Nero felt a rush of energy as his powers expanded. No longer would he be punished for being himself, his body finally his own again.

They landed on a beach, dazed on other backs. In the confusion, Almuz lost his focus, and his armor had fallen off of him, leaving him naked and bare. Adonis looked around, and panicked , the beach black, the sky black, the water black.

“Where are we,” Adonis whispered.

“I’m your ride back. Just keep pushing him all the way through and we can go back!”

Thirty-nine.

Nero grabbed onto Almuz, wrapping his arms and legs around him.

“Get the fuck off-”

Suddenly they fell again, being pushed into another portal by Adonis, falling through a red sky, for what felt like ages.

Thirty-eight.

Almuz pushed him off as they tumbled down a mountain, wind whipping around them, ice freezing his brow. Nero teleported back onto him, refusing to let go.

Thirty-seven.

Almuz focused all his energy onto his fists, making them hard as stone. He smacked and hit Nero but he refused to let go. They fell through dark pitch black noise and static, and Nero felt like his eardrums were about to explode.

Thirty-six.

Lights sparkled and shone around them. They tumbled through what seemed like nothing but somehow everything. The purple and yellow lights shone brighter the faster they fell, everything smelling like lavender perfume.

“I want to stay,” Adonis mumbled.

Thirty-five.

They burst into a store, filled with screaming patrons yelling in surprise.

“Monsters," yelled the customers. “Run!”

The shoppers ran away quickly, as fast as their eight legs and four heads could take them. Nero was in shock as to where he was and what he had come upon.

“What the fuck is this," yelled Almuz.

“Please tell me we’re halfway there,” Adonis groaned.

“Don’t bitch, get him!”

Nero chased Almuz through the store as the customers cried out in fear, and Adonis lagged behind, using his wings to push him a little faster.

Their eyebrows, or what one could assume were the eyebrows of the grocery shoppers, rose in shock as some stood in stunned silence.

Without his armor, Almuz was faster than him, but Nero knew he wouldn’t get away. Nero’s eyes flashed black again, and another portal opened up in front of him. They ran right into it, water gushing out, spilling onto the cold grocery tile floor.

Adonis paused and sighed.

He held his breath and jumped in.

Thirty-four.

He came upon Almuz, choking him, surrounded by water. Adonis was a great swimmer, living on an island his entire life, and in one swift movement, he came up from behind, grabbing Almuz by his hair, tilting his head back, and forcing his mouth open.

Nero took his chance.

Thirty-three. Thirty-two. Thirty-one. Thirty.

Nero grabbed onto an unconscious Almuz, pushing him through as many tunnels as he could before he woke.

Twenty-nine. Twenty-eight. Twenty-seven.

Sand swirled around, knocking them off balance from the whirlwind. Almuz began to stir but Nero punched him in his gut, he threw up water, and inadvertently, he woke him up.

“I can’t keep going,” Adonis shouted over the wind.

“If you can’t keep walking, then just hold onto him.”

“What? No!?”

“Trust me on this!”

Almuz groaned and was punched in the face, his eye blackened, and then felt something heavy around him, the smell of blood and someone complaining about getting a certain kind of dirt that never washes off on them.

Twenty-six. Twenty-five. Twenty four. Twenty three. Twenty-two.

Nero tried to go faster but he couldn’t. It had been years since he had free use of his abilities, and his head was starting to hurt. His nose was bleeding and all of a sudden he was ravenous for meat .

Drool and spittle streamed out his mouth as his eyes fluttered, and he splayed his arms out, following the sounds of Adonis’s voice and Almuz’s screams of anger.

Twenty-one. Twenty. Nineteen. Eighteen. Seventeen. Sixteen. Fifteen.

Almuz had managed to kick Adonis off of him and started running. They ran through a field of blue grass and a green sky. Explosions and screams could be heard in the distance, along with flying blonde men, rocketing at the speed of sound.

“Why are you running," yelled Nero. “You can’t get back even if you tried!”

Almuz suddenly stopped.

“Take me back you stupid fuck," he yelled. “Take me-”

Nero pushed Almuz into another tunnel, grinning wild.

“ As if you had a choice,” he smugly said.

Fourteen. Thirteen. Twelve. Eleven. Ten.

Through every tunnel Nero pushed Almuz into, Almuz began punching him with his crystalized fists, shooting out quartz daggers, and they spun around him, taking any chance they could get to drag him down to Hell with them, literally.

Adonis flew around, grabbed onto his ankles, and spun, forcing him to stop attacking, and Nero grabbed on again, never letting go. He knew that if Almuz ran away again, he might not have enough energy left to get back home and he might end up in a place they could never leave.

Nine. Eight. Seven. Six.

Blood soaked Nero’s shirt as Almuz dug his crystal fingers into him. Nero started to cry but he couldn’t let go. Everything around them was pure white, an empty space.

Five. Four. Three. Two.

Nero let go once Almuz bit into his neck.

When Nero looked up he saw a confused man in a fancy black suit sitting at a table in a garden. He was drinking tea and looked quite upset that he was being disturbed.

“Hi guys, I’m surprised you’re here! I didn’t think you’d come, I’d been waiting so long for Ace to return and-”

“Why are you talking as if I know you,” Nero screamed. “Who the fuck are you!?”

“I feel like I do! I’m Wrinkle!”

He pointed at Nero and Adonis, said their names, and said he had been watching them in his fountain garden. He asked how his husband was doing and Nero started to back away, slowly and then remembered.

“Where’d that asshole go!?”

“Oh he ran away, he’ll be back, just wait,” the man said.

“Why are you watching us,” Adonis asked in disgust.

“Because I’m the narrator, of course!”

“Narrator of what?”

“This story, of course,” Wrinkle said with a scoff.

Waving his hand flippantly, giggling softly, Nero was starting to understand how others saw him sometimes.

Something not quite right.

Nero turned his head, covered his mouth with his hand so Wrinkle couldn’t see, and mouthed silently that it was time to go.

“You can’t leave until he comes back, or else the story won’t work,” Wrinkle said.

“How…. I didn’t say anything, how did you hear me? ”

Wrinkle leaned in, hurt on his face, a mocking look of sadness as well, holding his hand up to his chest and sighed.

“ I said I was the narrator. This is my domain. Wait. He’s coming back.”

They waited.

Almuz suddenly was running towards them. He stopped in his tracks and turned around. There he saw the strange man and Nero standing again. No matter which way he turned they were always standing in front of him.

There was no escape.

“You’re welcome. Send my regards to Alto when you go back,” Wrinkle said.

“Sure, cool, thanks, bye,” Nero mumbled.

Nero wanted to leave this place more than the other strange places he had been. This man knew things about his life that no one should know upon their first meeting, and Adonis felt Wrinkle eyeing him up and down, staring at his face specifically.

He pointed at it.

Adonis shuddered, his skin tightened around his face, and Nero swiveled his head back and forth. Almuz was running straight at them, his arm fully crystalized, and he didn’t know which problem to deal with first.

“Get me out! Get me out or else I’ll kill you!”

“ Well, If you kill him you can’t leave,” Wrinkle snorted. “ Don’t be silly! ”

The empty void giggled, along with him, telling him that he was being silly, he should know better!

Children these days!

No house training at all!

Nero sighed and he ran straight for Almuz with Adonis sobbing, hands over his face, trailing from behind.

He felt sick and dizzy, the skin on his face still tightening. He struggled to run, but it was more like an awkward limp than a jog. The giggling void was too much to bear, and he prayed it was all a hallucination from blood loss.

As Almuz approached them, Nero opened another tunnel underneath.

One.

The air was warm, music and singing surrounded them as the smell of fresh bread wafted around the pink clouds. Tumbling through the sky, different floating lands scattered through the clouds surrounded them, and winged creatures gasped in surprise at the intruders.

The singing stopped.

A large dark cloud appeared before them, and the air turned sour. It seemed to somehow be angry. Lightning crackled and the skies turned dark.

Adonis flapped his wings, his face twitching, and jerking, swerving through dark clouds, and for some reason, with every breath he took, the more invigorated he became, this strange place bringing life to his body.

Zipping through the air, using fire as his own personal flight device, Nero cackled, his voice deeper, enjoying the freefall, the look of fear in Almuz’s eyes, letting him fall for a little longer.

They grabbed onto him and Nero made the most important jump.

Zero.

The air was thick and smelled like rotten eggs.

A barren wasteland spread out before them, and sparse dead trees littered the landscape. The sky was overcast and cloudy, and it felt unbearably hot, even though there wasn’t a sun to be found, a red dessert, a sense of lingering dread around them.

They all recoiled at their first breath, gasping for air. The harder they tried, the worse it was, and there was no visit, no vacation to be had here.

Almuz crawled over to him, coughing and gasping, wriggling on the ground like the worm he was.

“Take me back you dumb fuck," he yelled. “Take me!"

Nero took Adonis’s hand, had an ugly grin, and coughed.

“I think you’ll like it. You didn’t fight back that hard, ” Nero replied.

They disappeared, and Almuz was left wheezing on his back, barely conscious. The air itself was choking him, invisible fingers curling around his neck, crawling inside of his mouth, prodding his ears, digging around.

A woman, a short woman, naked with long black hair and dark skin found him, choking on his own air. She rolled her eyes in exasperation, wondering how living people kept slipping into there.

“‘Sup.”

“Please," he gasped. “You’ve got to help me get out of here. I don’t belong here."

She laughed, pointed, and jeered at his misery, and pushed her heel into his abdomen, making it even harder for him to breathe.

“If I had a nickel for every time I heard those lines, I would be richer than half the assholes who ended up here.”

“How come...you can…breathe," sputtered Almuz.

“I don’t come into your house and ask questions. Why aren’t you dead, ” she scoffed.

It dawned on him where he was.

“Please help. I’m a good man. I’m a police officer," he said. “I’m Alabaster Almuz of the Atlaan Police Department''.

“i’M a PoLiCe OfFiCeR.”

She kicked him in the stomach and cried out, but he was so desperate, he still groveled at her feet, calling her beautiful, gorgeous, and once that didn’t work he went back to begging for help.

“Please...at least help me breathe…”

“Since you asked.”

She walked right over to Almuz, crouched, and held him by the head, caressing his hair, telling him that this would soon be over .

Almuz relaxed, knowing that everything would be all right.

In one quick motion, she snapped his neck.

“Don’t have to worry about breathing if you’re dead," Deceit laughed.

She left his body and went on her way off to finish her walk, already bored, and considered paying her father a visit.