Mogul vs. Remnants Pt. III

Following the events of the second part, Decen's ninth remnant, Lucius "Brickhouse" Cassidy, has awakened his powers of Spike Formation. Relocating to Corinth, home of the Corinth Inquisition, Guardian Merrow Rivenlight seeks refuge from a long time friend, Kyrael Prima to aid in the development of Decen's third remnant, Deacon Chow. Along with Michael, and Meena, Merrow hopes to allow Deacon to master his powers of pyrokinesis, in his battle against Prime Aspect Mogul, alongside his fellow Remnants, and to save a catatonic Remnant 1, who is slowly dying from Loz-Q.

Chapter 28 (Remnant 3)

"I hate portals..." I grumbled, as Meena held my hand, stepping in.

I also didn't need Meena to hold my hand either. She kept doing things like this, and I was kind of sick of her treating me like I was too feeble to do things myself. It also didn't help that Lucius was giving me the most annoyed look ever.

My surroundings elongated, as I was thrust into the portal, emerging into a new world. My surroundings were.. beautiful. Perhaps even magical. Lucious greenery, vegetation, and a clear sky. Nothing like the run down buildings Meena and I used to do contracts in. At least this place had color.

I responded, aptly, by vomiting on the ground.

"Deacon!" Meena ran by my side, rubbing my back.

"I'm fine Meena" I groaned.

Lucius walked up to me. I couldn't help but stare at his right hand, which was completely corrupted. The black spikes had receded, but it was still evident, and his entire hand looked... demonic. Claws, and pulsating with a dim red light at the cracks that ran up his forearm, and into his shirt. At least the rest of his body was okay.

"The hell you lookin at?" Lucius scowled.

"Um. Nothing. Sorry." I responded quickly.

Lucius was holding the frozen body of Arman, our eldest brother, delicately. I never really knew him. In fact, I didn't know him. But from what Merrow, Michael, and Lucius have told me, he was an incredible person.

If someone like Lucius was so delicate and gentle with somebody, you knew he meant a lot to him. And I could probably guess that. I've been told that Arman had fought three Olympian Titans at once. Yeah, you heard me right. Titans. The same ones that had ruled the world. The same ones I read in the stories who required other gods to beat.

And he didn't just fight one. Not two. But three. Thinking about that made me queasy. Lucius' powers were incredible, yet he claimed to be far weaker than Arman.

Meaning Arman must have been that much more powerful. The fact that he had fought Mogul and ended up like this... I could only imagine how strong Mogul must had been.

Of course, I didn't tell anyone this. Because whenever I brought up Arman, Lucius would yell at me. Well, more than anything else. Lucius was always mad about something.

When I ask Merrow about Arman, she just becomes sad, and tries to change the topic. But I know one thing. As the first Remnant, he definitely had more experience than all of us.

But then again, wouldn't that make me the third strongest of all the Remnants? It certainly didn't feel that way. Especially considering Lucius was the ninth oldest. Meaning there were six other Remnants who I was obligated to surpass.

And here I was struggling to even summon a tiny spurt of flame without it going out of control.

"Hey, little man. You good?" Michael held out his hand. I took it.

"Yeah."

"No worries."

We walked down a stretch of land. The scenery was amazing. Forests, wildlife. Occasional monsters appeared, but didn't seem to mind as we kept our distance.

"So." Michael walked next to me.

"You tryna bulk up for your lady?"

I could feel my ears turning pink. "I... yeah. Yeah I am. I just don't want to be so weak anymore. I feel like I'm burdening her. Please don't tell her that though."

Michael laughed. "It's all good man. I heard you're learning from Lucius. I don't know if that's a good idea."

"What do you mean?" I turned to Michael.

"You're tryna push yourself to be something you ain't. You're a good kid, Deacon. Just be yourself. No need to push yourself to do things you don't feel is right just because Lucius thinks it's dumb. He's never had a girlfriend before, so he wouldn't understand."

"I... I guess."

Michael laughed. It echoed across the plains. "The last thing Meena wants is for you to end up like that psycho. Lucius is brave and he's got major guts. It's just who he is. But Meena loves you for who you are. Sure, it's good to step up, but don't try to walk in someone else's shoes. Cuz oftentimes, you'll realize there's a lot of shit that goes into someone else's life than you realize."

Chapter 29 (Remnant 3)

So we basically got locked up.

"I thought you knew this Curly Prima of the Inquisition. How the hell we end up behind bars." Lucius asked Merrow.

Merrow looked at Lucius sheepishly. "I didn't think her Garrison unit had expanded that much. Maybe they're just taking extra precautions. Once Kyrael recognizes me, you'll see."

I slumped on the ground. Meena was in the other holding cell, and she started to light up a cigarette. I had tried to get her to stop smoking, and at some point, she did. But the habit resurfaced. Our weapons were confiscated, but for some reason, Meena was still allowed to have her lighter. Which didn't make much sense. I guess the guards were newly recruited too.

The guards tried to confiscate Pariah, but with massive difficulty, as you would expect.

"Your sword." They told Lucius.

"Yeah sure, take it." He smiled at them, evilly. Lucius threw Pariah at them, and all three of the guards were flattened by the sheer weight of the blade. They needed at least twelve other guards to step in and take the weapon. I think at some point, they even got Michael to help them out. They locked him up too shortly afterward.

"The hell, man?!" Michael exclaimed.

That was pretty funny.

That was really the only highlight of the day. Other than that, we spent it locked up. The sun was going down, and this Kyrael person had not arrived yet.

I was getting really tired, and I had no choice but to sleep.

I didn't like sleeping. That might sound weird to you. But for me, sleeping was terrible. Because of the dreams.

I have two kinds of dreams. The first kind, is the ones that are, now I realize, linked to my Remnant nature. I dream of Decen, and his adventures with Merrow. In a way, I feel my level of connection to Decen is one of the stronger ones. Because when I asked Lucius, he had told me he only ever had slight vision lapses of the Paladin. The one time he had dreamed of Decen, it was when he had manifested his spike formation.

The other kind of dream... is disturbing. And it disturbed me for so long, that I never told the others. Not even Meena.

It's kind of like what Lucius had encountered, with Decen, in his vision. But this person... was not Decen. He was someone else. Something else.

Unfortunately, it was just my luck that the dream I had was of the second kind.

"You are weak." The boy muttered. I was in pitch darkness, standing in front of me, was him. The person, he looked like me. He had chin length snow white hair, just like Decen's, but the bangs were even longer, covering his eyes and his nose almost. Strands and gaps between the bangs made way for his large eyes. His eyes, even more menacing than Decen himself. He looked... psychotic, and maniacal.

"You are nothing." He approached me, and grabbed my collar, breathing down my neck.

"A mere shell, an inferior vessel, for me to emerge. You cherish your life, knowing it is merely temporary. A mere stepping stone, for me."

This is what I mean by these dreams being disturbing.

"I won't let you come out." I said, sternly, but this kid was making me so nervous, my knees began to shake.

The kid smiled, menacingly. His body suddenly became wreathed in a blazing orange flame. Contrasting with his hair and his crazy face, he looked... demonic. Along the left side of his face, was a partial skull, glowing from underneath his skin. The kid laughed maniacally.

"You are nothing to me. If you want me gone, you will have to kill me."

I tried to summon my own flames, but I could only manage two small spurts of fire at the palms.

The kid approached me, and shoved me across the darkness.

"Where is Meena? Going to run off to Meena? To Lucius? To Merrow? They can't save you from me. Because you ARE me. None of them stand a chance, they will all..."

The kid lifted up his finger, causing a massive torrent of flame to rise up, flooding the surroundings.

The inferno subsided, as I saw his sinister face, his eyes, glowing with malice.

"BURN."

"NO." I shouted. But the kid leapt into the air, landing on me as I was pinned down.

"Take off that mask.

Embrace who you truly are...

Fury."

The kid laughed, his breath even resembling flames. His white hair, glowing bright just like his flames. His superior flames, far hotter than mine. Probably the strongest I ever seen from a fire user.

"Why not let loose a bit? Decen was a killer. We came from Decen. Why can't we be killers?" Fury tilted his head, his hair shifted to reveal his one eye, which glowed orange at the pupils.

"No..." I muttered, choking, and struggling to breathe.

"Why not?"

"Because... if I let you loose...

I won't ever come back."

Chapter 30 (Remnant 9)

I woke up.

"Damn... this is cozy. Which one of y'all brought in a pillow?" I joked. I repositioned myself, then realized I had fallen asleep on Merrow's shoulder. She was giving me a sarcastic smile.

"AAH! The hell is this?!" I yelped, falling backwards.

"What's wrong? Months back you would have paid to have this moment." Merrow laughed.

"Yeah, real funny, mermaid girl. How the hell are we still locked up?"

Merrow glanced at the guards, who paid us no attention.

"Kyrael's on mission right now. I guess we'll just have to wait until she gets back."

I sat in silence, watching as the sun made stupid shadows in our holding cell. At least I had the gift of silence.

"AAH!" Deacon woke up, nearly banging his head on the wall. So much for my silence.

I scowled. "How do you freak out even when falling asleep?!"

Deacon rubbed his head. "I'm sorry... just nightmares."

I sighed. "You know, for someone who is supposed to be the older brother, you sure ain't acting the part."

Deacon looked down.

"Lucius..." Merrow said.

"What? I'm just saying! He's what, the third eldest? I'm like the ninth, shouldn't there even be a level of maturity around here. Like come on."

I turned to Deacon. "How old are you? 9? 10?"

"I'm 25."

"Like... biologically?"

"Chronologically."

Merrow's ears perked up. "I'm... sorry? 25 years?"

That made no sense at all. Arman was only 11. There was no way Deacon was 25. I resolved this the only way how.

I grabbed Deacon and slammed him against the wall. Of course, the guards didn't pay attention.

"Lucius!" Merrow scolded me, but Deacon held up his hand.

I glared Deacon up and down. "What game you playin at? There's no way in hell you're 25. That'll make you older than Arman. And he's 11."

Deacon struggled to breathe. Merrow yanked me off of the Remnant, as Deacon began to explain himself.

"Where I'm from, time flows faster. When I was born, I was told that I ended up in the Chron Formation. Time was accelerated dilated there. A year in there would only be a few weeks out there. I was cared for by the keeper, Khan. But eventually, when I had grown to the age of 15, I left the Formation and travelled to the town of Blackwater, where I ended up looking for work for five years. Ended up working for The Organization. Here and there, I worked with some of their mercenaries, but I wasn't worth much, so I constantly got sacked. At some point, I got picked up by Meena."

Merrow smiled. "And it was love at first sight?"

I cringed.

"Not really..." Deacon smiled nervously.

"She hated me, like a lot. Found me annoying because I was so soft."

"Ay, that's facts. She's a real one." I joked. Merrow elbowed me.

Deacon laughed. "Meena today is completely different from the Meena back then. She was a mercenary, an outlaw. Hated everybody and everything, and had the worst temper imaginable. She would literally pull her gun out if something so much as got on her nerves. I lost count of the times she beat me up, threatened to kill me, or actually almost killed me."

"Reminds me of somebody." Merrow chimed in.

"Real funny." I grumbled.

Deacon continued. "She always beat me up, calling me pathetic and a loser and stuff. But I guess at some point, she started to see how much I cared for her. Because under all that toughness, was someone hiding, and trying to protect herself. I helped her open up. It did take a few years for that to happen, but still."

Deacon smiled at Meena, who had fallen asleep, her arms crossed.

"She changed, and became kinder. She's always looking out for me, hoping I would keep being me. Because in a way, I was kind of like her voice of reason. The crime, the darkness of Blackwater, it really got to her. And I guess I kind of helped her resurface. When we had our first kiss, it was also her first smile. Of course, she was super embarrassed about it and threatened to shoot me in the head if I told anybody."

Merrow put her hand on Deacon's shoulder. "That's so sweet. You two are meant for each other."

Yeah. Real sweet. A real love story. Maybe once the fight was over, I could be his best man in his wedding. Bring in Mogul too, once I beat him senseless.

But it still wasn't an excuse for him to be so damn weak. If we were going to fight Mogul, he needed to bring in his A-game. Mogul was definitely not going to be waiting for this kid to summon a tiny ass spurt of flame. The only real practical use I could see was using him as bait, for me to take down that guy myself.

Chapter 31 (Remnant 9)

Kyrael Prima of the Inquisition is a goof.

Hey, someone had to say it.

"Oh my goodness! By the Makers! Merrow! I'm so sorry, this is like the third time you've been behind bars! I'm sorry. Sorry sorry sorry!" Kyrael ran in, like a mess. She had pointy ears, her hair, blonde, streaked with white. She had a cute face I guess. Sort of looked Scottish. Actually I have no idea. She just looked European. I don't know if that makes sense, and if I offended some of you.

Anyway, I watched as Kyrael ran to our holding cell. One of the guards saluted her.

"Lady Prima of the Inquisition!"

"Officer." Kyrael saluted back, but tripped on his boot.

"Lady Prima!!!" The guard yelped.

"I'm good! As you were."

We were finally free. Merrow and Kyrael were busy catching up, complimenting each other on their looks.

"New armor?"

"Wow, you noticed! Really brings out my eyes, doesn't it?"

I tried to hide the annoyance in my face. But of course, Michael had to ruin it. "Hey ladies, Lucius here has something to ask!"

I glared at Michael, who grinned. I bet he was enjoying this.

"Where's our gear? You lot took Pariah. Gonna need someone with super stren-"

"Oh! You mean the big scary glowing sword? Hold on, I'll get it, one second!"

I raised my eyebrows. "There ain't no way you can carry that sword on your own lady."

The guard instantly ran up to her. "But Lady Prima, you shouldn't stress yourself. Let us take the blade."

Too late. Kyrael returned, holding the sword with both of her hands. She was struggling a lot, but considering it took like fifteen guys plus Michael the Chad to even lift it into the air, it really showed I freaking strong Kyrael was.

"Wow... this thing's heavy! You wield this thing in battle?! You're crazy! Must be the Decen genes!"

I took the sword, and put it back into its strap. The guards all stared at me. Other guards were ordered to return our stuff too.

"How did you know I was Decen's Remnant?" I asked.

Michael smirked. "I don't know. Cuz Merrow told her?"

My ears went pink. "I... uh..."

Kyrael began to squeeze Deacon's face. Meena stepped forward, about to take out her gun from under her arm, but momentarily stopped. "Wow! The resemblance is uncanny! You two are like his kids! That's so cute!"

She went up to me, but I held out my sword. "Stay the hell away from my face."

The guards stepped forward, Kyrael laughed. "And you.... definitely remind me of him! That confidence. Those SPIKES! Wow!"

Meena stepped closer to Deacon, like she was marking her territory. Kyrael apparently noticed.

"Aww, you must be his girlfriend! How adorable."

Meena's face turned red in embarrassment.

"Umm, Kyrie?" Merrow asked.

"Yes?"

"We're still in the slammers. You mind taking us to the Council room?"

"Oh! Yes, of course. Yikes, definitely not bringing in my top game today! Man, it would be weird if we were talking in here!"

Yeah. This was the leader of the Inquisition. How it had become one of the growing military and peacekeeping forces in Corinth was honestly beyond me.

Chapter 32 (Remnant 9)

"So you see, we need your help to train Deacon here to use his powers." Merrow explained.

Kyrael put her hand on her chin. We were in the Council room. Apparently, it's where she and her advisors plan missions and determine which forces to send to which mission. She had three advisors. A stealth corps, a military corps, and a diplomatic corps.

I didn't care about all that stuff though. The chairs were comfy.

I propped my feet on the table, and Merrow shot me a deadly glare. I sheepishly put my feet back on the ground.

"I don't... wanna be rude or anything, Miss Prima, but how can you help me control my powers?" Deacon asked.

Kyrael smiled, and leaned forward, opening her hand. A small fire manifested, then transformed into constructs, just like Merrow's Hydropower constructs.

"Who do you think taught Merrow here how to control her water powers? Hm? Dear old me!" Kyrael started laughing. Like she had said the funniest one liner ever. We all just sat there in silence as Kyrael continued laughing.

"Oh goodness, I'm sorry. Well anyways, I have the ability to manifest fire. Since my dad was a meta human, you know what those are right?"

Deacon nodded like a five year old.

"My father was known as Vectane Prima, the most powerful pyrokinetic in history, being the son of Exodus Prima, the Paladin of The Elements. Which sort of makes us cousins, isn't that awesome?!" Kyrael turned to me.

"Yeah. Fantastic." I grumbled.

Kyrael continued. "But in terms of control it wasn't my dad's side who had the skill. That belonged to I'hael Raena. A dark elf outlaw. She had incredible ice powers. Making me a hybrid of fire and ice!"

Kyrael held out her other hand, which steamed with frost.

Okay, I had to admit that was cool. Wait. She had fire powers. And ice powers. Could that mean...?

"Well, that's besides the point. I can help you master your powers, Mister Chow! And soon, you'll be able to do so much more in the battlefield-"

"Can you free Arman?" I accidentally blurted out.

Michael nearly choked on his drink, probably from a laugh.

Kyrael put her hand on my shoulder.

"Young Remnant, I wish I could free your brother. But the ice being generated from that sword isn't normal ice. It's celestial and Titanic in nature. I can't control or melt it. It needs to be a celestial flame, and unfortunately, neither of my parents' powers are celestial."

My heart nearly dropped a hundred feet to the ground.

"You're telling me that... Deacon can't reverse it?" My hand clenched into a fist. Dammit! After all this... Arman was going to... going to...

"No." Kyrael cut me off.

"He can."

I looked up, in shock.

Kyrael went up to Deacon and held his wrist. Meena became super protective again, but Deacon waved her off.

"It's okay, Meena."

Kyrael inspected his wrist.

"Deacon here has celestial fire. I don't know how, but his flames aren't natural. It sure isn't Darkfire either... but it seems, similar. Almost to another level of celestial flame. If he masters it, he might become one of the strongest fire users in history!"

I sighed, with relief. That was all I needed to do. But I still needed to get stronger. Just because Deacon was a special cookie didn't mean we could slack off. Mogul was still out there. And we needed to get stronger.

"Hey, Kyrael? Got anything we can use to train and get stronger?"

Kyrael raised an eyebrow.

"We have a gym..."

"That's not gonna be enough." I responded.

Suddenly, someone came into the room, he was holding a huge report.

"Lady Prima, we need more resources for construction. We don't have enough people hauling in the raw materials for our construction progress."

Kyrael inspected the paper. "Damn. We seem to be lacking behind. What's the cause? It's not enough workers to transport stuff right?"

"Precisely."

"Maybe we can get some more guys on it."

"We can't house any more cohorts, ma'am."

I suddenly had an idea.

"I can do it."

Everybody stared at me. Michael raised his eyebrows. "You gonna be a construction worker?"

I stood up, and looked at the paper. Hauling and lifting logs, metals, everything. This was perfect for strength training.

"I'll carry them all, it'll be great training for me, and it'll ease out your workers."

Kyrael took the paper.

"You sure? The metals and raw resources in Corinth aren't like conventional wood and metals you're accustomed to out there. This stuff is super dense, and way heavier. It's how we make our fortress so durable to attacks."

I mashed my fists together.

"Yeah. Let's do it."

Chapter 33 (Remnant 3)

I concentrated, and summoned a tiny spark of flame. It immediately began racing up my sleeve.

"Focus... Deacon. The fire is part of you, it's not against you." Kyrael reassured me.

I focused, and the flame stopped climbing.

"Good. Now see if you can redirect it back into your palm."

I closed my eyes, clearing my mind. I imagined the energy radiating out of my palm, then a sphere constraining it.

Easy.

Easy....

"AAAARGH!!!" A yell broke the silence, as I immediately lost focus. The flames raced up my sleeve and set my shirt on fire. Kyrael quickly doused it with a blast of frost.

I marched to the window, and looked out.

Lucius was dragging log after log after log in a massive chain. His face was contorted in pain as he trudged forward. Yelling and grunting, forcing the logs to keep moving with his wire rope harness.

"Yeah... Lucius said he needed harder training. So I gave him a dampening collar made by one of our mages in the Inquisition. He's running at 40% of his usual strength."

"40%... and he's carrying all that..." I muttered.

Kyrael put her hand on my shoulder. "It's okay. His path is to build his strength and conditioning. Your path is to control your powers. You two have different ways in getting stronger. There's nothing wrong with that."

I smiled. "Thanks, Kyrael."

"Call me Kyrie!"

"Uhhh... okay." It felt weird calling her that, considering she was literally the leader of the entire Inquisition. Was I supposed to bow or something? I just didn't know. But she was so friendly with me, probably because I reminded her of Decen, who was a dear friend of hers, just as he was to Merrow.

I spent the next few months training with Kyrael. She was a really good teacher. And soon, I had begun to master my pyrokinesis, to generate fireballs in each hand.

"Look at you, Deacon! Pretty soon, you'll be the one doing all the candle tricks on your dates with Meena!"

I laughed. "If only Meena did 'candlelight dates', or even dates in general."

By the fifth month, I was able to use my fire as propulsion, and began working on increasing the intensity of my flames. It was during this time where I found myself training alongside Lucius.

Whenever I flew into the air through a bunch of ice obstacles Kyrael had made for me, I would see Lucius dragging enormous truckloads of mined ore with just a couple of wire rope straps, which was said to be even heavier than celestial steel.

Whenever I would throw my fireballs to work on its range, I would see Lucius doing pectoral flies with literal chunks of boulders, the boulders going up to the top, where workers would extract them one by one, then whenever the harnesses reached the bottom, the workers would load the chunks inside for Lucius to repeat the movement.

Whenever I would shoot as much fire from my palms as I could to overcome the gravity magic one of the mages would put on me, I would see Lucius doing one arm pull-ups with tonnes upon tonnes of mining ore.

Even after I was done training, I would see Lucius still grunting away. Lifting an obscene amount of weight, overhand presses, bench presses, you name it.

He trained like an animal, and he did it smartly, so he could be given two days of rest in between different exercises.

One day, I walked to the firing range, where Meena was shooting at moving targets with a cigarette in her mouth. I waved my hand, and the flame extinguished.

Meena spun around and aimed one of her revolvers at my head. "The hell?! You want to get yourself killed?!"

Her eyes widened when she suddenly saw me.

"Deacon! Oh god, I'm sorry." She put her revolvers back into her belt.

"I thought you were going to give up on smoking." I noted.

Meena looked away. "I... It's..."

I looked at the firing range, the targets all had a million holes in them, dead set in the center. Her aim was as flawless as ever.

I tried to brighten her up. "Want to go for a walk?"

Meena and I walked along the top level of the castle walls, overlooking the Inquisition Fortress. It was the night sky, and it was beautiful.

"Hey... uh, Deacon?" Meena asked me.

I turned to her. She was fidgeting with the straps on her belt, taking out her revolver and flipping it in her hand.

"If what Kyrael says is true... and you become strong... you're not going to leave, right? As in leave me?"

My eyes widened. "Why would I do something like that?"

Meena put her gun away. "For so long it was always me bailing you out of trouble, saving your life, and protecting you. And now you're starting to become stronger, and at some point I feel like you just won't need me around..."

I walked up to her took her hand.

"Do you remember, what I told you? When you told me to leave, when you said if I couldn't deal with the way you did things, I wasn't worth having around?"

Meena tried to hide her tears by putting on a scowl, like she used to do a long time ago.

"Yeah. Not too proud of that."

"I told you I was going to stay, because of you. Because of the real you. Under all that skill, violence, under all that past. I wanted to stay and see the real you come out. You were so alone, and in the city of Blackwater, it only made it so much worse. But I stayed because I saw light inside one of The Organization's greatest and most brutal mercenaries. I stayed for you, not for your skills and abilities."

Meena managed a laugh. "Even if I can't shoot a gun."

"I won't leave you."

"If I can't walk."

"Nope."

"If I just leave you to do everything for me."

"Okay, now you're pushing it." I joked.

Meena laughed, and grabbed me by my face. I leaned in, for a kiss, until suddenly we were interrupted by Lucius.

"LET'S GOOOOOOO AAAAAAAGHHH!!!!" Meena's face went back to her usual scowl. She peered over the edge. I followed her.

Lucius had lifted an equivalent of four buildings worth of Corinth Concrete on each end of the Corinth Steel bar. It was so heavy, that the bar had started to bend, but Lucius had managed to get it over his head, even with the collar on, capping his strength by 60%.

"Chrissake, he's insane." Meena muttered.

"I know." I responded.

"Deacon?"

I turned around. "Yeah?"

"I'm proud of you. For becoming tough. I respect that. But..."

"But?"

"Just don't change yourself to be someone you're not. I love you for who you are."

I smiled. "Loud and clear."

Chapter 34 (Remnant 9)

I found Michael training in the gym.

"Damn, four plates? Not bad." I walked in on him repping the weight.

Michael racked the barbell, and sat on the bench.

"Yeah, but I heard you were reppin the entire frickin continent the other night."

"With my super strength, yeah."

I looked at the dumbbells. Picked the heaviest one at 150 lbs, and started doing curls for fun.

Michael smirked. "Biceps biceps biceps. Everybody be goin in on the biceps. You know it's not just biceps to get big arms right?"

"Really?"

Michael stood up and straightened his arm. Massive bulges appeared on the side, and a huge lump was at the back of his arm.

"Triceps make up most of your arm. You want big arms? You train both biceps and triceps."

"Huh."

I sat across from him. Big Mike had worked up a big sweat. He took a towel and wiped his face.

"You scared?"

"What you talking about, being scared." I muttered.

Michael laughed. "Of Mogul. My guy, I been hearing you chanting his name like a god damn trance every time you train. It's pretty common to be scared."

"I'm NOT scared of him. I hate him. For everything he did to Arman. I'm gonna make him pay. With his god damn head."

Michael got up, and checked himself under the lighting. He looked like a black superman.

"Well, Imma tell you now. I'm terrified of that crazy ass. Every time I see Merrow thinking about fighting him to protect you guys, I get scared as hell. I don't wanna lose her."

I rubbed my corrupted arm. "Well, Merrow's tough."

Michael looked at me. "You don't get it, do you."

I glared at him. "The hell's that supposed to mean."

Michael held my glare. "What Merrow's goin through right now. She watched her own lil bro get choked to death. She saw everything, all his dreams, taken down. Ya know what kinda damage that does to a person? You were hurt, you can't deny that, when Arman was put into that state. What woulda happened if Mogul actually killed R1?"

I said nothing. Michael continued.

"Now not only that, she has to see you every day. You and your brothers, who look almost exactly like Decen. She watched Arman nearly die the same way. That kinda shit would do things to even the toughest people. Merrow's got a good heart, but she has limits. She's already gone through enough hurt. Now she gotta watch over and find fifteen of Decen's Remnants before Mogul does? She's under a ridiculous amount of stress and pain. I wish I could do something to help her out, but..." Michael looked away.

"Whatever, you probably wouldn't get it."

I looked at my arm again. The day I lost control of my spikes. I remembered hearing Merrow's voice. She was hysterical, panicking. Worrying for my well being. Even after I had told her off, made her cry, called her weak, left her.

Michael was right. I didn't see it until now. How could I have been so blind. Merrow...

"You're right, man." I replied. Michael looked surprised.

"Why you lookin surprised for? I'm not stupid. I know... I just didn't realize it until now. I'm sorry, man. That I been hurting her. She's your girl, and I did these things."

Michael scoffed. "Well, sounds like you still have some sense in you."

I smirked. "Yeah. Guess I do."

Suddenly, the entire roof of the gym began to shake.

"The hell?!" I exclaimed.

Michael quickly ran out the door, and changed into his normal attire. "Earthquake?"

"Ain't no way that was an earthquake!" I held out my arm to summon Pariah. Nothing happened.

"Shit... I forgot Pariah doesn't return to my hand no more." Every since I forced my Spike power (that's what I'm calling it now) into Pariah, it had never been the same. Refused to fly into my hand like before.

"Well, hurry the hell up kid! We ain't got all day!"

"There's no time, let's head to Kyrael."

I opened the door, and was greeted with a snarling monster.

"Holy mother of-"

The monster tried to bite at me, but I summoned several spikes on the knuckles of my left fist, and smashed it into the monster's face, cutting it open and sending it through several buildings. The creature lay there, unconscious.

The spikes retracted into my left hand as we stepped outside.

Several townsfolk were being attacked by the same monsters, but Michael put an end to them with a huge eye beam.

I looked up. A giant floating... thing. Was in the sky.

"What the hell is goin on..." I muttered.

One of the Inquisition guards ran up to me. "Sir, I ask that you come to the evacuation area."

"What's going on!" Michael shouted at the guard.

The guard looked terrified. "We are being invaded, by the Halakites. Alien species. Come, we must hurry. I've been sent to evacuate as many people as we can."

Chapter 35 (Remnant 3)

I dreamt of the past.

"Alright, listen here, you stupid god damn excuse of a man." Meena grabbed me by my collar, aiming her gun at my face.

"You don't GET to spare the package. You don't GET to make demands. I AM your boss. You think this is a place for your stupid morals? If you want to go run to your morals, then go find the local church, and kiss the priest's ass!" Meena growled, throwing me to the ground.

The little kid that she had kidnapped started to tear up, as Meena turned around, glaring at the window of our hideout.

"The buyers are going to be waiting. We don't have time for this shit." She muttered.

I went up to the kid and tried to reassure him.

"It's okay. It's okay. You won't die."

Meena glared at me. I quickly stopped talking.

Suddenly, the windows lit up, from several car lights. I could hear the sounds of a bunch of people leaving, the sounds of guns at their sides.

"Dammit!" Meena growled. "They set us up!"

"Meena Kennedy! Organization's most brutal, finest mercenary! I've been told you possess the military strength of twenty men! Well, I'm here today, with my squad of thirty. Hand over the child, and no one gets hurt!"

Meena drew her two revolvers.

"Your dumbass thinks I can't kill thirty of your goons?" She shouted back.

"No... but not when we have a hostage!"

Meena narrowed her eyes. I peeked from behind my cover. It was an innocent man, gagged, and beaten. I recognized him immediately. Charles. He had helped hide us along with the package when we were on the run from the cops.

"Meena... that's Charles! We need to save-"

Meena suddenly started laughing. Maniacally. "ahaha. HAHAHAHAHA. What the hell. That's rich."

"Me- Meena?" I asked nervously.

Meena looked at me, expressionless. She didn't even look the other way, before putting up her revolver, and shooting Charles straight in the face. I was in utter shock.

"Why... WHY?!" I screamed at her. But Meena glared at the squad of troops.

"He's an obstruction to our mission. I don't give a shit about him. The same way I don't give a shit about this brat. Or those guys. It's all about money. That's the real world. It's about survival, and survival is money."

Meena leapt out of the cover as she began shooting the goons, evading with her incredible agility, dodging bullets and causing mass chaos as she somehow outgunned the thirty men.

I could only watch in horror, along with the kid.

"Hey... Hey Deacon."

My eyes fluttered awake. Meena's face peered over me. It was just a dream, as Meena had woken me up. She ran her hand across my face. It was still dark, and I could barely make out her face.

I was probably talking in my sleep again, rustling and making a ruckus on the bed. It had probably woken Meena up too.

I sat up, next to Meena on the bed. "Sorry, it was just a dream."

"Was it... of me."

"No."

"You're a shit liar. You know that, right?"

I fumbled with my words, as Meena sat up next to me. I put my arm around her as she rested her head on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry I put you through all that." Meena muttered.

"It's okay. That was you in the past. You now is different." I replied.

"I know.. it's just... there's still so many things you don't know about me. I just wish there was a time and place where I can tell you-"

Meena was suddenly interrupted by a rumbling sound. The whole place was shaking.

"The hell is going on?" Meena exclaimed, instinctively reaching for her gun on the nightstand. I got up too, putting on my outdoor attire. Meena slipped on her clothes and kicked the door open, only for a... thing to greet us.

I yelped, before suddenly remembering I had the power to fight it now. Of course, Meena didn't give me a chance, because the moment she saw it, she instantly began shooting it, until it fell at her feet, dead.

"What... what is that thing?!" I asked.

"No idea. But it's dead as hell now. Let's find Kyrael and the others. Maybe they have an explanation. Stay behind me."

I followed Meena from behind, lighting up my right hand with fire to provide cover fire.

Chapter 36 (Remnant 9)

I bashed through a ton more aliens until I reached the castle.

"Who's bright idea was it to build the freaking gym so far away from the castle?!" I shouted at Michael, who had grabbed a piece of pipe and was smacking aliens around, along with his eye beams.

"Shut up and keep fighting!"

A horde of aliens descended from the skies, and landed on the ground before us. There was no time for this.

"Stand back, Big Mike." Michael stood back. My left foot flowed with red energy, as spikes protruded from beneath my jeans. I stomped on the ground, and a wave of spikes came their way, piercing the monsters as they squealed, dissipating into red mist.

I lifted my foot, and the spikes dissipated into red mist as well.

"Alright. Let's get mov-"

I was interrupted by a wall of black. I could feel myself flying through several buildings. I smashed into a wall, and became buried in tons of concrete.

"Grrrrr...." I grumbled, emerging from the mess to see who had walloped me.

Michael ran up to me and helped me get to my feet.

"You just got sent like a damn baseball haha!"

My eyes narrowed on the giant man who was carrying what looked like a huge axe. He looked at me, with the deadest eyes.

"Huh. Still alive? You're a tough one." He muttered. Then his eyes went wide.

"I CAN'T WAIT TO TEAR YOU OPEN AND SEE YOUR INSIDES!!!" His tongue stuck out, as he began laughing like a maniac. The fact that he was surrounded by a ton of burning buildings did not make this look any better.