The Glitch Phenomenon

Chapter 5-Discovery

Peace.

At last.

Not death, but close.

As Error floated around the never-ending Void, he caught sight of a single, beating Soul that was the color of Beauty.

It was a tranquil peach, with a small tint of mauve swirling inside.

'The monster it belonged to must have been such a lucky creature,' He thought wistfully. But looks were never as they seemed, as Error found out when he took a closer look and studied it carefully. 'What...'

Looking at the other side of it, he saw the Soul covered in its vice, Vanity.

Grasping the soul in the strings he summoned, he attempted to peer into its history. The memories he received were stunningly painful, more than a normal monster should have felt.

It managed to almost mirror half of the pain he felt in the first few stages of turning, unsure and fearful, not much physically, but inside he was curling up into a foetal position, dying slowly.

——————?????'s past——————

"Amare! Come on, it's time for your modeling session!" A female dog monster barked at Amare, a well known model. She was a gorgeous skeleton/human hybrid, with fluffy fox ears perched atop her head. No one knew why, not even her loyal parents, faithful to each other only. Amare had eyes only for herself, caring naught for other quibbles in her seemingly perfect life. Unbeknownst to all, her Soul of Beauty had its vice creeping slowly over it, Vanity making Amare to constantly preen and preach to herself in the mirror. She arrogantly sashayed out, oblivious to the Hate-filled Soul behind her, ready to erase her in the dark, to finally be the best.

A gleaming knife shining red and dripping glittering drops of crimson was pulled from the shuddering form of Amare, her Soul breaking slowly, dust coating the ground beneath her, the lovely monster dying. As the pain faded, through her blurry vision she saw a pitying face. "I hate you. But... Maybe consider this a mercy kill. You're too far gone to your Vanity anyways."

In her final moments, Amare smiled.

—————End flashback ——————

With a gasp, he pulled out of the memories.

An olfactory hallucination came and went as quickly as his soulbeat did. 'Flowers?'

An undulating light flashed once, twice, then stopped. The luminance repeated, in the same pattern.

The soul shot off in the direction the pulsating light originated from.

Error raced after it, flapping his arms like he was swimming. He needed to know. “Curiosity killed the cat”? He was already dead, or at least he was supposed to be.

A fox, with draconian wings and phoenix-like flames trailing off of its nine tails, was prancing about. It had a golden ring etched with silver or some kind of platinum material on-no, in its forehead.

The fox's ears were large and fluffy, perched atop its head in what was supposedly meant to be a cute angle. Three sprits-the wispy kind-swirled around its neck to form a necklace.

Amare's soul flew to baptise itself in the fire effect that now wreathed it. The sight of the soul bathed in the hot flickers petrified Error, until he realised that he sensed no pain originating from the Soul of Beauty.

Error immediately knew that this mythical being ending up here was not a coincidence. This creature was some sort of a soul guide. And it could clearly read his mind.

"Well, you're not wrong." The vulpine animal spoke, baring its snow-shaded fangs in a humanish way. Its lips peeled back in a snarl although the voice emitting was friendly.

It lowered its head and appeared to be frowning. "My official title is “Anubis' hidden child”, but I'd appreciate it if you could continue to call me “The Soul Guide”."

Error gazed at it in wonderment. His awestruck face prompted The Soul Guide to burst out laughing. He, befuddled, wondered whether it had a name.

In response, it chuckled raucously.

"You can call me Equinox. Equinox Mercurial." Equinox allowed itself to smile ruefully. "Anubis never assigned me a gender, or a name, or even a caretaker. Pronouns are it/its."

Error winced at the sheer amount of anger emanating from within Equinox. He would hate to further provoke it, but he wanted to know.

By now, he knew that it could read his mind, but felt that it would be more courteous to ask directly.

"7h3n... 7h3n, m4y 1 45k, h0w d1d y0u g37 y0ur n4m3? 4nd y0ur g3nd3r 411gnm3n7?" Equinox flinched at this and the orbs surrounding it jumped as well. Amare's soul buzzed, then took flight and zoomed away.

Error almost followed, but Equinox held up a paw to stop him. "It's fine. To answer your questions, my adoptive mother named me and I chose my pronouns."

The Soul of Beauty flew back in discernable horror. Equinox clasped it gently and looked disgruntledly to where it came back from. Error was confused, until a figure emerged from the gloom.

"Hmm... I do wonder... Why would the Destroyer end up in this heck of a place?"

A human girl walked towards Equinox and Error. At least, Error assumed she was a female.

Her hair was a violet iris streaked with white down the middle, cut choppily in what looked like a bob style. Her eyes were bloodred in nature, her pupils quartered ellipses.

The girl was clothed in pajamas in shades of blue, and had a cloak purple in colour hanging drearily off her back. On her person, she carried a sword in its scabbard hung loosely from her looped belt. Her legs were bandaged and one was bearing scars telling of monstrous mutilation.

Below her eyes were tear tracks in black charcoal and  heather, and a black headpiece nearly masked the bleeding wound atop her forehead.

Strangest of all, the not-so-human girl had glowing purpled wings that faded from Stygian black at the top to a pearlescent white at the bottom. She also bore a misty halo that circled her head.

"Now, now Amare~ No harm in giving you a spectral body..." She purred maliciously.

"Leave off, Vendetta. There's no need." Equinox growled. The human, that was now known to be called Vendetta, snorted.

She approached Error in quick strides. "Well, answer me..?" Vendetta cocked her head to the side in inquisition. Error backed away, muttering about why he didn't want to talk about it.

Vendetta stalled closer and hissed angrily. "You know, when someone asks you a question, you answer it." She raised her hand in threat.

Error flinched in anticipation for the blow that was sure to come. Trauma left lasting scars, you know?

He called for help.

And someone came.