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 ^{(it's beta!)}

It was a quiet evening. The air was cool and still. The sun had already begun to set and the sky was beautiful. I could faintly hear the distant sounds of the nearby city, but little else.

I stood in the grass field. How long had I been there? How long had she been there? Did she come from the city?

"Who are you?" I finally spoke to her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean who are you?"

"Do you want my name?"

"Yes."

"I was told to go by Delodi." The halo above her head glimmered eerily off her ruby red hair as she finally faced me. "And you are Aidan." she said.

I remember swallowing. Her eyes were strange. They were wrong. That's not what a person's eyes should look like. No one's eyes are that bright, that warm, that red.

"What are you?" I spoke again.

"What do you mean?"

My eyes traveled to the halo hovering just above her head. "Are you an... Are you an Angel?"

She smiled faintly, though her eyes were unchanged. "I'm not sure. Maybe. I've never been to this world before. And what are you?"

Her eyes were no longer looking at mine. Something on my head? I reached a hand up to feel. Immediately I felt it. Something protruding from my head, through my hair. Short, stubby, but... sharp. A horn? There was one on the other side, too. I had horns. "What am I?"

"A Devil maybe?" she offered.

"I thought you said you've never been to this world before." I retorted.

She smiled broader. "Have you?"

For a long time I just stared at her. She wasn't making any sense. But then, nothing else was either. Then I remembered.

"Am I dead?"

She had been idly kicking at the grass, hands in her pockets. When I asked the question, she looked back up. "Hm?"

I didn't ask again. She had heard me. She knew what I was talking about.

"Dead? That's a hard one. Can't be certain unless there's a body, right? Or at least some sort of horrible, disfiguring wound." She talked matter-of-factly, still not looking at me. "I am, however, relatively certain you're not alive. Does that help?" It didn't.

"I'm dreaming." It wasn't a question. I was sure I was dreaming. Nothing was making sense and it didn't feel real anymore.

"That may also be true." she said. She was now crouched down with her knees to her chest as she picked at the grass. "I'm not entirely sure I exist. I can think of one way to find out, though."

There was absolutely no concievable unit of time between the end of her sentence and the point when she had her gun pointed at me and pulled the trigger. The bullet entered my chest, shattered a bone of my ribcage, tore through my heart, and exited through my back even before I felt it. And then I felt it. It didn't feel like a dream anymore.

I remember screaming. Probably crying. I don't know for how long. I just know that the woman didn't do anything. She had gone back to picking at the grass. She didn't leave, she didn't get up, she didn't even say anything. I suppose she was waiting for me to be quiet, because once I had stopped crying, she spoke again. "It's not a dream, Aidan. This is the real world, this is real grass and that was a real bullet."

"And I'm alive." I gasped out.

"No, but now we can be certain that you're dead." she said. "So, if you're dead, and this isn't a dream..."

She had gotten up. I looked at her as she held a hand out to me. She was smiling again. "...then one of us has some explaining to do."

Before I knew it, we had started walking. I wasn't really following, but I don't think she was following me, either. We were just walking. No one was leading the way, but I guess at least one of us knew where we were going. I was about to say something before she spoke.

"Hey Aidan."

I didn't respond. She continued anyway.

"Do you remember how you died?"

I looked up at her. She was well over a head taller than me, but that made sense. She was an adult. Still, there was something about her that made me wonder.

I faced forward and slightly downward again. "You shot me, remember?" One hand still clutched the wound in my chest. It only hurt slightly, dully. Blood continued to ooze out of it, drenching my hand, staining my shirt and shorts and trailing along the grass behind me. I felt fine, though.

"But you didn't leave a body." she argued, "So you were already dead. There has to be a body somewhere. So come on, tell me, how did you die?"

She was right. If I was really dead, my body must be lying around somewhere, or maybe in a hospital, or a morgue. I certainly wasn't still walking around in it. Although the blood seemed real enough. I felt fine, though.

"I don't know. I'm not sure I remember dying."

She swung her arms up and clenched her fingers together behind her head. Looking up at the sky, she commented, thoughtfully. "Well that would suck, huh? Not even remembering how you died. I mean, what if it was something really cool, too? Like, maybe there was an explosion, and a large chunk of shrapnel cleaved your head right off or something? Wonder how many people that happens to."

I looked up at her again and stopped walking. Once she noticed, she stopped as well and looked back at me. Her eyes almost seemed questioning, maybe even a little concerned, but I still didn't want to trust them.

"I'm still not buying this." My hand clutched my chest a little tighter. I winced. I was probably too aggravated to care. "What's going on, anyway? I thought you were going to explain this."

The sun was gone. The sky had already begun to fade, but there was still a pale orange band across the earth that blended into the dark blue above.

Her expression didn't change. "Well that's a curious thought." She dropped her arms to her side. Her posture was slouched just slightly, her spine somewhat S shaped. For a moment her eyes almost seemed to glow. Her lips curved in a sly grin as her halo cast strange shadows across her face. "You're the one who's from here, right? You tell me."

I opened my lips, but for some reason her argument made perfect sense. I can't imagine why.

"You can't be alive, or you'd be dead by now. If you're dreaming, then I'm wasting my time." Her hands rested on her hips as she looked around. There wasn't much to see with what little light was left, but there was still the flourescent glow of the nearby city.

"Where are we, anyway?"

"Augustus Prairie."

"You live here?" she was obviously looking toward the city. I absently found my gaze following hers.

"I... I think so."

"Think harder."

This wasn't right. I couldn't remember. I couldn't remember where I lived. I assumed it was here. I recognized everything. I knew where it was, but I couldn't remember if I lived there. I honestly tried to remember but I couldn't.

"I can't."

"Maybe that's a side affect of being dead."

"I'm not dead."

"You ever been dead before?"

"No."

"Still think yer dreaming?"

I didn't answer.

"Let's check out that city." She started walking towards it. I lightly felt at the bullet hole in my chest, rubbing the blood between my fingers. It was thick, fresh, and cold.

I followed her.

We were walking for a long time. Really, I wasn't paying attention to the time, but the city didn't look like it was getting any closer. Every few minutes I would glance upward to Delodi's illuminated face. I don't know what I was looking for, I don't think I even knew then. Maybe I just wanted to see if, maybe, this were some outrageously elaborate joke, and her face would give it away. The only response I would get from her was a smile. What did that mean? Was it just a smile?

"So, how far away is this city?" the woman broke the silence, making me jump slightly. I immediately wished I hadn't.

"I- I don't know." I replied, a bit shakier than I intended to. "I've never been there."

"You sure?"

I furrowed my eyebrows and probably glared at her a bit. I didn't know, and she probably knew that. It annoyed me.

I pressed onward, working my way in front of her and leading the way.

"You know more about this than you're telling me." I spoke with authority this time. "I don't like being left out."

Of course, me being in front of her, I couldn't see her reaction. That was fine though, I just wanted some answers out of her.

"No one does." she replied, then paused. "To tell the truth, nothing's really going anywhere near as I expected. Not since I found you, anyway. Really, you kinda ruined the whole thing."

I waited a few moments to see if she would elaborate from there. She didn't, which was aggravating. "Well, I don't know how I could have ruined whatever plans you had." I pressed, hoping to get her to continue.

"Exactly."

Again, I waited a few moments. Nothing.

I stopped walking and turned to look at her. I glared at her directly in the eyes, but immediately regretted it. They were strong. They overpowered mine, swallowed them whole, spat them back out and left them quivering. I averted my gaze in an instant. No one's eyes are like that. Why were hers?

Then there was a sound, distant and rumbling. Steadily growing clearer, closer, growing deliberately rhythmic.

A train. Looking into the distance, we saw the distant light. It was headed toward the city.

I looked to Delodi. She looked back at me and winked. "That'll work a little better, dontya think?"

Whatever. I had an idea as to what she might have been planning, but I figured she was at least half joking. Or lying, or whatever it was she did.

Nearly a minute later and the engine had passed. Delodi walked up to the tracks and I followed. We waited next to the tracks for a while, and I wasn't sure what for. As the rear engine began to draw near, she grasped my hand. I didn't pull away, but simply looked at her. She was excited.

Before I could realize what was about to happen, the rear engine roared past us, and carried us with it.

I was ripped off the ground, instinctively managing to lift my feet lest they were dragged bare against the earth. I looked up to see Delodi climbing up the ladder she had grabbed on to, still hanging on to me by one hand.

It was likely the strangest ride I had ever taken anywhere, and only partly because it was on top of a train. The two of us sat on top of the back car, back to back. I had my arms wrapped around myself, shivering in my short sleeves.

After a few minutes, Delodi spoke. "So, do you really not know anything?"

I didn't say anything.

"Well, that's definitely an unexpected turn of events." She said. "I had such high expectations, too. This was going to be the big event. The Grand Finale. The Be All End All of everything."

I still didn't look at her. "So, I guess I messed everything up, huh?" I muttered over the sound of the train engine.

I felt her body shift. I didn't look back, but I felt her turn around. I was surprised when she wrapped her arms around me. She rested her cheek against mine and held me. Immediately, I was warm.

I didn't complain, or fight against her. Instead, I welcomed the warmth. I remember two last words from her before I drifted into sleep.

"Maybe not."

I never felt more awake than while I was asleep. It was weird, though. Not much in the dream made sense. Of course, that was normal enough, but in it's own sick way, it felt so real.

I had been standing in a grass field. I could faintly hear the sounds of the distant city and the sun has just begun to set. I had no idea why I was there other than I felt I needed to be.

Something compelled me to look up, so I did. I lifted my face and looked into the sky.

Or into the void where the sky was.

It was as if an artist had taken a large, blank canvas, sat it in front of himself, and then bled all over it. I have no idea what it was supposed to be. Maybe it was heaven, or maybe chaos?

And yet I didn't move. I hardly reacted. Somehow, I knew what was happening. Well, maybe I didn't, but I knew it was supposed to happen and I was somehow ready.

I stared in idle fascination as, all at once, countless beings began to descend from the sky. I could only make a few of them out, but what I saw was hardly human. Many were grotesque wretches. Horrors obviously not meant to live. Others, however, were beautiful, almost ethereal beings.

Still, I could feel the same intent from all of them. They wanted the same thing.

And I watched as one plummeted into the earth nearby.

Immediately, I ran to it. I don't know what drew me there, but it almost felt like... hatred. Fury. Some deep, animal-like instinct that I couldn't and didn't want to suppress.

Before I could reach the fallen creature, it had already risen. Its eyes opened and I fell into them.

And then I woke up.

As my senses began to stir once again, the sound of the train whistle slowly reached me. I opened my eyes.

We were in the city. The train had slowed somewhat and we were crossing a number of intersections. I had to squint because I was almost blinded by the flash of the city lights.

I didn't know if Delodi was awake yet or not, but I didn't feel her moving. I nudged her to see.

She didn't respond, so I nudged her harder. A grunt.

"Wake up." I told her.

She moaned a bit and I felt her move her arms from around me while she stretched. I kind of wished she didn't, but I didn't say anything.

"What?" she groaned.

"We're here."

"Where?"

"The city."

"Oh." She paused. "Why are we here?"

I didn't answer. Actually, neither of us said anything for a while after that. She eventually got up and stretched, then began to walk around. I just sat where I was, partly because I was too scared to move while the train was still moving, and also because I was cold and tired.

Eventually, Delodi spoke again. "You ready to get off yet?"

I was. "How?"

"We jump."

That's what I had thought. Absently, I felt a hand around the hole in my chest. It had stopped bleeding, but there wasn't a scab or anything. It was just a hole. I thought that was weird, but I didn't really care much.

Delodi was focusing on something ahead of us. She motioned for me to come closer. I did. I stood up and walked up next to her, looking where she had been, even though I couldn't really see anything.

Then she shouted "Now!", grabbed me by the hand, and jumped. I had only slightly expected it.

As we fell, something came back to me. Something I couldn't really remember happening at any point in time, yet it seemed so familiar, and in that moment, I could see the earth, a hundred thousand feet below me and drawing nearer. I looked over and saw Delodi. She smiled and took my hand, then the rush of wind stopped and everything was silent.

But that wasn't me. I knew for a fact that whoever's eyes I was looking through, they weren't mine. No, I was the boy with the horns and a gaping bullet wound in the chest who had just leaped off a train.

Once again, instinct took over and I managed to tuck my knees and curl up into a ball before hitting the earth. The resulting roll did soften the blow a bit, but not as much as I had hoped.

I lay there for a while, back to the earth, arms and legs spread outward, eyes shut tight, breathing hard. If my heart were still whole it would have been pounding.

I heard the shuffling sound of Delodi standing up and brushing herself off just a couple feet away. I watched as she kicked her toes against the ground, adjusting her boots. She trailed a hand through her bangs briefly, brushing them aside, allowing the amber glow from her halo to illuminate her face, her cheeks, her smiling lips, and her eyes. When she looked down at me, I averted my gaze, but it wasn't in fear of her eyes.

She helped me up and brushed me off. I didn't ask her to. I could have done it myself.

Without a word, she began to walk again. I followed.

We were in a park, apparently. It wasn't long before we found a stone path, lined with trees and a few benches. The lanterns gave off an pale, unnatural light. I could hear the faint hum of electricity running through them.

As we continued down the path, the sound of chirping crickets filled the air. We soon arrived upon a more open area. The path opened up and in the center of a wide paved area was a large fountain. It wasn't on and the water basin was empty. It was nicely sculpted, though. It was made in a likeness of various cherubim, flying about eachother, some blowing trumpets, others with their lips pursed, as if they should have been spouting water.

Delodi sat at the edge of this fountain. Without waiting for an invitation, I sat next to her. She looked up, so I did, too. The sky was dark, black. There weren't really any clouds, but the city lights prevented me from seeing the stars.

"You've been quiet." she finally spoke.

"So have you." I replied.

"I've just been thinking about what to do with you. I have a few ideas in mind, but it all sorta depends on you."

"How?"

"Well, have you figured anything out yet? Can you remember anything?"

I didn't respond at first. Really, I hadn't been thinking about it much, not since we arrived in the city.

"I... had a dream."

"A dream?" she sounded moderately interested.

"Yeah. Do devils dream?"

"Can't say I know. What was the dream about?"

I can't remember what happened from there, but when I awoke some time later, she was holding me on the ground with a gun against my head.

In that moment I managed to take in everything. The air was still, filled with white noise, permeated by nothing. Every muscle in my body tingled and twitched and ached all over. The red haze that enveloped my vision was quickly fading. I could feel the quick, heated gasps of breath from Delodi, and as I looked at her she glared back at me. Her quivering, scarred, bloodied form had me pinned to the ground and she was ready to kill me. Despite the circumstances, I didn't doubt that she could.

"Delodi?" I managed to gasp.

Her trigger finger held firm, but didn't move. Her piercing eyes intensified. I felt a drop of blood from a scrape across her cheek fall onto mine.

"Who are you?" There was a deep growl in her voice, but at the same time she seemed conflicted, and even a bit desperate.

"You... You called me Aidan before."

"You know who you are!" She pressed the barrel harder against my forehead and I closed one eye as more blood dripped onto my face.

I was terrified. None of this was right. I had done something. She wanted to kill me. What?

"What did I do?" I said it so softly I wasn't even sure I'd said it.

A reaction. She blinked. Her expression changed completely. She was shocked. What had I changed.

My breath was still hitched in the back of my throat as the gun was slowly lifted from my head. She gradually stood up, looking away from me, uncertain. I laid where I was. I wasn't sure if I could still move.

"I- I'm sorry." she choked.

I didn't say anything.

"I guess I should go ahead and show you why I brought you here." she continued. As a warm smile quivered onto her lips, she reached a hand toward me. Shakily, I lifted an arm and accepted her offer.

I leaned against her as we walked. I couldn't take my eyes away from her beaten and scarred body. Her jacket and stockings were torn and blotted with bloody stains, her arms and face riddled with thin yet deep gashes, and she bore and obvious limp.

She must have noticed me staring at her. "You should see the other guy." she commented with a dry smirk.

Looking down at myself I don't know what surprised me more, my bloody body riddled with bullet holes and broken bones or my distinct lack of expressive surprise.

Of course, once I saw it, I felt it. I somehow managed to hold back the expected screaming, but there was nothing I could do to stop the tears of pain that poured down my cheek. Delodi did what she could to comfort me, wrapping an arm about my shoulders and leaning her head against mine.

After a short walk, we eventually came across a park bench and sat down. It was about that time that I noticed the air getting colder.

As we sat, I tried my best to quell my tears. Every inch of my body hurt, but somehow I knew the pain would go away eventually, just as with the bullet wound from before.

"Wh-what happened?" I managed to gasp out through the sobs.

She didn't respond. That didn't bother me, though. I guess it seemed obvious anyway, but even so, this didn't make sense. Not a whole lot, anyway. I looked up to Delodi, but she wasn't looking at me. Instead, her eyes were trained on something across from us. I looked.

Okay, so it was me.

That boy huddled on the bench across from us was me. I trembled as he opened his eyes and looked directly at us.

I was looking at me. He was. The other me. The real me? Was he alive? I was dead, right? I was dead.

Right?

"Who are you?" he asked. He was talking to me.

I looked up to Delodi, but she didn't look back. She simply gazed at him, her expression set. She didn't blink. Just watching.

I looked back at him. He was still staring at me. He seemed tired. Almost on the brink of unconsciousness, but his eyes were set.

"I am..." I didn't want to talk to him. He knew who I was, right? I knew who he was.

Right?

"I'm Aidan."

He didn't respond for a while. He just kept looking at me. Did he expect more? He didn't move, didn't speak, didn't blink, and I couldn't quite tell if he was breathing. Was he dead? He should be. I don't know if I could have accepted otherwise.

"Am I dead?" he asked.

I didn't want to hear that. I was a little angry, I think. This whole ordeal, in all its obscurities, was his fault somehow. I knew it. I hated him for it, for dying, for not dying, for being there. I was so sure he was me, but even if he wasn't, it was all his fault.

Delodi still said nothing.

After a short while, I spoke. "Who are you?" I asked. I could feel my blood begin to pulse. My head hurt.

"I'm nobody." he said.

"What's your name?" I pressed.

Again, he didn't respond immediately. I'm still not sure I wanted him to. Or I did, but I didn't want to know the answer. I probably thought I already knew the answer.

"I don't have one."

I didn't say anything after that. I had run out of things to say and he wasn't telling me anything I wanted to hear. I wasn't even sure I needed to hear it.

Everything was different and I was still figuring out how it all worked.

Instead, I simply looked up at Delodi as she spoke.

"What are you doing here?"

The boy, the other me, slowly looked to her and smiled. His eyes seemed to soften and suddenly his face wasn't as pale as before. And he smiled.

"Where should I be?" he replied. His voice was still weak, and it sounded like it was steadily growing raspier.

"You should be at home, with your family." Delodi's face was locked, resilient. It was like this was more of an intricate task than anything else. Had she been prepared for this?

The boy managed a thin chuckle. It terrified me. It was like the sound of a dying little imp. "It's not nice to mock a dying boy."

"You're dying?" Her expression showed no sign of surprise or pity.

"Probably. I hurt everywhere and it's only getting worse. I can't afford medicine, and I don't know anyone who would buy it for me."

"So you're giving up?" Delodi continued.

"I'm not important. I'm not wanted, or needed. I've lived alone for as long as I can remember. No family, no friends, and no one who cares enough to help. I was born completely separated from the joyful, prosperous, inflating half of society. I've never had a purpose. I'm loose garbage, the rubble of an abandoned world. I have nothing better to do but to die."

I was no longer watching Delodi. I was watching the boy. That was me. But I wasn't there. I was watching myself, but it wasn't really me. It was someone else. Someone else was being me.

And they were right. It was true. I couldn't remember, but the feelings were there. I felt exactly what he was feeling. Because he was me. And he knew what I felt.

He knew it better than me.

"He's right." I told Delodi.

She didn't look at me. "True."

Her gun was in her hand in a flash, aimed directly at the other me. It was instantaneous and I didn't know if I wanted to stop her.

My vision shook, then tilted.

A gunshot later, Delodi lay flat on the ground, her eyes staring wide at me.

And the ground turned black.

I couldn't stop staring. Delodi's eyes, they were piercing. Still, cold, vacant, but piercing.

And they fluttered.

Another gunshot and I was on the ground.

Looking up, I could see the sky, a bright white, starkly contrasted by the silhouettes of the jagged trees. Then a figure. The boy. I couldn't really see his face. Only his smile. "You should not have come with her." The sound of his voice was wrong. It was hollow, twisted, distorted and wrong.

His eyes flashed for a moment and the trees quivered. The sky was changing.

"She only made things harder for you," he whispered "harder for us." The gun was still pointed at me. "She thought she could fix this, but she was way too slow."

He began to hum. An old lullaby. I thought I recognized it. The sky continued to change. The white was blotted now by red. Stained red, with bits of black.

And his eyes pulsed.

"Now that you're here..." his smile grew wider. "You should not have come with her. She brought you to me, but it will be my voice that gets heard. I will make the choice."

The sky parted, and from the other side, thousands of creatures began to appear. No one was like the other. Some were horrifying, mutilated, disgusting wretches, gnashing their teeth and roaring like deranged cattle. Others were eerily beautiful, pure and sublime, singing strange songs that flowed together into a massive dystopian orchestra.

As they descended, my body began to tremble. I was frightened. My world was gone, my life was gone, my memories were gone, my self was gone, my mind was clearly gone. And I was frightened. That's it. I couldn't run. I couldn't fight. I couldn't stop this, and I wasn't sure what was going to happen.

I tried to speak, but my voice was lost. I tried to rise, but my muscles were frozen. I tried to shut my eyes, but my gaze was trapped. What I was witnessing was the thing that all existence fears above all else. This was the coming of the end, the extinction of things, the divine. Somewhere within that massive display of impossibilities was the voice of the Omega.

And then Delodi spoke.

I couldn't hear what she said at first. I managed to look over to where she lay nearby. She was no longer looking at me. Instead her gaze was fixed upwards. I could see her smiling.

The boy. His smile was gone. He walked over to her. Standing above her, he knelt down, still holding the gun. "What do you mean?" he asked her. A deep, guttural snarl emanated from him, and the ground echoed.

"This isn't going to work." she said.

The boy scoffed somewhat. His eyes glowed into existence, narrowed, then faded once more. "Bullshit." he breathed. "You put up a valiant effort, but you were doomed from the start. He arrived just before you and gave me the chance I needed. All you did was gather the remains. You should know even better than I that you cannot undo what he has done. You cannot mend what he has unraveled. His decision will be carried on through me."

"You seem pretty sure of yourself." she replied. Her voice was confident, yet cracked. "They will hear nothing from you."

Her movements were lightning quick. I scarcely saw her flinch before she had knocked the boys legs out from under him and was standing above him with the gun. She took it in one hand and aimed it at him.

For some reason, I couldn't stop myself from lunging at her.

I knew it was strange, but I couldn't stop myself. I was afraid to stop myself. Something inside me was triggered and was fueling me. It wouldn't stop.

She aimed and shot at me, but it only grazed my shoulder. That wouldn't stop me.

She'd have to try a lot harder.

We fell to the ground and in an instant my hand was to her throat, the other grasping her arm tightly. I wasn't sure exactly what I was doing until I felt the skin and muscle begin to stretch. I smiled as I continued.

Then I felt a bone snap.

And I heard a scream.

Then I stopped.

I didn't move but to turn my head. I looked directly into his eyes, and he looked into mine. He wanted me to continue, but suddenly I didn't want to. It didn't seem to make sense. I wanted to stop, but that didn't seem like the thing I should do. I felt like I should continue, like I should tear the woman's limbs from her body and mangle what was left until her flesh was unrecognizable from that of a slaughtered pig.

But I didn't want to do that. I wanted to stop.

And he knew that. His raised gun told me so.

But then he froze. His eyes went wide and his body went rigid.

"Having troubles?" came a voice. The other boy shivered at the sound of it. It was deep and warm, and had a hint of amusement to it.

"This isn't exactly what I had expected from you."

A tall figure appeared behind him as if from nowhere, wrapped from head to toe in faded white bandages, stained with dark red splotches, but his face was left bare, and shining.

The ground he walked on could barely support him, but was somehow both proud to yet afraid to at the same time.

"I can't say I'm disappointed..." he began, but the other boy cut him off. "I'm doing it now!" he sputtered. His eyes were wide and his voice shuddered. He was shocked and suddenly didn't seem like he knew what to do.

"Well, the problem with that," the strange being stepped forward and placed a hand on top of the other me's head, "is that you've gotten boring."

A moment later, the gun clattered to the ground and the boy fell to his knees. His body was limp but upright and his eyes were half-lidded.

The man stood where he was and leaned back against a wall I couldn't see, his hands crossed behind his head. I blinked and he was gone.

The atmosphere seemed to sigh in relief.

I heard a cough and then I remembered Delodi. Immediately, I stood back up, backing away from her prone form. Suddenly my body ached. I was sore all over and my bones creaked and groaned. I was not meant for this kind of thing.

"Bastard..." she muttered.

"I'm sorry-" I began.

"Not you." she cut me off, before rising to her feet. "That man has no right to be here..." She stood upright, one arm hanging limp, slouching slightly to one side. I wanted to help her, to reach out and touch her, but she was so far away and wouldn't look at me.

All I wanted was for her to look at me.

Instead, she turned around and raised one arm to the parting sky.

I never knew such colors existed beyond the sky. It was like an infinite sunset, spread across the entirety of it. It glowed harshly, as if stretched thin across the sun.

And standing all around me and Delodi were the creatures.

They were motionless, standing at attention, waiting expectantly. They knew what was about to happen, and they couldn't wait. All their eyes were trained on me.

They were all trained on me. Their strange eyes. Their deep, luminous, fathoms of eyes, filled with endless thoughts and feelings, an eternity of infinite timelines, extending beyond this world and undoubtedly penetrating the bounds of the universe. They all gazed at me.

I was trembling.

I couldn't remember when the rain began to fall. There were no clouds in the sky. Each raindrop was like a percussive mallet, and they made soft tinking music as they met the earth.

And all was still. No one moved. Not the creatures, not me, not the other me. Nothing.

But Delodi.

I watched in silence as she slowly staggered forward, I held a hand out in silent protest as she reached the throng of beings around us. She stopped. Her balance was shaky for a moment, but she quickly regained it. Then her back straightened, her shoulder realigned, and her posture became rigid.

When she turned to me, her eyes were not her own. They were a piercing blue, shimmering and undulating like waves. She smiled in a way genuinely unlike her.

"Step forward." she spoke.

I did. I stood before her, and gazed in wonderment at this new entity before me. This was not Delodi, but something greater. The commanding voice, the eyes, and the strange way light seemed to refract about her.

She looked down at me, and blinked. "What was it you wanted to know, Aidan?"

I didn't know. I couldn't possibly recall what had happened ten minutes ago. Memory had become little more than an excuse for the impossibilities I was experiencing, and none of them seemed to matter anymore.

But looking into these new eyes, I was somehow reminded of when I first met Delodi. The first thing I had noticed about her were her eyes. That wasn't what a person's eyes should have looked like.

Then I remembered.

"Am I dead?"

"I cannot give you the answer to that question, but I assure you, it is inconsequential."

"Then what's going on?"

"Exactly what was meant to be, without a single transgression."

"And what is that?"

"You have met me."

I began to notice I was cold. The rain had soaked through my clothes and was chilling my skin. The hole in my chest was burning, and pulsed with fresh blood.

"What..."

"Yes, Aidan?"

For some reason, I didn't want to ask this question.

"What happens now?"

"That is up to you."

She leaned down and took my face in her hands. They were cold with the rain, but I could still feel a deep warmth permeating from within them. They were also soft.

She peered into my eyes, and I into hers.

The world was so tiny.

I was immediately aware of myself, and I truly didn't care where I was. The earth glowed brilliantly before me and I was surrounded by nothing.

And it occurred to me that I wasn't alone. There was someone else there.

"Hello again, friend."

It was not Delodi.

My body froze and the world seemed to reverberate with his voice. It was the man from before. I looked up to see him standing on the other side of the tiny planet. His face was obscured by light, but I could tell he was smiling. Some wicked, deviant smile, the kind that could tell you every single thing you could possibly want to know, but would instead curse your very existence into cinders.

"You don't know how long we've waited for this."

He paused. I didn't speak, and I'm sure he didn't expect me to.

"You certainly should. It was as such with each of us. We knew exactly what we were placed there for. We went into our task fully aware and prepared. We expected the same for you, but somehow that was not the case. The others think that because of that, you ruined everything."

He leaned forward and rested his elbows on something I couldn't see.

"I do not think that to be the case. Besides, there was a small part of you that did know. Knew everything, and had already made a decision. And let me tell you, I had some fun with him. Of course, I had to stop once he started getting a little predictable. I had seen it all before, you understand. Now you, you are something entirely new.

"And I think I know why He did it now..."

"That is enough, Meimon."

The man looked up and, after a moment, backed down and shrank into some sort of ceremonial kneeling position.

I turned around and smiled inwardly. It was Delodi. Or at least the girl who sent me here. Her blue eyes gazed at me so lovingly.

"Hello, Aidan." she said. "I am sorry for the abruptness of our meeting. I trust your wounds have healed."

I hadn't noticed my injuries until she said that. I looked down and noticed that all the blood was gone. My body was no longer sore and if anything else I felt more refreshed and healthy than I could remember.

I looked up to see her smiling at me.

"I am glad. You have been through some trials, child, even before meeting us. Unfortunately, most of it was undeserved. You are still a child and it is still early for this to take place, however certain elements forced an early decision." Her eyes seemed to trail for a moment toward the one she called Meimon.

"Please..." I began, but the rest of my words became trapped behind my lips.

"Yes?" she looked at me with those blue eyes, glowing brightly and warming my body.

I gulped silently and my voice quivered. "Please just tell me why I'm here."

There was a brief pause before she stepped forward. She slowly walked around me, toward the still spinning earth. She placed her hand beneath it and gazed upon it curiously.

"The earth was a mistake, Aidan." she began. "It was to be a paradise, beautiful and perfect in every way. It was at first. However, the humans were a terribly flawed species. They became too dictated by meaningless and fickle matters; matters of jealousy, of hate, of scorn and spite. The very aspects granted to them in order to bring them happiness and comfort were the very things that brought them to such low states, and their own flawed existence corrupted the earth. It is far too late to take back what has been done.

"And so I created a council of four, to analyze it and determine a proper course of action in regards to it. Two of them deemed it an irreparable disaster and recommended its destruction. However, the other two wish it left alone."

"So I'm the tie-breaker?"

She paused and looked up at me, a faint look of surprise on her otherwise calm face. "You are my fifth consultant."

I looked over to Meimon, who sat casually in a chair that wasn't there, leaned back and grinning beneath his face. He didn't speak, but I could feel him looking at me. He was entertained.

I looked back to the woman. Her eyes met mine and she spoke. "The decision is entirely up to you, Aidan. What is it you would like?"

It was ridiculous. This was ridiculous. All of this was more obscure than my strangest of dreams. I had been frightened, confused, sad, beaten, slashed, and shot, and now I was in a position to end everything I had ever known.

But what exactly did that amount to? I tried and I tried, but I couldn't come anywhere close to remembering anything before I met Delodi. I had assumed that the other me I had seen told the truth about my past, but at this point I had no reason to believe any of it.

As far as I knew, the world didn't even exist.

But that didn't mean I didn't know something of it.

"I would like to see Delodi."

In the silence, I was acutely aware of myself. I found that I could not control my breathing. I couldn't keep my eyes focused on the woman in front of me. There wasn't any wind, but I could feel the cold air against my skin, and I could feel Meimon's gaze casually piercing the back of my skull.

And my heartbeat.

The pause was only momentary, however. She smiled to me, almost sadly, then closed her eyes.

When they opened, my breath hitched in my lungs and I felt a faint smile run across my lips.

She looked down at me, smirking, then laughed. "A bit early for a reunion, don'tya think?"

I ran to Delodi and embraced her as tightly as I could.

I felt her stagger for a moment before slowly doing the same. She clenched her arms around me tightly and placed her chin atop my head. I couldn't stop the tears.

Neither of us spoke. Not at first. We just stood there. This was only the second time Delodi had held me like this, and I wanted to really feel it, before I may never again. The warmth was just as I remembered it. The cloth of her jacket. Her smell, and the feeling of her embrace.

An eternity later, she broke the silence. "I told Him this was too much for you, Aidan." She was still smiling. "It was too early for you, but we just..."

"Why did it have to be me?" I sobbed and burrowed deeper into her arms.

"I..."

"There is no answer to that question." Meimon answered.

I didn't turn to look, but I felt Delodi's face rise to look at him. I felt a different energy running through her.

"You were the one sent to evaluate the world." he continued. "The last and only one who would make the final decision. There was no chance or judgement involved. You simply are what you were meant to be."

"And that wasn't enough for you, Meimon." Delodi growled. "You snuck away and found him. You found him and corrupted him. It wasn't good enough that it be his decision. So what's happened to your little puppet? He finally die out on you? Can't see you giving up that easily."

"He was far too familiar to me. It was starting to grate on my nerves."

"Bullshit."

"What's going to happen?" I finally spoke.

Delodi looked down at me as I slowly pulled away from her.

Meimon gave a hollow chuckle. "That depends on what you choose. You can either end the earth now and allow for a fresh start somewhere else, or let it sit there spinning until it rusts and crumbles onto itself."

I considered this for a moment. "And what happens to me?"

For a long moment, no one answered.

"Your job will be completed." Delodi finally answered. I looked at her questioningly.

"We only exist to decide the fate of the world. Once our task is completed, that's it. We will be gone."

I didn't respond.

"Not that it matters, really." Meimon piped up. "Reality's no different than a really lucid dream. It's all irrelevant. Really, why should there be anything when nothing is far more simple?"

I kept my eyes on Delodi. Something was different about her. She was not the same as I remembered. Her smile was gone, and the life behind her eyes had faded.

It was then that I felt that this truly was the end. Everything had changed and I suddenly felt out of place.

I turned and my eyes took in the site of the world, and I could see all of it. From the continuous span of the oceans to the highest peaks of the mountains. I saw the cities and heard the voices. The people danced and sang. They prayed. They told stories and exchanged knowledge. They grew and died. I could feel their existence undulating, pulsing persistently from the surface. It was sadness and anger, loneliness and desperation. It was in its final death throws and yet continuously writhed onward, not even noticing its own trail of blood.

And my arm was a gun, aimed directly at it.

I couldn't stop it, and at first I didn't even consider that option. Meimon and Delodi were completely silent, both watching me.

Silently.

My eyes were half shut and my finger shivered against a pulsing trigger. My body hurt and my mind was flooded with the thoughts of billions of people all at once. I was sweating. My knees were weak.

I could hear Delodi speaking to me, but I couldn't understand her words. They were quiet and sad.

And I was so tired.

I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing. The thoughts in my head faded and my mind stilled. A single message echoed through my mind.

"Don't Give Up.

"Don't Give In."

"I am still a part of the world." I stated.

I turned and looked at Delodi.

"And I still have my own choices."

My arm was surprisingly light as I raised the barrel to my head. I smiled as a light appeared behind Delodi's eyes just as I pulled the trigger.

It was different this time.

There was no fall.

There was no pain.

There was no sound.

There was only the memory of Delodi's embrace.

And the sound of my heartbeat.