Broken Ties: An Adventure Forward AU

Chapter Ten: Dark Distortions

After Mino registered me as a trusted person into its database, I was teleported back to the Emporium. Compale was waiting for me there.

"Welcome back," he said. I waved my hand and walked over to him. "Did you get Mino's symbol?" "Yep!" I said, nodding my head. "Great, now we just need one more..." He trailed off, seeming a bit distant and sad. "Something wrong?" I asked. "No, it's nothing," Compale replied. He's hiding something from me, and I know it.

I guess it's out of my control then. If he wants to hide whatever is worrying him, then so be it. "So, let's go to the last world!" I exclaimed. He flinched. "Right, come with me." He started walking towards the edge, jumped off, and started to float. "The entrance is down here. I hope you don't take fall damage."

"Yea, about that..." I looked down. I could barely make out an orange-brownish platform surrounded by a ring of fire. I started shaking a little. Heights are scary. Compale sighed. "If you're that afraid of heights," he began after he teleported over to me, "grab my hand." "Alright, if you say so..." I grabbed his hand. I hope he doesn't chuck me over the edge or something like that.

We ended up teleporting to the platform instead. The platform was actually a really tiny island with black water surrounding it. A huge ring of fire spun around, keeping the island in the middle. The actual part of the entrance was a brown rock wall, with a little lava dropping out. A small sign was hung over the entrance, flashing "DISTORTION PARADISE" in red and yellow.

"Oh. I thought you were going to do something else other than teleporting," I told him. "What, did you want me to throw you over? Aren't you afraid of heights?" "I am! I just thought you were going to for some reason! Don't get me wrong, I don't think you are a bad person, but you could be a bit pushy sometimes." Compale just ignored me. "Well, you'll have to go through this portal now. Good luck with the last point," he said. "Okay?" I walked into the portal to go to the final world.

I ended up on a wooden platform with a bridge connecting to it. There was more black water surrounding the platform and bridge. I'm starting to think it might be oil and not black water. Well, whatever it is, I sure don't want to go into it. I stepped onto the bridge, which caused me to go forward without needing to walk, nearly falling on my face. Whoops. I didn't notice the fact that it was a conveyor belt.

Once I reached the end of the belt, I stepped onto the sand. There were a bunch of particles, and between them, was a spinner. Well, it was a spinner mounted onto a palm tree, but a spinner nonetheless. I jumped over it and landed on the sand.

I continued walking and noticed some lava up ahead. There's probably a volcano nearby. I hope it's dormant. There was also a huge, empty billboard. I turned right and continued walking. There was a sign with a gray triangle and a yellow exclamation mark printed onto it. There are spikes. I ran, jumped over the spinner, and dodged the particles. There was another sign, this time it was an arrow pointing left. A point was standing nearby.

The point's skin was white, and it slowly faded down to black towards the legs. Their symbol was basically the upside-down version of Ulipse's, and it's black instead of purple. Actually, you know what, I'm feeling lazy today. Just go look at the character chapter to see what the latest point looks like haha. Sorry readers.

"WELCOME TO DISTORTION PARADISE!" he announced. "Whaddaya want?" I scratched the back of my head. "Well, um, I don't know how to put this, but I want your symbol." He erupted into uncontrollable laughter. "THAT'S HILARIOUS! YOU WANT MY SYMBOL!? Well, I have news for you: It's not up for grabs!".

"This isn't funny! Someone told me I needed to collect all the symbols!" I exclaimed in desperation. "HAHA, WHO, CYALM!? THAT GUY'S DEAD!" I raised an eyebrow. "Who's Cyalm?" He stopped laughing. "You don't know?" he asked. "Mhm, I don't." They shook their head. "Oh boy, you're in for one hell of a ride."