...Into the Fire

"Mom?"

Silence...

Suddenly, the woman in front of Grant raised her hands up to her mouth while her eyes began to water.

"Grant..? Is that you Grant?! No! I know it is! You may look different but I know its you! Are you real!? Is this a dream?!"

Without even giving Grant a chance to speak, his mother rush forward and embraced him.

Frozen, Grant didn't immediately know how to react.

Eventually though, he raised his arms from his sides and wrapped them around his mother.

For fear of not restraining his strength and ultimately hurting her, he gave her a light hug.

At which point, his mother burst into tears.

"I knew you were alive! They told me that their was no way you were still alive but I knew it!"

She cried even harder.

"Where have you been?! Why didn't you come home sooner?!"

At this point, she was practically wailing.

Grant wanted to speak, but it was taking every ounce of his strength to keep himself from crying.

So he just hugged his mother and allowed her to cry as much as she needed.

The sound of their reunion had seemingly attracted the attention of someone else because Grant suddenly heard footsteps coming from further inside the house.

Eventually a man who looked almost identical to Grant only aged 25 years suddenly walked into the entry way.

"Honey, what is all the screaming about? You are going to wake the neighbors at this... Son?! Is that you?!"

Seeing his father, Grant finally couldn't stop the tears.

He did his best to smile at his father despite those tears, "I'm home, Dad."

Those words not only brought tears to his fathers eyes, but seemed to make his mother cry even harder into his chest, which Grant thought would have been impossible at this point.

Clearly he had been wrong.

His father quickly beckoned towards the inside of the house, "This is a miracle.. I thought you were gone son... come inside, please, come inside! Don't just stand in the doorway! Let me have a good look at you. You've grown into a fine looking young man!"

Grant wanted to go inside but his mother wouldn't relent in her hug until Grant's dad finally managed to pry her off of him and lead her back inside.

After following his parents into the dining area, they all sat around the table.

Grant's dad sat directly across from him while his mother sat as close to him as she possibly could.

She was seemingly afraid that if Grant managed to get too far away from her then he may just suddenly disappear once again.

Grant's dad was the first one to speak, "I can't believe you're home son... where have you been all this time?!"

Although Grant wanted to answer the question, there was one question on his mind that he needed to ask first but was scared to ask.

But he mustered his courage and asked either way, "Before I tell you, I need to ask you something, how do you know I am your son?"

Almost simultaneously both of his parents scoffed at the question, "How do we know you are our son?" his dad repeated, "Precisely BECAUSE you are our son that we know that you are in fact, our son. A parent would know his own child even if a hundred years passed let alone 10"

"Exactly as your father said Grant. We would know you no matter what."

Grant hung his head in shame at having asked, but he had felt compelled to ask so he did.

"I'm sorry.. I was just surprised you knew who I was even before I had the chance to explain. I was scared that you guys would have given up on me or forgotten about me after all these years."

His mother quickly reached out and grabbed hold of Grant's hands.

"Don't you ever think we would forget about you son. You are our child! We never, for a single day, ever gave up on looking for you."

Grant stared at his mom speechlessly for a few seconds before he once again embraced her, "Thank you Mom.. thank you Dad.. that means more than you know."

After breaking away from his mom's embrace, Grant took a deep breathe and prepared to tell them his story.

"Before I begin telling you my story, I must warn you. I have done and seen things that you will not believe. But I promise you, everything that I am about to tell you, was done because I was left with no choice or I was forced too. When I am finished, if you would like me to leave, I will do so."

Grant's mother quickly snapped, "No matter what happened I will not let you leave! How can you say that?!"

Grant let out a deep sigh.

It was easy for her to say that now... but when she knew the atrocities that he had committed, would she still be able to say that?

Even if he felt justified in his actions, would they think he was?

But it didn't matter anymore.

They would either accept them for who he had become, or they would abandon him.

Either way, Grant began his story.

A few hours later, Grant had finished his story.

"And that is how I found myself here... I know this is a lot to take in and it must be hard to hear so I will give you two a few moments to talk.

Don't worry, I won't run away or anything, I just want to get some fresh air myself.

This is the first time I've ever told the entire story and even I find some of my actions hard to swallow. Which is saying a lot after the things I've done."

As Grant stood up from his seat, his dad also stood up.

"Son, regardless of what you have done, I am happy you are home. I won't pretend to understand the choices you have made but if you felt that you made the right decision at the time, then I will back you one hundred percent.

You are my son and that is my duty."

Grant gave a weak smile in thanks before he walked towards the front door.

He glanced over his shoulder as he left to look at his mothers face.

She hadn't spoken since midway through his story and he was worried that she hated him or something now.

Although she had a stoic face, Grant could glean information from even the smallest movements after his years of suffering.

And what he saw on his mothers face; was fear.

Fear of him or fear of what he had been through?

He wasn't sure but her expression made him even more nervous than he already was.

However, before Grant could even make it to the front door, he suddenly heard a voice that he could have gladly gone the rest of his life without hearing again.

It was the voice of the god who had returned him to Earth and he was speaking in his usual cheery voice which enraged Grant to no end.

[Hellloooo Earthlings! Allow me to introduce myself! I am Azrael! The creator of your world! Hahaha!]

Without hesitation Grant quickly rushed back into the kitchen and saw both of his parents looking at him with a terrified expression plastered on their face.

Grant had told them the name Azrael when he was telling them his story and now they were hearing a voice claiming to be that exact individual.

Before Grant could even speak however, Azrael continued with his own speak: speaking directly into each of their minds.

[I would like to congratulate you, my little creations, on successfully being chosen to join The Desolate Expanse!

Took you long enough to qualify if you ask me!

I digress though! Hahaha!

What is The Desolate Expanse you ask?

Well, without spoiling too much of the fun, let me tell you! Hahaha!

The Desolate Expanse is a world jointly created by the Gods and Goddesses of the Universe as a way for all the inhabitants of our planets to join together in a bid for supremacy!

You may, or may not, doesn't really matter, know about the individual who has just returned to your world from our trial run to test you Earthlings!

You all should really thank the lone survivor, you know, because if he, as the last survivor of his test group, had failed to conquer our little beta trial, you all would have perished without even knowing why!

Just like the 19,812 world populations before you! Those groups were so pathetic.. they didn't even make it out of the first stage of the beta trial...

Whoops I wasn't supposed to tell you about them.. Oh well! Hahaha!

At least your iteration of humanity will get a chance to fight for survival!

Now, without further ado, your transfer to The Desolate Expanse shall begin!

Best of luck! Make daddy proud! Hahaha!]