Chapter 2: Reawakening

A silence seemed to permeate his mind. After all a day's hard work, he always liked to just end it in quiet. For all of the 140 years he'd been alive, he knew his time on this Earth was short, just looming over the horizon. As he sat on his throne, looking over the landscape he thought of all the battles that were fought. Every slash, every strike, punch, kick, it was all decided by his own strength, his own force of will. His mountains of riches, chests of gold, blades made from the heavens themselves, nothing could compare to the satisfaction to know that he had won, that the disease hadn't bested him. That he could live his life and be successful. That is what brought him the most enjoyment.

He decided it was time to get up out of his throne and take a stroll one last time to just mull over everything that had transpired in his life.

*2011 U.S.A. in a town in the middle of nowhere*

"Wake up its time for school, time for school!" A voice chimed in annoyingly as a boy stubbornly refused to get out of bed.

"Just let me sleep here a bit longer, I'll get up in a minute."

"That's what you always say! C'mon get up its time for school!" The boy's mother kept pestering him with no remorse whatsoever until he finally had enough and got up out of bed.

"Fine! Fine! Whatever I'll get out of bed," said the boy groggily as he unenthusiastically got ready for another boring year of school. He exited his room and then entered the bathroom, starting the day by brushing his teeth and using the restroom as was par normal. As he headed towards the kitchen, he noticed that his brother's door was open, giving him a sense of unfamiliarity. Usually his brother's door was closed when he went to school, but because he went off to college his room was now just an empty space. This, coupled with the fact that his dear pet died somewhat of recent, left Zevin feeling strange but he couldn't put his finger on why this was the case. However, he brushed off these feelings and went on with his business.

After he was done in the bathroom, he got dressed in his room and went to the kitchen to eat breakfast. He poured himself a bowl of Captain Crunch and sat there inhaling the food as he usually did. After he was done, he went to put the dish in the sink but not before his mother reminded him of something.

"Zevin, you should definitely take your multi-vitamin, you're a growing boy, so you need to grow up big and strong!" A deadpanned look formed on his face as he listened to what his mother said in embarrassment. "Mom, that's the cheesiest thing I've ever heard. I'm not taking it I don't feel like it. It's not like I'll have to take medication someday anyway, I perfectly normal as I am now."

"Well, that seems like a waste…"

"Whatever its fine."

As the boy said this, a yellow school bus pulled up towards his house with his favorite school bus driver ready to bring him to school.

"Well, have a good day honey!"

"Thanks mom! See ya!"

Zevin walked down the hill of his house to eventually arrive on the bus and was greeted by the presence of everyone on board. It was a pretty small community where Zevin lived, and he basically lived in the middle of nowhere, so most of the people on the bus were his neighbors, and he recognized all of them. When he made it to his seat, he sat back and relaxed and thought, this is just going to be another dull day. However, things wouldn't turn out exactly as he planned as today would be the greatest turning point of his life.

After his long day, it was always nice to take a nap on the bus. His ride home usually took about 40 minutes to an hour because of all of the kids that needed to be dropped off at various distances, so it was nice to have a little R&R time after a long day. However, today felt different, something was off, and Zevin could feel it. It was almost as if his consciousness was altered, like his perception of the world was off, but he couldn't quite understand why? But that wasn't of his concern, what could possibly go wrong when he was perfectly healthy. He brushed it off and enjoyed the rest of his bus ride home. When he got back, his mother greeted him as usual, and he dropped off his gear in his room and was thinking about getting a snack. However this unexplained malaise still plagued him. For some reason he had the strongest urge to touch the doorknob on the door to his room several times for no reason? This confused Zevin because he never felt anything like it before, but he was having a hard time resting.

"1,2,3,4" he touched the doorknob that many times but then came back again because he didn't do it perfectly. "1,2,3,4" he did it again that time, and it still didn't stick. He completed the task several more times until he was satisfied. He wasn't sure what was going on, and he wasn't certain if he should tell his mother, so he went on with his business suspecting that it was nothing more than a little fluke.

He went to the kitchen and at some crackers with cheese, and his mother began to talk to him. "So honey, how did your school day go?"

"Fine," said Zevin in a monotone voice.

"That's good, I'm glad to hear everything is going well."

However, it wasn't going as well as she had suspected. Everything in Zevin's world seemed to be crumbling down in the strangest of ways, and even he couldn't quite understand why it was that way. He kept trying to brush it off, but the feeling only intensified as time went on. After he was done eating, he was ready to go back to his room but before he could his mother stopped him.

"Honey, could you go get the mail for me?"

Zevin was hesitant to say yes. Usually, it wouldn't have been a problem, but because he was feeling off, he really didn't want to say no but did it anyway because he didn't want to hear his mother's nagging.

"Sure mom I can do that."

"Thanks honey."

Zevin then left the kitchen and went out the front door and then proceeded down the lane. He kept walking and made it about halfway, but before he could finish the other half, something filled his thoughts just like prior. For some unknown reason, he was unable to move. The overwhelming urge to make sure his footsteps were perfect and to keep redoing the same walk forward motion only for him to have to repeat the act over again plagued him. No matter how hard he resisted, he couldn't overcome the overwhelming urge to do these things. He was outside for about 20 minutes before his mother looked for him and wondered what took so long.

"Zevin, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, mom I'm doing fine don't worry about it."

"Are you sure, you look like you've been outside for twenty minutes? Is there a reason you've been out there so long?"

"Um...I'm just enjoying the weather mom, nothing to worry about!"

"Ok, your acting weird but I guess I'll take your word for it!"

Now that his mother was out of the way, he could get back to making sure everything felt right again. No matter how long it would take, he would accomplish this, and then everything would go back to normal he was sure of it. However, another forty minutes seemed to pass, and his mother made sure to keep watching him while he was outside. She was in complete shock and bewilderment. As she did the dishes and washed up the kitchen, all she saw Zevin do was stand in the same place for over an hour. At first, she thought he was just goofing off as usual and just being silly. This time was different though. She had never seen this behavior in Zevin, and it was unlike anything she had ever witnessed before. She immediately stopped what she was doing and called out to Zevin to make sure everything was alright.

"Zevin are you alright, you've been outside for like an hour!"

"I was almost done, but she ruined it," thought Zevin angrily as he was going about his business. "Mom, will you shut up! I am trying to finish this over here!"

His mother was confused. She didn't know what he meant and pressed on further to ascertain what was exactly going on. "No yelling! I am just trying to figure out what you're doing! You've been outside for over an hour, you need to come back inside its going to get late!"

"I can't mom, I'm stuck repeating, and I can't finish if you keep interrupting me!"

His mother didn't have a clue what he was saying, but she went with the flow. She left him alone, and for about another hour he was outside, and it was around 6:00pm. Thankfully though, Zevin had just finished, and he finally did everything he needed to. After he made it to the mailbox to get the mail, he made it up the drive no problem and put the letter on the table. Before he could even go anywhere else, his mother wanted an explanation.

"Zevin, what was that you were doing exactly?"

"I don't know mom, just don't worry about it. I'm going to go back to my room," said Zevin in an annoyed tone of voice.

"Zevin I—Uh, whatever. Just go back to your room I guess."

He went back to his room and immediately plopped down on his bed and closed his eyes. He didn't ever want to think about that again. It was a kind of torture that he had never dreamed of being possible. Being in that spot for two whole hours had really drained him of his energy. None of what he was doing made sense, it just wasn't rational. He couldn't understand why, but it didn't matter. He was sure it was just a one-time thing. "Well now that that's over, I'll just sit here, play my DSi and wait for dinner to come. I'm sure tomorrow will be better. Time to relax a little." Little did Zevin realize that this would only be the beginning of something much worse, more horrifying in fact. His entire world was going to be shaken soon, and nothing would ever be as good as it was ever again.

*About a month and a half later*

A few days earlier a teacher had given him a project to do that was relatively simple in nature. It was nothing short of a little book report. All that was needed to be done was to read a book of his choosing and make a shoebox representation of it as he read off the book report. Typically, this would have been a piece of cake as Zevin's mom usually helped him out, to his annoyance and dislike, but nevertheless, he would have done well. He didn't do the project though. The urges that had previously been nothing but a minor annoyance had turned into a full-scale life crisis. Whether it was bathing, walking, eating, or just relaxing, nothing was off the table when it came to these impulses. Everything was impeding his progress, and because of his inability to do the most straightforward task, nothing had been done homework wise over the last couple of days. On the bus ride to the middle school, he had consulted some of his classmates for help, and they were willing to aid him to his pleasure. To complete the project, he had skimmed a few chapters from the book he was supposed to read and jotted down some notes on a piece of notebook paper. For the presentation, he scrapped together some drawings on construction paper and called it good.

For the first few classes he had, the teachers just gave him a late grade for his work, and he was relieved that it was only that much. However, when the dreaded time came for him to go to literature class, he was hoping his teacher would be more lenient and give him more time but knew that probably wouldn't happen because she had no idea what was going on with him.

"I hope I can get her to let me have more time," thought Zevin as he walked into the Literature room. "Maybe they'll be a way I can convince her." As Zevin sat down in class, the teacher began to instruct the students on what to do.

"Alright everybody, as you may know, today is the day for your presentations. Would anyone like to volunteer?" At first, nobody raised their hands, and Zevin was anxious. He didn't want to get called up at first and wanted to wait until the end to ask the teacher if he could just wait till next time. It seemed like it was down to the wire, but thankfully one of the students raise their hand. "I'll do it," said one of Zevin's classmates.

"Thank god," thought Zevin as he sat back in his seat. He waited patiently as the classmate gave the presentation and then the next student and then the next. Eventually, all of the students had presented their presentation until it was Zevin's turn to give his performance. As the teacher and everyone else waited expectedly to give his report, a few seemed to know of his plight, or at least be somewhat cognizant of what he was dealing with. Instead of going in front of the classroom, Zevin had gone to the teacher in her seat and tried to have a conversation with her.

"Um excuse me," said Zevin in a worried and nervous voice.

"Yes, what is it Zevin?"

"Well, I was wondering if I could do my presentation later? I haven't exactly been feeling well lately and was wondering if it would be alright if I did it tomorrow or something?"

The teacher was however not as forgiving as Zevin had hoped though. In fact, she was extremely nettled by his suggestion. She was never tolerant of disobedience, and late work and Zevin's lack of doing his assignment and asking her up front had only annoyed her more.

"No," said the teacher in a serious tone of voice. "Zevin, you were expected to have the project done by today, no exceptions. You'll have to do the project with what you have, and if it isn't good, well that's just tough."

These are the words Zevin least wanted to hear but knew would probably happen. Since he really didn't have any choice, he reluctantly went up to the front of the class with his notebook and cardboard paper in hand and began his presentation. It was very embarrassing for him, he didn't have much to say, and the picture on the cardboard paper was awful. It seemed as each second pass the teacher was increasingly annoyed with his work, and as the last sentence was uttered out of his mouth, the class gave weak applause. Zevin was about to go back to his seat, but the teacher had stopped him before he could make it.

"Zevin that was an awful presentation! You are going to get an F for this, and I would like you to go to the office!" Zevin stood still as stone, and his heart raced uncontrollably as she said these words. He wanted to cry but kept his chin up and went to the office.

"Ok, I'll go." The walk seemed like an eternity, but it was only about a 10-yard walk there as the school was pretty small and it really didn't take long at all. As he dragged

himself there, the secretary seemed to notice his presence and was a bit confused as to why he was there. She had never seen him in the office and questioned his being there.

"Hello Zevin, is there a reason you're in the office."

"Yeah, its because I wasn't able to complete my assignment."

"Well, that's unexpected. I guess just to a seat I guess." Until the next period arrived, Zevin did nothing but sit in his seat thinking over everything that just happened.

"I can't believe I got an F! What is mom going to think," thought Zevin as he sat in his seat. As he kept thinking the next period eventually came, and it was time for Language Arts. He had a homework assignment that was due today, and he didn't know what to say. He wanted to level with his teacher about what was happening, but he really didn't know how, and he didn't know what to say. The teacher gave her usual greetings as she did daily and went around the classroom expecting everyone to turn in their homework. Everyone turned in their homework, except Zevin and she noticed. He had hoped she wouldn't see his lack of homework present, but she did take note of it. She had been noticing that Zevin had been turning in late assignments more frequently than usual and it was starting to irritate her. This was, however, the last straw, and her anger boiled over.

"Zevin, this is the umpteenth time you've turned in a late assignment! I want you to go to the office and tell them what you've been doing!"

For the first time in school, Zevin had cried when a teacher chastised him. Everyone in the class stood silent, and even the teacher was a bit taken aback by this. No one had ever expected this from him, and all you could hear were his sobs. Everything seemed to be falling, everything seemed to change and soon he would have his answer.

When Zevin made it home, the first thing that he did was shower and immediately went to bed. His mother had been alerted as to what was happening at school and was very concerned for him. It seemed like eons passed, time seemed to speed by as all Zevin could think about were these compulsions, these obsessions. Everything was changing, and it felt like a different reality. Nothing honestly felt real anymore, it was all just one bad dream.

Nighttime had arrived, and Zevin was able to muster the strength to go to bed but before he did his mother turned on the hallway light and came and spoke to him.

"Zevin don't worry. We'll figure out what's going on honey? Everything will be alright."

"Mom, I don't understand, what's happening to me!?"

"I don't know honey, we'll figure that out soon. You have an appointment with a specialist in a couple of days, and there we'll be able to figure out what's going on. You don't have to worry, it will be all right. Just make sure to go to sleep and rest. I love you."

"I love you too mom." After this, his mother left, and Zevin started to close his eyes, and finally, he was able to enjoy the sweet release of sleep.

*Peoria Illinois Mid-October*

Zevin and his mother had arrived at the neurologist's early in the morning, as to make sure they didn't miss his appointment. It was a boring hour-long drive, but Zevin didn't notice since most of the time was reserved for rest. When they arrived, they waited a bit longer for their appointment, and when the time came, they went up an elevator to one of the top floors. The doctor they were seeing was of Asian descent, with most notably her accent being of the sort. She had introduced herself to Zevin and her mother and didn't hesitate to get down to business. She had put Zevin through all kinds of tests, some of which included repeating numbers from frontwards to backward, tests of balance, and most notably scrapping a wooden prod on Zevin's feet which was very uncomfortable for him.

When she had completed her analysis, she had left the room only to come back a few minutes later. Her face was one of professionalism as you would expect from a doctor of her caliber, but an undertone of sadness could be seen on her face.

"Well, it seems from what I can tell, its more than likely that he has OCD and it's very severe. He also has slight Asperger's syndrome and ADD, but the OCD seems to be the big issue."

Zevin didn't quite understand what she was saying, but his mother seemed well versed in what it was that Zevin was dealing with and that was mainly because she was a Nurse he surmised. "I suspected that might be the case, but I've never heard of nor seen it on this level before? What could have caused it? Could it be something like PANDAS?"

The doctor shook and head in disagreement. "No, it is not PANDAS. This is a genetic disorder that he has, and yes, not many people have it at this level. It is very rare for it to be this severe. May I ask if your family has had a history of OCD in the past."

"No, not to my knowledge we have. Not anyone I can think of in recent past."

"Well, what about his father?"

"Um…well his father hasn't been a part of his life so I wouldn't know. I've been a single mother raising these two boys and Zevin's father has not once mentioned anything like this to me."

"Well, that's interesting. In the meantime, I would recommend that he be taken to a psychiatrist for medication as this is likely caused by a serotonin imbalance in his brain and you can take medication for that."

"Ok, I'll take that into consideration. Thank you for everything, it's nice to know what we're dealing with and how to treat it."

"No problem, both of you take care now."

"Yes, you too. Thank you very much."

The doctor had left the room, and his mother had checked both of them out of the clinic, and they resumed their travels home. On their way home Zevin's mind was filled with as sorts of questions. What would the future hold him? What is this medication he is going to be taking and most importantly, what is OCD? All he had heard about in this entire ordeal was OCD this OCD that, but he never got an answer. His annoyance was only further exacerbated by the fact that he was the one dealing with these problems. He eventually got to the point where he had enough and was going to ask some questions.

"Mother, this entire time I've heard everyone talk about OCD, but I've never gotten an answer as to what it actually is and what it means?" As his mother was driving there was a silence for a moment as she was expecting him to ask that question, but was still unsure of if he even wanted to hear an answer.

"It means Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. All of these obsessions you've been feeling are because of the disease you have. Its genetic and its caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain and there's no cure, and the only treatment is therapy and medicine."

"I see, but am I going to have it forever?"

"Yes honey, you will, and there is also a chance your children may have it, so you're going to have to be aware of that in the future if you want to start a family."

"I see."

"A lot of things are going to be changing Zevin, so you going to have to be prepared for that."

"Ok, I get it." For the rest of the ride home Zevin stayed silent and so began the next chapter of his life dealing with his disorder.

*Back to present*

"Man, that only felt like a second ago that happened," thought Zevin as he kept strolling through his castle. With each step came a cascade of new memories, each one carrying their own meaning, there own message. When he finally made it to the place he was looking for, he stood in front of a large, black door with the symbol of a large tree on it. The door was also inscribed with text that looked Judeo-Christian, and there was one line of text on the bottom that was bigger than any other and it seemed to almost glowing with a slight blue radiance. Without a moments notice, Tevin began to speak at the door in Hebrew.

One night a man had a dream.

He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord

Across the sky flashed scenes from his life

For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonging to him, and the other belonging to the Lord

When the last stage of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand.

He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints.

He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of his life.

This really bothered him, and he questioned the Lord about it

"Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way.

But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me."

The Lord replied. "My precious child, I love you and would never leave you. During times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints in the sand, it was then that I carried you."

As he finished saying the text on the door light up a bright blue and the door started to creak open slowly. When it was finished, the door revealed a magnificent site. Inside was a large room containing a sword in stone at the top of stairs in the center. Vegetation covered the room, and the surrounding rock path leading to the sword was covered with grass and wildflowers. Around the stairs was also a moat of water which was crystal clear. Along the walls were other swords in cases and each had a flag with the same symbol on the door in-between the columns holding up the room.

Zevin continued his walk forwards and began his ascent up towards the sword. When he made it to the top, the sword came correctly into view. The pommel of the sword was a bright crystal blue. The handle was grey, and above it, the crossguard was vibrant lime green with the same type of blue as the pommel in the center leading up a bit onto the metal of the sword. The blade of the sword itself seemed to be of unknown composition, as its characteristics seemed to be otherworldly. It couldn't be entirely made out, but the blade seemed to have blue glowing crystal-like ridges on the blade on each side making it look somewhat bulky.

Without a moment of hesitation, Zevin reached out his hand and grasped the sword. With ease and grace, he easily removed the sword from the stone and when he did a large gust of wind blew across the room with sparks of electricity accompanying it. He looked at the blade and appreciated it for a brief moment before materializing a sheath at the side of his armor and placing it inside.

"It's been a while since I've seen the Influx Waver and I think its time I spend my last minutes with it. I made sure for her to turn off the life support and I'm starting to feel myself slipping." Out of nowhere, a blue flip-phone appeared in his hand. It had a timer on it with 23:40 P.M. being on the screen. "About twenty seconds left, just on time." Zevin then pressed a button on the keypad of the phone, vanishing shortly after that. He reappeared in a room filled with portraits of monsters and bizarre landscapes, some of which looked demonic in nature, some peaceful.

"Well, time to take off the armor and rest." In a flash of blue light, his blue and black armor vanished. What lies underneath was nothing more than a mere man. His avatar had the appearance of a middle-aged African American man. His hair seemed to have accents of grey in it, and his face had a hard expression to it, although he was very handsome. Two scars ran across his face with one being on his cheek in a straight slash and the other being similar running vertical across his right eye. His dress consisted of a blue vest with black sleeves, black pants and black shoes with blue on the tips. His eyes were a chocolate brown, and they were an almond shape. He also wore a necklace that had the symbol of the tree that was seen on the door of the sword room and the flags that were on the pillars.

In front of him lay a golden, full-sized bed with jewels adorning every inch of it. The sheets were a pure white color and looked to be made from the most delicate fabrics as was the pillows. The bed reminded him of the bed he had when he was younger which brought him comfort. He drew out the sword he had taken previously, with the sheath disappearing after that and he got under the sheets and lay on the bed with the sword held in his center like a dying knight. He took a quick look at his phone, and the numbers 23:49 appeared on it.

"Well, it's almost time." He closed the phone, and it disappeared in his hand. He then grasped the sword with both hands and closed his eyes, waiting for the fated time to arrive. "I've lived a good life at this point."

23:50

23:51

23:52

23:53

"And I've done many things, good things with my life."

23:54

23:55

"Honestly, I'm glad that it's coming to an end. I can finally be at peace."

23:56

23:57

23:58

"Well, world it seems like my time—"

23:59

"Is over."

24:00

With that the timer reached its mark and so did the journey of the hero. He had overcome many obstacles and many battles. Some easy, some hard, but through it all, he persevered. He had won the fight, and now it was time to rest.

00:01

00:02

00:03

But it appears that it hasn't ended. For some, there is no continuation, no new story. But it seems this isn't the case. Sometimes with every good tale, their needs to be a sequel and when that time comes new adventures spring forth. The hero must wake up from his slumber and continue anew, so wake up hero, wake up. With eyes expecting the end that were unable to make out what was happening, they slowly opened up, and they were hungry for answers, for a new meaning. So, this meant that the new adventure was about to begin.

A/N: Well, here is the new chapter with all original content. I tried to make it impactful as I could, but if I fell short, sorry it wasn't up to snuff. The next couple of chapters will also be all original and eventually Zevin will meet up with Ainz and I am excited to put the ideas I have onto paper. I hope you enjoy and as always, Plus! Ultra!