Until it hits, and the bombs goes off.

It all hits at once. The crushing weight of the scene that's been painted in my mind; shattering my ego like an anvil dropped on a man's toes. Here I am, an amnesiac with a fragile psyche, placed in a body I cannot control, in a world at perpetual war. Here, I have been taken away from the graceful release of ****, instead made into a weapon, intended to be used against a long-lost love and her new companions. Here, my shattered mind has been scattered across four bodies; the other three seeking me out via any means necessary, with powers unknown, unquantifiable, and unparalleled by anything less than a God. Any attempt to unify back into some semblance of the man I was has just been forbidden by the highest power. Any chance of finding peace; perverted, and turned against me, just days ago.

"It won't end. It won't end. It won't end." I think to myself, as fear and shock settle in.

I sit, dumbfounded and broken, in the corner of an old, dusty library. How many times will I reach this point. How many times had I already? Four? Five? I've lost count at this point. As my breathing speeds itself, and I feel my pulse rise to a panic, I hear in the distance the words of my friends coming closer; Ashes asking Zana about how her prosthetic is holding up. The replacement for the hand I costed her.

They're better off without me. I have to leave... now!

I speak out the same words I spoke in the alleyway, and the shadows form a cloak around my body. That same hum finds it way into my bones, but I **** it to be quiet to my mind; and dip into the shadows.

Within the Shadow Realm, there is an inversion of the world outside; only showing the places bereft of light. The shadows move as the object which cast them moves, providing plentiful platforms to pounce from in the busy streets of the slums. It's not too dissimilar the shattered floors and buildings of the Seknium, allowing me past what would be solid walls, which are instead missing; their presence lacking due to the suns rays and candlelight upon them. I **** myself to move quickly, despite my fatigue from my recent run-in with myself. I make my way through several buildings And streets at the top of Bounty; seeking the gateway leading out of the city.

With the lockdown keeping them here, I'll be able to vanish from their lives without any sort search party looking for me. I'll be gone, and they'll head to Hoctin. They'll be safe...

Once I near my destination, however, I'm stopped by the sudden vanishing of the very grounds I wished to tread; someone in the real world is moving a light. Peering up through the shadow I currently reside in, I see a drunkard dancing about with what seems to be a magical light he had taken from somewhere. I also see the gate; just past which lies... something. Maybe with the Vanishing Charm, I can find somewhere to just hide. A cave, somewhere to just sit and live off the very darkness I now resided within.

I try to find some sort of means to pass the wall via the Shadow Realm, only to conclude that there must be some sort of countermeasure already in place for this way out of the city. I pull myself up from a shadow in a dank alleyway, and begin to do the only thing I can think of.

Panic.

"This can't be real." I tell myself in hushed tones, looking down at my clawed hands. "I can't be this. I can't be here, now, doing these crazy things. I just used the lack of light as a walkway! Why was that ok just now!? I feel like I'm losing it!"

I feel my grasp on the world around me slip further and further, as I look up frantically at the great big gate and wall that blocked my means of fleeing. I needed to run away, to get out of this city; out of this world.

"Monster?!" The familiar voice of Cilla yells, back in the direction of the library. "Where are you?!"

Nothing makes sense; why me. I was a normal man, living a normal life. Why was I made to suffer those two years back home. Why was I brought here, of all people. Why had my life spiralled from that point onward, into a cacophony of catastrophe!?

I clutch my own head, and rush down the street; down towards the slope leading far down too the sea.

What am I even doing now!? Am I trying to keep my new friends safe from the ones after me!? Am I just a coward, running away from it all!?

My breathing has become erratic, and my heart is pounding like never before. I feel each throb of my veins tugged at by my left arms harness. I feel the sweat building on my forehead, and in my palms; cold, and paralyzing. The sensation spreads across me as I run, leaving me unsure of wether I should yell out in anger, or cry in desperation.

I hear Zana's voice up above, on her Boomstick. "I can't find him!"

I dart into another alley where a dirty homeless man wearing rags is sitting on a thrown out hot-pink couch. I stop, pulling a tarp off a nearby crate, and throwing it over myself.

Like a child hiding under a blanket... what's happening!? I was fine when I was fighting Sammy, when I was stabbed in the heart by Scott, and even when I was fighting more than ten-to-one odds; why am I so afraid now, from just words? Why do I feel so hopeless...

"Because you saw what you were up against."

Exactly! How am I supposed to fight something like Naimad?! He's practically a god!

...

I pull the tarp off of myself, looking around for who had just read my mind; only seeing that dirty homeless man in rags from before, with his messy, long brown hair and beard; paired with hazel green-brown eyes with massive bags beneath them.

Why is that couch so familiar?

"It's finally catching up with your brain. You're in danger. Your friends are in danger. She's in danger." Says the Homeless Man, readying to take a nap on his couch. "You're the newest piece in the biggest, longest, and hardest game of Kings and Queens you could think of. The only things distracting you from the fact you were in Check; were your Bishop, and your Queen. You lost the your Bishop in fire, and you lost your Queen before the game even began..."

He yawns, stretches, and looks at me with an expecting smile.

"...and now you see it, Monster. The Rooks trapping your King. What are you going to do? Are you going to forfeit the match? Will you get back your Queen? Or will you simply throw the whole board away."

I hear my companions calling to me again, and I turn to see if any were nearing the alleyway. "Monster!? Where are you!?"

I look back into the alley, only for the couch, and the man sleeping on it, to be missing; replaced by what seemed to be a running game of Kings and Queens; the White King nearly in Check-Mate by two Black Rooks, and the Black Queen. There were fewer white pieces left compared to the black; a Bishop, a Rook, a Knight, and a five Pawns, one of which nearing the edge of board, readying itself to become a Queen. A look over the board showed there was almost no way for white to win; even should the Pawn ascend to replace the lost Queen, another Black Pawn had just done the same...

Even still, it's my turn.

My nerves had somehow gone from shot, to calm, as I move the pawn forward; seeing now that it had managed to create a threat back towards one of the Rooks, which would **** Black to rethink their strategy. The board shakes, and the Rook slides out of position, up towards the new Queen...

"There you are!" Yells Gabriella, pulling my attention from the game. "Where had you gone? Cilla was horrified that you had gotten yourself in trouble again."

Before answering, I look back to the game; now as non-existent as the Homeless Man.

"Sorry. I just... lost something on the way to the library." I answer; internally surprised at how calm I sounded.

"Did you find it?" She asks, looking up and down the alley.

I nod, walking out, and back into the streets.