TechieWings Side Quest: Into the Unknown

== What is a Side Quest? (Copy + paste this into other Side Quest fanfics) ==
A Side Quest is a fanfic with 2+PoVs, but not actually a canon book, but not a Legends book either.
This story takes place 1 week after the end of TechieLegends: Netflix, after Netflix’s death.
PoVs:
* Serpent
* Solar System Scope
* ???
== Chapter 1 ==
Serpent
Serpent furiously paced around the room, with Reaper in the corner, standing still as a stone. Serpent was angry and sad at the same time. He didn’t know what to feel. He still couldn’t get over his sister’s death.
Netflix was impulsive, and acted out of anger, but she could be a good team player if you got her to be one. No one else except Geometry Dash and himself seemed to care about her. He wasn’t sure about Reaper, though.
Reaper was always silent, like X, the dragon who “inherited” his sister’s stronghold. X looked like Netflix, except his wings and eyes were different. He only communicated through gestures.
There was a tap at the door outside. X opened the door to his room, and made a gesture that said, It’s GD. He’s here to see you.
Let him in, Serpent gestured.
Geometry Dash walked into the room, with dark circles underneath his eyes. He was mourning for Netflix a lot these days.
“Hey, GD,” Serpent said.
”Hey.” He stood next to Serpent, his blue eyes full of sorrow. “I just wanted to check on how you’re doing.”
”I could say the same thing, GD, and I’m not really doing fine. I don’t know how to feel right now.”
”Hey, I feel the same thing.”
”Why?”
”Because I know my family’s also broken as well.”
“How?”
GD shrugged. “Creator’s isolated himself, and my dragonets fight a lot more often. Even Stereo Madness is getting into fights.”
Stereo Madness was one of GD’s dragonets, and he was the kindest of all of them. Serpent couldn’t imagine him just getting into fights so often.
GD straightened himself out. “I also have something to tell you.”
Serpent tilted his head at him. “What?”
”Netflix was my sister, too.”
== Chapter 2 ==
Solar System Scope
Triple S touched his “black hole” eye. It purred slightly, and it felt warm. 
You can come out now, he told it. 
It hopped out of its socket, and he fed it. 
Everyone knew that he has exceptional eyesight probably because of the “black hole” eye. 
But no one would ever think that the eye could be a sort of pet. 
Creator had fashioned it for him long ago, about 20 years ago, in 3,000 AS, when he discovered that he was missing an eye. 
The eye hopped back into the socket, and purred. 
Just then, there was a knock on the door. 
It was Plague Inc, with a grim expression on her face. 
“What is it?” he asked. 
“You know the answer,” she answered. 
“Oh, yeah, Netflix,” he said casually. ”But why-” 
“I know, yeah, I’m not really supposed to care. But have you seen the impact on Geometry Dash?” 
“No.” 
Plague Inc looked like she was about to slap him. “What have you been living under, a rock? GD is now more confined, more private.” 
As he watched, her eyes seemed to turn pale green, then back to pale pink. 
“The point is,” she continued, “that Netflix must have meant something to him.” 
“What do you mean? He likes everyone.” 
“Yeah, well, would GD lock himself away for a week just because some random TechieWing died?” 
“Good point.” 
“Listen, you’ve got to go. You have to invade X’s fortress and find out what’s going on.” 
“Got it.” 
As Triple S climbed out of the hatch, he wondered about Plague Inc. 
Something about her seemed...off. 
What was that? 
== Chapter 3 ==
??? 
I opened one eye, and looked around. 
Several dragons were standing in a circle, all of which I didn’t know. 
One wore a black cloak, another had a sniper rifle strapped to her back, one was green, with flares of orange on her wings and ruff, and purple eyes and an ugly scar along one of them. 
Another seemed to have lava flowing through his veins, and another was like him, except half of him was black with red eyes. 
There were more, but they were shrouded in shadows. 
“Why have you called us here?” the one with the sniper rifle said. 
“You know the answer, NC,” the one with the black cloak answered. 
“Don’t play games with me, Skull.” NC snapped. 
“Shut up, NC,” the green one said. “We’re here because there’s a new member of our gang.” 
“New member?” NC said sarcastically. “Who?” 
“Let me guess,” I said. “It’s me.” 
“Yes, it’s you, Bloodlust,” Skull said with a nod. 
“But I thought she was-” NC started. 
“You can call her whatever you want to call her,” the green one snapped. “Just tell us who we are first.” 
“Okay,” NC said, and took a breath. “I’m NC, this is Glory V, that’s Skull, that’s Needle, that’s Lavarock, that’s Shadow, and that’s Volcano.” 
“What happened? I died?” I asked. 
“Yes, you died,” the green one-Glory V-said. “We’ve all died at least once in our lives, haven’t we?” 
Everyone nodded. 
“What do you mean?” I asked. 
She shrugged. “Hard to describe. The point is, you’re one of us now. We’re going to give you a second chance.” 
“You are? You can?” I asked hopefully. 
“Yes, we can, but just once.” she said with a grin. “Ready? But first, tell me your nickname.” 
“Sure.” And I said it. 
== Chapter 4 ==
Serpent 
Serpent stared at Geometry Dash. “You’re her sister, too?” 
GD shrugged. “Yeah. No one told you?” 
“No!” 
“We’re twins, as well. That’s why we look so similar.” 
Serpent felt like his head was about to explode. Netflix was Geometry Dash’s sister. GD and Serpent were twins. 
In the corner, Reaper was squirming a little. 
“I know it’s a lot to take in,” GD said finally, after a long silence. “but it’s the truth. My sister never was sane. Some Techies are just glad she’s dead, after all of the dragons she’s killed.” 
It felt strange for GD to refer to Netflix as his sister. He was always kind, but he couldn’t imagine a murderer as his sister. Serpent recalled that night on the cliff. 
Netflix was crying at the edge of the cliff. 
She looked up at him when he approached her. 
“I killed him,” she said. “I killed GD. 
“It’s all right,” Serpent said. “He’s only-” 
“It’s not all right!” Netflix shouted. “I never actually went this far before, and now it feels terrible.” 
“But-” 
“You’re a fool, Serpent,” Netflix said bitterly. “A murderer is always a murderer, but the last victim she always has is herself.” 
And with that, she jumped off the edge of the cliff, plummeting to her death. 
In the corner, Reaper continued to squirm. 
“What’s up with him?” Serpent asked, gesturing to Reaper. 
“I don’t know,” GD said. “Let’s go check it out.” 
And sure enough, beneath Reaper, there were two objects. 
They were oddly shaped: curved like an oval and pointed at the top. 
Serpent then realized what these were. He glanced at GD, and he could tell that he was thinking the same thing. 
They were eggs. 
Netflix had eggs with Reaper, and she never told him. 
== Chapter 5 ==
Solar System Scope
As Triple S ran to X’s fortress, he thought about Plague Inc. 
He remembered those pale green eyes, that seemed to stare right through him when he looked at them. 
He put his ear against the door and listened intently. 
“I know it’s a lot to take in,” Geometry Dash’s voice was saying. “but it’s the truth. My sister never was sane. Some Techies are just glad she’s dead, after all of the dragons she’s killed.” 
Triple S’s head was spinning. Geometry Dash was in X’s base, and his sister-doesn't it mean Netflix? 
After a long silence, Serpent’s voice said, “What’s up with him?” 
“I don’t know,” GD said. “Let’s go check it out.” 
Oh no, Triple S thought. I’ve been seen. 
He ran back to the hatch, and reported to Plague Inc. 
“Makes sense,” she said. “I’ve always suspected that GD was related to Netflix.” 
“You have?” 
“Yes, I have.” She seemed to become transparent, with her skeleton showing, like Triple S was seeing right through her. “Did you see X?” 
“No.” 
“All right,” Plague Inc said with a wave of her hand, and her scales turned back to normal. “I’m going to head out.” 
As she closed the hatch behind her, Triple S was even more puzzled about Plague Inc. 
Who is she? 
== Chapter 6 ==
??? 
As I watched Plague Inc climb out of the hatch and approached me, I kept my face neutral. Geometry Dash was also coming out of X’s base. 
I summoned up a black abyss, hiding everyone from the others. 
“Why, hello, Bloodlust,” Plague Inc said, her piercing pale green eyes glittering against her transparent scales. The biohazard symbol on her forehead was gone as well. 
“Tartarus,” I said, staring straight at her. “We meet again.” 
“Shut up, Bloodlust,” Geometry Dash snapped, his pale green eyes glittering malevolently against his yellow scales, with the letters GD gone from his forehead. “We’re only here to take what is ours.” 
“Ours who, Acheron?” I snarled. “Your so-called sister locked me away for nearly a thousand years!” 
“So? You deserved it!” Tartarus shouted. “It was your fault you were an idiot.” 
“So what? It was your idea to invade this pathetic excuse for a continent!” I snapped. 
“I didn’t like the plan either,” Acheron said. 
“Me neither, but we had to do it,” Tartarus said. 
“I swear,” I snarled, “If you don’t give up now, I’ll assemble an army. I’ll massacre you. I’ll disembowel you. I’ll kill all of you, with no one left alive. I will cause the end of the world.” 
“Really,” Acheron said sarcastically. 
“Shut up,” I snapped. 
“I’ve got to go,” Tartarus said, her pale green eyes turning back to pale pink. “I’ll raise suspicions if I stay here any longer.” 
“Me too,” Acheron said. 
“Me three,” I grumbled, and closed the abyss. 
== Chapter 7 ==
Serpent
Serpent felt betrayed.
Netflix had eggs with Reaper, and he never told him.
As they hatched with Reaper next to him, three dragonets climbed out of their eggs.
One had one red eye and one gray eye, with claws as sharp as knives.
Another had Netflix’s eyes, but some scales were transparent so some bones showed.
The third had gray eyes, and its scales were red-hot.
“I know exactly what to name them,” a voice said next to him.
Reaper’s talking, Serpent thought.
The one with sharp claws was named Death, the one with the transparent scales was named Ghost, and the one with gray eyes was named Darkness.
“You’ve probably never heard me speak before,” Reaper said calmly. “I know. Netflix and I were both defects. We both seemed to come out wrong.”
“What do you mean?” Serpent asked.
“Netflix’s colors were swapped, and her powers were over the top. I couldn’t speak until I was twenty. I got used to it when I turned ten, and didn’t notice the change until now.”
“But-”
“I know what you’re going to say. Why did Netflix have eggs with me? Because I wished I could speak, and I hoped that if I had dragonets, I would be able to be entertained for a while. Netflix was thinking the same thing, so we did it together.”
“Why were the eggs so large?”
Reaper shrugged. “Another one of Netflix’s defects. Apparently her dragonets wouldn’t hatch until they turned five.”
“How do you know all of this?”
“Observations. A lot of things become clear if you stay silent for a moment.”
“Hey, where’s GD?”
”Told you,” Reaper said with a grin.
== Chapter 8 ==
Triple S
As Triple S climbed out of the hatch, he was shocked at what he saw.
Three dragons were gathered in a black sphere.
One of them looked like Plague Inc, but her scales were transparent, and her eyes were pale green.
The other one was like GD, but with pale green eyes, and without the letters GD on his forehead.
The last one looked like-
Netflix?
The third looked like Netflix, except she had three horns instead of two. Blood was dripping from her teeth and her eyes were bloodshot.
She looked completely insane.
He moved closer to hear what was going on.
“Why, hello, Bloodlust,” Plague Inc was saying.
Bloodlust? Triple S thought.
“Tartarus,” Netflix said, baring her bloodstained teeth at her. “We meet again.”
“Shut up, Bloodlust,” Geometry Dash snapped. “We’re only here to take what is ours.”
“Ours who, Acheron?” Netflix snarled. “Your so-called sister locked me away for nearly a thousand years!”
“So? You deserved it!” Plague Inc shouted. “It was your fault you were an idiot.”
“So what? It was your idea to invade this pathetic excuse for a continent!” Netflix snapped.
“I didn’t like the plan either,” GD said.
“Me neither, but we had to do it,” Plague Inc said.
“I swear,” Netflix snarled, “If you don’t give up now, I’ll assemble an army. I’ll massacre you. I’ll disembowel you. I’ll kill all of you, with no one left alive. I will cause the end of the world.”
“Really,” GD said sarcastically.
“Shut up,” she snapped.
“I’ve got to go,” Plague Inc said, her pale green eyes turning back to pale pink. “I’ll raise suspicions if I stay here any longer.”
“Me too,” GD said.
“Me three,” Netflix grumbled, and closed the abyss.
As Triple S got back into the bunker, his head was spinning form what he had just witnessed.
Bloodlust?
Tartarus?
Acheron?
Who are they?
== Chapter 9 ==
???
As I headed north, I thought about those two disgusting dragons.
Tartarus and Acheron, I thought. It’s been 1,000 years, and they haven’t learned anything.
Acheron was always influenced by that good-for-nothing Arcturus. Arcturus was always filling his head with terrible ideas. Acheron makes his own choices, but Arcturus does most of the stuff behind the scenes.
Tartarus is even worse. I trusted her. But in the end, she’s no better than Acheron.
She betrayed me.
“Bloodlust?” A voice rang in my head.
“NC?” I asked.
“Did you have fun with Acheron?”
“What do you think?” I grumbled.
“I know how you feel. Arcturus, Acheron, and Tartarus are a nasty bunch. Listen, get back to base if you want to talk.”
“How?”
“Just think it.”
I pictured being back with the group. And there she was, NC was standing in front of me. I couldn’t help but notice the…thing in the shadows.
It vaguely had the shape of a dragon, but with jagged scales and red eyes that glowed malevolently in the dark. It was eating something that I really didn’t want to know.
“Oh, that’s Demon,” NC said casually. “He’s a lot like you, with your lust for blood. Like you, he was imprisoned for a while, and then we freed him. We wrote down our research on him in this scroll.”
NC handed me a scroll. I opened it and started reading.
Demon’s egg was animus-touched to be immortal and never die, no matter what, to be immune to any other animus magic, and to top it off, his power was above any other dragon’s. Demon was born in 666 AS, long before Darkstalker or the TechieWings. As Demon grew up, he broke away from his five siblings and confined himself for nearly 500 years. When he came out, it was clear he had lost his mind, even without animus magic.
In 1,350 AS, he found out that his egg was animus-touched, and discovered that the animus was already dead. His curse was permanent.
In a fit of utter insanity, Demon imprisoned himself away to wake every 1,000 years to cause a disaster. In 1,666 AS, the landmass originally known as the DashLands sank under the sea, killing nearly all of the inhabitants.
In 2,666 AS, Demon caused an earthquake soon followed by a tsunami so large that about three quarters of the landmass now known as Tech Island shattered into several thousand islands.
In 3,000 AS, Demon was tired of all this madness. He vowed that at 6,666 AS, he would cause a world disaster.
But he wouldn’t do it alone.
I closed the scroll.
“How do you know all of this?” I asked NC.
She shrugged. “Technology. Don’t ask how we got it.”
I didn’t want to know either.“So Demon can’t die, and he’s completely insane, and to top it off, his powers are through the roof?”
“Looks like it.”
“Wouldn’t the TechieWings have noticed if their island broke into a thousand parts?”
“Know your history correctly, Bloodlust. You were created in 2,500 AS, but you weren’t there when it happened. The TechieWings were created in 3,006 AS. It happened thirty-four years before the first TechieWing.”
“It’s currently 3,023 AS, and it’s 643 years until he causes another disaster. Why is he awake now?”
“We ‘woke him up,’ as Skull put it, because we need more power in our team.”
“Power for what?” I asked
“You don’t want to know,” NC answered grimly.
== Chapter 10 ==
Serpent
Serpent headed over to Geometry Dash’s house, and looked through the window.
His dragonets were arguing.
“This doesn’t make sense,” xStep was saying. “How can GD be two dragons at once?”
“Nothing makes sense,” Polargeist snapped. “Suddenly GD’s sister is dead, and the Techies just act like nothing ever happened. Either they don’t care, or they missed it.”
“No one cares!” Electrodynamix shouted. “Why should they? When she was alive, dragons spread false rumors about her. No one liked her, beginning to end.”
False rumors? Serpent thought.
“Shut up!” Stereo Madness yelled. “Just shut up! I liked her, but does my opinion matter?”
“Yes-” Theory of Everything started.
“No!” he roared. “You all just treat me like a baby, because I’m one of the youngest of all of us.”
“He’s snapped,” Dry Out muttered.
“You bet I’ve snapped!” he shouted. “I don’t want to be like Active, but it seems like I have to!”
“Active was insane!” Fingerdash roared. “He killed our ancestors! He’s still alive because he was cursed!”
“I’m not cursed, but I can go insane,” Stereo Madness said bitterly. “Active was forgotten because he was dangerous. Now where are we? Thousands are dragons are killed because he was removed. He snapped. Now I’ve snapped! So now what are you going to do?”
“We can-” Deadlocked started, but stopped as Stereo Madness drew a knife.
Serpent ran back to X’s base, having a terrible feeling on what happened next.
Who’s Active?
== Chapter 11 ==
Triple S
Triple S flopped into his sleeping area, and thought about what just happened.
Netflix was arguing with Plague Inc and GD.
Wait a second.
Netflix is alive?
To clear his mind, he pulled out a book filled with pictures of GD and his dragonets.
He opened it, and the bookmarked page had a strange picture.
GD and his dragonets were in the picture, and Triple S counted them.
One, two…thirty-eight, thirty-NINE?
He sat up, and recounted them.
Thirty-nine exactly.
Aren’t there thirty-eight of them? he thought.
He tried naming them all.
Stereo Madness,  Back on Track,…Explorers, Firebird, …
His claw landed on a black dragonet with red eyes. He looked like Netflix. But he couldn’t name him.
Who is this?
“That’s Active,” a familiar voice said from behind him.
He froze. Slowly, he turned around.
It was Netflix, but not Netflix at the same time.
“Netflix?” Triple S asked.
She laughed. “No,” she answered with a grin, “I’m Bloodlust.”
“But why do you look like-” he started.
“Netflix?” Bloodlust said. “I was Netflix, but this ‘Netflix’ didn’t really exist. Neither did Plague Inc or Geometry Dash.”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “Long story. So I know Active. Why are you surprised?”
“You never-”
“Looked at GD’s dragonets? I know him. We’ve met before.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. But Active isn’t himself anymore. The smiling dragonet in your pictures is gone now. He’s also not known as ‘Active’ anymore.”
“So-”
“Active is gone. He named himself ‘Demon,’ because of his insanity. His power was through the roof, and his egg was animus-touched so that he couldn’t die, and would be immune to any other animus magic. Active got angry at his nonexistent sanity, and locked himself away. Every thousand years, he would cause a disaster. He vowed that when he turned 6,000 years old, he would cause a world disaster.”
“But-” Triple S started, but Bloodlust cut him off again.
“Listen, I’ve got to go. See you soon, Solar.”
And with that, she left.
== Chapter 12 ==
???
Well, that wasn’t awkward at all, I thought as I closed the hatch behind me, and headed back to base.
“So how did it go?” NC asked, the barrel of her sniper rifle gleaming in the light.
“Fine,” I answered. “We’re all pretty old, but we don’t know it, right?”
She shrugged. “Yeah. I’m 2,523 years old, Skull is 2,973, and Demon is 2,357. You’re 523, and Needle is 2,023.”
“Are you sure?”
“Are you sure you hatched in 2,500 AS?” NC answered. “I’m sure. Seems impossible, but it just is.”
“So you hatched in 500 AS, Skull in 50 AS, and Needle in 1,000 AS?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded. “Where did you get your sniper rifle?”
“I got it from a different tribe. There’s a lot more tribes than you think.”
“Like what?”
“FlameWings, LavaWings,” NC counted on her claws. “TimeWings, PhoenixWings, et cetera. There’s around 15 of them.”
“What tribe are you?”
“None of those 15.” She laughed. “I’m a RainWing, believe it or not. Either other dragons know this, or they just say that I’m a hybrid. Both answers are just half of the truth.”
“And the truth is…?”
She shrugged. “I’m more of a half-hybrid. Half RainWing, half hybrid. But I’m just primarily a RainWing.”
“So how did you find me or Demon?”
“Technology again, but we had a hard time breaking into your files, because your file had two names; ‘Netflix,’ and ‘Bloodlust.’ Then the creator of the file put in some code to make it look like it was corrupted, but it was actually intact. We had the same problem with Demon. The two names were ‘Active’ and ‘Demon.’ The file was actually corrupted, so we had to piece together some background information to find him. But the real question is…”
“What?”
“What are your origin stories?”
== Chapter 13 ==
Serpent
“Reaper, do you know anything about someone named Active?” Serpent asked Reaper.
“Yes, I do,” Reaper answered, with a concerned expression on his face. “Why are you asking?”
“Stereo Madness was arguing with the other dragonets,” Serpent said, and Reaper flinched.
“Stereo Madness?” Reaper asked. “Isn’t he the kindest of all of them?”
“That’s him. He’s finally snapped. He was arguing with the others about Active when he drew a knife. I ran back here to ask you about Active.”
“Right, Active,” Reaper said. “Active was an ordinary dragonet, but then he discovered that his egg was animus-touched so that he couldn’t die, and any other animus magic would have no effect on him. His power was through the roof, and Active got angry at his immortality, and locked himself away. Every thousand years, he would cause a disaster. He vowed that when he turned 6,000 years old, he would cause a world disaster. And-” He stopped.
“What?”
“Did you say that Stereo Madness drew a knife?”
“Yes,” Serpent said concerningly. “Why?”
“This base didn’t originally belong to Netflix. It was destroyed, but Netflix rebuilt it.”
“Let me guess,” Serpent said. “It was Active’s.”
“Right,” Reaper said. “And Netflix replicated it perfectly, including the countdown clock that Active put in.”
“What clock?”
Reaper pointed to a clock in the wall that read the following:
3643
YEARS TO DOOMSDAY
“Very ominous,” Serpent remarked.
“Ominous indeed,” Reaper agreed. “This marks the countdown to zero, in 6,666 AS, when Active, now called Demon, will cause a world disaster, possibly wiping everyone out.”
“But why?”
“Active was insane, because he confined himself away from everyone else for 500 years. My guess is that sometimes Active comes to his senses, and he realizes that the dragons of the world can do terrible things, so he’s thinking of clearing the world like a slate, possibly killing himself in the process.”
Serpent looked back at the clock. “3,643 years? That’s a long time to wait.”
Reaper raised an eyebrow at him. “Sure, we’re not even halfway there yet, but nearly everyone who knows about Active lives their years like they’re their last. Next thing you know, the counter’s at zero and Active wipes everyone out. Also…”
“What?”
“They say Active’s creator is alive somewhere in the world.”
“He died?”
“Of course.” Reaper picked up some rocks. “Enchant these rocks to create a trail to X’s base, leading Demon’s creator here.”
To Serpent’s surprise, the pile of rocks flew off into the distance, dropping rocks every so often. He stared at Reaper.
“You’re an animus?”
He shrugged. “Yeah.”
“How many other secrets can you tell me?”
“A lot. Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?”
== Chapter 14 ==
Triple S
Triple S thought about his conversation with Bloodlust.
Active is gone. He named himself ‘Demon,’ because of his insanity, she had said.
Demon… Triple S thought. Why does that sound so familiar?
He remembered seeing a clock on the wall when he was only a dragonet. It had said:
3666
YEARS TO DOOMSDAY
He also remembered the little signature at the bottom of the clock.
Active 666 6666 69420 3x4 six/t / -y ( Author’s Note: No, not the meme… >:( )
Active 666 6666 69420 3x4 six/t / -y, he thought. What does it mean?
Just then, there was a knock on the hatch, followed by an explosion, subsequently followed by the sounds of Plague Inc shouting at Zombs Royale.
Triple S opened the hatch, and Serpent and Reaper came in.
“Why are you here?” Triple S asked.
“Reaper was thinking you had any information about Active,” Serpent said.
“The only thing I remember was a clock,” Triple S answered.
“Was anything on it?” Reaper asked.
“Active 666 6666 69420 3x4 six/t / -y,” he recited.
“What does it mean?” Serpent asked.
“I don’t know.”
“I know!” Reaper exclaimed. “Active is his original name. 666 is his hatching date, 666 AS. 6666 AS is the date of doomsday, 6,666 AS. If you removed the first letter of every digit of 69420, you get IX INE OUR WENTY. 3 means to look at the third number in the signature.”
“And x4?” Serpent asked.
“x4 doesn’t mean multiplication,” Reaper said.
“I hate math,” Triple S grumbled.
“The 4 in x4 means use the fourth digit in 69420, and x means multiply 69420 by it. That makes 138840. IX also has some significance, that’s what six means. Six without the S is IX, and IX in ancient numerals is nine. /t means divide 138840 by 9.” Reaper thought for a moment. “That makes 15426 with 6 left over. 6/9 is also equal to 2/3. Two thirds of 15426 is 10284, which is what the final slash means.”
“So we’re left with 10284,” Serpent said. “What does it mean?”
“Remember 69420?” Reaper answered. “We left off with IX INE OUR WENTY. IX means nine, INE doesn’t mean anything I can think of, and OUR WENTY without the Y is OUR WENT. Here Active missed some clues. The S from six joins with OUR to make-”
“SOUR WENT?” Serpent said. “Another code?”
Triple S smacked him on the head. “No, you idiot. It makes OURS WENT. Now what? Active had what? He said OURS WENT. OURS WENT where?”
“That’s all the clues I was given,” Reaper said grimly.
“And I thought it was just random letters and numbers and symbols,” Serpent muttered.
“So-” Reaper started, but Serpent cut him off.
“We’ve got to go,” he said. “I’ll explain later.”
As they left through the hatch, Triple S couldn’t help but think about the code.
OURS WENT, he thought. OURS WENT where?
== Chapter 15 ==
???
“Okay.” I took a deep breath. “I sort of popped into existence, hatched, grew up, fought with Acheron and his friend and sister, got imprisoned, woke up by some RainWing, came down here, missed a world event, and here I am now.”
“And you, Demon?”
Demon sighed out a spurt of blue flame. “I had an animus touched egg. I could never die, even if I wanted to. I ran from home when I was five. I wandered the earth for 95 years. Eventually no one seemed to need me, so I locked myself away for 500 years. I lost my mind there. When I turned 666, I burned down a forest out of anger. I knew I was out of control, but I couldn’t stop it. I vowed that I would cause disasters every thousand years because I was angry. I killed thousands, maybe millions. Sometimes I come to my senses, but I lose myself again soon after. What have I done with my life?” On that last sentence, I saw a bloodred tear make its way down Demon’s face. He curled up into a small ball, and rolled into the corner. I could tell that he couldn’t bear to let others see him cry.
Life was hard for me as well, I thought sympathetically. But I wouldn’t go so far to kill thousands of dragons. Poor Demon, constantly surfacing but then being pushed back down into the sea of insanity. It’s clear he’s tried to die a lot, but nothing seemed to work. He’s got no reason to live, and he knows it himself. But no one told us that he wandered the earth for 95 years.
As I watched, Demon pulled out a knife, and started stabbing himself. Blood splattered the floor, but when I watched, the wounds healed quickly, fast enough so that even fatal injuries wouldn’t kill him.
I tried to imagine being Demon, constantly wavering between sanity and insanity, with no one with him to just keep him comfortable. I tried to imagine wandering the earth, aimlessly, for 95 years, and then discovering that no one seemed to need you. I tried to imagine killing thousands of dragons just because I was angry. I tried to imagine causing disasters every thousand years, killing millions, just because I felt like it. I tried to imagine having no reason to live, trying to die, but nothing works.
I tried to imagine living a broken life.
Demon’s the definition of broken, I thought, looking at Demon’s scales, splattered with his own blood. His family was broken, his early years were broken, his reason to live was broken, his sanity was broken, his reason to live was broken, and his life was broken.
I know how you feel, I thought. I used to think immortality was a good thing, but now that I look at you, I know that it’s the worst thing I could ever ask for.
Thank you.
== Epilogue ==
As Active stabbed himself in the corner, he considered his life choices leading to this point. Just then, he had a vision.
Active was flying around Pyrrhia, and landed in front of the ruins of X’s base.
The clock, now covered in vines, still readable but very old. It said:
1648
YEARS TO DOOMSDAY
He smiled.
Less than 2,000 years until I can destroy the world, Active thought with a grin.
Active blinked and paused for a moment.
I hate visions, he thought. They keep on interrupting me.
Just then, he heard the sound of another dragon’s mind. He listened in.
It’s Bloodlust’s mind, he thought.
Demon’s the definition of broken, she was thinking, looking at Active’s scales, splattered with his own blood. His family was broken, his early years were broken, his reason to live was broken, his sanity was broken, his reason to live was broken, and his life was broken.
I know how you feel, she thought. I used to think immortality was a good thing, but now that I look at you, I know that it’s the worst thing I could ever ask for.
Thank you.
You’re welcome, Active thought.
Suddenly, he felt a feeling that he had never felt before. A feeling he had been wanting for 2,357 years.
Love.
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
Category:Content (Shadowblaster99)