In The Beyond

"Why are you here, fiend." 

"Why does he talk like that, it's so weird," Luna asked, the rest of the group breaking into a discussion on the possible reasons for his abominable speech. 

"Maybe he's just old," Neil suggested. "We know he has some divine power. Maybe he lived long enough to prefer talking that way." 

"But Mala-Denis looks about the same age and looks stronger, but he's cooler." 

Everyone else agreed. 

"He could be trying to look older to seem wiser, it probably helps his credibility." Thomas suggested.

"Oh yeah, that's actually a really cool thought." Ash said "And you saw what he did with the cut-he didn't heal it, just made his blood look more divine." 

"I knew it, that guy was full of shit," Anita said, shaking her head. 

"The only thing we can rely on in times like these is his hair," Jake said objectively. 

"Truthfully, such beauty can never lie," Neil said. 

Everyone else nodded, "Beauty."

Malakar started slurping again, "Aegis, come here. Let's chat." 

Aegis stood firm "Leave this place, swine." 

Ash and his friends tried to hold their laughter. 

"Swine" Luna mocked, whispering. 

They covered their mouths. 

"I bet a hundred tokens that he'll say scallywag or some shit-" 

"This place is not for you, scallywag" 

His group started to whisper laughing, Neil was on all fours, hitting the ground to signal for help with his expanding lungs. Even Jake was hunched over, tears dropping. 

"Scallywag" Thomas mocked this time. They started up again. 

"what would I even do? We both swore an oath to not attempt to kill each other or our followers." Malakar said, thoroughly enjoying his ramen.

"Still-" 

He got up from the rubble, "So, let me teach you a lesson on souls-" 

"I never allowed you to speak," Aegis said, interjecting. 

The group groaned again

"I don't care." He moved through everyone, walking up to him with a smug smile. "I guarantee that you'll be interested in what I'm going to say." 

After a pause, he sighed. "Carry on." 

"Wonderfull now, some of you might not know this, but you could leave back to your old 'useless lives', as my brother here put it." he pointed his chopsticks at Aegis, who was watching with a blank expression. 

He sat on a piece of rubble closer to them and pulled out a basket of dumplings. "He kidnaped you or killed you when you were too vulnerable to remember. Think about it, do you remember anything about your past life." 

The people shifted uncomfortably when they realized he was right. He blew on a dumpling and ate it "Mhm, pork. So, this place" he gestured around "is impossible for you to leave by yourself if your soul isn't strong enough." 

"Soul, don't tell me he'll start talking about chakras and shit," Anita said, making the group start up again.

Malakar smiled "I'm not talking about that." 

Anita felt even lighter. 

"Each soul interacts with the universe's energy to perform various functions. The mechanism that conducts your level of interaction is called..." 

Suddenly, white runes in a language they did not understand were swilling everywhere, on their bodies, on the ground, dotting the night sky as if they were stars. They were moving in a 3-dimensional manner, yet they all seemed to turn around a central point. A single rune on Malakar's hand. Everyone looked around in awe.

"...a sigil. These allow you to create a world based on your experiences, called veils, Viewpoints, or realms. To make this simple, they are segregated by color. Grey, to blue, to Gold, to red, to black. A white sigil is reserved for deities that have surpassed mortality. right now, exactly 3/4 ths of you have Gold sigls. and half of the remaining have blue. The rest have red sigls. Strong, but nowhere strong enough." The light show stopped. "This place is devoid of time and space. Only white sigils can leave freely." 

"And so why are you telling us this." someone shouted from the crowd. 

"I can give you a way out." he clapped. everything became greyscale and the only source of light was a large beam that all of them could see. 

"Who wants to go first-" he started explaining. 

Shit Aegis thought, I need to fix this. 

"Pause." He said, taking the stand. Ash and his group wilted. 

He stood upright, brandishing the now golden blood as a sign of honor. Let's begin. 

"So this is your savior? A man who slurps broth and laughs as he condemns you to the unknown?" his starting sentence silenced everyone, even Malakar stopped mid-chew. 

"Well, I'm just offended," Malakar said, turning back to his food.

His voice was piercing, someone who has never doubted his greatness.

"Fine. Leave. Run into the abyss. Trust in the mercy of a world that has never shown you any."

He stepped forward, meeting their uncertain gazes.

"Do you think Malakar knows what's waiting for you out there? Does he truly understand what it means to leave this place? Or is he just playing a game? I mean look at my scar."

Aegis gestured at Malakar with an almost pitying look.

"He calls me a liar, but what has he given you? A door? A possibility? Tell me, what use is freedom when you have nowhere to go?"

let that sink in. Then, he spoke softly.

"I saved you."

He scans their faces.

"You were lost before me. Scattered. Hopeless. Some of you had no homes. No families. No purpose."

He pauses. His golden blood has dried now, glistening like a relic from a forgotten past.

"Yet here, you have something. A reason to wake up. A cause to fight for. A future that you understand."

His voice drops to a whisper, but it cuts through them like a blade.

"What waits for you beyond that exit? You don't know. Neither does he."

Malakar nods in agreement. He couldn't deny that

"But I know what's here. And I know what we can be."

Aegis takes one final step forward, letting his presence overwhelm them.

"So go ahead. Run. Chase the illusion of freedom."

He pauses. Then, his voice hardened.

"But when you realize that no world out there will ever give you what I have given you…"

He turned away, his final words laced with sorrow he whispered sadly

"Don't bother coming back." then he walked away. 

The people shifted nervously, some turning to Malakar who was nodding whilst eating his dumplings. He set his chopsticks on his basket and set it aside. He started to clap. 

"Congrats, now most of you won't want to go. That's alright. You wouldn't be able to anyway." 

Confusion rippled through everyone. 

"Before he interrupted me. I was going to say that most gates like this only allow those with gold sigils to pass. And that so happens to be most of you." He looked at them and smiled "I never said that This gate does." 

Aegis looked on, his confusion uprooting the pride he felt from his performance. 

"He convinced 3/4 ths of you to stay. But Most of that group wouldn't have been able to leave. Because most of you have gold sigils. The rest can leave after I finish. Just go." He waved everyone away. 

Aegis was thrown. so what is his intention then? 

Malakar sat back down and finished the rest of his dumplings. "You're probably wondering my intentions." just then, they heard a scream. Coming in from all directions, the monsters of this world crawled, walked, or slithered to the gate. One was about 20 stories tall and was stick thin, made of wood. 

"The verdant is alive?" Aegis said in awe as it turned its dim green eye to Aeigis, paused, and walked into the gate. 

"You can make new monsters right?" He said, procuring another ramen cup. 

"I can't remake him," he said sadly. "he was a good challenge, even for me." 

Malakar snickered "Of course he was." 

"So, that was my first objective. The second was to kill your future army." 

"You can't kill anyone of mine until our final battle. We swore on Aleora." 

"I know. And your quick mouth would prevent me from getting almost anyone out. So..." he waited... 

"Oh shit!!" a voice shouted as the sounds of stabbing were heard, it increased and increased until the whole battlefield was filled with blood. 

Aegis watched... as if waiting for something. Then he got increasingly angry. 

"She's not coming to enforce our oath...what did you do." he turned around slowly. 

Malakar shrugged "Maybe she's asleep." he smiled "i may not be the god of chaos you desperately want me to be but..." he turned to Aegis, whose feeling of dread intensified. 

"...I'm far from good." 

Ash and his group were walking back, oggling their spoils whilst laughing at today's events. 

"If he had kept on, he would have said something like 'whippersnapper'," Jake said, making them all laugh. 

"This was honestly one of the better market days. But we should find out what colors our sigils are. I'm kind of curious now." Ash said, calming down. 

Luna was uncharacteristically silent. 

"Luna, Is everything alright," Neil said. 

She sighed "Well, if you insist, I'll tell you...I was honestly considering leaving." 

Everyone stopped. They were about to pounce on her, but Anita got there first. "Could you tell us why?" she asked calmly. 

"My baby brother. He's the only person I remember from my world, but I miss him. Every day." 

Everyone calmed down, after all, how would it feel if they lost everyone from their family? And memories from before this place were way too valuable to just discard. 

Anita threw them a glare "But if he's anything like me, he would just get angry," Luna smiled bitterly. "that wouldn't help anyone-" 

They halted as they reached the end of the greyscale veil, there was some sort of barrier preventing them from leaving. 

"Well, we'll have this convo later." Thomas said, going closer, "Something's off." 

Behind them, a man was walking towards them, he was middle-aged, with salt-and-pepper hair, wearing a dark brown trench coat and using a walking stick. 

"Elder, the way forward is blocked, it might be best to-" 

"Oh, young man, the way back isn't safe either. People are being killed by malakar's group." The man interrupted. 

Thomas froze "I thought there was an oath in place." 

The man rubbed his perfectly combed hair. "He had to go through a lot of loopholes to get this done. You have no idea-" he stopped as he saw the glint of a rifle in front of his face. 

"You know too much about the specifics to be some ordinary guy. I've never seen you around. Where do you live-" He was stopped mid-sentence as a knife went through the right side of his chest. Everyone was stunned. For a millisecond. Neil got into a fighting stance. 

"We need to survive if we want Thomas to live. Anita-" 

"On it," she used her screen to analyze the barrier as everyone else prepared to fight. 

"Luna, give Thomas first aid," Ash said. 

"Sure." She materialized a kit and started. 

Neil and Ash lunged at The man, with Jake preparing his long-range devices. 

The man used his stick to slash at both of them with his stick. An action almost as deadly as using a sword. Ash jumped over the strike whilst Neil went below it. Neil reached him first, and let the man know it. 

CRACK! His extendable staff met the man's side. He blocked it with his walking stick, which was a rouge, and struck Ash, who was crouched below him and about to strike him with his unsheathed sword. Blocking it, he shifted his weight back, managing to get into an awkward back handspring and rushing back at him, with Neil pairing his attacks. He tutted and pulled out a concealed sword from his walking stick, and used both those patts to fend them off. He would block Neil with the sword and Ash with the stick, then they would switch cleanly. As if it was a pattern. Then they wouldn't follow it and start attacking individually. He got frustrated and leaped back to rethink... 

But Thomas wouldn't let him. He felt an immense shock to his arm and got on his knees, writhing but trying to stay upright. The three in front of him would kill him if they had the chance. 

He couldn't let that happen. Forcing his free hand on his arm, he tried to rip the taser off, shocking his arm in the process. Screaming louder, he got the taser off, barely taking a breath before being thrown backward when Neil's staff connected with his face. Mid air, he used his hands to vault himself upright whilst Ash stabbed the ground where he was with his unseathed sword. In the split second when they hadn't reached him, he lunged through them, his blade about to kill Anita as she was distracted. 

Then he felt a force field that glitched as it resisted the blade. 

"Your fight is with them." Luna pointed at Ash, who used the opening to slice the man with his sheath. As he was about to fall, Neil struck him away from them. 

"You guys, I've managed to open it for a bit." Anita was standing outside after helping Luna carry Thomas out. "It's not that strong, come out." 

They fell back with Ash being the last. The man couldn't let that happen, he threw his stick with deadly precision at the back of his head, making him stumble. Then, almost in the blink of an eye, he was there, clutching his wound that would most definitely kill him by the end of the day. 

Malakar was watching the killing spree that he had caused and sighed. "This shouldn't have been necessary-" he felt a tear in his force field. 

"People are strong enough to leave, yet they chose to stay? I'll never understand people." he pointed his chopsticks in that direction and a part of the beam of light branched out and went to where Ash was. 

Ash had lost his balance and the man was about to stab him, everything started moving in slow motion... 

So this is it. he thought sadly, he looked up At Anita, who was about to run in... 

Thank you for being my second family... he closed his eyes.

Then nothing, darkness, sleep. 

So this is what being dead feels like. He thought simply What an absurd thought to be having right now 

He wasn't dead, the branched-out gate had reached Ash and the man right as the man stabbed him. Transporting them right as the force field forcefully closed. Anita fell to her knees. Silence. Her body started shaking, and her eyes became blurry. 

"He's not dead," she said, trying not to cry, Anita doesn't cry. 

But everyone else can do it for her. 

"WHAT THE FUCK!!" Luna shouted, pulling out her phone and prepared to summon a tactical missile. "I'M OPENING THIS SHIT AND GOING IN TO FIND HIM MYSELF." 

"That won't work," Jake said, his voice barely above a whisper. "the gate probably sends you to the timeline you were born in-" 

"SO WE SHOULD JUST STAND HERE AND DO NOTHING!!" She snapped at him. 

Neil and Anita shared a look. They couldn't be sad right now. That would make them vulnerable. 

"We need to get back to base to think. It's dangerous for us to be here, he could lower the force. We have no idea how many people he sent." 

Anita got up and wiped her tears. "Neil is right. We need to leave. Look." She pointed at the force. Malakar had gotten there really quickly and he was eating his ramen, smiling at them. 

Luna jumped back, not noticing him. 

"The token shop is working now, let's go home." She bought a transport token and they teleported home. 

The mood at home was solemn, with everyone calming down a bit. Neil stood up, his body tense, preparing to lay out all they knew. 

"So, we know that Ash has gone to his timeline through the gate. We also know that he didn't have any difficulties, and he's strong, so a red sigil..." 

Everyone nodded, agreeing. 

"So most of us have red sigils, maybe one has gold." He said. 

"And only white sigils can leave and enter freely..." 

"Yeah..." Jake pressed. 

"So then we all get white sigils. Simple." 

Everyone looked at him. Stupified. 

"I never said It was easy. I said it was simple." 

Anita thought "Ok, but we would need someone that does have a white sigil to teach us. Any ideas." 

Thomas raised his hand. "You said you had a drinking buddy that had divine power. Wouldnt he have a white sigil?" 

A lightbulb went off in his head. "You're right. The sword saint would have a white sigil." 

Anita stood up "Stop." everyone went silent. "We have some game plan, but let's talk about this tomorrow. It'll be business as usual, but Neil will go to the sword saint and Thomas still goes to Vulcan. Thomas and Luna. Now that people have died, there might be some disruption. Luna will protect him." Right after she said that she rushed to her room. 

Luna was about to follow her, but Neil stopped her. 

"She needs to be alone right now." he said, "and I do too." He walked to his room as well. 

Jake sighed and stood up "It's late anyways. Let's all just sleep on it." 

The rest nodded and went to sleep, the extra weight of Ash's empty room burdened them. 

Anita stayed by her door and waited for everyone to leave. She pulled out an old folded picture. 

Our first day as a team. she looked at it. Neil had poured whiskey on it, so Luna demanded another. This was the original picture.

The lonely drop of whiskey felt a drop of water beside it, then another, then another. Anita continued to cry silently until she covered her eyes with the paper and started sobbing, she tried to stop, she did. After all, Anita doesn't cry. Never. But she decided to indulge herself for today, a girl can spoil herself after making good money. Can't she? 

She fell onto her bed, feeling hateful. Hateful to Ash for being caught off guard, hateful to Neil for not protecting him, Hateful to Malakar for causing this to happen, Hateful to Aegis for being so spineless... 

Hateful to herself, for not running to catch that stupid boy faster. 

Everything she had been holding back since she saw him vanish was let out, she screamed, she cried, she broke everything she could. 

She grabbed the picture, preparing to tear it, then she looked at his stupid kid face, threw it aside, and wept, curled up on her bed. 

A man with long black hair and red eyes leaned on a tree outside a cleverly hidden base, slurped some ramen broth, dumped the empty cup, smiled, then walked away.