It was a gloomy day. Although the day was just beginning, the sky was gray, the weather brisk and chilly, and there was a cold drizzle of rain.

"Brrrr" A man shivered. He hunched his shoulders and jogged over to the large office skyscraper in front of him.

"I'm late, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" He repeated.

"Where were you?" His friend called him over, "You just barely made it."

Their boss came out of the office just then, annoyance in his stature. Today was not his day.

"I had to make breakfast and lost track of time!"

"Where's your briefcase?" His friend snickered at him. Today REALLY was not his day, if only he had known it was just beginning.

After work his friend and he went out to the mall. He wanted to window shop with his friend, seeing as they both hardly had time after work for themselves, but his vision tilted to the side every few seconds and was only getting worse.

"MOSU!"

The man named Hoka Mosu jumped in surprise.

"Jeez, have you been listening to anything I said?" His friend rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"S-sorry… I don't feel very good." With that he abruptly sprinted into a nearby restroom.

"... what the f***?"

In one of the stalls Hoka was doubled over the toilet. He felt sick, very…extremely sick.

"What's going on?"

All of a sudden he vomited blood. A lot of blood. Steam poured out of his ears and nose, but Hoka barely noticed it. The only thing he felt was pain. It felt like everything was on fire, in desperation he started trying to get his tie off to cool off, but abruptly he felt as the heat reached a crescendo and passed out.

Two minutes later his friend strolled into the bathroom.

"Hoka? Where art thou?" But Hoka wasn't there anymore, in his place was a tie and the faint smell of smoke.

Elsewhere***

On a small mountain out in the countryside there was a girl on a hike. It was a nice day, warm, with a cool breeze every now and then.

The girl often went out into the forest and wilderness, but this hike was only meant to be a short break, she just wanted to take a minute to relax and unwind.

She didn't like her family very much, they were oppressive, and pressured her too much. They only thought of what she could do for them and not the other way around, luckily nature calmed her down, it made her happy.

After she reached the peak she went to the cliff. Putting her hands on her hips she took a deep breath of the clean air and took in the magnificent view, the forest stretching out beyond the horizon.

"Nice job Emma! You were f*** awesome today!" The moment after she whispered this to herself a wave of nausea overtook her.

Uh oh.

Her vision went blurry, and she tried to move away from the cliff, but she felt rooted to the ground. As she hunched over and clutched her stomach the momentum of the movement made her lean dangerously close to the edge.

"F***" and she tripped, blissfully unaware of where she was going as she passed out from a combination of shock and fear.

What's odd is that when she was reported missing the searchers traced her boot tracks to the edge, where they assumed she fell from, but when the area her body was predicted to be, the only thing found was a bag of her gear.

Elsewhere***

An alarm started blaring in the dark morning. It let out a harsh, screeching noise. The instant it began a boy slammed the STOP button on it. He always woke up before the Alarm. It was four AM. The boy brushed his teeth, washed his face, and put on a fresh pair of clothes. After finishing his one hour jog he came back home and cooked breakfast. His dad was sick and bedridden, and his sister was only four years old and happily oblivious. Their mother had left, she cheated on their dad and when divorcing him took all of their money and their home. Their father agreed to all her conditions as long as she would give him custody (which she did. She didn't care about her kids). The heartbreak and stress made their father ill and weak. The stress was unbearable. So the boy took it upon himself to keep his family afloat and alive. A tiny kitten started to purr and rub itself against his leg as he made oatmeal and tomato basil soup. They were by no means rich, but they were doing well for the time being. By then it was around 5:40, so until 7 he went on the computer and did his jobs. The boy was a computer programmer and a freelance editor, but he also did numerous odd jobs. He did anything for money as long as he could do it from home, from sewing to youtube. It was hard and busy, but he always put on a smile and acted like he was ok. His father saw through him of course, which only made him sicker. The boy was smart. Extremely smart, so the fact that the father was unable to help him free his wings and follow his dreams made him feel unimaginably guilty. The few moments he was awake he spent his time telling his son to leave him behind, either that or apologizing.

By seven everyone was still asleep, but the boy locked up and walked to school. It was the only condition set by his father. At the very least, finish high school. He was a sociable kid. A popular one, everyone greeted him at the school, including the teachers. To be completely honest, the boy didn't feel much inside. Only fear and worry for his family, and rage towards his mother. He did care about his friends of course, but he didn't trust anyone enough to tell them his family's situation.

It happened during Chemistry. The boy felt that something was terribly wrong. Abruptly he stood up but immediately threw up an ungodly amount of blood.

The boy collapsed to the floor. He struggled to stand, but his body just wouldn't work right. Blood poured out of his eyes, nose, eyes, and mouth. Even with it all, the only thing he thought about was the conversation he had yesterday.

"Sir, you have to pay your bills soon or you'll be evicted."

"They just raised rent, can't you give me an extension?"

"I'm sorry, but that just isn't possible."

"Ok.. alright…"

After the man left, he sighed and sat heavily on the floor.

"Son?"

"Yes dad." The boy immediately ran to his father's room and to his side.

"Tomorrows your birthday."

"You remembered…"

"Of course I remembered!" He weakly raised his arm and ruffled the boy's head. He had a fine son, and nothing on this earth could make him any less proud of him.

Smiling he said what he called the boy over for.

"Avi, let's celebrate. Get a cake and some candles. I have a surprise for you, something I want to give you."

"BWIRTHDAY?" A high pitched voice echoed from behind them. A tiny girl bounced up and down and jumped into the boy's arms.

"BWIRTHDAY!" The boy laughed, originally he was going to refuse, excitement wouldn't be good for his father's health and they had to save money… but how could he say no to this little angel?

"Ok, let's do it tomorrow then, after school."

The father smiled kindly, his son was turning 16. He didn't want to do it this early but the father didn't know how much longer he had left. He needed to give his son the ceremony into manhood, when a boy becomes a man. He needed to give him the only thing he had left to give.

The boy remembered his promise and the look on his sister's and father's face.

'NO… I CANNOT DIE NOW!' He thought, despite the blood pouring out of his mouth.

In a faraway land in a different dimension a circle of magicians had distressed expressions on their faces.

"Sir! One of them is resisting!"

A man who wore a crown and had a purple robe frowned.

A man who looked like a Knight shouted back, "How is that even possible?"

"I don't know sir!" A magician called back.

"Pull him by force!"

By then multiple students were crowded around the boy's body convulsing on the ground. They saw his muscles twitch and writhe, and saw him gritting his blood soaked teeth. All of a sudden a huge blast of energy erupted from his body. Chairs, desks, and bodies were thrown backwards. As the teacher got up, he gasped.

"Where is he?"

Eventually the police wrote it off as him running away, despite the evidence against it. There was no birthday party, and the family was left alone.

Elsewhere***

A man woke up in the middle of the night. He was thirsty.

"Damn it…now my own body is starting to interrupt my sleeping time..."

Reaching over as he swung his tired body up he grabbed a glass cup from beside his bed, and walked out of his room, quiet as a cat.

He walked to the refrigerator and pressed the cup into the space for water to dispense and waited. Pulling it back he had just begun to raise it to his mouth when the most peculiar thing happened. The water somehow began floating up and out of the cup.

"Interesting." Normally people would be freaking out, but the man didn't really seem to care that much, he just wanted to go back to sleep. Then in an instant the water flew toward his face splashing across the reflective glass that hid his eyes before the water mysteriously grew to surround the mans whole body, the man himself merely shrugging before collapsing on command, uncaring of why the water was moving.

The next morning he didn't appear, no one thought much of this as he didn't leave his apartment much. But eventually people began to wonder… he hadn't paid his bills, nor taken out the trash or even go outside for anything. When they thought he might be dead, all they found in the darkened house was the shattered remains of a cup on the floor. But no person nor signs of struggle.