Ezra Phantoms: The Cursed Sword

7

The moment I opened my eyes, and saw End's ghastly figure in front of me, I understood what was going on. I was dreaming. They were the very last person I wanted to see in my dreams, but there was nothing I could do. Not like I could just take them out of my dream with my mind since they were connected to my brain and soul.

"Don't you bother me enough when I'm conscious?" I said. "Now you're bothering me while I'm unconscious? You must be pretty bored."

"I am, but that's not why I'm here," End replied. "I came to congratulate you. You successfully brought out your cursed ki. That's not an easy feat to accomplish. Many have went to great lengths to do what you did. However, there are some facts you should know about ki."

"Go on."

"Well, for starters, regular ki comes from channeling one's positive emotions, and having complete focus. The rare type of ki that you possess, cursed ki, comes from channeling one's negative emotions, and being in a chaotic state. It's ki, but the more erratic version. As powerful as ki is, however, it decreases the user's lifespan." I nodded, doing my best to digest everything they were saying.

"Since you seem like you're in the mood to explain things to me, I have some questions for you."

"Ask away," End said, wearing a creepy smile.

"I heard from the shopkeeper I bought the Cursed Sword from that hundreds of people have died when they attempted to grab it, which I'm guessing was your doing."

"Indeed. I happily killed them all," End replied. Their response and how easy it was for them to utter those words made me shudder a little. Doing my best to ignore it, I continued to speak.

"Why didn't you kill me as well then?"

"That's simple. You were worthy, and they were not. Only a person with great strength, and a life cursed with bad luck and many shortcomings can wield my sword." It all started to make sense. I didn't think I was that strong, but I definitely had lots of bad luck.

"Okay, but I know your plan is to destroy the whole world and eliminate everyone in it," I started. "Couldn't you easily do that by killing everybody? You already threatened to kill my mother before. What's stopping you from coming out of the sword in your spirit form and killing everyone?"

"That's a great question!" End said, with an inappropriately excited tone. "Allow me to explain. When you kill somebody, another person is born. Even if you kill the person who was just born, another person is born as well. When you kill an animal, another animal somewhere is born. When a plant dies, another plant grows. No matter what you do, the circle of life progresses endlessly. There's no way to stop it. At least, not until I get my hands on all of those stones. See, I could kill as many people as I wanted to right now, but it wouldn't end the life cycle. And that is my true enemy. Life. I want to end all life. Nobody and nothing will be born ever again when I'm done. I've been around for thousands of years, and the things that I've seen brought me to one conclusion; no one deserves the gift of life except me. Which is why I'm ending life, for good. You ever heard of the phrase 'kill two birds with one stone?' Well, I plan on killing the entire world with one stone. People across the multiverse will die, and the circle of life will be stopped. The world will be nothing but pitch black darkness that I will gladly accept and be comforted by."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I also couldn't believe that End had not only told me valuable facts about ki that would help me along the road, but also told me their entire evil plan.

"I know what you're thinking," End said suddenly, laughing hysterically. "Remember that I can hear your thoughts. I don't care about telling you helpful information or my plans. I could tell you my weaknesses, if I had any, and you still wouldn't be able to defeat me."

"Mark my words, I will stop you," I stated.

"Sure you will," End replied, laughing even harder now. "Well, as much as I'd like to stay so I can laugh at your ridiculous remarks, you're about to wake up soon. Time for me to depart." As End's dark, foggy figure began to fade away, my consciousness started to return.

...

I woke up in a way better looking room than the one I stayed in at Steam Town. I looked at my arms, and then looked down at my legs. Both had been completely wrapped in bandages, along with my lower abdomen. I tried turning my body to the side to get out of the bed, and started wincing in pain. Just then, two of the best people I could've asked to take care of me came in the room.

"Ezra!!" the two yelled. Before I could respond, they quickly ambushed me with hugs.

"Guys, I'm enjoying the love, but I'm still injured," I said as they tightly embraced me. They retracted from my body as soon as they realized what I meant.

"Sorry," Alex said. "We just haven't seen you awake in a while."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"You've been asleep for three days," Hailee told me. "We weren't sure if you'd ever..."

She was unable to finish her sentence, but from how she was choking up and her slightly somber tone, she didn't have to. I knew exactly what she was trying to say.

"It's okay, guys. I'm here."

"You hungry at all? Or thirsty?" Alex said. "We'll get you anything you need."

"Yes, I'm starving. But um, where exactly are we right now?"

"This is Phoebe's bedroom in her apartment. She thought it'd be easier to take you here rather than a hospital, so she brought you back to her place, and treated all of your wounds. She also gave us a bunch of money to buy food with."

"Wow," I said. "How'd you guys even meet her?"

"She was riding on this futuristic motorcycle, and noticed me walking with you in my arms," Alex replied. "After she saw that, she offered Hailee and I a ride. She explained everything about this dimension, and what's going on to us. Then, we ended up here."

"I can't believe she's even more amazing than I thought."

"Yeah, she does seem pretty cool," Hailee said.

"Not as cool as these two people I know, though."

"Which two people?" The two of them asked.

"It's you guys, you idiots," I said, chuckling. The three of us started giggling, and we hugged again.

"We should probably go get your food now," Hailee said, with her arms still wrapped around my neck. "But before we do that, we have some surprising news for you."

"Yeah? What's that?" After they did an imaginary drumroll, the two of them finally shared the news in unison.

"We're dating!"

"W-What?"

"Yeah, we're dating now," Hailee said. "We realized two days ago during a long conversation that the biggest reason we argued so much was because of how much we liked each other. We also kissed which helped us realize that too."

"T-T-That's...great!" I said, doing my best to hide my true feelings. It definitely wasn't great for me. Not at all.