Chapter 16:The Awaking (Part two final)
Lieutenant Kyl Dark Blood
Kyl could hear the sounds of those things echoing through the tunnels and in the darkness but for at least an hour now there had been no sign of any creatures. He thought about them, the way they grinned at him like children in a sweet shop. Some of them he had noticed were wearing legion barding. What had happened to them? Was in some kind of necromancy? If it was necromancy it was none he had ever see before and…that child. That face was burned into his mind even now it was still disturbing him. “Have you seen anything like them before?” Kyl Asked Zeara to break the eerie silence. Even though he didn’t like her one bit she was the only one to talk to right now so he was willing to put up with it for the time being till contact with his squad is re-established.
She looked over her right shoulder with a stone-face expression. “No, no I haven’t.” It was clear to him she didn’t want to think or even talk about it.
He didn’t really blame her for that. He wondered how Sunny and Strong Heart were holding up in the dark. Surely they could navigate without the light right? Then again he had light and he wasn’t really sure where he was, all the tunnels looked the same. Since he was a little Wolven he had the trait that allowed him to pick up different smells. Problem was there were too many smells in this place and all were the rotten kind but not the kind of rotting smell a dead body would give off. It smelled more like something that didn’t know how to die. “Do you even know where you’re going Zeara?” Kyl asked to break the silence again.
She glared at him over her shoulder. “Yes. What kind of stupid question is that?”
“You don’t seem to know where you’re going.” Kyl pointed out. He sighed, she was still being difficult. “Look we’re not going to get anywhere if you don’t…”
Zeara stopped and turned to face him. “Why do you keep talking!?” She snapped. “I don’t need you whining in my ear!”
Kyl had no emotion on his face this time as he asked calmly. “Why do you hate me so much? What have I done to deserve this huh?” He looked her in the eye and he didn’t flinch. “You think I asked to be like this? You think I like being related to a Monster?” Zeara’s eyes shifted slightly from side to side as if she was studying his face. Then her angry expression softened just a little, as if she was really thinking about it. Was he finally getting through to her? He didn’t get a chance to find out when a pony not one of those freaks but a real live pony screamed. Kyl’s ears pricked up and his eyes widened in recognition. “That sounded like Sunny!” He forgot about Zeara’s hate for now and focused on those screams.
He ran past Zeara and she called after him. “Hay wait a second wait for me!”
He didn’t care he wanted to find the Captain he wanted to find his friend. As he ran down tunnel after tunnel the screams got loader and loader till a terrified yellow Pegasus came sprinting out of the darkness. She crashed right into him with full force, knocking him and her over. Kyl’s light flickered as pain pulsed through his head. “AHH jeez!” He groaned in pain, rubbing his head. “Sunny what the…”
Sunny was on top of him, her pupils had gone so small her eyes would be almost completely white if they weren’t so blood shot. Her face was covered in cuts, bruises, her nose was bleeding and one of her eyes was swollen half shut. “THE CAPTAIN!!!” She screamed as she shook Kyl by his shoulders. “YOU HAVE TO RUN!!!”
Before he could ask what she meant by that, she looked over her shoulder and screamed again. She ran off down the way Kyl had come and Kyl yelled after her. “Sunny wait, what about the Captain where is h…” Some heavy thuds were coming form the darkness from where Sunny came and he looked in that direction. There were also dragging sounds like metal on rock. “Captain? Captain is that you?” He got up and shone his light but his aching head made it flicker. He could hear deep raspy breathing and the clunk, clunk, clunk of metal. He could make out a figure in the dark. He was wearing legion barding and looked to have Spec-Ops colours. It was the Captain but he didn’t look to be in good shape. His head was drooped and he looked to be struggling to walk. “Captain! Thank the gods.” He approached him. “What the hell is up with Sunny? Did those things get to her head? Hay Captain are you ok you don’t…”
Kyl stopped. The Captain was missing his helmet and Kyl could see his mane, only there was something wrong with it. It was all thin and weakly looking and now that he was closer he noticed he had crossbow bolts sticking out his shoulders and neck. “Sir what the…”
That’s when he lifted his head up and Kyl saw his face, only…it wasn’t his face. His eyes were black, his mouth rotten and his teeth were long and needle like. Kyl gasped in horror as his former Captain lunged at him, mouth open impossibly wide to the point of breaking. They fell to the ground with the Captain on top. Kyl had his hooves pressed right under the Captain’s chin to stop him from biting down. But his skin was too…shifty like it wasn’t attached to his muscle. There were rips and tearing sounds as the Captain’s skin started to peel away under the pressure of Kyl’s hooves. Then his hooves went through the Captain’s skin and inside his neck. Kyl had to resist puking as he felt the insides of his former Captain’s throat. With fewer grips now the Captain’s massive maw came closer to Kyl’s face. The skin around the sides of the Captain’s neck started to stretch as Kyl tried to find some lavage on his Captain’s windpipe. Drool and blood was pouring out his mouth, staining Kyl’s armour. He tried pulling his Captain’s mane with his magic to get some control but it just tore away with a lump of rotten flesh. The massive mouth tried snapping as it got closer and he made load gurgling sounds each time. Kyl couldn’t think anymore, shock and horror had taken over and he could only stare. The Captain’s mouth was mere inches form Kyl’s face when Zeara appeared with her ball of light and grabbed the Captain’s head in her hooves. With a load battle cry Zeara twisted his head sharply to one side and broke the bone in his neck with a load crack.
He flopped to the ground with a metallic thud and he didn’t move after that. Kyl scrambled to his hooves and stared at Strong Heart’s rotten, mangled body and as much as he tried he couldn’t stop it coming. He turned swiftly and puked on the ground. It was painful and it smelled. Once he was done retching and coughing he looked at Zeara. She wasn’t doing anything she just sat there looked at her bloody hooves. Then he noticed something running down her cheek. She was crying and she was whispering something. When he got closer he heard what she was saying on repeat. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
Kyl took careful steps toward her. “Zeara?” He repeated her name quietly till she started speaking in a disconnected way.
“We were supposed to get married you know. He offered me his hoof many years ago.” She looked up to the roof of the tunnel, her expression was twisted with grief. “I was worried that a family life would interfere with my duty to the legion so even though I wanted to accept it and be happy I said no…I said I wasn’t ready. And now…now I’ll never get that chance.” She began to sob, leaning on the Captain’s body and hiding her face in her forelegs. “Just leave me alone I need to think.”
Kyl wanted to do the same, curl up and cry. Strong Heart had been his friend for many years though he never spoke of Zeara or ever having a relationship. But he had always been there when it counted and now he was gone forever, and he would be too if he and the others stayed any longer. He reached out and touched her and he flinched when he thought she was going to snap at him but she didn’t. “He was my friend Zeara…” He said in a calm soft voice. “He helped me in my times of need and he’s the reason I was able to join the Spec-Ops. He never gave up on me he pushed me till I fell and then helped me up again.” He gave her a light shake. “So we’re going to honour his memory by getting up and moving on, not giving in.” He got up and went to find Sunny. He stopped and looked back at Zeara. She was still just hiding her face in silence so he just left her there. With or without her he was going to find Sunny.
He turned about two corners till he was in some sort of multi tunnel chamber. He heard sobbing in the dark and for a second he thought it was one of those child things.
But to his relief it was Sunny. He found her sitting huddled against the wall in the dark. Her face was blank save for her eyes, they were so wide it almost seemed if you just pocked her head they would pop out. She was hugging her crossbow and was rocking back and fourth slightly as she moaned in a hum to herself. She was also crying, gods he had never seen so must tears come out of one pony. “Sunny?” Kyl approached her slowly. She seemed unresponsive. She just kept on staring at the darkness blankly. “Sunny it’s me Kyl.” He reached out and touched her shoulder. She flinched and whimpered loudly as if his touched caused her pain. He recoiled at this reaction and looked at her dumbfound. “She’s scared out of her mind.” He thought.
Kyl had to snap her out of it, their survival depended on it. He sat down beside her and quickly took hold of her in his forelegs. She screamed once and struggled weakly in his hold, kicking her back legs till she gave up and just sobbed loudly.
She dropped her crossbow and hugged him back, burying her face in his left shoulder and crying with all her will. He spoke to her calmly and in a soft tone. “Shhh it’s ok, ok it’s me I’m here.” He sat there with her quietly after that, stroking her grimy golden white mane trying to calm her down. It seemed to work when her sobs lowered into little hiccups. Kyl sounded grief stricken when he asked. “What happened Sunny…what happened to the Captain?”
She seemed to start up again when she sobbed. “There was nothing I could do…he…he was fine one minute and…and…” She couldn’t contain herself and started crying loudly some more till she gasped and tried to push away from him. “He didn’t bite you did he?! Oh gods LET ME GO!!!”
Kyl kept hold of her as she weakly struggled. “N…no Sunny he didn’t bite me. Wait what’s that got to do with anything?”
“IT’S HOW YOU TURN!!!” She screamed. “He got bit by the child and…and…” She gripped his shoulders and started shaking him. “I can still hear him breathing down my neck make it stop…make it stohhhhaaaap!”
Kyl held her head tightly to his chest as she trembled in his hold, whaling her eyes out. “She’s lost it Kyl.” Out from the corner Zeara appeared with her ball of green light. “There’s no hope for her now, we must leave her if we are to survive this nightmare.”
Kyl let go of Sunny and she went back to hugging her crossbow. Kyl stood up and faced Zeara with anger in his eyes. “You’d have me abandon a fellow solider, a squad mate, my friend?”
Zeara scowled at him. “Look at her!” She gestured to Sunny’s huddled form. “She’s broken. She’s nothing more than a feeble wreck. If we don’t leave her here she’ll drag us down with her.”
Kyl couldn’t believe what he was hearing. What she was saying, what she was suggesting for him to do was downright wrong. “Are you hearing yourself right now, do you? If we leave her it’s not only wrong it’s murder.”
“I think crimes are out of the question here Kyl this is survival pure and simple.” She gestured for him to come. “Now as your commander I order you to leave her and come with me.” There was a hint of a threat in her words but Kyl was not going anywhere, not without Sunny.
“You can’t tell me what to do you’re not my Captain.” Kyl sneered in anger.
Zeara laughed. “You idiot did you not learn anything in the academy? If one Captain of a squad is to die that squad goes to the next high rank in line, which happens to be me so I’ll tell you one more time. Leave her here and get moving!”
“No!” Kyl snapped. “I won’t allow it!”
Zeara was acting strange it was like she had gone made. “You questioning my orders dog?” She hissed, her horn beginning to glow. “Do you know what happens to those who disobey my orders?” Her horn started to crackle with green energy.
Kyl moved slowly in between Sunny and Zeara to keep Sunny safe and try a different approach. Zeara must be suffering from grief and shock like Sunny but instead of breaking down she was going nuts with imaginary authority. Kyl calmed himself and raised a single hoof slowly in the universal wait sign. “Look I know what you’re going through I know, I am going through it too right now in fact.” He slowly gestured to Sunny. “But this, this is not the answer Zeara we don’t leave others behind to die. So just calm down and…”
“Enough!” She shouted. Kyl tried his best to hush her but she kept on shouting. “You’re coming with me right now!”
“Keep your voice down you’re gunna let them know where we are. And why me?” He asked his an angry whisper.
“More light, more magic which makes you useful to me yes.” She had gone completely insane now. He never would have left her with the Captain’s body if he knew this would happen. “Come I won’t ask again I mean it this time.”
Kyl looked at Zeara in disgust and his tone cracked with anger. “You want me to use me not cause you care. You only want to save your own hide! You’re a coward!”
“What did you call me?” Zeara asked in an angry shaky voice. “Did you just call me…a coward?”
Before Kyl could answer she shot green lighting at him and he only had seconds to cast a shield to stop himself getting vaporised. The energy that bounced of his spell was so powerful his shield began to crack. Kyl let out a roar as he mustard enough strength to push and charge at Zeara with his shield still up. Zeara had to stop her assault or risk getting burned by her own spell. His shield vanished and he slammed into her. She took the impact, pressing her hooves on his shoulders as he made her slide back, her metal boots scrapping on the floor with sparks. When he couldn’t keep it up she broke free from his push and used her right hoof to punch him in the face. The blow stung like hell and she was about to give him another till he grabbed her hoof and countered by slamming his elbow in her left eye. She screamed in anger as she clutched her eye and Kyl took the advantage by landing a few well-placed hoof blows to her face. She staggered back with each hit but managed to catch him off guard as she picked up a small rock with her magic and pounded it in the side of Kyl’s head. The blow left his ears ringing and he staggered to the side. Zeara took this as a chance to spin on the spot and deliver a bone-breaking buck to Kyl’s right foreleg. Kyl cried out in pure agony as the joint connected to his hoof snapped and he fell over. He lay there gripping his broken hoof as Zeara continued to hit him. “Die dog blood DIE!!!!” She screamed in pure hatred.
Through his swollen left eye he watched her begin to gather green energy in her horn and he thought it was all over. He would die not by the freaks in the tunnel but by his own kind. There was almost a sense of irony in that, spend years of your life defending ponies only to be killed by one. What a fucking sick joke it was. He didn’t know why he found it funny but as he watched her begin to cast her spell he couldn’t help but chuckle. That’s when he heard a low clicking sound and in the next second Zeara gasped, her eyes opening wide with terror. A long bony tail shot out of the darkness and impaled Zeara through the back. She stared at the spear like tip that protruded out her chest and slowly started to lift her up off the floor. Her light flickered on and off as something on the roof crawled into view. Kyl stared at it as its teeth gleamed in the dark with each flash of Zeara’s light. Its eyes were completely gone, replaced with some sort of soft organ. As for its skin…it had no skin, just muscle, vines and bone. It let out a low clicking roar as Zeara twitched in pain. “What am I gunna do?” Kyl thought, as he was struck dumb by what was in front of him. Before Kyl could think a bolt shot through the dark and imbedded itself in the creature’s brain. It let out a low crock before falling off the roof and pulling its tail free from Zeara. It and her landed with load thuds and both lay very still. Kyl looked over his shoulder and saw Sunny with her crossbow levelled in her hooves. “Sunny?” Kyl crocked. “Sunny you alright?”
She just stared blankly in one direction not crying anymore and with a plain expression. He noticed she was slowly pushing the firing lever forward and loaded another bolt. But what got his attention more were her eyes. They…they were grey, devoid of colour like all lights were off and she was running on pure instinct. There was a coughing sound and Kyl looked to see Zeara was still alive. She lay on her back clutching her chest as blood wept out of her wound. Blood was also weeping out her mouth as she continued to cough in pain. “Help…me.” She crocked and gurgled a bit. Sunny suddenly walked right up to her and looked down with coldness in her eyes. She pointed her crossbow at Zeara’s head. She tried to beg. “No…please don…” Splat. Sunny fired a bolt close blank range into Zeara’s skull and her eyes rolled back in her head as she went limp, mouth hung open and did not move.
Sunny let her crossbow fall and dangle at he side as she sat down or more like flopped down and hung her head low. Kyl got shakily to his three good hooves and hobbled over to her. He sat beside her, not giving any thought about what had just happened in front of him. He wrapped his good leg around her and gave her a comforting hug. “I can’t do this anymore.” Sunny said, almost a whisper.
“You did what you had to do.” Kyl said reassuringly. He sounded exhausted and he some what didn’t care anymore, he was so just done.
Sunny looked at him with her eyes still grey. “I killed her?” She said in confusion and her eyes slowly turned orange as if coming to her senses. “Oh by the gods I killed her.” She put her hooves to her head and looked like she was having a hard time coming to grips with it. “I killed Zeara!” She sounded like she was going to cry again but Kyl wasn’t going to let that happen.
“Hay!” He shook her and she squealed. “Get a grip I need you here and now.” He got up and with his magic he tugged her hoof all the while hobbling backwards. “Come on, on your hooves get going come on.” He kept her focused on moving no more no less, no matter what she and him had to move. Everything ached, his right forehoof hung uselessly off its joint but he had to keep going. Even as the sounds of those freaks got near they had to keep moving. It was like a beat in his mind, more like a song that played in his head. Just keep moving, just keep moving, just keep moving, moving, moving.
He wasn’t sure if he was losing it too but movement was all they had, if they stopped now it would be their deaths. It was suddenly getting lighter. Kyl noticed as he walked backwards hobble that the walls were turning a dull orange. Was it an exit did they find a way out. Kyl looked at Sunny and her face said otherwise. “Kyl…look.” She said in a whisper.
Kyl stopped and turned around hopping to see a beautiful sun set or a night’s sky. What he actually saw made his heart go cold. They were in a lit chamber full of candles and lining the walls were jars of pony remains. Heads, hooves, legs even an unborn filly. There were also large improvised tables set up and on them lay dead ponies, all dissected and with dead expressions frozen in terror. Kyl wanted to puke, there was so much blood dripping off those tables he would have thrown up everything he had except for one thing, two in fact.
In the chamber standing on two very straight legs and covered in organic looking black armour, were two very alien looking figures. They seemed to have not noticed them as they were looked at the dead ponies and holding in their three fingered clawed hands looked to be cutting equipment. One looked shorter than the other but their features were very similar. Their posture was not hunched like a Wolven but straight and curving up into their shoulders. Their feet looked like a bird’s mixed with an insect, in fact they looked like big two legged bugs. They also had long bony tails and had very large horns poking out either side of their heads.
One was cutting into a dead pony while the other played and mixed glowing liquids together. Kyl was so transfixed by these beings he completely forgot about his broken hoof and when he put weight on it he grunted loudly in pain.
They both snapped their heads around and looked right at him. Their star sent chills down his spine. He got a good look now at their elongated faces now, thing is they had no faces not even a mouth. But they had eyes, blue bug like reptilian eyes. They stared at him quietly for a long time, unmoving and unblinking. Not once did they blink. Then the bigger one with the cutting tool put it down and turned to face them. It was even weirder from front on. It had a very wide chest where overlapping plates of armour went down and its hips were also wide like a bug. Its clawed feet clattered and scrapped on the rocky ground as it slowly approached them, its eyes fixed on Kyl. A sense of real fear more real than the time with those creatures in the tunnel, was seeping into his mind. Then it stopped at four meters and just stared at him. Kyl didn’t know what to do this thing was nothing like anything he had even seen before, he had no idea if his spells would even worked on it.
It then turned its head after a minute to the smaller one and it spoke in a deep, rasping almost god like voice. “These ones are not infected.”
“Impressive.” The other one replied and its voice oddly sounded female. She put down her cups of liquid and turned to walk up beside the other. Her walk was very graceful as her hips swayed from side to side. “That one appears wounded and I can senses his exhaustion.”
“Yet he stands.” The male gestured with his clawed hand at Kyl. “Most impressive for an Equine.”
“Indeed.” The female one agreed. “Perhaps we should ease their burden.”
“Enough!” Kyl shouted and they both looked at him. He had had enough insanity for one day and this…this wasn’t going to keep his mouth shut not after what he’d seen. “What are you, what are you doing to these ponies?”
The female tilted her head in interest and scratched her chin with one claw. “Fascinating I sense his fear but he is still able to speak.”
“Not that one.” The male pointed at Sunny. “The female flyer, her tong is tight and her mind broken.”
“She won’t be must use then.” The female implied.
“Not much at all.” The male agreed then gestured to Kyl again. “But I sense power in him. Yes most useful.”
“Answer my damned question!” Kyl demanded. He was so confused. What where they doing studying him and Sunny? And the way they spoke it was like they didn’t see him as a person but a thing to be fascinated by. He shouted again. “What are you!”
“We.” The female one spoke and she actually spoke to Kyl directly this time. She put a scaly, clawed hand on the male’s left shoulder and looked very relaxed. “Are but humble servants of the of what is now and what will be.”
“What?!” Kyl got angry. “How’s that make any sense? What have you done to these ponies, why are you doing this?!”
“Kyl?” Sunny whispered in fear. “Behind us.”
Kyle looked away form the beings and looked over his shoulder. In the darkness Kyl could see the gleaming eyes and teeth of countless infected as they called them blocking the path out. They all just stood there watching Kyl and Sunny from the dark, not moving an inch.
“It is almost time.” The male being suddenly spoke and Kyl snapped his head back and looked at them in confusion.
“Wait what time?” Kyl said. “Time for what?”
The female moved forward slowly and curled all her claws in one hand. “Yes this one will do.” She glanced past Kyl and looked at Sunny. “Convert the female.”
Suddenly all the infected moved at once and Kyl’s horn lit up. Sunny turned and backed up to him, terror in her eyes. Kyl throw up a barrier of solid energy and stopped the infected mass. The female being also approached so Kyl threw up another barrier, stopping her as well. While the infected pounded and clawed at the shield the being simply tilted her head and seemed to be studying it. “This is it.” Kyl though. “We’re done, there’s no way out. Trapped in a bubble that won’t last long.” He looked at Sunny. She was so terrified she just stared at the massive horde that wanted her. They pressed and snarled against his shield, trying so hard to get at her and rip her apart. He then looked back at the being. She had lifted her hand up to it and was feeling it, slowly her head tilted back a fourth completely fascinated by the shield. She then took a single claw and lightly pressed it on the surface of the shield. To Kyl’s horror her claw was passing through it with a crackle of dark energy and cracks started to appear, spreading along the shield like a web.
“Kyl?” Sunny was speaking to him and he looked at her. Her eyes were tear stained and looked very tired. “I…I just wanted to let you know I…”
“No!” Kyl snapped and Sunny was taken aback. “No last words you’re not gunna die today I won’t allow it!”
“But…but we’re trapped!” She looked all around her then sat down clutching her head. “Please just kill me…I don’t won’t to be one of them.”
“No!” Kyl gritted his teeth, his horn began to burn from the strain of keeping the shield up, sending pain through his skull. “There’s always another way.” He thought, closing his eyes and tilting his head up to the roof. He whispered. “There’s always a…” As he opened his eyes he saw it. There was a hole in the roof of the chamber and it looked big enough to fit a small pony. There was light coming through it, it led to the surface. He looked at Sunny who was crying into her hooves. “Sunny!” She took her hooves away from her eyes to look at him. He strained to speak as the being’s hand pressed through the shield. He yelled “The roof…look up!” She looked at the roof and she saw it. Her eyes light up with hope, the sight of that gave Kyl enough strength to hold on. He looked at her belt and eyed the nova bomb there. “Quick…give me your nova bomb!”
Sunny looked at him in shocked disbelief. “You want what? But Kyl…”
“No!” He cut her off as he sat down and extended his good hoof. “There’s no time to argue give it to me!” With shock still on her face she gave him the round ball. “Now go and don’t slow down!”
“But…” Sunny tried to speak but the shield was beginning to break and Kyl’s nose started bleeding.
He shouted in agony at her. “NOW SUNNY!!!”
She stood there mustering the will to move then she flapped her wings and shot up to the roof. He watched her go as she reached out and grabbed the lip of the hole and crawled into it. As she climbed out of reach Kyl dropped the shield. The infected fell over one another while the female being approached him calmly. “Magical energy gathered and discharged at will through a special extremity.” She knelt down and placed a claw under his chin. The claw was so cold it burned his skin. She tilted her head as she let out a soft chuckle. “Impressive but very primitive.”
“Oh yeah?” Kyl chuckled himself and the being narrowed her eyes at that. His horn glowed and one side of the ball turned and it began to glow white-hot. She looked at the bomb and when she understood what it was her eye widened. “Try this primitive on for size.”
The bomb exploded.
Lieutenant Sun Burst/Sunny
Sunny was panicking. As she crawled her way up her breathing got quicker, her heart was hammering so much it hurt and bits of pointed rock kept stabbing into her sides. “Just keep moving, just keep moving.” She thought as she squeezed her way through the jagged tunnel. There was an explosion, dust and dirt came flying up under her, stinging her eyes. She coughed and wheezed as the dust went into her lunges and made it hard to climb. She couldn’t see so she had to feel, feel through the unforgiving rock and cold. She hit a dead end and for a moment she did nothing till her brain kicked in and she screamed. “No no nooo!” She felt around and found the surface of the tunnel was now soft and yielding. It was soil, dirt, mud, and all the things that screamed freedom. Her hoof went through it and she began to dig. She pushed and pushed and pushed, digging till her hooves hurt digging till her heart felt like it was going to burst. She saw a light, an orange light and it made her even more determined. Her pace quickened, her mind screaming till she broke the surface and let out a gasp as fresh cold air filled her lunges. She felt grass, lovely soft grass under her hooves and the wind blowing in her face. There were also trees lots and lots of trees. She pulled herself out of the hole with all her might and when she was free she crawled a few meters till she stopped and lay on her back, sucking all air her lunges could handle. The grass was so soft she didn’t want to move, just lay there as her chest raised and fell. All she could hear was her heart thumping in her ears, it was a beautiful sound like the music of life. She began to cry tears of joy and tears of grief, flowing freely down the side of her head.
She cried loud screaming out her grief and joy all at once, letting it out for the heavens to hear. She was alive, she was free, she opened her eyes and looked up at the evening sky. The orange clouds slowly moved over her, peacefully gliding across the sky. Never in her life did she find the sight more beautiful than it was now. She smiled, laughed even. “I’m alive.” She whispered and kept repeating the same two words over and over till she believed them.
She thought of all those who died down there. Iron Hide, Strong Heart, Zeara and now Kyl. “Oh Kyl…” She wept, rolling onto her stomach, “I’m so, so sorry.”
She continued to sob as she got to her hooves and was about to take off when something sharp imbibed itself above her left hind leg. Her entire leg stiffened up and pain shot through her body and she screamed in agony. When she regained her balance from the impact she looked at it. It was a crossbow bolt and it looked to have come from a Mark III. “But…the only one…” Sunny thought, “With another one of those is…” She looked to see one of those creatures wearing black legion barding and holding a Mark III crossbow. Its stomach was completely ripped open all its organs were gone. Its dark brown coat was patchy and its green mane was all withered. Its face looked a lot like the ones down below and it grinned her way. Sunny knew who this was. It was Whirlwind. He was ordered to guard the entrance. She was planning on going to him but it seems not even being outside saved him from this fate.
His tattered wings flapped and he charged, opening his massive maw for the kill. Sunny struggled to stand on two legs and fumbled with her own weapon in panic. Whirlwind was mere meters away when Sunny finally levelled her weapon and fired her last shot. It was dead on, imbedding itself in his heart. He crashed to the ground and slid all the way the Sunny’s hooves. She flapped her wings and hovered above, loading in three more bolts. When it was loaded she aimed her weapon at his body. He wasn’t moving but she put one more in his head for safety and then began to fly off. Grunting with the bolt still in her leg.
Lieutenant Kyl Dark Blood.
Kyl’s mind was a haze. Every thing hurt so much. There was an explosion but he was still here. Why, how? His vision was blurry and his hearing muffled. He was moving but what was moving him? He looked around. He was in some sort of orb of dark purple energy, which was coming from the hand of one of the beings. They were walking with him in between them, their clawed feet clattering off the rocky floor. The female was on the other side from him. How did she survive the blast? How did he survive? Granted her once smooth looking armour was now all charred and scratched but she seemed unharmed. He on the other hand wasn’t so fine. He looked at his hooves. They were burned pretty badly, the leather padding on his legs looked half melted and it travelled up his body. His face hurt when he moved any muscle, it hurt even to breath. “Where am I?” Kyl whispered in pain.
The two beings seemed to ignore him as they kept on walking down what seemed to be a lit tunnel. “Where are you taking me?” They still ignored him and for a while there was only silence till they entered a wide-open dark chamber that was only lit with a single blue light. They finally dropped him and he hit the ground with a painful thud. Everything in his body felt like it was bruning as he lay on his belly. He shakily lifted his head with all his effort and watched the male being walk over to the blue light, stop and turn to look at the female.
“It is time my sister for the awakening of our father.” He reached out to touch the light. “The continuation of our great march starts now.” His hand glowed with dark purple magic and his claws toughed the light. It flashed so bright Kyl had to squint his eyes shut. When the light went dim he opened his eyes again and what he saw shocked him. The light expanded and shaped itself into a similar shape to the two beings but much larger. The light started to change into bone, bone into muscle and muscle into skin. It uncurled and stood up straight completely naked. Without its armour it looked like a reptile with notable bug like features. Unlike the two other beings this one had a face and it was terrifying. It looked very lizard like with horns coming out of its head, side of its bony cheeks and under its chin. Razor sharp teeth pocked out from under its lips and it let out a soft sigh as misty breath escaped its lunges. It spread out its arms and more dark magical energy surrounded the being. Out of thin air armour and clothing appeared all over the creature. It looked the same as the other’s but lighter looking and it had cloth drooping down its shoulders, hips and a hood on its head. The two longest horns pocked out of holes in its hood. Lastly a staff, black and silky with a purple gem at the top encased in metal claws, dropped into its grasp and the magic stopped.
All was silent except for Kyl’s wheezing till it opened its eyes and green smoke emanated upward. It let out another sigh so low so cold Kyl actually shivered. The two beings knelt down and bowed before the new being they called father. It…he looked down upon his children and with a wicked smile he gestured for them to stand and said in an even deeper god like voice. “Rise my children.” They both quickly and elegantly stood but kept their gaze to the ground. He stepped forward and placed a clawed hand under the male’s chin. “My sun after all this time your strength still burns with a fire as bright as nova flare.” He then looked to the female. “And my lovely daughter, how time hasn’t robbed you of your beauty.” His eyes narrowed. “Wait you are injured.” He didn’t sound concerned just very matter of a fact. He approached her and she kept her gaze to the ground. He toughed the burn marks with a sort of roughness but she did not flinch. “What done this to you?” She slowly glanced at Kyl and the larger being finally noticed him. “You were harmed by this mere mortal?” She didn’t say anything just kept on looking at the ground. He roughly scrapped her wound with his claws and stepped back. “How embarrassing but no matter.” He eyed Kyl with a cold thoughtful glare. “Tell me mortal how long do you think you world will last?”
Kyl was taken off guard by the question but he spoke but didn’t answer the question. “My friend is…already on her way…to get help and stop your evil game.” He could barely keep his eyes open and he felt like he was going to pass out.
The being glanced at his children disapprovingly but his smile returned. “It won’t matter how many come our way cause by the time your friend dose find help it will be too late. And there is no game. I just do what life intended me to do.” He pointed his staff at Kyl and felt himself get lifted off the ground. He made a gesture and Kyl hovered over to him, stopping inches from his face. “Time is an endless thing mortal. It was once your ally but now it has abandoned you.” His eyes lit up and his grin widened. “I have gone by many names. Outsider, destroyer, world eater but here in this realm I’ve been called the Witch Doctor. Hens fourth you will call me as such but first I got something important for you to do.”
Kyl huffed in disgust. “You think I’ll do what you want? I’ll die first.”
The Witch Doctor chuckled and spoke in a cool smooth whisper. “Oh…no you won’t.” He placed his hand on the right side of Kyl’s face and it began to burn. Green fire burst out of his hand and Kyl’s mind began to pulsate. All his memories flashed before his eyes, every emotion he had ever felt, all those he had ever cared about were forcefully pushed aside. The pain going through his mind and body was like no other but some how he didn’t scream. The Witch Doctor’s voice went deep and full of wrath. “You will obey!” Something clicked in Kyl’s mind and the pain stopped.
He let him go and he floated gently to the ground. He put weight on his broken hoof but he did not care he did not…feel it. It was like nothing mattered anymore, nothing at all. His mind was so clear, clearer than it had ever been before. He looked up at the Witch Doctor and said without even thinking. “What is your will my master?”
The Witch Doctor smiled happily and with a flick of his wrist a magical map of the world swirled into existence. “I have an important task for you.” He zoomed the map in and now he was seeing the barrier lands. It seemed so different now so meaningless to Kyl. The Witch Doctor held out his hand and his daughter handed him a purple glowing gemstone. Kyl looked at it, looked at the swirling mass of blackness within. “You will take this and use it at this location.” He pointed at a spot in the map not too far from here only a few days walk. It was a heavily populated area, one Kyl knew too well. “But first…” He gestured to his children. “You need the proper equipment.”
His children stripped Kyl of his legion gear and began to weave black magic around him. His entire body was covered in head to hoof in very dark purple armour leaving no place untouched not even his face. Soon he was unrecognisable just a tool for use. The pain in his hoof was gone and he felt nothing. He also noticed his assortment of weaponry but he’ll have time to check them out later. He looked up again through the black glass slits in his new helmet and asked. “When shall I go?”
“Now.” He gave Kyl the gemstone.
Kyl took it and said lastly. “It shall be done.”