TW: Body Horror, Gore
POV: Sun
Sun sighed, staring at the sky. Another dream.
"3... 2... 1..." He whispered, knowing what to expect.
"Well hello there Grian!" An energetic voice called out as a beaming Scar walked forwards.
"Hey-" He paused. He couldn't play this game anymore... It hurt him too much... "No. I'm not going to play along. This isn't real." Sun looked up, glaring at Scar. Scar sighed, their face slowly morphed as instead of the innocent face of man, the imposing being stood.
"Ah, the puppet finally stops playing our games. Have you finally remembered, duplicate?" The being spoke, a small smirk crossing their face, their true emotions masked.
"I am no duplicate." He whispered quietly, the small bit of rebellion was all he was able to force out of his lips, his mind screaming at him to stop. "And I am no one's puppet."
"Ah really? Bow." The being snapped their fingers, sounding almost amused.
Automatically, he bowed before the being, habits he didn't even know about taking effect. He quickly jumped back, staring at the being with terror. Why had he obeyed them?
The being chuckled at his distress, twisting a coil of violet light between their fingers. "Play dead." They commented, almost like he was a dog.
He wanted to stand, to shout at them, fighting the movements as he collapsed into the sand, remaining still. "LET ME GO-" He screamed, terror flowing through his mind. Why was he listening to the being? He wanted to stand, to run, but he couldn't... His body wasn't listening anymore!
The being's smirk grew. "Very well. Stand, bow, and admit you are under our command, and I will allow you to do as you wish."
He stood, bowed, and said loudly, "I'm a mere puppet of the W̸̙̣͌͗͜a̵̺̠̹̿t̸̿͜c̵̪̍ͅḧ̵͉̺͚̳́̿̈̾e̴̞̰̭̹͑͘r̸̬͙̰̉̈̉͂s̵̰͝." He couldn't even hear the last word he said, it was blurring into static in his mind, as if his ears - or more likely the being - wasn't allowing him to hear it. He hated how he was obeying every word they said, with no free will of his own.
"So the puppet remembers..." The being whispered, flicking their hand. "I release you from the binding." They said dismissively.
He stared at his hands, flexing his fingers. They moved to his command, and his eyes widened. The relief was temporary though.
His hands morphed into the purple of being's skin, long and clawed, monstrous and unnatural. He screamed, holding them away as they would attack him. All of sudden pain flared, burning and blazing, as his hands were being burnt off. The purple slowly melted off his flesh, his own flesh beneath it, miraculously unharmed. It dripped onto the sands and dissolved.
Hyperventilating from panic, he looked back up at the being. "WHY-" He shouted, terror coursing through his veins.
"Puppets should be seen, not heard." The being said, sounding quite amused at his suffering. His throat seemed to close up, muting him. No sound came out of his throat, no matter how he fought.
"Now puppet, be a good little duplicate, and listen. You have a job... You don't know it yet, but it's important." The being spoke as if nothing had just happened. "Let me help you along, reveal a little... something we hid from you." The being snapped their fingers again.
Agony split across his back as a sickening CRACK came from his back. He instantly fell into the sand, kneeling. Tears of agony instantly formed in his eyes as he began to scream. His throat was apparently unblocked, because he screamed as something pushed through his shoulder blades, screaming until his lungs burned, until he could barely scream. Screaming as blood poured down his back, the crimson liquid mixed with the sand under his legs, which weakened, sending him falling forwards. He landed on his hands and knees, screaming in agony and terror.
Screaming as the pain mixed with his bones, seeping into his veins, spreading across his whole body as he shook from exhaustion, pain and fear. His body felt like it was burning inside and out. His tears mixed with the blood... He grasped the blood soaked sand, his hands digging in for any way to make the pain more bearable... Alarmingly, he noticed the sand wasn't stained crimson, but a deep violet. That meant... the blood coming out of his body wasn't the typical red anymore, but a deep violet.
He gasped one last shaky breath as the pain began to fade, slowly and agonizingly. He became aware of the fact he was laying in the sand, his arms and legs having given up during some part of this, and that there was an odd, foreign weight on his back. He tried to stand, but felt oddly off balance, and tumbled face first back into the bloody sand.
He slowly, weakly looked back to see violet wings splayed on the sand, coated in his blood.
That was the last thing he saw before he passed out - Or perhaps, before he woke up.
~+~
"SUN! SUN!" Someone was shaking him, and he realized he was trembling, his throat raw and burning, and his back was one giant ache.
They seemed to notice he was awake. "Oh thank the Primals... You were screaming and thrashing around in your sleep - I think you fell off your bed."
That would explain his back... Better than the other explanation after all - No, it was just a dream... It had to be just a dream - He wouldn't believe it was anything else. "Sorry... Nightmares..." Sun mumbled, his voice rough, it was painful to talk. He looked up to see Scott kneeling next to him.
He looked back down at the ground to see a violet feather next to them. "Circles-" He cursed under his breath.
He didn't want Scott to realize... that whoever They were... They had taken an interest in him.
The comments about him being a puppet had stuck with him, making him shiver. He didn't want anyone to know... If he was really working for them he would deal with it alone...
"Do you mind if I have... A bit of privacy?" He said slightly louder, coming across ruder than he first intended.
Scott seemed taken aback by his harsh tone, but nodded, closing the door.
He decided before tackling everything going on was too difficult - He had to go through what he knew, before tackling the unknown. It was a tactic he learned to tackle the mess of alliances, enemies and betrayals in third life.
The room was in GeminiTay's castle, he knew that. Gem appeared nice, but he didn't know them well enough.
He was on a new server. Names he'd learned were Pearl, Xisuma's name was tossed around, same with False. Scott and Grian were familiar though. Well, one was his name, (Although Sun fit him quite nicely), Scott had been his ally...But something about the two people named Pearl seemed so familiar, but he couldn't place it for the life of him. There was also apparently another Scar on this server... How similar would they be..?
Okay. Time to tackle the other issue. He stood up, and went to pick up the violet feather. As his skin made contact with it, it flashed a deep purple, burning his hand.
"Ow-" He instinctively pulled back, and bit the end of the expression of pain off, not wanting company.
He stared at the feather for a second, before bending down... and carefully poking it with a stick from his inventory. When nothing happened he picked it up again. The feather seemed perfectly innocent. He slid his fingers around the side of it. It was perfectly normal, other then the unnatural tint. He shifted uncomfortably, his jumper a bit tight. It seemed to not fit right, and his back was aching more than before.
He'd been avoiding this, but he had to face it. He took a deep breath pulled off his jumper, to see two small wings poking out from his back, violet in coloration.
Part of him was expecting this, but he wanted to deny it... He grimaced at the sight. It looked like that being's wings, but far smaller. He noticed they also had a layer of blood on them. But... Like his dream, the blood was violet.
That... hadn't just been a dream was it. It brought a shiver down his spine, and he glanced around. They had taken an interest in him... Like they'd taken an interest in the games... There was no other possibility... Tears came to his eyes. He didn't want to be connected to the being that made Scar die!
Scar... How could he forget Scar? He'd been being selfish, worrying about his own issues... When Scar was dead because of his mistakes
He slumped onto the bed, staring at his shoulder, now unhidden. There, the three hearts were imprinted into his skin. Green, Yellow, Red, now all three faded in colouration. A reminder of the games, a confirmation he was out of them.
As he stared, they all began to change colors, morphing violet, glowing dully. Instead of the traffic-light (Whatever the heck those were, he'd never seen one before...) colored hearts, it instead was three glowing, violet hearts. He gasped, and shoved his red jumper back on in a panic, pulling a couple of the delicate feathers off of his back, which floated slowly down to rest on the bed.
Everything was falling apart...
He wished he'd never left third life.
~+~
"All is going to plan." The watcher retreated from the trance-like state, a small, cold smile spreading across their features.
"Will Xelqua return to us?" Another watcher asked.
"Perhaps, should none of our variables turn against us. He is, quite unfortunately, sensitive. It appears we did not cure him of his mortal habits. I'd prefer to simply remove that pest of an oathbreaker, but should we do that, we risk Xelqua snapping." The first replied.
"You claim he'd snap, but could Xelqua truly take us? He is weak." The second tilted their head.
"You underestimate him, and that was your fatal flaw last time. His magic would strengthen, not weaken, should he snap. And his discovery of our knowledge has caused him to become... Reckless with his magic, therefore his stamina and strength is increasing from his weakness. We must stop him soon, otherwise the balance forever will be tipped in their favor. If he discovers the truth, all we worked for shall crumble to ash."
"Sir, I understand this, but all this effort for someone who's little more than a oathbreaker themself-"
Violet fire lashed at the second watcher's cheek in reply.
"M- My apologies Mx...-"
"Never speak such words again. Xelqua is less of an oathbreaker than even you. They have been misguided... But they will turn the tide in our favor. We must retrieve them... And if we cannot... We have a backup plan. After all, they are becoming impatient and we cannot wait all too long... Besides, this server is nothing when compared to the end goal. The balance is falling, and they are growing inpatient, but we cannot have him be the one against us. That'd be our final mistake..."
A/N
I've actually decided to begin to do something story related with the chapter names, so I'm going to go through and change a ton of them later. Sorry in advance for the large amount of notifications you'll likely get
ALSO REALLY SORRY FOR THE DELAY FINALLY MOTIVATION RETURNED
Wc: 1926
- Xera