“Why do you keep stopping me from activating my power? Why did you alter my memories? What….the hell even are you?! Where did you even come from?!” I yelled, pointing a finger gun with rampant energy to my head.

  “....The answer to your first and second question are the same. I did it because your power was too great for your body.”

  “What?”

  “If I hadn’t entered your body at that precise moment, you would have gone berserk, and your own power would have imploded your body. You can’t handle your own power. I altered your memories and dulled your emotions so that the condition to activate your power wouldn’t trigger again. You should be thanking me; without me you would have died long ago.” It said, sounding pleased with itself.

  “As for what I am... that’s hard to say. You wouldn’t understand because the concepts in this world are different. Let’s just say that I am a higher being who has decided to offer you some grace. I am not from your world. I came here in search of something, but I did not expect the travel to turn me into this.”

  “Ok, but why me?! Why couldn’t you latch on to any other fool, and leave me alone?!”

  “I told you, it was because of my own benevolence. I felt a great power from you and wished to extend your life. As I said, you would have died without me....” He said, his flame suddenly flickering, as if he was surprised by something. “But it’s not over yet. I can save you yet again.”

  “My heart...it stopped already. What could you possibly do?”

  “Unlike you, I don’t need a heart to function. Your gift can provide me the energy to move until we can get you treatment. You only have one option.” He said firmly.

  As he said that, a door suddenly appeared in front of me. A large, majestic door adorned with gold and marble, that seemed as if it were a door to heaven.

  “I will take over your body, and we will live to fight another day. You may not be in control, but even if you were, you could not defeat him. And even if you did, with the amount of effort it would take, your body would implode right afterward. I swear to you on my honor and people that I will kill that man one day.”

  Despite my rage, what it was saying made sense. If I fight pointlessly and die, nothing would be accomplished. My only chance of living and getting revenge is walking through that door. Even if....I lose my body in the process.

  “…Dawn is still out there! I can’t just leave her. Nor can I leave No.5, or No.9 after all they’ve done.”

  “You don’t have a choice in the matter. That door is the only way you’re leaving. If it eases your mind, I’m sure that man won’t kill his own daughter. Now, come.” It said, flying in front of the door.

  I took a hesitant step forward before another voice screamed from behind me.

  “Don’t listen to that interloper!”

  I turned around, and my “soul,” which was a perfect copy of me, stared angrily.

  “He killed your parents! He’ll take Dawn! And you’ll run away and come back later?! What if he gets stronger?! And you’d listen to that interloper? It hid the fact that your parents died from you, just so it could take advantage of you! You’ll give what’s yours to him? You don’t even know if he’ll keep his promise!” The copy said.

  “You would interfere again? For being housed in this boy’s body, you do not care much for his safety.” The wisp snarled back.

  “Safety?! Everyone we know and love has died because we were safe! It’s time to let loose, it’s time to run wild! To spread carnage and give out penance to those who have wronged us! Time and time again, we end up on the losing side, but if you use it all, we’ll get what was owed to us!”

  Suddenly, a door appeared next to my “soul”. Unlike the first door, this one was completely black and had red thorny vines on either side of the door.

  “Our one wish is to be free! Don’t let this interloper control you! You have the power to wrest yourself free from its grasp! As your mental state has begun to get more stable, he’s losing control. That’s why he’s making you this offer while you’re vulnerable!”

  “What utter nonsense! Is it so wrong of me to offer the boy a choice? If I truly wanted, I could restrict him as much as I please! Boy! I’ve been with you long enough to know that you use logic to go through things. Come with me, and we’ll live to fight another day!”

  “No! I-WE’ve been caged for too long. I’m not gonna stand idly by while the world continues to batter and beat us down! Even if it costs us our lives, we’ll get back at that bastard Zagra! We’ll burn it all away and leave our mark on the world, with his corpse as the message!”

  “” Choose, NOW!”” They both screamed.

  My mind was a mess. I couldn’t think logically or emotionally. I had no idea what to do. My entire life has been spent being chained to one place or another. Even in my own head, I only have the illusion of choice. I can either die fighting or run away in fear.

  Even if I run away to live, what would be the point if I couldn’t control my own body? I would be letting the person who’s ruined my life on two separate occasions go for a second time. And, I would be running away and leaving the three of them to fend for themselves.

  However, if I use all of my power and fight, will that change the outcome? The large explosion from earlier most likely drew the attention of many of the facilitators. I wouldn’t be surprised if they surrounded me in a minute or two. I would be burning away my life force dealing with them, and then having a chance to win against Zagra.

  Neither of these options is desirable. But what else can I do? I have no knowledge of the depths of my power, nor how to regulate it. I have no idea what my limits are, and as such, I don’t even know how long I would be able to fight.

  One option is a gamble, and the other I would be forsaking everyone who has been fighting with me. I wouldn’t even be able to recover her corpse.

  I stood there motionless, unable to decide. The endless sea spanned before me, taunting me. The waters lay there motionless, as if the entire world was frozen, waiting on my choice. At least that’s what I thought.

  However, there was one. One ripple in the waters right below my feet. I looked down and saw myself with a bright smile. Not one of malice, hatred, or insanity like before. A warm smile, beckoning me closer.

  “You were probably so scared of death this entire time. You never had a choice, either did you? That’s why you were so desperate. Yet you still made the decision to stand in front of the blast for me.”

  I closed my eyes and made my decision.

  “I know what choice I have to make.”

  I began walking as both of the entities that inhabited my body waited with bated breath. I walked and walked until my steps became firmer and firmer.

  “Where…are you going? There’s nothing over there.” The voice asked, confused.

  “Stop wasting time and choose!” My copy yelled fiercely.

  I had walked in an open direction, with no door in my path. The endless sea sprawling in front of me, I walked toward the horizon.

  “What are you doing? Come back!”

  “Enough of this, we don’t have much time!” The voice screamed.

  Yet I pressed forward. Despite my decision, I walked.

  “Boy! Do you realize what–!”

  “You’re no higher being. If you were truly so powerful, you would have controlled me this entire time. You need me alive because you’re nothing more than a parasite. If I die, you die as well. Meaning, somehow or someway, I’m still alive. I don’t know what you are, or where you’re from, but you are incapable of understanding human emotions. Back then, on Laeva, I must have been influenced to make a similar choice, because I know for sure now. You have no power over me.”

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  My feet sank in the water as I continued forward.

  “You’re starting to understand! You get it! That interloper can’t tell us how to live! Come then! Let’s use it all! Let’s–!”

  “You aren’t my “soul” either. You are a manifestation of my power that wants to be let loose. An indescribable force of destruction that preys on my negative emotions to be released. I’ve learned the truth behind the smiles that haunted me. I had thought they were mine, that deep down I relished in death and killing. But it was not mine, it was yours.”

  “I-But! We’re the same! I may not be your soul but we’ve–!”

  “I am me. Nobody else.”

  I sank further into the water as I became completely submerged. Their voices no longer reached me, only muffled cries among the now tumultuous waves. I sank further and further, memories flashing by my head in different scenes.

  When my parents died, when I was tortured, my struggle in the tournament, my fight against Zagra, our escape from the monster, my fight with all of the numbers, the duel with No.1, and coming to terms with her death.

  The water changed into a multitude of different landscapes, until I was in the sky. Lying in the interstice of a radiant golden sky and a dark, barren wasteland. Scenes of destruction and creation spun around me infinitely, as if showing me all of the possibilities I could reach for.

  “This….is freedom.”

  Friendship.

  Hostility.

  Revenge.

  Forgiveness.

  Love.

  Hatred.

  Order.

  Chaos.

  I had unknowingly become accustomed to all of these in my life so far. I had been shackled to one or the other, but now I am free to choose which path I take.

  In the air, my feet touched a solid surface as a path appeared before me. A transparent path that led to nowhere.

  So I walked.

  I walked and walked endlessly.

  Until after what seemed like an eternity.

  I stopped. The water around me had changed into a beautiful field of flowers, the moon shining overhead.

  “If I had known you’d take so long, I would’ve brought some comics and video games,” Dawn said, patting the grass next to her.

  I sat down next to her, and she placed her head on my shoulder, completely relaxed.

  “It’s a good thing you didn’t bring video games. No.1 made me hate them.” I chuckled.

  “Oh yeah! He would always play that one spammer with the red headband. I could never beat him. That’s why I hate fighting No.1. Don’t be a quitter though, you gotta get better than him one day, so keep playing.” She said with a smile.

  We remained silent for a moment as the breeze rushed by both of our faces.

  “All of this time I thought of myself as a monster,” I said, breaking the silence.

  “Well, that was random.” She laughed, her strands of hair falling to the ground.

  “I figured now would be as good a time as any to tell you how I’m really feeling,” I said, looking at her. She looked up at me expectantly, with sparkles in her eyes, waiting for me to continue.

  “I was…unable to feel for others, a born-killer. I used people as I saw fit, all for the sake of my selfish desires. I thought I was the only one. Then I met you. One who did nothing wrong, yet portrayed herself as a dastardly villain who blamed herself for the creation of this facility.” I said, leaning back and resting on the ground.

  “Everyone whom we’ve fought here, both friends and foes, are victims of this world. If my family was born elsewhere, if you weren’t sick, if No.1 wasn’t born without being able to feel, maybe none of this would have happened. However, as humans, we can freely make the choice in what we want to become. We just delude ourselves into thinking the only choice is the wrong one. It’s this unfair world, throwing everything it has at us, that influences us to make the wrong choice and turns us into monsters. And in that sense, everyone on this planet is one. So, is it the world’s fault? No, because it’s still up to us to make that choice. Free will is the greatest blessing…and the most terrifying curse. There is no solution to this problem.”

  She stared at me blankly, with me unable to tell what she was thinking. When she showed no signs of speaking, I continued on.

  “I am going to make the choice that will get me closest to true freedom. If I can’t make it, in my next life, I will change this world, this hell, to a place where nothing like what happened to you will ever happen again. I’ll explore the world and gather plenty of experiences…and I hope you can join me along the way. Even in the great beyond, I’ll wait.” I said, twiddling my fingers involuntarily.

  She remained silent for what felt like an eternity before rolling off of me, directing her attention to the moon.

  “You’re so quick to give up, don't act like you're dead already just cuz you got burned a little.” She snickered, her eyes never leaving the sky.

  We remained silent for a bit longer, until she looked at me with a wistful smile.

  “I never told you what a knight was, did I?” She asked quietly.

  “I know what a knight is now.”

  “Heh…my definition of a knight is different than others. I have to tell you a story for you to understand.” She chuckled, making small dirt angels in the grass.

  “I read fairy tales when I was a bit younger. My favorite one was about a sickly princess and a strong man forced to be her guard.”

  “….”

  “The man hated the princess. While his friends were getting glory from the battle, he was stuck taking care of a woman who couldn’t move. She noticed this and apologized for her condition.”

  “Seems a bit unreasonable.”

  “Right? The man knew that it wasn’t her fault, yet he still couldn’t accept it. But after spending time with her for months, he opened up, and they became friends.”

  As she was talking, the cool breeze we were feeling suddenly stopped, and dark clouds began to hang over the sky.

  “But one day, tragedy struck the castle. Enemy forces infiltrated and captured everybody there, and the only people who hadn’t been captured were the princess and her guard. Not many knew this, but the man was the strongest person in the entire kingdom. When they came to take the princess, he beat the entire enemy force by himself. Amazing, right?” She asked, looking at me to see my reaction.

  “Well, how did it end?” I asked, unable to meet her eyes.

  “Well, it’s a fairy tale, so it can’t have a bad ending. The man saved the kingdom and freed everybody. Once it was over, he was knighted by the king. It was a happy day, so he went to deliver the news to the princess, who was still stuck in bed. She was so happy, and in the end, they got married. Then the kingdom, along with him and her, lived happily ever after.”

  She turned her attention back to the moon, which was almost obscured by the clouds.

  “I hated the princess. All she did was hold the knight back. I was also jealous, because despite me being the same, I had no one who cared for or protected me as she had. Until I met you.” She said with a bright smile on her face, her red eyes looking at me with an emotion I couldn’t describe.

  “Your reaction to comic books was so funny! And I had so much fun braiding your long hair! When I imagined all of the adventures we would have after getting out, I could hardly sleep. But this isn’t a fairy tale; this is the real world. I don’t get the happy ending that the princess did. Because my knight is dying to a measly fireball!” She laughed, punching my shoulder.

  “I want to see you try dealing with it.” I shot back.

  “I woulda tanked it.” She said, rolling her eyes. We lay there in silence for a couple more seconds before she rolled back over to me and positioned herself above me.

  “Hey! You better listen and listen good, you hear?! You’re not dead yet, so don’t throw in the towel! And I’ll always be with you, so you gotta treat me right! We’re gonna go on tons of adventures, and using my masterful technique, you’re going to braid my hair! We’re gonna travel the world and try a bunch of different foods, and make a whole bunch more friends! And most importantly, we’re gonna expose my dad for all his misdeeds! So if I forget, make sure to take that flash drive and publish it everywhere! You have to promise me, my knight!” She yelled, spitting in my face.

  “I promise, I promise,” I said, putting my hands up in defense.

  “Good! Now it’s time to wake up, sleepyhead, there’s a whole world out there for you to explore! Just close your eyes and imagine all of the crazy adventures! She said with a bright smile on her face. As I closed my eyes, the clouds began to cover the moon as the last bit of light fell on her face. “And remember, when you open them…”

  Her voice suddenly faded away as I felt drops of water hit my face. My hands felt muddy, and I could feel the dirt under my fingernails. My whole body throbbed in pain, and the abrupt feeling caused my eyes to shoot open.

  Right above me, her face an inch away from mine laid Dawn, whose white hair had turned a crimson red. Thorns had burst from all around her body, scattered on the ground, leading to a wall behind us. Her hands were on top of my chest, and underneath them was a dark-red ember that flickered out the second I noticed it. The moment it did, she collapsed on top of me, and the thorns started to fade away into dust around me.

  “What….?” I barely squeaked out. I immediately got up, ignoring the pain, and turned her over on her back. Her eyes were glazed over, with her crimson hair lying all around her. Tears still flowing from her face, eternally frozen in a warm smile, her lifeless eyes gazed up at me.

  “How…..? What….?! Dawn! Dawn, wake up! Dawn!” I screamed in vain.

  Water pounded the back of my neck, the rain turning into a torrential downpour. Her last tears, her last tears that I wasn’t able to witness, were washed away by the unrelenting onslaught of rain, as if the heavens themselves were mocking her.

  Tears uncontrollably fell from my right eye. I couldn’t stop it; they flowed and flowed until they merged with the rain surrounding me. The all-encompassing moonlight that we sought was blotched out by the clouds, as the last ray of light shone on her face before disappearing.

  “Aa…..agh…….aaaagh! AAAAAAAAAGH! WAAAAAAAAAAGH!”

  A tidal wave of emotions enveloped my very being. Anger, sadness, despair, hatred, loneliness, regret, all in one. All I could do was scream. Scream at the world that took her from me, hoping that someone somewhere would hear my cry.

  I couldn’t see or think. Even when I closed my eyes, all I could see was her lifeless face. The image resurfaced over and over, thousands of times in seconds, no matter how many times I tried to repress it. It tore through the recesses of my mind, clawing at my world and shattering it.

  And once it did, only then did my ears hear her last words to me.

  “And remember, when you open them…..send me off with a smile!”

  ?