Battle of Bones (Anomaly Saga #5)

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A bright, vibrant purple light shot out of the ground in a field as a purple and red butterfly emerged from Earth's soil.

More purple lights shot out, creating more and more butterflies. A crack appeared, and a man crawled out of the ground.

He wore clothes that made him look like he had come straight out of the '90s. "Bogus!" he exclaimed. "Unrighteous! All those . . . very cool slang words. Wait a minute, where the flip dip am I? Wasn't I just . . . huh," he muttered. He looked around and noticed he was in the middle of a corn field. He took a few steps forward, looking around the area.

"We will guide you," whispered a ghastly, quiet voice. "Listen to me, my child. You have been granted a second chance. A new opportunity, and a new mission. In forty-two hours, a group of warriors with golden hearts will try to battle me in order to continue destroying this world. I have set you right outside of a vacant home. Enter the house and gather items you find necessary. Afterwards, kill and murder every single hero you find. I have also given you regenerative abilities . . . so, you can never truly die at this point in time."

The man nodded, pretending to listen. He walked into a modern-looking home. He looked through all of the rooms and found several guns-assault rifles, shotguns, submachine guns, snipers, and even a few katanas.

The '90s man was focused on one item-a medieval-styled axe which was themed after The Magic School Bus. He picked it up and swung it around a few times. "This is totally tubular! Such a dope weapon. Whoever made this has such sparkly, uh, thoughts. Wait, mysterious voice. Who are you?"

The voice was quick to respond. "I am balance. Earth is unbalanced. It's a catastrophic mess, with so many different realities pooling into it. Chaos was the last straw. He was the catalyst. I've been wanting to hatch this plan for a while, ever since the yarn girl arrived. I don't believe you know her, but I've been watching her. You must kill to restore balance. If balance is not maintained, all realities will suffer."

The '90s man was still focused on the Magic School Bus axe. "So, you're saying that if I kill these heroes, I restore some kind of righteous balance? But, like, what's in it for me?"

"You will get revenge on all of the people that wronged you. You will have your last laugh."

Out of the blue, a man who looked like Neil Patrick Harris opened the door to the house and walked in, Burger King burger in hand. He saw the '90s man wielding the axe and instantly turned around, sprinting away.

"Yeah, you'd better run!" exclaimed the '90s guy. He brandished the axe and laughed. "No one kills Copernicus and gets away with it!"