WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A FRIEND Part 2 (DO YOU WANT ME TO END YOU, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW)

Cool air engulfed the room in its icy bosom. The thumping coming from Mariam's chest could be heard from miles away. Her fingers turned numb, sweat coalesced into glistening orbs, playfully tracing paths down her neck. Mariam's gaze lingered on Alexander, cocooned beneath the blanket's embrace. She lets out an earsplitting shriek in her mind as a jolt of realization struck her that she had been thoughtless about Alexander's condition. She felt an intensifying desire to make herself scarce.

Mariam sprang to her feet, ready to vanish from Alexander's room, when an unexpected grasp seized her wrist.

"Leaving so soon?" Alexander's lips tightened; in his voice was a subtle intrigue.

"I... wa... was heading to f... fetch the others," she stammered.

"Others? What others?"

"Are you alright, Alex? You seem to have forgotten about Collins. He and some of the others have been here every day for the past month, hoping you and the other SLEEPERS would wake up. I... I just happen to be here today," Mariam unveiled, her voice trembling.

Alexander's eyes widened as he heard the voice of Goddess Inokosazana coming from the next room. He felt a strange sensation; it felt like lightning had struck his brain. Alexander, in the blink of an eye, saw flashes of horrific and horrendous scenery where bodies lay bare in a wasteland as far as his eyes could see. These flashes flooded his mind. It was an eerie gallery of blood-soaked agony, images of people bathed in blood—men, women, children—they were all maimed and mutilated as they beseeched Gods and Devils alike to release them from their ageless agony. The symphony of their cries pounded his ears, and in his torment, Alexander's voice tore through the air before he collapsed into unconsciousness.

Goddess Inokosazana broke through the walls separating Alexander's room from the other sleepers, who had already woken up or were just waking up because of the racket the formidable Goddess was making. Goddess Inokosazana looked down at the sobbing Mariam, who had laid Alexander back on his bed. She examined Alexander, whose body was slowly disintegrating into little bits of char. This would only happen if the proxy was rejecting their God's blessing by force. A shiver of realization coursed through Inokosazana – the proxy was defiantly rejecting the bestowed divine blessing. She mused too late; as Alexander's soul teetered on the precipice, his being poised for annihilation. Alexander's soul could soon be overwhelmed by his blessing, which would destroy his soul completely and forever, leaving nothing but char behind.

Ngai, the God of creation who created the construct he called a masterpiece of earthly hospitals, projected himself to Alexander's room as soon as he sensed Inokosazana's discomfort, as well as the knocking down of his precious masterpiece. He surveyed the room, his gaze slicing through walls that cast Inokosazana's silhouette.

"Why this unruly tempest, Inokosazana? What have I done to incur such unrefined wrath?" The God of creation squealed as he examined the fractured walls that outlined Goddess Inokosazana's silhouette, tinged with her ethereal glow.

Goddess Inokosazana completely ignored Ngai as he made a big fuss over the walls. She had broken through to get to Alexander's room. She placed a finger on Alexander's eyes, opening it forcefully. It sent a lightning bolt to the ceiling, making a huge hole in it. Ngai coughed his lungs out as he cried again in anguish over his precious construct that was deliberately being destroyed.

Alexander's body continued to disintegrate; it was happening slowly, as the tips of his fingers were already vanishing and the floor had a slight bit of char stain on it. His skin was turning to char as well; Mariam's arms were stained black from char dissipating from Alexander's body when she had laid him on the bed.

Seeing the lightning that came from his eyes solidified the Goddess's best guess that Alexander Murray was Sango's Proxy for the constellation battle. The reason for Inokosazana's uncertainty was because which God had chosen which proxy was unknown; before the proxies had arrived, there was a selection process.

The selection process was made so the children could be chosen through the constellation of stars. The Gods chose the children according to the constellation of stars, with each joint constellation representing the kids who are going to be aids to each other to overcome adversity. Meaning, the constellations represent the kids' destinies.

As thus, some Gods decided to play smart and chose kids based on qualities and specific traits they possessed. Some Gods went for the most intelligent child in a constellation of stars; since the profile for each child was visible, Gods could weigh, vary, and compare stats. Some Gods picked the strongest in a constellation, some picked the smartest, and some the weakest child with the most potential for growth. The Gods all had different reasons for choosing the child they chose, but what was Sango's reason here, Inokosazana pondered.

She could not anticipate his reasons for choosing such a child, one as weak as Alexander Murray, with potentially no room to grow. And now that same proxy is on the verge of being annihilated before the constellation battle begins.

Inokosazana knew that she had two options: Let the proxy turn to Char and be erased from existence, or ask Sango the God of thunder and lightning to intercede and save his proxy as well as his reputation amongst the Gods. The latter is the most reasonable decision, but to Inokosazana who is acquainted with the God of thunder and lightning, she knew that the latter was a terrible decision. She decided not to do anything and watch the proxy chosen, die.

Mariam was yet to realize that Alexander was slowly leaving the spiritual plane and would soon fritter into nothingness. She kept sobbing as Ngai kept wailing and lamenting. When it seemed that his cries and lamentation were not getting through to Inokosazana, he raised his voice to scream and lament even louder. His screams and lamentations about his precious hospital irritated Inokosazana so much that she looked at him with a feint celestial glow in her eyes and said, "DO YOU WANT ME TO END YOU, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW"?