Well, I'm not dead. I had forgotten about this for a while. Then Frozen is like, I just like wrote a whole chapter. When I check I'm shocked. It was actually pretty good. Then I added stuff onto that and here we are. Also I'm trying something new. When you see words in quotes "like this" between paragraphs. That means that that is a song that goes with the section. Roll that film!
I tensed up as I took in the arena. Snow drifts piled up around the fjord. Ice covered lakes glimmered off in the distance. Ribbons of green, blue, and violet filled the moonlit sky.
A figure covered in a ragged dark purple, almost black, cloak, was hovering before me. Small, paper thin, rectangular objects orbited their body. The hood they wore slid off slowly, bearing a skull. Their skeletal hands rose from the folds of the tattered garment. With a satanic smile Cursed Flush pushed his arms outward. The rectangles stopped their orbit and surged forward. With a quick slash, I relieved each object of its bottom half. As the rectangles fell I realized that they were actually playing cards. I skated forward, my blades glinting in the light of the aurora. Cursed Flush reached into his cloak and drew out two thick objects. With a slight toss, he threw the decks into the air. The cards inside the decks floated into the air, defying gravity. I went in for a lunge; but, the cards parried my strike. The meeting of the two generated sparks. Left slash, right swipe, thrust. Each attack was countered. I was getting nowhere. Anything I did would result in another failure. I skated back, out of immediate range. But then I heard a distorted voice, full of static, "NiGhTmArE ImPrIsOnMeNt,"
With a shower of sparks his special move bar grinded down. Cards poured from his cloak. An endless stream wrapped around the purple avatar. With a single movement, each of the cards were hanging in place. Simultaneously they each slammed into the snow, sending a plume of glittering powder into the air. As the snow settled, walls erupted around me. They came from out of nowhere. I start to panic. Golden Edge needs room to move in order to activate, which meant I was stuck… I was trapped with no hope of escape.
The timer read 1146, 1145, 1144. Each passing second leaving me more and more desperate. I swore the walls were slowly starting to close in around me. What started out as a 20 foot box was slowly shrinking. I wasn't in a good spot.
Sadness enveloped me. I was a failure. Even when I tried so hard to actually do something right, I fucked it up. Regardless of how hard I try everything spirals out of my control. I was a dumpster fire, a train wreck. A small ember of hope that tries to keep its meager flame burning; but it finally succumbs to the cold. Leaving me in a state of icy nothingness. The miserable existence that I tried so hard to escape from. My body locked up and I didn't move another inch…
For a split second, I black out.
My eyes open to a featureless room. I look around me at the limitless expanse. In front of me knelt a figure. Their arms chained behind them. I walk towards the person and stifle a gasp. What was in front of me was impossible. One half of their body was coated in golden armour, scuffed and dented. An amethyst eye dark, lacking it's vibrant glow. The other side of him was worse. Dark hair fell limp over their face. An uncovered torso was poketmarked with bruises, burns, bullet holes, and bleeding wounds. He was beaten within an inch of his life. He struggles febally, and lifts his head. I stagger back. Dark brown and amethyst eyes stare back at me. The twisted parody of Golden Edge and Lucius Veren looks right into my soul. I look at myself, him looking how I felt. With myself as my witness I make a promise. Never again would I let that happen to me. I would never give up hope. Never would I stop fighting back. Never. A smile graces the Lucius/Golden hybrid's face. He lets out a laugh as their wounds fade away. Scars melting away as dents buff themselves from gold. With a roar he shatters the chains binding him. Rising from the ground he looks right into my eyes and nods. "Blade Shift." He whispers as the room fades away and I wake up.
"I'm Alive" Shinedown
I thought my life was over and I had nothing else to live for, but that was completely wrong. Brain Burst is only a program and I had people to meet and care for. If I lost Brain Burst, I would lose my memories related to it too. That meant Golden Edge and Wayne would be gone forever. From nothing, a spark, the faint light of hope. I was just starting out. I couldn't give up now.
With walls closing in around me I make my move. I skate up the wall, leaping once I hit the top. I go into a backflip. Slowly tumbling through the air. My thoughts move back to my interaction with myself and his only spoken words. They had sounded like an ability name. I disregard that thought for a later date. I had a duel to win.
I thought of Winter Renegade, Wayne's avatar. What would he do in a situation like this? I am smart enough, but quick thinking is what really mattered in this moment. I recalled, that in one of our practice sessions, Wayne slid under me when I went for a head-on attack. That got me thinking… What if I dug beneath and popped out to attack Cursed Flush?
I listened for his quiet hum. Once I found it, I got to work. The timer was at 462 by the time I was below him. It was a better moment than ever to launch an attack. I jumped up as hard as I could, blades whispering through the air. I broke through the snow but I didn't see him immediately. I turned and saw his dark cloak. I went for a kick instead of my blades. The decision could have cost me a lot if I messed up, but I made contact and that caught him off-guard. After all you expect a person with razor sharp blades to use those. He was knocked to the ground, and it was time to finish him with my special attack.
"Golden Retaliation!" I stab into his downed form. My flaming blade cleaved through him like paper. Cursed Flush was defeated. His weak body twitched in the final moments to whisper, "I'll return…"
The arena faded as I went back to the real world. A warm ember of pride filled me. For the first time, I finally triumphed. From a spark, a flame. The fire of victory has emerged.
Again, holy shit. That was fun. Now for another 4 months of radio silence. See y'all then.Burningbeast