CHAPTER 7

"So how much will it be ?" The man behind the counter replied ,"Exactly twenty bucks." "Here and thank you." Andrew looked at the man infront of him and recognized him as the drunk man when he was waiting for the bus but he wasn't going to raise this issue. With that they left the pawn shop and started going back home but Ashley's curiosity couldn't handle it ," What did you buy ?" There weren't a lot of people around them compared to earlier. He sug his hand in his pockets and fished out a bracelet with his name on it and gave it to Ashley." This is what you bought Andy, a bracelet." Andrew knew that Ashley always liked getting on his nerves so let it be cause he wasn't in the mood to start bickering with her." Yeah but if you don't like it I can always give it to my mom. She'd appreciate it unlike you."

With a worried expression ,"Okay,fine I think it's great Andy. Please don't take it away from me." With a triumphant smile on his face he too took out a bracelet and with Ashley's name on it and wore it before they arrived back at their home. After closing the front door, Andrew pins Ashley on the wall ,"Hey,what are you doing?" Ashley asks but she gets a kiss in response. They go upstairs in Andrew's room and let's say it got zesty for sometime. The both of them are both  on the bed stripped of their clothing enjoying each other's company. "So much for being a model Andy." Ashley teased but Andy let it slide,"I mean if I'm gonna be dead in the next couple of days I might as well spend it with someone I love right. Not the fact that I can spend it with anybody else." Andrew poking Ashley's nose while pinching her cute little cheeks which turned red from embarrassment. They knew even though that they wanted to stay like this their mother would arrive in a couple of hours and would definitely not approve this so they cleaned up wasting the rest of the day doing nothing in particular but fate had other plans. Andrew enjoying watching TV with Ashley before his mother got back from work started to see his world slowly fading into darkness."I guess it's time huh." He looked at Ashley on his lap and gave her a farewell kiss ,"Goodbye Ashley. I wish I could spend more time with you but it seems there is no time for that." Ashley looked over at Andrew and saw his face pale on the verge of death and started to tear up ,"No come on. You have to stay with me. Who am I suppose to tease when you are dead dummy so wake up right now." Andrew mustering his strength to mutter his last breathe  caressing her face,"Ashley... I..love...you"

And with that he drew in his last breathe before laying there still on the couch with a smile on his face. Ashley burst into tears until Lucy showed up and saw the sight before her too joining Ashley in her crying and mourning. They took him to the hospital where it was confirmed that he truly had perished. "It seemed that he partook in a strenuous activity. Though I had warned him not to engage in any activity that would take a heavy toll on his body." The doctor responded noticing the strain in Andrew's lungs. Ashley knew what that was but she didn't have any time to contemplate much on it and thought,'You knew that it could end you but you still did it. You dummy.' They arranged his funeral as expected with a lot of grief in the air majorly emanating from Lucy and Ashley inwardly. Even after his death the mood was still down but in an attempt to cheer Ashley up,Lucy moved to Tom's place since she was currently her guardian and mother and got the inheritance until Ashley was old enough to take over but she wasn't concerned with this at all. Ashley's mood didn't rise for a while until something unexpected happened to their world in the form of a blue crack running across the sky whose ends or source weren't had no explanation.

Andrew on the other hand was suspended in pitch black darkness. He tried to look around but it proved too difficult to see anything so he resigned in any attempts of moving as it seemed he was stuck in place. 'Well this certainly isn't heaven or hell. Where am I ?' As if on cue to answer his question an entity appeared out of nowhere and looked at Andrew with an amused expression. It was colossal compared to Andrew. It had a burning halo surrounding it with wings on it's back surprisingly with one of them being black and the other white. But what made it so perculiar was that instead of it having any form of otherworldly or dazzling aura engulfing it, it seemed perfectly humane from the outside." We are on the ninety ninth dimensional plane." "What?" Andrew now had a lot more questions. The being explained, "There are exactly one hundred dimensional planes. And on every plane it has a close to infinite number of independent worlds. But the more you advance up the planes the less the worlds are. The dimensional plane with the most worlds are the second and the third. But from the tenth there are only one world per dimension.You came from the third dimensional plane and I brought you here." Andrew was stupefied with what he was hearing. He then asked ,"Is there a way for me to go back to my world ?"

"Sure. I can take you back after you do one little task for me. A perfect exchange don't you think."  Andrew knew that nothing came for free without a price  but if he had a chance of going back he certainly wouldn't miss it. "Fine, what do you want ?" The being scoffed ,"There is nothing you can give me as everything is mine. I can have every single creature to exist on their knees and call me Omniphinx." Andrew was a little baffled by what he was hearing then he recalled something ,"Didn't you say that there were a hundred dimensional planes and this is the ninety ninth. So who is on the hundred?" Omniphinx replied," You'll know that in due time." But now there is something that you have to do for me and you'll naturally be free to go back to your world." Andrew was wondering on what this being infront of him would ask from him considering the disparity of their dimensional planes and if what he said was true then he truly have anything to give him. Omniphinx relayed his information to Andrew through telepathy and he was left shocked at what he was tasked to do. "You will naturally receive support from me during this so don't worry and as an added bonus, I'll give you five opportunities for you to pick. Four from you and one from me."

Andrew still couldn't process what was going on but when he heard that he would be presented with four opportunities,he couldn't allow them to go to waste. " Fine, when you mean opportunities you mean like granting a wish." Omniphinx let out a small laugh,"Not exactly. An opportunity is like an ability I can give you and change your race to any kind more so for combating purposes. So be quick with it." Andrew didn't want to run into a situation where he would be weaker than the enemy and the idea of getting stronger overtime was something he wasn't a fan of so he came up with something else. After a few minutes he finally came to a decision."Alright,I know what abilities I want."

"The first one is Fanfiction,the second is Overwrite,the third is Devouring and the final one, I want a system for storing information and for interaction with others." A smile crept up on Omniphinx and commented,"I'll say that's one impressive set of skills you are asking for. The rest just asked for either a system for their progression or an artifact to help them. And immortality to others but it seems you don't fit into this category. But I keep my promises so let's get this over with." Andrew was momentarily stunned ,'What did he mean by others.' He could have continued to wonder about this but a ridiculous amount of energy started to enter his body. The amount of pain was unbearable to the point he wished that he was dead but he knew that his knew world which he dived in would involve a lot of pain not to mention he had to go back to his world so endured it. The pain was felt everywhere from his body, his brain, mind and soul.

He was in this state for how long. It was hard to know since time didn't exist here and eventually the agony was over. Omniphinx congratulated him ,"For surviving as the the process had a 89 percent chance of death. Considering the abilities you chose the chances of you surviving were less than two percent." He continued, "Since you are done your abilities should be functional. You just need to have to will for it and it should happen."Andrew focused while looking at his hand and a bracelet materialized out of nowhere and appeared on his hand. "I should have expected that. You really are obsessed with her, aren't you?" Andrew ignored this   and Omniphinx asked another question,"So what race do you want to choose. An angel, a beastkin, a demon. The list is endless." Andrew nonchalantly replied ,"I'll stick with the one I was." "You truly are something. Looks like I was right choosing you. If you look inside your mind you'll notice some changes."

Andrew asked ,"How do I do that?" Omniphinx just snapped his fingers and they were infront of a palace. It looked surprisingly old but somehow holding up. Andrew went in to find it completely empty and as he was leaving he saw himself. It looked  exactly like him in every aspect but his look alike wasn't paying attention to Andrew, just sitting on one of the highest structures of the palace closing his eyes, humming to what seemed music from Andrew's headphones. Using his abilities he teleported and appeared on the roof but when he was about to wake his counterpart up, his lookalike suddenly pointed into the distance and then resuming his earlier action. Andrew looking into the distance he noticed that there was nothing but eternal darkness surrounding the palace. He could sense that as if he was constantly watched by it. It seemed that the darkness was unable to reach the palace for some unknown reason but before he could continue he appeared back at Omniphinx's presence.

"That's quite an impressive mental state you've got there. Most just have it completely empty no matter how they tried." Andrew asked ,"What was that palace and that dark eerie void I saw ?"

"The void is my gift to you and as for the fifth ability someone else gave you a demon that correlates perfectly with you so it shouldn't be too much of an inconvenience." Andrew wanted to know who did it but he knew that his question would go unanswered so he pushed it back in his mind. "It's time for you to meet the others." The scene then changes from pitch darkness to a grand hall which was adorned in various designs which seemed otherworldly making the place seem beautiful yet unreal. Andrew was all alone and after surveying his surroundings, he sensed someone slowly approaching him. A picturesque lady showed up with a beautiful face and her hair tied up falling down to her waist wearing a red gown with a warm smile on her face gently excused herself ,"You must be the fifth member. Please follow me." And yet with her beauty Andrew wasn't at all affected and followed her.