Runouw's Forum - Chapter 5
Posted: April 23rd, 2010, 2:17 pmCHAPTER 5: SIN
NOTE: FOR BEING SUCH A LARGE CHAPTER, IT REQUIRED A TOPIC OF ITS OWN. BELIEVE IT OR NOT. And sorry for not posting this chapter with Chapter 4 as promised, but here it is anyway!
So totally true. You’ll find out why later. (Also refer to title of chapter ; D)
For this chapter, I ran out of people from the sign up list who I actually know, so I’ll start adding people who I do know, even if they weren’t in the list. People from the aforementioned list in the “Intro” topic will also appear. So, here they are! Buffooner, MessengerOfYaweh, and blablob, welcome to the team!
The story will make such a drastic transition of setting (well, only for some characters) that I was thinking of naming this chapter “Transition”. Other discarded names were “Evil” and “Redemption” but after much consideration, I thought that “Sin” fit best. You’ll see why. I’ve been saving the description of what everything in this forum looks like for this chapter, so you can contrast it to….another place we’ll get to. On a final note, this chapter will have quite a long flashback, so be expecting that.
ANOTHER NOTE: This border line “~*~*~*~*~*~” signifies the beginning and ending of a flashback.
The normal border line “----------------” means that the story is transitioning from one setting to another.
Well, enough of my rambling! LET’S GO!
“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!”
The sound echoed off most of the crushed walls and broken windows of the once-standing building, but it was drowned out almost instantly by the horrible crushing sound of the News Forum crumbling to the ground. It still wasn’t completely destroyed, but the spambot would probably make sure to finish the job.
All of the members of the forum that were present were staring awestruck at the giant robot, but the most emotionally affected of them all was brandobrawl. He was breathing heavily, and he almost looked ready to cry. Since he had locked them inside the forum, closing off their only hope for escape, he was definitely ready to blame himself if something had happened to the people inside.
And then, he reacted.
“AZN!” he screamed, running over to him. He gripped both of Azn’s shoulders, and Azn noticed that brandobrawl was trembling. “WE HAVE TO HELP THEM, NOW!”
Not even giving Aznchau enough time to process what he was saying, brandobrawl lifted him off the ground and started running towards the spambot.
“W-wait!” Azn exclaimed, trying to touch ground as brandobrawl carried him under his arm. I’ve never seen Brando so desperate, Azn thought. He’s carrying me as if I weighed nothing!
Aznchau and brandobrawl reached the Site Discussion City Hall, the building right next to the News Forum. The spambot was charging up for another swing at the forum, and brandobrawl knew that they could wait no longer. If they did, the parts of the Forum that were still standing would crumble and take with them the remaining supports. They could still be alive in there. He had to hope for the best.
“Alright Azn, on three,” brandobrawl said. “If we fight him on together, we can probably take that spambot down. We can’t let them die!” Brandobrawl clenched his hair with his hands. “This is all my fault! You were RIGHT! My idea was stupid…”
Azn was feeling guilty by then. He gazed up at the spambot, and saw that it was ready for its second blow. “Brando, we have to go now!”
WHOOSH.
Clang!
Brandobrawl looked up at the spambot. It had once again tried to destroy the entire forum with its giant robotic fist. But this time, there had been something in its way.
Azn grunted, gathering all of his strength on his left arm. He was grabbing the spambot’s arm, and holding it merely inches from the forum wall. His right arm was pressed against the wall for support.
“Brando…” Azn muttered, pushing back at the arm with all his strength. “Are you gonna stand around wallowing in self-pity, OR ARE YOU GONNA HELP YOUR FRIENDS!?! FORCE OF THE HEAVENS!!”
Brandobrawl watched in amazement as Azn started lifting the spambot clear off the ground. Force of The Heavens was definitely an incredible technique. But Azn was right. If he didn’t get a hold of himself right away, their efforts would be in vain.
Clap!
Brandobrawl touched the ground, causing a pillar of dirt to rise up out of it, carrying him into the air. He jumped from it, and having previously transmuted a blade from the pillar, slashed the spambot with it. This, combined with Azn carrying the spambot back away from the News Forum, caused it to stumble and fall.
“Azn,” brandobrawl said with newfound determination. “I have a plan. Just follow my lead, and when I say ‘Now’, you hit him with your best shot.”
Both of them rushed away left and right, perfectly synchronized. Brandobrawl put his hands together, then touched the wall to create a long, spear-like sword. Azn struck the spambot with his fist, and brandobrawl slashed the robot's head.
CRACK.
"Ow, ow, OW!" Azn yelled out in pain. Brandobrawl looked at his weapon, which had been split cleanly in half.
"Just as I thought," he said. "The spambot has a reinforced steel exoskeleton." He grinned at the spambot widely, almost with an evil look on his face.
"Uh..." Azn said nervously, "I don't like where this is going...! The last time he had that look, the Titanic sunk!"
“That was an accident!” brandobrawl replied. “I didn’t know getting icecubes from an iceberg was a bad idea! Anyway, just shush, I’m trying to concentra-”
Brandobrawl never got to finish his phrase, as he was launched through the air by a well placed punch from the spambot. He flew clear off the ground, and slammed into the News forum, damaging it even more, and a bunch of rubble fell into the hole in the wall on the third floor where he had crashed into.
Azn gasped, and jumped up onto a second story window, from where he tried clearing the rocks on the hole above to find brandobrawl. It was no use. At that moment, Azn felt the ground rumbling. The spambot was getting back up.
THOOM.
Azn toppled of the window’s ledge, falling the two stories and landing hard. He coughed out the dust he had swallowed from gasping in air as hit the ground, and turned to look at the spambot. With astounding speed, the spambot had jumped straight off its back and landed on the forum street, creating a giant crater. Azn noticed that most of the joints that held the spambot’s arms, legs and other body parts had started to glow. The source of the light was the spambot’s very core. The dust and small rocks surrounding the spambot even seemed to be floating in midair.
“What the…?” Azn slowly stepped back from the spambot, noticing that it was giving off extreme heat as well.
Then Azn, stumbled backwards, falling hard onto the floor once again. The heat was overwhelming, and Azn felt as if he would melt then and there.
“You might need a sweater there, boy!”
Azn struggled to lift his head and see who had yelled out at him. Megazario was looking at him with the cruel, mocking smile he seemed to wear frequently.
Azn frowned, and was ready to say something back, but it was as if the heat from the spambot was actually draining his life-force to recharge. And even though Azn wasn’t aware, it was doing exactly that. He felt his limbs growing weaker by the second. Everything was turning black.
“Stupid….robot….copying my….abilities…” (referencing Strength of the Earth, see Runouw’s Forum Mini Series)
Megazario’s eyes twinkled strangely at hearing these words. No one was aware of this at the moment, but he knew much more than he had let on when he was a member of the forum. And even now, he had acquired even more knowledge, enough even to destroy the forum and everyone in it.
The others were just watching, and were definitely in no position to help Azn, as much as they wanted to. They had to stay with 24murph and Avo, who were still half unconscious but seemed to be recovering. There was also the problem that Megazario and Rgadarg were blocking their path and seemed to have no intention whatsoever of letting them through.
Azn was gasping for breath on the floor. As he felt his strength slowly abandoning him, some final thoughts raced through his mind. What will become of the forum now? Could Mic and the others be okay? What will happen to me? WHERE THE HECK IS BRANDO?!?!?!?
“COWABUNGA!!!!!!”
With his last effort, he opened his eyes and saw a speck right above the spambot’s head. And with every second, that little speck was getting bigger.
It was brandobrawl.
He had climbed up and thrown himself off the very top of the News forum, and was now falling very fast towards the spambot. Everyone was staring in awe. Even Rgadarg and Megazario were showing traces of surprise.
“Hey, Brandon!” Four shouted upwards at brandobrawl. “I think the correct phrase is ‘Geronimo’.” Then he winked and gave him a thumbs-up.
Brandobrawl smirked, and then flipped around so his head faced the spambot. He was just a few feet above the spambot when he put his hands together and yelled out to Aznchau: “NOW!!!”
BAZAP!
Brandobrawl landed hands first on the spambot’s back, and everyone had to cover their eyes as soon as he did.
Instantly, the spambot’s exoskeleton changed in color, from dark gray to a very light brown, with blotches of white.
Niklaw frowned, and raised an eyebrow, giving him a confused look. “Ya…gave it…polio?”
Four swatted Niklaw’s arm. “You idiot, that’s obviously scurvy!”
Suyo gave them an exasperated glare. “Don’t you know anything? He clearly converted its skin into chocolate chip cookies, or my name is no Francisco Jesus Santana Torres de la Santa Maria Salvadora Villa Juarez!”
“…”
“…”
“I thought you were German.”
Brandobrawl jumped backwards off the spambot’s head as it stumbled. “ugh, guys,” he said, dropping his head, then shaking it, “I didn’t do any of that. I oxidized his shield to make it all rusty. It’s way weaker…NOW.”
Azn had been agonizing on the floor from the burns, but when he heard brandobrawl say the word he was supposed to be looking out for, he noticed that the spambot was no longer radiating the terrible heat that had been absorbing his life force. He stood up immediately, and glanced at brandobrawl, he gave him a hand gesture meaning “Go one”.
“Very well then,” Azn said, rubbing his hands together. “I guess I’ll use, WRATH OF THE FLAMES!”
As soon as he separated his hands, humongous bursts of flames started to erupt from his hands. They hit the spambot head n, melting away at the metal exterior. Brandobrawl and the rest watched in awe, as they had only ever seen Azn’s other two attacks. And no doubt, it was effective. The spambot’s skin melted instantly, and it seemed that it was starting to lose control. Even so, the spambot was still functional and standing.
“Oh, I nearly forgot about the Reflected Abilities,” brandobrawl said, stroking his chin with a thumb. Everyone looked at him, puzzled.
Azn pulled apart his arms, wiping off the ashes that gathered every time he used that ability. “Uh, what?”
“BLAZORDS.exe!”
Instantly, dozens of silver, semi-transparent blades appeared out of nowhere in the air iin front of brandobrawl. With a wave if his hand, the blades went forward with a thrust.
Shunk! Shu-shu-shu-shunk!
The magical daggers were the final effort needed. Melted, beat down and cut to shreds, the spambot’s legs gave away, causing it to crash into the ground with almost exact synchrony with the “thmp” of brandobrawl’s feet touching the floor. He gave Azn a thumbs up, and quickly ran over to the debris that remained after the collapse of the News forum. Brandobrawl clapped his hands, and closed his eyes momentarily as if praying. Everyone was watching attentively, even Rgadarg and Megazario it seemed. Finally, brandobrawl leaned over and touched the floor, tightening his eyes even more in concentration.
Bashoom!
All of the pieces of the News forum sprung to life, placing themselves on top of one another. In just seconds, the building was as good as new, and no one who hadn’t been in the forum at the time would’ve noticed that just moments ago, it was completely destroyed. But there was just one problem. As brandobrawl burst through the front door, his anticipation taking over, his eyes grew almost twice their size after his brain processed what he was looking at.
The forum was completely empty.
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Speaking of people who were outside the forum, there were two people walking together towards the forum just as the situation developed inside it. One of the people wasn’t very happy with this fact, but reluctantly walked alongside the other person, a quite chatty companion.
“-and you’ll never guess what my bud Tweeted!” exclaimed Jesse, the particularly chatty one, who was wearing a hoody, simple jeans and a baseball cap.
Buffooner, the second, currently clothed in a blue tee-shirt and khaki pants, rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time. “Delight me.”
Jesse jumped around excitedly, apparently lacking any sense of sarcasm whatsoever. “He Tweeted ‘LOL’!”
Buffooner facepalmed. Twittians. So much like forumers, yet so different. “That’s really interesting and all,” he said, not meaning it at all, “but why are you here again?”
Jesse grinned, obviously confusing Buff’s desperate attempts to change the topic as genuine interest. “Well, one of my friends said he’d be at a so called ‘Runouw.com’ today, and I really need to tell him…something.”
Strange, Buff thought. I’ve never met any forumers who socialized with Twittians. He was quickly distracted by the fact that they had arrived at the forum’s front gate. And something was extremely wrong. The main gate was bent, crooked, and very damaged. Buff knew instantly that they wouldn’t be able to get inside. The door was automated, and hadn’t reacted well to being forced open. It was now emitting high voltage sparks, and even one little touch would make any user go “kaboom”.
Even Jesse understood the nature of the situation, and was looking very grim at the moment. “Wha…?”
“What could’ve done this?” Buff asked slowly, finishing Jesse’s sentence. He looked up at the stone arc over the fence, and noticed that even that wasn’t left unharmed. Then, after frowning for a moment, he jumped up to grasp the arc, lifting himself up.
“H-hey!” Jesse exclaimed, jumping up and down again. “I’m going in too!!”
Buff sighed, holding out a hand for Jesse. As they both hoisted themselves up, the cap on Jesse’s head suddenly fell off, and Buff reached out for it instinctively, catching it in midair. At that very moment, Buff saw what had been under Jesse’s cap the whole time, and gasped the loudest gasp he’d ever gasped in his entire life.
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Meanwhile, two other people were walking towards the front gate, from a different direction. Their names are blablob and MessengerofYaweh, although the second user’s name is extremely long and weird so we’ll just call him Moy. I know equally weird. But what can you do.
“So you really think that Runouw will be okay with that?” Moy was asking blablob.
“Well, I dunno,” replied blablob. “I really can’t promise anyone medals, but maybe he’ll want to recognize the winner…” Blablob’s voice trailed off, causing Moy to look around nervously.
“What? What’s wro…” Then Moy saw exactly the same thing as blablob. The wrecked door. The high voltage sparks. The cracked arc.
Blablob examined the entrance, a look of disbelief on his face. “Totally destroyed…”
Suddenly, someone poked their head down from above the arc and said, “Hey, it’s you guys!”
“AAAHHH!!!”
“GAAAHHHH!!!!”
Buff dropped down from the arc, a worried look on his face. “Sorry guys, did I scare you?”
“No, not a-at all….” blablob said, clutching his heart as he did. He looked over at Moy, who was having small seizures from fright.
Buff helped blab up. “Again, I’m really sorry,” he said.
Blab kicked Moy, gesturing for him to get up. Moy shook his head, then took blab and Buff’s hand to lift himself off the ground.
“Whoa!”
All head turned as Jesse landed on the floor near them. “Buffooner?” Jesse looked around at Moy and blablob, raising an eyebrow.
“Hey, it’s a new guy!” blablob said. “Who’s your friend, Buff?”
Jesse suddenly looked a bit offended. Taking off the cap with one hand, then holding out the other for blablob to shake, Jesse said, “The name’s Jesse, nice to meet ya.”
But blablob and Moy just stared at Jesse’s head, which had been hidden by his cap. Buff noticed that they reacted exactly the same as he had when Jesse had taken of the cap, and smiled.
“Yeah,” he said, “it took me like half a minute to stop staring.”
Blab and Moy were now stuttering. “W-bu-sh-th-mu…”
“That’s right guys,” Buff said, pointing at an utterly confused Jesse. “It’s a GIRL.”
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Completely empty. Brandobrawl looked around bewildered, knocking over furniture in desperation. There was no one inside.
Azn ran in, looking equally startled. “Where the heck are they?” he asked. “Did they just disappear?”
And then, they heard a familiar voice behind them, from outside the news forum: “You clearly underestimated me.”
Brandobrawl and Azn swerved around on the spot at the sound of that voice. “MIC!!!”
Sure enough, standing behind them were Marioiscool and the rest if the guys they’d left behind. Mic and Ridder were carrying GalaxyMario, whose legs weren’t strong enough to support him, but beside that was okay. Victor12 was helping support Nero, who was finally awake after the Oren incident and seemed perfectly fine, albeit a little grumpy. Alucard and TBG were dragging Ki11ah and Stran61ah behind them, who were still completely knocked out.
Brandobrawl dropped (FIXED) to his knees, his legs giving away from relief. He hadn’t killed them…he hadn’t…
“My, my, that was quite a display. I clearly misjudged some of you forumers.”
They all looked towards the sounds of the cold, almost emotionless voice. Megazario was slowly walking towards the News Forum. Azn took a defensive position instinctively. Megazario gave off a vibe that communicated that he was not someone to take lightly.
“But I am quite curious,” continued Megazario, “how ever did you manage to escape being crushed by my spambot?”
Mic snarled at Megazario, and said, “So it was You who put all of us in danger..”
Megazario merely tilted his head, a hint of amusement in his eyes.
“I vanished us all out,” Mic answered finally, “coordinate hacks, if you will.”
TBG stepped forward, dropping Stran61ah before Megazario’s feet. “These are your cronies, I suppose,” he said, glaring slightly. Victor dropped Ki11ah next to Stran61ah, striking a ridiculous pose. “You mess with da crib, you mess with da Vic! Yeah!” He then proceeded to imitating John Cena’s “You Can’t See Me”, then stepped back.
Megazario ignored Victor’s shenanigans. He was squinting strangely at Mic, as if in deep thought. “Coordinate hacks you say? And I thought the alchemy boy was trouble enough…”
Brandobrawl looked up at his apparent mention, glancing at Mic, who still didn’t know where the conversation was going. “Uh, Mezar-Meg…whatever your name is,” Mic started, “I don’t mean to be impolite, but you are the villain, so-“
What happened next happened so fast, that no one realize what had happened until only a few moments afterward.
Mic had stopped so abruptly because he was now staring directly into the face of Megazario, who had been a few meters away just a second ago. Mic seemed to be choking from surprise, frightened of Megazario’s amazing speed. But it was Runouw, brandobrawl and Icy who noticed what had really happened first. “You…♥♥♥♥♥♥♥…” was all brandobrawl managed to say.
Megazario had his hand inserted straight into Mic’s chest, with an even crueler, colder expression than usual. With a disgusting, resounding “shunk”, Megazario removed his hand almost as fast as he had inserted it. With one final glare at brandobrawl, he said, “Disturbances to my plan must be eliminated.”
In his hand, Megazario was holding a small, glowing orb: Mic’s Internal Command Prompt. Or how us humans call it – his soul.
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The events that occurred afterward happened so fast and separately, that it would be practically impossible to describe them simultaneously in one section. Following are four sections describing 4 different things that happened at the same time. You may read them in any order you like.
The events in the paragraphs are as follows:
1- The mods’ short fight against Megazario, and Icy’s confrontation of Rgadarg
2- brandobrawl’s plan to perform human transmutation on Mic
3- 24murph’s attempt to steer the injured to safety
4 – Buff, blab, Moy and Jesse’s trek inside the forum
Please note that the last 2 sections of the chapter, which follow these 4, must be read in chronological order to avoid confusion.
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Part 1 – Hard Feelings
“You murderer… you MURDERER!!!”
It was Icy who had stood up to Megazario first. Without even thinking, he clapped his hands, gathering the moisture in the surrounding air to create a floating blob of water. Had the members of the forum not been in total shock from the death of a friend, they could’ve seen something amazing. Icy ran his hands through the water, dampening his right hand and using the left to mold the water into a spiky shape. With a final wave, the spiky shaped water was frozen solid, leaving Icy’s arm implanted with a makeshift sword made from ice. He charged instantly, blinded with rage, but it was effective nonetheless. Rgadarg, who was guarding Megazario in case any of the mods decided to act, had no time to react. Icy dashed right past Megazario, his sword-implanted hand held out.
Slash!
Rgadarg stumble sideways, holding his injured chest. Clearly this Icy fellow was more skilled than Rgadarg had expected. And with the help of the 3 meddling moderators, there was a strong chance they would defeat him.
The moderators were the next to react. They pretty much reasoned that Rgadarg was being taken care of, so they went for Megazario instead. Four took the lead, running at the cruel figure standing over Mic and brandobrawl. The figure suddenly lifted his hand, and Four felt a wave of panic course throughout his body. He was going to kill brandobrawl as well.
But at the last moment, he hesitated, and it was enough time for Four and the rest to reach Megazario and attack. All three of them swung their weapons at once, and hit…air. Megazario was gone. All the mods could see around them was a blur. The whole world was revolving around them at an extreme speed. Then Four noticed something. The world wasn’t spinning. They were. Megazario had sidestepped their attack, grabbed their arms and was now spinning them lazily with almost no effort. He had done it so impossibly fast, they hadn’t even noticed. Now that they had, Megazario released them, the momentum of the spin taking over.
Icy’s mind was racing. He never thought he’d see a friend be murdered in cold blood right before his eyes. But now he had the opportunity to get the murdered back. It had to be done. And first came the bodyguard. Icy twisted around, seeing Rgadarg still hadn’t reacted from the side of his stomach being cut open. It still wasn’t enough. He had to be disabled completely.
Icy bent low, touching the floor. The floor froze under his hand, spreading out towards Rgadarg’s feet. Instantly, he suffered the effects of zero traction. He fell over. Now, thought Icy, I must make him suffer more. A cut in his left arm to prevent him from using his weapon would suffice. Icy brought down the frozen blade. But he hadn’t expected a moderator to come flying out of nowhere. Niklaw crashed into him, modifying (lawl) Icy’s aim. Icy could only watch in horror as he drove his own frosty blade straight into Rgadarg’s heart.
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Part 2 - The Incident
Crush.
Small glowing specks of a white, shiny material flew into the air, resembling a thousand fireflies. Brandobrawl knew they were fragments of Mic’s ICP. Without it, Mic wouldn’t live much longer.
Blood splattered on the floor as Mic coughed. He doubled over, falling onto his knees. Even then, he could feel his life leaving him. With his last efforts, he flipped over, facing upwards towards brandobrawl and Azn’s horror-stricken faces. He inhaled his final breath, and decided he couldn’t waste it.
“You…all need…to…stay ali…ve…”
Mic looked up beyond brandobrawl’s petrified expression. The forum was truly a mess. Although all the buildings had once been exactly similar blocks of gray, they were now mountains of ruin and debris. Many of the tall, white lampposts that were laid out throughout the light-blue colored streets were bent, crooked, or missing altogether. The forum had once been a place of symmetrical perfection, as most Cites were in the World of Internet. Now, it was a place full of destruction and despair. He hoped his friends would forgive him for thinking such selfish thoughts, but maybe death, or whatever awaited the digital beings of the Internet, was better. And, as Mic gazed up at what would clearly be his last glimpse of Runouw’s Forum, he saw the Screen. The mysterious white canvas through which the mortal men watched over the digital beings. What humans call…the “sky”.
Brandobrawl watched Mic’s final moments, still unable to speak, mover or even breathe. It was only until Mic closed his eyes that brandobrawl flinched, finally taking in what was happening. And just in time.
Megazario was standing before Mic’s lifeless body, smirking as if he had played a prank on brandobrawl. “My, my,” Megazario said, “I’m so truly sorry about your friend. But worry not, Mr. Alchemist. You’ll be joining him soon.”
Brandobrawl stared at Mic’s limp figure. “But…why?”
Megazario grinned, obviously satisfied with the effect he was causing upon the users of the forum. Only Ridder seemed to be showing any sign of emotion, currently glowering at Megazario. He whispered something to victor12, TBG and GalaxyMario, who recovered their senses instantly. Megazario ignored them. "'Why?' you ask? It's pretty simple."
His expression changed, the cruel evil frown returning as he lifted his hand. “Anything that might disrupt my plans must be disposed of.”
And just then, Megazario noticed something hanging from brandobrawl’s neck. “You…already…created one?” he whispered, flinching slightly. Behind him, brandobrawl heard the mods’ battle cry as they rushed at Megazario, but he vanished at the last moment, leaving the mods to just hit thin air. Then the mods disappeared as well, into what seemed to be a tornado of some sort.
“Victor, alucard, GM, Nero, NOW!”
It had been Ridder’s voice once again. Brandobrawl saw figures moving out of the corner of his eyes, but was still paralyzed over Mic’s corpse. Azn seemed to have regained his sense, and motioned for Ridder and TBG to accompany him as he kneeled beside brandobrawl. “Brando…” Azn whispered, unsure what to say. “…it-it wasn’t your fault.”
Brandobrawl apparently didn’t hear that, because he mumbled, “I promised…never again…”
Ridder looked at brandobrawl. “What do you-?” he started, but was cut off by brandobrawl holding up his hand to silence him. He turned around to face them, and found only Azn, TBG, and Ridder facing back. He heard the clanging of weapons and the rumble of a car, but it was all very distant. His lip still quivering slightly, he spoke.
“I’ve never told anyone this. I didn’t know how you’d feel about it. But there is something I must do now, and you guys need to know.” As if from nowhere, brandobrawl produce a small piece of chalk, and drew a big circle around Mic’s body. Azn, Ridder, and TBG watched as brandobrawl wrote complicated runes and symbols along the circle. As he drew, he continued speaking. “It wasn’t a mere coincidence that the forum moved shortly after my arrival. There was a horrible incident.”
“An incident?” Azn exclaimed, now alarmed. “What happened?”
“Come on,” Ridder said, waving his arm at Azn in a disbelieving manned. “It can’t be that bad.”
Brandobrawl looked at Ridder, then said, “There was mass murder.”
“DEAR GOD, WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?” Ridder yelled.
“You’re overreacting,” TBG said, still optimistic. “Brando probably means something else.”
“Oh, and now you’re a criminal expert?” Ridder retorted. “Wait, I forgot your little title of “Banned for Excessive Bumping”, which I must say, is a title that could lead to double entende.”
Azn sniggered.
“Whatever, Mr. Questionable Gender.”
“…what’s that supposed to mean??”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I meant MISS Questionable Gender.”
Azn was on the verge of bursting with laughter, but instantly put on a serious face when he aw the look on brandobrawl’s face. “Guys, I’m not joking. This incident was covered up, it was too horrible. I need to tell you the real story.”
~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o
The warehouse was big, and there was only a small source of light, which came from a cracked window near the roof. The small ray was only enoguh to see the small area in the center of the warehouse, where three figures were sprawled on the floor. The back door creaked open at that moment, and two new figures entered, one carrying the other, who was tied up and in very bad shape.
Click.
The person carrying the captured figure had turned on the lights of the warehouse, and the captured user flinched, blinking a few times after the sudden change in lighting. His eyes widened as he saw the 3 other people that his captor had locked up inside the warehouse. I'll be joining them soon, he realized. Sure enough, his captor put him down on the edge of a circle which was drawn in chalk upon the floor. He looked around, perplexed. There were lots of figures and runes drawn on the floor, most notably a diamond that touched all edges of the circle. strangely, all the victims of the mysterious captor were lying on all of the diamond's corners, including himself.
"Stay still. It'll all be over soon, Icy."
Indeed, the name of the user who had just been captured was IcyStone. Icy looked up at the captor, whose face was covered with a crudely designed mask, with some sort of circular markings on it. It was extremely creepy.
Squirming slightly, Icy was able to turn and get a look at all the other users. To the left of him, on a corner marked with a weird symbol of squiggly lines, was Yoshimo. To his right, showing sign of having put up resistance, was MetaRL123. And directly opposite to Icy, on the other side of the diamond, was lying Fireblast124.
The captor spoke again. "I have chosen you for a little experiment," he said, and this time, Icy swore having heard that voice before. "It is not by coincidence, though. My experiment is a little elementally oriented, you see. On each of the four corners of the diamond within this circle, are markings that show each of the four elements: Fire, Air, Water and Earth. I chose users whose names had elemental references (or at least slightly resembling) in them. Fireblast - Fire. IcyStone - Ice, or Water. MetaRL - Metal, or Earth. Sadly I couldn't find a user with a satisfying reference to Air, so Mr. Yoshimo had to do." Icy could've sworn his captor was smiling behind that mask.
"In the center of the diamond, there's a space for the 5th Element," he continued. "And that is where you gentlemen come in. You will help me aquire the 5th Element. You will all be- for want of a better word - ingredients. Ingredients for...."
The captor put his masked face very close to Icy's, and said with considerable emphasis: "THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE."
Clang.
The captor whipped around, looking for the source of the noise. After a few seconds' silence, he satisfied himself saying, "Must've been my imagination."
Icy heard a shuffling noise, and turned instinctively; Fireblast was shifting uncomfortably. Icy realized his foolishness. He had thought the others were unconscious, but the truth was they were tied up and gagged, just like him. But what did that phsycopath mean by....ingredients? Surely they weren't going to be cut up and put into a potion of some sort....were they?
The masked stranger was now standing over him, apparently stretching his fingers. Then, he bent over near the edge of the chalk circle. "Now don't worry, it will be virtually painless. By which I mean, it will be so painful, after a while you won't feel anything at all!" And with that, the touched the circle.
BASHOOOM.
Instantly, blue lighting-like rays were rising up from the circle, consuming the entire room. Icy and the others were shaking uncontrollably, but the masked figure just watched, amazed. But there was something else sounding beside the crackling of the alchemical process. A strange thumping sound, but not very rhythmic... and then the masked figure realized. There was a crownd outside the warehouse where the masked man was carrying out his evil deed. People were knocking to get inside. With the blue lights erupting from the transmutation circle in the center of the warehouse, the sign over the entrance was now visible. It read: "Subforum - Easy Levels"
As if channeling the anger of the mob outside the Easy Levels forum, the blue lighting had now turned red. The masked figure looked puzzled at this sight, but was suddenly paralyzed with understanding at the gravity of the situation. The transmutation was backfiring.
"No..." the masked man exclaimed, still rooted to the spot, "there can't be a rebound.... I checked my calculations...my elemental circle design was flawless..."
The lightning was growing fiercer, and the pounding on the door increased. The masked man was sure he heard metallic footsteps, but was still standing before the circle, unable to move. And then it happened.
It was excruciating pain, possibly the worst anyone could feel without dying instantly. His soul was being pulled from his body, and he was screaming in agony, a horrible bloodcurdling scream. The masked man’s alchemy had failed; it was affecting the people outside the circle, not the people within.
And then, the decomposition started. This affected the non-biological objects within the circle as well. The ropes binding them were peeling away and disappearing. It was much worse for the masked man. Parts of his skin, his mask, even some body parts where being ripped from his very flesh. And finally, as the last of the captor’s mask was decomposed, the users inside the circle saw who it was.
It was brandobrawl. The kid who had arrived just a couple weeks earlier had kidnapped them and was now screaming in pain before them. Finally, one of them reacted and tried to reach out for brandobrawl. MetaRl reached out a hand, but the circle had created some sort of invisible barrier. Brandobrawl was agonizing, he would surely die….
But then, MetaRl was able to break through the barrier. He grabbed brandobrawl’s hand, and pulled with all his might. The red lighting was crackling around them, there wasn’t much time left… At that moment, something happened. MetaRl had pulled too hard, and stumbled when brandobrawl let go. They both ran forward. MetaRl had switched places with brandobrawl. Now he was screaming, the pain was too much, he was going to explode…
Fwooom.
Everything had gone white. The thumping was gone. Meta’s screams were gone. Everything was gone. Brandobrawl stood up, feeling as if he had emerged from a tub of fiery needles. MetaRl had been pulling him….and then….what had happened? He blinked. Surely it was an illusion. In front of him, floating in midair, was the Gate. A stone gate, with a design only a skilled alchemist would recognize.
“Well, well, we have a crowd today.”
Brandobrawl turned around in alarm. There wasn’t only one Gate. There were four. Towering over each one of the users the masked man, or brandobrawl, had used as human sacrifices: Yoshimo, Fireblast, Icy, and…
Now brandobrawl realized. MetaRl has pulled him into the circle, and had been pulled out. Now he was in the place of the Earth element. Or….were they anywhere at all?
“Welcome, foolish alchemist,” the voice said again. Brandobrawl looked for the source, and saw a strange…boy. Transparent, with little black particles surrounding him. But…was he human?
“Who are you?” brandobrawl asked.
“Man, do I get that a lot,” the boy responded in a strange voice. “I would’ve thought that I was known among you alchemists by now.”
Swoosh.
He closed in on brandobrawl, smiling widely. “I am, The One, or The All, or God, or the Truth, or the Universe. And I am YOU. Call me what you please. Now, you came to see it, right?”
Doom.
The Gate opened, and dozens of black arms grabbed brandobrawl. He cried out, but the arms paid no attention, pulling him in. Finally, the door closed with a crash.
The arms were pulling his across a vast space. Millions of images were pouring into his brain. All the knowledge of the world, the Internet, the universe was being displayed at an overwhelming speed. The Truth….the Truth….
And just as fast as it had started, it was over. He was once again standing in the vast whiteness, with the Gate behind him and the other users in front of him. The weird boy was still smiling.
“Enjoyed it, Mr. Alchemist?” the boy asked, tilting his head in genuine curiosity. “Apparently, the others you brought weren’t alchemists, but I bet with all this new knowledge, they are now.”
Brandobrawl looked around at Fireblast, Icy and Yoshimo. They were sweating heavily, their eyes wide open. They had seen the Truth too…
“Now, now, I think it’s time for you to pay the toll, isn’t it?
Brandobrawl stared at the transparent kid. “Toll? What do you mean by ‘toll’?”
The weird kid grinned even wider, now giving him a freakish appearance. He held out his transparent hands, and put them an inch apart, almost clapping them. “You didn’t think all this knowledge would come without a price, did you?”
Icy, Fireblast and Yoshimo looked up, getting more disturbed by the second.
“You’ll be the first then, my naïve alchemist.”
Brandobrawl looked down at his hands. They were disappearing.
“The toll is always that which is most valuable to you,” the boy said, now with an unnaturally wide smile. “In your case, Alchemist, without your hands, all this knowledge will have been for nothing.”
Brandobrawl’s hands were peeling away in small squares. Decomposing. And slowly, as his wrist disappeared, it appeared on the place where the transparent boy’s hands should’ve been. The Truth was taking them.
“NO!” brandobrawl cried out, folding his arms and trying to hide them. It was no use. In a few seconds, his hands would be completely gone, and the transparent boy would have a full set.
“NO!!” brandobrawl yelled again, looking at the other users’ alarmed faces. “Help me!!!”
That’s when he finally saw it. In the center of the white room, in the middle of where the four users were standing, brandobrawl caught a glimpse of a red gleam.
The Philosopher’s Stone.
Even with the whole mess of his encounter with The Truth, he had actually succeeded. The Philosopher’s Stone was his.
But hadn’t it backfired? The users who he had meant to be sacrifices were in this vast whiteness with him…
The horrible comprehension hit him like a bullet. It had backfired. Instead of using the people inside the elemental transmutation circle, it had use everyone in the surrounding area. The mob around the Easy Levels forum never had a chance. And MetaRl…had sacrificed himself to save him, even if it was accidental. All those souls, he had used them just for his alchemical studied. Stupid. Yes. Before, acquiring knowledge meant everything to him. Now he knew better.
“I still have a chance….” brandobrawl whispered to himself. The transparent boy looked at him curiously. Then he stumble to the side in alarm as brandobrawl ran straight through him, attempting to retrieve the Philosopher’s Stone. That was when the Truth realized.
“Don’t you dare, alchemist!” the boy shouted, gliding after brandobrawl, his grin replaced by a grimace. “You cannot escape the toll!!”
Brandobrawl didn’t listen. He motioned for the others to follow him. He lunged at the Philosopher’s Stone with what was left of his hands, and the last thing he heard was the angry yell of the Truth, The One, The All, God, The Universe, and Himself.
~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~
There was an uneasy silence following brandobrawl's tale, interrupted only by the sounds and shouts of the mods' and the bad guys' conflict. Brandobrawl had almost finished drawing his complex transmutation circle around Mic. Finally, Ridder broke the silence.
"So, you dived at the Phosphorous Stone or whatever and...that's it?"
Brandobrawl threw Ridder an incredulous look. "Surely you've heard of the Philosopher's Stone before, haven't you?" he asked, a slightly annoyed tone in his voice. When Ridder shook his head, brandobrawl sighed, and added, "The Philosopher's Stone has incredible alchemical powers. People call it the 5th Element, as I mentioned in my story, or the Ultimate Catalyst. It pretty much amplifies any transmutation, and lets people transmute without a circle, even non-alchemists."
Ridder continued to stare at brandobrawl. "And that means...?"
"Ugh," brandobrawl muttered, passing a hand through his hair impatiently, "it means that I was able to bypass the toll and not have to sacrifice my hands."
TBG rapped Ridder on the back of his head. "Seriously," he said, shaking his head, "some people are such bad listeners."
"Oh yeah?" snapped Ridder, "What's a 'transmutation'"
TBG smiled. "It's when someone is horribly mutated into a transvesti," he said, then feigned a look of shock. "Oh, sorry Ridder, I know you don't like people talking about your condition."
Ridder glared at TBG, clearly itching to punch him, but Azn grabbed them both by the collars of their shirts before he could attempt anything.
"Okay, after you bypassed the toll, you were able to get out?"
“Yeah,” brandobrawl said, glad the attention was back on him. “That Truth guy could’ve grabbed us if I’d taken it a second later. There was another flash of light and we landed on my transmutation circle again. After that, we all had alchemical abilities corresponding to the corner of the diamond we were on. But instead of MetaRl getting Earth alchemy, it was me.”
“So that’s why you can transmute the ground so easily and whatever. And why Glay has those Ice powers, because of the water thing.”
“But…what happened to MetaRl and those other guys? You mentioned something about them…”
It was Ridder who had spoken. Brandobrawl’s heart sank. He had been dreading having to explain this.
“Th….when we got out of the….Truth, MetalRl was lying there, his…his mouth was bleeding. When I ran over to examine him, Fireblast and Yoshimo opened the doors to the Easy Levels forum. The crowd surrounding the forum….and anyone unlucky enough to have been around….they-they were….in the same state as Meta.”
“Wha-what happened to them?” TBG asked, clearly fearing the answer.
Brandobrawl looked at them all with dark eyes. It was the first time they had seen him like this.
“They were all dead. Their souls were sucked from their bodies.”
Azn, Ridder and TBG all stared at brandobrawl, open-mouthed. “What-but-!” “That can’t-!” “You’re not …serious…are you?”
“Philosopher’s Stones are made by harnessing the energy of souls,” brandobrawl responded. “There was a time where to me, all that mattered were my alchemical studies. Four souls were nothing to me. But that day, something happened. I finally realized that sacrificing people just for my studies wasn’t right. And it took MetaRl’s sacrifice and the deaths of dozens of users for me to realize it.”
He held up his necklace, tightened his hand around it, and let it go. There was a crackle of alchemical lighting, and the necklace opened in m9dari. Azn Ridder and TBG stared in awe as the blood red Philosopher’s Stone emerged from it.
“That day, I promised I’d never again let any of my friends die. I’d made the mistake of sacrificing all those people, but I thought I could correct it by using those souls to protect anyone I could.
The transmutation circle around Mic was finished. Brandobrawl brought down the Philosopher’s Stone to Mic’s chest.
“THAT’S WHY I CAN’T LET MIC DIE!!”
BASHOOOM!!
The blue lightning that came with transmutation crackled instantly. Two seconds later, brandobrawl knew something was wrong. Memories flashed painfully through his mind as the lightning turned red.
But what mattered was the present. If it had gone wrong again, he couldn’t let anyone get hurt this time. “GET BACK! AZN, RIDDER, TBG, GET AWAY FROM THE CIRCLE!!!”
Ridder and TBG jumped back in alarm, while Azn stepped back slowly, looking horrorstruck. The rays of lightning were increasing, a sign that brandobrawl knew could not be good. Although… this time, he wasn’t trying to make a Philosopher’s Stone. What would happen now?
He flinched back to reality as he felt something on his arm. It was Azn’s hand,, trying to pull him out. “What are you doing?!?” brandobrawl yelled out. “I told you to get away!!”
Azn frowned determinedly, shouting, “Not without you!”
“Azn, please, get back!”
FWASH!
Brandobrawl’s and Azn’s outlines were imprinted onto Ridder and TBG’s eyelids as a great white flash emerged from the circle, momentarily blinding them. A bit after, Ridder opened his eyes, to find that the white light was gone, and Mic, Azn, and brandobrawl with it. Moments later, a bloodcurdling scream was heard: “RUNOOUUWWWW!!!”
Again, surely not a good sign.
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NOTE: FOR BEING SUCH A LARGE CHAPTER, IT REQUIRED A TOPIC OF ITS OWN. BELIEVE IT OR NOT. And sorry for not posting this chapter with Chapter 4 as promised, but here it is anyway!
Foru wrote: This story has just transcended to a whole new level of EPIC. I have to wonder how you can top this in terms of epicsauce next chapter, but, dang, I just know you will somehow. o_O
So totally true. You’ll find out why later. (Also refer to title of chapter ; D)
For this chapter, I ran out of people from the sign up list who I actually know, so I’ll start adding people who I do know, even if they weren’t in the list. People from the aforementioned list in the “Intro” topic will also appear. So, here they are! Buffooner, MessengerOfYaweh, and blablob, welcome to the team!
The story will make such a drastic transition of setting (well, only for some characters) that I was thinking of naming this chapter “Transition”. Other discarded names were “Evil” and “Redemption” but after much consideration, I thought that “Sin” fit best. You’ll see why. I’ve been saving the description of what everything in this forum looks like for this chapter, so you can contrast it to….another place we’ll get to. On a final note, this chapter will have quite a long flashback, so be expecting that.
ANOTHER NOTE: This border line “~*~*~*~*~*~” signifies the beginning and ending of a flashback.
The normal border line “----------------” means that the story is transitioning from one setting to another.
Well, enough of my rambling! LET’S GO!
“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!”
The sound echoed off most of the crushed walls and broken windows of the once-standing building, but it was drowned out almost instantly by the horrible crushing sound of the News Forum crumbling to the ground. It still wasn’t completely destroyed, but the spambot would probably make sure to finish the job.
All of the members of the forum that were present were staring awestruck at the giant robot, but the most emotionally affected of them all was brandobrawl. He was breathing heavily, and he almost looked ready to cry. Since he had locked them inside the forum, closing off their only hope for escape, he was definitely ready to blame himself if something had happened to the people inside.
And then, he reacted.
“AZN!” he screamed, running over to him. He gripped both of Azn’s shoulders, and Azn noticed that brandobrawl was trembling. “WE HAVE TO HELP THEM, NOW!”
Not even giving Aznchau enough time to process what he was saying, brandobrawl lifted him off the ground and started running towards the spambot.
“W-wait!” Azn exclaimed, trying to touch ground as brandobrawl carried him under his arm. I’ve never seen Brando so desperate, Azn thought. He’s carrying me as if I weighed nothing!
Aznchau and brandobrawl reached the Site Discussion City Hall, the building right next to the News Forum. The spambot was charging up for another swing at the forum, and brandobrawl knew that they could wait no longer. If they did, the parts of the Forum that were still standing would crumble and take with them the remaining supports. They could still be alive in there. He had to hope for the best.
“Alright Azn, on three,” brandobrawl said. “If we fight him on together, we can probably take that spambot down. We can’t let them die!” Brandobrawl clenched his hair with his hands. “This is all my fault! You were RIGHT! My idea was stupid…”
Azn was feeling guilty by then. He gazed up at the spambot, and saw that it was ready for its second blow. “Brando, we have to go now!”
WHOOSH.
Clang!
Brandobrawl looked up at the spambot. It had once again tried to destroy the entire forum with its giant robotic fist. But this time, there had been something in its way.
Azn grunted, gathering all of his strength on his left arm. He was grabbing the spambot’s arm, and holding it merely inches from the forum wall. His right arm was pressed against the wall for support.
“Brando…” Azn muttered, pushing back at the arm with all his strength. “Are you gonna stand around wallowing in self-pity, OR ARE YOU GONNA HELP YOUR FRIENDS!?! FORCE OF THE HEAVENS!!”
Brandobrawl watched in amazement as Azn started lifting the spambot clear off the ground. Force of The Heavens was definitely an incredible technique. But Azn was right. If he didn’t get a hold of himself right away, their efforts would be in vain.
Clap!
Brandobrawl touched the ground, causing a pillar of dirt to rise up out of it, carrying him into the air. He jumped from it, and having previously transmuted a blade from the pillar, slashed the spambot with it. This, combined with Azn carrying the spambot back away from the News Forum, caused it to stumble and fall.
“Azn,” brandobrawl said with newfound determination. “I have a plan. Just follow my lead, and when I say ‘Now’, you hit him with your best shot.”
Both of them rushed away left and right, perfectly synchronized. Brandobrawl put his hands together, then touched the wall to create a long, spear-like sword. Azn struck the spambot with his fist, and brandobrawl slashed the robot's head.
CRACK.
"Ow, ow, OW!" Azn yelled out in pain. Brandobrawl looked at his weapon, which had been split cleanly in half.
"Just as I thought," he said. "The spambot has a reinforced steel exoskeleton." He grinned at the spambot widely, almost with an evil look on his face.
"Uh..." Azn said nervously, "I don't like where this is going...! The last time he had that look, the Titanic sunk!"
“That was an accident!” brandobrawl replied. “I didn’t know getting icecubes from an iceberg was a bad idea! Anyway, just shush, I’m trying to concentra-”
Brandobrawl never got to finish his phrase, as he was launched through the air by a well placed punch from the spambot. He flew clear off the ground, and slammed into the News forum, damaging it even more, and a bunch of rubble fell into the hole in the wall on the third floor where he had crashed into.
Azn gasped, and jumped up onto a second story window, from where he tried clearing the rocks on the hole above to find brandobrawl. It was no use. At that moment, Azn felt the ground rumbling. The spambot was getting back up.
THOOM.
Azn toppled of the window’s ledge, falling the two stories and landing hard. He coughed out the dust he had swallowed from gasping in air as hit the ground, and turned to look at the spambot. With astounding speed, the spambot had jumped straight off its back and landed on the forum street, creating a giant crater. Azn noticed that most of the joints that held the spambot’s arms, legs and other body parts had started to glow. The source of the light was the spambot’s very core. The dust and small rocks surrounding the spambot even seemed to be floating in midair.
“What the…?” Azn slowly stepped back from the spambot, noticing that it was giving off extreme heat as well.
Then Azn, stumbled backwards, falling hard onto the floor once again. The heat was overwhelming, and Azn felt as if he would melt then and there.
“You might need a sweater there, boy!”
Azn struggled to lift his head and see who had yelled out at him. Megazario was looking at him with the cruel, mocking smile he seemed to wear frequently.
Azn frowned, and was ready to say something back, but it was as if the heat from the spambot was actually draining his life-force to recharge. And even though Azn wasn’t aware, it was doing exactly that. He felt his limbs growing weaker by the second. Everything was turning black.
“Stupid….robot….copying my….abilities…” (referencing Strength of the Earth, see Runouw’s Forum Mini Series)
Megazario’s eyes twinkled strangely at hearing these words. No one was aware of this at the moment, but he knew much more than he had let on when he was a member of the forum. And even now, he had acquired even more knowledge, enough even to destroy the forum and everyone in it.
The others were just watching, and were definitely in no position to help Azn, as much as they wanted to. They had to stay with 24murph and Avo, who were still half unconscious but seemed to be recovering. There was also the problem that Megazario and Rgadarg were blocking their path and seemed to have no intention whatsoever of letting them through.
Azn was gasping for breath on the floor. As he felt his strength slowly abandoning him, some final thoughts raced through his mind. What will become of the forum now? Could Mic and the others be okay? What will happen to me? WHERE THE HECK IS BRANDO?!?!?!?
“COWABUNGA!!!!!!”
With his last effort, he opened his eyes and saw a speck right above the spambot’s head. And with every second, that little speck was getting bigger.
It was brandobrawl.
He had climbed up and thrown himself off the very top of the News forum, and was now falling very fast towards the spambot. Everyone was staring in awe. Even Rgadarg and Megazario were showing traces of surprise.
“Hey, Brandon!” Four shouted upwards at brandobrawl. “I think the correct phrase is ‘Geronimo’.” Then he winked and gave him a thumbs-up.
Brandobrawl smirked, and then flipped around so his head faced the spambot. He was just a few feet above the spambot when he put his hands together and yelled out to Aznchau: “NOW!!!”
BAZAP!
Brandobrawl landed hands first on the spambot’s back, and everyone had to cover their eyes as soon as he did.
Instantly, the spambot’s exoskeleton changed in color, from dark gray to a very light brown, with blotches of white.
Niklaw frowned, and raised an eyebrow, giving him a confused look. “Ya…gave it…polio?”
Four swatted Niklaw’s arm. “You idiot, that’s obviously scurvy!”
Suyo gave them an exasperated glare. “Don’t you know anything? He clearly converted its skin into chocolate chip cookies, or my name is no Francisco Jesus Santana Torres de la Santa Maria Salvadora Villa Juarez!”
“…”
“…”
“I thought you were German.”
Brandobrawl jumped backwards off the spambot’s head as it stumbled. “ugh, guys,” he said, dropping his head, then shaking it, “I didn’t do any of that. I oxidized his shield to make it all rusty. It’s way weaker…NOW.”
Azn had been agonizing on the floor from the burns, but when he heard brandobrawl say the word he was supposed to be looking out for, he noticed that the spambot was no longer radiating the terrible heat that had been absorbing his life force. He stood up immediately, and glanced at brandobrawl, he gave him a hand gesture meaning “Go one”.
“Very well then,” Azn said, rubbing his hands together. “I guess I’ll use, WRATH OF THE FLAMES!”
As soon as he separated his hands, humongous bursts of flames started to erupt from his hands. They hit the spambot head n, melting away at the metal exterior. Brandobrawl and the rest watched in awe, as they had only ever seen Azn’s other two attacks. And no doubt, it was effective. The spambot’s skin melted instantly, and it seemed that it was starting to lose control. Even so, the spambot was still functional and standing.
“Oh, I nearly forgot about the Reflected Abilities,” brandobrawl said, stroking his chin with a thumb. Everyone looked at him, puzzled.
Azn pulled apart his arms, wiping off the ashes that gathered every time he used that ability. “Uh, what?”
“BLAZORDS.exe!”
Instantly, dozens of silver, semi-transparent blades appeared out of nowhere in the air iin front of brandobrawl. With a wave if his hand, the blades went forward with a thrust.
Shunk! Shu-shu-shu-shunk!
The magical daggers were the final effort needed. Melted, beat down and cut to shreds, the spambot’s legs gave away, causing it to crash into the ground with almost exact synchrony with the “thmp” of brandobrawl’s feet touching the floor. He gave Azn a thumbs up, and quickly ran over to the debris that remained after the collapse of the News forum. Brandobrawl clapped his hands, and closed his eyes momentarily as if praying. Everyone was watching attentively, even Rgadarg and Megazario it seemed. Finally, brandobrawl leaned over and touched the floor, tightening his eyes even more in concentration.
Bashoom!
All of the pieces of the News forum sprung to life, placing themselves on top of one another. In just seconds, the building was as good as new, and no one who hadn’t been in the forum at the time would’ve noticed that just moments ago, it was completely destroyed. But there was just one problem. As brandobrawl burst through the front door, his anticipation taking over, his eyes grew almost twice their size after his brain processed what he was looking at.
The forum was completely empty.
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Speaking of people who were outside the forum, there were two people walking together towards the forum just as the situation developed inside it. One of the people wasn’t very happy with this fact, but reluctantly walked alongside the other person, a quite chatty companion.
“-and you’ll never guess what my bud Tweeted!” exclaimed Jesse, the particularly chatty one, who was wearing a hoody, simple jeans and a baseball cap.
Buffooner, the second, currently clothed in a blue tee-shirt and khaki pants, rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time. “Delight me.”
Jesse jumped around excitedly, apparently lacking any sense of sarcasm whatsoever. “He Tweeted ‘LOL’!”
Buffooner facepalmed. Twittians. So much like forumers, yet so different. “That’s really interesting and all,” he said, not meaning it at all, “but why are you here again?”
Jesse grinned, obviously confusing Buff’s desperate attempts to change the topic as genuine interest. “Well, one of my friends said he’d be at a so called ‘Runouw.com’ today, and I really need to tell him…something.”
Strange, Buff thought. I’ve never met any forumers who socialized with Twittians. He was quickly distracted by the fact that they had arrived at the forum’s front gate. And something was extremely wrong. The main gate was bent, crooked, and very damaged. Buff knew instantly that they wouldn’t be able to get inside. The door was automated, and hadn’t reacted well to being forced open. It was now emitting high voltage sparks, and even one little touch would make any user go “kaboom”.
Even Jesse understood the nature of the situation, and was looking very grim at the moment. “Wha…?”
“What could’ve done this?” Buff asked slowly, finishing Jesse’s sentence. He looked up at the stone arc over the fence, and noticed that even that wasn’t left unharmed. Then, after frowning for a moment, he jumped up to grasp the arc, lifting himself up.
“H-hey!” Jesse exclaimed, jumping up and down again. “I’m going in too!!”
Buff sighed, holding out a hand for Jesse. As they both hoisted themselves up, the cap on Jesse’s head suddenly fell off, and Buff reached out for it instinctively, catching it in midair. At that very moment, Buff saw what had been under Jesse’s cap the whole time, and gasped the loudest gasp he’d ever gasped in his entire life.
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Meanwhile, two other people were walking towards the front gate, from a different direction. Their names are blablob and MessengerofYaweh, although the second user’s name is extremely long and weird so we’ll just call him Moy. I know equally weird. But what can you do.
“So you really think that Runouw will be okay with that?” Moy was asking blablob.
“Well, I dunno,” replied blablob. “I really can’t promise anyone medals, but maybe he’ll want to recognize the winner…” Blablob’s voice trailed off, causing Moy to look around nervously.
“What? What’s wro…” Then Moy saw exactly the same thing as blablob. The wrecked door. The high voltage sparks. The cracked arc.
Blablob examined the entrance, a look of disbelief on his face. “Totally destroyed…”
Suddenly, someone poked their head down from above the arc and said, “Hey, it’s you guys!”
“AAAHHH!!!”
“GAAAHHHH!!!!”
Buff dropped down from the arc, a worried look on his face. “Sorry guys, did I scare you?”
“No, not a-at all….” blablob said, clutching his heart as he did. He looked over at Moy, who was having small seizures from fright.
Buff helped blab up. “Again, I’m really sorry,” he said.
Blab kicked Moy, gesturing for him to get up. Moy shook his head, then took blab and Buff’s hand to lift himself off the ground.
“Whoa!”
All head turned as Jesse landed on the floor near them. “Buffooner?” Jesse looked around at Moy and blablob, raising an eyebrow.
“Hey, it’s a new guy!” blablob said. “Who’s your friend, Buff?”
Jesse suddenly looked a bit offended. Taking off the cap with one hand, then holding out the other for blablob to shake, Jesse said, “The name’s Jesse, nice to meet ya.”
But blablob and Moy just stared at Jesse’s head, which had been hidden by his cap. Buff noticed that they reacted exactly the same as he had when Jesse had taken of the cap, and smiled.
“Yeah,” he said, “it took me like half a minute to stop staring.”
Blab and Moy were now stuttering. “W-bu-sh-th-mu…”
“That’s right guys,” Buff said, pointing at an utterly confused Jesse. “It’s a GIRL.”
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Completely empty. Brandobrawl looked around bewildered, knocking over furniture in desperation. There was no one inside.
Azn ran in, looking equally startled. “Where the heck are they?” he asked. “Did they just disappear?”
And then, they heard a familiar voice behind them, from outside the news forum: “You clearly underestimated me.”
Brandobrawl and Azn swerved around on the spot at the sound of that voice. “MIC!!!”
Sure enough, standing behind them were Marioiscool and the rest if the guys they’d left behind. Mic and Ridder were carrying GalaxyMario, whose legs weren’t strong enough to support him, but beside that was okay. Victor12 was helping support Nero, who was finally awake after the Oren incident and seemed perfectly fine, albeit a little grumpy. Alucard and TBG were dragging Ki11ah and Stran61ah behind them, who were still completely knocked out.
Brandobrawl dropped (FIXED) to his knees, his legs giving away from relief. He hadn’t killed them…he hadn’t…
“My, my, that was quite a display. I clearly misjudged some of you forumers.”
They all looked towards the sounds of the cold, almost emotionless voice. Megazario was slowly walking towards the News Forum. Azn took a defensive position instinctively. Megazario gave off a vibe that communicated that he was not someone to take lightly.
“But I am quite curious,” continued Megazario, “how ever did you manage to escape being crushed by my spambot?”
Mic snarled at Megazario, and said, “So it was You who put all of us in danger..”
Megazario merely tilted his head, a hint of amusement in his eyes.
“I vanished us all out,” Mic answered finally, “coordinate hacks, if you will.”
TBG stepped forward, dropping Stran61ah before Megazario’s feet. “These are your cronies, I suppose,” he said, glaring slightly. Victor dropped Ki11ah next to Stran61ah, striking a ridiculous pose. “You mess with da crib, you mess with da Vic! Yeah!” He then proceeded to imitating John Cena’s “You Can’t See Me”, then stepped back.
Megazario ignored Victor’s shenanigans. He was squinting strangely at Mic, as if in deep thought. “Coordinate hacks you say? And I thought the alchemy boy was trouble enough…”
Brandobrawl looked up at his apparent mention, glancing at Mic, who still didn’t know where the conversation was going. “Uh, Mezar-Meg…whatever your name is,” Mic started, “I don’t mean to be impolite, but you are the villain, so-“
What happened next happened so fast, that no one realize what had happened until only a few moments afterward.
Mic had stopped so abruptly because he was now staring directly into the face of Megazario, who had been a few meters away just a second ago. Mic seemed to be choking from surprise, frightened of Megazario’s amazing speed. But it was Runouw, brandobrawl and Icy who noticed what had really happened first. “You…♥♥♥♥♥♥♥…” was all brandobrawl managed to say.
Megazario had his hand inserted straight into Mic’s chest, with an even crueler, colder expression than usual. With a disgusting, resounding “shunk”, Megazario removed his hand almost as fast as he had inserted it. With one final glare at brandobrawl, he said, “Disturbances to my plan must be eliminated.”
In his hand, Megazario was holding a small, glowing orb: Mic’s Internal Command Prompt. Or how us humans call it – his soul.
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The events that occurred afterward happened so fast and separately, that it would be practically impossible to describe them simultaneously in one section. Following are four sections describing 4 different things that happened at the same time. You may read them in any order you like.
The events in the paragraphs are as follows:
1- The mods’ short fight against Megazario, and Icy’s confrontation of Rgadarg
2- brandobrawl’s plan to perform human transmutation on Mic
3- 24murph’s attempt to steer the injured to safety
4 – Buff, blab, Moy and Jesse’s trek inside the forum
Please note that the last 2 sections of the chapter, which follow these 4, must be read in chronological order to avoid confusion.
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Part 1 – Hard Feelings
“You murderer… you MURDERER!!!”
It was Icy who had stood up to Megazario first. Without even thinking, he clapped his hands, gathering the moisture in the surrounding air to create a floating blob of water. Had the members of the forum not been in total shock from the death of a friend, they could’ve seen something amazing. Icy ran his hands through the water, dampening his right hand and using the left to mold the water into a spiky shape. With a final wave, the spiky shaped water was frozen solid, leaving Icy’s arm implanted with a makeshift sword made from ice. He charged instantly, blinded with rage, but it was effective nonetheless. Rgadarg, who was guarding Megazario in case any of the mods decided to act, had no time to react. Icy dashed right past Megazario, his sword-implanted hand held out.
Slash!
Rgadarg stumble sideways, holding his injured chest. Clearly this Icy fellow was more skilled than Rgadarg had expected. And with the help of the 3 meddling moderators, there was a strong chance they would defeat him.
The moderators were the next to react. They pretty much reasoned that Rgadarg was being taken care of, so they went for Megazario instead. Four took the lead, running at the cruel figure standing over Mic and brandobrawl. The figure suddenly lifted his hand, and Four felt a wave of panic course throughout his body. He was going to kill brandobrawl as well.
But at the last moment, he hesitated, and it was enough time for Four and the rest to reach Megazario and attack. All three of them swung their weapons at once, and hit…air. Megazario was gone. All the mods could see around them was a blur. The whole world was revolving around them at an extreme speed. Then Four noticed something. The world wasn’t spinning. They were. Megazario had sidestepped their attack, grabbed their arms and was now spinning them lazily with almost no effort. He had done it so impossibly fast, they hadn’t even noticed. Now that they had, Megazario released them, the momentum of the spin taking over.
Icy’s mind was racing. He never thought he’d see a friend be murdered in cold blood right before his eyes. But now he had the opportunity to get the murdered back. It had to be done. And first came the bodyguard. Icy twisted around, seeing Rgadarg still hadn’t reacted from the side of his stomach being cut open. It still wasn’t enough. He had to be disabled completely.
Icy bent low, touching the floor. The floor froze under his hand, spreading out towards Rgadarg’s feet. Instantly, he suffered the effects of zero traction. He fell over. Now, thought Icy, I must make him suffer more. A cut in his left arm to prevent him from using his weapon would suffice. Icy brought down the frozen blade. But he hadn’t expected a moderator to come flying out of nowhere. Niklaw crashed into him, modifying (lawl) Icy’s aim. Icy could only watch in horror as he drove his own frosty blade straight into Rgadarg’s heart.
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Part 2 - The Incident
Crush.
Small glowing specks of a white, shiny material flew into the air, resembling a thousand fireflies. Brandobrawl knew they were fragments of Mic’s ICP. Without it, Mic wouldn’t live much longer.
Blood splattered on the floor as Mic coughed. He doubled over, falling onto his knees. Even then, he could feel his life leaving him. With his last efforts, he flipped over, facing upwards towards brandobrawl and Azn’s horror-stricken faces. He inhaled his final breath, and decided he couldn’t waste it.
“You…all need…to…stay ali…ve…”
Mic looked up beyond brandobrawl’s petrified expression. The forum was truly a mess. Although all the buildings had once been exactly similar blocks of gray, they were now mountains of ruin and debris. Many of the tall, white lampposts that were laid out throughout the light-blue colored streets were bent, crooked, or missing altogether. The forum had once been a place of symmetrical perfection, as most Cites were in the World of Internet. Now, it was a place full of destruction and despair. He hoped his friends would forgive him for thinking such selfish thoughts, but maybe death, or whatever awaited the digital beings of the Internet, was better. And, as Mic gazed up at what would clearly be his last glimpse of Runouw’s Forum, he saw the Screen. The mysterious white canvas through which the mortal men watched over the digital beings. What humans call…the “sky”.
Brandobrawl watched Mic’s final moments, still unable to speak, mover or even breathe. It was only until Mic closed his eyes that brandobrawl flinched, finally taking in what was happening. And just in time.
Megazario was standing before Mic’s lifeless body, smirking as if he had played a prank on brandobrawl. “My, my,” Megazario said, “I’m so truly sorry about your friend. But worry not, Mr. Alchemist. You’ll be joining him soon.”
Brandobrawl stared at Mic’s limp figure. “But…why?”
Megazario grinned, obviously satisfied with the effect he was causing upon the users of the forum. Only Ridder seemed to be showing any sign of emotion, currently glowering at Megazario. He whispered something to victor12, TBG and GalaxyMario, who recovered their senses instantly. Megazario ignored them. "'Why?' you ask? It's pretty simple."
His expression changed, the cruel evil frown returning as he lifted his hand. “Anything that might disrupt my plans must be disposed of.”
And just then, Megazario noticed something hanging from brandobrawl’s neck. “You…already…created one?” he whispered, flinching slightly. Behind him, brandobrawl heard the mods’ battle cry as they rushed at Megazario, but he vanished at the last moment, leaving the mods to just hit thin air. Then the mods disappeared as well, into what seemed to be a tornado of some sort.
“Victor, alucard, GM, Nero, NOW!”
It had been Ridder’s voice once again. Brandobrawl saw figures moving out of the corner of his eyes, but was still paralyzed over Mic’s corpse. Azn seemed to have regained his sense, and motioned for Ridder and TBG to accompany him as he kneeled beside brandobrawl. “Brando…” Azn whispered, unsure what to say. “…it-it wasn’t your fault.”
Brandobrawl apparently didn’t hear that, because he mumbled, “I promised…never again…”
Ridder looked at brandobrawl. “What do you-?” he started, but was cut off by brandobrawl holding up his hand to silence him. He turned around to face them, and found only Azn, TBG, and Ridder facing back. He heard the clanging of weapons and the rumble of a car, but it was all very distant. His lip still quivering slightly, he spoke.
“I’ve never told anyone this. I didn’t know how you’d feel about it. But there is something I must do now, and you guys need to know.” As if from nowhere, brandobrawl produce a small piece of chalk, and drew a big circle around Mic’s body. Azn, Ridder, and TBG watched as brandobrawl wrote complicated runes and symbols along the circle. As he drew, he continued speaking. “It wasn’t a mere coincidence that the forum moved shortly after my arrival. There was a horrible incident.”
“An incident?” Azn exclaimed, now alarmed. “What happened?”
“Come on,” Ridder said, waving his arm at Azn in a disbelieving manned. “It can’t be that bad.”
Brandobrawl looked at Ridder, then said, “There was mass murder.”
“DEAR GOD, WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?” Ridder yelled.
“You’re overreacting,” TBG said, still optimistic. “Brando probably means something else.”
“Oh, and now you’re a criminal expert?” Ridder retorted. “Wait, I forgot your little title of “Banned for Excessive Bumping”, which I must say, is a title that could lead to double entende.”
Azn sniggered.
“Whatever, Mr. Questionable Gender.”
“…what’s that supposed to mean??”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I meant MISS Questionable Gender.”
Azn was on the verge of bursting with laughter, but instantly put on a serious face when he aw the look on brandobrawl’s face. “Guys, I’m not joking. This incident was covered up, it was too horrible. I need to tell you the real story.”
~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o
The warehouse was big, and there was only a small source of light, which came from a cracked window near the roof. The small ray was only enoguh to see the small area in the center of the warehouse, where three figures were sprawled on the floor. The back door creaked open at that moment, and two new figures entered, one carrying the other, who was tied up and in very bad shape.
Click.
The person carrying the captured figure had turned on the lights of the warehouse, and the captured user flinched, blinking a few times after the sudden change in lighting. His eyes widened as he saw the 3 other people that his captor had locked up inside the warehouse. I'll be joining them soon, he realized. Sure enough, his captor put him down on the edge of a circle which was drawn in chalk upon the floor. He looked around, perplexed. There were lots of figures and runes drawn on the floor, most notably a diamond that touched all edges of the circle. strangely, all the victims of the mysterious captor were lying on all of the diamond's corners, including himself.
"Stay still. It'll all be over soon, Icy."
Indeed, the name of the user who had just been captured was IcyStone. Icy looked up at the captor, whose face was covered with a crudely designed mask, with some sort of circular markings on it. It was extremely creepy.
Squirming slightly, Icy was able to turn and get a look at all the other users. To the left of him, on a corner marked with a weird symbol of squiggly lines, was Yoshimo. To his right, showing sign of having put up resistance, was MetaRL123. And directly opposite to Icy, on the other side of the diamond, was lying Fireblast124.
The captor spoke again. "I have chosen you for a little experiment," he said, and this time, Icy swore having heard that voice before. "It is not by coincidence, though. My experiment is a little elementally oriented, you see. On each of the four corners of the diamond within this circle, are markings that show each of the four elements: Fire, Air, Water and Earth. I chose users whose names had elemental references (or at least slightly resembling) in them. Fireblast - Fire. IcyStone - Ice, or Water. MetaRL - Metal, or Earth. Sadly I couldn't find a user with a satisfying reference to Air, so Mr. Yoshimo had to do." Icy could've sworn his captor was smiling behind that mask.
"In the center of the diamond, there's a space for the 5th Element," he continued. "And that is where you gentlemen come in. You will help me aquire the 5th Element. You will all be- for want of a better word - ingredients. Ingredients for...."
The captor put his masked face very close to Icy's, and said with considerable emphasis: "THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE."
Clang.
The captor whipped around, looking for the source of the noise. After a few seconds' silence, he satisfied himself saying, "Must've been my imagination."
Icy heard a shuffling noise, and turned instinctively; Fireblast was shifting uncomfortably. Icy realized his foolishness. He had thought the others were unconscious, but the truth was they were tied up and gagged, just like him. But what did that phsycopath mean by....ingredients? Surely they weren't going to be cut up and put into a potion of some sort....were they?
The masked stranger was now standing over him, apparently stretching his fingers. Then, he bent over near the edge of the chalk circle. "Now don't worry, it will be virtually painless. By which I mean, it will be so painful, after a while you won't feel anything at all!" And with that, the touched the circle.
BASHOOOM.
Instantly, blue lighting-like rays were rising up from the circle, consuming the entire room. Icy and the others were shaking uncontrollably, but the masked figure just watched, amazed. But there was something else sounding beside the crackling of the alchemical process. A strange thumping sound, but not very rhythmic... and then the masked figure realized. There was a crownd outside the warehouse where the masked man was carrying out his evil deed. People were knocking to get inside. With the blue lights erupting from the transmutation circle in the center of the warehouse, the sign over the entrance was now visible. It read: "Subforum - Easy Levels"
As if channeling the anger of the mob outside the Easy Levels forum, the blue lighting had now turned red. The masked figure looked puzzled at this sight, but was suddenly paralyzed with understanding at the gravity of the situation. The transmutation was backfiring.
"No..." the masked man exclaimed, still rooted to the spot, "there can't be a rebound.... I checked my calculations...my elemental circle design was flawless..."
The lightning was growing fiercer, and the pounding on the door increased. The masked man was sure he heard metallic footsteps, but was still standing before the circle, unable to move. And then it happened.
It was excruciating pain, possibly the worst anyone could feel without dying instantly. His soul was being pulled from his body, and he was screaming in agony, a horrible bloodcurdling scream. The masked man’s alchemy had failed; it was affecting the people outside the circle, not the people within.
And then, the decomposition started. This affected the non-biological objects within the circle as well. The ropes binding them were peeling away and disappearing. It was much worse for the masked man. Parts of his skin, his mask, even some body parts where being ripped from his very flesh. And finally, as the last of the captor’s mask was decomposed, the users inside the circle saw who it was.
It was brandobrawl. The kid who had arrived just a couple weeks earlier had kidnapped them and was now screaming in pain before them. Finally, one of them reacted and tried to reach out for brandobrawl. MetaRl reached out a hand, but the circle had created some sort of invisible barrier. Brandobrawl was agonizing, he would surely die….
But then, MetaRl was able to break through the barrier. He grabbed brandobrawl’s hand, and pulled with all his might. The red lighting was crackling around them, there wasn’t much time left… At that moment, something happened. MetaRl had pulled too hard, and stumbled when brandobrawl let go. They both ran forward. MetaRl had switched places with brandobrawl. Now he was screaming, the pain was too much, he was going to explode…
Fwooom.
Everything had gone white. The thumping was gone. Meta’s screams were gone. Everything was gone. Brandobrawl stood up, feeling as if he had emerged from a tub of fiery needles. MetaRl had been pulling him….and then….what had happened? He blinked. Surely it was an illusion. In front of him, floating in midair, was the Gate. A stone gate, with a design only a skilled alchemist would recognize.
“Well, well, we have a crowd today.”
Brandobrawl turned around in alarm. There wasn’t only one Gate. There were four. Towering over each one of the users the masked man, or brandobrawl, had used as human sacrifices: Yoshimo, Fireblast, Icy, and…
Now brandobrawl realized. MetaRl has pulled him into the circle, and had been pulled out. Now he was in the place of the Earth element. Or….were they anywhere at all?
“Welcome, foolish alchemist,” the voice said again. Brandobrawl looked for the source, and saw a strange…boy. Transparent, with little black particles surrounding him. But…was he human?
“Who are you?” brandobrawl asked.
“Man, do I get that a lot,” the boy responded in a strange voice. “I would’ve thought that I was known among you alchemists by now.”
Swoosh.
He closed in on brandobrawl, smiling widely. “I am, The One, or The All, or God, or the Truth, or the Universe. And I am YOU. Call me what you please. Now, you came to see it, right?”
Doom.
The Gate opened, and dozens of black arms grabbed brandobrawl. He cried out, but the arms paid no attention, pulling him in. Finally, the door closed with a crash.
The arms were pulling his across a vast space. Millions of images were pouring into his brain. All the knowledge of the world, the Internet, the universe was being displayed at an overwhelming speed. The Truth….the Truth….
And just as fast as it had started, it was over. He was once again standing in the vast whiteness, with the Gate behind him and the other users in front of him. The weird boy was still smiling.
“Enjoyed it, Mr. Alchemist?” the boy asked, tilting his head in genuine curiosity. “Apparently, the others you brought weren’t alchemists, but I bet with all this new knowledge, they are now.”
Brandobrawl looked around at Fireblast, Icy and Yoshimo. They were sweating heavily, their eyes wide open. They had seen the Truth too…
“Now, now, I think it’s time for you to pay the toll, isn’t it?
Brandobrawl stared at the transparent kid. “Toll? What do you mean by ‘toll’?”
The weird kid grinned even wider, now giving him a freakish appearance. He held out his transparent hands, and put them an inch apart, almost clapping them. “You didn’t think all this knowledge would come without a price, did you?”
Icy, Fireblast and Yoshimo looked up, getting more disturbed by the second.
“You’ll be the first then, my naïve alchemist.”
Brandobrawl looked down at his hands. They were disappearing.
“The toll is always that which is most valuable to you,” the boy said, now with an unnaturally wide smile. “In your case, Alchemist, without your hands, all this knowledge will have been for nothing.”
Brandobrawl’s hands were peeling away in small squares. Decomposing. And slowly, as his wrist disappeared, it appeared on the place where the transparent boy’s hands should’ve been. The Truth was taking them.
“NO!” brandobrawl cried out, folding his arms and trying to hide them. It was no use. In a few seconds, his hands would be completely gone, and the transparent boy would have a full set.
“NO!!” brandobrawl yelled again, looking at the other users’ alarmed faces. “Help me!!!”
That’s when he finally saw it. In the center of the white room, in the middle of where the four users were standing, brandobrawl caught a glimpse of a red gleam.
The Philosopher’s Stone.
Even with the whole mess of his encounter with The Truth, he had actually succeeded. The Philosopher’s Stone was his.
But hadn’t it backfired? The users who he had meant to be sacrifices were in this vast whiteness with him…
The horrible comprehension hit him like a bullet. It had backfired. Instead of using the people inside the elemental transmutation circle, it had use everyone in the surrounding area. The mob around the Easy Levels forum never had a chance. And MetaRl…had sacrificed himself to save him, even if it was accidental. All those souls, he had used them just for his alchemical studied. Stupid. Yes. Before, acquiring knowledge meant everything to him. Now he knew better.
“I still have a chance….” brandobrawl whispered to himself. The transparent boy looked at him curiously. Then he stumble to the side in alarm as brandobrawl ran straight through him, attempting to retrieve the Philosopher’s Stone. That was when the Truth realized.
“Don’t you dare, alchemist!” the boy shouted, gliding after brandobrawl, his grin replaced by a grimace. “You cannot escape the toll!!”
Brandobrawl didn’t listen. He motioned for the others to follow him. He lunged at the Philosopher’s Stone with what was left of his hands, and the last thing he heard was the angry yell of the Truth, The One, The All, God, The Universe, and Himself.
~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~
There was an uneasy silence following brandobrawl's tale, interrupted only by the sounds and shouts of the mods' and the bad guys' conflict. Brandobrawl had almost finished drawing his complex transmutation circle around Mic. Finally, Ridder broke the silence.
"So, you dived at the Phosphorous Stone or whatever and...that's it?"
Brandobrawl threw Ridder an incredulous look. "Surely you've heard of the Philosopher's Stone before, haven't you?" he asked, a slightly annoyed tone in his voice. When Ridder shook his head, brandobrawl sighed, and added, "The Philosopher's Stone has incredible alchemical powers. People call it the 5th Element, as I mentioned in my story, or the Ultimate Catalyst. It pretty much amplifies any transmutation, and lets people transmute without a circle, even non-alchemists."
Ridder continued to stare at brandobrawl. "And that means...?"
"Ugh," brandobrawl muttered, passing a hand through his hair impatiently, "it means that I was able to bypass the toll and not have to sacrifice my hands."
TBG rapped Ridder on the back of his head. "Seriously," he said, shaking his head, "some people are such bad listeners."
"Oh yeah?" snapped Ridder, "What's a 'transmutation'"
TBG smiled. "It's when someone is horribly mutated into a transvesti," he said, then feigned a look of shock. "Oh, sorry Ridder, I know you don't like people talking about your condition."
Ridder glared at TBG, clearly itching to punch him, but Azn grabbed them both by the collars of their shirts before he could attempt anything.
"Okay, after you bypassed the toll, you were able to get out?"
“Yeah,” brandobrawl said, glad the attention was back on him. “That Truth guy could’ve grabbed us if I’d taken it a second later. There was another flash of light and we landed on my transmutation circle again. After that, we all had alchemical abilities corresponding to the corner of the diamond we were on. But instead of MetaRl getting Earth alchemy, it was me.”
“So that’s why you can transmute the ground so easily and whatever. And why Glay has those Ice powers, because of the water thing.”
“But…what happened to MetaRl and those other guys? You mentioned something about them…”
It was Ridder who had spoken. Brandobrawl’s heart sank. He had been dreading having to explain this.
“Th….when we got out of the….Truth, MetalRl was lying there, his…his mouth was bleeding. When I ran over to examine him, Fireblast and Yoshimo opened the doors to the Easy Levels forum. The crowd surrounding the forum….and anyone unlucky enough to have been around….they-they were….in the same state as Meta.”
“Wha-what happened to them?” TBG asked, clearly fearing the answer.
Brandobrawl looked at them all with dark eyes. It was the first time they had seen him like this.
“They were all dead. Their souls were sucked from their bodies.”
Azn, Ridder and TBG all stared at brandobrawl, open-mouthed. “What-but-!” “That can’t-!” “You’re not …serious…are you?”
“Philosopher’s Stones are made by harnessing the energy of souls,” brandobrawl responded. “There was a time where to me, all that mattered were my alchemical studies. Four souls were nothing to me. But that day, something happened. I finally realized that sacrificing people just for my studies wasn’t right. And it took MetaRl’s sacrifice and the deaths of dozens of users for me to realize it.”
He held up his necklace, tightened his hand around it, and let it go. There was a crackle of alchemical lighting, and the necklace opened in m9dari. Azn Ridder and TBG stared in awe as the blood red Philosopher’s Stone emerged from it.
“That day, I promised I’d never again let any of my friends die. I’d made the mistake of sacrificing all those people, but I thought I could correct it by using those souls to protect anyone I could.
The transmutation circle around Mic was finished. Brandobrawl brought down the Philosopher’s Stone to Mic’s chest.
“THAT’S WHY I CAN’T LET MIC DIE!!”
BASHOOOM!!
The blue lightning that came with transmutation crackled instantly. Two seconds later, brandobrawl knew something was wrong. Memories flashed painfully through his mind as the lightning turned red.
But what mattered was the present. If it had gone wrong again, he couldn’t let anyone get hurt this time. “GET BACK! AZN, RIDDER, TBG, GET AWAY FROM THE CIRCLE!!!”
Ridder and TBG jumped back in alarm, while Azn stepped back slowly, looking horrorstruck. The rays of lightning were increasing, a sign that brandobrawl knew could not be good. Although… this time, he wasn’t trying to make a Philosopher’s Stone. What would happen now?
He flinched back to reality as he felt something on his arm. It was Azn’s hand,, trying to pull him out. “What are you doing?!?” brandobrawl yelled out. “I told you to get away!!”
Azn frowned determinedly, shouting, “Not without you!”
“Azn, please, get back!”
FWASH!
Brandobrawl’s and Azn’s outlines were imprinted onto Ridder and TBG’s eyelids as a great white flash emerged from the circle, momentarily blinding them. A bit after, Ridder opened his eyes, to find that the white light was gone, and Mic, Azn, and brandobrawl with it. Moments later, a bloodcurdling scream was heard: “RUNOOUUWWWW!!!”
Again, surely not a good sign.
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