The duo had kept running even when the sounds of ponies had gone silent. Omior’s breathing was ragged and labored. As he ran his vision had blurred at the edges and began to turn red, he started hallucinating as the forest seemed to swallow him from all sides.
He stopped abruptly and looked around him as he saw translucent heads and long forgotten sentences resound around him.
“How could you....!” One female translucent head said before disappearing as a floating head of an old man with a big burly beard spoke from behind him, “Son, why have you done such a deed....?”
A third head came from his right and was slightly different from the rest, all of which kept repeating the same sentences. This one instead was a flickering full body, it was a strong and cocky looking woman with auburn hair, “You know I’ve been waiting for you for all this time,” The sound of glass crashing froze the translucent heads in their place as her flickering self walked a few steps closer to Omior.
His vision began to fade as she looked at him with tears of disdain and sorrow. “I've waited all this time and you return to me after I've received this news,” Omior had fallen on his butt as he looked on at the apparition of his past with surprise and fear. She was in his face as she closed her eyes as tight as can be and yelled at him, as if he were as far away as can be and maybe yelling would allow him to hear her, “I HATE YOU!” Then everything went black for the warrior.
Omior was huddled in the fetal position. His surroundings were all encompassing and surrounding him in nothingness, the screams of anger and torment pushed at his ears despite him shutting them off with his hands.
The world around him slowly built itself and color started to return. It was bright and cheery and the sounds of happy patrons drinking alcohol and being merry hit his ears. He opened his eyes, realizing the endless flow of venomous words had stopped.
He looked around and saw he was in a tavern, everyone was singing along as the bard on the small stage was playing a song of a hero who slew his enemies in the name of glory.
“The hero of yore, forever gone for now,
He waits in the shadows for our need,
He pillages the villains,
protecting the young,
The hero of yore when,
will you return.”
The bard was singing, though it was hard to make anything out with the slur of drunkards singing along.
Omior muttered to himself as he watched the scene, “Not here....” The patrons were dancing around and having fun, and just heard over the crowds was a group all too familiar walking down the flight of stairs of the tavern that led to the rooms which patrons always stayed at.
The first one down the stairs was himself, looking rather worse for wear despite sleeping in an actual bed, the first one in weeks. He practically slunk down the stairs, his mood completely different from the obnoxious patrons.
The next to come down the stairs was a female, she had a golden brown hue of hair with a shade of red blended into the edge of it. She gave off the impression of being stout. She was but only slightly shorter than Omior and she wore clothing that hugged her skin tight. The woman had ears as sharp as knives pointing in an upward position, indicating she was a halfling. The woman was trying to get alongside Omior, her expression was one of worry.
The third one down the stairs was a man. He was practically twice Omior’s height and had hair as black as night bunched up into a ponytail that stretched to roughly the middle of his back. He was attempting to try and catch up as well, albeit at a much slower and more relaxed pace, he had a similar expression to the female’s.
“Omior, please. I know something happened last night, now what was it,” the female had cut off Omior’s path and forced him to stop. His eyes were devoid of emotion and he simply ignored her, walking around her. She kept getting in his way as she tried to get him to tell her what was wrong.
The man spoke up from his place behind Omior, “Come on Maria, the guy doesn't want to tell us anything. If I were you, I’d drop it. He’ll tell us if he feels like it. There’s plenty of things he hasn't told me even to this day,” He looked to the bard and muttered just loud enough for them to hear, “some things I still wait to be told.”
Omior took the opportunity to go around Maria, and as he exited the tavern, the man spoke up, “You know we’re here for you if you need anything Omior.”
Maria spoke up just as the door was shutting behind Omior, “What the hell d’you think you’re doing Ahingor! Don’t you think this is at least a little reckle-.” And the warrior was now out of earshot. He continued walking off in a direction, he didn’t care, he just needed to keep moving. No thinking, just moving.
The citizens were walking around, avoiding Omior by quite a distance as they warily eyed his passing. A few eyes from the alleyways kept themselves on him, but he ignored their stares of venom. He couldn’t stop thinking of what happened the night before.
‘The night’s air was warm and crisp, a nice night for the fall. The warrior had just climbed the balcony of a castle and he was panting as he got to his feet. He opened the curtains slowly to find a woman standing in front of a mirror. Waiting for him.
“It isn’t polite to keep a lady waiting, especially one of royalty.”
“My apologies lady Helena,” Omior said as he bowed. She walked up to him and looked at him in disdain.’
Omior was moving at a slightly more hastened pace as he tried to keep his mind off of the memories so fresh in his mind. Unfortunately, it only quickened the pace of their assault on his mind.
‘“My father tells me of your exploits with the one known as the dark one,” tears were slowly starting to form in her eyes.
Omior stood up and kept a strong gaze to her, “I’ve done what I must because it is for the good of the kingdom, and for the good of you. The agreements that were made with the pa-.” Omior was interrupted with a slap to the face, he fell onto his butt in shock.
“You know how many died because of you and your pact!” Tears were falling from her face as her venomous words struck into Omior like a freshly poisoned dagger, “Do you know just who you killed? All the citizens, the peasants, the nobility? The royalty.” Helena had nearly fallen to her knees, her whole body was shaking from the adrenaline rush her boiled over anger had given her.’
Omior was now in a full sprint, he had just exited the city and tears were running down his face.
‘“....It was my mother. You killed the queen with your pact,” Helena was silent as she looked at the ground. “I had believed they were all wrong Omior, I believed you were not a villain like my father thought. Like everyone thought. But you’ve returned to me after I’ve heard this news,” she was walking up to Omior’s place on the floor, he kept his eyes off of her in shame, “I loved you and you repay me with the murder of my mother,” she crouched down and made Omior look her in the eyes, which were red and puffy from the sudden bout of tears. She looked at him in disdain and sorrow as she let out a cry of anger, “I HATE YOU!” And she slapped him again.
This time he landed on his stomach and he slowly began to rise shortly after the blow. Helena had turned back to her mirror and only said one thing to him. “Go, leave now and never return. You aren’t the one I thought I loved,” her voice was cold and emotionless, and Omior could do nothing but leave quietly.
Omior stopped and fell to the ground. His mind couldn’t stop looking over the events again and again. Looking at everything he’d done the last week alone. Everything he thought was right, wrong, and otherwise unaccounted. He sat there under the warm afternoon sun, crying.
****
Maria and Ahingor were still at the Tavern, they sat having a quiet meal as the patrons had long since left to their jobs, homes, and families. The bard had also stopped playing to have a meal and some mead as well. He almost seemed bubbly with how he ate and effortlessly downed his alcohol.
Maria muttered something just loud enough for Ahingor to hear, “I still can’t believe you let him go like that.”
“Don’t start this up again. What is done is done. I’ve known him all my life and know that all we can do is wait and hope,” Ahingor quietly sipped at his cup of water. He muttered to himself as he set the cup back down, “Just like always.”
An explosion rang out as the sounds of panic abruptly started. On impulse, Maria and Ahingor suddenly burst into action, leaving their food to the tavern keeper who had heard the panic as well.
As the two got outside, weapons at the ready, a handful of nearby guards yelled out, “We’re under attack! Get the civilians to the tunnels!” Before splitting into groups to direct them to the tunnels.
A handful of buildings were burning and arrows were already littering the ground at the two heroes feet as citizens ran in different directions, hoping to escape the forces that attacked the city.
The two ran to where they heard the sound of clashing metal and death to find the guards fighting shades, black mists held under command of the ruthless dark one.
Bodies fell one after another, for every three guards that had fallen to a shade, one shade was killed. It was a losing battle, that much was evident.
Ahingor grabbed his sword from his side, and just as Maria was about to pull her bow off of her back, Ahingor stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, “Get to Omior.”
Maria nodded and answered back, “Cover me while I make my way through these weaklings.”
The Shades caught sight of the two and one tried to swipe at Maria, but just as it was about to make contact with her face, Ahingor’s sword met with the claw. It sickeningly sliced through the creature with ease, cutting the arm off.
Maria wasted no time in scanning the battle for an opening. Once it was found, she went for it. A split between the shades and guards opened up and she made a sprint for it. A shade came up on her left as she was going which Ahingor quickly caught, jumping into her range of vision long enough for her to see him block the claw.
She didn’t see what happened because the two exited her field of vision as she turned a corner, leaving the main stage of the battlefield.
She ran for where she guessed Omior would go. He always had these certain places he went to that always looked alike, places he could be alone. And there was only one in town.
Maria turned another corner and failed to notice a body dangerously close to it. She tripped and fell, just barely able to keep her face from hitting the hard stone walkway. She opened her eyes and immediately they were full of shock and sadness.
“No. No i-it can’t be,” she got onto her knees as she inspected the body lying limply on its right side, face etched in pain and fear looking into her eyes. Maria had tears begin to stream down her eyes, “Alexsi...”
A shadow began to take form behind her, but she didn’t react to it, she was too distraught about what happened to her dear friend living in the city. She saw it form into a familiar sight and immediately rolled out of the way. The claw from a shade meant for her sunk into the skin of her dearly departed friend, it’s right hand pointer finger jammed deep into Alexsi’s eyeball. It fought to pull it’s claw out, but it seemed to be a difficult task.
In the meantime, Maria was pulling herself together. She fumbled for her bow and shortly after, an arrow. She pulled it out of the quiver but dropped it to the ground. She shakily grabbed for it in a hurry, but almost froze in place as she heard the sickening sound of meat ripping as the claw took back more than itself when it came free.
She looked up and jumped out of the way as the claw came back down, this time with the eyeball jammed deep down on the sharp claw of the Shade.
Maria looked at the creature with anger, “You bitch,” she aimed her arrow and waited as the Shade got right in front of her. As the Shade was about to strike down on her, she released the arrow and it hit straight through the shade, landing in the ground just behind it, “That’s for Alexsi,” the shade slowly fell to the ground as she put the bow back on her shoulder and knelt down to her dead friend, now missing an eye and a fair chunk of flesh from her face.
“I’ll come back to give you a proper burial Alexsi. I promise.” Maria kissed her two fingers and lightly tapped Alexsi’s forehead before getting up and continuing on her run to find Omior.
______________
Omior was sitting far from the battlefield, he was oblivious of the matter as he was succumbing to melancholy. The last night continued to repeat in his head, the eyes of the one he fallen in love with were burned into his mind with hatred.
The grass on the hill was swaying along with the wind. The tree Omior was under rustled and a few leaves took to the air to dance along with the grass, doing circles and spins in perfect timing with the grass’ sway.
Omior was quietly murmuring to himself, repeating questions he never expected to have answers to.
“Why, why does this have to happen? I thought I made the right choice, I thought I could handle this,” Omior sighed as he tried to speak, “I.....Thought, maybe...... We could have been more,” Omior let a sad smirk fill his features, ‘I HATE YOU!’, “...guess not.”
Omior caught the rough shape of a shadow form coming from behind him, “Maria, I want to be alone, please,” The shadow only grew bigger and closer, “Maria, I know it’s you. Quit it. I don’t want to talk to either of you at this moment.”
The shadow ceased its movement right behind Omior and he turned around in time to see a Shade ready to strike at him. He rolled out of the way as the claw of the Shade sunk into the tree. It came out with relative difficulty and the top half of the tree fell as a result.
“A Shade? What is the dark one’s minions doing here?”
The warrior grabbed at his blade and unsheathed it in time to block the blow from the shade. It reeled back before coming back again to strike at him. The Shade continued attempting to kill Omior as he parried left and right.
Omior tripped while on his backpedal from the misted monstrosity. Just as the shade lifted it’s claw to strike down at the warrior with a killing blow, an arrow had directly hit into the center of the creature’s face. It reeled back and clutched the arrow, but before it could pull it out, another one hit the shade’s jugular. It froze up and started to collapse to the ground. A third arrow pinned the shade’s left claw to it’s face and it fell back, dead.
Omior turned his head to see Maria standing just a little ways behind him. “Looks like I got here in the nick of time.”
“Maria...” Omior said as she walked up. She held her hand out and Omior gratefully accepted it as he got to his feet, “What’s happening? Why is the Dark one’s minions here?!”
Maria didn’t say a word, she put a hand on his shoulder, but before she could utter a word, Omior batted it off and started at a quick pace towards the castle keep.
Maria started falling behind as she called his name, “Omior, hold on! OMIOR! Wait!” The warrior was already making a dash for the keep, his mind reeling at the thought of letting princess Helena perish because he couldn’t perform his duty.
“Dammit Omior, wait for me!” Maria continued to call out to him, but stopped and made for the rooftops to at least get a better vantage point of him while she caught up.
Omior was running at near full speed as he held his sword at the ready, ‘Dammit, I should’ve been in town, the guards aren’t trained for proper battle against the Dark One’s minions.’
Two Shades turned the corner. As Omior took notice of them, he turned his sword and jumped as he slashed the one closest to him in half. He rolled and continued on his run, ignoring the second Shade as refused to lessen his pace or allow himself be slowed by anything.
Maria managed to take the second shade down, but she was quickly losing speed as her stamina was practically drained from all the running. She muttered a “wait up.” before she had to stop and rest.
Omior had already made it into sight of the keep. He was appalled when he saw that the castle which housed both king, prince, and princess, was burning. Dead bodies of guards laid all surrounding the gate. Shades were storming by the dozen into the keep. In his angered mindset, Omior readied his sword and jumped straight towards the large grouping of Shades. He hacked and slashed at them as they cut at his legs and arms. Shades one after another fell as he cut a pathway through. Eventually Omior tripped, halting his progress.
He got to his feet to see that the Shades had backed off, but had otherwise surrounded him completely, ‘No dammit no! Not now!’
Maria had finally caught up to Omior to see him in his situation. She pulled out three arrows and readied them for fire as she yelled out. “You know how hard it was to keep up with your sorry ass Omi-!”
A crashing sound interrupted Maria and both looked to where the sound came from. Helena had fallen from her glass encased balcony and was in a freefall from the top of the keep tower to the ground below. Omior watched in shock as she looked straight at him and yelled for his name.
Omior tried to hack and slash the wall of shades but to no avail. There wasn’t enough time to get to her.
As Helena came closer to the ground, she began flailing and panicking. “Omior!” She screamed as she was but a few feet from the ground. And just before she hit the hard stone head first, Omior’s vision went completely black.
********************
Slowly, almost at a snails pace, Omior heard the crackling of fire. He rubbed at his tear-stained face as his eyes opened. He was greeted to the sight of Vigil. He gave Omior a worried smile before focusing on the food being cooked on the fire.
The warrior sat up and crossed his legs, groggily rubbing his face with both hands, “Urgh how long was I out?”
“About seven hours. I couldn’t really carry you so I had no choice but to set up a camp here. Lucky for us we haven’t entered into any manticore territory when you passed out.” Vigil poked the fire before putting a few more sticks into it. “I won’t ask what it was that got to you during your sleep, but i’ll be here to lend an ear if you want it.”
Omior scooted closer to the fire and watched as Vigil pulled a couple berries from one of the sticks surrounding the fire pit hovering just above the fire, “I’d like that.”