Chapter 8: Let the Exodus to Hell Begin!
Grimmjack was back in the bar drinking his ale when Heruseus and the others. Gaia and Heruseus were murmuring amongst themselves as Dragonstar plopped down next to Grimmjack. "Hey Luke, how mad do you think Theo would be if I had reminded him Josh was dead?"
"Probably he'd want to chop you into tiny bits, through you into hell, then drop your charred remains into Tartarus and then watch as you're turned into nothing. Why?" Grimmjack said.
"Um, is it really that gruesome?" Dragonstar asked worried.
"Usually its worse. For someone who isn't his best friend, he'd probably torture them for 6 days, and then let them heal while pouring salt in the wounds, literally, and then cut you up, through you into hell, drop your charred remains into Tartarus and watch you turn into nothing," Grimmjack responded.
"So does that mean I'm one of his best friends?" Dragonstar asked hopefully.
Grimmjack smiled and said, "Not a chance!"
"You're no help," Dragonstar left.
She walked up to Heruseus. "Theo, I'm sorry,"
"Are you? I don't believe you," he got up and left.
"Ok, you don't get to talk to him anymore," Gaia sighed.
"I will accompany him on his walk," Leona got up, bowed to the waitress and left behind a tip of 1,000 col.
Leona burst through the doors. She saw Heruseus on the balcony. "Good afternoon Mister Heruseus," she smiled.
"Just Heruseus is fine," Heruseus smiled weakly.
"Alright then. What seems to be troubling you?" Leona asked.
Heruseus sighed, "Its Dragonstar. I can't tell when she's actually apologizing or just telling me what I want to hear,"
"Tell her how you feel," Leona stated simply.
"Are you nuts? No way! She hates me!" Heruseus wailed.
"I don't hate you," Dragonstar whispered softly.
"Dammit she heard us," Heruseus sighed.
"I asked her to accompany us in secret. I apologize for my deception," Leona sighed.
"I'm still pissed off. Steph, I do still like you a bit but, I've backed off. I mean, Evan is a close friend, so I guess I was 'like, nope, not gonna try,'" Heruseus sighed.
"Man, you got braver in the past 15 minutes," she smiled.
"Well, I realized that Josh can't be my physical shield anymore, but, hey, my soul needs a shield too," Heruseus smiled sadly.
"That was deep bruh," Flare sighed.
"Who else followed us?!" Heruseus demanded.
"Just a humble rose knight," said a deep, soothing voice, followed by fallen rose petals and the stench of roses.
"Beautiful!" Dragonstar cried out.
"Be careful. Roses have thorns, milady," the voice called out again.
Using his Search skill, Heruseus located the source of the voice. The voice came from a male player with deep blue eyes and blonde hair. He had a soothing smile. He bowed deeply. "We got to get out of here. I feel like these roses are familiar…" Heruseus trailed off.
"Good or bad?" Dragonstar asked.
"Bad-" Heruseus started, but was stabbed by Leona, whose kind smile was replaced by a sinister, insane smile.
Heruseus struggled to say something, but instead did a quick 6-part whistle. In less than a second Grimmjack flew through the door, his usual smile was replaced with an intense frown.
"Bash 'em up, Grimm!" screeched Flare.
Grimmjack drew his giant greatsword and charged a sword skill, Earth Rend. Leona dodged out of the way and dropped Heruseus. Heruseus was gasping, even though he lost no HP because he was in town. Gaia ran up to the rose knight and pushed him off the balcony, out of the boundaries of town. The rose knight grabbed onto a cliff edge. "Heh, if he lets go, he'll die. The fall would kill him. I would survive though,"
"True, but someone is waiting below for you!" Leona cackled and shoved Gaia down the cliff.
Heruseus grabbed Dragonstar and jumped after him. He jabbed his sword into the side of the cliff to slow their fall. When the hit the ground, they lost very little HP. Both drank health pots and the felt a sinister presence. Dragonstar gasped and cried out, "Heruseus look!"
Heruseus turned to see Shinigami. "Didn't you learn your lesson?"
"I'm done going easy, boy," He practically spat the word "boy". "'Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!'"
"What does that even mean?!" Dragonstar cried out.
"In a nutshell? Murdering babies is a good time," Heruseus grimaced at the terrifying Bible verse.
Shinigami charged at Heruseus. Heruseus closed his eyes to embrace the blade. There was a dark flash and a slashing sound. Heruseus opened his eyes to see Gaia, whose HP dropped to 0. "Let the Exodus to Hell begin!" Shinigami cried out loudly.
"Gaia!" Dragonstar cried.
"I…will…miss…you…Heruseus…take…care…of…her…" Gaia struggled.
"She doesn't need protecting!" Heruseus murmured.
Gaia frowned deeply and muttered weakly, "Promise…me…" before shattering.
Dragonstar's cry ripped the world apart. Heruseus screamed like an animal. He was soon covered in a black aura, and his pupils became slits, his irises became a deep, glowing orange. Heruseus sword turned a deep shade of black. "You made Dragonstar hurt more than any pain you could imagine. Now I'll return the pain 10-fold!" Heruseus' voice had become distorted, it became deeper.
Heruseus charged like a bolt of lightning to Shinigami, who silently dodged the violent sword strikes. Heruseus heard a screamed and turned momentarily to see Lance, fall to his death. He was impaled be Shinigami. "How does it feel watch your friends die?"
"'Is it right to go on? They're all gone. Died for the planet. Will they ... will they ever forgive me? ... Right now, I don't really know.'" was all Heruseus said.
"The hell are you rambling about?" Shinigami grunted.
"But what I do know," Heruseus continued, "is that they didn't die in vain! They died so that we could fight on! Now I suggest in this mass Exodus," Heruseus pushed himself of Shinigami's blade, "we send some snakes to Hell as well!"
Heruseus jumped up to the rose knight's position and threw him at the ground. He charged after him and impaled him just before he hit the ground. The player survived, but Heruseus cursor turned orange. In S.A.O, a player's cursor is determined by their crimes. Green is a neutral player; orange is a player who has stolen or harmed. Orange players only stay orange for up to a few weeks, depending on their crimes. But a red player is a player who murdered another player. The only way for such players to become green again is for them to do good karma quests.
"Rōzu! No!" Shinigami broke his tough guy act to mourn his fallen comrade.
"Rōzu? That's a creative name," Heruseus said sarcastically. "Seriously? Japanese for rose? Nerds…"
"Says the one who can name every item from floor 1 to floor 10, their exact drop rate, what store they can be found in, their sell price and their purchase price," Flare dropped down from the cliffside, drinking a health pot.
"Knowledge is power. Any casualties upstairs?" Heruseus asked.
"Yes. Leona ran off, Diana is crying because her brother showed up and died trying to stop his evil sister,"
"I don't trust any of her siblings anymore," Heruseus sighed.
Shinigami had run off, leaving behind a single trampled rose, its thorns long gone. It shattered a few seconds later.
"That was gruesome," Talon dropped down from the cliff. The other members of Dark Theorem followed.
"Let me do a head count; Dragonstar, you, Talon, Aris, Azerath, Diana, Grimmjack, Terriblelizard and myself. That's 9 of us left," Flare noted grimly.
He noticed Heruseus' hair covered his face. Heruseus was oddly silent.
"C'mon dude, don't break down and leave us now!" Flare cried.
"I won't. I can't," his voice was ragged. Tears fell down his depressed face. He wiped his eyes. I need to stop being a wimp.
Crying is natural.
Shut up! I need to be strong like Josh!
Josh cried when he was sad. I think Josh would be proud of who we have become. You know he'd be proud of our bravery, courage and strength.
Leave me alone!
I can't leave myself alone!
Dammit stop giving me a headache! Heruseus argued in his head.
"Heruseus? Are you going to be ok?" Dragonstar asked.
Heruseus shook his eyes clear of his warm tears. "Yeah. Just give me a second,"
"Heruseus? I hate to say this, but you do realize you just killed someone?" Flare asked.
"No. The fall did. I just…Mortally wounded him," Heruseus argued.
"Okay then," said Flare.
"Don't worry, Heruseus has all this under control, right man?" Dragonstar asked.
"Yeah. Hey, Justin?" Heruseus asked.
"What?" Talon replied.
"Everyone is going to break down into teams. Teams of jobs," Heruseus began.
"Hold up," Talon interrupted. "There'll be an odd man out though,"
"No there won't be," Heruseus smile and pointed at the cliff's shadow.
There stood a young man with long black hair and a spear. "You forgot me in the head count" smiled Titanus.
"Oh, continue Theo," Talon motioned.
"Titanus and Flare, your job is to cook for us," Heruseus started.
"Hell yeah!" Flare cried out.
"Hell no!" Titanus cried.
Terriblelizard and Dragonstar, your job is to collect materials for upgrading, blacksmithing, etc.," He continued.
"I'm down with that," Dragonstar smiled.
"One question. Can I build a TARDIS?" Terriblelizard asked.
"Yes. Only if I get to help," Heruseus smiled.
"Cool," Terriblelizard smiled back.
"What's my job?" Aris asked.
"You and Diana get to use the materials Team 2 finds and turn them into clothes," Heruseus smirked.
"Oh man, why do I have to work with him?" Diana asked.
"Next, Azerath and Grimmjack, you guys to hunting for food," Heruseus continued.
"Cool," said Azerath.
"Finally, Talon and I will be working as the team tactians," Heruseus finished.
"What are tactians?" Flare asked.
"Tactians are people who not just plan battles, but take part in them. Kinda like the shadow of the general. Kind of like the mind of the general," Talon explained.
"Oh. That sounds lame," Flare sighed.
"Like hell it is!" Heruseus yelled.
"You're just lame," Flare shrugged.
"Says the kid who thinks roller coasters that have no loops are too intense," Heruseus smirked.
"They are! There too fast!" Flare whined.
"Not really. But if it helps, you can always ride the baby roller coasters," Dragonstar joked.
"See? She does take after me!" Terriblelizard laughed.
"And you take after me," Heruseus sighed.
"Alright Dark Theorem, let's get going!" Diana cheered.
No one remembered the horrible Exodus of lives. No one will forget it forever, but for now, all they could do, is not think of the horror. Not until everything was over. Heruseus thought. Heruseus felt a warm sensation on his right ring finger. It was a dragon ring with a black and green crystal. It came with a voice message. "Hey, Heruseus, you in there?" Dragonstar asked.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, just thinking of a new plan to clear floor 16," Heruseus laughed.
Heruseus stayed quiet about his new ring. He'd have to check the voice crystal that came with it later.
"Well, then Mr. Tactician, let's go!" she smiled.
"If we must," Heruseus sighed.
"Can you two lovebirds hurry up?" Aris sighed.
Heruseus and Dragonstar blushed. "I-it's not like that!" Dragonstar sputtered.
Am I really falling in love with her again? Heruseus asked himself. I can't be… She just lost Evan. I mean, sure, they stopped liking each other a while ago, but still, I can't come off as a jerk. I just need to cool my jets. Heruseus slapped his cheeks.
"Aris, despite whatever you may be thinking, we are not in love with each other," Heruseus sighed.
But I love her… Heruseus thought to himself.
Heruseus is acting kinda weird. I wonder if he's ok? Dragonstar thought to herself.
Terriblelizard smiled. "…What?" Flare noticed her smile.
"Look at the way Heruseus is blushing near her…It's back," she smirked.
"The greatest crush of all time is here once more," Flare giggled.
"What are you two girls giggling about?" Grimmjack walked over to them.
"The crush is back!" Titanus ran over to the trio.
"We know," Terriblelizard laughed.
Soon everyone except for Dragonstar and Heruseus was whispering to each other about "The Crush".
"Um what is going on?" Dragonstar asked.
"How should I know…" Heruseus smiled.
"Well, David, come on!" Terriblelizard yelled at Heruseus as she walked towards the wilderness.
"David?" Heruseus asked.
"Yeah. You're David Tennant and I'm Matt Smith," Terriblelizard explained.
"What am I?" Dragonstar asked eagerly.
"Peter Capaldi?" Heruseus offered.
"Christopher Eckelson?" Terriblelizard offered.
"Eww. Sorry I asked," Dragonstar stuck he tongue out.
The trio laughed.
