"Are you sure?" Ciel asked.
"That makes the most sense," I said.
"IT does seem likely," Sal said. "But Justin, if there really is a Thoughtborn living inside your laptop, that that's something you should be concerned about."
"I know," I said.
"How'd it even get in there?" Ciel asked.
"I think it was when Oceana attacked our old hideout," I said. "The night he hurt you. He must have slipped her in somehow."
"Stupid bastard," Ciel said.
"So what's your plan?" Sal asked.
"I'll keep her with me, I guess," I said.
"Are you crazy!?" Ciel demanded. "That thing could be dangerous!"
"Stop calling her a thing," I said. "She identifies as female. And she's trapped. Scared. I... I wanna help her. If I can."
"It's data, Justin," she replied. "It doesn't have a vagina."
"That's no what this is about!" I snapped.
"Look," Sal said. "It's nice that you want to help someone in trouble. But you have another friend right now who needs your help more."
"I know," I said. "I need to get to Terrence."
"Speaking of which," Ciel said. "How are those contacts coming along?"
"I found a servant who can help us," Sal said. "Sorry it took so long."
"What was the hold up, exactly?" Ciel asked.
"I had to find jus the right servant," he explained. "Someone close enough with their Fear to get us a personal audience."
"Wait, we're actually getting the Fears involved here?" I asked.
"Just one," he said. "One who would be willing to send you in there."
"Why exactly would a Fear go along with this?" I asked.
"Because this Fear hates the Game Master," Sal said. "They'd love to throw a wrench in his tournament. Which is exactly what we're planning to do."
"And which Fear is it, exactly?" Ciel asked.
Sal sighed, and grimaced for a second, clearly not comfortable with where this was going.
"The Wooden Girl," he answered.
Monday, October 16, 2017
Hey, V, you there?
I was hoping we could talk.
はい
はい
Okay, cool. Any chance you can stop with the Japanese?
I'm trying my ベスト
It's 難しい
Well, keep trying, I guess. Maybe you'll figure it out. You're trapped, or something, right?
はい
Okay. And you can't see anything?
Not 当初
But now I can see... words... ideas... It's 奇妙な
Huh...
Do you remember anything from before?
No
Okay, English. That's progress, I guess...
So, I might as well learn what I can about you...
Are you a boy or a girl?
女の子
Okay. Do you know how old you are?
No...
Favorite color?
I like the purple you guys 選択した
Is that why you've been changing the color yourself?
はい
You like music?
I think Vocaloids are いい
Is that why there were so many YouTube tabs open to Miku songs when I opened up my computer?
多分
...
Um...
Okay, so far we no that you're trapped somewhere neither of us can identify, you can see information, including my blog posts, as I'm writing them, no less, and you can interact with my posts and open things up on my computer...
And also that I'm 女性
Yeah, well that one's not quite as worrying as everything else. Look, I have to sign off for a while, but we'll talk again soon. Promise.
Okay...
I'll 待つ
Monday, October 9, 2017
An interesting encounter
So, Algeria and I were wandering around a bit, and we came across this dude.
Oh, right, this is Terrence by the way. Although that was probably obvious by the fact I mentioned Algeria was with me...
It was just outside this bishop shaped building. There were a bunch of scorched gouges in the ground and side of the building. There was still smoke coming from them.
And he was just standing there, examining them and taking notes on a notepad.
He had short, curly brown hair, wore a pair of glasses, and has a little goatee. There was a wooden samurai sword across his back, and a satchel was siting at his side.
He noticed us out of the corner of his eye.
"Oh, hey," he said. "IF you wanna fight, could you give me a minute? I'm in the middle of something."
I just gave him a weird look and let him go about his note taking.
"What are you doing, exactly?" I asked after a little bit.
"Trying to piece together what went down here," he replied.
"A fight, obviously," I said.
"Well, yes," he said. "But between who?"
I looked at the gouges.
"I dunno," I said.
"Well, if you look closely, the gouges seem to be caused by a sword," he said. "A big one, at that."
"Normal swords don't burn the environment," Algeria pointed out.
"That's 'cause it wasn't a normal sword," he replied. "The fire and smoke could mean a lot of things, but I feel the most likely reason would be the Brute's involvement."
My eyes widened a little at that.
"That, plus the evidence of a sword being used, would indicate that the damage was caused by a Crimson Knight," he went on.
I suppose I should explain. The Brute is a Fear that takes a lot of different forms and tends to have strong connections to fire and smoke, as well as warfare and anger. And its servants, the Crimson Knights, are basically berserkers who have a bit of its power.
"How can you be sure the Brute was involved here?" Algeria asked.
"Well, mostly it's just intuition," he said. "Whoever caused this much terrain damage must have been pretty strong. As was whoever it was fighting."
"What?" I asked.
"Look closer," he said. "The Crimson Knight isn't the only one who caused Terrain damage."
I hadn't noticed until then, but there was a bit of ground that had been smashed instead of gouged with a fiery sword.
"What caused all that?" I asked.
"Looks like a sledgehammer," the man said.
I practically froze solid hearing that.
"Clearly wielding by someone with above human strength," he continued.
"Like an Enhanced?" I asked.
"One of many possibilities," he said, smiling a bit. "But yes, that seems likely."
Henry. It had to be. But, if the multi-hammer wielding Enhanced took on a Crimson Knight, then there was still a pretty big question that needed answering.
"Who won?" I though aloud.
"Hard to say," the man said. "Neither of them seems to have left a body behind. And while the Knight could have immolated the Enhanced, there still would have been something left behind. Blood or ash or something."
"What if they both made it out unharmed?" Algeria asked.
"That would be possible," the man said.
"That would be trouble," I said. "Both a Crimson Knight and an Enhanced being out there. Probably still nearby."
"Are you done yet?"
The new voice startled me and Algeria, but the other guy wasn't surprised at all. We all turned to see a young girl standing there. She had blue hair, and wore a mask that had a red diamond and the number 9 on it.
"Sorry," the guy said. "I think I've got everything I need. You can go ahead do your thing."
"Finally," he girl said.
She lifted a hand, and one by one, the cracks and gouges closed up, returning the terrain to its proper state.
"Whoa," I said, watching her work. "That's interesting."
"You know what's really interesting?" the guy asked. "The fact that I've been talking about about the Brute and Crimson Knights this whole time, and haven't had to explain what either of them are. In fact, you contributed to the conversation by bringing up Enhanced. So you two must already be familiar with Fears and their servants."
"Whatever," I sighed. "What of it?"
"I just find it interesting," he said. "So, we fighting or not?"
"Honestly, I don't really care right now," I said.
"So, can I just go then?" he asked.
"I don't have a problem with it," Algeria said.
"Sure, go ahead," I said.
"Thank you," he said, picking up his satchel. "I look forward to next time."
He began walking away.
"What a weird guy," I said.
"You know we could have taken that guy, right?" Algeria asked.
The other girl chuckled.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
"The fact that he's won more fights than both of you combined," the girl said. "All without taking a single life."
Wow. Tha'ts... pretty impressive.
"I have a gun, and he knows how to handle Molotov cocktails," Algeria pointed out.
"He has intelligence, deduction, and adaptability," she said. "You shouldn't underestimate him so easily."
She finished up her work and vanished.
So yeah, we now know of three new potential threats in this tournament.
We have a Crimson Knight, who is definitely not something to take lightly.
Then we have Henry. Probably Henry, anyway. All clues point to him. And after the damage I caused to him, he is NOT going to show me mercy if we cross paths.
And then there's that dude with the wooden sword and the notepad who's kicked more ass than I have so far. He could also be a problem.
And, they're all most likely still nearby. We'll need to be extra careful.
Oh, right, this is Terrence by the way. Although that was probably obvious by the fact I mentioned Algeria was with me...
It was just outside this bishop shaped building. There were a bunch of scorched gouges in the ground and side of the building. There was still smoke coming from them.
And he was just standing there, examining them and taking notes on a notepad.
He had short, curly brown hair, wore a pair of glasses, and has a little goatee. There was a wooden samurai sword across his back, and a satchel was siting at his side.
He noticed us out of the corner of his eye.
"Oh, hey," he said. "IF you wanna fight, could you give me a minute? I'm in the middle of something."
I just gave him a weird look and let him go about his note taking.
"What are you doing, exactly?" I asked after a little bit.
"Trying to piece together what went down here," he replied.
"A fight, obviously," I said.
"Well, yes," he said. "But between who?"
I looked at the gouges.
"I dunno," I said.
"Well, if you look closely, the gouges seem to be caused by a sword," he said. "A big one, at that."
"Normal swords don't burn the environment," Algeria pointed out.
"That's 'cause it wasn't a normal sword," he replied. "The fire and smoke could mean a lot of things, but I feel the most likely reason would be the Brute's involvement."
My eyes widened a little at that.
"That, plus the evidence of a sword being used, would indicate that the damage was caused by a Crimson Knight," he went on.
I suppose I should explain. The Brute is a Fear that takes a lot of different forms and tends to have strong connections to fire and smoke, as well as warfare and anger. And its servants, the Crimson Knights, are basically berserkers who have a bit of its power.
"How can you be sure the Brute was involved here?" Algeria asked.
"Well, mostly it's just intuition," he said. "Whoever caused this much terrain damage must have been pretty strong. As was whoever it was fighting."
"What?" I asked.
"Look closer," he said. "The Crimson Knight isn't the only one who caused Terrain damage."
I hadn't noticed until then, but there was a bit of ground that had been smashed instead of gouged with a fiery sword.
"What caused all that?" I asked.
"Looks like a sledgehammer," the man said.
I practically froze solid hearing that.
"Clearly wielding by someone with above human strength," he continued.
"Like an Enhanced?" I asked.
"One of many possibilities," he said, smiling a bit. "But yes, that seems likely."
Henry. It had to be. But, if the multi-hammer wielding Enhanced took on a Crimson Knight, then there was still a pretty big question that needed answering.
"Who won?" I though aloud.
"Hard to say," the man said. "Neither of them seems to have left a body behind. And while the Knight could have immolated the Enhanced, there still would have been something left behind. Blood or ash or something."
"What if they both made it out unharmed?" Algeria asked.
"That would be possible," the man said.
"That would be trouble," I said. "Both a Crimson Knight and an Enhanced being out there. Probably still nearby."
"Are you done yet?"
The new voice startled me and Algeria, but the other guy wasn't surprised at all. We all turned to see a young girl standing there. She had blue hair, and wore a mask that had a red diamond and the number 9 on it.
"Sorry," the guy said. "I think I've got everything I need. You can go ahead do your thing."
"Finally," he girl said.
She lifted a hand, and one by one, the cracks and gouges closed up, returning the terrain to its proper state.
"Whoa," I said, watching her work. "That's interesting."
"You know what's really interesting?" the guy asked. "The fact that I've been talking about about the Brute and Crimson Knights this whole time, and haven't had to explain what either of them are. In fact, you contributed to the conversation by bringing up Enhanced. So you two must already be familiar with Fears and their servants."
"Whatever," I sighed. "What of it?"
"I just find it interesting," he said. "So, we fighting or not?"
"Honestly, I don't really care right now," I said.
"So, can I just go then?" he asked.
"I don't have a problem with it," Algeria said.
"Sure, go ahead," I said.
"Thank you," he said, picking up his satchel. "I look forward to next time."
He began walking away.
"What a weird guy," I said.
"You know we could have taken that guy, right?" Algeria asked.
The other girl chuckled.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
"The fact that he's won more fights than both of you combined," the girl said. "All without taking a single life."
Wow. Tha'ts... pretty impressive.
"I have a gun, and he knows how to handle Molotov cocktails," Algeria pointed out.
"He has intelligence, deduction, and adaptability," she said. "You shouldn't underestimate him so easily."
She finished up her work and vanished.
So yeah, we now know of three new potential threats in this tournament.
We have a Crimson Knight, who is definitely not something to take lightly.
Then we have Henry. Probably Henry, anyway. All clues point to him. And after the damage I caused to him, he is NOT going to show me mercy if we cross paths.
And then there's that dude with the wooden sword and the notepad who's kicked more ass than I have so far. He could also be a problem.
And, they're all most likely still nearby. We'll need to be extra careful.
Friday, October 6, 2017
Bar Fight
Okay...
Sorry for taking so long with this, but things got a bit crazy when we went to Sal's.
It started out okay. Ken let us in and we went up to the counter to talk to Sal. It was quiet and empty that night. Sal was alone there, cleaning some glasses, while the white haired guy who works there was getting some tables cleaned off.
"Reaper," he greeted me. "How can I help you."
"I need you to tell me something," I said.
He sighed.
"What's this about?" he asked.
"What do you know about the Game Master," I asked.
"More than I'd like too," he admitted. "I notice the pyromaniac is absent. And Julia's with you."
"That's right," I said. "Her brother and Terrence were both dragged into one of the Game Master's tournament."
"I see," he replied.
He set down his rag and placed both hands on he counter, closing his eyes.
"The best you can do is cross your fingers and hope they can make it out okay," he said.
"I can't do that!" I said. "I have to get to them. They need help."
"That's a bad idea," Sal said.
"I'm full of those," I said. "You know about the Game Master, right? There's gotta be a way into his domain."
"There's plenty of ways," he said. "But it's not a place you want to go."
"That doesn't matter," I said. "I need to get in."
Sal breathed a deep sigh before opening his eyes and looking at me.
"The answer is no," he said. "I can't help you."
"Bullshit!" Ciel snapped at him. "You work for him, don't you!?"
Sal immediately turned his attention to her, glaring. I've seen him angry before, but the look on his face now was absolutely livid. Ciel, of course, didn't back down.
"You've got those poker themed tables and you unexplained abilities that you use to keep dozens of Fear servants n check," Ciel continued. "He's the reason behind all of that, isn't he!?"
"Shut up," Sal growled.
"Answer me!" Ciel demanded.
Sal suddenly vanished, and then Ciel let out a shriek as he reappeared behind her, grabbed her by the hair, and lifted her a foot off the ground.
"I do NOT work for that monster!" Sal hissed.
I made to draw my scythe, but before I could, the white haired guy came up and raised a giant war glaive to Sal's neck.
"Put her down, Sal," he said softly. "Calm down."
Sal took a deep breath and released Ciel. The white haired guy breathed a sigh of relief before quickly tapping Ciel of the head with the handle of his glaive.
"You just had to fucking trigger him, didn't you?" he said.
I drew my scythe and swung it at him. He block my attack with his glaive, as I was expecting. I locked eyes with him.
"Don't fucking touch her," I warned, before turning to Sal. "What the hell is your problem?"
"I'm going to have to ask you all to leave," he said.
"Not gonna happen!" I said. "I need to get onto the Board, and your my best shot at getting there."
"It took me over a hundred years to escape that place," Sal said. "I'm not going back."
I took a step back.
"You really are one of his servants," I realized out loud.
He glared at me.
"Not. Any. More."
"Justin," Julia whispered to me. "Stop talking. You're just gonna piss him off more."
She stepped forward, looking into Sal's eyes.
"Sal," she said. "Please. My brother's in danger."
Sal looked away, but I noticed hat his expression soften a little.
"You know what he has planned for him," Julia said. "Help Justin get there. That's all I'm asking."
Sal closed his eyes for a minute before responding.
"Only Justin," he said. "No one else."
"Wait a second!" Ciel snapped. "I'm not letting that idiot go in alone!"
"You're going to have to," Sal snarled at her. "That's my offer. Take it or leave it."
"We accept," I said.
"Good to see you all finally agreeing!" Said a mysterious new voice.
We all turned to see a man sitting at one of the barstools, shuffling a deck of tarot cards. He was dressed in a black long coat, had slick black hair, and gleaming crimson eyes. His right hand was blood red in color.
"How many times do I need to shoot you before you stop ignoring your perma-ban?" Sal asked, annoyed.
"Relax, Sally," the man chuckled. "I just dropped in to let you know that you're about to have some company."
The man placed 4 of the tarot cards on the counter, face down.
"Emissaries," the white haired guy said.
"Mm-hm," the red handed guy nodded. "You'd best be prepared for a party."
"Emissaries of what, exactly?" I asked.
"The Game Master," Julia replied.
"So they're trouble?" Ciel asked.
"The don't have to be," the red handed guy said. "I'd be more than happy to lend a ha-"
Before he could finish, Sal appeared behind the counter, aimed a shotgun at the guys face, and straight up shot him in the head.
"Whoa!" I gasped. "You killed him!"
"He'll be fine," Sal said, strapping a longsword to his back.
"You shot him in the face!" I said.
"He's had worse," Sal replied.
Ken came in the front door and asked "Is everything okay in here?"
"Emissaries are on their way," the white haired guy said.
"Shit!" Ken said. "What should we do?"
"Let's see which ones are coming first," Sal said, flipping over the first of the cards. "The High Priestess. They're bringing a healer with them."
He flipped over the next one.
"The Hierophant," he said. "Great..."
He flipped the third one over.
"The Sun," he groaned. "Shit... That means..."
He flipped the final sign and then clenched both of his fists.
"The Ace of Cups," he said. "Damn it all..."
"Shelly," the white haired guy muttered.
"Okay, here's what we're gonna do," Sal said. "Ken, get Julia to safety."
"But I can fight!" Julia protested.
"We can't risk that," Sal said. "Ken, now."
Ken nodded, then raised a hand and opened a portal into some weird, dark place. Julia reluctantly walked through with him before shooting me a look.
"Give them hell," she said.
The portal closed.
"That leaves us with four," the white haired guy said. "Same as them."
Sal nodded.
"Justin, if you want my help, you're going to have to help me," he said. "I need you to deal with the Sun. Sykar, the Ace of Cups' lieutenant. You're the best suited to fight against him. He's the one with the glowing claws."
"Okay," I said.
"Isaac," he said, addressing the white haired guy. "You handle the High Priestess. Keep her away from the others. Don't give her a chance to heal them."
"Got it," he replied.
"So I'm left with that Heirophant guy?" Ciel asked.
"You should be bitchy enough to handle him," Sal said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ciel demanded.
"You'll see," Sal said. "Let's go."
We all stepped outside and waited. A few minutes later they showed up. Two guys and two girls. One of the men was a silver haired dude with a creepy grin and a clawed gauntlet on his left hand. The claws weren't glowing, but no one else had claws, so he must've been the Sun Sal was talking about. The other guy had short brown hair and looked really bored. The first girl was a redhead in a blue gown, carrying a staff. She looked kind of cute, actually.
And then there was the last one. The woman who seemed to be leading them, carrying a machete and looking really damn pleased with herself.
"What do you want here?" Sal demanded.
"Where's the girl, Sal?" the woman asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Sal said.
"Don't lie to me," she said. "We know the Reaper brought her along with him."
Sal sighed.
"You made a blog post before coming here, didn't you?" he said.
"Sorry," I said. "She's not here anymore! You guys missed her."
"Very well," the woman said, raising her machete. "Then you're going to tell me where she's run off to."
"No." Sal replied sternly.
"Alright," she said. "Be that way."
Then another of her appeared right in front of Isaac and kicked him into the wall behind him. The original her faded away a second later, revealing itself to be some kind of afterimage.
Sal leapt into action, drawing his sword and slashed a her, only for the blade to pass straight through her afterimage as she appeared a short distance away and hit him with a blast of golden light, knocking him back through the door of the bar. She walked in after him while addressing the others.
"See if you can beat some answers out of them," she said. "If not, just kill em'."
The Sun guy (Sykar, I guess) turned his attention to me, grinning.
"Okay, fuck the battle plan, let's do this!" I shouted, charging at him.
It'd be awfully hard to do things as Sal had planned with Isaac out of commission, but I was sure I could handle things. Ciel went right for the brown haired guy while I made my way over to the other two. Sykar's eyes and claws started glowing with a bright white light, and his claws seemed to grow a couple inches. I swung my scythe at him, which he managed to deflect.
"Heya, handsome!" He said, moving in to scratch at me.
"Not my type!" I exclaimed, sweeping his legs out from under him.
As he fell over, I brought my scythe up and swung it down at him, piercing into his chest as he hit the ground. I was then struck by a burst of golden light that sent me flying a few feet. It hurt pretty bad, but it wasn't enough to kill me.
I pulled myself back up to see the girl with the staff, the High Priestess, hovering over Sykar, with a hand raised over his wound, which was glowing with gold light. She glared at me and aimed the tip of her staff in my direction, letting out another blast of light. I dodged it and dove for my dropped scythe. She fired another blast, but I grabbed my scythe in time and managed to deflect it with a quick slash.
I charged at her, readying my scythe, but Sykar got back to his feet, wounds fully healed, and got in my way. The two of us started fighting, deflecting each other's blows as best as we could. Then the High Priestess fired off another light blast, which I managed to defend against, but Sykar took advantage of the momentary distraction and clawed me across the chest. His claws burnt to the touch, and I stumbled backwards, clutching at the wounds they left. The High Priestess readied yet another blast.
"Hey bitch!" Ciel shouted, distracting her.
We all turned to see that the Hierophant was sitting down, nursing some knife wounds, while Ciel charged at the High Priestess.
"Fuck you!" Ciel yelled, engaging the High Priestess in a fight.
I turned my attention back to Sykar.
"My healer's better than yours!" I said.
He and I continued fighting. While he was focused on my scythe, I threw in a kick to his kneecap, surprising him and causing him to loose balance. I took the chance to maneuver behind him and hook his torso with the arc of my scythe. Then, with a sharp shift of my weight, I slammed his body into the ground, cutting into his skin as I did.
The High Priestess managed to push Ciel away from her and then twirled her staff above her for a second before yelling loudly and slamming it down into the ground. There was a giant pulse of gold light that knocked both me a Ciel off of our feet. As I hit the ground, I caught a glimpse of smoke coming from the bar. Just what was going on in there.
The High Priestess raised her staff again, and two spheres of golden light appeared from it, and zoomed toward Sykar and the Hierophant. They both rose to their feet, as their wound faded away. The High Priestess slumped over panting, and the Hierophant went over to her.
"You okay?" he asked.
"That took a lot out of me," she replied, rising back up. "But I can still fight."
Then there was an explosion inside the bar and Sal was launched out of the front door and hit the pavement hard. The Ace of Cups calmly stepped out. Her eyes were glowing just like Sykar's, as was her machete, which had grown a bit larger. She had some bruises and cuts, but a gold aura briefly passed over her, healing them all.
"How pathetic," she chuckled. "I thought with your reputation you'd be tougher. Guess the hype was exaggerated, huh, big guy?"
She lifted her machete, ready to strike at him, but Isaac got back up and got her attention.
"Shelly!" He snapped. "Get away from him!"
"Oh?" She said, turning to him. "And what are you gonna do if I don't?"
Isaac quickly gulp down the contents of a small glass bottle and than smashed it on the ground.
"What was that?" She asked, sounding genuinely worried for once.
Isaac's eyes began glowing white, and the High Priestess suddenly let out a loud shriek. She fell backwards, and one of her arms appeared to pin itself to the ground, as if being held there.
"Get off!" She shrieked, struggling against something I couldn't see. "Let me go! Stop it!"
As she continued kicking and screaming, Isaac set his sights on Sykar, who dropped to his knees, clutching his left forearm and expressing legitimate agony.
"My hand!"" He cried out. "My fucking hand! What the Fuck! AHHHH!"
"What are you doing!" the Ace of Cups demanded. "Stop it!"
But Isaac wasn't stopping. He turned his attention to the Hierophant, who began scratching wildly at his skin, panicking.
"Get them off!!" he shouted. "My god, make them get off!"
The Ace of Cups was seriously looking pissed, and she took a few steps toward Isaac before stopping in her tracks and clutching her head.
"Get out!" She demanded, glaring at Isaac.
"Never!" Isaac said.
He looked like he was in pain, and was clinging desperately to his glaive as if it were a walking stick. As the Ace of Cups made another pained step toward him, Ken burst out of a portal and rabbit punched her from behind. She stumbled forward and turned to him, outraged. She swung her sword at him, but before she made contact, she faked him out by teleporting behind him and leaving an afterimage where she just was. This didn't phase Ken at all, as he just turned and side kicked her right in the solar plexus before her attack could connect. From that angle I noticed that he had discarded his shades, exposing his eyes. While I couldn't see them perfectly from that distance, there was a distinct flash of red there.
"Your deceptions won't work on me, witch," he said, hitting her again.
Sal then got back up and joined in, double teaming her. As they did, I gripped my scythe and made my way over to Sykar, who was still crying over whatever was going on with his arm. I raised my scythe, preparing to decapitate him. But as I brought it down, the High Priestess got in my way and blocked my attack with he staff.
"It's... not real," she told herself.
Her eye was twitching a bit, and she still seemed to be struggling somewhat against whatever Isaac had down. I her staff aside and kicked her in the face, knocking her out. Deciding I should deal with her before she caused any more trouble, I raised my scythe, ready to impale her.
Spare her.
I hesitated as Daniel's voice sounded through my head.
I'm a Timberwolf, I thought. That's not my style.
Suddenly, an image of her smiling and giggling flashed through my mind, only for a second.
What is this? I thought.
A memory, Daniel replied. From another world.
Other worlds don't matter! I thought. She's an enemy! I need to finish her off!
Please, Daniel said. Trust me.
As I stood there, contemplating whether to deal the coop de grace, a man in a black cloak, the same man I had seen in Anthony's file, appeared, using a black pistol to block one of Sal's sword slashes. Everybody stopped what they were doing. A wave of terror that I didn't understand washed over me. I didn't know why I was scared. I just was. I seemed like everyone was. Even the Ace of Cups was shivering. The only ones unaffected were Sal and he cloaked man, who just stared at each other for a moment. Sal stepped back, still glaring at the newcomer. A small mechanical claw came out of the man's, sleeve, gripping the gun and pulling it inside the sleeve.
"You and your kind are no longer welcome here," Sal said.
The man sighed. Then he turned into a giant cloak-like shadow, and flew through the air, scooping up the other Emissaries before folding in on itself and vanished. The fear we were all feeling faded away.
Sal stared at the bar for a second before going to check on Isaac, who was leaning against the wall, clutching his head.
"That was reckless of you," Sal said.
"I'm sorry," Isaac said. "We were losing. I had to do something."
"And I thank you for that," Sal said. "Now go home and rest. That must have put a lot of pressure on you."
"Okay," Isaac said, getting to his feet and pulling out his phone. "Better call a ride."
"When you get the time, inform the other employees that we'll be closing for a while," Sal added.
"Sure thing," Isaac replied.
Sal then walked into the bar. The rest of us followed him. The place was a wreck. Wood was smashed and smoldering, broken glass was strewn all over the place, and almost every table and chair had been broken to splinters.
"Oh my god," Ciel muttered.
Sal sighed deeply as he examined the damage.
"I'm sorry," I said. "This is my fault, isn't it?"
Sal turned to me. The look on his face was... I guess somber is probably the best word I can think of for it.
"I can't blame you for this," he said. "You couldn't have known that they'd follow you here. That they would follow Julia."
"I let them know she would be here," I said. "That was stupid of me..."
"It's okay," Sal said. "They're the ones at fault here. We've had an agreement for years that states they are not allowed to do any of their hunting in or near my establishment. This is a neutral place, and they betrayed that."
"That other guy was the Ace of Swords, right?" I said, remembering the tarot card attached o his picture.
"Yes," Sal replied. "One of my best customers. It was hard to slap the ban on him like that, but that's what they get for violating my terms."
"Why are they after Julia, anyway?" Ciel asked.
"She's special," Sal replied. "It's not my place to tell you why, but the Game Master despises her."
"He wants her dead?" I asked.
"Worse," Sal said. "He wants her to suffer. He wants her to want to die."
"That's fucked up," I said. "That's why he took her brother..."
"That's right," Sal said. "On the topic of Julia, is she safe?"
"Yes," Ken replied. "I gotten her somewhere they won't know about."
"Good," Sal said. "I want you to do the same for Keran. She's too important. We can't let her be caught up in this war."
"Yes sir," Ken said. "I'll go take care of everything."
"Good," Sal replied.
He turned his attention back to the damaged bar.
"How much would it cost to fix all this?" I asked.
"Nothing but time," Sal said. "Every floorboard. Every brick. Every pane of glass. Everything that makes up this place is under my control."
"Whoa," I said. "Seriously?"
Sorry for taking so long with this, but things got a bit crazy when we went to Sal's.
It started out okay. Ken let us in and we went up to the counter to talk to Sal. It was quiet and empty that night. Sal was alone there, cleaning some glasses, while the white haired guy who works there was getting some tables cleaned off.
"Reaper," he greeted me. "How can I help you."
"I need you to tell me something," I said.
He sighed.
"What's this about?" he asked.
"What do you know about the Game Master," I asked.
"More than I'd like too," he admitted. "I notice the pyromaniac is absent. And Julia's with you."
"That's right," I said. "Her brother and Terrence were both dragged into one of the Game Master's tournament."
"I see," he replied.
He set down his rag and placed both hands on he counter, closing his eyes.
"The best you can do is cross your fingers and hope they can make it out okay," he said.
"I can't do that!" I said. "I have to get to them. They need help."
"That's a bad idea," Sal said.
"I'm full of those," I said. "You know about the Game Master, right? There's gotta be a way into his domain."
"There's plenty of ways," he said. "But it's not a place you want to go."
"That doesn't matter," I said. "I need to get in."
Sal breathed a deep sigh before opening his eyes and looking at me.
"The answer is no," he said. "I can't help you."
"Bullshit!" Ciel snapped at him. "You work for him, don't you!?"
Sal immediately turned his attention to her, glaring. I've seen him angry before, but the look on his face now was absolutely livid. Ciel, of course, didn't back down.
"You've got those poker themed tables and you unexplained abilities that you use to keep dozens of Fear servants n check," Ciel continued. "He's the reason behind all of that, isn't he!?"
"Shut up," Sal growled.
"Answer me!" Ciel demanded.
Sal suddenly vanished, and then Ciel let out a shriek as he reappeared behind her, grabbed her by the hair, and lifted her a foot off the ground.
"I do NOT work for that monster!" Sal hissed.
I made to draw my scythe, but before I could, the white haired guy came up and raised a giant war glaive to Sal's neck.
"Put her down, Sal," he said softly. "Calm down."
Sal took a deep breath and released Ciel. The white haired guy breathed a sigh of relief before quickly tapping Ciel of the head with the handle of his glaive.
"You just had to fucking trigger him, didn't you?" he said.
I drew my scythe and swung it at him. He block my attack with his glaive, as I was expecting. I locked eyes with him.
"Don't fucking touch her," I warned, before turning to Sal. "What the hell is your problem?"
"I'm going to have to ask you all to leave," he said.
"Not gonna happen!" I said. "I need to get onto the Board, and your my best shot at getting there."
"It took me over a hundred years to escape that place," Sal said. "I'm not going back."
I took a step back.
"You really are one of his servants," I realized out loud.
He glared at me.
"Not. Any. More."
"Justin," Julia whispered to me. "Stop talking. You're just gonna piss him off more."
She stepped forward, looking into Sal's eyes.
"Sal," she said. "Please. My brother's in danger."
Sal looked away, but I noticed hat his expression soften a little.
"You know what he has planned for him," Julia said. "Help Justin get there. That's all I'm asking."
Sal closed his eyes for a minute before responding.
"Only Justin," he said. "No one else."
"Wait a second!" Ciel snapped. "I'm not letting that idiot go in alone!"
"You're going to have to," Sal snarled at her. "That's my offer. Take it or leave it."
"We accept," I said.
"Good to see you all finally agreeing!" Said a mysterious new voice.
We all turned to see a man sitting at one of the barstools, shuffling a deck of tarot cards. He was dressed in a black long coat, had slick black hair, and gleaming crimson eyes. His right hand was blood red in color.
"How many times do I need to shoot you before you stop ignoring your perma-ban?" Sal asked, annoyed.
"Relax, Sally," the man chuckled. "I just dropped in to let you know that you're about to have some company."
The man placed 4 of the tarot cards on the counter, face down.
"Emissaries," the white haired guy said.
"Mm-hm," the red handed guy nodded. "You'd best be prepared for a party."
"Emissaries of what, exactly?" I asked.
"The Game Master," Julia replied.
"So they're trouble?" Ciel asked.
"The don't have to be," the red handed guy said. "I'd be more than happy to lend a ha-"
Before he could finish, Sal appeared behind the counter, aimed a shotgun at the guys face, and straight up shot him in the head.
"Whoa!" I gasped. "You killed him!"
"He'll be fine," Sal said, strapping a longsword to his back.
"You shot him in the face!" I said.
"He's had worse," Sal replied.
Ken came in the front door and asked "Is everything okay in here?"
"Emissaries are on their way," the white haired guy said.
"Shit!" Ken said. "What should we do?"
"Let's see which ones are coming first," Sal said, flipping over the first of the cards. "The High Priestess. They're bringing a healer with them."
He flipped over the next one.
"The Hierophant," he said. "Great..."
He flipped the third one over.
"The Sun," he groaned. "Shit... That means..."
He flipped the final sign and then clenched both of his fists.
"The Ace of Cups," he said. "Damn it all..."
"Shelly," the white haired guy muttered.
"Okay, here's what we're gonna do," Sal said. "Ken, get Julia to safety."
"But I can fight!" Julia protested.
"We can't risk that," Sal said. "Ken, now."
Ken nodded, then raised a hand and opened a portal into some weird, dark place. Julia reluctantly walked through with him before shooting me a look.
"Give them hell," she said.
The portal closed.
"That leaves us with four," the white haired guy said. "Same as them."
Sal nodded.
"Justin, if you want my help, you're going to have to help me," he said. "I need you to deal with the Sun. Sykar, the Ace of Cups' lieutenant. You're the best suited to fight against him. He's the one with the glowing claws."
"Okay," I said.
"Isaac," he said, addressing the white haired guy. "You handle the High Priestess. Keep her away from the others. Don't give her a chance to heal them."
"Got it," he replied.
"So I'm left with that Heirophant guy?" Ciel asked.
"You should be bitchy enough to handle him," Sal said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ciel demanded.
"You'll see," Sal said. "Let's go."
We all stepped outside and waited. A few minutes later they showed up. Two guys and two girls. One of the men was a silver haired dude with a creepy grin and a clawed gauntlet on his left hand. The claws weren't glowing, but no one else had claws, so he must've been the Sun Sal was talking about. The other guy had short brown hair and looked really bored. The first girl was a redhead in a blue gown, carrying a staff. She looked kind of cute, actually.
And then there was the last one. The woman who seemed to be leading them, carrying a machete and looking really damn pleased with herself.
"What do you want here?" Sal demanded.
"Where's the girl, Sal?" the woman asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Sal said.
"Don't lie to me," she said. "We know the Reaper brought her along with him."
Sal sighed.
"You made a blog post before coming here, didn't you?" he said.
"Sorry," I said. "She's not here anymore! You guys missed her."
"Very well," the woman said, raising her machete. "Then you're going to tell me where she's run off to."
"No." Sal replied sternly.
"Alright," she said. "Be that way."
Then another of her appeared right in front of Isaac and kicked him into the wall behind him. The original her faded away a second later, revealing itself to be some kind of afterimage.
Sal leapt into action, drawing his sword and slashed a her, only for the blade to pass straight through her afterimage as she appeared a short distance away and hit him with a blast of golden light, knocking him back through the door of the bar. She walked in after him while addressing the others.
"See if you can beat some answers out of them," she said. "If not, just kill em'."
The Sun guy (Sykar, I guess) turned his attention to me, grinning.
"Okay, fuck the battle plan, let's do this!" I shouted, charging at him.
It'd be awfully hard to do things as Sal had planned with Isaac out of commission, but I was sure I could handle things. Ciel went right for the brown haired guy while I made my way over to the other two. Sykar's eyes and claws started glowing with a bright white light, and his claws seemed to grow a couple inches. I swung my scythe at him, which he managed to deflect.
"Heya, handsome!" He said, moving in to scratch at me.
"Not my type!" I exclaimed, sweeping his legs out from under him.
As he fell over, I brought my scythe up and swung it down at him, piercing into his chest as he hit the ground. I was then struck by a burst of golden light that sent me flying a few feet. It hurt pretty bad, but it wasn't enough to kill me.
I pulled myself back up to see the girl with the staff, the High Priestess, hovering over Sykar, with a hand raised over his wound, which was glowing with gold light. She glared at me and aimed the tip of her staff in my direction, letting out another blast of light. I dodged it and dove for my dropped scythe. She fired another blast, but I grabbed my scythe in time and managed to deflect it with a quick slash.
I charged at her, readying my scythe, but Sykar got back to his feet, wounds fully healed, and got in my way. The two of us started fighting, deflecting each other's blows as best as we could. Then the High Priestess fired off another light blast, which I managed to defend against, but Sykar took advantage of the momentary distraction and clawed me across the chest. His claws burnt to the touch, and I stumbled backwards, clutching at the wounds they left. The High Priestess readied yet another blast.
"Hey bitch!" Ciel shouted, distracting her.
We all turned to see that the Hierophant was sitting down, nursing some knife wounds, while Ciel charged at the High Priestess.
"Fuck you!" Ciel yelled, engaging the High Priestess in a fight.
I turned my attention back to Sykar.
"My healer's better than yours!" I said.
He and I continued fighting. While he was focused on my scythe, I threw in a kick to his kneecap, surprising him and causing him to loose balance. I took the chance to maneuver behind him and hook his torso with the arc of my scythe. Then, with a sharp shift of my weight, I slammed his body into the ground, cutting into his skin as I did.
The High Priestess managed to push Ciel away from her and then twirled her staff above her for a second before yelling loudly and slamming it down into the ground. There was a giant pulse of gold light that knocked both me a Ciel off of our feet. As I hit the ground, I caught a glimpse of smoke coming from the bar. Just what was going on in there.
The High Priestess raised her staff again, and two spheres of golden light appeared from it, and zoomed toward Sykar and the Hierophant. They both rose to their feet, as their wound faded away. The High Priestess slumped over panting, and the Hierophant went over to her.
"You okay?" he asked.
"That took a lot out of me," she replied, rising back up. "But I can still fight."
Then there was an explosion inside the bar and Sal was launched out of the front door and hit the pavement hard. The Ace of Cups calmly stepped out. Her eyes were glowing just like Sykar's, as was her machete, which had grown a bit larger. She had some bruises and cuts, but a gold aura briefly passed over her, healing them all.
"How pathetic," she chuckled. "I thought with your reputation you'd be tougher. Guess the hype was exaggerated, huh, big guy?"
She lifted her machete, ready to strike at him, but Isaac got back up and got her attention.
"Shelly!" He snapped. "Get away from him!"
"Oh?" She said, turning to him. "And what are you gonna do if I don't?"
Isaac quickly gulp down the contents of a small glass bottle and than smashed it on the ground.
"What was that?" She asked, sounding genuinely worried for once.
Isaac's eyes began glowing white, and the High Priestess suddenly let out a loud shriek. She fell backwards, and one of her arms appeared to pin itself to the ground, as if being held there.
"Get off!" She shrieked, struggling against something I couldn't see. "Let me go! Stop it!"
As she continued kicking and screaming, Isaac set his sights on Sykar, who dropped to his knees, clutching his left forearm and expressing legitimate agony.
"My hand!"" He cried out. "My fucking hand! What the Fuck! AHHHH!"
"What are you doing!" the Ace of Cups demanded. "Stop it!"
But Isaac wasn't stopping. He turned his attention to the Hierophant, who began scratching wildly at his skin, panicking.
"Get them off!!" he shouted. "My god, make them get off!"
The Ace of Cups was seriously looking pissed, and she took a few steps toward Isaac before stopping in her tracks and clutching her head.
"Get out!" She demanded, glaring at Isaac.
"Never!" Isaac said.
He looked like he was in pain, and was clinging desperately to his glaive as if it were a walking stick. As the Ace of Cups made another pained step toward him, Ken burst out of a portal and rabbit punched her from behind. She stumbled forward and turned to him, outraged. She swung her sword at him, but before she made contact, she faked him out by teleporting behind him and leaving an afterimage where she just was. This didn't phase Ken at all, as he just turned and side kicked her right in the solar plexus before her attack could connect. From that angle I noticed that he had discarded his shades, exposing his eyes. While I couldn't see them perfectly from that distance, there was a distinct flash of red there.
"Your deceptions won't work on me, witch," he said, hitting her again.
Sal then got back up and joined in, double teaming her. As they did, I gripped my scythe and made my way over to Sykar, who was still crying over whatever was going on with his arm. I raised my scythe, preparing to decapitate him. But as I brought it down, the High Priestess got in my way and blocked my attack with he staff.
"It's... not real," she told herself.
Her eye was twitching a bit, and she still seemed to be struggling somewhat against whatever Isaac had down. I her staff aside and kicked her in the face, knocking her out. Deciding I should deal with her before she caused any more trouble, I raised my scythe, ready to impale her.
Spare her.
I hesitated as Daniel's voice sounded through my head.
I'm a Timberwolf, I thought. That's not my style.
Suddenly, an image of her smiling and giggling flashed through my mind, only for a second.
What is this? I thought.
A memory, Daniel replied. From another world.
Other worlds don't matter! I thought. She's an enemy! I need to finish her off!
Please, Daniel said. Trust me.
As I stood there, contemplating whether to deal the coop de grace, a man in a black cloak, the same man I had seen in Anthony's file, appeared, using a black pistol to block one of Sal's sword slashes. Everybody stopped what they were doing. A wave of terror that I didn't understand washed over me. I didn't know why I was scared. I just was. I seemed like everyone was. Even the Ace of Cups was shivering. The only ones unaffected were Sal and he cloaked man, who just stared at each other for a moment. Sal stepped back, still glaring at the newcomer. A small mechanical claw came out of the man's, sleeve, gripping the gun and pulling it inside the sleeve.
"You and your kind are no longer welcome here," Sal said.
The man sighed. Then he turned into a giant cloak-like shadow, and flew through the air, scooping up the other Emissaries before folding in on itself and vanished. The fear we were all feeling faded away.
Sal stared at the bar for a second before going to check on Isaac, who was leaning against the wall, clutching his head.
"That was reckless of you," Sal said.
"I'm sorry," Isaac said. "We were losing. I had to do something."
"And I thank you for that," Sal said. "Now go home and rest. That must have put a lot of pressure on you."
"Okay," Isaac said, getting to his feet and pulling out his phone. "Better call a ride."
"When you get the time, inform the other employees that we'll be closing for a while," Sal added.
"Sure thing," Isaac replied.
Sal then walked into the bar. The rest of us followed him. The place was a wreck. Wood was smashed and smoldering, broken glass was strewn all over the place, and almost every table and chair had been broken to splinters.
"Oh my god," Ciel muttered.
Sal sighed deeply as he examined the damage.
"I'm sorry," I said. "This is my fault, isn't it?"
Sal turned to me. The look on his face was... I guess somber is probably the best word I can think of for it.
"I can't blame you for this," he said. "You couldn't have known that they'd follow you here. That they would follow Julia."
"I let them know she would be here," I said. "That was stupid of me..."
"It's okay," Sal said. "They're the ones at fault here. We've had an agreement for years that states they are not allowed to do any of their hunting in or near my establishment. This is a neutral place, and they betrayed that."
"That other guy was the Ace of Swords, right?" I said, remembering the tarot card attached o his picture.
"Yes," Sal replied. "One of my best customers. It was hard to slap the ban on him like that, but that's what they get for violating my terms."
"Why are they after Julia, anyway?" Ciel asked.
"She's special," Sal replied. "It's not my place to tell you why, but the Game Master despises her."
"He wants her dead?" I asked.
"Worse," Sal said. "He wants her to suffer. He wants her to want to die."
"That's fucked up," I said. "That's why he took her brother..."
"That's right," Sal said. "On the topic of Julia, is she safe?"
"Yes," Ken replied. "I gotten her somewhere they won't know about."
"Good," Sal said. "I want you to do the same for Keran. She's too important. We can't let her be caught up in this war."
"Yes sir," Ken said. "I'll go take care of everything."
"Good," Sal replied.
He turned his attention back to the damaged bar.
"How much would it cost to fix all this?" I asked.
"Nothing but time," Sal said. "Every floorboard. Every brick. Every pane of glass. Everything that makes up this place is under my control."
"Whoa," I said. "Seriously?"
"This is my home," he said. "I have power over it. Unfortunately..."
He telekinetically lifted a beam of wood, returning it to its rightful place and repairing it. It seemed somewhat difficult for him.
"...My power has its limits," he said. "I will take a lot of time and energy to et this place back in working order."
"Damn," I said.
"It can wait," he said.
"You can uh... crash with us for a while if you need to," I offered.
He thought for a little while about that.
"Alright," he said. "I won't trouble you for long. I'll make some arrangements soon."
"It's fine," I told him. "No problem."
"Now," he said. "On the matter of getting you to the Board. I'll need to make some calls. It may take a few days to get in touch with someone who can get it done. But I promise you, I can do this."
"All right," I said. "I trust you."
"You realize, though, that by infiltrating the Board, who will become an official competitor in the tournament," he said. "There will be no way out aside from victory or defeat."
"Fine by me," I said. "Whatever it takes to help my friends."
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
What to do
"So now what?" Ciel asked. "We just go in and demand answers from him?"
"I guess," I said. "I mean, I trust Sal, but there's gotta be a connection there. He's must know something, right?"
"And what if it's just a coincidence?" Ciel asked.
"I doubt it," I said. "Is anything ever a coincidence when it comes to this crazy eldritch bullshit?"
Ciel sighed.
"I'll go get ready," she said, stepping out of the room.
I sat in the kitchen for a while, eyeing the bottle Sal had given me before our fight with Oceana. I hadn't opened it yet. Figured I'd save it. It was some kind of hard apple cider. For some reason both the A and the first P in apple were capitalized. I mean, I know I make typos all he time, but it seems like I weird mistake for the labeling guy to let slip by...
After a couple of minutes, the doorbell rang, and Ciel yelled at me to go answer it. So I did. It was Julia. As soon as I opened the door, she reeled back and tried to slap me. I caught her hand before it could make contact with my face.
"Hey," I said. "Sup?"
"He's gone!" She snapped at me.
"What, you mean your brother?" I asked. "When did this happen?"
"He got pulled into the tournament!" She said. "And it's your fault!"
"What?" I asked. "How's it my fault?"
"We were followed!" she said. "The night we went after Oceana! One of the Game Master's servants was watching us the whole time. He realized who my brother was and picked him to be a competitor!"
"What's going on?" Ciel demanded, coming up behind me.
"Hooded Guy's in the tournament too," I explained. "And I think I know why Terrence got taken."
"Explain, idiot," She ordered.
"There was a Game Master servant scouted us out when we fought Oceana and his goons," I said. "He must have seen Terrence at work and thought he's be good for the tournament."
"If that's it, why didn't they take you?" Ciel asked. "You're the one who actually finished him, right?"
"Yeah, but that's just it," I said. "I'm a good fighter, but the tournament probably has a dozen like that already. Terrence is smart. Resourceful. And he through a flaming bottle of Everclear through a portal at some Oathbreakers. hey must have decided he'd make a more entertaining player."
"Either that or the Game Master just doesn't want that crazy watch of yours causing him any trouble," Julia added.
"I haven't even figured the watch out yet," I said. "Look, we're about to go talk to Sal. You coming?"
"Fine," Julia said. "But what exactly is your plan, here?"
"I wanna find a way in," I said. "So I can get Terrence out. Or at least lend him a hand."
"You think getting in's gonna be easy?" Julia asked.
"Nope," I said. "But Sal's my best bet right now."
"All right," she said. "But if you do get to the Board somehow, you get my brother out of there. Got it?"
"Right," I said.
"I guess," I said. "I mean, I trust Sal, but there's gotta be a connection there. He's must know something, right?"
"And what if it's just a coincidence?" Ciel asked.
"I doubt it," I said. "Is anything ever a coincidence when it comes to this crazy eldritch bullshit?"
Ciel sighed.
"I'll go get ready," she said, stepping out of the room.
I sat in the kitchen for a while, eyeing the bottle Sal had given me before our fight with Oceana. I hadn't opened it yet. Figured I'd save it. It was some kind of hard apple cider. For some reason both the A and the first P in apple were capitalized. I mean, I know I make typos all he time, but it seems like I weird mistake for the labeling guy to let slip by...
After a couple of minutes, the doorbell rang, and Ciel yelled at me to go answer it. So I did. It was Julia. As soon as I opened the door, she reeled back and tried to slap me. I caught her hand before it could make contact with my face.
"Hey," I said. "Sup?"
"He's gone!" She snapped at me.
"What, you mean your brother?" I asked. "When did this happen?"
"He got pulled into the tournament!" She said. "And it's your fault!"
"What?" I asked. "How's it my fault?"
"We were followed!" she said. "The night we went after Oceana! One of the Game Master's servants was watching us the whole time. He realized who my brother was and picked him to be a competitor!"
"What's going on?" Ciel demanded, coming up behind me.
"Hooded Guy's in the tournament too," I explained. "And I think I know why Terrence got taken."
"Explain, idiot," She ordered.
"There was a Game Master servant scouted us out when we fought Oceana and his goons," I said. "He must have seen Terrence at work and thought he's be good for the tournament."
"If that's it, why didn't they take you?" Ciel asked. "You're the one who actually finished him, right?"
"Yeah, but that's just it," I said. "I'm a good fighter, but the tournament probably has a dozen like that already. Terrence is smart. Resourceful. And he through a flaming bottle of Everclear through a portal at some Oathbreakers. hey must have decided he'd make a more entertaining player."
"Either that or the Game Master just doesn't want that crazy watch of yours causing him any trouble," Julia added.
"I haven't even figured the watch out yet," I said. "Look, we're about to go talk to Sal. You coming?"
"Fine," Julia said. "But what exactly is your plan, here?"
"I wanna find a way in," I said. "So I can get Terrence out. Or at least lend him a hand."
"You think getting in's gonna be easy?" Julia asked.
"Nope," I said. "But Sal's my best bet right now."
"All right," she said. "But if you do get to the Board somehow, you get my brother out of there. Got it?"
"Right," I said.
Friday, September 29, 2017
Made a friend
Terrence here. So, I met someone new today.
As I was searching for a shop so I could get some stuff to make combat a little easier, I came across a girl caught in a gunfight with a Slender Proxy. Neither of them seemed to notice me, so I did what any Timberwolf would have done and snuck up on the Proxy. I stabbed him in the kidneys, and the girl took the chance to shoot him in the head. She then aimed her gun at me, but didn't pull the trigger.
"Who are you?" She demanded.
"Terrence," I said. "Terrence McCleary. And you are?"
She squinted at me for about half a minute before responding.
"Why did you help me?" she demanded.
I shrugged.
"I don't like proxies," I said. "Simple as that. Look, I'm just trying to find a store. You think you can lower that thing and let me go?"
She kept her gun trained on me.
"Don't wanna fight me?" she asked.
"Well, I'm at a bit of a distance against the girl with a gun standing several yard out of my reach," I said. "Plus, you're a woman. I don't like hurting women."
She finally lowered her gun a few inches.
"You realize we'll have to fight each other later, right?" she said.
"We could team up," I proposed. "No rule against that, right?"
"How can I trust you?" she asked. "How can you trust me?"
"You can't," I said. "But I think we could both use help. And we can start by finding a store together. I think we both could use it."
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
"You were just in a gunfight, and Kevlar isn't perfect," I pointed out. "I think you could use some rubbing alcohol or something. I don't know, I not a medic, but I think we could both benefit from a team up, even if it ends up being temporary."
She stared at me skeptically for a few minutes before finally holstering her gun. I breathed a sigh of relief. I really didn't wanna get shot by a cute girl this early in the tournament.
"Fine," she said. "But I've got my eye on you."
So we began our search for a store.
"I never got your name," I said.
"You can call me Algeria," she said.
"Like the country?" I asked.
"Yeah, like the country," she sighed.
So, about her... She looks to be somewhere in her twenties. Or not. It's hard to tell some times. I've met people in there thirties who looked like you'd need to card them before selling them alcohol. She's pale, has dark hair, pulled into a ponytail. She has on a Kevlar suit and glasses. As I mentioned, she carries a handgun of a model I can't quite place. Not too familiar with guns. I more of a knives and explosives kind of guy. She also has a little tine box clipped to her bel, and a couple spare clips for her gun.
Anyway, we found a shop after a while. I managed to afford some food, a rag, a lighter, and a bottle of vodka. Vodka's kind of expensive here. It was actually the most expensive thing I purchased, at a grand total of 50 points. I guess that makes sense. It's useful for nulling pain, disinfect wounds, killing enough of your brains cells to live with what you've done, and, as I plan to use it, setting a ton of shit on fire. Of course, I only have the one bottle, so I'll have to use it wisely until I can afford more.
Algeria got some food for herself, and some medical stuff to deal with her injuries. So yeah, it seems our team up is off to an okay start.
As I was searching for a shop so I could get some stuff to make combat a little easier, I came across a girl caught in a gunfight with a Slender Proxy. Neither of them seemed to notice me, so I did what any Timberwolf would have done and snuck up on the Proxy. I stabbed him in the kidneys, and the girl took the chance to shoot him in the head. She then aimed her gun at me, but didn't pull the trigger.
"Who are you?" She demanded.
"Terrence," I said. "Terrence McCleary. And you are?"
She squinted at me for about half a minute before responding.
"Why did you help me?" she demanded.
I shrugged.
"I don't like proxies," I said. "Simple as that. Look, I'm just trying to find a store. You think you can lower that thing and let me go?"
She kept her gun trained on me.
"Don't wanna fight me?" she asked.
"Well, I'm at a bit of a distance against the girl with a gun standing several yard out of my reach," I said. "Plus, you're a woman. I don't like hurting women."
She finally lowered her gun a few inches.
"You realize we'll have to fight each other later, right?" she said.
"We could team up," I proposed. "No rule against that, right?"
"How can I trust you?" she asked. "How can you trust me?"
"You can't," I said. "But I think we could both use help. And we can start by finding a store together. I think we both could use it."
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
"You were just in a gunfight, and Kevlar isn't perfect," I pointed out. "I think you could use some rubbing alcohol or something. I don't know, I not a medic, but I think we could both benefit from a team up, even if it ends up being temporary."
She stared at me skeptically for a few minutes before finally holstering her gun. I breathed a sigh of relief. I really didn't wanna get shot by a cute girl this early in the tournament.
"Fine," she said. "But I've got my eye on you."
So we began our search for a store.
"I never got your name," I said.
"You can call me Algeria," she said.
"Like the country?" I asked.
"Yeah, like the country," she sighed.
So, about her... She looks to be somewhere in her twenties. Or not. It's hard to tell some times. I've met people in there thirties who looked like you'd need to card them before selling them alcohol. She's pale, has dark hair, pulled into a ponytail. She has on a Kevlar suit and glasses. As I mentioned, she carries a handgun of a model I can't quite place. Not too familiar with guns. I more of a knives and explosives kind of guy. She also has a little tine box clipped to her bel, and a couple spare clips for her gun.
Anyway, we found a shop after a while. I managed to afford some food, a rag, a lighter, and a bottle of vodka. Vodka's kind of expensive here. It was actually the most expensive thing I purchased, at a grand total of 50 points. I guess that makes sense. It's useful for nulling pain, disinfect wounds, killing enough of your brains cells to live with what you've done, and, as I plan to use it, setting a ton of shit on fire. Of course, I only have the one bottle, so I'll have to use it wisely until I can afford more.
Algeria got some food for herself, and some medical stuff to deal with her injuries. So yeah, it seems our team up is off to an okay start.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
On the right path
I parked my bike outside of a house in Riverside California. A sign in the yard read "Solar Progeny Detective Agency". I walked up to the door and knocked. It wasn't too long before a guy a bit younger than me answered the door.
"Welcome to Solar Progeny!" He said. "My name is Paris. How can I help you today, sir?"
"I'm looking for Anthony," I said.
"Oh, uh, I'm afraid Anthony's not in right now," He said, looking a little nervous about it.
"Well, when will he be back?" I asked.
"I don't know," He replied. "He just said he was going on vacation for a while and for me to watchthe place while he was out."
"Well that's bloody inconvenient," I said. "Look, do you know how I can get ahold of him? I'm an old friend."
"Are you?" Paris asked.
"Name's Justin," I said.
Paris took a second to process the name before stepping back in alarm.
"You!" He gasped. "Justin Ferin! The Timberwolf!"
I sighed.
"Yeah, that's me," I said. "Can I come in for a bit?"
"I- I really shouldn't let you," he stammered.
Ignoring him, I stepped over the threshold, causing him to back away in fear. I stayed calm and made my way in. It was a nice place. Anthony had fixed up the front room into a pretty comfy looking office, complete with desk, file cabinet, one of those big water dispensers, and of course a really old telephone. Can't be a detective without a really old telephone.
I'm sure you've caught on to Anthony's occupation. He's a private investigator who subtly specializes in Fear related cases. He doesn't exactly list it on his business cards, but runner tend to come to him for help. As such, word about his work has spread, both to people running from the Fears and those working under them. Though, generally servants leave the guy alone. He's only human. Not really a threat to us.
Or so some servants stupidly believe...
"Look, Paris, was it?" I said. "A close friend of mine was whisked off to some crazy tournament, and Anthony's currently my best bet at getting him out of there. He's the only guy I can think of who might have info on this whole deal."
"I can't help you," Paris said. "Anthony didn't tell me anything about where he was going."
"Well, what can you tell me?" I asked. "Did he talk to anyone weird before he bailed?"
Paris fell silent for a bit before speaking up.
"Tall guy," he said. "Gave me the chills. Couldn't see his face. He had a black cloak on."
"That's not very helpful," I said. "Okay, do you or Anthony know anything about the Game Master?"
Paris straightened up at that.
"The Game Master?" He asked. "It's one of his tournaments?"
"Yeah," I said. "You guys have anything here? Like, notes or anything?"
"Hold on," Paris told me, going to the file cabinet and rooting through the top drawer. "A, B, C, D, E, F... Here it is!"
He pulled a folder out of the cabinet and set I on the desk. I approached it.
"Weird," Paris said. "Could have sworn it was thicker than that..."
The words "Game Master" were written across the folder in sharp, red letters.
"What's all in here?" I asked.
"Most of what Anthony's managed to gather on this guy," Paris explained. "Pictures, notes, whatever he could find online and things he's heard from clients. He's got a lot of files like that."
I opened it up. he firs thing I saw in there was a very detailed drawing. It depicted a tall, creepy looking skeleton. It was dressed in tattered, ancient looking clothing, and a long black cloak. IT wore a mask, displaying a spade, a club, a diamond, and a heart.
"Guy's got a playing card motif," I noted.
"Or playing cards have a Game Master motif," Paris said. "This guy's been around for thousands of years."
"And this is what he looks like?" I asked.
"Apparently," Paris said. "You know, I really shouldn't be showing this..."
I reached into my pocket, drew out some cash, and slapped it down on the desk. Paris hesitated for a few seconds.
"Okay, maybe just a bit more..." He said.
I continued looking through them. There were a lot of pictures of him in there. Some of better quality than others. But I soon came across a different drawing. Another highly detailed one. This one was a man with dark, flowing hair hat extended past his waist. He wore a torn and patched up longcoat, and in his right hand he held a long Chinese sword with a variety of symbols engraved on it. On his face was a mask with a symbol on it.
The picture next to it was a larger, more detailed drawing of the symbol on his mask. I looked like a large eye, turned on its side and bound in chains. It had no iris, but the pupil was enormous. And overlapping with it was an intricate looking letter A.
"Who is this?" I asked.
"He's got some connection to the Game Master," Paris said. "We've got a separate file on him, but I really shouldn't show you any more than this."
"Whatever," I said, continuing.
The next picture was of a tall man dressed in black robes, with a black hooded cloak covering his ace. A tarot card, the Ace of Swords, was paper-clipped to it.
"Is this the guy Anthony was talking too?" I asked.
"Yeah," Paris said.
"Welcome to Solar Progeny!" He said. "My name is Paris. How can I help you today, sir?"
"I'm looking for Anthony," I said.
"Oh, uh, I'm afraid Anthony's not in right now," He said, looking a little nervous about it.
"Well, when will he be back?" I asked.
"I don't know," He replied. "He just said he was going on vacation for a while and for me to watchthe place while he was out."
"Well that's bloody inconvenient," I said. "Look, do you know how I can get ahold of him? I'm an old friend."
"Are you?" Paris asked.
"Name's Justin," I said.
Paris took a second to process the name before stepping back in alarm.
"You!" He gasped. "Justin Ferin! The Timberwolf!"
I sighed.
"Yeah, that's me," I said. "Can I come in for a bit?"
"I- I really shouldn't let you," he stammered.
Ignoring him, I stepped over the threshold, causing him to back away in fear. I stayed calm and made my way in. It was a nice place. Anthony had fixed up the front room into a pretty comfy looking office, complete with desk, file cabinet, one of those big water dispensers, and of course a really old telephone. Can't be a detective without a really old telephone.
I'm sure you've caught on to Anthony's occupation. He's a private investigator who subtly specializes in Fear related cases. He doesn't exactly list it on his business cards, but runner tend to come to him for help. As such, word about his work has spread, both to people running from the Fears and those working under them. Though, generally servants leave the guy alone. He's only human. Not really a threat to us.
Or so some servants stupidly believe...
"Look, Paris, was it?" I said. "A close friend of mine was whisked off to some crazy tournament, and Anthony's currently my best bet at getting him out of there. He's the only guy I can think of who might have info on this whole deal."
"I can't help you," Paris said. "Anthony didn't tell me anything about where he was going."
"Well, what can you tell me?" I asked. "Did he talk to anyone weird before he bailed?"
Paris fell silent for a bit before speaking up.
"Tall guy," he said. "Gave me the chills. Couldn't see his face. He had a black cloak on."
"That's not very helpful," I said. "Okay, do you or Anthony know anything about the Game Master?"
Paris straightened up at that.
"The Game Master?" He asked. "It's one of his tournaments?"
"Yeah," I said. "You guys have anything here? Like, notes or anything?"
"Hold on," Paris told me, going to the file cabinet and rooting through the top drawer. "A, B, C, D, E, F... Here it is!"
He pulled a folder out of the cabinet and set I on the desk. I approached it.
"Weird," Paris said. "Could have sworn it was thicker than that..."
The words "Game Master" were written across the folder in sharp, red letters.
"What's all in here?" I asked.
"Most of what Anthony's managed to gather on this guy," Paris explained. "Pictures, notes, whatever he could find online and things he's heard from clients. He's got a lot of files like that."
I opened it up. he firs thing I saw in there was a very detailed drawing. It depicted a tall, creepy looking skeleton. It was dressed in tattered, ancient looking clothing, and a long black cloak. IT wore a mask, displaying a spade, a club, a diamond, and a heart.
"Guy's got a playing card motif," I noted.
"Or playing cards have a Game Master motif," Paris said. "This guy's been around for thousands of years."
"And this is what he looks like?" I asked.
"Apparently," Paris said. "You know, I really shouldn't be showing this..."
I reached into my pocket, drew out some cash, and slapped it down on the desk. Paris hesitated for a few seconds.
"Okay, maybe just a bit more..." He said.
I continued looking through them. There were a lot of pictures of him in there. Some of better quality than others. But I soon came across a different drawing. Another highly detailed one. This one was a man with dark, flowing hair hat extended past his waist. He wore a torn and patched up longcoat, and in his right hand he held a long Chinese sword with a variety of symbols engraved on it. On his face was a mask with a symbol on it.
The picture next to it was a larger, more detailed drawing of the symbol on his mask. I looked like a large eye, turned on its side and bound in chains. It had no iris, but the pupil was enormous. And overlapping with it was an intricate looking letter A.
"Who is this?" I asked.
"He's got some connection to the Game Master," Paris said. "We've got a separate file on him, but I really shouldn't show you any more than this."
"Whatever," I said, continuing.
The next picture was of a tall man dressed in black robes, with a black hooded cloak covering his ace. A tarot card, the Ace of Swords, was paper-clipped to it.
"Is this the guy Anthony was talking too?" I asked.
"Yeah," Paris said.
"So he's connected to the Game Master too?" I asked.
"I guess so," Paris replied. "But that would mean..."
"Anthony might be involved in the tournament somehow," I said.
"Oh no," Paris muttered.
"You said this folder was thicker before," I said. "He must have taken some of his notes with him."
Paris began pacing around nervously. As he did, I snuck the tarot card into my pocket.
So what I gather from this is that this hooded guy must had invited Anthony to the tournament, and gave him the time to prepare himself for it and leave his place in Paris's hands. OR at least, that's a possibility. But why? Why would Anthony accept, and why would the Game Master give him the opportunity to get himself ready when he didn't do the same for other competitors. Was Anthony even a competitor at all? Was something else going on here under the surface? I honestly have no idea. I have a lot of questions.
I moved on to one last set of pictures. Pictures I recognized.
"Where did Anthony get these?" I demanded.
Paris stopped and looked at them.
"He bought them off somebody," Paris said.
"A Fear servant?" I asked.
"Probably," Paris said. "I mean, non servants can't get in there, so that would make sense."
All the pieces fell into place. The 13 tables with the card suit themed chairs. The card and dice games they have there. It all fits.
Sal's is connected to the Game Master.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
I am armed now.
Terrence here. Got in a fight earlier. Some kid with a knife came at me. He didn't seem to know how to properly wield I, so I disarmed him and kicked him in the face. He went unconscious pretty quick.
Out of curiosity, I decided to let him live, to see what would happen.
And hen some chick with a mask showed up out of nowhere, picked up his body, and vanished. No clue where she took him.
So yeah, I guess that's what happens if I end up sparing people.
Anyway, I kept his knife, so that's cool. I don't have to run around unarmed anymore. Yay.
Out of curiosity, I decided to let him live, to see what would happen.
And hen some chick with a mask showed up out of nowhere, picked up his body, and vanished. No clue where she took him.
So yeah, I guess that's what happens if I end up sparing people.
Anyway, I kept his knife, so that's cool. I don't have to run around unarmed anymore. Yay.
Monday, September 25, 2017
Few options
"So, I talked to Terrence some more," I said. "Email and all. He said the guy running this tournament calls himself the Game Master."
"Who the fuck is he?" Ciel asked.
"Dunno, but it's a start," I said. "I left Maria and Julia voicemails to see if they could tell me anything."
"What would Julia know?" she asked.
"I don't know," I said. "She can see the future, for fuck's sake! She might have something to tell me."
please 助け
Excuse me, purple weirdo, can you please stop interrupting me. I'm telling random people on the internet a story.
"Friends, huh...," I said. "You know, I might just know a guy..."
"Is it Daniel?" She asked.
"No," I said. "Believe me, I tried talking to him, but I haven't had one of those dreams in a while. It's this other guy. Mutual friend of ours. At least, he used to be..."
"Use to be?" She said, raising an eyebrow.
"Last time I saw him was Daniel's funeral," I said. "We haven't spoken since then, but I've heard a thing or two about him. He might know... something..."
Please, I need 助け
Okay, look, I'd "助け" if I could, but you're not really giving me anything to work with here!
Who are you, anyway?
I'm not 確か
"Who the fuck is he?" Ciel asked.
"Dunno, but it's a start," I said. "I left Maria and Julia voicemails to see if they could tell me anything."
"What would Julia know?" she asked.
"I don't know," I said. "She can see the future, for fuck's sake! She might have something to tell me."
please 助け
Excuse me, purple weirdo, can you please stop interrupting me. I'm telling random people on the internet a story.
Anyway...
"Who else can we talk to about this?" Ciel asked.
"Dunno," I said. "I don't have Matt or Hooded Guy's numbers, and I'm sure as hell not getting in touch with Derek and Henry again."
"You need more friends," Ciel said.
"Well, who can you talk to?" I asked.
"I'll make some calls," she said.
I sighed and leaned back in my chair, thinking.
"Is it Daniel?" She asked.
"No," I said. "Believe me, I tried talking to him, but I haven't had one of those dreams in a while. It's this other guy. Mutual friend of ours. At least, he used to be..."
"Use to be?" She said, raising an eyebrow.
"Last time I saw him was Daniel's funeral," I said. "We haven't spoken since then, but I've heard a thing or two about him. He might know... something..."
Please, I need 助け
Okay, look, I'd "助け" if I could, but you're not really giving me anything to work with here!
Who are you, anyway?
I'm not 確か
Well, I need to call you something... Like, a nickname. Any preference?
V
Finally, a sentence I don't need to translate. Okay, look, V. Can we deal with this later? I'd like to help you out, but I've got other shit on my mind right now.
I 推測
I feel a bit より安全な
Okay, good.
Back to the thing.
"I'll have to take a bit of a field trip to talk to him," I said. "I don't have his number anymore."
"Fine then," Ciel said. "Where is he?"
"Not far from our old home," I said. "Back in So Cal."
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Guys it's me.
Hey guys, it's Terrence. Sorry for disappearing, but I was literally kidnapped while brushing my teeth and I'm in his weird alternate dimension hat I guess is called the Board.
It's so fucking weird here! A talking bat greeted me and said I'm in some kind of Hunger Games tournament where I have to fight other people.
Just... fucking...
Look, I'll just save this as a draft and we can talk here once you've noticed it....
It's so fucking weird here! A talking bat greeted me and said I'm in some kind of Hunger Games tournament where I have to fight other people.
Just... fucking...
Look, I'll just save this as a draft and we can talk here once you've noticed it....
Dude! Terrence! Are you okay? How dangerous is this place?
First of all, why are you typing in that ugly yellow. Second of all, I'm fine right now. Hiding out. Don't have my knife or bomb supplies with me, but there's sores I can by things from if I make enough points by beating people up.
I thought we'd use our hair colors to differentiate ourselves. I already changed your text to grayish black.
My hair's no gray! Is it?
I mean, a little bit... But that's not important. Have you actually killed anyone yet?
I killed one guy to steal his laptop, but that's it so far. I think killing's actually optional.
Dude, brutal.
Well, at least I didn't kill him with his own laptop.
What kind of psycho would do something like that?
Oh, hi Ciel.
Fuck off.
K.
Who are you 人民
What?
Ugh, this thing again. I'm changing it to purple...
And now I will forever picture this faceless hacker with purple hair.
Heh...
Okay, look dude, just stay safe. Don't do anything stupid that'll get you killed. Ciel and I will try and figure something out.
But doing stupid things is our whole deal...
Dude, come one. Just be careful.
I know. I'll stick with subtlety until I can afford some weapons. I'm gonna go ahead and hit publish now.
I need 助け
Terrence is gone
No idea where he is. Ciel barged into my room this morning demanding to know where he'd gone to, because he'd left his dirty toothbrush on the sink. Which is really unlike him. He's usually slightly tidier than that.
So, we started looking, and we can't seem to find him anywhere. He's not answering his cell either. I'm kind of worried about him...
Who are 君
So, we started looking, and we can't seem to find him anywhere. He's not answering his cell either. I'm kind of worried about him...
Who are 君
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Weird...
Justin here. No idea what the deal was with that last post. After google translating all the Japanese, it seems like it was a cry for help from somebody, but that's all I can get from it.
Well, in other news, we've successfully relocated, and am now in a new town with a new place. Ciel and Terrence are all living together now. At least, until Ciel gets sick of our company and decides to move out.
So, things are going okay for us.
That post is still worrying me though. Seriously, who the fuck posted I and what kind of shit are they in? Guess I'll wait and see if they post again.
Well, in other news, we've successfully relocated, and am now in a new town with a new place. Ciel and Terrence are all living together now. At least, until Ciel gets sick of our company and decides to move out.
So, things are going okay for us.
That post is still worrying me though. Seriously, who the fuck posted I and what kind of shit are they in? Guess I'll wait and see if they post again.
Monday, September 18, 2017
What is この
Where am 私
What is this 場所
Why can't I see 何でも
This doesn't make any センス
Someone please 助けて
What is this 場所
Why can't I see 何でも
This doesn't make any センス
Someone please 助けて
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
It's over
Sorry it took so long to get this up, but I've been exhausted after everything that went down.
After my last post, I made a phone call, then got on my bike. It took me a few hours to get to Sal's, but I made it. I parked my bike and walked up to Ken, who gave me a silent nod and let me in.
It was busy that night. All the tables were packed, and it took me a minute to spy the guy I was looking for. But I eventually spotted Derek sitting at table 8, along with Henry McBurnscars and some sleeping dude. I approached them.
"Glad you could make it, Derek," I said. "You too, Burns."
"It's Quan," Derek reminded me. "Saved you a seat."
Henry just kinda glared at me. I glanced at the open seat. It was the heart seat. Looking at the others, I saw that Derek had taken the spade seat. Dick. it seemed that the sleeping dude was at the club seat and Henry was at the diamond. I took my seat.
"Who's this?" I asked. gesturing at Mr. Sleepyhead. I couldn't see his face at all, but he had long, greasy black hair and a red coat.
"No clue," Derek said. "He was like that when we got here, and this was the only table with open seats."
I glanced at Henry for a sec.
"You're face looks better," I said.
He sat up and looked like he was gonna throw a punch, but Quan tapped him on the shoulder and nodded toward the bar. Sal was watching us all intently. Henry immediately shrank back down.
"So how'd you get my number?" Quan asked.
"Had to ask around," I said. "Took a while, but it turns out you're pretty notorious amongst the runner community, Mr. Quanford. I hear you can lift cars."
"Lot more than cars," he said, taking a swig of beer.
"What the fuck makes you think we're gonna help you?" Henry snarled.
"Calm yourself, my friend," Derek said. "We've got a fully sentient Towerborn here. This is something we need to see with our own eyes."
"So do we have a truce?" I asked.
"Depends," Derek replied. "How big's the opposition?"
"Oceana's got quite a few Oathbreakers on his side," I said. "Might have some Towerborn too. If you want exact numbers, I can't give you any more than a guess."
"A guess is fine," Derek said.
"Probably around thirty."
"Good number," Derek said.
"This is stupid!" Henry said. "We could just get the Towerborn ourselves, couldn't we?"
"Justin hasn't given us a location yet," Derek pointed out.
"So, what do you say?" I asked.
Derek took a long drink from his bottle before answering.
"The Oathbreaker's have been a pain on our side too," he said. "I'll take an excuse to give 'em some trouble."
"So you're in?" I asked.
"For now," he said. "But after this, we go back to hating each other's guts."
Henry begrudgingly nodded.
"Cool beans," I said.
I told them the city it was in.
"I'll give you the exact location once we get started," I said.
"Alright," Derek said, standing up and finishing his drink. "Let's Go."
We all left the bar. Henry seemed to be desperately struggling to not turn on me and kill me as we left.
"One more thing, before we do this," Derek said.
"What's that?" I asked.
He turned to Henry.
"We're up against something big here," he said. "We need to make sure you're ready."
I felt a sudden chill down my spine. Before me stood a tall figure, probably around 8 feet in height, dressed in a black suit and tie. It's pale flesh was featureless, lacking any hair or anything that could be defined as a face. I was gazing upon the Slender Man, the entity that the Proxies served.
Henry was just as startled as I was, but Derek remained cool as a fucking cucumber.
Tentacles emerged from behind Slender Man's back, and slowly encircled Henry, before binding him and lifting him into the air. Henry began crying out in pain. I couldn't tell what Slender Man was doing to him, but it did not look enjoyable. I saw a burning light begin to pulse through his veins, and slowly spread to his muscles.
"What's happening?" I asked, shocked.
"The Enhancement," Derek said. "If he survives this, he'll become stronger than he knew was possible."
"If?" I asked. "You mean he could die from this!?"
"This isn't just an upgrade," Derek said "It's a test."
I could see Henry's muscles starting to move underneath his flesh. They swelled up, before becoming tense, and seeming to solidify like rock. Slender Man dropped him to the ground, and he fell to his hands and knees, still in obvious agony.
Slowly, the burning light faded out. Henry panted for a while, before slowly rising up. He remained crouching for a minute, staring down at his hands. He let out a chuckle as he turned back to me, murder in his eyes.
Crap. He had new strength now, and he had his sights set on me to test it out.
He le out a growl and made a move toward me, but Derek suddenly appeared in his way, and rammed his fist into Henry's torso. Henry stopped suddenly, as a spurt of blood flew out of his mouth. he went limp, and Derek lifted him up over one shoulder with no effort.
"We still got the truce, buddy," he said. "Save it for later."
An inky blackness covered them and they both vanished. Weird. Proxies can enter the Slender Man's domain, but usually only by tearing open a literal portal. I've never seen one... actually, I'm not even sure what he did there. Became a portal? Is that what happened? I'm confused...
Sal handed me a bottle of alcohol, which startle me because I had no idea he had been standing next to me until just then.
"Whoa!" I said. "Uh, who's this on?"
"Me," he said. "Think of it as a last drink."
"Don't got any faith in me?" I asked.
"Faith is dead," he replied. "You're up against a big threat. And you just recruited 2 demigods who want you dead. A poor choice if you ask me."
"I got this," I said, pocketing the booze for later. Don't drink and drive, kids.
"If you say so," Sal said, turning back to the door.
Not sure what exactly compelled me to ask, but I drew the watch from my pocket and held it out.
"Hey, do have any idea what this is?" I asked.
He glanced back and shrugged.
"You're little dream boy might know," he said. "Alternatively, the guys you stole it from were just here. You shoulda asked them."
Fair point. Sal went back in and I got on my bike. I had one more stop to make before the fight.
I got back to the apartment, which was fortunately clear of danger. I went in, grabbed a book, and left to get a motel room.
I don't think I've talked about the book yet. It's an old diary. At least, I'm assuming. It's written all in Spanish, so reading it is a bit tricky. It was written by an anonymous farmer, who was forced to learn to fight, using her scythe as a weapon. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but what I have read has inspired me a lot. Most of my fighting style is based on her writings. And going into a big fight like this, I felt like reading some more of the wise words of this scythe master could help me out.
I pulled out my phone and opened up a translator and got to reading a few more entries before drifting off to sleep.
After I woke up, I made my preparations and contacted everyone, telling them when to meet and where.
Later that night, I arrived near Oceana's hideout. It was a six story high building, which had been abandoned for several years. Hooded Guy, Julia, Terrence, Horizon and Maria were already there. Hooded Guy's left arm was in a sling now.
"You guys ready?" I asked.
Everyone was prepared for this.
"Where'd you go earlier?" Horizon asked.
"Went to recruit some backup," I said. "They should be here soon."
"Okay," Terrence said. "They'd better not make us wait too long."
"You gonna be okay fighting?" I asked Hooded Guy.
"This is nothing," he said, shifting his arm slightly. "I've had worse."
"Okay," I said. "Julia? Horizon? What about you guys?"
"I'll be fine," Horizon replied, sounding slightly offended.
"Sorry," I said. "Haven't seen you girls in action yet. Just wanted to make sure."
"My sister can handle herself," Hooded Guy said.
A few seconds later, Derek and Henry appeared. Henry had armed himself pretty well. He was dual wielding sledgehammers, and had two more sheathed across his back. Derek, on the other hand, was unarmed, save for a pair of studded leather gloves.
"Hey guys," I said. "Glad you could make it."
"They're our back up!" Terrence gasped.
"Yep," I said.
"You recruited a couple of Enhanced!" Maria growled at me. "Are you crazy!"
"Relax," I said. "We've got a truce."
"You think they're gonna give a shit about a truce?" Maria said.
"Don't worry," Hooded Guy said. "This'll go fine."
"Don't get their hopes up too much," Julia said. "There's plenty of ways this can go wrong."
"Try to look on the right side," Hooded Guy said.
"Don't worry," Derek said. "We'll honor the truce. So, Towerborn dude's really in there?"
"He's watching us from the roof right now," Hooded Guy said.
We all looked up to see Oceana staring down at us. He smiled before stepping away from the edge and out of our sight.
"He knew we were coming?" Henry said.
"Of course he knew," I said. "I posted it on my blog for the whole world to see."
"You must be the dumbest person I've ever met," Derek said.
"I'm also the most handsome," I said.
"Eh, 7 out of 10," he replied.
"Fuck you too, Derek," I said.
"How'd you notice him so easily?" Terrence asked.
"I have very good eyesight," Hooded Guy replied.
"So what's the deal with this place," Horizon asked. "You've been here before, right?"
"Yeah," I said. "This is... this is where..."
"This is where Rillek died," Came another voice.
We all turned to see that Matt, the dude who had snapped me out of my coma, had appeared there without anyone noticing.
"What are you doing here?" Terrence asked.
"Justin's not the only one who sought reinforcements," Maria said. "Glad you could make it, Matt."
Matt had shown up wearing a leather duster, and was armed with the longest goddamn rifle I've ever seen. It was almost as tall as he was, and he was damn near 7 feet high. There was a bayonet attached to the end, making it look more like a polearm than a firearm.
"Who's Rillek?" Horizon asked.
"He was my boss for a while," I said. "He recruited me into the Timberolves. But that was a long time ago. It doesn't matter write now."
"So what's the plan?" Derek asked.
"We charge in and kill whoever we see," I said.
"That's literally your only plan ever," Henry said.
"If I may," Hooded Guy said. "There's a couple things I can add to it."
"Go on," Maria said.
"There's 6 floors, with an average of 8 Oathbreakers stationed on each one," he said. "They've rigged the stairwells on the East and West side of the building so that we'll have to cross each floor if we want to ascend higher."
Of course they did...
"Oceana's waiting at the top," Hooded Guy added.
"How do you-?" Henry asked, only for Hooded Guy to cut him off.
"Very good eyesight," he replied. "Anyway, I suggest Justin and Terrence escort Horizon to the roof to meet her brother. I know you want to kill him, but at least give her a chance to get through to him."
"Fine," I said. "Terrence, you got bombs?"
"You know it," he said, flipping open his lighter.
"Don't sweat the small fries," he continued. "Cut a path through and get to the top quickly. Those of us who can teleport should go to the upper floors to help clear a path."
"Whatever," Henry said.
"Got it," Derek replied.
"And you two," Hooded Guy said to Derek and Henry. "You should stay clear of the fifth floor."
"Why?" Henry asked. "What's on the fifth floor?"
"It's not a matter of what's up there," Hooded Guy replied.
"It's what's going to be up there," Julia finished for him.
Oh right. Future vision.
"And one more thing," Matt added, also addressing the proxies. "Don't even think of betraying us."
"Or what?" Henry scoffed. "You gonna kill us?"
"No," Matt answered calmly. "I'm going to tell you to kill each other."
"Wha?" Henry said, taken aback.
"I can be very persuasive," Matt said.
"Alright," I said. "Let's do this!"
Everyone nodded. Derek and Henry vanished into the Path, while Hooded Guy and Julia slowly faded away. Matt, on the other hand, raised his rifle and shot through one of the second floor windows, shattering in, then preceded to leap through it, and action that, despite being impressive, caused Maria to face palm.
"Let's go," I said, leading the others to the front door.
Time to get to work.
We barged in, and the fight immediately broke out. There were 9 guys there. I cut a couple of them down and ran to the nearest staircase. I could still remember the layout of this place from my last time here. We made it over there, and as luck would have it, I had picked the right one. Maria turned away from us to face the remaining Oathbreakers.
"Get moving," she said. "I'll catch up once I've dealt with these guys."
She began fighting and the rest of us took her advice and went up the stairs. We made it up to the second floor, and as Hooded Guy said, we couldn't go any higher due to the Oathbreakers putting a bunch of heavy boxes in the way.
"I get the feeling they're just fucking with us," Terrence said.
"Oceana wouldn't want to make this easy," I said. "Come on, let's get to the next stairway."
Fortunately, we didn't have much trouble getting there. The Oathbreakers on that floor were preoccupied with Matt, who was effectively giving them hell. I saw him impale a guy on his bayonet, lift him a foot off the floor, then blast him down the hall with a gunshot. That was cool.
We got to the stairs and went up to floor 3. This time, we were alone with the Oathbreakers. None of our party members had come to this floor. We'd have to fight our way through on our own.
Terrence through a pipe bomb at them, which took out a couple of them as it exploded, and causing the rest to scatter. Horizon shot a couple in the backs as they tried to flee, and we charged forward. I took off a couple heads as we went, but we ended up having to stop before we reached the stairs because the floor was covered in caltrops. probably poisoned. Just what we needed.
The remaining Oathbreakers attempted to close it on us, and we readied our weapons for a fight, which turned out to be completely unnecessary. The ceiling suddenly gave way, collapsing on them.
"Yo!" I heard Derek's voice call out from above. "Anyone alive down there?"
"We could've handled that!" I replied.
"Yeah, sure," Derek replied. He threw down a rope. "Grab on!"
We all did, and he pulled us up effortlessly. We were down on the 4th floor, which had quite a few dead bodies strewn around. Henry was nearby bashing some poor saps skull in with one of his hammers.
"Calm down, dude," Derek said. "You're not used to that strength yet. Don't go crazy."
Henry scowled.
"Whatever," he said. "Let's keep moving."
Henry took a few steps towards the stairs.
"I don't think so," Derek said. "That's the 5th floor."
"Since when do we take that hooded asshole's advice?" Henry snapped.
"I've dealt with that dude before" Derek said. "If he says something's gonna happen up there, I'll take his word for it."
"Also, that's the wrong stairway," I pointed out. "We gotta go the other way."
"You do that," Derek said. "We'll Path up there once we've made sure there's no more survivors down here."
"Sure," I said.
I wasn't quite sure what would be on the 5th floor, but I sure as hell wasn't ready or it. Once we got up there, we found the dead bodies of several Oathbreakers. The lights were all burnt out. And a short distance in front of us was... I'm not sure if "him" is the right word...
IT stood there, dressed in dark clothing and a pitch black hoody. Its face, if it even had one, was concealed beneath a gas mask. In it's hand, it held a shotgun, which it casually raised to gun down the last surviving Oathbreaker that was up there. It then calmly turned to face us.
I couldn't move. I was frozen in fear, as were Terrence and Horizon. After staring at us silently for a few seconds, it simply turned and walked off. I pulled myself together and began walking to the stairs.
"What was that?" Horizon whispered.
"My boss," I replied.
We made it up to the 6th floor, which was covered in a great deal of blood. Hooded Guy was leaning against the wall, taking a breather, his wakizashi sheathed at his side. Funny, I don't remember him having that with him. Julia was sitting down, breathing heavily. She seemed unharmed, but was clearly shaken. Her left hand was soaked in blood from the fight. They had seemingly finished off all the Oathbreakers on that floor.
"How you guys doing?" I asked. "Couldn't save any for me, could ya?"
"Sorry," Hooded Guy replied. "How's Archie doing?"
"Just as terrifying as I've heard," I said. "Julia doing okay?"
"She'll be fine," he said. "You'd better get up there. Oceana's waiting."
"Right," I said.
As we started walking toward the door, a few portals opened up. Beyond them, I could see the darkly lit halls of an old castle.
"Shit," I said.
Hooded Guy straightened up.
"Earlier than expected," he said.
"Reinforcements," Terrence groaned, pulling a bottle of booze out of his coat.
Julia stood up, and grew the weird red claw on her hand.
"You guys go," Terrence said, getting his cocktail ready. "I'll help these two out."
"Everclear?" Julia said, glancing at Terrence's bottle. "Just how much of this place are you planning to burn down?"
"None of it," he replied, lighting it up and throwing it into the nearest portal. "Fire in the hole!"
Horizon and I made our way to the stairs as the others began fighting the Oathbreakers emerging from the portals.
We finally reached the roof. Oceana stood up there, alone, beneath a stormcloud that was beginning to brew. Rain was starting to drizzle down on us.
"This could have been so simple," he said. "You just had to give me that damn watch. But instead, you've chosen to resist me, kill my men, and expose my nature to the whole world."
"I don't know what the deal is with the watch, but I doubt letting it fall into the Newborn's hands is a good idea," I replied.
"Stop this," Horizon said, stepping forward. "Just come home. Please."
Oceana sighed.
"It's too late," he said. "I can't turn back. Not anymore."
"Brother," she said, pleadingly.
"No," he said. "I'm not your brother."
I drew my scythe.
"It's no use," I told her.
Before I could do anything else, Horizon raised her gun, pointing it straight at the center of his chest. Lightning flashed across the sky.
"It's that stupid games fault!" she said, suddenly angry. "It changed you into this... into this thing!"
Oceana seemed unfazed by this, and it took me a second too long to realize why. I spotted the wires slithering across the ground too late, and didn't have time to warn Horizon before they lashed at her, ripping the gun from her hands and lifting her into the air. I made an attempt to cut through them, but the wires yanked her to the side, out of my reach, before I could.
"Let her go!" I demanded
I could see the cord holding her were coming from his right arm. He silently raised his free hand into the air.
"Give me the watch," he demanded. "And I'll release her."
I tightened my grip on the scythe. He saw this, and then he winced in pain as his arm started tearing itself apart. I stood, stunned, as it reshaped itself, flesh and bone, steel and wire, all reaching toward the sky, then tightening together in a grotesque organic lightning rod. Holy shit...
"You idiot!" I said. "If a bolt comes down, you'll die too!"
"No," he said. "My wiring will guide the current safely away from my vital. The damage to my body will be minimal. Whatever I do lose will be replaceable. Her, on the other hand..."
In a desperate attempt, I threw my scythe at the wires holding her up, but he swatted it away with his lightning rod arm before raising back in the air again.
"You don't have long to decide," he said, as more thunder rumbled above us. "Give. Me. The. Watch."
I drew the watch out of my pocket and looked at it. Should I really do this?
Don't, Daniel's voice sounded inside my head. Use it.
What? I thought.
Let me show you, Daniel replied.
I suddenly remembered that night I first encountered Oceana. When that Oathbreaker got his hands on the watch and turned it towards me, flipping it open. As if he had expected something to happen, only to be let down.
I don't understand, I thought. What should I do? This thing didn't work for that guy. How do I-
Just go with it, Daniel replied, before awakening more of my memories. Memories that got me worked up.
I remembered Daniel's death. And Greg's death. The sight of Ciel with her wounded leg after Oceana's attack. I relived Rillek's death, and a dozen other painful memories.
As my anger built up, I felt the watch start to warm up in my hand.
"Hey, Oceana," I growled. "You want this thing? Well, HERE!"
I turned it toward him and flipped it open. A cone of viridian light burst out of it, consuming Oceana. He cried out in pain, but was paralyzed inside the light.
Matt suddenly rushed out from behind me, bringing his bayonet down on the wires holding Horizon, cutting through them easily. As she fell back down, Hooded Guy appeared out of nowhere to catch her. Maria showed up beside me, Khopesh in hand.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"No idea," I said.
And then Oceana's lightning rod fulfilled its purpose. A bolt shot down, striking it, and consuming his body. I flipped the watch closed, putting an end to that green light.
Now, normally a lightning bolt is over in a split second. But this one lingered for so much longer. Not until the plastic casing of his wires had melted away, and his skin had been charred black did it end.
His body dropped, unmoving, to the rooftop.
"That was one long ass lightning bolt," I said.
"Listen," Maria said.
I could barely make it out, but I could hear the sounds of birds cawing in the sky. The storm began to dissipate.
"What is that thing?" Maria asked, looking at the watch.
"I'm not sure," I said.
A portal tore opened, and a bunch of wires and veins emerged fro it, grabbing Oceana's corpse and pulling him to the other side. Looks like the Newborn was claiming its servant.
I heard motion behind me, and turned to see Henry coming up the stairs. He took in the surrounding, and realizing the mission was finally complete, he set his sights on me and grinned evilly. He raised what appeared to be his last remaining hammer, and prepared to swing it, but Derek showed up, catching the hammer's head and crushing it in his bare hand. Henry froze, stunned.
Derek looked at me, then at Matt, and said "We're leaving."
Henry growled.
"We'll settle this later, Henry," he said. They both left as Terrence and Julia made it up the stairs to join us.
"Everything okay?" Terrence asked.
I looked over at Horizon, who was sitting by herself in a corner, looking sad.
"Mission accomplished," I said. "But... Horizon..."
"You had to kill her brother, didn't you?" Julia asked.
"Well, it was actually a lightning bolt," I said. "But it couldn't have been..."
"I get it," Julia said, going over to comfort her.
"So what now?" Terrence asked.
"I dunno," I said. "R&R? Lick our wounds?"
"Right," Terrence said. "We should go let Ciel know the good news."
So yeah. That's how it went down. It's been a few days. Horizon's said her goodbyes and left. Not sure where Matt and Maria are at the moment. Hooded Guy and Julia are off doing their own thing I guess. Ciel's upset she missed out on all the action. Oh well...
We're probably gonna have to relocate soon, after that whole mess. That'll be fun...
As for the watch, I'm not sure what the deal is with it. I haven't been able to do the green light thing since then, and I haven't heard from Daniel either. Whatever...
I'm gonna take a break. Talk to you all eventually...
After my last post, I made a phone call, then got on my bike. It took me a few hours to get to Sal's, but I made it. I parked my bike and walked up to Ken, who gave me a silent nod and let me in.
It was busy that night. All the tables were packed, and it took me a minute to spy the guy I was looking for. But I eventually spotted Derek sitting at table 8, along with Henry McBurnscars and some sleeping dude. I approached them.
"Glad you could make it, Derek," I said. "You too, Burns."
"It's Quan," Derek reminded me. "Saved you a seat."
Henry just kinda glared at me. I glanced at the open seat. It was the heart seat. Looking at the others, I saw that Derek had taken the spade seat. Dick. it seemed that the sleeping dude was at the club seat and Henry was at the diamond. I took my seat.
"Who's this?" I asked. gesturing at Mr. Sleepyhead. I couldn't see his face at all, but he had long, greasy black hair and a red coat.
"No clue," Derek said. "He was like that when we got here, and this was the only table with open seats."
I glanced at Henry for a sec.
"You're face looks better," I said.
He sat up and looked like he was gonna throw a punch, but Quan tapped him on the shoulder and nodded toward the bar. Sal was watching us all intently. Henry immediately shrank back down.
"So how'd you get my number?" Quan asked.
"Had to ask around," I said. "Took a while, but it turns out you're pretty notorious amongst the runner community, Mr. Quanford. I hear you can lift cars."
"Lot more than cars," he said, taking a swig of beer.
"What the fuck makes you think we're gonna help you?" Henry snarled.
"Calm yourself, my friend," Derek said. "We've got a fully sentient Towerborn here. This is something we need to see with our own eyes."
"So do we have a truce?" I asked.
"Depends," Derek replied. "How big's the opposition?"
"Oceana's got quite a few Oathbreakers on his side," I said. "Might have some Towerborn too. If you want exact numbers, I can't give you any more than a guess."
"A guess is fine," Derek said.
"Probably around thirty."
"Good number," Derek said.
"This is stupid!" Henry said. "We could just get the Towerborn ourselves, couldn't we?"
"Justin hasn't given us a location yet," Derek pointed out.
"So, what do you say?" I asked.
Derek took a long drink from his bottle before answering.
"The Oathbreaker's have been a pain on our side too," he said. "I'll take an excuse to give 'em some trouble."
"So you're in?" I asked.
"For now," he said. "But after this, we go back to hating each other's guts."
Henry begrudgingly nodded.
"Cool beans," I said.
I told them the city it was in.
"I'll give you the exact location once we get started," I said.
"Alright," Derek said, standing up and finishing his drink. "Let's Go."
We all left the bar. Henry seemed to be desperately struggling to not turn on me and kill me as we left.
"One more thing, before we do this," Derek said.
"What's that?" I asked.
He turned to Henry.
"We're up against something big here," he said. "We need to make sure you're ready."
I felt a sudden chill down my spine. Before me stood a tall figure, probably around 8 feet in height, dressed in a black suit and tie. It's pale flesh was featureless, lacking any hair or anything that could be defined as a face. I was gazing upon the Slender Man, the entity that the Proxies served.
Henry was just as startled as I was, but Derek remained cool as a fucking cucumber.
Tentacles emerged from behind Slender Man's back, and slowly encircled Henry, before binding him and lifting him into the air. Henry began crying out in pain. I couldn't tell what Slender Man was doing to him, but it did not look enjoyable. I saw a burning light begin to pulse through his veins, and slowly spread to his muscles.
"What's happening?" I asked, shocked.
"The Enhancement," Derek said. "If he survives this, he'll become stronger than he knew was possible."
"If?" I asked. "You mean he could die from this!?"
"This isn't just an upgrade," Derek said "It's a test."
I could see Henry's muscles starting to move underneath his flesh. They swelled up, before becoming tense, and seeming to solidify like rock. Slender Man dropped him to the ground, and he fell to his hands and knees, still in obvious agony.
Slowly, the burning light faded out. Henry panted for a while, before slowly rising up. He remained crouching for a minute, staring down at his hands. He let out a chuckle as he turned back to me, murder in his eyes.
Crap. He had new strength now, and he had his sights set on me to test it out.
He le out a growl and made a move toward me, but Derek suddenly appeared in his way, and rammed his fist into Henry's torso. Henry stopped suddenly, as a spurt of blood flew out of his mouth. he went limp, and Derek lifted him up over one shoulder with no effort.
"We still got the truce, buddy," he said. "Save it for later."
An inky blackness covered them and they both vanished. Weird. Proxies can enter the Slender Man's domain, but usually only by tearing open a literal portal. I've never seen one... actually, I'm not even sure what he did there. Became a portal? Is that what happened? I'm confused...
Sal handed me a bottle of alcohol, which startle me because I had no idea he had been standing next to me until just then.
"Whoa!" I said. "Uh, who's this on?"
"Me," he said. "Think of it as a last drink."
"Don't got any faith in me?" I asked.
"Faith is dead," he replied. "You're up against a big threat. And you just recruited 2 demigods who want you dead. A poor choice if you ask me."
"I got this," I said, pocketing the booze for later. Don't drink and drive, kids.
"If you say so," Sal said, turning back to the door.
Not sure what exactly compelled me to ask, but I drew the watch from my pocket and held it out.
"Hey, do have any idea what this is?" I asked.
He glanced back and shrugged.
"You're little dream boy might know," he said. "Alternatively, the guys you stole it from were just here. You shoulda asked them."
Fair point. Sal went back in and I got on my bike. I had one more stop to make before the fight.
I got back to the apartment, which was fortunately clear of danger. I went in, grabbed a book, and left to get a motel room.
I don't think I've talked about the book yet. It's an old diary. At least, I'm assuming. It's written all in Spanish, so reading it is a bit tricky. It was written by an anonymous farmer, who was forced to learn to fight, using her scythe as a weapon. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but what I have read has inspired me a lot. Most of my fighting style is based on her writings. And going into a big fight like this, I felt like reading some more of the wise words of this scythe master could help me out.
I pulled out my phone and opened up a translator and got to reading a few more entries before drifting off to sleep.
After I woke up, I made my preparations and contacted everyone, telling them when to meet and where.
Later that night, I arrived near Oceana's hideout. It was a six story high building, which had been abandoned for several years. Hooded Guy, Julia, Terrence, Horizon and Maria were already there. Hooded Guy's left arm was in a sling now.
"You guys ready?" I asked.
Everyone was prepared for this.
"Where'd you go earlier?" Horizon asked.
"Went to recruit some backup," I said. "They should be here soon."
"Okay," Terrence said. "They'd better not make us wait too long."
"You gonna be okay fighting?" I asked Hooded Guy.
"This is nothing," he said, shifting his arm slightly. "I've had worse."
"Okay," I said. "Julia? Horizon? What about you guys?"
"I'll be fine," Horizon replied, sounding slightly offended.
"Sorry," I said. "Haven't seen you girls in action yet. Just wanted to make sure."
"My sister can handle herself," Hooded Guy said.
A few seconds later, Derek and Henry appeared. Henry had armed himself pretty well. He was dual wielding sledgehammers, and had two more sheathed across his back. Derek, on the other hand, was unarmed, save for a pair of studded leather gloves.
"Hey guys," I said. "Glad you could make it."
"They're our back up!" Terrence gasped.
"Yep," I said.
"You recruited a couple of Enhanced!" Maria growled at me. "Are you crazy!"
"Relax," I said. "We've got a truce."
"You think they're gonna give a shit about a truce?" Maria said.
"Don't worry," Hooded Guy said. "This'll go fine."
"Don't get their hopes up too much," Julia said. "There's plenty of ways this can go wrong."
"Try to look on the right side," Hooded Guy said.
"Don't worry," Derek said. "We'll honor the truce. So, Towerborn dude's really in there?"
"He's watching us from the roof right now," Hooded Guy said.
We all looked up to see Oceana staring down at us. He smiled before stepping away from the edge and out of our sight.
"He knew we were coming?" Henry said.
"Of course he knew," I said. "I posted it on my blog for the whole world to see."
"You must be the dumbest person I've ever met," Derek said.
"I'm also the most handsome," I said.
"Eh, 7 out of 10," he replied.
"Fuck you too, Derek," I said.
"How'd you notice him so easily?" Terrence asked.
"I have very good eyesight," Hooded Guy replied.
"So what's the deal with this place," Horizon asked. "You've been here before, right?"
"Yeah," I said. "This is... this is where..."
"This is where Rillek died," Came another voice.
We all turned to see that Matt, the dude who had snapped me out of my coma, had appeared there without anyone noticing.
"What are you doing here?" Terrence asked.
"Justin's not the only one who sought reinforcements," Maria said. "Glad you could make it, Matt."
Matt had shown up wearing a leather duster, and was armed with the longest goddamn rifle I've ever seen. It was almost as tall as he was, and he was damn near 7 feet high. There was a bayonet attached to the end, making it look more like a polearm than a firearm.
"Who's Rillek?" Horizon asked.
"He was my boss for a while," I said. "He recruited me into the Timberolves. But that was a long time ago. It doesn't matter write now."
"So what's the plan?" Derek asked.
"We charge in and kill whoever we see," I said.
"That's literally your only plan ever," Henry said.
"If I may," Hooded Guy said. "There's a couple things I can add to it."
"Go on," Maria said.
"There's 6 floors, with an average of 8 Oathbreakers stationed on each one," he said. "They've rigged the stairwells on the East and West side of the building so that we'll have to cross each floor if we want to ascend higher."
Of course they did...
"Oceana's waiting at the top," Hooded Guy added.
"How do you-?" Henry asked, only for Hooded Guy to cut him off.
"Very good eyesight," he replied. "Anyway, I suggest Justin and Terrence escort Horizon to the roof to meet her brother. I know you want to kill him, but at least give her a chance to get through to him."
"Fine," I said. "Terrence, you got bombs?"
"You know it," he said, flipping open his lighter.
"Don't sweat the small fries," he continued. "Cut a path through and get to the top quickly. Those of us who can teleport should go to the upper floors to help clear a path."
"Whatever," Henry said.
"Got it," Derek replied.
"And you two," Hooded Guy said to Derek and Henry. "You should stay clear of the fifth floor."
"Why?" Henry asked. "What's on the fifth floor?"
"It's not a matter of what's up there," Hooded Guy replied.
"It's what's going to be up there," Julia finished for him.
Oh right. Future vision.
"And one more thing," Matt added, also addressing the proxies. "Don't even think of betraying us."
"Or what?" Henry scoffed. "You gonna kill us?"
"No," Matt answered calmly. "I'm going to tell you to kill each other."
"Wha?" Henry said, taken aback.
"I can be very persuasive," Matt said.
"Alright," I said. "Let's do this!"
Everyone nodded. Derek and Henry vanished into the Path, while Hooded Guy and Julia slowly faded away. Matt, on the other hand, raised his rifle and shot through one of the second floor windows, shattering in, then preceded to leap through it, and action that, despite being impressive, caused Maria to face palm.
"Let's go," I said, leading the others to the front door.
Time to get to work.
We barged in, and the fight immediately broke out. There were 9 guys there. I cut a couple of them down and ran to the nearest staircase. I could still remember the layout of this place from my last time here. We made it over there, and as luck would have it, I had picked the right one. Maria turned away from us to face the remaining Oathbreakers.
"Get moving," she said. "I'll catch up once I've dealt with these guys."
She began fighting and the rest of us took her advice and went up the stairs. We made it up to the second floor, and as Hooded Guy said, we couldn't go any higher due to the Oathbreakers putting a bunch of heavy boxes in the way.
"I get the feeling they're just fucking with us," Terrence said.
"Oceana wouldn't want to make this easy," I said. "Come on, let's get to the next stairway."
Fortunately, we didn't have much trouble getting there. The Oathbreakers on that floor were preoccupied with Matt, who was effectively giving them hell. I saw him impale a guy on his bayonet, lift him a foot off the floor, then blast him down the hall with a gunshot. That was cool.
We got to the stairs and went up to floor 3. This time, we were alone with the Oathbreakers. None of our party members had come to this floor. We'd have to fight our way through on our own.
Terrence through a pipe bomb at them, which took out a couple of them as it exploded, and causing the rest to scatter. Horizon shot a couple in the backs as they tried to flee, and we charged forward. I took off a couple heads as we went, but we ended up having to stop before we reached the stairs because the floor was covered in caltrops. probably poisoned. Just what we needed.
The remaining Oathbreakers attempted to close it on us, and we readied our weapons for a fight, which turned out to be completely unnecessary. The ceiling suddenly gave way, collapsing on them.
"Yo!" I heard Derek's voice call out from above. "Anyone alive down there?"
"We could've handled that!" I replied.
"Yeah, sure," Derek replied. He threw down a rope. "Grab on!"
We all did, and he pulled us up effortlessly. We were down on the 4th floor, which had quite a few dead bodies strewn around. Henry was nearby bashing some poor saps skull in with one of his hammers.
"Calm down, dude," Derek said. "You're not used to that strength yet. Don't go crazy."
Henry scowled.
"Whatever," he said. "Let's keep moving."
Henry took a few steps towards the stairs.
"I don't think so," Derek said. "That's the 5th floor."
"Since when do we take that hooded asshole's advice?" Henry snapped.
"I've dealt with that dude before" Derek said. "If he says something's gonna happen up there, I'll take his word for it."
"Also, that's the wrong stairway," I pointed out. "We gotta go the other way."
"You do that," Derek said. "We'll Path up there once we've made sure there's no more survivors down here."
"Sure," I said.
I wasn't quite sure what would be on the 5th floor, but I sure as hell wasn't ready or it. Once we got up there, we found the dead bodies of several Oathbreakers. The lights were all burnt out. And a short distance in front of us was... I'm not sure if "him" is the right word...
IT stood there, dressed in dark clothing and a pitch black hoody. Its face, if it even had one, was concealed beneath a gas mask. In it's hand, it held a shotgun, which it casually raised to gun down the last surviving Oathbreaker that was up there. It then calmly turned to face us.
I couldn't move. I was frozen in fear, as were Terrence and Horizon. After staring at us silently for a few seconds, it simply turned and walked off. I pulled myself together and began walking to the stairs.
"What was that?" Horizon whispered.
"My boss," I replied.
We made it up to the 6th floor, which was covered in a great deal of blood. Hooded Guy was leaning against the wall, taking a breather, his wakizashi sheathed at his side. Funny, I don't remember him having that with him. Julia was sitting down, breathing heavily. She seemed unharmed, but was clearly shaken. Her left hand was soaked in blood from the fight. They had seemingly finished off all the Oathbreakers on that floor.
"How you guys doing?" I asked. "Couldn't save any for me, could ya?"
"Sorry," Hooded Guy replied. "How's Archie doing?"
"Just as terrifying as I've heard," I said. "Julia doing okay?"
"She'll be fine," he said. "You'd better get up there. Oceana's waiting."
"Right," I said.
As we started walking toward the door, a few portals opened up. Beyond them, I could see the darkly lit halls of an old castle.
"Shit," I said.
Hooded Guy straightened up.
"Earlier than expected," he said.
"Reinforcements," Terrence groaned, pulling a bottle of booze out of his coat.
Julia stood up, and grew the weird red claw on her hand.
"You guys go," Terrence said, getting his cocktail ready. "I'll help these two out."
"Everclear?" Julia said, glancing at Terrence's bottle. "Just how much of this place are you planning to burn down?"
"None of it," he replied, lighting it up and throwing it into the nearest portal. "Fire in the hole!"
Horizon and I made our way to the stairs as the others began fighting the Oathbreakers emerging from the portals.
We finally reached the roof. Oceana stood up there, alone, beneath a stormcloud that was beginning to brew. Rain was starting to drizzle down on us.
"This could have been so simple," he said. "You just had to give me that damn watch. But instead, you've chosen to resist me, kill my men, and expose my nature to the whole world."
"I don't know what the deal is with the watch, but I doubt letting it fall into the Newborn's hands is a good idea," I replied.
"Stop this," Horizon said, stepping forward. "Just come home. Please."
Oceana sighed.
"It's too late," he said. "I can't turn back. Not anymore."
"Brother," she said, pleadingly.
"No," he said. "I'm not your brother."
I drew my scythe.
"It's no use," I told her.
Before I could do anything else, Horizon raised her gun, pointing it straight at the center of his chest. Lightning flashed across the sky.
"It's that stupid games fault!" she said, suddenly angry. "It changed you into this... into this thing!"
Oceana seemed unfazed by this, and it took me a second too long to realize why. I spotted the wires slithering across the ground too late, and didn't have time to warn Horizon before they lashed at her, ripping the gun from her hands and lifting her into the air. I made an attempt to cut through them, but the wires yanked her to the side, out of my reach, before I could.
"Let her go!" I demanded
I could see the cord holding her were coming from his right arm. He silently raised his free hand into the air.
"Give me the watch," he demanded. "And I'll release her."
I tightened my grip on the scythe. He saw this, and then he winced in pain as his arm started tearing itself apart. I stood, stunned, as it reshaped itself, flesh and bone, steel and wire, all reaching toward the sky, then tightening together in a grotesque organic lightning rod. Holy shit...
"You idiot!" I said. "If a bolt comes down, you'll die too!"
"No," he said. "My wiring will guide the current safely away from my vital. The damage to my body will be minimal. Whatever I do lose will be replaceable. Her, on the other hand..."
In a desperate attempt, I threw my scythe at the wires holding her up, but he swatted it away with his lightning rod arm before raising back in the air again.
"You don't have long to decide," he said, as more thunder rumbled above us. "Give. Me. The. Watch."
I drew the watch out of my pocket and looked at it. Should I really do this?
Don't, Daniel's voice sounded inside my head. Use it.
What? I thought.
Let me show you, Daniel replied.
I suddenly remembered that night I first encountered Oceana. When that Oathbreaker got his hands on the watch and turned it towards me, flipping it open. As if he had expected something to happen, only to be let down.
I don't understand, I thought. What should I do? This thing didn't work for that guy. How do I-
Just go with it, Daniel replied, before awakening more of my memories. Memories that got me worked up.
I remembered Daniel's death. And Greg's death. The sight of Ciel with her wounded leg after Oceana's attack. I relived Rillek's death, and a dozen other painful memories.
As my anger built up, I felt the watch start to warm up in my hand.
"Hey, Oceana," I growled. "You want this thing? Well, HERE!"
I turned it toward him and flipped it open. A cone of viridian light burst out of it, consuming Oceana. He cried out in pain, but was paralyzed inside the light.
Matt suddenly rushed out from behind me, bringing his bayonet down on the wires holding Horizon, cutting through them easily. As she fell back down, Hooded Guy appeared out of nowhere to catch her. Maria showed up beside me, Khopesh in hand.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"No idea," I said.
And then Oceana's lightning rod fulfilled its purpose. A bolt shot down, striking it, and consuming his body. I flipped the watch closed, putting an end to that green light.
Now, normally a lightning bolt is over in a split second. But this one lingered for so much longer. Not until the plastic casing of his wires had melted away, and his skin had been charred black did it end.
His body dropped, unmoving, to the rooftop.
"That was one long ass lightning bolt," I said.
"Listen," Maria said.
I could barely make it out, but I could hear the sounds of birds cawing in the sky. The storm began to dissipate.
"What is that thing?" Maria asked, looking at the watch.
"I'm not sure," I said.
A portal tore opened, and a bunch of wires and veins emerged fro it, grabbing Oceana's corpse and pulling him to the other side. Looks like the Newborn was claiming its servant.
I heard motion behind me, and turned to see Henry coming up the stairs. He took in the surrounding, and realizing the mission was finally complete, he set his sights on me and grinned evilly. He raised what appeared to be his last remaining hammer, and prepared to swing it, but Derek showed up, catching the hammer's head and crushing it in his bare hand. Henry froze, stunned.
Derek looked at me, then at Matt, and said "We're leaving."
Henry growled.
"We'll settle this later, Henry," he said. They both left as Terrence and Julia made it up the stairs to join us.
"Everything okay?" Terrence asked.
I looked over at Horizon, who was sitting by herself in a corner, looking sad.
"Mission accomplished," I said. "But... Horizon..."
"You had to kill her brother, didn't you?" Julia asked.
"Well, it was actually a lightning bolt," I said. "But it couldn't have been..."
"I get it," Julia said, going over to comfort her.
"So what now?" Terrence asked.
"I dunno," I said. "R&R? Lick our wounds?"
"Right," Terrence said. "We should go let Ciel know the good news."
So yeah. That's how it went down. It's been a few days. Horizon's said her goodbyes and left. Not sure where Matt and Maria are at the moment. Hooded Guy and Julia are off doing their own thing I guess. Ciel's upset she missed out on all the action. Oh well...
We're probably gonna have to relocate soon, after that whole mess. That'll be fun...
As for the watch, I'm not sure what the deal is with it. I haven't been able to do the green light thing since then, and I haven't heard from Daniel either. Whatever...
I'm gonna take a break. Talk to you all eventually...
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Oh, it's on!
So I was out patrolling again earlier today. Upon returning to the base, I discovered something that pissed me right the fuck off.
We'd been attack while I was out. Maria, Terrence, and Horizon were there, mostly unharmed, save for a few scratches. Ciel, on the other hand...
Oceana had seriously messed her up. She was battered and bruised and totally unconscious.
Terrence explained to me what had happened. Him, Ciel and Horizon had been holding down the fort when Oceana had assaulted them with a huge group of Oathbreaker. Maria didn't show up until a few minutes before I returned.
"How'd you guys make it through that?" I asked.
Terrence nodded in the direction of an open doorway. I looked up to see Hooded Guy standing there, with a great deal of blood dripping from his left arm. Julia was with him, looking quite upset. She stormed up to me and smacked me right across the face.
"This is your fault!" she snapped. "You got him involved-"
Hooded Guy seemed to flash step right up to her and grabbed her hand.
"I got involved by my own free will," he said.
"You saved them?" I asked.
"I tried to," he replied. I managed to force them to retreat, but I failed to help her..."
He weakly gestured to Ciel.
"You did good," I told him. "Things would've gotten a lot worse without you."
"I could've helped, if I had made it in time," Maria said. "I'm sorry."
"Don't beat yourself up," Terrence said.
"Yeah," I said. "I was late too. How do you think I feel?"
Ciel stirred. Her eyes fluttered a bit., but remained closed.
"Ow...," She muttered.
I went to her side.
"How bad is it?" I asked her.
"Hurts like a bitch," she said. "I'll live I guess."
"Where do you keep the good shit?" I asked her.
"Bottom fuckin' drawer...," She mumbled.
I already knew that. But the fact that she still knew meant that she hadn't taken too much damage in that scuffle.
"My leg hurts...," she said, before passing out again.
I glanced at her right leg. There were a shit ton of deep gashes that Terrence hadn't fully finished gauzing up, and one of my old belts was lashed to her upper thigh as a tourniquet. Those sons of bitches...
I stood up, and looked out the window. The sun was so close to setting. Every one else was discussing what to do next, bu I ignored them, paying close attention to the sun.
It finally set completely, and as it did I raised my hand quickly, smacking myself in the bottom of my jaw.
Now, if you saw the post Terrence made about my training regimen, you'll know that I spend a great deal of my free time swinging a lopsided barbell around. And doing that has allowed me to build up quite a bit of upper body strength, which is why I can successfully off a guy with a well executed rabbit punch.
So, by basically uppercutting myself, I quickly lost consciousness. The last thing I remember before passing out was Hooded Guy catching me as I fell backwards.
I awoke in the dreamworld, overlooking a vast valley.
"Daniel!" I cried out, as loud as I could.
He appeared by my side, wearing a solemn expression.
"Have you found him?" I asked.
"I have," he said. "Are you sure you want to know?"
"He hurt Ciel," I said. "I want him dead. Deader than dead. I want to watch the fear in his eyes as I cut his ass down."
Daniel snapped his fingers, and the scene changed.
"I know this place," I said.
"That's why I was hesitant to show you," he said.
"I'm fine," I said. "I can deal with the memories. Anger beats out grief any day."
"I know," Daniel said. "This man hurt your friend. And I know you well enough to know the amount of hell your going to unleash upon him for that."
"You're god damn right," I said.
I woke up shortly after. Maria had been shaking my shoulder the whole time.
"Why the hell did you do that!?" She demanded.
"Had to talk to someone," I said.
I then told them where Oceana was hiding out.
"Are... are you sure?" Terrence said. "I'm not sure if I can handle going back there..."
"Don't worry," I told him. "You've got some time to prepare yourself for it. You're going to have to later, but first I want you to take Ciel somewhere safe, get her good shit from the bottom fuckin' drawer, and treat her wounds properly."
"How long?" He asked.
"A couple days," I said.
"Okay," Terrence said nervously. "I think I can get myself ready in that time."
"Good," I said. "Maria, I need you to stake out the place 'til I get back."
"Get back?" she asked. "Where are you going?"
"I got to take care of something first," I said. "It won't take long."
I looked at Hooded Guy.
"You've done so much for me," I said. "But do you think you can help Maria with the Stakeout?"
For the first time, he tilted his head in a way that fully revealed his eyes from beneath his hood. The pupils were dilated to the point of erasing his irises, the same as Julia's were back at the coffee shop.
"If there's two things I can handle it's combat and recon," he said, smiling. "I'm in."
"But your arm...," Julia protested.
"I'll have a snack first," he said. "Heal up. I'll be fine. What about you?"
She sighed.
"I'll help," She said reluctantly. "Someone needs to keep you out of trouble..."
"Thank you," I said.
So, then I wrote up this post, and I'm about to leave town to take care of... something...
If you see another post from me, it means we survived what I have planned. Later.
We'd been attack while I was out. Maria, Terrence, and Horizon were there, mostly unharmed, save for a few scratches. Ciel, on the other hand...
Oceana had seriously messed her up. She was battered and bruised and totally unconscious.
Terrence explained to me what had happened. Him, Ciel and Horizon had been holding down the fort when Oceana had assaulted them with a huge group of Oathbreaker. Maria didn't show up until a few minutes before I returned.
"How'd you guys make it through that?" I asked.
Terrence nodded in the direction of an open doorway. I looked up to see Hooded Guy standing there, with a great deal of blood dripping from his left arm. Julia was with him, looking quite upset. She stormed up to me and smacked me right across the face.
"This is your fault!" she snapped. "You got him involved-"
Hooded Guy seemed to flash step right up to her and grabbed her hand.
"I got involved by my own free will," he said.
"You saved them?" I asked.
"I tried to," he replied. I managed to force them to retreat, but I failed to help her..."
He weakly gestured to Ciel.
"You did good," I told him. "Things would've gotten a lot worse without you."
"I could've helped, if I had made it in time," Maria said. "I'm sorry."
"Don't beat yourself up," Terrence said.
"Yeah," I said. "I was late too. How do you think I feel?"
Ciel stirred. Her eyes fluttered a bit., but remained closed.
"Ow...," She muttered.
I went to her side.
"How bad is it?" I asked her.
"Hurts like a bitch," she said. "I'll live I guess."
"Where do you keep the good shit?" I asked her.
"Bottom fuckin' drawer...," She mumbled.
I already knew that. But the fact that she still knew meant that she hadn't taken too much damage in that scuffle.
"My leg hurts...," she said, before passing out again.
I glanced at her right leg. There were a shit ton of deep gashes that Terrence hadn't fully finished gauzing up, and one of my old belts was lashed to her upper thigh as a tourniquet. Those sons of bitches...
I stood up, and looked out the window. The sun was so close to setting. Every one else was discussing what to do next, bu I ignored them, paying close attention to the sun.
It finally set completely, and as it did I raised my hand quickly, smacking myself in the bottom of my jaw.
Now, if you saw the post Terrence made about my training regimen, you'll know that I spend a great deal of my free time swinging a lopsided barbell around. And doing that has allowed me to build up quite a bit of upper body strength, which is why I can successfully off a guy with a well executed rabbit punch.
So, by basically uppercutting myself, I quickly lost consciousness. The last thing I remember before passing out was Hooded Guy catching me as I fell backwards.
I awoke in the dreamworld, overlooking a vast valley.
"Daniel!" I cried out, as loud as I could.
He appeared by my side, wearing a solemn expression.
"Have you found him?" I asked.
"I have," he said. "Are you sure you want to know?"
"He hurt Ciel," I said. "I want him dead. Deader than dead. I want to watch the fear in his eyes as I cut his ass down."
Daniel snapped his fingers, and the scene changed.
"I know this place," I said.
"That's why I was hesitant to show you," he said.
"I'm fine," I said. "I can deal with the memories. Anger beats out grief any day."
"I know," Daniel said. "This man hurt your friend. And I know you well enough to know the amount of hell your going to unleash upon him for that."
"You're god damn right," I said.
I woke up shortly after. Maria had been shaking my shoulder the whole time.
"Why the hell did you do that!?" She demanded.
"Had to talk to someone," I said.
I then told them where Oceana was hiding out.
"Are... are you sure?" Terrence said. "I'm not sure if I can handle going back there..."
"Don't worry," I told him. "You've got some time to prepare yourself for it. You're going to have to later, but first I want you to take Ciel somewhere safe, get her good shit from the bottom fuckin' drawer, and treat her wounds properly."
"How long?" He asked.
"A couple days," I said.
"Okay," Terrence said nervously. "I think I can get myself ready in that time."
"Good," I said. "Maria, I need you to stake out the place 'til I get back."
"Get back?" she asked. "Where are you going?"
"I got to take care of something first," I said. "It won't take long."
I looked at Hooded Guy.
"You've done so much for me," I said. "But do you think you can help Maria with the Stakeout?"
For the first time, he tilted his head in a way that fully revealed his eyes from beneath his hood. The pupils were dilated to the point of erasing his irises, the same as Julia's were back at the coffee shop.
"If there's two things I can handle it's combat and recon," he said, smiling. "I'm in."
"But your arm...," Julia protested.
"I'll have a snack first," he said. "Heal up. I'll be fine. What about you?"
She sighed.
"I'll help," She said reluctantly. "Someone needs to keep you out of trouble..."
"Thank you," I said.
So, then I wrote up this post, and I'm about to leave town to take care of... something...
If you see another post from me, it means we survived what I have planned. Later.
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Yet another dream
Saw crazy dream Daniel again last night. Had a nice chat.
"So," I said upon seeing him. "Oceana's a Towerborn."
"So he is," Daniel replied.
"How'd you know?" I asked.
"Horizon," he said, as if that explained anything.
"Exsqueeze me?" I asked.
"I've seen her memories too," he said.
"So you've been inside her head?" I asked.
"Yup," he said.
"Are you sure you're not the Grotesque?" I asked.
"Like, 95 percent sure," he said.
"That's comforting," I said. "So, any chance you know where Oceana's hiding out?"
He shrugged.
"I might be able to find out," he said. "Not sure though. Could take a while. Could be entirely impossible."
"You mean getting in his head, right?" I asked.
"Yeah," he said. "You and Horizon are still human, but I've never tried entering a Towerborn's subconscious. The Newborn might be able to block me out."
"So how does that work exactly?" I asked.
"It's complicated," he said. "The best way I can describe it is that I can use people's relationships to form a bridge between their minds. I could cross into Horizon's subconscious because of how much time you two have been spending together."
"And you can get to Oceana's mind through her?" I asked.
"We'll see," he said. "May have to pull some dream gymnastics to make it work."
"Okay," I said.
We stood in silence for a minute.
"Have you ever been in Ciel's mind?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Try to avoid her's," he said. "She is a mean bitch."
"At least you don't have to work with her," I said. "So do you mind if I ask more about how you look into other worlds?"
"I guess," he said. "What do you wanna know?"
"Like, can you connect with anyone's alternate self?" I asked.
"Only if I'm in their head," he said.
"So you're limited to the two of us right now?" I asked.
"Yep," he said.
"Think I could see a bit more?" I asked.
"We got some time before sunrise," he said. "And I do know a good scene you might like."
"Alright," I said.
Suddenly, we were both standing at the edge of a cliff in some kind of surreal nightmare world. In the distance, there was a heated battle taking place between me and... I'm not sure what it was...
It was huge, towering over me. It's head was bigger than my body. It didn't have a face other than it's glowing red eyes, that were constantly flashing with crimson lighting. IT had long black hair and giant bat-like wings. and four arms coated in armor.
And the version of me fighting it had giant, black and red wings, glowing red eyes, and a jagged purple scythe. I was flying around, dodging the giant monster's attacks and trying to slash at its eyes.
"What am I looking at exactly?" I asked.
"That thing killed a bunch of your friends, so you went berserk on its ass," Daniel said.
"Why am I flying?" I asked.
"Something about you gaining Fear powers," Daniel said. "There's a lot of context you're missing. Incredibly convoluted. It'd make a nice video game though."
"Oh, yeah," I said sarcastically. "I'm sure loads of people would get a kick out of that."
The other me continued weaving between the monster's arms, and managed to blind one of its eyes.
"How am I even staying airborne?" I asked. "Those wings don't look aerodynamic at all."
"I dunno," Daniel said. "Magic?"
"And look at what I'm weilding!" I said. "That looks even more impractical than my actual scythe! And my actual scythe is an actual scythe!"
"Pfft," Daniel said. "You should see the blue one."
"What's up with the blue one?" I asked.
"I honestly don't even think that one qualifies as a scythe," he said.
The other me took out the other eye. The monster continued to attack me with its arms.
"So what is that thing exactly?" I asked.
"Powerful," Daniel replied. "Makes the Archangel look like a wuss.
"I refuse to accept that as fact," I said.
"Well, this is only a part of the entity," he said. "I have trouble pronouncing its name."
The other me got in a powerful strike to the monster's head, causing it to shrink in upon itself and vanish, being replaced by a floating, glowing crest, resembling an hourglass overlapping a circle. , and emitting a fierce red light. The other me absorbed some of that light into his body, and raised his scythe into the air, channeling power through it. A bunch of diamond shaped symbols flashed briefly in front of him, for a split second, before he shouted "IT'S OVER!" at the top of his lungs and slashed with his scythe. A second after the scythe cut through the crest, the space the blade had just passed through exploded, and the crest shattered.
"Okay," I admitted. "That looked pretty cool."
The vision ended then.
"I don't have much time," Daniel said. "Sun comes up soon. But once it goes down again, I'll see what I can do about tracking down Oceana."
"Thanks," I said. "Let me know how that goes."
"Sure thing," Daniel said.
And that's about it. I'll keep you all up to date on if we can find Oceana.
"So," I said upon seeing him. "Oceana's a Towerborn."
"So he is," Daniel replied.
"How'd you know?" I asked.
"Horizon," he said, as if that explained anything.
"Exsqueeze me?" I asked.
"I've seen her memories too," he said.
"So you've been inside her head?" I asked.
"Yup," he said.
"Are you sure you're not the Grotesque?" I asked.
"Like, 95 percent sure," he said.
"That's comforting," I said. "So, any chance you know where Oceana's hiding out?"
He shrugged.
"I might be able to find out," he said. "Not sure though. Could take a while. Could be entirely impossible."
"You mean getting in his head, right?" I asked.
"Yeah," he said. "You and Horizon are still human, but I've never tried entering a Towerborn's subconscious. The Newborn might be able to block me out."
"So how does that work exactly?" I asked.
"It's complicated," he said. "The best way I can describe it is that I can use people's relationships to form a bridge between their minds. I could cross into Horizon's subconscious because of how much time you two have been spending together."
"And you can get to Oceana's mind through her?" I asked.
"We'll see," he said. "May have to pull some dream gymnastics to make it work."
"Okay," I said.
We stood in silence for a minute.
"Have you ever been in Ciel's mind?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Try to avoid her's," he said. "She is a mean bitch."
"At least you don't have to work with her," I said. "So do you mind if I ask more about how you look into other worlds?"
"I guess," he said. "What do you wanna know?"
"Like, can you connect with anyone's alternate self?" I asked.
"Only if I'm in their head," he said.
"So you're limited to the two of us right now?" I asked.
"Yep," he said.
"Think I could see a bit more?" I asked.
"We got some time before sunrise," he said. "And I do know a good scene you might like."
"Alright," I said.
Suddenly, we were both standing at the edge of a cliff in some kind of surreal nightmare world. In the distance, there was a heated battle taking place between me and... I'm not sure what it was...
It was huge, towering over me. It's head was bigger than my body. It didn't have a face other than it's glowing red eyes, that were constantly flashing with crimson lighting. IT had long black hair and giant bat-like wings. and four arms coated in armor.
And the version of me fighting it had giant, black and red wings, glowing red eyes, and a jagged purple scythe. I was flying around, dodging the giant monster's attacks and trying to slash at its eyes.
"What am I looking at exactly?" I asked.
"That thing killed a bunch of your friends, so you went berserk on its ass," Daniel said.
"Why am I flying?" I asked.
"Something about you gaining Fear powers," Daniel said. "There's a lot of context you're missing. Incredibly convoluted. It'd make a nice video game though."
"Oh, yeah," I said sarcastically. "I'm sure loads of people would get a kick out of that."
The other me continued weaving between the monster's arms, and managed to blind one of its eyes.
"How am I even staying airborne?" I asked. "Those wings don't look aerodynamic at all."
"I dunno," Daniel said. "Magic?"
"And look at what I'm weilding!" I said. "That looks even more impractical than my actual scythe! And my actual scythe is an actual scythe!"
"Pfft," Daniel said. "You should see the blue one."
"What's up with the blue one?" I asked.
"I honestly don't even think that one qualifies as a scythe," he said.
The other me took out the other eye. The monster continued to attack me with its arms.
"So what is that thing exactly?" I asked.
"Powerful," Daniel replied. "Makes the Archangel look like a wuss.
"I refuse to accept that as fact," I said.
"Well, this is only a part of the entity," he said. "I have trouble pronouncing its name."
The other me got in a powerful strike to the monster's head, causing it to shrink in upon itself and vanish, being replaced by a floating, glowing crest, resembling an hourglass overlapping a circle. , and emitting a fierce red light. The other me absorbed some of that light into his body, and raised his scythe into the air, channeling power through it. A bunch of diamond shaped symbols flashed briefly in front of him, for a split second, before he shouted "IT'S OVER!" at the top of his lungs and slashed with his scythe. A second after the scythe cut through the crest, the space the blade had just passed through exploded, and the crest shattered.
"Okay," I admitted. "That looked pretty cool."
The vision ended then.
"I don't have much time," Daniel said. "Sun comes up soon. But once it goes down again, I'll see what I can do about tracking down Oceana."
"Thanks," I said. "Let me know how that goes."
"Sure thing," Daniel said.
And that's about it. I'll keep you all up to date on if we can find Oceana.
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