time ma·chine
/tīm/ /məˈSHēn/
〝 a HYPOTHETICAL device that permits travel into the past and future. 〞
key
- trigger warnings!: mentions of death/fighting, blood, alcohol usage.
MANBERG.
" YES! WE GOT EM! " tommy called out in excitement, arrows raining down from the tower. pogtopia's army were able to infiltrate a tower and a railway, leading to the transport of more weapons and food, and the frontline of manberg's army being eliminated.
as phil flew around, his natural elytra wings on his back allowed him to dive and maneuver speedily like a peregrine, and shoot down explosive arrows with a crossbow. while in air, he scanned the area, seeing dream's group inching closer within town, retreating behind plazas with complex archways and many protective glass walls.
"let's get down boys!" techno called out, noticing phil's signal to infiltrate inwards and surround the last groups of manbergian knights. techno let out a piercing whistle, wilbur and many of the knights on the tower turning towards techno.
wilbur nodded at his brother, getting the memo right away. he ordered his army to jump down from the tower and head towards the middle, a stampede of knights letting out war cries and reloading their weapons while jumping to the ground.
wilbur ran with his crowds, him and techno separating them into small groups. the frontline knights and phil acted as a distraction while the groups in the back divided and snuck behind the plaza's back entrances.
it didn't take long for many to get taken down. both sides fought harshly to bitter death. many tried to take down dream, but of course, dream was the most powerful warrior, killing and knocking knights out of his way like they were rag dolls.
as powerful as the pogtopian army was, dream posed the main threat. as techno heard many frequencies of screams reaching his ears, making them twitch, he decided to take matters into his own hands. he'll have to let the last knights slay each other, and then take down dream himself. it was the only way to ensure a win.
"separate from me, and don't interact with me. i'll fight dream. you guys focus on the other knights." techno quickly put his group at a pause, seeing them all nod. they obliged, all of them talking amongst one another before splitting and heading down towards both sides of the buildings.
techno walked straight ahead into the open area of the plaza, dismantling the knights that were charging towards him within seconds. his pace was kept at a steady speed as if he would be walking past you in the street, taking a leisurely stroll as explosions went off near him.
not only did his walking add onto his intimidation, but also his height, his seven foot figure towering over everyone with a gold, ruby-encrusted crown still sitting at the top of his head. one of the last knights tried to charge at him, but when they looked up into his trenchant red eyes, they started to back away, recoiling as if they saw their life flashing before their eyes.
techno stopped, still towering over the knight who dropped to the ground on their knees, shaking in horror upon facing the blood god. techno cleared his throat. "i need to see dream please." he stated with a hint of intent. the knight gulped, nodding and standing to get up and back away before dream came out from the shadows, lightly pushing the knight aside.
dream craned his neck up at the pink-haired man, half dried blood staining his simplistic smiling mask. "techno, we meet again." dream said, blankness in his voice as he gripped on his bow and arrow. "i'm ending this, dream." techno's eyes flashed in a threatening red, getting in stance and raising his sword to strike.
however, dream put his hand up in surrender. "wait techno! we have a problem with king!" he yelled out, the mini skirmishes around them from knights fighting slowing down and coming to a pause to pay attention to dream and techno in the middle of the plaza square. "what is it?" techno played along, still having his sword raised as he didn't trust dream.
dream sighed, putting his arrow back in his quiver and holding his bow by his side. "king... he's drunk." he lightly pinched in front of his mask where his nose bridge would be underneath it. "it's embarrassing." he trailed off, shaking his head. techno frowned, still not taking what sounded like a bluff.
"it's true!" a knight fighting on manberg's side inched closer into view, waving his arm in the air. "king's about to pass out in the caravan." techno quirked his eyebrow up, his eyes flickering between dream and the knight. he wouldn't be surprised, but he could care less.
dream stared at techno. "need proof?" he asked, waiting for techno to put his weapon down. techno squinted at the masked man, his eyes scanning the area for confirmation. it was silent as knights from both sides surrounding techno and dream all nodded. that was when techno slowly let down his sword, still gripping onto it but not in a fighting stance.
dream cocked his head to the side, motioning for everyone to follow him. techno looked over to the top of a certain building, his eyes falling on wilbur and phil who were watching with slight uncertainty. even techno sensed it from afar. techno gave them a nod, signaling to follow along. wilbur and phil looked at one another, phil shrugging and beckoning wilbur to come with him.
as dream walked back in the starting area in neutral territory, the caravan becoming perceptible in the middle of the plains biome, crowds of fighters from both sides walked side by side, all of them whispering to one another about what was happening. they looked at each other, seeing both sides with horrible injuries. they certainly did fight to the death. finally the moment when they got to breathe, they did it in unity.
when they all gathered around the caravan, dream went to open the door, finding it locked. "dammit." he muttered out of frustration. "do you know how to pick locks?" techno asked, dream turning to him silently to stare at him and then then back at the caravan door, kicking the door down.
since there were still a lot of knights left (maybe not as much as the beginning of war but still plentiful), some knights tried to go in the caravan from the door. others surrounded the outside, placing stairs to go up on to reach the windows, and others helped each other climb on top of the roof, opening the skylight to have a view looking down inside the caravan.
when dream, techno, and a very small group of knights got inside the caravan, they all opened the blacked-out windows, letting sunlight in and seeing the worn out faces of the knights staring into the scene. everyone laid their eyes upon a knocked out king, a whole mini shelf of alcohol bottles now emptied beside the manbergian.
king's chest was rising and falling, but at an extremely slow rate, the potent stench of alcohol lingering in the air. once the sunlight hit his face, king groaned quietly, his head slightly shifting to the side being one of the only movements of his body he's made in the past hours of battle. he clearly looked agitated and out of it, his eye bags more apparent under the light, hair messy, and clothes unbuttoned.
everyone looked at one another, staring at king in deathly silence and disappointment. they never expected the king of manberg to be like this, but they also weren't surprised just like techno. long time knights have seen their fair days of politicians being complete assholes. retired knights have clearly had it worse. rookie knights were just soaking in the pure blatancy of the atmosphere. it felt like if dying anxiety had its own environment: something that makes your stomach feel bad and settle until you get used to it, even if the feeling was traumatizing.
dream, irritated out of his mind, took some steps towards king, and grabbed the man by the collar of his suit. he dragged king harshly, trying to make the drunkard stand on both feet and look at him in the eyes of his mask. "you are such a scumbag you know that?" dream raised his voice at king, not necessarily yelling, but alarming enough to gain king's attention.
"you're the goddamn king.. controller of MY army that you dragged into this stupid fucking alliance!" dream turned towards his right, scanning all the faces of the knights at the window—their armors and outfits reflecting what side of the war they were on—standing side by side, all their eyes laid on dream.
dream jerked king back, making king's eyes go wide. then dream grabbed his jaw, making him turn and look at every single face of the knights he could see around him peering through the open windows. "LOOK AT THESE PEOPLE! THEY CAME HERE TO FIGHT A WAR! TO SERVE THEIR KINGDOM RIGHT! AND YOU FUCKING BLEW OFF THEIR TIME! they have families to go home to. they need to feed themselves. they need to worry about the risk of sacrificing their lives every single day just to protect entire kingdoms, and YOU..." even though dream's face couldn't be seen from under the mask, people could tell he was boiling—utterly enraged.
"YOU sit here on your rich ass and think you can keep drinking to survive. WHAT KIND OF KING DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?" dream let out a huff, fixing his mask as everything went to a pause, the knights nodding and smiling at dream standing up for them. dream then turned back to king, looking at the man's hazel eyes from the half-cut mask.
"you're an absolute disgrace. a mess of manberg. i hope the counsel, and the hundreds.. maybe even thousands of deaths you caused today knows that, king." dream hyperventilated, letting out his words with his last breath while a vein in his neck popped out of anger.
the masked knight dropped king to the floor, a hard thud reverberating against the caravan. king still looked stunned, his expression hard to comprehend under his black mask. he was clearly sweating, shaking out of nervousness as he's never been overpowered by anyone at such an extent. his mouth didn't even bother to contort or stretch. not even a smile, a smirk, lips parted slightly.. nothing.
everyone was silent, not taking any action until dream took the bow out from his body, briskly taking a poison arrow from his quiver and then pulling back the string, aiming right between king's eyes. techno's eyes widened. he quickly stepped in, gripping on dream's wrist that was holding the bow, and blocking the aim of the arrow with his body. "dream, not now." techno exclaimed in the most monotone, blank voice.
"why, blade? he doesn't belong here. besides, i'm surrendering for manberg. i think i can speak for all the knights here that have been fighting for manberg. we don't fight for that swine of a man." dream sneered, still keeping his arrow aimed ahead, string pulled back. "i absolutely agree with everything you said. however, we need him alive. just surrender and i promise you all of you will get to see the heftiest court trial in history." techno said, his gaze meeting all of the knights surrounding the caravan.
"HE'S RIGHT!" someone's voice interrupted from outside the caravan, making all the knights whip their heads towards the voice. quackity and fundy excused themselves through the tiny crowd of knights, getting themselves into the caravan so everyone can see them. quackity held up a portfolio in his hand, raising it up in the air.
"ladies and gentlemen THIS is what will kill king!" quackity exclaimed, jabbing the portfolio proudly in the air like a valuable trident. that's when the audience started clapping and cheering loudly, all the knights jumping up slightly out of excitement. the armies of pogtopia and manberg had their arms around each other and gave out high fives, excited grins etched on their faces.
"KILL KING! KILL KING! KILL KING!" all the knights began collectively chanting, praising quackity. by this time, dream had put his bow and arrow down, seeing the scene unfold before his eyes. he had an invisible smile plastered on his face. one that was underneath a white mask, but was easily detected and understood. meanwhile, king could only wallow within his own notoriety, not being able to move himself off the floor as screams and cheers for his downfall erupted within his ear drums. the alcohol poisoning was getting to him.
IT SOUNDS SILENT OUTSIDE.
I WONDER IF THE WAR ENDED.
w.c.: 2.1k+