For Johan, it all happened so suddenly. One second, he was walking across the street... Or was he sitting in a car? It was hard to remember. All he really remembered hearing was the screeching of tires and the loud bang of metal striking something, and then it all went white. An infinite, unending void of white. One he couldn't seem to escape from no matter how far he moved in any direction. Up, down, left, right forwards, it didn't matter. He was alone and trapped, that was all that mattered.
It is impossible to measure eternity. Not even the wisest scholars, most eminent philosophers, nor the most intelligent and respected of scientists could accurately measure exactly how long nothing lasts for. But, Johan supposed, even nothing must come to an end.
Johan sprang up with a cry, sitting up with terror written in his deep green eyes. At first it was hard to tell where he was, his eyes were so used to the infinite white void of death, that they had trouble adjusting to the darkness of night. It took him several minutes to get an actual bearing of his surroundings. Trees, grass and rocks, that was all that sat in front of him. He was in a forest of all things.
His eyes widened as he sat up, looking every which way. He found it somewhat hard to make out his surroundings though he could have sworn he saw lights in the far distance. An uncomfortable grimace came to his face, that was going to be a long walk. No harm in starting now though.
He attempted to shakingly rise to his feet, but instead, he collapsed forwards. It was then that he noticed that he no longer had control over his feet. Or his hands. Or anything really! Looking down, he saw a set of four hooves. Noticing a sudden weight on his head, he looked up soon after, seeing a set of two antlers.
"Oh my god... I'm a deer?!?" Johan screamed. He cried bringing his hands... hooves to the sides of his head. As soon as he did, however, images filled his head. Flashes of images, more like.
He saw himself surrounded by pale blue and white fire, staring down something immense. It was but a silhouette, but he could easily make out two massive antlers, which somewhat resembled jagged crescents. Then he saw a flash of a horse of some kind. It was green and black and had both wings and a spiral horn. Finally, he saw a flash of another horse, cyan and white in color.
Shaking his head and grunting in discomfort, the small deer pulled himself up. With a nervous movement, the deer started to stand up. Initially, he was shaky on his legs, quickly learning that it was impossible for him to stand on two legs, the deer settled for standing on all four legs.
Though it was dark, and hard for him to see, he resolved that he would have to move. Being in the forest during the night was dangerous, especially for a deer. What if a pack of grey wolves came? He was their perfect prey, especially because he had no idea how to survive as a deer!
"What does a deer do when they're in danger again?" Johan asked to the empty forest as he stood up and started walking. "Do they like... bury their heads in the sand? No wait... that's ostriches."
He was so lost in thought, that he failed to notice something laying in front of him that he had missed when initially observing his surroundings. With a cry of fear, he tumbled forwards, his upper half striking the ground while his back legs stuck straight up in the air.
He attempted to rise back to his feet... hooves but quickly noticed that during his fall his antlers had impaled themselves into the trunk of a tree. He didn't even know that deer antlers were sharp enough to do that!
He let out a sigh of annoyance and looked back to see what exactly he had tripped over, only to have his heart catch in his throat. It was moving. It was alive! It was going to eat him! With a cry, he tried desperately to pull himself loose, but he only found his hooves digging into the ground, kicking up dirt behind him.
Eventually, he slipped, sinking to the ground just as the creature behind him pulled itself into a sitting position. He let out a cry of fear as it turned towards him, its two large eyes with yellow irises piercing his soul.
"Please don't eat me!" He cried, covering his head with his hooves.
"Woah... A talking deer?" He heard behind him in a surprisingly normal voice. A surprisingly normal voice he recognized.
"Derek?!?" Johan called back. "Is that you?!?"
"Johan? What the... Why are you a deer?" Derek replied in shock as he sat attempted to stand up. Instead, he ran into the same problem that Johan had, his back legs shaking before he tumbled forwards, landing on his front legs. He quickly took a moment to observe himself.
He, as far as he could tell, was some kind of horse with green fur and a black and yellow mane. His hooves were black, and he had a marking on his... rear. It was of two swords with lightning-bolt-shaped blades crossed over a shield. He had two wings, which seemed to emerge from his sides and when he looked up he saw a spiral horn.
"Dope..." He mumbled to himself.
"I don't know why man," Johan grunted as he struggled to rise to his hooves again. "I just woke up like this. Are you a deer too?"
"Nah man, I think I am some kind of... horse maybe?" Derek replied as he started looking around with a raised eyebrow. "Wh... what happened?"
"I dunno man, I was in some kinda void thingie then I just... woke up here... look can you help me out here?" Johan grumbled aloud as he tugged at the tree trunk he was stuck in.
"Oh yeah sure, one sec," Derek replied, wrapping his hooves around Johan's hind legs. "Ready?"
"Ready!" Johan replied with an annoyed sigh.
"Heave!" Derek yelled as, with all his might, he pulled back on Johan's legs. The deer cried in pain. It felt like his skull was gonna get torn out! Though, in the end, the strength of the wood gave out before the strength of the deer's skeleton.
The two former humans tumbled backward, landing in a crumpled heap, Derek at the bottom, Johan on top. "Ow." The two said in unison.
The two quickly pulled themselves back up to their feet... hooves and looked at each other. Johan got his first good look at Derek and vice versa.
"W... What the heck are you?" Johan asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I said earlier. I think I'm a horse. Just a weird - potentially radioactive - horse with a tattoo and wings." Derek replied, turning back to look at said tattoo and wings.
"So are you like... a unicorn? A pegasus? Both? What would even be the word for that anyway, a pegacorn?" Johan chuckled. Derek shrugged in return.
"I dunno man. You are lookin' at a guy who failed high school biology. I don't even know if I can even use these things to fly. They seem a little... small don't they?" Derek responded with a grimace. There was an awkward silence before Johan cleared his throat.
"I think we should find civilization... if there is any." The deer said grimly turning to find a random direction to walk in.
"Yeah, one hundred percent." The pegacorn replied as the two set out, unknowingly walking deeper into the Everfree Forest. Neither of them noticed that they were being watched.
It was a map of the world. Something that he often found himself staring at, instead of sleeping. It was disunited, ugly and chaotic. Back in his day, it was a clean, tidy, and uniform #00FFFF. The best color.
He couldn't help but chuckle. Reminiscing about the old days before the era of iconoclasm he now found himself in was something that always brought a smile, however fleeting, to his face. A better time. A better era. Before the primitive horses took over. Before their nullfidian rulers they dared call gods wrested control over the sun and moon. Before they spread across the world like a tumor, gnawing and deforming the once perfect flesh.
With a growl, he charged his horn and antlers and disintegrated the map and the table it sat on in a flash of brilliant white light.
"My lord." A voice called out behind him, prompting him to turn around, an all-black silhouette with a single glowing all-white eye on the right side of his face. Behind him stood a similar silhouette, but with two glowing white eyes rather than one, alongside being much shorter.
"They have finally arrived." They said with a nod.
"Excellent," The larger shadow said, a dark smile of sharp teeth spreading across his face. "After fifteen hundred years of waiting, the time has finally come. Go Tril'ik, set our plans into motion."
"It will be done, my Dominie." The voice responded, before disappearing back into the shadows.
There was a moment of quiet before the first silhouette started to quietly laugh in the shadows. "It's time... It's finally time... After so long, we shall finally be reunited. I shall see you... returned."