Chapter 7) The Path of Dawn

They looked at me with stern expressions on their faces now.

"I choose to walk a path in between. I'll call it the Path of Dawn. I will not be good or bad. I will walk a path that stays neutral so that no imbalance ever forms."

" So instead of holding power of Light or Dark, you wish to hold both? Is that it?"

The two deities looked at me with a shared look of shock, and a bit of confusion.

"Yes, I would like to hold both the power of Dark and Light, and create a new path to follow in life. Starting today, I will pave the way for The Path of Dawn, a path where no good or evil lives. It is where people will venture in search of their innermost ideals, and hopefully understand life's true goal for society. The goal is to identify what is right and wrong, and live with the fact that you must deal with the hardships thrown at you, then fire back at life with just as much force, otherwise, you will be completely and utterly destroyed. The only belief I've ever held is that no one and nothing in life or death, is inherently good, nor evil, as it is the memories at our core that guide us. If caught early enough into their existence, they can be changed to join the light or dark by a simple whim."

I told them all the things that swept through my mind, and watched as smiles began to cross their faces. After I had finished completely explaining my plan with this new power, they gave me a look of pride.

"In the millennia that we have lived, not a single person or creature we have seen has ever formed a more beautiful plan with so much power at their disposal. We acknowledge you as one of us, and will in turn explain what will happen from here on out."

They stood up straight now, with looks of pain and sadness.

"In order for you to fully gain the ability to use this power, we have no choice but to reset your memory. We will install a set of instructions within your memory in order to go to a place full of everlasting potential. It will be your job to both unlock these memories, but also come back to us with the ability to use your power freely, and hopefully, you will have learned something of great importance on this journey."

With this I nodded, but before I had my memories reset, I asked a question.

"May I ask one thing? I would like to bring two people with me to this world. I want them by my side when I see you two again." The deities shared a look before agreeing to my request.

I woke up at the sound of someone calling my name. It was a girl's voice, someone I had just met.

'What was her name again?' I thought to myself as I tried opening my eyes. 'Tricia.'

"Could you quiet down, Trish, my head hurts."

She had tears in her eyes, but she wiped them away quickly when I noticed.

"Thank god you're alright, I thought you were gone for good."

She embraced me, and my gaze swept over the room that was supposed to be a library. It was in shambles, with books piled in corners, half burned.

'What happened?' I thought to myself as I began to notice where the genesis of this destruction had started.

"Hey, Tricia, why am I standing in a crater, and where is Nick?"

She looked up at me, with tear stained eyes.

"He went off to get some help. He was panicking really bad, so I told him to get the nurse, anyone, that could help you."

She spoke with a soft, quiet tone, almost at a whisper. This was the nicest she had been since we met just a little while ago.

"That only answers one of my questions. Now answer me, why am I sitting at the base of a crater?"

I asked her with an irritated tone. I was not in the mood to be getting my questions dodged, especially when this question revolves around the destruction around us.

"You are here because you were the cause of this Jason. Something happened when you were running to meet Nick, and you collapsed to the ground. Then some crazy black wind started swirling around you, and you were out of my sight. Then about five minutes after, here we are."

She explained all of this with a saddened expression once she realized I had no idea what she was talking about. I remembered coming down the hall with her to the library, but everything after that, was just a blank in my memory.

"Well, we shouldn't stay here too long. From what you've just said, I'm the cause of this, so let's get out of here before the police show up. I can almost guarantee that they'll be coming, and frankly I don't have answers to any of their obvious questions. If we can meet up with Nick, we can just leave the building in the confusion. I estimate another five to eight minutes before the police arrive, so let's get out of here."

I told her the majority of my plan as we made our way down the halls of the school. As we were just about to split up to get our stuff from our lockers, we saw Nick running toward us.

"Jason! You're all right! I'm so glad, and hey! What the hell was that all about?!"

Nick was practically shouting, drawing way too much attention, so I hushed him and told him to get his stuff and meet Tricia and I at the back parking lot. From there, we went to our lockers at full on sprints, making sure not to make too much commotion. I reached my locker, pulled everything out, then bolted for the back entrance to the school. When I arrived, I checked my phone's digital clock, it read 11: 17 AM. I nervously awaited the arrival of my companions, when I heard the police sirens quickly approaching the main entrance of the school. At that moment, both Nick and Tricia came running out of the back entrance, and I led them to my home. We ran for what seemed like hours, but eventually we arrived at my front door. I pulled out a set of keys, and opened up the door to unveil my living room.

My home can be described as a very large house, with three bathrooms, six bedrooms, both a dining room and a kitchen, as well as an attic and basement. Then there was the garage and secondary building with about half as many rooms, but was still fairly huge. Each room, compared to an ordinary version of the same thing, was massive. For an average bedroom that holds a queen sized bed is about 20 feet by 20 feet, while the bedrooms in my house is about double that. All rooms told the same story; unnecessary flexing of the highest degree. The reason for this is because my parents both hold high political and economical power.

My father is the secretary of state, and as a hobby, he is also one of the best directors on the planet. As for my mother, she is a CEO of a massive company that focuses on the next generation of video games, so she is just a really smart and powerful nerd. Every time she makes a breakthrough, she makes me test out a sample game she created on her own. It was fun for her, but I usually told her all the mistakes, rather than the all the good points of the systems. I feel bad sometimes, but of course, I can't show it to her.

As I walked calmly to the kitchen for an early snack, I noticed that Tricia was standing just inside the doorstep, completely mesmerized by the sheer amount of space laid down before her.

"You never seen a house, or are you just surprised I live in a place like this," I asked, trying to get her attention.

She snapped back to reality, and for a moment, tried to remember what I had just said.

"Of course I'd be surprised! You're you, the person that lives in a constant shadow, and feeds off of boredom. The most emotion I've ever seen on your face was when Nick found us earlier!"

I knew what she was saying was right, but something deep inside of me tore. It was as if there had been a dam, and suddenly I was weeping, no sounds, just an endless flow of tears. I couldn't stop it because I didn't know how. At that moment, I realized both Nick and Tricia were watching me, with looks of guilt and shock.

They watched me do this for another few minutes before I ran out of tears, and that's when Nick was there, handing me a handkerchief, to wipe away what had dried on my face. For a few minutes we stood there awkwardly, and then I told them to go to the kitchen until I had composed myself up in my room. They accepted this with sullen faces and strode away, meanwhile, I walked slowly up the stairs to my awaiting bedroom.