I just want to tell you all that this chapter is NOT going to be one huge battle. I don't write that sort of thing, this chapter will have more psychological stuff than fighting probably. Be warned, this chapter has some qualities from the horror genre.

Chapter 9: Murder a Monster

The teenager woke up with a groan. He slowly stood up and looked at his surroundings. He is in the same hallway where he first saw his darkness and Malefor. He whipped his head around to try to find them but the two dark creatures were nowhere in sight.

Isaac sighed tiredly and looked behind him, noticing that it is a dead end. He looked forward and began walking slowly down the dirty hallway.

There was a painful silence as he walked down the barely lit hallway, the only sound he heard was the sound of his boots connecting with the brown tiles on the floor.

'This is a hospital hallway…' he realized as he continued walking.

He slowly walked for what seemed like forever, however the walls got bloodier and bloodier the further down he went. It got so bloody that the lights were red because of the bloodstains over the glass.

Finally, he saw a door in the distance. He slowly approached it and cautiously opened the wooden door. It creaked open and he entered.

The new room lacked the bloodstains of the hallway, but there is a women sitting in a wooden chair in the middle of the enclosed space.

The room itself has very similar qualities as the hall, except the light is much brighter and there are medical supplies on the dirty counters. It looks like an abandoned hospital room.

Isaac shut the door behind him and approached the slightly obese women. He noticed that the woman has long dark hair and is wearing a ripped up hospital gown. The woman looks very sick and is surrounded by empty pill bottles and used syringes.

"Mom?" Isaac asked softly, not believing his own eyes.

The women slowly looked up at him, as if she would pass out at any moment.

"What do you want now Isaac…" she asked tiredly.

The teenager didn't answer; instead he just stared in confusion.

"Sweetie… you really should slouch like that. You don't want to get osteoporosis like me do you?" she chuckled tiredly.

Isaac raised his hands slightly in utter confusion.

"What is going on here? I came here to face my darkness, not talk with you." he asked as he placed a hand on his head with shock.

"Don't talk to me like that!" she snapped loudly.

Isaac's mom slowly stood up and glared at him.

"You don't even love me. I've taken care of you since you were a baby. I gave you life! I took good care of you!" she yelled bitterly.

Isaac grinded his teeth together and balled his hands into fists.

"You didn't take care about me, dad did! All you did was take pill after pill while I was being tormented by everyone I knew!" he started, equally as loud.

"You did give me life, yes… but you also make me feel dead inside! Every time I came to you for help, you'd just shrug it off or say that I'M the spoiled brat. You ruined my life YOU FUCK!" Isaac yelled with pure hatred and anguish.

He noticed another door behind his mother and ran for it.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING!?" she screamed.

"Moving on with my life!" Isaac screamed back as he ran through the door and slammed it behind him.

He locked the door and took a step back. Barbed wire slithered over the door, preventing anything from going in or out. There were no sounds coming from the room, he could hear a pin drop if such an event occurred.

He shook his head and turned around. Unlike the hall and the other room, this room isn't from a hospital.

The room has gray metal walls that are covered in rust and grime. The wall has four square holes that are lined up, as if something is meant to be inserted into them. The floor is made out of pure concrete and the roof was replaced by a chain link fence. The sky is pure black and it is raining slightly.

'Glad I'm wearing a hood…' Isaac thought as he approached a wooden table in the middle of the room. On the table, are five stone tablets. One of the tablets it bolted onto the table, but the others can be easily picked up.

The moveble tablets each contain a simple picture. The pictures consist of the outline of a hooded figure, the outline of a man, the outline of a woman, and the outline of a dragon. Isaac looked at the bolted down tablet to see some writing on it. He read it aloud to himself.

Four figures in one room, but where do they go?

The first is The Beautiful Lady, winning the heart of someone special.

The second is the Victim, experiencing much sorrow and despair.

The third one is The Innocent, always blamed, but never responsible.

The last be The Monster, never loving, always heartless.

Look within; your mind holds the key.

The puzzle is done!

"A puzzle huh… didn't see that coming…" Isaac thought aloud as he scratched his head in thought.

Isaac took the movable tablets and walked to the four square holes in the wall.

"Look within; your mind holds the key. Could that mean my memories?" he said to himself.

He placed the stone tablets back on the table and looked at them very carefully. While he did this, it started to rain slightly heavier. After a short while, he picked up the dragon tablet.

"The Beautiful Lady… Umbra." he said softly as he walked up to the first hole.

He gently placed the tablet in the hole, hearing it click into place. He walked back to the tablets and studied them. Isaac slowly picked up the tablet of the hooded figure.

"The Victim… me." he said quietly.

He walked up to the hole and slid the tablet inside, also hearing a click.

'So far, so good.' he thought as he walked back to the table.

He noticed the rain start to pick up even more and the room started to flood inch by inch.

'Fuck I need to hurry.' he thought as he quickly picked up the tablet with the man figure.

"The Innocent is Dad." he said quickly as he inserted the tablet, hearing a click.

The downpour increased in intensity and the water is now up to his knees. The teenager ran back to the table and picked up the last tablet.

"The Monster… Mom!" he yelled as he struggled to get to the square hole.

He tripped when he was halfway there however and fell into the water. He quickly got back up and took in a lungful of air.

'How can rain fill a space like this so damn quickly!?' Isaac screamed in his head as he noticed the water was up to his stomach.

He finally reached hole and inserted the last tablet, hearing the satisfying click.

An open door appeared out of nowhere and the water quickly flooded out, much to Isaac's relief.

Once he felt ready to, he walked through the doorframe to see a bunch of drainage holes and an industrial elevator.

"This is fucking insane." Isaac said as he noticed that he was already dry, as if he never got wet to begin with.

He cautiously entered the elevator and looked at the lone switch. He hesitantly pulled it down.

SLAM!

Isaac yelped in surprise as the elevator door slammed shut and he started to slowly descend.

"What the fuck is wrong with this place?" he said to himself as he was lowered into the unknown.


"He is doing very well, considering the circumstances." Volteer observed as everyone was looking into the Pool of Visions, watching Isaac enter the elevator.

"Is there anything we can do to help him?" Umbra asked, fearing for her lover's safety because of the puzzle he just barely solved in time.

"I'm afraid not, as long as he's in that vision, there is nothing we can do for him." Tenebris answered regrettably.

"The most we can do is be there for him." Vex told the students.

Everyone nodded in understanding and looked back into the pool to see the elevator continue to slowly descend into the dark unknown.


Isaac stood patiently in the elevator. He looked through the windows to see a completely different terrain.

He sees what looks like a floating island in the middle of nowhere. The sky is filled with purple clouds and the general area has an unwelcome feeling to it. Like the previous environment, it's raining, but not as heavily.

'I didn't know that it rains in Convexity. Interesting.' the human teenager thought to himself, remembering the games he used to play as a kid.

He sighed heavily and looked at his hands.

"None of this makes any sense." he thought aloud.

The elevator slowly landed on the ground and the door grinded open. Isaac slowly walked out.

SLAM!

The door slammed shut again. Isaac quickly turned around to see the elevator rise up into the sky.

'Guess I'm not going back that way…' he thought to himself.

He heard the sound of footsteps behind him and turned around once again. Standing a few yards away from him is none other than Dark Isaac.

"I've come for you." Isaac growled as he formed electricity in his right hand.

The electricity moved up the spikes under his arm, between the spikes on his shoulders, back down the spikes, moved into his open hand, and repeated.

Dark Isaac slowly raised its head, allowing Isaac and everyone watching to see its face. Isaac took a step back in surprise.

Its face is identical to Isaac, but with noticeable differences besides the red eyes. It has very pale skin and is lacking the beard. Its eyes are sunken into its skull with dark circles around them. Its mouth is much wider than a regular human mouth and the lips have been completely replaced by rows of razor sharp teeth.

Dark Isaac silently raised its pistol, but Isaac shot it out of the monster's hand with a well aimed lightning bolt. The creature looked at its empty hand in confusion, but returned its emotionless gaze at Isaac.

To Isaac's surprise, electricity formed in the creatures arms. Unlike his own, Dark Isaac's electricity is pure black with a red center instead of a blue outline and white center. Instead of producing light, it's as if Dark Isaac's electricity is making the area darker.

'HOLY SHIT!" Isaac yelled as he took a few more steps back.

Isaac took a few deep breathes and adopted a combat stance and formed blue electricity in his other hand. Dark Isaac also went into a combat stance.

"Here we go…" Isaac growled under his breath.

They both stood there, waiting for the other to make the first move. Little sparks of electricity zapped out of them as the rain fell on them.

Finally, Dark Isaac rushed forward. Isaac jumped out of the way as bolts of dark electricity flew passed him. He turned around to see Dark Isaac standing where he once stood.

Isaac threw an electricity bomb at the creature, but it sped away at lighting fast speeds. The bomb harmlessly exploded where the creature once stood.

"How the fuck did it do that!" Isaac shouted in surprise, starting to have doubts.

Dark Isaac suddenly appeared in front of Isaac and delivered a hard punch to his cheek. Before he could retaliate, the dark entity bolted away.

'How am I supposed to fight something that I can't keep up with!?' he thought to himself as he wiped the blood away from his lip.

Dark Isaac appeared behind him and delivered a hard kick to his shin and zipped away again.

"FUCK!" the teenager shouted in pain as he fell to his knees.

He slowly, but shakily, stood back up, only to receive a hard punch to his stomach.


Voltage coughed up blood as his vision self was punched in the stomach.

"VOLTAGE!" Umbra screamed as she held Voltage.

"Keep him steady! It could be dangerous if he leaves the vision too early." Terrador ordered.

Umbra nodded with tears in her eyes and held him close. They all turned back to watch the teenager in the pool.


Isaac is breathing heavily while crouched. He is holding his stomach in obvious pain.

'I don't think I can do this…' he thought to himself, feeling his hands start to shake with pain and fear.

Just when he was about to lose all hope and give up, he saw Dark Isaac in the distance. It is standing there hunched over and breathing heavily.

"So you do have a limit." Isaac observed, regaining some of his confidence.

He formed electricity over his fists and sprinted towards the evil creature with a yell of defiance, almost like a battle cry. Once he was within striking distance, he punched the creature across the face, hard.

Dark Isaac stumbled back and held its lower face. It let go after a second, revealing blood flowing out of its nose.

"That's right you ugly motherfucker! I'm not done yet!" Isaac yelled angrily as he formed more electricity around his arms.

Dark Isaac didn't respond, instead it charged forward at normal speed. Isaac fired various lightning bolts at it, but it dodged most of them and the ones that connected only slowed it down slightly.

Dark Isaac leapt high into the air. Dark electricity formed around its extended foot and it began to fall straight down at high speeds. Isaac jumped into the air, using his electricity to propel him higher than an average jump.

Dark Isaac smashed into the ground, spreading a ground level shockwave that would've severely injured Isaac if he didn't jump.

Isaac gently landed on the ground and faced the evil entity with an angry look of determination. The dark creature formed electricity over its left arm and fired a black and red lightning bolt straight at Isaac.

Acting on instinct, Isaac held up his right hand to shield himself. The black electricity landed in his open hand and changed to the color of his own electricity. His own eyes started to glow blue with the newfound electricity. Isaac looked at the electricity with interest.

'This is helpful.' he thought as he focused his power into his fingers.

The electricity formed into claw like weapons and he charged forward. Dark Isaac shot more electric bolts at the teenager, but he caught every one and added it to his own power. With each electric blast he caught, his eyes glowed brighter.

Isaac ran up to the manifestation and stabbed its stomach with his right claws. Before it could retaliate, he slashed it away with his left claws.

Dark Isaac fell to the ground with a thud and Isaac stood above him. The teenager looked down at the creature with nothing, but hate and changed the claws to balls of energy in his palms.

"The only thing that can kill a monster… is another monster." Isaac explained angrily as he raised his arms over his head.

"DIE!" Isaac screamed in pure anger and hatred.

He quickly lowered his arms and released waves after waves over energy at the downed creature, not stopping for a moment. Isaac focused all of his anger and frustrations in this one attack.

After a whole minute passed, Isaac finally ceased his merciless attack. He breathed heavily as he looked down at the unmoving figure. Dark Isaac is covered in severe burns and is blackened from the intense heat. The corpse slowly evaporated until there was nothing left.

Isaac turned around and started to walk away from the scene. The area began to glow brightly, signaling the end of the vision.

"I hate you Malefor." Isaac growled darkly before he woke up.


Voltage slowly opened his eyes to see everyone looking down at him.

"VOLTAGE YOU'RE OKAY!" Umbra yelled happily as she hugged him.

"In pain here…" the teenager said weakly.

"Sorry…" his lover said sheepishly as she released her hold on him.

Tavilla walked to his side and held out some red healing crystals. The crystals flew out of her grasp and were absorbed into Voltage's form. Once that happened, most of the pain Voltage felt went away.

"Thank you. The power of those crystals never ceases to amaze me." the black dragon sighed with relief.

"You did it man! You stopped your darkness!" Pelko shouted happily.

"…I didn't stop Malefor…" Voltage said with a distressed expression.

The teenager sighed and looked at Spyro and Cynder.

"I can see why you don't like that bastard." he informed them as he slowly stood up with Umbra's help.

"Don't even worry about The Dark Master right now. You stopped your darkness, which defiantly puts a dent in his plans." Tenebris said as he patted Voltage on the back.

"Go and get some rest… you've earned it." Terrador told him.

Too tired to argue, Voltage nodded and let Umbra lead him to his room. After a short walk, they entered his room and Umbra layed him on his bed and pulled his blanket over him. She kissed his forehead and turned to leave.

"Um… Umbra…" the teenager started.

The black dragoness turned around and gave him her full attention.

"Can you… can you sleep here tonight?" Voltage asked with a small blush.

Umbra giggled at his embarrassed expression and nodded. She walked back to his bed and layed next to him. She pulled the blanket over both there forms and they cuddled for warmth.

"I love you." Voltage said tiredly.

"I love you too." Umbra answered with a smile.

They both closed their eyes and gently fell asleep in each other's embrace.