Hello, hello, hello, what's happenin' readers?

Just a side-note before I start, I've re-uploaded chapter 3 with mistakes corrected, etc. Also, Dream Decay and the Silver Wasp belongs to the one and only Haseo the Terror of Death.

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 76: Saviour

"Don't you think you've had enough?" the barmaid asked with a genuinely concerned look in her eyes. I sighed, gulping down my tenth beer.

"Probably," I admitted. My speech was beginning to slur.

"Look, I know you well enough to know that something is wrong when you're drinking this much," she told me. "You feel like talking about it? There's barely anybody here, all the glasses are clean, and so I have nothing to do. You look like you need to let something out." I felt a voice in the back of my mind protest, but I was too drunk to care, so I spilled my heart.

"I feel like my entire life was a mistake," I sobbed. "Everything I do causes misery to others. I'm the whole reason we're facing so many problems!"

"You don't get it, do you?" the barmaid laughed. "If it weren't for you, Falador would be a ghost town! You and your friends have saved the lives of so many people!"

"But I was the reason they needed saving," I grumbled. "I was the cause of the vampires coming to Falador. I made Cedric doubt Sir Amik Varze enough to team up with vampires."

"What Cedric didn't understand was that you solved the problems around you," the barmaid replied.

"At a cost," I said sadly. "Like when I did something as simple as helping Doric the dwarf, I had a group of chaos dwarves after my blood. To solve that, I ended up killing their leader in a most gruesome manner when he could have simply been arrested."

"Mainiac97, feeling guilt for saving lives?" the barmaid fake-gasped. "How did that happen?"

"I really wish I knew," I sighed. "I remember in the olden days I didn't care much about killing people. But now I feel so guilty about death. All my friends are either dying or going away, one by one. I don't feel very happy at the moment. What's happening to me?"

"You'll have to ask a doctor about that," the barmaid frowned. "I wish I could help more, really, but I'm still getting a lot of trouble involving Emily's disappearance. You know I'm here whenever you need someone to talk to."

"Thanks Tina," I mumbled. The name Emily rung a bell, but I wasn't thinking straight enough to consider it. I left the bar, stumbling slightly.

The sun was finally out today. The weather had been gloomy for a long time, which I associated with the 'approaching darkness'. It was refreshing to see the sun out, but I'd just been in a pitch-black bar for the last hour or so, so the sun hurt my eyes. Being drunk never helped me either. I moaned, stumbling around, trying to shade my eyes the best I could.

"Drunk again?" someone behind me questioned with a hint of discontent in his voice. Before I could reply, suddenly, a strange sensation swept through me. My head cleared, and I no longer had to shade my eyes from the sun glaring down on me. I turned around, and saw Capablanca. He gave me a slightly disapproving smile. "This is the third time this week that I've had to cast a sobering spell on you." I gave him an apologetic look. "Why, Mainiac97? It isn't helping you one bit. Is something wrong?"

"No, not at all," I lied. I still felt down, so I decided to have a walk around. Capablanca shook his head and went back to his patrolling duty.

I knew my drinking was a problem. I'd spent over 400gp on beer in the last month or so, and that meant something, considering beer only cost 2-5gp. I'd been considering talking to someone about my worries and issues but there was nobody that I felt entirely comfortable talking to. I did try talking to Osrie1 before, but he wouldn't understand. Amy11 was more sympathetic, but she couldn't do more than give me a comforting hug. I'd been channelling my worry into work recently, but I wasn't sure how much more I could push myself.

Recently, I'd decided to stop gathering supplies for my house, deciding to start work on the new room. I wasn't sure what the room as going to be used for at the moment, but I was beginning work on it. I was aided by Dream Decay, who knew a thing or two about building.

Falador square was bustling with activity around me. Children ran around happily, taking advantage of the sunlight. People sat in benches, and all of the shops were holding summer sales. White knights stood around, keeping an eye on things. Security had tripled since the murders.

The one thing that caught my eye, though, was a stall. The man in the stall was selling small pots of a strange substance.

"What is that stall selling?" I asked Capablanca curiously as he passed me.

"That's what they call frozen cream, commonly known as 'ice cream'," Capablanca replied, still looking slightly displeased at me being drunk.

"What is 'ice cream' made of?" I queried.

"It's made out of a mixture of cream, milk, and sugar," Capablanca informed me. "Sometimes they add other things to the mix, like chocolate, or fruit. The mixture is frozen by a mage, and stirred a little to keep chunks of ice from forming. The result is a smoothly textured ice cream."

"How do you know all of this?" I grilled.

"We white knights had to inspect the stall before it was set up," Capablanca smiled. "In these harsh times, we need to make sure everything and everybody is reliable. The murders taught us a valuable lesson about being lax, so Cedric didn't die in vain. Besides, I discovered recently that the stall is set up every summer when/if the weather is nice. The stall is also celebrating the end of the murders, so it'll be up for longer this year. There are identical stalls in Lumbridge, Varrock, Seer's Village, and Ardougne." I went up to the stall, and joined the small queue.

After a while, I reached the front of the queue. A pile of pots, spoons and ingredients stood to one side of the man behind the stall. On the other side, another man in light blue robes stood over several large metal containers, muttering strange words. Blue light was coming from one of his hands, while the other was making stirring motions. He was obviously casting a spell to freeze the mixtures in the metal containers, while also casting another one to stir the contents.

"Hello, what can I get you?" the man behind the stall said cheerily.

"I'll have an 'ice cream'," I requested. He nodded.

"Any particular flavour?" the man enquired.

"What flavours do you have?"

"We have plain ice cream, chocolate, strawberry, banana, and watermelon," the man listed, counting with his fingers.

"I'll try a chocolate one, please," I decided. The man grabbed a pot and a spoon. He went up to a metal container, and spooned some ice cream into the pot. He handed it to me.

"That'll be 24gp, please," the man said. I handed him the money, and he gave me the pot. I walked off, satisfied.

I ate my ice cream. It was really cold and refreshing; it was perfect for a hot day like this. It had a very sweet taste but you could also taste the cream. The chocolate was strong. They must make a small fortune from the stall, I thought. When I finished, I licked my lips. It was delicious, but it didn't lift my spirit much. I still felt a little gloomy, reflecting on my life and the woe that surrounded it. I put my pot and spoon back on the stall, and went to sit on a bench.

Just as I sat down, I noticed that I was sitting right next to Dream Decay. He looked up, and he gave me a grin. I grinned back half-heartedly.

"Hello," he greeted. "How are you?"

"I'm not feeling too good at the moment," I admitted. "I'm kind of depressed, actually. The recent occurrences with Cedric, Mort and Aaron have really opened my eyes to how much death and destruction I have caused. My very existence threatens everyone I love and care about. So many people are after me for one reason or another. Psychics know something about me that even I don't know. Evil follows in my footsteps. I mean, even when I lift a finger to help Doric the dwarf, I run into scum (no pun intended, of course). I occasionally wonder if life is worth living if it carries such a heavy burden." Dream only laughed, which infuriated me. Why didn't anyone take me seriously any more?

"I know exactly how you feel," Dream told me seriously. "I was going through a very tough time a while ago. I was having strong feelings of guilt. I also questioned whether life was worth living if it carried such a curse, but in the end I realised something. Tell me, what do you enjoy in life?"

I had to think for a minute before I decided on my answer. "Well, I love all of my friends. I love seeing other people happy. I love the charged atmosphere in parties, and I love the sense of adventure when exploring an unfamiliar place. I used to love the full moon on a quiet night, but I've lost that love recently."

"It sounds like you love a lot of things in life," Dream smiled. "Now weigh the positives and the negatives. Think about it. If the good things in life mean enough to you, you'll trudge through the bad to live the good."

"But I endanger my friends," I protested. "It's a terrible risk."

"Do you think they care?" Dream chortled. "Tell me, have any of your friends actually died as a result of your curse? Yes, Mark had to leave, but that had nothing to do with you. Aaron left too, but that was his own decision. Neither of them died because of you. Yes, Cedric died, but he was bad news anyway. If he continued to live, goodness knows how much trouble he would have caused. Neither Scum the dwarf or Mort were your friends."

It was at that moment it hit me. Life may be a little grimy in places, but there were some really good things in it. I didn't realise what I had. Friends may have suffered because of me, but they didn't seem to care. None of them had actually died because of me. What was the use in drowning my sorrows in alcohol and questioning life? I should be enjoying my life, not wasting it worrying about the curse it carries. Life is a gift, and throwing it away wouldn't help anybody. I stood up, and shook Dream's hand.

"Thanks buddy," I grinned. "I needed that boost."

"Any time," Dream beamed.

We spent the next ten minutes talking about my house. Dream suggested putting a kitchen in the new room I was in the process of building, but I wasn't too sure. Just as I was standing up to get some more ice cream, the earth started shaking. I fell over, and Dream helped me up.

"What's going on?" Dream asked seriously. Several cracks appeared in the ground. People started screaming and scattering until only the white knights remained. The shaking got so aggressive that the stall collapsed, burying the poor workers behind it in debris, pots and spoons. The statue of Saradomin gave off a heavy rumbling noise, and toppled over with a thunderous crash. All of a sudden, the earth below me collapsed. I jumped out of the way. A metal drill burst from the ground, and the Brown Beetle pulled himself from the hole. He turned to me, giving me a filthy scowl. He wore his brown leather costume, with menacing metal drills instead of hands.

"Well, look who it is," he hissed. "It's Falador's great hero. Yes, I heard about what you and your little friends did. So you saved Falador from a group of bloodthirsty vampires, at the cost of the life of a white knight senior. You must be so proud of yourself." I could hear a tint of sarcasm in his greasy voice.

I opened my mouth to say something, but I was interrupted by a heavy buzzing noise from the sky. I looked up and I saw the Pink Butterfly flying down to us. I noticed that she was wearing her usual pink leather costume, but this time massive metal wings protruded from her back. In her hands she held a small black tube. She landed cleanly next to the Brown Beetle.

"Hello again," she said sweetly. The Brown Beetle moaned.

"Did you have to bring your lipstick?" he snapped. The Pink Butterfly snickered.

"This isn't a lipstick, fool," she said coldly. "You, of all people, should know that by now." It was slightly unnerving to see her usually sweet and sinister personality freeze. She held the 'lipstick' in front of her (the tip facing us), and pressed a button. A massive stream of flames poured from the tip of the tube. I yelped and dived out of the way.

I heard a very familiar roaring sound from behind me. I saw the Black Fly approaching at very high speed on his motorbike, a triumphant smirk plastered on his face and the Silver Wasp behind him, her arms wrapped around his shoulder. As usual, large wings protruded from her back. These wings were genuine wings, as opposed to the Pink Butterfly's metal wings. They got off the bike. The Black Fly seemed to remove the seat from the motorbike, and pulled out a flat metal square with pipes and odd buttons on it. He pressed a button on this metal square, and it grew, transforming into the Black Fly's sky stick. The Black Fly jumped on his stick, and flew above us.

"You've encountered us separately, now it's time for you to feel our true power when we're together!" he yelled. "Many months ago, you managed to avoid the grasp of the Demon Clan, but I hired some more powerful members, and we are back and stronger than ever!"

I spun around frantically. Dream and I were surrounded by the Brown Beetle, Pink Butterfly and Silver Wasp. They were closing in slowly.

"We have no choice but to fight," Dream whispered. I gasped.

"We can't!" I shouted. "They're way too strong. We'll get ripped apart!"

"Either way, we'll get ripped to shreds," he grumbled in reply. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather die with honour and dignity if I'm to die at all."

"Very well," I agreed reluctantly. Holding my breath, I charged towards the Silver Wasp.

I was blasted into the air by her fist. It was unexpected, to say the least. Screaming, I began falling, but I was grabbed by the scruff of the neck by the Black Fly. Sniggering, he punched me repeatedly in the stomach. I spluttered, struggling against his vice-like grip, but no avail.

"You like the feeling?" he spat. "This is the feeling of humiliation and defeat you gave me. You defeat all of your foes by accident, by luck, but not today. Today, you die!" He punched me so hard I began coughing up blood. He pulled out his green electrocuted sword with the jagged blade. I eyed it, terrified.

"Hey, Fly!" The Brown Beetle yelled. "Come on, share!" The Black Fly shrugged, putting his sword away (to my relief). I was dropped over thirty feet onto the ground. I stood up, checking myself for broken ribs and bruises. I felt several.

The Brown Beetle approached me slowly. He looked like he would have cracked his knuckles if he had any.

"This is for what you did to me in the dwarf mines!" he bellowed. His left drill/hand started spinning. I screamed as my arm was almost ripped off. I looked down to see a massive bloody gash across my chest, with a small hunk of flesh missing from my shoulder. I knelt down in agony, clutching my shoulder. He stomped on my shoulder gleefully, causing me more pain.

I looked into his muddy-brown eyes. They were rolling madly. I shuddered, and dragged myself up. I swung my fist towards him, and it hit him on the cheek. He swore, and his spinning drill went towards my stomach. I dodged cleanly. He angrily jumped up, and dove into the ground.

The earth around my feet cracked and collapsed. I tried to avoid falling into the constantly moving pit of earth, but it was difficult. I narrowly avoided getting mauled by a drill appearing underneath me. The Brown Beetle crawled from the earth, and swung his drill towards me again, and it clipped my leg. I fell over in pain. I tried to crawl away, but then the Silver Wasp grabbed me and started beating me black and blue. There was a manic glint in her eyes. I felt for something to protect myself with on my belt. I felt weapons but no shields. It just occurred to me that I had no decent shield to protect myself with. I decided to buy one if I ever got out of the battle alive.

This was pure hell for me. I'd just been dragged from a peaceful chat with Dream and into a nightmarish world of pain and revenge. I was so badly injured I couldn't even describe it. My entire body felt like it had been through a blender several times.

I watched from the corner of my eye as Dream Decay tried to fight the Pink Butterfly unsuccessfully. He dodged streams of hot flames that licked at his ankles. Capablanca and three white knights had joined the fight, battling ferociously against the Brown Beetle and the Black Fly. I was distracted by a punch to the face by the Silver Wasp.

"I'm getting bored now," she hissed. She pulled out her long, silver javelin from a sheath on her back. She pointed it to my throat. I closed my eyes and waited for the dreaded moment where she would plunge it through my neck and kill me. It never came. I opened an eye cautiously to see a white knight bravely grab her from behind, keeping her from killing me. She growled in anger, swung around, and sent him flying backwards with her elbow. The distraction was enough for me to stand up and unsheathe Silverlight. It was very painful, considering I'd just been beaten brutally. She turned around to see me in a battle stance. She snorted.

"You really think you can fight me?" she giggled. She wielded her javelin the way you'd wield a sword, and ran forward. Our weapons clanged together loudly as we battled ferociously. I was losing strength quickly, and she just had to kick me once for me to fall back, gasping for breath. I quickly cast a water spell on her, but it didn't hurt her. She started flapping her wings and she flew into the air. She was poised to throw her javelin at me.

All of a sudden, something appeared in my hand. It was a familiar card with a picture of a mouse wearing a highwayman's mask. The simple word 'duck' was scrawled onto the card. I looked around for ducks, but then I realised what the card meant by 'duck'. I ducked, and a steel sword flew over my head and hit the Silver Wasp in the wing. She screeched and fell to the earth with a crash. The steel sword seemed to disappear in mid-air. Something flew past me, and began attacking the Silver Wasp. She squeaked, and tried to fly, but couldn't because of her injured wing. She was knocked around like a rag-doll by the mysterious blur. After a particularly hard strike to the head, she was knocked unconscious.

The blur stopped for a split second, and I recognised the person as the man from the feast. He was the person who saved me from the Noob Exterminators, and he sent the mysterious key to me on Christmas. He was rather tall, and painfully thin. He had messy dark brown hair like the end of a mop, and brown eyes with a hopeless, dead, dank look to them. He wore baggy black clothes, and a rather long black cape. He wore sturdy leather boots. A steel sword hung from a holster on his black clothes. He gave me a quick smile, and rushed off towards the Brown Beetle.

The Brown Beetle literally screamed as he was dragged out of battle. He was spun around and tossed into the air. He was sent flying into the Black Fly, who was knocked off his sky-stick. The sky-stick spiralled downwards, smashing into the Black Fly's motorbike. There was a small explosion and all that remained was a pile of burning rubble. The Pink Butterfly panicked and sent a stream of fire everywhere. Thankfully, my mysterious saviour knocked her weapon out of her hands and into the White Knight Castle moat. The Pink Butterfly had one of her metal wings ripped off. She was hit with the wing and was knocked unconscious. The mysterious man stopped running around. He gathered all of the Demon Clan together. They were all unconscious.

"Get some backup to lock them up," he whispered to Capablanca and the other white knights. They nodded, looking awestruck, and ran off towards the castle.

He grabbed my arm and began dragging me away, but he was stopped by Dream Decay.

"Wait a second. I'm very grateful to you for saving us, but you can't whisk my friend off like that. What do you plan to do now? Who are you?" he demanded. The man sighed.

"You can come too if you must," he said, defeated. He grabbed Dream's arm and dragged us both off. It hurt a lot, considering I'd just had most of my ribs and a few other bones broken.

He stopped dragging us after a while when he realised he was causing me pain. He led us through the streets of Falador, and up to a manhole. He opened the manhole, and dropped into the pipe system. It was disgusting. A small river of filthy brown water ran underneath my feet. The whole tunnel was rusty. It was similar to the other tunnel which led to the reservoir of dirty sewage. You could practically taste it.

The man led us down a long and confusing pipe system before we arrived at something random to find in a pipe system: a door. He unlocked and opened the door and we stepped inside.

We were inside a small room. In one corner, there was a small pile of hay accompanied with a blanket. Next to it stood a small picture frame. In another corner, a sink accompanied with a toilet sat there. In a corner close to us, there was an anvil, and in the final corner, a large cupboard stood.

"Before we do anything else, let's get you healed," he muttered, mostly to himself. He muttered a spell, and my bones seemed to heal themselves. Bruises and cuts were still there, but this man had fixed most of the damage.

"I've been living in this small room for over two years," the man sniffed. "I'm too poor to afford an actual house. I'm not really allowed in here, but we're so deep in the pipe system nobody really notices."

"Who exactly are you?" I interrogated. "I'm very grateful for you saving my life on more than one occasion, but who exactly are you?"

"Well," he groaned. "You can call me Ninjamouse1." I narrowed my eyes. It was an odd name, but I guessed Mainiac97 wasn't much better. It also explained the picture on his cards. "I've had a terrible past that I would rather not recount. I spend endless days in here, slaving over my trusty anvil, trying to make a few coins." He opened his cupboard, and pulled out a small sack full of coins. "I make the money by selling armour I make to people, or to the Falador general store. I use this money to buy my food, but if I can't afford it I steal it." He pulled out a bigger sack full to the brim with coins. "I'm saving up slowly to buy my own house. I don't like stealing this 'house', I don't like stealing food, and I don't like stealing anything, but I will if I have to. I'm quite an accomplished thief, if I do say so myself."

"Why exactly do you save me constantly?" I asked, this time a little more kindly.

"You remind me of myself when I was younger," he admitted. "I have the peculiar gift of peering into people's thoughts. I don't like doing it, but it can be useful. That's how I knew about that brute Madrey1's past."

"I remember you sent me a key last Christmas," I reminded him. "What does it do?"

"I don't really know," he confessed. "I was on my way back to Falador after selling some armour to noobs in Lumbridge and I found a dying man on the crossroad near Draynor. He told me to give the key to someone trustworthy, or keep it myself. He then died. I had no use for it, but I thought, as an adventurer, maybe you would." I felt in my pocket, and took the key out. He nodded towards it. "You never know."

"OK, thanks for answering my questions," I thanked him. "It's been nice meeting you. I have one more question: why didn't you introduce yourself to me before?"

"You scared me before," he replied honestly. "Simply because, when I tried to peer into your mind, all I saw was darkness. I've never had problems with my gift before, so when I saw nothing but black in your head I panicked. Only today I realised that there was no need to be afraid of you."

"Odd things happen to me," I observed. "I'm never completely sure why they happen. It's very unnerving and difficult to live with, but I just have to live with them. I hate that I'm such a magnet for weirdness, disaster and destruction, but only recently did I learn that to live the pleasures of life you need to slog through the bad things." I smiled at Dream knowingly, and he smiled back.

We chatted casually for five to ten minutes, before I decided it was time to go. Ninjamouse1 guided us through the tunnels to the ladder which we came in through. He waved us goodbye, and we left the sewers.

We walked back into the Falador square. White knights surrounded the area, investigating. The members of the Demon Clan were in chains and were being dragged away by a small fleet of white knights, still unconscious. We walked up to Jamie and a white knight commander, who were talking.

"So basically, we're going to have to keep the one in brown under a spell?" Jamie enquired. The commander nodded.

"He has those drill devices as hands," he answered sombrely. "He could easily drill through metal and escape, so we have to cast a spell on him that would keep him in a trance to he would be unable to escape. As a master of fact, I think we should cast that enchantment on all of them. We don't know what they all can do." Dream and I walked away.

"Want to go to your house and carry on work?" Dream Decay asked. I nodded. I pulled out the teleportation tablet, and we both teleported to my house.

As we worked, I considered my very busy day. I was glad my mind was put to rest involving Ninjamouse1, because worries had constantly plagued me about him before today. He was surprisingly powerful, but he'd probably had a lot of experience.

I felt much better after my chat with Dream earlier. Although I still despised my life to an extent, I'd have to grow used to it, or I'd be constantly depressed over it. I still had things to look forward to, like friends, food, fights, and, of course, my house! I had my whole life ahead of me. I couldn't lose all of that because of my pessimistic way of thinking.

I was glad I had a good friend in Dream. He was always there to help me through my worst worries and my most vile moods. He was very eager to help people around him. If it weren't for him, I probably wouldn't even have a house right now! I was very grateful that I knew someone like him.

I was slightly shaken after my encounter with the Demon Clan. I could fight each member on their own (albeit I'd need help), but when they were together they were unstoppable. The Black Fly always floated above, ready to grab unsuspecting victims. The Brown Beetle was a tough nut that could batter even the strongest of foes. The Silver Wasp seemed like an absolute blood-thirty lunatic underneath her enchantingly beautiful body. You could see it in her eyes. As for the Pink Butterfly, her device that created towers of white-hot flames could scorch castles to the ground.

Together, they were like a ferocious hurricane, pounding their foes to the floor. I was very intimidated by them. They'd probably gone through a lot of vigorous training to get to that level of strength. I was really glad they were going to be behind bars thanks to Ninjamouse1. If they ever faced Aaron in a full moon they'd have a tough time defeating him, I chuckled to myself mentally.

I was surprised Ninjamouse1 had the strength and agility to defeat them, but I guessed he had a lot more experience than them. Besides, not only was he very fast, he had the element of surprise. He seemed to have the ability to melt into the shadows. He was truly the biggest enigma I'd ever met, even combating the likes of my past. I was completely sure he was a friend, but he just had the feeling of secrecy and mystery around him. I had the feeling he was more important to me and my past than I took him for.

I hope that was to your liking!

A little question to go along with today's chapter. Mainiac is adding a new room to his house, but what room should he add? A kitchen? A bedroom? A trophy room? Something completely new? You tell me! Never mind levels at this point, because the contruction skill is very different in my story. I'm open to room suggestions and I'll taking all of them into account. I've also made a poll about the subject if you want to take part in that.

I'd like to thank certain people for helping me through a certain problem I had recently. You know who you are and you know what the problem was ;-)

I'd also like to apologise to Ninjamouse1 for the delay in including his charater. The character Ninjamouse1 was requested by the person Ninjamouse1 (obviously :P). He won second place of the character competition I held at about chapter 59. I've been trying to find a slot to fit him in. He doesn't seem too important at the moment, but he's more important than you take him for...

Next time on TATRS, it begins...

Until next time, toodles!