Note to self- this is in THIRD PERSON, not FIRST.
UGH.
This chapter is 80% explaining shit, which annoyed me to no end because I really hate chapters like that :/
*sighs* Here we go...
And WHAT?! It HASN'T BEEN months since I updated?! How is this possible?
XDD I'm kidding I know it's been awhile I soz
I got a little sidetracked by a phenomenon known as 'season two'. Also 'summer' and 'hey you're almost sixteen you have responsibilities' and stuff like that.
And I probably couldn't've added more Luktra if I tried. I was feeling very very shippish last night so I added a few cute things here and there.
No regrets. None. Don't ever expect anything different.
But hey, we need some fluff despite all the 'DEATH DEATH DESTRUCTION EVERYTHING DIES' theme I've been pulling XD
Also if this chapter is horribly confusing, I'm sorry ._.
Ask me shit and I'll try to clear it up...unless it's something that I purposely glossed over because I didn't want to come up with an explanation for it.
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Soren cleared his throat, and began to speak. "I believe that the only real way to start this story is at the beginning. The very beginning. Throughout history, there have been many different variations of 'creation stories', legends of Notch and Herobrine, Steve and Alex, and everything in between. I have no way of knowing if those are true or not, and neither does anyone else in the entire Portal Network. If they are real, they had to have lived centuries before me, and-"
Petra straightened up abruptly. "Knock it off. I don't care how much you like the sound of your own voice, I don't have the patience to listen to your ridiculous dramatizations. You keep up the theatrics, and I start hitting you with my sword. Got it?"
Soren sent her an annoyed glare, but didn't argue. "The world I grew up in was a wonderful place. It greatly resembles this world, which was why I chose to come here when we spilt up. The other Old Builders and I were friends from the beginning. Hadrian was bold and leaderlike, and guided us on many interesting adventures. I know you had your run-in with him and have drawn your own conclusions, but he was very, very different when we were young.
"If I had to choose, I would say that Harper was the 'smart one'. Though in our younger years, we had nearly equal intelligence. She was very practical, and always thought ahead before doing anything. Some of the others found it annoying, but I thought she was very wise. Mevia was brash and confident, and was usually arguing with Hadrian over something-or-other. Flavian was just as bad as her, to be honest. He said that he would be a better leader than Hadrian, though we always knew he didn't mean it. He was 'full of hot air', as Harper used to say, but he didn't mean most of his grandiose statements.
"Cassie and Mevia used to be very close friends. They were rather alike, though Cassie was more into action and adventure while Mevia liked puzzles and crafting. Cassie also got along with everyone else fairly well, though she did have a temper. Otto, Timothy and I were all a little more laid back. As long as we were going on adventures as a team, the three of us were happy."
"What about the two that are after us?" Lukas pried. Soren sighed. "Jacky and Salem. Yes.
"The two of them were always a class of their own. Salem is an enchanter. She has a way with potions, and has the ability to create potions that frankly, shouldn't exist. Like a teleportation potion, or a potion that helps you to locate anyone, no matter how they try to avoid you. She was always more reserved and secretive than the others, which is why I can't possibly understand why she chose Jacky as her partner-in-crime.
"In a way, Jacky served as the tipping point for this whole disaster. Nothing can be directly blamed on her, but she played a hand nonetheless. Even as a young girl, she was ferocious and arrogant, always looking for trouble. She was a griefer in every way, but was just smart enough to avoid blame being put on her. Jacky was, and still is, only out to cause problems. I'll...explain that more later on.
"Though we each had our individual skills, we were also gifted architects. Otto and Flavian began calling us the 'Great Builders', and it stuck. I was never very partial to it, but it doesn't matter now. While our group spent a seemingly endless amount of time exploring and creating, the rest of our world was changing as well. People were obsessed with advancing and bettering the world, but all they did was make things worse. Most of our adventures were purely to distract us from our world being torn out from under our feet."
"What exactly was happening?" Olivia asked, bringing Soren out of his fog of memories. The orange-haired man paused for a moment, then continued speaking.
"People are destructive by nature. They can destroy amazing things without realizing what they're doing. There was little to no order to my world, and everyone who was caught in the middle would pay a steep price. People would make creations that seemed like they could help, but would only make things a thousand times worse."
"Like PAMA." Jesse interjected. Soren nodded at her. "Yes, precisely. We were all so fed up with what was going on. We wanted a real escape, not just one of our routine expeditions. And that's when we found the Command Block."
"Wait wait wait. You just found it? How on earth does that work?" Cindy asked suspiciously. Soren frowned, but he looked more thoughtful than annoyed. "My world was very, very strange. The civilization that I grew up in was new and young, with only a few generations before my own. However if you searched in the right places, you could find older things. Items that had to be from the past, and yet they looked like they were from the future. They were concealed in temples and monuments that were hidden naturally, in mountains and underground. But it looked as though they had been obscured by time, not by human hands. It was all very mysterious. Few others cared about these wonders, other than my past friends and I. Therefore, the hidden structures were ours to rule. We found many a strange relic in those unseen sanctuaries, but the Command Block was the most life-changing. We knew it was powerful right from the beginning, but we had no idea it's possibilities or limits.
"I don't remember who originally had the idea to create a portal. It might've been Jacky, but it just as easily could've been Mevia. Or both of them, who knows. Whoever it was, they meant it as a joke. An innocent, childish gag to make the rest of us laugh. But it worked. We accidently created a portal to another world, and on the other side was endless possibilities. We explored, learned new things. It was incredible. That one little 'joke' created an infinite array of adventures, right at the tips of our fingers.
"We made more portals, more worlds. We learned more than anyone else on the Overworld, but never told a soul. The Network was our secret, and we intended to keep it that way. It was Hadrian's idea to create the Atlas, to store the information of our travels. Because of that, I'm afraid he became rather possessive of it, as Jesse found out."
"Hhm. No kidding." Jesse huffed under her breath. Soren paid her no attention, focusing on his journey into the past. "There were several debates over the origins of the worlds. Had they been created by the Command Block, or had they already existed, and we just created the bridges between them? If so, where had they come from? I always thought that there may be a 'higher force' at work, that may have influenced us."
"A higher force." Maya echoed doubtfully. Soren sent an annoyed look in her direction. "Yes. It all depends on your beliefs."
"Okay, so what happened? Yay, adventures and learning. When did things start to go wrong?" Myst prodded.
"Myst, shh." Dawson whispered to her. "What? I wanna know, and he's obviously gonna take his sweet time with the explanation!" the black-haired girl shot back. Her blonde friend rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything else.
"Well, I did leave out a small detail. In many of the worlds, strange powers ran loose. Most people had some form of magical abilities, and they were causing great destruction. Unbridled chaos and war. Some of the worlds were different, and already had control over their powers, but most did not. We didn't know what to do. By then we were old enough to know that this couldn't be fixed without sacrifices being made, but we didn't know what to do.
"It was Salem who finally made a suggestion that would work. She said that there wouldn't be a way to get the powers under control, and that the only way to make the worlds peaceful and safe from magic-induced disasters...would be to get rid of the abilities entirely. Of course, we weren't enthusiastic about that, especially since not all of the powers were causing problems. But Jacky sided with her, and Hadrian sided with both of them, and, well, you get the picture."
"Then how are the Author-" Aisho asked, only to be immediately interrupted with the answer. "If you keep butting in like that, I won't be able to tell you." Soren said warningly.
"Wait a minute, Harper said she didn't know anything about the Authors!" Jesse protested, already guessing where the story was going.
"Well, she lied. All the Old Builders know what they are." Soren sighed.
"Like I said, there were a few different magical abilities that weren't causing problems, and yes, one of those was the Author powers. We used the Command Block to corral all the rogue powers into an object, one simple thing that could keep them contained. It was difficult, to say the least, but we managed to gather all the harmful powers and form them into a single thing, a relic that would keep them out of reach of mortal hands. However...that also meant our own. We formed the object and used the Command Block to create a fortress around it, but we never got to see what it was. It was too powerful for even us, and shaped a barrier around the fortress to keep everyone out. Anyone who tries to enter the inner castle gets pushed away, unless they are one of the ones who has powers. And if a mortal continues trying to get it, they could very well end up dead.
"And yet somehow...we were still influenced by the making of the relic. Oddly enough, it seemed as though some of the contained powers rubbed off on us. We had already altered our skills using the Command Block, but even so, we noticed a few other changes. Heightened senses. The ability to heal quicker. I've heard Salem mention being able to sometimes hear a voice that is not her own, describing the current location or situation. Small things, but they still were noticeable. That, however, is not quite the point.
"After we had made the worlds safer, we watched them flourish. More adventures and opportunities unfolded, and we took full advantage of them. It was a wonderful time, but it didn't last. If only-"
"Would you STOP BEING DRAMATIC?! We just want to know how everything went wrong! We do not have time for your passive-aggressive musings!" Athena snapped. She would've much preferred that Soren just stick to the point.
"Alright alright I'm getting there!" the former Old Builder shouted back at her.
"Hmph. Well anyway, it was our golden age, so to speak. Our group was still young, in fact I think we were only a little older than you current Order members. We had such a good time adventuring and treasure hunting and living in the moment, it didn't seem like anything could bring us down. We became known as heroes throughout many of the worlds. And then...Flavian had an idea. If we had been able to influence these new worlds so much, what was stopping us from going back and fixing our own world? We had the knowledge, we had the ability, we had the time, we had the opportunity. Why shouldn't we?
"Timothy was very against the idea. I don't even remember most of his arguments now, but he wanted nothing to do with it. Cassie was a little hesitant too, if I remember right. But Mevia agreed with Flavian, and Hadrian wanted to please her so he agreed, and most of us viewed him as the leader...so we returned to our original home and decided to change things. In the time we had been away adventuring, it had gotten even worse. I don't even know how to describe what was happening. Imagine what would happen if you combined Redstonia and Boomtown, and that seems pretty close. Ingenious people, using their smarts for the worst possible things.
"We started changing things. We thought it was for the better. We were making the world livable once more. Hadrian took the lead, with Mevia, Flavian, and Jacky supporting him. They completely reconstructed the world, bit by bit, using the combination of our found relics and our natural abilities. Eventually the rest of us got into it too, though Cassie and Timothy were still a bit unsure. In fact, Tim became a lot more resigned and quiet. He seemed a lot more nervous about what we were doing. I remember him saying something to me, about how things were just getting worse, and how we were on the beginning of a downward spiral. I laughed it off at the time, telling him that he was just paranoid. After all, what cou-Petra, what's with that face?" Soren broke off, noticing the redhead's intense expression.
The young warrior began to speak, very slowly and quietly at first. "Timothy. You said that was the name of one of the Old Builders. You even called him Tim. This...couldn't...be...the same...Tim...from the Games...could it?" Her voice didn't go up in volume, but every word was more furious than the last. Soren winced. "Ah. I hadn't gotten to that part yet. I didn't think you'd catch on quite so soon."
Lukas stood up. "Wait a minute. She's right?! Tim WAS real?!"
"Mmh. Yes, he was. I bet that's kind of a mind-warper, isn't it." The orange-haired man said. Petra was also on her feet, gripping her sword before she even knew what she was doing.
"Are you KIDDING ME?! FIRST HE'S REAL, THEN HE'S NOT, NOW HE IS AGAIN! Make up your fucking MINDS! WHAT HAVEN'T YOU OVERRATED POMPOUS FREAKS LIED ABOUT?!"
Soren gave her an accusatory look. "I'm finally telling you the truth, and you still think I'm lying. If you want me to continue, I suggest you get over yourself."
Jesse inhaled sharply and shook her head, murmuring quietly. "Oohh, bad move, Soren."
Petra seemed to swell with anger, clenching her fists. She was too furious to even speak, eyes lit with unmatched rage. "YOU-HE WASN'T EVEN-WHAT-WHO DECIDED TO-IF YOU THINK-RRRRRGGGGHHHHH!"
Petra stabbed her sword into the ground with an angry shout, then stalked off. She was still within earshot, but only just.
Jesse nudged Lukas. "This is usually the part where you go talk to her."
The blonde boy laughed quietly, glancing over at where the tall girl was standing with her back to them and her arms crossed. "Uh, not this time. Maaaaybe we should let her cool down a bit."
Jesse just shrugged. "Kay. You know she'll be easier if you're the one calming her down though."
Lukas blushed and muttered something under his breath.
Soren watched the exchange with an unruffled, infuriatingly calm expression. "If you've settled down, may I continue?" Lukas shot him a contemptuous glare, but nodded.
"Good. Like I was saying, Tim separated himself from the rest of us, slowly becoming more and more distant. He was more reserved and constantly seemed on edge. Finally, after a few months of this, Hadrian and the others confronted him. They asked why he was acting the way he was, and not in a very nice way. He replied that he simply didn't agree with what the rest of us were doing, and that this would all lead to disaster. He had never been wrong before; I'm not sure why the rest of us were so hellbent on ignoring him. Maybe because, well...some of the others had changed. Using the Command Block and the other artifacts we had found, we could do anything. And for some of our number, the power went to their heads. That's barely the icing on the cake, however. We had problems through and through, and although we denied it, we were becoming the villains in our own stories. Hadrian became cocky, self-centered, and possessive. Mevia was more condescending and short-tempered. Harper grew suspicious of everyone. Cassie became a lot more aggressive, over time. And Timothy...left. Just like that.
"He had an argument with Hadrian one night. It didn't start out as a fight, however. Tim was pleading for him to stop, to slow down and look at what could happen if they continued to use the artifacts. You see, Hadrian wasn't always the conniving, pompous, gamemaker you know him as. He used to be a very kind young man, and a wonderful friend. But too much power can do terrible things to good people, and he changed a lot in only a short amount of time. Ah, and Mevia rejecting him twice probably didn't help much."
"So Tim just...ran away?" Logan asked. "Essentially, yes. He and Hadrian argued for a while, and Hadrian eventually told him that if he disagreed that strongly, he might as well leave. The next morning, Tim was gone, along with his signature sword, a flint and steel, and everything else he owned. The only thing he left behind was his armor.
"The rest of us were in shock. We knew he had been upset, but we never imagined he would just disappear like that. All of us were greatly saddened by his running off, even Hadrian, who had been the cause of it, and Jacky with whom he had never gotten along. Then again, she had never really seemed to connect with any of us.
"Thus comes the next great milestone in the story. Jacky. She was a troublemaker from the beginning, as I mentioned before. She didn't put herself at the head of the alterations like Mevia or Flavian, but she was fueling them all along, constantly supplying Hadrian with new ideas to reconstruct our world. I remember overhearing a quarrel between her and Harper one time. Harper told her that she was just as bad as our corrupted friends, and Jacky replied with something along the lines of 'I know'. She's gotten bolder and more rash in her recent years, but when she was young, she was very subtle and devious. And even though some of the details of my memory have been lost to time, I will always remember when she presented the idea of the games.
"By then, we were beyond famous in our homeworld. We had fixed the chaos it had been doomed to, and most people respected us almost like their leaders. But Jacky said she found it boring. She said we needed a new project, something to bring this all together. Since we had become such great heroes, why not give others a chance to feel the same way? It seemed like a great idea at the time. Never could we have dreamed that the idea would become so warped." Soren said, shaking his head drearily.
"So it was Jacky who had the idea to form the Games. Add that to the list of reasons why I want to kill her." Jesse growled. Soren seemed ready to protest, then thought better of it. "Well, yes and no. Mevia, Hadrian, and Flavian came up with the actual plan. Jacky just put the idea into their heads. We were very excited about the prospect. As far as we were aware, nothing like our Games had ever been formed before. We came up with a blueprint, wrote up the rules, and used the various relics and our natural skills to build them up from the ground. Flavian was a genius with the Command Block; he could engineer the most amazing things.
"The Games did not start out dangerous. There were no gladiators, no death or respawning, no punishment for not winning. They were simple fun. People could come from any world to compete, and there was no shortage of winners. Sometimes one of us Great Builders would join the competition, just for fun. Cassie and I loved challenging each other in the Walls, and Salem was a master at Spleef. Not that she'd admit it nowadays, ha. But although we enjoyed watching and being part of the Games, we had disagreements. Hadrian and Otto began fighting over the rules. Mevia thought we needed to up the stakes. It wasn't long before our group was bickering constantly over one thing or another.
"Slowly but surely, things got worse and worse. Jacky presented the idea to add gladiators. Mevia made some of the games more dangerous, like the lava race. Otto became obsessive over the rules and guidelines. Hadrian and Flavian started forming teams, and made the competition more intense. Mevia started forcing people to stay here until they won, which, of course, was now impossible. They all made it harder and harder to win. I don't remember who came up with the idea of 'Tim, the famous hero', only that I was appalled by the idea of creating a false hero with the name of our former friend. Cassie was furious with the idea, and when Mevia supported it, well, that was the end of their friendship.
"The rest of us were starting to doubt whether we still wanted to be part of this. Harper and Hadrian got into a lot of fights, which left her constantly irritable and generally annoyed at the whole idea of the Games. Salem pretended not to care about the drastic changes, but we could tell that even she was worried. None of us liked what our lighthearted Games were turning into.
"And we weren't little kids anymore. We knew that this was going downhill fast, and that there most likely wasn't a way to get the others to stop. Harper, Cassie, Salem, and I stopped helping with the changes to the Games. We wished we had seen this coming ages ago, as Tim had. Our friendship was breaking apart, which was heartbreaking after so many years of being a team. But the others had changed so much; they didn't even seem like our old companions. Everything had changed for the worse, and we couldn't bear to hang around and watch it get even more corrupt.
"Then the others added the 'death' aspect to the games. Those pistons, and the Respawn Zones. That was it for the rest of us. We decided that we had had enough, and that it was time to leave. Harper and Salem formed the plan: I would take the Command Block, so they couldn't add any more insanities, and disappear overnight, like Tim had. I had chosen a world to live in, and I would stay there, safe from the insanity of our former friends.
"This world, right?" Megan asked. "I mean, it must've been."
"Correct. I was the first one to leave, and the others followed, one by one. They each had already chosen a world they wanted to live in, and pretended that they were just following my example. We didn't want the others to know that we had been planning to escape because really, who knew what they might do?
"However, since I was the first one to leave, I'm not sure what happened afterwards. I know something went wrong though. I believe Hadrian tried to stop Harper from taking the Redstone Heart, but Jacky backed her up and might've accidently-or-on-purpose revealed our ploy. Whatever it was, Harper and Hadrian left on very bad terms. And I know that Cassie and Jacky were going to leave together, so I'm not sure how Jacky wound up here, with Salem. It's all rather confusing."
"And after you had been here a while, you formed the Order." Jesse said. It wasn't a question.
Soren sighed. "Right. I needed new friends, a fresh start. Well, there's no point in telling the details of that story; you already know what happened."
There was a loud huff from Petra's direction. She had still been listening, and was rather bitter about being reminded of the original Order's lies. Soren chose to ignore her.
"A few months ago, I visited the Games once more. I wanted to know if they had gotten worse, and, well, I was curious if the others were still angry at me. I was surprised at how much things had changed again. Hadrian, Mevia, and Flavian were gone, and Otto was in command of the Games. They seemed easier, more peaceful, even fun again, which was quite a relief. Otto told me that the Order had come along, and gotten rid of Hadrian and Mevia a while back. I'm...still not sure what happened to Flavian, though. Otto wouldn't tell me that. A little worrying, to tell the truth. But whatever, that isn't part of the point. Thanks to the childish adventures of my past friends and I, the worlds are slowly being undone, along with everything we've accomplished in our lives."
Maya snorted. "Did you say 'slowly'?! Everything could be gone by tomorrow!"
"Well it took a year for the worlds to start collapsing, didn't it?" Soren shot back. "This is the ultimate lesson of 'think before you act', in my opinion. Or maybe 'power is a terrible thing'. Or both."
"I dunno. You couldn't've foreseen what was going to happen, not that far into the future." Logan said softly.
"We still should've been more careful. I regret nearly every decision we made back then, seeing as how most of them have resulted in disaster." Soren replied, looking genuinely upset. He may have lied in the past, about the past, but he was still human enough to feel the remorse that came with the memories.
Everyone was quiet for a few moments, processing the details of the story. A few of them were still skeptical as to whether or not that was the full truth, but no one voiced their thoughts.
Jesse finally stood up from where she had been sitting. "I think we can all agree that that's enough explanation for one night. We should rest up while we still can. Tomorrow's not gonna be fun."
"You really think we're going to have to confront Jacky and Salem tomorrow?" Dawson asked nervously.
"Better we find them than they find us." Olivia remarked. Dawson whimpered, not looking forward to the impending battle.
"Right, well, I call not being on first watch. Or second. Or third. Or any time tonight. Today's been a little too weird for me." Megan announced, stretching out on a soft patch of grass.
"Fine, I can be on guard. It doesn't seem like there's been many monsters around, though." Jesse observed. Soren cleared his throat. "That's another glitch with the Command Block, like the days being shorter. The worlds aren't just 'collapsing', they're being unwound. Reality itself is falling apart."
"Real encouraging." Star snapped as she rolled onto her back, prompting a murmur of laughter from Maya.
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*insert clever ending thingy here*
Also hahaha 'the worlds are being unwound' yep haha roll credits we're done here
Help me XDD
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The sun rose at an unnaturally early time the next morning, prompting the start of a warm day. Most of the motley group were up and ready, with a few outliers.
"Rush. Get up, we need to move. I know you're not completely asleep." Kendall tried, poking the older girl in the side. Rush curled in on herself, mumbling in an annoyed-but-sleepy way.
"Hhnn. Nooo. Go'way." She replied, halfheartedly batting her friend away. Kendall just laughed and shook her again. "We have to save the world, remember? Wake up!"
Rush sat up partway, still muttering. "Mmmpphh. Finefinefine I'm awake." The words ended in an exaggerated yawn.
The remaining members of the Order were having similar problems. "Uh-oh. Look who's still out." Jesse noticed, pointing at where Petra was still lying.
"Oh great. How are we gonna wake HER up without getting whacked?" Olivia groaned. "We already know what happens when you get near her while she's asleep."
"Not it." Jesse said quickly. Olivia rolled her eyes. "Well someone has to do it. Rock paper scissors?"
Lukas shook his head at their antics. "Both of you stop. I'll wake her up."
"I know you love her, but you seriously have a death wish." Jesse intoned, not bothering to hide her smirk.
Lukas looked at her with a half quizzical, half annoyed expression, but didn't reply. He sat next to the red-haired girl, shaking her shoulder gently. "Petra, wake up. It's time to go, come on."
Instantly, her hand came up and hit him in the face, knocking him back. He yelped, and Petra sat bolt upright. "Oh gosh, Lukas what! Were you-I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry! I didn't know it was you, I just-instinct! Sorry! Are you okay?!"
"It's, ha, I'm fine." Lukas assured her, rubbing his nose where she had accidently hit him. She got to her feet and helped him up, still apologizing. "I guess my reflexes are a little too good, I'm so sorry. You know I wouldn't-aarrhh!"
"Petra! I'm fine!" he said through his laughter. "Stop freaking out!"
She laughed with him, still feeling deeply embarrassed and awkward. Their amusement died when they noticed a few of the Authors watching the little scene.
"So this has been on my mind for a while now...are you guys like a couple or something?" Myst asked with a smirk.
"What?! NO!" "Why would you think that?!" Petra and Lukas exclaimed, both blushing ridiculously hard.
"Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight." Myst said, still smirking.
"Well you sure act like a couple." Dawson informed them. "It's honestly pretty adorable." Lila added.
"We DO NOT!" Petra objected indignantly. The three younger girls exchanged a look. "Sure."
"Can we please stop talking about this?" Lukas asked, hiding his red face in his hands.
"I hate to agree, but yeah, we should go. It'd probably be best to get to this stupid castle before everything breaks." Jesse said, sorely disappointed to have to break up the fun.
"Thank you." Petra replied angrily, stomping away from the trio of still-giggling girls. Lukas gave Lila a particularly reproachful look, then turned to address her other companions.
"Cindy, Aisho? You know how to get to the castle, lead the way."
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It took them around two hours and several dirt bridges over the crevice before the Fallen Castle was in sight. There was only one scare during the journey, when one of the dirt bridges began collapsing before everyone had made it to the other side.
"That...was not fun." Logan muttered nervously, brushing himself off as the others stared at the castle grounds. He had been the last Author off the collapsing dirt bridge, and the one who had almost been knocked into the crevice. The others had managed to pull him up in time, but it had still been an unwelcome hazard.
"Whoa..." Star breathed, gazing at the ruins. 'Whoa' seemed to sum up the remains of the castle pretty well. The ancient citadel sat on top of a small hill, for unknown reasons. It wouldn't offer much of a vantage point from the top, though I suppose it did hide whatever might be right behind the knoll. The ruins told a story at just a glance, of a once-great fortress, brought down by centuries of erosion. The space that they were standing on was an expansive grassy area, bordered by an oak forest on three sides, and the crevice on the fourth.
(am I using to many obscure dramatic description-words? Sorry.)
As they moved closer to the old fortress, they noticed another aspect of strangeness. I've mentioned the feeling of wrongness that the castle sent out before, so I'm not going to explain in detail again. And although Cindy and Lila had told them about the bizarre feeling that came from the castle, it still caught the others a little off-guard. Ginger whimpered, pressing herself against Dawson's leg, and the blond girl bent over to comfort her dog.
Aisho shuddered. "Ugh. I will never, never be able to get used to that. I swear this place always makes me want to turn around and run away screaming."
"Not much choice now." Athena replied grimly. "Might as well just get this over with."
"Hrf. I know you're right, but I...really don't like this." Minty murmured. With every step they took, she curled inward more and more, hating the feeling that this castle, this inanimate building wanted her gone. It was hard to explain how odd this place truly was.
Stacy leaned down and ran her fingers over the grass blocks. "Look at this. Even the individual blocks are cracked. This place isn't gonna last long."
It was true. Each separate block was splintered with cracks, a sure sign of the power of the castle giving way to the crevice.
Gabriel lifted his head to look at the fortress on the hill. "Well, if that weird sensation is still this strong, at least we know that object is still functional, right?"
Soren frowned. "Yes...I suppose so. Jacky and Salem can't get to it now, so I wonder what they're planning. They must have something up their sleeves, I just can't think of what. There has to be something else, some variable that I've missed."
"Or...something else you haven't told us?" Megan asked sharply. Soren shook his head absent-mindedly. "No. I just...something's not right. They're here; I know it. I just wish I knew a hint of what they might be up to."
As if in response to his musings, three people came slowly around the hill, two of them instantly recognizable as Jacky and Salem. A teenage boy stood next to them, walking slower and looking as though he was concentrating very thoroughly on something. A collective gasp rose up from the gathered group as an assembly of strange beings came to the peak of the hill, standing just behind the three villains. They weren't particularly large, but they were bulky, battle-ready, and appeared to be made of stone.
The Authors shifted their positions, readying their weapons hesitantly. This wasn't what they had been expecting. They knew there would be a fight, but they were not prepared for an army, even a relatively small one.
"What the heck are those?! Oh man, this is gonna be bad." Aranna hissed, nudging Minty, who was standing next to her.
But Minty was staring at the boy beside the two villains. She had never seen him before, but she knew who he was. Oh, she wished she didn't. She wished more than anything that she was wrong, that this wasn't the betrayal it seemed to be.
He opened his mouth to speak as the trio approached, and she heard his words aloud, as well as in her mind.
No. No no no no no no. It couldn't be true. And yet...
"I'm honestly sorry it had to go this way. But in the big picture, this is for the better."
It was Aaron.
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hehehe
I know I kinda already revealed that but I needed a nice dramatic scene because ye
No regrets
Please keep nagging me to update this, it honestly does motivate me to continue. Although I am doing Shattered Souls now, this is still my first priority. Well, mostly.
If you feel like a certain character isn't getting enough lines (whether yours or another one), don't hesitate to tell me. I'm trying to give everyone at least some dialogue, but idk if I'm managing it. I kinda feel like I'm favoring the canon characters too much :/
-Rush🎵
Word count: 6129 hhhnnnn