The Chosen

The following is a complete work of fiction.

Any resemblance between the characters and any real life person is completely coincidental. Please do not copy or distribute the story without the author's permission.

Disclaimer:

The following story may contain erotic situations. If it is illegal for you to read this please leave now. Also expect blood, gore, incredibly funny scenes and super-powered teenagers with a destiny to save the world. If you're not a fan of any of these plus strong cursing and violence than this is not your type of story.

Chapter 19

The Sleeper of Nightmares raised his mighty arm and everything turned orange. Wait, orange? I stared down at the ground that rapidly grew smaller and smaller. I looked up at Solaris who directed the bubble, up and out of the citadel's destroyed ceiling. Omega hauled me to my feet and we watched the Sleeper slam his gigantic arm down upon the black pyramid. It exploded in a destructive blast that threw a cloud of thick gray dust into the air.

"Oh, God," I said watching the sight, dismayed. "The Dagger!"

Omega brought his arm up, dagger in hand. "I got it out just as Solaris grabbed me."

"We need to haul ass away from here and try and regroup," said Solaris, pushing his bubble to a speed that bordered near mach three.

"DO NOT IMAGINE TO RUN FROM ME."

The voice wasn't loud or booming. Those words weren't accurate enough to describe the sheer volume of sound that rent the air. It came from everywhere at once. The Sleeper bored those dead eyes on us and Killian let out an ear, piercing scream. The bubble popped and air crushed into our bodies as we fell.

My cloak and Omega's cape yanked itself around our heads and torsos, like tangled parachutes. Thick clouds whisked pasts us and we fell in a mess of limbs toward the rapidly approaching ground. Green and mossy forests dotted and stretched over the landscape. Mountains were sparse and the view held rolling hills and distant lakes. An ocean was visible far to the east covered partially with a rolling fog. I orientated myself and willed my power to slow us down. Our bodies grew lighter as my power countered the effects of gravity.

I felt an abrupt tug and I was swept up in Adam's arms. He grabbed Solaris, too, and he flew us toward the ground. We just barely managed to land on our asses without injury.

Solaris looked at us, wide eyed. "Holy shit."

"That was close," agreed Omega, breathing heavily.

I jumped to my feet. "It's not over yet. The Sleeper will be here any moment."

"Good," said Solaris, darkly. "I got a beam I want to shove right down his throat."

I didn't like the way his green eyes darkened from their normal emerald to an almost black. He was feeling the thirst for vengeance. We all were. I just hope he didn't do something reckless that defeated the point of Ryan giving his life. I opened my mouth to warn him, when the ground rumbled with a thunderous noise.

"Here he comes," Omega muttered looking to the horizon.

Kicking the mountains aside, the Sleeper of Nightmares in his entire gigantic monstrousness strode toward us. In his wake, flowers bloomed to life and immediately died, pillars of raging fire erupted from the earth, and instantly froze in solid ice. The wind howled its joy for the summoning of its master.

"He's a demon god of chaos!" yelled Omega over the roaring wind.

I planted my heels, bracing myself as the intense gale threatened to knock me back into forest behind us. Its shadow washed over us and in it I saw things that only existed in my most carnal nightmares. Pale forms, gruesome and deformed, writhed against each other in sickening sexual acts of depravity. There were other creatures and things there that cared not for the desires of the flesh except to feast upon others trapped in the private hell.

The Sleeper took another step and the ground exploded, knocking me out of the trance of his living shadow. Dammit. I had to get it together. One mistake could cost me my life. I called my magic to me and could see Omega, readying his sword, and Solaris, raising his arms. I concentrated my focus and willed the power to pool together in my hands. They glowed with an intense, white light that made me turn my head to avoid being blinded.

"YOUR DROPLETS OF POWER SHALL NEVER UNDO THE ORIGIN OF ALL NIGHTMARES."

The Sleeper was upon us.

"Ready, aim, fire away, Chosen!" I bellowed over the noise.

Our beams went high and hit him solidly in the gut. He paused, only for a moment, and continued toward us. Fuck. This was not going to work. I cut my attack. I turned to the others.

"We need to re-"

I didn't see the enormous foot till it was hitting me in the side. I went up in the air blinded by a mind numbing pain. I briefly blacked out as the pain accelerated through my body. I hit the ground about 100 meters away. I lied in misery and I could tell by the sharp pain in my side that I had broken at least two ribs. My vision went hazy and my head throbbed in hellish agony. I wasn't getting up anytime soon. I knew it. There was a burst of orange light nearby and I felt arms grab me. I struggled to keep track of things, but I felt suddenly weak and exhausted. All I knew was pain. My eyes closed and I was greeted by darkness.

The bright light of the fall sun burned my eyes.

"How do you do it?" I asked suddenly to Ryan.

Ryan, dressed in a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a black argyle sweater over it, and tanned cargo shorts, frowned at me, and cocked his head. "Do what, Chad?"

I sighed. "Balance life and you know," I lowered my voice. "...the other stuff."

Ryan leaned back against the picnic table we lounged on. It was almost six in the evening and it was the perfect time for families to be out. They cloistered around the park, strolling and laughing, each caught in their own world. I envied them and their naivety. They didn't know the things that lurked in the dark. They didn't know that with one wrong decision they might cost a life. I wished I could go back to that life. Back to that time when things made sense.

"You're talking about being Chosen," he stated more than asked. He shrugged and glanced up at the bright sun.

I followed his stare and shielded my eyes from the bright sun. I adjusted my sunglasses and wondered what it was that Ryan found so interesting about the sun. He watched that big ball of light for over a minute, silent, thinking, as if the sun above had all the answers.

"I do it the best way I can," Ryan finally replied.

I shook my head and tried to ignore the swelling bitterness. I never asked to be a soldier. I never asked to be the reincarnation of some ancient warrior. Why did I have to be controlled by a past life from millions of years ago? Why couldn't things just go back to normal? The way it used to be.

I looked at the ground, staring at a trail marching ants. "What if we just quit together? You know, stop being Chosen."

"If we stopped being Chosen then the earth will fall into ruin," said Ryan after a moment. "The time to quit passed after Atlantis fell."

I shook my head. "Why should we fight for a world that barely knows we exist?"

Ryan shrugged again. "It's the right thing to do."

"The right thing to do might end up costing us our lives," I snapped.

He didn't even flinch at my tone. Ryan continued gazing at the sun. Then he turned to me and gifted me with the most serene expression I had ever seen. It was perfectly calm and a tiny smile played at the corner of his lips. It stopped my breath cold.

"I would rather die fighting for something I believed in then growing old and knowing that I did nothing, when I knew I could make a difference."

His words battered into the bitterness that engulfed my heart and shattered it into nothingness. I gazed at him and then turned my stare to a young couple playing with their daughter in the grass. Her light, infectious laughter hit me like a ton of bricks. It was an instant wake up calm. I loved this planet. These people deserved to live knowing that light always vanquished darkness. Suddenly my feelings seemed so trivial compared to the greater good.

I looked at the sky and the light glared as the sun began to lower in the distance. The sky was awash with beautiful colors of orange, purple, blue, and red. It was breathtaking. I looked around and everyone. Woman, child, and child alike stopped to take in the sunset. An uplifting melody filled my heart. A collective breath seemed to be compulsory. It was a humbling sight and I smiled. This was what we fought for.

I glanced at Ryan who was smiling at me knowingly. "You're not alone in this, Chad. We're in this together. Life and death, this is all our destiny."

I nodded and smiled back at his understanding look. Those gray eyes were soft with empathy. I felt the weight on my shoulders mentally redistribute itself. My destiny was a heavy weight on my shoulders, but it was an important burden that we both shared. Ryan slung his arm around my shoulder.

"Now, let's go find that math book of yours," he grinned. "I saw your last test grade. You must have studied the wrong material."

I groaned. "Ryyyann! It's Saturday!"

Ryan adjusted his glasses and I saw the twinkling in his eyes, and knew that he was teasing. I rolled my eyes and jumped on him. Super strength or not I would wrestle him to the ground for this.

The touch of warm probing fingers woke me out of the dream. I groggily opened my eyes and thanked whatever gods watching over us that I still wasn't in pain. I was lying on my back in a dimly lit cave that smelled of mud and something foreign. Omega sat behind me with his legs crossed. My head lay on his calves and it was a comfort that felt safe and soothing.

"You're awake," said Omega, hazel eyes filling with relief. "You weren't badly hurt so I healed you the best I could."

Solaris appeared, a ball of light hovering above his hand that provided the light that filled the cave. He looked at me and nodded. He didn't smile but the hardness and worry on his face lessened seeing me awake.

"Good," he said quietly. "I was hoping you would wake up soon. We've already been here almost an hour. We have to decide something soon before that fucking thing finds us."

Omega helped me up and I gave him a thankful smile. "You're right. We can't hide out here."

"Do we fallback?" asked Omega.

I paused momentarily, and then shook my head. "No. I'm through running. This is where we make our final stand. Ryan gave his life here and I for one won't leave until I take them down."

"Damn right," muttered Solaris, crossing his arms and glaring at the cave's entrance.

I considered his dark mood and remembered the scene from earlier. I thought back to the goodbye that he and Ryan shared. I knew for a fact they weren't dating or secretly in a relationship. I thought to all the time the two spend together and wondered if maybe feelings had developed between them? Neither one had said anything so reason lead to the belief that they hadn't even acknowledged the feelings themselves. Death was a funny thing. It had the power to make you realize what you had right as you were losing it. I closed my eyes and pushed back the tears and sorrow. Later I would mourn. Now I had a battle to finish. I started to ask Solaris if he was alright.

He shot me a hard look, sensing what I was about to ask. "Don't, Chad. Just stop."

I closed my mouth. I shared a look with Adam. He subtly shook his head and I sighed. Fine. If no one wanted to talk about it then I wasn't going to force them. I looked at the cave entrance. I frowned, stilling like a statue. Please let me be imagining that. I listened harder.

"You hear that?" I asked quietly.

They froze in their places. "Hear what?" asked Solaris.

I swallowed. "It's too quiet."

"He's here," whispered Omega, his tone filled with a sinking dread.

A thunderous noise split the air. The Sleeper of Nightmares had found us. I jumped at the sound of falling trees crashing to the forest floor and the booming din of multiple avalanches. It sounded like the worlds biggest natural disaster outside. Rocks tumbled from cave's ceiling.

"We have to get out of here!" I yelled over the noise. "We'll be caved in!"

We ran out of the cave and were greeted with the sight of a demolished forest. The Sleeper stood taller than any mountain or building back on Earth. The very air seemed to bend around him as if it reality itself couldn't contain all that he was. It reached its heavy arms toward us.

"Elios, keeper of dreams," I incanted quickly, calling on the power of a lower deity. Gold light gathered in my raised palms, which were pointing toward the sky as if in benediction. "Help me defeat this enemy. Twilight Ray!"

Pale gold light whined through the air and struck the arm nearing us. It continued moving as if it didn't feel a thing. It wasn't strong enough. Elios was a lower deity of the dreamlands. His power was no match against a demon god. We circled around the Sleeper throwing attacks at it that fizzled against his impenetrable skin. Closeness was a key factor we couldn't achieve. We had to get close enough to use the Dagger, but it kept us firmly back. His deep and timeless voice rumbled out from his mighty chest, angered and repulsed.

"YOU THINK TO STAND AGAINST THE FATHER OF ALL NIGHTMARES."

The Sleeper blew his breath and a thick cloud of air burst from his mouth. The explosion of air suddenly spiraled in on itself and a tornado formed in the blink of an eye, growling and howling as it touched down on the ground. Whole trees and gigantic boulders were quickly sucked up in its grip.

"Fuck this," growled Solaris. "I've had enough!"

His arm shot out and at his fingertip a pinpoint of light gathered. The light was fired with a yell of fury. I was struck speechless as the light hit the tornado and it exploded in a cloud of dust. I stared at Solaris who was shaking with a barely restrained rage. His bowed head snapped up to glare at the Sleeper of Nightmares. Tear tracks on his cheeks vaporized in tiny clouds of steam. His green eyes were bright, too bright to be considered normal with they way they literally shined. Around his body an orange light flared and he shot into the air like a rocket.

"Solaris!" I screamed.

He didn't raise his hands or shout any words. From his glowing body light shot forward in a flood of orange and yellow energy. It beat into the Sleeper of Nightmares in a bastion of unstoppable force. Solaris tapped deep into his power and made me remember why he was called the champion of light. And surprise. It was working. The Sleeper actually staggered back howling in an outraged roar. Omega let out a loud cheer. I couldn't resist the blossoming hope. I gathered my own power to help.

The Sleeper of Nightmares moved quickly for a being of his size. His arm whipped through the air and caught Solaris in his hand as if he were a fly.

"Killian!" yelled Omega, running forward.

My heart lurched violently. Killian gave a pain filled scream and the Sleeper laughed. Sharp slivers of red and black light began to slide up from a cone around my feet until they had all gathered in my cupped palms. The black magic crawled along my spine and I welcomed it.

"Darkness against the moonlight-"

Omega gasped. "Stop, Chad!" He paused, frowning. "I can hear Killian- telepathically- he has a plan."

I let the magic fizzle out of my hands. "And what plan is that!"

Omega's eyes widened and he looked up. I followed his stare and saw the Sleeper stop his rumbling, maddening laugh. Killian, trapped in the giant hand, stopped his screaming and was glowing brighter than before.

"SUN..." A shaft of pure, dazzling light divided the heavens and enveloped Killian in its folds. "SET..."

The light gave off a great visible pulse wave. Night suddenly turned to day as the sky lit up. Killian was brighter than ever. I couldn't even see him anymore through the globe of concentrated light. He had turned into a living sun.

"EXTINGUISH!"

The light exploded in a wave of superheated plasma. It was like watching a star supernova. I suppose that's what it was. A ring of destructive orange light circled out in an ever expanding ring of death. The Sleeper of Nightmares bore the full front of the stellar blast and fell over with an angry outcry of hurt. Omega enveloped me in his arms and threw up a telekinetic shield. He gritted his teeth and rode out the shockwave of savage solar winds. When the last of the winds died Omega lowered his shield. I looked over his shoulder.

Solaris lay on the ground, dead. I didn't recognize him. His uniform was burnt and torn. His skin was sunburned a deep red, and his hair was gone in patches, completely burned off. I tore my eyes from his body. A broken sob tore through my chest. We might have fought, but it was fun. Killian was my friend. One of my oldest and truest friends. This was too much. Both Ryan and Killian were dead. What kind of leader was I? I had led them to their deaths.

"Chad, look at me," Omega urged softly. I looked up, thick tears splashing down my chin. "This is not your fault. We're Chosen. This is our destiny. I want you to be strong for me, Love. I'm going to go see Killian's plan through. I love you."

Adam kissed me. He kissed me desperately and with a needy urgency. It was a passionate kiss that left me breathless and off balance. Adam let go and I looked into his eyes. He winked and grinned.

"I'll be back," he promised.

Wait. What? "Adam! What the hell are you about to do!"

He just smiled and then he flew into the air. I caught a glint of silver at his side and realized that he had the Giant's Dagger. Adam flew toward the Lord of Nightmares who was just now slowly getting to his feet, still recovering from the point blank detonation of Killian's final attack. Adam soared toward the Sleeper's disorientated form and I held my breath as he lashed out with the dagger. In one stroke, Adam stabbed the blade solidly into the Lord in Shadow's heart.

"Yeah!" I cheered, pumping my fist.

I barely managed to levitate off the ground when the Sleeper fell to his knees. The ground split and ruptured into huge fault lines that went deep underground. The Sleeper grabbed at his chest and the knife refused to budge. Adam landed next to me looking triumphant. I caught a flash of movement and was quickly pushed away. The Sleeper's massive arm swung bringing down his fist. Adam threw up a shield and I reacted instinctively throwing forth my power to reinforce his shield. The barrier resisted... for only a moment.

The shield shattered. That terrible fist came down smashing Adam into the ground, hard. The ground buckled and then cratered around the fist. All life left the being and the Sleeper of Nightmares fell back dead. I couldn't even scream. I felt my mind wander as desperate denial replaced every bit of sanity I had. I couldn't believe what I just witnessed. I came to the crater and I saw Adam's broken body. It was like a puzzle that my mind refused to put together. I saw it but it didn't make sense.

Something clicked and it came together.

I screamed.

I screamed and I screamed. I fell into the crater at a clumsy run and fell at his side. Adam's eyes were closed. He looked like he was merely sleeping.

"Oh baby, wake up," I pleaded. "Please, Adam. Wake UP!"

Tears ran down my face and my vision went hazy. I needed to wipe my eyes but I didn't care. What mattered now? My hands were red with his blood. The back of his head had been broken open and I knew that he had died instantly from this wound more than the others that inflicted his body.

"You promised," I wept piteously.

My chest felt tight. It got harder to breath and I just leaned my head back and yelled my sorrow and fury to the heavens. I knew what the tightness in my chest was. It was the hollow feeling of my heart breaking.

Something slithered against my senses. At the back of my mind I felt an awful dread loom over the horizon. Something was coming. Something old. Something ancient. The last Lord in Shadow was awakening. They called him He Who Dwells Above In Mist, the Floating Horror, Atlantis' Destroyer, and also Nubas in the First Language. The light of the moon dimmed and vanished behind the thick, dark clouds that rolled in from the north. He was coming.

Gently I laid Adam on the ground. It was time I walked down my own destined road. I pressed a soft kiss on his brow and stood tall. My back straightened and I held my head high. I was ready.

The clouds writhed and shifted. A haunting melody stirred on the wind that invoked feelings of despair and hopelessness. Terrible red eyes appeared on the grotesque head that formed from the black cloud. They focused on me and that ancient mind crashed against mine.

Thoughts ripped into me like razor sharp blades, cutting and tearing. Thoughts, fleeting, and swift, touched me and left me feeling numb and hurt, empty. I fell to my knees against my will. I was small beside that ageless mind. So small. So very small. How could I have even thought of going against something so great, so appalling and beautiful in his glory? I tasted bitterness in my mind and knew I wasn't worthy to even be in the presence of something so great.

Fight it, said a voice softly in my head, coming from my deepest memories and half fogged thoughts. It was Adam, I recognized with certainty. Fight, urged the phantom voice again.

I listened to that voice and hit my hand against the ground. Still that mind invaded me, filling me up, and tasting my memories, both good and bad. I was a thrall that needed to service my master. I slammed my fists harder against the stones in the ground. They bled and I slammed them harder till the pain gave me focus. I willed all my thoughts on the pain and drove the hypnotic and wondrous voice from my psyche. I screamed out and ejected the invader.

"My mind is my own, fucker!" I howled to the sky.

The presence left me completely and I crashed onto the ground falling to my hands. I felt cold, alone, and whole. I was me and only me. Breathing ragged, I picked myself up and swallowed the blood coating my lip. I must have bit down on it too hard. I didn't even remember doing it. I wiped my mouth and met those red eyes that stared at me from on high. How could I kill this monster before it tore me to shreds?

A sigh moved through my head and it touched against my thoughts. A whisper of sound echoed in my mind. "You cannot."

This wasn't Adam's phantom voice. This was different. It inspired all the opposite emotions Adam's voice had conjured. I shivered as cold waves drowned my insides in a floor of emptiness. It didn't take but a moment for me to realize that it was an answer to my question. How do I stop this monster before it tore me to shreds? You cannot, the whisper had said. No. Nubas had said.

"We'll see about that," I said aloud.

I jerked my arms up and threw my power outwards. My magic exploded out and stabbed the air with furious speed. It hit Nubas and ripped into that cloudless form with no mercy. I shouted and poured more power into the torrent, multicolored light filled the sky. My vision dimmed but I kept on pouring more power and even the energy that kept my body moving into the outpour. Exhaustion that threatened to engulf me and its gripping arms pulled at strength. There was no way I could keep up this outpour of power for long. Come on, I commanded my body. It was no use. I fell to my knees and the wave of flowing power receded and vanished.

I looked up. Nubas floated above, whole and unharmed. Red eyes stared me down, unholy light shining in that otherworldly gaze. I had to get to the Giant's Dagger. It was the only shot I had. I crawled toward the Sleeper's body. It seemed so very far away. But I had to make it.

You are done, Nubas said again in my mind.

Unearthly, green light spiraled down from the Mist Dweller. I couldn't move in time. That green, ruinous blast smacked me to the ground. Pain, raw pain, hit me full on. Heat poured over me like water. I screamed feeling the heat rippling up my skin. I could feel it inside me, eating me alive. I could smell my flesh burn and cook under the smoldering, powerful blast.

I was going to die. I knew it.

There was no way I could get the dagger and finish Nubas off. I was on my last dregs. I could feel it. I closed my eyes, struggling to keep away the dark fog of death. If I was going to die I wanted this bastard to hurt like none other. There was one spell that was powerful enough. I grabbed at the pendent that rested on the clasp of my cloak. The five point star pendant fit easily into my palm.

I pushed magic into the pendant and it resisted my attempts. The seal that Prince Emrys had cast to lock away the spell held up. I battered at the metaphysical lock with my power. I would not be stopped. Locked or not. The deaths of Killian, Ryan, and Adam flashed in my mind. I had to do this. I growled and pushed with all my will. The seal bent and folded, then broke under my efforts. Oh yeah. Knowledge opened in my mind.

"I call upon the power of magic," I whispered, putting power into my words so it went beyond the veil, extending beyond this world and into eternity. A blue sphere of light enveloped my body. I could almost taste the curiosity Nubas projected. Oh yeah, bastard. Take a pause and notice this mortal.

The Giga Annihilation Program is the dangerous, most unpredictable primordial spell in the volumes of known magic. It involves taking one's spirit out of their body and joining it with the Heart of the Universe. The source of magic. The spark that created the big bang. The results varies to different degrees depending on the commands used.

"GIGA..."

When one's soul was one with Creation itself, the caster could do things that normal magic would not allow. You could fight a war in a blink of an eye, change the substance of the world and energy, and transport as easily as imagining a new location to be in.

"ANNIHILATION..."

The Hell Ground Zero attack was basically just a watered-down version of the "Program", which reversed itself to only harm what the caster wanted to. The Justice Apocalypse comes close but substitutes Chosen power for Creation magic. While you could reshape things on a local scale, The Giga Annihilation Program allows a user to warp things on a multi spatial level beyond that of fourth dimensional space-time.

"PROGRAM!"

Everything slowed down and I continued with the final command. "OVERDRIVE INITIATE!!"

My world went blue. I didn't call up power. The power came to me and I became it. I felt alive. All my hurts vanished as power rushed through me, filling me, and healing me. I became more than human. More than Chosen. I became a living god trapped in human form. I floated off the ground and hovered in the air. I knew my eyes were glowing blue, electric and bright, just as I knew that Nubas had met his match.

That twisting, green light cleaved through the air. I didn't bother my waving my arms. I was beyond that. A translucent blue shield sprung up and the light splattered against the wall. I smiled coldly. My turn.

I lashed out with all that I am. Disastrous blue energy lit the sky. The air hummed and the sky rippled as my power came from a source that existed past the edges of perception, time, space, and reality. The light pierced Nubas. He Who Dwells Above In Mist finally met his match and his scream of pain made the stars dim. I ripped into him and the light strengthened, not into a beam, it was too wide for a beam, it was simply an ocean of energy. The blue light cut into the ancient, billowing entity and it finally knew pain. It screamed and screamed and the stars in the sky died and began to simultaneously fall. The night sky became a pallet of thousands of shooting stars.

"Die!" I screamed in a primal roar.

Morgan, Mom, Ryan, Killian, Nathaniel, Adam, everyone I called friend, teachers, random people on the street, and people all over the globe appeared in my minds eye. This was for them. All of them. I completely submersed myself in the power and swept aside the ruinous, green blast that Nubas attempted to throw at me. The blue energy swallowed up his power, fed on it, and became stronger. The light ate through him and completely enveloped the floating being. It destroyed him from the biggest piece to the tiniest atom. There was nothing left of the third and last Lord in Shadow.

I was power. I could do anything. I was a god.

The power of Creation flowed in my veins and I knew that anything was possible. I was now a creature of life and death, energy and matter, magic and harmony. I was a force of the cycles of the universe. I pictured my friends in my mind. I emptied power into their dead bodies and it found the tiniest sparks of life within them. From there it flared and a chain reaction occurred, and it produced other sparks that thrived off each other, renewing and healing their lifeless bodies. I felt, more than saw, each come back to life with a great, gasping breath, whole and new.

However much power I commanded, I was still mortal. The power opened its mouth and swallowed me whole. I was drowning now. Drowning in the power. There was so much of it. Instead of controlling it. It now controlled me. I was pushed out of my body and something forced itself inside, and banished my mind to the far corners of nothingness.

I floated lost in a sea of blue. I was bodiless, trapped in an ocean of endless, blue light that went on and on. It was everywhere and it choked me. This was why the Giga Annihilation Program was locked away. Calling on the power of Creation was unnatural. Things, beings, unimaginable in their power lived there, chained to laws of non interference. I interrupted that balance and now my body, wherever it was, was free to use however they saw fit.

I was trapped.

This place. How long have I been here? I don't know. I wonder if anyone knows. Time isn't relevant here. Time is nothing. An hour could have passed, since I've been here, or even a day. Hell, even lifetimes could have gone by. I don't know. It doesn't even matter to me. Nothing matters.

Not anymore.

I felt broken. My mind torn and shattered all across the timeless void.

Was I insane? Could this place drive me to insanity.

I don't know. It felt like it.

This was my prison.___Punishment.

I tampered with powers no mortal should.

I was doomed here.

Oblivion was my only companion.

Suddenly, luminous red light shone through the never-ending blue. The light was like a small star, red and warm, shining brilliantly in its splendor. That light shined brighter and the blue light hesitated. A presence, carrying love, such strong love, wrapped my mind up in its warmth. I felt safe. Loved. Wanted. Needed. The red light carried me, taking me away from the prison of ageless space.

I blinked. Actually blinked. Hazel eyes, overflowing with tears, were the first thing I saw. I tried to cry, not believing Adam was alive, but I was hit with a wave of exhaustion and a burning pain that dragged me into darkness.

I spent a week in the hospital. In a coma. Turns out I had exhausted my body to the point where it just completely shut down everything except brain functions. The guys, alive and annoyingly ecstatic, had spun this great tale of us hiking in the mountains, and I had taken a bad fall. Me? Falling? Sounded plausible and highly believable I grudgingly admitted. The doctors, even my Mom, ate that story up.

I ended up with cuts, scratches, bruises and second degree burns. How I got the burns the doctors wondered. But I wasn't telling. They wouldn't scar. Advanced, supernatural healing at its best.

My brush with godhood had been more severe than I could remember. I had brought the guys back to life. Turns out their souls hadn't quite moved on yet, so that played a defining factor. I couldn't put into words the happiness that rushed through me seeing their four smiling faces. That was a plus. The bad was I had been possessed by a Divine Ancient. A First God that was curious as to what awoke him from slumber. He had possessed my body and systematically began to destroy all of the Ever After. Why? I don't know. I wasn't a First God.

That red light had been Adam throwing forth his mind to meet mine. Even in my prison caged in the eternal abyss, he had found me and brought me back to my body. For soul mates our minds knew no such boundaries that would block normal telepathic attempts at communication.

I knew no matter how normal and happy the guys acted, they all remembered their deaths. Vividly. I know I did. Each one of them. The nightmares are a bitch. For the first time in my life, I'm having insomnia. When I close my eyes to sleep I see blood and screams echo in my head.

Killian, Adam, Ryan, and I sat on a hill that overlooked the city of Centennial. We were parked on the same bench we sat on the last time we came here. We didn't bother driving since bus routes let out right near the park. I passed along the newspaper in my hand to Ryan. They were silent, each processing the bombshell I just dropped.

Ryan was the first to speak. "Are you sure she doesn't know you're a Chosen?"

I nodded, sighing. "Yeah. She told Morgan and me all about it over breakfast this morning. She's been working on this for months, checking all her sources, and double checking. She had interviews from a half dozen people who sighted us or who we've helped in the past."

Ryan's eyes scanned the front page of the paper. "She has interviews from that guy we saved from that banshee months ago, and even some from the kids we helped at the Door."

Killian choked. "As in the vampire attack that I almost died in?"

I nodded. "The very same. Now I know why she's been at work so much these past few months. She thinks this will get her that promotion she's been jonesing for. Hell, she even thinks she'll get a Pulitzer for this."

"Centennial's Heroic Quartet," read Adam over Killian's shoulder. "That's so Disney. Couldn't we be the Death Squad Four?"

We all gave him a look. He pouted and I kissed him on the cheek. "Sure we can, bright eyes. I'll help you make shirts."

Adam made a fist and pumped it down, hissing, "Yessss!" He kissed me back. "That's why I love you. You know how to `preciate me."

I blinked. "You do know that's the first time you've said I love you? It was pretty round a' bout but you said it."

"Really?" He asked, frowning cutely. "...Well I do." He paused suddenly looking tense and unsure. "You might not be ready to say-"

I pulled him into a long, deep kiss that left him speechless. I laughed at his gob smacked expression and ran my hand through his wavy, dark hair.

"I love you, too," I said, my tone leaving no room of question of sincerity or seriousness.

Adam smiled and it made me feel weightless. "You are mine, princeling."

Killian's gagging sounds tore me away from our great Hallmark moment. I sent him a reeling glare and he only smiled charmingly. I increased the heat and dammit it only made him laugh. I must be losing my touch.

"You guys are so cute I just want to shoot myself," laughed Killian.

Ryan jabbed with a rib, laughing, but thankfully, not as goofily as Killian. "You guys are perfect for each other."

"Speaking of..." I said innocently. "You two have something you want to get off your chest. Any feelings or confessions of sexual gender operations? Sorry, Killian. I heard from a friend."

Killian rolled his eyes. "Eat rocks, bitch."

I noticed that he and Ryan were sitting awfully close. Their shoulders brushed and occasionally their brushing hands lingered longer than a moment. I caught Ryan's eye and he blushed heavily. He shot me a look that said `tell you later' and I nodded, satisfied. Killian didn't catch our unspoken communication and glared at me when I smiled at him knowingly. Take that. Not laughing anymore, huh, chuckles? Aww. I felt good to be back on home court.

I cleared my throat and they looked at me expectantly. "We saved the world."

Adam chuckled. "It feels surreal doesn't it?"

Killian nodded. "I feel like there should be a parade or something. But they'll never know how close to Hell they came."

"We carry the knowledge for them," said Ryan, looking over the city. "They should never have to know."

I jumped to my feet. "We won. So it's pose time!"

I glared at them and they jumped to their feet and we all hummed, "Ta- Da!"

I don't know who tripped first. Someone stomped on my foot and I smacked Ryan in the face, by accident, with my arm. We went crashing into the ground in a mess of tangled limbs. We cackled, laughing loudly and freely, for the first time since that day. That terrible and final battle. I leaned on Adam's chest laughing just as loud. And I knew everything was going to be okay.

Time goes on as it always does, and the world continued to spin. We saved it and everyone occupying its lovely land. It felt good sometimes to just look around and realize we did it and survived. We were still here. That's what surviving was all about.

I knew that this battle was finished. But our fight was far from over. Wherever there was good there was evil. Where darkness roamed we would be there to fight it with light.

We wouldn't let evil take this world without a fight. I had some problems at first adjusting but I knew who and what I was now. I am Chad Summers. Codename: Warlock, leader of the Chosen, Champion of Magic, and Prince of Atlantis. I'm the boogeyman to the boogeyman. I'm the thing that monsters fear staring back at them from the place they dare not look. I'm not afraid of things that go bump in the night. I kill them.

The End.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Yay. Everybody is alive and we got our Hallmark ending. I hope it was satisfying. Thanks everyone who stuck with this story all the way to this point. I hope you enjoyed the ride. It's just beginning. Look out for Book two: Heaven's Trumpet. I'm not sure if I'm going to get started immediately or take a bit of break. Once again. Thanks everybody.

I have created a message board in light of missing emails. My laptop and yahoo are now mortal enemies. If you want to post a comment or drop a line you can copy and paste this link into your browser. http://www.quicktopic.com/39/H/fXmyJ3NcYt7Z or if you want to email me you can do so at Batmanhater@aol.com