Mutated Ectoplasm

27. A Curse

"Pretty much. Kept copies of the ritual everywhere to make sure he couldn't stay out if he escaped." Terezi remembered that her mom had a copy too, despite not believing it would ever be useful. "We can't read it, though. We need to..."

There was a brief moment of realization before Terezi started flying off in the direction of her home. Karkat didn't have to wonder why she did, turning his attention back to the phone.

CG: I THINK I HAVE A PLAN.

"This doesn't really seem like a good idea." Tavros looked nervously around himself, keeping away from the Aspect wheel in the middle of the buildings. "Are you sure this might work out? There's only two of us compared to, uh, twelve Aspects."

"It's than nothing. If we didn't have to rush out to try and stop him, we would've done this before." Nebit watched the proceedings from far off. She apparently didn't like the feel of this place either, the skyscraper like structures bothering her. "We don't have a lot of choices here, so it's up to you two."

The two in question were Tavros and Vriska, the only people who didn't have any stated Aspect. Horuss had revealed himself to be already been a Void Aspect, leaving these two to be their only hope right now. Aranea would've joined if it wasn't for the fact families tended to trend with one Aspect.

The others had decided to keep an eye on Fright Knight and, if needed, provide some resistance if he attempted to attack Amity Park. The only ones that held back was Nebit, Aradia, Sollux, and obviously Karkat.

"We just need to step on each one and they'll light up. Nothing much else to it." Vriska sounded nonchalant about the process but appeared just as hesitant to make the first move. "Do you think we'll have to, y'know, pledge ourselves?"

"Hopefully not. If you have to, we might just have to find another way." Karkat had the document that Redglare and Terezi lent him carefully held in his hands. Looking at it gave him a headache since all he could parse was floating letter and swirling script. "If not, we need to head out immediately."

"We do need to hurry, though. Fright Knight still hasn't attacked, but he is starting to get slower." Aradia kept an eye on Ghostian, getting updates every few moments or so. "He could start rampaging on the town at any time and we need to trap him before he does."

"Yeah, that doesn't pressure them in the slightest." Sollux tapped his foot on the ground, pacing lightly. "Let's just get it over with. I really don't think this is going to work."

Despite the negative words, it did get Vriska to finally move forward. She dropped her feet onto the floor, taking tentative steps around the dais to keep an eye out for the glow. There wasn't anything at first, even when she finally stepped over the Doom symbol, but it did light up eventually as she walked over the sun symbol.

"Light. Determination, Luck, and Information." Nebit shrugged, keeping the disappointment out of her voice. "Not a bad Aspect to have, but not what we're looking for. You're next, Pupa."

Tavros sighed, the pressure falling completely on him now. He was really hoping they'd luck out before they got to him. He forced himself to touch the ground, making his own round with shaky steps.

This time, the answer came a lot sooner. Before he even made it halfway towards the Doom symbol, his foot stepped onto the bright blue symbol showing a small wind flying upward. The group felt their hopes drop as Nebit explained.

"Breath. Motivation, Freedom, and Self." Nebit suddenly really wished she hadn't stayed back. Her daughters were probably in serious danger now. "This isn't good. Nice to know, but it isn't good."