Then I saw it. The last thing I wished to see before I die. The smile. The most beautiful smile of my very own wife. It was there, like my guardian angel, making sure the last thing I saw was something positive.

Then it stopped. Just like that.

I was kneeling in a crater. Perfectly semi-spherical, like something just ate the ground around me. Everything felt weird. I tried to breathe, mechanically, but it didn’t really work. I was also unable to really feel anything.

Then I also discovered something shocking. I couldn’t see anything, and yet I knew where everything was as if I was using ‘Eyes of the Void’, just on a scale that I never even dreamed would be possible.

I was able to see the general supreme too. He, for some reason, flew away. Much further away. From the distance, he was observing me. Seemingly calm, but I knew better. He was anxious. Uncertain. Analyzing.

As if he just encountered an animal he never saw before, and didn’t know if it was a peaceful creature or a predator that will attempt to kill him.

I was the letter. The ocean of thoughts was screaming in my mind to destroy. To kill. No… Not just kill. It was screaming to make it as painful as possible. Tear him apart piece by piece, while enjoying his pain. Then the screams turned more violent. “Kill! Kill! Kill!” a countless choir was screaming with a cacophony of voices.

It was impossible to ignore them. Not to mention the fact that I was supposed to win with this guy. Win and consume the fruit, so those who fought with the main force of the fifth region could win. So they would have a chance.

I wished to stand in front of him, so I could look him in the eyes, although I couldn’t really see, before ending it all. And I had no doubt I could end it.

Just like that, I was no longer kneeling. I was standing in the air, as if I had solid ground under my feet, looking straight into the face of the general supreme.

He was shocked. His eyes went wide as if he couldn’t understand what just happened.

He, once again, launched this powerful wave of energy, that blasted me away before. Now it just passed by me, surrounding me completely, but nothing else. As if it no longer could touch me.

It made me smile because it was such a pleasant surprise. My smile had to be quite creepy because his eyes went only wider. The calm expression was no longer there, it gave space to genuine fear.

– My turn – I said.

It wasn’t just my voice. It was an ocean of them. Different tones and volumes spoke at once before my hand reached towards him, and suddenly that part of the planet, the one in front of me, but also the space ahead, was no longer.

It just vanished without any sound. Peacefully.

The general supreme didn’t die, though. He was still alive, although pushed very, very far away. Beyond the system, into open space.

I knew where he was exactly, and once again, I wished to stand before him.

Just like that, I did. It was surprising to both of us. I looked at my right hand as if it had all the answers. My skin was no longer there, it was just this darkness. Not absolute darkness. Darkness with just enough color so you could see the swirling blackness inside. The void essence.

My hands were thinner, and the fingers long, as if I became some grotesque demon, sketched with pencil on a white piece of paper.

He attempted to escape, flying away with the speed I could only dream of, and yet there was no escape for him. I just thought of standing in front of him, and there I was, forcing him to stop abruptly, defying the laws of physics.

I think he wished to tell me something, because he suddenly caught his head, screaming. No sound left his mouth, though, because there was no air around us.

He made a mistake, allowing the void to speak to him. The countless thoughts, suffering the never-ending agony were too much, even for him.

And then I reached my hand to catch him, and I did. He tried to wrestle his way from my grasp, but it looked as if a toddler tried to win with a machine. Then I killed him, just like that.

I didn’t really want to, but the thoughts made me demand it. Screaming so loud that I felt like there was no other option. I tore him apart in a burst of sudden rage. For a split second, I felt great, and the thoughts in my head felt great too, but then the hunger returned, and they demanded more.

I stayed focused on the goal, though, and moved back under the dome, to a massive plaza in front of a single, magnificent castle taken straight from a fairytale. It had towers with blue roofs. I didn’t care, tough.

All I cared for was the fruit, so I pushed my hadn’t through the biggest tree so far and reached for it. The energy filled my body.

After consumption, I stepped back, canceling my powers, and once again feeling the pain. The aftermath was horrible. My muscles were spasming like mad. I started bleeding from every hole, while the pressure was shattering my bones. I couldn’t even scream, because there was too much blood in my throat.

Even the internal organs were bursting like balloons.

Thankfully, my self-healing abilities kicked in, so before I died, my body began restoring itself, saving my life in the last moment.

Suddenly I could, not so much hear, but rather detect, clapping. Something, somebody was clapping. I could even point the direction from which it came. I also was able to detect slow footsteps.

My eyes weren’t able to see, but my mind eye was looking, so I used it to focus on the source. Soon I was able to see who it was.

It was me.