Finding His Purpose

***

Back in his dimension, Guyver looked back toward the hole. This couldn’t be it. This couldn’t be home.

There was nothing but ruin around him. He heard screeching in the distance and saw endless fires. The screams of a few people trying to flee, but he knew they wouldn’t get far. Earth had been destroyed by the beasts of other dimensions. He knew it would happen after seeing the thousands in his telescope, but he needed to see it for himself.

Home had been gone. Walking along slowly, but not far from the portal he saw something new. He had not expected it because they were in horror films. A distance away, he squinted. Three people were shambling toward him. The sparkle of life had been gone, and their clothes were covered in blood.

“Zombies.” Guyver could believe dragons, but zombies? They were real too? “Never read that in fairytale.” Apparently, not every dimension was filled with good fairytale endings themselves. His mind began to tick, wondering what else was out there. Vampires? Werewolves? He thought back to the horror movies he watched when he was younger. Did decapitating work?

They were supposed to be the undead. Guyver felt foolish but pulled out a gun from his leg holster. Working at DIM, he had been conditioned to expect the unexpected. If he followed the legend of the zombies, a shot in the head should work. Then again, maybe he was over thinking? This could be a virus on people. Zombie viruses.

The thought made him cover his nose. Biting. Gas. Guyver stumbled backwards, feeling out of his element. He had always been the one knowing what had went on beneath people's noses. For once, he felt like he was the one in the dark. “Okay, covered in blood.” Covered in blood meant they were eating people, or were killed themselves. He had to trust his gut instinct. He shot in one of their arms.

The arm moved backward slightly, but no other response had been given.

Yep, zombie. Nathan aimed again for the head. The one he shot in the head dropped, but the other one kept coming.

“This is insane.” He steadied his aim on the other zombie.

He moved his gun back down though. It was close enough that he could make out who it had been.

Nathan. His body bloody and battered, shambled toward Guyver. His left eye had been missing and his mouth hung open.

“Nathan.” Guyver couldn't believe it. His mechanically inclined friend had become a zombie. He ran through his mind how many times they went out to the dimension Dark Water. How many times had Guyver been there, bugging his friend about some little thing while he worked. “Damn, Nathan.” He wanted to stomp his feet and have a tantrum, it wasn't fair! Nathan had never done anything wrong, he didn't deserve that punishment.

Guyver stepped backward as Nathan approached him closer. He wasn’t as slow like he had seen portrayed on television, but he wasn’t any quicker than his real self. “Nathan, man. I'm so sorry.” His former comrade reduced to this.

There was nothing left to do. If he left Nathan alive, he'd come after Guyver. Even if he didn't, he might go through the dimensional hole. “Sorry, Nathan, but I can’t leave you like this. You deserved better. Rest in peace, my friend.”

After he shot him, Nathan landed to the ground, unmoving. Guyver looked around one more time, remembering what everything used to look like. He looked back toward the portal and saw it slowly sinking. That would explain why it was so close to the ground now.

It wasn't stable, and Guyver would not be stuck there. He quickly moved into the dimensional hole before it sunk into the ground any deeper.

***

“I do.” Dominic moved further away as Guyver returned. “I wish I couldn't believe, sis, but I always saw everything. You know that. You know this is as true as the fairytales I saw. You just don't want to believe it.” He looked at the paper and read more. “It's wrong. There is more to it than that.”

“What do you mean?” Guyver asked. He looked at the different parts of the paper.

“Magic. I've seen enough of the other worlds to know this is magic related.” Dominic gave him the paper back. “That thing talks about making babies, like it solves everything between dimensions. That's what the notes say. That's what your company thinks, but it isn't. This is magic, and magic means no cheating. Physicality to make a baby is too easy, it's not magic."

"Magic." DIM tried to put notes on it. Tried to decipher it, but maybe they were wrong? Dominic could see into the other dimensions, maybe he could see something they were missing? "Any more proof besides that?"

Dominic pointed back to the paper. "Destined lovers means there must be love involved. Love isn't physicality, it's a force. An important force. It's mutual love between dimensions. Without love, there would be nothing to stop it.” He gestured to the last sentence. “This too.”

“The last line,” Guyver said. “No one knows what that means.” DIM didn't even try a guess.

“They can rise, but without one, they will all fall.” Dominic shook his head. “The apocalypse is not something that affects one dimension. One dimension isn't enough to stop it. You need a constant chain of a love force to calm the hate of this destruction. Eventually, the apocalypse will not be stopped, it's a constant force.”

“So even if the ones who need to save our dimension had been found,” Guyver started to ask, “it would only slow it down?”

“Yeah. The apocalypse was always bound to happen one day.” Dominic stared at the paper. “This is nothing new. Love verses hate, since time began. The people involved, are already drawn to each other, they just don't take the leap. They don't understand. Why don't they? Why is this . . ." Dominic's face went blank for a second, like he just figured it out. "Someone's missing. All the dimensions are off course because whoever is supposed to tell them, they aren't there to tell them anymore. Someone needs to replace them.” He looked at his hand. "I always saw them."

“Dominic,” Cheryl urged him again. “Brother―”

“I am not your brother,” Dominic said it flat out. “I have never felt like a normal boy, and now I know why. I'm only born to do this. I have to give up this existence to take the place. To tell the others.”

“No, you don't!” Cheryl cried as she bit on her lip hard. She looked for any words from Guyver to help. Anything.

“He can't say anything,” Dominic said as he moved closer to a portal. He had seen this part in his head. He knew exactly what would happen. Step by step, unlocking could be heard beneath each one. The queen's mechanisms that kept them in place were losing their grip. Portal by portal, they were all sucked into the one he stepped in front of. “Don't you see yet?” The portals became blacker and thicker, swirling around in the thick gray fog. “I have sensed the truth all my life. I was born to stop the madness that started again. I have to help them understand.”

“No. You don't see your own death. Dominic, you don't see it, do you?” Her legs were paralyzed and couldn't move. Her mouth could not move, let alone speak. Everything in that room seemed to freeze as Dominic looked at her.

“I . . .I don't see anything about this world anymore,” Dominic answered her. “I have to go. You have to go too, sis. You don't belong either.” He jumped into the hole.

The blackness burst forth into light. Guyver came as quickly as he could to Cheryl's side as the portals began to burst every which way. There was no avoiding it though as a large portal came straight at them.

***

In another dimension that is unknown as of yet. . .

Guyver couldn't touch or console Cheryl. She laid on the grass, weeping over the loss of her brother. A twelve-year-old boy she had loved all of her life. Ever since he met him though, he knew that kid was meant for a different ending. He'd hoped it would be better than that.

Stepping into a portal that had sucked up all the others like a vacuum. That would rip him into thousands of pieces, each going into a different dimension. Assuredly, Dominic was dead, yet somehow guiding others. How, he couldn't guess. He wouldn't want to. After all from what he saw of Earth, it didn't have long.

Poor kid. All those visions, Dominic must have known it. He even understand what DIM couldn't. Guyver had seen that twitch in Dominic when his sister said Apocalypse Sun. Having no idea where they were at, Guyver checked his overcoat for his goggles. Communication would be necessary until he learned how to speak the new dimension's language.

He looked toward Cheryl's hair. It had changed slightly. Different dimensions sometimes changed people. When he went to Dark Water, he always had red hair instead of his usual color.

“Dominic!”

Guyver turned and looked over by Cheryl. He had assumed she had been seeing things from her grief, but in front of her was Dominic. Blue and transparent, but most assuredly the boy.

Cheryl tried to find the strength to speak. “Dominic?”

Dominic tugged his lips upwards, looking at his sister. “I reached you, I hoped I would. I don't think I can stay though.”

“Dominic, don't leave,” Cheryl said to him, begging. “Please!”

“This is where I was destined to be at. I am the warning, the caller to those who need to know. I'm in a tunnel through the dimensions.” Dominic looked toward Guyver. “Save the others, Guyver. I knew your name for a reason. Take care of my sister until we meet again.”

“Dominic? When will you come back for good?” Cheryl called out to him again but he disappeared. “Dominic!”

He knew his name for a reason.

Guyver lifted his head, looking toward Cheryl, but she didn't meet her eyes back to his.

Cheryl's family may have had more of a reason to keep her out of the way than just keeping Dominic unknown. Had she been from a different dimension too? As she stood up, she shooed her hand at him, making him stay back. “Are you okay?” he tried to ask. “Cheryl?”

“Don't call me that, its Cheryl Closin.” She was livid, taking her frustration of losing her brother out on him. “Closin.”

“Fine. Closin. We are in another dimension.” Guyver secured his goggle over his eye. “This will let me communicate with the people here.” After he double checked the security of the goggle, he didn't know what to do next. Trapped in another dimension while Earth had been under attack. “We can't get out of here back to Earth.”

Cheryl didn't reply.

“Cheryl. Dominic's gone.”

“I know.”

“You heard his words.”

“I know.” Cheryl turned and looked toward Guyver. “I wish I were in Kansas again. My small home. Dominic drawing in a corner. Dominic.” She closed her eyes. “Dominic.”

Guver approached her slowly. Her sorrow would not be turned off, but standing around all day wouldn't do them any good. The fact the boy was still alive, in a way, was a small comfort. Maybe one day, Dominic could come back to her. Night would come though, and they would need shelter. Considering they had no money this other dimension had, it would not be an easy time. He touched her hand slowly, grasping it. She didn't cower away. “I know this is a difficult time, but we can't stand around. Will you follow my lead?” He began to walk, and her feet walked with him.

It was sad, losing their dimension. It was sad to lose that boy. Guyver knew though that 'sad' wasn't going to keep them alive in a strange new world.

Sad didn't make the world's stop spinning.

Time went on and so did life. It would continue, at least for now.

He patted Cheryl's hand. Somehow, they would get through everything. Somehow.