Chapter 61

A Haunted Initiation

Plummeting with no end in sight was not how I planned to spend my evening. Nor did I think my face would be burning off while doing it but sometimes our plans mean nothing so I made a plan that this was never ever going to end. My suffering would be never ending. No end in sight for all—

My reverse psychology worked and I collapsed onto the ground, somehow not exploding in a flurry of gore. Even the flames died down a little and I could feel my face again, the pain still there but less. I grabbed the mask and tried to yank it off. All I accomplished was burning my hands.

I couldn't tell where I was, just surrounded by darkness. But then I noticed blue flames in the distance, all around. I walked forward, heading toward one across from me, but a huge wave of blue flames shot from the ground. A familiar circle of it. Oh fuck.

I was back in the center of the Blue Skull's world.

With the added light, I was able to see that the smaller flames were other masked individuals. Ones that looked just as confused and out of sorts as me.

In the middle of the circle of flames a familiar skull appeared but this time he towered over us and shouted, "Hope you flesh bags weren't jacking off!! It's time to earn those masks!"

His eyes flashed and our masks reached in time with it, an intense pain going through my head as the flames burned brighter. My head jerked up, the pain almost lifting me off my feet. And then it was gone, leaving me breathless.

"Everyone here today, you may have figured out—if you got a brain in all that flesh—are brand new to the fold. Tonight, we're going to pull back the curtain just a little bit. You all must be DYING to know what we do here. What the masks are for."

No one said anything. The "dying to know" line felt way too real in this world. Best to just draw as little attention to ourselves as possible.

"All the petty crimes? They're connected. We are after one thing..."

A drumming kicked up, his eyes flashing along with the beat, causing our masks to burn us. Because the only thing better than having your face being burned off was the same face burning... but with a rhythm!

"Ghosts!!"

The beating and lights stopped and we all fell flat on our faces. I breathed hard, trying to prepare myself for the next cruel attack. All the while my mind raced, trying to make sense of what the Skull said. Ghosts?

The Skull looked up and all our heads were jerked to follow his gaze. Above his massive head was a shining object, spinning wildly, but slowing down the longer we looked at it. When it finally came to a stop I realized it was a coin. Not a Versecoin, an actual old Earth coin. I must have had some worthless coin knowing Stat cause I somehow knew it was a silver dollar.

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"This belonged to a boy," the Skull said. "It's not a REAL coin. Just an imitation of one from Earth. But it was precious to him. It was given to him by his grandfather, the only person he ever cared about."

I had no idea where this could be going. And the fact that a giant skull head was the one talking about it just made it extra weird. If it was up to me I would run to the nearest exit and never hear the end of this strange tale. But my head remained fixed on the coin.

"The grandfather was among the first of the older generation to succumb to the disease that took most the older entrants to the Interverse. Devastated, the boy became a man. An angry one."

The coin hovered lower over the skull, settling between his eyes, but still a ways above.

"The man didn't know where to aim his anger. He wanted to destroy the Admins. He wanted to get to the heart of the matter, what had happened to Earth? He wanted to destroy any and everyone who had a hand in bringing us all into the Interverse and brought about his grandfather's death."

The Skull's eyes flashed, our masks following in turn, and the flames jumped from his eye sockets into the coin.

"The man that was a boy could not handle his thoughts. His anger. His hurt. His attempts to lash at the Admins and find the truth resulted in nothing. So, with seemingly all avenues leading to dead ends... he sought another kind of end. He went to a No Respawn Zone... and leapt off the tallest building he could find."

In time with the last sentence, the coin dropped, falling in the same way the man's body plummeted to the ground. Only, when the coin hit, it wasn't the end. More flames billowed out of the coin, burning away the blue, replaced with a new pale green color.

"He had been holding the coin when he jumped and when he hit, his soul bound to it. There is no Heaven or Hell in the Interverse. Those that die... do not leave."

The hell was this thing talking about? But as it spoke, the flames continued to burn and, in the center, a form took shape. A man walked out of the flames, walking through the green and the blue ring parted to let him pass. His body was see through, and the color of infected mucus. Just looking at him, even with its form lacking many details, the color alone was enough to turn my stomach.

He was just a guy. If I saw him on the street—and he wasn't see through and glowing—I wouldn't spare him even a second of a glance. But the energy he gave off; that was noticeable. He oozed anger. I wouldn't have been surprised if his whole form was held together by pure rage.

"Bind him... or die," the giant Skull said, his eyes flashing once more, our masks lifting and burning, and then we were all dropped to the ground.

When I looked up, the Skull vanished, leaving us alone with sickly green figure. The blue circles flames waned, seeking back into the floor. They were almost completely snuffed out when the figure leapt into motion. He darted to my left and swept up the closest masked person.

They screamed and were hoisted up, all I could see in the dark was the blue flames of the mask and the glow of the figure. The person kicked at the—okay, I'll say it—ghost. Surprisingly, the attacks didn't just go through, they made contact, but it have off the appearance of kicking jello. It jostled around, accomplishing nothing.

The ghost opened its mouth, sharp teeth inside, and bit down on the person's neck. The screams became gurgles and the ghost tossed the guy aside, where he landed onto the edge of the circle, the flames bursting back to life and devouring the injured guy. What was left of him fell into the pit, that gurgling noise digging itself into my brain, conjuring an image of a dying sink, splurting blood.

The sound kept playing but the image was soon wiped away by one much worse: the blue flames shooting high, giving all of us a perfect view as the ghost continued his feeding frenzy. He took off, heading for another unsuspecting person.

Screams came from everywhere now as the scene descended into pure chaos. Everyone scattered, the ghost flying around and taking bites out of everyone he passed. I stayed rooted to the spot. Unsure what to do and acutely aware that this was a No Respawn Zone. That guy... he was really dead.

And I could be next.

As if on cue, the ghost swirled around and came straight for me, its mouth wide open, ready to devour its next victim.