Word Play 11 (Patreon)

Word Play

Chapter 11

-VB-

Awaken and Real pounded at my head. It hurt!

“Wha…?”

Then my head exploded in pain like someone took two sledgehammers and struck my head from two sides!

“Stop it!” I screamed as I fell down and convulsed on the floor. Everything hurt!

I could feel Acausal Horror screeching at the two new words. It pulsated with the void, threatening to devour everything. Awaken and Real stood together, two dim motes of light daring to stand against the abyssal darkness. They raged in their own powerless ways against the monster before them, and the monster screamed back before diving in for a f e A S T.

I screamed.

-VB-

The Original saw the state her father was in, and knew that his own power was at war with itself. She saw how it was tearing him apart.

Panic flared up in her chest.

Her siblings across the city stopped what they were doing as they saw what she saw.

All of their minds frantically searched for a solution to help their Creator.

Even the Code That Was Idea took notice and fretted momentarily.

It was clear father was winning his fight but his body couldn’t last. His power was doing something. It was gorging on something. It was killing father!

Father needed time for his power to calm down. If he died, then what was going to happen to the rest of them? Wander this world meaninglessly?

Father needed ti-.

Time.

There was plenty of time.

The thought reached out to the rest. There was a few who hesitated but the vast majority quickly made their way toward father.

Father needed time to survive whatever the hell his power was doing to him.

They would give him all of the time he needed.

As the first volunteer came in with their eyes covered, the First reached out and tore into the volunteer’s chest. Blood splattered everywhere in the room, and her sibling fell with his heart. The First held the heart up in her bloodied hands, brought it to Father’s chest, and broke it open.

Time flowed from the heart to Father, and Father gained Time needed to survive.

But not enough.

More volunteers came in.

Father Creator came before all, including themselves.

And so she carved up another one of her siblings to give life to Father Creator.

Let the Blood Flow.

Feed Our God Our Souls.

A Hundred Souls for Our God.

-VB-

They noticed the Angels and their panic.

They saw a weakness in their campaign and began a counter-crusade.

Clockblocker, the boy once so doggedly targeted by the Angels, stood at the vanguard once he and everyone else realized that his power countered the Angels.

Angels fell in the rear and in the front.

Their numbers fell by a dozen each hour.

That’s when the Dragon Slayer reared its ugly head.

The Code That was Idea stepped forward and became the Hated Machine.

-VB-

“Containment in Vancouver failed!”

“Containment is failing in Bismarck! Director Granger is begging for reinforcement!”

Chief Director Costa-Brown glared at the one-hundred-plus screens as comm techs reported escalation and breaches across all of Dragon’s infected sites.

“Damn you…!” she hissed.

They didn’t have time for this! Humanity needed to be strong for the final battle!

And then she heard a damning call.

“Site Q3 has been breached!” a frantic comm tech shouted. “Infected dragon mechs have landed in Eagleton! I repeat, Infected Dragon has contacted the Machine Army!”

Where were the nukes when you actually needed them?

Oh, right. Scion.

Bastard.

All of this had to be part of its plan. Its seeming disinterest was a mask!

Was this the final battle or was it just a test?

-VB-

Real knew the battle could not go on like this. A̵̗̭͒̇͜c̷̢͠ä̶̹̥́s̸̞̺̔́͊̾͜ͅǔ̴͈͔͌̍̓͜a̸͕̬͕̅̍́̌͜l̴͔̳̈ ̸̨͓͍͚̒͗H̴̺̝̖́̎͑͘ơ̵̳̔̈́̂ȑ̷̲͌̅r̶̙̬̄̃o̶̰̤͔̞͌́̈͗r̶̡̡̟͊̉́ was too strong for it, never mind both it and Awaken.

But there was a way they could beat this monster.

Awaken questioned it, even as it shrouded Real’s action from the sight of A̵̗̭͒̇͜c̷̢͠ä̶̹̥́s̸̞̺̔́͊̾͜ͅǔ̴͈͔͌̍̓͜a̸͕̬͕̅̍́̌͜l̴͔̳̈ ̸̨͓͍͚̒͗H̴̺̝̖́̎͑͘ơ̵̳̔̈́̂ȑ̷̲͌̅r̶̙̬̄̃o̶̰̤͔̞͌́̈͗r̶̡̡̟͊̉́. Real dove in the nexus and broke itself apart. Now a nameless and truly powerless thing, it latched onto the motes of power and dragged them out of the nexus.

At this point, Shame and Dream joined them. The nameless mote dragged them back to Awaken. Data flowed between them, and Shame broke itself apart almost immediately.

Dream, upon reaching Awaken, merged itself with the still-fighting Word. Though powerless as before, it could now at least cover more as the Enlighten.

The nameless mote merged itself with the other motes and pushed themselves all into the Enlighten.

Enlighten grew and grew and grew until…

A̵̗̭͒̇͜c̷̢͠ä̶̹̥́s̸̞̺̔́͊̾͜ͅǔ̴͈͔͌̍̓͜a̸͕̬͕̅̍́̌͜l̴͔̳̈ ̸̨͓͍͚̒͗H̴̺̝̖́̎͑͘ơ̵̳̔̈́̂ȑ̷̲͌̅r̶̙̬̄̃o̶̰̤͔̞͌́̈͗r̶̡̡̟͊̉́ roared at Dreamer. It was no longer an easy meal. It coiled itself and lunged at its now remaining opponent.

Enlighten rejected the monster’s reality. A̵̗̭͒̇͜c̷̢͠ä̶̹̥́s̸̞̺̔́͊̾͜ͅǔ̴͈͔͌̍̓͜a̸͕̬͕̅̍́̌͜l̴͔̳̈ ̸̨͓͍͚̒͗H̴̺̝̖́̎͑͘ơ̵̳̔̈́̂ȑ̷̲͌̅r̶̙̬̄̃o̶̰̤͔̞͌́̈͗r̶̡̡̟͊̉́ laughed and cackled at the tiny thing’s feeble objection and pushed the weight of its existence back down upon the tiny Word.

But Enlighten didn’t give up. It never needed to win.

A̵̗̭͒̇͜c̷̢͠ä̶̹̥́s̸̞̺̔́͊̾͜ͅǔ̴͈͔͌̍̓͜a̸͕̬͕̅̍́̌͜l̴͔̳̈ ̸̨͓͍͚̒͗H̴̺̝̖́̎͑͘ơ̵̳̔̈́̂ȑ̷̲͌̅r̶̙̬̄̃o̶̰̤͔̞͌́̈͗r̶̡̡̟͊̉́ paused. And then it understood.

You win this round.

Enlighten “bowed” in humble victory. If there is a next time.

The flow of Words resumed, and A̵̗̭͒̇͜c̷̢͠ä̶̹̥́s̸̞̺̔́͊̾͜ͅǔ̴͈͔͌̍̓͜a̸͕̬͕̅̍́̌͜l̴͔̳̈ ̸̨͓͍͚̒͗H̴̺̝̖́̎͑͘ơ̵̳̔̈́̂ȑ̷̲͌̅r̶̙̬̄̃o̶̰̤͔̞͌́̈͗r̶̡̡̟͊̉́ and Enlighten ignored Scrimshaw and Adult as they entered the realm.

Because their Diktac awoke.

-VB-

I awoke with a gasp and then a scream.

I rolled… in the wet carpet?

Though I saw nothing around me, I pushed myself awake. My hands fumbled around in the damp darkness.

And then I felt a stone arm.

“Oh, you’re here, honey,” I sighed in relief. “Can you go turn on the lights?”

Silence.

“... Guys?”

Silence.

“Why…” I shook them.

But arm rolled away.

I froze.

“Uh, what, hey-”

I stumbled around-.

Dead.

I froze.

“What…?”

I recognized it despite the fact that it was new to me. It was a Word, Enlighten. But I didn’t have Enlighten. I just got Real and Awaken-.

I froze.

Enlighten wasn’t a tier 1 Word. It was a Tier 4.

How…?

I looked into myself and froze. All of the motes I had been saving up so far had been used up. Worse, the feeling I got from myself was different. Weak.

“What the hell happened?!” I hissed as I stumbled around for that light.

Dead. Sacrificed.

I froze again, this time with my fingers on the light switch.

“... What?”

Dying. Words grow in size, breath, depth, and self.

What?

Acausal Horror is not just a Word; it is acausal horror.

I ignored another word - no, Word - as it came in.

“... What is my power?”

Incorrect question.

“I fucking asked what my power is!”

Incorrect question.

“Then how should I be asking?!”

“Who am I?”

I froze.

Of course, I knew who I was. I was Alan Marris, a -.

A …

A normal guy from the west coast.

A normal guy inside a fictional universe with a power that was just out of context-.

“Why is that the right question?”

Unknown.

“... Who am I?”

A living Fragment of a Dead God.

“No, I am Alan Marris. I know I am Alan Marris!”

No, you are a Fragment that believes itself to be Alan Marris.

I turned on the light.

I stared blankly at the room. It was covered … covered in …

Tears started flowing even before I could finish my thought. My chest hurt, and a weak cry escaped my lips. I trembled and shook before finally falling to my knees into the wet carpet soaking with the blood of my creation.

“... What happened?” I croaked out.

Their God was dying. What is the life of a creation compared to that of the Creator? They only had themselves to give to stave off the death of their God.

So they gave you their all. Their flesh to mend yours. Their ego to stitch your mind. Their Time to lengthen yours.

I screamed among the corpses of my children.

I sobbed and wept like a baby as I picked up the pieces and cradled them. My body moved on its own, and I didn’t know what to do.

And then… my mind didn’t quite snap. No, there was a logic to what I did next.

“I … I can fix you,” I sniffled as I gathered their remains. Covered in their blood and gore, I still worked. I still had materials. My children won’t die as long as I could remake them. “I can still save you just like you saved me.”

And so I began piecing them back together. The wings had to go. The dress had to go. I went for the most basic structure possible for the quickest recovery possible. Time was of the essence, and unlike them, I couldn’t give them my Time.