//------------------------------// // Dream Eater // Story: Hell is for children // by dragenfire68 //------------------------------// "FALL BACK!!!" Tirek heard as an explosion rocked his world, opening his eyes onto an all too familiar battlefield, except for one difference, Sombra was not part of it, in fact, the one who called the retreat was Scorpan who had medals pinned to his uniform. "what is this?" Tirek asked warily, knowing what dreams like this end in, and he wasn't sure what this fresh hell held, but he didn't have anything to worry too much about, for as he was mentally preparing, a door next to him opened and he heard a voice. "Tirek come, your audience is required!!" The mysterious voice urged him, though the occurring battle was holding his morbid curiosity, that is until his brother jogged to him, and clapped his hand on his shoulder. "Its okay brother, we've won, were only flushing out the remaining soldiers, once this is over, we can kick back and enjoy the much-required vacation, so go on, I think there is something more important beyond that door," Scorpan said to him, before gently pushing him towards the door. Tirek placed his hand on the door, and pushed it open with barely any force, it opened to an amphitheater and pacing the middle was Sunset shimmer, but this one was different from the girl he had saved, this one had a hollow look, and jittering movements, pacing back and forth. "You can fix a broken tool, but when I break again will I be kept, can you even keep a broken tool, why would anyone keep a broken tool, too fix it.... will I be fixed when I break again, I can't be sure, I can never be sure...." Sunset said too herself, as she walked up to a pillar and looked hard at it before turning to Tirek, but seemed to look through him, still whispering, until she bumped into him, and looked up before she reached out and placed a hand on his arm, her eyes going round. Tirek knelt down to be on eye level as this dream shimmer stepped back, a mix of curiosity and fear, before stepping forward again, reaching out, feeling his physicality. "You're not a dream they disappear, nor are you a mental apparition, and you're definitely not a nightmare, they don't make it this far, nor can they see me, I go through them, you must be a soul, only they retain their physicality in the dream realm." "I was told that I had a meeting, a very important meeting," Tirek said "Then let me show you the way, the others have already arrived." Dream shimmer turned and waved a hand, a door opened off behind the corner. "thank you," Tirek said starting for the door, but before he got to it, he heard a question directed at him directly. "Once you're done, will you keep this broken object?" That question stopped Tirek because for once he will satiate his burning desire to comfort this broken child. "I will not throw you away once this is over, It goes against my nature, too throw away someone who has already been throw under the bus." Dream shimmer Smiled, not a broken one, but a genuine one as she closed her eyes, flashed into little particles that floated down and settled as the world she inhabited started shifting, which gave Tirek his clue that he should leave, he made his way into a hallway that was surprisingly lit well with torches that dotted the walls, at least the ones he encountered, because once he was passed they went out, meaning that there was no way back. "wh-where are we?" Fluttershy squeaked out, as Tirek walked up to the girls, taking in the pristine white, almost misty room around them "Sunset's mind, we are in her mind, likely the work of Princess Luna, and Twilight," Tirek said while the others looked at him with surprise. Before they could ask about what he knows, a door is uncovered from the mists that they didn't know was surrounding them, everyone looks apprehensive about going through, terrified about what awaits them, except Tirek, who strides forward through the door. "About damn time you showed up, I was worried she fucked it up." A tall man said, with his arms crossed, his voice having a sort of reverberation. Everyone jumped as the man stepped forward, a smile on his fanged mouth, his eyes dark as the void, he was a foot taller then Tirek, which made even the giant of a man look up. "Your bratty little sisters almost made my job harder, in all my time watching you mortals, of all the atrocities your kind have committed for whatever their greedy little hearts desired, this tops it all, petty jealousy just to kill another that is filled with more potential then the lot of them combined." The man said, looking down the tip of his nose at the girls, circling them like a vulture. The man's scathing tone did not sit well with Applejack, nor did the jabs he took at her sister, it did not sit well at all. "And what do you know about me, or my sister, in fact, what do you know about any of us?" Applejack accused him if her tone offended him, he didn't show it, in fact, he pulled back and laughed. "So filled with pride that she can't see past her own hubris, oh my you mortals amuse me, but if you're too ignorant to figure it out I guess I can fill you in, my name is Nekros, but if you want a more accurate name, I am Death," Nekros said, his suit revealed to be his wings furled around his body, as his height grew, soon he was more than six feet taller then Tirek, his bottom half covered in a dark cloak, his upper half bare, showing a skeleton, except for his shoulders which had crow feathers connected to his wings, his face was the skull of the top of a crow. "Now honey, aren't you being a little too hard on them, after all, they are only human," An angelic voice playfully called, coming from around the corner, before revealing a woman that could literally be the personification of beauty. "You must be Life," Tirek finally said, finding his voice again. "Right you are dear, I know who you are Tirek, taking in Sunset, and saving her life, rare nobility in a mortal," She purred, walking around Tirek, a mischievous look in her eye. "Well, we don't have all eternity, let's go." Death reminds everyone.