Journey in the Aftermath

Chapter 25: Mental Break

This Chapter is told by the POV of Steven

I wake up in a daze and look around. It's too dark to see much, but I can make out a door not too far from me, other than that, the room is either empty or there are things behind me

"Hey, let me out!" I yell loudly and fight against my restraints. I'm being held in place with chains attached to the ceiling and the floor. I concentrate and try yanking the chain out with my mind. It lurches a bit then I receive a huge shock from the restraints

"It's no use. It did that to me too when I tried melting them" a voice says behind me

"Shert? Is that you?" I say unsuccessfully trying to get turned around enough to see

"Yeah, man. It's me. And we are so fucked" He says gloomily

"What? How?!" I start to panic a bit

"This is Dhrek's dungeon. There's no making it out of here alive. Don't tell him anything if he asks, he will kill both of us anyway" he warns

"Yes. You're correct" A deep echoing voice says behind me. I hear a slight swoosh then a dripping sound. I struggle as much as I can to turn and see what happened. As I finally almost can see from the corner of my eye, a figure pops up infront of my face. I focus harder and see that it is Shert's decapitated head

"Shert! Oh god, what the fuck?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I yell and Dhrek appears infront of me now.

"We need to have a talk. Tell me where the others are. The ones that killed all of my people. Now!" He booms and I nearly piss myself. I have never felt so much pure hatred before in my life. Even after Kelly's death, Antonio's rage then was nothing compared to this mans hatred towards the world

"I'm not telling you anything. You killed Shert. You killed our friends. Why would I tell you shit?! You're just going to kill me anyway" I yell in his face just wanting him to get it over with

"Fine. Then how about we do this a different way?" He says and leans over towards me. I flinch actually not wanting to die, then I open my eyes after hearing a click sound. I look to his hands and see that he is taking off my restraints. The skin on his hands is all cracked and peeling like a really dry desert. He looks up at my face and I can't see his with the hood of his cloak pulled way far forward. He reaches out and touches my forehead and everything goes dark again.

I wake up again and this time nobody is in the room. There is a bluish tint surrounding the walls and the door is wide open. I walk out of the room into a long hallway that is seemingly endless. I hear a slam as the door behind me slams shut. I turn around to see what happened and see that the door is no longer there, just a bare wall matching those on either side of the hallway

"Steven!!" I hear a male voice yell from way down the hallway. It sounds like Milton. I take off sprinting down the hall until the ground beneath me collapses and I begin free falling

"Hey buddy" Devin says falling next to me "How's it going?"

"What the fuck is going on?!" I shout and he covers his ears. Once I'm done yelling he uncovers them and grins at me then vanishes into a puff of smoke and dust. I look around seriously confused then look back down at the now quickly approaching ground. I try to use my powers to levitate myself or at least slow myself down but it's not working

"Steven!!" Madeline yells from above me. I turn my body to look up and don't see anything. I turn back to the ground only to see that I'm already laying on it. I sit up and shake my head a bit "Steven why did you leave?! Why didn't you stay with me to protect me?!" Madeline screams from the darkness above then large spears of ice begin falling down around me

"Steven" Dhrek says in my head "Give in Steven. Things will only get worse for you"

"Shut the fuck up you mind raping, shitty excuse for a human being. Get out of my head" I yell as loud as I can. The ice spears stop and a dark cloud forms in front of me and out of it steps the asshole himself looking pissed as hell

"I will not get out of your head until I get what I want. I own you. Also, I am not a human. I am something beyond that. Beyond such limitations that you people place upon yourselves. I am the one and only, true, living, breathing god!!" He shouts and vanishes again "Oh. And I told you it would get worse.." After he disappears things go quiet and I'm left there for a few minutes unable to move before Antonio and Devin step out the shadows

"You could've been as strong as us if not stronger one day. But you messed with god, and now you and your friends must be punished" Devin says and throws lightning behind me. My body turns stiffly as if I am on a moving platform. Once I am turned around, I see the fried bodies of Bailey and Levi

"Nice try. I know this is all in my head" I say and try to close my eyes but my body still won't do what I tell it. Next, Antonio makes a sword of stone and uses it to decapitate Beth. She won't heal. It's all in my head. It's fine. Devin picks up a piece of pipe from the ground and drives it through Milton's chest then shocks him so hard he explodes. My heart starts racing and I just keep telling myself it's not real. Antonio grabs Madeline by the arms and rips her apart

"Steven! Help me!!" Jessica says running towards me over the dead bodies of our friends

"Jessica no!! Run away!! Run!!!" I scream right before Devin reaches out and grabs her by the neck and lifts her off of the ground "Devin!!!! Don't!!!!!!!" I uselessly scream as he raises his other arm and grabs her face with it. He pulses electricity into her little by little and she screams in agony as she slowly cooks. "STOP!!! STOP, I GIVE UP!!!!" I scream and in an instant, Jessica, Antonio, Devin, and the others all disappear and are replaced by a devilish grinned Dhrek

"I'm sorry, what was that? You're done?" He says, smile getting wider and eviler

"Yes. I'm done. No more. I know where they all are." I say looking up at Dhrek, only his mouth visible "I'll take you there"