Freeze or Fall

Chapter 44: The Final Fight

Grian stepped forward. "What do you even want? What is your purpose here, and why are you intent on hurting everyone? If your purpose is to revert code, why can't you just find an Alpha server to live in?"

The being shook it's head. "I am not just contained to one server. I span all of them. I am not a player, I have no name. For many years I've been building up my power, trying to fix what has been broken. And your serves is the worst of them all. No mods, no texture packs, vanilla gameplay, and yet you have so many abominations here, it's sickening."

Scar frowned. "What do Alters have to do with this? They're perfectly fine!"

"No, they're not. They are fakes, weaker versions of what they could have been, what they almost were. Tell me, players, have you ever heard of shadows?"

Grian shook his head, but Scar paled noticeably. "They're supposedly half-players that are more evil than Hels, with actual bad intentions. Griefers, Hackers, you name it."

The being laughed. "Yes, glorious little souls, capable of tearing down servers. So full of hate in their hearts."

"What does any of this have to do with our Alter Ego's though?" Grian asked tentatively. "You're dancing around the question!"

"Hmph. Well, as you know, or should know, the Fae were created as a glitch, a long time ago. They were a sister kind to the Vex, just as capable of lucrative deals and questionable magic. And just like the vex and Illagers that hosted them, they liked to experiment.

"Eventually, the Fae created Shadows from player souls. Far too dangerous, but yet, not even a glitch. Fae and Vex are crafty that way, despite how mad their creations are, they never break the laws of the universe. At least, not until the legend of herobrine reached them.

"The Fae didn't like the cryptid, so when the Vex and Illagers began trying to summon him, disagreements turned into something worse. A war broke out, and shadows came to the Fae's aid. Even so, after many months, the Vex came out victorious. But not after doing one of the most despicable things there could have been.

"They stole away a helpless Faerie, and tried to recreate the Shadows from a soul full of magic. To this day, no one's quite sure what happened. But we do know that after the war, the Fae went into hiding from fear and the Illagers kept trying to recreate the phenomenon, stealing away any players they could get their hands on.

"The Vex realized the wrongdoings, and while they disapproved of their host's actions, they reluctantly did cleanup. Using their magic, they broke the code one last time, creating a new law of the universe that turned any shadow into a more harmless version and allowing any player to create their own. And thus, Alter Ego's were born. The worst mutation of them all.

"And now you're trying to bring the shadows back." Scar whispered.

The being nodded. "Now that you two understand what my job is, and now that that horrid monologue is over, shall we get to the real action? I know no one likes to listen to monologues, but players ask so many questions. Unfortunate that you didn't figure this out until now, but I guess a lot of history was lost a long time ago. Well, enough of that. It's time to return you back to the code, where you belong."

And with that, the nameless one raised an arm and shot spikes of it's goo right towards them.

__________

"False! Iskall! Right on time!" Impulse exclaimed, a sigh of relief leaving him as he parried Xisuma. "A little hand here?"

"On it." False leapt into action, helping impulse while Iskall began the crystal treatment. "What happened?"