Drumheller

Chapter twenty-four - the Reegal paradox

Nighttime finally came around.
​The air was full of lights. Streets were blocked off, and hundreds of people showed up in costumes and face paint. Orange pumpkin lanterns were hung on street lights, and artificial fog blanketed the sidewalks and streets. Steph and Gabe stuck together while Eric and Kathy went off to get miniature donuts. Pam was hovering around the drinks table, while Sam, Adrian, and Jacob hung around near the main stage "it's really nice out" Gabe said "almost makes you forget what'll happen today" "I wish this never happened" Steph said, her hands in her coat pockets "if I never became the anchor, then we wouldn't have to go to this kind of measure to stop Chaos" "oh don't say that. We have Life with us, and him including our power, we can do what we can against him" Gabe says, patting her on the back
"oh yeah" Steph says, taking off her coat "here's my Halloween costume" she shows her black feathered wings. Gabe's eyebrows rise "woah, those look really realistic. How did you make them?" he asks, stroking a finger along the feathers. Steph chuckles "I didn't. They're real. Ziz made them" she says, flapping them a little bit. Gabe flinches his hand back when they move "you have...since when did you have actual wings??"
"like...a week ago? Heheh"
"it's so soft!"
Steph chuckles. At that moment, she almost forgot what she was doing here. Gabe was someone who Steph could be around and not care about what she has to do, and that made her happy.
She remembered what Life said. At midnight, she's going to release Chaos' spirit into the world, and it's up to the rest of the team to destroy Chaos and rid Steph of Chaos, while also ridding her of Ziz. Steph wished hard for all of it to be some sort of bad dream, to wake up and realise she wasn't actually the anchor, and that she can enjoy the Halloween festival without worrying about what was going to happen. She could hang out with Gabe and Ziz, without having to prepare for the worst event in her entire life. Either the universe was going to die tonight...or not, and that freaked Steph out
Steph told Gabe she wanted to be a lone for just a little bit. looking at her watch, there was still an hour left until midnight. Steph sighed and walked into Kathy's café. The place was dark, and no one was in the café, but Kathy suggested people could hide in her café when things got crazy, so she gave Steph the keys. Steph sat down at a booth, the same one she first sat in on her first real day at Drumheller what felt like years ago, then let out Ziz "are you...ready, Ziz?" she asked, her arms folded on the table. Ziz's blank eyes gave off a surprising amount of emotion when sad "...no" he says, turning to look at Steph. Steph sighs "...me neither"
Steph looks out the window at the passing festival "a lot is going to happen tonight...and um..." Steph tries her hardest not to tear up "i...guess this is going to be our last night together" Ziz stays silent, going up to Steph and hugging her with his wings. Steph shuts her eyes, bringing Ziz into a hug as well. Steph plants a kiss on Ziz's beak "thanks for...being there for me. I don't think I would have gotten by without some sort of animal partner like you, especially if it's someone like you" Steph says, looking into his eyes. Ziz nods, bright white tears welling up in his eyes "y-you're the best human I know, Steph! I-I wish I could stay with you longer!" Ziz says, trying to talk over his tears. Steph couldn't help but cry as well, the two of them sharing another hug
Finally, Steph stands "...lets do this as fast as possible, alright?" she says. Ziz nods, wiping his eyes with his dark wings "o-okay..."
The two move through the crowd. Steph glances at her watch. Fifteen minutes left. Ziz sits on Steph's shoulder as they move to the spot away from the main stage area, where everyone agreed to meet up. Steph tried not to be nervous by taking deep breaths "things will be okay" she repeated "I know it. Things will be okay"
"hey Steph" Gabe said as she approached the spot. The team met up on a side street, away from the large and populated centre stage on main street, hoping to not cause any unnecessary panic. Steph smiled the best she could muster "hey guys..." Steph says. Adrian, Jacob, Pam, Kathy, Eric, Gabe, and Sam all stood on the blocked off street "this is it" Adrian says "this is going to be as controlled as possible. We're going to surround Chaos when he comes out and hopefully, we'll get the first attack" "I'm going to be on the hard offence" Sam says "everyone else, be sure to keep Chaos from main street" all of a sudden, Sam transformed himself into his true, white form. Everyone flinched at that
Steph took a few deep breaths. Gabe came up to her and hugged her "we're going to finish this. Leave it to us" he says, smiling. Steph nods, hugging tightly "do your best...this is the universe we're talking about"
Gabe went back into position and pulled out his bat. Steph looked at her watch. One more minute. Ziz disappeared back into Steph's right hand and she closed her eyes and counted down the seconds
Steph wished she did more with her life. Something more than just photography. Even if she didn't want to be an astronaut, she still wanted to experience space. Even if she was never great at biology, she still wanted to study animals. Steph cursed herself that she was counting all her regrets before the spirit inside of her is going to be let out to destroy the universe. She supposed it would make good headlines "Stephanie Reegal: destroyer of the universe" she pictured. It almost made her laugh
3...2...1...
Steph opened her eyes. Everyone was still in position. A few more seconds pass. Adrian glances at Life "...it's...um...it's midnight now..." he mutters. Life stays still and silent, watching Steph. Steph looks around. Nothing has happened. Everyone stays silent as the clock ticks to 12:01, then 12:02 "...this is strange" Life says, straightening himself "Chaos wouldn't wait a single minute to leave. Midnight is his strongest hour of attack"
Five more minutes pass. Still nothing. Steph takes a few breaths "did Chaos...trick us...?" Kathy asks "because we know he said he'd attack now..."
Suddenly, an applause breaks out on main street. Everyone looks in the direction of the noise, before everyone quickly starts making their way towards the sound. Life turns back into Sam "it's a pleasure to be here" they hear over a speaker. Kathy catches up, a bit tired from running "what's going on?"
On the centre stage is Jason with a microphone. He's smiling, but Steph could tell it's fake
And, all of a sudden, things slowly started to make sense
"it truly is a pleasure to be the mayor of this small town. I know I seem...lazy, unprofessional, and maybe a little weird, but I know how to run a town, and I'm glad everyone agrees with me" Jason says, holding the microphone "now...I know how much all of you are dying to see the show I've been planning on showing you all...right?" the crowd roars. Gabe furrows his brow "wait...what does this mean? Why didn't Chaos appear?" he asks, looking to Sam as if he'd expect him to answer him. Steph's world suddenly turns upside down "I'm an idiot..." Sam mutters. Steph turns to Gabe
"I'm not the anchor. I never was"
"...what?"
Suddenly, a massive gust of wind picks up. The cheering stops "now...I want all of you to witness the power of your god" Jason says, dropping the microphone. He spreads his arms as a flare of dark energy erupts from him. A bolt of purple lightning strikes the crowd, causing them to back off. An uncomfortable, confused murmur spreads through the crowd "everybody! Run!" Sam yells "get away from him!" "Life!" Jason yells "this will be your end! Chaos will destroy you and everything you created!!"
​The lightning strikes again, starting to form with swirling dark energy from the ground. People start to run in the other direction as the purple energy continues to fester. Finally, after only a few seconds, the top of the form gains two, large white empty eyes "...there he is" Sam says, transforming back into Life "the scourge of the known universe"
​It's teeth glint in the moonlight "...Chaos"
​Life flies forwards, ramming into Chaos. Chaos roars and combats him, throwing the large white dragon into the ground. The rest of the group try to direct the public away from the battling gods "everyone away from main street!" Adrian yells. Kathy directs a group of people into her café, as well as a few of the group members. She locks the door "shit! Shit! What do we do?!" Gabe panics in the café, pacing through a bunch of people, nervously murmuring and watching from the window "like, the old plan is out the window! How the fuck are we going to kill Chaos?!"
​Steph moved into the back room, then looked at her hand "...Ziz?" she said "...are you still there...?" all of a sudden, a flare of darkness shot from Steph's hand. A familiar dark bird stood perched on her arm "Steph?" it says, looking up at her. Steph's heart skips a beat, and she hugs him tightly "s-steph you're crushing me" "Ziz oh my god I thought you left" Steph says, before moving back "Chaos isn't dead yet. I'm not the anchor, and we have to destroy Chaos somehow" "we do?"
​"wait, guys" Eric suddenly brings up as everyone meets in the main dining room "if we kill the anchor...then Chaos should leave, right? And Jason is the anchor, right?" Steph nods "so...we have to fight Jason. He must be hiding somewhere right now, so we have to go as soon as possible or he might leave town all together" she says
​Kathy, Eric, Steph, and Gabe all run back into main street, keeping out of the way from the two beasts. They both look evenly matched "jeez...look at them" Gabe mutters as they quickly make their way down a back street towards the town hall. Steph looks to Ziz "try to fly up and find Jason. Tell us where he's going"
​Ziz nods and flaps his wings, flying up into the air "we have to keep out of the way of Life and Chaos. They're probably throwing all their punches, so...we don't wanna get in their way" Steph says, looking back at everyone. Kathy pants as they run "are you okay, Kathy?" Eric asks, placing a hand onto her back. Kathy shakes her head "I'm...I'm fine. Don't worry about me" Kathy says between breaths "I don't want to...slow you guys down" "are you sure? You look like you're seriously exhausted..." "I'm am!" Kathy shouts "I am exhausted! If I could, I would give up right god damn now! but if I do that then I'd just we dead weight! The universe shouldn't slow itself down just because of me...so I'm going to speed up with it!"
​Eric couldn't help but smile "there!" Steph suddenly points ahead at a figure quickly entering a back door "he's going into the town hall. Let's try to cut him off at the front!"
​The team quickly circles around to the entrance and bursts into the entrance hall. The secretary stands "security!" she shouts "detain them!" two large men in black suits appear out of no where. Gabe takes out his bat, twirling it in his hands "c'mon then, let's go!" Gabe shouts as he takes a hard swing at one of them, clubbing them right in the head, making them stumble back. Kathy moves to one of them, forming a triangle with her hands "and...push!!" she shouts. A shockwave erupts from her hands, hitting the second security guard. Eric jumps and tackles the secretary woman. She struggles "you people are crazy! Can't you just stay still and accept Chaos as your god?!" the woman yells. Eric pins her down "if I still had talons, I'd claw your eyes out!" Eric shouts "I didn't even vote for you when we had the election!!"
​Eric jabs at the button panel with his foot, unlocking the door. Steph bursts into the main room, where Jason is. His head snaps to Steph, and he growls, his eyes a pure white "Reegal!" he shouts "you won't stop Chaos! You are a mere mouse to a dragon compared to him!" Jason then shoots his arm forwards as a wave of darkness rips through the room, destroying furniture and his desk. Steph dives out of the way as Ziz flies off her shoulder "Ziz! Dive!" she shouts. Ziz swoops into Jason, colliding with him. Jason grunts, swiping Ziz away "ngh! Stop resisting and die!"
​More furniture was destroyed as the anchor used them to throw at Steph. Fortunately, adrenaline was on Steph's side, making her with quick reflexes. Steph formed a triangle with her hands and shot a beam of darkness at Jason. Jason counters with a second blast "not only did you ruin my life, but you thought you could ruin the lives of the people I care about!" Steph shouted. She shut her eyes, focusing everything she had on the beam, which creates a blinding light at the collision between the blasts. However, the anchor had more power, slowly moving the centre of the beam towards Steph
​All of a sudden, the window broke, shattering. Both Jason and Steph flinched from the shattering. Jason turned to look, only to be clawed across the face. Jason covers his face, grunting and stumbling back. Pam stands at the window, claws drawn and pointed "you mess with my group again and you'll face my claws!" Pam yells, growling at him. Steph took this chance to leap onto Jason.
​Meanwhile, at Life and Chaos' fight, Chaos suddenly stopped fighting and darted his head towards the centre of town. Life was confused at first, until he realised what Chaos was looking at. Chaos instantly jumped off Life and bound towards the town hall "shit! Steph! Finish the job!"
​Ziz and Pam held his arms down. Steph placed her foot on Jason's chest "you're making a mistake!" Jason shouts "If you kill me, you'll be killing the man who ran this town! You'll be a killer! Reegal, I know you're too much of a coward to kill an innocent person!"
​Steph created a long, white spear in her hands, the sharp point pointed at Jason "you really think that would convince me not to kill you?" Steph said "you did too much to earn you a pacifist ending, Chaos" Steph raised her spear. Jason roared, shaking. Pam and Ziz struggled to keep him in place
​Chaos jumped at the building. Steph yelled and drove the spear right through Jason's chest. Jason let out a deafening roar, a pillar of darkness leaving his mouth. Steph didn't look up while she held the spear into his chest.
​Suddenly, everything went quiet. Chaos vanished. Jason stopped shaking. Steph looked up, with Ziz and Pam letting go of Jason. Steph was standing over a dead body "...uh" Steph let out. Looking around "...was that it? Did we do it?"
​Ziz, Pam, and Steph went out to the entrance. The secretary was still being pinned onto the ground by Eric, but was unconscious. Kathy was panting, and Gabe was sitting up against the wall. They all looked up at Steph
​Clouds had rolled in, and it had started to rain. Steph walked into the rain at the empty main street. Life swooped in, transforming back into Sam "Steph!" he shouts "Steph you did it! You actually did it!" he says, running to her. Steph was still processing what happened, before falling to her knees smiling. She looked up at the rain and held up her arms, as if she accepted it
​Main street erupted into a cheer. The group stood outside the town hall "should we erase their memories?" Sam asked, looking to Steph. Steph stood up, and shrugged "...nah. Let it be known what happened today"
​Steph turned towards Kathy, before pointing at her "...pancakes. Now."