Nier Story Time - And Then There Were None

Nier Story Time - And Then There Were None
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Hello again children! Good ol' Storyteller StarMech here! And oooooof...yeaaaah, we got quite the heavy conclusion last, um, conclusion. A lot to think about it, a lot of bitterness to taste with your sweet and all that.

But hey! I know how to shift those sad faces upside down! Time for some more storytime! The next story will definitely cheer you u-...uh oh...on closer inspection, yeeeeeah this story is also very sad. Forget I said anything. Oh well, a story is a story, and stories should never be laid to waste, right? So might as well sit back and let me tell you a history of death and rebirth, but amongst it all suffering. *Ahem*

And Then There Was One...I say that because we start our story with one person. A young boy who found himself inside a strange dim-lightened room. He appeared to be a normal-looking boy, proper of tongue and very observant. Near him was a dusty ol-looking book, with nothing really written on it, which he prompted to pick it up without a care. He wasn't sure how he got here, but sure damn knew why; Days ago he was told by his superiors of a super-duper secret mission he was being part of; One that once fulfilled it'd grant him a full discharge from duty and granted freedom.

You see, he may have looked like an ordinary boy, but there was more to him than you'd think. Not just him but plenty of others just like him. You see this boy was not just a boy, but a soldier.

We should back up a bit in time, if you recall from our last story, the planet was in a bit of a mess. People turning into salt, people turning into monsters, and a Red-Eyed leader acting as the herald of these mad gods and in control of this "Legion", which just burst through walls and started to march out into the world. Human eyes set their sights on Tokyo Tower, and most importantly, the corpse of the red dragon that now lied lifeless and impaled through its structure. This corpse was quickly taken by the government and soon enough scientists from all over started to analyze and experiment with its body and blood, as they usually do. Eventually, a huge breakthrough was reached!: An unusual particle was discovered; The very molecular material that composed Magic!

Scientists called it Maso, and they learned that it came from both the Giant and the Dragon; the former's was the very cause of the illness that now plagued the earth while the latter's could be harnessed in order to give humans just the edge they needed to combat the Legion!

And so they harnessed the Maso. Poked, processed and packaged all into a marvelous wonder drug. It's name was Luciferase and it was the hot new thing about the research and military branches of the now-founded Hamelin Organization!! Once infused into one's body and Bam! Magic would course through your veins and turn you into a deadly superweapon! That sounds pretty rad, right? Just one tiiiny little caveat tho...They soon found out that there was one problematic side-effect to the drug and that was that in adults, it really wasn't very potent, putting them at a huge disadvantage against the Legion. So they thought of the best next thing: Get a bunch of young kids, in which the Luciferase worked the best, pump them up with the stuff, and just send them into a bloody crusade against their inhuman enemies!! Fun!!

Returning back to our young boy protagonist here, he wandered through this strange mysterious facility, holding on to that weird plain cover tome he found until he noticed something in front of him: A young girl had just woken up next to a book just like his. She was around the same age and ime had met her before in the battlefield, probably three years ago. Through conversation, they had managed to forge a decent enough friendship and so they decided to work together in the mission to earn both their freedoms.

As such, And Then There Were Two!

But things were not going to be easy, as they reached a new room they found themselves right in the middle of a crazed Battle Royale! And this was not the one you youngster talk about their gliders and their dance emotes about. No, this was a bloody gory display! Kids just their age mindlessly killing each other, be it by desperation or bloodlust; All while using magic through these weird tomes. A booming voice from above commanded a single order: "Only two of you are to survive"

And so the massacre begun. Kid after kid was murdered, which then their body and souls would be absorbed into their magic book and close up, now showing a weird masked expression as before it was nothing but a smooth plain cover. The young boy and girl did their best, assisting each other to survive the continuous massacre as the numbers went down.

There were thriteen children...then ten...then seven...then...six..then four...

And then there were Three...

The nightmare was almost over, and the two kids were about to win it, but that's exactly when tragedy struck. Before any of the two could react, a magical spear pierced through the young lass' body, which then slumped down upon a puddle of her own blood. The young boy could only look in shock before his gaze shifted to the left, seeing their attacker; Another kid just like him completely lost in the madness and bloodlust.

Rage filled our protagonist's body, alongside deep sorrow. His only thing close to a friend, to an ally, was now gone; Her body sucked into her tome and leaving a Red-tainted Face upon its cover. He lunged at his remaining competitor, wishing only to avenge his fallen comrade but alas, the two found themselves frozen in place. As the people above proclaimed through the facility speakers: the experiment was over...

The two remaining children were soon enveloped into a bright light coming from their magic books, a blinding flash that caused them both to flinch. Their consciousness felt like being washed again nd then brought straight into the tome's pages and then...poof!

And Then There were None....

The experiment had been an amazing success! The two candidates had been chosen and take away for the next phase of the plan. the remaining eleven children that had now become nothing but a bunch of colored books on the ground, which were then gathered and saved for further research. Perhaps some of them could become good support to the Project that was now being set into motion. That sad red book may someday find himself in a fancy mansion perhaps, who knows?

But what about our two Winners, you may ask? What of them? Oh, I'm sure you figure it out at this point. They would be copied and mass-produced, then handed to the people to initiate the process that was the keystone of Project Gestalt.

The young boy, from within his pages, could only laugh at such fate and cover the pain of losing his friend. He had now been forever bound alongside his friend's murderer...as magical Grimoires of White and Black...

It'd take many many years for the Legion and their Red Eye leader to be eventually defeated...He was kind of a tough cookie to break. Would you believe they get killed, and then million of years later it comes back only to then be taken out for good? It's a crazy story, but irrelevant to this storytelling so you can research it yourself. Anyways, The important thing was that while the war against the Legion continued, humanity now had the keys to their salvation! All within the pages of a familiar set of books, PRoject Gestalt could really begin...

This is where our story ends for today. Apologies for the somber turn of events, but backstory is backstory and this was a tale that had to be told. Hopefully, this new route may bring some light to our shadows...or perhaps the complete opposite. That's the YokoTaroverse for ya, never-ending spiral of life and death....oooh that's a good line! someone should use it for cool speech million of years later or something. Till our next story, children. On with the show!!