The final world has finally opened up. The world of Edmund is gray and gloomy as ever. Memory losses have become an issue, but death is a more important factor to take note of. Each power wielder now has to face the truth as to why they are who they are. Are some born different? Many people would want to show their worth to the world while one may claim that saving the world is the most important ordeal to go through. Many students will show their impact and reason through existence, past, and of course, Rena’s storytelling. Of course, she has lots to tell but there is little time left. What will the group decide to do next in the world of Edmund…?
Episode 103 - City of Holy, Parallels of the Paradox Amulet
Matt paused for a moment. He could hear a few beastly noises in the next room. Matt whispered, “Sh! I think there are huge digicells in there.”
Yessenia took out her blunt sword, “They are smarter than you think. Move away from that door!”
“Huh? What are you talking- AH!” The door exploded open and a digicell broke through it. Another broke through the ceiling. They were two anthromorphed tigers wearing loincloth while gripping onto a sword. Matt screeched, “EEK that’s scary!!”
Willy ran behind Yessenia, “Danger!” Yessenia ran towards one of the beasts and she tried to slash it. The beast retaliated with a swing and their swords clashed. The other was right behind Matt. Willy turned around, “Matt, look out!”
The beast’s sword stabbed the floor and Matt jumped back a few steps. The stairs broke in half but the tiger made it through to Matt’s side of the stairs. Matt threw a fireball at it, “Agh, go away!” The beast was on fire and it began vanishing. Two more beasts appeared from the next room that Matt was going to enter through. “There are more of them?!”
Yessenia examined the room really quick. The next room was on Matt’s side of the steps but as for herself and Willy, they had to find another way to continue on. She looked up at the ceiling and she decided a plan. “Alright, I trust that you can take care of those beasts. Willy and I will just have to jump up through there!” Yessenia pushed the beast while they were clashing swords with each other. The beast almost fell back and Yessenia made another swing. She stabbed the beast.
Matt threw another fireball at the next beast, “Got it!” Matt agreed to the plan.
~~~
On the outskirts of the tower, Stan took out his cellphone. “Ah, from Luther.”
Shirley clenched her teeth, “Arrrgh now hold on a minute! You’re putting us on hold?! We’re not done with you yet. You’re the one who tried to start a fight!”
Stan read the message on his phone about Edmund’s Tower of Despair. He seemed surprised at the message and then he made his weapons and armor disappear. “Luther!”
“What?” Santi stopped. “What the hell is going on?”
Stan threw a grenade behind them followed by a smoke bomb. Shirley screamed, “NOO! That doesn’t seem like a good combination at all!!” She covered her eyes and Santi grabbed her arm, running straight ahead aimlessly. The grenade turned off and exploded and the two of them flew forward, barely making it to safety although the heatwaves hurt them a little.
Shirley coughed. She was weak to the heat. “Are you okay?” Santi asked.
Shirley said slowly, “If it weren’t for you, I would have died…” Her near-death experience seemed to traumatize her a lot more than the battles she had in the past especially in Echoville. “Where is Stan and Jen?”
“Damn it, they must have escaped to the Tower of Despair. Everybody should be up ahead.”
“Oh no! Are we going to be late?! They might be in really big trouble if we don’t make it in time.”
“I know of a shortcut when I used to wander around the tower plenty of times before entering as a Freshman. Just follow me.”
~~~
Danny and Alex ran down a long, dark hallway filled with fiery candles lit onto the walls. They could not see much of what was going on further up ahead but they could hear beastly noises getting louder as they continued to run. Danny stopped, “Wait! It sounds like there are more digicells.”
“They sound scarier than the ones outside.” Alex commented. “Can’t you just fight through them? You did say Mariel could be up there so we can’t waste any more time.”
Danny took a look around, “Forget fighting them then. Let’s go find some vent somewhere. I’m sure there are some rooms that support vents!” Alex agreed and they ran back a few feet to find a door off to the side.
Alex smiled, “A bathroom! They should always have a vent because you don’t want to keep that odor around.”
“Good thinking!” Danny noticed a hole on a corner of the ceiling, “Is that big enough?”
“Not for you…” Alex said slowly.
“Let me try.” Danny said angrily. He jumped up and he fit his head through, “See? This isn’t so bad!” He went up a little more and then he got stuck. “Uh, Alex… Can you help me?”
“Spoke too soon? Ah, damn it! How am I supposed to go through now? We’re wasting time here!” Alex said in a hurry. “Come on, go!” Alex pushed Danny’s legs up but it only hurt Danny.
~~~
Matt reached the room where Winny was lying on. Matt sniffed the air and he shortly coughed afterwards. “Huh? It feels moist in here…”
Winny’s hands moved a little. She groaned, “Erh… Matt?”
Matt noticed that she was in pain. He ran up to her, kneeling down to check up on any wounds, “Winny! What happened to you?”
“Hurry… stop Mariel. Rena and Stinna are…!” She closed her eyes and then she fell flat to the ground.
Matt’s heart skipped a beat. Could it be that Winny had fallen completely? Matt opened his eyes wide, shaking from fear, “No… wait a minute. T-This can’t be happening!” He took notice of two large capsules which were empty but terribly cracked open. “What’s going on here?” He headed towards the door up ahead, “And why is this door broken?” Matt felt that something dangerous was up ahead. The immense power was rushing through Matt’s mind as he could sense everything flowing at different places in his brain, “Ah… uh… What is this feeling?”
A vision appeared in front of him. It was not entirely clear. The vision flashed from one place to another. First he could see a large world map from an eagle eye’s point of view. Next came a familiar tower – yes, the same tower which he stood upon. The third view was of Matt himself kneeling down, screaming. The scream was a silent scream however… The last vision was of a girl with short hair staring straight at a large demon but Matt could decipher who the girl was. The vision snapped away and Matt regained sanity again.
“What… was that?” Matt shook his head, trying to get all of the strange visions out of his mind. “Oh well. Can’t hurt to keep going now.” He turned around to see Winny, being completely injured, “That bastard Luther up ahead probably did this to you, didn’t he?! I’ll show him!”
~~~
Shirley could see that the tower was about fifty times her height. “Whoaaa… We’re finally here.”
“Be extra careful. The aura here is much darker and dangerous so anything such as digicells could pop up in a second and chop your head off.” Santi noticed blood on the ground and the dripping trail continued into the front door, “It seems as though the battle has already started.”
Shirley was shivering. “Blood… I’m starting to get second thoughts about going in there now.”
“Like I said, there is a shortcut but it can be pretty dangerous.” Santi pointed to the side of the building, “There are vines growing out around the tower. However, one screw-up with the vines and you’re falling back down to the ground.”
Shirley shook her head, “What?! No thank you then.” She opened the front door, “Let’s just take the normal way in…?!” The stairs up ahead were completely trashed and the doors were broken down. “What happened here?”
“Looks like there is no way up the normal way. Guess it was fate for us to take the shortcut up?” Santi joked.
Shirley squealed, “Eeeuuoooh!! That does it. Fine. If I fall, I’m teleporting out of Edmund and that’s a fact!”
“Doing so will make you forfeit against saving Edmund from Luther’s plan to take over the whole world. But, that is if you wish to go that way.” Santi made Shirley feel guitly.
Shirley looked away, “Hmph! Don’t think your guilty mess will get me guilty either.” She closed her eyes and waited for his response. She could only hear his footsteps walking away. She opened her eyes and screamed, “Santi! Don’t you dare start up on those vines!” Santi continued up the vines. “I-I’m warning you!” She walked towards him, “W-Wait for me…!”
~~~
“I knew I could fit in these vents!” Danny had to slide his way through the small areas.
Alex waited for Danny to keep going. “Well you’re moving pretty slow. You barely even fit in these vines. I just can’t wait to get to the top.” He paused for a moment. “Hey Danny…”
“Yeah?”
“We’re supposed to be going up. All we’ve been doing is moving straight ahead and turning occasionally.”
Danny took a look around, “Some of the rooms below us do look familiar. I think I’ve seen the same bathroom about three times.”
There was a moment of silence. Alex suddenly yelled, “We’ve been going through a big circle the whole time?!”
Danny yelled back at him, “UH, correction! We’ve been going through a big square, genius!”
“Ugh!” Alex moaned. “The next time we see the vent going upwards, we’re going UP. You got that?”
“No duh, I know that!” Danny said in frustration. “You’re the one who didn’t say anything so don’t be blaming me.”
“Wow.” Alex said without any further complaints.
~~~
For awhile, Mariel had blanked out in the last room. The whole room was extremely delusional and distorted. Mariel was walking forward in her mind, but in reality she was still at the same spot. “Where am I? Hurry up, damn Diablo! Stop hiding and come out already!”
Matt arrived in the same room. He called out for Mariel, “There you are! What are you doing?!” Mariel did not give an answer. She only stood there, facing forward at nothing. “And why is it so dark in here?”
The both of them began to hear a holy voice from up above…
~~~
“12,700,000,000 B.C…. The ancient god of fire and metalworking, Zeus, stepped foot into the city of Holy. It was the ancient times in which the world completely prosperred. Food and shelter was unlimited and everybody was happy. There was much room. What they did not know was that there was another world exactly similar to this holy place – right below. It was called the underworld dominated by Hades. The two were complete rivals. Zeus produced his own world filled with water, air, earth, fire, etcetera. The responsibilities became one too many and so Zeus created a god for each. Each god created more, branching out to nymphs. One day, Hades discovered of a way to manipulate the powers of the Gods up above by creating a Paradox Amulet. The Paradox Amulet needed a completion ruled by the ancient city of Holy. In doing so, then the amulet could be able to go through time.”
“Then so Hades had used the Paradox Amulet to go to the opposite world which was from the underworld to the city of Holy. This began the war as both worlds were then in danger. This began the life of parallel universes. As the war continued, the city of Holy became known as the battlefield of Olympia. Unfortunately for Zeus, the world of Olympia was falling apart and in hopes for a better world, Zeus made a secret world in which could relive the positive life of Holy. This world became known as Earth. Using the Paradox Amulet, Hades was able to calcify every god on Olympia. However, one of the gods appeared to take the amulet with him into the world of Earth…”
~~~
Mariel’s vision disappeared and her illusions had disappeared. Matt also experienced the whole past from such strange vision. Matt took a step forward, “That Paradox Amulet… Santi was talking about that.”
Mariel turned around, “I can’t believe it. That parallel universe… It all makes sense now. I could never restore Edmund back to the Global Warming issue. Winny told me already that this world is a parallel universe but I told her that I could still fix it by changing the Freezing Impact. However, fate says both these parallel universes must stay the opposite or else both worlds will collide if they are similar. I have been wasting my time all along, going against fate.”
Matt tried to explain to her, “But that’s okay! You’ve tried your best to reach Luther. We can still win. We can still fight for a purpose!”
“And what is that?”
Matt smiled, “If we beat Luther, he won’t have to take over Edmund. Edmund can stay as the usual, Freezing Impacted world.”
Mariel cried with tears of joy, “Really? Do you think so?!” She giggled, “We can finally end this here and now. Luther, the antagonist of all worlds will finally be defeated and it will be thanks to us. Our powers will go away and we could finally live a normal life! We…”
A dark aura appeared in silence. Matt could see Luther standing right behind her! Matt gasped, “W-Wait a minute…”
Luther had a gun in his right hand. He pointed it at Mariel. Mariel said in happiness, “We can…”
Matt yelled, “NOOOO!” He tried to run towards her.
From the distance, the gunshot could be heard…
~~~
---- Next chapter preview:Matt: Next week on episode 104, the nightmare has to be over! Luther, your time is up!
Mariel: It won't take us too long. Let's fight together!
Shirley: A-Are we late?!
Danny: I can't believe it... no... this is not happening. It's just a dream. It can't be happening!
Winny: Stop!! No!!
Santi: S-SISTER...!!!
Matt: Something really tragic happens?! Next time on the last episode of volume 8, 104, Illusions of Despair, a Heartbroken Trade!
Mariel: Everyone, I...
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