Bob was still non the wiser to the on-goings of the Humans above ground, with his whole world currently being subterranean and somehow, he had found himself caring for a blind man. Bob had comfortably taken over the living space of the man he scared to death. With only a few alterations to the size, the patch work abode was able to accommodate his inhuman size.

  Marlo was still firmly of the belief that Bob was just an insanely, ugly Human with a bad skin condition, and so he showed no fear at all to him, and would incessantly berate him with friendly mockery. Thankfully Bob had gotten use to his ways rather quickly, and had not resorted to biting his head off when he could not accept the harassment any longer.

  As time went on, Bob also found that he was confirming more and more to how a Human would behave, be it his actions, or behaviours. This even went as far as to the exchange of banter, and noticing the subtleties in speech, that at first had him taking most things quite literal.

  Within the large basin in the sewers, Bob was spending his time playing football while Marlo watched, or more precisely, listened from the side-lines. Long ago, Marlo and the deceased man had come across an old, battered and deflated football that had been washed down into the sewers. At that time there was no way to fix it, so it was tossed into the pile of random junk they had accumulated over the years. But now with Bob's ridiculous strength, he had managed to inflate it without a pump, simply by putting his lips to it and blowing it up as if it was a balloon.

  Thankfully the football was now no longer at risk of being punctured from Bob's clawed feet, as Marlo had chastised him for an entire day, until he relented and cut them off. In Marlos words, "That god damn click clacking is driving me fucking crazy you ugly bastard!". To Bob's utter disgust, Marlo had proceeded to use one of the discarded claws as a tooth pick, and the man felt no shame whatsoever from such an act.

  Still trying to perfect his skills at ball control, Bob was in the process of keeping the ball in the air, one light kick at a time. When he saw Marlo sat there picking his teeth nonchalantly with his severed toe claw, an idea came to him.

  "THINK FAST!"

  Bob let out a grin from ear to ear, as he pulled his foot back and blasted the football with a fair amount of strength, but controlling it enough so that he did not force to ball to explode. In the time that it took Bob's words to register with Marlo, the ball had sailed through the air on a path that would make a professional, green with envy. With a resounded slap, the damp ball ploughed into Marlo's face and knocked him backwards, forcing him to be sprawled out on the concrete, and wondering what universe he was in.

  The football bounced into the air, near colliding with the ceiling until it came to rest back in the basin after a few lacklustre bounces. A slight worry spread out on Bob's face, him not meaning to strike the ball that hard that it knocked Marlo over like a bowling pin.

  "Oh damn, sorry Marlo! Your face was in the way"

  Rushing over to his side, Bob could see the sorry state he had rendered the blind elderly man in, and it was not pretty. Marlo lay on his back with his arms splayed out to the side. His nose was burst and a bright red patch of blood was centred on his face, with the layers of dirt stopping its spread somewhat. The most shocking part of the aftermath, was the 'toothpick' that Marlo was using, was now sticking out of his lip, with it buried into his skin by a couple of inches.

  Reaching down, Bob pulled out his toe claw, with Marlo's lip fighting against the foreign object being removed, and rising up until it sprang back with a plop. Discarding the claw, it flew to the other side of the basin as if it was a shuriken thrown by a seasoned ninja. A slight squeak was emitted from where it landed, but Bob paid it no mind at the time.

  The sudden jolt of pain had roused Marlo from his unconscious state, his clouded eyes still staring at the ceiling. Letting out a groan, Marlo tenderly probed his broken nose.

  "Eurgh, what the hell hit me!?...Arghhh, no, no, this is bad!"

  Upon hearing the rapid change in Marlo's voice, Bob started to panic thinking he had seriously injured him.

  "What's wrong Marlo? Where are you hurt? I didn't hit you that hard....Did I??"

  With a slight wavering voice that turned to distress, Marlo replied.

  "Bob it's dark, I can't see. I CAN'T SEE BOB!....I'm blind, you've made me blind!"

  The look on Bob's face immediately changed from one of concern, to one of being thoroughly fed up. Grabbing hold of Marlo's arm, he pulled him back up to a sitting position while he replied.

  "Tsch, you had me worried for a minute then Marlo"

  Spitting onto his hand, Bob proceeded to try and wipe the blood off Marlo's face, treating him as if he was a small child that had dirtied their face playing outside. Attempting the fight him off, Marlo's weak arms stood no chance and were hardly felt by Bob, and so resulted in Marlo's face being cleaned with a circular patch at the centre of his face. Bob laughed inwardly at how ridiculous Marlo looked, with the rest of his skin being muck laden.

  "Crgh, eurgh, damn it you ugly bastard! Your breath stinks, like you been eating rats or something!...And you threw my toothpick, give me another one!"

  The look of disgust on Marlo's face, paled into insignificance next to Bob's look of disgust at him, wanting more of his body parts to shove in his mouth. The notion left him thoroughly revolted.

  "I don't think you could sink any lower Marlo"

  Waving him away, Marlo replied.

  "Whatever, damn idiot. Go and get dinner, I heard it call out when you threw my toothpick....Tsch, grab me my pipe first"

  Bob glanced over his shoulder and confirmed his earlier suspicion, before he turned back to Marlo and lightly flicked him in the forehead, before he replied.

  "Yes master, of course master, whatever you say master"

  Bob climbed out of the basin and started off to the back of the patchwork abode, leaving Marlo to shout his frustrations.

  "That's good, you're finally learning......How to be a sarcastic shit! Tsch, who the hell you learn that off, damn genius!"

  Completely ignoring him, Bob reached a portion of the wall that was cut out for a service ladder to be installed, but for some reason never was. Inside the alcove, two containers sat beside one another, with the larger of the two full of a water like substance.

  This was in actuality a run off from a refrigeration machine, high above on the surface. With the refrigerator having a slight leak, the chemical made its arduous journey down into the sewers, ultimately pooling into a container and acting as drinking water. This chemical was mostly water and was drinkable, although at first it made Marlo deathly sick, over time his body adapted to it, with his mind rationalising it, as it tastes better than de-icer at least.

  With Bob's constitution, it had exactly zero effect on him. Even if he was to drink directly out of the sewers and consume the city's supply of waste, his stomach would not be phased in the slightest.

  Inside the other container, it was not a liquid, but a clump of a blue crystalline substance. From above near the same place as the polluted water, a separated steady drip of a blue liquid made its presence known. As the blue liquid dripped onto the crystal below it, it added to the substance as it dried and crystallised. Marlo was unsure of what the substance was, but one thing for certain that he did know, was that the blue crystal had a brilliant effect on his state of mind.

  Bob bent down to the crystal and paused, this being the first time he had got the crystals for Marlo, he was unsure how much to get. Looking at the pipe propped up next to the container, he got enough to fill its bowl. The blue crystal snapped with little pressure, its myriad of deep blues intertwined with a cascade of lighter ones, spreading out almost like a circulatory system.

  Holding it in his hand, he could not help but be overcome with a strange feeling, a familiarity deep inside his mind, made him ponder if he had encountered it before as himself, or the lowlifes memories he obtained. Shrugging off those thoughts, he passed Marlo both, the pipe and blue crystal piece he obtained.

  Sitting down beside him, Bob watched as Marlo skilfully prepared his pipe with the crystal and lit it, an obviously well trained action. Inhaling deeply, the blue crystal glowed brightly with a mixture of red and oranges, flowing throughout the blue crystal. The light pulsated and with each beat, the size of the blue crystal diminished as Marlo inhaled its contents. A few seconds later and he expelled the thick cloud of blue smoke that had been residing within his lungs. With the last bit of smoke that left his crusty lips, he turned to Bob and spoke with a rougher voice than usual.

  "Shhhh damn! That's some good shit Bobby boy!....Here, take it, take it"

  Attempting the push his drug laden pipe onto Bob, he readily accepted it as he had no reason not to, and he also believed such a thing would not effect him. As he took the pipe of Marlo, Bob noticed a profound change in Marlo's eyes. The milky clouds that permeated his eyes were actually swirling, as if an entity resided within them, and stirred up the numerous clouds. The hue slightly changed colour and a blue spread through them, soaking into the milky clouds before being overpowered and returning to normal.

  Bob was about to place the pipe to his lips, when he looked at Marlo and grimaced. Quickly wiping the mouth piece on his cloak, he inserted the pipe and inhaled deeply. The blue crystal glowed once again, with the smoke from the crystal travelling through the pipe, and steadily filling Bob's abnormally large lungs.

  With the pipe being obviously designed and built for a Human, the beaten up object could not handle the suction power, with the blue crystal depleting at a phenomenal speed, before disappearing from sight. The glowing crystal travelled through the length of the pipe, with its size too great, it caused numerous cracks to appear as it flew out, and into Bob's mouth. His eyes went wide in shock, he had felt a hot clump of something hit the back of his mouth, before bouncing its way down his throat at a blistering speed, before finally resting in his right lung.

  At the time Bob was contending with the strange sensation, Marlo who was sat next to him, although spaced out at that moment, suddenly spoke up.

  "Wa was that!? I heard a crack?"

  Marlo received no answer, as Bob's mouth was firmly shut with the smoke circulating throughout his lungs. A few moments later and Marlo had seemingly forgotten he had even heard a cracking noise, or asked a question to begin with. Repeatedly smacking his lips together, he sat there enjoying his own little world.

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  The glowing crystal inside Bob's lung had finally disappeared and turned into smoke, being readily absorbed by his body. Expelling the waste smoke, it was noticeably a lighter blue as it was blown into the air. After around a minute Bob spoke up with a mind full of confusion.

  "Hey Marlo, is this meant to do something to me? I feel the same...Maybe a bit homesick, but that's it"

  Marlo instantly snapped out of what ever world his mind was traversing through upon hearing Bob's words. With a look full of indignation, he replied.

  "Homesick? This is your damn home and I'm your father! Damn idiot, and what you mean it don't work?? You know how many universes I just travelled through!? Tsch"

  Feeling nothing had happened to himself, Bob was a little disappointed, as he had viewed taking drugs for the first time as a new life experience, only to be met with failure. Trying to not let his annoyance be conveyed through his voice, Bob replied.

  "Sure, sure Marlo...It probably worked on you because you're built like a stick"

  Marlo lifted up his hands in front of his face, his sleeves slipping down his forearms and revealing near emaciated arms. Marlo acted like he was studying them with his blind eyes, if he somehow was though, or it was just an act, bob could not be sure. Upon seeing his arms, Bob grimaced slightly and reminded himself he would get two rats for dinner instead of one.

  "I ain't built like no stick, you not see these muscles!? I'll beat your ugly ass to death with a stick in a minute!"

  Not putting up with his provocation, Bob casually wiped the palm of his hand across Marlo's face, equal parts surprising and disgusting him at the same time. Snickering as he did so, Bob replied to Marlo, as the blind man swatted at thin air, with a bizarre expression on his face.

  "Kill me, you couldn't kill yourself, you damn walking corpse"

  Marlo quickly responded, while his hands patted the numerous pockets on his clothes as he looked for something.

  "Eurgh, eurghhhh, what you do you ugly bastard!? Think you're funny, I'll show you when you die!"

  After finally finding what he was looking for, a malicious smile appeared on Marlos face. He retrieved what looked like a deck of cards from the inside pocket of his jacket. Taking them out of the badly beaten box, Bob soon saw that they were not playing cards, but a deck of tarot cards that were in remarkably good condition, despite the state of their box. In fact, Bob realised they were immaculate, not a single speck of dirt on them, even when Marlo's filth laden fingers dragged across them.

  "I'll read your fate, see if I'm gonna have to get a new lackey or not"

  Marlo placed the deck of cards in the space between them both, gliding his hand over them and spreading them out in a slight arch. A moment later he held both of his hands over the cards and began to concentrate, while not saying a word. A feint glow began to emanate from Marlo's palms, casting down on the tarot cards, and seemingly being absorbed by the inconspicuous deck.

  Bob was completely dumbstruck, from just casually bantering with Marlo while he indulged in narcotics, to now witnessing him utilising his power to predict the future. Bob had wondered if Marlo spoke the truth when he told him of his power, with half of his mind believing him, in part of him predicting his friends death, but the other half disbelieving him because he was, well, Marlo.

  The thoughts that were running through Bob's mind were washed away as an astonishing sight graced his eyes, and Marlo's. As Marlo was channelling his power into the cards, his eyes were undergoing a fundamental change that made beads of cold sweat appear at the back of Bob's neck. A strange force felt like it was sucking him in, the longer he stared at Marlo's eyes.

  The turbid quality of his eyes, the milky clouds that seemed alive and sought to hide a secret, were slowly becoming clear. Instead of his eyes turning back to their original form before his poisoning, they finally ended up turning completely black. Now the colour of the void, the blackness was peerless, a complete absence of light, that seemed like it should not belong in the world of mortals.

  One by one, miniscule specks of light appeared within the blackness, the void seemingly coming to life, as the specks of light grew in intensity and quantity. All of these changes within Marlo's eyes, had happened in the space of a single breath, with Bob holding his in, too scared to move in case he missed a detail. Bob saw the beginning of the universe, the birth of stars and their eventual destruction, the creation of fresh universes born from their destruction, and so on. An endless cycle of death and rebirth that elicited feelings of awe and terror within Bob's mind.

  Whilst Bob had been focusing on Marlo's eyes, he had not even realised that the deck of tarot cards had been collected, shuffled, and laid back down, with the top three cards being drawn from the deck and placed face down. At that moment, Marlo's eyes flashed back to normal in the space of him blinking his eyes.

  Bob let out the breath he had been holding in, and then looked down at the cards, only to realise that three cards had been dealt for him. Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, Bob asked a question.

  "Is this my future Marlo? When I'll die and how?"

  The exhilaration and menacing thoughts of teaching Bob a lesson, had now completely gone, and he was level headed again. In turn his body was filled with a slight melancholy, a feeling he had felt before and new its source. He was aware that good news for one person, can be bad news for another. Speaking in a normal tone, devoid of the usual jokes and disdain, Marlo replied.

  "Yeah it is. I wanted to do this when we first met, but whatever.....The first card will be your cause of death, the second will be another clue regarding it, and the third will be the date....Now then"

  Marlo reached his hand down to flip over the first card, but to his surprise and also Bob's, he took another card from the deck and laid next to the three faced down ones. Both of them looked at one another at the same time and spoke.

  "Eh?"

  "Huh?"

  Bob was confused, and even more so by the fact that Marlo was confused. Then he became angry that he had to have another card.

  "Whoa, whoa. Why another card, are you trying to kill me that badly!?"

  Holding his hands in the air in submission, Marlo shook his head side to side, his dirty grey dreadlocks swaying with each turn of his head.

  "I don't know, my hand just moved by itself....And before you start bitching going 'sure Marlo, sure thing Marlo, of course Marlo'....I'm being serious! This ain't happened before, so lets see how fates gonna fuck you, yeah?"

  Marlo did not wait for an answer from Bob, immediately he reached down and revealed the newly added tarot card. Facing both of them with an ominous aura, the grim reaper was staring directly at Bob, with a gaze full of murderous intent. Even so it was an inanimate object, only mere ink on a card, it still felt like he was facing a real God of Death. The skeletal entity was adorned in a ragged, black cloak, carrying a decrepit scythe in one hand, and in the other, a lantern that contained innumerable swirling souls. In the background of the card, a large cage was hanging from a withered tree, with a headless skeleton constrained within.

  Even so Marlo was blind, he knew what cards he had revealed and would know their meanings, the information being front and centre within his mind, although, that information was somewhat limited. Marlo spoke while looking up from the card and staring at Bob with his unseeing eyes.

  "The grim reaper, the God of Death.....Bob, you're dead!...Wait, Bob are you dead??"

  Bob could not help but look at Marlo like he was an idiot as he replied.

  "Of course I'm not dead, what the hell are you talking about!? And tell that stupid skeleton to stop staring at me"

  Leaning slightly over the cards, Marlo concentrated and could feel Bob's breath, giving way to a feeling of relief, but also puzzlement.

  "Just had to be sure, maybe ugly people die differently than us normal people...The worlds gone crazy, Dungeons, special powers, and monsters roaming about, even in my sewers!....But, you sure you're not a zombie role-playing as a Human?"

  Bob shook his head and looked at the tarot card, before looking at the cracked pipe lay on the ground.

  "Tsch. No more blue crystals for you, you stupid stick insect"

  What Bob said seemed to be the perfect words for controlling Marlo. With a panic stricken voice, Marlo quickly spoke up in an attempt to explain himself and appease Bob.

  "Look, that card means the person is dead!...I've seen it a few times in the past, I used to help detectives with missing persons, and if I got that card, it meant the person was dead. It was accurate every time.....All three cards would be the exact same, the grim reaper, and damn, there's only one of those cards in the deck, yet it came up three times!....Whatever, whatever, you're dead, you're not dead, I don't give a shit"

  Deciding to give up explaining or trying to convince him, Marlo directly turned over the next card, expecting to see the same grim reaper staring back at him. To his surprise, the card was completely blank, a pure white surface that made it seemed like a misprint. Pursing his lips together, Marlo became sheepish as he spoke, inwardly questioning his own abilities.

  "Ah, so, you're not dead yet....Ignoring the first card, that blank one means I can't read your fate...In other words, I'm fated to die before you, and so I can't see your death"

  Pondering his words for a moment, Bob spoke up with some optimism in his voice.

  "So if you lived forever, that would mean I'm immortal and wouldn't die either?"

  Letting out a low groan of exhaustion, Marlo replied.

  "What are you, 5? How the hell am I gonna live forever?"

  An obvious answer came to Bob, but once he said it, he realised how stupid it was, and that he actually did sound like a 5year old.

  "I don't know, I could put you in a freezer?"

  Marlo had, had enough of Bob's stupidity, and started checking his pockets for his pipe, evidently forgetting where he had put it.

  "A freezer? I should put your damn brain in a freezer, then you can chill out with your stupidity....Now then, the other cards'l be blank as well, see"

  Marlo turned over the next two cards at the same time, fully expecting their surfaces to be blank like their predecessor. Going off how unpredictable the tarot of fate reading had been up to now, Marlo was not wholly surprised when his expectations were subverted yet again.

  The first card of the two was an beautiful, female angel, with large feathered wings and wearing a simple white tunic. Her long blonde hair flowed down her back, and she had three halos above her head in concentric rings. In her hand was a large banner on a pole, with an image of a heavenly door depicted on it. In her other hand was a set of scales, with them tipped slightly in her direction.

  The final card in the reading was the angels opposite, a demon. A red skinned, grinning demon with two pointed tails to his rear, and two horns on his head, was sat cross legged and stirring a giant cauldron. A ferocious fire was beneath the cauldron, boiling the blood that filled it, as countless souls were being sucked in and refined.

  Marlo was slack jawed as he took in the cards in front of him, with his mind receiving the information as to what they meant. Scratching at his head, a scattering of dirt fell from his scalp while he spoke to Bob.

  "What the fuck you getting yourself into, damn dealings with Heaven and Hell you ugly bastard.....You could just stay in the sewers like a good Bob, but oh no, you wanna start doing some religious shit!...That's probably the reason I die, you gonna drag me down to hell!? Tsch"

  Extreme panic was evident on Bob's face by that point, but not solely from the cards and Marlo's revelation, but the fact he could swear that the cards were whispering to him. A constant stream of incomprehensible words coming from a man's and a woman's voice. Reaching down to grab the card depicting the demon, he had not held it for longer than a second, before he dropped it in pain. The card was searing hot and in that fraction of a second, it had burnt his fingers, something that should not of been possible in many ways.

  "Ahhh, it's hot! What's up with those cards Marlo? What do you mean Heaven and Hell?"

  Marlo looked at Bob like he was dealing with a conman. He took hold of the dropped card and was puzzled, the tarot card had no heat and was just a regular card from his deck. He checked the front and back, and even pressed it against his cheek to check for heat.

  "This card ain't hot, don't bullshit a bullshitter Bob!....Now, I ain't seen these cards get drawn before, but your futures gonna be pretty fucked up.....But what's it all mean?....I don't have a clue, but what I do know is........You broke my damn cards! Making me draw four, death and blanks and even angels and demons.....I need a smoke, get me ma crystals!"

  Marlo did not waste any time and collected the tarot cards, placing them back into the deck, before a wave of his hand later and the deck had vanished into his jacket. Bob on the other hand was thankful that the cards had been put away, as the voices in his head had stopped the moment the pack of tarot cards was closed.

  Unable to think straight about what had just happened, Bob just got up and dutifully went to carry out Marlo's order. Stood over the crystal filled container, Bob suddenly snapped out of his thoughts and looked back at Marlo, with a look of derision on his face, while he muttered under his breath.

  "Treating me like a slave and tricking me with some burning card. Magician my arse, more like a fraudster. See how you like this"

  Bob knelt down and picked up the entire container of blue crystals, before opening his mouth wide and emptying the entire contents into his mouth. With his cheeks puffed out and resembling a cross between a lizard and a squirrel, Bob began to chew through the blue crystals before swallowing them.

  Instantly Marlo's head snapped up and he looked towards where Bob was, angling his ear towards him.

  "Hey Bob, whys it sound like you're eating my crystals?.....Why ain't you answering?....Hey Bob, damn it Bob you best not be eating my supply!?!"

  Bob ignored Marlo's repeated utterances, and instead just savoured the flavour of the unknown blue crystals. Not a single effect was felt from the crystals, much to his annoyance. Then suddenly, Bob felt his two hearts beat rapidly and then his vision go black.

  "Oh damn".