MadGhostofBrownHollow

So I dislocated my shoulder trying to breakdance and that has made me extremely busy the past two weeks. I wish I was joking. Let me know if the plot is moving too fast. I want to try and draw character sheets soon, so look forward to an extra sometime.

[It doesn’t matter what you think. I can’t tell you anyways.] The system snarked in response. 

    ‘Oh? Is there some high robotic power who sets rules you must bow to?’

    [Huh? What is that even supposed to mean..? I create my own rules. I’m my own rule creator.] 

    ‘I just mean, why do you need this world’s story to play out? Is there some vital reason you need a protagonist and a plot? My universe works out just fine and we’re all just gears in the system. I mean, even super famous people’s influence barely lasts a decade. Imagine what it is in the span of eternity. What is anyone’s actions going to matter when the sun explodes, wipes out Earth and any memory of it?’ Tan Shihong monologued, like anything he thought mattered. 

    [You’re a sad, sad man, man.] The system replied in it’s sarcastic, robotic voice, [Like anything you think matters. But anyways, take Chang Fa and continue following that dude.]

    “You know, you and that Stranger both wear black robes. Isn’t that symbolism? Or is it like a melodramatic element to this, to show you guys are both really dark and edgy?” Chang Fa queried aloud, pointing quite obnoxiously between Tan Shihong and the other. 

    Neither wanting to respond, the two in black robes silently walked onwards, Chang Fa hurrying after them. After a bit they approached three rooms, one door was slid open, but it felt like the darkness inside was dripping out and overwhelming everything. The stranger carried forward, grabbing and lighting a lantern which seemed too conveniently placed on a decorative cabinet in the hallway.

    As the stranger entered, as did Tan Shihong, then Chang Fa, in a perfect line. Nothing could be seen, like when they were jumping throughout the  cave, and eventually they entered a set of stairs, walking for mere minutes, before they entered a cavern open in the side of a clif much alike the one they’d come from. 

    There was one difference, Tan Shihong’s master’s coffin was no longer there, it was like another cavern entirely. Instead, a plain wooden coffin sat in the middle of the cavern, lonely. 

    “Hey, hey, isn’t that your coffin?” Chang Fa prompted, bursting forward behind Tan Shihong and slapping his shoulder in excitement. 

    “No… this isn’t mine.” Tan Shihong wrinkled his brows… Something just felt wrong. He approached the coffin, and lifted the lid to find it was full of dead, pressed flowers, but otherwise empty. He looked at the stranger, “It’s your’s, right?” 

    The stranger flinched, and seemed to panic, grabbing Tan Shihong once again by the neck and forcing him into the coffin, the lid slamming and shutting him into darkness. Tan Shihong seemed to hear a muffled “What the f--” through the wood before he drifted away.

    “Your master… truly you want to stay with him forever, right?” A familiar scene emerged itself in Tan Shihong’s vision. He was back in the ‘nothingness’? 

    As he watched it play out, he awaited even the part his throat was slit with monotonous silence. Everything felt listless and far away, no different from usual, but as the mirage neared the finish, Tan Shihong’s vision was obscured by blood, stinging in his eyes. 

    “Are you Tan Shihong? Are you Tan Shihong? AREYOUTANSHIHON--” A repeating voice, like nails down a chalkboard, like a siren, rang out around him from every direction. 

    The same hand which gripped his throat wiped the blood from his eyes, and then appeared a face similar, but younger than the one before, “Don’t you know the master we serve is the same? They are great.”

    “Actually,” His murderer’s lookalike continued, corners of his eyes reddening, “There's a lot about us that is the same. What is your name?” 

    “Tan Shihong,” He choked out, a fear draining from somewhere deep within him. 

    “Oh? Aren’t you curious about mine? Isn’t it rude to ask someone's name before giving your own? I’ll whisper it to you” The other smiled, like he was sharing a secret.

 “It’s ███████████ “