Cherry

The first thing that he remembered was light.

Light, not from the Sun, not from torches, magic, or electricity, but from something greater. Holier, more powerful than him. And he remembered a voice.

“Your life will be a long and difficult one, but I believe that you can make a difference in this world. Please, set upon your path and do not falter. I will be watching you.”

Then the voice was gone, and Cherry was brought into the world. His parents’ gazes were absent, distant, not uncaring but not loving, either. They were “gifted” this child by a Creator, one who had asked them to bear the burden of love in exchange for blessings.

Cherry, this child that they had been given, was perhaps too much for them to care for. They were not bad, not rotten to the core, simply overloaded by their lives, eager for an escape, which the Creator had offered them in exchange for raising Cherry.

However, bringing up a life from the ground up is more difficult than it may seem at a cursory glance, and the two dimentia soon realized this too late. They could not provide Cherry with what he needed.

They would try, however.

Cherry spent much of his time studying. He was raised in a small settlement outside of any of the major dimentian cities, but excelled in his classes anyway. A prodigy, he was called. A gift, he was spoken of as.

He often remembered the words of the voice, wondering if this was what he was meant to do.

Growing older, but not quite all the way up, he sought affection from his parents almost every day, and they failed to provide. He grew frustrated, tired, and spent most of his time in his room from then on, asking the voice –

Why don’t they love me? What am I doing wrong?

The voice did not answer.

As time went on, Cherry grew, and grew, and his parents didn’t know what to do with him. They could never give him all of the love and care that he required, busy as they were, absent as they were, so he sought it elsewhere, in love and flings and other fleeting experiences.

Cherry would proceed to have his heart broken more than once, and perhaps break the hearts of others in the process. Love, he found, was not something to be experimented with, but something to be held dear.

Soon enough, Cherry reached adulthood … and something stopped in his body.

His aging halted. Years passed, and he did not grow past 25 physical years. Cherry’s parents had no idea what to do with it, and neither did he. So it was that Cherry decided to set out for Hourglass, to puzzle out the mystery of his aging.

Why is this happening? Who am I?

Cherry asked the voice again, but the voice did not answer.

Soon enough he would arrive in Hourglass, where he began to study the motions of time and space. He came to discover that he had a talent for rift magic, and began to study it almost religiously, working intensely on his abilities.

The Timekeepers, as well, came to the conclusion that his aging was tied to his Creator’s will – a “blessing” of eternal youth. It was not entirely unheard of, but somewhat uncommon.

This answer was not satisfying. So the studies continued.

Years ticked by. Cherry watched various Timekeepers and Rift-forgers come and go. Some would even die, or be replaced. Decades rolled past. Cherry became more resolute in his studies. He did not age a day.

Eventually, Cherry would be pulled out of his stupor one day by a young man going by a name he cannot recall – a second-in-command of the faction Control Zed. He would be a Destruction, one day, so that he will be called.

“Hey. You look like you need a little lifting up.”

Cherry and Destruction spoke for a while, on the fringes of Hourglass. And Destruction promised to visit him again, and again, and again. And he did. Cherry found himself visited by the dark figure more than once, over and over again, and that he did.

Until one day, when Destruction visited, he was Destruction, well and truly, with the leader’s mark. Cherry would question him how he received it – and get no answer. Only that the previous Destruction had passed, and that it was most unfortunate.

Cherry congratulated him. Destruction seemed prideful.

Then came the explanation. Destruction stated he could no longer visit Cherry because of his responsibilities at Control Zed. Their friendship would have to be put on hold, unless Cherry joined him here and now.

It was a shock. Cherry considered for a while. But ultimately –

He refused.

This caused an immediate rift between the two dimentia. Destruction stormed off, and Cherry was unable to explain his reasoning – his need to find out about himself, and his Creator, and everything that was wrong with him and in that moment he felt parts of his body numb.

He looked down at his arms and found chunks of his flesh turning to crystal. Cherry, in shock, managed to will away the magic, but was left haunted by the sight.

And he pleaded to the voice –

Tell me why you’ve done this to me.

His Creator did not answer.

Decades more ticked by, and eventually, Cherry decided that he was done staying in Hourglass. He departed on a journey of his own making, spurred by his motivation to not only discover himself, but now, to help others as well. If he was struggling, surely there were others like him.

As Cherry helped more and more dimentia, he began to grow a group of friends, that started as one or two, three or four … five … six, ten, twenty – the group expanded seemingly without end, and soon enough he was a leader of sorts.

He came to meet his daughter through this line of work, Quartz, a young, snow-white dimentia with a fiery demeanor. Cherry, upon discovering that she was an orphan, decided to show her the love and care that he was never able to receive from his own parents.

She grew, and he did not. The small “faction” developed, and he did not. But that was okay. He was willing to be eternal, for the sake of them all.

The “faction” created a settlement, a small town of sorts, to house all of its members. Cherry led all the operations. To create someplace safe was the ultimate goal.

That would prove difficult, however, as the town would soon weather many anomaly attacks. The members of the faction simply did not prove strong enough to fend off these creatures, and many were lost in the fights.

Cherry’s heart ached. He could do nothing to stop the bloodshed, and he felt entirely at fault. This was his home, his place, his settlement, and yet he could do nothing.

That is, until…

A face Cherry did not expect to see again appeared to him once more on the outskirts of the group’s settlement. It was Destruction, with a small party of Control Zed members. They approached Cherry with purpose.

Destruction offered to protect Cherry’s people – if they became a part of Control Zed, and the settlement became a new base of operations.

This was a difficult decision for Cherry, but ultimately…

He had to accept.

Why couldn’t I alone protect my people?

His Creator, as always, did not answer.

So it was that Cherry joined Control Zed, along with the rest of his faction, and Quartz, who seemed excited at the prospect of learning to fight proper. They were absorbed into the greater whole of Control Zed, and Cherry felt conflict rise in his heart, but stilled it to the best of his ability.

Cherry would quickly climb the ranks in Control Zed, until eventually, Destruction invited him to be his right hand after the abrupt passing of his previous. Flustered but optimistic, Cherry accepted, and took his place at Destruction’s side.

Soon enough, he would learn that Destruction had a son. The two met by chance, but were eventually properly introduced. Cherry and this kid got along surprisingly well.

In between the training sessions of the son, Cherry would spend time with him, sharing little gestures of kindness and care that he’d learned as he grew. The teen seemed to appreciate it more than Cherry expected.

They became fast friends, and that made what Cherry found out next even more devastating.

One day as Cherry was wandering the halls, patrolling, he heard Destruction shouting. He rounded a corner, and saw the dimentia shouting at his son, saying things that Cherry could not have ever pictured coming out of his mouth before.

He hid. He thought. It stewed in his mind.

What am I supposed to do now?

Cherry’s Creator answered for the first time –

“Do what you must.”

Those words stuck with him, until the day of the negotiation with the Retcons. There, Destruction’s true colors showed more than ever, as he declared war over an ideological dispute… At least, that’s what Cherry remembered it as…

Whatever it was, it sparked bloodshed.

The memory of Quartz was sharp. As he ran across the battlefield to her side where she was burned and her body littered with gashes, as he shouted and screamed and could do nothing to help her as the light in her eyes died.

Cherry made a decision, after that.

In the next battle, atop the roofs of skyscrapers in Daybreak, Cherry saw Destruction in the midst of the battle, and thought of what he had done. Of his own Creator’s words. Do what you must. He thought of Quartz, and the war that had taken her life, that raged now.

He charged Destruction with his sword and shield and attempted to bowl the dimentia over.

Of course, Destruction’s superior strength allowed him to flip Cherry over with ease and slam him to the ground. Curses flew, harsh screams were exchanged, but it was all cut short by a thunderclap of energy.

From nowhere, Destruction’s son leapt, knocking Destruction clean off of Cherry and pinning him to the ground. As Cherry sat up, there was a –

BOOM!

– And then Destruction’s voice could no longer be heard.

Cherry turned to look at what had happened in that moment, and saw Destruction’s son, in tears, bearing the leader mark. Words could not describe the shock that hit him in that moment. He moved towards Destruction’s son – no, Destruction – braver than any of the crowd.

He offered comforts. Destruction accepted.

The war would end soon after, and Cherry … Cherry would find many of his comrades in Control Zed had left for better territory, for better lives. But he remained. For those he could yet save. For the son that his once-friend had given such hate.

For many, many years, he stayed with Control Zed.

As of now, Cherry holds a regular rank in Control Zed, having denied promotions many a time, not wanting to get involved in the upper rankings of the faction. He has seen many members come and go and is wise beyond his appearance.

If you ask for advice, or help, though, you’ll receive it. He’s more than willing to give, even at a moment’s notice.