Hot.
It was very hot. If there was a word to describe the arid desert that I walked through at this moment it would be that it was hot. There were only so many ways that I could say that it was hot. The sun was hot. The air was hot. The dirt against my uncovered feet was also hot. I wiped some sweat from my brow and stopped again to look around the landscape.
Nothing as far as the eye could see except more dirt, and more hot. This was probably hell, I really couldn’t think of another place that it could be. Even the Arizona desert had mountains, and life right? I had been walking in what I presumed to be a straight line for three days now. At least I thought it had been something close to three days. The sun never set, and just continued to beat down on me relentlessly.
My shirt was on my head trying to keep some of the sun off of me. If only someone had told me not to wear a black shirt and jeans when I came to Hell this place might not have been so bad. My feet were probably cooked enough to eat by this point. They certainly felt like it.
There was another mirage ahead. I had been seeing a lot of those lately. When people see mirages on television it isn’t much like what actually happens. Yea you see a shimmer in the distance of the heat hitting the earth. Other than that there isn’t much else to see. At least at first. Now I was starting to see the vending machines, and other ridiculous objects that my brain conjured onto the landscape.
This one looked to be a water fountain. As I approached it I could still see that it shimmered as it stood there. Nice try brain, but I am not falling for it. You can just put a magic water fountain out in the middle of nowhere and expect me to walk right up to it like an idiot. I am not that stupid. I waved to the gleaming fountain as I passed it.
I once again returned to the task of walking across the barren wasteland towards a destination that I didn’t know. It was actually really surprising that I had been walking for so long. Shouldn’t I have died of dehydration by now? If you walked in a straight line for three days with the sun beating on you every second without a drop of water would you still be alive? I know that I shouldn’t have been able to so why was I still alive. Another factor pointing to my idea that this was indeed Hell.
A cloud might have been nice. I would have sprinted if it meant that I could stay in the shadow of a cloud and not have the sun beating down on me. Of course there were no clouds in sight, and there was no wind to blow clouds if they even existed here. I wonder what I must have done in order to land myself here. Honestly I couldn’t remember too much about myself.
I remembered what my name was, but everything else was kind of fuzzy. I could remember some pictures of where I had been before, but every time I concentrated on it the image would slip out of my mind. In the end I just decided to give up on trying to remember, and continue walking.
I don’t know why I kept walking. It seemed like such a stupid thing to do since there was absolutely no landscape to tell me if I was even walking in the right direction. I just felt like I needed to keep walking. It at least helped keep my mind off of things. I don’t know why I didn’t want to think about what had happened before, but something was telling me that I should leave it alone.
Why couldn’t I at least have shoes? Was it too much to ask for that when you find yourself in Hell that you at least get a pair of shows so that your feet aren't cooked well done? Maybe that was the point and I was supposed to eventually eat my own feet. Without feet I wouldn’t be able to walk, and I would eventually die out here. Ha you are not smarter than me desert. You can’t just tempt me with cooked meat and expect me to kill myself.
Though I could have really gone for some steak. I slapped myself to get the thought of eating myself off my brain. I would probably bleed out before I even finished one foot, which would make the whole exercise a waste. I once again slapped myself hoping that I would somehow be able to keep my mind off of self-mutilation.
I looked up once more at the sky. It was blue of course, but the sun was hanging directly over me. I wondered if time had stopped here or the sun just didn’t feel like moving. Wow, the sun was a dick. It couldn’t just set so that I could freeze to death, and not have deal with this heat. Fuck you sun.
I felt done. This was it. I wasn’t going to go any farther. I fell on my face not caring that it hurt. It didn’t actually hurt that much, but a lot of dirt was kicked up into the air. I coughed trying to dislodge the dust from my throat. That was a stupid idea. Why couldn’t I just sit down like a normal person instead of trying to be all dramatic, and fall straight on my face?
I flipped onto my back, and looked up at the sky. It was the only thing here that wasn’t red. The sky was blue, the dirt was red, and the sun was yellow. The whole world consisted of only three primary colors. No wonder I was dying here. Look at me bringing all of these different colors into the world that just didn’t belong. This was my punishment for being a nonconformist. I really was delusional if this was where my thoughts carried me.
I heard soft footsteps in the distance. That was the first auditory hallucination I had so far. I must truly be slipping. I turned my head in the direction of the sound, and in the distance could make out a figure walking towards me. Would this be the devil, or just another mirage? My money was on mirage, but since I didn’t even have a wallet I guess I didn’t even have any money to bet.
The person continued to walk towards me looking just about as tired as I felt. They must have had some miraculous resilience to be walking around this place. I had firmly given up ever getting out of here, but maybe I was a quitter in a past life. As they approached I was able to make out that it was a woman.
She actually looked pretty, hot. Good going brain if you are going to make a mirage you might as well cook something up that is good to look at. She had long black hair that hung down to almost her waste. She couldn’t have been more than five and a half feet tall, but that was just fine with me. Actually she looked to be exactly my type. Of course, since it was my mind creating her why wouldn’t she be?
She continued to walk towards me until she was just a few feet away. She stopped and looked down at me with a puzzled look on her face. I suppose that I would be quite the sight to a random passer by. I was covered in dirt and sweat, and laid on the ground with my shirt wrapped around my head.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Peachy. I mean I will probably die of dehydration in a few hours, but since this is Hell I don’t think that matters,” I said looking away from her and back up to the sky. She walked over to me and sat down in the dirt.
“So this is Hell then? I was thinking that it might be,” she said as she turned her gaze towards the sun also.
“So I am guessing you aren’t another mirage then are you?” I said as I propped myself up on my side so that I could look at her. She was even more beautiful up close. Her light blue eyes shone bright as the sun’s rays were reflected off of them.
“You have been seeing mirages?” she asked probably more than a little concerned that I was hallucinating.
“Yea I’ll see vending machines or a water fountain or something,” I replied.
“Have you seen any bottled water laying around?” she asked.
“Sure. Also saw some in a cooler filled with ice,” I said as I lay back down. I felt something cool against my forehead and lifted my eyes up so that I could see what it was. A cold bottle of water was resting on my face, and I couldn’t move.
“I found a couple of bottles a little while back. Maybe you should have stopped to pick some up,” she said as she wrapped her arms around her legs.
I didn’t even stop to consider how dumb I had been all this time as I grabbed the bottle, and tried to suck down the water as quickly as possible. I hadn’t truly appreciated how thirsty I was until there was water right in my hands. I finished the bottle and began to cough as some of the water tried to make its way back out of my stomach. I wasn’t going to let it though.
“Are you telling me that those bottles of water I saw were real?” I managed to choke out.
“Probably. I have found a couple lying around here and there. Why are you doing lying down in the dirt?” she asked turning away from the sky and towards me.
I also sat up so that I could properly talk to her. This woman had actually saved my life by saving me from my own stupidity. She wasn’t a hallucination or at least if she was then she was a really good one. I was completely shocked that there was actually someone else wandering around out here.
“I was lying here waiting to die. I have been walking around this place for what feels like days with no sign of anyone else or anything else living here,” I answered.
“Are your memories also gone?” she asked leaning towards me. I could tell that she was really hoping for me to say yes.
“Yea. When I woke up here all I could remember is my name, but everything else about me is just a blur,” I replied.
“That is exactly what happened to me,” she said excitedly. “I woke up in this desert a few days ago all alone, and I haven’t seen anyone since. You are the first person I have seen in days.”
“Wow and I thought that I was the only one. Well this kind of puts a cramp in my whole idea that this is Hell. That is unless you are the devil disguised as a beautiful woman and are trying to trick me somehow,” I said giving her a smile. Oh yes, I was very smooth.
She completely ignored my obvious flirtation. “What do you mean that it makes this place not Hell simply because there are two of us here?” she asked.
“Well if this were some kind of personal Hell then I would be the only one here. If this were just a general Hell that everyone gets lumped into then there would be a lot more people here than just the two of us,” I explained.
“Okay well if we aren’t in Hell then where in the world are we?” She uncurled her arms and rested against her elbows on the ground.
“I don’t think we are in the world anymore,” I replied also laying back.
“So not in Hell, but also not on Earth. That narrows it down a lot,” she said as she sighed.
“I don’t think it really matters in the end. We are here and that is about all there is to it. So what’s your name beautiful?”
“Jessica,” she replied simply.
“Hello, Jessica it’s nice to meet you. My name is Anthony.”
__________________________________________________________________________
The night was darker than any I had ever seen. I could not recall another time that I had actually seen the night sky, but there was no way it could possibly be darker. There were no stars sparkling in the sky; only the moon and the blackness. I sat on the edge of a lake staring out across it. The only light for miles around was the full moon that hung ominously in the sky, and its reflection off the water.
I didn’t know how long I had been sitting here. It felt like weeks, but it couldn’t possibly have been that long. The moon never moved from its position in the sky, and just continued to hang over me. I squeezed my arms tighter around my knees hoping that I would wake up from this dream soon.
This was an absolute nightmare, and I had no idea of how to wake up. I would hear a sound, and turn around only to see nothing there. I would turn my head back to the water, and just stare at its still surface. Then another noise would catch my attention, and I would turn to find that I was still alone.
My blonde hair hung in front of my eyes helping to shelter me from the noises, but they would not go away. I had stopped looking to see if there was anything behind me waiting to make me a midnight snack. There was no point in looking if I could never see what had been there. The noises were coming more often ever since I stopped looking. They were trying to taunt me, and get me to turn. Every time that I did turn the fear of seeing something there would almost suffocate me. I wouldn’t give into their taunts any longer. If they wanted to harm me I wasn’t going to give them the pleasure of being their plaything.
I curled myself into a tighter ball, and continued to stare out at the water. I must have seen this lake before, but I couldn’t remember where. It was so familiar almost as if I was at home, but when I tried to think about if I had been here before my head would start to hurt. It hurt too much to think so I stopped, and just stared at the water.
I heard footsteps behind me, but refused to turn. A twig broke as the steps got closer. I still wouldn’t turn around. The steps stopped right behind me, and I froze. I don’t think that I was breathing anymore. A breath blew against my hair as whatever it was standing behind me bent over.
“You will die here,” I heard it whisper into my ear.
I turned around, but once again there was nothing there. The dark blank landscape was all I could see for miles around. I curled up tighter and began to cry. I was completely alone here and I knew that eventually I would die. It had been right. This wasn’t a dream this was a real nightmare come true.
I don’t know how long I sat there crying into my knees. When I finally calmed down and looked up everything was exactly as it had been. I felt so alone sitting on the edge of the lake. I couldn’t remember anyone else that I had ever met, but I knew that I had never before felt so lonely.
There had been someone before that had been with me. I could remember that much, but not anymore about them. I tried to focus so that I could see them clearly, but the headache returned, and sent me reeling. The water rippled in the middle, and the circles began to spread. Another ripple broke the surface of the water, and began to spread out.
I stood up and backed away from the water. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew that it was bad. More ripples broke the surface of the water, and began to come faster and faster. I continued backing away from the water ready to run at the first sight of danger. Then everything began to get darker.
I looked up to the sky and saw that the moon was starting to go out. There was no cloud covering it up, and it didn’t start to wane as it hung there in the sky. It just simply started to fade away, and its light grew weaker and weaker. The lake began to gurgle and a dark mass broke the surface. Then the light completely disappeared.
I heard something start to make its way through the water. It waded slowly to shore, and then it stepped onto land. I did the only thing that I could do. I ran.
I turned and ran as fast as I could away from the sound. No matter how hard I pumped my legs I could still hear it right behind me. It wasn’t trying to run, but instead slowly walked forwards. Tears streaked down my cheeks as I continued to run. Eventually I wasn’t able to hear the sound as clearly.
The sound was growing fainter as I ran through the darkness. I wouldn’t slow down, because if I stopped for a second then I would never be able to start running again. I continued moving forwards as swiftly as my legs would carry me hoping that the darkness would eventually end. I got my wish.
One second I was in the complete blackness of night running for my life, and the very next step it was daytime. I stopped and looked around at where I had come. The ground was dry and cracked, and there wasn’t a thing around for miles. I turned around and dared a glance behind me, but all I could see was more nothingness. The lake I had been sitting on was nowhere to be seen.
I fell to my knees completely drained. I couldn’t even lift my head as I sat there with the sun beating down on me. I couldn’t form a coherent thought, and there were no words to describe what I felt. Tears continued to fall from my eyes, and I started to shake.
Where was I?
__________________________________________________________________________
“Where are we going?” Jessica asked from behind me.
She was a nice girl to talk to, but after a while the constant questions started to get on my nerves. Had I really longed for companionship, because that didn’t seem like me? Now that I actually had someone to walk around the barren desert with I could see how silence is golden. Maybe I was just the kind of person that hated everything they had and wanted everything they didn’t. That sounded a lot more like me.
“I don’t really know,” I answered.
“Then why are we going this way? I was going the other direction so why couldn’t we go that way?” she asked clearly miffed that I wanted to go this direction.
Honestly, any direction seemed to be a moot point. There wasn’t a way to tell if we were going in circles or not, and I didn’t have a compass to keep us going straight. I just felt like this was the right direction to go so that is the way I decided to walk. That was a good a reason as any I suppose.
“We are going this way because I feel like going this way,” I replied not bothering to turn and see the face she was making.
“Oh so you are the big man so you decide which way we go,” she said sarcastically.
“I found you by walking in the direction I felt I should go. It only makes sense that we will find others by going the direction I feel like going. That is called logic,” I replied trying to be as belittling as possible.
“First of all I was the one that found you. Secondly, that isn’t logic at all. That was a completely random isolated event that has nothing to do with anything,” she really didn’t like that I had no reason to go this direction.
The first couple of days of traveling with my newfound companion had been fun. We could joke around, and debate just exactly where we were. As time drew on it became readily apparent that she was in fact smarter than I was. She would win every argument, and every time we would find something she knew exactly what it was. The only chance I had at beating this woman in conversation was to cheat and be illogical. It was working so far.
“You were walking towards me and I was walking towards you. For some reason in this wasteland the two of us walked for days on a collision course. Therefore I theorize that there is some unseen force that will guide us to someone else. I feel like I should go this way so that is the way I am going. Do you have any better ideas?” I asked knowing that she didn’t.
“You make absolutely no sense you know that,” she huffed.
“Is that a no?”
“No, Anthony I don’t know where we should go you guess is just as good as mine,” she conceded.
“Excellent. Anthony one Jessica seventeen!” I exclaimed turning around.
She wasn’t looking at me though, but instead was staring past me. I turned towards the direction she was looking, and saw someone lying on the ground. I broke into a run, and made my way over to them as quickly as I could. The man was lying facedown in the dirt. I knew that feeling.
“Hey buddy what are you doing down in the dirt there?” I asked as I stood over him.
“I am having tea. Isn’t it obvious?” he replied.
“Not to me, but I’m not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. Would you like some water instead?” I asked handing him a bottle.
He reached up and plucked the bottle out of my hand. He then turned over onto his back and drank it greedily. As expected he began to cough, and I felt déjà vu having been in that exact situation not too long ago. He tossed the bottle behind him and turned to me with a smile.
“Thanks mate don’t know what would have happened if I had been left like that.” He offered me his hand and I helped him to his feet. I thought that I was tall, but this guy was a giant. He must have been at least six-five.
“No problem at all,” I said looking up at him. “Just passing forward the good deed.” I turned back to Jessica who was watching our exchange. “See I told you we were going the right way.” I motioned back to the man proving my point. She turned her nose up at me, and I felt another small victory had been won.
“So what’s your name stranger?” I asked turning back to my new companion.
“David,” he answered simply.
“Are you sure it isn’t Goliath?” I was so funny.
“Very original I have never heard that one before.” He rolled his eyes obviously not amused.
“I wouldn’t think you had. You would have to be very clever to come up with something like that,” I replied turning insult to compliment.
“It is nice to meet you, David. I am Jessica, and this hilarious man is, Anthony,” Jessica said as she stepped past me and offered David her hand. He shook it, as he looked her over.
“So David how do you like Hell so far?” I asked steering the conversation away from Jessica. I wasn’t exactly with her, but I was flirting with the idea. I didn’t want this tall muscular guy swoop in and steal her away.
“Hell? I don’t think this is Hell mate,” David stated.
“Oh and what makes you say that?” I asked.
“There is no way that there could be an angel as beautiful as this in Hell,” he replied motioning to Jessica. Damn this guy was good.
“You have a good point there. Well now that we have found another I suppose we should keep searching for more,” I said trying to gather the other two to follow me.
“What makes you think there will be any more?” Jessica asked.
“Simple. Nothing really big has happened yet. We would know that there was no one else to find if we found somebody, and then something happened. Since that hasn’t happened yet I think there are others. Since I was able to find David here I think I should decide the direction we take,” I stopped for a moment and considered my options. I closed my eyes and spun in a circle with my hand held out in front of me. I know I must have looked like an idiot, but this way of deciding our heading was as good as any.
When I opened my eyes I was pointing the same direction that we had come from. I knew this because I happened to be pointing straight at David. He didn’t look too enthusiastic about me deciding where we should go.
“This way,” I said as I began to walk.
“Is he okay in the head?” I heard David ask behind me.
“I honestly don’t know,” Jessica replied.
__________________________________________________________________________
“Get up!” she screamed at me as she kicked me over.
I sprawled out on the ground still keeping my eyes closed. If I just kept them closed then eventually they would go away. They always went away if I just kept my eyes closed.
“What are you doing Aria don’t hurt her,” The other one said as she ran to my side.
“We don’t have use for some bitch who just wants to sit on the ground and cry.” The mean one snorted.
“She is scared Aria. You were scared too so don’t be so mean to her,” The other one touched my shoulder and I pulled away from her. “It’s okay I’m not going to hurt you,” she said trying to reassure me.
“This is a waste of time.”
“Don’t listen to her. I want to help you if that’s all right. Will you please look at me?” she asked as she put her hand on my shoulder again.
I shook my head. I didn’t want to open my eyes because as soon as I did they would be gone and I would be alone again. They were just trying to trick me so that I would trust them. I didn’t want to be alone anymore. I would rather just lay here and let them talk to me. It was better than no one being there.
“My name is Alicia, and I promise that I am not going to hurt you. What is your name?” she asked.
“I’m… Danielle,” I answered still keeping my eyes shut tight.
“That’s a very nice name Danielle. Why won't you look at me?” she asked.
“Because if I open my eyes you won't be there. They are never there when I look. I don’t want to be alone anymore.” I sniffed holding back more tears.
“Danielle don’t worry I won't go anywhere I promise.” She was trying to get me to trust her.
I was hesitant, and for good reason. Every single time I let my guard down I was rewarded with disappointment and fear. She didn’t sound like any of the other voices that had come to me. So far all of the voices had been mean, and wanted to hurt me. She seemed nice, and I wanted to trust her. I just couldn’t.
Something that felt like a shockwave lifted me from the ground and tossed me several feet. I grabbed onto the first thing that I could, and I rolled across the ground. I opened my eyes to see what exactly was going on and found that I was holding a stunned silver haired girl in my arms. She was probably fifteen, and looked as shocked by what was going on as I was.
“What was that?” she looked back to her companion that sat on the ground holding her head.
“No idea,” She answered looking across the landscape to where a mushroom cloud rose out of the desert. “Looks like some sort of explosion happened over there.” She pointed to the cloud.
“Um, you can let me go now,” the girl in my arms informed me. Slowly I released her, and she picked herself up off the ground. “Hello Danielle it’s nice to see that you will look at me.” I assumed that this was Alicia, and the other was Aria.
Alicia was an average height for her age, and her silver hair gleamed in the sunlight. Her eyes were a dark amber color, and she wore a pretty white dress. The dress had no dirt on it even though dust was blowing everywhere around us, and we had just rolled through the dirt.
Aria on the other hand was very tall and wore all black. Her hair was also black, and ended at her neck. It had veins of electric green running through it. She scowled at me, and I backed away from her. She was someone that I didn’t want to meet in a dark alley.
I looked over to where the mushroom cloud was rising into the air, and wondered what could have made such an explosion. It was still miles off, but I felt like I should be heading towards it. It was a strange pulling feeling that made me want to go there, but my head told me that I should stay away.
“Well it looks like that’s where we are going next,” Aria informed.
“I think so too,” Alicia agreed.
“No!” I exclaimed surprising them both.
“Who said anything about you coming.” Aria scoffed.
“We aren’t just going to leave her here,” Alicia argued.
“She would just slow us down, and I don’t want to drag her all over the place,” Aria shot back.
“You shouldn’t go over there. Something bad must have caused that explosion,” I interjected.
“Do you have a better idea of a place to go? I am all ears princess,” Aria said knowing that I didn’t have a better place to go. “No? Well then you can stay here and die if you want. I am going over there.” She pointed at the cloud in the distance and began to walk towards it.
“Please Danielle come with us,” Alicia begged trying to pull me to my feet. I reluctantly got up, and dusted myself off.
I was no longer alone, and I felt a lot better knowing that there were actual people here. I had been all by myself for what felt like weeks, and I was not just going to let them leave me behind. I didn’t like the idea of heading off towards that explosion, but I didn’t have anything better to do.
“Okay, but I don’t like this idea.”
__________________________________________________________________________
“So where are you from David?” I asked knowing that he had no answer.
“I don’t know Anthony. Where are you from?” he countered.
“I asked first.”
“Well I asked second. Isn’t it boring that the person that asks first always gets their answer first? Why can't second go first for once wouldn’t that be a nice change of pace,” he replied.
“Touché.”
“Anyways isn’t that a kind of pointless question since neither of us know the answer?” he asked.
“Why shouldn’t I ask a question I know I won't get the answer to? If no one asked a pointless question then where would the world be? The human race would have likely died out, and all we would be left with would be nothing. Do you think that’s what happened here?” I asked Jessica.
She looked surprised to be asked anything. Me and David had been going back and forth now for a while about useless things, and she was just walking beside us kicking a rock. Wait a second where did she find a rock. I hadn’t seen a rock the entire time I had been here, and she was just kicking one. I wanted a rock.
“I doubt it very much,” she replied.
“Forget about that. Where did you get that rock?” I asked.
“I don’t know I was just kind of bored, and I found this rock so I started kicking it,” she answered.
“I have been here for days, and I haven’t seen any rocks. You just happen to find one, and don’t think anything of it. How about you David have you seen any rocks?” I turned to him.
“Come to think of it I haven’t.” He put his hand on his chin and stared into space.
I stopped walking, and bent over to pick up the rock Jessica was kicking. She tried to stomp on my hand to impede me but I was too fast. I scooped the rock up and turned it over in my hand.
“Maybe this is some kind of magic rock. Maybe, just maybe, this is the Rock of Destiny.” I mused.
“The Rock of Destiny,” Jessica deadpanned.
“The Rock of Destiny. You know, the super weapon of the gods disguised as a simple rock. Whoever wields the Rock of Destiny shall be unstoppable.” I said holding the rock up dramatically.
“I find that very unlikely,” David said returning to the world.
“Oh yea.” I pointed to rock in a random direction in the desert. “Bang!” The explosion knocked all three of us off of our feet and back at least ten feet. I was honestly not expecting that to happen.
I got up and looked at where I had been pointing the rock. About a mile away a giant mushroom cloud was starting to rise into the air. It looked like the aftermath of a nuclear strike, and had the whole thing come from a rock that I was holding. I looked down at the rock that I was still holding in my hand. I was glad that Jessica kicking it hadn’t accidentally set the thing off.
“Holy shit.” Was all I could manage to say. The other two were still picking themselves out of the dirt, but I was standing and pointing the rock in a different direction.
“Did that just happen?” Jessica asked as she got up off the ground.
“I think it did,” David replied.
“I told you that this was the Rock of Destiny,” I held up my trophy.
“I guess I believe you,” David conceded.
“I don’t know that could have just been a coincidence,” Jessica argued.
“You are right. I guess I should try it out again.” I pointed the rock back to where the explosion had gone off.
“NO!” she exclaimed stopping me from causing another explosion.
“Why not I thought you wanted more proof?” I asked turning back to her.
“Fine whatever it’s the stupid Rock of Destiny. Just don’t do that again,” she begged. I had to admit that I was hesitant about carrying this thing around, but I slipped it into my pocket anyways.
“Who wants to go check out that crater?” I asked turning back to my companions. Jessica rolled her eyes, but fell into line behind me, and David just shrugged.
We marched across the desert proudly towards our destination. At least I marched proudly while the others just slowly shuffled after me. Why couldn’t they be more happy that I had caused a massive explosion? The idea of doing something so incredibly improbable filled me with excitement.
Why were they even following me? A rational person would have left my ass behind long ago. On the other hand these people had nowhere to go, and no one to lead them. Since it seemed that I was taking over the role of leader they followed me, albeit reluctantly. Perhaps people just naturally wanted to be led. I didn’t like that idea very much, but judging by the behavior that I was observing it seemed to be true. Maybe I should ask.
“So why are you two following me anyways?” I asked trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.
“I’m not following you. I am following this beautiful creature here.” David replied motioning to Jessica. Damn him.
Jessica ignored the compliment once again. Man she was good at that. “I am following you because it seems like you are the only one that actually knows anything about this place. Even though I found you dying of thirst after having passed up water that was just lying in the dirt.” She pulled another bottle of water she had stored in a bag she had picked up somewhere.
“I never got that. How come there is just water lying around, but when I was all by myself there wasn’t any water anywhere?” David asked, taking control of the conversation.
“Maybe you weren’t thirsty enough,” I replied.
“I wasn’t thirsty enough? I was plenty damn thirsty.” He seemed to get agitated easily.
“You had been walking around in the desert for what, a couple of hours? It was at least a day before I saw any water lying around. Jessica said it was the same for her. I don’t think you were thirsty enough yet to find any water. I don’t think the rules in this place work quite the same as the real world.”
“We are thirsty so we find water just lying on the ground. She is bored so she just happens to find a rock to give her something to do. I pick up the rock and say that it is some omega weapon, and it causes a massive explosion. Face it. This place is absolutely insane.” I turned to look back at them. Jessica was completely stunned and David was looking contemplative.
“How come I didn’t pick up on that,” I heard Jessica mumble under her breath causing me to smirk as I turned back around, and continued to lead the group.
I had given them something to think about. In truth the idea had actually come to me as I was talking, and I was very glad that I had somehow made sense. If this were actually true then what I had just explained to the two of them was staggering. Could we actually make things, as we want them in this barren place? If so then why was the entire world just one massive desert?
__________________________________________________________________________
I trudged along sticking close to Alicia, and not venturing anywhere near Aria. Aria led the way towards the quickly disappearing cloud of dust that was just little over a mile away now. She would glance back at me every now and then to give me a glare. I don’t know what it was about me that she didn’t like so much, but I knew that I was on her bad side.
After a while I got the nerve to confront her about it. “What is it? Do you have a problem with me or something?” I tried to sound as confident as possible.
“Yea I got a problem with you,” Aria said as she turned on me. “A full grown woman is cowering in the middle of the desert, and now she is sticking to a child’s side like a lost little puppy.”
That completely stunned me. I had been expecting something a lot pettier than how I had been acting. I thought that she might just have a problem with the way I looked or some other nonsense. She had a very good point. Alicia could have only been fifteen at the most, and here I was her elder by many years hugging her side like an infant. I felt disgusted with myself for being so feeble, and could see how Aria might think the same.
“I thought I said don’t be so mean to her. You have no idea how long she had been here,” Aria defended.
“Can’t have been that long. Someone like her would probably have died after a few days.” Aria turned to me, and glared at me asking for my input.
“I have been here for a few weeks now,” I answered drawing surprise from the both of them. “At first I was just wandering around this desert, but after so many days I had just given up and collapsed. When I woke up I was by the lake and everything was dark. I sat there for what felt like weeks before I finally couldn’t take it anymore. There were things in the night, and they came and taunted me. When I ran from them I found myself once again back out in the desert. That is when you two found me.”
“Weeks?” Aria asked in a hushed tone.
“Yes,” I affirmed.
“See Aria you have no idea what it would be like to be alone here for weeks. You have only been in the desert for a few days so how could you possibly judge her,” Alicia said as she rounded on the taller woman.
“I wouldn’t break down like that,” Aria said turning back to the cloud. She continued moving again and both of us once again started to follow her.
The dirt was beginning to even out, and seemed not to be as dry. The cracks that ran through the soil began to fade as we approached the edge of the blast zone. Aria began to pick up the pace the closer we got.
“How long have you been here?” I asked Alicia.
“I have been here a while, but it isn’t really a big deal. So what was it like being alone here for so long?” Alicia asked leaning over to me.
“It was very lonely. I thought that I would be alone here forever,” I answered as I tried to keep up with our leader.
“I can’t even imagine what that must have been like. You said that there were voices taunting you. Who or what were they?” she asked clearly interested.
“I don’t know. Like I said every time I turned to look at them they would disappear. I am not entirely sure if they were actually there to begin with. Maybe it was just me going mental,” I replied.
“I don’t think that you are going crazy.” Alicia said trying to banish the thought from my mind. “I only know a couple of things about this place, but evil things lurking in the dark doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibilities.”
“What do you mean you know a couple of things about this place?” I asked.
“I will explain in a little bit once we have caught up to everyone else,” she answered.
“What do you mean catch up to everyone else?” I asked clearly not following her line of thought.
“Just look.” She pointed across the wide crater where I saw five people talking to one another. One of them, a tall man with black hair, was pointing to a pair of shoes that he held over his head and yelling something to the others.
Aria began to run across the crater towards the others, and me and Alicia soon followed. They seemed to notice our approach, and the dark haired man turned to us and exclaimed to his companions once again. A dark haired woman rolled her eyes at him.
Wait. I knew that woman from somewhere, but I couldn’t quite place it. I tried to think hard about it. This was something very important, and the migraine that I would get from thinking back on my past was worth it if there was a clue hidden away in my memories as to who she was. Then like a piece of a puzzle falling into place I knew exactly who she was.
I picked up my pace as I raced across the crater that divided us. She noticed me, and also ran towards me. We met in the middle, and caught each other in a tear filled embrace. I hadn’t known anything about my time before I came here, but now I was certain of at least one thing. I had a sister before I had found myself in the wasteland, and now she was in my arms.
“Oh my god Jessica is that you?” I asked fearing that this was another illusion.
“It’s me Danny it really is. I thought that I would never see you again.” She cried into my shoulder.
We fell to our knees on the ground and just held each other. We had both been completely lost in this place, but now we once again had each other. At that moment I don’t think I could have been happier.
__________________________________________________________________________
Well I certainly hadn’t expected that. I had just been talking to my two new friends, Jake and Sera, that we had met when we finally arrived that the blast site. They had seen the explosion, and made their way over to its source. It seemed that my moment of unintentional destruction had ended up in finding us more people. Though I neglected to tell them that it was I that caused the explosion.
Then three more women had walked towards us from the other side of the crater. I had pointed them out to everyone, and Jessica had taken off running towards some blonde girl. The two were now hugging, and crying. I was definitely not comfortable with that.
To top it all off now there was some strange teenager holding onto me crying into my chest. I had no idea who this child was or how I should react in this situation. Would it be rude to simply push her away? No, I had not expected this.
“Um. I know that you are very emotional right now and everything, but… who are you?” I asked the silver haired girl.
She looked up at me with pain in her eyes. Clearly I had said the wrong thing, and had hurt the girl. I mentally chastised myself for asking something so dumb.
“Anthony don’t you remember me?” she asked. I had to shake my head since she didn’t ring any bells. Tears began to well up in her eyes again.
“Don’t worry though,” I tried to stop her from crying. “I don’t really remember anything so don’t take it personal.”
“I’m your sister. Alicia,” she cried as she curled her hands in my shirt, and started to sob into my chest again. I looked around at the others standing there for help, but no one seemed to want to touch this situation. Some emo chick that had arrived with the other two was glaring daggers at me.
“Don’t worry Alicia I will remember. I promise. So um, it’s okay.” I patted her head trying to calm her down. I was so not ready to handle an emotional teenager right now.
“You promise?” she asked looking back up at me.
“Yea sure sis don’t worry about it.” I smiled down at her. “Why don’t you introduce me to your friends here.” I said trying to get her to cheer up.
An excited look flashed across her face, and she took my hand leading me over to the “emo chick”. Mrs. Black Eyeliner didn’t look too pleased with me, but didn’t walk off as we approached.
“This is Aria,” Alicia informed. “I met her a couple of days ago right after she woke up here.”
I extended my free hand towards her, “It’s nice to meet you.” She huffed and blew a green lock of hair out of her face. So she was the pouty type. Just like that we were off again, this time racing down into the crater towards Jessica, and the blonde.
“This is Danielle. We found her a little while ago. She is really nice I think you two will get along well,” she said as we approached.
I once again tried to shake hands with the complete stranger, and this time was pleasantly surprised as she returned the gesture. I looked to Jessica who was standing behind her drying her eyes.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you…”
“Anthony,” I finished for her.
“Well mister Anthony thanks for helping bring my sister back to me,” she said as she removed her hand
“Sister?” I looked to Jessica who was nodding behind her. “I don’t see the resemblance.”
Jessica didn’t seem to like the comment, but Danielle giggled a little. Finally someone that understood my sense of humor. I would get along well with this one.
“It seems like this place is just lousy with siblings doesn’t it.” I asked earning another small laugh. “Let me introduce you ladies to the rest of us that are here.” I said leading the three women out of the pit.
Introductions were fairly simple. Everyone gave their names and received another. I was thankful that there weren’t any more siblings that had met up here. I don’t think my head could handle trying to remember a big mess of interconnections. Aria still seemed to be angry with me for some reason. Maybe me not remembering my own sister really got to her.
“Well now that everyone is here. What do you guys think we should do now?” I asked turning to the group.
“Wait a second. How do you know everyone is here?” Jessica asked.
“I just do.” I earned another eye roll from her.
“What do you think we should do?” Danielle asked me.
“Great question my dear. I think that we should do something about this barren wasteland,” I answered.
“What do you mean do something about the wasteland?” Aria asked stepping towards me.
“It is quite simple. He means that we should make a change of scenery,” Sera explained stepping in front of me. She was of a medium height and build with brown hair, but I could see something in her eyes that just screamed maturity.
“Again I have to ask what you mean,” Aria deadpanned.
“Well if you haven’t noticed yet. We can pretty much do anything here,” I explained stepping next to Sera.
“Are you trying to tell me that we are some sort of gods?” Danielle asked from behind Aria.
“I don’t know. You tell me.” Sera turned to face off into the desolate desert. She lifted her hand up, and closed her eyes in concentration. All of us kept quiet, and stood behind her waiting for something to happen. Then I began to feel it. I could feel some sort of energy creeping up from the ground and through my legs. The energy spread up through my entire body.
I closed my eyes, and tried to feel it. I can’t really describe how it felt to have this energy flowing through me, but all I can say is that it felt green. It felt like I was being invigorated by the very earth, and it was empowering me. I opened my eyes again, and almost couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
In front of us there was a small patch of grass that was beginning to grow. Then very suddenly the patch of grass began to expand across the landscape. After a few minutes everything in front of us was completely green as far as the eye could see. Flowers began to pop up from the grass in a wide array of colors. After having seen nothing but red dirt for days the sight of a meadow was like the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
I looked down to Alicia who was still holding onto my hand, and staring out at the field with wonder. Sera opened her eyes, and collapsed onto the ground. David quickly moved to help her, but the rest of us were completely stunned by what we had seen. It was then that my opinion of this place completely changed. I was going to like it here.
_________________________________________________________________________
“Still can't do it?” asked a voice behind me.
I turned around to see Anthony walking up the slope towards me. He was a nice guy, and tried to get along with everyone. Ever since we first saw Sera create a field of flowers from nothing we each had tried to make the world different. Some like Aria set about making mountains and hills, while David just liked to bring random things into the world, and Jake would destroy them. Those two had a good back and forth.
My sister and I felt that we should change the sky while everyone else concentrated on changing the ground. Jessica was very good at making all different sorts of clouds that filled the air, but the job I was attempting was far more difficult.
“I have been trying to move the sun for days now. It still hasn’t budged an inch.” I turned back to the glowing orb in the sky that was being so obstinate.
“Well it is a star after all,” Anthony said trying to make it sound better.
“This is important I just know it,” I replied sinking down into a sitting position.
We hadn’t really moved too far off from the crater where we had all come together. The origin of the crater was still a mystery, but it didn’t seem like anyone was too worried about it. The hillside was nice, and a cool breeze rolled down from the mountains to the north. Anthony joined me sitting on the ground.
“Yea a lot of the plants will probably die if it is always daylight. What I don’t get is why you are having so much trouble. The others do what they do because they feel like it's what they need to do. At least that’s what Alicia thinks,” he said covering his eyes with a hand and looking up at the sun.
“How are you two doing by the way?” I asked trying to get off the topic of my inadequacy.
“Fine I guess. When someone comes up and tells you that they are your sister, and you don’t remember a thing about them I guess you just have to try and be friendly. She is a good girl though, and I know that she helped you out. Maybe one of these days I will remember something, and the two of us will be as close as peas in a pod.” He turned to face me. “But don’t try to change the subject. Jessica asked me to come over here, and help you out with this whole day and night thing. So here I am to help.”
“I don’t know what I am doing wrong. I raise my hand like all the others do when they make stuff, but nothing happens. I close my eyes and try to imagine it moving, but it won't. Maybe I am just not good enough to do it.”
“I don’t believe that. I just think you are going about it wrong. I myself am really bad at creating stuff. Both Alicia and me are actually. The others just close their eyes, and visualize something coming into the world, and then suddenly there it is. This is different though. Instead of making the sun all you are trying to do is move it. Here let me help.” He grabbed my hand, and pointed up to the sky. “Now try to feel the sun. Don’t try to grab it just feel it out.”
I closed my eyes, and tried to do as he instructed. I didn’t know where all of his knowledge came from, but somehow it seemed that he knew the most about this world. I felt the sun’s warmth on my skin, and concentrated on that. I was starting to feel something deeper that lay behind the warmth.
The more I concentrated on the heat I was feeling the more I could imagine something more. Then suddenly I saw it in my mind. A giant orb of white hanging in front of me in the darkness. It just sat there waiting to be told what to do, and I knew that it was waiting on me.
“What now?” I asked quietly, scared of breaking my concentration.
“Now just ask it to go to bed,” he instructed.
I kept my attention on the glowing white orb in front of me and kindly asked for it to set. It began to drift away back into the darkness of my mind, and became darker and darker. I didn’t open my eyes, but I felt the warmth on my skin begin to fade. My hand however felt like it was in a fire. Anthony didn’t seem to notice as he continued to hold onto it.
After a minute I opened my eyes, and gazed up at the sky. Clouds drifted back and forth in the dark sky above. From the west I saw the moon begin to rise into the sky. I looked around and spotted Jessica standing on a hilltop looking at it also. I looked at Anthony who was gazing at me with a smile on his face.
_________________________________________________________________________
“Your move,” Jessica said from across the chess table.
She was really good at chess, which was something I hadn’t entirely been expecting. Of course it seemed that the world only existed to dash my expectations and surprise me. She had now beaten me five times in a row and knew she would win this game as well. I sighed and moved my rook ahead hoping to gain some kind of advantage.
“Do you take pleasure in my misery?” I asked as she conquered my rook.
“Maybe I do. Is that so wrong?” she replied.
“No I guess it isn’t, but you could at least let me win one of these games,” I said as I took her knight with my own.
“Would you really be happy to win if you knew that I through the match?” she asked as she took my knight.
“Yes actually I would. A win is a win after all.” I recalled one of my bishops.
“Can I ask you something.” She took said bishop with her own.
“Anything beautiful.” I took her bishop with a pawn.
“Why did you have Aria raise a mountain for us all to live on, and what is with all of this stone architecture. Are you trying to make this place look like Mt. Olympus or something?” She took my sacrificial pawn.
“That is exactly what I am trying to make this place look like.” I replied as I moved my queen ahead. “Check.”
“Why would you want to put us on the mountain of the gods?” she asked as she retreated her king.
“We are gods so why not live on the mountain of the gods.” I took one of her rooks with my queen. “Check.”
She once again moved her king out of check. “I don’t like to think of us as gods.”
“If you don’t think of us as gods then what do you think of us as?” I asked taking a pawn.
“I like to think of us as artist painting the world.” She took one of my defenseless knights with a pawn.
“That is a very romantic idea. Would that make your talking horses a masterpiece then?” I asked moving my rook to take her knight.
“Ponies.” She huffed and killed one of my bishops with a rook of her own. “Me and Danny worked very hard on them so yes I would call them a masterpiece.”
“I think I see what you are trying to say here,” I said as I took another one of her pawns. “You don’t want you ponies to think of you as a god. Why not Jake has his zebras bowing before him in worship. I think that he only made them in the first place because you and your sister made the ponies. Aria has crowned herself a queen in her own corner of the world. What is wrong with being worshiped by your creations? I would probably kill for that chance.”
“We don’t want to be worshiped.” She took a pawn of mine. “We want our ponies to live their own lives and think for themselves. They may have had a bad start in the beginning, but once they got over their differences they founded their own country, and now get along better than ever. That brings up an interesting point though. Why haven’t you created any life? Everyone else seems to be doing it like it is some kind of craze. Sera has gone out of her way to make as many different things as possible, but you and Alicia haven’t made anything. Why is that?”
I moved my queen to check her once again. “If you really want to know it’s because I can't. I just can’t make anything that breathes, and I don’t know why. After I got a little practice making the stars was pretty simple.” I pointed up at the night sky. “I can’t tell you how many times I have tried to create a dog to be my companion, but I got nothing.”
She moved a pawn to block my queen. “Well that sucks.”
“Yea it does.” I took the pawn with my queen putting her back in check.
“You know we won't live forever Anthony. I can see the grey starting to spread in your hair.” She pointed to the side of my head.
“Thanks.”
“If you don’t make something that last in the world then what will your legacy be?” she moved her king back again.
“Well I would say that it would be a kid, but it doesn’t seem like we can have those.” She sighed as I reminded her of our sterility.
“It has been a hundred years, but I know that one day we won’t be here anymore. You should think about the future.”
“I always think about the future.” I moved my rook to the other side of the board. “Checkmate.” I stood from the table and turned to leave. “Winning one out of five isn’t exactly a great record, but at least I can win one time. Alicia said she needed me for something so I am going to go meet up with her. I will see you later beautiful.”
I moved myself away from the board, and across the mountain to Alicia’s house. It seemed that I was the only one that was actually able to move myself across the world at will, and because of this I ended up being a taxi service. Alicia had told me that she needed my help with something that was really important, but coming from her that could just mean that she wanted to show me a new toy she had made.
She was really good at making crazy toys that did weird things. Instead of making a gun she made something that looked like one and shot hearts that made people fall in love. Most of it was harmless, but I knew that she had several things in the works that were far more nefarious. As if sensing my presence the door to her home opened, and she stepped out into the street.
She had grown a lot since I had first met her all those years ago. She was now almost as tall as Danielle, and her silver hair flowed down past her waist. I had never recovered any memories of her but over the years the two of us had grown very close.
“Anthony you are late. I was hoping that you would get here a lot sooner it is almost sunrise.” She pointed at the setting moon to make her point.
“Well I had to win at least one game before I could leave. Now what is it you wanted me to help you with?” I asked steering the conversation away from my tardiness.
Her eyes lit up at the question, and she pulled me inside. We made our way through her house over to one of her walls that she had covered in maps that showed the entire world. She had been working on them for some time and they constantly changed week-to-week deciding on how Aria felt.
“I have made something, and I want you to see it,” she said pointing to an X that was in the middle of one of the forests.
“So you want me to take you there?” I asked earning a nod from her. “Okay hold on.” She grabbed my arm tight, and I looked over the map that had an X in it.
I cast out my mind to the spot in question and found that there was in fact something there. I don’t know how Alicia could have made something so powerful without me knowing. The power I felt coming off of it was immense. It wasn’t hard to bring both of us to the location, and when I opened my eyes we were standing on the edge of a well.
I looked down into the swirling waters that danced with all sorts of lights. I turned my head towards my sister, and saw that she was also gazing into its depths. “What exactly is this?” I asked.
“I call it the Well of Eternity,” She answered not looking away.
“What does it do?” I asked turning back to the well.
“It makes us immortal,” she answered simply.
The answer to my question caught me completely off guard. I was not expecting something like that to even be possible, but here it was and if Alicia said that it could do it then it could. She had made something to keep us alive forever, and I hadn’t even noticed until now.
“Why are you showing me this?” I asked looking back to her.
“I don’t want you to die Anthony. I don’t want any of us to die, but every day I can see us growing older and weaker. This is the answer to our problems, and I want us all to live together forever,” she replied looking up to me.
I looked back into the swirling water. This was something that I never actually thought could happen, but here it was staring me in the face. Alicia had shown me the key to immortality, and wanted to share it with everyone else. This was amazing, and all I could do was stand there stunned. I needed to go tell the others.
_________________________________________________________________________
“I need your help Jess I can't do it all by myself. I don’t want to,” I begged my sister, but she didn’t seem to understand. “Anthony said that this will give us a new chance at life, and we can spend it with our ponies as one of them.”
“I don’t know if I can just give up everything like that Danny.” She sat back in her chair.
“What else should we do Jess? Just live a secluded life for the rest of eternity. I know that you don’t want that and I don’t want it either. We have a shot here at a better life than we could have ever imagined and I want you to come with me.”
“Think of what we would be leaving behind though,” She countered.
“All we would be leaving behind is some stone house on top of a mountain. Is that really something that you are unwilling to give up?” I asked trying to convince her.
“Think of who we will be leaving behind.”
“I know that you don’t want to leave, but trust me this is the best possible thing for us. You will see. We can live out the rest of our lives caring for others, and helping them. I think we have a responsibility to them to do this.” I crossed the room and knelt down in front of her. “But I don’t want to do it alone.”
“I don’t know Danny.” She looked away from me.
“We can decide after, but I really want you to think about it.”
“Okay. I will think about it, but I am not making any promises.”
“That is all I ask.”
__________________________________________________________________________
It was a dark night, and we had all gathered in the clearing near the well. Most of us went in, and came back out easily enough. Alicia had been the first, and had showed us all what we needed to do. She came back out looking exactly the same. I guess she didn’t have anything else she would rather be.
She told us that even if we didn’t change our bodies at all we would still need to take a new name. She had opted to be called Artifia from now on and I had to admit that the name had a ring to it. The others had emerged from the well looking very different.
We now had a half dragon that called herself Empress. A massive zebra with bat wings that went by the name Porosis stood next to her. Sera had become some kind of plant woman, and had taken the name Terra. A very strange creature flew in the air next to her who was named Discord. He looked like a fun guy to hang out with.
When I came out of the well I had taken a few years off myself. Call me vain, but I thought that I looked pretty good in my youth. I had also done a few other things to my body, but I wasn’t exactly advertising those to everybody.
“Apollo,” I said finally deciding on a name.
“Apollo, you are really naming yourself after a god.” Empress scoffed.
“Oh and you are one to talk. Who names themselves Empress I mean you really have to be conceited to do something like that.” I shot back.
“I actually like both of the names. Not as good as mine, but they are still excellent,” Discord chimed in.
“Thanks.” I rolled my eyes at the lot of them.
I walked away from the squabble back towards the well. Danielle and Jessica had been the last ones to go in, and they had done so together. Artifia had told them that it would be okay, but they had to be very careful not to mess with each other. The water was swirling and performing its magic on them, and they would soon come out reborn. I wondered what forms they would take.
A hoof shot out of the water, and tried to grab the side. I bent over and pulled a huge pony from the water. She was white, and had both wings and a horn. She was also something that had not been seen in the world yet. Another hoof broke the surface of the water, and I also helped that one out. After a moment two alicorns stood before me one white the other a dark blue. Their manes swirled around them in an ethereal breeze.
“So what do you call yourself?” I asked turning to the taller one.
“Celestia,” she replied and looked to her sister.
“I think I will be called Luna,” she answered after a moment.
“Well then Celestia and Luna welcome to immortality.” I smiled at the two of them and led them back to where the others were gathered.
“Looks like everyone is finished then,” Discord said as he floated over to us. I didn’t quite understand how he flew, but I had to admit that it was kind of cool.
“Very good,” Artifia began. “Now there is something that I need to tell you all.” Everyone in the group grew quiet. “We will no longer be able to create anything.”
“WHAT!!!” Empress raged causing her hair to ignite. That was a really neat trick.
“That is part of the deal. We can’t be immortal, and be able to create anything at will. That would just leave the world imbalanced. I created the well after we had covered the entire world in life, and we wouldn’t need to make anything new. While we can no longer create new things we still have all the power that we used to, but it is just changed a little.”
“You still should have told us,” Discord said.
“Hey you won't die anymore. So don't sound so ungrateful,” I said defending my younger sister.
“I agree this was a very good thing that Artifia has done for us,” Celestia chimed in. “I thank you for offering this to us.”
“It is nice to hear those words Celestia,” My sister said turning to the tall white alicorn. “There is just one thing that I need everyone to agree on.”
“Great there is another catch.” Empress crossed her arms and looked away.
“It is simple. After we all leave here no one is to speak of the well ever again. If a mortal found it the repercussions could be dire,” Artifia said addressing us all.
“I agree,” Luna began. “We should never speak of this again.” No one dared argue.
“Well I am glad that is settled,” I said trying to cheer the group up.
“Thank you Artifia. Now I think that Discord and I will take our leave. We have matters that we need to attend to.” Terra turned to the draconequus and the two proceeded to leave the clearing.
“I am also leaving. You should have told us everything,” Empress sneered, and wings sprouted from her back. She took to the air, and was soon gone from sight.
“I have a banquet that I need to get to,” Porosis announced, and also took to the air.
I turned to the two alicorns that had remained with us, and hoped that they would not leave like the others. Luna looked away from me, but Celestia met my eyes with some emotion that I could not place.
“Luna and I have somewhere that we need to be,” Celestia said as she lifted from the ground. After a few seconds Luna also took to the air, and proceeded to fly behind her sister. Before they were out of sight I swear I saw Luna look back to me with a tear in her eye.
I couldn’t believe it. The well was supposed to bring us all together so that we could live forever, but my friends had abandoned me. It only took a few seconds, but they had all gone their separate ways, and I doubted that it would ever be the same again. I looked to Artifia that was standing to my side not saying a word as everyone abandoned us. I took her hand causing her to look up at me.
“Come on sis. Lets go home.”