Sceldrant's Comet

by Michael Rogers

  Woman: "Please help!"

  Trevour: *He looked behind him, noticing the swarm of following spiders.* (I won't be able to-)

  *Trevour continued to run ahead, focusing his attention to the door with glowing frames.*

  Trevour: (Sorry, miss!-)

  Woman: "Please.. P-P-Pl-ease!"

  Trevour: (How temperamental-) *He closed his eyes, triggering a flashback.*

  ----------

  *A younger version of Trevour slowly sunk in quicksand.*

  Trevour: "Help, please, brothers!"

  *A slightly older version of Trevour folded his arms, staring at Trevour in disgust.*

  Trevour: "Please, brother!"

  ?????: "You've been different, your Rostical.. It's pathetic-"

  Trevour: "Alan?!" *He slapped the sand, causing it to splash like water.*

  Alan: "Even your own powers have turned against you."

  Trevour: "I'm your younger brother?!"

  *Another man in thick brown armour ran into the clearing, instantly noticing Trevour.*

  Trevour: "Felipe!" *He coughed and gagged, as if he was struggling to keep his head above the sand.*

  Felipe: "What's happening, Alan? Why is our younger brother in quicksand?"

  Alan: "Don't look at me. He's the weak one that can manipulate sand."

  Felipe: "So, he did this to himself?"

  Alan: "Yeah.. He tried to prove himself by manipulating solid rock."

  Felipe: "..." *He folded his arms and watched Trevour continue to sink to neck level.*

  Alan: "You're a disgrace to our family."

  Trevour: "F-Felipe?"

  Felipe: "Let's go, Alan."

  Trevour: "... Brothers?" *He stopped struggling, as he sunk past his neck.*

  Alan: "We have the strongest ground-based Rostical Using blood through our veins.. Yet, you control sand and dirt? You are no brother of mine."

  Trevour: *He lifted his head, as the sand started to pour into his mouth.* "B-But, I'll die?"

  *Alan and Felipe slowly walked back into the forest and out of Trevour's vision.*

  Trevour: "No-"

  ?????: "Brother-" *A girl walked into the clearing, wearing thick brown armour.*

  Trevour: "Rosemary?"

  Rosemary: *She shook her head and kicked the ground, causing an enormous platform to erupt up.* "ROCK PILLAR"

  Trevour: "Ah?!" *The sand pulsed and started to stream on the edges of the platform.*

  Rosemary: "Trevour."

  Trevour: "Much appreciated, sister."

  Rosemary: "I think it's time you left the clan."

  Trevour: "B-But?"

  Rosemary: "Me and your two brothers have almost unlocked the second potential of the ground affinity.. You're still stuck on even manipulating solid ground.."

  Trevour: *He slowly stood up, causing sand to stream off his body.* "I know-"

  Rosemary: "I love you, my brother. But, for your own good.."

  Trevour: *His eyes started to water.* "I-"

  Rosemary: "I won't be around all the time to help you.. If I wasn't around this time-"

  Trevour: "I would've died.."

  Rosemary: *She turned around and the ground cracked in a circular motion around her.* "I say this because I care.. You're too nice, Trevour."

  *The ground started to float underneath Rosemary, lifting her off the ground.*

  Trevour: "..."

  Rosemary: *She started to float high into the treetops, causing leaves to spiral down to the ground.* "You need to find your own happiness before you can hope to achieve ours."

  Trevour: "Rosemary-"

  Rosemary: "For now, I hope not to see you."

  Trevour: *He looked up, watching Rosemary float away on the piece of rock.* (I can't-)

  ----------

  Trevour: *He frowned with watering eyes and hesitantly turned around, hopping to each side, avoiding three leaping spiders.* "If she wasn't there to save me, I would've died!"

  *Trevour shouted and ran towards the woman, ignoring parts of his armour which melted away from strings of web.*

  Trevour: "DUST STORM-" *He went to punch the ground and a string of web wrapped itself around his arm, stopping him in his movements.*

  Woman: "W-What have I done?" *She whispered on her breath, watching the spiders wrap Trevour in spirals of web from the bottom up.* "R-Run, if you can, run!"

  Trevour: "How can I protect you if I can't even use solid ground?!"

  Woman: "Just run!"

  Trevour: *The woman's screams echoed in his mind, triggering desperation.* "I can't do anything.."

  Scoldrant: *It slowly crawled on top of Trevour and revealed its long sword-like teeth, readying to bite Trevour.* "Hearkctt!"

  Woman: (The poison will kill him!-) "Remove your number!-"

  Trevour: *He unintentionally scrunched his fingers, as if he was about to scratch his way out of the cocoon.* "DIRTCLOUD TALONS"

  Woman: *She closed her eyes and looked up, quivering in fear.* "May the Astragons bless us-"

  *Scratch-like strings of sand ripped open the cocoon around Trevour and ripped the Scoldrant's legs off.*

  Trevour: *He hobbled up to the woman and scratched downwards, slashing the web with strings of sand.* "DIRTCLOUD TALONS"

  Woman: "H-Huh-?" *She collapsed into Trevour's arms.*

  Trevour: "What's your name, madam?"

  Woman: "H-Hayward."

  Trevour: "DUST STORM" *He spoke in determination and ignored a spiral of sand which erupted around him, cutting the Scoldrant's legs.*

  Hayward: *She looked down, staring at the twitching spider legs in shock.* "Wow-"

  Trevour: "The movement on the ground-" *He spoke to himself before focusing his attention to Hayward.* "Can you run?"

  Hayward: *She looked at Trevour, ignoring the tornado-like swirl of sand around them.* "Yes." *She nodded her head, regaining her composure.*

  Scoldrant: *It raised its four front legs in an aggressive-like manner and jumped into the swirling sand, causing its legs to cut off.* "Hearcktt!-"

  Trevour: "Let's go!-" *He swayed his arm, causing an opening in the swirling sand.*

  Hayward: "Eeek." *She sprinted towards the door with glowing frames.*

  Trevour: *He hobbled after Hayward and continuously swayed his hands back, throwing streams of sand from his fingernails behind him.* "DIRTCLOUD TALONS"

  Hayward: *She ran into reaching distance to the door and faced Trevour, causing strings of web to flick off her body, revealing a blue silk moon-like robe.* "Thank you!-"

  Trevour: "DIRTCLOUD TALONS" *He scrunched his fingers and scratched streams of sand into several spiders from his fingertips, causing their bodies to explode.*

  Hayward: *She brushed web out of her hair, revealing moon and star hair ornaments.* "Thank you, whoever you are!" *She touched the door and suddenly faded up in a ripple.*

  Trevour: "It's-" *He started to pant and quickly touched the door, queuing him to fade into a warping ripple.* "Trevour-"

  Lezard: *He clapped his hands in excitement.* "Wowza.. Our heroes did it.."

  Karol: "Bearly." *He sounded worried, causing Lezard to chuckle.*

  Lezard: "Barely? More than sixty percent of the participants failed-"

  Grey: "Everyone has now passed on to the next Reality Marble!" *He spoke with a proud voice, watching the screens suddenly change scenario, causing several spectators to run across the room.*

  *Nathan and Rachael found themselves on a large mountain under a full moon.*

  Nathan: "There's nothing?"

  ?????: "Nothin'?"

  Rachael: "Hey." *She spoke with a smile and turned around, looking at Luna.* "Luna!"

  Luna: "'Sup?"

  Destiny: "Yeup."

  Nathan: *He observed the area around him.* "Where do we go?"

  Luna: "Yea, we're on a big hill, I dunno which way to go, aye-"

  *All their numbers started to beep, causing the party to jog in a small circle.*

  Rachael: "He said to keep
running forward."

  Luna: "There's nothin' below this mountain-like hill."

  Destiny: "Yeup!" *She meowed for confirmation, giving the impression they already checked.*

  *A man with fresh bloody cuts started to run up the mountain, catching the party's attention.*

  Rachael: "Are you okay?"

  Man: "Yeah.. I was a little put off by this Reality Marble.. The objective is to stand your ground."

  Nathan: "From what?"

  Man: "A swarm of Scoldrants!"

  Rachael: "What's your name?"

  Lezard: *He clicked his fingers and pointed at the screen, catching Karol's attention.* "Hey, it's a male version of the woman Trevour saved-"

  Man: "Skyward." *He scratched his head, unintentionally wiping blood on his sun and star hair ornaments.*

  Lezard: "Ooo-" *He squealed in defeat.* "Close! I was going to say Manward."

  Karol: "Uhm?"

  Nathan: "Are you a fighter?"

  Skyward: *He shook his head.* "By myself, I can't.."

  Nathan: "If we have to defend ourselves from a swarm, stand in the middle of us!"

  Skyward: "Sure." *He quickly jogged with a limp in the middle of Rachael, Luna and Nathan.*

  Nathan: *He continued to jog in a circle, firmly holding his grip onto the sword with anticipation.* (Where are they? What are they?)

  Luna: "Pssht, come out already, aye!"

  Rachael: "Piercing Land." *She raised her leg and kicked the ground, causing two boulders to erupt near her face.*

  Luna: "Huh?"

  Rachael: *She punched the rocks, causing them to take the shape of daggers.* "I'm ready-" *She grabbed the daggers and continued to jog around Skyward.*

  Destiny: "Y-Yeup!" *She alerted Luna.*

  Luna: "Gotcha-" *She suddenly raised the bow and pulled the string, firing off an arrow into the night sky.*

  Rachael: *She looked up, staring in the direction where the arrow fired off.* "I don't see any-?"

  ?????: "Eeeeeep." *A bat-like screech could be heard, followed by an explosion of ice.*

  Luna: "Aha-"

  Rachael: "You got something!"

  Skyward: "Don't underestimate them! There's too many to handle!-"

  Nathan: "Air Slash." *He swayed the sword up into the night sky and watched four bat-like Scoldrants fall on to the ground.*

  Rachael: "How?"

  Skyward: "I think they have a little Astragon control! It allows them to mask their presence if they aren't attacking.." *He hopped to each side, ensuring his number wouldn't start beeping.*

  Luna: (Destiny can sense these shits anyways, but they appear before they're going to attack-?)

  Rachael: *She suddenly noticed a swarm of bats flapping around her, causing her to react in a karate-like manner.* "Ha!"

  *Rachael jabbed a stone dagger into a bat and spun around kicking another onto the ground.*

  Luna: "Pssht-" *She flicked the bow, blasting an arrow into three bats, causing her to chuckle in an impressed-like manner.*

  Skyward: "Wow, you pierced three of them!"

  Luna: "Pssht, I know." *She smirked and sniffed her finger in a victorious-like manner.*

  Rachael: *She kneed a bat and leant to the side, stabbing it in the head with a dagger.* "Rock Pillar." *She punched up, causing a sharp pillar of rock to erupt behind her, jabbing into a bat.*

  Nathan: "Double Slash." *He waved the sword to each side at incredible speeds, watching two bats slice in half.*

  Hayward: *She watched fluoro orange blood ooze out of the bats.* "Amazing swordsmanship-"

  Luna: *She felt the arrows in the container over her shoulder.* (Shit, I've only got five more!-)

  Rachael: *She spun around, purposely slashing off the bat's wings, causing them to helplessly fall to the ground.* "There's still many remaining, but we got this!"

  ----------

  *Trevour stepped forward, noticing he stood in a large desert.*

  Trevour: *He slowly scanned across, admiring the canyon sized desert.* "Wow-"

  ?????: "Even something, without life, can be so beautiful."

  Trevour: "Madam-?" *He turned around, staring at Twortz.* "I mean Twortz."

  Twortz: "There were three others before you.. They voluntarily took off their numbers.. It's very hot and I couldn't see a door at all.." *She pointed behind her to a set of footsteps, leading to the highest sand hill.*

  Trevour: "Heh heh. Lucky you got me." *He focused his attention ahead and suddenly kicked downwards, causing a pulse of sand to travel into the distance.*

  Twortz: "What are you doing?"

  Trevour: "I focused my Neurons and released a pulse of Astragons.. I will be able to detect anything that's on the surface."

  Twortz: *She smirked in realisation.* "Just like a door."

  Trevour: "Precisely, heh heh."

  Twortz: *She noticed parts of Trevour's armour had warped, similar to burnt plastic.* "What happened to you?"

  Trevour: "Me? Don't worry about it-" *He smiled and looked to his side, staring out into the distance.* "This will be very easy."

  Twortz: "Have you actually found it?"

  Trevour: "Yes. This way." *He smiled and hobbled down a large sand hill, ignoring sandy gusts of wind.*

  Twortz: (Excellent.) *She thought to herself in relief, wiping the sweat which poured off her face.*

  ----------

  *Rachael, Nathan, Luna and Destiny panted in exhaustion, staring at a bat covered floor.*

  Skyward: "You all managed to take them all out." *He spoke in amazement and noticed a door spiral down from the sky, landing in front of the party.*

  Luna: "How convenient.. Just like a bloody game, aha." *She shook her head, staring at the door with glowing frames.*

  Destiny: "Yeup?"

  Luna: "Like wat, are we going to enter an industrial city next? With metal bendin' creatures? Pssht." *She smirked and stepped over the bats, making her way towards the door.*