The Ending Will Always Be The Beginning

Chapter 4: The DownWard Spiral (unedited)

After what felt like hours of walking, we finally got to the central station in the old city. My panic has since calmed down and I now stand in awe at the beautiful decor the building had! Luna walks to me and expresses "isn't it a sight to behold all this old art and how well structured the building is even after 20 years." yeah, it's really beautiful! My eyes started to wander. At some point, it felt as if my eyes were gonna leave my head and go exploring without me. Till I spotted a cavern, something felt off, chills started to run down my spine. What was that feeling just now? I began to walk towards the bottomless pit and I noticed something... is that a statue? I look towards the group yelling "hey guys come look at this" everyone rushes over, we all look at the hole in the floor. Luna states that this hole must be at least 7 floors deep. I start to stare at the statue but I don't get it. Why am I getting a sense of familiarity from this statue like I've seen it before? As I prepare to stand up Roby starts to get a bad feeling as if we were being watched. Ruby looks around and yells "From above!" a massive creature comes landing in the middle of us. The shock from it hitting the floor causes us to lose our footing and collapses the floor beneath our feet sending us into the cavern below. When I came to, I couldn't see anyone. Not a soul, I was prepared for the worst. I looked around for Luna, Ruby, and Chris but to no luck, I couldn't find anyone. However, since I'm me and I have such AMAZING luck, a shadow rises from the floor. I try to hide behind some rubble and quietly peek my head out. I waited for the figure to show its face in the dimly lit section of the room and to my surprise it was Roby... Like I said, just my luck. I would much rather it be a monster than this weirdo. I come out of hiding and approach, he stares at me in disgust and prejudice. He goes on to explain how he felt as if this was my fault. If I hadn't gotten everyone distracted by a ROCK in a hole we wouldn't have been in this mess. He proceeds to approach me with a fist in hand, he then lifts his arm ready to strike me. Just then we heard what seemed to be a scream in the distance. His facial expression goes from angry to worried. He drops his fist and hurries towards a wall on the other side of the room, peeping through a crack in the wall we see small shadowy creatures chasing after ruby Chris, and Luna down a spiraling staircase. Roby screams "I'm coming I swear I'm coming just please don't let them catch you" but to no luck, they were already so far down. In a state of frenzied panic, Roby takes his sword smashing it against the room wall making his blade duller and his mental weaker. I tell roby we have to look for another way he shoves me and yells "if anything happens to them I swear to the little patients and energy i have left I will take your life today." I froze not knowing what to do, he turned back to keep striking the wall. I back away and look around for an exit. All that was going through my mind is making sure Luna and everyone make it back safe but Roby is not being of any help here. Who is he to threaten my life? It can't always be my fault, others need to take responsibility too... right? Who am I kidding? It is my fault they're always right. I shouldn't have distracted them in the first place. I fall to my knees hopeless, confused and scared knowing something bad's gonna happen. I can feel the tears flowing from my eyes softening the dirt beneath me. I look down at my hands muttering to myself USELESS USELESS. I start punching the soft dirt beneath me, my tears blinding me even more. As some time goes by Roby screams "FUCK FUCK FUCCK" he throws his sword at the wall screaming to himself. I wipe the tears from my eyes and start to look around again to see if I can find anything to help us escape this pit. I get the courage to stand up, as I push my hands off the floor I slip on the muddy mess I made with my tears revealing an old air tank. I screamed at Roby and told him to come look at this. He rushed over yelling back "it better be something useful", I stood up in a hurry pointing down at the floor I was sitting on. He looked down and then back up at me. This might work. He says as he rips the air tank from the ground and sends it flying towards the wall and with a maniacal laugh he takes his sword and charges to the tank causing a massive explosion shaking the entire building and collapsing the wall. With no hesitation, he jumps down the hole to catch up to his companions. I hop down also and land on the stairs. As we descend we hear someone scream for help Roby rushes forward with no hesitation coming to a dimly lit room we see shadowy creatures hovering over a girl's body repeatedly stabbing at it. Roby walks closer in silence to look at the body. His aura around him turned into a frenzy of dark flame as if he was ready to go berserk on everyone around him. I backed up toward the corner of the room in fear but I wasn't the only one. The shadowy creatures felt this pressure behind them and pounced at him with a moment's notice. He hurls his sword laughing, killing all of them. He starts to scream in a rage and the pupils in his eyes disappear. I think he's finally lost it. I came out of hiding to see if I could reason with him but that was a mistake. He rushes towards me speaking only one word over and over "Witch" "Witch" "Witch" he swings his sword at me hysterically. Cutting me a couple of times in the process. I start to panic and scream. I get back in the corner and the only thing I seem to be good at is crying during times like these. As He rushes towards me I prepare myself for my end and close my eyes, These tears I say why won't they stop? Why does this have to happen to me? With moments to spare, I see something running towards me at full speed from the exit. It's Chris who jumps in front of Roby's sword screaming at him to calm down. Sadly he wasn't being responsive. Chris relaxes his shoulders and thrust Roby away from us. He then turns to me with cuts and bruises all over his body and a wounded leg. He says "I might be injured but I'll make sure you get out of here. On my count I want you to make a run for it. I nod my head and ask where's Luna, his facial expression changes, and he looks at me and says " I told her to hide while I'll lead the monsters away so all we can do is wait and worry about ourselves for the time being. I nod, he looks towards Roby to see him picking himself up. "Alright kid this is your only chance on a count of three-run for it oh and also I have my agro skill up so all monsters in the area will be coming here soon just make sure to run past them. As long as I'm still standing the skill will not turn off, So make sure you go and find Luna. I'll hold Roby off for as long as possible." As we finish discussing the plan, Roby finally gets to his feet screaming again, Chris readies his shield and shouts "ok kid 1,2,3" I make a dash for the exit. With all my strength I ran for the entrance, Chris came out of. As I turn my back to see if Chris is ok I trip and stumble over a metal pole. What the FU- I pick myself up in a hurry... That Really, Really hurts what is this doing here! Sigh this isn't the time for this. I grab the pole and proceed to push forward. I run up the stairs to find the room Luna is hiding in. As I searched through each room frantically looking for Luna my fear of loss grew. Every room turned up empty Door after door, room after room, nothing, not a single thing. The panic started to sink in. I had one more room to check as I opened the door when I heard it. Tiny little footsteps rushing back up the stairs, Did something happen to Chris? Why are there so many monsters coming up here? I take cover in the last room pushing the door shut and holding my breath. The wave of creatures runs past. I peek out to see if the coast is clear and with a sigh of relief, I fall to my knees. I try to hold back the tears but I know up until this point I've been brave, I think I deserve a break. I've been through so much in this short amount of time. I lay back and sit on the floor. Trying to figure out where Luna could be, as I brush my hands on the floor I come across something wet staining my hands. Goosebumps start to engulf my skin. I close my eyes and try to think positive but it's not working. This can't be water, this is too thick. My eyes widened, turning my head slowly not knowing what I was in store for .... But for some reason I wasn't surprised by what I've come to witness. There she was, Luna lying lifeless on the floor. The scene was so horrid I felt my stomach getting ready to leave my body. Luna's chest was ripped open with nothing inside, her hand was severed nowhere to be found and tears flowed from her eyes but she seemed to have died looking at something. She has that bright smile that comforts people. Who could that of bin for? I move towards her cold body even more and lift her head onto my lap. I start to cry and tell her these tears that flow from me now will be my last for I will do better to keep the people safe around me. About 20 mins went by and I finally said all the things I needed to say. As I sit in silence the light from the sun begins to hit my eyes. I look up to the crater,l on the roof of the room. I come to a realization and look around the room in confusion. Wasn't this the room with a statue in it? Where is it? I checked every room and I haven't seen it once. Forgetting how much time has passed and the desperate situation I was in, I made sure to put Luna's body somewhere safe so we could get to it when we came back. Realizing I need to go back and help chris. I burst out of the room ready to run down the stairs at full speed but suddenly the wave of monsters were rushing behind me as if something frightened them. I came to a halt and slowly readying myself for a fight, but suddenly a piece of the step that I was standing on gave way making me lose my footing. The monsters rushing towards me took this opportunity to lunge at my releasing frightening scream temporarily freezing me in place. However I snapped out of it, I took a deep breath and yelled frantically swinging the metal pole I found earlier. But it was no use. They were dodging my attacks left and right. I didn't know what to do. As the battle dragged on I started to lose breath, gasping for air. I hold my chest damn it I thought I would be useful I said I would protect everyone. Suddenly one of the small shadowy monsters came behind me striking my back. The pain was almost enough to make me throw up. It burns not like a normal cut but as if my wound has already been infected with something. I sit there feeling my body get weaker... so this is how they got Luna and Ruby, my eyes begin to get blurry as the monster's approach. I attempt to keep focus but my vision isn't cooperating. Holding my metal stick towards the monsters to stop their approach but something feels off. Why does it feel like nothing is happening? I don't feel the wound festering on my back any longer and my vision seems to be coming back to me but why is everything so quiet? Suddenly a voice started talking to me "child you are worthy to be my new master" as my vision finally came back to me I noticed everything around me had frozen the dripping water, the crumbling structure of the building and most importantly the monsters. The voice came back and explained to me "My old master was an exceptional angel who had the power to stop time and manipulate it to his will, I wish to pass that power on to you." I look at the staff as it glows blindingly bright, A beautiful winged blade grows out of the tip of the staff curving into a majestic scythe. With this newfound strength, I walk toward one of the monsters trapped in time. Out of instinct I raise the blade high, sending all my might into the monster's vital point... Nothing happened, I said to the scythe. He laughs and explains "master Time is still stopped, attack the rest of the monsters, and when you're finished snap your fingers to resume time." Are you sure? He replies "yes" so with a deep breath I rush towards every monster swinging my new found weapon within seconds I have struck every monster within my vicinity. I turn to the creatures and ready my hands, here goes nothing. I snap my fingers with such force that even had me startled. The shock wave started to resume time. Suddenly every monster that was in front of me exploded, and blood started to paint the walls red as if it was a beautiful canvas made by my hands. I look to the wall of blood and see my reflection... Wh... WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HAIR? The scythe laughs " when you call me out master the powers of an angel are bestowed to you however this is only temporary " I nod my head with understanding but i just can't stop looking at myself my hair is white as snow and my eyes are a beautiful green... sigh i gotta snap out of it i gotta remember what i'm here! I rush continuing my descent down to Chris skipping flight after flight of stairs. I see the entrance to the room but why is everything quiet? I didn't stop time, did i? I enter the room to a horrific sight Chris is on his knees pleading with Roby to calm down, as i look closer i see Chris is bleeding from his arm which seems to be severed from his body this doesn't seem right tho isn't Chris and Roby friends why would he do this. I decided to act first and ask questions later. I ran to Chris telling him to get down. He looks toward me and yells "Don't come any closer" I stop in my tracks confused... Why should I? He's gonna kill you. Chris sighs as he gets ready to explain Roby kicks him towards me and starts to laugh with bloody tears coming down his face. Chris grabs my shirt pulling me towards him and tells me to listen "it's not Roby anymore. When you left i got him to snap out of it however as we were making our way back to you we found a weird dark weapon sticking out of one of the holes we made in the wall." i look at him puzzled and ask what does that have to do with anything? Chris says there's more "once Roby picked up the weapon, he was engulfed into a black mist... it was as if he became one of those things" before Chris could let out another word Roby charges at me and Chris i try to stop time just before he made contacts but it was to late. He sent me and Chris fly through a small crater in the ceiling of the room. I hold on to Chris tightly telling him to hold on but to no surprise, he passed out not only from all the blood he lost but to the impact Roby made to his body as he sent us flying as we descend from the skies i can see Roby body changing wings start to grow from his back.... What is this? What has he become? The monster formerly known as Roby flies towards us at an alarming speed. I panic. I don't know what i'm supposed to do, my weapon starts to glow and shows me the path i need to take. I snap my finger with the little power i had left stopping time once again using the debris around us as stepping stones to get us back down safely to ground level. I put Chris down and prepared myself to fight! Suddenly I felt all the power in my body leave and my weapon says to me "I'm sorry master but we are too weak to keep this power up efficiently I must take rest" the wound on my back begins to fester and my consciousness starts to fade. I could hear the monster landing close to me and getting closer, I didn't need to see what the monster was about to do to me with the furious wind that it made, pulling out its sword while readying its attack... Well, I guess this is really goodbye. I opened my eyes one last time to see Chris taking the final blow for me... I ... I know I said I wouldn't cry anymore but why is everyone around me always dying for me? Please can no one help us. Curse these tears as I lay on my back crying Chris whispers to me "don't worry we all knew what was at stake when we agreed to do this job. You might not feel loved amongst your other comrades but I'll leave you with this. We enjoyed this short lived journey with you even if we didn't show it.". With that Chris body hits the floor life less... I scream and fight and beg my body to move but to no surprise nothing. The monster walks towards me crushing Chris's skull in the process. It finally speaks to me with a condescending tone "your turn, human trash my master was slain by the likes of your kind... He was unworthy to be my master but now I have a body of my own and I will do what he couldn't!" he readies his sword once again and laughs... he releases the sword to my throat with tremendous power, here it comes I grit my teeth in fear but suddenly the demon stopped in confusion. The stopped force of his attack caused the dust and debris around us to go flying, As it looked around the area worried it muttered... "What is that feeling? Master is that you? It can't be!" I looked around to see who it could be talking to. Then it appeared a young tall boy who looked around my age but he was different. He had wings three on both sides, some blacker than night while others white as light.. But it seems as if he's holding something ... is that a severed hand! I try to get a better look but i don't have the strength to do so...with the little energy i had i ask the being for help he nods and my consciousness it's ... finally gone.