Now, shatter.

Everything went white, as I felt something wrong course through my veins; the pounding of my heart stabbing at my soul as the information rattled around in my skull. I could hear only vague slivers of the waking world. A prisoner vanishing, a Chosen cursing, and a child of **** gasping for air. The white void gave way to a familiar sight. A piano, and a stage.

"Where..." I look around; trying to discern if these were memories, dreams, or hallucinations.

The piano begins to play, all on it's own. It is a sad song; the last song I performed. Cracks seeping with the green glow of **** form across the stage, crawling past the Piano, and towards me. I stumble back, falling to my rear as they reach me. It is pure agony as the cracks in this strange reality then work their way across my scaled skin. From there, I could make out nothing; no sight, no taste, no smell; just pain... and a loud, pounding noise.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The empty sight gave way to an image of pure black and white.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The smell of blood, freshly pumped.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The taste of metals, as energy seeped from the entwined shapes.

"God-Hunter, why are you shattered?"

The words were not spoken, but heard; direct communion from the pulsing shapes, straight to my Core.

"I... I died." I stammer, barely making out my own voice over the thumping. "By my Father's hand; in another world"

"Lies."

I was compelled to speak my mind by the unfathomable shapes in this strange mind-scape; the words poured out like blood from a gaping wound. Two voices were speaking, sometimes in unison, sometimes not. A woman's voice, with cheery bright tones, and a man's voice, grim and grizzled.

"The cycle has broken."

"We shall be free."

"Light."

"Dark."

"And all between."

The shapes came into focus; two pounding hearts, wrapped around each other, and bound in familiar looking chains of their own seeping blood. The chamber was a tomb of silver, a perfect sphere encompassing these bound primordial forces. The energy pouring into me was the raw cosmic vibrations of magic; the source of all life on Ruyanei. And standing by the hearts, gliding his fingers across the dripping chains of black and white blood...

was Damian Walker.

"Do you know what you are now, Monster?" He asked.

I stumble towards the Twin Hearts. "I... I don't."

"Yes, you do." Damian stated, walking up to my feeble form. "When did our mind shatter? The crash?"

I nod, only to feel a twisting in my gut. "No?"

"Earlier..."

I think carefully, if not the crash...

"When we found out about our conception?" I ask, only to double over as the twisting turned to pain.

"Earlier..."

Damn it! How am I supposed to know!? When? When!?

The cosmic vibrations of the hearts pour across me more and more as I try to remember.

"God-Hunter, why are you shattered?"

I look down to my fingers, grasping at the smooth silvery slope. The fingers that once ran across ivory keys with the grace of a perfectionist, and the sorrow of a drunk. What happened to me? Why am I like this? What did I do wrong!?

What did he... Sing.

The hearts vanish, and the silver below me gives way to a grassy hill. I hear a young boy, no older than three, humming ahead of me. I look up, and see a familiar hill; but this time, there was no picnic. Only a lonely child, with unnatural crimson hair, a black eye from the latest round of bullying.

"I wish I had a friend~"

"One that wasn't pretend~"

"A friend just for me~"

"A friend they can't see~"

"No." I whisper, feeling a sense of unsettling familiarity. "This is..."

"I wish I had a friend~"

"One that wasn't pretend~"

"He could be a dragon~"

"Or maybe a fairy~"

"He'll help when Lu's gone~"

"And look really scary~"

This was it; my earliest memory. A memory that belonged to me, not Damian...

"I wish for a friend~"

"One that isn't pretend~"

"There's no shooting star~"

"But I want a..."

This is where I was born; this is where we shattered.

"Monster."

I see my life flash before my eyes in full; I was always there, waiting under the surface. When the bullies went too far, I'd pummel them into the dirt. When we'd run into trouble at the bar, I'd break a few jaws, and knock out a few teeth. When we were abused and abandoned, I let the same happened to our abuser. When a truck was barreling towards us down the highway, I kept him alive... even if it meant breaking him further.

I'm his Other Self... not the other way around.

My eyes open, only to find a familiar damp darkness, that cracked when pressed upon... I wonder what I'll look like this time.