… Where am I?

The last thing I remember is that my hands were on fire, then I hit tried to get help, but I failed magnificently…

Am I dead? There was a flaming bomb in my hands after all.

I looked around, and all around me was just a never-ending expanse of darkness. It gave off a timeless and eerie feeling as if nothing in the universe would be able to affect the surroundings.

Huh, one would think heaven would be more interesting, but it refuses to live up to expectations.

I started walking, hoping to find something, in this endless space. Maybe whoever runs the place would let me be reincarnated with a with a more useful power in my next life? Oh, and hopefully a better family? That’s not to say my family was a bad one, but man did having to go to cult meetings even Saturday take all the fun out of weekends.

After a what seemed like an eternity, I started to doubt that this was heaven. Maybe it was hell? It would explain quite a few things about this place. But, as if this place could sense my doubt, a tiny figure appeared in my vision.

It rekindled my drive, urging me to sprint all the way to the place. As I got closer, the figure grew clearer. At first, I saw a silver twinkling, encasing the figure gloriously. Which made think it was an angel, thus this place would be heaven!

But as the distance shrunk, the thought that this was an angel was gone entirely from my mind. The silver twinkling, I had seen previously, were innumerable sacred chains, rising from the ground encasing a person. The person in question had their head down, long black hair, that was even blacker than space around, blocked me from seeing their face. The chains encircling him was like a beautiful gown, holding him down from everywhere from below his shoulders.

The aura coming off the enchained figure filled me with a feeling of fear more profound than that of which I get from Aria. It transmitted feelings of hunger, an intent filled with the desire to devour the world! It must have been a devil, and the place around him was his personal hell.

When I first felt that terrible feeling of fear, I should have escaped as soon as I could. However, as the person’s aura washed over me, I felt a desire just as keen to get closer. Like something there was the missing piece that I had always felt. My head was screaming at myself to run the fuck away, yet my body wouldn’t listen, continuing to get closer, step by step.

Arriving less than three meters away, the fear inside me disappeared. It wasn’t as if that aura had faded, but it was more like I had accepted the fact that I was probably about to die (again).

Is it possible to die while being dead? It’s not like I’m a zombie so I guess this would mean I’d just be obliterated or something along those lines?

Whatever the answer was, I didn’t want to find out. But still, I got closer and closer.

I started to feel an absolute calm, almost like an out of body experience. It was as if I was just an observer to my own body walking towards the enchained figure, where nothing could affect me, yet at the same time, I was acknowledging that I was undoubtedly about to disappear forever.

Suddenly, I had stopped, 3-4 steps in front of the devil. There was a deathly silence hanging in the air, and at that moment, all I did was stay silent, as if speaking would have broken an unspoken rule. I didn’t know what else to do except stare. First, I looked at the silver chains, noticing something that would have been impossible to see if I were not so close. Each link in the chain was engraved with intricate and delicate patterns, each harmonizing together, making a scene akin to a piece of art. It was impossible to think of the amount of time it would have taken to make many chains out of such links, but here it was right in front of me.

Next, I started to inspect the ‘devil.’ Or at least what I could see of it. I couldn’t see its face, as the long black hair was blocking my vision, and there weren’t any exposed spots for me to look, as the chains were tightly packed, almost like a cocoon. Whether because of the desire still burning deep within me, or my loss of all fear, I did something that I would have normally never done: I went to brush back the hair to take a good look at the devil’s face.

I was a little bit hesitant at first but steeled my resolve in an instant. As my hand inched closer to the hair, there was a slight pressure on it, making it hard to continue onwards. But, I continued to do so, and by the time I was virtually touching the deeper than black hair, I was exerting all the strength in my body.

I’m spending a lot of effort on something useless. How long have I been standing here trying to do this for?

When my hand finally could brush away the hair, the faint pressure disappeared, and I could move normally. And I got a good look at the face underneath, shocking me.

The devil’s features looked attractive by themselves, but something was off about how it was presented, making its face look average. Its complexion was a pale white as if the sun had never once had its gaze on it. It had closed eyes, showing off long, full lashes, framed by arched eyebrows, which rested next to a sharp nose, which produced a strange dissonance in tandem with its prominent cheekbones and delicate chin. It was like they couldn’t decide if they wanted to be an attractive boy or girl and decided to throw in traits of both, resulting in something that looked half-assed.

It was me.

But it was a little bit different. It looked younger than I did now, only around age 12-13 instead of the more matured 15 that I was. It seemed more taken care of, and for lack of a better word, ‘purer’ than I did. Its hair was longer than mine usually was as it had hair going down to even the floor, while I kept my hair long enough to cover most of my face. Who would have thought such an evil thing would look like me?

I was getting a weird feeling as I kept looking at the familiar, yet different face. Thoughts that I would never think of before kept popping up. I just wanted to consume it. To devour it. To make it a part of me. To en—

As if feeling my extraordinarily perverse and disgusting thoughts, the devil’s eyes snapped open, interrupting me, revealing shocking silver colored-eyes, yet another difference to me. For a second, the silver eyes roamed over my body, as if gauging something. I, who was standing in front of this devil, snapped out of the earlier trance I had been in, this time feeling something else. It was a feeling of envy, one where something in front of you was perfect, yet you had to be content with something incomplete. It was driving me insane.

I want to stab those eyes out. Why would I want to do that? There shouldn’t be any poin-

I need those eyes; I NEED them. Why does he have it? They should be mine. Why aren’t they mi-

What the hell is he? Why am I thinking these things? It’s just a dev…

New thoughts kept appearing, while I did my best to route them. I felt that if I acted on them, a terrible ending would be waiting for me. But it was at most something that would keep myself from doing actions that I would regret in the next few minutes before thoughts once again emerged in my mind en mass.

I’ll start with the corners. He can’t move, and that aura is ineffective, so I could try clawing it directly out. Would prying work better? I don’t want to damage the eyes thoug—

“Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.” A harsh insult, carried on a sweet voice, interrupted the notions swirling inside of me.

With this, the words building up inside of me vanished, as if they had never existed to begin with.

“How long has it been since I’ve been sealed? I do it to myself to keep you safe, yet here you are trying to steal what is rightfully mine. Did you know? That these chains in which surround me, are nothing more than air to me?” The devil me took two steps forward, dragging the chains along with him, getting close enough for me to feel his fiery breath on my face.

What the hell is he talking about? Does he have to be so close? It’s not like I wanted to think that stuff…

It was as if he could see my confusion inside of me, making him even angrier. “What? Now you’re bewildered? You don’t even know what is going to occur and you still are here? That damn man, sealing me ten years ago with that damnable artifact! If it left your hands even once then I would be able to help you! Wanting to conceal my presence, I knew it wasn't going to last! But now, they’ve locked onto him, they’ve found him, what am I supposed to do!”

“…”

I was still confused, but deep in my mind, I was wondering if this sort of thing happened to everyone that died. Like if someone died from old age, would they just come to find a younger, eviler version of themselves just spouting random shit that confuses them? Then I started to feel bad for people who commit suicide; they came to escape the bullshit in their mortal lives, only to meet up with some batshit crazy person like this. Maybe if people knew this would happen, suicide rates would go down?

Now that I think about it, I wonder if my body is intact. Did I burn to death first, turning into ashes, or did the bomb blow up first, rendering the clubroom a bloody mess? Too bad I’m stuck here with this lunatic... if only I could be a ghost to see the looks on the rest of the club when they discover my remains. I feel like at least one of them would throw up spectacularly. Maybe it would even be Ben! Afterward, I woul—

“Now you’re off on a tangent! Oh, Geroth above! Why am I stuck with this halfwit on the eve of peril?! Even with great talent, it’s useless without any intellect! We’re going to perish for sure, FOR SURE!” Screaming in my face, his remarks turned into ones of panic. The chains holding his arms down disintegrated into fine particles, before lifting his hands up to clutch his face in a sort of inward pain.

Now, I was sure he had a mind-reading ability; something I had wished countless times for. I grew slightly jealous, about why some random crazy person I meet when I’m dead has a better power than me from the get-go. So, I decided to vent a little bit.

“Look, you crazy lunatic, if you want me to understand what is going on, you would have to explain the context to me. Even little kids know something like that. Now I don’t have time to spend bothering with you. I have somewhere else to be.” I stopped there, looking at the devil’s dumbfounded face, before searching the surrounding area for any signs of a way to leave. Just darkness everywhere, no different from before. I turned back to speak to the devil, “Do you know the way out of here? I would hope so, but you do seem sort of out of it. Actually, ‘sort of out of it’ is an understatement; you’re a lost cause. No sense of personal space, a severe case of chuunibyou, no respect for those older than you, I might as well look for a way out by myself.”

Then I spun to a different direction from the way I had come from and began walking in a straight line without looking back.

If it was a devil, wouldn’t they have to be thousands of years old? I’d have to correct my statement then… Well whatever, it's his fault for looking younger than me.

“YOU INSOLENT BASTARD! GET BACK HERE!” Came the angry voice, accompanied by a raging aura.

I turned back to see the look on his face, but what greeted me was a silver chain whistling towards me. The first thing I did was roll over to the side, dodging the chain coming towards me, before getting up and starting to sprint as fast as I could.

What the hell! This is probably the only time I’ll ever be grateful for those summer camps Father made me attend. I don’t even know what would happen if he caught me…

I kept looking back to see if any more were coming at me, and just as I predicted, he sent more chains along with an angry shout, “YOU DARE TO DODGE?! I’LL KILL YOU, YOU UNGRATEFUL BRAT!”

And with that, started a long game of tag, one where the chains were ‘it’ while I tried to get out of there. It was a refreshing bit of time, I didn’t get exhausted in this abyss, so I could run and dodge as much as I wanted to. The devil was waddling around trying to chase me; it seems like he was exaggerating when he said the chains were ‘like air’ to him. At most, he only broke out one of his legs to slightly increase his speed. The problem was the increasing amount of chains that were sent hurtling towards me, accompanied by hate-filled insults towards me. While it didn’t seem like the devil had excellent control over them, the number of chains made it hard for me to find places to dodge to.

But, as all things must come to an end, so did this.

Thanks, Father, there would have been no way for me to keep up for this long without those crazy things you made me go through... It’s only too bad I’m dead now, I would have liked to thank you one last time in person, I had always thought that you were an outrageously sadistic father who loved to see his son being tortured, beaten black and blue, day and night, after forcing me into a circle of sucker punch obstacles without any protective gear.

"..."

Now that I think about it, all I want to say to you is “Fuck you.”

I was slowly dragged by one foot towards the devil at the start of a single chain, before countless more joined in, turning into a cocoon leaving only my head exposed. As I was being pulled, I could only think of what someone else would feel if they could see this scene; where a giant cocoon had arms and a leg free while dragging a smaller cocoon towards him, that of which looked the same. It made me chuckle a little bit.

When reaching the devil, I was hung upside down, forced to stare at his darkened face for an indefinite period. It was quite awkward, and I could feel his turmoil of emotions, ones of anger, hatred, and helplessness. Then came the talk, surprising me once more: “You’re better than I thought. It’s something that I can work with… You don’t seem too stupid, even though you have no idea what’s going on. If you can live through what is coming next, I might forgive you.”

I looked at him, this time I was the one with a dumbfounded look on my face. “Weren’t going to kill me or something? What was even the point of all that if you were just going to stop?! What’s coming? Why would I even want your forgiveness?”

“Ah, that was just me venting my anger, only an idiot would think someone can kill them in their own origin space. As for what’s coming… I’ll give you some advice and some help: Do not ever trust the fateless ones. They are our eternal enemy, our only equals in the universe. We are made to destroy each other, to devour each other. There can never be a day when we get along, never forget that.” He looked deeply into my eyes, engraving that pair of serious silver eyes into my memory. “While the seal is lifted now, you’re the one in control. Don’t get us killed or I’ll kill you.”

I’m already dead though… Plus all that ‘advice’ you gave me was just some more chuunibyou stuff; completely useless drivel. Fateless this, enemy that. What a scam. I just want the way out of here, but I’m still stuck here with this hare-brained chained person!

I was still looking at his face while I thought that, and I could see his face darken.

“The only hare-brained lunatic here is you! AWAKEN!”

The last thing I thought before a restless feeling enveloped me was: Jeez, this guy has no chill.