In a plane of existence devoid of color, light, or form, only existed a boundless void.
No stars filled its expanse, burning with light that could fill a galaxy, nor did any shadows stretch across its space, offering a weightless comfort.
Why? For the simple fact that shadows, like darkness, were born from the absence of light, and in this plane, the concept of light didn't exist; there was simply…nothing.
But inside this place of nothing was something, and that very fact went against the laws of this void.
Kneeling in this void was a young boy, his existence giving some sort of order to the orderless void.
The boy had long milk-white hair that was tied in a ponytail that reached the middle of his back. He wore a plain black T-shirt with matching black sweatpants and a white jacket.
Despite appearing no older than six, the boy looked as though he had aged a hundred years. His deep, piercing red eyes were dull with exhaustion, dark bags hanging beneath them.
His mouth was set in a faint frown, his lips dry and blistered as if he hadn't drunk anything in days.
His left hand rested against the invisible floor beneath him, the only thing keeping him from falling into the endless void below.
His head bowed in respect to something unseen, a hint of reverence in his eyes, "So why have you come to seek me out, Hiruko of World 658B?" The entity asked its voice mechanical, devoid of anything 'human.'
The voice was neither singular nor identifiable as multiple voices rang out from across the void-like plane; some male or female, young or old, all spoke at the same time with the same mechanical, emotionless tone.
Hiruko, hearing himself being addressed, took a deep, almost imperceptible breath as he talked with a sense of powerlessness and tiredness that sounded far beyond something a kid his age should have.
"I have seen it all—" Hiruko started slowly as he searched for the words to describe the future he saw.
"My life, my death…and the ultimate end of everything," Hiruko said as he let out another breath he didn't know he was holding as a weight lifted as he finally said a truth he'd been holding in.
The entity hearing this said nothing; it neither comforted nor rebuked Hiruko; it simply listened indifferently.
And it was this very sentiment that upset Hiruko; it felt as if he were being looked down upon, like a being so powerful such as him couldn't bother with the troubles of mortals.
Clenching his fist slightly, Hiruko, knowing his powerlessness, swallowed his anger and pride as he continued.
"And you want to know how I die?" Hiruko asked rhetorically, "I die as a villain, a monster, but it's not that that upsets me; the me of the future chose that path wholeheartedly."
Hiruko started as the anger he once pushed down began to rise in his chest once again.
"But I can't accept that's all I amount to, a villain who meets his end at the hands of some child of prophecy, one whose life was predetermined by destiny. It's just not fair!" Hiruko lamented, his fist slamming across the invisible floor in anger.
"But you know I realized something, a truth that even the me of the future mistook as a lack of friendship. I lack the power to shift fate and destiny or even the power to achieve my dream.
I was damned from the moment I was born, not because of the path I chose or because I had no friends to rely on. No. It's just that this accursed world is simply unfair."
Hiruko said bitterly as he then brought his eyes to meet the surrounding void before his piercing red eyes locked onto one spot, the spot where the true entity lied.
His eyes conveying anger, bitterness, and hopelessness were all seen by the entity, who was neither upset nor surprised Hiruko had uncovered its true position.
Why? You ask, because Hiruko was nothing but a mere bug he could kill in a moment, and what person fears the mere eyes of a bug?
"So what do you want, Hiruko? It's obvious you didn't come here to lament the unfairness of life?" The entity asked
Hiruko, hearing this, his previous anger, though still there, was masked with a slight smirk as his gaze remained on the entity.
"Yes, you're completely right, but if I may be so bold to ask you something first, when was the last time you had some entertainment?"
Hiruko asked, his smirk slowly stretching into a full-blown smile as his gaze never left the entity.
—
A young boy limped through what could only be described as the remnants of society.
The rubble of what were once homes that belonged to loving families or skyscrapers that reached the sky lay in pieces everywhere.
And that very same sky that no longer had the creation of humanity filling it was now completely empty.
Not only because it no longer had the creations of humanity filling its expanse but also because it no longer had anything.
No sun, no moon, no stars, no planets, nothing; only darkness filled its space.
And if you asked the boy how long that darkness had been there, he would have responded, 'For a very long time,' because as far as he knew, it had been a very long time since humanity had last seen light.
Every little sign of what once was had either disappeared or now lay in ruin, and limping through this ruin, the only sign of life in miles, was a young boy no more than seven.
The boy had long, unkempt ashen white hair that was darkened with dirt, grime, and blood that even he didn't know if it was his own.
His eyes, lifeless and aimless, were hazel in color and obscured by his hair.
His left hand, which seemed to be covered in light purple dots, held a mechanical cylindrical device that had a big ominous red button.
And on the device was a spray-painted image of a yellow-haired boy with a big toothy smile and three whiskers on each cheek, but over the yellow hair was a red-painted 'X.'.
Eventually the boy came to a stop before a wired fence that separated him and what seemed to be the only intact building in miles.
In front of him stood a massive rundown factory with green vines covering it in its entirety. And on top of the factory obscured by the darkness was a giant plant-shaped figure.
The boy, seeing this, closed his eyes slightly as he let out a deep breath, mumbling under his breath, annoyance evident in his voice "I really hate the color yellow."
He said before jumping with supernatural agility and grabbing the top of the fence and flipping over to the other side.
As the boy landed, he broke out into a sprint toward the building with unnatural speed as he covered several meters between the gate and the building in mere moments.
Such speed something a boy his age shouldn't have been able to achieve, and as if sensing his presence, the plant shadowed by darkness turned.
As two completely demonic-looking red eyes opened, locking on the boy's approaching figure as they glowed with eerie, unnatural light.
As its gaze followed his approaching figure, the plants wrapping the building suddenly started to move with supernatural precision, and the boy, seeing this, simply…stopped.
The plants, not letting this chance go, wrapped around his arms and legs as they began roughly pulling him into the darkness of the building, roughly as if the boy were nothing but a mere ragdoll.
The boy, seeing this, made no attempt to fight back as he simply let it happen, watching with indifference.
Once the boy was brought into the building, he was strung up in the air, restrained by the vines wrapped tightly around his arms and legs.
But strangely, the boy, seeing this, felt no panic as he simply sighed, a reminiscent look appearing on his face.
"At least I get to die on my own terms," the boy said with a sigh.
"I just know he's going to be so pissed when he sees me in the afterlife hahha." The boy said, a smile appearing on his once lifeless face as he chuckled slightly.
"But unfortunately for him there's no other choice; my death was fixed the moment I got these damn dots," the boy said, his eyes glancing at the purple dots that covered his arm like a plague, disgust evident in his eyes.
"I refuse to become a monster," the boy muttered, his face turning solemn as the memories of the past filled his brain.
"And…whether in heaven or hell, I just want to be with them again." The boy said finally with a small smile returning to his face.
Thump!Thump!Thump! The ground rumbled as the sound of something big approaching the boy echoed through the building.
"Here this bastard comes," the boy said, his voice holding what seemed to be anger as he watched a dark corridor to his side, the place where the rumbling came.
From the shadowed corridor, the only thing that could be seen were two eyes the color of blood, with a soft red glow coming off them.
And after a few moments the harbinger of those eyes appeared, no longer obscured by shadows, something that could only be described as hideous.
This creature, no…monster, had a humanoid body made of ever-moving vines from which little mini sunflowers seemed to bloom all over.
Its head bloomed like a warped sunflower rising from a dead field as bright yellow petals fanned out from its head in a ringed halo.
However, instead of seeds, at its center sat something wrong, unsettling, and utterly disgusting.
A small pale patchwork face stared outward, some parts looking vibrant and soft while others old and wrinkly.
These were pieces of its victims' skin it had grafted on itself to be more 'human' and as you can see, it cared nothing for age.
Its eyes were a deep blood red that filled its whole sclera, leaving no pupil or iris.
Beneath them sat a small triangular hollow where a nose should have been, like the cavity of a skull.
Its mouth stretched into a thin dark line across the lower half of its face.
Its lips looked dry and cracked, stained almost black, forming a crooked smile that felt less like joy and more like it had forgotten how humans were supposed to smile.
As the boy looked at this creature now no longer obscured by darkness, long-suppressed anger began to well up in his chest as memories of a not-so-good past resurfaced as he looked at the very cause of it.
"I really fucking hate the color yellow," the boy said as he scowled at the creature with pure hatred.
And the monster, as if recognizing those eyes, smiled even more as it pointed to one specific part of its patchwork face, a part that seemed aged yet vibrant and sat just right above its nose.
"Run…Kid." The monster said mockingly, its voice, though trying to come off mature and caring, only sounded like nails on a chalkboard, but the monster cared not as it did its job.
"You asshole, don't pretend to be him! You'll never be him! And you, wearing even a piece of him, forcing someone like him to live on a monster like you…you deserve to rot in hell,"
The boy screamed angrily, his hand gripping around the mechanical device in his hand as he smashed the red button with his thumb.
Kaboom! Was the last thing the boy heard before everything went dark.
—
"Who the fuck is this?" a young boy said audibly, confusion evident in his eyes as he stood in front of a mirror, his eyes locked on a reflection he didn't recognize.
Staring back at him was a young boy no older than six, with long milk-white hair that reached the middle of his back.
His skin, though smooth, was incredibly pale and thin to the point where the boy thought he was looking at a skeleton.
The reflection's eyes were an unsettling red color, reminiscent of a certain plant, which unsettled the boy slightly.
As the boy looked at his reflection, a strange sense of recognition washed over him; he didn't know where, but he knew he had seen this person before.
Lifting his hand, the boy watched as his reflection mirrored him.
"This is me? But I should be dead." The boy said his confusion only grew as his mind slowly adapted to the fact he was in a body that wasn't him in a place he had no idea where.
But as he looked around at the modest house he was currently in, at the modest living room and single bowl for one that sat on a table with only one chair.
An unsettling thought entered his head: this wasn't his world.
Why? Because nothing in his world could ever be this nice; it was simply impossible. And with that revelation came a truth, one he hated, one that made his blood boil, one that made him want to scream at the top of his lungs.
"I've been transmigrated," the words trickled out unconsciously, and as the weight of the words settled on his shoulders as an undeniable truth.
And after realizing this truth boy could only feel one thing, one emotion that filled his every being: complete and utter anger.
"No, No, NO! I was supposed to die with them!" The boy yelled angrily as he punched the mirror containing the image of a life he didn't want with all his strength.
His very hit sending fractures threw the mirror as it cracked under the weight of his punch.
And in turn the mirror inflicted damage on the very hand that hit it as blood began to trickle from the boy's hands.
As pain shot through the boy's hands, he couldn't help but look up in order to check the injury. But as he checked his eyes inadvertently met the reflections.
And the sight of those eyes caused the boy's emotions began to spiral even more as he threw the mirror away from him in anger.
He then turned toward the table as he kicked it over, causing the bowl to shatter into pieces.
"I did everything I wanted. I killed that plant, I got my revenge, and I completed the mission my comrades entrusted me with…So why, why am I still alive!" The boy yelled as tears began to stream down his face.
"I just wanted to be with you guys again…to not be alone anymore…so why?" the boy said, his voice breaking as his eyes glanced toward a knife in the kitchen of this strange place.
Walking over to the kitchen with madness in his eyes, the boy swiped the knife and pointed it toward his neck.
"I already died once. What's once more?" the boy said as he plunged the knife toward his neck, only to stop inches before it met his throat as a memory resurfaced.
— (Flashback Start)
A boy sat on a metal bucket pouting as he looked at a man with orange hair and a gruff beard that looked at him with a bright smile.
"Why won't you let me fight Elijah? You said it yourself. I have potential that even surpasses yours, so why do you keep me locked up in this disgusting damp cave?"
The boy said, annoyed, as he motioned to the spacious but dark cave the two were sitting in.
The man Elijah, hearing this, simply smiled as he placed a hand on the boy's ash-grey hair which was styled as curtain bangs.
Ruffling the boy's hair, much to his annoyance, the man laughed slightly. "Haha, how many times do I have to tell you you're only a child," the man said, his eyes softening as he looked at the pain in the butt of a kid.
"So what? I may be a kid, but I can take out a level 2 all by myself. I'll let you know, hmph," the boy said irritatedly as he turned his head away from the man, crossing his arms.
However, the man, seeing this, just continued to smile.
"Don't be in such a rush; you're only seven. Kids like you should leave the fighting to us adults and stay away from things like battle and bloodshed." The man said, his tone lighthearted yet serious as he looked at the boy.
"Oh c'mon, you know better than anyone. I'm not just some kid; I should be out there fighting with you guys, putting my life on the line." The boy said as he lightly pushed the man's hand off his head.
The man, hearing this, frowned slightly. "Hey, kid, I need you to promise me something," the man said, completely serious as he looked at the boy with eyes he'd never seen before.
"What is it, Elijah?" the boy said, matching the man's seriousness as he felt the weight of the man's tone.
"If you ever get a chance to live a good life and enjoy your youth, take it even if it means forgetting us or stepping over our corpses."
The man said as he stood up slowly before turning back slightly, looking at the boy one last time
"None of us would blame you. In fact, if I'm speaking for every single one of our little group, we would give up our chance at surviving this little apocalypse if it meant you could be whisked away and live your life. Ask any of them; they would say the same."
—(Flashback End)
Clank~
Dropping the knife, the boy looked up at the ceiling as tears streamed down his face.
"I hate you, Elijah, so much," the boy said through tears, his voice cracking. "You better believe I'll find you and the others after I live this life, believe it!"
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(CHAPTER END)
S: it's nice to see everyone again and I just want to say thankyou to those who supported and waited for me I really appreciate it . Now a couple of things uploads will be slow for a bit until I finalize a upload schedule and my planning . Also I apologize for the spacing and grammar which may not be the best yet. Thank you🙇♂️