Chip, Chop and the False Messiah: A Story about Drama and ESports (Part 2)

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CHIP, CHOP AND THE FALSE MESSIAH: A STORY ABOUT DRAMA AND ESPORTS (part 2)

Chip woke up. She was confused, in a house she had never seen before, laying in a comfortable bed. She wondered how much time she had been asleep. I’m alive? She started to feel dizzy, as if voices started to sound in her head.

He’s a traitor. You should kill him.

Who are you?

You need to be stronger than him as you have always been.

He’s my friend, I don’t want to fight him.

The voice vanished, but a second one, more difficult to understand, started to talk.

Don’t listen to him.

Another voice? What the hell, I’m still tired from the other day.

Listen, that voice is controlling Chop. Do not let it overtake you.

Hey, what do you mean? There was no response to the question, though she knew exactly what the voice meant. I can’t let them play with my mind… right?

She heard the door cracking, the False Messiah entering the room with a dish full of soup. “Hey, you are finally awake. I thought you’d never wake up.” She smiled at her, offering seat to take the soup comfortably.

“How much time have I been sleeping?”

“Well, approximately one month.”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“Nope.”

“Well, that’s a lot of time.” She scowled. She was not sure whether or not talk to him about the strange voices that talked to her. She was about to mention it when the False Messiah, looking at her worried face, knew what happened. “I know. I’ve heard them too, you are not crazy, nor am I.” This words made her feel much better.

“What are they supposed to be?”

“That’s what I found out back at the Obrin Ruins and what I’ve been trying to find information on. They are… eh, the legendary beasts talking to us, to the people. It’s not only us, but everyone. Some people are strong and can resist to them, but some aren’t and hear them constantly.”

“Well, I hear them.”

“But you are able to refuse them. Though, Chop…”

“Huh, let’s go more slowly. What’s that thing about legendary beasts?”

“You know the legend, the two creatures that appeared long ago in the Mists that changed everything here?”

“Yes, I heard something about it. One of the beasts killed the other, causing some kind of unbalance and forcing the strongest guys to seal the remaining beast.”

“Yes. So…” she seemed pretty embarrassed about something.

“So what?”

“Those beasts… are… I’m not crazy, I swear. Those legendary beasts are Llamas.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“It’s… weird, I know, but yeah. The dead beast was called the Drama Llama. It was born from the fighters’ relationships and friendships, along with arguments. Though, the sealed beast was called the eSports Llama, it was born from the inherent desire from everyone to win every match, to be better than the other, the competitiveness.”

“I don’t even know what to think. You’re telling me these voices I heard just a moment ago were those… two things talking to me? Hell, isn’t even the Drama Llama dead?”

“Yes. I could hear them talking to me as well since you fell unconscious up until now. One is trying to convince me I should get more power to defeat Chop. That I should be more. That I can be something. That I will have a name.”

“You know you should not listen to it.” He looked down to the ground, as if he was sorry about something. “Look, anyways, let’s stop thinking on this. Where should we head to now?”

“We will go to kill the beast. We are going to that kind of jail that seems like a castle.”

“How are we supposed to kill that thing? And what about Chop?”

“Chop is already there. You shouldn’t worry about him, he will be fine. Just as long as we convince him to come back… Yeah, I’ll leave that on you.” He looked into her eyes “we need to go back where you fought Chop. Where I found the maps, there was an Asura gate that I believe goes directly into the castle.”

“We… shouldn’t we have a plan or something?”

“Our plan is to fight. While you were asleep, I saw the “messenger of God” again. He wanted me… us, to stop his God, who had been acting wrong.”

“Did he tell you anything on how should we do so?”

“He talked about the voices. The damn voices and how those are related to the Drama Llama “rebirth” and the desired restoration of the equilibrium of Heart of the Mists. But…” his face darkened “he got killed. By “God” himself.”

“How are we supposed to deal with him? Why didn’t he kill you? Why did he kill his… messenger or whatever? Why is everything so confusing?”

“I believe God has been affected by the huge power the eSports Llama has been gathering these last months or even years. Somehow… the response to everything is in us three. Chop, you and me. Somehow we can actually not only hear them, but interact with those voices.”

They both fell silent, looking at each other worried, because they knew they wouldn’t be capable of killing anything by themselves. How are we going to kill those two… things if I could not even stop Chop without almost dying? How to stop God and the eSports Llama was not in their physical power, but on something much greater…

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Why… I almost killed her. I almost died. She could have killed me, though she didn’t. I feel so bad, but I want more power.

She is not even a Reaper and you lost, as a Revenant. How can it be that I imbued you with my eSports powers and you could not beat her?

Get out of my head! She had something so strong in her… I could not tell what that was… stop, please, stop. He started to cry due to the pressure and deception he felt.

They will come. You better do something against them. Pay with your own life.

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

They spent a couple of weeks to keep training for the event. As if destiny wanted it, in every match the False Messiah and Chip would face Chop. The three of them got to fight against each other, testing their skills and improving, while they could feel the Heart of the Mists getting worse. People no longer communicated with each other, they would blame the losses on anything but themselves, and they would even tell that it’s all Matchmaking’s fault.

This is starting to get dangerous. We have no more time to train. We must go. The False Messiah told Chip they had to go after the match ended. Chip looked at him but acted as if she never heard anything, running towards Chop.

Chip and Chop started to fight, but she only cared about talking to him. “Hey. This is the 100th match we win against you. But you don’t blame anyone. You… you’re still a great Asura. I know it. We’re going to stop the “God” and the beast, don’t try to stop us, I won’t be capable of killing you.”

Chop threw his weapons down, refusing to keep fighting. The match was over. Why do I doubt myself so much? I have the power, yet I cannot win against those two. Hell, the False Messiah is still running Lich Form as a Necromancer, how can he win? Rather, how can I lose? Am I missing something?

Yes.

Oh, hell no. The voice again. Stop confusing me.

I am not my brother, nor his voice.

What the hell are you supposed to be then?

The second beast who will bring the equilibrium again to Heart of the Mists. You have started to doubt my brother’s words. He promised you power, though you are not capable to win. And you constantly wonder why, why they win. Because they have something. Something you can get if you listen to me.

Oh, great. Now you want to give me “powers” too, to kill them once and for all! Why should I trust you? Why should I trust another liar?

Because I am not giving you any power. Because you won’t need me to win. I only need you to unite with Chip and the False Messiah. They are going to kill God and the eSports Llama, but I need all of you there. Should you try to kill your friends or not, that’s your choice. Just look around you before doing so, how everything is ruined. You will see that there is no one fighting with their friends anymore.

The voice vanished, leaving Chop alone with his thoughts. He decided to go back to the castle to give Chip and the False Messiah a warm welcome to the place.

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Chip and the False Messiah went to the Obrin Ruins again, this time the entrance door was open, someone was inviting them to enter.

“It’s open. It is probably Chop’s action. I hope he’s back to his senses now…” said the False Messiah with a worried face. “I don’t know if anyone can survive the influence of the eSports Llama.”

“He’ll join us. I’m sure of it.” Chip said, trying to comfort him. “He’s not that stupid, I know him very well.” She started to laugh at her own words.

“I’ll have to trust you then. This time, though, I’m not leaving. If he dares to fight, we will fight.” Chip didn’t react to it, she just decided to look down at her shoes, knowing she would not be able to kill Chop.

They walked to the door the False Messiah entered last time. The room was unrecognizable. There were no more books, no more maps, nothing. Everything had been destroyed, leaving only broken tables, chairs, torches cut in half. But there was a clear passage through the chaos of the room leading to a door, again, as if someone was inviting them to their death. I don’t remember seeing this door last time. But hell, I don’t care anymore. They know we are coming, that’s for sure.

They entered the door to find what they were already expecting, an Asura gate. They went through it, worried it could be a trap, but they had no other known way to get to the castle.

They arrived to a place where they could see the completely destroyed castle before their eyes. They were amazed at how big the place was and started to wonder about which kind of power could ever do this much damage. Should the beast escape, it would be the end for everyone and everything.

There was no one at the entrance waiting, just a voice from inside greeting them. “Go on, walk inside this Hall of Darkness if what you wish is death.” It was not Chop’s voice. In fact, they expected Chop to stop them at some point, but he didn’t appear.

“I am not afraid of death. There are many things I am afraid of, but that is not one of them. I have come here, as well, to challenge you.” This time the voice was familiar to Chip and the False Messiah.

“Oh my god, Chop!” said Chip, almost shouting. “You’re here! What happened? Are you… normal now?”

“Well, you know. I guess eSports is not something for me.”

“Should we trust you?” Asked the False Messiah.

“Whatever. I am going in, whether you want to join me or not.”

The three of them walked inside the ruined castle or, as the voice called it, the Hall of Darkness. Everything they found were ruins and blood-painted walls, the place was frightening. They followed Chop, who had been here before and knew the place.

“Do you have any kind of plan to beat God?”

“To be honest, no. We don’t have anything.” Said Chip.

“Actually, we are supposedly the chosen ones by the Drama Llama. How do we “summon” it, I don’t know.”

“So, yeah. We are going in blind.”

They kept walking, until they reached a gigantic door, like nothing they had ever seen before. “Courage guys. Here, everything ends.” Said Chop, as he opened the door, with surprising ease.

This place, however, was left intact. Nothing was broken, everything was clean and beautiful. There was only a throne, where a huge man stood and a big jail where a llama enveloped by some kind of aura was.

“Is that… the eSports Llama? It’s not a little too… big?” Asked Chip, more curious than terrified.

“Yes. It grows bigger the more people feed it with their thoughts, feelings or…”

“Or their desire to become stronger, at any cost.” Said Chop, with a sad tone.

Though, they were ignoring the great danger in the chamber. “You should stop worrying about who can’t damage you and focus on who really can kill you. You, the False Messiah. You should have been killed, you should not be here. I thought you would have given up, but here you are.”

“Two times you have tried to kill me, right “God”? How does it feel, not being able to kill a simple, useless human?” God looked at him angrily. “Oh, wait. You were too busy killing the Messenger. Or getting influenced by that beast you should be keeping sealed.”

He teleported in front of him. The figure of God was much bigger than they thought. It seemed like he was a Warrior’s Juggernaut transformation, though that this one never ran out. “It just takes me one Kick to kill you.”

“Try it.” Said the False Messiah with daring eyes.

“What are you doing? No!” Screamed both Chip and Chop, trying to help him. Though, they were too late. God had attacked him, sending the False Messiah some meters backwards flying.

“Now that you are dead, let’s kill you Chop. Traitor.” He Dashed towards Chop and started to punch him with his bare hands. Chip decided to start attacking him, but he quickly threw a giant boulder, that hit her directly.

That Kick… didn’t kill me? The False Messiah got up. “Hey. You… are weak.” God stopped punching Chop, to look at the False Messiah. He was back on his feet, barely holding himself up. He turned back to Chop who was badly injured, but had a determined look in his eyes. At the same time, he heard Chip move the boulder from her body.

“How… are you not dead? What kind of joke is this? You are not stronger than me.”

They have me. He was frightened when he heard the voice in his head. The eSports Llama cannot bring you this kind of powers.

What’s this voice?

“You don’t understand, right?”

“What should I understand?” He started to leap towards them, breaking the ground and injuring even more the three contenders. “Why won’t you die? How can you still be alive? I don’t understand it, you should be dead!”

The False Messiah, Chip and Chop, heavily injured, looked at him decisively. A kind of light started to spark from their bodies.

“Because…” God started to rush towards them. “We…” he halted. What’s this?

“Because we have the power of friendship!”

“What?” God kneeled upon the light that emerged from their words.

The sparks dissipated from their bodies, but a ray of light fell upon the jail where the eSports Llama was. The ray could be seen from anywhere in the Heart of the Mists, everyone looking at it impressed. Most of the fighters fell to the ground, holding their heads as if something was attacking them.

Another Llama appeared next to the eSports Llama. “Is it… the Drama Llama?” Said God, looking wordlessly at the scene.

“It… is.”

“Yes… remember. Both Llamas were born from fighters’ desires and feelings.”

Immediately after the Drama Llama appeared in the same jail as the eSports Llama, the malign aura of the latter disappeared. The voices in everyone’s heads seemed to vanish slowly. It was no longer trying to take over the consciousness of everyone to gather more power.

“Equilibrium is restored?” Asked God, while falling to the ground.

“It is.” Said the False Messiah. Upon hearing these words, God closed his eyes.

“Wait, did he…?”

“He died. His only purpose was to keep the eSports Llama away from everyone. To hide it, so everyone could try to live peacefully. Though, now that equilibrium has been restored, his life has no other meaning.”

“Oh…”

They decided not to say anything else, respecting his death with silence for his eternal rest. They left the place, with no care if they should do anything else with the little Llamas. They seemed so harmless now.

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Everyone was happy again in the Lost Agora Square. People talked with each other, everyone was friends with each other and cordiality seemed to have been recovered.

“This feels nice, doesn’t it?” Asked the False Messiah.

“Yes. I did not know everything got that much worse. How could anything like this got unnoticed by everyone…?”

“I don’t know dude, but we’re good, we’re all happy, you don’t want to kill us anymore… ah, everything’s fine again.” Chip said, while laughing at Chop’s face.

“Don’t… mention it.” He said, with his cheeks getting all red. “Oh, look, there is a minstrel there! Which poem is he reciting?”

They sat around him, with all the other fighters, listening to the poem. It was a bit weird though, it was titled gf left me coz of ladderboard, All is vain. Local folklore of Heart of the Mists, one would say.

A loud voice echoed through the Heart of the Mists: “Hello, fellow fighters! Looking at the sheer amount of people here these last few days, we have decided to create something for you! We are announcing that soon we will be introducing a League System with rankings!”

Upon hearing this, a shiver went down the spine for the three Heroes that saved Hearts of the Mists. Was everything really okay?

To be continued…?