A'ight! Finally finished writing chapter three! I'm impressed with how I was able to write this; it's the longest thing I've written by almost 800 words. Hope you enjoy as things start going down.

The Shining Seventh

Chapter Three: One Hundred Years in the Gilded Cage

The next three weeks were hell. After Demio was taken away, Mr. Ledale and I tried to see him, or just contact him, but officials turned us away on every avenue. Probably some bullshit about how they didn't want him "corrupting" us with his "sacrilegious ideals." I didn't know if I was more relieved or more frustrated with it all. On one hand, I was still really steamed with him for lying to me for Gods know how long. But on the other hand, he was still my brother, and I needed to see how he was holding up, or at least to tell him how everyone else was doing.

Mr. Ledale and I spent a lot of time every day just talking. Lessons had been suspended indefinitely, but Mr. Ledale kept coming by anyway, to make sure things were still running as smoothly as they could. I think he was also trying to keep me company; without Demio, I didn't really have anyone else to turn to, so he took it upon himself to take up that role. We tried to talk about as many things as possible that weren't about Demio, to keep our minds off of what was going on.

I could feel that he was still really guilty about what happened, but I always changed the subject whenever I felt it was coming up. Eventually an unspoken forgiveness passed between us, and he lightened up a bit after that. Still, I doubt he would ever fully forgive himself; something like that can take a lifetime to overcome.

Dad was a different story. When he heard about his son being taken away, I honestly believed he was going to murder somebody, anybody. But he didn't. He just stood there for more than a minute before storming to his room and slamming the door. The scariest part of all came after. Every time I saw him in the halls I could feel pure ice coming off of him. I couldn't bring myself to talk to him. I could barely even look at him. I was terrified of him, what he was thinking, what he was planning to do. If I could see him get angry, just once, I would've felt so much more at ease, but he seemed determined to bottle up his feelings and keep them from everyone. I tried to just stay away from him as much as I could.

"The hearing is now in session. All rise," the official droned, and everyone in the courthouse stood.

The day of judgment had at last arrived. After three hellish weeks of nonstop waiting, Demio and the others' "trial" had begun. Of course, I use the term 'trial' very loosely; the chances of a not guilty verdict for any of them stood at a few miles south of zero, and everyone knew it. It was really more of a formality than anything. There had always been talks of privatizing these events, but they were constantly being shot down. It was an unspoken assumption that the higher-ups wished them to be public as a method of spreading fear. By showing off the powerlessness of the convicted and the fate they were doomed to, the masses would be cowed further into submission.

I always hated politics, and these ceremonies did nothing to change my outlook.

Of course, I had been forced to sit up in the front row for this. Families of the heretics are required to do so, supposedly so that they can properly see the one that they love a final time before they're transformed and cast off forever.

It was almost unanimously agreed that this was not a reassuring practice for either the families or the ones being turned into Zeti.

Anyway, I was standing up in the front row (Mr. Ledale had told me beforehand that he'd be watching from somewhere else in the courthouse), and as the official muttered on, listing the names, ages and whatever of the defendants and stating the charges placed before them, I tuned it all out and turned to watch the five defendants, all handcuffed to chairs in the center of the room. I studied their actions closely, hoping that it would help distract me. Primarily I saw anger, of varying degrees, in all five of them. Zazz's was the greatest; if it weren't for the many charms placed upon the group to deaden their magic, I would've sworn he'd have broken out and gone on a killing spree. I didn't doubt that he was capable of it – the way he'd gone crazy with the wind spirit in the cove so long ago was proof enough for me.

Zomom was staring out at the crowd, scanning them silently. I couldn't tell why – my best two guesses were that he was either looking for sympathy or trying to find out who'd sold him out, but since he clearly wasn't going to find the first and he didn't seem smart enough to determine the second, my guess was as good as anyone else's. Zeena was scanning the crowd also. It was clear, however, that she wasn't looking for sympathy or answers. I could see hatred in her eyes, blind hatred. It scared me more than anything else here. Zazz may have been angry, but his was more of a mindless anger; he wanted to kill people because that was just what he did. Zeena, on the other hand, was calculating. Intelligent. If she was free, she wouldn't just kill people. She make them suffer. Make them begfor mercy and dangle just out of their reach as she slowly drew the life from their bodies.

Zor wasn't showing much. When I first realized this, I figured he was just attempting to be defiant. But when I looked closer, I could definitely pick up on some things. I could see it in the way he kept his teeth slightly clenched and his gaze drooped, but allowed the sorrow in his eyes to shine through. He wasn't trying to keep anything from showing, he just had nothing left. I looked into his eyes and all I could see was a vast, dark emptiness. Whatever there used to be was all gone now.

Finally, after as much resistance as I could muster, I turned to Demio. He sat up straight with his shoulders squared tightly, like a true professional would. I guess even at his lowest point he felt he had to look strong and capable. Still, the way he bowed his head gently with his eyes closed in regret... even if he hadn't been my brother, it still would have made my chest feel tight.

Apparently, the official finished speaking right around then, because everyone sat down, including me. Up at the front of the hall stood my father, and astride him, two others, one male and one female. They all shared the same severe look, but only my father exuded that dark, empty aura as he gazed upon the five, pure revulsion in his face.

"You have been brought here before the High Council," roared my father, "so that judgment may be passed upon you, for a crime so heinous that we have not heard the like of it within this court for centuries!

"We have heard the evidence against you! The five of you stand accused of illegally conjuring spirits from the ether and manipulating their power without their foreknowledge or consent, endangering the fragile ties between Altheuman and spirit! You paid no mind to the grievous repercussions your infantile actions may have wrought, caring only for your juvenile power fantasies!

"I now ask the jury-"

"Father, stop!" Demio snapped his eyes up and shouted back. "You would do this to your own son? Your own flesh and blood?! What kind of father are you?!"

"I now ask the jury," Dad just shouted even louder, "to stand up now if they believe, as I do... that this crime deserves a life sentence in the Lost Hex!"

To the jury's credit the reaction was not instantaneous. It took several seconds for the first to raise their hands, and almost a minute before all hands were raised. They were reluctant, reluctant to send five of their own to hell. But that was their duty as Altheumans and as citizens, and they could not deny their duty. As for me, I had no reaction. I was far too broken.

And then, it began.

Upon the final "yea" vote, the female Altheuman stood and crossed her arms over her chest. She began to incant, but this was no normal spell. I supposed that the closest analogue was the spell Zomom had spoken at the cove long ago, but even that spell was nothing compared to this. The words she chanted were not words at all but horrible, guttural noises that came from deep within her chest and oozed out of her mouth like poison. They were the kind of words demons would speak whilst damning the living and the dead. And yet impossibly, it seemed to work, as while she uttered the black speech, a huge magic circle, one that filled the entire center of the chamber, lit up underneath the convicts... and my brother.

They all collapsed to the floor, and before the horrified eyes of all those in the courtroom, they began to change.

Zazz writhed upon the ground as his arms and legs extended and became thinner and thinner, and his jaw broke, reformed, and broke over and over again, all the while growing larger, and his face tore open at the temples and two jagged, striped horns grew out from the slits. His feet broke of their own accord, reshaping themselves into two-toed claws with a spur on the back of each. The whole time he was screaming and screaming, a high-pitched, deafening shriek of pure, unrestrained insanity.

Zomom clawed hysterically at his mouth as it stretched wider, far beyond the size any normal creature could match, and his skin tore in a vain attempt to accommodate it. His muscular body began to bulge and swell all over, growing bigger and bigger until his neck completely vanished, leaving his body the shape of an almost perfect sphere. On the top of his head, a ring of short horns burst out in a terrible, bleeding crown.

Zeena cried out as her body began to close in on itself, shrinking and becoming more slender. Her stomach was the worst off, turning her entire body into an hourglass shape that could barely support her upper body. She collapsed on the ground, and thick green hair sprouted from her scalp and cascaded down the front and back of her head. Finally, a long, curved horn shot out of her head as she lost consciousness.

Zor's entire body began to shrink as he actually became smaller, until he barely came up to the hips of any of the others. Even as far away as I was I could hear his spine twisting and popping, forcing his body into a permanent new slouching position as he screamed in absolute agony.

And Demio...

Even as I watched, Demio began to grow... and grow... more and more. Like Zomom, his body was expanding in every direction. But this was different; Zomom had been gaining only fat, but this time it was muscle, all of it. Demio fell to his hands and knees and watched in horror as his hands grew and stretched, becoming huge and powerful to match the rest of his body, his roars of horror and pain deepening more and more as he grew. Black spikes shot up out of his shoulders, and from his head, a pair of curved, black, devilish horns.

Monsters. That's what they were. That's what they'd become. Their lives as Altheumans were over forever. Now? They were reborn. Reborn as demons. And there was no going back.

…

I still don't know what compelled me to do what I did next. Maybe I felt that I could change things somehow, or that I could save Demio. Maybe I even wanted to join him, I just don't know. It's been over a century since then, and I'm still no closer to figuring anything out.

But I do know this: I jumped in.

I ignited my magic, and glowing with light I leaped into the glowing seal with the others.

Immediately I wished that I hadn't.

I was no stranger to pain. I'd fallen from pretty high places and broken more than a few bones in my days. I'd smashed my head on rocks before, and I somehow managed to several fishhooks through my neck one time while camping. But this... this was a whole new universe of pain. Thousands of thresholds above anything I'd ever felt before, or have ever felt since. The instant I entered the seal, I could feel every nerve in my body literally fry. I felt my organs burst open and sow themselves up over and over again without end. My blood cells tore in half and blood as hot as lava permeated the inside of my body, and my bones, somehow both melting and breaking simultaneously, forced themselves into shapes no animal could claim to share.

It felt like it went on for years, and just would not stop. I was almost certainly screaming, but I couldn't even hear it. My ears weren't working. I was blind from the pain; there was only darkness. Darkness and pain, pain, pain.

And then, through it all, I could hear a deep, demonic roar of despair.

And then it finally ended.

…

…

It had to be a dream.

I was laying down stock-still, my eyes still closed. Over and over again I repeated that. It had to be a dream. It had to be a dream. Demio's not a Zeti. I'm not a Zeti. Everything is okay. It was all a dream.

It just HAD to be.

…But why was my bed so hard?

And why was the air so hot?

And it hurt so much to move...

Against my wishes, my eyes opened up. I wished they hadn't. I was looking up at the ceiling of a cave, made of dark stone. Or maybe the cave itself was just dark. Either way, the air was scalding hot, and breathing was difficult. Slowly, I sat up, feeling my aching joints groan and my head swim.

"Alken!" The deep, unfamiliar voice caught my attention and I turned to face it.

And stared at a horrible monster.

It was tall and muscular, crimson and black skin stretched tight over its body. It had two long, black horns jutting out of its head and a cyan-colored ponytail. And it had a look on its face that was just as terrified as my own.

And the worst of it was, I knew this monster.

Demio.

The ground lurched beneath me, and I keeled over onto my hands and knees as my stomach automatically emptied itself. The monster – Demio – hurried forward and placed his hands on my shoulders to keep me still, but I barely noticed. Once my stomach finally emptied fully, I could feel myself shaking with pure despair. All I could feel was emptiness. I didn't feel afraid, or angry, or upset at all. I felt nothing, even as fresh tears cascaded from my face, the face I couldn't even see but could only be the face of a horrible demon.

One hundred years later...

The ocean was truly beautiful. The way the sun's rays struck the water and lit it up and made it sparkle like a giant gemstone was absolutely breathtaking. I could sit on the sandy beach and just watch the waves crest and burst all day long. Maybe I'd have some time tomorrow. Well, technically I had plenty of time, being an immortal Zeti and all, but even then that time was to be rationed, not wasted. Regardless, I slipped over to the water and stole one final glance at my reflection.

When I first came here a whole century ago, I couldn't bear to see the shape into which I had been reborn. It was hard enough to look at the others knowing what had used to be, but looking at myself was an entirely different story. It was easier now – I mean, it was my body, so I kinda had to get used to it - but I still preferred infinitely my former self, as opposed to what greeted me now.

The creature staring back at me was spindly as all get-out; practically a stick, really. Its lower body was solid black, with a pair of two-toed, two-spurred feet. Its upper body was predominantly white, with thin silver stripes running up its torso and down its arms, which dangled all the way down to its knees and ended in four-fingered hands with dangerously sharp talons. Finally, its head – which somehow had managed to remain supported despite the creature's impossibly thin body – was gaunt and bony. Its skin, stretched to the point where it looked about to tear, covered a skull-like face with sunken eyes that had black sclerae and red pupils, and a mop of dark cyan hair was swept down over the being's eyes, hiding them from view.

It wasn't a living creature so much as it was a horrible living skeleton.

I forced myself to stop looking at the beast in such a perverse manner (it's like a train wreck; you just can't seem to look away), and continued along my walk. I'd covered quite a good deal of ground, but I still had to complete several more circuits before my daily route was complete.

I should explain that.

When the six of us first landed here, we received a welcome of sort from this other Zeti calling himself Master Zik. He was this really old guy, but he was strong, no doubt. Within minutes he'd cowed us all into submission; no one here dared to try and take him down after that. He went back to tending his herb garden or whatever after that, but allowed us all to form a community of sorts. We couldn't exactly go home again, and Lost Hex was miles up in the atmosphere above a world that may or may not have even been inhabitable, so we all settled down here, resigned to spend eternity here with only each other for company.

Pretty soon it became very apparent that some combination of our transformations and our imprisonment here was warping everyone's minds. Zazz became increasingly less coherent, Zomom's intelligence hit a new low, Zeena's vanity hit a new high, and Zor became depressed every second of every day. And Demio? Demio became violent. The brother I knew was almost entirely subsumed by the monster he had become. He tried to keep me clear of all of it, but there were times when he lost it and I was around and... it wasn't fun.

Still, every so often the brother I thought I had lost would shine through. When we were alone he would give me a hug, or talk to me when I didn't know what to do, just like old times. He tried not to let the others find out, but I think they figured it out on their own. They would give me dirty looks, like I was sucking up to him, and generally either ignored me or abused me physically. At Demio's insistence I started calling myself Zenta, but it didn't affect my standings with the others in any way.

It was just as well. I wasn't particularly fond of any of them, and they weren't fond of me, so I was more than happy to stay out of their way. I started walking, not far at first, just far enough so that our home was just out of view, then I'd come right back. It was my escape, my way of hopefully staving off the madness that had infected the others so fully. I could feel it every now and then clawing at the back of my eyes, but when I was on my own it felt so much better.

After a while my usual route began to calm me less and less, so I decided to start going a little farther, and then a little farther after that, and so on. Before too long I had reached the edge of the volcanic region we lived within, and without hesitation I proceeded onward, filled with apprehensive excitement.

A land in the sky awaited me. It was breathtaking; an entire ruined city suspended in the sky as if by magic. Every day I would return to the floating ruins and explore, finding something new in the process. Getting there was no obstacle; becoming a Zeti placed no impediments on my magic, so turning myself into light and flying up to the city was child's play. I loved going up there and running through the ruins, feeling the wind rush against my face and the hard marble and granite beneath my feet. Sometimes it would storm while I was up there, and it was harrowing, blood-pumping, and a little bit humbling to hear, see, and feel the thunder and lightning and rain all around me.

Emboldened, I went even further. After the ruins in the sky came a great forest, a dark and mysterious place that went on for miles. The trees were so large and numerous that the sun was only rarely visible through the thick canopy. As frightening as it may have been, I always thought it was mystifying. Beyond the forest was a colossal snowy mountain jutting high into the sky. The cold was bracing, but it was such a peaceful place that I barely ever noticed. I loved to skate down the icy slopes and slide along the snow; it brought back memories of a more peaceful time. Occasionally I would come at just the right time to see the auroras, dancing across the sky in luminescent shades of green and red.

A bright, sandy beach (the one I was traveling through right now, actually) was the next region, and it brought back even more memories of my former life; Demio and I would go to the beach and build sand castles and just walk along the white sands for hours, enjoying the waves as they crested and crashed into the shoreline. I was never much of a swimmer, but Demio never forced me into the water if I didn't want to go, so it turned out all right. The following desert area was not a favorite of mine (although the pyramids were pretty interesting – I liked exploring the catacombs), but the hills – the final region of Lost Hex – were absolutely beautiful. I loved spending time in the hills. I would run through the grass with arms spread wide, scale sheer cliffs with ease, lay down for hours next to a waterfall and rest my eyes, and so much more.

This land may have been intended to be a prison, but I had to admit before long that it was truly an amazing place to be trapped in for life. So once I had gone as far as I could and seen every part of Lost Hex that I could find (one hundred years is a long time, keep in mind), I... kept going. I would go through everywhere again, but I would take a different route, to see all of the same places from different angles. And once I finished that route, I would create another, and another, and another; I had all the time in the world and nothing better to do, so I hardly thought twice about it.

But back to what I was talking about before, it was a simple, ordinary day as always. I was just on the way out on my newest route and passing through that pretty beach for the umpteenth time, and as always I was doing some thinking. Thinking was something I did a lot of, so that I'd have more than one thing to do while wandering around. I thought about a lot of things; some were inconsequential, like what to prepare for dinner or whether or not to pick a flower I'd just found, but sometimes I'd dig deeper. I wonder what my country back in my home dimension was like now or what happened to the people I knew. They were all surely dead now, unless time moved differently there.

Despite circumstances, the thought saddened me deeply, the fact that all the people I knew and loved were long gone now. I wondered, and still do, what happened to Mr. Ledale after the trial. He'd had to deal with both Demio and me, his precious students, being sent away forever, because of something he'd done. He'd taken Demio's capture hard, how could he have reacted to losing me too? Did he have to live the rest of his life with that weight on his shoulders? Did he even live for long after that? I'd heard of people dying of despair, just losing outright the will to live. Maybe he took his own life... I prayed to the gods that that wasn't true. I wanted wholeheartedly to believe it wasn't, but grief and despair were unpredictable. I couldn't totally deny the possibility...

Today? I was thinking hard, harder than I had in a long time, about something that had been stuck in my mind for an entire century. The other six, even Demio, sadly, had long ago given into hatred and despair over how they had been wronged. (I never did, by the way, find out what Zik did to get banished. I was too scared to ask) They'd welcomed the hatred, and allowed themselves to be reborn for the worse. But I was trying something different. I'd spent enough time on my own and in the wilderness to quell my hatred considerably. It was there, no doubt, but... I didn't want to live with it. I wanted it gone. Completely.

So I walked, and walked, and continued walking along the azure blue coast, turning various ideas over and over in my head. Who was there to hate? I made a mental list: Mr. Ledale. My dad. The other two Altheumans who condemned the others to banishment. Zazz, Zomom, Zeena, and Zor. And lastly, Demio himself.

One by one I went over them all and rejected them.

Mr. Ledale? He didn't know what he was going to see when he'd chosen to follow me. Besides, he'd told me that he had only confronted Demio, not reported him, and I believed it.

But you don't know if that's really the truth. A voice hissed quietly in the back of my mind. It was a dark, tempting voice that sought to shake me, make me doubt in the others, and in my own beliefs. I had no intention of listening to it.

"Right. I don't know if it's the truth," I replied out loud. "But I believe it. I trust Mr. Ledale greatly. He'd never sell out Demio, no matter what."

You can't deny the possibility.

"I'm not denying it. I'm rejecting it." The voice fell quiet for the moment. Moving on...

My father?

Ah, yes. The voice slithered again. He abandoned you and Demio, didn't he? Left you to rot in this little piece of Hell.

I had to gather my thoughts for a minute, but I was able to formulate a response. "No father would just abandon his children to a fate like this. For all I know, he was doing his job. He was under a lot of pressure to act, so he probably had no choice."

Gods, is that your best idea?! The voice laughed a raspy, poisonous chuckle. Probably? For all you know? You're reaching, Zenta.

"It's Alken," I growled. "And reaching or not, I stand by it all. Besides, I don't know what Dad was feeling, and I don't know what he did after it all. As far as I know, he went to his grave loathing himself to the core for what he did. Between my idea and yours, I'll gladly stand by mine."

You really are a damned fool.

"And I don't give a damn what you think," I seethed. Who was next?

The Altheuman that transformed us all.

That one was easy. She was doing her job, just like Dad. I didn't know how she was feeling, or how she felt after the fact. Besides, I only got transformed because of my idiotic recklessness. Blaming her would be pointlessly stupid.

The voice didn't speak up. I guess it had no counterarguments.

Zazz, Zomom, Zeena, and Zor?

That was... difficult. Of course the voice chimed in immediately.

Oh, this should be good! The fearsome foursome that gobbled up your precious Demio! It oozed with malicious glee.

It had a frustratingly good point. I thought over the various ways I could respond. I could say that Demio may have recruited them, and not the other way around, but at heart I didn't really believe that, and I couldn't bear to shift blame to Demio. I could say that they were just misguided and didn't want it to go this far, but I wasn't so sure of that either; I still remembered the way Zazz slung around those cyclones without a care for the others' well-beings.

Maybe...

See? You can't come up with anything! It laughed like a evil little demon child in a demon candy store. For demons. Just give up! You hate them! There's nothing WRONG with that!

Maybe it was right. Maybe I couldn't forgive what they'd done, and how far they'd dragged us all. But I wasn't going to give up here.

"Yeah, that's right," I shot back defiantly. "I don't forgive them. None of them. But I'm not going to hate them either. It's not worth it."

You think you can just magically stop hating them? They ruined your entire life, and they're not even sorry!

"I'm willing to try."

The voice chuckled. Fine. But you still have to deal with Demio, remember? Can you so easily forgive your own brother?

I stood still for a moment to ponder that, then took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I reflected upon all that had happened in the past century, and the events leading up to it. I visualized what I had seen tailing Demio that fateful day. I remembered the feeling of betrayal I felt, the anger that came after, and the sorrow I felt when he was lost to me. Slowly but surely, things started to click.

Finally I opened my eyes and spoke, slowly but deliberately. "Yes, I think I can."

What?! The voice was aghast, but rebounded quickly. But don't forget – he lied to you!

"Demio always looked out for me, no matter what," I retorted. "I'm certain he was just trying to protect me, just like always."

How so?

"When I found out what he was up to, I was devastated. It's been one hundred years since that day, and I could go back and warn my past self not to investigate what Demio was up to, I'd do it in a heartbeat, and not just because it led to this." I gestured with my arms and continued. "But because it hurt that much to find out. There's no doubt in my mind that Demio was trying to spare my feelings."

All right. The voice growled. But he still broke the law!

"I'm not going to put some law over my own brother!" I shouted back. "I might have, back then, but I was young and angry. I wouldn't dream of selling him out now."

Uurgh, fine! It was getting petulant now. Apparently it hadn't expected me to still be going this far. But there's one more thing – the crime itself! What he did was heresy! A sin above all other sins! Don't tell me you've forsaken that belief!

"Yes, I have." There was no stopping me now. I was a bullet train now, speeding toward my goal. Anything in my way would be destroyed. "I remember what Demio said that day. I remembered the rules he laid down." I could hear Demio's voice echoing in my head now, speaking the words with me. "Don't talk about your home life. Don't talk about what you do there. And don't use each other's real names. He created those rules to keep those other psychos in line. And I remember something else, too. The way he reprimanded Zazz for endangering everyone, and how he said that the group was meant for releasing stress. He didn't intend to do anything to hurt others; he went out of his way to stop it from happening!" My speech built up to a shout.

The voice stuttered. N-n-no! No! You're wrong! This is all Demio's fault! Don't forgive him! Hate him! HATE h-

"SHUT UP AND LISTEN!"I roared as loudly as my lungs would allow me to. "I've hated for one hundred years already! I'm DONE with hate! You don't get to decide that!

"You may be a part of me, I'll admit that. But there's one thing you got wrong!"

...what?

"You don't anything about me! All you can feel, all that you are, is hate! You don't know how I've felt over the past century, or that I've been trying my damnedest to make it all go away! And above all else – above every other mistake you made – you – don't know shit – ABOUT DEMIO!"

"I'm DONE with hate! I'm done with you! So get out the hell out of my head, and don't come back!"

I collapsed onto the ground in a sitting position, panting heavily as the adrenaline faded from my body. The amazing rush I felt died down slowly, and for a moment I waited to hear that wretched voice speak again. But it didn't. It was gone.

I could feel the space it once encompassed filling up with something new. It was peaceful, and it felt truly wonderful. After one hundred years, I had finally vanquished my hatred. For the others, for Demio, and maybe even for myself. It was gone forever.

At last I was at peace.

But only for a moment. Then all of a sudden my body ignited with pain. I collapsed to the ground as my muscles and bones turned to lead and melted into a water-like consistency. My skin felt like it was both burning off and tearing itself apart while still attached to me, my organs unwinding and bursting open all the while. And yet, through it all, I realized something.

I'd felt this way before. When I became a Zeti, I felt the exact same pain. My body burning and changing, forcing itself into another shape.

And as that realization dawned upon me, another horrified thought crossed my mind.

What was I becoming now?

And that's the chapter! There's only one left, so hold on for that. See you soon!

Tomorrow's Hero, signing out.