Crystal Horrors: Stories from Before the Rift | Stevetober Prompts

Day 3 - Predator

[ᒷリ↸ !¡ꖎᔑ⊣⚍ᒷ's POV]

...They really think they're safe now? Fools... if only they knew what was growing inside them.

For so long, I've been stuck here. Outside of the timeline, only able to watch as Sabre just went on with his life, acting like the hero everyone believes him to be. I must say, seeing his soul-crushed expression when Rainbow jumped in front of Void's attack on him was truly entertaining.

Sabre still got up and moved on, saving all he could of this destroyed and wretched world. I never thought he'd get as far as standing up against that cretin Origin, but yet, he did. I still find it hard to believe he won that war, as Origin has wiped out entire civilizations before, just because one person did something that displeased him. Sabre let entirely new villages thrive, and gave so many people something that thousands before them never got; A chance to just live.

And then... he just threw it all away. Gone in an instant, as soon as he stepped in front of that altered End Crystal. Sabre... you always just had to be the hero. Unfortunately for you, it was all in vain, and I will be the one pulling your strings soon enough.

In that Emerald Steve's crazed state, he never noticed when I attached what was left of my power into that Crystal he was constantly working on for decades. My power resonated with it, and altered both the End Crystal and me. While it did make it unstable, it was all just a way for me to begin my reign of horrors, really.

Those shards that found their way to all of those people were just the beginning, a gateway into what's to come. Those shards each had a fraction of my power, and they were able to infect their hosts with a special project I had been working on all of these years I've spent trapped in here. Those shards will grow, mutating them into monsters of my own design. It'll especially work with Sabre and his two friends, given their abilities... I should've known from how Sabre could fuse with Steves and separate them from him easily, however still stayed just him without losing himself.

It's a shame I missed one of those two smaller shards meant for Lucas, but hey, I have a third extremely powerful being on my side that will work along with those two. Although, I won't have as much control over them as I will with Sabre... I'll have to fix that once everything starts going into motion.

It's wonderful how none of them can even know what's happening, as their power and energy just feeds the shards growing inside them. While they do experience pain caused by the shards' growth, it's always coincidentally whenever they're horsing around or in battle, so it's always chalked up to just injury. It's just too perfect sometimes, as if this victory is being handed to me.

Soon enough, the Crystal shards will have enough power so I can begin to control their hosts' minds. I could probably test that on the strange, off-color newcomer, once his shard is ready... although his is taking longer than the rest, and it seems the mutations won't work as well... then there's the bothersome case of the Professor... I can fix that later as well.

Moving on to Sabre and his special case; It seems that when the off-color Red Steve arrived in this world, the End Crystal opened up a rift to where he was coming from during the blast, and said rift dragged him inside. Sabre's now in the world that strange Red Steve is from, although in a much different time than when the Red Steve left. It seems to be at least a century later.

As of now, Sabre has also played 'hero' in that world, and is just in a small pocket dimension along with an other-universe alternate of one of Galaxy Steve's creations. Apparently put there by that world's alternate Origin, as Sabre had to go through the timeline and reset it, and neither of them can go back without causing something bad to happen. Little do any of them know that the timeline is the least of their worries, once Sabre's shard has grown enough.

The pain from the Crystal's growth within him is often masked by injury he sustains during the many battles he put himself through in that world, and any pain outside of that he's always hidden, even while in that pocket dimension... his flaws get the better of him once again. Speaking of his time in that dimension, the rounds of pain are getting more frequent as the shard nears its first stage of growth completion. Both that alternate and that world's Origin have noticed it, and are worried about it. Sabre just keeps brushing it off as he always does, but he knows something is wrong. It's be hilarious if he knew just how much of a problem it was.

Soon... soon I can cause the two worlds to interact. While this world is nice, it being where I'm from after all, it's almost entirely devoid of intelligent life. The world Sabre is in, however... so many clueless victims that panic just at the sight of something the same level as a zombie. Relations to each kingdom within it turning fragile, without Sabre's help in the months he's been gone, and everything able to fall apart with just one petty little argument between their Leaders. It's pathetic, really, how the ones their people look for guidance let themselves be enveloped in hate so easily.

I pull myself from my viewing window as I hear my right hand accomplice call for me, saying he's found something he believes I'd wish to see. He was thrown from the timeline just as I was, and I found him almost faded away on the eternal blinding light of the Outside. Giving him some of my End power and taking him to my small dimension I've managed to make here, he's become somewhat indebted to me.

I walk over to where my right hand accomplice is calling for me, and he's now talking about how it's all of the other 'villains' in the Spiritless World fighting over something petty again. It's always hilarious watching them fight over such trivial matters. Shutting down my viewing portal, I look forward to seeing who throws what this time.

...Soon. Soon will both of these worlds fall victim to what suffering I've created in all of my years of misery.