Ink…
The white page became stained with black as a quill quietly scribbled across it. What was untold became told. A story is born from the ink, the quill, and the hand that holds it. And so, fate was set in stone.
In a cold stone tower, in a small, chilling room, a book lay open, and a quill, held by an unseen hand, swayed across the pages. Letters formed, and a story was born into existence. The world shook, and fate opened its eyes.
Davi Hawker's death was written out.
Davi Hawker was going to die.
***
Mister Bloom was fucking creepy.
The man caused Davi to take a step back. His Danger Sense wasn't going off, and he still couldn't sense the man's mana, but he didn't need to. Just looking at this guy was enough to cause alarm bells to go off. Everything about Mister Bloom was wrong. His arms were a little too long, his hands slightly too small, his skin too white, and those flower eyes were piercing and disgusting, the way they twitched and folded.
"...So, we all agree this thing needs to die, right?" Davi asked.
"Yep." Pock and Laerton both coated themselves in a wave of mana.
"Aw, come now, don't be like that." Bloom's smile didn't fade, and he cocked his head to the side. "I might be a good guy."
"Nope." All three of them said, and calmly, Pock placed the unconscious Olivia on the ground and stood in front of her.
Bloom let out a slight laugh. "That's fair. Yeah, I'm evil, and gonna take your heads for my collection."
"Collection?"
Next to the man, something floated out of the darkness. The thing was round, and something dripped out of the bottom of it. It took Davi a moment to realize what he was looking at. It was a head. A human head floated in the air next to Bloom. This one was of a woman with long, raven-black hair. Her eyes were closed, and where her neck should have been was a seemingly never-ending sea of red, blood dripping out over and over again. That wasn't all. Poking out of the stump were roots and vines, like those of a tree, but they were made of flesh and covered in gore. It wasn't the only one, either. More severed heads floated in the air behind the pretty man, blood constantly pouring from them.
Each one was a different face and had different styles of hair, but they all had the same roots that jutted out of the bottom of them. Davi felt his face go pale, and his body shook as he stared at the shocking sight.
"I think we've seen enough." Pock blinked, also grossed out.
"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet." Bloom chuckled, and then, casually, the man reached up and tangled his fingers into his hair, and he pulled.
There was a disgusting tearing sound, and his head came right off, vines dragging up and snapping. The head then floated into the air, its eyes closing, and the woman's head landed on his stump and, with a golden glow, settled into place, her roots wrapping around the ones that were poking out of Bloom's neck. The eyes opened, showing the same pair of inhuman, flowery eyes.
"Tadaah!" The voice that came out was different. It was a female's voice, matching the new head, and Bloom's body seemed to change slightly, now sporting two small bumps on 'her' chest. She seemed a little slimmer as well, as if her entire body had changed to fit the head that was now in place. "What do you think?"
"I think I'm going to be sick," Laer muttered.
"Oh, come on, not to your taste?" Bloom pulled her head off again, and the one that took its place was of a bald old man. His body became more withered and thin, and he had a hunch now. "Anyway, I only need him." Bloom weakly pointed at Davi, his voice coming out broken. "He's the only one who has to die today."
"Why do you want to kill my junior so badly?" Laerton hissed out, and her eyes narrowed. She held her sword up, ready for an attack, and her mana began to wrap around it.
Everyone's mana looked different, and perhaps due to her magic, Laer's mana looked like thin threads that wove together into silk. It danced along her blade, and the metal seemed to absorb the string, and soon her entire blade was painted pure white. Just by looking at it, Davi could feel the intense energy that gushed out of the weapon. It was more mana than even the two monsters had put together.
Bloom swapped heads again, this time to a young man with brown hair. "Well, he should be dead already! After all! He had a run-in with the Great Dragon of Roads so many years ago! I'm just here to make sure the story follows the right path! Adam wrote the ending already, and he needs to go away. I can't let Adam's story not happen. He worked so hard on the narrative." Bloom clapped his hands, and Davi felt those monstrous eyes land on him. "So, do you think you could just die?"
"...No?" Davi gave his usual flat remark.
Bloom sighed, and the many heads behind him began to shake and twitch. The roots and vines that came out of their neck also started to move, and for a moment, they looked like snakes, hissing in the air. The blood that flowed out of them began to pour out in thicker waves, and even the current head Bloom had wasn't spared, as a thin red line appeared on his neck, as if his throat had been slit, oozing out droplets of blood.
It kept coming and coming, and it didn't take long before the man's entire suit had been painted pure red. His gloves, his tie, and his shoes—all of it had been turned crimson and stained. This was clearly some sort of magical effect, yet neither Laer, nor her vice captain, nor Davi could sense an ounce of mana from the creature who stood before them.
Bloom slicked his hair back, and for the first time since he arrived, he frowned. "Really now? You refuse to die? You know that means you're standing in the way of Adam's plan, right?"
"Who the hell is Adam?" Pock growled and shifted his body. He moved in front of Olivia, and more of the zippers on his body began to twist and open on their own, his own mana leaking out of all of them, and it flowed behind him like a blanket, bathing the unconscious girl in it.
"Adam is—" Bloom began to, but then stopped. The man let out a sigh and shook his head. As he did that, he reached out with one of his hands and placed it under the neck of one of the many floating heads. He allowed the blood to pool into his palm. "What does it matter?" He hummed. "You're all already dead anyway. Vil Blood Vine." Without warning, the blood formed into a jagged, thorn-covered whip, which Bloom struck out with as fast as he could. The attack flew toward Davi, but before it could reach him, Laer jumped in front of him and deflected the attack with her sword.
The captain let out a snort. "Phoenix Flight members are harder to kill than that—"
Bloom was on her in a second. The suited man appeared before her and swung out with his fist. "Vil Blood Branch." The blood twisted around his arm and jutted outward like twisting limbs, spearing the air, but Laerton managed to slice through most of them. Some cut into her robes, but all missed her flesh.
Pock also acted fast, grabbing Davi and Olivia and stepping back. Like Laer, he seemingly teleported, appearing meters away, as he placed the two junior members down. Just as he was doing that, Laerton twisted her blade and sliced out at Bloom.
"Vil Blood Tree." Bloom's smile returned, and an entire tree made of blood erupted from the ground, blocking Laerton's strike. The metal in the blood surged up, coating the tree-shaped liquid in iron, making it impossible for Laerton's sword to entirely cut through. Mana surged from the tree, and it began to form into hundreds of flowers, which all bloomed and opened up, launching thin blood bullets out.
"Row Zipper Stretch!" Pock stabbed his arm out in a spear-like way. A zipper wrapped around his elbow unwrapped, causing his arm to blast off, connected by thin bits of vein-looking threads. The hand reached Laerton, and Pock placed his palm to her back and poured his mana into her. Combined with Laerton's own, she was coated in a heavy aura of white light, which allowed her to block most of the blood.
Even with the extra mana, though, Bloom's spell was strong, and a few drops pierced past Laerton's clothes and into her side. The wounds were shallow, barely deep, but it caused Bloom's smile to widen.
Laerton twisted herself around the tree and brought her katana down, slicing into the top of Bloom's head and piercing his brain, but he still moved and acted, not minding. He casually snapped. "Vil Blood Garden."
More red flowed down, and Laerton's robes became stained in white as her side was torn open. Vines and flowers began to grow out of her body, and the pain made her hesitate just long enough for Bloom to kick out with his leg. He rammed it into the captain's stomach and sent her blasting back. She rammed through the blood tree and flew across the tunnel, smashing into a wall headfirst.
"Captain!" Pock yelled.
"I'm fine." Casually, Laerton pulled herself out of the wall and grabbed the vines growing out of her. She tore them out, and steam bubbled up out of her flesh as her wound began to heal and regenerate rapidly. It put Olivia's own healing factor to shame, and in only a few seconds, the woman was fully healed. "This guy is annoying, though."
Bloom's leg lowered, the foot twisted and broken. Kicking Laer had done more damage to himself than it had to the woman. He ripped his sliced-in-half head off, and the head of the black-haired woman took its place. Bloom let out a sigh and flipped her hair. "You're the annoying one." Then she tossed her destroyed head as hard as she could. Not at Laer, though; instead, she aimed straight for Davi. "Vil Blood Rose."
The head exploded and took on the shape of a large red flower. As it bloomed, its petals pulled back, and a massive beam of red compressed and fired, ripping the ground to bits as it sliced up toward Davi, Olivia, and Pock.
Pock tried to open a gap in space so he could dodge, but the large zipper still didn't budge. He used his foot and kicked Olivia in the stomach as hard as he could, sending her rolling away, and with his other hand, the one that was long and outstretched, he used it to smash into Davi, moving him out of the way just in the nick of time. Pock wasn't able to fully avoid it himself, though, and most of his hand was torn clean off by the beam, which lifted up and sliced through the roof, perfectly splitting the tunnel in half.
Before the rose could shift again, Pock used his other hand to open a zipper on his body up and took a knee. With one arm, he aimed an RPG, filling it with his own mana, allowing the rocket to blow up the tunnel and scatter dust everywhere.
"Pock!" Laerton yelled.
"On it!" Pock pulled a zipper on his side down and reached into his stomach, grabbing something.
"What are you doing now, little knight?" Bloom asked, and she giggled. "Still planning to get in my way?"
"That's right. I'm a knight." Laerton caught the thing Pock pulled out of himself after he tossed it to her. She held it up, revealing a silver gauntlet.
"And what is that?" Bloom sneered.
"My armor." Laerton placed the gauntlet on as if it were a glove, and suddenly, a bright white light filled the room. Knight gear was something titled Knights had. Laerton wasn't a titled Knight, though. No member of Phoenix Flight was. She didn't own Knight gear. That didn't mean she didn't have powerful magical gear.
As the flash died down, Davi stared at the captain in surprise. In a way, they had switched. He had gone from armor to flowing robes, and Laerton went from robes to armor. She was covered head to toe in bright silver armor that was shockingly clean and covered in a long white cloak. A helm covered her head, and a long, snow-white feather lifted out of it. She wore a cloak with the symbol of her guild on it, and her hand squeezed tighter around her sword, which had also changed.
The blade of the katana had become longer and narrower, looking more like a curved needle than an actual sword. As her mana wrapped around her weapon, Laerton swung it up, and the threading fired out, ripping the already torn-apart tunnel to even more bits.
"Vil Blood Tree." Bloom countered, using her blood magic to create another twisting tree, which blocked the attack, but Laerton's thread just wrapped around the tree, and with another twist of her arm, her weapon was reeled in, dragging her toward it. She swung around the shield and punched out at Bloom. The force of the attack shattered the woman's arm, but Bloom barely reacted and rammed her other fist into Laerton's gut. "Vil Blood Root." The blood flowed and formed into twisted vines and roots, which wrapped around Laerton and attached to the tree, binding the woman in place.
Bloom used that as her chance to jump away, but just then, Pock rammed into her from behind, along with Davi. Both of them stabbed with their swords, one going for the spine and the other for the heart.
Bloom just laughed harder and spun around, ramming her fist into Pock's face, causing him to be thrown across the arena. Davi managed to dodge her next strike, and he lifted his sword and gave a cold look to the woman.
"Die." Like Laerton, his blade danced, covered in purple threading. He didn't know how he was doing this, likely something Olivia did to him, but the threading worked just like a fishing pole. From his sword, it filled Bloom's body up, and he reeled it all back in.
Bloom quite literally exploded, her insides being shredded and sliced up, as if a blender turned on inside of her. Even if she had a core, it would have been destroyed. Davi doubted she did, though. Unlike the other two, Bloom was a Mutant. He could tell since she used spells. Monsters didn't need to, but mages and mutants did. Though the thing she was turning into was anyone's guess.
As the flesh dripped down, Davi felt a chill go up his spine when he saw what was inside of Bloom's body. Where the skeleton should have been was wood. Dozens of plants, vines, and branches were formed into a vaguely humanoid shape, and the head was impaled onto a spike, its own vines wrapped around the object. The wood was cracked, and from it more blood leaked, and the other heads began to shake and twist.
"Look what you did. Now I need a new flesh suit." Bloom sighed.
Davi wasn't shocked to see the body could still move and act, even after he tore it up. He deflected an attack with his sword just in time, but he wasn't able to stop the other arm. Bloom's limb twisted past his guard, and Davi felt a wave of pain.
***
Ink flowed, again and again, letters staining the white, soaking it in black. The story was birthed, fate twisting and breaking. A tale that would be followed as if it were gospel.
Death.
It comes for all.
This one was predetermined. Set in stone by forces higher up. This was his end.
***
Davi stumbled back, but it was too late. He felt cold. Colder than he had ever been before. Something was wrong.
A sea of red flowed down his chest, and he gasped. He could feel his life pouring out of him, and when he looked down, he saw why.
There was a hole.
Right where his heart should have been was a gaping wound. His life was literally draining out of him, the shadowy robes turning red and clinging to him, and his veins felt like they were full of ice. He felt empty as well. Something was missing from his chest. Then he saw it. Dangling from Bloom's fingers.
His heart.
Wooden nail-like fingers were impaled through a human heart. Bloom's hand grasped the organ, and with a tight squeeze, the monster popped it, blowing the heart to bits.
"All better." Bloom chuckled. "Finally, the story is back to being on track. The brat that should have died in the battle with the Dragon of Roads is dead."
Davi wanted to say a spell, but he couldn't speak. He tried to lift his arms, but they didn't work. He stared at Bloom, and his vision blurred and twisted, and for a moment, he saw it. That awful dragon. Hadn't it done something similar?
The claw stood before him, his heart on the tip of it. This wasn't the first time he had his heart ripped out. Only unlike last time, his mother wouldn't be there to curse him back to life.
Davi tumbled down to his knees, his eyes feeling heavier than his body. As he tumbled, the monster cores rolled out of his robes from where he had previously placed them. Bloom didn't miss a beat and reached out, taking both the orbs with one hand, the creature's fingers wrapping tightly around them.
The monster stared down at Davi, still having the head of a woman, and a twisted smile formed on her face. "Well, I should be leaving now—"
Bloom ducked down as Laerton swung her sword at her, smoothly avoiding it. The woman looked enraged, while Bloom seemed to be having the time of her life.
"You mad?" She asked in a sing-song voice.
String suddenly wrapped around Bloom's head, and with a yank of her sword, Laerton reduced the woman's skull to bits. "I'm feeling better now."
A new head, that of a bearded, dark-skinned man, landed on the pile of wood, and with a hearty laugh, Bloom stepped back, doing the teleport movement powerful Knights used to get around. Laerton followed and gave chase, the two vanishing from the tunnels. Pock grunted but was unable to follow, as during the exchange, Bloom had formed blood roots around the mutant.
He wouldn't have left anyway, though. "Davi!" Pock yelled. "Hang on!" The mutant struggled some more, but it was in vain… He knew. Davi Hawker was already dead. The man had lost his heart.
To Davi, everything was turning black. His vision was giving out, and his breathing grew shallow. He could also hear it. His mother was screaming his name. Ordering him to live, but it didn't matter anymore. There was no heart to keep him alive. Then, as it all began to end, he heard a new voice.
"D-Davi."
Olivia's head pounded, and she felt sick. She had never run out of mana before, so this was a new experience. She hated it. Mana was tied to the body. The less someone had, the worse off they'd be, and the more beat up they were, the less mana they would have.
Using Polymorph had drained it all. It was also technically the first time she had correctly used Polymorph since the other times had been in her head or a simulation.
Running out of mana was like going for a sprint without a break while running a fever. She felt sick in her stomach, her head was on fire, and yet the rest of her body was ice-cold. Her ears were pounding, her nose was stuffed, and she was seeing in double vision.
Olivia forced herself to sit up, pushing off the ground, but she froze when her hand touched something sticky and wet. She knew what blood felt like.
"D-Davi?" He was lying there. Face down in more blood than she had ever seen before. "Davi!" Her own state was forgotten as she reached him and forced his body to turn over. "Davi! Davi!" There was a massive hole in the center of his chest, far bigger than the previous one, and by now the red had stopped. "Row Blood Heal! Row Blood Mend! Row Blood Recover!" It didn't work. She didn't use any of her blood because it didn't obey her. Her mana was too thin to cast even a single spell. "Polymorph! Polymorph! Row Blood Heal, Row Blood Heal, Row Blood Heal!"
"Olivia." Pock's voice was strangely hollow, the previous joy she had come to know with it fading.
"Row Blood Heal!"
Nothing.
Davi was…
"Maya!" Olivia felt her eyes burning. Her face became wet as well. "Maya!"
'...' The blue system box appeared, but it didn't speak to her.
"Maya, do something!"
'...' Again. Nothing.
Maya only existed in the World of Paths. That's what Maya claimed. That meant in the real world, she couldn't ask Maya for help.
Olivia screamed as loudly as she could. She didn't know what else to do, so she tried to stop the bleeding with her hands, but it didn't work. There was no more blood left to give. She cried and cried, but nothing would change the reality of the situation.
Then, she heard a voice. One that was weak and strained.
"Sorry." Olivia blinked away the tears and looked down. Davi was somehow looking up at her, the last bit of clarity in his dying eyes. "I really wanted this adventure to keep going."
And then he was dead.
***
In a cold stone tower, in a small, chilling room, a book closed as a hand stopped writing. The quill was placed down, no longer needed. The story had been written, and the story had happened. The tale had been told.
"Adam," within this tower, a woman knelt. "Is it done?"
In a stone chair next to the table, a man tilted his head. "Indeed. Bloom made sure the story happened."
A frown crossed onto the woman's face. "And what story was it this time?"
The man clicked his tongue, and from a window, moonlight draped over him. One hand reached up, and he used a finger to tickle the underside of a snake's chin, which was wrapped around him.
This man was Adam.
He's almost like a main character.
"Do you know what Rome is?" Adam asked.
Again, the woman gave a frown. "No, sir, I don't."
Adam laughed. "Right. I'm not shocked. It isn't a concept that exists on this planet. There was an old saying on a ball of dirt out in space. All roads lead to Rome."
"All roads lead to Rome?"
Adam nodded again. "I know not what story the great Dragon of Roads has created, but I know that I will follow it. We'll reach Rome, the ending that he laid out before us, and to do that, we'll fix the errors in his plot. One down. Six more to go."
"So, what happens now, sir?"
"Now?" Adam smiled. "We end the chapter—"