4 4. Let's begin...

The car came to a halt. James was already waiting for them to arrive. As Nick, Will and Jess dropped out of the car, James grinned with a distinctive childish smile towards Leo. Leo came out of the car and addressed, "splendid Sir James, you beat me again.... as a promise... I'll join your party as a ..." James suddenly stopped him mid sentence and started speaking," come on Leo, drop it..".

Leo changed his face from a calm and serene, to angry and disappointed in a second.

He started blabbering, " come on man, it's not fucking fair... how the hell do you do this... I thought I had you this time... you even had your head up against so many people today that I thought I could beat you..." James halted in between," you know... there were only 125 of them... 108 armed with sticks and others barehanded... one managed to pull out a gun too... well... leaving that... two minutes... it took a lot longer than I anticipated.... but still... I won, didn't I?"

"7 hours till next switch"

James looked at the watch while rubbing his head. "the countdown became faster... did I overdo it?" Will walked up to James, looking confused and a tad bit scared in his mind.

"... hey... James... how did you... do it??? how did you race against car going 300 km/hr... and win???

by foot.... BY FOOT..!!! MY GOD YOU WERE RUNNING AGAINST US AND WON!!!"

James looked Will straight in his eyes, flashed a smile on his lips, sadness in his eyes... and replied, "simple, I'm just not human anymore".

Will looked back at Jess and Nick, who were facing towards James with a grave, sad expression on their faces, as if mourning for the death of a loved one. James's eyes, gave off a cold vibe,

a look you can only find in someone's eyes who have faced death.

James, looking back at Will, replies with a smile, " but don't worry... I'm not the only one like this... there are more people like me... more... humans... for example, I met a guy minutes ago who was running beside me, waved at me for a second, and then ran away faster than I could imagine... I couldn't get a glimpse of him after that, Because I caught up to you guys... but it's fun trying to be better than what you.... " as soon as he finished his sentence, Nick broke in with his hasty words," come on man, don't you wanna give Will a welcome party??? we've been standing here for such a long time... "

"Sorry... my bad..." smiled James. "Let us go inside. we're gonna have a blast together..."

"5 minutes left till next switch"

James read as his watch beeped. The timer was in full countdown mode. Jess, Nick and Will were busy chattering about random stuff with Mila and Ted, friend of James since childhood. Ted worked with James's father as his apprentice, learning about the multi-dimensional project James and his father have been working on together. Mila was more of a sister to James than a friend, with whom she shared all her secrets and gossips.

James glanced at them. Such happiness. Such smiles. He has forgotten how it felt. His heart ached. As he started to get up from his place, his vision turned black. Everything in the room changed once his eyes blinked. The room was filled with a dark ominous smoke, his home has been destroyed. He could see the sky upon his head, with blood red moon shining in the sky, covered up in clouds of ashes and dust. James looked in horror, and as he shifted his gaze from the sky to the ground, he could see.... everyone in the room, Jess, Nick, Will, Ted, Mila, have been lying on the floor. Blood spilling out of each of their corpses. In the midst of the dead bodies on the floor, stood someone... with his back facing to James. He could see wings, as majestic as an Angel's could be, soaked in blood. The creature turned it's head slight to the left. It's eyes met with James's. He felt s dread running up on his spine. The glowing eyes shining with the shade of blood. That smile of the devil, that face...

it was no doubt.

The creature turned around to reveal itself. James stood in his place, with a heavy heart, uneasy to breath, feeling as if he was being choked. The sense of dread covered him like a veil, as he looked into the face if the creature.

It was.... HIM...

James was looking at himself... standing amongst corpse of the ones he held dear. The fists covered in blood, clothes tattered and torn, and slowly, the vicious smile slowly turning into the face of demon.

Slowly, the demon in front of James started waving his wings, and steadily started floating in the air. He spoke to James, with a hoarse, demonic voice,

" this.... is what you.... will do... you will.... lose... everything..... on this path...

YOU...

will... become... me.... we will... be... one..... YOU...ARE...ME..." As soon as he finishes the sentence, James sees everything disappear right in front of his eyes. The broken home, the blood red moon, the corpses, his own demon self, just fade away into nothingness as he sees his friends sitting all together and chatting as they were before.

James looked at his watch.

"5 minutes until next switch"...

Not a second has passed by. His visions were getting denser day by day. What did it mean???

James understood... He did not have much time.

"James, any problems???" asked Will innocently, looking in his eyes.

" I'll leave you guys to have fun... I have to visit the VOID for now... and Will... welcome to the team... thanks for joining me and my friends tonight..." James said with a smile on his face.

"Wait wait wait wait wait.... hold the fuck up... you mean the VOID room is real??? it exists??"

asked Will with his eyes glimmering with enthusiasm.

"Yes... yes it does... and I don't have much time... so.. see you guys tomorrow??? feel free to laze around all you want... Leo will provide you with everything you need while I'm gone... good night everyone... good night.. Jess..."

Jess walks up to James and gives him a hug. "We'll wait for you... be safe...".

James lets a smile flash across his face as he proceeds to enter the VOID.

"SYSTEM BLINK"

WOULD YOU LIKE TO ENTER THE V-O-I-D???

"Yes"

VOICE IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED

"James Arthur Mercer...

Project End_Subject number_X1X"

VOICE IDENTIFICATION CONFIRM

WELCOME JAMES

PLEASE PLACE THE WATCH FOR MINIMAL TIME SCANNING

...

.....

WATCH CODE CONFIRM

WELCOME TO THE V-O-I-D.

James stands near the void as he sees his watch.

"1 minute until switch"

"Guess it's time for some killing again.... thanks for helping me.. JAMES X... it's been a while..."

"Sure man... it's been long enough... as long as you don't hold me back..." spoke a sinister voice in James's ears.

As the door closes behind James, his eyes turn blood shot red and his body starts to get shrouded in a streak of red lightening.

James says to himself,

"LET THE HUNT BEGIN"....

Door closes...