This Beautiful Darkness Shall Protect Me...

by Timemaster

31-Different worlds...

Erupting into the dark picture, I feel myself be engulfed by its majesty. I feel the fear and pain of eons past, the screams of the disintegration of someone's mind echoing throughout the darkness. It sounds like a dead man, choking for eternity on something. I feel the urge to run to the screams, but I turn away instead, seeing that there is no way out anymore. I feel like my mind is being crushed as the wall-less world somehow seemed to shrink around me. I turn back to the sound of death, running to it. Soundlessly, my hooves strike the ground over and over, making me feel as though I am sinking into the ground, though I know I am moving.

My instincts overtake me, and suddenly I start to swim in midair. It does not work, for there is nothing to drown in, but my mind thinks there is. Which part, I do not know, but I do know that it is horrifying for my own mind to be drowning me. I begin to choke on nothing, waving my hooves rapidly around, trying to find something to climb on, until I felt something. A wall, pure white and layered, had small insects on it. I, like them, crawl up the wall to avoid drowning. Looking at the top of the wall, I see a light in the darkness. Home. I reached the top, seeing that there was a white ladder, made of the same material as the wall.

I climb up quickly, but my hooves fail me as they jab something. A weirdly shaped piece of wall fall with me. I fall onto the floor, feeling something stab my back. I begin to gasp for air, and it was there. I look on my back, pulling out the item in my back. I screech at the sight of the white bone, picked clean by the insects, and stand on all four hooves.

"Ha-uaghh..." something said behind me. I look the way of the sound, but only see a sword. An oddly shaped one, which wouldn't fit in a pony's mouth, if I said so. It did not matter for me, so I returned to the bone-wall.

"How many people died here?" I asked, using the bone that stabbed me for leverage going up the wall. I reached the top, stretching once more out the hole.

More gurgling sounds came from behind me, and I felt the urge again. I attempted to scream, shout, do something against it, but I couldn't resist, no matter how strong my mind was, and jumped off the 20-ft wall again. A bone broke under my weight, making a spine-chilling sound. I cringe, realizing I was in control once more. I walk to the sword, wanting to know what wanted me to go there. I see inscriptions on the sword, getting closer to it. I read the inscription outloud. This language seemed to resonate with me.

"Anax," I said as best I could, skipping a scratched out part, "Moros?"

A vicious howl of the dead echoed through my mind, the smell of eternities of rot blasting through my nose, and I toppled over, covering my ears. the screeching continued, though my ears were closed, and I saw visions.

Horrible visions that I can never elude again...

---

On the new ship a few miles from shore, Vanessa and I are chatting on the poopdeck, which was surprisingly clean. The ship reminded me of a cargo ship, but quite smaller. She was fully armored.

The sailors, who had some worthless logs, gave them to me.

"You ready?" I ask her, looking out at the sea.

"For what?" She said, drinking her bottle of fresh water.

"The duel."

She looked at me, "But you don't even have a weapon."

I picked up a log, "This is it right here."

"What, are you going to hit me on my," she taps her new helmet, "head?"

"You'll see."

She closes her bottle, throwing it into a bin a few yards away, "Fine, but don't complain to me."

"So, where shall we have it, missy?"

She looked a bit bothered at that. She taps her chestplate armor with her thumb. She looks around, smiling, "How about over by the red crates?"

Like a cargo ship, this ship was full of colorful crates that stored a great amount of goods, "Sure, let me stand here and you walk that 50 yards."

She obliged, probably cocky, and walks on down there. While her back is turned, I make the log into a sword, writing a small '┼' on it, smiling. I turn to her, seeing that she is just turning around herself. She looks questionably at my sword.

"Go in Three," I crouch to the floor, letting the wood mix with my feet a bit, "Two," I pop my neck, which actually spurts a small amount of magic to my back from a tattoo I have, shaped like a smile. It is very small, "One!"

I charge at her as she did to me, but I suddenly stop at the middle and pick up my leg. I stomp, making the entire wood plank vibrate like water while staying intact, making her fall a full ten yards away. Using a slightly different maneuver, I make the wood move me to her in only a few seconds, without even letting the world gray a single bit, and point my sword at her.

"Get up." I said to her, receiving a glare of war from her. I pop my feet, releasing the planks from my feet's grasp, making them return to how they were, which pulls her a bit away from me. She gets up like a true warrior, taking a traditional stance. It looked odd compared to human ones, but it resembled a kind of kenjutsu a friend used to use. I take out my sword, which resembled a Pappenheimer-style rapier with a cross shape on its hilt, and take my favorite stance. We wait for some time, but I get bored watching the grey sky. Moving faster than her eyes, I job her five times in the chest, breaking my rapier, and take her sword. The color of the world returns after I jump a few yards away, her sword in my hand and my broken one in hers.

She looked at me for quite some time, a look of shock upon it.

Author's Note:

Sorry it is so short, but my birthday is tomorrow! I was
for cake!

Comments

[Timemaster]

1/14 people like this story when they read it? Wow ☺

I feel happy enough to write the next chapter... but I want Halloween joy, so I will wait.