curses ➵ schlattbur

tres ➵ escape

alex trembled, shaking as the wretched enchantress of a woman grasped his mouth. he knew it would happen.

he was going to die.

"g...gh...!" he managed to sputter out, attempting to call for help as tybalt, that soldier he'd met, stood there coldly. alex was helpless at this point--just a fool with a mandolin in hand at this point.

pokimane was taller than he expected--then again, she seemed to float off the ground. she was still shorter than him by quite a bit, but that didn't matter--she was still terrifying. she let go of his mouth and began to brush his cheek with a smile. not one of sweetness and care, one of morbid interest.

"hm. maybe i won't kill you, sir... what's your name? ah, who cares at this point." she cooed, before adding, "maybe i'll make you my special bard. you can sing songs about my future victory."

"what the- what the hell do you mean victory?!" alex sputtered, although he knew that it might have had something to do with her army of thousands and her giant palace.

pokimane giggled, "silly little man--little rat man." she said cheerily. "my victory over the other two kingdoms, of course." she beamed. "poor, poor will and schlatt. they would've had a chance to prepare if i hadn't temporarily cleared all memory of their potential saviors."

their potential saviors? she couldn't possibly mean... "you- you were the one that erased our memories- our memories about dream and his disciples?" alex interrogated, panicking. she was powerful. very powerful. if she accidentally clapped her hands right then and there she could kill trees for miles.

"of course! i also brought that enchanted bat into emonburg territory, struck pogland with earthquakes--and so much moreee!" she cheered, adorably grinning. "ohh~ what shall i do with you two?" she said, looking at the trembling soldier--tybalt. he hadn't moved an inch. he was clearly frightened by her.

alex knew--if he didn't do something, he'd perish. he wasn't going to die without fighting. he couldn't do that. he had to- he had to stand up for himself... or he'd be dead.

so he swung his mandolin.

"gah! what the fuck is wrong with you?! fuck that bard shit i just mentioned!" pokimane snapped, dropping alex and raising her hands as lightning crashed to the ground. she didn't care that she would be heard across the earth. she was pissed. "i'll kill you right here and now!" she shouted, her voice poisonous, and enraged as alex barely managed to dodge strikes of light that hit the ground, sizzling and killing all the grass around it for miles.

"shit fuck shit fuck-" alex swore violently, trying to scamper away, his mandolin having a visible crack from when it struck pokimane's torso. but it was too late. after only a moment to attempt escape, he was soon disarmed.

as splatters of black oozed out of her clenched fists, wrapping around alex as she began dragging him towards her. he panicked, trying to break loose. but it wasn't worth fighting.

until tybalt, the soldier, who had been waiting for the right moment, stabbed her with his broken sword. straight in the stomach.

her screams could be heard from miles around as her blood--which was completely black, splattered over the both of them. she wasn't human...

but she was angry.

"...gah... fuck... fuck this shit..." she spat, as the black strings untangled themselves from alex, and she grabbed the poor soldier's neck, wringing it tightly as her wounds suddenly healed, her hair practically bursting into flames.

alex was just standing there in shock.

"what the- what the hell are you standing there- ghh- for...?! go! warn the kingdoms!" shouted tybalt the best he could, fighting against pokimane's grip as she threatened him violently. she was lost in rage.

"you're gonna fucking die. die die die. i'm going to fucking kill you!"

alex didn't need to think twice about running.

as he ran, tripping over himself multiple times, the grass surrounding the borders grew and hardened into dark, imposing gates--pokimane's last ditch attempt to stop him.

he climbed over it desperately, the pathetic cries of the final soldier slowly vanishing as he succumbed to pokimane's blind rage. just in time, as vines grew out of the ground to stop him, he got out.

then he ran. he ran as far as he could.

he didn't care about the endless amounts of rock and thorn, ripping at his skin and clothes' seams as he scrambled off. he didn't want to be here. he didn't want to be near to that horrifying woman... despite his cries and screams as the wildlife of the forest threatened to kill him right there, the howls of wolves and the roars of bears terrifying him... until finally, he managed to stumble out of the seemingly endless woods... he stopped at the start of rolling fields.

almost collapsing on the floor at once, he noticed small houses, with eyes gazing at him from inside their round windows. he noticed farms and birds and livestock of all kinds. they were all going about their daily life, as if they were still safe.

when they weren't safe at all.

he looked around. villagers were coming out of their homes, staring at him with confusion and disgust. they walked up to him, stopping him in his path as they spoke. he could barely comprehend their words. they were asking him questions about where he was from. who he was. what he was. why he was here. why he was wearing his beanie. slowly, he stopped hearing them speak as his thoughts raced in panic.

he had to warn the villagers. he had to. or else... they were all going to die. they were going to die...

he was just trying to help them, so why did they all look so disgusted at him?

as slowly but surely, he collapsed onto the hard road they'd constructed, his vision blurred and his hearing seeming to deafen. he caught sight of blocky, industrial looking structures in the background. a bustling market. a platform.

as he collapsed, the very last thing he caught view of was a wooden sign, large and very, very visible.

welcome to emonburg.

a/n: i know this chapter was a little short but i hope you'll like it! vote/follow/comment if you enjoyed!!