I'M NOT A PATIENT PERSON. SCREW IT I'M POSTING THE REST OF THE CHAPTERS!

Chapter 11 and the beginning half of chapter 12 aren't all that good in my opinion. I feel like I could've written them better, but oh well. At least the rest of chapter 12, and then chapters 13-14 are pretty good. :D

Destiny Calls

Chapter 12

"Looking back so that the view looking forward is even clearer"

-Day XIX-

Max woke up the next day feeling refreshed and calmer than he was yesterday...no thanks to Alista. Max still didn't understand what the nether her deal was. He yawned and stretched. He felt a few joints loosen up and he sighed contentedly, after this he could return to Eflido with Ross, Red, and Barney. Maybe they would let him stay with them. Maybe when he got his memories back, he could find his family, or his friends, or anyone.

Max picked up his bag and swung it around to his back before leaving the room he was sleeping in to see Red already awake. He was eating a carrot.

"Oh hey Max, glad to see you're up, want anything to eat?"

"Just hand me whatever, I just want to hurry to the gateway. The sooner we get there the sooner I can help Ross and Barney and get rid of this curse."

"That's the spirit!" Red grinned and tossed Max a radish, "Here!"

"Thanks," Max caught it with ease. He sniffed the vegetable and wrinkled his nose, but he took bites from it anyways, no matter how gross it tasted and smelled.

"Ross, Barney! Wakey, wakey!" Red yelled. Barney sat up slowly and looked around, however Ross jumped up and yelled at the sudden noises, "Good, hurry up and eat so we can get to the gateway asap."

"Oks!"

"Ugh, mornings..."

~~~~~

From their little safe house, they determined it would be best to move through the forest and head west until they met the shoreline. From there they could continue on north along the shore to the gateway. This would mean even as they exited the forest they would still be far enough from the village, perhaps no one would see them as suspicious, or even see them at all.

"We won't have to swim right?" Max asked.

"I sure hope not, it'll take forever to dry our clothes," Red said.

"When I looked at the map back in Keuta, I saw their was a river located up north. It perfectly separates us from the gateway, unfortunately we need to cross it. Let's just hope it is shallow enough." Ross pointed out while trying to be optimistic. Instead he got a series of groans and complaints.

"I think I forgot how to swim when I lost my memories, if I even knew in the first place!" Max yelled.

"I'm sure the river is not that bad," Ross waved off Max's remarks as over-exxagerating.

~~~~~

No. The river was that bad. Actually worse than Max imagined...

"Gee thanks Ross, now we have to cross this terrible beast of a river..." Max groaned. The water sped at speeds faster than Max's eyes could see. The water hissed and splashed against the banks and whipped the wind around them. Why did such a river exist...

"It's not my fault. This was on the map, there is no other way to the gateway, unless you have a boat or want to travel around the river by going into Emedo territory."

"Nooo thank you~! I'll take dangerous rapids anytime!" Red slapped his face with both hands and bravely marched to the river. There was a section of stepping stones across the river, but they were wet and slippery.

Max watched as Red took one leap, and balanced perilously on the rocks, before continuing forward in the same manner. He made it across safely and cheered, "Hurry up guys!"

Barney did the stupid thing and ran across the rocks, but....still made it just fine. Ross was more cautious, and he too made it. Now it was only him.

He sighed before attempting to cross the river. He pretended to be confident, but he he didn't like this. He crossed the river with surprisingly little difficulty. They were now on the other side of the river. One step closer to his goal, to his freedom, to his memories.

Max could almost taste it.

"Ok, so...See that forest ahead," Red pointed out, "What little info I did gain from the locals was that the gateway was located in this small patch of forest."

"Oks, so we just gots to goes ins and finds it." Barney said. Red nodded, "Let's goes yous dirts! For Max!"

"Yeah!" Ross ran after Barney into the forest.

"Wait up guys!" Red hollered after them. They all were so excited, for Max, for themselves. Their once in a lifetime journey was reaching a close. Max hurried after his friends, running to catch up to them, he laughed with them freely.

~~~~~

"Max, look!" Red pointed through the trees to a structure made of grey and crumbling stone, "I think we found the ruins!"

Max's eyes lit up, this was it! 19 days, 19 days it took for him to get here! Max felt the marks on his hands tingle a little bit, like they too knew what was going to happen.

He ran. He ran and ran to get closer to those ruins. This had to be the place, the place that riddle had spoke about. Where was it? Where was the portal, where was sh--

Max stopped and stared. There was a woman, pale in skin, but dark in clothes. She wore a black frilly dress, and a black mask rested on her face, only covering her face from the nose up. The woman smiled at Max while sitting on this structure of black stone speckled with purple. The portal..

"Welcome....Max."

Max stood looking up at the woman that he's heard in his dreams and his memories. The woman that had saved him.

He almost smiled, he almost cried the tears that welled up in his eyes, almost collapsed with joy when his eyes lay upon this woman with a mysterious mask, he almost...almost wanted to shout with glee at this woman who had save his life. This woman who'd given him freedom, happiness, and friends. He almost wanted to do all that.

But that fantasy was shattered, shattered into a million tiny, needle-sharp fragments that pierced every inch of his body when he heard those two words...

Two words that destroyed Max.

Two words that were simply, "You've lost."

~~~~~

He didn't understand, what? What had she said. He must've misheard her, he must've. But he was glued to the spot, frozen in place. He didn't move, not because he couldn't, but because he was afraid. He was afraid that moving would destroy his reality. Maybe everything was a lie, a sick dream. Maybe after so long in a dark, blank void, he'd cracked. He created a lie, and none of this existed, but how would he know. How would he know what was real and what was not--

"Hello Max," Max's eyes fell upon a figure hidden by the ruins. A person he hadn't known was there until he spoke. The voice was familiar yet at the same time so unrecognizable. The figure moved away from the ruins. Blond like hair, streaked with black, and a very purple hooded sweater.

"I doubt you remember me, you liar. I doubt any of you remember me. Which is why I'm going to enjoy watching you fall~" The person smiled very sadistically, Max felt a shiver, and suddenly the ground rumbled around him.

Crack.

And crumble.

The ground broke away around Max, his friends yelled and scrambled away from the area. Max was not so lucky. He tried, he failed, and he slipped. Max was holding on for dear life at the edge of this gaping hole that reached far into the ground and disappeared into a dark abyss. Max realized then and there what she had really meant.

When she had said "your life will be taken by my curse," she didn't mean death... And when she had said "and slowly the darkness will reach to entangle your soul," It might've meant the marks on his body, but it could also mean his return to the void.

Max strained, he was gripping on to this fragile ledge for dear life. A hole had opened up and he was determined not to go back.

"P-Please, h-hold on--"

"Just f*cking fall already!" The other man stomped his foot and glared.

"N-No!" Max's grip was loosening, he saw the woman that had saved him. She was looking elsewhere, completely uninterested in what was transpiring. He could not see her eyes behind that mask, but this woman couldn't possibly be the one that had saved him. The one whose voice was gentle and kind.

"Fall d*mmit! F*cking fall already. I've waited so long for this, ever since we left the void. Ever since I returned home only to find no one knew who I was! 10 years is a long time, but you...you had assured me that no one had forgotten. That everyone still knew who I was even after 10 years"

What? Max did not know what he was talking about--Wait! There was something. A time he had the fleeting flashback, something a voice he could faintly hear--

"Max!" Max could not turn to look, but he recognized the voice as Ross'

"W-wait, Ross, stop! It's too dangerous!" Red had called out to him. The man in a purple sweater that taunted him watched in surprise as the shy and quiet narwhal came dashing over. Leaving Red and Barney behind Ross shoved the man away. He yelped, fell and rolled away. This was the only time Max notice the Wither perk up and look over with mild interest.

"R-Ross! Get away!" Max winced as his grip loosened just a little bit more. He was dangling dangerously over the edge, "You'll fall!"

"No! I-I can't do it anymore, Max! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry we lied to you!" Ross screamed at him, he was on his stomach reaching down, hoping and praying his fingers would reach Max. Hoping and praying he could grab Max's hand, hoping and praying he would pull him up.

"W-What?" Max didn't know what Ross was trying to say.

"I'm sorry we lied! We all knew who you were the moment you passed out at Red's front door. And we lied to you, we lied about knowing you. And it's my fault!"

"Wh-what? What're you saying?"

"Don't blame Red and Barney, they lied for me. They lied because I'm the reason you fell! It's my fault, you tripped on me, you fell. I was the closest person to you and I couldn't save you. You fell because of me, and I didn't want you to know. Max, I'm sorry, you're the Max from our childhood!" Max's eyes widened at the news.

He was the Max from the photo? He was the Max from 4 years ago? He was their friend Max, and him taking and using the name Max was no coincidence. And suddenly, he remembered. Suddenly his memories were flooding back. His eyes widened. He remembered, that day, he remembered when he first met Ross. When he first met Red. How Barney came into their lives. He remembered the day they took that photo. He was remembering everything.

"R-Ross... I remem--" Max felt the force of an explosion. His ears were ringing, he felt the ledge he was holding onto lossen and crack. He heard screams, and voices, but nothing prepared him for the smile he saw on the man's face. A white glow shimmered around his hands with black marks inching along his fingers and palms.

But the sadistic look wasn't the only thing that shocked him. It was Ross.

Ross' face was paralyzed in shock as his body ragdolled and smashed against the wall of the hole. A sickening crack, and then he slid down into the hole.

"Ross! No!" Max wasn't thinking. He let go of the ledge just as the ledge broke away, and Max could only hear Red's and Barney's screams, and terrible laughter.

"Ross! Hold on!" Max dove down, down into the darkness, down into the void, the place of his nightmares.

Ross was not responding. He hardly looked like he was struggling or moving. Max's hand reached out to Ross. He felt the fabric of his scarf. He grabbed. It unraveled and Max hissed in frustration and let it go. It fluttered away into the darkness. By now they were falling far enough the surface could no longer be seen and the darkness was soon wrapping around them.

Max tried again, he reached and grasped Ross' sweater. He yanked and Ross slowed in descent, they were both slowing. This feeling was all too familiar to him. They'd entered the void.

"Ross! Ross!" Max screamed and slapped Ross in the face. Ross was not moving. Max tried checking for a pulse and found none. Max was shaking, his heart was pounding. Ross died. It was his fault. Ross was dead because of him--

"R-Ross! Ross!" What was happening. Ross' lifeless body was vanishing, he was breaking apart into dust. Ross's body vanished in his hands and he screamed.

Ross had died trying to save him. Ross had died trying to tell him the truth. And it was all his fault!

He deserved it. He should be here... Here in this dark abyss, here in a never ending void. Here where he would forever be haunted by the image of Ross dying and his dust spreading throughout the void.

At least now he knew what the dust was that floated around him for the past 4 years...

And now to him, all of it was Ross.

Well f*ck. Uh, SURPRISE!

:/

Before you come at me with pitchforks just wait until the book is done. I swear there is more to this story XD