The sky wasn't black. Aditya's void had made its own world. Flat land stretched as far as Kaelen could see, with a river cutting through it and mountains surrounding it.
Rowan had weapons with him. Knives, guns, mystical weapons—everything, all tucked inside his jacket like he always did.
They had gone through something similar.
"Were the two of you doing this too?" Kaelen asked.
Rowan unzipped his jacket and pulled out a flag—Kaelen's flag.
"You can't create a country without paperwork."
"What paperwork?"
"Nothing you need to worry about. You have your managers for it," Aditya said.
Then his void came down.
It slammed into the ground and split open, revealing the same grasslands where gods were wearing down the barrier.
The zombie army surged toward it.
Aditya left without Rowan this time.
Kaelen let the barriers fall.
Ten gods poured through the broken barrier. Kaelen flinched.
His army didn't.
The gods army of mounted angels crashed into the never-dying skeletons. The angels swept through the skeletons at first. But fear ran through them once they saw the zombies wake up in a gruesome way. The skeletons devoured the angels. More death. More fear.
Aditya was winning, but it didn't feel like it. Gods flew through the sky in their supreme being forms. Kaelen didn't like it.
An octagon carried the entire land. Gods stood there in their human forms, their power turned into physical strength.
A horde of curses came through the broken barrier. Wherever they stepped, Kaelen lost control over that land. They were small but many, taking over the barrier areas to prevent Kaelen from sending them all back.
Between the soldiers, a god stared at Kaelen. He was within the chain's range, but the army didn't allow him to use it. Kaelen chased him.
The god ran until he found himself cornered. The god turned back.
Kaelen settled into his southpaw stance. Snap. Leg kick. Followed by a cross with his entire body behind it.
The god rolled under the cross. Kaelen was open.
The god drove Kaelen to the ground.
Kaelen's back lay flat against the ground as the god hammered elbows down onto his guard. One after another.
Kaelen turned onto his stomach before the god broke his hands. The god sat on his back.
Kaelen's leg flailed—
BHam.
Back-of-the-head elbows struck Kaelen.
A loud, low-pitched whistle bled into everyone's ears.
Aditya stood in front of the god.
"You have been disqualified for delivering illegal elbows to the back of the head," he said, waving a hand. "Bye, bye." But it came at a cost, his void each time Aditya helped he took over some of Kaelen's void.
The god vanished.
Kaelen stood up. "Thnx."
Another god charged at him. A flying oblique kick snapped toward Kaelen.
Kaelen crossed his legs and moved to his left.
A second god came at him from his left with an overhand hook.
Kaelen could see another one charging toward him.
He crossed his legs and moved to the right.
His ears rang, and everything went black.
When he woke up, he was cornered by every god, his army struggling to survive on its own. A god was driving fists into his face.
The loud whistle came.
"You have been disqualified for striking your opponent after they were unconscious," Aditya said.
Their army vanished in an instant.
Kaelen looked at the barrier.
Not vanished—stalled. For a short time.
Kaelen looked at his hands, cursed. There was nothing on them, but he could tell he was cursed. He looked around. His army was no different.
As Kaelen stood up, still dazed, he shouted, "Build your own nation."
He covered his mouth immediately.
Why did he say that?
He had just recovered.
The curses must be powerful enough to control him in a weak state, he thought.
The next moment, his army had already built a house. There were many of them, but they were so skilled at it. Kaelen had never thought they could do anything other than fight.
Kaelen walked around thinking of better ways to defeat them. He stalled them as planned, but using Aditya again would cost him too much. And on top of that, he had curses controlling him now.
The corners of his vision were black. Kaelen rubbed them. Nothing changed. He shrugged it off, saying, "Just a side effect of getting your lights out too much."
His army was done making a few streets and a hundred houses in ten minutes. The city resembled its builders. It reeked, and sludge was all over it. But it had the strongest foundation and beautiful buildings beneath. Maybe it resembled Kaelen.
In the next hour Kaelen faced more signals. His hands moved on their own. His legs extended more than needed.
He flagged them as mild problems again.
The black corners of his vision increased in size, almost twice as big as before.
"Everyone stand in formation.", "Everyone spar with each other. ", "Rowan, can you find Aditya?". All of these things were said by him, yet he never did.
During sparring with his general. He blocked randomly, attacks went in wrong direction. Footwork fell apart and he kept slipping. The vision was half black.
After sparring he was going to Rowan. He sat down, unintentionally.
His conscience and body had been taken over. He was moving inside his inside his own body, away from his vision. Slowly drowning in himself. Losing his intelligence.
Realizing this Kaelen was sent in an all black state. His vision was gone.
"No," he said to himself.
The black around him. A few steps ahead.
The curses are here.
His vision came back.
Third person as if he was playing a game.
His army was done with a city. And he sat on a throne, around it they were making a castle. Rowan looked at him from the pillars.
A thought took over his mind.
The curses had eaten him.
No. Not like this. There had to be a way. He couldn't let himself disappear..
What went wrong?
He knew what he had to do. He couldn't spare time to worry about it.
"No."
He went back to it.
What am I? How can it eat me?
Am I the body, the conscience or the bearer of my void. But if that was true. This is no void. I shouldn't be living. BUt....
Kaelen grabbed his head and sat down.
Zombie like screeches came out of his mouth. He was drooling all over his face. He didn't realize till his voice cracked enough for him to stop.
The void should still belong to me. It can eat the embodiment of my ideas, but I still live.
But.. how wasn't the question worth asking.
Light flashed through his eyes. His body felt like wind. The curses looked clearer, fear flowing out of them. Places inside his void he had never seen before. The accumulation of every void, earth. Everything was in front of him.
Everything was hurting, an irritation ran through his body.
If he believed that he could do it. Then how? He had never been devoured by something before. Something answered to him, or he did himself. "I will eat what ate me."