Destiny Seekers

CHAPTER 1: VIOLENCE DOES NOT SOLVE EVERYTHING!

It was raining back then… I was waiting for a girl on a street in front of a coffee shop…

Apparently she was a long-time friend… sort of… She messaged me to meet up here…

Looking at the busy street… I realized that all human are the protagonist of their own lives…

It’s funny to think that when I was a child, I thought that I was the best… and stuff like I am the king of the world…

Fun times… Oh… Is that her across the street? She is wearing the same greyish black formal suit and those black rectangular eyeglasses. Damn, she is still beautiful as always… not that I haven’t seen her for a long time. I wonder why she asked me to meet here? She’s finally approaching me… what should I do? Should I say hi or pretend that I haven’t seen her yet?

I should say hi…

“Hi, Felicity… it’s been so long…”

“It’s been so long indeed… Anton. You still look the same as always…” she flashed me with her irresistible smile. “So… should we get inside and order?”

“O-oh… yeah… of course…”

I was stunned for a bit… but I can’t help it. So, we went in… found our seats, and then a waiter approached us and took our orders. While waiting for the food, I needed to break the ice…

“So… Fel, what are you going to discuss with me?”

“Straightforward as always,” she chuckled. “Actually… I’ve been thinking about what you told me last time… that you’d be the better man… unlike the past lovers that I had. You always supported me even when you were suffering from a breakup as well…”

“Well you know me… I am always here for you…” I smiled back at her, “Helping a friend in times of trouble… it’s the typical ME, right?”

“That’s the problem…” she suddenly frowned and seemed gloomy, “You’re always like that… I can’t help it… but…”

She stopped for a bit and looked at me… this time… seriously. I wasn’t aware of what she would say next… I hoped I was… Actually, I wished I knew what she’d tell me next…”

“I don’t want us to just be friends, Anton.” She dropped those lines… “I love you…”

I was speechless. I was happy, but that she told me her true feelings. I was meaning to tell her those myself countless of times. I wondered why she had more courage to tell me when I never had… was it because we were friends and I wanted to keep it that way? Or was it because I was just a coward?

It didn’t matter anymore… for after I held her hand… and answered, “I love you too…”

Our destinies were sealed…

A madman entered the coffee shop and fired his rifle on all of those he could see…

It was supposed to be me that was shot… but Fel…

“WHY DID YOU USE YOURSELF TO PROTECT ME?!”

The man was quickly apprehended but the damage had been done… a lot of innocent civilians including Fel died that day… and I was one of those who survived the traumatic incident…

After her funeral… I silently disappeared…

“MR. G, Wake up! You’re having a nightmare MR. G!”

A male voice suddenly shakes me as I awake from my dream. It’s Mr. X…

“Mr. X… Are we already here?” I rubbed my eyes and looked around as other passengers started going down the bus we were riding in. “Oh, I guess we’re here…”

Mr. X looked at me with and shook his head while laughing, “I guess we are. So, what was your dream?”

“It… was… nothing… actually…”

“Then move your asses and get out of the bus,” our other companion, Mr. S, yells at us outside. “We still have to ride the train!!!”

“You heard the old man,” Mr. X grinned.

“I heard that!” Mr. S angrily yelled again.

After transferring to the train to travel to our destination, we found our seats and waited for the train to leave, we had some few discussions. Mr. S, the anti-god, can go toe-to-toe with gods because that is his blessing. Mr. X, the destiny’s coil, is imbued with the blessing of luck… he cannot die as long as he knows how to use his blessing. As for me, Mr. G, my blessing is intuitive prophecy. I can see the future… but not all future can be seen though… sometimes… gods mess up the timelines. The Destiny Weavers, as they were once called, were supposed to be the preservers of fates. They shouldn’t allow gods to mess up the timelines… and yet… now they are called the Destiny Seekers… seeking fates to mess up with… Of course, just because my blessing is to see the future, it doesn’t mean that I am the weakest link. In fact, my power to see the future is a great help when it comes to avoiding certain injury or death.

“You’re spacing out again, Mr. G,” Mr. S tapped me in the shoulder. “Are you sure that a Destiny Seeker will be involved to where we are going?”

Before I could answer, Mr. X butts in, “You know old man, he told everything… the right universe, the right living planet, and the right location. Why are you still doubting him? Can’t you see he has his own issues?” he then winks at me.

“Look, boy,” Mr. S gets a mad again, “I’m not old per se… I am just more experienced than you are. Also, I am just making sure of things. I don’t want to mess up like last time…”

“Last time?” I tried to recall his most recent mission. “Oh… you mean the one god from the gods of reality, Vol-jan?”

Mr. X smirked, “You had to remind him…”

“Sorry…” I lowered my head just in case.

Mr. S turns his face away from us and went to view the farm outside through the window of the locomotive.

“So, Mr. G,” Mr. X suddenly asked me a question that I would make me choke, “Who’s Fel?”

“H-How did you?”

“You were talking in your sleep…” Mr. X gives me a candy, “For someone who can see the future… you are clinging to your past.”

“Fel is… a special person in my past,” I clenched my fist trying to hide my guilt. “I am not the only person clinging to his past anyway…” I looked back at him.

“I’m not trying to hide anything…” Mr. X sighed and puts on his X-marked mask, “We all have something we hold onto…”

As the two of them, Mr. X and Mr. G, went silent… we put our point of view towards Mr. S as he was reminded of his past as well…

I remember my name being Don and I was once a part of a trio. There was Garry, the popular one… there was Germany, the intelligent one… and then there was me, the comic-relief, the bromance to Garry as they say, and the annoying friend of Germany. The two hit it off and got married… I was the best man and so I left on a journey towards self-actualization. It was going well until… I was recruited by the Supreme Being of Balance, Exal, Himself. It was boring… actually… not that I had lung cancer for being a smoker…

He recognized my skills and offered me to be Mr. S as a replacement of the previous one who apparently betrayed him. To become an emissary of balance, I was given immortality for a kickoff. He told me that I would only age until my birthday and then it resets again… over and over. The thing though for me is that… I discovered that I had cancer 7 months after my 29th birthday and that I could never reach the age of 30 because it loops back. My cancer though… it will stay… that’s the worst part. I never stopped smoking though… coughing out blood is a pretty normal experience for me. I’m actually pretty well for 8 months… the cancer attacks me in the beginning of the 9th month and would grow worse till the end of the loop, my birthday.

Today is the 7th month in the calendar that we follow… though. Enough about me…

I turned my eye towards Mr. X’s direction. I pity this guy though… his parents died in an accident, his brother committed suicide, and his best friend or cousin… was shot in front of him by his own uncle. Apparently his planet was destroyed and he was saved by the previous Mr. X whom he replaced. Then, he asked me to train him how to fight against gods… he told me he was able to subdue one but of course… a human can’t kill a god… so… that’s that. The one chance I could see him winning is his power to twist his own destiny and make himself lucky every time… lucky enough to be immune to all illness, lucky enough to escape death, and lucky enough to be Lord Exal’s favorite. This kid however, hates to be pampered around so I guess there is no way I would get jealous of him…

After a few hours of travel, the trio finally arrived to the target city for the next mission. This time, the point of view will go back to Mr. G.

“You’re not asleep, are you?” Mr. X waved his hands in front of my face.

“No…”

“Where are we heading next, Mr. G?” Mr. S stretched out his arms as he got out.

“We have a few more hours before the mass shooting at the mall,” I thought for a moment. “We should rendezvous… or ambush them at their warehouse.”

“That way it wouldn’t be crowded and we’ll have less casualties,” Mr. X grinned at me. “Good choice…”

“Then we need to hijack a car,” Mr. S seemed to plan to go to the parking area.

“Or… we could ride a taxi,” Mr. X sighed. “What do you think?”

“I think riding a taxi is better,” I seconded with Mr. X’s plan. “It is a lot safer, I guess.”

Mr. S began coughing and the both of us noticed that he coughed out a bit of blood. It could be from his cancer.

“So it’s that time of the year again, huh?” I looked at Mr. S. “Are you going to be alright?”

“Yeah,” Mr. S wiped of the blood from his hands using his handkerchief. “The worst months would start at the ninth.”

“Nailed it,” Mr. X grinned. “I finally got us a taxi.”

While inside the taxi with me and Mr. X behind, and Mr. S in front beside the driver, I felt my anger swelling up at the chance of meeting the killer of my beloved Fel. This was the only reason why I joined this mission… revenge. I know that Violence is the one behind all of this mass shooting that I’ve foreseen. I usually do not foresee something like this where the gods would intervene with fate, but I’ve trained my prophetic blessing further just for this.

When we arrived a few blocks away from the warehouse, all of us suited up with our masks. Mr. X wore the traditional emissary blue cloak and traditional brown mask that would spread throughout our bodies turning our skin-tone wood brown, Mr. S wore his custom-made gold and silver cloak and his traditional brown mask, while I wore… also my custom-made futuristic, dark silvery blue cloak and my customized mask shaped like a headset spreading throughout my body turning me to the technological combination of silver and black armored emissary.

“Your armor really suits your visual futuristic powers,” Mr. X took out his two silenced pistols. “These babies aren’t much… but they do their jobs.”

“Surprise-surprise,” I brought out my silenced submachineguns. “I’ve got a pair as well…”

“Gentlemen,” Mr. S brandished his swords out. “Let us not compare our weapons. We have a mission to accomplish…”

“You mean a god to beat,” Mr. X grinned as he habitually crossed his fingers. “Cross your fingers… coz we’re gonna get lucky~”

Violence, one of the Destiny Seekers, is a parasite god. He burrows deep within the confines of the soul of his human host feeding his superego and empowering his id. The id is said to be the impulsivity of a man… that which is free from inhibitions… the drive, the basic instinct of a human being without all other essences coming into play. The superego, on the other hand, is taking on the role of the disciplinarian, the morality, the one that prevents a person to do the dumbest thing in the world. It sets the standards for a person to be able to review his own plans for his own actions.

Violence was the one who killed Mr. G’s loved one before… and this time, we’ll go to the point of view of this parasite god. This time, he was the one fully in control of his human host…

“Pack that bus with a whole lot of explosives and let’s get prepared to show them that our religion is the one that reigns supreme above all else!” he exclaimed through the man as he used its own thoughts to influence his comrades.

His comrades roared back showing their dedication wanting to die for their religious belief! But, it suddenly stopped as one of the terrorists hurried over to his side with a major report!

“Boss! We have three unidentified masked men approaching our warehouse!”

“What?!” he clenched his fists. “Well drive them away!!! Why would you report it to me, IMBECILE!?”

CRASH! The warehouse’s gate opened wide as the trio entered the building. Silently killing the terrorists guarding the gates, shocking the rest inside, and angering Violence even more! It felt awesome being in the front lines with the fighters. Usually, as a prophetic seer, I only assisted on the sidelines telling them where to go and what would happen so that they could somehow prevent it.

“Well-well Mr. G, who is our main target?” Mr. S looked around as he wiped off the blood from his blades, “All of them are terrorists actually so we should just kill them but one of you guys here… is a Destiny Seeker! Show yourself and spare the rest of the mortals!”

“Shoot him,” Violence ordered his comrades, “Don’t let anyone foil our plans!”

As the bullets were shot, I activated my armor’s force field to shield them from the flurry of bullets, “I found him… he’s mine!”

“Wait, what?!” Mr. X is shoved off as I charged at Violence. “What the hell is his problem?”

“The enemy is using some kind of technology!”

“We can’t stop him!”

“Stay out of my way!” I forcefully shoved them to the sides as I make my way to their leader, “VIOLENCE!!!”

“s**t!” Violence had no other choice but to burst out of the leader of the terrorists.

Shocking all of us, with the leader’s back torn out in gory and stomach churning way, Violence, in his Metamorphosed form emerged. He appeared to look a mutated and monstrous bug with a terrifying gaze like that only seen in movies.

The appearance didn’t matter as I jumped towards the beast and delivered my attack… an attack filled with vengeance, hatred, and agony. The monster accepted all of it and stumbled on the ground.

“Man… you pack a punch,” Mr. X grinned.

Mr. S just smirked…

The other terrorists fled but were stopped in their tracks by the sound of sirens outside. That’s right, we told the taxi driver to report to the police. As for us, we decided to draw the first blood on all of the Destiny Seekers out there. Actually, it was them who drew the first blood when they attacked Mr. X years ago… this was just our payback. This time, we’ll pay it quadruple.

During the commotion, Violence fired up a portal to escape back to his world.

That was his biggest mistake…

Before the portal closed, the three of us jumped in!

“FIRST, YOU FOILED MY PLANS! NEXT, YOU FOLLOWED ME IN MY DOMAIN!” Violence grew bigger and bigger as he angrily approached the three of us, “YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!!!”

BANG! Mr. X seemed to have removed the suppressor from his pistol. But that’s not the important thing here! The thing was… he shot one of Violence’s antennae off!

“No-no-no-no-no,” Mr. X removed the other suppressor from his gun. “You will deliver a message to Suoic Ipsus for me… … the one and only Mr. X. Tell him after I shoot off all of your limbs and that remaining antenna of yours… that I AM BACK!”

“Of course, that is if… we don’t kill you first,” Mr. S brandished his twin blades. “By that, I mean… we should just write a note on his carcass… telling them that you are back.”

“Boys…” I stepped in front of them, “I want to be the one to deliver the coup de grace on this demon…”

“ROAR!!!” the god seemed pissed off as he charges at all of us. “YOU WILL PAY FOR DISRESPECTING THE GREAT VIOLENCE!!!”

“DESTINY’S COIL…” Mr. X muttered as he crossed his fingers and then turned them like opening a door with a key…

Just by doing that, the monster inexplicably slipped to the side instead of heading straight towards us…

This is the power of Mr. X… the power to escape fate… the power to twist them… and escape death…

“Oi, attack the bastard while he’s still confused as to why he’s tripped,” Mr. X yawned as he aimed at the god.

“THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!” the demonic god took some of the shots while immediately evading the sharp slices of Mr. S. “YOU WILL NOT DISGRACE MY NAME!!!”

Violence, looking for a way to defeat us, decided on his best way possible and jumped into Mr. S and tried to take over his soul!!!

SLASH!!!

“Not gonna happen,” Mr. S grinned as the demon god got repelled from getting inside of his body and getting slashed by his blades. “One thing you need to know about an anti-god is that… … …god powers, no matter how powerful they are, will be very useless against me…”

“NOOOOO!!!” the demonic god yelled in panic as he tried to dive into Mr. X next!

However… … … BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!!

The demon got repelled again for some reason and vomited a lot of his own god blood from the bullets shot by Mr. X!

“What do you know?” Mr. X grinned, “I’m LUCKY enough to be immune to being possessed! Or is it… parasitized?”

“THIS IS NOT HAPPENING!!!” Violence finally set his sight on me… “YOU MUST BE IMMUNE AS WELL!!!”

While he tried to possess the others, I concentrated all of my armor’s energy into a single area… just to deal with the finishing blow as they slowly weaken him out. But, I hope this was enough to kill him…

“Too bad… I’m not… IMMUNE… You just had a bad choice!” I replied as I fired my energy blast to finally take him out of the picture.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”