Chapter 14: The Identity

(Please note, not edited/checked/PR-ed. You may run into a questionable grammar or two. If you happen to spot them, please let me know in the comments below. Thanks in advance!!)

Before anyone knew, the new day arrived. Saturday changed to Sunday. Jack dazedly opened his eyes, wondering for a second where he was as his eyes focused on the unfamiliar ceiling above. It took a short while before it all registered in his brain.

He found his ability to go to sleep somewhat funny. He hadn't taken a single sleeping pill last night, yet as soon as his face hit the comfy white pillow, he just passed out like a drunkard.

Why was that? Jack could only suspect his own accumulated mental fatigue. The constant barrage of shocks and revelations he had received throughout the whole of yesterday was indeed bothering on insanity so it was kind of expected.

Jack sat up on the white bed and groaned. His head was muddled and it was not easy to focus his thoughts. The curtains automatically drew apart and slowly revealed the rising morning sun, breaking out of the horizon.

Jack offhandedly thought that the world at large would continue to spin around, uncaring of the circumstances and battles that the mere mortals fought every single day. That rising sun was the perfect example of how insignificant his own troubles seemed.

And where would he even begin to digest what he learned?

The bedroom was high up in the sky; the morning clouds were his neighbors. The orange glow of the morning sunlight felt more vivid, hotter and brighter than usual. Jack squinted his eyes as the glare of warm rays stroked his face.

He gingerly pulled himself up off the bed and stretched his cramped limbs. The aches from the sparring match and Cleo's beatdown had all but disappeared as if they were all lies told by a cry wolf. To make sure it wasn't just the good rest he had masking the pains and aches, he lightly swung his shoulders around for a bit.

He was perfectly fine. Then he remembered that he did access that red soul space inside his mind during the night. As more blood circulated to his brain, Jack recalled doing some stuff in there to heal the hidden injuries. Coupled with that billion dollar Healing Mist thingy, it was obvious that his recuperative abilities would get a serious, out of this world boost.

Of course, he also had a brief glimpse of the past him. Of Gilgamesh. This time, it was about him meeting Utnapishtim and his wife. Gilgamesh wanted the secret to the eternal life, the immortality. The unhappy looks of Utnapishtim were kind of funny, Jack mused quietly to himself.

Oh, right, Mylorne Akkad said something about helping me with accumulating more of those red souls. Should I take him up on that?

Jack sighed softly before heading to the bathroom to wash up. Then he changed into a set of new clothes, provided free of charge by the gracious host Mylorne Akkad.

That was one of those hard-to-digest facts Jack had to face. Out of many unbelievable revelations, this one ranked pretty high up there as the most improbable things to happen. But the more he thought about it, the truer it seemed. The face of Utnapishtim in his dreams/memories was the exact same one with Mylorne Akkad's, minus the bushy caveman-style beard and the curly, waist-length hair.

That made Akkad over five thousand years old. No, much more than that, since in his memories, the great flood, The Cleansing Flood, happened many, many thousands of years before the era of Gilgamesh. Then, just how ancient was he?!

So, him looking like a fit forty-something yuppie defied all logic. The whole idea violated the mere thought of any common sense from behind and threw the hurting remnant right off the tallest building in the world, science be damned.

But Jack was not in any position to retort to how absurd it all was. After all, he was a reincarnated version of the God-King Gilgamesh – so he too was in the midst of busy violating the common sense, albeit unknowingly.

Ah, yes, the biggest elephant in the room.

Jack splashed cold water on his face and stared at the reflection. No matter how hard he looked, he.... seemed normal. Obviously one wouldn't be able to tell apart a genetics-augmented being from a regular person but still.

But he wasn't an augmented Super soldier for the Big Brother. He was much, much more than that. The children of the Project Dead Kings were augmented with the various genes of historical Supers, their genes glued together by Gilgamesh's own.

In Jack's case, though – no such thing. Nope.

He was the proper clone of Gilgamesh. He was 100% the legendary figure from the past. The face that was staring back in the mirror, that was Gilgamesh's. The hand that scooped the cold water from the faucet belonged to Gilgamesh.

He was the Gilgamesh. Just a lot weaker.

When he heard that straight from the mouth of Mylorne Akkad or Utnapishtim the Immortal, the Preserver of Life, Jack could no longer stand. He needed a rest. He needed to hide somewhere and just crash for a couple of hours. So, the reasons of why he wasn't taken like the other kids in the Project would be conveyed to him at a later stage. Jack was fine with that schedule. Absolutely fine.

Well, this was a new day, and he'd have to face more of the mysteries surrounding himself and his family.

Jack mulled all of these facts and questions while walking slowly out of the bedroom. The trio of teenage Supers was all awake already, and they were lounging around in the living area.

Lei was, as usual, fiddling around with her iPod and the red earphones were also firmly stuck in her ears. Erik was watching the TV with a pair of white headphones while Cleo was munching on some kind of biscuit, her eyes half closed. It was difficult to tell whether she was wide awake or busy sleepwalking.

As a matter of fact, all three of them had thick dark bags under their eyes. It seemed that Jack was the only one who “enjoyed” a good night's rest.

“Morning,” greeted Jack at the trio. Only Lei showed a small, passing interest at it by waving her hand for a second before concentrating on her iPod again. Erik was too absorbed in the broadcast to reply, and as for Cleo, well....

On her own accord, she began offering the reasons for the rather strained appearances of her and her friends.

“So, like, I couldn't really sleep. Did you know, that I can watch over three thousand movies on that massive TV? That's, like, a lot. Like, a freakin' lot, you know!! So I was flipping channels to see if there was anything interesting.... for the whole night..... There was a thing about a planet full of monkeys and naked men. And that twist ending, though. I really didn't see that coming, you know? And then, this guy, trying to steal 50 cars in one night.... And he was flying in the end. That was pretty cool. I wish I could fly like that. And then, and then....

“And then these guys came out and we just sort of watched stuff on TV until now. Ah, I'm so hungry. Where's breakfast already?!”

Jack smile wryly before shifting his gaze to the screen. His face darkened slightly soon after.

Currently, it was showing a news broadcast. The segment showed the interior of an airport with Hazmat suit wearing people busily sauntering about while carrying around several strange-looking types of equipment. If it weren't for the loud banners proclaiming the reasons for such a scene, Jack might have thought that he was seeing an archival footage instead.

Only Erik could hear the contents of the broadcast via the headphone but Jack didn't need the sound the get gist of the story; the aforementioned banners told him enough.

There was a huge incident in JFK and that the countless number of people had died. The National Guard was being mobilized as well as the some of the most recognized and powerful Supers were heading to New York to participate in the hunt for the culprit of the tragedy.

The CCTV footage showed a very grainy image of the suspect. Apparently, the entire airport was severely damaged by what this guy did and that included almost all of the security recordings, thus resulting in the poor image quality. Apparently, that extensive damage was hampering the progress of the investigation.

The banner showed that the federal agents and Supers who specialized in investigative side of things were concentrating on going through several passenger manifestos provided by the various airlines. Comparing the names and the country of origin from those lists was a tedious process but something that had to be done in order to identify the victims as well.

Meanwhile, a huge manhunt was unfolding in the city, as the entire Five Boroughs were in a proverbial lockdown since late yesterday.

The screen's image kept on changing from that of stern-looking policemen and women walking around to tense-looking citizens being interviewed; from one or two famous Supers flying over the city's skies, to the National Guard members arriving in their military trucks.

Then finally, another shot of the airport, and its eerie interior where there were empty, ownerless clothes strewn about the floor. No bodies to speak of. Not even a spot of blood, anywhere. Instead, there was sand. Lots, and lots, of fine yellow sand.

Quite a few walls had melted and in their places, more sand. It was as if a desert suddenly materialized out of thin air and replaced some part of the airport's interior.

Jack shuddered involuntarily when he saw that. A flash of dark memory caused a now-familiar pulsing migraine. He rubbed his forehead, trying to numb the pain but it didn't work. A sense of deadly premonition slowly rose up in his heart, making him shudder even more. It was not an actual premonition of the future but rather, akin to him recognizing the sandy condition of the airport and the ill omen that pertained to.

I recognize that. That... I have seen that in one of my dreams. No, my memories. But... it's not complete. Who possessed the power to turn all things into sand? I know that there was someone, but who?

Jack frowned as the migraine became stronger. He felt like sitting down and drink a whole pitcher full of cold water.

“You okay?”

Cleo asked Jack with an absentminded expression.

Jack nodded and waved his hands to signal that he was okay. “Have you seen Mylorne Akkad? Is he up?”

Cleo pointed with her chin towards a corridor. “He went over there. Hurry and you might catch him.”

Mumbling his thanks, Jack began walking towards there, while wondering just when he became so friendly with the three Supers who had kidnapped him. But that was better than being in an antagonistic relationship seeing that he was still inferior physically, so he was happier to maintain this trajectory of development.

Musing the turn of events, as well as slightly buzzed out by the migraine, Jack failed to notice a shadow in front and ended up running face first at Mylorne Akkad.

At that very moment, Akkad too had not noticed Jack. A deep crease had settled on his extremely handsome face, the kind one might sport after unwittingly stepping on a fresh pile of steaming dog poo.

The expression itself was quite ugly, and quite frankly, Jack found it rather startling to see something so.... despotic, for a lack of better description, on the face of Mylorne Akkad. It was totally out of character.

But whatever the reason for the frown had been, Akkad immediately eased it from his face right after Jack bumped into him. Too late, as that brief moment was enough for the boy to commit it to memory and shudder inwardly.

Hasty apologies were exchanged quickly. Then Mylorne noted the silent news broadcast on the TV and addressed the teens lounging around in the living area. His expression was solemn like a doctor delivering a bad news to the waiting families of a patient going through a life-saving operation.

“Everyone, I've some news regarding on what had happened in New York. I was originally planning to introduce this topic at a later date but it seems the sisters of fate won't allow me the luxury. Follow me, we'll have light breakfast while we talk.”

~

For something described as light, the breakfast itself was quite diverse in its offering. Never mind the staples like cereal and milk, salads topped with a vast array of condiments and with cold cheeses, hams and creams abound, and the assortment of bread – Jack, nor the trio of teenage Supers, had never even heard of some of the variety on offer.

Even the usually silent Lei couldn't help but launch a whispered retort. “This is supposed to be light?!”

Only Cleo showed no hesitation in digging in, although she made sure to only pick the ham and cheese from the salads. The rest reluctantly dug in after seeing that.

Still carrying a solemn expression, Mylorne Akkad opened his mouth. He hadn't touched his share of food yet.

“Late yesterday afternoon, an attack of an unprecedented level occurred at the JFK airport that claimed the lives of thousands of innocent people. It's being billed as the biggest attack of its kind against civilians, post 9/11.

“There is little doubt that this was the work of a Super, so the investigation has inevitably leaned towards that way. From my sources, I have heard that the approved operatives of The Project Dead Kings will be deployed for the very first time in order to find and apprehend the suspect, who is still at large.”

Erik stopped chewing and glanced at his companions, showing a slightly tense frown. Lei was eating silently but she was still listening. It was difficult to tell what she was thinking of at that precise moment, however. As for Cleo, she was munching away, nodding her head absentmindedly.

“But I believe it's more than just a simple matter of a rogue Super causing the massacre. No, I fear it's something far, far worse.

“Last night, do you all remember the part of the tale where Professor Evans found a text within the tomb of Gilgamesh that talked about the Lord of Darkness?

“Allow me to expand upon that.”

Mylorne Akkad clapped his hands lightly and the curtains drew close, darkening the dining room. Then a 3D holographic projection appeared above the large dining table, suspended in the air. At first, it was a blur of green dots and broken lines, but soon, a solid image of a stone wall took shape. Countless ornate symbols could be seen on the surface.

“This is a section in the God-King Gilgamesh's tomb, laser-scanned for a perfect replication. It's something not even the current U.S military and the overseers of the Project Dead Kings possess. In this particular section, the tale talks about a creature, a man or woman, if it comes down to that, who are tasked by the Heavenly Beings, the gods to you and me, to carry out their wills in this mortal world.

“This person then shall be known as the bringer of the everlasting Dusk, the Lord of the Darkness. The bringer of the world's destruction, as it were.

“I talked about the big picture as the motivation for the beginning of The Project Dead Kings. This is that big picture. Professor Evans saw in his visions the world where the Lord of Darkness had descended upon the ancient world, causing the widespread scale of death and destruction. The project's true end goal has always been to create soldiers to fight this Lord of Darkness.”

“In the end, though, that's still an overpowered Super we are talking about, right? Regardless of what that lord of darkness is, nothing much has changed for us.”

Erik replied, the expression on his face remaining the same.

Mylorne nodded. “Yes, in the end, it may seem the business as usual – an unchecked Super killing the innocent civilians solely for the purpose of sowing chaos. Any other Supers can handle such a criminal. But at the same time, you should note that this supposed Lord of Darkness possesses powerful abilities to achieve that goal of the world's end. I assure you, this threat is as real as your beating hearts.

“Within you, flows the blood of the ancient kings and heroes. They fought to protect the powerless from the Lords of Darkness and their desire to sow chaos. And now, although unfairly, you are tasked with the similar purpose.

“Thus, you all are at a crossroad. As per the agreement, I will provide, to the best of my abilities, means for you to find a new life if you so choose. But if you also feel that there was a meaning in the reasons of your existence, then you can also choose to partake in the original goal of the project, to protect the civilians caught in the nefarious plans of the villainous Lord of Darkness.

“No one can make these decisions for you. You have to make them yourselves. As for how the future will unfold.... I won't pretend to know all the answers.

“Now normally, you should take your time to make this most important decision. But because of the yesterday's event, the circumstances have drastically changed for the worse. You need to make the choice as soon as possible. Because, I fear, my presence is required there right away. It's unknown how long I must stay there.

“Also.... there is something else that needs to be mentioned. The method of attack may not be clear, but judging by the aftermath, I came to the conclusion that the wielder of this power has a background not too dissimilar to you all.”

Erik put on a confused face. Lei seemed the same, although she had stopped eating. As Cleo, she had finished her portion already, reaching out for the second helping.

Jack had long since put down his fork. He was too busy contemplating his future. Honestly, he was only half listening for now, although he had a faint feeling that the person shown in the grainy footage, the one who could reduce people into a pile of sand was a very bad news. But that guy and this Lord of Darkness or whatever was beyond the scope of his abilities. They didn't even feature in his thought process.

No, he had to think carefully about what he needed to do, and what he wanted to do.

Last night, Mylorne Akkad pledged his support. He would financially aid Jack. Why? In order to revive the glory of Gilgamesh and for the survival of the human race.

Jack didn't like the idea of him shouldering the weight of the entire world. He certainly was not interested in doing that. He just wanted to get his revenge and then...

And then, what? What should he do after achieving his goal?

“What are you saying? Are there other countries making Supers like the U.S military? And it's one of those Supers that came here to cause a havoc?”

Erik asked, sounding rather unconvinced.

“This nation has made enemies due to either the ill-conceived foreign policies of the past and present, the economic might that can only come from suppressing the vulnerable smaller nations through unfair trade deals, or even, the desires of those oppressed sovereignties to overcome the superior military might backing this nation's feckless leaders. You can pick your poison from that pool.

“Either way, there are enough of well-financed entities that could, potentially, fund a devastating war of Supers taking place on our doorstep that would lend most of the known weaponry useless.

“Of course, I have no definite proof to back up this assumption. But the ability displayed by the culprit belonged to a certain ancient Super. It'd be difficult to fully explain the overlap of the power so easily. Unless he was someone artificially augmented to become a Super. Just like you. And this man, this terrorist, is out to harm even more lives. Make no mistake about it. He plans to shed more blood.

“Unfortunately, the authority figures have chosen to lock down the five great Boroughs of New York City, all in the hopes of cornering the culprit within what they believe is a smaller search area. But wouldn't that only give the bad guy, the new Lord of Darkness, more targets? The defenseless civilians who are caught in the crossfire?”

“Okay, that's terrible news but,” Erik interjected abruptly. “But, what does that got to do with us? We're simply like any other Supers. No, we were forced to become one. We are also victims here. There is absolutely no obligation for us to go out there and deal with this Lord of Darkness.”

There was a slight pause. It was an uncomfortable silence, filling the tense, unbridgeable gap. Mylorne shrugged his shoulders slightly.

“That is why I asked you to make the choice. Whether you go there and save the day or not, or choose to live a civilian's life, that is up to you.”

Erik grabbed his fork and began shoving the food in his mouth. “Well, it's not a tough one for me. I know what I want, and it's got nothing to do with the project or the military.”

Jack took a glance at Erik. Behind the glasses, he looked sullen but determined.

Jack envied that, the strong will of Erik. He wished he had that, too. A drive to single-mindedly stick to the one goal he had set for himself, regardless of the distractions and obstacles, unlike Jack who couldn't even keep his eye on the prize.

Inwardly, Jack sighed. Erik seemed to display more of a king-like personality trait than him. Maybe Mylorne Akkad mixed it up and it was Erik who was the clone of the God-King instead of him.

Jack then glanced at Lei. She didn't give anything away with her impassive face. He hadn't been with her for long, so trying to read her emotions was impossible.

But Cleo was different. Somehow, something tumbling around in her brain suddenly struck her lightbulb switch.

“But hey, I've my family living in Queens. Isn't that in New York? It is, right?! Doesn't that mean my parents are in danger?! From this Lord of Darkness of whatever?!”

She suddenly stood up with a bang, sending her chair flying back. It was so sudden, everyone flinched except for Mylorne Akkad.

“I gotta go there, like right now!!”

Cleo shouted passionately before turning around. She was heading to the exit, thinking that she'd get there in a jiffy.

“No, wait a minute, Cleo!! What will you going over there achieve? You are just a kid with a bit of power. You go there, you'll only get in the way and get caught!!”

Erik got up from his own seat and went after her, trying to calm his companion down.

“That's not true, you know?! Didn't Mister Akkad say it? That other guys from the Project will be there? Then our friends will be there too, you know? I can ask for their help!! It'll work out fine, right?”

“Are you an idiot?” Erik wearily massaged his head. “No, don't answer that. Okay, listen to me, Cleo. Why did we come here in the first place, selling out secrets of the Project in the process? We did it so we can get away from them. Yet you want to hand yourself right back? That doesn't make sense!! Just.... stay behind, and let the others take care of it. We are not needed there, like, at all.”

“But, but!! It's my family, you know?! My family is there. Not yours. That reason alone is good enough for me to go there!! As long as that psycho is running loose in the city, then I'm going!!”

Erik was rendered speechless. It wasn't like he failed to understand Cleo's reasoning but he also knew that going to New York at this time was like deliberately walking into a trap-filled lion's den wearing a robe made out of sausages and mustard.

“Hold on, you two. I've received new info. Looks like my computer has improved the footage from the airport. Take a seat and have a look.”

Mylorne Akkad interrupted the heated exchange of the two and calmly implored them.

A new image replaced the holographic image of the stone wall and its writings. It was a grainy footage of an airport's interior. Jack recognized it immediately as the same one shown on TV, but this time the quality was somewhat better, allowing the viewers a cleaner look at what was happening. And it showed a queue of people standing around to clear the customs.

“The computer has been working on cleaning up the image quality and this is the resulting restoration of the damaged security footage from the airport. Let us see if there is something new to consider.”

Jack paid close attention to the projection.

In it, the crowd of people slowly advanced and did their things. Eventually, a scene of an African American female officer drawing her sidearm occurred. She was pointing at a man with a black hair and an average build right after the scanning of his luggage was completed. There was no sound accompanying the video so it was impossible to tell what was going on precisely, but all those present and watching could make one or two educated guesses.

But then, the female officer began to spasm as if she was having a seizure shortly before collapsing on the floor. She stopped moving then. This was right after she touched the suspicious man. Other people around him began to collapse as well for no apparent reason. Then the crowd was seen running away in panic.

The man then touched one of the items exposed from the bag and that was when a strange ripple rumbled past the image. The ripple seemed so real, especially seeing that it was a three-dimensional projection.

Those running away were hit by this ripple and collapsed one after the other. It was like watching domino pieces falling, and was without a doubt, quite unsettling as well.

But the next thing made everyone, even Mylorne Akkad, gasp out in shock.

A few seconds later, people that fell on the floor began to wither. Literally, as if their bodies were rapidly losing any and all liquid in them. The rate of this horrendous withering could be seen by the naked eye, meaning it was incredibly fast, like someone pressing a fast forward on a video playback.

Even some of the walls and inanimate objects hit by this ripple began to wither up too. Soon, the only things left behind were sand, with a few exceptions of artificial fabrics and some stone objects remaining still.

“Holy sh*t,” Erik swore under his breath, then turned to Cleo with a pair of bloodshot eyes. “See that? Can you do anything against something like that?! Huh? I sure know I can't. So should you, Cleo. You can't go to New York, if you wanna live!!”

Erik was quite livid, both at this absurd situation and at the incredibly crappy timing. He felt like the last couple of days were lies designed to make him feel utterly mad. And whoever did it, that guy sure did a bang-up job. But more importantly, though – he felt terrified. Deeply, deeply terrified.

Nominally, he was the leader of this trio, this group of runaways. It was his responsibility to keep them together and continue moving forward, together. Yet....

He always knew there would be a crossroad waiting. For him and for his friends. And he also knew that not everyone would agree with his choice.

Knowing that, he still accepted the invitation Mylorne Akkad had made covertly. Erik wanted to get the hell away from the Fort McGinley. He wished to be free of the chains binding him to that place. He wished to be free as the birds soaring in the sky, as cliched as that sounded.

For that purpose, he even roped in Lei Ming and Cleo Costanza, thinking that their abilities would be a perfect fit to his escape plan. And he was right. They not only agreed to escape together, but they were more than useful in the attempt to get away. He had every right to feel pretty good about himself up until then.

But actually, Erik didn't choose Lei and Cleo solely because of their abilities but because they were his friends. The life at the Fort was harsh, filled with tough and hellish, unforgiving training every single day. He and the others were treated as tools and weapons of combat, sometimes even prodded with measuring equipment like some kind of test subjects.

And yes, not a single day went by without Erik recalling the moment when they came to abduct him from his home when he was barely eight years old.

The funny thing was, he could no longer remember the faces of his family. His mom, his dad, his older brothers – their faces were all a blur, their smiles nothing more than dark, upside-down half moons plastered on a set of melting visages.

Hell, Erik couldn't even remember the name of the street he used to live on.

And that terrified him; Erik had somehow lost an important part of himself. He understood that it was his power that was the cause of all this. If he was forced to use it again and again, like how the instructors at the Fort was forcing him to, then soon or later nothing of things that made him Erik would be left behind. He had to escape. Or he'd cease to exist.

So, he thought that after bringing his friends with him, he'd still be with them. It wouldn't matter whether he could remember his family or not, as long as he had Lei and Cleo around. He wouldn't forget them. No way in hell.

But now.... Cleo was clamoring to go on her own way, knowing that it was very dangerous, that very likely she'd get captured. And away from him.

Erik wasn't going to let her go like this, not at all.

“I'll zoom in on the bag. Let's see what's inside it, what made that customs officer react like that.”

Akkad clapped his hands again and the image rewound back to the moment before the female customs officer pulled out her gun. Then the viewpoint closed in on the gym bag past the scanner.

Jack was unsure of what was on the hologram. It was round, golden in color. Also, there seemed like a slab of something as well. It wasn't exactly what he expected to see emerge from a bag. Gradually, the image quality improved as a layer upon layer of color and pixels were overlayed on top of each other.

“It's an image processing software that one of my subsidiary company had recently developed. It's not on the market yet but the end result should speak for itself.”

Akkad proudly explained the logic behind the software but quite frankly, no one beside Lei could really understand it, nor were they terribly interested in it. Regardless, after about three dozen layering, the image quality was such that one could discern what was inside the bag.

“A golden skull and a stone tablet?”

Cleo muttered, confused. Lei frowned, also not getting it. As for Erik, he was not paying attention. He was far too deep in his own thoughts to notice.

And then, there was Jack. The sense of incongruity was incredibly strong, so much so that he was suffering from a dizzying headache; he even felt like blacking out at one point.

He was under this intense flashback to one of the hidden memories of the past. He was there, before that ripple, and received the brunt of the attack. The recollection nauseated him greatly.

Right away, Jack felt the intense disgust and hate rise in the pit of his stomach. An incredible urge to reach out and crush that golden skull right away nearly overwhelmed him.

But why? Why am I reacting like this?!

Jack had only ever felt anger and disgust like this against the two Supers that caused all his classmates to die.

But the longer his eyes remained on that golden skull, the stronger his fury grew by several notches.

Jack was sure that he had never seen the skull before. Besides, it was just an object, a thing with no emotion, no life. It was simply nuts to feel this negative towards an inanimate object like this.

“That.... Could it be....?” Mylorne Akkad muttered, his face pale as a sheet. “The skull of the Ensi of Bad-tibira, the conqueror of the ancient kingdom of Eridug, slaughterer of billion lives and the Tyrant of the Eight Continents, En-men-lu-ana the Mad King?!”

Jack's vision shook. The strange and ancient name caused the most severe flashback that was as strong as the ones he encountered during his sleep.

A vision of a young face floated in his mind, a face of endless arrogance and contempt, a face belonging to the Enemy of The World.

Jack shuddered, he himself now standing up. His fists clenched tightly, his breaths quickening. His mouth ran dry but still, his shrill, urgent voice found its way out to the open and startle everyone else.

“That guy.... he's going to kill everyone in New York!! We need to stop him at all cost!!”

(Please support my writing by reading it, and talking to your friends about it. Any comments you wish to make are welcome, especially the constructive criticisms. Also, I would deeply appreciate if you show your love by donating some $$. Ahahaha. Well hey, I need "motivations" too, you know!!)

(Next update will be either on Monday or Tuesday. My bad, I can't be specific about the time line.)