Hi guys and gals, sorry for the late upload. I have been really busy with school so I have not been able to upload anything. But don't worry, school ends this week for me and I plan on publishing every week. It will most likely be every Friday, but this part will be uploaded today (Wednesday, December 12, 2018. (But it may take 24-48 hours for it to be uploaded on so I'm not sure when it will be viewable) So, part three will be next Friday. Not this Friday. I hope you all enjoy this part, and like the new format. Let me know what all of you think, good or bad. I am happy to hear it so I can improve my writing.

Also, when you see a X in the middle of the page, that means it is a line break/time skip. What I mean by this is that wherever I put the X at, I felt that there was too big of a jump from one scene to another. So, I decided to put an X so you guys will know that there is a jump. If that doesn't make sense, let me know.

I hope you all enjoy and have a nice rest of your week. Goodbye for now!

Darkness. Emptiness. I saw nothing. I felt nothing. It was like I was floating. I don't know how long I laid there. All I remember was a hand reaching for me. Then like that, I woke…

Damen woke on a warm, hot sunny day. He opened his eyes and saw birds flying past him. He didn't know what kind of breed there were, he just saw their wings flapping. He laid in a green grass field. Damen looked around him and saw that the grass around him had died. Confused and disorientated, Damen sits up from the ground wondering where he is.

"Wha… where am I?" Damen asked, trying to adjust to all the new-found light.Damen's eyes start to clear up and he sees a figure right in front of him

A dark-tall figure approached him and smiled, "Welcome back."

Damen looked up at the figure. It was Zeref! He felt like he hadn't seen him in forever, even though it was just yesterday he left his home. "Zeref? Where are we? What happened?"

Zeref looked at Damen and began to explain what had happened all those nights ago. "A dragon attacked our home and destroyed everything, everyone. You died and I…"

"What do you mean I died!? What are you even talking abou…"

All of Damen's memory start to flood back into his mind. He fell to the floor and started shaking. Damen remembered the village, his home, what he did to those people who killed his only purpose in life, and the sounds of death hurling right at him

"You should start to remember everything now." Zeref states as he grabs Damen by the arm, pulling him up.

Everything felt cold for Damen, he was trying to comprehend what he just saw. "All…" Damen stutters, barley able to catch his breath. "All I remember was screaming. "And then…," Damen looked up at Zeref with tears coming out of his eyes, "everything went… went dark."

"It's okay now." Zeref said, trying to comfort Damen. Your safe. Nothing to be afraid of anymore." Zeref looks at Damen, "We need to start heading back to my camp. It's safer there."

Barley able to talk, Damen looks up at Zeref and whispered, "Ok."

Zeref and Damen started to head back to Zeref's camp. Zeref tries to comfort Damen, but it didn't help. Only one thought raced through Damen's mind. I was dead? I was dead?!

On the way, Damen sees that a whole town was destroyed. Remains of human beings that were burned to death. He looks at Zeref and he saw that Zeref wasn't even bothered by the skeletons. He didn't even care.

"What happened here Zeref? Why is everything destroyed?" Damen asked.

"Don't worry about that right now Damen. I will tell you everything soon enough. Right now, let's head home."

"Zeref! How can you tell me not to worry about it? People are dead!" Shouted Damen.

Zeref seemed to get more frustrated, but Damen needed to know. He couldn't accept the 'I'll tell you later' for an answer.

"I will tell you, just not right now."

"Zer…"

"SHUT UP!" Shouted Zeref as he started to levitate slightly. The ground started to break around him and pieces of dirt starting to orbit him. As Zeref shouted, a demonic voice started to possess him. It was like he was a completely different person than he was five seconds ago. Like a demon. "I TOLD YOU I WILL TELL YOU, AND I WILL. JUST. NOT. NOWWWW."

Damen eyes widened up. He felt fear he hasn't felt in forever. What… what is he? Damen thought to himself, not being able to say a word.

Zeref drops to the ground and looks at Damen and sighs. "Okay!" Zeref said as he turns around, "Let's get going."

Damen didn't say a word while walking back to Zeref's camp. They walked for what seemed like forever. When they finally reached camp, the sun was setting. Damen looks around and sees a tent, a fireplace, and a wagon. Not much of a camp, Damen thought to himself. While Damen looked around, he saw a capsule floating in the air. He began to move forward and saw something, no someone inside of the capsule.

"What is that?" Damen asked, still weary that Zeref might snap again.

Zeref didn't answer. Damen decided to move towards the capsule. Damen gasped at what he saw. He saw a child with pink-spikey hair.

"Zeref?" Damen's eyes widened as he turned around to look at Zeref. "Why… Why is Natsu in there?"

"I told you," Zeref said. "The dragon destroyed everything, and everyone." There was a silence that lasted for only a few seconds between them. And then…

"Why didn't you bring him back to life?"

Zeref looked at Damen. Wondering whether or not he should answer him. Then he sighed, "To bring back a human life," Zeref explained, while searching through a chest full of food for Damen. "You have to exchange a large amount of souls for it. To balance out life and death."

"Then how did you bring me back to life?" Asked Damen as he grabbed the food from Zeref's hand.

"For some reason, you were much easier to resurrect. In fact, I didn't even have to exchange a single soul for you."

Damen looked puzzled and confused. "What do you mean you didn't have to exchange a single soul for me? In fact, how do you even get these souls?"

"I'm not sure how to explain it," Zeref exclaimed. "Natsu's soul is in Hell. But your soul… well… it was in a different space altogether."

Damen looked at Zeref and said, "What does that even mean?"

"I don't know," Zeref stated. "I don't have all the answers right now. But I promise I will get them to you when I do." "For now, eat some food and go get some rest. Your body needs to heal."

"But…"

"Just do as I say." Zeref shouted.

Damen looked at Zeref, wanting to say something, but he was scared. He looked into Zeref's eyes and just saw darkness surrounding them. He was different, he thought to himself. Confused and scared, he went to the tent Zeref pointed to, and went to sleep. But he didn't do much sleeping that night. The same thought raced through his mind. I was dead?

X

The next day, Zeref comes into Damen's tent to wake him up.

"Wake up!" Shouted Zeref as he walked out of the tent. "Let's get going."

Damen wakes up and gets dressed, and heads out of the tent. He yawned and asked, "Where are we going?"

"We need to get going."

"Where?"

Zeref ignored him and continued gathering everything for their next destination. Zeref was using magic to gather everything they had. The tent, the wagon, were all teleported away somewhere. Zeref then went up to Natsu's capsule, opened it, took him out and put a leash around his neck.

"Why are you putting a leash around his neck," Damen asked puzzled.

"I was able to bring Natsu's body back to life, while his soul is in hell," Zeref explained.

"So…"

"So this body is just a husk of Natsu. We still need to get his soul."

"About that," Damen continued. "How are you getting these souls? I saw all those villages destroyed and skeletons on the floor. I just can't help but think… well think that your killing them."

"No. Those people we already dead."

"But…"

Zeref snapped, "I told you no."

Damen looked at Zeref, cautiously trying to get an answer. "Zeref, I need to you to tell me. Telling me they were dead with no explanation doesn't make me trust you."

Zeref looked at Damen and sighed. He knew had to explain. "Those people died by their own accord. They were fighting a war, and they all died. I just collected the souls that remained behind."

Damen looked at Zeref and asked, "A war?"

"Yes. They were fighting for land or something. Some stupid reason. Doesn't excuse the fact that families were destroyed. The fighting got so bad that a mysterious man came and killed them all. To stop the fighting."

"Mysterious man?"

"Yes. He came by and used dark magic to kill everyone. When I arrived, the man was gone. And I collected the souls that remained behind."

"Who does this man think he is? Being judge, jury, and executioner?!" Damen exclaimed!

"I'm not sure," Zeref said softly. "But it had to be done. Now please let me finish gathering everything so we can leave." Damen wanted to ask more, but decided to leave Zeref alone and head to the back of the camp until Zeref was done packing.

About ten minutes had past and Zeref was done packing. Zeref grabbed Natsu and called towards Damen to tell him they were leaving. Zeref grabbed the leash around Natsu's neck and said "Come now Natsu. We are going."

Damen, Zeref, and Natsu were now on the dirt road. Zeref looked around and started walking a direction.

"So where are we going?" Damen Asked.

"West." Zeref stated.

They both looked at each other and then started walking. Not knowing what will come next, Damen got ready to see the new world he was in. Explore the changes that has happened since he died.

X

Sometime had past and neither Damen nor Zeref said a word to each other. They were walking for what seemed like forever. Damen kept looking around. He only saw a field for miles and miles. He didn't even know what they were growing. The sun was glaring down at them. It must have been at least 100 degrees, Damen thought to himself. Damen looked down at the ground. Dirt. We've been walking on dirt for hours! Damen yelled in his mind. The silence started to kill Damen. He had to break the silence. He took a deep breath turned to Zeref. "What did you use back there," Damen asked. To collect everything from the camp?

Zeref looked up from the ground and muttered, "Magic."

"You never had magic power before. How did you get it now?"

Zeref was pulling on the leash around Natsu's neck, urging his body to come back closer to us. "Well, it's a long story."

"We have time, don't we?" Damen suggested.

"I guess we do," Zeref relented.

Zeref explained that he had angered the gods and they turned him immortal and given him the curse of Contradiction.

"Contradiction?" Damen asked.

"Yes, the more I care about life, the more life around me will die. So, to counter that, I had to stop caring about life," Zeref said as they continued down the dirt road.

"How am I not affected?"

"Well, I'm not sure. Maybe it has something to do with the place I got you from."

"That is crazy." Damen exclaimed. There was a pause between the two of them as they walked down the dirt road. Damen then looked at Zeref with a giant smirk and said, "I told you not to talk bad about the gods."

"Oh my god. I don't wanna hear the 'I told you so' from you again." Zeref begged.

"Haha. As long as I am alive, your gonna hear me tell you 'I told you so' forever."

They both looked and each other and smiled. Damen doesn't know what has happened since he died, but he was glad to see that Zeref still had a sense of humor.

As they walked, one thing has been bugging Damen ever since he was brought back to life by Zeref. He decided to ask him, but he was hoping for Zeref not to answer him. "How long has it been since I died?"

"Thirty-one years." Muttered Zeref.

Damen eyes had widened up. "Wow. I can't believe I've been dead for so long. I didn't even know I was dead."

"Well, I would assume that is how death works." Zeref teased. Damen looked up at Zeref and laughed. They both did. It wasn't even a funny joke to Zeref. But he needed to laugh. Zeref didn't know the last time he had laughed.

As they walked down the dirt road, they saw a broken-down wagon. Beside it was a child and her mother. "Is everything ok here," Zeref asked.

"No!" shouted the mother. "Our wagon broke down."

"Our daddy went out looking for help, but he hasn't come back." Shouted the daughter as she hid behind her mother.

"Be quiet," the mother told the child.

"Well, we can go out and look for your dad." Suggested Zeref.

"We don't have any money to pay you." Stated the mother.

"That doesn't concern us. We'll be happy to help."

Damen was confused as Zeref said this. All this time Zeref seemed to care little about life. Now he's ready to go out and look for a guy he's never met!?

"Oh, my goodness," blurted the mother. "That would help us a lot! I don't know how to thank you."

"No need to thank me, just here to help. Which way did he go?" Insisted Zeref.

The mother recalled, "He went that way." Blurted the mother as she pointed towards the field.

"Okay, I'll go find him." Zeref turned to Damen and said, "Damen, why don't you and Natsu stay here while I go look for him?"
"Are you sure," Damen asked, puzzled why Zeref would want to go by himself.

"Of course. You still need to heal." Zeref looked at the mother and the daughter and smiled, "Don't you worry. I'll find him." And like that, Zeref headed to where the mother had pointed. Disappearing into the field, like a ghost… walking through smog.