"Hey!" This kid was crazy if he thought Elena was going to let him get away with answers like those! Follow him? That creepy kid? She wouldn't do anything like it if she wasn't so desperate to know why she and everyone else were here. So, reluctantly, she found herself trying to figure out which way he went. Besides, walking through a forest was hard. "Ugh!"

Finally, she broke through and immediately rushed towards the boy again, her finger pointing accusingly. "What do you mean 'Yes,'? That didn't answer any of my questions except one! What do you want with us? Why did you bring us here? And what are you doing up on that rock?" None of this made any sense!

One minute, Elena had been getting ready for the day, and the next she was in some weird clearing with people she barely knew yelling at a boy she'd never seen before. Maybe she was dreaming. That had to be it. The waterfall was something that she could make up on her own, maybe. And the people were those that she'd seen before. Hadn't she read once that you couldn't make new faces and so you dreamed of ones you already knew? Yes. Very possibly a dream.

_____________________________________________

Lucy continued to sit as she watched the reactions of those around her. Some yelled, like her sister, some just watched quietly like herself. The one weird boy just kept walking out of the clearing and then walking back. Though she couldn't see what was happening, his frustration led her to believe that he didn't know why he kept ending up back here. Perhaps he thought he was walking in a straight line when he was not. It was strange. What would cause that? Magic?

A sigh escaped her lips as she tried to think of something to say to him. Talking had never been her strong point, but there was something he might understand, if she could only think of the right one.

"My friend
Tells then there's a road beyond this road
That is unending."

They weren't perfect, but they'd do for now. The lyrics were spoken and followed with, "I don't think you can get out of the clearing unless you follow him." Lucy didn't know why she was trying to help him. She supposed it was because he was looking rather pathetic and lost. Finally standing, she continued to speak quietly, "We might as well just follow him. As you've proven, it's not like we can go any other way."

Chris:

It made no sense, none at all. It didn’t matter which direction he headed in, he kept coming back to the clearing. His confusion was leading into anger that was palpable.

And now that blonde girl he recognized from school was talking to him. She was attractive in that ‘I-spend-too-much-time-on-my-looks’ kinda way, so why the hell was she talking to him? He thought to tell her off but as he opened his mouth something more true came out.

“I just want to get home. My little sister’s sick in bed, I have to find out if she’s okay.”

Sean sat in confusion still, all the people around him were reacting and after he had said his piece he just sat in disbelief, the voice around him softened as he focused on a single tree, for the first time in a while he was afraid, and when he's afraid there's only one thing to do. Sean reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bag with circular pills no bigger than a penny, and quickly swallowed three of them he sat for a second as he felt them go down his throat and then finally put the bag back in his pocket. His momentary lapse in reality was broken by the high school kid suddenly reappearing back into the clearing where mostly everyone was, if it weren't for the drugs taking effect he would've screamed. He was done convincing himself he was dead or had OD'd because this was all to real to be anything else but real life.

He stopped questioning it too, while a few had left and some sat or stood around in confusion or anger or whatever, he decided to do the former and follow them, it was probably the drugs but he didn't want to stay here anymore and that weird jedi kid was probably the only one who knew anything. Sean numbly stood up and took his sun glasses off and hooked them into the neckline of his shirt and slowly but surely followed where everyone else was, as he walked passed a few people he was only a few feet a way from Chris before he stopped and said "Chill the fuck out kid." making brief eye contact with him and then continuing on in to the woods where he heard a few other voices. He looked at the positively breathtaking view before him for a few second before turning to look at the few people who were there and the kid siting on the rock. "Oh... I'm sorry am I late to the party, is this the part where you tell me what the fuck is happening?" He said somewhat to everyone but more to the kid on the rock.

"Um all right. Let's go. I want to go with him. That's the only instruction I have for now. I need something to do, something to escape this place, or at least to step forward. This is creepy, and too much like a dream. Eerily so." Richard commented. . . he followed after Little Creepy, hoping that he could find something to make sense out of this sudden strange turn of events.

Adam

After watching the young boy walked away, Adam stood there in silence. This whole situation didn’t sit well with him. The boy had the voice a 12 year old, but the way he spoke to the group seemed off to him. “He doesn’t speak with the attitude of a child his age. It’s almost like he has had much more time to mature than what he appears to be….” He said out loud. He didn’t say it to spark conversation, but he to vocalize his thought process. Adam began looking around one more time and realized that the loud girl from before began to charge off after the boy. Adam stood there for a few more second and decided to go after the boy too. That boy had answers, and with those answers came power over those around him. Adam realized this and knew that everyone eventually would have to follow him.

By the time that Adam reached the cliff, the loud girl was demanding answers from the boy. He watched as the girl laid out question after question and demanded an answer to all of them. “She does have a couple of valid questions. I expect that you will answer these when everyone gathers at this spot, right?” Adam asked. He didn’t expect an answer, but it was a smart idea to at least try to dig for a little information. He walked over to the cliffs edge and sat down. He let one leg hang over the edge, and just stared out into the distance. He watched as the water fell from the waterfall and slowly make its way from the pool and into the treeline. He began to wonder why we were all taken to this specific spot, but didn’t ask. He figured the answer would come in time.

---

John

John was relieved when the boy said that nothing had happened to the rest of the students, but was reluctant to follow the boy when he began to walk through the woods. He stayed in the clearing for a little bit and watched over the other kids that stayed behind. He watched has one of his students tried to leave only to find himself back at the clearing a few minutes later. This made John curios and decided to try to leave the clearing as well. After a few minutes of walking, sure enough, he emerged back into the clearing. “Fascinating” He said. He then walked over to the group of students. He overheard the boy that was first tried to leave the clearing voice his concerns for his sister. “ I understand your concern. If you want my opinion, the quickest way to see your sister is if all of us hurry up and follow that boy. The faster we figure out what's going on, the quicker we can get you to your sister.” he said with a sympathetic tone. He then turned around made a follow me motion and began to follow the enigmatic boys path.

Chris:

Chris felt ashamed at himself for his outburst of truth. He shouldn’t be telling these people about his sister, how was it any of their damn business. It was his life, they couldn’t care less, he already knew that. Shamed changed into embarrassment then anger when his science teacher suggest following the weird kid.

How the hell could any of this be real, it made no sense. Chris hadn’t enough practice in the social arts for this situation, though in truth he doubted any amount of practice could’ve prepared him. This was just beyond...beyond all comprehension. It was like he was inside an Iron Maiden song or something.

Wait!

That was it! He was listening to his music in class, maybe he just fell asleep? Bruce Dickenson sung about dreams so vipid they seemed real. That must be what this was, he thought to himself as he started to follow the trail of people further into the woods. Though somehow, in the back of his mind where he didn’t have to address it, he knew it wasn’t a dream.

He found the people converging near a waterfall where the odd boy sat on a rock. He looked even younger than his little sister. All dressed up like he was cosplaying a jedi or something. Yet, for being so young and dressed so weird, he commanded a chaotic attention in the gathered people. They were all slinging questions and probing for answers yet the boy sat calmly, unhurried by their confusion.

Chris found a tree, close enough to witness the event that was gathering here yet far enough away so he could find a sort of tranquility. He hoped this would end quickly, he was already starting to tire of a few of the louder or more unruly participants in this converging.

----

The boy waited silently until the last of the taken individuals made their way out of the treeline and out into the open space. Many were close, as if they expected him to answer their questions only to have to repeat his answer again and again for the others. Others kept their distance. Those ones were smarter. He was most interested in the young man with the white hair, who had stopped on the edge of the open space and was now staring up at the sun. Curious one.

The boy stirred and stood. The noise of voices was cut off as sharp as if it had been cut. The breath of each and every person gathered caught as an electric tingle shot up their spine. The boy had not made it painful, but he hadn't needed to. All he needed was a moment's silence. "Welcome," the boy said. "As I said, I am the one who brought you to this place. I will be your keeper and guardian for a time, starting now. I do hope you all will get along for a bit."

“Now then, as for where you are,” he said, addressing the crowd. The boy stepped off of the edge of his stage and fell soundlessly onto the ground. He walked over to the rocks next to the waterfall and stuck his hand into a crack in the rock. Something in the rock clicked, and a second later the entire waterfall turned, revealing a walkway carved into the rock where the waterfall had been. At the end of the walkway was a metal door set into the stone. “You are home. Or at least, what will be your home for the next few months.”

He should have been shouted at, should have been laughed at. He was just a boy, but he acted like he was in charge. But he had just made a waterfall open up to reveal a hidden doorway. It was completely hidden. If they went through that doorway, no one would ever be able to find them from the outside. Standing just feet from the curtain of water, no one would think to look behind it.

The boy spoke again, “This place will be your home. I would like to say you are free to leave, but that would be a lie. Once you walk through that door you will not be able to leave without my permission.” He paused, allowing for people to object.

"i'm confused. I don't understand what's going on, maybe you can explain?" Richard Richardson asked. "I don't understand anything that's going on. How long was I asleep?" His sincerity was apparent from his voice and the look on his face. "I kind of want an explanation. This whole thing is weird, and frankly quite scary. I don't need to be any weird and creepier from everything that's going on."

Billy:

Billy listened intently as the boy spoke, he really just wanted to play in the lake but he sat, crossed legged like the start of gym, focused on the boy as if he couldn’t look away. His mouth dropped opened as the boy pushed his hand into the rock, creating a walkway. There was a metal door at the end of the walkway.
“This place will be your home. I would like to say you are free to leave, but that would be a lie. Once you walk through that door you will not be able to leave without my permission.” the boy said and even though Billy heard those words, clear as day, he failed to fully understand them. Time was not something that Billy understood fully yet. He would play with this strange boy, who could makes things appear, until it was time for his parents to come and get him. Then he would spend all night telling them about the weird friend he made, while they smiled down at him with love in their eyes.
Before he walked through that door though, Billy knew he had to play in the water.

When the dark boy, who from others' eyes may have appeared to be close in age to the boy who had abducted them but was indisputably different, asked his question, the hooded boy looked around at the gathered people. "How long were you asleep?" he repeated the boy's question. "Would someone care to answer that question?" He didn't bother saying 'someone with a watch' because those who went to check the time on their phones would find that it was not on them. Indeed, the boy had stripped them of all electronic devices that could contact the outside world.

Where the boy stood, right as the walkway around the pool of water began, anyone who wished to get to the door would have to walk within inches of him or else through the pool. He watched unconcerned as the youngest of those gathered ran over to the water. That one's chance of survival would be low. Curiosity and ignorance and misfortune. It was nothing he hadn't seen before.

Shimmer

Shimmer didn't want to trust this boy, but it was either go with the boy or die. Then she saw Billy jump into the water. "Billy are you ok, you could get sick." Even though Shimmer didn't have to watch over the boy, he was like her little brother even if she stopped watching him when he had turned 4. Before Shimmer started to walk through the rock passage she had to ask the strange boy, with the soulless eyes a question. "Umm... boy, sorry I don't know your name, but I'm Shimmer and I have a question." Shimmer didn't know if she was shaking from being cold or scared or both, but she ignored it. "Are you going to kill us or something, do some type of experiment?" Shimmer couldn't afford to be killed 2 months before prom she was going to be Prom Queen. "I'm a Warrington, my family is really rich, if you let me go I can give you any amount of money you want." Shimmer didn't know if this would work but she had to try anything.

“I just want to get home. My little sister’s sick in bed, I have to find out if she’s okay.”

This sentence replayed itself over and over in Lucy's head as she followed the others to where the boy was. This guy, who she'd never even really met, was so worried about his little sister. It seemed he didn't even care about what was happening to himself. It was strange, that this would stick with her, but as she watched her own sister, she realized that it was so much different than how they were feeling. Sure, she could say that they weren't worried about each other because they were both here... but it wouldn't be entirely truthful.

A small sigh escaped her lips, but her attention was eventually drawn from her thoughts and to the door that emerged from the water. It was crazy. All of this was just crazy. If she hadn't been sure before, the fact that her sister was dead silent said that Lucy was not the only one thinking this. Where were they? Who was this? And just what was going on? It was too much. She placed her head in her hands in an attempt to stop the dizzying panic.

If only she could think of a song...

_____________________________________________

Elena surprised herself when she was silent for a few moments. It wasn't that she had nothing to say. It was more that she could not get it out of her throat. In fact, she could barely breathe. This child had kidnapped them. Kidnapped by a kid! How ridiculous it sounded, and yet... why did it feel so real? Why did she have the feeling that once she went through that door, there was a very real possibility that she would not be coming out?

It wasn't long, however, before her voice returned. "No! No way! Are you crazy? You expect us to agree to all of this? And just who do you think you are ordering us around? There is no way you'd be able to keep any of us where we didn't want to be, except maybe him." She pointed to the little boy who seemed excited to be here. The poor thing had no idea that they were probably in danger. He just saw a friend. This somehow made Elena angrier. Her fists balled up and her voice got even louder if it was at all possible.

"No! There is no way I'm going through that door, and there is no way that you are going to make me! I am going home. Right. Now."

Money? Strange, people put so much value in something so worthless. Paper bills and metal coins became worthless with time. He used money on occasion, usually paying for others' needs, but he never needed any of it himself. Thinking she could buy her way out of her problems. So human. So foolishly human.

The other girl, not the quiet blonde, the copper-haired one, she was smarter. Too bad he couldn't just let her leave like she wanted to. He was really being too cruel to them all. No, to allow them to simply leave and go on their ways would be even more cruel.

"Very well, go home. Go home to your families and your parents and your siblings and your loved ones. Go home and kill every single person around you." The boy walked closer to the girl, until she was looking down at him because he was too close. He didn't look up, just continued to speak. "That's what will happen if you go, probably." The boy crossed his arms beneath his green cloak. "I didn't take you here to torment or torture you. I took you because you are dangerous to those around you. Who knows how many people you will end up killing if I just let you go now."

He was lying, but not about the possibility of them accidentally killing anyone and everyone around them. That was a very real and very likely possibility. He was lying about that being why he had taken them. The boy had allowed gods to rampage in the past, and he couldn't have cared less if these ones did the same. He was only doing what he was told to to, saying what he was told to say. Just for a little while, he would play the role of the puppet. He hated his role, but he needed the information Aryan claimed to have.

"I doubt you'd just take the word of the person who abducted you, especially given that he is only a child, so... proof." The boy turned and walked away from the girl with the copper hair, and then he stopped and spun around. A golden dagger flashed past her, thrown by the boy, seeming into the heart of the gathered crowd. But it didn't even come close to anyone but the one he had meant to hit. The boy with the white hair. The fallen star, who even now was standing far back at the edge of the treeline staring up at the sun in ignorance of its blinding light.

A normal throw, but still nearly faster than the human reaction speed. He might have been able to avoid it if he had started to move when the boy released the blade, but he didn't show any sign of noticing the danger at all. As it was, he didn't really need to acknowledge the danger. The blade slowed as it neared its target, stopping all forward motion completely before coming within a foot of hitting the young man. As it did so, it began shaking, slightly at first and then more violently, until the blade simply vibrated apart. It broke up into large pieces, each vibrating more violently then the previous piece, and then those pieces broke apart, and again and again until nothing was left at all but a slight humming that faded into nothing. And the young man with the white hair just continued to stare up at the sun.

The boy turned to face the copper-haired girl again. "All of you have something similar, and I am going to guess you have no knowledge of that. No control over it at all." The boy pulled another dagger from inside his cloak, completely identical to the one that had just been destroyed. It was an elegant thing, more ceremonial than meant for actual combat use, but he'd made them for both. Appearances were everything to an immortal who only had his reputation to make and ruin with the ages. The blade was curved, polished steel, and the hilt was gold with the appearance of rope for the grip. At the end was a emerald gem, perfectly round. He had made them as works of art as much as tools of death, and he had just thrown one away. "That was what happened to solid metal. What would happen if someone close to you... simply got too close to you?"

Chris:

He was done with this. Too much insanity, all these people listening to a child as if he held the answers. Anyone could’ve stepped up, spoken words thickly laced with somber meaning and had the attention of everyone. But it wasn’t anyone, not the damned teacher or the shady dealer, no, it was a kid.

This is ridiculous. Chris wasn’t about to leave his sister home alone for a few months over the words of a child. No, he wouldn’t leave her alone to deal with oppressiveness that they shared; mother. Not for the words of some…

Some what? Even as he thought to himself about the situation, the word - child - rang false in his mind. Looking around at all those gathered here the word only fit the blonde boy trying to grab fish out of the water.

Finally, someone was talking. That loud girl who made his ears ring, so use to the sound of music that human conversation seemed alien to him, was saying just what he thought. This was fucking insanity.

Chris wanted to share his voice to her cause, to stand behind her. Allow her to be his standard in the battle of sanity that this day turned into. He was ready to speak his mind as well, to hell with who listened, when the child who didn’t truly seem a child approached her, speaking without directing.

He spoke of murder, or violence without aim. But that wasn’t what stunned Chris back, further, into his silent shell. No, it was his display of “proof”. A golden dagger, that reminded him of a Metallica album, flashed out; cutting through the air in perfect arc towards one of the strangers gathered in the crowd.

Chris slammed his eyes shut, waiting for the screams; waiting to hear the blood spill.

The screams never came. He opened his eyes. The dagger was floating in the air, held aloft by nothingness. Chris’ mouth fell open even as the dagger began to shake, to quiver violently until it tore itself apart, again and again, until nothing was left.

Speechless, Chris turned to regard the child-not-child again who was pulling out another dagger. He was speaking, "That was what happened to solid metal. What would happen if someone close to you... simply got too close to you?". As those words hammered his ears, Chris couldn’t help but picture his sisters face. The brown hair that cascaded over her shoulders slowly turning a sickly, tangled red as he tried to embrace her.

He shut his eyes, again, in an attempt to remove the image from his mind.

A song. I need a song. Any song.

The blonde teenager was having a hard time controlling herself. Her hands were shaking, and she felt like her world was ending. Though she hadn't been near anyone to begin with, Lucy tried to move even further away. Was he telling them that they all had a power like that? That those powers could potentially kill anyone who got too close?

Trying to calm herself down, she began to breathe deeply. However, the one thing she wanted she still did not have: a song to relate to this moment in time. It was this that showed her level of stress if nothing else did.

Killing with love and power in God's name
People, stop hurting people

It was close. If they really had powers like the one who had destroyed the knife without even looking... then perhaps they were like Gods. Finally, Lucy began to calm down. She believed the boy, about the powers if nothing else. If going into that place would keep herself and everyone around her safe...

A sigh escaped her lips, and she spoke to the boy for the first time. "I'll go."

_____________________________________________

Elena on the other hand was still having none of this. "Powers? What? You expect us to believe that we can all do something like that even though none of us have before? We're not superheros! They don't exist! This is a trick that you're using to get us to do what you want." A shiver ran through her as she looked at the door again.

But her sister had agreed. This caused Elena to look at her younger sibling with just the slightest bit of concern. She didn't really believe the boy, even after what she'd seen, and part of her was convinced this was a dream. But what if it wasn't? What if he was telling the truth? Lucy believed him. Or she was worried too much about other people to take the chance.

What about me? What do I feel? she asked herself, but could not find the answer. If she truly believed she could hurt someone, Elena would be going through that door, but right now, denial of what she'd seen and experienced seemed the best way to go.

"I'm still confused. What's going on? This is like one of those retarded music videos on MTV that don't make any sense. . . I'm scared, I'm weak and tired and I want to go home." Richard stated. "I'm sick of the nitemares, the terrors and the insanity. Just let me go!"

"Trick?" The boy held up the second dagger to catch the sun's light. "No, no trick. I suppose that was a bad example. It would have been difficult to confirm whether he was actually responsible for the blade's destruction. Invisible powers are potent, but for this purpose I require something a bit flashier."

The boy's eyes found the girl with the fire hair. She was panicking quite loudly. It wouldn't do to cause her any more reason to panic. So the boy waited until her back was to him before launching the dagger at her head. It flew straight at her, and then all of a sudden there was a rushing sound as the dirt around her was lifted up into the air and the blade was knocked high into the air. It disappeared into the far treetops.

No, that one was no good either. He needed one that could be seen clearly. Something that visibly came from its owner. The golden dagger that he had just thrown reappeared in the boy's outstretched hand suddenly. He'd had to search through half the forest to find the thing, but it was worth retrieving. Next target then.

The blonde girl, she was a blood relation to the loud one, and a close one at that. They would be sisters most likely. The loud one didn't look old enough to be the other's mother, and the other was less likely. The boy threw the dagger at her, at the blonde sister. What better way of convincing the loud one. If this one was a dud as well he would have to just throw one at her next. She would no doubt become even louder if he did that though, whereas the sister showing the power was likely to make her less loud, if only temporarily.

The dagger hit true, the tip touching right between the blonde girl's eyes right before the world lit up brighter than a fallen star. The boy contained the initial blast of energy and sound with a cage of metal and his body. If he hadn't the girl's power would have in the best case scenario killed everyone around her. In the worse case scenario, it would have awoken the powers of all of the gods at once. Damn gods of lightning, always having to go overboard.

When the initial flash faded, the cage of metal was long gone without a sign of ever being built and the boy stood where he had without any sign of injury or indeed even movement. But there was a small crater around the girl's feet, and lining the bottom was freshly created glass. The air around her still crackled with sparks of electricity as her hair slowly returned to its 'down' position. The boy was surprised to see that that part of her body had been affected by the electricity. The rest of her body had been completely untouched. No, not untouched. The electricity had come from her in the first place. It was likely the electricity had simply tried to escape in every way it could. Still, he'd never seen a god of lightning have their hair stand up like that. Though he supposed he'd never seen a god of lightning with quite so much hair to begin with.

The boy turned without a word and walked to the door. He stopped before it and turned just enough to look into the dark boy's eye. "You're a god, what right do you have to be afraid?" He pushed it inwards and then slid it to the left into the side of the rock wall. The metal handle prevented the door from completely disappearing. He walked through the doorway without a second glance behind. He was mildly upset at having lost two of his daggers in such a short time. The boy stood just inside the doorway so that he couldn't be seen from outside. The hallway he stood in was unlit, with perfectly smooth floors and walls of white, though in the shadows they appeared more gray except where the light from the doorway fell. He waited patiently, looking into the darkness passively.

Richard simply walked through the door. . . "God? God what? Are you trying to cuss or something?" Dick asked. "I'm not a deity, if that's what you're saying. If I was a god, I would make a world where I could give whupping cough to Republicans and Democrats, and permanent strep throat to cheaters, micro penis and hypogonadism to rapists, and AIDs to the Westboro Baptist Church." Richard stated humorously, trying to make light of the situation. "As it stands, I would rather not be Human, that's for damn sure. Are you entirely serious when you call us deities?"