Remember when I used to update once a week?
And felt really guilty when I updated a day late?
Me neither.
And good god this entire chapter is one enormous fight scene
I hate fight scenes
Or I hate writing them, at the very least.
Argh.
Also, this is semi-edited
--------------------------
No.
No, no, no, no, NO.
Minty whispered the word to herself over and over, shaking her head. Her body had gone numb. Nothing existed, nothing was real except for herself and the traitor standing in front of her.
The world slowly came back into focus as the shock wore off, and Minty became aware of Aranna shaking her shoulder.
"Minty. Minty! Are you in there? Is everything okay? I mean I know it's not, but-you know."
Minty shook her head, barely comprehending what the other girl was saying. On her other side, Megan gave her a sideways glance. "That's...not who I think it is, right?"
"It is...it's Aaron. He...he lied. He betrayed us. Betrayed me." Minty said breathlessly. She had trusted him. He had said he was on their side. And yet here he was, standing beside the enemy.
"Oh, this is not good. We are totally about to die." Star murmured grimly.
Salem was gazing at the diverse group with a slight smile. She hadn't known what the Author boy had been talking about when he mentioned having to betray someone, but it was all coming together now. Then her eyes landed on her old comrade.
"Soren. We meet once more."
The former Old Builder gritted his teeth. This was not going to be a pleasant exchange. "Hello again, Salem, Jacky. I must say you're looking a bit more...murderous than you used to."
Salem threw back her head and laughed, a spiteful noise without the faintest trace of true humor. Jacky snickered goonishly, sounding much more amused than her companion.
"Eloquent as always, Soren. Good to know that not everything has to change."
"Unlike our allegiances, apparently." Soren said, all hints of warmth gone from his tone. The condescending smile vanished from the brown-haired woman's face.
"So you've told them our story." She hissed in a deadly voice.
"It's not a story; it's history." Soren snapped back. Salem was about to deliver a comeback when Jacky interrupted angrily.
"As if that makes a whit of difference! Do you not remember what we did before you left? Have you forgotten the BLOOD PROMISE?! Where we all SWORE TO NEVER REVEAL OUR PAST?!" the blonde woman snarled.
"I haven't forgotten, trust me. I just felt that the end of our worlds is more important than a silly vow." Soren said staunchly. Jacky made an ominous growling noise in her throat, fingering her daggers dangerously and looking very much like a snake about to strike. Salem held her arm out to the side, gently reminding Jacky not to attack yet.
Olivia made eye contact with Soren. "You never mentioned a promise." She informed him in a low voice.
"It wasn't relevant. Despite my initial hesitations to telling the story, I knew it had to happen. The blood oath was nothing more than us being paranoid about that information being told to the wrong people." Soren replied softly. Salem cleared her throat, her patience quickly wearing thin.
"It doesn't matter why we made that pledge, just that we did, and you broke it."
"This has been interesting and all, but let's start the fun. I do believe this was meant to be a battle, after all." Jacky said with an exaggerated fake yawn.
"Agreed. Let's get this bloodshed over with." Salem agreed, and Aaron nodded hesitantly. Minty's eyes hadn't left his, and she had been quivering with barely-suppressed rage after the shock had worn off. She was more than ready for the fight to begin.
"We have a plan, right?" Aisho whispered to Gabriel. He gestured to Jesse. "She's in charge here, since she's been through stuff like this and none of us trust Soren."
"Thanks for putting me on the spot." The black-haired girl muttered as all the others looked at her. "I wasn't expecting anything like those stone things. We should split into groups of, I dunno, four or something, and take on the stone monsters one by one. Make sure that you protect each other; we really can't afford to lose any more lives. I don't know what they're planning to do, but it probably involves killing us all. Don't hesitate to completely destroy the stone things, but we should try to restrain Jacky and Salem."
"I want to fight the boy myself. He needs to pay for betraying us." Minty hissed. Myst lifted her head to look at him again. "It's Aaron, isn't it? The 'narrator'?"
"Yeah. She deserves to get her own revenge." Megan replied. "Minty, I'll go with you, and back you up if you need."
"Me too." Maya added. Minty nodded stiffly. "Alright. Thanks."
Meanwhile, Salem muttered extra instructions to Aaron. "Send the dullions in. Make sure they won't hesitate to kill. If we do this right, we shouldn't have any reason to worry."
With that, the dullions started stomping towards the Authors and their companions. The group readied their weapons and charged out to meet them.
The battle had begun.
(no, this isn't the end of the chapter. Or even the segment)
(I'm just
p r o l o n g i n g
t h e
s u s p e n s e
(I think that's enough)
(well, maybe just one more
m o m e n t)
(OK, here's what happens:
Minty made a beeline for Aaron, who seemed to be waiting for her. Her diamond axe was already in her hand, but Aaron wasn't holding his staff like a weapon.
"Wait, please wait. We can talk about this. I know what I did, and I know it seems bad, but we don't have to-"
"No! I'm not letting you get out of this! You will PAY for what you've done, I swear it!" Minty spat. Aaron held up his hands submissively. "Minty, I don't want to fight you."
"IT'S TOO LATE FOR THAT! If you didn't want a fight, you wouldn't have BETRAYED US!" the aqua-haired girl snarled.
"You act like I didn't have my reasons! I was trying to protect the worlds! I knew that you were all bound to fail, so I would have to gain the powers and rescue the worlds on my own! That's why I joined Jacky and Salem! If I hadn't, they would've killed me and no one would've been left to claim the powers." Aaron cried desperately. He meant what he said with all his heart; he did not want to have to hurt her, and he was already having doubts about this whole thing.
Minty brandished her diamond axe threateningly at the other Author. He adjusted his grip on his quarterstaff, but shook his head. "I don't want to fight you! I know what's been said and done, but we don't need to make this a bigger deal than it already is."
"Too late." Minty snarled through bared teeth. She swung her axe down towards him, and he barely managed to block it with the quarterstaff. With a resigned sigh, he swung the weapon up, almost hitting her head. She knocked the blow aside with her arm with little effort, and jabbed the axe at him again. He used the staff to prevent the strike from connecting once more and pivoted away, moving with small, deliberate, motions.
"Minty, please understand this. I didn't want to betray you. I didn't join them until after I had been helping you; it wasn't planned." Aaron pleaded. He knew the appeal was hopeless, but that didn't stop him from trying.
"That's almost worse! You sided with Jacky and Salem even after warning me against confronting them! You're a LIAR, TRAITOR, and now a HYPOCRITE!" Minty shrieked, slashing at him more violently with every word. He barely managed to deflect her attacks. He was already under semi-intense mental strain from controlling the dullions, and the current fight was putting him over the edge. He was getting desperate.
Minty stuck her leg out as Aaron tried to back away, and he tripped, almost falling to the ground. He barely managed to twist away as her weapon came plunging towards him again, and was left with a nasty cut on his left cheek. In a moment of desperation, called on a few of his dullions to come to his aid.
Megan, Myst, and Maya had all been nearby, keeping several of the hulking stone figures away from Minty. At Aaron's mental cry, one of the golems that the three girls had been fighting plowed through them, heading for the traitor and the betrayed. It lifted Minty and tossed her roughly to the side, where she fell hard, landing awkwardly on her ankle. She gasped in pain and fear as the dullion headed towards her again, kicking her axe away. It was about to grab her again when a golden sword sank deep into its shoulder, knocking it to the ground and nearly severing the arm. The sword had been thrown by Myst, who came bolting over with the other two girls. Megan helped Minty to her feet, noticing the other girl's newly injured ankle.
Maya stomped up to Aaron, grabbing the front of his red t-shirt. "You have no right to hurt her worse than you already have."
"I did and am doing what I have to." He replied stubbornly. Blood was seeping out of the cut on his face at a constant rate. Maya was about to hiss an angry reply when she was interrupted by Myst. "Hey, ignore him. We have another problem."
The gold-eyed girl was using her sword to point towards the oncoming figures, having pulled it out of the fallen dullion. Maya whipped her head to see that several dullions were closing in, taking advantage of them being distracted by Aaron.
Speaking of Aaron...the four girls were just preoccupied enough that they didn't notice when he whispered "Her." and pointed at one of them, then turned and raced off into the fray.
"Oh Notch. Why are there so many of them?" Minty murmured, turning pale. "Beats me. Can you stand?" Megan asked her.
"Uh, kinda. Yeah. But I dunno if I can fight." The other girl replied, pulling away from Megan's supporting arm. She could stay upright, but her ankle was clearly twisted badly.
"What do we do? They're not gonna let us just cut and run, right?" Myst asked.
Megan scrutinized the oncoming beasts. "No. I'll distract them; you guys need to go. I think we're not the only ones in over our heads."
"We're not going to abandon you. I don't care if you think you have a plan, you can't fight these on your own." Maya said resolutely.
"Don't worry. I'll manage. Go! Help the others; they're being overwhelmed!" Megan shouted to the other girls, simultaneously gesturing around at the battlefield to remind them that they weren't alone in the fight. Maya and Myst turned and ran off, but Minty paused. "Are you sure?! This doesn't seem like a good idea."
Megan smiled. "It'll be fine. There are other people who need you guys more than I do. Go."
"If...if you're sure." Minty hesitated for another second, then limped away to try to help some of the other Authors.
Megan didn't watch her go, just gripped her sword as the dullions began to surround her. Deciding to go straight for the offensive, she picked one at random and ran forward, slashing violently with her weapon. The stone brute fell, but others quickly took its place. Then another, and another.
Too many for just one lone girl to fight.
Too much dust and rubble to see exactly where her next target stood.
Too many monstrous stone demons.
Too much of everything surrounding her, besieging the ring of massive stone bodies that lay at her feet.
Too many things on the ground for her to pay attention to as she faced the onslaught of dullions. Her foot caught on one of the scattered stone body parts around her, and there was too much, too much for everyone, to see her fall and hit the hard earth. And to see the seemingly endless hoard of faceless stone monsters overwhelm the fallen girl.
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There were less enemies than it might seem, but what they lacked in number, they made up for in strength. Since not all the Authors were experienced in battle, some of them were tentative about killing the dullions. Unfortunately, the stone beasts didn't share their hesitation.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Aranna shouted, pointing her Fish of Knockback at one of the advancing dullions. It had no effect, but Dawson snorted a laugh despite the tense situation.
"Really Aranna? I doubt your Author power extends to that."
Aranna just shrugged. "Hey, it was worth a shot."
Cindy rolled her eyes at them, flicking her rope back and forth experimentally. "Can you two stay focused? You're both on the 'really-really-not-allowed-to-die' list."
She had barely finished the sentence when Myst came jogging towards them, several dullions following behind. Without a word, the dark-haired girl ran past Aranna and sunk one of her dual swords into the stone figure approaching them from behind.
"What...weren't you with-?" Dawson asked nervously. Myst sighed. "A bunch of dullions came after Minty while she was fighting Traitor. We couldn't keep them away, and we had to split up. I don't know what happened to Aaron or Megan."
Before any of the other three could reply, the ground below their feet gave an almighty heave, knocking them over.
"Is it weird that I keep almost forgetting about that?" Cindy asked, getting back up and gripping her rope tighter.
"Less weird than you might think." Aranna replied, leaping up and sending a dullion flying back with her Fish of Knockback.
"I hate this, I hate this, I hate this. Everything is SCARY!" Dawson exclaimed, aiming an arrow at some of the oncoming figures. "Would you just chill? We don't have time for panicking." Myst replied sharply.
"I'm not panicking! This is just really bad! Fighting, I hate fighting! Why can't we just talk this out? It's not like we-ARANNA BEHIND YOU!" Dawson complained, her words ending in a shriek as one of the dullions took a swipe at her friend. The brown-haired girl ducked just in time, and deftly knocked it away with her Fish. Cindy frowned, glancing around the battlefield.
"Some of them have swords. That's...new." She observed.
Myst replied with an impatient snort. "New. What, have you come across these before?"
"No, that's ridiculous. But none of them were carrying anything when we first saw them. So Aaron must have, I don't know, added that."
"Which means he could be hiding on the edge, watching the whole fight and telling them to do specific things? I thought they just had a general command to kill us!" Dawson added, wide-eyed. Myst huffed again.
"Freakin' Notch, that'd be bad. They're dumber than people, but not with him controlling them individually. And they're WAY too hard to kill!"
That was true. It was too hard to gauge how many strikes it took to take down the beasts, only that it was way, way too many. By the time each of the girls managed to destroy two, they were starting to tire out.
"Why stone, of all things?! This would be easier with a pickaxe, I swear." Cindy snapped.
"I wish we could just-"
"THERE!" Someone nearby shouted. All four girls whipped around to see Aaron loping across the field, with someone else in tow. But before they could identify who...
"AAAHH!" Dawson let loose an ear-piercing scream as a dullion wrenched her bow out of her hands. She backpedaled rapidly, but tripped as another tremor shook the ground. The same dullion stuck her, hard. Her small body was knocked to the side, already bruising.
It lifted its massive foot, preparing to crush the life out of the innocent girl. She gasped in panic, unable to make a louder sound, and closed her eyes.
But Cindy made it there before the dullion managed to smash her. She jerked her rope up at the same time that Aranna hit it from the side, distracting the stone beast long enough for Dawson to scuttle out of harm's way.
Unfortunately for Cindy, however, antagonizing the dullion had made her its new target. It reached out and yanked her rope towards it, bringing the girl within reach. Before she knew what was happening, she had been caught in the monster's unyielding stone grasp.
The dullion lifted Cindy up and tossed her forcefully to the side, unaffected by her piercing scream, which cut off as her head smacked solidly against the edge of the crevice. Dawson tried to bolt forward with a scream of "NO!", but nearly lost her balance again as the crevice widened, shaking the battleground with a mighty CRACK!
As the crevice expanded, Cindy's unconscious, limp, body shifted closer to oblivion, closer to the immediate death of the void. "No, NO! We need to-we gotta-there must be some way to-NO!" Aranna cried in utter despair, unable to edge out of the fight against a dullion. The stone beasts seemed to sense her intent, and formed a defensive wall between the three girls and their lifeless friend. There was nothing more that could be done.
One more crack. One more shudder. One more scream. One more lost life.
-----------------------------
*coughs awkwardly*
...I don't remember if it was okay for me to kill Cindy or not
But I did
Uh
Yeah
Let's go back to more dramatic shit, shall we?
Warning: I wrote most of the next part way past midnight, so it might be a tad weird. Srry.
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The crevice was growing nearer, it's thin tendrils of death almost reaching to the base of the ancient fortress.
Was the power of the castle strong enough to defend against the might of the crevice?
It had destroyed so much already.
Would it take the Fallen Castle? Could it override the relic?
That was the real battle here.
The Authors vs the dullions, the Order vs the Old Builders...they could all be wiped out by the crevice, if the castle yielded.
Not as though the human's battle wasn't important. This still could determine the future of the very universe. The axe of doom was held by a string, a string that would be snapped by the winning side.
Who would win?
What would reign triumphant?
Which way would the axe fall? On life, or on death?
--------------------
Aaron opened his eyes, awakening from another Narrator Attack.
"Notchdammit." He swore under his breath, shaking out his stiff limbs and wiping excess blood of his face. That stupid slash from Minty's axe had cut him deeper than he previously thought.
He knew that this battle was important, but really? It would be better for him to be participating in the fight, not dealing with the side effects of his stupid power.
At least if the other Authors won, he wouldn't be the only one with this ridiculous ability.
On the other hand, if they did win and claim their true powers, he would likely end up dead or imprisoned.
He definitely didn't want that.
But...
The fight with Minty had been unbearable. He hadn't wanted to hurt her. He didn't think they would ever have to come face to face. He didn't think he would have to deal with what he'd done.
Aaron knew this was an old flaw of his. He had never wanted to deal with blame, never wanted to admit that something was his fault.
He forced himself to stop and think for a moment.
How much of this was his fault?
How much blame could rightfully be put on him?
The brown-haired boy sighed and turned back to face the battlefield, just barely obscured by the small grove of trees he was hiding in. He had never imagined himself like this, a powerful, conniving, backstabbing villain. A killer. That had always been his older sister's position, not his. He had always stayed in the shadows, causing trouble without really being in the thick of it.
Well, that was in the past now. He wasn't going to let these pathetic do-gooders take the opportunity that was so clearly laid out for him.
But...
This felt wrong.
Everything about this felt wrong.
Aaron took a deep, steeling breath. Act now, think later. Do what you must to survive. He focused his eyes on one of the young heroes currently fighting for his life. He would be the next to go.
-----------------------------------
Stacy, Athena, Rush, and Logan found themselves fighting together as a group. While none of them were thoroughly experienced in battle, they were also not weak fighters.
Logan and Rush made an especially interesting team, each trying to outdo the other with fictional battle moves.
"I bet you can't pull off a Grimbeard's Grapple on that one." Logan challenged slyly, using his serrated dagger to point to one of their foes. Rush barked a surprised laugh, and adjusted her grip on her enchanted iron sword.
"Oh yeah?" she asked, giving him a side-eyed look.
"Yeah!"
"Ha. Watch me." The brown-haired girl replied, backing up a few steps. She ran straight for the chosen dullion, then leaped up and slammed her weapon down on its head, fulfilling the challenge. Still airborne from her jump, she kicked the stone beast backwards, knocking it to the ground and landing a little clumsily next to its fallen form.
Rush took an exaggerated bow, and Logan laughed. "Nice. Though I think that last bit was a little improvised."
"Hope for the best, but plan for the worst." She quoted smugly, reaching up to fix her sideways cat-ear headband. Logan shook his head. "That doesn't even make sense. In this scenario, at least. I guess if-"
"GUYS. Can you STOP snapping references at each other and actually fight these stupid things?" Stacy ordered, giving them both a disgruntled look. Rush turned away and lifted her sword again, muttering "I thought I just killed one, thanks." in a somewhat annoyed tone.
"They seem kinda, I dunno, distracted or something." Athena noted, switching between her bow and sword to finish off a dullion that was getting too close for comfort.
"All of 'em are being controlled by that weird Author boy, right? He must not be focusing on us." Stacy pointed.
Rush made a nervous squeak noise. "Is that good or bad? I mean, it might seem good for us, but in the long run...?"
No one answered her. They didn't want to think about it.
---------------------------------
I'm hoping that if I make enough HTTYD references, Aiden will come back XD
I'm sorry but I actually miss him so like WHERE ARE YA DUDE
GOIN' BACK TO THE STORY NOW
---------------------------
"Ha! In your face, monsters!"
"Jesse, I don't think that works here. These aren't our usual mobs." Olivia pointed out. Jesse rolled her eyes.
"Who cares, so long as we're not getting killed? Lukas, try to take that one out before it gets too close to us."
"On it." The blonde boy replied, aiming his bow at an advancing dullion. The arrow sank into it's forehead, making it stumble but not killing it. Lukas growled in annoyance and shot several more projectiles.
"These things are so weird, I swear to Notch." Petra grumbled. Even her heavily enchanted gold sword took several jabs to kill any of the stone beasts.
"We're just used to fighting real mobs, that can bleed and die normally." Olivia commented. Petra huffed, sounding irritated. "Oh, should we be getting used to fighting overrated giant statues?!"
Olivia sighed. Petra had never been easy to reason with. "No. At least, I sure hope not. Are you just mad that they're taller than you?"
This earned her an intense glare from Petra and a burst of laughter from Jesse. The black-haired warrior stabbed her opponent a final time, then turned to Olivia. "Really, Liv? Making jokes in the middle of battle?" Olivia replied with a self-satisfied grin and a shrug.
"You guys are so mature. Remind me again why you four are the chosen heroes of this world?"
The remaining members of the Order pivoted to look at the approaching figure, a girl with short brown hair, a diamond sword, and an annoyed expression.
Lukas frowned. "Oh. Maya. What happened to-"
"We got overwhelmed by those stupid stone things and we had to split up. Minty hurt her ankle, and Myst is with Dawson and Aranna and...someone else, I can't remember who. I don't know what happened to Megan or Aaron." Maya summarized unflinchingly.
"Great. I knew there was something fishy about that whole 'narrator' business. I kind of wish Minty hadn't trusted him. Then she wouldn't be so upset over his betrayal."
"Hmph. As if you could've seen that coming. As if any of us could." Maya said coolly.
"Well...okay, fine. But-argh. I wish we would've had some warning about what we were gonna be up against. It's too hard to fight these things. It takes forever for even us to kill them." Jesse replied, feeling very fed up with the whole situation.
"Oh yes, because you Order people are soooo powerful." Maya mocked, rolling her eyes. Petra crossed her arms. "In case you forgot, we're all on the same side here. I'm not sure what your problem is, but you're not getting anywhere by snapping at us for no good reason."
Maya looked about to retort, but closed her mouth and bit her lower lip. "Nevermind. I want to find that stupid traitor. If we can take him out, maybe these weird golems will stop trying to kill us."
"Speaking of which..." Petra muttered, facing the next wave of dullions and readying her sword again.
"There's only six this time. Where are the other ones being directed?" Olivia noticed, whipping her head up and glancing at the surrounding battle.
Several things happened at once. The crevice expanded again with a loud CRACK and a shudder strong enough to shake the fighters and send them to their knees. Maya suddenly shouted "THERE!", noticing Aaron pelting off towards the trees, and someone on the other end of the field screamed. The screamer had an un-ignorable note of panic and pain in her voice, something that drew Jesse's hero senses like a magnet. She whirled towards Petra, whose brown eyes were wide.
"That was Dawson!" The redhead exclaimed. Jesse didn't say anything else, just took off in the direction of the smaller girl. Olivia followed close behind.
"Wait, NO! We gotta stay togeth-aaaaand they're gone." Petra grumbled. Then she looked back at Lukas. "Wait a minute, where's-"
In response, the blonde boy pointed at Maya's retreating back as she chased after Aaron.
"RRRGH. After EVERYTHING that's happened so far, you would THINK those idiots would stop RUNNING OFF in the fuckin' middle of BATTLE, I SWEAR TO NOTCH!" Petra growled. Lukas resisted a laugh. "As if you've never done anything rash like that."
She shot him an annoyed look, but didn't press it. "And now we get to fight these stupid things on our own. This just gets better and better. Fucking fantastic."
Lukas nocked another arrow in his enchanted bow, trying to think of what to say. "We defeated the Witherstorm, remember? I think we can handle a few dumb golems." He was rewarded with a snort of begrudging laughter as Petra stood back-to-back with him, preparing to take down any dullions that dared to fight them.
Fighting the stone beasts was more tiring than ordinary mobs, as Petra soon discovered. More effort was required to damage them even the slightest bit, and with fighting multiple and once, she had to be on her guard at all times. Constantly ducking and rolling to the side to avoid heavy blows while still striking her own was taking a toll on her strength.
Lukas was a little better off, but only just. He was less wearied, since he wasn't in hand-to-sword combat with the dullions. They finally managed to dispose of most of the golems, and Petra practically collapsed. She stowed her sword in her inventory and leaned over with her hands propped against her knees, trying to catch her breath.
There currently was only one dullion left near them, and though it was full of arrows, it was still lumbering towards the pair. Specifically, the exhausted form of Petra.
"PETRA, MOVE!!" Lukas cried. The redhead ducked her head and dodged out of pure instinct, narrowly avoiding being clubbed by another dullion. She stabbed it several times, and it fell to stony ruin on the ground. Petra stood still for a second, then lifted her head.
Blue eyes met brown in a moment of panic turning to relief. "Lukas, you literally just saved my life."
He grinned, looking a little embarrassed. "Are you alright?"
She smiled back, still breathing heavily from the struggle. "Yeah. Just a little tired out. This is too much fighting, even for me." She dropped her head again, finally starting to breathe normally.
Neither of them saw the dullion run up from behind. Petra barely noticed the movement, and tried to shout a warning, but she already knew it would be too late. "LUKAS THERE'S A-"
The stone sword went in, and was yanked out with painful force. Lukas barely managed a gasp of pain as his body hit the ground. His outer armor became instantly drenched in blood, the stain seeping out and turning it all that terrible, deadly color. All he could do was stare in horror at the wound bleeding out from his abdomen.
"AAARGH!" The simultaneous cry and murderous lunge took the rest of Petra's strength, the roar echoing around her. She took down the dullion and immediately collapsed next to Lukas, unable to think of anything but his surely fatal injury.
"No no no, please no. Don't you dare die, not now, please don't leave me..." She begged hopelessly through her rapidly falling tears. Lukas let out a weak cry of pain, and he curled up, unaware of anything but the agony of being stabbed with a dull sword. Spots were forming in front of his eyes, and the shallow, painful, impossible breaths were becoming more and more difficult.
Warm, sticky, blood coated Petra's hands, but she still held her dying friend as close as she dared. "No...no. Please Notch, no. I can't lose you, I can't, I can't, Lukas, stay with me, just hold on...I can't lose you, don't leave me...please!", she begged. Begged with everything she had. Praying he would hear her through the agony, praying he could hold on.
Lukas opened his eyes, and there was a flicker of clarity through the pain. He tried to speak, but all that came out was a tiny, excruciating gasp and infinitely more blood. His head fell limply back and his blue eyes glazed over, staring forever into Petra's brown ones, overflowing with tears.
He never heard Petra's scream of anguish as his heart stopped.
Petra instinctively shied back, her cries muffled by crushing waves of grief. She turned away from his scattered inventory, still crouched on the ground and coated in blood. The navy blue of her gloves was hardly visible through the thick coating of red, and the grass around her suddenly seemed full of the overwhelming metallic stench of gore.
She was on her feet, backing away, her throat being ripped apart by dry, choking sobs. "No...no no NO!" Petra wrenched her bloodstained gloves off, and they landed amidst Lukas's inventory. The sight brought forth a new kind of hysterical sadness.
He was dead.
He was dead.
She wasn't sure which hurt more, the grief or the horror.
Suddenly, Maya was there, dropping her sword as she brushed her hand along Petra's arm. Fresh tears sprang into the redhead's eyes as she remembered the other girl's reaction to her friends' deaths. She hid her face in her bare hands, trying to stem the flow of sadness that she knew couldn't be stopped or forced back.
"You...I didn't even..." Petra's words were swept away by another bout of sobbing. Maya barely stopped to think, just stood in front of the taller girl, wrapping her arms around Petra's shaking body.
They stood together for several minutes, each finally understanding the other's pain.
Petra's sobs subsided, but not completely. "H-hey Maya? D-d'you know that phrase, 'y-you don't know what you have until it's gone', or s-something like that?"
The other girl didn't say anything, just nodded as she hugged Petra tighter.
"I never really understood it until now."
----------------------------
Aaron was overcome with a sudden wave of vertigo, and sank to the ground. His head was spinning so badly he could barely see the trees in front of him.
He had never exerted his power this much. Sure, he had tried a few experiments here and there, but it had never been as drastic as controlling a stone army. Albeit a small army, but an army nonetheless.
It was getting difficult to focus on individual dullions, but he had to do that if he was going to continue taking out the heroes. He had to fight through the mental strain. They had to win.
Jacky and Salem were near the crevice, fighting two of the young Order members and a few Authors with their usual effortless prowess. All the rest of the Authors were in combat with his dullions, battling for their pathetic lives.
Aaron scowled, pressing his fingers against his face and trying to ward of the splitting headache. As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't keep this up.
Doubts flickered across his mind, once again making him question his judgement. His dullions, strong as they were, weren't going to be able to hold off the Authors forever. He didn't have enough energy to form more, and once the stone beasts were defeated, there was nothing standing between the other Authors and the relic that could unlock their full abilities.
Did it really matter? Was he really willing to kill all of these people just to gain their powers? Especially when his own power was annoying enough?
He wanted to save the world. He wanted to do the right thing.
But the 'right thing' for him seemed to be wrong for everyone else. The two Old Builders had made things seem so black-and-white. So simple. And maybe it was simple, for them. Not quite so for the boy whose allegiances were becoming less certain by the second.
His resolve crumbling, Aaron stood up again, his knees almost buckling. The more he thought about it, the surer he was.
Salem and Jacky might kill him. One of the Authors might take him down. The crevice could win against the relic and kill all of them.
But at the very least, he could try.
-------------------------------
The rest of the battlefield was in turmoil. Most of the original Order was with Aisho and Lila, trying to make sense of the varied shouts coming from around them. The final battle had become little more than pure chaos, no one knowing who was dead or alive.
The two younger girls hadn't seen Cindy fall. They had heard her scream, but didn't know why it had suddenly cut off the way it had. Lila was practically clinging to Aisho, hiding behind her every time a dullion got close.
"Lila, I swear to Notch. Get offa me."
"B-but monsters!" the smaller girl exclaimed, earning an eyeroll from Aisho. "You have a sword. You haven't gotten yourself killed yet, I'm sure you can manage to survive this."
"Lila, you have no reason to worry. I hope you haven't forgotten who's with you." Ellegaard pointed out, gesturing to herself and Gabriel.
"Right. We've been in more fights than I care to remember." The battle-weary warrior replied, reducing another dullion to rubble. Their adversaries were far fewer than they had been in the beginning, most taken down by the desperate combatants. But the near-constant shaking from the crevice and the surrounding fights made it easy for one person to get distracted, and a dullion could land a blow on them.
"I know, I just-OUCH!" Lila exclaimed, turning around and running headlong into Kendall. The rust-haired girl reeled back, rubbing her forehead and laughing awkwardly.
"Oops. Sorry Lila." She said sheepishly.
"It's fine it's fine. Are you guys okay?" Lila replied with a shake of her auburn curls, glancing at Stampy, Star, and Dan, who had been running with Kendall.
"Yep. The dullions decided we were boring and went to go after someone else. Which I guess is not a good thing, but...at least none of us got killed?" Star shrugged nervously.
"Yeah. Not very many have come after us; they seem more interested in you Authors." Aisho said bluntly.
"Great. That's just wonderful." Kendall muttered darkly. "Did you happen to see where Stacy went?" Stampy asked, looking towards the center of the field. Aisho jerked her head towards the brown-haired woman.
"She's with Athena, and those two Authors that I can't remember the names of."
"Logan and Rush." Lila added. "They seemed fine. I swear I heard Cindy scream earlier, do you know what happened to her?"
Kendall shook her head. "No. I heard that as well, but I didn't know who it was. Dawson sounded pretty scared, too. Weren't they fighting together?"
Lila wrung her hands nervously, trying hopelessly to spot her dark-haired friend though the fighting. "Oh gooosh...I hate this. You guys need to get into the castle, and the sooner the better."
Star shivered, looking up at the ancient fortress apprehensively. "Argh. I know you're right, but I really don't want to go in there. The whole place is just weird and scary."
"Trust me, we know. Just don't think about it." Aisho advised. "We need to make sure no one else is being overwhelmed by those stupid stone things."
Star, Kendall, Dan, and Stampy ran to where Dawson, Olivia, Myst, Jesse, and Aranna were backed up against the crevice by several dullions. The four of them attacked from behind, catching the stone beasts off-guard. The trapped girls managed to get safely away from the crevice, the joined them in finishing off the dullions.
"For the love of Notch, I hate these things." Dan snapped. "Are you lot alright?"
Dawson shook her head, tears streaming down her face. "No...no we're not. Cindy..."
"One of the dullions actually threw Cindy in the crevice. It was kind of awful." Myst finished for her. "We wouldn't've made it if you guys hadn't showed up. Do you know if anyone else is...?"
"No." Star replied with a shake of her head. Myst gave her a disgruntled look. "No, no one's dead, or no, you don't know?"
"We don't know. The dullions aren't really after us, just you Authors. They don't seem to like you Order members either." Stampy told her, repeating what he'd heard from Aisho.
"They only seem determined to murder us if we get in the way." Dan added ruefully, and Olivia nodded in agreement.
Aranna shook her head absent-mindedly. "This is chaos. And not good chaos, like...like...crud, I don't even know."
"Incoming." Kendall said loudly, aiming her bow at one of the two newest approaching dullions. The others also raised their weapons, but before they could strike, both dullions sank into the ground, re-forming as the simple rocks and rubble they were before.
The Author girls, the two Order members, and the two YouTubers stared in shock at where the monsters had dissolved, and they looked up just in time to see Aaron hurrying off in a different direction.
"You did that?! I thought you were...Wh-what are you doing?" Myst gasped. Aaron barely looked over his shoulder at her. "Repenting. Switching sides, before it's too late."
----------------------------
Aisho, Lila, Gabriel, and Ellegaard had joined up with Stacy, Rush, Athena, and Logan.
"How bad has it been for you guys?" Ellie asked immediately. Stacy wiped a few beads of sweat off her brow, panting lightly. "Not...not great. But we're managing."
"Something's gotta happen. This can't keep going forever." Athena pointed out, jabbing her iron sword somewhat feebly at an advancing monster.
"You're right. What happened to the two Old Builders? They're bound to be up to something." Gabriel added. Rush shivered involuntarily. "Speaking of which, where's Soren? He just like, disappeared at the start of the battle."
Ellegaard frowned. "Right. That's a tad bit suspicious."
"Really, Ellie? You honestly think I could be conspiring against you, even now?"
The group turned to see Soren himself approaching, wielding dual diamond swords and looking only slightly worse for wear.
The Redstone engineer just shook her head. "I hardly know what to believe anymore, Soren."
Logan scowled. "Where have you been? We've been fighting for our lives over here; you better have an excuse for vanishing on us."
"I've been trying to keep Jacky and Salem away from you all. They want to kill you Authors, but they're almost obsessed with catching me. And we can use that to our advantage." Soren said haughtily.
Rush narrowed her eyes at him, but decided the whole situation was too dangerous to start questioning loyalties. "Great, great. But...is there anyone who, uh, hasn't made it? If...if you even know."
Soren sighed. "Yes. I've been keeping a headcount. Megan was overwhelmed by dullions. Minty got injured in her fight with Aaron, and she's over with Maya and Petra. That blonde boy in the New Order-"
"Lukas." Stacy corrected.
"Right, him. He got stabbed by a dullion and didn't survive the wound. One of your Nether friends, the one with glasses, I think, was killed by the void. I think those three are the only casualties so far, though." Soren said in a matter-of-fact voice. Rush reeled back, and Logan steadied her.
"Megan? Lukas?! B-but the Order..."
"The Order are still human, like the rest of us." Soren reminded her in a grave voice.
Athena was watching the vibrating field with a nervous look in her dark eyes. "How much time do you think we have before the crevice rips this place apart?"
"Not long. You Authors need to reconvene, and get inside the castle. The relic's natural power has been holding off the crevice for longer than I thought it would, and it won't take much more for the defenses to collapse."
Lila let out a deep, shuddering breath and made eye contact with Athena. "Okay. Me and Aisho and the Orders will try to hold off the remaining dullions, and you guys make your way to the castle."
"Meanwhile, I need to finally confront Jacky and Salem. I don't know where that other Author boy went to, but they'll certainly try to stop you if you get any closer to the castle. Just try to not get killed, and maybe this will end up okay." Soren said. Not exactly an uplifting speech, but a realistic one.
The others nodded in hesitant agreement. Athena led Rush and Logan away, and they almost ran into Maya and Petra, who were supporting Minty.
"You guys better have a fuckin' plan, because we sure as hell don't." was the first thing Maya said. Petra's front was still splashed with dark blood, and she had a haunted, empty look in her eyes.
"Are you guys all okay?" Rush asked softly. "Barely. I can't wait to see Aaron again; I'm going to drive my axe straight through his face." Minty growled.
The ground gave an almighty heave, knocking them all over with cries of surprise. Maya cursed as she tried to stand upright and fell over again.
"We have literally no time to spare. Soren said the relic already lasted longer against the crevice than he thought it would, and that this whole place could fall apart in a matter of minutes." Athena informed them.
"This is really the end, then. I doubt there's a world in the entire Network that hasn't completely fallen to pieces by now." Petra murmured despondently.
The others were silent after this remark. There was no point arguing with the truth.
Aisho, Lila, and the original Order must've spread news of their makeshift plan, because the rest of the Authors came quickly barreling up to them.
"What are we supposed to do?! The dullions seem to be slowing down, but between Jacky and Salem and the crevice, we can't win this!" Star exclaimed in a panicked voice. Soren had come running with them, and he faced the remaining Authors with a determined expression.
"You need to find the relic now. Get to the castle, and end this."
"What about you? And the Orders? And everyone else in this fight? We can't abandon them!" Logan protested.
"The crevice is about to tear this whole place apart, including the castle. I think desperate times call for desperate measures." Minty observed, wincing as she put weight on her injured ankle.
"Right. You're out of time. Don't worry about the others; we'll make it. The only problem is...them." The former Old Builder pointed up at the top of the hill where the castle stood in it's half-ruined glory. In front of the old fortress stood two women, both holding their weapons at the ready.
"I'll hold them off as long as I can, but I was never a match for both of them." Soren warned as the group raced up the incline.
Jacky and Salem watched their ascent in cold silence. Jacky was twirling her Wither daggers on her fingertips, a malicious smile taking over her features. Salem looked like an ice statue; calm, silent, and glacial. When she moved, it was with cold, calculated grace.
"I do hope you don't think we're going to let you past without a fight." The brown-haired woman said, almost thoughtfully. Myst snarled at her. "It's nine against two, lady."
Jacky let out a bark of laughter, now juggling her deadly knives back and forth between hands. "HA! I haven't gotten the chance to fight you, little big-talker. This should be fun."
"Oh yeah? Come at me."
"Gladly." Jacky replied haughtily. She gripped both her daggers tightly, and took a step back as if preparing to spring forward. Myst also tensed up, ready to strike.
Instead of leaping like Myst had anticipated, Jacky pivoted and tossed one of her daggers, and it sank into the dark-haired girl's left arm. Myst shrieked in pain and surprise and stumbled back, frantically wrenching the blade out of her bicep. Jacky threw back her head and laughed mercilessly.
Star raised her enchanted gold sword. "Nope, that's it. We're getting in there whether you like it or not." The brown-haired girl growled. The rest of the Authors also readied their swords and bows once again.
Salem drew her sword from her inventory, a long, shining black blade that seemed to darken the very air around them. She stood still for another moment, then lunged forward at Logan. He blocked her strike with his dagger, and dodged her next swipe. Aranna moved to defend him, knocking Salem back with her Fish.
Jacky had produced a second dagger, and was locked in combat with Rush, Star, and Athena. Dawson and Kendall hung back, shooting arrows at both the villains.
Minty was with Myst, trying to stop the worst of the bleeding from the dagger wound. Neither of them could fight now, since Minty was hampered by her injured ankle.
Salem and Jacky were outnumbered, but they weren't out-skilled. They attacked and defended with centuries of expertise behind each stab. The Authors were good enough fighters to avoid fatal wounds, but only just.
Dawson glanced back down at the shattered field. The fight below wasn't in full swing anymore; the crevice had encroached on too much of the pitch where the battle had taken place. Actually, the crevice wasn't even a crevice anymore. It was just...void. A canyon of cracked earth and stone stretching down into oblivion. The remaining patches of land were just floating islands, defying all rules of gravity and logic.
Jacky took advantage of Dawson's distraction to leap away from Rush and kick the small girl, hard. The strike landed on her stomach, knocking the breath out of her. She crumpled and gasped for air, and Jacky loomed over her fallen form, preparing to finish her off.
"Not. Today." Star hissed, swinging her sword at the blonde woman. Jacky barely lifted her dagger in time to block it, and veered around with a new ferocity. She ignored Dawson and went back to the fight with Star, Rush, and Athena, whirling her Wither weapons with astounding speed.
Salem was proving to be quite a challenge, even for four people. Her mystical black sword did a lot of damage with only minor injuries, and all of her opponents were bleeding badly from various wounds.
The Authors were also still exhausted from their fight with the dullions, and simply didn't have the energy to win the fight.
The canyon of doom turned out to be their redeemer. The hill that supported the castle began to shake and crack, sending the fighters off-balance.
While they were distracted, Soren lunged forward and pinned Salem against the castle wall, simultaneously knocking her sword away. He turned his head to shout at the Authors "GO! We can't follow you into the fortress; you need to go now!"
The teenagers wasted no time bolting into the castle, feeling the earth shaking insistently beneath their feet. Jacky was upright again, and she wrenched Soren off her companion and threw him to the ground. Her foot was planted on the right side of his chest before he could get up, trapping him on the ground. Salem retrieved her sword and lifted it up, right above his heart.
"I'm sorry it had to end this way, Soren. Say hello to Tim for me."
The black sword came down.
Another life came to an end.
-------------------------
I kinda break reality after this. Don't expect stuff to make sense.
(lol as if any of this made sense in the first place)
-------------------------
The entry of the castle was a large room with a caved-in roof blocking half of it. A wide hallway stretched into darkness opposite the crumbling door, and the Authors headed towards it.
"UUARGH. This place is WEIRD!" Kendall exclaimed, shuddering uncontrollably. The feeling of wrongness was far stronger in here than it had been out on the field, and it was enough to make them all doubt their decisions.
Minty was curled in on herself, wrapping her arms around her body. "Let's just find this stupid thing and get the hell outta here as fast as we can."
"Agreed." Logan muttered. The castle was giving him more than a sense of wrongness. It coursed even deeper for him, tapping into his Author power and sending ghostly images dancing in his mind.
We could all die here, he realized.
The nine Authors hurried farther into the castle, pushing past the initial discomfort.
"Is it bad that I find this really cool?" Rush asked quietly, looking up at the high ceiling and half-destroyed walls.
"I...dunno. I more agree with Kendall; this whole thing is just creepy." Dawson replied with a deep shudder.
"Hurry, guys. At literally any minute, this whole place could-" Star was cut off by an ominous rumbling, cracking sound that grew to an ear-crushing cacophony. The unmistakable noise of the crevice finally winning against the magic of the relic.
"We've got to stop saying stuff like that. It's like asking for stuff to happen." Athena deadpanned. Logan grabbed her arm. "RUN! Now that the relic isn't holding the crevice back, it's gonna destroy this whole place! We gotta go!"
The nine Authors took off running, hoping to get to where they needed to be before the world collapsed.
They weren't fast enough.
The crevice hit the castle like a bomb, sending walls crumbling around the Authors and splitting the floor to pieces. With furious power, the fissure tore the ground in half, dividing the Authors as well as the earth. The floor and the ground below shattered, immediately giving way to the void. A large gap quickly formed in the remains of the castle, as if purposely trying to keep the Authors away from their goal.
Most of the Author girls ended up on the right side, towards where they wanted to go. But Logan, Dawson, and Kendall were still on the opposite side, flinching away from the rabidly deteriorating edge. They were standing on what was practically a floating island, one that was still crumbling into oblivion.
"THAT...should NOT be possible!" Aranna yelled, wide-eyed. The gap was still shaking, widening. There was nothing else that could stop it from sending the three stranded Authors to their doom.
With an instinctive shout of fear, Kendall ran forward and jumped with all her might, tumbling to safety with the other Authors.
"Jump, you guys!" Star screamed to the other two. "I can't make it!" Dawson squealed back, rabidly backing away from the collapsing edge.
"You have to try!" Minty shouted at her, wringing her hands desperately.
Dawson shook her head in a blur of panic. She bumped into Logan, who was still surprisingly calm. "You can still make it. You're a better jumper than me." The blonde girl whimpered. Logan shook his head. "No. I'm getting you across before this thing collapses the rest of the way. We can do this."
He offered his hand to the small girl, and she took it hesitantly. They backed up to the opposite edge, preparing for a running start. "Ready?" Logan asked, and Dawson nodded. They ran forward and leaped, right as the island cracked to pieces.
They landed on the opposite ledge, but only just. Dawson scrambled for a secure foothold, squealing with nerves. Logan roughly shoved her forward, pushing her onto safe ground. But in doing that, he was knocked backwards. Off the edge...and into the void.
Rush let out a piercing scream and lunged forward without thinking, trying to catch ahold of his limply outstretched hand. But he was falling too fast, already too far out of reach. He fell with a half-smile, and closed his eyes right as the void took his life.
"No! NOO!! LOGAN!" Rush shouted, her voice giving out. She was still dangerously close to the edge, and it took Kendall and Minty to pull her away.
"He knew. He freaking knew." Aranna muttered. "What d'you mean?" Star asked quietly. Aranna's face didn't change as she stared down into the abyss.
"His power was foresight. He mentioned seeing all of our deaths. I didn't...I never imagined that included his own."
A splinter of void crept towards their feet, and they backed away in unison. Behind them, the darkness of the castle continued, and the horrible crunching, cracking, grating noise of the crevice filled their ears.
"This is the end, isn't it." Athena murmured. The majority of the others were silent.
"Not yet." Myst announced staunchly, gingerly gripping her injured arm as she headed further into the fortress. "Maybe we can still save this."
"HOW?! THE WORLD IS GONE! WHERE WE'RE STANDING RIGHT NOW IS LITERALLY ALL THAT'S LEFT!" Dawson screamed though her tears. "Everyone's already dead! We've...we failed."
"We're still alive, right? If we all die, then you can tell me how bad this is." Myst pointed out. Rush brushed past them both, stumbling on the uneven ground. "You're right. Let's go, while we still can."
The remaining Authors hurried forward, barely managing to stay ahead of the crevice. They soon reached an intersection, three different stone halls branching off from the main one.
"Which way do we go?! We don't have time for this!" Star whimpered hysterically. "That way. I can feel it." Aranna said, not stopping with the others. She pointed to the right corridor.
"How do you know?" Kendall challenged. "It might just-"
Minty hit her upside the head, limping after Aranna. "It's worth a shot." The others followed the two girls, some of them a bit hesitantly. They quickly sped up, however, since the crevice was still cracking, spreading, expanding behind them.
"There! I see something!" Rush exclaimed, running faster as she noticed a light coming from a room up ahead. Like a living being, the crevice seemed to growl, and the rate of destruction rapidly increased.
"This place...is...INSANE!" Dawson yelped, dashing forward again. They bolted towards the source of the light, praying they hadn't made a mistake. Aranna was in the lead, sprinting at full tilt. Breathing heavily, she took a giant leap forward, hoping that something might happen when she entered the room.
As soon as her feet touched the floor of the central room, everything stopped moving. The castle went still. The sounds of battle outside grew silent. The crevice no longer shook the earth.
Time was frozen.
----------------------
Oh yes, I just did that
I know I was a bit unclear, so here's what happened with Aaron. He actually came to his senses and decided he didn't want to kill the Authors. But he couldn't just turn all the dullions back into rubble, because Jacky and Salem would know that he's not working with them anymore, and they would most likely murder him.
And the whole second half of this chapter was stupid chaos, because I was exhausted and panicking .
ALSO LOOK AT THIS COOL THING THAT DAWSON MADE:
IT'S AWESOME RITE
Also credit to GennaJ8232 for Megan's death scene and some of Lukas's and for generally being awesome and beta-ing for me
LIKE SHE DID SO GOOD ON LUKAS'S DEATH SCENE AAAHH
I NEVER COULD'VE PULLED THAT OFF ON MY OWN SO THANKS DUDE :D
Word count: 9672 (I BROKE MY RECORD)