GROVEL==>

You are fully prepared to beg for your life, but Alex beats you to the punch. He jumps in front of you, in a surprising demonstration of courage. 

Alex: WAIT! Wait!

The Old Voice pauses, likely due to being shocked and not out of any genuine desire to not murder you. 

Alex: Why are you doing this? Why do you want to kill us? What did we ever do? 

The Old Voice: you dare to question our authority? we do appreciate your defiance. you have defied our rule by following us. you have defied our rule. again. and again. we will not show mercy. we sought-

In comes Lillie with the steel chair.

That isn't a joke, she genuinely has a folding chair. She slams it across The Old Voice's back. It screams suddenly. It begins panting, and screaming, again and again. 

The Old Voice: YOU! YOU, YOU, YOU, YOOOOUUUUUU!!!! 

It's screams degenrate into animalistic noises as It thrashes around, more out of rage than pain. It turns toward Lillie.

The Old Voice: die. die. succumb to your predecessor and die. you are nothing. you are but an heir. and you will never rise above that status. you are weak. dust in the wind. we are older than you could possibly imagine. and we will be here after you have fallen. you will not inherit this land.

Lillie: Dude, I'll tell you what I told Nyarl. I couldn't care less about this land! You can have it!

The Old Voice: you seek to calm us by reminding us of that traitor? and your consorting with him? you seek to calm a raging flame by piling kindling atop it? you dare? worm!

It lashes out, knocking Lillie to her knees. Ten runs forward.

Ten: I'M COMING HONEY AAAAAAAAAAAA

They make some kind of horrible howling noise that might have been meant to be a battle cry. They slam straight into the monster, which probably hurts It, but evidently hurts themself more.

Lillie: Ten! Are you okay?

Ten: yep...

It doesn't actually look that way...

What do you do?

AID TEN ==>

You and Diana rush to Ten's aid, but Lillie is already there. She yanks Ten to their feet, and the two of them embrace. Ten starts to cry, possibly, and it makes you feel very awkward.

Ten: Lillie... I thought I'd lost you... I'm so glad to see you-you were gone for... for weeks... 

Lillie: I know, I- Wait, weeks?

Ten: T-two weeks... Probably less. But I-

Lillie: Ten, sweetie... I've only been here for a couple hours. 

Ten: What? But I... That doesn't...

The Old Voice stalks toward your group slowly, hissing quietly. Alex runs toward the thing in what seems to be a burst of uncharacteristic courage. It grabs him, lifting him effortlessly in the air.

The Old Voice: hn. another heir. out of all the heroes. your kind is without a doubt. the most irritating.

YOU: Put him down.

The Old Voice: give us lillie.

Ten: No!

They grab onto Lillie's arm. Lillie looks toward the Old Voice, and It looks at her. You wish It had eyes.

Lillie: Dude, Let. Him. Go. I have no interest in killing you. I have zero interest in "ruling this land" or whatever you think I want to do. I want to go home. I want all of us to go home. Please. 

The Old voice turns Its head to the side. Alex kicks around, stray syllables squeaking from his mouth. 

The Old Voice: hhh. perhaps you are right. but we are ancient. we have lived long enough to have been wrong many times. we have shown merch countless times. we have been punished for it many times. not always. but enough times. for what it is worth. we believe you.

It throws Alex to the side. Alex cries out and scrambles to his feet, sprinting to join the group.

The Old Voice: but we still have to kill you.

What do you do? 

OMG PERIWINKLE READ MY DUMB THING IM GOING TO TRY NOT TO FREAK OUT

ahem.

~~

After that admission, The Old Voice begins walking toward you. You're torn between the desire to run, or to fight like a cornered animal. But running hasn't fixed anything yet. You speak in a slightly quavering voice.

YOU: Wait! Why do you need to kill us?! I someone making you do this?

The Old Voice: making us? making us?

That seems to have given It pause.

The Old Voice: hhh! we do this simply for our own interest. prophecy says this: there will be an heir to the old voice, and she will slay her predecessor and leave an empty throne. 

Ten: And since the prophecy says this, it's immutably true?

The Old Voice: no. but it is possible. and we cannot allow it even a slight chance of possibility. we have no quarrel with you. only with lillie. leave, and we will not harm you.

There's a hushed moment as you look at each other. Alex clears his throat.

Alex: No. 

He looks afraid, and he's shaking slightly, but he still steps forward. 

Alex: We're not leaving.

The Old Voice makes a noise that might be a chuckle. It hisses a response with barely contained rage.

The Old Voice: heirs. rising from cowardice and weakness to bravery and action. hhh. so annoying.

It leaps forward, slamming into Alex. There's no time for you to make a decision,  so you jump blindy ahead, striking It across the head with your bare fist. Diana howls with glee, running to join you.

Diana: Go Wren!

She bites the creatures leg with shocking ferocity. It utters its indignation in a sharp and horrifically loud shriek. Upsetting as that display of violence was, it, admittedly threw off the Old Voice enough that It briefly pauses It's beatdown of Alex long enough for Lillie to slide across the floor, grab him, and pull him out of harm's way.  This, unfortunately, compromises her own safety. She is kicked across the room in an almost slapstick fashion.

Ten sees this happen and freaks out. They grab the folding chair, swinging it in a spinning circle directly into The Old Voice's head. Its... Mouth? Some orfice in its face opens, and an insane scream tears out from It, spewing green liquid. It staggers backward, falling down.

For a second, you allow yourself to hope that It will stay down, but of course, you're not so lucky. It springs back up to It's feet, spluttering out something unintelligible, Its head lolling absent-mindedly, shuddering with effort. It rushes blindly, and you realize that's essentially all It can do. And It's going to, over and over, until somebody finishes it off. As Lillie and Ten continue to beat the crap out of a monster, you sprint toward Alex, who is lying sprawled out on the floor. He's panting in pain, he's bruised, he's shivering and pale. 

YOU: Alex, do you think you can get up?

Alex: Hhhnn. P-probably? Give me a minute...

Diana: What you did was very heroic, Alex!

Alex: Heh... No. I didn't...

YOU: It was heroic. 

Alex: Oh. Thanks...

You lean down. He grabs your hand, and you yank him up. The creature is holding Lillie above it now, gripping her hard enough to draw blood. She's screaming, It's screaming, Ten is screaming. It's utter chaos.

And then someone else walks around the corner.

What do you do? 

top

@azalea, i began work on this part before i saw your submission, which is why i didn't factor your command in.  writing takes a while for me, so i'm sorry if stuff like that happens in the future. but welcome aboard!

LOOK AT NEW ADDITION ==>

You peer at the figure coming around the corner. It's walking slowly, but steadily. It's Nyarl, you assume, but it looks nothing like him. He's wearing the same green suit, but he no longer looks even slightly human. His skin is a pale grey, and black fluid is pouring from his eyes and mouth, seeping onto the ground. There's no hair left on his head, and his ears are long and pointed. He's making a sound like a balloon deflating.

Lillie pauses her beatdown of the Old Voice long enough to realize the little guy is here.

Lillie: Hey, it's you! You survived?

Nyarl: Ha. Of course. It would take more than a slight beating to kill someone as old and as powerful as me.

This line would be more impressive if he was not in such obviously disheveled condition. 

The Old Voice: TRAITOR!!!!

Nyarl: Such perjoratives are quite uncalled for, old friend. In fact, perhaps I ought to be complaining, given the rather ruthless treatment I just experienced in your hands.

This guy kind of pisses you off. You feel bad about that reaction, but still. He's so... Irrepressably smug. 

Nyarl: And my, Lillie, did I make the right call on you! Why, you've almost annihilated your opponent already!

Lillie: Yeah... I said I didn't want to fight It, but It won't stop attacking me!

Nyarl: Hmm... That sounds rather familiar, doesn't it, old friend?

The Old Voice: SHUT UP!!!!!

The creature has, more or less, entirely lost all interest in fighting Lillie, or at least forgotten that it was doing so. It has It's attention fixed solely on Nyarl now.

Diana: Am I reading the situation wrong again, or are the supernatural entities ex-lovers?

Nyarl: No. It lacks any sort of context for that, and I lack any desire of that sort. Ours is a stronger bond, one forged thousands of years ago, and bittered by the wicked passage of time.

Diana: The things you just said made you sound even more like ex-lovers.

You smile slightly, and wonder for the thousandth time what happens in Diana's head. You love it, whatever it is. 

Well, the fighting has stopped, however briefly.

What do you do?