As Time Flies… [Prologue]

I first thought of this as a Star Wars Prequel, being Episodes 1-3 being fairly ironic to me at the time cause I knew this is what I wanted to do, this was who I wanted to be. I wanted to be a Super Hero, thus came Stevie-Man.

I began my journey to creating my fictional character of being myself as a hero at 8 or 9, whenever the Spider-Man came out. Like every kid, I wanted to be Spider-Man so I gave my character his powers, eventually the Stevie-Man Character had powers like Spider-Man, Superman, and had some sort of “Sword”, and just like every ‘cool’ Super Hero needed a sidekick, at the time my friend Joey was beside me the whole time and became my “sidekick”. My group of friends became bigger as the years came and gone, and found myself having 5 friends with the same interest as me, and became “The Five Heroes”.

Then I found Star Wars, throughout watching Star Wars, and the Prequels just coming out, I knew that my sword had to be a Light saber, and eventually had “Force Like” powers. I grew older and became more of a Star Wars fan, and in love with the movies I came up with a new story of how I got my powers and imagined “movies” staring me as Stevie-Man. Although unrealistic as it could be, what special thunder storm would strike a 13 year old boy and give him super powers. The original story kept its place though, I met some stranger at a hospital with similar powers than mine, me inventing my own technology, and defeating the enemy. Character names stayed, story outline stayed, just some locations changed.

When I moved to Georgia in 2006, I was unexpected to learn fast, I was bullied by criminals and had to take a beating a couple of times. At the same time my story of Stevie-Man grew to more enemies, and had to take out my anger and frustration somewhere, from then on the stories continued. Eventually became a legend, a broken up pile of imagination that I thought one day would eventually fade away, but the memories of my childhood haunts me at times, and the only way to take away those memories was to fight it as Stevie-Man.

2: Ch. I - Fade
Ch. I - Fade

The one thing I remember was being with my family, the bolt had struck me on my left shoulder, yet left a faded mark, a scar that met no meaning, but to soon become something greater. I had been dreaming for over 97 days, not a medical induced coma you understand. At first they thought I had died, but the beating of my heart proved otherwise, they told me I gasped for air, which told them everything they knew, I was a miracle. I had not woken up during those 97 days, instead I had opened my eyes about 13 days more, to flame and death. In an instant I was consumed by fear and thought I was in some sort of Hell, I tried to cry for help but I was too weak to talk or move, I had stared at the fire in the hallway that had not moved into my room yet, I can hear the screams and crying of other children and thought this could be the end, to my right was a window, but I was too high to tell where I was, then again couldn’t move. My fingers crawled to the covers and attempted to remove them, but they were too heavy, like bricks buried in cement. It was near impossible for me to move, I couldn’t I tried, it was too late for me.

A shadow had appeared, overtaken my body, I closed my eyes cause I knew that this was death claiming me. I had woken up two hours later, in my own bed resting, I was still weak, my family could be heard behind the wall but the muffling didn’t make any sense. The only thing I could do now is to wait, and waiting was the last thing I wanted to do. I held my breath thinking that at any moment someone, or something could come in at any moment. Was I dead? I couldn’t tell for sure, I can still feel the heat of the flames to my skin, the shadow figure that appeared to pick me up and take me to my doom, but yet I still couldn’t move.

It was a cool evening when the Sun went down, a breeze was felt to my face, and it felt wonderful. My eyes remained closed though, as darkness entered my bedroom, I continued to lie in my bed for something to happen. The voices silenced in the room next to mine, I had wondered if something would happen soon.

The next morning had come and I could barely remember a thing, my dad had left for work while my mom had helped me out of bed. All day I had to stand, and walk, at the end I was too tired to do anything else. I had to go back to school about two weeks later, I was asked by at least 75% of the school about what happened at the hospital, but I had said the exact same thing, “I don’t remember.”

Caleb had been by my side for almost three years, he’s been my body guard keeping bullies away and shared my passion of video games. We weren’t considered “nerds” we just loved playing games. Jeremy on the other hand was a computer tech, although he was 12, he knew everything between a gigabyte and a motherboard. He even took apart his six year old computer, put it back together adding several custom parts of his own, and had the thing working like if he bought it yesterday.

Joey has been my friend ever since I was five, we’ve done everything together and found ourselves with a trio, Kaitlyn. We found Kaitlyn when she was seven and we were six, she was a bit of a nerd herself, but in her own kind of way. Joey and Kaitlyn were stuck together like ketchup and mustard on a cheese burger, being me.

These friends would understand my pain and misery of which I went through ever since the event took place. They’ve held me back through the toughest of times, but still kept me going. I would think that if I hadn’t said what I said, it would have never happened, I’d take another look as if I saw a ghost.

A month had gone by and it was nearing our favorite time of the year, Halloween. As usual the other four would think of what to dress me up in, and drag me along to grab some candy. I didn’t mind them choosing my outfit, then again last year was some stupid devil outfit that was 2 times too short for me to wear, it was like wearing tight jeans, in this case a tight outfit. They had chosen for me to go in a Spider-Man outfit, which was fitting cause of my favorite movie at the time. Joey would be going as Green Goblin, Caleb as Mario, and Kaitlyn as Princess Peach.

On the night, I had figured everything would go fine, I would get a bucket full of candy then go home, eat it all, get sick, and be happy. A random group of bullies had come up to steal our candy, we were outnumbered five to ten, like staring death in the face. They had to have been at least 17-20, bullying 12-13 year olds for a couple bags of candy, Caleb couldn’t move a mussel, he was scared just like the rest of us. They were dressed up in mixtures of Darth Vader, Freddy, Scream, zombies, goblins, demons and ghouls. The leader of the group was dressed up like some sort of Devil and had threatened to beat the living hell out of us if we didn’t give up our candy. A zombie and goblin had come up behind us to surround us, there was no running away, none of us didn’t know what to do, other than to give up our hard earning candy to these losers.

“Give us the candy or die freaks!” yelled the Scream look-a-like.

The Freddy character had what looked like a bloody knife and whispered “I’ll have your blood if we don’t get your candy.” His evil laugh hissed at us.

“No.” I spoke out.

“No?” The Devil responded. “Then DIE!”

The Devil went to push me down, and I held up my hands in front of my face. I had my eyes closed and heard him yelling, and crashing. A car alarm was going off as I opened my eyes. The other bullies became concerned and began to back away, the Scream character came up with Freddy’s knife and I put up my hands again to see him fly back into a different car. The other bullies began to back off, some even ran off, this was our chance to run.

“How did you do that?” Joey questioned as if I did some sort of magic trick, I had no response. We all kept silent about it for a very long time, it felt like forever when time passed, it seemed like a faded memory.

3: Ch. 2 - Lathyro
Ch. 2 - Lathyro

It has been over 11 years after that first moment, I remember it like if it was yesterday. Such a horror that I wanted to forget it for the rest of my life, but everything changed in an instant, I didn’t know how I did what I did to those bullies back then, nor could I explain to anyone how it even happened in the first place, it was like something you would see off of a TV show, or movie. At the time I didn’t have anything else to do, I was a Senior in High School, and near top of the class, not the most popular kid in school you understand, rather someone whom everyone knows and me not knowing half of the school. It was hard going through High School, even with help of my friends I still struggled. Kaitlyn had begun her studies on the science department, and she branched out to become a fairly beautiful woman. Her eyes glittered emerald and twinkled in the night while her specialized glasses made it even better for her, or was it for me. Right beside her had always been Joey, his mature build had taken him taller than Kaitlyn, he stood 2 feet above her while she never felt threatened by taller people Joey would become her protector.

Jeremy and Caleb had been stuck to me if we were glue or nails, we never seem to have any separation. We were never the “trouble making” type, although sometimes we would cause a ruckus, and sometimes an out roar, causing school lunches to be the main event of some school days. We would plan out what we would do that certain day either weeks, sometimes months in advanced, we even rehearsed these events. One of our greatest achievements was the food fight of 2012, it was perfectly planned that no teacher ratted us out, and no authority found who did it. Eventually we were caught by a teacher’s pet, in this case the Principle’s daughter, Lizzy.

Lizzy is THE scariest diva we knew, everyone and I mean EVERYONE hated her. Her so called groups of friends were handpicked by her father to go around the school to brag about how good they looked, and how better they were to everyone else, especially the freshmen kids [this group of people is what everyone considers as “The Popular Kids”]. Not one person can go near them without a security guard telling you to back off from them, it was outrageous. How the hell am I suppose too get to class when this stuck up bitch is in the way of everyone, making them late?

“Find another way around” they say.

“Don’t go near them” they plead.

I’ve almost had enough of them, then again it’s just Senior year, while Lizzy was in her Sophomore, she pretended she was the Queen of the School. Her attitude had taken me to a hole another level of anger issues, and boy did I have them, being around Lizzy never helped, her bitchiness would always bring my blood to a boil, almost to a point where she needed to be slapped. She’s the only girl who didn’t have to dress out during P.E., she never has to do anything, the majority of her grades are A+, she wore too much make-up that even during class she “never had enough” on that would make people sick, the fumes of her make-up made me sick one of those days, and even went up to her father, yet he did nothing. Why? Because her daughter is the only “precious” thing he had left in his miserable family.

I for one did not feel sorry for him, nor did I feel his pain and misery, instead I was told to man up and stop being a “tattle tale”. It was finally one day that my senses kicked in, and I was about to show her, and the whole school that she is not the Queen, and she controls no one. It was a cool November day, right after lunch hour had ended, I had felt something I’ve never felt before. A shiver that began from my spine came up through my brain, causing me to go blank, I saw my opportunity, but was this the future? I recognized the hall and the rooms in it so I had to go there after class, I was dismissed to “go to the restrooms” because I could not hold it any longer. As soon as I thought no one could see me, I rushed down the hall towards the Math Hall, the shiver came back, but I saw more, Room 1023. There was a faceless boy that I could not make out, Lizzy was standing above him like a bully ready to pounce, I could begin to see what would happen if it wasn’t stopped, something had to be done.

Another thought had popped up wondering how I could see that far into the future, I was worried what would happen if it didn’t happen? For the first time in years I became scared and afraid of myself, will my special ability return after being locked inside of me for so long? There was only one way to find out, the bell rung.

Class had ended for that session of the day, it was time to go to Period 5, Caleb and Jeremy did not know that I was not going to show up to the library to meet up with them as usual, and they knew something was wrong. I had saw the boy leave Room 1015, several rooms down, he was walking towards me, I was standing on the opposite wall of Room 1023, no one had ask me who I was, or what I was doing standing there, or why, like if I was being ignored, or hiding in plain sight. Then Lizzy comes around the corner from the other side, yelling at people to move aside.

“Get out of the way scum, or I’ll report you to my father, and you’ll be expelled.” She threatened 2 boys in her proud way. The boy coming on my right had walked to my direction, Lizzy began to walk the same way, but to my left.

“Oh great, is she about to get in front of me and yell at me for no good reason, I swear to God I will slap the living…”

“Excuse me.” My thought had ended as I was interrupted by the boy. “My locker is right there.”

“Oh, excuse me, I’m sorry.” I moved swiftly to the other side of the hallway, the young boy had opened his locker to put away his books from the class before until the locker had shut on him, hurting his hand and dropping the book onto his foot, which moved right next to Lizzy’s foot.

“OW, YOU LITTLE…” Lizzy began. “I’ll have you expelled you stupid twerp, you hear me?!?” This was my moment, I had griped my fist and had a glair that could scare the pants off of my younger siblings.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to drop my book after you slammed my locker shut on me.”

“You opened it right in front of me you dumb twerp!” Lizzy began throwing a fit.

“You could have gone around.”

“Do you know who I am? What do I look like, a loser like you?”

That was the last straw, I had walked angrily over to the boy’s locker, moved the boy to my left.

“And who do you think you are?”

“Shut up.” Silence struck the hallway, there were several gasps.

“Excuse…”

“Shut up, Lizzy.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t speak to peasants.”

I thought I lost my mind, I griped the just top of her shirt so tight, I was about to throw her to the other side of the school.

“You listen to me you stupid bitch, and YOU LISTEN GOOD. I have been through a hell and back, not just to get tortured by a runt like you.” Lizzy began to struggle. “YOU LISTEN. I am fed up with your bullshit, and I’m very sure everyone else in this school is as well. Your father is the only person protecting you, and at this point I’m pretty sure that if your mother was still alive, she would have punished your ass just like you deserve it right now. You will NO LONGER treat anyone at this school like they were made to serve you. In fact, you will serve the rest of us, starting with this kid.” I pointed to the boy, whom was in tears. I looked back to Lizzy. “If you got a problem with anyone else, then that is on you, but if I see you bully one more person in this school, I will do everything in my power to destroy what is left of your father’s name, and I will make sure your punishment is DUE!” Lizzy began to shed her tears. “DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME.”

“YES! YES! PLEASE, DON’T HURT ME!” Lizzy sobbed. The area began to fill with whispers, as I had let Lizzy go, the bell begin to ring its warning.

“Alright everyone, show’s over, get on to class.” Some random teacher broke the silence. As I began my way to the JROTC Room in the Basement, I was stopped by a gripping hug. It was the boy whom I had helped.

“Thank you.” He broke off.

I had been nearing the JROTC Room, but continued to wondered how I even pulled that off, I’m no speaker, nor had I planned to be a leader. I had paused a couple of times to see flashes of light, and images of my past. The shadow that overcame me at the hospital, which I did not know who it was at the time. The bell had rung, and I got inside right on time. Caleb was waiting inside, right beside the door.

“And where have you been.” He began, but before I could speak. “No, don’t say anything, we all know what happened between you and Lizzy.”

“Wait how?”

“Dude, the whole school stopped to see you and Lizzy, about 10 or so people recorded it!” I was a bit stunned.

“I had no idea, I only just saw her, and no one else.”

Caleb instantly knew. “It’s those visions you keep having, is it?”

“Yes, I had paused a couple times in the hall, and they’re getting stronger, it’s like I saw the future before I confronted Lizzy, it’s like I knew what would happen if I had not done what I did.”

“It’s pretty stupid I’d say.” Colonel Vinderguard began. “But what you did was the right thing. No one has stood up to Lizzy like the way you did, you even scared the living hell out of her.”

“I didn’t mean to though, I just wanted her to stop. I guess the anger that has been built up in me finally released.” I answered.

“Tell me Stephen, how did those images look like?” The COL asked.

“Almost exactly as I saw it when I was eight, it was a shadow that I saw and picked me up while the hospital was on fire. It only lasted like several seconds, but it felt like that I was there again.”

The memories of my past continued to haunt me, even during class periods, I had no control over these visions as I thought they were. I had saw the future, the past, and living the present, it was one of the hardest things that I had to deal with in my life, I didn’t know how I was going to continue.

“Have you concentrated on it?” COL asked.

“No, I haven’t thought about it, but what does that have to do with anything, it’s just a vision from my past?”

Caleb answered. “When you have a dream at night, your mind tends to go off to different places, I’ve seen many situations before. If you concentrate hard enough while you’re sleeping, you can dream whatever you want, when you want, it’s hard to do and very hard to master, I believe if you do the exact same thing while you’re having your vision, you can see what is going on much clearer, and much faster. At the same time, you can see an almost real time event happen in the matter of a micromillasecond.”

“Is that even a word?” I asked.

“Does it matter? It’s a very small number, but it is possible. Believe me, I’ve had dreams that I thought lasted 20 years and it’s only been 2 minutes.”

“You’re making that up.” I joked.

“So what, it’s still possible.” He explained.

“He’s right though.” Jeremy and Joey came in, Joey spoke up. “Even through a dream, you can see possible future events happen, with your status I wouldn’t see why not.”

“Ya, but I’m just a guy who can see three minutes into the future, not three years.”

There was a bit of silence.

“I’ll give it a try.”

The JROTC Room was a bit of a safe haven, though I was forced to go in there after Lunch Hours due to my schedule, I was able to do what I wanted, as long as I stayed in the JROTC Room during class, or went home afterwards.

Joey had come around with some wires to monitor my brain activity, and my heart rate.

“Let’s begin, shall we?” Joey began, with his notepad.

I closed my eyes, and waited for something to happen. Waiting, something I’ve always despised doing yet it was my only choice at the time, I could feel the heat from the fire come to me and I saw it. The burning hospital from when I was eight, unable to move, except this time, I can move. This vision was something unfamiliar, I could see before the flame began. Weird to think about, I dug deeper to find out what had caused it, but there it was, the shadow that haunted me. I couldn’t make out a face immediately but I couldn’t stop there, the dream felt like a reality when a hooded creature and the shadow began to fight.

The fight had begun once these beams of light had shot out as like swords of flame, the color had been the same, a golden fire as it seemed. The picture became clearer, the shadowed figure had removed his cloak and robe, he stood 7 feet tall and looked like the devil himself. A pair of horns had sat on top of his head firmly sat, people noticed him screamed and ran away yelling out, “It’s the Devil!” The hooded creature had finally revealed himself, he was a man of honor, his long dirty blond hair could tell stories of his past, and of how long he had lived. A curse that had been living inside of him, the same curse that lives inside of me. The man had stepped in and attacked the Devil-like creature, this fight was no other fight though, the swords they used had clashed and flashed with every touch they made. The front door had been crushed by the Devil creature as the man would push on the attack, it’s if they knew every single move from each other. From hand to hand every so often, back to swords clashing, the beams of light had struck the walls so much that it burst into flame. The Devil creature had made it to the third floor of the building with the man right behind him continuing his attack, right outside my room. The Devil creature had pushed the man at least 30 feet in the air, out of the hospital, this was his moment. The creature came into my room, preparing to take me, the shadow that I remember had come to kill me. As I passed out, the man had crashed through the window and spearing the Devil creature. The Devil creature had made one more kick to the man, and fled the scene. The man had made sure if the Devil creature would return or not, but he would not dare, the man had picked me up and returned me home.

I opened my eyes in fear.

“His heart is beating fast, the electro waves are off the charts!” Kaitlyn panicked.

“Stephen, what did you see?” COL began. There was no words to even begin to explain what I saw, did I see my fate, or was it something else.

“Give him time to recover.” Joey rushed to take the cords off of me.

“I saw who saved me from the hospital.” I started. My body began aching, I wasn’t supposed to be this long away with this vision, but I had to know.

“Well, we can confirm that his brain waves are back to normal, and his heart will calm down in a minute or two.” Kaitlyn smiled to me.

“Well, you’re fine now.” Caleb mentioned.

 

Time had moved on, and we had to get home. Kaitlyn would always ride home with Joey in his 2003 Charger, the dented red on black paint had scared the kids off every time he had started it up. Caleb and Jeremy would stick to the buses, for some reason they enjoyed riding them.

There was nothing more that I wanted than my dad’s old truck, this truck has been my desire ever sense I had laid eyes on it. The 2008 Silverado was the best thing ever given to me by far, I loved it like if it was my own child, the black shine had more stories to tell than ever imagined, the many road trips we had to take in this truck now belonged to me. I of course didn’t mind that I had to pay the rest of the truck off from the dealership several years ago, I had a good working job with Game Stop, sitting next to the Manager of the store felt more of a past time, I enjoyed it very well. The journey home though did not happen yet, it was time to take a trip, given the surrounding areas I thought it would be nice to travel to the next city over.

Georgia was great for its small cities, great lakes, and the people who lived there. My parents had moved from county to county for almost 3 years until my parents had finally found the place to stay, and now they’re thinking about moving again, the house that we stayed was enough for the family of 4, even though my sister would decide to sneak into my room several nights. Brittany had been the reason why I’m always happy, her smile had always lighten my mood whenever I was sad, angry, or just didn’t feel like doing anything, Brittany was always there. This little eight year old though was a smart little girl, she was always curious to whatever I would be doing, either video games, or working with my friends she was always near the door. Brittany is my best friend and I loved her as one, what would any brother do for her little sister?

Whenever she would sneak into my room at nights, I would always wonder why. Was it because of the lightning that struck in the night that had scared her? Or was it for comfort, whatever it was she loved sleeping with me, and I didn’t mind it one bit. Usually the little one would sleep with the parents, but I was her protector, anyone who would put harm to her would have likely gotten the living shit beat out of by me.

Brittany had called me while I was in my truck, usually I don’t answer my phone while I was driving, but sense I was stopped at a red light, why not?

“Yes Brittany?”

“When are you coming home?”

“I’ll be home in a bit, where’s mom?”

“She’s busy cooking supper. I think we’re having steak!”

“Oh good! Well, tell dad I’ll have my usual.” Medium with a bit of pink in the middle, love it. The juicy tenderness of when it comes straight off the charcoal grill, so good.

“Ok.”

“I got to go, traffic is moving, love you!”

“Bye Stephen, be home soon!”

I hung up the phone and had sat it beside me. I had turned off the road to scatter to the destination I was heading towards.

The city of Hiram was always a great place to be, even the old town of Dallas close by was very beautiful to drive threw. North was Cartersville, a very beautiful city, the old downtown was always my favorite part to drive down, seeing all the old buildings for me felt like I was living in that era, now just remove the cars and that’s exactly what it would be like. The Game Stop I had been working at was right in front of a Target, and near a Buffalo Wild Wings, you can smell the mild BBQ as you stepped outside during Sunday Night Football. Even that smell would have made your nose tingle with excitement and your stomach wanting more.

I had turned into the driveway to the Game Stop, right then my phone had decided to fall between my seat, and the arm rest.

“Ugg, great.”

The anger of my phone falling to my seat began to grew, a couple of seconds after reaching the stop sign, I had notice something floating to my right eye, I had looked down to see what happened, my instant thought before was that I needed to get my phone out of there.

Right before my eyes was my phone floating in front of me, I had grabbed it before anything else happened, and sat it in the cup holder. It felt like two minutes had gone by, what woke me up were a couple of impatient drivers honking behind me. I turned into the parking lot of the strip mall for the Game Stop I had been working for, gone inside after locking my doors.

“Hey, look who it is, Mr. Day Off.”

“Hey Thomas, how’s things going.”

Thomas is a good person, he started out weak, and I made him strong. He’s a great friend, I met him when he got his first day on the job, I taught him everything he needed to know about gaming, and how serious it is to me. At first his job was to restock the games, he didn’t mind it, but he’d always like to do something else every now and then. About a month in, I showed him around the register and the websites I go to for gaming news and information.

The information I come across was very much use for the store that I got promoted to assistant General Manager within months after Thomas was hired. For a while, there used to be an issue with pay and employees, so the majority of our pays were cut due to that, some even fired. Thomas escaped the layoff due to his knowledge of gaming, most of the days it was just me and Thomas running the store, keeping everything in check. Every now and then someone would come in and restock everything, not that I bothered talking to him, he just had some sort of attitude that I never really liked so I just let him be. As long as he didn’t bother me, I wouldn’t bother him.

“How’s the store while I was in class?” I ask every time I come in on Fridays.

“Just how you left it.” He’d always answer.

“Anything new?”

“Nothing from the sites.”

“Anthony restock yet?”

“No, he comes in tomorrow.”

“Right. Anything else?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Alright, then I’m off.”

“Thanks for stopping by!”

Typical Friday stuff.

On the way home, I had a strange feeling running through my spine, a similar feeling I felt earlier today before the event with Lizzy. I had a pausing moment, but I could see my surroundings, it felt like I was about to…

Then it hit…

A T-Bone from a huge truck that had no intention to stop, or what felt like a large wave of pain. I felt in a slow motion as a large creature like person had punched his way through my truck, knocking me off the road, the slowness continued to my left as a figure had ripped open my door, sliced through my seatbelt, and grabbed me to pull me out of the sliding truck. Glass had an almost still effect, the windshield got a line that went straight through the middle then shattered after I excited the truck. The right side windows came out as whole, then broken up into pieces while flying to the left, and back to the right.

The man whom pulled me out was the man whom I couldn’t picture out completely, the blurry of the Sun had blocked my view for a moment, and then it became clear. This was the man who first saved me from the Hospital, the creature was the same Devil-like creature that fought him and almost killed me. The man had carried me out and away from the wreckage before I could be smashed from the damage, he carried me aside, and placed me on the side of the road. The truck had flown from the punch of the creature off the side of the road into the trees, blowing up moments later.

“TRAITOR!” Screamed the creature. “Let me kill the fool with dignity!”

“There is no dignity, the ‘Prophecy’ will be true.” The man argued.

“There is NO “Prophecy”! There is DEATH!” The creature hissed.

“Run off Devil before you cause another scene.” The man threatened.

“You dare threaten me traitor? I’ll have your head!” The Devil hissed then flew away after a powerful wave of wind as he jumped into the air and flew off.

“You’re not hurt are you?” He then asked me.

“I’m fine, but who are you?” I finally asked.

“It’s been awhile Stephen, and it’s finally time.”

“Time for what? What’s going on, explain yourself!”

“I will, but first you need to come with me.”

“I want to know who you are! Tell me who you are, and what you want with me, and what that, that, thing wants with me.”

“That thing you’re referring to is one of the most evil creatures on the face of this Earth, some say he’s worse than the Devil himself. He calls himself Dr. Devil.”

I nodded in agreement, still concerned about this man.

“My name, is Lathyro.”