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This story and its characters are completely original and belong to Zelosh and him alone. Any resemblance it has to another story is accidental as well as coincidental. While this story is fairly clean there may be things you find inappropriate or offensive. Read at your own risk.

With that, enjoy your stay inside The Eternal Door.

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Eternal Door

" Follow me"

"I won't accept this." They were walking through the maze, casually enjoying the strange flowers and slight breeze. Blake could swear Jack only knew how to scowl, like he had never done anything else since birth. "I'm not following that moron. Yeah, lets all go through the bookshelf and toward our imminent deaths without a clue as to what's going on! That makes sense! Hey, maybe he's so damn green he felt the urge to come outside and frolic around a bit before getting us royally screwed over!" The sarcasm level was kind of annoying, and the mood wasn't getting any better since he was trying to watch out for the distracted cheetah. The one who was continually being entranced by the flowers and getting herself stabbed. "Idiot stop touching them!" He didn't want to do this, but Jessica could be pretty damn scary and he didn't want to face her wrath if he could help it.

"They're pretty..." Kid whimpered in response and continued to stare at the passing flowers. Jack could only shove his palm into his forehead, clearing not following the logic like she was the idiot.

Blake, who was normally pretty level headed even in the not so rare bar fights, was beginning to get a little agitated. The only reason he didn't blow up on the twerp was because of Jack's ragged appearance and the pity he felt along with it. The somewhat worn clothes with permanent stains, the odd things he kept with him on a wire around his neck, the way he looked at the ring he now held with its crimson hue, the eyes with utter disdain for the rest of the world... The tiger knew when someone was use to living on the streets just by the way they carried themselves, and chances were Jack had been an orphan for a good time now. He felt a bit of sympathy to put it simply, if not empathy because he knew it all too well, but it still ticked him off.

"Look I don't like this any more than you do, but guess what? Ryan was the only one who was going to do something about it. Go back to home base if you want, go to your room, I don't care! But he was right, there ain't no way in hell I'm waiting around for something to happen when I can change the outcome." He heard grumbling from behind him but nothing really audible, and he wasn't paying attention anyway. At the same time, some part of him told him to be nice to the poor kid, this situation was hard enough for everyone and he had to try to remember that. That, however, was going to become hard.

"Ah! I told you not to touch them!" Jack suddenly shouted from behind and went over to Kid who was tearing up, her fingers were cut and bleeding. "Stop whining its your own damn fault, you big idiot..." Blake was tempted to yell at him and tell him to give the girl a freaking break, but stopped himself. "Pipe down you can take it. Here let's use this..." Jack pulled out a torn strip of cloth and tried to figure out how he was going to do this. Carefully he wrapped the wound, somewhat sloppily but it did the job. "There!" Kid just looked at the bandage that was almost restricting full control of her fingers. "You better not complain... you like pissing me off don't ya? Well... come on..." He took her by the hand and helped her up before abruptly pulling her along with him.

Blake was dumbstruck, he didn't expect that at all and just dumbly followed behind them. To most that might have looked rather rude and rough, but he saw much deeper. In her eyes, the ones still wet with tears, there was this awe that was completely fixated on the lizard before her. His next words weren't suppose to actually come out of his mouth but did anyway. "You're like her older brother,rm Jack."

Jack stopped, turning as if to argue, but for once couldn't. He had nothing to say, so instead he just threw her hand away and stomped on ahead, leaving her to simply stare after him with both hands to her chest. Then, she trotted after him trying to catch up.

"Don't follow me!"

"Its a straight path..."

"I'm not talking to you Blake so shut it!"

It really was a straight path, there were very few turns to take and the ones they took were simply because of whim. No planning ahead, just using a gut feeling that told them to go left, right, or straight. They all knew they had to reach the destination, and frankly they just wanted to get there and get it over with. Blake and Jack could agree on one thing, this was completely retarded. Who would try something like this? Sure, most of the stuff he had seen so far was pretty freaky, but nothing that seemed absolutely impossible. So in his mind, this was all some ridiculous hoax.

Still, they continued on with the occasional small talk, ignorant of what could happen. They were so ignorant, of every feeling, of every wish, of every choice they had. However, who can blame them? When every step decides a million more, it becomes hard to keep track of, and yet it decides everything. They are deciding everything, and they can't do anything to stop it. Even if they were to die now, their choices would continue on, forever.

The first sign that something was beginning to change in their walk, was a simple comment from Kid. "There's a bird..."

Blake and Jack look over to find her pointing to something in the sky, but they look up at the exact moment the sky went dark again from the moon's phases, and they didn't look long enough for it to become light again. "Well we are outside... though it's nice to know there is something other than us in this god forsaken place," said Blake with a shake of his head.

"You're just distracted by everything aren't you?" Jack gestured for her to hurry up and keep moving.

A minute later, she spoke up from behind again. "Never mind..." They both turned around with equally confused expressions, they need not speak for her to understand she wasn't make any sense. "I mean... it wasn't a bird, so never mind." The cub stuttered a bit, feeling slightly frightened, this place was getting to her and so were their stares.

Blake was the only one who seemed mildly interested. "So... what was it then?" Jack groaned and kept moving.

She shrugged. "I dunno... it kind of looked like a jellyfish."

"And I bet the sky isn't actually red, it's RAINBOW colored! Hey, and maybe if we spin around and touch our noses, the moon will stop fucking changing like that!" Jack's sarcasm knew no bounds, and it never ceased to annoy the black tiger. However, something got revenge for him. "OW! It stung me!"

The lizard's sudden outburst raised the tiger's curiosity. "What stung you?"

"Hell if I know, I think it was just a thorn."

"I told you, a jellyfish did it!" She kept insisting on it.

"Shut up! It was just a thorn!"

"You said you thought it was a thorn."

"No one asked you Blake!"

"Get away from the jellyfish!"

"Shut up!"

It was getting a bit out of hand, Kid was really alarmed, Jack was just getting all moody as usual, and Blake was wondering if he should just keep walking. Before he could decide though the conversation between the two continued again. "Look you little brat, jellyfish shock, they don't poke at people! Also, if you hadn't noticed, jellyfish don't fly!" He threw his hands up exasperated as Blake decided to look up.

"That's... not a jellyfish Kid."

"Yeah see? Even Blake agrees that... wait what?"

Jack was caught off guard realizing he was suddenly the minority in this debate. The other two were looking up so he decided to as well. Against the scarlet sky were several disc shaped silhouettes high above them. It was hard to see, but they all seemed connected somehow. Blake suddenly felt his arm sting and spun around to catch a glimpse of something rope like fly upwards.

"What the hell was that?"

"It can't see..." She muttered, trembling slightly as she suddenly ran over to the tiger hugging him around the waist seeking protection. "So it's tasting us."

Jack blurted out feeling the direness of the situation come crashing on him. "Why would it be tasting us?! What is it?!" No one answered him, he felt his muscles tense up. She need not answer, somehow they all could guess a bit of what was going on.

Suddenly, it began to descend, so Blake wasted no time in picking Kid up and urging the reptile to start running with him. He didn't want to look behind, but he did occasionally anyway. It was hard to see though and the thing behind them was rather translucent with seeming little to no color at all. Actually, it was tinted yellow but it was really hard to tell. Actually, the moon had darkened out of nowhere and now its cycles were deadly and empty. Actually, the maze suddenly became complicated with turn after turn. Actually, what the heck was going on anymore?

Its main body was simple, a porous ball that seemed to stretch and deform, but it had four long arms the reached downward. At the end of each, a truly jellyfish like figure dangle below it, but none of them had any tentacles to speak of that a jellyfish would have. Although, he caught a glimpse of the tongue like figure stretching out one of the arms.

None of them spoke out loud but so many words were being passed between them unheard by the ears. They had concluded something was terribly wrong, and they had decided to run for their dear lives. The maze was so complex now, they could no longer just go straight as they were forced to decide between left and right. So they had to move quickly to make up for bad choices, they had to buy more time by getting as lucky as much as possible. Thankfully, the creature was slow, but it never went the wrong direction, it always knew where they were. All the while, Kid whimpered and sobbed into Blake's shirt, every inch of her body was terrified beyond all reason. Her whispers were incoherent and incomplete. "The smell... not the way... they're coming... this isn't our destiny."

Blake was trying to make some sense of what she was saying as he was unable to deny her plea. He had to protect her, but he still didn't understand what was wrong. In fact, he even tried to go in different directions but she never said he was going the right way. He even sometimes stepped back towards the thing chasing them and she still said it was wrong when she was asked. Why was he so concerned about what she thought right now? She was a kid, she was scared, that was all, but he couldn't help but make decisions based off of her. Where could he go though, when every direction available was the wrong way?

It was strange, they were running from something they knew nothing about, a world they knew nothing about. Yet, it scared them more than it intrigued them, so they ran. They would not get involved, they didn't want to know what the true danger was, they didn't want to know if there was actually danger at all. Despite everything, all they wanted was to be left alone by something that was impossible to truly understand. They wanted every nook and cranny to hide in, they wanted every exit and escape they could find, and most of all they wanted to never learn everything there was to know about all of this. However, there was one thing that slipped their minds in this process. They could escape, but in order to do that they must get out entirely and stop dangling so close to this "edge." They vowed silently to never fall off this imaginary cliff, but they stayed too close so it was inevitable. "Why are you going the wrong way..." It was inevitable that they should fall because they had lost track of what they had set out to do.

"Dead end!" Jack had gotten a few steps ahead and informed them of the grim news before they got there. Blake instantly whirled around to sprint the other direction, but it was clear the thing chasing them was already looming above them. The most frightening thing was, they had no idea what would happen, but it was here now. They couldn't run away anymore.

Blake was alert as could be, so he saw its next move from a mile away. One of the jellyfish like appendages suddenly lashed out and rather than hit him latched itself onto the hedge behind him. While he didn't want to get distracted, he couldn't help but watch as the flowers and branches were suddenly slashed and diced. It was like a mouth, few feet in diameter, that shredded anything within its grasp, and there were still three more just like it.

The lizard had manage to dodge one but was whip lashed by another and sent reeling back. It hurt, but the monster was surprisingly soft and squishy. "Come on Jack!" They set off at a run again but one of the arms blocked the path ahead, so they turned. Realizing that the escape plan wasn't really working as it always seemed to block the straight path out, they had begun to move silently and in confusing patterns trying to lose it.

"What is that thing... why is it after us?!" The boy was beginning to become hysteric and twitchy.

"Shush!" The tiger spoke in a harsh whisper as they nestled themselves into one corner of the maze. He let Kid down and was trying to figure out what to do. He was the adult here, so he had the responsibility to keep the other two safe. "I just need to figure out how it works..."

"It smells us." Kid spoke up much to the guys' surprise, and what she said left an unsettling feeling in the pit of their stomachs. Looking at her with silent questions she continued shaking as she talked. "I mean... I mean... it can't see us. So it like... tastes us, and then can smell us from anywhere, but not very well. It... can't really tell exactly where its coming from. The smell that is."

Blake was trying to register this, and truthfully it made sense. It made sense in a weird, disgusting way, but at least it did. "So... because we were moving so much, we left enough of a trail for it to follow us?"

Finally, the last member of their group caught on as well. "That explains why it's easy to predict, as well as why it would block off all paths in our area."

"Because it can't see, so it improvises by persistence, strategy, and chance." Blake finished what they were trying to say and wrapped a pretty bow around it. The only question left to ask, was how Kid even knew any of this, but no one asked. Now really wasn't the time to be second guessing each other.

After a few minutes of watching, the oldest one had to make the decision that no one else would. "I don't want to do this, especially with you guys here, but I think its time we went on the offensive. I just don't know how yet."

This is where Jack jumped in, excited at the new plan. "Just tear it apart! When it hit me it was really soft, so I'm guessing it tears easily. Things have to be like that to fly right?" Blake, rather impressed by the boy's observation, simply nodded and then grinned mischievously. It was about time this game stepped up a bit.

* * *

Determination, will, perseverance, resolve, and courage. Last he checked, he had none of those, but somehow, here in this desolate world, it came back like a long lost friend. It was his only makeshift companion at the moment actually, because after all he was completely and utterly alone in this world. The moon taunts and causes him to stumble, but it's not really there with him. The flowers distract him and plunge him into self affliction, but they were only a trick of the eye. The monsters, ones that overwhelm him with sheer power, ones that gnaw at his ankles till he stumbles, and ones that simply watch and whisper softly into his ear. They too, have no substance to speak of. They are no figments, they are quite real to him and others, but even so he is still quite alone.

Ryan walked slowly down the path, feeling no need to rush like the wind did as it pushed him on. Narrow was the gate and small the path he walked, it went straight forward all the way to the end. It was the path few walked, the path despised by many, but it was the right path. Broad is the gate, and wide the path, that leads to destruction.

Here, he moved on with bated breath but determined eyes. Gil and Jessica were now stuck behind in order to recover and the job of completing the task at hand fell on his shoulders. The situation couldn't be worse in his mind.

It actually rather bothered him, all of the sudden, there were no turns. The path was a simple line whereas before it felt like the possibilities were endless. He didn't realize it before, but the whole time, he never really wanted to get to this "destination." First, he thought it was all about just wandering around until they made it there, but then everything became about survival. At the thought of the monsters out there his tail wrapped tightly around his left leg like a coiling snake. It seemed to subconsciously show his emotions, or emotions entirely of its own, even if he wanted to hide them. It was like it was trying to protect him, provide that feeling of security, secure his footing, and keep his legs going.

There was one serious problem with this path though, even if it did lead to the place he was suppose to go it came at a cost. There were no corners, there were no shadows, there was no way to hide, and no place to run if he got surrounded. That's how he survived up until this point, so he glanced side to side nervously, vaguely wishing there would be another way to go. I can do this, I need to reach it. He had to keep reminding himself, it wasn't about surviving, it was about completing the goal. Assuming his friends were okay once they got back then surviving shouldn't be that hard, but that's only assuming they're okay. He never really got a close look so it was hard to tell if the hand Gil had been waving him goodbye with had regained its fingers or not.

Walking along, unable to see the end, Ryan barely noticed when the sky suddenly darkened, but soon it was obvious as it had become rather hard to see. "Shit... shit..." He just kept saying it over and over again, hesitantly moving forward before increasing his pace into a trot. Something was coming, he just knew it. His suspicions were unfortunately confirmed as a high pitched screech came from behind him. He suddenly felt quite motivated to get to the destination as quickly as possible.

Regrettably, he had to stop again, his greatest fear at the moment had come true. He was now blocked from both sides, but in front of him was an unfamiliar entity. It looked like a giant metal case with large bolts and screws placed needlessly along its surface. It looked just big enough... for Ryan to fit inside.

To his horror, the metal case slowly creaked open to reveal its insides which highly resembled a spiked coffin. It was indeed a death bed, and it was alive. Honestly though, it didn't seem like a real danger, until those appeared. They were simple bits and pieces of reflected light at first, that is until he identified the reflective material as metal, and that it was all around him. There was a multitude of iron chains freely dancing around him and slowly closing in. He was surrounded before he had a say, and he'd soon be pulled into a spiky death. The only thing that stopped the moments from feeling like hours, was the constant screeching telling him that something else was close behind.

* * *

Everything was in place, they had come up with the best plan they could given the situation. Blake would be the muscle here, Jack would distract, and Kid could do whatever she honestly wanted to do as long as she stayed out of trouble. Once in his temporary place the tiger waited patiently for things to begin.

Jack had suddenly appeared and began shouting out at the monster above them. "Hey ugly! How's the god damn weather up there!" In case it wasn't enough they found some small rocks and branches to throw at it, and soon the great sponge in the sky had found and directed its attention towards him. Understanding this, he got ready to dodge the constant barrage of attacks to come. The first mouth thing to come at him was off a bit but he felt the need to move anyway, just to find himself cut off by another one doing a large sweeping motion down the alley.

Blake ignored whatever else was going on and went for the arm that attacked first and grabbed holding of the long squishy tentacle that connected it to the main body. After a while of dragging and pulling it around, literally taking the thing out of the sky, it began to fight back seeing the tiger as the greater threat but was left unable to directly attack seeing as how it would just hurt itself. When it had struggled long enough there was a wet tearing noise and the tentacle went limp in his bear hug and came crashing down. "Woohoo!" He shouted excitedly, whipping the arm around like a lasso.

"Hey cowboy, the battle ain't over yet!" Jack was having trouble keeping up now, but at least the attention was divided between the two of them now. All of the sudden, the opening appeared, and he took a hold of it with both hands. He too began to exclaim happily as he tugged around the arm.

"Look who's talking!" Laughing up a storm he joined the reptile and soon another arm was ripped apart. It was so much more fun when they were winning, and this kind of thing never happened in the real world. Sure, their lives depended on this, but with all the stress they had been feeling it was just so funny to think the enemy was just as fragile as them.

Eventually, there was only one jellyfish thing hovering around left to go down. Blake was showing off his biceps after literally shredding the last one with his bare hands, maybe enjoying it a bit too much. Jack, devilish in nature, had a wicked grin on his face as he too reveled in the battle. "Its mine!" The lizard claimed his territory and went to take it down once and for all, finally eliminating all danger.

Blake was just going to let him, but out of nowhere Kid reappeared and tried to stop him before it was too late. "No Jack! Not that way!" Unsure of what was going on, he just looked onward at the kid's back as he rounded a corner and came to a halt. Jack looked confused and wavering as he began to step back. The only hint that something was wrong was him being sent flying into the hedge behind him with a powerful blow. Instantly, several ribs were broken, a sickening snap resounding in the space letting them know. Blake shuddered, terrified at the howls of pain coming from the poor kid. Jack was trying to get away from something and he went to assist, but much to his surprise the fourth arm appeared from the sky and came down upon him. It was too late to dodge, but apparently he didn't have to. Kid was holding her hand out in front of her, the golden gem adorning her ring being shown off. The arm stopped in its tracks, wary of the ring.

That's it... that's what they do! It kind of just clicked for him, but he had no time to think about it. No time to wonder how she knew. The screams of pain were still coming so he darted in that direction, but little did he know he just made himself susceptible to another attack from the flying creature. He couldn't hear Kid shouting behind him, the only thing he noticed was when she was sent flying into him and they were sprawled out onto the ground. She was shrieking at the top of her lungs, and one glance told him everything. It had secured itself onto her left arm, and was eating it up. Blood and flesh were visible moving along its nigh see through veins.

Jumping to action Blake went after it with a war cry, taking only seconds to obliterate the thing and turn back to her. She was so helpless and bleeding profusely. She cried aloud, blubbering as she tried to speak. He couldn't comprehend what she was saying though, he was so concerned with what his idiocy had done. He was shocked, the dreaded reality was seeping into his skull. Her entire armreat was torn off. He didn't know what to do, she could die, this was bad, this was very bad. If only he could understand what she was saying, then he'd know the battle wasn't over yet.

The main body of the flying creature, the porous ball, was descending quickly upon them. With all other options gone, it had only one thing left, itself. It opened up, revealing a hollowed interior, which was just like the ends of its arms, only bigger. Kid roughly shoved him away and before he could resist it, it came down upon her and trapped her inside. Blake went into a frenzy trying to tear it open, but to no avail as it simply stretched and remained strong. She was inside the belly of the beast, all meanings of the phrase true in this context, and he was powerless to stop what would come next.

"Blake..." She sniveled and cried, but tried to control herself so she could speak. "Jack needs you... go!" He couldn't see in very well, but if he didn't know any better he'd say she was using the ring to keep whatever was trying to kill her inside at bay. However, she could not get out without dieing in the process, she dare not move her arm. "Go... go! Go! Go go go go go..." She just repeated the word, unable to think clearly or control her breathing. He couldn't move, this was too much. A few seconds later and she was screaming again and thrashing about slightly. She was just a kid, how could this happen, how could he leave her. "Blake go and get to the destination so we can go home!"

With that, Blake just complied, his mind completely void of thought or reason. If he could just beat the game, they could all go back, that is what she was telling him. If they got back home, things would be okay right? As long as I win... Was there really any other choice? Stalling any longer was just going to produce consequences, he had to get going.

Following after the lizard he suddenly found something small crawling along the wall towards him. Something flies past him and there is a sharp pain in his shoulder. Yelping, he finds a long needle piercing his left shoulder, but he pulled it out and ignored it. "Blake! Run! You can't get close to it!" Jack came towards him holding his chest, something hot on his heels.

There were two more monsters, just when things couldn't get worse. The first was a small round creature that freely moved around the walls and slightly resembled a porcupine what with all the deadly spikes protruding from its aqua blue skin. The second was a muscular red gorilla like creature with a fat lazy tail dragging behind it and a face that was strangely upside down. It scared him as much as it piqued his interest, but the sting in his shoulder brought him back to reality.

Ducking behind a corner and taking Jack with him they tried to fool the big brute tumbling after them. "Jack, the ring, use it!" Obediently, he stuck his arm out instinctively without actually knowing what to do, and just then the gorilla skidded to a halt and took a few steps back. It snarled angrily but did not move much to his surprise.

Blake felt no sense of victory at the moment, but was glad to know something was going right. Then, right when things were going right, the porcupine thing appeared behind them and to the left. He could've tried using his ring, but on second thought it was too far away and would it really stop it from firing off those spikes? Clearly not, seeing as how that's the first the the little creature did was shoot at them. They both tried to dodge but ended up with both of their backs and sides lined with the sharp projectiles. Taking a few out, Jack realized the brute had been hit as well. Eyes literally ablaze, the red beast charged past Jack towards the offending creature, which skittered away along the wall in response. For some reason the ring didn't seem to be an obstacle anymore as the target changed, but thankfully he had gotten him and Blake out of the way before they were trampled.

They could hear the fight but not directly see it, and it was heading back in their direction again. Blake didn't know what to do, but after a moment of contemplation Jack come to his conclusion. "Go, I can handle this." He tried to sound resolute but couldn't stop shaking, he was deathly afraid.

"Are you joking?! Both of them that's-"

"Don't you dare say it's suicide!" Jack lashed out before he could finish, something in him had been greatly agitated in that moment. With a grave voice he explained himself. "We will just die at this rate, but as long as those two fight I can keep the big one under control while you finish this fucking game!" What was going on? This was the second time, both of them kept leaving themselves behind so that he could go on. "Just finish it Blake... I've had enough..." Tears came to the reptile's eyes as the creatures came into view again, and much to his displeasure the tiger was being indecisive again. "Go damn it!"

Blake was shoved harshly and began to jog slowly in that direction, completely dazed. He then picked up speed until he was sprinting like a mad man. Why... Tears streamed down his face, nothing made sense anymore. Why is this happening?! Why damn it! It was so unfair, and he felt responsible somehow. And now, he was running, he was the only one escaping! He had a few cuts and bruises but he was getting off easy.

Kid sat inside the enemy's clutches, slowly losing consciousness. The lack of blood was making her begin to lose her grip on the world. Her outstretched arm wavered and swayed, unable to stay up. She was going to die soon but she denied her fate with all her might.

Jack could feel the fractured bones shuffling around and it hurt more than the fires of hell ever could or so it seemed. His breathing suddenly became short and quick, he was bleeding internally, and all the while had to keep up with the sick game of make the monkey ticked at the porcupine. He had to keep going though, or else he'd be the target, and he'd die.

So Blake was just running away, he felt miserable, he felt like the worst person in the world. This wasn't the first time either, a memory was surfacing. He always ran, he ran then, back at that time when it really mattered, he gave up and ran. Ever since then, he hasn't stopped, constantly moving forever cursed to leave things behind. That's why he ran now, so he thought, because that's the kind of terrible person he was.

No, not this time. I'm not abandoning them this time. It was not an excuse, it was a decision, he would get to the destination so that he could make up for it. He would end this game, and he would save his friends once and for all. It was then that his path became straight and his will became clear. He moved quickly, never even considering stopping for a moment. Where was he going? He knew, he just knew, the way had been there the entire time he just needed to grasp it with a firm, iron grip.

Finally, he reached the end of the path, this was the end of destiny. There were stone steps leading up to a circular platform surrounded by a half circle of tall stones and smothered in all manner of runes and strange markings. Most of all, it was alive with glowing lights and shifting platforms. At the top, where Blake now stood, there was a simple sign.

'Fate is against you

See? The moon shows you your uncertain destiny

Can you change your destiny Blake?'

It was addressed to him, its meaning cryptic and hard to understand. If it was written to him though, he must be able to understand it or else there would be no point. He racked his brain for the answer to the riddle, did he just say yes? No, that didn't seem right, the answer lies in the words somehow. "I can't change destiny..." He said simply, not sure why he came to that decision, but as he looked up a revelation came to him. He frowned as an incredulous idea came to him. "Not... directly at least."

The sky, it was beautiful for some reason. He didn't know what was so amazing about this moment, but everything, for just a moment, felt so clear. He knew what he had to do, under this sky. Under this sky that was indeed laughably a rainbow sky the idea made sense. He wanted to laugh at the ridiculous notion, but what other choice did he have? He remembered clearly what Jack had said as a passing joke before, so he knew what to do. He had said that maybe the sky was actually a rainbow colored sky, and he also said something else. Slowly, Blake turned around a few times, and when he was done raised his hand. With great apprehension coupled with skepticism, one finger gently touched his nose.

Just like that, the moon stopped altogether. The simple act, the simple idea in itself, the simple words that had been spoken earlier, all of it had such a powerful impact. It was all laughable. The moon shone fully and brightly upon the land now. He had stopped the moon using the words spoken by a homeless teenager, and if it represented his destiny then he knew what happens next.

'Indirectly indeed

Fate has lost

Your destination has been reached'

* * *

Ryan smiled, he was scheming, oh the things he could do. The second he saw this thing he knew what it was, or rather he knew of his advantage against it. The chains did not recede, rather since his ring stayed in the middle of it all it just pushed them out into a wider circle around him. Walking carefully toward the metal box he watched for every indication that he might be in trouble, but there were no openings for the chains to get in. He willed them away, they couldn't breach his space.

This was a temporary triumph, but it felt grand. For once he had control, for once he could do something and direct his fate. The slug monster that at first seemed so far away was no more than 20 yards away now, but he didn't care. Let it come.

The second the monster reached the chains it immediately got entangled in them. The metal case beast was apparently on edge waiting for the slightest notion it had finally caught something, clearly not caring what it really caught, so it attacked.

Ryan had been waiting for this, he dived to the right through a gap in the mesh of metal that he made wider with his ring. Once out of the way, it was an amusing scene that now took place. If only he had popcorn to celebrate, but that would have to wait. The purple slug was quickly constricted, its death juices unable to even rust the metal, and was being pulled into the case. It screamed in terror, the chains ripping into its soft flesh and pulling it to its imminent doom. Once at the box, it was pulled inside screaming and flailing, slowly at first but then with great force. It didn't look like it would fit but invisible hands made sure it would. All kinds of discolored blood and juices flowed, there was a rather putrid stink in the air mixed with something that smelled oddly of lavender. It was a horrific show but he enjoyed every vengeful second of it before moving past the devouring monster that had final shut its doors and trapped the other inside to die. No sound could be heard from it now except the clinking of metal on metal.

It looked like it would be stuck digesting for a while, if that's what it was doing, but he wasn't going to stay and find out if his assumptions were correct. He ran, a new bounce to his gait, headlong to the end of this road. It wasn't long till he reached the end either and saw an intriguing display of lights and floating rocks around a circular platform. It seemed to course with energy as electricity jumped about amongst the rubble. A singular sign stood in his way.

'You are alone Ryan

I made it clear you needed 3

How can you hope to change fate by yourself?'

Ryan thought about it for a moment, mulling the question over in his mind. It was an outright and simple question that required answering of some sort. He didn't know if it was being serious or not, but something needed to be done in order to proceed.

"So you say I can't open that door without three people?" He gestured to the door at the end of the platform that stood ominously over him. It looked rusty and old but like it really wouldn't budge without severe pressure being applied to it. Apparently, the point was to open this door, but he didn't see how he could do it like this. "Wait so this requires three people?"

'The three of you equaled the required strength to open this

You alone do not have the required amount

So you cannot beat fate, because you are alone'

Ryan just laughed, not phased whatsoever by the possible direness of this situation. If he couldn't get through all would be lost, but who says he couldn't get through? "Well that's where you're wrong." He put both hands on the sign and lifted with all his might. "I'm not alone Mr. Mystery Man!" With a grunt he ripped the sign out of the ground. He didn't know if this would work or not but he had a strange feeling in his gut that it would. Taking it with both hands he positioned himself like a batter about to swing. Then, he lunged at the door and brought the sign down on it with a hard strike. "I've got you with me!"

His leap and pose was dramatic and heroic. His roars shook the air around him. With all his might he had swung and the sign did not break nor splinter. The door swung open with a loud bang on contact and mysterious light flowed in from beyond. New words were scrawled across the sign.

'You are never alone Ryan

Fate has lost this battle

Your destination has been reached'