Game Over

Chapter Thirty-Eight [New Strength]

"Adam," Adam stopped walking as Seto pulled up beside him. Seto's face was distant and lost, "How do you have magic?"

Adam was stunned, "only OP's have magic, I'm just a human rank."

"Which is why you're an unspoken outlier...you are a mystery Adam Azure, and I want to hear everything you know, don't spare any details."

Adam gulped, he wasn't sure why he was so nervous, but he didn't feel ready to start spouting everything he knew quite yet. Though, he guessed he didn't have much of a choice now.

"Can I at least say goodbye to my friends first, before my unspoken doom?"

Seto gave Adam a weird look, "It's a joke...you know what, nevermind. I'll tell you what you want to know, but I want to check on Ross."

"Fine, but don't loiter for too long."

~~~~~

Ross fumbled around in the lab. Everything was a mess due to the attack that...that lead to Jason's death.

Ross was still struggling to accept the fact he was supposed to take over. It hasn't even been a year yet since he became Jason's apprentice. And it's not like Jason taught him anything! Ross growled in frustration.

How could he do this, he wasn't ready. Even if he tried to convince himself he was, he wasn't. He never would be.

Ross noticed Jason's picture frame that was normally hidden a drawer face down on his desk. He's never seen what the frame contained and before he could respectfully hold himself back, he snatched up the frame and took a peek.

"What the..." It was a photo of a happy family, he didn't know the people, but he noticed the large black X over a small boy. Ross inferred it was Jason, but why did he do this to himself?

"Hey Ross! It's me Adam, totally here to tell you something good and not that my amulet is possibly broken!" Ross didn't notice. Adam frowned and inched closer to Ross. He was fully prepared to scare him but instead he noticed the photo.

"Whoa!" Ross jumped, he hadn't even noticed Adam was directly behind him.

"What the heck! Don't do that!"

"Sorry, I just recognized the people."

Ross was surprised, "You do, who are they?"

"It's Alesa's family," Adam pointed, "There's Mr. and Mrs. Clarks, then there's Lillian the oldest, I think, and the two twins Joey and Mark. You can tell by their eye color, but why is Jason X'd out?"

Ross shrugged, "I found it like this, but that's not important, why did you come--"

"I wonder if I could peek into the past of this photo. Want me to try?"

Ross sputtered, "Don't you need Jason for that?"

Adam frowned, "Darn, maybe if I knew how to use whatever I had better I could do it...Seto calls it magic, but that's impossible--"

Ross placed the frame back face down, "Seriously, is there something you need?"

Adam nodded, "I wanted to make sure you're good, since we're friends...and myamuletisbroken!" Adam said.

"You're what!" Ross yelled.

Adam chuckled and backed up, "See I got beheaded by the scary Ender lady, and then when I respawned back in my room, I died again from like internal bleeding in my neck. It was like super freaky and as if my injuries didn't fully heal. Then I checked my amulet, and just look!" Adam pulled the amulet off his neck and handed it to Ross.

Ross inspected it carefully following Adam's finger to the glass portion of the amulet. Less than half the concentrated void pool mixture remained, Ross flipped the amulet around to see it read 5. Then he looked back at the front, the reflection of the light gave way to the crack that was forming on the surface of the glass," This isn't good Adam. You have less than half the liquid here even though you're only halfway through your lives. The proportions are all off, I'll have to keep this for now in order to do a more through inspection....But I can't guarantee anything...I'm not Jason afterall," Ross frowned.

"Ross," Ross looked at Adam. Adam was giving Ross the most serious stare he's ever seen from this man. It was unsettling.

"Wh-what?" Ross muttered.

"Do you remember when I mentioned that when I die I see these visions?" Ross nodded, "Well after getting beheaded by a scary Ender lady, I saw the rest of whatever story was being told and with how everything has been going I knew that the vision may be from the past, but it could also very easily be out future..." Adam knew he was losing Ross, and he didn't quite feel ready to reveal the content of the visions.

"What I'm getting at is afterwards I was scared. Really scared Ross, I was afraid to come back because I didn't believe I could do anything to help. All I've ever done is screw up and get needlessly killed, but if I didn't come back then I'd be letting my family get hurt, my friends get hurt, and I didn't want that. That's not what being a hero is about. Even in the face of fear and uncertainty a hero faces all challenges in order to protect others. People still need me, somewhere, and I can't give up until I've done everything I possibly can. Same for you Ross, I need you, your friends need you. You're not allowed to give up until you've given it your all, and I know you can do it because your so smart."

Ross smiled, "Thanks Adam... and I'm sorry for the ass I used to be."

Adam pat Ross on the back, "No worries."

~~~~~

Sorry for the very short and very shitty chapter.

I had a lot of things happen unexpectedly in March, like my dog getting sick. But I just graduated high school, and have a new job :D

I can't promise frequent updates anymore, due to having a job and college in August. Plus I recently got involved in the South Park fandom and now I am currently obsessed with it. Which is another reason why I've been absent.

But I still love these stories and want to find time to finish them, even if it takes me a while.

EDIT

Looks like I finished this chapter and forgot to upload it. Whoops! :/

So, it's September, ive moved to Illinois for college, yay. Im obviously no longer employed at the job i mentioned before the edit. I am still in the South Park fandom.

I keep saying sorry for vanishing and I am, and no matter what I want to finish these stories for y'all while I'm attending Uni.