Shadow Hybrid Part 1

         I awoke to the sound of static; my alarm clock had gone off. I rolled over and hit the off button quickly and glanced at the time.
"Six-thirty is too early in the morning to get up," I said to myself.
         The door to my room opened before I could fall back asleep, light flooded the room and my eyes. This sucks.
"Morning Davis, time to get up for school," my mom said cheerfully to me.
"No snow-day?" I asked mournfully.
"Nope, sorry, better luck tomorrow," she said before leaving and shutting the door.
         I reluctantly got up and out of bed, downed a can of soda for its caffeine, and started dressing. After finishing by selecting and putting a shirt on, I gathered my school crap. I was about to leave when I remembered my school ID, I doubled-back and picked it up off my desk. I stared at the name printed on it, Davis Davis. The name Davis wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact my last name was also Davis. What kind of parents give their kid the same name as their last name? It didn't help that my middle name also began with a d, making my initials DDD. Thanks a lot Mom and Dad.
         I made my way downstairs and grabbed my shoes and coat, as I was putting them on I kept telling myself that there are only 3 days left in till winter break. My mother put her shoes and coat on and accompanied me to her car, I got in the passenger seat and waited for her to start it. We drove off into the slush and headed towards my school; I looked at the snow on the ground and cursed it for not doing its job. With only a week in till the 25th I expected to have enjoyed at least one day off.
         We arrived at the parking lot and I checked the time, six-forty-two. I sighed and got out of the car after my mom pulled it up next to the sidewalk, she said good-bye I said nothing. I closed the car door behind me and made my way down the sidewalk towards the entrance closest to my locker. As I was about to open the door I noticed something strange, very strange. Warmth. I felt warmth coming from behind me. Wondering what out here could emit heat I turned around. What I saw couldn't possibly be real. A forest, a forest right where I just was a few seconds ago. I stepped towards it and my feet left the sidewalk and hit dirt, I looked down then turned around and was shocked to see more trees where my school was a second ago! I was in the middle of a forest that couldn't possibly be there.
         After removing my coat and depositing it on the ground (never really liked that coat), I identified the sound of moving water. Figuring it wouldn't be the worst choice, I headed in its direction. Shortly I came across a river; I looked at my reflection distorted on the rushing water's surface. Then I heard the noise of something running, a bunch of somethings. I looked towards where the sound was coming from and soon saw a group of a half-dozen men sprinting in my direction. As they drew closer the one in front noticed me standing here.
"Hey kid! What are you doing just standing there? RUN!" he shouted at me.
"From what!?" I called back to him, he was about to pass me.
"That!" he yelled pointing behind him.
Just then I saw a woman come into view from behind the trees, however she had some distinct features that made me believe she wasn't human. Her skin had a slight tint of red to it I had never seen before, her hair was a red only products could produce, and she had these very pointy ears. Oh yeah, did I mention she was over ninety feet tall and coming right for us!?
I started running in time to be next to the man I was talking to before, I was about to ask him what the hell the thing was that was chasing us when he yelled "Scatter in the forest!" just as we hit the tree line. I followed the guy closest to me into a large thick bush.
"What the hell is that thing?" I asked him.
"Be quiet or it will-" he was cut off as a giant hand reached into the bush and pulled him out kicking and screaming.
         I watched in horror as the thing raised him up to her face, looked at him for a second, and then raised him up above her head. I started to wonder what she was doing right as she let the man fall, and caught him in her mouth! She stood there doing nothing but dance for a few moments and I could see him struggling inside her mouth. She then tilted her head back and swallowed the poor soul! I couldn't believe it, she actually ate him!
         She looked down at her stomach and rubbed it a little while she was dancing, damn does she ever stop dancing? She then looked at the bush again; I ducked farther in, had she seen me?
         As I looked through the somewhat dense foliage, I could see her staring at the bush intently. Hopefully her hesitation meant she hadn't seen me, at least not for sure anyway. Her eyes scanned across my hiding spot several times, I was trying to be as still as possible, but my current situation made that intensely difficult. Her eyes passed over my position again, wait, they've stopped. Oh god she is staring right at me! My mind was racing, dare I move while she's looking in an attempt to become more hidden or should I remain still and hope she can't see me!? Incidentally she had finally stopped dancing; I didn't take that as a good sign. I made my choice and slowly started moving back farther into the bush, a smile formed on her face. Shit.
Assuming that smile meant what I thought it meant, I needed to move, and quick. I threw caution to the wind and headed in a random direction deeper into the trees. Hopefully they would slow her down a bit, although they were quite a ways apart from each other. I glanced behind me just in time to see her start to chase me, in a dancing manner yet again. I looked back in front of me to make sure that I didn't run into anything, and had to quickly dive out of the way of an incoming jeep! Where the hell did that come from? The driver seemed just as confused on the fact as he swerved to avoid me. The thing had stopped moving and was watching the jeep as it just so happened to be headed her way; the driver didn't seem to notice her.
"Look out!" I called to him, hoping he would at least notice her legs in his vehicles path.
"Huh... wha?" he glanced back at me then towards where he was heading, "What the hell is that!?" he screamed before he managed to avoid ramming into her.
         Fortunately for him, he had enough sense not to stop as he sped off continuing in the direction behind the thing. Suddenly it turned and started chasing him, moving more than twice as fast as it was before! Damn, was it teasing us before!? I had no time to think about that, who knows what else was here not to mention the possibility of it coming back. I picked the direction I was heading before, opposite the way it went, and started walking. Well more like slow running, albeit cautiously. It wasn't long before I heard the sound of an engine again, and stomping.
         Without even looking in the direction it was coming from I darted behind a tree. As I pressed my back to the side opposite the noise, I saw the same jeep zoom past the tree, followed closely by the same giant creature. She seemed too interested in the thing to notice me, thank god. He must have turned back at the river, it's a damned miracle he hasn't been caught. I started heading in a direction perpendicular to the one they took and hoped anything else dangerous in the area was being attracted by the noise they were making.
         I came across an area drastically different from what I've seen so far. At first I thought it was an enormous cave, but then I noticed the ‘roof' of the ‘cave' was made up of the tops of trees dense enough to block out sunlight. It was more forest, but incredibly dark. I had enough sense not to wonder in, so I started heading around the area. After a while I got the impression the area was too big for me to simply walk around, I also developed the annoying and uncomfortable feeling of being watched. I stopped at the trunk of a tree and sat down leaning on it to take the time to think. As I pondered how I got here thoughts of home flew into my mind. I couldn't keep myself from crying.
"What's wrong?" a voice asked from the darkness.
"Huh? Who's there!?" I asked startled.
"I asked my question first," it simply replied.
"I want to go home," I figured starting a conversation would be a better idea then running.
"Oh, you're not from here?" it asked.
"No, I'm from Ohio," I responded.
"Well, I don't know where that is, but I know of a way that may get you back there."
"Really?" I had managed to determine, whatever it was, was about 5 feet in front of me. Somewhere in the darkness.
"Yeah, there's an item deep in the maze that can return anyone not from around here back to their home."
"What maze? Where is it?"
"The Tenebra maze, here in the Evernight forest."
"Is it close?" I had gotten up and stepped towards the darkness. I realized my mistake too late.
         I stepped back only to feel my left arm caught by something, as I tried to pull it free I could see what was clinging to it. It looked like the darkness itself had grabbed me, as I pulled it felt like it was pushing into my arm as well as pulling on it. Eventually it seemed to stop and my arm was freed, but I couldn't even feel it. For safety I ran, limp arm dangling, away from Evernight, assuming he wasn't lying about the name. After I made it what I deemed to be a safe distance away, I rested against a tree. I examined my arm, the skin was dark very dark, bastard must have poisoned me. But why did he let go?
         I didn't have much time to think about this as the same damn jeep from before slammed into a nearby tree. The driver cursed loudly and exited the broken vehicle. Of course not too far behind was it again, god damn I can't seem to get away from that thing. Worst of all night was falling and god knows what nocturnal predators lived here. I felt my left shoulder move and looked at my arm; it had somehow dug its fingers into the tree and seemed to be getting darker. My shoulder also started to go numb; I pulled my sleeve up and noticed it was spreading. The man screamed as he was lifted into the air, more than likely to meet the same fate as the previous man to be caught by her. My shoulder was completely black now and it spread to the rest of my body, starting up my neck last. I couldn't feel anything that had darkened, and was losing the feeling of my neck. As I felt the numbness spread to my face, my vision faded.
         Just as I lost the feeling of my whole body my vision refocused, but it was tinted red. I also noticed everything seemed brighter, like I could see better than I could before. However I couldn't move anything, even my eyes. But wait what the hell? My eyes were moving, but I wasn't doing it! I could still hear that guy screaming.
"God that guy's annoying," I heard a voice say, my voice!
         Just what the hell is going on here!? Now I'm walking up to the thing, still can only see and hear. I saw myself kick its foot and call up to it.
"Hey lady! If you're going to make such a ruckus, could you at least go away!?" I yelled.
         The thing looked down at me with an annoyed face. It responded to ‘my' question by kicking me a good 10 yards away. Glad I didn't feel that. It looked satisfied and turned her attention back to the poor man with a smile.
"Well now you've done it," I heard ‘me' say just before I stepped into the shade of a tree, night hadn't completely fallen yet.
         I heard a slight chuckle before I noticed I seemed to be sinking into the ground! When my eyes went under everything went black for a moment, then I ‘resurfaced' on the branch of a tree facing opposite the sun above the creature about 60 yards up. Did ‘I' just travel from one shadow to another!? I'd find this awesome if it wasn't for the threat of death and lack of any control over what I was doing. I staggered a bit on the branch.
"Damn, haven't gotten used to this host yet, I'm tired as hell," I heard a voice inside my head say.
"Wait, who or what the hell are you?" I thought in an attempt to communicate.
"Oh yeah, forgot you could ‘speak' to me. Anyway watch and be quiet."
         ‘I' moved my right hand up so I could see it, rotated it as if to get a good look then straitened my fingers and thumb so that they were all pointing away from my arm. Then something freaky happened, my upper arm morphed into what appeared to be a blade! As soon as it was done ‘I' jumped off the branch and grabbed onto some of the things hair with my left hand and used it to swing around over the arm that was holding the guy. As I passed my right ‘arm' cut the thing causing it to drop the guy, I couldn't see if he landed safely. As I came around its shoulder it was grabbing for me franticly, I landed on its right shoulder and slashed at its left hand as it reached for me.
"Damn it, I'm almost out of stamina," I heard the voice say, "I've got to end this quickly."
         ‘I' thrusted my arm blade... thing into its neck just as it pulled its hand back. It cried out in pain and shook me off its shoulder. I rolled as I landed and looked back up at it, and boy was it pissed. It raised its foot and tried to flatten me. I rolled to the side, damn I wish I was that cool normally, and stabbed its foot. It yelped before finally giving up and running off.
"Heh, that'll teach ya," I heard myself say.
"Hey," the guy from before walked up to me, "thanks for saving my life."
"I only attacked it first because it was a bigger threat," I heard him think.
"No, you're no going to..." I thought.
"Why not?" it responded.
         The man had gone over to his jeep and was inspecting the damage, ‘I' walked slowly towards him.
"No, I won't let you!" My body froze.
"Damn you still have some control; well we'll see how long that lasts."
"I'll ask again who are you?"
"Call me Drake, and damn your body's weak"
         We blacked out.
         Next thing I knew I was lying in a white abyss, the only indication being the pull of gravity. I stood up and looked around, where I was standing there was a symbol, it was about 20 yards in diameter. It seemed to define the area where solid ‘ground' was. Aside from that, there was nothing but white. I tried to think of how I got there, that's when I remembered what happened just before.
"Drake!" I called out into the white, "Is this your doing!?"
"Not exactly," his voice replied before he appeared, "but it is a result."
"What do you mean by that?" I asked.
"Well, I don't make this place, but every host I've had has gotten one as long as I was present, and by the universal reactions from all of them I'd say they didn't have it before. Each had its own color, I've seen some repeat, but you're the first with white. It's quite uncomfortable."
"So, where exactly are we?"
"I can't say for certain, but I suspect it's within your mind, considering we can meet like this.  I do know that what we do to each other here has effects on the outside."
"What do you mean by ‘effects'?"
"Well for instance, I incapacitated one of my previous hosts here and he never woke up again."
"So I'm unconscious," that would make sense. "You used the word ‘host' again; does that mean you're some kind of parasite?"
"I suppose I am, but I don't necessarily harm my host, not directly anyway."
"I can't imagine this has good affects psychologically for the host."
"Most went insane to the point of self harm, others committed suicide; I wonder which you will do."
"Neither, I'll just get rid of you."
"And how do you plan to do that? Others have tried; oh believe me how others have tried. None have succeeded."
"Well, you mentioned how what you did here had effects right?"
"Ah, I see where you're going with this, not many have tried that. It never ended well."
"I suppose none of them could beat you?"
"Nope, I'm just too good at fighting."
"Ah, but from what I've seen your power resides in the dark, and you said this place being white bothered you."
"This is true, but here that's not what matters, here normal abilities don't affect how well you can fight."
"So, are you saying it's all about the strength of the will you possess?"
"You catch on pretty quick; last guy woke up before he understood."
"So it's a personified battle of wills then?"
"Only if you're willing to fight, no pun intended," he held his hand out and an oversized sword appeared in it. "And it has some interesting rules."
"Isn't that a little too big to be practical?" Damn, that's not fair; I don't even know how to do that.
"It's light as a katana to me," he said with a smirk.
         I looked at my hand; I tried imagining a weapon in it. Nothing happened. I looked up; Drake must have guessed what I was trying to do, because he was running at me with that sword raised! Damn I need something now! Wait, wasn't this a battle of wills? I looked at my hand again, I closed my eyes and this time I willed a katana to be there. I felt something in my hand, I opened my eyes and there it was!
"You think that puny little thing will help you!" Drake yelled.
         I held my sword up just as he swung down at me.
         I felt the force of the blow through the katana, which I had to support with my left hand. Drake was baring down on me, trying to force the sword out of the way, that or break it. He pulled his sword back and started to take fast swings at me, I managed to block them but that was all I could do. If I didn't do something soon he would get around my guard.
"Why... doesn't... that... thing... break!?" He said between swings.
"Having... trouble?" I asked between the blows.
         He let up on me for a second, in order to deal a stronger blow by the looks of it. It was my chance, as he swung down I used my sword to push his just enough to miss me.  When his sword hit the ‘ground' he was wide open, I took a swing. Success, my sword hit him in the side and went through. I recovered and turned, although he wasn't bleeding nor did he have a wound, I could tell he was hurt. He clutched his side and looked at me.
"How the... hell?" he asked.
"Guess my will is stronger," I responded.
"Heh," he turned to face me as his sword disappeared, "I guess so, this should be interesting."
         He fell to his knees as darkness surrounded him; he was gone when it dispersed. I looked around expecting this to be some sort of tactic. The area seemed to be getting brighter, no wait, it was getting brighter. It kept getting brighter in till I couldn't keep my eyes open. I opened them when it didn't seem as bright to find myself lying on the ground surrounded by giant trees. I sat up and looked around, it seemed I was awake. The jeep was still smashed into a nearby tree; the sun was high in the sky. I wondered what happened to the driver. I still couldn't feel my left arm, I looked at it. It was back to the way it was before nightfall. I stood up and heard movement behind the jeep; I looked to find its owner fiddling with its totaled engine.
"You honestly think you can fix that?" I asked.
"Ah!" he jumped. "You scared me," he pointed a wrench at me, "don't do that."
"Oh, sorry," I responded.
"So you've finally woken up, was worried you wouldn't. Thanks by the way."
"For what?"
"For saving me from that thing of course!"
"Oh, yeah, don't mention it," I felt it best not to mention it wasn't me.
"So where the hell are we?"
"No idea, but it seems not the safest of places."
"Yeah I see what you mean, what's up with your arm? If you don't mind me asking."
"Oh, that, well I'm not so sure on that one."
"I see, anyway yeah it looks as if there's no way this thing's running again," he threw his wrench at the jeep. "So, what now?"
"Well, I'm Davis," I said extending my hand.
"I'm John," he took my hand and shook it. "Now, where should we be going, because I don't think staying here is a good idea."
"I don't have a specific place in mind, but wherever there's lots of light," my left arm twitched.
"Hey do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"The sound of rushing water, sounds like there's a waterfall nearby. Think we should go there?"
"Now that you mention it yeah I hear it, sure, what's the worst that could be there?"
"Well let's not waste any time then," he stood up and started heading in the sounds direction.
         I followed him as we started our little hike, as we walked the sounds grew louder defiantly a waterfall. After about ten minutes I noticed there wasn't the sound of birds chirping, it was a little unsettling. As we kept walking I heard something new. I grabbed John by the arm.
"Hey, you hear that?" I asked him.
"What?" he asked back.
"That noise, the one that's getting louder."
"Yeah, I do, what is it?"
"Sounds like a large snake slithering."
         As the noise grew louder I grabbed John by his shirt and pulled him with me behind a tree. He yelped and I told him to be quiet. As I peeked around the tree I saw yet another giant creature, this one was also female. She had the upper body of a human female; however below the waist she had the body of a snake. Her skin was purple along with her eyes. I would find her attractive if it wasn't for the whole not human thing. Unfortunately my body disagreed at the sight of her chest. I was most defiantly aroused; ashamed of my self I ignored it. I wondered if she was capable of communicating, as a native friend would be very helpful. She reached for a strange, large fruit and took a bite. Good, that makes it less likely for her to eat other living things. She could be an omnivore though. At any rate it's a good idea to assume she's dangerous.
"You're right on that one Davis, that's a naga there," Drake said to me.
"So we can communicate whenever?" I asked him in my head. "And you can see what I see?"
"Yep, like I said that's a naga, and I have yet to see one that didn't eat humans," he said. "Oh and they can speak English, but they're more interested in a meal than in conversations."
"Lovely," I looked at her again, "and I assume they swallow you whole?"
"Usually, and another fun fact: they can sense prey."
"What!?"
"Relax, there's probably loads of things nearby she's sensing. She can't tell that there are a couple humans near."
"You sure about that?" I thought back as I noticed her glance directly at the tree for a few seconds before looking away.
"Well, I make no promises. Remember, you don't need to be faster than the naga, you just need to be faster than your friend."
"Shut up."
         The naga finished eating the fruit and left its remains on the ground. She smiled and I swear she glanced at the tree again. However she went off in another direction, towards the waterfall. After the coast was clear, John and I moved out to where she was in till just a minute before. I looked at the bite marks on the fruits remains. She could easily fit me in her mouth with a jaw that big! I pulled a piece of the inside off and gave it a taste. It was disgusting, but I was never one for fruits or vegetables.
"What the hell was that thing?" John asked me.
"A naga," I responded.
"How do you know it's called that?" he asked.
"Heard of them in fairy tales," I lied.
"Are they dangerous in those stories?"
"Yes, very. Speaking of which, we should probably forget about the waterfall."
"Why?"
"Didn't you notice? That's where she headed."
"Ah, right."
"I say we go in the opposite direction."
"Agreed."
         With that we started off away from the waterfall, I was in front this time. I opted to stay clear of the larger paths. At first I looked behind me often to make sure John was still with me, but I soon grew tired of that and just kept my head forward. As we kept walking more and more of the scenery looked like it was repeating itself. I dismissed it as an illusion created because of the lack of landmarks. Eventually though it became hard to ignore.
"I know most parts of this area look the same, but this seems a little abnormal," Drake said to me.
"Really? You think something's up?" I asked him.
"I can't seem to hear your buddies foot steps, you might want to check to see if he's there."
"Hey, you're right," I turned around. "He isn't there!"
"Hello there," said a female voice behind me.
"Shit," both me and Drake thought at the same time.
         Before I could even turn around I was lifted into the air by a large hand, odd sensation. She raised me up to her face and turned her hand so that I was facing her. She was beautiful, and her face filled most of my vision. My left arm waved on its own.
"Yo, long time no see Vivian," I felt myself say with a different voice. It seems Drake can speak through me even when not in control.
"Drake?" she asked with a look of surprise.
"The one and only," he responded. Damn that feels weird.
"So you've managed to get yet another host,"
"Nah, I just managed to manifest a body for myself."
"No need to be sarcastic, damn, and I was hungry too."
"What's the problem?"
"Anything you possess tastes horrible, not to mention the fact that you cause cramps."
"Oh yeah, heh."
"I wonder what would happen if I ripped the darkened parts of your host off," she said as she pinched my left arm between her index finger and thumb.
"Uhhh, can't we talk about this!?" I managed to yell.
"You must be the host, no." She began to pull.
"Ah! That hurts, damn you Drake!" I thought.
"Hey, if it wasn't for me she would have already eaten you," he responded.
"Hey let him go!" a voice yelled from below, John's voice.
"Hm?" Vivian stopped pulling and looked down, just in time to have a wrench fly into her eye. "Ow! The hell!?"
         She dropped me as she used both hands to rub her eye, after a hard landing I looked at John. He waved me over and started running, I wasn't far behind him, and adrenaline helped increase the distance between us and her. I was surprised that worked out so well, not that I was complaining.
"Nice shot!" I yelled to John.
"Thanks, it was pure luck!" he responded.
"Well luck or not, you saved my ass!"
"Well we're not out of danger yet!"
         We kept running in till dusk, hoping to put as much distance as possible between us and the waterfall. I was extremely tired. It seemed John was as well; we stopped and rested against a tree.
"That... was... too... close," I said between breaths.
"Tell me about it," he wearily said back.
"Man I hope she didn't follow us," I looked back the way we came.
"Don't jinx us, looks like the suns gonna set soon."
"Yeah," I looked at it, wait, that's not good! "Shit."
"What is it?" he asked me.
"John you need to-" I was cut off as a pair of giant hands picked us both up.
"Why hello again," Vivian said to the both of us. I could see one of her eyes was irritated.
"Hey Vivian," Drake said through me.
"What?" she asked
"Do you see what I see?" he asked back, using my left arm to point at the sunset.
         I watched as Vivian looked over at the sunset, a look of concern appeared on her face.
"Crap, that came too fast," she said
"I think it came just in time," Drake said to her.
         I felt the familiar sensation of numbness spreading, however this time it went much faster. It took over in less than ten seconds! My vision was red again and I became just a spectator once more. Vivian looked back at me in her hand then suddenly dropped me. Still holding John in her left hand she looked at her right, I could see it was bleeding. Drake tried to move but I still was able to prevent him.
"What the hell's your problem? Do you want to die?" he asked me in my head.
"I'll let you go if you guarantee that you'll save John," I responded.
"You serious!?" he looked up; Vivian's hand was coming down in a fist towards us. "Ok, ok, whatever just let me move!"
"That's the spirit," I released my control over my body and he just barely dodged her fist.
         I watched as he stabbed the ‘arm blade' into her wrist and quickly ducked her responding swipe. He backed away into the shadow of a tree, and quickly sank into the ground. He reemerged on a tree limb again, above and behind her. She was looking around franticly.
"One of these days you're going to have to tell me how you do that," I thought to him.
"I'd bet you wouldn't understand," he responded.
         He jumped down and sliced the back of the hand holding John; she released him and rubbed the cut before looking down at us angrily.
"Damn it, fine I won't eat either of you," she looked directly at me/Drake. "Since when did you care enough to save someone?"
"Believe me, it wasn't my idea," Drake said to her.
"Ah, I see the host still has some control, have you gotten weak?" she asked him.
"Shut up!" he yelled at her.
"Whatever," she started slithering off. "These are going to sting for days."
"Whoa, what's up with you Davis?" John asked me.
"I'm not Davis," Drake answered. "Damn it, I'm at my limit again. You need a stronger body," he thought to me just before everything went black again.
         I once again found myself in that white ‘arena', I looked around. It wasn't long before Drake appeared.
"Well here we are again," I said to him.
"Yeah, and it's still too bright," he said sounding annoyed.
"So what's your history with that naga?"
"I've met her a few times in other hosts."
"Indecently I'm curious, what are you like when you're not in a host?"
"I can't explain, I can't feel what I look like and I can't see my reflection in the dark."
"Ok, now explain that shadow trick."
"Like I said, you wouldn't understand, besides I can't describe it in words."
"Fine, I'm done with the questions then."
"Then shall we get to the more interesting part?" The large sword appeared in his hand.
"I guess so," I made mine appear; I was still content with a normal katana.
         We stared at each other for a full ten seconds before simultaneously charging. I tried to be more offensive this time. Our swords impacted several times, I was actually starting to have fun. This continued for a few minutes in till I was able to push his sword to the ground and hold it there with both of my hands on mine. He looked at me, smirked, and took his left hand off of the hilt and extended it to the side. A smaller sword appeared in it.
"What!?" I managed to yell before he swung at me.
         As I leapt back to avoid the blade, Drake threw it at me. I fell over when I tried to dodge it. It missed, but I was wide open. Drake ran at me and swung down, I was able to block it but I wouldn't last long on the ‘ground'. I had to get him to back off long enough for me to stand, but how? Wait, there was something I could do in this position. I lifted both of my legs up and pushed my feet into his stomach. After his sword lifted, I used the momentum from my legs to roll back away from him. Just as I stood up he took another swing at me. I blocked it but the force pushed me back. I staggered, he charged at me. Unable to regain my balance and block at the same time there was nothing I could do. He ran his sword, which was about 2 feet wide, through my gut.
"Heh, looks like I win this time," he said to me.
"What did you say happened to the people you defeated here?" I asked him.
"They never woke again, at least not as themselves. I gain complete control, it's almost like their soul is killed," he said with a smirk.
         Really, the soul is killed eh? Is this it then? Is this where it all ends for me? In this white abyss? Am I meant to die before I even turn eighteen? What was I doing with my life? Has it all been a waste? Watching anime from night to early morning, barely working if at all. I told myself I would start making a life for myself on my eighteenth birthday, with only a month to go its over? My family, my friends, would they even know I was dead? I fell to my side and laid there on the ground. My katana vanished.
"Well now, that settles that. Now it's only a matter of time," he smiled.
"Drake," I weakly said. "Can I ask you a question?"
"If you want to, I don't care."
"Why? Why do you do this to people? What's the point? What do you gain?"
"Why?" he looked away. "I don't really know, I've been doing this for as long as I can remember. But if I had to have an answer, I suppose it's because," he looked back at me and smiled, "its fun."
         That's his answer? It's fun!? What the hell is this guy? Damn, it hurts. Well, what can I expect when a two foot wide sword is stabbed all the way through my body? Drake walked away, leaving the blade inside me. That bastard, he's just waiting for me to die.
         Six-thirty is still too early to get up, I almost forgot my ID. Still no snow day, damn school is too strict on those. I walked to the car, I rode it to school, and the time was six-forty-two.  I walked up to the school and went inside. I entered the combination and opened my looker, something didn't feel right. Did I forget to do an assignment? No, that wasn't it. What was it? Oh well it will come to me later. I got my books and made my way over to my first class, Psychology. We watched a movie about someone who had split personalities. Wait, another personality in one body, that seemed familiar. The bell rang forty-five minutes later; I gathered my things and moved out into the hallway. Something still felt wrong; I dismissed it and went to my next class.
         We finished the day's lesson with twenty minutes to spare, so the teacher had us play hangman, a game where you have to guess the word by guessing letters. A kid I recognized as a friend of one of my friends went up to the board and put four lines up.
"Alright, here's the hint," he said to the class. "It's a mythical creature that is half snake half human."
"Who the hell knows what that's called?" A random kid said.
"I do," I said. "Isn't it called a naga?"
"Yep," he wrote it above the lines. "Darn, I thought I'd have the class stumped on that one," he sat down next to me. "How'd you know the answer?"
"I'm... not sure," how did I know? "Hey, aren't you a friend of Tom's?"
"Yeah, name's John, and you are?"
         John? A face came into my head. Who is that? Wait, John! If Drake takes over he'll kill John! The class around me vanished and was replaced with the white area. I can't let that happen, I can't let Drake kill anyone. I've only known John for a day but I owe him my life. Will I just go without returning the favor?
"No," I said aloud. "No, I'm not letting it end here and now!" I stood up.
"How the," Drake backed away.
"You think I'll die that easily!?" I pulled the sword out, it hurt but at that point it didn't matter. I held it in both my hands.
"What!?" he yelled
         I charged at him.