Stronger Than you (Action)

Mia was ready. Her trail was tracked with blood, sweat, and determination born out of sheer boredom. The screams of every monster and creature that she had killed rang in her ears. The anguish of the hundreds of lives she had cut short sending her into a state of both panic and euphoria simultaneously. She began to walk through the gold adorned halls of the royal palace to find the king and kill him. What more was there to do? She had done everything. EVERYTHING. She had lived through this countless times before. No matter what she did, when she finally "won" she just reset back to the beginning. She had shown no mercy to anyone. She had killed monsters. Dated skeletons. She had shown mercy to every single monster. She had met gods of death, killed leviathans, lived her entire life with the Cthulhu, killed the king and- 

And yet, she just kept coming back. She had grown bored of this, however. As her footsteps resounded off of the walls of the golden hallway, she realized that this timeline may be no different. She had sought out every single monster and creature in this god-forsaken place. All of them, until there wasn't a single one left. Every single one except for him. The king. And he would fall next, crumble to dust and blow away at her hand.

But just as she reached the middle of the hallway, a shadowy figure appeared in front of her. She simply stopped. Cocked her head. Was it really him? That lazy, pathetic little skeleton. The weakest creature alive on the face of the earth. She could see his breath in the air that had now turned ice cold. 

"Hey.” He greeted, disappointment in his eyes. "You've been busy, huh?"

Mia gave no response. ". . ." Still nothing.

"So, I've got a question for ya. Do you think even the worst person can change. . . ? That everybody can be a good person, if they just try?" Mia again, didn't respond. "Heh heh heh he. . . All right. Well here's a better question. 

Do you really think you’re stronger than me? Cause let me tell you, if you take another step forward. . . You are REALLY not going to like what happens next." Amusing. Mia stepped forwards. Just a single step, but threatening nonetheless.

"This is why I never make promises." He said to himself. "Y’know, It's a beautiful day outside. But birds are dropping out of the sky, flowers are wilting. . . And the world is dead. And who’s fault is that…? On days like these, kids like you should be burning in hell, and I’ll be the one to send you there.”

The hall began to drip with an inky black liquid. It began to leak from the windows and from cracks in the pillars. It pooled on the ground, forming about an inch deep puddle that covered the room. He raised a hand, and forcefully clenched his fist. As he did, Mia felt herself be pulled downward by the very blood in her veins. Just as she was, giant spiked eruptions began to jut out from the pool of liquid. She had to put all of her effort into her jump to avoid it.

"You've hurt quite a few people. I'm gonna ask again, do you think any person can change?" Mia didn't respond, instead avoiding the spiked protrusions that kept shooting out of the walls and floor. She could feel the blood in her veins yank her upwards, slamming her into the ceiling. She quickly jumped from the ceiling, avoiding the spikes. He lifted his hand again, this time pulling Mia towards himself before grabbing her by the face and slamming her into the ground. He kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying across the hall. “Well, I guess it wouldn’t matter anyway. You aren’t a person anymore.” Mia continued dodging and slashing at the Judge, not understanding how she was losing. Losing to this… this weak, pathetic pile of bones. In every other repeat, he was ominous, sure, but not dangerous…

  “Y’now, you’re really bad at this.” He said, easily dodging one of Mia’s attacks. “You must’ve thought you were so powerful, after killing gods, eldritch horrors, the works. But when it all comes down to it, in a single battle with the weakest damn thing on the face of the earth… You realize that you’re not. I’m stronger than you, because I can’t afford not to be.” He lifted his hand again, and a tidal wave of the black liquid arose. “Do you know what it’s like? To watch as every single person in your life resets, again and again and again? You… You never had a connection with them. You wouldn’t care. But me? I’m the only one who remembers it all. Every timeline, every run through. It’s depressing. Wanna know what I said when you killed my brother this time? ‘Dang, I really liked that guy.’” His expression darkened. “‘Dang, I really liked that guy.’ I said that. About my own brother’s death. Are you kidding me?! The years I’ve spent watching as my friends and my brother reset again and again and again…” He sent the tidal wave roaring at Mia, leaving shockwaves in its wake. Mia felt herself getting tugged to the ground by her blood, and she wasn’t able to jump high enough to dodge the gargantuan tidal wave. As the attack made contact, she was sent flying towards the wall. She slammed into it, making a crater in the stone from the sheer force of the impact, and fell to the floor. He exhaled, his posture relaxing, and sweat dripping down his bony forehead. He was tired. They had been going at this for nearly an hour, despite how short the fight had really felt. He put his hand up in front of him, raising towers of the black liquid up, charging light blue energy at the tops of them. He sent crackling beams of light raining down hellfire on his opponent. Mia barely dodged, getting her arm singed in the process. She yelped in pain, dropping to the floor. The Judge dropped as well, exhausted. He couldn’t keep this up. 

“H-heh he…” He said weakly. “This uh, this has been going on for a bit now… And let's be honest, I can’t keep this up. Eventually I’ll slip up and you’ll kill me. So, uh, I’m gonna have to kill you right n-” In a fit of rage, Mia mustered enough strength to rush forwards and slash The Judge right across his chest. “Oh. So that’s how this ends…”

Mia walked past The Judge and into the throne room to complete this timeline.

— Jack Tigerman