Fear Goo...

Couldn't resist the horrible title.

It's Dr. Malice. Congrats to Muffin and the others for taking down Dreslith. Unfortunately we have another problem here and I think you guys should come back here right away.

Yesterday we were all in the throne room again Portnoy and I beside Unikeia. We were watching some of her servants perform circus tricks... That they couldn't do... She's a bit of a sadist and lkes watching them screw up and usually get hurt. Suddenly her laughter stopped and I looked at her. Her face was a blank but I could see something... It looked like the same Greyish Goo the Ghosts bled... It was dripping from her eyes. I turned to look at the performers and they were standing in place with the same dazed expression and goo coming from their eyes. Portnoy didn't seem to have it but everyone else did. I shook Unikeia and she snapped back to reality and wiped the goo from under her eyes then looked at it. I saw her eyes change momentarily... Reflecting an emotion I didn't expect to ever see... She looked afraid. She then quickly recovered wiped the goo off on a nearby servant and ordered the performers to stop just standing there and get back to performing. They all came out of their own reveries and returned to what they were doing. Unikeia continued looking worried whenever she thought I wasn't looking at her...

Something is coming here. Something dangerous enough to make even Unikeia worry.

The Fight with Madness Pt. 2

The inside of the Asylum was... a suitably epic locale for our final battle with Dreslith. We were standing on a dead planet. The ground cracking up and exploding around us as something... I don't know what it was... It looked like a giant mass of... Eldritch... stuff... slowly devoured the stars. Dreslith was standing facing away from us watching the creature. We knew it was Dreslith but it didn't look like him. Even facing away from us we could tell it looked like a human figure... A familiar human figure... It turned around showing me Vadim. It didn't speak. No monologue. No explanation of where we were or what was going on. It just stared at us. Harold raised his gun and instantly Dreslith's form shifted. It became a woman I didn't recognize. Harold did though and he dropped his gun. Faceless went forward to attack and Dreslith turned into a little boy. Faceless shook his head. "Already killed my son once. Won't stop me a second time." He drew his machete and charged and Dreslith shifted again becoming a woman. Faceless hesitated and the planet beneath his feet exploded he was thrown back and landed beside me. I broke out of my thoughts and charged. He turned back into Vadim. Vadim's dead I know that already I just quickened my pace. It switched to My mother and then my father. Didn't slow me at all. It switched to Megan and I let out a bitter laugh... But then it smiled...I hadn't seen her smile in such a long time... Not even just before Genome... Before all of this... It had been so long. I  stopped and fell to my knees. I felt a cold hand on my shoulder then I was tossed out of the way. Genome strode past me towards Dreslith. It switched to people from Megan's memories.

Genome: I don't know any of those people...

It switched to people I assume from Genome's past.

Genome: I don't remember anything from before I was a thoughtborn and I haven't met anyone I care about since.

Genome reached Dreslith and in desperation Dreslith made the planet explode beneath Genome like it had beneath Faceless. It didn't work. The shards of planet and molten lava from the core froze instantly into a block of ice and Genome just hopped up them to get higher and slammed her hand into Dreslith's face. There was a sound like glass breaking and the scenery around us shifted.

We were back on what I'm pretty sure was earth. It seemed like a vast wasteland. It didn't look like anywhere on earth normally but it still had The End in the sky and during The End's attack The entire world was a wasteland thanks to The Herald anyways. My attention was turned back to Dreslith when I heard Genome cry out in Megan's voice. I turned to see Dreslith holding her. Blood dripping down her body. For a second I feared the worst but I quickly remembered that Dreslith's hands drip blood and tears. Regardless I got to my feet and attacked. However, I stopped mid attack and began to think. "Why are we fighting Dreslith? Because Unikeia said too? Dreslith never harmed us until we went after him. He helped us save the universe during The Amalgam attack. Unikeia didn't help us at all. No... I'm not doing this for Unikeia! I'm doing this because Dreslith is a monster. He hurts innocent people. Like Gwen! What about The Fears though? What about The Fears?! You hated them for hurting innocent people... You tried to kill them all and now look. You were fighting alongside The Dying Man. All of your companions served them. The Fears weren't completely evil. Maybe The Ne Timu aren't either. Gwen- Seemed pretty happy when she died. Because she was deluded! So? They say Ignorance is bliss... Maybe the Ne Timu have a purpose... Maybe we aren't so bad." I did a double take and grinned. "You made a mistake. You said 'We'. You're in my thoughts, Dreslith? well here's a thought... Do you know why The Fears were better than you? They didn't make mistakes." I reset my attention Genome and rushed over. cracks began to appear in the earth but I avoided them and reached Dreslith. I knocked Genome from his hands then punched him in the... "face" again and followed up with numerous punches to every part of it's body I could find that was solid. It seemed mostly unphased but didn't try to defend itself so I assumed I was doing something to it. I heard my voice yelled and stopped diving out of the way as Harold fired a bullet into Dreslith's blood arm. Blood poured from the hole and he fell. Another bullet went into the tear arm and tears fell from his wounds like rain. What happened next was weird. He began to disappear and shrink. Like... Like he was draining out of the bullet wounds. The world around us seemed to freeze and as he disappeared he shattered and we were back in our hotel.We're staying here a few more nights to recover and then we're going after the next Ne Timu.

Battle with Madness.

Dreslith's grew tired of running.

We were still searching when suddenly the sky changed. The clouds changed to a sickly green and the sky was a mirror. All of us who had been there at the coming of The End winced at the memory and averted our eyes. In front of us now was a large imposing building. 20 foot high walls of stone, a solid, black, iron gate with a tormented face on it. Beyond the wall the structure was more like a castle than anything. Towers jutted up from it at odd angles, one had a clock face on it but no numbers... At least not numbers we'd recognize. One was open topped and showed to all the world a grim reminder of what awaited... For all that looking at it it was obvious what this building was and it's even more painful to realize how close it is to our own versions. It was an insane asylum. The old kind. Built more like prisons and run more like torture chambers then places of healing.

We approached and the front door opened. Gwen walked out.

Gwen: Why do you fight us? You've seen the truth. You were with us. Join us again. Become free with us.

Her gaze turned from me to the rest of the group

Gwen: This offer extends to all of you. You are trapped in a lie. We can free you. We can free everyone.

She pulled a stack of purple masks out of the air and one mask exactly like the one I had had.

Gwen: Put these on and you'll know the truth.

Me: We already know the truth, Gwen. You serve a monster. There is no truth just more lies crafted by a horrible creature. You've seen it. I know you have. Remember it. Tell me does that thing look like Truth to you?

Gwen seemed to hesitate momentarily then responded.

Gwen: The Truth may be ugly while a lie may be beautiful...

I sighed. I didn't want to have to kill her... I didn't really want to have to kill anyone anymore... The purple masks are too far gone but I knew she could still be reasoned with. It didn't seem like it was going to be easy though.

I tried to speak again but she spoke first cutting me off.

Gwen: Stop. No more words. I had hoped to help you return to enlightenment but I feel it will not happen. I shall show you the truth by freeing you. When I follow you into the real world then we can speak again and perhaps then, with nothing standing between us, we can be what we were for a short time... (I... I'll explain at... some point in time... Eventually... A beautiful lie...)

Me: I don't want to kill you Gwen.

Gwen: You won't be killing me.

At that she attacked. I should probably explain how she fights. I don't know exactly how it works in the real world but here in Dreslith's world it makes a bit more sense. Her arms act like blades. She attacks with essentially karate chops that can cut through flesh like a sword. It makes things a bit weird for me as I'm not sure whether to respect her for using her hands in combat or whether that counts as hiding behind a weapon.

She slashed at me and I jumped back. We fanned out around her and Harold fired at her from her right. Her right hand flashed up and deflected the bullets then she rushed at him and started attacking wildy. He proceeded to block with his guns and deliver a kick to her gut. She staggered back and Faceless launched forward slashing at her but she recovered and grabbed his wrist flipping him over her shoulder. Genome attacked then and the freezing touch of her attacks pushed Gwen onto the defensive as Harold began firing again. Gwen managed to dodge Genome's attacks and deflect the bullets but she couldn't attack back. Faceless recovered and released the birds. They swarmed her but she was still managing to fend off all of her attackers. Her movements were faster and far more powerful than they should of been. Undoubtedly a side effect of our battle ground. I dived into the fight and as she deflected one of Harold's bullets I slammed into her from the side knocking her over. She landed and rolled back to her feet but she only managed to rise in time to get a fist to the face. I didn't let up hitting her with everything I got... I didn't want to kill her but if I had to I wanted it to be over fast. All my hits were too the face... I like to think I wasn't attacking her I was attacking the mask. Eventually the mask shattered. There was a moment... Something I can't explain... What was revealed behind the mask wasn't a face... It was... The opposite of a face? I don't know... There was a burst of energy and her mask reappeared completely purple and she rushed at me again. I tried to b lock her but she ducked under my punch grabbed my arm at the elbow and pulled me forward as her knee connected with my gut. The rest of my friends and Genome rushed to help but the ground began to shake and shards of earth flung up on all sides of us. I fell to my knees and she kicked me in the face knocking me onto my back. She was on me before I could get up. Her hands splayed wide came down on my face and it felt like my head was in a press. The weight of her hand slowly crushing my skull. In desperation I reached up and grabbed her throat. I could feel blood trickling from my ears as I squeezed with all my strength. The crack echoed in my head for what felt like hours. I pushed her now limp and normal weight hand off of me and looked down at her body. Her mask fell off and disappeared. She was still alive... Or it was an echo or something. She smiled at me and though her lips didn't move I heard her voice.

Gwen: I'll wait for you in the real world...

She disappeared then... Like her body was just disintegrated.

It took me a few minutes to break free of the little cage she had created around us but once I was free we all headed inside.

I'll cut the post in half here.