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Chapter Fifteen

       I woke up the next morning with so many alcohol bottles next to that I could open my own bar. My breath stunk of alcohol and my head pounded. I called out to the disembodied voice hoping it wouldn't answer and that last night was just an alcohol induced dream. Nobody answered thankfully, but the bottles shook as I spoke. Maybe it was alluding to the fact that I should drink again. (Generally I am not a smart person, just putting that out there.) I don't know if it was the fact that I was slightly close to being hungover or the numbness in drinking or just the sheer desire to drink again but I downed the same amount of alcohol as last night. This time the spirit answered and he seemed pleased. "I've considered what you said and I'm still thinking about it, but what's in it for you?" I asked wearily. (Hey, Khalil here, I told this idiot not to answer, I told him this seemed strange, even Celestia agreed with me and we don't often get along but I mean, common sense which clearly Nico has none of but.... Anyway) "Me?", the 'Dark Lord' replied, "All I want is to see you happy." I was unsure if I wanted to believe him or not but I was pretty drunk so I didn't care.

          

              I decided I should sober myself before making any life choices such as you know accepting offers from strange voices inside my head telling me they want to see me happy. Therefore I did what any rational drunk person would do,I dove into the Dead Sea to try and sober myself. Let me tell you that was the saltiest thing I've ever come into contact with other than me when I lose a game of FIFA. I then obviously did the smart thing and ate something fulling until I was completely sober. I started thinking about the offer, I couldn't tell any of my friends this because they'd think I'm crazier than I already am. Not even Akira or Angellee or Ethan or Riad, I was stuck with decision to make on my own. I mean sure I could do it my way instead of you know killing like 'The Dark Lord' probably wants me to do. I took a leisurely stroll to make this decision, I tried flipping a coin. None of these outcomes seemed fun for any involved parties. Maybe if I thought hard enough I could make it universally beneficial.

      The way I saw it thus far was I could try one way which would benefit the good people but be detrimental to all the 'bad people' and the earth or I could try another way which would completely destroy humanity but save the earth or save humanity and destroy the earth. I needed to find a solution and walking around wasn't helping me, I went for a swim to clear my head, I even had a chat with some of the aquatic life to see if they could help me. They couldn't. They were just as confused as I was. I sat on a rock and watched in awe as a school of fish moved with a synergy and harmony far exceeding anything humans and do. There was no scorn or hate among them just smooth unity. I thought to myself that maybe I should change all humans into fishes..... Until I saw a bigger fish eat them. Nope definitely not turning humans into fishes. I thought about bees as well but they might accidentally sting themselves and die. It seemed fairly obvious that the answer to my conundrum would not make itself known in the animal kingdom.

     I continued my search for a solution, in my house. Well actually I didn't, I went home and immediately started playing Fifa because FIFA. I had slowly rebuilt my undefeated streak and even toppled it so I was once again feared in the online community. I transitioned from FIFA to Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. I was so immersed in the games that I hadn't even noticed 3 hours had passed and it was quarter to 4. Which meant I had fifteen minutes to get dressed and make it to training on time considering we had a match at 6. I just barely made it as I burst through the dressing room doors at exactly 3:59 pm. The training would definitely get my mind of that whole fiasco and it did, within 15 minutes my mind was focused on tactics and formations to get the best out of my team. By the time we had warmed down and were preparing for the start of the match the only thing I could think about was playing my best for the sake of myself and my team. This match would be tough like every other match but we trained had and had team chemistry like no other.

     The match started slow and methodically with short passes and restricting defensive play. That was until about the 30th minute where Ethan made a dizzying run through the midfield to head in my cross to score the first goal of the evening. By the end of the first half we had doubled our lead as Nathaniel drew a foul in the box for a penalty kick which I slotted home out of the keeper's reach. We went through the tunnel feeling confident. As captain I was supposed to give half time talks to ensure that morale was high and we knew what we had to do, but instead I gave my team some words of motivation and we sat down and read to keep our minds sharp. We each were reading a Rick Riodain book whether it be the Heroes of Olympus series, The Percy Jackson series or the Kane chronicles. Today I decided to read the Kane chronicles, who knew that would be the solution to my problems. The chapter spoke about the scales that weighed the hearts of the dead to determine their future and my brain lit up. I may not have a scale but I did have a sword which essentially could do the same.With my problem seemingly resolving itself I went on to play the second half with a new sense of hope and passion netting a brace and assisting three more goals as the match ended an entertaining 7-5 victory to us with my brace being the deciding factor.

   After the match my team and I celebrated with some ice cream because we've been training pretty hard for a while and why not splurge for once. As we celebrated my mind pondered on Void. I mean it is said to rip the evil out of the souls of men, but what if it could be the judge instead of the executioner. Maybe it could work but I'd need a test subject. After all the celebrating and festivities had ended and everyone was home I decided that I would test my theory. I went to the beach where it was quite except for the sweet kisses of the waves on the ebony rocks. I took a pebble and using my powers and some inspiration from the Wonder Woman movie I molded a person from the pebble. "I shall call you Bob." I said out loud to no one in particular. With shaking hands I drew Void and pointed it at where Bob's heart would be. Initially nothing happened and I started wondering if I was crazy for even thinking such a thing but then Void started to glow a heavenly white light as the words 'Pure' etched itself across the sword. That only proved half of my theory. I could feel the sadness mask my visage as I infused darkeness into Bob's heart before pointing Void at him again. This time it grew dark as skeletal hands creeped from the hilt of the sword towards Bob. I quickly dispelled the darkness in Bob's heart before dispelling Bob himself after a lengthy embrace.

My theory was correct, now it was just to put my plan into action. But midnight was clearly not the right time for the that especially after that quality football game and all the celebratory ice cream I had. I took a fun sprint home from the beach which only took 2 hours but I sure exercised off that ice cream from earlier. I immediately fell asleep as soon as my head met my pillow. While I slept I had some cryptic dreams. I saw myself tied up in strings which could mean one of two things and I hope it was the latter. I saw the earth being covered in darkness. I saw a big fight. None of these dreams made sense to me and everything around me when I woke up made even less sense. I was downstairs on the couch. I started to think I was crazy or maybe I had done something while I was asleep. Thankfully as usual my mom was there to the rescue.  "You walked in the door sweaty and you saw my throw pillow on the floor and you dropped on it and I lifted you and put you on the couch." She said rubbing her lower back, "You're welcome." I thanked her and gave her a hug before heading to my room. What did those dreams mean. Were they even dreams to begin with?