p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"uspan style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"Chapter 7- Retribution/span/u/em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanIt wasn't long before the human showed up./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"From the dark shadow of a pillar, I watched in silence as they strode forward, evidently unaware of my presence. Their blood-red eyes were large and intent. Determined. I felt no fear, no courage. All I felt was a hollow, hopeless longing for it to all be over. Sighing, I straightened. Hearing the faint sound, the kid stopped mid-step and whirled—but I was already gone./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""heya, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"brat,/em" I greeted coldly. They spun back around. As their choppy hair cleared their face, I glimpsed the biggest, most eager, cracked smile I'd ever seen. They were positively emcovered /emin grey powder—the remnants of their fragile victims. I forced my gaze to meet theirs again. "you've been busy, huh?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanTheir only response was to grip their dust-tarnished dagger tighter./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""so, i've got a question for ya." Despite the script's instructions, instead of asking the demonic child about the concept of redemption, I finished with a simple question. "why?" The human's cocky smirk didn't falter, but a raised eyebrow expressed their confusion. "you've driven us from our homes. you've destroyed families, killed so many innocent people. why are you doing all this?" Disturbingly, the human merely laughed, a joyless, chilling laugh./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""Well, Serif—"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""my name is emsans/em," I growled through grit teeth. The child ignored me./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""… Because I want to. Because it's marvelous fun, even if it's practically a cakewalk," they answered simply, casually cleaning the dirty knife on the edge of their shirt. Calmly inspecting the blade, they lifted their gaze from the cloudy reflection to give me a condescending smile. "And now, killing emyou/em will be the cherry on top."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""you've clearly underestimated what i'm capable of," I warned dryly, stance tensing. "and trust me; you don't want to find out." In reply, they took a threatening step forward. "you really wanna have a bad time, huh?" Another step. I sighed. Then, chuckled. "honestly?" I shrugged, magical static buzzing in the air around me. "i was kinda hoping you'd choose the hard way."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"The human bolted, face twisted with a violent euphoria. Unmoving, I waited. Closer. Closer. My left eye sparked ablaze./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""it's a beautiful day outside." A stake shot up from the ground, gouging the kid's arm. The poisonous Karma effect burned through their HP, reacting to the immense amounts of LV and EXP they'd collected. "birds are singing." A hit against their side winded them. "flowers are blooming." A complex attack lattice barred their way. "on days like these, kids like you…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"A huge barrage of blue, ethereal bone attacks tangled around the human, forcing them to freeze; if they moved, the damage would activate. A ring of Gaster Blasters materialized around the trapped brat. Their psychotic grin faltered. For a moment, they almost looked afraid./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""… hmm," I observed, smiling darkly as the maws blazed blindingly and unhinged. "i think you get the idea." There was an indescribably horrible sound, then, silence./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanThe moment their soul shattered and their body disappeared, I turned away and shut my eyes tight, feeling sick. I had forgotten how much humans bled. It was revolting. A dull ache began thrumming through my head. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"stay strong, /emspan style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"I thought, steeling myself. /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"this is only the beginning./em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanHearing the disorienting warbling sound of the human reloading the save file, I glanced back up. Before they could even take a step, I sent a massive attack bursting through them. I defeated them twice more before the kid finally managed to roll out of the way. Their face—oh, they were furious! Yet, slightly pleased?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""I knew you were different, Serif, but emthat—!/em" The human laughed, their psychotically eager eyes glittering dangerously. "That was astonishing. I'm impressed." I balled my fists./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"impressed?" /emspan style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"I growled. "/spani spilled your guts over the hall four times just now, and you say you're em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"impressed!span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"?/span/em" Tapping the tip of their knife against their lips thoughtfully, they considered this challenge./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""Yes. I'm intrigued that, even after all this time, you still don't play by the rules."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""that makes two of us," I snapped, yanking a sharp stake from beneath them./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"We fought for hours. Whenever the kid figured out my attack patterns, I would change them. Fields of bone spikes, rings of Gaster Blasters, rows of shifting blue and white attacks, projectiles, pinging their soul and throwing them across the hall… expansive as my combat knowledge was, I couldn't invent new tricks endlessly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"No matter how many times I killed the human, they just kept coming back to their save star. They even seemed to enjoy it, in some sick, morbid way. No matter how many times I killed them, they came back just as eager as before./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"But the strain—mental, emotional, physical, and magical—was wearing me down. I couldn't keep this up forever. The script still urged me to converse with the human, to beg them to repent. It told me to relay my own feelings of hopelessness and plead with them to think of the cruelty of their actions. But I knew I'd be wasting my breath. So I stayed silent./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"As soon as I stopped jabbering, my head began to ache. Within mere minutes, it had evolved into a splitting migraine. Whenever the throbbing worsened, my aim was thrown off and the kid would get dangerously close. One of these times, they would catch me. They'd kill me./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"Another reload./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"can't… keep going… /span/emspan style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"Stupefying /spanspan style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"weariness overtook me. My very soul stuttered. I was on my last magical reserves. Overtaxing my stamina could be fatal. I knew; it was rest or dust. Pinging the human's soul as hard as I could, I held them at bay. They kicked around, squirming and spitting threats at me, eagerly clutching their knife at the ready./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"My eyes began to drift shut, knees trembling. In a flash, with a screaming burst of instinct, I sidestepped. The human had broken my weak hold on their soul. My eyes snapped open just in time to witness the blade narrowly miss me. A foreign flicker of unwarranted confidence coaxed a weary chuckle. As if in a trance, I distantly heard myself challenge—/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""heh. what, did you think—"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"Desperation hit like a panic attack. The spell broke. The nightmares—this is where they always ended. Where everything went black. emWhere I died. /emAnd this wasn't a dream…!/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"Frantically, I launched myself backwards. The kid swung at me again. I wasn't gonna make it. I wasn't fast enough. With the meager scrap of magical energy I had left, I formed a thin wall of bone attacks between us. The blade cracked through it with ease, but it was enough to slow the strike. The dagger nicked the fringes of my jacket as I fell—and missed. I hit the floor./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"Inexpressible agony exploded through my mind. My vision went blurry. I glimpsed the dim outline of the human dashing for me. At the last possible second, I rolled. The deadly metal sang as it struck the tiles, cracking the surface. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"I swept my arm out, knocking the kid's legs from under them. They crashed down. I weakly pinged their soul and gave it a rough shove. They skidded across the ground with surprising speed, right into one of the colossal pillars. The back of their head smacked the marble—emCRACK—/emthe human crumpled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"I scrambled unsteadily back. Everything was still. The kid's broken soul hovered above their broken body. Slumped against a column, I huffed wearily, trying to catch my breath. The pain reached its dark roots deep into my skull, tightening dangerously. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"Bewildered, I balked as the knife slipped out of the brat's limp hand and clattered noisily to the ground. I waited. Nothing happened. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"why aren't they reloading? /emspan style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"I waited. Still, nothing./span Holding to the pillar, I shakily fought to my feet. I stared in disbelief at the unmoving human. For a moment, I almost dared to hope I'd finally won—their eyes snapped open./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"When the blazing, blood-red irises met mine, the room suddenly churned sickeningly in my sight. I crumpled to my knees as white-hot, vice-like pain crushed in around my head. The human rose. Freaky rifts of 1's and 0's flickered around them, hazing the air. The kid hadn't reloaded, they hadn't started over! They cupped their pale hands around the two halves of their soul and forced it back together. Then, they scooped up the knife./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""how?!" I gasped, terrified./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""You think you're so smart," the human growled, wrathful, slowly stalking nearer. "Going outside of your programming to change the story." I struggled to stand. I couldn't. I crawled back. "But this game wasn't built for two." em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"programming? game?! /em"You think you're powerful? I can rewire your emworthless/em existence. I could hack all the way back to the beginning and kill you in the past!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"Blindness momentarily overtook me. But I still heard their footsteps, getting nearer. Nearer./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""I let you live this long. I let you run your futile, flawed course. But you—you broke emeverything! /emYou're not special. You're just an irritating glitch!" I heard their steps pause. My sight returned; their dust-covered boots were right in front of me. "I'm sick of your unpredictable interference. Time's up, emSerif./em"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanI raised my hand in a weak attempt to block the attack. The kid violently slapped it away and roughly shoved me down. In a blink, they'd planted their knee on my waist, and just as fast—drove the knife into my back./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"The blade stabbed straight through my soul, tip imbedding deep into my sternum. My HP dropped to 0. The pressure in my head burst. The left side of my vision blazed ultra-white as my last magical eye ring shattered./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"Gasping and choking, I gazed in curious horror as ethereal red gushed from the wound, even trickling from the corners of my mouth. span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"I couldn't fathom what it might be. My magic was teal, not red! /spanI didn't know what was happening to me. All I knew was it emhurt. /emThe first explosion of splintering agony came. My breath caught; I nearly cried out./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""papyrus," I whispered shakily, tears suddenly streaming, "i'm so sorry—" I yelped as the kid twisted the blade./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""Shut up!" they shouted, leaning down harder. The knife cracked my sternum. I did cry out, then. The shuddering pain mounted. I felt my body rapidly disintegrating. My mind was shutting down./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanDark, darker, yet darker…/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanBlackness./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanIt wasn't long before the human showed up./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"From the dark shadow of a pillar, I watched in silence as they strode forward, evidently unaware of my presence. Their blood-red eyes were large and intent. Determined. I felt no fear, no courage. All I felt was a hollow, hopeless longing for it to all be over. Sighing, I straightened. Hearing the faint sound, the kid stopped mid-step and whirled—but I was already gone./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""heya, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"brat,/em" I greeted coldly. They spun back around. As their choppy hair cleared their face, I glimpsed the biggest, most eager, cracked smile I'd ever seen. They were positively emcovered /emin grey powder—the remnants of their fragile victims. I forced my gaze to meet theirs again. "you've been busy, huh?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanTheir only response was to grip their dust-tarnished dagger tighter./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""so, i've got a question for ya." Despite the script's instructions, instead of asking the demonic child about the concept of redemption, I finished with a simple question. "why?" The human's cocky smirk didn't falter, but a raised eyebrow expressed their confusion. "you've driven us from our homes. you've destroyed families, killed so many innocent people. why are you doing all this?" Disturbingly, the human merely laughed, a joyless, chilling laugh./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""Well, Serif—"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""my name is emsans/em," I growled through grit teeth. The child ignored me./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""… Because I want to. Because it's marvelous fun, even if it's practically a cakewalk," they answered simply, casually cleaning the dirty knife on the edge of their shirt. Calmly inspecting the blade, they lifted their gaze from the cloudy reflection to give me a condescending smile. "And now, killing emyou/em will be the cherry on top."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""you've clearly underestimated what i'm capable of," I warned dryly, stance tensing. "and trust me; you don't want to find out." In reply, they took a threatening step forward. "you really wanna have a bad time, huh?" Another step. I sighed. Then, chuckled. "honestly?" I shrugged, magical static buzzing in the air around me. "i was kinda hoping you'd choose the hard way."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"The human bolted, face twisted with a violent euphoria. Unmoving, I waited. Closer. Closer. My left eye sparked ablaze./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""it's a beautiful day outside." A stake shot up from the ground, gouging the kid's arm. The poisonous Karma effect burned through their HP, reacting to the immense amounts of LV and EXP they'd collected. "birds are singing." A hit against their side winded them. "flowers are blooming." A complex attack lattice barred their way. "on days like these, kids like you…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"A huge barrage of blue, ethereal bone attacks tangled around the human, forcing them to freeze; if they moved, the damage would activate. A ring of Gaster Blasters materialized around the trapped brat. Their psychotic grin faltered. For a moment, they almost looked afraid./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""… hmm," I observed, smiling darkly as the maws blazed blindingly and unhinged. "i think you get the idea." There was an indescribably horrible sound, then, silence./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanThe moment their soul shattered and their body disappeared, I turned away and shut my eyes tight, feeling sick. I had forgotten how much humans bled. It was revolting. A dull ache began thrumming through my head. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"stay strong, /emspan style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"I thought, steeling myself. /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"this is only the beginning./em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanHearing the disorienting warbling sound of the human reloading the save file, I glanced back up. Before they could even take a step, I sent a massive attack bursting through them. I defeated them twice more before the kid finally managed to roll out of the way. Their face—oh, they were furious! Yet, slightly pleased?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""I knew you were different, Serif, but emthat—!/em" The human laughed, their psychotically eager eyes glittering dangerously. "That was astonishing. I'm impressed." I balled my fists./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"impressed?" /emspan style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"I growled. "/spani spilled your guts over the hall four times just now, and you say you're em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"impressed!span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"?/span/em" Tapping the tip of their knife against their lips thoughtfully, they considered this challenge./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""Yes. I'm intrigued that, even after all this time, you still don't play by the rules."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""that makes two of us," I snapped, yanking a sharp stake from beneath them./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"We fought for hours. Whenever the kid figured out my attack patterns, I would change them. Fields of bone spikes, rings of Gaster Blasters, rows of shifting blue and white attacks, projectiles, pinging their soul and throwing them across the hall… expansive as my combat knowledge was, I couldn't invent new tricks endlessly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"No matter how many times I killed the human, they just kept coming back to their save star. They even seemed to enjoy it, in some sick, morbid way. No matter how many times I killed them, they came back just as eager as before./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"But the strain—mental, emotional, physical, and magical—was wearing me down. I couldn't keep this up forever. The script still urged me to converse with the human, to beg them to repent. It told me to relay my own feelings of hopelessness and plead with them to think of the cruelty of their actions. But I knew I'd be wasting my breath. So I stayed silent./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"As soon as I stopped jabbering, my head began to ache. Within mere minutes, it had evolved into a splitting migraine. Whenever the throbbing worsened, my aim was thrown off and the kid would get dangerously close. One of these times, they would catch me. They'd kill me./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"Another reload./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"can't… keep going… /span/emspan style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"Stupefying /spanspan style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"weariness overtook me. My very soul stuttered. I was on my last magical reserves. Overtaxing my stamina could be fatal. I knew; it was rest or dust. Pinging the human's soul as hard as I could, I held them at bay. They kicked around, squirming and spitting threats at me, eagerly clutching their knife at the ready./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"My eyes began to drift shut, knees trembling. In a flash, with a screaming burst of instinct, I sidestepped. The human had broken my weak hold on their soul. My eyes snapped open just in time to witness the blade narrowly miss me. A foreign flicker of unwarranted confidence coaxed a weary chuckle. As if in a trance, I distantly heard myself challenge—/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""heh. what, did you think—"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"Desperation hit like a panic attack. The spell broke. The nightmares—this is where they always ended. Where everything went black. emWhere I died. /emAnd this wasn't a dream…!/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"Frantically, I launched myself backwards. The kid swung at me again. I wasn't gonna make it. I wasn't fast enough. With the meager scrap of magical energy I had left, I formed a thin wall of bone attacks between us. The blade cracked through it with ease, but it was enough to slow the strike. The dagger nicked the fringes of my jacket as I fell—and missed. I hit the floor./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"Inexpressible agony exploded through my mind. My vision went blurry. I glimpsed the dim outline of the human dashing for me. At the last possible second, I rolled. The deadly metal sang as it struck the tiles, cracking the surface. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"I swept my arm out, knocking the kid's legs from under them. They crashed down. I weakly pinged their soul and gave it a rough shove. They skidded across the ground with surprising speed, right into one of the colossal pillars. The back of their head smacked the marble—emCRACK—/emthe human crumpled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"I scrambled unsteadily back. Everything was still. The kid's broken soul hovered above their broken body. Slumped against a column, I huffed wearily, trying to catch my breath. The pain reached its dark roots deep into my skull, tightening dangerously. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"Bewildered, I balked as the knife slipped out of the brat's limp hand and clattered noisily to the ground. I waited. Nothing happened. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"why aren't they reloading? /emspan style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"I waited. Still, nothing./span Holding to the pillar, I shakily fought to my feet. I stared in disbelief at the unmoving human. For a moment, I almost dared to hope I'd finally won—their eyes snapped open./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"When the blazing, blood-red irises met mine, the room suddenly churned sickeningly in my sight. I crumpled to my knees as white-hot, vice-like pain crushed in around my head. The human rose. Freaky rifts of 1's and 0's flickered around them, hazing the air. The kid hadn't reloaded, they hadn't started over! They cupped their pale hands around the two halves of their soul and forced it back together. Then, they scooped up the knife./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""how?!" I gasped, terrified./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""You think you're so smart," the human growled, wrathful, slowly stalking nearer. "Going outside of your programming to change the story." I struggled to stand. I couldn't. I crawled back. "But this game wasn't built for two." em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"programming? game?! /em"You think you're powerful? I can rewire your emworthless/em existence. I could hack all the way back to the beginning and kill you in the past!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"Blindness momentarily overtook me. But I still heard their footsteps, getting nearer. Nearer./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""I let you live this long. I let you run your futile, flawed course. But you—you broke emeverything! /emYou're not special. You're just an irritating glitch!" I heard their steps pause. My sight returned; their dust-covered boots were right in front of me. "I'm sick of your unpredictable interference. Time's up, emSerif./em"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanI raised my hand in a weak attempt to block the attack. The kid violently slapped it away and roughly shoved me down. In a blink, they'd planted their knee on my waist, and just as fast—drove the knife into my back./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"The blade stabbed straight through my soul, tip imbedding deep into my sternum. My HP dropped to 0. The pressure in my head burst. The left side of my vision blazed ultra-white as my last magical eye ring shattered./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"Gasping and choking, I gazed in curious horror as ethereal red gushed from the wound, even trickling from the corners of my mouth. span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"I couldn't fathom what it might be. My magic was teal, not red! /spanI didn't know what was happening to me. All I knew was it emhurt. /emThe first explosion of splintering agony came. My breath caught; I nearly cried out./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""papyrus," I whispered shakily, tears suddenly streaming, "i'm so sorry—" I yelped as the kid twisted the blade./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';""Shut up!" they shouted, leaning down harder. The knife cracked my sternum. I did cry out, then. The shuddering pain mounted. I felt my body rapidly disintegrating. My mind was shutting down./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanDark, darker, yet darker…/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanBlackness./span/p