Advent of Cataclysm.

At the dawn of each new day, there came an invasive presence.

Rain or shine, throughout every season, it never failed to appear.

An irresistible entity needily clung to him inside and out, burning him relentlessly.

The sensation of being on fire plagued his senses, it pushed waves of pain across his body; his eyes became dry, his lips cracked and his throat was left burning from the flames that only he could see; a sensation only he could feel, crying out was impossible and moving only caused more pain, so he just sat there back pressed against the cracked wall of his run-down room.

The birds chirping outside of his window told him that he was still alive, the heat under his skin was a reminder that this was no dream, these flames were real; but only to him, it was something he had gotten used to over the last two years, it caused no wound, left no burn, showed no evidence, an invisible Hell.

And then, as suddenly as it had come at the stroke of dawn it all vanished; the entity, the pain, all that remained was Kai, sweating and staring at the ceiling with eyes devoid of hope.

Slowly, he opened his mouth, testing as he usually did. "Ah..." 

Good.

He could still speak, with that little assurance, Kai pressed himself to the wall and slowly stood, walking over to his calendar and marking the day as complete just before a knock on his door echoed through the quiet house.

"Kai, are you finished with your exercise?" A soft voice called to him, he sighed and walked over, unlocking the door and allowing the woman walk in, carrying in her hand his breakfast with a smile. 

"Susana, good morning," He smiled at her, watching her lay his breakfast on the bed and pick up a towel lying around, tossing it at him and nodding.

"Mornin kiddo," She chuckled. "You overdid it again, hm?" She stared at the sweat dripping off his chin and the small pool of sweat by the wall. "What the heck do you do in here every morning anyway?" 

"Trade secret," He retorted seriously, dragging the towel across his platinum hair and releasing an inaudible sigh beneath it.

"And I'm not a kid-" 

"You still live under this shoddy little woman's old roof don't you?" 

"That's because you're my guardian-" 

"You're still in high school, aren't you?"

That's only because I'm not-" 

"Not what," Susana brushed her blonde locks over her shoulder and stood with her hand on her hip, smirking at him. "Not an adult?" 

"You're twisting my words," Kai gave up the struggle and turned his back.

"Look," Susana quickly approached and left a playful slap on his shoulder. "The sooner you finish high school the sooner we can leave, I get that you're impatient now that eighteen is just around the corner, but you shouldn't rush this."

Kai disagreed; the bruise on her cheek and the purple ring around her wrist said otherwise, he needed to get away from this place, he needed to get her as far away from his father as possible. 

"Anyways," Susana cleared her throat and smiled once more. "Make sure you finish your breakfast before you leave, I have to get to work early today," She waved and left. 

°°°

"Child..." Kai muttered, standing at the front of his school and staring at the gates while the chimes inside of the building went off four times, melodically calling all the students to attendance. 

"If you could see what I see, you would never say such things to me," He scoffed and turned ignoring the teacher at the gates ushering everyone in and walking in the opposite direction. "I don't feel like suffocating through something that pointless right now." 

"Neither do I," A voice called his attention to his side and he almost stumbled when a head of golden brown hair popped up in his peripheral. "Hi!" 

"You..." Kai stared at the girl.

"Ava," She smiled at him. 

"I don't care." He retorted with a scoff. "I only helped you out cause you were being bullied, I never asked you to follow me around like a lost puppy, get going-"

"I want to follow you around-" 

"Are you deaf?" He snapped at her, turning and grabbing the straps of her bag raising her onto the tips of her toes and glaring at her, but she never flinched, she didn't even blink, she just continued smiling at him. 

"You look dashing when you're perplexed~" Ava blushed with her hands dangling at her sides. "Did you have breakfast today?" 

"I'm fine," Kai released her and turned, walking away. "Go to school, Ava." 

"I would rather follow you instead!" She dipped in her bag and pulled out a pink sweater, wearing it over her uniform blouse and trotting behind him happily after flashing the teacher at the gates her middle finger and sticking her tongue at him, leaving the man speechless and fuming.

"Why?" 

"Because you are my hero, obviously, you saved my life!" She answered matter-of-factly, hooking her arm with his and chuckling when he groaned and pulled his arm away. 

"There's no point to any of this, you're gonna die soon, you know?" He looked at her with a dark smile, but found her nodding and smiling in return. 

"As long as I get to die in your arms I don't think that death will be such a bad thing." 

"What the fuck is wrong with this girl?" Kai wondered, disturbed by how accepting of everything she was while also looking at the bruise on her cheek that had begun healing. "Hey..." 

"Yes love?" 

"Don't call me that!" Kai snapped and slapped his forehead.

"...What happened to those guys after I kicked their asses?" He queried and saw her expression dullen for a brief few seconds before she smiled up at him again. 

"They started giving me their lunch money daily; they actually escort me to school as well; it's pretty cool how you turned them from thugs to twinks by beating the snot out of their heads; that's why, Kai, you're totally my hero!" 

"Hm..." He huffed, amused at what she had said. 

"Is that why you're following me around?" He asked, but received a denial instead of the nod he was expecting. 

"You said the world was gonna burn soon, and that everything we do is pointless, but you still went out of your way to save me from a bad situation... I figure, if someone as serious as Kai Mora was saying something like that; I might as well follow my dreams while I still have life, right?" She hooked her arm with his again. "I want to spend my last days as your girlfriend-" 

"Lay off the jokes already," Kai stopped walking and glared at her, unhooking her arm from his again and sighing. "Be serious, if you actually believe what I was saying then you should be spending every day left with your family-" 

"I'd rather spend the end of the world with you, Kai," She smiled and stubbornly hooked her arm around his once more, staring up at him. "I am curious though, what makes you so sure that the world will end soon?" She quizzed. 

Kai stood there staring at the hand hooked with his, and then without protest, he began walking again. 

"The devil told me."