Shelly O'Zalia

I opened up a Path Gate and lugged the motorbike through. I got on and revved it up, taking off through the dark forest. I was riding for a few hours before something behind me caught my attention. I hit the brakes and looked back. Sound was right behind me, flying. This was my first time seeing him in is demon form. It was weird. His hair was darker, and parted a bit by his horns. His eyes were red and sunken, and his limbs seemed even bonier than usual. Sharp claws tipped his fingers, and his sonic weapons were all strapped to his belt, out of the way of his huge ass wings.

"Why are you following me?" I demanded.

"You can't beat her by yourself Isaac," he said. His voice was different. He was drawing out his S sounds more than necessary, and he sounded like he had a really bad throat cold.

"I can't get you guys involved in this," I said.

"A while ago, you didn't want to get involved yourself," he said.

"That was before I knew who she was," I told him. "I have to be the one to face her."

"She's just and clever as you are," he said.

"I know," I said. "But I doubt she's a telepath like I am. She didn't go through the Enhancement process like I did."

"That doesn't mean she won't have something planned," he said. "Besides, she's a Rose Bride. Do you honestly expect her master to not be there?"

"Can you please change back?" I asked. "You're voice is annoying in this form."

"Sorry," he said. He painfully reverted back to human form.

"That looked... hard," I said.

"Gets more difficult every time," he said, his voice normal again. "Look, like it or not, I'm coming with you."

"Fine," I said. "But if things look bad, I want you to get the hell out of there."

"You know I can't do that," he said. "And don't bother ordering me to. You're not my leader anymore."

"Whatever," I said. "Get on."

He awkwardly got on the bike. It was a little difficult for him, since my glave was strapped across my back. We took off. I took us a while, but we got there, to my old house. The place where my parents died. Just like she said. She was waiting for us there, standing in the driveway.

"Been a while, Isaac," she said. “Your hair’s getting long.”

"Hello, Shelly," I said.

"I see you brought Jerome with you," she said. "I was hoping you would. It'll save me the trouble of hunting him down later."

"I don't plan on letting that happen," I said, getting off the bike.

"So how is my dear cousin doing?" she asked.

"Better that you," I said. "How does a girl like you end up serving the Smiling Man?"

"Kind of just happened," she said. "I caught wind of you becoming a servant, so I decided I'd do so as well. Smily was there. So I became his warrior. Of course, he and I have big plans."

"And what would those plans be?" I asked, drawing my weapon.

"I don't know the full story, but both the Smiling Man and I want to revive the Game Master," she said, drawing a machete from her belt.

"Why?" I demanded.

"To 1-up you, of course!" she said. "That's what this has always been about, Isaac. Proving that I'm better than you. And how better to do so than by resurrecting the man you worked so hard to destroy?"

"I didn't just destroy him," I said. "I erased his entire body from existence."

"And did you think he didn't have a failsafe?" she asked. "My master told me all about it. The secret to bringing him back, even when his body has been destroyed."

"What do you mean?" I demanded.

"William Timerus expected the quiet might claim him someday," she said. "So he hid a piece of himself away, in order to revive himself when he was destroyed."

"I won't let you," I said.

"Oh Isaac, don't you realize you can't stop me?" she asked. "Would you like to know what Wor Allon really means?"

"Frankly, cuz, I don't give a damn!" I snapped.

She swung a fist, and a wave of air hit me, knocking me backwards, Suddenly she was behind me. She kicked me to the ground. I looked up at where she had been standing to see her after image vanishing.

"It means Skill Thief," she said, raising her sword. I dodged out of the way just as she slashed at me and grabbed my glave. She swung again, and this time I blocked it.

"Aero Pulses and After Image Teleportation," I said. "So your powers aren't limited to Radiation Immunity after all."

"I can acquire the powers of any Emissary by drinking their blood," she said, delightedly.

Everything clicked into place for me. When we were kids, we had had a fist fight. She bit me, puncturing my skin and drawing blood. Ever since then, she became just as smart as I was. She rivaled me in school and just about everything else. All because she drank my blood and acquired my Emissary power.

"You have my power?" I asked.

"Not all of it," she said. "Your power has evolved since then, hasn't it? You're capable of telepathy, and reality manipulation. If I drink your blood again, I'll gain that power, and I'll be able to pull the piece of the Game Master out of its hiding spot."

"As if I'll let you find its hiding spot!" I said, as she blocked my attack with her sword.

"I already know where it is," she said, smiling. "I just need your power to get to it."

"And where would it be?" I demanded. "Once I'm finished with you, I'll destroy it!"

"So you'd be willing to kill your best friend to eliminate the Game Master once and for all?" she asked, smiling even broader.

I stepped back. "What do you mean?" I demanded.

"That's why I'm glad you brought Jerome Welric with you," she said. "His father, Emissary Gary Welric, hid the piece of the Game Master inside of his subconscious. With your telepathy, I can't pull that piece to the surface. Of course, I'll have to destroy his mind in the process, but that's no big deal for me."

Without warning, a small device rolled to the ground between us. Recognizing it, I instinctively covered my ears, but Shelly wasn't as quick to do so. The device let out an impossibly loud screech, hurting my ears even though they were covered. I ducked into the Path Of Black Leaves and reappeared at the other end of the yard. Shelly teleported away as well, clutching her ears in pain. Sound stepped forward, drawing his Sonic Sword.

“Is what you just said true!?” he shouted at her. “Is there a piece of that bastard inside me!?”

“That’s right,” she said, grinning. “And I’m going to bring it out.”

“You’ll have to kill me first,” he said, raising his sword.

“You’d be useless to me dead,” she said. “But there’s nothing stopping me from breaking all your limbs!”

Sound rushed at her, but a vortex of flames appeared around her body.

“Sound, get back!” I shouted. “This is Balor’s power! You have to keep a distance!”

Sound stepped back, pulling a handful of small sound grenades from his pocket and throwing them. She teleported away before they could go off and reappeared just a few inches from him. Her left hand glowed brightly, and she swung it in a swift uppercut, knocking him into the air. He vanished into the Path Of Black Leaves in midair.

“Where the hell did he go!?” she demanded.

He reappeared in his demon form, grabbing her by the hair and lifting her into the air.

“Isaac, now!” he shouted, throwing her at me.

I raised my glave, prepared to strike her as she sped toward me, but she regained her balance in midair and blocked my attack. I swung at her again, but she teleported and my blade passed harmlessly through her afterimage. In the next few moments, she managed to teleport all over the yard, leaving afterimages everywhere. I couldn’t tell where the real one was. Until I heard Sound screech in pain a few feet from me. I turned sharply as all of her afterimages faded. Shelly was standing right next to him, sword in hand, as he clutched a new wound on his ribcage.

“You’re strong,” she said to him, raising the blade to her lips. “I can’t wait to obtain your power.”

“No!” I shouted, ducking into the Path and appearing right beside her, swinging my glave, she blocked my attack easily.

“Don’t stand in my way!” she hissed.

A flash of bright light hit me in the chest, sending pain surging through my body and knocking me clear across the street as I dropped my glave. I looked up to see her lick Sound’s blood from her sword. A change came over her. Her fingernails extended into razor sharp claws. Her facial features sank and her eyes turned a deep red. A pair of massive wings sprouted from her back and horns grew from her forehead.

“Another power added to my collection,” she said maliciously.

Sound jumped up and flew back a few yards. He spread his wings and wrapped them into an incomplete dome around his body.

“You may have my power,” he hissed angrily, raising his sword, “But you don’t know how to use it like I do.”

He struck his sword against the ground. Once. Twice. Three times. Four times. He kept doing it, and I had no idea why.

“What’s going on?” Shelly demanded. “Why don’t I hear anything? That sword’s supposed to amplify sound waves, isn’t it?”

It suddenly struck me, and I strained my eyes to see. His sword was vibrating each time it hit the ground. It was definitely making noise. But I couldn’t hear it, and neither could she. I think I might have figured out why before Shelly did. His sword was making noise, and lots of it. It just wasn’t reaching our ears.

Without any kind of warning, Sound rushed forward with impossible speed, swinging his sword upwards, striking her in the jaw and sending her flying ten feet in the air. I suddenly understood. His wings weren’t for flight. They were built to absorb vibrations from the air and send them through his muscular system, increasing his strength.

He shot into the air, hitting her several yards away. Before she could fall to the ground, he caught up to her, hitting her again. And again. And again. As he batted her around with his incredible speed, I got up and ran to my glave, picking it up. She was knocked right above me, and Sound flew above her, sword ready.

“Isaac!” he shouted, knocking her down towards me. “Think fast!”

“I always think fast!” I retorted, raising my weapon and piercing it through her torso just as she fell down toward me.

She screamed in agony as her blood dripped down on me. She turned her head so that she could see me. There were tears in her eyes.

“You... your not going to...,” she stuttered.

“I’m sorry,” I told her. “Cease to exist.”

She shrieked in pain as I tore away reality and allowed her body to dissolve into nothingness.

Sound approached me afterwards.

“Are you okay,” he hissed, in his annoying demon voice.

“I’m fine,” I said, wiping my cousin’s blood from my eyes.

“You just killed your cousin...,” he said. “You erased her.

“I don’t know what all she was capable of,” I said. “She could have regenerated or rose from the dead. I had no choice but to destroy her completely.”

“Did you?” he asked.

I tried to say something, but I couldn’t. He had a point. Was it really neccessary to erase her like that?”

“Why are you still like that?” I asked him, trying to change the topic. “Change back.”

“I can’t,” he said. “Not anymore.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“It gets harder every time,” he said sadly. “I’m stuck now. I can’t change back anymore.”

I understood. He had pushed himself too hard, and now he couldn’t un-push himself.

“Take the Path,” I told him. “Get Myrir and little Isaac. Then...”

“Then what?” he asked.

“Then leave,” I said. “Nolla Row is dead. Our partnership is over.”

“You’re not coming back?” he said, shocked. “But our Master never killed your parents. He was innocent!”

“No,” I said. “None of Them are. I made a promise to protect people from them, and I’m going to keep it.”

“Wait,” he said, as I went to my motorcycle. “I want you to kill me.”

I stopped in my tracks.

“What?” I asked.

“She said there’s a piece of him in me,” he said.

“And you need a telepath to get it out,” I said. “I have no intention of doing that.”

“He had that failsafe in store, he must have had another failsafe ready to get that piece of him out of me,” he said. “You have to kill me. She said I’d be useless if I was dead. If I die, that piece of him will die with me.”

I boarded the motorcycle.

“I’m not killing you,” I said. “And I highly doubt there’s another telepath out there who has what it takes to get the Game Master out of you.”

I started the bike up.

“You’re not going to use the Path?” he asked.

“I’m not a proxy,” I said. “I have no intention of using it again. Next time we meet, we’ll be enemies. Remember that.”

He smiled when I said that.

“No matter how often you say that, I still think of you as my only real friend,” he said, before disappearing.

 

 

I hate goodbyes. People always tell you that saying it is painful, but you don’t know how much until you actually have to say it. But I have to now. I’m cutting all my ties with the Slender Man. Starting with this blog. This is my last post. I might start my own blog eventually. I don’t know. But I won’t be posting here, ever again.