System Alert:
New Quest: [Eat Your Heart Out]
Objective: Steal a shard of the Girl's essence from the Sadness Singularity (good luck!).
Reward: [Emotional Damage Immunity – Tier 1] (LOL, as if.)
Warning: Lucien's here, and he's brought a grudge.
***
The labyrinth of forgotten drafts collapsed around Alex and Kairo, pages dissolving into a black hole of half-baked metaphors and abandoned plot twists. At its center floated a girl made of crayon smudges and tear-stained margins—The Girl Who Ate Sadness, Alex's second OC, now a glitching vortex of preteen angst.
"Oh god," Alex groaned. "I wrote her after Ms. Harlow gave me a C- on a poetry assignment. She's basically a trauma piñata."
Kairo's scar pulsed, casting neon light over the void. "Let me guess: She's here to make us cry?"
"Worse. She's here to make us relate."
***
Sub-Quest Activated: [Dodge the Feels]
Avoid the Girl's sorrow waves (they inflict [Cringe] debuffs).
***
The Girl tilted her head, ink-blob tears rolling down her cheeks. The void rippled, summoning:
- Hollow Knights in glitter armor ("Your prose is mid!" etched on their shields).
- Echo Wraiths sobbing rejected dialogue ("Why didn't you love me?!").
- Lucien, riding a hoverbike made of his own edgy fanfiction.
"You're mine, Veyra," Lucien snarled, his obsidian blade now a hybrid of katana and Kindle. "The Storyweaver's offering a bonus chapter for your head."
Alex's cybernetic arm glitched into a Nostalgia Nuke™ (patent pending). "Come at me, Discount Zuko. Your tragic backstory's a Wikipedia footnote."
***
Kairo sliced through Hollow Knights, their armor dissolving into 1-star reviews. "Why do they all look like your old Tumblr posts?"
"Shut up and stab!"
Nyx, a mute NPC with glitch-pixel eyes, materialized beside them. She tossed Alex a Crayon of Closure, her expression screaming "Use this before I die of secondhand embarrassment."
Alex scribbled "Deus Ex Middle School" in the air. The Girl shrieked as her knights morphed into wholesome memes.
[Achievement Unlocked: [Trauma Bypass]]
Reward: 5 seconds of emotional numbness. Enjoy!
***
Lucien lunged, his blade carving a "Tragic Monologue" skill into reality. "You think you're special? You're a rough draft in a world of bestsellers!"
Alex parried with the Brother's Blade (still haunted by Elias's ghostly side-eye). "Says the guy who peaked as a Demon King!"
Kairo shot Lucien's hoverbike, which exploded into a shower of Abandoned Subplot Shards. "You done?"
"Never," Lucien spat, retreating into a Plot Hole.
***
The Girl's core pulsed—a shard of raw, unfiltered middle school diary energy.
"This'll hurt," Alex muttered, reaching into the vortex.
The Girl's whispers flooded their mind:
- "You'll never be good enough."
- "Your mom thinks you're a disappointment."
- "That one Reddit comment was right."
Alex's nose bled ink. "Cool. My own intrusive thoughts. Original."
They grabbed the shard. The void imploded.
***
Quest Complete!
Reward: [Emotional Resonance – Tier 1] – Cry on command (useless, but thematic!).
***
Back in the real(ish) world, Nyx handed Alex a crumpled drawing—the Girl's crayon self-portrait, now just a smiley face.
Kairo raised an eyebrow. "Sentimental much?"
"Says the guy with a glowing trauma GPS," Alex shot back, pocketing the shard. "Let's go. The Storyweaver's got a final chapter to burn."
Then suddenly, a black hole appeared infront of them as the GPS beeped.