[ Location: The Central Cistern ][ Date: October 15th, 1962 - 8:30 AM ]
Pennywise didn't answer.
He just stared at the glowing, jagged piece of Star Metal in my hand and it was literally cooking my palm, but I wasn't letting go.
'Ignore the pain.'
"What's the matter, Bozo?" I asked, stepping closer.
The water sloshed around my boots. "I thought you liked stubborn meat."
"You shouldn't have that," the clown hissed.
He didn't sound giggly anymore and his voice sounded terrified.
"Neither do I," I said flatly.
I lunged.
I crossed the dirty water in a flash and stabbed the knife right at his chest.
Pennywise shrieked and literally melted into a pile of black, writhing leeches just as I stabbed the empty air.
"If I can't eat the chef," Pennywise's voice echoed from everywhere at once. "I'll eat the waiters!"
I spun around. "Hank! Ronnie! Wall up! Now!"
Hank was shaking, pointing his gun blindly at the shadows.
Then, a small splash echoed from the dark tunnel behind them.
"Sir?"
Hank froze.
He lowered his gun.
A soaking wet little boy stood there, holding a dirty pacifier.
Matty.
Hank started crying instantly. "Matty, I got you."
'Seriously? The creepy kid trap? So cliché.'
"Hank, stop!" I roared, kicking up dirty water as I ran. "Look at his shadow!"
Ronnie shined her flashlight.
The kid didn't cast a normal shadow and shadow looked like a massive spider.
But Hank didn't care and his instincts took over.
He dropped his gun and ran to the illusion with open arms.
The little boy's jaw unhinged and it dropped to his chest with a sickening crack.
Pennywise shot out of the boy's throat like a jack-in-the-box and his arms were long, bony scythes.
He swung a razor-sharp claw directly at Hank's neck.
'Not today.'
I dove.
I tackled Hank hard around the waist, taking us both down into the freezing water just as the claw sliced the air where his head used to be.
RIIIP.
The claw caught my shoulder and sliced deep into my arm.
"GAH!" I hissed through my teeth and hot blood poured down my sleeve.
I shoved Hank behind me.
Pennywise towered over us, raising his scythes to finish the job.
"Ronnie, close your eyes!" I yelled.
I raised my empty left hand right at the Clown's face.
'Blind the bastard.'
"LUMOS MAXIMA!"
A flashbang of pure, blinding white magic exploded from my palm and in the dark sewer, it was like staring into the sun.
"MY EYES!" Pennywise shrieked and he dropped his arms and clawed blindly at his face.
I drove the glowing Star Metal knife straight into the center of his chest.
SQUELCH.
Pennywise erupted and thick, orange light blasted out of the open wound.
The space-rock was pure poison to him.
"I'll see you in twenty-seven years..." Pennywise whispered, his face melting into ash.
"I'll bring a bigger knife," I snarled, twisting the blade.
BOOM.
The Clown exploded into a massive shockwave of orange and white energy.
The blast threw me backward.
I slammed hard into the concrete wall, gasping for air.
But something else was happening.
The water started to float upward.
A massive blue screen slammed into my vision.
[ SYSTEM ALERT: Temporal Anchor Destroyed. ][ Paradox Resolved. ]
[ Divine Psychokinesis: UNLOCKED. ][ Inventory: UNLOCKED. ]
My powers flooded back all at once.
I gagged, grabbing my spinning head.
Violet lightning sparked off my skin.
"Vivan!" Hank yelled, shielding his daughter's eyes. "What's happening to you?!"
I looked at my hands.
They were turning see-through.
I was glowing with violent static and I was being pulled back to my own time.
"I'm going home, Hank!" I gritted my teeth against the pull. "Get out of Derry! And don't ever trust clowns!"
The world shattered.
The filthy sewer vanished.
I was sucked backward into a tunnel of blinding light and it felt like falling down an endless elevator shaft.
CRASH.
I hit a solid floor. Hard.
I groaned, my head spinning in circles and my arm was still bleeding.
But it didn't smell like the sewer anymore.
[ System Alert: Temporal Displacement Complete. ][ Welcome back to August 1986. ]
'August?'
'I left in March, So I skipped five months.'
"Look what the cat dragged in," a voice drawled from above me. "You look like absolute shit, man."
I pushed myself up onto my elbows and looked up.
Sitting on a worn-out sofa, holding a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, was a teenager with thick glasses.
Richie Tozier, but he looked older and sharper.
He had dark circles under his eyes like he hadn't slept in weeks and he looked like a kid who had spent the last five months fighting a war.
Richie lowered the bat, his voice tight with relief and anger.
"I thought you were dead," Richie muttered. "Where the hell have you been, Vivan? It's been five months."
I let my head drop back onto the carpet and laughed.
A tired, hysterical laugh.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Richie," I wheezed, clutching my bleeding arm. "Now... do you have a band-aid? And maybe a pizza?"
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