Cold… he was so cold.

A frigid heart-numbing bite coursed through his soul. He was shrouded in pure darkness. Wait… was this a lucid dream? He was thinking… but wait, no. Was this another vision?

“Oh look, he’s here,” said a familiar voice.

Out in the blackness, came a recognizable voice. Female, smooth, ancient. No doubt about it.

It was death.

She sat in the middle of the inky void, knees tucked under a long flowing skirt as the lantern hung off a stick on her shoulders. She was making idle chatter with the someone who faced directly away from Keldon, staring out into the nothingness not bothering to respond to her back. She tucked a strand of fine silver hair behind her ears before glancing over to Keldon’s position.

“Won’t you come to join us old friend? He’s been waiting far too long to see you again,”

“Who?” Keldon thought, wanting to ask aloud. But he choked on the words, his voice lumped in his throat. He couldn’t speak, so instead, he willed himself forwards, drifting towards death and the figure who faced away from him.

Deaths’ eyes were as infinite as ever, a seemingly boundless sea of sparkles and oblivion. She smiled gently, looking both beautiful and unnerving at the same time.

“Well, don’t be shy,” she said. He honestly didn’t know who she was talking to. But the figure didn’t move, frozen in time as it gazed into the infinite darkness. Keldon couldn’t feel his body, but he shuddered just looking at the figure’s back.

He reached out. “H-hello?” Keldon thought

The person… no, the monster’s neck snapped around, twisting its neck in a vile 180 degrees as the popping of bones resonated through his core. It cocked its head at Keldon, staring in silence.

“Retreat!” Keldon thought, pulling himself back.

Its head was shaped like a fly, moving sporadically as it analyzed Keldon, gazing into the depths of his mind. Two sickly blue eyes bulged from the sides of its head, wide as dinner plates as…

No. This wasn’t just any monster. Apart from the repugnant blue eyes, the soulless stare, and the deafening silence, there was…a human aspect to it. One that turned his insides green and twisted reality.

Brown hair, sickly skin, ragged robes. Deformities or not, Keldon could tell.

The abomination looked like him.

“Become… a… hero” it wheezed in a raspy voice.

“No…” Keldon thought.

“Do it Keldon… for me.” the monster croaked.

“Stop it.” Keldon cried in his mind.

“Be… the hero… I couldn’t … Keldon. Save… Stringston.” wheezed the monster.

“NO MORE!!!” yelled Keldon, retreating.

And suddenly the monster vanished. Death faded from his vision as Keldon backed in fear, looking for something to press his back against for safety, but there was no such comfort in the abyss. Keldon curled himself into a ball, feeling as if an inky black hand had torn at the back of his heart and crushed his mind.

“Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. I’m trying Luther, I’m trying,” he whimpered.

“You could have saved them,” whispered the monster from behind.

“I SAID STOPPP!!!!” howled Keldon, he leapt towards the monster. Pinning it to the floor, slamming his fists into the monster’s skull.

“It wasn’t my fault!! I had no choice!!!” Keldon screamed, slamming his fist over and over and over again, the sound of crushing flesh echoing throughout the void. The creature was unphased but beaten to a pulp.

“You always had a choice,” whispered the monster.

“I…I…” stammered Keldon.

“That’s enough,” said Death, waving her lantern and clearing the red from Keldon’s vision. “Not all at once.”

And the monster disappeared, flashing back besides death, and returning to staring out into the empty void.

Keldon crumpled.

“You were never good at confrontation, old friend,” said Death.

Keldon didn’t respond.

Death looked over and waved her hand, Keldon vanishing from the blackness. She turned to the monster who wept as it stared into the abyss, unrelenting in its gaze.

“Step-by-step. Step-by-step.”

#

11 years ago.

Young Keldon woke up in a cramped unfamiliar room, lying on a musty makeshift bed. Dirty bandages littered the ground, accompanied by emptied bottles of tonic as Keldon pulled himself up, wincing as he looked down at his body.

Everything ached, he was totally wrapped up in fresh cotton bandages as he touched his sides, pain shooting up his spine. Yup, that still smarts.

But then there was a knock at the door.

Quickly, Keldon looked for somewhere to hide. But the room was bare. He was so exposed.

Then the door opened. A kindly-old man walked through the door, carrying a tray of steaming hot soup and brown bread in his two arms and… opening the door open with his other two?

“Oho you’re awake!” said the four-armed man. He set the tray of food beside Keldon whose eyes shifted between him and the tray of food. The four-armed man smiled.

“Go ahead. We’ll talk after”

Keldon snatched the bread and the bowl of soup, wolfing it down as he watched the four-armed man out of the corner of his eye. The four-armed man chuckled.

“Don’t worry, no one’s going to steal it from you,” he said, holding his hands up and taking a step back. But it didn’t stop Keldon from scarfing it down as fast as he could. The faster you ate, the less time someone would have to snatch it out of your mouth.

Licking the bowl clean, Keldon put down his first proper meal in ages as the old man had pulled up a stool in the corner of the room.

“My names Alegarr, but the kids around here call me Papa Spider,” said Alegar. “What’s your name?”

“…”

“The boys found you pretty banged up you know,” said Alegarr. “How’re you feeling now?”

“…fine.”

Alegarr smiled as if he had done this too many times before. He got up from his seat, opening the door, and started to walk out before turning to Keldon.

“If you’re feeling better, you’re free to leave. But they wanted to have a word with you as soon as you had awakened. Luther said you had impressed him,” said Alegarr. “If you don’t plan on staying, at least give them a goodbye, it’s the least you could do.”

Alegarr turned to walk out the door.

“Thank you,” muttered Keldon. “For saving me.”

Alegarr turned around and shot him a wry smile. “You’re very welcome,” he said, and turned the corner, down the hallway, leaving the door open for Keldon to leave at his leisure.

Carefully, Keldon lowered himself down, stuffing the wooden spoon in his pockets as he crept towards the door, peering out into the hallways. It was dark, but as far as he could tell, the coast was clear, he really could leave. There were no windows, only a few worn paintings and dusty plastic potted plants to liven up what was otherwise a cold hallway. But as he hugged the wall, Keldon heard footsteps sprinting down the hall in front of him. He moved closer to investigate when suddenly, the boy named Luther weaved around the corner, nearly crashing into him as the two of them fell to the floor.

“Luther, I’m gonna kill you!!” came a feminine voice that quickly approached.

Luther picked himself off the floor. “Shit! Oh, hey stranger! Take this! We’ll talk later!” Luther said, tossing a strange piece of fabric into Keldon’s arms as he booked it down the hallway. Before Keldon could even have time to respond, a woman with auburn hair and emerald green eyes stomped around the corner. She was practically fuming at the ears but was still the prettiest woman Keldon had ever seen, as she whipped her head around in both directions.

“Luther you brat, I can’t believe you stole my bra!! When I get my hands on you, I’m gonna…” she said, trailing off as Keldon just stared into her bright green eyes.

“Hey kiddo, did you take that back from Luther for me?” she asked.

Keldon absently nodded his head.

“What a lovely young gentleman, why thank you!” she said, taking the bra (whatever that was) out of Keldon’s hands and planting the sweetest kiss on his forehead. “Which way did he go?”

“Thank you!” she said, giving Keldon a gentle pat on the head before stomping off in the direction.

But before she left, she turned back, waving her hands at him “Don’t go stealing anything before you leave!” she said, vanishing down the hallway.

“How’d she know?” Keldon thought, feeling the spoon in his side pocket. He took it out, looked down the hallway, then back at the spoon, and put it back on a shelf nearby, then took off after the pretty lady.

Rusty metal pipes dripped slick black liquid into Keldon’s hair as he hurried down the maze of hallways. It was dark, with only a few candles at the corners of each turn as Keldon fumbled around in the shadows. He ran his hands along the wall, feeling soft moss brush past his fingertips as he shimmied over to the other side of the long hallway.

“Pst. Over here! It’s me Luther!” said Luther, beckoning Keldon over behind a door.

Keldon shuffled over to Luther as he opened the door for Keldon to crawl in, closing the door behind him. It was pitch-black and cramped, as all Keldon could hear was the sound of Luther shuffling about. But with a fwoosh, Luther had struck a match, lighting the last nub of a small candle by his side. Seems the two of them were hiding in a cramped closet, as dirty rags and other random items hung overhead.

“Like my secret hiding spot? Well, it's not that big of a secret, but it's surprising how not many adults catch me when I hide here.”

Keldon nodded, hiding spots were pretty cool. He had a few himself where he kept the little stuff he owned.

“Right? You’re a quiet one huh? That’s okay, a lot of the kids here don’t like talking much,” said Luther. “Where’s the bra?”

Keldon shrugged his shoulders, holding up his hands.

“Fuck. Tianna probably took it huh. That’s okay, I’ll just steal it again later.”

Keldon frowned. “Kids shouldn’t swear,” he said.

Luther’s face brightened. “So, you can talk! Well, only real grown-ups swear, that’s how you know they’re grown-up. You want to be grown-up, don’t you? So you gotta swear!”

Keldon scratched his chin. He’d never thought about it that way before.

“Anyways, you’re alive, that’s great! We’ve been looking for a fourth heister!”

Keldon cocked his head. “Heister?”

“Yeah! A Heister! You know… like heisting?”

Keldon shook his head.

“Like what you did a couple days ago! Stealing that bread from Potato Kenny! You’re really brave you know?!”

Keldon blushed, twiddling his fingers together as he looked down to his feet.

“I mean it! You got some real balls! How about it, join me in the Heisters? We’re good of course, we only steal from the bad people so everyone here can have some more to eat!” said Luther.

Keldon thought for a moment. It would be nice to have other people to help him steal food from other adults.

“Will I get to eat the food I steal?” asked Keldon.

“After we split it up, totally!” said Luther. “Oh, this is going to be so much fun, welcome to the team!”

Luther grabbed Keldon by the hand, shaking it vigorously up and down.

“So, who will be target?” asked Keldon.

“Glad you asked! We’re going after Skinz’s secret stash for now” Luther said, pulling out a crudely drawn map from underneath a pile of dirty laundry. “But eventually, we’ll be heisting the richest man in the city. Once we have all that food, we’ll never have to worry about eating again! We’ll totally have enough to share with everyone here in Stringston too!”

Luther looked Keldon in the eyes, giving him a nod.

“We’re going to be heroes!” said Luther, the candle beside him smothering out, trapping the two of them in the closet, blanketed in total darkness.