In a palace, in a space isolated from everything, surrounded by a semi-transparent layer that displays different images of various entities in their daily lives, two people discuss the fate of each of the entities seen in the images.
"So, have you decided?".
"Um, yes, first we'll send the unfortunate ones!"
"Are you sure? You know that probably not even 3% of those sent will survive, right?".
"So what? After all, they wouldn't accomplish much by sending them later. The faster we send them, the faster we get rid of future trouble!"
"Ah… well, if that's your choice, I have no choice but to comply, Father."
"At least you understand that. Now get going and activate the systems!"
"Good, they'll be ready in 8 minutes and 37 seconds!" The person answered as they turned and left the palace, taking slow, rhythmic steps as if they had practiced them since they were in their mother's womb, creating an incredible display of artistry in just a few simple steps.
Seeing the man walk away until he disappeared, the person who remained closed their eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and said:
"Kid, you don't understand. The most unfortunate, desperate, powerless, those most in need of power and solace are the ones who fight the hardest and shine the brightest when they grasp even the smallest glimmer of hope."
As they murmured to themselves, they opened their eyes, which were so deep and bright, possessing an inexplicable, fatal attraction that would leave anyone who looked into them in a trance, never to return.
Looking at the cloak covered in billions of characters, they burst out laughing. "Come on, show them that just as they trampled you, you'll crush the rest, my 3%."
While this scene unfolded in the isolated space, at the same time, at the entrance of a mini-market on Earth, a young man in his early twenties, with brown hair, about 5'7", and brown eyes, was checking his change. "This should last me for about three days," he thought.
As he said this, he began to walk, lost in thought, noticing the exact time passing. With somewhat stiff steps, he turned a corner and froze, seeing someone he hadn't seen in weeks.
She was also looking at him, the first to snap out of her reverie, and said,.
"Hi, David."
"Thut y-yes, hi Shelsy, long time no see!" David replied, biting his tongue, unable to tear his gaze away from the girl in front of him, his eyes reflecting a mix of emotions.
Seeing that the boy hadn't changed his habit of biting his tongue whenever they were surprised, she couldn't help but... She laughed at him as she said,
"Yeah, you don't seem to have changed much."
"Yeah, it seems so, hehe."
As he responded to her joke, David couldn't help but remember those moments, which filled him with sorrow and sadness. He forced himself to suppress those memories and emotions deep inside, and he looked away from her eyes.
Seeing the changes in his face, Shelsy couldn't help but bite her lip as she said,.
"You never thought about forgiving me... I haven't forgotten you! And I don't want to! I won't!".
Seeing the girl's sudden outburst of words, David couldn't help but look away as he felt a great weight on his chest and a lump form in his throat.
"You haven't..." As the girl said that, she turned and ran off, leaving behind small drops of water that reflected the moonlight before hitting the ground.
While David watched her and began to think.
"Is that what I want? Am I really pathetic enough to make her cry?" Am I worthy of these feelings?.
Just as he finished thinking those questions, he heard someone shout in front of him, someone he recognized very well. This made his body move before he could think, and he bolted toward the two shadows in front of him.
"I already gave you my money and purse! What more do you want?!"
"Isn't it obvious? Of course I want this."
A hooded figure replied, a gun in his hand, pointed and pressed against Shelsy's breasts.
"AHHHHH."
Hearing him say that, combined with the tension of the moment and the sensation of the gun barrel pressed against her chest, Shelsy couldn't help but scream.
"SHHHH."
Hearing the girl's scream, the thief couldn't help but approach her and drop the phone while trying to silence her, causing her to stumble backward and fall on her back in terror.
"You have no idea how much fun I'm going to have with you. I ran out of my daily dose, and I didn't think that when I went out to get more, I'd get..." She would find herself with such beauty.
Shelsy watched the person approach her with a twisted smile, wiping the drool that trickled from the corner of her dry, chapped lip with the sleeve of her sweatshirt.
Shelsy didn't know what to do but back away, dragging herself with her right hand across the floor littered with shards of glass from the cell phone screen she had dropped earlier.
Cuts on her hand and blood trickling from it.
Unaware of her own injured hand, Shelsy continued backing away as the thief extended his left hand toward her and held the gun in his right hand, pointing it at her.
Not knowing what to do, Shelsy closed her eyes and thought.
"I don't want this. Why is this happening to me?"
"Come on, just don't resist, and I'll..."
"SHIT!"
Before she could finish her sentence, David managed to punch the guy in the jaw with his right hand, which was made into a fist. Fueled by the rage that had grown inside him, and the pain of two or three broken fingers, he let out a yell that quickly turned into a growl, almost a whimper.
"DAMN IT!!! That hurt! Damn it!! I'll kill you today."
The thief immediately raised the gun, squeezing the trigger and pointing the muzzle toward David.
"Shit..."
Out of nowhere, David felt the pain in his hand disappear, followed by a sharp pain in his stomach that shot through his back. Instead of looking at his stomach, he saw the girl lying on the ground, staring at him with a pale face and terrified eyes.
"I never blamed you, I've always loved you..."
His confession was cut short by a red liquid that had been stuck in his throat, which he expelled with his last words.
"No! If I leave it like this, it'll hurt Shelsy."
Thinking of the repercussions if he fell right then, he gathered the last of his strength, stood up straight, and pushed off with a stomp of his foot.
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
He tried to scream it, though he could only do so in his mind. Instead, more blood spurted out, staining his mouth and shirt, causing him to stumble halfway to the other side and collide head-on with the guy's jaw.
"Just die already."
As he listened to his moan, he grabbed his right arm and pulled it towards him, causing another stab wound, this time in his chest, followed by excruciating pain.
However, this time he didn't vomit. Instead, he grabbed the man's arm and bent it towards him, stretching his wrist and causing him to pull the trigger. Flesh and blood splattered everywhere, including his face.
"AHHH!!! DEIVID!!"
Hearing Shelsy scream his name, Deivid fell next to the man whose neck was half-crushed, thinking:
"I managed to protect her and I said what I felt. At least I'm leaving without regrets. I just wish I could have spent more time with her."
"NO! Deivid, don't do this to me! No, please! It's not fair! Do you hear me? You say that? Fair?
Now, if this is how it is, then... I'll follow you!"
Shelsy held Deivid's face in both hands, causing his dark red blood to mingle with the light red blood on her right hand, trickling down his neck and falling to the ground, creating a beautiful, intense scarlet color!
It's a shame that neither of them could see such a beautiful color in his blood because Shelsy was grieving, and Deivid's consciousness was slowly fading as he felt small.
warm drops fall onto his face, covering it completely and filling him with a feeling of sadness and warmth.
Shelsy, her vision blurred by tears, managed to glimpse the weapon that killed the person she couldn't stop thinking about, causing a surge of hatred, remorse, and madness to grow within her.
This caused a clash of emotions, leaving her mind blank, unable to think clearly, and her body moving on its own as she reached out to grab the weapon.
As the weapon was placed beneath her neck, pointed at her head… a noise and a white light erupted, snapping her out of her trance. A strange sensation of waves rippling around the area followed, like the ocean tide crashing against the body, but instead of being furious and swift, it was slow and gentle.
"What do we have here? It hasn't even started and you're already in this state. I can only say your luck is astonishing, since the body's reshaping, for every traveler, also comes with the healing of every wound and scar."
As a woman's voice was heard, two distorted spheres appeared, floating one above David's head and the other above the person with half their neck shattered. Both spheres were like crystal-clear water, yet not water, hovering above the two men.
"Looking at what awaits you on that side, perhaps your luck is terrible instead of good…?" Oh well, whatever. Anyway, we'll be together until one of us dies, so take this as a favor, kid, and don't let this opportunity go to waste.
"But what the hell happened to you? How did your neck end up like this?"
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
"So that's what happened."
While a man's voice seemed to mutter to itself, a woman's voice spoke.
"Both of you meet the requirements, and along with the blood and fading consciousness of both people, they combined, creating..."
Or a glitch in the selection system, which placed the coordinates of different people as one.
"It's a shame, but I won't leave my host for someone else. It's a pity, but I'll have to devour you on the other side."
Both spheres murmured about their situation, oblivious to their surroundings, as a kind of whirlwind swirled beneath them and fell upon the two people on the ground.
"Alright, kid, from now on you'll be one with me. You lose and I lose, you win and I win. I hope we're eternal and not short-lived..."
As the woman's voice murmured to herself, a strange, semi-transparent golden glow appeared from one of the energy spheres, which transformed into a thread entering through David's forehead. This caused him to begin floating as his body healed so rapidly that the regenerating tissues were visible to the naked eye, and a bullet emerged from David's chest.
The same thing was happening to the man who only had half his neck. While all this was going on, Shelsy, who was watching and listening intently, couldn't help but drop the gun. Due to the impact of the collision with the pavement and the weapon's poor maintenance, it discharged on its own into the air.
But this didn't change anything, as the balls continued doing what they were doing, and Shelsy remained in her trance, watching the scene unfold before her with disbelief and happiness reflected on her face.
Before Shelsy could say anything, the sound of a male voice was heard again.
"Kid, I gave you another chance, so you owe me a life. When you get to the other side, you'll finish what you started. You'll kill the idiot and give me his system."
"Hehehe, I must be the luckiest system of all, able to consume another one without a single day having passed since they sent me."
"I'm the luckiest system of all." When the voice finished speaking, a great flash appeared, engulfing the two spheres and the two boys, creating a rift in space and passing through it.
Everything returned to normal, leaving Shelsy alone. She would surely have thought it was all an illusion if it weren't for the blood splattered everywhere.
"W-wait, where are you taking him? Okay, he's fine. The blood proves I'm not crazy..."
"Wait for me, David, we'll be together, I promise!"
As Shelsy thought about everything that had happened, she wiped her face with her shirt, grabbed her broken cell phone and her purse, and ran out of there.
A few minutes later, sirens could be heard along with flashing blue and red lights.