The Story On The Board: What's A "Fourth Wall?" (Book One)

Sacrificed

I can see G.3.K.'s castle on the horizon. We're nearing the end of our journey, and this story. This is it. We approach the castle. Wings stands in our way.

What do you want Wings?

"I believe your deaths justified," Wings explains, "all you've done is kill. The readers may have been dangerous, but at least they were logical. But you..." Wings sighs. "Wings is not my name," he continues, "my real name is prototype 7. I've gone by another, while in the True World, Heartbleed. I attempted to create a body, but prototype 42 stopped me from killing enough people to get the organs I needed. I was banished here, and, like 14, I want to return. The bodies we were given come from this world. If I could get a body from the True World, I would be a god compared to you. All you do is kill, but I..."

Wings draws his sword. "I can save this world, but I need the journal," Wings continues, "I'm sorry."

He lunges. Devil douges. 14 uses his control, and channels the air of Wings's lungs. Wings counters his his control. He begins to morph, growing gills and fins. The surrounding area becomes flooded.

Mother fucker he's a shape shifter and a hydromancer. The amount of control he'd need to do this would be very high. He's likely very powerful, but he's hiding his aura so it's impossible to tell how strong he is, and more importantly, how much mana he currently has.

I counter with me own control. Devil and I are masters of pyromancy and space manipulation, which uses a lot of mana. We evaporate the massive flood. Steam fills the battlefield. We can't see a goddamn thing.

Wings channels the steam in front of him so he can see. He spots 14. The channles the hot steam, condensing it to create scalding water. He launches it at 14. 14 screams in agony as his torso is scalded.

We gotta help him! Follow the noise!

"You got it!" Devil replies. He sprints towards 14. "Save yourselves!" 14 yells.

We won't leave you!

"Guys..." 14 explains, "before I met you two, everyone I met after coming into being was a murderer. Even the readers, who were going to get the journal before me. I needed that journal. I desperately struck first. Nathan protected them. Then, I met you. I thought I'd die. I thought I'd have to wait until the next one, but, you spared me. You saw no reason to attack. You stuck with me as I healed. You listened to my troubles. You were my friends, my only true friends. I want to return the favor. Guys, no, my dear friends. Save yourselves, fix your souls. I'll see you in the next one."

"We won't leave you!" Devil yells.

Shut up! Wings will hear you! Leave him. I'm sorry 14. I force Devil to move forward with my control. We escape the battlefield. Just a few more miles until the castle, and thankfully, there's not a lot of survivors in this area. At least no one we need to worry about.

"Fuck you Barron!" Devil yells.

Chill, we'll see him in the next one, but if we had stayed behind we might not have made it to the next one.

"You're an asshole." Devil growls.

Maybe I didn't make myself clear. I don't care who dies. I don't care what it takes. It'll all come back when the world Ascends, but we can't unless we fix our souls. You have to understand, 14's going to be fine.

"If he couldn't revive," Devil asks, "would you have left him behind?"

I don't know my friend, I don't know. We slowly continue towards the castle... Towards the end...

Their trust decreases, this could end badly if this continues...