The boy and the two monks were staring down each other, seeing who would make the first move. The boy did notice how the eyes of one monk were darting back and forth. The boy was about to pounce the slightly distracted monk, when he saw the grandmaster slowly getting up to her legs.

The boy relived the tension in his legs, and lifted his body to a regular stance. Unfortunately, the nervous monk took this as a sign of aggression, and stabbed his scimitar towards the boy’s heart.

Almost instantly, the boy activated Eyes of Chronos. Time slowed down to a crawl, and the boy went over his situation. Then it came to the boy, as he was staring down the incoming scimitar; he could just catch the sword. After some quick decision making, the boy came to the conclusion that it the only logical solution.

So, like a slightly faster snail, the boy brought his hands up to the blade, and pressed as hard as he could on the blade’s center. The boy, filled with confidence, watched as the sword proceeded ever closer to his chest, only slowed down slightly. Now filled with extreme fear, the boy moved as fast a s he could out of the way of the sword, all the while trying to slow down or even stop the blade.

The boy, now sure that he cannot stop the blade, deactivates Eyes. Everything returns back to normal, as the sword pieces through the clothes and cut off a thin slice of the boy’s skin. Incredible pain shot through the boy, as both the air started stinging him like a bee, and the cold metal of the scimitar froze the exposed meat.

Barely responding, the boy sent two fingers into the eyes of the monk, sending them sprawling backwards while clutching their face and screaming in pain and discomfort. The boy clutched his open wound, all the while watching as the other monk stood there, unsure of what to do.

Suddenly and without warning, a blade flew past the boy’s head. The boy shot his head, looked at the blade, and then looked to where it came from; all these performed with a “What the fuck?” expression on his face. There, approaching slowly and looking heavily damaged, was the grandmaster, looking like she just received one thousand cuts all over her body.

Seeing the sorry, bloody state the grandmaster was in made the boy extremely worried. ‘I swear, if she blames this on me...’ Then, out of nowhere, the grandmaster fixed her position, and pointed back with her hand, while turning her head to the boy. “Would you like to come with me please?” In a voice all too sweet to be good-natured.

“I really don’t think I want to follow you. Just please sign...” The boy went to the backpack, and pulled out a sheet of paper that looked very much like confirmation documentation. “...These papers and I’ll be on my way.” The grandmaster’s smile grew even further. “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, Time.”

Near instantly, several shadows appeared behind the boy. He turned to see all of the dark figures holding polearms pointed at the boy, blocking the exit to the monastery. Turning back around to face, the boy saw lots of monks sitting on the rooftops, all holding bows with arrows knocked into them, ready to shoot.

Sighing, the boy headed over to the grandmaster, feeling the shadows following behind him, and the archers following him with their bows. The grandmaster, still smiling, went ahead in-front of the boy, making almost no sound as she walked, only occasional droplets of blood from her wounds marking the floor.

The boy and T’Rine walked into and through the monastery, the boy noticing the beauty of some intricate designs on the walls. ‘What the hell is that dragon doing to that sheep? Oh, that is a nice representation of a panda...’ Sometime later, the boy looked out of a window, and noticed that he was higher up than he started.

Looking down, the boy also noticed he was on a spiral staircase, slowly but surely going up to the very top of the tower that was in the middle of the monastery. The boy also noticed how T’Rine had a change of clothes while heading up, as the robes she wore were a completely different color and had no bloody spots on them.

Soon enough, the boy and the grandmaster got to the top of the tower. And taking one glance around the room, the boy was forced to whisper “How much money do these monks have??” The room’s walls had been painted royal red, the tops and bottom lined with sheets of gold, and four pillars in the room with golden inscriptions on them in a unknown language.

When the boy finished gawking at the opulent room, he returned his eyes to the location of T’Rine, and saw her making a circle around herself with a mysterious white substance.

The boy, without moving a centimeter, asked: “What are you doing?” To which he got no immediate response, as the grandmaster just finished the circle, and stood straight, looking at the boy. “I have drawn a protection circle with this blessed sugar. Have a good journey.”

Wait, what do you...and she disappeared. And I still didn’t get my money...” As the boy was thinking about his next move, the walls started to melt. Their once royal color turning to a deathly sick grey, the gold turning to a poisonous green, and the pillars turning to dust and starting to float into a circular shape.

The boy, thoroughly confused by his surroundings, looked back to where he came from. Seeing the door start to melt, the boy went to try and open it. As soon as he grabbed the handle, it melted into the same grey goop as the walls. The boy, throwing the goop off his hands, tried to kick down the door, but his goop just absorbed all of the force that his foot brought down.

Panicking, the boy swiftly turned around, looking for an exit. Several things became abundant after the point the boy looked around the state of the room. One, the end of the room, where the lookout over the rest of the mountain was, was untouched. Two, the pillars had completely turned to dust, and all of it was coming to together to form a growing ball.

The boy ran to the windows at the end of the room. But, halfway along the way, the ball turned to a black hole. The boy found himself running on the spot, slowly starting to go backwards in the direction of the ball. The boy looked back to see all the goop, both grey and green, being sucked into the ball, turning to dust as soon as it crossed a certain boundary.

Reinvigorated by his wish to remain as flesh, the boy put maximum power into his legs and arms, starting to run on all fours. The boy gained some distance, almost reaching the windows, when the ball started to suck things in with far greater fervor. The boy noticed himself starting to float backwards at an accelerated rate.

The boy tried to grab onto something, but everything in the room was gone or was turning to dust. Once the boy finally reached the dust ball, everything went black.

-------------------------------------

The boy vision returned got him not a second later, and he was in a far stranger environment than before. He was still in a room, but the walls didn’t have one color, they continuously shifted in all ways possible. At one second the wall looked smooth, almost like a spreading of chocolate, then turning into a sand-like material.

Taking his eyes of the walls, the boy found a small person sitting on a bed in-front of himself.

The human wore a red mini-skirt, it constantly fluttering about like it was been driven around by a light breeze. Below the red mini-skirt, the figure wore red stockings, those flowing upwards and downwards in a continuous motion, mesmerizing like a peaceful river. Below those, the figure wore red high heels. The boy took a closer look, and saw that they were just regular high heels.

Above the waist line did the person wear a short leather jacket and crop-top, both being an azure color. Unchanging they were, still and unmoving. On their hands did the person wear azure biker gloves, as unchanging as the jacket. Finally, on top of the persons head was... a hat, and another, and another, and another...’Why is their hat changing every moment?’

“So, you’ve finally arrived. How unmannered of you, making a girl wait this long for your arrival...well it matters not. Welcome to Abroo.”

“...Who are you?” Said the boy, confusion filling his tone.

Looking like she was just shot, the girl responded: “With all that you have done, you still don’t know who I am?” The girl left the question hanging, leaving the boy to respond. And just as he was about to, she started talking again.

“I am Carmira, the Goddess of Time and Death. And quite frankly, you have done a lot of killing. So much so, that some Gods have decided that it is time for you to go bye-bye.” The goddess left off there, letting her words sink into the boy. After a few moments, Carmira continued: “So, I propose a deal: You become my champion!”

As the goddess finished, small fireworks went off behind her, filling the room with a celebratory aura. The smile on Carmira’s face was wide, and she stared at the boy waiting for an absolute agreement. But the boy stared at the goddess with a ‘Who do you think you are?’ look, his face remaining the same until the fireworks ended. And just when he was about to start talking, an explosion occurred behind the boy.