Inktobertale 2022 : Compilation of novels

31st of October : Contest

[I recommend boss music, if you have anything good]

Creation and Destruction.

Two faces of the same coin, working like day and night on the same material. What one left behind, the other would use to accomplish its work. Not a perfect harmony, but a satisfying compromise for the Multiverse, even if camouflaged behind a rivalry between their two avatars.

Then along came a new party.

At first glance, there wasn't much difference between Destruction and Erasure.

But here was the thing. 

Destruction was a messy eater. It left trauma, ruins, things which could grow into more. Thus, the alliance with Creation. But Erasure did not leave anything behind. 

Thus, Creation had to take matters into its own hands.

The two weapons clashed into one another, unleashing a powerful shockwave, as both Broomie and the Eraser Staff flew from their wielder's hands. Without skipping a beat, White!Ink punched Ink right on the nose, which made the skeleton back up a few steps. But he immediately reiterated by summoning a ball of purple paint in his hand, and splashing it on his opponent's chest, where it extended into long strings which kept White's arms attached to his torso. He then followed by a kick to the head, then to the stomach, forcing the avatar of Erasure to bend in two, before Ink concluded his combo by hitting him hard in the back with his elbow, sending him on his knees.

"Recognize those hits ? I reworked the techniques you used against me a bit, and I think they came out pretty good !"

No answer, of course. Only the whistle of the Eraser Staff dashing through the air. Ink leaned on the side to avoid it, but not before it cut the threads around White, setting him free. Immediately, the corrupted incode grabbed his weapon, and planted it into the ground, opening a white portal through which both him and Ink fell, followed by Broomie.

They landed in some white void, with a few ruins of buildings and remains of code here and there. A destroyed timeline. Surprised by the fall, Ink landed on his back, and put his hands together to stop the blade of the Staff from stabbing him right on time. White!Ink kept putting all his strength into forcing the weapon down, but Broomie fell from the portal at that exact second, and hit him on the head, destabilizing him. Ink ripped the Staff from White's hands, and used it to send him flying away. The fight kept going on, violent punches and tricks from both sides, paint leaking, white tissue ripped into the wind, and shards of bones a bit everywhere on the ground. After receiving a harsh beating, White teleported behind his opponent and used both sides of the Staff, forcing it over Ink's neck, putting the protector in a chokehold.

Thankfully, Ink created a spear of solidified ink, and stabbed his enemy's knee with it. He took advantage of it, teleported a few feet away, and grabbed Broomie, as he started gathering all the energy he had in one final attack. "Creation vs Erasure." he whispered, "Final Round."

In response, Anti stabbed the ground of the empty timeline, and the Staff completely sucked up any remaining code, letting the structure of the timeline itself fall apart, turning black and transforming into a parcel of The Void. The Staff started shining a bright white, and it seemed as if the very fabric of reality was attracted by it.

Both skeletons started running one at the other. While White was simply dashing through the dark space with a suction noise, Ink had a full cloud of ink and paint following him, every existing color transcending the darkness. And with a final leap, the two clashed.

Broomie flew straight into the air, as Ink uppercuted White out of the fight, and his other hand closed on the Erased Staff, and he ripped it from his shoulder, staring at the white hole it had stabbed in it, which was rapidly eating him away. As his right arm started falling apart, its colors and structure vanishing at high speed, he placed the body of the pen under his left foot, and started pulling as hard as he could with his arm. Again... again and again... until with a snapping sound, the pen broke, revealing one final strand of white tape which kept the two parts together. Ink simply needed to cut it. But it was too late. The sucking power of the staff had fully progressed to his chest and face, and as Ink's skull fully disappeared with one final expression of confusion, the Eraser Staff seemed to scream of joy.

Still spiraling in the sky, Broomie suddenly seemed to slow down as its hairy tip found itself directed right towards the place where his master had just disappeared from, and where the staff laid broken. Out of nowhere, a single, yellow drop of paint oozed from its tip. It started a long, quick descent through the empty space. Yellow. The color of Determination Stars. The color of Dream. The color that reminded Ink of why he kept going. The color of happiness.

The small drop hit the white tape right in its center... and ripped it in two, as the scream of the twisted artifact turned from victorious to pained.

Like a nuke of creation, every existing shape and form exploded out of the Staff, running out of the Void, and flying back into the Multiverse, completing everything that had not been completely erased previously. Slowly, Ink's body started regenerating from these same particles, and he blinked in surprise, looked at his body, and his hands, before Broomie conveniently landed in them.

He looked around the place. Nothing was left but the two, lifeless pieces of the Eraser Staff, and the unconscious body of the Sans who had been subjected to its control. Ink could have started by taking the pieces away, taking the Sans to the Omega Timeline, or even patching up his damaged broom, as well as himself, but he didn't do any of this.

He simply sat down, and smiled as tears ran down his face. 

He was alive.

And everything was fine.