Alive

Ch. 7 The Darkener World

Minute after minute, I kept blaming myself for making Susie hate me. Even while dodging traps on the way, I still thought how I was going to apologize. I tried distracting myself by looking at Kris and what they wore. Kris had a set of armor that was different to mine, they even had blue skin and a red scarf. Eventually, me and Kris came across these giant balls of fluff. Kris looked inside one fluff, but didn't find anything; I assumed Kris was expecting Susie to be inside. There was three more to check and after searching two of them, we didn't find Susie. It was the last one that had Susie inside. We startled Susie on accident because she assumed we were strangers. "H-hey! B... back off! Don't come any closer or I'll...!" Susie said as she slowly began to realize who she was talking to. "B... Brian... Kris... phew!" She was relieved, but not for long, she got mad at what we did "What the hell?! Don't scare me like that, you assholes!" Even though I was standing behind Kris, Susie went out of her way to punch me in my shoulder. The pain soared throughout my arm, but I had the feeling that Susie was holding back. "Ow!" I yelled "How many times do I have to say it?! I'm sorry!" Susie glared for a little bit and said "Tch, whatever. Do you nerds know a way out of here yet?" I rubbed my shoulder and responded "We're just as lost as you are, Susie. Even if we did know, we'd still have to look for you." Susie crossed her arms and scoffed at me "That'd be a start. Unlike the last time you had to, you wouldn't give up halfway." I approached Susie with an aggressive stare "Are you not going to let me live that down?! I said I was fucking sorry!" "I want you to be more than sorry!!" Susie yelled back. Suddenly, Kris got between me and Susie to prevent any more arguing. I let out a sigh and combed my hair with my fingers to relax myself. I noticed that my hair was a little wavier than usual. I looked at Susie to see what was different with her; she had on a black vest, pants, and shoes, her skin was pink, her hair was purple, and she had spiked armbands. Susie's clothes made her look like some sort of executioner. "Kris..." Susie said "since I trust you more, you can lead the way!" Kris had a worried look on their face, but continued leading the pack anyway. Susie eventually grew impatient with Kris' walking speed and said "Ok, you walk way too slow. Out of my way!" She then ran past me and Kris to go further ahead of the trail. I ran to Susie to make sure she didn't do anything bad, but she stopped to look at something to the left of her in the distance. Kris caught up and I asked Susie "What are you looking at?" Susie pointed outward and said "There's somebody waving at us over there." The figure in the distance waved their hand in the air and have two spades appear in the air; the figure threw the spades toward Susie and I! In a split moment, I thought to myself "If I shield Susie, she'll have to think of me as a better person." I threw my hands around Susie and put my back open to the spades, but the figure missed us entirely. Now it just looks like me and Susie are just hugging awkwardly. Susie shoved me off and yelled "Run away!" Then the three of us began running. Surprisingly, Kris managed to pass me, but stayed behind Susie. Kris was flawless in every way when it came to dodging the countless other spades being thrown at us. After a few yards of running, the three of us came across a downhill slope. "Quick! Down the hill, you guys!" Susie yelled. We proceeded going down the hill and on my way down I got hit in my left elbow. The spade felt like it pierced bone and I let out a painfully loud groan. As I pulled out the spade from my elbow, I caused my body to lean forward and roll; now my elbow wasn't the only thing hurting, now it was my neck, my back, and my ankle.

I was knocked out at the bottom of the hill, but I woke up a few minutes later and I tried to search my pockets for any monster food. It is known that monster food could heal any wound. Luckily, I had a granola bar in my pocket. Although, most of my wounds haven't healed; my neck felt stiff and my elbow hasn't healed entirely, but my ankle felt much better to walk on. I looked around and noticed that Kris and Susie have already went ahead, so I ran through a doorway that led into a castle to catch up. To my expectations, I saw Kris and Susie talking to a hooded figure and I was in the middle of their conversation. It was the figure speaking at the time and they're saying "Kris, Susie... there is a legend in this land. A legend that one day, two heroes of light will arrive..." then the figure saw me climb up the stairs "Wait... what? Who are you?" I looked behind me because I thought he was talking to somebody else, it's as though the figure never expected me. "Me?" I said, "My name is Brian Wills." Then I directed my attention to Kris and Susie "How long was I out?" Kris signaled 3 minutes with their fingers and then Susie said "I thought you were dead, so I didn't bother trying to wake you up. It's good that you're alive though, I'd hate to make fun of a dead man." I dusted myself off and I noticed that the hooded figure was reading a piece of paper and mumbling "The legend never said anything about a third lightener... Why is there another lightener??? Ooh no..." then the figure out the paper away "Oh well, the more the merrier! Ok... Kris, Susie, Brian... please allow me to explain the tale." The three of us didn't mind, so Kris and I nodded, while Susie shrugged. "Very well then... Once upon a time, a LEGEND was whispered among shadows. It was a LEGEND of HOPE. It was a LEGEND of DREAMS. It was a LEGEND of LIGHT. It was a LEGEND of DARK. This is the legend of DELTA RUNE For millenia, LIGHT and DARK have lived in balance, Bringing peace to the WORLD. But if this harmony were to shatter... a terrible calamity would occur. The sky will run black with terror and the land will crack with fear. Then, her heart pounding... The EARTH will draw her final breath. Only then, shining with hope... Three, er... Four HEROES appear at WORLDS' edge.
TWO HUMANS, A MONSTER, And a PRINCE FROM THE DARK. Only they can seal the fountains and banish the ANGEL'S HEAVEN. Only then will balance be restored, and the WORLD saved from destruction. Today, the FOUNTAIN OF DARKNESS- The geyser that gives this land form- Stands tall at the center of the kingdom. But recently, another fountain has appeared on the horizon... And with it, the balance of LIGHT and DARK begins to shift." There was a pause after the story and then the hooded figure began speaking again "Kris, Susie, Brian... Thank you for listening to my long tale. I deeply believe that you are the heroes from the legend... despite one of you being unspoken of and whatever enemies you may face... you three have the courage to SAVE THE WORLD. DELTA WARRIORS! Won't you accept your destiny...?" There was another pause, I used the time to think "Well, even if I'm not supposed to be here, it might be fun. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?" As I was about to speak, Susie said "Hmm... Nah." This was an unexpected answer for the hooded figure "W... what?" They said, Susie crossed her arms and leaned to one side of her leg and said "Me? Some kind of hero or something...? You've got the wrong person." The hooded figure became very nervous, their sweat was visible on the outside of their hood "B-but Susie, without you, the... the world will..." Susie scoffed at the hooded figure and said "So what? If the world is destroyed... it's none of my damn business." I became peeved at Susie's response and said to her "Susie! You live in this world, too! If the world is destroyed, it's going to be a lot more than your 'damn business'! You'd die, too!" Susie glared at me. "Whatever, I'm going to have fun with it!" Then she turned towards Kris "Kris, if you want to play pretend with your 'friends', stick around. I'll be finding a way out of here." The figure was about to speak, but was launched by a darkener's bike. The darkener looked like he had a spade for a face and was blue and white in several places. The darkener said "Ho ho! The heroes are already running away... And they didn't even know I was here! My dad's gonna make me 'son of the month'!" Susie and I was startled by the entrance of the darkener, but Kris kept a straight face. "Who the hell are you?!?" Susie said, then the darkener said "I'm the bad guy! You clowns want to seal our dark fountain, huh!? And -still picturing you guys are still clowns- save the world from eternal darkness!? Don't try to deny it! We both know you'll go east! That's toward your home! But, I, Lancer, won't let you go there!" I interrupted Lancer in an aggressive way "Too bad! You can't stop us!" Susie was on board with the idea of beating up the darkener and Kris didn't seem bothered. Suddenly, Kris, Susie, and I had weapons appear in our hands. Kris had a pink sword, Susie had a two-handed, neon blue ax, and a neon green mace connected to a chain appeared in my hands. I assumed I would use the chain to hit from long distances, it's even removable, so I could use the mace properly. This kid actually hit me before, it makes me wonder if I'm going to make it out alive.