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### **A Construction Site Near the City**
It was a nice summer day for most of Missouri, but not for Ethan… "Hey, Jake, when are they going to be here?" Ethan called out, impatience creeping into his voice.
"They should be here any minute!" Jake shouted back. As if on cue, a semi-truck pulled in, loaded with pipes and construction supplies.
"They're here—come help us unload this stuff!" Jake yelled.
"On it!" Ethan replied, jogging toward the truck. As the group began unloading, Jake muttered under his breath, "I'll be right back."
No one questioned him.
The work was nearly finished when Ethan wiped his brow and decided to check on Jake. As he wandered deeper into the site, muffled voices caught his ear. He stepped behind a stack of pallets, listening intently.
"…fifteen years, boss," the masked man muttered.
Ethan's blood ran cold.
"I know," Jake sighed.
"But I told you back then—if we were gonna kill his parents, we couldn't leave loose ends."
Ethan's stomach dropped.
The masked man chuckled darkly. "And now it's time to get rid of him too."
Ethan staggered backward. A nauseating rush of memories flooded his mind—his parents dying in an "accident," Jake taking him in, becoming his mentor, his friend. Every ounce of kindness… had been a lie.
Betrayal twisted his gut, but fury soon followed.
"You are right I should have gotten rid of him while I had the opportunity" Jake says, his voice colder than stone.
Straightening, Ethan stormed into the clearing. "You planned this all along," he spat, voice shaking with rage.
Jake's face paled. "Ethan—I"
"Don't bother lying! I heard everything! You killed my parents, with a so-called road accident, now you're going to kill me, too?"
The masked man smirked. "Boss, want me to handle this?"
Jake hesitated—just for a second. Then his voice hardened. "Go ahead, He knows too much."
Ethan barely had time to react before gunfire erupted.
BANG! BANG!
Leg. Chest. Ethan fell as a chill ran down his spine, as the devil's breath seeped into his clothes, the pain surged through his body "I will bring you all to hell!!!" Ethan shouts, narrowing his eyes on Jake's calm expression as he turns to walk away, as the last bullet was fired. "Head shot" the masked man laughs
As Ethan's body slams into the ground,as
Missouri's sunshine fades, with everything around it. "So this is how I die???"
---
Ethan reawakens to suffocating shadows, an eerie red glow pulsing in the distance.
"I am alive???" Ethan asks with a throbbing headache.
He staggered to his feet, shaking, his mind replaying everything.
Jake had never been his savior. He had been his executioner.
A voice slithered through the darkness. "Welcome to hell."
Ethan barely heard it. His thoughts swirled in chaos. "They planned it from the beginning… every smile, every helping hand… all fake."
A devilish figure stepped forward. "Silence, earthly being."
"No!" Ethan snapped, wiping his tears, forcing himself to breathe.
The devilish figure grinned. "Good. You have fire in you."
Ethan narrowed his eyes. "What do you want?"
The devilish figure grinned, eyes glowing like molten coal.
"You will be reborn… into the smallest spark of existence. A fragment so insignificant, it is nearly forgotten by creation itself."
Ethan's brow furrowed. "What does that mean?"
"You will evolve. Slowly. Painfully. Each form you take will test your will. You must survive. You must kill. And in time… you must destroy the one they call the hero, In about one hundred years so become strong."
Ethan clenched his fists. "And if I refuse?"
The devilish figure's smile widened. "Then you will remain here. Bound in chains. Screaming into the void for eternity."
Ethan's voice was low, but steady. "Then I'll succeed."
Everything turned black, again…
---
Ethan found himself in a town of the dead—but they were walking.
Men with bullet holes through their chests. A Woman with knives jutting from her back. One figure limped past with a rusted pole skewering his torso. Every face was twisted in pain. Everybody bore marks of their final moment.
"ughh, where am I" Ethan groans
"What the hell?! How are you alive" he screamed. Pointing at a man with his head in his arms
Nearby atoms turned toward him, their energy crackling in the void. One of them scoffed, "Fresh meat, huh?"
Ethan narrowed his gaze. "What do you mean?"
"We were all reborn. Not as humans. Not even as beasts.
We call ourselves atoms now—fragments of pain, stitched together by rage. Just like you. And if you want to level up, you've got to kill."
Ethan's pulse—if he had one—would have raced. This was only the beginning.