"Am I dead?" My voice echoed, a white void blinded my eyes. As I stood, it felt like I was upon the clouds. The ground shifted and swirled making it impossible to keep balanced. I sucked a breath of cold air and tried to focus on what had just happened. My heart unlocked the pain it was repressing.

Fear crawled up my back as I remembered those bloody eyes. They saw through any facade of courage and materialized any and all fear to bubble to the surface. I could feel the ash burning my skin and the fangs cut deep into my soul. The stressful memories became unbearable and I trembled.

I focused and tried to remember what had happened before pushing the fear away. I was running towards the church, A pit formed in my stomach as I thought about Lily, Sister Mia, and the rest of the children. "If only I had the strength to move, I could have saved them. I am weak, pathetic, worthless." I cried out

"All of those things are true; you are a coward. A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a short cut to meet it." A voice rang out.

"Who is there? Where am I?" I yelled out. I could see a blurry man in the corner of my eye. But when I shifted my gaze to look at him, he was gone.

"I am a Keeper of sorts. As for this place, I am sure you'll eventually come to find out the true meaning behind it. " The old man slowly mumbled. A misty appearance of him came into existence. I was about to open my mouth when he interrupted me, "I am sure you have questions, and I'll come to answer them in time. For now, you may ask me one question."

"One question? I need answers; one question isn't going to cut it old man." I retorted, the Keeper remained silent and calm. For a moment, there was silence. I regained my composure and asked, "What happened?"

"That is a rather broad question; I assume you mean what happened two and a half weeks ago up until now. But the reality of the situation is that this has been a pivotal moment in a long historical process."

"I don't understand," I replied

The Keeper formed into a misty existence again "Humanity has taken the earth for granted. Earth provides enough to satisfy civilizations needs, but not all of its greed. Modern Civilization is the epitome for growth. However, growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. Man will continue to ravage the earth and take until there is nothing left for it to give. For the earth to survive, humans must erase from existence."

"It almost sounds like you want that to happen," I replied.

The Keeper sighed. "I don't wish for it to be so, there is beauty in humanity if you know where to find it. There is beauty in all things; you have to know where to search for it. However, she doesn't feel that way." The old man slowly replied.

"She who?" I asked the Keeper

A brown leather book shimmered in his hand "This is for you. There is a lot of things you must learn about yourself and the world. You need to experience it yourself rather than learn it from me."

"No, look this is dumb. It's insanity; this is an apocalypse where do you get off on getting all philosophical. People are dying. People I know. You didn't answer anything. If you want to help me, give me a home to go back to and make this all go away." I yelled, angrily at the Keeper.

A sudden pressure-filled the space around me and anger rolled off the old man, in a deep voice he replied: "This is not a lesson I can teach to a boy, you need to come back a man."

"Come back, what does that mean?" I yelled back at him.

The Keeper snapped.

...

I looked up. "The sky. It's blue! I am back! Was this all just a bad dream!" I screamed out. "Wait, this is sand?" I felt softness run through my fingers. Then smelt the aroma of the sea breeze and saw something breathtaking, emerald green seawater and the sun beginning to set on the Horizon. The waves were gently caressing the beach and the wind blowing through the trees. 

Where am I? I felt something in my hand and looked down; It's the book from before. I grabbed the edges and flipped the yellow page.

There was nothing written in the book; I flipped through the pages each the same as the last. This book is entirely fucking blank!!! "Suppose to help me my ass; there is nothing in here!" I screamed and threw the book into the ocean.

I stood up and looked around and paced along the shore. Something strummed at my heart. I became anxious, and darkness loomed over me, I began to panic and looked towards the ocean the beautiful emerald green sea slowly turned black. Gray clouds covered the once clear sky.

Without an ounce of hesitation; I ran to the shore. When I stepped into the water, it engulfed me. A strong current pulled me down further into the deep. There was no bottom in sight as I looked for the book. I saw a faint glow in the distance. 

The book was sinking into the abyss, and my heart began to feel heavy. I swam towards the light, inching closer and closer. My vision began to fade as I reached for the book. I felt something brush past my hand, and I could feel a force thrusting me out of the water. I laid in the shallow end of the bay — the book in my hand.

"What is so special about this book, anyway?" I opened the cover to read a sentence that hadn't been there before. 

The Journey for a Boy and the Destination of a Man

"What's that supposed to mean?" All of a sudden, fire engulfed the book. Red runes emerged from the book spiraling around the pages, slowly making their way up my arms and shoulders. The runes of light covered my body and began to sink into my skin. "AGHHH" the pain was excruciating, like all the skin on my body was being branded by white-hot metal.