Broken Dreams

by Frankland James

In an alternate timeline, seven teenagers begin to play Sburb. In another universe, another session is taking place as well. A mysterious being has started guiding the children. More enemies than they could ever imagine face them. But is their guardian angel what he seems? Will they win the game? And if they do, will it be worth the price they may have to pay?

4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: A Broken Dream

== Be Davin.

== Davin: Show us LOCSADO.

I had arrived at my planet, the Land of Cerulean Stars and Dark Oceans, a couple minutes ago. The planet was mostly dark and swampy, with the ocasional Dark Ocean every now and then. The stars in the planet's sky were a deep cerulean color, and every now and then one of them fell to the planet as meteors.
I was looking for my First Gate.
heroicSalamander began chatting with ceruleanDarkstar.
HS: Heee e.
CD: Oh, hey Mabis. What's up?
HS: Noth ing mu ch ov er he re du de. Ju st g o pla net, th at's all. It's so rt o f co ol.
CD: What's it's name?
HS: Not tell ing.
CD: Okay, whatever. Is it the Land of something or other and Frogs?
HS: H ow d id y ou kn ow!?
CD: You're the Heir of Space. Of course your planet is the Land of something and Frogs.
HS: The Land of Castles and Frogs.
CD: Ok, cool. Well I'm just looking for my gate. To get to Sally's planet. She probably needs help.
HS: B ut I thou ght y ou gu ys we re a ll goi n thr ough t he ga tes toge ther ins tead o f doi ng yo ur jour neys seper ately.
CD: That was the plan. But, things have changed. I'm going to Sally's planet.
HS: We ll, g ood lu ck wi th th at. I'm pla nning o n ge tting t o Yu's pla net as fa st as I c an.
CD: But I thought you and her hated each other.
HS: It's so rt o f com plicated.
CD: Oh. You're like, in the black romance thing or whatever, aren't you?
HS: We ll, y e a h, so rt of. I ha te h er so much. She...she's so...in fur iat ing. B ut I'm so att racte er...
CD: Yeah well I guess good luck with that.
HS: Bl ack ro m con fuses m e th ough. M aybe so meday w e co uld p ut o ur bl ack fe elings asi de and m aybe o ur rela tion ship co uld g et...r ed d er.
CD: Yeah, hopefully.
HS: I me an it's ju st s o com plicated!
CD: Yeah. I know.
HS: We ll, any way, a ll th at com plicated st uff asi de, w e ne ed to focus on the game. Not that complicated or the sad stuff or the bad things right now.
CD: Nothing really bad has happened yet.
HS: The Reckoning, duh. Both our planets were destroyed.
CD: WHAT!?
HS: O didn't tell you that?
CD: So...by playing this game...we destroyed Earth?
HS: It was going to be destroyed anyway. And now, this game is your only hope of saving the human race.
CD: Which is why we have to win.
HS: Yes.
CD: I think my planet's going to be a piece of cake to beat though.
HS: Why?
CD: I prototyped my sprite with one of my little sister's barbie dolls. To make the underlings weaker.
HS: Damn. That's smart. Why didn't we think of that?
CD: I know, right? Well, anyway, I think I better get going. Got Imps to slay, you know?
HS: Yeah I know. I'll cya later.
heroicSalamander ended the chat.

I kept on walking. I hadn't run into very many imps on the swampy land. I figured maybe they were in the water or something. That's also probably where my First Gate is. My laptop made a noise just then. Someone else was wanting to chat with me.

radiantArmageddon began trolling ceruleanDarkstar.
RA: Hi Daaavin!
CD: Oh. Hey Ariel.
RA: Glub.
RA: For the billionth time, my name is Reikai Auraun, not Aaariel, and I'm not aaa litle mermaaaid, I'm aaa seaaadweller.
cD: And for the billionth time, that's just my nickname for you.
RA: Whatever. Anywaaay, I wanted to give you this capcha code:
RA: Sc0b4g3r RA: Glub Glub.
RA: It's some Scubagear thaaat'll help you breaaathe underwaaater so you can explore your plaaanet more.
CD: Ok. Thanks.
RA: Also I have a question.
CD: I'll try my best to answer.
RA: Glub.
RA: Tell me everything you guys prototyped your sprites with.
CD: Um, Nick prototyped his with his pet lizard, Kay did the same for her pet chinchilla...
RA: The First Gaurdian.
CD: Yeah, whatever that means.
RA: It means Jackie Chan can now teleport and warp reality.
RA: Glub.
RA: SHIT Jack Noir!
CD: Oh, well that's bad news. Um...Evie did her sprite with an old Squiddles plush, and April said she threw a guitar in the sprite just to see what would happen. Zack protyped his with a random frog he accidentally stepped on and killed outside his home. Sally got this weird puppet thing that sort of freaked me out...And I prototyped it with one of my sister's barbie dolls. To make him weaker.
RA: There's something else, isn't there?
CD: Yeah apparently Evie took several of her brother's ninja weapons and stabbed the Squiddle through with it so he would be weaker, being stabbed and all?
RA: Great, you just gave Jack Noir several ninja weapons AND he's a frog. That's fishin' GREAT.
RA: Glub.
CD: Wait, he can use those?
RA: DUH!
CD: Shit. We're screwed. Now he's gonna turn into a stab-happy homicidal maniac.
RA: He already was one to begin with.
CD: Good point.
RA: Glub.
CD: Well anyway I should really go explore the rest of my world, ok?
RA: Bye.
radiantArmageddon ceased trolling ceruleanDarkstar.

== Davin: Be Kay.

== Kay: Explore LOFAG.

I was exploring my planet, the Land of Forests and Green. It was a beautiful planet covered in jungles and forests. I hadn't seen any Imps yet, but that was probably because I hadn't really gone anywhere. I was talking to The Illemise, but he said he had something important to do, so he left. He told me he'd get someone else to talk to me later and to stay put until then. My laptop beeped. I had a message.

izaNamiya began chatting with greenEmerald.
IN: Hey Kay.
GE: Oh, hi Iza. What's up?
IN: I think I just unlocked my powers. Related to my title, I mean.
GE: Sorry, but I forgot what your title was.
IN: I am the Theif of Mind.
GE: How does that work?
IN: I can steal thoughts from people and claim them as my own. I can even steal their whole consious mind, reducing them to harmless little manchilds.
I just used it on an Imp. He's like beating his head against the wall. It's really cool!
GE: Well that's cool I guess.
IN: Anyway what I wanted to do was introduce you to the rest of us.
GE: I thought the four of you were the only ones?
IN: No, there's seven of us in all.
GE: Okay.
IN: Also I was wondering how far you've got into the game.
GE: I think we're all still on our planets. Maybe Nick or Evie got to their second gate by now, I don't know.
IN: And also I wanted to tell you about something else.
GE: What is it?
IN: The Illemise. Don't trust him.
GE: Why not?
IN: I can't tell you why. But trust me, don't trust him.
GE: Why not?
IN: He's a murderer.
GE: What?
IN: There were more trolls than the four that were left. There were 9 others. Guess what happened to them? Ruthelessly killed by The Illemise. He claims that they were dangerous and there was a reason for it that I couldn't understand, but I'm not buying it. He murdered his sister and the other cherubs that were his friends too. How long is it until he flips the fuck out and starts killing everyone else?
GE: I'm sure there was some reason.
IN: I'm just advising you to be careful.
GE: Did you actually see him murder the other trolls and the cherubs?
IN: He murdered the cherubs thousands of years ago. The trolls were killed five years ago. I didn't see him do it...but I found the bodies. And he admitted to it.
GE: What else?
IN: He says that sometimes the demon possesses him...he's a fucking psycho and you need to stay away.
GE: You're very dangerously genre savvy, aren't you?
IN: I can't believe you've known me for half a year and just figured that out. I just don't think it's smart to trust people. They always betray you or leave you, even if they don't want to.
GE: Oh...ok. I understand your point of view.
IN: All my life most of my friends have left me, and I can't have a worse relationship with my family. It's like I try on my life like an outfit, but it doesn't fit. It just doesn't feel right.
GE: Oh. Ok.
IN: Also, don't trust anyone who's a Bard or a Hero of Rage. And NEVER even think about trusting active classes paired with Hope.
GE: Who are you talking about? I don't know anyone like that.
IN: Don't trust Katie and Don't trust Bae. They're only out to destroy you.
GE: Who are they?
IN: Wait, you haven't met them yet. I was going to introduce you to Bae. He's one of the other Zothinians...he's the Bard of Light. Katie is someone from the future of an alternate timeline that you haven't met yet.
GE: How do you know this?
IN: Heroes of Mind, regardless of class, sometimes recieve psychic visions instead of going to sleep and waking up as a dream self or in the Furthest Ring.
Or maybe it's just an anomaly in my session, just with me, I don't know. But I'm telling you. Don't trust Katie Holly.
GE: Wait, Zack's sister!?
IN: In an alternate timeline, to be specific, the ZetaOmega301 timeline, your session failed and you intiated the Scratch, and your gaurdians became the new heroes. Katie is the Theif of Rage, and the leader of their session. She may seem nice. But don't trust her, I'm telling you, don't.
GE: If she steals Rage doesn't that mean she calms people down? Isn't that good?
IN: Some people don't need to sober up. Some of them need to stay in their dream worlds instead of coming back to reality.
GE: I'm not sure if I get that, but ok. I guess I'll trust you.
IN: I believe that girl honestly made a mistake. She couldn't have known what was going to happen. She didn't know that helping that scared little girl doomed her timeline, and it might doom ours as well.
GE: Who the fuck are we talking about here!?
IN: Davin's mother. She became the Theif of Time.
GE: How did Katie helping Davin's sister doom her timeline?
IN: Davin's mother's alternate post-scratch self, was much younger than the other heroes. She was only 9 when forced to play the game. She went into denial,
and didn't want to accept that their world was destroyed and that her daddy was dead. She ignored the session and avoided the others, and became more and more withdrawn. Katie reached out to her, in an attempt to help. However, this unlocked her potential as a Theif of Time and she went crazy, killing Sally and your's parents's alternate post-scratch selves and mortally wounding the remaining four, including Katie. But you will meet the ones that survived.
Perhaps as ghosts, perhaps restored to life and back to normal. After all, you are a Sylph of Life, and Davin is a Page of Time. Perhaps you could combine your powers and revive them.
GE: That would be cool, but never going to happen.
IN: Anyway, the others of my session that you haven't met should be here shortly.

benevolentAlmarr, radioactiveInfinity, and plantKiller joined the chat.

IN: Oh, here they are. That was oddly convenient.
BA: Hi Iza. Did we get here on time?
IN: Shut up Bae. Of course you did.
RI: Hey, um...Kay! Nice to meet you!
GE: Nice to meet you too.
PK: Hi, I'm Yu. You're Kay, right?
GE: Yeah.
IN: Well, I'll let the others introduce themselves and explain their roles in the game.
BA: Bae Akachili, the Bard of Light. I hope we'll be good friends.
GE: Um, me too!
RI: I'm Rillva Aviko! I'm the Maid of Void...It's actually a really boring class, all I do is be the Maid of Void...wait that's a pun isn't it. Made of Void?
Oh my god. Worst pun ever. And I should know, I'm the Queen of lame puns.
GE: Cool. I like your name. It's kind of pretty.
RI: Are you hitting on me?
GE: What...no. I'm not a lesbian.
RI: Ok good because the culture barrier is confusing. Zothinians are strictly bisexual like the trolls, but that's probably due to the trolls influencing our culture for hundreds of years. As god tiers, I mean.
GE: Well, that makes sense.
PK: I'm Yu Nashiko. The Sylph of Time. Glad I finally got to meet you. Everyone else who has has been talking about you, especially Nehjon.
GE: ...the weirdo dude?
PK: Yeah, him. He sort of gives me the creeps.
RI: OKay.
GE: Second lamest pun ever.
IN: Anyway there's something else you need to know too. I almost forgot. It's something the four of us concluded.
BA: You see, we can watch you through the viewport because of that Trollian tech the trolls gave us.
RI: But lots of times our view gets blocked. We can't see Evie, Nick, Zack, or any of their planets. We can't see half of your timeline. We suspect it's because of her being a Witch of Void.
PK: I have a magic cue ball, and I've tried asking it, and it can see through most of them.
GE: But I thought magic cue balls could predict anything?
PK: It can see what they're doing, and what else is blocked, but the image is very blurry and the answers are very uncertain and suprisingly inaccurate for a magic cue ball. It can view all of their fates except for Evie's. When I try to view or ask about hers, it gives me this weird text that none of us can read. We think it's the troll's language, or maybe some other culture's language. We're not entirely sure.
IN: But we believe that the Jack Noir that's harassing us and the trolls IS from your session, but from an alternate timeline. We believe that he crossed over to here from the Furthest Ring or he somehow gained time-traveling powers.
BA: We're not certain which timeline he's from, but we think it's from the alternate timeline where you intiated the scratch. We believe he's from the Dementon's timeline.
GE: The fuck is the Dementon?
BA: What I decided to nickname the Theif of Time. She's demented, and like a robot, an automaton. She has no emotions whatsoever.
GE: Oh, ok. Well how do you know he's not from this timeline?
RI: We saw how you cleverly disposed of your Jack Noir and employed almost never-before seen tactics to defeat the Black King. You won the game.
GE: Cool!
RI: But, the future isn't set in stone. Evie, as a Witch of Void, is Immune To Fate. Her choices will be what decides if you win or lose. And if you do win,
you will pay a terrible price. Perhaps it'd be better off for you all to kill yourselves now.
GE: That scares me.
RI: It should.
PK: Jack Noir was killed in a very unique way in your session and you completed that one sidequest that Iza thought was important. We kept her from doing it,
believing it wasn't important, but if we had let her get her way, we would have been able to defeat the Black King much earlier on and much easier without having to fight the Black Queen or fight your alternate Jack Noir face to face. But we fucked up.
IN: I TOLD YOU!
GE: What sidequest.
IN: We can't tell you. It's forbidden, and you'll have to figure it out yourselves. Which you probably will, based on what we've seen. We can give you a hint though.
GE: Then give me some hints!
IN: First, you must reach Derse. We can't instruct you any more beyond that.
GE: Ok, I'll check out everything on Derse. I will do that sidequest twice if I have to.
IN: Be careful though. Jack Noir, his agents, and all of Derse will be against you. Prospit may turn against you as well, depending on how everything plays out.
GE: Ok, thanks. I'll start working on that now. But, if I'm a Prospit dreamer, how do I get to Derse?
IN: Dream selves can fly. But you'd probably be shot down. You should get Evie or Zack to do it. Personally, I suggest you make Evie do it, as her choices will be what decides the ultimate outcome of your session. Besides, she doesn't need to see Nick right now anyway.
GE: Well, thanks! See you guys later!
greenEmerald ended the chat.

== Sylph: Be Evie.

== Evie: Be contacted by people we know.

I was sitting on the beach of my island again, still a little angry. I was distracted. At first, I didn't hear my computer. I pulled it out and checked it.

sapphirePrincess began chatting with ceruleanDarkstar and greenEmerald.
CD: Evie take this code you can use it to breathe underwater it's scuba gear.
CD: Sc0b4g3r SP: Ok I'll alchemize it as soon as I can.
GE: Evie there's a sidequest in the game I think we should do. You have to go to sleep and explore the rest of Derse. Do everything, talk to everyone, even the citizens. Make sure you get it done it's how we're going to win.
SP: Ok, I will, but I'd like to alchemize this first.
GE: Ok but be careful and hurry. I don't know what you're supposed to do on Derse but apparently it's some backdoor alternate way to skip the last two bosses without glitches or cheats. We could avoid fighting the Black Queen and Black King, find some other way to get rid of Jack Noir, and win this game easy. But it's really hard. I think Iza said, according to the magic cue ball, that only .001% of sessions are able to complete the sidequest. So look for someone who might want to rebel against the Black King!
SP: Ok, I will! I'll go run do that now!
blueSkies joined the chat.
BS: HOLY FUCKING SHIT THOSE OGRES WERE TOUGH.
SP: Nick! Have you talked to any of the trolls?
BS: No why?
SP: DON'T TALK TO AMIRDA! IGNORE HER!
BS: Oh ok. Have you guys beaten your first bosses yet?
SP: I haven't been able to explore mine and neither has Davin.
GE: Haven't gotten that far.
BS: My world is so frusturating. It's this maze filled with fog and traps and tricks and like the doors open and close and walls and sections of the maze move every 30 seconds. It's SO ANNOYING!
CD: Hahaha I guess the game trolled you.
BS: Damn straight. LOMAT is the worst planet ever. But I sort of like how it looks. It's cool.
GE: Yeah well good luck with that.
BS: Seriously though I can't see more than a few feet in front of me, it's really thick fog. Maybe I can clear it somehow?
SP: Find your First Gate first, ok?
BS: Will do. Bye.
blueSkies ended the chat.