“So? What’s yours?” Clyde began walking towards the small crater at the doorway, “Matthew, Matthew Anderson” I unmerged from my spirits regaining my more human form. “Well where we going then? You got a hide-out or something? We heard most of the planet is still trashed so..” Natasha began inspecting my eyes while speaking, “I’ll be blunt, you’ll probably never see me again and you should leave now. Take the front exit and leave through the left gate, you’ll see a truck there waiting for you” I turned and began walking away. “Huh? Never see you again? Why?!” Kyle grabbed onto my sleeve as he asked with a confused expression, “This wasn’t the only facility I attacked, I have been labelled a terrorist by the government and they will soon be here to contain or kill me. The military cannot be fully trusted yet but my friend outside can help you go through the right people, I’ll cover your esca…”. “Never see you again? Contain? Kill? Cover our escape?” Clyde was inspecting the crater but suddenly stood up and stepped in front of me “You aren’t planning of living through this, are you?”, I met his gaze “That is not for you to know kid, just get the hell out of here or are you having second thoughts about living a normal life?” apparently my argument hit hard since he grabbed my shirt’s collar. “You said you use to be like us, that means you were a Cerberus too…I don’t get you, you save us and give us a way out but now you’re just disappearing? What’s your goal? Why are you even doing all this?” his argument hit home as well, “Curiosity killed the cat, that’s how it use to go right?” I fixed my gaze on him “For the past three years I have been working on saving lives and eliminating any thought of war between races yet I come home to find out the project we bled for was never actually cancelled but instead re-instated as a weapon development project by some rich government officials, I only have one goal now that I’ve freed the innocent and eliminated the guilty”.

I stepped around him and walked out of the room “I’m going to install a fear so deep into the corrupt that it will break them, I will make an example of those who fall to greed that will never be forgotten by the races”. I then noticed Risa walk in although still cloaked “Risa? Have they all been tied up?” I waited and for a couple moments she didn’t answer, “Princess we do…” suddenly a stinging pain coursed through my left shoulder. When I looked down a bright green dart was sticking out “Risa you…why…” I had tried to merge with Ember but my body was quickly becoming numb and my consciousness wavered, Risa’s body fazed in as she stared at me “You’re going to play the villain again? Is that your whole plan?...Matt…I won’t let you” I fell to my knees as I fought to stay conscious “Then…who will…stop them?...” suddenly I sensed Saya leaving her form “I’m sorry master, I…we cannot let you continue”. Risa raised her arm with her wristbow and shot another dart which settled inside my left leg “Sorry, but knowing you this is the only way”, my consciousness quickly faded but before I fell “You better have…a good reason for betraying me…” and I blacked out. I opened my eyes but I felt different, my body didn’t feel like my own and I couldn’t control myself. The view in front of me was a wasteland, suddenly I looked up without wanting to and saw the sky literally falling. Whole planets falling apart, pieces scattering then crashing back down from orbit and they were getting closer and closer. My eyes closed as the planet’s surface was destroyed by another, when I opened my eyes again everything was different along with me being finally able to move and look around. The only light came from red orbs floating around me that had a black mist oozing out of them “What you have just witnessed, mortal, is the end” with a serpentine accent the voice spoke from everywhere at once, “You again…What do you mean by the end? What have you Gods done now?!”. The voice chuckled “I have done nothing for eternity, mortal. I’ll have you know I’ve been here guarding this wretched place for much longer than your race even remembers, my brothers on the other hand…have been warring each other for even longer”.

The darkness itself shifted in front of me as something began to form, the red orbs suddenly flew into the shadows and merged creating a single gigantic red eye with an emerald slit. When I unfocused from the eye I noticed the rest of the being’s body, a colossal black serpent slithered around my position eyeing me continuously. “You slowed it down but…Chaos is awakening, my brothers are too blind to aid me in holding it and I cannot hold for much longer” suddenly it’s whole body shook and expanded slightly while purple cracks formed at multiple spots “My body itself is its chains, this place its cage. Once I fall…it will only have little time before it escapes my realm, its legions await that moment with vigour and excitement. They are unable to travel through realms like your kind but once they can…they will lay waste to your Ley of Cathe first, the group of realms your people reside in. My children are in one of those realms, I..”, yet again I interrupted a God “I already denied your offer, I do not know whether what you showed me is true or not and if it is I have others to protect. If you truly wish to protect your own then leave this “wretched” place and do it yourself, I am done being the puppet to Gods”. The serpent shook its head “This is no offer, child I plea you for your assistance. Answer this to me mortal, why do you exist? Because us gods had nothing better to do? Because us gods wished to play our games? No…Since the dawn of the ley lines Immortals needed Mortals to exist, A god only exist as long as there are others who believe that it does. How many gods do you think there are now? Six, there are only six of us left. From how many? Millions…Gods had previously existed in civilisations such as yourself but now…we can no longer rely on each other to exist. So we created you and many others, over the recent millennia we have changed from our previous selves. We created you to supply us with our own existence through your own, now I want nothing more than to protect my creations…my children with my own but here I am stuck containing the apocalypse of everything that is. Mortal, Human…Matthew Anderson and Kyle Heiken, your existence is unique as in you hold multiple inside that small body”.

The god’s body entered another spasm “Uhh…I don’t have much time left…You are my last choice, only you can withstand my raw energy and only you can find them…Please…In my final moments…I the God of shadows…Beg you…Help me…” I stared at the serpent’s eyes as a single blood red tear streaked down it’s scales, my eyes couldn’t open further and my throat felt sore (“How can I…deny that?...”) “I cannot promise you that I can find them, neither can I promise you that I will be able to protect them.” (“I’m a fool…it is sacrificing itself for others…”) “I will give you my aid on one condition, you said Gods exist as long as others believe they do correct? Then tell me your name, pass on your power to me and I will continue what you have strived for” (“What was I protecting?...”) the serpent’s eyes closed and darkness fell as they were the only source of light. I suddenly felt its rough cold scales touch my forehead right underneath my horn “My name…” the being chuckled “I haven’t used it since the first war, I never thought I’d ever say it again. My name is Xavzotl Abus Anir, as a descendant of the first Anir I take my final breathes with you as observer. As your people say I pass down the torch to you, Matthew Anderson Anir. Continue on as a scion of Anir, farewell and thank you”. (“That’s right…I was protecting my own ideals…”) suddenly heat like I’ve never felt before scorched my forehead as the Xavzotl began to glow an ominous dark purple, its scales broke off and turned to dust being taken away by some unknown wind while its eyes sockets became completely hollow, suddenly the purple light grew brighter and a scaly dark grey arm clawed its way through the serpent’s hide. My vision faltered and my consciousness quickly began to fade but not before the monstrosity fully cracked open its brother’s body, through green blood and shattered black flesh the God of chaos emerged. “Fhrree…Hafter…hso…looongg….” the being was a dark grey colossal with large scale like sections for skin looking like armour parts, grey wings with fluorescent purple netting, five large black antlers grew out of its spiky head, while it had a humanoid form from the waist up the rest was a much larger than the top.

From the waist down the giant was a spider with an armoured body and limbs along with an enormous purple cocoon pulsating on its back, it stared down at me as its brother’s remains disappeared with the wind “Rejoice brothers…The eldest is back, your creations will know no pain nor fear as my legions will trample through uncontrolled…Nothing…will…survive…my chagrin…As for youu…human…or should I say…harrower…I will reap you of everything you have…” everything then faded to black.When I came to one of my eyelids was already open “What exactly do you think you’re doing?”, Risa jumped and fell off her chair “EEkk!” I sat up and glared down at her “Explain, quickly”. Her expression darkened when she looked up “Saya told me…what you planned to do…we couldn’t let you play the villain…we asked…Zeaxar for his support…”, “You did what!? What did he ask for!? What were his terms!?” I got off the bed and stood up realising I was in my room. Risa staggered trying to stand up quickly and had to hold on to the chair “He…didn’t…ask for anything…” suddenly the door opened “Kekeke…Heard the turmoil from downstairs, you awake already kid? Figured you’d be out for a couple more hours!” he flashed his amused expression and walked up to us with open arms. I un-merged from Ember (“It’s not like my aura will affect him…”)“What’s your game? Why even help us? You must have figured out by now that I planned to abandon the company” I thought he’d be angered but instead he just laughed “Kekekekekeke! Of course I knew! But why would I let such a useful soldier go to waste? I spoke with some other racial leaders and we came to one conclusion and a couple repercussions”, he took out some papers from his jacket “The officials behind the continuation of the Cerberus project will face the death sentence while any and all that had ties with them will face forced military labour, as for the vigilante he is to face realm banishment”. His words hit me harder than a dragon would “R…ealm…banishment?...YOU GOT ME KICKED OUT OF EARTH!?” his amusement only grew “No, you did. But why would you care? You’re still going to go do public murder anyway aren’t you? Oh wait…it’s too late…”, at this rate I was simply confused “Too late? What does that mean?”.

His smirk grew wider as he spoke “Oh that’s because they’re all already dead, the executions happened on-sight due to the accused…resisting. As for those facing military labour…freak explosive accident, nobody has figured out what exactly happened yet…”, I fell back into sitting on the bed “So you killed them, you effectively removed my reason to continue with my plan as well as any chances of me staying on earth…What the hell are you…” I wasn’t angered…neither was I annoyed…no…I felt like I was about to lose it completely so instead…I just laughed. “Don’t go insane on me yet boy, you’ve got work to do” he turned around to leave “Why would I even follow or listen to you?” I unconsciously merged with Wayne while he eyed my transformation curiously “Because you have nowhere else to go, nobody else to keep you and nothing else to live for. So why not just enjoy some exploration with a fair pay?” he chuckled as he left the room. I sat there staring at the floor for what felt like ages until Risa broke the silence “I’m…s…so..” I stood up after releasing Wayne “I don’t blame you, it’s my fault. I should have taken everybody else into account, I was being selfish” I patted her head “Sorry”, tears began falling down her cheeks and she suddenly rushed into my chest which due to the force and my surprise we both fell back onto the bed. “Are we…interrupting something?...” Natasha had opened the door alongside her brother Clyde, Risa leaped up purpler than a plum “N..no..u..” she then turned away and rushed out of the room. Me and Clyde stared with a confused expression at each other while Natasha glared at me “Mmhhmm…Yeap dense, poor girl. Anyway since you’re finally awake, Ab…Ma wants you to get down to the table…Good luck…” for a moment both of them gained a shade of blue then turned away from the doorway. (“Ma already? Sheesh…Ah right…I’m next…”) I sighed and got off the bed again but before I exited the room (“Saya I know you’re in there, stop hiding.”) the Fae had been secluding her thoughts from mine since I woke up but I could still sense her (“You’re…really not mad?...”), I shook my head “I am…I’m mad at myself but also…I’m afraid…” the memory of the colossus known as Chaos returned to me and I shuddered as I left my room.

I glanced down the left corridor where Natasha and Clyde seemed to be trying to talk someone out of the bathroom, well more like Clyde picking the lock while Natasha pep talked about feelings and denseness (“What is all that about?...On second thought…I have other things to worry about…”). I could feel her aura from the top floor and I already knew she was in a sour mood, I sighed as I descended the stairs while the aggressive aura only got more ferocious with each step. I descended the last step as I effortlessly moved through the dense killing intent permeating the air, when I reached the kitchen I sensed the root of this ferociousness. “Sit down” Abbey was sitting down by the table with her hands together and elbows resting on it, I walked over and sat down as she told me to do. “Do you realise what you were about to do? I signed up for helping you with transportation, how do you think I felt when I was told what you planned to actually do!?” her tone lowered and with it so did her aura, “How do you think Risa, Clyde, Natasha and Kyle would feel? What about your comrades that are mercenaries?! Surely even you made some!” she rose up from her chair and glared at me. Off the corner of my eye I could see the water in the sink floating up and lashing out randomly “You think sacrificing yourself would have been a good example to everyone? You think that’s what a hero is?!”, I spoke calmly while keeping a poker face and meeting her gaze “I’m not a hero, Abbey you know full well what I am. I’m a killer, a murderer, an assassin and now a monster. You took me in knowing full well what I did, I don’t deserve a good life and those bastards didn’t deserve a quick death”. She slammed her fist onto the wooden table smashing most of its surface “Then what about Kyle?! Natasha!? Clyde!? You’re a hero to them! You saved them Matthew, you saved them and now they will look up to you. What happened to your ideals!? Sacrifice the wicked to save the many!? You think you’re wicked because you were forced to kill!?” suddenly the water shot towards me stopping only inches away from my neck while forming a blade “If you truly think you are that wicked then end yourself now red, I know you won’t because you know that you truly aren’t a monster!”.

I momentarily dropped my gaze onto the liquid blade, with a sudden movement I moved myself forward and slit the side of my neck “What…” which surprised Abbey enough to make her drop her magic. “I was going to make a horrible mistake, I know that now. There is something else you should know of though” the gash on my neck quickly began to heal making Abbey stare with astonishment “I’m no longer human Ma, I’ve lost my reason to go on, my reason to fight and all I’m left with is this feeling of betrayal…I thought better of humanity…I left home trusting their word that the project was destroyed…I come back to this…” I clenched my fists “I lost myself to rage, to hatred and in turn lost my humanity. Look at me, I don’t even know what I am anymore”. Suddenly the memories of my meeting with the dark God began playing in my head “What am I…supposed to do alone?...” the hope I had made for myself throughout that memory was devoured completely with the emergence of a monstrosity known as Chaos, Abbey then suddenly walked around the table and grabbed me by the shoulder “Alone?” she sent me tumbling backwards “Who said you’re alone?” she stared amused at what was probably a confused expression that I had. I glanced behind me to see Kyle peeking out of the next room’s door while Risa, Clyde and Natasha descended the stairs quietly “You…you…not alone…” Kyle slowly walked out from behind the door “Natasha said…we aren’t alone…if we have…each other…”. The other three stood at the end of the corridor “She did?...” Clyde spoke under his breath but I still heard him “Of course I did!” his sister elbowed him in the gut, I turned back to see Abbey smiling at me “Not convinced yet? Do I have to beat it through your thick head?!” but a smile had already grown and changed my expression. I stood up “Yeah…guess I’m worrying pointlessly…” Chaos’s last words to me echoed in my mind “Ma, I need to ask you for one last favour…”, she nodded “What is it?” I glanced back “I need you to take care of those three, they have nowhere to go and nobody else to rely on”.

Abbey began to chuckle when she heard me “I can take care of the little one but I’m afraid the twins have already made up their mind, well not without some hinting from that demon”, suddenly Natasha and Clyde walked around me and into the kitchen “We going yet boss?” Clyde had ducked down and began inspecting the shattered table. Natasha whistled when she saw it “Yeah when we leaving boss?” I just stared at the both of them with a confused expression “We? Going? Leaving?...Did you just call me boss?”, Natasha opened the fridge and began taking her pick on a snack as she spoke “You didn’t actually think we’d just be good kids and stand around here?” her brother joined her “We want to get as far away from Earth as soon as possible, another realm sounds just perfect”. I glanced at Abbey and she shrugged then stared back at them “Do you even know what you’re saying? Being a mercenary is no different than being an assassin! That is what he’ll use you as! Is that what you want to do for the rest of your lives!?”, suddenly they both turned and met my gaze “Killing is all we’re good for, and seeing new worlds doesn’t sound that bad…better than being somebody’s hound. We’ll get to decide whether we should kill or not” Natasha spoke as she ate a packet of chocolates. Clyde turned around with a bottle of beer “Don’t forget a good pay and fancy equipment, how do you open this?” he was trying to pop it open with his fingers, I glanced at the bottle and sighed “Fine suit yourselves” (“I can’t imagine them or whoever will be in charge of them lasting long”) I walked over and snatched the bottle from his hand and popped it open with my lower fang. They both stared curiously at me then Clyde extended his arm to take the bottle “Thanks?...” but I flipped the cap into his hand and walked out of the kitchen with the beer, I took a sip as I walked to the exit. I walked out of the house and into the daylight then sat down by the door on the porch, I took a longer sip and stared up at the clouds in the distance. Suddenly I hear the door open behind me and glanced back to see Risa walking out “Can I join you?...” I gestured to the floor next to me “Yeah, be my guest” then I took another sip from the beer, she walked around and sat down “What will you do now?”.

“Do now? Probably take Zeaxar on his offer, I won’t survive here for long by hiding and I don’t want to give Abbey anymore trouble” I stared down at the still mostly full bottle, “What about you? You going back home now I expect? Your brother is young and every king needs a hand or two to help” she moved closer to where our shoulders were touching “No I’m not going home…I have reasons not to…”. I glanced up at her “Then what are you going to do? I mean Abbey would probably welcome you too here if that’s what you’ve been worried about” she had been flustered and the whole time her aura felt distorted and agitated, she shook her head “No…that’s not it…” she glanced away from me and at her legs “I’ll go….where you go…” she whispered this and it was barely audible to me “Hm? Where you going?”. Her cheeks darkened as she straightened herself and turned to look at me “I!...” but she froze staring at me, “Damn it all to hell” I threw away the beer and grabbed her by the shoulders “Eeeh?!” she squeaked as I moved in. Our eyes closed as our lips touched (“I’m done holding back”) I pulled her closer with my right hand and with my left I held on to her warm face, she didn’t fight back but instead aggressively went at me with her tongue and pushed me back. Before I knew it we were both on the dirt with her up top and still kissing, as our lips moved left and right our tongues collided and snaked around each other in every possible direction while each other’s saliva entered the other’s mouth. I had beer and dirt all over my back and hair but I didn’t care, I had Saya and Wayne shouting encouragement in my head while Ember seemed to be having a mental crisis but I didn’t care, all I cared about now was her even after we stopped and just laid there holding each other all I thought about was her. “M…Matt…” she looked up into my eyes as I met her gaze “What is it?” I had never seen her blushing as much as she was right now “Are we…” but then suddenly the door opened “Fuck this, if ya ain’t having it I’ll take it” Clyde walked out and down the porch then crouched down to the bottle and gulped it down “Fuck that hit the spot, sorry boss but that was the last bottle” he threw it away and walked back in as we stared at his back in astonishment. Even with the door closed we could hear Natasha shouting at him while Abbey laughed, all that was coming from right behind the door meaning that they saw everything.

“Well…my back is getting cold…want to head in?” she glanced down at me and nodded but before she got off her lips attacked mine again, we then both walked back into the house as she held on to my right arm. Abbey was introducing a bottle of vodka to Clyde while Natasha and Kyle tried to sneak up the stairs behind us, only to give up once we separated and I entered the bathe room to take a shower as Risa went to her room. I dispelled my clothes (“You know, that is actually very convenient…haven’t taken a shower in days too”) I stepped in and closed the shutter behind me, I turned on the cold water and let it flow down my face (“Anir…”) I began feeling the black crystal wedge embedded to the front of my horn (“I’ll have to see what this power is about later…I’ll keep my promise, I will find it’s children…”). After taking a shower I walked back to the staircase and ascended to the next floor where my room was, I walked in and gazed down at the floor where my transformation had occurred. (“I’ll have to run a DNA test too…I cannot go on without knowing what I have actually become…”) I sighed and walked up to my desk where several tools and equipment lay, I grabbed a piece of equipment from my drawer and set it on the desk then pulled out a wire and connected it to the computer. From another drawer I took a vial and set it on the desk, I held my left arm on top of it and then pressed my skin with my right hand’s claw like nails. The nail dug into my skin letting a drop of blood streak down before closing up, (“Damn…I don’t have a syringe…”) I opened drawer after drawer before I found what I was looking for. I held up a short thin metal pipe while with another tool I sharpened one end of it, when I was done I held up my arm again and pierced it with the pointy end letting the pipe enter and since my healing aspect couldn’t remove matter to close a wound the blood flowed out into the vial freely. When I had collected enough blood I took out the pipe and set it aside, I grabbed the vial of fluorescent red blood and closed it with a special cap then inserted upside down into the equipment I connected to the computer. The machine was AetherTech and was made to scan substances while in this case I used it alongside it’s software to compare my blood to known races.

(“Wayne lost his mammalian race when he evolved while both him and Ember who was pure serpent gained minor dragonic…”) after a couple minutes the results lay on the monitor, “I expected some mammal but…this is…Ten percent human…Thirty percent dragonic…and…”