Chapter Text
It was a surprisingly peaceful "day" in Purgatory, if one could even call it that. The artificial sun shone dimly in the sky, only slightly brighter than the bonfire in the middle of camp. It felt more like an endless twilight more than anything, gloomy as ever.
Inside one of the small cabins surrounding the bonfire, Two Time was napping. Leaning on a fence somewhere near the treeline behind the cabins, Taph was trying to untangle the tripwires in their pockets. Inside the main cabin, Chance polished his coin on the second-floor balcony. Below him, the admins chatted about possible ways to improve the dreary situation for themselves and the other survivors. Sitting on logs around the campfire, Veeronica was chatting with Guest 1337 and Elliot.
Noob, also sitting on a log near the campfire, was half-listening to the conversation, though they weren't really paying attention. There were other things on their mind as their gaze followed the dying embers into the sky.
Somewhere in that same purgatory, across the lake that the survivors' camp was next to, there was another grouping of beings. Some were Robloxian, or had been at some point. Others were something else entirely. A jester god, a child hacker, a corrupted admin, a slasher, and so on. All were legends. All were Killers, trapped in their own mindscapes.
The Specter was proud of every one of its killers, having handpicked them from every corner of Robloxia. Its favorite, however, was the newest addition to its collection. The Guest turned Monster, Guest 666. It liked this killer the most for many reasons. Its backstory with one of the survivors generated a feast of negative emotions; Guilt, regret, grief. Each emotion fed and nourished the Specter, and this particular killer was one of its top producers.
The other thing that it liked about this killer was its incredible power. It had a similar corruption to John Doe, a literal admin who was now nothing more than a puppet. And yet, the only thing keeping this monster in a feral state was the Specter's meddling with its mind. If it broke free from its mental loop of regret and rage, who knows how powerful it would be!
Little did the Specter know, it would soon find out. As it was busy watching the survivors’ feeble attempts to better their situation, it didn't notice when a foreign entity entered its purgatory.
The entity stepped through a hole in the very fabric of reality and into the thick shrubbery around the clearing where the Killers were. Said killers were arranged in a loose circle around the edge of the clearing. They were facing each other, each of them floating about six inches off the ground. All were unconscious.
Only one of the killers was important to this entity, though. Its paddle-like tail swayed as it walked out of the bushes towards Guest 666. It looked up into the Killer's face, stuck in an expression of melancholy. Guest 666's eyes were closed.
The entity sighed, the sound cutting through the still clearing. It lifted its teal hands, and the fingers separated and elongated into waving tendrils. The tendrils reached for the monster's head, getting thinner as they approached. The tendrils squeezed through the very cells in Guest 666's head, breaking into the mindscape the Specter had so carefully crafted.
~~~
Sixer was surrounded by Noobs, each one sporting a different fatal wound. One's head was almost completely decapitated, only hanging on by a strand of sinew. Another's guts were spilling onto the ground. There was blood and viscera everywhere. Coming from everywhere and shaking his very being, a voice rang out. It's all Your Fault. The guest wasn't sure how he did this, but he knew he did. There was no escape from this hell, the only thing that existed anymore was their grief, their regret, and their rage. This truly was all their fault.
She had been drowning in her own feelings for so long, she didn't even notice the glimpses of freedom at first. Even so, he suddenly felt the need to look up. As they did, they saw a hairline crack in the sky. It glowed a gentle white as it grew, teal tendrils peeking out. She then heard a faint crrrack, growing louder as the crack reached across the sky and approached the ground. As it hit the horizon, the corpses that had been lying all around Sixer began to move, getting up and lumbering towards the Guest.
This is your only chance. Run to freedom. A soft voice spoke in his mind, ushering him to escape this endless loop of pain. They didn't need to be told twice, getting up and sprinting to the crack in their world.
The eviscerated Noobs, which had been slowly lumbering towards Sixer, all began to sprint towards the fleeing Guest. This mindscape was built to trap Sixer inside, and it could tell that the prisoner was attempting to escape.
More Noobs appeared, rising from puddles of blood and gore littered across the landscape. They reached for Sixer's ankles, trying to trip her and drag her back into the ocean of sorrow. "I will NOT turn back, I won't let myself be pulled under" they thought to themselves, running as fast as they could towards the light. They could tell that the crack was struggling to stay open, its edges shaking slightly.
Sixer put on a burst of speed, instinctually using the hacks that had caused all of this. He didn't have time to think about it though, as a disfigured yellow arm reached out and grabbed his ankle. They stumbled for just a moment, panicking. If they tripped and fell now, the presumed escape would close and they would be trapped in here for the rest of their life.
Luckily, Sixer managed to right himself and keep on running. They were so close, the crack closing rapidly as they reached for it. The light emitted from it was nearly blinding, but she finally managed to reach it. Finally, they felt the promise of Freedom.