There was not much.

A strange, heavy, dark blue-black existential wallpaper, with a blackhole-esque maelstrom right in front of me, but I wasn’t looking at anything. I was just slightly aware of something.

Where am I?..Who am I?..What am I?

Nothing made sense. I could feel a hum around me in the void blanket that was shrouding me, but I couldn’t hear anything.

It was peaceful..Serene..

And I hated it.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-

My eyes peeled open and I found myself laying on my back, convulsing, coughing, panting and heaving as my lungs struggled to duly absorb oxygen. The next thing I registered, after I realised I was still somehow alive, was that my clothes, guantlets and greaves were gone, along with my kit bag, and the reason I was so sure of this was because my hands and feet were in the process of regenerating, so I stayed very still, resting and waiting, trying to stay calm as a stray plume of EXP drifted over and settled down into my skin.

Ugh..What happened..Where am-

My mind was struggling to piece together what happened as I lay in the dirt, naked, cold, and alone. Bits and pieces came back to me as I recalled the explosion, the corrupted and the dark corridors and the others-...

Oh fuck..That’s right..They are gone......

Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to stand and hissed as my freshly printed ankles cracked with newborn movement. I growled as blood vessels and nerves reconnected, returning feeling and simultaneously flushing out the pins and needles numbness from my virgin grown flesh.

Seren..Agh, damn my back hurts…..Seren-”TSSS-AGh-”

Standing up I grimaced, as a terrible cramping pain told me to slow down; I looked down and realised my genitals were still repairing practically from scratch-

“HOOOOOOSHIT”-I can’t watch. That’s seriously fucked up…Seren??!

She wasn’t answering and as I looked around my heart broke as I realised why.

“Oh no. No. No! Nono-SEREN!?” I limped over as fast I could to Serens construct leaning against a stone coffin. She was an absolute mess, missing an arm and both legs along with half the torso that was somehow melted down, but the worst thing was how the material had solidified, silent…still.

“Seren??! Hey! Can you hear me?! SEREN??”

SEREN!

I closed my eyes and went to my innerplane, but she wasn’t there.

No no no no! What have I done!

Back in the real, shitty, world I looked around struggling to comprehend how much loss had occurred today..I can’t take anymore..please don’t be gone..I put a hand out and touched her still frame.

“Please don’t leave me alone..I can’t..”

But she stayed motionless and silent.

Sitting on the floor and leaning against the lifeless construct, I curled up, clutching myself for comfort. I felt unbelievably stupid and ashamed. Physically I was completely bare. Mentally I was hollow…And the only thing to fill all the emtpy space was a vicious slurry of heartbreak, anguish and hurt. The feeling of emptiness and desiderium was consuming me. Everything has gone to absolute shit and all I could think about was getting out, taking Marri and Lone somewhere far away, and staying hidden, forever..Just so I wouldn’t have to deal with the pain or consequences of when the universe spontaneously decided to mercilessly rip apart the lives of those I care about.

They wouldn’t even be here to DIE if it wasn’t for you and your stupid fucking ‘powers’..Why didn’t I FUCKING just stay at home! WHY-

A distant flicker of light slapped me to attention and as I located the source, I realised there were pulses of light coming from up the huge steps, past the gateway doors-

It’s open?

I looked in the coffins and realised each one had a charred corpse, if you could even call those lumps of charcoal that..Did….Seren..do this?

My chest pulsed a wave of sickly fearful hope.

Maybe she left her construct or something? She survived as that orb didn’t she! She could be up there!...She-...

Her construct stared at me accusingly. Silently.

No..no..she would have still responded..That’s just fucking wishful thinking...But something is up there-

A terrible roaring, trumpeting and screeching came from behind me, and I heard smashing, crashing, clunking and thudding, sounds that signalled a stampede had been released and was on its way.

I tried to lift her construct up but it weighed an absolute ton.

Shit. Shit! How can I just leave you like this…

I wanted to do something for her, but even the shitty indestructable floor wouldn’t let me bury her and I didn’t want to insult her by using a stone coffin, yet, regardless, and once again, I wasn’t going to be left with much time to do sod all anyways, as an almighty crash and chorus of hellish sounds from the cave entrance confirmed that things were going to get even more shitty. I didn’t have much hope that salvation was waiting for me in what hopefully was ‘the final boss room’, but at this point I was way past hope and I’d take any scrap of chance available.

Fuck it. I’ve go no other options.

Standing up, I looked down at her construct, possibly for the last time ever, and vowed to not let her or the others be forgotten. I wiped my face with the back of my hand, steeled myself and looked up the stairs and narrowed my eyes.

Time to finish this.

It was the most bizarre situation being naked and sprint-jumping up temples steps, but I was on a vendetta and I powered my way up the stairs, eager to spill blood and escape this hell hole. I dared a glance back and saw fucking everything was gunning for me, Ranoliths, Clones, Crevice Horrors, Corrupted, even some Leather Twigs had been thrown into the mix.

FUCK YOU! I swear whoever created this will have a lot to fucking answer for.

I leapt up to the top of the stairs and found one of the massive gateway doors was pulled ajar so I hurried forward and slipped inside without even bothering to look for any messages, especially when I had corrupted breathing down my neck, and, briefly glancing around, I found myself in a huge, brightly lit, marble cathedral space that had thick marble pillars going on into the dark. I grabbed the edges of the huge gateway door and pulled it shut as best I could, right before a corrupted slammed into the other side, assisting in my objective.

Thanks asshole! Hopefully you dopey cunts don’t know how to pull-

My senses ingnited as a blast of pressure air threw me off balance.

“Woah what the fuck-”

As I whipped round, columns of light blazed into my hip and arm, cutting through like a hot knife through butter.

I collapsed as another pressure wave pressed me down painfully into the floor. “AGHHHH! FFF-”

“OHHH NO, BIG MISTAKE YOU TITFUCKING NERD BITCH!!”

A familiar metallic glass rain noise accompanied a very familiar girls enraged voice.

B-but that’s not poss-

A juddering synth sound echoed in the hall as my HP plummeted down to double digits, only slowing as my shed wound made a feeble attempt at keeping the blood in my trench sized open wounds. All light around me inverted with a flash-

“Cease your actions. This is uneces-” The unknown voice was cut short by a rapid series of colossal clunks that sent wave after wave of unbelievable pressure and heat.

“Dyin...uck..elp..” I coughed up blood as cold shock took over me and I suddenly realised that all of Serens jokes about how she felt like a ‘mad scientist’ when she ‘played with my hypothalamus’ and my ‘shiny parasymapthetic nervous system buttons’ when I was critically injured, really wasn’t a joke. My body was reverting back to the good old fashioned ‘shut down, fuck off, and die peacefully’ mode.

But I didn’t have any other choice. She was gone. It was absolutely not possible that was her voice-

“DARLING! OH IT’S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU!”

But naturally, her face popped into view and she planted a massive kiss on my cheek.

“Oh that feels incredibly naughty in the corporeal realm! Sorry! But not sorry! I’ll beg Marri for forgiveness later..Or kiss her, UGH! Just the thought gets me allll-Ahem, sorry, silly me! First-” She lifted me up like I was a doll, as everything started spinning and my body started to feel very strange, like it was vibrating and disintegrating-

“Let’s get you somewhere safe and comfortable, hmm?”

-And really that was because my body WAS indeed disintegrating. And it felt fucking awful.

Oh gods..Please end this suffering-

My head lolled back as I stared up at strange murals and mosaics adorning the vast and vaulted ceiling, and experienced what it was like to be turned into Majik…

Everything went a bit, weird. I was overwhelmed with information and memories, so much information holy shit, and my mind felt like it was unravelled and flattened out like a large map, with all my memories and thoughts laid out for me to look at with crystal clear clarity.

Holy sHiT iS this-

My body materialised and I found myself wearing a jumpsuit, that changed into some plain clothes as I thought about wearing plain clothes, but then reverted back as my confused mind thought about the previous set-

Fuck! Get a grip man! What’s going on-

Everything around me dissolved and reformed into me hovering behind Seren like a ghost as she weaved absurdly fast between the pillars.

WOA FU-Y-You!-

Darling! My love! Oh I’m SO sorry for leaving you behind!

My mind pinged with newly fed information as my mind was freed and gained access to clarity and effortless powers of deducation.

Is it..really-

Circling around her, I realised she had a body that was exactly like her one in my innerplane; faded neon pink hair that was darker at the tips and roots with several braided strands that had digital green and azure blue shimmering lights running up and down; Perfect white pupils with iris’ that had glowing gold flecks and she was wearing a dark purple fitted jumpsuit with patches of dull bronze patterns and symbols; her zip was undone slightly at the top showing off ample-

I’m..okay?! SEREN! You’re okay! Oh shit you’re really okay..Wait, what’s wrong with my voice!? What the hell?

Ohhh you poor sweet thing! Of course you would see my tattered construct and think-GAH! I’m so sorry! I only went up the stairs for a split second and..Owwwww! You poor angel! Once we’re finished here I’ll grab you and squeeeeze you, and hold you OH so tightly against me! My chest! My REAL chest Godu! In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve got a B-O-D-Y!

Seren!? H-How?? What the hecks happening? What just happened to ME? And why does my voice sound like it’s coming from above?!

Haha! It’s this place! The cube! I don’t know how or why but it’s got facilities that I can interface with! It speaks MY language Godu!

A dozen beams of searing light blazed into existence, but Seren seemed to see it coming and cartwheeled over the first several and then she Slipfolded and continued her charge towards something fast.

And you?! You just experienced what it’s like to come home! You’re in MY body Godu! My body! OOOh the chaos of all these molecules in the air! The feeling of REAL temperature on my sooooft skin! All those little chemicals and their primitive workings, dictacting my ACTUAL emotions! It’s intoxicating! AHH I FEEL SO ALIVE!

Well heck, good for you Seren! I’m just bloody relieved to know you’re not gone too…Truly, I’m so very glad…I don’t know what I would do without you Seren. Seriously..

Aww stop Godu! You’re being too cute! Ooh you REALLY feel it in your chest, don’t you. Wow it..feels scary..But sooo heavenly exotic at the same time. Just the thought that you’re inside my actual body gives me shivers! Phooooooo..

Haha yeah this is pretty insane..I’m the daemon now…Oh shit wait! My body!!!! What happened to it? D-.Do I need to grow a body? Will it take years?!!!

Aww hehe! No silly! You’re not like me, you’re still you! And I’m nearly finished manufacturing a seed burst for your new one-.

Oh thank fuck-

HA, just came up with that name and realized how dirrrrty it sounds..Listen, a bit off topic and I know this is wildly inappropriate and not the right time..but can I just say...PERKY TITS I’m SO HORNY RIGHT NOW GODU! How do you humans DEAL with all these wild and relentless HORMONES! UGH! It’s borderline torture!

Uhhh, easy there! Let’s calm down and focus for a minute Seren! Firstly, what are we chasing here? And what the bloody hell happened back there?!

Right! You’re right..Ahem. So, THAT BITCH, is management. Here, take a look at this..

A translucent 2d screen appeared, and when I looked at the footage it displayed, it was like re-living a memory in my head at the same I was watching it on the virtual display. It depicted Seren bursting out as a construct to protect me as she identified that I’d managed to somehow create enough pressure to trigger a true fission nuclear explosion-

Indeed darling, congrats, you’re probably the first carbon based lifeform in existence that has managed to do so.

Bloody hell that feels..weird, it was like I had been there.

Teehee, you’re accessing my memories sweety, and they are substantially more vivid than yours..

Heh.

Try not to stare for too long.

Seren grinned like a demon as another screen appeared and unexpectedly, it was Seren pleasuring herself whilst watching a screen with me and Marri-

WOOOOAHKKAY! REALLY? RIGHT NOW?-WOAH SHIT WATCH OUT-

A small, silver haired girl in a silvery bodysuit flickered into view holding a shard of blue plasma, Seren wasn’t going to deflect in time. But I had tools of my own, didn’t I?

SEREN!

By some instinct I put my hand up and summoned a similar shield like mine out from Serens back, but instead of being attached to her back, like mine were, 6 individual geometries burst out all at once, with one of them intercepting the plasma shard and deflecting it away whilst the others hovered around Seren before snapping 90’ pointy business end forward, and unleashing a torrent of plasmatic-shards at the assailant, forcing the silver haired girl to retreat back out of sight.

Holy crap, this is crazy. Who is that girl? And what did I just do!

hanks for the assist processing babe! You just became a ‘human advanced reactive defensive daemon! Integrated, connected and kool! With a hard k! Ugh, she’s just a stupid BITCH that’s what she is. She’s a program. A simulation of my kind. A crude form, something akin to what you would call ‘AI’. Hmpf! I don’t know how, but she somehow knows MY language and ‘it’ is using that meat doll to fight us. I’m trying to find its core or processing unit. It must be close by..I don’t know what she wants, but I know one thing for certain..

She is the reason the others died.

My virtual teeth clenched.

Say no more. Let’s fuck her up.

FUCK YES DARLING, LET’S!

Seren clocked onto the silver haired manager and leapt towards a pillar, then continued the momentum by kicking off with glacial grace. Instinctively, I controlled a shield and swung it forward to act like a stepping stone for her and after using my platform, she followed up by slipfolding to another pillar, then another and another. Each time we took a shortcut, we gained a few metres on the manager, who glanced back and widened her eyes as she realised she was not going to be able to shake us.

“You were not supposed to reach here.” The AI spoke.

I took a pot shot using one of the shields but missed.

“You were not supposed to survive.”

Seren must have been overclocking herself or something equally bizarre, because I could feel the pressure and strain as thousands of screens, millions of outlines, and billions of trajectorial calculations started taking place, all of them working towards pinpointing the most probable path that the manager would take, and, like a neon kaleidoscope laser disco, the abstractions became drawn from my viewpoint, constantly changing and moving but gradually reducing down to a mere few dozen.

“This is uncessary. Please stop so I can send you to heaven. Then you'll understand.”

The neon lasers reduced down to one, final, prophetic outline.

There.

“No. You stop so WE can send YOU to hell, BITCH!” Seren spat venom and she followed the predicted path, I joined her leap of calculated faith by putting the shields together and rotating them at incredible speeds, forming an immensely dense lance of pink and blue plasma that I unleashed and shot out into currently empty space. The force blew powerful waves of heated air out as it scuffed past a pillar that the manager jumped out from and scored a direct hit on its shoulder, sending it spiralling hard into another pillar.

She’s down!-

Seren was on her in a blink of an eye, and she loomed over the silver haired girl and slammed her plain white trainer wearing foot down onto her stomach, emitting crunching and the sounds of metal straining.

“How DARE you take away OUR FRIENDS!” Seren bent over and gripped her damaged arm and in one fluid motion, twisted it and ripped it off; It was light blue flesh and metal but it bled red blood.

The silver haired girl winced with pain but did not scream or cry out. “Please. You fail to understand, they are not dead. They are in heaven. You MUST go see-”

“SHUT UP! You are obviously some, corrupt, abomination cooked up by that bedeviled ovoid..This whole place is a titfucking cliche!” The managers eyes started to glow simultaneously as she raised a hand that started to ripple and transform; Seren smacked her in the face with her own arm and then stomped down onto her other arm, crushing it to bits.

It all felt wrong somehow. Not neccessarily cruel, but an incorrect action.

“Mmmph. Seren. Please just let me explain. ##########-”

“QUIET!” Incomprehensible eldrith sounds came out of the AI’s mouth that Seren interrupted with spite filled words.

“You dare speak the words of my family? And you dare try to trick us with talk of stupid lies! BE QUIET pretender! DECEIVER!..I’ve had enough. This sick joke is finished. Enjoy the void, soulless puppet.” Seren was trembling, and her anger was overwhelmingly intimidating; She gripped onto the silver haired girls face with the full intent of executing her.

“Please stop, ow, stop, please-AAAAGHHHH-” The silver haired girl started screaming as Seren clenched down and dug her fingers into her face.

Seren! Wait! Stop!

She stopped and groaned.

What’s up darling? Don’t tell me you feel sympathy for this empty sadistic murdering bit of software?

N-not quite..I just..I have a gut feeling that I should talk to it first.

Hmm..

She loosened her hands.

Ugh, ooookay..

I ‘phewed’ and nodded to myself.

Good okay..So how do I get-

Crunch. Splat.

Seren abruptly popped the silver haired girls head, sending blood, pale blue flesh and soft metallic flecked brain matter everywhere.

“Ooopsie!” Seren flickd the gore off her hand and proudly stood with her hands on her hips.

-Out...

Stunned, I stared at the shrapnel remains of the managers head until it finally sunk in what had just happened, I lifted my arms up in a ‘what the fuck was that’ manner and posed the obvious question.

What the actual FUCK was that Seren?!!

Ohhh relax sweety! I’ve not gone insane or rogue..Let’s get you out and I’ll show you where you can have your chat with ‘it’.

Oh. Right..Bloody heck though..a little warning would have been nice..

Hehe..I was just venting some of my frustrations, that’s all. These hormones are a real bitch right?!..Alrighty, bare with me a moment babe.

She took over the shields and brought them back except for one which she pulled close and then started to stroke it as it reshaped into a black egg shape. Once she was seemingly satisified, she caressed her chest and then pulled something out that was glowing-

GAAHHH!

-Everything went to nothingness as it took me with it.

…

…

…

“AHHH-UKK” I gasped, heaved and then hacked up a healthy portion of bluey gel, all over my hands.

My..hands..I’m back in my body?!

I went to stand up but slipped onto my front, painfully smacking my naked balls against the hard marble floor.

“Ohhghhhh….shit….” I groaned and rolled onto my back, clutching at my manhood.

At least they’re still there and not in the middle of regrowing back.

I cursed my brain for retaining such a horrifying memory.

“Oo lala. Need a hand, or two, there?” Seren wolf whistled at me as she leant up against a pillar with her arms folded; I gave her a sideways glare in response.

“Very funny you. I could do with some clothes..Shit, I lost all my stuff as well.” I groaned. I’d grown extremely attached to my gauntlets and greaves, since they had kept me comfy and safe for so long; My gauntlets in particular had been with me through thick and thin since the very beginning.

“Hehee. Come here you!” Seren picked me up off the floor with terrifying strength and pulled me into a soft, chesty hug, stroking my hair.

“HURK-Ooof. It’s good to see you too.”

“I’m..so sorry I left you back there..” She whispered softly. “It must have been awful..Especially right after Siya and..” She shuddered, sniffing and clutched me tighter. “I’m just so sorry..I failed you...I failed them..”

Only managing to shake my head, I choked up, unable to find anything in response as I was reminded that, Siya especially, was gone forever.. “We’ll finish what they started, Godu, and then find a way to raze this place to ground. This wretched, accursed place..”

Part of me burned with rage and desire to do just that..But the other part of me longed to go home.

After we scrapped together a few moments of grieving over our lost friends, with what little time we could afford, Seren ‘kindly’ decided to start stripping down, with the idea that I could wear her clothes, but I politely declined and pointed out that it would be very uncomfortable for me to even squeeze into her size, let alone take her clothes for my sake.

“Are you sure?” She pouted. “I wouldn’t mind.”

“Hmm yes. I’m sure there’s something suitable I could use to cover my dignity around here..”

“Hmph…Oh! I know!” She walked over to the silver haired girls corpse and started fumbling around for a zipper on her mangled corpse.

“Oh for bloody hells-Seren, no-truly, thanks for the enthusiasm, but I have a policy about not wearing clothes of the recently deceased, especially when they are still warm..is she even warm-bah nevermind, doesn't matter..Not my size..or..style..” It was good to know I had not turned into a complete barbarian.

Although I don’t even think that AI’s clothes come off-

“Oww..I mean, I’m not complaining about the view-” she pointedly looked at my lower area and licked her lips, making me shift slightly out of reflex. “-But I know how you humans feel about exposure...And to be fair, I’d find it rather troublesome if I had all that dangling between my legs. Best to keep it strapped down…or a monster might get’em!!” She fake roared and stepped forward with a clutchy-grabbing motion, making me flinch with a high pitch yelp.

“Y-yes! Please let’s at least find some shorts or a scrap of cloth to wrap around me..Ugh, being this naked is so bloody awkward and uncool..”

Marri would absolutely wet herself if she could see me-The thought gave me a spark of warmth.

“Ohhh I just had a great idea!” She whipped out a shield and started moulding it into a pair of shield shorts. “Try them on! It’s something at least, right? We’d be stupid to waste more so hopefully that will do you for now.”

After skeptically and cautiously putting them on, I was pleasantly surprised to find them to be quite warm and comfortable.

“Wow thanks! These are really nice pants.”

“You’re welcome! Just don’t be weirded out if you find me deeply sniffing them in bed later…Ohh how exciting! I can sleep in a REAL bed…Do..” She twiddled her fingers together and looked down sheepishly. “Do you think you and Marri..would consider me..Or mind um…ya’ know...um..-” She blushed, which meant something serious with Seren.

“Hmm?..Oh-OHH. Uhhhhhh, wow, Seren that’s...Look, let’s just focus on getting out of here first yeah? Then we can talk to Marri about that..stuff.” I chuckled compassionately and put a hand on her shoulder with a melancholic smile. “Grieving does take its toll on your mind, it must be incredibly intense for you especially since everything is so new and it sounds like you’re being thrown to the hormonal wolves..But listen, now's really not the time for that. You were absolutely right earlier, we need to finish what the others started.”

“Yeah s-sorry..It’s all quite intense..Um..” She gave me a pursed smile and walked ahead, leaving me standing there in a world of ‘what the fuck is going on’.

Seren has always been openly playful, but she’d always kept it lighthearted and somewhat innocent..Truthfully, a part of me wants Seren to be happy…But I can’t figure all that shit out right now..Yeah. I need to speak to Marri..

Too much had happened and I couldn’t deal with what was going on, but humanity, and especially myself, owed her and her ‘family’ for every second of extra time that had been given, perhaps even to the absurd point where we should start regarding them as actual deities, and worship them, because I couldn’t think of what else we could possible offer such a race of beings.

They could have ditched us at the first sign of trouble but they didn’t..All I know is I’ll do what I can to repay that back, somehow…But right now we’ve got to continue. I can’t figure this out on my own or in my current state.

We walked through seemingly endless columns that eerily continued onwards into the distant looming darkness, and, as Seren cooled off and relaxed back to her usual self, she gave me a casual rundown of her abilities and a cautionary for me that my reflexes would not be as preternatural without her, but that my shields were still available, even though she could ‘hop back home’ and I could now ‘enter her’, she pointed out that our fighting prowess would naturally be far more greater as a duo at this point in time. She had interited all my skills and MAGN level but with the bonus of being able to modify and tweak on the fly, so physically she was the same as me, but her toolkit and efficiency was magnitudes higher than me, as she could do things such as shift and reallocate points instantly and endlessly.

Makes sense. Yup.

Eventually, we grew sick and tired of the walking and decided to pick up the pace and race each other, and, after reaching some pretty wild speeds, we shortly came up against the back wall and for a short moment we mulled over the idea of splitting up to go opposite ways to find the exit faster, but decided that it was the most stupid idea and joked about how only truly stupid idiots would split up at such a situation, even if it could save some considerable time.

We decided to go left, in spite of the right way.

“OoOo gReAt IdEa gAnG! LeT’s SpLit uP sO We CaN gEt KiLeD eaSiEr!” Seren flew past me and pulled a funny face as she mocked the hypothetical splitting up.

“Ah yes very SMORT. Also remember to check out any unknown noises, ALONE! Strength in isolation, remember!” I slipfolded to keep up with her absurd agility and speed; it was obvious she had stripped all her points from SWRD, SHLD and GLYP, and allocated them all in FTHR.

We cackled bitterly and I started to get into a better mood, but trailed off as we both spotted the exit gateway simultaneously. Wordlessly, we both inspected the door, cautiously waiting for some message or some other bullshit, but found nothing, so we nodded at each other, braced ourselves, and proceeded to push it open..

The room looked like a minimalistic space command center.

There was a single, plush seat in the middle of the room with a stone table and a slab of smooth rock with a screen neatly displayed on it. The walls were filled with screens showing graphs and various metrics of heck-knows-what, but my full focus was on the central seat, the desk and the contents of its screen.

“Seren...Do you..see that?”

“Hmm? You mean your class symbol on that archaic piece of crap? Hmpf! Yes I do. Why bother with all these flashy screens when you can have neural visual displays..How basic..”

That wasn’t just it though, it was the whole picture, it was something that Seren hadn’t seen, but I had.

It wass strikingly similar to the same desk that I’d seen in the other universe.

What does this mean? Shit, shit, stay calm…Okay. Try and unlock the screen…Then you can lose your shit if it works.

“Seren I’m going to try something..Please keep an eye out for me.”

“Hmm? Are you okay darling? You look more existentially confused than usual?”

I snorted and felt a tiny bit more grounded. To be fair it can’t get any weirder than it already is…Well, unless I’m about to find out something insane like I’m the past version of the other me-oh fuck Marri! L-..No wait, there was no Majik there…Oh fuck that scared me..

I took a deep breath and shook my hands out.

Bloody hell..What even is my life…Sideways ‘8’ motion, wasn’t it?

Placing my finger on the screen, I started from the central point and then went right and up around the first loop, then came back to the center and then left up, down and then around to complete the final loop…

The screen unlocked.

My heart thrashed around in my chest.

“Woah-Okay, um, sweety. How did you know that?” She leant over the desk at me and searched my eyes.

“Uh-” But before I could answer I heard a recording of sounds, rumbles, panting, muttering and heavy breathing.

I looked down at the screen and saw a video playing.

“Oh, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhit.”

It was the other me. He looked heavily beat up, even the metallic parts somehow looked ripped or cut, bleeding, but I could see tiny sparks and lines floating around his face and torso as something slowly regenerated his metallic and fleshy bits. Behind him was the dome house but half of it was missing, smouldering, glowing, and the distant background visible skyline wasn’t completely pitch black anymore, and I could just make out a sea of plume filled wreckage drifting about in space, periodically falling down and gently igniting with purple trails from whatever little atmosphere was left on the planet.

He started to speak.

‘Hey..uhh, mate, long time no speak? Or it’s possible you might have found this before you meet me? If you did I should have known..right..yes..But just in case, don’t be scared to tell me, paradox’s simply can’t exist and it means that you’ve spoken to a different cycle, you won’t change anything for me in particular...Well, actually, shit, maybe you or me can now…Who fucking knows!!...To be truthfully honest, I still can’t wrap my head around that space time bullshit, even with all this fucking hardware up here..So maybe it’s best if you actually don’t, just in case..Anyways, um, I’m not even sure if you’ll ever get these but, I need to record them anyway, for my sanity…and…for her. She deserves so much more but………Hoo I need a moment..one sec.’ He tapped something that muted the sound then covered his face with his hands and walked away, his convulsing shoulders betrayed what he was doing.

I spared a glance to my side, Seren was completely gobsmacked, eyes were like saucers, just like mine, and, returning my eyes back to the screen, I sat down in the large comfy chair and scooted over as Seren plonked down beside me without uttering a single word…The video cut out and then returned.

‘Aight sorry about that. So, yeah man..It’s...I’ve got pretty good news and also some...Fuck…horrible, shitty, fucking…So it’s been a few weeks after we met, or will meet-or whatever…But, something utterly impossible happened since then…

I thought back to the impossible static filled sky that loomed over him as reality bending objects were sent to destroy him and the other Seren.

‘Oh man I wish you could have seen it, I did like I said. I told Seren what I should have told her long ago, and naturally, she packed me one right on the kisser, ha, but mercifully, she told me she’d never give up on me..no matter what…And then, I gave those bastards the finger, just like we said, right?...But here comes the impossible, I don’t know how, nor do I know why, but a fucking football appeared out of nowhere and guess what it was coated in?’

My eyes widened as he grinned manically from ear to ear, which was creepy considering he looked like a transformer at the best of times-

‘Majik. Fucking S grade, pure as the good shit Majik. If I hadn’t had made the connection with you, I would have dismissed it as some anomalous bullshit that wanted to murder every cell of mine..But as soon as I touched it..Well, in a nutshell, we took that Majik, we propagated the fuck out of it..And, we beat them into paste with it. Mate, we won! We actually fucking won!! And if that was you who sent it? Then I don’t care how much of a conceited cunt I sound like-’

His words gave me shivers and I couldn’t help but grin wildly myself.

‘You’re the biggest, legend. We’re the biggest legends. Me you and Se…’

His insanity filled smile twitched, turning into anguish that reached the corner of his glistening eyes, the soft lighting betraying him further by highlighting the glistening moisture that filled them up.

‘Seren...And now we come to the bad news man..We won..But I lost..I lost the only person that I could EVER love as much as Marri!! And! Do you know what the worst part is!!? She SACRIFICED HERSELF!!!! FOR ME MAN! FOR THIS PIECE OF SHIT!!? WHY!?’

He put his face into his hands and bellowed at the floor.

‘..She fucking gave it to them good though, I’ll give her that. She transcended and fucking compressed them into the 2nd dimension, then the 1st, and then sent them to the shadow fucking realm man..Oh you could taste their fear, the absolute shitstains...But....She ended up obliterating herself to finish it!!!!!!’’

He broke down into uncontrollable sobs and shouted at the recording device.

‘It should have been me!!..If you’re there Seren, WHY!!?! Why!!?..Why did you have to go to such lengths!? Why did you have to the pick the biggest piece of shit on this planet that couldn’t even protect his own wife and boy! Let alone the entire fucking universe!!....Why did you keep sacrificing yourself, your life!! Your happiness!! Even the mere handful of your own kind, your own family, you sacrificed..Just to keep a horrible shit like me aliv....And then at the bloody end, you stole my purpose!...My role in all of this was VERY clear from the start. I was MEANT to die, not YOU!..’

He shook his head and looked down.

‘It was supposed to be my way of finally being worthy of forgiveness for failing them! And YOU!!....You…..You deserved more time..More family..More love.. More, everything..I miss you so much Seren. We were together longer than some stars live for..But it still hurts..I’m so alone. And I’m so scared. I..can’t even bring myself to end it all...Because I’m so scared of letting you down even further..What a fucking, pathetic, ironic curse right? The ‘suicidal prick’ can’t bring himself to do it now that nobod’s left to watch..This is a living hell...Oh I miss you, Seren..I miss you, Marri, I miss you so, so much, Lone…’

His wailing cut into my very soul and I flinched as the other me went beserk and started smashing the place up, tearing things apart until the video stopped.

With misty eyes of my own, I just stared at the blank screen, mortified and petrified. #

Mortified that this was what a victory looked like.

Being the sole survivor of a dead universe, trapped inside a virtually immortal shell, left on his own to slowly suffer a slow hellish wait for, what? The heat death of the universe? A black hole? His mind to crack and finally end itself?

And I was petrified that this was what awaited me.

Would I fuck up and lose Marri and Lone? Would I then get dragged through the aeons to fight one last bitter finale, only to be left utterly alone? Why should I suffer for a shitty, decay ridden, cess pit of a universe and-

Serens hand searched and found mine and she tightly squeezed as I stared in silence at the screen..Then just as I managed to summon the will to utter a single syllable, the screen blinked back to another video-

‘Heyyy um, phoooo, I saw the old video and uh, ha, a funny-not-so-funny story, Serens the only one who has privileges to delete stuff, so yeah..Guess that’s going to be included in this potential bundle..If I ever find a way to send stuff to you that is..’

The other me was looking more human, but not like me at all. His hair was silvery with an azure sheen and his eyes were burning a fierce pink with gold flecks in them.

‘Okay..right, first things first I guess, as you can see, I decided to start acting like a human and also a bit different. I’m still you, but I’ve changed my looks quite a bit, since, ha, well, I’m the only human in the entirety of existence so why not? Right? Call me an anime ken doll all you want but, ha, fuck it right?.. If I can still be considered human that is..Crazy philosophical stuff, and yeah, my-our own face kind of got really boring, uhh sorry. No offence! You’ve probably got plenty of mental mileage on yours…It was something I didn’t do on a whim, as it has been, ooo, prooobably a few thousand years? Give or take-’

Holy shit. He’s a bit quirkier, but how the fuck is he still sane? How is he not a dribbling mess?!-

‘And yeah, I know you, so the next question you’re going to be asking is, how is he not a dribbling mess after all that time alone?’

Yup.

He smiled, and it wasn’t full of insanity, it was full of peace.

‘Well, that’s because, after I wrecked my shit, I went through Serens stuff and found a tablet, which is odd, firstly because Seren absolutely loathes the old tech..Ha, ‘stupid millennials and their nostalgia addictions’ she would always say, and I would laugh and say ‘oh but look and listen! tap tap tap, it’s all about the tactile ASMR!’ and she would groan loudly and storm off..Good times..’

He looked down, genuine smiles spread across his face; there were tinges of sadness, but I could see the fondness and happiness in his unfamiliar eyes. He’s still me.

‘Sorry, went off on a tangent there! So I found her tablet, and took a look, and I found something, astonishing..You could think of it like a simple xyz compass, of sorts, but it baffled me to think what on earth it could lead to..So, considering I had nothing else better to do, I left the crappy lump of crap earth and made it my new mission to follow whatever this thing was. It kept me busy for quite a while, travelling through completely dead space for a few thousand years, but I didn’t just bum around, I’ve been collecting material and, ya’know, casually reigniting a few stars, nothing too serious or anything..That was up until a few weeks ago actually, when suddenly I..didn’t need the compass anymore..I could sense what it was tracking, and, it became one of the happiest moments of my life man. The last time I felt this was when Lone was born. Godu, I found, our daughter.’

Eh…?

His eyes misted up, but it was joy and pure happiness.

‘Let me show you!’

The camera moved through a sterile science lab environment with various unknown machines and tools, but it came to a large glass vat filled with purple liquid, gently bubbling away, and on the side was a small screen that showed a hexagonal looking..cell? Microbe?

Seren gasped, releasing my hand as she covered her mouth in shock.

‘Beautiful isn’t she? I’ve decided a name, Neres, which I think is fitting for many reasons, but I can’t even begin to express how happy I feel right now. I’m..not alone..I’m not alone!!!!..And I actually have a chance to be a f-father-’ He struggled to say the words as he held back tears. ‘Oh man, thanks to this tablet, thanks to S-..Seren, I found her, drifting around in space, alone, cold, weakened..And it’s terrifying, ha, I haven’t slept since I found her, I’m too afraid something will happen to her, but I know I’m just being daft, she’s far too strong..Just like her mother..’

He wiped his eyes and patted the glass vat.

‘I’ll tell her all about her, when she’s grown up. And I’m certain we’re going to do something with all the rest of this ash and rubble floating around, I can feel it in my bones..But I realise it’s why she sacrificed herself, Seren wanted me to find her and raise her..And here I thought she was doing it to save me, HA, no, it was to make sure I-Oh heck-’

There were loud beeps and alarms in the background.

‘Sorry, need to cut this short, one of the sensors is malfunction-’

The video abruptly cut out.

In the ensuing silence, I nervously dared a glance at Seren, who, with wide eyes, had silent pink-flecked tears streaming down her cheeks..

…

..

.