Chapter 25

Kurloz woke up surrounded by a murky black void. Somehow his wings and God-tier robes had disappeared; the game had saw fit to reset him back to his normal self, it seemed. Or perhaps it was the HorrorTerrors.

He could see Mituna and Prora Methos off in the distance, staring each other down. Kurloz tried to reach them, but no matter how far he flew they always seemed to be at the same distance. Somehow, he was trapped. He leaned as far as he could to listen to whatever could be heard.

Mituna, meanwhile, had just opened his eyes and was glaring at his Denizen, assuming that it had somehow cheated death.

"What?!" he said nervously and with shock. "But-but we killed you!" he cried.

"Calm yourself, boy," Prora Methos said in an almost scolding tone. "I am officially dead, at least in your timeline. I am an alternate Prora Methos, and as such I have an alternate purpose. I was brought here by a servant of Lord English. He is here to see that the agreement with his master is fulfilled." Mituna glanced at the small green man in a green hat that had a 6 on it. Die gave a small wave but said nothing.

"What do you want if I've already killed you, fair and square?" Mituna asked.

"I am giving you your reward, as per the agreement. Allow me to explain the deal to you in my own words, rather than having your mind filled with lies from my brethren: Long ago, long before your world was created, or most other worlds for that matter, my ancestors completed this game properly, and as our reward we were given immortality, reverence in suceeding dimensions crafted by paradox space, and some manipulation in the affairs of future players. Our race was also allowed to repopulate in the Furthest Ring, a domain given to my ancestors as their new kingdom."

"I was born some mere 7 million sweeps before your planet's birth. I was a 'runt', in your terms. A mutant among what your kind would consider already abhorrent enough. I was mocked for my small size, and having a finite mass and no ability to manipulate things beyond the 3rd dimension. A mere mortal. Until an outsider appeared to us from a very long way away in time. I still do not know whether he was from the past or the future, but it does not matter. He offered me at that moment infinite knowledge and promised infinite power later on."

"I foolishly took the offer, not realizing that infinite knowledge would also include the knowledge of the many ways in which I could die. No matter which timeline I looked into, it was inevitable. I realized too late that my wish had come with a price."

"I was also made into a Denizen, a game construct to wait for a very long time for your Session to begin. I could have tried to escape, but again, it was inevitable and fruitless, according to every timeline in which I tried. You see, Mituna, with great knowledge comes a knowledge of doom, which you are also capable of seeing. Our shared ability is what made me your Denizen."

"How does this affect me?" Mituna asked.

"I was approaching that. You see, I am from the single timeline-and there is only one, I checked-in which I am the victor against all 3 of you, and only because of a simple glitch in the game. The way in which I killed you is so amusing that you would be amused if you were not the victim."

"How did we die?"

"You fell down a flight of stairs, each one of you, that had accidentally been transported from another session, and a more...bizarre one, at that. The way in which I had to dispose of you was so...unbecoming of someone like me. Ick."

"But if you said every timeline of you is doomed, then why are you still alive?"

"I'm just not dead yet, Mituna. When this is over, I will have outlived my usefulness and be killed by Lord English. Again, if I had known my many fates I would have not taken his offer. But I cannot go back to that day; Lord English will simply send someone as powerful as myself after me: another player from your session."

"Who?"

"You will draw your own conclusion. Let us get to the present, shall we? The reason I am alive now is because I, as your Denizen, must reward you for your defeating of me, albeit that you did not strike the final blow."

"What sort of reward?"

"Mituna Captor, I offer you the Choice. You have two options: to either receive infinite power now, or to receive peace later. I must remark that your offer is disadvantageous, being an 'either-or' as opposed to my 'both-and'."

"I don't care what you're offering me, I'm not taking either one!"

"But you must. You cannot leave until you make your decision."

"Fine, fine. Just...give me time to think."

"Take more than you need."

Mituna thought carefully, weighing each option. He would like power, but didn't he already have that? But just then, he felt himself become weaker, at the same state as he had been before the HorrorTerrors had aided him. Was he to lose his power now that the battle was over?

"HE'S MOTHERFUCKIN' DECEIVIN' YOU, MITUNA! USE YOUR ABILITIES TO SEE WHAT HE MEANS BY EACH OPTION!"

Mituna, compelled to obey, concentrating, trying to see what would happen if he chose power.

A series of images flashed through his mind. Prora Methos dying. The green man vanishing. Pain. Uncontrollable energy from his head. Kurloz, dead. Latula, dead. Yellow tears. Yellow blood, mixing into a rainbow. The destruction of Prospit and Derse. And finally seeing Lord English, the image forever imbedding in his brain. And his destruction.

Mituna didn't need to see it again to know that this was the wrong choice. He then focused his mind to observe the second one.

His mind tried to make an image, but each one was faded and too brief to interpret. Frenzied screams, his skull banging against a wall, crying, huddling in a corner, slipping and falling on flat ground, and pain. So much pain. Another option Mituna knew he couldn't choose. Why had Prora Methos called this one 'peace and love'?

"You cannot refuse both, Mituna," Prora Methos said. "You must make the Choice."

Mituna tried to focus on the second option again, with the images being a bit clearer this time. He saw a few smiles, a face that was clearly Latula's, and heard her laughing and felt her embrace. Then he saw himself, sleeping in a fetal position like a helpless wriggler, with her wathcing over him.

"no on3's go1ng to hurt you, Tun4. 3v3ryth1ng w1ll b3 4ll r1ght. you h4v3 4 kn1ght to prot3ct you, just l1k3 you w3r3 for m3."

Mituna smiled, realizing which option he would have to choose.

"I...I choose love," he said softly. "And peace."

"A wise choice. You were blessed with the best and the worst power among your friends. But even this comes with a price," Prora Methos said. Reaching out a tentacle to his forehead, he touched Mituna lightly.

Pain shot through him, and he felt as if his brain was being destroyed before him. Memories surged through his mind, and he tried to think of Latula, as if that would somehow stopped the surging energy that was flooding his brain.

But it was no use, and he found himself falling, far from Prora Methos and Kurloz, far from this empty void, far from everything and everyone.

Mituna's mind was dying.

. . . . .

"0000000000000000WWWWWWWWWWWW! MY H34D! MY H3D!11!l!" Mituna cried, finally emerging from his slumber. Latula hugged him, not realizing that he had changed.

"Tun4, you'r3 b4ck!" she cried. Mituna broke free from her embrace and proceeded to bang his head against the wall of her hive, screaming at the top of his voice.

"44444444444HHHHHHHHHTH3YW0'NTG04W4YTH3YW0N'TG0WH1W0N'TTH3YG0G0G0G0G0G0?!1? 4H MY H34D HURTS 1'M B133D1NG H3LP H3LP A;GLHALSEHKGW;GLOWEIVNOVNNV;XRIOXE;GVXRIOGFNE;ROVNOXDVORNEGOPSURGNEVBIOH3LPH3LPH3LPH3LP3HPL3HL3H3PL3HL3H33PL3H3L3HLHP33LM33333333333333333333333333333333EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!'

"Tun4, stop! you'r3 hurt1ng yours3lf!" Latula pulled Mituna away, from the wall, feeling him for bruises on his forehead. She nearly gasped when she realized that Mituna's forehead was bleeding from the damage. She picked up Mituna, who was surprisingly much lighter than she, and held him down on the bed as he flailed about helplessly and foaming at the mouth. She quickly placed the covers over him, hoping that this would somehow pacify him while she tried some alchemization.

Go in the next room; I'm a friend of Cans, and I put something there for your boyfriend.

Latula obeyed the stuffy-sounding voice and saw a yellow and black helmet, complete with four horn holes. Latula immediately went and tried to put it on Mituna's head. He struggled and screamed, fearful of someone placing an object on his head, but eventually he stopped struggling when Latula lifted the covers off of him.

"TH4NKS 4 S4V1NG M3 FROM SCARY BL4NK3TSSSTHTHTH," Mituna said, immediately darting to the wall and slamming his head down on it once more twice before stopping.

"W4IT...TH3Y ST00P3D."

"4r3 you ok4y now, Tun4?" Latula asked. Mituna responded by climbing back into bed.

"1'M F1N3. BUT D0N'T T0UCH M3 0R I'LL, 1'LL 1'11...BLARGHTHPSTHPSTHPSTHSTPTHPSPTHSPTHQQQQQQQT!" Mituna cried, leaping onto Latula's bed. Latula reached out to wrap her arm around his shoulder, fearful of his reaction.

"4A4GH4G4GHG4HAGHGA4HGH4GHAGHAGAH4GHA4G4HG4HN0N0N0N0N0N0N0N0N0N0N0N0N0N0 NON NO NO NO NO...NODON'T T0UCH T0UCH...W41T...MMMMM. YOU SM311 N1C3. YOU SM3LL IK3 A TUL1PPPSTH. AR3 Y0UR N4M3 C4N B3 TUL1PS?2?"

"y3s, M1tun4, you us3d to c4ll m3 th4t, r3m3mb3r?" Latula reminded him.

"0 YEASTH, 1 DlD."

"M1tun4?"

"WH4T?"

"do you st1ll lov3 m3?"

"...YES." And her gave her a big hug to prove it.

"H3N 1 W111 H4V3 P3IC3?" Mituna asked.

"y34h, M1tun4, you c4n h4v3 p34c3 r1ght now, 4s long 4s you'r3 w1th m3."

"0l-l. G00D. 1 LOV3 U."

"1 lov3 you too, no m4tt3r wh4t." As she hugged him, Latula didn't care about how he had ended up this way; surely he could tell her later. Right now, she was just glad to have him back, safe and sound, and generally normal.

END OF ACT 2 PART 2

END OF ACT 2