7500 years ago 

Rayna shoved another dagger into her bag. She knew what she had to do. A knock sounded at the door, and she jumped up ready to kill anyone that came in. 

The door creaked open to reveal a tall boy with sandy blond hair. 

“John, I’m doing this alone,” Rayna hissed. 

“No, I am coming with you. It’s my fault we’re in this mess to begin with.” 

She shoved past him. Lightning cracked in the sky, highlighting the Lupaz Mountains in the distance. Rain began pouring down soaking the landscape. 

Ranya turned around, “You want to come with me?” 

He nodded. 

Lightning erupted once more in the sky, “Then let’s go kill a storm.” 

Present day 

“Let him go!” Mia said forcefully. 

The boy just slugged me in the stomach again.  

Blood was pouring from my nose, and I could feel my face start to swell. 

The large boy turned me around and raised his fist. I squeezed my eyes shut waiting for the blow. It didn’t come. A rock had hit him on the head.  

He turned around and dropped me. He stared in shock at my twin sister, who had thrown the rock. 

“I said to let him go.” She hissed the words. Her hands were clenched, and she was glaring up at the boy, who was a good six inches taller than her. 

I knew the look in her eyes all too well. Her gray eyes were flickering with anger and her jaw was set. 

I stifled a groan. This wasn’t going to end well for anyone. 

“What if I say no?” 

“What if I call the police and you say no to them?” 

“Listen girlie, go away and I let your brother go soon.” 

Mia pulled her phone out of her pocket, “Let’s see, assault, battery, and just for extra measure let’s tell them about how you were smoking as a minor.” She started to dial. 

Jack swore, picked me up, and hit me once more. “I’ll just beat the crap out of you later.” 

“Anytime, anywhere, I could have done this all day.” 

He grunted before turning around and stomping away. 

The second he was gone I threw up. I fell to the ground groaning. 

“Get up.” Mia gently prodded me in the ribs with her foot. 

I rolled around and narrowly avoided my regurgitated lunch. I pushed myself up I wiped my nose with my sleeve, it came back bloody. “What are the chances mom will notice this?” 

Mia looked at me, “You’re covered in blood I can’t see an inch of your face that isn’t swelling, and you smell like the sewer, but you’re also five minutes younger than me so I don’t think she will.” 

I glared at her. 

She laughed, “Well, at least your face is better than before.” 

“Are you calling me ugly?” I asked 

“Well, no, but when people say the brains of the family, they refer to me,” she said with a smirk. 

“And I got the looks,” I replied. 

“If your definition of looks is a half-drowned pig that has been brushing it’s teeth and then drinking orange juice, then yes you got the looks.” 

I wiped my sleeve on her back, smearing blood on her white shirt, “We look the same you know that right?” 

“We’re twins you dingbat, not clones.” 

I looked at her plastering an astonished look on my face, “No I could’ve sworn.” 

Mia flicked my head and started walking back home.  

I ran to catch up exiting the narrow alley. 

When we arrived home the first thing I heard was, “There’s my favorite niece! Where’s your other half?” 

I pushed past Mia to see Uncle George sitting on our couch with my mom. 

“There he is!” George stood up and rustled my already messed up hair. 

My mother gasped when she saw me. Her gray eyes went wide with horror at the side of my face. “What did you do? Jump off a building?” 

“I hit a pole walking home.” 

“He got in a fight,” Mia called from the kitchen. 

“Tattle tale!” I called back. 

George grinned, “That’s my boy!” 

“George!” My mother hit her brother on the head. 

“What?” He cried indigently. 

“Don’t encourage him!” My mother turned to me, “Are you okay sweetheart?” 

My face felt like fire, and I was quite sure I had plenty of bruises, but I grinned, “Yeah, I’m fine.” 

She sighed. 

Mia walked into the room holding a ruby red apple in her hand. She gave George a quick hug and said, “Yeah, Jack is a real good person.” 

I laughed, “Just like you.” 

She hit me upside the head. 

I pushed her, she pushed me back. 

“Nico! Mia!” 

We stopped, looking at our mom with shock in our eyes. She never yelled at us. I noticed for the first time how tired she looked. Her hair was in disarray and dark bruise-like circles had formed under her eyes. She looked scared and worried. 

I looked at George, he seemed like he was forcing a smile. 

“What’s wrong?” me and Mia voiced together. 

Mom sighed and forced a smile on her face, “Nothing I’m only tired. Your bags are packed and, in your rooms, and George is ready to go.” 

There wasn’t a trip planned, something was wrong. 

Me and Mia exchanged a glance before heading to our rooms. 

I changed my shirt and tried to get most of the blood off my face. I pulled my suitcase off my bed and grabbed my favorite hoodie off the ground. 

I walked down the hall and listened intently to the adults conversing. 

“You’ll take care of them, right?” 

“Dee, you know there’s nothing I can do once they enter the-” 

“Don’t utter that awful word not in my house!” 

“Dee, you know that the chances of them both getting out is slim to none, even one of them is unlikely.” 

“George, you and Daniel got out.” 

“Dan died three days later.” 

My mother let out of quiet sob, “I can’t believe I’m letting the Wardens take them too.” 

I glanced behind me and saw Mia listening with fear on her face.  

“Should we run?” she mouthed. 

I shook my head unsure. 

“Kids are you almost ready?” 

We both jumped. I scrambled back to my room realizing in had forgotten Billy. Twelve years old and still can’t sleep without him. I grabbed the beaten-up stuffed dog and raced back into the living room. 

Mom ushered us out the door and I tripped. Billy fell from my gripped but when I tried to grab him my mom shouted, “Leave it!” 

I stared at her shocked. Billy was the last thing I had from my dad, “I can’t sleep-” 

“You’re twelve years old you don’t need him anymore!”  

I didn’t recognize my mother’s cold hard voice. It started to rain. Mia grabbed my arm and tugged me away from the dog. 

She shoved me into the back seat of George’s Avalon Ford. The last thing I saw was my mother closing the door, leaving Billy out in the rain. 

Mia was sitting beside me looking terrified but as always keeping her face passive.  George didn’t say anything, he just turned the volume up on the radio. The city became farms, which melded into foothills, which turned into mountains, which finally became thick trees surrounding us. No one said a word, we just listened to the radio and watched the endless trees. 

I was terrified, something was so horribly wrong. I was so tense I jumped when the song changed. Mia was not doing any better. Her mahogany brown hair was plastered to her pale, sweaty face. Her fists were balled, and she looked ready to jump out and run. 

George eventually stopped driving and he pulled open our door. 

“Out now.” My favorite uncle had gone hard. 

“What are you going to do to us?” Mia challenged. 

“Get out!” 

I scrambled out, Mia right behind me. 

George walked into the trees and me and Mia followed. 

“We should run now while he can’t catch up, we go to the car and call the police,” Mia hissed. 

I nodded, “Give it a couple of minutes, fall behind.” 

She nodded. 

George kept walking briskly, never stopping. This went on for around five minutes before Mia grabbed my hand and we started running the other way. 

We pounded through the trees I risked a glance behind me and saw my uncle hadn’t even moved. I refocused my gaze ahead and skidded to a halt. For standing right in front of us was George. 

“I wouldn’t do that again,” he snarled. 

Mia placed herself in front of me, “How did you do that?” 

He didn’t answer, instead walking forward again.  

Mia grabbed my arm and gently pulled me behind them. We trudged forward again, following at a distance. 

The trees hugged us close seeming to get thicker and thicker, darker, and darker. I didn’t know how long it was before we stopped. Walking had been drilled inside my brain to the point where stopping seemed unnatural. 

I hit Mia and we both stumbled forward landing in a heap in the forest clearing. It was straight out of a fairytale. 

Imagine warm green light dancing across a circle of wildflowers in all colors, multicolored glass shards hanging off a beautiful wishing well, sending the rainbow swinging around the grass. Trees encircling the dew-covered ground, the sun hitting your face at just the right angle, a cool breeze passing by you, and the feeling of waking up with the sun.  

Now take this beautiful image of peace and joy and imagine the exact opposite. Make the well sag with the weight of years. Forget the beautiful light and make it tiny columns of fading light giving the mist a faint eerie glow. Imagine the rock infested ground, and the breeze that sends chills down your spine. Look at the cobwebs that hang above you and notice the beady eyed raven sitting on a nearby branch as it stares at you. Feel the scent of rotten wood invade your nose and combine it with the buzzing of bugs and distant squawking of birds. Now finally take this spooky image multiply the sense of dread by thirty then make the well glow with an ethereal silver light and you have a fraction of how utterly terrifying this was. Straight out of fairytale, that one part where the hero must kill a dragon, fight a witch, or rob graves or even better see all his dead ancestor’s sculls to ask them for a mystical amulet. I don’t think the skulls would be too happy about that. 

Mia pushed me off and stood shakily. She could feel it too, the dread, the feeling that one way or another something that could mean our deaths was coming. 

I stood up next to her and looked around for George, who he had been in front of us moments before, but I could no longer see him. Mia grabbed my arm, her fingers biting into my skin. 

I looked at her. She had gone even paler, any sign of life gone. She was shaking and her lips were quivering. I slowly turned back around in the direction she was looking. And saw to my horror that we were not alone. 

Six cloaked figures stood behind the well. They all looked the same, and they moved in perfect unison tilting their heads. 

They threw back their hoods to reveal silvery skulls in places of heads. The cloaks fell away as well, squashing my hopes of the skulls just being masks. For a horrible moment we just stared at each other. 

 Then they spoke, in a rattling, chilling, overlapping voice, “For generations the Wardens have protected the world from the Ever Storm, keeping the Tenth Realm safe. They have given their lives for the greater good. And now,” they simultaneously raised a bony hand to point at Mia and I, “you must continue that tradition. You will die in the name of the Wardens or die of your own weakness. Now face the Initiative and may the fittest of you survive.”  

Mia and I turned, thinking the same thing, get away, get away, get away. But our path was blocked by the still ever pointing beings. 

“You can’t run from your duty,” they hissed as they stepped forward. 

Mia and I backed away until I felt my legs hit the well. The beings paused and then grinned a horrible grin. I didn’t understand until I realized this is what they wanted. George had reappeared right in front of us, and his face was like a rainstorm, hard and strong but filled with sorrow. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered right before pushing me and my twin sister down into the well. 

30000 years ago 

It was happening again. The end of the world as people knew it. Asha screamed as she tried to contain the storm, but she was weak, and she, like the world, was consumed in its jaws. 

Present day 

The inky blackness had surrounded me leaving nothing but the rattling of bones still echoing in my ears and Mia’s screaming. We should have hit the ground minutes ago, but we were still falling. We didn’t have any of our stuff and the only thing I could feel was Mia’s death grip on my hand.  

“Nico?” Mia called out 

“What’s up?” I responded. 

“We’re about to die.” 

“I know.” 

“I love you.” 

“I love you too.” 

I looked down to see a circle of light slowly approaching us. I remembered when me and Mia would joke around about us dying. We would say, ‘I see the light, grandma is that you?’ 

Mia was thinking the same thing, “I see the light.” 

Despite it I grinned, “Gran is that you?” 

I could hear her crying, “I don’t want to die yet.” 

I felt only an immensity of humor bubbling inside me, “Yeah Grandma scared me to.” 

“Will you stop joking?” 

“No, I want to die laughing. Do you think we’ll be able to come back like the Hogwarts ghosts?” 

“No.” 

The light was getting larger, to the point where we were about to touch it. I let go of Mia’s hand and spread my arms wide, ready, for the unknown. 

We passed through the light, and I hit something hard headfirst, the world went black, and I grinned ready to see dad again. 

“Nico, Nico get up.” Someone was shaking my shoulder. 

I snapped my eyes open, and I groaned out, “Is this heaven? Why are you here?” 

Mia slapped my face, “Get up, we’re not dead.” 

“Yet,” I heard another female voice shudder out, “we’re not dead yet.” 

I sat up to see a girl around our age wearing a kind of white jumpsuit. She had chestnut brown hair and warm green eyes that were filled with an intense fear. She met my eyes and repeated, “We’re not dead yet.” 

Mia pulled me to my feet, and I was shocked to see that she was wearing the same jumpsuit and her hair was pulled back tightly like the other girl. 

I looked down to see that my situation was the same. “Where are my clothes?” 

Mia grimaced at me, “Bigger question is where are we?” 

“The Initiative. I’m Cass.” The green-eyed girl- Cass – stood and walked over to me with that same numb fear in her eyes. “And as for any personal belongings you may have had they’re gone.” 

“The Initiative?” I echoed. 

“The training ground for new storm guards, most don’t survive the process.” 

Fear raced through me, and I could feel every muscle in my body tense. Promptly ignoring the cold sweat creeping along my back, I held out my hand, “I’m Nico and this is Mia.” 

She flinched back before gently clasping my hand. Her grip was firm and strong, I met her eyes and turned red, dang she was pretty.  

I let go and glanced at Mia. She had a look on her face that said, “I know what you are thinking.” 

I ignored this instead looking at the room we were in. It was completely white. Brightly lit, though I could not see by what, it was a square white block with no exit or entrance. 

I was walking back to where Mia was and suddenly heard a thump behind me.  

A boy had fallen from out of nowhere. He let out a string of words I had never heard before. He pushed his blond hair out of his face, revealing angry blue eyes. He was also wearing the same white jumpsuit. 

When he saw us, he instinctively tried to pull something out of a pocket he no longer had. 

“Where’s my knife?” 

“Anything you had has been taken the wardens take particular care with anything sharp,” Cass said. 

“THEY TOOK MY WIT AWAY!!?!?!?” I shouted aghast. 

“What wit?” Mia responded coolly. 

“Well, they clearly didn’t take yours, certainly too dull.” 

“At least I had one in the first place.” 

A strangled noise came from the boy’s mouth, “That filthily little,” more words followed that made Mia’s eye widen. “She actually gave me up to the Initiative.” 

“Who?” 

“My mother.” 

Mia eyes widened, “You were talking about your mother when you said,” more words followed that I will not repeat for the sake of my soul. 

“Yeah.” 

Mia’s eyes narrowed in digest, “You have a name?” 

“You don’t need names! You are here to die in the place of others.” a new voice echoed through the room. A door seemed to burst into existence and a tall young man walked in. His green eyes passed over me and for a second recognition sparked in his eyes. He glared at us, “My name is Ryder, you do not get names. Over the next three years you will discover the meaning of true pain, true bravery, and most importantly you will discover death. You are four of hundreds within the Initiative, I have no doubt in my mind that all of you will not make it.” Ryder eyes hardened. “The best way to survive is to detach yourself from your former identity and understand that after these next years you will be completely different.  

I studied Ryder. He looked like he could be any age between 20-40. And a twisted scar was clearly visible on his bare arm. His black hair was neatly trimmed. Everything about his appearance was neat tidy and stable, but his eyes were haunted. They watched us all with what I thought was icy coldness but now recognized it as the same look in my father’s eyes right before he left. They weren’t cold but filled with a desperate desire to protect. No, his eyes were far from cold, they were full of sorrow, shame, and pain. 

Mia raised her hand, “How old are you?” 

Ryder stared at her, “I’m sixteen, tomorrow.” 

His eyes belonged to someone much older, someone who had seen death and known pain beyond the human mind. 

He locked his eyes on mine and I shuddered. “For those of you who do not understand this, allow me to explain. For millennia, the wardens have protected the Tenth realm from one thing and one thing only; the Ever Storm. We have battled the Ever Storm at its source the Tide String; the portal that ties the rest of the world to ours. If you have no knowledge of this just know that it’s you and me that stands between the end of the world and the Ten Realms.  

I expect that none of you will survive the training. In fact, I am one of five that survived the training. Out of hundreds, only five survived and after that I am the only one remaining. From now on you have no friends, you have no name and the only plan in your head is survive. Do you understand?” He didn’t wait for an answer, instead walking out again. The door disappeared behind him. 

Everything was happening far too fast I didn’t understand a single thing happening in my life. Mia looked like she was almost as confused as me. 

We both stared at each other. 

Cass had gone back to her corner, and I could see from here that she was shaking violently. 

The blond boy hissed, “We’re going to die in this room, aren’t we?” 

None of us could respond, for in the moment he had been talking we all had started to glow faintly.  

Mia looked at me with fear in her eyes. I walked towards her but was quickly halted by metal objects slamming into me on all sides.  

I cried out in pain as the plates of metal molded to my body within seconds. The rest of us had faced the same treatment and now cold metal armor was molded to our bodies perfectly there like it was the most natural thing in the world. 

Fear raced up my spine as the white ground around me started to shake violently. It dropped under us, and my stomach lurched into my throat as for the second time today I had the horrible sensation of plunging into darkness. 

100000 years ago 

Drake cried out my pain as the storm ripped through him, tearing him apart as easily as a piece of paper. He had tried so hard, but he was too tired, far too tired. In an explosion of rain, wind and lighting the world fell once more to the Ever Storm. 

Present day 

I hit the ground hard. I groaned as I straightened up. A scream sounded through the enclosed place. My head snapped up just in time to see Mia launch right back into the air. I looked around and something inside me seemed to click. I ran forward and caught her skidding on my knees across the now rocky ground. 

The room around us changed dramatically. It shifted to become a black, rocky landscape. Wind slashed through my hair and icy rain clanged off my metal breast plate. 

I called out to the others, “What’s going on?” 

Cass looked back at me, “It’s a simulation of the Ever storm!” I could hear her voice trembling. 

The blond boy spoke next, “It’s to weed out those who can’t survive against the Tide String. The goal is to stab it and that will shut off the simulation.” 

The landscape around us seemed to fold in on itself sending me flying back in the air. Wind sent me hurtling upward and I got tossed around like a rag doll. A pillar of rock shot into the air right in front of me. Right before I would have slammed headfirst into it another gust of wind sent me hurtling backwards. I hit the ground, sprawled on my back, and skidded another three yards before coming to a stop. 

The simulation had gone crazy, elements flew everywhere, and I cried out as a jagged rock slashed across my face leaving blood running into my mouth.  

And then I saw it. In the distance a great wooden frame like that of a door held a silvery green light. 

“Is that it?” I shouted over the wind. 

Cass was thrown back at me. “Yeah!” 

Mia crashed into a nearby pillar of rock, and she screamed. 

I pulled Cass to her feet and yelled trying to be heard over the howling of the wind, “You seem like you know a lot about this!” 

“Of course, I do my mom died because of that thing.” 

Another gust of wind tried to tear me from the ground, but a silvery sword formed in Cass’s hand, and she stabbed it down holding on to it with one hand and clutching the weapon with her other.  

“How do you do that?” I yelled in shock. 

“You don’t know anything about this do you?” 

“No!” 

The blond boy came hurtling towards us. Mia joined us a second later. In a flash of light, a kind of metal shield formed around us. Cass was grimacing in concentration. 

Mia stared at Cass, “Are you doing that?” 

“Of course, I am.” 

The blond boy stuck out his hand, he was panting, “Travas. Who are you and why do you know nothing about what is going on? Surly your parents told you everything?” 

“No,” I could speak normally again, the wind was being blocked by Cass. 

He swore again, “OK here the gist. Magic exists, you were born in a different realm, most likely the Fifth. Your parents have been lying to you your entire lives, and if any of you family members were killed it’s because of that thing outside. Now, you need to learn how to survive, me and Cass have known this was most likely going to happen our entire lives, and we’ve trained for it, but you two don’t understand what the heck is going on and I’m probably not helping.” 

He really wasn’t so I shook my head. 

He grimaced and tore a hand through his soaking wet hair, “You are wearing magical amor tell it what you want protection or defenses wise and go stabbed the center of the glowing doorway. Do you understand?” 

“No,” Me and Mia said at the same time. 

Cass groaned out, “Well good luck with that cause I can’t hold this any longer.” The protective metal shell burst into light and rain soaked me thoroughly once again. 

The armor can give me anything I want. I want an umbrella. A metal umbrella spouted above me shielding me from most of the rain. 

Travas stared at me like I was a complete idiot.  

I glared at him, “I’m not drowning any more am I?” The wind shifted direction and rain hit me with such force that I ran back into Mia. 

Despite it all Travas smirked smugly. Or he would have had a blast of wind not sent him hurtling through the air. The same one caught me and Mia, and I clung to her. 

Despite my comments and despite the jokes, I was terrified. A pillar of rock was getting closer. At the last second a shield formed around us. We slammed into the wall protected by the glowing metal ball. I clung to the side and Mia looked at me. 

“What the heck is happening?” she hissed. 

“How am I supposed to know?” 

“I don’t know. But Nico, I’m pretty sure this is what killed dad and uncle Daniel. I think they were storm guards and I think mom was one too.” 

“You seem to have accepted this fairly well.” 

“Nico, we are suspended in the air by a metal ball I’m controlling with my brain, we just learned we’re probably from a different dimension, at this point I think anything is possible, even you being smarter than me.” 

I stared at her unblinking face and then nodded, “So what’s you plan?” Mia always had a plan she was calculating well I was more of face the consequences later and get hurt now. 

“Well, it’s complete chaos out there, we don’t know these people and I certainly don’t trust them if it comes down to death, our only advantage is the fact that you have an extremely high pain tolerance, and I can use that properly.” 

“Wait what?!?” 

She ignored me. A small hole opened in the metal plate, and she looked out. “The doorway is around thirty yards away from us right now. The wind is strong enough to take us that far but it’s hitting us from all sides, not just one. The ground seems to have a pattern though.” 

“Is the ground moving too?” 

“Yeah, the wind is strong but not strong enough to lift us thirty or more feet straight into the air pillars of rock are launching us up and then the wind is tossing us around like rag dolls, but have you noticed that it’s always attuned to our positions so if we’re leaning forward, it sends us forward. So, if you were to lean all the way forward during a break in the wind you would be sent hurtling towards the heart of the door. But if the wind were to shift you could be sent hurtling into another rock pillar.” 

A thought suddenly struck me, “Are the pillars moving to?” 

“Well, yeah but I don’t see how that really matters.” 

She said the words right as a string of rock slammed into me. It broke her concentration and she fell while the rock spurred me backward. 

Sheild, shield, shield, I thought desperately. A flash of light later a sheet of metal was sliding on the ground, me clinging to it. 

Cass ran over to me and yelled something right before she got launched into the air by the ground. She screamed loudly. 

Without even thinking about it, my shield vanished, and a glistering silver rope shot up and wrapped around her waist. I grabbed it and yanked her down. Rock launched me up and I met her mid-way catching her barely. The rope vanished and a sheet of metal formed behind us as we slammed into a pillar. 

We skidded down at a more or less controlled pace. We landed safely on the stoney ground. 

“Are you okay?” I asked loudly. 

“Fine thank you.” 

Suddenly the wind had a break. 

Mia shouted at me, “Do it now!” 

I leaned forward and the ground complied sending me soaring towards the door. A crystallin dagger formed in my hand and I stabbed it straight into the heart of the portal. 

The landscape froze and it folded out back into the white room.  

The adrenaline no longer pumping through my veins I collapsed. The cut on my face burned and my legs were screaming at me. The armor snapped off my and vanished as the world went black.  

I woke up to rain hitting my face. 

2000000 years ago 

“It’s too much!” Shea screamed. 

“Stay with it! We can kill it this time!” Esac cried back. 

“You can’t kill a storm.” 

Seconds later the two laid dead on the ground and the world was consumed. 

Present day 

Every day it was the same story. Wake up to thunder crashing and try to survive, stab door, collapse the second it stops.  

After the victory of that first day had worn off, life became a miserable experience. The best part of my day was seeing white again. I think it had been around a year. My hair had grown longer, and I was taller. I had a permanent scar on my face from that first day. Mia and I didn’t talk anymore none of us did, but we were still barely alive.  

There wasn’t really a point in learning about each other, we all knew in our hearts we would die soon anyway. 

Every day for who knows how long. We woke, stopped the simulation ate and collapsed. Not having a rock thrown at my head every second felt unnatural, not moving felt unnatural, living felt unnatural.  

We lived every day in constant endless fear.  

I couldn’t sleep. Mia was curled up beside me, she was crying. 

“Mia, what’s up?” 

She sat up, “I hate them Nico. I hate mom and dad and George, and I hate you and I hate the world.” 

“You hate me?” 

“Do you know how long we’ve been in here?” 

“No.” 

“It’s our birthday today.” 

“How do you know that?” 

She glared at me, “I’ve been counting, we’re fourteen. We don’t talk anymore, the only time we do is when we’re figuring out how to shut it off. We’re dead, Nico, you know it I know it and they know it.” She gestured at the other two. “You will die for the Wardens or die of your own weakness. Mom gave us up to this white, windy hell and the only person I can find comfort in, is as messed up as me.” 

“You don’t need a shoulder to cry on Mia. We’re not kids anymore, we have a duty we have a part to play. We’re here so no one else has to do this, we’re here to die in someone else’s place. We die to protect and that’s all we can hope for.” I didn’t recognize my own voice, it was cold and hopeless, and I recognized the words as something Ryder had told us. 

“We’re fourteen! We should be worrying about grades and petty grudges. We are children!” 

“Well, it’s time to grow up.” I rolled over and the world went black.  

Two weeks later Travas was dead. He had been killed by a blow to the head, it was something he could have easily blocked. Seeing his dead body, cold dead eyes peering up at me, I felt Something inside me break.  

Cass went next, her body fell over thirty feet in the air, and I couldn’t get there in time. 

All I had left was Mia. So, protecting her became my priority. We didn’t talk still, but an understanding passed between us. My older sister was all I had left, and I was going to cling to that like my life depended on it. 

We fought side by side, battling together to get to the Tide String. Until one day. 

A man I had never seen before shook me awake and for the first time in three years I left the white room behind. 

We still didn’t say anything, we just followed as he led us to a room that looked as though it was made from stone. 

There were beds. I looked over at Mia. 

“We made it out?” she asked. 

“Yes, you are the only survivors. Tomorrow morning you will face there real thing and stay there until you’ve served your purpose.” 

My voice came out horse and angry, “You mean until we die.” 

He didn’t say anything, he just left. 

I laid down on the floor and closed my eyes. 

I awoke to the door opening. And there I saw something that made my blood boil. 

George stood in the doorway with a slight smile on his face.  

I stared at him before screaming, “You!” 

His eyes widened as I grabbed the front of his shirt in my hands. I was taller than him now, and much stronger. 

I slammed him into the wall. 

“Nico I’m sorry-” 

“No! You don’t get to say sorry; you don’t get to say anything about the greater good. You could’ve at least told us or helped us. There are other ways.” 

He was older, gray was starting to show in his hair.  

“I half a mind to kill you right here and now.” 

“Nico! Put him down!” 

I complied to Mia’s voice and snarled at my uncle. 

“Mia.” George stared at her and gently traced a scar on her face. 

She slapped his hand away and I gently pulled her away from George. 

She spat at him, “You’re sick.” 

George looked down, “I know.” 

I ignored him instead voicing a question I didn’t think I cared about, “How’s mom?” 

Mia flinched. 

George looked down, “She’s safe in a different city.” 

So, she was gone now too. That was three. Three people that had left my life for good, Travas, Cass and now mom. 

Mia was the next to speak, “So how are we getting to the Tide String? You gonna push us into another hole and say sorry that you’re killing your niece and nephew, or maybe push us into a jet of fire, or a volcano or a shark’s mouths or while we at it say, hey so the Tide String is in the spirit world so we’re just gonna kill you here?” Her tone was bitter and cold. 

“No, there’s a portal to the Tide String below us.” 

“So, you are going to push us into another hole.” 

“The Tide String is something no normal person can reach.” 

“So, you came back just to kill us again.” Mia’s voice broke. Tears were streaming down her face. I felt tears form in my eyes as well. I hated seeing Mia in pain. I hated George. 

He reached for her like he was going to try and comfort her. She flinched back and I slapped his hand away. 

“You’ve done plenty to us, at least give us the mercy of not being touched by slimy filth,” I snarled. 

“I am so sorry that I did this to you. I’ve turned you into monsters.” 

I grabbed his neck again, “We’re not monsters. You took everything from us. Everything. You left us cold on the ground watching our friends die. You left us praying that next time it would be us!” 

I let him go and he slumped onto the ground. I looked at him in disgust, “You’re a coward you’re wasting innocent lives to protect your own.” 

I stepped over him Mia at my side and together we walked down the corridor, towards death. 

The first thing I heard was the screams. The first thing I saw were the bodies. The first thing I smelt was rain.  

The portal to the Tide String was a black empty hole in a wide cavern. Dead bodies lay on the edges and screaming could be heard behind the empty screen. 

Mia and I didn’t hesitate. Metal slammed into us on all sides, it felt good, familiar. Holding hands, we entered the darkness and came out to chaos. 

If the simulation was bad than this was death. People screamed around us, rain and wind hit us from all directions, and I could already feel my hands going numb with cold. 

We were immediately separated. The ground had flung us apart and I got launched into the air. The wind howled in my ears and for the first-time people zoomed past me as well. There was so much noise, screaming mixing with the wind and rain. A rock pillar appeared in front of me, and a sword formed in my hands. I stabbed it down and ran down the side cutting the rock like butter. 

Fear raced through as the wind caught me and whipped me around. A silver rope caught me and pulled me down. It was Mia.  

“Where is it?” 

“I don’t know!” she held her hand up to her eyes, “I can’t see a thing!” 

A powerful gust of wind hit us, and my feet left the ground for a second. 

“Can we do what we did the first time?” 

“No there’s no pattern, there’s no logic.” 

Silence fell between us as we battled forward. And that’s when I saw it, a string of rock heading straight towards me. 

Time seemed to freeze as death approached me in the form of black rock hurtling thought space and time. 

A second before it hit, Mia shielded me with her own body. I screamed as a metal shield flashed in between me and her. 

The shield broke and a rock hit me in the ribs. I couldn’t feel the pain as the cracked, I didn’t feel the cold, I couldn’t hear the screams. 

Mia was on the ground. Twisted at odd angles, blood bubbling from her mouth, my sister was dead. I crashed down to my knees and gently pulled her into my arms. The metal that was supposed to protect her flashed away. Red blood bloomed through the white fabric of her clothes, right where her heart was. 

“No! No, no, no, no, no. Don’t you leave me too! Come on Mia, get up.” 

I was sobbing. Broken-hearted pangs that tore out of my throat in a desperate need to escape. I tried to stop but the pain was too much ripping apart my defenses, revealing raw pain.  

In that moment I expressed the pain of the world. The cry of a dog who didn’t know what it had done wrong. The sound of a child screaming as thunder crashed through the air. A quiet little boy crying as he was hit by bullies. The screams of a desperate mother unwilling to accept that her daughter was dead. A teenager trying to understand why she couldn’t feel happy. A man deciding, he wasn’t worth it. The pain of a rejected proposal. A teenage girl wondering why her best friend won’t talk to her. An orphaned child learning that his parents weren’t coming home.  

  The world’s pain was mine and for the first time I gave the pain back to the world. The crushing guilt of knowing I couldn’t save her. The endless nightmares. The constant pain of waking up to a storm. The lies I told myself as I tried to grow up. The nights wishing the world would end so I could stop hurting. Every slap in the face, every time I lost a piece of myself. The daggers in my heart as I dreaded the next day. I gave it back in quiet sobs but that was all it took for the warm sun to fall, leaving the world black.  

It threatened to consume me I couldn’t breathe the pain was so sharp. I cried for the life I could’ve had. I cried for the bullies I could’ve met, the dates I could’ve had, the peaceful nights, my mom, my uncle, my father, my sister. I held her limp body as I cried. I cried for her too. The worrying about who’s dating who, the anger having an idiot as a twin, the joy of getting asked to prom, getting married, having kids, finding her own house, dying peacefully in her sleep surrounded by family. 

But my sister would never get that life, she wasn’t going to grow up, she was dead. She would never meet the love of her life, she would never go home, she died for nothing, absolutely nothing.  

I curled up with Mia still in my arms and closed my eyes. 

And then the pain was gone. My tears were gone, I went numb. The child was dead. I had died in that well and I would never come back out. I had become what they wanted. A soldier, someone used to pain. I had lost six people, Mom, George, Cass, Travas, Mia, Nico. Somewhere along the way I had lost the little boy who could take anything, who could smile, who could laugh, I had lost all joy. I didn’t know who I was, I couldn’t know, I didn’t want to know. It was too hard, and I was far too tired. I squeezed my eye tighter clutching my best friend’s corpse in my arms. 

I had grown up. The child that was once inside me was dead. He died in a white room staring at Cass’s broken body. He had died in the cold wet rain staring at Travas’s bloody face. Nico was dead, and I was never going to come back. 

There were no more tears left to cry.  

Outro: In a story, there’s a hero and a villain. Those who save lives and those who take them. But in the end the hero wins, they get their happily ever after, but the villain sinks back into the shadows, never to be seen again. The world is black and white. Ice is cold and fire is hot. The wind blows and the ground stays motionless. These are facts that we see every day, but black and white can become gray so easily, fire and ice cancel each other out, the earth swirls in the wind and the wind can live inside the earth.  

As a child I wanted to be a hero. I wanted to have glory and I wanted to be good and kind. I still want to be good, but I have no chance of being a hero. I’ve seen the villain’s side of the story. The evil stepmother was driven by pain and grief, the big bad wolf was just trying to survive. The giant was trying to protect his home, the evil queen just wanted to be accepted. The ice queen was insecure, the bears were trying to protect themselves. All of these people had something driving them. Acceptance, joy, an escape from the pain, a life, a soul, love, and so much more. In the end, they were denied these things and they died cold empty and alone.  

There’s no such thing as a villain, there is no such thing as a hero. You can kill to protect; you can protect while you kill. Because in the end we’re all just people, fighting to survive in a broken world. We fight every day to try and heal. We fight to protect our family and friends but in the end there’s nothing we can do. Everyone dies, everyone loses something. Some can take it, others can’t. Maybe I’m a coward, maybe I’m selfish, maybe the child inside me is dead too. But I am still human, I still exist, I still have pain, I still have joy.  

In the end the pain of the world is ours, it’s not mine and it’s not yours. We all recognize the fear of a thunderstorm, we all know the pain of losing a friend. And it’s because we’re just people, we’re just human beings, fighting to survive. 

The End