[ Location: Vivan's Bedroom ][ Date: June 7th, 1985 - Friday Morning ]
I woke up staring at the ceiling fan. It was spinning lazily, unaware that today might be the day I stopped existing.
'System. Status check.'
A blue window flickered into view.
[ System Audit Complete. ][ Calculation Error Detected in User Wallet ]
[ Refund Issued: +600 Points. ][ Current Balance: 1,282 Points. ]
I let out a breath which I didn't know I was holding. "Finally. Admin incompetence pays off. I can actually afford something now."
I sat up and looked at the pile of papers on my desk. They were covered in complex ink diagrams—the Uzumaki Sealing Scripts.
I picked up the simple Paralysis Seal I had used on the storm drain weeks ago and it looked like a child's crayon drawing compared to the new stuff.
'That was duct tape,' I thought, crumpling it up and tossing it into the trash with a telekinetic flick. 'It held Pennywise for a minute because he was surprised. But to hold a cosmic entity permanently? I don't need a cage. I need a prison cell and I need to be the warden.'
I grabbed a fresh ink pot and mixed in a drop of Phoenix Tears (for stability) and a drop of my own blood (infused with Aether).
I lifted my shirt.
'Eight Trigrams Sealing Style. Two Four-Symbol Seals. It's supposed to leak a little bit of the beast's chakra back into the host to power them up. If I do this right... I get infinite mana. If I do it wrong... I get eaten from the inside out.'
I dipped the brush and the ink felt cold against my skin.
"No pressure," I muttered, painting the spiral onto my solar plexus.
[ Location: Hawkins Community Pool ][ Time: 3:30 PM ]
The pool was loud. Kids screaming, whistles blowing, the splash of water. It felt painfully, ignorantly normal.
I stood by the chain-link fence, watching.
El and Max were sharing a lounge chair, heads bent together over a fashion magazine. They were laughing.
They looked happy.
'If I mess this up tonight... that Clown comes for them next and he Actually knows their scent.'
I gripped the fence until the metal groaned under my Telekinesis, leaving finger indentations in the steel.
'I won't let that happen.'
I scanned the lifeguard tower.
Billy Hargrove was sitting there. He looked terrible. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he was chugging steaming hot coffee from a thermos despite the 80-degree heat. Sweat was pouring down his face.
People were staring at him like he was crazy, but he didn't care. He was burning the infection out.
He spotted me and froze.
The coffee cup paused halfway to his mouth.
I just gave him a slow, firm nod. 'Hang in there, soldier.'
Billy hesitated. Then, he nodded back. A sharp, jerky movement.
A silent truce between monsters.
'He's holding the line against the Mind Flayer and I have to hold the line against the Clown.'
I turned and walked away.
I didn't say goodbye to the girls. If I said goodbye, it would feel too final and I intended to come back.
[ Location: Hawkins Public Library ][ Time: 9:00 PM ]
The library was closed.
The lights were off.
I picked the lock with a thought—Click—and slipped inside.
The air was freezing not air-conditioner cold. Grave cold.
The silence was wrong. It wasn't empty; it was holding its breath.
I walked past the Fiction section. The books weren't sitting on the shelves, Rather they were shivering.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Like a heartbeat in the walls.
I walked deeper. In the History section, I saw it.
Ink was bleeding from the books. Thick, black sludge dripped from the pages, pooling on the carpet. The shadows stretched out like long, thin spider legs, twitching in the corner of my vision.
I stopped in the center of the reading room and cleared a space, pushing heavy oak tables aside with a wave of my hand like they were cardboard.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the Stone of Avarice.
It pulsed with a deep, sickly purple light.
It was full of the fear energy I had stolen from Pennywise at the Steelworks. It was a beacon.
"Hey, Bozo!" I shouted, my voice echoing in the vaulted ceiling. "I have your batteries! You want them back?"
The shadows convulsed.
A giggle echoed from everywhere and nowhere.
"Vivan..."
The voice scraped against my eardrums like rusty metal.
"You came back. I missed you. You smell like... anxiety."
A shape poured itself out of the darkness between the shelves.
It wasn't a man in a suit.
It was huge. Eight feet tall. The upper body was a clown, painted white and silver, ruffles stained with old blood. But from the waist down, it was a spider—massive, hairy legs ending in sharp points that clicked against the floor.
Pennywise loomed over me, drooling. But his eyes locked onto the Stone in my hand.
"Give me the Stone," he hissed, his jaw unhinging. "That belongs to ME! And I might let you float. It's nice down here. You know we have popcorn."
"I don't like popcorn," I said, my hand drifting to my waist.
I pulled out the Chakra Sword.
I channeled my Aether into the blade.
HUMMM.
The grey metal turned brilliant white, humming with high-frequency vibration. It lit up the room, casting long shadows.
"And I'm not here to negotiate," I said, settling into a combat stance. "I'm here to collect."
Pennywise laughed. It sounded like a drain gargling. "A toothpick? You want to fight a Eater of the world with a toothpick?"
He lunged.
A massive spider leg stabbed down, aiming for my chest.
'Telekinesis: Burst.'
[ Ability Active. ]
I moved and pushed myself sideways with a blast of force, moving faster than human reflexes allowed.
SLASH.
I swung the sword as I slid. The Aether-blade cut through the chitinous leg like it was wet paper.
SCREECH.
Pennywise shrieked. The leg dissolved into black ash before it hit the ground.
"OUCH!" The Clown recoiled, scrambling up the wall, sticking to the ceiling. "That stings! What is that? That's not your magic!"
"It's a hybrid," I grinned, spinning the sword. "I call it the 'Shut Up and Die' style."
Pennywise's eyes glowed orange. "You think you can hurt me? I am eternal! I am the Eater of Worlds!"
The library shook. Books flew off the shelves, turning into bats that swarmed toward me, teeth bared.
"Bring it on," I whispered.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patreon Updates: Discount Code : F014B
(New Membership Option)
Content: Read 20+ chapters ahead. + Access to All my fanfictions.
Link: https://www.patreon.com/c/kapa69
Support Goal:
400 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter.
Please drop a Stone to support the story!