Should Have Let Me Die

Slow down? But, why? If I was really going so fast that I was out of time with everyone else, wouldn't this be the perfect moment?

This could be my chance to really haul ass and get shit done! I had to try and move, I had just stopped before, and I hadn't tried to move since then.

I tried to lift my arm at a normal speed, but it was like something was pulling on me. Not only that, when my arm did start to move, it started to break.

I could handle the waves of pain, this was nothing. I had to slow my arm to a crawl because it felt like smashing my fist into an unbreakable wall using my full strength, in slow motion.

I finally had to stop, I was just breaking my arm faster than it could be repaired. That was the reason why I needed to slow down, I fucked something up.

I had a top speed of sixteen thousand kilometers an hour; in space, that was nothing. On the planet sided and with gravity, and air, I should have been torn apart, but as I got faster, so did Eva.

I just needed to focus and go back inside of myself, but there was still a problem. I was still over the top of a massive canyon I had dug using my fancy footwork.

I needed to somehow get over to the ground, but not even the speed would work now. Each movement was tearing me apart, shattering my body as it tried to repair.

I would just have to leave my fate up to Murphy on this one. I closed my eyes and pulled myself back into my cabin.

"RUN!" Eva screamed and I didn't hesitate.

I dove into the house, and then scramble to my feet, turning fast to see.

It was like watching a movie from this side, and I must have hit even fucking bump on the way down. The cabin was shaken and smashed, but Eva was more than able to keep up with the damages.

A few times light did show through holes, but they were always grown back together like the metal was alive. With a final crash, hit the bottom, or at least that was what I assumed.

"Hyde? Are you okay? What just happened?" Kyra asked from behind me. 

I turned and put a finger up to get her to wait.

"Eva, status report. How are you doing?" I asked, a bit worried.

"I am just dizzy that's all. I don't feel the pain like you do, so it was just a lot of repairs. You can merge back out when you are ready the repairs are already done," Eva announced over the intercom. 

"Okay, I will be right out," I said, but then walked up to Kyra and took her in my arms, kissing the top of her head.

I stroked her ears and in between them, and she nuzzled into my chest. I enjoyed a small moment with her, just enjoying the press of her body and the fruity scent of her hair.

It was a familiar smell of the only shampoo and conditioner in the house. Pantene Pro-V, my mother loved the shit, and it was the only thing she would keep in the house. 

They both smelled good, but Dave used to complain that it would be nice for a little change every once and a while. It wasn't until just recently that we found out that it was actually a garbage shampoo.

"So you have to go back now?" Kyra asked in a pouty voice, turning her head up to me with her bottom lip out.

I kissed her and smiled, stroking between her ears on the top of her head. Kyra was unable to hold the pouting face and melted back into me with a satisfied smile.

"Yes, my love. I will come back after. Maybe you should go have a nap to pass the time and maybe you won't fall asleep on me again, hehe," I said chuckling, then I pulled her lips to mine again.

After we finished the kiss, we pulled apart and went our separate ways. I headed back into the cabin and merged with the dragon armor.

I opened my eyes and I was standing on the ground, but something was weird about it. It looked like the small clay color was the walls, but it was a solid color.

"Eva, do you know what this is?" I asked.

"This is the lowest level of the world, that is a barrier and there will be nothing on the other side. If this is the height, then that also means that the sea is not that deep either, or it could only drop down in certain spots," Eva spoke over the intercom.

That would make sense since space had the same thing. There was nothing after a certain point.

"Okay, so now I can use the speed, but how do I use it? Do I just run?" I asked, feeling a bit dumb, but I could move my body freely now.

"You can use it with intent, you just have to want to go fast, and things will slow down. You will still move fairly fast, but you will not be skating like you had to before. Up ahead is an open cavern, I noticed gems and it isn't that far from where you had crashed before in the cave."

I looked up ahead and saw what she was talking about. There was a cave up ahead, and I decided to start slowly.

I took a step forward, and everything was okay. I didn't end up another mess, I just walked normally. This was good, and it only took me a couple of large steps to get to the cave.

I was massive like the entrance, but I wasn't a treasure room or anything like that. It was just a side chamber, and there seemed to be a bigger one up ahead.

I stepped inside, looking around to see if anything was moving, but it was quiet in this first cave. I walked forward and there were only the same glow crystals, so I walked up to a cluster of them. 

"Eva, can you scan this? I can feel some kind of waves or pulses coming from the cluster. They are all slowly and ever so slightly dimming and then became bright again, and I want to know what they are or if you can figure out if they are useful?" I asked.

"I will scan one, but you need to touch one and try to break off a piece so I can process it," Eva said in a low voice over the intercom.

"Sure, give me a second," I said as I grabbed one of the pink glowing glass-like geometrical crystal bud jutting clusters.

I tried to break the tip-off, but even with the Gates' assistance, I couldn't crack it. I even tried to punch it, and that just got me a shattered and fucked right up hand that took an entire minute to fix.

"It has power in it, but they all seemed to connect to somewhere else. We will just have to explore the cave more to find out," Eva said.

"True enough, and maybe three will be an enemy roughly my size to fight!" I said giving my new head a shake, that fucker hurt.

I would need to work on getting the last Gate opened so I could keep pushing forward.

"There is no need for that yet, you still have a lot left to learn about the other gates you have opened and how you plan on using them together. You are getting too far ahead of yourself," Eva scolded me, making me laugh, but she was right.

"You're right, I haven't been using any of my powers to any real purpose. I have been just flying by the seat of my pants, but I will get things figured out. Let's go and check out this big cave, I would like to get a win today," I said as I walked over to the cave opening.

"You have been doing good, even if you don't think so. You will get your win now, don't worry, just start away from the Forest Golem for now," Eva said and I could tell she was smiling, and I rolled my eyes.

I walked into the next big chamber, and there was a big geode in the center of the cave. It was cut in half and had a glittering inside filled with amethyst crystal.

"That's a pretty cool looking rock," I said as I walked into the huge cave, but then it started to move.

The geode lifted to reveal many pointed legs, and that's when the thing turned around. I had never seen anything like this, it was like a centipede but shorter.

Then the fucking the did something weird, the geode started to turn inside out. Soon the entire thing was covered in a glowing crystal shell like the ones on the wall.

"You have never seen anything like this before," Eva announced.

Great, something new, but then the son of a bitch started to spin at a ridiculous speed. Then it started to fly around the room, bounce off walls.

Goddammit, Dave! What the actual fuck is this thing, fucking Super Mario World?!