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Chapter 20
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I made my choice.
The mirror must be broken. If there was any way Monopoly could escape, I thought, it would have to be prevented. Marching towards Renner, I turned and faced the group which consisted of Winger, Cordax, Racie, AI, and Gofers, who now slowly grouped together at the sight of my decision.
“This doesn’t get you off the hook, Ghid.” Renner glanced down at me, cracking his knuckles. “But I’m glad you have some common sense. Now get the soft ones out of the way so I can take care of the Dreamer.” He signaled to Diero, who shifted into a motionless stance.
Reaching around, Winger hurriedly scribbled something almost purely illegible out on the corner of his jacket and stuffed the end into Gofers’ mouth, who visibly disapproved of the motion. No sooner had his eyes begun to spill flame did he intercept a hail of lightning-fast gunfire from Diero aimed at his glowing sockets, catching every bullet in his knuckles.
“I just… I just- WOW!!” Gofers’ eyes beamed with delight, even as he effortlessly moved to intercept a vicious hook from the cadaverous cowpoke, or perhaps I should say cadaverous slowpoke, as his hesitation to attack again left him wide open for Gofers to grab his collarbones and slide between his legs, flipping him onto his back.
Eventually the rest of Renner’s party realized Diero was going to be preoccupied for a while and moved forward as one unit. Eilrach was clearly the most hesitant of the bunch, and staggered back as AI’s projected hologram shone directly into his eyes. Jethryn swept in, kicking the projector sphere across the room ad into Racie’s face, which was unnecessarily rude.
Down under the floor I heard a gurgling noise. What could that have been?
Taking two steps forward, I found myself faced against the only opponent who I had a chance of physically besting - and, inversely, the one whose best chances were against me. He didn’t really know what he was doing, however, and as he lunged at me I leaned aside and bopped his yellow noggin as he flew past.
Over my head Diero flew, catapulted by an uppercut by Gofers, who was beaming at his every move. So infatuated with his own prowess was he that he didn’t see me trip him as he walked past until he was already on the floor, and by then Diero was back up. Two more bullets were fired off, and Gofers had miraculously moved to intercept them, seemingly wide-eyed at his own capability.
Diero let out a roar, and suddenly rush past me, grabbing my coat as he did so. We went flying across the room, leaving Gofers scrambling to catch up, the mirror in sight. And then Diero got knocked into the ceiling by a large, black object, which suddenly appeared from beneath the floor.
It was a pile of dark liquid with four lights glowing out of its form, in very Ghid fashion, all of which turned suddenly upon me. As I tried to see around it, it suddenly spread itself over the opening of the room, cutting off all visibility.
Even so, I could definitely hear beyond it. The cry of Whirling Iron was given, and before long a blinding blue light broke in, the whirling guns of Diero carving through the black substance, which sizzled and vibrated in pain. Gofers tried once again to intercede, but Jethryn jumped on his back, covering his eyes with his hands. Diero’s bullets, now coated in blue flame, carved through the fingers which attempted to stop them.
Angrily Diero fired off round after round, with every attempt to stop the bullets leading to more and more of Gofers melting away. He seemed utterly terrified, unable to stop himself from trying to intercept each and every shot, as Winger looked on in horror. Eventually a rally of shots severed his head from his neck, and the scared skull of the silly skeleton was littered with holes.
“Ghid!” Renner shouted, Jethryn knocking Winger to his knees and Eilrach moving to ensure Racie didn’t move while Cordax lay huddled on the floor. AI’s projection sphere was not responding. “End this!”
Against the strength of any normal person, the weeping mirror might have stood a fair chance, but I was far below nor- I mean from. Far from normal. You get my point; it stood very little chance against me as I pumped every fragment of my essence into wrenching it apart. When even that seemed shy of shattering the structure, I shoved my head against the frame once, twice, thrice, and-
In a blinding flash I was thrown against the wall, the frame of the weeping mirror contorted into a tangled spiral of metal. All the lights in the room had gone out, with only Renner’s unique armor and the glow of Diero’s and Cordax’s eyes providing any kind of light. And then a peaceful blue glow emerged, basking the room in the light of hope once more.
“Not ‘once more.’” The source of the light spoke, as he floated in midair above the party, his spherical head shimmering brilliantly. “One last time is a bit more accurate.”
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I made my choice.
The mirror must be preserved. If there was any way something could go wrong, I thought, it would have to be prevented. Marching towards Winger, I turned and faced the group which consisted of Renner, Diero, Jethryn, the Chronicler, and Eilrach, now possessing my Dreamer body.
“This doesn’t get you off the hook, Ghid.” Winger glanced down at me, his remaining arm fixing his collar. “But thank you for the support. Look, I don’t think destroying the mirror will help keep him contained any more than if it was broken, um… How does that world operate?” He asked Renner, obviously trying to buy time.
Of course, it didn’t work. Renner was already hopping mad about Winger’s resisting his efforts, and signaled Diero to do his dirty work. The calcium cowboy crossed the divide between the two groups, was intercepted almost immediately by Gofers, and subsequently backhanded gofers out of the way. I yanked at Winger’s arm and hissed a whisper at him.
Leaning over, Winger picked me up, and… What do you mean, you want to hear what I said? Look, it’s not that important, let’s just move on with the story. So he leaned over, and as Gofers was getting back up…
…Don’t give me that look. If I was embarrassed about it, I would just omit I had said anything, okay? It’s not that important, so let’s just- you didn’t say anything about me being embarrassed?
Alright, fine. “Fastball special.” I whispered to Winger, prompting him to lean over and pick me up as Gofers distracted Diero for one more moment. Flying through the air, I planted my heel firmly into Diero’s face, staggering him wildly and letting me snatch up his hat. I knew the moment he got his senses back he’d be on a vendetta to reclaim it, so I landed in a roll and made as much distance as I could from the scene.
Suddenly there was a roar behind me, but not the kind I was hoping for. As I looked back I saw Diero throw Gofers into the wall, then turn just as sharply on Cordax and kick him into one of the bookshelves. It seems Renner had a nuclear option in writing, and with Diero focused on the rest of the party the metallic moron was more than happy to handle me.
The wall behind me provided no visible escape route, outside of a vent which was far too small to slip into, even for my diminutive size. The best I could do was hide behind Diero’s stupidly massive hat, which seemed to amuse Renner, as he stood staring at it for a moment.
Oh, did I mention the cold feeling? I was inside a wooden puppet, if you recall, and yet this horribly cold sensation suddenly began to creep up my form. It gave me quite the shock, since I had no nerve endings in that body, or even any electricity to fake it. I found myself getting colder and colder, and as Renner’s fingers crept around the hat my vision suddenly cut off, and so did all other sensation as the world fell away beneath me.
Right as reality itself seemed to give way, four lights shone out of the darkness. I yelled at them to stop copying my shtick, what with the four eyes configuration, but they didn’t respond. They probably couldn’t hear me, as I couldn’t even hear myself. But even with sound removed, one word rang clearer than ever in my mind.
You don’t get to hear the word. Did you really think I’d give you that tidbit so soon?
The world reappearing to me did little to alleviate the feeling of dread I now possessed, even as the dark pile of liquid that had contained me emerged from the floor and set me gently back on my feet on the opposite side of the room. Renner was looking about in shock at my disappearing act, never noticing me and my acquaintance casually watching him.
Of course, the same can’t be said for Jethryn and the Chronicler, who noticed me almost instantly. Jethryn flew at me only to get swallowed up by the strange mass, said action being finally noticed by Renner who flew into an uncontrollable rage. As the goopy Ghid ducked and dove around the resplendent rube’s rage-induced punches, I crept to the cobalt corsair, who stood with sword drawn in horror at my approach.
“Me.” I flatly glared. “You know me, you know who I am. You know that this mirror can’t be destroyed. If you do try to break it, I will break you. Understand?”
Even as I spoke, the air tore violently behind me, the air sweeping snowflakes past my vision. It had happened sooner than I expected; was that one thing the mucilaginous mimic mentioned the only way to stop what was coming? And if so… How would I possibly get it in time?
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