Chase opened his eyes to see the peaceful landscape of The Oasis, Sparky whimpering playfully as the hellhound slept with its chin on his thigh.
Chase smiled softly, as Kade of House Lightning gazed forward into the distant jungle.
His father had recently died a peaceful death, which made Chase happy that the man had gotten to pass on with no regrets.
Kade had just gotten the news that he had become the new head of the mighty House of Lightning, so his friend was quite ecstatic.
"Say, what is it you plan on doing once I leave?"
Kade asked Chase with a chuckle.
Chase was caught off guard by the strange question.
"I'm not sure, I guess I will continue to build new homes here, set up some new shops and continue expanding The Oasis..."
He asked, unsure of his own reasoning.
Kade frowned.
"That isn't much of a future..."
Chase shrugged.
"Why not? It's what I want."
Kade didn't look at Chase, but his gaze was so distant that it didn't really matter.
"It won't do..."
Then something strange happened.
The ground shook, and the trees began to grow so fast that Chase could see the wood slowly decaying as time passed.
"Why?"
He asked in confusion, as something began to rattle below his eyes.
He looked down, and took a shaky breath as a pile of a canine's bones were scattered around him.
"Wha-"
Kade finally turned towards Chase, a sad expression hiding in the Storm King's eyes.
"You are not one who can just chase a feeling of bliss Chase, and I tell you this as a friend..."
Chase flinched, and began to tremble as the sky slowly darkened.
He refused to speak, feeling that something terrible was about to happen.
"Your blood is running cold Chase... Why do you not stand and help your allies as they die in front of you..."
Lightning struck the ground when his voice stopped, and in the valley before them, several of Chase's friends began to fall one by one.
Neo met the orange blade of someone Chase couldn't quite make out the appearance of, and propelled in the sky, a man made from the very storm that surrounded them outstretched his arms, and hundreds of soldiers met his might in seconds.
Chase couldn't move, he wanted to... But he couldn't.
"Chase... You let these people die, because of your endless search for bliss... You will not find it no matter how many times we restart..."
Then a blade shot straight through Chase's heart.
...
Chase opened his eyes and let out a blissful sigh, he gazed forward as the beautiful kingdom he had spent years building, glistened with life.
Poppy had her head resting on his shoulder, but was also in the midst of taking in everything around them.
Her ivory hair glowed in the sunlight.
Her eyelashes fluttered, as she looked up and into the eyes of Chase.
"What now?"
She asked, fiddling with her own two thumbs.
"I-"
For some strange reason, Chase couldn't answer, but the more he tried to dig through his own memory, the more he realized that nothing was really where it should have been.
A scene of him reading a book with his own mother flashed through his mind, but he couldn't recall what book she had been reading to him...
"Why am I here?"
He eventually asked, feeling as if it was the right thing to ask.
Poppy chuckled.
"I believe this is number twenty-two... But It shouldn't be until we reach the thousands until this infinite dance ends..."
She said softly, sadness tinging in her voice.
"Why?"
Chase felt the need to ask.
"Why do you ask? It was you who is in search of this bliss is it not?"
She asked right back at him.
"No, I have somewhere I need to be... I- I just can't remember where..."
He eventually argued.
Poppy sighed, as the ground began to shake.
Chase trembled, as Poppy grasped his quivering hand.
"You have much to learn, and you can probably feel your mind shattering under this force... You will not live, all of the greater gods expect you to pass on into the afterlife, the cycle will soon end and a new one will begin... After all, when Chase dies... A new boy will be born who will bare the same curse as you. Lilith made sure that the ideology of Destiny will never cease... Never again will the pages of Eternity be turned by a force with total control..."
Chase shook his head and began to scream as Poppy faded to dust next to him.
It was true, something was breaking his mind.
He could feel information that he had not learned break his mind apart, he could feel spells that he had never heard of, engrave themselves into his memory.
Skills that no one had ever taught him, began to cloud his very judgement.
As the air began to smell of blood and rotting corpse, Chase tried to back away, to crawl, to do anything really, but it was no use.
He died again.