Chapter 1:

Blowback

T.A./H.A. Paranoia Hero


 “What-” Agon struggled to pick himself up, which prompted Olagna to pick up the red fish from earlier and slap the frazzled boy a second time. “Stop screaming! You’re scaring the fish!” He commanded. Agon fell on his back, two red marks of the fish’s scales stretched across each cheek. “B-but you’re the only one screaming…!” His rebuttal was hoarse.

Olagna froze and pondered Agon’s words as the fish wriggled under his grasp. Finally, he responded.

“Nnnno. That doesn’t sound right.” He held his free hand to his chin, striking a very contemplative pose as he fixed his gaze back to the sea. Agon pushed himself up slightly from the pier, still trying to find the power to stand. “Who...W-what are you…?” Agon mumbled. 

“I HAVE ALREADY TOLD YOU WHO I AM!” He answered in his previously boisterous manner as he crouched down to Agon’s level.

Olagna looked at the fish in his hand for a moment as its struggling subsided, and held it beside Agon’s face. He then started speaking calmly, or at a lower volume at least. “I am the deity of life, Olagna. And as for WHAT I am, I am a Marrowta.” 

“Marrow…ta…?”

“Is there an echo?” Olagna huffed. “Don’t think of it as a species. The name just comes from a divine language that classifies this manifestation of the psyche-”

“Y-You kinda have horns like a ram…”

Olagna leaned closer, a trail of blood dripping towards Agon’s feet as he tried to back away.

“NOT a ram. Mar-row-ta. Got it?” Agon looked at the entity's bleeding eye sockets and became uneasy.

"Does that...hurt...?"

"Does what hurt...?" Olagna tilted his head in confusion, a gush of blood leaving his eyes.

“I-I don't mean any offense...I’m...just saying...your horns kinda remind me of a ram-“

“How stupid are you?” 

Agon fell silent. 

“…AHEM…as I was saying…AGON CORA! You pissed me off.”

“What…what did I do?”

“Tch. You really don’t know?!? You threw your life away.”

“...What…?”

“Ever since you were a child, I’ve had the displeasure of watching you cower at the world. Being late or skipping school because you were too scared to talk to the other kids, choosing not to celebrate your own BIRTHDAYS because you could only think about being one step closer to death, which, now that you’ve experienced it, isn’t SO bad, right?” Olagna posed while making jazz hands at Agon, who just stared at him in utter disbelief.

“Ugh…tough crowd as always. Look, all of this happened because of your irrational fear of the unknown. You always thought that someone or some THING was out to get you, or that everything would go up in flames at the snap of a finger. And once you started freaking out…”

Olagna took his free hand and pointed at Agon’s chest. “THAT thing set off.”

“My…my heart-”

“ ‘Muh…Moy heyart-’YES, YOUR HEART!” Olagna mocked, angrily. “That life was LOVINGLY GIFTED to you by yours truly, and your pathetic little heart just couldn’t hack it. For some reason, every time without fail, you thought the absolute worst was gonna happen, and your heart took that and RAN with it! Next thing you know, you’re getting shipped off to the hospital! You know, I’ve never met someone who catastrophizes more than you. Do you know how that reflects on the Greater One…no, on ME, when a sixteen-year-old can’t get the mail because he was afraid of getting kidnapped, or stabbed, or who KNOWS what else?!? YOU LIVED IN A GATED COMMUNITY! WHO DO YOU THINK IS GONNA WASTE THEIR GOOD KNIFE ON YOUR SORRY-” As Olagna continued ripping into Agon, all the boy could do was stare widely at this…entity, and the red fish that dangled from his clutches. 

As Agon glanced at the fish, his eyes met its glazed pupils, and he soon became entranced. He stared deeper into the fish's eyes, Olagna's ranting growing fainter with each passing second. It was as if there was something familiar about the fish…but what…? Agon tilted his head to the side. What was drawing him to this fish?. Suddenly, at the blink of his eyes, the fish was no longer in Olagna’s hands. But the legs of a young boy, and upon shifting the gaze further down, to his disturbance, he found it to be himself, gripped firmly in Olagna’s hands, pupils dilated, gasping once more for air.

Agon yelped, and in a flash, his mind was flooded with memories of lying on the ground, nearly throwing up his own lungs, and seeing his mother’s skin peeled like a ripe apple with a dark berry drizzle, soggily plopping to the floor. And then, he recalled the halting pain he felt in his chest, his eyesight blurring, his heart failing him at the drop of a dime. He shook his head and curled into a fetal position, sobbing uncontrollably. It finally hit him: Agon was truly dead. Olagna paused his ranting and looked at Agon, puzzled. 

“I’M DEAD…! I’M REALLY DEAD! NO…NO NO NO! MOM! I-I NEED…!” Agon didn’t know what he truly needed. Deep within his mind, he knew that calling out to his mother would prove fruitless, but it was comforting, even if just for a second. His cries and bleats mixed into a caterwauling gibberish of words. He called for his mother just as he had when he first left her womb. If he had the strength, he would hug himself tighter in a poor attempt to soothe his body, but no comfort, not even a mother’s loving warmth, would be enough to steel his nerves now.

Olagna walked over to Agon and crouched down, smacking his teeth in annoyance.” Oh, here he goes again…CUT THAT OUT!” He began smacking Agon over the head with the fish until he stopped crying. “Stand up.” He ordered. Faltering at first, Agon compiled, as if he had any other choice. He held his head to the ground, sniffling and watching his snot drip onto the pier; thanks to Olagna’s constant fish flogging, Agon’s nose began to bleed. The slow dance of blood and mucus that dripped from his nose was the only familiar feeling that brought him some form of peace in this sick limbo. Olagna shook his head. “Yes, you’re dead. Get over it. You did it to yourself, though. I gave you a chance, and you blew it. Ungrateful brat. This is EXACTLY why I gave you those visions.”

Agon’s eyes widened, and he slowly raised his head, the blood from his nose dripping off his lips now. “You…what…?” His voice quivered. 

Suddenly, Olagna’s demeanor shifted to that of something more sinister. A hint of amusement snuck through his voice.“Yeah, I'm the one who gave you those hallucinations or whatever you wanna call them. You gave me no choice! Waking up every day, choosing to live like a scared little puppy…You know, that life I prepared for you was masterfully crafted, but you didn’t care at all. So, I decided, if you REALLY want to spend your days thinking of the worst, then I could at least make things a little more IMMERSIVE for you, since I’m so generous. The cockroaches? Me. The organ force-feeding? Me as well. You name it.” Olagna then quickly butted his head against Agon’s, with just enough force to make him stagger. The deity’s voice dropped to a wicked level; his next words were uttered with a cackle.

“The sight of your mom’s severed head getting its skin peeled off? ME.”

“N-no…you mean…”

“Yes, Agon. I killed you.”

There it was, the catalyst to all of his dread, the producer of all the traumatic films that played exclusively in his mind. His KILLER. And it was no mental illness that a pill could erase, but a self-proclaimed deity whose gouged eyes bled with sadistic pride. Agon was stunned, his knees buckled, and tears swelled in his eyes again. Olagna began to speak, but his tone and body language shifted to something more befitting of a deity.

“Now, I suppose this means technically you didn’t throw your life away, but ‘technically’ I don’t care. I blessed you with an amazingly simple life. A loving family, a chance to make friends, and every opportunity I laid out for you…EVERY.SINGLE.ONE. You burned to ash.”

“N-No-”

“SHUT UP!” Olagna butted against Agon’s head and watched him stumble. In that instant, he dropped the red fish to the ground and grabbed his shoulders to keep the boy upright. His claws dug deeply into his flesh. “You did. You pissed all over my beautiful gift. And what’s worse? I wasted even more of my time sticking my neck out for you. A part of me tried to give you the benefit of the doubt; ‘Maybe he just needs a little push!’ I said. I was so arrogant back then. I pleaded to the Greater One for more power so that I could save you, make you stronger…and I was denied, time and time again. Soon enough, he got so tired of me that he stripped me of HALF of my power; thought I wasn’t ready for all the responsibility. When it was YOU making me look bad all along.”

“I-I-ngh…!”

Olagna snorted and butted against Agon’s head again and again, making a gash in his forehead, causing blood to spill out; yet the Marrowta kept butting, his grip on Agon’s shoulders only tightening. Olagna continued to tear through Agon with his words.

“You CLEARLY didn’t care about that life. I concluded that you were just a pompous soul, some bratty spawn meant to make me look bad in front of the Greater One. So I decided if I can’t get you to live your life, I’ll just strip it away from you. But I wasn’t going to just kill you right then and there. Believe me, I could’ve. I wanted to toy with you…as much as you toyed with me. I wanted to drag this out, make you lose your mind, nice and slow.”

“I-I…HURK! W-wasn’t trying to…”

Agon's face was completely covered in blood, though there was no telling if it was his or Olagna’s. Regardless of the boy looking as if he’ll pass out, the ram kept butting.

“I didn’t expect you to die so soon, though. A year was not enough time to get back at you for all the shame you brought me. Hey, WAKE UP. Don’t fall asleep on me.” Agon lazily opened his eyes. Olagna stopped butting for just a moment to look at his masterpiece. A wicked smile formed from his chapped lips. A patch of blood was found right in the center of his head, where he kept striking against Agon.

“Ever since you made a mockery of me, I began plotting. And now…I’ve figured out all the details to get my complete satisfaction.”

“Haah…guh…” All Agon could do was try to stay conscious.

“Hey…Agon…do you remember the time that you died…?”

No response. Just heavy breathing. Olagna pointed to his chest tattoo.

“Agon Cora. Time of death: ten o'clock. I decided that whatever time you died, that was going to be your stock.”

Agon gathered enough strength to barely respond. “S…St…ock…”

“Correct! You see, since I didn’t get enough time to play with you in your FIRST WORLD, and I don’t have my full power and authority to send you back, I'm throwing YOU away this time. Into a brand new world. Think of it as a second chance to actually APPRECIATE the life you’ve been given. Another generous gift from me to you.”

Agon gasped as much as his lungs allowed at this moment. He shifted his body, lazily tossing his head to and fro to escape Olagna’s grasp, but to no avail. The red fish twitched slightly on the dock in a similar fashion. Olagna looked down at the fish and back at Agon, chuckling.

“What’s this? You got some fight in you? I didn't think you were CAPABLE of that! ”

“Y…you…”

He began. As his own blood crusted around his lips like decade-old makeup, Agon felt a sensation in him that he’s never felt before, a fire in the pit of his stomach that ignited all the way through and burned off the shell of anxiety that encased him. He gritted his teeth and pushed his mouth into what he believed to be a smile; he could only go by the ram’s own maniacal visage, but it was enough. For the first time in his life, Agon swallowed his fear, an amount sufficient enough to speak with no restraint. He looked right into the Marrowta’s eye sockets and exclaimed without a waver in his tone:

“You’re a failure.”

Mghty
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