Darling, I'll wait for you...Fox stopped abruptly and raised his hand. The rest of the group was surprised by this move.
"What is it?" asked TKA.
Fox leaned forward.
"Did you hear that?" he asked. The group seemed puzzled by that question.
"Hear what, exactly?" wondered Meg.
Fox couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Kind of... slithering, I guess?"
But they didn't need to wait for it to happen again. They've heard something explode with a splash-like sound.
"Come on, we need to go!" MP urged them. The gathering started running towards the source of the sound, making it past the bushes.
They were getting closer when they've heard something that caused everyone's blood to run faster.
"ZYPHON!" It was definitely Tormunds's voice. They picked up the pace.
TOM HAGEN PRESENTS
AN OTWD FORUM PRODUCTION
The knights heard something explode once again, but this time they noticed that the forest just before them caught fire. Running out of the bushes, they saw an enormous, spider-like beast piercing through Tormunds's shoulder, through and through. Rock tried casting a fireball but, once again, it rebounded from the beast as if it was protected by some sort of magical shield. Zyphon was lying next to one of the trees, moaning silently.
Tormunds screamed in pain when the beast retracted its leg, with blood gushing out of the gaping hole in his arm.
"No!" yelled Sonic. He picked up a golden ring from behind his belt.
"What the hell are you doing?!" screamed TKA. Reuben hid behind him.
Dark Fox, MP and Meg unsheathed their swords, ready to attack, but Sonic threw his ring at the beast. He quickly picked up another one and threw it forward as well.
"Rock!" yelled Fox, trying to attract his attention. The sorcerer saw the gathering and quickly ran towards them.
They all turned around to see the first ring hurting one of the spider's legs, while the second one managed to damage it so much that it cut the leg off. Losing its balance, the spider fell down to the ground.
The beast's roar reverberated around the forest.
Just then, out of blue, an enormous flash of white light blinded everyone in the forest. The wind started to howl, almost causing them to go deaf. Everyone closed their eyes, but the light was so bright that they could still feel it. Knowing it'll hurt like all hell, Rock decided to open his eyes after a second, hoping to figure out what the hell was going on. Yup, it still felt like looking at the sun, but, in this split of a second, Rock thought he saw something strange. Red, glyph-like patterns. They created something that looked like... a digital structure of sorts?
Precious seconds have passed, but the light was not receding. Right this moment, Rock felt that it was probably some sort of trick pulled by the beast. The creature was magical, no doubt - it was protected from his spells. Didn't really require a lot of IQ to realize that it was probably some sort of attack that blinded its victims, while the spider would take its time to kill them...
But, no later than maybe a minute, the winds gathered once again and quickly stopped, with light disappearing just like that. Everyone got up, trying to blink the light away, and Rock realized that the beast was blinded too, still lying on the ground where it fell after Sonic slashed it's leg off.
This was strange. Was someone trying to help them?
The beast roared... and then, to everyone's shock, the a brand-new leg reappeared from the wound, where the cut off one used to be.
"Shit..." hissed MP.
"We have to go!" yelled Meg. She was holding Tormunds, helping him to stand. He was breathing heavily, blood still gushing from his shoulder. "We can't take this thing down now!"
TKA looked to his side. "MP, Fox!" he said. "Help me get Zyphon out of there!"
The three guys ran to their friend's aid, but something strange has happened. The moment the beast spotted Dark Fox, it immediately turned its attention to him. Raising the four front legs, the spider seemed a lot bigger than earlier; without warning, it shot something resembling a liquid web at Fox, incapacitating him. He didn't even get to scream before his head was engulfed in the web.
"Fox!" yelled Meg.
DF was at the monster's mercy. The beast charged towards him...
Rock raised his staff. He couldn't hurt the beast, that's true - but that didn't mean he couldn't try to stop it from getting to them.
He waved his staff wildly, with multiple fireballs hitting nearby trees. The splinters flew in every direction, with the wood falling down on top of the spider, as well as in front of it, blocking its path.
Zyphon screamed when the guys picked him up, but they couldn't do anything about it right now. They had to leave this place as quickly as possible.
"It won't stay like this forever!" yelled Rock. He and Meg ran to Dark Fox. Rock used his magic to free DF. "Let's go!"
The group started to run without looking back. It started to rain. Everything they heard during their escape were Tormunds and Zyphon's moans of pain, the water splashing below their feet... and the roaring of the beast that reverberated across the forest, cutting through the night air like a knife through butter.
WORLD OF CURIOSITIES
LATE NIGHT HOURS
The entire group was sitting in the main hall. Well, now it was more or less of an infirmary. It didn't resemble the place they were having fun recently. To be honest, it felt like it happened ages ago...
The fireplace was the only source of the light. Fox was sitting in front of it, reaching with his hands towards the fire, with Meg just next to him. He was having a fever of sorts, but Rock couldn't tell what it was. He checked the castle supplies for medicine and gave some of it to Fox, but the effect was rather weak. Fox felt better, but was still shaking slightly.
Sos was lying on one of the beds, drops of sweat running down his face. His breath was shallow - and if some stranger would enter the room, the he might've thought that Sos was not breathing at all. Sos was bandaged all over his waist. He was unconscious.
"What happened when you found him?" asked Sonic silently.
Carlos exhaled deeply. "I think it was some sort of trap, or, well, I dunno..." he started. "Heisenberg was on the ground just by the window. I don't know what the hell happened to him, but... he was drained of all his blood."
Sonic's eyes went wide.
"Yeah..." continued Crack, whispering. "And, to make the matters worse, uh, Heisenberg's face..." Carlos went back to that moment when he found both of his friends. Heisenberg's expression of pure horror. "...it does seem like the blood was somehow pumped out of him while he was still alive."
Suddenly, Sonic felt nauseous. He wasn't really expecting that.
Sensing that he won't be able to ask further, Tormunds joined in. He sat on a free chair, still clutching his wounded arm. Thankfully, after returning to the castle, the knights managed to stop his bleeding. "And what about Sos?"
Carlos and Crack exchanged looks. "He was there, stabbed in the back multiple times..." Crack's voice was cracking, how else was it supposed to sound? "...lying in the pool of blood..."
He couldn't say anything more. He felt that this image will haunt him until the rest of his days. When he saw his friend almost gutted, he felt as if the ground slipped from below his feet.
"And he mumbled TKA's name?" Sonic inquired further.
"Sounded like it" Carlos answered absentmindedly.
Tormunds raised his eyebrows. "But you do realize, and I told you this many times earlier, that TKA was with us in the forest when all the shit went down?"
"We know that" hissed Crack. "I know he can't be in two places at once, but we can't afford to take any chances right now."
Their conversation was interrupted by a loud oinking reverberating across the hall. They all turned around to see Reuben oinking wildly and repeatedly hitting his head against MP's leg.
"Jesus, Reuben" MP rolled his eyes. "Can someone do something with this pig?"
"You were the one who locked TKA in a cell down in the dungeons, now Reuben won't let you go for it, I guess" replied Harp, smiling weakly.
"Reuben, stop" MP tried moving away from the pig - to no avail. "I knew I should've let you do it. Now I'm stuck with this thing until TKA will be out. Who knows when that'll happen."
The pig was still frowning at him.
Harp shook his head and turned back to face Rock.
"And now you're telling me that Mike is some sort of a monster?" he resumed their conversation.
Rock looked at the fireplace from afar. "He wasn't a monster" Rock tried explaining, even though he wasn't so sure himself what happened. "Mike was killed, he was tied... and the monster was..." Rock went back to that moment when Mike's head exploded. "...he was... inside him? I don't know."
Harp rubbed his temples. "This. Everything." He motioned around the place. "Is completely fucked."
Rock didn't comment on that. He once again thought about that moment in the forest, before they found their dead friend.
"It's not about simply killing us off" Rock suddenly said.
Harp was slightly taken aback by this. "Excuse me?"
Rock was still observing the fire, feeling that the answer was probably just before him, at an arm's length, but he couldn't quite reach it. "Mike... He had the 'Twinkle twinkle little star' written in blood on his shirt. This was about humiliation, not just killing him." he whispered. "Maybe he had some unfinished business with someone?"
Harp eyed him for a small moment. "Even if he did, the only person who knew him better than us is out there, somewhere, after escaping. I don't think Tom will be back very soon, given the fact we wanted him, Jake and Brotato dead." He turned to look at the fire too. "Sos was nearly murdered too. I don't see a connection here."
Rock didn't say anything. Harp was right. It must've been something else.
Only then, Rock remembered a situation from the day before. "You said that, if we're at each other's throats, then you should kill me."
Harp didn't move. "I don't think I said that."
"But you wanted to." Rock pointed out.
Harp sighed. "All right... we're in deep shit anyway, it can't get any worse." He took a deep breath. "Remember when I told you that the guys from our squad - I mean, HeadShot, Sos and ILC--"
"--are teasing you because you're no longer single? I do. That's not really funny. What is funny is the fact that you suddenly stopped objectyfing women" Rock chuckled slightly.
Harp didn't laugh.
"Alright, alright" Rock continued. "Dropping this attitude, you want me to be serious. Okay"
Harp hesitated. He wasn't really sure whether he should say anything... but it was now or never. He decided that he should do this quickly, like tearing of a patch.
"It's Juliet."
Rock didn't get it at first. "What Juliet?" he asked, but Harp didn't get to answer. Rock quickly realized what he meant.
Rock was sitting nearby, looking at the gathering of drunks with amusement, but he was soon joined by Harp.
"Everything okay?"
Rock smiled weakly. "Yeah. It's just that Juliet couldn't come with me. She's in France right now"
"The same girl you fought for and got this precious slash under the eye a year ago?"
Rock nodded. "The one and the same."
There was a moment of silence between them.Rock calmed down. He didn't want to make a scene in front of everyone, not after the events of the night.
"What. The. Hell." he hissed, stressing each word.
Harp put on a brave face. He knew this was wrong, but he wouldn't back down now. "She came to me after one of your arguments, when you casually told her you don't give a fuck and wanted her to leave."
Rock's eyes were on fire. "She did something stupid, I told her what I thought. And if I want to, I can change the girl any time I want" He leaned closer to Harp, so that no one else could see what they were doing, and grabbed him by his shirt. "Doesn't mean you can go behind my back and bang my girl."
Harp was getting mad. "Nothing's happened. I told her I'm not like that. She stayed the night, though."
"Oh, how great of you!" replied Rock, gritting his teeth. "Somehow it doesn't make me feel better. And why would you want to kill me, huh? Am I an obstacle on the way to your fucking happiness?"
Harp couldn't believe this. "I told you that I wouldn't do it! I used that as an example what would happen if we let all this paranoia get to us!"
Rock forecfully shoved him away and stood up.
"You know, I don't feel like being anywhere next to you." he said and walked away, sitting along with Tormunds, Carlos and the rest. Harp sighed and didn't say anything. He just kept on staring at the fire.
...should I fall behind, wait for me...ILC, Aldimon, Dfh and HeadShot were sitting by one of the tables nearby. They were drinking beer in silence, not really saying anything to each other. ILC looked at Zyphon from time to time.
Zyph was sitting alone, staring out of the window and yet not looking at anything in particular. His eyes were empty, not even a little warmth in them.
Dfh glanced at him. "I don't think we'll get him back anytime soon" he said to ILC, almost as if he was sure what the knight was thinking about right now.
Aldimon and HeadShot turned around to look at Zyphon too.
"I just don't understand what's happened" ILC said, his voice barely above a whisper. "When they brought him back, he looked like a toy broken in half. I thought Rock healed him or something."
"He did" Dfh interrupted him. "Zyphon's spine... well, along with his spinal chord... wwas completely shattered after the attack. Rock did his magical shit or something and caused it to knit it back together, but--" he stopped, not really sure what to say.
After the spell was cast, Zyphon didn't just stop screaming in pain. He simply... stopped doing everything. Rock wasn't really sure what was wrong - after healing him, he and the other knights sat him just by the window, hoping he'll come back to his senses. Unfortuantely, it didn't seem like it.
"Maybe he's in some sort of shock" offered Aldimon. "He just needs time to process all this, maybe? Or..."
He paused. The other knights looked at him.
"Or what?" asked Dfh.
Aldimon turned away. "Or maybe it's the fact that the spinal cord was repaired, like, physically... but it's simply not working properly anymore."
The mood turned even more grim. The knights thought about that possibility. What if it's true? What if their friend is simply unable to act - because he simply can't do that? None of them could imagine what's it like to be locked inside their body, screaming bloody murder inside, but silent on the outside, remaining unheard. Even death would've been better than that.
They were joined by the rest of the knights, with only Harp still sitting alone. He probably didn't want to enrage Rock more than earlier.
"How are you holding up?" asked Meg.
Tormunds massaged his arm and offered a weak smile. "Let's just say I've been better, to be honest."
Rock looked around the place, his sight meeting Sos, still unconscious, and Zyphon, still unresponsive. "I just want to say this, guys" he sighed, "I don't think that Brotato... or Tom... or Jake are responsible for this."
Fox rolled his eyes. "Hey, making sense after all this time."
Rock decided to ignore his comment. "I don't think they'd do this, murderers in the past life or not. Pity that Sos can't hear this for himself."
Sonic raised his eyebrows. "And, uh... what does Sos have to do with that?"
"A lot" it was Harp who decided to join them. "See, Sos was... kind of their father"
Not just Sonic, MP and Aldimon were surprised - ILC, Tormunds and Meg were too.
"What?" asked MP, not believing this.
"They're practically the same age!" Sonic joined him.
"You're kidding" Meg said in disbelief.
"Nope, that's true" said Crackman. "Sos fathered two murderers. With Bloody Mary, to be precise. But after we were transported into modern times, these bounds were broken. It's a long story, really"
Aldimon stood there, eyes opened wide. "Heavy"
MP slowly nodded. "Yeah" he said, still processing this.
Carlos looked out of the window. "I wonder where are they now. What are they up to"
Fox scratched his head. "If I am to guess, probably at the continental rite. I mean, Tom and I lived there, Brotato was there as well... they know their way around those places."
But MP shook his head. "As far as we know, that place doesn't exist anymore"
Fox just raised his eyebrows. "Oh. Didn't know that."
"Or House Kenneth" offered Carlos. "At least, if there's anything left of it...?" he asked, but Sonic shook his head as well.
There was a moment of silence.
"They'll make it. If they weren't killed already. We're being taken out one by one..." ILC trailed off.
Right this moment, the doors to the hall opened. Admin and Bio walked inside.
"I checked the place where Sos was attacked" started Bio. "I couldn't find anything there. Well, except... except the fact that I know what happened with Heis"
"What do you mean?" inquired Meg.
Bio shifted uncomfortably. "I went out to the courtyard to look for some clues, and... Heis was drained of his blood, we know that. But... someone splashed it all over Sos's statue."
The entire gathering was shocked by the news.
"I think I'm going to throw up" Carlos covered his mouth.
Suddenly, Bio slammed his fist into the wall, with the feathers covering his left hand being replaced by the lines of fire for a small second.
"I was there" he hissed through gritted teeth. "I met him on a patrol! I could've go back and--!"
"Don't blame yourself" Dfh tried to comfort him. "Sos was a trained man, you couldn't have known that he'll be... stabbed in the back... If I get the chance, I'll kill this coward with my bare hands." Dfh said, his blood began to boil. "The fucker sneaked upon him, probably wouldn't stand a chance in a fair fight."
...I'll wait for you...HeadShot sat down. "For fuck's sake!" he exclaimed. "This just can't get any worse, Jesus!"
Admin walked towards the gathering, looking as if he had a toothache. "Actually, it can, I'm afraid."
Crackman's head shot up. He looked around the room. "Don't tell me someone else was killed, everyone's here!" A sudden realization hit him. "Wait... TKA?!"
But Admin shook his head. "TKA's fine, he's still in his cell" Admin calmed him down. "It's about the, uhm... community unrest?"
Carlos looked at him, as if he was staring at an idiot. "What are you talking about? What community and what unrest?"
Admin scratched his head, trying to explain. "Well... I've heard it said that people do believe that the prophecy will come true and The Division of Heroes will save us all... but, with so many of us being killed, everyone's starting to wonder whether it won't end up just like last time."
"Last time?" asked Meg carefully.
"Uhm..." Crack didn't know what to say. "We sort of defeated the Telltale Order, but we kinda destroyed everything around in process."
Admin nodded. "Yeah, and now people are worried... or, shoud I say, anxious... that it'll happen again. And I don't think that's what they want to happen."
Once again, the silence fell upon the room, with people thinking what should they do next. No surprise there - nobody had any idea how to proceed from now on.
"I say we should get some sleep, it was a rough night." Carlos proposed. "I know it's nothing, but there's nothing else we can do. We'll think about what to do tomorrow."
Everyone nodded slowly.
"I'll watch Sos and Zyphon" said Dfh. "They need it. Who knows, maybe they'll come to their senses."
"Good idea" said Fox. "I'll change you in the morning."
With that, everyone departed to their rooms.
******
HeadShot closed the door behind him.
"You're finally here" he heard. "I've heard that something bad happened while I was gone. I have a lot of questions."
HeadShot picked up his crossbow and, in a blink of an eye, turned around and aimed at the person.
"Funny, I was about to say exactly the same thing."
The person came out from the shadows.
"Lower this shit down, we have things to do" said Brotato sharply.
HeadShot laughed. "You know, the only reason I didn't shoot you the first time you came here was that you said you were innocent. But from that moment forward, it didn't feel like it. On that night, someone was in Rock's room, can you imagine" he shook his head. "And then I stole the fucking photos Tormunds made because you asked me to!"
Brotato was enraged. "I needed them to find out what the hell happened here! And I think I have a theory, so put this shit away!"
HeadShot lowered his crossbow, but remained on guard nonetheless. "Care to share?"
Brotato exhaled. "I believe that Sos might be the next person to be killed."
HeadShot shuddered, and it didn't escape Brotato's attention. "What is it?" he asked, suspicious.
"Uh..." HeadShot was slightly taken aback by what Brotato said. "Sos was already assaulted. He's unconscious right."
Brotato's eyes went wide. Then, the expression of shock turned into the one of anger. "Dammit!" he hissed and turned around to look out of the window. "I fucking knew I was too late!"
HeadShot continued. "It's not everything. We found Mike, uh... he was mutiliated beyond any reaason, and then... he transformed into some sort of a spider monster, I don't know."
Brotato's head shot up. He quickly turned around to face HeadShot. "You said Mike was killed to?"
HeadShot nodded. "Yeah, and the killer mocked him, I guess. There was a writing in blood on his shirt, uh..."
"Something that didn't sound very mature, am I right?" Brotato interrupted him.
HeadShot stood there, dumbfounded. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" he murmured. "How do you know this?"
Brotato looked around the place, deep in thought. "Listen to me, Shot..." he began. "Me, Tom and Jake were framed... Mike was tortured... now Sos was attacked..."
"Sos supposedly mumbled before passing out that it was TKA who attacked him. We locked him away."
"That's bullshit" replied Brotato right off the bat. "TKA didn't attacked him, that's impossible. Someone's playing tricks with us."
HeadShot interrupted him. "Other guys were attacked too. Heis was killed, Zyphon and Tormunds were assaulted by a monster--"
"They were collateral damage" Brotato brushed him off.
HeadShot got angry. "Collateral? Listen to yourself!"
But Brotato's mind was racing a mile a minute. "HeadShot, I know how this sounds. But we must focus on finding the killer!"
He picked up Tormunds's photos from his pocket and threw them at him.
"And there are two things you need to know. From these photos, you can clearly see that the three people who were nearby wine barells were Aldimon, MP and Sonic."
HeadShot's eyes went wide. "You think it's one of them?"
Brotato eyed him. "Didn't they do anything suspicious?"
HeadShot went back to every moment with them. "Aldimon was the one who looked for you and the guys in the forests when Mike disappeared..." he kept on thinking. "MP was the one who started the expedition to bring all of us here, but didn't tell us how he got the blood..." HeadShot thought about something recent. "And no one could defeat the beast in the forest, except for Sonic..."
He saw the knight nod his head. "See? All three did something we can't explain."
"Maybe they're working together?" HeadShot asked.
But Brotato shook his head. "No. I'm sure that it's only one of them. That's what set me off to come back here after escaping, blend in with the crowd, ask around. I know that one of them is our man, but I can't quite tell which one."
"How can you be so sure?" HeadShot inquired. He needed to know that.
Brotato turned around. "I wasn't until you told me that Sos and Mike were the ones attacked in some other way than others. And that Rock was assaulted. But I thought he was fine last time I saw him?"
HeadShot shook his head. "Because the killer backed down. That's what Rock said."
Suddenly, Brotato clapped. "Of course!" he almost yelled. "It all fits!"
HeadShot didn't get it. "WHAT fits WHAT?" he demanded.
Brotato shook his head. "I can still be wrong, but it's easy to prove..." he exhaled deeply. "HeadShot, there's something you need to do for me"
"Yet again?!"
"This time it's not stealing." Brotato stared him down. "I believe that Dark Fox will be the next person to be killed. I need you to watch him at all times."
When he noticed the change of expression on HeadShot's face, he realized something.
"Fox was already attacked, am I right?"
HeadShot still couldn't get over the fact that Brotato was so far ahead of them. "After Fox showed up during the forest attack, the beast immediately turned its attention to him, ignoring others."
Brotato walked closer to HeadShot. "And it won't be the last time. He'll be killed on the first opportunity. Watch him. And if you don't get the killer by then..."
Brotato sighed. "Then I need you to somehow... inform everyone, maybe just run it by everyone in a conversation or something, that I was at the continental rite and Tom saved me."
HeadShot smiled weakly. "You're in luck. It was mentioned today during the discussion. By why's that important?"
Brotato walked toward the window and slowly climbed out of it. "Because, after Fox will be killed or assaulted, I'm one hundred percent sure that one of our three suspects will propose to go and look for me and Tom. They might mention Jake to cover up for it."
Before HeadShot had a chance to ask, Brotato interrupted him. "Remember - the guy who proposes this... or will be the most supportive of this idea... will be the killer. I count on you to find out which one. I'll go and look around for more info, but once you'll get the killer's identity, you need to flee this place."
"Flee?" repeated HeadShot.
"Yes... in case I'm wrong. It won't be safe here anymore, sotake as many of our guys as you can, whoever will listen to you. Go to the ruins of House Wellington, I'll meet you there."
Brotato climbed outside.
"And I'm breaking TKA out of the prison and taking him with me. He's a sitting duck in a cell. Good luck" and with that, Brotato was out of the window, climbing down the wall.
HeadShot felt as if he was head was about to explode. A lot of information to process in less than ten minutes... he wondered whether Brotato was simply trying to trick him. On the other hand, a lot of information he had was right...
All this was so goddamn confusing!
He decided to sleep on it and investigate his claims in the morning.
******
It was still dark when HeadShot got up. He went straight to Dark Fox's room. He'll come up with something when Fox asks him about coming to visit him so early...
But Fox wasn't in his room. It was empty. Getting anxious, he wandered through the empty corridors looking for Fox when he stumbled upon Dfh.
"Uh, hi" HeadShot greeted him. "Can't sleep?"
Dfh eyed him. "Are you serious? I was watching Sos and Zyphon for almost the entire night"
And then HeadShot hit his head. "Of course!"
Dfh was slightly taken aback by his reaction, to say the least - but he didn't have a chance to ask about it, since HeadShot started sprinting downstairs.
"Warn everyone!" was all he managed to hear before HS disappeared from the view.
...and should I fall behind...HeadShot could see the sun slowly rising from behind the horizon through every window he passed. He realized how stupid he was.
With Sos being defenseless and Fox watching over him, the killer could take them out with ease. Right now he prayed for Brotato to be wrong...
But Brotato wasn't wrong. There was one thing HeadShot missed... or didn't expect.
When he opened the door with a loud bang, he saw Sos completely unharmed and still out, while Fox was sitting by one of the walls, a big slash across his chest. But it wasn't everything.
Moments later he saw that a hooded figure was in struggle with none other than Zyphon, who decided to end the fight and shove the figure out of the window. The glass broke down completely, with shards flying everywhere, and the man disappeared from the view. HeadShot quickly made it to the window and both he and Zyphon looked outside. The glass was on the ground, but the killer was nowhere to be seen.
"Zyphon?" asked HeadShot, unsure about what has just happened.
Zyphon was still looking outside. "I don't know what was wrong with me." he started. "I must have... Blacked out or something. But when I saw someone sneaking upon Fox... Something's changed. I didn't act of free will. It was... an instinct, I guess."
HeadShot didn't understand that, but he didn't have to. He patted Zyphon on the shoulder.
"I'm just glad you're back, man."
Moments later, everyone was back in the hall - and, to HeadShot's displeasure, MP, Aldimon and Sonic were there. He, Fox and Zyphon explained to the guys what happened, with HeadShot hoping that no one would ask him how did he knew to come her and act so quickly.
"Alright, that's it!" yelled Rock. He waved his staff and opened a portal.
"What are you doing?" asked ILC sharply.
"What I should've done a long time ago!" Rock fired back. "I'm going back in time. I'll find that shit and kill him."
"Are you nuts?" Admin tried to stop him. "The killer transformed Mike into a monster that was protected from your magic! You won't make it on your own!"
"I'll take my chances" Rock just said and enter the portal...
...which flashed with a blinding red light and threw Rock several meters away before closing.
"Rock!" yelled Crack. Everyone ran to the wizard's aid.
"I have... no idea..." Rock was mumbling.
Everybody just stood still and looked at him, schocked. He didn't know why... until he looked at his right hand, which looked like a broken mirror, with cracks slowly reaching further down his palm. His fingers started to disintegrate...
"Oh shit." was all he could muster.
Nobody knew what to do, but when Rock's fingers disappeared completely, everyone got anxious.
"Someone must have sealed portals" whispered Carlos. "That's quite powerful magic"
"Wow, great" hissed Rock. "That'll definitely help me while I'll vanish, thank y--"
And then he heard someone unsheathing his sword. He noticed HeadShot coming out from the group, holding a sword and raising it up in the air.
Rock slowly stepped back.
"What are you--?"
"I'm sorry" he said, his face in pain. "But you're about to become a one-armed bandit"
Without a warning, he quickly swooshed his sword down.
Right this moment, every person in World of Curiosities could hear a bloody scream reverberating across the land.
******
The knights were sitting together, drinking beer. The morning was already there.
"So I guess Captain Rock will become Captain Hook?" Tormunds tried to lighten the mood.
"Looks that way" replied Aldimon absentmindedly. "He's sleeping now, so that's good."
"Yet we still don't know why lortals don't work anymore" Crack pointed out.
"I think we should go back to basics"
HeadShot slowly put his glass down upon hearing that.
"Bright, red light? Someone capable of closing portals?"
Carlos turned around. "You're not saying..."
"Bloody Mary was able to use mirrors as portals. Rock's hand looked like a mirror upon disintegrating. Red flashes..."
HeadShot looked at the man. Brotato was right, it was one of their suspects...
"Despite what you said yesterday, Carlos... we should reconsider looking for Tom and Jake. Maybe Brotato's with them and he knows something"
HeadShot felt the anger boiling inside him and he was sure he could hear his own heartbeat.
...wait for me!
END OF EPISODE 6