[i]Previously…[/i]
[i]The group walks to the walls of #Offtopic, the proud spires of their community ascending to the heavens beyond them. They almost reach the gatehouse when Cell-3 shouts”duck!” As a purple, ominous car drives by. Zbruh’s foot gets run over as he pushes Catty to safety. [/i]
“Mr. Wampus.. I don’t feel so good…”
He fades into dust before their eyes.
[i]Back to the present… or in this case roughly a few moments after...[/i]
“F”
“F”
“F”
“F”
“He died… to save me…,” said CattyWampus.
“He knew the risk. The only way to pay him back is to live the life he saved,” answered Cell.
“Y’know, I could probably find his soul. 10-15 minute resurrection, tops,” said Nil.
[i]The rest of the group looked at each other, then nodded at Nil. After acquiring the components and drawing the thaumaturgic circle, she began the incantation. [/i]
“Nogephaii, mgepr'luh gof'n,” Nil chanted over and over again. The blood in the circle began to rise as the magical energy spiked. But just as she reached out for his newly departed soul, and her fingers closed around it, something else swooped in, tearing him from her grasp.
“What the -blam!-?”
Nil reached once more, but his soul was gone. Zbruh, was gone.
“Hm. It seems someone else wanted him, but it was more like he willingly left. Z definitely could sense me reaching for him, but chose something else.”
“What does that even mean?” asked Catty.
“No idea, magic goes over my computations. Let’s go home!” said Cell.
[i]The group left the road, and entered the gates of OffTopic. Z’s death was reported, but almost no one noticed. “He’ll be back, 10$ says so.” [/i]
[i]Notorious Zbruh never returned.
But someone else did. [/i]
[b][i]Somewhere I forgot where, but probably far away…[/i][/b]
Zbruh appeared in a flash of light, thoroughly confused.
“Where the -blam!- am I?”
Z’s voice echoed around the featureless wasteland he found himself in. Moments later, hundreds of voices repeated his question.
“Where the -blam!- am I?” they asked.
“Well I dunno, where the -blam!- am I?”
The voices responded in like manner, and Zbruh scratched his head.
“You’re in your own head, Z. Come here, and I can show you,” said a voice nearby.
Zbruh cautiously walked towards the voice, and found a shining figure sitting on an edge, looking out into the nothingness.
“Who are you?”
“You! Or at least, a part of you. A good part, I’m your Magnanimity.”
“Uh… and who would be a bad part?”
“Us of course!” responded two disfigured shadows moving out from the darkness.
“Oh my god what the -blam!- are you!?” Zbruh backpedalled, almost falling off the edge in his terror. Magna caught his ankle, and pulled him back up.
“They’re your Ego and Pretense. Instead of being one entity, your pride is so strong it manifests as two,” explained Magna.
“Oh bullshit. I’m not that proud, am I?”
“See for yourself! Try to think of a quality of yours, and see how they stack up. You can’t lie to yourself, we’ve never had that ability,” said Magna.
Zbruh closed his eyes, and tried to think of his compassion, his ingenuity and reason. Opening them, he did a double take.
A figure we would recognize as Azruphêl stood before him, next to Evelyn and Harmony. Standing next to Pretense and Ego, they were dwarfed by more than twice their own height.
“Oh... shit.”
“Yeah, it’s not great. Not great at all,” said Magna. “Wanna look at the personification of your power?”
Zbruh sat down, his head in his hands. “Why not, that should be something I can handle.”
Magna laughed, and whistled. A simple zebra with wings and a horn walked out.
“Thank goodness, something I can look on and be proud of!”
“Nuh-uh! Take off the mask, see what you tried and failed to hide from yourself.”
Zbruh shivered, and did so. The innocent and simple equine gave way to a massive eldritch horror plant monster. Miles high and long, with thick plating along the vines and tentacles, power personified made even Ego and Pretense look like ants.
“That… that’s me?”
“Yup. Fascinating, intoxicating and destructive, your power is second to nothing we know of. Oh right, your prime directive: learn everything. Omniscience. Do you remember?”
Zbruh clutched his head, remembering the early days. They were filled with a happiness he could never return to, when things made sense. “No, no I will not remember. I’m pushing onwards!”
“For yourself, and only yourself.” Ego and Pretense swelled up slightly, growing at his words.
“I… I can’t do it. If I try to remember, put it all back, I’ll shatter,” said Zbruh, his voice quivering.
“Either shatter like glass, Poly, or die. Your choice,” said trillions of voices in unison.
[i]The heads faded, and Zbruh stood on the edge, all alone. Tears rolled down his face as his left hand became engulfed in Deep blackness and the other shone with the Light. A vision of a young girl grew into focus, years in the future. She would suffer worst of all from this. [/i]
“I’m… I’m so, so sorry… little one…”
[i]Notorious clenched his fists, and the elements began coursing through him as new life poured into his being. His eyes glowed like stars, and the tears stopped. [/i]
“But I’m not dying today.”
-
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