that it was Chase’s but my hope was immediately vaporized. I looked directly down on the tree I was currently on and saw the bastard slowly making his way up toward me. I instantly questioned my life, “Can I get a break for Pete’s sake!” I yelled out as I took off one side of my shoes and threw it at him as hard as I could. It barely did anything to slow him down, however, my yell did draw the attention of the psycho pilot.

He immediately made his way over to us and started climbing up as well. I had already taken off the other side of the shoe and aimed it at Chase’s nose. The impact did catch him off guard, causing him to slip. But he remained persistent and clung on to a branch that was a little lower on the tree. The pilot had caught up to Chase by now and started trying to yank and pull him down to the forest floor. They struggled for a bit before they both fell off the tree and onto the ground.

Whilst on the ground they started fighting and wrestling with each other, Chase, unfortunately, had the upper hand but only for a while. He started getting tired, giving the pilot the upper hand. The pilot instantly started biting and scratching Chase’s body. I clung to the tree a bit tighter as I watch the pilot start eating his body. I hurled and vomited the remaining sustenance that was left in my weak body. He screamed out as I continued to watch him bleed out. 'Karmas a bitch ‘Lil man’, who’s the little one now huh?’. The pilot borrowed his dirty bloodied fingers into Chase’s eye sockets and tore out his eyes. He bit into his cheeks, rapidly peeling the skin from his face. I had no idea that was how the inside of the human body looked.

I couldn’t stomach watching the pilot ravish Chase any longer or stay here for that matter. I was most likely going to be next and I didn’t want to stick around to see.

And I already wasted so much time I could have used to escape, but it was somewhat nice to see Chase get what he deserved.

I scurried down the tree hoping that the pilot wouldn’t see me. I immediately made my way back to the beach to get the bags. It was already dark by the time I got to the beach, my bare feet rapidly hit the sandy ground, I quickly glanced over to where I had left the bags. I let out a sigh of relief because they were still there. I made my way over to it and started loading them onto my back. I turned around and started making my way down the beach because hell knows I’m not going back in the dark forest, with that psychopath nonetheless.

I stopped jogging as I remembered Andrew’s body, a sadness immediately washed over me. My brother was dead. Gone. And there’s nothing I could do about it. I have to at least bury him, a kind soul such as his deserved it. I made a U-turn and started jogging to where I came from. But stopped after seeing that, well, one of the halves of his body was missing. The other half that lay in front of me, looked like it had bite marks and gashes. It also looked like his brain was carved out; it was gone. 'Did a wild animal do this?’; my thoughts jumbled and confused, ‘What ani-' I stopped that thought.

The pilot.

That b*tch.

That’s why he was covered in blood when I saw him.

I silently cried as I laid his remains that were wrapped in some of the clothing I found in one of the bags into the sand. I slowly covered the hole his body lay in then walked the beach and collected stones to put on top of his grave. At this point, I didn’t care if that deranged cannibalistic pilot came to eat me. What’s the point of living anymore, I’ll eventually die from either starvation, infection, or dehydration and the list goes on. At least I would die while doing a good deed, I wondered as I laid the last of the stones on his grave.

I sat around a small campfire I had made while searching through the rest of the bags. I was fortunate enough to get one of the bags that had food in it. The other bag had most of Chase’s clothes and mini first aid kits and the third had Andrew’s clothing. My bad luck was finally turning around.

I roasted two cans of sausages but was immediately thirsty right after. Unfortunately, the bags had no water, so I drank the liquid that was in the cans of sausages. It probably made my thirst worse but it was sort of a form of sustenance. After I drank the sauce, I started cleaning my wounds with the things from the mini first aid kits. It came with gauze, cotton balls, tweezers, disinfecting wipes, band-aids, surgical tape, gloves, and an ointment of some sort. I used the tweezers to pull out all the prickles that were stuck in my feet.

I wished Andrew goodnight as I drifted off to sleep. The next day I woke up to an awful smell, ‘it couldn’t have been me that smelled like that right?’ With my eyes still closed I rolled over and my face went into something mushy and odorous. I instantly backed away and shut my eyes open. Oh, my word. I screamed and immediately rushed towards the sea, washing off the maggots that were almost all over my face.

Why was Andrew’s body dug up? Am I going crazy too? I’m a hundred percent sure that I did bury his body yesterday.’ I felt disgusted, 'I did bury him, right?’ I rushed back toward the shore and went to where I had buried him. The grave was dug up. ‘Did the pilot do this, but why?. He could have just killed me while I was sleeping. Was he playing games with me?’ I thought.

Engulfed with rage and somewhat confusion with the sight of my brother’s dismantled grave, I decided that it was time to put an end to this dreadful nightmare. That pilot had to pay for what he did and so I was determined to kill him or at least make him suffer for disturbing my attempt at peace. Using a stick, vines, and rock I found on the beach, I fashioned a spear that was guaranteed to put the bitch out of his misery, then I ventured into the dark forest once more in search of him.

After a few hours of treading through the treacherous terrain, my eye caught the sight of smoke at the top of a hill. As I ran toward the supposing campfire, the thought of murder wavered in my mind. ‘Could I do this?….. Was I the type person to kill someone all in the name of revenge?’ Breaking my inner argumentation, I concluded that the decision I was about to make wasn’t just in the name of revenge, but it was centered around the most basic rule being Survival of the fittest, either you kill or you be killed.

As I got closer to the campsite, the putrid scent of burning flesh lingered in the air. Oddly it was somewhat mouthwatering. ‘Wait…what the f**k was I thinking?!? Mouthwatering?!?’ I blamed my insatiable thrust and hunger for that ungodly thought and paid no mind to it for as I was already sneaking up behind him getting ready to stick him in the back of his neck like Shish Kebab.

I only noticed the smell came while Chase’s decapitated head was being roasted, the sight indeed made me sick but the bitch had it coming. My stealthy approach was disrupted when I slid on some gravel beneath my feet and landed flat on my side beside him. Though he didn’t seem surprised, I immediately sprung to my feet and began scuffling with the bastard trying my best to wound him so I can savor my revenge.

However, being the fool, I failed to calculate how his brawny muscle physique greatly put my lean body at a disadvantage and as such he easily overpowered me knocking my spear into an adjacent ravine while pinning me to the ground. Albeit I attempted to end his life, he seemed more confused and went on babbling about what happened at the beach.

“You fool how dare you try to kill me after saving your pathetic little life?. I did you fav.. favor, that son of bitch bashed your head in then wounded you like the helpless little boy you are...Dii..did you know he blamed you for your brother’s death? Oh, ye..yes indeed…in fact Clip, you should..tha..thank me. You see, you and I are not so diff..different, after you bur..buried your brother you scurried back to ravenously devour his remains. Poor Drew could even rest in peace af…after he saved your sss..ssorry ass”

As I squabbled underneath his tight grip, my mind filled with denial. ‘Was it true?!? Did I eat my…..No, it couldn’t be??!?!!’ I couldn’t believe the ramblings of a hysterical madman. With all the strength I had shoved him, allowing me to get the upper hand pinning him down to the rocky terrain screaming “ You lair take it back!!” He responded deranged “Think about it Clip who dung up the grave? And why are you covered in blood?"

While he babbled I couldn’t help but notice some remnants of Atropa Belladonna, a toxic plant that causes delirium, hallucinations, and in some cases mass hysteria. ‘Poor fool must’ve thought it was an eatable plant, deadly to the untrained eye. Could this be an explanation for his outrageous behavior?’ Nevertheless, he ate my brother and I refused to believe otherwise even though he may have saved my life, and for doing such he had to pay. Since he wasn’t trying to kill me and I was at a great disadvantage in terms of physique and being severely injured, I let him up and decided to leave him be for now.

In my defense, it was the logical thing to do, plus the bastard was destined to die at some point right after he ingested that plant. The best I could do was smother him in his sleep or stab him in the chest, but I had to wait until nightfall.

While I sat at the fire my mind couldn’t help but drift based on the maundering words of a deranged man, and with those thoughts, I dozed off. Suddenly but not surprisingly, I was woken by excruciating pain, the f**cker bit my toe off!! ‘Really Clip you fell asleep next to a cannibal?!?’ I quickly sprung to my feet kicked him in the face and through all the scuffling he said,

“Come on Clip, let me get a piece, but t..tell me how your brother taste? I bet was all jj..juicy like you..” His words made my blood boil in both fear and rage that there may be some truth to his story. But that was all it took to cloud my mind and before I knew it, he stuffed a handful of the Belladonna in my mouth. I responded by throwing the ashes from the campfire into his eyes, causing him to stumble onto me plunging us both into the ravine.

Night had turned into day, and day into night, yet I laid at the bottom of this cold rocky ravine. Every bone was broken in my body, but I felt no pain which only meant death was inevitable. ‘The stupid fool doomed us both, but had become of him?’ That question was soon answered when trickles of blood touched my fingers, which guided my eyes to the gruesome appearance of my opponent who had plunged into the spear I built, and it went straight through him. I couldn’t help but chuckle, though I felt a pool of blood gather in the back of my throat making it harder to breathe.

That moment of satisfaction lasted only a mere minute for a wave of sadness overcame me enabling me to become one with my thoughts..’Is this how I die? At the bottom of a ravine on an uncharted island, driven mad by revenge for something that I did? Was I a murderer? A victim? Or worst of all a coward?’ Questions only I could answer I suppose, but before I could muster another thought, I drifted off due to my apparent blood loss.

Awoken by the sound of waves thrashing against the reef in the distance, I stared at the pale blue heavens as the clouds drifted across the sky, floating effortlessly. As my delirium finally set in from the recently ingested Belladonna curtsey of my unworthy opponent, a montage of my long-forgotten memories cascaded off the walls of the ravine. Memories of my childhood and lonesome life. Only now did I see why Chase hated me, I became a burden to Andrew soon after mom and dad died depriving him of his childhood which in turn diminished the time and friendship they had with each other.

‘Could I blame him though for what he did to me?’ I did ruin his life by stealing his best friend, taking his job, and sleeping with the girl of his dreams. I always thought he had forgiven me when he clipped my ear and gave me that awful nickname. Tears trickled down my face knowing deep down I consumed my brother after all he sacrificed for me. So maybe I deserved to die like this, alone, cold, heartbroken at the bottom of a ravine after I lived a selfish, meaningless, and not mention cannibalistic life. I didn’t deserve Drew’s love or forgiveness, I didn’t want it. And as I drew my final breath, I bided fair well to Alexander Fraser aka “the Mighty Clip” while waves dragged my body out to sea.