Prologue

The world has changed.

Near the end of the 21st century, natural resources began to noticeably dwindle down. The governments have started to pressure other countries to share what they had. What little more that they had.

This forced the human selfishness to reveal itself for all to see. People began to hoard their resources: Food, power supplies, minerals and other sources essential to the modern age. Little by little, the threat of war began to loom over the horizon, until a small country detonated a radioactive bomb in the Western Pacific.

This was the trigger that gave the world an excuse to take up arms, and take what they wanted.

As the globe spiraled down into chaos, strange side effects caused by the radioactive bombing began to manifest near ground zero. The country, the one that had been speculated to be hoarding their own resources, started to produce humans who had their D.N.A altered by that event.

AbNormals, people who possess strange abilities started to show up in different countries during the war, taking the spoils after and disappearing without a trace.

In the early years of the 22nd century, the war was still on going, with no signs of ending anytime soon. Somehow more of these people, with strange abilities, started to pop up all over the globe. This time, however, they seem to be different. They seem to have gotten more powers over the years, and began to play a more active role in the war.

They had people who could move the very earth itself, run faster than fired bullets, command the weather, move any metal with a wave of their hands, strength that could easily lift a Panzer Tank, and so many more.

Not long after, in the next fifty years, they devastated every country in the world, cowing the High Powers into submission. The world was never again the same after that.

Though the war ended, the original problem that caused it all was still the same. The war had taken the billions of humans, and cut them down to mere hundred millions. Famine and other diseases took more and reduced them to tens of millions. It seemed that even with the relative peace that they've obtained, they were still destined to die of extinction.

But a ray of hope came. It took the form of an AbNormal, an individual who had the power to break the laws of the universe itself. In exchange for his own life he brought salvation to the world.

Children born after the day that person died began showing signs of powers. Trepidation, at first, clutched the hearts of many at the discovery, but soon gave way to reverence as one of the children born had the ability to grow crops from his very touch. Many children soon began to show something similar powers.

Even in the very depths of despair, humanity still found a way and persevere; to strive and move forward to better and brighter tomorrows.

And as expected of humanity, they still found a way to fuck it all up.

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" as the saying goes. Oh how true this was in the next century.

As the last of the powerless humans died, the new age of AbNormals came to be. They began to establish territories in every region in every country. People united once by need became divided again by greed.

Powers obtained by the newborn children were never the same with their parents. Sure, they could be the same with someone somewhere in the world, but they would always be different from their parents.

Each powers are limited by a set of prerequisites. They were... nerfed, I suppose would be the proper word to use. One of your powers might the ability to teleport, but its limitations may vary. It could be a Line-of-Sight type of limitation, or it could be based from you mental or emotional state.

The powers obtained were random, and so were the limitations given. A powerful ability could have an unreasonable limitation, or it might not have. A weak power could also have the same limitations, unreasonable or not.

Because of this, those who had power to bend reality itself, yet didn't have unreasonable limitations, were the ones who took up leadership in the great many territories that were established.

Now the world was divided once again. Not by countries, no, but by Territories. Death, murder, and many more atrocities became a norm. Even with the Territories being established, they all still followed one rule. Those that go against this rule was to be killed by the leaders surrounding the Territory.

This rule, or law, was: No new born child is to ever be killed. Ever. This also applies to those still in their mother's womb. Any violator would always get a gruesome death, and no one would ever mourn of their deaths. Those who have powers over the mind of people would even go so far as to erase their memories of the violator, making it as if that person never existed in the first place.

To die and be forgotten was something everyone was terrified of.

And that is the world I live in now.

I always wondered where my life is taking me.

I looked down at my hands and flicked the tuning fork that I held with my finger. I placed it close to my ear, closing my eyes as I listened to the tune. Looking up into the dark sky in the camp, I ignored the flowing red liquid illuminated by the campfire flame and basked in the silence.

"What am I looking for?" I asked myself. No one was around to answer, so the only one left to ask was the only living person present. The corpse of five men around me didn't count as people.

"Ay buhay" I sighed, looking down from the top of the boulder that I sat on. "Is it fun to be a bandit? To pillage, kill, rape, and run wild at the expense of others?"

The corpse leaning on the rock didn't answer. Typical. It was probably because of the other fork that was lodged in his throat that's stopping him from answering. Or maybe it was because of the lack of air in his lungs. You can't talk or make a syllable without air.

"You're lucky, you know that?" I told it, the corpse. "You had a purpose in life... or did you? Maybe I should have asked you when you thought I was an easy prey to loot." I scratched my head a bit, unsure. "Did I jump the gun in killing you five?"

I doubt it. He had his burning sword at my throat, and none of them even doubted what they were doing was wrong. They didn't question themselves, at all. I would have felt it if they did. I was sure. Maybe. My senses aren't always reliable.

I took out a notebook from the rucksack that hung on my back and started skimming over the pages. I stopped at one particular entry and looked down on the corpse again.

"Hey look. It's you." I turned the notebook over and showed the wanted poster that was the page of the book. The other pages showed off other wanted personnel as well. "You're not worth much, are you? Not even 1k."

I turned the notebook again towards me, "Black Soot" it said, and snorted. Wanted for thefts and murder in close by Territories. Nothing special. An AbNormal that wasn't very special. Rank C on the wanted list. The only reason he was even on the list was because he was beginning to be a nuisance to the local Leaders. Was it lucky or unlucky of me to find this guy? Or maybe he was the one that was unlucky.

Either way, that's enough for three meals for me.

After claiming the bounty on that corpse, I started looking for the closest place to get something to eat. Something cheap and filling. Luckily it's easy enough to find a place like that in this post-apocalyptic world that we used to call Earth turn hellish-paradise.

The year was... between 2700s to 2800s. I don't really remember. I never paid too much attention to the dates and years that passed.

The world was back to its pre-war state, or at least it's on its way there. Natural resources were flowing better than ever because of people who could create things out of nothing.

The world was like one of those games that people play on their console or PCs (Yes. Even in this superpower filled era there were still games being developed). You travel a lot, Kill a lot, Loot always, find out who are your Friends and who are your Foes... you know. Just like the games.

There were gangs, or Clans, or Guilds, or whatever. They were everywhere, in major Territories with a lot of people and someone with a superpower that gives you food and other necessities. There were also bounties - people who got famous enough to catch the eye of some powerful shmuck and wanted them dead, captured, or both.

Me? My name's also in the notebook. Rank A because I killed a Guild Master's girlfriend. She was a bitch, I didn't regret what I did.

Bounties are ranked based on how dangerous they were, as well as the things that they did. Rank C and B were AbNormals with one or two 'good' powers and did something that caught someone's attention. Rank B and A were AbNormals who had more than three 'good' types of powers. They were the best hunts if you want a challenge as well as a good amount of cash. Be careful, though, because AbNormals have different kinds of abilities, and said abilities were never listed in the bounty posters. An AbNormal might have powers in manipulating dinner Forks, or you could have someone that has the ability to make reality their bitch. The latter is one of the Rank S and EX category. They were usually Territory leaders, or recluse vagabonds.

If you find yourself face to face with one, hope that they don't notice you or pray that you die a quick death because if you don't... then you are going to be a very miserable person. They're the Monsters amongst AbNormals. Their abilities range from Super-something to Omni-something.

Super Strength? Super Speed? Super Durability? Omnipotent? Omnipresent? Omniscient?

They were the Gods of this new world, and one of them was after my head. Fortunately for me, he only has Super Strength, Super Durability, Super Regeneration, Super Speed, and Snow Manipulation. A Rank S Demi-god

The last power was weird. Don't ask why it wasn't another Super-something because I have no clue why it was like that. Newborn children always get random powers when they're born, they don't pick which one they get. Same with me. I certainly didn't pick my ability to be able to manipulate Forks, but then again I'm not complaining.

Fear my culinary arsenal of death.

Anyway, I'm thankful that the Guild Master that was after me didn't have something like Omnipresent or Omniscient as an ability or I would have been screwed. I only know one priestess from the east who has both, and she's Rank EX. She was the closest thing to an actual God. Omnipresent, Omniscient, Reality Warping and Immortality were the only powers she announced that she had. She had one more, but no one knows what it was. She rules over one of the biggest Territories in the world, and everyone under her rule worshiped her.

"Thinking about me, I see. I'm flattered."

A long rattling shiver went down my spine as I heard a female voice coming from somewhere close by. I didn't need to guess who it was because I already knew, even if the owner of the voice was supposed to be thousands of miles away from where I was. And she knows that I know, that's why she didn't even need to announce herself.

"Hime." I greeted no one in particular. I've just finished ordering a burger when the priestess made her presence known to me.

"Pierce." she greeted in return. "You were thinking of me. So I couldn't help but say hello to my immortal buddy."

"I already told you that I wasn't an immortal, didn't I?" I settled myself down in a corner and started digging in my food. "I'm just long-lived. I can die easily enough."

I was no immortal, just someone who had an ability to live longer than others. If you haven't guessed yet, I'm an AbNormal, a guy with powers. I'm a tier 3: someone who got abilities at random and didn't get a refund with any of them. With tier 4, 5 and EX, some people can actually pick a power that they don't like and change them for a random one. But then again, because its random they could have a better or worse power than the one that they lost.

"You should already know what my abilities are, thanks to that Omniscient of yours."

I heard her chuckle. "Of course I know. There is nothing that I don't know."

That smug attitude of hers really grated on my nerves and she knew it, even before I did. She was the fifteenth oldest AbNormal in the world, but was by far one of the deadliest even amongst the other immortals. She's been around since the 2500s. That's when I got to meet her.

"Clyde Periña Pierce." she began as another shiver went down my spine when she said my full name. I'd almost forgotten my first and middle name. "An old relic of the old world. Born a little before the 21st century, and reborn near its end. The cells of your body were heavily mutated because of the radioactive detonation near your home country. You didn't die, though, unlike many of your people."

I huffed silently as the all-powerful girl started to show off her powers.

"Though your cells mutated, they were never useless. Your new body, deformed as it was back then, never seemed to run out of energy. Not bad for a 93 year old. Your need to feed began to lessen, your muscles never tire, your stamina was almost unlimited. Then others came, the first generation of AbNormals. They recruited you for their army, but you were never given the chance to refuse. Senior citizen straight to soldier.

"They trained you to become a sniper. Your stamina and lack of need for food and sleep was best for such a task. They were merciless. Patience was rigorously drilled into your old body as you were forced to stay prone in one spot for days without moving. You were attentive, at least, even if your marksmanship needed practice. You became a counter-sniper for your team as even though they could move mountains with their minds, they were still vulnerable from a bullet to the brain.

"A year after your deployment your mutated cells started to stabilize along with the other AbNormals. You started to sense people from great distances, a vital ability for snipers like you. Your 17 kills suddenly shot up to 100 in mere months. You were with the main team that pushed back the war to the west, gunning down every opposition.

"But you were never congratulated for your efforts. You were overshadowed by the people who had better and grander powers. That began to change as the war progressed, and the years passed by. While everyone on the team grew old and gained more power, your cells were still stabilizing. Your skin started losing their wrinkles, deformation began to shrink and settle, and your entire musculature was revitalizing.

"At the end of the war, you were the only one left from the original task force. They all died from old age while you continued to live. You retired soon after you realized that even after the war, no one could be properly called the victor. The human race was still dying..."

I sat there, in one of the corner seats of the diner, listening to Hime's tale of my past. I remember them. Not all, but most of them. I suddenly felt very old. "Then that kid came." I muttered.

"Yes." Hime said. I could practically feel the smile on her face. "That person came. The first human to gain the ability to warp reality itself. They used their own life as the source of energy to change the law of the very universe."

"The Power Lottery." I said, raising the plastic fork that came with my meal in front of me. With a mere thought and a nudge from my will, the fork started to bend, twisting into a knot without snapping in two.

"Children were being born with powers." Hime continued. "And they continue to develop more as the grew. Five powers was the limit. But that wasn't what was surprising in the least. No, it was--"

"Me." I cut her off. "Someone like me, an old man from the past, someone whose time has already passed. I was also affected by what that person did."

"You were the last of the firsts." Hime said. "The others could not sire any child because of the radiation that they've received. You were the same."

"I was old. I already had a daughter and even had grand kids."

"But they died in the bombing." Hime added sternly. "You've lost the ability to make a child with a woman a long time ago. But that changed when reality was rewritten. Your very existence was also altered.

"Embodiment of Doubt."

I could almost imagine the grin on her face right now.

“Your original abilities already had some of its aspects.” Hime continued. “Nigh limitless energy, longevity, ageless… It was merely being corrected to suit the new world.”

"I could have become another type of Embodiment, you know." I told the formless girl.

"True." she said. "But given your personality, I highly doubt that."

I was a very skeptic person. I was never fully into most of the things that I did. Even as a sniper, that had been the reason why I was never good at it. Or never would have if it hadn't been because of my long range empathy ability. I always hesitated in taking my shots, and would always re-align my sights until I was fully sure that it would hit.

"And so, years passed and you still live on." she continued. "Every five to ten years the next generation of AbNormals would get a new kind of power. You thought you weren't included with those who get new powers, but after another century your Doubt Embodiment was completely settled, and you started gaining new powers as well."

"Only after every century." I added. "Unlike you and the rest of those AbNo who can immediately adapt to your new powers, mine needed time."

"Well, you are an old soul." Hime said. "It's hard to mold something that already had a lifetime to settle."

"Why are you here, Hime?" I asked. "If this is another one of your games..."

"Come now, Pierce." she said, an accompany of giggles coming along with her words. "Can't I at least say hello to my old tutor?"

"I didn't teach you anything."

"No." she said. "You only raised and protected an orphaned girl when a Territory Leader had been killing off children who had powers to warp reality."

I grunted in reply. I only did that because of old world habits. Back then, it was encouraged to do good deeds like saving others. In this new era, though, you only look out for yourself and your family. Friends? Not so much. They could easily turn on you of you aren't careful.

Hime was a name that I used to call her because of her Japanese descent. She would often use her Reality Warping powers to change her appearance. Normally, unless you have an ability that lets you live long, the lifespan of every human on the planet only lives for 70-80 years. It was added along with the Power Lottery law. Because of her Immortality, Hime decided to play with her appearance whenever she fancies.

Last she showed herself on TV she looked like one of those fetish-tic little hime-miko that every sicko has a hard-on for. She loves to mess with others and abuses her abilities to bring her that amusement. She was your typical mischievous fox in those old Japanese folklore. Add on her Omnipresence and Omniscience, then you have on scary mix.

A modern day Tamamo-no-Mae. I bet that was her real name before my nickname stuck.

"Wrong."

Stop knowing everything, dammit.

"Anyway, Pierce, I have news for you~!"

"Is that why you contacted me?" I asked as I looked up from my finished meal. "Or did you finally sell me out?"

"My, always so doubtful of other peoples' intentions." she said in a teasing tone. "But then again, given how long you've lived in this world I shouldn't be surprised."

"What's the news, then?"

"So impatient~!" she said cheerily. "This is why you'll never get a girl."

"Last time I checked, you offered yourself to me once."

"That was so long ago."

"Still didn't stop you from trying to make me regret that decision."

"Until you saw me as a loli."

I said nothing in return. From the way I heard her giggling I knew that she heard what I was thinking. "The news?"

"Oh, yes." her giggling died down. She gave a small pause before she said. "He's coming."

That didn't sound ominous. Not ominous, at all. "Who is?"

"You'll see." And she was gone.

I didn't hesitate. I didn't even spend any time thinking about it. I shoved myself out of my seat and drank down the pineapple juice that came with my meal. I was out not a moment later, running for my life. Just in time, too, because I heard someone screaming my name from the sky.

"PIIIIIEEEEEERRRRRCCCCCEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I knew that voice. How could I not? I've only heard it over a thousand times. I mean, I did kill his girlfriend.

A crash and then a boom, the place that I was in previously was crushed and destroyed under the Super Strength of the guy that fell from the sky. While that was happening, I was already a block away, ducking through the alleyways of the small town that I stopped by.

What the hell was he doing here? He should have been halfway around the world! How did he find me so quickly? There was no way that he could have found me without help. There were only five people in the world that could have known where I was, and all of them had Omniscient powers. Even if they did knew, there was no way that they would have told him where I was without asking something in return for it. There was only one person out of the five that would have benefited from this, and it wasn't in anything like money or favors, but amusement.

"Hime, you bitch." I hissed under my breath. I was right. The bitch did sell me out. No words were enough to describe how fucking pissed I am right now. She's probably directing him where I am, and probably where I'm going. Dammit!

Do you know how to get away from someone who could cover a hundred feet in a blink of an eye? How about someone who could splatter your brains on the earth with just a finger flick; with a body that could withstand being crushed even by a meteorite; and regeneration that makes them nigh immortal?

The answer is simple: You need better powers than the other guy. Fortunately, one of my five skills could do that. Unfortunately, a condition must be met before I can access that power. I've already lived long enough that attempts on my life just annoys the hell out of me that it doesn't invoke any hate. No, it needs to be something more personal, something like betrayal. Even if that bitch, Hime, is directing him I can't point my hate onto someone else. My conscience would beat me if I killed proxies.

I ran deeper into town, where all of the uninhabitable houses were located. Even though I said uninhabitable, that didn't stop some people from staying in them. It was an old part of town where people with powers that had little to no use was gathered. There were those very, very unlucky individuals who got useless powers and couldn't even hunt down small bounties to feed themselves.

The rotting walls and collapsing roofs made the area dangerous, but no one seems to care. If they die because of an accident, they'd probably be grateful for it. The town had no name. It was just a place where people started settling down because it was outside of the Territories. It was a forgotten place where a scar made from the resulting fight of two Rank Ex stayed. No one bothered closing it as it was pretty far from the other major Territories.

There was a scar on the earth. Not just the ground or the crust of the earth, but they tore the entire dimension in the form of a gorge.

It was dark, bottomless, and was probably the best compost pit/toilet in the world.

"PIERCE!!!!"

And that damn guy was herding me towards that toilet by hurling boulders in the directions that would steer me away from it.

I dove behind a boulder and laid myself flat on the ground. It's a good thing I did because not soon after it exploded into pebbles while the projectile that caused it didn't even slow down from its trajectory.

"I hope you die, Hime!" I roared as I stood up. "I hope someone kills you!" I started running again.

"That's it, Pierce!" I heard my pursuer shout. "Run! RUN!"

Thank whatever god that's left in this world that he's only walking. If he decided to make it quick I'd have no chance in surviving. Dodging him for two years probably made him want to savor my death. Or maybe it was that bitch that was making him slow down. That guy was always impulsive, it would have been normal if he gave me a clothesline strong enough to send my head flying into the next country while leaving my body right where it was.

I wanted to run more. I wanted to run as far away as I can from that guy. Stamina was never a problem with me, I could run for days at full sprint without getting tired. Whenever I doubt myself, I always manage to continue and push on in whatever obstacle that was in my way.

Doubt Embodiment. That's one of my five abilities.

It's the ability the gives limitless energy, prevents me from aging, and makes me slightly immune to death. By slightly, I mean, I won't die unless my body is completely destroyed or I am inflicted with a wound that can't be healed. No matter how grievous the wound, it will heal over time(months) as long as I have energy to doubt, but lost limbs won't regenerate.

It's also the fuel source for my other abilities, except for one. It's an ability that I can't turn off, no matter what. But because of this it's less potent than the other Embodiment abilities that I've seen from others. I can't transform like them, and I can't enhance my physical capabilities beyond exceptional. Right now, though, I'm generating enough and burning through my doubt energy that I'm moving as fast as an Olympic athlete in full sprint.

I'm not thinking about being able to turn this around. There's no doubt there. I can't win this, at all. What I'm doubting is my chance of escaping.

Could I escape? Maybe.

Could I outsmart him? Probably. But with Hime with him, I might not.

Could I make him think that I'm dead and make him leave me alone finally? How the hell do I do that?! Hime's helping him!

The stronger I doubt and the more I'm skeptic about something, the greater the energy I can produce for myself.

I ducked my head down and kept running as another rock was thrown near the path that I was taking. The ground exploded when the projectile made contact with it. It feels like I'm under tank fire! Again! Old traumas were starting to replay in my mind.

I alternated the direction of my running path randomly, zipping left and right to confuse my pursuer. Thanks to my nigh unlimited energy and longevity I was able to hone my body for speed and evasion during my travels. I had the build of a runner, or a swimmer, whichever one you choose since I did both. Since the guy after me didn't have any Super Perception or anything, and since he was only in his mid twenties, he has more than likely relied mostly on his abilities and never acquired any useful talents.

Like aiming, for example.

But who needs that when you can pulverize almost anything with your fist?

"ShitShitShitShitShit!"

I started muttering faster as the gorge started to come into view. I kept hearing a tiny buzz in the air, like static. The closer I got the louder it seems to get. I looked behind me and saw something strange.

"What..."

That person, that guy... no, wait. What was his name again? I kept referring him as Him, but I never said his name, even in my head. What was it, what was his name? Come to think of it, who is that person?

The guy chasing suddenly started to blur, his image distorting like a mirage. His blond hair... was that really blond? His tall, muscular? figure... no, that's wrong. He wasn't that tall... Was that even a guy? That damn buzzing is really getting annoying. I should make a turn soon or else I might fall in the gorge. There's no telling what kind of monsters are in there.

"Pierce~♥♥♥!"

Wait, that didn't sound like a guy's voice. If it was then I would have commited suicide, or at least something close enough to it.

I stopped running and completely turned around. The buzz coming from the gorge was strong enough that it sounded like a swarm of angry bees were just buzzing by my ears. The distortion from before fully dissipated and I could clearly see that the one after me wasn't a guy at all.

"Hime!" I exclaimed in surprise.

I looked at the girl wearing a stereotypical miko dress from japan all those centuries ago. Because of her Omniscient there's no way for her to not know the past, present, or future if she wanted to. I don't understand her taste, at all.

But there was something different. The last time I saw her on TV, the ones now run by AbNormals, she looked like a 15 year old. Now, though, she looked like a mature woman in her mid-twenties wearing a miko costume. She was beautiful, there was no denying that. She had long straight hair, falling down like a curtain behind her, going past her knees. They flowed in an unnatural grace, and there was some sort of majestic radiance that seems to just ooze out of her. Her skin was smooth. Even from this distance I could see it clearly. My heart steadily started to hammer in my chest. And then...

Like I'll ever have a chance in tapping that.

Then suddenly it stopped. That majestic aura simply disappeared and all that's left in front of me was a girl in a miko costume. She looked like a 15 year-old again.

"Will you make up your mind already!" I shouted in aggravation. Wait. "You were the one that's been chasing me?!"

Hime gave me a frown, a small one with her eyes narrowing into a glare. She opened her mouth and said something my ears didn't hear. I took a step back and the buzz from the gorge became louder.

My face scrunched up to express my troubled feelings. Hime had a lot of power, being one of the closest to be considered as a true god. Her most powerful ability was Omnipresent, she can be everywhere at the same time. After that was Reality Warping. She can make it look like she was there in person when in actuality she's on the other side of the world. Then there was Omniscient. I knew that she couldn't always use it, and that there was a requirement for its activation, but that didn't make it any less potent.

She used Omnipresent to make it look like she was here, talking to me earlier. Then she used her Reality Warping to do all of those damages in town, as well as the rocks that she was throwing at me. She must have used her Omniscient earlier on and predicted where I was headed.

"This isn't funny, Hime!" I called out.

How was she even able to tamper with my thoughts, anyway? How did she replace that other guy's image to the one that was truly after me? Was it another aspect of Reality Manipulation? Or... or was that her final ability?

"Hime!" I called out again.

In response she stretched her arm out to me. The buzzing from the hole suddenly increased again, even though I didn't come any closer to it. I had to desperately cover my ears to save them from the noise. I tried running again, but my legs refused to budge. It was like someone nailed them on the ground.

Hime started to move, with her hand still in front of her and pushing against the air. Every step she made, I moved back further, with my feet dragging the soil. I couldn't do anything to retaliate as the noise from the gorge was unbearable. I think my ears were starting to bleed.

"HIME!"

I saw her lips move, but, again, I didn't hear her. Instead I read them. "Bye bye, Pierce." Her words ended with a cruel smile. Her fingers curled and her middle finger flicked the empty air.

My head snapped back from the invisible attack and my blood sprayed in the air. I lost my footing and the force that's been pushing me back made me tumble backwards. I rolled for a few times with my head feeling like it was shoved into a grinder. My ears were definitely bleeding and my vision swam as I came to a stop. My body was laying flat on the ground facing up with my head over the edge of the gorge.

Fucking hell. She didn't even let me fight back... Well, maybe I did deserve it.

I'm tired of waiting.

The words came to me. Earlier when she formed the words with her lips, before she said that goodbye.

Why..?

I gritted my teeth and stumbled as I got to my feet.

Why won't you accept..?

I looked up and saw her. The girl, no longer fifteen or that beautiful woman from earlier, stood with her arms held out in front of her expectantly. I suddenly had a flash of recognition. This was what Hime looked like back then. Back when I first found her. She was dirty, covered in wounds, wearing a tattered t-shirt too big for her size...

... and she was crying.

That cruel smile from before became a thin pained line.

Why won't you love me?

My heart clenched as I saw her tears. My jaw continued to tighten as I felt a bubble of rage rise within me. The Rage wasn't for her. It was for someone else. I closed my eyes as my faced scrunched up. Rage started to bleed away and Regret soon began to replace it.

I looked up and stared right into her eyes, tears fell down on both our faces. I shook my head and took a step back.

"I can't..." I whispered. "You know why..."

I was the Embodiment of Doubt, The Skeptic, The Doubtful. I can't love. I don't know if I can. I don't know if I will. I don't know if it will last. I don't know if I can do it again. I just don't know.

Years of constant traveling, and years of trying, I couldn't find it in me to devote myself to someone. Again and again, I looked for someone to form a bond with. Every time I found one, my doubt would always manifest. I ignored it. Countless times, I ignored my hesitance and distrust.

But in the end I would always be proven right.

They would betray me. They would use me. They would discard me after they were done. My Embodiment became stronger each time, and my willingness to trust would always be crushed. After my last one, I don't know if I'll ever willingly reach out to someone.

I hate it. But I can't fight it.

I shook my head towards Hime and took another step back, only to feel empty air,

"I'm sorry."

And I fell into the abyss.

...
...
...
I fell.

Author's Note:

...
...
...
I needed to get that out. Anyway:

Name: Clyde Pierce

Powers and Limits (Tier 3):

Fork Manipulation

Doubt Embodiment

Umbrakinetic Construct

Zombie Manipulation

Psycho Warping

Age: ??? (No longer counting)
Sex: Male
Nationality/Ethnicity: Filipino
Languages: English, Tagalog
Hair: Black, straight, shortly cut on sides but top and back are slightly longer, with the front long enough to cover his eyes
Facial Hair: None
Eyes: Dark brown with 20/20 vision
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 76kg
Build: Athletic

I'm going back to my other story, then.

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