Oh wowzers, it's been a hot sec since my last one of these, huh? I've mostly been planning Halloween costumes with my friends and stuff and continuing trying to get the Darkners from the Attic Dark World.
But um, I can talk about that later. What I wanted to write about here is... well I guess a few things.
I never finished talking about what happened in the Attic Dark World. I guess there's not a whole lot more to mention. We fought the Magician and Priestess, convinced Magician to stop fighting with got Priestess to call off the battle and the Broadway and Remie told them about Castle Town I guess.
Meanwhile CK and I went to go close the Fountain.
I never thought a geyser of darkness could feel so colorful. So... wonderful and fascinating. It was mesmerizing almost.
... CK said stuff as we approached the Fountain. I don't remember what. I think something about all this being... important. Like it wasn't just an accident we fell into the school closet that first time. Or that we met Spamton and Jevil. Or that we discovered a Dark World in my attic... Maybe he's got a point. Things can be important while still being accidents.
I don't really know how to process how the Dark Fountain got sealed. First, I felt my body move forward without me. But... not the string like pull from the players. Something else. More like an urge. ... it reminded me of the darkness calling me.
After that, I felt a weight lifted from my chest as the Soul rose in front of me. Not my soul. The Soul. That... thing that's currently in a jar in my closet. ... I don't think I can get rid of it if I tried. Something tells me... it'll come back eventually.
It felt like the Soul, that entity, was glowing. Glowing deep, bright red as the Fountain stood still. Before everything went white.
A lot of things after that were a blur. The Fountain was closed, but when I woke up... I still felt that feeling in my chest. The Soul was still there. It was supposed to be over, wasn't it? Why was the Soul still there? ... It remained there for hours the fountain was closed.
At some point during it, Papa offered to drive CK, Kris, and Jevil home, and pulled them away, leaving me alone with Kris. After everyone else had left, they asked me something like...
"Hey, Chicago. You wonder what they're all doing about right now?" And before the askers, players, whatever was controlling that Soul could answer, they sat down and beckoned me over to to the same. "Why don't we sit down and imagine what they're talking about right now, hmm?"
... For the first time since this all started. My mind felt silent. I was able to control my body as I went to sit down. The weight in my chest was gone...
"Hey, Chicago? Can you hear me? I think they should be gone now." I looked over to Kris. They seemed so calm, so collected. I felt on the verge of a panic attack as I slowly nodded. "That's good. Okay, I need you to remain calm, alright?"
"H-h-how?" I could feel my body trembling. How was I supposed to remain calm in this scenario? My body was just possessed!
"I know it's difficult, and I'm severely sorry that this had to happen, especially to you but..." Kris paused for a moment before looking up at me, "You're now the one in possession of the Soul now, making you the new Vessel."
"You know how I mentioned my journey before? We'll what I left out of that whole ordeal was during that all... I was possessed, just as you are now."
"Does that mean...? When Jevil mentioned your destiny...?"
"Being the Vessel for the Askers. Originally I thought I wanted someone else to control my life but... I never signed up for all this." Kris furrowed their brow as they looked down. "Never signed up for this fantasy adventure, never signed up the Dark Worlds... Never signed up to be just some pawn in some twisted god's chess game. ... As soon as I realized that's all I was, I tried to severe the connection."
"... And were you able to?"
"Only ever temporarily. Apparently you need a soul to live, and even if it wasn't originally mine, whatever happened to my original Soul, it must've took its place. I was able to learn to control and live with it though. Take control of my body and actions when I needed to."
"Huh." I took a second to process all of that. To think something so mortifying could be controlled, tamed even? To control it instead of letting it control me? "W-wait! But if I have it now, does that mean your gonna die!?"
"Nope." Kris answered nonchalantly before summoning something out of their chest. A human soul, but not like the red soul I was used to them possessing... The Soul I was now in possession of. The soul Kris had summoned was a light blue or cyan color, not too different in color from Puncle Sans's magic. A soul of Patience rather than Determination. "Turns out this little guy came back home after that parasite was finally gone. Or maybe it never left, and was just buried deep down." They returned the soul back to their chest before turning back to me. "Either way, without the Soul you have, I can't seal Dark Fountains, and there's no use trying to give it back to me."
"I've already got a sense that it's linked to you now. It'll just return back to you." Kris sighed, "Like it or not, looks like you've been chosen to finish the job I left incomplete. I'm... incredibly sorry."
"B-but I don't want to be a part of some destiny! It's bad enough with some... THING controlling me, but I don't want to just be some puppet dragged along by the string of fate!"
"You won't be. I'm... I'm going to try and figure out some way to fix this whole mess and get you out of this, okay? But for now, you'll just have to trust me and play along. If whoever's the chess master in this game figures out about me tampering with their plans again... We'll who knows what could happen."
It was at this point, I heard the beating in my chest return and that familiar weight as my body seized up again.
"And that's why it's very important you-"
"YO KRIS! YOU COMING?" CK had come back to see why Kris was taking so long, and with him came the Askers.
Kris called back to CK to let him know they were coming as they got up. As they were one their way out, they quickly glanced at me before rotating their hands backwards around each other, brushing against their chest. The sign for "Calm". It wasn't the American Sign version Aunt Arial had taught me, but I still knew it from one of the times Kris was trying to calm me down during a panic attack from sensory over loud during a family reunion. It was a signal.
They were telling me it was important I stayed calm.
