Endgame (Book 3)

Prologue

Nothing mattered but us.

We were on top of a grassy plain, with a hill on top. And on top of that hill, there was a tree. A large, shady tree. It provided just enough leaves to block out the light that yearned so dearly to shine on this small patch of land.

The sun shone a brilliantly beautiful light that covered the place as far as the eye could see. The very grass under our feet was silky soft, and not a single blade of it was unlike the perfect, healthy green next to it.

But out of all that beauty, none compared to her.

At the base of the tree, Cassie and I sat in everlasting peace. We couldn't see the sun setting yet, but that didn't bother me at all. Even the alluring scene below us missed my gaze while I stared at Cassie. She was doing the one thing I could never get tired of looking at- smiling. Her face seemed to have its own glow, set apart from everything else.

Nestled under my arm, we did nothing but sit there in silence. There was nothing to do but enjoy everything around us.

But then, she jumped up. Her body disappeared into thin air the moment her feet left the ground.

"Cassie?" I said.

As my hand closed around the empty space where she had been, panic rose in my stomach. Blue mist remained where she had gone.

"Cassie!"

The world turned a dark shade of blue. Wind blew through the leaves of the tree, whispering secrets I wished I could decipher.

The grass and dirt began to lift into the air. It didn't raise itself past my height before it combusted into the blue substance as well.

The land under my feet rumbled, and the tree tore its roots free from the earth like they sensed freedom was on the way.

I fell.

Not to the ground- no, even that was gone. I fell through it, and watched as the tree floated into a giant mass of blue energy.

It covered up the sky so completely that I had no hope of breaking through it. That didn't stop me from trying, though.

I took control over my free fall into the darkness and flew up into the bright blue atmosphere.

Before I was all the way in, I took a look down.

All of it was gone. All that was left was a massive black hole.

And I almost got trapped inside that thing.

I broke through the surface of the sky...or was it the ground?

The moment I broke through to the surface, I fell again as gravity did a number on me and dropped me down to surface level.

I landed with my right fist and my legs. My head was facing downwards, so I didn't see her when she materialized in front of me.

But she wasn't facing my way. And it wasn't really her. She was made out of the same blue energy that pulsed beneath our feet.

On all sides but below, darkness surrounded us.

Quietly, I crouched and made my way over to find out what was capturing her attention.

What kind of trick was this? I was staring at my own dead body!

I moved closer to the corpse to get a better look. My shirt was missing a patch on my lower right side, and my body was a darker blue where the cloth was missing. Blood, maybe?

When I got closer, my body opened its eyes and flew up so fast that I jumped backward in fright, but not before it moved right through me, leaving a cold sensation in my upper body.

Before I knew what he was doing, "I" had already plunged a knife-coated hand so deep into my own body that I could feel the edge going through to the other side.

"No!" Cassie cried out.

My real body erupted inside my bed. With a shout, I made electricity crackle between my hands.

In front of me, my doppelganger, who I liked to call Anti-Man, was sitting in my bed face-to-face with me.

And covering his hand was a large glowing blade resting its tip straight on my heart.