The first thing I see when I come to is a dark, cloud-filled sky. The air is thick with dust and smoke, and were it not for the red sun smoldering weakly behind the curtain of thick, dusty clouds, I would have no idea if it was day or night.

  I'm on my back, looking up at the sky. My mind is blank, and my body is weirdly numb and heavy - it's like I just got out of surgery. I'm not sure where I am or what I'm doing here.

  I try to sit up, but I can't. It feel like something is holding me down. I try again, and I'm able to move a bit more, but fall right back down on my back. Finally, with one more try, I manage to get up, but my weight throws me forward and I nearly land on my face. Oddly, it doesn't hurt. I barely even feel it.

  Why I am so heavy? What's going on? Where am I?

  I shift my head, and all I can see is dirt, fire and dust. A few charcoal-black trees stumps stick out of the ground here and there, but it's mostly just dirt, dust, and smoldering patches of earth.

  What the hell happened to this place?

  I see some weird movement in the distance, but I'm too out of it to be concerned about it. I try to move my arms and legs, but my body feels insanely, impossibly heavy.

  I can't seem to stand up just yet, but with lot effort, I manage flip myself on my back again. And as do, I catch a glimpse of my arm.

  I twist and strain as I lift my left arm over myself. It takes me few seconds to wrap my head around what I see.

  What the hell?

  My arm looks like a skeleton's, but it's pitch black. It looks like it's made of iron so coarse it could peel the skin off a person.

  I drop my it to the side, and it hits the ground next to me with a huge amount of force. Other than the shock of the impact, I hardly feel it. And then it hits me: I don't really feel anything except a dull weight in my chest and a slight sensation of dread.

  I stare at the dark sky, trying to piece together a puzzle with no pieces. I'm not even sure what it motivating to me to think so hard, but it seems important, so I keep at it.

  I've got a big, empty feeling that's calling out to me - a weird hunger that demands to be fed.

  The red sun slowly slinks out of my line of sight as I try to make something from nothing. Finally, just as red light fade from view, my my memories come rushing back, like someone plugging in a machine.

  My whole life is played before my eyes in a flash montage. My life on the farm. My parents. The orphanage. The streets. The factories. Kris. The Liberation Society. God. Althea. Zazel. Raelith. Domina. Del. Pinky. The Beloved. The silver-haired woman. The lies. The bodies. The rage.

  I feel anger spike within me like a lightning, and bolt up like someone waking from a nightmare. But the sensation fades just as quickly as it comes, seemingly swallowed up by something. In its place, a sense of cold dread fills me, weighing me down even more.

  I remember the rage. The hot fire and molten metal that used to cook me alive from the inside. All of that is gone now, and despite all the loss and pain, all I can feel is a heavy kind of nausea that hangs inside me like a giant weight.

  Regret.

  I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. If you can hear me, if you're out there, please forgive me. I try to say the words, but I can't.

  I realize I'm able to move a little better, and I carefully feel my neck, and there's no skin or flesh to meet my hand. Iron against iron.

  I try to stand again, but I'm just too heavy. And as I look around me, I start to think that maybe there's no point in getting up anyway.

  Sitting up, I can see a lot more of the devastation. The green knolls, sparkling streams, and endless fields of wildflowers and colorful crystals are gone. There are just patches of burnt dirt and dust everywhere, and Althea's tower is nowhere to be seen.

  I sink my heavy head. Astraea is finished.

  Well, if it's like this, the Limp Dicks won't be able to get anything out of it.

  It's no consolation. None at all.

  Through the barren devastation something catches my attention: a large, black sphere of some kind. It seems to be floating steadily in the air, but as I watch it some more, I realize it's getting bigger.

  It's moving toward me.

  I see it glisten a bit when a flash of distant lighting snakes through the sky. It reminds me of the Beloved's mask.

  I feel a dull spike of fear and a spark anger. That freak is still not dead!? But the emotions fade quickly, replaced by dull, nauseous feeling.

  I can do nothing but watch as the sphere makes its way toward me. However, I notice that it some times swerves or tilts off in another direction. It's almost like its dazed or something. Like it's hurt.

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  I brace myself for its arrival. It's not like it can kill me or anything, but I'm not sure what it's going to do. I try to get up, but I'm still too heavy. I try to shout something at it, but again, I can't speak.

  It slows down and comes to a stop about fifteen feet away from me. It shudders and ripples like a liquid as it begins to take the rough shape of a human. When it's finally finished, it stands there looking like a person drenched in tar, staring at me with no face.

  It extends a clawed hand at me, and a massive, invisible force wracks my body. The pressure is absolutely insane, and my body creaks and bends as the power pushes and pulls me from all angles. It doesn't hurt, but with the raw power behind it, and my body the way it is, there is absolutely no way to resist it.

  "YOU ROTTEN, NASTY, SELFISH LITTLE CHILD!"

  Its voice is sharp and raspy, and I feel a quick flicker of fear at the sound of it. The last time I heard it was the same day I lost my parents forever, and the only time I ever saw them afraid.

  It's the bitch with the crow voice.

  "YOU DARE TO EVEN ATTEMPT TO WOUND ME!? YOU WILL SUFFER FOR YOUR ARROGANCE!"

  For god knows how long, she tugs, pulls, and crushes me from every angle, probing for a weakness.

  There are a few disturbing moments when I think the freak might actually do some damage to me, but she never does. She screams and swears at me, but I don't break.

  I can't.

  Eventually, after a long pause, she drops her long, wicked arms and stares at me. "So it is true. You cannot die." Her voice is still as grating as ever, but it lacks the power and authority it had before. Now it just sounds bitter. "But that does not mean you cannot be removed from the equation."

  Six long, wicked arms emerge from her body, and a pattern of ten points of purple light burn to life on her face. I feel the ground shifting below me and the earth rumble. Before long, the dirt and dust around me begins to fall away, and I realize that I'm sinking into the ground.

  "Bones, no matter how unbreakable, are still just bones! And like all remains, they should be given a proper burial!"

  The ground shakes and cracks below me, and I start to sink faster. It feels like the entire area is being swallowed up, and the hole just keeps getting wider and wider.

  "You will be buried forever, trapped in the prison of past regrets, and be driven insane by your own mind!"

  Earth floats up into the air, and I slide down into the darkness faster and faster as more earth parts to swallow me. The hole widens past the Beloved, and she begins to float in the air as the dirt falls from under her.

  "You could have had a decent life... A peaceful one on top of Astraea - instead of below it. You could have been a champion for a great cause. Instead, you clung to the past and allowed the present to slip you by as you gnashed your teeth about revenge and your lot in life. And now, your future is one of eternal darkness in the soil of the very world that was made to be your paradise."

  All of the things that the Beloved said, and all the things that have happened to me play in front of my eyes.

  It hurts. Even in this form, it hurts to see. Hurts to remember.

  But none of it matters now. I've got nothing left. They're dead. Astraea is finished, and Earth is as good as, if not worse.

  I've lost everything that ever meant anything to me, and there is nothing left to fight for.

  No reason to live. I might cry if eyes or tears to speak of.

  But at the same time, maybe this isn't so bad. In a way, the fact that it's over is kind of relieving.

  I'm just so tired, and the passions that once filled my chest with fire are now cold. With nothing but a slight sense dread and despair where my heart used to be, I can't even feel a desire revenge. And even if I got back at the Beloved and the Limp Dicks, it wouldn't change the fact that the Elementals are dead and Astraea is obliterated.

  But maybe this isn't so bad. At least if I'm underground, I'll be able to get some rest. No pain, no stress. No Central government, no Liberation Society, and no more God or impossible missions. Just peace and quiet.

  Yeah. Maybe this is for the best.

  With no will, strength, or desire to resist, I close my 'eyes' and let myself sink into the darkness.

  The ground rumbles, and dust and earth float away from me. I am sinking slowly, and I feel myself slipping further and further away from the world above. I don't care. I have no reason to. In fact, the darkness seems almost welcoming.

  I feel myself slide down and hear the earth cracking and shifting above me. I can't see, but I know that I am deep inside the earth now. I am beyond the reach of the world. I am alone.

  A dull sadness fills me - regret. I will miss everyone. If only I could tell them how much they mattered to me. If only I could hold them in my arms one last time.

  But at least now, I can rest.

  

  A loud, booming voice fills my head - a voice I've wanted to hear for so long. It sounds just like her.

  

  Through the desperation, I can hear the the sweet, smoky cadence she used to speak with - before the Limp Dicks got their claws in her.

  My heart starts racing and my 'eyes' pop open, but all I can see is darkness. I want to cry out. I want to scream - tell her I'm here. It feels like she's in my head, so I try to call out to her with my mind.

  Kris! Is that you!?

  

  What's going on!? Where are you!?

  Kris!? Where are you!? Talk to me!

  Her voice starts to fade, and I desperately strain to catch every syllable.

  

  Kris! Don't go! Kris!

   I can barely hear her now.

  No! Don't go!

  Twist and and struggle against the weight of the earth around me as desperation grips me. My tomb refuses to loosen its grip, determined to keep me trapped. Terror grips me from the inside out as I refuse to come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to be able escape. If anything, the earth clamps down on me even tighter.

  I want to scream. The anger, the fear, and desperation come flooding back to me. And, as though it had eaten its fill of emotions today, the pit in my stomach refuses to swallow my horror.

  I try to draw on my power. I grip on the little spark of rage that flickers in me. I need to feel that fire. I need to burn from the inside out again. To feel the power coursing through me.

  But it never comes. Where there was once fury and unstoppable energy, there is nothing.

  My mind races for solutions, but deep down, I already know the truth.

  This is it. This is where it ends. This is my destiny; to writhe in desperation until the end of time.

  But I keep twisting and struggling against the unmovable vice of the earth. On and on and on.

  Althea was right. There are fates worse than death.

  Greetings, citizens of the Pizza Kingdom and tourists from all over.

  Thank you all very much for reading Ferdie and the Elementals.

  I appreciate each and every one of you.

  In a couple of days, I will make another post including some final thoughts on Ferdie, as well as some important information about future endeavors. Please subscribe to up to date!

  And again, thank you very much.