1 The Finality

"This dude's an idiot. Get out of your mom's basement, bud." 

Dillon read the words on the screen with a conflicted expression. Another argument with strangers on the internet, a constant with his life at this point. He was right this time, but what did that matter to trolls?

Some part deep inside him agreed with them. He did nothing but sit down inside all day entrenched deep within his very 'useful' hobbies of history, strategy and random facts in between those. Not to mention the crippling anxiety that made it even harder for him to interact with other humans.

Twenty-seven years old and still living with his parents, unemployed.

From a very young age, he had been very interested in those topics, burying his neck deep within them, absorbing all the knowledge he could voraciously. 

This eventually developed into isolation and a complete lack of interest in literally everything else. 

He sighed, then adjusted his glasses and got up from his chair.

"Maybe I should go out to touch grass a little today,"

He headed out of his dark, dimly lit room and into the warmer corridor. There was the faint scent of cooking lingering around the entire apartment. Dinner.

Can't let her see m-

"Hey, Dillon. Could you help me get some eggs while you're outside? We're fresh out of them!" his mom yelled from the kitchen, cutting his thought short.

"How do you always do that?" he turned to her with a deadpan stare.

She was the nicest person Dillon ever knew, but this request sounded like one from the devil himself.

"I'm your mother," Ella grinned, wiping a bead of sweat off her blonde, curl-covered head. "Now get to it quick. The food won't cook itself,"

Dillon groaned, a small headache forming between his temples.

Eggs meant the store. And that meant…

'Lora.'

It wasn't that he hated her. It was the exact opposite. He liked her. Far too much. And he would rather do that from afar instead of messing it up, eventually.

'But I can't tell Mom no either.'

So, he gathered every bit of courage in his body, drew in a large breath into his thin body and patted his chest slightly, then headed out of their tiny apartment.

After a good five-minute stroll, trying to pump himself up, he decided to finally head to the store and then back home as quickly as possible. 

He circled around the next block, and then came upon a small store, quite appropriate for their tiny neighbourhood. It was serene, which was unusual since there were usually a bunch of people coming in and out of it all the time.

Instead of asking why that was, Dillon just thanked the magic man in the sky. Fewer interactions = Good.

The first thing he saw upon entering the store was the counter at the side. Behind it, a beautiful girl sat.

She had long black hair and calm green eyes. Her hair was tied up into a ponytail and carefully taken care of so it wouldn't enter her eyes while she worked.

Dillon felt a bit of blush creep onto his face the longer he stared at her.

"Hey, Dillon!" she waved as soon as she saw him.

The man flinched at the unexpected greeting but quickly returned it with an awkward smile of his own.

"H-hi,"

Upon saying that, he quickly moved over to where the eggs were.

Lora frowned slightly. That wasn't good. Was she mad at him now?

Shopping didn't take long, but his thoughts caused him to linger a bit longer while he selected the eggs. Eventually, he was forced to return to the counter once more, where Lora greeted him with an even wider smile.

"You left quickly just now," she said. "I didn't expect to see you here at this time,"

He grimaced slightly, then answered. "Oh, I'm sorry. My mom was in a hurry to get these eggs. You know how she gets sometimes"

"Pssht, stop it. Ella's a really pleasant person!" Lora rolled her eyes.

"She is, but you haven't seen her when food's involved!"

"I'm sure that isn't true," she giggled.

"It is," he laughed along with her, "I can prove it if you want me to."

Her eyes widened for a second, then returned to normal.

"Oh, really. So you're talking dinner at your place, then,"

Dillon blanked out for a brief second, not realizing when she placed the bag of eggs in his hand.

'Did I just…'

He ran the sentence through his brain multiple times, and yes that was exactly what it was.

And yeah, it was real. Eventually, he gathered the courage within himself and….

"I'd love that, Lora." he nodded, "Make sure you come over in an hour"

"Got it. That's just in time for my shift to end"

Silence passed for several seconds until a small screech escaped Lora's lips. That gave him a measure of confidence, but he still found it difficult to wrap his mind around the thought.

She was a friend. He was able to have casual conversations with her, but that was before he found out he liked her. After that, he wasn't able to. But now he did, and he had just scheduled a date?

Dillon awkwardly said goodbye and left as hastily as he entered. The events that just transpired replayed constantly in his mind.

"Was that really Lora back there? Was that really me?" he whispered under his breath, attracting a few stares.

It took a while, but the reality suck in after a while. He practically skipped home. Maybe he could finally make something of his life now.

The sky appeared brighter, and nature more beautiful.

And all that came to an end with the snap of a finger. Literally.

CRACK~!

The world darkened at that sound, and a large dome engulfed a small portion of the area where Dillon currently was.

Like a scene straight out of a movie, a strange swirl appeared in the air. Space distorted and‌ turned until someone stepped out.

The person limped out, clutching his left side as blood fell. It hardly helped, since a huge portion of that side was ripped out. He wore some sort of mediaeval armour.

It was completely dark red and had beautiful engravings etched all over the surface. The engravings looked smeared and damaged. Still, a faint energy pulsated from them.

"Where did the spell take me?" the invader murmured, sweeping his dark red eyes across the area. "The concentration of Spirit Energy here is so low…"

He paused on Dillon's figure for a second. A large icy wind washed over the man, then disappeared after a second.

The invader's dark hair floated in the air as he spoke. "An inferior human. Not a trace of energy in him. It's even worse than the commoners on Elgross. Interesting."

'What the hell I-'

Before Dillon could even complete the thought, another person stepped in from the swirl.

This next man was in much better condition than the first. He wore a similar set of armour to the first man, but instead, it was much slimmer in size and was a mild light green colour.

Earth's second invader spoke with a sophisticated quality

"Where's the Finality, Runo?" he said to the other man, "You know running won't do you any more good. You don't even have enough Spirit Energy in your reserves to cast another Divine Teleportation?"

Runo; the man in red armour frowned coldly. 

"What makes you think that? Even if that were true, I could still use the energy in the atmosphere to cast a spell. Besides, Velor, you never know. I might have one or more tricks up my sleeve."

Velor scoffed. "The energy on this planet is also far too sparse for a spell of that calibre. You'd kill the entire population if you tried to do it, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to do that."

Runo paused visibly, so his opponent wasn't wrong. But eventually, he just stood to his feet and stared straight at Velor.

"I can't let you have it," he said, pulling a completely white crystal blade out of his body.

A cold laugh escaped Velor's lips. All his sophistication went to the wind.

A brilliant spark of lightning emerged from Velor's hands and a large lance formed in his hands. It was dark green, matching its wielder's armour.

"I wish it didn't have to be this way. You were always the nicest to me," Runo sighed, then raised a hand forward.

A completely black longsword formed in his hand. There was no flashy display of light like with Velor. It just seemed to… be.

"So be it, brother." Velor sighed, "The Temple of Ja'a Vaan will rise again."

First nothing, and then everything was. As both men shot into action, they disappeared into nothingness, and ear-piercing shrieks filled the air.

BOOOM~!

Dillon was sent flying back several metres as that happened. His body slammed into a nearby building from the shockwaves alone, and the eggs in his hand shattered into innumerable pieces.

A bit of his consciousness remained.

'Mom's eggs….' he groaned.

…

And then that bit of consciousness began slipping. His eyelids dropped, but they were still focused on the two red and green lights streaking through the air.

The two didn't once pay any mind towards him or even acknowledge that he existed. They just did whatever they wanted. 

He resented that.

Was this how he would die? That was out of the question now. He would die, without a doubt. Just when life had started looking good, too.

'Lora… Mom... Eggs…'

Gone.

Who did it?

'Runo and Velor.'

Dillon marked their two faces carefully, and then the flame in him was snuffed once and for all.

However...

[Ding!]

A small screen popped up in the empty air.

[Finality has found a new host]

[Finality Detected: Death Reversal!]

[WARNING: The next Death is IRREVERSIBLE!]

[Overcome the Finalities]

Finally, the last screen appeared.

[First Objective: Ruler of Elgross; Planet of the Spirits]