My nightmares just kept getting worse and worse. I had just about given up on ever being freed from them. I had resigned myself to living like this for eternity.

  More chains held me down as I struggled, desperate to escape them and keep running away. I saw the light again, only this time it was bright, from that light I saw someone come towards me. I couldn't make out who it was, but the chains completely shattered and I was able to reach out. However dark hands began grabbing me instead and tried to pull me down. From the light, the person became clear. It was Helena. I reached out even farther. She grabbed my hand and the darkness vanished completely.

  For the first time in a long time, I opened my eyes. All of my friends were around the bed, and I could tell that they were much stronger than before. I sat up.

  Helena immediately hugged me and began crying. The rest of them also hugged me.

  “What's going on? What happened? Last thing I remember was just endless blackness.”

  “You were trapped under a nightmare curse!” Celena exclaimed. “You were asleep for a thousand years!”

  “A thousand years?!”

  “You have no idea how hard it was to free you! My own powers couldn't even do that,” Helena exclaimed.

  “You guys seem a whole lot stronger than before. What happened? And what's this overwhelming dark presence?”

  They explained to me what I missed in the past thousand years. Yin went on a conquering and destroying spree and now half of the universe is under his control. My friends did some deep meditation to connect to the multiverse energies of their respective domains, many battles were fought, and Nisshoku, that pain in the ass, became the right hand man of Yin and he only got stronger.

  “We have to save them.”

  “Yang,” Hana said, with the voice of a mother. “You are not fit to fight.”

  “I'm fine. I can handle them.” I tried standing up, but my entire body was stiff and sore from sleeping so long and being trapped in that never-ending nightmare.

  “Honey, please.”

  I kept protesting before finally admitting defeat.

  “Someone help me to my meditation spot?” I asked.

  Pisces helped me up and helped me get to my usual spot. It's a space that's sacred and no mortal or other deity is allowed to enter without my permission. I gave Pisces permission to enter because he needs to help me.

  It's actually a separate dimension, the Realm of Light. Pisces just helped me to the entrance and I managed from there.

  “Thank you.”

  “No prob bestie.”

  I laughed and smiled a bit. The Realm of Light is a beautiful realm, similar to heaven. It's purely clouds of white and gold and blue sky. Large floating islands dot the realm where nature flourishes. White dove-like creatures made of pure light flutter. Pure souls live in sky islands with homes looking like small temples. At night the stars twinkle brightly while my temple still shines. I flew myself to the center of the temple, where there are no walls, and relaxed while floating in the air. I felt the energy of light cleanse my mind and restore my body as the cool morning breeze blew past me. As I restored my strength I let the light flow through my veins, causing my golden wings to glow like the sun, causing the floating islands to burst into more vibrant life. The place was my safe haven and I went there whenever I needed a cleansing of the mind. It's well protected with a special enchantment only I can open.

  I stayed there for a few hours, restoring my strength and simultaneously spreading more light throughout the multiverse, cleansing whatever unnecessary darkness is there. A few of the worlds Yin conquered were restored to their former glory.

  Eventually I became fully restored and went back home.

  I came out of the realm of light feeling like a new person. My doubts and worries were gone, my power was restored, and I felt limber and free.

  Helena came up to me.

  “What was that radiant light? What did you do?”

  “You saw all that?”

  “We felt it too. It felt good,” Celena said with a smile.

  “Oh all of that light stuff? That was just me doing some long procrastinated light god duties... and restoring myself.”

  “Well whatever you did, drove Yin’s forces back quite a bit,” Celena said with a laugh.

  “Want to drive the rest of his forces away?” I ask with a smirk.

  “Let's gooooo!” Celena shouted enthusiastically.

  Celena and I rushed to the battle field. Yin was waiting for us.

  “Ah, it's you and Celena today. I must admit I'm quite pleased and impressed by how quickly your strength improved. I was tired of holding back. Now I can go all out.” He said with an evil grin. His eyes turned pitch black and he glowed a dark aura. He shot a large, powerful beam of dark energy at us. I blocked it with an equally powerful shield of light. Nisshoku came from behind and tried to stab me, but Celena tackled him to the ground.

  “I’ll be your opponent, shadow boy.”

  “Heh. Fine with me.”

  The two duked it out while Yin and I continued our own battle. The battlefield was messy. We tore up the ground with our attacks. I'm just glad this planet was a dead planet, as we call planets that never had life in them. If it wasn't, I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

  We cleaved the sky using our various abilities. Magic symbols charged with our respective energies blasting various beams of light and darkness, and punching and kicking each other. We went all out, neither of us pausing for a second until finally, I landed one major blow on him. He crashed into the side of a mountain and collapsed on the ground, face first, he struggled to get up. I walked up to him.

  “Consider this payback for what happened all those years ago.” I kicked him back down and started walking away. I felt something wrap around my ankle and force me down. It was Yin’s energy.

  “I'm not done with you yet,” Yin declared, struggling to get up. I quickly freed myself and got back up, however the injuries I sustained were starting to catch up to me and I fell to one knee, clutching my ribcage. Yin finally managed to stand up and limped his way over to me.

  “Don't assume for a second that this is over.” He came up to me and grabbed my neck. He began squeezing my neck, and it was painful. “I know you won't die, but I can at least snap your neck in half!” He smiled crazily. “You’ll finally be out of my way!”

  As he was attempting to crush the bones of my neck, I charged up my light powers and then blasted him back. He hit the mountain again and landed on the ground unconscious. My neck was incredibly sore. The darkness from the planet cleared and goodness there was so much destruction on the bare ground. We thought it was over until we saw Virgo rocket downwards in a ball of fire fighting with a guy I’ve never seen before. The guy’s got orange hair with red tips, orange eyes, and black trench coat accented with red and white, a white shirt, black pants, and black shoes.

  Nisshoku and Celena were still hashing it out, but stopped when Nisshoku saw his unconscious leader.

  “PHOENIX FALL BACK!! LORD YIN IS UNCONSCIOUS!!”

  I felt Phoenix’s anger from the ground. He yelled some obscenities at Nisshoku, flipped Virgo off, and teleported away. Nisshoku, with some puncture wounds on his body, grabbed Yin and teleported away as well. Virgo came down to us.

  “Yin officially has an eighth of the universe now. We pushed him back hard,” Virgo said, stretching. She has some burn marks on her face and arms.

  “Who was that guy?” I asked.

  “Oh him? His name is Phoenix and he's one of Yin’s new lackeys.”

  “Nisshoku did mention that Beelzebub, Moloch, and Abbadon are gone now. And he boasted about his new rank as second in command,” Celena informed. “Pretty sure it was a recent promotion and it definitely went straight to his head.”

  I sighed deeply.

  “Great, now we have more people to deal with,” I sighed, exasperated. “We should go home and rest.”

  “Before we do that, let me just,” Virgo stomped her foot on the ground and the land was all fixed up. It looked as if nothing ever happened. “There we go!” She smiled proudly.

  We all teleported home.

  When we arrived it looked like some sort of battle took place.

  “What the heck happened here?” I asked, astonished.

  “Some dude named Thunder attacked us and Hana, Helena, I had to hold him off,” Pisces stated. “He was quite powerful but we managed to drive him away.”

  “Claimed himself to be the spirit of chaos, so we have that going for us now.”

  “The guy I fought called himself the spirit of destruction.”

  “Definitely new Yin lackies.”

  All of us groaned.

  My injuries caught up to me again and I collapsed on the floor. “Everything hurts.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Hana came in with vials of her famous all-cure potion. I guess she's able to grow the necessary ingredients now.

  “Have no fear, the medicine is here!”

  She handed one to each of us. I chugged mine and immediately felt better. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

  “Thank you Hana. You're the greatest woman alive.” Pisces said as he hugged her. Virgo cleared her throat. “S-second only to my beloved Virgo.”

  Hana laughed a bit. Helena hugged me as soon as she saw me.

  “How was it?”

  “It wasn't easy. My stars, we did not hold back,” I said. “He's currently unconscious and definitely getting medical attention.”

  “That's good. We don't need to worry about him for a long time,” she said. “His new lackeys however... they're proving to be a massive nuisance.”

  “I can imagine,” I said. “When did they start showing up?”

  “About,” Virgo thought for a moment. “A few weeks before you woke up. Give or take.”

  “And you had to deal with them by yourself?!”

  “Twas a pain until we managed to tap into the multiverse power,” Helena said, proudly.

  “About time too.”

  “I'm sorry, what?” Virgo said, getting aggravated.

  “I've been waiting for you to do that!”

  Virgo’s face got red with anger and she began chasing me.

  “WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US TO DO THIS YOU DAMN IDIOT?!”

  “I wanted to see how long it would take for you to figure it out!”

  “YOU JERK!!”

  She kept chasing me as I was laughing. Eventually we stopped and she came up to me and slapped me.

  “Yeah I deserved that.” I said with a laugh. She nodded in agreement.

  “I say this major victory is a cause for celebration!” Virgo exclaimed, suddenly shifting her mood. “I'll get the drinks!”

  “Umm... Virgo. Helena and I don't drink,” Hana said.

  “Not alcohol silly! Fruit punch! Though I don't mind the occasional pi?a colada or seven,” she said with a mischievous grin.

  “Honey!” Pisces exclaimed with a laugh. “I don't want to have to drag your drunk self home again next time.” Virgo rolled her eyes.

  “I'm getting the fruit punch. I know a place that makes some really good fruit punch.”

  “I'll make the snacks!” Helena exclaimed.

  “I'll join her.” I said.

  “Pisces, Celena, and I will handle the decorations,” Hana stated

  “It's a plan!” I stated. “Let's go!”

  Helena and I went into the kitchen.

  “So what are we gonna cook?”

  “I was thinking maybe some cake and some sandwiches! There's still some leftover boar meat from when Helena went hunting. Cook and slice them up and we have some nice sandwich meat. We also have homemade peanut butter and jam from Hana’s food forest. I can also make a fresh salad-”

  “One at a time darling,” I said with a laugh.

  Helena and I began cooking. Well, she did the cooking. I just grabbed the ingredients. Some of the temple chefs joined her in making some of the food. I ran around giving them what they needed. Helena was baking two cakes and three loaves of bread for sandwiches. I was entrusted with the salad.

  “It's the easiest thing to make honey, you can't go wrong with it.”

  I put everything needed for a salad into the salad bowl and began tossing it. She made me make two salad bowls. I finally realized she was also cooking food for the staff we have. This woman is way too kind. After a while, everything was ready and neatly placed onto serving trays. Virgo loudly announced that she was back. I peeked out and she had the most delicious looking fruit punch I've ever seen in a container with her. We went to the common area where it was beautifully decorated. With flowers and decorations of our personal symbols.

  “Ta-da!” All three of them said in unison. They all fell into fits of laughter. We set the food down next to the fruit punch on the table and we all enjoyed ourselves, talking and laughing. However, I was nervous. I did have a lot of fun with them, but I had something else on my mind. I looked at Pisces and he gave me a wink. I went over to him as if we were going to have a conversation, and we did, a silly one. He slipped me the ring box.

  “Good luck,” he whispered to me.

  I walked back over to Helena. I got my friends to quiet down.

  “So um Helena... we’ve been together for a very long time now and those years were the greatest ever because you were with me. I'm eternally grateful for you to be my girlfriend and for saving me from those nightmares. But um... I'd be even more grateful if,” I opened the ring box and got on one knee. “If you would be my bride?”

  She stood there shocked for a second and started crying and hugged me.

  “I was waiting for you to ask me! Of course! Yes a thousand times yes!”

  I put the ring on her finger and stood back up. We kissed. Our friends cheered for us.

  “Cheers for the two love birds!” Celena shouted. They cheered again. The little party was even more lively.

  News of our engagement spread like wildfire and everyone was eager to hear about the wedding. The wedding happened only a few months after the engagement. It was a huge wedding and many people were invited. Heaven advances with realms, so we had television and stuff like that. The wedding was televised and broadcasted all over heaven.

  Helena was a stunningly beautiful bride. Her simple pure white dress with gold sparkles gracefully flowed behind her and her light blonde hair was braided with flowers in them. Her bouquet was of white roses and her beautiful pure white wings were modestly wrapped around her shoulders. Her makeup was done to bring out her crystal blue eyes. I was dressed in my finest robes and I nearly fainted when I saw her gracefully walking down the aisle. One of the town priests was our wedding official.

  The wedding went off without a hitch, we said our vows and once he said “you may kiss the bride,” I grabbed my now wife and kissed her.

  The party afterwards was absolutely beautiful. People were dancing, getting food, playing games, and just generally having a wonderful time.

  The wedding reception lasted a few days and it was the most fun I ever had, though something did bug me however. It was about Yin. For some reason I felt bad that he wasn't there, even though he was definitely not allowed. I confided this to Helena.

  “Why do you feel bad about it?”

  I shrugged.

  “I just do.”

  “We can send him a slice of cake if that would ease your mind.”

  “Yeah.”

  I took a slice of the wedding cake, added a plastic fork and had it wrapped in a lovely box with a small note attached. I then teleported that box to Yin. That feeling left me and I was able to have fun again.

  ?????????????????

  I woke up a few days later after the battle laying in my personal infirmary room. I was covered in bandages and had a massive headache. I saw Nisshoku, in a chair next to me. Covered in bandages on his chest.

  “My lord! You're awake!” He then winced in pain.

  “What happened?”

  He hesitated, debating on if he should tell me.

  “You were unconscious for a few days. I was worried about you.”

  “I'm assuming I lost that battle.”

  “Yes, and you now only have control over an eighth of the universe.”

  It was infuriating to hear, but I didn't even have the energy to be pissed. All I wanted was to rest and recuperate.

  “And the others?”

  “They weren't spared from injuries either,” he said.

  “What happened to you? You look terrible.”

  “That moon goddess Celena was much tougher than she looked. I got punctured by a few of her arrows.”

  “Hm... I'm exhausted.”

  “Do you need anything from me?”

  “Get a slave over here. I need you to run my kingdom until I am well enough to do it myself.”

  “As you command.” He left the room. A slave came in a few minutes later.

  “Do you need anything master?” He asked with fear in his voice. I sat up.

  “Get me some water.”

  The stupid creature rushed off to do as I told him to do. One of the medics came in to see how I was doing.

  “Master, you shouldn't be sitting up!”

  “And why is that?”

  “You might open your stitches.”

  “Stitches?” I felt my chest and sure enough, there were stitches under the bandages. The slave came back in with a cup of water for me which I took and chugged. My dark powers were still covering my head as my cloak was off, presumably to get washed. I have plenty more of them so I wasn't worried. I wanted to get to my realm, the realm of darkness, as going there would speed up my recovery but I couldn't even move.

  I gave the slave the cup back and told him to get me another one. He came back not too long after with another cup of water, which I also chugged. I gave it back to him.

  “Get out of my sight,” I demanded. I didn't even have the energy to yell but my tone was clear. The slave boy scurried away to do other duties. I carefully laid back down and drifted to sleep again.

  I woke up about three weeks later. My stitches were removed and the bandages were gone, but my head was still pounding and I was still extremely sore. I sat up in bed and wasn't surprised that I was still weak. One of my beloved cats came in meowing happily. She hopped on the bed and purred loudly. I pet her.

  “Were you waiting for me?” I cood. I've always loved cats. They're so adorable. Only Nisshoku and Phoenix know of my adoration for cats. My castle in the realm of darkness has an entire room dedicated to cats. It's a cat paradise. I used my powers to put on a top and my cloak.

  My beloved feline friend and I went to the back courtyard, where the portal to the realm of darkness is hidden. I entered the portal and went to my castle. My cat made its way back to the cat room and I went to my throne. The realm of darkness is a barren land of jagged rock with a closed off area for my worshipers to live in paradise. It's an infinite area, allowing my worshipers to forever live in paradise. I care for my worshipers, despite what others think.

  While I was in my realm I absorbed darkness, temporarily clearing my heart of the turmoil it constantly faced. The rest of my wounds healed and my body was no longer aching and sore. I let darkness flow through me and felt relaxed by it coursing through my veins. My body turned pitch black and my eyes turned full amethyst purple as I radiated my dark aura all throughout the multiverse, with my cloak flowing behind me.

  “I'll get him next time.” I vowed. I felt my darkness balance out Yang’s light. My energy was quickly restored and I felt as good as new. I stayed in my realm for a while longer maintaining my worshiper’s paradise before leaving to go back to hell. I didn't want to leave as I felt safe and comfortable in the realm of darkness, where I had very few worries. But I had to go.

  I reentered my palace in hell and went to my throne.

  I spent the next few months planning my next attack and just monitoring Yang with my powers every now and then, trying to figure out a way to permanently break him, until I sensed something different. A euphoric joy coming from heaven in general. I took a look and nearly gagged at what I saw. A damn wedding. The bride and groom were none other than Yang and Helena. For some reason I was infuriated and upset. Another feeling also surfaced but I couldn’t figure out what it was. For some reason watching this wedding was mesmerizing. I couldn't look away. Eventually I did and tears streamed down my face. I didn't know why but they just did. I wiped them away and just went to my study to do my godly duties.

  About twenty minutes later, I got a small package. It was nicely decorated. I was hesitant to open it, but I did. It was a slice of cake along with a fork. There was a little note attached to it.

  For you, from Yang.

  It surprised me to see my brother being kind to me. Usually, we were at each other’s throats. I took the fork and took a bite out of the cake. It was delicious and for the first time in my life, I genuinely smiled.

  I wrote a quick note to him.

  Thanks for the cake. Congratulations on your wedding day. -Yin

  I teleported it to him and got a note back about a minute later.

  Thank you. -Yang

  I don't know why but it felt good to have a small conversation with him that didn't include threats and violence.

  I just continued eating my cake slice, in a good mood and working on my godly duties.

  Maybe I have a chance to talk things out with him. I thought to myself. I had no idea why that thought came into my head. Talk things out with my worst enemy? Please. He'd never listen. Besides, he should suffer. My disgusted feelings came back when thinking about that wedding and him being happy. I finished my cake slice and destroyed the box and fork with my powers.

  If I couldn't separate him and his now wife, then I'll just separate him from his friends. However I must use my time to get the maximum amount of suffering not just for him, but from the others too.

  I knew just who to start with.

  My thoughts were interrupted when Thunder came storming in, pun intended, causing me to scowl without me noticing.

  “Yo Yin, you're scowling.”

  “I was?” I asked, flinching slightly. I allowed them to speak to me casually. It felt right for some reason.

  “Yes. Also we have a situation between Kowaina and Nisshoku; Phoenix is about ready to kill the bastard.”

  “Mind your tongue,” I said flatly, though the order is completely useless now since Phoenix and Thunder cuss each other like there’s no tomorrow and I gave up on trying to stop them ages ago. Though I will admit it made me laugh a little sometimes. I headed over to where the others were at. I saw Kowaina crying hysterically on the couch, Shinda comforting her, and Phoenix and Nisshoku arguing loudly and just about ready to have a fistfight.

  “WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!” I roared.

  “This misogynistic asshole was treating Kowaina like some sort of toy for the past three thousand years!”

  “You have no right to interfere with my love life!”

  “Love life?! You abused her! You don't love her at all!”

  “She's my girlfriend! I treat her how I want!”

  “ENOUGH!!!” I shouted.

  Phoenix and Nisshoku looked at me. Nisshoku’s face drained of color.

  “M-my lord I-”

  “Shut up. How many times have I told you to try and get along with them?! To find out you treated your own coworker like this. Absolutely disgusting!” I blasted him with my power, causing him to be slammed to the wall and fall down with a thud. He bowed down low to the ground.

  “Please! Have mercy on me! I beg you-”

  I kicked him in his ribcage, pretty hard.

  “As punishment, you are to NEVER get married! You are damned to live your existence with no love.”

  He was absolutely crushed by the news. I knew he wanted a wife but when I ordered him not to marry, he was devastated. I hated seeing him like that but that was his punishment.