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“Recognize that I could be the eye,
the eye of the storm.”
— Marina, Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land.
The bright solar star shied away, calmly hiding itself behind the old crooked cherry blossom trees, as the familiar warm orange brushstrokes painted the crystal clear sky, forming new patterns which spread fluidly across the unfinished canvas, adoring the landscape with mesmerizing unique colors. An old rusty melody echoed across the realm, using the old foliage as a familiar route and making the fragile glass windows shake, amplifying itself in the destroyed halo places which whisper the most mesmerizing secret tunes and delicate strategies that no one could understand. The melancholic melody brutally accompanied the small ones that forcibly roamed across this decaying world, the ones that only wanted to survive, to go back home safe, the unaware puppets which show was unmatched, the paws doomed to sacrifice, the players, the ones which let agonising battle screams echo, carrying hurt after the betraying of their comrades, the ones that let footsteps get heavy and the breathing get rough, carrying all their fears and profound wishes of survival, wishing for the end and to finally leave the past where it belonged.
The tall mountain was a place of lovely memories, once a home for some, now an empty shell of what it used to be, vacant and destroyed, the natural incline held the stage for the final showdown, completing the final puzzle piece. In its summit fallen pale petals and rotting bodies laid around, the translucent yellow spores harmonized with the bloodthirsty cruel breeze, making the words of the living shake as lighting dissipated the fallen, the forgotten ones, and the thunder warned the living, the enraged ones, that the end was here, brutally quiet and mean.
Only five left.
“Hi guys.” his voice didn't shiver, cutting the air in such a natural way it almost seemed disturbing. The short man casually greeted the newcomers as his feet moved agitatedly, walking towards them, impatiently jiggling his glowing weapons on his pale hands and preparing himself to attack anyone who dared to cross his path.
The last dreadful chapter had finally started. A fog accommodated itself in his head, cold and intimidating, as he swiftly dragged the decaying string of his enchanted bow, the morbid grey mist shameless hid and washed down his true self, spreading its smoky branches through his body, making the wicked man's movements and mind be filled with rage. The string quickly slipped past his fingers. The arrow flew, cutting the air. It hit the target, mercilessly. Ding. Suddenly, something snapped inside of him and everything made sense.
This had happened before.
It wasn't the first time that this situation happened, his name had been written down before on the closing pages, his careless actions were methodically scribbled across curvy and messy dreadful lines without too much attention, but, now, something seemed different. He would make sure that his name would be the last one they pronounced on this distant land.
One by one. They'll fall.
Pearl. Cleo. Ren. Grian.
Demolished by his own hands.
The first to fall was the last one to be betrayed, cruelly slain by her own blood as the blond's sorry screams echoed through the late night starry sky. Stabbed, the second demise came uneventfully, peacefully dying near a cherry blossom tree, a happy ending to their unmatched suffering. Doomed, the third executed was negligent, unaware of the danger, trapping and letting the poison consume himself, desperate and alone, sinking to his own miserable death. There was only one more left and he was going to end him. He needed to be the victorious one, the real winner.
“Grian!” he announced the other man's name, a confident grin forming in his face, as the fresh blood tinted his diamond sword “The final two!” he continued screaming, his voice quivered with excitement, wavering an almost maniacal undertone, as his head rapidly spinned around, making his band of green hair blend with his long brown hair.
His chest trembled unhingedly against his worn out hoodie, letting a loud and wild cackle traverse through his thin lips, which reverberated across the natural arena like a scratched vinyl superfice, an unafraid and unwanted symphony. Nothing was going to stop him today. His dark boots weighed heavily against the muddy dirt as he walked forwards, mindlessly climbing the mountain and forcing the dried petals, covered in crimson, to break with ease under his armour and the tiny pebbles to roll down until they met the bottom of the incline. His breath became quick and irregular, lost, as he was anxiously awaited for any signs, trying to anticipate his blond enemy movements.
“I’ve killed a few people!” now, his high pitched voice carried a lunatic tone, taunting the hidden red avian as he kept looking around, desperately trying to inspect his crumbled surroundings with his large brown eyes. Sush. His golden pierced ears instantly perked up, attentively listening as the quick arrows flew in close proximity, too close for his own comfort. An unnerving paranoia slowly started to form up in his brain. Grian, where are you?
“I can't even…” the airborne creature grunted distressedly, letting the words mindless slip from his mouth. The cold zephyr effortlessly carried the winged man frustration as he rapidly adjusted his broken glasses and freely drew the string of his purple bow, wagering on it to finally damage his enerving target… Ding.
Before disappearing from this existence, the crooked projectile ungracefully traversed across the night air and, when it met his prey, the heavy metal arrowhead easily ripped through the warby beige fabric, finding an allocation in between the scraps of the armour, immediately scaring his pale skin. A scarlet warning formed across his collarbone, a pained reminder to not distract himself, to not lower his guard, and that everything could still change, nothing was definitive. He could still lose.
“I can't even hit you from here!” the feathered man impatiently bickered, voice growing stronger throughout the sentence, wet dirt easily becoming his new favourite target. His colorful feathers ruffled with the wind while his useless wings stretched out, unsettled with his uncomfortable surroundings. He couldn't let Joel find him.
“Where are you!?” the brunette voice became louder, his desperate questioned words sounding more like a demand. His injured hands briskly hunted for ender pearls in his jaggy pockets, desperation consuming him. He wanted, needed, to move the furthest away from the endless murder attempts and, finally, catch the winged being.
The shortest man's fingers quivered as he threw the dark green pearl a few metres ahead, as soon as he landed, his muddy boots sank in the bloody ground and he swiftly grasped for another precious pearl while his sharpened eyes sorely scanned the pink leafy crowns of the dark purple trees. Where is he? These three simple words became an obsessive mantra, constantly looping in his head, searching for any hint of red, for the one chance, for the win. His head and body speedily revolved around in his heels until he was able to discern the red amid the shiny dots spread across the darkness. In a blink of an eye, the hunter gracelessly tossed the dark orb towards the tree canopy, where his prey was unawarely desperate.
“I see you, Grian!” evoking the other man's name, he made himself known. When he appeared out of thin air behind the messy blonde bespectacled, his eyes grew wider, his smile frantic, and he drew his old tinged sword, with his grip tightened and aim acquired, he charged forward.
“No, no…” the avian's voice dimmed, unable to announce his last bids as his feet were strategically swept from the leafy foundation that he stood on. The colorful parrot made a mistake, the same one which previously doomed his peer, he was betrayed by distraction. The man's restless mind calmly evaded itself to simpler times and his broken wings tried to desperately move, maybe out of reflex or maybe just out of a protective feeling, his feathers tried to pick him up, to make him soar once again, but it was all in vain. Maybe in another life his eyes reflected the light blue sky and the burning desert, maybe he was apologetic for his cruel actions, who knows?
"What's wrong, Grian? Wasn't this the end you were expecting?” the human words were tinted with irony, a rhetorical question that lingered in the air for too long, waiting for the answer that was never delivered. As he looked down, a poisonous laugh left his mouth, everything he had gone through had finally paid off. His greed manipulated his path to deserved glory, his brown eyes flicked irregularly, glinting with a shinny purple, he finally did it.
Grian was doomed to fall by Smalishbeans.
The full moon casted a spotlight across his pale skin, his eyes watched as the raining lighting fell upon this cruel realm, making the night ether enlighten, and the sound of the rumbling thunder crowned the victorious competitor while the crimson sacrifice washed away from this reality. The prideful man looked up with serenity and exhaled, unaware of the curse he was carrying on his shoulders.
“Oh, victory… is mine!” the dark haired man exclaimed, falling to his knees while screaming, dignity and honour struck him, but his declaration reverberated on deaf ears. Nobody was there, no one would listen to him.
Finally, after so many years, the circle had been closed, turbulent times ended, with ups and downs, being held back by some of his teammates, betrayals and friendships, what mattered in the end was his perseverance. The perfect fighter inside of him never dying, battling because his life depended on it and he was so proud, so happy. His bragging rights would be through the roof, the builder couldn't wait to tell everyone about this, it meant so much to him, he was so proud. He was free and he could tell his friends everything.
I don't have friends, I have family.
The unbearable reality hit him without any mercy, knocking him out with a left hook as he turned around, his breath quieted realizing that this was it, this was the end. All the days which he used to pray for became real, he was finally free. The sworn blue sword fell out of his weak grasp and his pitiful eyes instantly darted forward in search of anything, the conclusion that emerged on his mind was so clear like glass. There was nothing here, the land was completely demolished, ripped off its original lovely and livid green, decaying houses, whose rudimental construction blocks supported more memories than its past owners, spread across the realm.
We ride together, we die together.
In a disturbing robotic manner, the brunette man got on his two feet, moving mindlessly and looking up in adoration. I definitely would go crazy if I stayed here. The talent builder tiredly thought after a cold sigh passed through his cracked dry lips.
“The end is here.” he spoke vaguely with his own buttons, an incoherent quiet mumble that was almost inaudible. The man absorbed the sad view surrounding him, where he was left alone with his own destructive devices. There was only one plausible solution running across his mind.
What was the point of being here alone?
None. His fatigued body anxiously shivered on top of the pink flora with each step the short man took, dragging his feet to the verge of the big tree, his heavy combat boots pressing him down, exhaustion gluing his lanky body to the foliage. His mind, impotent and restless, was slowly getting consumed by his decaying surroundings, it was starting to play tricks on him but the last fighter breathing refused to stay, to be held behind by his fears, to be stuck in this theatrical place where negative emotions were the norm. The cynical pessimistic feelings that had taken everything from him, the ones he kept close to his heart, his family.
I'm not afraid to disappear. His miserable thoughts echoed through his empty brain, the abyss awaited him to declare the final veridic as he ungracefully swirled around and closed his eyes. Unaware of what awaited him on the other side, the brunette let himself slip from the top of the tree, preparing himself for the impact and hoping that nature would warmly embrace him, he was ready to hit the ground, to finally end this misery. He was falling, his mind tried to distract him with blurred contours of a destructed mesa palace emerging in his head, vague and distant fantasies of undistinguished faraway lands ruled by kings and queens infiltrated in his memories, engraving themselves in his brain. A nostalgic welcoming feeling consumed him when he evoked those simpler times, longing for the past, a past which he never lived. There were few memories that he could recall as real, the lingering ones that were filled with anger and suffering, the only emotions he could trust besides his hurting heart, yearning for one more moment with his wife and for friends… his friends, the ones that… wait, who? Which friends?
Why would he mourn individuals that he never knew?
His face crumpled in confusion. Undistinguished whispers filled the man's mind, sharp voices overlapped each other, rushing like they were afraid of being heard, of being caught, and his mind felt crowded, the thud of the voices crumpled his chest as his breath became shallow, awaiting for the moment of the impact but it never came. Wait, for how long has he been falling?, his surroundings became unnaturally freezing, making his sore limbs sleepy and his mind foggy. For how long have his eyes been closed? His brown eyes calmly revealed themselves, widening when he realized where he was, surrounded by complete darkness. With nothing to hold on, his space-time perception vanished as the voices in his head amplified, he could feel everything and nothing at the same time. Desperately grasping for the only thing which he deemed real, the man let himself get led by the voices.
Was he walking towards something he should be running away from?
The harsh whispers became unbearable, making his insides ruffled uncontrollably and hands starting to shake. Suddenly, everything stopped, his ears ringed as an utterly uncomfortable silence hunted him down, the man's eyes scanned around and, out of nowhere, he spotted them, the big winged creatures. They spoke eloquentially with exaggerated hand movements accompanied by controlled laughs, which echoed across the black glass platform with violet rims where they reunited, but they never opened their mouths. Purple robes, detached members, golden chains, masked faces or bandaged features, and the… creepy purple eyes, in every single superfice, attentively watching over them. The unsettling atmosphere thickened as they floated around, casually consulting with each other.
Who were these people?
“.. and let me say, what a grand gesture you did, letting him win will help us with the next months.” the tallest one directed themselves to the one paralleling them, gracefully thanking him as his voice carried itself strongly across the space. The confused intruder's eyes, which observed the place, quickly darted towards the one that was being addressed and analyzed him; purple combat clothes, no wings nor robe and dirty blond hair. He felt, somehow, so familiar.
“Thank you for not putting up too much of a fight against him.” the praises kept coming, slow and steady, another hooded being spoke, placing his floating arm around the shorter one's shoulders “If he got seriously hurt, it would've been a problem and we don't need that type of trouble! His feelings are naturally strong, we don't have to feed him that much...” the alar being continued, somehow thoughtful, expression changing quickly as he made his dangerous pointy smile known “... that pink haired girl was already enough, can you believe she is still falling? Pathetic.” his poisonous laugh echoed, tinting the brunette human ears.
His blood ran cold with the possibility, fists clenching, as something in his head clicked, he could only think of one thing, a way of killing them. They weren't speaking about Lizzie were they?
“Don't you dare to discuss that when you’re in my presence.” the small man declared, shaking the other's being, who made a discontent noise, hand of his shoulder “Joel…” Were they speaking about him? How dared them to discredit him? the human growled, he had worked so hard to become the victorious one, how could they discard him like that? He was going to explode them. The man in front of him sighed, breaking his line of thoughts, and then he realized; he needed to calm down and pay attention to their conversation, or he would be discovered. “... is a very resistant and strategic man, he was very determined to win, no matter what it entailed. I did my best and I wasn't able to take him down, it happens.” his tired but potent voice traveled across the surface, concluding the conversation, as he took a step back, like he was ready to leave.
That voice… no, it couldn't be… was that Grian?
His eyes widened, scanning the man in front of him again, that was… his friend, right? He needed to speak, scream, to confront him, to ask what's going on, why was he there; his mouth moved but nothing came out of it, the painful void consumed him as he desperately tried to move around but his agonizing body didn't obey him. Grian discreetly observed him, his brown, no, purple eyes narrowed, delicate confusion plastered across his face as he pretended to check his environment while his pale left hand strongly closed behind his back.
“Don't put yourself down like that, Xelqua. You did spectacularly...” the leader forcefully continued the conversation, irony flooding the words as they walked forwards, towards the silver holder as chains dragged across the glass, annoyingly scratching it “... but second place doesn't exist in our world, and you know it.” when the being craved their path, meeting the other man, a gloved hand reached for the top of Grian's head “You know exactly how it goes, you either win or lose. No in-between.” they roared, clawed hands forcibly clenching the blonde hair “You could've won! How… how dare you!? Staining our name like that!” In one swift motion, the shorter man was brutally shoved down, concluding the conversation, as the maniacal purple eyes looked over him, to where the human was.
Oh.
Oh, no.
Snap. Joel's body mercilessly clashed against the other builder. Snap. Now, he was relocated to the middle of the platform, the neon purple eyes observing each movement as the clawed hand let go of Grian and the creature moved dangerously close to Joel, whose mouth opened and closed like a lost fish, why couldn't he speak? The sharp whispers reverberated, replaying more clearly, this time, not in his head but right in front of him.
“A mortal- How did he- reach us? What- does he want?” the torturous voices cut each other, sounding shockily disgraceful every time they looked at him “Speak.” they demanded as one, an empty command echoing across the vast nothingness.
Joel's mouth opened again, but he didn't answer, he couldn't. He looked over locking eyes with his friend, the avian still had his hand behind his back as he got up again, helped by his other hand, and declared.
“This… It's the first time this has happened.” he scaredly approached the scene displayed in front of him, he needed to help Joel. “Just clean his memory, like we did with the others.” Grian finished like whipping memories was something vague and simple to do.
Others!? Joel thought in disbelief, Why was Grian speaking about their friends like that? he tried to get up but something weighed him down.
“Ownt.” the tall winged being cooed, lowering themselves to be the same height as Joel “Look at him, getting all bothered up because of some words. Grow up!” the taunting continued while their hands clenched both sides of Joel's head “Xelqua, you're almost excused from your second place because of that idea. Almost.” the man could see the wicked smile growing inside of the hood as the claws dug into his brown hair.
Joel defiantly stared down the blood thirsty eyes, if he was going down at least he would go with a fight. As the translucent purple waves connected the creature fingers to his brain, he debated himself, feeling his mind being deconstructed and his memories floating around without a time or place to associate them to. The rays got closer, trying to strangle one, to electrify it, but, as soon as its branches connected, the creature was launched away from the prisoner. The builder let himself smile as his eyes slowly closed, how silly of them, trying to make a God forget about his past lives.
“... we need to wipe everyone's memories of him.” the desperate direction was the last thing he listened to before closing his eyes.
A vacation in Stratos didn't sound like a bad plan.
The clouds and the Sun awaited him but, when he opened his eyes, bright colors infiltrated his camp of vision and loud industrial sounds rushed his ears. He wasn't dead but the world he searched for didn't exist anymore, the builder wouldn't be able to punch those creatures in the face, making them regret their decisions and what they put him and his friends through. He signed and, before he could form any other plan to take them down, destiny decided to favour him today.
“Hi Joel!” the red avian said with enthusiasm, flying inside his friend's house through a crooked window “Could you- what are you doing!?” the parrot cut himself off mid sentence when he realized that the other man strongly clenched his red jumper and pressed him against the white wall.
“Why?” the house owner shouted angrily, a simple nerve-racking question.
“What are you on about?” The other man screamed back without missing a beat, moving his body trying to get himself out of the rough hands holding him.
"You can't tell me that what I lived wasn't real…” Joel's voice now was barely above a whisper as his hands slowly drifted away from the man in front of him “... because you were there with me the entire time, weren't you?” sounding like a plea, his eyes met the intruder ones.
Had he imagined everything?
“Memory is punishment.” the other man looked him directly in the eyes and spoke without moving his mouth, tilting his head to the side and laughing like nothing had happened as his eyes flicked in a purple light reflected by his squared glasses.
The end.