Transformice - FROMAGE

13 | onset

Then there was a brilliant flash of light. Prismaz felt something tingling all over her. The radiated power was so bright that she felt something tingling all over her skin.

When her eyes adjusted, she hastily cast a panicked glance towards Echoba. He was unharmed. He looked the same. Curiosity and confusion washed over Prismaz's features. And yet...

The afflicted rodent looked as confused as she did. Perhaps even more. The noob scrambled to his feet, looking over his body in a frantic fashion. He gripped at his fur, ran his fingers over the length of his body as if in search for some kind of invisible tumor.

"I- what? I don't understand. What did you do to me?"

The hidden rodent clucked his tongue. "What did I say? Check your stats, dear Echoba."

The other willfully conjured a holographic image of their profile, hurriedly scanning through the text. Something made Echoba's eyes widen.

"34,000 cheese. 40,000 saves. 900 completed bootcamps. 20 badges. This isn't possible! These aren't my real stats!"

"Oh, but it is now." The mystery rodent spoke up before him, tone a deep and rich chuckle. Somehow, he found humor in this miracle. The grin was practically evident in his voice. "And I can do the same for all you. It's permanent, and all you have to do is... flaunt your wealth."

Sadroy, however, was still resistant. He stood up from where he was crouching by his friend. "No way! The mods will axe us down in less than four hours!"

"My magic has made you practically untouchable by those over-glorified guard dogs. They're hardly ever present in the maps anyways, lazy as those lot are. You have my word."

There was hushed, stunned silence, and then excited clamoring. The excitement was far too great. The conjured mass of noobs swept forward like a tidal wave, reaching for their 'savior' on the hill, the one that could grant them the stats to overcome the harassment they had undergone just for being inexperienced.

Prismaz had to admit. The offer was... tantalizing. This mystery man offered everything she could ever need. With cheese, she could adorn herself with apparel. She could change her dull, ugly brown pelt to a stunning color that belied her riches. She'd be given badges and titles and rankings.

Stuff that she didn't own herself.

She thought of her tribemates. How disappointed they'd be if they found out that she had been dishonest in order to gain the things she wanted in life. She no longer wanted to be weak or powerless in life. An ordinary, shallow noob. All the things she could ever have or want in life was in front of her. Offered on a silver platter, and for the price of nothing.

What good was she if she couldn't come to experience in her own power?

And so she decided. That if she were to gain power, that she'd do it on her own terms. And not on the terms of any shady, suspicious stranger.

She cleared her mind to in relief from the buzzing that rang out through her veins.

She sensed energy.

Energy so radiant, so overwhelming from the strange being before her that it made Prismaz want to cower. And amongst all that energy, she also sensed something nefarious.

Something so dark and rotten, that she wanted no part in.

It was then that she made up her mind.

'Please, I just want to get away from here. I want to go home. I want to see Peaceloverxoxo, Rocky and the others... I'd never forgive myself if I disappeared or died without saying goodbye.'

She tried to open her mind link to her tribe. Nothing came through. At first, she was worried that she was doing it wrong, then a terrifying thought occurred to her. Perhaps this mysterious being was powerful enough as to silence any connection to the outside world as well? She wouldn't put it past him. Prismaz couldn't explain what happened when she eased her mind, but the radiant energy she sensed off of him was otherworldly.

Prismaz felt a shiver rack through her body.

How was she going to get out?

Something was tugging on her gut, begging to be released. She felt as if something were compressing her. Fire seemed to burst under her skin, until she could no longer hold it. She let out a heavy breath she had been holding, feeling her lungs burst.

It was as if the world had stopped for a moment. And then exploded. She caught a glimpse of the mystery man turning a keen, glowing verdigris iris on her. Prismaz felt as if there was something behind that cloaked gaze. A lingering question, a hidden meaning.

She didn't like that look. She didn't like that look at all.

The girl swear she could sense surprise radiating from the cloaked figure's facade, the clothed being, amidst the shroud of clamoring mice, advancing towards her as if something urgent was about to happen.

She closed her eyes. Stars burst behind her eyelids. She opened them again.

She was in her room. In the tribe house, as if the events prior had never happened. The sheets were warm and pliant beneath her, and Prismaz's head was spinning. What had happened?

She gripped the sheets softly, tested their viability to see if this was all real, and lifted her head.

Her vision was blurry, her mind feeling like it collapsed on itself. She hadn't the slightest idea of what went on, but she knew two things.

First thing, she had a hell of a headache. Like a tiny ant had taken a bludgeon to her skull and pounded her brain with it in double time.

And second, needed to tell her tribemates of what just happened. Something ominous was coming. Something that made her bones quake with fear.

Prismaz scrambled to her feet, leaping out of the bed like a dog on the hunt. Heart thumping, she made her way down the stairs.

---

Nichubi awoke that day. She'd look around the tribe house, scour the hallways. She'd leer at the rest of her subordinates, asking for the whereabouts of her two henchmen. Asking where they went. Who seen them last. Where could they have possibly gone. By the time the had sun set, she leaned over the balcony of the house, dejected and devastated.

They were gone.