User blog:Addfire/Oroborus

World: 5431313

HAWAIIAN was the first to react.

"Sondz," he said with a quivering voice. "The chances of you not only being born but being unique among the universe are so low that I don't think you ex-" Sondz created and threw a spear that went through HAWAIIAN's open mouth and through the back of his head.

He looked lazily over at Spicy, who was crying tears of rage as he bounded towards Sondz. Spicy reversed his gravity, propelling himself upwards so that in a few seconds he would come crashing down on Sondz with the momentum of a truck.

"Spicy," Sondz drawled in an amicable voice. "Reversing the laws of gravity is physically impossible. You should not be able to do that."

Spicy, horrified, plummeted from 90 feet up, slamming into the ground with a sickening crunch and throwing splinters into the air. Sondz aimed his attention towards Addfire, who was running at Sondz in the process of transforming their attractive teenage body into that of a burly bodybuilder.

"Addfire, no one really knows how your ability works, and honestly it's a surprise to me that you've succeeded every time with no harm to yourself. The chances of that are slim to none." Addfire's face contorted in agony as muscles erupted through skin that was never made for strength. Addfire's screams were loud and horrific as their body tore itself apart.

Brown-cloaked men burst from houses in the village and descended upon the terrified crowd. A couple attempted to Plunge out, but found they weren't able to.

"Let me introduce two of my associates," Sondz shouted over the cacaphony.

"This," he cried while gesturing to a bald man with a goatee, "is Jason. His Grant is to keep others from plunging, so good luck with that."

"And this," he shouted over the ever-louder yells of the crowd, "Is Jallybwan. His Grant? To turn into a fucking dragon!"

Suddenly, the person on Sondz' other side morphed into a gargantuan black dragon, shooting jets of fire over the crowd. Sondz watched the carnage with a grin.

Jmskilz rose his telepathy to a mental scream, liquefying the brains of the Bards that got to close. But more and more were swarming around him... Yami yanked him away from the battlefield, shoving away those who got in their way.

Vertroyer activated his Grant, the ability to summon items from a pocket dimension area, again and again, dropping safes, anvils, and throwing shurikens at each Ministrel in his field of view. But one, armed with a defibrillator, short-circuted Vertroyer's robotic body.

Desert and Chengsha each made their way out of the vicious menagerie, as Zed covered them with shot after shot from his revolver. But a brown-cloaked man shoved his drumstick into Zed's eye, sending him to the ground.

Playful threw dart after dart at the dragon, blasting it with shadowy blades amd bullets. Her grace was legendary, ducking under and jumping over each shot of fire. When an attack from the dragon came close to singing, she threw up a cocoon of shadow around herself, then dismissed it to drench the dragon in darkness. She breathed heavily, elated that she had killed it, and Sondz planted a bullet in her skull.

And Ghosty enveloped himself with a Kirby, mouthing silently, ''Take me away. Take me away...''

World: 5431313

They huddled in the darkness. The survivors crouched together in the basement of a house that had been ripped apart. Hopefully, the logic went, since the Minstrels had destroyed the top half of the house, they wouldn't check what was left.

Somehow, Ghosty, Yami, Jmskilz, Desert, and Cheng had all made it to the safehouse, one way or another. It weighed heavy on all their minds that better people than them had gone out fighting, and that of the many Minstrel corpses, only a few were caused by them.

A depressing silence hung over their heads, until Ghosty raised his head.

"Yami, your Grant better be summoning fucking atomic bombs, because I want to nuke that yellow son of a bitch. And Desert, no. This isn't the time for goddamn catchphrases."

If I may, Jmskilz thought, ''I would like for you all to know that the Bards are playing the opening strains of the symphony Hiroshima. So a nuclear bomb is very possible in our futures.''

"Well, that's it then!" Chengsha sputtered in mock happiness. "I'm dead, you're dead, everyone's dead. We might as well just kill ourselves now beca-"

''Cheng, I respect you a lot. If you continue with hysterics I will be forced to hurt you to make sure you don't give away our location.''

"Hurt me? Hurt me? Everyone hates me! Desert does, you do, the greenie probably does, Yami must-" her voice was reaching a fever pitch.

Jmskilz rolled his eyes and slapped Chengsha, hard, stunning her into silence. ''I do not hate you. But we need you sane. Can you calm down?''

Chengsha shook her head vigorously, trying to focus her emotions. "Yes, sorry. I don't know what was going through my head... Nerves..."

''I understand completely. Yami, what is your Grant?''

The once-powerful head of the Coalition replied calmly, "The ability to create plagues, specifically of the insect variety. I can summon vast amounts of any insect and direct them."

Ghosty was flabbergasted. "What? Our Glorious Leader, the one who left me trembling in terror... All she does is summon butterflies?"

Yami made a small gesture and out of nowhere a whirlwind of flies swarmed Ghosty, enveloping his body. She then dismissed them, leaving a shaken Ghosty trembling, hair mussed. "Yes ma'am..." He stammered weekly. "I won't question you again ma'am..."

Desert stifled a laugh, and said, "Well, I'm going to be honest with all of you. I know I won't make it out alive. But I want to have a damned good plan of attack, because I want to take Sondz out with me."

"Well..." Began Cheng, thoughtfully. "I can probably take out most of the Bards unseen. Invisibility's my Grant, you remember. And once the henchmen are out..."

"I'll help you out!" Put forth Desert. "I can't stay in here doing nothing. And I know Sondz, or at least when he revealed I wasn't being a sitting duck like the rest of you. He's changed, yes, but I know his change. I know where he'll be."

''And I can serve as a lookout, if it helps. If I see him coming, I'll let you know so you can skedaddle.''

Yami nodded. "And that allows me to deal with him alone!"

Ghosty asked, "So where does that leave me?"

''Ghosty. Don't take offense to this, but you don't know how to fight. You won't hold a candle to Sondz.''

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Cheng ordered.

World: 5431313

Cheng and Desert walked hand in hand through the village. "Sondz would search the well," Desert whispered to her. "Try the church."

Chengsha crept away from the well, sneaking into the holy ground. There were three Bards in there, each with a tambourine in hand. "Count of three," whispered Cheng. "1... 2... 3!"

They twirled away from each other, Desert's chain knife whipping out and embedding itself into a Bard. He crumpled to the ground as another was pounced upon by Cheng, who drove a dagger through his heart. The third backed away from the two vengeful members of the Coalition.

Thirteen seconds later, Jm's voice sounded in their heads. ''Good work, you two. Only Jason and Sondz left... Wait, he's here! Hide!''

The two clasped hands quickly as Sondz and his minion strolled into the room. "Cheng, I know you're in here... But since I can't see you, there's no evidence to prove you exist. Therefore, you don't."

Cheng stifled a gasp in terror, but didn't disappear. Sondz seemed to be listening to a voice in his head. "Damn good logic, Jmskilz! Damned good logic." He chortled. Then his voice lost all humor and he ordered Jason to open fire. Jason brought his violin out, and began playing it.

Cheng and Desert crumpled to the ground as the music began to rise into a crescendo, groaning in pain.

"Oops," grinned Sondz. "Never underestimate the power of good music." He snapped his fingers and his shadow smothered the two.

They screamed, once together. Then they were quiet.

NO! Jm's thoughts boomed, the words mixed with a primeval grief. The winged man swooped in, and with a deft move decapitated Jason with a longsword he had picked up. Sondz looked at the now-headless body of his henchman, and tutted.

"That'l be hard to replace," Sondz joked. He raised his arm, and dangling from his hand was the Kel-Tec. He fired a shot, and Jm fell to the ground.

"Now, let's see. That leaves... Glorious Leader and that new recruit, right? Man, sucks to be him." He spoke to himself.

Then he screamed, and began to cough violently. His coughs became violent, coughing up blood, until a cockroach came out of his mouth. "What in hell...?"

Yami stepped into the church. "Fitting," she growled. "For a person obviously from the other land down under."

Sondz staggered around, coughing up another cockroach, and raised his arm shakily. His shadow leapt forward, snapping Yami's concentration, and the cockroaches disappeared. Yami threw swarms of mosquitoes and slugs at Sondz, who countered with sweeping shadow.

It was an epic duet, each throwing everything they had at the other. Then Yami surrounded Sondz with flies.

"AUGH!" He screamed. "GET 'EM OFF ME! GET 'EM- Oh, god, they're crawling into my nostrils, my mou-" he vomited, and curled up in the fetal position. Yami looked on with no remorse. But she was getting more pale by the minute. It seemed that every time she used her power, she lost something of herself.

"I... I..." Sondz struggled to speak, a complete contrast from the cocky psychopath from before. "Remember... Love... Is a forest... And..." The flies poured down his throat, and everything was still. Then his stomach visibly churned and exploded as flies ripped him apart.

Yami keeled over, face bloodless.

World: 5431313

Ghosty heard the buzz of insect wings stop. He poked his head into the door of the church, he followed Yami without her knowing. He looked at the carnage, and vomited.

Sondz' body, viscera pooling out of him. Jason, decapitated next to him. Cheng and Desert, bodies tangled in horrid contortions. Jm, sightless eyes staring. Yami seemed to be the only thing in the room with no cuts. But she was on the ground.

He rushed over to Yami, and felt for a pulse.

He stepped away from Yami's corpse.

Then he noticed something odd. Something was coming out of the bodies of Sondz and Yami.

Or, two somethings. From Sondz, an aura that mutated everything it touched, a pillar of diversity reaching the sky, stone turning into flower turning into flesh turning into cloud turning into cancer.

From Yami, everything stopped. Blood stopped flowing, wind stopped flowing, and a sickly clean sheen was over it all. Sondz remembered Jmskilz talking about Degeneracy and Stagnation. Was this them?

But which to choose?

Ghosty's hand went towards Stagnation, first. He had ties to the coalition! It was part of him. But... No. Stagnation wouldn't fix the problem, simply stop anything else from happening. But Degeneracy wouldn't help, either. It would change the world into something unrecognizable, something inconceivable by sane minds. That wasn't the answer.

It was...

Both.

Because Degeneracy was also Change, and Change was what was needed. The multiversity needed something else, that wasn't the endless fights between the Coalition and Bards. But Change unchecked was a problem, and Stagnation was also Preservation, which could keep that which was good the way it was.

So he closed his eyes and thrust one hand into both.

World: [Error]

Hello.

"J- Jm? Is that you? You're alive?"

''No. I am... What was created by you. I am Something More. I am in this form to help you comprehend it. I'm not sure myself what my true form is. But you are Ghosty, who is also known as Alex, from world 112526, of whom no one expected to do anything of worth.''

"... Okay?"

''You have three options. This multiverse has failed. A new one is needed. Do you want to simply destroy the multiverse, ending this cycle of horror, as some describe it? Do you want to start it again, hoping that this time a different outcome would occur? Or do you wish to create a new universe, or even multiverse?''

"Could you wait a second? I... I'd like the third option, please... But could I have a moment to think of this new multiverse?"

''Certainley. And anything is possible. You have a chance to do Something More, after all.''

"... Okay. I think I got it."

And Ghosty described this new world.

Town: Salem of England

Ghosty had been walking for a while before he found this town. It had a simple charm, one he liked. He walked into the town, to immediately be accosted by a robotic man.

"Hey there, the name is Vertroyer, and I need a favor. Couldja go and deliver a message to this guy's house? His name is Desert..."

"Um... Sure?"

As Ghosty walked through the town, he saw other residents. He didn't know their names yet, but he would soon. HAWAIIAN and Rex were putting out a fire caused by an anon. Addfire was sparring with Eclipsa. Yami rushed to stop one of Uli's new creations from shooting down Zed. Sondz chatted animatedly with Playful. Cheng singing karaoke to a K-Pop band. Octo and Jim Holden dancing on a table while Jmskilz tried to coax them off. Venera looking at a rose forlornly. Minecraft poking a stick at a strange cat thing.

And he'd meet others, like Rubik, Jally, Spicy, Rocket...

He grinned, and adjusted his knapsack. He had a letter to deliver.

And after that? This town needed a Jester.

END OF STORY (for now ;p )