Volume One - Chapter Six: My First Day in Hell

“Son, be careful.” My dad glanced at the witch, then said quietly, “try not to die.” Whaaaatt? My parents are letting me go with this old hag, and they think it’s likely that I’ll die? Screw this. I started running at that point… it didn’t work out well for me. Dad drug me back saying, “Say goodbye to your Mother, and don’t be a brat to Grandma. She has her ways of ensuring you never do something that stupid again. It’s much better to just never learn about them.” He glanced at the witch and shivered, as if remembering something horrible from his past.

Of course, that just scared me even further. I think dad is just as scared of her as I am!

My mother couldn’t stop crying, which of course made me start crying. Damnit, I’m supposed to be a big boy. What’s up with these stupid tear ducts. After a sloppy, tearful hug and kiss goodbye, Great-Granny Kingsly said, “Time to go boy.” Before I could even pack anything she whisked me away. I don’t know how, but one moment we were standing in my bedroom. The next, we were in front of a private jet with two humongous golden eyes, slitted like a cat’s pupils, painted on it’s tail. “Never seen that before, boy? That’s the family emblem. Come now, were going to your training grounds.”

So, we boarded the plane together. She actually fed me, just that once. It was a wonderful dinner of steak and potatoes. Tasted better than anything I’d ever had before, it felt like the meat had a special kind of energy in it, filling me up. I wished I could eat food like that every day… If only I’d known then. Be careful what you wish for kids! After dinner, I mysteriously fell asleep again. I think there’s something wrong with me, why do I keep falling asleep for no reason?

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Jaw’s POV

That meat was amazing! Everyone was stunned, we could somewhat recognize what it was. It was similar to magical beast meat except… there wasn’t any mana in it. There was something else, an energy that seemed more concentrated than mana. When we were put back in control of David’s body by Granny-Kingsly, we couldn’t shut up about it. “What was that?!? That was even better than magical beast meat!!! I thought mana had left this world…” this continued on until she slapped us. Ouch, no need for physical abuse you old hag!

“Just shut up and listen. I’m giving you an assignment, you have six months to complete this assignment. If you fail... there will be consequences!”

That shut us up real fast. In all our lives, we had never met someone like this. Someone who could so easily look down on us. As if, we were but a little kid in her eyes… Now we know how everyone else feels when we look down on them.

She went on, “What you’ve done to your soul is actually ingenious. It requires an incredibly powerful soul, with great control over itself. The problem being, you are starting to turn schizophrenic. Each of your personalities has been independent for too long, the bonds holding you together, the bonds that make you who and what you are, are breaking. If this continues, your soul will fall apart. You will all disappear, as if you had never existed.”

Wow, she really knew how to get our attention fast… How’s that quote go? “When a man knows he’s going to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” (Samuel Johnson) Hopefully, we have more than a fortnight, but still...

“So, here’s the deal. I’m about to drop David off on a certain mountain I own. Your assignment has two parts. Keep the kid alive, and integrate your personalities. You already know how to, right?” Of course we did, if we didn’t know then we’d have never been able to split ourselves off in the first place. We just didn’t reintegrate because we like being independent. “I can see it on your face, you’re hesitating. You have six months! If you haven’t completed the integration by then...I’ll force you to do it myself.” She smiled at us evilly. We had the feeling that, if she forced us to do it, we would not like it. Not one bit.

“Good, you understand.” She waved her hand, putting David back in control.

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David’s POV

Yup, something is seriously wrong with me. I’m standing up, but I was just asleep, so why am I still standing up? I wanted to ask Great-Granny Kingsly about it but, she just smiled at me. Never before had someone’s smile made my skin crawl. I learned that day, just how scary the witch in our family is. All she said was, “Good luck.” Then she opened up the door to the aircraft and threw me out the door. While cackling, “Kekekekekeke”

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

I screamed. I cried. I cursed. My life was ending already. My birthday is tomorrow, I was really looking forward to that. I know Lizzy got me something special, but she wouldn’t tell me what no matter how much I badgered her. Thoughts of regret flashed through my mind as I fell, and fell, and fell. I couldn’t take it any longer, closing my eyes and just wishing to get it over with already.

Wait, shouldn’t I have hit already? I opened my eyes again, only to see the canopy of a humongous forest approaching swiftly. As I fell, I looked in all directions, but couldn’t see any signs of civilization. It seemed as though I was slowing down. Somehow, I knew how to maneuver my body while falling. So, I turned around, putting my feet towards the ground. Just in time too, I crashed through the trees and into the ground. As soon as my feet hit the ground I fell on my ass. Breathing raggedly, my heart felt like it was trying to claw its way outside. My entire body was shaking, and I couldn’t stop it. As the fact that I was actually alive sunk in, I lost all the tension remaining in my body. Instantly passing out… for real this time.

I don’t know how long I stayed that way, but I woke up because the ground was vibrating under me. I heard something walking nearby, “Clunk, Clunk, Clunk”. At first, I wanted to run, to hide, to find a good place to curl up and sleep. But, something wouldn’t let me. It was as if my subconscious was screaming at me to move, so I did. I went to check out the sound because I just knew I had to for some reason. I cautiously moved through the brush, making very little noise. I even tested the air, making sure to be downwind from whatever it was. As I approached, I saw a bear. But, I thought bears were only supposed to be 8 feet tall, at most 10 feet. This guy was nearly 15 feet tall. “Ok”, I thought, “I think it’s time to leave.”

While I was falling down, I saw a mountain to the north. I figured the mountain couldn’t be any worse than this hellhole. So, I started slowly sneaking my way north. The gigantic bear had me freaked, and as I sneaked past I saw snakes, wolves, foxes, etc… They all had one thing in common, they were too big. Thank god for all those years hiding from my parents and Lizzy. The further I went, the more I realized that my family is abnormal. Lizzy would have found me long ago, don’t even mention Mom or Dad. Hiding from them is nearly impossible. But, I was able to sneak past all these wild animals with little effort.

I’d first realized that something was weird about my family after the fourth time I broke a bone. Usually, I broke them at home and they’d be healed within a few minutes. But, that time, I broke it at preschool and they called an ambulance. My parents didn’t get to the hospital until after the cast had already been set around my left arm. I begged them for nearly a month to heal my arm, but they refused. That was when I finally realized that normal people couldn’t break a bone one day then be using it perfectly fine the next.

Now, as I snuck through a forest filled with oversized predators, none of them even noticed me. This is just ridiculous. I was thrown out of a moving plane from who knows how high up. Yet, here I am, perfectly fine. As I was gloating over my own, and my family’s abilities, I got distracted and hit a root with my foot. *Thunk* This was a stupid mistake I’d usually never make, but I did. Instantly, a wolf turned towards me. I stood there, frozen in terror. The wolf was twice my size, and it even cheated, calling for backup. Howling, the entire 8 wolf pack came charging at me so fast I knew I couldn’t run. Instead, I climbed.

Huge mistake, I got away from the wolves only to find myself staring at a snakes head. This snake was nearly 200 feet long, it was hanging its body across 15 different trees. Apparently its natural habitat is in the trees, it just grew a bit too much… Well, between gigantic snake, and a pack of wolves, I’ll pick wolves every time. So, I got my ass back down that tree. So fast, I could have sworn the friction caused the bark to catch on fire. Soon as I hit the ground, I was sprinting, heading generally northwards. While a horde of predator’s chased after me.

Why? That was all that I could think. I was running faster than I’ve ever run before, faster than I thought it was possible to run. Why, o why, did my Mom and Dad abandon me? At first, it was just the wolves and snake chasing after me. But, how could a giant snake see 8 wolves and not take the time to eat them? So, now it was just a giant snake. Of course, as I was running, I ran into couple of the gigantic 15 foot tall bears and their cubs. Hell, the cubs were nearly 8 feet tall. To my nearly 4 foot self, I felt like I was marooned on an island of giants! I altered my path slightly, flying by the bears while the snake pursued. Of course, the snake ate the bears too. At least it was still only the snake chasing me… That didn’t last for long though, I finally got to a clearing in the woods. As I was running across it, a bird that was 3 stories tall and had a wingspan of nearly 100 feet swooped down. It grabbed the giant snake with its talons, flying off to enjoy it’s feast. At this point, the entire damned forest knew about the tiny human intruding on it. It was like they were playing with me, herding me around from one group of predators to another.

Must… Keep… Going… I’d been sprinting at full speed for nearly 4 hours at this point, I was beyond exhausted. I should have been down for the count hours ago. But, every time a beast got too close to me I’d stumble in just the right way for it to miss me, or something would attract another predator’s attention keeping them. Somehow, I just knew that as long as I kept going north, I’d be ok.

Another hour passed. At some point, the woods started thinning. There were only 12 wolves left chasing me, but they didn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. Finally, I ran out into the open, no more trees in front of me. I just kept running, turning to take a quick look behind me, they were all still there. Damn, I think I’m going to die. I resolved there and then, if I died, then Great-Granny Kingsly was going to be haunted for the rest of time!!!! As I was running, I saw a fairly large river going over a cliff. I had no energy left at this point, I could barely lift my legs. Looking back, I decided I had no choices left. I jumped.