Chapter 7

Danny King stared in my eyes and I stared in his. With a nod, we rushed at each other exchanging rights and lefts over and over until he grabbed me by the waist and picked me up. He then jumped off a ledge and slammed me into the ground. He then got back up and picked me up onto his shoulders before I started striking his face using my elbows.

He dropped me and I struck him with 3 uppercuts before the 4th attempt was stopped by a series of rapid chops to my chest from him. We then both unleash powerful right hooks on each other that knocked us both to the ground. We then both sit up at the same time and I squint my eyes to see Danny smirking from afar.

"Wow man, you knocked me back so far while I only managed to knock you down. I really am starting to consider taking you to Velhella with me, all I need from you now is a good enough reason. So, why exactly do you want to go there, man?" he said. "Fine, I'll tell you. When I was young, I burned down my house on accident. Now my siblings blame each other and hurt each other even for that even though neither of them actually did it," I explained.

"How strange, are these siblings of yours, full-time fighters by any chance?" he asked. "Yes, from what I have seen after the accident," I said. "Oh, I may have seen them before, I don't know their names or any other aliases. They are bigger than me like you, that's for sure. Guess it runs in the family." he said.

"Yeah, family," I said. "You know big guy, the reason I did not want to go to Velhella is because of burned bridges. First, it was with me and my wife. The first time I saw her, she smiled while I was being tortured by her dad for some stupid destiny stuff. Next time I saw her was when I accidentally took away the best night of her life for myself. She sent me to Velhella and man was I scared. Fortunately, my D.I.D kicked in and I barely remember the rest." he said with sorrow in his eyes.

"Next, it was with my best friend at the time. There was this...Snake that I was afraid of. I remember being so sick and tired of fighting it myself seemingly without reason or benefit. That decision cost my best friend his life man. The snake killed him in front of me and that hurts me more every day. Then I thought that maybe I should make it up to my wife by talking to the boss of the fighting promotion and getting her an opportunity to earn an equal or greater glory I took away from her. Instead, he basically forced me to compete in a fight unwillingly and I tried to throw the match but unfortunately, my D.I.D kicked in again and later I found out that I won. I could not face myself so I fled here." he said with tears forming in his eyes.

"Deadman I want you to promise me something. Once I help you, and when you meet your siblings. Never run away as I did. You will only carry this guilt and there will just be pain when your mind inevitably recalls something. I want you to make sure you remember that the past will only haunt you no matter how long ago you did something that you feel guilt towards. Set things straight the moment you see an opportunity to do so or you might end up as messed up as me. Just weeping at thoughts of grief and sorrow," he said.

"I promise," I said. the area around me started to morph into something different. As soon as the transformation was complete, I noticed that we were in an old broken down bar. "Ah, it's been a while since I visited this place. Ever since the giant python incident, people have been avoiding this place. I guess it's something else I messed up," he said.

"Anyway, we are here now. Go complete your mission man. I'll be waiting in the shadows for something else to mess up," he said as a black mass engulfed him and disappeared into thin air. I then turn toward the door made of rotting wood and open it. I look outside and then exit the building to see a group of zombies wandering around.