SMG4:// Exodus

Part 2: Eschaton [Revised]

CH 1: Marrow (Melony)

There was something dripping from the vent above.

It's not something you notice, too trivial to focus on. But, the fact that I know that it was happening before the first drop fell bewildered me. I couldn't see it from where I was sitting, but I could feel it. Ave noticed it too, she froze in the doorway, staring back at the ceiling.

A vent grate rattled above us, phasing between metal and no material at all. I heard a roar like a distorted Barn Owl's screech, long and loud and unnatural as the sound waves themselves glitched in the air. The grate burst open and from it spawned what can only be described as an aberration, a demon.

Through sheer force of will and adrenaline, my nerves activated. I sprang up and grabbed Avé by the backpack and dove back through the classroom door. I was too slow, and a disfigured limb cut through the air like a razor and grabbed her exposed leg. She screamed as her body distorted, an awful expression of fear imprinted on her face as it was incinerated in her own twisting flesh. I let go, collapsing speechless in front of a worktable. All I was able to do was scavenge her black glasses. All I was able to be - was the very last thing they saw.

The empty room around me exploded into chaos as it lurched through the door. It took no time to get its bearings or stand up straight before grabbing a lone Koopa student by the head. The poor boy was corrupted, swallowed whole and left in only a disfigured, textureless mass. It didn't stop. It leapt from body to body and left each one a shapeless dead husk of ash and bones. Some of them tried to fight back, punching or scratching at it, but were corrupted as soon as they touched the thing. Some of the dead rose again, some didn't, becoming one with the spreading sludge. All we could do was watch the destruction in its wake.

The entire building began to rumble. Windows broke and their shards were melted to dust as more of the things burst through. The very floor we stood on shook violently as it's form was stolen. The thing that came out of the vent turned around and stood up, its exposed spinal column unfurling like a bike chain. Sheets of translucent grey hide dotted its blackened-purple form like beetle's armor. The bone exposed in its hands and face were it's last semblance of a human form. It turned us and stared, with wild red eyes.

Then Ave's body began to move again. A film of dusty gray washed over what was left of her and stole into her skin, into her muscles. She stood on her own reanimated feet, shuddering. She stared right at me, eyes like a rabid animal. Her mouth didn't move anymore, but her eyes stayed like a dolls, unwavering, unblinking.

Before it could jump at me, it was hit by a flash of light. It's grey hull damaged, the thing that used to be Ave staggered back and leapt for the window, escaping to the roof. Meggy emerged from the doorway, holding a glowing LIMEADe. Tari stumbled forward and embraced her.

Meggy motioned to the window, "This wasn't some random local attack, Look."

I gasped sharply at the sight in front of me. The sky was crimson. Clouds swirled around a single point. The city below was on fire. Skyscrapers had fallen or become textureless blocks of black and purple squares.

"It's like the Battle for Peach's castle all over again," I remembered, "No..."

"...It's like the destruction of SMG1's Universe."

There was something bothering me. I placed my hand on the glass of the window and concentrated. My face began to glow in the reflection of the window.

"Deity Incantation: Helios, Second Stanza."

The glass of the window melted immediately. Melony turned to look at me.

"I don't know what those things are either, but we don't have much time." I said, "I'm going to see if anyone else is still alive. Get Tari out of here, find the SMG's and, most importantly, find Mario!"