Matthew’s POV

I felt light headed and quite annoyed, for some reason something didn’t sit right (“What’s this?...”). “Matt?...” I heard Ell calling my name and turned to see her with Anabel, “Hm? And how are you two doing?” they reacted in surprise to my statement “How are we?! You’ve been left behind! We’re supposed to ask you that!” Anabel shouted which made many eyes turn and shoulders slump down. (“That reminds me…”) I could feel a chill run through my veins up to my eyes “Where’s Skel?”, I could see them both stiffen even though I purposely avoided them with my aura. I turned and looked around the group, Zeaxar had already left with Alexius in tail. “Don’t speak my name with that vile tone, human. I’m here.” Skel was standing to the left of the group with the other two platoon leaders, “You don’t have to do this Skel” Jrel sighed but didn’t move “Not for “him”, we all know his “methods”. All those people…killed for a higher hand in negotiation…and where did that take us? Nothing because we still had to retreat!” Kayleigh looked enraged and was taking it out all on me. I clutched my gut and slightly bent forwards “HAAHAHAAA” I couldn’t help it, I began to laugh “Nothing? Please werewoman, you cannot be that blind. You think they would have surrendered with a simple show of power after they killed a whole platoon of human soldiers? You think they would have surrendered after our retreat? If I hadn’t removed their line of leadership moral would never have gone so drastically low. But instead of sticking with the plan you all retreated with your tails between your legs, you abandoned me because you couldn’t stomach some blood.” I walked towards them as I spoke “Think of me as you wish, see me as you wish. But…dare speak so in front or behind my back and…I will not hold back” my killing intent engulfed the room along with my aura, “Yes, I am not even close to what my people call Human. I am indeed more Monster than human, but my short comings have enlightened me on many things.” I arrived in front of them as Skel held her by the shoulder “You think you’ve seen bloodshed? Your race has known no true war, you’ve fought beings you’ve seen as monsters and beasts your entire lives. Never have you actually killed in its true meaning as you’d consider that murderous and atrocious. Even in the two year aether war you Etyrians never gave a helping hand, yet you expect humanity to trust you? You expect me to accept your beliefs when my own have saved me so many times over? Well let me explain this to you, wolfy” I was now inches away from her fanged face.

“Death is nothing more than a stage in life, to kill is to survive. You think what I did back there was murder? I’ve killed thousands more before I even joined this group, before I should have even been allowed a weapon I had hundreds of lives on my name. If you do not wish to end up the same as me then leave and go home now, if you cannot live on with blood on your hands then quit while you can. What we do here is to protect those back home, so that they won’t have blood on their hands. You think you know…but you do not. If we failed here, death would have been the last of our problems. If a war between our alliance and a race just a strong was to start…the blood shed would have been endless and unrivalled. For this instance? If the ones down there wouldn’t have surrendered, my race would have personally exterminated them. Do you want that? For a whole race to disappear within a single night?” my killing intent subsided and I retreated my aura. “I…” Kayleigh looked confused as she gritted her teeth, “Enough of this” Skel pulled her back and momentarily stood in front of me looking me straight in the eye. He bent down and kneeled “I ask for your forgiveness, what I did was cowardly and beyond repair. Yet still, Matthew I beg for your forgiveness!” we stood there for a couple more moments “My pride is all I have…I may not understand what you may have gone through but please understand, we are of different natures than you”. I glanced between the kneeling avian, uninterested dwarf and glaring werewoman, “As long as you understand, you make your own choices” I turned and began heading towards the exit but stopped momentarily “But remember this, if you at some point get in the way. I will not hesitate.” I continued on towards the exit while containing a smirk (“What’s wrong with me? I didn’t mean to laugh…why do I feel like this?...”) at that point I remembered something (“I’ll ask him later.”) I had reached the corridors when “Matt wait!” I heard Anabel calling from behind me, I turned to see both her and Ell had followed me out “What is it? I’m tired and I need to rest” Anabel just stared down while Ell spoke as she looked straight at me “What’s wrong with you? You’re…different?!”. (“Long eared one huh?”) I could feel it now, as if a scent I could feel her presence “Different?” I turned and continued walking towards the dorms “You know me enough to say that I’m now different?” I didn’t look back nor stop but simply kept walking till I was out of sight.

When I arrived at my dorm room I poured mana into my gloves, my gear was returned to me while I waited for the outfit to send a squad. “Gah..” somewhere on the way a splitting headache hit me, the two aethers appeared in my hands and I examined them momentarily (“The forms slightly changed…more detail compared to the basic shape they had previously…the barrel is rectangular with runes I don’t understand…the grips have a condensation of runes forming a strange sigil…wait…their crystals…both purple? What happened to Ember’s fire?”) the change in my aethers made me question a lot of things but I was too tired, not only that but my worry for them and Saya was overwhelming and there was nothing I could do about it. Within the mana-jamming barrier I had momentarily lost contact with all three of them and it felt like they disappeared, I was about to kill Alexius when Saya’s voice stopped me and showed me some reason. After that I had ordered them to lower the barrier and they did but…I felt Ember and Wayne return to their aethers and Saya...she dwelled inside my soul realm like any contracted spirit normally would…I can feel them… slumbering...Not responding. I returned the aethers into my gloves and took off my gear, I ignored the sweat and dirt on my body and then just crashed onto the bed passing out moments after. I waited for the usual dreams to fill me in…the horrors I had given the seven knights within that dungeon while my mind twisted and distorted into what I hoped I could never imagine again…my past to overshadow me again…the voice to harass me again…but it was none of that. I lay there in darkness, literally, when I opened my eyes darkness was all I could see which made me jump up and release my aura. My aura didn’t release, I couldn’t even feel my mana anymore which reminded me of the time I faced the voice in its split personalities. I felt around me but there was nothing, no bed, no walls, nothingness. Then I felt it, a force so powerful it forced me to my knees and to the ground. A dreadful feeling so powerful it activated every emotion I knew I had within me and some I thought I lost, my confusion did not stop there as when tears began falling down my face I shouted “WHO’S THERE!?”…then I felt the ground beneath me shift, the ground moved which made me tumble backwards and making me realise I wasn’t standing on any normal ground.

The gigantic eye opened releasing a purple light almost blinding until it slowly weakened to where I could see again, I was standing right on top of it and it was terrifying (“What could be so huge?”) “Technically a small planet could be…but that is not what we are here to discuss human.” A voice answered from everywhere at once, it echoed throughout the darkness multiple times but was still comprehendible somewhat. “What..do you mean?...wa…you read my?...What are you?” I took a step back and looked around, the eye might as well have been an island as it was all I could see as far as I could see. “Too many questions boy” I lowered myself and noticed a force was keeping me afloat and away from the actual eye “I shall explain this in terms you might understand, I am the literal existence of chaos. I am the randomness that is life, I am the distortion of the realms, I am chaos”. I felt my body beginning to shiver (“Is this?...fear?”) while still crouching I grabbed my left arm with my right hand and grimaced “What…do you want…from me?”, “Khakhakhakha” the being made a low pitched clicking sound almost as if laughing “Not just what I want from you…but what you need from me. You’re drowning boy, drowning in a power that was never intended for you. Your body is not yours to have, your soul is not compatible enough. Within a couple more years…you will tear yourself apart. I had chosen this body for my champion but…you humans made things…complicated…My champion was supposed to rise above and exterminate his pain, to fall completely for chaos and return a demi-god that would return me to power.” Chains suddenly appeared from the darkness and held me up facing the eye “But I have an offer for you human, my power is limited and I could only pick one champion…so it would be quite the loss to have you die on me. You are too balanced for me to use, your body too unbalanced to hold your soul. I forward you this offer boy” a blade shaped purple crystal formed in front of me as my right arm’s chain was released “End yourself here, sever your soul from your body so I can take over. When I’m finished with ending the other four champions I will gather their power and fully incarnate, I will reincarnate you after that. You will gain whatever you wish, anything you could possibly desire I will give you.” I let it’s words sink in…(“Anything I want…”)…”I’m what you could call a god, anything you could ever want will be yours…and what you need to do is very simple…use that shard…strike yourself in the heart.”

I grabbed hold of the bladed crystal it called a shard and felt great power flow through me, my very skin vibrated as I held the object “Can you not do all that without me doing this?” I clenched the object and stared at it “No, my existence has been weakened due to my brothers’ war. The injuries inflicted on me can only be healed by their power, do it human…I could even bring back your family…your mother…your father…do you not wish to reunite? Death is nothing more than a stage, let me reunite you.” I felt two hands on my shoulders and two hands around my right hand “Wha…” I glanced around and saw purplish ethereal forms, human like but distorted. Their forms finally stopped distorting and what I saw terrified me even more, tears continued to fall as my parent’s forms held the blade aimed at my heart. I stared down at the crystal, my whole body shivered as I closed the distance between it and my chest. (“Don’t be a fool, you would abandon everything you’ve fought for? Everything you’ve strived for and everything you stand for just to have a moment with your parents? How long do you think that would last? You truly believe this ancient being will keep you three alive as it goes about its destruction?”) a voice spoke in my mind, I didn’t know who or what it was but it sounded eerie and distant (“Don’t fall child, nobody is there to pick you up this time. Continue on the path given to you, ignore this foul creature as it shall never contact you again. Say the word and you will exit its control, say it once and continue on protecting. I will give you a hint child to let you go forward…they are still alive.”) a second voice continued, I felt the worry somewhere in its sweet tone. My body stopped shaking and I steadied the makeshift weapon in my hand, “Kheeeaaa!” a screech filled the darkness as chaos reacted to something “Be gone you failures! This is my champion! Ignore these fools! They try to affect you! They whisper lies in your ears to deny my revival! To deny you from joining your family!” suddenly the representations of my parents dissolved “Delve forward child of humanity, live on and prosper as you deem fit. Your actions have been watched by many and will remain to be. Your future is bleak with monstrosities as this one but don’t falter now, you are getting closer with every step you take. This is the only push we will give you, the rest lays within your hands. Don’t make the mistake we made.” A third voice spoke and not just in my head this time, it was loud and dominant but also prideful.

I looked down at the eye as veins of black began to grow all over it “I’m not anyone’s toy…God” with the blade I slashed at the chain holding my left arm and it cut right through like a heated blade on butter “My answer” I fell forward and stabbed towards the eye as I descended “Be gone beast”, “Disappear horror”, “Away with you brother” the three voices spoke in unison as power formed in my right arm and the crystal lost its purplish colour changing to a mix of bright white, contorting black and pulsating blue. “My answer is no” when I stabbed at the eye I felt no force holding me back from it and the crystal went right into the iris, purple smoke escaped the wound as the eye retracted and closed taking me back into darkness. Suddenly I had opened my eyes and found myself laying on the bed upside down with half my face on the pillow, I was facing the wall to my left “What…” I blinked several times and turned to face the roof. I laid there for several minutes but finally closed my eyes and sighed “I gave up potential immortality…I’m that distrustful huh? and also…” I clenched my fists when suddenly I felt something falling on my chest “Master?...” I raised my head and looked, “Ember? Wayne? What happened to you?” the two were in their actual forms but much smaller and looked incredibly different. Ember who use to be an albino cobra with red runes now looked more like a phaya, a dragon of the sea with an arrow head like face and no limbs except its long serpentine body ending in two bladed tails. Wayne on the other hand had changed even more, from a pitch black bat with misty purple wings he was now a pitch black wyvern with purple horns, spikes, wing netting and grey lines following his bone structure like painting. “We evolved it seems…” Ember looked over her body which was currently no larger than a common grass snake, “I don’t like this! I want my old body back!” Wayne hissed and stomped around my chest with his pigeon sized body until he got disoriented and fell off and onto the ground “Uhh…I don’t feel so well!”. Ember sighed “Ignore him, he’s been bitching about orientation for hours now. More importantly are you alright? Master…you also…look different.” I was taken by surprise at her comment and immediately got off the bed, she hissed quietly and strangled my arm to not fall off “Okay okay! Don’t hold on so much…” she weakened her grip as I looked into the mirror.

Wayne had climbed up to my left shoulder as I noticed the differences in my appearance, my dark red hair now had small streaks of purple and some of the runes on my body had become completely visible. One rune in particular shaped like a “G” on top of a “T” was prevalent in purple on each of my eye lids, while another was peeking out from under my shirt. I removed my shirt and coat which forced Wayne to climb up to my head, the rune resembling a “K” within a circle around it was on my left abdomen around where my heart was located with the same colour as the other two. Both Ember and Wayne had gotten off me and were on the floor by me staring into the mirror “Do you know what’s wrong with Saya? She still won’t respond” I glanced down at both of them but they both shook their heads “I’ll take a shower and then we’ll go find some…answers” I opened the door to the small bathroom and took off my clothes, I saw Ember and Wayne peaking in from the door looking at something on my back and I heard Wayne whisper something but didn’t quite make it out “Did you say something?” I asked but Ember was the one to respond “No, nothing” so I ignored it and cleaned myself up then got out of the room and put on some new clothes. I looked back at the mirror once more and then at the time on my Iris, in Etyrian terms it was nine pm but I have no idea what this world’s time actually was. “By the way, why are you in these forms?” I looked at Ember who rested herself around my neck while Wayne tried to get comfortable on my head “The gloves can’t hold our aetheric bodies any longer, so we required an actual physical body to rest since we aren’t directly connected to you. The gloves cannot hold such a body at all so this is our only current solution”. “Very well then” I looked forward and closed the door behind me “Don’t interfere unless told to” I walked down the corridor as I looked at the map on my Iris to find the room. When I finally found the room I stopped a couple steps away from it, seven blades were aimed at several vital points on my body wielded by seven cloaked figures “What do you think you’re doing exactly?” Zeaxar stood behind them with an annoyed expression.

Ember hissed and Wayne growled “I’m looking for answers, “He” may hold those answers.” We stared at each other for a couple moments. He sighed “Let him through” the elites sheathed their weapons and stood to the side of the corridor, I could have probably killed all seven of them with some injuries taken but with Zeaxar there I didn’t want to take my chances since after all as long as he thought he was in control I wasn’t a threat to him and he wasn’t to me. I stepped through the elite squad and towards the door, I stood momentarily in front of Zeaxar until he turned and entered the room while leaving the door open. I walked in behind him to find a normal looking laboratory, tables with chemicals and apparatus filled the untidy room while the only thing out of place was the drunk old man with three bottles of alcohol standing on a desk by him as he stared into a piece of paper. “What do you want now” he sighed and turned to look at Zeaxar, when he saw me his expression went through several stages of fear and confusion but ultimately ended in sadness and some anger. “He has questions for you doctor, I expect you to fully answer them like you did with me. You know what happens if you do not comply.” Zeaxar rested his back to the wall as he kept glancing between me and Dr.Heiken, I clenched my fists and stepped towards him while focusing most of my senses on Zeaxar as he closely watched me “You should know…What is happening to me? Just yesterday I went from my usual personality to a slightly normal one and then crossing insanity’s border…What is happening to me?”. The doctor slammed his arm over the bottles and threw them off the table, two shattered and broke “Your body is rejecting your soul, that is what’s happening to you” tears began to fall down his eyes “You…Matthew Anderson hasn’t been alive for four years” my eyes widened at his answer as rage began to fill me “I don’t need your philosophical bull shit, tell me”. He raised his head from the table and looked me straight in the eye “Four years ago…subject Matthew Anderson” he pulled something resembling an I-pad from his coat “Lost control and eliminated his whole squadron, he was terminated soon after massacring three others” he passed me the device which was already on and with a single folder on it.

I tapped the folder and found a video file which I tapped open soon after, a video began to play from the perspective of what I understood to be a Cerberus. The girl’s name, code and image were displayed to the top left as she glanced between the rest of her squadron inside a military installation. They were fighting…exterminating a group of soldiers and scientists…until every squadron member turned to look at a single direction, through a broken doorway another Cerberus walked in…purple tendrils of dense mana lashed out from most of his body while his eyes had been black empty pits. “That’s…me?” the Cerberus I recognised as myself disappeared from view and one by one right after a figure appeared behind them each Cerberus’s head was cut clean off, including the girls’ who’s feed was cut. The video changed view to another Cerberus, the time was hours later and the boy was looking at a demonic being standing surrounded by several Cerberus corpses. It was lashing out continuously at anything within its range as it held on to its neck while apparently screaming, in the end it fell forward and its body went limp. The being’s demonic form dissipated and what I saw made my heart drop, I saw myself dead on the ground with pulsating green veins signalling the poison’s injection into my system “No…this can’t be true…it’s…it’s a lie…”. I dropped the device and it hit the floor “It’s the truth, Matthew Anderson died minutes later as the antidote was never administered. Instead we waited for your soul to leave your body and then we healed it, medically you were dead as your soul could no longer be detected. What we did next…my son…he was at the final stage of his cancer…something not even magic could cure…we…we transplanted his soul into Matthew’s body. Memories were changed by sacrificing the power and lives of many more cerberii. We created a being so distorted that its chaos efficiency bordered perfection but didn’t reach it, we created the perfect soldier and programmed it with one sole purpose. Ensure humanity’s survival. My son…was only twelve at the time…his soul wasn’t compatible so we knew your time would be limited but due to the elemental compatibilities you both had…you two were the best choices we had…the best choice I had at giving you a new life…free of your curse…Kyle…I did it all for you..”.

I raised my head and stared Dr.Heiken straight in the eyes, he had risen slightly from his chair and had tear filled eyes “I did it…I…”. “NO!...” I fell to my knees “I’m….No….wh…why…” I held my head within my hands as Ember licked my chin and Wayne simply stood still “Then…No…it makes…sense…Hah…hahaha….You fools…You impossible fools…without even knowing it…you saved everything that is…fools…but it all makes sense…hahah…he…I…Matthew…didn’t die…the voice…it all makes sense…but…” suddenly I felt a sharp pain in the side of my neck. I fell forwards but was held up by something, I lost most feeling in my body and began to lose consciousness. “Wh..Why’d you do that?!” I heard Dr.Heiken shout and a chair moving “He began talking of voices and laughing randomly, why wouldn’t I? Don’t need a cra” everything went black right then. Memories rushed in, my parents, my sister, the wave, the war, my time as a Cerberus…fuzzy memories slowly appeared but quickly fell apart. “Wha…” I opened my eyes to find myself on a bed in medbay, “Finally awake? I swear if you start talking of voices again I’ll put you back in” I looked to my right to find Zeaxar sitting down in reverse on a chair while staring down at me “Oi? Anybody in there?” he made a knocking gesture. “Ugh…” I sat up to find the elite squad surrounding my bed with weapons in hand, I looked down at my open palms and felt lost. (“It feels like I’m looking through a monitor…”) I didn’t feel myself…I wasn’t myself…I didn’t even know who or what I was anymore, “Guess I’m gonna have to put you back in till you talk…” Zeaxar stood up from his chair and was about to approach me until one of the cloaked figures put themselves between us “Sir, I don’t think you can fix a broken head by hitting it more” a feminine voice came out which I felt like it should have been familiar. Zeaxar sighed “That’s what they all say Leya…I say otherwise…” he glanced at me, “Hah…hahaha…” a chuckle escaped my lips as things began to fall in place. “I agree with the boss, he’s gone nuts” another female voice came from the left most figure “Thank you Lisa! See someone agrees with me!” Zeaxar gave a wide grin as he opened his arms wide.

“There is one last thing I do not understand, what is your interest in me Zeaxar?” I asked the question but continued to stare at my hands, “Hmph…My interest? Simple really, whether you are a useful ally or a powerful enemy…I would have either killed you…or recruited you fully. From the start I never trusted you, until I learned your past before even you knew it. Now the question is, what will you do from here on?” he straightened himself up and stared down at me again. “What will I do? I’m not who I thought I was nor am I who I’m supposed to be…My goal has been pre-programmed this whole time…I don’t even know if I’m in control of myself or if there even is such a thing as “my self”. I feel like I’ve already snapped multiple times in a chain reaction, I thought it all over multiple times but came with no answers. In all honesty? I don’t know…”

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Edited by; Birse

Author; Here’s the simple math of this chapter: Reader + Plot = brain nuked. Disclaimer; I am not responsible for any actual mind blowing events or brain damage acquired, please refer to a doctor if at all possible. Remember to rate and maybe comment xD!