Chapter 16: Catalyst

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"Uhh...what..." As Delusion came to, he found himself in a dark space, white mist swirling around his feet.

It immediately reminded him of what he saw in the mirrors after he left the prison, of the wars, blood, and death...

This time, however, there were no mirrors to be seen. Just a thin fog and the black sky.

Rubbing his head in pain, Delusion tried to look around a bit. "Hm...why am I here again..." He whispered to himself, trying to predict what'll come next.

That's when he saw it: a thin crack in the space. It seemed to glow white as a swirling, opaque substance seeped out. Delusion went a little closer.

Crrkk. The crack grew in an instant, quickly widening and causing more of the liquid to spill out. They clung to the darkness of the space, like syrup to the back of a throat.

"What the..." Delusion took a step backwards, alerted by the abrupt change. The space began to warp, crumbling apart like shattered glass. The colors painted the it lurid.

Just as the ghost's eyes darted back and forth, unnerved, the clack of heels pulled his attention towards the crack once more. A dark silhouette materialized, and another quickly followed.

"Is that...a person?" Delusion felt an unexplainable pressure. He fell into a protective stance and squinted at the shadows. They seemed to glow against the background.

"𝐻𝓂, 𝓈𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝒾𝓃𝒹𝓈𝒸𝒶𝓅𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓃𝑒𝓌 𝒽𝑜𝓈𝓉. 𝐼𝓉'𝓈 𝓆𝓊𝒾𝓉𝑒...𝑒𝓂𝓅𝓉𝓎." A hollow voice sounded. "𝒲𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹𝓃'𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝒶𝓎, 𝒩𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉𝓂𝒶𝓇𝑒?"

"𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐡, 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬, 𝐬𝐨 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟'𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝." Another replied, this time the voice a little more familiar.

"Who are you guys?" Delusion spoke out. His voice rung against the silence, and he could feel the cold sweat forming on his hands. The visitors turned to look at him.

"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐀𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐲: 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥." The second voice laughed. "𝐘𝐨, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐮𝐩? 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞?"

The voice's owner emerged into view. Gasp, Delusion quietly sucked in his breath, "It's you!"

In front of him stood the same person he saw in this black space days ago, with the same red eyes that shone in the dark and a mischievous grin that spelled chaos.

"𝐘𝐚𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞! 𝐈 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐦 𝐈 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?" He cheered, unfazed by the silence the others responded him with.

"How and why are you here, Nightmare." Delusion said, on guard.

"𝐖𝐨𝐚𝐡 𝐰𝐨𝐚𝐡 𝐰𝐨𝐚𝐡, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲? 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐈 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝."

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