SM:Shattered Mask
From Create Your Own Story
.. it shatters, sending pieces scattering all across the 'ground.'
You hear the voice start to let loose a scream of agony but it is abruptly silenced after only a few seconds.
The cloak, and pieces of the mask vanish. You look around the dark abyss for some way out but see nothing. Are you trapped now?
"Thank you... " the voice is familiar, the same one as the phantom! You spin around to face the threat that has appeared behind you, throwing yourself into another stance.
The spirit that awaits your view isn't the same as the thing you have just beaten. Its' colours are reversed: a black mask to a white cloak. In the white voids of its' eyes, though, you can sense something. A powerful malevolent force, and a deep hatred for you.
"Please, wait. I am not your enemy. I apologize for what my corrupt half as put you through," the spirit says, having the same voice of the phantom yet now the ability to sound sincere.
"What is going on?" you question, not letting your guard down.
"I had been sealed within the mask you just destroyed by that twisted abomination of a creature. By destroying the mask and freeing me you gave me the opportunity to seal it away instead. I know you have no reason to trust me but I assure you, you are safe. In fact, as a token of my gratitude, I will offer you a choice of how you wish to leave this place," it says, floating closer to you.
You back up to keep the distance between yourself and the spirit the same, hoping this abyss is really as endless as it appears.
"What choice?"
"The choice of returning to life, or passing on into the afterlife. I have the strength to perform either action. I need you to choose because I do not wish to force upon you that which you may not want. What would you like to do?" the spirit says as it stops advancing, seeing that you aren't going to let it get closer.
If this is choice is a real one and not a trick, you have a lot to consider. You had done all of this at the chance to live again, but perhaps the chance to see the afterlife again is stronger than your desire to return amongst the living? You think long, and hard about each option.
The End: You may not have saved a life, but you made a friend and possibly saved a spirit. Now you need to decide whether to live again to see that friend or let go of your attachments to the real world and pass on into the afterlife... but that is another story entirely.
