​     Adam fought, and Adam rose.

     For hours.

​     For days.

     Forever.

​     He'd been buried alive many, many times over his long, long life, and fighting up through all his attackers felt a lot like that. Warriors swam through the other bodies to get to him. Adam felt hands grab at every part of his body. Warriors wrestled one another for the opportunity to wrap their arms around his neck, yet no one could get a grip on him. His body became like gelatin.

     He wasn't really human, you see.

     He was an Adam.

​     He'd been created by the Azure at the beginning of Time to live throughout Time. Adam was designed to be immortal until becoming father to Galatea, Infini's savior. Nearly every timeline had an Adam. There was an infinity of Adams even as there was an infinity of timelines. 

     In short, there wasn't a lot that could kill him, or really even stop him if he didn't want to be stopped.

     And he didn't.

​     But it took awhile. Again, days, months, a forever or two. What difference did it make?

​     So he continued to struggle...

     and he continued to rise...

​     until, at last, he reached open air.

​     He'd fought all the way to the top of this mountain of warriors.

​     Several rays caught Adam from several angles as he rose to his feet. One ray all but disintegrated Adam's left hand. It grew back immediately. He understood this universe better now, this Domitika. In any universe, one's personal will can help shape the course of history, at least to a certain degree.

     In Domitika, that wasn't just a truth. It was ​the truth.​     

​     This entire universe was controlled by the will of those who inhabited it.

     The stronger the will, the more that will shaped Domitika...

​     in conflict or in collaboration with the will of everyone else there.

​     A hawk the size of a jetliner swooped down. Adam smacked its beak hard enough to twist the hawk's head completely around. A warrior riding what looked to be a flying motorcycle took out a chunk of Adam's shoulder with a ray blast. Adam snatched a blaster out of another warrior's hand and fired back, putting a hole through the skycycle rider's chest.

     Without a rider, the cycle dropped for the ground.

     Although it wouldn't hit the ground, not if Adam had anything to say about it.

​     He jumped for it, and, as he did, he got tackled by a warrior covered head to foot in gray armor. Adam twisted in the air, kicking the warrior away from him. He grabbed the handles of the flying vehicle and flopped into the seat.      

​     Yeah!

     Now he could fly!

     For a couple of seconds, anyway.

​     A warship blew the cycle out from underneath his legs while at the same time a flying dragon bit down on Adam to carry him into the sky. Adam grabbed the dragon's jaws to wrest himself free, and that angered the dragon enough to release a flaming plume that sent Adam flying. He came up against another flying cycle, and the two of them wrestled for control of the vehicle while hovering fifty feet above the ground. Adam flipped the rider off the vehicle as it spun crazily in the air. He got it straightened out, and he aimed it in the direction of his destination. 

     Not that he could even see his destination anymore, so many warriors got in the way.

​     He went high. Maybe he could go over everybody.

     Nope. No way.

​     The sky filled with attacking warriors.

     Warriors in warships. Winged warriors. Warriors wearing body armor allowing them to fly. Adam did everything he could to make himself as hard a target as possible. He got pretty good with that skycycle he'd commandeered. Within seconds, he could get it to stop, twist, drop, spin.

     Then,

     BAM!

​     A fist the size of house came down on Adam.

     It slammed Adam and what he rode on flat to the ground.

     It came down on Adam a second time.

     BAM! 

​     The fist flattened Adam. He was now four times bigger and a thousand times thinner than he'd been only moments before.

​     No more defending himself. No more ​moving for a while.

​     He got hit by fifty rays from fifty ray guns. Hundreds of rounds of ammunition emptied into his prone form.

     A meteor fell out of the sky to bury Adam fifty feet in the ground.

​     Hmm, Adam thought when he regained consciousness years or maybe decades later. They're not getting the picture.

     I'm going to reach my destination.

     I'm going to reach my destination if it takes forever.

     I'm going to reach my destination if it takes a ​pile of forevers.

​     So Adam gathered himself within himself...

     then rose again. 

END OF CHAPTER ELEVEN

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