With headlamps, navigating the tunnel was easy. The lack of sunlight led to a lack of fauna, which meant the road was pristine. However, it was still wet and slippery, owing to the dripping stalactites that lined the ceiling. A truck remained in the loading bay. Kevin considered stealing it, but it had six flat tires to match its six wheels. He decided it was not worth the effort.

  Next to the giant hole in the wall was a rusted door that Oswin used since it was not covered in debris. The hinges on the door gave as he pushed it open, causing the door to fall with a BLAM. He hesitated, his face illuminated by the green glow emanating from further within the tunnel.

  “You can feel that right?” asked Oswin.

  “Feel what?” said Kevin.

  “Can you really not?” said Oswin in disbelief. “It feels like I am on the border of a theme change right now. My head is already starting to hurt and my palms are sweaty. Even beyond that RAD is flowing out of here in a river.”

  “If by RAD you mean radiation in this case, then yea I don’t need a geiger counter for this one, I think we will be leaving glowing. If you mean radical, then no, I don’t feel nothing. Do you want to turn back.?”

  “Not at all.”

  Kevin nodded and proceeded through the doorway. Within was a cavernous space. Once the entrance to a mine, it had since flooded. From many cracks in the ceiling water flowed in consistent streams, leaving no room to guess where the water was coming from. The area the liquid pooled had different properties. It was opaque, glowing green, and shockingly smooth.

  Determined to see if the glowing pool was somehow solid, Kevin picked up a rock and tossed it in. The rock landed on the surface, almost floating for a moment, before sinking slowly. A ripple spread out from the impact. The disturbance diminished in magnitude rapidly until the glossy, perfect surface presented itself.

  Kevin climbed over broken bits of a forgotten walkway as he approached the pool. Two rats, surprised by the sudden visitors, scurried around the pool. As they ran, one cut off the other, causing the unfortunate rat to lose its balance. The rodent tumbled down a steep slope of dirt, falling into the pool. The rat cried out pain as the glowing liquid consumed it. In horror, the men watched as the rat’s skin melted off, then the muscles underneath. Soon all that was left was bones, which began to burn with the same ghastly fire that the hippo contained.

  Kevin inched away from the pool, but remained two feet away. At this distance even Kevin started to feel a disturbance. It was unlike anything he had felt before, it was like a sauna of RAD. He was so used to collecting RAD, struggling to hold onto it or use it properly. Here RAD was forcing itself inside of him.

  While his friend was distracted, Oswin explored the rest of the room. The pipes continued to three holding tanks on the right side of the room. They were massive, and filled with rusted holes. Observing the erosion on the ground, it was clear these tanks once emptied into the pool below. ‘Whatever caused the glowing pool came from these’ thought Oswin.

  The first tank was the smallest, about the size of an inflatable swimming pool. Underneath the layers of grime, Oswin could make out the letters [G_m__ G_rl __ice]. The next tank was slightly larger, its label read [G_n__r Fl_id]. The third and final tank was enormous, its full size obscured by another wall. Thankfully, its labels were the largest, which made it the easiest to read: [Ye_low Bil_ Concentrate]

  “You have any idea what ‘Yellow Bile Concentrate’ might be?” called out Oswin. He did not hear any response. “Kevin?”

  “Help!” shouted Kevin. His hand, which he stuck into the pool out of his own curiosity, was being sucked further in. The glowing liquid climbed up the length of his hand in thin strands. “Get this off me.” he cried.

  Oswin limped over as fast as he could. He pulled Kevin back using more strength then he should have. Due to Oswin’s poor balance and the loose dirt below, he slipped. The foot on his injured leg splashed into the hazardous liquid. It ate through his boot in moments, and he could feel it touching his toes. Like a fish out of water he thrashed in an attempt to escape, but the liquid kept its hold on him. His injured leg had open wounds from the hippo fight. The glowing liquid poured into these. The moment it did, reality ended for Oswin. He went limp.

  Kevin’s fight continued. He found clawing the strands of fluid climbing his arm to be effective with his free hand. Doing this kept him off balance and on his knees, which would have been fine if the pool did not suddenly yank him. He fell face first into the fluid. His fate was sealed the moment his face touched the surface.

  With both people laying motionlessly, the liquid surged. A tidal wave of fluid washed over the two friends, capturing their bodies and dragging them deeper within the sludge.

  A fracturing of minds began. Oswin resisted every moment he could. He felt what he assumed was his soul being ripped from his body. He couldn’t see, but somehow he still saw, his mind’s eye taking over for the failures of his flesh. While he lost himself, his instinct brought him to his mental radio. It acted as a compass of sorts that could guide him in times like these. In this moment it changed. The radio sputtered and crackled as new dials and sliders formed on the wooden exterior. Oswin witnessed visions of new areas, new themes he had never seen before. A snowy mountain range suffocated by an endless blizzard. A tribe of people coexisting with dinosaurs. Yet still the Oswin was forced farther beyond. If 0 was the default value, the world as it existed unaltered, then Oswin was approaching infinity. Meaning stripped away from him. His radio displayed values that didn’t make sense, with knobs turned to settings that didn’t exist.

  In a sort of sense it stopped, not because Oswin stopped drifting through themes but because distance no longer had any meaning. He was far out, lost beyond meaning. An infinite nothing extended before him. And in that nothing there was only one thing. A creature, beyond comprehension, its hunger as limitless as its domain. The sequence for dialing this theme was impressed into Oswin's mind. He would never name this theme, personally thinking that any description would be inaccurate. His opponents, not as restrained by true understanding of the theme, would come to fearfully call it the void.

  Kevin’s journey was not nearly as painful. He flowed with RAD, feeling it in a way he always wished he could. It pumped through his body as naturally and belonging as the blood in his veins. While in this feeling, he was pulled. An area constructed itself around him, produced of dark rocks and glowing blue mushrooms. He was standing on a circular altar, which was overlooked by a raised platform supporting a being in a robe. The robe obscured everything but the being’s head, which reminded Kevin of a clam oriented vertically, with two eyes also arranged vertically.

  “At last, I have the ability to speak with you. Are you aware of how many times I have attempted to contact you?” Said clam-head.

  “No.” Answered Kevin honestly. He was not afraid, but still unsettled. He sniffed the air. It smelled like lemons.

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  “In any case, we needed this meeting yesterday. Actually far before that. You know what they say about the best time to plant a tree. Regardless, the plan proceeds.”

  “Am I involved in that plan?”

  “You are the plan Kevin, whether you like it or not. You are the next chance in a long line of chances to right the wrongs of this universe.” Clam-head waited for any questions from Kevin. When none came she continued.

  “I am a minor deity in this universe of awesome. You may call me Sera. Soon, a race will be held to define the rule of cool. You must win it.”

  Kevin chuckled. “You can’t define the rule of cool. It’s set in stone.”

  “Entriely false. Your ignorance is expected. The rule of cool is set once a decade by the winner of the most important race, known as the Sun Loop. All participants have their memory wiped afterwards, even the winner. At the end of the day all the bikers are just puppets of the RAD deities. The winner does not matter.”

  Sera revealed a blue hand with 3 fingers to point at Kevin. “But you are different. You cannot be puppeted. It is an ability for those only with a truly awful sensitivity to RAD. With your ability and my guidance, we can have you win the Sun Loop and you can put an end to the rules that are unraveling this universe.” Sera waited again for any questions. Kevin still had none.

  “You have no questions?” asked Sera.

  “Nope.” said Kevin. “Actually, when do I get to go back to being one with RAD?”

  Sera leaned over the platform, bringing her head to level with Kevins, and hovering just a few inches away. Her two eyes glowed within the shell of her head. “Please repeat what I just said back to you.”

  “Whew” said Kevin as he wiped his brow in jest. “Thats a tall ask.”

  “You weren’t listening.”

  “You should already know that given you are a creation of my subconscious.”

  “There is much more to say, but I suppose I cannot blame you for failing to listen. I am asking you to reject all reality.”

  “Thats fine and all,” said Kevin. “I’m just waiting for the other thing.”

  “What other thing?” Sera twisted her head at an angle.

  “Well you want me to become the best biker in the world. So obviously given what I am currently, for that plan to have a cat’s chance in hell, there must be some other thing.”

  “Like…” Sera said.

  “I don’t know. A buff, some kind of power. Instant death laser. That would be useful. The ability to fly. You know what I mean.”

  “I cannot offer any of that Kevin. What I can tell you is that you are more than capable of reaching the top under your own power.”

  Kevin broke out laughing. “Then how about this. How am I supposed to conclude any of this is not just the workings of a fever dream if you never do anything that affects the real world.”

  “Would that make you believe this dream, and the ones coming the future, are real?”

  “Absolutely”

  “Then I will reach out to the other deities. Not all of them are on the path of destruction, but the ones outside that circle are all strange. I don’t know if they will help, and if they do help, it may come at a cost.”

  A rumbling shook the stone ground. All shapes slowly lost their form as they melted and blended together.

  “Our time is ending,” said Sera. “I will be contacting you again.”

  “Please don’t feel the need to.”

  – 3 days later –

  Axel kicked his feet up on the table in front of him. He was illuminated solely by the monitors on the desk of the closet-sized room. They depicted Kevin and Oswin. Energy drinks of all kinds and various snack wrappers littered the area, as well as Axel’s chest.

  A man stepped in. He was sharply dressed, sporting a well executed fade cut with a golden necklace that complemented his black skin.

  “Welcome back Fargo. Need something else from me?’ asked Axel.

  “Not at the moment. And again thank you for helping me. This is not a project I could do on my own,” said Fargo.

  “No, thank you. Without your surveillance powers I would be hiding in bushes for the last week.”

  Fargo eyed the monitors suspiciously. “How are your students doing?”

  “Oh man.” Axel leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. “They are taking me back to a time when things were so much simpler. You see this? They have been laying face down in the mud for the last 3 days. I wish I could be carefree like that.”

  “And you think there is no other explanation for that behavior?”

  “Well, they wandered into an old energy drink mine. Prewar. You ever drink Fahrenheit? It's been banned for hundreds of years. I can still remember the taste of it though. Anyhow, they entered this tunnel and your powers were cut out for like an hour. After that, they were just laying on the ground next to a big pool of forgotten chemicals.”

  Fargo hummed noncommittally. He knew better than to argue with Axel on a point like this. “Well if you are free, I’ll need help in an hour with some of the final track placements.” he said.

  Axel waved him off. “Yea, yea don’t worry about it.”

  Fargo exited, leaving Axel staring at the monitors alone.

  Axel flexed his right hand a few times, then reached out for a specific area of space. His hand phased though a hole in reality to wrap itself around a neck.

  GASP. The other fellow struggled to break free, but Axel dragged him out all the same. The hole in reality warped the space around it with a distortion effect often associated with high heat. From this, a demon with red skin and horns fell to the ground. He wore a three piece suit, now wrinkled in several places.

  “Now you should know I don’t much appreciate when people listen in to my conversations.” stated Axel.

  Coughing, the demon rose to his feet. “I am a messenger from Madam death, sir,” The title was begrudgingly added for Axel. “Due to your unique relationship with her, I need to confirm some information with you.”

  “Now I repeat myself, If you are a messenger from death herself, you should know I don’t much appreciate when people listen in to my conversations. Ain't no one like an eavesdropper. Although I guess I do like to be one sometimes.” Axel chuckled.

  ‘Hypocrite’ thought the demon. “I’m sorry for disturbing you. I was only waiting for an opportunity to meet with you” he said.

  Axel extended his arms outward. “Well here it is.”

  “Ahem, yes. I need to confirm with you. Do you have close personal relations with the two people shown on the screen? Their names are–”

  “I know their god-damnned names. And what you mean by personal relations?”

  “Do you have a significant positive disposition towards them?” The demon clarified the question. He picked up a clipboard and pen that also fell through the portal and tapped them together.

  “Man, I don’t need all your lawyer talk. They are my students, whether they like it or not at this point. So yea, they are cool.”

  “Was that so hard?” the demon mumbled under his breath.

  “What was that?” Axel leaned over in his chair. The demon attempted to back up, but hit the wall behind him immediately. He cursed the size of the room.

  “I said nothing,” said the demon formally. “I apologise for any miscommunication.”

  “Like hell you do.” Axel picked up the demon by his collar. “I’ve had enough of your shit for one day.” He stuffed the demon back in the hole in reality, finishing the job by kicking the demon in the ass.

  With a huff, he sat back in his chair. Kevin and Oswin were waking up. “Finnaly” said Axel. “The Triscant military should be arriving soon, get moving.”