Martyrdom

[HansTheHuman]

Kyle felt the balloon tug him lightly. It was trying to pull him towards the game Kyle was to participate in. Kyle eventually got the idea and let the balloon lead him to his trial. Kyle was walked past several attractions, shooting gallery, a theatre, a maze and other carnival rides. They arrived at an arena. Posters advertised the current champion, but they were only mirrors. Upon standing at its entrance, the balloon burst with a loud bang and the voice spoke again.
"Step right up and test your might against the champion of my arena! But who is the champion? Some people say your greatest enemy is yourself, but the fighter you are to face will put that saying to rest! Defeat him and you win! Kyle Von Brooks, bravely step forward into the arena and prepare to fight!"

[duskskully]

Kyle knew what the voice meant, so he entered the arena ready to fight.

[Phrost]

After finishing her dru- IMEANTEA, Phiounuse went back into her room, and turned on the television. The strange interface did not amuse her, and she began to mash random buttons. After about two minutes, she managed to get to the "contacts" screen. She noticed "The General". As the saying goes, the cat's curiousity got the better of her and she pressed on "The General".

[HansTheHuman]

Kyle stepped into the arena. It was circular with a grandstand of several hundred chairs, from them spectated the demonic audience, all similar in anatomy to the clown Kyle met before. Powerful lights shone onto the arena floor, but they flickered occasionally from faultiness. Before him was a huge mirror that divided the entire arena in two, wall to wall, and floor to ceiling. It made a perfect reflection of the side Kyle was on, his own reflection copying all his movements.
"Now! The key to defeating my champion is- OH! It seems I have another arrival! Anyway, remember what I told you, I'll be right back!"
Now left alone with his reflection and the audience, who were eerily silent without even a single cheer, Kyle prepared himself.

---Two trials at once!---

The screen went black. A dark viscous fluid fell through the fram of the television and hit the floor heavily. It reached for every corner of Phiounuse's room before reaching her feet, from which it then swam up to engulf over her head. When fully constrained in the black liquid, she was suddenly released. Phiounuse felt as if she were flying at high speed through a completely empty black void. As she flew, Phiounuse caught the sight of a carnival developing in the distant darkness, its bright lights and music reaching out to her growing brighter and clearer as the Khajiit neared towards them. Phiounuse could then see a lamp-lined cobblestone path that wormed its way to the entrance of the carnival. She was dropped at the end of the path, left to walk her way to the gate along the winding road of cobble. A sudden voice bore down on Phiounuse's ears, its source seeming to have no physical manifestation in the plane she was in.
"Welcome! Phiounuse! I recognise that you are a special one, and for you I have a special game! With prizes on offer! Follow the path and enter my park! Much mirth awaits!" The voice's tone seemed to reflect a strange and particular liking for the Khajiit, as if the voice was anxiously awaiting something of her in the near or far future.

---Two line-breakers at once!---

Stomping speedily through the corridors inside the Hub's core were the boots of Esquire Thorsten Friedrich Gunterwick, better known as simply "Chops" for those fucking fantastic chrome mutton chops caressing his cheeks and upper lip. The boots were carrying their owner to a new set of recruits who were initiated only at the last minute due a misplacement of papers thanks to Lord Jeremy McElroy. Fortunately, the machine race living on the Hub known as The Breed were clever enough to undertake the task of rounding up the missing recruits without order, saving time and stress for what stress meant to robots at least. Reaching the warehouse the new recruits were contained, Chops slowed down to a walk and brushed off the creases in his safari shirt before standing before the giant doors. The doors opened to grey innards of the warehouse, among them the recruits.
"Most sincerest apologies for the mix-up, and many thanks for your patience. Lord McElroy enjoys his paperwork. I am Esquire Thorsten Friedrich Gunterwick von Hub, but please simply address me as 'Chops'. Without further delay, follow me please, I'll brief you along the way." Chops waved the recruits to him and they started down the long walk to their accommodation.

[arentheawesome]

The girl with green hair, violet eyes, and two jet black horns, saluted the... Man? named Chops, a smile on her tanned face. She then jogged after him, and, keeping pace. She'd let the other recruits ask questions. As she looked around, her eyes filled with awe. Such a technologically based area... It was amazing. She'd never get anything like this back home, never mind robots. And... Chops was his name? What a sight he was! Spectacular!
She snapped out of her daze and shook off the wonderment, focusing on paying attention to Chops. He was going to say important things pertaining to what she needed to do for these guys. Pay attention, Elrias.

[duskskully]

Kyle wondered why there was a giant mirror in front of him, so he decided to touch it with the tip of his finger.

[HansTheHuman]

Kyle's finger was met with that of his reflection. The mirror felt cold and smooth. Other than the unimpressed murmurs of the demonic crowd, nothing happened. The arena lights flickered still and abruptly shorted out, leaving Kyle in complete darkness. He heard a slow steps walk away from him on the arena's grated metal floor. The steps stopped for a moment. Then, a the sound of running traveled across the floor and directly towards Kyle. They grew louder until a presence was felt up close. Before the boy could react, he received a sharp whack into his nose. The crowd roared with cheer in the darkness. Kyle was knocked over, the lights finally came on again and Kyle could see once more. Blood was streaming down his face and off his chin, some had gone down his windpipe and Kyle could taste his blood passing down his throat and gather inside his mouth. Kyle saw his reflection in his same position, sat down on the ground. But something was missing, the reflection was not bleeding. The blood that had entered Kyle's lungs caused him to cough it up in a red spray. The reflection coughed the same, only without the blood.

[Phrost]

Looking for the source of the voice, Phiounuse found nothing. Her face clearly showed a mass of confusion, but she looked ahead to the carnival. A looming sense of deja-vu swept over the Khajiit as she began to walk towards the carnival. The voice seemed as if it knew her all her life, for all she knew, if might have. She eventually met the gate of the carnival after following the trail of lanterns. Taking a deep breath, Phiounuse took a step into the festival's fray.

[HansTheHuman]

The carnival gates welcomed her as Phiounuse stepped forward. Before her stood a clown, colourful and viciously demonic. The clown held up a bouncing red balloon in its right hand which was outstretched forward to offer the balloon to Phiounuse.
"Take the balloon and it will lead to your trial! Come on now, don't be a pussy! Hmhmhmhahahaha!" The voice from before bellowed before fading into laughter at its corny cat-related pun.

[Phrost]

A bit taken back by the demonic qualities of the clown, Phiounuse grabbed the balloon hesitantly

[duskskully]

Kyle then took of of his fingers and wiped some blood on it, after that he licked the blood on the finger clean off and said,"Delicious, I haven't tasted my own blood in a long time, but that's besides the point. You see my blood lust meter is going off right now and well that means I'm going to go ape shit crazy on the mirror until that fucker falls."Kyle then got up, his eyes were a light dark red, he then ran straight to the mirror and punched it.

[HansTheHuman]

The balloon tugged on Phiounuse's paw that held it. It lead her to a theatre will double doors and an awning all lit up and posters on the wall featuring a play titled "The Betrayal of Rose". The poster's image was only a silhouette that vaguely resembled a cat's head with its eyes glowing white and no expression, behind the cat was a lamp-lit street. These demons must be into the noir genre. The balloon tugged still, taking Phiounuse behind the theatre, backstage. They arrived at a door with a gold five-tipped star on it and the balloon burst, its bang rang in the Khajiit's sensitive ears and was only followed by another loud noise.
"Yes! You are the star of the show! No need to rehearse the script, you already know it! Now get out there and knock 'em dead! Don't let it turn into a...CAT-astrophe now! Hahahaha!"

---Kyle dun goofed or did he?---

Kyle's fist collided with the mirror with a blood-fueled force that would shatter all the bones in his hand. But they didn't. Kyle's fist bounced off the mirror having done no damage to it. Kyle's own hand was fine despite the impact, the reflection however was not as well off. The Kyle reflected in the mirror had a visibly crippled hand, misshapen and bleeding heavily. The demons leaned in curiously, wondering whether Kyle had worked out the puzzle. Before any evaluation could be taken, the lights shut off again. Plunged again into pure darkness, Kyle felt two hands placed on his cheeks. Two thumbs seemed to claw into his mouth and began to pull Kyle's face apart. The flesh of the cheeks tore open and the loose flaps of skin were then quickly and viciously pulled downwards. The audience of demons let out a sharp cry of cheers, they could be heard standing up from their seats and applauding. All of Kyle's skin from the bottom half of his face was stripped off down his chin, exposing the teeth and gums of Kyle's lower jaw. The lights came on again, Kyle saw half of his face lying in the sand in front of his and a draft of air blew through the horrific wound and setting off all its pain receptors.

[Phrost]

Phiounuse tried to protest and sighed at the second cat pun. Unable too change anything, she walked onto the stage. Thinking about the title of the play, the stark, macabre reality hit her. "This is just a simulation," Phiounuse whispered to herself quietly, "not real. Must keep my nerves."

[Mr.Chocobo]

Facion walked with solem purpose. He didn't like the hub, and he liked it all at the same time. Seperated from all matter that he was used to, and yet introduced to new matter all at once.
"Hmph." he ('he' being a lose term, it is hard to assign a gender to a being made of super dense-metals, carbon, and various other substances.) grumbled.

Each step was loud, and heavy. Facion did weigh at least a ton, if not more. His dark carbon skin was like charcoal, his diamond like teeth jutted out from his mouth. And his eyes, dark glowing red in the middle, but faded to light blue and white at the edges. He looked as solid as someone formed from a planet can be.

"I do not like long talks. If points are to be made, please do make them." Facion said to Chops. His voice was heavy. Deep. Like the rumble of an earthquake. His voice matched his being perfectly.

[duskskully]

Kyle stood there for awhile and then he figured it out. When he gets hurt so does the reflection, so Kyle then decided to start cutting his self and wounding him self with all the weapons he had on him to see if he was right.