The quill dipped down into a carton of ink, and when it came out, it got ready to write. Words were already starting to form on the page as it began a story.
A chapter was about to start.
***
He remembered a lab. So cold and frigid. Metal walls and a metal floor. His mother had been seated in front of a large glass tank, and residing within was himself? Only it wasn't him because he was currently floating in another tank on the other side of the room, right next to a second one, which had a third him inside.
No...
Not a third him.
There was only one him.
Only Davi Hawker. These others were...
"The idea worked in theory." He also remembered that man. Adam Hawker... Adam stood next to his mother, gazing at one of the tanks. "Your current vessel is falling apart, so I can see where the desire to gain a new, stronger one came from. Still, this isn't the way. These ones aren't as good as you could have."
"When one is born with the correct type of magic, it will be." Titania hissed.
"Perhaps. But why wait?" Adam asked. "After all, with my help, you could have a far stronger body." Adam purred as he lowered himself until he could whisper in Titania's ear. "Wouldn't you be happier if you had the body of a dragon?"
***
The memory ended. Or maybe it was more right to say he simply couldn't recall details anymore.
Davi floated in a sea of darkness. There was no ground beneath him, and he felt as light as a feather. In front of him, his enemy stood.
Adam Hawker.
A final standoff often happens near the end of a fiction. As the name implies, it is the final moment where the main character or leading group faces the obstacle that was built up across the entire story.
Oftentimes, this event would take a while to get to, especially in massive novels, as it could more or less be seen as the second-to-final act. If all of this were some big novel, Adam was confident that he and Davi would have a final standoff at the end of the story.
Or at least, he had that confidence up until the point that Davi suddenly appeared in the vault with him.
The Lord of Threads, Inyeon, and Bloom were all in shock, but Adam's smile only grew as his purple eyes met Davi's blue ones. He was filled with even more joy as Davi raised his sword and declared that he would kill them all.
On the flip side, Davi stumbled into his vault and wasn't shocked to see that he was no longer alone. Typically, such an event as this would be impossible, but he had long since accepted that nothing about this group before him functioned correctly.
Shadow Vault was a spell his mother created. Often, in the world of magic, two mages, especially those who had the same type of magic, would use it in similar ways, but their magic was still unique to just them.
He and his mother each had a different Shadow Vault that was not connected. So why was Adam in his? Or perhaps that was the wrong way of looking at it. Maybe he was in Adam's?
The image of Adam speaking with his mother came to his mind… He couldn't recall every detail, but he was now sure that he had seen this man before. That made him worried. Did Adam learn the Shadow Vault spell from his mother, or did Adam teach it to his mom?
Whose spell was this, and what vault were they all floating around in? It had to belong to someone, right?
"You're not that far off," Adam spoke up, as if he knew Davi's exact thoughts. "It is a weird effect. Even I had no idea something like this would happen. I'm not in my vault, and you're not in your vault. Instead, it seems our mana is highly compatible and flowed together, mingling and mixing. I suppose that, like me, you're someone with all four Cores, which explains why our mana was able to mix. In this moment, we've created a new subspace by overlaying our two Vaults with each other. A fusion, if you will. It won't last long, but while this effect is going on, you and I are within each other's very hearts. So what say you? Care to put your very soul on the line?" Adam's remaining arm looped around his belt, and he drew his longsword. "Let's duel."
Davi's eyes blazed with mana, and he stared back at Adam, his mind racing. In terms of power, he was utterly outclassed. The same went for speed and skills. Usually, a battle like this would only result in his death; however, Adam was severely damaged.
The man's robes were scorched, and he was missing much of his body. His flesh was black and metallic, and a constant stream of wires and oil spilled out of his left side. Adam's mana had also grown a lot dimmer. Father's attack had most certainly injured him to a great degree.
Would it be enough, though?
Davi's mind went to all the people of Daisy. The people who were hurting. The people who were put through hell because of this group. The people who died.
It had to be enough.
Davi gritted his teeth, and what was left of his mana began to swirl around him and Storymaker's blade. "I'm going to kill you. I swear it."
"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep. Didn't your father ever tell you that?"
"He did. I don't make a promise I can't keep."
Adam laughed. "Then let's have the final standoff! Here and now-"
"Row Flame Bolt!"
To everyone's shock, even Davi's, Ken suddenly appeared from behind Davi and fired a bolt of energy toward the four villains. It rammed into Adam's head and shoved him back into the Lord of Threads and the other two.
"Ken?" Davi's eyes widened, and he stared at the red-haired girl. "When did you get here?"
Ken glared at him and punched him in the shoulder. "As soon as you opened your Vault, I grabbed onto your robes and was dragged down here with you!"
"Oh… Whoops."
"Yeah! Big whoops, you idiot!"
Davi grunted. "Well, I'll open a doorway or something and let you-" Suddenly his scar throbbed, and he lifted his sword just in time to block Adam's strike as the man appeared before him. The clash of their blades sent Ken flying off, and Davi gritted his teeth as he attempted to shove Adam off of him. The weight in Adam's sword was unlike anything he had ever experienced before.
"Do you feel it?" Adam pressed forward with his single arm, pushing Davi's blade back, and he leaned forward until their noses were nearly touching. "That weight? Do you know what it is? It's experience, pain, regret, and above all, despair. Eight million, five hundred and eleven thousand, eight hundred and twenty times your own despair!"
While they clashed, Bloom watched the fight, a sour look appearing on her face. "Hey. No fair. He is my kill."
"Adam seems like he found a toy he intends to play with until he breaks it." The Lord of Threads mused. "You know how he can be." Casually, he climbed into Inyeon's arms, allowing his puppet to hold him. He wrapped his arms around her neck and nuzzled his face into her chest. "Wake me up when he's done, and just let him have his fun."
Bloom sighed and played with a lock of her hair. "I don't get it… Why doesn't Adam look at me that way? What is so special about this Davi man? I don't even think he actually has the Roads Polymorph. After all, he inherited the-"
Bloom was cut off when she noticed the shadows around her began to ripple. As Adam had stated earlier, the two Vaults wouldn't stay connected for very long, and already they were starting to come undone.
As she watched the ripple effect, her ears picked up on a noise. It sounded like the flapping wings of a bird?
Back over with Davi and Adam, the two flew around each other. This vault was like the ocean or something akin to space. There was no ground for them to stand on, and so instead they lifted and fell, attacking from angles they usually wouldn't be able to, clashing blades again and again with everything they had.
Davi flew forward and suddenly switched to holding his sword with one hand. He forced as much mana as he could into the blade and then reached Adam, swinging it up. Adam blocked it easily, but then Davi lifted his free hand up. He placed his middle finger and thumb together, making a flick-like motion, and a spark of white appeared as he created another one of his mana spheres. This time it was tiny, barely the size of a golf ball, and Davi flicked it as hard as he could, launching it directly into Adam's good arm.
Adam's eyes widened slightly, and the orb glowed and then exploded. The blast wasn't that big and barely harmed him, but it did shove him back. Davi was on him again and created another small orb, which he tossed into the air, then swung his blade into it. He brought the sword down like a hammer, bringing the orb with it, and smashed it directly into the top of Adam's head! It also exploded on impact, but before Davi could make another strike, he felt pain as Adam casually jammed his sword forward and stabbed Davi through the stomach.
Adam pulled his sword out and then jammed it into Davi's stomach again. Davi's robes began to turn crimson as he lost even more blood.
"I don't know what that white orb is, but unless you use a Golden Orb, you won't be harming me with such a weak attack." Adam left his sword in Davi's gut and then jammed his finger straight into his shoulder. The tip of it glowed, and then a beam of energy tore through Davi's body, making his eyes widen in pain. "You can't beat me as you are."
Adam ripped his sword out and slammed his knee into Davi's gut wound, blasting him back. Davi spun through the shadows before he managed to catch himself, his mana regaining control of his flight. He spat up blood, grimaced, but still held onto his sword.
Adam stared at him for several moments, watching as he shook and his grip grew more and more slack. "Do you know why I decided to call myself Adam Hawker?" Adam finally asked.
"I don't care."
"You don't?"
Davi shook his head. "I was interested slightly, but not anymore. You're scum. A horrible, nasty stain that needs to be removed from the face of this planet, and I'm going to be the one who does it. Maybe you have an interesting story or a reason for doing this, but I simply don't care anymore. You've hurt people I care about, and you've pissed me off. I just want you to die so I can stop hearing you refer to everything as if it is a novel."
Adam snorted. "Well, I guess I can understand why you hold those views. I mean, yeah, you are right: this world we live in isn't truly a book, but everything is a story if you believe hard enough. Growing up, my father told me stories about heroes. People who could do anything and everything. Those stories were made for kids, and so they never made a lot of sense, the heroes being able to shrug off all amounts of damage as if it were some cosmic joke. I know that this world isn't like the novels I wrote, but I still want it to be, for wouldn't that make it all better? If humanity suffers constantly, and war, famine, death, and disease spread around the planet like an endless plague. We as a society exist only to serve as cogs in a machine for a system that doesn't care about us. Isn't it nicer to believe that none of this is real and it's just some twisted, fucked-up book that some bastard wrote? If you were to watch world after world die and suffer more than any person should, wouldn't you want to go insane and believe that you're nothing more than some black words on a white page?"
"Life isn't fair," Davi said bluntly. "Just because bad things happen doesn't mean you should give up and pretend that everything is fake. An existence like that has no meaning."
"Says you."
"Yes. Says me."
Adam chuckled and adjusted his grip on his sword. "Hawkers were never a famous clan. They never got noticed by anyone serious, but they also aren't total nobodies either. In a novel, they'd be a cool group that an author doesn't focus on all that much. Today they're all pretty much dead. Maybe I felt a little bad, or maybe it was because of my past experiences, but for whatever reason, when I first started this tale, I knew that I wanted to be known as Adam Hawker. It was a name I hadn't heard of for quite some time, yet it seemed to fit very well. You were named Davi Hawker because you were born unlucky. An experiment created for one goal, you're a prime example of someone who suffers a lot. You still want to claim your life has some meaning, though?"
"It does."
"And what meaning do you have?"
"Whatever I want it to be."
Adam sighed and shook his head. "Typical. A talk like that is exactly what a loser would say." Adam fired forward, flying through the vault as fast as he could. "It's time I end this-" Suddenly, he froze, and his blade halted.
Ken's eyes stared into Adam's as she stood between his sword and Davi. Her arms were outstretched, prepared to use her own body as a shield, but it never came to that. Adam's sword never reached her, as he stopped it at the last second.
A silence filled the space between them as Davi stared at the back of Ken's head and Adam stared at her face. Adam's eyes had gained a new light to them, those purple orbs looking more shocked and confused than he had ever been before. He couldn't tear his eyes away, taking in every last detail of Ken's face.
Ken's look hardened, and she remained where she was, not budging, even as Adam began to regain his composure. "I will not let you harm Davi," Ken spat out.
Adam's body glowed for a moment and then flickered as he used a Mana Step to put a significant amount of distance between him and Ken. Adam now floated next to his trio, and he casually sheathed his sword. "How cruel. I didn't expect I'd see something like this so soon."
"Why didn't you kill her?" Bloom asked, confused. "You could have run that girl through easily?"
"Do you know the Yuans?" The Lord of Threads asked, still keeping his face pressed into Inyeon's chest.
Adam shook his head. "No. I've never laid eyes on her until now." He smiled. "I guess I just got reminded of some old stuff. Anyway, it doesn't matter. These vaults won't stay connected for much longer." He glanced back at Davi, who stood behind Ken still. "Until next time."
Davi's eyes lost even more light as he stared at Adam. The space between them began to swirl and glitch, similar to the way the Lord of Threads used his transmutation. The effects grew larger, and jagged cracks formed in the air. Finally, there was a sharp breaking sound, and the entire vault shook and snapped.
It reformed in an instant, but it had changed. Adam was gone.
Davi let go of Storymaker and allowed it to float away. He was back in his vault. An intense chill overtook him, and ice began to form across Ken's flesh as the cold hit her head-on, but she ignored it.
"Davi?"
"Yeah?" Davi turned to look at her, and she rammed her fist into his stomach. "Gah—why?" Davi wheezed. "I was stabbed? Why would you punch me there?"
Ken grabbed him by both sides of his face and craned his head back, forcing him to look up at her. She glared into his eyes and gritted her teeth. "Why the hell would you fight that guy? Why would you even come here if you thought they'd be hiding in this place? Don't you ever do anything like that ever again! That was borderline suicidal! You want to die so bad? Do you not value your life at all? What the hell?"
Davi's look shifted slightly. He looked ashamed and even more depressed. "Sorry…"
Ken finally let go of him and let out a sigh. "Yeah. I bet you are. I—look, I just don't want you to die. It would suck, okay? So stay alive."
"Yeah… I'll try."
Ken managed to give a weak grin before she shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. "C-Can we go now?"
"Sure." Davi wrapped an arm around her and was about to open his vault but stopped at the last second. He could feel a pair of eyes on him.
He looked down and saw them. The birds. They were all scattered around the nest of blades, and they quietly stared up at him. What concerned him more than anything else was that a new one was also down there amongst the large horde.
Unlike the others, this hawk looked like a proper bird, but it was much larger and made of a mix of black and purple fire. Davi's thoughts froze for a moment, and he remembered the hawk he had let out during the last dungeon he was in…
The boss monster had returned home.
It just sat there, nestled over the sword in the ground that made this realm cold, and it stared up at him, unblinking.
"Davi?"
Davi turned to Ken again. "Yeah?"
"You're crying."
Davi reached up and felt his cheek. A tear was rolling down his face. "Oh. I guess I am." He quietly opened his vault. The entrance expanded before them, allowing the two of them to leave. "Ken."
"What is it?"
"I don't feel so good." Davi closed his eyes and nearly collapsed before she caught him. "I think I'm going to sleep… I don't like today."
Davi blacked out.
***
The quill stopped. The ink stopped flowing. The page remained blank.
The chapter came to an end-