Or so I thought. I looked around to find myself...Floating? I realized I was... In the same chamber. I was in a small gap left by the pit collapsing, and there in the room with me... Was myself. My body, at least. My armor was still functioning, but was now slowly shutting down from suddenly having the being inside begin to degrade. Just like the rest of the Necromorphs, the second I was without Marker signal my body was left as nothing but raw biomaterial without anything holding it together. I looked and saw the shattered bits of the ruined Marker scattered about the small chamber, and I felt pride that I had at least finished the fight. But then...

How was I still here? Why was I still here? Was I a ghost? A mere soul trapped in the claustrophobic space of my death?

"Hardly."

I whirled to face the speaker and saw an odd figure in the chamber with me. He stood shorter then me, as even in spirit it seemed I was ten feet in height. He looked like a young adult, at least in visible age. His skin was an ashen light gray, and his hair was white though stained with dust of the same color. He had a pair of slitted yellow eyes and when he spoke I saw he had razor sharp fangs to him. He wore a black tank top, with the sleeves jaggedly ripped off. Along with that he wore a pair of black jeans and sneakers, and had a black khopesh at his side made of... What? It seemed to be... The same metal as Finis. I could see on his shoulders a pair of emblems of scarabs, bearing a green-blue glow to them. He spoke as I looked him over and sized him up.

"You are a spirit, true, but you are far from trapped."

He moved his hand and I saw a small orb of pure light in his palm.

"Currently though I have your soul, that is also true, though I have it merely so I might speak to you."

"...Why?"

"A proposition. Well, that implies I'm the one who benefits from it other than you. But really this is something you yourself will want to have sway in."

I didn't say a word. He took this as me telling him to continue.

"Tell me Jack, do you know what happened the night Earth was lost to you?"

Earth. Now that was a name I had not hear din a long time, as well as one I had lost reason to return to.

"No. What happened that night?"

He locked eyes with me.

"You were not alone. Your siblings and friend fell the same way as you."

Sibling? What did he mean by- Distant memories stirred in my mind, and the world seemed to fade away...

---------

1105 years ago...

"ShitshitshitshitshitshitSHITSHITSHIT I OVERSLEPT!"

I yelled this as I ran full speed down the street, late for the first day of my junior year in High School. The school came into sight and I dashed right for the front door, only to be tripped by something hidden behind one of the pillars to the sides of the entrance. I went sprawling and slowly stood up, turning to face whatever caused it. My eyes met with those of another guy the same age as me. He had deep blonde hair and a pair of hazel eyes which were almost golden in appearance. He wore a simple outfit of a blue T-shirt and jeans and gave me a cheeky grin a I picked myself up. Most importantly however...

He was my best friend. I growled at him.

"The hell Calvin!? I'm late for class! Wait... Why aren't you in class?"

He shrugged. "Cuz Ms. Walker is a bitch. Figured I'd start the year off right by showing up halfway into her class."

I sighed. Calvin was my friend, but he didn't care that much about showing up to class. To be fair he was smart enough that he always kept his grades up despite this, but it still pissed off a lot of teachers. I waved him to follow.

"Well whatever! C'mon we gotta go before they think we're skipping or some shit!"

He laughed and ran behind me as I went, and the two of us talked a bit on the way to class.

"So Cal, I'm gonna go on a limb here and guess that you at least helped me out by taking Jen to school for me?"

"Yup, her and Kyth even made a new friend like five minutes after we got here. And an enemy. Pretty good start I'd say!"

I groaned and questioned why I was friends with such an asshole.

"Shit! Look out dude, Principal B-hole is here!"

He shoved me behind a locker and he hid behind one on the opposite side of the hallway, and we watched the silhouette on the floor pass by us. Principal 'B-hole' as he called her was actually Principal Fisher, a man known for how harsh he was with any disciplinary matters. If he had seen either of us then it would've been instant detention, on the first freakin' day of school. Calvin stepped out first to check that he was really gone and then waved me to follow. Oh yeah, the fact that he was always willing to take the fall for a friend without remorse... That's why I put up with him. After a moment Calvin threw open the door to the classroom and made himself known to the few oblivious people that hadn't heard the door slamming open.

"Greetings Ms. Walker! I'm late cause I felt like it and he's late because he overslept! How ya doin!?"

And thus started the eleventh grade, in a blaze of my friend's stupidity.

--------

1100 years ago...

The memories skipped forward a few years to the last time I spoke with my brother...

"Are you sure you don't want to come? I'm sure Calvin wouldn't mind you tagging along with us to hang out. Hell, Jen's already gone out and is gonna meet up with us with her little boyfriend."

I heard the person on the other side of the phone sigh. Currently I was talking with me and Jen's older brother Will, in an effort to get him out of his apartment and to hang out with us. We were all planning on going to a convention that would be in town, all of us in cosplay. I was going as a Necromorph slasher, Jen as a cartoon character named Jenny XJ9 Wakeman, Calvin as Golden Freddy, and from what she told me Jen's boyfriend was going as Cthulhu. The last one sounded like a costume that'd be more trouble than it'd be worth but I figured it was his choice.

"Look Jack I got a lot of homework from my classes. Maybe I'll go to Comic-Con when it gets here."

"Oh yeah, that's in like a week or two, right?"

"Yeah I think. Look, you guys have fun. I'm just gonna take it easy tonight."

"Ugh, fine. Whatever then, suit yourself.  Bye Will."

"Bye Jack."

I sighed as I put the phone down. Lately my brother had been on rough terms with out parent  and I had been wanting to check how he was actually doing. I heard a knock at the door to my bedroom and met eyes with our father, a tall man of middle age, wearing a police officers uniform.

"Son get your sister and meet us down in the basement. There's been more war talks and your mother and I are wanting to make sure we're all able to remember the procedure for getting into the safe room we had constructed in the basement."

I wordlessly nodded. There had been talks going on for weeks about war and the like, personally I didn't buy into it enough to agree with all the measures that our parents had been taking. If we got nuked I doubted a basement bunker with a weeks' rations would save us. I stood up and went up to my sisters room and opened the door. I saw my sister, a girl sixteen years old at the time with the same brown hair as me and Will and a slightly pudgy build. She was on the phone with her friend Violet, trying to see if she wanted to go with us to the convention just as I was doing with Will. I whispered to her when she looked up at me.

"Hey, mom and dad want both of us downstairs for one of those military drills with the basement safe room."

She nodded and went back to her phone and talking to her friend.

“Sure thing! Well Jack says we gotta go, apparently my parents are getting paranoid about all of that war talk. Seriously, have you heard all the crazy rumors about us going to war? Personally I don’t buy it but still my parents are freaked out. Heh sure thing Vive. I’ll talk to you later, kay?”

She hung up and got up from her bed and talked with me as we headed to the basement.

"So, anything from Will?"

"Nah, he said he had too much homework. How about your little friend?"

"Eh Vive didn't want to go since she didn't have a costume ready."

I nodded again and decided to review our plans for what to do at the convention.

"Still, just cause mom and dad want us to be safe and all that junk what's the plan again? Just to make sure you still remember."

She laughed and punched my shoulder.

"Okay you and Calvin go out on your own for a bit and try to scare people, him as Golden Freddy and you as a necromorph, and me and Kyth meet up before hand and go in without you. Later when its time to get food then we meet up with the two of you and hang out."

"Right, and remember to grab souvenirs! Cons always have awesome stuff!"

---------

Another skip in the memories went by, pushing me to the night of the convention...

I walked in a purposefully jagged stride, my body hidden under a bulky costume. To any onlooker in the barely-lit street, it'd seem a if an actual Necromorph was approaching them. If they didn't pay Dead Space then it'd look like an abomination of an undead was approaching. Either way I'd be getting some good scares out of passerby. I went like that for a little while, scaring some people before coming across a small shop close to the actual convention proper. I went inside and saw someone dressed in a costume of their own. I vaguely recognized him as a character from Resident Evil (a game series I hadn't gotten my hand on yet) named the Merchant. I looked around the shop at all the little baubles and items he sold, before finally deciding on a replica of a Plasma Cutter from Dead Space. It didn't go with my costume (as it would be wielded by someone that'd kill the being I was dressed as) but I thought it was cool anyway and bought it. Thing cost a hundred bucks, but even if it was just a replica that was a fair price for the quality of the thing. As I went I took out my phone to call Calvin and tell him about it, and maybe to see where he was. He answered after a moment of dial-tone.

"Hey Jack, what's up? You free from class yet?"

"Yeah, and I decided to suit up necromorph style for the con."

"Pfft! Ripping off my idea much?"

"Yeah well I'm not a guy in a furry costume!"

The tow of us bantered for a bit before I got to the point.

"Anyway I figured I'd let you know there's this little shop near the con that has all this cool stuff, I just got this plasma cutter and the thing looks super realistic! It even- Gah! What the fu-"

A wave of light burst out from the Plasma Cutter, along with a searing pain that spread across my entire being. I saw myself falling into a black void, eternally falling... My bones broke and bent, my flesh extending, morphing and melding in a twisted transformation. Eventually I found myself in some kind of forest, my clothes torn and ruined on my form and my backpack the only thing holding together. I looked and saw my arms replaced with crude blades of bones... My entire form felt profoundly wrong... A wave of pain tore into my skull, and choruses of madness and bloodlust echoed throughout my very being...

That was the first night I would spend, in the hundred years of agony before I would be saved...

---------

I shook my head and looked at the odd figure.

"The shop that gave me the cutter... The cutter is what sent me here, isn't it?"

He nodded.

"And... Oh god I told Calvin about that shop. That means that he's... But why haven't I heard of him being here if he was sent here too? And... Could Jen or Kyth have found that little shop?"

He nodded. "Give the man a prize. And there's a reason they haven't been seen in your Equestria..."

"My Equestria? Wait... You mean there's other Equestrias out there? Like... Parallel universes?"

"Indeed. You friend... Your brother... Even your sister and her mate have found their own paths."

"But... Why are you telling me all this? I don't even know you..."

He looked at me and then to the fragments of the Marker.

"Because. There is a wide multiverse out there... And there is a darkness coming which will pose threat to untold masses should it not be halted. Even now you can see an agent of such arriving here, to take a threat from your universe but just as well use it in that of another..."

I watched as a line of white light seemed to be drawn in the air, slowly forming a tear... Out of it stepped a being I recognized as a character from the games Calvin's costume had been from. The name eluded me for a moment until I finally found it...

Springtrap. Though he... He didn't look like in the game. Within the costuming and grown onto his animatronic lay an unknown material, bearing a sickly green/gold glow. On his side was a black glaive with a silver edge and at the other was the hilt to a... Lightsaber? I was growing more confused by the moment. He walked forward slowly, seeming to collect every single fragment of the Marker that remained. He spoke in a low, scratching voice...

"Ah... So this is where his little friend wound up... Dead in Tartarus with a shattered Marker. I was rather curious to see a Necromorph in action, though i suppose one more dead friend of Calvin's is just as well..."

My eyes widened. How did this guy know Calvin!? I looked back at the odd figure I'd been speaking with.

"What is he going to do with the remains of the Marker if not use it here?"

"Simple. He'll use it elsewhere. Specifically as a way to harm your sister and her mate."

"What!? He's going after Jen and Kyth? Why!?"

"Firstly to harm Calvin, as he views them as siblings just as you. Secondly to give rise to a being that could obliterate anything in its path..."

I didn't speak further as I surged froward. I might have been incorporeal but that didn't mean I would let him leave without a fight! All of my blows seemed to pass through him, and I swore under my breath.

"Really? You do understand you aren't a physical being anymore, right? Your corpse is literally right there."

"I'm not going to let him hurt Jen!"

"Then LISTEN."

He spoke with a boom and I turned back to him.

"I am known as Messenger. I have come here to offer you the opportunity to live once more and aid me in stopping these events to come. You will be able to return to this world at times, but they will be far apart and short. Will you take this chance?"

"To save Calvin, Kyth and my siblings? Do you really need an answer to that?"

I held out my hand and shook his, and the world seem to fade to burning blackness...

---------

I drew a jagged breath as I felt my body, physical and alive once more. I felt myself pulling together, my form no longer bound to the Marker but to a higher source. I looked down at Finis and nodded, knowing its purpose now by impossible means. This blade... It was a way for me to be found when the time became right, just as it had upon my death. It had been planted here from the beginning of time by Messenger, just to find me. I sheathed all of my weapons and saw the form of Springtrap disappearing and the rift closing. I moved Finis in a diagonal slice and watched it tear a new rift to follow with, its power made whole by my connection to Messenger. I looked into it and nodded to myself.

If my friends and siblings were lost to the tides of an eternal Multiverse...

Well it would be my job to wade in and pull them to safety.