*Hi everyone. Nothing much to say.*
*Well, the feels are still haunting me.*
*No actual Twinkle POV. I think it just ruins the moment.*
*Enjoy reading the chapter! ^-^*
*Actually don't.*
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GUARD
"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" My master screams at me, beginning to look slightly hysterical. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE!?"
I look down in shame, deeming myself not worthy enough to look him in the eye. "I am sorry for what I've done," I apologize, my eyes staring at the floor beneath my feet. I hear some movements and look up. My master stands up in front of the chair he was sitting in just moments before.
"Sorry don't cut it. Do you not know what you caused?"
I feel tears collecting in my eyes. "I'm so sorry."
He glares at me, a sense of dark power enveloped in his gaze. I suddenly feel shivers run down my spine, making my whole body tremble in fear.
Why am I so scared and fearful of him? Why is he so daunting to me now? Why do I feel my face drenched in tears? Why...
He roars at me,"YOU LET THEM ESCAPE, DARN YOU!"
"B-But she said..." I stutter, still trembling in fear. Fear because of him. Fear because of what I've let slip away. Fear because of my gains turning into my losses.
"YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO THE FOX GOVERNMENT! YOU ARE SO IRRESPONSIBLE!"
"I was totally blanking out when she mentioned his name. I swear to Zios!"
His eyes widen. "STOP SAYING THAT! STOP IT, STOP IT!" He shakes his head vigorously as he has his two paws resting on either side of his head.
He walks toward me. When he stands in front of me, he breathes unsteadily. Despite being yelled at by him a minute ago, I rush to his side. "Are you alright?"
No reply.
Getting worried about the old guy, I cry, "What happened? Are you alright? Answer me, f--"
He finally replies in the middle of my word. "Too much stress on my shoulders. I doubt I can go on with this much longer."
I blink my eyes rapidly. I now feel myself panicking; I feel it in my voice too. "W-What do you mean?"
I'm not exactly sure what happened. It's almost as if he's regained some faint power. He stands up straight again, not acting like his frail old age anymore. I feel relieved yet terrified at the same time. I hear him clearing his throat, led by a single cough.
"It is my fault. I've put far too much responsibility on your shoulders, boy."
I feel the tears flowing down my cheeks. "I can be responsible. Give me a second chance! Please, da--"
He holds his left paw up, silencing me. I obey the command.
"I've given you too many chances. Please forgive me, it was very stupid of me to put the weight of such a heinous task on your shoulders."
"What weight? I'll find them again, I swear! I won't let them hurt you anymore. I'll have them pay, I'll have them all pay!"
"For my whole life, I've been perplexed by the complexity of it all. I thought you would be able to solve it. I was wrong."
"Please....."
I see tears in his eyes. I hold back a gasp. "Wha...."
He looks back at me, sorrow written in his eyes. "The one who kindles the light and dark flame is impossible to destroy. The power to master the perfection of becoming immortal, living forever and ever. I really thought we could stop the madness. But the dark always overpowers the weak....."
As I watch his eyes close, I don't know what to do. "No, that's not true! It's not true! It can't be, it can't!"
I blink, suddenly feeling a sense of coldness coming from him. I gulp as I know where this might lead to.
"Please forgive me......."
My eyes flash. "It'll be okay, old fox. You'll be okay. Okay?"
I don't know why, but I feel myself breaking. I begin to lose it. "Wait. You'll be okay, right? You won't admit defeat that easily, right? My foolishness....."
Not a hint of a reply from him. I do feel him getting colder, though. I shake his shoulders. Tears stop running down.
I know all too well what it means. All too well. Mother, now him. I sniff, and then I cry.
"Wait. Dad? No.... Dad....... Don't leave me. Don't give in. Dad........"
By now I know it's confirmed. He's dead. Because of my stupid actions.
Because of me.
Even though I'm way past the age of a little kid, I suddenly feel that way again. I've been his second-in-command my entire life. And now he's.... gone.
My whole body trembles, tears soaking my face. My paws clench into fists. "I'll solve the mystery. I'll make all your work worth it. I'll put an end to all this madness that feels like an eternity. I will avenge. He will pay the ultimate price!"
"I'll find them and kill them both. I won't let either one of them hurt our family any further. I will be brave. For Jamaa!"
And at that moment I vow that when I see that demon's face again, he'll die once and for all.
I won't let you destroy anything else. Your plan for immortality will back-fire and fail. I'm coming for you. What you've done is unforgivable.
Fierdan......
DUKE
"Are you that clueless?" I hear a mysterious voice whisper in my ear.
"What was that, Twinkle?" I ask, even though I already know the voice isn't hers.
The voice just laughs. It makes me uneasy.
"Haha, Twinkle, haha!"
Suddenly, I see darkness surrounding me. I feel it pressing against my body.
Why can't I defend myself? Am I that incompetent?
My eyes squint as I hear a snap; a light flickering in the dark. I step back. The feeling of cold metal presses deep into my spine.
Is this another sick joke? A joke....
Another light flickers, and then illuminates the area where I am. "What is this? Where am I?" I say flatly.
Another one of these weird hallucinations or something. Where I imagine I'm in a totally different place, while I'm not in reality. It kinda gets old.....
"We can't have you free. So we've trapped you in an inescapable cage."
"WHAT THE HECK! GET ME OUT OF HERE!"
"I'm trying to help you. I'm telling you the cold hard truth."
"Who do you think I am!?"
"You're a tool, Duke. To everyone. Including yourself."
My neck fur bristles. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"
"You are everybody's freaking tool. They're all using you. Nothing more, nothing less. Just a freaking tool."
"I'm nobody's 'tool'! Nobody's using me!"
"To be honest, I find it rather surprising that you've been alive for this long. I honestly thought you'd be long gone by now. Just a distant memory, if even that."
I roll my eyes and sigh. "Enough with your poop, tell me why you're here."
I try to make flames shoot out of my claws, but not even a spark shows up every time I try. I curse this cage I'm trapped in, and then myself. "The heck......"
"You know that prophecy you're supposedly involved in? Where it says you'll supposedly change Jamaa for the better? Where you're supposedly one of the 'Saviors of Jamaa'?"
"'Savior'? What are you pulling at?"
The voice just ignores me, and goes on.
"You know how they're actually going to save Jamaa?"
I just blink.
"Well, I'll tell you anyways. The way Jamaa is going to be saved is if they get rid of the one who ultimately destroyed it; getting rid of the one who corrupted it for so long."
I feel my feet being frozen to the spot.
I can't even move.....
"The only reason you're in the prophecy is so they can put an end to Jamaa's sufferings. Being exterminated is your role in the prophecy. With you still alive, Jamaa can never be saved. You are going to be exterminated."
"She'll......."
Two pictures show up as projections in front of me. One to the left; one to the right. I distinguish one being Twinkle's face, another being Finny's.
"At one time in the past, present, or future, they would all lie and betray you. Just like how everyone else....."
I stare slightly to my left. Both my eyes staring at those ice-blue eyes. "No..... She won't betray me, too."
"You're meant to be betrayed."
I'm not exactly sure why I feel so heart-broken inside every time I hear that word: Betrayal.
"Even by yourself."
I gasp, wide-eyed as I watch helplessly as my body begins to vaporize.
"You are nothing more than a reincarnation. A reincarnation of Jamaa's true phantom. You don't deserve to technically exist. Your actions may be completely different for now, but I guarantee that'll change."
"I'm not a murderer," I hear myself saying.
"Oh, is that so? Then care to explain this?"
"What?" I ask as a projection shows up just outside the caged wall. I cringe, my right side still hurting like crazy from that bullet.
On the screen is a scene from my memories. But in third-person view. I stare at the screen, completely horrified. We really
are the same. I really
am Fierdan.
I'm a monster. A monster that just brings havoc and destruction. Countless deaths; countless pain. I'm a complete monster.
I see my cousin consoling me; trying to comfort me. And then me. The water, the flames, the blood... I responded by attacking him with my hidden away powers. Sending him drowning. To his death...? Because he wanted to protect me from being teased any further.
"I-I......" I stammer.
"No need to say anymore. It's about time you be exterminated," I look around at the many faces that surround and haunt me,
"They'll all pay an active role in your extermination. Time for your extermination to begin.... Now!"
The screen changes. Is this the future?
My future?
I see myself in a prison's dungeon, held up against the wall. Shackles around my wrists, ankles, and the base of my tail. My powers being driven out of my body by force.
The scene on the projection screen is too much for me to handle, so I turn my head the other way. Even though that's not me- at least at the moment- I still can imagine the pain that version of me was victim to. Almost, if not as, tortuous as one of Fierdan's torturing techniques. But I'm him. So it has to be someone else behind the tortuous pain. But who?
I daringly take a quick glance back at the screen. I then notice these clear pipes attached to the bottoms of my feet. No, those
are my feet. There is a hole in each foot, and a pipe fits through it perfectly. Through the area of the pipe I can see, black, purple, and orange mixed together flow through. They end up at an area I can't yet see. I don't know if that's good or bad. During this, I heard that Duke shrieking. I believe I've never been through that much pain in my entire lifetime for me to cry in that much agony.
And that's coming from somebody who stabbed himself in the heart with a sharp blade. I shudder.
Your extermination begins now!
At that moment, my entire body disappears. Getting myself trapped inside the very definition of darkness and despair. Nothing of me left. I'm just... nothing.
Your extermination begins now.
Tibetan fox
