7: Tremors

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

The smell of ozone mixed with asphalt brought a cold, stale smell mixed with aerosol in the air.  

Mounds and mounds of corpses piled up on the road paired with the constant sound of crows squawking and feeding on the dead. 

This was the scene that lay before Marla, Aria and Libby as they traversed the ruined city.

It seemed that corpses were either still fresh or very well preserved as the absence of the horrid smell of death alerted the nurse, the thief and the dragonfly on their walk towards their quarry.

The faint sound of someone singing could be heard ahead, which only further alarmed the three as they drew their weapons and got ready for a stand-off. But while they prepared, they were unaware that after a split second had passed for them, those previously ahead of them had already circled around to ambush them.

"May I have the honor of this massacre?" the time-stopping psycho asked his partner while he observed the frozen strangers, they did not seem to be one of the cultists nor did they seem to be affiliated with any known enemies as of the moment.

"Tie them up instead, I have a few questions for them", Renoe simply said as he tossed some rope over to his comrade.

"Ooh Rennie, never knew you were into Bondage Play!" chimed Len as he started tying them up while the pale assassin kept a look out.

By the time Sxilenced was done, they were all tied up in a very..... unique way that could not help but make Renoe facepalm.

"Len, you ass", was all the pale young man could say as their hostages suddenly sprang back to life, their mouths covered with ball-gags and their bodies tied up perfectly in Tortoise Shell Bondage.

The girls' eyes widened as they found themselves bound and with guns aimed at their temples.

"Make a move and we will end you all immediately" the assassin threatened just as he stopped Libby preparing to scream and instead caused her to glare at him, a glare that soon melted into eyes filled with fear when she saw him more clearly.

She had originally planned to scream the gag off and their captors with it.

Unlike her friends, Libby lived her life facing dangerous people and could sense just how rotten and decayed they were deep inside. And if it's true that eyes are windows to the soul; then this man's soul.... was filled with a cold, murderous presence.

 This man was what she would deem the very personification of Death himself.

An existence that even combined, the three of them couldn't even hold a candle to.

Though she had survived the previous Apocalypse, she had only seen one man just like him.... the boy everyone called Nameless.

And for good reason, he had no bracer or registered username in the game.

"I have a few questions for the three of you, answer me and we will leave you alone after this. Lie, and we will kill the three of you without delay. Keep in mind that I will know if you are telling the truth or not. I will ask you simple Yes or No questions. Blink once for yes and twice for no. Do you understand?" he briefed, causing the three girls to look at one another for a moment and nodded and looked towards the terrified nurse.

Based on how they were moving before their approach, the one with the face mask seemed to have been the leader.

"Good, then, let me ask you this; do you know who we are?" he asked Libby as she attempted to glare at him even harder, to no avail. She was shaking inside from just her instincts telling her that this guy was no joke.

Two blinks. Renoe could hear her heart beating a mile a minute now but it never skipped a beat; the truth.

"Do you three know the truth of what is really going on?"

She blinked only once, again telling him the truth and something heavily important; these girls were veterans. Survivors of the previous apocalypse. They would be very important assets if he used them to his advantage.

"If we release you, will you allow us to accompany you?" the pale assassin asked them, causing Libby to look at her comrades for a few moments as she then looked back towards those cold, grey eyes.


A loud notification surprised the penguin and the wendigo as they were informed by the system that "Psi-Chaotic" was now online.

"Psi-Chaotic.... so the old uncle's still alive?" Shinny began to mumble to Mikey and Kou upon finishing their tale of how they returned.

Supposedly, Psi-Chaotic or "Uncle Psike" as he preferred to be called, helped them fight against the gigantic red-eyed guardian of the Gate.

"Wait, d'you just say Psi-Chaotic? As in, the champ before Baalstrum?!" the soldier exclaimed as they all gathered around now.

Almost every player of Cursed Earth knew about the legendary champion who suddenly just vanished without a trace, leaving his title hanging for months and causing a multitude of contenders to compete for it when it was finally announced that his title was forfeited.

That is, until the Demonic Hurricane known as Baalstrum took the title.

"That's right, he got dragged into that place with us", Kou replied as he looked at the sky, it was still a sea of blood; just like when it first started for him and he met that old man when he was still known as the game's champion.

"So that's what happened to him...", Slith could only comment as he calmly held his enthusiasm, he was secretly a huge fan of the previous champion, so much so that he even chose the same Talent as the guy but he wasn't gonna tell them that. Heck, if it came down to it, even Joe, Vee and Lady weren't even aware of his Cursed Earth "geekness". Also, he was actually a big fan of most of the ones he was with right now; he knew about their matches and strategic patterns because he followed their matches so much that he could probably use the knowledge to his advantage in a fight.

Slith, however, wasn't confident that even if he knew their patterns and moves that he would win against any of them, in fact it was quite the opposite, he had too little confidence in his own fighting ability, yet.... he somehow felt excited about the thought of going toe-to-toe with them.

It wasn't just the thought of the fight though, but the thought of seeing blood flow and people die.... somehow the very thought of fighting, winning and seeing life fade both exhilarated and brought shivers to the necromancer.

Was this... a normal surge of competitiveness because he still thinks deep down that this was a game? Or..... was it something darker inside of him?


Silence greeted Ghost as he saw the mall completely empty except for a mass of corpses.

He had tried reaching out to his young subordinates but it seems that all forms of communication were out. They were either busy, their signal was being messed with or they were dead.

In his line of work, dying on the job was nothing to get excited about; especially the fact that he'd saved them before, and he would probably do so again.

A solitary figure caught his attention as he looked at one of the still standing glass panes on one of the stores.

It was a figure composed almost entirely of translucent black material and a pair of dark, hollow eyes that looked like the very pits of hell.

It smiled at him, it did not display a mouth or any forms of expression, but Ghost could sense it was smiling at him maliciously.

There was no doubt as to who or what it was, the bigger issue was that it was way stronger than when it was last seen. Things... were about to get really hairy, really soon.


The girls could not help but blush as their pale assailant fervently apologized to them and charmingly assisted them up and even took care of their wounds.

For someone with the eyes of a stone-cold killer, he seemed to be like Prince Charming to them as he reprimanded his psychotic colleague and bowed to them like a butler.

Marla and Aria were already won over by his charm that it seemed he flourished quite meticulously but could not overwrite Libby's first impression of him.

This man, was a wolf among sheep. And he knew just how to wield his natural appeal into a weapon. And most likely, would not hesitate to dispose of them if he ever needed to.

His unchanging expression and how he got them bound before they even noticed it proved that.

"So... umm... Renoe, do you have.... umm... y'know, someone special?" Aria asked while Libby could not help but gape in disbelief, was she that stupid? The man just tied them up, threatened them and outright pushed himself into their group.

"I apologize, but there is someone I do think of as special but not in the way you think, she would be my sister", the pale assassin began to say with what shockingly looked to be a faint smile.

His handsome looks, paired with the melancholic smile made Libby's heart skip a beat and distracted her for a second as she then mentally shook herself.

WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING?! NO, NO, NO! THIS GUY IS DEADLY BEYOND BELIEF! a huge part of her brain was yelling at her as she tried to bring herself back to being rational and cautious.

"But he's really cute though, am I right?" Marla whispered into the nurse's ear, she had forgotten that Marla could read her thoughts!

Deep inside that dragonfly mask, Libby knew that her invasive colleague was just grinning at her.

"I won't lose to you or to Aria, Lib. I'll get tall, handsome and well-dressed for myself", the dragonfly teasingly said in her ear, causing her face to flush as red as a tomato, unaware that the person being discussed could hear them and was mentally groaning to himself.


"The Pale Rider, The Angel of Death--- that's what they used to call the old man...... ", Mikey began to say as he looked at a huge beam of light coming from somewhere near the center of the city.

"Welp, if the old man's back, then you need me!" a thin-framed, red-headed and goggled young man wearing a large lab coat that seemed too large that it covered the lower half of his face and metallic gloves began to say as he appeared from out of the woods beside the wendigo.

"Eni, you were alive?" Kou suddenly jumped in with a bit of a sadistic grin as the new arrival suddenly jumped behind Mikey hysterically.

"G-g-get HIM AWAY FROM ME!" the scientist yelled as Shinny went between the two of them.

"Kou!" she hollered at him, causing him to click his tongue and sigh.

"Relax, I ain't gonna hurt ya. Was... just messin' with ya is all", the armless one tried to say jokingly as everything settled down though no one was going to be fooled by his horrible acting.

"Huh... who's this scrawny brat?" the blonde ninja asked as everyone gathered around the newcomer while Slith's eyes were glued to the guy's gloves.

"AREN'T THOSE CYTORAN GAUNTLETS?!" the necromancer yelled as he finally realized what the things were, causing some among the group to yell in amazement.

"TH-THAT'S MYTH-CLASS WEAPONRY!" Joe exclaimed his face reflected in the crimson metal of the gloves along with everyone else's.

"Guys.... I think we should be paying less attention to the legendary gear AND PAYING MORE ATTENTION TO THE GIANT WAVE OF CORPSES!" Shade yelled out as a tsunami of corpses started heading their way but just as they were about to be drowned in the sea of cadavers, the wave was pushed back by an explosion that came from the center of the wave itself.

"You guys look for the Bokor, I'll keep blasting 'em back, capiche?" Eni announced as he blasted the wave again while the others mobilized without a second thought.

"Oh bloody hell.... NOT AGAIN!" Renoe yelled from somewhere around the plaza as Slith was blasted back by an ear-shattering scream and bumped into the pale assassin.

"Can't you stop time again or something?!" Libby yelled at Len as he raised his shoulders indifferently.

"It takes a while to cool-down, tuts", the psychopath merely answered while he dodged a rain of falling corpses.

"OVER THERE!" Marla yelled out as Ashe, Aria and Nerdy ran past her and rallied with the others.

"Just like old times, huh?" Kou said with a smile as Shinny stood beside him.

"Yup, just like old times", the penguin said with a grim expression, Kou knew just what she meant.

All of what was happening, was just a prelude to the things about to come as the cycle was about to begin again.....

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net