Children of a Lesser God

Have you ever dreamed of flying? Ever think how that would feel? Kind of like floating in a swimming pool? But if you were to try to fly through the air like that, you would look amazingly stupid.

And that was what happened to Laz. Although the 'ground' in the sky was ok to walk on, Laz noticed that both Malene and Ruby had actually suspended themselves in the air as though they were floating. Not only that, but they could move around almost naturally. A little lean this way or a slight turn that way allowed them to float like fireflies in the night sky.

So seeing them being so natural about it, almost like that were dancing, Laz tried his best to do the same.

After several rounds of spinning in circles, ended up face first on the ground and even floating in place upside down, the girls who had been laughing the whole time, took pity on him.

After floating over to him, they grabbed Laz's hands and pulled him up.

"For height, think of it like walking on stairs," Malene advised.

"Movement doesn't need to involve your whole body. It starts at your base and effects your entire self. Any large movements will cause you to become unsteady," Ruby followed up with.

Over the course of the next thirty minutes, the girls took turns moving around with Laz, dancing with him in the air and giving him advice on how to move. Although it was anything but graceful, by the end, Laz had gotten a feel for it. Although his movements didn't look natural or graceful like the girls did, they were no longer entirely stiff and incontrollable.

"This is incredible," Laz said with a face full of wonder.

"I'm surprised," Ruby said, looking at Laz's expression.

"About what?" He asked back.

"We've never seen you so excited before," Malene answered, looking at him as well.

In truth, out of the last four years of his life, the girls never really did spend much time with him. In fact, if it wasn't for the strange properties of his that seemed to link him with them, they might have just all ended up as ships passing in the night. Although that could no longer happen, it still meant that their were parts of each other that they still had left to uncover. The girls themselves might know each other pretty well, but to them, Laz was still a bit of a mystery.

Then again, when even Laz paused to think about it, he probably hadn't been this excited in years.

"Ha ha. Of course. This is flying. Who doesn't dream of soaring around like a bird, free from the constraints of the world."

"Would you like to hear our theory?" Ruby asked him.

"Sure."

"When we are strong enough, perhaps the power in our bodies will allow us to fly like this in the real world too."

"Really?" Laz said, intrigued.

"Yeah. We've done quite a bit of study in this separate realm that was made. Things like gravity do exist, but because the world is so small and shielded, the effects that would normally apply here are greatly reduced. Gravity, the denseness of air and space, the refraction of light. All of the parts of nature we are used to are present, but in such a limited number that our own abilities allow us to escape it here. Therefore, we figure that once we have grown strong enough, we can escape the principles of our own world as well. As to how strong that is... who knows? Maybe you have to reach the level of a god to do that..." Malene commented, revealing their findings.

It was an interesting thought, one Laz never put much time into. What level were these gods at? What about A'ruya? Could they actually reach that level one day?.

He didn't know.

"Alright. Well, now that you've got a feeling for it, what do you say? Want to take on these weak little girls by yourself? Or would you prefer a little one on one action?" The way Ruby said this, Laz felt a cold sweat on his back.

'Weak little girls? You're both at the late stage foundation realm while I'm at the middle stage. Doesn't that make me the weak one?' Laz though to himself, but he didn't say it. Perhaps it was pride or knowing that these were his women, but he felt like he couldn't show weakness.

"No. It's fine. Come on then. Both of you together?" Laz put on a show a bravado... but his voice at the end seemed a little weaker than he had intended.

Laughing, The girls couldn't help but eye him like pray.

"Now... Now... remember that I'm still a bit unused to the movements here..." Before Laz could even argue for mercy, Ruby swung her claw like hand at Laz, causing three streaks of red light to come charging at him. The light itself looked like rips in the air.

Using his feet like he was on solid ground, Laz quickly retreated, jumping to the side fast enough to allow for the light to pass by him. As it was, the streaks of light continued on until they hit the giant clock tower a little ways away, causing the top of the tower to be cut into slices like a hot knife through butter.

"GOD DAMN..." Laz said, looking at the falling structure behind him. What was even more amazing was that as he watched it crumbled, it suddenly froze like time had stopped. Then, before his flabbergasted eyes, the tower put itself back together like he was watching it rewind. In merely a moment, Big Ben looked completely unharmed.

Laz's head looked like it was on fire as he looked from the girls back to the tower and back again, almost like he didn't believe what he was seeing.

"You think that's interesting?" Malene said with a laugh. Her multicolored body suddenly took on an orangish/reddish tint as the other colors retreated. Raising her hands before her, she brought them together with her palms facing out towards Laz. Just as he was wondering what she was doing, a giant ball of flame formed and launched at him like a volleyball.

Seeing the ball of flame that was three times the size of him, Laz again bolted, jumping up and barely managing the dive over the incoming projectile.

Having missed it's target, the ball continued on until it hit another building in the distance. As the large fire ball made contact with the building, it exploded outwards, causing a large crater to form at the impact site while the rest of the building was engulfed in flames. It took seconds before the building became structurally unsound and began to collapse.

Once again though, just before it came down entirely, the build seemed to freeze in place while time rewound itself, causing the building to be returned to perfect condition.

"Shit..." Laz, now a bit used to seeing this, had another thought in his head. What would have happened if that fire ball had hit him.

With this thought in mind, he turned over to look at the girls who were both smiling back at him.

"Did I... make you both angry or something somehow? Cause if I did, I would like to take this moment..." Before Laz could even finish his sentence, Malene and Ruby rushed over, like birds in flight, coming straight at him.

Laz couldn't help but yelp as he started dodging around.

Malene stayed at a distance and launched fireball after fireball while Ruby came in close, swinging her claws while her snake like body allowed her to move through the air like a fish. Laz was doing everything he could to avoid and evade, but there was more than once that he suffered from small cuts and brunt hair.

But that wasn't his biggest problem.

Have you ever fought with your girlfriend before? You know, a friendly little wrestle? She might be trying her hardest but you had to hold back since you didn't want to hurt her? But as she went harder and harder you begin to realize you underestimated her and suffered for it. Even then though, you try to hold back a little.

If your looking at it from the female perspective though, what she wants to see is just how strong her partner is, how much they can take. Perhaps she doesn't even mind if she gets hurt a bit. She might even find it stimulating.

All these thoughts rushed through Laz's head as he tried to figure out how much was enough, but this caused him to be distracted. As such, he barely managed to avoid a claw attack to the stomach, only to have a fireball hit him in the back and send him flying off into the distance.

Laz didn't know what to say about how it felt but the best he could come up with was it was like getting hit with a baseball bat if that bat was lit on fire while covered in magma. Doesn't make sense but that's what it was.

After Laz picked himself up, he noticed that his shirt had been reduced to cinders.

'I really need to get more dress shirts...' Laz thought as his gaze drifted over to the girls who were looking at him. They both had interesting smiles on their faces, ones that Laz didn't quite understand. If he had been in their heads though, he would have heard something like a happy cheer since they had one upped him while still being impressed with him being able to take that hit like it was nothing.

Most people would have been knocked out of the world by that. It was a safeguard they had discovered while working with the snow globe. If you got hit by something strong enough to kill you, the globe world would negate the damage and knock you out, there by protecting your life.

So although the girls knew he was safe, Laz had no clue. In fact, he began wondering just what he did to piss them off.

Of course, the brain was saying one thing, but his blood said another.

Anyone who knew Laz knows he isn't a hot blooded guy most of the time. He's not one who leaps before looking or charges in blind, but that doesn't mean that he didn't have the ability to be like that. Knowing that the girls, his girls, were being serious, Laz's blood started boiling in a way that hadn't happened in a long time. After all, it had been since the time he fought Brian that Laz really felt like his life was on the line.

Feeling that now, even if it was because of the people he loved, made Laz feel more free than he had in a long time.

In the silent, snowy and dead world contain within a gas station snow globe, a streak of lightning flashed across the sky, followed by the boom of thunder.

"What the hell?"

"That can happen?"

Malene and Ruby were confused. They had spent loads of time within this world, perfecting their skills and they had never seen the world act with a sense of life.

Taking a closer look at Laz, they realized that his entire body was engulfed by black flames, as his long, white hair billowed out as though being blown by a breeze that didn't exist. More impressively, his eyes glowed with a dark red color, distinctly different from the bright red color of the past.

With every beat of his heart, it was like the world itself rumbled in turn.

Right now, Laz no longer looked the slightest bit human. Instead, he appeared like a creature from hell that had been unleashed upon the planet to destroy.

Even while feeling afraid, the fighting spirit of Malene and Ruby soared.

Only a man like this, one that could send shivers down their spine, was worthy of them.

While taking a breath, Laz stepped forward and disappeared from sight.