"You have nowhere left to turn, scoundrel!" A gruff, armor-clad mastiff shouted as he lunged forward towards his enemy, a grey shark sorcerer with purple robes, who had his back turned towards the mastiff. Hearing this, the dark sorcerer would wildly turn around and see the mastiff, mid lunge with silver sword in hand, and had just mere moments to dodge the attack.

The mastiff swung down his sword onto the rough stone floor, the clang of his blade echoing all across the castle's large throne room the two figures found themselves in. Immediately, the rugged mastiff stood up from his kneel and thrusted his sword forward towards the shark, who once again dodged the sword by the skin of his teeth. The sorcerer growled and tried to counter this by pulling a punch the best he could, but his fist only bounced off the mastiff's armor.

The mastiff would let out a cocky smile before using his next attack. The mastiff would hold out one hand towards the sorcerer, and all the evildoer could do was widen his eyes. "I've finally got you now. You shall submit to the kingdom and perish in our hands for eternity!" The mastiff would shout this before a bright light encompassed his palm. Only a second later and a bright ball of light shot out of the hero's hand and towards the sorcerer...

But the light reflected onto the hero, who couldn't react in time. The mastiff let out a loud whimper as he was rammed by his own attack, being sent flying back for a bit before his body slid across the floor, his armor scraping the stone. The hero groaned as he now saw the enemy approach him, and as he laid incapacitated, he wondered just what had even happened. The shark would answer his question a few seconds later.

"You think I wouldn't be foolish enough to counter that?" The shark bellowed, walking forward and letting his elegant robes flow in the residual wind. His boots would make a malevolent stomp with each step forward. "So you've learned magic, at last. It's unfortunate that it's nowhere in comparison to my magical prowess..." The shark walked ever onward, making the mastiff growl and struggle to get up to no avail.

As he menacingly approached the mastiff, he chuckled lightly. "Look at you... falling to your own attack. Shameful." And then, the mastiff saw him kneeling down, leaning over to have his head as close as he could to his own. He once again struggled to get up, trying his best to move away from the sorcerer, but it was no use. The sorcerer laughed once more at just how much the mastiff writhed and flailed.

All he had to do was say just one phrase to the mastiff. The mastiff looked at him while he struggled, hoping that the legends weren't true, that if you hear him say this, your life was as good as over. The shark scowled and grinned, licking his lips, and finally said...

---

"...uh, and finally said..."

Ellard scratched his head in confusion. The dragon Composer was completely stumped on what to do from here. What even WAS a good one liner in this situation? The hand he used to weave his magic slumped down in defeat as he just stared at the open Thread in front of him, taking the appearance of a rift out in the open. All he saw inside was that shark and the mastiff, so close together in a defining, tense moment, frozen in time. The sorcerer was so close to pitting the mastiff into his underworld dungeon and seemingly snuff all hope from the heroes, there HAD to be a good one liner to reflect all this...

...but Ellard shook his head, growling. "No, this won't do. Jiraen! I need some help!"

As soon as the green western dragon had called for his friend, a similarly green colored snapping turtle slid out from somewhere in the shadows of the nature-claimed temple that they both called home. Jiraen, or rather, his shell, slid across the grass with some force, before coming to a stop at the stone path in the middle of the temple, just at the bottom of the stairs that lead to Ellard's pedestal. Once it stopped spinning, the turtle's limbs all popped out of the protective shell, and the turtle propped himself upright.

"You rang, my Composer?" Jiraen quipped as he ascended the stairs up to Ellard, still standing on his pedestal but now looking towards the turtle. Jiraen bowed his head down in respect to Ellard, before continuing his sentence: "Your humble Conductor is here to assist you in any and all your desi--"

"Please don't say that. I know you're, like, excited to be here and all but it's been only two weeks together." The dragon held up one hand to his Conductor, a very slight blush escaping his face. "Also, we've been friends since college, we shouldn't suddenly look at ourselves as one being superior to the other, remember?"

Jiraen pitifully grabbed his heart and mimicked getting shot, using his other hand to hold his forehead. "Oh, how you wound me so, my Composer!" cried the turtle, receiving a confused glare from Ellard before staggering back to a normal standing position, moving towards the dragon's arm as he did so. "Besides, I thought you liked it when people treated you high and mighty, like the dragon you are!" He then leaned his head on Ellard, which didn't leave much to the imagination on what he was actually after.

The dragon, of course, simply pushed back and propped Jiraen back up to a proper standing position. "That was ages ago. I was pathetic and wanted to feel like I had some control over myself. Once I moved here, well, I finally discovered who I truly wanted to be, away from everything." Ellard looked around the mossy pillars and the lush grass encroaching the cement path. He had let it grow that way for three years now, using his powers as a Composer. It was humbling to have control over something for once.

A moment of silence later, and a loud sigh was produced from Ellard. "Okay, so are you gonna help me or are we gonna let out our emotions now?"

Jiraen blinked, then turned his head to the dragon, unaware that he, too, had been daydreaming around. "Oh! Yeah, sure. What's the matter?"

Ellard explained the situation in detail, while Jiraen listened attentively. Ellard had the very unfortunate trait of seemingly overexplaining things, which made his early years a living hell. It was lucky, then, that Jiraen just so happened to be an excellent listener, and ever since they became friends, the snapping turtle had been there for the dragon, hearing out his every word. Perhaps this is how Jiraen came to fall helplessly in love with Ellard, even if he was (selectively) aware that Ellard was aromantic, but more importantly, it's why Ellard chose him as his desired Conductor, preferring to wait out those four years Jiraen had to go through with training, alone.

"Okay, so," the turtle nodded as Ellard finished his winded explanation, "you've got this evil dude and you need him to say one line to get the hero quaking in his boots, is that it?" The Composer nodded to his Conductor, and Jiraen clapped his hands together in anticipation.

It also happened to be fortunate that Jiraen was an incredible well of ideas, something that only became much more apparent with his transition to Conductor. "Let's spitball phrases at each other and see what works, alright? I'll go first." The dragon nodded as he knelt down and took a seat on his pedestal. They were probably going to be at it for a while. "Hmm... 'This will be your doom!'" Jiraen threw out one fist in a display of dominance, while putting on the best serious face he could.

Ellard chuckled at the sight, but shook his head. "Nah. Too basic. Also very direct, this guy's gotta be more cunning than that."

"Ah, right..." The Conductor returned to his regular stance and then paced around silently for a moment. "What about... 'Pick a god and pray...'" The turtle delivered this line in the lowest voice he could, glaring menacingly at no one.

A quiet hum escaped Ellard this time, but he still wasn't satisfied. "No, another Composer made that one, I'm certain, and I don't wanna overstep any boundaries." He could hear Jiraen complain to himself, perhaps knowing who popularized it. Suddenly, a stroke of genius crossed the dragon, and he proclaimed, "Ah, I think I have it!"

Ellard stood up while Jiraen turned right around to face him, an excited look on his face. "You do?? Alright, big guy, let's hear it!"

The dragon puffed up his chest, looked off to the side with a grand scowl, and uttered the words:

"You're going to have a bad time..."

The Composer was met with silence, and one look to his Conductor revealed that the turtle's glowing smile was replaced by that of immense disappointment.

"...uh, no." Jiraen slowly turned around and continued thinking about one liners, leaving Ellard to slump his whole body sadly.

"...I mean, I thought it sounded nice..."

It would be a minute or so later that Jiraen came up with another line, without any theatrics this time. "Uh, 'let me introduce you to my kingdom'?"

Ellard pondered it for a moment, as if trying it on like a glove, before commenting. "Okay... we might be getting somewhere, but I need a bit of grit to it."

Jiraen nodded and did a little spin before shouting out his next line. "'Your life ends in my underworld!' ...or, rather, 'Welcome to hell, MY hell!'"

The Composer tilted his head, somewhat underwhelmed. "Uh, I think you overdid it. Hm..." Ellard tried to make one up himself, but ended up suggesting a different idea. "Okay, how about we come up with lines that don't necessarily reflect the tone? So, something like, 'You've won a trip to my dungeon' or whatever."

"Ooh, that could work!" Jiraen nodded, and once again paced around his Composer as he came up with a few lines. "Let's see... ah! 'You will be enlightened soon'!"

The Composer nodded, being confident in pitching his own idea again. "Not bad... Let me build off that one. 'A new purpose awaits you'!"

The Conductor (thankfully) kept his cheery tone. "You're getting it! Try this one on for size..." The turtle once again resumed his theatrics and threw one punch into his open palm, staring his friend down. "'Welcome to my nightmare...'"

And it seemed like Ellard was in high spirits again, actually opting to follow along with Jiraen's acting. He sidestepped to his left once and eyed down his "enemy" with a smirk, followed by an outstretched hand beckoning Jiraen to come closer. "'No one can escape from life alive!'"

And suddenly, a shouting match took place, in which the two threw quips at one another without any care. Jiraen followed up quickly, with Ellard ready to say his line immediately after him.

"A man choose, a slave obeys!"

"You dangerous, mute, lunatic!!"

"My corruption will consume you!!!"

"I'LL GIVE YOU A WAR YOU WON'T BELIEVE!"

"NONE OF US WILL SEE HEAVEN!!"

"NOW SINK INTO THE FLOOR!!!"

"AND HERE WE ARE!!!!" Jiraen yelled at the top of his lungs, throwing his arms out to his sides as if he was outstretching a cape.

Ellard, however, visibly shuddered upon hearing these words, and backed away slightly, returning to reality. "Wehh... I won't use that one. Another Composer already made that sound menacing already..." The dragon finally sat down on his pedestal again, taking a few deep breaths. "And on that note, please refrain for ever uttering those words, in that succession, again."

Jiraen's determined face immediately snapped to that of worry, slowly coming back to his senses. "Oh-- Crap, Ellard, I'm so sorry about that. You know how I can get carried away..." He rushed over to the dragon and sat down the best he could, before the turtle hugged one of the dragon's arms and attempted to rest his head on his shoulder. Ellard allowed him to, this time, and the two shared a small moment catching their breaths inside the now silent temple.

"Man... coming up with this is hard," The Composer finally spoke up, with a dejected look on his face as he stared down to the ground. "I may have been 'blessed' in making these worlds from birth, but I still have to put in a lot of elbow grease into it. I don't even wanna talk about the first few Threads I've done..."

The Conductor looked up longingly to the dragon, remembering the first Thread of his that he was allowed to see, and chuckling. "Yeah... that one was embarrassing, honestly. And now you gotta make it your duty, or something. I'm assuming that's why you waited for me all this time."

Ellard shook his head lightly, still feeling tuckered out. "That, and I've... grown to enjoy your company. Not as a lover, mind you, but... I just wanted to be around you all the time. You're the only one that makes me feel less like a pawn to this cruel life."

There was a myriad of phrases Jiraen could have shouted next. He felt happy to at least be with Ellard in a platonic way, touched that the dragon would have preferred to stay solo if he couldn't become a Conductor, perhaps a touch of melancholy recalling all the sacrifices he made to get to Ellard and still falling short of his goal, and maybe deep shame for indirectly making his friend so self-conscious of his own work... but there was only one thing that arose clear in the snapping turtle's head, which he shouted as if announcing a major discovery:

"...Ellard, you're a genius!!!"

The dragon suddenly turned his head to the turtle, confused. "Wh-- I am?"

The turtle then stood up, now facing the open Thread that had been sitting there behind the duo all this time, still frozen at the same cliffhanger that Ellard had trouble executing. Jiraen reached out with one hand and rummaged around the rift, seemingly switching things around. Ellard stood up and just watched the Conductor work his magic.

"Oh, do I have the most wonderful idea!" Jiraen proclaimed gleefully. "Here, let me just shuffle a few things in your Thread for a moment..."

---

All he had to do was say just one phrase to the mastiff. The mastiff looked at him while he struggled, hoping that the legends weren't true, that if you hear him say this, your life was as good as over. The shark scowled and grinned, licking his lips...

...and got real close to the mastiff's head before whispering to him. "Hm, I like you enough. I guess I can explain... 'that' to you. You've heard the rumors, right? I say the magic words and you never come back alive, hm? Well, I'm about to tell you why. It's because when I drag the lot of you to my dungeon, I reform you. On your descent to hell itself, your soul fizzles out. It extinguishes like you would put out an insignificant candle's flame. That leaves my slaves to give you a new purpose... as my pawns."

The mastiff shuddered, only now beginning to realize the implications of what this meant. "That grand knight you defeated before getting to me? That was the last person that ever reached me years ago. He has been soulless all this time, guarding my entrance as nothing more than my plaything... and you killed him. There's no coming back from that, you know!" And as the knight finally regained his strength, just barely, he tried to reach for his sword, scrambling to hit the sorcerer while he was still monologuing.

"So, how about it, great hero? How would you like to replace him?" The shark now stood up and stepped back very slowly, guffawing and shouting to the knight. "You have such a strong body, it's a shame to have it rot in my cell! So come on, my knight..." The mastiff only just now grabbed a handle of sorts, and as he was able to move his head again, he saw that he was holding his sword again, albeit very cracked. And worse, still, was that the knight couldn't yet manage to get up...

"After all, you'll make a fine addition to my pawn collection..." The shark was finally going to say it. The mastiff knew he had to act fast, but his body simply couldn't give. As he made one final struggle, he could feel his energy returning in one hot flash around his body, but just as he at last scrambled upright with his broken sword in hand, ready to lunge--

"Because my kingdom requires your sacrifice!!"

The sorcerer flung one arm forward, sending a black hole like orb of malevolent energy flying towards the mastiff. As soon as it made contact with the unfortunate knight, he yelled in agony, feeling the world around him grow unbearably hot. He was now falling in a void, only being able to see dark hues of red and orange, possibly from a lava fountain.

And back in the castle, the black hole shrunk down to nothing, taking the knight with it to his apparent doom. The shark guffawed in victory, walking back to his throne in a patient and satisfied stride.

How would the fearless knight get himself out of this one, before he succumbs to doom...?