//------------------------------// // Chapter I: The End Means A New Beginning // Story: The Ultimate Test of Friendship - The Stranger From The Outside // by MegaCartmanX //------------------------------// "Beautiful," Carter thought. The sunset settled beyond the horizon quite nicely, creating a pleasant and prepossessing array of colors surrounding the bright star in the center of it all. Even though high above the land, gray clouds filled the sky, raining down to the ground, it seemed to only add to the beauty of the view; the sun’s rays made each little rain drop emit a glimmering beam of light. It brought what little joy he had left in him out through a faint smile. As the rain rushed down his short, brown hair, the young man let out a brief chuckle, thinking it was so strange how one little glimpse of nature could make his whole world that much more pleasing to his soul. By then the sun had set about halfway behind the mountains off in the distance and the fall of night followed. That small glimmer of happiness gradually began to fade as the sunset diminished and in time his smile disappeared. Carter didn’t want it to end. He mentally clung to it like it was his sole purpose for living. As the sun’s appearance neared its final seconds for the evening, he reached out, almost trying to grab it to hold in close and keep the memory alive for himself. But it was futile, he knew it was so and soon the darkness of the night consumed the previously bright sky, replacing it with the familiar black void with bright stars and a beaming moon strewn across it all. And like the sky, so too was his soul soon filled with darkness. It was then that the truth returned to him. The misdeeds he had carried out, the transgressions he brought about, and the actions that had ultimately led him to where he now stood. Peering over the edge of a tall cliff that towered over a barren wasteland, Carter had come to his end. The pain and regret that had then consumed him proved to be too much for him to further endure any longer. Carter lifted his hands to eye level and held them in front of his face just enough to see them trembling. Though the rain dripped down his fingers, he could still see dried blood staining them. Pulling his head away in shame, he could still hear the sounds of their screams echoing in his head, constantly reminding him of the pain he brought upon them and the person he had become. Carter's mind shuffled through copious thoughts, and whilst doing so his dejection was replaced with anger. Carter yelled out in a fit of rage, his thunderous bellowing reverberating throughout the badlands beneath him. After his breath was exhausted, Carter looked back at his quivering hands and gritted his teeth. “How…? Why…!?” He could not find the words to speak, not even if it was only to himself. His blue eyes closed shut as tears formed behind his eyelids. In the past he had persuaded himself that he was not who he had become. But now, all of those once irrefutable thoughts were now nothing but questions. “How could I do this?” Carter opened his tear-filled eyes and looked at his trembling hands once more. “Who am I? What am I? A monster? What have I done!?” Carter fell to his knees and caught himself with his hands, stifling his cries yet still finding it difficult to hold back tears. Everything that had led to this moment was now too much for him, and in his mind he was left with no other choice. As the tears slowly faded from his glossy eyes, Carter lifted himself from the dirt and walked back to the edge of the cliff, staring down at the land beneath him. It wasn’t a question to him anymore, he had already made up his mind. If he were to continue, he wondered just how much more suffering he would need to endure before the world would finally cease its unabating assault on his life. But all these questions gradually departed from thought as his next move drew closer. Lifting his foot, Carter leaned forward and dangled it over the drop. It mattered not what would happen to him next, for all he cared about was wanting to be free. To Carter, death would be his escape from the nightmares that plagued his mind. Death would bring such a freedom. His mind fell quiet, his limbs went limp and his soul was at ease, and with that act, Carter cast himself from the cliff he stood on, falling toward the ground below, descending to his now inevitable demise. No amount of hope could save him, no amount of forgiveness he could give himself would’ve stopped him from committing such an act. After years of suffering, years of pain, and years of torment that he put on himself and others, it would finally end. With his last breath, Carter greeted his self-imposed fate, ready to be freed by the hands of death. As his vision grew darker and his body went numb, he knew he would finally be free and leave the physical world. Carter felt his body gradually feel lighter, as if he was floating through the air. It felt surreal to him, like nothing he did on Earth could mimic the feeling he was experiencing. It was calming at first, and he embraced it without hesitation. He thought that this was perhaps what it was like to be shifting to the spirit realm. Part of him wanted to open his eyes and see the event take place from a visual perspective, to see what was actually happening around him. But he chose to keep them shut, letting the kinesthetic side of the experience entertain him a moment longer. Had he known just how pleasant this was, Carter pondered if he would’ve taken his life sooner, prevent the wrongdoings of his past from ever coming to fruition, all while giving his own the feeling of freedom and peace. Carter had not felt so happy before, everything about it was just too much to question. And so, letting his body float around, he simply embraced it, suing the time to take everything in and adapt to this new environment. The peace was just what he was yearning for, and for a moment it seemed like he had made the right decision. But his certainty was soon questioned as he felt the world around him grow colder. The pleasant space he floated in began to feel less like an oasis and more so a frigid, icy biome. Carter felt himself begin to shiver. He started to wonder what was going on around him, why the outside suddenly changed in temperature. Doing so almost hesitantly, Carter gingerly opened his eyes. He expected to find himself in some sort of freezing cold plateau, but that was not the case. Nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to witness. Indeed he found himself floating, but in a dark, gloomy void, devoid of any and all light. Carter shook in surprise, taking the first few seconds to try and fathom everything he saw… or rather, that which he could not see. Carter looked down at the rest of his body, noticing that the space he drifted through was so dark that he was unable to even see his hand in front of his face. He knew it was still attached to him, as he could feel its touch against his face when he rubbed his palm against his forehead, but truly understanding the level of darkness that he was in seemed eerie to him. The feeling of peace and ease in Carter’s mind faded away with time, instead being replaced with fear and dread. He did not want to stay in this unoccupied abyss any longer. He began to struggle, waving his arms and legs around in a failed attempt to move about the void. However, it took little time for him to realize he was going nowhere. Even if he really was moving around, how was he to know where to go? After all, the darkness was of course too much for him. As time went on, the severity of the situation slowly settled itself in Carter's mind. He was alone, left in the void he had awoken in and with seemingly no way to return to home. His eyes widened as his soul was filled with horror. He stopped all his struggling and just froze, accepting that there was perhaps no way to escape the pitch-black void. Floating around was all he knew he could do. What am I to do here? Just wait? Wait around for something to happen? Anything? Is something ever going to happen!? Carter’s mind was quickly filled with questions upon questions. He couldn’t make sense of anything anymore, and it steadily began to take a toll on his psyche. It was proving to be overwhelming, so much so that he started having second thoughts about his recent decisions. A thought occurred to him: “Is this the price I have to pay for my actions?” After waving around angrily in the void, Carter closed his eyes, clenched his fists and curled up into a ball. From there he muttered words to himself, wishing, praying to be returned to Earth. He hoped that perhaps he had merely landed on his head hard enough to knock him unconscious, thus causing this strange dream. I want to go back, I want to go back, I want to go back, I want… I… I… He stopped speaking when he felt another change in temperature. Opening his eyes, he noticed that he was able to see his body again. In fact, he could see the rest of the world around him. Carter was no longer in the void. He had a moment of relief to himself, but that did not last long. Upon further inspection, Carter realized that he was not on any part of Earth that he recognized. It was abnormally hot, and the sky was glazed over with a faint red tint to it, with thick clouds of smoke littering the air. The ground beneath him was nothing but hot ash, and the world around him smelled like burnt flesh, which did not ease him at all. The atmosphere was so blistering and parching that Carter could feel his skin burning, getting hotter by the second and covering his skin in familiar red marks. In time, the severity of the heat stripped Carter of all his energy, the lack of vitality forcing him to his knees and searing his skin even further. Carter writhed in pain, unable to scream, as he feared that it would only worsen the situation for him. Carter knew he had to escape but he did not have the slightest idea on how to do so, nor if it was even possible to do before he would eventually become charred remains. For all he knew, this was still just some sick nightmare being displayed as he lay unconscious in the real world. “It’s not real,” he’d say to himself. He would say it over and over, expecting everything happening to him to just stop and comply. But no, it was not to be. Carter looked down at his hands and noticed that the skin near his fingers was now down to his bones, remaining together only by burned tendons and seared nerves. He shouted in fear, afraid of what he saw happening to him. “This isn’t real!” Carter shouted in defiance. “It’s not real, none of this is real!!!” “Oh… it is real, boy.” A dark, petrifying voice echoed behind Carter’s back, sounding as if whoever said those words was close enough to him that its breath could be felt grazing his neck. Carter immediately turned around and saw the image of a tall, shadowy figure with a dark purple cloak around its head, covering its face with shadows and allowing nothing but its bright red eyes to be visible. Carter shouted in fear, practically jumping off his knees and sprinting as fast as he could away from the unknown creature. He did not know who nor what it was, but he was not about to wait and find out. In the corner of his eyes, Carter could see that most if not all of his skin had burned off his body. But that did not matter to him, not then. All he cared about at that moment was to escape the monster. Carter ran as fast as he could with what little strength as he could force out. Carter wrapped around a corner and pressed his back against the wall, taking a brief moment to regain his stamina. He had not seen anything so unsettling in his life, and he didn’t want to see it again. Though hesitantly, Carter peeked his head out from behind the natural cover to check for the monster. He found no one. He let out a sigh of relief, but did not waste any time to calm himself down, nothing proved to be normal, not anymore. Carter pulled his head back behind the corner and shuddered. Carter took note of a reflective, orange crystal sticking out from the ground beside him. After studying it for some time, he noticed that he could see his own reflection in the crystal. His newfound appearance genuinely scared him; he was nothing more than a skeleton. This was paired with the fact that he could no longer feel anything but constant, agonizing pain, and that very pain seemed to be the only thing he could focus on. Carter looked down at his bony hands and let out a fearful, stuttered exhale. In the corner of his eye, Carter noticed something move in the crystal’s reflection. The man bolted his head upward and saw the monster in the reflection. Again he screamed in terror, turning around and aiming to run away once more. However, the ground beneath him shattered within his first step, resulting in him falling through the floor and down towards wherever he was to land. With a thud, Carter landed on his back into another pile of ash. He rolled onto his side and groaned in pain. He squinted as he carefully pushed himself back up to his feet. Carter wanted to continue running, but as he stood, he began to look around with a more observant eye. Carter studied the area he found himself in, taking note of all the strange formations of ash and pools of lava. Bones scattered around the environment could be seen quite close to each other. Strange beings resembling crippled humans devoid of life were spotted roaming about the land. To him, it were as though the entire world that sprawled around him was made specifically to torment those who were unfortunate enough to step foot in its confines. It did not quite click in his mind where he was at the time in part of his spontaneous fleeing, but while he had this time to pause and analyze everything for himself, it was then that the hard truth came to him. Carter felt his heart sink in his stomach. He did not want it to be true, but there was no denying it. He knew where he was. “Hurts, doesn’t it?” Carter swiftly turned around to find the monster standing right in front of him yet again. He wanted to run away like every other time, but something about this encounter with the unknown creature seemed different to him. It did not seem hostile towards Carter, with no intention of causing him harm. Everything from the place they stood to the sounds of the world around them made things seem destined to be. And so, Carter stayed in place, allowing the monster to speak to him should it wish to do so. After a brief pause, the creature indeed spoke. “You know why you are here… don’t you?” “I…” Carter could not find the right words to begin conversing with the creature. It wanted an answer, and yet those were the very things that Carter wanted, as well. “I… I have no clue why I am… wh-who are you!?” Carter shouted, in an attempt to possibly overwhelm the monster, though after a moment, he was unsure of it was the right decision. If anything, he figured that it would instead agitate the creature. With that, Carter stepped back with an expression of regret all across his face. The creature showed no physical reaction, appearing unphased by Carter’s outburst. It just stood in front of him, motionless and observant. Another moment of silence passed. “Coward.” replied the creature in a disappointed tone. “Excuse me?” Carter said in response to the monster’s statement. “A coward?” “Huh. You seemed so determined that your actions to take your own life was for the betterment of yourself and others. But now I see that when the truth is revealed, you cower, like a child in the dark.” “Wha-... how dare you!” Carter snapped angrily. “I’ll have you know that I am no coward and that I did indeed know what I was doing.” “And yet seeing this world before you puts you at ease?” asked the creature. It looked at Carter as he saw the human turn, looking back at the environment. “You truly have no idea why you are here, do you?” “No…” said Carter, though he spoke hesitantly. “This is Hell, the world meant for all souls who have committed only the worst of sins.” The creature turned to the land and motioned its hand to the scorching scenery as it continued speaking. “You have chosen to live the rest of your life here, due to your decision to take your life, as well as the lives of many others… lives that were never yours to take.” “No…” Carter shuddered in fear. A life in Hell was something he never thought would happen as a result of all that had happened up to this point. He looked back to the hooded creature with fear in his eyes, attempting to persuade it to change its mind. “You don’t understand, it would not be right for me to remain on Earth. I have done too many terrible things in my life. My hands are unclean. I am not afraid to admit the truth. I-” “The truth?” The creature replied in an almost baffled tone. “Y-yes, it is th-” “That is not the truth!!!” Carter shook back in surprise to the creature’s outburst. “You did not kill yourself because you thought it best for those you loved, because you hadn’t loved anyone!!!” “That is not true!” Carter replied in defiance. “I did love, I did show emotion, but all that changed. I did what had to be done.” “Pathetic.” The creature shook its head. Carter gritted his teeth, feeling as though it was not listening to him and instead determined to prove its own point, regardless of anything he had to say in defense. “Deny the truth all you want, but I know why you really did what you have done.” Carter’s furrowed eyebrows loosened when he heard the creature say those words. “You did not take your life for the safety of those around you, you just wanted to escape. Escape the pain you brought to yourself and others, escape the torment that you created… escape the nightmares that torture you every night. You use them as an excuse for your actions, in an attempt to somehow justify yourself, but that is not the case. “No, you instead wanted the easy way out. Many times in your life you had friends, or at least potential friends, but because you were so caught up in your head, you pushed them all away. You stopped them from helping you and making you whole again. You did this to yourself. Instead of choosing the path of healing, you spiraled down the pit to your downfall, a pit you dug yourself into. And so, when it came down to it, when all was said and done, you would rather give your life up as opposed to changing it for the better?” Carter had nothing to say to the creature. He knew it was right. He had not thought of it that way, but somehow the creature described Carter’s actions in a way that made sense, flipping his whole view of the situation. “That is why you are here. You chose to end everything instead of fix it.” “But how can you fix someone as corrupted as me?” Carter inquired. “I am not clean. I have done things that I can never forgive myself for. I have done things that no man, no living thing should ever do in their whole life. I am far from redeemable. I have become a monster by my own hand.” “That is where you are wrong.” Carter perked up at the creature. What it had just said was not something he was expecting. Its words almost filled him with a sense of hope, but he wondered why it wanted to help him escape such a dark and misfortune afterlife. Perhaps there was something in it for the creature. Still he decided to continue listening despite all his questions. “I did say that you have claimed a spot in Hell as your resting place, but even now I can see that this is not at all what you expected, and most definitely not the path that you wish to continue following. You have experienced but a fraction of what torment awaits you here in Hell. No man, no mortal ever wants to end up here should they have the choice. Luckily for you, it appears that the winds of fate have changed course, and that you've been offered a second chance. A chance at redemption, to undo the sins of your past and prove that you are worthy of forgiveness.” “Then what is it I need to do to prove myself? I will do anything!” Carter spoke in a pleading manner, begging the creature for this aforementioned second chance. “I do not want to end up here, I don’t, truly!” “You failed in the past to become whole again, and that is because you pushed away friendship.” Carter tilted his head in confusion. He wondered what this had to do with his chance at redemption. The creature chuckled at Carter’s reaction, as if it expected nothing less from him. “Even now you see with the eyes of a child.” The creature placed its boney hand over its chest, right in front of where its heart would be. “Friendship is stronger than most mortals realize. There is power in numbers, as a strong bond can overcome obstacles and challenges that one alone simply cannot compete with. Your choice of living alone has, in the end, only hurt you more than you could ever realize. Had you let those people into your life, friends, family, loved ones, maybe you would have come out different in time.” The creature took a couple steps toward Carter, angling its head in an inquisitive manner. “Tell me truthfully, why did you choose to push away friendship from your life?” Carter froze up. A question like that was not something he took lightly. Memories from his past flooded into his mind, filling his consciousness with nothing but the horrors that had happened to him that affected him many years ago. “I have not had a very good reputation with friends,” said Carter. “I have had some who have turned their backs on me… and some I’ve turned against, as well. I… I was afraid of hurting anyone else, or once again being hurt all the same. I've opened my heart up to others, but it was always my downfall, and so I grew to despise all others, expecting nothing but the worst from them. It's bad enough that I know what I've become... I don't need the rest of the world to know as well.” “So I see.” said the creature with a scoff. “Then what do I do? You haven’t told me yet.” Carter spoke impatiently. The creature could only sigh. “Very well. You will be sent to a world beyond anything your mind can imagine, a place no human has ever stepped foot in… until today.” Carter raised his brow, perplexed and surprised by what he was hearing about his mission. “In this new world, you will find its inhabitants and do what you failed to do on Earth: become a friend to them.” Make… friends? That’s it? That shouldn’t be too hard… “If it’s so easy, why is it that you have failed to do so before!?” The creature could read Carter’s smug thoughts through his expressions and responded accordingly with a rise in its volume. “Mark my words! Your mission is not as simple as it seems. You have forgotten what it’s like to be a true friend to those around you, and because of this, you will have to have them teach you once more. Only when you have truly befriended them will you have completed this task. But take caution… for should you fail, well… you already know what you are capable of. Of course, your reservation in Hell will still be waiting for your arrival, should you return to your dark ways.” Carter shuddered at the thought of remaining in the fiery realm for all eternity. “I’ll do it, I will.” Carter answered quickly, not wanting to waste anymore time in Hell then he needed to. “Just get me out of here. I will prove myself, I swear.” “Very well…” The creature stretched out his hands toward Carter and emitted a glowing green light from his fingertips. The light formed a ball of energy in front of the creature, putting Carter in a state of uneasiness. The human stepped back a bit, figuring that if the creature was gonna shoot it out at him, it would do more than just tickle. However, after taking into account that he was still a skeleton of sorts devoid of physical feelings, he didn’t think it would affect him much after all. When the energy ball was about the size of a watermelon, the creature stopped charging it and kept it stationary. From there, he looked at Carter, then back to the ball. “May you find success in your mission, for your future depends on it.” Following those last few words, the creature shot the energy ball at Carter, making contact with the human and enveloping him in the green energy. The feeling that came from the energy’s radiation shocked Carter, as it felt intense rather than painful. Still, it was enough to get a shout out of him. As the energy consumed him, his body was lifted off the ground and sent away in the form of magical flakes. Soon after, Carter was no longer in Hell and instead on his way to the new world awaiting him. “And now -” Staring off with content, the hooded creature walked over to a nearby rock and sat down, pulling the cover off its head and letting out a sigh. “- we wait…”