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…
Flora blinked twice, then she lowered her head, and turned side to side, to see if the others heard the same. Both Azure and Varvara had the same perplexed look to them as she did. This left her with no other choice, but to ask,
“What do you mean you are giving up!!?”
“I mean, I am giving up, my dear girl,” the clown said, as he made a show of his teeth. “I’m down for the count! I’m out of the game! No more of me!”
He put away the white flag, which seemingly disappeared as if by magic a moment later, then snapped his fingers. From afar, a huge wave of was kicked after the Torque forced itself into a stop. A small object got launched due to the force of inertia and landed beak first into a nearby sandy hill, whom everyone later realized, was actually Fotia.
“Now you can all go home now, shoo!” the clown said, gesturing them away.
Flora stood still in her place for few seconds, and then finally shook her head. Something was not adding up, and she was trying to make sense of it.
“So…that means we won? He gave up right?” Barbie asked, while still stuck.
“He is employing a trick, is he not?” Azure suggested. But Flora shook her head, just as Rose was doing it too.
“No,” she uttered. She watched the clown clapped his hands lightly, twice, to which the Torque immediately began riding to him. It all became too calm all of a sudden, like the ride had been halted. Maybe what Azure said was true, but something else was happening.
“Now, since I’ll be collecting my things, you don’t mind me taking look at your hand, princess?” the clown said, pointing at her wrist. The pair of bugs sticking tightly to her, buzzing only lightly. “Come on! I really need those things, you don’t want to be stuck with them, do you?” He waited a bit for Flora to move. When that didn’t happen, he stated in a very slow way, “You do know, that the longer you wait, the worse it’s going to be for your friend.”
Flora looked back at him, and she nearly instinctively raised her bow.
“What do you mean?” she asked. The clown laughed.
“Do you know what will happen to her, if keeps wearing that thing around her neck? Not very gooooood,” he said pointing to Barbie. As she remembered about the poking feeling that Barbie mentioned, something cold came up to Flora’s spine. “You can choose to leave now, it’s up to you, you know?” he said, then moved his finger to her wrist.
Flora stared at her wrist, and then looked back at him. She thought about his threat, about what she had no clue about, and what she knew. And what she knew made what she didn’t know feel that much worse. She was losing control of the situation, and needed to do something.
<He is forcing you to choose.>
She heard her loud and clear. In fact, that came across as almost as if she thought about it on her own. And even better, she had no idea if it was Rose who said it, or her to herself. A familiar feeling returned, and it just as quickly had been taken away. It became obvious like no other.
“It isn’t a trap…he is trying to run away!” she declared.
The clown gritted his teeth, keeping that smile steady. Something told her he didn’t like her statement, nor how she pulled her arm back, and stared him straight into his eyes.
“Really? But…isn’t that good?” Barbie genuinely asked.
Before she could answer, Flora thought about it, because she needed to fully understand it. It was a feeling so overwhelming, it couldn’t be shaken away. This clown, he wanted to take the chance and run away before he could spill secrets, after so arbitrarily making many promises. After not following through with most. And now he was trying to bail out. At this point, not only was she being pressed by indignation, but also need to know more. She and Rose needed him to stay, and spill out everything containing behind that bug-ridden smile of his.
“Oh yeah, it is good,” Flora replied, though not in a way that Barbie thought she meant. The clown slowly let his smile rest, and pursed his eyebrows. “He is running away, because he knows he is going to loose!”
The clown’s head got cocked, at first, only for him to let out a raspberry.
“Wha- I- REALLY?! OI-HOHOHOHOHOHOHO!” The clown was heaving up and down, exaggeratingly pointing at her while looking at the “audience”, as in the wooden model on the benches near them. He then said, You think that’s it?! That I am afraid of losing a game to some, self-important brats? Well here’s a little secret, little girl, I’ve let you win! Because my job here, is to keep you busy! Destroying you is just a personal touch that I add to my work. Oi-Hohohohohohohoho! What a bunch of suckers! Oi-Hoho-!”
“You were hoping to break me,” Flora stated boisterously, words flowing through her mind like water, “and to break our bond! But instead, what you had done was made it stronger! We have come to understand each other closer! And you, out of your need to make us look like fools, you’ve allowed to risk your own standing as a knowledge broker! In the end, all you ever did here, was nothing, but help us, all the while chinking your master’s armor!”
The clown kept on grinning while she spoke, radiating annoyance throughout it.
“You cannot escape from this anymore, monster! Mayhap, you thought you wouldn’t ruin your master’s plan. It may be an unfeasible thought for you to even consider. For he is your lord and you are his loyal servant, which I understand well. However, what you’ve done was irreversible, and only showed the weakness not just of your character, but also of his rule. And that he taught you to only believe in power. From where I stand, all you know is power, and all you know is fear. But of course, you lust for destruction, as well. For you couldn’t comprehend the power of our bond, and more importantly, our desire to save this precious world your master wants to devour. But as all you did was not destroy this bond, but strengthen it, shows the futility of your so-called pride you had as a general of his army. And that, to you, is exactly the reason to escape. To save your own face. To turn away from your failure, as a coward would!”
As the last breath of her word escape, Flora finally felt like she could breathe again. She had no idea where it all came from, but that whole speech took a wind right out of her, but in the same way that kept her energized. She very much felt like going at it again, though with no idea about what.
The clown, once she finally noticed him, was standing with his teeth being grinded into dust. Every crevice in his face showed another sign of anger. Flora, for a moment, felt content about this, since she was hoping to get him angry and stay.
“Don’t…call…me…LOYAL…SERVAAAAAAAAANT!!!!” The roar was long, and practically earthshaking. Flora thought she was going to fall down from the loss of balance. She took a moment to gather herself, clown’s heavy breathing still buzzing by her ear, and slowly came to understand what he said.
“Umm…excuse me, what?” she asked.
“You boogers…HAVE NO CLUE…what is going on, huh? I…am giving you a CHANCE, and you’d rather…throw it away?”
Flora bit her lip for a moment, as something clicked in her head. She listened to Rose for a bit, to understand her next course of action.
Soon enough, she said, “ILet me repeat, that me aim here is to not let you go-“
“I don’t care,” the clown retorted in surprisingly calm tone. He turned around and pulled out three gigantic poles. “My time here is done and I-“
“And so you break your promise?” Flora egged on. They needed to keep him, no matter what it took. He knows about Lord Vaco and his troops, they need this information.
Without turning, the clown said, “Let me get that thought…” and snapped his fingers again.
Flora without missing a beat, ascended into the air. She remembered that the Torque was still here, and of course he would use it to keep them from running after him
“Oh princess…ever heard of phrase looking before you leap?” he said mockingly.
Flora’s looked at him in surprise, but then heard Azure yell at her from below. He was shouting about Fotia, and from there, she saw the whole picture clearly, and immediately dive forward. Fotia was still stuck, his tail feather pointing up into the air. Meanwhile, the Torque had resumed riding, and charged straight after the former.
She summoned an arrow, a very bright one, and pointed it at Fotia. The bugs buzzed prematurely, but she had already shot, the arrow hitting the ground, then bounce back up, only to suddenly grow in brilliant glow. This was enough to disorient the Torque, which she used to dash in after the boy.
The clown grinned and chuckled, remarking to himself, annoyedly, “Clever girl.” The bugs kept her from hitting it, so she used indirectly to keep it busy. But who cares about that, they were fools at the end of the day anyways. He got to do some false promises, bought some more time like Lord Vaco wished, and even got to be the last one to laugh. And so what, if they learned more of Lord Vaco? He didn’t care about that one bit. It might even be more amusing that way.
And so, he promptly began setting up the first pole, sticking it into the ground. Twisting its body, he heard the princess yell at the bird boy for getting himself stuck, while the Torque had stricken the sand with its body. With the pole reaching its certain height, the clown made his way to set up the second one.
“Mister Clown!”
He stopped and took a moment to recognize the voice of the lizard girl.
“You stink like a dung beetle! And…er…”
Was she trying to insult him? Of course he stunk, that was his main charm!
“Oi-Hohohohohohohoh! With jokes like this, I’d say you were flunked from clown school!” he exclaimed. He kept on giggling to himself while sticking the second pole into the ground. What a stupid little girl, trying to waste his time! Of course…he could just stay a little bit longer, just to make her more miserable…
But then again, he felt that he had something else to do. Something more important than this.
“Your friends don’t like you, not at all!” she tried again.
The clown rolled his eyes, then kept on twisting the pole to make it higher. Friends don’t like him? Like they cared when he died! They weren’t even that impressive themselves. He noticed from the corner of his eye how the princess saved the beaked brat, and they were in the middle of dodging the Torque. It seemed like his time was up. And since the pole got the right height, all he had to do was-
“You…are very loyal to Lord Vaco!”
The clown turned around, sighing heavily. There was neither a smile, nor a frown in his mug. Just a big thin line of pity. Was that really the best she could come up with? He wanted her to see exactly that what he was telling her. But then again, from where he stood and how she was positioned, she probably saw nothing.
Neither did he, for if he did, he would’ve seen her head hanging lower. Even she couldn’t be proud of her insult.
“I guess I failed,” Varvara finally admitted. This stung really hard, especially saying it out-loud. With her friend needing her the most, all she could do was one thing and she wasn’t even good at it.
<Do not worry, young Varvara, you simply do not know how to show your hate. That can be a good thing, too. Don’t you think?>
Varvara just exhaled, and looked out. Azure was with Flora, so she couldn’t ask him for help. The only thing he said was that to try to think backwards. That perhaps she should remember what she said last time that made the clown so mad. Which she sadly couldn’t remember at all. What a useless dumb-dumb she felt like.
<Cease your insults, especially that against yourself. We have not yet lost, for even that opportunity has yet to slip.>
Varvara kept quiet. She tried to think back on what she said one more time. And once again, her thoughts began to dwell. And although, previous times, she thought she could rty and copy Chester or Flora, this time, she just let it flow. And suddenly, a thought came to her.
“Maybe it doesn’t really bother him?” she said, not doing much to filter her stream of thought. “Maybe he died, but it wasn’t that big of a deal? I mean, he was angry, but maybe dying wasn’t all that bad, since he came back to life, I guess. I think he just overreacted back then.”
<What are you-> Zamarad tried reply, but then immediately showed worry.
It didn’t take long for Varvara to realize something was breathing down her neck.
“You…idiotic…brat…” he had a hoarse voice, nothing unlike he sounded before.
She felt a strong grip wrap on her head and forcefully pull her up. It was rather painful, especially since she couldn’t get it any higher. Nor could she see his face, luckily enough for her.
“I…will DESTROY you! And I will DESTROY your PARENTS, right after! THAT is a promise. How’s that SOUND, HUH!? DOES THAT SOUND AWFUL?! WANNA SEE WHAT”S DEATH LIKE!?”
Varvara did not say anything, letting his spit fly all over her scalp. Throughout this time, her grip was on her wrist, which then slipped after one more threat from him.
And then her spear shot from behind the board, and pierced into his heart.
…
-----------------------------------------
…
Flora blinked twice, then she lowered her head, and turned side to side, to see if the others heard the same. Both Azure and Varvara had the same perplexed look to them as she did. This left her with no other choice, but to ask,
“What do you mean you are giving up!!?”
“I mean, I am giving up, my dear girl,” the clown said, as he made a show of his teeth. “I’m down for the count! I’m out of the game! No more of me!”
He put away the white flag, which seemingly disappeared as if by magic a moment later, then snapped his fingers. From afar, a huge wave of was kicked after the Torque forced itself into a stop. A small object got launched due to the force of inertia and landed beak first into a nearby sandy hill, whom everyone later realized, was actually Fotia.
“Now you can all go home now, shoo!” the clown said, gesturing them away.
Flora stood still in her place for few seconds, and then finally shook her head. Something was not adding up, and she was trying to make sense of it.
“So…that means we won? He gave up right?” Barbie asked, while still stuck.
“He is employing a trick, is he not?” Azure suggested. But Flora shook her head, just as Rose was doing it too.
“No,” she uttered. She watched the clown clapped his hands lightly, twice, to which the Torque immediately began riding to him. It all became too calm all of a sudden, like the ride had been halted. Maybe what Azure said was true, but something else was happening.
“Now, since I’ll be collecting my things, you don’t mind me taking look at your hand, princess?” the clown said, pointing at her wrist. The pair of bugs sticking tightly to her, buzzing only lightly. “Come on! I really need those things, you don’t want to be stuck with them, do you?” He waited a bit for Flora to move. When that didn’t happen, he stated in a very slow way, “You do know, that the longer you wait, the worse it’s going to be for your friend.”
Flora looked back at him, and she nearly instinctively raised her bow.
“What do you mean?” she asked. The clown laughed.
“Do you know what will happen to her, if keeps wearing that thing around her neck? Not very gooooood,” he said pointing to Barbie. As she remembered about the poking feeling that Barbie mentioned, something cold came up to Flora’s spine. “You can choose to leave now, it’s up to you, you know?” he said, then moved his finger to her wrist.
Flora stared at her wrist, and then looked back at him. She thought about his threat, about what she had no clue about, and what she knew. And what she knew made what she didn’t know feel that much worse. She was losing control of the situation, and needed to do something.
<He is forcing you to choose.>
She heard her loud and clear. In fact, that came across as almost as if she thought about it on her own. And even better, she had no idea if it was Rose who said it, or her to herself. A familiar feeling returned, and it just as quickly had been taken away. It became obvious like no other.
“It isn’t a trap…he is trying to run away!” she declared.
The clown gritted his teeth, keeping that smile steady. Something told her he didn’t like her statement, nor how she pulled her arm back, and stared him straight into his eyes.
“Really? But…isn’t that good?” Barbie genuinely asked.
Before she could answer, Flora thought about it, because she needed to fully understand it. It was a feeling so overwhelming, it couldn’t be shaken away. This clown, he wanted to take the chance and run away before he could spill secrets, after so arbitrarily making many promises. After not following through with most. And now he was trying to bail out. At this point, not only was she being pressed by indignation, but also need to know more. She and Rose needed him to stay, and spill out everything containing behind that bug-ridden smile of his.
“Oh yeah, it is good,” Flora replied, though not in a way that Barbie thought she meant. The clown slowly let his smile rest, and pursed his eyebrows. “He is running away, because he knows he is going to loose!”
The clown’s head got cocked, at first, only for him to let out a raspberry.
“Wha- I- REALLY?! OI-HOHOHOHOHOHOHO!” The clown was heaving up and down, exaggeratingly pointing at her while looking at the “audience”, as in the wooden model on the benches near them. He then said, You think that’s it?! That I am afraid of losing a game to some, self-important brats? Well here’s a little secret, little girl, I’ve let you win! Because my job here, is to keep you busy! Destroying you is just a personal touch that I add to my work. Oi-Hohohohohohohoho! What a bunch of suckers! Oi-Hoho-!”
“You were hoping to break me,” Flora stated boisterously, words flowing through her mind like water, “and to break our bond! But instead, what you had done was made it stronger! We have come to understand each other closer! And you, out of your need to make us look like fools, you’ve allowed to risk your own standing as a knowledge broker! In the end, all you ever did here, was nothing, but help us, all the while chinking your master’s armor!”
The clown kept on grinning while she spoke, radiating annoyance throughout it.
“You cannot escape from this anymore, monster! Mayhap, you thought you wouldn’t ruin your master’s plan. It may be an unfeasible thought for you to even consider. For he is your lord and you are his loyal servant, which I understand well. However, what you’ve done was irreversible, and only showed the weakness not just of your character, but also of his rule. And that he taught you to only believe in power. From where I stand, all you know is power, and all you know is fear. But of course, you lust for destruction, as well. For you couldn’t comprehend the power of our bond, and more importantly, our desire to save this precious world your master wants to devour. But as all you did was not destroy this bond, but strengthen it, shows the futility of your so-called pride you had as a general of his army. And that, to you, is exactly the reason to escape. To save your own face. To turn away from your failure, as a coward would!”
As the last breath of her word escape, Flora finally felt like she could breathe again. She had no idea where it all came from, but that whole speech took a wind right out of her, but in the same way that kept her energized. She very much felt like going at it again, though with no idea about what.
The clown, once she finally noticed him, was standing with his teeth being grinded into dust. Every crevice in his face showed another sign of anger. Flora, for a moment, felt content about this, since she was hoping to get him angry and stay.
“Don’t…call…me…LOYAL…SERVAAAAAAAAANT!!!!” The roar was long, and practically earthshaking. Flora thought she was going to fall down from the loss of balance. She took a moment to gather herself, clown’s heavy breathing still buzzing by her ear, and slowly came to understand what he said.
“Umm…excuse me, what?” she asked.
“You boogers…HAVE NO CLUE…what is going on, huh? I…am giving you a CHANCE, and you’d rather…throw it away?”
Flora bit her lip for a moment, as something clicked in her head. She listened to Rose for a bit, to understand her next course of action.
Soon enough, she said, “ILet me repeat, that me aim here is to not let you go-“
“I don’t care,” the clown retorted in surprisingly calm tone. He turned around and pulled out three gigantic poles. “My time here is done and I-“
“And so you break your promise?” Flora egged on. They needed to keep him, no matter what it took. He knows about Lord Vaco and his troops, they need this information.
Without turning, the clown said, “Let me get that thought…” and snapped his fingers again.
Flora without missing a beat, ascended into the air. She remembered that the Torque was still here, and of course he would use it to keep them from running after him
“Oh princess…ever heard of phrase looking before you leap?” he said mockingly.
Flora’s looked at him in surprise, but then heard Azure yell at her from below. He was shouting about Fotia, and from there, she saw the whole picture clearly, and immediately dive forward. Fotia was still stuck, his tail feather pointing up into the air. Meanwhile, the Torque had resumed riding, and charged straight after the former.
She summoned an arrow, a very bright one, and pointed it at Fotia. The bugs buzzed prematurely, but she had already shot, the arrow hitting the ground, then bounce back up, only to suddenly grow in brilliant glow. This was enough to disorient the Torque, which she used to dash in after the boy.
The clown grinned and chuckled, remarking to himself, annoyedly, “Clever girl.” The bugs kept her from hitting it, so she used indirectly to keep it busy. But who cares about that, they were fools at the end of the day anyways. He got to do some false promises, bought some more time like Lord Vaco wished, and even got to be the last one to laugh. And so what, if they learned more of Lord Vaco? He didn’t care about that one bit. It might even be more amusing that way.
And so, he promptly began setting up the first pole, sticking it into the ground. Twisting its body, he heard the princess yell at the bird boy for getting himself stuck, while the Torque had stricken the sand with its body. With the pole reaching its certain height, the clown made his way to set up the second one.
“Mister Clown!”
He stopped and took a moment to recognize the voice of the lizard girl.
“You stink like a dung beetle! And…er…”
Was she trying to insult him? Of course he stunk, that was his main charm!
“Oi-Hohohohohohohoh! With jokes like this, I’d say you were flunked from clown school!” he exclaimed. He kept on giggling to himself while sticking the second pole into the ground. What a stupid little girl, trying to waste his time! Of course…he could just stay a little bit longer, just to make her more miserable…
But then again, he felt that he had something else to do. Something more important than this.
“Your friends don’t like you, not at all!” she tried again.
The clown rolled his eyes, then kept on twisting the pole to make it higher. Friends don’t like him? Like they cared when he died! They weren’t even that impressive themselves. He noticed from the corner of his eye how the princess saved the beaked brat, and they were in the middle of dodging the Torque. It seemed like his time was up. And since the pole got the right height, all he had to do was-
“You…are very loyal to Lord Vaco!”
The clown turned around, sighing heavily. There was neither a smile, nor a frown in his mug. Just a big thin line of pity. Was that really the best she could come up with? He wanted her to see exactly that what he was telling her. But then again, from where he stood and how she was positioned, she probably saw nothing.
Neither did he, for if he did, he would’ve seen her head hanging lower. Even she couldn’t be proud of her insult.
“I guess I failed,” Varvara finally admitted. This stung really hard, especially saying it out-loud. With her friend needing her the most, all she could do was one thing and she wasn’t even good at it.
<Do not worry, young Varvara, you simply do not know how to show your hate. That can be a good thing, too. Don’t you think?>
Varvara just exhaled, and looked out. Azure was with Flora, so she couldn’t ask him for help. The only thing he said was that to try to think backwards. That perhaps she should remember what she said last time that made the clown so mad. Which she sadly couldn’t remember at all. What a useless dumb-dumb she felt like.
<Cease your insults, especially that against yourself. We have not yet lost, for even that opportunity has yet to slip.>
Varvara kept quiet. She tried to think back on what she said one more time. And once again, her thoughts began to dwell. And although, previous times, she thought she could rty and copy Chester or Flora, this time, she just let it flow. And suddenly, a thought came to her.
“Maybe it doesn’t really bother him?” she said, not doing much to filter her stream of thought. “Maybe he died, but it wasn’t that big of a deal? I mean, he was angry, but maybe dying wasn’t all that bad, since he came back to life, I guess. I think he just overreacted back then.”
<What are you-> Zamarad tried reply, but then immediately showed worry.
It didn’t take long for Varvara to realize something was breathing down her neck.
“You…idiotic…brat…” he had a hoarse voice, nothing unlike he sounded before.
She felt a strong grip wrap on her head and forcefully pull her up. It was rather painful, especially since she couldn’t get it any higher. Nor could she see his face, luckily enough for her.
“I…will DESTROY you! And I will DESTROY your PARENTS, right after! THAT is a promise. How’s that SOUND, HUH!? DOES THAT SOUND AWFUL?! WANNA SEE WHAT”S DEATH LIKE!?”
Varvara did not say anything, letting his spit fly all over her scalp. Throughout this time, her grip was on her wrist, which then slipped after one more threat from him.
And then her spear shot from behind the board, and pierced into his heart.
…
Grymoire of Zero sequel...yes...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
…
Flora blinked twice, then she lowered her head, and turned side to side, to see if the others heard the same. Both Azure and Varvara had the same perplexed look to them as she did. This left her with no other choice, but to ask,
“What do you mean you are giving up!!?”
“I mean, I am giving up, my dear girl,” the clown said, as he made a show of his teeth. “I’m down for the count! I’m out of the game! No more of me!”
He put away the white flag, which seemingly disappeared as if by magic a moment later, then snapped his fingers. From afar, a huge wave of was kicked after the Torque forced itself into a stop. A small object got launched due to the force of inertia and landed beak first into a nearby sandy hill, whom everyone later realized, was actually Fotia.
“Now you can all go home now, shoo!” the clown said, gesturing them away.
Flora stood still in her place for few seconds, and then finally shook her head. Something was not adding up, and she was trying to make sense of it.
“So…that means we won? He gave up right?” Barbie asked, while still stuck.
“He is employing a trick, is he not?” Azure suggested. But Flora shook her head, just as Rose was doing it too.
“No,” she uttered. She watched the clown clapped his hands lightly, twice, to which the Torque immediately began riding to him. It all became too calm all of a sudden, like the ride had been halted. Maybe what Azure said was true, but something else was happening.
“Now, since I’ll be collecting my things, you don’t mind me taking look at your hand, princess?” the clown said, pointing at her wrist. The pair of bugs sticking tightly to her, buzzing only lightly. “Come on! I really need those things, you don’t want to be stuck with them, do you?” He waited a bit for Flora to move. When that didn’t happen, he stated in a very slow way, “You do know, that the longer you wait, the worse it’s going to be for your friend.”
Flora looked back at him, and she nearly instinctively raised her bow.
“What do you mean?” she asked. The clown laughed.
“Do you know what will happen to her, if keeps wearing that thing around her neck? Not very gooooood,” he said pointing to Barbie. As she remembered about the poking feeling that Barbie mentioned, something cold came up to Flora’s spine. “You can choose to leave now, it’s up to you, you know?” he said, then moved his finger to her wrist.
Flora stared at her wrist, and then looked back at him. She thought about his threat, about what she had no clue about, and what she knew. And what she knew made what she didn’t know feel that much worse. She was losing control of the situation, and needed to do something.
<He is forcing you to choose.>
She heard her loud and clear. In fact, that came across as almost as if she thought about it on her own. And even better, she had no idea if it was Rose who said it, or her to herself. A familiar feeling returned, and it just as quickly had been taken away. It became obvious like no other.
“It isn’t a trap…he is trying to run away!” she declared.
The clown gritted his teeth, keeping that smile steady. Something told her he didn’t like her statement, nor how she pulled her arm back, and stared him straight into his eyes.
“Really? But…isn’t that good?” Barbie genuinely asked.
Before she could answer, Flora thought about it, because she needed to fully understand it. It was a feeling so overwhelming, it couldn’t be shaken away. This clown, he wanted to take the chance and run away before he could spill secrets, after so arbitrarily making many promises. After not following through with most. And now he was trying to bail out. At this point, not only was she being pressed by indignation, but also need to know more. She and Rose needed him to stay, and spill out everything containing behind that bug-ridden smile of his.
“Oh yeah, it is good,” Flora replied, though not in a way that Barbie thought she meant. The clown slowly let his smile rest, and pursed his eyebrows. “He is running away, because he knows he is going to loose!”
The clown’s head got cocked, at first, only for him to let out a raspberry.
“Wha- I- REALLY?! OI-HOHOHOHOHOHOHO!” The clown was heaving up and down, exaggeratingly pointing at her while looking at the “audience”, as in the wooden model on the benches near them. He then said, You think that’s it?! That I am afraid of losing a game to some, self-important brats? Well here’s a little secret, little girl, I’ve let you win! Because my job here, is to keep you busy! Destroying you is just a personal touch that I add to my work. Oi-Hohohohohohohoho! What a bunch of suckers! Oi-Hoho-!”
“You were hoping to break me,” Flora stated boisterously, words flowing through her mind like water, “and to break our bond! But instead, what you had done was made it stronger! We have come to understand each other closer! And you, out of your need to make us look like fools, you’ve allowed to risk your own standing as a knowledge broker! In the end, all you ever did here, was nothing, but help us, all the while chinking your master’s armor!”
The clown kept on grinning while she spoke, radiating annoyance throughout it.
“You cannot escape from this anymore, monster! Mayhap, you thought you wouldn’t ruin your master’s plan. It may be an unfeasible thought for you to even consider. For he is your lord and you are his loyal servant, which I understand well. However, what you’ve done was irreversible, and only showed the weakness not just of your character, but also of his rule. And that he taught you to only believe in power. From where I stand, all you know is power, and all you know is fear. But of course, you lust for destruction, as well. For you couldn’t comprehend the power of our bond, and more importantly, our desire to save this precious world your master wants to devour. But as all you did was not destroy this bond, but strengthen it, shows the futility of your so-called pride you had as a general of his army. And that, to you, is exactly the reason to escape. To save your own face. To turn away from your failure, as a coward would!”
As the last breath of her word escape, Flora finally felt like she could breathe again. She had no idea where it all came from, but that whole speech took a wind right out of her, but in the same way that kept her energized. She very much felt like going at it again, though with no idea about what.
The clown, once she finally noticed him, was standing with his teeth being grinded into dust. Every crevice in his face showed another sign of anger. Flora, for a moment, felt content about this, since she was hoping to get him angry and stay.
“Don’t…call…me…LOYAL…SERVAAAAAAAAANT!!!!” The roar was long, and practically earthshaking. Flora thought she was going to fall down from the loss of balance. She took a moment to gather herself, clown’s heavy breathing still buzzing by her ear, and slowly came to understand what he said.
“Umm…excuse me, what?” she asked.
“You boogers…HAVE NO CLUE…what is going on, huh? I…am giving you a CHANCE, and you’d rather…throw it away?”
Flora bit her lip for a moment, as something clicked in her head. She listened to Rose for a bit, to understand her next course of action.
Soon enough, she said, “ILet me repeat, that me aim here is to not let you go-“
“I don’t care,” the clown retorted in surprisingly calm tone. He turned around and pulled out three gigantic poles. “My time here is done and I-“
“And so you break your promise?” Flora egged on. They needed to keep him, no matter what it took. He knows about Lord Vaco and his troops, they need this information.
Without turning, the clown said, “Let me get that thought…” and snapped his fingers again.
Flora without missing a beat, ascended into the air. She remembered that the Torque was still here, and of course he would use it to keep them from running after him
“Oh princess…ever heard of phrase looking before you leap?” he said mockingly.
Flora’s looked at him in surprise, but then heard Azure yell at her from below. He was shouting about Fotia, and from there, she saw the whole picture clearly, and immediately dive forward. Fotia was still stuck, his tail feather pointing up into the air. Meanwhile, the Torque had resumed riding, and charged straight after the former.
She summoned an arrow, a very bright one, and pointed it at Fotia. The bugs buzzed prematurely, but she had already shot, the arrow hitting the ground, then bounce back up, only to suddenly grow in brilliant glow. This was enough to disorient the Torque, which she used to dash in after the boy.
The clown grinned and chuckled, remarking to himself, annoyedly, “Clever girl.” The bugs kept her from hitting it, so she used indirectly to keep it busy. But who cares about that, they were fools at the end of the day anyways. He got to do some false promises, bought some more time like Lord Vaco wished, and even got to be the last one to laugh. And so what, if they learned more of Lord Vaco? He didn’t care about that one bit. It might even be more amusing that way.
And so, he promptly began setting up the first pole, sticking it into the ground. Twisting its body, he heard the princess yell at the bird boy for getting himself stuck, while the Torque had stricken the sand with its body. With the pole reaching its certain height, the clown made his way to set up the second one.
“Mister Clown!”
He stopped and took a moment to recognize the voice of the lizard girl.
“You stink like a dung beetle! And…er…”
Was she trying to insult him? Of course he stunk, that was his main charm!
“Oi-Hohohohohohohoh! With jokes like this, I’d say you were flunked from clown school!” he exclaimed. He kept on giggling to himself while sticking the second pole into the ground. What a stupid little girl, trying to waste his time! Of course…he could just stay a little bit longer, just to make her more miserable…
But then again, he felt that he had something else to do. Something more important than this.
“Your friends don’t like you, not at all!” she tried again.
The clown rolled his eyes, then kept on twisting the pole to make it higher. Friends don’t like him? Like they cared when he died! They weren’t even that impressive themselves. He noticed from the corner of his eye how the princess saved the beaked brat, and they were in the middle of dodging the Torque. It seemed like his time was up. And since the pole got the right height, all he had to do was-
“You…are very loyal to Lord Vaco!”
The clown turned around, sighing heavily. There was neither a smile, nor a frown in his mug. Just a big thin line of pity. Was that really the best she could come up with? He wanted her to see exactly that what he was telling her. But then again, from where he stood and how she was positioned, she probably saw nothing.
Neither did he, for if he did, he would’ve seen her head hanging lower. Even she couldn’t be proud of her insult.
“I guess I failed,” Varvara finally admitted. This stung really hard, especially saying it out-loud. With her friend needing her the most, all she could do was one thing and she wasn’t even good at it.
<Do not worry, young Varvara, you simply do not know how to show your hate. That can be a good thing, too. Don’t you think?>
Varvara just exhaled, and looked out. Azure was with Flora, so she couldn’t ask him for help. The only thing he said was that to try to think backwards. That perhaps she should remember what she said last time that made the clown so mad. Which she sadly couldn’t remember at all. What a useless dumb-dumb she felt like.
<Cease your insults, especially that against yourself. We have not yet lost, for even that opportunity has yet to slip.>
Varvara kept quiet. She tried to think back on what she said one more time. And once again, her thoughts began to dwell. And although, previous times, she thought she could rty and copy Chester or Flora, this time, she just let it flow. And suddenly, a thought came to her.
“Maybe it doesn’t really bother him?” she said, not doing much to filter her stream of thought. “Maybe he died, but it wasn’t that big of a deal? I mean, he was angry, but maybe dying wasn’t all that bad, since he came back to life, I guess. I think he just overreacted back then.”
<What are you-> Zamarad tried reply, but then immediately showed worry.
It didn’t take long for Varvara to realize something was breathing down her neck.
“You…idiotic…brat…” he had a hoarse voice, nothing unlike he sounded before.
She felt a strong grip wrap on her head and forcefully pull her up. It was rather painful, especially since she couldn’t get it any higher. Nor could she see his face, luckily enough for her.
“I…will DESTROY you! And I will DESTROY your PARENTS, right after! THAT is a promise. How’s that SOUND, HUH!? DOES THAT SOUND AWFUL?! WANNA SEE WHAT”S DEATH LIKE!?”
Varvara did not say anything, letting his spit fly all over her scalp. Throughout this time, her grip was on her wrist, which then slipped after one more threat from him.
And then her spear shot from behind the board, and pierced into his heart.
…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
…
Flora blinked twice, then she lowered her head, and turned side to side, to see if the others heard the same. Both Azure and Varvara had the same perplexed look to them as she did. This left her with no other choice, but to ask,
“What do you mean you are giving up!!?”
“I mean, I am giving up, my dear girl,” the clown said, as he made a show of his teeth. “I’m down for the count! I’m out of the game! No more of me!”
He put away the white flag, which seemingly disappeared as if by magic a moment later, then snapped his fingers. From afar, a huge wave of was kicked after the Torque forced itself into a stop. A small object got launched due to the force of inertia and landed beak first into a nearby sandy hill, whom everyone later realized, was actually Fotia.
“Now you can all go home now, shoo!” the clown said, gesturing them away.
Flora stood still in her place for few seconds, and then finally shook her head. Something was not adding up, and she was trying to make sense of it.
“So…that means we won? He gave up right?” Barbie asked, while still stuck.
“He is employing a trick, is he not?” Azure suggested. But Flora shook her head, just as Rose was doing it too.
“No,” she uttered. She watched the clown clapped his hands lightly, twice, to which the Torque immediately began riding to him. It all became too calm all of a sudden, like the ride had been halted. Maybe what Azure said was true, but something else was happening.
“Now, since I’ll be collecting my things, you don’t mind me taking look at your hand, princess?” the clown said, pointing at her wrist. The pair of bugs sticking tightly to her, buzzing only lightly. “Come on! I really need those things, you don’t want to be stuck with them, do you?” He waited a bit for Flora to move. When that didn’t happen, he stated in a very slow way, “You do know, that the longer you wait, the worse it’s going to be for your friend.”
Flora looked back at him, and she nearly instinctively raised her bow.
“What do you mean?” she asked. The clown laughed.
“Do you know what will happen to her, if keeps wearing that thing around her neck? Not very gooooood,” he said pointing to Barbie. As she remembered about the poking feeling that Barbie mentioned, something cold came up to Flora’s spine. “You can choose to leave now, it’s up to you, you know?” he said, then moved his finger to her wrist.
Flora stared at her wrist, and then looked back at him. She thought about his threat, about what she had no clue about, and what she knew. And what she knew made what she didn’t know feel that much worse. She was losing control of the situation, and needed to do something.
<He is forcing you to choose.>
She heard her loud and clear. In fact, that came across as almost as if she thought about it on her own. And even better, she had no idea if it was Rose who said it, or her to herself. A familiar feeling returned, and it just as quickly had been taken away. It became obvious like no other.
“It isn’t a trap…he is trying to run away!” she declared.
The clown gritted his teeth, keeping that smile steady. Something told her he didn’t like her statement, nor how she pulled her arm back, and stared him straight into his eyes.
“Really? But…isn’t that good?” Barbie genuinely asked.
Before she could answer, Flora thought about it, because she needed to fully understand it. It was a feeling so overwhelming, it couldn’t be shaken away. This clown, he wanted to take the chance and run away before he could spill secrets, after so arbitrarily making many promises. After not following through with most. And now he was trying to bail out. At this point, not only was she being pressed by indignation, but also need to know more. She and Rose needed him to stay, and spill out everything containing behind that bug-ridden smile of his.
“Oh yeah, it is good,” Flora replied, though not in a way that Barbie thought she meant. The clown slowly let his smile rest, and pursed his eyebrows. “He is running away, because he knows he is going to loose!”
The clown’s head got cocked, at first, only for him to let out a raspberry.
“Wha- I- REALLY?! OI-HOHOHOHOHOHOHO!” The clown was heaving up and down, exaggeratingly pointing at her while looking at the “audience”, as in the wooden model on the benches near them. He then said, You think that’s it?! That I am afraid of losing a game to some, self-important brats? Well here’s a little secret, little girl, I’ve let you win! Because my job here, is to keep you busy! Destroying you is just a personal touch that I add to my work. Oi-Hohohohohohohoho! What a bunch of suckers! Oi-Hoho-!”
“You were hoping to break me,” Flora stated boisterously, words flowing through her mind like water, “and to break our bond! But instead, what you had done was made it stronger! We have come to understand each other closer! And you, out of your need to make us look like fools, you’ve allowed to risk your own standing as a knowledge broker! In the end, all you ever did here, was nothing, but help us, all the while chinking your master’s armor!”
The clown kept on grinning while she spoke, radiating annoyance throughout it.
“You cannot escape from this anymore, monster! Mayhap, you thought you wouldn’t ruin your master’s plan. It may be an unfeasible thought for you to even consider. For he is your lord and you are his loyal servant, which I understand well. However, what you’ve done was irreversible, and only showed the weakness not just of your character, but also of his rule. And that he taught you to only believe in power. From where I stand, all you know is power, and all you know is fear. But of course, you lust for destruction, as well. For you couldn’t comprehend the power of our bond, and more importantly, our desire to save this precious world your master wants to devour. But as all you did was not destroy this bond, but strengthen it, shows the futility of your so-called pride you had as a general of his army. And that, to you, is exactly the reason to escape. To save your own face. To turn away from your failure, as a coward would!”
As the last breath of her word escape, Flora finally felt like she could breathe again. She had no idea where it all came from, but that whole speech took a wind right out of her, but in the same way that kept her energized. She very much felt like going at it again, though with no idea about what.
The clown, once she finally noticed him, was standing with his teeth being grinded into dust. Every crevice in his face showed another sign of anger. Flora, for a moment, felt content about this, since she was hoping to get him angry and stay.
“Don’t…call…me…LOYAL…SERVAAAAAAAAANT!!!!” The roar was long, and practically earthshaking. Flora thought she was going to fall down from the loss of balance. She took a moment to gather herself, clown’s heavy breathing still buzzing by her ear, and slowly came to understand what he said.
“Umm…excuse me, what?” she asked.
“You boogers…HAVE NO CLUE…what is going on, huh? I…am giving you a CHANCE, and you’d rather…throw it away?”
Flora bit her lip for a moment, as something clicked in her head. She listened to Rose for a bit, to understand her next course of action.
Soon enough, she said, “ILet me repeat, that me aim here is to not let you go-“
“I don’t care,” the clown retorted in surprisingly calm tone. He turned around and pulled out three gigantic poles. “My time here is done and I-“
“And so you break your promise?” Flora egged on. They needed to keep him, no matter what it took. He knows about Lord Vaco and his troops, they need this information.
Without turning, the clown said, “Let me get that thought…” and snapped his fingers again.
Flora without missing a beat, ascended into the air. She remembered that the Torque was still here, and of course he would use it to keep them from running after him
“Oh princess…ever heard of phrase looking before you leap?” he said mockingly.
Flora’s looked at him in surprise, but then heard Azure yell at her from below. He was shouting about Fotia, and from there, she saw the whole picture clearly, and immediately dive forward. Fotia was still stuck, his tail feather pointing up into the air. Meanwhile, the Torque had resumed riding, and charged straight after the former.
She summoned an arrow, a very bright one, and pointed it at Fotia. The bugs buzzed prematurely, but she had already shot, the arrow hitting the ground, then bounce back up, only to suddenly grow in brilliant glow. This was enough to disorient the Torque, which she used to dash in after the boy.
The clown grinned and chuckled, remarking to himself, annoyedly, “Clever girl.” The bugs kept her from hitting it, so she used indirectly to keep it busy. But who cares about that, they were fools at the end of the day anyways. He got to do some false promises, bought some more time like Lord Vaco wished, and even got to be the last one to laugh. And so what, if they learned more of Lord Vaco? He didn’t care about that one bit. It might even be more amusing that way.
And so, he promptly began setting up the first pole, sticking it into the ground. Twisting its body, he heard the princess yell at the bird boy for getting himself stuck, while the Torque had stricken the sand with its body. With the pole reaching its certain height, the clown made his way to set up the second one.
“Mister Clown!”
He stopped and took a moment to recognize the voice of the lizard girl.
“You stink like a dung beetle! And…er…”
Was she trying to insult him? Of course he stunk, that was his main charm!
“Oi-Hohohohohohohoh! With jokes like this, I’d say you were flunked from clown school!” he exclaimed. He kept on giggling to himself while sticking the second pole into the ground. What a stupid little girl, trying to waste his time! Of course…he could just stay a little bit longer, just to make her more miserable…
But then again, he felt that he had something else to do. Something more important than this.
“Your friends don’t like you, not at all!” she tried again.
The clown rolled his eyes, then kept on twisting the pole to make it higher. Friends don’t like him? Like they cared when he died! They weren’t even that impressive themselves. He noticed from the corner of his eye how the princess saved the beaked brat, and they were in the middle of dodging the Torque. It seemed like his time was up. And since the pole got the right height, all he had to do was-
“You…are very loyal to Lord Vaco!”
The clown turned around, sighing heavily. There was neither a smile, nor a frown in his mug. Just a big thin line of pity. Was that really the best she could come up with? He wanted her to see exactly that what he was telling her. But then again, from where he stood and how she was positioned, she probably saw nothing.
Neither did he, for if he did, he would’ve seen her head hanging lower. Even she couldn’t be proud of her insult.
“I guess I failed,” Varvara finally admitted. This stung really hard, especially saying it out-loud. With her friend needing her the most, all she could do was one thing and she wasn’t even good at it.
<Do not worry, young Varvara, you simply do not know how to show your hate. That can be a good thing, too. Don’t you think?>
Varvara just exhaled, and looked out. Azure was with Flora, so she couldn’t ask him for help. The only thing he said was that to try to think backwards. That perhaps she should remember what she said last time that made the clown so mad. Which she sadly couldn’t remember at all. What a useless dumb-dumb she felt like.
<Cease your insults, especially that against yourself. We have not yet lost, for even that opportunity has yet to slip.>
Varvara kept quiet. She tried to think back on what she said one more time. And once again, her thoughts began to dwell. And although, previous times, she thought she could rty and copy Chester or Flora, this time, she just let it flow. And suddenly, a thought came to her.
“Maybe it doesn’t really bother him?” she said, not doing much to filter her stream of thought. “Maybe he died, but it wasn’t that big of a deal? I mean, he was angry, but maybe dying wasn’t all that bad, since he came back to life, I guess. I think he just overreacted back then.”
<What are you-> Zamarad tried reply, but then immediately showed worry.
It didn’t take long for Varvara to realize something was breathing down her neck.
“You…idiotic…brat…” he had a hoarse voice, nothing unlike he sounded before.
She felt a strong grip wrap on her head and forcefully pull her up. It was rather painful, especially since she couldn’t get it any higher. Nor could she see his face, luckily enough for her.
“I…will DESTROY you! And I will DESTROY your PARENTS, right after! THAT is a promise. How’s that SOUND, HUH!? DOES THAT SOUND AWFUL?! WANNA SEE WHAT”S DEATH LIKE!?”
Varvara did not say anything, letting his spit fly all over her scalp. Throughout this time, her grip was on her wrist, which then slipped after one more threat from him.
And then her spear shot from behind the board, and pierced into his heart.
…
Category Story / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Gender Any
Size 120 x 120px
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