Aru here ,
Thank you for reading (or re-reading) this story.
If you were familiar with the Charisk Tales Series, then you know most of the plot, just a few minor changes here and there to make it better this time around - hopefully.
If you are not, no spoilers will be needed. Please enjoy my freshly rewritten crappy crap-crap, you will not regret it - or you will, just make sure to mention it anyways.
I would not like to stress again how important your reviews are. If nothing else, they'll keep this thing going on somewhere - or make it an extremely good read, who knows.
Almost gave up this story, 'will not do it this time, promise ... sans' fashion.
Another Charisk story is planned to run along this one, just to make things worse for me rotten brain *sigh* but hey, old man's gotta do what old man's gotta do.
Aru out,
*Currently rewriting chapters 2 - 10
"I can only wait for the final amnesia, the one that can erase an entire life"
- Luis Buñuel
201X, somewhere around Mt. Ebott.
A child was frantically trying to escape their daily bullying routine.
Hidden in a bush and quivering in fear, they heard their pursuers' footsteps closing in.
Like some hunted prey, the child didn't move a muscle. Out of fear, they nearly forgot to breathe, thus gasping for air a little louder than they should have.
"Wait, I heard something moving in that bush."
Having been found out, the bullied ran away one last time, not sure if their wobbling child-like legs would support them any longer.
"Over there ! The little sh*t is going for the peak !"
"You'll regret making us skip lunch break for your sorry a** !"
It was a miracle they could outrun those foul-mouthed seniors for the past two hours.
They were just another kid who had enough of being beaten to a pulp, robbed of their few possessions and humiliated day after day.
They heard of the cursed mountain, and the missing children. Their foster parents - two among many others - have been talking about it the day before.
The wimpy kid thus planned to escape today after ditching second period, knowing they would just suffer another embarassing treatment down the school hall.
At the peak, a gaping hole stood before the child, one they could not see the other end of it.
Hesitant to jump in, they simply peered into the abyss. For a moment, it seemed like the darkness was gazing back at them, smirking at their pitiful appearance.
Covered in dead leaves and dirt, their modest clothing was ruined and their body full of bruises and scratches.
They were still considering the free fall, there was no point running any further in their state. Yet, the child was still not sure how deep the hole was.
It took three angry seniors panting like enraged mutts, and a misplaced thick vine for the child to fall without their consent.
They screamed at the top of their lungs, as darkness swallowed them whole.
201X, In another plane of existence.
The child, still lost in blackness, saw themselves along another human. After a bumpy first meeting, they gradually got attached to that person.
"I love you, very much so."
Holding hands and locking lips with that person felt like second nature to them, for they were their one and only, their significant other.
"Please, do not let go, your hands are warm."
Of course, it wasn't all rosy and lighthearted along the way. They happened to argue bitterly, being on the verge of death more than once.
"I need some time, to think it through."
Yet in the end, they patched things up and made it through thick and thin. After one last stand, however, death finally took its toll.
"You're here ... you made it ... I'm glad."
In their arms, was their frail looking companion in their dying breath. Pale as snow, with fading pupils, and trembling all over their small stature
Again, the desperate human screamed, not out of fear but of frustration.
It wasn't the end they planned at all, they were supposed to be, grow and die together.
"Name your poison."
Something whispered to their ear, a growling, primal voice. It offered to give their beloved back, at a price.
This world denied the fallen human the one wish they held dear, leaving them with nothing else to lose but their own SOUL.
"Nice doing business with you, partner."
All they knew soon became null and void.
Time stopped, then went backwards.
They were back at their starting point, like a magical SAVE of sort. There was their beloved, barely alive. Looking at their sleeping face, they vowed to complete the deal they just made.
Kill every creature to restore their lover' SOUL.
And so they did, taking countless lives and sullying their hands. They were no longer themselves anymore, their "partner" having corrupt their very core.
"Behold the true nature of humans, you wretched monstrosity."
People they befriended at happier times stood in their way, believikg they could stop their massacre. The human knew they could not quit, and they were far stronger than their monster friends.
"Ha ... Ha ... Ha ..."
They had to do it, no matter what. They were too desperate to stop their bloody harvest, fearing for their lover's lifespan
"I BELIEVE ... IN YOU ..."
At times, they met stronger foes. Those determined to end their carnage, those who almost finished them off.
"I won't ... give up ..."
Others went without putting much of a fight, often boring them more than anything else.
"I guess you ... won't be joining .. my fan club ..."
Their best friend was the last one to stand in the way, after delaying the fight for as long as possible.
" ... kids like you ... SHOULD BE BURNING IN HELL."
Though they never made it unscathed, the corrupted human lived on. Their clothes smelled of blood and white dust, gripping their blade as hard as they could.
Having sated their hunger, both partners wanted to die at their lovers' hand. Only them were worthy of taking their life, only them will save what little humanity they still had.
When the shaking blade pierced the hollow human's heart, they were finally free from that filthy body of theirs. Their demon met a specter of the past, one determined to do the right thing.
Now closer to death than anything else, a fading human and a dying monster joined hands. Vowing to help their lovers from the grave, a miracle occurred.
Right before time undid what could never be undone.
201X, one last time, down the abyss.
The dead child opened their eyes, as much as they could manage to. They found themselves "sitting" a golden flowerbed, bathing in a ray of sunlight.
It wasn't really sitting per se, they were floating slightly above that flowerbed. The sunlight wasn't warming them up either, just passing right through a hollow body like thin air.
Were they finally dead?
The child tried moving around, testing their new disposition. Of course, setting foot on anything would immediately make them phase through it. Any contact held the same result as well, to which the child simply sighed.
They were dead, alone and stuck somewhere unknown.
It was not that unpleasant, to be honest, for they will not be bothered down here. It's a good thing they're dead too, no one would exactly miss a wimpering kid on the Surface.
Their inexistent heart ached at the thought, as if gripped by a human their age. At the same moment, they laid their eyes on another flowerbed.
Another human was lying there, someone they've met before, but couldn't place when or where that meeting occurred.
Brown hair, pale skinned and dressed like the ghost child. They were seemingly asleep, the rise and fall of their chest was steady and quiet.
The sleeping child looked older, and wasn't particularly attractive, but the ghost human was incredibly nervous around them.
Them opening red, gleaming eyes and looking around the area in confusion only made the nervous ghost much more embarrassed.
The ghost think they knew who that was, judging by the feeling that warmed up their body. Rattling their head in vain, they could not come up with a memory or a name.
Speaking of names ... what was their own, again?
* Title in latin, combining "brain" and "confusion", among other possible meanings.