Tornado of Souls

Authors Note: To my active readers, I have created a new version of chapter two from scratch, so I recommend reading the updated chapter if you can. Thanks for reading; now, on to the chapter!

False Ulyshia City. Narrator A.

The original plan to kill Yuzan via the photo realm was straightforward. First, they would lure Yuzan into the dimension; then, they would tire him out via the realm's inhabitants and finish him off with the allied Phoenixes, who were in the realm from the start and waiting for their chance to land the killing blow. The plan would have gone by perfectly had it not been for the meddling of SIN. One such ally of the photo realm was Hermann Schmidt, who had entered the realm in exchange for monetary compensation from St. Peter. Standing on top of a castle near the town center, he was shocked to see what should have been a simple job devolve into a complete clusterfuck.

Schmidt could only look on in confusion as the previously quiet, empty realm was taken over by flying angels, demons, chimeras, and all sorts of Phoenix abilities going completely haywire across the city. But the biggest shock to the man was the presence of the legendary Elizabeth Batory, a Vampire he had wished to hunt down for years. Finally, I can claim the bounty on her head! He thought to himself as he rushed in the direction of Miss Batory. To his surprise, Batory sensed another presence and took off in the parallel direction he was running toward, leaving the sobbing Villa alone. Schmidt changed his directions to follow Batory until she stopped at the entrance to one of the malls in the commercial district of Ulyshia City. Before he could swoop in to attack the Vampire, a shuriken firing in his direction, which missed him by a few inches, stopped him. Looking to his right, Schmidt could see the masked face of X, standing in front of both the Vampire and the Vampire-Hunter, the positions of the three forming a triangle between them.

X wasted no time before addressing Schmidt, "You've made quite the name for yourself with how often you're found ruthlessly killing innocent Vampires and other Demi-Humans."

Schmidt shrugged off the words of X, bringing his attention to Elizabeth, "I'm not here for you, assassin; I'm only here for her. Besides, killing Vampires is more of a public service. They're complete freaks of nature!" 

Elizabeth ignored Schmidt and brought her attention to X, "I've been meaning to get my hands on you, X! If I can bring the Yuzanists to justice, Miss Villa will uphold her end of the deal!"

The three of them were at a standstill. Elizabeth wanted to get rid of X and was ignoring Schmidt; X wanted to get rid of Schmidt and was ignoring Elizabeth; and Schmidt wanted to get rid of Elizabeth and was ignoring X. After a few minutes of aimless bickering, the three decided on a winner-takes-all approach. 

Elizabeth put her hands in front of her, electricity bursting from her fingers and eyes, "I'll just rip your head off of your neck, X. Then we can see how mysterious and serious you are after that."

X looked in Schmidt's direction, darkness surrounding him, "You humans always seem to think you're better than us. But we're the superior predators in this world."

Schmidt turned to Elizabeth and pulled out two blades of solidified blood, "Your head is going to make me RICH, Miss Vampire Queen!"

The three of them wasted no further time as Schmidt ran in the direction of Elizabeth, who was running to X, attempting to stab her in the neck with his blades. He was so focused on securing his kill that he failed to notice X punching him in the neck, sending him tumbling forward and hitting a wall. Elizabeth tried to land a flying kick on X at lightning speed, but they ducked under it, grabbed her by the leg, and threw her into the sky, disappearing above the clouds. X bolted in Schmidt's direction, his hidden blade erupting from his right hand and ready to strike his heart. But suddenly, he was hit by a lightning strike from Elizabeth, who had recovered from his blow in seconds.

Before she could land another blow on X, he teleported 50 feet away and regained his composure. He used his powers of darkness to place teleportation spots all over the surrounding walls and alleyways. Elizabeth came crashing onto the ground with a loud *THUD!* before continuing her assault. In an instant, she was right in front of X, ready to strike at him, but he teleported to a nearby wall. Elizabeth responded by rushing through the nearby walls at lightning speed, attempting to grab X, who was teleporting all over the place, going from one shadow spot to the next. Forming a blade of lightning, she swung at X, intending to kill him, but he used his blade to block her attack. Noticing Schmidt back on his feet, he teleported to him and attempted to stab him once more.

Noticing the danger X presented him, Schmidt used his blood blades to block his wrist blade with one hand and used the other to attempt to stab him in the heart, which was blocked by a second wrist blade from X's left hand. Using a few droplets of blood he had placed on the ground, Schmidt sent forth six different spikes, rushing to stab X in the legs, but he had sensed the danger and jumped backward, blade still connected to his opponent's blades, and dodged the spikes just barely, the two of them forming an upside-down 90-degree angle with X almost seeming to float in the air for a second as he held himself up using his clashing blades as a means to support himself. With the added weight of X's entire body supporting his blades, Schmidt found his grip almost weaning before Elizabeth came crashing down, trying to stab X once more. X responded to this by putting his feet forward, kicking Schmidt in the stomach, and using the momentum to launch himself into the air, narrowly jumping past her head and backflipping onto the ground as her blade came crashing down on the ground at Schmidt's feet.

Noticing his opportunity to strike, Schmidt swung his blades down at Elizabeth, who dodged the attack and kicked him in the stomach, leaving her blade in the ground to go on the offensive against Schmidt. Imbuing her fists with lightning, she launched a flurry of attacks at him that the German mercenary could barely dodge. Her flurry of punches was almost too much for the hunter to handle, as he could only react to one fist at a time. Soon, his back was to the wall, and he found the perfect way to counter. Placing the back of his foot on the wall, he shot forth dozens of blood droplets that spread to the top of the wall, each one shooting forth spikes toward Elizabeth in an attempt to impale her. Dozens of spikes shot forth at her, and she responded by sidestepping the spikes and punching at them, breaking them into tiny splinters. Sensing his opportunity, Schmidt sent forth another spike at her back, which stabbed her as he drew first blood.

Pulling out the spike from her back, Elizabeth went on the defensive as rows and rows of bloody spikes shot forth from the wall, attempting to impale her. She dodged the approaching walls of spikes by rapidly backflipping away from them faster than they could approach her. Her backflipping was so fast that the spikes almost couldn't keep up with her until another row of spikes came crashing toward her from her back. She then kicked the wall and used the momentum to fly away from the spikes. When she was far enough away from the attack, she kicked the wall of another building and sent herself flying toward the hunter with her fist ready to burst through his stomach. He dodged the attack by setting forth a blood platform that raised him from the ground to the roof of the building, watching her as she crashed into the wall. With the Vampire open to attack at that very instant, he jumped down at her and sent his blades crashing down at her back, but his blades were blocked by X, who had spent the past few seconds setting up more shadow spots.

"Back off, SHE'S MEIN!!" Yelled Schmidt as he kicked X in the stomach, sending him flying. Instead of crashing into the wall, X performed a genius move. Using the momentum that had sent him flying, he sent his feet forward, landing them on the wall before running along the instant he made contact. With his kinetic energy still being maintained from his running, he ran across the entire length of the wall before he front-flipped forward and stopped himself halfway, twisting his whole body in the direction of his enemy before letting the momentum launch him ahead, sending a flying kick at him that gave the hunter zero time to react.

Soon, all three Phoenixes were back at their feet, ready to strike at the other with murderous intent. X sent his blade flying at Schmidt's head, who was swinging his blade at Elizabeth's chest, who was attempting to karate-chop X in the neck. Noticing the attack from their third-party opponent, all three ducked under to avoid it. Using the bottom of their legs to support them as they dodged the attacks, they looked like they were engaging in an odd game of three-way limbo at a party. But this wouldn't last long as X sent forth an army of shadow clones from his shadow spots, each throwing an unending flurry of shurikens at them. They dodged the flurry by propelling themselves backward using their legs. Landing at opposite and parallel ends of each other, the three of them realized they were all at a standstill.

Elizabeth broke the silence, speaking first, "Looks like we're gonna have to turn up the heat here." Wasting no time, she brought her hands forward in a clapping motion, ready to unleash the next stage of her attack.

At the same time, X brought his hands together into the formation of a wolf.

Not wanting to be left out, Schmidt punched his fists together in preparation for his next move.

Elizabeth yelled out her move with womanly confidence, "PHOENIX RELEASE: RIDE THE LIGHTNING!!"

X quietly whispered the words, "Phoenix Release: Eternal Darkness."

And Schmidt confidently screamed out to the heavens, "PHOENIX RELEASE: TEN THOUSAND BLOODY AFTERBIRTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Elizabeth rushed forward, riding a tidal wave of electricity, her short, brown hair now a clear shade of white extending to her knees. At the same time, X calmly rode a similar wave of physical darkness, forcing out the color of anything it touched. Schmidt, meanwhile, was surfing on a tidal wave, no, a tsunami of blood and dead babies, each of which was crying out in agony. The three waves collided, battling for domination over the other for a few moments before the blood, lightning, darkness, and babies began to twist and turn with one another, eventually forming a screaming, thundering tornado of the three deadly forces.

Within seconds, the deadly tornado had grown to the size of the sky and the width of a small building, tumbling forward, destroying everything in its path. Meanwhile, The three Phoenixes were slashing and punching the others at Mach speed, sending flashes of lightning, blood, and darkness onto the city that destroyed whatever it touched. Attempting another attack, they each crashed into the middle, trying to meet with the others to send forth another slash. X, Elizabeth, and Schmidt each extended forth their hands, one hand colliding with the blades of the person on their left and the other hand colliding with the blades of the person on their right. With each of the Phoenixes colliding, their hands and blades forming another triangle, they each attempted to kick their opponents with both feet, but this only formed another triangle of deadly fury with their feet. The three of them were stuck like this for a few seconds, their hands and feet stuck extending at opposite ends from their body, forming a deadly triangle of blood, darkness, lightning, and babies.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the photo realm. Narrator A.

The moment Eddie sensed the presence of Thanatos Reinkaos, he booked it in the direction of his enemy. He was so hellbent on reaching Thanatos that he ignored all the other deadly Phoenixes, demons, angels, and Chimeras in his way and the fact that the roads of the fake Ulyshia seemed to twist and turn in odd directions as he went forward. Eddie only stopped in his path on two occasions. The first was when he crossed paths with Necromancer, Dracula, and Lily 2.0, now using the codename Artificer. Eddie looked at the zombified appearance of Necromancer and gave the man a fist bump. "Keep up the good work, brother. It's tough being a zombie-man in this day and age." Eddie immediately ran forward at Mach speed, leaving behind the confused trio of Commanders.

The second time Eddie stopped in his tracks was when he was met with the imposing figure of Atlas Ironheart, or rather, when he accidentally ran straight into the hulking behemoth of a man, sending both men flying into a wall. Atlus pulled himself back up from the rubble, angry at his mystery assailant, until he saw that it was Eddie and did a complete 180 in attitude.

"Eddie? Is that you? I haven't seen you since you were a kid! How are you doing?" Said the now joyful Atlus. His cheery demeanor was betraying the image his title of "God of Destruction" would warrant. Eddie, meanwhile, looked at the man in confusion and asked who he was. Atlus' face froze in pain as his old friend had hardly recognized him. "Eddie, it's me, Atlus Ironheart."

Eddie looked at the man in continued confusion and said, "Fatlus Dironshart? That's a weird name! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have places to be." But before Eddie could run off again, Atlus cut him off, still trying to explain to Eddie that they knew each other.

Eddie considered the man's reluctance a challenge and started letting out his own Phoenix energy as a threat. "Now, I believe some introductions are in order. I am the mighty Eddie the He-I MEAN DARK WIZARD!!! And I specialize in the dark arts." Walking over to a video store, Eddie punched through one of the windows holding the antique TVs and pulled a VHS tape from his coat, which he placed into the DVD player. "Now, this informative video I have playing on the TV will explain my line of work and the intricacies of Black Magic. BEHOLD!" Pressing play without looking, Eddie was not paying attention when the TV started playing the contents of the VHS tape, which was not, in fact, an educational video on Black Magic. Not realizing he had put in the wrong tape, the TV started playing a porn video of an Elven woman getting gangbanged by human men, filling her up in all her holes. Not realizing anything, Eddie continued with his speech.

"As you can see here, Black Magic is a very intricate process that can sometimes involve the senseless murder and torture of thousands of innocents. It is a very 'hands-on' experience, as you can see. Behold yourselves as beasts and demons senselessly and brutally man-handle this poor, innocent woman. The tenants of Black Magic require the sacrifice of the innocent-."

Eddie was knocked out of his trance as he heard the Elven woman scream out the words, "OH FUCK YES!! IMPALE ME WITH YOUR BIG HUMAN COCKS!!!" Looking down, Eddie finally realized he put in the wrong tape.

"OH, SHIT!! THAT'S THE WRONG TAPE!!!" Eddie then instantly vaporized the tape with Black Magic. Looking into his coat containing all his VHS tapes, Eddie realized his mistake. "SHIT! I accidentally put on the coat I wear whenever I sell porno videos to random schoolchildren so I can report them to the teachers and watch them get grounded. My mistake!" Looking back at Atlus, he said, "So, are we gonna fight now or what?"

Atlus looked at Eddie in confusion and said, "What? No!" Before getting hit by an aggression spell, which caused his eyes to turn bloodshot red. Pulling a katana from his shirt, he said, "You know what? That sounds like a great idea!" Before Eddie could react, Atlus' fist slammed into his face, sending him flying through buildings to the opposite edge of the city, near the forest. Eddie didn't even care about the hit he had just taken; he was ecstatic at the thought of facing Atlus as he ran through the snow at top speeds, his arms dangling before him as he laughed maniacally.

Before even a second had passed, Atlus was gaining on Eddie, katana in hand and ready to pounce once he closed the distance. The childishly happy Eddie reached into his pants pocket, pulling out a vial of green liquid, "Finally, I have someone to play with!" He said before crushing the vial in his hands.

"By the power of BLACK MAGIC, I summon forth THE ULTRA MEGA DEATH SKULLS OF HELL!!" 

Out from the surrounding snow, hundreds of flaming skulls erupted from the ground, skulls in the likeness of Eddie that rushed toward Atlus at hypersonic speeds, homing in on the enraged warrior. Seventeen hell skulls were surrounding Atlus before he slashed five of them in half, threw seven of them all over the place like baseballs at Eddie and the surrounding forests, somersaulted through three of them, and gave the remaining two a death stare that made them disintegrate in fear. All seven of the skulls that Atlus threw exploded the moment they came in contact with the ground, setting forth a hellish cloud of smoke that each quickly morphed into the face of Eddie. The Eddie-shaped clouds of hellfire laughed maniacally before spitting out even more hell skulls at Atlus.

Eddie continued his marathon throughout the snowfields of Ulyshia, ignoring the Atlus that was rushing toward him in a death run. Eventually, he spotted the Demon Boar running through the photo realm. With a brilliant idea (in his mind), Eddie jumped on top of the frightened creature, yelling, "ONWARD, MY LOYAL STEED!! WE SHALL CONQUER THE MULTIVERSE TOGETHER!!" The Demon Boar looked behind itself, seeing Red Cobra and Atlus rushing toward it. Going into further panic, the creature began to run on its hind legs, Eddie still in tow, as hell skulls began to crash into the area around them, nuking the entire field with green hellfire and laughing Eddie smoke clouds covering the area.

Red Cobra and Atlus both tanked through the explosions. Red Cobra repositioned his military hat before readying his next move, "I'm ending this immediately. CERBERUS!!"

From the man's fists burst out a flaming hellhound of burning magma, which detached itself from his fist and bolted at the creatures in hellish rage. In panic, the Demon Boar stared at the Cerberus before pointing its horns at the thing, shooting a red beam of demon energy piercing its head. The Cerberus was unaffected by the attack, rushing forward once more before Eddie pulled out a water gun, exclaiming, "Sit back, I've got this!" Before a powerful burst of water, more potent than a waterfall, slammed into the beast, extinguishing its flames. 

With Eddie distracted by the Cerberus, Atlus grabbed him by the neck and sent him flying into the nearby forest. He then pulled out two gigantic miniguns, both of which stood at more than twice the size of the hulking behemoth of a man, and fired off an unending flood of bullets at the wizard. He fired off so many bullets that every tree within a half-mile radius was blown into splinters. Once the smoke had cleared, Atlus was greeted by the sight of a laughing Eddie, who was completely unaffected by the attack.

"You fool! I am immune to bullets." He boasted.

Atlus looked at the wizard indifferently before saying, "In that case, let's see if you're immune to this." Clapping his hands together, the man shouted, "SUMMON FORTH HADES, KING OF HELL!!!"

Suddenly, a giant skeleton appeared behind Atlus that laughed at Eddie before the skies of Ulyshia were met with the rare sight of light. Except this light was not from any stars but from a barrage of red lasers that were hurtling toward Eddie. In an instant, he was hit by thousands of shots from Atlus, putting so many holes in the man that he looked more akin to Swiss cheese than a human or zombie. But despite all odds, a fetus came out from Eddie's mouth, which began to run through the beams, narrowly dodging them as it quickly grew into a baby, then a child, then a teenager before finally maturing into an adult-Eddie wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase.

"OH FUCK, I GOT REBORN AS A DESK WORKER THIS TIME!" Eddie yelled out in disgust, "MAGIC BROOM, SAVE ME!" Suddenly, a flying broom emerged from the snow, which the new Eddie jumped onto, flying through the beams and narrowly missing some while getting hit by others. Now circling Atlus and his summon, Eddie pulled out a Black Magic textbook, looking for the right spell, "If only you knew the power of Black Magic, Atlus. By the power of Black Magic, I summon forth LIGHTNING!" He then shot out a burst of lightning from his fingers, which bounced off the skull of the summon.

Shit! He might be immune to lightning. Thought Eddie as he scrolled through his other spells. Flipping a few pages, he landed on a spell that caught his eye, "Ahh, that's the perfect spell."

"By the power of Black Magic, I summon forth...MORE LIGHTNING!!!" Immediately, more lightning shot forth from Eddie's fingers, bouncing off the skeleton's skull. Before Eddie could be disappointed, Atlus closed the distance and sucker-punched the zombie. Eddie flew a few feet at Mach speed before the skeleton slammed its fists down and sent him hurtling toward the ground in an enormous *SLAM* and then a *THUD* and then a *SWOOSH* as Eddie got back up with green flames of energy in both of his hands. "Not fair that you get to have a buddy with you," Eddie said, envious of Atlus' skeleton.

Putting his hands up, Eddie yelled, "By the power of Black Magic, I summon forth ULTRA MEGA DEATH STATUE!!"

In an instant, a towering, golden statue in the likeness of the Sphinx of Giza (except for Eddie's face adorning the head) erupted from the ground, wearing a pair of boxing gloves. The statue swung its fists in a circular motion for a few seconds before smashing the skeleton in the face. The force of the punch sent the skeleton crashing into the ground.

Meanwhile, Atlus had switched from guns to nunchucks and furiously beat Eddie. He was smashing him across the face and all over his body. Eddie responded by pointing his fingers as guns and firing off two bolts of electricity that stunned Atlus for a second. Eddie took the opportunity to jump onto a nearby tree and mutter another spell.

"By the power of Black Magic, I summon forth THE SNAKES OF HELL!!!!

Also, Vivziepop is now writing this story."

And with that fucking, cocksucking decree, a horny horde of horned snakes made their shitting way to God damn Atlus, who fucking responded by fucking nailing the fucking snakes with his fucking swords that he fucking pulled out of his ass. The sucking fucking piece of shit snakes stood no fucking chance as the little bitch Eddie shook in fear like a pussy, looking like he was going to start jerking off or some shit, I don't fucking know, man. I hate this fucking cocksucking wizard, god damn.

"With the power of Black Magic, I summon forth THE HELL NINJAS FROM OUTER SPACE!!!!

Also, the narrator can only speak in adverbs."

Quietly, andly sneakily, thely ninjasly snukly uply behindly Atlusly, attempingly toly stably himly withoutly himly noticingly. Butly Atlusly sensedly theirly presencely andly choppedly offly all theirly headsly.

"Shit! I'm going to have to use my trump card then," Eddie said, preparing for his strongest spell yet. "That's right, my trump card. My strongest spell yet."

"BY THE POWER OF BLACK MAGIC, I SUMMON-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!" Eddie was suddenly hit by a fist made of wood, sending him flying back into the city. Before Atlus stood a golem made of trees, piloted by Seraphina Nightshade, who was awakened by the sounds of their fighting. With Eddie gone, Atlus was shaken out of his aggression spell, confused about where he was.

Mallory

It was the most terrifying moment of my life up to that point. I was sitting in my apartment, drinking coffee, when suddenly, I was transported to that "photo realm" with no rhyme or reason. Worse yet, I was summoned by that jerk who still owed me money from the previous day. The man looked hungover and drunk as he woke up in the snow. As soon as we realized who the other was, we pointed at each other in confusion and said in unison, "What are you doing here?!"

"Listen, girl, I don't have time to deal with you right now. We're in some mystery realm, and I have no clue what's going on." He said to me.

I hate to admit it now, but I needed his help. I wasn't good by myself, so I decided that it would have been the best course of action to stay with him for help. I looked at him with my best puppy dog eyes and begged him for help, "Look, mister... um..."

"Michael."

"Right. Mister Michael. I think it would be best if we stick together. After all, you just said you have no idea what's happening. So, please, let me stick with you until we get out of here. I promise to let go of your debt to me if you do."

"I'm not indebted to you, woman!" Michael took a moment to think through his actions before groaning, "Fine! I guess you can stay near. But don't be a nuisance, okay."

I smiled at him as giddy as possible and said, "YAAY! Thank you, mister!"

"Whatever, just stay close."

For some time, we searched the surrounding stores and buildings, looking for some exit or other means of help, but our search only brought more questions than answers. When we entered the cafe we teleported next to, we saw an arcade that looked straight from the 80s. The interior of what appeared to be a fancy mansion was inside a nearby restaurant. When we searched the apartments, we found all sorts of things: restaurants, cafes, strip clubs, doors that led to a free fall down from the clouds, and hallways that stretched on for what seemed to be forever. The layouts of the buildings were utterly nonsensical. Most peculiarly, I found in one of the apartments that led to a restaurant what appeared to be a family portrait. While this wouldn't usually be something out of the ordinary, there was just something...unusual about it that I couldn't place down.

The picture featured three people: two women and a small male child, although only the kid's face was visible as the women had their faces visibly scratched out. The kid's face was emotionless, and he stared into the camera as if trying to give me the death stare through the photo. Although one of the woman's faces was scratched out, I could see long purple hair extending past her shoulders. The photo was creeping me out, so I put it down and left the room.

As soon as I left the room I was in, Michael grabbed hold of me, held me to his chest, and covered my mouth as he stood next to the apartment complex window. Before I could scream out, he shushed me, and some light shone through the window, and the sound of angel wings(?) and a harp playing could be heard. We stood there in agonizing silence as the angel searched all of the windows to the apartment before the light and sound vanished. When he let go of me, I thanked him for saving my life, and he responded, in evident paranoia, "We need to get out of here now." 

Taking me by the hand, we ran through the streets of the fake Ulyshia City. Whenever there would be an angel or a wandering Phoenix, we'd suddenly be teleported elsewhere, likely due to his ability, and we'd continue our escape. Eventually, his plans were halted as he had no idea how to escape the realm. Sitting on a bench in one of the subway tunnels, we reviewed our options.

Michael spoke uncharacteristically calmly, "There's a barrier circling the entire city that seems impenetrable. Nothing I have can get through it, so we'll have to find another way out. Our best bet is to find whoever is running this dimension and kill them, but that's also the riskiest. They'll no doubt have some defense measures to prevent any counterattack."

"Well, are there any other ways out of this realm?" I asked him, clearly worried.

"Well, we could always wait it out. Phoenixes that rely on pocket dimensions rarely can keep their realms up indefinitely. But the problem is that the time limit can range from a few hours..." he paused to sigh in dissatisfaction, "...to a few years."

I was utterly stumped for any response. A few years? How could I have possibly stayed in such a place for a year? There had to have been some other way out. Regaining my composure, I said, "What if we-"

Suddenly, Michael was grabbed by some unseen force and dragged into the depths of the tunnels. His movements were constricted by some rope tying him down. I screamed for a second before three monsters walked out from the shadows. Their appearances were horrifying. One of the monsters had the head of a spider with two hissing snakes for arms. Another monster had the head of a shark and the body of a bear. The last monster had the head of a bull with a lion's body to match. Without being told their names, some magical force had instinctively told me the names of these beasts: The spider chimera, the shark chimera, and the bull chimera. Before they could make one more step, I snapped my fingers and was teleported to the edge of the city, near the realm's border.

Out of pure desperation, I started banging my fists against the black walls, separating me from reality, hoping in vain that someone would answer my calls for help. "PLEASE, PLEASE, HELP ME!!!" I yelled out to absolutely nobody. Once I had tired myself from screaming, I slumped against the wall, looking at the devastated forest and snowfields surrounding the city. It looked like somebody had dropped a nuke on the outer edges of the town. In one last desperate plea, I whispered, "...please..."

"Oh, believe me, missy, there's no help coming for you."

Out of nowhere, a masculine voice with an American Southern accent had spoken in response to my pleas. Jumping up from the ground and looking in the direction of the voice, I could see a shadowy figure standing just beyond the edge of the semi-transparent wall. Only the shape of his body was visible. With my only hope of escape lying in the hands of this stranger, I begged for his help.

"Thank God you're here. I've been trapped in here for who knows how long. Help me get out of here."

The figure stood there saying nothing momentarily before responding, "Sorry, but I'm afraid I can't do that. I have some rather harsh orders to kill anyone in this realm. Unfortunately, that includes you, missy."

Immediately, the figure stepped through the wall, and I caught a glimpse of his appearance. He was not a man or a human; he was a...skeleton.

Standing before me was a walking skeleton in a suit and tie. Even stranger was the appearance of his face or skull in this case. His eyes were entirely covered by a metal visor that seemed to be riveted onto his bones, his ears were closed with metal caps with small chains dangling from each one, and his mouth was clamped shut, yet still, he was able to speak, see, and hear me.

See no evil

Hear no evil

Speak no evil

These were the words that immediately came to mind upon seeing him.

With the skeletal man inside the realm, I could hear his thick Southern accent more clearly, "Now that I could get you out of here, even if I wanted to. You can enter this realm as much as you want, but you can't leave it without permission from the owner."

I was sensing from him an intent to kill me, so I readied my summons to defend myself.

The man merely went back to speaking calmly, "Oh, but where are my manners? I haven't even introduced myself! My name is Vic, Missy. But I go by a bunch of other names."

I wasn't paying much attention to him as I prepared for an attack from him. I didn't know why, but something about him was preventing my ability to teleport.

"But there's one name I prefer to be called by whenever I'm working. You can call me...

Megadeth!"