In the split second that Halo rushed toward the boys, Sapnap had the time to think about how surreal thier situation was. Two best friends about to be murdered by their other best friend who was now some sort of demon.
Or maybe Sapnap's thoughts were less lucid, and more like a jumble of words awash with the white-noise-
static of panic.
In any case, Sapnap's mind, as well as the rest of the cave, went silent as something darted in front of George and Sapnap, blocking the sure to be fatal blow from Halo.
A green jumper and dirty blonde hair, now where had Sapnap seen that before? Suddenly it hit him, this was the figure he'd seen in the woods! They were holding a wooden shield in front of them and comically, one of Halo's claws seemed to be stuck in the wood.
"Uh, you guys might want to move out the way.."
Sapnap and George did not need to be told twice, and moved further away from the two others.
With the grace of a ballerina, the green jumpered person twirled to the side and unsheathed a sword which Halo parried. As they turned, Sapnap confirmed his thoughts when he saw a white smiling mask on the green jumpered person's face. The two began their fight, twirling faster and faster.
Where Sapnap had thought the masked person was fast, Halo was even faster. It was as if he was disappearing and reappearing... As Sapnap watched, he realised that Halo perhaps was disappearing and reapering in the shadows (of which there was many because they were in a cave).
The masked person seemed to clock this too, "get away from the shadows-!" they called toward the boys, before narrowly dodging a claw to the neck. While both boys felt relatively helpless watching the fight play out, Sapnap didn't think they could help even if they wanted to: everything was too fast paced and they might end up hitting their rescuer.
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Transfixed by the fluidity of their movements, George thought that the fight looked more like a dance, but one of the dancers was beginning to tire - Halo's teleporting did give him an advantage but seemed to cost alot of energy.
Eventually he had to stop, and George could see their masked rescuer begin to over power Halo. Seeing he was not going to win, Halo turned toward George and Sapnap,
"I'll, be back too finish the job. Unless the monsters kill you first"
And then he was gone, just like before. The only evidence he had been their was in the drops of blood on the stone floor.
The masked person slumped to the ground, finally revealing their exhaustion. "Well, that was something". They chucked, but broke off into a cough while clutching thier side. "That's gonna hurt tomorrow," they mumbled, "didn't think he'd hit me so much"
Through all this, George and Sapnap just stood staring, the shock of the situation finally setting in. A white mask with and eerie smile starred right back at them and George had the sense they were waiting for someone to say something.
Unfortunately, Sapnap and George poorly timed their responses and both blurted out their question at the same time, "What just happened?!"/"Who are you?!"
They looked at eachother for a moment and after a couple of awkward 'you go first no you', George said, "Who are you? And um, what the heck just happened?"
"That, my friend, is a very good question. I'll start with this; I'm Dream. I've been following you since you left your town, and I'd like to know who I just fought because it seemed like you guys know each other."
The two parties spent a little time making basic introductions, which were awkward at first but soon they became more comfortable. George and Sapnap explained how they knew Halo, but didn't know why he looked like a demon of could teleport through shadows.
"Wait, you guys don't know about mutations?"
"um.. No?"
"I think it's my turn to do some explaning..."
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A new character has joined the party! I think it's time for another backstory chapter, don't you? Sorry this chapters a bit rubbish :/
Sincerely, a clever clock