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35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcvni16W9ee
(Moments earlier.)
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWDbiMOv8PG
“So, Sela?” I asked with a stereotypically curious tone.
“Yes?” Sela replied, still annoyed, from where they were pouting. To me, it felt as if they had been pouting for twenty minutes. It must have really bothered them that I disrupted their plans.
“Could you, maybe, let me go? I think I have been locked in the Realm of Stars for long enough,” I requested in a nonchalant manner. I was pretty sure that wouldn’t annoy them.
“I guess you did stay a few days… Fine, you may go,” Sela said with a loud groan. Rubbing the back of their head, Sela gave me an even more annoyed expression, though I didn’t sense any hostility. Instead, their reply seemed more apologetic, despite Sela’s expression.
“Oh, before I forget. Why did you even want to do any of that philosophical bullshit where I have some kind of revelation? All I feel now is depression and pain,” I asked in an attempt at some humour. Though, my humour may have missed its mark. I really need to speak with some normal people after this.
“I read it in a book where the hero has to fight himself under the guise of the one they fear the most as a way to promote character growth,” Sela replied as if it were an obvious decision.
“I could see how that might work in a book, but again, I’m way too dense for that. And plus, if anyone is the protagonist, it’s Scott, or Mordred,” I replied as if I were a bit proud of my denseness. Maybe I was a little proud of it; don’t ask me why.
“If you say so. Now get out of here,” Sela snapped their fingers with a devious smirk. The watery pool making up the floor gave out from beneath me. As usual, I experienced the same falling sensation, before realizing that I was back in my own body. It felt nice, but my body felt heavy. Looking around, I saw that I was in the middle of the city at night. The cold, moist air felt awkward against my skin, and beside me was a woman's corpse.
I was clutching my head as if I were in pain, but there was none, then I started to feel it. Everything that had happened while I was away, came to me like a flurry of lost memories. I couldn’t believe that my logical self had managed to travel through time. At the same time, though, I feel like my logical self was judging me, even though we were the same person. I guess I always have been one to loathe my own being, so it wasn’t much different than before.
“Lou, I need you to help me get the cuffs on him. Snap out of it,” Scott yelled angrily as he held the Changeling still. Finally noticing the Changeling, I drew my knife on instinct. I wanted him dead for handing me over to that masked freak. Three weeks of torture nearly made me go mad. In fact, I probably had gone mad; but right now, I was furious and desired retribution.
“Don’t stop me, Scott,” I stated with a hateful glare toward the Changeling.
“No, this is not the time to lose it. I get it. I really do, but that can be done later when—” Scott started to say, before I interrupted him with a furious shout.
“When, what?! After we hand him over to the Table? I don’t care about him. He isn’t the one who needs to suffer. I just want to know where his masked friend is. If I can’t find him soon, then I may never find him again,” I snapped. All I felt was hatred for this man and his masked compatriot but that didn’t mean I was blinded by rage. He knew where he was, or at the very least, knew where he was going. I had no intention of killing this one. That said, the other one was a different story.
“Okay, fine. But only after you help me cuff him,” Scott reasoned with an angry spat. The Changeling, desperate for air, flailed about in an attempt to wriggle free. Its appearance shifted bit by bit into various forms in an attempt to expand Scott’s grip before shrinking down. Sadly for it, Scott shifted with its changes.
“Fine,” I said, putting the knife away and stepping up to him. The Changeling kept attempting to struggle by swinging his free fist at me, despite barely being able to breathe. A swift punch to the gut, however, solved that issue and it was cuffed within a few seconds.
“Now you can ask him,” Scott said with a sigh of relief as we set him on the ground against the building.
“Okay.” Drawing my knife, I turned to the Changeling and held it out toward its face. “Where is the masked one?”
“I don’t know. He said that he was going to help me get some of the ingredients I need to perform another ritual,” the Changeling answered fearfully, eyeing the knife in front of his face.
“And what are those ingredients?” I asked with a disturbingly menacing voice. The Changeling shuddered as it backed slowly against the wall to get away from the knife blade. The moonlight glinted off the silvery blade as I slid it closer.
“The same things you have been trying to stop me from collecting,” the Changeling answered as if it were obvious. However, the fear he had for what I might do kept him from being too sassy about it.
“So he left to kill another woman for you? Why would he help you do that, though? Wouldn’t that attract too much attention?” Scott asked from behind me.
“He wanted to lure you out again…” the Changeling said as he gave me a frightened but calm look. “He was pretty pissed when you disappeared, and was even more pissed when your friends found our hideout.”
“So… he still has it in his head that I can bring back his dead friend. I am not a necromancer, I am a time traveler who can’t even properly change the past,” I said angrily before stabbing him in the shoulder. He screamed as the skin and flesh around the knife sizzled similar to that of meat being cooked in oil. Since it wasn’t a vital spot he didn’t turn to dust, but it was probably pure torture, like a hot iron that never cooled no matter how long it was pressed.
“Now, you will tell me where he is or I will stab you a second time,” I threatened. Scott grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back with a forceful tug. Removing the knife from the Changeling's shoulder as he did, much to its relief.
“What are you doing, Scott?” I asked with a confused and still vengeful tone from the street where I had fallen. Standing up, I strode back toward Scott with a determined swagger.
“You aren’t going to torture the thing. We aren’t monsters, Lou. We kill monsters, and I will not let you become one of them,” Scott replied with a determined glare. He wouldn’t back down no matter what I may try. The only things I could see in his eyes were regret and the desire to prevent me from feeling that same regret.
“We need to know where the masked man is so we can stop him,” I stated logically. I knew that he was right morally, but if we didn’t do anything then I would regret not killing him when I had the chance.
“We already know where he is going to be, Lou. You already told us, remember? This is just an excuse for you to torture this Changeling for what it has done. I know it deserves worse, but that is not how we work. We… you are not a monster,” Scott stated as if it was an order. Despite his stern nature, Scott’s lips quaked on the last sentence as if he were troubled by saying, “we”.
“Then why haven’t we sent someone?” I asked. The memories I had were all clammed together so I could barely navigate the memories I was only given a few minutes ago.
“Because I couldn’t trust that you can go there without trying to get your revenge. When you were logical, I could trust you to do that, but your logical self told me that you were going to go crazy and attack the Changeling, so I didn’t risk it.” Scott said, trying to reason with me. It may have seemed safer to leave me behind, but more people were going to die because of it. Whether my actions were for revenge or otherwise did not matter here.
“Then who’s going to stop him?” I questioned as I didn’t understand why there wasn’t someone watching Mitre Square. Just what had Scott and my logical self been thinking with a plan like this? Scott stood his ground, though he let out a regretful sigh before lowering his intensity.
“No one. We just have to take what we can get for now and bring the Changeling in,” Scott said as he turned around. He froze for a moment upon turning back to the wall. The Changeling was gone!
“Oh… fuck,” I said upon realizing it too. Scott turned back to me wide-eyed. The colour had drained from his face completely as if he had seen a ghost.
“We have to get to mitre square. If we can stop him then we can bring in at least one,” Scott said, quickly changing his mind as he began running. I quickly followed him in a sprint.
“Why are we not going after the Changeling?” I asked as I tried to catch up with him. My body was not used to the cardio required for such a run, and I had not been in a real body for who knows how long. so I began wheezing. Sweat began to build up as I ran, warming me up until the cold London wind hit my skin. My coat may have been able to block the wind, but it wasn’t very good for keeping warm, especially whilst running.
“Do you know which way he went?” Scott asked rhetorically. He was getting faster as he ran, causing me to fall behind him at an exponential rate.
“Fair point. Elysif, go after the Changeling,” I yelled back as we passed by the alley that we had been hiding in before. She was still there, but rather than approving of my statement, she held up her index and middle finger in a V shape (the British equivalent of the middle finger, or “Fuck you”) as I ran by.
“She can’t, the familiars have put too much strain on her so she doesn’t feel well. She’ll rest there for a while and possibly make her way home. If she doesn’t then we can take her back.” Scott said as he had also seen her when running past the alley. Knowing that he had already asked a lot of her, he didn’t want to ask any more right now.
“Well, that doesn’t help us any. Wait, what if she gets attacked by the Changeling?” I asked with fair concern. By this point, I had only run six blocks but I was already getting tired. Scott, on the other hand, was perfectly fine running at a faster speed than I could possibly manage.
“She’ll be fine. Even in a sickly state, she can hold her own,” Scott stated as if she were unkillable. Although I didn’t doubt it, I was still worried. With how cruel they had been to me, I doubt the Changeling would be any kinder to her. She was also a viable target so I didn’t understand how he could not be worried. I bet he had his reasons, though.
“That is true,” I agreed right before Scott’s body began to glow a faint blue under his clothes, just as it had back in Haringey forest. With a small burst, he sped off ahead of me at an insane speed that could only be followed by the blue light emanating from Scott’s body.
Running all the way to Mitre Square, I was unable to catch my breath. Scott, on the other hand, wasn’t affected in the slightest despite getting here at an insane speed. In fact, he got to the square so quickly that when I did arrive, he had already searched half of the square for the invisible space. Rather than being found, the masked man emerged from the invisible space only three meters from Scott, as if to greet us. He bowed like we were guests of some regal ball, just to add to his mocking actions. I wanted to stab him, but he was on the other complete side of the square, so that was out of the question. I could try throwing my knife, or I could use my revolver. Was it a good idea to draw either just yet?
“Welcome! I am so glad that you have come to meet me. It makes this so much easier for me,” the masked figure said in a mockingly haughty voice. Under the mask, I assumed that he was smiling from ear to ear, but the thought made me even more resentful. Parading around without a care in order to mock us, to show that we weren’t a threat. It was humiliating. That didn’t matter, though. I would kill him no matter what.
“I would agree. Killing you is going to be so much easier now that you have revealed yourself,” I replied in a way that sounded cockier than threatening. He just shifted his vipers gaze toward me as if he questioned whether I had the gall to speak to him in such a way. Though, without missing a beat, the masked figure spoke with a relaxed voice.
“Now, now. I didn’t come here to fight. I came to make a deal.” There was an unassuming but mischievous aura about him. I couldn’t trust it, not willingly at least. Was he still mocking us or was he just desperate to appeal to us?
“What kind of deal?” Scott asked, cautiously. He stood alert on the opposite side of the masked figure with a distrustful look. Scott didn’t trust him any more than I did. However, he was a lot more willing to listen than I was at the moment.
“I will hand over myself as well as the Changeling to you, on the condition that you bring back a special person of mine from the past using the Time Lord’s power. How does that sound?” The masked figure asked, like some sketchy businessman. However, he seemed genuine. It was ultimately the same request that he had given me. I couldn’t do it whether he wanted me to or not. It just wasn’t possible.
“And if we don’t?” I asked. He wasn’t going to listen to reason, not if it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. My hand sat resting under my coat flap on the wood grip of my revolver like some kind of quick-draw cowboy. Even if I didn’t need to draw it yet, it calmed me down ever so slightly.
“Well…” he said, clasping his hands together as if he was hoping that I wouldn’t ask that. “Then I would continue to aid the Changeling in his mission. The Changeling is nothing more than a means to an end for me, so whether I continue to aid him or not is up to you.”
“I thought you were the one that was paying him to do it,” Scott inquired, trying to understand his motives.
“Haven’t you been paying attention at all? I just want one thing, so I came up with this scheme in order to force you to do it,” the masked figure asked, mockingly. His demeanor proved that he saw us as beings that were far beneath him. The disturbingly vile nature of his massive ego spilled out with every word he uttered and every bodily expression that he made.
“Sounds a bit over the top just to bring someone back from the dead, don’t you think? I mean, you could have just asked us nicely before doing all of this,” Scott said as if he now understood everything about the masked figure. Though, he did point out a major flaw in the masked man’s plan.
“Your friend had yet to even unlock his abilities. I had become tired of waiting for some opportunity such as this to show itself, so I had to take action,” the masked figure said with a disheartened sigh that sounded almost pitiable. Though, his tone gave a hint of malicious intent behind his words.
“Sounds like you're just bad at planning,” I said, mocking my old captor before looking at Scott with an intense grin. “Can I kill him now?”
“I don’t see why not,” Scott replied with a shrug before charging the masked man.
“You do realize that I am going to keep killing people until you say yes, right?” the masked figure asked with a dumbfounded voice, but I had already thrown my knife at him. The blade spun in the air and curved towards his face as it got closer. Whilst the blade was flying between us, I pulled out my pistol from its holster and ran towards him as I aimed. Scott was nearly on top of the masked man, but as my knife got close to him, several blades covered in runes shot out of the ground like a wall. My knife slammed into them and bounced back with a loud clang.
Scott stopped and stared with an increasingly worried expression. I also stopped to stare, in awe, but was able to concentrate enough on my own blade to make it return to my hand. The wall of blades quickly returned to the ground, and the cobblestone they had emerged from looked untouched, as if nothing had just appeared from there. What was that? Magic? The Nordic style runes were similar to the ones on Scott’s body, but I had never heard of anything capable of that from Iscariot.
“As you can probably tell, you can’t beat me as you are now. So, what will it be? Do you go back and prevent an Elder One from dying, preventing several innocent women from dying to a horrid Changeling? Or you could try option three and fight this Elder One,” the masked figure stated calmly, but his threatening aura remained. He did not falter or show any fear of us. Was his mockery earlier just to show how much of a gap there was between us? Even though my body wanted to freeze up in fear, I stood still, refusing to become like the part of my psyche I had killed.
“I already told you it’s impossible,” I stated with a look that said I was ready to fight. Even though I was terrified and sweat dripped from my brow in anticipation, I showed no sign of backing down. There wasn’t an option to back down.
“That may be for the moment, but you will find a way. Or else,” the masked figure said with an understanding but still threatening voice. He was completely open. Nothing about him seemed guarded. Even with Scott standing barely a meter away, the masked figure did not care. He wasn’t afraid of us in the slightest, unlike us, who were scared shitless.
“Give us a week to figure it out,” Scott eventually said, somewhat scared and desperate. As he said this, he was slowly backing away from the masked figure.
“Three days is all I’m going to give you,” the masked figure said without giving any room for debate.
“That seems rather cliche,” I said. Hoping that he might change his mind given the circumstances.
“If I gave you two any longer than that, you would be able to get reinforcements from the Table, so it would be wise to do it in three days. If you make me wait any longer, I’ll have the Changeling go on a rampage,” the masked man said with a threatening delivery that was nowhere near the calm and collected tone that he had held himself with before.
“I understand. Three days it is,” Scott agreed, indignantly.
“Scott! We can’t just do what he says. We have to kill him, now,” I averred, trying to reason with him and let us fight him. He didn’t seem that strong. Yeah, the blades were cool, but they were probably nothing more than a show.
“No, Lou. If we did that, then we would die within a matter of seconds. That is an Elder One's magic. In other words, we stand no chance. They’re semi-immortal beings with powers beyond most, if not all, mortal beings,” Scott warned with a serious look in his eyes, telling me not to do anything for fear of our lives. If Scott was this wary of him, then I stood no chance. But my hatred felt too overpowering to just give up.
“Your friend is right. You should listen to your superior,” the masked figure said mockingly. His egotistical nature made me grit my teeth in rage as I had nothing to combat it. I didn't truly know how powerful this guy was, so my mind considered the possibilities. Scott may just be playing it safe by avoiding this fight. Even so…
“I can’t just let you walk away from this,” Scott eyed me again, emphasizing that I needed to calm down and shut up.
“Who said I was walking?” the masked man said smugly before teleporting to God knows where, leaving the deafening sound of a micro explosion where he stood.
“Damn it!” I yelled, before running over to the closest building and kicking it repeatedly while yelling. The racket I caused made some of the people living near the square to yell out their windows angrily but I didn’t care. Scott, ignoring the people and myself, fell on his ass like he had just faced death itself. Reaching into his coat, he pulled out his flask and began to chug its contents.
“We are fucked,” Scott said with a sigh as he had picked up some of my dialogue habits.
ns 15.158.61.5da2
