My name is Baer Lange.

I've always been confused on how some people can make a choice and stick with it.

Wouldn't you be curious about what happened if you chose something else?

That's what I've experienced my entire life.

The lack of ‘Discipline’.

Always shifting, changing sides to be in the most advantageous position. Turning, rotating. That's all my personality was, basically, one huge 360° turn over and over again…

And then one day, I became the victim. The victim to someone else's 360.

And so I killed them.

I didn't understand how at first, but he was pitifully weak. No, I was just monstrously strong.

I was an Esper. No longer did I have to hide behind those stronger, because I was the strongest.

You could say the change from my timid, weak-willed and cowardly personality, to my current, strong, mighty, domineering one was the biggest 360 I had ever done.

Yet people still tried to use my own tricks on me. 360s.

The only thing that wouldn't turn on me, was me. So I'll train and train till truly nothing can combat me.

Around then, I discovered my Monolith, Rotation. It was fitting wasn't it?

But after a certain encounter, I realised I was nothing more than a frog in a well. Too deluded to realise there was more to the sky than the little chunk I saw.

The strong devoured the weak, which is why when I met that… thing pretending to be human, pretending to be esper, I became the weak, trying my absolute best to not be devoured.

“Hey, Skinhead,” I heard the young voice call out, I turned my head and tried my best to keep my composure, the dim glow of their phone screen across their blurry face.

“Y-yes, S-sir?” My voice was shaky and weak. I had no time for pride, this animal would eat me if I was too slow…

“Wanna stage a prison break?” He slowly turned the screen, the green apple lollipop in his mouth cracking with a satisfying crunch, a mischievous smile across his face.

[MASS SERIAL KILLER ‘ZAHLEN’ CAUGHT AND SENT TO HELHEIM!

Seven years ago, infamous serial killer Zahlen had begun his rampage. Today he has been caught by the Hero ‘Superstar’, revealing the murderer to be young 24 year old salary worker from…]

The text trailed off, the image taking up a majority of the screen.

A single young man with long blonde hair and a full face, a lithe muscular structure, yet he was a little skinny. Naturally so, not as if he was malnourished, just his body wasn't suited towards building muscles.

Which means he's weak.

A sharp pain ran through my arm, as I opened up my eyes.

My back was against some kind of incredibly soft mattress.

I was fighting the urge to sleep with all my might, as I looked to my side… My right arm inside of a white cast.

It must've fractured when I landed on it, the adrenaline must've dulled the pain enough for me to ignore it at the time.

Baer Lange, eh? So that was his name… good to know.

Who was that kid though, the one with the lollipop…

An Esper’s monolith is the condensed essence of everything they are, and my interpretation, ‘Devour’, takes it and makes it my own. Meaning that I gain some scattered memories from their life.

It only works on espers though, so I refrain from eating other people.

I examined my surroundings.

White equines wearing golden armour stood at the foot of the bed I was laying in. One with a Horn, the other with wings.

“How peculiar,” I mumble into the air and rise up a bit, staring at the two of them, as they turn back and immediately get into a fighting stance.

I can't see their numbers. Why is that?

Is it perhaps that I can only have one Monolith absorbed? And the “Destined Murderer” was removed?

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, searching inside of myself. There was a word, “Gluttony”, of course, and another right beside it. “Rotation”.

I couldn't spot “Destined Murderer”...

Wait, no it's there. It's faint, but it's there.

I try and shift, rerouting the power from “Rotation” to “Destined Killer”. It wasn't exactly easy, but it didn't take long either. I opened my eyes and stared, looking over the two guard-like equines.

[0]

[1]

A zero and a one… those with the number one aren't targets. If I kill them, then the end result of “somebody dying” doesn't change, so it doesn't matter.

Either way, I found it out. I can only have one Monolith, apart from my own, active at a time.

I looked over towards the creatures and ask the one question I've been meaning to for the longest time.

“Where am I?” A basic question, but from the looks of it, this wasn't a hospital, no, the room was much to luxurious for that to be the case.

The bed was soft, much better than anything I've slept on for the last four months. Actually it may be the best of my entire life.

“You… are currently residing in the guest room of the Canterlot Palace of Equestria, your awakening has already been reported via Magic,” He spoke calmly, yet I could see the unease on his face. At least I think it was unease. Horse faces are hard to read, “Under the Laws of Equestria, you are to be brought under trial after your injuries have healed enough to allow for it, until then you are to remain within the Castle walls no matter the circumstances.”

The pony seemed to be quite up there in age… can't leave the castle walls no matter what? From one prison to another then.

That's fine. I just need to wait until I'm brought back to Helheim…

But that could take a while…

Either way, I haven't even been here All that long, and I've already killed a person. I'm definitely going to get imprisoned.

Whatever, it's fine, I've already set my mind on facing the consequences of my actions back in Helheim.

There's no need for escape.

I'm hungry…

…Even if they don’t know, I might as well ask.

“Hey, do you guys have any cigarettes?” I ask, as they seemed to look between each other a bit.

I see the one with the horn have their strange appendage glow, as something rises from the inside of their chest piece, a small box. He opens it up and reveals the contents to be a half filled box of cigs, a greenish glow enveloping it as he holds it out in front of me.

I take it, as the glow concentrates on the tip, lighting up in flame. He gestures his head to the balcony, as I get up from the soft bed a bit reluctantly, opening it up and leaning against the railing, slowly dragging out a puff.

I felt a warm, thick smoke fill my lungs as I breathed out, my eyes closed in a bit of relaxation, before I suddenly opened them up and began to cough my lungs out.

There was a familiar burning sensation in my throat… It had been a few months till my last one, no wonder that my tolerance has gone down a bit.

I looked down, my eyes now opened from the little coughing bout I had.

I was incredibly far off the ground, probably around seven or eight stories up.

The city was vast, like a labyrinth. I could see little specks of various colours move about through the winding streets.

Small red symbols above each one, in a shade I instantly knew. I was too far to read them, but they were numbers. These colours are more of those Equine creatures.

There was a small area that didn't have any colours walking through it, an area that I recognised a bit.

I squinted my eyes as I tried to get a good look at it. It wasn't too far from the castle, a good ten or twelve blocks away. What looked like a destroyed building and a big splodge of a darkened red surrounding the faint chalk outline of a large humanoid.

So that's where I fought Baer…

Considering they haven't really cleaned it up, I can assume I've been out for a few hours to a day at most.

I take another, shorter, drag from my cigarette and turn to see the two guards now at the sides of the balcony.

My eyes wander to their expression, closed yet awkward and a hint of fear.

I recognised the fear. It was something I was accustomed to seeing.

My right to be seen as an innocent person has been squashed since birth. Since I'm an esper.

“Hey, do any of you know where Deutschland is?” I had a suspicion, but I had no clue if I was correct.

“Deutschland…?” I hear one of them question, and the tone of his voice is already enough of an indicator for me.

This is not Earth.

That means it's one of the Unexplored Worlds.

You see, a few decades back, when Espers first began to rise, there was this Esper military general in what was then South Korea that had a strange Monolith.

‘Traversal’

It allowed him to hop between any place in an instant.

One day, he almost died whilst using it, and hadn't inputted the coordinates correctly, causing him to be sent to an entirely different world, much like what happened to the girl with the portals.

Actually this time, the guy survived and came back after a few days.

He talked about dragons, elves, demons and all sorts of fantasy things.

Eventually, after inputting the coordinates to that world again and bringing a platoon with him, he proved the existence of another world.

After a few peace negotiations, both worlds had come to a peaceful agreement.

It became a kind of place you could go to on a whim.

According to the legends in that world, Fantasia, there were nine total worlds as told by the Saintess of Fantasia by God.

The Saintess was a person who could commune directly with God… At least the God of Fantasia. From when the Saintess got to Earth, she apparently didn't feel the presence of any God.

Big win for the Atheists, right? Well not really, after all why would a Saint of another world, who practised an entirely different religion, be able to hear the voice of our world's God?

Humans also learned that Espers aren't a normal thing. That they are a race belonging only to Earth humans, a sub-race that can awaken within any human from Earth at any time, unique only to Earth.

It's actually estimated that 25% of Earth's population are Espers, they just haven't awakened to their abilities. Dying of old age before they ever get the chance.

It was also through the discovery of Fantasia, that Earth stopped being a mass of numerous countries, and instead a Union.

But that's beside the point, either way, I'm in uncharted territory. If they find someone with a Monolith related to Tracking, they should be able to pinpoint the coordinates of the portal and come to this world as well, at some point at least.

Now that the exposition is done, it's finally time to discuss what I do now…

I took a drag from my cigarette as I heard a faint knocking coming from the door.

I cracked my neck a bit and walked over to it.

Though I immediately stopped myself as I realised that, yes, I was technically imprisoned.

The guards got to the door, showed a look of surprise and bowed their heads slightly.

“Princess Twilight, Miss Rainbow Dash,” The one with the horn spoke, before rising again at a feminine voice.

I don't bother to view her as I look out the balcony and take another puff.

It's all I can do really.

All I could feasibly do anyway.

I'm hungry. I always am. No matter how much I eat, how much I kill, how much I… devour.

I will always be nothing more than hungry.

That is the essence of who I am. That is my curse.

The curse of Gluttony.

Nicotine has the helpful effect of being an appetite suppressant, so it's the only thing I could ever use to stave off the hunger.

“Would the two of you mind leaving for a small moment, me and Rainbow Dash would like to have a private word with…” She stopped, only for a moment, not knowing what to call me, ”him”

I tap the end of the cigarette against the railings, tracking with my eyes as I let the ash fall downwards.

“I'm afraid that would be rather difficult, given we were given express orders from Princess Celestia to keep watch over him,” The guard responds.

There was a moment of silence.

“Well, then it's fine,” I heard her respond before I heard eight footsteps… no, eight hoofsteps, so two equines, entering the room.

“E-Excuse me, Mister…” This voice was also feminine, yet more hoarse, “What was your name again?”

“Micheal. Micheal Richter,” I responded without looking back.

“Yes! Mister Micheal Richter! Do you mind if we ask a few questions?” I hear her grunt a bit, as I look in the reflection of the balcony window to see her being jabbed lightly in the side by a hoof.

I recognised these two. Violet and Blue, the same ones I saved. Both of then had one of their wings stuck to their sides in a cast, bandaged up.

“What she meant to say,” She took a small breath, her eyes shifting a bit, down and up again from my neck to my own eyes, “Was thank you for saving the both of us yesterday…”

So it was yesterday. Good to know.

I take a final puff, before taking the finished cigarette and pressing it against the stone railing. Flicking the butt into the street and turning around to finally properly observe the two.

The guard called one of them Princess, which means that one of them is royalty.

Not like I care, I'm already doomed.

“Did I? I forgot about that…” Hopefully they disregard the fact that I saved royalty and still put me in prison. I would hate for my determination to atone be ruined by something as trivial as that.

“Yeah… you did,” I hear the blue one speak.

Blue one… that reminds me, Rainbow Dash and Twilight… which one is which? I'm guessing the one with the technicolor mane is Rainbow, which means the purple one is Twilight.

Princess Twilight. The purple one is a princess.

I take a good look at them.

She doesn't really scream Princess… but then again, I haven't met any to compare against.

They don't seem scared, strangely enough.

“I am curious though,” I narrow my eyes and try to make out their expressions properly, “Why aren't you scared?”

They stop, frozen in place like dolls of flesh.

“...After all, I did kill someone right in front of you.” They glance between each other, before Rainbow speaks up.

“Well… you only did it to protect us,” I narrowed my eyes further, did they not hear him talk about the others I killed? That's… strange.

“...What about what he said?” The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife.

“Well, after I got… attacked, the translation magic I was using fizzled out so we didn't quite catch it,” What…

Magic? Magic exists!?

Even in Fantasia, the existence of magic was merely fiction, the only comparable thing being Holy Power and Divine Blessings…

I guess that explains the strange purple barrier that had stopped me from getting hurt…

Wait. If they didn't understand what he said, then doesn't that mean…

In this world I'm free. I'm not Zahlen, I am simply Micheal…

If…

If they never learn then would that be so bad?

If it was a secret… If they never find out…

“T-that reminds me, you got hit pretty bad in the head, didn’t you?” Twilight continued, as I simply shrugged.

“I guess I did…” I see her physically hesitate a bit before saying something else.

“...Do you mind if I…?” Mind if she does what?

A confused expression donned my face, but I simply let out a little nod, before she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her horn slowly glowing with a purple radiance. After a small amount of time, her eyes widened a small bit as she seemed to mimic my own expression.

“No, that can't…” I heard her mumble, as Rainbow Dash's interest seemed to have peaked, looking over to her.

“Huh? What happened Twi?” Her voice seemed to snap out of her stupor and sighed, responding quickly.

“N-no it's nothing, just tried to use magic to see if there was any damage, but it seems to have come out a bit skewed…” She was obviously hiding something, but that was fine, “W-well, either way, it was… nice to meet you, Mister Micheal Richter. Come on Rainbow.”

She began to leave the room, as Rainbow Dash looked between the two of us a bit, before following her out.

What was that all about…?

“What happened Twi? I thought we were gonna try and question him?” As the two walked out of Richter’s room, the air was stale with a strange mixture of confusion and fear.

“It's just… when I did the scan… it would be faster to just show you…” The purple pony sighed, before her horn glowed and a strange diagram arose into the air, made of her own magic.

It looked like a brain, a human one. Yet there was one key difference. Inscribed into the top was a single word, formed of the wrinkles that made it.

{IMAGE}

Gluttony.

“What the hay…?” Rainbow mumbled out, staring at the diagram with her mouth slightly agape, her eyes squinted as if she was trying to comprehend what she was actually seeing.

“Exactly, Rainbow! I have no clue what that… THING is! I know that strange big hairless bear creature was trying to kill us, but it could speak! It could think! It was sentient, and it died to him faster than I could see!” She slumped a bit, sitting down with her head in her hooves, “W-when it looked at me… I honestly thought it was going to kill me there…!”

“But what about the Cutie Map!? We still haven't finished whatever mission it sent us on! And Micheal Richter definitely has something to do with it…” She said, hovering around Twilight, holding her hoof out and slowly trying to comfort her, Rainbow's one good wing outstretched and shielding her a bit, “You said it yourself, right? The Map sends the both of us here, and moments later two strange creatures appear out of thin air falling from the sky? It can't possibly be a coincidence…”

“I know, Rainbow, but what if the Map was wrong…? I just-” She stopped herself, arising a bit before regaining her composure, “I just can't see any possibility of us being sent here to solve a friendship problem with that thing...”

The one with a technicolor mane stopped, before sighing and relenting. Right now, Twilight's wellbeing was much more important than whatever problem the Map had sent them to solve.

Author's Note

Shitty chapter ik. I'm not really all that good at writing but I just wanted a chapter out.

Tell me what you think and any advice you would like to give!