Chapter Eight: A Boat With No Sail

Edward Foster,

I blinked twice to process the beauty laid above me. The swirling mess of pink and violet colors in the endless abyss. Twinkling starlight mischievously squinting their presence at me, as I adored the dark blue sky and no less inferior to the bright moon.

I lay on the roof of the Parliament building, with Big Ben to my left. It was as if the world itself had gone silent and visuals of the night sky highlighted in the peace.

I wasn't sure whether I was still on earth or not. Why? I couldn't sense any heartbeats or other life in the desolated ball of granite. Due to my resonance with Green Gem, the world had become much clear and louder, but empty.

There was no other living being on this planet, or maybe I wasn't on my earth. I couldn't explain it properly, nor could I prove it, but that's how I felt. But the moment of peace quickly shattered, as the earthquakes began. The crust and metal broke apart, allowing reddish-orange glowing magma to seep out.

I sat up straight to see the being emerging out of it, the last of the Mannequins. This one was a lengthy figure similar to the first one I had encountered. But had a total of nine arms stretching behind him, not attached to his body. And with a hole in his face and the Blue Gem inside his chest.

The moon behind him doused him in its light, complementing its presence and giving it a deserving spotlight. I felt light-headed, as I smiled, amused at its performance. Wobbly at first, I climb up to my feet.

"Oh my!", I yelled, not knowing if it could hear me or not. "What a fucking showoff!", I yelled at it, while all of its hands bent backward and the Blue Gem started glowing. Its arm jolted forward and with that, all the magma burst out of the earth and flooded towards me.

I stared at the monstrous wave of magma crashing towards me, blanketing everything. "Fine day to take a dip! I say!", I yelled again and opened my arm in the embrace of the terrifyingly hot semi-liquid.

The blanket of scorching liquid wrapped around me. Not that it harmed me or my clothes, I just wanted to quickly get off it since it wasn't refreshing at all. Yellow haze came around, extending into the cylinder giving me room to breathe once again.

More yellow haze extended forwards, taking the form of steps for me to walk on. I walked to the top to see a hellscape with a sea of magma reaching as far as my eyes could see. Most of the buildings had melted away and other taller ones were in the process of melting away.

"Ha!...What scenery. So is that all!?", I yelled. "You fucking Durga!", I Continued and it reacted immediately all of its arms fell, pointing at me. Suddenly furious winds formed out from behind it and burst downwards into the magma.

The wind started swirling around, turning into a tornado, picking up the magma and forming an unnatural mess of the worst possible natural disasters. But it was nothing but a show, as I spread out the yellow haze by jumping from air molecule to air molecule.

Until it formed a massive yellow haze sphere around me, intersecting the tornado filled with magma. The vortex of wind and boiling rock fell upon me and dissipated immediately with the Destruction of the concept of matter.

I smiled at it, "You sure like to put on a show, but you might wanna do something bigger than that!", I yelled at the Mannequin, while my voice boomed through the air.

The Mannequin paused for a moment, then moved all of its nine arms backward in unison and a twisting motion. Until touching the tip of their index finger and forming a cone, pointing at the charming moon.

A sudden blue flash and it started coming towards the earth, while the Mannequin disappeared from in front. The moon's details increased as its figure doubled in size, as the friction from entry into the earth's atmosphere caused it to light up with a fiery outline.

"Oh...yeah, that's big!", I said, as I ducted a little and readied my Red Cross over my head. Destruction of the concept of gravity and sound barrier. A loud bang and the shock wave blew a hole where I stood.

I flew across the sky with the speed of sound and in two and half seconds, I became interested in the falling moon. Bashing the Red Cross into the surface of the moon, Impaling it. The energy surged through the moon and so came the Destruction of the concept of the planet.

A loud crack shook the sky, as the moon began breaking apart imitating the crackling of thunder. Splitting from the center then furthermore into the chuck, which started falling from the sky onto the earth.

It all became a biblical scene, with magma covering the surface and the sky falling. While I saw it all from the top, standing on the yellow haze in the endless space. I turned around and there it was, the Mannequin floating in space with me.

I had nowhere to look back to, as the earth boiled and broke behind me. I buckled my knees and broke the sound barrier with my jump. I quickly closed the distance, while holding the Red Cross in my right hand.

it wasn't subtle, as the second sun appeared behind the Mannequin from the darkness. As it floated in my arm's reach, the light blinded me. Causing an extreme case of flash blindness and not only that, but the heat also played a part in stunning me.

In that one moment, just a second before the second sun accumulated behind the Mannequin. I used the powers of the White Gem; preservation of the concept of soul, preservation of the concept of consciousness, and preservation of my hand which held the Red Cross, while the rest of my body disintegrated in a tenth of a second by the second sun.

Though I did what I did, I was somehow able to see everything. As the second sun dissipated from behind the Mannequin it reached out for the Red Cross. But, just then I pointed my index finger at it, along with my focus at its head.

Instantly the yellow haze wrapped around the Mannequin's face crashing it. In the second, using the Green Gem, I reconstructed my body. From bones to nerves to organs to ligaments to muscles to skin to my fingertip, I reached and touched the Blue Gem.

...

Instantly everything went blue and as the blue light faded, I found myself standing in an unusual place. A pinkish cloudy horizon with the sun setting indefinitely, while the ground was all water, but I was able to stand on it.

I looked at the Red Cross in my hand, and a shining new addition had come. Gleaming in sapphire light, Blue fragment of Reality. But the peace soon got disturbed, as his feet landed on the surface of the water and he stared at me with his burning sapphire eyes.

"Good, you are learning and growing", David said and smiled, "And are you different from those who came before you?". "Before...m...?", before I could finish that, my lungs gave out, no...they tore themselves apart along with my heart, as blood burst into my mouth.

My liver twisted itself while my left arm rotted away, falling into the water. I felt my muscles deflating my gut shriveling up, and my skin started decaying. "Wh...is..ha...pen...?", Suddenly, my legs gave out, and my knees slammed down onto the water, only holding up my right hand, still holding on to the Red Cross and maybe because of it.

"Mr. Foster, you have been using these artifacts carelessly. As a human, you can't, certainly not for this long. During all this time, I kept you together, and now your body is giving out," David explained. So...wh...ow...?" I asked.

"As I said, you are not special; there were others who had been tested but have failed to make the final cut," David said as he brought out his hand, and the book appeared in it. It was in a pure white and black frame, without a name or any other indication to suggest what it was.

"Gift of from of knowledge, if you so wish to take it?" David said, standing there in anticipation, while I stared at him. "Wh...If...I...don't...?", I asked. "Then you will just die, and well, your soul will go wherever it goes after death...Or, maybe one day, when our goals have been accomplished, and you are still sane. You can have your former life back, with her", David said, and for a moment, I just stared at him.

Then I laughed, only for more blood to come out of my mouth and nose.

???,

"You weren't important, you weren't a hero, you were just convenient and a fucking coward", I said with a smile as we sat across each other on a table and chairs upon the water's surface. Just behind Edward, stood his younger self grounded in front of Reality.

"Be honest for once, I know you didn't care what you had to do, you just didn't want to face her. Alone and afraid, not wanting to deal with your problem. I mean, after all, you killed her with your hands. You didn't even want to imagine what she would say, let alone if she would forgive you or not" as I said that, space shifted as the table disappeared from in the middle of us.

Edward cliched his teeth, and brought his arms down in his lap. Behind him, roots grew out of the water and wrapped around his former self. Giving him support to get up once again. His eyes teared up while he stared at the water.

His former self walked over to David, while tears ran down his cheek. "I am...sorry...Lauren", Edward finally spoke while sobbing, after a long time. As his former self laid his hand on the book, hoping to forget about the pain, about his life, and her.

A blinding light took over the scene and then came the blackness. "Now the story about a boat with no sail begins... which inevitably unveils and sinks", I said as we both stood in absolute blackness.