Curse of the Crooked

Story

Tired. Bora was tired. He watched over the edge of the home base, staring at the ruins of a broken city. He knew that he could not leave his position. His group was counting on him. Watching the monsters aimlessly limp through what used to be the downtown area was now a crumbling, crippled wasteland.

"Ugh! Whyyyy!"

Sighing loudly, Bora muttered, "This curse is seriously annoying!" He brushed his shoulder-length, caramel-colored hair out of his face. He could already feel himself slowly dying... crumbling away. He despised this feeling of being trapped. Bora only wished that the pain would just go away. He prayed that he would be left in peace. He wanted to go back to being normal. Just a regular boy of the working class.

However, life had not always been like this. Cursed and crooked. He used to be a proud young man, reckless even. His face had always carried this permanent smirk, as he knew that he was destined for greatness. He reminisced on the older times when he had first started out. Sure, he was cocky, but for a good reason. He had been born a prodigy in school and had received an internship for a prestigious company.

His life, undeniably, was excellent. Things change though, life can become unexpected. He had been in the building when everything became covered in an inky substance. He had seen it. It resembled a sea of shadows. At least, it is what he believed it to be until it began to squirm. Out of the corner of his eye, there was an eerie humanoid creature, tall, thin, and dressed like a businessman, casting his shadow on the writhing figures of his unconscious coworkers.

He looked on in silent horror as his coworkers began to change. Their limbs and facial features twisted, deforming them so horribly that they no longer looked human. Of course, Bora had assumed the role of hero. Spoiler alert, he failed miserably. That... thing was much stronger than it appeared.

Bora opened his eyes, hissing and clutching his shoulder. The memory of that creature had caused the pain to flare up and the grey to spread farther. The young man wanted to cry but, he could not. He knew his fate was inevitable, but he no longer desired to abandon the base. Home Base was the only one who had allowed him to enter and stay.

A friendly voice resounded in the eerie silence. "Hello there!" It spoke.

He turned in surprise. "What?" He began to question. He stopped, however, as soon as he heard a telltale giggle. He gave his signature smirk, looking up.

A pretty woman with long, golden curls and heterochromatic eyes looked down at him. Her blue and green eyes were sparkling with amusement. He remembered their first meeting when he had been cornered by the Crooked ones. She was the brightest person he had ever seen, practically rivaling the sun. He had only realized that he had been lost in thought when he heard a pair of fingers snapping in front of his nose.

"Hello, Hope. What are you up to?" He said, holding onto his playful smirk.

"Nothing much. That train of thought of yours seems to be going off of the rails. Wanna talk? Or do you want to go back in?" He liked that about her. She would always ask him, never pried, and he was beyond grateful for that.

"Yeah, yeah... Worry not, for I, your dearest friend, was only dreaming!" He spoke in a terrible British accent, trying to make it seem as if nothing were wrong. He was unsure how he would tell his friends. He threw her a casual smirk before entering Home Base. He needed to make sure that they were safe. But how?
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Light always seemed to follow her wherever she traveled. They would often describe Hope as a joyous, optimistic girl. Regardless of the dreadful circumstances, she did not wish to give up. That personality of hers caused her survivor group to see her as a sister figure. She seemed to glow as she moved around the base. Hope rushed around, trying to make the place seem less bleak than it was already.