#3laf vyris

[saviorpilled]

neath the grove is a heart

[gravastars]

yeah sure

[saviorpilled]

confliction is what makes the heart.

(3laf rp)

vyris found maria just where they had left her.

the space was pitch black, but distorting shapes of deep blues shifted all around them, nearly mimicking earth’s trees and falling leaves. the only light was the golden sword maria was sitting before in a position of faux prayer with that damned thread laid across both her palms. her back was turned to them but she shifted and corrected her posture as vyris grew closer.

the last time either of them were here there was bloodshed. the two of them nearly ceased to be.

they were so tall standing over her. the faint warbling sound of their body and the click of their robotic arm finally got her to turn around, eyes fixed on theirs.

it had been a long few months since either of them had been together in person. despite their spats and threats, vyris found no reason to intimidate now. they kneeled down beside maria. she watched every move they made but noted their lack of weaponry. a surprise to say the very least. she let go of the thread, leaving it to gently wave around in the nonexistent wind.

the silence was suffocating. vyris scoffed. “of all places,” they droned. their voice sounded just as maria remembered it: deep, with that slight, yet so distinctly them, static trill lacing every word. “did you just bring me here to take my other arm?”

maria averted her gaze to the ground below them. she knew they were only joking yet it still stung, pierced like a knife. oh the irony.

“no,” she shook her head shamefully. “i’ve learned my lesson.” her hand subconsciously found its way to her own arm, the one mirroring vyris’ prosthetic. her thumb idly brushed across her sleeve.

another beat of silence.

“i frankly don’t know why you’ve turned down the idea.” maria was quiet for a second while pondering her choice of words. “i know… that you think you’re doing something right and smart, but like i had said, you and i both know how this is going to end.”

“you don’t know anything-“ “i think i know more than you, vyris.”

they turned finally to look at her. maria’s gaze was still to the ground.

“ive known pest far longer than you have, much deeper than you. your ‘observations’ don’t mean shit. you don’t know him the way that i do. your strives for perfection is nothing but a death wish.” vyris huffed, adjusting the clear mask over their mouth. “but what if it did somehow manage to clamor out on top, hm? will i get to laugh and say i told you so?” maria balled up her fists. “if he wins, even if it just gets close, sure. but i know without a doubt it will not be a victory because of your trials. you will not fix pest. there is nothing to fix.”

vyris looked to the sword. they stood and drew closer to it, long, clawed fingers settling gently on the tip of the hilt. “it’s not fixing. it’s awakening. our world is… cruel, uncertain, beyond here is even worse. pest- the program is far too fragile. to be a bridge you must be sturdy.”

maria said nothing. vyris continued their nonsensical ramblings.

“i still cannot get it through my head why you are so against this. you want me gone one minute, but i ask for your agreement to freedom and yet, you deny deny deny.” as they spoke they circled the sword. they trampled over the slack of the thread with each step. “what if i just took your soul from you? pierced your chest with my own hand and wrenched it out? shouldn’t i just take what i want? ‘could call it payback.”

“you wouldn’t dare.” maria stood, stepping backwards to put even more distance between the two of them. “you got your payback the moment it happened.”

vyris laughed. “‘i’m glad you think you scare me,’ yeah right.” they stopped, hand still rested on the hilt. they stared directly at maria with all three of their irisless eyes. “i don’t wish to argue anymore. i want a straight answer: why are you denying this?"

maria hesitated. there was no point in trying to skirt around this anymore. vyris was annoyingly persistent, and so she ultimately decided to spare herself the headache. “your strives for perfection are parallel to my reasoning. you want things to be exactly as you think it should be for the sake of your own gain. i want unity. i wish you were gone, i wish you didn’t exist because you’re nothing but a reminder of everything i failed to be-“

vyris froze, eyes growing wide. that was… something.

“-im no protector, no hero. you talk so much about ‘correcting’ pest to make us all whole again. but there truly is nothing to fix. you trying to change him will only make things worse. and i don’t see how you don’t see that. pest does not recognize complexities. there is only good and bad. you pushing and pushing is doing nothing but solidifying that distrust. things will not change the way you want them to.”

maria let out a breath before continuing. she was avoiding all eye contact with her other half.

“pest wants you dead. more than anything.”

“and you let it return to my dwelling?” “i was scared of you being impulsive in relation to his absence. he… doesn’t know. about the thread.” vyris sighs loudly. “you need to tell it.” “i know! but i just- i don’t know how!” maria’s body tensed. vyris almost felt bad for her. “i’m terrified because what if it ruins things?”

“you rather risk your life, everything that you’ve built, for the sake of comfort?”

…

“i guess so. what a fool i am.”

vyris takes a long breath, finally drawing away from the sword.

“it has to be you.”

“i know.”

“im not stopping my progress. i’m not stopping my creations. it’s much too late now. my analysis will continue regardless, and plans will not be altered. but you must tell him. sooner rather than later, preferably.”

“will you let me see him?”

“yes. for one night. after that it’s back to work.”

“right.”

vyris then walked past her, away from the sword, away from their thread, away from the swirling static colors making up their version of a sky. each step of their boot clicked. each click slowly turned to the deafening cry of cicadas.

until suddenly it was quiet again.

and once more the princess was left with nothing to guide her but the light of her sword.

[saviorpilled]

one way ticket into your own personal hell. (3laf rp)

vyris once again stood staring at the sword. the game has only just begun, and their little experiment has been nothing but disappointment after disappointment. it was curious, however, just how apathetic the program had seemed to become.

maybe apathy wasn’t the right word. it was distant. detached. dissociated. even slowly trickling into erratic. 

as much as vyris hated how little effort pest seemed to be putting into his own survival, dying twice in just the first day alone, its curiosity grew. it was living now, even if doing so regrettably, doing nothing but tailing a rabbit and fishing. it doesn’t even bother wearing armor the vast majority of time. 

but vyris had begun to realize something. 

the program had an issue containing the bulk of its memories, which undoubtedly was no secret, but vyris had come to the conclusion that perhaps it was tied to death. dying made the body fall apart, why wouldn’t the metaphorical brain go too? if there was a way to manipulate death perhaps they could finally get it in a position where everything is completely gone from its mind and thus would have no other desire than to become part of their game once again. no memories means no attachments, no love, nothing but ones and zeros as it should’ve been forever.

the false blue trees seemed to glitch, twitching and flipping directions, flashing in lighter hues and mimicking the outside world’s border. it made sense. staring at it til it made his vision turn to static, meek voice from that unmoving gaping maw mumbling about its familiarity. it gave them a headache.

vyris huffed into their mask as they pondered. 

their world was growing unstable the more pest had begun to lose itself. maria had isolated, locking herself up in the tiny cabin she called home, crafted from the rubble of what used to be. on multiple occasions vyris had approached to ask to talk, only to turn tail and leave the moment they got a listen inside. her sobs and muttered anger was enough to give vyris a clue. they needed to speak with her. but they knew that she knew. 

the sword glimmered. almost as if beckoning. there was no one else here to toy with and they were growing insatiable. even if it meant putting two lives in danger…

vyris reached out with his robotic arm and-

the second it made contact a shock surged through the whole of its body. 

they cried out in pain as their arm fell slack at their side. 

“fuck-“ they hissed into the still air. they tried to move their arm, flex their fingers, anything, but nothing. nothing happened. the arm was dead.

they collapsed to their knees, bent over and huffing before the sword in the aftershock. the tingle under their skin was oddly familiar, reminiscent of their past encounters with this damned thing. and so once more they shall find defeat by the blade. they looked up at it, its glittering aura nothing more than a mockery now. a clicking sound rumbled up from their throat. 

as their gaze fell back towards the ground they kneeled upon. they saw blood. so much blood. their blood. unrecognizably so. 

they scrambled to their feet in a panic, their breath only quickening. their boot steps made ripples in the deep crimson. for a moment it felt like it would open up and swallow them whole. for a moment vyris felt truly terrified. 

but then merely vanished in another blink. 

vyris stood completely frozen. 

behind them grew the cacophony of static and ringing and incoherent mutters. it was their own voice beginning to scream at them. 

as they turned they found themself faced with the looming shadow of what they used to be: a massive abomination with frayed whiskers and stiff ears and a wide open mouth that glowed the same hue as its eyes and hundreds of hands all waving around aimlessly. for the first time ever vyris felt the same gripping fear maria felt all those years ago. 

that grotesque thing shifted and clawed towards him. purple irises rolled around in no set direction. it cried and called, an echo begging to be put out of its misery once again. it was dizzying, maddening, sickening. they wanted to run from it, turn and leave and never look back, but they couldn’t move. their entire body was paralyzed. never once had vyris ever been this scared. their chest rose and fell rapidly, like any and all breath seemed to be sucked right out of their lungs, and no amount of struggling would bring it back. 

then suddenly the world was dark. like the power had been finally pulled. it was dead silent and unnervingly still but the air still hung so heavy.

and then it all came back. 

that thing was gone. there was no blood on the floor. the environment had returned to what it was a little over a month ago. there was no pain, no misery, just a petrified vyris staring wide eyed where that monster had loomed. where they had loomed.

taking one quick glance back at the sword they finally could pry themself out of the spot they stood in. their arm still hung limp, which then brought the question of what the next step was. seek maria or repair themself? 

as pitiful as a decision as it was, it began in the direction of the cabin.