//------------------------------// // A Blind Lord // Story: We're Trapped in Stone, and We Must Scream // by King of Madness //------------------------------// As I watch as the rays of magic overcome us; as my body is trapped and consumed; I close my eyes for what I think is the end. But as it all too soon turns out, it is not the end. I cannot open my eyes, but I am indeed awake and I can hear all around me. The rejoicing of the ponies. The snide remarks of Discord. Discord; I've been a fool. I allowed myself to fall for his manipulations. Now, I am trapped here, in this darkness. For so long, I festered within the walls of Tartarus; I thought no greater suffering could be done to me. In yet, even in Tartarus, I could move, even if only within my cell. I could see, even if only within the unholy prison. I was bound in chains, yet here I find a far more constricting manacle. I stand here incased in stone; unmoving and unseeing. I can only hear as the voices fade and we are abandoned here. I too quickly lose memory of where we are or what sights lay ahead. All too soon, the passage of time is lost on me. I cannot feel any change in temperature to signal the changing of seasons. I do not feel the chill of snow; the touch of rain; the heat of the sun. I do not see the changes in the world; the cycle of evolution to the land. I feel nothing but a numbness filled with unending phantom pain and I see nothing but darkness. I should've been more cautious; I should've been wary. Grogar. What a sham. I allowed myself to think better of a child. A talented child, yes; but for all her intelligence and skill, she was all too naive. I agreed to team with that wretched insect; I almost would've preferred the company of Sombra to that arrogant bug. It was all a set up; a game rigged to be won by our enemies. A trap that has left us in this sarcophagus; left me without the ability to see or feel, to taste or smell. I have only my hearing to act as a taunting reminder of what I once had. I have only my hearing to give me signal of what changes occur around us; to let me know of what passes by as I stand here. Blind. Still. Anguished. I wonder if the others feel it too. I wonder if they closed their eyes. If not, can they see? But indeed, would that lessen or worsen this torment? Such an ideal thing to wonder, but what else can one too? I am lost in darkness with only my thoughts to keep me company. All because of the machinations of that diabolical demon. Is this my punishment for my betrayal? Has he planned this since that very day; since I took from him his magic? Did he seek vengeance all this time; retribution for my own manipulations? If so, I cannot fault him. I will not pretend I would not seek likewise in his stead, though I question why bring the parasite and an ill-minded filly into it? Perhaps this was meant to be part of something bigger, though what this could be, I cannot guess. I do not pretend to understand the mind of an idiot god; a perpetual child in the skin of an immortal warper of realities; a being of chaos and nonsense that has somehow befriended beings of harmony and stability. Indeed, it is quite ludicrous to think on. Though all these questions seem inane in the darkness I find myself in, it is what I'm left with to ponder as the outside moves on. I can only stand in my shell and listen to the world as it evolves while I remain stagnate. No great force of will can create any change in me. I have exhorted every bit of perceived power within me to create some form of change in my torturous solitude. I would voluntarily return to my prison in Tartarus if I would be allowed to so much as crack open my eyes only a mere centimeter or move a limb only slightly, but even that is denied to me. I have no way of knowing how much time has passed; it feels like an eternity. In the darkness, my mind creates many things. I find myself reliving many moments in my life. I get lost sometimes in the memories; whether it be for good or bad, it is a relief to find respite in my constricting prison. In yet, this makes it all the more painful when I am reminded of my reality. I am reminded of many things in my solitude. Things as far back as when I was a child, so very long ago. Sparring with Scorpan. Gram-Gram telling us stories of days far past. Such simple things; I enjoyed those times. I remember my father. King Vorak; mighty as a storm and stern as a mountain. I never was good enough for him. Nothing I did was ever good enough. And then, when I sought out to gain the power to prove myself at long last, Scorpan betrayed me. My own brother; he chose those pathetic ponies over his own flesh and blood. I rotted in that sulfric prison for a millennium because of him. Has it been longer here already? How much time can pass over closed eyes undetected? I wonder, even if my eyes would someday open once again, could they withstand the light? I am lost to this endless darkness. I can no longer tell dreams from memories. I no longer understand my past nor my present. I feel deep down the stinging numbness of my unmoving body; the near forgotten drive to move. This is all that remains of my pitiful reality. So, I continue to drown myself in the void; uncaring of the outside and unknowing of the truth of what came before. I still see the ghosts of my family, whispers in the dark of what I once knew. I see segments of an unknown life I once had or may have had. Fact and fiction mesh into incoherent madness in a fake light made of memory in the ever present void from which I cannot escape. What once was is gone. What is does not exist. What will be will bring no change. I wish my eyes would open.