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The jail was a cold and dark maze build of stone bricks, and was watched over with a close eye by cameras on every corner of every hall. It was an age-old construction, but held together by reconstruction of newer generations. What was once just a big bunch of rocks and cement held together to throw criminals in centuries ago was modified with the modern technology that Traquo held in it’s power. Guards patrolled the area and stun lasers were set up at the roof to shoot down and stop anyone who tried escaping.

After his picture was taken and questioning ended, Joel was taken to a cell deep inside the jail. His cuffs were removed and the cell door closed behind him. In this cell was a plain, cushionless bed on the right side, and a filthy sink, toilet, and mirror on the left. He sighed, then walked over to the nearest wall and leaned against it and began thinking things over.

"Man, this is horrible. I’m back where I started, all cooped up." Joel thought, "I’m going to have to get out of here sooner or later."

A wolf man from the cell opposite to him had been watching him, and was laughing at him.

"Hey kid, you like that new bed of yours?" He asked Joel, "I hear you got some kind of life sentence for doing something to the mayor’s daughter. Tsk tsk, bad boy."

"Well that’s not true." Joel replied, "There’s a difference between hear-say and know-say, and I know that what ever you heard was made up."

Joel stood up and turned towards the wolf man and grasped his jail bars.

"I’ve never seen so many different races of people before, what’s up with this place?" Joel asked, "You definitely don’t look human."

"Yeah, that’s right. I ain’t human like you are." The wolf man told him, "If you’ve ever been outta the city you’d know there’s all kinds of different races, like wolf men, lizard men, and, ahem, one of my favorites…"

He pointed to the back of Joel’s cell, and when he looked back he saw a rather large figure approach from the shadows. He felt the ground begin to shake, the started to rattle out of place, and the water from the toilet began tipping up and out from it. It grabbed him and squeezed him in a big bear hug.

"Gah, what the…?" Joel cried.

"Hawwo, me ogre, I name Bulforg. Yous bunny wabbet, hawwo wabbet!" it roared, "Yous so cute an cudlewy, me’s so happy to have new pet fo Bulforg’s cumpany!"

"What, bunny? Where?" Joel said, looking around. He remembered his hair and said, "M, my hair? My hair doesn’t make me look like a rabbit, does it?"

The wolf man chuckled, waved at him, and said, "Ogres like Bulforg think it does, and what Bulforg wants, Bulforg gets. Have fun in there, heh…"

Bulforg began stroking Joel’s head roughly as if he were an animal. He struggled around and found slight footing on the ground, then found the strength to grab hold of the ogre and throw him to the back of the cell in a suplex. The wolf man gasped and stood up in shock as the area heard a thunderous boom.

"Woah kid, no one’s ever been able to do that to an ogre before. Who the devil are you?" he asked.

"I’m Joel." Joel told them, "I’m sorry I had to do that, but stay away from me! Don’t try that again, I’m warning you!"

He began shuddering violently, and Bulforg sat back up.

"Oww…" he grunted, "Whys bunny wabbet hab to be so rough? Me’s only wanna play! It get late, maybe yous wants tuh sleepy?"

The ogre pointed at the bed.

"Ugh… n, no thanks. You keep the bed." Joel told him, "I’ll find somewhere else to stay the night in here."

"Yous sure bout that?" Bulforg asked, "Bulforg belly bery bouncey, bunny hab pleasant night up der." A rat crawled by Bulforg’s feet and he picked it up and bit off it’s head, then said, "Yous hungry? Rat tasting beddur den caffiteriuh food."

"N, never mind… I’m not very hungry anyway." Joel said, shaking his head. He looked back to the wolf man and said, "Listen, there’s this girl that I must get to. She’s real sick, and…"

"Oh, you mean the mayor’s daughter, huh?" he answered.

"Right, well. She breathed in some poisonous gas from a bomb thrown our way, and I just remembered a way I might be able to save her before she dies." Joel told him, "If there’s any way out of here I could use, you’ve got to let me know before it’s too late."

"Sorry bud." The wolf man told him, shrugging, "Everyone I’ve heard of trying to escape always gets stunned by the lasers outside and given twenty lashes. The electric chair if it was their second attempt."

"Drats, I understand." Joel said with a sigh, "There must be something… I hope she’ll recover."

"Heheh, yeah, and in the mean time get used to your new home!" the wolf man said, laughing at him again.

Joel kicked back against the wall again, and his roommate began getting ready for bed. Three men came down the halls and stopped at his cell with a television and VCR set up. One of them waved a videotape at Joel, then put it into the VCR and turned on the television.

"Boy, we recorded this for you." He said, "Hope you’re happy for what you’ve done. Live in shame for it all, and feel lucky we’re even giving you this decent of a place to stay for the rest of your miserable life."

Joel looked up at the device as the man pushed the Play button. The screen went from static to a recording of a news broadcast the whole city had watched. A man sitting at a desk was shown next to a picture of Sarralyn, Tim, and their school, talking about this recent event.

"Good evening everyone." The man began, "We come to bring you sad news tonight about our very own Mayor Howe’s daughter, Sarralyn. Today at 3:30pm the school bells rang and the students were released. A fight broke out between a boy named Tim and another by the name of Joel. Apparently Tim was trying to protect Sarralyn from Joel, but was not successful." The screen changed to a recording of Tim at the scene of their fight, "That guy… He ran off with Sarralyn, he’s going to kill her, someone save her!" He began crying, and the screen switched to a recording of Sarralyn being taken away to the hospital. The reporter explained, "The mayor’s daughter is not dead yet, but she is in very critical condition as she was poisoned using some unknown form of drugging. Joel was taken away and jailed today, and Sarralyn is in the hospital now under medical care. Let us all pray for the return of her health. God bless you all, and good night."

Joel stood up and gripped the bars of his cell and growled.

"That’s a lie… It’s a big lie, dang it!" he yelled.

He reached out and smashed the television violently, causing it to shoot out sparks and flames. The guards reacted by smacking Joel with their stun clubs, and he fell down. When they left the area, Joel began crawling towards the sink and stood up. He threw water on his face and looked into the dirty mirror and looked at himself. Words began echoing through his mind, "…Princess fairy tales d, don’t end like… like this most of… the time…", "…"he’s going to kill her…", "Live in shame for it all…", "So much for a peaceful, weaponless city.", "Careful, he’s a freak."

His eyes began glowing red, and he felt himself lose control of his anger and his own will. The earth began to tremble and the mirror shattered. Bulforg stood up and began stroking Joel’s head, saying "Whut wrong der bunny?" and Joel swung his arm back and hit him, sending him crashing into the opposite wall.

"Ooo… surry, I no know bunny wabbets hab strong bite!" Bulforg grunted.

Joel turned to the barred cell door and pulled off two of the bars to make his way into the hall and out of the jail. He glowed with a viscous aura and thought, "It’s time to stain these hands of mine with blood. If they want a cold hearted, bloody murderer then they’ll get a taste of what I can really do… God save me, but I have to get out to her some how…"

Soon enough the alarms began going off and two guards were running his way to stop him, but he did not stop walking. He twisted off the left arm of the first guard, and picked up the second guard by the chest. He gave the guard one last glance before a fiery beam shot from his hand and through the guard’s body. The body was thrown back to the other guard, where he managed to move slightly for a few more seconds before he died.

In the next room he encountered four more guards. As they approached, he carelessly threw one of them into another, pushing them both into the wall. The force and pressure on the person the man who was thrown received crushed his back against the wall. Seeing how Joel did that so easy, one of the other guards ran off leaving one left. As he approached the final guard, Joel threw a cutting hand chop and broke through the guard’s body, lining the wall behind him with thick red blood.

"It was a senseless idea to use your gullible system of law to try proving anything about me. You saw there was something wrong with me, you should have just killed me sooner." Joel thought as he marched on without control over his body.

Every guard had begun to evacuate and not stand up to Joel. They all met outside to confront him together with loaded guns and weaponry instead. They had figured out by then that they were no match for him in direct melee combat. When Joel stepped outside he stopped and looked around at all the guards surrounding him, aiming guns at him. He showed no fear, though, and only stood in his defensive position.

"You’re surrounded now, kid." One of the guards shouted at him through a megaphone, "You’ve done enough damage for one night, it’s time to give up."

Joel stood silent and looked around again, then said, "Stupid humans. Kill me already, if you can. I’m off to find Sarralyn, because she needs me with her right now."

"You aren’t going to kill her, too!" the guard shouted, "Fire, full power men!"

With the sound of the command, the party of guards opened a constant fire on Joel, but as the bullets approached Joel his aura seemed to melt them into harmless liquidized lead. He crossed his arms and yawned at the guards in utter boredom. From behind the crowd of guards, on the gate fence, stood one of the stun laser machines. It began to operate on it’s own, targeted Joel, and shot him in the right leg. His leg began to cramp up and twitch and he lost balance and fell to the ground.

"Get him, men! He must be vulnerable now!" the head of the guards shouted.

The guards lowered their aim to the ground where Joel lay and began pelting his body with round after round of lead bullets. His aura faded into small energetic out bursts, then to nothing as his body flipped back and forth from getting hit by bullets.

"Good target practice, eh boys?" one man said to the rest, "Another one bites the dust!"

They all laughed, pointing at him. His vision began to fade into shadows, and then into nothing as his life forces faded away from him.

"Sweet dreams, punk." Another told him, patting his lifeless head.

He felt as though his body was floating off through an endless dark path into space. There was nothing in front of him, or behind him. His body just drifted out into the space. The voices of the people he met began echoing through his mind, calling his name. He saw Luke, Dirk, and the mayor standing in front of him, smiling and lending their hands out. He smiled back, but the three of them began to morph into Tim, Katy, and Marco. He let out a gasp of fright and leaned back. He began looking around, searching for a way to escape, but they were all around him. He then saw Sarralyn; she stood before him. He reached out for her, but his hand went through her. He could not touch her, even though she appeared to be reaching out for him. Her sorrowful face cried out for him repeatedly, until he woke up.

He shook slightly as he woke up, hearing Sarralyn’s voice next to him. She was there next to him, sleeping with him and trying to get him up for the morning.

"S, Sarralyn?" Joel said, "What’re you doing? Alive?"

She looked at him confused, then smiled at him again.

"We’re married, remember?" she told him, "You fought that boy Tim at school for me, and we fell in love ever since! You’ve always been so good to me…"

"But, but weren’t you poisoned?" Joel asked.

"Wha, poisoned? Heavens, no!" she said, "Remember, it ended up being just a bite from a small Slumber Spider that happened to make it’s way into town. That was five years ago, you’ve stuck close with me ever since!"

Joel sighed with a bit of relief and leaned back in their bed for a moment. Sarralyn moved closer and wrapped her arms around him and gave him a gentle hug.

"Don’t scare me like this, okay? I love you…" she told him.

"Yes… I understand… and I you." Joel said, looking into her eyes.

"Good! Now you promised you’d take me to the mall today, so how about it?" she asked.

"M, mall? Right, sure." Joel responded.

He sat up from bed and Sarralyn got up from the other side and began putting on her own clothes. Joel looked at what he thought was his wardrobe and remembered the suits from it. He found his red shirt and pants with the racer stripes and decided to wear them again for his trip out to the mall with Sarralyn.

As the two walked out of their house, Joel took another look around and breathed in relaxing fresh air. It all looked so familiar to him, and he felt at home. Across the street he saw Luke standing in front of a house. He ran over to him to say hello and see what was going on with him. A car was sitting in front of his driveway, so he could not drive out from his house.

"Wow Luke, wonder who’s car this is, and why it’s here." Joel asked him.

"I wish I did know, but I’ve called a towing service and they ought to be here soon enough." He answered.

"Bah, who needs to wait on a towing service when you have one that lives right across from you?" Joel asked him, smiling.

"Err, what do you mean? You don’t work a towing service, do you, Joel?" Luke asked, looking confused.

Joel walked up to the car that was in Luke’s way, kneeled down, and put his hands under it.

"Just watch me! This thing will be out of your way in no time." Joel said, grinning. He began lifting up on the car, but it did not budge from where it sat. He tried it again, but it still would not move. He felt weak, like the car was too heavy for him to move. He told Luke, "Well that’s weird. I’m almost certain I had some form of super strength that allowed me to lift stuff like that."

"No, bud, you must have been dreaming." Luke said, "Sounds like it must have been a pretty exciting dream, though."

"Heheh, yeah, you must be right." Joel said, chuckling. He stood up and went next to Sarralyn again, "Well, I’m off to the mall with Sarra. Hope you get this fixed soon!"

The two of them waved good bye to Luke and started for the mall. Sarralyn began bouncing around in excitement. Clearly she was having high hopes for expensive items on sale. Along the way to the mall Joel noticed several posters of a face he had thought was familiar. It was a man with red hair and brown eyes in a business suit, followed by the words "Making this city a better place!"

The couple stopped by the mall’s cafeteria for lunch before they went shopping. They ordered some burgers and drinks from the services and sat down to eat at one of the tables. While they were eating they heard one of the store’s thievery alarms go off, and soon enough they saw a mad man running with a bag of items down the hall and to the nearest exit.

"Interrupt my lunch, will you?" Joel thought, standing up from the table.

He watched and waited for the thief to run by him at the right time to jump out and stop him, but just before he was ready, Sarralyn jumped out and kicked her chair at him. The thief tripped and lost his items. He stopped cold in his tracks looking eye to eye with Sarralyn. Joel couldn’t help but stand back and watch her in action. The man drew a knife on her and swung, but she dodged and caught him by the arm and squeezed it so he dropped the knife. She then bashed him in the chest and pounded him with both her fists to the ground.

"Serves you right, you no good pitiful stealer!" she told him, "No one’s going to make a mess out of my day."

The guards came and took the thief away and thanked Sarralyn for her actions at stopping the man. The two sat back down and finished eating their lunches and began looking through the mall.

"Wow, that was great." Joel said, "You learned that from me, huh?"

She nodded at him with a smile and said, "That’s why I don’t go around places like these with dresses."

"Well you certainly give a new meaning to the words ‘Girl Power.’" Joel said.

Sarralyn had picked out a new suit of clothes and went into the dressing room to try them out. Joel sat back and relaxed on the waiting chairs and began listening in to some people talking to each other.

"Y’know, I heard that the mayor’s coming to the mall to do some public speaking today." One person said.

"Yeah, we’re so lucky to have such an active guy as mayor." Another said.

"Maybe, maybe he’ll even do a few magic tricks for us while he’s here! Wouldn’t that be wild?" someone else said.

"Hmm… magic, where have I heard of that before…" Joel thought.

"Oh, Joooooooeel!" Sarralyn sang as she exited the dressing room in a new set of clothes, "Tell me, what do you think? And be honest!"

Joel looked her up and down, then looked away with a red face for a moment.

"I, umm, think you look a beautiful golden angel who I want to sweep off their feet and carry home right this moment…" he told her, "…because I don’t want to spend more than I have in my pockets…."

"Oh you men are all alike. Well I like it, so I’ll get it with my own money, how’s that?" Sarralyn told him.

"No, no, I’ll pay for it." Joel said, "I couldn’t turn you down for the world. Hey, I heard the mayor was going to show up around here some time today. Is your father still holding the job?"

"Nope, he retired a couple years back and some younger guy took over." She told him, "I’d like to meet him myself." A crowd of people began to form outside, and she glanced outside a bit saying, "And I bet that’s him."

Joel ran outside to look around and noticed there was a large stand up in the middle of things with a microphone and two guards pushing everyone back. He saw that man with the raid hair walk up the stand followed by a woman and another man with glasses. The crowd quieted down as the man raised his hands up into the air.

"Greetings my public, and thank you for electing me mayor again." The man started, "I am once again Mayor Tim! Head of Tranquo!"

"What!?" Joel thought, feeling a sharp shiver crawl down his back, "How the… how did he become the mayor? No…"

He began matching faces with the posters he saw. He, Katy, and Marco had taken control over the city through politics, and he would have to bow before them all or face the consequences.

"I’m sure that with me leading you all on to victory, along side my faithful wife Katy, and my vice-mayor Marco, we will stand at no limit!" Tim announced over the microphone, "And… as my first step into my new term as Mayor… I declare the guards take away that man over there!"

Tim pointed far out above the crowd at Joel, and his two guards rushed through the people and grabbed Joel by the arms and began dragging him off. He looked at Sarralyn helplessly as he was taken away. He felt weak indeed as if there were nothing he could do about the guards and Tim’s dictatorship as Mayor.

"N, no… I can’t believe this is happening, no…!" Joel cried, "Not again, this is all a nightmare! I’ve got to wake up!" He looked around and things started to melt and fade away from existence. Things became dark around him once more, and he was drifting, thinking, "No… Sarra, I wish it were the real thing. With you and me living happily together, but why Tim…?"

He felt as though he was lying on a cold dirt ground in the rain, and he heard people talking out loud around him. He began to regain vision and looked up, seeing jail guards all over again. He still felt the cartons of bullets stuck in his back, but regeneration and recovery of his back and system were pushing them out. What felt like several hours ended up to be only fifteen minutes passing.

"So, uh, you guys wanna play soccer with his head or something now that he’s dead?" One guard asked the others.

"Ew, man, are you serious?" another said, "That’s sick, what if it starts moving on it’s own…?"

"Ah you worry too much." The first told the other.

The guard walked up to Joel’s body and rolled him over. Joel finally came to his senses and grabbed both of the guard’s arms and stood up. The guard cried for help, but Joel put his captive in front of him in case he needed a human shield. He began feeling a force taking him over again, and his eyes began glowing red once more. The deadly aura enveloped him again as well.

"Well now, you guys came close, but you’ve got a lot to learn about my kind." Joel said, thinking, "I have a long ways to go, myself."

He ripped the guard’s arms off from both sides of his body, dropping him back to his feet severely bleeding. Joel stretched and shook out all the bullets that came out from his back. The guards looked at him again in shock, holding emptied out guns from the previous fight. Joel looked up to the large full moon and raised his hands as well, then began to chant in a cryptic language no one was familiar with.

"Jin sungam vulzai-cov ralla mahn zorr kai…" he chanted. He began floating up in the air, high above the ground, and lowered his arms to angle with the guards. He cried, "Lavathan! Arise!"

The ground broke up beneath the guards. Fire and lava spewed from the cracks, and a giant red fire demon crawled out from the earth. It’s scaly skin and standing on all fours made it appear to be a dragon, but it had a mane that was on fire, and two huge extra arms stretching out from it’s back.

"Lavathan, I command you to destroy that structure, destroy all the weapons inside and around it. Destroy all who stand in my way." Joel shouted out to it, pointing at the jail.

The Lavathan let out an erie roar that the whole city could hear, then let loose a beam of fiery breath from it’s mouth onto the jail, incinerating all the guards, and killing all inside from heat exhaust. The stun lasers began firing upon the monster, but it’s thick armor rendered the beams useless. The monster used its giant arms to smash and clear those laser cannons, leaving the entire area in rubble. It then looked back up to its master, waiting for further instructions.

"You have done well to serve me. Sleep well, and until I summon you again." Joel called out, "There will be nothing stopping me now. God save those who dare try."

He searched over the city for the hospital, as he was still levitating in the air, and recognized the ambulance that took Sarralyn away and used his last bit of fury power to transport himself over the city to the hospital. When he landed on the roof the aura faded and his eyes returned to normal. He dropped to his hands and knees and began breathing deep.

"Holy… what an out of body experience, what came over me…!" Joel thought, "I can’t do… can I?" he stood back up and dusted his clothes and thought, "Well now that I have control of my body again, it’s time to find Sarra."

He found the door and tried turning the knob, but a strange device was holding it locked and shut. It was a small box with a number pad on its surface. Obviously it needed some sort of code to open it, but Joel was clueless. He then remembered about how he broke the wall in the nurse’s office at school. Bringing his arm back, he charged for a great slam through the door and broke through enough to open the door from the other side.

Inside he had entered a dark hall. It was late, so the workers had turned off all the lights in the building’s unused halls. This was no problem for Joel, as the little light from outside was just enough for him to get a feel of how the stairs were so he could make his way down, and he could see some lights still on further down the way. He found Dirk sitting on a chair in front of a door and ran up to him.

"Dirk, where is she?" Joel asked him.

"Woah, ah, Joel? How did you get out?" Dirk asked in shock.

"It’s a long story, but I must ask that you forget everything you heard about me on the news. It’s all lies." Joel told him.

"W, well how can I be sure about that…? You’re one of them aren’t you?" Dirk said, shivering.

"Yes, you may be right about that. I had to… kill a lot of people just to get here…" Joel said. He looked away and sighed deeply for a moment, then looked back at Dirk and said, "I did experience a weird energy back there in Jail, but it only happened because Sarralyn needs me with her right now."

"Hmm…" Dirk sat back and began thinking things over, then he looked up at Joel and said, "Okay, I guess I’ll believe you for now. Luke and I ought to be in equal blame for this anyway after finding you and taking you back to the city. But I’m going to call the guards the moment something weird happens in there."

"I understand." Joel said, nodding, "A deal then. I’ll fill you in later on the details."

Dirk stood up and unlocked the door he was guarding. As Joel walked in he saw Mayor Howe sitting next to a bed surrounded with medical equipment, and Sarralyn was laying on it. She had a tube strapped to and hooked into her arm, providing her medication and nourishment that food would normally give her, and a respirator device over her mouth and nose that not only helped her breath, but was also attempting to remove the poisonous gases she had breathed in. The mayor sat next to her, mourning the night away. When he heard the door shut he looked up and saw Joel approach. He then stood up and threw a punch at Joel’s face, which he accepted.

"Boy, see what you’ve done to my daughter?" he cried, "Two days was all it took for you to show your true colors!"

"Mayor." Joel said, looking back at him, "You can think what you want, but only Sarralyn and I will ever know the truth if this continues." He turned away from the mayor and began approaching Sarralyn, saying, "If you don’t mind, there’s something I must talk to Sarralyn about. Stay if you want, or you can even try stopping me."

Joel sat down next to his friend and looked at her. She had slept a great deal since she arrived at the hospital, but had awakened with the sound of Joel’s return. She lifted her arm and tried reaching for him, but was still too weak. But she still smiled at the sight of her friend.

"No matter how much pain that has come into your life since you met me, you still smile joyfully?" Joel asked her.

She nodded slightly, then whispered, "Because I know that no other man would ever have the power to stand up to people like you did for me."

"It was nothing, really." Joel said, "But I had to kill many people just to be here with you. The misunderstanding fools and their unworthy system of justice… But then I had a weird dream about the two of us, married five years in the future."

Sarralyn still smiled at him, and replied, "Funny, I had a similar dream."

"I wish it had never stopped, but I had to awaken when Tim came in and corrupted it all." Joel continued, "Listen, I think I might know a survival technique that could help you recover from this bad of poison. It’d be great to see you recover, we could live the dream over again, without Tim… but I’m going to leave the decision making to you."

"…I would love to…" she told him. Joel’s face brightened up then, but dimmed back down and she told him, "But something inside me is telling me to move on. I’d be afraid of death, but this something is assuring me for some reason of a good thing… if we all believe in an after life…"

Dirk stepped into the room to check out the situation, and decided to stand back and watch with Mayor Howe. Joel looked deep within Sarralyn’s eyes and wondered.

"I… don’t understand… W, what are you saying?" he asked her.

Sarralyn faintly pointed to the respirator and medication tubes around her and said, "I want you to unplug these. I want to spend my last few moments in your arms, and these machines forbid me from doing that… please…"

Joel gave his final nod and slowly approached the tubes placed in his friend’s left arm to begin removing it. The mayor broke out and tried running approaching Joel again to stop him, but Dirk grabbed him and held him back.

"Wha, what are you doing? Let me go, I need to stop that beast from killing her, no!" the mayor cried, "I’ll see you’re dealt with if you don’t let me go, Dirk!"

"Sorry, sir, but I can’t." Dirk told him, "Both you and I heard what your daughter said, and even though I’d rather not see her die as well, it’s what she wants."

"W, what, you dirty punk? You’re one of them, too, aren’t you?" the mayor roared.

"No, sir, just an understanding human." Dirk replied and he removed him from the room. He locked the door from outside and destroyed they key, saying, "They should be alone together for now. Let no one get in their way."

Joel ignored the sound of the mayor pounding on the door and walls, and removed the respirator face piece from Sarralyn. She moved over and held onto Joel in a hug, not letting go. She moved up so her face was with her friend’s then and whispered into his ear softly with her last breaths.

"Thank you, Joel… Love…" she whispered, "If there is an afterlife… I’ll be waiting for you at the gates…"

"Sarra… I wish we could…" Joel whispered back.

Sarralyn moved Joel’s face to her and kissed him, lip to lip, heart to heart. As they finished she looked at him with her satisfied smile, then closed her eyes. Her grip losed and she dropped almost limply into Joel’s arms. She said no more, and Joel put her back into the bed and covered her.

"Rest in peace, dear sweet friend." Joel said, standing up, "Thank you for all you’ve done for me. Thank you for teaching me about this world, about the past and present, and how to walk, talk, eat, sleep, and to have a good time." He began walking to the door, and he thought, "Man, I could have saved her with a technique I knew, I just know it. Why do I have to be so obedient? The whole city hates me, so all that’s left is to wander blindly until I die."

Dirk was still standing outside waiting for Joel and he put away a book he was reading as he saw the door open up. He began following Joel out of the hospital.

"Welcome back, friend." Dirk said, "I wouldn’t exactly call that suicide of her, but you did her a great favor by helping her stop suffering, I’m sure."

"Where’s the mayor now." Joel asked Dirk, looking around slightly.

"Couldn’t take it as much as you could, so he ran off to go back home." Dirk replied, "His life is going to be pretty bad from now on, and I’m sure mine’s going to be pretty soggy as well since I helped you out there. Well it’s not going to be easy, but I’ll help you get out of this city and on your own before they throw me in jail."

Joel stopped, smiled, and started to cackle. His shoulders shook as he laughed, almost as though he was a mad man.

"Hah, you won’t be finding any jail any time soon." Joel told him, "I had an accident while I was there and blew it up. I lost control of myself and summoned a demon to destroy it!"

"Well that’s okay. I ought to be thanking you then." Dirk replied, grinning, "If the mayor really does try sending me to jail there won’t be one for me to go to! I have something that we found in the cave that’s probably yours. You can have it when we get there. These will be my final actions for you, because I think there’s something special about your kind connected with this planet."

"Yeah, this will be a night remembered by all." Joel said.

The two made their way to the elevator and broke through the ground level of the building. The alarms began going off, causing red lights to flash everywhere. Dirk showed Joel to his car and they began driving away from the scene just as more police started coming in. Barred gates with police cars behind them cut off the exits to the parking lot. They flashed bright lights at and around Dirk’s car, trying to blind him, but he kept on the gas pedal. Dirk decided to drive crazily through the parking lot between the exits, where they flew in the air shortly from their speed and crushed some of the cars on the road outside, then continued to speed away through the big mess of cars and lights.

"Joel, do you see that bag in the back seat?" Dirk asked him, pointing back at a long bag, "I want you to open it and equip yourself with it using the belt I attached to the holder. Also in the bag I collected the clothes that were given to you in case you need to change them. I’m going to have to stop this car before it gets too wrecked, and we’ll have to fight our way out from there."

Joel reached back and removed a long sword with a sparkling green hilt. The blade shined with a blue aura. He put the sword behind him and buckled the belt around over one shoulder and below the opposite arm.

"Awesome, thanks." Joel said.

"No problem, get ready for an impact…!" Dirk said.

Dirk had already driven over two spike belts on the ground, his tires were deflated, and he was driving head on into a police car barricade that blocked his way out. He put the car on cruise control and signaled for them both to jump out just before the cars hit. The collisions pushed the police cars back, and caused Dirk’s car to flip up and over behind the barricade and explode.

"It’s time to create a river of blood!" Joel cried, unleashing his new sword, "You’re all fools to stand in my way."

Dirk had found a metal pole lying on the ground near by after he had jumped and rolled out from his car. The two stood back to back and looked at the never-ending crowd of police and guards.

"To the very end! Just like in the medieval days!" Dirk cried, "Let’s give ‘um hell!"

They both made desperate leaps towards their enemies. As Joel swung his sword about, ripping and shredding the guards, Dirk was at the other side of the crowd clubbing and bashing each man he could reach. The way out was pointed clearly through the burning embers of cars and buildings, and Joel would stop at nothing to go beyond those fires and be set free. Each minute counted more and more bodies cut in half, more people mortally wounded. As he reached the exit to the city Joel felt the desire to look back for Dirk, but he knew that doing so would only slow him down. He put his sword in it’s sheath and entered the blazing flames.

"Going somewhere?" a womanly voice called out from above.

"…Don’t look…" Joel thought.

"We’ve been waiting so long for you!" a man’s voice called out as well.

Katy and Marco appeared with their black suits in front of the city gates, in front of the ruins of cars and concrete.

"You’re not going anywhere without getting through the Axle Gang." Katy told him.

"Tim’s got a lot to say after what you did to him." Marco told him.

A gust of wind shot through the area, causing a column of fire to break and drop between Joel and the two others. Joel’s hair began flowing like the fire around them.

"How many times do I have to say…" Joel began, clenching his fist. He looked up and roared, "You can’t beat me! You’ll pay for taking my friend’s life!"

He made a leap foreword and swung at the two of them, and his enemies jumped back. Then Marco sent a kick towards Joel before he got up. Joel staggered back a step, then blocked a fingernail clawing attack by Katy and hit her in the gut with his elbow. She fell back and couldn’t make her way back up from where she fell. Stuck as she was, she watched as Joel turned onto Marco as he approached again. He grinned at Marco evilly and waved at him, then swung at him quickly with his sword. Marco lost his gaming face and looked helplessly at Joel, then at Katy. A thorough cut mark through his body and arms formed with a flash of light.

"Uuh, ugh… H, help me… Katy…" Marco cried as he fell apart onto the ground.

Joel put the bluish blade back in its sheath and beamed a slight glance at Katy, then ran off through the gates just before it broke apart and collapsed. He dropped to his hands and knees again and began resting. There was no way the guards could get him anymore. The sun was beginning to rise again to begin another day. Joel looked up and saw a wolf man and an ogre standing in front of him, and the wolf man threw a bag down before him.

"Hey there kid, how ya feelin?" The wolf man asked.

"Me so happy bunny wabbet safe! Bulforg bery happy!" the ogre cried with joy.

Joel picked up the bag and stood up. It was the bag with his items in it.

"Those were some mean fire works you displayed back there." The wolf man said, "If I didn’t know any better, Bulforg and I might have been toast."

"Heheh… Hey, how did you guys get out? Thought you said you didn’t know." Joel said, grinning at them.

"Those guards you beat dropped their keys, so I got us two out the back door before it was too late." The wolf man explained, "You’ve got some potential power, kid. We’ve all heard much about your kind, and you’re something different."

"Thanks. I don’t know how I did it, but I’ll try to figure out how to contain it." Joel replied, "What’s your name anyway?"

"I don’t have a name, I forgot it long ago in that jail." The wolf man told him, "But maybe if I wander around the world some, maybe I’ll learn about my origin. As for you, I hear there’s something odd going on in a kingdom up north. If you go there you might learn some more about yourself."

"I understand." Joel said, nodding, "I guess I’ll be on my way then. Thanks for the info."

"Any time, kid, any time." The wolf man said, smiling, "Safe travels, and may we meet again."

Joel waved good bye to Bulforg, the ogre, and the wolf man. He turned to the north road and began his journey to the kingdom he was talking about. Fonan-Kal Kingdom was a day and a half’s walk from Traquo, and Joel would not stop for any dangers to get there. But first he needed rest and would need to find an inn to stay at to recover his strength. He learned a new skill in his catastrophe, but he would not know if it were for the better or worse of his destiny. The only way to know would be to live and experience his own adventure across the world, and it began there.

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