CHAPTER 7

As he stepped out of the portal, Duncan blinked and frowned, it was evening and for some reason, this felt wrong somehow. When he went inside UA he found All Might in the teacher's room in his skinny form while wearing his hero suit and drinking a cup of water.

He noticed Duncan entering the room and nodded at him.

"Young Duncan, you finally came back, did they tried to force you to do something?"

Duncan shook his head and sat down at one of the chairs around the place before replying. "No, not really... but what do you mean by finally came back?"

"Well, it has been like, an entire day since you left? You didn't even get to see the battle training..." All Might took something that looked like a pill and took it as he drank another cup.

"What are you taking?"

"Oh, you mean the pill? It is medicine because of that problem."

Duncan nodded and stood up, he looked around for a moment and after sighing he decided to leave since he wouldn't have to work anyway there was nothing else to do here.

"You're leaving now?"

Duncan nodded but didn't reply, seeing he walking out of the room, All Might stood up and went to him.

"Wait, Duncan!" Seeing that he turned and looked at him, All Might continued. "Why don't we go do something together?"

"What?"

"You know, like friends, let us have some fun."

Duncan looked at the side for a moment with narrowed eyes, what the hell was going on here? But for some reason not even he could understand, he said. "Fine, what do you suggest?"

"Let us go bowling."

"Alright." Duncan nodded and they left together.

But just as they were about to leave, two other teachers appeared out of nowhere with smiles on their faces, it was Midnight and Present Mic.

"Hoho! Did I heard that right!? I head someone's going to have fun! I want to go too!" Present Mic had a smile on his face and was doing some sort of pose.

"Yeah, it does sound interesting... to have fun with three men..." Midnight had a perverted expression on her face and was blushing as she said those words.

"Hahaha!" All Might suddenly become bigger. "So, it will be Duncan's first time going out with us! Let us make sure he can have a fun night today!"

"YES!" Present Mic suddenly shouted full of excitement.

Duncan could only sigh and regret his earlier words...

That night, Duncan for the first time discovered what it was like to go out with people and have a 'normal' day, as many people called it, they went bowling, then they went to a restaurant before separating and each one going to their homes. He couldn't lie and say it wasn't interesting, after all, it felt good to leave for once the usual routine and experience something different.

Or it could have been the age catching up to him... Shooking his head he forgot about all that and went home.

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The next day Duncan was seating down in one of the chairs at the LUNCH RUSH CAFETERIA at UA, he observed the press at the front gate with a frown on his face. Many heroes liked to use them as free propaganda, but he felt that they were more like a plague, especially because he had seen many people writing lies about him just because they didn't like him personally.

Shaking his head he took a sip of the cup of coffee in his hands, and closed his eyes, he went deeper within, memories and pains flushing throughout his body, as he was reminded of every day, every fight, every loss, and every gain, the void to which his soul was bound to; was there locked in time as if waiting for him.

To the left, right, back or front, everything was gray and looked dead, there was no sound other than that of the hollow cold winds. He took a deep breath and walked on top of that giant stone, many others were floating on every side, some near, others far, here a mere thought was enough to make things change as you will, the fire could come to existence, water could make it self present, a person you wished to see could come back to life.

But there was a catch, how can you be sure that whatever exists here is true outside? Well, simple, try to bring it to the real world, whatever comes is real, and what remains is not, and such is life, you could create it as much as you want here, but could never get it outside, some used to think that it is because they were far too weak, but he knew the truth, it was just a trap, a hole meant to make them fall in and lose everything.

He saw how they fell and learned with it, but even though he did so, every time he was brought to this icy dead land, anger would rise from within and take over his body and soul, fortunately, he knew better than to show it on the outside.

"How interesting, I never thought I would be seeing you again, the Emperor of the Dead truly does act like his people, I thought you had finally met your doom in whatever this place is." That demonic and vile voice drifted into Duncan's ear, he turned to the left and saw it, it was a man, but sometimes it was a woman, or a child, or an old man.

This thing would take upon whatever form it wished, it seemed to use it as a form of a joke, or maybe just a way to dive even deeper into the people it infected.

"What do you want." Ducan's cold voice found its way towards him as his appearance shifted from that of a 14-year-old boy to that of a 30 years old man with long black hair tied in a knot on the back of his head. He had bags under his eyes and his beard had taken over most of his face, the only thing you could see in the middle of that sea was his mouth.

"Me? You know I do not want anything, I'm merely a guide after all..." He pointed to the sky which started spinning like a hurricane. "You knew it from the beginning, it was your choice, after all, I told you it wasn't a gift, it was a curse. But you were greedy and still took it."

"I KNOW!" Ducan shouted making him shut his mouth and look at him with those black corrupted eyes.

The man sat down on a chair that appeared out of nowhere.

"Tic, tac..." He said waving his hands in front of him. "Tell me, Duncan, you have God's statement on your hands, and even after a thousand years you still didn't manage to fully control it, so what makes you think that you will do it one day?"

A hole appeared at the void in front of them, allowing Duncan to look at what seemed to be his previous world. There he saw the same dreams he had while he was with the military.

"Past, Present, and Future. Brothers so different and yet so similar, each so far away that you can't even start to look for them. Your egoism sure is the cause of your ruin, even now you still don't use your gift for anything other than personal gain, and look at where it led you! A broken man, considered by many a hero, and yet a hero who never wished to save anyone nor to gain recognition, a person that from the beginning just looked for the knowledge to change a past that you caused."

He smiled and suddenly disappeared. "Do you still believe you can change something?" Duncan heard his voice in his head as if his demons were talking to him. "To fix one mistake, Duncan, won't fix the others, they will hate and condemn you to an eternity of torture even if you bring them back."

"You say whatever you want, my path is my own and I'll do as I wish."

"If you say so, but are you sure you want to mess things up once again? Are you really that cold? Satoshi, Scooter, All Might, the kid, don't you care even a little about them?"

"Why should I? This isn't my world, they aren't my friends, nor does this world affects me in any way. Once the secrets of time and space fully reveal themselves to me, this place will just be but another obstacle that I'll forget with time."

"Then what?" Silence took over the place as Duncan felt his heart getting colder and heavier. "What will you do then? You spent your entire life only destroying other people's lives, and then when you regret it, you keep doing the same again and again just to fix an earlier mistake... Do you still remember? You cold-blooded murdered her, and then you killed her whole family, before doing the same with your own, you felt your humanity was your weakness... Hahaha... and you're right, you struck so much at your core that when hit back you almost was destroyed by your own foolishness!"

"Shut up! What could you know about what it means to be a human! You're merely a hollow entity living in a hollow world!" Duncan shouted enraged, fist clenched with such strength that his nails struck his flesh making blood flow out of it.

"I know everything Duncan, and you know that as well. Your search will continue dragging you down... and then, one day... you will become like me, and I'll finally get to see how your universe becomes like mine HAHAHAHA!"

The thing's laugh echoed through the place louder and louder until Duncan's ears started bleeding and he cried in pain, but just as he thought it would be his ending, he heard his name.

"Duncan?"

Opening his eyes he looked around and noticed he was still at UA, All Might was looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you alright? It seems like you didn't get a good sleep."

Duncan shook his head and sighed. "You could say so..."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get better soon, let's go, the students will be arriving soon, I'll get you the key to open the classroom."

"Thanks."